The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday (QC Times), months after the initial case and after East Central started a sharing agreement with Northeast.
The Preston-East Central combination, which supporters would like to call Easton Valley*, has had its viability called into question. Consultants from UNI recommended a Northeast-East Central matchup, similar to what happened while the court case worked its way through, but didn’t study Preston-East Central or a tripleheader. The tripleheader would conceivably be the best option simply because it would give all three districts control of their own destiny rather than be forced into merger or dissolution. (No matter what, of the four buildings involved, at least one would close, likely the 1882(!) elementary in Sabula.)
*I suppose that as far as artificial portmanteaus go, it could be worse. Or does it count as a form of adaptation decay, in which the sense of the original gets lost? There’s no “Easton River,” which the “Valley” implies. I’d suggest “East Iowa” since it will be the state’s easternmost district, and would work with either proposed combination or the tripleheader. (East Central is actually northeast of Northeast.)