Tuesday, February 17, 2009

School Consolidation in Iowa

Trace Frahm, a friend from Walnut, Iowa sent me the following in an email yesterday:
Please read this information and draw your own conclusions. I am still
trying to get off the floor and recover after reading this.
His comments were in regard to a purposed piece of legislation here in Iowa. State Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, said "that he would like to push legislation that would cut the number of school districts from 362 statewide to fewer than 150. Targeting districts with fewer than 750 students enrolled, the proposal also would establish that each of Iowa’s 99 counties would have one superintendent, business manager, curriculum director and transportation director, saving tens of millions of dollars in administrative expenses, according to the Register article. Districts would have three years to plan for the transition, according to the plan." (See whole article here)

Here is a list of schools that would be consolidated and their projected 2009-10 attendance. (Some schools like IKM and Manning have already combined their high schools and middle schools.): AGWSR 661.9, Adair-Casey 351.5, AHST 663.8, Akron-Westfield 535, Albert City-Truesdale 240, Alburnett 572.9, Alden 258, Allison-Bristow 304, Alta 512.8, Andrew 297.6, Anita 272.3, Anthon-Oto 271.5, Armstrong-Ringsted 338, Ar-We-Va 344.6, Audubon 627.7, Aurelia 285.2, Battle Creek-Ida Grove 654.6, Baxter 383.4, BCLUW 621.4, Bedford 536.3, Belle Plaine 617.5, Bellevue 620.7, Belmond-Klemme 738.5, Bennett 200.8, Boyden-Hull 623.2, Boyer Valley 435.9, Brooklyn-Guernsey-Malcom 540.5, C and M 200.6, CAL 292.3, Calamus-Wheatland 498.4, Cardinal 631.3, Central 530.2, Central City 465.3, Central Decatur 675, Central Lyon 691.2, Charter Oak-Ute 321.9, Clarksville 371.8, Clay Central-Everly 394.2, Clearfield 92, Collins-Maxwell 531.5, Colo-NESCO 474.4, Coon Rapids-Bayard 444.4, Corning 475.7, Corwith-Wesley 134, Danville 486.3, Deep River-Millersburg 167, Delwood 230.3, Denver 744.1, Diagonal 90, Dows 142.1, Dunkerton 466.8, Durant 575.9, Earlham 640.6, East Buchanan 558.9, East Central 395, East Greene 369, East Marshall 711.6, East Union 498.6, Eastern Allamakee 422, Eddyville-Blakesburg 731, Edgewood-Colesburg 487, Eldora-New Providence 643.8, Elk Horn-Kimballton 260.9, Emmetsburg 695.7, English Valleys 421.9, Essex 249, Exira 276.1, Farragut 263.4, Fredericksburg 264, Fremont 211.4, Fremont-Mills 469, Galva-Holstein 453.2, George-Little Rock 488.4, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 694.9, Glidden-Ralston 357.8, GMG 355.2, Graettinger 233, Greene 286, Griswold 639.2, Grundy Center 625.8, Guthrie Center 546.8, Clayton Ridge 669.2, HLV 375.2, Hamburg 295.2, Harmony 427.1, Harris-Lake Park 288, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn 667.4, Highland 653.6, Hinton 563.7, Hubbard-Radcliffe 416, Hudson 678, IKM 415.7, Iowa Valley 659.2, Janesville 338.9, Keota 344.6, Kingsley-Pierson 457, Lake Mills 623.9, Lamoni 341.4, Laurens-Marathon 359.6, Lawton-Bronson 605.3, Lenox 362.3, Lineville-Clio 95.6, Lisbon 675.2, Logan-Magnolia 643.1, Lone Tree 385, Lu Verne 74, Lynnville-Sully 469.7, Madrid 627 ,Malvern 357.8, Manning 412, Manson-Northwest Webster 658.9, Maple Valley 521.6, Marcus-Meriden-Cleghorn 459.1, Martensdale-St. Marys 533.7, Melcher-Dallas 347, Midland 586.2, Montezuma 487, Moravia 318, Mormon Trail 281.1, Morning Sun 217, Moulton-Udell 226.5, Mount Ayr 627.5, Murray 280, Nashua-Plainfield 711.1, New London 552.5, Newell-Fonda 426.9, Nishna Valley 209.2, Nodaway Valley 711, Nora Springs-Rock Falls 422, North Central 506.1, North Iowa 539.9, North Kossuth 331.3, North Mahaska 537.7, North Tama 531.3, North Winneshiek 302.9, Northeast 555, Northeast Hamilton 257, Northwood-Kensett 518.1, Odebolt-Arthur 354.5, Ogden 699.1, Olin 228.2, Orient-Macksburg 215, Paton-Churdan 195.3, Pekin 727.6, Pleasantville 681.5, Pocahontas 549.6, Pomeroy-Palmer 211.3, Postville 604.3, Preston 346, Remsen-Union 418.9, Riceville 293.8, River Valley 465.4, Riverside 668.9, Rock Valley 570, Rockwell City-Lytton 492.1, Rockwell-Swaledale 313.6, Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock 536, Ruthven-Ayrshire 250, Sac 432.3, Schaller-Crestland 392.4, Schleswig 311.8, Sentral 162.1, Seymour 245.1, SCMT 453.4, Sidney 354.8, Sigourney 584.7, Sioux Central 437, South Clay 154, South Hamilton 699.2, South O'Brien 646.9, South Page 226.3, South Winneshiek 616.3, Southeast Warren 569.2, Southeast Webster-Grand 564.2, Southern Cal 512.5, Springville 443.2, St. Ansgar 680.3, Stanton 208.1, Starmont 669.8, Stratford 212.8, Sumner 580.2, Terril 160.1, Titonka 175, Treynor 591.9, Tri-Center 725.6, Tri-County 317.6, Tripoli 495, Turkey Valley 465.1, Twin Cedars 423.7, Twin Rivers 176, United 353.4, Valley 477.5, Van Buren 736, Van Meter 584.7, Ventura 283.8, Villisca 383.8, WACO 524, Wall Lake View Auburn 506.8, Walnut 220.6, Wapsie Valley 699.8, Wayne 533.6, West Bend-Mallard 347.1, West Burlington 452.3, West Central 304.2, West Hancock 616.1, West Harrison 503.2, West Monona 662.4, West Sioux 715.7, Westwood 589.7, Whiting 195, Winfield-Mount Union 388.5, Woden-Crystal Lake 137, Woodbine 436.4, Woodbury Central 594.1

In response to an email from Trace Frahm of Walnut, Iowa (Walnut is on the above list) I told him this was unbelievable and probably simply "shock" legislation in an attempt to prepare us for something we would consider more tolerable.

Trace then replied:
In answering your question, yes, we think that this is shock legislation to prepare us for radical change in education at some point in time. But Iowan's voted this man into office so are we really that surprised? A county supervisor responded to the Feb 11 post saying that the state is not only trying to consolidate schools but also cities where they are wanting to create huge regional departments. He said that this looks good on paper in Des Moines but when you leave the capital and drive out into the state it becomes a huge mess very quickly. This is why I wanted friends and local leaders to see this so that our community can see this and I can say that they were warned. When Vilsack was governor I had heard that our public servants in the statehouse had divided Iowa into 5 large consolidated zones where you have one court house per zone and one school per county or less. I didn't know what to think of it then but now we know that they will keep pushing for this until they get it. Someone told me that public education is leaving the mainstream and is moving towards special education, alternative schools, and welfare based education. And mainstream America is moving the other way towards school choice options, homeschooling, private, as a response to radical stuff like this.
Read an article from the Des Moines Register in response to this failing legislation.

Mr. Wiemers
http://mrwiemersshop.com/

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