Elevate Monthly

This school year teachers, instructional leaders and everyone in between have been honing their work on three key areas—literacy, instructional practice and systems of support.

According to LCSD1 Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stephen Newton, this year’s focus areas were chosen due to their high potential for positively impacting student learning.

“Everything that we contemplate doing we filter through the lens of our strategic plan that hundreds of stakeholders were involved in developing,” Newton said. “I think the focus is really about trying to operationalize our strategic plan.”

For example, the student readiness strand of the strategic plan addresses strong instructional practice and literacy. Systems of support are mentioned under healthy environment.

“Literacy is at the heart of what we do,” Newton said. “It underpins everything.”

In that area, he said the district is looking at materials, curriculum guides, standards and the order in which skills are being taught. If students struggle, the appropriate interventions help bring them back along.

“I think we are getting better, through professional development, at recognizing the essential components in teaching students to read and what causes students to begin to struggle,” Newton said. “We’re looking at a combination of building better interventions and supports within the system while making sure our people have the training that they need to be responsive.”

He explained the district has completed a framework which outlines best instructional practices and what they look like for teachers and students in various situations.

“We’re really working to help teachers in that decision-making moment to identify the best practice to employ,” Newton said. “The results are clear: students do better when they are in the hands of a highly effective teacher. That’s probably the one thing within our control that matters most.”

Newton explained the district’s multi-tiered systems of supports (MTSS) are designed to provide a safety net if students begin to struggle.

“Sometimes students struggle academically, behaviorally or because their life is in crisis,” he said. “We have a big system, and it’s important that if a student starts to exhibit any sort of struggle the system and the people within it recognize it, have options, and know what to systematically implement to help.”

Newton said he is grateful for the multitude of people within the district who are working on these priorities. In the area of literacy, he complimented the efforts of classroom teachers, reading interventionists, principals, foster grandparents and instructional coaches, to name a few. Under MTSS, teachers, nurses, counselors, psychologists, school resource officers, principals and instructional coaches are just some of the many individuals who help.

“I am very proud of everybody who is contributing to these efforts,” Newton said. “A lot of the hard work probably won’t even be noticed by the majority of our stakeholders but that’s not why they do it. They do it to shape and create better outcomes for kids. I think student by student, day by day, we’re already seeing the evidence of that.”

Be sure to check out next month's edition of Elevate Monthly for the final results.

Last Month's Poll: What is your child's favorite winter break activity?

Check out the results at the bottom of the newsletter.

Over 30 students from LCSD1 and LCSD2 were chosen by school counselors to shop for gifts with local law enforcement over Winter Break. We are happy to see our students get opportunities like this!

Navigating Laramie 1 is a program that offers community members a chance to learn about the inner workings of LCSD1. Here is our esteemed Class of 2025.

Steve Girt (top, middle): Steve is the natural resources program supervisor for the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and has extensive experience in education. He is the former board director for the Montessori School of Cheyenne and currently serves as treasurer for the Cheyenne Schools Foundation. He has been part of several PTOs and parent advisory committees for multiple schools throughout his son’s education. He is most interested in learning about grant opportunities to support teachers and schools.

Eryn Ohrt (top, right): Eryn is a stay-at-home mom who owns a custom laser engraving business, WY Maker LLC. She has lived in Cheyenne since 2018 and has children at McCormick Junior High and Coyote Ridge Elementary. She is eager to learn about the processes behind the school district.

Jaclyn Ortiz (bottom, left): Jaclyn was born and raised in Cheyenne. She is the vice president of lending for First Education Federal Credit Union. She has four children, three of which are school aged, and she is involved in PTO. Jaclyn is an active member within the Hispanic community. In her free time, she enjoys exploring her family’s genealogy.

Sheila Bremer (bottom, middle): Sheila moved to Cheyenne in 2009 from Bozeman, Montana. She is a controller at Wyoming Bank and Trust and wants to educate herself about our school system so she can better serve our community. She and her husband have two children enrolled in LCSD1 and one set to enroll in 2030.

Amanda McGrath (bottom, right): Amanda is the school age care coordinator for the F.E. Warren Air Force Base Youth Programs. She recently moved to Cheyenne with her husband, who is active-duty military, and their three children.

Joanna "Jo" Warren (not pictured): Jo has lived in Cheyenne for 10 years and is a branch manager for Western Vista Credit Union. She has two kids and is interested in becoming involved in the school district to provide support to the community and her children.

On Jan. 18, the Central speech and debate team competed in the Lobo Howl in Fort Collins, Colorado. The team won first place in Sweepstakes for Debate and Platform Speaking.

Congratulations!

South High's speech and debate team recently won top honors at the Thunder Basin tournament. Great work!

East High's speech and debate team competed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Invitational at James Logan High School in California. The team had six students advance and one win a championship! Way to go!

Laramie County School District 1 is seeking nominations for the 2025 LCSD1 Educational Support Person of the Year (ESPY) and Teacher of the Year (TOY) awards.

Two ESPY awards are granted each year. The Student Support award is presented to a support person who works directly with students as their primary duty (paraeducators, tutors, bus drivers, etc.) Other support staff are eligible for the District Support award (janitors, technical support staff, administrative assistants, etc.)

ESPY nominees must be LCSD1 staff members who have a minimum of one year of continuous employment with LCSD1 prior to nomination. They must also continue to work in LCSD1 through the 2024-2025 school year. Supervisors are ineligible.

ESPY nominees are scored based on their nomination forms. The deadline for ESPY nominations is Monday, Feb. 3.

The TOY award is presented to one LCSD1 teacher selected from three finalists: an elementary teacher, a junior high teacher, and a high school teacher. The selected teacher will be eligible to submit an application for the 2025-2026 Wyoming Teacher of the Year competition.

TOY nominees must be Wyoming certified classroom teachers in a state-approved or accredited school. They must also plan to continue an active teaching career with LCSD1 through the 2025-2026 school year.

Teachers may be nominated by LCSD1 staff, students and community members. They may also self-nominate. The deadline for nominations is Friday, Feb. 7.

Nominations for all of the awards can be submitted online at www.laramie1.org.

For more information, call the LCSD1 Community Relations Department at 771-2192.

Students of all ages are invited to participate in the Carnaval de Cheyenne, a language and culture festival. The festival will be held Thursday, Jan. 23 from 4–6 p.m. at Storey Gym, 2811 House Ave.

Admission is free and open to the public. Students in seventh grade or below must be accompanied by an adult.

The festival will include games, activities, crafts and cultural foods. World language students from across Cheyenne will be in attendance.

For more information, contact Sarah Evans, sarah.evans@laramie1.org.

The Laramie County School District 1 science fair will be held on Saturday Jan. 25 at Storey Gym, 2811 House Ave.

Public viewing will be from 11 a.m.–noon and the award ceremony will start shortly thereafter.

JANUARY

22 - Triumph High Platform Graduation

23 - Carnaval de Cheyenne language and culture festival

25 - Science Fair

27 - LCSD1 Board of Trustees Meeting, Storey Gym Boardroom, 2811 House Ave. 6 p.m.

FEBRUARY

3–7 - National School Counseling Week

10 - LCSD1 Board of Trustees Meeting, Storey Gym Boardroom, 2811 House Ave.

• 5 p.m. work session
• 6 p.m. regular board meeting

Looks like our students spent their Winter Break catching up on movies! The great classics or modern gems?