AMIDON - Signe Kubela, 5, is the princess at the Amidon school every day.
It's just that this day she'll actually wear a royal purple frock, a glittering crown and wave a magic wand over all three of her country boy schoolmates, hoping to turn them into rock stars by the time the curtain closes.
It is the annual end-of-the-year program, a tradition that dates back nearly 100 years in one of the last one-room schoolhouses in the state.
This school district in North Dakota's least populated county ends every year in the hope there'll be enough children to go another year. So far, though the hope grows more fragile each year, there have been enough kids.
There is charm and history in the building just on the country edge of Amidon, where four children spend their learning days together in an unselfconscious intimacy that binds them like brothers and sisters. Two are brothers, though one will graduate this year to high school in Bowman.
cheap coach purses Signe is preoccupied with wiggling her first loose tooth, but she takes to her on-stage role with a lot of personality for someone still in kindergarten. The three boys - one each in second, sixth and eighth grades - take good care of this pint-size bit of femininity. "They're pretty protective," said their teacher, Autumn Criswell.
Today's 1:30 p.m. program, "Princess Signe and The Boys," was written especially for them by their music teacher. Where to find a program ready-made for such an unlikely little mix?
Their school days are ready-made, too.
Criswell, who's in her first year at Amidon, teaches each child separately and all four together, finding ways they can learn from her and each other.
"We have a blast here. When it's fun, they learn better," she said. "This is my dream teaching job."
Tate Nordby, 8, said he likes the peace and quiet at school. "Small is better. There isn't any bullies," he said.
Matt Lorge, 15, said he gets a lot of help, including advice from "Mrs. Criswell" on how to fit in next year in high school. "No talking," tops the get-along list, he said.
Brother Paul Lorge, 13, said, "Not many kids go here. We have a lot of fun around here with our teacher."
replica breitling watches Besides Criswell, the district brings in separate teachers for art, music and special services, and some days there are three professionals in that white wooden schoolhouse working with four children.
It is about as close to tutored teaching as it's possible to get.
School board president Gary VanDaele said the board won't close the school until it runs out of kids or hears concern that there isn't enough social interaction for them.
"The way we look at it, they're getting a good education," he said.
The district spends about $120,000 a year on the building and education, or about $30,000 for each student this year.
VanDaele said few grouse about that equation. "We only hear that from bachelors who've never had any kids," he said.
While the school may not be a model of financial efficiency, it models other values. And it is entirely the district's own money to spend.
The district only levies 73 mills, far below the 144-mill standar
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