Taxpayers in South Dakota’s Tri-Valley School District are fuming after board members approved the construction of a new $10 million school in an “immoral” video meeting amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Tri-Valley school board last month voted 3-2 in a meeting conducted through Zoom to build a kindergarten-only school in Crooks, several miles from the current location in Colton, the Argus Leader reports.

MORE NEWS: From Classroom to Consulate Chef: Culinary Student Lands Dream Job at U.S. Embassy in Paris

But outraged taxpayers are circulating a petition demanding that the board put the decision to a local vote, arguing the vote last month was simply a way to circumvent two different bond proposals already rejected by voters.

“We as a majority have said twice we do not want the location,” parent Kathleen Puttmann told the news site. “We want the existing.”

Residents most recently rejected a $15.6 million bond proposal in December to build a kindergarten through fourth grade school in Crooks, the second in recent years. District officials and board members have struggled to accommodate a growing student population in recent years, and the board weighed five options before the vote to use capital outlay funding for a new kindergarten building in Crooks.

“We’re maxed out. We’re busting at the seams,” Lodmel told the Argus Leader.

“Obviously, a bond would have been a much better option for the school district, but I think our board just felt like they had to do something,” he said. “There was a conversation that, considering the pandemic, it was probably not the best time to go to a bond vote and raise taxes.”

Parents and taxpayers argue it wasn’t a good time to sneak through a vote on a multi-million dollar project, either.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

“It may not be illegal, but it sure as hell is immoral,” resident Roger Burgers said. “…It’s just too big of a deal just to have a handful of people come up with it.”

Puttmann contacted the South Dakota Secretary of State to pursue options for overturning the decision, but quickly learned there’s no recourse for capital outlay certificates issued at or below 1.5% of the district’s taxable property value.

Lodmel argued that locals who opposed the new school could have logged in to the Zoom board meeting and signed up to speak, but only three people did. Others wrote letters to the district, including at least a few urging the board to vote against or reconsider the school in Crooks, according to the news site.

“Continued denial of repeatedly failed votes is nothing short of self-serving and an extremely obvious way of forcing your own will upon the public,” resident Megan Kindelspire wrote.

Another parent, Jessica Sargent, described the decision as “shady.”

Opponents are now gathering signatures in an attempt to force the board to reconsider, and they’re planning to meet with the South Dakota Department of Education to ensure their voices are heard.

“I as well as a lot of the community believe that what they listed on the agenda did not cause for alarm for anybody to log into that Zoom or Google or whatever application it was for that teleconference,” Puttmann said.