The Iowa Valley Community School District is a rural

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

headquartered in

Marengo, Iowa Marengo is a town in and the county seat of Iowa County, Iowa, United States. It has served as the county seat since August 1845, even though it was not incorporated until July 1859. The population was 2,435 in the 2020 census, a decline from 2,5 ...

. The district spans areas of north-central Iowa County, including the town of Marengo, and the unincorporated area of Koszta, Iowa. The school district is accredited by the

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...

and the

Iowa Department of Education The Iowa Department of Education sets the standards for all public institutions of education in Iowa and accredits private as well as public schools. It is headquartered in Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city i ...

. The district is a member of the South Iowa Cedar League conference. The mascot for both schools is the Tigers, and the school colors are orange and black. , the district shares a superintendent with the English Valleys Community School District. The previous superintendent was scheduled to retire that year so the two districts sought a new one. The district is governed by a five-member board of directors, which meets monthly.

History

Early History

The first high school program in Marengo began in 1869, expanded to a four-year high school curriculum in 1871, and the first graduate was in 1872. In 1902, lightning struck the school building, destroying the third floor and belfry. The core of the current building, The Carson High School, named for the former superintendent, was built in 1925 and dedicated in 1927, though the school was still called Marengo High School.

Consolidation

In 1958, the school district consolidated and expanded to incorporate adjacent rural areas and changed the name from Marengo to Iowa Valley (based on the adjacent

Iowa River The Iowa River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the state of Iowa in the United States. It is about longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 and is ...

). The name of the high school was also changed from Marengo High School to Iowa Valley High School. In 1972, a gymnasium, band/vocal music room and two science classrooms were added to the west end of the building.

Milestones

* 1850 - first school formed and log cabin constructed for classes * 1861 - Marengo Independent School District formed * 1869 - 11-grade system began in Marengo * 1871 - four-year high school curriculum began, orange and black school colors adopted * 1892 - a scandal was reported, as the school janitor, appointed by the school board to purchase school books, disappeared after emptying his bank account. * 1903 - new high school constructed * 1910 - first yearbook published * 1910 - Marengo designated a normal training school, training students to become teachers * 1925 - new high school building (current school) was built, 1903 building was used for elementary school * 1954 - junior high wing was added to the high school * 1958 - with the decline of rural, one-room schools, the area encompassing Marengo, Cono, Washington and portions of Sumner, Honey Creek and Hilton townships merged to form the Iowa Valley Community School District. * 1962 - current elementary school was constructed * 1990 - cooperative program with

Kirkwood Community College Kirkwood Community College is a public community college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kirkwood has a secondary campus in Iowa City, and several additional regional and county centers located in Belle Plaine, Coralville, Hiawatha, Monticello, Tipton ...

for Health Careers began

Enrollment

Schools

The district operates two schools, both in Marengo: *Iowa Valley Elementary School (K-6) *Iowa Valley Junior-Senior High School (7-12) The administrative offices are located at the high school.

Iowa Valley Junior-Senior High School

Activities

Students at IVHS can participate in numerous activities, including band, choir, speech, drama, FCS, FFA,

Student Council A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

, and

Yearbook A yearbook, also known as an annual, is a type of a book published annually. One use is to record, highlight, and commemorate the past year of a school. The term also refers to a book of statistics or facts published annually. A yearbook often ...

Athletics

The Tigers compete in the South Iowa Cedar League Conference in the following sports. *Cross Country *Volleyball *Football, eight-player *Basketball (as with many schools in Iowa, Iowa Valley girls played six-on-six until 1993) *Wrestling ** 9 individual State Champions *Track and Field ** Boys' Class 2A State Champions, 1985 *Golf *Baseball *Softball

= State Championship

= The Tigers won the 1985 State Championship in Class 2A Boys' Track and Field, winning six events ( 110m hurdles,

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

400m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic athletics (sport), athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a s ...

, 1600m run, 3200m run, and the 1600m medley relay) with five athletes.

Notable alumni

* Del Miller, class of 1968, is a college football coach, formerly head coach at

Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second largest university by enr ...

Rick Wanamaker Rick Wanamaker (born March 20, 1948 in Marengo, Iowa) is an American track and basketball athlete, known principally for winning the decathlon in the 1971 Pan American Games and for blocking a shot against Lew Alcindor in the 1969 NCAA national b ...

1971 Pan American Games * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Jan ...

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

gold medalist * Travis Fiser, American high school wrestling coach, former collegiate wrestler and a member of the

National Wrestling Hall of Fame The National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum and hall of fame for amateur wrestling, headquartered in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 2010, it began operating the Dan Gable Museum in Waterloo, Iowa. History The museum was awarded to Stillw ...

. *

Jarrod Uthoff Jarrod Reed Uthoff (born May 19, 1993) is an American professional basketball player for the Kyoto Hannaryz of the Japanese B.League. He played three seasons of college basketball for the Iowa Hawkeyes. High school career Uthoff starred at Je ...

, professional basketball player, attended Iowa Valley schools through 8th grade.

References

External links

Iowa Valley Community School District official site
{{authority control School districts in Iowa Education in Iowa County, Iowa 1958 establishments in Iowa School districts established in 1958