Lander School Board considering new policies for drug testing, homeschoolers, CTE salaries, sex designated facilities

(Lander, WY) – The Lander School Board reviewed four new policies on first reading this month, covering homeschool students, career and technical education teachers, sex designated facilities, and drug testing for students in extracurricular activities.

Drug testing

The proposed drug testing policy represents an update to the policy that passed last year for students involved in extracurricular activities.

Superintendent Mike Harris said the revisions would exempt sixth graders from the drug testing protocols and eliminate the initial mandatory drug screening requirement for all students involved in extracurricular activities.

The students would still be subject to random drug testing, at a rate of 25 percent during the activity’s season and 10 percent outside of the season, Harris said.

“I think that is a great way to save money and a great way to keep students in class,” Trustee Mara Gans said, suggesting that any money saved by eliminating the initial drug screening requirement could be diverted “towards activities that will engage students in meaningful extracurricular activities so that they develop hobbies outside of drug use.” “That’s an item for discussion in the future: What can we use the money for that will reduce drug use and enhance our schools?”

The updated policy also clarifies that students who appeal the results of their drug tests are ineligible to participate in their activity while the appeal is processed. 

Homeschool

The board also discussed proposed revisions to the district homeschool policy last week that would eliminate language “about homeschool parents producing evidence of what curriculum they’re using and giving that to the school district,” Harris said.

“That was expressly removed from state statute, so that whole part has been scratched,” Harris said. “We don’t have any right to require or make judgment about a homeschool curriculum.”

CTE teachers

Another update to a current policy would allow CTE teachers who are working towards certification with the Professional Teaching Standards Board to receive credits on the district salary schedule for their professional non-teaching experience.

“In these cases, up to ten years of credit on the (salary) schedule will be granted for each year of related, non-teaching work experience at a 1:1 ratio,” the proposal states. “Beyond ten years, credit on the schedule will be granted at a 2:1 ratio.”

Currently, CTE teachers don’t receive any credit on the salary schedule for prior experience, Harris said.

“So … they could be a master mechanic or, you know, a world class welder or a craftsman and carpenter and come and want to teach school, (and we give) no credit to those individuals for any sort of relevant work experience,” he said. 

The new language should “help ensure that we can recruit and retain talented CTE (teachers),” Harris added.

Trustee Taylor Jacobs agreed that “this is great for us, and it’ll look really great for some of those recruitments,” because a lot of potential CTE teachers are “maybe at the end of their business career, and they’d like to get into education … but financially it just doesn’t make sense for them.”

Sex designated facilities

Harris said the policy on sex designated facilities the board considered this month came directly from the Wyoming School Boards Association based on a new state statute “requiring public school children to use restrooms, sex-designated changing facilities and sleeping quarters that align with their sex at birth.” 

The policy includes “some reasonable accommodations for those who don’t identify with either of the sex-specific definitions in the policy and in the statute,” Harris said, and it also allows exceptions for custodial staff, emergency responders, and coaches under “certain conditions.”

Gans said she appreciated the “reasonable accommodations” language in the policy, acknowledging that “not all students fit neatly into the categories described in this legislation,” and that school employees “still carry that burden of supporting those students.”

“I hope we move forward thoughtfully and with love and with consideration of the needs (students) may have in terms of additional support,” she said. “And I hope we remember that that includes not just a different room or a different bathroom, but that may include mental health counseling or having conversations with other members of a sports team so that these students feel like they belong, as all students belong in our schools.”

Trustee Aileen Brew agreed with Gans, citing studies showing that “a student’s inability to easily use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity has actually increased … incidents of verbal, sexual and physical harassment.”

“In light of this knowledge, (we) must commit to going beyond the wording of ‘reasonable accommodation’ for our transgender, nonbinary, and gender questioning students to ensure their well-being and their safety in our schools as we implement these policies,” she said. 

Trustee Karen Harms echoed both Gans and Brew, calling for “respectful and thoughtful” implementation of the new policy, while Board Chair Jared Kail said he was “thrilled” that the new policy addresses “almost all the issues” that he brought up when he proposed a local “transgender policy” two years ago.

“I don’t think we any longer need to have such a policy,” Kail said. “This (new statute) takes care of the bathroom accommodations for the safety of, primarily … minor female students.”

He also pointed to new state laws that address “pronouns issues,” “the safety of our girls in competitive sports,” and “parental rights and notification,” as well as President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting K-12 schools “from teaching content related to gender ideology or critical race theory.”

“I think pretty much all the material issues have already been addressed by either state statute or by federal regulations,” Kail said. “So I’m pretty pleased.”

The proposed policies the board considered this month will be presented for a second reading, discussion, and final adoption during a future meeting. 

The school board’s next meeting is scheduled to take place July 15.

For more information, call FCSD 1 at (307) 332-4711.