At their March 11 meeting, the School Board officially named the district's third middle schol: Heritage Middle School. 

The Board also awarded bids for the construction of Heritage. Due to a favorable bid climate, the total package came in approximately $3 million under the estimated project budget. The contractors will begin working as soon as the ground thaws.

A groundbreaking ceremony will be planned for early-spring.

It is with great pleasure that Superintendent Beth Slette and Dr. Allen Burgad, Secondary Assistant Superintendent, announce Dr. Erin Spies has accepted the position as the principal for the district’s new middle school.

Dr. Spies holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of North Dakota, a Master’s in School Counseling from Adler Graduate School, and a Bachelor’s in Secondary Education Communication Studies from the University of Sioux Falls.

Dr. Spies started her career in education in 2006 as a language arts teacher at Washington High School in Sioux Falls, SD. She began employment with West Fargo Public Schools in 2010, after accepting a position as a school counselor at Sheyenne 9th Grade Center. When Liberty Middle School opened in 2013, Dr. Spies transitioned into a school counselor position at the new school. She moved into her first administrative role in 2015, when she was selected as an assistant principal at Liberty Middle School.

After selecting Dr. Spies for the position, Dr. Burgad said, “Dr. Spies has a valuable combination of classroom, counseling, and administrative experience and a strong understanding for our district’s mission and values. I am confident that her skills and leadership are what the district will need in the opening of our third middle school and the subsequent transition into a three feeder-system district.”

Dr. Spies will transition to her new role on July 1, 2019. She will serve as a middle school principal for next year’s sixth grade students housed at Deer Creek Elementary School and provide additional administrative support for Liberty Middle School, as well as simultaneously managing the process of opening the yet-to-be-named middle school for the fall of 2020.

The developments near 76th Ave S and Sheyenne St are currently being slowly constructed. While the process has started, the City of Horace is projecting the area to have a building boom in the next couple of years.

When selecting the boundaries for what would be a future third feeder-system (elementary schools that feed into a middle school and high school), consideration had to be given to each building’s capacity, continued growth district-wide, and the number of families impacted by a future transition.

If we were to have chosen 52nd Ave as the cutoff, the numbers simply would align with current buildings’ capacities. For example, a line at 52nd Ave would have assigned a total of 23 sections in each grade level to LMS and SHS. This number is one that those facilities would not be able to accommodate. In comparison, CMS and WFHS would have 19 sections and the proposed new middle school and new high school would then only have 15 sections each. When looking at those three feeder systems, it does not allow for an even balance of enrollment across the district, nor does it serve the need of creating a boundary that would be applicable for the longest period of time possible. Significant additions to LMS and SHS would have to be done, and beyond the fact that their blueprint would not allow for this, it would impact everything from transportation to class sizes to activities.

Now, with the approved boundaries, we know that it is the most feasible option when looking at building capacities, limiting transitions, longevity of district attendance areas, and an overall balance of enrollment district-wide. CMS, WFHS, LMS, and SHS would all have 19 sections in each grade level; the proposed middle school and high school would open at 12 sections per grade level, with the ability to be expanded upon in the future to accommodate up to 19 sections (and thus be equal in size to the other feeder systems).