READER SURVEY: Is it true that Decorah School District parents insist on having their children attend a school that's near downtown Decorah?

(Jonathon weighs in with the experiences of another Iowa school district that built new facilities on the edge of town):

I understand the difficulty of being landlocked and crowded in our facilities.  That may mean that building somewhere away from central Decorah is the only option, but it doesn't appear at the moment that we have a very good alternative at this point to building somewhere near the current school campuses.  

The trend has been towards locating schools in smaller communities close together.  My hometown is Sheldon, Iowa, and the elementary school, high school and middle school are all located near each other in the east central part of the community (Ironically, the elementary school, called East elementary school because it was on the east side of town when the 1950-era building was constructed, is now the farthest WEST of the schools).  However, there is a lot of space around each facility and the buildings themselves are very much separated by athletic facilities and green space.  When I was in school, the middle school was located nearer to the center of town, and they chose to acquire land east of the high school for the new middle school rather than build on the same location.

The problem that Sheldon now faces is that students now must be bused to locations in that part of town because it is too far for them to walk.  Bus stops near the former school location and at the Catholic school near downtown as well as a few other strategic locations have alleviated some of these concerns, but it means that the district must do much more to actively shuttle students around town than it used to.  So, having all the schools on one end of town isn't always better either.

I don't know if I have an answer, but I think that we should be open to feasible solutions for a school on the outskirts, but lacking one that seems good, we should focus our energies on the central campuses."