March 29, 2024

Creston, Prescott consolidation a possibility

Consolidation between Creston and Prescott community school districts was considered at Creston School Board’s regularly scheduled meeting Monday.

According to Steve McDermott, Creston and Prescott shared superintendent, thoughts on the possible consolidation started in July 2013, after former Orient-Macksburg and Prescott shared superintendent Doug Latham retired, O-M gained Clark Wicks, part-time superintendent, and McDermott became shared superintendent with Creston and Prescott.

“The Creston board traveled over to meet with the Prescott board to talk about ideas of sharing or consolidation, and that was a very productive meeting,” McDermott said.

Since then, ideas have continued being discussed.

Reasons

Prescott School Board decided to move in a direction they thought best for the students, McDermott said, and the board felt the best thing to do was consider a consolidation with Creston School District.

“The Prescott school offers only pre-k through sixth-grade classes,” McDermott said. “The secondary students already attend other neighboring school districts.”

McDermott said this year there are no sixth-grade students at Prescott School. There are 34 students attending the elementary school for the 2014-15 school year.

“Our folks at Prescott have fought the good fight and have maintained a quality school for our kids for many years, longer than most expected,” McDermott said. “They’re limited on resources at Prescott, and they’re limited on students. While they get one-on-one attention, they miss out on many social activities with more students.”

Hearings

Creston board members discussed the consolidation process during the meeting Monday, which includes public hearings at Creston and Prescott board meetings, and a vote in February to continue with the consolidation.The first public hearing on the subject will be held 5:30 p.m. Oct. 20, right before the regularly scheduled October meeting.

“Obviously, I work for both districts, but it’s important to me that folks have the facts and can be informed voters,” McDermott said. “This isn’t necessarily a sales job on the Prescott side. It’s more about allowing folks to know the facts and have them be in a position to determine as a community how they want to move forward.”

During the hearing, board members will listen to comments from local citizens on the possible merger. There will also be hearings set up in Prescott for citizens to give comments.

“Prescott School Board has considered other neighboring school districts for potential sharing and consolidation, and every discussion over the last few months that I’ve been involved with always goes back to Creston being the best alternative at this time,” McDermott said.

McDermott also said Prescott School Board wants to avoid dissolving the district if at all possible.

Pros and cons

Potential benefits for the Creston Community School District include bringing students in and a broader tax base.

“Combining with Prescott would mean a broader tax base, which would ultimately result in lowering our Creston School levy somewhat,” McDermott said.

Benefits for Prescott include more opportunities for students to interact with others socially and academically, larger and newer school facilities, and more, qualified educators.

However, negatives for Prescott include the schools would be farther away, one-on-one interaction with teachers and students will be lost somewhat and tax levy in Prescott would most likely increase.

Process

There will be public hearings throughout the months until the official vote in February for citizens in both Creston and Prescott to give their opinions.

“We plan to schedule public informational meetings the same nights as our school board meetings between now and February in Prescott and in Creston,” McDermott said. “So, the Creston board meets every third Monday of the month, ... and the Prescott board meets every third Wednesday of the month.”

The vote is scheduled for early February, after local communities receive information about the consolidation, and give feedback on the matter. There will also be fact sheets mailed to communities.

If the communities vote yes, students from Prescott will attend classes in Creston starting in autumn 2015. If the vote fails, Prescott Board will determine their next steps accordingly.

“Should the consolidation pass, longtime teachers at Prescott have been promised positions in the newly consolidated district, so they will not be without,” McDermott said.

McDermott also said Prescott School Board has no concrete plans to use the school facilities, but are interested in possibly using it as a preschool.

“Our main focus continues to be doing the best we can for our local students,” McDermott said. “And, we have to keep kids first in our minds with whatever is decided.”

In other board news:

• Ron Dunphy was named Creston School Board president and Galen Zumbach was named Creston School Board vice president.

• Iowa State Savings Bank and Iowa School Joint Investment Trust were named official depository for Creston Community School District and Iowa School Joint Investment Trust.

• Creston News Advertiser was named official publication for Creston School Board during the 2014-15 school year. Billie Jo Greene, Creston Community Schools business manager, was named board secretary. Ahlers and Cooney were named district attorney.

• Board President Dunphy was named Iowa Association of School Boards Creston delegate. Jane Schantz was named Creston School District homeless coordinator. Creston High School Principal Bill Messerole was named 504 coordinator.