Skip To Main Content

Location Decisions

When looking for potential locations for both high schools, the WFISD Board of Trustees and administration developed criteria for land consideration.

  • 100 acres of uninhabited land that was suitable for building (no pipelines, no power lines, no old industrial sites);
  • visibility to people entering/exiting Wichita Falls (on a major highway);
  • affordability;
  • areas with the highest density of population

Based on that criteria, there were 6 sites on the north side of Wichita Falls and 9 sites on the south side of town that were considered. Of the 6 properties on the north side of town, only 1 property is within WFISD. The other 5 properties are within City View ISD. The remaining north side property was not a viable option because of accessibility, lack of visibility and its proximity to the airport.

 

land options

 

WFISD has performed a demographic study that shows most of Wichita Falls' future growth will occur in the southwest part of the city. The schools that are currently on the southwest part of the city are at capacity. The density map below shows where WFISD's current student population resides. 

 

density map

 

When looking at WFISD's five newest facilities, there have not been any campuses built in District 3 - the area of town with the largest growth. 

  • Career Education Center (District 2/east side) - 2017
  • Scotland Park (District 2/east side) - 2008
  • Southern Hills (District 4/southeast side) - 2008
  • West Foundation (District 1/west side) - 1995
  • Kirby (District 5/north side) - 1974

When looking at the campuses that have closed in the past 15 years, only one school (Sam Houston) is located in District 5. Sam Houston was located just north of Kell Boulevard in the central area of Wichita Falls. WFISD has not closed any schools on the north side of town in 20+ years.

  • Alamo (District 2) - closed 2014
  • Sam Houston (District 5) - closed 2014
  • Huey (District 2) [new elementary school built] - closed 2008
  • Fannin (District 2) - converted to Early Childhood Center in 2008
  • Bonham (District 4) [new elementary school built] - closed 2008
  • McGaha (District 4) [new elementary school built] - closed 2008
  • Austin (District 2) - closed 2005

One of the priorities of the bond is to ensure that both high schools are equal in demographics and socioeconomics. The image below shows the free and reduced lunch population for our current high school students. The purple dots represent free lunch students, red dots represent reduced lunch students and yellow dots represent students who are not economically disadvantaged. This information is obtained from WFISD's 2020-2021 student data. 

 

free and reduced


Source: Guide K-12