Here's the changes the Sioux Falls School District is proposing for the 2025-2026 school year

Shifting boundaries, program expansion and a new school bond.

That’s what the Sioux Falls School Board is considering for proposed school boundary changes and program expansions in anticipation of the 2025-2026 school year, for which open enrollment begins Dec. 1 this year.

“One of the interesting things about our city right now is trying to predict where growth is and isn’t going to happen,” Superintendent Jane Stavem said. “Trying to predict family growth, student growth, moving growth [and the] ebb and flow of the city that’s growing with neighborhoods that change will be part of the board’s thinking for quite a while.”

Each of the changes discussed at a work session Wednesday afternoon will come forward as future board votes or board action items after community members have had time to submit feedback to the district or attend listening sessions about the changes. Wednesday’s session just gave board members the chance to hear and acknowledge what the district is considering.

“We don’t take [boundary changes] lightly,” board president Carly Reiter said. “We can only make decisions based on the information that we have that’s actually concrete. As we’re talking about these things and we’re looking at options, we’re really trying to make the best decisions for the longest amount of time, given the unknowns.”

Reiter added that she realizes students have connections to their local schools that she and the board want to honor, but also has to make sure students have great learning environments that are safe and productive for students and staff.

For each of the boundary changes, the district said students that qualify for bussing will receive bussing to their new school, and that students who want to remain at their old school can do so through open enrollment.

New elementary boundaries

The district is considering redrawing boundaries for the new northwest side elementary school to include portions of current Renberg, Hawthorne and Hayward Elementary School boundaries.

Specifically, this would impact the southwesternmost part of the Renberg boundary, students who currently bus to Hawthorne Elementary from the area closest to the new elementary school, and the westernmost portion of the Hayward boundary.

More: Why we won't know potential names for Sioux Falls' new northwest elementary until April

The district estimates this would bring in 31 students from the Renberg area, 164 students from the Hawthorne area and 48 students from the Hayward area.

Families impacted by these potential boundary changes can attend a listening session at 6 p.m. March 18 at George McGovern Middle School or submit feedback via the district’s Let’s Talk feature.

One-way Spanish immersion will also be added to the new elementary school, beginning with one section each of 27 kindergarten, first and second grade students. This inclusion of Spanish immersion is due to enrollment demands at Sonia Sotomayor Elementary School.

Spanish immersion program expansion

An additional one-way immersion kindergarten section is also planned for Rosa Parks Elementary School in 2025.

Students in two-way immersion will enter middle school by the fall of 2025. The district is preparing to make Edison and Ben Reifel Middle Schools the main sites for those programs by then.

More: Hispanic population gains in rural counties spark South Dakota growth

Edison, George McGovern and Memorial Middle School Spanish immersion students would attend Edison for their program. Ben Reifel, Patrick Henry and Whittier Middle School Spanish immersion students would attend Ben Reifel for that program.

Listening sessions for Spanish immersion changes are set for 6 p.m. March 19th at Hayward, 6 p.m. March 21 at Rosa Parks, and 6 p.m. March 27th at Edison. Families can also submit feedback via the district’s Let’s Talk feature.

Cleveland students might go to Whittier

By fall 2025, the district would like students who attend Cleveland Elementary School to move on to Whittier Middle School after fifth grade, not Ben Reifel Middle School, where they currently go after elementary school. The district estimates this would impact about 172 students.

Assistant superintendent Jamie Nold said this would relieve space and pressure at busy Ben Reifel Middle School.

Fifth grade students impacted by this change who have siblings at Ben Reifel for the 2025-2026 school year will be notified and can elect to attend Ben Reifel through open enrollment, but they won’t receive bussing services to Ben Reifel.

A listening session for students affected by this change is set for 6 p.m. March 26th at Cleveland Elementary School. Families can also submit feedback via the district’s Let’s Talk feature.

District planning for another bond

One of the last projects of the $190 million bond passed in 2018 is to purchase lots to the north of the current Whittier Middle School so that a new school could be built on that land while learning continues at the current site.

More: Keeping Whittier school in city core will mean removing dozens of homes

District officials emphasized Wednesday afternoon that another bond will be needed in 2027 to actually construct the new Whittier Middle School.

From now until 2027, the district estimates it will continue to purchase property in the area. By 2026, it hopes to finalize the school site and design, with a bond they hope passes in 2027. By 2028, the district could begin construction on the new middle school, which would open by 2030.

It’s difficult to detail what another bond could cost or include at this time, as district facilities manager Jeff Kreiter acknowledged Wednesday with the changing cost of construction and impacts of inflation.

The district had initially thought building a new Whittier Middle School might cost the same $40 million as was estimated for constructing Ben Reifel Middle School, but Kreiter said it’s too hard now to predict if it will cost the same.

Community campus may move to Axtell Park

The district is also looking to renovate the current Axtell Park campus to accommodate community campus, a program for students 18 to 21 years old who’ve graduated high school to transition into adulthood, into one facility.

Current transition to adult services sites are at the Western Mall with 44 students, and at Axtell Park with 17 students. The district projects that next year, those enrollments could increase to 64 and 26, respectively, and would like to open the community campus in one space at Axtell Park by fall 2025, with 119 students projected to be there that year. The district’s lease at the Western Mall also ends in a year and a half.

Students coming to the middle and high school behavioral or special education programs at Axtell Park would have a separate entrance and come at different times than those in the community campus program. The daycare at Axtell Park will also remain there.

Assistant Superintendent Teresa Boysen said the district doesn’t yet have an estimate on what it could cost to renovate Axtell Park.

This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Sioux Falls School District proposes changes for 2025-2026 school year