July 5, 2013: The school in Grand Junction most recently, and lastly, had fourth- through sixth-graders for the Greene County school district.
The century-old school building in Grand Junction, which five years ago had the last class for East Greene High School, will close permanently at the end of the month.
The decision was made back in November after a bond issue vote failed in the Greene County School District. The bond issue was for building a new high school and an elementary addition, which would result in the closure of the Grand Junction building. While Jefferson barely voted a supermajority in favor, Grand Junction, Scranton, and Rippey — the latter two already lost their schools — voted by supermajorities against. The overall total, barely in favor but not by enough, was an improvement over the same concept in 2015, which got whacked.
Then the school board voted to close Grand Junction anyway, basically saying an enrollment drop of dozens of students combined with the meager increase in state funding forced its hand. The school was going to try a bond vote again in April, but neither the Greene County News Online nor the school’s Twitter account have any report of results. It’s possible/likely the district dropped it for the time being and instead decided to use PPEL money to add four classrooms to the elementary.
This is the second district this school year to put out a heads-we-win-tails-you-lose ultimatum only to see the bond issue rejected; I have yet to find out what HMS is going to do.
Grand Junction will also be losing its Catholic church as part of the Diocese of Sioux City’s reorganization plan.
(The IowaWatch/Iowa Public Radio project on Iowa school transportation costs mentioned that Grand Junction was closing, which set off a search for information.)