| Chippewa Hills School District | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
3226 Arthur Road [1] , Mecosta County , Michigan , 49340United States | |
| District information | |
| Grades | Pre-Kindergarten-12 |
| Superintendent | Michelle Newman (interim) [2] |
| Schools | 6 [3] |
| Budget | $27,646,000 2021-2022 expenditures [3] |
| NCES District ID | 2609560 [3] |
| Students and staff | |
| Students | 1,788 (2023-2024) [3] |
| Teachers | 102.01 (on an FTE basis) (2023-2024) [3] |
| Staff | 236.39 FTE (2023-2024) [3] |
| Student–teacher ratio | 17.53 (2023-2024) [3] |
| Other information | |
| Website | www |
Chippewa Hills School District is a public school district in West Michigan.
In Mecosta County, it serves Barryton, Mecosta, part of Canadian Lakes, the townships of Fork, Morton, Sheridan, and Wheatland, and parts of the townships of Austin, Chippewa, Colfax, Grant, Martiny, and Millbrook. [4] In Isabella County, it serves Lake Isabella, part of Weidman, the townships of Coldwater and Sherman, and parts of the townships of Broomfield, Deerfield, Gilmore, and Nottawa. [5] In Osceola County it serves parts of Orient Township. [6]
The former school districts within the district's present boundaries (Barryton, Fouts, and Mecosta-Remus, and Weidman) consolidated in 1967 to form Chippewa Hills School District. The schools in these districts were independent, although not all had high schools. [7]
The consolidation established Chippewa Hills High School, which in its first several years used the Barryton School for grades nine and ten and the Remus School for grades eleven and twelve. The other schools served grades kindergarten through eight. [7]
In 1969, a young high school art teacher began the school year sporting a beard to express his individuality. He was quickly fired for it. He contested the firing in Federal Court and he was reinstated with back pay by U.S. District Judge Noel Peter Fox. [15] [16]
Bond issues were passed to fund construction of a high school, the purpose of the consolidation. However, a lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of the K-12 Act of 1964, the law that allowed districts to consolidate in order to form high schools, delaying the construction. [17] As a legislative solution was being worked on, [18] construction began on the high school, and it opened in October 1971. [19]
In 1999, voters passed a bond issue to construct a new middle school on the campus of the high school and convert the former junior high school in Remus into an elementary school. [20]
In 2018, district leadership chose to eliminate Native American imagery from its branding and change the image of its mascot, the Warriors, from a Native American to a medieval knight. In 2022, the district was one of four school districts in Michigan to receive funds from the Native American Heritage Fund to help with costs of changing the branding, such as repainting the logo on the high school gym floor. [21]
Barryton Elementary opened in fall 2021, replacing a former elementary building that once housed Barryton High School. [22] [8] It had been built in 1934 after the previous building collapsed while an addition was being constructed. [23]
| School | Address | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Chippewa Hills High School | 3226 Arthur Rd., Remus | Grades 9–12. Built 1971. [19] |
| Chippewa Hills Middle School | 3102 Arthur Rd., Remus | Grades 5–8 |
| Barryton Elementary | 19701 30th Avenue, Barryton | Grades PreK-4. Built 2021. [22] |
| Mecosta Elementary | 555 West Main Street, Mecosta | Grades PreK-4 |
| Weidman Elementary | 3311 School Road, Weidman | Grades PreK-4 |
| Mosaic School | 350 E. Wheatland Avenue, Remus | Alternative high school. Built 1931. [13] |