Overview
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West Fargo Public Schools continues to experience unprecedented growth with an average of 500 new students enrolling throughout the district each year. The continued growth is most significant in the current Mustang feeder system. To identify the best solutions for addressing this growth, the district's planning and development committee discussed options for adjusting district boundaries for 2022 - 2023 and 2023 - 2024 at their December meeting.
The necessary adjustments would impact the current boundary for the Mustang and Hawk feeder systems, as well as specific schools (Aurora Elementary School, Freedom Elementary School, Independence Elementary School, and Liberty Middle School) within the systems.
Informational Videos
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Video List Proposed Hawk & Mustang Boundary Adjustment: The Aurora Elementary School Attendance Area
This informational video outlines the decision to include the Aurora Elementary School attendance area in the Hawk feeder system.
Author: Superintendent Beth SletteLength: 14:27Video List Proposed Hawk & Mustang Boundary Adjustment
Those wishing to learn more about the proposal and its effects are encouraged to review this informational video.
Author: West Fargo Public SchoolsLength: 7:22
Feeder System Boundary Adjustment
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MUSTANG & HAWK BOUNDARY ADJUSTMENT
At the January 24, 2022 School Board meeting, the School Board voted 4 – 2 to approve a boundary change to the Mustang and Hawk feeder systems. The change is effective for the 2022 – 2023 school year.
Elementary Boundary Adjustments
Updates & Communications
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School Board Approves Boundary Adjustment for Mustang & Hawk Feeder Systems
Posted by West Fargo Public Schools on 1/25/2022 8:50:00 AMAt last night’s School Board meeting, the School Board voted 4 – 2 to approve a boundary change to the Mustang and Hawk feeder systems. The change is effective for the 2022 – 2023 school year.
EFFECTS OF THE ADJUSTMENT
Under the adjustment, current middle school students living within the Aurora Elementary School attendance area, west of the Sheyenne River, will attend Heritage Middle School and Horace High School in the fall. Current Aurora Elementary School students will attend Heritage Middle School for grades six through eight and Horace High School for grades nine through twelve. Current high school students are not impacted by this change.
IN-DISTRICT TRANSFER REQUESTS
Families currently within the Aurora Elementary School attendance area who wish to remain in the Mustang feeder system may submit a request via an in-district transfer form that has been created specific for this situation. In the event a family has multiple students wishing to remain in the Mustang feeder system, one request form per student must be submitted.
Alternately, families currently within the Aurora Elementary School attendance area who wish to have a current Sheyenne High School student transfer with their younger sibling(s) to the Hawk feeder system may submit a request via an in-district transfer form that has been created specific for this situation. In the event a family has multiple students wishing to transfer to the Hawk feeder system, one request form per student must be submitted. Note: Students who transfer to Horace High School are ineligible for varsity level activities for one year.
Both request forms are available online through 11:45PM on Sunday, February 6, 2022. Once the forms close, administration will review all requests and communicate with families by Friday, February 11.
Recent
By Month
Frequently Asked Questions
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Why are we receiving such short notice of these changes?
The district’s planning and development committee met on December 20 to review boundary options for the new elementary and to discuss the proposal for Aurora to move to the Hawk feeder system. Information was assembled to create a presentation for the public following this meeting and prior to the School Board’s review of the recommendations on January 24.
An Aurora Elementary School PTO meeting was already scheduled for 6:30PM on Tuesday, January 11. It was determined that hosting a question-and-answer session just prior to the PTO meeting in an effort to best reach Aurora families and eliminate the number of evenings their presence was requested at the school.
The length of the session was intentionally kept short as no presentation or new information was to be shared. Rather, the session was an opportunity for families to ask additional questions. Heritage Middle School will have a similar opportunity, but an open house style, from 4:00PM – 6:00PM on Thursday, January 20. Horace High School will also have a session, including a short presentation, from 5:00PM – 7:00PM on Thursday, January 20.
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When will the district take action on the in-district transfer requests for families who wish to stay in the Mustang feeder system?
Once the School Board votes on a final decision, administration will review the requests and take action as soon as possible. A timely response is particularly important for students who are set to start high school in the fall as class registration has to be completed in the coming months. Our goal is to move quickly on the requests to ensure families know where their student(s) will be located in the future.
Assuming the School Board approves the recommendation, an online in-district transfer request specific to this boundary adjustment will open the evening of Monday, January 24 with a deadline of Sunday, February 6 at midnight. Requests will be reviewed shortly thereafter, with approvals being communicated to the applicable families by Friday, February 11. Any in-district transfer requests submitted after this deadline must follow our current protocols.
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What are the enrollment numbers for Liberty and Sheyenne without the change?
Our current projections anticipate 1,260 students at Liberty, 1,560 students at Sheyenne High for the fall of 2022 – 2023, increasing significantly each year.
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Why is Aurora Elementary School the school being reassigned, rather than Osgood Elementary School or the upcoming new elementary school?
Various configurations were studied to consider each of the available options. After studying the schools with contiguous boundaries, the district feels that reassigning Aurora Elementary School is the most sensible choice due to the proximity of other schools’ boundaries to Liberty Middle School and Sheyenne High School. While the physical school building coming to 51st Avenue South and Veterans Boulevard (Rocking Horse Farm development) is more south, the attendance zone from either that school or Osgood Elementary School would need to be populated by the area immediately surrounding the Liberty/Sheyenne campus. Therefore, moving this attendance zone is not a desirable option.
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Will the new elementary school offer an after-school program (YMCA)?
The YMCA determines program interest and ultimately makes the decision as to what locations are feasible for hosting an after-school program.
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Are all of the same extra-curricular and co-curricular activities available at Horace?
Yes. When participation numbers are low at Horace High, the program is combined with Sheyenne High School’s program to ensure the opportunity remains for students.
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What happens when the Heritage and Horace feeder system is full?
Heritage and Horace High are both designed to allow for a potential building expansion. Heritage is capable of expanding to a 1,200-student middle school and Horace High is capable of expanding to a 1,550-student high school. Prior to this expansion occurring, the district will establish a long-range facilities planning task force to gather information from across the community and ultimately propose a bond referendum for additional funding. Ideally, all elementary schools in the Hawk feeder system would be at, or nearing, capacity, at that time, as well as consideration for another elementary school.
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Do you anticipate Sheyenne having another neighborhood pulled to Horace in 2-5 years?
No
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Will transportation to middle school and high school still be available to students?
Transportation will be provided for the Aurora boundary to Heritage and Horace.
Families who have elected to remain in the Mustang feeder system may be able to ride the bus if capacity is available. However, additional buses and routes are not being added to accommodate the region. Buses will be in this area until the current high school students complete high school in 2024.
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Do you anticipate another move for this school in the next 5 years?
No
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Are class sizes smaller at Horace High School?
Some class sizes at Horace High are smaller due to the school’s lower enrollment. However, like all schools in the district, Horace High aligns with the district’s goal of not exceeding 30 students per class, with specialty classes/spaces often having even smaller class sizes.
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Do Heritage and Horace use Schoology?
Yes, the same learning platforms are used across the district at each level (elementary = Smore, secondary = Schoology)
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Why can’t you let the kids in middle school stay?
Enrollment at Liberty Middle School will be beyond building capacity in 2022 – 2023. Allowing students to stay and progress through middle school at Liberty extends the overcrowding in the building for another three or more years.
Additionally, enrollment at Sheyenne High School is at building capacity. If we allowed the current middle school students to stay at Liberty and continue through Sheyenne High, it would only exacerbate overcrowding. The middle school would be overcrowded for three more years and the high school for six more years (as those students moved through and graduated). Action is required now to avoid such overcrowding.
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Has consideration been taken for families that have been moved more than once or who will experience three schools in three years?
Yes, if space allows, we often leave a fifth grade student to finish a year of elementary rather than making an additional transition. We are also looking at when and how to transition elementary students to minimize transitions.
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Will Aurora be shifted back to the Mustang feeder system when Heritage and Horace High are full in two or three years?
No, there is, and will be, no space available at Liberty Middle School or Sheyenne High School for the foreseeable future. Yet, both Horace High and Heritage are designed for further expansion when enrollment warrants it and a bond referendum is scheduled and passed.