School District No. 4 internet system disrupted

Superintendent Jory Thompson noted, “The administration discovered an issue with our systems on March 6. Since then, they have been working with industry professionals to secure and restore the system. The internet was restored last Thursday, and we will be back to normal operations shortly. Thanks very much for your patience and understanding, and the school will provide further updates as necessary.”

Further information was shared at the Big Horn County School District No. 4 board meeting on March 11. The district experienced a ransomware demand. Superintendent Jory Thompson told the board he spoke to the district’s technology director, Mike Wynn, to find out what he could tell the board.

“Because we are being advised by a third party. Our insurance company, when we contacted them, they immediately put a third party to work. They are here. Going through it. Doing discovery. Checking out every computer, wiping some. Mike is working with them.

“We now have the lawyers that go with our insurance. Their advice is to say recovering is in process. It was clearly a ransomware situation. They did get in. As far as we know, last Wednesday is when we first discovered it. We will learn more when they get through the process. We don’t have internet.”

He said that Wynn will be pulling wires to try to get internet access for teachers. Thompson gave a special thank you to Wynn for putting in hours over the weekend, as well as Principals Katie Seely and Matt Jensen, and teachers and staff for having good attitudes. He added that Wynn had recently gone to a security conference and discussed with Thompson his concerns about ransomware and how it could get into a district. Some board members received phone calls and texts seeking payment to Medusa. The district decided to have a virtual day for the students on Friday, March 7.

SUPERINTENDENT REPORT

Thompson said the district received a preliminary accreditation recommendation from the Wyoming Dept. of Education that was rated at 100%. The Method of Administration Desk Audit Checklist came back with no finding. “That is good,” he said.

The superintendent told the board he wanted to touch base with them on the resignation of the Paintrock FFA advisor Ashley Spatz. “I did a good exit interview with Ashley. She expressed it was a personal decision and she just needed to do something else. She wanted it on record that Matt Jensen really supported her.”

PRINCIPAL REPORTS 

Riverside Middle/High School Principal Matthew Jensen presented his report. Addressing the internet situation, he stated some difficulties faced without reliable technology.

“Simple things like sending out a quick message to staff. Not having Wi-Fi has been a struggle for everybody. I’ve heard a lot of ‘Why can’t we go back and teach out of our textbook?’ Because a lot of our textbooks are online textbooks. Your dual classes...everything is online, and this is their midterm week. Of course, it is always stressful a couple of weeks before spring break. Then you throw this hurdle. It has been an interesting week and a half here.”

Jensen held a zoom meeting on Sunday with his staff and suggested they print documents at home. He had high praise for the staff as they worked through not having access to the internet.

Jensen also reported that he and some students attended an Experts in the Field program put on by the University of Wyoming. It featured people in engineering, aviation, health care and other career fields.

“They had all these professionals that were experts in their field. I got to sit in on one of the panel sessions. Students asked what it is like to be a principal.” At first, the students weren’t comfortable in a room full of principals, but they eventually warmed up and asked some good questions.

“The school will continue to take the financial and career classes to the program.”

Jensen added that he has gone and will be going to job fairs to find applicants for job openings in the district. Thompson will head to a job fair at MSU Billings to do the same.

LIE Principal and Special Ed Director Katie Seely reported to the board as well. The third quarter reward assembly was postponed but has been rescheduled. She also discussed the success of the LIE Destination Imagination teams at state.

Like Jensen, Seely had high praise for the staff doing whatever it took to continue working. “It has been just outstanding. They have pivoted. They have done everything that they could possibly do. There has not been any grumbling. They have been dedicated to working over the weekend to get things done. We worked through teaching like it was 1999.”

Seely added that parent/teacher conferences were coming up. The school switched to a digital sign up. A snack bracket was set up for March Madness. Students were able to taste test the various chips and vote which moved forward to the final four.

Cassie Russell and Laura Godfrey were voted Staff of the Month by their peers.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

 Board Member Austin Alexander spoke about a recent rec board meeting. The rec board plans to put together a fundraiser. Alexander was provided reports on what the school raised and a grant match with REA that raised $15,000 for the pool.

Board member Kristin Schlattmann attended a Wyoming State Board meeting. The state board is responsible for five general areas. “It is not an exclusive responsibility. We kind of share the responsibility with the Department of Education. It is generally accountability, assessment, accreditation and standards. Then we approve schedules for alternative school days.”

They spent a lot of time at the past meeting talking about the statewide assessment. By statute they are supposed to review it and audit it and its effectiveness. Changes can be made. Schlattmann believes 2015 was the last time changes were made to the assessment process.

She explained that at that time, a group made up of legislators and educators made recommendations specifically to the Legislators, the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) and the State Board of Education about what is important when looking at statewide assessment and who is going to do it. WDE has put out a request for proposal (RFP) for the statewide assessment. Schlattmann noted that she had met with some of the school district’s educators to understand certain issues that came up with recent WYTOPP testing. She said it was beneficial.

OTHER BUSINESS

• A student council report was given, as well as a prom update.

• The eighth grade class gave a presentation asking for matching funds from the school board for an overnight field trip to Bozeman Museum of Rockies, Lewis and Clark Caverns and Yellowstone. The class has done fundraisers too. The board approved providing funds.

• Business Manager Trevor Whitaker gave his report, which included a court decision in favor of the Wyoming Department of Education regarding the state failing to provide appropriate education funding per the Wyoming Constitution.

• Board member Greg Gloy gave the BOCES update.

• An executive session was held to discuss personnel.

• The board reviewed a potential agreement for use of the rec center. The agreement is proposed between the Rec District Board, the school and the Town of Basin. The board did not vote in favor of the agreement.