Sports normally provides a perspective that closely mirrors society. Take our recent report on Sunday by sports editor Craig Harvey that looked at area schools and the number of athletics they provide to students.

Not surprisingly, all schools in our area are suffering when it comes to enrollments. Because of this, the districts and the residents they serve are doing something they cannot bring themselves to do for better educational opportunities. They are merging.

Even Fredonia and Dunkirk are in a partnership when it comes to girls swimming. So successful is the program that Forestville and Silver Creek are members. In football, however, Fredonia and Dunkirk are the only schools not merged.

Even in wrestling, the city school is paired with Silver Creek. “Honestly, knock on wood, it’s been great,” Silver Creek athletic director Sean Helmer said of the merger. “If it’s a program we can’t offer, it gives kids an opportunity which is what we want. It has allowed us to stabilize our program. We graduate 68 kids a year now and it’s hard to sustain as many programs. We have a lot of sports for a small school and we couldn’t do that without Forestville. We have our day-to-day issues, but I have not found any great difficulties.”

There is no question small schools are struggling. For sports, the answer is obvious: merging teams. It’s too bad it is not that easy when it comes to improving educational opportunities.