Climate and Culture

Sweetwater County School District #1 Board of Trustees commissioned an independent company Upbeat to anonymously survey staff and provide clear actionable data.  The survey was administered the Spring of 2023 and the data was given to each building principal and district leadership.  SWSD#1 continues to monitor culture and climate. 

To see the Upbeat data:

• 2022-2023 Upbeat Data
• 2023-2024 Upbeat Data Staff, 2023-2024 Upbeat Data Faculty, 2023-2024 Upbeat Data Department

To view additional climate survey data, please click here.  

Fall 2021 Climate Survey

Climate surveys provide valuable information to better understand climate and culture in our schools. The climate survey is administered to all 6-12 schools in Sweetwater #1.  It is also used as an accountability measure for our alternative school, Black Butte High School.  Gathering student data can offer meaningful and valid information about relationships, school safety, school climate and culture. The climate survey results will be reviewed by schools and district committees upon completion. Results indicated a slight decrease in the level of expectations, staff respect/support as well as student respect/support. To see more detailed information please click on 2021 Climate Survey Results.

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**Due to COVID-19, the Climate Survey was not given Spring 2020.** 

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2018 Climate Survey

Climate surveys provide valuable information to better understand climate and culture in our schools. Originally, the climate survey was administered as an accountability measure for our alternative school. After seeing how easy the survey was to administer and how easy it was to read results, district leadership extended the opportunity to 6-12 schools. Gathering student data can offer meaningful and valid information about relationships, school safety, school climate and culture. District and school fall results have been reviewed by schools and district committees. Overview of results shows students believe that schools have high standards (88%), the teachers expect them to do their best all of the time (92%), the teachers have high expectations for students (87%) and the teachers believe they can perform well (88%). Students also believe the lack of respect is an issue in their schools. Students believe they do not treat property with respect (49%), they don’t treat staff with respect (47%) and they don’t treat each other with respect (55%).

"Since the passage of a 2014 law (Jason Flatt Act W.S. 21-2-202 and W.S. 21-3-110 ), Wyoming school districts have provided regular training in suicide prevention to educate staff. The Jason Flatt Act, requires that teachers and school administrators receive eight hours of training every four years using materials approved by the state Suicide Prevention Review Team. The curriculum includes information on how to identify and assist students at risk, such as recognizing warning signs and initiating conversations. While the measure lays out the minimum level of training required, some school districts have exceeded its requirements."  Suicide Prevention Resource Center www.sprc.org  

Further efforts are being made on the district level each year. As stated in the Sweetwater #1 Strategic Plan, stakeholders made it very clear that we want to "proactively support physical, mental and emotional health of our students and staff." To do this, Superintendent McGovern is taking additional steps by forming a crisis team to support suicide prevention.  Mrs. McGovern stated that "the purpose of our subcommittee meeting is to strategize ideas for training students and parents on suicide prevention." Currently, this team is exploring how to best reach parents and the community along with more support for students. The leadership/administration team is gathering thoughts from all staff and will be planning how to best roll this training out soon while being in partnership with community mental health professionals as well. The district is working to strengthen policy and protocols surrounding suicide prevention.  There is also legal representation and the the policy committee reviewing and revising a stronger policy regarding prevention, intervention and post crisis intervention protocol surrounding the topic of suicide.

Sweetwater County School District #1 has implemented two hours of training per year prior to January of that school year. It is mandated that every staff member, regardless of their position, is trained. We recognize that months which have higher suicide rates in our state are early in the school year and that is why we try to complete training in September, October and November with January being a deadline. Every school has a training on site as well as alternative trainings that occur to meet the needs of departments such as custodial, maintenance, technology, finance, and administrative staff. The counseling department meet together in the summer prior to the next round of trainings to plan for a unified way of delivering the information. The schedules are put out for anyone who cannot attend their usual training to enable them to attend a different one within the district. At the end of the two hour training, there is a quiz that all staff members must take and pass with 70% or better. The training handouts are available here.  

This year we have started the Signs Of Suicide (SOS) training along with piloting the training with all freshmen students attending Rock Springs High School. This has already proved to strengthen prevention and awareness within our student population.