The Warren County School District is considering reconfiguring its high schools. Among the proposals on the table are closing Sheffield Area High School (orange) and moving those students to Warren Area High School (dark blue) and closing Youngsville High School (red) and moving those students to Eisenhower High School (bright blue).

When it comes to a possible reconfiguration of Warren County School District’s high schools, transportation is a concern.

As the administration points out, the district is geographically one of the largest in the state and its buses travel over 10,000 miles each day.

One of the proposals before the school board is closing the only high school that is west of the geographic center of the county.

At a public meeting last week, many of those who spoke expressed concerns about “two-hour bus rides.”

Superintendent Amy Stewart said the district currently works to keep students from being on a bus for more than one hour and is successful in an overwhelming majority of cases.

While some in the crowd expressed their disagreement that the district manages to hit that target, Stewart stood firm.

On Wednesday, the board did not establish a time standard over which transportation would become a deal-breaker, but members expressed interest in keeping to the current one-hour limit.

A reconfiguration that resulted in moving high school students out of Sheffield Area High School would be able to meet that goal, Stewart said.

“We know in the east attendance area we could get that done,” she said.

A move of students out of Youngsville High School would test those limits.

“Eldred (Township) is a concerning area,” Stewart said. She said the same for Triumph, Limestone, Watson, and Deerfield townships.

She listed the numbers of students involved in those southwestern parts of the county — students in Southwest Township attend Titusville schools. Students who live in Spring Creek and Columbus townships attend Corry schools.

There are currently 35 students attending Warren County schools from Eldred Township, seven from Triumph, seven from Limestone, two from Watson, and five from Deerfield, she said.

One citizen who spoke during the public meeting said the location of Youngsville High School gives it advantages over some of the others.

Rick Brewster detailed the distances from certain communities to Youngsville and to Eisenhower.

“If you take a look, Youngsville is located strategically, basically in the center of that county,” Brewster said. “From Grand Valley to Youngsville is 16 miles. From Grand Valley to Eisenhower is 31.”

While communities to the south and southwest would generally add 15 or 16 miles to the trip by going through Youngsville to get to Eisenhower, Brewster said Youngsville is comparable closer, if not literally closer, to some students who currently attend Eisenhower. And no students who currently attend Eisenhower would be close to a 31-mile trip to Youngsville, he said,

Students who live in Lander or Russell would have to travel about 16 miles to get to Youngsville, Brewster said. From Akeley, the trip is about 18. Bear Lake, while 18 miles from Youngsville, is 17 from Eisenhower, he said. Lottsville is about 12 miles from each school and students in Wrightsville are four miles closer to Youngsville – 10 to 14, he said.

“If you take a look, there could be some consolidation,” Brewster said. “I think you need to take a look at it… the direction we want to go… so our students don’t spend all their time on buses.”

Of about 15 developed by board members, administration, and public input, there are two options before the board that would result in the closure of Eisenhower – one of those would have those students going to Youngsville. The other is a one-high-school option. The district does not currently have a high school building large enough for all of its high school students.

The board could begin applying criteria to the options at its Monday meeting.