Rural Schools Open
Every year, hundreds of rural communities across the United States lose their schools. These closures are often forced, and they can be devastating.
This website offers information and resources for community members, school leaders, families, and youth that are facing the forced closure of their rural school and want to fight to keep it open. We know that closures disproportionately affect Black and Brown rural communities and low-income rural communities of all races–this website is intended for these communities. They have typically faced decades of resource inequity; closure is punishment for someone else’s crime. To be clear, this resource is not for communities fighting closure in an effort to hoard opportunities or avoid desegregation.
Our Team
This resource was developed in partnership with the Rural Community Alliance, which has fought school closures in Arkansas for more than 20 years. These recommendations emerged through conversations with community leaders, school leaders, policymakers, and researchers who have successfully fought the closure of their school or learned from those who have. This project is maintained by Mara Casey Tieken, with technical support from Shauna’h Fuegen, and support from a generous grant from the Spencer Foundation.
