Category Archives: Schools

Jun 21

My column on Manilla, and school closings in general

Published in The Des Moines Register today.

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Jun 09

Article about upcoming school mergers

In the Register. All of these districts have been in whole-grade sharing for a while now (Clarion-Goldfield and Dows for a decade, which frankly stuns me). Once these go through, and Clearfield dissolves, the state’s list of sharing agreements will … Continue reading

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Jun 03

One week ago: Final bell in Clearfield, and a school list update

KMA Radio was there for tiny Clearfield’s last day of school (and still using my picture for the story). In addition to that, some other research has led to additions from western Iowa in my school district and building timeline. … Continue reading

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May 23

A Clearfield reunion before the final bell

The Clearfield school district in southwest Iowa is holding a reunion for all students and teachers today at 5 PM, reports the Creston News-Advertiser. There’s one more week of classes at the school before the district dissolves.

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May 13

Manilla will lose school but keep part of building

There are a couple of articles in the Carroll Daily Times Herald about the IKM-Manning district’s discussions over the past year. I think there’s a little bit of time-stamp garbling as they are dated three months ago but show up … Continue reading

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May 12

Garner-Hayfield, Ventura closer to merging

Story via AP/KCRG. There will be a vote in September, so there’s not much else to report on this at the moment.

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May 04

Exira school building fire today

This school fire is a good one — Exira is planning a controlled burn of its original brick building. The AP article about it notes that it was closed not just because of declining enrollment, but because “The structure was … Continue reading

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May 01

Des Moines and Diagonal: Polar opposites with similarities

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 … Continue reading

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Apr 23

Last weeks at Clearfield school (Hey, that picture looks familiar)

KMA Radio has a story about the end of the school year approaching for the small southern Iowa district of Clearfield, which will dissolve. The story includes a photo of the school — my photo of the school, which I … Continue reading

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Apr 15

School nomenclature gymnastics

The school district in the central portion of Clinton County has an issue with being called…Central Clinton. The Clinton Herald has the longer story, which was picked up by the AP. The official name is “Central Community School District of … Continue reading

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