Indianola CSD Planning

While the Indianola Community School District is a point of pride in our community, our high school has significant facility needs that we must address soon. We are now looking to address these needs in a way that makes the most of taxpayer dollars while preparing our students for the future.

District leaders and the School Board have engaged a community task force to review our high school facility needs and make a recommendation to the board. As it conducted its work, the task force has sought the input and feedback of parents, staff, students, and district residents. This feedback has been critical to the solution that will eventually be presented to our community.

At its May 2 meeting, the task force voted to recommend the Replace in Plan option, which would include a mix of preserving our most recent investments while making a series of additions to the IHS building.

News & Updates

'Engaged' crowd voices support at IHS reno meeting

Needs Stem from Growth

From 2010 to 2020, the city of Indianola grew by 7.1%. Enrollment in the Indianola CSD has aligned with this growth, with projections indicating enrollment increases of up to 2.4% annually for the next decade.

At a time when many Iowa school districts are experiencing declining enrollment, our district continues to grow. As we plan for this growth, now is a good time to rethink our high school building.

Within our schools, increasing enrollment has led to capacity challenges. Indianola High School is now well below the state average when it comes to square feet available per student. If our district continues to grow as projected, IHS will have among the lowest square feet per student in our region.

At this time, IHS students have significantly less square footage available in athletics/physical education, kitchen, auditorium, commons, labs, media, circulation, and general classroom spaces. While the average standard new build classroom is about 900 square feet, classrooms at IHS average only 700 square feet each.

A Community-Driven Process

In a recent community-wide survey, 74% of district residents said they believe that the Indianola CSD’s buildings overall reflect the community’s values and beliefs about education. However, only 56% said they believe the high school building reflects these values and beliefs. About 75% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that there is a need to address facilities at Indianola High School.

Proposed Solution

The Indianola Community Task Force has taken the lead on finding solutions to our high school facility and capacity challenges. The community has generally had mixed feelings about a new building as a possible solution because of the cost and challenges associated with finding a new approximately 60-acre site.

At its meeting on May 2, 2022, the task force approved the REPLACE IN PLACE option as its recommendation to the School Board.