The San Jose Unified School District scheduled a Jan. 29 public forum after it recommended the closure of Hammer, Hester and Erikson elementary schools to help extinguish $1.5 million from the district's $8 million budget deficit.

Parents trying to save their schools packed the district's boardroom until the crowd overflowed out the door. One by one the parents approached a microphone to argue for their schools' survival.

One Hammer Montessori parent told the district, "We are about the program, not just a building. You haven't given us enough time so we can succeed."

Many of the parents were upset at what they said looked like a foregone conclusion, even though the district said the selection of these schools was only a recommendation and that nothing would be finalized until the board voted on the issue at its March 4 meeting.

San Jose Unified School District Superintendent Linda Murray told parents, "This is not an evening for us to debate. We are looking for anything that we might have overlooked. This is mainly your chance to speak, so there won't be a great deal of interaction on our part."

Parents repeatedly told the district that what it had overlooked was each school's uniqueness. They asked administrators why they didn't combine similar programs or select schools that were closer to each other for consolidation. And in the case of Erikson and Hester, parents questioned why the district appeared to be ignoring the voluntary-integration issue. These schools are already richly diversified, parents said.

LeAnn Cooley, a teacher at Hester for 20 years but now retired, told the district, "Hester should be considered a model school and not on anyone's list for closure."

And second-grade Hester teacher Angela Campos spoke passionately to the board when she said, "If you look at the programs being closed compared to the others which are not, there is nothing unique at those other schools. We all have very specific programs, and these programs will be lost, not carried forward. You rushed this through so fast there was no time for alternatives."

Hester resource teacher Lynn Hyssop gave her top 10 reasons why Hester should remain open, with No. 10 being "this is a successful Title I school serving underprivileged children" and No. 1 being "don't dismantle something that works well."

Erikson teacher Nicole Scott also questioned the district's motives and said, "The board still has to vote on this, but you are already talking about the transition plan, and if that does change, what is plan B?"

Plan B, transitions and the possibility that the three schools might not be the final ones selected for closure were also on the mind of Willow Glen Elementary School PTA president Andrea Wheeler. Although Willow Glen Elementary did not make the final three, it is still on the list of 12 that was recommended for closure.

"I am still a little concerned because I have no idea what put us on the list of 12," Wheeler said. "We feel that Willow Glen Elementary provides a lot of different assets to the community that go beyond the school. So I came tonight to get a general feel for the direction things will go."

Alexander Hobbe, who has a first- and a third-grader at Willow Glen Elementary, added that the process used by the district, keeping the list of 12 secret until it decided which three to close, "created a lot of hysteria."

That uncertainty turned into frustration and disbelief for the parents in the three schools slated for closure. Hammer parents also accused the district of planning to phase out the Montessori magnet program completely.

The school, which will be moved to Galarza Elementary School, will be restricted to only two kindergarten classes starting in the fall of 2004. The program's growth will also be based on attracting neighborhood students.

Hammer parents argued that the program should be open to students districtwide, not just at Galarza, and wanted a commitment from the district that the program will continue to grow.

Willow Glen resident John Mansperger, who has two children at Schallenberger and was a member of the consolidation task force advisory board, told the district, "If you are going to reduce the Montessori program, parents need to know now. Don't gut the program; it's foolish and shortsighted."

One Hammer parent also questioned the logic behind the choices and said, "If you knew that enrollment was going down and your projected data showed a continued decline, why did we build Galarza, expand River Glen and reopen Canoas? You were not looking at the big picture. There was no foresight in the process."

Some parents even wondered openly why Lovell Elementary wasn't combined with Horace Mann, Willow Glen Elementary with Galarza and Cory with Trace, arguing that these schools are all within close proximity of one another.

But the district said each recommended school satisfied the criteria in four board categories, which included a projected continual decline in enrollment, no increase in transportation or administrative costs if the schools were closed and no new classrooms being needed by the receiving schools.

The forum went well beyond the allotted two-hour period, allowing everyone who wished to speak the opportunity. But in the end, advisory board member Mansperger said this decision would touch all 12 schools on the list.

The next public forum on school closures will be held Feb. 3 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the San Jose Unified District offices, 855 Lenzen Ave. The board of trustees will meet for the first hearing on the matter Feb. 12 at 6:30. The session is open to the public.