Category Archives: Schools

Aug 06

Why not North and South?

Next week, the Ankeny school district starts the year with two high schools for the first time. Their names will be “Ankeny” — no qualifier, just Ankeny, in a building that was only built a few years ago — and … Continue reading

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Aug 02

Board of Education punts on school start date

The Iowa Board of Education can’t even agree to have discussions about the creeping earlier start date for the school year. What makes it worse are the quotes from the board members. Sioux City Journal: “I’m personally upset we’re put … Continue reading

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Jul 29

Getting tougher on school start dates

To which I can only say: GOOD. Having a start date in the middle of August is ridiculous. There are some schools in the Quad Cities starting Aug. 12, halfway through the State Fair. Even North Tama starts the 15th. … Continue reading

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Jun 26

EEHK

Exira and Elk Horn-Kimballton approved the merger, which will take place next year. (Hyphen, slash, “Exira-EHK,” or whatever, still better than a name that says little about where you are.) UPDATES: Armstrong-Ringsted and Sentral also approved a 2014 consolidation to … Continue reading

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Jun 18

Exira-EHK merger vote coming soon

A good article from the Omaha World-Herald with some basics about the merger process, benefits, and the pressure districts face. The most important factor in this case, though, may be the financial trouble the Exira district has been in recently.

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Jun 10

School closures and the Barker rules

The Iowa Department of Education has online the two dozen or so appeals about school closings since 1977. That year, the Iowa Department of Public Instruction created the “Barker rules”. In response to a case regarding the Van Buren school … Continue reading

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May 26

Carving up Clearfield

April 1, 2010: The stone soldier out front couldn’t guard against a century and a half of demographics. (Note: He faces north.) Clearfield is the only school in Iowa I know of that has a Civil War monument on its … Continue reading

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May 19

99-year-old Orange School closes

When the Orange Township school at the intersection of Orange Road and Kimball Avenue was built, it was for a rural Black Hawk County population. Decades later, it was incorporated into the Waterloo school district and the area became part … Continue reading

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May 08

East Greene, South Central Calhoun mergers approved

May 10, 2010: Now that the school in Lytton is closed will the billboard come down too? Or should it stay up as a historical memento? The special election Tuesday (most know for Warren County voting against a casino) included … Continue reading

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May 03

Schools that had a snow day May 3

From schoolalerts.iowa.gov and TV stations. Many started with a two-hour delay and then announced closure later. AGWSR, Aplington-Parkersburg, CAL, Chariton, Hampton-Dumont, Iowa Falls-Alden, Osage, PCM, Pleasantville, Riceville, Seymour, South Hardin, Wayne, West Fork. Thirteen inches in Osage. Snow at Tulip Time … Continue reading

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