Alternative school already making a difference

During the Aug. 26 meeting of the Washakie County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees, staff and students representing Whitehawk Academy, the district’s new alternative high school, voiced excitement about the new school.

Superintendent Tawn Argeris reported that the school opened its doors this fall to 16 students of junior and senior standing. It employs one full-time teacher, one part-time teacher, a full-time paraeducator and two counselors that alternate between the alternative school and Worland High School. The school is in the basement of the Educational Resource Center building on North 15th Street.

Whitehawk Academy was started with the goal of offering students who struggled in a traditional school setting a new environment to improve their chances of graduating, and it seems that it is off to a good start.

Five of the 16 students volunteered to represent the alternative school at the meeting, sharing about what the school is doing for their lives. Three of the students spoke, and they all shared that they didn’t enjoy going to school until they started this year at Whitehawk Academy. They said that the different environment and being part of something new and personal has changed how they view school, and they have been excited to go.

Counselor Katie Kirby presented that up until two cases of sick students who were asked to stay home last week, attendance was 100%; this is among a demographic of students that were surveyed and a majority of them skipped school within the first week last year.

One student told the school board members, “We’re very grateful for the new opportunities that Whitehawk Academy has given us; it has given us a new reason to love learning.”

OUT-OF-STATE TRIPS

A long list of out-of-state trips came up for approval during the meeting, and a motion to approve them was put forward and seconded, but was followed by a lengthy discussion begun by board member Brett Argeris. He said, “I want to begin by saying that we don’t want to deprive students of any opportunities, but I think we need to have some criteria for some of these trips … We need to establish a basis.”

After hearing arguments from all seven board members, they all seemed to agree that it would be to their benefit to have things such as a list of chaperones, an itinerary and an estimate of costs to accompany any out-of-state trip requests.

An argument that Argeris and Terri Logan brought forward was the specific issue of approving distant trips requested for activity competitions. Some examples that were requested during the meeting are National Forensics in Des Moines, Iowa; National FFA in Indianapolis, Indiana; and a wrestling tournament in Pennsylvania.

Argeris said, “I think they are a great opportunity, but I think there needs to be an incentive of rewarding success.”

He made an example of his time in Worland High School’s wrestling program, when the team had several wrestlers who had collegiate wrestling prospects. He stated that back then, it was a big deal for them to get to go to the regional tournament in Spearfish, South Dakota, that has become an annual meet for the team ever since.

He felt that it was a concern to allow for multiple meets of this size in one season, saying it would be more appropriate if it looked like requesting the Spearfish tournament this year and then if they have success with returning wrestlers at that tournament, requesting the Pennsylvania tournament next year.

Since paying for such distant trips becomes the responsibility of the respective programs to fundraise the bulk of their expenses, several board members expressed that they had no issue with approving them, saying that they are the kind of experiences that students look forward to participating in, motivating them to participate in activities and giving them memories to cherish afterwards.

Although Argeris stated that he would prefer to table the approvals for a later meeting to give the board more time to think about their approval process, Chairman David Tommerup reminded the board that a motion was on the floor, and moved to vote.

The vote passed with six in favor with Logan voting against.

CELL PHONES IN SCHOOL

Amidst a nationwide push to ban student cell phones in public schools, the Worland school board took some time to discuss whether their current policy was adequate to address this ever-evolving issue.

After a discussion involving board members sharing their thoughts and administrators sharing their experiences, the board members seemed hesitant to jump to a decision. Worland High School Principal Bruce Miller stated that there was a marked increase in classroom productivity after previously installing a policy to ban phone use in classrooms, but he worried that the logistics of enforcing a school-wide ban on phones would be an issue.

Students currently have access to phones during passing periods and at lunch time, and administrators in the meeting were concerned that there would be pushback from students and parents alike if they were banned altogether.

The discussion didn’t result in a decision on the issue, but Superintendent Tawn Argeris said whatever choice the board made, it would be a process that involved getting input from the community to see what feedback family members of Worland students provided.

This issue changes over time as phones get more capabilities and more smart devices are introduced, so Tommerup suggested that this topic could become an annually discussed matter of policy.

STAFF

The following classified staff were approved to work in the district:

Kimberly Garcia, part time cook at West Side; Ariel Miller, full-time special education paraeducator at South Side; Stephanee Rios, part-time speech language paraeducator; David Wood, part-time high school career and technical education paraeducator.

The following extra duty assignments were approved: Andee Bilodeau and Brenna Abel, high school student council sponsors.

COACHES

The following high school coaches were approved: Kim Accurso, high school cheerleading; Stephen Harris, high school assistant football coach; Tanner Hart, high school assistant boys basketball coach.

The following middle school coaches were approved: David Villa, head eighth grade volleyball coach; Ashley Schriber, assistant eighth grade volleyball coach; Robyn Jones, head seventh grade volleyball coach; Raelynn Hofmann, assistant seventh grade volleyball coach; Tanner Hart, head seventh grade girls basketball coach; Beau Clark, eighth grade football coach.