YOUNGSTOWN — An ad hoc committee of the Youngstown City School District met Monday at Chaney High School for a brief discussion about plans to reconfigure some district buildings for next school year.

The school board voted 5-1 in January to approve a plan that will shift some students and teachers from Kirkmere Elementary to Volney Rogers Elementary, and merge those schools into the building that now houses Chaney Middle School. Chaney Middle School students will be relocated to Volney because it originally was constructed to be a middle school.

The plan also will move the district’s preschool program and several administrative offices to the Kirkmere Elementary building. At the time of the announcement, District Spokesperson Stacy Quinones said that, depending on the census area, some Kirkmere and Volney students now will attend Volney, Taft or Paul C. Bunn schools, and some Taft students within a particular census area will be shifted to Paul C. Bunn.

School board member Joseph Meranto said Monday he knows the move is challenging for everyone, but he also has heard a lot of positive feedback and is optimistic about the changes.

“I think we’re doing it fairly, and we’re doing it by the contract,” he said. “I really think having that central preschool will allow us to offer more services to the students. I think it will be good.”

Monday’s meeting was only to review progress on the plans for implementing those changes over the summer, in advance of tonight’s regular school board meeting. Officials said letters have been mailed to all families that will be affected by the changes, and they discussed the details of how the district will organize and move teachers’ belongings and furniture between buildings.

Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said he met with affected faculty and staff from Volney on Feb. 20 and those from Kirkmere on Feb. 22. Operations supervisor Nancy Mikos said Chaney Middle School faculty and staff are the only group that have not yet had a meeting with administration, but that they will be meeting soon.

Batchelor said the district is still deliberating on exactly what administrative offices will move to Kirmkmere, but human resources, student services and the treasurer’s office are certainly included.

Batchelor said the priority is to move all classrooms and relevant furniture first, and that administrative offices may not be moved until September or October, because the district does not want to risk interrupting important business that is conducted over the summer and early in the school year.

Batchelor specifically mentioned faculty and administration contracts, paychecks, and any items that would affect the district’s ability to meet key performance indicator goals.

Batchelor said the board is set to begin negotiations with the Youngstown Education Association, which represents the district’s nearly 450 teachers, on March 18. The union signed a one-year contract with YCSD in September after a four-week strike.

Batchelor also said that contracts for administrators and other staff must be completed by July 1, the beginning of the fiscal year, and that the time between then and the start of the school year is when the district will need to interview and hire administrators and staff to replace those who leave or retire.

Treasurer Bryan Schiraldi said that, for all those reasons, he strongly recommends the district wait until September or October to move those offices.

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