Williston Public School District 1 held a special meeting Wednesday primarily to discuss future funding. The district is already strapped for cash, and facing a possible gain of 800-1,200 new students next school year, the school board is trying to find sources of funding, according to Superintendent Viola LaFontaine.It's frustrating. It seems reporters don't understand important of denominators as well as numerators.
All we know from this story is that District 1 will add 800 to 1,000 new students next year. If the number of Williston students was 10,000, it would be noteworthy, but not concerning. But we have no idea what the denominator is, unless I missed it.
I do recall that District 8 with three elementary schools with a total of about 200 students might see an additional 600 new students next year. Here's the link for that story (thanks to a reader, see below). The numbers are correct; I just can't remember if the "600" represents "new students" or if that will be the total. I think it was new students.
it was new students.
ReplyDeleteThat's incredible. Thank you for confirming.
ReplyDeleteI remember when folks thought it would be only single men coming to the Bakken, leaving their families in Idaho, Wisconsin, Texas, wherever.
I learned in the military that folks will do almost anything to keep their families together.
Even where the military had specifically said families could not accompany their active duty family member to certain locations, families still showed up. And there were a lot of very austere, very challenging locations which make Williston look like a metropolis.
I think the Bakken is going to keep surprising us.
The enrollment of Williston Public Schools #1 (K-12) as of October 3, 2011 was 2634 students.
ReplyDeleteHess342
Thank you. "That was easy!" as the commercial says. Thank you for taking time to reply. I think this has surprised a lot of folks, how quickly workers brought their families. Speaks volumes about the economy in the rest of the country. North Dakota has the perception of being a difficult place to live and work.
ReplyDeleteWilliston HS has 750 students, so just doing the math, the total student population should currently around 2250. But the HS population also includes District 8, which is currently at 200 students at middle school or elementary age.
ReplyDeleteSo adding 1200 students to Williston city would be a very significant increase, as well as 600 more students to District 8.
The newcomers will however be skewed toward younger school age groups.
I find it personally quite incredible how quickly the enrollment grew. It would be nice when newspapers do these types of stories, they include a little "fact box" providing details so it would be easy at a quick glance to see what "x" number of new students really means.
ReplyDeleteLong term residents of Williston might know but newcomers would have no idea. Anyway, just my 2 cents worth. Thank you for taking time to comment.
http://www.willistonherald.com/articles/2011/12/13/news/doc4ee78758481d3948475829.txt
ReplyDeleteThis is the link for District 8 story...it is expecting up to 600 new students to a district that currently has around 200.
Fast growth indeed. Good to see families are moving in. No doubt the adjustments to this growth will take several years but with a belief it can be done it will happen. A lot of work for sure. I admire North Dakota for their determination to work through it all.
ReplyDeleteWith the country not having a good energy policy makes the pressure on North Dakota all the more intense. If more areas including federal lands were available for energy development maybe the intensity would not be this great. North Dakota and Texas must feel like a pin point laser light is shining on them in a dark sea of stupid federal government behavior. The potential for the Williston Basin is enormous but it could of been developed at a calmer pace had exploration been encouraged in other areas.
Very perceptive. I had not thought of that. The school problem is going to be a huge, huge problem. Housing that teachers can afford; enough school rooms/buildings for all the new children....huge challenge.
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