Wyoming Supreme Court Rules Against One-Room Schoolhouse for Isolated Ranchers

The Wyoming Supreme Court has denied two parents' request to form a rural school for their children.

Kenneth Carson and Anna Anderson live on a remote family ranch near Garrett, Wyoming, over 40 miles from the nearest paved road.

During the winter, the roads between the ranch and the nearest school in Rock River are impassable.

In 2019, the ranchers contacted the Superintendent of the Schools for Albany County, Dr. Jubal Yennie, to begin the process of forming a rural schoolhouse located on the ranch and for the school district to pay the costs of construction and the cost of a teacher.

In February 2022 the Albany County school District voted and approved the schoolhouse plan, but in April -- after talking to the Department of Education -- Dr. Yennie said it was no longer feasable.

Yennie recommended the parents send their children to Rock River Elementary School and use virtual education when the roads are impassable.

The State Superintendent acknowledged, per court records, that creating a new school would be consistent with past practices in Wyoming, but would be too expensive now.

The parents persisted in their efforts to get a schoolhouse, filing for a writ of mandamus (a court order to the school board demanding they properly fulfill their official duties), but it was dismissed by the Wyoming Supreme Court on January 26.

The court responded that the school board is responsible for providing transportation or maintenance for residents within the district, but it does not afford petitioners a right to their own rural school.