Amid closure threat, community unites to save country school

The agricultural community wants to save the Cheyenne Rural School in northwest Stanley County

The Cheyenne Rural School operated and owned by the Stanley County School District. (Austin Goss/The Dakota Scout)

HAYES – Should the Stanley County School District close its only remaining country school, about 50 miles northwest of Fort Pierre?

For the parents of the nine kids who attend the Cheyenne Rural School and their fellow community members, the answer is a resounding no.

That’s the feedback parents and area residents offered the five-member board Wednesday night during a packed meeting on their home turf, where school board members convened for their monthly meeting in the two room schoolhouse about 20 miles north of Hayes. 

The meeting, normally held at Stanley County High School, comes amid a proposal being floated to shutter the satellite school completely. 

Stanley County School Board members during a meeting at the Cheyenne Rural school. (Austin Goss/The Dakota Scout)

“I am a taxpayer up here, and I gladly pay those taxes,” said Mitch Norman, a nearby resident who spoke in opposition to the closure of one the state’s last country schoolhouses. “Each year I pay at least $30,000, most of it goes to the school system. I think that is money well spent.”

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