CASPER — Midwest Schools won’t have grades 6-12 eliminated from their K-12 school, saved from the chopping block for at least another year following a heated Friday meeting of the Natrona County School District 1 Infrastructure Planning Committee.
The committee had proposed closing the secondary-level grades at the rural northern Natrona County school in the face of state funding changes that impact rural schools.
After a concentrated outcry from Midwest residents, parents, students and staff, the committee decided to wait another year before axing grades 6-12 while the community could work on coming up with alternatives.
The Infrastructure Planning Committee, which is made up of five school board members, voted unanimously Friday against advancing the proposal to the full Board of Trustees for closure consideration.
The decision gives the small oil field community more time to fight for its school, but it doesn't permanently remove closure from consideration.
For residents who spent the past week organizing, emailing trustees and urging officials to reconsider, the vote was the outcome they had hoped for.
But the discussion ahead of the board’s action included warnings about the school’s future, accusations of secrecy, criticism of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and heated exchanges between board members.
Freedom Caucus
Committee member and board Chairman Kevin Christopherson blamed the Freedom Caucus, a group of Republican Wyoming legislators that emphasizes socially conservative policies, for the school closure proposals.
During his remarks, an audience member shouted, “Baloney!”
Christopherson also described himself as a conservative and business owner, saying he had never been drunk and had been out of debt by age 30.
“You’re a political subdivision and you’re not supposed to be lobbying,” shouted an audience member twice before walking out of the meeting.
As Hopkins tried to defend her earlier comments about the role of politics in the decision, Christopherson turned to her and asked, “Are you going to shut up and let me talk?”
Committee Chair Thea True-Wells intervened: “It has gotten heated and we are gonna move on.”
Trustee John Bolender said he taught for 23 years at Woods Learning Center and had watched it close at the end of the last school year, making the discussion personal for him.
“I was really touched by so many of the letters and things that you spoke out about Midwest,” he said.
He defended district employees’ work and urged others to recognize the difficult circumstances they face.
Bolender said he was moved by the turnout and residents’ letters about Midwest, but he also criticized the way some trustees had treated colleagues and district employees.
“There’s so many people that work so hard, and they need to be appreciated, not shamed,” he said.
The Motion
True-Wells made the motion to keep the Midwest proposal at the committee level for further discussion and a deeper examination of the data. Christopherson seconded the motion.
Restating the motion before the vote, True-Wells said putting it off a year would give Midwest residents time to develop solutions and explore ways to bring more students to the school.
The proposal had called for eliminating grades 6-12 beginning with the 2027-28 school year. Friday’s action leaves that proposal with the infrastructure committee rather than sending it forward to the full board.
For those who were attending what could have been Midwest’s final high school football game at Oilers Field on Thursday, they’ll have at least another season under the lights at the place where the first high school football game was played under lights in 1925.
'Tenacity In Action'
Although no public participation was allowed at the committee meeting, Midwest showed up in force to make their presence felt, which is what they talked about during a packed town hall session Wednesday evening.
Residents sat in rows of black chairs at the district’s Central Services building, several wearing shirts with Midwest Schools' and Oilers mascot and derrick imagery. Some clasped their hands in their laps. Others kept notes.
“Because of your advocacy, you got this turned around,” committee member Mary Schmidt told the crowd.
Trustee Michael Stedillie called putting the decision on hold “tenacity in action” and thanked attendees for their "tremendous enthusiastic advocacy for the Midwest School.”
He praised the persistence, determination, resilience and grit residents had brought to the effort, while cautioning that closure could return before the board in two years without careful consideration of the challenges ahead.
The campaign had gathered momentum quickly.
More than 100 people attended Wednesday’s town hall at the Midwest Recreation Center, where residents organized calls and emails urging trustees and legislators to give them a chance to develop alternatives, Cowboy State Daily reported.
The potential loss of the upper grades had raised concerns extending beyond classrooms: the future of school sports, local businesses, teaching jobs and families’ reasons for remaining in town.
Friday’s vote bought time.
“But I wouldn’t count on that time protecting your town and protecting that school,” said Schmidt. “So I really do strongly advise you to look at alternatives because that’s what will save your town.
"Don’t wait for other people. Don’t wait for the government to save you.”
She added, “If there was more money to be saved your school would’ve closed down."
The 11th Hour
District Chief Financial Officer Matt Flett told the committee that Midwest is operating at 47% capacity.
“We do not take this discussion lightly. We have to balance fiduciary responsibility and care for our community’s kids,” True-Wells said, adding "money doesn't grow on trees."
The district’s initial notice to parents cited funding and staffing challenges, along with ongoing facility improvement needs, as reasons for considering the elimination of Midwest’s secondary grades.
That notice said changes to Wyoming’s school funding model had made it increasingly difficult to maintain the staffing necessary to provide secondary education at Midwest, which this year is 70 students in grades 6-12.
“In the 11th hour I’m so glad things are saved,” said trustee Alex Petrino, who supported dropping the closure discussion, but she criticized the process that had brought the district to that point.
She described obtaining data, information and creative solutions as an “aggravating process” and raised concerns about transparency.
“I do not trust the data that’s coming out,” Petrino said. “We have a lot of stuff that needs to be better and work on.”
Trustee Jenifer Hopkins used the words “secretive, not transparent” during the discussion and said, “I wouldn’t believe anything they say.”
The committee’s motion calls for more examination of the data as discussions continue.
Work Ahead
In her closing remarks, True-Wells acknowledged that the meeting included politics, anger, a public outburst and discussion of the district’s budget.
She urged attendees to remember that legislative decisions affect their communities.
Residents’ emails reflected evident love for Midwest and its school, she said, but the financial numbers and restrictions on how funding can be used still matter.
She pointed to declining enrollment and encouraged residents to think creatively about attracting more children to Midwest.
The school’s future requires more than stopping a proposal from advancing, she said.
At the end of the meeting, state Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, stood and began, “For truth and facts, the House voted …” before someone yelled at him, “Shut up, Bill."
He did, and quietly held the door as attendees filed out toward their cars.
Kolby Fedore can be reached at kolby@cowboystatedaily.com.
