Plan could come in handy

The people who built the Douglas County School District didn't have a facilities master plan.

On Tuesday night the Douglas County School Board approved hiring a $200,000 consultant to examine the district's schools from top to bottom, including determining each building's condition and its educational suitability.

A fifth of a million dollars seems a little pricey to us, but there's a good reason to go through the exercise.

The district receives its money based on the number of students that arrive each year, and there's no reason to think that school enrollment won't continue to decline into the foreseeable future.

Blame the collapse of the building industry if you like, but the student numbers began to drop in 1999, thanks in part to the high cost of housing at Lake Tahoe.

If student enrollment continues to decline, the district will be faced with a very difficult decision, closing a school in the Valley.

Closing Kingsbury Middle School at Lake Tahoe was a huge battle that spread into the political arena, with one closure opponent challenging a school board member for her seat.

We anticipate that same decision in the Valley will have even more serious potential for conflict.

That's when the $200,000 consultants will earn their pay.