The Park County School District 6school board voted unanimously Tuesday to terminate Cody High School teacher and assistant high school and middle school girls basketball coach Sam Buck, siding with the hearing officer’s recommendation following Buck’s alleged misconduct with students.
Buck has denied all allegations.
Buck’s termination is effective immediately, according to official documents viewed by Cowboy State Daily.
Buck said in a phone interview with Cowboy State Daily that the vote was “definitely a blow.
“We’re going to pursue making sure the truth is uncovered,” he said.
Tuesday’s vote took place following a closed meeting with the school board, where they discussed a hearing officer’s recommendation on the matter. The executive session lasted about 30 minutes. The board returned to public session to vote on whether to fire Buck. All members unanimously voted in favor.
No public comment was allowed after the vote.
“As all discussion was in executive session there will be no conversation at this point,” Board Chair Brandi Nelson said.
The Allegations
Buck is accused of misconduct with students and was the subject of two Title IX investigations. The first stemmed from a complaint filed on Nov. 4, 2024, regarding a sophomore student at Cody High School who played on the junior varsity team that Buck coached.
The investigation found that the student exchanged text messages with Buck, talked to him on the phone and rode alone with him in his personal vehicle.
According to court records, the student’s parents did not consider Buck’s alleged behaviors to be “unwelcome conduct.”
A second Title IX investigation was launched while the first investigation was ongoing. During this investigation, a freshman student who was a cheerleader at the school alleged that Buck made “sexually suggestive and inappropriate comments” to her in his classroom about her clothing.
The student alleged that Buck accused her of being distracting in class, put "unwanted attention” on her and “treated her differently than the other students in the class.” The student’s mother requested that she be transferred to a different class, according to records from the Title IX investigation.
Park County 6 Superintendent Vernon Orndorff notified Buck that he was recommending Buck’s dismissal and termination as a continuing contract teacher on June 3, 2025, according to the investigation.
Orndorff recommended Buck’s dismissal because, according to records, Buck was found to have:
- “Sexually harassed a student by making inappropriate comments to her about her clothing and appearance, and by touching her inappropriately."
- “Exchanged an excessive number of personal text messages with female students discussing topics unrelated to school or athletics.”
- “Permitted groups of female students to regularly visit his classroom during school hours for non-instructional purposes.”
- “Transported female students alone in his personal vehicle.”
- “Had inappropriate physical contact with female students, including rubbing their backs and shoulders and violating personal space.”
- “Publicly posted photos of female students in sports bras and spandex on his personal social media account.”
- “Had students perform personal errands.”
The public posting of photos of female students in sports bras and spandex references an impromptu stop at a swimming pool in Thermopolis with the girls’ basketball team when their game was cancelled, records show.
Because the girls were not prepared with bathing suits, the team swam in their sports bras and spandex. Buck took pictures and posted them on his personal social media account, according to the investigation.
Buck’s Response To Allegations
Buck, who has worked as an educator for almost 20 years, has maintained his innocence of all allegations from the beginning. The district’s case, he alleges, is “premised on hearsay, speculation, contradiction, and facts that have been taken out of context.”
He told an investigator that “the process has relied on rumors, assumptions, and personal vendettas rather than credible, verifiable evidence,” records show.
The records further show that Buck claimed the investigation was “flawed and unfair,” and that he believed “the initial meeting was accusatory and hostile, suggesting minds had already been made up.”
While he acknowledged sending text messages to students and that some of them were not activity- or school-related, he denied that the texting was ever inappropriate and that it was “a way for him to connect with students.”
He said the photos he posted of the team at the Thermopolis pool was to “document a fun experience,” and that he sent them to parents and tagged those parents online.
“To me, it's been a witch hunt,” Buck told Cowboy State Daily.
The Public Termination Hearing
Last fall, Buck called for a public termination hearing, an unusual move because Wyoming public school district hearings on personnel matters are typically held in executive session, outside the public’s view. Buck, however, waived confidentiality, opening his termination hearing to the public.
“I have zero to hide throughout this whole thing,” he previously told Cowboy State Daily.
The hearing, which drew more than 20 members of the public and was at times contentious, took place over three days, Oct. 13-15, 2025.
Buck had legal counsel prior to the hearing but represented himself at the hearing due to financial constraints, the Powell Tribune reported. Buck had been on paid leave for more than a year following the accusations.
“Being in the situation I was, I wasn’t able to take on or get another job without having to resign or step down,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “I could have easily taken that way several times. But I didn’t feel like that was the right thing to do. Boards shouldn’t be able to bully people out of their positions.”
Buck was allowed to present his own testimony, but his request to call additional witnesses was denied, according to court documents. Buck admitted to Cowboy State Daily that he “failed” in his representation of himself during the evidentiary hearing.
“I fault myself for not getting timelines and witnesses,” he said.
Independent Decision-Maker
The Park County School District retained O’Kelley H. Pearson, an attorney specifically trained in Title IX and education law, as an independent decision-maker in both Title IX investigations.
Regarding the November 2024 allegation involving the sophomore basketball player who reportedly exchanged text and phone conversations with Buck and rode alone with him in his personal vehicle, Pearson determined that “a pattern of inappropriate conduct was substantiated by the evidence,” court records show.
She determined that Buck’s alleged conduct did not meet the definition of sexual harassment under Title IX because there was “insufficient evidence that it denied the complainant equal access to the district’s educational program.” However, Pearson asserted that Buck’s conduct reflected “a serious lapse in professional judgment.”
Regarding the freshman student and cheerleader’s allegations that Buck commented inappropriately about her clothing, focused unwanted attention on her and treated her differently than other students in the class, Pearson found that the evidence “proved that Buck’s conduct constituted sexual harassment as defined under Title IX.”
According to official records, Orndorff had no firsthand knowledge of the allegations against Buck. The school district superintendent's decision to recommend Buck’s termination relied on “findings of the independent Title IX investigations and the resulting determination of policy violations.” He said he found the “repetitive nature of the behavior” and the “chronic behavior that [Buck] continued to contact students on a personal level” particularly disturbing.
Buck has argued he is the victim of a flawed Title IX investigation process, where school district officials repeatedly work with the same third-party investigator.
No Public Comment
Shanell Hatch, a parent in the school district and supporter of Buck, attended Tuesday’s school board meeting. She told Cowboy State Daily she was troubled by the district not allowing public comments following the vote to terminate Buck.
“They really did not try to be transparent through it all,” she said via text message.
Buck, who learned a vote would be taken regarding termination of his employment less than 24 hours beforehand, said he wasn’t surprised by the way the vote went.
“They’ve handled this every step of the way to support a predetermined agenda,” he said. The agenda from the very beginning was to get me out, especially as a coach.”
Board Chair Brandi Nelson told Cowboy State Daily in an email Wednesday that Buck had been given the opportunity to present witnesses and documentary evidence to support his position at the evidentiary hearing, which he chose to make public. The evidentiary record was closed at the end of the three-day hearing, she said.
“The Board must consider only evidence presented through the hearing procedure while the record was open,” Nelson said. “The ultimate findings of fact must only be based on evidence and matters officially noticed and presented at the hearing, so that the other side has a full opportunity to rebut that evidence.
"Allowing additional evidence, including public comments, to be presented and considered by the Board after the evidentiary record has officially closed and after the hearing officer has been discharged of his duty to conduct the hearing, undermines due process."
She continued: “Mr. Buck's termination means female students and athletes at Park 6 will be able to fully participate in their endeavors without the fear of sexual harassment or retaliation from Mr. Buck.”
Following Tuesday’s vote, Superintendent Orndorff said he was working with his director of Human Resources, his administrative assistant and legal counsel in response to media questions.
An Open Book
Now, Buck said he and his family are thinking about what’s right for their family.
“Right now, it’s about moving on and getting another job,” he said.
He said he believes he needed to stand up against false accusations, even if it cost him his job.
“I’ve been an open book,” Buck said. “It was about making sure the right thing is done.”
Buck said even with the investigations, he looks back on his time in the Cody schools fondly.
“I loved my time at Cody, because I had so many great people, coaches, teachers. And I still do – people who support me 100% and know the ins and outs of everything,” he said. “Obviously it’s a sour ending, but I loved the people and the kids I got to work with.”
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
