So AHS has these approximate numbers for football-
Varsity- 52
Sophs- 35
Fresh- 22
After going to the Fall Kickoff Festival- Cross Country, golf, swimming, soccer, volleyball, and basketball have a bunch of kids out for these different sports. The band alone has as many as the ISU band does. Ames also has one of the best swimming programs around along with being one of the best academically.
Baseball and softball wise it's difficult due to compete as we don't have just the one sport student athletes like the Des Moines schools do. I've had Gilbert people mention to me about combining baseball and softball in order to compete.
What it comes down to is $$$. You now have the "country club" school in Gilbert, as that is where the Ames growth is at north of Bloomington Road. All that money goes to Gilbert schools. Look at CFH for instance, he went to Ames, as his parents lived in the district. He comes back and moves in the Gilbert district due to the new housing developments. Sure the money goes to booster clubs, but still its a draw for families moving into the Ames area. Look at Ankeny and Waukee with the housing explosion they have seen and the need for new schools.
If Ames does decide to build a new school, will that draw people to open enroll or moving into the Ames district? I don't know if it would or not.
I wanted to bring this up in the other thread about consolidation and districts, but thought it probably deserved it's own thread and it came into being.
