WHITEVILLE, N.C. -- Three middle schools in Columbus County are closing.

• Chadbourn Middle School will close this school year.
• Nearly 100 students who attended Chadbourn will be going to Evergreen K-8.
• Acme-Delco and Hallsboro middle schools will be closed next year.

The Columbus County Board of Educators voted to close Chadbourn Middle School on Monday, just three weeks before the first day of school, and the 98 students who once attended will be going to Evergreen K-8.

Next school year, Acme-Delco and Hallsboro middle schools will be closed.

The board’s chairperson, Barbara Yates-Lockamy, said this was a tough decision, but one that had to be made.

“Closing Chadbourn Middle is something, you know, is something that we didn't want to do,” said Yates-Lockamy. “But, because of a lot of factors we had to come to a decision, make a hard call, and we regret that."

Some of the factors include being in the red on their budget. The school board has requested money from the Board of Commissioners to bring their budget back in balance, but they still needed to take further actions.

Parents, school faculty and community members crowded into the school board meeting Monday to see what the decision would, and many tried to discourage this outcome.

The parents said Chadbourn Middle School is a big part of the community.

"It benefits the community,” said Ruth Haynes, a parent. “It benefits the families that are within the community. Even the families that have kids that graduated from there still come back and volunteer and be a part of."

Haynes said she is going to miss her child going to school close by.

"I was really excited about her riding her bicycle to school, and being able to trust,” said Haynes. “It’s a way to build trust between teenagers and parents, their independence.”

Yates-Lockamy said this move will enable the school board to provide more resources to the children that they could not otherwise provide.

"When you got 40 something students in a class, academics to some won't get there,” said Yates-Lockamy. “Now, some are going to excel anyway, but some and most of them don't get it.”

Lockamy said these consolidated schools will make classroom sizes more manageable and enhance the students’ academic world.

The students will be at Evergreen at least until 2020, which is when a new school being built at Cerro Gordo will be done.

The county of commissioners will decide what to do with the building that once was Chadbourn Middle School.