Klondike Independent School District - Lamesa, TX

What makes Klondike Independent School District a great place to learn is a generous family atmosphere empowering students to reach beyond what they have been taught. This takes more than simply delivering rigorous content in the classroom. In addition, support from home and communication with parents is part of what maintains a solid foundation for achievement. Parents participate with students and teachers in academic rallies, book fairs, holiday and charity events, and extracurricular opportunities involving sports, academic, and agricultural competitions. Instructional practices have improved with the integration of technology in most core curricular areas, but what the district has learned best is to create a system of collaboration among teachers allowing them to reach across traditional campus divisions to create a school-wide, vertically aligned K-12 core curriculum. This success was threatened in the early 2000’s when economic concerns and decreased student enrollment left the district vulnerable to closure. The district realized that in order to survive, its long-standing reputation for academic excellence must remain a top priority. Parents agreed, and the community rallied to pass a bond that funded renovations and enabled upgrades to existing school facilities. The result has been growth in enrollment and improved standardized test scores. Keeping these results also means the needs of the student must come first. Thus, the mission of the district embodies the idea, “if you have a child’s heart, you have his head.” Each member of the faculty and staff truly cares for students and supports an environment of leadership, service, and trust.