schools – Dustin Monke

Referendum for New Richardton-Taylor School Passes

RICHARDTON — The Richardton-Taylor school district is getting a new high school.

Residents of Richardton and Taylor voted on Tuesday night to approve a bond referendum during a special election, though the results were clearly split between the two towns.

Sixty-five percent voted in favor of the $2 million bond referendum for the $12 million project. Curiously, nineteen less voters approved of raising the district’s debt limit by 5 percent to help finance the project with a $10 million loan from the Bank of North Dakota.

“We’ve been working on this thing for two-and-a-half, three years,” Richardton-Taylor Superintendent Brent Bautz said late Tuesday night. “We’ve put a lot of hard work into it. It’s good to finally realize it’s coming to fruition.”

The bond referendum needed a 60 percent “yes” vote to pass. It was decided by just 28 votes.

Vote tallies showed Richardton voters overwhelmingly supported the project while Taylor residents opposed it.

Seventy-three percent of Richardton residents voted in favor of both the referendum and raising the debt limit. Only 43 percent of Taylor residents voted for the referendum and 40 percent voting to raise the debt limit.

Bautz said the district needed to raise the debt limit because the North Dakota Century Code would have only allowed the district to borrow 5 percent of its assessed value, which wouldn’t have been enough for the project. The approve allows the district to borrow 10 percent of its assessed value.

Bautz said the district would like to begin construction on the project next spring with a scheduled completion by summer 2018.

Richardton-Taylor’s administration and school board approached residents about a remodel earlier this year because of decay in the 55-year-old facility and as a long-term cost-cutting move.

The current high school building in Richardton holds grades 7-12. The elementary school in Taylor has grades 2-6. Pre-kindergarten through first-grade students are in the St. Mary’s Social Center Building in Richardton, which costs roughly $72,000 annually in lease payments and additional staff.

With the referendum passed, pre-K through first grade will move to Taylor and grades 5-12 will be placed in Richardton.

Looking into their future: Kids help break ground for new Dickinson middle school

Connor Brandvik, 10, stands with his shovel and hard hat after helping with the groundbreaking of the new Dickinson middle school on Tuesday afternoon. Above, Josh Gustafson with Mortenson Construction laughs as battles the wind while hanging a sign for the new middle school.

Connor Brandvik stood with head rested on the handle of his shovel Tuesday afternoon as he looked out onto a grassy fi eld where, two years from now, he’ll spend his eighth-grade school year.

The Dickinson 10-year-old was one of three children of Hagen Junior High staff selected to participate in the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Dickinson Middle School. Brandvik will be a sixth-grader at Berg Elementary School this year, but in the fall of 2017 will be among the fi rst group of students to enter the middle school.

“I personally feel really honored,” Brandvik said, still wearing his hard hat. “It just feels so good to be a part of something that’s really important.”

Staff members, Dickinson Public Schools offi cials and representatives of companies involved with the school’s construction met for the groundbreaking in what — for now — is a rural area in northwest Dickinson along under-construction 21st Street West between State Avenue and 30th Avenue West.

Within two weeks, construction will start on the school.

“It really is like field of dreams,” said Vince Reep, Dickinson Public Schools assistant superintendent. “If you build it, they will come.”
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Mott-Regent divided on new school vote

Everywhere you look in southwest North Dakota these days, school districts are growing, talking about expansion or looking into building completely new facilities.

Dickinson’s leaders support building a new middle school less than a year after opening a new elementary school. South Heart and Belfield are weighing their options for new facilities separately, or even the possibility — however slim it may be — of a centralized school and a combined district. New England is almost finished with an expansion to school building, complete with a modern library.

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School in August has never felt right

Tomorrow morning, kids in the New England Public School District will attend their eighth day of classes. By the time Labor Day rolls around, they’ll have been in school for 13 days.
In my mind, and apparently several thousand others, that’s ridiculous.

In fact, a group of parents from Bismarck and Mandan have come together in a grassroots effort to get North Dakota schools to start after Labor Day.

Within a month, the group will begin seeking signatures to get the issue placed on the November 2014 ballot in an effort to leave the choice of when school starts solely in the people’s hands instead of a group of school administrators.

I have long felt that North Dakota schools starting in August was absurd.

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