Voters Reject New Carrington School, Controversy Remains

The Carrington school district couldn’t get enough votes to approve funding for a new elementary school and auditorium.

Now, some are saying election officials weren’t following the rules when counting those votes.

Voters rejected a $23.5 million plan to build a new school.

Even after the dust has settled in that battle, questions are still being asked.
 
“It’s a little bit of a letdown,” says Carrington Elementary School principal Juanita Short. “Of course we had high hopes.”
 
Short wanted voters to deliver her and her staff a brand new school and auditorium, one that’s a little newer their current 81-year-old building.

It does not lend itself to the 21st century learner.

51 percent of voters did say yes to the plan, but the project needed 60 percent to pass.

Students will continue to have to tuck into corners, and use classrooms that aren’t handicapped accessible.

“We have levels in this building that students couldn’t get to,” explains Short.

While the results of the vote are disappointing to educators, some locals are concerned with how the votes were counted.

Ted Keller says his wife Judy tried to watch ballot counters tally the votes.
 
“When she got there she was restricted from being any closer, I would say from 40 feet from where the absentee ballots were being counted,” Keller says.

Ted confronted election officials, filming the encounter, before walking up to the table where they were counting votes.

“The public has a right to watch as the votes are counted”, he asserts. “They have a right to be right there, not 30, 40, 50 feet away based on somebody’s idiotic opinion.”

The school says they did things they right way.

So does the Secretary of State’s office, which says the district didn’t violate any laws.

“Our business manager made many phone calls to the state,” Short explains, “and got her directions directly from the state.”

No matter what people think about the controversy surrounding the vote, they still say the results should stand, which means no new school for Carrington students.

“The result wasn’t what I wanted,” says Carrington High School Senior Mason Wede, “but the community voted.”

Locals say the vote was a divisive issue in town, but now that it’s over, some division remains.

School officials say they have no Plan B when it comes to a new school.

They will meet with the school board before deciding how to move forward.