Ten Sleep school board mulls staff leave policies

Staff leave policies were a prominent topic once again at the Sept. 9 meeting of the Washakie County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees meeting.

This time, the district’s three staff personal leave policies — one each for certified staff, classified staff and the principal — were discussed with the goal of aligning their language. A major discrepancy discussed was in the principal’s policy, which does not include reimbursement for personal days that are not used while the other two do.

Board member Jared Lyman also noted that the policies do not have explicit language on how sick leave is to be used — a major topic of discussion ever since IT Manager Boyd Whitlock encountered a situation last year where he was involved in an accident that required an extended leave, and he was forced to use personal days rather than sick days for his time off.

Whitlock was present at the meeting advocating for an amendment to policy that would avoid this situation in the future. Superintendent Annie Griffin noted, however, that she had asked for feedback from district staff regarding leave policy and received no feedback. She voiced that she struggled to justify a change to the overall policy that would affect all staff when only one member advocated a change.

Several board members remarked on the fact that they had spent hours going over six different policies for staff leave over the last few months, saying that it would be much easier to scrap the existing policy and replace it with a single paid time off policy that would be universal among all staff.

Whitlock expressed that he did not advocate for such a drastic change; he believed that existing policy could be amended to alleviate his issue.

The board approved the trio of personal leave policies on first reading, with proposed changes that would at the very least make them more consistent with one another. Further amendments are expected in coming meetings.

OTHER POLICY

Policy 7.07, Lettering Policy was introduced, which would provide means for Ten Sleep high school students to letter in art and music activities. With input from art teacher Shara Mills and music teacher Grace Kienzle, the policy had specific language for students to letter in their respective programs.

Board members supported the policy, but voiced concern that having such stringent guidelines would be to their detriment in the future if the programs requirements to letter were to shift. They advocated for a more general policy that would leave lettering requirements to the discretion of the program director, with approval from the principal.

Policy 8.08, School Owned Vehicles had proposed amendments that would create a schedule of updating staff driving records every three years, and require staff self-reporting violations that would render them ineligible to drive school vehicles. The policy also allows the superintendent to review driving records at any time at their own discretion.

These policies were both approved on first reading.

Policy 5.21, Proposed Attendance Regulation was approved on second reading, with a proposed amendment that would relax existing policy that would automatically trigger a student failing a class after 10 absences.

The policy was once again approved with approvals from all members but Jared Lyman.

Policy 5.35, Student Insurance was voted to be removed from district policy upon the recommendation of district legal advisors. This insurance would assist in covering medical costs for student injuries received on school grounds. In the midst of rising insurance premiums, this policy saw a substantial hike, and it was noted that most school districts do not have such insurance.

SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

Griffin stated that the generator for the new school and an accompanying propane tank had been installed. She said that work on some logistics was ongoing, such as determining which rooms would receive sliding glass doors versus solid doors.

She noted that the new school had a total footprint of 53,258 square feet compared to the existing school’s 51,076 square feet.

Griffin said that a portion of the district’s major maintenance fund had been used to remodel the bathroom in one of the district’s two teacherages. She said, “It was in need of repair and is definitely a more livable improvement. I will be working with Mr. [Aaron] Keyes to determine priorities and begin chipping away at improvements so they remain assets to the district.”

EL PROGRAM

Griffin said that the district was looking to contract someone to work remotely as an English Language Learning consultant, translator and instructor for the district, as the search for a candidate to work in these capacities in-person has not resulted in a hire yet.

She added that district paraeducator Crystal Cooper would be working alongside them as a para-professional, assisting students in-person.