'Fairness' cited in Iowa City schools survey

IOWA CITY - The Iowa City school district has released the results of a redistricting survey.

There's some interesting stuff in there, and I know there's a lot of interest in the community on this topic. 

“Fairness” is the word the report hammers home. Respondents want educational offerings to be equal across schools.

This also is true for the proposed third comprehensive high school. But district officials have said the school, likely to be built in the North Liberty area, probably would have just several hundred students if it opened the middle of this decade.

West High's capacity is 1,800 and City High's is 1,600.

Two-thirds of respondents supported building a new high school, but only 13 percent in a telephone survey said they were OK with that school having fewer students and programs than West High and City High.

“(W)hen presented with the idea that funding limitations might cause such a school to open with more limited programming, they are clearly disappointed, if not outright distressed, by this possibility,” the report says. 

Pg. 14 of the survey also has an interesting table ranking redistricting priorities. As mentioned, equitable offerings was No. 1. Having neighborhood schools was second in two of the three surveys, whereas balancing the socioeconomic mix of students - which has been a big issue - was middle of the pack in two of the surveys.

I'm still going through the report, and a story will be in Thursday's Gazette.