The Western Dubuque Community School District, (WDCSD; also known as Western Dubuque or WD) is a rural

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

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 ...

based in

Farley Farley may refer to: People * Farley (name), a list of people with the given name or surname Places Antarctica * Mount Farley * Farley Massif Australia * Farley, New South Wales * Farley railway station England * Farley, Derbyshire * Farle ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

(

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

). The district, which operates schools in western Dubuque County, is the largest school district (by area) in Iowa.

History

The district was established in 1960.

General information

The Western Dubuque Community School District serves an area covering , including 19 communities in five counties. Its size is about half of that of

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

. The district's territory includes all of the western half of Dubuque County, eastern parts of Delaware County, northeastern Jones County, northwestern Jackson County and extreme southeastern

Clayton County Clayton County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Clayton County, Georgia in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area * Clayton County, Iowa It was also the former name of Clay County, Arkansas Clay County is a county located in the U.S. ...

. This area includes the towns of: Balltown, Bankston,

Bernard Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

Cascade Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science *Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls * Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex) * Cascade (grape), a type of fruit * Bioc ...

Centralia Centralia may refer to: Places Australia *Central Australia, sometimes called "Centralia" Canada * Centralia, Ontario ** RCAF Station Centralia, a former Royal Canadian Air Force training base ** Centralia (Essery Field) Aerodrome United State ...

Dyersville Dyersville is a city in eastern Delaware County and western Dubuque County in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is part of the Dubuque, Iowa, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,477 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 4,035 in 200 ...

, Epworth,

Luxemburg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

, Holy Cross, New Vienna, Peosta, almost all of Rickardsville, and

Worthington Worthington may refer to: People * Worthington (surname) * Worthington family, a British noble family Businesses * Worthington Brewery, also known as Worthington's * Worthington Corporation, founded as a pump manufacturer in 1845, later a dive ...

. All are completely or partially in Dubuque County. It also serves the

unincorporated areas 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 ...

of Fillmore,Cascade Elementary
" Western Dubuque Community School District. January 3, 2007. Retrieved on July 25, 2018. Petersburg,Dyersville Elementary Boundary Change Map
" Western Dubuque Community School District. Retrieved on July 24, 2018. and Temple Hill. The district currently operates: * 6

elementary schools A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

* 2

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 * 2

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 ...

s WD is governed by a five-member elected

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 ...

and is managed by an appointed Superintendent of Schools. The

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 ...

of Schools is Rick Colpitts.

Enrollment

In September 2007, there were 2,776 K-12 students attending WD schools. 2,432 (87.6%) of those students lived in Dubuque County, 103 (3.7%) lived in Delaware County, 137 (4.9%) lived in Jones County, 97 (3.5%) lived in Jackson County, and 7 (.3%) lived in Clayton County. Of public school students living in Dubuque County, 18.6% attend WD schools. By 2019-20, the enrollment had grown to 3,642.

History

Recent developments

Recently, there has been some debate over whether or not the town of

Dyersville, Iowa Dyersville is a city in eastern Delaware County and western Dubuque County in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is part of the Dubuque, Iowa, Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 4,477 at the time of the 2020 census, up from 4,035 in 2000 ...

should remain a part of the Western Dubuque Community School District. Some residents of the town have publicly expressed feeling "neglected" or "ignored" by the WD school board. The debate seems to stem from the fact that Dyersville lacks a full K-5 elementary school, the elementary school was K-1. A new elementary school was built in Dyersville, opening in the fall of 2011. It is located near US Highway 20.

Schools

Elementary schools: *The

Elementary building had a capacity of 420 students. In 2017 it had 282 students. In 1963 the school was constructed, in 1993 and 2002 received additional space. It serves residents of Cascade,

, Fillmore, and Temple Hill. * Drexler Elementary School serves

, New Vienna, and a section of Bankston.2017 Elementary Boundaries
" Western Dubuque Community School District. Retrieved on July 24, 2018
Detail on Luxemburg, New Vienna, and BankstonDetail on Dyersville and PetersburgDetail on Balltown, Holy Cross, and RickardsvilleDetail on Peosta and Centralia
/ref> Drexler Elementary opened in 1993. *Dyersville Elementary School Serves

, Petersburg, and

. Dyersville Elementary opened in 2011. it has about 292 students. *Epworth Elementary School serves Epworth, Balltown, Holy Cross, most of Rickardsville, and a section of Bankston *Peosta Elementary School serves Peosta and

Secondary schools: *Drexler Middle School *

Western Dubuque High School Western Dubuque High School (commonly West Dubuque, West Dub, WDHS, or WD) is a four-year public high school located in Epworth, Iowa. It is one of two high schools in the Western Dubuque Community School District, and enrolls 935 students in gra ...

* Cascade Junior-Senior High School Former schools: *Bernard Elementary School **Located next to the Bernard Commercial Club Park, on a plot of land, Bernard Elementary opened in 1960 had its current building open in 1963, and received an addition in 1967. Family sizes in the area decreased, and as years passed the enrollment grew smaller and smaller. By 2017 the school was sharing employees with Cascade Elementary, and was required to send students in kindergarten and the second grade to Cascade Elementary as the numbers of students from those grades were too small; Bernard Elementary had a total of 31 students. The district stated that the yearly cost of operating the school per student was $14,000. In February 2017 four members of the school board voted to close the school while Mark Knuth, the president of the school board, chose to abstain from voting. Students were reassigned to Cascade Elementary.

References

External links

Western Dubuque Community School District Website

Alternate url
*{{webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/*/http://www.wdhs.ml.org:80/District%20Webpage/WDCCSD.HTM, title=Western Dubuque Community School District Website
WD 2005-2006 Annual Report
Cascade Elementary School

Wayne Drexler Elementary School

Dyersville Elementary School

Epworth Elementary School

Peosta Elementary School

Drexler Middle School

Bernard Elementary School School districts in Iowa Education in Clayton County, Iowa Education in Delaware County, Iowa Education in Dubuque County, Iowa Education in Jackson County, Iowa Education in Jones County, Iowa School districts established in 1886 1886 establishments in Iowa

History

General information

Enrollment

History

Recent developments

Schools

See also

References

External links