During a busy lunch hour at Postville’s Junior Senior High School, Brendan Knudtson, the superintendent and principal, walked through the school’s crowded halls, chatting with students. The rural school district of about 800 students has grown since Knudtson arrived more than a decade ago.
“We put seventh and eighth grade into this building, I don’t know, eight years ago, because of our growth population. We couldn’t fit them in the other building,” he said.
Its schools are at capacity due to the high number of immigrants who have come to Postville, initially drawn by jobs at local meatpacking plants, he said. About 60% of the district’s kids belong to minority groups, and about a third are English language learners…