Kim Dillivan

Tracy Morris

Ben Borcher

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Two incumbents and a newcomer won seats on the Park County School District 1 Board of Trustees following Tuesday night’s elections.

Kim Dillivan and Tracy Morris have secured another four years on the board with Ben Borcher joining them for his first term. He takes the place of Laura Riley, who decided not to run after four years on the board.

This year’s race consisted of five candidates and one write-in, Jeanie Fortenberry, making it much less contested than in 2022 when 11 candidates ran for the school board. But, much like the last school board election, the most votes went to the newcomer— Borcher nabbed 3,269 votes followed by Morris’s 2,320 votes and Dillivan’s 2,081. Candidate Zac Opps was close behind Dillivan with 2,031 votes. There were a lot of undervotes in the race, which is where less than the number of seats available is voted on. In Powell 40% of votes for the school board were undervotes, while in Cody 51% of votes were undervotes — the only race where over half of the votes were undervotes. Meeteetse’s school board race had the lowest amount of undervotes at 33%.

Write-in votes totaled 540 or 4.53% of the 19,965 votes cast for PCSD1 school board candidates. 

“In terms of the election, I congratulate Ben, Tracy and Kim. I have no doubt that they will prioritize the issues that matter to our community and focus on how their decisions will impact our students,” Opps said. 

The newly elected and reelected members of the board will assume their duties on Dec. 1.

Ben Borcher

Borcher is grateful to the constituents who voted him in, “it’s a deep feeling of gratitude,” he said. Now, ahead of the December meeting it’s time to sort out what he can and can’t do in his new role as he aims to serve voters.

“You can't over promise something … but I just think, parents want to be heard, whatever that is,” Borcher said. “And so it's just kind of a matter of getting in there and figuring out what it is you can do to serve the people that voted for you.” 

Tracy Morris

In three words, Morris is “honored, relieved and excited,” she said.

The reappointed trustee was also voted onto Powell’s hospital board as a newcomer. As for the school board, Morris applauded the board and its stakeholders. 

“We have a fantastic board, a wonderful school district, staff, students, community, and I am just thankful that the community, the voters, trust that I will continue to do the very best to serve you. Know that I think there's always a lot with the legislator, legislation coming up here and so I will do my best,” Morris said.

Kim Dillivan

“I'm really excited. I'm looking forward to working with Mr. Curtis and with all the other school board members again, and, you know, having a chance to represent the district and work on behalf of students and work on behalf of all of our staff, and I'm really grateful, and I'm really honored to be part of this team,” Dillivan said.

The board has several items on its plate right now with a safety plan and strategic plan in development, along with yearly board activity including attending the legislative forum and Wyoming School Board Association, Dillivan said.