{North Big Horn HOSpial redy t ccin ridens and
BY RYAN FITZMAURICE
North Big Horn Hospital
‘stands ready to administer vacci—
nations to staff and residents as
the statewide rollout of vaccina-
tions is underway.
According to North Big Horn
Hospital Marketing Coordina-
tor Janet Koritnik, 10 Moderna
vaccines were given to staff last
week for a trial run. Koritnik said
the trial went very well.
“We just had very minor side
effects such as arm soreness re—
ported,” Koritnik said.
The next step will be a facility
wide vaccination effort for New
Horizons Care Center residents
and North Big Horn Hospital Dis—
trict staff, also with the Moder—
na vaccine. Those vaccines will
be administered on January 6, 7,
8 and 13.
The district is currently pre—
paring a community wide vacci—
nation plan, Koritnik said.
SEE ‘VACCINE AT NBHH’ page 6
COURTESY PHOTO
Janel Thatch (left) vaccinates Emily Nebel as Dr. Troy Caldwell gets
vaccinated by Kristi Schneider. Nebel, the infection prevention nurse
for North Big Horn Hospital, and Caldwell, who serves as a physician, were
both vaccinated on Dec. 30 as art of a 10—employee trial
conducted by North Big Horn Hospital. The hospital will begin vaccinating
employees and residents facility Wide this week.
Proposed cut would reduce staff in
Big Horn County School District No. 1
TOP 10 STORIES OF
As we turn our calendars
to 2021, we look back at per—
haps the most challenging and
stressful year most of us have
experienced, a year with both
inspiring highs and tough-to-
take lows. Here’s a look at our
top 10 stories of 2020:
Big Horn County was
not spared from the
worldwide pandemic
of COVID—19. There were 21
COVID-19—related deaths in
the county in 2020, out of 668
total confirmed cases. The
impact was especially felt in
the New HOrizons Care Center.
The long—term care facility
endured an outbreak ’ of 39
cases among its residents in
October, resulting in 10 deaths.
The tragedy occurred despite
extensive precautions taken by
the facility. The facility closed
its doors to the public on Feb.
14, far before the first Big Horn
County COVlD-19 case was
confirmed in mid April.
North Big Horn Hospital
has also overcome challenges
from the pandemic. To respond
to the pandemic, the hospital
established a mobile medical
unit outside the clinic to han-
dle possible COVID-19 cases. It
later transformed the old clin-
ic into a new respiratory clinic.
Since October, the hospital has
been near or at capacity sever—
al times as hospitals through—
out the region dealt with an in-
flux of patients.
The hospital received
nearly $7 million in grants and
loans to withstand the impacts
of COVID—19 and remains in
strong fiscal shape.
Just as profoundly
impacted by COVID—19
were the schools of north
’Big Horn County. Both Rocky
Mountain and Lovell schools
shut their doors in March,
transitioning from classroom
learning to long-distance
learning in the space of a single
weekend. Spring sports were
canceled entirely. Lovell High
School held a drive—through
graduation ceremony at t e
end of the spring semester, as
Rocky
held theirs on the school
football field, every family and
students and teachers spread
six feet or more apart.
It was an open ques-
tion over the summer wheth-
er schools would return to
in—person education when the
school year began, but both
districts opened their doors to
students in the fall. All schools
have faced additional challeng-
es in doing so, contending with
keeping students socially-dis—
tanced and protected, how to
keep their facility sanitized
thorough] and how to fill the
spaces 1e t by staff members
forced to quarantine. Teach—
ers who learned long—distance
teaching last year have had to
keep it in their repertoire, as
teaching quarantined students
at a distance became a part of
their duties alongside teach-
ing students in the classroom.
A successful fall sport season
was held, with the basketball
and wrestling seasons under-
way, but attendance has been
limited. Currently, only 100
fans are allowed into each bas—
ketball game.
The silver lining for both
districts lies in enrollment.
The Lovell school district saw a
25—student jump in enrollment,
while District One saw the en-
rollment of “brick and mortar”
students up 17. Connections
Academy, an online school be—
longing to District One, has
seen a dramatic change in en—
rollment, teaching more than
1,200 students statewide after
enrollment of 400 in 2019.
More obstacles are on the
horizon as districts are look—
ing at a potential $100 mil-
lion statewide cut to educa-
tion funding, which may take
over $1 million in funds from
both Big Horn County School
District No. 1 and District No.
2. The cut will likely result in a
decrease in staffing, according
to both districts.
SEE “TOP 10 OF 2020’
page
Mountain High School,
BY RYAN FITZMAURICE
A large increase of students
from Connections Academy
leaves Big Horn County School
District No. 1 in a more stable po—
sition to take on significant cuts,
but the district still stands to lose
staff if the proposed $100 million
statewide cut is implemented.
“For it not to reach into the
staffing area, that would be mi—
raculous,” Superintendent Ben
Smith said.
Similar tQ,,Big..Horn School
District No. 2, the majority of Dis-
trict One’s budget, 83 percent, lies
in salary, benefits and payroll. The
district currently has a roughly $18
million budget, and the prOposed
cuts would slash $1.8 million.
The Select Committee on
School Finance Recalibration ad—
vanced a bill two weeks ago that
proposes the $100 million cut. The
bill still needs to be passed by the
legislature in order to be enact-
ed. Smith said until that process
takes place, it’s far too early to
tell what exact shape the cuts, if
passed, are going to take. 1
“Until we know what the re—
ality is, we don’t really know how
to proceed,” Smith said. “Even
though this bill is coming out of
recalibration, until it gets passed,
it’s hard for us to overreact.”
Still, Smith said, the district
is taking the initial steps needed
to downsize the district if needed.
Currently, the district is taking
measures to reduce staff through
attrition, meaning they are cre-
ating incentive for certain staff
members to step down voluntari—
ly. Once those staff members step
down, existing staff members will
fill in the gaps.
“We are offering an early re-
tirement incentive; we hope to
deal with cutting costs through
attrition as much as possible,”
Smith said. “We are looking at
the possibility of maybe consoli-
dating programs, utilizing teach—
ers across the district better. We
don’twant to take away the magic
of the teacher in the classroom. I
think we want to be real careful to
protect that, as well.”
It’s not a simple process.
Many positions, especially on the
secondary level, require accred—
itation, which limits what posi-
tions can be consolidated. Smith
said the district is also looking at
the‘possibility of increasing staff
sizes, or stretching the duties or
class load of certain teachers, de—
pending on their certification.
“All of that, we’re going to
have to do,” Smith said.
Still, the district has found a
stroke of good fortune. With the
SEE ‘EDUCATION CUTS’ page
Rep. Flitner to chair Travel and Recreation Committee
BY NATHAN OSTER
Because of the threat of
COVlD—19, the 66th Wyoming
Legislature will have a staggered
start this year, with one-day vir—
tual session featuring the State of
the State address by Mark Gor—
don kicking things off on Tues—
day, Jan. 12.
Beyond that, it’s anyone’s
guess.
Rep. Jamie Flitner, R—Shell,
was in Cheyenne earlier this
week for her official swearing—in
ceremony. She ran unopposed
for the Republican nomination
and was elected to serve anoth—
er two—year term in the Novem—
ber general election.
She’ll be a virtual partici—
pant in Tuesday’s opening ses-
sion, which will also include the
Constitutionally-mandated elec-
tion of leadership and adoption
of rules for the legislative ses—
sion. When the business is done,
there will be a motion to adjourn
the session until either February
or March. r
' “The hope is by then the
vaccine program will have had
a chance for widespread im—
plementation,” she said. “I had
pushed early on to convene as
~usual sending a letter to man-
agement council requesting that
we do so as a s ring session
would be difficult or those of us
in agriculture.”
She eventually relented, cit-
ii 307.578.2800
COdyRl‘qIOHHII'ICZIIIII.OI g
Rep. Jamie Flitner
ing concerns about staff, many
of whom are retirees and among
the most at—risk of contracting
the virus.
“The Legislature/Capital is a
petri dish in a normal year,” she
said. “With COVID—19, the fear is
that we could have a widespread
outbreak that would effectively
stop the legislative process.
“When we reconvene it might
be a virtual/in—person session,
but no one knows. Many ideas
have been kicked around."
Whenever it does, Flitner
will find herself in a new role.
She’s been selected to chair the
I: YUUIIIIM‘
Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and
Cultural Resources Committee
(TRW), calling it “an honor" and
saying she’s looking forward to
the experience.
The fate of the gaming com—
mission 'will be a topic. Law—
makers established the‘ com—
mission last year but at the time
set a sunset date of July 2021.
Flitner said TRW is pushing leg—
islation to extend the sunset for
three more years.
One of its primary tasks will
be to address the sunset date on
the state gaming commission.
Lawmakers established the com-‘
mission last ear but gave it a
sunset date 0 July 2021.
“Without the extension, we
will just be back at square one
with gaming,” she said. “The
Gaming Commission has pro—
mulgated rules and the exten—
sion would allow them to contin—
ue to tweak those rules and allow
the Legislature to continue with
a trial run before all out approval.
“What we’re already hear-
ing from the gaming industry,
thou h, is that they want more.
But t e tribes are not happy be—
cause the state is infringing on
their gambling industry, and the
historic horse racing folks are
protesting because they are con-
strained by the ‘opt in’ provision
among other regulations.”
SEE ‘LEGISLATURE: FLITNER’ page 6
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