Roosevelt County schedules Jan. 16 hearing after petitions to transfer small school territory

Roosevelt County officials said Monday they will hold a hearing on Jan. 16 to consider petitions asking that small parcels of school territory be transferred from local schools to the 'Freud School' district.

Erica, a county staff member, told commissioners the petitions were filed with her office and that Molly Lloyd of Powder River County agreed to conduct the hearing. "This contract came about with some petitions that my office received from the Freud School, petitioning the middle school and Culbertson School to transfer some territory to the Freud School District," Erica said. "Molly Lloyd from Powder River agreed to take this on." She said the hearing will be Jan. 16 at 10 a.m.

A motion to accept a contract between Powder River County, the superintendent, and Roosevelt County to formalize that arrangement was introduced during the meeting; no vote on that motion is recorded in the provided transcript. The county indicated it would proceed with the scheduled hearing and provide more information at that time.

Commissioners asked why the petitions were filed, whether they reflected requests to send children to a different school or concerns about taxes. Erica said the petitions themselves did not state reasons but did include counts of affected students. "It just says how many kids would be affected, that currently live in those areas," she said, and added that in the Culbertson area she believed two students would be affected and that she would double-check the figure.

The hearing will be an administrative proceeding to determine whether territory transfer is appropriate; county staff did not provide further background in the recorded portion of the meeting. More details, including any formal vote on the contract with Powder River County, were not specified in the available transcript.