''I know it may sound crazy to some people,'' he said, ''but it's very simple: if that school is closed this neighborhood will die. It is the only school in this community and people depend on it. If it closes, I don't even want to think about what will happen here.''

Advocates for saving the existing school point out that in 1992 the council had originally approved expansion and remediation.

''We are going to start a petition drive and write-in campaign to convince the council that what the people really want is for the school to be remediated,'' said Elizabeth Hayes, who has lived in the area near the school and is a member of the Newhallville Coalition. ''If so many people in the northern part of Hamden don't want the school in their backyard, why not keep it in the backyard where the people really want it?''

But school and town officials insist moving the school is not only the best option, but the only solution to problems that have made remediation all but impossible.

They also said concerns about loss of the school in the community are being overstated because once the site is remediated there will be some kind of economic replacement that could include a major industrial plant or bio-tech park that could create much-needed jobs.

Alida Begina, Hamden's superintendent of schools; Ed Beaudette, the Fourth District Councilman and chairman of the council's school building committee; and Alberta Mendenhall, the council's president, all strongly argue that the current building and location are no longer viable, that a new school is the only solution that makes sense.

''We have to do what is in the best interests of everyone, not just a few people who don't seem to understand that the present middle school has outlived its usefulness and must be replaced,'' said Ms. Mendenhall, who represents the Third District, where the school is situated.