LAKE MILLS, Iowa &045; It seems like a rarity that a rural school actually grows. For Lake Mills, growth is great, but it comes with another school’s loss.

Last spring, a controversial building closing in Emmons split the Glenville-Emmons school district. Many Emmons parents pulled their children out of the district and started looking elsewhere.

In April, Lake Mills held an open house to show their school to the disgruntled parents and students. It was a success.

Before this year, there were 11 students open enrolled between Lake Mills and Glenville-Emmons.

Monday, Lake Mills began their school year with enrollment up.

They had 763 students, including 58 new students open enrolled from Glenville-Emmons.

&uot;We were expecting to lose 27 students if we didn’t have this influx,&uot; Daryl Sherman, Lake Mills superintendent, said.

The district hired two more teachers, changed their lunch schedule and added a new bus and route to accommodate their larger student body.

&uot;These are all changes we like to have,&uot; Sherman said.

&uot;Basically, we were able to go to having three sections in every grade level.&uot;

They were able to make the changes because the new students bring money.

In 1994 Lake Mills and Glenville-Emmons entered into an agreement for open enrollment across state lines. The agreement says that the lower of the two tuition rates will be given by the district that is losing the student to the district where the student goes.

In Iowa, schools get $4,648 per student. In Minnesota, the system is weighted so that students, depending on their age, are worth a value of anywhere from 0.5 to 1.3. Minnesota gives G-E around $5,400 per 1.0 students.

So, when Lake Mills gets a student from G-E, G-E gives Lake Mills $4,468 and keeps the difference.

For the students, the change is a little difficult. Still, they are in the same basic neighborhood.

&uot;A lot of students here go to the same churches as kids from Emmons,&uot; Sherman said.

He also added that the number of students from Emmons is big enough that, at least, they would be with some of their peers for the move.

Sherman said students will notice three basic differences: They have to pay a users’ fee for books, they started school before Labor Day, and the school is almost twice as big.

&uot;Otherwise, there are many similarities,&uot; Sherman said.

Thursday at noon, the halls were filled with a sea of students, exiting and entering the lunch room.

Brian Honsey, 15, a sophomore from Emmons, was among them. He and his parents decided to make the change after the conflict over the school building in Emmons. This week, he started classes at Lake Mills.

When asked if he’d noticed many changes he said, &uot;Not really.&uot;

Honsey said Lake Mills has an eight-class day, and G-E had a four-class day. He said he likes the bigger school because he gets to meet more people.

The change hasn’t hurt his social life. He hasn’t lost touch with his old classmates.

&uot;I see them too,&uot; he said. &uot;I still live right near them.&uot;

Glenville-Emmons Superintendent David Olson could not be reached for comment.

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox @albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)