COCOA BEACH, Fla. – Another community is weighing in about Brevard County Public Schools’ controversial proposal to merge two elementary schools.
Last week, the Cape Canaveral city council stood with parents to tell Brevard Public Schools they’re not in favor of the merger.
[WATCH: Parents plead at Cape Canaveral meeting to keep elementary school open]
Now, superintendent Dr. Mark Rendell is meeting with families at the two schools to learn more about how they feel about possibly closing Cape View Elementary and doubling the enrollment at Roosevelt Elementary, seven miles away in Cocoa Beach.
The school district said a merger would make sense because both elementary schools are at half-capacity, and when the students get older, they all wind up next door to Roosevelt at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High School.
“It’d be a far drive, and I think it’s just an inconvenience for a lot of people,” senior Angelina Ruiz told Cocoa Beach Community Correspondent James Sparvero.
[WATCH: PTO president speaks against potential closure of Brevard elementary school]
The 18-year-old expressed the transportation concern many Cape View families share.
The PTO president said nine out of ten kids walk to school or ride their bikes.
Carl Arnold has lived here for 72 years, long enough to see a big change in the community’s demographics.
Brevard Public Schools blamed the older population in Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach for fewer kids in schools.
“60, 70, 80-year-olds, we don’t have 6-year-old kids,” Arnold said. “That’s it. It’s a tempest in a teapot.”
Ronnie Elliott talked about the benefits he said his children have with smaller class sizes.
“We don’t really want it to change,” the Roosevelt parent said.
Like at Cape View this past Monday, Elliott and other Roosevelt parents were invited to talk to Dr. Rendell at a meeting at their school Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Elliott said he’s concerned about overcrowding.
“It’s nice the way it is,” he said about Roosevelt. “If it gets overpopulated, it may not be as nice.”
The district said the meetings with Dr. Rendell are for families only.
The entire public can weigh in when the rest of the school board picks up the debate again.
That will be Tuesday at district headquarters.
Stick with News 6 and ClickOrlando.com for continuing coverage of this important story to the Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach communities.