The Hartford School District will be incorporated into the Hackett School District in Sebastian County next year because of declining enrollment -- a voluntary merger crafted by the districts and approved Thursday by the Arkansas Board of Education.
The annexation of the Hartford system to another district became necessary after Hartford's enrollment in each of two consecutive years dropped below 350 students, which is the legal minimum for maintaining an Arkansas public school district.
Declining enrollments have forced dozens of school districts in the past decade to merge with neighboring school systems. In return, students have seen a range of benefits from more course offerings to additional extracurricular activities. But in some cases, the mergers have left small towns without school campuses.
Hartford won't lose its schools next year.
Once the merger becomes effective July 1, the number of Arkansas school districts will drop from 236 to 235.
Hartford's enrollment this year is 292 students in kindergarten through 12th grades. Hackett's enrollment is 612.
Hartford Superintendent Teresa Ragsdale told the state Education Board that the district had in recent years periodically explored the possibility of merging with neighboring districts such as Greenwood and Mansfield but ultimately selected Hackett on Hartford's northern border.
"Why did we choose Hackett? Ragsdale asked, and then answered her own question: "It's going to allow us to meet some of our needs. We are going to be able to have a competitive salary schedule so that we can get and retain highly qualified teachers in our classrooms and thus increasing academic achievement."
She said Hartford has had trouble keeping teachers in core academic subjects because they leave for higher-paying jobs.
"We know that what we need to do needs to be what is best for the students," she said.
As part of a larger district with an anticipated enrollment of about 900 students, Hartford staff members will benefit from the services of a curriculum director and participate in more professional training programs and collaborate with teachers who teach the same subjects that they teach, said Ragsdale.
She added that the Hartford staff members can glean best practices from the Hackett teachers who have led their elementary science pupils and 11th-grade literacy students to make significant gains on state tests.
Bill Pittman, superintendent of the Hackett district for 12 years, told the Education Board that he is a 35-year employee of the Hackett district as well as an alumnus of the high school.
"I've been associated with Sebastian County all of my life. I've got a pulse on the county. I think this will be a really good fit," he said about the merger of the two districts. "It will be good for both of us."
Not only will Hackett benefit from shared resources and collaboration, Pittman said, it will benefit by growing from 30 square miles -- the second-smallest district in the state -- to 116 square miles.
"We think this will be a great merger for the long term. We'll become much more viable for the long term," he said.
Hackett is just 10 miles from Fort Smith. Hartford is farther away and has suffered from economic factors that caused the loss of families and students.
"We're looking at the new I-49 corridor, which when it gets built -- and we hope it does -- it will skirt the eastern part of the district. We're hoping that in the future -- it may be 10 years down the road -- that it will give us a boom in the economy in that part of Sebastian County. There may be more businesses, which will raise our assessment and put more money and families in the new merged district," he said.
Pittman said the combined district is also likely to benefit from the Western Arkansas Technical Center possibly creating an instructional site on the Hartford campus, enabling students from as far as Waldron and Mansfield as well as the Hackett district students, to take technical and concurrent college courses rather than going into Fort Smith for the courses.
The voluntary annexation agreement states that the new district will be named the Hackett School District, that Pittman will be the superintendent and that the current Hackett School Board, with its five elected at-large members, will be unchanged.
The agreement further states that the Hackett district will allow the Hartford campus for kindergarten through 12th grades to continue to operate as long as deemed economically and educationally feasible and beneficial to the Hackett district as a whole.
Staffing in the combined district will be evaluated during the 2015-16 school year and all staff members from the former Hartford district will be reviewed for continued employment needs and be subject to reassignment, nonrenewal of their contracts or termination of contract provisions as allowed by state law and the policies of the newly combined district, the agreement states.
Ragsdale's contract with the Hartford district expires at the end of this school year.
As part of the annexation agreement, the Hartford sports teams will continue to be known as the Hartford Hustlers and keep its mascot until the Hartford campus is no longer operating or no teams represent the school.
Education Board member Vicki Saviers of Little Rock and a native of Sebastian County, praised the cooperation shown by the districts.
"It's such a pleasure to see such collaboration. Congratulations to you and good luck," Saviers said. "It sounds like you have worked through the concerns I might have regarding the school boards and the school closings. I hope you will continue to be transparent with all of your patrons and parents because that seems to be the biggest issue -- and it will come -- when you have to close a school."
Education Commissioner Tony Wood voiced support for the merger that was approved unanimously by the state board.
Wood cited the unity of the two districts, which he said should be applauded. He said a voluntary merger initiated by the districts is much preferred over the state having to initiate the involuntary merger of districts.
He also noted that the Hartford students -- particularly the elementary pupils -- will be able to stay in schools closer to their homes.
Metro on 12/12/2014