Board focuses on attendance policy changes for School District One

The Big Horn County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees met in Burlington on Thursday, Nov. 14, with all members in attendance.

There were three policies reviewed by the policy committee and presented for first reading in front of the board that affect students. The first is the Student Attendance Policy. It states that parent medical and prearranged absences are acceptable excuses for absences and redefines tardy consequences. As quoted from the policy: Section 4. Definitions: “Parent Medical: Absence from one or more class periods due to being ill and excused by parent or guardian. This can be applied for no more than 3 consecutive days.” “Prearrange Absence: Absence from one or more class periods that is prearranged with teachers at least 7 days prior to absence. This type of absence is intended for planned family times such as a family trip.”

Each of these types of absences accrue a half a point.

Section 6. Tardies: “Students will be marked absent for tardies that are over 10 minutes late. Other tardies will be dealt with by building administrators.” If approved on second reading at the December 12th meeting, this policy will become effective for the second semester of the ’24-’25 school year.”

The second policy of interest is Home-Based Educational Programs. A sentence was added to clarify the district’s position to align with state homeschool guidelines. The entire paragraph states: “The district regards home-based educational programs as non-accredited schools and reserves the right to require appropriate testing or to use any other means it deems appropriate for placement in a grade level of any student entering the district’s schools. The district will determine whether to accept credit from a home-based program but is not required to do so.” According to Superintendent Matt Davidson, home-based school numbers are increasing in the district. It is estimated that there are approximately 650 students within the Big Horn Basin who are receiving a home-based education.

The third policy of student interest is Participation in High School Activities. Non-resident students who wish to participate in activities will be required to enroll in at least one course at the high school in which they wish to participate.

Personnel

The board accepted the resignation of David Maust as custodian at Burlington and approved the following new personnel: Taleesha Herren, RMMHS special education paraprofessional; Cheyanne Jordan, BHS assistant high school girls basketball coach; and Mickey Maroni, BHS assistant boys basketball coach.

Employees of the month were recognized by each principal. Rocky Mtn. Elementary recognized Lydia McCracken. Principal Eric Honeyman stated that she is a dedicated member of the staff who participated in developing the school improvement plan, adding that she is exemplary in managing her duties of teaching and leadership. Currently, she is mentoring a first-year teacher, which helps to build the growth and success of the school.

Danielle Malson has been chosen as the employee of the month for Rocky Mtn. Middle/High School. Principal Betsy Sammons believes Danielle to be dedicated to students, which is exemplified by the extra time she spends daily with them. She leads through her actions but is not afraid to voice her opinions. She is always working for the good of the school community and spends extra hours mentoring new teachers and serving as a class advisor.

Burlington recognized Kay Townsend as their employee of the month. She is the literacy coach and supports both students and staff. She is also the assistant volleyball coach and creates a positive learning culture both on the court and in the classroom. She is always inspiring and uplifting those around her.

Wyoming Connections Academy honored Judy Verplancke, who is the Kindergarten/First Grade teacher. She is always positive and uplifts the entire team. She worked with Pearson Publishing to create the science curriculum. She has also created a junior kindergarten for students who have had no pre-school experience. She always tailors her teaching to meet the needs of her students.

The Burlington senior class -- William Aagard, Rykael Andrew, Joseph Bassett, Jordan Broederlow, Jordan Casey, Weston Gotfredson, Colt Haslam, Kinsey Jones, David McBride, Bruce McNiven, Howard McNiven, Jessica Mendez, William Parsley, Jesus Perez, Brynn Preator, Riley Trujillo, Breanne Walker, Brikton Wardell, Levi Wardell and Kyler Winters -- were recognized as the third class in a row to have the top ACT score in the state of Wyoming. It is the eighth time Burlington seniors have topped the ACT scores in the state in the last 12 years.

Other student recognitions included: Burlington Girl Huskies and staff - WHSAA Good Sportsmanship Award for the 2024 Volleyball Season; Weston Gotfredson – WHSAA Good Sportsmanship Award for the Husky Football Game Nov. 1, 2024; Rocky Mountain HS volleyball team – first place Class 2A Regional Volleyball Tournament; Hayden Wambeke, Ella Price, Sam Loyning, Colten Bitton, Triffen Jolley, Charlee Welling, Jameeliv Brost and Bailey Simcox – 2024-25 Rocky Mountain FFA officer team; Will Parsley, Rae Chatwin, Jamie Taylor, Joe Bassett and Howard McNiven – Starting a new FFA chapter and Burlington FFA officer team; Lauren Bassett, Brittly Boettcher, Keylee Christiansen and Shelby Wambeke – 2A all-conference volleyball team; Brittly Boettcher, RMHS – 2A Player of the Year; Adison Haslam, Naomi McNiven, Sarah McNiven, Paxton Philpott and Breanne Walker – 1A all-conference volleyball team; Rocky Mountain High School and Burlington High School – 2023-24 CFES Brilliant Pathways Schools of Distinction.

STEAM update

Jenny Christiansen and Susan Peck brought a presentation from Rocky Mtn. Elementary on the “STEAM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) program they are enthusiastically planning and teaching. Each class receives one hour per week of interaction with them. The goal of the program is to strengthen brain processing, cooperative learning, team building, crossing the mid-line in order to activate both hemispheres of the brain and to play to learn. So far students have been involved in creating games, building the blueprint for a corn maze, studying different spiders and building their webs, creating dream catchers and totem poles while studying indigenous people, stacking cups in a variety of ways and bending a human circle into a pretzel and back to a circle again. The smiles on the student faces in their slide show indicated they truly are “playing to learn.”

The board once again discussed the proposal of building two teacherages, one in each end of the district. Kenny May, Director of Facilities, had submitted two house plans for consideration. Davidson expressed the possibility of these buildings being duplexes. Chairman Bassett expressed that the goal of building homes would be a short-term housing solution for new teachers. The expectation would be for families to live in the district housing until the teacher is tenured and then find more permanent housing within the district’s communities.

The proposed 2025-26 school calendar was reviewed. The Staff Advisory Group, board members and administration gave input, as well as using the data gathered from the parent and staff calendar surveys to develop this calendar. One goal for the next school year is to find a way for staff to able to leave one Friday a month, after students leave. The current proposal is for certified staff to work an additional hour a week, over and above their current contracted hours. It is proposed that this hour will be used as time for PLC (Professional Learning Communities) meetings. The school start date is August 19, 2025, and the last day will be May 22, 2026.

In other business the board approved a sick leave request, declared Bank of Lovell as their depository bank, discussed the board meeting schedule for 2025 and approved all policies on second reading.

Bassett called an executive session for matters of personnel. The board reassembled after 20 minutes.

Bassett thanked the outgoing board members, Don Hatch, Byron seat, and Holly Michaels, at-large seat, stating they had both served a four-year term and brought different points of view and skills to help the board move the district forward, and they were both great people.

Newly elected trustees Wendy Fuller, at-large, AJ Rasmussen-Dickson, Byron, and Craig Jones (who had been appointed in June to serve out Jesse Hamilton’s term), Burlington-Otto, along with re-elected Jared Boardman, Deaver-Frannie, were given the oath of office and sworn in as trustees for the Board of Big Horn County School District No. 1.

Meeting adjourned at 9:06 p.m.