Historic decision impacts both GHAEA and Farragut CSD

At their regular meeting on Nov. 18, the State Board of Education voted unanimously to revoke the accreditation of Farragut Community School District. GHAEA Chief Administrator Lane Plugge informed GHAEA staff and board of this decision, and its impact on the agency, in an e-mail on Nov. 20:

"The District will continue to exist and operate as a school corporation until June 30, 2016, under receivership of GHAEA. The Farragut Board of Education will technically exist until the formal dissolution date of June 30, 2016, but will have no authority for decision making. Day-to-day operations of the district are delegated to the AEA Chief Administrator or his/her appropriately licensed designee. This includes personnel and finance decisions. The Department of Education and the AEA are responsible for dividing the assets and liabilities of the District. The DE is responsible for distributing the land comprising the Farragut CSD to contiguous school districts. On two previous occasions, Iowa school districts were placed into dissolution by the State Board of Education. This is the first time an AEA has served in the receivership role. Since this is a first-time occurrence I am unable to share any specifics regarding the receivership responsibilities other than being responsible for the day-to-day operations and all personnel and finance decisions. An additional complication is that Farragut is currently in a whole grade sharing agreement with Hamburg, so this decision will impact the students residing in Hamburg as well. I do not anticipate that this action will impact the GHAEA staff serving Nishnabotna. I do request that staff working in these schools be aware that the loss of the Farragut District will impact the students, staff and community. We will all need to be sensitive to this change. Losing a school is extremely difficult for a community and my goal is to provide leadership so that the students and staff will have a quality experience for the remainder of the 15-16 school year. I would appreciate you assistance in making this possible."