GOSHEN COUNTY – The Goshen County School Board met in session Tuesday night promptly at 7 p.m. at the Central Administration Building in Torrington to discuss old and new topics related to the Goshen School District.

Present at the meeting was Goshen School District Superintendent Ryan Kramer, along with Business Manager Marcy Cates.

In addition, all board members were in attendance, except for Trustee Lena Moeller who attended via video.

The meeting commenced with the annual reorganization of the School Board, with each Board Member accepting current and new committee assignments.

Michael Sussex was renominated and accepted his position as board chairman, with Trustee Sarah Chaires re-accepting her position as vice chairman as well.

Furthermore, board member Chris Alexander re-accepted his position as clerk, while board member Carlos Saucedo was newly appointed as treasurer.

The meeting continued with the public acknowledgement of Lingle-Fort Laramie High School Student Representative, Jordan Napier.

While wrapping up her first term as an appointed representative of her peers, Napier was given a chance to reflect and describe her feelings on fulfilling her responsibilities to her classmates over the last several months.

According to Napier, the experience has created a positive 180 as far as public speaking, communication and listening to the needs of her classmates.

“I met with Kramer on Zoom today, and our topic was just to talk about how our year has been being a Student Board Representative,” Napier began. “Throughout this year I have learned a lot by being here. If you would’ve talked to me a year ago, I never would’ve even wanted to come to a Board meeting. I never thought it related to me, and I only wanted to do volleyball stuff. I never felt I had anything I wanted to bring up, although I am on student council and we have presented at board meetings before.”

While giving a sincere reflection on the required responsibilities, Napier noted a strong feeling of nervousness and uncertainty when first applying for the position.

“When the position opened word got to us very late in Lingle, two days before we had to submit,” Napier continued. “I had to type a resume which I’ve never done before, but with the help a cool teacher I was taught how to do it. I went to the interview, and I was terrified. I couldn’t sit still, and I was playing with my hands. The interview went by, and the waiting was the scariest part. It took a week to get the results back.”

Napier noted before the board and all in attendance that despite overcoming nerves through an intense interview process, the comradery built between her fellow student representatives from Southeast and Torrington High Schools has been highly productive and beneficial.

“We had three kids interview. Then I got the call while I was at a friend’s house, and I hung up thinking it was a spam call,” Napier laughed. “It wasn’t the right choice, but I rushed home and told my mom about it. When I came to the interview, I saw Mason and Sidney as the only other reps. We have done a lot together at all of our Zoom meetings. We made a presentation of how the music program needs more funding. When I first experienced the public forums, it was also something very new to me. Some interesting things came up, and I thought this was so cool.”

Napier further mentioned the immense knowledge gained from watching the board meetings, notably the proper procedures which are often misinterpreted by one that may not be familiar with how a board meeting operates.

Napier also noted solid mentorship provided by Superintendent Kramer throughout the whole experience.

“It always confused me that you guys didn’t ask questions,” Napier said. “But as Mr. Kramer explained it, I now know that’s not what it’s for. I have a heart and mind that loves to speak the opinion of others as well as my own. I wanted to end this with a huge thanks to the Board, but also thank you to Kramer for always guiding us in the right direction and saying what we need to present on. I just want to say thank you, and for the next student reps I wish you the best and that they have as much fun as I did in this position. The best experience is everything in general. I never saw myself in a position where I’d be sitting at a table like this. It really is just the experience that is the best part about it, and how a board meeting is supposed to run. I think my favorite experience was just always being able to be a voice for people that think they are not heard. I have opinions that don’t always correlate with my classmates, so it was fun hearing every side of it.”

Napier lastly noted the enduring effects of attending meetings consistently over the last several months, stating the example of rules and decorum can be used just the same with significant student council meetings.

The LFL representative with a bit of humor, also reminisced lessons learned from her very first board meeting that required her attendance.

“My worst experience was the first board meeting during the public forums,” Napier said reluctantly. “I didn’t realize that this camera was pointed right at me. I had my hand over my mouth while I was smiling, and the next day in school a teacher said, ‘Jordan you looked so unprofessional.’ From then on, I’ve kept my hands on or under the table. I didn’t want it to look like that, but it did. I’ve learned how everything is run, and to kind of take back how a Board meeting is run to our Student Council. This was also very helpful, and it does peak my interest. None of this was a bad experience at all. I know I have people who will listen to me now.”

Superintendent Kramer duly noted, “All three of you have added to this role on the board so thank you very much.” 

The meeting continued with the discussion of contracting with Linewize for the Monitor module, School Manager module and Classwize module. The sole purpose of the discussion was for support of district internet content filtering, classroom management and software for student safety.

According to Kramer, the discussion was essential in ensuring content safety as well as the prevention of cyber-bullying among Goshen students.

“This is a very powerful tool to help keep students safe as much as possible, and one I feel has made a big impact as far as having conversations with our kids,” Kramer stated. “Bullying prevention has different classification, and also is a content filter. If they are on inappropriate sites it will tell us. A lot of this turns not only to a mental health standpoint, but also the concerning dangers that are out there that could cause problems for them in the future.”

The board concluded the meeting at 8:13 p.m. The next regular board meeting will be Tuesday, January 9, 2024, at 7 p.m.

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