White Deer ISD announces major district changes

The White Deer Independent School District (WDISD) is announcing major changes to the district in effort to draw in more students to the area.

According to the WDISD superintendent Duane Limbaugh, who also recently joined the district last year, the district has not only welcomed him and his children with open arms, but also has helped to embrace the changes throughout the district.

"We wanted a small community that believed in the same family values, and so when I interviewed here in White Deer, it was a perfect match. I'm excited because the teachers here get to build a relationship with the kids on a personal level and help them receive some of that individualized education," Limbaugh said.

In accordance with state regulations, the district is now an armed campus following the training of their staff as a part of the Guardian program and placing those trained members throughout their campus. Limbaugh said that they are also currently working to add a resource officer to their campus, but in the meantime he is confident in the staff's ability to act as an additional barrier and first responder in the event of an emergency.

Beginning this year, the high school has been announced as a P-TECH, or Pathways in Technology Early College High School, allowing the current freshmen class the opportunity to receive dual-credit credits for an associate degree, bachelors degree, or certification by the time they graduate from high school.

"We have a goal that 90% will graduate with an associates degree, 80% with a bachelors and 70% with an industrial based certification," Limbaugh said.

According to the superintendent, they are currently following the P-20 System Model, basing their projected growth on the similar growth seen by Roscoe Collegiate ISD following the same model, located in Roscoe, Texas.

"This model is really going nationwide now. They may seem like high goals, but Roscoe 10 years ago looked like what we are currently at with declining enrollment. They had 300 students, and now they are at 600 plus and they are meeting these 90, 80, 70% goals," Limbaugh said.

The district has also created more extracurricular activity opportunities for students. Following student surveys, the district determined students were interested in teams for girls volleyball, boys baseball and robotics.

Although the robotics team is already established and has participated in this year's competition, placing as high as 15th place in their first year, the baseball and volleyball teams will not be established until next school year.

For their first year, the volleyball team will predominantly be introduced to the junior high school students, with the high school team utilizing the first year to build up their abilities with a full schedule and White Deer varsity team making their debut in the 2025-26 school year. The superintendent also spoke about the incoming baseball team and new field currently being created by a community donor. In addition to the creation of the field, the donor is also allotting a $10,000 monthly donation benefiting the White Deer baseball team over the next three years.

Limbaugh said these changes within the district are the board's and community's efforts to further their students' future and help draw more students and families to the area as Amarillo continues to grow toward the east.

"Our goal is to keep our rural students in these rural communities, and that whatever their ambitions are in life, once they complete their education, that they come back to our community and participate in our workforce, start a business, and raise their families here," Limbaugh said.

For more information about White Deer ISD, visit them online at https://www.whitedeerisd.net/ .

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: White Deer ISD implements changes to boost student population