The North Winneshiek Community School District was a public

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 ...

unincorporated Unincorporated may refer to: * Unincorporated area, land not governed by a local municipality * Unincorporated entity, a type of organization * Unincorporated territories of the United States, territories under U.S. jurisdiction, to which Congress ...

northern

Winneshiek County, Iowa Winneshiek County is a county located in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the population was 20,070. The county seat is Decorah. History A largely rural and agricultural county, Winneshiek County has a rich cultural history from ...

, with a Decorah address. At the end of the district's existence, it only served grades Pre-K through 8th. The enrollment for the 2015–2016 school year was 126 students. The district, which is about of area, - (PDF p. 92/512) was entirely in Winneshiek County, and served the

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

Burr Oak ''Quercus macrocarpa'', the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus'', and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub oa ...

, as well as these unincorporated areas: Bluffton, Hesper, and Highlandville.

Governance

The school district was governed was a

School Board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

with five members. The district was overseen by a

superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

, Tim Dugger.

History

The consolidated school opened in 1964, replacing

one room schoolhouses One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

. Initially it served up to grade nine, but it began serving all levels of senior high school the following year. The first

was Gordon Christianson. Initial enrollment was about 400. The residents wanted to retain a school with a rural atmosphere.

Schools

The North Winneshiek Community School was the district's lone school, serving grades Pre-K through 8th Grade at the end of the district's life. The former school, from Burr Oak, and north of Decorah, is located in Hesper Township. In 2001, the school district closed its high school, and entered into agreements with the

Decorah Community School District The Decorah Community School District is a rural public school district located in Decorah, Iowa, United States. The district is almost entirely in Winneshiek County, with a small portion in Allamakee County. In addition to Decorah, the censu ...

that year, and also at one point with the

Mabel-Canton School District Mabel-Canton Public Schools (MC I.S.D. #238) is a school district headquartered in Mabel, Minnesota. The district, which also serves Canton, has a single campus with all grades, K-12. It includes sections of Fillmore County and Houston County. It ...

to allow North Winneshiek High School students to attend

Decorah High School Decorah High School is a state school, public high school located in Decorah, Iowa. The school colors are red and royal blue, and the mascot is the Vikings. It is a part of the Decorah Community School District. In addition to Decorah, the cens ...

and the Mabel-Canton high school program. In 2018 the enrollment was 165.

Consolidation

In 2016, the North Winneshiek Community School District agreed to consolidate with Decorah CSD. Reasons for the decision to consolidate were rising costs and declining enrollment. As a part of the consolidation process, North Winneshiek 7th and 8th grade students were to begin to attend Decorah Middle School at the beginning of the 2017–2018 school year, before fully consolidating in the 2019–2020 school year. The grade-sharing agreement was modified. Additionally the consolidated interim board signed an agreement with Mabel-Canton so North Winneshiek area students may continue to attend Mabel-Canton. The North Winn board also agreed to share a librarian with the

MFL Mar Mac Community School District MFL MarMac Community School District is a rural public school district headquartered in Monona, Iowa. It operates an elementary school and high school in Monona and a separate middle school in McGregor. The district is within Clayton and All ...

for the remainder of the district's life. In 2018 voters in the districts agreed to make the consolidation final, with North Winnishiek voters saying yes on a 224-32 basis and Decorah voters doing so on a 621-104 basis. Andrew Wind of the ''

WCF Courier ''The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier'' is a daily afternoon newspaper published by Lee Enterprises for people living in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, Iowa as well as northeast Iowa. The first issue of ''The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier'' was publish ...

'' described the result as "overwhelming". Wind added that "If the vote hadn't passed in either district, North Winneshiek would have eventually closed or dissolved." Effective July 1, 2018 the North Winneshiek district consolidated into the Decorah district. North Winneshiek School closed its doors at that time.

References

External links