At the end of this school year, Kate Griffin Junior High School will close its doors. The Meridian School Board voted Thursday night to close it as part of the district's overall restructuring plan.

"We have been experiencing some decline in enrollment," said superintendent Charlie Kent. "And what we're trying to do now is to make sure that we use our buildings to the best we can."

Kent said this means that, starting next school year, 9th graders who would have been at Kate Griffin will attend classes in the new 9th grade facility being constructed at Meridian's High School.

Eighth grade students will attend either Northwest Junior High, or Carver or Magnolia middle schools. Starting next year, those schools will each have 6th, 7th and 8th grades.

Kent says the district is now exploring its options on what to do with the Kate Griffin building, which was built in 1924.

"There may be some things that we have to do with that building, but we don't know yet," Kent said.

Kent said what is certain is that the district is looking at possibly closing the district's oldest facility, Witherspoon Elementary.

"We're still under a desegregation order and there are some things that we need to get, and some permissions that we need to get from the court," said Kent. "And there's some numbers that we need to talk to the courts about and our attorneys are working on that. They felt it would be premature if we went ahead and closed that building last night."

As for the issue of whether or not Witherspoon will close, Kent says that will likely come before the board within the next two months.

The superintendent said which school 8th graders from Kate Griffin will attend next year should be available by the middle of May.