Parents clamoring for school district merger

The Logan Board of Education has been here before.

Spurred by the rapid growth of the city and its surrounding areas, the board examined the possibility of uniting with the Cache Valley School District in 1988. A study commissioned to examine the merits of a merger, though, concluded the costs outweighed any potential savings.

But prompted by new growth, including the planned construction of a school in Providence that will serve students in the city of North Logan – who could have to spend nearly an hour and a half on a bus, each day, despite living minutes from schools in Logan — some parents say it’s once again time to re-evaluate the status quo.

At a public hearing intended for a discussion about levying taxes and funding bonds for the city’s students and schools, board members instead heard a plea for a new merger study.

“I agree we need more funding for our children,” said Darren Anderson, a local physician who took the microphone during the public comment period. “We need to look at the long-term future of our children. Maybe we can do it more efficiently if we are one district.”

Anderson is a member of Parents for School District Merger, a group that hopes to convince the district to consider uniting the Logan and Cache County School Districts to cut costs and better serve students.

He called on the school boards to collaborate with the public in getting more accurate information on how a merger would affect taxes.

“In my field, if we based things off a 24-year-old study it would bring harm to the patients,” Anderson said. “This situation is no different, the patients are our children. Things have changed and now we have to re-evaluate and I’m being told that the district won’t do it because a study has already been done.”

Danny Brownell, who organized the parent group, beieves district leaders have been hesitant about considering the proposal.

“If we consolidate school districts the administration believes that their jobs will be on the line,” he said. “There’s also the fact that both districts may lose some representation. If that was me, I’d be cautious too.”

But board president Kristie Cooley said the districts are not against a new study.

“This has been something that we have talked about,” she said. “We were just waiting for the public to ask for it because it’s not something we wanted to step out on limb for until we knew the public was interested. Most of the pleas have come from patrons from North Logan and Millville. This is the first we’ve heard from Logan residents about this proposition.”

“We’re one county and it’s silly to have a doughnut hole in the school districts,” parent Lisa Anderson said. “I believe every child in Cache Valley matters. When we say we can do better for the students in Logan, I want to say we can do better for the students in Cache Valley.”

Until the school board consents to a study, the group has retained former State Office of Education official Larry Newton to conduct a similar review to the one done in 1988. Newton will also help the group with consulting work and financial questions.

Brownell said the public deserves to vote on the merger. To that end, it is circulating a petition for a referendum on the matter.

If a study were conducted and proved that consolidating the districts would not be beneficial to the community, Lisa Anderson said, the group would abandon the idea and look toward another solution.

“We need to look at things collectively to provide the best for our children,” she said. “That’s something I believe in very passionately.”

Cameron Etherington, Rebecca Walker, Connor Comeau, Lilibeth Salvador and McCall Bulloch contributed to this article.