Listen carefully, Warren County residents, to the arguments made during discussions over the possible closure of high schools in Youngsville and Sheffield.

What arguments are based on logic and statistics and which are ad hominem arguments that seek to distract from the real issues at hand? Which arguments get around immovable objects and which arguments create speed bumps that can be navigated around with cool heads and a little logic?

We say this because we’re already seeing ad hominem arguments crop up, and the school board has only just begun the process to possibly move ninth through 12th grades at Youngsville and Sheffield high schools with Youngsville students going to Eisenhower and Sheffield students to Warren.

It should be obvious even to those who find their way to the grocery store without a map and a flashlight that a school district that spends more than it takes in and relies on its savings year after year will eventually run out of money. If there is no influx of outside money – and right now none is promised – then there it’s up to the district to live within its means. Ways to do that are basically cut staff.

What we’re really talking about with these two potential high school closures is how to provide the best education possible for high school students throughout the district while saving money each year. Now is not the time to attack the messenger, to debate past school board decisions or to act as if questions about bus routes are insurmountable. This really is simple. We have to resist the urge to make it complex. Now is the time to figure out how to balance the district’s budget and, once that goal is accomplished, to figure out how to provide an education that provides an array of offerings that prepare our high schoolers for college or the workforce. And, remember, money we spend on buildings that we don’t have to spend comes at the expense of the very students people are trying to protect.

Our county has been running into the same consolidation brick wall for 40 years. It’s time to break through.