Jackson Heights ready for influx of Wetmore students
Wednesday, Aug. 16 is the first day of the 2023-24 school year for students in the Jackson Heights school district, and the number of students coming in for the new year is expected to include more than 100 new students who are coming in from the Wetmore area, Superintendent Jim Howard reminded members of the Jackson Heights USD 335 Board of Education on Monday, Aug. 14.
During the board’s regular monthly meeting that evening, Howard said the estimated student count on the first day of school will likely be “in the 510 range when it’s all said and done,” but the district is ready for the influx of new students who are coming in following the closing of their former school, Wetmore Attendance Center, at the close of the 2022-23 school year.
Regarding the ongoing issue of transferring district territory from Prairie Hills USD 113 — which oversaw WAC through the end of last year and whose board voted this past February to close the school — board members met in executive session for 15 minutes during the meeting to discuss the matter, one of attorney-client privilege, but no new action was noted.
Howard said the three districts that are currently in negotiations with Prairie Hills — Jackson Heights, Nemaha Central USD 115 and Vermillion USD 380 — have not yet heard from USD 113 on a district territory transfer proposal but would likely make a counter-offer when Prairie Hills presented one. If Prairie Hills refused the three districts’ counter offer, he said, the matter will go into mediation with state officials.
In the meantime, Howard, Elementary Principal Daniel Pray and Middle and High School Principal Derek Smith said the district is ready for the new students from Wetmore when the new school year begins. Howard also noted that Jackson Heights has received a significant amount of books, lockers, furniture and other equipment from the WAC building to use as the new year begins.
Howard also presented board members with a preliminary list of first-day enrollment numbers that stood at 520 prior to the meeting, but by mid-meeting that number had grown to 524. But with the number of students that have transferred out of the district not yet counted, he said the actual first-day number would more than likely be “in the 510 range.”
The estimated first-day number would be an increase of at least 106 students over the Sept. 20, 2022 headcount of 404 students, including 359 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and 45 pre-kindergarten students, according to numbers provided by the Kansas State Department of Education. Student enrollment numbers for the year will be finalized on Sept. 20, it was reported.
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