A meeting of boards of trustees and principals from six south Dunedin schools failed to find common ground on a viable option for dealing with the increasing number of empty classrooms.
Management from Macandrew Intermediate, Calton Hill, Caversham, College Street, Forbury and St Clair schools met on Thursday night to share their proposed options.
Each school representative had five to 10 minutes to present their options at the meeting at St Clair School, which was chaired by Ministry of Education commissioner Paul Spain.
Caversham School principal Mike Darracott said that, based on what he heard at the meeting, he believed it would be very difficult to find an "option three" that would satisfy all of the schools involved.
"There were considerable differences of opinion," he said.
Macandrew Intermediate Board of Trustees chairwoman Ernie Mather said it was interesting to hear what other schools involved were proposing.
"There wasn't a consensus of views.
"All we can do is submit what we've learnt from our community consultations."
College Street School board of trustees chairwoman Alison Black declined to comment on the meeting.
The schools are due to submit their options to the Ministry of Education on Tuesday.
Education Minister Anne Tolley will then chose one or more options early next year for further consultation, before choosing one to be implemented in 2012.
The consultation is in response to the 620 surplus pupil places at the six schools.
Mrs Tolley said demographic projections showed no significant rise in pupil numbers over the next few years.
The schools had lost a fifth of their pupils during the past decade and the ministry was aware roll declines led to reduced funding, reduced staffing and fewer educational options for pupils, she said.
Last month, she presented two options for dealing with the issue.
One option is to merge Forbury and Macandrew Intermediate schools into a years 1-8 full primary school on the Macandrew site, merge Caversham, College Street and Calton Hill schools into a years 1-8 full primary school on the Caversham site, and change St Clair School to a years 1-8 full primary school.
Another option is to close Macandrew Intermediate and merge Caversham, College Street and Calton Hill schools into a years 1-6 contributing primary school on the Caversham site.
Mrs Tolley has called for other options to be presented by school communities by December 14.
