LOCKPORT — A large crowd is expected Wednesday night when Lockport School

Superintendent Terry Ann Carbone plans to name the two elementary schools she recommends be

closed because of budget pressure and declining enrollment.

The meeting originally had been scheduled in the North Park Middle School auditorium but

instead will take place, starting at 7 p.m., in the Lockport High School auditorium at 250

Lincoln Ave.

During last month's School Board meeting, parents held signs in support of the schools

their children attended, and the regular meeting room was so packed that many stood in the

hall.

"If it wasn't for the people in Albany, we wouldn't have to do what we're doing right now,"

board president Marietta L. Schrader told them.

State budget proposals call for the district to lose $3.9 million in funding. Inflationary

costs add another $4 million for rollover operations, leaving the district with a $7.9 million

budget hole that it needs to address.