SDOJ History
Empowering Futures Together so that all students positively impact society"
District Facts
The School District of Jefferson encompasses an area of 94 square miles, including the City of Jefferson and the townships of Aztalan, Farmington, Hebron, Oakland, Concord, Sullivan, and the Village of Sullivan. The district is comprised of five schools, including three elementary schools (PreK-5), one middle school (6-8) and one high school (9-12).
History
Timeline:
1839: The first school building in Jefferson was erected out of logs on the west side of Rock River.
1840- a frame house on the east side of Rock River was converted into a school to form a second district in Jefferson.
1851- A brick school was built in Jefferson's east side school district, while a frame school was constructed in the city's west side district
1870- A new school was erected in each district.
1879- Following Jefferson's incorporation as a city the school districts were unified establishing the School District of Jefferson. The city purchased the former Jefferson Liberal Institute on the west side of the Rock River (constructed as a Universalist school in 1868).
1880- The building re-opened in the Fall as Jefferson High School, offering a general four-year degree.
1895-96- An addition was built on the school
1907- The attic suffered a fire. When the attic was rebuilt, a gymnasium and auditorium were constructed within it.
1911- A sewing room, kitchen and dining room for domestic science were created on the second floor of the school. Jefferson High School instituted a high school degree specializing in commercial courses such as bookkeeping, accounting, typing, commercial law, and shorthand.
1915- A teaching specialization was added.
1918- An agriculture specialization was added.
1924- Jefferson High School was destroyed by fire and it took nearly a year to replace the structure.
1925- The new Jefferson High School opened in September with 220 students enrolled in grades 9-12. The foundation of the new high school was constructed using brick salvaged from the old building. The old cornerstone, dated 1868, was also incorporated into the new high school.
1939- East Elementary was built, as an elementary school by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) on North Center Street.
1956- An addition was constructed that consisted of classrooms and a basement area that is now used for the school cafeteria.
1962- Sullivan Elementary School was built in the Village of Sullivan.
1964- A new Jefferson High School building was built on Milwaukee Ave. opening in 1964. The 1925 building on Copeland Avenue became Jefferson Junior High School.
1967- A planned high school addition was built.
1969- West Elementary was built.
Mid 70's- Another addition was built which included adding a swimming pool, auditorium, and administrative offices.
1976- The Jefferson School District reorganized the grades from a junior-senior high school system, to a middle school (grades 6-7-8) and high school (grades 9-10-11-12) system. At that time, Jefferson Junior High became Jefferson Middle School. An addition was also added to the Sullivan Elementary building.
1990s- Computer labs and a technology education lab (2002) were added to the high school.
1998- An addition was added on to East Elementary fully in keeping with the original architecture. This addition offered the luxury of two new kindergarten centers, an art room, and a state of the art library/media center with a 25-station computer lab. Along with this addition came a complete renovation of the entire structure. New windows, lower ceilings with additional lighting, and an upgraded heating and air conditioning system are just a few of the improvements that help to make our home more comfortable for students and staff.
1999- An addition was constructed onto West Elementary that consisted of art and music classrooms and a new gymnasium.
2000- Advances in technology led to changes in curriculum, notably the use of computers in the classrooms and it proved too difficult to adapt the 1920s school building, with its masonry construction, to changing technology. A referendum was passed by the voters of the school district, and a new middle school was built for grades 6-8. The Jefferson Middle School building closed in June of 2000 and was rehabilitated as the "Jefferson Schoolhouse Apartment Homes".
2012- A referendum was passed in 2010 in order to add on to and renovate the high school including the addition of a commons, pool, and gym area, an academic wing addition, and a remodel of the library, old pool, and gym spaces.
2014- Thanks to generous community donations a greenhouse was added to the high school agriculture department.
Framing our Future Facilities
2024- A referendum passed in 2022 for updates to all 5 buildings which allowed the school to renovate and expand the agriculture and technical education classrooms and labs at the High School with an Large skills lab addition added to the south side of the high school.
Sullivan Elementary was renovated updating the offices, and bathrooms, and a secure entrance was added.
West Elementary updates included restrooms, electrical systems and plumbing along with upgrading to energy efficient lighting. This renovation also included updating classroom spaces, the cafeteria, and the library.
There were also major updates to East Elementary that included replacing the windows and roof, adding a secure main entrance, upgrading exterior entrance lighting, updating the fire alarm system with a new sprinkler system, updating heating, cooling, and ventilation systems, replacing plumbing system and paging/clock system, upgrading restrooms to comply with ADA regulations, upgrading lighting to be more energy-efficient, replacing flooring in classrooms, some cabinetry, and ceilings and paint throughout the building and renovating and repurposing some existing classroom spaces (ELL, SGI, Speech, workroom, main office).
Check out the Framing our Future Facilities website to see the most recent updates!