Rural Education

Consolidation Tips: School officials can take steps to ease the painful process of consolidating school districts, according to a report in the winter issue of The Rural Educator , a journal for rural and small schools.

Loss of community identity and jobs are just a few of the emotional issues that confront communities that consider school consolidation--either voluntarily or by state mandate.

But eight Oklahoma districts studied for the report made the task easier by treating job security, accurate communication, and student support as high priorities as they voluntarily merged 16 school systems. They also tried to keep schools open even when...