SCSD#1 Honors BHHS Debate Team, Approves Contract for New Superintendent

Al Sparkman and the BHHS Debate Team

The SCSD#1 School Board met on Tuesday, March 14, in Big Horn with a full agenda. One item was the approval of the superintendent contract for Jeff Jones, current principal of Tongue River Middle School.

Jones talked about how he plans to lead SCSD#1 in the coming years,

He added that

Jones has been principal at Tongue River Middle School for the past five years, and he will take over as superintendent on July 1 of this year, after Superintendent Pete Kilbride retires.

Al Sparkman, Big Horn High School Principal spoke about the Big Horn High winning debate team. Most of the team attended the school board meeting to be recognized for their win.

Sparkman also talked about one of the team members who fell ill at the championships, she couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, but she had advanced to semi-finals and continued to compete and perform. “You would never have known she was sick,” Sparkman said, adding that she couldn’t even go though the award ceremony.

Coach Dustin Olsen introduced the team members

He had this to say about the Big Horn High School debate team.

The school board members and visitors gave the team a standing ovation.

In other business, Brian Lawson talked about some of the work being done at the Bighorn Middle School this year.

Three visitors, Carol Garber, Meredith Groshart and Leigh McLaughlin, spoke about the positives of the Bighorn Schools.

Carol Garber spoke about Big Horn pride. She has two children in Big Horn School, and said her family has a long history with big horn school. She talked about how wonderful she felt that the schools at Big Horn are.

Colby Lynch, TRHS Principal, reported that he is working on academic letters, similar to sports letters, and they are now in. They can be attached to Letterman jackets, and they honor academic achievements for the students. Board Chairman Clint Krumm said he felt the patches were a great idea.

Tongue River Elementary Principal Ryan Fuhrman reported on a very important issue at TRE.

Kilbride added for board members to mark their calendars for the annual get-together with the Sheridan and Johnson County School Boards members. He added that this year the Sheridan College board members have been invited as well. The event will be held on June 15, at 6 p.m. It will be hosted by SCSD#3 and will be held in Ucross.

The next SCSD#1 School Board meeting will be on April 11, 2023 at the Central Office, Ranchester, Wyoming at 6:00 p.m.