Several groups are urging the Halifax Regional School Board to keep their schools open.

In the Sackville area, Gertrude Parker and Sackville Centennial Elementary schools have both been recommended for closure by board staff.

Both review committees say an unstructured building boom in the 1970s created a mess of school boundaries, so these boundaries should be reassessed before any schools are shut down.

"It is hard not to be puzzled by the mosaic created by the boundary lines," said Lisa Smith, a spokeswoman for the Sackville Centennial group.

"It does not make any sense that students are walking or being bused past schools that could not only accommodate them but also offer shorter travel times for students."

School board member Gin Yee agrees.

"I've seen the boundaries in elementary schools in Sackville. They're kind of weird," he said.

Two other committees — Central Spryfield and South Woodside — argued that their economically marginalized communities depend on their local elementary schools.

If Central Spryfield Elementary closed, students would have to go to Elizabeth Sutherland, a larger P-9 school on the outskirts of the community.

The review committee for that school claims nearly half of the children come from single-parent homes that already have child-care and transportation challenges.

"We feel closing Central Spryfield will only add to the burdens our families are already facing," said Sari Primeau, with the group.

South Woodside sits in a Dartmouth neighbourhood marked by highways and an oil refinery. The isolation of the community means the school is vital to the families there, argued Moira Burhoe MacDonnell, spokeswoman for the review committee.

"The closure of schools can be particularly devastating to small communities where the school is the glue that holds the neighbourhood together. That is exactly the case in South Woodside," she said.

The school board will decide in March whether to close the schools or order a boundary review.