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WILLISTON, N.D. (AP) — Education officials in Williston must decide on new plans after voters in the oil boomtown once again rejected a proposal to build a new school.
About 63 percent of voters on Tuesday opposed the proposed K-8 school, the Williston Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1TfqN8D ). School officials say they needed new funding to alleviate overcrowding.
School Board President Deanna Senior says the district "desperately needed" the bond to pass.
"Everybody was able to have their voice — that's part of the process — but I know a lot of parents have the feeling of desperation. I know a lot of people feel helpless for their children," she said.
The lease for the land that the current Stony Brook Middle School resides on expired last year, but the landowners have given the district time so the school could relocate.
Superintendent Rob Turner said the school board will have to figure out how to accommodate the soon-to-be-displaced students.
Last year, a bond referendum for a kindergarten-through-12th-grade school failed to pass. Turner said he was unsure if the school board would be interested in pursuing another bond referendum in the future. Without that option, however, the board is left to make some major decisions.
"We really have a lot of work ahead of us because we don't have a lot of options," Senior said. "We have a huge responsibility to put on a Band-Aid. We have a lot of really hard questions to answer."
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