GREEN RIVER — The Sweetwater School District (SCSD) No. 2 Board of Trustees approved a pair of authorizations for select students whose teachers were requesting funding to assist with the costs of summer training seminars.
Victoria Hemphill and Spring Jones representing Latina students wanting to attend the 2023 Latina Youth Conference this coming October in Laramie reported to the Board that each girl who attends is looking at around $150-$175 in expenses. The expenses include the $40-$50 registration fee, around $60 hotel fee for each girl (four girls per room), and meals that are not provided by the conference. Although fundraising is planned to help pay the costs, school board help was being requested.
“It’s a good program…and the girls leave like they do have a purpose,” Jones said.
Board chairman Steve Core asked Jones and Hemphill how many girls can be expected to attend and he was told that likely no more than 10 girls would be going to the Latina Youth Conference.
“So if we provide funding for 10 girls we should be good?” Core asked. The response was that funding for 10 girls should be sufficient.
In their written report to the Board, Hemphill and Jones said, “Last year we had only one young lady register for the conference. There were 12 high school students that wanted to attend. Those that were interested but did not register said the reason was the cost. It was too expensive for them to attend.”
The Board voted unanimously to provide funding for 10 girls to attend the Latina Youth Conference.
The Board also unanimously approved $700 to help fund four Green River High School (GRHS) students to attend the Student Council Summer Leadership Camp. The funding approvals came from district discretionary funds.
New GRHS Phone Restrictions
Board members approved new student and staff handbooks for the 2023-2024 school year. Among the changes that are forthcoming are restrictions on high school students’ use of cell phones during the school day. The new restrictions will be a continuation of the junior high phone restrictions.
District Superintendent Craig Barringer said that freshmen should not feel the phone restrictions are any different from what they are used to. “(But) good luck with the seniors,” Barringer said.
Core said that use of phones during class times has to be restricted because the average cell phone gets 10 “pings” an hour. Thus, in a class with 30 students in it, each of them with a cell phone handy, there would be around 300 pings during a one-hour class, representing a major distraction to teaching and learning.
Core added that he felt putting phone chargers in classrooms was an idea that should be taken seriously.
“The kids can have their phones charged up while they’re sitting in class, and that’ll keep their phones out of their hands while they’re in class,” Core said.
Other Business
Big Horn Roofing of Laramie won approval of their $105,445 bid for the GRHS Roof Replacement project.
Combustion Control Services of Salt Lake City gained approval of their $63,100 bid for the Aquatic Center Boiler Replacement project.
District Enrollment figures were down significantly during the 2020-2021 school year due to COVID, registering a drop of 185 students from 2,544 students in 2019-2020 to 2,359 in the COVID school year.
There was a slight increase of six students district-wide in 2021-2022, and rising by 41 students to 2,406 district-wide during 2022-2023.
Trustees were invited to a Ribbon Cutting for the Dog Park. The Ribbon Cutting will be at 9 a.m. on June 17, with the park opening to the public at 9 a.m. on June 19.
