February 20, 2024

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

Regular Meeting Agenda

Fremont County School District Number One

Board of Trustees

863 Sweetwater Street

6:00 pm Regular Meeting

Board Meeting -Disclaimer- Notes from the board meeting are intended to highlight the major events/decisions/tone of the meeting as determined by the representative attending. 

They are NOT meant to be an exact transcript of the entire meeting.

For items with documents, those are available on the website of the governing board at the Lander Schools Website.

1. 6:00 General Business

Karen Harms on Zoom

A. Call to Order

B. Pledge of Allegiance

C. Additional Agenda Items

none

D. Adoption of the Agenda

Motion by Mike McConnell, second by Kathy Hitt.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

E. Approve Minutes - January 16, 2024

Motion by Taylor Jacobs, second by Mike McConnell.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

F. Approve Minutes - February 6, 2024

Motion by Mike McConnell, second by Scott Jensen.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnel

G. Recognitions

Students:

Hallie Wilson - WDE Career & Technical Education "See Me Teach" award winner (staff sponsor: Taylor Thoman, LVHS Agriculture teacher)

Ally Spiess - Wyoming's ambassador for the Million Girls Moonshot (encouraging STEM exploration among girls in afterschool and summer programs)

LVHS students who have been awarded the University of Wyoming's Trustees Scholars Award (full ride for four years)

• Emily Anderson

• Matt Gray

• Benjamin Kulow

• Reed McFadden

• Ella Stanbury

• Randall Wise

LVHS boys swimming and diving team 28th State Title

H. Public Comment

2. 6:10 Programs-Reports-Presentations

A. Board Member Reports

SJ - WSBA conference - district rep stepped down. Scott raised hand to be placed as the district rep. Evanston is also concerned about hiring and retention and pay gap between them and Utah - same as here. Also concerned about substance abuse. Douglas is going to consider concealed carry in their district. Riverton is experiencing a sunshine campaign -  FOIA requests.

JK - we have gotten some sunshine request here recently

TJ - last Thursday was in Cheyenne for monthly state board of ed meeting, dept of career and tech ed interim dean at dept of Ed working with outreach consultants with community colleges to gain CTE teachers throughout the state, they have a promo video trying to get more CTE teachers. Promo was out of sheridan. Going to go through state for videos. Profile of a graduate has 9 districts involved, beginning of May will have statewide celebration to see how pilot districts did. Lastly the board is working on oral language standards, dept of ed is trying to get feedback on charter schools. Lastly, March 11 at lander community center Wy dept Ed is hosting town hall with Degenfelder co hosted by Jacobs. Open to the public, Q and A, presentation by Degenfelder. Possibly 6pm, on a MOnday. This week is wyoming school board appreciation week. Appreciation to us. Yay.

MM - would like to recognize a teacher at LVHS that goes above and beyond, Morgan completed her James Madison Fellowship - 3 yrs 1 summer - select 1 person from each state, completed with a masters degree. In addition she runs the veterans day program at LVHS, recently resurrecting the close up program gives students a chance to go to DC and to learn about the government. 14 kids signed up during spring break to go to DC.

Go to breakfast at LVHS tomorrow.

JK - any other reports

AB-2 quick things. The Lander District Rec board had presentations by 44 nonprofits. Next month we will meet again and make decisions. I went to attend a literacy intervention team meeting at GPE and was so impressed. Tier 2 and 3 interventions for students, I was impressed by targeted instruction based on real data and assessments and also very impressed with the team's internal communication and that they really seemed to know where every kid was on their literacy pathway. I really have the sense that a young student in our school district is getting truly cutting edge literacy instruction.

JK - I've been going on Tuesday nights to the AI seminars that the school has put together. It has been fantastic. I asked Mike and invited them to come speak with us in March. These guys are doing a fantastic job at getting the district out in front of AI to enhance the education opportunities we have.

I don't have it ready tonight, we will do Mr. Harris’ contract renewal next month. There are no surprises, just had the lawyers go through it.

B. Fremont #1 Science Fair Results

first and second place winners at the recent West Central Regional Science Fair (senior and junior divisions)

staff sponsors: CeCe Prine (LMS science teacher) and Sam Hartpence (PHS math teacher)

LMS took 6 students; 6 students went to regionals, PHS had 3, and there were 2 homeschool students. Going to the state science fair beginning in March. Not many other schools are participating in Science Fair these days. Last year at the middle school there was time worked into the day that allowed for more students to get involved than this year. One of the things that is needed as well is community mentors to help with the projects to get them at a higher and deeper level.

C. Superintendent's Report

Battling illness at several schools; reminder about keeping students home when they're sick

Job fair update

Utah State in Logan UT. a couple folks expressed interest. As Jensen revealed earlier, competition with Utah for Salary is steep as well as with other states.

providing information requested at February 6 special board meeting

• number of crisis incident reports in Fremont #1 schools so far this school year

• number of threat assessments conducted in Fremont #1 schools so far this school year

Majority of threat assessments were not substantive.

Crisis incidents reports have to do with self harm ideation. The student talks with a trusted adult to assess if the student needs to talk to outside agencies and involvement of parents in conversations.

No questions or comments from board members.

3. *Consent Agenda

A. Approve Expenditures/Pre-Approve Utilities and Financial Report

B. Reporting of Home School Students & Curriculum

C. Approval of Surplus/Disposable Property

Surplus/disposable property from school nurses' offices

D. Stipulated Expulsion Agreements (moved down to action items)

4. Executive Session

6:49

A. Executive Session 16-4-405(a)(xi) - to consider suspension, expulsion, or other discipline action in connection with any student as provided by law.

7:24

5. 6:15 Action Items

A. Personnel Actions

Motion by Taylor Jacobs, second by Mike McConnell.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

B. Policy Review (2nd and final reading)

three policies up for second reading: 

• EFAB-E (procurement certificate)

No changes from first version

Motion by Scott Jensen, second by Kathy Hitt.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

• GCC (certified leave)

Change from discussion. Sick leave buy out to $100 per day, cap sick leave to 60 instead of 90. No other changes from first reading.

Motion by Scott Jensen, second by Taylor Jacobs.

Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

• JJAB (student-led groups)

SJ - suggest to table this. There are some clubs that are operating that may be impacted by this. Motion is to Table.

TJ - we talked about gathering information about clubs that would be involved. I feel confused as to how those clubs would be impacted. Want to make sure we are voting on something where we have really covered all that. I am not ready to vote on that. I got information from a teacher that was sharing with me how this policy would impact that club. Need more information about this policy.

MH - I'm not sure what I can add on that topic. It is important that the board see the paragraph at the top about the policies impacting clubs and staff. We are not against any viewpoint, but that we expect staff led organizations to be held to the same standard as the classroom. Confusion about the appropriate role for staff with some of the organizations of the district.

TJ - organizations protecting students from bias during an educational time. If this is a club after school hours and this club is not impacting their grade, and it's been approved by our district where students can learn more about topics. There isn;t anything about transparency. Would a parent have the right to know what is being discussed? What is the financial transparency for the clubs? MIssing some things on this, not comfortable voting on it tonight.

KH - something that has truly bothered me about this policy. In December at the middle school there was a request for GSA and then in January we got this policy. I question that timing and I'm not comfortable leaving the middle school there wondering about the process of the GSA>

MH - i'm hoping that this policy will clarify the process if it is student led or staff sponsored. We don't have anything to clarify. This is intended to clarify for existing and the future because there are so many topics that come up that are controversial religious ideological. Principals have hesitated to act on those proposals because of the policy and the funding. This is an attempt to bring clarity. Another one that came up is the fellowship of christian athletes that is an already active club. How does the district make those decisions without policy guidance?

KH - Im going to advocate for the GSA, this board has spoke about mental health, we have the highest rate of suicide LGBTQ are 4x as likely to attempt suicide. This board is ethically responsible for all students in this district. The GSA should be considered fairly. I have some concerns about that.

JK where would the GSA and the fellowship club fall under this policy

MH - both of these would be more appropriate as student led organizations because of policy on controversial issues, it makes sense to have separation from staff for those two examples. 

Jk - what is a closed forum

MH - the closed forum is any student-led groups that are not allowed to organize at the school.

JK - relative to the clubs, those wouldn’t be authorized at the middle school.

MH - yes, under this draft.

Tj - if these two clubs wanted to form in high school they could meet after school or at lunch

AB - the policy you address - one faculty advisor must be attached to every club, even a student led organization.

MH - ues, supervision at any student led meeting, no sponsor or endorsing the student led groups

JK - the question on the table is to table this item. Before we do that, let's listen to public comments.

Sarah R. - Tonight's meeting highlights how incredible our kids are here in Lander. What stands out to me is a wide variety of opportunities to take part in extracurricular clubs and groups. Lander has a deep history of enrichment, starting in elementary schools and growing exponentially through middle and high school. Lander students see the successes they do because we have always had the opportunity to learn something outside of the regular classroom. This policy restricts that opportunity too much. We all want to protect our kids and guide them so they can learn how to lead also. We want them to shine in their skills in areas of interest to them. In a school climate nationwide and even here in Lander, where students are discouraged from conversation in hallways and lunchrooms, socializing is stifled. Kids have lost the opportunities to build professional relationships with peers outside of the limits of academic or athletic themes. A huge subset of students are excluded. With this policy, middle school students are prevented from exploring the possibility of organizations that would meet their interests regardless of staff support. By requiring the groups to conform to existing policies, anything potentially controversial could not exist. Today's world deems diversity, equity, inclusion, social-emotional learning, and more as controversial, which puts fear in staff minds as they decide whether they want to lead a club or not. I encourage you to take more time to consider the unintended consequences of this policy.

Jenny Y. - I appreciate the work that has gone into improving the clarity of this policy, particularly defining the different policy jurisdictions between student led and teacher led groups. 

This has really brought up so many questions for me and I really couldn’t find the answers I was looking for. Here is what I did find:

“Closed forum” is defined as allowing curricular clubs only. 

This policy states that only student led groups will be closed forum and teacher led groups will conform to the other policies. However, I would argue that there is substantial evidence to support that student-led groups in middle school should be allowed to be non curricular.

What I really couldn’t find was a precedent regarding the differentiation of student led vs teacher led in relevance to the Equal Access Act. There doesn’t appear to be evidence to support that this distinction allows for non-curricular related clubs to exist in a public school that is designated as a closed forum.

If at least one non curriculum-related club has been found to meet during non instructional time, then a court will rule that the school has created a limited open forum and will apply the Equal Access Act. In doing so, courts will determine whether the school has allowed a non curriculum-related student club to meet on campus by applying the Mergens four-prong curriculum-related test.

Thus, if a district sanctions any student club that is not directly related to school coursework, it must allow all student clubs.

Please do not restrict FCSD#1 student’s access to extracurricular activities in this way. Our students deserve access to diverse opportunities, we should be looking at how to expand the school district’s offerings of extracurricular activities, especially in the middle school, not restricting them.

Thank you for your time.

No more public comment. 

Discuss wanting to table

JK - table indefinitely?

SJ - no, we are going to need to address this. Next month would be fine

TJ - ask about 6th bullet point, clarify what regular constitutes 

MH - that is a good point to specify what regular would constitute

KJ - any other discussion

Motion is to table until next meeting

JK opposed

MOtion - table the motion until the next meeting.

Karen

yea - Mcconnell, Scott Taylor

No - Kathy Aileen Jared Karen

fails

KH - I'm not sure. We have clubs pending on that. Correct.

MH - yes.

KH - to clarify the student led have to be curriculum based.

MH - at high school no. this could be edited to limited open forum which wouldn’t limit groups

JK seconds

JK - another month isn't going to materially change the policy. I like the policy.  I like that it keeps things on a curricular basis at the middle school. To not get out of the course of the education. I support this policy. Other discussion

AB - I would prefer to see this policy granting the middle school limited open forum. Also emphasize our school admin has discretion to decide what is at school.

JK - is that a motion to amend.

AB- yes.

KH - second.

JK - motion is to make middle school a limited open forum but keeping the elementary school closed forum. Discussion

SJ - if the middle school is limited open forum

Ab - the very last paragraph under closed forum, the principal is allowed to deny where the requirement this policy is not met

MH - yes, they can't be restricted on content.

TJ =- how would that look logistically at the middle school. 

MH - that would be something that happens over the lunch hour.

TJ - so the club would be based on grade levels?

MH - I would defer on the building admin on scheduling questions

TJ - I worry that we are making a vote without seeing the implications for the burden of making a club that everyone is supposed to be able to attend and might not be able to attend.

KH - sounds like Mr. Harris has been working on the policy with the admin, Mr Morton is there can we ask him? 

JK - mr morton?

JM - the proposal came from my desk. It is a different proposal than what you are describing now. I sought out input form the staff that proposed it, we would have to go back and redraft it to fit into our day, like the scheduling questions, the original proposal was designed for a staff led club. What grade level is appropriate? Student led maybe 7th and 8th would be appropriate. Time 0 lunch could be challenging, maybe before school after school. We haven't revisited it as a student led group. What would it look like and what does it look like as the sponsor? That hasn’t been clarified yet in the policy. I want to protect the kids in the club and make sure they are productive . We currently don't have any student led organizations. Definitely 8th grade level have the maturity to lead a club, I dont know cause we don't have experience with it. I would need more clarification from the policy, mission vision of the club, what is the responsibility of the advisor? Are they just sitting there, it seems like they can’t guid them in any way? I think at some level our kids can handle something  like that.

JK - Karen, did that anywhere your questions.

JM - my biggest concern is that we don't set it up for failure. That we set it up so that it is clear to others the mission and vision of the club. I don't know if the policy addresses this.

MH -  I think some of the questions are answered in the policy under a limited open forum.

JM - Supervisor goes? What if we don’t have a person who wants to take on that responsibility.

MH - the principal can assign personnel to the club

JM - would that mean a person could turn it down.

MH - it would be just like any other duty?

JM - compensation - it's during their working time it would be extra duties. So it would be at 3:45

Limited open forum is during school time.

JM - that goes back to the logistics of multiple grade levels in there.

The vote is for the amendment to make the middle school limited open forum

VOTE: for amendment to make LMS limited open forum 

Yes - 3 AB, KH, Karen

No - JK, SJ, Mcc TJ

Voting now as presented.

Failed 5-2

Vote:

Yes - Mc SJ

No - TJ, AB, KH JK, Karen

C. Accept Monetary Donations

Consider acceptance of two donations from the LOR Foundation: one for sports medicine equipment and one for a Care Closet at Pathfinder HS

Continued thanks to LOR!

Motion by Scott Jensen, second by Taylor Jacobs.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

D. Approve student board representative(s)

LVHS Nominee: Daegan Reinhardt

Ms. Reinhardt won the nomination following an election at LVHS.  There were four candidates in the running. 

 PHS Nominee: Jackson Anderson

Motion to have both sit as reps.

KH will do onboarding with them at the next board meeting.

Motion by Kathy Hitt, second by Scott Jensen.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

E. Replacing tables in LVHS Commons

Consider the use of depreciation reserve account funds to replace tables in the LVHS Commons

$60,342

Motion by Taylor Jacobs, second by Kathy Hitt.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Karen Harms, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

F. Stipulated Expulsion Agreements

Motion to accept stipulated agreements presented in executive session.

Motion by Kathy Hitt, second by Mike McConnell.

Final Resolution: Motion Carries

Yes: Aileen Brew, Kathy Hitt, Taylor Jacobs, Scott Jensen, Jared Kail, Mike McConnell

No: Karen Harms

6. Discussion items

A. Charter School Partnership

Discuss whether to pursue a charter school partnership with Wyoming Personalized Learning Advocates

Parents in Big Horn Basin to create a charter school that would be for families that are homeschooling. Imagine it was sent to several districts. Sounds like what some districts have done with virtual schools, but it would be a non virtual option. 

TJ - with the academy of the winds opening a middle school next year and their enrollment nxt year, just thinking about not losing enrollment here. I don’t know how this will look. It does intrigue me.

KH - I did go to the statue. SF0130 passed in 2021, states what a charter school would be and based on the proposal we might be in violation of statute.

JK - this feels like fishing for a school district willing to approve it. I'm not that interested in being a sponsor.

KH - their assessment would count as our assessment, but we wouldn't have any control. I don't think this is something the district should take on.

AB - I was curious about the administrative burden. I read a little, but I wasn’t clear about the role of our departments in overseeing and managing.

MH - that's a great question, that gets really muddy about whose in control of what, they are still accountable to the district with supervision and staffing. Its always a little messy.

JK - is there any appetite to move forward with this?

Majority says no.

B. Curriculum Resource Spreadsheet

Discuss Fremont #1's curriculum resource spreadsheet, its purpose, and plans for its public release

MH - WDE curriculum transparency that got released, prior to that we were working on something similar to increase transparency about the resources we are using in the school district for grade levels and content areas. Hopefully when this is completed it will be a nice addition to what is on our website.

JK - when we are talking about parents making informed decisions about their students' education, this is exactly where we should be going.

MH - we are further along than some of those districts taking part in the pilot with WDE

KH - i would advocate that this is local control and would advocate for that local control and be ahead of anything that might be mandated.

JK - When I saw the WDE email about the initiative I emailed Mike about it and he informed me that we are already doing this.

7. 6:30 Administrative Details/Reminders/Future Plans

A. March 19, Board meeting @ 6:00 pm

B. April 8-9, PLC Conference for School Boards (Thermopolis)

8. Adjournment 8:15

A. *Consent Items Disclaimer

Our adopted rules of Parliamentary Procedure, Robert's Rules, provide for a consent agenda listing several items for approval of the Board by a single motion. Most of the items listed under the consent agenda have gone through Board subcommittee review and recommendation. Documentation concerning these items has been provided to all Board members and the public in advance to assure an extensive and thorough review. Items may be removed from the consent agenda at the request of any board member.