Dear Superintendents,
A full summer of professional development for educators across the state is almost in the rear-view mirror! These opportunities to network informally – and learn more about our trade – allow us to open the school year revitalized.
Here are a few stats from summer trainings and conferences hosted by the WDE:
- A record-setting 619 people participated in last week’s Native American Education Conference in Riverton.
- At the Wyoming School Nutrition Conference, five schools were awarded for increasing breakfast participation.
- Participants at the same conference scrambled around the Ramkota in the Amazing School Nutrition Race.
- The National Assessment Governing Board, an independent, bipartisan federal board that sets policy for NAEP, commonly known as The Nation’s Report Card, held its quarterly meeting in Cheyenne.
- Dr. Patrick Schwarz talked about co-teaching at the Week of Academic Vision in Excellence (WAVE) conference in Laramie.
- Through a Microsoft grant, the WDE hosted 17 districts, two private schools for a total of 100 people in Strategic CSforALL Resource & Implementation Planning Tool (SCRIPT) training. Two more trainings are scheduled in Gillette and Afton. (Note to districts: The Afton training on September 16-17 still has space. Register here).
Teens who attended the Native American Education Conference had the opportunity to learn about Arapaho horse culture, taught by Elk Sage, suicide prevention coordinator for the Northern Arapaho Tribe.
First Lady Jennie Gordon and Superintendent Jillian Balow pose with the Breakfast Challenge winners during the School Nutrition Association of Wyoming’s annual conference in Casper.
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CSforALL SCRIPT training asked educators to work on how to engage their communities to help bring computer science to the classroom. The groups then shared out in a ‘gallery walk’ to promote and share ideas.
Federal Funding Update:
On August 2, President Donald Trump signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, which sets discretionary spending limits for Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021. House and Senate appropriators may now proceed in approving spending bills for the ongoing activities of the federal government, including education.
In Wyoming, staff members at WDE are working with school districts to spend down remaining funds from FY17-18. If you have questions about spend down, please contact us.
Memos to be released on Monday, August 19:
- 2019-084: Wyoming Cowboy ChalleNGe Academy
- 2019-085: Chapter 38 Public Comment: Hathaway Scholarship Program
- 2019-086: NCII Spotlights Wyoming SPED Work
- 2019-087: Chapter 46 Public Comment: Early Childhood Grant
- 2019-088: 2019 Back-To-School Toolkit Available
