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Parents and staff urge Goshen County School District #1 to commission independent air tests after silica dust concerns
Summary
Several Yodor area residents and district staff told the board they are worried respirable crystalline silica from a nearby processing facility is reaching Southeast campus; they cited Wyoming DEQ readings and permit violations and asked the board to order independent testing and publicly share results.
Community members and school employees pressed the Goshen County School District #1 Board of Trustees on June 9 for independent air‑quality testing at the Southeast campus after describing persistent dust, citing state monitoring spikes and alleging permit violations at a nearby processing facility.
Brent Anderson, president of the Yodor Fire Protection District, told trustees that research equates the danger of respirable silica to asbestos and asked the board, “If you discovered a school that had airborne asbestos floating around in and outside of the school, what would that procedure be?” He urged immediate action to protect children.
Multiple later commenters offered more detailed evidence. Tyler Werner said he reviewed Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality documents and cited a series of violations dating to 2022, including stack‑test results the commenter reported as 0.068 g/dscf and 0.0841 g/dscf against a permitted particulate limit of 0.025, and CO measurements reportedly far above permit limits. He also cited two high PM readings: 471.5 μg/m3 on Oct. 8, 2024, (the federal 24‑hour threshold is 150 μg/m3) and a PM10 reading he said was 962.5 μg/m3 on June 8, 2026. Werner asked the board to “commission independent quality air testing that specifically measures respirable silica” at the Southeast campus rather than wait for DEQ enforcement.
Samuel Foster, who identified himself as the district’s head custodian at Southeast, described visible dust layering in school spaces and on HVAC components and said maintenance staff had increased filter changes. “I’ve watched…students and your teaching staff walking around the football field breathing the dust particles that you can see floating in the air,” he told the board.
Trustees discussed next steps. Several said the school district has limited regulatory authority over industrial operations and suggested the county, state DEQ or state legislators are better positioned to enforce emissions rules. Superintendent Kramer and district staff said they had been included on community emails about the issue but had not been personally appraised of sustained testing requests before the meeting.
Board members suggested a range of actions: asking the DEQ what it knows and whether enforcement is planned; asking county commissioners to raise the issue with state regulators; and contacting state legislators to press for timely responses. One trustee said the district should use its influence to press regulators for answers, while another cautioned against the district stepping beyond its statutory authority and voiced concern about the implications of testing that found a hazard.
No vote was taken and the board did not formally commission independent testing at the meeting. Trustees agreed to pursue further information and outreach, including potential contact with state legislators and county officials, and to place followup items on a special meeting agenda.
What’s next: trustees said they will seek more information from DEQ, the county and their legislators and may schedule a special meeting to decide whether the district should commission independent testing or request regulatory action.
