GLENDO – Platte County School District No. 1’s October board meeting revealed the district is seeing improvements in WYTOP testing and higher than state average graduation rates, and two food service policies pass their first reading.
After approving the agenda with additional bills and thanking Glendo for hosting the October board meeting, the first order of business was a presentation or certificates to board members by Stacey Hill of the Wyoming School Board Association. Lu Lay, Amanda Fox, and Shawn Hoffman received the certificates recognizing them for “going above and beyond” by attending trainings and conferences, and Hill expressed the WSBA’s gratitude for their hard work.
Moving forward, Superintendent John Weigel explained the district's "Why Choose Platte #1" initiative which highlights good things happening in the Platte County schools every Wednesday. "What we are celebrating," Weigel said, "are the good things happening in Platte 1 and why people should choose our district." He continued, "If we don't tell our story, someone else will, so we focus on teaching, and learning and innovation, that's what the whole process is of Why Choose Platte 1." Articles for the initiative are posted on both Facebook and the district website weekly.
During the correspondence section of the meeting, Weigel highlighted several letters the district had received. The first was from the Guernsey school district, thanking the district for allowing a student to participate in PCSD1's golf program which won a state championship. Following were several good sportsmanship awards from the Wyoming High School Athletic Association (WHSAA). The first was for the Wheatland volleyball team and their coaches when they played Douglas earlier this year. The award highlighted both teams for being positive and professional during a very competitive match. The second award highlighted Karly Adams’ leadership and positivity on the floor in a game against Rawlins.
The discussion then moved back to John Weigel for the superintendent’s report. Weigel summarized an area of the Accreditation Summary and pointed out the district’s preliminary results had an area on stakeholder relations that stood out as an exemplary score.
Weigel said, “Being in exemplary means that other districts are probably going to want to come to our district and see the good work we are doing." He explained the district's score in this area was decided by evidence shown by the district through interviews, presentation, and observations done throughout the school district. "That's just a really big highlight for the district," Weigel said. "That says we're doing such a good job with our stakeholders; other districts might want to tap into what we do." The graph can be found through a link in the board brief on the district's website.

Next, Jamie Wilson went through the Esser III Grant in her financial report. Mrs. Wilson reminded those in attendance that all the funds received from ARP or Esser III grant had to address the pandemic and had to be allocated by September 30th. Twenty percent of the funds had to be used for after school or learning loss. The original allocation from the grant was $3.2 million and graphs are available on the district's website showing the original plan for the funds and the finalized allocation of funds. Wilson explained, Platte 1 was able to get additional grant money through the state which other districts had not utilized.
Moving forward, Wheatland High School principal Josh Sandlian spoke to those in attendance about the Fall 2024 Strategic Plan and his trip to the Governor's office in honor of “Principal’s Month.” Sandlian expressed gratitude to his peers and the director, explaining it is a team effort among the school’s leadership – coaches, staff, department and building heads to accomplish the goals. “We’re in this together,” he said.
Going into the Fall Strategic Plan, Mr. Sandlian said the testing showed several district goals were achieved and deserved to be recognized. The first goal in the strategic plan was to support student growth and achieve it. One of the ways the district hoped to do that was to score in the top 10 schools in all assessment areas in Wyoming. In WYTOP, the district’s fourth grade students scored 12th in the state; ninth-grade math and ELA scored ninth place and fifth place, respectively; and 10th grade science scored 10th in the state.
Sandlain commented there was nice improvement and achievement in the WYTOP scores. Superintendent Weigel went through some of the scores in more detail, noting that they were “good,” especially considering the number of other schools also participating. Weigel said, "Those are something to be proud of, for sure." Graphs with scores are available through the district website. ACT scores for the district ranked 19th in the state.
The next goal for the district was to meet or exceed marks on the state accountability system. In PCSD No. 1, the only school currently meeting expectations in this area is the Wheatland High School. All other schools were listed as partially meeting expectations. Sandlian explained the schools not meeting expectations will be writing school improvement plans,as required, and principals and staff will be working to address areas not meeting standards. He added, even the high schoolwill be writing an improvement plan because it is his belief that "we can always do better." Information was also presented showing Wheatland is exceeding the state graduation rate with a 90.7% graduation rate compared to the state average of 81-82%.
The third goal in the strategic plan was to have graduates be career, college, and military ready. WHS scored at 84% of students being postsecondary education ready, compared to the state average of 61%.
More items on the strategic plan were discussed including support of student and staff safety and well-being, and goal performance reporting.
Moving on in the meeting, Chairman Lay noted many policies are up for review in November. The board did not go through them individually, but the list is available through the board brief on the district website. Superintendent Weigel pointed out an additional policy, relating to student immunization, will be added to the review.
The following items were unanimously approved, with no discussion among the board: the 2024 financial audit report; personnel hiring, resignations and terminations; approval of Shawn Hoffman as delegate to represent the district at the WSBA annual meeting; an out of district enrollment request; policy EFC – free and reduced price food service (on the first of two readings); policy EFE – all food sold in schools was passed on the first of two readings with a brief discussion outlining the meaning of the policy.
A motion was made by Dustin Kafka to approve an isolation pay request, but the motion failed, 0-7.
A motion was then made by Dustin Kafka at 7:44pm to allow the board to enter into executive session to discuss personnel. The motion was seconded by Connie Eller and passed 7-0. Executive session ended at 8:45 p.m. and the board meeting was officially adjourned.