FCSD #1 PRESS RELEASE

(Lander) – This years Junior class members at Lander Valley High School are in line to be rewarded next fall when they become seniors if they perform well on the next battery of PAWS tests (Proficiency Assessments for Wyoming Students).

The Board of Trustees of Fremont County School District 1 Friday morning voted to conduct a one-year experiment, granting LVHS Principal Al Sparkman the ability to reward those students who perform well on the tests with varying degrees of opportunity to leave campus for lunch starting next fall.

“We stress that freedom is equated with responsibility and that any incentive should be earned, rather than a right of passage,” Sparkman said in answer to questions from the board. “We want our kids to be educated, so if they were to perform well on only one proficiency, then their reward would be less. We want the kids to move from proficient to advanced in all areas and I would love to have the entire senior class meet that incentive.”

The board then voted to give the juniors that opportunity, but said the offer was good for one year only and that test scores would be evaluated to see if the incentive worked.

The board took the action to help boost the district’s PAWS numbers, noting that LVHS’ scores for the ACT test are much higher than that for the state assessment. “I believe it is motivation that is the difference,” Sparkman said. “I don’t believe the test differences between the two assessments are that significant.”

PAWS testing at the high school begins next week.

In other action from Friday’s meeting:

• Superintendent Paige Fenton Hughes reported that funds for the construction of a new South Elementary School were approved by the state legislature, giving the project a bright green light. “We are already at the five percent concept and design stage, and the legislature’s action this past week means we can now put the South project in high gear.”

Hughes said it is hoped the district could take possession of the new South Elementary in the fall of 2012, but she noted that the present South school would have to be demolished and the site cleared before construction could begin on the new school. The district is currently developing specific plans to reconfigure elementary schools into grade level campuses for the start of the 2011-12 school years.

• Assistant Superintendent Kirk Schmidt said the bid opening for subcontractors for the new Lander Middle School was held Thursday afternoon, with over 200 bids received for various components of the project. “We hit the perfect storm with no other construction projects on the state horizon,” Schmidt said, “and as a result, the bids came in lower than we expected. There are lots of contractors looking for work right now.”

Schmidt said the estimated cost per square foot of the middle school is coming in around $185 to $190 per square foot, well under estimates. Contractors from at least five states participated in the bid opening Thursday. Successful bidders will be determined after each submitted bid is reviewed and evaluated. Groundbreaking for the new middle school is projected for late this month.