This is a list of the top 10 places in Iowa, by size, served by one high school, in five-year increments. In most cases, it involves whole-grade sharing followed some time later by consolidation, but in some cases there is only one-way sharing, where a district sends grades 7-12 or 9-12 to the larger school. Those cases are indicated by “plus” in the text.<\/p>\n
NOTE 6\/27\/16: Western Dubuque, 554 square miles, has two high schools, Western Dubuque and Cascade. It has been the largest school district in Iowa since 1960. Areas are based on a list from the Iowa Department of Management, rounded to the nearest square mile (or tenth if necessary). <\/em><\/p>\n Fall 2001:\u00a0Davis County, 463; Howard-Winneshiek, 426;\u00a0Allamakee, 423;\u00a0Mount Ayr, 383;\u00a0Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto, 374; Fairfield, 359, Albia, 338; Benton Community, 332; South O’Brien, 305; North Iowa, 296.<\/p>\n 2006:\u00a0Davis County, 463; Howard-Winneshiek, 425;\u00a0Allamakee, 423;\u00a0Mount Ayr, 383;\u00a0Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto, 374; Clarion-Goldfield<\/strong> plus Dows, 362; Fairfield, 359; Van Buren<\/strong>, 352;\u00a0Albia, 338; Benton Community, 332.<\/p>\n 2011:\u00a0Davis County, 463; Howard-Winneshiek, 425; Allamakee, 423; Pocahontas Area\/Pomeroy-Palmer<\/strong>, 402; Mount Ayr, 383;\u00a0Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto, 374; Chariton<\/strong>, 374; Sioux Central<\/strong>\u00a0plus Albert City-Truesdale (adding part of South Clay), 373; Clarion-Goldfield plus Dows, 362; Fairfield, 359.<\/p>\n 2016: Algona\u00a0<\/strong>plus LuVerne, 550; North Union<\/strong> (Armstrong-Ringsted merged with Sentral, sharing with North Kossuth), 540; Van Buren\u00a0<\/strong>plus Harmony, 520; Southeast Valley<\/strong>\u00a0(Prairie Valley plus Southeast Webster-Grand), 498; Davis County, 463; Mount Ayr<\/strong>, 425.4; Howard-Winneshiek, 424.6; South Central Calhoun<\/strong>, 424.3; Allamakee, 423; Webster City\u00a0<\/strong>plus Stratford plus Northeast Hamilton, 422.<\/p>\n 2021: MVAOCOU<\/strong> (Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto plus Charter Oak-Ute), 553; Algona plus LuVerne, 550; Pocahontas Area<\/strong> plus Laurens-Marathon, 549; North Union plus North Kossuth, 540; Van Buren County<\/strong>, 532; Southeast Valley, 498; Davis County, 463; Mount Ayr, 425.4; Howard-Winneshiek, 424.6; South Central Calhoun, 424.3. (Four more are in the 410-424 range.)<\/p>\n UPDATE 3\/5\/22: Now with fall 2021 numbers. Sometime between 2016 and 2019, Davis County and Van Buren swapped 11\u00bd square miles, but I don’t know more. Also, Howard-Winneshiek and Mount Ayr got tweaked juuuust enough to switch places.<\/em><\/p>\n UPDATE 7\/7\/22: After some correspondence, I have updated the size of Davis County throughout. The Department of Education’s 2016 map and Department of Management’s 2016 database appear to have been in error.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a list of the top 10 places in Iowa, by size, served by one high school, in five-year increments. In most cases, it involves whole-grade sharing followed some time later by consolidation, but in some cases there is … Continue reading