Goin' through the Big D

By: 
Robert Maharry

I don’t write editorials in this newspaper for two primary reasons: 1) my opinions are usually wrong, and 2) I’m probably not going to change anyone’s mind anyway.
 
So despite the fact that one of the most unique and contentious processes in Iowa education history played out just nine miles east of my office over the last 2 ½ years, I didn’t feel the need to formally weigh in on it one way or the other. There was one more factor that most people may not want to hear now that it’s done: both sides in the Gladbrook-Reinbeck dissolution fiasco had valid points, and both voted in what they perceived to be their own best interests. At the end of the day, it’s all symptomatic of a larger trend that no one can seem to reverse in small-town Iowa.
 
(Disclaimer: I do not live in either community, and the school district I live in did not stand to gain any territory if G-R was dissolved).
 
It’s insane to think that Reinbeck residents—on their own recognizance—would voluntarily agree to give up their high school, their nickname and their pride and joy to become part of an already established and successful district in Dike-New Hartford. It just wasn’t going to happen (especially as the Rebels fight for their third straight state football title), and the fact that 97.7 percent of voters in the northern precinct cast “no” ballots comes as no surprise.
 
But as my man Bob Dylan once sang in one of his most famous songs, “When you ain’t got nothin’, you’ve got nothin’ to lose.” What did Gladbrook have left after losing its school? The proud community that makes up half of the district’s namesake had become little more than a feeder to its sister town 17 miles away when almost half of its students were open enrolling to a school twice as close to their homes anyway. Other than football, softball and a preschool supported at least partially by district dollars, all G-R functions are held in Reinbeck. When you’re supposed to be considered an equal partner, wouldn’t that make you a bit upset?
 
Alas, the voters have spoken, and they resoundingly favored keeping the district intact. So what now? Are the 154 students who live within the boundaries of G-R but are educated elsewhere going to magically come back? Are Gladbrook residents who feel that they’ve gotten a raw deal suddenly going to come around to the Reinbeck way of thinking? Will jobs be created in either community that can counteract the continually declining enrollment numbers emblematic of rural non-suburban districts across the state? Is there any sort of a compromise that can be reached to appease both sides? 
 
Read the full column in this week's Grundy Register. Subscribe by calling (319) 824-6958 or clicking here. 

The Grundy Register

601 G. Avenue - P.O. Box 245
Grundy Center, IA 50638
Telephone: 1-319-824-6958
Fax: 1-800-340-0805

Mid-America Publishing

This newspaper is part of the Mid-America Publishing Family. Please visit www.midampublishing.com for more information.