Gomelsky joins school board
Sophia Gomelsky, a 19-year-old University of Wyoming student, will serve on the board through 2026. She was one of five applicants seeking to replace former trustee Alex Krassin.
Laramie High School graduate and University of Wyoming student Sophia Gomelsky will join the Albany County School Board following a unanimous vote Wednesday by the board’s other members.
Gomelsky, who is 19, will replace Alex Moon Krassin, who stepped down last month less than a year into her second term.
Gomelsky touted her history with the district during public interviews for the vacancy appointment. Before graduating from LHS, Gomelsky had also been a student at Slade Elementary, Laramie Montessori Charter School, and Snowy Range Academy, another public charter school.
“I want to give back to my community and the school system that kind of shaped me and made me who I am as a person,” she told the board. “The kind of perspectives that I bring, I think, are really unique in that I’ve experienced our schools firsthand, including some of the challenges and some of the potential that is still there for our district.”
Gomelsky started taking classes at UW while still enrolled at LHS, and was elected to the UW student government in 2023, as potentially the youngest senator in the body’s history. Gomelsky has also been involved with state politics as an intern and legislative aide, and said she has worked on “issues ranging from LGBTQIA legislation, gun violence prevention, mental health care and supporting public education.”
“I think those areas in that policy experience, knowing how to navigate our legislature, is something that can be a really useful asset so that we can be really proactive when it comes to addressing the needs of our community, especially with the upcoming budget session,” she said.
During the most recent session of the Wyoming Legislature, Gomelsky spearheaded a campaign to pass a limited overdose immunity statute popular with students and other young people. Gomelsky and her allies, building on years of related student advocacy, were successful.
Earlier this year, Gomelsky ran for student government president and lost.
Once vacancy, five applicants, three interviews
The Albany County School Board received five applications for the vacant position and narrowed that pool to the three who were interviewed Wednesday.
Christopher Stratton, one of the two applicants not given an interview, asked for more transparency about these procedures during a public comment before the board Wednesday.
“I spent several hours trying to find these procedures but came up empty handed,” he said. “Especially in the unsettling times we’re in now, boards can use that sort of method of cherrypicking to produce results that are not the voters’ intent but a minority’s desire. I don’t think that’s exactly what you all are doing by any means, but it is something that I would like to have on record how you create your pool whenever it comes to items like this.”
Board Chair Beth Bear told the Laramie Reporter the discussion about narrowing the pool of applicants was hosted in executive session pursuant to Wyoming’s public meetings law, which allows governing bodies to “consider the appointment, employment, right to practice or dismissal of a public officer, professional person or employee” behind closed doors.
The vacancy left by Krassin drew significantly less interest than some other vacancies in recent years. In 2021, Trustee Steve Gosar was appointed to the board from a pool of 16 total applicants. In 2023, Trustee Cecilia Aragón was appointed to the board from a pool of 11 total applicants.
The 2024 school board elections drew little interest, with only two challengers attempting to unseat the incumbents across four seats. Neither challenger was successful; the public reelected all four incumbents.
Gomelsky spells out her vision
Each interviewee was asked the same five questions, with the board rotating who answered first.
When asked how she would foster better communication and engagement with the community, Gomelsky listed a few specific strategies. Acknowledging that students are unlikely to respond to emails or fill out surveys in a vacuum, Gomelsky suggested providing incentives such as food or extra credit in class. She also recommended giving teachers time and space to share their concerns during assemblies or other meetings less formal than a district board meeting.
“I think the concept of shared governance is really important, making sure that students, for example, feel like they have a real voice,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of ways that we can communicate in a really creative setting, but I think it also requires bringing students to the center or forefront and helping teachers and parents kind of get that communication from them as well.”
When asked how the district ought to achieve its vision “to inspire all students to graduate as lifelong learners and engaged citizens,” Gomelsky recalled how her middle school history teacher inspired her to take up mock trial, and how her mock trial coach inspired her to take up public speaking, which led to her early interest in politics.
“I think experiential learning is the way to go,” Gomelsky said. “I think there’s no better way to learn than going out and trying it and seeing if it’s something that you really want to do and are passionate about or not.”
Students should have more allowances to pursue these opportunities, Gomelsky added, recounting how she used to skip class to serve as a legislative aide in Cheyenne.
“I’ve talked to students that want to see that exact same thing and want to have access to those opportunities without skipping their classes and getting in trouble from their teachers and counselors all the time,” Gomelsky said. “I think doing that for students is the best way we can invest in our community and back into them.”
Skipping classes wasn’t always consequence-free for Gomelsky, who said her teachers helped her through. Later, as a mock trial and debate coach herself, she said she’s aimed to pay that kindness forward:
I’ve seen students in similar situations — whether they’re struggling to keep up with their schoolwork, or things are happening at home with their family life — I’ve kind of found a way to connect with them and get to that deeper level where we’re trying to find out what the root of the problem is, and how we can distract from that, how we can find solutions to that, and how we can work together as a team to go through those kinds of decisions and hard things. So especially as a student, that guidance means everything. And I’ve loved being that person for so many students, and I can only hope that being on this board would help me do more of that and give back to the people that have done that for me.
Asked about the board’s own strengths and weaknesses, Gomelsky said the trustees are adept at navigating complicated topics and listening to community feedback. But she said the district should be more proactive when it comes to communication, mental health supports and state legislation.
In 2024, action by the state legislature forced Albany County Schools to implement a new policy requiring teachers and school counselors to out gay or transgender students to their families if those students came out at school.
In 2025, another bill preempted the district’s weapons ban, requiring Albany County Schools to allow members of the public to bring concealed firearms onto school grounds. The district has added training requirements for its own staff and volunteers but it is forbidden from requiring the same of parents or other members of the public who wish to carry in school facilities or at school board meetings.
“I also think the board would benefit a lot from being, and continuing to be, engaged at the state policy level, so that solutions can be proactive instead of so reactive,” Gomelsky said. “We’re seeing the community just bombarded with the poor decision-making of our legislature. Especially as we go into the budget session, I think being prepared and ready to deal with that legislative process is going to be something that we’ll really need and the community would really benefit from.”
The district watched the most recent legislative session closely and in horror. Some trustees, including Board Chair Beth Bear, even testified before specific committees.
The vacancy appointment interviews were conducted during a special meeting Wednesday just before the board’s regular monthly meeting. During that regular meeting, the board adjourned to executive session to discuss the applicants. After more than an hour behind closed doors, the board reconvened into public session to vote, unanimously, for Gomelsky’s appointment.
Because Krassin’s departure came in the first half of her planned four-year term, Gomelsky, as her replacement, will serve only through 2026. The new trustee will then have to stand for their first election to keep their appointed seat.