The Gloucester School Board voted 4-3 last Thursday to close the elementary program at T.C. Walker Elementary School following a public hearing in which about 20 people voiced their objection to the move.

This was the second vote the board has taken on the matter. It voted March 13 to close the campus and relocate its children to other county elementary schools. During the board’s April 10 meeting, member Kevin Smith, who opposed the closure, and a speaker who addressed the board suggested it had violated a Virginia Code section by not holding a public hearing specifically on the proposed closing.

School division superintendent Ben Kiser first proposed the Walker closure in January as part of his fiscal year 2013 budget recommendations. An advertised public hearing on the budget recommendations was held in February. During the March 13 meeting, Smith, board chairman Anita Parker and vice chairman Randy Burak were in the minority of the 4-3 vote to close the school.

After the possible Code section violation was brought up on April 10, the school board sought legal counsel on the matter and subsequently scheduled a public hearing on the issue for last Thursday. After about an hour of comment, the board again voted 4-3 for the closure with Smith, Parker and Burak opposing. A second vote to approve a subsequent redistricting plan passed 4-2, with Smith walking out of the meeting while the votes were cast.

Kiser has said the school closure is necessary to help the school division meet a $2 million budget shortfall for FY2013 while avoiding personnel layoffs. The division has shed over 80 positions in the struggle to meet budget reductions in recent years, and expects to lose another 40 to 50 employees through attrition this year.

Those opposing the closure have cited the outstanding academic record at Walker, which has one of the division’s smallest enrollments at 300 students. Others have cited its historical significance as the county’s first school for blacks, and its importance to preserving the legacy of its namesake, Thomas Calhoun Walker.