SCSD#1 Board Work Session Discusses Possible Girls Softball Team

Starting a girls’ softball team, the Ecsell Sports Coaches Survey, and the 2023-24 calendar were topics of discussion at the Wednesday December 7 SCSD#1 Board of Trustees’ Work session.

The Ecsell Sports program provides on-line student-athlete surveys that highlight coaches opportunities for growth.

Pete Kilbride talked about the program

Brian Lawson, Big Horn Middle School principal, Al Sparkman, Big Horn High School Principal, and Jacob Zarpentine activities director at Tongue River High School, attended the work session to share their views. Jeff Jones, principal and activities director at Tongue River Middle School added his comments via email.

Lawson said that the players are taking it seriously. He said that the coaches have gone a long time without this feedback, and he felt it was a positive experience.

Sparkman added that the model at heart is a growth tool. The coaches get feedback on particular instances and that becomes their base line. Coaches can look at the feedback and improve if they use the data. He felt it could be a valuable tool.

Starting a girls softball team was also discussed by the board, and it is an on-going discussion. Kilbride felt that the board should establish a timeline for a decision, and that if they decided to enact it, it would be next year, not this spring. That gives them time to order equipment and work with the WHSAA to establish a schedule for games. Thirteen other schools in Wyoming have a girls’ softball team.

Zarpentine said that several girls showed interest, but he wasn’t sure there were enough to field a team. He also felt that the softball team might pull athletes from the track and field team, and that

Sparkman said in Big Horn there were several kids said they were interested in forming a team, and he added,

He also mentioned that baseball and fast pitch are highly skilled sports, and one does not start as a ninth grader and learn to be proficient a couple of seasons later. He also felt the idea merited more discussion.

Other concerns were a field for games, and Big Horn School has the facility for softball. The board will have future discussions on the proposed softball team, and will make a decision in April.

Lee Zimmer, curriculum director, presented the board with three calendar options for 2023-24, which would set the start and end date of the school year, Christmas vacation, and personal development days for the staff.

Zimmer mentioned that since many activities happen on Friday and many of the staff are involved with the activities, one suggestion she made was to have personal development days on the Mondays of three day weekends when the students had days off. The board will discuss the calendar at future meetings.

They also commented on how much work Zimmer had done putting together the calendar.

Next regular board meeting will be December 13, at 6 p.m., at the Central Office in Ranchester.