A quirky fact about Iowa school districts will expire this summer along with the Clearfield school district.
The Des Moines school district by far has the largest student population in the state. Since the closure of Lineville-Clio, Diagonal has been the smallest district with a high school.
In two respects, however, they are peas in a pod. By area, Des Moines is 83.2 square miles, and Diagonal is 82.5. When Clearfield dissolves, Diagonal will get slightly bigger, and no longer be next to Des Moines size-wise. It will still be right after Des Moines in alphabetical order, as it has since Dexfield merged with Stuart-Menlo.
Unfortunately, because Clearfield’s dissolution plan follows all sorts of crazy lines*, I can’t say what the new size of Diagonal or any other involved district will be. (The town will own the closed school building, though, so that’s one piece of good news for Clearfield.)
*Diagonal gets a few blocks in Clearfield by having a line no wider than a road, 170th Street, for three miles. Illinois gerrymanderers would be proud.