Sierra Independent School District
| Sierra Independent School District Distrito Escolar Independente de Sierra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location | |
| 901 8th St E Sierra, Verona 30013-2106 Cartadania | |
| District information | |
| Type | Public |
| Motto | Forward learning. |
| Grades | Pre-K3 - 12 |
| Established | 1896 |
| President | Denitra Galvéz |
| Superintendent | Dr. Liana Ventura |
| Asst. Superintendent(s) | Amaretta Cruz |
| Schools | 686 |
| Budget | $26.1 billion |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | 846,291 |
| Teachers | 63,120 |
| Staff | 151,861 |
| Other information | |
| Website | www |
Sierra Independent School District (Cartadanian: Distrito Escolar Independente de Sierra) is the largest public school system in Verona, and second-largest in Cartadania after the statewide school district of São Ricardo. As its name implies, it serves as the community school district for the entirety of the city of Sierra, as well as all or parts of some neighboring cities and parts of unincorporated Sierra County, though it is independent of both the city and county of Sierra and is legally a separate governmental entity. It operates 686 schools including 435 elementary schools, 131 middle schools, 109 high schools, and 11 specialty campuses.
History
Sierra ISD (SISD; DEIS) was established in the 1890s, after the Verona General Assembly voted to separate school and municipal governments. Its jurisdiction was formed when Sierra City Public Schools (of then independent city Sierra) merged with neighboring school districts. With amendments and changes to Verona's constitution and education system, all school districts were granted independent taxing authority. This in turn allowed Sierra ISD to tax its residents in order to vastly improve its school system, and to date, it has the largest consolidated taxing base of any non-municipal or state-level entity in the commonwealth.
In 1992, the district, under superintendent Linda Fine, massively rezoned Sierra schools, moving students from overcrowded ones to underutilized ones. Harriet R. Cook, a former SISD school board member, wrote that Fine accomplished this goal with a minimum of press coverage and controversy by using a participative process that minimized conflict between various cities and neighborhoods. Cook credits the move with being the catalyst for the 1995 establishment of geographic districts patterned around high school feeder patterns. Consequently, every two years, every school in the district goes through rezoning (known as Attendance Boundary Modification or ABM) to ensure each school is used to its intended capacity.
In 1994, after superintendent Cook left the district, the school district voted 6-1 to make Catarina Gomez the interim superintendent; the school district board members described this as a "symbolic" motion as Gomez was the first Pelaxian interim superintendent. Gomez served until Jason Gila became the superintendent in 2006.
Governance
Superintendents
Political divisions
Taxation
Student body
Student body history
Coverage area
Cities
Sierra ISD is the de facto school district for Sierra County (in fact named for the county and not the city), while other districts formed in supplement. Because the jurisdiction of the school district has been cut by the creation of school districts in other cities, there were exclaves of the school district in the southern and northeastern portions of the county. These are mostly covered by South Sierra ISD and Valencinco ISD.
Sierra ISD covers all of the following cities:
- Adria
- Agoura Hills
- Aquia
- Del Amo
- Duarte
- Giraçao
- Hermosa
- Malibu
- Sierra
- Tarisa
- Vicara
Sierra ISD covers portions of the following cities:
- Mirada (areas bordering Sierra, northwest of Sierra Creek)
Facilities
Schools
Support Facilities
- Administration Building
- Aaron B. Cohen Center
- Hamilton Stadium
- Transportation East
- Transportation South
- Transportation West
- Transportation Central
- Starr Pavilion
- Sierra ISD Storage Annex
- Sierra ISD Law Enforcement Center
- Lakeland Convocation Center
Alternative Education Campus
- Bridgeport Academy
- Hampton Academy
- Elmwood Heights Academy
- The Adenborough School
- Gateway Career & Technology Education Center
- Opportunity Awareness Center
- Carrollton Woods/School of Choice
- Andina-Sierra Joint Collegiate Prep School