Wyoming

No More “Snow Days” In Wyoming Schools? Technology Is All But Killing Them.

Published

2 years ago

January 19, 2024

No More “Snow Days” In Wyoming Schools? Technology Is All But Killing Them.

Snow days could soon become something kids only hear about as hyperbole from their parents: “When I was your age, when it snowed too much, we got a day off to play.” With the rise of technology and growth of virtual learning that can reach even the most remote corners of Wyoming, snow days may be on the decline.

That’s because of a holdover COVID-era rule from the Wyoming Department of Education that allows school districts to call “temporary virtual education days” during events of inclement weather.

Although the rule changes were primarily brought in response to quarantine situations during the height of the pandemic, they also provide flexibility for districts to call for virtual learning classes instead of snow or “cold” days.

A virtual school day happens when class is taught to students by their teachers via computer at home.

Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder told Cowboy State Daily that 75% of Wyoming’s school districts already participate in the temporary virtual education policy requirements that allow them the discretion to determine when or if temporary virtual education days will be used.

A district must develop a board policy that meets the requirements of the Department of Education’s Virtual Education Rules. No school district is allowed to use more than 50% of their total days as virtual days.

“I think this is just another tool for districts to use to make sure that those needs of their students are met in their communities,” Degenfelder said. “It really provides a vast amount of flexibility for them to provide these temporary education days.”

Fewer Snow Days?

Clark Coberly, superintendent of Weston County School District 7, said the new rules allow his school district the flexibility to call for virtual days when it appears there will be multiple days of school canceled.

But they still didn’t stop his school district from canceling school Monday because of frigid wind chills that were as low as minus 45 in some parts of the district.

“First and foremost, on our minds is the safety of our students and staff,” Coberly said.

Weston District 7 serves communities in rural northeast Wyoming and operates on a four-day-a-week schedule. Coberly said his school district has no extra days built into the schedule this year, so every snow or cold day has to be made up at some point later in the year. Virtual days, however, count as a normal learning day.

“It gives us the extra option to still stay engaged with kids,” he said.

Park County School District 6 in Cody hasn’t called any snow days or virtual days this school year, but has one snow day built into its schedule.

Superintendent Vernon Orndorff said the district will have zero snow days built into its schedule next year and plan to lean on virtual learning days for most future inclement weather events to avoid extending the school year into late May or early June.

“It allows us to always keep our doors open next year and leverage that learning option,” he said.

But for many adults, the snow days they experienced as children represent some of their fondest memories. Orndorff said the district will take parental input into account when deciding which days to call for virtual learning, and he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that snow days could still be called at some point.

Snow piled up last winter around Jackson Hole, Wyoming, as storms would dump on top of each other and cold temperatures kept melting at a minimum. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)

In Person Still Preferred

Orndorff and Coberly said their districts will always prefer in-school learning and want to avoid virtual education days if possible.

“We feel that the best learning happens in school when students are face-to-face with their teachers,” Coberly said. “Virtual days are not a universal thing.”

Coberly also said his school district will still call for snow days and other weather-related cancellations if they appear to be short-lasting events.

But during longer storms and cold snaps, events in the past where Coberly said they “might not otherwise have any student contact” for long stretches of time, virtual days will now likely be the No. 1 option.

“Now, we have this flexibility to bridge the gap,” he said.

During the 2022/2023 school year, Weston 7 called two snow days and two virtual days, the latter of which Coberly said were well attended and successful.

Other Impacts

Also impacted by the closures are school employees, many of whom have to take paid days off to receive compensation for a virtual or snow day.

Orndorff shares the same preference for in-school over virtual learning, but also stresses that virtual work will be growing within the future workforce.

“In the future, there will be more and more situations where people will be working virtually and we want to prepare our students for those opportunities,” Orndorff said.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at Leo@CowboyStateDaily.com.

Source link

Wyoming

Meyer’s Late Score Lifts Wyoming past Air Force – SweetwaterNOW

Published

10 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Meyer’s Late Score Lifts Wyoming past Air Force – SweetwaterNOW

Naz Meyer. Mandatory Credit: Troy Babbitt-UW Media-Athletics

LARAMIE — Nasir Meyer converted a three-point play with 35 seconds remaining to give Wyoming Cowboys men’s basketball the lead for good, and Wyoming held Air Force Falcons men’s basketball scoreless over the final two minutes to secure a 66-62 victory Saturday night.

The win marked the 13th home victory of the season for Wyoming, which improved to 16-13 overall and 7-11 in conference play.

“Air Force deserves all the credit and let’s talk about a team that has every reason not to fight, but thats why they are Air Force and the cadets and I have a lot of respect for them,” Wyoming coach Sundance Wicks said. “They were not going to quit, and I didn’t drive that message home enough and hats off to Air Force because they deserved to win. We snuck away with a win. Adam Harakow showed when we need him and he was massive for us. Simm-Marten was made big plays and Naz was clutch for us late.”

Advertisement – Story continues below…

University of Wyoming sports coverage
in Southwest Wyoming is supported by these great sponsors:

Wyoming shot 35% from the field and went 7 of 28 from 3-point range, making just two from beyond the arc in the second half. Air Force shot 49% overall and 44% from 3, hitting eight shots from long distance. The Cowboys made 13 of 16 free throws (81%) and scored 22 points off 15 Air Force turnovers while holding a 39-36 edge in rebounding.

Damarion Dennis led Wyoming with 16 points and three assists, going 7 of 8 from the free-throw line. Meyer finished with 14 points and tied a career best with eight rebounds. Adam Harakow added 14 points off the bench on 5-of-6 shooting, his first double-figure scoring game since the first meeting with Air Force. Simm-Marten Saadi had nine points in 13 minutes, and Kiani Saxon grabbed seven rebounds.

Air Force opened with back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 6-0 lead. Meyer scored Wyoming’s first basket, and Leland Walker added a 3-pointer to make it 8-5 with 16 minutes left in the first half.

Wyoming responded with a 9-0 run over nearly four minutes, with Saadi and Harakow each connecting from beyond the arc to give the Cowboys an 11-8 lead with under 14 minutes remaining. Air Force regained a 12-11 advantage as Wyoming went scoreless for more than two minutes.

Harakow’s second 3-pointer pushed the lead to 22-16 with nine minutes left in the half, and Wyoming used a 6-0 run while holding the Falcons without a field goal for more than four minutes to build a 28-18 lead with six minutes remaining. The Cowboys closed the half on a defensive stand, keeping Air Force scoreless for the final two minutes to take a 35-25 lead into the break. Wyoming scored 15 first-half points off turnovers.

The teams traded 3-pointers early in the second half, and Air Force cut the deficit to 40-31 with under 17 minutes left before trimming it to seven 90 seconds later. Walker answered with a 3-pointer to make it 43-33 with 15 minutes to go.

Air Force used a 9-0 run during a stretch in which Wyoming went more than 3 1/2 minutes without a point to pull within one with nine minutes left. The Falcons later tied the game at 51-51 with 5:30 remaining after forcing six straight missed shots.

A pair of free throws by Meyer and a basket from Saadi gave Wyoming a 57-53 lead with under four minutes to play. Air Force answered with three consecutive 3-pointers from Kam Sanders to take a 62-59 lead with two minutes left.

Meyer scored with 90 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to one. On the next trip, he converted an and-one to give Wyoming a 64-62 lead with 35 seconds left. The Cowboys added late free throws to close out the 66-62 win.

Sanders led Air Force with 16 points and nine rebounds, going 4 of 5 from 3-point range. Eli Robinson added 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

Wyoming closes its home schedule Tuesday against Nevada Wolf Pack men’s basketball at 8 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with the Cowgirls.

Source link

Wyoming

Wyoming High School Basketball 2A State Tournament 2026

Published

22 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming High School Basketball 2A State Tournament 2026

The 2-time defending champ Tongue River girls, along with both teams from Big Horn will represent Sheridan County in the small school version of March Madness.

Click here to see results from the regional tournaments.

2A Boys:

First Round:

Thursday, March 5th: (All games played at Casper College)

(#2E) Big Horn vs. (#3W) Shoshoni – Noon

(#1W) Thermopolis vs. (#4E) Sundance – 1:30pm

(#2W) Wyoming Indian vs. (#3E) Wright – 6:30pm

(#1E) Pine Bluffs vs. (#4W) Rocky Mountain – 8pm

Friday, March 6th: (All games played at Ford Wyoming Center)

Consolation Round:

Big Horn/Shoshoni loser vs. Thermopolis/Sundance loser – Noon LOSER OUT!

Wyoming Indian/Wright loser vs. Pine Bluffs/Rocky Mountain loser – 1:30pm LOSER OUT!

Semi-Finals:

Big Horn/Shoshoni winner vs. Thermopolis/Sundance winner – 6:30pm

Wyoming Indian/Wright winner vs. Pine Bluffs/Rocky Mountain winner – 8pm

Saturday, March 7th:

Friday Noon winner vs. Friday 1:30pm – Noon at Ford Wyoming Center Consolation Championship

Friday 6:30pm loser vs. Friday 8pm loser – 3pm at Natrona County High School 3rd Place

Friday 6:30pm winner vs. Friday 8pm winner – 7pm at Ford Wyoming Center Championship

2A Girls:

First Round:

Thursday, March 5th: (All games played at Casper College)

(#2W) Wyoming Indian vs. (#3E) Big Horn – 9am

(#1E) Sundance vs. (#4W) Shoshoni – 10:30am

(#2E) Tongue River vs. (#3W) Greybull – 3:30pm

(#1W) Thermopolis vs. (#4E) Pine Bluffs – 5pm

Friday, March 6th: (All games played at Ford Wyoming Center)

Consolation Round:

Wyoming Indian/Big Horn loser vs. Sundance/Shoshoni loser – 9am LOSER OUT!

Tongue River/Greybull loser vs. Thermopolis/Pine Bluffs loser – 10:30am LOSER OUT!

Semi-Finals:

Wyoming Indian/Big Horn winner vs. Sundance/Shoshoni winner – 3:30pm

Tongue River/Greybull loser vs. Thermopolis/Pine Bluffs loser – 5pm

Saturday, March 7th:

Friday 9am winner vs. Friday 10:30am winner – 9am at Ford Wyoming Center Consolation Championship

Friday 3:30pm loser vs. Friday 5pm loser – 10:30am at Ford Wyoming Center 3rd Place

Friday 3:30pm winner vs. Friday 5pm winner – 5:30pm at Ford Wyoming Center Championship

Source link

Wyoming

Wyoming Crow Hunters Can Blast All They Want, But Nobody Eats The Birds

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Wyoming Crow Hunters Can Blast All They Want, But Nobody Eats The Birds

Mention of bird hunting might conjure up images of hunters and their dogs huddling in freezing duck blinds or pounding the brush in hopes of kicking up pheasants. But crow hunting is a thing in Wyoming too.

“It’s about the sport of it,” Dan Kinneman of Riverton told Cowboy State Daily.

He started crow hunting when he was 14 and is about to turn 85. He’s never tried cooking and eating crows or known anybody who has.

Instead, shooting crows is essentially nuisance bird control, as they’re known to wreak havoc on agricultural crops.

“All the ranchers will let you hunt crows. I’ve never been refused access to hunt crows. They all hate them,” he said.

In Wyoming, crow hunting season runs from Nov. 1 to Feb. 28. No license is required, and there’s no bag limit. Hunters can shoot all the crows they want to.

It’s a ball for hunting dogs too, Kinneman said.

“My yellow Labrador retriever, he doesn’t care whether it’s a crow or duck. In fact, he likes crow hunting more than duck hunting, because there’s more action,” he said.

Crow hunting requires skill, patience and a good set of decoys, an experienced Wyoming hunter said. The upside is, there’s no bag limit, hunters can blast all the crows they want. No one eats them, though.

Don’t Expect It To Be Easy

Kinneman said that in the days of his youth, crow hunting was as simple as driving around and “shooting them out of trees with rifles.”

However, as the number of people and buildings potentially in the paths of bullets grew, such practices fell out of favor. Crow hunting became more regulated.

And it evolved to resemble hunting other birds, such as waterfowl.

Meaning, hunters started setting out decoys, hiding in blinds and using calls to tempt crows to within shotgun range.

Kinneman is no stranger to hunting of all types. He’s taken numerous species of big game in Wyoming and elsewhere. And in July 2005, he shot a prairie dog near Rock Springs from well over a mile away.

He hit the prairie dog from 2,157 yards away. A mile is 1,760 yards.

But bird hunting has always been his favorite.

“It’s my life,” he said.

He has a huge collection of duck, goose and dove decoys. And two tubs full of crow decoys.

The uninitiated might think that going out and blasting crows would be a slam dunk.

That isn’t so, Kinneman said. He likes crow hunting for the challenge of it.

“Hunting crows is hard. They are a lot smarter than ducks and geese,” he said.

Pick Up After Yourself

Even though he doesn’t eat crows, Kinneman said he never just left them littering the ground where he shot them.

“I never let them lay out there. I always picked them up and disposed of the carcasses,” he said.

That’s good ethics and it shows respect for the ranchers, he said.

“Leaving them (dead crows) out there would be no different than just leaving all of your empty shotgun shells out there,” he said.

“You have to pick up after yourself, or the ranchers won’t let you back onto their land,” he added.

Slow Year

At his age, Kinneman isn’t sure how much longer he’ll be able to get out crow hunting. And this year has been a total bust.

“I love doing it. But this year there are no crows,” he said.

The Riverton area is along major crow migration routes.

Picking a good hunting spot is a matter of “finding a flyway” that the crows are on and then setting up a spread of decoys and a blind along the route.

But with an unusually warm winter, the crow flyways have been practically empty, he said.