Going into the 2025-26 school year, construction as well as internal policy changes were made for the year.
Advisory
Advisory was new to West last year, and received mixed responses from students and teachers. The function of the class was to teach district-mandated social-emotional lessons and relay grade-specific information.
This year, advisory and AFT have been merged into one class, where instructional lessons will be taught on Mondays. The rest of the week will function similarly to AFT, where students can request to go to different teachers for assistance.
This change comes after concerns from faculty about large class sizes for a time meant for teachers to form connections and help students they had in their AFT.
“The whole point of AFT is for teachers to go do intervention work and to help students who are struggling and it’s hard doing that when you also have that many students in the building or in your classroom,” West High Principal Mitch Gross said.
Senior Gwen Smith echoed this statement, saying that the change will allow students to make connections with their advisory teachers.
“I think it’ll provide a lot of good connections for people in their advisories, especially the freshmen,” Smith said. “It’ll start their connection with that teacher a lot earlier. But I think for any of the upperclassmen, it can be kind of confusing, because they’ve changed it every year since we’ve been here.”
While the class is currently listed in Infinite Campus as advisory, West will be holding a contest for students to come up with a new name.
West’s admin has also decided to no longer use an electronic pass system and move back to using paper passes. This means students must use a lanyard pass for the bathroom and paper passes for all other reasons.
Construction
West has also gone through physical changes in addition to policy changes. West has been under construction after a plan for an updated version for the school was announced in the fall of 2022. Since students left for the summer, construction has continued to reveal an updated library, new classrooms and infrastructure changes to the auditorium.
West’s library was completely remodeled over the summer. There’s still a few finishing touches yet to be added, such as the front desk and the rest of the furniture, but the majority of the space has been completed.
“I’m really excited about that space,” Gross said. “I think students are really, really going to enjoy it.”
Before construction, the counseling office and other offices were housed above the library. Now, there are new classrooms above that space. There is also a testing center where students can make up tests they missed, and new rooms called “collab labs.”
The collab lab is exactly what it sounds like: a space where students across multiple classes can collaborate. This could look like working on a project together or a different instructor re-teaching a lesson.
There’s still construction that is yet to be completed. While infrastructure work has been done in the auditorium this summer, the entire space will be remodeled in the summer of 2026. This means that productions for the 2026-27 school year will be held at a different professional location.
There are also plans for three ICCSD high schools to get an indoor turf facility for use by the athletics department and marching band. Planning and design for the facility is set to start soon and construction will begin this spring.
The facility is to be built where West’s baseball field is currently. The hill behind the athletics parking lot will be leveled out and the new fields will be constructed in that area. Due to the location of the construction, West’s softball team will have to relocate for their 2026 season.
West also planted a pollinator garden near the courtyard.
“Where all the [temporary buildings] used to be, we planted a humongous, beautiful butterfly pollinator garden. It’s really cool,” Gross said.
Other changes
While advisory and construction are arguably some of the biggest changes going into the year, there are still other changes of note.
West students received their new school-issued chromebooks during the first week of school. The roughly five-year old Dell Chromebook 11 3,000s were traded for the Leveno 500e Yoga Chromebook Gen 4s. Similar to the old chromebooks, the 500es feature a 360 degree hinge and a touch screen.
West High will also be hosting All State music auditions this year. This means that on Oct. 25, hundreds of musicians from across southeast Iowa will travel to West to audition. Previously they were held at Washington High School in Washington, Iowa.
“We’re going to have hundreds of kids in the building that are just trying to get a few really coveted spots. We’re thrilled to host and to show our new facilities and to have everybody come to Iowa City for this really cool event,” West High Orchestra Director John Welch said.
