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Author: William Billingsley, Bulletin Editor-Updated: 5 days ago

On November 9, the Board of Directors of Lincoln County School District No. 1 held its monthly meeting. Items on the agenda include familiar updates and approval of bill payments. In addition, the petition to modify the dress code was read again, and minor updates and changes were made. There is also an executive meeting on personnel issues and an audit report chaired by Louis Brandley.

The meeting also invited a pair of unexpected guests: Camden Killian and Janelle Sawaya. The two tenth graders used plexiglass barriers to elaborate on the dissatisfaction of the student body. They are not alone because they have several students present and they are united.

Their goal? Petition to the board of directors to remove the plexiglass partitions installed by the school district to combat COVID-19. By the time of the meeting, they had obtained 122 signatures, but pointed out that they could not easily reach the seventh and eighth grade students. If each signature belongs to students in grades 9 to 12, then this number will represent approximately two-thirds of the current number of students.

When they introduced their case, it was obvious that they had been fully prepared for it, because there were many high-quality plexiglass partition photos passed to the board members.

He also pointed out several prominent points of inconsistency in the use of partitions in high schools. He said that there are no partitions in the places where students gather most—lunch and band rooms or auditoriums are the main examples. He also pointed out that the partitions were obviously not cleaned every day, which brought a burden to the cleaning staff. It is worth noting that teachers are said to have to clean them between classes. As before, Killian stopped when the photos of the dirty plexiglass partitions were passed on to the board members.

However, Killian subsequently brought up the fact that he contacted the Wyoming Department of Health, who told him that Wyoming did not have any COVID-19 restrictions on schools.

He also cited more practical problems, such as the inability of students to hear or see the blackboard clearly through the partitions, and the greatly reduced headaches and the space available for student desks. In addition, he also mentioned the fragility of the partitions, some of which have cracks or multiple damages, claiming that this "caused continuous pressure on the maintenance workers of our school."

No one is satisfied with the amount of evidence provided so far. Killian subsequently mentioned that the surrounding school district does not have any COVID-19 preventive measures, which shows that the school district is isolated in this regard.

Then, he cited the growing consensus that plexiglass partitions actually did not do much to slow down the spread of COVID-19, and distributed a paper she wrote on this matter in Sawaya for board members There was a pause while reading later. At the end of the speech, he also mentioned that many students are very willing to help the school remove the plexiglass partitions, depending on the time.

Although Kilian’s arguments for the petition were impressive, school officials said they would have to investigate the authenticity of certain claims in the petition. A board member asked whether there was a statistical difference between the areas where the divider line was used and the areas where the divider line was not used, but the director Teresa Chaulk was not sure and said she must investigate.

Chaulk then mentioned the fact that the school district’s original plan was actually to do nothing during the school year, “but we were set on fire like firecrackers by the Wyoming Department of Health because we did nothing. Masks," she added.

Jok then cited the advice of Dr. Krell, the county health officer, to clarify the origin of the plexiglass partition.

"Last year, our county official, Dr. Krell, approved Plexiglas... Krell did this so that we don't have to wear masks all day," she explained.

Although the plexiglass barrier may not be effective, Chaulk also pointed out that their numbers this school year are much better-from 7% to 2% last year.

"Can I say it's because of [divider]? I can't, but I can't say it's not because of that," she said.

Killian then quoted his recent experience in Lehman, saying that they did not have partitions or hallway shelter requirements.

"No, you are right. There are other areas that do nothing at all, do I think it is safe? I think it's about mitigating it as much as possible without damaging the environment, if possible," Chaulk said.

After the discussion came to a close, Chaulk said that she had made a recommendation to the board of directors to keep the divider before the end of the holiday, during which time the level of transmission might increase. After the holiday, the board of directors will reconsider the decision to cancel the dividing line. Killian agreed with the timetable proposed by Chalk, and the matter was over.

After the public comment period was over, the meeting went on to make some changes to the dress code and clean up some wording to make things clearer. It also outlines event-specific clothing for men and women for each school year's activities (such as dance parties and homecoming). The proposed changes to the dress code will be announced for the third time at the board meeting next month, and then the board will vote on the matter.

Another thing not on the agenda involved student Lilah Maxwell asking to go skiing in Pinedale.

"Skiing is really my hobby. I like to go to the ski slopes with my family or friends...just outside in the winter. I started skiing at 18 months and I have fallen in love with it since then," Maxwell Say.

After answering some questions from Chalk and the board, the board approved Maxwell's request to allow her to ski to Pinedale.

Finally, Chaulk then briefed the board of directors on the upcoming Wyoming School Board Association meeting and the proposed resolution that their representative Brad Grandy must vote this week. It is worth noting that it was also revealed that Chairman Don Lambourne and Bob Hunt will not go.

The first resolution involves reaffirming its commitment to teaching reading, writing, and mathematics to K-3 students in order to help students with dyslexia. The board believes that this is something the legislature should pass, not the WSBA, and Grandi confirmed that he plans to vote against the resolution.

The next resolution is about health standards and suicide prevention training. During the discussion, Chaulk pointed out that they are still working hard to keep their employees up to date, but before the above-mentioned employees receive training, they have not yet accepted the local partner's request to train students. Grandi said he plans to vote for the legislation.

The third resolution concerns the recruitment and retention of coaches and sports support personnel. Specifically, the resolution aims to require school districts to recruit only within the school district, pass background checks, and receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation, injury care and prevention, concussion training, training to identify signs of sexual abuse, and suicide prevention training. After briefly discussing how the requirements have become stricter and Chaulk's cynicism at the strictness of the school district's implementation of the proposal, Grandy confirmed that he will vote against the measure.

The fourth and fifth resolutions deal with critical racial theories, one of which is a somewhat redundant re-commitment to the existing constitutional values, and the other is a more targeted prohibition of the teaching of CRT and Project 1619. Jock pointed out that although she personally believes in the latter resolution, she believes that it is another matter for the country to deal with, rather than "trying to get us to support what they should do without us telling [the country]." Randy confirmed that he will vote against these two resolutions, and pointed out that based on the existing regional policy, these two resolutions are redundant.

Although Grandi has tentatively voted on each resolution, each resolution will be submitted to all voting representatives at the WSBA meeting on November 14, and his vote may change based on new information. If the vote is made public or announced at the December board meeting, the communiqué will definitely report it.

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