To the Iowa City Community School District and Johnson County at large,

The potential closure of Hills Elementary would be devastating to the community, students, and future students of this small town. One of the wonderful things about being in our states’ school districts is the ability to have an elementary school near your residence. Small communities being forged simply from the existence of an elementary school cannot be overstated.

My wife and I have two small children that attend Hills Elementary. We moved from Iowa City to Hills nearly 15 years ago to enjoy the comfort of small-town living and the ability to still be in the Iowa City schools. The relationships that have been forged over the years have only grown as our children have and their enrollment in school. While many may shrug off the convenience of having a school in their neighborhood, it would be devastating to the community of Hills as a whole.

Our town has grown over the years with new parks and homes, bringing with them new faces wanting to be a part of our community. Johnson County is a very diverse tapestry of people from all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Few schools in the ICCSD can claim as much diversity as Hills Elementary.

For a county and school district as liberal as this one, I find it disheartening that the rhetoric being espoused doesn’t match the proposition being put forth. We have diversity in abundance. We have inclusion in abundance. What I don’t see is having equity in this school district.  I see a misallocation of district funds to preferred areas of higher populated areas throughout the ICCSD. To close Hills Elementary would be to take the heart of this community. No longer would our children walk home with neighbors and play at the several playgrounds and homes of their friends. They would be bussed to different locations of neighborhoods to which they have little to no connection.

Hills Elementary School serves an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse population with compassion and care.  If we are to believe in the tenets of our district’s professed goals, it is time to practice what we preach and find other solutions to these monetary shortfalls.

Sincerely and Proud Parent of Two Bolts,

James DeWitt

Columns reflect the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, The Daily Iowan, or other organizations in which the author may be involved.