(Le Mars) — The school boards of Le Mars Community and Remsen-Union held a joint board meeting last evening to review available options as the Remsen-Union school district evaluates its future. The Remsen-Union school board had requested the joint meeting. No decisions were made during the meeting, other than to obtain additional information for both boards to review at a later date.
Shortly after the meeting convened, Remsen-Union school officials brought up the idea of whole grade class sharing. Remsen-Union inquired about the level of interest with a two-way sharing program, in which the high school students would attend Le Mars Community High School, and the middle school students from both Remsen-Union and Le Mars would be educated in Remsen. Scott Kommes, the president of the LeMars Community School District immediately responded to the proposal by saying if there is to be an agreement, it would only be a one-way whole grade sharing with all students to attend the Le Mars Community school district.
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Discussion centered for a potential whole-grade sharing program that would only involve the Remsen-Union high school. Remsen-Union would maintain its elementary grades. Le Mars Community officials asked how many students would come to Le Mars if a program was established? Remsen-Union officials indicated the high school consists of about 100 students, but it is unknown if all would attend Le Mars Community. Some may go to Kingsley-Pierson, others to Marcus-Merriden-Cleghorn, or to another school. Remsen-Union school board director Mike Spaar indicated one reason for the interest to share with the Le Mars Community is because there are already several opportunities available at Le Mars. He indicated several students from Remsen-Union were already attending Le Mars Community through open enrollment.
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