With enrollment declining the way it is, the possibility of forging bonds with neighboring school districts has become an option for the Glenville-Emmons School District.

But, in hopes of keeping their small school atmosphere, the most discussed option has been combining with the Northwood-Kensett or the Lake Mills school districts, not Albert Lea.

&uot;Right now we actually have a tuition agreement with both districts (N-K and Lake Mills),&uot; Superintendent Todd Chessmore said.

&uot;We already have some Northwood and Lake Mills students here,&uot; he said. &uot;But if we were to make a more extensive agreement, it would take some time.&uot;

Chessmore said the district boards and administrations would need to meet in order to come up with that sort of agreement.

&uot;I see this as at least a two-year process before we go into something that would resemble a more formal relationship,&uot; he said.

The tuition agreements with the Iowa districts currently just allow for the exchange students, but the districts keep state funding allocated for the students. The system works on a small level, but in some plans for the district’s future, there would need to be a stronger agreement.

The Department of Children, Families and Learning (CFL) says consolidation of districts across state borders isn’t easy to do.

&uot;That probably wouldn’t be possible the way Minnesota and Iowa laws are now,&uot; said Doug Gray of the CFL office of communications. &uot;The districts could enter into joint-powers agreements and share funding for students across borders. If anything, it would take a great deal of work legislatively.&uot;

Gray said there have been cases of sharing schools across state lines along the South Dakota border. Four Minnesota districts are currently sharing with South Dakota.

Sharing facilities has been mentioned as an option. Chessmore proposed in a March 3 recommendation to the school board that one option may be sharing buildings between districts.

If the district made an agreement with N-K, the G-E high school students might attend the high school in Northwood, while the N-K junior high students would come to Glenville.

But the normal tuition agreement might not work if the number of students exchanged wasn’t equal.

&uot;I don’t believe Northwood would send 80 students to Glenville if they couldn’t get at least 80 high school students back,&uot; Chessmore wrote in the recommendation.

Steve Heideman, a member of the G-E school board, has said he thinks the school board should look into pairing with the Iowa districts instead of putting more money into new schools and restoration projects with existing buildings.

Others aren’t so sure. With the feud that has erupted over closing either the Glenville Elementary or Emmons Middle School buildings, some think there is already enough to deal with.

One crowd member stood up at Monday night’s school board meeting and said: &uot;If our two towns can’t get along, how will it help to bring two more towns in?&uot;

Superintendent Todd Chessmore said the that he has contacted officials with the N-K, Lake Mills and Albert Lea school districts, all of whom have been receptive to the idea of relationships.

Chessmore said the option is still far off. The possibility is something that the school board must think about when making a long-term plan, he said.

&uot;It would be premature to say the board will do that,&uot; he said. &uot;Will we explore it? I think we are going to explore every option that gives our kids educational opportunities.&uot;