August 17, 2021

Regular Meeting Agenda: 6:00 pm Regular Meeting

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Fremont County School District Number One 

Board of Trustees

863 Sweetwater Street

Board Meeting  August 17, 2021         

Disclaimer- Notes from the board meeting are intended to highlight the major events/decisions/tone of the meeting as determined by the LEA representative attending. They are NOT meant to be an exact transcript of the entire meeting.  

General Business

A.  Call to Order

6:01pm

B. Pledge of Allegiance

C. Additional Agenda Items

             Bus transportation was added by Taylor Jacobs

D. Adoption of the Agenda

             Discussion of the surplus items and if they were being discarded (they are not)

             Bus agreement with FCSD # 21 is no longer active

E. Approve Minutes - July 13, 2021 budget hearing- approved

F. Approve Minutes - July 13, 2021- approved

G. Recognitions

Dr. Barker recognized Ani Heikkila (Principal at BCE) and Megan Park (Assistant Principal GPE) as new admin this year

H. Public Comment

Items not on agenda: None

Took names of those who want to speak at public comment in regards to an item on the agenda

2. Programs-Reports-Presentations

A. Board Member Reports

   Dr. Hitt- Spent time with Mr. Morton and upcoming changes at LMS

B.   Superintendent's Report

·         LMS FBLA nationals 4 students competed and all placed

·         Casey Swift- Selected to represent Wyoming in social studies

·         Dr. Barker shared the “Thought Exchange” he did at the staff welcome back meeting. Dr. Barker will send it out to students and parents after school starts through a link. Dr. Barker will have an update for the board at the normal board meeting in September.

·         Discussed compressive communication plan

·         Profile of a Graduate and Strategic Plan

C.  Literacy Grant Presentation

Deidre Meyer Shared a Literacy Grant- $635,000 and could be more after Labor Day

·         Developed literacy team including parents and staff from all buildings

·         Money will be given over several years

·         Very specific on how it can be used

3. *Consent Agenda

A. Approve expenditures and pre-approve utilities and financial report

B. Home School Applications

C. WHSAA activity enrollment/liability insurance

D. Declaration of Surplus/Disposable Property

E. Inter-district transportation agreement

F. Isolation Payment Application

4. Action Items

A. Personnel Actions- Motion carries

B. Policy (2nd reading)- Not many changes since last review but board members had questions and there was discussion. Two small changes were discussed and motion carries.

·         DB- Annual Budget

·         DBF- Budget Hearings and Review

·         DBK- Line Item Transfer Authority

·         JEA- Compulsory Attendance ages

·         JHB- Truancy

D.  Donation approval - food service- Motion Carries

·         ACFCU (Atlantic City Federal Credit Union) has donated over $6,000 to pay off our food service student debt from previous years

·         A thank you note/recognition will be done

·         Again this year all in district students will have access to free food service

5. Discussion Items

A. Policy (1st reading) (lots of policies but these three need most discussion)

·         JED- Student Absences and excuses; policy was changed to align with state statute revisions and other changes to polices JEA and JHB

·         JED-R- Student Absences and Excuses (regulation)

·         GCBE- Job Sharing- New policy that outlines job sharing requirements

B. Food Service

·         Free meals have been approved until June 2022 but they are proposing to do it through the first semester and see if the program is still needed. Travis asked for input on this. The amount of meals being used is declining.

C. Start of School plan

·         Public Comment-

o    Dr. Hutchison- Asked if anyone from the school board has approached a local medical person? What metrics will be used to change our plan and who determines that? Gave numbers on amount of Covid patients they are seeing at the urgent care clinic. Dr. Hutchison shared that younger kids are getting sicker due to the variant and having to be flown out. He states that masks helps and it’s something we can do to help.

o    Another stakeholder asked about quarantine guidelines

o    Teresa Nirider suggested that this board/Dr. Barker reach out to Lander Medical Clinic for some guidance. She also stated that masks do work. She respects Taylor and Scott’s opinions and agrees she has seen kids in cars together unmasked. She is worried we will become complacent and doesn’t want our kids to get sick. She feels this is serious and we shouldn’t ignore it, there are too many unknowns. She asked if we are offering virtual and the answer is no.

o    Taylor Jacobs- Some people last year didn’t want school to be in person but we came and it worked. She agrees masks work but in a clinical setting. Agrees we should talk with our local medical providers but has some distrust and so does the community due to an incident locally. She feels parents should have the choice to mask or not. 4 schools as of now are requiring masks, asked Dr. Barker about other schools and their plans.

o    Scott Jensen- We listened to medical advice and closed school and felt school should have never been closed. He feels there is a lot of fear mongering and referenced Dr. Hutchison is causing fear mongering by comparing polio to Covid with kids. Covid is going up but nothing where we were when we had our peak. We shouldn’t be making people afraid of this and we can be vaccinated if we want. He agrees masks in schools aren’t worn appropriately and are not helpful in a school situation. He is concerned of lasting impact of masking our children and not allowing them to see facial expressions. The flu is a bigger problem for kids than Covid.

o    Brett Berg- There is a risk in everything we do every day. We don’t know the adverse effect of masks. He didn’t realize how much lip reading he did until people had masks on. He is in favor of giving people the choice to wear masks. Stated there are virtual options, just not offered by the district.

o    Jared Kail- He doesn’t know for sure if masks work. Gave data of schools surveyed about mask/no mask/strategies used. The study found that they were slightly more likely to catch Covid when masked vs. no mask. Delta variant is more aggressive. Talked about data and studies he has read. He doesn’t like taking the choice away from parents and we aren’t close to that level. Kids will be taken care of if they are out on quarantine by FCSD # 1.

o    Michelle Escudero- Stated what we had in place year to help our students stay in school and we all agree we want them to stay in school. Parents need to know how it goes if you are masked, un-masked, vaccinated/non vaccinated. We need to have a plan for this school year. It’s disappointing that we are this close to school starting and we don’t have a plan. She feels we should talk with professionals and have a plan. Other board members feel we do have a plan.

8:10- 5 minute break, meeting resumed but online wasn’t unmuted and missed a bit of the conversation. Getting more staff vaccinated and provide incentives. Another vaccination clinic was suggested.  Discussed that they suggest the same policy as last year for covid.

8:17- Meeting resumed- Covid Relief for staff discussed

E.   Service Animal Policy

·         LVHS and PHS shared their experiences with their positive experiences with the school therapy dogs

·         Brett Berg said we need to have a policy that addresses therapy dogs/animals in  the school that outlines it clearly

F.   Teacher Certification Required

·         An exception authorization allows you to teach a certain area and only that area but legally they are certified.

·         Some board members were concerned about exception authorizations and asked for more information

·          

G.  Inter-district transportation – Taylor asked about the previous year (pre-covid) how in district transportation for students from school to school.

Travis- Talked about that it wasn’t just covid but regulations/rules they have to follow, students have to live outside the walking distance to ride the bus

6. Executive Session

A. Executive Session -- 16-4-405(a)(ii) (matters related to employment of personnel) Started @ 8:53pm, Board excused everyone attending the meeting while they went into executive session.

7. Administrative Details/Reminders/Future Plans

A. September 2, WSBA Roundup Meetings

B. September 7, Board meeting at 6:00 pm

C. September 21, Board meeting at 6:00 pm

8. Adjournment

8. Adjournment

b