EAST PROVIDENCE — Young students, parents, fixed-income seniors, city officials, and state representatives have shared their opinions about the potential closing and consolidation of schools.

There have been protests, T-shirts made, angry letters sent to the media and mass phone calls made to anyone who would listen.

Yet little has been heard publicly from the School Committee members, who have the sole responsibility of deciding what to shut down, if anything. They’ll make their choices tonight at 7 in the high school auditorium.

“I will not vote to close any schools,” Chairwoman Mildred Morris said yesterday. Committee members David Medeiros, Steven Santos and Eileen Lovett agreed. Committee member Robert Faria differed.

Three of six options proposed by Schools Supt. Jacqueline Forbes two weeks ago included consolidating Martin Middle and Riverside Middle school students into one building, yet none of the options would fully resolve the $2.9-million deficit she projects for the School Department at the end of the next fiscal year.

The first option maintains the current school configurations, and finances the district at the same amount as this year. The sixth option suggests the city sell or lease the School Department’s administration building and allows the district to keep the revenue. And the four options in between, the most controversial, involved closing one or more schools and consolidating others based on the city’s projected drop in student enrollment.

One option moves Riverside Middle School’s student body and most of its staff to Martin Middle School. Another moves Riverside’s seventh and eighth graders to Martin, and the sixth graders from Martin and Riverside will be taught at the city’s elementary schools.

Another option moves Riverside Middle School’s students to Martin and combines Oldham and Silver Spring elementary schools into one. The new elementary school would be taught out of the Riverside Middle School building. The fourth option suggests closing Silver Spring Elementary School, the city’s smallest school.

The savings from the various options range from $26,500 to $948,000, not including the potential revenue from selling or leasing the various school buildings.

“I just can’t see how closing RMS and Silver Spring is going to be a viable option,” said Santos, the newest member of the committee. “We’re going to have to look hard at what we’re actually spending and consolidate services with the city wherever we can.”

Forbes, City Manager Richard Brown, the City Council and committee have been meeting since last year to discuss ways to merge positions and services. Brown was assigned last month to figure out what could be merged. He has yet to give an update.

Morris is also hoping Governor Carcieri’s proposed budget passes because it includes a three percent increase in state aid rather than funding the communities at the same amount as this year. In the past, however, the General Assembly has approved an amount different from the governor’s recommendation.

The entire committee wants state legislators to pass proposed changes within the existing law to ease East Providence’s rising special education costs. There are eight bills and resolutions in both the Senate and House of Representatives that could give financial relief to East Providence and other communities. All were introduced this year and are still in the various review stages.

In addition to the consolidation and changes in proposed legislation, the five members say they believe the proposal to sell or lease the school administration complex needs further study, but is the “least painful of all the options.”

Board members are also optimistic that unions representing the teachers and other School Department staff will change costly aspects within their contracts, which don’t expire until next year.

“We do have the teachers at the table talking and they’ve come in good faith,” Mayor Isadore Ramos Jr. said last week. “That’s more than I’ve seen in two years. I hope to have something in writing in two weeks. I’m certain we’ll come out with a contract that is fair and equitable. And if it doesn’t happen, I’ll have to eat crow and come back and say I was wrong, but I don’t think I am wrong.”

There haven’t been any announcements since.

“We’re certainly hopeful,” Lovett and Medeiros said in separate interviews yesterday.

Said Santos, “Like Faria said, it is a bunch of moving parts that have to fit together to resolve the entire [projected] deficit.”

Faria has been the most outspoken committee member since Forbes’ proposals were presented. He has spoken with concerned residents at PTO meetings and sat down with others to explain the budget process. In addition, he has encouraged those with other ideas to come forward.

“Most of [Forbes’] proposals are physically impossible and I certainly don’t like the idea of all three [middle school] grades at one school,” said Faria, whose children attend the city’s schools, “but we need to have an open mind about this.”

Although Faria still wants more information, he said sending the sixth grade back to the elementary schools may be a good move. He said the seventh and eighth grades are considered one of the most important times in child’s development and therefore isolating the two in one building could help. He also said moving Riverside Middle School’s teachers with the students would only make Martin better.

The projected population would be 893 students, which already exists at Martin. And Martin is the younger of the two schools. Martin was built in 1977, whereas Riverside first opened its doors in 1965. In addition, the two school buildings have about the same amount of projected renovations — Riverside has about $444,000 or repairs and upgrades and Martin has about $441,000.

“This coming fiscal year is going to be tough,” Faria said to Silver Spring parents recently. “… Change is inevitable.”

apina@projo.com