Williams County School District #8, previously New Public School District #8 or New Public Schools, was a school district headquartered in Williston, North Dakota. The district mainly served unincorporated areas that were rural territories near Williston. Additionally the district included a portion of Williston itself and all of Blacktail and Long Creek. It was the geographically largest school district in North Dakota. - The article mistakenly uses "Williston Public School District No. 8" to mean "New Public School District #8" The district only served grades K-8. High school students were sent to Williston High School in the Williston Public School District 1, to the

Nesson School District Nesson Public School District 2 is a school district headquartered in Ray, North Dakota, consisting of Ray Public School. Within Williams County it serves Ray, Epping, Springbrook, and Wildrose. A small section is in Divide County. Prior to th ...

's Ray School in

Ray Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (g ...

, and to the

Tioga School District Tioga Public School District 15 is a school district headquartered in Tioga, North Dakota. The district headquarters and Tioga High School are co-located while Central Elementary School is in a separate facility. Within Williams County it inclu ...

's Tioga High School in

Tioga Tioga may refer to: United States communities *Tioga, California, former name of Bennettville, California *Tioga, Colorado *Tioga, Florida * Tioga, Iowa *Tioga, Louisiana *Tioga, New York, a town in Tioga County *Tioga County, New York, a county at ...

.
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at Newspapers.com.

History

It was established in the early 1950s, as a merger of various smaller school districts. By 2016 the district held two bond elections that were defeated by voters. That year the district leadership decided to use the building fund to pay for a facility, with a cost of $16.9 million, meant to take the place of Stony Creek Middle School. The name changed to its final name, Williams County 8, in 2017. In 2020 a vote was held on whether it was to merge with the Williston District 1 to form a new district. 59.6% of the District 8 voters approved, as did 86.6% of the District 1 voters. The no percentages were 40.4% for District 8 and 13.4% for District 1. Some land that was in District 8 was given to other school districts. In 2021 the Williams County district merged with the Williston District to form the

Williston Basin School District 7 Williston Basin School District 7 (WBSD7) is a school district headquartered in Williston, North Dakota. History In 2020 a vote was held on whether it was to merge the Williston School District 1 with the Williams County Public School District ...

Area

The east-west dimension of the district was , with the North Dakota-

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

border as the westward edge.

Schools

None of the schools were in the Williston city limits even though the district administration was in Williston. * Garden Valley Elementary School (K-5) - It is east of Williston. In 1997 it had 60 students. * Round Prairie Elementary School (K-5) - It is west of Williston. In 1997 it had 34 students. * Missouri Ridge (6-8) Previously all schools were

K-8 schools K8 or K-8 may refer to: * K-8 (Kansas highway), two highways in Kansas, one in northern Kansas, one in southern Kansas * K-8 school, a type of school that includes kindergarten and grades one through eight * AMD K8, the internal designation for the ...

. Previously it operated Harney School, a K-8

one room school One-room schools, or schoolhouses, were commonplace throughout rural portions of various countries, including Prussia, Norway, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Spain. In most rural and s ...

, located in a

mobile home A mobile home (also known as a house trailer, park home, trailer, or trailer home) is a prefabricated structure, built in a factory on a permanently attached chassis before being transported to site (either by being towed or on a trailer). Us ...

. Named after board member Tom Harney, the facility was on a gravel road off of

North Dakota Road 1804 North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

,
Clipping of first
an
of second page
at Newspapers.com. east of Williston, and south of

. It opened circa 1984 as the area population increased due to the discovery of oil. It historically had the lowest student enrollment of any of the schools. 12 was the peak enrollment. In 1997 the school had three students, making it the smallest of any North Dakota school. That year it had three computers in the back of the classroom along with a fax machine, a microwave, and a refrigerator. In the 2002-2003 school year, the number of students was six. For the 2003-2004 school year there was only one student enrolled, and the school closed after that year. At the end of its life the school had a fax machine and was wired to connect to the internet. Its second classroom, in the school's final year, functioned as an

ad hoc Ad hoc is a Latin phrase meaning literally 'to this'. In English, it typically signifies a solution for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a generalized solution adaptable to collateral instances. (Compare with ''a priori''.) Com ...

dormitory for the sole teacher. Scheduling was flexible to accommodate the single student and break up monotony. The school board intended to not provide hot lunches nor school bus services for the lone student. The student's father took him to and from school. The superintendent allowed the student to do archery practice as he was the only student. Stony Creek was to take the former student after the closure of Harney. The district also formerly operated Stony Creek School, immediately east of Williston. In 1997 it had 152 students. In 2016 it was a middle school only. By 2021 the school was in disuse and the district was determining how to give the school back to the property owner.
From this page
see "Amendment to Reorganization Plan" which leads to https://5il.co/lvul

References

External links

* * {{cite web, url=https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com:443/documents/asset/uploaded_file/707551/Comparative_Study_WCSD__8-revised.pdf, title=Comparative Study For Williams County School District #8