Resignations accepted, contracts renewed

The February 19 meeting of the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees saw a number of end-of-year resignations approved with a few of them being first year staff members. Additionally, the Board of Trustees also approved a handful of hirings and renewed administrator contracts with few changes.

Resignations

First year staff members who submitted their resignation to the board included Jason Greenway, who has served as principal for the Hanna Elementary School, Medicine Bow Elementary School and Elk Mountain Elementary School for the 2019/2020 school year. Greenway had been offered a contract at the June 17, 2019 meeting and was hired to replace outgoing principal Tracie Schneider, who also had only served one year.

Joshua Langford, who was hired as the 5th grade teacher for Saratoga Elementary School (SES) for the 2019/2020 school year also submitted his resignation. 

Nicholas Spackman, the Encampment K-12 science teacher hired for the 2019/2020 school year, submitted his resignation as well.

Along with the first year staff resignations, other resignations included that of Danielle Miller, who currently teaches 4th grade at SES. According to CCSD2 Superintendent Jim Copeland, Miller was taking a year off for family business. 

Joe Johnston, who teaches 6th grade at SES, submitted his resignation effective at the end of the year as well. All the resignations were approved unanimously, though Johnston’s had one “dissenting” vote as Treasurer Joe Gaspari jokingly said “Nay.” Chairman James Sewell stated that Johnston’s resignation was a hard one to accept due to his influence in the school.

Hirings

With the resignation of three upper class teachers at SES, only two are currently vacant positions; that of the 5th and 6th grade classes. Following the resignation of Miller, the Board of Trustees approved the hiring of Ellie Skalberg as the 4th grade teacher at SES for the 2020/2021 school year.

Also hired during the February 18 meeting was Nikki Thorn. Thorn will spend the remainder of the 2019/2020 school year shadowing District Nurse Karen Patton, who will be retiring at the end of the year. Along with being hired to shadow Patton, Thorn was also offered a contract for the 2020/2021 school year as District Nurse.

Contract Renewals

Contracts for administrative staff both at the Central Office and the rest of the district are typically discussed at the February meeting. There were very little changes to the administrative contracts for the 2020/2021 school year as contracts for Business Manager Sally Wells, Network Manager Andi Ward, Director of Curriculum Noel Manning, and Special Education Director Robin Brown were all approved unanimously.

A contract for Drew Leach as school psychologist was approved unanimously as were contracts for Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow High School Principal Steve Priest and Encampment K-12 Principal Mike Erickson. 

Darrin Jennings, who has served the past two school years as principal at both Saratoga Middle/High School (SMHS) and SES, was approved for a contract to serve as SES Principal for the 2020/2021 school year. 

The position of principal for all three north district elementary schools is vacant following Greenway’s resignation. Also vacant is the position of SMHS principal. While no contract had been offered at the February 19 meeting, a listening session is scheduled for March 9 for three candidates for the SMHS position.

The next meeting of the CCSD2 Board of Trustees will be at 4 p.m. on March 16 at Saratoga Middle/High School.