You can be TOO true to your school

I'm all for school spirit; the rah-rah attitude, the pride in great accomplishments and so forth. It's a good thing, and unfortunately it's probably a bit too out-of-fashion these days.

But like anything good, it can have its drawbacks. For example, when a neighborhood fights tooth and nail for a school that may be a bit long in the tooth and in need of more than a few nails.

Yes, folks, sometimes schools must close. But whenever a school board decides the time has come for your kid's school to face the wrecking ball, or the school just doesn't have enough students, you would have thought the board voted to tear down the Sistine Chapel. There are stories in the paper with photos of little kids with signs pleading to keep their classrooms open. (These are probably the same kids who are the first to bolt from campus when the last bell rings in the summer and dread the onset of autumn.) There are contentious board meetings filled with angy parents who threaten petition drives, recall elections and everything else short of pistols at dawn.

In short, it's chaos.

Normally I want parents to raise heck with a school board. But not in these cases. And it's not because the boards are the source of all wisdom in these matters.

No, it's simple market forces at work.

In what other business, would a CEO demand to keep a location open when it clearly has outlived its usefulness and / or not enough people go there?

This is one instance in which government can actually get it right; if the board has the guts.

And they'll need plenty of guts because no elected official wants a bunch of little kids and mommies outside his or her office door.

But that's what school closings bring.

Yet the benefits outweigh the negatives.

Think about it. A school gets closed because fewer students are going there? Well, put those students elsewhere. Does it make sense to have a half-full school open for business when there may be room to put the students on other campuses? Is it logical to spend more money than the buildings are worth to bring them up to code? Is it sensible to keep the campus available for kids when the neighborhood is getting older and the only people who can walk to school are the retirees who observe the all-but-empty crosswalks?

No, no, and no to all three.

School closures stir up emotions, but you wouldn't balance your bank account based on emotion. You need to know how much money you have. You wouldn't put paint on a car with no engine or tires. You need a different car. So you shouldn't expect school districts to turn a blind eye to cold, hard reality and keep a dying or obsolete school open for purely emotional (if commendable) reasons.

The truth is, within a few weeks the students who left a closed school dry their eyes and get on with their lives in a new and hopefully improved location. No, it's not perfect. But have you noticed a lot of people aren't voting for school budget overrides anymore? They're asking the tough questions and making the districts make tough choices as a result. School closures are a part of that. And the fact is that most districts could stand to get a little leaner at all levels. Closing a school that is draining resources means some of those resources can be plowed into other schools. There is a net gain.

So be true to your school, but if the truth demands you let that school go... then let it go.