School board passes Common District Calendar

Parents voice opposition, say it’s not ‘one fits all’

The Carbon County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees unanimously passed the Common District Calendar Option 5B at the Feb. 18 meeting.

Board chairwoman Diana Berger gave the audience several opportunities to speak before the vote took place. After some encouragement from Berger, several parents spoke up about their views of the Common District Calendar.

Jack Berger and John Konecny talked of the favoritism towards a four-day calendar. Berger, who stated he opposed the four-day week in 2008, said he has seen the benefits for his son, who is now in high school. Konecny said he chose Saratoga because of their four-day week.

Dana Bromley asked that the school board respect what works for each community. Janice Peterson, a former school board member, pointed out that the loss of any instructional time for students has a huge impact over time. Peterson said this is a time “We should be adding more for our kids … the minimum is not good enough.”

Joe Elder asked how the calendar change would affect the Friday activities.

Heather Schultz and Carla Fiedor voiced the concerns about children with special needs not getting the extra time a student may need to grasp a subject they find difficult.

Karen Condict said she thought the Common District Calendar was a good idea. She said she did not realize howmuch sharing of teachers there was at the CCSD#2 schools.

In a prepared statement that Jim Copeland shared with the audience, the superintendent recommended his support of the 5B calendar and requested approval from the board.

“Here is my vision for this District,” Copeland said.

“I’m totally convinced that every one of our communities

have the same goal when it comes to educating our

students: to provide the best possible education for our

students. We need to be able to come together to share

the best practices between our campuses which are

sprawled across our large District.”

Copeland talked of the importance of sharing good

ideas in the schools. “Their education is too important

to hoard good ideas in one school or the other just because

of lines we have drawn in our minds.” Copeland said his vision is

to learn from the past, and not be controlled or boxed in

by it. He wants CCSD#2 to look to the future. “We have

great potential in CCSD#2 if we truly come together and

work together.”

In other business, the CCSD#2 Board of Trustees accepted the resignation of Dale Kari, long time principal of Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow Middle High School. Kari has been

the principal for more than 20 years.

The board approved hiring a teacher for the visually

impaired in anticipation of a student who requires those services. The board also voted to adopt Policy ACE, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Americans with Disabilities Act.

After executive session, the board members approved

to offer contracts to Larry Uhling, Saratoga Middle

High School principal; Dave Rangitsch, Saratoga

Elementary School Principal; Mike Erickson, Encampment K-12 principal; Mark Shipp, Hanna Elementary, Medicine Bow Elementary and Elk Mountain Elementary School Principal; Sally Wells, Business Manager and Andi Ward, Network Manager.

The next meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m., March 16 at

the Central Office in Saratoga.

 

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