JACKSON, Wyo. — The Teton County School District #1 Board of Trustees met for its August meeting Wednesday, ahead of the start of the school year on Sept. 5.
The principals are back at school this week and 20 new teachers, one new principal and 10 classified staff have been hired for the new year, Superintendant Dr. Gillian Chapman told the Board.
The Board discussed a number of goals for the upcoming school year in terms of curriculum, teacher success, district operations and overall policy, outlined in the Strategic Plan. Chapman and Assistant Superintendant Dr. Scott Crisp presented the update to the Board.
Trustee Kate Mead pointed out that one of the goals to expand the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs for Certified Nursing Assitant (CNA), STEAM, teacher, construction and hospitality/tourism could lead students into careers that, in Jackson, might not pay enough to offset the cost of living.
“I have a little heartburn with urging kids to pursue things like CNA, where you can’t make a living wage, it’s well documented nationally; And hospitality and tourism in our town, where they want to pay you $25 per hour but you can’t find a place to live,” Mead said.
“Are we setting our kids up to get out of school to do something they think they are moderately trained for, and they can’t make any money anyways?” Mead said. “That’s my concern.”
Trustee Keith Gingery said he sees the program as more of an introduction to industries and, “helps, especially high school students, frame up what they are going to possibly do later.”
According to the strategic plan, based on student self-reported data from the Jackson Hole High School and Summit Innovation School 2023 graduates, 21.2% of students plan to enter the workforce, 7.8% plan to attend a two-year college, 5% plan to attend a trade school, 1.7% plan to join the military, 4.5% plan on a gap year and 59.8% plan to attend a 4-year college.
Amongst a slew of other goals, TCSD #1 has also outlined “collaborative culture and climate goals.” These include explicit social-emotional learning time for K-5 schools, expanded suicide awareness and prevention training for all staff, expanded staff training on anti-discrimination policies and explicit learning on vaping, drug and alcohol use.
During the meeting, the Board also approved the FY24 tuition rate for out-of-state students. The district updated its policy on out-of-state and out-of-county students this June.
“I want to make sure that for the families that live in Teton County, their children are in schools that aren’t crowded,” Chapman said during the May Board meeting. “If we have space available we are happy to take out-of-county residents but we can not take out-of-state residents without an application submitted and tuition paid.”
Tuition for out-of-state students was approved by the Board at $22,304.95.
A copy of the complete updated Strategic Plan Goals for 2023-2024 is available here. The next Board of Trustees meeting is Sept. 13.
