Category Archives: Schools

Feb 24

Private school building in Peosta demolished

Posted on Monday, February 24, 2014, at 11:25 AM by Jeff

St. John the Baptist school and rectory were torn down last week, reports KWWL.

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Feb 18

Geneseo featured in article about abandoned schools

Posted on Tuesday, February 18, 2014, at 2:06 PM by Jeff

Sept. 23, 2011: The abandoned Geneseo Township school building east of Buckingham, like many pre-WWII schools in Iowa, had an addition built later. The addition area was used for apartments for a time. In my travels across Iowa, I have … Continue reading →

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Feb 14

Alta-Aurelia switches school calendar to hours

Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014, at 1:16 PM by Jeff

At this point, it will be more newsworthy when a school district decides to measure the next school year in days, but here’s another data point from the Cherokee Chronicle Times. On a related note, Cedar Rapids’ school year won’t … Continue reading →

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Feb 05

AHSTW joins the five-letter acronym club

Posted on Wednesday, February 5, 2014, at 10:48 AM by Jeff

Avoca-Hancock-Shelby-Tennant and Walnut, which have been sharing football for years, are going all-in on whole-grade sharing (links: KMA, Omaha World-Herald). This school year, Walnut is the 10th-smallest school district in the state by certified enrollment, but the second-smallest that still … Continue reading →

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Feb 04

Prairie Valley, SE Webster-Grand on track to create state’s second-largest district

Posted on Tuesday, February 4, 2014, at 12:29 PM by Jeff

July 25, 2012: This new landscaping at the Boxholm school addition may not have students enjoying it for long. The main building was constructed in 1916. When the football district assignments came out, I noticed that Southeast Webster-Grand wasn’t listed … Continue reading →

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Jan 30

North Tama’s enrollment drop among largest in state

Posted on Thursday, January 30, 2014, at 4:04 PM by Jeff

Meanwhile, Waukee added NT’s entire student population in one year. Again. The 2013-14 Iowa enrollment numbers, released last week by the Department of Education, show a positive change statewide from the previous school year. However, those gains are not spread … Continue reading →

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Jan 13

Three school story links

Posted on Monday, January 13, 2014, at 1:56 PM by Jeff

It’s the slow season for the blog; outside of whatever might pop up in the Legislature, road and school news is pretty quiet. Posts may be more sporadic. But here are some stories that caught my eye: Iowa City Press-Citizen: … Continue reading →

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Dec 23

On really, really small-school football

Posted on Monday, December 23, 2013, at 1:36 PM by Jeff

The Omaha World-Herald’s Dirk Chatelain follows a team taking a 368-mile one-way trip to play a 6-man football game in its last season. There are some parts of this story also applicable to Iowa.

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Dec 19

What happens to stuff in a closed school?

Posted on Thursday, December 19, 2013, at 3:56 PM by Jeff

The scale is very different compared with what would happen in Iowa, but a Chicago NPR station found out that a couple old schools there are serving as equipment and textbook repositories for material from 43 buildings the city closed. … Continue reading →

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Dec 17

‘Choice’ in school calendar really isn’t one

Posted on Tuesday, December 17, 2013, at 12:15 PM by Jeff

When the Iowa Legislature last session passed a law to enable school districts to measure a year in 180 days or 1080 hours, instead of just days, it was supposed to create flexibility. Instead, by removing a long-standing provision, it … Continue reading →

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