District's dissolution plan approved overwhelmingly

During Tuesday's election, 92 percent of the district's patrons who voted answered yes to the dissolution plan proposed. While 152 people cast ballots in the special election, Clay County Auditor Marjorie Pitts mentioned Wednesday afternoon that two absentee ballots were still out. Those, she reported, were mailed to Florida.

Committee members asked to serve from within the district's boundaries were pleased with the public turnout.

"I think it's spectacular that many people voted," Mary Jo Smith said following the closing of polls Tuesday night. "I guess I feel that the patrons of the district supported what the school board's decision was."

"We worked awfully hard to satisfy people," Gary Johnson, a fellow South Clay dissolution commission committee member, added.

Since the Iowa Department of Education began keeping district reorganization and dissolution records in 1965, four have dissolved. Following Boone Valley's dissolution in 1988, Grand Valley's in 1998, East Monona's in 2004 and New Market's in 2008, South Clay will mark Iowa's fifth school district to decide to distribute its students and property among its neighboring districts.

"I was not here when South Clay went from a high school down to just K through 6, but I heard they really had some heated conversations at that time. I can understand that because we really kind of made that first step (toward dissolving) when we lost our high school. That would be a real hard first step," Barry Anderson said. "Since then, we've gone through closing one whole school building down in Webb and we've gone to sharing with other schools. As far as staff, we've shared administration and teachers. We've also shared bus routes. So, a lot of things have transpired since I've been here, and I think those have made this step, this vote, easier on people. I think people have gone through so many steps at South Clay as we've tried to keep everything going, that they know what's coming and it's kind of a given."

Johnson agreed that South Clay patrons have intuitively known it was time for this public measure to be adopted.

"We all know there's going to be an increase in taxes," he said. "We had the most reasonable tax base of any district in a large area around here. So, we all know that per acre there's going to be more taxes involved. And, I know people are probably going to have a little disgruntled attitude when that gets here; it'll probably take about two years before that happens. So, I know there's going to be some comments made -- and I'll probably be one of them."

Why serve on such a committee?

South Clay dissolution commission committee members Anderson, Smith, Johnson, Joe Hoffman, Jim Wischmeyer, Marcia Langner and Amy Burkhart were charged with the difficult tasks of answering every district patron's questions and redrawing South Clay's property lines among the contiguous school districts of Spencer, Sioux Central, Ruthven-Ayrshire, Clay Central-Everly, Laurens-Marathon and Terril.

While Anderson was appointed to serve as the committee's chairperson, Hoffman served as its vice chairperson and Smith agreed to serve as the now-defunct committee's secretary.

"South Clay has always been pretty dear to my heart," Anderson, a rural Greenville farmer, said. "We've got great kids that come out of the school, and I just wanted to make sure that we did the best we could for the kids."

"The class sizes had gotten small enough that the school board felt that they weren't going to be able to provide the quality of education they wanted to. And, I guess I felt it was important to support the board in their decision. That was why I chose to do it," Smith, of rural Dickens, said of her participation on the committee.

"When real estate and taxes are involved, which both are in this situation, I felt that we needed representation for the neighbors and the friends that I know. And, I know the background of the biggest share of the land in the district's southern section and probably its middle too. That's one of the reasons why I donated the time to help," added Johnson, a 1969 South Clay alumnus who reared three daughters who also graduated from the school.

All three dissolution committee members agreed the most difficult part of serving on this group was helping to finalize the district's end.

"As I walked in to vote Tuesday, a gentleman who went to school there (George Koenig) walked with me. He said, 'It's going to be tough to see this place close.' I guess that was probably the toughest part of the whole project," Johnson, a former South Clay school board member and president from rural Webb, reflected.

"I remember myself going and getting my education at South Clay. It was always a good, solid education. We had small classes, but we always came out prepared for whatever we needed to do. It's just kind of sad knowing that that is coming to an end," Anderson, a 1984 South Clay alumnus who also saw his three children enrolled in the building's elementary classes, said.

"I think the hardest thing is knowing that a year from now when you drive through Gillett (Grove), there probably won't be a building there -- and that's a building that's been there my entire life," added Smith, a 1979 South Clay alumna who served on the district's school board for nine years after sending her two children through the preschool-through-sixth-grade building. "There's a lot of history and a lot of emotions from growing up there, and all the things you did there as a kid and all the things you saw your children do there."

What's next?

The Clay County Board of Supervisors will canvass Tuesday's votes at 10 a.m. on Feb. 9, during their regular board meeting. Following this, South Clay school board members plan to work hand in hand over the next four months with officials from the state to make sure all of the dissolving district's i's are dotted and t's are crossed correctly.

Among the decisions yet to be made by the board is whether the school building will be sold or demolished. In the meantime, the removal of asbestos has already been scheduled to occur following the 2009-10 school year.

"As soon as that is done, then we will look at having an auction for a lot of the movable items in the school. One of the most asked questions we've had is, 'What are we going to do with the school pictures,'" Anderson, who is serving his 13th year as a South Clay board member and his fourth as its president, said. "I believe that will probably be sometime in June, early June hopefully.

"And then buildingwise, I don't know. If we don't get it done by the end of our business year, July 31, it may become something that the Spencer school district, being the majority (recipient), will have to handle. We'll probably end up putting some funds aside so that if anything like that has to happen, if it's not handled by that time then they would. So, there are a lot of hard decisions coming up yet."

To their South Clay peers:

"I just want to pass along to all of the patrons and friends of the district that the support we received while going through this process (was appreciated). They may not have liked some of the decisions and they may not have agreed totally, but they understood. I guess one thing that I really appreciate about South Clay is it really is kind of a family community. We may be long and narrow from Dickens clear down to south of Webb, but we've always tried to make decisions together. And, I think things have worked out so well because we tried to put the kids first. By doing that, then things usually fall into place."

-- Barry Anderson

"As patrons of South Clay, we've been very lucky because we have had an excellent school district there. Our kids have gotten an excellent education. The teachers have done a wonderful job with our kids and the kids that have left there have gone on and done some really spectacular things. I'd just like to thank the teachers and (South Clay Superintendent) Dave Schulz for all the work they've done in helping our kids be the kids they are today."

-- Mary Jo Smith

"We appreciate their patience and I hope they're satisfied with the result in the end. The jury's still out. This is all new and we're stepping on new boundaries that we don't know much about. So, I hope the people are satisfied 5-10 years down the road. I hope it works out well for everyone. I'm sure there will be some questions down the road."

-- Gary Johnson