HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Monday’s meeting of the Hutchinson School Board included a study session where members heard information about Avenue A Elementary School’s status.

Monday’s census of Avenue A showed that 45 of its 111 students (41 percent) lived within the school’s geographic boundaries, while the remaining 66 lived in other school attendance areas or school districts.

Since the recent high-water mark for district enrollment in 2013-14, the district is down 395 elementary students. Because the district had projections of smaller class sizes, the district reduced elementary school capacity by eliminating a track of students at McCandless. That reduced elementary capacity by 175 students in 2016-17.

Jesse Juma, speaking on behalf of the Avenue A community, provided alternatives for the board to consider. Those include opening up boundaries to anyone in the district and the county, making it a dual-language magnet school similar to the K-8 Horace Mann School in Wichita or both. He told the board the smaller classes are helpful at Avenue A, and the Southwest Bricktown Community Center located in the school was beneficial for the entire city.

About 25 community members and staff from Avenue A attended the study session.

No decision was made on the future of the school, but the board could further discuss the school at its next meeting.