In a few weeks, members of the Rowan-Salisbury School Board will announce their appointees to a new redistricting committee. Efforts to peacefully redistrict the high schools this spring failed, so now a committee of 21 will try to solve a problem the seven school board members could not.

The school board passed a plan temporarily, by the slimmest of majorities. The resulting redistricting had such a “we win, you lose” air about it that the plan was destined to fall. Though no plan could make everyone happy, this new committee should strive for a consensus, with each school district feeling that it has “won” something for the good of the entire school system.

The committee members can start their assignments by visiting all five county high schools: East, North, Salisbury, South and West. People hear so much talk about the schools that they forget to check out the situation themselves. They’ll find Rowan has five strong high schools.

One positive byproduct of this spring’s discord has been the opening of eyes. Parents visited the schools to which their children might be moved, and several reported being favorably impressed. For example, so much talk centered on the need for more students at Salisbury High that the public got negative images of a school in decline. Visitors found that to be far from the case.

Ditto for North Rowan High School and North Rowan Middle. The prospect of moving gave some families new appreciation for the way the system may have slighted these schools in allocating resources and overcoming past leadership problems.

Before anyone draws the first line, the committee should agree on a set of guiding principles. Getting maximum use of all school facilities should be near the top of the list. So should keeping communities together and limiting driving distances. Particularly when dealing with teen-age drivers, the shorter the distance to school the better.

Another goal that’s more difficult to pin down is closing the gap between minority student achievement and white student achievement. Is there any aspect of redistricting that could improve the school system’s ability to address this disparity?

Committee members must be able to brainstorm options openly, without feeling threatened or overly emotional.

Should some northern Salisbury students move to North? That question will have to be weighed against keeping the Salisbury community together, and pulling students away from the school that needs additional students most.

Should one of the schools close, or become part of a new high school? Committee members will have to look at census figures and building budgets.

Should the county build additions to East and South — whose enrollments are already at 1,284 and 1,490 —since people keep moving to those districts? The committee will have to consider how big is too big when it comes to high schools.

How about magnet schools?The committee should study how this concept has worked in other districts, and see if such schools can still fully serve a community’s students.