GOSHEN COUNTY – The Goshen County School Board  met Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at the Central Administration Building to discuss recent events concerning the school district, as well as routine budgeting matters moving forward.

School District Superintendent, Ryan Kramer, was in attendance along with Business Manager, Marcy Cates.

All school board members were in attendance at the meeting with the exception of Carlos Saucedo, who was unable to attend.

Perhaps the most notable matter discussed before the board was a presentation of the strong and continually growing Future Farmers of America (FFA) participation numbers. The presentation was given by chapter leader and Torrington High School (THS) Agriculture Instructor, Jason Groene, who was also assisted by fellow Ag teacher, Sabrina Juma.

After having recently returning from the National Convention in Indianapolis with a fourth place national finalist team, Groene advocated to the board that with nonstop growing numbers, the local FFA chapter is going to be in need of more staff assistance moving forward.

Groene spoke in very high regard of his small, but very powerful FFA Chapter over the last several years.

“I’ve been there for 18 years, and have been here long enough to where I have not only had the opportunity to teach with colleagues, but I also taught Ms. Juma who is with us now as well,” Groene said. “Tonight is a walk down history with who we are and what we offer. We have had one of the most continuous Ag programs in the state since 1917. 

“We have a very large group of kids,” Groene continued. “We have two sections of multiple classes. My philosophy is send me the kids, and we will teach them. We will get them taught somehow someway. When I started, I was told during my interview that this was the worst program in the entire state. I took that as a personal challenge. In 2018 I had 162 students by myself, and that was a handful. Now Ms. Juma helps with a lot those things. She has dived right in and the kids love her. She has all the things to be an amazing Ag teacher one day, which really she already is. At National FFA we were there to highlight how far our Ag program can go. We were in from the very beginning, and we are one of the original FFA charters in Wyoming. We are a co-curricular, or what I call an “intra-curricular” organization. We have one of the smallest FFA memberships in the Nation, but it is also one of the mightiest. Our program is something we are very proud of. We went out to nationals ten days ago, and came back with finalists. Our girls were fourth in the Nation. We have to make all this work and try to balance it. This is not always an easy task. I’ve been doing this for 21 years now, and we have to find time to do lesson plans, teach and be parents.  Where do we go from here? We will keep hammering on things and will keep doing the things that we know how to do, but more help would be nice. Sure we would like to have 300 kids, but we can only squeeze so much blood out of the turn. We don’t have enough of us to go around at this point in time. We’ve kind of made it work with rotating teachers and the balance of things. Those kids understand what our expectations are. More room is always welcome. We have the space, we just have to have the build.”

The meeting continued with the welcoming of public comment, in which attending community members had five minutes to speak before the GCSB on certain thoughts they feel mighty be beneficial within the school district.

Torrington resident and retired Marine Corps Veteran, Frank Ahearn, spoke before the GCSB in regard to the sentimental Veteran’s assembly held by THS last week.

Additionally Ahearn expressed sincere gratitude for THS Principal, Dr. Cynthia Porter, for making the assembly a top priority in honor of Veteran’s Day.

“I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to Dr. Cynthia Porter for the heartwarming program that she and her staff presented to us in honor of Veterans Day at THS last Thursday,” Ahearn said. “We arrived and were immediately greeted in the commons area where there was not a speck of dust anywhere. She was very busy getting things ready, but paused and introduced herself to me as the THS Principal, and an Air Force Veteran. Dr. Porter welcomed all of us, and read the history of Veterans Day. She encouraged all of us to stand and be recognized by the conflict we were involved in, while several student body and staff came up and thanked us individually for our service. Police Chief Matt Johnson and several other police officers thanked us as well. Once again, my thanks to Dr. Cynthia Porter and her staff for providing that educational opportunity for our kids and community.”

A final yet unusual item on the agenda for the evening, consisted of the proposed revision to District Policy 5150.7 (trampolines) as presented on first reading.

Board member, Justin Hurley, asked about the issue with a bit of humor in the direction of Superintendent Kramer. 

“How’s our liability?”

As quiet giggling could be heard from around the room, Kramer responded, “We wanted to clarify, because the use of the small jogger-types are relative for physical therapists coming in and utilizing them, and would be utilizing them for their appropriate therapy. 

“But it is unique to have a trampoline policy,” Kramer laughed. “This change allows us to maintain those. When we talked to insurance adjusters, they had never contemplated the small ones. The interpretation was always the large ones.”

The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.

The next school board meeting will be held on December 12 at the Central Administration building at 7 p.m.

If you have any questions, or would like further information on the school board feel free to call 307-532-2171 or visit www.goshen1.org.