Education Summit | Video

Alex Hagan | 8/1/2012

Classrooms are bursting at the seams in many North Dakota districts, particularly in oil country. Administrators aren`t ignoring the crisis, but it`s a daunting challenge.

School starts in a few weeks, so there isn`t much time to fix what`s wrong.

"As of right now we have 252 additional students coming into our district, we anticipate more coming in the weeks to come before school starts," said Minot District 1 Superintendent Mark Vollmer.

It`s not just students who are affected. It`s taking a big toll on teachers as well.

"Another priority that we`re looking at is continuing to expand the training and the experience of our teachers as far as looking for new educational opportunities along with ways to deal with the diverse population that`s coming into our communities," said Roughrider Education Services Director Amy Axtman.

The real trick, is predicting what`s going to happen this year and in the years ahead.

"Some of the schools are involved in a study on what type of population will we actually see so that we build the right amount of schools for that population that`s coming," said Vicky Steiner with the North Dakota Association of Oil and Gas Producing Counties.

Now school leaders are partnering with oil and gas companies to help with the education crisis.

"We`re providing grants to the eight regional educational associations to help them basically build capacity to be able to more effectively collaborate across all the school districts," said Hess Corporation General Manager Stephen McNally.

And educational leaders are excited to work together for the future.

"That`s the North Dakota way, working together to make things better for the future, for the state, our communities and our students," Axtman said.

Administrators say they`ll be ready, because there is no other choice. But it`s not a problem that can be solved overnight.

During the education summit, Governor Dalrymple proposed another oil and gas impact fund to address the ongoing needs in school districts.

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