No music. No applause. No chalk-dusted high-fives. Just silence. The kind that lingers too long after the final dismount. It wasn’t always like this. Not in this small Midwestern town where gymnastics once reverberated through the rafters. The springboard thud, the uneven bar clinks, the squeak of leotards brushing against mat and air, it used to be alive in there. This wasn’t just a gym. For decades, young girls grew up tumbling across this floor, each flip and fall part of something bigger. But now? Nothing. So, what happened?
On April 14, during a tightly watched school board meeting, a decision landed like a thud — the 40-year-old gymnastics program at Stewartville High would be cut, part of a sweeping plan to slash up to $1 million from the district’s budget.
“Every recommendation and decision… has an impact,” the board noted. But in the gym, it felt more like an erasure. Former gymnast Carleen Rager, still processing the news, said, “If you gave us a warning, we could definitely do some stuff to change this.”
The story is developing…
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