The Des Moines school district’s Reimagining Education plan includes building a new school in central Des Moines that would revive past educational initiatives by the district.

If voters pass the $265 million bond referendum on Nov. 4, one of the plan’s first projects will be razing the existing three-story brick Moulton Elementary School at 1541 Eighth St. and building a new signature or magnet school with educational programming focused on performing and visual arts. The new school, whose construction is estimated to cost $42 million, would house preschool through eighth grade students.

The proposed initiatives are not new to the district.

In 1972, the Des Moines school district opened a fine arts magnet school adjacent to the Sherman Hills and Oakridge neighborhoods. The school, Edmunds Academy of Fine Arts, operated as a magnet school for well over three decades. Declining enrollment and the costs of operating the magnet program caused the district to phase out Edmunds’ fine arts program in the early 2000s. (A new school was built on the site in 2012 that serves neighborhood students.)

In the mid-2000s, the district expanded Moulton Elementary to include sixth through eighth grade students. The move was in response to residents’ request for a middle school in their neighborhood. A school that had served the area’s pre-high school-aged students was closed in 1976 and demolished a decade later. Students in the neighborhood were bussed to other middle schools.  

Moulton’s K-8 configuration lasted just over a decade. The expense of operating a K-8 school coupled with a decline in state funding prompted the district to move sixth through eighth grades out of the building. The last year eighth graders were in the building was 2013-14. 

A new Moulton School would include preschool through eighth grade students and offer programming focused on performing and visual arts. Enrollment in Moulton would be available to students districtwide after those who live in the neighborhood were provided the option of attending.

Focusing on the arts is not new for Moulton. In 2018, Moulton joined Turnaround Arts, a Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts national education program whose goal is to improve students’ academic performance and school culture through arts integration.

“The research is really, really clear that when students who have a passion for the arts are actually engaged in the arts, it improves their academic outcomes in other areas,” said Matt Smith, the school district’s interim superintendent. The district received strong community feedback about developing a magnet school focused on the arts, he said.

Students said they wanted to attend “a school that cultivates my passion and desire for the arts,” he said.

Students who attend a rebuilt Moulton will have plenty of space to move, Smith said. Students with a strong aptitude in visual and performing arts “literally need to move to think.”

The school would partner with local artists and community organizations to help immerse students in all different aspects of the arts, Smith said.

Since 2001, the Des Moines school district has spent over $10 million on renovations and additions at Moulton, which occupies nearly 4.5 acres. Much of the money spent on the school was from a one-cent sales tax designated for schools.

In the early 2000s, the school was updated and a new wing of classrooms built to allow for the addition of middle-school-aged students. The project cost over $6.4 million. The school’s mechanical system was modernized in 2016 at a cost of over $3.2 million. In recent years, other improvements have been made to the building including the addition of a secure entry, upgrades to restroom facilities, tuckpointing and the addition of a walk-in cooler and freezer.  

In an assessment released in January 2024 by BBS Architects|Engineers, the overall building health of Moulton was given a rating of 75%, or satisfactory. Among repairs needed at the school are improvements to the gymnasium, ceiling and roof replacements, and masonry and lintel repairs, according to BBS’s review.

A school has been at the corner of Eighth Street and College Avenue for decades. The site was originally home to North High School, which was located in a brick building constructed in 1895. Twenty-six classrooms were added to the building in 1914, and in 1929, a gymnasium and swimming pool were added. Over the years, the building became dilapidated, so much so that a new North High School was built at 501 Holcomb Ave.

For many years, the former high school housed adult education programs including nursing. Construction of Interstate Highway 235 through Des Moines in the early 1960s caused the demolition of numerous buildings including an elementary school. The loss of the school prompted district officials to reopen the former high school as an elementary school. The original structure was demolished, and the 1914 and 1929 additions were remodeled. Moulton opened in 1962.

Replacing Moulton with a new school will benefit students for many years, Smith said. “This is not about giving kids a white piece of paper with the newest marker set. It is about being creative in the programming we offer students and giving them an opportunity to explore the arts.”

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