EVANSTON — Evanston High School has started making plans for an alternative graduation ceremony. It was announced on the school’s Facebook page and confirmed by EHS Principal Merle Lester that graduation will still be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 30, as planned; however, the ceremony is now being planned for the field at Kay Fackrell Stadium.

Each family of a graduating senior will be allowed one vehicle for the senior and his or her family, and vehicles will be parking on the field. Further details are still being arranged and will be announced as plans are finalized. The change was necessary due to the COVID-19 school closures and social distancing guidelines that will prevent the customary graduation ceremony.

The ongoing school closures were a subject of discussion at the regular Uinta County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees meeting, which was held virtually on Tuesday, April 14. District Superintendent Ryan Thomas spoke of the enormous amount of work and stress that went into preparing for online instruction and that still goes into conducting distance education for the approximately 2,700 students in the district. Board chair Jami Brackin also acknowledged the work of all district staff members and said that even when schools do reopen, which is not looking likely until fall, there will probably be changes and modifications the district will need to employ to make the eventual return as safe as possible.

The COVID pandemic has impacted general operations of the district in multiple ways. For example, both the maintenance department and technology department annual reports included references to the uncertainty the pandemic has created. Maintenance department director John Davis said many operations are in a holding pattern as the district waits for further direction on what functions can be covered under emergency expenditures and what can’t, etc. Davis, who is retiring on June 30, said all staff are keeping track of what work is being done related to COVID, such as extra cleaning and sanitizing, and what is routine work for bookkeeping purposes.

Technology director Jaraun Dennis also referenced the pandemic when detailing some of the successes of the school year, including rapid implementation of 1:1 Chromebooks for all students in the district, including those in kindergarten and first grade who did not already have them. Dennis expressed gratitude to local internet providers All West and NGL, who have helped provide internet access to 85 families without the means to participate in online learning.

Dennis said there will be a new page on the district website containing information for families on digital learning and safety information and said the state has done a “tremendous” job in boosting internet access for all district’s during this time, increasing the access limits from 1.5 to 10 gigabytes.

The COVID pandemic has also impacted the district’s timeline in preparing the budget for the 2020-2021 school year. Thomas said the district had not yet received the guidance document from the Wyoming Department of Education with final numbers for the next school year. Thomas said everything is running about three weeks behind because the WDE has had other pressing issues to work on with developing guidance for districts related to distance learning.

He indicated he expects the budget to be very similar to the current year; however, he said the state “is getting killed right now” from an economic perspective. The local school district is “always very conservative with budgeting,” said Thomas, “and we’re being even more so now with coronavirus.”

In other business not related to the pandemic, Thomas presented the board with new policies related to fundraising activities. The documents included one for parent organizations and another for student group fundraising. Parent groups, such as PTA units and booster clubs, will be required to submit a charter annually containing the group’s bylaws, officer’s names and contact information, operating guidelines and a financial plan for the year, and fundraising goals and purposes. The charter will need to be approved by the school principal and the district activities director and then submitted to the superintendent. Fundraising proceeds should be distributed equitably and should not compete directly with local businesses.

Student group fundraising will also need to be approved by a building principal and must be for the benefit of a particular activity or club. Fundraising can include the sale of tickets to events, the sale of advertising space in school publications, fundraising to benefit the school or community and fundraising activities included in a charter from a parent group. Again, fundraising proceeds should be split equitably, including fundraising for club travel or lodging. Students are prohibited from door-to-door solicitation with any type of fundraising.

In a return to a discussion that has occurred multiple times in recent years, trustees again discussed the possibility of reducing the size of the board of trustees from nine members to seven. Pursuing such a proposal was last seriously discussed in late 2017, when the idea failed to receive enough support from board members to move forward.

Trustee Dave Bennett, one of the board members strongly behind the proposal last time, said he would again like to move forward with possibly reducing the board size. Bennett said he thinks nine people is too many and a smaller board is more efficient.

Brackin said it may be a good time to pursue the possibility since it’s an election year and two of the members up for re-election this year have indicated they do not intend to seek another term. However, Thomas said it may be better to consider such a proposal in 2022; otherwise, there would be only two seats up for election this November as opposed to four.

Trustees Kay Fackrell and Cassie Torres both said they do not support reducing the board size. “I don’t really see the need to fix something that’s not broken,” said Fackrell. Torres said, “We’ve addressed this for years now and it’s been voted down in the past. I don’t like the idea of reducing community voice and representation.”

District attorney Geoff Phillips said reducing the size of the board is a complex and lengthy process that is not as simple as the board itself simply voting to do so. Phillips said even though local school board seats are not allocated based on boundaries, a boundary board would still need to be convened, consisting of the Uinta County Commissioners, assessor and treasurer, to recommend a reduction.

All of that would take time to put into place; however, Phillips said it would all need to be completed by May in order to get on to the ballot this year. Brackin said it may still be possible to have everything completed in time, and Thomas and Phillips said they would get a step-by-step list put together of everything that would need to be accomplished so the board can determine if they want to move forward with the proposal at the May board meeting.