After months of controversy and scrutiny, Sweetwater County School District No. 1’s superintendent was placed on paid administrative leave Monday after a school board executive session that lasted nearly 2 1/2 hours.
Board members voted unanimously to suspend Joseph Libby and also eliminated the assistant superintendent position held by Nicole Bolton, effective immediately.
School board chair Cole Wright did not immediately return Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment. He said the board was working on a press release and he was “very overwhelmed at the moment.”
Rock Springs Police Department public information officer Phylicia Lukacik told Cowboy State Daily that police officer Brenda Baker was called to the school board meeting during its executive session to effectively keep the peace.
“Nothing occurred that was problematic,” Lukacik said. “We were there as an agency assist.”
Kari Cochran, a parent who has been outspoken against the district as she continues to fight to get school records of her son, who committed suicide in 2023, talked to Cowboy State Daily from the parking lot of the school late Monday after the announcements.
“We’re all shaking and we’re coming to grips that action has been taken,” she said. “I think people were anxiously awaiting this to happen and I think people are just kind of in a crazy limbo mode.”
Wyoming Department of Education spokesperson Linda Finnerty told Cowboy State Daily the agency would respond soon.
Libby sat up front with five school board members while Wright announced the decisions. He did not look up and appeared to be taking notes. Cochran said Libby left immediately after the meeting.
The board also unanimously approved two confidential personnel recommendations involving matters discussed during the executive session, with written notice to be provided to the affected employees. The affected employees were not named.
It was unclear who will step in to fill the superintendent position.
Wright told TRN Media that Bolton will remain a district employee and is awaiting reassignment.
The district's website lists Bolton as its human resources director and Libby as superintendent.
Big Shakeup
Monday’s actions leave questions for the school board, which has been subject to intense scrutiny amid months of controversy, including recent state findings concerning special-education practices.
In January, the Wyoming Department of Education issued a decision finding the district out of compliance with federal requirements concerning student confidentiality and parents’ participation rights in multiple special education cases. The state required the district to implement a corrective action plan and undergo mandatory training.
The district has also faced criticism from parents and community members over communication, personnel decisions and other administrative issues.
Libby previously told Cowboy State Daily that the district disagreed with the WDE’s findings and had requested reconsideration of the state’s determination.
The latest personnel actions follow another special meeting Sept. 9 at the Lemich Law Office, where trustees also met in executive session to discuss legal and personnel matters. According to the minutes of that meeting, the board entered executive session at 5:50 p.m. and returned to public session at 8:30 p.m.
Last month, district parent Cherell O’Driscoll asked for the Board of Trustees to remove Wright from his position, claiming the board violated her rights to free speech by amending its public-comment policy last fall.
Listed as an agenda item on Monday’s meeting was suspending the district’s public comments policy for another month while the school board continued to revise it.
The board took no public comments at Monday’s meeting, and the majority of the meeting was spent in executive session.
“Something has happened,” parent Kelsey Hibbs, another outspoken parent told Cowboy State Daily Monday after the decisions were announced. “We’re not crazy.”
On Sept. 4, numerous employees of Sweetwater County School District No. 1 were not paid on time, though some reported to Cowboy State Daily they were ultimately paid, just hours later than expected.
The school district did not respond to Cowboy State Daily’s requests for comment.
Added to the agenda an hour before Monday’s meeting, school board member Matt Gardner, who represents Farson, announced his resignation from the board, effective immediately.
Gardner has not yet responded to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment.
This is a developing story. More information will be added as it becomes available.
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
