Consider the irony in reactions to the last two elections in Barrington.

In November, Democrats dominated all races and won every seat in town, including all three spots on the school committee. On the school side, they boasted the vote was a mandate from voters in support of changing school start times, since all three new members openly supported the initiative to help teens sleep better, live healthier and go to school later.

Last week, something different happened. A majority of voters decided to cut $246,000 from the school budget. In the big picture, the cut is a pittance — less than one-half of 1 percent of the school department’s total $52.7 million spending plan. However, for anyone applying common sense to the situation, the cut was a symbolic act of defiance by 60 percent of voters against new start times, since $246,000 is the expected increase in busing costs to accommodate the new school schedules.

After this vote, however, some of the same people who claimed a mandate in November now say the Financial Town Meeting vote was anything but. They say it’s not clear what the vote meant.

Yet they can’t have it both ways. Votes either mean something, or they don’t.

Regardless of votes — meaningful or symbolic — school times are going to change this fall. The school committee has made that clear since the beginning of 2019, and no one should expect it to change. Board members have clear resolve to see this happen.

As they do, however, they could show a lot more recognition that the opposition is real, and the emotions are genuine. There seems to be a dismissive attitude toward those who oppose this initiative, despite wave after wave of evidence.

Students conduct a survey; the survey is dismissed as small and not representative. Residents write letters or stand and object; they’re waved off as the vocal minority. Teachers publicly excoriate the school committee; they’re labeled as pawns of union leadership. Citizens slice money from the school budget for the first time in memory (they never cut money from the schools in Barrington!); people didn’t really understand what they were voting for.

Leadership is not easy, and leaders often make and execute unpopular decisions for what they believe to be a greater good. Perhaps that is happening here.

But as they move forward with executing their vision, new start time proponents and school leaders could show more understanding that their decisions are not as popular as they think they are, and many residents of this community are, at best, wary, and at worst, outright angry.

This transition will demand leadership that is responsive, honest and sympathetic. This will not be an easy change for anyone.