001agenda. Are there any corrections to the April 14th, 2026 minutes as distributed? No. No. Okay. Consider payment of bills including late pays and pre-authorization of payroll, insurance, utilities, officials, and automatic payments. Madam Go ahead. I would move we adopt the consent agenda as presented. Second. Um questions, comments? All those in favor? I. >> I. All those opposed? Same sign. Okay. Passes. Round table. Um first person up, Alicia Sears, recognizes RHS senior Brenda Ramos. Hi. Good evening, everyone. Tonight, I am proud to recognize an important milestone for our district. The Wyoming Seal of Biliteracy was established by the state in 2022 to honor students who demonstrate proficiency in English and at least one other language. This year marks the first time that our district has honored someone with this recognition. I'm honored to recognize Rosalinda Ramos,
002a senior at Riverton High School, as our first recipient. She earned the advanced distinction, so she set the bar pretty high. Students must score at least a 22 on their ACT in English and earn a level six or higher in all four domains on the Avant Spanish assessment. She not only met the criteria, but she exceeded them, demonstrating an exceptional level of proficiency in both English and Spanish. I am especially glad to have her family here with us and to honor her and them as well. Please join me in congratulating her on this outstanding accomplishment. That's speech. That's amazing. >> [laughter] >> Bilingual. Spanish. >> [laughter] >> You can switch back and forth. You can go back and forth. Oh, okay. Yeah, um thank you for giving me this opportunity and introducing me to it
003and I greatly appreciate it. So, yeah. It's really cool. It is really awesome. Congratulations. You should be very proud of yourself. That's That's wonderful. Thank you. Yes. And now we have Gay Hughes, assistant Key Club advisor, and the Key Club students to debrief us on their trip. I'm only here because Francesca had two other commitments tonight, so I'll let these kids introduce themselves and talk, but I would like to say thank you to the board members that came to our installation the other night. We had four of you there and I think that's the most we've ever had. So, thank you very much and we had Reggie and Vicky as well. So, thank you. Yes, thank you for coming to our ceremony. We really appreciate it. Uh my name is Cassie Shields. I'm a junior,
004upcoming senior, and I just started my second term as president. You want to introduce yourself? Um I'm Connor Davis and I was the decon chair and uh I'm the one who planned well, the convention that everyone went to. Uh but now I'm just a member. So, we had our district convention about 2 weeks ago now. It's a chance for our Rocky Mountain District of Wyoming and Colorado to come together, meet new people from other clubs, experience leadership workshops to help us in our clubs and become better leaders, uh learn more about service opportunities and how to start those up in our club and our community, and just a chance for us to learn more about Key Club. Um we had 10 members go this year, which is a lot for our little club and our
005little district. We are 6 hours away, so it's a big chance for 10 of us to be able to go this year. Um we have 81 clubs in the Rocky Mountain District and we were able to bring home our diamond distinguished award, which means we set the bar for our district. Um that's the third year in a row we brought that home and I'm super super proud of our club and everything we've been able to accomplish. Um do you guys have any questions for us? Is Scotts Bluff still part of the used to be the It's a little piece of Nebraska. We do still have the panhandle of Nebraska. It's just hard for them to be a part of our district convention, so we don't see them very often. All right. Did he do a
006good job of planning? Did I do a good job? That's for her to decide. Cassie, that's what I said. Did he do a good job? Yes, it was it was so amazing. It's always so fun to see what the board comes up with and how they uh decorate the space and how they incorporate our theme into everything that we do over the weekend. So, I would say he did a pretty good job. I brought an astronaut, so it was pretty cool. He did. We were able That's awesome. That's really awesome. >> come and talk to our um convention and it was so cool to hear about. So, it's great. Well, thank you for representing us so well. Yes, thank you. Thank you. Thanks for being here tonight. Thanks for having us. Thank you. Moving on,
007we have Frontier Academy Principal and Spur Academy Virtual Director, Justin Taylor. I know nobody wanted to hear what I had to share. >> [laughter] >> Don't have that feeling tonight. >> Um again, this is an opportunity for me to kind of give you an update of what's been going on not only with Frontier, but Spur, DRC, Step Up cuz there's a lot of things that are kind of in the old Jackson building. Uh so, I'm kind of here just to give you an update of what we've done so far this year and then our goals and plans uh for this upcoming year. Um so, we'll just start with Spur Virtual. Currently, we have 52 students. Uh this is kindergarten to 12th grade. Um I believe 22 of those students um are 9th through 12th. Uh
008it's been good working with Mr. Jasmine and Mr. Miller on trying to get uh the right students uh in our high school program. Um and then this is our third year working with Venture Upward. It's a uh a company that we've partnered with over the last 3 years to help deliver our instruction for our kindergarten to 8th grade students. So, it's been going [clears throat] well. We're right around 50 like I said, 52 students. I know that Venture Upward would like a lot more, but we've been consistent hovering um just above that 50 uh student range over the last couple years. Um with DRC, that is our day reporting center. Uh they're currently still down uh right by the fairgrounds in the county building. We're working with DRC to try to get them up with
009us next year. Um we're going to have a separate entrance for them and then have the staff up so that we can have uh teachers go down and tutor with them when they have difficulties, but also have the use of a gym um which they haven't had since they moved out of the old Tonkin building. So, it'll be good to have them up there, but what's been nice is I've over the last couple years I've had the same uh staff member down there. What's good about that is yes, you get different students, but consistency is good so that we have had very little behavioral problems down there. Um so, it's just going to be a little bit different having them up in the building, but it'll be nice um having all of my programs in
010just one building. Uh with Step Up Day School, this one has grown immensely over the last couple years. I think we started it about 5 years ago. Might even be longer than that, and it was in the cafeteria um of Tonkin is where our first kids were held um there just because we saw a need. And currently right now, and I wish I could have changed this, um I said that we've had 33 um students, some of them multiple times, um but right now as of the time I left, we're up to 36 kids because I had that many referrals by the end of the day. So, the need is there. Um we've had kindergarten all the way up to eighth grade. And it's just students that aren't following a behavior uh contract that they
011have, can't handle the matrix, um an alternative to suspension, whether it's for drugs, alcohol, behavior, um fighting. So, we there is a huge need with this. Um sometimes we'll have kids for two to four days up to 10, but then we also have our long-term kids that will have their first semester or longer. Um what's I guess we're working on with Jody and with uh Courtney Johnston is trying to partner with an outside group to help us strengthen this. Um so hopefully next year I can give you guys a better update on how we're going to be able to do that so that we can help kids um in district so that we're not having to reach to outside facilities for additional help because the need is there. Um I'm seeing it firsthand, but then
012it also gives it out to um I have five staff members, which is the largest we've ever had with Step Up. And trust me, the money has been well worth it because uh those kids need as much attention as they can get. Um so hopefully with the ideas that we have, we can still continue to help the kids and then get them back into the regular ed classroom. That is our main goal. It's helping in the sense of giving a break to the classroom teacher, um the other students, but if we can give them the skills that they need and get back into the regular classroom and be successful, that's what we're going to try to do. Um now back to Frontier. This is our 11th year. Hard to believe I've been with them for
013seven. Um our largest population this year was at 48 kids. Um so when I first started with uh Frontier, I think I I think we had about 18 kids, two teachers, and a secretary. Um this next year um we're going to have four teachers. Uh so we've gotten the privilege to hopefully inner start interviewing for a social studies teacher, so we'll have four teachers. Um a success coach, a secretary, um and a counselor as well. So it's needed um but it's it's surprising how much it's changed in the time that I've been there. But the big thing that's happened is I think we're the only school I I'm I'm not going to say in the nation, but I'll state it anyways, that we've moved two times now in the middle of a year. Um so
014to move from Tonkin when it was snowing and then this time Jody called up and says, "Hey, do you want to move? The building's open." And so a huge shout out to main- maintenance, custodians, and staff because we packed up everything in less than 5 days. Um I didn't think it'd be that big of an issue, but it took us a while to get into the groove of having a new building cuz the kids were just so crammed together having all that space, they found places to hide. We had to work through those issues. Mhm. Um now that we've been in there since um October, we know of some changes that we're going to work with Ed and Jody so that we can make it back into that family ori- kind of climate so that
015we can get those kids working together. So, it's been a good change. Um and then the also thing that you guys have probably known about is just being down a staff member this year has been difficult, but it a huge shout out to the staff again. Not having a counselor full-time has just been difficult. We've reached out with WBI and getting some outside services to help when needed. But it's having 48 outreach students, a counselor is needed daily. And it's just our staff has had to just kind of increase our skill set so that we can reach out to them and help them get them through the day. So, it'll be nice. We have the person hired. She just works up at the high school. Um so she's excited to start with us uh come
016August. So, things uh so we get graded Well, we'll go to this first. We're continuing with some uh face-to-face classes. We're still doing our gaming classes. Um my new uh math teacher, Ms. Fuller, she's doing drones. It's kind of neat to see the kids um learning mathematics, using the Pythagorean theorem, uh doing speed, distance, but then also having fun flying drones at the same time. And then also we are continuing with our horticulture classes. So, it's neat to see those kids participating in those. Um this year we've had a couple kids participate with our RHS activities, uh them being in speech and golf. So, it's awesome to see that Max uh stepping into that role has continued to allow kids to be able to do that. So, it's been great for them to participate. And
017then working with uh Mr. Jasmine and Reggie again, we've had kids participate in autos, different art classes, band, choir, and CNA. Um it's really been neat to see the two kids participating in CNA this year because they're getting excited participating in clinicals. Um so, they're starting to mature because they're having to balance both, not just the Frontier schedule, but the RHS um schedule as well. And then um we're continuing to have success with a few students up at CWC. This year we've had kids participate in different art classes, multiple English, and then the government class that they offer. So, how does the state grade us? The biggest one that is so hard for us to um master is the four-year on-time graduation rate when 85% of our students that we get are behind right when
018we grab them. So, it's always going to be hard, um and it's so hard for us to say no to a kid um because we feel that they deserve a second, a third, and a fourth chance. So, but what's nice is if you look at our um fifth, sixth, and seventh-year graduates, um it's better than our four-year's. So, it's showing that we're sticking with those kids and we're getting them to where they need to be. But in the end um they're still we're we're not succeeding with all, so we're going to still continue to try to raise that. Where our um bright spots come down to um our post-secondary readiness. It's a um a requirement for the state where we show um a path with courses and getting them ready for what's after high school.
019Um we're doing quite well with that. I believe that all of our students um that graduated met that expectation. Um credits earned, uh we met that as well and it's they're just reading how many credits or how many classes they take when we have them for an entire year. Um we do well with that and then um like always our school climate where they ask the kids individual questions and the kids have to have a personal response. It's just not an ABCD. They'll ask, "Do you have staff members that reach out to you? Do you have um staff members that help you with this?" And it's very personal. And the kids are we ask for honest feedback cuz that's how we want to get better. Um I believe we're one of the highest in the
020state on that. So, but again, there's always areas that we can improve and it's the on-time graduation rate and then growth with our Y-TOP and ACT. Um we get graded on it. It's not a huge priority for mine, but I do look at those. It's just um avenues that the state looks at us to see how we're going to be successful. So, then it comes to our huge change that we're going to be wanting for this next year. Um I was reaching out to Christina and Jody and it was just saying our kids are changing and we're lagging behind. What can we do? And what I mean by changing is their behavior's becoming a little bit quicker to become aggravated, a little bit quicker to becoming frustrated. Um um to where they're feeling like there's
021no hope cuz they're fighting everything that's outside of school. So, how can we help them inside of school? So, I reached out to um a company called Discovery Institute. They are based out of Fort Collins. And we had a training in here with uh people from Spartan Academy, uh Spartan Academy, um Step Up, uh Frontiers, some people from the high school and the county were here. And we're going to go full all into it. And we're already starting our interviews and having discussions with our new um applicants and their parents on the changes that we're making. So, every single kid, doesn't matter if you're returning or new, is going to go through this program starting on uh August 12th. And we're going to be teaching skills around team building, anger management, conflict resolution, being assertive,
022problem solving, and effective communication. Um they're still going to earn credits for it. We're going to hopefully get those to you guys so we can have them approved and ready for you guys here shortly. Um our staff are excited because we're going to be putting the computer away for 6 weeks. And it is going to be face-to-face instruction um with 50 kids, seven staff, and doing a lot of different things so that we can get back to our mission, which is to be family. And if we can help them with those skills that are hurting them outside of school, that they bring to school, and then solve those problems, we do truly believe that we're going to start seeing a lot more success where kids just say, "I'm done." There might be a few swear
023words in there when they say that to us, but I'm just saying it's it's going to be where they're going to go, "Okay, I can try this." Right. Um so, we're excited about that. Um and then also, I will be teaching some parent classes. And it's going to be a requirement. They're signing a contract to where if um if they want to get their student fees back, the parents are going to participate in the classes, too. So, it is in the end going to be no cost if they complete the class. Um so, we're going to have that set up for them. And then also, we're going to have higher expectations for attendance. They can only miss three classes in the first 6 weeks. Because we understand life happens, but a lot of times the
024the kids that we deal with, life shouldn't be that tumultuous for every single day. And they need to put themselves first and put education first and get to school. So, if we can get them there, we can help them get through these classes and then we know that we're going to see a drastic change. So, we're excited about it. It's going to be a huge change. Um but it's something that we feel is needed. Uh we've I've talked to a lot of schools. Uh one down in uh Cheyenne does it well. Um and they said they would never go back and then multiple schools in Colorado said it's the best thing that they've done in their alternative setting. So, we're excited to see the the changes that we can make on that. So, goals, like
025I said, we've already done the training. Next year, I can come back and let you guys know how um our success is with those kids and doing that uh uh new discovery class with them. I still want to see how we can do bringing in our new counselor and building that relationship with CWC. We've got it going pretty well, but getting the new counselor on board is going to be um a big step on that. The biggest thing that I still and it's been on my uh goal sheet for the last couple years figuring out a another avenue for HiSET. A student that I interviewed this morning um quite low on credits and I just know that the way that the HiSET is built right now and the way the the skills that that student
026is missing, it would not be successful. So, that's just something that we've got to find a way whether we take the student for a couple years and then get them into the HiSET program. That's an avenue we've got to do, but it's something that we're missing. So, I went more than the 2 minutes that Jody and Jayda said I could take. So, No, we we didn't say two. No, it was this Jody. No, I'm not saying this Jody. These two over here. We were joking beforehand. So, um that's what I've I've brought to you guys. That was me. I might have pointed pointed it over in this area. It's okay. Just point finger right at him. >> [laughter] >> So, is there any questions I can help you guys with? No, I'm just really excited
027about the that building that human connection through that discovery process. I think that's huge. Um without being through a a technology base, but be actually being able to have that human connection, so. No, we're really looking forward to it, so. The kids kind of seem a little nervous, but we're like if you want to try this, you're still earning product cuz we always say we don't waste your time. Yeah. >> Um so, it's an opportunity for them to be there, have some fun, and uh I'll just say if one of the activities is uh you get a puzzle, and you get into smaller groups, and then you hand out the puzzle pieces, and then you got to start building it with your partner, and then it gets it to where you'll see some people take
028a step back, and some people stay take a step forward, and then you bring in a different a component, get rid of the puzzles cuz some people are more spatial and enjoy that, and then you do one that's kind of physical, and then you'll see other kids step forward, and other kids step back, and it gives the opportunity that some people can have leadership skills in different activities, but then also take a back seat, but then still be a part of the team when then that's not their strength. And so, it's just not to show failure, but it's also to show that you have these skills inherently in you. You just got to know how to use them. Well, they may not have recognized that they had them Correct. till they get till it's out
029there like that, so. Thank you. I just want to say thank you for all you do. Not a problem. Thank you guys for all the support. There's going to be quite a more kids in that building next year, so it's going to be interesting to see It's a good problem to >> how many more kids we can help. Yeah. It's a good problem to have. Yeah, that's a good problem to >> of all the things that we've done since I've been on the board, this is Frontier and these alternative programs are some of my favorites. Yeah. And I think it's great that we're introducing kids to to these skill sets that that we as a society a lot of people have kind of lost because we're so behind the keyboard all the time that we
030can't have a conversation anymore and I think it's important that that everybody learns those skills again. So good. I'm glad. Thank you. Quick question. Yes. How often do you have kids come through your program and then go on to secondary education? Do you want like a percentage? >> No, just like is it frequent? Couple of year, three, you know? I would say every so our last graduation this year, I think we're going to have in between eight and 11 more graduates left to do for this year and of those 11 I'll have two or three that will go either one girl hasn't decided if it'll be CWC or Sheridan. Another person is going to go down to Denver and go to like a cosme- they don't they just want to get out of town. So
031it's it just depends. Well, I saw that uh the concurrent and dual enrollment has improved. It it really has cuz it when I first started there it wasn't happening very much and so every year we have a couple but it's still not a huge priority but it also just shows that kids that need an alternative setting can still be those kids that want to go above and beyond. It's just they just need something at a different pace or whether it's a different schedule or living on their own or something like that. So Cool. Thank you. All righty. I'll exit out of that one. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. It was worth the overtime. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Okay, moving on. We will start with board members. Let's start with Jayda first. Do you
032have anything to give us? Tell us. Okay. Carl. See, this barely got here from activities association meeting. And state swimming will be in Gillette for 4 years, so everybody will get to experience the the greatest and best model for swimming. And it is phenomenal they expect to have the fastest times for because of the altitude Yeah. difference between Well, because that's like the air density You move faster through it. So, that'll be kind of interesting. Yeah. The other thing that uh of course the uh we did the recalibration was a big topic. Uh at the end of the meeting I left oh, probably after an hour because I you know, I I was interested in listening to everybody talk about it. And uh I stayed a little bit longer, so I was panicking that I
033wasn't going to make it back in time to get there to this meeting, but I was able to but there was no highway patrol on the way. >> [laughter] >> Uh On speed record. Yeah. I mean, there's all kinds of things that different districts are looking at anywhere from And this is just in activities. They're not talking about budget in other ways, but these are ADs for the most part. And you know, there's a super there's several superintendents and a couple of board members, but um you know, the how how do you take care of long-distance traveling and overnights overnights and you know, the cost of uh of of programs, you know. And so one of the guys uh superintendent from What is this town? Cali, I think it is. Rocky Mount And Rocky Mount,
034yeah. Yeah. And he he did a a reach out to uh other superintendents. What what's happening with I think he reached out to you, didn't Uh but he asked, "What are you doing or thinking about with uh activities?" And Yeah. It was a it's it's an interesting document. I'll try to share it with you. I have to ask him if it's okay to share it. Uh the whole thing. But, you know, one district actually said, "Well, we're going to probably have to charge uh students to play football and basketball." Uh and you know, I I saw one report where it said it was in the uh online it said $70. And the superintendent said, "No, it's probably going to be above $200." Uh play in a smaller school, it was probably you know, if if
035it was dollars or dollars, it was like $600. But, that district was not actually thinking about it. But, Oh. it's not something they're going to do this year. It's just something that's on the table. Uh you know, uh They're already talking about uh indoor track as being one that uh they're dropping out of this year. So, looking at schedules and stuff, uh you know, some some districts are actually pulling the trigger on some of this. They're actually, you know, Shoshone is talking about their not so much their high school but their fifth and sixth grade sports and that's unfortunate. So, programs are you know, difficult You know, it's it's So, I am announcing to you guys, I told you all already, but I am running because of things like this. I'm going to at least
036make a run for the house just because of the problems that they didn't think about. Maybe didn't even know were going to come up. They didn't They didn't plan well. I'm not going to say that they did it on purpose. They knew about this, some of it. I don't know if they did. Yeah, they did cuz you said that they said told you that extracurriculars were totally not part of the funding model. They did say that the activities are not the most important part of the educational process, yes, but they they definitely They did They were more focused on things like the daycare and swimming pools that should be the community responsibility, less so on the activities that are part of school, but did say that some of the activities are not as important as
037the educational project. You're You're I'm a little bit more forgiving, I think, than I am. That's because that's because he's running, that's right. >> [laughter] >> That's right. I'm kidding. But it is uh you know what it is? The conversation every board we're not alone. We're all in the same boat. So as we work with them you know we're I think we're actually ahead because I think you guys have done a good job of dissecting and of the rules coming. Uh slowly but there hasn't there hasn't been a lot that we didn't already So every so you haven't been surprised. >> We have not been surprised yet. >> Okay, good. Now at the Wyoming School Board Association meeting that I went to on Friday and Saturday it was also topic of conversation uh at that
038you know the school board level. Um everybody had a different story. The board member from Torrington was telling me about some of the things that they're thinking about. And they're they're they're plans are much bigger than you know check you know they've already shut down schools and consolidated different things. Plus they also have a sinking enrollment enrollment problem. So all these things that are affecting us are very similar. The stories are very similar. You know less students. Uh the recalibration. So we're all in the same boat. We're all trying to work together. And one of the things that uh came out today at the meeting was that we all have to work together. That ADs need to be more proactive and not just depend on their superintendent to um do the job in telling everybody's
039story about why activities are important. And that teachers need to reach out to their legislators and tell them that, you know, this story about their students, about what they're doing in their classroom. Uh and board members and, you know, cuz everybody needs to that that's affected by this uh system, new system that we've got, uh needs to talk about it so that it can be fixed sooner than later cuz we can't fix it until next year anyhow, but it needs to be talked about. It needs to be brought out in the open uh so that these people, these legislators, understand that they did some damage. They you know, they came up with a plan, but it's a faulty plan and it a lot of unintended consequences. That's all I have. Thank you. Bruce. I agree
040with you about telling the story because there were stories that went through the legislature that were literally one-off stories. Yes. They had no couldn't repeat it at all, and that that made the day. That carried the day for that particular And I wish I could come up with right off the top of my head with what it was. Well, for instance, the property tax cuts. Mhm. Everyone's heard about the little old lady that inherited this land or whatever, and she can't afford her property taxes, and she's getting forced out of her home. Okay. I've never heard a name. I've never heard anybody say, "This is the lady that can't afford her taxes." So, the stories carried, whether they're true or not. In any event, I'll get off my horse. I'm kind of getting me blood
041pressure up. Take a breath. Did a little thinking about um Well, I heard some stuff and I can't remember where I was either on the internet about how we think of education as linear. First grade, second grade, third grade, on down the line. And if you don't follow that line, then you failed somewhere. But that isn't how we learn. It's a way more organic than that. You know, just moves. And we're working on that. Um Frontier Academy is a good example from tonight. Um but you know, it just it needs to really be taught about is how people learn and it's not you know, I'm a I'm a product of the sit down, shut up, pay attention deal. And it worked for me. But it doesn't work for everybody. Um that's all I got. I
042know. I was just going to say that our education system was designed during the Industrial Revolution and it has not evolved as quickly as we would all hope. But we are making progress. It was great to attend the Boys & Girls Club breakfast. Um it's always exciting to me to see so many people in our community show up for fundraising events and to support people. It was It was nice to get to honor Cody and Crystal. Um and congratulations Pearl to your granddaughter for winning the scholarship and the other two scholarship winners. Um I I it's it's great to see young kids and young people in general just be successful. So, that's all I have. Lori. So, I would just I would just repeat with the Girls and Boys Club banquet. I I thought it
043was a wonderful opportunity and um my grandson really felt as a football player uh that he was listened to by the professional that was there, Eddie McCaffrey, and I think it made an impact on what he what he's looking forward to, you know, going going into this next this next year. And I I do want to applaud Carl for I'm I'm was very thankful to hear that you were running for that position. I think >> campaign here. Okay. Okay. Well, I was thankful to to see that because I think we need some competition. I think that that is very that would be good and um you have you have great skills and I think it would be great to for you to be able to participate in that. Um and I also am so thankful
044for Frontier and all of the opportunities that it provides. I I just really believe there are so many kids out there that that just need that little bit of extra and you know, so we can see some kids becoming very successful in their future because of that program and also because of other programs where we have literacy, those types of things, those kids can excel in areas where they can really shine and I think we have so many opportunities for kids to do that in our district and you know, it it just every child has their own their own place in the world and it's just wonderful to see our kids succeed. I loved seeing the signings of all the kids that we had, you know, for all the colleges that they're going to. I
045I just that's just so fun to watch all of those things as well, so. So, anyway, that's all I have. Mr. Cantrell. Um this Friday speech and debate and FCCLA is having a banquet. And so I I got us a table. So, anybody that wants to come I talk to me after the meeting. >> I would love to. And uh cuz I I reached out I reserved a table. And uh I also got to go to Boys and Girls Club. That was fantastic. >> Yes. Next year they're going to have to get a bigger building. Cuz there was hardly any walking room at all. >> Totally, it was full. And uh got to go to the Key Club uh with their office installation. That was fantastic. It was the first time I ever got to
046enjoy that. That was fun. Then after that run right across to go to the spring concert uh for the choir. That was fun. Those guys are so talented. And uh this morning I got email from the Wyoming uh Business Council, I believe. And uh he said that we've reached number one in migration from school to leave to Wyoming. Our Our Our Our kids are leaving Wyoming for a job. Oh. Yeah. We're We're number one in the nation for that. That's not a good thing. Not a good thing. So he was saying he was saying we got to figure out how to keep them here and and get some businesses going. And uh I guess that's all. Thank you. Okay, Jody. Well, I always uh enjoy the Key Club officer installation. I've gotten to go a
047couple years in a row and it's always really fun to to to attend that and um also the Boys and Girls Club um Kristen Nieland spoke there as well and it was That was really an awesome thing to see um to have a local individual have that impact and the things that she had to say that she had to say about her journey why why she went there, why she ended up where she did and then came back here um because she and she talked a lot about the schools and what and and the influence that we have as a school in helping our kids you know, move forward in their life and yet when they come back. So maybe you know, more of those kind of talks to help with that migration problem that
048we're looking at for us. Um enjoyed prom pictures with with kiddos and and watching watching that. And um uh watched a lot of watching a lot of soccer and and just you know, we're we're really fortunate here. We we sometimes get mired in and we forget how fortunate we are, but we are a community that shows up. That's the one thing that we are. And when we pulled into the parking lot for the Boys & Girls Club when we were pulling in that morning, I was like, holy buckets. I mean, it was just it was great problem to see and um like said that the honorees, it was nice that the Myers were honored for that because they do do an awful lot in this community. And we had we also had the president of
049the national Boys & Girls Club who was present there. Um that day. Good friend of mine. Um for for to celebrate with us. So, um I think just going forward, um I hope that um our seniors have a wonderful spring and that they enjoy the last few days of their time at school. And I wish them all luck and can't wait to see them on the 17th parade across there because it's a great event to get to be a part of. And Rosalyn congratulations. I know she left. I'm I'm I'm beyond excited over that. And Frontier Academy, I love the human connection piece because we've walked away from that and that ultimately is um a problem. It's it's not a just a a problem a a Riverton problem, it's a world problem. And and how
050to have a conversation and how to recognize people for their strengths and how to get them to recognize their strengths. And so, thank you for that. And that's all I've got for today. Christina. Um just as you guys are talking made me think of a couple things that I would be remiss I just need to share with you is I will give you at some point we're finishing up our evidence-based grading that we use so that kids can show proof that they're moving through which would allow a lot of our kids to move at a pace and a rate that is based on their current level. And so, we've been working on that the high school our math department has really been moving along and almost have that completely figured out. My coaches came to
051me the other day and I think we have our power school figured out so that we can allow for some of that to happen. Chapter 3 is coming out. We're going to get some more guidance on Friday on May 1st here coming up and they're going to be at CWC and do a statewide collaboration and give us guidance about how can we move kids through that system that are ready and what that looks like which I think is going to open up a lot of things. I've then also been working closely with CWC and also with the chamber in terms of making some connections here hopefully coming up with our industry so our kids can do some work-based learning some internships and really reimagine the senior year. I've talked with Reggie about that and he's
052really on board about how can we get our seniors so the senior year looks different. So, in what you're saying is just exciting cuz I've been throwing those by Jody. She's very much obviously that is her wheelhouse of how can we make that look different and get our seniors out their senior year whether that's in the community whether that's working at CWC in a trade or through some other one of their programs. Keep Bruce in mind. Yeah. >> You'll be at the BOCES. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think we're excited about what's to come and there's a lot of opportunities. So, I think ensuring that our legislation doesn't tie our hands and allowing it at this point like I said, chapter three coming in is really going to allow a lot of this to take place
053because it does open it up where kids if they show competency they can move on. Yeah, it's not a seat time anymore. It doesn't exist. So, anyway, it just made me think of that. I'll give you some of the things that we've been working on so you can have some documents of what that looks like. But it just made me think of that. So, we have been working on it diligently. >> Would you mention [snorts] what we're looking at for English? Yes. So, one of the things that um we are starting to realize with the competency is that some of our standards are put together. So, here's an example, English ninth grade and 10th grade English are is actually a band of standards. So, it's not separate ninth, separate 10th. We just have put it
054that way because prior to that you had to have English one you had to go through a sequence. Because those are band together, we are looking at with our ELA department talking with our instructional coaches and with the admin is looking at how can we get kids if they can show proficien- proficiency on those standards in English one in grade nine then we would be able to give them essentially two credits because they would meet both of those. Um so, we're just trying to build those up. The nice part about that is we would then have kids who didn't make it would continue on with those standards as a 10th grader the next year. Uh so, it's not actually making everyone move at a certain rate, but it's allowing kids the gift of time that
055need that, but then also kids that don't require that and they can show proficiency quicker can move on. And then it would give them access to 1010, 1020 earlier, public speaking, those are also English credits. It would give them access to those sooner if it deemed appropriate for them. And so, we're just looking at what can we do better to allow kids to move at a pace that fits their needs. And that gives us the opportunity for less preps for teachers because they can teach freshman and sophomore the same content one year and then freshman and sophomore at the same content the next year and just have two years worth of content but only teach it one year at a time. Does that make sense? So, um that spreads our teachers a little less thin
056as well and gets them collaborating better. So, just some of those ideas that we're throwing out to try [clears throat] to move forward at a little faster pace. And by tracking standards, our hope is that's why we've been working diligently with PowerSchool is that if we can track standards, a kid that doesn't get all the way through his freshman year of those standards, he or she doesn't get all the way through, we wouldn't start over the next year. We would just say what standards do they need and essentially get them through courses without having to say you have to redo the whole course because we do that often. A kid will fail and then we're like, well, you're going to start all the way over even though there may have been some standards that they
057were able to show proficiency on and then working on the standards that they need more time. And so, by doing this in PowerSchool, we should be able to run a report. That's what was my request. So, that as kids go through, I can run a report and look at what they're doing. So, if they go out in the community and they work in a law office, what can we get there that would be a standard? Maybe it's an ELA standard. We would be able to look and see what could they get there and check those off for kids. So, it's it's down the road but we're talking about it. We're thinking about it. We're getting systems in place cuz you can sometimes go on a wild goose chase and you don't have systems and then
058it comes back to how can we actually track kids and and do a better job? So >> I'm looking at history of kids right now. [snorts] >> Right. Is there any way that you can give ratios of kids that get it and don't get it or get partial so that you know the scope of teachers need for individual developmental mean that's a big job itself. Right. Each kid is individual moving through a track and they're going to be at different points on that track. So teacher planning in one sense is God in the way but the ability to focus for that one student in a continuum seems while while carrying on their regular the other I mean they it's going to change the way a teacher teaches. Yeah. >> Because they'll have multiple places that
059they are at the standards. So you know if you go into a lot of our elementaries, they're already doing that. And what I mean by that is they're teaching tier one and then they're allowing kids to move and go into different groups and things. And so it's just getting that of what that looks like. Usually you're not looking at an individual kid you're looking at groups of kids cuz they tend to fall in naturally group themselves. And so with the new schedule at the high school they have those 90-minute blocks. There's there's some things that we can continue to look at. Like I said this is definitely down the road but we want to start thinking of we have opportunities with chapter three and we have opportunities with our evidence-based grading that we've been working
060really hard to get into our school system K-12. But it is it's going to be it's going to you have to reimagine school. I mean simple as that and I think our teachers are up for the task. I know our admin is definitely up for the task and so we just want to do what's best for kids and we're competing. Wouldn't it also be a mixture of it doesn't matter what grade you're in it's what skills you need or what you need. Yeah and we need to go back to that. Yes. >> [snorts] >> Yeah. Yeah. It's what you need. Where they are should be in math, it should be in other programs. It's something that I've always believed in is that a student doesn't This student does it this fast, this student like this
061>> Yeah. and and where they're both in the same classroom in the same classroom. >> [snorts] >> That's the part that I see as being the hardest to do. And I know there are groups. Yeah. Even in those groups, they're going to be different. Yeah. You know, so it's it's a It is reimagining the classroom. It really is reimagining the classroom. Well, I think when you're talking about that senior year, reimagining that senior year, not only are you going to have kids that are going to be going into businesses, but your teachers are going to have to really understand more of the why am I teaching this? You know, why do my kids need to know these kinds of things? And so, I think that also lends itself to teachers really beginning to understand that
062which which makes the learning much more relevant for the kids to think about how they're going to use it. But we've also done that, too. I remember being a high school senior and being a para down at one of the elementary schools. It happened to be his mom was Bruce's mom was the principal. And I was down there. My brother was in the first grade class. His teacher's name was Mr. Po- Pokey? Yeah, Mr. Pokey. And he was like, "Oh, we're having show and tell. I need you to come to school, Terry, and you're going to be my show and tell." And I'm like, "I'm already in there." And he goes, "I know, but you're going to be my show and tell today." Cuz I was in that classroom as >> been in that actually
063with with nurses' aides, which weren't aides then. Cuz I did that same thing through the biology and the science programs when when we were in high school. I did. And I think that that's it it's a good It has to start with It's starting with conversation. That's the right place to start. Yeah. >> So, but it is a re-imagination, re-imagining the and re-imaging what it's going to look like. For not just the students but for the teachers as well. Mhm, so. And the community. >> Critical thinking. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. >> Anything else? Okay, Roy. Yes, I just have one quick um program updates uh for our district 38 transition program that's housed at Riverton High School. Every month I do a lunch for our program students and anyone else who's interested in attending.
064So, I bring in lunch, we call it lunch with leaders and I invite local tribal community leaders have lunch with our students. Um last month or I guess it's this month uh our April lunch, for example, we had former graduates come and talk to the students about the importance of doing their best on WyTOPP and ACT and a couple of months ago we had members of the Northern Arapaho Business Council come and have a lunch with our students. Um and so this month our lunch is on May 8th, which is next Friday. It'll be I believe at 12:30, it's an early out that day in the library. So, I'd like to invite you all to join us if you're available. Um it's [clears throat] just any student that wants to show up and has some
065time. May 8th actually in Wyoming is Native American Day. So, to celebrate and to honor Native American Day in Wyoming, we're um Indian tacos are on the menu for that Friday. So, if you're available and want want >> hosting it at? At the high school or the library? >> Thanks. And the time again? At 12:30. Which high school's library? Okay. At the middle school. At the library or the high school? RHS. Do we need to RSVP or anything if we're coming? >> Nope, we'll we'll have plenty of food um and I will um once we get the invite finalized um I'll actually edit it and send it up to you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Anything else? Okay, Ollie. I don't have anything this evening. Thank you. Welcome home. Yeah, welcome back. Thanks.
066It's been nice to be back in Wyoming. There's no place like it. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. I don't have anything this evening just to say that what my grand tell grandson tells me every day, "You're amazing." He's not even He's going to be three in a week. I need to recall my name. Thank you, Jody. Okay. So, um you'll notice that I put a little piece of paper at each of your spots. It's the kindergarten enrollment and placement process. So, because we have been going through that, um it's very possible that people will be reaching out to you not very happy about their child's placement. So, I want you to be able to answer the questions of how that process works and what our priorities are. So, I provided that document to you for
067that reason. Um Well, and >> [laughter] >> and they will generally um come go through the chain of command, I hope, but uh if they get to you, that's the answer that I've given them. So, um just so you are aware. Um that's it's it's going to be running rampant very soon. So, if it hasn't already. Um when we get to the point where you're um approving salary schedules and job titles or you're at that action item, so a couple of things that we did learn is we did have two ways to calculate the um schedule. One is using all of your current staff and the FTEs of those staff that you placed on the average schedule and dividing where they're at now to make sure you meet the average salary. The second one is
068the more sustainable one. It's your It's your salary schedule itself, putting all of the steps and lanes, dividing it by the number of steps, and having your salary schedule regardless of where the people fall on it be the template. So, we did and are choosing that option two, even though at this current time it worked out for us in both areas, we're still within the percentage range. So, our expectation of average salary for the group of people that have to be on the average salary is $76,470. Our scales are at $76,440. So, we're right there. Um I think they gave us a 7% or a 7.5% grace. We're $7 off. we're $30 off I meant to say. So, 40, 70, 30. Did the math. All right. Um so, again, I have I think I've talked
069to you about which positions were on that um schedule. So, if you have any more questions about that, you can you can ask. I just wanted to make note that all positions will at least receive a step. That was um so, while for some positions that's not as much, I need to know um let you know that um the positions that did not receive a raise to the base are already paid at a rate that are commensurate with the position. Um and so, we didn't feel a need because we paid the position, not the person, and the responsibilities of the position. And additionally, some of the wage scales were adjusted because we could only periodically adjust wage scales. We couldn't do mass um all at once. And so, last year we did a couple of
070the um groups of people rather extensively. So, there was no need to adjust those again this year. So, any questions or anything on any information about the wage scales or job titles before we get to that? Um so, we I do have the proposal from WBI. And I think what I need to talk through with you very quickly. I'm going to try to be quick um because I will put the proposal itself when we go to move forward with this and at and we're not ready to yet. But we're currently paying approximately $10,697 a month per one student for placements. And we have 11 students at a placement at in placements that are near enough to where if we needed to and that's not the overnight placements, that's the day placements. Um that equates to
071$535 a day approximately for one student. Um at with the current contract or MOU that we're trying to do with WBI, our payment would be $275 a day, but not for every student. Only only for our students who are the really high needs um IEP students, we would be on a tiered scale. And so our tier one students would be $75 a day and our tier two students would be $125 a day, which makes it possible then for us to put general ed students in to that program and afford it. So WBI would provide all of the therapeutic services and the training and those things and we would provide the educational staff. Um so it would be it would be a split. Additionally, we would be able to put because we have IEP students and
072non-IEP students, our teachers that are in there or our and our support staff that are in that program, we would split fund proportionately based on those rates. So um at this time, we haven't committed to anything. Um what I need to do is meet with our special education director um with with Courtney and Petrina and talk about the students that are in placement and see which ones feasibly and reasonably would fit. Their IEP would be better served in a local placement here in our school district if we had that option um because it's not a guarantee that just because they're in placement, the one we create would be that. We need to have at least 10 students dedicated to that cuz that would be the guarantee. The max that we would ever pay to WBI
073is 520,000 regardless of what students were in there. Mhm. So, um it's a it's it's potentially a really good MOU. It'll It'll It'll save the state more money than it saves us because we're reimbursed 100%, but what it will do for us is give us a place for our general ed kids that we wouldn't normally have access to. Um after figuring out if we could um fill those 10 slots with students on IEPs, I need to meet with our um administrators and we have scheduled that meeting for next Tuesday. So, next Tuesday morning the all of the administrative team will be sitting down to look at what we have currently for behavior placements and start meshing out a plan of if it is this truly a need and is this the direction that we want
074to go and what would it look like. Um and then that that point once that team has had um some input in it and we've met with Justin and looked at the building, then I will come to you um for approval of moving forward and then WBI would come for a site visit and we would go from there. So, I thought it was important to update you on that. And those are the three major things I had, so that's it. We can we can move to action items now. Okay. Um do we have any At this time, visitors or delegations can talk. This is the [snorts] one opportunity for public comment or to address the Board of Trustees regarding any action items that are on the agenda. Anybody have anything? Everybody loses eye contact, it
075is. Okay, we'll move on to our first action item. Consider an administrative recommendation to approve out-of-state travel request. Max Mills is recommending the board approve an out-of-state travel request for the RHS Family, Career and Community Leaders of America FCCLA students to travel to Washington D.C. in July 2026 for the FCCLA National Leadership Conference. Madam Chair, I would move to approve [clears throat] the Riverton High School FCCLA students to travel to Washington D.C. in July 2026 for the FCCLA National Leadership Conference as per policy. Second it. Any discussion, comments, questions? All those in favor? I. >> I. Anyone opposed? Moving on, consider an administrative recommendation to approve insurance changes. Madam Chair, I would move that the board approve the removal of voluntary employee paid Unum, employee paid only WEPT vision, and offer but bill directly to
076employees voluntary Mutual of Omaha life insurance smoker and tobacco. Uh voluntary accidental death and dismemberment and American Fidelity which is a cancer policy and consolidation to WEPT as our only insurance intermediary. Second. Any discussion, questions? All those in favor? I. >> I. Consider an administrative recommendation to approve district job titles, salary schedules, and steps. Madam Go ahead. Go ahead. Madam Chair, I would move to approve the updated job titles and salary schedule for the 2026-2027 school year and an increase of one step to each returning employee. Second. Any discussion, questions? All those in favor? I. >> I. Anybody opposed? Okay, consider an administrative recommendation to adopt policies. Madam Chair, I would move that we adopt amended policy 3400 data privacy and security on first reading. Second. Any discussion? Questions? Glad we're moving forward with this.
077Me too. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Consider an administrative recommendation to offer a contract. Madam Chair, I would move that the we offer a contract to Reggie Miller as the Riverton High School Principal for the 2026-2027 school year. Second. Any discussion? Questions? All [snorts] those in favor? Aye. Anybody opposed? Congratulations, Mr. Miller. Yes, congratulations. >> Congratulations. Okay, moving on. Consider an administrative recommendation to offer contracts. Madam Chair, I would move to offer a contract to Connie Gorsch Gorsuch as a Willow Creek SpEd Case Manager, Andrew Thorton as Riverton High School Theater Teacher, Jared McGillvray as a Riverton High School Wolverine Academy Teacher, Shawnee Gopp as a Riverton High School Wolverine Academy Teacher, all effective for the 2026-2027 school year. Second. Any questions [clears throat] or discussion? All those in favor? Aye. >>
078Aye. Anyone opposed? I'm going to go turn the page here. Information. Okay, moving on to information items. Graduation ceremony is Sunday, May 17th at 10:00 a.m. at RHS Wolverine Stadium. Do we need to be there earlier? Yes. Okay, what time would you suggest? Probably at least 15-20 minutes earlier. Okay, everybody, that means you got to be there by 9:30. Yeah, where will we meet there? Do you have a That is a very good question. I will find out. >> Okay. Okay. Next information item is the MOU Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho WRITC birth 5 to head start program. See the stipulated agreement which has been violated and moved to an expulsion. Look at your executive content. Classified staff changes, resignations, transportation bus aide Kristen Johnson effective April 13th, 2026. Transportation bus driver Theodora Enos effective
079April 20th, 2026. Rendezvous para Jessica Ayla effective May 22nd, 2026. New hires Kristen Williams as an RHS finance secretary. Presley Mills as an Aspen Elementary daycare assistant. Terry Bouchard as a maintenance floater custodian. Jada Hausauer enrollment. Okay. Is there anything else? I'll put my gavel. I have a question.