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During a regular Clearwater Township Board of Trustees meeting held Jan. 16, residents encouraged community members to attend a Kalkaska Public Schools Board of Education committee meeting at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 to renew their concerns about the possible closure of Rapid City Elementary School.

When reached for comment after the meeting, Kalkaska Superintendent Lee Sandy said the subject isn't on the Jan. 30 committee meeting agenda.

"The meeting on Tuesday will discuss the beginning of the planning for a five-year facilities plan," he said. "We will be taking a serious look at our facilities."

He added that the Kalkaska school board requested the plan be completed by May or June, and it plan will be a projection of where the school system will be in five years. Some things that may be discussed are better technologies and a review of some of the district's older buildings, he said.

If major renovations or new buildings are to be completed, a bond issue would be required, and in that event the earliest it could appear on a ballot would be in November, Sandy said.

At the Clearwater Township meeting, some residents were concerned that Rapid City Elementary School would be a school seriously assessed in any upcoming bond issue. Fears of it closing brought forth responses from many in the public.

One resident speculated that Elk Rapids would benefit from the closure of Rapid City Elementary because many parents might send their children to the district as a school of choice.

Elk Rapids Superintendent Jon Hoover said he isn't sure if he could project an impact from the possible closure.

"I don't know," he said. "My sense is that if that is to occur, Kalkaska would seek to transport students into their schools."

He said if any students chose to come to Elk Rapids through Schools of Choice, they would have made the switch before Rapid City Elementary's closure -- if it were to happen.

"I don't sense there would be any impact to us at all," he said. "Our hope is that they would keep that school open. It's a great school. I know how much it means to the community as well."