Not sure anyone could have predicted this outcome. But the vote on whether or not to dissolve the Oldham-Ramona-Rutland School District, which would bus school children out of the area currently stands at a tie vote – 363 votes for and 363 votes against. According to a story at KELOland.com:
The unofficial election results are in for the Oldham-Ramona-Rutland School District and there’s still not a complete answer on the future of the school district. With 363 votes for dissolving the district and 363 votes against dissolving the district and 5 provisional ballots cast, leaving the fate of the district unknown.
and..
According to a fact sheet from the ORR school district, if the district dissolves, there would be 42 employees who will be fired and 193 students that will have to go elsewhere for schooling. The sheet added that the board has canceled their current construction contract for $19 million that would have built a new school. The sheet also stated that no capital outlay certificates will be issued and no tax increase related to the construction is planned.
(Maybe it’s a good time to re-watch Casey Phillips’ documentary about tie votes in elections; Win, Lose or Draw Straws.)
As we move into economic conditions that place us in danger of recession, it seems counter-productive for 3 small communities to ship their kids – nearly 200 of them – to larger towns for schooling, and to fire 42 employees. For these communities that don’t consist of much, there’s a real danger that they’re soon going to consist of a lot less.
If they succeed in killing the local schools… well, if that happens, at least if Abby Bischoff ever decides she wants to fire back up her “Abandoned South Dakota” website and calendars, she’ll have plenty of new subjects to photograph.
Just like virtually everything else in America today, the ORR school district debacle has been a shitshow of posturing, finger-pointing, conspiracy theories, bitter division, rancor and hatred. Reminiscent of the legendary (mythical?) Hatfield and McCoys neighboring families feud.
Welcome to Donald Trump’s America, where his nasty insults, scapegoating and lust for dividing us have spread like a virus into far too many meeting rooms for school boards, city and county commissions, library boards, etc etc etc. SAD!
Especially sad when our children and grandchildren are trapped in the middle of it all.
Huh???…
what are you talking about? Donald Trump has nothing to do with the low birth rate in the ORR school district, which is the true source of the problem.
Every public vote taken has been close from the original reorganization vote 3 years ago to every bond election and capital outlay certificate vote has been extremely close. School board can be faulted for not developing a plan that had received overwhelming consensus before pushing it to a public vote. Once the various bond elections failed, a pause was necessary but the board just continued to push forward causing the sides to harden. The original plan to build a new school site at the Nunda corner off Hwy. 81 was badly flawed.
what’s flawed is the cognitive dissonance of thinking they need to build a new school in a district where the enrollment went from 320 to 193 in only two years.
This year they have 18 seniors and only 8 kindergartners.
The school board is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
If I were in that district and had a kid in high school I would be looking at Madison and encouraging him to enroll in the Dual Credit Program at DSU.
It is impossible to argue that the high school students would be better served going to school in Ramona. The proximity of DSU makes the Madison option too good to ignore.
Having open-enrolled my own child out of Flandreau and into Brookings over 25 years ago, just going to high school in a college town was a plus. The whole community places a high value on education and that affects the public schools. It really makes a difference but maybe you have to see it to believe it.
We need more consolidation in South Dakota. Consolidation of school districts and counties. Then property tax dollars would be well spent.
Indeed, Lar. Indeed.
well it seems the voters want to keep the district going
they better get busy making babies if they want to keep it