Iowa High School BEDS count 24-25

[SEIOWA CLONE]

They only built the new HS like 10 years ago and the growth in Polk City was well underway, and it was absolutely where a vast majority of the students resided at that time. It was already about 10x the size of Alleman.

If that’s what their students and parents wanted, then so be it. But looking at an area map, deciding to build the new school where the old one is because spatially it’s in the center, while making a vast majority of the students travel 9 miles is one of the most Iowa things ever.

After having gone through getting a bond issue passed, that needed 60% approval, I would say that the people in the outside areas would not support the new school if it was moved to Polk City. I really have no idea, maybe it was not even brought up when they decided to build the new school.

People hate change when we are talking about schools, and it could have been people just did not want to see the HS in Polk City because it was always in Alleman, and they wanted to keep it there.

 

[BCClone]

Very common way to solve the problem when districts consulate and decide to keep centers opened in each little town. What it does is cost the district a small fortune in bussing kids back and forth between the towns or little kids spending large amounts of time on the bus.
Other districts like Pekin and Cardinal went the opposite way and put the school in the center of the district out in the middle of nowhere, but at least they have all the schools in one central location, so everyone drive is fairly equal if you are on the edge of the district.

Van Buren merged with Harmony 7 years ago, they have the MS/HS in Keo, the eastern elementary is out in the country at the old Harmony HS and the Western elementary is at Douds. The bussing back and forth has to be costing the district a fortune, but the little towns refuse to lose their school building and want to keep it and vote down any bond issue to move it all to Keo.

The small towns think the school is holding their town together. I’ve seen and been in this situation. A middle school is not holding a town together, a few teachers may live there but they go elsewhere for stuff. It’s also not the tax payers of the school district that must keep your town afloat, it’s your towns responsibility.

Local school needs to shut its middle school down and go under one roof. It won’t happen because the small town got a majority on the school board and the superintendent is local and doesn’t want to get a black eye shutting it down. So they pee money away a good 250-500k a year to avoid upsetting anyone and the small town will vote down any bond to just add a few class rooms.

 

[CascadeClone]

That's still mostly true; most of the old money kids have graduated but their parents remain in the district. So they get no support and its boundaries prevent any growth.

Yes, and ALL the money and effort (both parental and school system) goes into Kennedy.

Edit- also Linn Mar is same, tho different district.

I would estimate 90% of the families w kids making $150k+ go to Linn Mar or Kennedy. Thats a total pfa number, but my point stands.

 

[BCClone]

Mine has been gone for 35 years.

A lot of small schools shut down after 88-89 school year. I graduated in 90 so I got to go to a new school for one year. I think something in the state funding or so pushed to shut down the smaller schools. Supposedly when our superintendent got hired for a new job, the school board asked for a budget and he said he had no idea how to make one. He was a few years from retirement. Probably explains why my first HS closed.

 

[BCClone]

This is really interesting to see!

My school (Cascade) has really dropped off. It was about 600 students (jr high plus HS) in my day which was the all-time peak. Now it’s just a hair above 400. I believe they even dropped down to 1A and maybe even 8-man in FB.

Football has 1A, A and then 8 man. You have a limit of 120 in your BEDS to play 8 man. If you have 400 in 7-12, you are most likely a 1A in football. That is just under 70 per class. So you are probably a 1A football and 2A for other sports.

 

[KidSilverhair]

Cascade is currently 1A in football with an adjusted BEDS of around 163 (that’s from last year’s BEDS with the IHSAA adjustment for free/reduced lunch population). Their actual BEDS of 183 is exactly the same as last year.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Football has 1A, A and then 8 man. You have a limit of 120 in your BEDS to play 8 man. If you have 400 in 7-12, you are most likely a 1A in football. That is just under 70 per class. So you are probably a 1A football and 2A for other sports.

The state is reaching the point for football that they should merge 1A and A into one class and then divide up 8 man into two classes, large and small schools. The way it is now you have schools that have 35/40 out for the team playing schools that have 12/15 out for the team.
Really if you have 35/40 out for football you should be playing 11 man, but many drop down to get a competitive advantage and wins over a lot of small schools.

 

[JEFF420]

tf is

369

Strong Roots

2

 

[JEFF420]

if you are a public school under 50 kids. wtf are we even doing here. merge

 

[qwerty]

tf is

369

Strong Roots

2

A home school that named themselves?

 

[Jer]

if you are a public school under 50 kids. wtf are we even doing here. merge

Unfortunately, I have to agree. Before I went to Ogden (around 2nd grade), I was at Boxholm for 2 years and K was in Webster City or Fort Dodge. Ogden still has enough students to maintain it's purpose. Boxholm folded many years ago.

The part that sucks is how long it is for kids to ride the bus each day to get to some of these consolidated schools. And some don't even have full bus routes so parents have to juggle drop-off/pickup while likely not working in the town they live in. It's the "progress" of the world, but still very sad.

 

[Gunnerclone]

tf is

369

Strong Roots

2

Get ready to see all kinds of this wacky ****. This is why they enacted the voucher program. Weird schools will be popping up all over to get that gubmint cheddar.

 

[JEFF420]

Get ready to see all kinds of this wacky ****. This is why they enacted the voucher program. Weird schools will be popping up all over to get that gubmint cheddar.

its the Dekalb agronomist training high school

 

[BCClone]

The state is reaching the point for football that they should merge 1A and A into one class and then divide up 8 man into two classes, large and small schools. The way it is now you have schools that have 35/40 out for the team playing schools that have 12/15 out for the team.
Really if you have 35/40 out for football you should be playing 11 man, but many drop down to get a competitive advantage and wins over a lot of small schools.

I think they should not have added a 6th class to 11 man football.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

if you are a public school under 50 kids. wtf are we even doing here. merge

The state has repeatedly told districts that if you can meet state standards, then you can stay open as long as you want to pay for it. For a lot of these really small towns the local school is the only thing they have going on in town and therefore a lot of community pride in the small school. It's crazy but that is the way they think.

We have Moulton Udell close to us, they already share the supt. and business director with Davis Co. and a few other jobs, but few teachers I believe. If Moulton closed then the student population would be split between DC and Centerville, a few in the far north could go to Moravia, but in most cases, you are talking about only getting 4/6 kids at most per grade.

Wayne Co. is even in worst shape, Wayne of Corydon is the country seat and the largest district, but they need to build a new high school and cannot get the bond to pass. The two smaller schools are on the edge of the county, hate Wayne with a passion and both have invested 10's of millions in new schools in the past 6 years. Hard to ask the taxpayers of those two districts to pay off what they just built and then turn around and help Corydon pay for a new school also.

 

[ISUTex]

The state is reaching the point for football that they should merge 1A and A into one class and then divide up 8 man into two classes, large and small schools. The way it is now you have schools that have 35/40 out for the team playing schools that have 12/15 out for the team.
Really if you have 35/40 out for football you should be playing 11 man, but many drop down to get a competitive advantage and wins over a lot of small schools.

They should make the smaller 8 man schools consolidate for football(just football). Sorry Lamoni, you have to team up with your nearest 8 man school or dissolve into Central Decatur or Mt. Ayr.

Something like that. Sigourney and Keota do it just for football.

 

[ISUTex]

The state is reaching the point for football that they should merge 1A and A into one class and then divide up 8 man into two classes, large and small schools. The way it is now you have schools that have 35/40 out for the team playing schools that have 12/15 out for the team.
Really if you have 35/40 out for football you should be playing 11 man, but many drop down to get a competitive advantage and wins over a lot of small schools.

Don Bosco? SE Warren? BGM anyone? We're looking at you.

 

[TitanClone]

No one thought the city with lakeside property would grow 10x faster than the one in the middle of a cornfield?

There's no lakeside property in Polk City....

 

[cyspy]

if you are a public school under 50 kids. wtf are we even doing here. merge

Or go with another school for sports. Sigourney/Keota for football for example.

 

[JEFF420]

all private schools in their own weirdo class. no public funds should be used for father creepys little football team