GFW Schools

GFW Schools
Fostering Lifelong Learners in a Caring Environment
Type and location
Type	Public
Grades	K – 12th
Established	1987
Region	North America
Country	United States
Location	Gibbon, MN (district office)
District information
Superintendent	Tony Boyer
Schools	Elementary Middle High
NCES District ID	2712580
Students and staff
Students	857
Teachers	57.47
Student-teacher ratio	14.91
Athletic Conference	Tomahawk
District Mascot	Thunderbird
Colors	Red, Black, and Gold
Other information
District ID	ISD #2365
Website	http://www.gfw.k12.mn.us

GFW Schools is an independent public school district whose district office is located in Gibbon, Minnesota.

The district was originally formed to serve the three communities of Gibbon, Fairfax and Winthrop. However, the district now additionally serves large portions of several surrounding communities, including:

• Lafayette: GFW sponsors the Lafayette Charter School.^[1]
• Brownton and Stewart: GFW absorbed much of the former McLeod County West school district.^[2]

Schools

The district consists of three schools (one in each of the three communities).

School Board

The district's school board consists of six members (two from each of the three communities). The term of office is four years.

Middle School

Athletics

At the middle school, the following sports are offered (grades 7 & 8 only):

Other Activities

At the middle school, the following other activities are offered:

The middle school also periodically produces videos using the name "KGFW".

High School

Academics

At the high school, the following areas of study are offered:

A minimum of 24 credits are required for graduation. The numbers in parenthesis () in the table above shows the required credits in each area of study. There are a total of 15.5 required credits, leaving 8.5 credits for electives. A student is awarded 0.5 credits per course, per semester, for receiving a passing grade in that course.

Athletics

At the high school, the following sports are offered:

Other Activities

At the high school, the following other activities are offered:

History

GFW was established in 1987 when the towns of Gibbon, Fairfax, and Winthrop agreed to consolidate their school districts due to shrinking enrollment. However, even before the consolidation all three towns were already having to resort to a variety of pairing and sharing agreements to continue to provide services to decreasing numbers of students:

• Gibbon and Winthrop were sharing several classes (mostly math and science related). The F.F.A. chapter was also shared.
• Gibbon, Winthrop, neighboring Gaylord, and neighboring Arlington were sharing several classes using an ICTV system (see below for details).
• Gibbon and Fairfax were sharing several sports activities, including football, wrestling, and track/field.
• Winthrop and Gaylord were sharing several sports activities, including football, wrestling, and track/field.

When they consolidated, it was decided that the elementary school would be located at Gibbon (after a minor dispute), the high school at Winthrop (due to the bigger campus), and the middle school at Fairfax. The existing buildings were retrofitted for their new roles, the ICTV system was phased out, and Winthrop's sports pairing agreement with Gaylord was discontinued. Students at all three schools voted on a new mascot, with the "Thunderbird" winning the vote.

Interactive Cable TV System

Started in 1985, the Interactive Cable TV (ICTV) system was an innovative teaching system (for it's time) that allowed a single teacher to simultaneously teach classes at up to four of the participating schools (Gibbon, Winthrop, Gaylord, and Arlington). A teacher could teach from any of the four schools. The system allowed the teacher and all of the students at all of the sites to see and to talk to each other (assignments and tests had to be sent by courier between the schools). Additionally, professors from nearby Mankato State University taught introductory classes on the system in the evenings, allowing students to receive post-secondary education (i.e. college) credits for no cost and without having to travel to the university.

At each school, the system consisted of a classroom wired with the following equipment:

• 8 Televisions (four facing the teacher, four facing the students).
• 3 Cameras (one facing the teacher, one on the ceiling facing down at the teacher's desk, one facing the students). Only one camera could be active at a time, selectable via push-buttons on the teacher's desk.
• 2 Microphones (one clip-on for the teacher to wear, one on the ceiling to pick up any room sounds).
• 1 Push-button switchbox (on the teacher's desk).
• 1 Cable TV Modulator.

To get the TV signal generated by each site to all of the other sites, the signals were broadcast over the local cable television system that the communities shared, on four unused channels (channels 32, 33, 34, and 35). Because of this, people in the communities could also tune in to these channels at home and watch the classes being taught -- although they could not interact with them. Taking advantage of this, each school used a computer running a slide-show program to broadcast school-related news (announcements, calendars, lunch menus, etc) to the communities when classes weren't being taught.

The system was shut down shortly after the GFW consolidation, because the now larger class sizes meant it was no longer necessary.

iPad Initiative

In 2010, GFW was one of the first schools in the nation to provide all of its high school students with iPads. Because of this, it became known as a pioneer in making the switch from physical textbooks to electronic textbooks, and consequently gained local and national press coverage. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

For its trailblazing efforts, GFW was awarded the Apple Distinguished School award by Apple for the 2010-2011 school year. ^[8]

References

External links

• GFW Schools Official Website
• Lafayette Charter School Official Website