Commitment to new high school flies under radar in Iowa City school plan

IOWA CITY – Somewhat lost in the debate over school closures in recent weeks has been the firm commitment given by the Iowa City school board to building a North Liberty-area high school.

The need for a third comprehensive high school, to join City High and West High, has been a divisive topic in the school district for several years.

But on Tuesday night, the board approved a long-term facilities plan that, among $260 million worth of projects, calls for a 1,500-student high school to open in fall 2018.

The district also is close to buying land in the northern part of the district for a high school, said Superintendent Stephen Murley.

People in that area have been calling for a new high school for years to handle the growing populations of North Liberty and Coralville and to relieve an overcrowded West High. Such is the history of the issue, however, that not everyone is ready to celebrate yet

“I can tell you that I am cautiously optimistic about the new high school, but I have been around long enough to know that until the construction actually starts things could change,” Marisa Keeney, a North Liberty parent active in school matters, said by email Wednesday.

Murley and school board members said Tuesday night's vote settles the overarching issue of whether another high school will be built.

“I do think that by making it a part of the comprehensive facilities plan that that does answer that question,” board member Sally Hoelscher said.

Not yet official, though, is when the school will open. A tentative timeline put together by administrators says a $65.3 million high school will open in fall 2018.

School board members said Tuesday they want Murley to provide a more refined timeline in November for the projects in the facilities plan.

Murley said Wednesday that enrollment projections show the district is going to struggle to have enough room for high school students until 2018 and getting a new school operational by then was in the best interest of the district.

Those projections played a big role in making more people realize a high school would be needed in the near future, school officials said.

With a 2007 sales tax vote and a 2010 school board policy, the eventual construction of a third comprehensive high school was made a district priority.

But that did not stop some community and school board members from questioning whether another school was needed and, even if so, wanting it put on the back burner.

The debate over a diversity policy early this year even led to charges that the proposal was partly an attempt to delay a new high school.

Then this spring, an enrollment report said the district may add 3,000 more students over the next decade. Another report found that most of the district's schools, including both high schools, were overcrowded.

“I think they definitely reinforced what had been perceptions among some people about the need (for another high school) and then erased concerns that others may have had about the reality of that need,” Murley said.

Board member Karla Cook said she hoped the high school's inclusion in the facilities plan would ease hard feelings formed over the high school debate.

“I'm hoping that knowing where things are going is better than guessing at them,” she said.

Shawn Eyestone, a parent of two Garner Elementary students in North Liberty who said he has wanted a new high school but didn't feel as strongly about it as others, said he hopes having a plan in writing ends the debate.

“I think that's where a lot of animosity in this school district stems from is, ‘Are we doing this, are we doing that? What are they going to do to my school or their school or the other school?' ” he said. “Just having a plan in place at least let's people start to figure out what to do moving forward.”

The new high school drew almost no discussion during the recent school board meetings on the facilities plan, with the conversation dominated by the possibility of elementary school closures. The approved plan calls for the eventual closure of Hoover Elementary.

A major reason for closing Hoover is to give adjacent City High room to expand. School board members said they want all three comprehensive high schools to be about the same size.

How big the new high school will be when it opens is to be determined. The plan calls for a 1,500-student capacity, but some school board members say they expect it to open smaller with the ability to expand when needed.