Giving golf a go

Trustees explore possible probationary period for high school golf

After tossing the idea around for a couple of meetings, the Weston County School District No. 1 trustees showed initial support for adding golf as a high school sport at their meeting on March 27 when the board unanimously approved a first reading of the proposal to add the sport for the 2024-25 school year.

The proposal needs to successfully pass on three readings to receive approval, but Superintendent Brad LaCroix said at the meeting that, in the context of district finances, he’s worried about adding another activity.

“We are in different times budget wise. We are in different times employment wise. I don’t see us, as a district, growing in numbers,” he said. “And I think what we offer is all good for kids. I’m not asking to cut one to add another, but knowing that we are looking at the possibility of a kindergarten class in the 30s, hopefully low 40s — the indicators moving forward (are) we’re not having 100 students in a class, or even 70s. And so when we add (a program), it does make that complex.”

LaCroix asked the board to consider adding golf as a pilot program, as soccer was more than a decade ago. Following that model, coaching responsibilities would fall to the golf club, and parents of participating students would pay for food and any necessary lodging.

Newcastle summer recreation golf program facilitator Brad Troftgruben, who launched the request for the golf program on Feb. 28, said at the March 27 meeting that the group would want to know whether the board would require it to provide the coach a specific rate of pay.

LaCroix said he believes that the district’s only requirement regarding the coach is that the person is certified under the Wyoming High School Activities/Professional Teaching Standards Board and that the club could make its own arrangements for how to compensate the coach, whether that is with money or club benefits.

Board Chair Dana Mann-Tavegia said at the meeting that under the pilot program, following the precedent of soccer, the club would have a certified coach and the club would decide what compensation to provide that person.

Troftgruben asked whether the district would find it acceptable for a club member to get certified and decide to volunteer for five years for free. Mann-Tavegia and LaCroix said that was their understanding.

Volunteers would need to complete a form and undergo a background check, paid for by the volunteer, said Carrie Manders, the middle school activities director, at the meeting. The background check includes fingerprinting, she said.

Alysha Engle, the high school activities director, said that catastrophic insurance is $7 per player.

Trustee John Riesland said he’s not sure whether the school district had a written contract with the girls’ soccer program organizers, as it may have simply been a verbal contract. Riesland said that the program’s organizers spelled out how many players would form a team, who would be the coaches for both the girls and the boys, and how the costs would be shared. It’s not the number of years that would make up the probationary period for the golf team that matters, he said, but that the program has such a period.

“I think we need a probationary period to make sure this thing is going to fly, going to work, and, before the school district really takes it on,” Riesland said.

Riesland said he wants those proposing the golf program to specify what number of players the team needs for the program to work. He warned that even if the program succeeds in the probationary period, the school district may still not approve it after that period.

“If we do a three-year probationary period, that fourth year, when that comes through, if our budgets stay the way they are and the way the state is funding us, it may be very difficult for that board or this board to approve it at that point in time,” he said. “I just want to throw that out there. I think that’s very important to know and (am) being up front and honest with you.”

The board’s next meetings are on April 10 and April 24.

School Happenings

Notes from the March 27, 2024, meeting of the Weston County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees

• Shannon Huber, Newcastle Elementary science teacher, is among the 2024 Wyoming state finalists for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, Superintendent Brad LaCroix announced. The Wyoming Department of Education’s website shows there are two other science teachers who are finalists for the statewide recognition: Pinedale Elementary teacher Elizabeth David and Woodland Park Elementary teacher Emily Emond.

• LaCroix said that the district’s high school and middle school science teachers have signed onto Gov. Mark Gordon’s RIDE initiative.

• Curriculum Director Sonya Tysdal said that the district’s kindergarten through third grade literacy professional development plan has been approved. The district doesn’t need to make any corrections or modifications on it.

• Tysdal said the contract is expiring for the current provider of the Wyoming Test of Proficiency and Progress, and a request for proposals will be sent out.

• The Northeast Board of Cooperative Educational Services is presenting at the annual Wyoming Association of Special Education Administrators Conference on April 8-10, said Jason Jenkins, vice chair of the school board. Topics will include the current funding mechanisms for the Department of Family Services and court-ordered placements.