Nov. 14, 2001
 
 If Allegany County School Board member Dee Truesdell really wants to know where money was saved in the consolidation process, we suggest she schedule a meeting with school finance director John Wagoner. Mr. Wagoner, we suspect, will be able to give Dr. Truesdell the scoop.
 
 Mr. Wagoner, short of spending days or weeks assigning actual monetary amounts to each action taken in the consolidation process, is perfectly capable of giving Dr. Truesdell an idea of where money was saved and where it wasn’t.
 
 Her insistence on publicly questioning whether any money was saved at all seems a tad disingenuous. Is this really about taking a hard look at the school system, or about Dr. Truesdell’s undying loyalty to the idea perpetrated by her mentor, former superintendent John O’Connell, that small schools are best and should be preserved?
 
 We like small schools too - Allegany, Beall and even Fort Hill qualify as small compared to many other schools around the state. Those schools are small, but not so small that they can’t provide the academic offerings kids need to get into a competitive college.
 
 But Dr. Truesdell’s version of small is ridiculous. Thirty kids in an entire high school is too small. Too small to be able to provide the basics, let alone the arts or academically advanced electives. Is that what we want for the children of Allegany County?
 
 The only unfortunate thing about consolidation is that it was avoided for so long. By putting off the inevitable for 15 years, we had to consolidate not only at the secondary level, but at the elementary level as well.
 
 Had consolidation taken place 15 years ago, when it started, Oldtown and Barton might still have elementary schools. However, our system was allowed to limp along for years, with school boards actively stripping the small high schools of their academic offerings just to keep the doors open. But even that didn’t work after a while. In the end, with the specter of bankruptcy looming, the school board finally did what needed to be done.
 
 For Dr. Truesdell to insinuate that consolidation wasn’t necessary, that it achieved nothing, is irresponsible. She would appear to have an agenda set on fanning the flames of controversy in order to prevent our system from moving forward.
 
 That doesn’t seem like the sort of thing an elected official should do. So find something else to occupy your time, Dr. Truesdell. And stop wasting ours.