Iowa Highway Ends (etc.)

Ankeny is preparing to add a third high school in the early 2030s, the Des Moines Register reported last month — and Waukee may not be far behind.

The two districts in Iowa that, between them, seem to be opening at least one building every year expect to continue at the pace that 320 others would sacrifice a harvest for. In fact, according to the article, Ankeny RIGHT NOW is the largest district in the state only operating two high schools!

The wag in me suggests that Ankeny could get its third high school by engineering a hostile takeover of Saydel to the south, but that would be silly. Besides, if you look at the more recent maps, Ankeny city annexation has studiously avoided much of that area.

Essex, Iowa’s fourth-smallest district operating a high school, is telling parents it faces a “challenging dilemma.”

KMA reported on a Jan. 26 meeting where Superintendent Paul Croghan said it was time to start looking at whole-grade-sharing options with neighboring districts. All of them except Stanton (the second-smallest district operating a high school, and geographically not a great fit) are much larger. Croghan pointed out the area’s continued population decline:

“But, you just look–in the last 10 years, when we were competing for those banners, there was a Farragut banner, a Nishna Valley, a Villisca, a Malvern, and a Hamburg. That’s five schools in our conference alone, in 10 years, that no long graduate kids.”

The members of the Corner Conference know exactly what it means when the state comes knocking, after the Farragut district got nuked in 2015-16. Essex isn’t there right now, but the enrollment projections aren’t good.

Between 1958 and 1963, Essex tried repeatedly to consolidate with the even smaller town of Coburg just to the north, only for plans to be torpedoed by either a court or the state. A reorganization without Coburg was approved in 1964. Coburg was attached to Red Oak three years later, according to this court case, although it’s not on the official list of post-1965 changes.

October 3, 2016: It says “Royal Public School” but it’s now the elementary school for Clay Central-Everly. An addition and the main entrance are off to the right.

The Clay Central-Everly school district in northwest Iowa, where enrollment has dropped by one-third in a decade, is pondering its future.

KICD reported in August on a survey that covered options from building closure to dissolution, with no commitment or timetable. The district’s junior high/high school is in Everly and elementary in Royal.

The Spencer Daily Reporter had stories in December about the district meetings and looking at sharing options, although with the way it wraps around Spencer, that much larger district would be the most likely match.

The most recent story from the Reporter had an interesting quote from CCE’s superintendent saying that becoming a one-site school would need to be feasible as a long-term option.

CORRECTION: The original blog post reversed the locations of grade levels in Everly and Royal.