LERNA - About 45 schoolchildren will leave their school for the last time when the bell rings Friday.

The decision to close the 37-year-old Lerna Elementary School at the end of this school year came down to "the costs of running a building when the enrollment wasn't equal" to that of other grade schools in the district, said Superintendent Gary Niehaus. There would need to be about 20 students in each grade, kindergarten through third, to keep the school open, he said.

"I don't see where it could sustain itself over time," Niehaus said. The students at Lerna will be bused to Charleston.

A committee made up of school administrators, teachers and parents decided closing the school is the best for the district and for the Lerna students.

"Based on all the information we had to work with, it was the right decision to make," said committee member Janice Barger, a Lerna parent who also teaches at Charleston High School.

All the Lerna school's employees will work elsewhere in the district next year except for Peggy Frailey, the school's secretary, who's taken a job elsewhere.

Sue Dunifer, a Lerna teacher who served on the committee, said the group tried to look at all options to avoid closing the school, such as moving an early childhood class to the school or changing its attendance boundaries.

"It just boiled down to the fact that our enrollment was so low," Dunifer said.

Niehaus said the district has a prospective tenant for the building, as the Regional Office of Education wants to use it for its Bridges alternative education program. The Lerna school was one of several the district renovated about 10 years ago, he noted, which makes it better to lease the building instead of selling it.

"I don't think we can get the value out of it," he said. "We have a lot of money invested in it. We're keeping the building to look at options as we move forward."

Dave Fopay can be reached at dfopay@;jg-tc.com or 348-5733.