Districts reach agreement on administrative annex

A voluntary administrative annexation involving the Weiner and Delight School Districts was agreed upon by the districts at a special meeting last week.

"We have signed an agreement to go with Delight," said Susan Johnson, president of the Weiner School Board. "We felt this was the best fit for us and our students. We didn't have an agreement with the other district we had been talking with."

Weiner and Delight are each in danger of being dissolved due to a state law mandating that districts have a population of over 350 students.

If a district goes below that 350 population for two consecutive years, the district risks consolidation. The district does have the option to find a partner to consolidate or annex with. March 1 is the deadline to do this voluntarily. If a district does not have a partner by May 1, the state department of education would pick a partner based on what they feel is best for the students of that district.

Weiner and Delight each looked into whether the district they partnered with had to be contiguous with the district. When the districts found out they did have to partner with a contiguous district, the two entered into talks.

With an administrative annex of these two districts, each school would be able to keep it's own campus as well as implement new educational opportunities via technologies.

A proposal to enter into a voluntary administrative annex was emailed to a Little Rock attorney who would prepare the proposal to present the Arkansas Department of Education.

If the state department of education agrees to this voluntary administrative annex involving these schools, the district would become known as the Arcadia School District.

"It is an exciting, innovative idea," Johnson said. "We will be able to use technologies to better our kids education."

The district hopes to appear before the state department of education board regarding their voluntary decision Monday, Feb. 8.