Iowa City school board digs into transition

Iowa City school board members continued their discussion of a possible third high school last night, but they are no closer to making a decision.

Superintendent Lane Plugge said the district has identified its immediate problem - lack of space at West High and unused space at City High - and presented the ultimate solution: a new high school.

“Now we're just struggling with the transition plan,” Plugge said.

The boundary changes being considered would use existing capacity to address high school enrollment concerns before the new school opens.

Administrators have designated 13 scenarios involving six “blocks” of attendance areas in which some students could be shifted to a new school. The scenarios range from making no boundary changes to moving some freshmen from the high schools to Northwest and Southeast junior high schools during the construction phase of the third high school.

None of the scenarios was greeted warmly by those in the audience.

Board members will continue the boundary discussion at an August work session. At press time, board members were still discussing the transition. No significant decisions were expected to be made.

Plugge presented the possibility of a third high school at the July 14 board meeting.

According to the data, the district would not have the enrollment numbers to support a third high school until 2014-15. The opening of a new high school that year, or later, depends on financial resources.

The district would have to come up with an estimated $1.7 million annually to cover the operation costs of a third high school. The construction of the school is a separate cost, unknown at this point, that will be covered by sales-tax funds already being set aside.