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The Hanna Town Council met at 6:30 p.m. on September 8 p.m. at the Hanna Town Hall. The mayor, Lois Buchanan and council members Tracy Fowler, Bob Patton and Sam Sikes were present. Council member Linda Schisel was absent. The town clerk, Ann Calvert, told the council that the financials were not ready with the exception of payroll and the financial report had to be amended to reflect that. After the approval of the agenda, the minutes from the July 14 regular meeting, August 3 special meeting,...
Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Superintendent Jim Copeland announced Friday morning that a staff member had tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The staff member, who Copeland said had not had any direct contact with students, has been at home since the onset of symptoms. The announcement came via the school districts eNotes program, which sends out updates through email and SMS messages to those signed up for the service. "The staff member will follow the Carbon... Full story
Around 11 a.m. on September 5, a few Hanna residents noticed smoke on the railroad tracks not far from the Hanna Basin Museum. Probst Electric (Probst) employees saw a small fire and took their water trucks to douse the blaze. Hanna Fire Department quickly came and, a little after noon, the fire was under control Hanna Marshal Jeff Neimark and Mayor Lois Buchanan were at the scene and were relieved the fire was not any danger to the town. They gave credit to the water trucks from Probst, a...
As the dust has settled from the 2020 Primary Election on August 18, the roster has been set for the general election on November 3. On the national stage, Wyomingites will have four women from the two major parties to choose from in both the House and the Senate to represent them come January. Meanwhile, incumbent Representative Jerry Paxton still faces a challenger. President of the United States President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Michael R. Pence will be running for another four...
Russ Wiggam, athletic director for Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School, is happy that students are getting to practice for fall sports. Earlier this summer, high school sports being allowed to be played, was not a given. "There was a huge amount of uncertainty before hand," Wiggam said. "Are we going to do it, or are we not; to what level are we going to do it and we aren't." Wiggam said he was hopeful the schools would get to open back up. "We were all going, 'oh please let us...
The beginning of the school year under regular circumstances can be difficult enough as the summer-time kinks are worked out. Add into that the precautions now required for school districts by the Wyoming Department of Education, and things can be a little less flexible. Despite that, Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) is working through operations in the age of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). On August 17, the CCSD2 Board of Trustees heard updates from Saratoga Elementary School (SES...
Laura Niswender has always wanted to teach in a rural small school setting. She has achieved her goal, although not teaching exactly. Niswender is the new principal of the Hanna Elementary, Elk Mountain Elementary and Medicine Bow Elementary schools. She will be the third new principal for the schools in three years. Niswender may be new to Carbon County, but she knows Wyoming well. "I was born and raised outside of Laramie and my husband, Terry, and I currently live out by Harmony, which is...
Each school year, Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) holds nominations to recognize one teacher and one staff member. Those nominations are filled with staff and teachers that, for one reason or another, are selected by their peers. For the 2019/2020 school year, current 6th grade teacher Stephanie Long was among those nominated and was, ultimately, awarded. "The first week of summer, I think, I got a call from Noel Manning. He called me and said that I had been nominated. That was the...
Moving forward, the Saratoga Town Council will meet an hour later than they have in recent years. The change in time comes following a failed attempt at an ordinance to change the meeting date of the governing body. In addition to changing the time of the town council meetings, the council appointed one of two remaining candidates to the open seat for the remainder of 2020. Time Change On the agenda, under Town Hall, was the first reading of Ordinance 858. The only information provided on the...
The size of the Grand Encampment Museum (GEM) in Encampment and the Little Snake River Museum (LSRM) in Savery surprise visitors. Although there is a main building where visitors start in both museums, GEM and LSRM are actually a collection of buildings that have artifacts displayed in all. Both have houses that have furniture from days of past that give the visitor a real taste of what it was like to live in these communities 100 years ago. The Grand Encampment Museum Carbon County historian...
Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) passed the first hurdle in resuming school this fall as the Board of Trustees unanimously approved the district’s Smart Start Reopening Plan during the June 23 special meeting. According to CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland, the district received guidance throughout the process from Carbon County Public Health. Before classes can officially resume on August 17, however, the plan has to receive final approval from the Wyoming Department of Education (...
The start of classes in Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) is less than a month away. As that date approaches, the district is working within requirements and recommendations from Carbon County Public Health and the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) to provide a stable framework for students in light of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). At the July 15 meeting of the CCSD2 Board of Trustees, Superintendent Jim Copeland provided the board with updates on progress. While he admitted...
While there may be a plan forming to resume school in the fall, for many Wyoming high schools the answer of fall sports is still up in the air. During the July 15 meeting of the Carbon County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees, Superintendent Jim Copeland informed the members that fall sports was caught between the Wyoming High School Athletics Association (WHSAA) and county health officials. "We've had meetings as superintendents and ADs with Rod Laird, who's the WHSAA director. Back in Ju...
Editor, Thank you, Saratoga Sun, for printing the map of the special museum district proposed by the Saratoga Museum and Historical Association and for covering discussion of this proposal at recent Carbon County Commissioners’ meetings. To avoid sliding into the petty and personal, we should look at the blueprint for the creation of special districts; Wyoming Statutes, Title 22 - Elections (Chapter 29). Briefly, authority shifts from property owners (signing the petition), county assessor (authenticating the signers and value of the p...
After 28 years of working for Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2), 22 of them being the nurse for the entire district, Karen Patton is retiring. Until four years ago, Patton was the only nurse for the seven schools. To say she will be missed by students, parents and staff of CCSD2 would be an understatement. "Compassionate, Caring, and Dedicated to the kids is how you describe Karen Patton," Shelley Cooper, Medicine Bow Elementary who won CCSD2 teacher of the year for 2019 teacher said....
The pursuit of a special museum tax district by the Saratoga Museum and Historical Association (Saratoga Museum) has been placed on a temporary hold following the June 2 meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC). During a public hearing at the regular meeting of the BOCCC, the governing body heard arguments both for and against the establishment of the district. Notably, those speaking out against the district clarified that they were not in direct opposition to the...
Despite an unusual school year that finished with students at home, Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) and the Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) have been working to help students and their families. Throughout the rest of the school year, following closures on March 16, the district provided emergency meals to families for both breakfast and lunch. In April, the school district served approximately 6,500 meals. Now, while school may have been dismissed for the summer,...
The Memorial Hospital of Carbon County Foundation Board has awarded four scholarships to local youth pursuing careers in healthcare. Qualifying applicants had to be a graduate of Carbon County School District 1 or 2, have a 3.0 GPA or higher, demonstrate previous or current community and/or involvement in extra-curricular activities, and plan to pursue a course of study which will lead to a career in healthcare. Riley Little (Saratoga), Makiya Johnson (Saratoga), Bailey Morgan (Rawlins) and...
For many students, the graduation ceremony is arguably one of the most important events of their high school career. Under normal circumstances, the planning and execution of the event can be frustrating for students, staff and parents. For Wyoming and Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2), circumstances have not been normal since March. With each extension of public health orders issued by Governor Mark Gordon and State Health Officer Alexia Harrist, questions arose as to how schools...
Some residents of this county might know Shelly Cooper as the Carbon County School District No. 2 Teacher of the Year. She won that honor last spring. Others might know she was a strong advocate for Medicine Bow Elementary and its community on why the school should stay open last year, although its enrollment was not high. This year, she was the teacher that had her 10 students in grades 2-6 achieve the goal of reading 500 books this year. The school year isn't over and the kids arn't done on...
While the main reason for the special meeting of the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees on May 4 was to decide whether to continue with the districts Adapted Learning Plan, they also made a decision on property owned by the district in Medicine Bow. As was reported previously (see “School district left with a ‘lot’ of questions” on page 14 of the April 22 Saratoga Sun), MedBow Lodging, LLC had informed the school district in a letter that they were not interested in extending their lease, which was set to expire on Ma...
Though both the school year and the spring sports season saw an abrupt end due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), that hasn't stopped accolades from being presented to senior student athletes. Recently, Encampment senior Reid Schroeder was one of 23 students who had been nominated to receive the Southwest District Senior Student Athletes of the Year. In his time at Encampment K-12 School, Schroeder has played basketball, competed in cross country for Saratoga, competed in track and field,...
Jason Greenway, principal of the three elementary schools in the north of Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) is leaving after the school year ends. He supervised Hanna Elementary, Medicine Bow Elementary and Elk Mountain Elementary. “I am going to miss the students, parents and staff members,” Greenway said. “COVID has made that more clear the past few months.” He said the change of not seeing students and staff on a day-to-day basis has been challenging because he felt persona...
Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) entered the fourth week of its Adapted Learning Plan as the CCSD2 Board of Trustees held a special meeting on May 4 to determine how the schools in the district would finish out the school year. As was previously reported (see “Putting a plan together” on page 3 of the April 1 Saratoga Sun), State Superintendent Jillian Balow had directed school districts throughout the state to submit their Adapted Learning Plan for approval to either complete par...
With a little more than two months until the end of the current fiscal year, the Saratoga Town Council held their first budget workshop for Fiscal Year 2020/2021. The workshop was in stark contrast to the workshops from years past in which the governing body and department heads all gathered around the table and discussed the budget line item by line item. Due to the ongoing concerns over the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the council members sat strategically in the council chambers to ensure...