At the January 16 Strategic Transition task force meeting, the group reviewed the process utilized by the district when selecting colors and a mascot for Sheyenne High School. After review and discussion, the task force recommended the following process, which was approved by the School Board at their February 11 meeting:

• Students in grades 4 - 7 from the new attendance area will be given the opportunity to submit two mascots (with rationale) and one color combination.
• A community committee will narrow down the student submissions for the School Board (5 - 10 of each).
• The School Board narrows down the committee recommendations to two of each.
• The students will vote on the two recommendations from the School Board. The mascot and school colors will be selected through majority vote of the students and then authorized at a Board meeting.

This process is anticipated to kick-off immediately after the schools are officially named, which would provide colors and a mascot by the middle of April.

Planning is currently under way on the designs for the new high school on the site along 76th Avenue South. The school district has selected JLG Architects to design the new high school and they have been meeting with the school district and representatives from the City of Horace on the overall layout of the site, including roads, storm water retention, and athletic amenities.

Once the middle school has been bid (anticipated to occur February 2019), the focus of our design work will move to the high school. Planning will commence in March 2019 with a bid planned as early as November 2019. This process will include meetings and discussions with staff, department heads, and architects. However, the high school will also require strategic conversations with parents and students regarding the planned transition for the new high school. Beginning in mid-December, a transition task force will be assembled to discuss the plan for populating the new high school, as well as the process for selecting the name, mascot, and colors for the new school. Community members, parents, students, School Board members, and district staff will all be engaged in the work of this task force. The intention is to have this group finish their work in March 2019 and provide recommendations to the School Board for approval by April 2019 so families can begin to plan for the transition.

With our current configuration of buildings and boundaries, we have six elementary schools feeding into Cheney Middle School and West Fargo High School and seven elementary schools feeding into Liberty Middle School and Sheyenne High School.

However, the system is not dictated by the number of individual elementary schools, but by the number of sections per grade level. At the middle school, each building receives 19 sections for three grades. At the high school, each building receives 19 sections for four grades. The number of sections going into a building is dependent on the building’s capacity and our preferred class size. Our high schools can accommodate 1,550 students each and our middle schools can accommodate 1,200 each.

The addition of a third feeder-system will allow for six elementary schools to feed into the north side system, five to feed into our central system, and up to five to feed into the newly-created south side system.

Below is the feeder-system breakdown for the three systems with our current elementary schools.

Below is the feeder-system breakdown for the three systems with our potential for growth.

A committee of key stakeholders consisting of parents, students, teachers, administration, and board members will conduct a serious of meetings studying various options and scenarios for a smooth transition. Objectives for the committee will be to develop consensus on a recommendation to the School Board on a transition plan that provides optimal learning and participation opportunities for our students.