CLEVELAND — Families packed the Andrew Pinkney East Professional Center Tuesday night for the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's board meeting, many still trying to process what a 39-school merger plan will mean for their children and neighborhoods. The proposal would consolidate or shift dozens of buildings beginning next school year, and leave the district with 29 less schools than it currently has.

"I'm really concerned that they're talking about closing," Keith Hunter, whose daughter attends Louisa May Alcott Elementary , said of the prospect of the school being shut down. "It's really been weighing on me."

Parents told board members they're worried about longer commutes, larger class sizes, and losing the schools that serve as neighborhood anchors. Teachers also raised c

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