For two Dauphin County school districts, bigger isn't better
Education officials in Dauphin County explain why, after
performing extensive research, they decided it was best not to
join forces.  In the northwest corner of Dauphin County, two
school districts sit, separated by a mountain and not much more.
With a combined student population of just more than 2,000, the
Halifax and Millersburg Area school districts are the smallest
two among Dauphin County's 10 public school districts.  They've
thought about consolidating into one. And on the surface, it
would seem to make sense.  Each faces declining enrollments.
They've each lost roughly 100 students in the past six-year
span.  Then there's the distance factor.  "We're right next
door," Halifax Superintendent Robert Hassinger said. "It had
been in the air for a lot of years (that) we ought to look at
combining these schools."  So in 2007, the neighbors embarked
upon their latest and most in-depth merger study, just as the
Antietam and Exeter districts in Be