There’s still six more weeks of summer on the calendar, but summer vacation ends in School District No. 1 on Wednesday, Aug. 20, with the first day of school.


Rocky Mountain Elementary School held its registration Wednesday, Aug. 6, and registration at Rocky Mountain Middle School in Deaver is scheduled for today (Thursday) from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. All students must register with a parent or guardian, and student schedules and various parental forms will be available during registration.


Registration for Rocky Mountain High School in Byron will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 7, 8, 11 and 13.
There will be a new teacher orientation next Wednesday, Aug. 13, and the first day for teachers will be Thursday, Aug. 14.


The first day of school for all schools will be Wednesday, Aug. 20.


Sports practices begin on Monday, Aug. 18, and all players must have a physical before they will be allowed to participate.


There will be a meet the squad night for players and parents on Thursday, Aug. 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Cowley Town Park. Parents and players can meet the coaches, sign up for the booster club, learn about team and school rules and complete necessary forms during the barbecue.


There are nine new staff members in the district, Supt. of Schools Shon Hocker said. In Burlington, Barbara Jennings is the new principal for the middle school/high school building, replacing George Risberg, who has retired and moved to Wisconsin.


Also new in Burlington is Title I teacher Ilene Henley and elementary teacher Dani VanLake. New at Rocky Mountain High School is English teacher John Samuels and his wife, instructional facilitator Kara Samuels.


Principal Tim Winland explained that an instructional facilitator is essentially a coach for teachers, helping them implement research-based best practices.


New at Rocky Mountain Elementary is head cook Evelyn Carter, speech therapist Pat Bohmer, kindergarten teacher Eric Honeyman and physical education teacher Josh Sponsel. Hocker said the district is also on the verge of hiring a new counselor for the elementary and middle schools, only awaiting school board approval.


There have also been some transfers within the district and the elementary school, Principal Karma Sanders said. Ashlee Clark has transferred from Burlington Elementary to Rocky Mountain Elementary, where she will continue to teach kindergarten.


There are three intra-school transfers at RMES: Lynne Ann Sanders from kindergarten to second grade, Alicia Troutman from second grade to fourth grade and Kirk Hopkin from fourth grade to special education.


School will begin at 8 a.m. daily at the elementary school, Principal Sanders said, and end at 3:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, school will end at 12:15 p.m.


A pre-school parents night will be held Tuesday, Aug. 19, at 6 p.m.


Sanders said the 2008-09 school year marks the fourth year in the new school building in Cowley. She said those with any questions about the new year may call the school at 548-2211.

Students at Rocky Mountain High School will be greeted by a new schedule this year, Principal Tim Winland and Supt. Shon Hocker said. The home room/reading period has been expanded from 30 minutes to 48 minutes daily, he said, while the other seven periods have been reduced from 50 minutes to 48 minutes. The time between classes has also been reduced from four minutes to three minutes.


Hocker said one of the reasons for the new schedule is to align the bell schedule with the middle school schedule, which will be necessary when the two schools merge into the new 7-12 facility in 2010.


“We’re also finding that we just have so many students in extra-curricular activities that the extended home room period will allow them to focus on academics and receive assistance from the staff.”


Winland agreed. In a letter to parents written in June, he said the home room will allow students to concentrate on “homework, homework, homework,” adding, “If students are not working on homework, the expectation is that they read. We will still ask students to meet their reading goals set forth by the Accelerated Reading program.”


Also new at the high school is a required class for all freshmen entitled Independent Living, which is designed to help freshmen adapt to high school.


“For the past several years we have been concerned about the number of freshmen who have struggled in making the transition from middle school to high school,” Winland wrote in his letter to parents. “More and more we are seeing students who lack organizational skills, good study habits, work ethic and taking responsibility for their actions. As a result, students fail to complete or pass courses as a freshman, which puts them on a path that leads to failure.


“We feel if students are not on track to graduate by the end of their sophomore year, the odds of dropping out  of high school increase tremendously.”


 The result of that concern was the Independent Living class, Winland said, which will teach freshmen such things as energy and task management, character development, time management skills, good study habits, problem solving, note taking, self esteem, and various life management skills.


Freshmen will alternate between Independent Living and home room during the mid-morning period.


As for faculty changes, Winland noted that Charles Pollart will add to his science teaching duties by teaching welding and agriculture. Juniors and senior taking ag will qualify for the upper level science requirement.


Paraprofessional Shilo Vezain will be the FFA advisor for the high school.


(Winland was in Casper Tuesday for a Wyoming High School Activities Association board meeting, and while he was talking to a Lovell Chronicle reporter Tuesday evening, he was taking in a Casper Ghosts minor league baseball game from beyond the left field wall at Mike Lansing Field. During the interview, not one, but two homeruns were hit to left field by the team from Orem, Utah, and Winland chased down both homerun balls while speaking on his cell phone.)

There are no major changes at Rocky Mountain Middle School this year, principal Wes Townsend said. School will begin at 8 a.m. daily, starting Aug. 20, and end at 3:15 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and at 12:15 p.m. on Friday.


Following registration today, the next major date for parents and students will be a sixth-grade and new-student orientation on Tuesday, Aug. 19, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. There will also be a sports orientation Aug. 19 from 5 to 6 p.m.


Sports practices begin the first day of school, Aug. 20, Townsend said.