“There’s the field of dreams, you build it and they will come,” Olson said. “Or the Missouri ‘Show-Me’ state kind of thing. We are doing the Missouri ‘Show-Me.'”

The school district has had to consider its options ever since Prestage Foods of Iowa announced it would be building its $300 million pork plant in Wright County. The plant is set to open in March.

Olson said much of the district’s growth hinges on housing, which has been a challenge in Clarion for many years.

“A lot of this is predicated on how much housing we actually have available,” Olson said. “If you don’t have a place for them to live they won’t move here.”

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Bob Olson, Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Community School District superintendent, explains some of the possible additions that could take place throughout the district in the coming months at his office recently.

He said a large percentage of the workforce in Clarion commutes from out of town.

“Clarion looks a lot bigger during the day than at night,” he said.

Although the district hasn’t made any snap decisions, that doesn’t mean it isn’t preparing for the possibility of serving additional students.

“We have had a lot of discussion on Prestage and what it could mean for our district,” Olson said. “The impact study indicated 1,700 new students to the area, so because of that we have been working with our architect to see if we have so many kids how we could legitimately house and take care of them. We have been looking at making plans to become shovel-ready if we would need it. But until we actually see the students coming, we can’t justify doing much.”

The district has identified areas at the schools that could be added onto.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Clarion-Goldfield-Dows sixth-graders Natalie Heiden, left, and Candy Salgado study together.

If the schools are faced with a sudden spike in the number of students this spring, they may have to get creative in terms of space.

“It takes about 18 to 24 months to build a school,” Olson said. “If we get all these kids all at once, we would have to find ourselves renting any possible classroom space in the community — churches, dance studios, meeting places. Just so we can take care of the needs until we could build.”

He anticipates the community being supportive regardless of what happens.

“That’s the way we are handling it,” Olson said. “If we had the kids here, our school district patrons have been very supportive of the school and if they see a need they will definitely step up as they have time and time again.”

In recent years, enrollment hasn’t changed much.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Jeffrey Turcies, a Clarion-Goldfield-Dows seventh-grader, sends his grades to his parents recently.

According to Olson, two years ago enrollment was up by about 15 students.

“Last year we decreased by 23,” he said. “But 19 of those 23 were a decrease in open enrollment out, so when you look at that, that means the number of students in the building didn’t change much. Nineteen were open enrolled out.”

Olson said this year enrollment was down by less than two students.

Olson has been CGD’s superintendent for 30 years. Prior to that he spent five years as Clarion High School’s principal in the 1980s.

The single biggest change has been the increase in Hispanic student population.

-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla
Eighth-graders Payton Decoster, left, and Clarissa Hasty send their grades home to parents from a classroom at Clarion-Goldfield-Dows.

When he first arrived, about 2 percent of the student population was Hispanic.

Today, the district is about 30 percent Hispanic. About 16 percent are English Language Learners.

“We have kids from Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and then coming here and many don’t speak the language at all,” Olson said. “We do the best we can to take them as far as we can. But it’s a challenge. We have compassionate educators in this district. Language is a barrier that we do the best we can with. It’s a real need. Our ELL program has expanded and will continue to expand. In a school district a little over 1,000, we probably have 170 in the ELL program.”

The school was Targeted by the Iowa Department of Education for achievement gaps that exist between ELL students and non-ELL students as well as other subgroups. But the district continued to perform above the state average in its overall score.

“Our comprehensive scores as a whole look really good,” Olson said. “We still have gaps. We have some improvement to do.”

An overall increase in poverty through the years has been another trend not just for Clarion, but rural Iowa schools in general.

“As a district we are well over 50 percent free and reduced (lunches), and that’s really what has changed a great deal in rural Iowa,” Olson said. “A lot of these figures were figures you would hear in urban areas, but it’s not exclusive to urban areas anymore.”

Olson was complimentary of the staff for meeting the challenges presented to them.

The community as a whole has continued to be supportive, he said.

“It’s the people,” Olson said. “There are such good people here. The staff, the community, the students. They care about kids. They have a passion for kids. This district rarely ever shrinks away from approving levies or any kind of funding they know we need.”

He added, “It’s just been a great place to work. My wife and I — our kids were born here, raised here, educated here, and doing very well. We wouldn’t have stayed unless we fell in love with the place.”