Now that a judge has ruled the Warren County School District acted legally when it closed the Youngsville and Sheffield high schools, it’s time to stop looking toward the past and start looking toward the future.

The judge’s decision should be more than a legal formality that concludes a case on a judicial docket. It needs to be the end of the debate over whether or not to close Sheffield and Youngsville and the start of a public realization that the Warren County School District is changing – and now is the time to make sure those changes work as well as possible for the students who will attend the remaining schools.

That doesn’t mean the decision to close Sheffield and Youngsville will suddenly become popular in the court of public opinion, nor mean those who don’t agree with the decision will wake up one morning with a new opinion. But the judge’s decision closes the book on reversing the school board’s decision, and at the same time should refocus public discussion.

School board members have two months to assuage parent concerns over the length of bus routes for students, including for extracurricular activities, and scheduling of teachers. That includes music teachers, a topic of discussion at this week’s school board meeting. There are going to be more issues that come up between now and the start of the 2025-26 school year. Resolving those issues has to be the first and foremost priority both before school begins and when unforeseen complications come up after students return to school in the fall.

That means flexibility on the part of families who are transitioning to new schools who encounter bumps in the road and by school administrators families have unexpected problems that need to be addressed.

June’s court ruling means there is no going back to the way things were. The only way to go now is forward.