Lambert appointed to State Board of Education

Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent 
 
In March of 2020, Weston County resident Bill Lambert was appointed as one of 14 members to the Wyoming State Board of Education by Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon for a six-year term. 
After serving on the Weston County School District No. 1 board of trustees for 16 years and as a county commissioner for four years, Lambert said he decided to continue his involvement with the education system on a higher level. With his position, he is representing District #6, which includes Weston, Crook and Niobrara counties. 
Because of his love and passion for education, he was already interested in joining the state board, Lambert said, when the governor called and asked him to serve, Lambert accepted. He is hoping “to bring focus on quality education,” he said.
Lambert said he appreciates that career and technical educations are being incorporated into academics because he believes society is in need of the moral and ethics instilled by career and technical education. 
“I am passionate about that — taking that knowledge and applying it,” Lambert said. 
According to Lambert, there is a lack of unity among the educational systems in the state, so in his six-year term, he would like to “get everybody working together.”
“If I could bring Wyoming education together …that’s what I would like to do,” Lambert said. 
One of the hardest things about working for the state board, Lambert said, is dealing with the legislature because they create statutes that have to be followed, making it difficult to work efficiently. 
However, the board is made up of “really good people” that are passionate for the right reasons, he said, and even when they don’t always agree, their focus is what they can do for kids. 
“There are some fantastic people involved,” Lambert said. 
He joined the local school board about 20 years ago because he wanted to be involved with his own children’s education. However, he soon became concerned not only with the education of his own kids but also with the lives of other students.
“You’re not only seeing your own kids succeed but others too,” Lambert said. “It makes you proud.”
Lambert said he’s had students come out to help with brandings on his ranch,
and through the years, he’s been able to watch many of them grow. 
Because of COVID-19, state testing was cancelled this year as well as the last few months of school for many seniors across the state as well as the nation.  Personally, Lambert said he believes the underclassmen won’t be affected very much by the shortened school year because by the time they graduate, no one will notice, but he sympathizes with the upper classmen since they “can’t get that time back.”
“We’ll support whatever we need to — to get through this,” Lambert said. 
Although he no longer serves on the local school board, Lambert said his wife Marcia is a member of the board, so he is still indirectly involved with education at the local level as he takes on his new position with the state. 
“It’s an honor to be able to help those (education) systems,” Lambert said.