Better
testing
method?
District Two
says AIMSweb
system is a
strong tool
BY DAVID PECK
It's another assess-
ment, but it's the right
kind of assessment.
That was the word
from School District No. 2
Curriculum Director Nan-
cy Cerroni to the LoveU
School Board Monday
night as she reported on
the new AIMSweb assess-
ment and data manage-
ment system the school
district is now using. After
• using the system on a lim-
ited basis starting in Jan-
uary, the district is now in
the first full school year of
implementing the assess-
ment program in grades
two through eight in the
area of reading and math,
as well as some reading
and behavior.
Speaking to the school
board during the meet-
ing's monthly focus agen-
da item Monday, Cerroni
said the AIMSweb pro-
gram is a system based on
direct, frequent and con-
tinuous student assess-
ment.
Cerroni said the sys-
tem works in two areas:
benchmarking for all stu-
dents and progress moni-
toring for students in need
of additional interven-
tions.
"It gives us a good idea,
instantaneously, of how a
student is doing," she said.
• "We can get an individual
benchmark report on kids
we want to monitor, and if
we're not seeing growth,
we can change the instruc-
tion."
The system helps
teachers set goals for how
they want their students
to progress by the end of
the school year, she said.
Board member Matt
Bassett asked if the school
district is simply perform-
ing too much assessment
with all of the standard-
ized tests and state and
federal mandated stan-
dards.
"We met with all of the
elementary teachers dur-
ing the last month," Cer-
roni replied, "and we're
trying to build the assess-
ment so it's efficient. We
want to make sure we're
getting bang for the buck
and not over-testing stu-
dents. AIMSweb tests are
so short."
And, she added, the
system coordinates well
with the MAP academic
progress test.
'We're finding that by
being more precise in our
assessments it actually
saves time in the teaching/
learning cycle," Supt. Dan
Coe added.
Cerroni said many as-
sessments are just conduct-
ed infrequently, perhaps at
the end of the school year,
but as a progress moni-
toring tool, AIMSweb can
keep up with the progress
of a student.
"Many assessments
are just snapshots," she
said. "If you get to the end
of the year and there's not
growth (in a student) at all,
it's heartbreaking."
Lovell Middle School
Principal Sherie Monk
said AIMSweb helps teach-
ers become invested in the
process and gives them the
opportunity to follow a stu-
dent's progress and adjust
instruction accordingly.
See 'AIMSweb,' page 6
Lovell, Wyoming 82431
Price 75¢
DAVID PECK
Rocky Mountain Elementary School preschool students celebrated National
Fire Prevention Week with a field trip to the Lovell Volunteer Fire Dept. Here,
Malachi Larson "drives" one of the fire trucks.
Lovell blood
drive next
00e(tn00sday
United Blood Services
will hold the Lovell Com-
munity Blood Drive next
Wednesday, Oct. 20, from 1
to 6 p.m. at the Lovell Fire
Hall, 314 Nevada Ave.
Potential donors must
be at least 16 (with paren-
tal consent form for 16-
and 17-year-olds); ;weigh at
least 110 pounds, be in good
health, and bring picture
identification.
To schedule a dona-
tion appointment, log on to
www.bloodhero.com (spon-
sor code: LoveU), or call
Shauna at 548-6169.
Donors are urged to eat
a full meal and drink plen-
ty of water before coming to
the blood drive.
Lovell council still seeking site
for DEQ-mandated burn area
BY DAVID PECK
It's back to the draw-
ing board for the Lovell
Town Council as the town's
preferred location for a so-
called "communal gath-
ering area" for burning,
composting or chipping, as
required by the Wyoming
Dept. of Environmental
Quality, was met with dis-
approval by residents who
live and work near the site
north of the Lovell Com-
munity Center.
Administrative Assis-
tant Scott Campbell, af-
ter working with Assistant
Treasurer Ed Allred, re-
ported at a Sept. 27 special
meeting that he had iden-
tified five possible locations
where the town could place
a gathering area for vege-
tative material, and the
council preferred an area
north of the community
center off Road 10, though
there were questions about
whether the road is a pub-
lic road, the capacity of a
bridge over the canal and
whether adjacent property
owners would agree with
the location.
The concerns and ques-
tions about the Road 10 lo-
cation expressed by the
council on Sept. 27 were
answered emphatically by
landowners at Monday's
October council meeting,
and the answer was "No."
Terry Brost, who lives
adjacent to the town land
the council was consider-
ing, said the road to the
site is not public, nor is the
bridge over the canal.
"I don't think it's a
very good choice at all,"
Brost said. "It's a private
road to access the site and
a private bridge."
Brost said using the
site would mean public
traffic driving within 30
feet of his front door, and
he said the canal bridge
is not designed to han-
dle heavy equipment that
would be needed to man-
age the vegetative gather-
ing area. He said the town
has been granted an ease-
ment for town business in
the area, but he said the
easement is only for light
vehicles to be driven over
the bridge.
He said he has dis-
cussed the issue with the
Undem and Walker fami-
lies, who also own land
near the town land, and
all three parties are in
agreement that they don't
want burning and the add-
ed traffic that would come
with the gathering area.
"We intend to main-
tain it as a private road,"
Brost said, "and not only
is it still considered a pri-
vate road, so is the small,
paved portion that goes to
the community center. It's
a bad idea."
"That's why we're talk-
ing to you," councilman
Scott Allred said. "Nothing
is set in stone. We're try-
ing to make it easy so peo-
ple don't have to pick up
and haul material a long
way. This tells us we need
to look elsewhere."
Joel and Jane Undem,
who run a sheep operation
adjacent to the town land,
agreed with Brost. Joel
Undem said it took him
a long time to shut down
"mud-running" in the area
and he said his family pre-
fers to keep the neighbor-
hood private.
"We're trying to figure
out how to do this without
it costing anything," Scott
Allred said. "Some people
can't afford to transport
material to the landfill.
We're trying to find the
lowest cost alternative to
satisfy the DEQ."
The DEQ Air Quality
Division has required the
town to develop a Vegeta-
tive Material Open Burn-
ing Management Plan,
which the town, led by
Scott Allred, has been
working on. A vegetative
material gathering area is
the final piece of the puz-
zle, Allred said.
Gary Emmett won-
dered if a composting fa-
cility could be operated as
a private business some-
where near town, but Bro-
st replied, "I don't know if
you've been around a corn-
posting facility, but they
stink to high heaven. It
makes the sugar factory
smell like a rose."
Allred said the town
must find a gathering
place by Jan. 15, adding,
"We need to come up with
something." The council
asked Campbell to re-ex-
amine the other four areas
he previously identified to
see if any of them would
work, and Allred said that,
for now, allowing people to
bring material to Constitu-
tion Park during the up-
coming open burning peri-
od would satisfy "the letter
of the law."
OPEN BURNING PERIOD
The good news for fall
cleanup efforts was the re-
cent decision by the DEQ
to allow a fall open burning
period by granting a set-
d
See BURNING, page 6
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Volume 105, Number 18,:.
'Epic tragedy'
Dan Bowles remembered as
strong manager, excellent EMT
BY DAVID PECK
Friends, family mem-
bers, co-workers and com-
rades in the medical com-
munity are in mourning
this week following the
drowning death early Sat-
urday morning of Dan
Bowles of Lovell, the nine-
year plant manager for the
Wyo-Ben Sage Creek ben-
tonite plant west of Lovell
and a longtime EMT in Big
Horn County.
According to a report by
the Thermopolis Indepen-
dent Record, Bowles, 50,
was attending a company-
sponsored getaway for Wyo-
Ben staff members when
he was discovered around
midnight Friday lying in a
mineral pool on River Road
near Thermopolis.
Hot Springs County
Sheriff Lou Falgoust told
Independent Record re-
porter Cindy Glasson that
the group of colleagues had
gone out for dinner earlier
in the evening before re-
turning to the rented home
for beverages and swim-
ming in a private mineral
pool.
Bowles apparently re-
mained outside when the
rest of the staff went back
inside the home, Falgoust
said, and colleagues later
found him face down in four
to five feet of water, pulled
him from the pool and ad-
ministered CPR.
Bowles was later de-
clared dead at Hot Springs
County Memorial Hospi-
tal. An autopsy will be per-
formed.
COMMUNITY TIES
Bowles has long ties
to both the Oreybull and
Lovell communities. A na-
tive of Livingston, Mont.,
and a graduate of Colum-
bus High School, Bowles
started "throwing bags"
for Wyo-Ben in 1985 at the
Greybull plant and married
Wendi Hoflund in 1992.
He worked his way up
into management and was
named assistant manager
of the Lovell Sage Creek
plant in 1997, working un-
der longtime manager Ray
Snell. When Snell retired
in 2001, Bowles was named
the plant manager.
Wyo-Ben Vice Presi-
dent of Manufacturing Rick
Magstadt of Greybull called
Bowles' death "an epic trag-
edy," not only professional-
ly but personally.
"The professional loss is
Dan Bowles
one thing, but the personal
loss is tremendous for me,"
Magstadt said Tuesday.
'qre're going to miss him."
Magstadt called Bowles
a "people person" who took
to managing employees
naturally.
"Dan had a big smile
and laughed a lot," he said.
"He was able to engage
people on a personal level
in a hurry. He got to know
an employee quickly and
soon knew all of the impor-
tant details of that person's
life."
Magstadt called Bowles
a "resourceful" plant man-
ager.
"He was able to fit dif-
ferent kinds of production
equipment into the little cor-
ners he had to work with at
that plant," Magstadt said.
"In an equipment emergen-
cy we could count on him to
find the right people to take
care of it right away."
Magstadt said Steve
Banks has been named the
acting manager at the Sage
Creek plant.
EXCELLENT EMT
Tracy Hess of Lovell,
who has served with Bowles
as a member of the North
Big Horn Hospital ambu-
lance crew for five or six
years, called Bowles a very
strong and outgoing person
who had what it takes to be
an excellent EMT.
"I ran (on ambulance
calls) with him and learned
a lot from him," Hess said.
"He was a very good EMT.
He was very compassion-
ate when he was on a call.
There wasn't anything he
really didn't know. He was
a very confident person, the
kind of person you need to
be as an EMT. I enjoyed
running with him."
She said Bowles worked
for the ambulance service
See 'BOWLES,' page 6
DAVID PECK
Pajama Party!
It was Pajama Day Monday as Rocky Mountain
High School kicked off the 2010 Homecoming
celebration. Pictured are (l-r) Katelyn Jewell and
Chase Aagard in their finest nightclothes.
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The Lovell Chronicle, 234 E. Main, Lovell, WY 82431, Contact us at: 548-2217, www.lovellchronicle.com
