After several close door sessions on Jan. 5, 12 and 21 the San Jose Unified School District has created a short list of schools that are likely candidates for closure. The list is expected to be made public on Jan.22.

Concerned parents and citizens are invited to the district offices, 855 Lenzen Ave., for two public forums scheduled for Jan. 29 and Feb. 3. from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., to discuss the potential list of school closures. The school board plans to announce its final recommendations at its Feb. 12 meeting and vote on the list during its March 3 session.

San Jose Unified School District board trustee president Gary Rummelhoff acknowledged that the district anticipates these upcoming meetings will to be emotional.

"There were some meetings that had a lot of participants and people speaking up, " he said, referring to his first term as president. "But "but I'm not sure any of those will rise to the level we will get when we talk about school closures."

Yet Rummelhoff said the district is ready to tackle the hard issues, but points out that throughout the dialog process "we need to be respectful to other people's point of view."

He is urging the community to keep the discussions on a factual not emotional level.

For more information about the upcoming meetings contact the San Jose Unified School District at 408.535.6000 or visit www.sjusd.k12.ca.us.