09:41 PM EST on Saturday, February 12, 2005

By JESSICA CHANG / 13News

Residents of one Virginia Beach neighborhood are taking a stand against a school board decision to merge two schools, expand one and tear down nine homes in the process.

The district wants to merge Kemps Landing Magnet School with Virginia Beach Middle School. The new school would be housed in the latter's current building, but school board members want to expand the middle school. To make room, nine homes on 25th and 26th streets would be torn down.

"What they are doing is not in the best interest of those students and not in the best interest of this community," said neighbor Joe Novak.

Novak has lived in his 25th street home for 51 years.

"They have two sites that wouldn't displace any person," he said. "They wouldn't take them. They'd rather take these homes here."

School board member Ed Fissinger supports Novak and his neighbors. He was one of the five board members who voted against this site.

"You have children who do not have to attend school in a high-noise zone that are now going to be brought to a high-noise zone," he said. "You have a lot more busses and a lot more opportunities for a child to get hurt."

Neighbors at a Saturday protest collected a basket of money to hire a lawyer to continue the fight.

"Our hope is to throw so many road blocks and red flags in front o this project, that the school board will come back and reconsider," said community leader Barbara Yates.

The school board's site selection committee chose the current site out of five different plans. The committee looked at every square foot in the district, a board member who voted for the merger said. The majority of the board voted for the area based on price, acreage and the number of homeowners who would be affected.