This article describes how students in rural parts of West Virginia spend up to four hours a day riding buses to far-flung schools, built as part of the state's consolidation drive. As a result, rural communities in West Virginia have fought back by filing lawsuits, electing their allies to school boards, and defeating pro-consolidation bond issues. Some community members have played a key role in helping the Webster County High School, a 75-student preK-8 school, stay open--even undertaking much-needed repairs--to spare younger kids long bus rides daily.