One of the last school districts in Iowa that includes a township in its name may be the next domino in the continued consolidation trend.
Tim Gallagher of the Sioux City Journal reported last week that Remsen-Union and Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn were to have meetings with a consultant about who would get what grades if they decided to engage in sharing. Gallagher said the two already share summer sports and a few others.
Remsen-Union is in a slightly different spot than other rural districts, because it also has to contend with a private school in the same town, Remsen St. Mary’s. MMC is going to suffer some effects of the Tyson plant closure in Cherokee.
The two districts had a combined certified enrollment over 1100 in 2000-01 but last year couldn’t even muster up 850. Together, they’d be about the size of West Branch or Aplington-Parkersburg.
Union Township is south-southwest of Remsen.