CASPER — A parade of parents, teachers and local residents made impassioned pleas Monday night to save Bar Nunn’s only elementary school and a Natrona County school once praised by a U.S. Secretary of Education from closing after the 2025-2026 school year.
But Natrona County School District 1 Board of Trustees members, though expressing sympathy at the end of their three-and-a-half hour meeting, did not signal any strong willingness to change course from an Oct. 17 recommendation to close the schools by the district's Infrastructure Planning Committee.
A final decision on the schools will be made at the board's Nov. 10 meeting. The closures would save the district $1.7 million, the board projects.
“These decisions are the hardest decisions that can possibly be made,” said board President Kevin Christopherson. “Know we don’t take them lightly. We look at every angle; we look at every school.
"I knew that no matter what school was chosen, people would stand up and defend that school, because most people love their schools.”
The need for Woods Learning Center, a teacher-led K-8 community school, had many defenders among the more than 30 people who spoke at the meeting.
The school features two grades in every classroom, focuses on collaborative learning, student projects, and boasts student-teacher ratios that allow for one-on-one assistance.
The school is designed for up to 180 students.
Casper City Attorney Eric Nelson spoke as a parent saying that one of his six children graduated from eighth grade at the school, and he now has twins in fourth grade there.
He said he and his wife have been involved in the parent-teacher committee at the school for 11 years and expressed surprise at the way the closing has been handled.
“Families were not afforded any meaningful opportunity to discuss the rationale or learn the ‘why’ prior to the recommendation being made,” he said. “The savings would be minimal, but the loss would be immense.”
A family addresses the school board about the closing of Woods Learning Center. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
The overflow room at the Natrona County School District No. 1 board meeting was packed as people showed up to try and save their schools. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
Eric Nelson addresses the school board about the closure of Woods Learning Center. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
‘Not Just A School’
Nelson said the school, established in 1991, is intentionally small and has never had low enrollment.
“As someone that has been involved in addressing violence and bullying in our community, I can honestly say that Woods does not have these issues,” he said. “Woods is not just a school, it is a community, it is a family.”
Information provided by the school district states that long-term enrollment decline, excess elementary capacity and the “demonstrated community interest in the school of choice open enrollment philosophy” were part of the decision to choose the two schools.
Bar Nunn Elementary is at 35% capacity, and there are 1,400 open seats throughout the district at the elementary level.
Board Treasurer Kyla Alvey said the district’s 30-day enrollment count is down 428 students from last year, and the 30-day average daily membership is down 460 students from 2024.
“We are having a massive decline in enrollment, and it’s actually happening a lot faster than I think we anticipated,” she said. “This is not just happening in our state, this is happening nationwide.”
A board memo on the recommendation to cut the schools also mentions the number of births in Natrona County continues to decrease and that the average age of people moving to Casper is 60 and older.
Layoffs Not Planned
If the board follows through to cut the schools, layoffs are not planned, the district will use staff reductions through attrition and reassignment.
Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer told the board that “coming on the heels” of losing the proposed Radiant Nuclear project near the city, the loss of the town’s only elementary school would be “a big deal for our community.”
He said he did not “have much of a lifeline” to offer, knowing the elementary needs to attract more students or the city needs to bring in more residents in with young people.
Boyer said the community is seeking grants for infrastructure projects in a bid to lure other potential businesses to the community.
“We are not going to sit on our laurels just because we lost a great opportunity,” he said. “We are going to try and grow our community.”
He said he would be happy to talk to the board to discuss plans, knowing that it may not be enough to change the board’s decision to close the school.
Woods Learning Center alumnus Ryan Lojo said he is working to build the world’s first retail robotics company but remembers being “a scared little kid” on the Woods Learning playground nearly 30 years ago.
“For me, it was about having a family environment to go to where I could learn how to present and work with others,” he said. “That school enabled me.”
A Fulbright scholar, summa cum laude graduate of Gonzaga University’s business program, Vanderbilt University master’s degree honors graduate, and Peace Corps volunteer, Lojo said he was not a “typical student.”
District parents and students need options, and he encouraged the board to find a way to “maintain choice” for parents and students in the district.
Removing A Choice
Deyonne Jackson, a teacher at Woods Learning Center, also emphasized that closing the community school would remove a choice for parents and students.
“Both board members and community members have recognized that offering a variety of of educational options is key to retaining students and preventing families from seeking alternatives like private schools, charter schools, or home schooling,” she said.
Jackson said input from the community to the board has shown that innovation and different alternatives for parents and students need to remain “priorities and not casualties.”
She said cutting programs would hurt students and their futures.
Hannah Schirlinger, a second-grade teacher at Bar Nunn Elementary, said they teach students to get rid of excuses and look at challenges as hurdles “that they can jump over and win.”
“Don’t get hung up on the money over staff and low enrollment,” she said. “I know those are big issues, I understand that. But please see them as hurdles and not excuses.
"Imagine the support and ideas we could have if we worked together to come up with ideas to save money.”
Schirlinger asked the board to “think outside of the box” and “ask for help” to come up with a solution save the Bar Nunn school.
She said the trustees are missing an opportunity by not allowing staff to brainstorm with them to come up with ideas.
During board comments, Alvey characterized the cuts as “an incredibly difficult time and decision.”
She said she feels bad for Woods Learning Center and knows it is a wonderful school, but Bar Nunn is the only school her children have ever known.
Alvey pointed out that one of the speakers at the meeting asking to save the school was her daughter.
‘It Devastates Me’
“There is not one thing about that school that I don’t think is amazing,” she said. “I understand and value that school immensely. … We’ve looked at these numbers, and it devastates me.”
Alvey said the district hopes to find out where the missing students are going.
Trustee Mary Schmidt said if Woods and Bar Nunn close next year, she is confident other schools in the district would welcome those students and parents into their communities.
Christopherson emphasized that the board faces a “tough, tough thing that we have to do.”
“I wish we were … growing and building schools,” he said. “This is the second time through the closing school thing and (then) I had to vote to close the grade school that I went to that is a block away from my daughter’s house.”
The school board celebrated Bar Nunn Elementary at its Oct. 8 meeting for “meeting expectations” in the Wyoming Accountability School Performance ratings in the 2024-25 school year.
President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary in 2017, Betsy DeVos, visited Woods Learning Center and praised its innovative approach to education.
“The people here have begun to rethink school in a really significant way and are really looking to meet the needs of students wherever they are,” DeVos was quoted in the Casper Star-Tribune during that September visit.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
