The North Polk Community School District includes the towns of Alleman, Elkhart, Polk City, and Sheldahl, as well as the surrounding rural area in the U.S. state of Iowa. Alleman is located approximately halfway (five miles north of Ankeny) between Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, and Ames, home of Iowa State University.
The district has two elementary buildings, occupied in April 1982. Central Elementary, which serves approximately 410 students in grades K-6, is located in Alleman. West Elementary, serving approximately 440 students in grades OK (Optional Kindergarten) through 5th. The Junior/Senior High building in Alleman serves approximately 575 students in grades 7-12. Junior high and Senior high classes share rooms and teachers in one building.
The Junior/Senior high building consists of 3 additions, built in 1962, 1974, and 1995.
North Polk was one of the first high schools in Iowa, as well as the nation, to have a website run by students. North Polk has been a center for technology, and has offered a jumpstart for its students.
On December 7, 2010, a bond was passed to build a new high school that will open in 2013. The previous Junior/Senior High building will become the new Middle School, serving grades 6 through 8.
Famous quotes containing the words north, community, school and/or district:
“It is the sea that whitens the roof.
The sea drifts through the winter air.
It is the sea that the north wind makes.
The sea is in the falling snow.
This gloom is the darkness of the sea.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“Human life in common is only made possible when a majority comes together which is stronger than any separate individual and which remains united against all separate individuals. The power of this community is then set up as “right” in opposition to the power of the individual, which is condemned as “brute force.””
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)
“Children in home-school conflict situations often receive a double message from their parents: “The school is the hope for your future, listen, be good and learn” and “the school is your enemy. . . .” Children who receive the “school is the enemy” message often go after the enemy—act up, undermine the teacher, undermine the school program, or otherwise exercise their veto power.”
—James P. Comer (20th century)
“Most works of art, like most wines, ought to be consumed in the district of their fabrication.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)