Page 9 The Sundance Times
School
Se)tember 27 201"
Meet your school board candidates
available but yet be able to support traditional
learning styles.
2. Tell us a little about your background.
My background is rooted in Crook County.
I was born and raised in the Moorcroft area
on the family ranch that was homesteaded in
1916. I was educated in the Moorcroft schools
and then went on to the University of Wyoming
and completed a degree in Mechanical Engi-
neering. At graduation, I moved my family to
Cedar Rapids, IA to work for Rockwell Interna-
tional in the Government Military Avionics and
GPS department. After 7 years in corporate
America, we decided to move our kids back to
be closer to family and work the family ranch.
I currently also do the maintenance planning
for Dry Fork Mine.
3. What do you believe qualifies you to oc-
cupy a seat on the school board?
I feel that I am reasonably qualified to oc-
cupy the trustee seat due to my work expe-
rience in big business and my local roots. I
have had three kids go through the Moorcroft
Schools and currently have a Freshman in the
high school. My wife has been employed by
the Moorcroft schools for 19 years and I have
volunteered there. I have about as close of a
relationship as is possible and still be on the
board.
4. If you are elected again, what do you hope
to achieve during your tenure on the board?
I am not going into this with an agenda. The
diversity of the issues that come before the
board is great therefore to push specific is-
sues is difficult. My goal would be to respond
to the varied issues with integrity and common
sense. A delicate balance must be struck be-
tween fiscal responsibility and the education
and well-being of our kids.
5. Do you have any comments you would like
to address to the community?
I would ask the community to consider me
a viable candidate who has their best inter-
ests in mind when making the tough decisions
presented during each and every school board
meeting.
Josie Pearson
1. What inspired you to run for this position?
Circumstances that led up to my resignation
deeply concerned me. The way that some teach-
ers in the district were being treated and the res-
ignation of Principal Kathy Hood and Shelby Gill
were determining factors. I found that I didn't
want to work for an employer that is not driven
BY SARAH PRIDGEON
In the final of three articles introducing your
candidates for the Crook County School Dis-
trict Board of Trustees, Robert L. Beaudoin,
Thayne Gray and dosie Pearson explain what
inspired them to run and what makes them
worthy of your vote.
Peggy K. Howard, dosie D. Pearson, Robert
L. Beaudoin, Bob Latham and Keith Haiar will
run against incumbent School Board Trustee
Tracy Jones for the Sundance seats. Jones,
who is running in Sundance due to recent
changes in districting, will remain a trustee for
the Moorcroft area if he is unsuccessful in his
campaign.
The Hulett seat wiU go either to Otto D.
Schlosser or incumbent trustee Dena Mills,
while Thayne Gray will appear on the ballot to
retain his seat in Moorcroft.
Robert L. Beaudoin
1. What inspired you to run for this position?
1 think the school board is doing a good job,
and I hope that whoever is elected continues to
do a good job.
2. Tell us a little about your background.
I came to this area in 1964 and taught in the
district for almost 30 years. During the sum-
mer, I worked with the school district on reno-
vations and other projects and, when I quit,
they needed someone to run the school buses.
I've been doing that since I retired, I'm current-
ly running the football players back and forth
to training in Upton. In a couple of years, I will
have reached my goal of 50 years of continu-
ous employment with the school district.
3. What do you believe qualifies you to occupy
a seat on the school board?
As I said, I have a few years under my belt
working for the school district and knowing
how it works. I have a degree in history and
physical education and a Masters in adminis-
tration, with a minor in counseling.
4. If you are elected, what do you hope to
achieve during your tenure on the board?
I think the board is doing a good job, I don't
see any changes that should be made, although
it could be tweaked a little, here and there. The
board has to run by the law, so there's not too
much they can do differently.
5. Do you have any comments you would like
to address to the community?
The community knows me and what I stand
for, I think: a conservative approach to most
everything.
lhayne Gray
1. What inspired you to rim for this position?
The inspiration for me to run for the school
board seat that I was assigned to is the issues
that are currently before us. The district is
racking up impressive numbers for our over-
all rankings in the state yet there is unrest
amongst the staff and community. We are on
the verge of building a new school in Moorcroft
that is based on the latest learning techniques
.i...:"' ','z ....... ly th:ed morals that I believe in.
t., Lately, we havebn.haring a lot,,' about the
breakdown of communication between the
public and the administration and school
board. Staff members have to not feel afraid
when they have a grievance. This needs to be
corrected. Everyone who is involved with the
education of the children of Crook County
need to feel like they can go to their principal,
the superintendent or any school board mem-
ber being confident that they will be listened
to with an open view of all sides of whatever
concern they may have. I know that we need
to study the budget and get a handle on where
the money is going. This will be a huge job but
is one that I will dedicate myself to do.
2. Tell us a little about your background.
I was born and raised on a ranch west of Beu-
lab and attended the Beulah School before I
started school in Sundance. I graduated from
the Sundance High School. I earned my teach-
ing degree from Black Hills State. I have over
45 hours of graduate credit, some of which was
an endorsement in Library Science that I re-
ceived from the University of Wyoming. I have
three children who graduated from the Hulett
School and seven grandchildren. I was also a
4-H leader for 24 years. I have been a teacher
for Crook County for 31 years. I first started
teaching at Four Oaks and transferred into
Sundance Elementary in 1989 where I taught
fifth grade. I became the elementary librarian
at Sundance Elementary in 1997, a job that I
held until my resignation last spring. From the
time I was very young I wanted to be a teacher,
and becoming the librarian was just icing on
the cake.
3. What do you believe qualifies you to occupy
a seat on the school board?
Being a teacher for 31 years gives me the
knowledge of what our teachers do and what is
expected of them. I know how hard our teach-
ers work and the love and devotion they have
for our children and their education. When I
informed the teachers at Sundance Elemen-
tary that I was resigning I told them I would
be an advocate leader for them and the other
teachers of the district as well as the students
in our schools. I feel that my teaching back-
ground would make me someone that they can
all stakeholders can count on.
4. If you are elected, what do you hope to
achieve during your tenure on the board?
I am very concerned about how the district
money is being spent. I think that we need to
study the budget and good a good grasp on
all expenses. It concems me that a handful
of people are making a lot of money yet our
teachers have been expected to get by without
an increase in standard of living expense. The
main reason that the students of Crook Coun-
ty score so well on the state tests they are given
is because of the dedication of the teachers,
the ones who hold their future education in the
palms of their hands. Our students and teach-
ers must come first. People who know me know
=
I have been receiving a lot of thank you's and ).:
support from people of Crook County and I
thank you for that. I debated with myself for
quite some time on whether or not I should
run. The push that I kept feeling inside finally/::i
won out and I feel like I wiU be able to be a pos: :
itive representative for the staff and stude!!),
of our county. I am running because I feel!!!"
deep in my soul that it is my civic duty at this
time to give back to the parents and studentS!i::i-
of Crook County. In my letter of resignation:
I presented four School Board Policies that F'
felt were being ignored. In board pollcy:BBA,
Duties of the Board, item number 5 states
that the board is responsible for establi: :
educationalgoals, which will guide both the
Board and the staff in working together to-
ward the continuing improvement of the edu 2
cation program. It is responsible for providing
for the ongoing evaluation of the educational :
program against the goals and objectives set
forth by the Board of Education. I feel that ouiAi
current board has not been involved in this I:
and has somewhat left it up to the manage,.
ment of our administration in Central Ofllce. i
School Board policy BBF, School Board Mere-:i
ber Ethics, number 3, states: As a member of
my local Board of Education, I will strive,oi
improve public education, and to that end'-I; i ;
will: Render all decisions based on the avail:;,
able facts and my own independent juent, il
and refuse to surrender that judgment to in, :-:
dividuals or special interest groups. Item 11
states: and to that end I will: Remember, al-
ways, that the first and greatest concern must
be the educational welfare of the students at-
tending the public school. After attending ,!:;
eral of the working board meetings I can aee!i i
that this is not being followed. I will not work!
for just one person, but for everyone in Crook ,
County, staff, students and taxpayers. Board :-
policy BBF(2), Board Member Code of Con-i
duct states: The Board has the authority and )
responsibility to apply the following standards
of conduct: item 1 states: Board members wiU 2:
act in an ethical, lawful, and respectful mall- : i
her. If you have teachers who are being bullied.if:
and harassed, how can you possibly
they are being treated in an ethical,
and respectful manner Board Policy
sonnel Policies Goals reads: The
terested in its employees as
recognizes its responsibility for
general welfare of the staff. Item 6
develop the quality human
that I am a strong advocate for the benefits oF esaty-t ''imtm sfalT
reading, We now have,one school that does rt0t* anl,atsCti0n. This must be
have a certified librarian, and this school has if" o.u.r: schools are to continue
best possible education for all the
Crook County. As an elected leader,
it is ones responsibility to advocate and
laborate with all stakeholders,
members of the board, the
staff, the parents and the students
County. If elected I will truly
Thank you for reading. ....
students K-12. Our present administration
does not think that libraries are really neces-
sary. This same thought was expressed to me
by a board member. This mind set concerns
me since studies show that reading makes a
difference, no matter the age of the reader.
5. Do you have any comments you would like
to address to the community?
Adequate Yearly Progress
results recalled for review
BY SARAH PRIDGEON
The results of the 2011-12 school year Ad-
equate Yearly Progress (AYP) assessments
for the State of Wyoming have been recalled
for review after data errors were found in
the released information. The recall follows
a separate recalculation of results after AYP
targets were changed at the eleventh hour.
The U.S Department of Education required
the state to recalculate its AYP targets as a
result of action by the Wyoming Legislature
to remove the writing component from PAWS
testing. New starting points were set after
adjusting proficiency data from the 2010-11
assessments to account for these changes.
Under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
of 2001, all states are required to make AYP
determinations each year for each pub-
lic school district and school. Schools are
required to continually improve their stu-
dents' achievements in reading or language
arts and math each year to match a federal
mandate.
The eventual target is for every child in ev-
ery school to be performing at or above grade
level by 2014. Yearly targets have steadily
increased since AYP was introduced; for
example, the proficiency target for elemen-
tary reading or language arts was an easily
achievable 30 percent in 2003 but will in-
crease to 100 percent in 2014.
The elementary school target for reading
was increased for the 2011-12 school year
from 65.2 to 78.1 percent, while math has
risen from 61.9 to 75 percent. In middle
schools, reading has increased from 67.25
to 69.6 percent and math from 62.65 to 62.8
percent.
High school targets have meanwhile de-
creased. In reading, the 2011-12 target was
reduced from 74.2 to 63 percent and, in
math, the target fell from 67.9 to 54.2 per-
cent.
These changes reflect both the removal of
writing as a component of PAWS and the
discontinuation of the Portfolio of Student
Work in PAWS-ALT.
According to the recalled results, which
may change following the review, 53.33 per-
cent of schools in the state failed to reach
AYP targets, but a total of 34 of 48 school
districts did meet those targets.
"AYP is calculated separately for schools
and districts," explains Dianne Frazer of
the Wyoming Department of Education. "A
school is responsible for five different AYP
indicators: participation rate for math, par-
ticipation rate for reading; academic indica-
tor for math, academic indicator for reading;
and additional indicator."
If the target is missed in any of nine sub-
groups for the participation rate or academ-
ic indicators, AYP is missed for that entire
indicator. Districts can also miss AYP in any
of the same indicators; however, a district
can only be considered as missing AYP if the
same indicator is missed at each of the 3
school levels (elementary, middle, high)."
Crook County School District is not con-
cerned by the recall, however, as the dis-
trict relies on a triangulation process to cal-
culate how well its students are improving
and, says Superintendent Lon Streib, is al-
ready confident that it understands where
its schools' strengths and weaknesses lie.
"We triangulate district assessments, MAP
scores and PAWS results, so we know how
our kids are growing," explains Streib.
"-We use trend data," agrees Teresa Brown,
Curriculum Director. "All three results to-
gether show us whether changes are needed
and where things are going well."
Trend data allows the district to study re-
suits over time and make changes as needed.
"One year of lower math results, for exam-
ple, is not a big deal, but if we were to see a
drop over three years, we'd know something
needs to change," explains Streib.
"-We, as a district, know what our kids are
doing and are 100 percent sure that we're
meeting kids' needs and adjusting as neces-
sary."
The revised results of the AYP assessments
are expected shortly. "As soon as we are con-
fident the data is accurate, we will release
an update," says Frazer.
Sundance Marching B
performs at Swarm D
Julie Altcfffe
The Sundance High School Marching Band performs in the Swarm Day
Spearfish.
The Sundance High School
Marching Band performed
in the Swarm Day Parade on
Saturday, September 22 in
front of a large and very ap-
preciative crowd. The band
performed and marched
to the Jazz Classic "Sing,
Sing, Sing" which was a
challenge, but the students
did a great job keeping up
with the quick tempo.
All though they were miss-
ing several band members
due to volleyball and golf,
the band was still able to
come within one point of
first place. The top scor-
ing band was Spearfish
High School and Sundance
took second. Since there
only four bands competing,
they all were judged in the
same division, regardless
of school size. The other
bands were Kadoka High
School and Spearfish Mid-
dle School.
Many from Sundance
cheered on the band from
sides of the streetsl It gives
us all a great, sense of: pride ::.
to march do ....
of Spearfish and
much applause an
port. Great job
congrats on taking
by one point to a
the size of Spearfish
Schooll
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