Schools

Iowa City School Board Votes to Close Hoover Elementary School as Part of Facilities Plan

The vote followed weeks of planning and debate that led up to the decision.


It looks like Hoover Elementary School will close. 

At least that's what the plan is for now.

Gregg Hennigan of the Gazette reports that the Iowa City School Board voted tonight 5-2 to ok the facilities plan that included an eventual closing of Hoover Elementary School after the spring of 2018, with Marla Swesey and Tuyet Dorau as the no votes. Supporters wanted to close the decades old elementary school both to provide more room for City High to expand and to lower operational costs with new elementary schools coming online. You can also read the Press-Citizen and Daily Iowan coverage of this story.

You can find the outline of the plan they approved tonight here in the previous week's coverage: Iowa City School Board Leaning Toward Closing Hoover?

In his story, Hennigan quoted Dorau's rationale for voting no.

Dorau, in arguing against closing any schools, pointed to projections in the facilities plan that show elementary school enrollment and capacity about equal in 10 years, leaving “no wiggle room.”

Also, school officials acknowledged they don’t know what will go on the Hoover site.

“I think the reality is we’re talking about Hoover becoming a parking lot or athletic fields,” Dorau said.

You can read more comments from board members and public commenters at Hennigan's story here.

The facilities plan will now be a guide post for the administration to start making decisions with the millions of dollars approved by the public in a Revenue Purpose Statement vote earlier this year. The plan contains many popular elements with Iowa Citians, such as planning to build three new elementary schools, expansions and modifications to existing schools, and a long awaited third high school for North Liberty and Coralville parents in the North Corridor.

One interesting dynamic will be the upcoming school board elections. With several candidates, including a no vote in Dorau, vying for three open seats, it could change a 5-2 vote into a 4-3 vote if the question of Hoover comes up again, depending on who gets elected. On the other hand, school board candidates may ride a wave of Hoover sentiment to a seat and then vote in a different direction when they are faced with the decision on the board.

All of this means this will be an interesting school board election, for multiple reasons.

Hoover parent and blogger Chris Liebig asked some of the candidates their thoughts on closing schools as part of the facilities plan. You can find their answers here.


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