The towns of Chatham and Harwich have received a $25,000 grant from the state to explore the possibility of merging their two school systems, reports Alan Pollock of the Cape Cod Chronicle. One impetus for the idea is Harwich’s deterioriating high school, which could cost $60 million to replace. The thinking is that a new high school to serve both towns would make more sense.

But regionalization is no sure thing, given a history that resembles the plotting of the sitcom Friends if it had been allowed to run for five decades:

School regionalization has been a topic of discussion between Chatham and Harwich since 1960, when Harwich approved the idea but Chatham rejected it. At the request of the state, the two districts took up the topic again in the 1970s, but a joint committee never brought a proposal to town meeting. In 1986, Harwich again approached Chatham but was rebuffed; Chatham then approached Harwich and two other districts about regionalization in 1992, but having recently completed building renovations, Harwich rejected the overture. The next year, Chatham’s town meeting approved formation of a regional district planning committee, but Harwich town meeting tabled the proposal indefinitely.

This does suggest a strategy for opponents of school district consolidation anywhere in Massachusetts: Point out that the time and energy spent in “exploring” a merger could eventually outweigh any possible savings from pooling resources.