Original Research by School Decision on Round Prairie Elementary School
Round Prairie Elementary School is no longer in operation. The federal directory lists it as closed, and that single fact shapes everything else a parent might want to know. There are no current enrollment figures, no state assessment results, no demographic breakdowns, no graduation data, and no civil-rights reporting to review. All of those fields are missing in the available data, and in this case the closure itself is the reason. A family looking at this school would not be enrolling a child here today.
What the record does tell us is that Round Prairie was a regular public school, not a charter or magnet, and that it sat within Williston Basin School District 7, the unified district serving Williston and the surrounding area of Williams County. Its physical address places it on the rural northwest fringe of Williston, along 151st Avenue, which suggests it served families in the outlying agricultural and oilfield-service areas rather than the city core. The grade range is listed as missing in the source data, so we cannot confirm which ages or grades it served before closing.
Williston itself is a community defined by the Bakken oil boom. Publicly reported sources describe a city whose economy rests on oil, agriculture, and tourism, with a large concentration of oil service companies operating locally, including several of the world's largest. The population surged during the boom years, nearly doubling between the early 2000s and the 2020 census, though more recent estimates suggest that growth has begun to normalize. The city is car-oriented, with no fixed-route bus service, only demand-response transit. Amtrak's Empire Builder stops in town once daily in each direction. US 2 runs through Williston and US 85 bypasses it to the northwest. Civic amenities include the Williston Area Recreation Center, the public library serving all of Williams County, and proximity to Lake Sakakawea and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The housing market in the 58801 zip code is relatively expensive by North Dakota standards. The typical home value sits above the state benchmark and is roughly in line with the national figure, with year-over-year appreciation that has been strong. Rents, by contrast, have been essentially flat. The gap between monthly mortgage costs and rents is wide enough that renting remains meaningfully cheaper than buying at current prices and rates. For families connected to the oilfield economy, this housing picture may feel familiar; for those on fixed or lower incomes, it can be a squeeze.
The district context matters here. Williston Basin School District 7 was formed in 2021 through a voter-approved merger of two predecessor districts, Williston Public School District 1 and Williams County School District 8. That consolidation unified governance across the city and reshaped school boundaries and administration. The district has since been executing a long-range facilities plan. In 2024, voters approved building a new elementary school, Sloulin Elementary, set to open in August 2026. A two-phase attendance boundary overhaul is underway, with the second phase timed to that opening. For families in the Williston area, the elementary landscape is actively shifting, and which school a child attends may depend on exactly where the family lives and when they arrive.
In short, Round Prairie Elementary belongs to the district's past rather than its present. A parent exploring options in Williston Basin 7 would want to look at the currently operating elementary schools and pay close attention to the boundary changes and the new Sloulin campus opening in 2026. Round Prairie's closure, the district's merger history, and the ongoing facilities reorganization are all part of the same story: a fast-growing oil-region community trying to align its school footprint with where families actually live now.
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