BEVERLY — The School Committee approved a plan to close McKeown Elementary School and move around about 200 other children in a citywide redistricting, effectively concluding a nearly three-month ordeal.

"Not that I like the decision, but I'm just glad that it's done," Superintendent James Hayes said.

He had recommended the School Committee close both McKeown and Cove, and turn them into a secondary alternative school and early childhood education center, respectively, in order to close a $2.6 million gap between spending and expected revenue in next year's budget.

The committee rejected that proposal and instead approved Mayor Bill Scanlon's plan to keep Cove open using money from the city's general fund. Yesterday, committee members made that direction official by approving a $46 million school budget, which will go before the City Council on Monday for final approval.

"We all need to get behind the plan, and we need to make it work," said committee President Annemarie Cesa. The committee approved the plan, 6-1.

Though not everyone was immediately supportive, Ward 3 representative Jim Latter was the only member to vote against the plan. Toward the beginning of the meeting, he moved to reconsider the five-school model, and closing Cove, too. That motion was defeated in a 4-3 vote, with the mayor casting the deciding vote.

Later, David Manzi in Ward 1 and Ward 5's Cesa voted to reconsider, meaning they did not support the five-school plan and were leaning more toward closing both schools, as Hayes had initially proposed.

Scanlon, Maria Decker in Ward 6, Karen Fogarty in Ward 4, and Paul Manzo in Ward 2, all rejected the motion to reconsider.

When the reconsideration failed, many parents let out a sigh of relief.

"I think any parent would want a five-school model instead of a four," said resident Caryn Gallagher, who has kids at Cove. Class sizes, a sticking point for many in the community, were significantly lower in the five-school model, and students on the free and reduced lunch program were more evenly dispersed throughout the district.

"Obviously, approving the five-school model is a vote in favor of education," she said. "The mayor has been very good with his numbers in the past. If he says it's sustainable, I do want to believe it."

Scanlon offered $680,000 to the school district, and then another $100,000 if it needs it. He has said the plan would be sustainable for the next five years. But Hayes predicts another school will close in the future to be turned into an early childhood education center, and students will be moved around again.

However, now that the decision is final — pending City Council action, at least — Hayes said the next step is to move forward. The reconfiguration will take place in September, and parents can go online to the district Web site at www.beverlyschools.org for a street directory that determines which school their children will attend in the fall.