School enrollment has been a big topic in the community for many years. There have been many people who have transferred over to the high school due to the larger student population in other schools. The Cedar Rapids and Linn-Mar schools have really big class sizes. Many students wanted to move to the high school because they wanted to feel what it was like in a smaller environment. This caused the school district to close the enrollment for many of the grades. The high school has a capacity of around 800, and the amount of students in the building is getting close to that.

     This situation has affected many of the students who were already attending the school. As people got older and older, they started to not know everyone in their grade. Because of this, students didn’t realize that their class sizes were increasing. Many of the students who are now attending the high school are from Linn-Mar and Cedar Rapids districts. Isabelle Miller, junior, transferred from Kennedy her sophomore year. She decided to transfer because there were so many people in her school, and she didn’t like the large environment. Miller said,

      The district has decided to take some steps to create more room and function. Greg Semler, principal, has been working at the high school for 19 years now. He enjoys where he gets to work and the people he works with. He loves the connections with the kids and their families. Semler has been able to see some of these changes throughout the years. One of these changes being becoming one of the premier schools in the state of Iowa. Semler said, “We offer so much; the diversity of our programming continues to grow and develop. We look to meet the needs of our student goals by creating opportunities and options through career paths, co-curricular activities, and supporting our students in creating a caring culture.” There are many ways that the school is progressing, just in different ways than what people want it to be. Along with that, teachers and students alike are having to adjust in other ways. A lot of the community has switched to going technology-based. The district has started doing this by giving students Chromebooks, doing more assignments online, and lessening the use of paper.

     Expansion is something that many people are wondering about. Over the years, there has been some construction throughout the community. First, the district decided to build Longfellow in place of Emerson, which is now the home of the Marion Homeschool Program. Next, the decision was passed to build a new football field, stadium, and track. The first season for the field was this year, and it has been a great help to the school. Currently, there is construction going on for the new auditorium and also the new Parkview Elementary School. These will be a great help in the future. The auditorium will seat 700+ people and will be used for grades second through twelve. Because of the construction, there is a chance that additional space will be made to accommodate the high school’s growing population.

     The school district has created many different ideas to move forward and have an amazing environment for students. There are a lot of things that have been added to the district to help everyone involved with it. Many people don’t know what goes on and how much of an impact it has done for people. Yes, the high school is not the biggest, but that is a reason that people want to come to school.