DEQUEEN MENA EDUCATION SERVICE COOPERATIVE

Located at 305 S. Hornberg Avenue in Gillham, Arkansas, the DeQueen Mena Education Service Cooperative is an active, open public service agency designed to support regional educational needs in a distant rural setting. As a non-charter educational service cooperative rather than a traditional school district, the entity does not operate standalone school campuses or deliver a direct pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade curriculum. Instead, it plays a vital supportive role for neighboring public school systems across the region, offering shared resources, specialized programs, and administrative coordination to strengthen local academic outcomes.

To fulfill its specialized mission across the region, the cooperative relies on a dedicated team tailored to technical assistance, support services, and instructional aid. The agency maintains a workforce of 178 full-time equivalent (FTE) personnel, heavily concentrated in regional support functions with 151 support staff FTEs and 27 instructional aide FTEs. For researchers, educators, and families seeking to understand Arkansas’s public education infrastructure, the DeQueen Mena Education Service Cooperative serves as an important backbone organization, delivering essential educational framework services and professional capacity to the rural communities it surrounds.