A Case Study Examining the Social and Educational Impact of Public School Consolidation on Families and Students of Sumter Central High in Rural South Alabama: After Year One

As the economy continues to decline, increasing consideration for schools'and districts to merge is.possible. Decisions to merge should include the impact to the students and familiesjn their distinctive communities because all are different. This case study examined the impact of the'consolidation of two rural south Alabama high schools, Livingston and Sumter County, after one school year, on students and their families in three specific areas: disciplinary actions, the amount of time students spent on the schoolbus traveling to and-from school and parental educational support. For this case study, the researcher utilized suweys that were distributed to parents/guardians and educators to obtain their perspective about the impact of -consolidation in the. three specified areas. The surveys, of both groups were corroborated to assist in substantiating the validity of the responses. The findings revealed that the majority in both groups perceived the three surveyed areas were about the Same after consolidation: However, a small percentage in both groups perceived some areas; were b'etter at the current location than the previous; some perceived areas were worse. Two major findings were associated with the location of the current school. The first finding was that the" statistical test used in this study , indicated very strong evidence'of a .relationship betweenthe physical location of the current school and parentaLeducational support. The second finding was that travel by school bUs;to the current school’s location is longer (in distance and time) than what it was to the previous school. The modal group now travels 6-10 miles where before they traveled 0-5 miles. Comments provided by the parents/guardians along with the theoretical and conceptual framework, assisted in explaining the impact the mileage difference, to include the consolidation of schools, lias had on the students and.their families. The possible effect on academic achievement was also assessed. Overall this ease.study’ although limited in scope, helps to demonstrate that prior to implementing a consolidation policy a thorough assessment of the area, to include the families of students, is needed; By including in the assessment externalities that impact learning, better consolidation decisions are possible.Ballard, Chester C.Gerber, Brain L.Yehl, Robert P.D.P.A.Public Administratio