BUFFALO TWP — Freeport residents realize there likely will no longer be any school buildings open by this fall in the borough, but on Wednesday night they urged Freeport School Board members to consider creative reuses for the junior high and the kindergarten center.

About a dozen people plus school board members attended a public hearing, which lasted about 20 minutes Wednesday. It centered on the closing of the Freeport Junior High School, which is being replaced by a new middle school building adjacent to Freeport High School.

Three Freeport residents spoke to the board with the fate of the school buildings as their biggest concern.

Casey Cryzter said he hopes the board realizes how all of these changes can hurt the borough.

“Always remember that a poor decision on the future use of these buildings could impact the residents of the borough and this district in general very, very negatively,” Crytzer said.

“They’ve been interwoven within the fabric of the borough, and having them just be gone next year, it’s going to be a big void. And if we deliberate and we take too much time to decide for a productive use of these properties, it could be very detrimental to the borough, and the district, I believe, as a consequence.”

Julie Yates said she hopes the board would consider a day care center for the current kindergarten center building, which also will close.

“When the school is closed, I’m not saying that it can be a day care center, but you investigate the possibilities, other uses, that would benefit the district,” she said.

Susan Lowers echoed her sentiments, and said education should still have a presence in downtown Freeport, whether it be via day care or another educational avenue.

“I think it would be a vital and an important asset for all of us if those options were considered,” Lowers said.

Daniel Lucovich, board president, assured the audience the situation is being handled carefully.

“We’ve worked pretty diligently with Freeport Borough to find good uses of those two vacant schools,” he said.

Board member Frank Prazenica Jr. said he’d like to hear from anyone who might be able to help ease with the transition.

“If any citizen has any bright ideas or great ideas for use of those buildings to increase the economy in the borough in our community, we want to hear about it,” he said.

The state mandates a public hearing to be held three months before a school board taking a final vote to close any educational building.

The school district is building a $33 million middle school adjacent to the high school in Buffalo Township. The new school will open this fall.

Proposed plans would also move kindergarteners to their respective elementary schools, and bring sixth, seventh and eighth graders under one roof at the middle school, versus seventh and eighth graders at the junior high school in Freeport.