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THE COURT. WHETHER YOU'RE IN THE STATE'S LARGEST PUBLIC SCHOOL - OR THE VERY SMALLEST. <And.... I forgot to write my name.> WHEN YOU'RE STILL TRYING TO FIGURE OUT SCISSORS-- <Oh, we're supposed to glue the words?> SPELLING CAN BE A CHALLENGE. <Why is there two H's that I have?> LANDON'S SORTING LETTERS LIKE EVERY OTHER KID IN THE STATE HIS AGE. <This is the first grade classroom.> BUT HERE IN DIAGONAL, HE AND HIS CLASSMATES ONLY REALLY HAVE TO LEARN TO COUNT TO NINE. BECAUSE EVEN WHEN NO ONE IS SICK DURING COLORING-- <Blue, yellow....> HIS ENTIRE GRADE HAS JUST NINE STUDENTS. THEY HAVE ALL OF THE SUPPLIES-- <We got pencils. Definitely.> AND THE TECHNOLOGY THE STATE'S LARGEST SCHOOLS HAVE. THEY JUST DON'T HAVE MANY STUDENTS. BUT HERE? NINE IS ACTUALLY BIG-- <Yeah, there's four girls in my class and that's it.> COMPARED TO DIAGONAL'S SOPHOMORE CLASS. <You all have to kind of get along or it just doesn't work.> ADD UP ALL OF THE KINDERGARTENE RS THROUGH SENIORS IN THIS SOUTHERN IOWA TOWN AND YOU'LL COUNT 104. <Yeah, and we've been the smallest for quite some time. Years.> 13 GRADES TAUGHT BY 12 TEACHERS. <What fraction of 8th graders did a science fair project?> WHICH MEANS MOST, LIKE SAMANTHA CRAWFORD? <You good? OK.> COVER A LOT. SHE TEACHES MATH TO SIXTH GRADERS THROUGH SENIORS. <We just do our normal top times the top.> AND COMPUTER SCIENCE TO EVERY GRADE. LIKE MATH, THAT HAS ITS POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES. <Both. Laugh. I enjoy it. Because I literally one moment I'll be with the kindergarteners and then after that I come up to Algebra II with juniors. > > ALL-- <Bell ringing.> IN A THREE- STORY BUILDING--- <Quick down stairs steps.> WHERE THE WOODEN STEPS CREAK-- <Trudging up stairs.> JUST LIKE THEY HAVE FOR 111 YEARS SINCE IT WAS BUILT. <There's always something. A window doesn't work right. Or this or that.> BUT ASK THE SUPERINTENDEN T, WHO'S ALSO THE PRINCIPAL AND ACTIVITIES DIRECTOR WHY HE LEFT A BIGGER SCHOOL TO COME BACK HOME FOR HIS THREE JOBS? <I graduated in 1991. We had nine students in my class.> AND HE'LL BRAG ABOUT HIS TOWN, WHERE THE POPULATION OF 338 IS DETERMINED. <Our community will do about anything to keep our school going.> ESPECIALLY IF SOMETHING'S GOING ON ACROSS THE STREET IN THE 'NEW' GYM-- <Basketball nat.> THAT'S NOW 50 YEARS OLD. <A high school basketball game is a community event, not just a school event here.> SUPPORTING THE ELEVEN GIRLS OUT THIS SEASON. <They're here for their community. They want to support their community. They want to make them proud.> <Basketball nat.> WIN OR LOSE, THEY DO. EVEN IF THEY AREN'T ALL SUPERSTARS. <More than half of our basketball team is really good. But like I'm not the best. But I still have the opportunity to like go out and play.> AN OPPORTUNITY AVERAGE BASKETBALL PLAYERS AT BIG SCHOOLS DON'T GET. BUT DURING GAMES, THE GIRLS CAN SUBSTITUTE. <We never get a break. We have to play the whole game.> THE BOYS CAN'T. THEIR WHOLE ROSTER IS FIVE. <There was one game where it was halftime. Me and him both had four fouls. So our coach was like, he didn't know what he was going to do.> <When you only have five, you gotta show up. You just gotta try your hardest, play your best and see how it goes.> <Like we had to finish the game with two or three players.> IT'S WHAT YOU DO IN A TINY SCHOOL WHERE THE GAME-- <Block into box.> IS JUST THE BEGINNING. <We'll have to do speech practice and then at night we'll have basketball and archery. And sometimes we have to do some robotics after that. So I might not get home until after midnight.> BECAUSE MOST KIDS ARE OUT FOR MOST ACTIVITIES. THEY HAVE TO - TO FIELD A TEAM IN THIS SCHOOL WHERE - <Zipper unzipping.> THE NINE FRIENDS YOU HAVE ON THE WAY TO A SIDEWALK CHALK RECESS ACROSS THE STREET-- <Right here, we're going to have stars.> ARE THE SAME ONES YOU'LL PROBABLY HAVE UPSTAIRS IN FRESHMAN ENGLISH. <I think I'm going to put that in my second paragraph or maybe my third one.> AND WHERE ALL-SCHOOL ANNOUNCEMENT S-- <Our high school girls will play here 7:30 against Moravia.> DON'T NEED A LOUD SPEAKER. BECAUSE THE ENTIRE STUDENT BODY - ALL 103 - GETS TOGETHER FOR LUNCH IN THE OLD GYM. <Hi, Jack.> EVERY ADULT HERE- <Feeling better? Good.> KNOWS EVERY KID WHO'S BATTLING THE FLU BUG. <Yeah and I feel like most of your teachers know your family too so it's kind of a whole thing.> AND ALL FOUR SOPHOMORES KNOWS EVERY FOURTH GRADER. <Aspen, why do you look sad? Jacob, what are you talking about down there?> JUST LIKE EVERYONE IN THIS GYM KNOWS WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. <One of the biggest things that I get asked is like, How are you guys still running?> <I mean we've been here for over 100 years. We just are really good at adapting.> <So like for ag class, we couldn't have an ag class here because won't have an ag teacher.> SO A BUS TAKES THEM TO MOUNT AYR - WHERE DIAGONAL'S KIDS CAN ALSO PLAY FOOTBALL. <I'm allowed to come to school here and then we share some sports over there.> DIAGONAL'S OLD BUILDING DOESN'T HAVE A CULINARY ARTS KITCHEN EITHER. SO-- <They walk up to church two blocks away and they have a full kitchen there.> AND THOSE TEACHERS WHO PULL TRIPLE DUTY UNDERSTAND THE MATH BEHIND THE BUDGET IN A TINY DISTRICT? <This will be kinda hard.> IS - KINDA - HARD. SOME, INEVITABLY, WILL LOOK DOWN ON IOWA'S SMALLEST TOWNS AS TOO QUIET. <Quiet.> JUST A PART OF THE STATE TO FLY OVER OR DRIVE THROUGH. BUT DIAGONAL'S STUDENTS WILL TELL YOU CLASSES OF FOUR OR EIGHT MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE TO FALL THROUGH THE CRACKS. <Here, I get my help like automatically.> AND GIVES EVERY STUDENT THE OPPORTUNITY TO BE INVOLVED IN EVERYTHING. <Basketball nat.> <We wouldn't have the school if it wasn't for the community. And we all ca