Year two, day one of Williston Middle School Central Campus

WILLISTON, N.D. (KUMV) - Class is back in session at the Williston Middle School Central Campus.

The facility consists of three buildings in central Williston. The Bakken-Ridge Center, formerly Bakken Elementary, houses fifth and sixth-grade students. The Coyote Center, formerly Williston Middle School, serves as the core classrooms for seventh and eighth graders. Lastly, the ASB Center, formerly the Innovation Academy, is for elective classes. More than 1,600 students were in attendance for the first day of school Wednesday.

“They’ve been chaotic, but they’ve been fun. I got to see all my friends, and my teachers are really nice,” said Brooke Wenko, an eighth grader.

This is the second year the Williston Basin School District is using this configuration, with several changes in place to better improve safety and lower congestion. That also includes new leadership, as former Innovation Academy and Hagan Elementary Principal Audra Zimmerman is now the lead principal for the central campus.

“I think we have a lot more systems in place for this year for behavior and academics,” said Zimmerman.

One of those systems includes requiring students to turn in their cell phones at the start of the school day. The devices are placed in a locker and only returned at the end of the day. It’s a decision that has students divided.

“It helps kids not being distracted by not being on their phones in class,” said Asher Mosley, an eighth grader.

“I think it does help those causes, but we can also use cell phones for many different things, and I think that we should start doing that because cell phones are part of everyone’s daily life,” said Wenko.

Another point of emphasis is on lunch. Zimmerman said they will have four lunch periods instead of three to better deal with the large number of students.

This configuration will remain until the new elementary school opens in 2026.

Zimmerman said their teaching positions are filled with the help of five permanent substitutes and several overseas teachers.