Schoolboard convenes for last time before graduation
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GUERNSEY - The Board of Trustees of Platte County School District No. 2 held a Policy Review Meeting at 6 p.m. and then opened their Regular Meeting at 7 p.m.
Troy Reichert asked the Board to consider allowing staff to conceal and carry to protect the students and staff if needed. He commented on the number of shootings that has happened over the past few months. He asked them to consider this and to make a decision before this next fall.
Tesha Frederick expressed her concerns over the coaching vacancies of who and who were not asked to return as coaches for the 2023-2024 school year.
Jolyn Hillen, Guernsey-Sunrise Athletic Director, spoke to a request to rejoin the SEWAC Conference.
As far as discussing building improvements, the Elementary roof top units are rescheduled to be installed once the students have been released for the summer. It will take about three days.
The east gym floor will be refinished on June 13. The west gym was done in December and will not need to be done.
The re-coat of the elementary roof will be done this summer pending board’s approval.
The art room and room 202 are scheduled to have floors replaced on June 26.
Hoffman concrete will do the new slab for the freezer. They will also pour sidewalks to the green house and do the slab for the new Viking Statue.
Flaherty then noted that there are five vehicles that he would like to put out for sealed bids. He also recommends to replace the 2004 Excursion. The district can apply to the State for reimbursement. This vehicle would be only used for student travel.
Guernsey-Sunrise principal Liesl Sisson had Troy Reichert, Skills USA Sponsor, report on the Skills USA Competition which was held in Casper. Students who competed were: Addisyn Saukkola, Leni Dimas, Alexis Atwood, Jordan Atwood, Rylie Thompson. Liberty Whitebird and Nathan VanNatter are state officers.
Reichert thanked the board for their support over the past few years and asked that they continue to support the students. In the past the board has approved scholarships of $500.00 each to help pay the students expenses for the trip to Nationals. He also asked the board for their approval to allow the students to do more than one fundraising event. Sisson then informed the board that at the Art Symposium Juliana Schiele won the Governor’s award and her artwork will be displayed for one year at the Governor’s Mansion.
Sisson talked about the mass build as Kayleen Mccabe with HGTV was in the building and met with some pretty excited elementary children from Guernsey and Wheatland. They did some wood working projects which included building a tool box. Students and teachers from Wheatland and Guernsey were both present for the morning-long adventure.
The District will be offering a “Kids Read Now” for Pre-K through 5th Grade. This will give the students an opportunity to get 8 free books mailed directly to them over the summer. Information will be going on in this week’s VIPs.
The Community Literacy night held April 18th was a huge success,” Sisson said. “We thank the entire GS Community, Sally Mack, Chris Delay, Camp Guernsey, the Fire Department, the Early Childhood Center, and the Public Library for their help and support.”
Students in the Resource Room have been working closely with Mrs. Sisson, Charles Howshar and Dawndrea Daly to order items for the greenhouse. Charles Howshar brought a truck-load and they helped him unload it. The items have been bought with the $6000.00 grant that Dawndrea helped the district apply for.
The Wild West Prom was a huge success according to Sisson thanked the staff, parents and students who helped decorate.
Sisson and PCSD No. 2 superintendent Mike Beard then announced and presented special education teacher Sonja Klipstine with the Teacher of the Year Award.
Beard then informed the board that he has been approached by several students who would like to start a Guernsey-Sunrise Golf Team. The board said that they will investigate as to what this would involve including funding.
Shawna Reichert challenged the board to investigate District policy BDD as she feels that it is in violation of Wyoming Chapter 21 Wyoming Statute 21-3-101 after Mr. Malcolm brought it to the board’s attention a couple of months ago.
“Our policy BDD delegates the board’s executive powers to the superintendent which I feel violates Wyoming Statute 21-3-101 that empowers school boards to transact all business of the district and exercise general supervision over all schools, including making decisions on policy, finance, personnel, and other areas of district operations that the board relinquishes with policy BDD,” Reichert said. Reichert feels that it is the board’s duty to uphold Chapter 21 and provide oversight and governance to the district. Delegating all executive powers to the superintendent may result in a breach of our responsibilities and violate the law.
“I urge the board to examine Chapter 21 and assist in safeguarding our district’s interests should this matter ever arise in a lawsuit,” she said.
She also spoke as an advocate for the implementation of Wyoming Statute 21-3-132 which permits teachers to carry firearms on school premises, particularly in light of the recent threat our district just faced. She explains why she felt this was necessary and what the state of Wyoming requires for this to happen. She encouraged the board to work together to ensure district policies align with the law and that the district is protecting the welfare of the district and students.