EVANSTON — The Uinta County School District No. 1 dealt with a host of discussion and action items at the special meeting on Tuesday, June 6, which lasted for more than three and a half hours. 

Evanston Parks and Recreation director Jay Dee Nielsen presented the annual renewal of the EPRD-UCSD No. 1 operating agreement, and he offered extra help if needed to support the school districts. 

He commended the 80 students who donated 250-260 hours in service projects for EPRD. 

Region V BOCES director Dan Mayer gave an update on Region V BOCES before asking for a .2 mill levy. 

All the students at the program’s locations have IEPs (individualized education plans), and Region V BOCES has three schools in the state: the residential C–V Ranch in Wilson and day schools Sunrise School in Hudson and Roosevelt Learning Center in Rock Springs. Mayer said he wants to start up a day school in Evanston because not all students need residential placement. Because the program’s funding is already stretched thin, the day school would need minimal facility cost especially as it starts up. 

One possible location would be the old Evanston Youth Club for Boys & Girls building, since the club is getting a bigger building and will vacate the old one. 

In the meantime, because the youth club members only use their building after school hours, there wouldn’t be much, if any, crossover with day school students if Region V BOCES were allowed to go ahead. 

Trustee Kim Bateman said there are some concerns about the day school being next to Evanston Child Development Center, but Mayer said behavior problems usually drop off when students feel comfortable. 

“Kids do amazingly well … when they get in a setting that’s very comfortable,” Mayer said. “... I think people would be very shocked, actually.” 

For instance, he said, some kids might try tearing up the walls in a normal school but thrive in a day school designed to meet their needs. 

Mayer also said the goal is to give students the least restrictive environment possible, and there are three even more restrictive environments than the residential program at C–V Ranch: a hospital/institution, homebound instruction and a detention facility. 

He noted that school districts have started to be better able to meet students’ needs where they are, so the Region V BOCES programs have been downsizing. Even so, the programs have served half of Wyoming’s school districts and with two other BOCES programs in the state as well, with the ultimate goal of reuniting students with their homes and communities as soon as possible, “our goal is to work ourselves out of business,” Mayer said. 

He said the program focuses on trauma-informed care because most of the students are dealing with trauma sustained early in life. 

The programs also have to operate 365 days in the year, Mayer said; there is no federal or state funding for many reimbursable costs, and the programs operate month-to-month. He gave the example that if five kids go home, Region V BOCES (a fee-for-service program) has to RIF within a month. 

“I think districts would struggle if they had to operate like [we do],” Mayer said. 

There are several major expenses coming up as well. 

The board will approve a mill levy request when it approves the 2017-18 budget, but many trustees indicated strong support before moving to the next agenda item.

The UCSD No. 1 board visited the schools and different school district departments in April in order to communicate with staff about positives and negatives in the district. 

Overall, board members reported mostly positives. Some of the concerns at schools included major safety-related maintenance at North Elementary, the need for more library books at Horizon High School, better counseling at Horizon (board clerk Jami Brackin said Horizon has the highest risk students, but they have the least amount of available counseling in the district), transportation issues with Uinta Meadows Elementary students living out-of-boundary, and the parent group. There was also relief across schools and departments that there were no RIFs.

Some positives included the Chromebook program, improved communication throughout the district; improved morale and teamwork at Davis Middle School, the new Latino parent group and reenergized school spirit.

In the maintenance/warehouse department, there were some concerns about the frequency and expense of the building use as well as the burden on staff. 

In the transportation department, there were concerns about how breakfast sometimes ends before some buses get in and that there are a lot of teachers running by school buses as they load. There was also a request that not all the coaches sleep at once on trips (this one brought a lot of laughter from the board). One positive was that bus drivers go above and beyond to ensure students make it home. 

Superintendent Ryan Thomas talked about the proposed delayed start on Mondays, which would give teachers regular professional development before school. Because the change has been suggested so late in the year, Thomas said professional development half days will continue as normal next year. The delayed starts are still on the table for the future, though, because they would preserve most of the school day and cut out some of the extra time commitments required of teachers for half days.

Special education director Matt Williams presented special education strategic planning. He said Wyoming is the only state to fund special education 100 percent, and he is advocating to keep that. He said he is working with CFO John Williams to improve budgeting while serving students. He also said he would like more options for students in crisis. 

He then talked about the recent contract with PINGORA Consulting Group as an outside auditor to ensure students with IEPs are being consistently served. PINGORA found some discrepancies between IEPs and what was actually implemented, so the recommendations are to monitor discrepancies, review service logs and have a systematic approach for addressing any missed services, including follow-ups with training. Williams said he is aware the program can do better but thinks most of the employees have growth mindsets. 

After a seven-minute recess at 9:19, the board zipped through the action items. They started by approving the Meet and Confer Agreement, which includes the insurance benefits for UCSD No. 1 staff. There will be three benefit changes, and the employees’ co-premiums will revert to the 2015-2016 school year rate (this agreement is different from the insurance committee’s recommendation). UCSD No. 1 also agreed to substitute the staff development increment with a tuition payment plan, among other things, the details of which are available at www.uinta1.com under Board Meeting Agendas. 

The board approved a new laser printer for DMS, a 25-cent price increase for lunch and breakfast for the upcoming school year and approved an excess kiln at Evanston High School. The trustees then withdrew into executive session regarding personnel from 9:41-10:06 p.m., with board chair Cassie Torres noting that there were no further items on the agenda but that people were welcome to stay or go.