Warren County School District board members have made the right decision to close two Sheffield and Youngsville high schools.

It wasn’t an easy decision. Board members surely knew their decision wouldn’t be popular. They’ve heard the arguments. They listened to the impassioned pleas to keep the schools open. But a year after taking a half-step by sending some Sheffield students to Warren Area High School for core classes and then busing them back to Warren when they are done with those courses, the board decided it was time to take the plunge.

People are upset. That’s understandable. But facts and figures are emotionless, and they are what is driving this decision.

Our population is not growing. Budgets will continue to go up – but closing schools is a way for the school district to live within its means at a time when massive infusions of state aid can’t be counted upon.

Courses in smaller high schools are being cut because there aren’t teachers available to teach them. The old system may be familiar, but it wasn’t providing the best education possible while, at the same time, the school district as a whole is struggling to make ends meet. Logic dictated that now is the time for the Warren County School District to reinvent itself.

The difficult work is actually just beginning. Choosing to close Youngsville and Sheffield is a monetary decision. Now, the school district has to make educational decisions.

How will it reinvest the money saved into a better education for Warren County students? What new courses can be offered to better prepare our students for the future? What needs to be offered to help those going to college after they leave Warren County? What needs to be offered for students who will go into the workforce after graduation?

This could be an exciting time if we allow it to be, and it’s no time for parents to pull away from the Warren County School District. Quite the contrary, now is the time for engagement. Those with concerns about the quality of education in Warren County need to engage with the board and administration to help create the type of high school education students deserve.

School board members made a hard, necessary decision on Monday. The story isn’t over. It’s just beginning.