South Clay residents invited to attend public hearings

South Clay Dissolution Public Hearings

South Clay school board members decided earlier this year that low student enrollment numbers inside the building on the corner of Railway and Fourth streets in Gillett Grove -- not district finances -- were reason enough to dissolve.

"How few are too few" is a question that's lingered within the district for the past 17 years.

Dave Schulz, who will mark his 21st year at South Clay and his eighth as its superintendent this upcoming school year, said the decision to dissolve South Clay was finally made when it was understood that the northwest Iowa district would have to combine its preschool and kindergarten classes, as well as it fourth and fifth grade classrooms this year in order to seat students in each of the prekindergarten-through-sixth-grade building's classrooms.

South Clay, which certified 154 K-12 students last October, projects 140 pupils this final school year. In-house, the number of students is expected to number 48.

The same declining trend has plagued the district's teachers. South Clay's teaching rolls will be down two from 2008-09: Paula Klein, the district's preschool teacher, took an early retirement option and the fifth grade position formerly held by Donna Hemann was reduced at the conclusion of last school year.

Seven South Clay dissolution commission committee members, meanwhile, have been charged with guiding the process of redrawing the dissolving district's lines. The job of school board members Barry Anderson, Joe Hoffman and Amy Burkhart, as well as former board members Gary Johnson and Jim Wischmeyer of Webb, Mary Jo Smith of Dickens and Marcia Langner of Ayrshire is to bring back a proposal to the South Clay school board so that it can redraw the boundaries of South Clay, approve them this fall, go through another public hearing on Dec. 9 and take the matter to a public vote on Feb. 2, 2010.

"We've been told by the state that it ends up being somewhat of a grieving process for the communities and residents to go through," committee member Johnson said of the district's pending dissolution process. "That's why we're holding these meetings -- to get some of the voices behind what the people are thinking. That's very important. There are going to be a lot of changes here in the next couple years."

"I think South Clay has gone through a lot of grieving processes since it formed as a K-12 building in 1964," Schulz added. "When it went to a preschool through a sixth grade building in 1993, that change was a drawn out two-year affair. Not everybody agreed with it at the time."

"But rural America is decreasing in population right now," he continued. "That's why we're here -- because of the declining enrollment and people are trying to relocate their kids to a school district that's reliable and is going to be there for a longer period of time. Right now, we're just at that point where it's time to say that it's a saddened time for the South Clay district, but it's a process that we're going to have to go through."

Committee members, meanwhile, estimate they've informally visited with nearly half of the district's landowners and answered their questions.

"A lot of the general questions that I've had have been on tax rates for the different schools and people telling their preferences of where they'd like the property lines to be drawn with their property," Barry Anderson said.

"Some of the neighbors have asked where and what direction their neighbors were going to go, and for what reason," Johnson added.

While all area residents recently received a newsletter outlining the neighboring school districts' current programs and tax rates, (See Comparison of Fiscal Year 2010 Tax Rates, below) more information will be presented by the commission committee members during next week's public hearings. Each night's Power Point presentation will provide comparable enrollment statistics (see October 2008 District Student Counts, below), student-teacher ratios, dual credit courses offered and student test scores at the contiguous school districts. Committee members are also expected to field and answer questions during each night's public hearing session.

"This is their opportunity to really come out and either grieve or, if they're upset, let us know about it," Anderson said. "Or (we'll receive) just general statements of where they would like to be (relocated) for taxed property or students. These meetings are their opportunity and we want to let everybody know that their opinion is very important."

From information received from attendees at the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night public hearings, committee members will attempt to redraw South Clay's boundaries.

"Some people have already contacted us, whether it's been through a phone call or a face-to-face meeting, so we have an idea where those people (would prefer going next year)," Schulz said, "but we don't yet know what everybody thinks."

Once the South Clay school board approves a new set of lines, committee members have said their plans are to post the new map on the school's Web site, as well as in the Webb, Gillett Grove and Dickens post offices. Another public hearing regarding the new boundaries will then be held on Dec. 9.

"It's not an easy decision that they're going to have to make," Schulz said of the committee members' forthcoming proposal to board members. "But, I think that the proposal the commission committee makes will be a fair one and it will be to the best of their ability to make it a yes vote for us in February."

While committee members realize they probably will not make everybody happy with whatever they offer as a proposal, Schulz warned if an affirmative simple majority is not reached during the Feb. 2, 2010, public vote, the state will come in and divide the district up.

"If we get a no vote in February, then the state will most likely come in and redraw the lines for us. And most likely it will not be anywhere near as personable. They'll just draw lines and will probably pick blacktops and hard-surfaced roads, and it'll be where it is," Schulz said. "So, we do know it's not possible to make everybody happy with where their property tax dollars may go, but we are going to try our best to get everybody where they want to go."

Following a public election on the matter, the South Clay district's dissolution is anticipated to take effect by July 1, 2010. Matters still needing to be addressed by board members at that time would include officially closing the building, as well as filing reports with the Iowa Department of Education and adjoining school districts.

October 2008 District Student Counts

Comparison of Fiscal Year 2010 Tax Rates

Amounts listed are dollars levied per $1,000 valuation.