The Great Northern School District No. 312 is a

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

in Spokane County, Washington, United States. It covers a rural

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

between

Airway Heights Airway Heights is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, just west of Spokane. The population was 10,757 at the 2020 census. The city's name was taken from its close proximity to the runways at Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane ...

and Spokane and has a single school, named Great Northern Elementary, that serves grades

kindergarten Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...

six 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid People ...

. The district was named for the Great Northern Railway, which donated the land on which the district's single school sits. The first school at the site was built in 1894 and replaced by a larger three-room building, which opened in 1914.

History

The first one-room schoolhouse in the Highland area was built in 1894 on land donated by the Great Northern Railway. The district was named for the railroad, the area's largest taxpayer. The Great Northern School District graduated its first

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

class in 1913, shortly after other rural districts were consolidated into it. The original building was replaced by a new brick building with three classrooms to accommodate more students. The Great Northern School District later dropped its high school classes in favor of sending students to larger facilities in other districts. It was ordered to contribute $31,818 towards the construction of a new building at

North Central High School North Central High School may refer to one of many high school in the United States: *North Central High School (Farmersburg, Indiana) *North Central High School (Indianapolis) *North Central High School (Louisiana), Lebeau, Louisiana * North Cent ...

in Spokane in 1978, requiring a special vote on lifting levy limits. The levy measure was passed by 90 percent of voters, allowing for school operations to remain funded and contributing their expected share of construction costs. The district also survived several statewide attempts at consolidating rural school districts proposed by the

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senat ...

in the 1990s.

Governance

The district is governed by a five-member

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

elected to four-year terms in staggered years. It has 14 employees overseen by part-time superintendent Glenn Frizzell, who was hired in 1994. Its budget in 2017–18 was $803,357. He has since retired.

Demographics

The Great Northern School District covers an area of around the unincorporated area of

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

, located northeast of

and northwest of Spokane. The school district is bordered to the south by the Cheney School District and to the east by

Spokane Public Schools Spokane Public Schools (District No. 81) is a public school district in Spokane County, Washington, and serves the city of Spokane. The district includes oversight and administration of seven high schools, six middle schools, and 34 elementary sc ...

, the second-largest school district in Washington. The district's lone school has three classrooms that serve grades

. Older students are typically sent to nearby

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

s in Airway Heights, Cheney, and Spokane. As of the 2018–19 school year, the district has an enrollment of 41 students, including those from outside of the district boundaries. The

2010 United States Census The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...

counted a population of 695 residents within the school district boundaries, of which 22.6 percent were under the age of 18. The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of residents in 2010 was 94% White, 0.1% Black, 0.9% American Indian/Alaska Native, 1.0% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 0.4% other races, and 3.3% reporting two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 3.3% of the reported population. Data from the

American Community Survey The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...

estimates that 47.1% of parents in the school district boundaries had a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

or higher, while 34.1% had some college or an associate's degree.

References

External links

Official website
{{Schools in Spokane, Washington Public school districts in Spokane County, Washington School districts in Washington (state) School districts established in 1894 1894 establishments in Washington (state)