A committee debating the organization of Butler Area School District unanimously voted Monday not to renovate the Butler Middle School building or build a new middle school.

The committee — made up of parents, students and educators — also took no vote regarding the closure of the middle school building.

With that, the committee effectively ruled out keeping the middle school, which would need $40 million in renovations that it’s clearly not going to get. To keep the building — which is more than 100 years old — operating effectively, it needs an upgrade.

From there, the clarity ends.

The committee chose an option to deal with the issue for the time being: reopening Broad Street Elementary, which is currently used as storage space, and repurposing Center Avenue Community School as an elementary.

Bouncing back and forth between closing and repurposing buildings is not good practice. The buildings are either useful or not, which is measurable by getting expert opinions.

The largest area of contention between educators and parents regarding the plan was whether to move fifth grade back to elementary schools or include fifth through eighth grade at the Intermediate High School building.

Teachers both on the committee and sitting in the audience at Monday’s meeting supported the latter option, while members of the community preferred the former.

Although parents’ concerns on the matter are understandable, this is an instance in which trusting the judgment of those with expertise is the right way to go.

Parents might not like the idea of their younger children fraternizing with older middle school students, but teachers overwhelmingly said trends in education show that pairing kindergarten through fourth and fifth through eighth are most common, and allow for better socialization and academic development.

Under the preferred plan, grades nine through 12 would attend class at Butler Senior High School, although it might need an addition to accommodate it.

This also shouldn’t be a concern for parents as some freshmen and upperclassmen already spend time together during after-school activities such as sports or band.

Trends are showing that enrollment has been on the decline in the district. Ultimately, the final decision on how to reorganize the school district needs to be one that takes into consideration what will be best for area students over the coming decades.

Superintendent Brian White said the process is one that takes years. We hope the district takes that time to think the reorganization through and make the right choice for Butler students.