The nearest school to one Wyoming kindergartner is more than an hour drive’s away. In harsh winter months in the rural area north of Laramie, that trek can be too difficult to cross and infeasible to pass. So, a Wyoming school district will open a school just for that one student in the fall.
The nearest school to one Wyoming kindergartner is more than an hour drive’s away. In harsh winter months in the rural area north of Laramie, that trek can be too difficult to cross and infeasible to pass.
So, a Wyoming school district will open a school just for that one student in the fall.
The isolated school isn’t new.
Cozy Hollow Elementary School was active more than a decade ago when it hosted at most five students, Albany County School District No. 1 official Ed Goetz told CNN.
But it closed due to a lack of students in the area. Now it’s needed again.
The district will submit an application to the Wyoming Department of Education School Facilities Division to get state funding to re-open the school, Goetz said.
It estimates it will need $100,000 a year for the cost of one teacher, supplies, utilities and site repairs. Ultimately, there will be two students when a sibling of the current child starts kindergarten.
Wyoming state law requires an on-site school for isolated students who can’t travel in certain road conditions to another nearby school. It’s the second one-student school in Albany County.
Wyoming isn’t the only state that has to resort to isolated schools. Minnesota, for example, has a one-roompublic school in Angle Inlet.
