Latest southern Colorado news, weather and sports from FOX21 News

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- The day after District 11 restructured and closings announced, parents reacted and now wonder, "What's next?"

On Wednesday night, the D-11 Board of Education decided on its utilization plan to reconfigure schools in its district. Seven of its 41 elementary schools and one middle school will be closed.

Those schools include: Washington, Whittier, Buena Vista, Ivywild, Pike, Longfellow, Jefferson, Adams and Irving.

District officials estimate a $400,000 savings per school that is shut down. No high schools have been affected at this point.

"My daughter just started this month, pre-school program, and now I guess we have to move to another school," said parent Teiyonna Lamar.

"They're kind of nervous about busing, and we were hoping we wouldn't have to do this," added parent Nicole Nunez.

That's what parents in D-11 were feeling Thursday , but like it or not -- this plan's in motion.

D-11 officials said the next step is placement of their principals and staff, set up boundaries and work out transportation routes. With all this reorganizing, the fear of losing students to other districts is a possibility.

"Colorado's a choice state, so any child in Colorado can go to any school in any school district throughout the state," Elaine Naleski, director of D-11 communications, said.

"My daughter's in a program. She has a hearing loss, so District 11 is the best district for that, so we'll stay in District 11," said Lamar.

A big concern with parents is that bigger schools could mean larger classrooms.

"I think they won't get as much attention as they should especially being so young," Nunez.said.

The district said, not so. "We're not going to have larger classrooms, we're going to have more classes," said Naleski. "Research will show that the optimum size of a school is not 100, but instead it's somewhere around 400. With 400 students, teachers can interact with each other. You have more than on teacher per grade level."

School officials said the buildings will be put to use and not remain empty shells in neighborhoods across the city.

They also believe the financial and academic benefits from these changes are a step in the right direction.

"We definitely feel it's a positive move forward. We feel it's going to help with our academic achievement, and we think it's going to enhance the educational experience of our students," Naleski explained.

The district hopes to offer more programs to its schools with the money its saving, such as programs it couldn't afford before the realignment.

Officials added if the administration didn't feel the economic benefits were there, they wouldn't have made the decisions they did.