Minidoka County Joint School District

Minidoka County Joint School District 331 is a small district located in Rupert, Idaho. The Minidoka County Joint School District #331 is the 20th largest of Idahos 114 school districts, covering 762 square miles in the Southeast region of Idaho and serving the populations of the cities of Paul, Rupert, Heyburn, Acequia, and Minidoka. The District also has students attend from portions of Lincoln, Cassia, Jerome, and Blaine Counties. The District educates over 4,000 students in preschool through grade 12. The District currently has 8 schools: 4 elementary schools (grades K-5), 2 middle schools (grades 6-8), 2 high schools (including one alternative Junior/Senior High School), as well as an alternative elementary/middle schoolTotal Learning Center. The District also participates in a regional ARTEC Professional Technical Charter School. The District offers a wide range of programs and services for its students. These include vocational and college preparatory classes. The district is one of the major employers in the county, employing nearly 700 people. About 35% of the jobs require university degrees and certification from the State Board of Education. The other 65% of the positions are classified according to the skills required; classified positions do not generally require university degrees or certification from the State Board of Education. The school districts of the Minidoka Project were first organized in September of 1905. This district, then known as No. 24 of Lincoln County, had 89 children of school age. The school was opened in October in an old frame shack then known as the Woodworth & Donaldson building where the Rupert High school or Washington School once stood. There was one teacher, Mr. Charles Walters, at the school. This and other rooms and buildings throughout the area served for the purpose of school until April 1909. During the summer of that year, the east half of the Lincoln grade school was erected and was completed in the summer of 1910.