Iowa Is Laboratory for Federal Role In Building Schools
The teachers at Decatur City Elementary School had become accustomed to the eccentricities of their 1915-era building. Despite its sloping concrete floors, its basement room used as both a gym and a cafeteria, and its out-of-the-way location, some admit they'd even grown fond of this little block-shaped, brick schoolhouse.
Sentimentality aside, leaders of the Central Decatur schools here on southern Iowa's rolling plains knew the structure was impractical and potentially dangerous. So they raised local funds to add a wing to the district's secondary school, making room for the elementary school's staff and 115 pupils.
To help the cause, the district received a $500,000 federal grant through a program earmarked for Iowa districts that was created in 1997 at the behest of the state's Democratic...
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