SUTTON — Some residents are concerned that the Kearsarge Regional school board is evaluating the costs and benefits of continuing to operate the town’s elementary school.

The district closed its kindergarten in Springfield last year in a cost-saving move, and many parents in town fear losing the Sutton Central School because the board has been discussing the possibility of its closure.

“A lot of us are concerned, because the school is of great value to this community, it’s why many of us moved here,” said Heidi Thoma, whose has one child now in second grade and another set to enter elementary school in the fall.

School Board Chairman Dan Wolf said Sutton’s school is just one of many options the district is considering for budget cuts. At this point, the board has no plans to close the school, he said, it’s just looking at the numbers.

“It’s become a big issue, it’s an emotional issue, but we are just looking to see how to deliver the best education in the Kearsarge district at the most affordable cost,” Wolf said. “It’s a matter of how we balance wants and needs versus the ability to pay for them.”

The board asked Superintendent Jerry Frew to study the potential cost savings of closing the school, and last month Frew reported that the district could save as much as $350,000 in operating costs if the school was closed and its 87 students were dispersed to schools in other district towns. The board has since said it may commission an independent review of the costs.

In reporting the potential cost savings, though, Frew recommended that Sutton Central be kept open, in part because of the potentials costs to other district schools of absorbing Sutton’s students. The school’s enrollment has been steady for the past 20 years, he said.

“There’s a lot to be considered, things like transportation, enrollment impacts,” Frew said. “It really becomes a redistricting discussion.”

Thoma worries that the slow economy could cause the school board to overlook the great value the school brings to the community and the negative impacts on the lives of Sutton students who would lose their sense of community from being taught in other towns.

“If they look at it from purely a financial point of view, they won’t see the true value of the school,” she said. “It would be a permanent solution to a temporary problem.”