Farmington board opposes taking Greenland School District
Posted on Tuesday, July 1, 2008
FARMINGTON - School district officials do not want to annex the Greenland School District.
That was clear in a succinctly worded resolution passed Monday night by the Farmington Board of Education.
One of the key reasons why the district does not want Greenland is logistical.
The resolution states that "transporting students between the Farmington School District and the Greenland School District could only occur by crossing other school districts as there are no roads connecting these two districts."
The Farmington school board recommends that neither part nor all of the Greenland district join the Farmington School District.
Superintendent Ron Wright told board members he thinks there are other neighboring districts more likely than Farmington to be picked to annex Greenland - if the Arkansas State Board of Education forces the district to dissolve.
"I really think that we're a non-player in this," he said.
"When you're merged with a district, you get not only all of the good things, but the bad things," Wright told board members.
The Farmington district already is feeling the effects of the recommendation made last month from Arkansas Department of Education Commissioner Kenneth James that the Greenland School District be annexed due to a projected budget shortfall.
As of Monday, there were 29 Greenland students accepted by the Farmington School District through the school choice process, according to figures reported to the board Monday. They represent the majority of school choice applications accepted by the Farmington district.
The remaining school choice applications accepted as of Monday were from Prairie Grove (12 ), Fayetteville (10 ) and West Fork (one ).
Rejected applications are from Greenland (nine ), Fayetteville (six ), Prairie Grove (three ), Huntsville (two ), and West Fork and Lincoln (one each ).
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