SCSD#1 School Board delays budget reduction plan
Facing a $1.15 million budget deficit for 2021-2022 school year
by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online!
January 29, 2021
The Sublette County School District #1 School Board held a Special Meeting on Thursday, January 28th to discuss several important topics. The meeting was held in the Sheppard Auditorium in Pinedale in order to accommodate the expected large public turn-out. The meeting lasted 2-1/2 hours, quite a bit of which was taken up by public comments at the beginning of the meeting.
The topic generating the most public comment related to the proposed $1.15 million budget reduction plan for 2021-2022 that included eliminating six employee positions, changes to employee benefits, and reductions in the Activities budget that would eliminate alpine and Nordic skiing, swimming, soccer, and indoor track sports.
Over 30 people stepped up to the microphones to give public comment, including parents, teachers, students, and community members. Everyone acknowledged the reality of the budget reduction, and many offered suggestions for ways to modify how things might be done so that even if the budget went away, the sporting activities could still exist. A coach pointed out that soccer has 250 kids that participate in the sport. Suggestions included "pay to play," drumming up scholarships from community members and local businesses, student athletes doing sports fundraisers, and charging spectators an admission fee. One teacher commented that the school was "spending tons of money to save students in the classroom, but letting them down in athletics." The overall plea was for the district to delay the decision to make the cuts and spend a little more time brainstorming to try to find ways to reduce the funding without eliminating the sports.
Ultimately the Board agreed with the sentiment in the room and voted to table the vote and give themselves more time to talk with community members and interested parties to look for more creative solutions to try and keep the sports programs going.
Another topic of discussion involved how to go about beginning the search for a new Superintendent. Jay Harnack submitted his resignation at a Special Meeting on January 21st, effective June 30th. Harnack has been Superintendent since June, 2010. The board originally planned to put out a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for an Executive Search Firm that would handle placing the job announcements, screening the applicants, doing background checks, and coming up with a short list of qualified applicants for the board to interview. With time being of the essence hoping to have someone selected in the next couple of months, the Board decided to skip the RFQ process and directly contact firms they are already acquainted with and ask them for bids to handle the Superintendent search.
The Board also discussed revisions to the School Reopening Plans. They passed a motion to pursue seeking a variance with the local health office to amend and allow more spectators at local athletic events.
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