During a public engagement session Tuesday evening, the school board president told people to “keep their mouths shut.”

The meeting was the second public engagement session in the Warren County School District’s process of reconfiguration. It was attended by well over 100 people.

There were presentations on transportation and a public survey – which remains open through Friday – and dozens of speakers who relayed their concerns about the reconfiguration options, some of whom spoke numerous times.

For the most part, the meeting was civil with the only interruptions of speakers being applause at popular points.

A strong majority of those who spoke did so in favor of keeping all four of the district’s high schools open. The options before the board include moving Sheffield’s high school students to Warren, moving Youngsville’s high school students to Eisenhower and Warren, creating a K-12 center in Youngsville, moving Eisenhower’s high school students to Youngsville and Warren, keeping all four high schools open in the current configuration, and adjusting the attendance area boundaries to help balance out the numbers of students in each of the high schools.

There were many who spoke against the closure of Sheffield and Youngsville high schools.

City of Warren Council Member Jared Villella read a letter expressing the council’s position, especially in regard to a proposal that would change attendance boundaries to move students out of Warren Area High School to boost enrollment at the district’s other high schools.

The reading of the letter took well over the announced target time limit of two minutes – Villella’s turn at the podium was not unique in that respect.

As he read on, the grumbling from the audience, which had started almost immediately, grew louder and more widespread.

As he neared the end of the letter, it was difficult to hear him over the audience. Board Member Donna Zariczny shouted, “Mister President, point of order.”

At that time, Board President Paul Mangione said, “If everybody could just keep their mouths shut. Everyone wants to speak tonight. Why don’t we allow everyone to speak?”

The “keep their mouths shut” comment was referenced multiple times through the rest of the meeting.

“I came here tonight because I was told it was a public engagement session,” Andrew Goss said. “I would caution any board member on telling people to shut up. If you’re asking the public for engagement and you want to hear what they have to say, that’s a terrible way to go about it.”

He said the district should be looking at security issues before making final decisions.

“The fact that we’re talking about even considering closing Youngsville is very nearsighted,” he said. “It could come back to haunt you one day.”

When Carl Lewis took the podium, he turned his back to the board.

“I’m going to turn this way because these are the people that are going to listen,” Lewis said. “The biggest bullies in the school district are sitting behind me. Have they heard any of your voices since they got elected? You don’t want to hear ‘shut your mouths’? How about we go to the polls on May 16 and we vote some of them out?”

There were many familiar themes among those who spoke, from the value of community – impacts to communities that lose their high schools and the importance of community support for students, the value of small schools and classes,

“These communities need their schools,” Tom Holden said. “These kids need their community.”

“Without them you will see drastic change for the bad,” Holden said. “Please think and take consideration deeply. You’re not just closing a school, you’re closing a community.”

“I think that schools are safer smaller and they should remain as they are,” William Gardner said.

Some commented directly on options.

The option – number six – that involved changing attendance boundaries in an effort to take some of the students from WAHS and boost numbers at the other schools was not only the target of Warren City Council.

“Option six, in my personal opinion, is stupid,” Barbara Young said. “My concern is… you will be not only pulling them into a new high school, but you’re going to be pulling them from their friends. You’re moving specific areas of town, not just a whole school. They’re not going to go with the rest of their class.”

“With a lot of these other options, they’re going to move as a whole,” she said. “They’re going to have that support.”

“I think everyone can agree that Option 6 is terrible,” Jewel Rozanski said.

She suggested taking another look at an option that the board had removed from the table because the district’s solicitor said it was not legal.

“I hear so many people wanting to split the district up… but legislation prevents it,” Rozanski said. “I feel like the majority of people would like to see that option. How do we go about pushing for that legislation?”

“Most of the people in this room right now, if they had the opportunity to dissolve this school district or to leave this school district, we’d be gone,” Nathan Lindberg said. “Every 10 years, we go through this same cycle of looking at this problem and not addressing the root cause… which is how this school district is organized. In Sheffield, the vast majority of people here don’t want to be involved in this anymore. We want to run our own schools.”

“The numbers for Youngsville and Sheffield… graduating classes and enrollment… they’re not that different compared to 10 to 15 years ago,” Courtney Williams said. “They fluctuate every single year. It’s not like it’s this huge, insane amount of numbers. It’s not like we’ve gained or lost 100 kids.”

A proposal related to closing schools “happens every 10 years,” Williams said. “It’s getting annoying. It’s frustrating. As the people who pay your salary, we deserve to know why this is happening.”

“I have seen this district waste money and make horrible decisions for the past 10 to 20 years,” she said. “It’s ridiculous.”

According to the schedule posted by the district regarding master facilities planning, the board could “narrow options to two or three” at a work session during committee meetings on Monday and make a final “decision on option” at a work session on May 22.

“Before your vote next week, are these your best options?” Gladys Archer asked. “Come hell or high water it’s going to be one of these?”