“There’s a lot of cooperation that needs to happen for the entire staff and it brings pride for all of our different communities,” said Superintendent Brian Johnson, who is in his sixth year with the district.

The football team brought the championship trophy home in the fall of 2021. They were crowned 2A state champs for the first time after defeating West Lyon, 30-13.

“It took hard work, determination and being able to work together,” Johnson said.

That winning formula is relevant in the classroom as well, Johnson said.

Southeast Valley enrolls close to 1,100 students.

Johnson said staff are working hard to meet the academic and emotional needs of students.

“Trying to find a balance between our academic requirements while balancing social, emotional, behavior, and mental health of our patrons and our students,” he said. “I believe you have to have your basic needs met emotionally — and it’s hard to educate someone properly until those have been met.

“Unfortunately, with the requirements we are given by the federal government in our achievement results, they don’t take into account any of that, only academic success. To find time and the right resources to try to give every kid and staff member what they need to achieve those is sometimes tricky.”

To address that, the district has focused on staffing more social workers.

“We are trying to be cognizant in recognizing individual needs,” Johnson said. “We have also hired social workers at the different levels to help with those needs, along with guidance counselors and the rest of our staff.”

Meanwhile, the community will have the opportunity to vote on a consolidation in the spring.

To a lot of people, Southeast Valley Community School District already exists. But technically, the Webster County school system still consists of two separate districts — Southeast Webster Grand School District and Prairie Valley School District.

A proposal to officially consolidate the two districts will come before voters on March 1. Legally consolidating the districts would provide better funding opportunities from the state, Johnson said.

“There’s some additional funding that we could get to make the transition go easier,” Johnson said. “Whether in terms of staffing or curriculum-wise or resources for kids.

“For the proposal to be approved, both districts would need to pass it with a simple majority — 50 percent plus 1.

“It has to pass both districts or the consolidation will not happen,” Johnson said.

July 1, 2023, would be the start date for the official consolidation if the measure passes.

“If it were to pass, the taxpayer, that first year the levy rates would then drop a dollar,” Johnson said.

The reason that the two districts are already known as Southeast Valley has to do with whole-grade sharing that began in 2015. That’s when the two districts agreed on a plan to send fifth- through eighth-grade students from the Prairie Valley School District to the middle school at Burnside in the Southeast Webster Grand School District. At the same time, Southeast Webster Grand sent its high school students to Gowrie, which is currently the Prairie Valley School District.

“We became Southeast Valley for recognition purposes, but it’s not the legal name of the district,” Johnson said.

He said he’s already heard comments like, “I thought we were already consolidated.”

“Technically we are two different school districts, so we are looking to become married,” he said. “We call it Southeast Valley, but there’s really no such thing. That’s what we want to become.”

In terms of the most noticeable change, Johnson said it will probably just be the letters on the side of the school buses.

“The biggest change you will see is the name on the side of the school bus,” Johnson said. “The borders wouldn’t change, the colors, the mascot, who attends what buildings, those things wouldn’t change.”

Johnson said it comes down to the state incentives that exist for schools that consolidate.

“I think it creates opportunities for kids and increases the likelihood for the longevity of the district,” Johnson said. “Rural Iowa is seeing, in general, a decline in enrollment, which creates volatile times. This would just provide some stability.”