Morana Mesic has seen a change in her son, Prince Harper, since he began middle school - from someone who didn’t believe in himself academically, to a confident, proud student.

“I was absolutely blown away in what I've been seeing in my son. It’s his first year but he has thrived incredibly - academically, socially, emotionally, in every way,” Mesic said.

She believes that’s thanks to the staff and programs at M.S. 250 West Side Collaborative, a tiny middle school on the Upper West Side.

“Since it’s a small school, the teachers don’t have to really divide their attention a lot into a bunch of different students, and they have the time to get to know individual students,” her son Prince said.

But the education department argues the school has gotten too small - now serving only 75 students, after an enrollment decline of 58% over the last five years. They are proposing to merge the school with nearby Lafayette Academy, which is serving about 158 students.

Mesic argues that for West Side Collaborative, the proposal is tantamount to closure.

“This is a merger in which we would lose our principal, our teachers, our staff, our building, our name, our mascot and our programs. So how is this different than a closure?” Mesic asked. “Except for maybe if you call it a merger, the families will be more quiet in going along with it.”

The school is part of the city’s PROSE program, which allows schools to vote to adopt innovative and progressive teaching practices outside of union rules. The education department says that can continue after the merger, but teachers like Paul Kehoe are skeptical.

“The idea that you can pick up a program that’s been in existence for a quarter century at this point or more and transplant it to another school that hasn't had the same legacy of doing the work for as long as we have is a little fallacious, right? It’s impractical, it's shortsighted, it’s not going to happen,” Kehoe said.

Kehoe, who has been teaching at the school for 16 of the 17 years he’s been a teacher, says the school works to put students at the center of their own education.

“We are a small school by design, and that small size has never been limiting for us. In fact, it’s a key reason why we’ve been in the vanguard of so many progressive practices that are now spread out throughout District 3 and the city,” he said.

The small size and student-centered approach work well for many students, like Hector Aguilar.

“I like small schools, and if we merge with a bigger school than us, what’s the point of being in this school?” he asked.

His mom, Ariane Urias, worries Hector, who has special needs, will struggle in a bigger school.

“What is going to happen to my son if this merge happens? Because he's right now in a small setting classroom, and when we went to visit Lafayette, they had an open house and we went over there and the classroom was totally full,” she said. “So where is my son going to be placed? Are they going to have the right attention for my kid?”

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the education department said the city is listening to feedback from families.

“At New York City Public Schools, we take pride in engaging families and community members to ensure that student needs are at the forefront of all decisions that are made. This merger is still in the proposal phase, if approved, it is designed to give students the best access to new programs and additional supports," Chyann Tull, the spokeswoman, said.

The department says it has been engaging parents since January, and that the low enrollment at both Lafayette and West Side Collaborative limits each school's ability to offer new programs or support for students.

Schools are funded per student, so the new, larger school would receive more funding and may qualify as a Title I school, meaning it serves large numbers of students from lower-income homes and is entitled to extra funding. West Side Collaborative is already a Title I school. Lafayette is currently not.

If the merger is approved, Lafayette will keep its principal, and the superintendent will “work closely” with M.S. 250’s principal, Novella Bailey, to find her a new position in District 3. As for the rest of the staff, the department says Lafayette’s principal will work to “minimize excessing of staff to the greatest extent possible.”

But Kehoe, the teacher, says he is certain some staff will be excessed, meaning they will be let go from the new merged school and need to apply for open positions elsewhere. That will be based on seniority under union rules, he says, meaning both schools will be at risk of losing teachers.

“We have teachers here like myself who have been here for 16 years. I’m not the most seasoned teacher in the building. So we could legitimately be taking away jobs from teachers at [Lafayette] who are equally loved, and that feels really wrong, for teachers to be pitted against each other,” Kehoe said.

Parents say they want the city to consider options to boost enrollment instead, like welcoming more asylum seekers. The school has already seen several join their classes, and Mesic says some of them have made the honor roll.

“This proposal, this idea to shut down a school of 25 years who has never had any negative remarks is not the only solution. We have proposed to the DOE, to the district, please send asylum seekers into our school. We have room, we know how to help them and help them thrive. Why are you sprinkling them around the district into schools that are overpopulated when we are here, sitting with available seats?” Mesic said.

The panel is set to vote on the merger on April 19.