001to order. Um, if you'd please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. Welcome. I'm Don Brinkman, the principal here at Metal Ark Elementary School. I'm Melissa Davis, sixth grade teacher at Metallark, and my class will be doing a pledge. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A big thank you to those sixth graders at Meark and their teacher. Um, it's always a highlight for us, I think, to have that pledge led by kids out in our district. Um, Dr. Newton, do we have any adjustments to the agenda tonight? Madam Chair, there are no adjustments to this evening's agenda. Madam Chair, I move to adopt the agenda. I second. Okay,
002we have a motion and a second to adopt the agenda. All in favor say I. I. Opposed? Okay, we will adopt the agenda and we are going to kick off um our meeting tonight with recognition of staff and students for outstanding achievements. Um we're going to start that tonight by recognizing two students of the week. Um for the week of April 14th, um we'll be recognizing Race Barta from South High School. Race is a 12th grader and Race will be joined by principal Carrie Gentry and favorite teacher Chad Debrien. Sorry a lot. the first time I remember. But trustees, thank you so much for this opportunity to celebrate a wonderful student, Race Barta. Um, the a couple things that I have to say about race is when educators talk a lot about developing a citizen,
003and race is the absolute epitome of a strong citizen in our community. He dedicates his time not only to South High School and FBLA DECA and his academics. He's also motivated by helping his community through advocacy, through we the people and all the wonderful things that he does. And you're going to get a chance to get him um celebrated as well one more time today because he's also getting celebrated for FBA. But before I can say anything else about race, I'd like uh Mr. De Brian to come up here and say a few words. Hello. Thank you. Um, I've known Ray for several years now. I've had him in class virtually every year. Um, he that he's been in high school. And I'll kind of piggyback on what Miss Gentry said. He he understands what
004civic virtue means. And to me, that's probably the most important thing as it relates to being a citizen. So, he always puts the group ahead of his own personal needs. Um, he's a great student. You know, we wouldn't be here if he wasn't a good student, but he's an even better human being. um we we have a lot of things in common. We talk a lot about things that don't have anything to do with school, but he he's a wonderful person and I would imagine he's somebody that I will be in contact with uh when he becomes an adult. Do you want to come up here and have a few conversations about Mr. Debrien and South High School? Yeah, he's great. Uh just to start it off kind of I absolutely love being a student
005at South High School. I think kind of when looking at the opportunities given at South compared to like East and um Central, they're a little different, but out of all the high schools in Cheyenne and probably even the whole world, I probably would ultimately choose South. The teachers there are just so awesome. They're so nice, and the community surrounding me is what has built me into such a successful person, into a citizen, I guess. So, it's um it's just so awesome for the opportunities that I've been given, especially from Mr. DeBrien himself. I mean, it's it sucks that he's retiring this year because it it limits every other kid from having the same opportunities that I had. So, it's it's ultimately the South High School itself that has built me into the person that I
006am today. And I mean, I'm like no more than just thankful for it. So, And with every great kid comes great parents. Can we have Daddy and uh Scott stand please and just be recognized? Thank you. And the second student of the week that we'll be recognizing tonight is for the week of April 21st. This is Braxton Staltz, who's an eighth grader at Kerry Junior High School. Braxton will be joined by Principal Matt Schlaggel and favorite teacher Todd Jonas. Madame Chair, members of the board, Dr. Newton. Absolutely. My pleasure and delight uh to introduce our student of the week for Kerry Junior High, and that's Braxton Stoaltz. Braxton is one of the most amazing students that I think I've ever met in in the 26 years of public education that I've had the the opportunity
007to work in. Um from the classroom to the athletic fields, he just he tries so hard and he excels in everything that he does. But probably one of the things that I'm most proud about and I appreciated the south principal talking about it was just how he gives back to community. Um at Sunday Brax will be recognized as the first junior high student ever to receive the Congressional Medal. Um and that's just an incredible feat for his hours of tireless. So I'm going to turn it over to the two stars of the show which is Braxie that he can talk about himself and the great things he's doing then turn it over to Mr. Jonas. Thank you everyone. Um, I play football, basketball, and track at Kerry Junior High. Also, um, my medal that I'm
008getting, there's also a club at Kerry Junior High that I am helping with. It's the first year and I'm trying to I'm trying to help the seventh graders and I'm helping everyone and helping the seventh graders this year with that. Um, and why I picked Mr. Jonas, he's awesome teacher. He's an He's an awesome world geography teacher. He's always been there for me. He's always made me laugh. And every year I go to him and he's always made me laugh, had fun. Yeah. Well, Braxton's a much better speaker than I am. So, um, first off, thanks for inviting me, Mr. Schel. Thanks for everything that you do. A lot of times you guys don't get recognized enough as administrators. So I like to give the administrators a round of applause and here my evaluation's coming
009up too. So um man, what a great kid. Um like Mr. Schelgo says, he's been teaching for 26. I'm getting close to that. and you know a great kid when they come along and Braxton's going to stand out all through school, all through college. He's makes a great impression. He's defined young man. Um and um I think that's sometimes more important than academics because that'll work out for you, you know, always. So Braxton's award, the um Congressional Medal, um I he worked his tail off for that and he would come in to all the classrooms and empty the trash and empty the pencil sharpeners, uh tidy up the room, put the chairs on top. And one of my favorite parts of the day is Braxton usually comes by about I don't know three or four
010times a week and we we talk we have nice conversations on mature conversations and sometimes you don't get that very often in junior high school. And so he'd come in after school and um I'm glad he has a really good work ethic because if he would have sat and talked to me I don't think he would have got that award because I'd be like wanting to talk to him. He's like I gotta go Mr. Jones. I got work to do. I gotta go. I'm like no no no. I was like nope nope nope. We could talk later. And so I'm I'm glad you you stuck to it. So Fraction's got a good heart. Um when he was in class, we had a really fun class and um it's it's tough to balance um having fun
011and learning, but that class we had a nice balance and Braxton was the leader in that class. Kids looked up to him and sometimes Braxton like, "All right, it's time to get to work. Get back to work." And so it's always nice to have that anchor and that help in class. So um thank you Braxton. Um, you probably did more for me than I did for you. So, you're a good kid. And I know Braxton's got some folks in the audience that we'd like to have stand up so we can give you guys some recognition as well. If you guys would please stand. I believe they were in Florida today. They they just came back for vacation just for this tonight. So, thank you guys. Well, good evening. Um, my name is Mary Quas and
012um I am the community relations director here at the school district and um thank you so much for our our trustees uh chairman Smith and our our trustees for hosting this award. Um and congratulations to our students, you know, just great kids. So, uh, with that, um, we do have a partner in in all of this, uh, Western Vista Federal Credit Union. And, uh, so I'd like to bring forth Modesta Shepard. She's a branch manager, and she has a few words. Hello. Good evening. My name is Modesta Shepard. Like she said, I am the branch manager at Western Vista Federal Credit Union. We are honored to support the school district student of the week program once again this year. Each week we're honored uh to see and hear the achievements that you students make and
013to see what you bring forth in the community each each year. Um in recognition of these efforts brought forth by the student of the weeks for the students of the week um we would like to present you guys a certificate of achievement and a visa gift card to each of you as well as to your nominee for your favorite teacher. We wish you guys nothing but success in the future. Good job. Congratulations. Thank you. The next recognition that the board is pleased to do tonight is one that we've just started this year and this is our LCSD1 employee spotlight recognition. Each month we are honoring one employee from the district um for their hard work and their dedication um to our district. But tonight we are pleased to recognize Amanda Crom from the transportation unit.
014Is Amanda here tonight? Am There she is. And um she's joined by Is that supervisor? Her supervisor, Jim Red, right? Come on up. You said she wanted take it away. Good evening, trustees. Thank you. My name is Jim Reddell. I'm one of the transportation supervisors here at the district. And this is Amanda Crom. She's one of our route drivers. She was selected for this for I was told to put a few things together of why she was selected. And luckily, somebody told me to keep it brief. Um she just like any really good employee, she's always on time. Her attendance is phenomenal. She's got great student management. and all the way across the bus garage. She's liked and respected, which is kind of a rare thing these days. But besides that, she has a 40-hour
015route. She drives bus 40 hours a week, every week. But she also jumps in and she does activity trips. She does um um field trips. Wow. Like it isn't like I do this for a living or anything, you know. But but besides that, she also keeps up the bus garage at the or the bus wash at the bus garage. During the summer, she mows and keeps the um facility looking good. She stripes the parking lot. She is always willing to jump in and she does so much for us. She leads up our snow removal crew at transportation, our cold start crew at transportation. I mean, she is that go-to person for all that stuff that uh is extra to do. And we all know why it's extra to do because nobody wants to do it
016but she is always willing to do it. So really in the end I would like to thank trustees madam chair Dr. Newton for recognizing this amazing person and quite frankly for you being amazing and I would like to be the first one to applaud her. supposed to take pictures. Thank you. Yes. On behalf of Western Vista Credit Union, we'd like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to you on being selected of the employee spotlight of the month. Your dedication and your willingness have made a lasting impact. Uh we truly admire your commitment to always lending a helping hand wherever it is needed and we thank you for your hard work and outstanding service. We wish you a continued success and appreciate everything you do. We'd also like to uh give you and present you a certificate
017as well as a Visa gift card. Next, we'll be having I believe a lot of students come up, but we will be recognizing um winners from the University of Wyoming World Language Day. Um I believe um Miss Sarah Evans and is is Reagan here as well tonight or Okay. and our world language coordinator, Reagan Kaufman, will be doing these recognitions, but I'll just let you bring everybody in and take it away. Got a lot of kids. Cool. Good evening. I'm Sarah Evans. Um, I teach French at Central High School in addition to being a teacher on special assignment for world language for LCSD1. Um, get we have folks go ahead and file their way up here. Um, tonight we're recognizing students who won first place awards at the University of Wyoming's World Languages Day festival
018and competition. Uh this is an annual event offered by UW for secondary world language students from across the state. Um at which students learn about UDub's world language programs. They participate in linguistic and cultural workshops. Um they meet Udub language students and professors and most importantly they compete in a variety of contest categories against other language students from all across the state of Wyoming. Um our L LCSD1 language students represented us very well this year and I am excited to recognize our first place winners tonight. Um it's a busy season as you all know and so a lot of our students could not be with us this evening but we are still going to read their names and recognize those students who won those first place awards um in addition to the students who could
019be here with us this evening. Um so I'm going to ask Janet Stewart and Sarah Scott to come present our winners from McCormick in the category of Spanish with a fabulous skit on Laorona. I had four girls who can't be here tonight. They are AB Neoth, uh, Natalie Carson, Benley Box, and Taylor Troutwine. And then with a beautiful like lion, Ali Bri, um, that was gorgeous. Um, Mia Gallardo also placed first. And for French, we had a skit for Luca B. And we had three students. Two are here tonight. uh Eli Solis and Maddie McMillan. And we had one other student, Jamie. Um Jamie Diver, sorry, I only know kids first names. And they did an awesome job, too. Uh hola, buenos. Uh I'm Miss or I'm Profana and uh I'm here to introduce our
020students from East. First up, we had um intermediate Spanish poem with Tova Carlson. And Tova did a folklore poem about the islands of Samoa. Uh Spanish 4 live uh individual competition. We had first place Maya Alonzo. Um she did a student's original poem about Lacha Lupra. And first place for people's choice photography, we have Addison Fairweather. And she did a or she presented a photo of the statue down in front of the depot downtown. Right. I'm going to recognize our students from Johnson Junior High as their teacher could not be with us this evening. Um but uh they had a really fantastic piece this year. They did um a cultural dance with about 25 students participating uh that won first place for our Spanish one uh category. Um and the the customers were really impressive.
021Um uh so that group was Lillian Lexed, Brandon Gentry, Terrence James, Madison Miles, Charlie Mise, Marcia Padilla, Jaden Riker, Miranda Gomez, Emberllin Holtzclaw, Tim Prince Pitman, Cooper Ratcliffe, Analise Mgard, Louisa Gracia, Tyani Smith, Scott, Cat Ramos, Leia, excuse me, and Brooklyn Towbridge. And that was our Johnson Junior High School group. And we're super excited for them. They did great. And then lastly, I'll present our French students um uh from uh Central High School. Excuse me. Actually, I'm going to present all of our students from Central High School. We did have um uh a Spanish 5 group video um that got first place, and that was u Jaclyn, Ana Patel, and Michaela Kromoodi. Um for Spanish 5, and they are not able to be here this evening. And then I'll go ahead and I'll go ahead
022and read um all of our French students from Central. Um for our French 2 small group live competition um our first place was Iris Beatles and Joey O'Hara. Uh for French three small group live competition, our first place was Susanna Scranton and Eliza Scranton. And then um representing us and uh finishing up finishing us off this evening um for French 5 individual live competition uh we have Jacob Van uh also from Friendship Central High School who's here. Jacob performed a a song live in French that I think would daunt many uh serious students. So, he represented us very very well. And let's see here. I think we got everybody. Thank you guys so much for for recognizing our students tonight. They did a fantastic job and represented us very nicely. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank
023you. Thanks for having Sorry, I missed the important thing. If you are a parent of a student who is here with World Languages Day, could you please stand and be recognized? All right. Next, we will be recognizing South High School's 4A future business leaders of America champions. Um, so I'd like to ask Kate Tin, uh, who's the FBLA advisor and South High School principal, Carrie Gentry, to come to the front, please along with the students. Well, I'm gonna let uh Miss Teean be the one who introduces all these fantastic students, but I'd like to mention that we are again um announcing that we're going to have a retirement. And so, we're going to miss um Miss Kate Tian. She's been with the district how long? 15 years. And our FBA sponsor? 14. And she's done
024some amazing kids, great things with these kids in this group. And so, Miss Kate Tian, thanks so much. And um am I there? I go. Okay. Um yes, I would like to introduce my students. We in March we went to the FBLA state conference um South High. We took 16 students, 10 of which qualified for our national competition. These four plus one more who was not able to make it tonight actually placed first in their events. So are being recognized tonight by the school board. Um so let me introduce them on a little bit about their events. Um so first Neil Hushbach. Sorry Aiden. Um he plays first in digital video which he had to do a twominute video um about Wyoming tourism and why it's good for Wyoming and the statistics in that. So,
025he did a great job that way. He's actually going to probably go study or is going to go study digital media in college. So, that's his future career path. Aiden Cabrera placed first in network design. And I don't know much about network design, so I can't tell you that. And then, excuse me, Aiden and Neil um teamed together on an event uh which was website design. So they had to create a website from scratch um about like a an entertainment venue like our gym at South or the the stadium and actually if you were going to sell tickets have the seating chart have a live ticket offering thing and so they did that design and place first at state for their website design and then Lily Christopherson and her partner Anna Roifer who could not
026be here tonight they did a public service announcement which once again is a 30 secondond video regarding healthy workplace habits and so they had to do some research and put together 30 second video then talk about how they created the video in that. So they will be competing at nationals in that and the race on the end if you saw him earlier he competed in or and placed in impromptu speaking so he was given 10 minutes to come up with a seven minute speech five minute speech something so he's very good at thinking on his feet speech debate did that for him but in any case um I have been so priv privileged the last 14 years to work with all of the students that have come through South and we've had a lot of
027success and I'm excited to see where the program continues to go after this and I know Miss Gentry supports FLA and all the clubs at South a lot. So I'm looking forward hopefully they'll find the reef placement and be able to move on from there and I would like to thank the school board and the school district for all the support that they've given all of the clubs and extracurriculars over the years. Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. [Music] and any parents that are here for students of FBA, would you stand to be recognized, please? Next on our agenda is recognition of East High School's 4A speech and debate 2025 state champions and national qualifiers. So, if I could get Mr. B and his students to come in. Um, we've got a lot to
028recognize. Hey, good evening. My name is Marcus Biny. I'm the head coach of speech and debate at East High School. Uh this is our assistant, one of our assistants, Catalina Pedrosza, uh who is also over at Meto Arc. She's going to be helping us celebrate some really wonderful students tonight. So, you see all of these wonderful kids up here. They've been working hard all year long in speech and debate and I get to brag about two really big things that they've done. Uh so the first thing that this group of students did was win the state tournament. Uh which is really special because that's three years in a row now and we get to talk about some individual state champions which we'll recognize. Uh but this group also won the district tournament which is also
029our national qualifying tournament. They took first place in just about everything in speech sweep stakes, debate sweep stakes, overall sweep stakes. So, this is just a really unstoppable big team with huge heart doing amazing things and they've been representing the school and the district and everybody so well all year long. So, we're thrilled that we get to uh celebrate them. So, I think we might kind of go one by one and maybe when your name is called you'll get your certificate. So, uh, the first is, so Rosie Zubrad, a senior who's been doing this for a long time, was actually won a student of the year for the Hole-in-the-Wall District Tournament, which is a really wonderful award. She gets put up potentially for national student of the year later, so we'll see if that works
030out. Uh, we also have Braden Le, a fourtime national qualifier. That means that all four years of high school he's qualified to nationals. Only a handful of students from East High School have ever accomplished that task. He's going to be recognized on the big stage at Nationals in June for that award. Uh we also have, let's see, Bridget, we you Bridget Melie, we got a national qualifier in program oral interpretation. Okay. Khloe Fitzgerald, we have national qualifier in dramatic interpretation. Ella Goldwitzer, national qualifier in Congress. Addie Goodman, national qualifier in humor and drama. Samantha Jordan, national qualifier in dramatic interpretation. Ellie Kersner, national qualifier in informative and oratory. Leila Clling, national qualifier in duo. I bet you could tell who her duo partner is. Finn Neper, national qualifier in US ExTemp. Natalyia Copac a qualifier
031in Lincoln Douglas. Maya McQueen, national qualifier in Duo. Braden Leay, National Qualifier and Policy Debate. Adam Pearson, National Qualifier and Policy Debate. Andrew Scholes, national qualifier in program oral interpretation and oratory. Jacob Schwarz, national qualifier in Congress. Jerry Tol, national qualifier in policy debate. Christina Welch, national qualifier and program oral interpretation. Wyatt Wilson, the national qualifier in humorous interpretation. Okay, back to Rosie. National qualifier in informative and Lincoln Douglas. Sadi Zanitzer, a national qualifier in extemp. Back to Rosie, we have another award that she won. Now, this is from the state tournament. This is called the Wyoming State Ambassador Award. What's special about this is that she has to be nominated by coaches from other teams and voted in. So, she's kind of a representative of what speech and debate really means in Wyoming. Addie
032Goodman from the state tournament interpretation. I think what I'm going to do from here on out in the state tournament, all of them are members of the state championship team. So, I might just kind of call their name here. Ellie Kersner, also a national champion in informative. Sorry, going to be state champion. Getting ahead of myself. Andrew Scholes uh for the state tournament and oratory and and champion in program oral interpretation. Sades wanted a state champion in extemp. Back to Rosie. I think this might be your fourth or fifth. You'll need a folder. An informative speaking the state tournament. Okay. And Ellie Kersner. I think I messed up and you had a national qualifier. Then you're also getting multiple but a state champion in informative speaking. Addie Goodman again, Chloe Fitzgerald. Christina Welch, Leila Clling,
033Maya McQueen, Bridget Dei, Christina Welch again, Chloe Fitzgerald. We're going to need an interlude. Yes, Andrew Scholes. You have to realize each one of these students sometimes does one up to three or four events. So, it's really impressive. Ella Goldwitzer, Jared Haynes, Raiden with a state champion in policy debate, Jerry partner, also a state champion. Oh, and we also have something. It's not just kids, uh, but we are pleased and honored um to celebrate Mr. Mark Kersner as the 2025 Hole-in-the-Wall District Administrator of the Year. So, our regional group also recognizes outstanding adults. So, maybe we can have him come up here and get a little recognition for this administrator of the year. ink. We got through all of them. Thank you so much for listening. Really wonderful group of kids. We want to thank
034the school East High School, Mr. Kersner, the district, the board, everybody, uh, for everything that they do, the parents especially. Um, if you maybe if you were a parent or are a parent of a student that's up here, maybe you could stand up and we could clap for you, too. So, Thank you so much. Um Marcus Viney is really shy and doesn't want to recognize himself. He was the 2025 coach of the year. Um, so give Marcus Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you for all you do. Thank you so much. What a team. Congratulations to you. Our next recognition is actually for two district employees. Um we will be uh recognizing the presidential award for excellence in mathematics and science teaching uh state finalist. So, if I could have our math coordinator, Amy Castle, and our science
035coordinator, Julie Caukins, come forward, please. Thank you. Good evening, Madame Chair, Superintendent Newton, Board of Trustees. It is with great pleasure that Dr. Amy Castle and I are here to recognize two outstanding teachers who are finalists for the Paintst Award. Math finalist Julie Grant from Central High School and science finalist Jennifer Miriam for um well for science from high school. The presidential award for excellence in math and science teaching is the highest the nation's highest award for K12 educators in the STEM fields. These folks go through a rigorous and extensive application looking at their teaching, how they impact students lives and their work in the educating community. And so it's quite an honor to be represented at the state level. Um the we Larmy County School District number one has two of the four teachers
036that will move their applications forward to be evaluated at the national level. So at this time, Julie is going to do our first announcement. Again, it is my pleasure to introduce Miss Jennifer Miriam, a dedicated and talented science educator at East High School. Jennifer plays an active role in shaping science education across our district. Most recently, Jennifer participated in cohorts three and four of the ride initiative where she developed two highquality chemistry performance assessments. This May, she will join a team of educators and Mr. Freley representing Laramie County School District 1 at the statewide celebration of learning in Riverton. Jennifer, I introduce Mr. Kchner. He'll say a few words about Jennifer and then she'll kind of wrap this up. I think in order to be a finalist for such a prestigious award, you have to
037have three things. an extreme passion for teaching, for mathematics and science, and for kids. And I can say without a doubt that Jennifer Miriam has all three of those. Um, I I could go on and on and on about Jennifer's contributions to East High School, what she does day in and day out to support science education at East High School, but I think it's important to note that she played a really big role in bringing concurrent enrollment college classes to East High School and that students will benefit that from now and and for years into the future. So, I can't say enough about Jennifer. Thank you guys so much. Um, I've been in the district and in my classroom for 23 years. And in that time, if you're an educator, you know, sometimes they make
038it really easy and sometimes it's not so easy, but they always make it worth it. So, I appreciate this award and this recognition. So, thank you so much. I'd like to take a moment to introduce um our next finalist. Miss Julie Grant is been teaching for 35 years, the last 20 years at Central High School. Um I've had the honor and the privilege of working with Julie on many um district math committees. I'm in her classroom. I get to have the wonderful privilege of watching her teach. Um but the impact she has on students I'm is outstanding. And with that, I'm going to bring up her principal, Dr. Karen Delbridge, to share a little bit about what Julie does daytoday. Well, Miss Grant is amazing. And one of the things that Miss Grant knows about
039me is I'm not always very good about taking the time to just celebrate in the way that we need to celebrate. And it is just such an honor to get to celebrate with you tonight, Miss Grant. So, I just want to take a moment and and talk about Julie in the way that she gives back to the Cheyenne community in a way that is pretty phenomenal. The things that she does with Cheyenne Frontier Days, um how she just gives of her heart to others. Um what really is important I think in this community is that we as educators are giving back to the community in so many different ways. And that is what Julie does daytoday with our kids. She puts her heart out there for every single kid. She mentors teachers along the way
040and she just shows us what it means to be a true professional. And so on a personal note, I got to meet Julie back I think our boys were in third grade. And Jeff, I think you might have started uh tackle football about that time. And so Julie and I got to meet each other on the Miller field out in the cold. And if anyone ever starts to develop friendships, it's when they're in outdoor sports with their kids. And so, Miss Grant and I would meet each other out there. And then, who would have ever thought that we'd be at Central High School together. And so, it is such a privilege and an honor. Thank you for giving and giving and giving your heart to others. Um, she is such a woman of integrity and
041I'm honored that you're at Cheyenne Central. Thank you so much. Well, somehow I've lost a year. I was telling Amy that all year I've been saying I've been teaching for 34 years. Um, until she asked me to write that bio and I realized it was 35. So, um, that's what happens, I guess, when you've been there a long time. But I'm going to try to keep this short, but there are a lot of people in this room who have impacted my teaching, and I just wanted to say thank you. So, first of all, thank you to Amy for the nomination, for always being there for me, and especially for mentoring me through the application process. It was truly a reflective, grueling process at times. Um, and I learned so much from it. So, thank you.
042And to my husband, teaching, for those of you who aren't in the classroom, is a family business. Um, everyone in your family is impacted when you are a teacher. So, um I have two grown boys who gave up time with me many times because I was um worrying about other people's children and to my husband who watches me sit at the kitchen table and especially who encouraged me also when I had tears through this process. So, and then to Trusty Clawson, thank you for giving me two of your children throughout the years. And I just especially want to thank Dr. Newton for challenging me so many years ago when he was my principal. He reached out to my dearest dearest friend D and also my mentor um and challenged us to grow and learn about
043ACT and how we could embed literacy into our classrooms and it truly truly changed my practice. It grew me the best friend I've probably ever had. And I am just so so thankful for you D and for all that you taught me. And to my dear friend Karen, I'm so glad you're in this building with me and that we can still get together and chat about our boys and our soon to be my soontobe grandbaby and your new one. So, thank you all so much. as as Julie mentioned, you can't do this by yourself. And so, Jennifer, uh the I know you have family here tonight. Would you please stand and let us recognize you for all your support with Jennifer and Julie support system? I think she has a couple people here as well.
044Please stand to be recognized. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We are now moving into the um information and reports section of our agenda. Um, we're going to start tonight with public comments concerning agenda topics and then concerning non-aggenda topics. Um, have some language we like to read just as reminders for our public comment time. The purpose of the board meeting is to conduct the meeting of the district publicly. The board sincerely values community input and feedback on school operations and welcomes public comment on both agenda and non-aggenda items. Individuals wishing to comment during a board meeting must sign up by 5:45 p.m. on the the day of the meeting. Sign up for public comment can be done electronically by accessing the form available on board docs under the public comment portion of the
045meeting agenda. Alternatively, individuals may contact Darlene Davis to be added to the electric signup sheet. We will begin by hearing public comment on agenda items followed by public comment on non-aggenda items. Please keep in mind there is time, this is a time for board members to listen and consider, but not to comment or to debate. The board asks that all speakers state your first and last name. Keep your comments to three minutes or less. And please understand that if you wish to discuss matters pertaining to the employment of a district staff member, such as the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, investigation, discipline, or dismissal. This will not be done during the public comment portion of the meeting. Such comments should be directed to the assistant superintendent of human resources or you may request to meet
046with the board during executive session. So actually under public comments concerning agenda topics, we had one individual signed up who said they were not going to be able to um participate tonight. So we will move right into public comments concerning non-aggenda topics. Um, and the first of these is Liz Eddington. You'd like to come forward. Good evening. Yeah. Um, my name is Liz Edington. Um, I have been a teacher um at this district and at one high school for 25 years. Um, but I think more importantly in this moment, um, I'm a Wyoming native and I have a I'm the mother of three boys who also go to school in this district. My husband is a retired member of the Wyoming Army National Guard. I've been around guns my entire life, likely no different than
047many of those in this room. Uh today I had a conversation with a student about um the repeal of gun-free zones. Uh the student shared a thought that really struck me. If adults are allowed to carry concealed weapons on school grounds, the process for obtaining a concealed carry license should logically be much more rigorous. While the process for concealed carry permits is beyond the control of this board, safeguarding our teachers and students is your responsibility. I fully support the guidelines put forward by the CTEA which include metal detectors at large events, biometric locks for staff access to ensure secure school facilities, capping ammunition amounts and regulating the type of weapons allowed by staff. requiring specific holsters with trigger guards and fasteners to keep firearms secure. Highintensity training for staff to prevent gun injuries during emergency
048situations like false alarms. Providing insurance protections for both students and employees, setting more stringent guidelines for when firearms may be used by staff. and implementing a unique policy for Freedom Elementary um as its location is on a military site. Allowing deadly weapons on campus in the name of safety and deterrence does not address the root problem. It distracts us from the hard necessary conversations about the underlying causes of violence in our schools. Our students are navigating unprecedented challenges, social media pressures, increased anxiety, and shifting societal norms that many of us did not experience in our youth. We need to actively listen to their concerns, including stress, mental health, and bullying. We need to build community connections and trust. The safety and well-being of our students and staff must come first. My call to action is
049for this board to be bold and courageous in having the difficult conversations, to confront the realities our students face, and to respond with compassion and thoughtful action. Our our children deserve nothing less. Thank you. Next is Patricia McCoy. Good evening board members, superintendent, and the community. My name is Patricia McCoy, and I'd like to commend the board for presenting the full concealed carry policy tonight, aligned with House Bill 172, the Wyoming Repeal Gun-Free Zones Act, effective July July 1st, 2025. Your transparency and commitment to transparency reflects true dedication to our district. This policy builds on House Bill 172, which allows adults with valid Wyoming concealed carry permits to carry on school grounds. Your approach adds critical safeguards like mandatory training and secure storage, ensuring responsibility while respecting Wyoming's carry rights. I appreciate your effort to
050balance safety and legal obligations, especially by working with local law enforcement to develop training. As we've discussed before, without this policy, permit holders could still carry under House Bill 172, but without any oversight. Your work provides clear protocols to keep our schools safe. I encourage you to continue this thoughtful process as you gather feedback over the next 45 days. I look forward to submitting my comments to strengthen this policy further, and I thank you for your service and for giving our community a voice. So, great work. Thank you. Dylan Ford behind Madame Chair, members of the board, I'm Jill Ford, president of CTA. I'm speaking on behalf of some really concerned members. um a few of whom have already resigned and seeking employment because of uh this state law. Uh so they're seeking employment elsewhere,
051I should say. So the state of Wyoming forces to allow firearms into schools. So I know that much of this is out uh outside of our hands. Um but there are some practices that CTA recommends based on some of the feedback that we've gotten from our members as well as law enforcement um that we believe would keep our students and staff a little bit safer. You've heard them already. And the reason for these is that the likelihood of an actual shooting is fairly low. Uh all things considered. However, um there are some things that are absolutely certain. False alarms are absolutely certain. In fact, East alone has already had multiple this year. Um and also just the general chaos of uh the classroom. When you get groups of kids together, there's going to be a
052little bit of chaos. That's just how it is. Um so these recommendations are based on keeping uh students and staff safe with these realizations. So uh the first certainty false alarms just making sure that the staff who are carrying are required to have some sort of highintensity training and the reason for that is um like with east situation there were SWAT teams um law enforcement teams through the halls yelling instructions very loud. Uh in one case a window was broken so they could get access to the door. We need to make sure that our staff can actually handle these situations without making a poor decision uh while armed. Um, as far as just addressing the general chaos of the classroom, uh, that I think the holster requirement would go a long way if we have,
053um, requirements for fasteners on the holsters as well as trigger guards just because kids are always bumping into you as a teacher just to make sure that there isn't like an accidental um, discharge of a firearm in the class. Also, I noticed in the policy uh, that the def the guidelines for when you can use force are a little bit vague. Um, it's basically uh if a staff member uh fears for their life or serious bodily injury, which I get the intent behind that, but um does that mean that if I have a kid who is in crisis, who's seeing red and is holding a chair or a desk over their head, um does that qualify under that? So, we might need to flesh out that definition a little bit more. Um, uh, capping any
054ammunition, making sure that our, uh, biometric safes are actually of a high quality, uh, would just go a long way to making sure that if a gun does get into a hand of a student or somebody who wants to cause harm that the amount of harm that they could cause would be, uh, reduced. Um, and uh, on the bigger scale, metal detectors at sporting events uh, would not prevent people with a concealed carry permit from entering into these venues. But it's just saying, hey, you can either pass through this metal detector without setting alarms off or you can prove to law enforcement that you have this license, I think, would go a long way. And if something does go wrong, we need to make absolutely sure that our insurance policy covers those injuries uh, to
055our students and staff. Uh that way if it does happen, the district doesn't just wash their hands of it and walk away. Sorry that got really dark. Um have a good day. I don't And we have one more individual signed up for public comment and that is Ann Marie H. She in the room or maybe online. If you're online, please raise your hand here. Madam chair, there are no hands raised online. Okay. Okay. And that will conclude our public comment time. Just to recap upcoming meetings. Um April 30th at 100 p.m. we will have executive trustees with the superintendent where we will go over the next agenda. Do we have um two board members maybe who haven't been in a while who are able to come to that or unfortunately no people okay yeah okay
056so that date actually is not going to work so we will um send an email out and and see who's available on a on a different date maybe the Tuesday maybe that Tuesday the 29th but um so we'll we'll reach out on that to get that schedule. Um the next item on the list is um our next board meeting which is Monday, May 5th. We will start with a work session at 5:00 p.m. and have our regular board meeting at 6:00 p.m. Um and then that Wednesday, May 7th at 6:30 p.m. there's a parent advisory committee meeting uh here in the boardroom. Do we have now um we're moving into board communications and reports. Do we have any board members who'd like to share? No. But Trusty Cook, of course. Um real quickly, um right
057now there's a music program happening at Jessup that I couldn't attend. My granddaughter's there. So if there's ever a time when a parent or grandparent can't attend, I got to I was lucky enough as a music teacher and I came went and watched the practice this afternoon and um so that's always a possibility. And it was amazing that music teacher um oh can I remember her name? I'll think of it. But anyway, she was amazing. She had those second grade kids doing stuff that adults could not do. So it was amazing. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Trusty Ashby. Uh so I just wanted to shout out to the I believe believe it's the English teachers across the district as well as um uh the coordinator uh some of us were able to participate in the
058grant writing uh feedback out at South uh this week. I learned a great deal. I learned a lot. um had no idea some of the students were focused on some of the things as issues. Uh so that was that was quite the thing and I hope we can continue to see that move forward. Anybody else have anything? I had a couple of highlights just from the last couple weeks and actually they both were last Friday but the first that I wanted to mention was the um the 10th grade um panel interviews. Um these were just 10th grade English students who had written a grant proposal for a school school improvement plan and um really some amazing ideas. In fact, I told Dr. Newton that we need to maybe meet with some of these kids and
059hear from them because I I was enlightened on a few things and um you know we talk even about cell phones and um there was a lot of discussion that maybe the cell phones weren't the issue but that their tablets were which was just shocking to me but it was anyway super informative um and really an incredible time with with those kids. It was like speed dating. and they just came one at a time and gave you their proposal and took some feedback and switched and anyway really an an awesome opportunity I think for those kids. Um but then on Friday morning as well um I attended an event that I was invited to at Anderson Elementary. Um Anderson was recognized as one of seven schools and visited uh one of seven schools visited in
060the state by state superintendent of instruction Megan Deanfelder um as part of her tour of excellence. But she was there because Anderson um on the white top has had you know some of the best scores in the state and um really was there just to celebrate with the kids um their excellence and and their hard work. And then she actually took time and pulled I don't know if it maybe eight or 10 um kids who had been chosen to meet with her into the principal's conference room and um had a just a very frank discussion with them and really opened the floor up to these kids to to share whatever they wanted to share. And that was um that was also very enlightening and comical um to hear the things that these K4 kids um
061wanted to share with with Superintendent Dean Felder. But those were just two highlights for me. It was Friday was really a fun day. Um does anybody else have anything anything further? No. Okay. Then we will move into reports from superintendent and staff. Thank you, Madam Chair. I um couple of brief announcements and then one very interesting story as far as I'm concerned. Um this week is administrative professionals day on Wednesday and we certainly know we literally cannot do the job without the help of our administrative professionals. So um that will be this Wednesday before we meet again will be the principal appreciation day on May 1st. And um and much like with our administrative professionals, our principles play an absolutely critical role in the success um and education of our students. Um I was the
062one that threw the wrinkle in that executive committee meeting as next week I will be traveling to the state conference for Wyoming superintendent. And so maybe we can regroup on another day to do that. But that is the reason why I've um thrown a bit of a wrench into our normal scheduling there. Um couple of consent agenda items. We don't have the chance to really talk about those um but I thought I'd just add a little bit of context. First um number or letter D 1.9 and um just a bit of clarification there. I think it came up perhaps with trusty claws in a a meeting or two ago about how we are no longer using pecards to purchase things on a Amazon. I think this helps with both security and making sure that we're
063making prudent purchases. And so the $1 million that you see associated with that is not a charge. It's an allowable uh cap. And so we will not be making a $1 million charge to Amazon. It's just kind of a uh opens it up um as a threshold for us as uh we've brought in those Amazon purchases. Uh D2.1 the youth alternatives contract. Youth alternative uh has been a valuable partner with us for many many years. And um one thing about this particular motion that's worth noting is um there was a glitch a year or two ago in the um duration of that contract. And so the contract is expiring before the end of the fiscal year. So the amount that you approve tonight will span us through the rest of this year and all of
064next year. And um for those that don't know, youth alternatives even plays a role with some of our students who've been suspended um in order to uh teach some skills in in addition to those moments where students find themselves needing consequences. Um D2.3 you'll see the virtual uh services. We this is a contract renewal. We certainly wish that all of our occupational, physical, speech, and school psych services could be done live. Turns out that we oftentimes can't uh hire enough live employees, and we have to resort to the virtual services. We do that as little as um we have to do, but we are obliged by federal law to uphold the minutes that are written into student IEPs to give them those services. So, that one is going up for renewal as well. And now
065what I think is kind of a very interesting story. There's a celebration, but maybe it's a cautionary tale as well. I was talking to one of our principles this past week and he shared a story about a young lady who is in fourth grade and um as you probably know from April 15th through May 9th is YTOP summitive season and they were there was a lot of talk around this young lady as her third grade score um the reading score was a 562 which may not mean a whole lot to most in this room the scale score but it put her below basic And there was a lot of conversation amongst the principal, her special education teacher, the young lady is on an IEP, um, and her other teachers as well, believing that she can
066do better than that. She's better than that score would would represent. And so we had a bunch of adults swarm around her, encouraging her and cheerleading her on, and they just got her score. And um her goal this year was a scale score of a 592, which would be what, 30 points higher. And that would be an exceptional amount of growth. Very much a high growth. And she did not hit a 592. She actually hit a 695, which was 133 points higher than um than last year's scale score. So this young lady went from below basic not basic, not proficient, but she is advanced in fourth grade. Um, we the takeaways as I see them. Um, I think it is important that uh everybody in a kid's life, teachers, parents, loved ones, encourage all of
067our kids to always try their best at everything they do. Um second thing is it shows the importance of what inc that encouragement can do not just in a um in a um maybe an intangible way but in a very tangible way with very tangible results. Um I think there's also some care and caution as we begin to start analyzing these scores. These scores are important. We want to know what our ski our students can and can't do. Um but I think it goes to show that uh assuming a one test score that truly represents the full extent of our students learning is not entirely accurate. We have a lot of different ways to look at the success of our students. So I applaud all of those teachers and the principal for recognizing that student
068was capable of so much more. Hopefully we have many students that repeat that kind of performance as we're encouraging the kids to do well during this testing season. Um, but a special shout out to all those adults who are encouraging the kids to do their level best. And with that, Madam Chair, that's the end of my reports. Thank you, Dr. Newton. Our next item, I'm going to um turn this over to start to Miss Polly, but this will be an update for the board on board policy chapter 3, firearms on school district property. Miss Polly. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. Um, I do want to provide a brief update on where we are with the policy. You'll remember after your last meeting, there were two drafts that were sent to the
069policy advisory committee for their feedback. Um and um as always we got some got some really um great feedback from from that group um with some you know questions some some potential some clarification points and we're working through those. The other thing that we were doing, um, you know, this is a tight tight timeline. Um, from the end of the session to July 1 seems like a long time, but when you put in a 45day public comment period in there, it's really not. Um, our goal was to have um a draft ready for you to vote on to put out for 45day public comment tonight. And um, you know, unfortunately, we just weren't able to make that. And there's a few reasons. um one relates to the um training and curriculum that's required um as
070part of the polic or as part of the rule and this is one of the areas where statute very clearly says that your rule will include the training requirements. Um so generally you know we have we think about your policies and we have policies and then administrative regulations that kind of flesh out some of those details to the policy. This is not an area that we can do it that way. Um because the language of the statute specifically refers to it being in the rule. Um it requires that 45day public comment period and um what I don't want to have happen is we put forward something for 45day public review. we end up changing it either based on um public comment or further conversations with our law enforcement officials um and change the the training
071requirements and then need to go out for a second 45day review because that puts us out 90 days. Um so that's one issue that we're working through. Um the CTEA individuals mentioned tonight about insurance. We've been working um staff has been working with our insurance. Um we are not covered. um no district in the state unless you've already had an existing policy is is covered. And so um most insurance companies are handing out declarations that say you're not going to be covered. And so we're searching for um sort of that gap so to cover um you know the things that that SAP talked about that you know if there is an accidental shoot um discharge of a firearm, how do we how do we address that? Is that something that insurance covers? And again, if
072it's um as we're working through that process, is there language that we should have included in that policy and rule or is there things that we should definitely not include in there? Again, that's something that we're trying to work out now so that we don't need to make a change um down the road. The last issue, and again, um CTA brought it up as well. We've been working with um a JAG um associated with the Air Force because we are in a very unique fortunate situation that we we lease the property that Freedom Elementary um is located from from the Air Force. Um so we do have an issue with federal property which would be a federal preeemption um and what we can do on that um school ground. This is an area um you
073know I don't know what kind of an answer we'll get but it might be one where we need to put in language that basically says um freedom is only part included in this policy if specifically include or approved by the United States Air Force. Um we don't want to put anything that would contradict what the Air Force expects of us or that would jeopardize potentially our lease um of that property. So, those are the three um main issues that we're still trying to kind of put a bow on so that the policy that we put in front of you is as best as we can get it and we don't feel that we're going to have significant changes that would necessitate an additional 45day review. Um the way that your board meetings fall um particularly
074in June there because it's the first and the third Mondays, it goes on June 2nd and June 16th. um those push the 45day period for that June 16th date um closer than um what we currently have meetings scheduled. So there's a couple options that we are looking at um and again it's it's sort of dependent on finding getting more information and we are working on that as quickly as we can. Um, so we can potentially have if if this week we're able to address some of these concerns prior to May 1st, um, or by May 1st, if you, um, have a special meeting, we could put that out for public comment. Uh, May 1st, that 45day public comment period would run by June to um, get you there by your June 16th meeting. Um if
075for some reason we can't resolve these issues this week um you know the alternative would be to push it into May um we would still have um so 45 days before July 1st it would be um let's see the I thought I had it calculated out um it's about a week later so we could go to your next your next meeting um put it out for 45 day review you it you would miss the June 16th meeting, but there's a potential that you could have a special meeting in June. The other alternative that is also available for you is the idea of emergency rules. That would bridge the gap. There's about there is a 14-day period um between July 1 when the law goes into effect and your ne your July board meeting. So from
076July 1st through July 14th, you could potentially have emergency rules in place and then on July 14th formally adopt and and that 14-day period is what's going to cover you your summer school session um for those two weeks. Um so you've got some options as we're working through this. Um I don't you know these aren't insurmountable. These aren't things that I think are going to you know push it out. The other thing that I want hope you all keep in mind is, you know, there's not the policy allows the board to um or excuse me, the statute allows the board to create a rule to govern the carrying and training and curriculum requirements for staff and volunteers. It doesn't in any way, shape, or form affect the ability of the public to carry. Um that
077right goes into effect on July 1. that's not something that we can change through rule and regulation. Um it's only related to those to staff um and volunteers who are in our building. So um that twoe period again if if you went emergency rules it would be emergency rules really solely related to staff and volunteers. Um and if we need to put in a special meeting there to accommodate that schedule we can we can explore those options as well. Um, so that is where we stand right now. Um, if there are any questions, I am happy to answer them this time. Anybody have questions? Clarification. No, I I did have one question. If we um adopted the emergency rules for that first half of July, what exactly are we adopting? Are we is it the
078what we have out for 45day review? So, uh, Madam Chair, yeah, that would at at this point that would be my recommendation unless there's something that would come up that we would think, oh gosh, we we missed it on this one and we need to add something. Um, that emergency rule, um, most likely, you know, I can't say definitely, but it would be the one that's already out for 45day review, unless there's something that we need to add in, and then that would also necessitate another 45day period. Um, the good thing about emergency rules is they're in effect for 120 days and can be reuped one additional time. So, you have about 240 days, which gets you through lots of 45day public comment periods if you need them. Um, I would anticipate though that yes,
079you would be enacting um, so at your June 16th meeting, you would potentially vote and to approve the rules that are out for 45day public comment on an emergency basis beginning July 1, July 14th, you would enact those same rules. Um, assuming there are no changes following the 45day public comment period. Thanks. questions. Madam Chair, I have a a comment. Um I would just like to thank everybody who's on the policy committee and um to Amy and everybody on her staff and everybody that's working really hard on this and also the the teachers and the staff and our community members who um are doing deep dive research in all of this and bringing forth their questions and their concerns um with this policy. Um, as I read over the notes and questions that were submitted,
080um, I was very impressed at things that people had thought of that hadn't even occurred to me. So, um, I just like to appreciate everybody's hard efforts. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you all of you because we did read the the comments that um the policy advisory committee had received on I think the draft it was working on and um anywhere some great insight and some things to look into. So um so at this point we wait to hear from you. Is that right? want you I know you you've got some big things to explore and I think it's important to get them right before we put a policy out for review, but you'll just keep us in the loop if we're needing a special session. Uh Madam Chair, that is correct. We're still working through today.
081we still have questions and so I was hoping we would have maybe one of the three that we identified last week as as a little bit closer to resolved, but as we work through those, I'll keep you posted um and see potentially when if if a special meeting needs to be had um we can get that noticed and get that properly done. But April is I mean we're we're heading to the end of it like a freight train and so we you think by that early May meeting we will absolutely have something to review and put out for 45day review. Um madam chair if if we will have as best as we could possibly have and hopefully all of those questions are answered. I I think we can have at the very least the training.
082Um, I've, you know, like I said, I've been working with with one of the JAGs, um, for the base and I think we can even provide some some of that kind of temporary language where it would be if approved by the Air Force, this this policy would apply to I think we've got workarounds on those two things. Um, the insurance is, I think, the biggest outstanding question. um and our you know there we're working very hard and and we're um we're trying to get that information as quickly as we can. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Oh, Trusty Cook. Yeah, Madam Chair. Thank you. Um I I think it's appropriate that we acknowledge that at least I have and I know many people have heard um trepidation and fear from parents, from students, from
083teachers, from principles. So know that as trustees we get that we hear you. We know that there's some real concerns out there and also I want we will follow the law. So um no matter what the policy is we need to follow that law but I do acknowledge that um unfortunately we're put in this situation and um I'll listen to anybody that has concerns but we know that that you do have concerns. So thank you. Yeah. Thank you. That it. Okay. Thank you, Miss Polly. Thank you. Okay. We'll go on to the consent agenda section of our agenda. All items all agenda items listed with the designation of CA are considered to be routine items by the governing body and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion on these items.
084Any item removed from the consent agenda will be considered in its normal sequence on the agenda. Does any board member request to remove a motion from the consent agenda? Okay. Madam chair, move to approve all motions listed as consent agenda. I second. We have a motion and a second to approve all motions listed as consent agenda. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Okay, those have been approved. Going into new business, we have a motion for our first item. Madam chair, I move to grant permission to contract for special education IEP software from Educational Advantage Incorporated for an amount not to exceed $138,624. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve that software. Are there any questions or comments about that, Trusty Cooks? No. Oh, okay. All right. Um, then all in favor
085of approving that uh contract purchase say I. I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Permission has been granted on that one. The next motion. Madam Chair, I move to grant permission to contract for employee health benefit consultant services for an amount not to exceed $284,400. Second. We have a motion, a second. Does anyone have discussion or questions on that item? Okay. All in favor of approving that contract say I. I. Opposed. That passes. And one more motion, please. Madam Chair, I move to approve the administrator professional contract on the listed on the attached list for the 2025 2026 school year and to place them on the appropriate step of the administrator professional salary schedule. Second. We have a motion and a second to approve the administrator professional contract. Do we have any discussion on that one? Oh,
086Trusty Hinkle. Uh thank you uh Mr. Chairman, um I just my same question as always. Are these are new positions or are these are filling of older positions? Madam Chair, Trusty Hinkle, these are replacing existing positions. One of them is the Triumph High School principal job and the other is a school psychologist. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. All in favor say I. I oppose. Okay, those have been approved. The next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, May 5th, 2025 at 6 PM. A work session will begin at 5:00 p.m. The business of the district is done. We have a motion for executive session. Madam Chair, I move to go into executive session prior to adjournment for the purpose of possible long student long-term suspensions, expulsions, personnel, legal advice, and potential litigation. Second.
087All in favor of going into executive session say I. I opposed.