Enrollment Rising Statewide - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Enrollment Rising Statewide

Across western North Dakota, school administrators are bracing for a major influx of new students this fall.
In Williston, there could be several hundred new students beginning classes next month.
And in many smaller towns, building projects are well underway, making space for more kids and teachers.

In Minot - on the eastern edge of the oil boom - the enrollment increase is also a concern.
Superintendent Mark Vollmer says the next several weeks will be critical to deciding how many students the district will have.

(Mark Vollmer, Minot Superintendent) "We are cautiously watching those enrollment numbers and are putting some portable classrooms around some of those schools where we know those strong numbers are at.  We'll continue to monitor closely until the time school starts.  August is going to be a very telling month for us because we will know a little bit more about how many families are moving into this community."

Vollmer says kindergarten enrollment is likely to exceed 700 this fall in Minot - more than 150 higher than just a few years ago.
He says the school district is discussing options for handling the higher student population over the next several years, including the possibility of seeking a vote of the people to expand school facilities.

School officials in Williston have decided temporary trailers that were used for flood victims won't work for teachers.

Assistant superintendent Pam Lambert says the school district purchased five of the units from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.  
The district paid about $35,000 for the trailers, which included moving them from Minot where they had been used by people displaced from last year's Souris River flooding.
Lambert says the units were to be used for teachers and placed on school district property.
But hooking up sewer and water to them would cost about $83,000.
She says the district can't afford that and will sell the units now.
The oil boom town expects to gain about 1,200 students this year.
To keep pace, school officials are hiring 52 new teachers.