The district, over the last several years, has been phasing out middle schools in favor of K-8 schools - prompted by studies that indicate the latter produce better academic results.

There are now 177 K-8 schools while 28 middle schools remain, according to the district's Internet site.

The next middle schools slated to close are Sulzberger and Turner - both on June 30, 2009.

During a series of special hearings that followed its regular meeting, the School Reform Commission heard proposals from school district officials on shutting those schools, along with another proposal to relocate Parkway West High School and Middle Years Alternative (MYA) School, which now share a 96-year-old decrepit West Philadelphia building.

Final decisions on the proposals will not be made until the reform commission votes on each during its June 18 meeting, said Sandra Dungee Glenn, the body's chairwoman.

Reform Commission member Martin Bednarek said holding the hearings before the district had received a report that will show five-year student enrollment projections and demographics was "putting the cart before the horse." That report is expected to be completed next month.

A handful of parent advocates complained that not enough had been done to inform the public about the pending closings - despite school officials saying that they had sent letters and flyers to parents, placed automated phone calls at their homes and held night information meetings at each of the schools last month.

One proposal calls for Sulzberger Middle, at 4725 Fairmount Ave., to open next year with just 67 8th- graders and be phased out at the end of that year, on June 30, 2009. Sulzberger has been losing population as its four former feeder schools have been, or are in the process of being, converted into K-8 schools, officials said.

A second proposal calls for Parkway West/MYA to leave the current building at 4901 Chestnut St. on June 30 of this year.

In the fall, MYA, a 5th-8th grade school, will move to the old Peirce Elementary School building, 2400 Christian St.

Parkway West will move to Sulzberger Middle, though the high school students and the remaining Sulzberger students will be taught in different parts of the building, officials said.

In the fall of 2009, they said, the building will be occupied solely by Parkway West. The third proposal calls for Turner Middle to enroll just 8th- graders next fall and be phased out at the end of that year. Turner's enrollment also has dropped due to its three feeder schools now being part of the K-8 conversion program.

The building, however, may house a new school that school officials are working with the community to create. It could be a K-8 school or a small middle school, said Cassandra Jones, district interim chief academic officer.

"This is going to be a community-driven decision," Jones said. *