Category Archives: Schools

Oct 11

Does football’s bye week factor into school start dates?

Posted on Friday, October 11, 2013, at 5:17 PM by Jeff

Today North Tama is not playing football. The Redhawks are off. Iowa high school football didn’t used to have bye weeks. The entire schedule was more straightforward: Nine weeks of games, followed by one playoff game a week(ish) for four … Continue reading →

Posted in Schools, Sports | Comments Off

Sep 04

Mason City bans birthday treats in schools

Posted on Wednesday, September 4, 2013, at 1:23 PM by Jeff

This is not the America I grew up in.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous, Schools | Comments Off

Sep 03

Clarion-Goldfield, Dows merger vote next week

Posted on Tuesday, September 3, 2013, at 5:44 PM by Jeff

July 7, 2011: Brickwork detail on Dows’ original school building. It may not live to see its 103rd birthday. Dows hasn’t had its own high school since the late 1990s, when it entered into a grade-sharing agreement with northeastern neighbor … Continue reading →

Posted in Schools | Comments Off

Aug 15

This is where your school district went

Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2013, at 12:00 PM by Jeff

July 5, 2013: Alphabetically, Ankeny and Arcadia are only separated by two towns. The demographic gulf between them, though, couldn’t be wider. Ar-We-Va closed its elementary schools in Arcadia and Vail in 2012 in favor of an addition at Westside. … Continue reading →

Posted in Schools | Comments Off

Aug 06

Why not North and South?

Posted on Tuesday, August 6, 2013, at 3:26 PM by Jeff

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 →

Posted in Schools | Comments Off

Aug 02

Board of Education punts on school start date

Posted on Friday, August 2, 2013, at 8:12 PM by Jeff

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 →

Posted in Schools | Comments Off

Jul 29

Getting tougher on school start dates

Posted on Monday, July 29, 2013, at 1:49 PM by Jeff

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 →

Posted in Schools | Comments Off

Jun 26

EEHK

Posted on Wednesday, June 26, 2013, at 2:18 PM by Jeff

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 →

Posted in Schools | Comments Off

Jun 18

Exira-EHK merger vote coming soon

Posted on Tuesday, June 18, 2013, at 11:33 AM by Jeff

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.

Posted in Schools | Comments Off

Jun 10

School closures and the Barker rules

Posted on Monday, June 10, 2013, at 3:23 PM by Jeff

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 →

Posted in Schools | Comments Off