Proposed CIML Split

[CyFan61]

Problem is it would be Valley and 5 other schools in that class. If you move 12 schools up to a 5A then you have to move X amount up to 4A and you have the same problem.

Right now it's:

4A = 46
3A = 56
2A = 56
1A = 56
A / 8-man = remaining schools at their option (126 total)

And in 4A alone, the most recent BEDS number that I could find with a Google search show largest size 2,036 to smallest 702. Nearly 3x as many from the top to the bottom.

If you adjusted the classes like this:

5A = 24
4A = 36
3A = 48
2A = 56
1A = 56
A / 8-man = remaining schools at their option (120 total)

The 5A enrollment split would go from 2,036 to 1,019, and 4A now from 998 to 475. So you're going from a 3x top-to-bottom to a 2x in both classes.

Just because I'm on this now, 5A would have four districts of six teams each... Here's a shot at them:

West:
DSM Roosevelt
Johnston
Sioux City North
Waukee
WDSM Dowling
WDSM Valley

West Central:
Cedar Falls
DSM East
DSM Lincoln
Marshalltown
SE Polk
Waterloo West

East Central:
CR Jefferson
CR Kennedy
CR Washington
Iowa City High
Iowa City West
Linn-Mar

East:
Bettendorf
Davenport Central
Davenport West
Dubuque Hempstead
Dubuque Senior
Muscatine

You could flip some of the DSM-area schools between those two districts for competitive balance if you wanted.

Here is the document I used for enrollment figures.

 

[Clonefan32]

From the way it's explained in this article from the DMR, it appears the split is coming and it is only a matter of which side Indianola chooses.

As an Indianola native, I'm so conflicted with this. They aren't too far removed from have multiple top-5 basketball teams. However, the last 10 years have not been enjoyable watching them get their ***** kicked in nearly every sport. Also, they are a part of the 4A softball division and have been highly competitive against similarly sized schools.


Part of me feels like it boils down to laziness on the AD's part. Rather than ensuring that competent coaches are hired he'd rather stoop down a level. Not sure what message that teaches high school aged kids-- if you aren't good enough rather than working hard at making yourself better just lower your expectations.

 

[The_Architect]

Waukee is growing, but all the kids who are starting in kindergarten will be in separate high schools. The 2nd high school will be online in 4-5 years. Waukee is currently in the process of securing land for the second high school. Current kindergarten classes are about 750 kids district wide.

Have you heard where that HS will be? I've heard out in the Jordan Creek area but I have no idea if that's official or not. Hope so cause I live in that area and my kids are young but taking them all the way to Waukee someday would suck.

 

[BringBackJohnny]

I think this is one of the best ideas for HS sports I have seen since moving to C-IA. There is not the parity out here in sports that there seems to be in other places in IA. The important thing with HS Sports is for kids to compete and try to compete on a fair level. If I was a HS kid at a DSM school. I would be all fore this new conference because I would have a better chance to compete.

 

[cloneswereall]

Right now it's:

4A = 46
3A = 56
2A = 56
1A = 56
A / 8-man = remaining schools at their option (126 total)

And in 4A alone, the most recent BEDS number that I could find with a Google search show largest size 2,036 to smallest 702. Nearly 3x as many from the top to the bottom.

If you adjusted the classes like this:

5A = 24
4A = 36
3A = 48
2A = 56
1A = 56
A / 8-man = remaining schools at their option (120 total)

The 5A enrollment split would go from 2,036 to 1,019, and 4A now from 998 to 475. So you're going from a 3x top-to-bottom to a 2x in both classes.

Just because I'm on this now, 5A would have four districts of six teams each... Here's a shot at them:

West:
DSM Roosevelt
Johnston
Sioux City North
Waukee
WDSM Dowling
WDSM Valley

West Central:
Cedar Falls
DSM East
DSM Lincoln
Marshalltown
SE Polk
Waterloo West

East Central:
CR Jefferson
CR Kennedy
CR Washington
Iowa City High
Iowa City West
Linn-Mar

East:
Bettendorf
Davenport Central
Davenport West
Dubuque Hempstead
Dubuque Senior
Muscatine

You could flip some of the DSM-area schools between those two districts for competitive balance if you wanted.

Here is the document I used for enrollment figures.

Or instead of splitting public schools in cities with more than one HS, you make Valley split. You're not going to get a school district to split the classifications they're in for athletics. With a class split like this, you're dividing the school districts of Sioux City, Waterloo, and Des Moines into different classes.

 

[Gunnerclone]

They were god awful at basketball, which I don't understand.

Think Iowa Hoks basketball.

 

[CyArob]

Or instead of splitting public schools in cities with more than one HS, you make Valley split. You're not going to get a school district to split the classifications they're in for athletics. With a class split like this, you're dividing the school districts of Sioux City, Waterloo, and Des Moines into different classes.

Valley's not splitting. They just put ridiculous amounts of money into expanding/renovating their building.

 

[cloneswereall]

Valley's not splitting. They just put ridiculous amounts of money into expanding/renovating their building.

And you're not going to get a complete school district to divide the class sizes they're in for athletics. Valley is the problem school. Their enrollment is roughly 500 students more than the second largest school in the state.

 

[Three4Cy]

And you're not going to get a complete school district to divide the class sizes they're in for athletics. Valley is the problem school. Their enrollment is roughly 500 students more than the second largest school in the state.

And with all those extra kids, Valley hasn't won a state championship since 2011 (Boys Golf & Football).

http://data.desmoinesregister.com/iowa-sports-county-champs/#all-sports

As previously stated, WDM Public Schools voted in 1998 to either expand Southwoods to a full 2nd high school, or expand Valley and keep one high school. The keeping one high school won by a landslide.

 

[3GenClone]

When has Waukee announced that they are building a 2nd high school? I know that there will be demand for one, but this is the first I've heard on the topic. The most I can find on their site is that Waukee is investing in a CAPS program (similar to Central Campus for DM School District). I am waiting for the day that the bubble bursts in the Waukee school district and the families that live in that area of Clive/Urbandale just east of Alice's Road/Dallas County area are told that their kids will have to go to WDM/Urbandale schools since that's the neighborhood they live in.

 

[Three4Cy]

Have you heard where that HS will be? I've heard out in the Jordan Creek area but I have no idea if that's official or not. Hope so cause I live in that area and my kids are young but taking them all the way to Waukee someday would suck.

The original plan was on LaGrant Parkway in Waukee across from the new Timberline School, however that land is going to become a housing development. Everything I've heard is always been in Waukee, but like you I wish it was near Jordan Creek since I live really close. The reality of the situation is even if it is built in WDM, kids will still be transported to Waukee for grades 6-9.

 

[Clonefan32]

Valley's basketball team does throw a bit of an interesting wrinkle into this argument. If the argument by the smaller schools is they cant compete with the size, talent pool and resources of the Valley/Dowling's of the world, why is it their basketball teams aren't that good? I suppose the idea is that even a school like Indianola can drum up 7 guys who can play basketball, and football you need 25+ to be good. However, you'd still think that the "talent pool" would win out in a sport like basketball at the bigger schools as it seems to in football...

 

[Three4Cy]

When has Waukee announced that they are building a 2nd high school? I know that there will be demand for one, but this is the first I've heard on the topic. The most I can find on their site is that Waukee is investing in a CAPS program (similar to Central Campus for DM School District). I am waiting for the day that the bubble bursts in the Waukee school district and the families that live in that area of Clive/Urbandale just east of Alice's Road/Dallas County area are told that their kids will have to go to WDM/Urbandale schools since that's the neighborhood they live in.

The new school has been on the drawing board for at least 5 years. At the 6/9 board meeting they went into closed session to discuss land purchase for a second high school. The plan is to start building the 2nd high school right after opening the new 8-9 building. The CAPS program is not a second high school.

Waukee is building another elementary school on the north side of the district not too far from the area you are talking about of Alice's Road to handle the additional growth anticipated over the next several years. Once the new 8-9 building opens up in 2015, much of the space problems will be resolved in grades K-9 since the middle schools will go back to being 6th-7th grade, and Prairieview and Timberline will be 8th-9th grade.

 

[Gunnerclone]

When has Waukee announced that they are building a 2nd high school? I know that there will be demand for one, but this is the first I've heard on the topic. The most I can find on their site is that Waukee is investing in a CAPS program (similar to Central Campus for DM School District). I am waiting for the day that the bubble bursts in the Waukee school district and the families that live in that area of Clive/Urbandale just east of Alice's Road/Dallas County area are told that their kids will have to go to WDM/Urbandale schools since that's the neighborhood they live in.

Why would Waukee tell them that?

 

[jbindm]

As an Indianola native, I'm so conflicted with this. They aren't too far removed from have multiple top-5 basketball teams. However, the last 10 years have not been enjoyable watching them get their ***** kicked in nearly every sport. Also, they are a part of the 4A softball division and have been highly competitive against similarly sized schools.


Part of me feels like it boils down to laziness on the AD's part. Rather than ensuring that competent coaches are hired he'd rather stoop down a level. Not sure what message that teaches high school aged kids-- if you aren't good enough rather than working hard at making yourself better just lower your expectations.[/QUOTE]

Maybe it's just a matter of being pragmatic. The schools considering splitting off cannot compete financially with the other schools, and the gap is only getting wider. Ankeny's athletic department payroll was triple that of Des Moines Hoover's in 2012-2013. (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...8/cimls-big-spenders-are-cashing-in/11640649/)

To hang around and try to compete on that uneven of a playing field that's steadily getting more lopsided isn't working hard or sticking to it; it's beating your head against a wall.

 

[BringBackJohnny]

Valley's basketball team does throw a bit of an interesting wrinkle into this argument. If the argument by the smaller schools is they cant compete with the size, talent pool and resources of the Valley/Dowling's of the world, why is it their basketball teams aren't that good? I suppose the idea is that even a school like Indianola can drum up 7 guys who can play basketball, and football you need 25+ to be good. However, you'd still think that the "talent pool" would win out in a sport like basketball at the bigger schools as it seems to in football...

One guy can make a basketball team one guy cannot make a football team. I think schools are doing a huge disservice to their students when they have too high of class size. High school is a great place to try lots of new things. In real big schools kids would have to specialize real early to get the opportunity to just get on the field. I am not trying to say every kid is special snowflake but they should at least have the chance to be a kid and be exposed to lots of opportunities.

 

[NickTheGreat]

... There were a ton, A TON, of people I met that dropped out because ISU was too big and they couldn't handle it. These people were coming from the Baxter's and Andrew High Schools of Iowa. Small 20 or less graduating classes.

People from small schools dropping out of ISU because "it's too big" is the equivalency of athletes transferring "to be closer to home." :twitcy:

 

[3GenClone]

Why would Waukee tell them that?

There is so much more growth potential for new housing developments actually in Waukee-proper that without expansion of the current HS/school district the capacity wouldn't be there for students to attend Waukee that actually live in Waukee. This is YEARS down the road, but the signs are there that if the school district doesn't expand drastically the neighborhoods I mentioned would be the ones that could be impacted.

But this is all a moot point, since Three4Cy's post clarified things.

 

[jbindm]

One guy can make a basketball team one guy cannot make a football team. I think schools are doing a huge disservice to their students when they have too high of class size. High school is a great place to try lots of new things. In real big schools kids would have to specialize real early to get the opportunity to just get on the field. I am not trying to say every kid is special snowflake but they should at least have the chance to be a kid and be exposed to lots of opportunities.

Right on. I graduated from a small Iowa high school with a graduating class of 36. My son (assuming we stay put) will go to Roosevelt. In a small high school, kids play multiple sports not only to fill the hours, but to fill out rosters. It's odd to me to think that my kid might have to pick one sport by junior high if he hopes to eventually get any minutes on the varsity team.

 

[cloneswereall]

And with all those extra kids, Valley hasn't won a state championship since 2011 (Boys Golf & Football).

http://data.desmoinesregister.com/iowa-sports-county-champs/#all-sports

As previously stated, WDM Public Schools voted in 1998 to either expand Southwoods to a full 2nd high school, or expand Valley and keep one high school. The keeping one high school won by a landslide.

Yea, that was also 16 years ago when their enrollment was for 9-11 was 1779. Quite a bit different when the current school year was 2190 for 9-11.