A group of Ames residents who believe the Ames School Board did not follow the proper guidelines when deciding to close two elementary schools filed their appeal to the Department of Education on Tuesday.

Ames resident and group member Brian Agnitsch said he received an e-mail from the department Wednesday saying they had received the group’s appeal.

“I am fully aware this process may not keep the schools open, but my issue is with the process the school board needed to follow,” Agnitsch said.

“If the proper process was not followed, we can’t be confident with the decision.”

Agnitsch, along with Steve Hustedt, John Beghin and Jacob Petrich, looked at the Barker guidelines and compared them to what the school board did in regards to closing Roosevelt and Northwood Elementary schools.

After the appeal is received, the Department of Education has 10 days to certify that it was received and both sides of the issue are then notified.

“After that, they set a hearing date, which could be at the earliest in the week of June 20,” Agnitsch said.

At the hearing, the Ames School Board and the community group present their case, and an administration judge will then make the ruling.

Agnitsch said he thinks a decision will be made in August.

According to past Daily staff reports, Ames superintendent Ray Richardson said the school board followed the Barker guidelines.

Agnitsch said the group has found more information that showed the guidelines were not followed.

The first Barker guideline states the school board must set a timeline in advance for carrying out the procedures involved in making the decision and there needs to be proper and frank discussion of the issues involved.

According to a document put together by the four community members, no timeline was established to deal with questions of school closings.

“School closings have not been discussed except in the context of the budget process. At no time was the issue of school closings addressed separately,” the document states.

In addition, Agnitsch said when the school board set time aside for public forums in April, it was to discuss the budget and not specifically the school closings.

“They talked about everything there, in no way was it sufficient,” he said.

Four open forums were held from April 12 to 26. The forums, however, were scheduled prior to the superintendent’s announcement of school closings April 11.

At the first open forum, the community could not discuss the school closings because they were listed as core items, which were not up for discussion.