Today is the last day of school in the north-central Iowa town of Dows — and it’s also the last day for the school building. The Wright County town’s elementary school is closing after a full century in operation.
Thanks to a merger, Bob Olson is superintendent of the soon-to-become Clarion-Goldfield-Dows district, effective July 1st. Olson says it’s been a bitter-sweet day.
“You see the young people coming in to school, they’re excited about the last day of school and the first day of summer being tomorrow,” Olson says. “We’re knowing that this is the last day that the building is going to be used for educational purposes.”
An offer was made on the school building which, he says, may become home to a seed corn dealership. The same building housed Dows High School until it closed in 1998. The city is taking ownership of the playground, the football field, the track and the baseball diamond, so they’ll continue to be available for use. “We just didn’t have enough students in Dows to make it financially wise to keep using the building,” Olson says.
Starting in the fall, the 50 students from pre-kindergarten through third grade will be attending classes 17 miles away in Clarion.
(Reporting by Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)