Pupils from Mynyddcerrig could go to an area "super-school"

Protesters campaigning against the closure of Ysgol Mynyddcerrig near Kidwelly dropped stones outside the council's offices prior to the meeting.

The school is one of six in the county which could shut in the near future under a reorganisation of education in the county.

The council says its strategy is to reduce 5,000 surplus school places.

Members of the Welsh Language Society and others dropped stones at the road entrance to the office in Carmarthen before councillors arrived.

Protestors had called on members of the council's education scrutiny committee to call in the executive board's decision on closing Mynyddcerrig.

What the officers are doing is implementing the county's strategy which was decided three years ago Coun Ieuan Jones

It claimed the council has not fully explored the alternatives to shutting the site, as required by the Welsh assembly's guidelines on school closures.

But Councillor Ieuan Jones, executive member with responsibility for education, said officers have answered parents' questions and have done their job thoroughly.

"What the officers are doing is implementing the county's strategy which was decided three years ago," he said.

"If we had a school of over 200 children - the expenditure for every child is less than the expenditure on a handful of children in a country school."

The council has a 10-year programme aimed at reducing 5,000 surplus places and improving school buildings, which could see up to 32 schools closed and replaced with area "super-schools".

A spokeswoman for the council said the executive board had approved Mynyddcerrig's closure.

She confirmed gravel had been dumped outside the front entrance of County Hall but had been cleared away.