A small group opposed to closing Elmhurst High School has offered some alternatives, such as finding private funding that district officials could investigate to make up the school’s portion of a $15 million shortfall in the Fort Wayne Community Schools budget.

The gathering Monday stood in contrast to the angry crowd of about 700 last week that voiced opposition to the district’s plan to close Elmhurst.

With Gov. Mitch Daniels cutting $300 million from the state’s K-12 budget, it fell to Fort Wayne Community School to trim an additional $9 million from its budget, on top of an already-forecast $6 million deficit.

Wendy Robinson, district superintendent, has proposed cutting $6 million in teachers’ jobs and closing Elmhurst High School and Pleasant Center Elementary School.

Of Elmhurst’s 2007 graduates who enrolled in state public colleges, 62 percent needed remedial courses in math, language arts or both.

However, the school’s dropout rate improved the most in the district.

Creator of SaveElmhurst.com, Angie Hayden Sutton led Monday’s gathering in the parking lot of the Grile Administrative Center at the district’s headquarters.

Reading from a prepared statement on red cards emblazoned with “Save Elmhurst,” Sutton asked school officials to meet with the group.

The smaller high school offers students better one-on-one attention with administrators and teachers and has become one of the district’s most successful models, she said.

Among the suggestions proposed by Sutton’s group were making Elmhurst and some other high schools sixth-through-12th-grade schools, which would then allow for the closing of some middle schools.

That, Sutton said, would eliminate the problem of underused space.

When asked whether she would expect the same strong feelings about closing middle schools as her group has expressed over closing Elmhurst, Sutton said her group wants to partner with the school district to brainstorm “ways to save successful schools rather than budget cuts.”

The other top suggestion by the group is to seek private donations.

FWCS spokeswoman Krista Stockman said the district has been taking suggestions from staff and the public for the past few months on ways to meet the budget shortfalls.

Some of the suggestions, while they have been good, won’t work in this particular district, Stockman said.

“Anyone that has suggestions we are certainly willing to look at them,” Stockman said.

“But at this point in time what we are looking for are long-term solutions.”

A handful of students joined Sutton in front of the administration building to express love for their school and the quality of education they receive because of the school’s smaller size.

“We’re here to save our school. We love our school,” said 16-year-old Justin Brant, calling the school a “small family.”

Lauren Conklin, 17, agreed.

“You feel like someone really cares for you when you come into the building,” she said.

The next opportunity for the public to comment on what happens to Elmhurst High will be Thursday night during a public forum on the district’s budget reductions.

Tonight, district officials will hear from those concerned about the potential closing of Pleasant Center Elementary School.

Stockman cautioned those in attendance tonight to remember the meeting will strictly deal with Pleasant Center, not Elmhurst.

rgreen@jg.net