Worland school board recognizes staff and students

There was no shortage of award-winners or recognitions at the May 22 meeting of the Washakie County School District No. 1 board of trustees.

The meeting began by recognizing Paul Ramos as the recipient of the Bell Ringer Award. This award is given annually to a person who gives outstanding contributions to the district behind the scenes. Ramos, who was the keynote speaker of the 2021 graduation ceremony, never hesitates to try and make a difference in the lives of students at the high school.

Soon after, West Side teacher Andrea Cooley was given the Teacher of the Year Award. Cooley has notably been heavily involved both in and out of the classroom exposing students to a wide range of subjects, allowing them hands-on experience in fields ranging from science and technology to agriculture.

Following the main awards, five retirees were recognized for their combined 121 years of education in Worland schools.Randy Durr had 15 years, Stacy Fronk had 21 years, Jennifer Zimmer had 26 years, Tammy Montoya had 28 years and Michelle Doyle had 31 years.

Student

recognitions

Thirty-two middle school students were recognized for completing CPR certification training.

Policy

Policy 2.1 – Attendance Requirements and Policy 2.50 – Graduation Requirements were both approved on first reading. These policies have been discussed in recent board meetings and have now appeared on the agenda to be decided upon. The two policies were formerly one, but have been split up for the sake of clarifying that they are different.

Staffing

The following staff will resign effective the end of the contract year:

Brooklyn Sweet, Karie Keller and Amanda Hoefs.

The following certified staff were hired:

Maggie Ryan, kindergarten teacher at East Side.

Jenae Hudson, third grade teacher at South Side.

Josh Keller, auto mechanics teacher at the high school.

Phillip Nelson was hired as a full time para-educator at the high school.

Alisa Hughes was hired as the practice coach for middle school track.

The following extra duties were assigned for the 2023-24 school year:

Brian Aagard, SkillsUSA

Jeana Croft, FCCLA

Amy Lamm, FBLA

Tim McGee, National Honor Society

Grace Godfrey, FFA

Connor Dennis, vocal music, band assistant, spring play and middle school drama

Rick Dorn, head forensics coach, fall play and drama festival

Emily Meyers, assistant forensics coach

Naomi Durrant, spring play

Sarah Staley, yearbook

Andee Bilodeau, W-Club

Christy Vickers, head of Student Council

Nickie Lloyd, cheerleading head coach

Angela Richardson, middle school yearbook

Debbie Keller, middle school Student Council

Ben Hofmann, middle school Student Council

Extra duties that still have openings are band, flag supervisor, athletic trainer and cheerleading assistant coach.

Business report

Chief Operations Officer Charlie Cauffman announced that as of the Washakie County Commissioners meeting on May 16, an agreement was reached to dissolve the Worland Aquatic Center Joint Powers Board, which will give the school district sole responsibility for the Worland Aquatic Center effective June 30.

He said “It’s been a hard process, and we’ve got a lot of work to do yet” as school staff work to ensure the transition goes smoothly.

Cauffman said that no bids had been received for the high school bathroom project. He said that they will open up bidding on the project later for a longer window.