The Wyoming School Board Association which includes Park County School District 1 is no longer a member of the National School Board Association (NSBA). 

Kim Dillivan, PCSD1 board chairman, said he does not anticipate a change to the school board’s professional development as a result of Wyoming’s exit.

Individual school boards can still be a member of the NSBA, but Dillivan does not see a difference between membership to the NSBA or the Consortium of State School Board Associations (COSSBA) in terms of professional development opportunities offered to school boards. To his knowledge PCSD1 does not intend to individually join the NSBA.

Roughly half of the U.S. school board associations have opted to leave the NSBA in the months and years following a 2021 letter sent by the NSBA to President Joe Biden in response to school board enforcement of COVID-19 policies. It requested law enforcement aid due to “threats of violence and acts of intimidation.” The letter compared some parents to domestic terrorists. The NSBA has since issued an apology and leadership has changed, but many state school board associations have opted to move to COSSBA.

In July 2022, the WSBA decided to retain membership to the NSBA at least for one year while also joining COSSBA, Dillivan said. This July the WSBA board of directors, which includes PCSD1 board member Tracy Morris, looked at its membership again and the board of directors requested input from the state’s individual school boards before voting on whether or not to leave the NSBA in July; 12 directors voted to leave, five directors voted to stay and two were absent.

For more information about COSSBA, visit cossba.org.