Ten Sleep school set to hold reopening discussion July 24

TEN SLEEP – The Ten Sleep School Board will gain public input as they begin to make plans for getting back to school next month.

During Monday’s regular board meeting, District Superintendent Jimmy Phelps and Principal Levi Collins discussed with the board their intentions to hold a special meeting, which was approved for Friday, July 17, via Zoom on Friday, July 17, to discuss the current reopening plan for the district. The district intends to present a plan to the public and gather input prior to submitting their plan to the Wyoming Department of Education and Wyoming Department of Health on Aug. 3 for approval.

The 2020-21 school year is set to begin on Wednesday, Aug. 19. Ten Sleep School has not officially been open since March 17 due to COVID-19. Schools statewide are expected to open with contingency plans for closing again should an outbreak occur at any point.

Washakie County School District No. 1 discussed its plan on Wednesday night, read more in next week’s edition of the Northern Wyoming News.

The budget for the new fiscal year was approved (see related story), along with the Ten Sleep Recreation Board’s budget, which the school district needed to approve as the school board is the rec board’s governing body. A representative from the recreation board informed the school board that they are just planning to maintain facilities such as the splash pad and the ice rink this year, and will try to save money for a larger project in the coming years.

The school board approved a request from Phelps and Collins to go to bid to seek an owner’s representative to help represent the board’s interests in the design of a new school should they receive the funding from the state to begin designing the school.

An owner’s representative is someone who advises the owner to ensure that the owner’s needs are met and the project comes in on time and under budget. Phelps and Collins stressed the importance of hiring one as soon as the design phase begins after talking to other schools around the state who wished they had hired one right away in the design and building process.

OTHER BUSINESS

Four policies introduced last month were approved on second reading. Policy 5.1 changing the date by which a child must attain the age of 5 to Aug. 1 from Sept. 15 to align with House Bill 0174 (HB0174). According to HB0174, the board of trustees must also establish a process to approve or deny requests to assess a pupil’s maturity level, if a request is approved then the child may register for kindergarten in a year the child attains 5 years of age before Sept. 15.

Policy 5.5 adds computer science and clarifies the requirement of both Wyoming and U.S. government courses as graduation requirements.

Policies 5.27 and 6.11 clarify language about nicotine and tobacco products on grounds and for students whom are participated in activities.

Bylaw Article XII regarding special meetings was approved on first reading to align with state statutes. The current article states that special meetings notice should be posted for at least three days prior to the meeting, but the state statute states they must only post an eight-hour notice. Phelps said that this will give the board more flexibility on when they can hold special meetings.

Bylaw Article XIV pertaining to emergency and adjourned meetings was approved on first reading to align with state statute, that will add the ability to hold emergency meetings on weekends or holidays as it is not clearly stated in the district’s current policy. Another change to the policy will change the article to say just “Emergency meetings” and not “Emergency and adjourned meetings.”

Policy 3.27 regarding the re-election of teachers will change language to state “on or before” the April board meeting for when the board shall receive recommendations of the superintendent for faculty elections. A language change to strike the word new from new contracts in paragraph two was approved as part of this change to prevent confusion.

Kathy Lecheminant had her letter of resignation approved, with Wade Moore being approved to replace her as an elementary teacher.

Nurse Colleen Holiday had her letter of resignation approved with no immediate rehiring for her position.

Corey Price was approved to be an assistant middle school football coach, Kate Decker was approved for assistant high school volleyball coach, Sawyer Lyman was approved as the middle school volleyball coach and Tessia Greet was approved as the head middle school girls basketball coach.

Positions that are still vacant for coaching are high school football head coach, along with assistants for middle school volleyball, girls basketball and boys basketball and a middle school track coach.

The board approved to rent teacherages (staff housing) out to non-staff on contracts that would allow for the district to move a teacher in should they need housing in Ten Sleep and the housing was occupied by a non-staff member.

Third-grade teacher Nicki Erickson came before the board to inform them that the school received a Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) grant for just under $50,000. Erickson informed the board that they intend to spend the funds on more technology for a STEM lab such as more Chromebooks, a 3D printer and other technologies. Erickson has asked to hopefully place the lab in the soon-to-be-vacated art room in January 2021, and to hopefully start a robotics team in the future at the high school level.

Boyd Whitlock informed the board that they received initial approval for a Homeland Security grant, but would need final federal approval and funding should arrive in September. The grant will help upgrade fiber in the buildings and upgrade security.

The board entered into executive session to discuss personnel.