NCSD Board of Trustees Discuss Selling or Demolishing Mothballed Schools

The Natrona County School District Board of Trustees on Dec. 1st* discussed the fate of two schools in the district that are no longer being used.

Trustee Rita Walsh motioned to advance the recommendation to dispose of Mountain View Elementary and Powder River School as well as three portable classrooms, this was seconded by Trustee and Chair Kevin Christopherson. "Dispose" in this context means to sell or demolish.

There will be a public hearing on the matter coming Monday, January 8th at the regular Board Meeting from 7 to 9 PM.

Christopherson told K2 Radio News that the schools have been closed for years. Further, Natrona County School District enrollment as a whole has been declining, especially since the new charter school was opened in the fall of 2023.

Christopherson says there is "no chance of needing it [Powder River School] in the next 20 years." The schools have been mothballed, a term referring to a decision to close schools when enrollment drops to zero. The buildings currently cost the district money and, while they're not in bad shape, they are getting older. "Maybe someone will be able to put it to good use," said Christopherson in a phone call with K2 Radio.

Monday's minutes show that the cost of utilities at the Powder River School for the 2023 Fiscal Year was $10,142. The bill for Mountain View Elementary's was not listed.

In 2018, the Town of Mills filed a lawsuit after the Natrona County School District closed the Mountain View Elementary School.

"Natrona County School District No. 1 has treated Mills differently from any other municipality in the county and has, over a three-year period, closed and abandoned all of the elementary schools within or near the town," said Mills' then-mayor Seth Coleman at the time. "This has operated such that it is now impossible for the residents of Mills to send their children to any nearby school, let alone expect a child in Mills to be able to walk to and from a neighborhood school."

The district noted that only 41 of the 191 students who lived within a mile of Mountain View Elementary attended.

In a press release the mayor later wrote that Mills hoped that the School District would reconsider its actions and keep the elementary school open. However, in April of 2018 Natrona County District Court Judge Daniel Forgey dismissed the Town of Mills' lawsuit.

*The date of the board meeting was updated for accuracy. The original article wrote that it occured on January 1st, but it occured on Dec. 1st. Further, the Public Information Officer with NCSD Tanya Sutherland reiterated that the school board's intention is to sell the schools.