We knew closing two high schools in Warren County would make financial sense.

The unknown in this equation was whether or not the closure of Youngsville and Sheffield would mean a higher-quality education for county high school students.

At first glance, it does

For the 2025-26 school year, based on student requests and staffing considerations, the district plans to offer 101 courses at Eisenhower and 115 courses at Warren Area High School, all meeting the 12-student minimum enrollment.

Eisenhower will offer 80.2% of the courses available in the district’s catalogue while Warren will offer 91.3% of the available course – with some courses becoming available in future years as students meet prior course requirements.

During the 2024-25 school year, Eisenhower offered 59.5% of available courses, with 16 of those courses offered with 12 or fewer students. Youngsville offered 71.6% of available courses; Warren offered 75.4% of available courses and Sheffield offered 29.3% of available courses.

The restructuring also aims to provide a more seamless transition between different course levels, such as honors, Advanced Placement (AP), college preparatory (CP), and general courses. Gary Weber, district superintendent, said students will have the opportunity to move between course levels more effectively, ensuring they are placed in classes that best meet their academic needs.​

As we said, at first glance the school district has done what it said it would do – improve the breadth of course offerings available to students in the school district.

Closing high schools purely for financial savings was never the best option. Closures made sense only if more students could be exposed to more courses so they are better prepared for whatever path they choose to take post-high school.