MIDLAND-School started as usual in Midland and Kadoka last Tuesday. Nervous kindergarten students met their teachers. Confident high school seniors breezed through the hallways of the Kadoka High School.

Few, if any, students thought much about it being the first year for the brand-new Kadoka Area School District, which was created when the former Midland and Kadoka school districts consolidated.

However, parents, particularly those living within the boundaries of the former Midland school district, are aware of the changes.

One of the changes is the return to a five-day school week after two years for Midland as a four-day school. The new school board opted to put the Midland school, which is now a K-8 satellite school, on the same schedule as all of the schools in the new district.

"The four-day has its bonuses," said Roger Dale, a former member of the Midland School Board. Dale's family used the extra day to schedule appointments, but he welcomes the shorter school day for his younger children.

A bigger adjustment is the absence of high school students at the Midland school, Dale said.

"The kids did separate things, but they knew each other and the younger kids looked up to the older ones," he said.

Now, those role models are scattered and families are beginning to face the changes that will happen when their children finish the eighth grade.

The Kadoka Area School District has about 380 students and approximately 80 high school students.

Midland, which has 35 students this year, is one of three satellite schools in the district. The Longvalley School has 32 students, and Interior has 48.

Larger than the state of Rhode Island, the school district covers more than 2,000 square miles. The families scattered across the district have to make school decisions based upon distance and gas prices, superintendent of schools Mary Austad said.

While their sixth-grader Sami and her friends happily romped on the school grounds, Julie and Joe Schwalm admitted they face a tough decision in three years. The family will have to decide where Sami, 11, will go to high school.

Choosing a high school is a decision Julie Schwalm wants to avoid for as long as possible.

"I don't even want to go there," she said.

The Schwalms' home is 11 miles north of Midland. Without a high school at Midland, Sami's high school options include Kadoka 53 miles away, Philip 36 miles from home or 72 miles away in Pierre where they have family.

Sami recently said she will probably "go where the gang goes," Joe Schwalm said.

Two years ago with fewer than 40 students, the Midland School Board realized change was coming. The choices were to dissolve the school district or consolidate with another district.

Before making a decision on consolidation, the Midland School Board toured schools at Kadoka, Philip and Murdo and met with the school boards.

"Midland is just a generation ahead of a lot of towns out here," Kory Bierle said. Bierle was a member of the Midland School Board and currently serves on the new Kadoka Area School Board.

Founded 117 years ago, Midland has far fewer businesses and people than it did just a generation ago.

Bierle believes other western South Dakota communities will eventually face similar decisions as more people leave the rural area. The recent announcement that the Farm Service Agency will close its Kadoka office is another sign of the times, he said.

"Eventually, we'll have to think about consolidating counties," Bierle said.

Bierle also knows that with the school changes, it will be harder for the whole Midland community to stay in touch.

The school has always been the core of the community.

With fewer families involved in the school, keeping people informed about school events will be more difficult.

And, families with kids in junior high and high school are pulled in different directions for activities.

Like the Schwalms, the Bierles have a few years before they have to choose a high school for their three children.

Since Robin Bierle works in Philip, 25 miles west of Midland, that's probably where the children will continue their education.

Robin Bierle worries that her children could lose the bonds formed with classmates when they move on to high school. The distances separating rural families will make it hard to maintain those friendships when kids move on to various high schools, she said.

Roger and Edna Dale live 14 miles east of Midland. The Dales' four children are all in school in Midland this year, but next year their oldest, Brandon, will be a high school freshman.

Brandon plays football with other junior high students at Kadoka. Before the consolidation Brandon played football in Murdo under a cooperative agreement Midland had with the Jones County School District.

"In a way, it's been an advantage," Roger Dale said. "He has the opportunity to meet a lot of kids."

For the Dale family, their location can be viewed as an asset or a liability, Roger Dale said. Kadoka is 25 miles away and Philip is 19 miles away, which gives them some flexibility when they decide where to send their kids to high school. If the distances were greater, the decision would be easy, Roger Dale said.

"Ideally, we wouldn't have to make these decisions," he said.

Barry and Kim Jones decided to send their two high school students to Kadoka last year. Their son Bryer is a senior at Kadoka High School. A daughter, Lexi, is a sophomore.

Kim Jones and the children live in Kadoka during the school week and go home to the family ranch on the weekends.

The arrangement is nothing new for many rural families, Kim Jones said.

"It may cost more (to maintain a second home), but I don't know if it's more expensive than driving every day," she said. With a home in Kadoka, her children have a place to go after school. Neither has to hang around town waiting for the other to finish an activity.

In fact, for the kids, being in town is handier than when they were in school at Midland and school was a five-mile drive away, Kim Jones said.

For the Jones children, the transition to Kadoka was smooth, their mother said. The kids like the bigger school. They have made friends and are involved in activities.

"It's been a positive thing to come over here," Kim Jones said.

Fortunately, rural families are flexible and experienced at coping with distance and the unexpected, Roger Dale said.

"If we want it to work, it will," he said. "It's just like everything else, we seem to make it work."

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com