The quest to keep Amabel-Sauble School open is underway.

The first delegation visited the Bluewater District School Board trustees meeting on Tuesday night.

Katherine Arnold is co-chair of the Amabel-Sauble school community council and her message is simple -- She wants the school to remain open and function as the community school that she believes it is presently.

Arnold says she doesn't agree with Accommodation Reviews in principle because they're skewed against small rural schools when it comes to the numbers game.

Arnold says the school has experienced over two years of internal conflict which has resulted in turmoil amongst families and staff.

She says it has resulted in less children at the school today.

However, Arnold would not go further into the internal issues only to say it involved administration and was finally solved and now they're hit with the ARC announcement that could see the school closed.

Arnold called for an immediate termination of the ARC process but trustees voted later to proceed.

South Bruce Peninsula trustee Terry Bell says it boils down to numbers and if those numbers can't support a school staying open then some tough decisions have to be made.

Bell says so much of what they do depends on money and budget and not on the heart and that's the reality.

The board also approved moving forward with ARC studies involving Hepworth Central and Derby schools as well.