School board approves budget

by April S. Kelley

The Hot Springs County School District approved the 2016-17 fiscal budget, talked about the October accreditation meeting and shared experiences at PLC (Professional Learning Communities) conference at a meeting on July 19.

Business Manager Chauncey Johnson presented the budget to the board, noting that at the time of the board meeting he did not have the final information for the major maintenance fund or the capital projects fund. He said he will present this information to the board at a future meeting. Johnson also included an increase of the mill levy for CWC BOCES for 2016-17 as requested by the board.

Superintendent Dustin Hunt shared that the administrative team spent the day preparing for the accreditation visit the district will be having in October. He reminded the board that they will be asked to visit with the evaluators during the visit and the accreditation team will share things they feel the district should be working on.

Superintendent Hunt, the administrative team, Trustee Nichole Weyer and Trustee Jennifer Axtell attended the PLC conference in July. Superintendent Hunt said he uses this conference as an evaluation tool to make sure the district is focusing on the ‘right’ work. The administrative team spent half a day as a retreat. The team discussed setting audacious goals and how to best use collaboration during the retreat. It is felt the district has developed a model collaborative program. The summer work that the board supports is part of that collaboration program. This will allow teams to meet together and collaborate on assessments and the upcoming school year.

The district will be bringing in a training for supervisors and administrators regarding human resources, Superintendent Hunt said.

Superintendent Hunt was chosen as the official representative for federal funds for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

Attendance officers for the three schools in the county were also chosen for the 2016-17 school year. Ralph Witters Elementary Principal Laurie Graves was appointed the attendance officer for the elementary school, Thermopolis Middle School Principal Breez Daniels was chosen as the attendance officer for the middle school and Hot Springs County High School Principal Scott Shoop was appointed the attendance officer for the high school.

Approval was made for purchasing bonds for Superintendent Hunt and Business Manager Johnson in the amount of $50,000 each for the 2016-17 fiscal year.

The board also approved the allowance of a child listed as a non-resident to enroll in the schools of Hot Springs County for the 2016-17 school year.

The board approved the first reading of the student handbooks for both Ralph Witters Elementary and Hot Springs County High School. They also adopted the second reading of the Thermopolis Middle School Handbook, the middle school and high school Activity Handbook and the Transportation Manual. The second and final reading of the Leadership Priorities and Goals was also approved.

Several policies were reviewed but were tabled because of changes made earlier in the meeting to the food service department. The policies will be brought to a future meeting to bring it in alignment with the changes.

Special education contracts were reviewed and the audiology services contract was approved to Big Horn Basin Hearing, Inc. for the 2016-17 school year. The physical therapy services to Gottsche Rehabilitation Services contract for the 2016-17 school year had to be tabled until the August meeting because there were not enough board members present for approval.

The contract with Northwest Wyoming Board of Cooperative Educational Services for July 1, 2016 through June 30, 2017 in the amount of $148,601.25 to include the following services, tuition, special transportation, related services, recreational therapy, behavior consultation, APE, school nurse, extended school year and other school social work, parent counseling, psychological counseling, one-on-one aide, behavior specialist/transition and occupational therapy was approved.

Approval of the first reading of proposed revisions to the board self-evaluation occurred during the meeting as did the membership and enrollment in the Wyoming High School Activities Association. Scott Shoop will be the official WHSAA representative from Hot Springs County School District.

Principal Breez Daniels shared additional PAWS data received last week at the meeting. Catie Deromedi, Emmy Hergert, Stephanie Czarobski, Aimee Kay and Kristin Ryan were recognized for leading the students to the top 10 in the state for sixth grade math, seventh grade math, eighth grade math, eighth grade science and sixth grade reading. Tom Olsen, a social studies teacher, was also recognized as part of the sixth grade team as played an important part of the collaboration team helping all of the students achieve at high levels.

Trustee Clay Van Antwerp shared that the Recreation District is wrapping up the summer season and preparing for the fall season. They are looking at new activities to implement in the future. Superintendent Hunt reported that the administrative team will be working on refining the protocols for assessment review. Trustee Weyer shared her thoughts on the final chapters of “In Praise of American Educators.” She noted that our district is pretty far in the PLC process.

The Hot Springs County School District also held a special meeting on Aug. 1 to discuss staffing recommendations.

They accepted the resignation from Cindy Wallingford as head cook effective Aug. 1. They approved the employment of Ashlee Burton as elementary teacher and Gerry Burton as the high school/middle school vocal/instrumental teacher for the 2016-17 school year.