Dallas Center-Grimes board hears mounting concern over counselor cuts amid enrollment decline

The Dallas Center-Grimes Community School District held public comments and a lengthy superintendent report March 31 as residents and staff urged the board to preserve a full-time counselor at Dallas Center Elementary (DCE).

At a public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2026 property tax levy, parent Kate Benasiak told the board the district had added roughly “three administrative positions totaling roughly $400,000” and spent more than $30,000 on an audit and growth report, while schools were now losing classroom and counselor capacity. “Without a new operational plan,” she said, “I urge you … to start voting now for approving any other budgets until there's both an interim and a long term strategic plan in place that's designed to directly serve the students in the buildings.”

Why it matters: Board and community speakers said the proposed staffing changes would create unequal access to counselors and principals across elementary schools and could reduce supports for students with mental-health or behavioral needs. Superintendent Dr. Bloom responded with enrollment figures, staffing proposals and financial context that the board said will guide further work.

Parents and staff described the immediate impact. Jonathan Fransen, a West Des Moines resident who attended a February parent forum, said the district’s stated commitment to “equity and access” was undermined by a plan to split DCE’s counselor between Heritage and DCE. Fransen told the board that, based on the February…