PHILIPSBURG, Pa. -- Despite overwhelming support from survey respondents supporting a move to consolidate Philipsburg-Osceola School District, some people are questioning the results of the study.

At Monday’s press conference held inside North Lincoln Hill Elementary, school officials presented findings from building committee surveys mailed out to 6,600 district residents.

In the report, 44 percent of respondents supported the district consolidating from five buildings to four, 32 percent backed the consolidation upgrade of three buildings.

Overall, 58 percent of respondents favor the closure of the Junior High building on Sixth street.

Building committee officials said 33 percent of residents responded to the mailed survey, providing a 99 percent confidence level.

Despite survey results showing support for shutting down the Junior High building, several people are speaking out with concern of the study.

“The only school listed in there with a price tag for rehab was the Junior High School,” said Philipsburg Borough Manager Jan McDonald. “It just felt like it was very much slanted against that school in closing it."

McDonald fears the 73-year-old Junior High building will be left vacant if school officials move forward with a consolidation plan.

“I don’t want any more empty buildings,” said McDonald. “If it has to happen, it has to happen. I want that decision to be made in a very reasonable fashion. I just think right now, everything seems to be focused on one school.”

Despite the $15 million price tag to upgrade the Junior High building, McDonald, the borough manager and council members are publicly supporting the option to keep all five school buildings open.

Building Committee member and Moshannon Valley Economic Development Partnership program director Emily Gette-Doyle worries residents were mislead by the wording of survey questions.

"The only price that was associated with anything was renovating the Junior High school, which leads the public to believe that that's the highest price tag of any option,” said Gette-Doyle. ”In reality, all of the other options are going to cost tens of millions of dollars."

Philipsburg-Osceola Area School District media relations officer Dena Cipriano backs the survey, telling WJAC-TV Wednesday that all of the Building Committee members approved the questions before the survey was mailed out.

“Seventy-five percent said 'yes' in favor of consolidation over maintaining the five current buildings,” said Cipriano. “Even if you took out that question regarding the Junior High, you still get the same response because the data is extremely consistent."

The Building Committee will present the findings of the study to the school board March 22.

School board members are expected to vote in early April.