An Iowa Supreme Court decision gives a northwest Iowa school project the go-ahead. There was a special election in the Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto school district on December 11th, and just over 60 percent of voters agreed local property taxes should be raised to build a new high school in Mapleton. The project’s won a one million dollar state grant, but it was all in jeopardy because a group of citizens challenged 90 of the votes cast in the election. It threw the outcome in doubt. The Iowa Supreme Court, though, ruled the challenge wasn’t filed in time. Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto Superintendent Steve Oberg says they’ve been dealing with the election controversy for the past eight months, and now have to quickly get to work selling the bonds for the project, as there’s a September 15th deadline to qualify for the state “Vision Iowa” money.Oberg says the new high school and gymnasium will truly be a community center.There’ll be a walking facility for folks who want to walk indoors during the winter, and the school’s weight center and library will be opened to the public, outside school hours. Maple Valley-Anthon-Oto’s existing high school will be converted into an elementary school, which’ll put all the district’s students on one campus.
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