ROCK SPRINGS — Sweetwater County School District No. 1 is pushing back against claims made in media reports that it’s “embattled” and facing allegations of misconduct.
“Our community deserves a clear explanation so attention can remain where it belongs – on students and learning,” a press release from the district reads.
The district claims several separate issues are being condensed into a single narrative and actually involve different facts and legal standards. The district also alleges “a small group of individuals” submitted repetitive public records requests and “demanded exhaustive responses” to questions. The district says the requested responses go beyond what the law requires of the district.
“The district and board have spent hundreds of hours responding to these demands — time that would otherwise be focused directly on students, classrooms, and school operations. While transparency and accountability remains important, the district and board also have a responsibility to steward public resources wisely,” the release states.
According to the district, it has responded to two state-level special education complaints in the past year. The district says complaints related to special education services are increasingly common and the Wyoming Department of Education has investigated more than 30 special education complaints involving 14 of Wyoming’s 48 school districts in the past year. The district says the WDE also did not find widespread failures to provide required educational services to students.
“Where WDE identified opportunities for improvement, the district committed to addressing them in support of student success,” the release states. “One determination is currently under formal reconsideration and is not final.”
The district said separate complaints related to former school board member Cole Seppie were investigated while he was on the board. The district says the issue was independently investigated and the board acted on “substantiated findings and in accordance with the investigators’ recommendations.” The district said Seppie chose not to participate in the investigation and within 72 hours of that investigation’s resolution, Seppie filed his own complaint, which led to the second investigation.
“He then abruptly resigned from the board,” the press release states.
The district said it was required to review the investigation about Seppie’s conduct, which included his actions related to confidential student matters.
“Claims that the board violated confidentiality by investigating misconduct mischaracterize both the purpose and scope of the review. The investigation was conducted to assess compliance with governance and ethical standards, not to evaluate student services or disclose protected information,” the district’s release states.
The district says those findings are separate from special education service reviews and “conflating them is inaccurate.”
According to the district, the board directed staff to respond fully to all legally required requests and track the time used in addressing them. The district says the public has a right to understand the allegations raised and the cost of that engagement.
“Finally, claims that the district is facing ‘stacks of complaints’ or extraordinary scrutiny are not supported by publicly available information or by any information available to district staff. The board has directed staff to seek clarification regarding the source of these claims so the community can be provided with accurate information,” the district release states.
