Wichita Falls Independent School District (WFISD) is a public school district based in Wichita Falls, Texas, United States and is accredited by the Texas Education Agency.
Wichita Falls ISD serves most of Wichita Falls (including portions of Sheppard Air Force Base). Varying parts of north Wichita Falls are included in the City View Independent School District and the Burkburnett Independent School District.
The Wichita Falls ISD is one of the few Texas school districts to offer a choice program that gives parents the choice of what secondary school they would like their child to attend. While elementary school attendance zones exist, parents can opt out of these and send their children to one of the eight magnet schools in the district.
Secondary schools in the WFISD offer Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses to students wishing to pursue a more challenging academic curriculum. The WFISD currently operates two schools with the International Baccalaureate program, covering two segments of the program:
- G.H. Kirby Math/ Science Junior High and Hirschi High School partner in offering the Middle Years Programme
- Hirschi High School, an IB World School, offers the IB Diploma Programme to juniors and seniors
The school district has continuously been recognized for its overall academic success from the Texas Education Agency and the Magnet Schools of America Association. In 1999 and 2001 respectively, Washington/ Jackson Math/Science Center and G.H. Kirby Junior High were awarded the Ronald P. Simpson award, giving them the title of "Best Magnet School in America" for a year. The district also boasts that many of its schools have received the Texas Blue Ribbon award or have attained "Exemplary" status from the TEA.
In 2005, Hirschi High School IB World Topics teacher Sherry Lindemann was named Texas Teacher of the Year where she represented the WFISD and thousands of Texas teachers at a formal ceremony held by President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush in the White House Rose Garden.
In 2009, the school district was rated "academically acceptable" by the Texas Education Agency.
Famous quotes containing the words falls, independent, school and/or district:
“Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide:”
—Henry Francis Lyte (1793–1847)
“The real, then, is that which, sooner or later, information and reasoning would finally result in, and which is therefore independent of the vagaries of me and you. Thus, the very origin of the conception of reality shows that this conception essentially involves the notion of a COMMUNITY, without definite limits, and capable of a definite increase of knowledge.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“And Guidobaldo, when he made
That grammar school of courtesies
Where wit and beauty learned their trade
Upon Urbino’s windy hill,
Had sent no runners to and fro
That he might learn the shepherds’ will.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)