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(NewsDakota.com) – North Dakota’s oil boom is even affecting the Jamestown Public Schools.

Jamestown School Board members and Superintendent Bob Toso expressed some concern at Monday night’s school board meeting over the safety of athletic teams traveling to western North Dakota, citing increased traffic accidents and violence due in part to the oil boom.

Toso says he and activities director Jim Roaldson, who wasn’t in attendance Monday, have had discussions about safety of teams traveling west, including what travel routes to use or avoid, and how to avoid overnight trips.

Toso says the main concern is the bus trip between Dickinson and Williston, which involves travel on a two-lane highway with heavy truck traffic. Traffic accidents in western North Dakota have increased immensely with the oil boom. Toso also says there is a heightened concern with the female teams, following the recent suspected murder of a female teacher from Sidney, Mont., which is near Williston.

The discussion arose after Toso raised the issue of Jamestown’s conference affiliation for athletics. Currently, Jamestown High School athletics compete in the Western Dakota Association, which requires trips as far as Williston in the northwest corner of the state. Toso says with the increased population out west, the time may come when Jamestown could move back to the Eastern Dakota Association because of new Class A schools out west, or a new format for Class A athletics may occur.

He says he’d like to see a study happen soon about the future of Class A athletics.

In other news, Toso said at Monday’s school board meeting that the school is currently in a holding pattern regarding the hiring of a new head football coach. He said they have several in-house applicants, but are waiting to see if any more teacher openings occur, which could expand their pool of applicants because of the teaching/coaching combination.