ROCK SPRINGS — The Sweetwater County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees voted to approve yearly contracts for Central Administration Building administrators despite an outspoken group of parents urging them against renewing all of the contracts. One board member said the emotion shown by the group and others doesn’t reflect the positive growth and data trends being seen within the district.

Amongst the contracts up for approval Monday night was one for Assistant Superintendent Nicole Bolton, who had drawn the ire of a couple of parents who spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting. Cherell O’Driscoll briefly spoke about the administrative contracts and asked the board to vote on the item through a roll call vote. She said Bolton’s contract shouldn’t be renewed before Chairman Cole Wright stopped her as comments made to the board cannot focus on individual employees. 

Cole Seppie, a former board member who resigned his position and was censured by the board for actions he made while serving with the group, also spoke about his concerns regarding the administrator contracts. He shared his disappointment in Superintendent Joseph Libby recommending the list. He said the district lost 79 certified employees due to resignation or nonrenewal since Libby was hired, saying they were people who were driven away.

“Are the decisions based on merit and student outcomes, or favoritism and blind loyalty to the CAB (Central Administration Building,)” Seppie asked. The district has continued to lose quality educators and administrators, not because of the lack of Target stores to shop at, or rather a lack of professional culture.”

Seppie said he had accepted Libby’s recommendations while serving on the board, but said he quickly realized he made a mistake. He asked the board to ask hard questions, demand accountability and put the district and its students first. 

Kari Cochran, also a former board member who had resigned from her position, brought alleged discrepancies between when Tiffany Gunter, the district’s human resources manager, said she reached out to other districts to learn how they report vacancies and when she allegedly had actually done it. She also questioned if the board and the district’s residents are being given accurate information about the district. She also questioned Bolton’s handling of public records requests, alleging she violated district policy.

However, their attempts to sway the board did not succeed.

“The data doesn’t support the emotion in my mind.”

SCSD No. 1 Trustee Matthew Gardner

The board voted unanimously to approve the contracts with board members voicing support for the administrators. Wright said he based his vote on Libby’s recommendations and board discussions. 

Trustee Matthew Gardner said one of the most striking parts for him as the board reviewed the information they received was how positive the data is.

“It’s hard to argue with the positive trajectory we’re seeing in every single metric,” he said. “There is no area that has not improved in the last two years.”

Gardner said he could see an argument that positive gains could be done faster and entertains constructive ideas to push the district in that direction. He said regardless of how the board votes, people will be upset with the result, saying the board has to act on facts and data regardless of the emotions tied to the decision.

“The data doesn’t support the emotion in my mind,” he said.

Trustee Josh Sorensen recognized the positive and negative comments the board received as they reviewed the administrative contracts, saying he worries about the district and community because of how divided he believes they have become. He believes it’s the board’s duty to work towards unity. He proposed more open dialog to help 

“We have a massive divide going on here and I think us, as a board, that’s our job is to work through that,” he said.

He said his vote isn’t against the people not happy with the district’s administration, saying there are processes in place to review employees.