City lawmakers on Thursday balked at the Suffolk School Board’s recommendation to replace two aging elementary schools in Holland and Whaleyville with a single $19.8-million facility.

The Suffolk City Council, during its retreat last week, got its first look at the school division’s recently approved 2006-07 $47.5 million Capital Improvement Plan.

Besides calling for a new 675-student school to replace Robertson and Southwestern elementary schools, the CIP also recommends spending $22.2 million on an 800-student elementary school on Godwin Boulevard and $3.8 million to finish paying for Creekside Elementary, which opens on Shoulders Hill Road next September.

City leaders, who spent much of their two-day retreat discussing ways to rejuvenate the city’s villages and neighborhoods, said community schools are valuable assets to Holland and Whaleyville.

&uot;Keeping the schools in the communities will have an effect on the quality of life in the villages,&uot; said Councilman Calvin Jones. &uot;We’ll lose some of that if the school is halfway between Whaleyville and Holland.

&uot;…Even though it will cost more, I support leaving a school in each village and dealing with the dollar issues.&uot;

Whaleyville Councilman Curtis Milteer Sr. echoed that sentiment, adding that research has shown that students in small schools often get better educations.

&uot;Robertson is an anchor to Whaleyville,&uot; he said. &uot;I think we need to put some of this money in bringing the schools up to state standards and leave them where they are.

&uot;I want the School Board to go back to the drawing board and come back with something better.&uot;

Building separate, smaller schools in each community would cost about $27 million and give the school division a total of 45 surplus seats, said School Superintendent Dr. Milton Liverman. The proposed consolidated school would give the school an extra 120 seats.

&uot;I know the recommendation of a single school has been an issue,&uot; Liverman said. &uot;…We’re talking about an extra $9 million.&uot;

The school system is expecting enrollment to hit a record 14,000 by the end of this month, said Liverman. But unlike the rest of the city, the student populations at Robertson and Southwestern are actually declining.

&uot;Our population in that area has declined by 5 percent,&uot; Liverman said. Approximately 100 of Robertson’s 164 students are bussed in from south Suffolk, he added.

Despite all the discussion surrounding a new school for southwestern Suffolk, the top priority on the School Board’s capital wish list has to be a new elementary for the Godwin Boulevard corridor, Liverman said.

Even after Creekside opens, Oakland and Mount Zion elementary schools, which serve the Godwin Boulevard area, will be overflowing, he said.

allison.williams@suffolknewsherald.com