The Council Bluffs School Board voted Tuesday night to build two new schools and close Pusey Elementary next year.

One of the new elementary school will be in Carter Lake and the other in the eastern part of Council Bluffs. The board also approved making improvements to Longfellow Elementary where Pusey students will attend beginning in August of 2010.

Amy Grove has a first-grader in Carter Lake Elementary and says a new school is long overdue.

"If you were to go in there and look you know that it needs to be done, everything needs to be updated or a new school built. My son’s only in first grade and I think it would be awesome for him to have a new facility to be in."

Officials with the Council Bluffs School District said they have a lot of support for renovation and consolidation of their grade schools.

“Our main goal is to be sure that we have the best places for our current students to live and learn so that they can be the best they can be,” says superintendent Dr. Martha Bruckner.

There was opposition as some people don’t want to see Gunn Elementary shut down. Gunn is in need of repair, but school officials believe renovation costs are too much and the number of students there is on the decline.

That doesn’t matter to John Criss, who purchased his house because it sits across the street from the school.

“I look forward to the school being there for in the future when I have children. It’s right there, it’s a lot better I think that way rather than having to cart ‘em down the street or bus ‘em. A lot of history in the school, it’s been around I'm sure what, maybe a hundred years?"

Gunn Elementary was not a part of Tuesday's vote.