Voters in the two districts cast their ballots on March 2, 2022, to approve a resolution to reorganize the districts into one, to be called Southeast Valley Community School District, with the resolutions passing with an overwhelming majority.

Brian Johnson, superintendent for both Prairie Valley and SWG, said he was excited that the district reorganization had passed.

“I was very happy at the large number of voter turnout,” he said. “I was happy that they made their voices heard.”

“This is my sixth year, and I started one year after the whole grade-sharing agreement had already been in place and I’ve been operating kind of like it’s one district since I got here,” Johnson said. “Now everybody will be able to operate that way.”

-Messenger file photo by Kelby Wingert
Southeast Valley High School sophomore John Klingson slices some strawberries while prepping for the next day’s restaurant meal on Sept. 22, 2022.

In 2014, the two school boards approved a whole grade-sharing contract for grades 5-12, uniting under the name Southeast Valley for the middle school in Burnside and the high school in Gowrie. Each district kept its respective elementary schools, located in Dayton and Farnhamville.

Enrollment in rural school districts has declined in recent years, leading to reduced revenue for districts and the need for grade-sharing and reorganization.

In the last 10 years, Southeast Webster Grand has declined by 70 students and Prairie Valley has declined by 106.

Johnson estimates that the enrollment of the Southeast Valley district will be roughly 1,050 students, though he noted that even though enrollment is trending downward, it does fluctuate year-to-year.

Combining the two rural districts into one will bring in more state funding, leading to better longevity of the rural schools, Johnson said during an informational meeting in February.

The new Southeast Valley district will become official on July 1, 2023, in time for the start of the 2023-2024 school year.

Currently each of the two districts have seven school board members. Those 14 will come together to appoint seven founding members of the Southeast Valley school board, with three seats being from the eastern side of the district and three from the western side. There will be one at-large seat.

Not much else will change with this reorganization — the district boundaries remain as they are, the mascot remains the Jaguars, the colors remain teal and black and all four school buildings will stay open. The most visual change, however, will be the district name on the side of the school buses.

Southeast Valley Community School District will become the state’s second-largest school district in land mass, covering just about 500 square miles. The Western Dubuque Community School District has about 550 square miles in its district.

Southeast Valley will cover the entire southern half of Webster County, as well as small portions of Calhoun, Greene and Boone counties.

“I’m just really excited about the future of Southeast Valley, for the school and for the students,” Johnson said. “I think it’s great because our communities have given us the strong foundation to be great.”