Math teacher Pat Campbell knows she won't have a job at the end of the school year if Chesterfield County closes Perrymont Middle School.
But she's more concerned that the students who attend Perrymont will not get the learning support they need if they go back to their traditional middle schools.
"The kids we serve here have already proven that they can't be successful in a regular classroom because of behavioral issues, absenteeism and those types of issues," she said.
When they get to Perrymont, she said, "students improve their behavior. They choose to come to school. They're making some successes. They're passing classes they have never passed before."
On Tuesday, Chesterfield school officials approved a spending plan that would close Perrymont at the end of the school year. Closing the school would save about $1 million in salaries and benefits and operating costs. About 16 staff members would lose their jobs.
The school on Perrymont Road, off Jefferson Davis Highway, currently serves nearly 90 students who come from middle schools across the county through an application process.
Students who come to the school are ages 11 to 15 and are one or more grade levels behind or have behavioral and discipline issues.
"It was designed many years ago as a way to try to bridge some students who had difficulty for a lot of reasons -- family issues, attendance issues," School Board member Marshall W. Trammell Jr. said.
"They were having a difficult time learning in a traditional style. We were looking for a way to provide them with a little more structured environment and provide them some latitude."
Last month, among the cuts to close a $42 million budget shortfall, Superintendent Marcus J. Newsome proposed relocating Perrymont to Chesterfield Community High, another alternative school.
As the budget situation worsened, the discussion changed about three weeks ago from relocating the school to closing it, Trammell said. Central-office staff communicated the decision to the school Monday.
"We just could not sustain it," Trammell said. "It was getting harder and harder to put in those kind of dollars. It's very unfortunate."
Trammell said central-office staff will start working with principals and individuals from middle schools to provide the extra support to the Perrymont students returning to their home schools.
"These students are going to need one-on-one attention when they go back to the traditional classroom," he said. "No way are we implying that that's going away."
Students, parents and teachers are resisting the plan to close Perrymont. Before the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday, about 15 people protested the closing.
Amy Bollinger said Perrymont helped her son, Tyler, who has struggled in elementary and middle school, she said. He is doing seventhand eighth-grade work, she said.
"When he went to Perrymont, he went from making D's and F's to making A's and B's," she said.
Stephanie Adkins, an eighth-grade student at Perrymont who came from Carver Middle School, said she values the small classes at the school.
"The teachers work with you more," she said.
The School Board is scheduled to approve the budget April 27.Perrymont would be the second middle school to close this year. Chester Middle School will house ninth-graders from Thomas Dale High School in the fall. Chester Middle students will be redistricted to Elizabeth Davis and Carver middle schools.
Contact Juan Antonio Lizama at (804) 649-6513 or jlizama@timesdispatch.com.
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