Enrollment Projection for Wapsie Valley Community School District

Five Year Plan for Fairbank, Iowa School District

Students from Fairbank, Oran and Readlyn, Iowa make up the Wapsie Valley Community School District. These three communities are mostly made up of rural families that make for a tight knit school community. They are very proud of their communities and are prone to staying in this area. Many of the students have parents that attended the Wapsie Valley Community School District so it is very important for their children to attend there as well.

Of these three communities, Fairbank is the largest with an approximate population of 1,150 - 1,200 people. Readlyn would be the next largest with approximately 775 people followed by Oran with a population of approximately 85-88 people residing there. Fairbank is a growing community that has many great opportunities in the area, which include a new aquatic center and a new housing development that has attracted many young families to build there. The Oran and Readlyn communities are however declining and will probably gradually disappear. There are many houses for sale in Oran due to the fact that families are moving out of this small community and very new families are moving into this town. Even with the decline in enrollment, the Wapsie Valley Community School District takes great pride in their school. Success in their Athletic Program plays an integral role in the pride of this community.

There has been a decline in enrollment for a few years. We believe this decline in enrollment has a lot to do with families having fewer children than they did in the past. This has affected many school district's population, not just Wapsie Valley.

In compiling our enrollment data, we used the K-12 enrollment figures as recorded with the State of Iowa Department of Education. The State of Iowa breaks the enrollment down by grade level and does not include self-contained special education students. We believe these students should be included in order for this to be a more accurate study.