South Clay Community School District

South Clay Community School District was a school district headquartered in Gillett Grove, Iowa.[1] In addition to Gillett Grove, it served Dickens and Webb.[2]

History

The district was established in 1964.[3]

By 1993, the population had declined so much, to 325, that the district decided to close its junior and senior high school divisions and send students to other school districts:[3] Laurens-Marathon, Ruthven-Ayrshire, Sioux Central, and Spencer.[4] Within the same year, as whole-grade sharing was in place, the student population was down to 232.[5] After the closure of the high school, according to superintendent David Schulz, the community perceived the district to be doomed and speculated on how long the South Clay district would survive.[3] According to Schulz, administrators were, at the time, operating on the presumption that the district would close circa 1996 to 1998.[5]

After 1993 the area population further declined, and increasing numbers of elementary students transferred to other schools.[4] In 2010, the district had 132 students; there were seven preschool students,[5] no kindergarten students, and no 4th-grade students.[3] At the same time there were 97 students living in the district boundaries attending secondary school in other districts.[5] There were also 18 employees, both full-time and part-time.[3] At that time the district leadership decided to suggest dissolution of the district. On February 2, 2010, the residents voted to dissolve the school district.[4] Schulz had stated that since taxpayers had requested the vote, he expected it to be approved by voters, but even if it had not been, the state would have involuntarily dissolved the school district anyway, with the local education agency (LEA) placing students in new schools.[5]

On July 1, 2010, the district was dissolved. Portions went to the Clay Central–Everly, Laurens-Marathon, Ruthven-Ayrshire, Sioux Central, and Spencer school districts;[6] the respective assessed valuation of the former South Clay territory given to each district were: less than 1%, 3.2%, less than 1%, 45.5%, and 50%. It was the fifth school district in the state to dissolve (instead of merge into another district) since 1965, when the Iowa Department of Education began keeping records of school district dissolutions and consolidations. In mid-March 2011, the main building of the school was razed.[4] Webb and the areas south of Gillett Grove were reassigned to Sioux Central.[7]

References
  1. "Contact Us." South Clay Community School District. January 29, 2010. Retrieved on July 21, 2018. "South Clay Community School 300 Railway Street Gillett Grove, Iowa 51341".
  2. Home. South Clay Community School District. November 4, 2001. Retrieved on July 20, 2018. "Welcome to South Clay Community School, a K–6 school serving the communities of Dickens, Gillett Grove, and Webb, Iowa."
  3. Hopkins, Alissa. "Voters cast ballots that could close South Clay school district". KTIV. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
  4. Todd, Kris (2011-05-13). "Preparing to close the books on South Clay". Spencer Daily Reporter. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
  5. Oechslin, Russ (2010-01-30). "South Clay will vote on district's future". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved 2018-07-20.
  6. "REORGANIZATION & DISSOLUTION ACTIONS SINCE 1965-66." Iowa Department of Education. Retrieved on July 20, 2018.
  7. "History." Sioux Central Community School District. Retrieved on July 21, 2018.
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