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SACRAMENTO-

Hundreds of parents gathered at the Samuel Pannell Community Center on Meadowview Road Thursday evening, banning together, hoping to create ideas to stop 11 elementary schools from closing.

Parents are worried about their kids safety, fearing their children may have to walk miles to school in crime ridden neighborhoods.

“We feel really safe in my school,” said Michelle Alcala, a fourth grader at Maple Elementary.

Patricia Gentle has a 7-year-old son in second grade  at Mark Hopkins Elementary. If the closures happen; he’d have to walk to his new school, that scares her.

“There are more than 100 sex offenders in that area,” said Patricia Gentle.

We checked Sacramento Police Department’s crime maps to see what crime looks like in the area where Mark Hopkins  is and the new schools could be. The proposed new schools, John Sloat and John Bidwell have even more crime than Mark Hopkins.

“They want the kids to walk two miles,” said Suki Maharaj who’s worked as a teacher with the Sacramento School Unified District for 13 years.

The school district says if the closures happen, they have a transportation plan in place. The plan includes bus services and crossing guards.