School board hears about student successes

At the September Hot Springs County School District board meeting, Chairman Sherman Skelton recognized Caitlyn Deromedi and Darren Lueppe to present on the schools’ and students’ successes. They covered accountability ratings given by the State of Wyoming. There are three key elements that go into the ratings. They are achievement, growth, and equity. Ralph Witters Elementary is meeting expectations. Thermopolis Middle School is exceeding expectations. Hot Springs County High School is also meeting expectations.

Deromedi also presented a report that compares the district to the State of Wyoming as a whole and noted “there are some areas that definitely we need to work on,” and she asked, “If it’s going well, are we on the verge of having a guaranteed and viable curriculum? Obviously, we have years and years of past data to be able to identify that and see that that curriculum is guaranteed viable. What it also tells us is what curriculum is not guaranteed and viable and where we need to work and really put our efforts into.” Lueppe then presented to the board a list of statistics showing where the students’ performances were ranked. 

Regarding the high school Deromedi added to the report, “Every single category tested at the high school last year in WYTOP and ACT, we’re top five in every single content area and every single grade level.” They also reported in their ACT tests they had an average composite of 20.5, which ranked them third in the state overall in all districts. English had an average of 20.0, which ranked them second in the state. Math had an average composite of 19.8. They tied fourth in the state for math. Their average in reading was 21, in which they tied for fourth in the state. Science’s average was 20.6, ranking them for first place in a four-way tie. Juniors take the ACT and have the opportunity to take it up to three times in their junior year.