The Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD#2) Board of Trustees congratulated the principals and staff in their district for developing campus improvement plans that were accepted and highly regarded by the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE).
Not only were the required plans accepted, but according to superintendent Jim Copeland, Bill Pannell, of WDE, said he would have ranked CCSD#2’s improvement plans as one of the top two in the state. Presentations of the improvement plans, delivered by the principals, were continued at the Jan. 18 school board meeting in Medicine Bow. All school improvement plans have been published on the CCSD#2 website. This month saw plans from Steven Priest, principal of Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow (HEM) high school, and Mark Shipp, principal of Hanna, Elk Mountain and Medicine Bow elementary schools.
Priest’s established goal was for HEM to increase their performance level from partially meeting to meeting expectations by 2017, increasing the total percent proficient on PAWS from 48 percent to over 53 percent. Seventh grade reading saw many proficient and advanced students, though there were many that scored basic as well. Of those students that scored basic, a handful of them were near the cutoff for proficient. This trend was present among current 8th and 9th graders as well, and among all math scores although the math scores were generally lower.
Priest will approach the issue with tiered interventions, which will use programs like IXL Math and Language, Allen Test Prep Apps, Play to Prep, various ACT prep programs, Edguinity and Smithsonian’s Tween Tribune. AIMSweb will be used for progress monitoring between tiers. These interventions will take place in a scheduled hour, during which students already performing well will have the option of studying and participating in enrichment activities.
Shipp provided data from all three elementary schools together, of which Hanna and Medicine Bow were meeting expectations and Elk Mountain was partially meeting expectations. Shipp said that with small classes, a few adjustments will make a big difference and noted that all schools progressed from the previous year. Shipp also wants to keep in mind that while schools are rated on PAWS, it is just one assessment. In order to improve within the small classrooms, Shipp plans to improve communication and collaboration to facilitate student growth, establish blocks of time for intervention and enrichment as well as thoughtfully implement the new math curriculum.
Interventions at the three elementary schools will include structured individual and small group instruction, reteaching, pre-teaching and closely monitored practice, and dynamic intervention groups that change with student growth.
Audit reports were also presented at the meeting, with both the recreation audit and the CCSD#2 financial audit receiving complimentary marks. In coming years, with issues of funding at the state level, the process of budgeting and auditing may get more complicated, Copeland said.
Copeland and facilities director Larry Uhling presented information about the bus barns, with many board members lamenting the high costs of the Encampment and Medicine Bow bus barns. However, as was emphasized, the state-provided money will become unavailable to the district if the board does not approve use of the funds. The lowest bidder ended up being BHI, a company based out of Rock Springs, Wyo. and Vernal, Utah. The provided allowance for the Medicine Bow structure is $424,147 and $459,499 for the Encampment bus barn. The board passed a motion to move forward with hiring a contractor.
Board of trustees member Mike McGraw resigned from the board, a truthful voice that many members said they appreciated during discussions and decision making. CCSD#2 will have to advertise for someone to fill McGraw’s position, another representative from Area 1, which is the area surrounding Hanna and Medicine Bow.
The next regularly scheduled CCSD#2 board of trustees meeting will be 4 p.m., Feb. 17 at the Central Office.
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