Maple Valley-Anthon Oto Community School District

{{Short description|Public school district in Mapleton, Iowa, United States}}

{{coord|42.161146|-95.789137|region:US-IA_type:edu|display=title}}

{{Infobox school district

|name = Maple Valley-Anthon Oto Community School District

|logo = File:MVAO_CSD_logo.png

|motto =

|type = Local school district

|grades = K-12

|established = 2012

|closed =

|location = Mapleton, Iowa

|region = Monona, Woodbury, Ida, and Crawford counties

|country = United States

|coordinates = 42.161146, -95.789137

|superintendent = Jeff Thelander

|schools = 2

|budget = $11,265,000 (2020-21){{cite web|url=https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/districtsearch/district_detail.asp?Search=2&details=1&ID2=1918480&DistrictID=1918480|title=Maple Valley-Anthon Oto Comm School District |publisher=National Center for Education Statistics |access-date=July 4, 2024}}

|us_nces_district_id = 1918480

|students = 653 (2022-23)

|teachers = 56.42 FTE

|staff = 56.68 FTE

|ratio = 11.57

|conference = Western Valley Activities Conference

|mascot = Rams

|colors = Maroon, Gold, and Black
{{Color box|maroon|border=darkgray}} {{Color box|gold|border=darkgray}} {{Color box|black}}

|website = {{URL|https://www.mvaoschool.com/}}

}}

Maple Valley-Anthon Oto Community School District, or Maple Valley-Anthon Oto Community Schools, is a rural public school district headquartered in Mapleton, Iowa. It includes sections of Monona County and Woodbury County with small areas in Ida, and Crawford counties. It serves the towns of Mapleton, Anthon, Oto, Castana, Danbury, Rodney, and the surrounding rural areas, including the unincorporated area of Ticonic.{{cite web|url=https://educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/FY20_MAPLE%20VALLEY-ANTHON%20OTO_0.pdf|title=MAPLE VALLEY-ANTHON OTO|publisher=Iowa Department of Education|accessdate=2019-09-01}}Woodward, Susan. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20010305203941/http://www.maple-valley.k12.ia.us/htmlpages/mvsd/history/mvhistc5.html Ticonic Independent School District]." Maple Valley Community School District. December 1997. Retrieved on July 16, 2018. Note that the Ticonic district was absorbed by Mapleton in 1955, which in turn became a part of Maple Valley in 1961, and that in turn became a part of MVAO in 2012.

History

It was established on July 1, 2012, from the merger of the Anthon–Oto Community School District and the Maple Valley Community School District.{{cite web|url=https://educateiowa.gov/sites/files/ed/documents/DistrictReorganizationHistoryThroughFY21.pdf|title=REORGANIZATION & DISSOLUTION ACTION SINCE 1965-66|publisher=Iowa Department of Education|accessdate=2019-09-01}} The vote for merging the districts was scheduled for February 1, 2011.{{cite news|author=Linck, Michele|url=https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/a1/bigger-farms-fewer-kids-mean-bigger-fewer-schools/article_d46bfd4d-a2a9-574d-8153-730f67ae224a.html|title=School consolidation|newspaper=Sioux City Journal|date=2010-11-28|accessdate=2018-07-16}}

From 2005 until 2015 what is now known as MVAO and the MVAO of 2015 lost a total of 178 students.{{cite news|author=Gallagher, Tim|url=https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/columnists/gallagher/gallagher-enrollment-decline-fuels-high-school-sharing-pact/article_c9d64103-e4ac-5ff2-a5a7-31aa3b56f7e2.html|title=GALLAGHER: Enrollment decline fuels high school sharing pact |newspaper=Sioux City Journal|date=2017-02-12|accessdate=2018-07-16}} Due to the decline in enrollments, in January 2017 the MVAO district and the Charter Oak–Ute Community School District entered into a grade-sharing arrangement in which one district sends its students to another district for certain grade levels. As a result, the Charter Oak–Ute high school closed.{{cite news|author=Gallagher, Tim|url=https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/columnists/gallagher/gallagher-bobcats-bid-farewell-to-charter-oak-ute/article_e5511fa0-511e-5447-8295-e69c95590404.html|title=GALLAGHER: Bobcats bid farewell to Charter Oak-Ute|newspaper=Sioux City Journal|date=2017-05-09|accessdate=2018-07-16}} MVAO High School was renamed MVAOCOU High School. Charter Oak–Ute will pay MVAO tuition costs.

Jeff Thelander has been the superintendent since 2019.{{cite news|url=http://www.enterprisepub.com/mapleton/news/jeffrey-thelander-hired-as-mvao-s-new-superintendent/article_1c008180-3bde-11e9-9c41-2b20bcb45c8e.html|title=Jeffrey Thelander hired as MVAO’s new Superintendent|work=The Mapleton Press|date=2019-02-28|access-date=2020-09-01}}

Schools

The district operates four schools:

Anthon Elementary School
Mapleton Elementary School
MVAO Middle School
MVAOCOU High School

=MVAOCOU High School=

==Athletics==

The Rams compete in the Western Valley Activities Conference in the following sports:{{cite web|url=https://www.westernvalleyconference.org/|title=Western Valley Conference|publisher=Western Valley Activities Conference|access-date=2020-09-01}}