A school district facing declining enrollment is in the midst of a debate to build and pay for a new school, or dissolve entirely.
The Oldham-Ramona-Rutland school district held its first informational public meeting in regard to a possible dissolution.
“Be kind.” That’s what was on Rutland kindergarten teacher Jill Merager’s shirt as she spoke before the Oldham-Ramona-Rutland school board. “Be kind” was also the message she wanted to convey to everyone in the community.
“I think we do need to be better. We’re adults, and these are children [we are talking about], and you know, everyone of them is a gift and deserves to be educated and their parent, you know, deserve to choose what they feel is best for each of them. And that’s if they’re open enrolling away from or open enrolling to,” Merager said.
Merager is referencing the high tensions in the school district that her and other teachers stand to lose their jobs in if dissolved.
Merager has been teaching in Rutland for 19 years. She said although she was nervous about teaching new people when Rutland consolidated with Oldham-Ramona, but rural school districts like O-R-R create a special community.
“And it has been so fun to get to see them interacting. I’ve had all the seniors, they’ve been in my room once a month doing activities with my kindergarteners. And it’s been fun to get to know the kids that were originally from Oldham-Ramona, because I knew the ones from Rutland well. So it’s just fun to get to know all them," Merager said. "And the kids are all getting along. At lunch we did the House Cup activity the other day, which is a mix of all K-12 kids, they’re all mixed up into different groups and they do different activities together. To see them having fun, interacting with each other is just awesome.”
The district had 265 enrolled in O-R-R, with 25 having turned in open enrollment paperwork to another district with the intent to leave. As a result, some say the district can’t support a multi-million-dollar project to build a new school.
But some on the other side, including students who have spoken in public comment, argue school size isn’t a “one size fits all” for every student. They argue that’s why the state allows open enrollment in the first place.
Oldham-Ramona-Rutland School District superintendent Dawn Hoeke had similar sentiments, saying that in rural South Dakota small schools give people an identity to come together around.
“It’s a lifeline for a lot of families and a lot of kids. In a small school district we actually can create more of a family feel," Hoeke said. "Kids don’t typically slip through the cracks, and there’s a lot more one-on-one relationships built amongst students, every student knows who they’re graduating with, and amongst teachers and staff. So, it’s really an opportunity to form those relationships in a family environment.”
But for people like Bonnie Graff, a retired schoolteacher and taxpayer in the district, the $20 million project to build a school in Ramona is too big a cash to check.
“I have a problem with open enrolled, that we’re building a school to bring kids in and there’s no guarantee of that happening in Ramona, South Dakota," Graff said. "There are no businesses to help support the tax base. Right now we’re in a $700,000 opt-out. And that’s supposed to go for 21 years. I mean, you’re talking about a real spendy project. You know? It’s just not feasible.”
Graff said as an educator she completely understands why people want to cling to what they’ve built at O-R-R, but in this case it’s simple dollars and cents.
“You know there are a lot of surrounding schools that are positive, strong schools. And we have to let go of a community that’s in the past. I graduated from Rutland, and I loved school, and I loved that community. But, a lot of communities can’t support a multi-million-dollar school," Graff said. "Yes, the kids would love to be here. And all the accolades people said? Yeah, good things happen, and kids are strong and they’re educated. That happens at all schools. So, just my point is I’d like to have the people around here that are really for building the school: Take off the blinders and look at the real world.”
The board held three different bond votes to build a school along Highway 81 more centrally located in the district. All three votes failed to receive the necessary 60% supermajority. Following that, the board passed capital outlay certificates to rebuild a school in Ramona.
Superintendent Hoeke said she can completely understand the situation some families are put in.
“It’s heartbreaking. You know, some of the folks who are leaving the district that really are in a corner, and it makes it a long haul, I don’t fault anybody for feeling that it’s a better choice for their family to go somewhere else," Hoeke said. "And it’s heartbreaking to lose those kids. But I understand those frustrations, but in a district 316 square miles or 317 square miles, it’s going to be a long haul for somebody. So, trying to get it centrally localized is the best that the board can do. But I do understand, it’s tough.”
She said that it does break her heart to see the hurt she sees in the students at the school.
Because dissolution was proposed – the district must now gather information before a public vote could take place in the future
But the fight isn't over at just dissolution. A group that petitioned to dissolve the district say to the new school threatened litigation at the school board’s latest meeting.
Sarah Wilson is the spokesperson for Rural Students, Real Opportunity, a community organization leading the dissolution process. She says the group plans to hold elected board members accountable.
“The group has hired an attorney just to look into different things that the board has done like steps that they’ve taken with capital outlay votes. Specifically keeping them under a threshold to allow them to go to voter referendum. When you keep it under 1.5% the voters can’t bring it to referendum," Wilson said. "Which is interesting, because the voters say they have the [voters’] support. But if they did, why wouldn’t they just take all the money they need at once instead of trying to break it up strategically to get the public not to be able to vote. So, the attorney has a specific spot in there that they don’t think they’re interpreting the law correctly. And, at the end of the day, we just want everybody to follow the law.”
Wilson helped gather the signatures to propose a dissolution plan, however because she lives in Brookings and not within district lines, she could not sign it herself due to codified law in South Dakota.
Superintendent Dawn Hoeke said the district proved three times it was in support of continuing the school district through those votes.
“It’s heartbreaking to me that that’s not the focus. And how we can’t be the community that I grew up in in the Midwest. Neighbors were for neighbors. We supported each other, we helped each other," Hoeke said. "We didn’t turn on each other. We might’ve disagreed, you know, but we could agree to disagree. And we understood what a democracy is and that is that the majority rules. And that’s really what this board is acted on is the majority vote. For those that maybe weren’t in the majority to still try to undermine it, I don’t understand even."
The board did not comment on the legal challenges claimed by Rural students, Real Opportunity.
