BHCSD#4: School board gets update on football/track field

Big Horn County School District #4 held their monthly meeting last Tuesday, July 14. The meeting focused on approving new hires and policy amendments.

Business manager Trevor Whitaker gave the board an update regarding the football and track project.  “The concession stand out on the football field is complete minus, we’re waiting for stalls to go in there, and then it will be completed. They look pretty nice, I think. Crow’s nest has been completed. We’re working on getting electronics in it and working on air conditioning with us not having night games, it’s about 125 degrees in that box. It’ll be ready for football season.”

With it being summer, there were no principal reports presented to the board. 

Heath Hopkin gave the board a brief update about the Basin Recreation Board, “Swimming pool is going pretty good. I heard a couple of kids broke into it the other night.” Superintendent Keith Campbell responded, “I don’t think they were our kids. They were out of towners.”

BUDGET

The 2025/2026 budget amendment raised spending limits due to paying off bus leases and transferring money out of the general fund for future purposes. 

The 2026/2027 budget will have 9.5 million in revenue due to one-time reimbursements for out-of-district placements, retirement, and bus leases. Total expenses included for the year are 8.4 million.  With the largest portion being paid for salaries, 21% of the total expense will be off-model reimbursements for the 2026/20267 year. 

NEW HIRES

Anthony Montenez was hired as the assistant high school football coach. Several other positions were approved including Taylor Osmond and Ryan Casad as special education paraprofessionals, Nikki Hopkin as the head high school volleyball coach, and Alexis Duncan as the head middle school volleyball coach.

“So very lucky to have the quality of candidates that we have, and fortunate. I think our kids are going to benefit from that.” said Campbell. 

The district signed a contract with a company called Solution Tree to hire an instructional coach to work with the district, “Primarily with the middle school and high school next year on implementing part of our strategic plan that is targeting student-centered learning,” said Campbell. 

A professional day on August 12 during the first week of staff professional development will be set aside to talk about student engagement and what student-centered learning looks like. “And then throughout the year, that same facilitator will come back four times and work specifically with our middle school, high school staff, and actually be a coach for them in the classroom, modeling, talking to them about implementation of some of those strategies. So, pretty excited about that,” he added. 

No one was hired for the open athletic director position. The board discussed the criteria for the position and decided to reopen the athletic director/coordinator position, expand the interview committee, and bring back another recommendation.

OTHER NEWS

• The board approved the resignation of custodian Don Lanning.

• Non-resident student applications were approved for returning students.

• The board also briefly discussed changing the allocation of BOCES funds to community education instead of sending funding to the Big Horn Basin Children’s Center/Northwest BOCES school in Thermopolis.

•The meeting was wrapped up with a handful of updates to board policies. Changes can be viewed on the district’s website: www.bgh4.org

Policy 5.27 Professional Staff Time Schedule was updated to reflect the difference in the four-day week schedule for staff. Policy 5.27 Staff Conduct was updated to reflect recommendations made from the Wyoming School Boards Association establishing expectations for professional staff.

“Policies 5.41 and 6.18 are really the same new policy heard on their first reading and both are identical. One just deals with certified staff (teachers) and the other with classified staff (non-teaching staff). They both deal with Staff Responsibilities (confidentiality, promptness, safety, etc.). It will have to be heard again at the August meeting before it becomes official,” said Campbell. 

Policy 7.02 was re-titled to include all extra-curricular activities and not just interscholastic activities and one portion of this policy was changed by current legislation stating that schools must allow home-schooled students to participate in activities (with some defined criteria).

Policy 8.65 was another policy revised by the board due to a recent legislative mandate. Students are not allowed to sign Name, Image, Likeness agreements in Wyoming and keep their amateur status. 

All changes being made will be summarized and communicated to staff through building principals Matt Jensen, RMHS, and Katie Seeley, LIE.