Too much of a good thing.

Can you have too many options?

I've always been the kind of parent who likes to give their children choices. But I've recognized that too many choices can be overwhelming for them, so I narrow it down. Asking my son which pants he wants to wear can send him into a tailspin, but asking him do you want the blue ones or the camo ones makes the decision more manageable.

The school facilities committee meeting was last night and I was surprised to hear that the Stratham Voc Tech building is still an option on the table. I guess I assumed the pending purchase of the Carpenter land put that to rest. Along with that, Dr. Hayes brought up the possibility of a tuition agreement with Oyster River, a preliminary proposal for a reno/addition and we still have a new building proposal in progress.

I know that a lot of people want to see all the school options and the associated costs for each one, but at some point we're going to need to eliminate the worst options, choose a direction and move forward. Don't get me wrong, I applaud Dr. Hayes for doing due diligence, but can't we at least take the voc tech building off the table given everything that we already know that makes it unrealistic?

In a recent meeting someone said that Newmarket keeps looking for a silver bullet to solve it's financial problems and I think the same goes for the school facilities situation. When we finally decide on a solution, it's going to cost a lot of money. Period. We can continue to cling to the idea that some new option is going to present itself and like magic the cost of educating our children will be cut in half---but that's not going to happen. Our chance at a $25 million school died in 2006.