ROCK SPRINGS — Residents speaking during the public comment portion of Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees meetings will have a new set of guidelines to follow.

Chairman Cole Wright introduced the guidelines as information only during Monday’s meeting, saying they would be enforced starting with the September meeting. He said the rights and obligations of public comments were addressed through Wyoming case law involving another school district, which led to SCSD No. 1 adopting new guidelines. He said the case stressed the importance of protecting individual privacy, as well as preserving the intended purpose of board meetings.

“The public comment period is intended to provide community input on matters of board business,” Wright said. “Typically, items on the agenda or other timely and relevant issues, such as district operations, policy or programing.”

Wright said the board welcomes “thoughtful feedback” on those topics as the comments can help guide the board’s work. Wright said the board is reviewing updates to its policies related to public comment.

Wright said the board has seen increases in comments related to personal grievances, as well as concerns about specific employees and students and while the district supports the right to free speech, the board also has legal obligations to limit what’s discussed publicly. 

“Comments regarding the employment or performance of individual staff members cannot be addressed publicly by the board due to privacy protections under the Wyoming Public Records Act and due process rights under the Wyoming Teacher Employment law,” he said.

He said the district has processes to allow people to have their concerns heard and addressed.

Spirit Buses

Sweetwater County School District No. 1 will have four buses showcasing school spirit in the upcoming school year. 

According to SCSD No. 1 Transportation Director Beau Businelle, four buses will have the Rock Springs Tiger colors with the words “Rock Springs Tigers” on the buses.

Superintendent Joseph Libby said he received an email from Rock Springs High School student Arya Jackson inquiring why the district didn’t have school spirit displayed on buses like other school districts.

“She said, ‘Hey, every time we go somewhere we see every other bus in the area that has school pride across the top of their buses,’” he said.

Libby said it was a great question and decided to investigate the issue further. He said Businelle reached out and made a few connections that led to funding for the initiative. Libby said the buses turned out “super cool,” saying the reason he wanted to talk about the buses is because it illustrates how the district listened to a suggestion made by a student.

“Without students coming forward to say ‘why not, why can’t we do this,’ this conversation would have never occurred,” he said.