School board elects chair, vice-chair properly, hears CTE concerns

The Hot Springs County School District Board of Trustees’ first regular meeting of 2022 saw a do-over of two of its officer elections, which nonetheless yielded the same results.

Superintendent Dustin Hunt credited a patron who’d contacted the district to correct the procedures of the board’s elections of its chair and vice-chair during its Dec. 16 meeting, by pointing out the nominations hadn’t followed Robert’s Rules of Order.

Board trustee Clay Van Antwerp, whom Hunt noted has had some experience with Robert’s Rules of Order, explained that electing a board officer requires a majority of board members to vote in their favor, whereas the elections of chair and vice-chair in December saw the declared winners receive only three out of seven total votes each, while the other two candidates for those two offices received two votes each.

Van Antwerp recommended a runoff between the two candidates who received two votes each, followed by final votes pitting the runoff winners against the candidates who had already received three votes each, to ensure the winners of the chair and vice-chair elections would receive at least four out of seven total votes each.

In both the chair and vice-chair elections, the two candidates who received two votes each were board trustee Jennifer Axtell and board clerk Joe Martinez. In both runoffs, Axtell received three votes to Joe’s four, but while Sherman Skelton retained his chairmanship from the previous month by a 4-3 margin against Martinez, Will Farrell held onto his vice-chairmanship from the previous month by a slightly broader 5-2 margin against Martinez.

Hunt apologized for his oversight of Robert’s Rules of Order during the December board officer elections, promising it would be a “growth point” for him, and thanking the patron who informed the district of the discrepancy, “because we don’t want to have any question about who our officers are.”

Skelton likewise thanked the district and community, and especially those who watch the board meetings either in-person or online, for remaining observant and engaged, “helping us be as transparent as possible.”

Self-described concerned parent Dustin Harvey was the sole member of the public to speak during the meeting’s public comment period, which saw him inquire about what more the district might be able to do to promote post-graduate options other than college.

According to Harvey, the average ages of various fields of tradesmen are increasing, with welders averaging 55 years old, mechanics averaging nearly 40 years old, and plumbers and contractors averaging more than 40 years old each.

Harvey acknowledged the expenses involved in vocational and career and technical education options, but he expressed concerns with maintaining steady pools of qualified workers in those fields, as well as affording students options beyond college, if those would suit them better.

“We all have cars, and they’re not getting any easier to work on,” said Harvey, who voiced an interest in making students more aware of the breadth of the voc ed and CTE options available to them, as well as how those students might go about pursuing them.

Farrell told Harvey that a district stakeholders’ group had opened its first meeting of the year by addressing the same topic, and sought to assuage Harvey’s concerns by assuring him that “the board is aware of the need” for voc ed and CTE among the district’s students.

Harvey noted that his high school senior daughter has put this need at the forefront of his thoughts, and added that a number of students find the high school experience challenging enough that they’re reluctant to pursue more post-graduate schooling “than they have to,” while pointing out that trade school courses for certain career fields can run between seven or eight mounts to 14 months or two years at the outside.

Board treasurer Nichole Weyer expressed empathy with Harvey’s concerns, citing her own son’s enrollment in the high school’s trades program, which he’d like to pursue more days per week, just as Harvey touted his five days a week in his high school’s auto shop as invaluable in his journey toward becoming an auto mechanic.

“I have a lot of good memories from that shop, and I know other people did too,” Harvey said. “When you see the average age in your career field creeping up to your age, you can’t help but wonder, what happened?”

Weyer touted educations in the trades as especially important for Wyoming students, given how many she estimated will work at ranches or family businesses after graduation.

“It’s an investment in our community,” Harvey agreed. “A lot of our kids want to come back home, and they will work here.”

Weyer called for increased partnerships between employers, post-graduate schools and high schools to offer trade apprenticeships to students, with which Harvey concurred, while crediting much of his own success to the instructors he had, one of whom had recently passed away, and had told him early on in his education, “You can be anything you want to be. You just have to work for it.”

The Hot Springs County School District’s auto shop and woodshop both remain active, and in addition to hiring a new CTE teacher for this year, the district regularly invites guest-speakers from various trade fields, as well as area technical schools for its career days, but Harvey nonetheless volunteered to serve as an additional voice of experience and guidance for students.

“We might just take you up on that,” Farrell replied.