Preface

The original mother of invention, Nature, programmed the hermit crab to adapt existing facilities to its own use. The hermit crab searches for an empty shell and moves in until it outgrows the structure. The crab then abandons the shell to be recycled, perhaps by a smaller crab. What rural communities can learn from this unassuming specialist in adaptive re-use is that finding and reusing cost-effective accommodations can be a brilliant survival tactic.

This book can help educators consider a range of such strategies to help rural people keep their small schools where they belong—in their communities. Implementing these strategies may take longer than the hermit crab’s search for a new place to live, but the results can be equally satisfactory. Finding solutions to facilities issues that challenge the viability of small schools takes time, effort, persistence, and creativity, but crafting a school facility that serves all members of the community and helps to sustain the viability of the community is a goal worth achieving. 

I hope the ideas presented here, which have grown out of actual strategies and practices created and implemented by rural communities, will inspire you to look carefully at assets and alternatives hidden within your community. May you find a shell that perfectly fits the next stage of your school’s life.