TEN SLEEP — The Washakie County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees have selected a husband and wife team to lead the school and district. The board on Monday offered contracts to Annie and Robert Griffin for superintendent and principal, respectively.

During a special board meeting held Saturday, which followed the superintendent candidates’ meet-and-greet Friday night, the board authorized Chairman Erin Blutt to offer contracts to the husband-and-wife duo.

Erin Blutt said, “Based on the overwhelming feedback from the community, teachers and staff, we believe that Annie and Robert Griffin will create the culture needed in our school that will help our kids thrive.”

Superintendent Jimmy Phelps said that on Monday both Annie Griffin and Robert Griffin had been offered the positions and both have accepted. There will be a special board meeting Thursday, April 28 at 7 p.m. to formally approve the contracts.

Annie Griffin has accepted the superintendent position. Griffin has previously worked as a middle school and elementary teacher. She is currently in her fifth year as principal in Tongue River Elementary School where she has had immense success. Under her administration the school has been honored as a National Blue Ribbon School by the US Department of Education.

During the superintendent meet and greet Griffin attributed that success to holding herself, staff and students to high standards, always placing students first and working tirelessly together as a team.

These attributes are examples of her leadership style which she describes as servant leadership, she is there to primarily serve the students and what is best for them and to serve and support the staff.

When asked why she decided to seek the position in Ten Sleep, Griffin explained that there is something special about Ten Sleep and she wanted this to be the place that she worked until she retired. One of the most important things about her job is the connection to the students and being a small school Ten Sleep will allow that connection as a superintendent.

With the loss of teachers in Ten Sleep a substantial portion of the questions were regarding recruiting, maintaining and inspiring teachers. Griffin’s response to these questions all circled around a common theme, the school must be a place that people inspire to be at, a culture of inclusion, fun, laughter, trustworthiness and positivity and a place that people do not want to leave.

Griffin ended her time by saying that she knew that by asking that they hire her as superintendent and her husband as principal that they were presenting a big ask and explained, “I have provided multiple solutions to the board today and to the different interview teams, solutions about ways that Robert could be evaluated where it is not me, that would be nepotism. I cannot evaluate my husband that would be inappropriate. I understand that, I gave multiple options of work arounds and those workarounds came from me talking to the WSBA [Wyoming School Boards Association], information from lawyers, information from former superintendents and asking the teachers in my college courses that I have right now. I have deeply researched this and I would not be in front of you if I was asking you to do something illegal because that would be wrong of me. I have offered solutions for if there is a complaint.

“So, if there is a complaint against Robert as a principal and it comes from a community member, a child, a teacher or any of those I would ask that they go right to Robert because we know that if you have a complaint, it’s better to address it with the person that we have the complaint with. From there a person could come to me and I can assure you that I am a professional and I will be able to go Robert, what are you doing. We have been married 28 years it’s not something that I have problems addressing things. But the thing I can tell you is this, if someone is not comfortable coming to me than we need to have someone designated that they can come to and that is the work around for that.”

She added that if at that point the person with the complaint is not comfortable with the ideas provided and not comfortable going to Robert Griffin directly, then the complaint needs to follow the procedure in board policy.

“Here is the thing that I will tell you and here is what I have explained in every interview team today I believe that we are the best team to move Ten Sleep Schools forward and I believe it with my whole heart or I wouldn’t be here but I will tell you this it will only work if you believe in it and you want us here. Please do not bring us if your heart isn’t in it because it wouldn’t be fair to us either because we love kids.

“You will see, I promise you I will not let you down nor will Robert,” Annie Griffin added.

The other two candidates that were being considered for the superintendent position were Loren Engel of Laramie and Ron Orsak of Cheney, Kansas.

Griffin replaces Phelps who is retiring at the end of the school year, a year earlier than originally planned due to health concerns.

PRINCIPAL

Robert Griffin has been offered and accepted the principal position. Robert Griffin attended a meet-and-greet April 14. Griffin is currently a teacher at Tongue River Middle School and after 22 years of teaching feels that he can contribute to not only students but staff as well and it is time to begin a new challenge.

During the meet and greet Robert Griffin was asked what he thought the biggest challenge facing Ten Sleep Schools was he said, “I don’t want to sound negative, but I can see it in the staff’s eyes when they were talking to me. They need to feel valued they need to be heard and they need to be lifted up and I think when you start to do that a lot of the worries of other things will take care of themselves. Every building that I have been in that the teachers are valued and supported in different ways and sometimes it’s a thank you and sometimes it’s doing as much as you can for them while they are doing it.

“I think that’s the one thing that stood out today you need to have some fun, I want to see the light in their eyes come back. That would be the No. 1 target I would go after because the more fun they have the more your students are going to learn the more they are going to feel loved, and the bar is going to raise.”

Robert Griffin was asked what he could uniquely bring to the table, and he explained that most administrators go into administration after year five or six, he has rarely seen someone stay in the classroom for as long as he has, over 20 years. He believes that this experience brings another skill set and perspective because he understands what it is to teach and the ups and downs of that. He went on to explain that his heart is in it for the students, and it has been his entire career which is why he stayed in the classroom for so long instead of pursuing administration.

Near the end of the meet and greet Griffin shared his vison for teaching and the culture that he wants to bring to Ten Sleep school, he said, “Do your students, do your teachers want to be here, do they wake up and go this is going be good. I’ve went about teaching that way, I wanted to be the teacher that students wont schedule their orthodontist appointment during, they won’t miss my class. I want to create that school culture here so everybody is like what is going to happen next this is awesome I want to be there. I’m stoked to see where we can go if given the opportunity.”

Curt Mayer was the other principal candidate that came to visit the school and partook in a community meet and greet.

Robert Griffin will replace Levi Collins who is leaving at the end of the year to become a superintendent in Montana.