The controversy over Flasher sending a bus to Carson will take time to resolve.

In addition to quarterly meetings, the three school boards involved in the dispute have decided to bring in a facilitator to help them with decision-making.

Flasher recently decided to bus open enrollment students from Carson to Flasher. The Carson board, concerned more students might open enroll at Flasher, threatened to change a football cooperative with Flasher. In an effort to defuse the controversy, the school boards involved met a week ago today.

"When the decision came upon us, it took us off guard," Elgin-New Leipzig board member Kent Roehl said. "The main objection was to get the bus stopped, because once it starts, there's no stopping it."

The Elgin-New Leipzig and the Roosevelt school district in Carson are part of a football cooperative with Flasher. The other two districts proposed changes in the cooperative to punish Flasher for driving a bus into Carson.

At the recent meeting of the three boards, no changes were made to Flasher's new transportation plan and possible changes to the football cooperative were put on hold. Instead, they will meet with someone from the North Dakota LEAD Center to improve decision-making and problem solving.

The busing started because the Flasher board wanted to create consistency in its transportation policy. A possible discrimination lawsuit prompted the board to consult its attorney, who recommended they look at the consistency in how they transport students. Flasher's longest route had students on a bus for an hour and 15 minutes. The district used this as a basis for busing open enrolled students.

Roosevelt board members are concerned the bus will make it easier for families to decide to open enroll into the Flasher district. When students open enroll into another school district, the state aid follows the students.

Open enrollment was criticized by some board members at the meeting as an easy way for parents to avoid resolving problems with teachers or other students. Parents do not need to give a reason for open enrolling into another school district.

Flasher has students who live in Carson because of open enrollment laws. Parents can choose their home district, or another district for their child to attend. Flasher had 29 students open enroll into the district and 19 students open enroll out of the district in 2004-05, according to the Department of Instruction. Carson had 11 students open enroll into the district and 15 students open enroll out of the district that same year, and Elgin-New Leipzig had nine students open enrolled in and five students open enrolled out that year.

Carson, New Leipzig and Elgin all have elementary schools, Carson has a middle school and Elgin has a high school. Flasher offers kindergarten through 12th grade.

The boards set aside a decision on the football cooperative until June 1. This is when the board will need to decide what changes it wants to make to the football cooperative for 2009.

So far, only changes have been proposed to the co-op. Board members said they aren't suggesting the co-op be dissolved. The football co-op has operated more than three years, so only one board would need to vote to dissolve it. Then it would need to be approved by the North Dakota High School Activities Association board. The track co-op would need a vote by all three boards because it has not existed more than three years, according to the NDHSAA bylaws.

The proposal is for the cooperative to change so that high school home games are in Elgin and junior high home games are in Carson.

"The biggest drawback is if all three boards vote for it and Flasher students decide not to participate," Elgin-New Leipzig board member Harold Gaugler said. "We would have a three-school co-op scheduled for 11-man football and not enough kids to do it."

He proposed the changes along with Roosevelt board member Jim Bachmeier, but he doesn't want to lose the cooperative, he said. The cooperative was easier for Gaugler to propose changing because it wouldn't affect academics, he said. The changes, if approved, will likely apply to the track cooperative as well.

If Flasher students didn't participate in the football co-op, there is concern about not having enough students for 11-man football.

In the event Flasher was no longer part of the Grant County co-op, it could co-op with another school, if another district was willing. It would need to be approved locally and then an application would need to be approved by the NDHSAA.

No one on any of the school boards wants to lose the football cooperative. it was put out there to get Flasher's attention and the other boards had hopes of getting the Flasher board to change its mind.

"If you take every single person in Carson, Elgin, New Leipzig and Flasher, not a single person would say they want the co-op dropped," Flasher board member Lisa Schmidt said.

Flasher started sending buses into Carson in January to pick up students who live in Carson, but are open enrolled in the Flasher district.

"I didn't even want to come in to Carson," with the bus, Flasher board member Dave Marion said. "It is not an easy decision for anyone … We want to do what is in the best interest for the ones who have made a commitment."

It will start with another joint meeting in February. The boards used to meet regularly, but then it stopped. No one can recall why. The hope is the meetings will go a long way toward rebuilding trust and opening communication.

"I think we need to bring everything off the table and start over," Bachmeier said. "We need respect and communication. If we can't do that, there's no sense meeting anymore."

In addition to quarterly meetings, the boards will hire a facilitator through the North Dakota LEAD Center to learn a strategic planning and decision making technique.

The process is called implication wheels. It looks at multiple layers of consequences when making a decision. First board members identify issues that it wants to address. Then it brainstorms possible decisions that can be made for those issues. Next they come up with consequences to each decision. For each consequence, the group considers consequences and continues in this way. Elgin-New Leipzig Superintendent Martin Schock has gone through this training in administrative workshops and said it helped people work together and come up with solutions.

(Reach reporter Sara Kincaid at 250-8251 or sara.kincaid@;bismarcktribune.com.)