It is a pretty sure bet that nobody will leave tonight's Gloucester School Committee meeting happy.

The task of choosing which of the city's two middle schools to close - O'Maley or Fuller - is, as committee Chairman Greg Verga put it, "thankless."

But it is as necessary as it is unpleasant. Those who understandably support one school or the other must recognize that the committee is not doing this because it wants to, but because it has to. It is the last major piece of a school reorganization effort aimed at giving citizens a quality school system that is affordable.

Just as important, it is aimed at giving stability to students, some of whom have spent too many of their years in the system shifting from one school to another, or being isolated in one grade at one school.

The other major remaining decision came a couple of weeks ago, when City Council approved borrowing $3.45 million to purchase 14 modular classrooms that will be added to the Beeman and Plum Cove elementary schools. That will spare the city from having to spend five times as much to build a new elementary school, and it will eliminate fifth-graders from being isolated at Fuller.

The case has been made for both Fuller and O'Maley, and parents and students will no doubt express emotional ties to both. But tonight's choice, whichever direction it goes, cannot be made based on emotion. And once the choice is made, it will be crucial for parents and all residents to accept the committee's difficult decision and go forward.

The previous School Committee picked Fuller as the better long-term choice to remain open. But that was based in part on air quality problems at O'Maley, and a consultant reported to the committee just last week that those problems could be eliminated by better preventive maintenance.

Superintendent Christopher Farmer has said he would prefer O'Maley - that it is better suited to both programs and organization. And Fuller has taken on significant commercial value since it abuts the impending Gloucester Crossing development and developer Sam Park has expressed interest in buying it, although Verga has said he is opposed to selling it.

Whatever the choice, the committee deserves credit for making it.

This is the new reality. It means unpleasant, but necessary choices. Let's get used to it - and accept it.