Western Boone County Community School Corporation

“ Small Town Appeal with Exciting Opportunities!”

Picture this, 225 square miles of rural Indiana land just thirty minutes North West of the state capital, Indianapolis . This area in Boone County makes up the Western Boone County Community School Corporation and is primarily farmland. In this vast area, one can find only two blinking stoplights; one in the small town of Jamestown and the other at the intersection of two state highways. However, there are two main interstates running though the district; Interstate 65 and 74. There are two small towns ( Jamestown and Thorntown) that still hold the local hardware store, library, bank, grocery store and doctor's office. Jamestown still has a working railroad that transports passengers on Amtrak and Thorntown's railroad is now part of the original railroad that has become a community walking and biking path. Even though this is a large area, the total student population is just over 1,900 students. Many patrons enjoy this area in Indiana because of the small population, rural atmosphere but easy access to Indianapolis .

Western Boone Schools are not a step back in time but the culture may still have that flavor. The buildings and grounds are current with up to date school buildings, technology and athletic facilities. There is a current building project underway that will include renovations and additions to further update all three of the schools. Students that attend the schools in Western Boone have many opportunities including; all major girls and boys athletics, band, choir, FFA, vocational training, and art honor society just to mention a few. At the junior/senior high school over 50 % of the students are involved in athletic activities. All three schools also have very active parent involvement groups.

Within the district, there are three school buildings; Western Boone Junior Senior High School housing 934 students, Thorntown Elementary School with 446 students and Granville Wells Elementary which houses 547 students. Each of the elementary buildings serves preschool thru sixth grade students. The corporation has met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) with 82 percent passing math and 76% passing English/language arts. The high school has a 92% graduation rate and 75% of the graduates pursue college education. 98% of the student population is white and there is a 23% free/reduced lunch population. Thorntown Elementary has been a proud recipient of the 4-Star School Award. Western Boone Junior Senior High School has been chosen by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce as a “Best Buy”.

But where should we head? We don't want to change a culture that is important to many but we must always look at what is best for kids. We know what we don't want to do; We don't want to grow too large in that we don't know the faces of all our kids, We don't want to lose sight of our small town appeal, We don't want to become complacent. But we do want to get better at what we do! We do want to graduate all of our students. We do want to prepare our students for a bright future. We do want to redefine literacy for the 21 st century. We do want to empower our students with technology. And, we do want Western Boone schools to be a place where kids and adults want to be!