More concrete numbers asked for softball, stipend approved

WORLAND – The Worland school board met on Monday night to discuss the numbers surrounding the future of softball in Worland, and approved a one-time stipend for classified and certified staff in the district.

Worland High School Activities Director Mark Mortimer brought forth an estimate for the initial costs to support a softball team, as well as a list of 23 girls that would be interested in playing in the initial season from Worland and the Basin/Greybull area, but School Board Clerk Terri Logan and trustee Sarah Lungren expressed concerns with the vague funding numbers that were brought forth initially in the meeting.

Both Logan and Lungren expressed concern with a trend that has seen a constant decrease in enrollment in Washakie County School District No. 1, and believed that this may affect the participation in the sport. Logan also expressed concern as a concrete number was not brought forth in the initial discussion at the meeting.

Mortimer did present a number during his board report at the end of the school board meeting of around $22,000 to initially start a girls fastpitch softball team, with it costing around $14,000 to $15,000 to keep the team running past that, but no discussion was had by the board regarding those statistics as it would take a little more time for Mortimer to get exact numbers.

A decision was made earlier this month at the Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) Board of Directors meeting on Oct. 1 to unanimously approve softball on first reading as a sanctioned sport in Wyoming starting in spring 2021. Eleven other schools have approved it as a sanctioned sport, and if Worland, which was approved by the school district as a club sport only, does not decide to approve it as a sanctioned sport, it will not be able to compete against these teams for a state championship.

It was determined that the board most likely would not take action at the next school board meeting in November. However, a decision likely will need to come before next fall in order for Worland to be scheduled in to the first season.

Earlier in the meeting on Monday, a one-time stipend was approved by the school board to be dispersed to classified and certified staff in the district in November just in time for the holidays. The stipend that was approved will give certified district staff a bonus of $1,600 and classified staff a bonus of $1,000.

Superintendent David Nicholas and a group of other administrators within the district attended the TAC*ONE training in Ten Sleep on Oct. 15, and they reported to the board that they believed staff should be more informed on how to handle a shooting situation if it were to ever happen in the district.

Nicholas believed that the district should consider bringing in TAC*ONE themselves to help students and teachers alike, but the board did not discuss or approve any action on bringing in the consulting group to help the district.

OTHER BUSINESS

A change to district policy 2.30, the Homeless Children Policy was recommended Monday. The change would be in the language to be a family in transition, rather than homeless as it is seen as a term that does not emit hope. This is a change that has been made at the federal level and is making its way to district levels. The change in the policy was not approved as it was on the agenda as a discussion item only, but should be accepted in November.

The Raptor system has been installed in every school, and Nicholas intends for it to be operational prior to Thanksgiving, but they are ironing out policies and details regarding the use of the system.

The board approved the resignation for retirement for Kermit Micheel, psychology technician. He has worked for the district for 40 years, and submitted his resignation to the board to retire on Dec. 30 in order to receive the full benefits of his retirement.

Business Manager Jack Stott was approached by Jonathon Williams, a district patron, about the possibility of an opportunity for the district to place a sign around Big Horn Ave and 15th Street, to announce district activities in order to help spread the word about different opportunities in the district and sell advertising. The sign would also be allowed to be used over the summer to possibly bring in a little extra income for the district, but the sign was strictly an idea only at this time. Is it unknown if the land is available at this time and regulations must be looked in to for the sign.

Stott did report that the new scoreboard that was approved for the pool has arrived, and the pool will be closed for the necessary repairs and installing starting on Nov. 8, and lasting at least the entire following week.

Stott also reported that the auditors are nearly done with the review of the district, and that report should be presented at next month’s meeting.

Vice President David Tommerup brought forth the idea of turning the Worland High School bowling group into a club, in order to allow the students to spread the word about their organization, and allow students the opportunity to earn an excused absence if they were to make it to a large event to represent the school.

Tommerup was asked to bring more information regarding the length of the bowling season to the next meeting, but did inform the board that the club would not cost the district any money at this time.

The school board will be preparing to present at the annual school board conference in Casper on Nov. 20-22 regarding graduation rate, dropout rate and attendance in Worland schools.

Initial calendar options for the 2020-2021 school year were provided to board members, with no further discussion coming from the subject.

Each school reported that attendance was high for parent-teacher conferences with over 95% coming to all the elementary and middle schools, and the high school saw an increase of over 10% attendance to their conferences, with 65% of parents attending.

Hannah Wray was approved as a part-time paraeducator at West Side Elementary, and Melanie Dedic was approved as a full-time paraeducator at South Side Elementary.

Justin Howe was approved as an assistant boys swimming coach, and Rob Woffinden was approved as an assistant outdoor track coach.

The entire girls’ volleyball team received a sportsmanship award for their efforts during the Lyman Volleyball Duels on Oct. 11-12.