Highs and lows of student achievement reported to Ten Sleep board

TEN SLEEP — New Ten Sleep school board members Sarah Anderson and Erin Blutt were sworn in and Chairman Jared Lyman was re-elected as chairman during Monday’s regular school board.

The meeting, held in person and via Zoom, began with the swearing in of the new board members and election of officers with Lyman remaining as chairman, Megan Truman as vice chair, Anderson as treasurer and Mona Sindelar re-elected as clerk. Blutt was appointed as the BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) and Sindelar was reappointed as the recreation board member.

After recognizing the November and December students of the month — Cachelynn Forshee, Kruze Forshee and Brian Rice from November; and Trenton Wenzel, Cameron Carter and Lindsey Holiday from December, Principal Levi Collins also discussed some academic struggles.

He said, “We had an abnormally high number of students on the at or near failing list. Very uncommon for us. The reasons why are not entirely clear at this point. One thing that is clear is that this is kind of a common trend happening around the nation, most likely due to pandemic-related issues.”

He said they are looking at a number of factors including stress.

He said they had 25 of 58 students on the at or near failing list and the staff met to figure out a way to address the needs of the students, while at the same time offering enrichment for those students who had been staying on task.

He said they came up with a plan to create some academic recovery and enrichment days. The teachers, he said, for the most part came up with the enrichment activities that were then approved by Collins. One activity for Adrienne Forshee’s students was to build Pop-Tart houses.

Collins said they noticed the trend prior to the school moving to Tier 2 and students in grades 6-12 going online. The move, he noted, “could have exacerbated the problem with some students falling further behind.

He said they had one academic recovery and enrichment day right before Thanksgiving and another this past Friday, Dec. 11. After the first day, he said the number of students dropped from 25 to 15. With the most recent day Friday, the staff has not had a chance to evaluate the change in the students by Monday’s board meeting.

He noted, however, of the 15 that were still on the at or near failing list the majority were with 5 percentage points of being completely off of that list.

Collins said it is an issue they will continue to monitor.

WATCHING WINTER SPORTS

Activities Director Sarah Novak reported to the board the new plan for those attending girls and boys basketball games to fall in line with the most recent state indoor gathering guidelines limiting the number of people to 100.

She said starting with Tuesday’s games, 100 tickets will be allotted for each game with 60 tickets provided for home fans including parents and 40 tickets provided to the opponent to distribute.

She said they will continue to evaluate the ticket system on how it is working and it may not be used for the entire season.

The district is also purchasing a license that will allow anyone to watch games online for free. This would only apply to Ten Sleep home games. They are seeking approval to use CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act funding for the $3,000 purchase.

The governor’s health orders are continued through Jan. 8.

CARES FUNDING

District Business Manager Connie Gay reported on the second round of CARES Act funding. The district has received $250,186 total in the first and second rounds. The funding has gone toward technology, personal protection equipment and nutrition.

She said they are awaiting approval from the governor’s office on a few items that they would like to use the funding for including a meeting management software program BoardDocs.

The board approved a motion to purchase up to three years of BoardDocs software contingent upon the funding being approved by the state with the CARES Act funding. BoardDocs, a Diligent Brand, is an “intuitive paperless meeting management software,” according to its website.

District Administrative Assistant Neysha Lyman said several other districts currently use the software management program.

The City of Worland has also been using the program for the past few years.

Gay said they are also using some of the technology funding to set up a parking lot/outside WiFi to be used by students. She said this was a push from the governor’s office and Wyoming Department of Education to assist students who may not have internet at home but could access the internet at school during non-school hours.

She said the funding was just received so the project will not be completed until the first of 2021.

In other business at Monday’s meeting the board:

•Approved a gift of $25 in Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber Bucks for each staff member.

•Set the meetings for next year as the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. in the school cafeteria.

•Approved annual depository designations of Pinnacle Bank and Wyoming Government Investment Fund.

•Heard in Superintendent Jimmy Phelps’ report that Ten Sleep has purchased six additional folding lunchroom tables. He said Basin was auctioning off some of their old tables they did not need since new ones were purchased for their new school. Phelps said Principal Collins did the bidding for the district and was able to get the tables inexpensively.

The additional tables, Phelps said, will allow the district the ability to clear the lunchroom every day so that the room can be used for basketball practice.