Opposition to a proposed closure of high schools in Sheffield and Youngsville continued at Monday night’s school board meeting.

A legal notice published in the Times Observer earlier this month outlined the proposal: Grades 9-12 at Sheffield would be moved to Warren while Youngsville would merge into Eisenhower.

A closure hearing is set for Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. at Warren Area High School.

The notice states that the hearing will include a presentation “as to why the closing of the school is being recommended” and the “public will be afforded the opportunity to offer public comment regarding the potential closure of the two schools.”

“We are here for the students,” Barb Lutton told the board on Monday. “We, the Youngsville community, feel that consolidation is essential to the future of the Warren County School District.”

She claimed, though, that the “only option” is consolidating Eisenhower to Youngsville, the inverse of the administration’s recommendation.

Lutton cited a rumor of a K-12 complex in Youngsville and reiterated the other options presented by administration, which included closing Eisenhower and either sending those students to Youngsville or splitting them between Youngsville and Warren.

She asked if this process would redraw some boundary lines.

“Are these other options completely gone?” she asked. “We’ve done a good job of proving what we came here to do. (It’s) important to recognize all of those options.”

Lutton then raised course offering issues, staffing, class size and potential special education implications.

Dave Myers acknowledged that the idea of closing Youngsville is a “difficult pull to swallow for the majority” of the community.

He fired back at the criticism that this issue is tied to mascots.

“I suppose we’re supposed to be ashamed of them,” he said. “It feels like reverse psychology. I’m very proud of what we’re teaching our children. “Most of us know change is necessary… we accept that. It’s the manner being proposed we find unacceptable.”

Myers argued for an east-west high school configuration as the only solution.

“Most of us know change is necessary,” he said. “We accept that. It’s the manner being proposed we find unacceptable.”

He argued that the change will create a “financial burden,” driving participation down.

Harold Dunkle raised issues of safety, citing response times by police, travel times to Warren General Hospital and evacuation options.

“Let’s not forget really recently we had Michael Burham running around,” he said. “Where did they stage to go after him? Youngsville. Why? Because of its location. We all hope the injuries, emergencies don’t happen. We need to be realistic.”

Wendy Wilcox, Youngsville’s borough manager, stressed that closing the school will not cause the borough to go “downhill” and that she’d do everything in her power to get something in the building.

But she asked whether the district is “looking to the future at all.”