Rank: 20

GPA: 1.23

Built: 1909

Key needs: Installation of new windows, doors and roof, replacement of heating, plumbing, communications and electrical systems and needs extensive building code upgrades.

Renovation cost: $2.8 million

Other: Right now, the school district rents space from a church a few blocks away to house their first- and second-grade students because they have run out of space in the main building.

East Scranton Intermediate

Address: 528 Quincy Avenue

Rank: 19

GPA: 1.39

Built: 1927

Key needs: Conversion from steam heat, upgrades to roof and doors, installation of a sprinkler system, replacement of plumbing, electrical and communication systems.

Renovation cost: $4.7 million

Other: The school was closed three years ago and currently sits empty.

John Marshall Elementary

Address: North Lincoln Avenue and Oram Street

Rank: 18

GPA: 1.41

Built: 1889

Key needs: Upgrades to windows, roof and doors, replacement of the heating, plumbing, electrical and communication systems.

Renovation cost: $5.1 million

Other: This is the oldest school in the district. An addition was built in 1926 and a complete renovation was done in 1956. The building was retrofitted with a sprinkler system in the 1970s. It has the highest estimated renovation cost.

John Audubon Elementary

Address: 1801 Mulberry Street

Rank: 17

GPA: 1.55

Built: 1910

Key needs: Replacement of windows, roof and heating and cooling systems.

Renovation cost: $4.7 million

Other: The site is limited in expansion possibilities. A major renovation was done in 1962.

John Adams Elementary

Address: 927 Capouse Avenue

Rank: 16

GPA: 1.56

Built: 1931

Key needs: Conversion from steam heat, replacement of electrical and communication systems and needs to be in compliance with building code measures.

Renovation cost: $3.6 million

Other: The building is being underutilized in terms of enrollment versus capacity. It is located in an area of the city zoned for industrial use.

'We do what we need to do with what we have'

Three Scranton elementary schools, Lincoln-Jackson, John Adams and John J. Audubon, are repeat contenders for closure in several options detailed in the McKissick Associates report on district building conditions. The reasons are as diverse as the schools. Lincoln-Jackson is straining to house its growing student body. The neighborhood around Adams is disappearing. Audubon is relatively landlocked, making expansion difficult. Times-Tribune Staff Writer Erin L. Nissley spent time at each school to see how teachers and students overcome obstacles detailed in the report.

John Adams

A hanging skeleton did not phase the 30 second-graders in the John Adams Elementary School Science lab.

The plastic model showing major human organs, however, was a different story.

A chorus of "eeewww" filled the lab as teacher Joanne McCarthy pointed out the brain.

Teacher Bob Selemba quickly distracted the grossed-out students by rapping his knuckles on his own skull. "Are your skulls hard or soft?" he asked.

Dressed in white lab coats that hung almost to their ankles, the students tapped their own skulls before answering "Hard!"

The lab is a new addition to Adams, but creating it meant moving the teacher's lounge to a small corner of the room. The lab/lounge is just one example of how the building's rooms have been reconstructed to meet modern education needs.

Built in 1931, Adams is an imposing brick structure that still has some old-fashioned accoutrements. Tall glass-and wood cabinets are built into the walls on the third floor. An old clock that chimes on the hour and a manual bell system still hang on the wall inside Principal Sally Henry's office. The small gymnasium in the middle of the building is a rarity in schools this old, and its existence is one of the school's points of pride.

Its biggest problem, however, is that it's a neighborhood school without a neighborhood.

More and more light industrial businesses are moving into that part of town, and fewer and fewer families with young children are around. This year, 92 of the school's 247 student are bused to Adams each day.

"The neighborhood is no longer there," said Michael Sheridan, chief executive officer of the Scranton School District. "The students who go there can easily be absorbed by other schools."

Those other schools include George Bancroft, Robert Morris and William Prescott.

Parents take issue with the idea of closing the school, though, calling it a place where everyone feels like family. Parent Amber Bagg, who attended Adams and has a daughter in first grade and a son in preschool there, worries about the student-teacher ratio if Adams students were relocated.

"The kids who need extra attention won't get it," Mrs. Bagg said. "They get that here, because the classes are small."

Not many teachers know the value of small classes better than preschool teachers like Mary Ann Smith. Snack time with the 15 or so students in her morning class could have easily teetered into chaos without her vigilance and that of teacher's aide Paula Harte.

As the students sat at tables munching their snacks, one student calmly got Mrs. Harte's attention and pointed to the floor.

"I dropped my yogurt," he said. He picked up the plastic cup and looked at the pink and orange mess next to his chair. "That's disgusting!"

Snack time also brought with it opportunities to go over earlier lessons. As snack time wound down, Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Harte walked around the tables with a big plastic tub of animal crackers.

"Count with me," Mrs. Smith said to each student as she doled out the treats. "One, two, three, four. That's right. Four."

Ms. Henry finds it difficult to believe Adams is in a neighborhood in decline because she sees more younger students enroll each year.

"Smaller schools enable children to get the best education," she said. "But the School Board has to make the best decision for the whole district. I understand that."

John J. Audubon

On a chilly morning, a spirited game of tag is going on in the side yard of John J. Audubon Elementary School.

Students' shouts ring out over Mulberry Street and Colfax Avenue. A teacher laughs along with the children, who chase each other madly and shriek when they're tagged. No one notices the cracks in the sidewalk or the brisk snap of winter hanging in the air.

Inside the school, a kindergarten class sings along with the music teacher and a couple of kids hurry down the halls. One child gives Principal Mary Ann Taffera a big hug before scooting upstairs.

"This school really fits the neighborhood it's in," Mrs. Taffera said, "and it's small, so you know who eats breakfast, who needs clothes. Especially in this part of the city; we need that familiarity."

The neighborhood around Audubon has been experiencing a resurgence recently. Right now, there are enough students to support two classes in each grade, as well as two preschool classes. Nearly 300 students attend Audubon this year, and Mrs. Taffera says she's pretty sure that number will continue to increase. Just a few years ago, the student body barely reached 200.

With the growing student body; however, comes the problem of where to put them all.

Both the music and art teachers visit classes because there's no space to create their own classrooms. Half the library has been converted into a classroom. Even the building's basement has been renovated into classroom space.

While Lenore Krieger's kindergarten classroom was a little darker and danker than classrooms on the first and second floors, students' drawings and bins of brightly colored toys brightened the atmosphere and mood.

The 20 kindergartners were oblivious to the creaking floorboards of a classroom above and the sounds of a lively lesson from the class next door. Their attention was focused on their teacher, who had asked them to think of places they liked to go after school.

The sense of community is part of the education at Audubon, said grandparent Karen Lyons, who walks her grandson to school each day.

"Because it's a small, neighborhood school, the teachers know all the kids," she said. "The kids know all the teachers. You'd lose the community if they close it down."

Still, with the school bursting at its seams, some district officials question how they'll be able to relieve the space issues at a school that has so little space around it.

The school is more or less landlocked, pointed out former School Board President Todd O'Malley. Community Medical Center is to its right. Nay Aug Park is behind it. Just down the street is the University of Scranton. Knocking down homes to make way for an addition is not plausible. But, Mr. O'Malley said, any of those entities might want to buy the lot on which the school sits.

Michael Sheridan, chief executive officer for the Scranton School District, said he thinks there might be a way to put a four-classroom addition onto Audubon to relieve pressure.

"Nay Aug is revitalized, people have moved back into the neighborhood," he said. "I don't see us closing Audubon."

Lincoln-Jackson

Small tile squares became a math lesson for Maria Lameo's fourth-graders at Lincoln-Jackson Elementary School.

The students were learning about measurements, and Ms. Lameo challenged them to figure out how she had the home improvement store clerk cut a piece of shower-tile board to make enough for everyone in the class.

"All of you who ask me when we'll use this, here's a way," she told her students.

With her prompting, they figured out the area of the large board and how she had calculated the measurements of the smaller squares so' there were enough for the whole class.

That sort of creative thinking is the norm at Lincoln-Jackson. Teachers and administrators have to use their imaginations to create classroom space at their too-small school.

Art teacher Maria Lozada pushes a cart piled high with beads, feathers, crayons and half-finished art projects from classroom to classroom because there's no space for an art room. Principal Ann McDonough's office is in a:. Converted closet. The cafeteria also doubles as a gym, a music room and area for after-school programs.

At the annex a few blocks away, first- and second-graders sit in classrooms separated by a flimsy rolling divider. As teacher Rosemary Phillips went over a list of vocabulary words with her second-graders, the math lesson from the class next door drifted over. A group of students worked on reading skills in a staircase landing, ignoring the occasional teacher passing by on trips up and down the steps.

"Every ounce of space is being used," Ms. McDonough said. "We do what we need to do with what we have. But at this point, we've run out of space."

The lack-of-space issue is the driving force behind the idea to close Lincoln-Jackson, said the district's chief executive officer, Michael Sheridan. It would cost almost $2.8 million to renovate the school, and that doesn't include building an addition to relieve the space crunch.

The tight quarters don't seem to bother many Lincoln-Jackson parents.

Parent Ann McDonald worries if the school closes and students are relocated, the individual attention her daughter gets there will be lost.

"What's going to happen if they put her in some big school?" Mrs. McDonald asked. "It'll be like throwing them into a jungle. They'll be scared."

In the past two decades as principal, Ms. McDonough has weathered several School Board discussions about closing the school. She's realistic about the school's structural shortcomings, but said she and her staff are dedicated to their students and the community.

"I don't get excited about it because it's out of my control," she said. "If it's planned correctly, a new school could be a good thing."