College Community considers new elementary school

With 120 new students coming into the district this school year, College Community School District is starting to think about building a new elementary school.

The school board took no action during its meeting Monday night, but directors seemed to be at a consensus that it was time to begin the process after reviewing enrollment and class size reports for the current school year.

The total enrollment for the district as of October 2011 was 4,311.40 students. This continues an ongoing trend of growth at the district, which added an average of 110 students a year through the last decade.

The district opened two schools during this period - Prairie Ridge Elementary and Prairie Point Middle School and Ninth Grade Academy - and has had the opening of a new elementary school scheduled for 2014 on its long-term plan.

Superintendent Dick Whitehead shared the class sizes of the district's elementary schools, which showed larger average classes at every grade level except 4th grade. This is in spite of the district adding an extra section of kindergarten, which increased to an average class size of 24.2 through the district.

The directors agreed that it was time to begin the process.

"I get a lot of comments from elementary parents about how crowded their kids classrooms are," said board president Randy Bauer.

Whitehead shared information with the board about what the next steps would be in order to hold a bond election for the new school. State regulations would require the school to hold an election on Feb. 7, 2012, or April 3, 2012, or wait until the next school year.

Directors will set a date for the election at a future meeting.

A scheduled agenda item to discuss statewide education reform plans was moved to the November meeting. Board members did discuss the Eastern Iowa Compact, a document developed by area superintendents to foster community support for school innovation. The board voted to sign the compact, both as individuals and as a school board.

A change order for the school's youth baseball diamonds was approved to add two drinking fountains for about $6,090.

Board directors scheduled a public hearing to review the bid specifications for new school buses prior to its Nov. 21, 2011, meeting.