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Our Opinion: Wagging the academic dog

Today’s word of the day…

CONUNDRUM.

Why is that today’s word?

The Warren County School District Board of Directors finds itself in … that word.

The communities in Warren County have spoken loud and clear. THEY WANT THEIR HIGH SCHOOLS!

BUT… and it’s a big but…

In a county with a dwindling population, the need for AP and Honors academic programs will also decline.

By having four high schools, your already diminishing numbers are diluted further.

Right now, because there are teachers with the right experience and open periods, some AP and Honors classes are available at different high schools. Some of those classes have had four students.

But as our enrollment declines so does our tax base and so do available revenues for this district.

How much longer in a district facing budgets cuts will we have teachers with free periods?

Which leads us to ask — when do the needs of the few outweigh the many?

The needs of the few are currently addressed by allowing those students to attend another school for academic reasons.

How much effect does that have on their home school?

For example, the Sheffield sixth-grade class has 33 students in the entire class. Let’s say five of them want to take four AP classes not offered at Sheffield when they’re in high school. Three of those students are willing to attend Warren Area High School to go where the classes are offered. The other two are not.

Should the few (3) be able to attend another school all day to better their education?

Our knee-jerk reaction is yes, and they currently can.

But what’s left for the other two?

Our school board and school district are in an unenviable position — trying to provide equal access to all four schools spread throughout Warren County.

How does the WCSD meet the needs of the few (3), the fewer (2), and the many (28)?

That is the conundrum facing the WCSD.

But thank goodness, this is only academics and not sports which really rouses the rabble.

We do not want the athletic tail wagging the academic dog.

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