Tioga Buying Time - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Tioga Buying Time

When school begins in Tioga this month, there might be dozens of new students vying for teachers' attention.
But while many growing school districts in the region are adding new buildings to handle increasing enrollment, Tioga's plan is a bit different.
Jim Olson reports on how the district in the town where the first oil well in the state was discovered, is dealing with the oil boom's population explosion.

(Dwayne Johnston, Tioga Superintendent) "What we've done is try to buy time."

That's how superintendent Dwayne Johnston describes Tioga's blueprint for handling an influx of new students.

(Dwayne Johnston, Tioga Superintendent) "We've been fortunate to receive awards from the state land office to assist with a ten classroom modular building and a small FEMA park for teachers to live in."

But portable classrooms for students and FEMA trailers for teachers are not in Tioga's long range plans.

(Dwayne Johnston, Tioga Superintendent) "In ten years I don't want to see them here."

Johnston says the portable classrooms that will inhabit this area near the town's elementary school will allow the district to assess just how large the growth in student numbers will actually be.

(Dwayne Johnston, Tioga Superintendent) "I think it's a smart plan because the few hundreds of thousands of dollars invested while we make our facility plans and get a better sense of the production when drilling stops will save us millions of dollars."

That might mean a better construction environment in a year or two.  And that's something that might help get affordable permanent housing for staff too.

(Dwayne Johnston, Tioga Superintendent) "I don't want to see FEMA homes here in five years but I do believe with housing and apartments coming on line teachers will be able to move out and it will become more affordable."

Meanwhile, the small FEMA park is being readied near the high school and the elementary gymnasium has been divided up to handle several individual classrooms.  Johnston figures the enrollment that's now 300 might grow by 100 to 150 in the next couple of years - and by then, there will be a firm plan in place to handle the short term boom and the long term outlook for student numbers.

(Dwayne Johnston, Tioga Superintendent) "We're in a good position, creating a facility plan. We've bought time and it will give us time to make realistic plans and determine whether Tioga needs to build new buildings or not."

What he does know for certain is that the next couple of years will be very interesting as Tioga Schools deal with being at the epicenter of the explosion in oil activity in the state.  In Tioga, Jim Olson, KX News.

Tomorrow, Jim travels east to Stanley to see how officials in Blue Jay country are preparing for a very busy year ahead.