The Sublette County School District

No. 1 board of trustees passed a full agenda of items

during its regular meeting on May 14. All board members

attended the meeting via Zoom. The following items passed

unanimously:

• A motion passed granting contracts to four new certified

employees: Katherine Facklam, high school art teacher,

Chad Davis, fourth-grade teacher, Jenna Harvey, secondgrade

teacher and Dr. Mark Taylor, curriculum, data and

assessment coordinator.

• The following extra-duty assignments received

approval: Marcus Helland, head boys’ varsity basketball

coach, Brady Schaefer, boys’ junior varsity basketball coach

and Ambr Seemann, head girls’ swim coach.

• The board passed the new 2020-2021 Student Handbook

on first reading. The changes were “minor,” Chairman

Jamison Ziegler said.

• The 2020-2021 Coaches Handbook passed on first

reading. No changes were made to the content.

• A request to change the mascot at Pinedale Middle

School from the Colts to the Wranglers received the board’s

approval. David Thrash, assistant principal and activities

director at the middle school, sent a survey out to staff,

students and community members. He reported in a letter

to the board that 90 percent of staff approved the change

and 93 percent of students and community members voted

“yes.”

• The board approved a request by Pinedale Middle

School Principal Eric Makelky to release a survey to get

feedback from students about the “adapted learning plan.”

• The board voted to reduce support staff by 14 positions.

Thirteen of the 14 positions are related to seasonal summer

school paraprofessional positions, said Superintendent Jay

Harnack.

“This is not a 13-position reduction of our typical

August to June workforce. We had that staff hired, and then

the public health orders came into place and we’ve had to

reduce that and move to a more online footing for summer

school.”

• The board policy review committee submitted numerous

changes on policies to the full board, including several new

policies. All 10 new and revised policies received approval

on first reading from the board. A full list is available on the

public BoardDocs website.

• The board approved a new fulltime paraprofessional

position for the early childhood program.

• A resolution passed granting additional leave pay to

compensate staff that worked during the school closures

due to COVID-19.

• As required by state statute, the district presented

the board with a tentative budget for 2020-2021. Vern

McAdams, district business manager, told the Pinedale

Roundup that due to the significant changes caused by

COVID-19, forecasting finances are “difficult” this year.

He added that property tax valuations are up in the air, as

are funds from federal stimulus grants channeled through

the state. The tentative budget is available on the BoardDocs

website.

“This will give the public a pretty good estimate of where

we are,” McAdams said.

• The board approved a new compensation plan for the

2020-2021 school year. McAdam explained that the plan is

meant make the compensation schedule “more consistent.”

The original plan compared only teacher salaries to their

counterparts in other districts, McAdam said. The new plan

will expand the comparison to all staff.

• A proposal passed to increase pay for sports officials at

junior varsity and lower level programs.

• A bid was accepted from the accounting firm Carver,

Florek and James to complete the 2019-2020 audit for

$37,000.

• A motion passed to approve Nichols and Company to

provide food supplies as requested by the Western Wyoming

Food Co-op.

• A contract with Teletractors, Inc., was accepted to repair

and repave asphalt behind the high school for $63,500.

• A bid was accepted to purchase student Chromebooks

from Trinity3 Technology for $41,700.