With the south end of the Star Valley community experiencing evacuation orders over the weekend due to the presence of the Willow Creek Fire currently active over the Salt River Pass on the south end of Star Valley, Lincoln County School District #2 is on alert with response plans to support families and students.
“We appreciate the officials of Lincoln County,” said LCSD #2 Superintendent Matt Erickson in an interview on the SVI Radio Network. “We had a lot of communication with them through Saturday and Sunday.”
RELATED: RADIO INTERVIEW WITH MATT ERICKSON AND RYAN LYMAN –
The district administrative leadership team met over Zoom on Sunday evening, working to put “contingency plans in place, not only for transportation but for food service and getting those kids who were evacuated some breakfast and lunch. We tried to communicate directly with all the families that were affected.”
Erickson admitted that the district had not thoroughly explored the possibility of responding to wildfire. “We have a lot of safety protocols in place and try to plan ahead [for emergencies] as best we can. A wildfire like this, with evacuations, I will readily admit that I don’t know if we were as prepared as we should have been. We are always learning and growing so we appreciate our stakeholders and parents being patient with us and extending us a little grace.”
This experience with the Willow Creek Fire pushed district officials to create emergency plans for this particular fire over the weekend out of necessity. “We will be better prepared in the future should, heaven forbid, we have another wildfire. We hadn’t really planned for what we would do should a Yellow Zone become a Red Zone during the school day. Now we can handle that.”
The LCSD #2 counseling team has been available to support students who have expressed concern or been displaced by the fire. As smoke became visible on only the second day of school, students on the south end of the valley, particularly at Osmond Elementary School, voiced their concerns and received the support they needed.
“We have great counselors who are very empathetic and prepared for these types of situations,” said Erickson. “So, we’ve also had some counselors involved in offering services to any kids who could benefit from that.”
Transportation is particularly affected by this situation. Ryan Lyman, who serves as Transportation Director with LCSD #2 discussed the department’s response to the wildfire in the same interview. “We communicated with the County Emergency Preparedness Department and verified “which roads were safe for bus travel” and that “we aren’t in their way and have places to turn the bus around safely and have places to pick up students safely.”
With the evacuation rescinded, but families still in a ready stage for evacuation, buses are currently running normal routes. Lyman explained that students are permitted to board the bus at any regular bus stop that is safe. If an evacuation order is issued in the middle of the night, families are not expected to find a specific bus stop for their students. “Families can go to any bus stop.” They can scan and get on the bus with their student ID.
Erickson praised Lyman, Nathan Wescott, who is Director of Special Services, which includes Safety and Counseling, and other district officials. These teams “did a great job,” said Erickson. “Things have been handled very well.”
