(KMAland) — KMA News continues its special series, “KMA Flashback ’25,” revisiting the top local and regional news stories of the past year. Today’s segment looks back at the year in education.
2025 saw a little bit of everything for education in KMAland–ranging from major renovation projects coming to fruition and discussions at the statehouse over per-pupil funding to bond issues and activities conference realignment. One discussion carried over several months throughout the year was whether the Shenandoah and Red Oak school districts–founding members of the Hawkeye 10 Conference– should move to the Western Iowa Conference. That discussion came to a head in July, when the Shenandoah School Board voted to accept the WIC’s invitation, followed shortly by the Red Oak School Board accepting the invite in August. Shenandoah and Red Oak were among 10 schools to receive an invite to the WIC, and Shenandoah school officials were first to field questions at a public forum in June. Shenandoah High Assistant Principal/Activities Director Jon Weinrich addressed one of the main questions: why make the change? Weinrich presented information showing Shenandoah near the bottom of the conference in terms of beds–or student enrollment.
“Out of the 11 Hawkeye 10 schools,” said Weinrich, “Shenandoah’s near the bottom. The top one, two, three, four, five, six have over a hundred more kids in those three grades. Those beds are counted through 9-11. So, obviously, if you add in another grade in high school, you’re competing in four different sports. There would be a significant bigger number.”
Red Oak school officials also presented information and fielded questions at a similar forum in August. In addition to citing a “competitive imbalance” in the Hawkeye 10, Red Oak Junior-Senior High Principal Nate Perrien pointed to the district’s current 9-11th grade adjusted enrollment figure, which factors in free and reduced lunch, of 180–a figure he says is more in line with WIC districts. Red Oak School Superintendent Ron Lorenz indicated that the majority of students and coaches were also in favor of the switch.
“I think the big thing is we got feedback from kids, we got feedback from coaches, and over 70% of both groups believe this is a good thing and more were ambivalent and didn’t feel strongly either way,” Lorenz emphasized. “I know during the community forum, I was surprised we didn’t have a single negative comment.”
After WIC officials moved to accept Red Oak and Shenandoah into the district, they now await the finalization of a state conference realignment committee–with the hopes of shifting to the Western Iowa Conference as soon as the 2026-27 school year.
The 2025-26 school year also marked the opening of the Clarinda Junior-Senior High School’s expansion and renovation project. Back in October 2023, the Clarinda School Board approved the allocation of $9.8 million in Secure an Advanced Vision for Education or SAVE dollars for the expansion and renovation, which includes the addition of six classrooms, new offices, and a commons area for the district’s middle school students, as well as improvements to existing parts of the building. One month into the school year, Clarinda School Superintendent Jeff Privia told KMA News students and staff are exhibiting pride in the new-look facilities.
“That’s very encouraging to see the pride that they have in the space that’s been provided for them,” said Privia. “Our staff, obviously always takes care of the space, but they have nice new rooms and new carpeting. They’re taking care of everything, and making sure that everyone is following those little rules so we don’t spill on carpet, and we don’t mess up anything. It’s just been a nice relationship with the kids and the staff, working together to take care of the space.”
Ground was broken on the project in May of last year. In a January interview, Privia said the new space will provide a better learning environment for middle school students.
“Mixing them with high school kids–we’re making that work,” he said. “We’re tight on room, and those six rooms will really allow us to spread out a little more. We won’t have to be switching classrooms as much with other classes. It just gives everybody a home base, and makes them feel a little more comfortable. When students feel a little more comfortable, it helps them do better.”
While one school district in KMAland opened new doors, another became the first school district in Iowa to shutter its doors in a decade after voters in the Orient-Macksburg School District voted to dissolve the district effective July 1st, 2026. Objections to an initial redistribution map delayed a vote in 2024 before a dissolution committee recommended a similar map that placed the decision to dissolve before the voters in March 2025. Orient-Macksburg School Superintendent Jeff Kruse told KMA News in a January interview that, while it was not an easy decision, staffing shortages paired with declining enrollment were drastically reducing the district’s spending authority.
“The district’s spending authority dropped in the last fiscal year from $400,000 positive to $50,000 positive,” Kruse explained. “The projection is that they will have a negative spending authority relatively soon.”
After voter approval, attention quickly shifted to the future of the district’s facilities–including the main campus in Orient, which becomes property of the Nodaway Valley School District July 1st of 2026. In an August interview, Kruse said school officials had discussed a variety of uses, including turning the structure into a community center or housing, among other ideas. But, he notes, they are still in the development stage for future use.
“The school board and the school district feel they have an obligation to try to make sure that moving forward that the buildings are used to the best of their ability,” Kruse emphasized. “They don’t want the building just to become dilapidated and an eyesore. So that’s why they’re working in cooperation with the city to try to develop a potential plan on future uses for the building.”
Orient-Macksburg had entered into a whole-grade sharing agreement with Nodaway Valley for the 2025-26 school year.
Meanwhile, the November ballot also had a mixed bag of results for KMAland school districts and community colleges–including the approval of Iowa Western Community College’s $55 million bond issues. Receiving over 70% of the vote, plans call for the construction of so-called “flexible industrial training space” at Iowa Western’s Clarinda campus and centers in Shenandoah and Atlantic for Career Technical Education, or CTE courses. Also planned is the construction of a transportation logistics center at the school’s Council Bluffs campus. Kinney says training provided by the new facilities will provide the workforce that southwest Iowa businesses and industries need.
“The jobs that we are going to create or train for that comes out of this money is what we need to turn this economy around in southwest Iowa,” he said. “To keep the good factories and businesses in our communities, and to grow those businesses. That’s what they need. I hear it from business leaders every day–produce me more diesel techs, auto techs, welders, HVAC–whatever it may be. We need that to keep their factories open, to keep their businesses open.”
Meanwhile, in Atlantic, voters approved a $22.5 million bond issue covering a long list of facility upgrades, including extensive renovations to Washington Elementary. Following voter approval in November, Atlantic School Superintendent Beth Johnsen told KMA News that the funding would provide additional space and address older portions of the elementary school that date back to the 1950s and 1960s.
“It would create a new wing for kindergarten and first grade classrooms and it would demo out parts of the old building where the price margin between renovating and constructing new classrooms wasn’t much different, so it made sense for the board to go ahead and approve demo and new build,” Johnsen explained. “At Washington Elementary, it’s undersized with a lot of the classroom space and we’re crowded. We’re also sharing classrooms for programs.”
However, Atlantic voters rejected using $18.5 million in Secure and Advanced Vision for Education, or SAVE, funding for the construction of a multipurpose activities center at the high school. Meanwhile, Voters in the Stanton School District approved a $5.3 million bond issue for numerous building improvements with more than 64% of the vote, authorized a levy between $2.70 and $4.05 per thousand dollars valuation to cover bonded indebtedness, renewed the district’s voted physical plant and equipment levy, and approved a revenue purpose statement with more than 72%. Bedford School District voters rejected an $11.5 million bond issue to cover construction of a new competitive gym onto the K-12 complex’s secondary wing, and a new loading dock in the back of the building, while voters in the Riverside School District said no to a voted physical plant and equipment levy.
In our next edition of “KMA Flashback ’25,” we’ll look back at the year that was in Page County.