Southside Principal Scott Schiller gave an overview of the 2020-21 school year at the Feb. 9 board of trustees meeting for Park County School District 1.

Schiller’s theme was, “When you can’t do what you do, you do what you can,” taken from a Bon Jovi song of the same name.

A big part of the year’s success in spite of challenges was due to the children, Schiller said.

“I can’t say enough about our kids. They just want to be [at school],” he said.

Southside began the school year with 24 new teachers or new positions. In reopening the school after being shuttered in the spring by the COVID-19 pandemic, Schiller said he was actually glad for all the extra planning he and his staff had done to make sure they would be able to comply with health guidelines. It streamlined the loading and unloading of buses, and the social distancing issue was tackled in the lunchroom by placing clear dividers down the center of each table. 

Homecoming “floats” this year were decorated bulletin boards while the students still enjoyed the traditional dress-up days.

The monthly awards were held as usual, except the celebration was taken to the students in their classrooms. 

Halloween dress up was the same as always, even down to having the teachers and staff participate. Family night was held by having parents drive/cruise the route, and reading awards were given on Red Carpet Night.

Fire safety week went forward with the department visiting the school, complete with fire engines and firefighters fully geared up.

Early on the usual field trips were virtual, and Schiller said the new technology in the classroom made the virtual tours much easier to see and hear. As the year wore on, some visits were in person. For example, students made a trip to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody at a time that it was essentially closed to the general public, allowing for social distancing. 

Students sent Christmas letters to U.S. troops and the leadership team was restarted. It took on recycling at the school and held a pet food drive.

From time to time, science class was held in the gym, so that students could spread out and work on projects.

The annual ski trip was held for fifth graders this year.

“You can’t imagine how excited our kids were when we told them they would get to go skiing,” Schiller said.

But perhaps the biggest surprise was that the Southside students showed little or no learning gap from having been out of classes most of the spring and all summer.

Schiller showed test scores from various classes as evidence of how well the students are performing. Those tests compared winter to winter rather than winter to spring, since school was not in session in the spring.

The scores indicated that fifth grade students showed growth in both math and English/language arts and were ahead of the state level. Fourth graders, likewise, also showed growth and were ahead of other schools statewide.

“This shows how hard our teachers are working,” Schiller said.

Superintendent Jay Curtis added that he could not be more proud of Schiller and the staff at Southside. Board Chairman Trace Paul chimed in on the test scores as well.

“I think it is amazing [the students did not slip academically] considering all this year’s hurdles, the masks, the PPE, the disruption in the building,” Paul said. “To see this growth is just amazing.”