Town meetings to decide the fate of three Selma schools will begin Wednesday, Feb. 9, at 6 p.m.

Selma Schools superintendent Donald Jefferson said all the scheduled meetings are scheduled for the School of Discovery and will last one hour.

Other meeting dates are Feb. 22, March 8 and March 29.

The school board does not have a timeline to make its decision, but Jefferson has said he would like to have the issue settled by April.

Jefferson also said he wants some basic ground rules, including not allowing anyone to speak negatively about a particular school by name.

At issue is the proposed closure in 2013 of Byrd Elementary School, Phoenix School and the School of Discovery. School officials say the schools are ripe for closure because they have declining student population, among other criteria considered.

The school system could save about $500,000 a year if the schools close, Jefferson said.

During the town meetings, individuals will have three minutes to make their cases.

Jefferson said those individuals may speak regarding facts about schools, but may not make derogatory remarks about other schools while making their points.

“You don’t build yourself up by tearing someone else down,” he said.

Jefferson said some people at a recent school board meeting talked about locations of particular schools that would remain open. “It was a derogatory statement,” he said.

A couple of school board members raised issues about the limitations, saying those who talk about performance or safety issues might seem derogatory while dealing in facts.

“You have to consider the variables,” school board member Frank Chestnut Jr. said.

Two of the schools targeted, Byrd and School of Discovery, are in Chestnut’s district.

Meanwhile, an Internet campaign began recently to keep Byrd School open. Emery Hicks, the creator of www.savebyrdschool.com, said he wanted a central location where people can stand behind the school.

The website has an online petition, information about the school, listings of school meeting dates and links to different news stories about the school.