Iowa High School BEDS count 24-25

[1SEIACLONE]

Woah, that's a wild story. VB really told them they would change mascots and school colors and then when the ink dried reneged?? Thats wild.

Totally true, I sat in on a few of those meetings, my idea was since VB was orange and black and Harmony was red and white, just go to Red and Black uniforms, both sides get something out of it.
Very quickly after the deal was done, we started hearing a lot of "I want to keep the Warriors" from the VB side of it, and the school member on the VB board that sold us on the deal, was no longer on their board once it happened. The only thing that changed was its now Van Buren County school district, everything else stayed the same, and the old Harmony HS became the eastern elementary for the district, they closed the Harmony elementary which they had spent millions on not more than 5 years before remodeling and adding on. They gave that building to the city of Bonaparte.

 

[Gunnerclone]

Easily the most forgotten about metro school is Hoover. I have lived close to the Des Moines metro all my life and have never driven past Hoover High School or could even tell you exactly where it is. I think I saw on here once where somebody said Johnston school district is literally across the street from Hoover high School, like kids that live right next to the high school are technically in Johnston school district or something crazy like that

Ya the boundary gets weird up there and there are Des Moines addresses that map to JSD. Source: I used to live at one of those addresses.

 

[benman82]

Easily the most forgotten about metro school is Hoover. I have lived close to the Des Moines metro all my life and have never driven past Hoover High School or could even tell you exactly where it is. I think I saw on here once where somebody said Johnston school district is literally across the street from Hoover high School, like kids that live right next to the high school are technically in Johnston school district or something crazy like that

It is pretty insane that the Johnston school district takes over across the street, but the Des Moines city limits only go to Meredith Dr (Lovington / dogpatch is unincorporated). So it's like 8 blocks of the city of DSM that are in the Johnston school district. After way too much research I'm pretty sure it's because Aurora was the boundary of Des Moines when Hoover high was built and they just didn't bother to change the school district when the city annexed more land to the north.

The Meridith family owned 370 acres of the land in the area, and gave away 50 acres to the city of DSM in ~1960 which is now the campus of Hoover High school, Meredith Middle school, and the northwest aquatic center.

Meredith School History - Meredith Middle School

Meredith Junior High School opened its doors to students for the 1962-63 school year. The state of the art facility was built on 50 acres of land donated by Meredith Publishing Company, publisher of the famous Better Homes ...

meredith.dmschools.org

This 1956 map with the city of DSM in red shows that the 50 acres were not a part of Des Moines

1956 Map of Des Moines, IA — High-Res | Pastmaps

Explore a hi-res interactive 1956 map of Des Moines. See changes over time, compare to present day, or buy a museum-quality print.

pastmaps.com

Current Hoover district is in green
https://www.dmschools.org/maps/district-map/





https://johnstoncsd.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ES_Approved_2425.pdf
https://data.dsm.city/datasets/desmoines::city-boundary/explore?location=41.642724%2C-93.680288%2C15.43

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

It is pretty insane that the Johnston school district takes over across the street, but the Des Moines city limits only go to Meredith Dr (Lovington / dogpatch is unincorporated). So it's like 8 blocks of the city of DSM that are in the Johnston school district. After way too much research I'm pretty sure it's because Aurora was the boundary of Des Moines when Hoover high was built and they just didn't bother to change the school district when the city annexed more land to the north.

The Meridith family owned 370 acres of the land in the area, and gave away 50 acres to the city of DSM in ~1960 which is now the campus of Hoover High school, Meredith Middle school, and the northwest aquatic center.

Meredith School History - Meredith Middle School

Meredith Junior High School opened its doors to students for the 1962-63 school year. The state of the art facility was built on 50 acres of land donated by Meredith Publishing Company, publisher of the famous Better Homes ...

meredith.dmschools.org

This 1956 map with the city of DSM in red shows that the 50 acres were not a part of Des Moines

1956 Map of Des Moines, IA — High-Res | Pastmaps

Explore a hi-res interactive 1956 map of Des Moines. See changes over time, compare to present day, or buy a museum-quality print.

pastmaps.com

View attachment 154669


Current Hoover district is in green
https://www.dmschools.org/maps/district-map/
View attachment 154667




https://johnstoncsd.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ES_Approved_2425.pdf
https://data.dsm.city/datasets/desmoines::city-boundary/explore?location=41.642724%2C-93.680288%2C15.43

This stretch north of Hickman is West Des Moines Schools. I will never understand that.

 

[houjix]

This stretch north of Hickman is West Des Moines Schools. I will never understand that.

View attachment 154671

I don't think the area east of I35 is all that odd considering where the elementary schools are. Now that whole area of Country Club and Deerfield going to Westridge is a little silly.

 

[mkadl]

It is pretty insane that the Johnston school district takes over across the street, but the Des Moines city limits only go to Meredith Dr (Lovington / dogpatch is unincorporated). So it's like 8 blocks of the city of DSM that are in the Johnston school district. After way too much research I'm pretty sure it's because Aurora was the boundary of Des Moines when Hoover high was built and they just didn't bother to change the school district when the city annexed more land to the north.

The Meridith family owned 370 acres of the land in the area, and gave away 50 acres to the city of DSM in ~1960 which is now the campus of Hoover High school, Meredith Middle school, and the northwest aquatic center.

Meredith School History - Meredith Middle School

Meredith Junior High School opened its doors to students for the 1962-63 school year. The state of the art facility was built on 50 acres of land donated by Meredith Publishing Company, publisher of the famous Better Homes ...

meredith.dmschools.org

This 1956 map with the city of DSM in red shows that the 50 acres were not a part of Des Moines

1956 Map of Des Moines, IA — High-Res | Pastmaps

Explore a hi-res interactive 1956 map of Des Moines. See changes over time, compare to present day, or buy a museum-quality print.

pastmaps.com

View attachment 154669


Current Hoover district is in green
https://www.dmschools.org/maps/district-map/
View attachment 154667




https://johnstoncsd.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ES_Approved_2425.pdf
https://data.dsm.city/datasets/desmoines::city-boundary/explore?location=41.642724%2C-93.680288%2C15.43

School districts havent changed much since the 60s, if I recall correctly. Every square inch of Iowa is and has been in a school district. They want the land for property tax revenue. They dont give it up unless the local school board disolve the district. I know of a city that has property in two school districts and the one school district only has farmground in that city, no inhabitants. So for elections a few ballots were always made in case someone for that city claimed that farmground was their residence. They would then have the opportunity to cast a provisional ballot until they could prove residence. It gets really weird. Community college districts conform to old school district boundries of many non existant or merged school districts. Counties run elections. One county has seven school disticts and three community colleges and the community college districts are not all congruant ( same community college district in two different parts of the county, with no common border, in that county.)

 

[cycub51]

Its crazy sometimes, why would it matter is a sport like CC, when how you finish is based on time. So he would rather not have a team score, instead of running for a rival school.

I have sat in meetings and we would ask the kids, how many of you are planning on going out for a sport, and then see the number drop to a few when we talked about sharing with another school. The strange thing is when teams do combine, the players that actually still go out tend to prefer it because it makes for a better team. Now the parents are a totally different deal, most of them hate it.

To make it work, you almost have to do away with the existing school colors and chose something else, and then change the name nickname for the team. I know when Harmony went under and was looking at other schools, Van Buren agreed to changing their school colors and to chose a new mascot for the school if Harmony would bring most of their students to them. Once it was all over, and the paper signed, VB reneged on the deal, causing a lot of anger from the Harmony people, but it was too late, and nothing was ever done about it. They are still the Warriors and their colors are still Orange and Black, just like they were before the consolidation.

I think it’s the thought of being a part of that program and traveling half an hour for practice. He said he’d play football instead

 

[drmwevr08]

It is pretty insane that the Johnston school district takes over across the street, but the Des Moines city limits only go to Meredith Dr (Lovington / dogpatch is unincorporated). So it's like 8 blocks of the city of DSM that are in the Johnston school district. After way too much research I'm pretty sure it's because Aurora was the boundary of Des Moines when Hoover high was built and they just didn't bother to change the school district when the city annexed more land to the north.

The Meridith family owned 370 acres of the land in the area, and gave away 50 acres to the city of DSM in ~1960 which is now the campus of Hoover High school, Meredith Middle school, and the northwest aquatic center.

Meredith School History - Meredith Middle School

Meredith Junior High School opened its doors to students for the 1962-63 school year. The state of the art facility was built on 50 acres of land donated by Meredith Publishing Company, publisher of the famous Better Homes ...

meredith.dmschools.org

This 1956 map with the city of DSM in red shows that the 50 acres were not a part of Des Moines

1956 Map of Des Moines, IA — High-Res | Pastmaps

Explore a hi-res interactive 1956 map of Des Moines. See changes over time, compare to present day, or buy a museum-quality print.

pastmaps.com

View attachment 154669


Current Hoover district is in green
https://www.dmschools.org/maps/district-map/
View attachment 154667




https://johnstoncsd.b-cdn.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ES_Approved_2425.pdf
https://data.dsm.city/datasets/desmoines::city-boundary/explore?location=41.642724%2C-93.680288%2C15.43

City annexation and school districts are rarely related. The schools had a map well before the towns started growing over them and they most often happen independently.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

City annexation and school districts are rarely related. The schools had a map well before the towns started growing over them and they most often happen independently.

The Ames school district has to be kicking themselves over what is happening here in Ames, what used to be farm ground that few cared about and brought in a few dollars, is now 100s of homes, sitting in the Gilbert school district, right in the city limits of Ames.

 

[mkadl]

The Ames school district has to be kicking themselves over what is happening here in Ames, what used to be farm ground that few cared about and brought in a few dollars, is now 100s of homes, sitting in the Gilbert school district, right in the city limits of Ames.

The school districts have been set in stone for over 60 years in most cases. The red tape to even swap land with even values with another district to clean up borders is a nightmare and probably cost prohibitive. There are farms 3 miles from Harlan Community High School in the IKM-Manning school district. The high school is 28 miles away in Manning. Families open enroll to Harlan and IKM Manning gets the property tax revenue. Crazy stuff, and I am sure there are scenarios that play out like this all over the state.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

The school districts have been set in stone for over 60 years in most cases. The red tape to even swap land with even values with another district to clean up borders is a nightmare and probably cost prohibitive. There are farms 3 miles from Harlan Community High School in the IKM-Manning school district. The high school is 28 miles away in Manning. Families open enroll to Harlan and IKM Manning gets the property tax revenue. Crazy stuff, and I am sure there are scenarios that play out like this all over the state.

Without a doubt, and I am not suggesting the Ames school district could have done anything about it, but it has to make them wonder how much tax money they are now losing to Gilbert, when most of those homes sit in the city of Ames.

Last week a couple of gals I used to teach with were in town, and wanted to catch up. Before we went out to eat they wanted to see the area, so I drove them around to the North of us. One of them asked how far the daughter has to drive to school, and I took them up to Gilbert to see the schools and the town. I had told them before that Gilbert is just like the town you live in, business wise, except it has money. Neither believed me until they saw the business district of town. One replied "this is it", yep, this is it. Heck not even sure the Caseys is in the city limits. Wealthy growing school district all based on farm ground and half a million dollar and up homes, that mostly sit in the city limits of Ames.

 

[do4CY]

The school districts have been set in stone for over 60 years in most cases. The red tape to even swap land with even values with another district to clean up borders is a nightmare and probably cost prohibitive. There are farms 3 miles from Harlan Community High School in the IKM-Manning school district. The high school is 28 miles away in Manning. Families open enroll to Harlan and IKM Manning gets the property tax revenue. Crazy stuff, and I am sure there are scenarios that play out like this all over the state.

This got me looking at the schools closest to me.
School 1 - 11 miles
School 2 - 13 miles
School 3 - 19 miles
School 4 - 19 miles
School 5 - 24 miles
School 6 - 27 miles
School 7 - 27 miles
We are in the school 6 district.

 

[ISU_Guy]

Just do what the politicians are doing right now and change the districts

 

[mramseyISU]

Dunkerton gets absolutely killed by Don Bosco recruiting. The only male athletes Dunkerton can keep are the ones that want to play basketball.

I think Jesup has been recruiting like crazy too, at least with Wrestling. Sounds like they poached the 3-4 kids from Waterloo East that were clueless. I'd also heard through the grapevine they might have got a kid or two from Independence or Waterloo Columbus.

 

[BCClone]

This got me looking at the schools closest to me.
School 1 - 11 miles
School 2 - 13 miles
School 3 - 19 miles
School 4 - 19 miles
School 5 - 24 miles
School 6 - 27 miles
School 7 - 27 miles
We are in the school 6 district.

Growing up, I had two schools closer but they were in MN.

What was irritating was when my HS closed several wanted out to other districts but the school board said no because they had to be within 1/2 the distance for the other school. For some, the parents worked in the other districts. Never understood forcing kids on the border to go to towns they are much further from and parents are even worse.

 

[AuH2O]

Ya the boundary gets weird up there and there are Des Moines addresses that map to JSD. Source: I used to live at one of those addresses.

Pretty sure my in laws have a Grimes address and are in JSD too.

 

[AuH2O]

LHC to Raccoon River is a small step down competitively (and in size). Van Meter to Raccoon River makes the most sense to me.

LHC is best for Ames, probably the best collection of most similar schools that exist in a single conference right now with DCG, Indianola and Norwalk. Would have preferred if Urbandale had joined too.

My ideal league for Ames would prob include DCG, Urbandale, North Polk, Indianola, Norwalk. Probably Ft Dodge too for some old rivalries. Beyond that travel and size matches get tougher.

 

[Kinch]

Its crazy sometimes, why would it matter is a sport like CC, when how you finish is based on time. So he would rather not have a team score, instead of running for a rival school.

I have sat in meetings and we would ask the kids, how many of you are planning on going out for a sport, and then see the number drop to a few when we talked about sharing with another school. The strange thing is when teams do combine, the players that actually still go out tend to prefer it because it makes for a better team. Now the parents are a totally different deal, most of them hate it.

To make it work, you almost have to do away with the existing school colors and chose something else, and then change the name nickname for the team. I know when Harmony went under and was looking at other schools, Van Buren agreed to changing their school colors and to chose a new mascot for the school if Harmony would bring most of their students to them. Once it was all over, and the paper signed, VB reneged on the deal, causing a lot of anger from the Harmony people, but it was too late, and nothing was ever done about it. They are still the Warriors and their colors are still Orange and Black, just like they were before the consolidation.

Do you know for a fact this happened or just something you heard third hand? Never ever heard this agreement?

 

[Kinch]

Totally true, I sat in on a few of those meetings, my idea was since VB was orange and black and Harmony was red and white, just go to Red and Black uniforms, both sides get something out of it.
Very quickly after the deal was done, we started hearing a lot of "I want to keep the Warriors" from the VB side of it, and the school member on the VB board that sold us on the deal, was no longer on their board once it happened. The only thing that changed was its now Van Buren County school district, everything else stayed the same, and the old Harmony HS became the eastern elementary for the district, they closed the Harmony elementary which they had spent millions on not more than 5 years before remodeling and adding on. They gave that building to the city of Bonaparte.

van Buren county didn’t do that. Harmony board gave the building to city.

 

[1SEIACLONE]

van Buren county didn’t do that. Harmony board gave the building to city.

VB sure did that, I was there at the time and attended the meetings. The point about the building was that millions had been spent on a new addition, and it was only used for a few years. Basically after the agreement was signed and the Harmony kids started to attend VB, they did not go through with the changing of school colors and mascot. What could Harmony do about it, they had already merged the district, promises were made by VB and were not kept, it was that simple.