Who Closed Our Casper Schools? Inside Natrona County’s Public Records Dispute Over Bar Nunn & Woods
Written By: Seth Hollier, Coebie Logan, Derek Castellanos
When the Natrona County School District #1 (NCSD) Board of Trustees voted to close Woods Learning Center in Casper and Bar Nunn Elementary in Bar Nunn, families across Natrona County were left asking one basic question:
Who actually recommended closing our schools?
You’d think this would be easy to answer. This is Casper, Wyoming, not Washington, D.C. We’re talking about local schools, local kids, and a local school board that works for the public.
Instead, we ran straight into a wall.
Quick Snapshot for Natrona County Readers
We filed public records requests under the Wyoming Public Records Act to find out who recommended closing Bar Nunn and Woods Learning Center.
The district replied: “No such records exist”.
But NCSD’s own BoardDocs show written recommendations from “NCSD staff” to close the schools.
We also obtained official compensation records for the superintendent and confirmed large raises over four years.
Our earlier reporting on her salary increase was accurate, with one small overstatement we correct below.
The bigger issue: The district can document salary increases down to the penny but claims it can’t identify who recommended closing two Natrona County schools.
This isn’t just a paperwork issue. It’s a trust issue for every parent, educator, and taxpayer in Natrona County.
Part One: The Records Request – and the Answer No One Expected
On October 27, 2025, The Unmuted Podcast submitted a public records request to NCSD under the Wyoming Public Records Act (W.S. §16-4-201 et seq.).
We asked for one thing:
Records showing the names and job titles of the NCSD staff who prepared, signed, or transmitted the recommendation to close Bar Nunn Elementary and Woods Learning Center.
We specifically included things like:
Staff cover memos or transmittal letters to the Board
Author or signature pages of staff reports
Slide decks or reports listing authors
Any committee roster or charter connected to those recommendations
We did not ask for private deliberations. We did not ask for staff opinions. We simply wanted to know: Who made the recommendation to close two Natrona County schools?
The District’s Response: “No Such Records Exist.”
On November 25, 2025, NCSD Communications responded in writing:
“Regarding your request for ‘Records sufficient to identify the names and job titles of the NCSD staff who prepared, signed, or transmitted the recommendation(s) to close Bar Nunn Elementary and Woods Learning Center…’ No such records exist”.
No such records exist.
That answer is hard to square with NCSD’s own BoardDocs system.
What NCSD’s Own Documents Show
The public BoardDocs materials for the October 17, 2025 Board Infrastructure Planning Committee meeting include:
Agenda items titled: “Bar Nunn Recommendation” and “Woods Learning Center Recommendation”
Recommendation documents clearly stating that: “Natrona County School District (NCSD) staff recommend the following action be taken by the Board Infrastructure and Planning Committee…”
So on paper, “NCSD staff” recommended the closures — but according to the district’s public records response, no records exist that identify who those staff members are.
In a district headquartered right here in Casper, Wyoming, that’s either a massive breakdown in record-keeping or a serious transparency problem.
What Former NCSD Staff Are Saying
We shared the district’s response with former NCSD employees. Their reality inside Natrona County schools paints a very different picture of how records are normally kept.
A former NCSD educator, who commented publicly on social media, told us:
“This is an interesting response. When I was a district employee, we HAD TO put our names on a sheet in most if not all meetings attended. Someone always took notes and I was the timekeeper… If we HAD TO (per our Principal) do this, why wouldn’t a committee have that info as well? This seems like a quick and simple thing to release and, if it doesn’t exist… well that’s just frustrating”.
The same educator added more detail about how tightly staff were tracked:
“I remember the basics I stated above being mandatory—in case anyone from the hill needed proof we were doing what we were being paid to do during time without students in front of us. At every district training, my name went on a paper proving I attended. Meetings in the fall before the first day, PD Days, walking into the district office… like everywhere!
At the very least there is a list of names somewhere! If not, who in the heck keeps track of all those sheets? Are they just thrown away?
Real talk though, that email is dismissive and typical. I’m so grateful people are asking questions and modeling this for the community. Questions deserve answers and transparency is the only way to gain back trust”.
This is coming from someone who lived the system inside Casper and Natrona County schools day to day.
School Closures Didn’t Come Out of Nowhere
This dispute over public records doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s tied to a longer conversation inside NCSD about budget cuts and school closures in Casper and across Natrona County.
A 2024 Meeting That Changed the Conversation
A community member who attended the November 25, 2024 Budget Committee meeting pointed out something crucial:
“The minutes show that a trustee said ‘there may be a need to review school closures’ during the budget inputs section.”
That doesn’t directly answer all of the questions being asked, but it does show that school-closure discussions were happening long before the Bar Nunn/Woods recommendations appeared.
They went on to explain what the minutes leave out:
“What the minutes don’t capture is the full context from that meeting: the closure idea came up very early, before the district had seriously explored other budget solutions. The committee talked about doing a full program review to look for savings, but no actual public report was ever produced on those programs—even though consolidating or restructuring programs could have offered alternatives to closing schools.”
“This may not settle the records request issue, but it does show that the district moved towards closure discussions quickly, and without showing the public much of the analysis they claimed they would do beforehand.”
And the transparency problems don’t end there. Parents can be shown the salary of a single administrator, but what about the salaries of associate directors and executive directors as a whole? How are those positions being evaluated? Why is there no meaningful public input in the superintendent’s evaluation—and where is that evaluation for the community to see?
At the same time, the district keeps leaning on a “low enrollment” story and the idea that “no one is coming to Casper” to justify closures. But that narrative doesn’t match what families are actually experiencing. A local charter school is bursting with waitlists. Home schooling and online learning are growing. New houses are going up across Casper, Mills, and Bar Nunn. In other words, families are here—and they’re looking for options.
For families in Bar Nunn, for Woods Learning Center parents, and for anyone watching Casper’s school system, that’s a big deal. It’s not just about one closure decision. It’s about whether the district is being honest about its numbers, transparent about its leadership, and serious about offering real choices for kids instead of quietly steering them into fewer, larger schools.
Our Follow-Up: Three Simple Questions for NCSD
We didn’t stop with one record request and one confusing answer. We sent NCSD a clarification request, asking them to:
Confirm whether they maintain any record (committee roster, charter, board minutes, etc.) showing who served on the Board Infrastructure Planning Committee as of October 17, 2025.
Clarify whether any record exists—memo, email, transmittal, cover page, etc.—that identifies who drafted, reviewed, signed, or transmitted the Bar Nunn and Woods recommendation documents.
If no such records exist, put that clearly in writing.
We are currently awaiting their response.
The Bigger Picture for Casper and Natrona County
This story is not just about two school buildings.
It’s about how power is used in Natrona County and whether the people who live in Casper, Bar Nunn, and surrounding communities are allowed to see how big decisions are made.
If classroom teachers and building staff are required to sign in, document training hours, and prove how they spend their time… why would a committee that recommends closing schools be allowed to operate without any documented list of members or authors?
There are only two possibilities:
The records exist, and they aren’t being released.
The records truly do not exist—meaning major decisions were made with shockingly little documentation.
Either scenario is deeply troubling for anyone who cares about good governance in Natrona County.
Transparency is not optional in public education. It’s the price of public trust.
Part Two: What NCSD Did Release — A Salary Fact-Check
To be fair and accurate, we also want to highlight something NCSD did right.
In response to a separate public records request, NCSD released compensation records for the superintendent.
That matters because many Casper and Natrona County residents have been asking: Why are we closing schools to “save money” while top administrators get big raises?
We now have documents that help answer that question.
What the Official Payroll Records Show
We obtained NCSD payroll documents covering fiscal years 2021–22 through 2025–26. Here’s a simplified summary of what they show for the current superintendent:
2021–22 – Executive Director, Human Resources: $143,895.32 base salary; $6,198.46 additional compensation.
2022–23 – (ASSOCIATE SUPT-HUMAN RESOURCES): $178,350.00 base salary; $6,882.23 additional compensation.
2023–24 – (ASSOCIATE SUPT-HUMAN RESOURCES): $178,350.00 base salary; $6,882.23 additional compensation.
2024–25 – Superintendent: $216,456.73 base salary; $1,080.00 additional compensation.
2025–26 – Superintendent: $218,556.73 base salary; $0.00 additional compensation.
Did We Get It Right in Our Original Blog Post?
In a previous Unmuted post, we made several claims about the superintendent’s pay. Now that we have the district’s own documents, we checked ourselves.
Claim #1: The Big 2022–23 Raise
Original claim:
“In the 2022–2023 funding year… the current Superintendent received a $34,455 raise, increasing her salary from $143,895 in 2022 to $178,350 in 2023 under the same job title. That’s a 23.94% pay increase.”
What the records show:
2021–22 salary: $143,895.32 — Executive Director, Human Resources
2022–23 salary: $178,350.00 — Associate Superintendent – Human Resources
Raise: $34,454.68 (rounded to $34,455)
Percentage increase: 23.94%
Verdict: Mixed.
Our dollar amount and percentage increase were accurate, and the district’s own payroll documents support those numbers. However, we were inaccurate when we stated that she received this raise under the same job title. The raise coincided with a promotion from Executive Director, Human Resources to Associate Superintendent – Human Resources. We apologize for that error. It’s important that we model the accuracy and transparency we are asking of the Natrona County School District.
Additional Context: Overlapping Roles and Unposted Promotions
During that year, the district employed two associate superintendents at the same time—Walt Wilcox and Angela Hensley. That naturally raises a fair question for taxpayers: why are we funding two associate superintendent positions concurrently?
Walt’s situation is especially notable. By that point, he had already completed three years of service, which can be enough to qualify for an increased retirement benefit under some plans. However, he still needed to meet the “Rule of 85” requirement (where age + years of service must equal 85) to retire with full benefits. In other words, the district likely knew a retirement was approaching.
My concern is with the process: instead of planning a transition without duplication, the district brought in another person to “train under” Walt while giving that person the same job title—and paying them at an executive director-level salary. In effect, taxpayers were asked to fund two top-level administrators at once during a period when a retirement could reasonably have been anticipated.
In Natrona County, an employee must remain in a position for three years before their retirement benefits are calculated based on that role. It is notable that we’ve seen a pattern of superintendents staying only about three years before moving on. More recently, Walt was retiring while Amy Rose was also serving as Associate superintendent alongside him for roughly a year, through about May 2024.
This pattern extends beyond the superintendent’s office:
When Angela moved into the Associate Superintendent role, the position was not posted.
Likewise, there were no public job postings for the superintendent positions filled by Jennings or Hensley.
Former Executive Director Steve Ellbogen reportedly had his replacement on the payroll at an executive director salary for a year while that person shadowed him before his retirement. We are still working to confirm Steve’s exact title during that period, but the practice appears consistent with the broader pattern.
In other words, there have been years in which taxpayers were paying multiple executive-level salaries for the same or substantially similar roles either for overlapping “shadow” periods or for unposted internal promotions.
Questions for the Community
As a community, we should be asking:
Why are top administrative roles being filled without public postings?
Why are we paying for overlapping high-salary positions, sometimes two people effectively doing the same job or one shadowing another for extended periods?
Is this the leadership model we want?
If NCSD is primarily promoting from within a small inner circle (often referred to as “the hill”), taxpayers deserve a clear explanation of:
Why these additional upper-administration positions and overlapping salaries are necessary, and
How these decisions directly benefit students, teachers, and classrooms—rather than simply increasing the cost of central administration.
Are we comfortable with a system where leaders may be focused on a three-year window to secure retirement benefits, rather than being deeply invested in the long-term success of Natrona County’s future? That is ultimately a question for the community to answer.
Claim #2: “She Earns $220,000 a Year”
Original claim: “Now, as a promoted Executive Director turned Superintendent, she earns $220,000 a year…”
What the records show:
2024–25 salary: $216,456.73
2025–26 salary: $218,556.73
Verdict: Slightly overstated. We said $220,000. The actual current salary is $218,556.73. That’s about $1,443 less than we reported. We’re correcting that here—but the larger picture hasn’t changed: the superintendent’s salary is still well over $200,000 during a period when families in Casper and Natrona County are being told schools must close to “save money”.
Claim #3: Salary vs. “Savings” From School Closures
The Infrastructure and Planning Committee estimated that closing Bar Nunn Elementary and Woods Learning Center would save roughly $1.7 million per year.
Now compare that to just one salary:
Superintendent’s confirmed 2025–26 salary: $218,556.73
That single salary represents about 12.9% of the annual “savings” claimed for closing both schools.
We do not have the associate superintendent’s exact salary from the same documents, so we can’t fully verify the “quarter of the total savings” comparison for two administrative salaries. But the underlying point stands: top administrative pay in NCSD is a major line item, and it exists alongside closures of neighborhood schools in Casper and Natrona County.
The Superintendent’s Pay Trajectory in Four Years
Here’s how the superintendent’s salary progressed over time:
2021–22 to 2022–23 – From $143,895.32 to $178,350.00 (increase of $34,454.68, or 23.94%).
2023–24 to 2024–25 – From $178,350.00 to $216,456.73 (increase of $38,106.73, or 21.37%). This is when the promotion to superintendent occurs.
2024–25 to 2025–26 – From $216,456.73 to $218,556.73 (increase of $2,100.00, or 0.97%).
Total change, 2021–22 to 2025–26:
From $143,895.32 to $218,556.73.
Total increase: $74,661.41.
Percentage increase: roughly 51.9%.
So while families across Casper and Natrona County are hearing about budget pressures and school closures, the superintendent’s salary has grown by more than 50% in just four years.
Other Records the District Released
Along with compensation documents, NCSD provided several related records:
Mileage reimbursement
From the mileage reimbursement records, work-related reimbursements for the superintendent totaled approximately $399.45 based on invoices from October–November 2025.
Health insurance / COBRA rates
From the 2026 health insurance rate documents, we know that for a family on the $900 deductible plan the total monthly premium is about $2,590.62, with NCSD paying roughly $2,188.04 per month as the employer contribution.
These details matter for one simple reason: they show the level of financial detail NCSD is capable of documenting and providing when it chooses to.
The Real Transparency Test for Natrona County
We want to be clear and fair: we credit Natrona County School District for releasing compensation records. This is exactly the kind of public information taxpayers in Casper and across Natrona County have a right to see.
But transparency cannot be selective.
If NCSD can document salaries to the penny, track reimbursements down to the dollar, and publish detailed health insurance contribution tables, then it should also be able to answer basic questions like:
Who sat on the committee that recommended closing Bar Nunn Elementary and Woods Learning Center?
Who wrote and transmitted the recommendation documents?
What alternative cost-saving options were fully analyzed before closing schools was put on the table?
Right now, parents, educators, and taxpayers in Casper, Bar Nunn, and broader Natrona County are being told: “We can tell you exactly what one administrator earns—but we can’t tell you who recommended closing your child’s school.” At the very same time, the enrollment period has been extended, framed as giving parents “ample time” to review schools, even as real choices disappear. Small neighborhood schools are on the chopping block, large schools will only get larger, and that is not always good for kids, especially at the elementary level.
That’s not how trust is built.
The Real Transparency Test for Natrona County
Here is my real issue with all of this. We are
Why This Matters for Every Casper and Natrona County Family
This isn’t just about one administrator. It’s not just about one committee or one vote.
This is about whether public schools in Natrona County truly belong to the public.
If you’re a parent in Casper or Bar Nunn, you deserve to know who made decisions that uproot your kids.
If you’re a teacher or staff member, you deserve to know why your classroom is on the chopping block while executive compensation grows.
If you’re a taxpayer anywhere in Natrona County, you deserve full transparency from the people spending your money.
Questions deserve answers.
Public schools belong to the public.
Transparency is the only way to rebuild trust.
Documents Referenced (All Obtained via Public Records Requests to NCSD #1)
2021–22 Compensation – payroll records for the superintendent.
2022–23 Compensation – payroll records for the superintendent.
2023–24 Compensation – payroll records for the superintendent.
2024–2025 Compensation – payroll records for the superintendent.
2025–26 Compensation – payroll records for the superintendent.
2021–22 Job Title – job title verification (Executive Director – Human Resources).
2024–2025 Job Title – job title verification (Superintendent).
Mileage reimbursement records – vendor history and expense reimbursements.
2026 Active / COBRA health insurance rates – health insurance contribution rates.
October 17, 2025 Board Infrastructure Planning Committee agenda and attachments.
“Bar Nunn Elementary Recommendation” document.
“Woods Learning Center Recommendation” document.
About The Unmuted Podcast
The Unmuted Podcast, rooted in Natrona County, is committed to transparency, accountability, and amplifying the voices of the communities that public education is meant to serve.
If you live in Casper, Bar Nunn, or anywhere in Natrona County and you have documents, information, or a story to share about NCSD, reach out. We’ll listen. We’ll verify. And if it matters to our community, we’ll make sure it’s heard.