Moving forward: New superintendent and new training at Wyoming Boys School

WORLAND - Wyoming Boys School (WBS) newly-named superintendent Dale Weber discussed changes in the past three years through the COVID-19 pandemic and budget cuts as well as some upcoming changes to the juvenile facility.

Weber said he was named the superintendent about a month ago, replacing Gary Gilmore who retired at the end of 2021. Weber, who had served as deputy superintendent since 2015, said he will look at filling that vacancy, but he has been getting comfortable in his new role and planning for some new training.

The WBS has contracted with the Center for Gender and Justice to provide a series of trauma-informed training for the staff. He said ideally they would like all staff on campus to go through the training but that is probably not realistic as the staff cannot be available all at once. They will train as many of the staff who have contact with the students as possible.

"This represents a big shift for us and moves us farther to best practices, what's being done nationally for best practices," Weber said.

He said the trauma-informed training is something the WBS has been considering for a while but with budget cuts and COVID restrictions they did not have the opportunity.

He said the training will be in three phases with the first and third phase via teleconference. The second phase is an on-site two-day training and then the Center will design a program specifically to fit the needs of the Wyoming Boys School.

"They come out here, they look out what we are, how we do things and design a program specific to us. I'm really excited about that one."

"We are a unique facility for juveniles. We are set up differently than most juvenile facilities," Weber said, noting some juvenile facilities at this level are set up more like a prison. The WBS has no large fences with razor wire, no armed guards.

There are no cells but rather each student has his own room and no two students are ever alone together.

They also have a staff who develop relationships with the students. "Our staff do an amazing job to help students," he said. "The people out here really care about the students that come here and they really want to make a difference."

The trauma-informed training will be a culture change for the school, and Weber said he realizes the impact will not be immediate.

He said the staff understands the need for the training and it became even more evident throughout the pandemic as students were mostly confined to their dormitories and unable to get out into the community for service projects or attend classes together at the Colter High School, the school at WBS.

Weber said, "When you coop teenaged boys up there is a lot of pent-up energy, frustration and anxieties."

"We saw a huge increase in aggressive behaviors from our students," he said, adding unfortunately it led to "a lot of restraints. It got pretty bad for a while for our staff. I can't say enough good things about our staff. The fact that they dealt with what they were dealing with here while dealing with everything else in regard to COVID. It amazes me the people we have out here."

He said through COVID and just in general they have seen an increase in mental health issues with the students who are court adjudicated to attend WBS. He said the Wyoming Boys School is not a psychiatric residential treatment facility and the staff is not equipped to handle students with "significant mental health issues."

Weber, who worked for five years with WBS students when he was a therapist at Cloud Peak Counseling said the trauma-informed training will give the staff a better position and put them on better footing to work with students.

Weber said the majority of students at WBS probably have some type of trauma in their past.

"It just made sense for us to start becoming more well-educated and better able to help people with trauma backgrounds," Weber said.

The training is scheduled to begin in June and should take about a year to complete.

BUDGET

Weber said the budget cuts from the state over the past few years has resulted in the loss of 12 positions, all through attrition. They have also closed one dormitory.

He said they have 41 students now and are staffed for 60, and certified for 75.

Weber said numbers have dropped for several reasons - COVID, agencies trying to keep juveniles in their own community.

PROGRAMS

Weber said with the pandemic restrictions gone across the state they are ramping up the off-campus programs they used to have and are looking to diversify the types of programs they can bring to the students.

He said they had a painting class earlier in the month, took a field trip the Washakie Museum to visit one of the traveling exhibits and they took a group ice fishing this year.

In the past, Weber said they used to have a baseball game with Kiwanis, shovel people's sidewalks and provide assistance to organizations who request it. He said they plan on resuming most, if not all of those activities and the staff like coming up with new ideas for the students.

He said those activities only enhances the overall changes they want to make at WBS and the kind of changes they want to see in the students.

"Any kind of growth you can help them experience is going to enhance whatever changes we are trying to make," Weber said.

"I am proud of what we do with these kids. We're proud of the environment we create for them. For some it's the safest environment they have ever lived in," Weber said.

Weber said there are several local organizations who are part of impacting the lives of the WBS students Kiwanis, the group of ladies who makes a homemade quilt for every student who leaves the school and the group who provided masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.