Consolidation Location -- Rephrased

We (the "CAC") have been asked to express last week's Consolidation Location choice in terms of the "challenges" and "opportunities" associated with each choice. Okay...
We leave elementary schools where they are, for HCS and for M-ECS. We can merge middle schools into HCS and high schools into M-ECS, as option "C", or merge middle schools into M-ECS and high schools into HCS, as option "D". I group the challenges and opportunities under "Identity", "Distance", "Nearby Places", and "College Courses". There are of course many challenges and many opportunities shared by both of these options, not to be discussed here.

Identity: One village or the other will almost certainly be perceived by some of its residents as "losing the high school" that is part of their personal and community identity. I doubt that the middle school will be thought of the same way.
Challenge for C Loss of identity for Hamilton;
Challenge for D Loss of identity for Morrisville.
These are symmetric, so I don't think it affects this choice.

Distance: Distance increases for both. This is not symmetric, because many Hamilton students walk or bike, which is not practical for Morrisville students; HCS is inside Hamilton, M-ECS (high school) is not inside Morrisville.
Challenge for C Hamilton students stop walking/biking, or ride is longer.
Challenge for D Morrisville students have longer ride.

Nearby Places: My kids all got themselves to music lessons in town, after school; they would also meet friends at local food places, and one had a habit of stopping for coffee while walking to high school. Groups of kids and grownups, e.g. theatrical and athletic groups, have found places to meet. I always thought this convenience was a major advantage; it turns out that some M-ECS parents think that their lack of this convenience is a major advantage, because truancy is harder work when your school is out in the middle of nowhere. That's interesting. It seems there's a tradeoff between making life harder for kids you trust, and making life harder for kids you don't. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something here -- I often do. I'm calling this a rather strong H+, but I accept that people with different values may call it an M+, and I accept that different values may provide good reasons not to merge in the first place.
Challenge for C Trusted students lose local-resource options.
Challenge for D Untrusted students have more ways to get in trouble.

Opportunity for C Untrusted students are more under control.
Opportunity for D Trusted students keep/gain local resource options.

College courses: It's common for HCS students to take a few Colgate courses despite schedule mismatches -- at any given moment, a dozen or so students are doing this, with about forty students in each HCS year. (I.e., a dozen or so out of about eighty juniors+seniors.) Some M-ECS students, according to the superintendent, would do the same if they could -- and they will be able to, if the high school location is in Hamilton. If the high school location is in Morrisville, that's probably gone -- add transport to the schedule mismatch and it won't be an option.
Challenge for C Hamilton students lose those options.
Opportunity for D Morrisville students gain those options.