USD 335 board approves new board district map

The Jackson Heights USD 335 Board of Education on Monday approved new boundaries for the school district’s five individual board member districts, including a district that represents the Wetmore community.

At the board’s Monday meeting, board members unanimously approved the new board member district map, which also includes representation for the Circleville, Netawaka, Soldier and Whiting communities as well as two “at large” positions to flesh out the seven member board after Superintendent Jim Howard and members of the board said they received no “pushback” on the proposed board member boundaries.

“It’s been out there for a month and I haven’t heard anything negative,” board member Michelle Schierling said of plans to redraw the board member districts following the transfer of about 90 square miles of land, including the Wetmore community, into the district last May.

Schierling said she had reached out to district patrons in the Wetmore area about the proposed district boundaries, relaying to board members that Wetmore residents were “just so happy to have a voice” in what goes on in the school district their children attend.

Wetmore students have been attending Jackson Heights schools since the start of the 2023-24 school year, following action taken two years ago by the Prairie Hills USD 113 Board of Education to close Wetmore Attendance Center.

Prior to Monday’s vote to adjust the voting district boundaries — approved unanimously following a motion by Schierling, seconded by Neal Keeler — USD 335 had been split into six board district positions with one “at large” position, the latter held by Schierling. The other board district positions included:

• Positions one and four, respectively held by Dr. David Allen and David Holliday, covering the Soldier area west of J Road.

• Positions two and five, respectively held by Kallie Kirk and Matt Browning, covering land east of J Road and south of 286th Road, including Circleville.

• Positions three and six, respectively held by Keeler and Doug Amon, covering land north of 286th Road and largely east of N Road, including Netawaka and Whiting.

The five-district proposal, submitted in December by Middle and High School Principal Derek Smith, placed Allen and Holliday into the first district, covering the Soldier area; Browning and Schierling into the third district, covering Circleville; Kirk and Amon into the fourth district, covering Netawaka; and Keeler into the fifth district, covering Whiting. At present, there is no representation in the second district, covering Wetmore.

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