By Lewis Delavan
Stephens Media

LITTLE ROCK — The state Board of Education today rejected a proposed merger of two small school districts 200 miles apart.

Officials of the Delight and Weiner districts, both of which have fallen below the state minimum of 350 students, argued state regulations allow such mergers and that technology made their distant union feasible.

“The proposed district must be on the leading edge and must perform, because all eyes will be watching,” Delight Superintendent Lavon Flaherty said before the vote.

The districts contended the proposed Arcadia School District would save millions of dollars and improve learning opportunities for students. But board members questioned whether the merger would serve the best interests of students and voted 7-0 to reject it.

“What happens when the honeymoon’s over,” asked board member Ben Mays of Clinton.

After the board’s vote, representatives for the districts said they had no alternative plan but probably would seek mergers with neighboring districts at a greater cost to taxpayers.

District officials outlined a plan calling for seven board members with zones created based on population. The Delight district, with the larger population, would have four seats on the board.

Patricia Hesse, Weiner gifted-and-talented coordinator, said both communities had strong support for keeping local schools and that board members would be committed to doing what’s best for the children in both communities.
“We are there for the kids,” she said. “I don’t see it as a problem; I see it as an opportunity.”

Officials previously presented to the board petitions supporting the merger signed by some 517 Weiner residents and about 100 from Delight.

Officials of both districts said they had sought mergers with adjoining districts.

Weiner Superintendent Chuck Hanson said talks with Valley View officials went well until the larger district discovered Weiner’s greater property wealth would mean Valley View’s state facilities funding would suffer. No one from the Valley View district addressed the board.

Harrisburg Superintendent Danny B. Sample said his district had briefly discussed a voluntary merger with Weiner but talks ended after his district discovered both its facilities funding and its federal free-and-reduced lunch funding would also suffer if the schools merged.

Murfreesboro Superintendent Curtis Turner Jr. said his school board had approved consolidation with the Delight district. However, Delight Superintendent Lavon Flaherty said the merger of the contiguous districts, which are 13 miles apart, would result in bus rides of up to an hour longer for some students.

Also, Flaherty said, students in the Okolona community who now attend Delight schools after an earlier merger, were unwilling to attend a school carrying the “Murfreesboro” name although they would attend if a merged district carried a different name. Feelings are so strong that Okolona would find alternatives to attending Murfreesboro High School, he said without elaborating.