A recommendation to close Dakota Middle School has families worried, even though the closure may be a few years from now.

"There's a lot of anxiety among parents who have kids coming up," said Kris Nolin, whose son, Alex, is an eighth-grader at Dakota.

Teachers also were surprised by the recommendations.

"My staff members are going, 'Whoa - what's going on here?'" Principal Brad Tucker said. "They don't understand this is something that's going to take a few years to get figured out."

A long-term facilities study, finished this summer for the Rapid City schools by consultants MGT of America, recommends discontinuing the use of the Dakota Middle School building after South Middle School is torn down and rebuilt. Because that would take a few years, sixth-graders who started middle school at Dakota this week would most likely be able to finish eighth grade there.

Dakota and South earned the lowest scores among Rapid City middle schools on an analysis of school conditions, site conditions, educational suitability and technology.

The 72-year-old Dakota, completed in 1936 as Rapid City High School, scored "poor" on the physical condition of its building and systems, "poor" on its educational suitability, "fair" on its technology readiness and "good" on its exterior site. The consultants' report didn't describe what specifically about the building is in poor condition, and some at the school disagree with the assessment.

Rapid City's middle school population is not expected to grow significantly, the study concluded, and if Dakota were closed there would still be enough room to comfortably house all the students in the other four schools, but it would take some shuffling and a look at school boundaries.

"It really would affect all of our middle schools," said Mike Kenton, director of support services for the district. "It would be a big thing for our community."

A committee - which will include middle school and elementary school principals, staff and parents - will study the consultants' recommendations this year to decide if they make sense for the community. People who want to be involved should contact their school's principal.

"It's not something you can do quickly," Kenton said. "One of our goals is to go about this in a methodical way so our staff, our principals and our community are well-informed of the choices and well-informed of the process we're following to accomplish this goal. We need a year of study to make a recommendation to our board."

Those recommendations would include whether to build a new South or repair the building, whether to close Dakota, where to redraw school boundary lines, and future use of the Dakota building.

Kenton said DMS is an aging building that isn't well-suited to hold outdoor activities nor host all the buses that transport 80 percent of its student body. He said the district needs to consider whether the school meets student needs.

"What are today's educational needs? And what does the facility have to do or have to accommodate those needs?"

South Middle School is not meeting those needs, according to the study., which is online at www.rcas.org, South was rated far worse for its educational suitability than Dakota, but it is still a traditional neighborhood school in a community of young families with children that age and could be rebuilt in the same location, according to Kenton. The school is also next to a community center built in partnership with the city that the district has an interest in maintaining.

Even though a decision is still a year away, Dakota principal Tucker was disheartened to think his school could shut its doors.

"I really hope they change their mind on closing this building, because I love it here," he said. Not only has he had the chance to build his staff in his 10 years there, he loves the physical building despite its age and flaws and doesn't agree that it's in poor condition.

"I think that this building is very sound and great building," said Tucker, noting the newer roof and air system. "I think it'll be standing here when many of the others have collapsed."

Tucker admitted the building wasn't made to be a middle school, in terms of its size and layout, but said the staff makes it work. There are air conditioning units in computer rooms and in an upper-floor science room because they get so hot. The lockers need constant care, with students slamming them shut day after day. And it takes a lot of thought to build the school schedule because rooms are of different sizes and on different floors.

Dakota also has more challenges than a new school to ensure security, since there are so many doors.

But Tucker said Dakota has its strengths, like the school's unique demographics.

"We're able to bring kids from all over the city and meld them together. It's very much real Rapid City in terms of the breakdown, the kinds of kids. We've got a great mix of people here, and I hate to see that go."

Nolin added that Dakota's "class" and historic character is "something you can't recreate in a new building."

Tucker thinks it could be six years before Dakota would close, since it isn't as big of a priority for the school district as expanding or renovating Central High School. He has been telling his staff not to worry.

"It's inevitable we need to grow and change," said Nolin, whose 13-year-old son returned to Dakota this month. "It means trying to balance the old and new and still give our kids the best."

A timeline: Rapid City High School became Dakota Middle School

* 1876: First schoolhouse built in Rapid City, a log building on Rapid Street.

* 1882-1883: First high school built downtown. It "could be seen from all parts of the town."

* 1887: First high school graduating class; has two girls and two boys.

* 1913: New high school built.

* 1917: Fire burns the east and central parts of the new high school, completely burns the 1883 high school. The 1913 high school is rebuilt.

* 1923: Plans are drawn up for another new high school just to the east of the 1913 building, with its front entrance lining up with Sixth Street. This is the building that became today's Dakota Middle School. Only the east wing of the school is immediately built, and it is used for a junior high school throughout much of the 1920s and '30s.

* 1927: President Calvin Coolidge uses the 1913 high school for his office during his visit to the Black Hills. It is called the "Summer Capitol." The building is called both Rapid City High School and Coolidge High School in the years after his visit.

* 1936: The building begun in 1923 is finished, and becomes the new Rapid City High School. The older "Coolidge building" houses the junior high school.

* 1969: Stevens High School opens, and the downtown high school is renamed Central High School.

* 1977: The new Central High School opens north of downtown.

Source: The Pine Cone (Rapid City High School yearbook)

See also:

Dakota Middle School's star fades, but memories remain