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The rain splattered the windows and formed puddles in the gravel parking lot at Clearfield Elementary School during a Creston News Advertiser interview with Clearfield staff Wednesday.
Part of the interview focused on the dissolution of the school district, while part focused on positive moments the staff remembered.
“If we hadn’t worked as a team, we wouldn’t still be open now,” said Pam Nickell, school secretary. “The teachers buy their own stuff so the school wouldn’t have to. They made due with what they had. If they hadn’t, we would have been closed a long time ago.”
Clearfield District has been in the process of dissolving since March 2013. During a July 2013 hearing, Clearfield School Board passed the dissolution during a meeting the day after the hearing.
“I credit the management: the school board and the people who managed the building; because they managed the money really well,” said Jackie Hopkins, Clearfield principal and guidance counselor. “We simply ran out of students, so we ran out of spending authority. And, at the state level, when you run out of spending authority, you’re done.”
Clearfield District will close June 30.
Positivity and sadness
One thing Clearfield staff agreed on was how much of a family they were to each other.
“It’s been wonderful. It’s more like a family and I’ve really enjoyed it,” said Jackie Hopkins, principal and guidance counselor. “I worked in a large metropolitan school system around Des Moines for 35 years so I’m very familiar with school as usual and this has just been delightful.”
Hopkins started working at Clearfield five and a-half years ago as a guidance counselor before taking on additional responsibilties as principal. She has been principal for five years.
“It’s too busy right now to think about (the dissolution). I mean, we just need to do what we need to do right now. And, we’re not trying to focus on like it’s finished, but what we’ve accomplished,” said Nickell. “We are proud of what we’ve done and who we are and we don’t need to focus on the sad part of it, but that we can be proud.”
Clearfield staff is hosting an open reunion to anyone who has attended or worked at Clearfield District. The event is May 23 at Clearfield School, starting at 5 p.m. There will be food, games, music and a bonfire.
“It’s a death, so there’s been different opinions and a lot of strong feelings, and I think that’s normal. I think of this as getting together and remembering the good times and feeling sad that it’s closing,” Hopkins said. “But, when you have a death, the more you talk about it, the more you commune with other people, the better you get through it. This won’t be morbid, but it is an important part of letting go.”
On the other end of the spectrum, tears were shed over the closing of the school.
“I’m sad. I mean it is sad. We just finished a yearbook that was more a commemorative type yearbook, so I got to read and hear what the building has been like. It has a really proud history,” Hopkins said. “The district was started in 1882, and the town was started in 1882, so education was very important to Clearfield. And, they’ve had a very proud history, and have stayed open far longer than people thought they would.”
Afterward
Clearfield Elementary School building was purchased by the city of Clearfield for $1. Part of the building will be turned into a community center.
“I’m thrilled. I’m happy because we were afraid they wouldn’t be able to come up with plans, and the building was going to be deserted,” Hopkins said. “And, this building is such a nice building that it would be a shame, so I’m thrilled.”
There is also the possibility of the other part of the building to be used as apartments.
Items in the building, such as trophies and cheerleading outfits, will go to the local museum. Learning materials used for classes that Clearfield is in with other schools will go to those other schools. The rest of the items in Clearfield School will be sold.
Dissolution
Clearfield District discussed the process to dissolve during the July hearing. The process began as the money designated to the school district decreased over time.
“The state gives us a spending authority. They give us the authority to spend based on the number of students that we have,” said Joe Drake, superintendent of Clearfield, Bedford and Mount Ayr school districts. “We don’t have enough students to generate enough income to keep the school open.”
Clearfield School Board listened to voices from the public before making the decision to dissolve on their own terms, rather than opt for an involuntary dissolution, where the state of Iowa would take control.
During a September election, the decision to dissolve Clearfield District was passed.
Students will go to Bedford, Diagonal, Lenox or Mount Ayr, depending on where the families’ property falls on a colored map drawn up before the hearing.