Editorial: Bloomsbury embarks on great adventure to decide high school

Bloomsbury school officials and the residents who live in the close-knit borough are embarking on a great adventure. They’re considering changing where their students will attend high school.

For years, Bloomsbury students have attended Phillipsburg High School in Warren County. Every so often someone suggests that because Bloomsbury is in Hunterdon, perhaps its students should attend a Hunterdon high school.

What Hunterdon school would that be? Would it cost more? What programs might they have that aren’t offered in P’burg, and vice versa? What about AP classes, graduation rates and the football team? By the time all of the questions were asked, consensus appeared futile.

But times have changed. Last year, the Bloomsbury school board ordered a study to explore the options and implications of changing high schools. Now officials are talking about the study and the future. So are parents, students and school officials outside of Bloomsbury, because Delaware Valley High School in Alexandria Township is a possibility.

Bloomsbury is in an unusual position. With fewer than 1,000 residents, the borough appears too small to efficiently support its own elementary school. That the K-8 Bloomsbury School still exists is probably because a visionary school superintendent, the now-retired Frank Albert, arranged for it to become a “choice school” and accept students from outside the district.

The state pays the tuition, and everyone benefits. Sure, it seems like an obvious idea now. But in 1999, when the economy was going gangbusters, it was radical. That’s why it was the only school in the county participating, and initially one of only 10 in the state in the program.

Perhaps tiny Bloomsbury is once again leading the pack. It’s asking tough questions about education and costs and benefits and — rather than dismiss new ideas with a wave of the hand — are exploring all the options.

Perhaps its small size makes the district more able to adapt to change, but other school districts would be wise to examine the willingness of Bloomsbury to consider its options.

When the dust settles and a decision is made, maybe Bloomsbury will leave things just as they are. No one knows. But regardless of the outcome, there will be a benefit from the exploration that will endure for years.

“The unexamined life isn’t worth living,” Plato quoted Socrates as saying. He was right. School districts, too, are worth examination.