Update on Axtell Park placement programs

The Sioux Falls School Board received an update on the future plans for Axtell Park programs.

In the spring of 2020, several committees began meeting to assess the current programming offered at Axtell Park. Programming at Axtell Park serves the District’s middle and high school students most at-risk of not graduating. These committees met throughout the 2020-21 school year and into the fall of 2021 where they developed changes and proposed recommendations to better benefit students.

Some of the changes include providing increased mental health and social-emotional services through a strong community partnership with Avera Health, providing professional development training for all staff involved with the programming to address both educational and behavioral needs of students, increasing the number of elective classes students can take to help them see the relevance in the education, providing additional busing services to decrease absenteeism, and increased safety measures. Additionally, the committees recommend adding a social worker and a school psychologist that will work with individual students to help them become successful.

Implementation of the programming changes will start in the fall of the 2022-23 school year. During this time, district officials will assess the effectiveness of the changes and determine if additional changes are needed in the future.