When superintendents and school board members from five area school districts meet today, it'll be somewhat like a mystery dinner - they won't know what's on the table till they get there.

The five districts - Lovington, Arthur, Cerro Gordo, Atwood-Hammond and Bement - will meet at 7 p.m. at Atwood-Hammond Grade School in Atwood to hear options about school reorganization plans from three educational leadership professors from the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Bement Superintendent Darrell Stevens, whose district has spearheaded the talks, said reorganization discussions began about 18 months ago when some of the superintendents met informally to share their struggles as the administrators of small school districts.

Decreasing enrollments and financial pressures are common plights among the districts, Stevens said. Last year's school report cards show high school enrollments of 96 for Lovington, 122 for Atwood-Hammond, 129 for Arthur, 133 for Bement and 188 for Cerro Gordo.

"All things being equal with no changes, at some point, our districts will have to look at other options," Stevens said. "It was our desire to make sure all the options possible and necessary could be discussed and explored."

Stevens said the idea of a cooperative high school emerged because each district wanted the assurance of keeping its elementary school.

After an initial meeting with the Springfield professors, the superintendents decided a cooperative high school was not the best plan, Stevens said.

"We could not go back to our districts and say this was a good idea," he said.

That isn't the only option, though, so the districts will meet again to learn what other options might be.

"We don't even know what's on the table," Stevens said. "(The boards are) going to decide if something will be placed on the table."

Even if some or all of the boards decide to pursue a reorganization plan, the final say still rests with residents of the school districts.

"Nobody should fear that tomorrow they'll wake up and someone took their school," Stevens said. "Superintendents do not have the power to reorganize school districts, nor should they, and boards, most of the time, are required to go to the people. The law gives a lot of power to the hands of local citizens."

Given the choice to deactivate their high school in 2004, Lovington residents decidedly voted "no" by a 722-188 vote.

"I'm not sure the community is interested, but we'll see what the options are," said Lovington Superintendent Roy Smith of today's meeting. "We'll go there, listen and determine if we should proceed and in what direction. In the end, it all comes down to voters."

Arthur Superintendent Travis Wilson said the district's intention is simply to be informed.

"Our board wants to be privy to information other districts in our area are looking at," he said. "We want to hear what's out there, but we have no plans to do anything different with our schools."

Lisa Bartelt can be reached at lbartelt@ jg-tc.com or 238-6858.