WC, NEH reorganization vote passes
Small but decisive turnout passes measure with more than 90 percent voting in favor
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Webster City and Northeast Hamilton School District patrons voted Tuesday in favor of reorganizing and forming a new school district, according to unofficial results from the special election.
The election held Tuesday drew a small but decisive turnout, with 99 percent of the Webster City district voters casting ballots in favor of the measure and 94 percent of the NEH voters saying yes to the reorganization, easily passing with more than the simple majority required.
In Webster City, just 330 of the 5,799 registered voters went to the polls with 327 voting in favor of the Proposition A and 3 voting against. About 20 percent of the 943 registered voters in the NEH District cast ballots, with 182 voting in favor and 12 opposed to the measure.
The reorganization will now move ahead and the new district will become a reality for the 2019-2020 school year. According to Superintendent Mike Sherwood, within 45 days of the election a board of directions for the new district will be seated. The board will consist of 4 members of the current Webster City school board and one member of the Northeast Hamilton school board. Sherwood said the selection of board members is weighted according to population.
The two districts have had a partnership for the past several years, according to Sherwood, who serves as superintendent of both districts. Facing declining enrollment, NEH partnered with Webster City and took the first step with partial day sharing for students in grades 7 through 12. The last NEH senior class graduated in 2015 and middle school and high school students began whole grade sharing the following school year.
"A little over a year ago, the Northeast Hamilton board instructed me to look into reorganization and to bring back information," he said. To start the process, Sherwood said he filed an application - joint employment whole grade sharing - which was approved.
As both districts were able to meet the criteria for the application, additional funding was generated for both districts as an incentive to continue the reorganization process.
"The process just evolved overtime and the reorganization just made sense," he said.
The new district will be named Webster City Community School District and the elementary school in Blairsburg will be the Learning Center at Northeast Hamilton for students in pre-k through sixth grade.
Also on the ballot Tuesday was a revenue purpose statement. Sherwood said both districts currently have the statement in place and is nothing new. The statement would apply to the newly formed district, if approved. That measure passed with nearly the same margins -- 99 percent in Webster City voting in favor, and 93 percent at NEH voting in favor.