Your source for news in Hot Springs County
Your source for news in Hot Springs County
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It may have been a little different this year due to the pandemic, but once again, the Bobcat Speech and Debate Team made an excellent showing at the National Speech and Debate Tournament. While they were supposed to be traveling to Albuquerque for this year’s tournament, COVID-19 got in the way and the entire tournament was held online. Those doing individual speech events such as humor, drama or oratory had to pre-record their events and download them to the National’s site. Congress, debate and extemporaneous speaking were don live thr...
The Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) recently released a list of those schools in the state which showed exemplary sportsmanship. With Hot Springs County High School participating in 3A East, they were one of only five schools who were recognized for their sportsmanship, having no coaches or athletes ejected from a game during the entire school year. In 3A East, the Bobcats were joined by Buffalo, Douglas, Newcastle and Burns for the honor. Fifty-one of the 70 schools across the state received the sportsmanship...
CHEYENNE - Planning for school openings this fall is underway. Smart Start, a working group composed of educators, healthcare professionals, and technology partners, was recently put into place by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow. The group will consider key issues and make recommendations related to reopening schools for the 2020-21 school year to Governor Mark Gordon’s COVID-19 Education Task Force, which is chaired by Superintendent Balow. “The most important decisions about opening schools this fall take place at...
In keeping with the way political campaigns are run on a national scale, the 2020-21 Hot Springs County High School Student Council campaigns were done online. Each of the candidates recorded their speeches and they were posted on the school newspaper, The Predator’s, Facebook page. Student Body President for the upcoming year is Emme Norsworthy who will be backed up by Vice President, Dayna Crow. Student Body Secretary will be Hallie Martinez. Senior Class President went to Elisa Weber. Junior Class President will be Jacob Randall, Vice P...
In lieu of the regular Scholarship Night for Hot Springs County Seniors, the Hot Springs County School District presented the awards and scholarships online for 2020. Outstanding Boy for the class of 2020 was awarded to Taydee Landrum and Outstanding Girl was presented to Ashley McPhie. Seniors planning a career with the military after graduation were recognized as Jason Clouse, Hunter Mounts and Matt Reynolds. Athletic awards Those participating in three sports all four years of high school are McKenna Bomengen, Kaylee DeVries, Tahja Hunt,...
Nine members of the Bobcat Speech and Debate Team were recently named to the All State team. Those gaining that recognition include Kyle Mosser, Hannah Hu, Jean-Luc Willson, Josiah Butler, Jacob Randall, Aime Robinson, Tyler Kay and Breeze Petty. Of those nine, Petty, Willson, Randall and Butler were named All State twice for different events. In addition, the team has four Academic All Americans this season, Kay, Petty, Hu and Ashley Brawley....
An emergency meeting of the Hot Springs County School District Board of Directors resulted in all schools within the district remaining closed through the end of the current school year. The Friday afternoon meeting was done electronically and streamed live on the district’s webpage as well as their Facebook page to ensure as many people as possible could watch as the board made its decision. While regular classes are not being held in the buildings, the district will continue with the d...
by Seth Klamann Casper Star-Tribune Via Wyoming News Exchange CASPER – Wyoming has received roughly $32.5 million in federal funding to help its 48 school districts offset costs incurred because of the novel coronavirus, the state announced last week. The money, part of the gargantuan stimulus bill passed by Congress several weeks ago, will be doled out to Wyoming’s districts according to previously established formulas for providing federal money to districts with low-income students. It cannot be used to offset existing expenses — like payro...
Students in the Hot Springs County School District have been doing distance learning for several weeks now and the principals in each of the buildings presented their participation rate for the various grades at their April meeting. Principal Catelyn Deromedi from Ralph Witters Elementary told the board they are having great success with the current learning situation with 97 percent of students working from home. Kinder Boost showed 93 percent of students participating and 96 percent of the kindergarteners are on board along with 96 percent...
Pre-registration for kindergarteners will be online this year for the 2020-2021 school year. Registration will open on Monday, May 4, and you must do your pre-registration online. Following pre-registration, parents will receive an email with their password to finish the registration process on Powerschool. Simply go to hotsprings1.org and click on Student Registration K-* New and complete the form. Click submit at the bottom when finished. You will receive your Powerschool password and then return to the school’s website, scrolling to the b...
Many in Thermopolis have been wondering what is going to happen the middle of May when the Class of 2020 is supposed to cross the stage from high school to adulthood with the pandemic we are facing world wide. As of Monday, schools are still under orders to have schools closed through April 30, but the district does have alternate plans in place if the closure extends through the end of the school year. “Our Class of 2020 seniors will have the most memorable graduation in 100 years,” said high school principal Breez Daniels. “This is the 100th...
Wyoming schools are getting some relief after receiving federal waivers from education funding requirements on Tuesday, April 7. The waiver was granted to allow Wyoming schools the ability to use fiscal year 2018 funds through September, 2121, and expands the possible uses of some title programs in an effort to allow districts to meet the educational needs of students due to widespread school closures due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus. “Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jillian Balow said, “The United States Department of Educ...
It has been about five weeks since several competitive seasons were cancelled across the state, including speech and debate. Knowing this was difficult on the students, especially seniors, the Wyoming State Speech and Debate Association put their heads together to figure out a way to not only have the State Tournament remotely, but to be able to choose National Qualifiers, which will also be held remotely rather than in person. After getting permission from the National Speech and Debate Association, a specific formula was used to determine...
While some parents and students are adjusting well to the new adapted learning plan Hot Springs County School District #1 is using during this school closure, others are having a rough time with how everything works. The district’s adaptive learning plan was approved by the state in late March and went into effect April 3. The main instruction mode for those students in Kindergarten through fourth grade include using digital, online learning methods as well as instructional packets. For g...
Chauncy Johnson, business manager for the Hot Springs County School District informed the board of plans in place to ensure students in the district will be receiving meals during the school closure through April 3. Johnson said the federal government has allowed them to activate their summer program in order to provide food for students during this time. Food service and some of the transportation staff has gathered together to provide grab and go meals for students during the closure, not to...
After the issuing of a press release from Governor Mark Gordon and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, all schools in Hot Springs County School District #1 will remain closed through April third to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the Coronavirus. Superintendent Dustin Hunt consulted with our county health official and state infectious disease officials before making the decision. Whether or not the schools remain closed after the April third date will be reassessed la...
Several high school student athletes were honored with sportsmanship awards during this month’s Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees meeting. Sterling Gerber was honored for his show of sportsmanship during the boys basketball game with Rocky Mountain on January 17 along with Jarron Mortimore during the game against St. Stephens the same day. Mortimore was also honored for the February 1 game with Big Piney. Duder Harvey received acclaim for his sportsmanship at the January 18 g...
by Nick Reynolds Casper Star-Tribune Via Wyoming News Exchange CHEYENNE — As Wyoming begins dipping into its savings to cover the cost of its K-12 education system, state lawmakers have begun to reckon with the question of what happens when the state’s “rainy day fund” — the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account, referred to as the LSRA — runs out. A Sublette County lawmaker believes he has the answer, however, pushing a bill through committee that could help stabilize the state’s reserve accounts. Carried in the House Appropriation...
The Wyoming Department of Education recently released a list of the recipients of the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Center Cohort 13 grants and Hot Springs County School District made the cut. With $2.05 million to distribute, the department of education gave $220,149 to the district, one of the top four districts as far as amount of money received. The program is authorized under Title IV, Part B, of the Every Student Succeeds Act and recipients must serve students and families from low-performing, high needs schools with...
If you’re ready to set some realistic activity goals, reduce your chances of falling and increase your flexibility as well as your strength and balance, then a Matter of Balance class may be just right for you. Presented through Hot Springs County Public Health and the Wyoming Pioneer Home, the classes will cover all of these goals during four, two-hour sessions starting on Tuesday, March 3. The classes will include group discussions, problem solving and peer support. To achieve the intended outcome, class attendance for all four sessions is r...
Stephanie Boren, Reading Specialist and Interventionist at Ralph Witter’s Elementary, announced a new school reading project. She gave each family of the students in the school a copy of “C is for Cowboy,” a Wyoming Alphabet book. The teachers and students will spend a week reading and talking about the book to build vocabulary and to learn about our great state. Boren states, “The benefits of reading aloud to all students are truly remarkable. Studies have shown that reading to childre...
Riverton Ranger Via Wyoming News Exchange RIVERTON — A structural deficit in Wyoming’s K-12 school system will require a $222 million transfer from savings in the coming biennium, forecasters have informed the Joint Appropriations Committee. “That is what is supporting the school foundation program going forward,” said Don Richards, cochairman of Wyoming’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group, “a transfer from the Legislative Stabilization Reserve Account.” The solution is not permanent: Richards said the LSRA is losing money, with its balance f...
Thermopolis Middle School (TMS) has partnered with Donors Choose in order to obtain materials for their classrooms – anything from furniture to science materials. Teachers first create a project they would like to have funded and then prospective donors visit the Donors Choose website, select their favorite project and then donate to help fund their favorites. When the items are fully funded, Donors Choose ships the items directly to the school. Just this past week, TMS was fortunate to have s...
Graduation rates across Wyoming have increased for the sixth consecutive year according to a report released from the Wyoming Department of Education. “Wyoming has reached the highest graduation rate under this methodology, which was put in place over a decade ago,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow. “More Wyoming students are prepared to succeed in college careers and military service. Districts have worked hard to increase the number of students who received a dip...
School attendance and drop-out rates were a large part of the January school board meeting with principal Breez Daniels explaining the importance of freshman success to high school graduation. Absence rates are going down in the district quite rapidly when compared to the mid-way point in the year, August through December. In 2017 students with 14 or more absences during that five-month period amounted to 23 percent. By 2018, that number had dropped to just 14 percent. This year, Daniels was hap...
