GOSHEN COUNTY – The Goshen County School District Board held a special meeting on Wednesday, June 30, at 6 p.m. to approve the amended budget, final bills and purchases and offering employment contracts.

The district will have two new 78-passenger activity busses. The purchase from Elder Equipment Leasing was approved in the amount of $301,000.

Business Manager Marcy Cates and Transportation Supervisor Donna Bath informed the board about the purchase. Bath said 25% of the purchase is taken care of by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which provides funding from the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act (DERA).

The other 75% comes through the state reimbursement process, which the district will receive over five years, according to Cates.

Cates said typically the district would not purchase busses at this time of year, but bus prices are expected to go up. Approving the purchase now, locks them into 2021 prices rather than 2022 prices.

Cates thanked Donna for working so hard on getting DERA funds.

The board approved offering Jeffry Fuller a 2021-2022 school year contract for District Curriculum Director.

Superintendent Ryan Kramer said, “we feel he’s going to be a great match for Goshen County, fit right in and hit the ground running and help us with our implementation of many of our programs we want to see. He has some unique ideas and we’re really excited for the relationships he’s going to develop across the district.”

The board also approved offering 2021-2022 school year teaching contracts to Tessa Walker to teach English at Torrington Middle School (TMS), Amber Imel as a district virtual education elementary teacher, Olivia Neal to teach at Lincoln Elementary and Leigh Grotts to teach art at Lincoln and Trail Elementary Schools.

Kramer said, unfortunately the district still has a number of positions to fill. He said there have been a number of quality applicants and the principals have been doing well with the interviewing process.

The board considered a request from Torrington High School Teacher Lindy Ellis to rescind her resignation. The board approved this request, along with offering her a teaching contract as a science teacher at Lingle-Fort Laramie Middle and High School for the 2021-2022 school year.

“We greatly appreciate her help with a difficult position to fill,” Kramer said.

Trustee Katherine Patrick said, “I’m really appreciative of her willingness to delay her retirement as well. She was looking forward to it but I understand she’s also looking forward to doing this now too.”

Cates presented four amendments to the Fiscal Year 2020-21 District Budget.

Cates thanked the board for attending the meeting. She requested an increase of the general fund by $750,000 for the additional bussing previously mentioned and increased revenue from special education reimbursements.

“These items are going to leave our carryover at 13%,” she said.

Special revenue also increased by $1.4 million. Cates said this is largely due to unexpected Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act dollars.

Food service saw an increase of $375,000 and the Recreation Board saw an increase of $100,000 from the district’s cash reserve.

The amended budget was approved unanimously.

“We had a very clean year end,” Cates said. She also thanked the board for approving year-end bonuses. Board Chairman Mark Jespersen said the bonuses not only helped the district stay below 15% carry over, but they were well earned in a tough year.

Some final bills, which the board reviewed prior to the meeting, were also approved.

The board approved a special education contract with the Northeast Wyoming Board of Cooperative Educational Services (NEWBOCES) for psychological services, for a student. The amount is not to exceed a total of $1,750 from June 10, 2021, to June 30, 2021.

A license renewal with Lexia Learning Systems was approved for the 2021-2022 school year. The renewal of Lexia Core5 Reading Unlimited was for Lincoln Elementary in the total amount of $9,900, funded through Title I-A.

The board considered renewing the annual maintenance support agreement with Long Mechanical Solutions for district building automation and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems controls. The agreement was approved for the 2021-2022 school year, for $25,925.

Also approved, were student handbooks for Lincoln Elementary, Trail Elementary, Southeast Schools, LaGrange Elementary and Lingle-Fort Laramie Schools. Handbooks had been emailed to board members earlier in June for review.

Before adjourning the meeting, Jespersen voiced condolences for the family of Larry Wostenberg, saying, “our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”

The next GCSD board meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 13.