Party rule, calendar bring discussion by District One board

The regular school board meeting for Big Horn County School District No. 1 was held Thursday, March 14, in Cowley. An executive session was held at 6:30 p.m. to discuss personnel and legal issues before the regular session was called to order by chairman Josh Bassett.
The agenda and consent agenda were approved unanimously. The consent agenda included the minutes for the February 8 regular school board meeting, warrants written from February 8 to March 14 and staff resignations and transfers.
Resignations are as follows: Elementary teacher Crystal Nelson, paraprofessionals Mesa Matthews and Brandon Kite, coaches Doug Arnold and Cassidy Winland and Transportation Director Tuffy Brost. The transfer of Pat Winland to District Literacy Coach and one termination completed the agenda.
    Exemplary employees were recognized by the principal of each school and given a small gift from board members. Paige Bacon was recognized by Shannon Siebert, principal of Wyoming Connection Academy. Bacon holds art sessions each month with all grades while collaborating the projects with curriculum content and community and state events such as Wyoming Game and Fish and Festival of Trees. She is also participating in Pearson’s Leadership Academy this year.
    Autumn Tempany, principal of Burlington Schools, recognized Shelby Moore. Moore is a special education paraprofessional working with middle school students. She volunteered to become the advisor for the newly created speech and debate team and spent countless hours supporting students in this new endeavor.
    Rocky Mountain Middle/High School principal Betsy Sammons recognized Geranne Rasmussen for her dedication to students in and out of the classroom. Rasmussen is seen at most events held at the high school and often volunteers.  She can be found line-judging, in the concessions stand and many places in-between. She is also the National Honor Society sponsor.
Eric Honeyman, principal of Rocky Mountain Elementary, recognized Soren Strom. Strom is committed to accommodating the needs of the elementary students he works with. He is patient in the way he handles challenging situations and uses his positive personality to foster strong relationships with students and staff.
Recognition was given to John Bernhisel for being inducted into the Wyoming High School Coaches Hall of Fame and to Cheryl Haslam as the 1A Conference Coach of the Year.
Rocky Mountain High School student recognitions were Charlee Welling, Parker Cook, Naomi McNiven, Levi Wardell and the RMHS girls basketball team – good sportsmanship; Cole Minchow and Bryce Haslam – all-conference boys basketball; Lafe Files – honorable mention all-conference boys basketball; Shelby Wambeke, MacKelle Moss and Lauren Bassett – all-conference girls basketball; Lauren Bassett – all-state girls basketball; Katie Badget – third place Informative State Speech and Debate (competes with the Lovell High School team).
Burlington High School student recognitions were Burlington Lady Huskies – third place state 1A girls basketball; Dalley Bassett, Selena Call, Naomi McNiven, Jessie Michaels and Breanne Walker – all-conference girls basketball; Jessie Michaels – conference player of the year girls basketball; Jess Michaels and Breanne Walker – all-state girls basketball; Kyle Winters – champion pole vault, 3A state record of 13-3 and 3A all-state indoor track; speech and debate team – third place overall 1A/2A State with individuals Aubbri Wagner – second in poetry, Jess Mendez – third in oratory, Dusti Schatz – second in informative and Kitzen Schatz – third in informative.
Chris Banks and Chris Townsend gave a presentation about Camp Invention, held annually for the last 15 years at the Rocky Mountain Elementary School. The camp is designed to heighten student problem solving abilities through teamwork, games and instruction. The curriculum is built from STEM subjects and engages the students in project-based learning. The five-day camp will be held the first week of June.
The focus for the district’s strategic framework has been “People.” Notes and gift cards have been given to employees in recognition of their talents.
Board members and administrators engaged in a discussion of their book study, “Wooden, A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court,” by Coach John Wooden with Steve Jamison. Some of the reflections and comments made about the book included the ideas that “we never fail if we try to do our very best; you must pay the price if you’re going to attain anything; and be the best YOU.”
The board reviewed the Personnel area under their Board Governance. In April, they will self-evaluate this area. Team updates were given for budget and finance, which will meet on March 26, and the 3 C’s, which discussed celebrating the board members’ work.
Spring break concerns
Hiedi Christensen presented concerns she had been given by parents and staff concerning spring break. Parents felt that they were unaware of spring break being moved away from Easter. School calendar magnets were not given out to parents this year, and perhaps that is one of the reasons. Christensen was requesting that another look be given to next year’s calendar.
It was decided that the decisions for next year’s calendar had been thoroughly discussed and would not be addressed again. Christensen requested that the public be more informed of the process that is used to build the yearly calendar and to be sure that they know their input is welcome for the 2025-26 calendar.
Superintendent Matt Davidson reported on the bills that will affect schools from the legislative session. School policies will need to be amended if the governor signs a few of the current bills on his desk. He also informed board members about a PLC workshop for boards on April 8 and 9 being hosted by Hot Springs County.
Richard Parker reviewed the financial report with the board, and it was approved unanimously.
The board approved requests for attendance by non-resident students for Wyoming Connections Academy and out-of-district students for Big Horn School District No. 1.
The valedictorians and salutatorians for each high school were approved. Rocky Mountain valedictorians are Noah Bisby and Kaitlyn Christensen, and salutatorians are Gwynff Bodtke and MacKelle Moss. Valedictorians for Burlington are Rebecca Bullinger, Joey Chatwin, Jessie Michaels and Dusti Schatz, and salutatorian is Jordan Michaels.
Facility director Kenny May made a request that the water cannon, which is no longer being used on the football field, be donated to the Foster Gulch Golf Course. There was a discussion concerning the donation. It was decided that the golf course offers its facilities to the golf team and cross-country team, and the board voted unanimously to donate the water cannon to the golf course.
Party rule mulled
First reading of three policies was the next item on the agenda. The first, GCOC, Resignation of Professional Staff, was approved unanimously. Policy JJIE, Substance Abuse Testing Policy, provoked a lively discussion. Concerns from David Banks were expressed about the party rule in the policy. He contended that the party rule punishes students who are following the rules.
After much debate and discussion, the policy was amended to exclude the party rule with Bassett, Boardman, Hatch and Banks voting in favor and Christensen and Hamilton voting against. It was decided that the policy committee would revisit the policy prior to second reading. The final policy, Form JJIE-E5, Substance Abuse Community Service Plan, was approved unanimously.
Policies approved for adoption at second reading were: ACE-R Section 504 Due Process Procedures, BBBC Board member Resignation, BEDF Voting Method, BGB Policy Adoption, CHCA Handbooks and Directives, EFA Health and Wellness Plan, and KFA Public Conduct on School Property.
New personnel presented were all approved. Erica Griffin was hired to teach art at Rocky Mountain Middle/High School. The district positions for transportation director will be filled by Terry Haslam and food services director by Annette Moss. New route driver for Cowley will be Troy Ostby and for Burlington, Elaine Flores. For Burlington, Susan Neves will finish the ’23-24 school year as K-12 music/choir director, and Karen McKay will fill the music position next year. Janelle McBride will be the new Burlington head cook. Coaches for Burlington will be filled as follows: Mike Aagard, high school assistant track; Kirby Winland and Katie Berry, middle school assistant track.