If Rowan County had one shot at using a time machine, would we go back to 2004 and opt not to build an additional high school, or go forward 15 years to see how many seats the Rowan-Salisbury schools would need in the future?

As the school board looks at the possibility of closing North Rowan High because of overcapacity, hindsight suggests the county should never have built Carson High School in the southeast area of the county. When the decision was made around 2004, though, the two schools from which Carson would pull, East and South Rowan, were bursting at the seams, and enrollment was on an upward trend.

No one suspected a global financial crisis loomed ahead. Carson’s construction costs soared over budget due in part to the high price of materials amid a national building boom. We had no clue that a deep recession was about to put thousands out of work, or that the county’s growth would stall, or that a new generation of parents would be apt to choose charter, private or home schools over traditional public education.   

That said, Carson High School has proved to be immensely successful and popular. As much as people hallow their traditions, they also are drawn to things that are new and improved. The southern end is where Rowan County is growing, and Carson has reached full capacity.

If the school system’s main concern were evening out enrollment, redistricting could fill the hundreds of empty seats at North Rowan High, case closed. But the overcapacity problem goes much further. There are more than 1,200 empty seats in Rowan-Salisbury high schools, and a couple thousand more in middle and elementary schools.

Before anything is decided about which schools should be closed or how big consolidated schools should be, Rowan citizens need to find common ground. Most residents value education, appreciate efficiency and abhor government waste. At odds with those principles, though, is our love of tradition and close-knit communities. On paper, it’s easy to say a school with 500 empty seats should be closed, but when you know that school is the heart of a town like Spencer, the decision is not so easy.

Tough choices are not unprecedented. Rowan County went through a sea change in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the current consolidated high schools were built. A lot of families had to give up their hometown high schools. Integration in the 1960s virtually erased the schools that had served the black community, a sacrifice that may not have registered with the rest of the county.

When it comes to forecasting school needs, the best officials can do is make an educated guess. Enrollment is falling and appears unlikely to change course soon. Meanwhile, schools aren’t being maintained as well as they should be because funds have to be stretched so far. We don’t have a time machine, but we do have calculators, and continuing on this path does not add up.

Rowan-Salisbury has more schools than it needs or can afford. If you don’t like the consolidation proposal the school board is considering now, help the board develop a better plan. Attend the public meetings that start Tuesday evening at Salisbury High School. Help turn this dilemma into an opportunity.