New officers elected for Ten Sleep school board

TEN SLEEP — The Washakie County School District No. 2 Board elected new officers at the Dec. 13 meeting with Erin Blutt elected chairman, replacing Jared Lyman.

Bill Murphy was elected vice chairman, Sarah Anderson was elected treasurer and recreation board representative. Mona Sindelar was elected clerk.

Blutt will also serve as the district’s representative for the Northwest Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES).

Ten Sleep Principal Levi Collins, during an interview last week, said the board was notified of a Friday schedule change eliminating Exploration Friday and returning to the more traditional Red and Blue Friday which the school has had in previous years. The change will be made at the start of the semester that begins after the Christmas break.

Collins explained that this year they have started an advocacy period to make sure students are not falling behind, they also added an eighth period to provide alternative opportunities for students and Exploration Friday that provided collaborative teaching opportunities.

During a recent survey, Collins said there was overwhelming support for the eighth period but the district received mostly negative comments regarding Exploration Friday.

Red Fridays will be for classes 1-4 and Blue Fridays are for class times fifth through seventh with the extra advocacy period.

NEW SCHOOL UPDATE

Superintendent Jimmy Phelps provided a written update on the new school design. He said following the community meetings and committee meetings the architect firm, Arete, has prepared a draft Discovery Report, which has been disseminated to the chairpersons of each committee and to each board member. Arete was scheduled to return on Dec. 14 to meet with the Aesthetic Committee since they were unable to meet with them in November. They were also slated to meet with the Leadership Design Team. From those meetings they hope to finalize the Discovery Report.

He reported that the various committees have visited about nine different schools to get ideas on different aspects of the new building. There will be more visits taken over the next month.

Arete Design Group will return again on Jan. 10-11.  They will be meeting with all the groups again and presenting options for the floor plan and elevations. They will be asked to report to board at the Jan. 10 meeting. 

They have a Jan. 28 deadline for 10% completion of the design project.  From this 10% completion, Arete Design and the School Facilities Department can calculate the overall budget for the entire project. 

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business Dec. 13:

•Students of the month Isabelle Fox, Belle Starbuck and Riley Jackson were recognized. Josie Decker was recognized for her sportsmanship during a volleyball game in the fall.

The recognition came from the Wyoming High School Activities Association.

•The meetings for the next year were approved to follow the same time and place, 7 p.m. on the second Mondays of each month at the school.

•Use of school buses were approved for the annual President’s Day rec district trip to Meadowlark Ski Lodge.

•The board approved a holiday bonus of $25 in Worland-Ten Sleep Chamber of Commerce bucks for all staff and substitutes. Collins said since the substitutes were called on to give a little extra this year they were included in the bonus.

•The board approved Jimmy Phelps as the high school boys basketball head coach and Dave Egger as the assistant coach for this season.

•Collins said he reported that they are working on developing more rewards-based programs and more positive interactions between students and between staff and students.