Teachers Get Educated on "Fracking" and Oil Future - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Teachers Get Educated on "Fracking" and Oil Future

 "From a school standpoint we're seeing a lot of new students come in daily, some leaving after a few weeks, some come in, every portion of life has changed." says Binstock.

Teachers living and working in oil country say the topic of oil can come up in class almost daily.

"You have kids from all over the U.S. now living in the western portion of the state, anytime you talk about anything, they have a story from their part of the state." says Binstock.

Randy Binstock has been teaching social studies in Killdeer for 13 years, and students raise the same questions that long time residents have.

 "I think some of the stuff with the fracking process we have had questions for all of us, there's states that have outlawed it, they're wondering why we haven't outlawed it here, how safe is your drinking water, those are some of the subjects we're learning about here today." says Randy Binstock.

In the North Dakota Petroleum Council's Teacher Education Seminar, "Fracking 101", the message is that hydraulic fracking stimulation is SAFE in North Dakota.

40 teachers from across the state are learning all they can about North Dakota's oil history and current events.

"From a social studies standpoint, it's kind of nice to learn how some of this stuff was created, I think science teachers are definitely benefiting from some of the things they're seeing here, I think every discipline is learning something, we have music teachers here." says Binstock

 "These jobs come up in my music class because I tell students you could make a career out of your music, they say no I'm going to the oil field, well we're losing our teachers." says Marlowe Kittelson/Music Teacher 20 years in Surrey.

Educators here say this is a great way to stay informed on an evolving subject.

"A lot of these students, their dads, moms are working in the oil field, they're teaching me about stuff that goes on as well." says Binstock.

 "What I'm going to take back in the fall, opportunities for educated student, new fracking, new technologies, math you need, even if a laborer, still need to know your math, education can't be beat." says Kittelson.

Tuesday the educators will be touring a well site near Stanley.

For information on hydraulic fracturing regulation you can check out www.fracfocus.org