New school design begins now for Ten Sleep; no masks as school year starts

TEN SLEEP – Ten Sleep School is set to begin their designs for a new school and discussed preparations for the design phase of the building during the Washakie County School District (WCSD) No. 2 Board of Trustees meeting on Monday, Aug. 9.

WCSD No. 2 Superintendent Jimmy Phelps began by giving an overview of the district’s plans for the next couple of months, beginning with a recommendation for an owner’s representative expected to be presented to the board during the September board meeting.

An owner’s representative will act at the direction of the district and ensure that in the design and construction phases that the interests of the district are reflected in the new school.

After approving an owner’s representative in September, Phelps said that there is a plan to bring a recommendation for a design architect in October, and design beginning in November.

The district was approved for a budget of $2.5 million from the Wyoming State Legislature during the most recent legislative session. Phelps said that he anticipates the design phase lasting a year.

In the new building there will be up to 64,500 square feet allowed for the school, based upon the current enrollment numbers.

Due to the school already having a vocational building as an enhancement, there will be 5,000 feet that will not need to be included in the design phase. Phelps and the board discussed that they need to make a decision on what to do with that space as it can continue to be used as classrooms or can be used as an area for administrative offices.

COVID-19

The board determined that masks this upcoming school year would be optional along with no social distancing requirements.

Despite there being no mask requirement, Phelps said that there will still be sanitary practices as well as temperatures of students still being taken at the beginning of the day.

Phelps also said that there will continue to be a limited number of outside entities allowed into the building during the school day.

“School will essentially begin how it ended last year,” Phelps said.

The board approved an exception to the staff sick leave policy, which allows for accumulated sick leave for COVID-19 symptoms. This exception is an extension of the approved exception from the 2020-21 school year.

OTHER BUSINESS

Policy 3.29 regarding substitute teachers and redefining the pay scale for substitutes taking over a position long-term was passed on second reading with no changes. That change becomes official as WCSD No. 2 only requires two readings before a policy becomes effective.

The board approved the resignation of Sawyer Lyman as the middle school volleyball coach. The board approved Chastidy Dykstra as the new middle school head coach and Desiree Egger as an assistant.