The Arkansas State Board of Education voted in favor of granting the Strong-Huttig School District the minimum school district size waiver for the fourth year at its Thursday meeting.
Strong-Huttig superintendent Kimberly Thomas presented information to the board. School board president Cindy Smith, mayors from Huttig and Strong, and members of the district leadership team along with others from the community attended the meeting, Thomas said in an email to the News-Times.
"Our school is the heartbeat of our community," Thomas said. "Our community comes together with football and basketball. Just the fact there's something happening at the school brings the community together."
According to Arkansas Legislation, school districts must meet an enrollment of 350 students. If a district falls below that, it will be consolidated.
In 2015, the legislature passed Act 377, which allows small schools with less than 350 students to annually apply for a waiver to remain a district. The school district must not be on probationary status for being in fiscal or academic distress, according to a March 2015 press release. Thomas said school buildings must also be maintained.
"As long as we can maintain in those three areas, the likelihood [of approval] is very likely," Thomas said. "We work very hard everyday to be sure we provide a quality education for every student every day."
At the time the district submitted an application, Strong-Huttig had 286 students. In the past month, that number has grown by 10.
According to a letter of support from Mayor Linda Newbury of Felsenthal, the closest school districts to Strong-Huttig are El Dorado, Crossett and Hermitage, which is at least a 45-minute drive.
Thomas said that time doesn't include bus stops and that 95% of Strong-Huttig students require daily bus transportation.
She said the distance would remove opportunities for students to join in on extracurriculars, and could create issues for parents if students were sick at school and had to be sent home early.
She said the elementary school students don't really have an awareness of the waiver, but high school students and parents do. Thomas said some high school students do fear what would happen if the district was consolidated, and parents have been supportive of maintaining Strong-Huttig schools and recognize its importance to the community.
However, Thomas said the chance of consolidation doesn't deter the community's commitment to the schools.
"We're committed every day to providing quality education to every student," she said. "We know our numbers are few, but our commitment is unwavering."