FLINT, MI - The fate of three Flint elementary schools was sealed Wednesday, while several other Flint schools face consolidation.

Carpenter Road, Cummings and Scott elementary schools will close at the end of the school year, the Flint Board of Education decided with a unanimous vote at a special meeting Wednesday, May 13.

"Tough decisions were made tonight, but the board realized we had to meet our DEP," said Flint schools Interim Superintendent Larry Watkins.

The Flint School District is in the midst of a $21.9 million deficit, and the closures and realignment fall in place with the district's plan to eliminate that deficit by June 30, 2021

More than 60 community members sat in on the 6 p.m. meeting in the cafeteria of Flint's Southwestern Classical Academy. Many were upset with the decision to shutter more schools in the district.

In addition to the three school closures, the board also voted unanimously in favor of converting three elementary school buildings -- Brownell/Holmes STEM Academy, Potter and Durant-Tuuri-Mott elementary schools -- into K-8 buildings over the next two years.

Flint City Councilwoman Monica Galloway, of the 7th ward, was the first to voice public concern and encouraged the board to vote down the realignment proposal.

Several others, including Flint resident Akil Eberechuku, followed suit.

Eberechuku said all kids deserve access to education, and the school closures would inhibit that access.

"That school is a pillar in the community," said Eberechuku of Scott Elementary School. He lives near the neighborhood and said he is concerned about the aftermath of closing the school.

"Once you remove a pillar from the community, you create a disconnect," he said, citing lack of public safety and a decrease in property value as potential repercussions of closing Scott Elementary.

Board members sat in front of a screen that read, "Flint Community Schools: Realign, redefine and renew," as Jessie Kilgore, assistant superintendent for the district, laid out a PowerPoint presentation addressing concerns related to the closures, including relocation and transportation of students, district boundaries, class sizes, building accessibility and a host of other issues.

Morise Starr, 58, of Flint, votes at Scott Elementary and went to school there as a child. He echoed Eberechuku's concerns about its closure.

"Shutting out more schools makes it hard for kids, being uprooted, having to make new friends," he said.

Despite objections, the board unanimously passed the realignment proposal in just under two hours, as the meeting ended shortly before 8 p.m.

"We recognize that these changes will be difficult for many students and families," said Watkins. "We are on track to turn this district around."