This will be the last year for the high school as they will cut down to junior high and elementry, current high school students will be able to transfer to Winters, Coleman, and Panther Creek CISD.

I hate to hear that.

Speaking of closings ...

I have notes on my sixman schools list that SAMNORWOOD, BYERS, and MORGAN are listed as a possibility to close/consolidate. Any word on any of those schools?

Morgan is having financial difficulties, but they are intending to remain open as long as possible. They have already scheduled games for next season.

So there will be nothing in Novice on Friday nights after this year. Sad. Never been there.
Might be time for a road trip this fall before it's gone. See if they still serve Frito Pie.

I am sorry to hear that, but on the other hand this could be a good opertunity for those young men who want to play football for a great Coach at PC.

And another one bites the dust......

Perhaps,
they should have read
Good to Great
as a whole school book study?

Ronald W. Erdrich/Reporter-News Students from Novice High School enjoy their lunch break Friday. The high school is slated to close at the end of the school year.
Dwindling enrollment numbers has forced Novice ISD to announce that it will close its high school after the current school year ends.

The district will continue to operate as kindergarten through eighth-grade classes.

Novice ISD Superintendent Dale Freeman said this year's senior class has three students and has only 17 other students in its other three high school grades, including seven juniors.

For the 2010 University Interscholastic League alignment, Novice turned in an enrollment of 53 students. In December, the district's board of trustees unanimously voted to pursue closing the high school, Freeman said.

"It's been something that's been known for a while," said Freeman, who noted five of the district's 12 teachers will lose their jobs as a result of the move. "We've been making preparations where we want to be and it's not where we want to be, but it's certainly better than having to close the school down."

Jerry Van Cleave, dean of students at Novice and an agriculture teacher, is one of the high school teachers who will be looking for work after the school has its final senior class graduation May 26. Van Cleave said he has worked 16 years at the school — longer than any other current staff member.

"The (high school) numbers have steadily declined since I've been here," he said. "I've had two jobs since 1976. I'll find something else and go on after this. This is just one of those things you can't help."

Freeman said the district — located 17 miles west of Coleman — realized the high school portion of the school would need to close last spring.


The district met with Teacher Education Agency officials in December, but Freeman said the district learned there's no official process "to go through to close" the high school.

"The magic number for state funding small schools is 90," Freeman said. "We had 79 last year, and it looks like we're less than that this time. ... We'd know it'd be less than 80 (next year)."

Freeman said Novice ISD bringing back its high school program is unlikely.

"The numbers are dwindling, and it's happening all over West Texas now," he said. "Someone will have to open a business down there before we'd have enough students."

Van Cleave said there's just not a lot to keep people in Novice anymore.

"People have to move to make a living," said Van Cleave, who said he's lived in the same place for 29 years. "There's a little cafe up here where you can get a breakfast and lunch, but if you want to get gasoline you have to go to Lawn, Winters or Coleman. Everything, as far as a grocery store or gas, is a major distance off."

About 40 percent of the district's students are Novice residents, 30 percent are from Winters and 30 percent are from Coleman, Freeman said. High school students next year likely would end up at schools in Winters (24 miles away), Coleman (17 miles) and Panther Creek (45 miles).

"I have spoke to the superintendents of neighboring schools, and their first response was they would take any Novice student that would go there," said Freeman, who's in his third year as superintendent. "The first response has been very positive."

Once the district switches to a K-8 school, Freeman said it will receive an increase in state funds. The school currently has 55.5 students enrolled in those grades this year. It had 57 in the 2010-11 school year and 53.5 in the 2009-10 school year.

The district operates with a budget "just under $1 million," he said.

Since 1969, rumors have circulated that Novice's senior class would be the district's last, Freeman said, but the district has been able to stay a K-12 school until now. However, he pointed out that K-8 schools aren't unusual in Texas. He cited Olfen ISD, which is outside of San Angelo.

"Where we are is where we are, and we're going to make the best of it," Freeman said. "We believe we have an outstanding campus, and we believe we can do an excellent job focusing on those younger children."

In November 2010, Novice ISD was one of 20 districts or charters in the state that didn't receive full accreditation status — and the only one in the Big Country. TEA reported 1,198 districts received full accreditation status. The district had earned the state's lowest academic achievement rating of "unacceptable" in 2009 and 2010, according to a Reporter-News story.

Based on the oldest school records Van Cleave could find, Novice School consolidated with Rough Creek School in 1928. In 1949, Silver Valley and Goldsboro schools consolidated with Novice to form the school district it is today.

The increasing mechanization and automation of agriculture and the oil patch has been dooming rural high schools since after WW2. This weekend I'll post a copy of an article from a 1948 Reporter-News about this.

Wow....those schools are pretty far apart. If they consolidate, that would be one heck-uva commute.



















just kidding

That was pretty funny!

Might want to keep an eye on Rule ISD, in keeping up with the basketball games found out their girls basketball team forfeted all their games due to shortage of players.

Could be that there just aren't that many girls enrolled or there aren't that many that want to play basketball. We had enough girls at our school to play volleyball, but not enough for buckets (go figure). Sometimes, in small schools, your enrollment is skewed towards more girls or more boys. In fact, we (Seguin Lifegate) this year have 27 boys and 12 girls or something like that.

Samnorwood and Byers weren't on the UIL list of 6-man football schools that will be announced for realignment tomorrow (Feb 2). Morgan was.

*Morgan's already scheduled games*

gasp - isn't that against UIL rules to schedule games prior to realignment??