Group Aims to Keep Small Iowa School Open

By Elizabeth Ahlin, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.

Jan. 17–MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa — More than 95 years ago, the first child walked over the threshold of St. Patrick School to receive an elementary school education and spiritual guidance at the Catholic school.

Today, a group of devoted parents and teachers is worried the children who now attend the school will be the last to do so.

That group plans to petition the parish finance committee and school board tonight to hold off on rumored plans to close the school — at least until March 15. By that time, the group hopes, they will be able to come up with money the school desperately needs.

Low enrollment numbers and financial woes have made if difficult for the Diocese of Des Moines to support the school, said Luvern Gubbels, superintendent of schools of the Diocese of Des Moines.

“It’s a long history. It’s a good school,” Gubbels said. “I think the leadership there has tried to do everything they can to maintain the school’s enrollment.”

The school currently has just 48 students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. Some parents blame that on speculation that the school was at risk of being closed by the Des Moines Diocese. After rumors began to circulate last summer, some parents pulled their children out of St. Patrick and sent them to public school instead.

That could have been a factor, Gubbels said, but it doesn’t change the problems the school is facing.

“We might be able to produce money, somehow, but I don’t know how you can produce students,” Gubbels said.

The families who have chosen the school are devoted to it.

Alumna Rosemary Danielson comes from a long line of St. Patrick students. Her grandparents, father and children all have attended the school.

“We’re fighting really hard to keep it open,” Danielson said. “If we can get the money to keep the school open, we’ll work on the enrollment.”

The group plans to send letters to alumni asking for donations to keep the school going. The school is about $150,000 short of operating costs annually, Danielson said. She wants to raise $300,000 to show the diocese the school can remain viable.

“We’re all praying for a miracle,” Danielson said.

The school gives children more than a well-rounded elementary education, parents say. It helps students be good classmates and good people.

“I really believe in the school. That’s why all of us are here, really,” said Jackie Allen, who teaches the fifth- through eighth-grade classroom. “We’re here for the kids. We like the environment.”

Christy Jackson wants her second-grade daughter to be able to worship and pray in school, something she can’t do in public school. St. Patrick is the only Catholic elementary school in Harrison County. Without it, parents would have to travel to St. Albert in Council Bluffs.

The decision made tonight isn’t binding, but it likely will foretell the school’s fate, Gubbels said.

The local school board will send a recommendation to the Diocesan Catholic schools board. Usually, that group makes its own recommendation to the bishop, who makes the final decision. The Diocese of Des Moines currently does not have a bishop, so that responsibility will go to Monsignor Stephen Orr, who is serving as the diocesan administrator.

Gubbels expects the decision to be made by Feb. 1 in order to give teachers, staff and parents time to plan for next year. Current teacher contracts run through July.

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