August 4, 2015: Some of the windows at Elma Elementary aren’t “windows” at all; they have classical artwork and inspirational quotes on them (detailed below).
A decade ago, the Howard-Winneshiek school district was the second-largest in the state by area with one high school (in Cresco, although the sports teams are called Crestwood), but there were three other sites students attended: Elma, Lime Springs, and Ridgeway. But an enrollment drop of 300 students over that time (and, as always, tight state funding) led the district to close all three locations.
Ridgeway was the first to go, in 2009. It is now home to the weirdest post-school use of a building in Iowa: a shrimp farm.
Then closures of Elma and Lime Springs happened a year apart, in 2014 and 2015. About the same time, Howard-Winneshiek ended an agreement with Riceville to let Riceville’s buses into the edges of the district. Looking at a map, you can infer why: Elma is much closer to Riceville than Cresco.
“Only the flint of a man’s mind can strike fire in music.” — Beethoven