KARNS CITY — In the end, one man couldn't ignore the voices of 80 people who attended the Karns City School Board meeting Monday night to protest the June closing of Bruin Elementary School.

Instead, the Bruin school will close after the 2011-12 school year and after the options in a $10,000 feasibility study have been reviewed. The feasibility study is expected to be done in May.

The board voted first to close the school this year over the protests of 80 people at the meeting and hundreds of parents who have spoken out since November. The board said the closing would save $300,000 to $400,000 annually.

The crowd left, vowing to replace board members.

Board members finished their agenda items and then went into an executive session to discuss salary increases for five administrators who will earn $85,000 to $103,701 this year and from $92,100 and up in 2011-12.

A salary has not been determined for Eric Ritzert, who becomes superintendent next year. The board also agreed on pay increases for two other managers.

After the board reconvened publicly and the salary increases were approved, one board member asked if he could change his vote on the school closing.

“I counted 80 people here tonight,” John Evankovich Jr., said, “and not one of them wanted us to close the Bruin Elementary School.”

Over the protests of Sheila Hillwig, board president, the motion was reopened.

In the next vote, board members voting to close the school this year were Hillwig, Henry Crawford Jr., Joseph Boltz and Brenda Ealey.

Voting to keep it open were Evankovich, Lory Ellenberger, Bryan Fleeger, Tammie Futcher and Tina Landgraf.

In the final vote, Hillwig, Crawford, Boltz, Evankovich, Ellenberger, Fleeger and Futcher agreed to close the school at the end of the 2011-12 school year.

Evankovich is the only board member running for re-election this year who initially approved the closure. The other incumbents who are up for re-election voted against closing the school until the feasibility study is done.

Crawford, vice president of the board, has dropped out of the race. Along with Hillwig, Crawford is a leading advocate for closing the school.

The feasibility study is being done by Canzian/Johnston & Associates, a New Kensington-based architectural firm.

“In my mind we need to get to a single elementary school where all the students are in one building,” said Superintendent Larry Henry.

“Bond rates have never been lower than they are right now,” Henry said, referring to how the cost of changes could be paid.

One possible solution would be to add on to Chicora Elementary School so it would become the central school for kindergarten through sixth grades. It is the newest school building, having been built in 1960 and renovated in 1995.

Henry noted that the high school heating system and athletic facilities also need repairing, and that those costs should be rolled into a single bond issue that positions the district for 20 years.

“Saving money is laughable,” Amy Rottman, who has a second-grader in the district, told the board. “We're (taxpayers) not going to be paying less. It will just be spent somewhere else. The board's priorities need to be re-examined.”

Rottman was applauded by the overflow crowd, which had been moved to the high school auditorium before the board began its series of votes.

In addition to administrative salary increases, the board also approved $313,482 for the 2011-12 Butler County Vocational-Technical School budget. That is a $30,238 increase from this year.

Next year's $4.4 million total vo-tech budget, which is divided among seven school districts, is up 4.2 percent over this year. It must be approved by five of the seven districts which comprise its joint operating committee.

The South Butler School District already has rejected it because of the cost increase.