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Maybell Elementary School has six students, but more than 100 people came out Tuesday night to encourage the board of education to keep the tiny school open.

With enrollment at the school down almost 50 percent from 2001 and the district trying to trim its budget, the board is considering closing Maybell Elementary.

The Moffat County School District Board of Education held a special meeting Tuesday night at Maybell Elementary to discuss the school's future.

Maybell residents said at Tues--day's meeting that the school is a central part of the town, which is home to about 100 people.

"The history of this school is long, and we would certainly like to keep it going," said Maybell resident and Moffat County Commissioner Darryl Steele, who is acting as a spokesman for the community.

Steele attended Maybell Ele--mentary, his parents attended the school, his children attended the school, and now his grandchildren go there.

Superintendent Pete Bergmann stressed at Tuesday's meeting that the board has not made a decision about the school's future and would prefer to keep it open.

"We believe Maybell is an outstanding school," Bergmann told the standing-room-only crowd packed into the school's gym. "The last thing we want to do is shut the doors."

But, Bergmann said, the district's financial situation means the board has to consider the school's future.

With enrollment dwindling, the district has had to subsidize Maybell, Bergmann said.

In the 2000-01 school year, when 11 students attended Maybell, the state gave the district $76,000 in per-pupil funding and a special allowance for small attendance.

Operating costs for the school that year were about $80,000, which meant the district had to subsidize about $4,000 for Maybell, district officials said.

But district projections for the 2006-07 school year, which estimate six students at the school, say the district will have to subsidize about $40,000 for the school.

"Money is a part of the equation you simply can't ignore," Bergmann said.

If just a few more students attended Maybell, the school's financial woes would be a moot point because the school would receive increased funding from the state, Bergmann said.

"If we can get another couple kids, we won't even have this conversation," he said.

Parents at Tuesday's meeting had plenty of ideas for increasing enrollment at the school.

Steele said if the school offered kindergarten, enrollment would go up.

Without kindergarten, May--bell parents have to bring their children to Craig.

After the students attend kindergarten in Craig and make friends there, they don't want to switch schools for first grade, parents said.

Susan Turner said that is exactly what happened to her two boys.

If the school offered kindergarten, her youngest, who will be in kindergarten next year, would go to school in Maybell, Turner said, and so would one of her other boys.

Parents also said offering fifth grade at Maybell would increase enrollment.

But, increasing the grade span would make for a tough job for the school's solitary teacher, Bergmann said.

"It's really tough to teach a kindergartner and a fifth-grader in the same classroom," Bergmann said.

Parents at Tuesday's meeting said no matter what happens between now and June, when the School Board finalizes the 2006-07 budget, they plan to do whatever they can to keep Maybell Elementary open.

"If the numbers drop and the school closes, we'll never get it back," Steele said.