June 10, 2021 The Lovell Chronicle 7
Active coronavirus cases up by
WYOMING NEWS EXCHANGE
The number of active
coronavirus cases in Wyo-
ming remained below 500
on Monday despite an in—
crease of 19 in the past
week.
Wyoming Department
of Health figures show the
state had 477 active coro-
navirus cases on Monday,
compared to 458 on June 1.
The state received 328
new reports of confirmed-
COVID cases during the
week, along with 81 new
reports of probable cases.
At the same time, the
number of reported recov-
eries among those with. ei-
ther laboratory—confirmed
or probable coronavirus
cases went up by 389, leav—
ing the state with 477 ac—
tive cases.
Laramie County had
the state’s highest number
of active cases on Monday
at 161; Sweetwater Coun-
ty had 64; Campbell Coun-
ty had 47; Natrona County
had 34; Park had 33; Uin—
ta had 31; Fremont had
19; Sheridan had 17; Platte
had 14; Albany had 12; Big
Horn and Teton had ei ht;
Carbon had seven; Jo n—
Actlvo coronavirus cases by date
‘5000 .
0
7/I3 7/23 8/2 8/12 5/22 5/1 9/12 9/22 10/210/1210/2211/1
I1/1111/2112/212/1212/22 1“ 1/14 1/25 2” 2/16 2/25 5/3
son had fourfConverse,
Goshen and Weston-had
three; Lincoln, Sublette
and Washakie had two, and
Crook, Hot Springs and Ni—
obrara had one.
Active cases are deter—
mined by adding the total
confirmed and probable
coronavirus cases diag-
nosed since the illness first
surfaced in Wyoming on
March 12, 2020, subtract-
ing the number of recov—
eries during the same pe—
riod among patients with
both confirmed and prob—
able cases and taking into
account the number of
HAVE YOU HEARD?
More than 5,000 products can
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deaths attributed to the
illness.
New confirmed cases
were reported in 20 coun-
ties, with Laramie Coun—
ty reporting the highest
number of new cases at 96,
followed by 48 in Sweetwa—
ter County.
The new confirmed and
probable cases brought to
60,773 the number of Wy—
oming residents diagnosed
with coronavirus since the
illness was first detected in
Wyoming in March 2020.
Of those, 59,576 have
recovered, according to
the Health Department.
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at Rocky Mountain High
school, located, back then,
in Byron — the town his
grandfather founded.
BEGINNINGS IN EDUCATION
V Smith immediate—
ly filled his plate when he
started at the high school.
Aside from teachin phys—
ical education, heath and
driver’s ed during his day
job, he also served as the
head football coach, head
basketball coach and head
track coach. The next
year, he added the athlet-
ic director position 'to his
responsibilities.
Smith was able to, drop
'track in his third year,
handing it over to John
Bernhisel, and dropped the
basketball position the year
after that. He would serve
as athletic director for 10
years, and would serve as
the head football coach un—
til he left for Utah.
Smith did not come
into the district during
easy times. It was the sixth
year of consolidation, and
tensions were high. Smith
was the sixth head football
coach in six years.
“The community was
so divided,” Smith said.
During his third year,
Smith’s mother sat him
down and encouraged him
to leave the position, telling
him to find another place
to work because the envi—
ronment within the district
was so caustic. '
“But, I didn’t want to
come in and because it
was tough the first cou—
ple of years, to walk away,”
Smith said.
But, then Smith said,
his teams started winning.
Smith made it to state
his third year of coaching
basketball, before making
it to State in football in his
fourth year. In his fifth year,
1992, Smith took home the
Class 1A state title.
“Once we started win—
ning, the communities re—
ally started to mold to—
gether. We were no longer
the Byron Eagles, and the
Cowley Jaguars and the
Deaver-Frannie Trojans.
That culture of being .a
Rocky Mountain Grizz was
finally being built,” Smith
said. “We had some great
teams, and just being a part
of the Rocky Mountain cul—
ture at that point in time
was awesome.”
Smith went on to win
the title three more times
in football.
It was a period that ce-
mented for Smith the im—
portance athletics has,
not only on the students
that participate within it,
but for communities as a
whole.
“I had parents come up
and say, ‘what can we do
to help?” Smith' said. “So,
when we had teams come
to visit, we ended up with
people who donated burg—
ers, and parents made
brownies and all sorts of
things. We ended up feed-
ing the teams. Once we
started that process, it was
just magical.
During his last four.
years.in the district, from
1999 to 2003, Smith served
as the principal for the By—
ron, Cowley and Frannie
elementary schools, as—
signed with unifying those
staffs before they consol-
idated into the current
Rocky Mountain Elemen—
tary Scho'ol.
OGDEN, UTAH
In Ogden, Smith found
himself facin a whole new
range of cha lenges as the
principal of Ben Lomon
High School, but similar to
his time at North Big Horn
County, Smith found him-
self tasked with building a
new culture.
Ben Lomon High School
had 1,255 students and had
students with more than
500 gang affiliated kids.
It was a far cry from what
Smith had known back
home. To top it all off,
Smith hadn’t moved down
with the intention of being
a principal at all.
“I actually got hired as
the football coach first. We
went down not really plan—
ning On being a principal.
I thought maybe if .I found
an assistant principal job
that would be okay,’ Smith
said. “Two weeks later, the
principal resigned. Two
assistant principals and
the athletic director each
reached out to me and
asked if I would consid—
'er the principal job. They
told me that I could have
a lot of impact as the foot-
ball coach, but they really
needed me as a principal. It
felt again like divine inter-
vention. The Lord said this
is where I needed to be.”
Smith’s resume didn’t
really match up with the
task. He did serve as the
elementary principal while
in Wyoming, but oversee—
ing three different schools
with much smaller popula-
tions, head teachers often
took on much of the work.
Now he found himself hav—
ing to take a hands—on role
in bringing back a school
that was on the brink.
“It was a wreck. When
I came to Rocky, we had
all the disjoint and all the
chaos in the school sys-
tem. It was that way in
Ben Lomon high school
when I got there, as well,”
Smith said. “I stepped
into that role, and just felt
very fortunate. I had great
help, and went to work to
change the culture in that
school, as well.” ’
Smith said it was an
'important time to learn
about himself as a leader.
“The most import—
ant thing I learned was to
trust my instincts and lis—
ten, to my promptings, and
the good Lord will take
care of you when ou do
that,” Smith said. “T e oth—
er thing I learned was that
we can do hard things. It
was way out of my comfort
zone, but we can do hard
thin s, we can do what
nee s to be done.”
The most important
part of changing a culture,
Smith said, is creating a
place where students want
to be in school, where they
know they have worth and
where they can have good
experiences that repare
them for the rest 0 life.
“There definitely was
a feeling that the kids felt
like they weren’t worth
investing in, that they
weren’t meant to succeed,”
Smith said.
Smith started the wall
of fame, where previ—
ous Ben Lomon graduates
who went on to make out—
standing differences in the
world were brought back
and reco nized, to instill
a sense 0 'pride within the
Ben Lomon culture.
In addition, Smith
prompted the construc—
tion of a new high school,
so students and teachers
could have a new, better
place to take pride in.
“We started that work
line upon line and precept
upon precept and pretty
soon things started hap-
pening where things start-
ed changing. Our gradu—
ation rate went from 68
percent to 88 percent. We
started seeing kids begin
to succeed,” Smith said.
Many of the students
in the district didn’t have
their needs taken care of
at home, Smith said, so
the work to create a sup—
portive, welcoming en—
vironment for students
often made the largest
difference.
“It really rang hard-to
me one time when I was at
a meeting and a students
said, ‘I come to school ev-
eryday because Mr. Smith
says hi to me,”’ Smith re-
called. “They didn’t always
know what they were go—
ing to eat, family members
were in prison, and there
was so much chaos in their
lives. Education was the
furthest thing in their lives.
Making the space safe for
them, and letting them
l continuedfrom pageone
know they were cared for,
allowed them to succeed. I
didn’t do it alone. My team
worked their guts out."
Smith said the district
has just finished a colle-
giate level athletic center.
“We were painting
over graffiti when I came,’
Smith said. “The progress
is unbelievable.”
Smith served 10 years
at Ben Lomon High School
and left in 2013.
BACK TO WYOMING
Before returning, to
Cowley as the superinten—
dent of District No. 1, Smith
served as the high school
principal and the athletic
director at Pinedale before
spending three years at Big
Horn High School as the
principal there. In 2018, he
received a phone call from
home. Several, in fact.
“I really had no desire
to be a superintendent,”
Smith said. “That wasn’t in
my plans by any means. But
I had three board members
reach out and ask if I was
interested in the position. I
said, ‘Well, I’m a short tim—
er, but if you can use my
skill set for a little bit here,
I certainly will consider it.’”
A big reason why
he decided to make the
leap, Smith said, was that
the leadership team of
the district was made
up of individuals he had
known before, from 15
years prior. He knew he
would be well supported.
During his three years
as superintendent, Smith:
has led the district’s tran—
sition to embracing stan—
dards reference. rading‘,
reformed the istricts
olicies and, most un-
oreseen of all, led the
district through the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“Standards—referenced
grading is the future,”
Smith said. “It gives the op-
portunity to have a better
indication of what the stu-
dent knows and what the
student is capable of doing.”
As far as the district’s
policy manual, when Smith
first sat in the superin—
tendent’s chair, the dis—
trict had four different ver—
sions of that policy manual,
with no clear indication of
which one to follow.
“Getting that cleared
up has been a real task,”
Smith said “We’ve made a
lot of progress.”
Perhaps the most
meaningful part of his time
as superintendent though
was overseeing the team—
work needed for the district
to overcome COVID—19.
“How everyone has
worked together to serve
our students and ensure
in-person education has
been incredible,” Smith
said. “It was a major team
effort, from the admin
team, to the custodians, to
the cooks, to the bus driv—
ers, to the teachers. Every-
one has just been remark—
able to work with. I feel so
blessed to have been able
to go throu h that here.”
Smith a so took on the
role as the president of the
Wyoming High School Ac—
tivities Association, al—
lowing him to serve a role
in ensuring that students
have access to the activ—
ities that Smith has seen
both empower students ‘
and unify communities.
Stepping down to re—
tire, Smith will return to
Ogden to be with an abun—
dance of family, includ-
ing five children and nine
grandchildren.
.“Just to be able to go
back and be with my kids
and grandbabies, we’re re—
ally looking forward to
that,” Smith said.
But as he moves for—
ward to another chapter,
one thing will always re—
main certain, Smith said.
“My love for this area
and the people here. I’m
truly blessed to have been
able to serve here in this
capacity,” Smith said. “The
Big Horn Basin is always
going to be my home.”
