Principals share school rankings with board members

At the October Hot Springs County School District #1 Trustees board meeting, the principals of all three schools shared their accountability ratings and all the rankings for state assessment data.

Hot Springs County High School Principal Catelyn Deromedi said, “Regarding our ACT rankings this year, the last couple of years, we’ve been ranked in the top three, as a district across the state. Our juniors from last year, our seniors this year, were ranked number one in the state of Wyoming as a district for their ACT scores.”

Deromedi added, “Not only was their average composite first, they came in second in English. They tied for second in math, first in reading and first in science. When I say that these are remarkable scores, we’ve set some trends in the last few years that were pretty remarkable. But prior to this year, our highest average Act composite was a 20.8. This year it was a 21.8. That average increased by an entire point.

Deromedi continued and said, “Talking about not only comparing ourselves from previous years to this year, but also looking at the ELA scores, coming in second, they were averaging a 20.8. Math, they averaged a 20.7. Reading, they scored a 22.5 average, which the closest to them was a 21.5. So an entire point above any other district. As well as science, which was truly remarkable at a 22.7. And the closest to them was a 21.4. Just so proud of those juniors, so proud of our staff.”

Regarding WYTOP scores, Deromedi discussed the ninth and 10th graders. She said, “Our ninth graders did an absolutely wonderful job. They came in sixth place as a district, across the state of Wyoming for ELA. They were number one in math. For our 10th graders, they were 11th. Just missed that top ten by one for ELA. They were eighth in math and 19th in science.”

Regarding the high school’s accountability ratings, Deromedi said they are meeting expectations. 

Deromedi also said, “One thing I’m really proud of is the post-secondary readiness piece. We went from the prior year, being at 60.9% of our students were post-secondary ready, as they deemed. We went from 60.9 to 75.7%, so huge growth in post-secondary readiness, something that we’re continually trying to work on, is the graduation rate.”

Board vice chair Nichole Weyer responded about the flaw and said, “Just for the public to kind of know this is always kind of a hot topic, but if a student is pulled out and home schooled, it’s considered a dropout.”

Principal Deromedi added, “Yes. Home school kids are counted as dropouts as well as students that attend online school.” Additionally, if a student transfers to another district and they don’t receive information about where they transferred to, that is also considered a dropout. 

Thermopolis Middle School Principal Darren Luebbe reported on the school’s state accountability ratings. He said, “TMS has been given the award of exceeding expectations, only 12% of the schools in Wyoming, from elementary to high schools, are given this. So we’re excited to be a part of that.”

Regarding TMS’s WYTOP rankings for the 2023-2024 school year, Luebbe said, “Fifth grade ELA was 41st. Obviously, that’s an area that we want to continue to grow on, and obviously we’re starting already to do the work in there to try to improve on that piece. Fifth grade math was ranked 15th in that area. Sixth grade ELA was ranked eighth. Sixth grade math was ranked first in the state of Wyoming. Seventh grade math was ranked fourth in the state of Wyoming. Seventh grade ELA ranked second. Eighth grade ELA ranked second. Eighth grade math ranked first, and eighth-grade science ranked first.”

Luebbe added, “I think it’s pretty self-explanatory that our staff does amazing things and, more importantly, our kids do amazing things.” 

Ralph Witters Elementary Principal Nichole Ciz reported, “We’ve been meeting expectations for several years at the elementary school. There were only about 13% of schools in Wyoming that were exceeding expectations this year.”

Ciz continued and said regarding the WYTOP rankings, “Third grade math, we have ranked 18th. Obviously, third grade is the first time that they take the test. The third grade students last year ranked 42nd. Third grade ELA, they were 33rd this year, so they still have some work to do. In fourth grade math, they ranked 12th this year. That actual group of students was 42nd last year, so that’s an amazing jump. Fourth grade science was seventh in the state. Fourth grade ELA was third in the state this year. That group of students was 38th in the state last year.”

Austin Slagle gave the student trustee report and discussed their recent homecoming and the ACT celebration. The high school trivia team will have its first competition, November 2, at Laramie County Community College. The robotics team started meeting with two teams this year and 12 students participating. Their first scrimmage is on November 2 in Ethete. The cross-country team competed at conference. The football and volleyball season continued. Speech and debate have started and GSA, NHS and FFA are all meeting.

For the district share portion, Deromedi discussed the pathways period at the high school. She said, “It was very important to me to take a look at what is something that I can do to help students be excited to come to school, their first period of their day being a class that they most desire, ultimately impacting attendance…If they’re engaged in their very first period, what is that going to do for them for the remainder of the day? Thinking about how that engagement also impacts growth and achievement, as well as teacher and student relationships.”

Deromedi added, “The purpose of our pathway period is to give students the opportunity to start their day with an elective course of their choice. We have some high-achieving students at the high school, over achievers, if you will. And some of them have actually chosen to do college courses instead of these electives, but that’s a choice that they made.”

Principal Deromedi also said that they have band, art, digital media and design, their CTE class, computer science, strength and conditioning. “We have so many things being offered to our students during the first period of the day that they are truly passionate about.”

Luebbe discussed their citizenship rubric at the middle school and said, “We took it a little bit further this year, and we’re going to focus on respect. The citizenship rubric is broken down into five main pieces. Winning mindset, which then encompasses ownership and consistently being positive. Response factor, which includes positivity, responding to a challenge. Resilience and being coachable. Academically responsible, which includes completing assignments on time, preparing for class, being prompt and showing high-quality work, and then collaborative learning, which involves having teamwork, empathy and patience. Actively engaging and being flexible. The last piece is the respect piece. We talked about this as a staff and the importance of respect. It has both an academic impact as well as a social impact. The things that we have underneath that would be obviously following the rules, but then respect to staff, respect to other students, and then also maybe as important as any of it with the time that we live in, is respect for ourselves and how we make decisions and choices and those types of things.”

Ciz discussed that the students have P.E. and music every single day now at RWE. Also, she highlighted their Bobcat Friday assemblies where they have made a unique addition. Now they have students visiting from the middle school or high school to come and present from their organization, such as cross country or football. 

Additionally, Ciz said they have art back at the elementary school taught by Korinne Ryan. This happens on Fridays where they do not have specials, instead they have exploratory. The exploratories include art, computer science, and guidance. 

In the art class, the students have learned about oil pastels, color mixing, drawing with one point perspective, and weaving paper. In computer science, they have been learning many different things. Recently they were taught about 3D printing. 

Ciz shared about guidance on Friday where students learn about conflict resolution, self control and bully prevention lessons. Not only that, on Fridays, Ciz said they have music and movement for the students called Eminem Time. This includes nature walks, playing musical chairs and even Disney trivia. These Friday activities are popular with students. 

In the superintendent report, Dustin Hunt said that they are starting a podcast called Bobcat Beat. At this time, it will be audio only, but they plan on adding video. Hunt said, “This podcast will primarily be from the superintendent’s office and involve students and staff and community members, maybe even some board members, a time or two to get information about what’s happening in the district.”

Hunt also recognized the recent policy of limiting the use of cell phones in the school and how staff and members of the community have been supportive of this effort. Hunt said there was a letter recently issued by State Superintendent Megan Degenfelder and Governor Mark Gordon about this matter and wanting to have a “safe learning environment with limited distractions.”

Board Chairman Sherman Skelton said regarding agenda item E that there was a patron wishing to speak to the board, but he was not present. Therefore, the board tabled that item. 

Chairman Skelton then opened the meeting for public comment, however none was given. 

Business manager Jessica Benefiel reported on a variety of items, including the coming audit report in the November meeting. She said that work on it actually started in the spring and the auditors were also on site recently. The district has to turn in their audit to the state in December.

Appointed Trustee Marshall Keller asked Benefiel about some expenditures, including some for Solution Tree. Benefiel and staff explained that the fees involved were for training for special education and professional development. The money to pay for these come from a state approved grant and that the hours were also approved.

The board of trustees voted and passed the approval to accept the financial report.