Farewell given to Superintendent Hazen at school board meeting

To begin the June school board meeting of Big Horn County School District No. 2, the board members took the opportunity to bid farewell to Superintendent Doug Hazen.

“At his final board meeting, we wanted to thank Mr. Hazen for leading our district with wisdom, heart and a fun-loving demeanor,” chairman Stacy Bair said during the June 9 meeting. “He has been a trusted leader and truly loved by staff and school board members, past and present, and the entire community.”

Bair said that the board will miss his easy-going style and his ability to keep things moving. She also added that the board has appreciated the personal sacrifices that he has made to make some hard but correct decisions along the way.

After receiving some parting gifts, Hazen said that it has been his pleasure to serve the district and that he has loved his time here and will forever be an advocate for Lovell schools.

MONTHLY FOCUS, REPORTS

For the June monthly focus, the board discussed options on how to conduct their board retreat. Options included quarterly dinner work sessions, overnight retreats, bringing in trainers locally or national conferences.

They discussed which opportunities provided the best format for all board members to participate and the content that should be focused on. The board decided to focus on Wyoming School Boards Association trainings and committing to quarterly trainings.

Lane Black-Partridge then provided a financial report about the preliminary budget that is being prepared for the July budget hearing. Salary schedules were also brought up indicating that there was a 3% raise across the board.

The board found itself to be compliant regarding labor relations and evaluation of major decisions made in the 2024-25 school year.

The major decisions from the past school year highlighted were: approval of the facility support dog, authorization of LHS track resurfacing, changing LMS from Mustangs to Bulldogs, approving of the gym sound system, LHS HVAC repair project, policy revisions and adoptions and the re-adoption of curriculum for health, biology and mathematics.

In the administration report, Hazen presented on significant changes in the transportation department, including the addition of policies and background checks of all drivers.

Some of the statistics provided about the district’s transportation during the 2024-25 school year were: 63,900 route miles; 57,209 activity trip miles; 7,676 field trip miles; 19 trips out of state under 150 miles totaling 1,615 miles; two trips out of state over 150 miles totaling 977.

During the facilities report, the board welcomed Kyle Fluty as the new maintenance director to replace Todd Wilder and estimates and ideas for the swimming pool and what direction needs to be taken regarding that area.

“If we got the pool for free tomorrow and wanted to turn it into a multi-use facility, the general estimate was about 4.5 million dollars,” Hazen reported. “We don’t have that. We are waiting to see what the town council decides to determine the direction of the pool.”

OLD AND NEW BUSINESS

For old business, the board voted to approve the preliminary budget for the 2025 fiscal year on second reading.

In new business, motions were made to approve the following: WHSAA authorization, district salary schedules, Black-Partridge as district representative to the SRRP board, removal of policies DKC-E1, DKC-E2 and DKC-R on the first of two readings, amending policy IHBG and updated board committee assignments for 2025-26.

The board also approved the bid from Pavement Maintenance Inc. for the BGH2 parking lot maintenance project and to approve the competitive quote from CPU for the computer replacement project.

RESIGNATIONS AND HIRES

Resignations were accepted of Kameryn Allphin as summer grounds crew worker and Elizabeth Gurrola as elementary paraprofessional.

Motions were made and approved for the hiring of Adam Craw as a new LHS mathematics teacher and Kyle Fluty as district maintenance director.

Dusti Tryon was transferred from route bus driver to activity bus driver, Chris Edwards was assigned as the 8^th grade girls head basketball coach and Dane Robertson was assigned as 8^th grade boys assistant basketball coach.

The board members did not require an executive session, and the meeting was adjourned at 7:57 p.m. The next board meeting will be held on Monday, July 14, at 7 p.m.