User uShare Login | Register
Login
uShare Thanks for being part of KELOLAND.com uShare!


Signup to: Share pictures, videos and stories about your community, submit wedding and engagement announcements, let people know about closings or cancellations, sell or buy items from the KELO Classifieds, receive daily emails from KELOLAND News and the KELOLAND Live Doppler HD Storm Center.

Register



65° View Weather Current Conditions Sioux Falls Change Location
Set Weather Options

RADAR LOCATION

TEMPERATURE LOCATION

Text Alerts from KELOLAND TV!
Sign up for our new texting service to get breaking news, special alerts, and more! CLICK HERE to get it now!

KELOLAND.com | Sioux Falls News & Weather, South Dakota News & Weather, Minnesota and Iowa News

[0] My Saved Articles
Find local businesses
on the KELO Pages!

 

Funding Sought For Spring Creek School

November 16, 2011, 6:04 PM by Derek Olson

Funding Sought For Spring Creek School
CUSTER, SD - State budget cuts have forced many school districts to make tough choices.

When the Custer school board considered closing a small rural school in a remote corner of the district, the community stood up for their school.

The Spring Creek School is surrounded by ranchland in the far northeastern corner of Custer County and houses kindergarten through eighth grade.

"We service mostly ranch children, rural children that have grown up in the area," Spring Creek teacher Nette Meade said.

For some students, attending Spring Creek has become a family tradition.

"They're going to this school like their parents had and their parents before them had, so it's a pretty nice thing out here," 7th grader Ben Kruger said.

"Sometimes, it's the second, third, fourth generation of children all going to the same school," Meade said.

But because of the school's remote location, they don't have near as many students as other schools in the district.

"This year, we have six students. It fluctuates. Last year, we had eleven," Meade said.

Those low numbers prompted the Custer school board to consider closing the school in an effort to reconcile a cut of more than $840,000 to their annual budget.

"At one point in time, there was actually a motion on the table to close the school," parent Melissa Whitney said.

That would mean a long commute for some students. The next closest school is more than 20 miles away.

"In the winter, when you add from several inches to several feet of snow onto these roads, it's not an inconvenience to drive your kids to school; it's dangerous," Whitney said.

But objections raised by Spring Creek supporters have resulted in the formation of a committee that's designed to find new funding so that the school can remain open.

"This school is pretty much the hub of this community. We don't have a lot else out here and we don't ask for a lot more," Whitney said.

"I'm just happy that I'm going to be able to graduate here next year," Kruger said.

The Spring Creek school will stay open through at least the 2012-13 school year.

The committee finding other funding for the school will begin meeting in December.

Previous Story

Next Story


Comments





RELATED STORIES

 
Find Local Businesses on KELO Pages!

You may also like

Man Kills Himself Following Double Shooting In Clear Lake

6/17/2013 12:16 PM

Two people are in the hospital and one man is dead after a double shooting in Clear Lake, South Dakota.

Full Story | Watch
Authorities Investigate Shooting In Deuel County

6/17/2013 6:05 AM

Officials with the Deuel County Sheriff’s office are on the scene of a shooting near the Clear Lake, South Dakota area.

Full Story
Two Arrested After Police Find Drugs, Guns, Cash In Home

6/14/2013 11:42 AM

Sioux Falls residents Blayne Solberg and Joel Robshaw, both 22-years-old, were arrested at a home this week after authorities found 119 grams of a dru...

Full Story
Two Shot In Clear Lake; Conditions Unknown

6/17/2013 10:36 AM

A Clear Lake, South Dakota, man shot two people before taking his own life on Sunday.

Full Story
Hecla Teen Dies In Head On Crash

6/12/2013 8:32 PM

A two vehicle crash on SD Highway 10, about 20 miles north of Groton, resulted in the death of a Hecla teenager on Wednesday, June 12.

Full Story


Events

 
 
KELOLAND TV: 501 S. Phillips Avenue, Sioux Falls, SD 57104
Phone: 605.336.1100 · Breaking News call: 1-800-888-5356
Web Site Design and Custom Programming By: Lawrence & Schiller© 2013 KELO-TV -- KELOLAND.COM -- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED