Everyone--board members, parents, and staff--loves small schools, bur it's no secret that small schools cost more to operate, particularly if administrative and teaching staff cannot be assigned efficiently. If there is a silver lining in this dark contextual cloud, it's that political support for consolidating schools has rarely been better. The author has gone through the consolidation process several times as a district administrator, superintendent of schools, and consultant. In this article, the author shares some of the lessons he learned.