001I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order. We'll start with roll. Welcome everybody. Director Assad Lucas >> here. >> Director Batistelli >> here. >> Director Goldstein >> here. >> Director Marsh Holshen >> here. >> Director Potter >> here. >> I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda as stated. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Director Assad Lucas. >> I. >> Director Batistelli. >> I. Director Goldstein. I, >> Director Marsh Holen. >> I, >> Director Potter, >> I. >> Okay. Um, rise if you are able for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Um, we'll start with the superintendent update. >>
002Thank you. So, I'll be brief, but a few items uh that are timely that I'll update you on. First is that I was delighted to sign an intergovernmental agreement today with the city of Thornton that will if they approve it on their site as well, which we expect to happen next week, result in the transfer of parcels of land adjacent to Thornton High School to the district so that we can build out our redesigned new and improved Thornton High School and Bowman campus as part of the bond project. So grateful for that. uh been a lot of work on negotiating that and so I'm grateful to our staff and to the city staff for making that happen. Second thing that I would uh talk about, I think there's been a lot of angst amongst members
003of the board and others in our community about some of the the changes in federal funding that will affect programs like SNAP or at least uh because of the shutdown will impact SNAP benefits to families starting November 1st. And I just know that we've got folks in the room, including Lisel, who's going to be at a couple of meetings tomorrow, that are going to be learning more about where things stand. And I'm confident that if we have some gaps in terms of food availability and financial access to food, that we will do our very best as a district to work with some of our partners to help support students and families in getting food. I think the time frame that many of us worry about the most if this shutdown drags on a long time
004is the Thanksgiving week because at least for our students when they're at school, we can get food to them Monday through Friday, two good meals a day. And if they're not with us for an entire week, I think we worry about that. But I know there's a lot in our community who share that concern and have a good deal of optimism that we will find solutions to help families through. Special education funding is something that uh was raised as a concern in a discussion I had with one of you recently and I checked in with our special education director and our finance director and it's our collective belief at this point that there's no funding to our district and to support the students in special education and Adams 12 that's a jeopardy at this point.
005A lot of the cuts you're reading uh about in the media at the federal level regarding special education are on the legal compliance side. So right now, if someone argues or claims that a school district's not meeting its obligations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, they can often go through a complaint process with a variety of federal agencies to have that investigated and it resolved. That's often been a pretty slow process in the past um because I think the number of issues that would be presented, the number of staff to work through them haven't aligned very well. I would expect the delays to become more significant. And at the same time, I still believe there are some state level agencies that can respond to allegations of non-compliance under the exceptional children education act, which
006is a state law similar to the federal law. that state agency is also uh typically very poorly staffed. But I guess it's a good news bad news way of looking at it. The good news is that the money that uh we're looking for to support students and to have our staff serve them and provide the necessary equipment should remain intact. But if somebody were in a place of feeling like they're not getting served in the way that the law requires, getting redressed to that could take a lot longer. um we will continue as we always do to strive uh to be in full compliance not only with the law but uh in meeting the best interest of kids. And then the final thing I wanted to share, and I think I may have mentioned this
007to you before, but this year's theme um that I launched uh starting with my welcome back message to staff was about scrappiness. And I had on my little white and blue scrappy uh long sleeve sweatshirt. And I've since challenged our system to submit stories of scrainess where people are being resourceful, where they're really perseverant, determined, they don't let obstacles and challenges get in the way of um getting something done to serve our kids in our community, even though we're resource limited in Adams 12, as we all know, and that's part of the reason behind 5B. And so we now have three people that we've identified. The first was our uh facilities maintenance team that supports V-Mac and the stadium. They cleaned all the grudge off of uh the walls at V-Mac in late summer. The
008contractor quote, if we would have gone that path, would have cost us $40,000 plus more than that cost us even with staffing time and materials to do that same task. So, we had lots of people step out of their formal job description, clean that pool, um, put lots of sweat equity in, and save us more than $40,000. The more the two more recent uh, folks I've acknowledged, one was our plumbing team that has had probably a dozen plus significant sewer blockages that they've had to address on an emergency basis, after hours, before school, after school, on weekends. We've had a lot of students that seem to treat our toilets as trash cans and they'll flush down uh lots of feminine products that are unopened. They'll flush their lanyards, pencils, underwear, socks, a variety of things.
009And so that crew has had a number of sewer issues to resolve. and even though they've often had family commitments, um other plans, they step up and they take care of those things late in the night, over the weekends, in the morning. Tremendously grateful to them, both in terms of making our facilities functional and also saving us money if we were to outsource all of that to contractors. The third group that we've shouted out is the Shadow Ridge counseling team and educators. This year, as we started the school year, Shadow Ridge was significantly underenrolled in sixth grade compared to what we projected in the spring to the tune of about 80 students. And as the school year settled in and the staff looked across the grade levels, they recognized that sixth grade class sizes were
010much lower than in seventh and eighth grade. and that all the students in that school could benefit by reshuffleling students between classes and reshuffleling staff to students so that we could reduce class sizes more consistently across all three grade levels. Big enterprise because it require all the counselors to do schedules over by hand. So grateful that uh they put in all the sweat equity to make that happen. And then a number of educators wound up teaching classes that they hadn't planned to teach and weren't teaching in those first couple of weeks of the school year. But they all leaned in to take on a different challenge um for the better betterment of our students. And in the end, the other big consideration was that we wanted all the kids to stay with the teachers with
011whom they had formed bonds those first couple of weeks of the school year. So it was a big task. grateful to all in that school for the way um they made that better for students even though it was hard and not convenient. And then the honorable mention uh that I acknowledged before our principles about a week ago is that uh I received the honor honorable mention scrappy award because as I was walking my dog near a Boulder Valley K8 school recently, I realized that they had stolen four of our uh traffic cones. They still had Adams 12 painted on them. And so I've now confiscated three of the four that I identified. The other one will be confiscated this weekend. And at $15 per cone, uh which is what I've seen in my online search,
012uh I've returned $60 back to Adams 12. So that's my report. Uh that's my report for tonight. Um I also recorded a message today just asking uh encouraging people to vote. We have a big important election with two schoolboard races uh one contested for people to vote on as well as this ballot measure and hopefully people will vote. I know offyear elections the turnout is often poor and there's a lot at stake in this election. So hopefully people will exercise that uh duty and responsibility and participate in the election. That's it for me. >> Thank you. Okay. Uh Director Potter. >> Um I'll keep it really short and start by saying thank you for recovering our cones. Superintendent Gadowski. Um, also I am very excited that Halloween falls on a Friday this year. So hopefully
013all the teachers can have a whole weekend of kid recovery time before they come back on Monday. Um, so I hope everyone has a great, safe, really safe Halloween. And that's all I have today. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Marshin. >> Um, thank you. I hope everyone had a great fall break. Um, I was able to, uh, before fall break do the, um, STEM lab blood drive, um, which was really fun. And bonus, uh, the library was really cold, which they all mentioned was really cold the day before as well, but it was very good for the blood drive to have a cold library. So, um, guess we, you know, can always get those wins. Um, I wanted to congratulate um, Studio's first grade teacher, Miss Martin, who got um, an award for new
014teacher this month. And, um, just a a personal note, as I was sitting in, uh, the work study, I found out that um, one of our Adams 12 alumni students has passed um, from cancer. She had it while we were in high school together um, and had battled it since then. So, um, she was a legacy alum, um, 2005, Megan Peterson, and I'm sure, uh, uh, there's a bunch of Legacy High School teachers that will remember, um, her and how, uh, just vibrant she was. So, always always hard to hear, but just wanted to say that. >> I have a bad voice. She's going to read for me. >> Well, wait. director Vatiselli by way of director Assad Lucas. >> All right. Um, apparently Paula's son has informed her her v voice is unpleasant and
015so um I will be reading her comments. So during National School Lunch Week, um I helped serve lunch to kids in Tarver Elementary School. They were also testing out a new composting program spearheaded by the instructional coach at Tarbor. The kids were really excited to act as helpers in the composting program. It was great to see. I want to thank Stacy Lambrite, the energy and sustainability manager, Jessica Hillman, the instructional coach who helped initiate the composting project, as well as the lunch monitors and the head custodian for putting up with me and all of my questions at that time. It's good to see kids interested in sustainability and energy measures and in keeping their schools clean and tidy. As a former free school breakfast and lunch kid, I'm glad to see school lunches uh free
016to all who need or want them. Hungry kids can't learn. You know, these aren't my comments when somebody says a lot of question asking a lot of questions. On Friday of that same week, Molly Brandt, our chief operating officer, took me on an appreciation tour for a classified staff. We started at Wigland Elementary School where I visited the base program and was able to wish happy birthday to a cafeteria worker. I also helped preschool kids with their family style breakfast. That's likely where I caught this bug, but boy was it worth it. Preschool kids are the best. I visited the outdoor services building where I learned that we have 63 buildings maintained by 12 ground uh groundskeepers who are tasked with keeping our school grounds looking orderly and neat. This is in addition to what
017our custodians do as well. I visited our bus area along with dispatch and rounded things out by visiting the HVAC and plumbing team as well as the instructional materials library team and Chromebooks preparations and repair team. With the Chromebook team, I apologize on behalf of parents everywhere for this for the state that kids laptops are sometimes returned in in the instructional materials area. I met someone there who has a job I envy. She documents all the incoming new books for our area school libraries. I just want to remind folks that Adams 12 has over 30,000 students. They have over 4,000 employees and they have 63 facilities to maintain. Thanks to the hard work of our classified staff, we do all right. Keep all of that in mind the next time you look at the budget.
018We only spend somewhere around 28% on operations. That's kind of amazing. Everything else goes to learning. I want to thank Principal Kerber, Christina Meisner, Garrett Cross, Mark Lundy, and the numerous other people who welcomed me and showed me the ropes. Thanks everyone. >> Thank you, Director Bastelli. >> Director saw Lucas. >> Hello, as myself. Um, so good evening everyone and thank you all for being here. We have um some special guests that are close to my heart that I'm excited to hear about later. Um, so on October 6, I I attended Federal Heights and STEM launch along with President Goldstein and Superintendent Gdowski um to discuss title schools and then um and the needs that they face um and the great work that our schools do to serve kids along with a represent or a
019an individual from Representative Evans office. Um he did not show for that visit but sent a representative along with um two was it rep committee members? Yeah committee members from his >> well there were two staff members from his office and then >> two committee members one of them was Alison Doppler and the other was the gentleman from St. Brain >> from St. Brain. Yeah. So, um just got to walk around, hear what we do, hear the programming, um specifically at those two schools, but also how our other title schools are um providing services to students. on the 7th attended the FiveStar Education Foundation Cheers to the Future event. And um if anyone knows about our foundation that the great work that they do and the strong support they give our district uh in many
020in many ways. One of the big ones is um helping supply our resource closets and especially now um with SNAP being in question how much they are able to provide food and resources to families that really need it. in order to show up in school the way that they need, getting their basic needs met. So, um it's just always great being able to celebrate the foundation and all the work that they do to support our district. Uh on the 10th, I got to serve help serve lunch at North Glenn High School and I will never complain about cooking for four children ever again. Um and like and man that was probably one of the most smoothest like operations I think I've ever seen in a kitchen. And um they without even flinching uh served 800
021kids. So, one thing what this is probably one of my most favorite events to do every year and celebrate nutritional um appreciation week is because so many of these kids, as uh Superintendent GDowski shared, these are sometimes the only two meals or the two most efficient meals that they get out of the day. Um and so our nutritional services really really supports educational um learning opportunities because anyone who knows anything about Maslo hierarchy of needs our kids will not learn without their basic needs being met including being fed. So thank you so much to our nutritional services um department because without you we cannot function as a district. Uh last thing is on the 17th I had the privilege of attending the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition Gala. Um unfortunately I did not know much about
022this organization before this but this is an awesome organization. Uh it's really vital in supporting and encouraging parent engagement and especially amongst our Spanish speaking parents. um just getting them uh into schools into understanding the educational process and helping their kids be successful show helping with attendance, helping get them um to show up and the importance of getting to school. But um it's a great great organization that does a lot for so many kids. Um, so besides that, just continued campaigning and sharing information about the mill and how important it is to support our community. And as we keep saying, strong schools equal strong communities. And it's a really really important measure that uh will will determine what we can do moving forward. But we um one thing that we I think our district is
023the strongest with is transparency. And so again, the dollars that we say we're going to use, we've shown over and over that we will use them in that way. And this mill will do exactly that. support our educators to to support our students, increase um programming opportunities and also um increase uh um sorry my my kid just walked in so it distracted me. um um but just increase things that again we can provide for our students in ways that our community will benefit from. So thank you all and uh have a great evening. >> Thank you. All right. Um, since our last board meeting, um, I attended Taste of ELD at Thornton Middle School and that was where all the um, the kids that have cultural, it was cultural food night basically and it and
024people brought in a lot of stuff that they cook. I didn't eat, but I did get to visit with some of them and um, it was it was a great event, well attended and a lot of energy. I got to go to the great ed lunchon. Um the grade ed lunchon was through grade ed Colorado and it's a pro public education group and every year we we meet uh we have they have this lunchon and it's just nice to be in a place wasn't a room it was a tent in the botanic gardens and it was a lovely day and just with people that think the same way I do about public education. I too, you know, as um Director S Lucas mentioned, I already I went to Fed Heights and STEM launch with um
025Representative Evans's staff members. Um I served lunch at Leroy Drive during uh lunch week and that was fun because I actually felt like I gave them kind of a break that day because I was an extra person and I worked really hard and we got six groups of kids fed in I think I was there three hours, not even. And so it's it's fast and furious in school lunches. Um and then at the end I got to sit and eat lunch cuz I was hungry after all that. Um I have been practicing with the Westlake band, the eighth grade band. Um so if you're not doing anything next Wednesday night and you have any ties whatsoever, even if you don't have ties to Westlake, um that just happens to be the school that I started
026my adult life in. And um there's a a 50th anniversary band concert um I am playing in that and um the piano and today when I went and I did go into eighth grade band today and and um Mr. Winholm he introduced me and said then what years did you teach there? And I told him and uh I really think Westlake was like maybe seven or eight years old when I started there. Um but anyway I knew where the band room was. So that was cool. So come next Wednesday at 6:00 and hear the band and there'll be food trucks and it'll be a nice little 50th anniversary celebration. Um and then I too went to the foundation event at Pro. I went to the car Colorado uh student and parent coalition. Um and then
027last night I popped into the dyslexia um awareness pre uh presentation. Laura Mitchell who used to sit on this board is very involved with COID, Colorado kid and um some of the folks from literacy here in the in the district. Um there was a panel and uh Bill Penny was a part of that and the kid there were kids who um have dyslexia and they were asked questions and talked a little bit about their struggles and how they've coped. And then I did not stay for the movie. Um but I do intend on watching it because it's it's streamed but it's called Left Behind and I'm sure um it's pretty impactful. I I've know how kids who struggle with reading I really do um have struggled to keep up. So that's that that's my report.
028We are on to general public comment. Good evening. The board welcomes public comment to learn about the preferences and concerns of the Adams 12 five-star community. Each speaker will have three minutes. Please use the microphone and state your name and city of residence before beginning your comments. Please give any handouts or information you would like to share with the board to Lee Koka. A 3minut timer will be set for each speaker. Please keep an eye on the timer and kindly conclude your remarks when your time has expired. Our first speaker tonight is John Brown. Thank you. Hi, my name is John Brown and thank you for having me. During the public comment period of the October 1st school school board meeting, a voice spoke out against violence within our schools, the Charlie Kirk assassination and
029extremism. This same voice asked to censure our teachers and to reprimand them for making inappropriate comments regarding Charlie Kirk and his passing. Nobody should ever be murdered, imprisoned, or harmed over their political or religious beliefs. nor should any attempt to silence these voices ever be celebrated. And while I personally didn't agree with most of Charlie's views on trans people, people of color, immigrants, or a host of other issues, he did not deserve to be murdered for them. Our nation deserves better. For the sake of stopping violence, we need to not only address what happened to Charlie, but also to discuss the messages of hate he spread as a popular commentator and podcaster. He built his brand on being shocking and demonizing minority and marginalized groups. Here are some of the hateful things that he has
030said. On June 11th, 2024 episode on his part podcast, Charlie referenced Leviticus 2013, "Thou shall lay with another man shall be put to death," for which he stated was God's perfect law when it comes to sexual matters. On January 23rd, 2024, he said the following on his podcast. If I see a black pilot, I'm going to be like, boy, I hope he's qualified. On May 19th, 2023, he also said the following on his podcast. Happening all the time in urban America, prowling blacks go around for fun to target white people. That's a fact. It's happening more and more. In September 2023 speech, he said that trans people are a throbbing middle finger to God. He then singled out Leah Thomas, a swimmer and transwoman, by then naming her and telling her that she is an
031abomination to God. He said the following in a message to Taylor Swift on August 26th, 2025 podcast, reject feminism. Submit to your husband, Taylor, you're not in charge. And those are only some of the hateful words Charlie had said. One of the best things about being an American is our freedom of speech and is a disservice to everyone that Charlie's speech was silenced by a bullet. To take this further, it's also a disservice to silence the speech of others who want to discuss Charlie's death without putting him on a pedestal or not being sad about his passing. This holds true for Jimmy Kimmel. And this also holds true for teachers. And to be crystal clear, criticizing Charlie Kirk over some of the awful things that he has said does not condone or support violence. I'm
032going to finish this with a quote from Benjamin Franklin, one of our founding fathers. Who would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freess of speech. Thank you everyone for your time. >> Thank you. [Music] Our final speaker is Katie Lewis. Thank you. Hello, my name is Katie Lewis. I am a therapist in Westminster and I specialize with working with clients with complex trauma and I also work with the trans community. I like I promised before, I am here to speak in support of the trans community and I'm I hope that what I what I have to say will help others find empathy and understanding for the community. I want you to imagine a happy six-year-old girl going to kindergarten for the first time. She is nervous and excited to start
033school and be around kids her age. The first day, the teacher starts to introduce the students, and she makes sure to inform the students that she would like to be um called Kate instead of Catherine. The teacher informs her that she has to refer to her by her real name, even though Kate says that she doesn't like that name, and her family also calls her Kate. This is told to her, even though other students are allowed to use a different name. When it is time for her to use the bathroom, she is told that she has to use the girls' room. But this makes her uncomfortable because she doesn't feel feel safe using public bathrooms. When she is asked if she when she asks if she can use a private bathroom, she is told that
034she has to use the public bathroom because that's school's rules. She feels so anxious that to use it that she decides to wait until she gets home. She has to wait seven hours each day. Kate loves sports and always wanted to play soccer and be on a soccer team. When she brings it up, she is shut down and told that she would be better as a dancer than a soccer player. Kate hates dance, but she feels like she can't have a voice and what she for what she wants and who she is. Kate starts to shut down at school and has issues concentrating in class because she doesn't feel safe at school anymore. She is no longer a happy child and now depressed and isolated because she fears being judged by others. This is now
035a child who is experiencing trauma at school. These are just some basic examples of what it is like for a trans child to go to school where they are not accepted. They do not feel safe. They are not able to learn and they may have behavioral challenges. Asking the Adams 12 schools to not accept trans children causes harm and trauma and is an an unethical request. It also makes it harder for teachers to do their job effectively. When people Oh, when people claim that they care about trans kids but also don't want them feel to feel accepted in school, they are not showing empathy and understanding but p apathy and judgment. Thank you again to the school um to the school board and district for doing the ethical thing in supporting trans kids. >> Thank
036you. [Music] Okay, on to board committee liaison reports. Dak, do we have a report? No report. Okay, we do have an LRP pack report. So let me get that one up. Um we met last uh we met before break. We had a lesson in horiculture. Uh basically, um Stacy Lambert from our sustainability department talked to us about um the green spaces in our schools and the landscaping and and um how we have sustainable landscaping and the types of plants that we can use that don't take a lot of water because that's the key and and it's something that not just for our schools but for us in our homes too if we have yards. Um thinking about how we can be more water wise. So, I got a lot of great ideas of the kind
037of plants I can plant in my yard. Um, and they she talked about visioning envisioning like the new landscape at Thornton High, the new Thornton High and the new and the new Bowman. And then um we got a update from um Molly on our nutritional services center which is going to be south of the North Stadium and groundbreaking is going to be happening next spring. and we saw what Bulman is going to look like, the new parts of the Bulman, and got some communications updates. Um, and that was our two hours. So, um, we we'll meet next month, too. But we'll be continually getting updates of what's going on with our new bond projects. Okay. So, that's that. Now, I am going to go on to board business. And our first item is a proclamation,
038White Cane Awareness Month. And I will recommend a motion to adopt the proclamation declaring October 2025 as White Cane Awareness Month as presented. >> So moved. Second. >> And I'm going to um turn this over to uh Director Sal Lucas because I think she has some guests with her tonight. >> Yes. So, we have um two members of the uh Colorado National Federation of the Blind uh Aurora chapter here to share um what NFB does, what they have to offer to students. Um, and then, uh, share give a bag out that, um, and this is I'm gonna let Peggy share, but Peggy, um, and Curtis um, Tongert will be sharing this. And then also we have um two of our five district TVIS here as well um that provide our educational support services for our
039I think there's what 60 70 students in the district that require how many >> 81 students in our district that require ire extra um educational support for visual impairment or blindness. So, I'm going to pass it on to you, Peggy. >> Thank you very much. Uh my name is Peggy Chong and I am the chapter president of the Aurora chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado. About a year ago, we got to talking about how all these charities and organizations and businesses are putting back to school bags for the kiddos to go back to school and they have crayons and notebooks and all that good junk in them for the sighted children, but nobody ever does that for our blind kids. And so we set out to put together back to school
040bags that we have been giving to several blind braille reading children um around the the metro area. And I wanted to present it um to you folks and for um um your your son to have his back to school bag. Um after we put them together, we realized that they're kind of heavy and the kids can't lift them. So, daddy may have to carry it. But I wanted to talk about the items that are in the bag because now with the things at the Department of Education, the way they are, a lot of things are very uncertain for our blind children. And that impacts their education and how they can learn. We put together this back to school bag that has um first of all a book. This is just a mystery book. Uh it's
041probably about 80 pages in print, paperback size. As you can see, it's kind of big, but the ch children can keep the books. That's the important part of this. For a long, long time, up until maybe about um 10 or 15 years ago, blind children could never keep their books. They couldn't have their own favorite stories at home. So, we have the back to school. We have the um book here um that's just for fun and leisure reading. Um I also have another another braille book here. Um and I also have a print copy of the book. This is the print copy of of the Braille book. And this is because I happen to be a big fan of blind history. Uh this is about Colorado's blind history. For example, I'll bet you don't teach
042in the schools that Colorado had a blind governor, Elias M. Ammons. You can look him up online and he's in the book. Uh, so the print copies for mom and dad there. Um, but so many things that the children have in several of the schools, they can't take home. They have to leave them at school. Well, that's very difficult when it comes to just doing your homework. So, we have a Braille slate and a stylus. These are the equivalent of a pen and pencil for blind children and well for blind people. And you just put a piece of paper inside the slate with the bumpy side down and the holes on the top and you can write braille with the stylus poking holes through the paper. And we have some braille paper in there too.
043Um I'm going to put that in there. And oh about the slate, this slate in particular. Um, we have do tape to go with it so that you can label a lot of things around the house. Um, we used to label all of our CDs and records and stuff, but that just shows my age. Um, some things you don't think about is a ruler, a braille ruler. The kids don't even have Braille rulers uh to even do some of the basic um math or geometry or even some of the craft work that they're doing in school. And we also have some fun stuff in here, too. I'll get back to that later. Uh but one of the things that I really wanted to point out Oh, and here's a Braille calendar for 2026. Um, but
044one of the things I wanted to point out to everyone is this is called a sensational blackboard. For a blind child to have tactile drawings, it's almost impossible. If you've got a really good braille transcriber on staff for the district and you got the right software and you got the right printer, you might be able to do it. But this is a very simple. It's made here in Colorado. Drawing board has instructions, don't worry. Um, and all you need to tr to uh make raisel line drawings and even fellow students will be able to help make raisel line drawings for their blind classmates. You put something on here that you want to raise the drawing of. um maybe some mathematical pictures or graphs or butterflies or what have you. And then with a pen, it's
045always important for blind people to carry pens. You never know when they come in handy. and writing on the rubberized side of the board. You can just draw and it becomes tactile and you can actually feel it because it raises up the the actual drawing. Uh this is something that many of the students do not have in school. uh and I think it will make a very big difference to the children when they are able to start to see at a young age the actual drawing of an item, the actual shape of items. Uh, one story that was um told to me by a young boy who was 18 is he um went to the bank with his mom when he was about 10 years old and he had a piggy bank at home, you
046know, and you go in, you put the nickel in the top of the piggy bank and money goes in. And they went into the bank and she mom walks up to the teller, hands an envelope over and they walk out. and he was like, "Well, where's the bank?" Because his idea of a bank was something with a hole in the top and you had to put the money in. So, our kids sometimes don't get a lot of that description that they need. Um, and sometimes the drawings can really make a big difference. Uh we have in here a Braille protractor maybe a little bit above um where you want to be now. But this has several other items in it. And because sighted kids get markers, we put markers in here, but ours are scented
047so that they smell nice when you draw. And not everything is educational. We happen to have a braille game that um our members have been busily brailing games up that we all play as blind people and know that blind kids would love playing them too if they came tactally. And so we have taken the time to do that with several of the games. But another part of this kit is that there are reference sheets and there are uh resources for parents and educators so that you can find the resources for free books for blind children. Where to order slates and styluses without paying $95 for one. um where to get um even down to some of the um medication identification tools and so on. So, this um bag is is for your son. I'm going
048to try and get it all back in there. Probably not very well. Um but this is very important. This is a very important issue to us because if children do not have the opportunity to learn to read and write well when they're in school, their chances of getting a job are very slim. And we are very concerned with all of the budget cuts that are coming down the pike for special education and know that we in the blind community need to step up and be there for blind parents uh for parents, for the blind children and for the educators as well because we might know of resources they do not know of. They might know of resources we could benefit from as well. Um, so I will um relinquish my time for the TV eyes.
049And Mr. Lucas, would you want to come up and get the bag? So, um, thank you, Peggy. How many, really quick, how many, cuz I know Michelle told me this and I I forget. How many Adam's 12 kids were you able to hand out bags to at the last chapter meeting? Um there were two from Adams 12. Okay. >> That came from two from Adams 12. We've given them to Braille readers. Not all specialed um blind children are considered braille readers. And so we gave them to the Braille reading uh children so that they can focus on Braille and have an opportunity to see uh like what a calendar looks like. It's something that hangs in on the refrigerator in most our houses, but a blind child doesn't see that. They don't have an opportunity
050to touch it. Um, and this is an opportunity for them to have one of their own. Yeah. Thank you. And I know I mean I had the privilege of knowing Peggy and Curtis for um many years now since we got involved once Kaden got his diagnosis. But I believe you guys have known my father-in-law significantly longer um with his services and working through the United States Association for Blind Athletes. So, we are a family that's been involved in the blind community for many years and really appreciate all that you you guys do for um not just kids but the the blind community. Um >> well, thank you for letting us highlight this issue because it is very important for our blind children. >> Yeah, agreed. Um, so not to put Miss Debbie and Miss Kovi
051on the spot, but if um is want to stand up at least and just highlight um the great work you guys do for our kids. So there's five TVI in the district serving 81 kids. [Applause] And so I think one of the things to really highlight is you just heard um you saw one of those books that are brailed um and how thick they are and the amount of time and effort it goes into it. We we also have educators that will do that that will braille books um and uh making sure all of our kids which I'm assuming at the high school level is a lot more brailing a lot more effort you know middle school um but uh without hesitation we'll figure out how to support the kids to help them make um
052make sure they're having that equitable educational experience. So, and tolerate a lot of the emotions in the process of it. So, I both of uh Kovi Rodriguez and um Debbie uh Mendoza have I've had the privilege of working directly with them for Kaden uh educators, but like I said, they serve so many kids district. So, thank you for all you do. Thank you for all you do. I I had kids on my case load over the years when I was a special ed provider and I'd always have to rush to get the papers to the TBI to get them brailed and and uh I learned all those little accommodations we could do to help our kids that were vision impaired. And and I'll tell you, I had some amazing students who were vision impaired. Um,
053I have some fond memories of one in particular. Her favorite rock group was Kansas. And this was not that long ago. I mean, Kansas is really old. And so, we had this common bond that we liked Kansas. But anyway, they're both now they were the same age as my daughter, so they're in their late 20s now. But, um, I I appreciate all the, um, help that you give the general education teachers too to accommodate the our students. So, thank you. Okay. >> Director Assad Lucas. >> Hi. >> Director Bastelli. >> Hi. >> Director Goldstein. >> Hi. >> Director Marsh Holen. >> Hi. >> Director Potter. >> Hi. >> Thank you, Peggy and and Craig for coming tonight. >> Yeah. Thank you both for being here. Appreciate it. >> And uh Cody and Debbie, too. Okay.
054Next action item is proclamation of homeless and highly mobile youth awareness month. So, I will entertain a motion to adopt the proclamation declaring November 2025 National Runaway and Homeless Youth Awareness Month as presented. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> I see some folks here in the audience that look like they're here for that reason. Um, Leisel Reed and I see um Lee Hermu. Hi, thank you for this opportunity. I'm Lee Hermoa and I am one of the team co-leaders for the student and family outreach program, otherwise known as ESPOP. And um I've been with the district 24 years this year. Hi, I'm Melissa Pine. Thank you for having us. I am I call myself Lee Sidekick. I'm a co-lead of the ESPOP team. I started working in Adams 12 in at Westlake. I may have
055been there when you were there, Lori. Um, in 2002. So, as the lead McKini Venta homeless liaison for Adams 12 for the last nine years, it's just been an honor and a privilege to work with um a board that has been so supportive and just have really elevated youth homeless awareness and encouraged the work that we've done and supported our work and allowed us to get to know you all too through this work. So, thank you so much for all your support throughout the years here. And then also to senior leadership and to ESOP leadership too, our amazing fearless leaders who are just like, you want to do what Lee? Okay. So, thank you Leo and Lori for always supporting our efforts. It isn't, you know, I think youth homelessness isn't something that um many
056folks understand or can set aside their personal biases to support. And it has just been incredible how our community has supported, encouraged, and uplifted the whole child. And tonight, as you all spoke about children needing food and and the um you know the triangle of and the snap, it's just incredible that we as a community here have been so caring and understanding and just have come together to support youth homelessness. So, thank you all so much. I just want to agree. Thank you. We really appreciate all your support over the years and we are very excited right now because we just recently moved into a new to us building the SFRC student and family resource center and we wanted to formally invite you all to come to our open house on November the 18th from
0578 to 10. Well, it's an opportunity I think actually director Potter's been there before and you'll be we hope you will come because it's a whole different world compared to the last time you were there. We've done so much work and we're so proud of it and it's just going to be a great opportunity to meet our amazing staff. Um just hear about all the ways that we are supporting highly mobile students in the district. There'll be an opportunity to experience what it might be like to um be a student who's living in a motel. We'll have an opportunity to have that experience. So yeah, we're just really we're looking forward to that day and we're hoping you all may have a chance to attend. [Music] [Applause] I know it's on my calendar. I will
058get it on my calendar as well. Thank you for all you guys really do incredible work and so much of it even goes I think unrecognized. Um there's so much behind the scenes stuff that has to be done for for our students needs to get met in an efficient way. Um and again just going back to like what I said before without those basic needs being met. Our kids cannot show even if they want to they cannot show up um the way that they want or need in a classroom. So, thank you for all you do and helping support our kids. >> So, Paula's comments, kids need a village of people who care for them. I'm so appreciative of SF fop for the vot. I need to get my glasses on for the village that
059you have created for um our highly mobile and homeless students. Um I just wanted to say my thanks as well. Um and I think that when we get to crisises like we're in now with SNAP, it's easy to remember, but you guys do the work every day when we're not in the crisis in the news. So, um, just thank you for seeing those kids that are not seen. >> And it just goes back to what we said earlier about Maslov's hierarchy of needs. That's basic need, and there's so many who don't have it. So, and you know, as I said to you, Lee, your your your department has really grown over the years, and you guys are all amazing people, and it's unfortunate that you've had to grown, but we are fortunate that you are
060part of that growth, all of you here. So, thank you, >> Director Sad Lucas. >> I, >> Director Battestelli, >> I, >> Director Goldstein, >> I, >> Director Marsh Holen, >> I, >> Director Potter, >> I. >> Okay. Um, this isn't really an action, but um, talk about CASBY's final 2026 resolutions. You all got the book um, attached to the agenda, and um, I'm going to ask anybody if they have any issues or anything that they want to uh, discuss. So, this will be part of the business meeting at um CASBY in December, which is usually what the first I think it's the >> first afternoon. >> It'll be Friday afternoon, I believe. >> Friday, >> I don't know. Thursday or Friday. >> Yeah. So, um, and this is an opportunity for, uh, the delegate,
061which is me this year, um, to represent the board with any of the resolutions of feedback, comments, concerns. So, yeah, >> I just want to add um kind of as an aside, the uh legislative review committee and the federal relations network have combined in CASBY. It's now called the LRAK, uh legislative review and action committee. And moving forward um we the the chairs of both who are now the one myself being one of them we met the other day and uh there were two chair there was a chair and a co-chair for the um LR legislative review committee and then I was a single chair and we combined the two committees in a way that we will have representation to make sure that we still have representation for the federal relations network for every congressional
062district and then we will also have representation for every CASBY region. And so just think about this for um this next year after the election and we have our new board seated. It's also a new year for CASBY and there'll be new boards of board of directors on CASBY. So think about if you're interested in being involved on this committee. um you know, you dial into things legislatively at the capital and you also have the opportunity to dial into things legislatively at the federal level if the federal government ever starts working again. And um we you know we do go uh air and I go to DC and anybody's invited to go to their federal relations tour basically where we go visit with the um staffs and sometimes the legislators in the at the federal
063level. But it's important you know the advocacy part of our work is very important because we are the voice of public education. We are elected to represent public education and we're basically in the trenches compared to um some of the other elected the higher up elected officials and so our voice is very important to give to them when they're making these decisions because we're their peers and it's important. So keep that in mind moving forward. And um you know the the resolutions that we chose this year I thought were pretty good. Okay. On to direct inspection monitoring of governance pro process policy 4.4 the president's role. At this time I'm going to turn this over to vice president Amara Lucas. All right. I would like to entertain a motion to acknowledge that the board has
064conducted a direct inspection monitoring as of October 22nd, 2025 concerning board policy 4.4 uh president's rule and find the president has complied with the board's policy statements. >> So moved. >> Second. discussion. >> Well, director Assad Lucas, >> you compli. >> Director Badestelli, >> I. >> You don't vote, do you? >> I don't know. >> Does Lori vote? >> Do I vote on this? >> Okay, I'm going to recuse myself. >> Director Marsh Holen, >> I. >> Director Potter, >> I. All right. Thank you for uh addressing that compliance issue. Okay. And I do appreciate it. I I just want to say I really do um I'm I'm feel privileged to be the president of this board and um you know, basically my job is just to keep everything moving forward and facilitating your needs,
065too. All right. Um board meeting schedule. I will entertain a motion to reschedule the December 3rd, 2025 regular board of education meeting to December 1st, 2025. >> So move second. >> Okay. Um the action here desired is to move it from the first Wednesday to the first Monday and um that's because of conflict that Chris has um on the national level. Yes, I've been asked uh to go with some other folks from within the region on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Partnership, which is a coalition of a variety of entities and stakeholders in the region to go to New York City and to visit with the Wallace Foundation that is going to provide some grant support to Rocky Mountain Partnership to elevate student and family outcomes in our region in the years ahead. So, it's
066just uh get acquainted, get to learn more about what Wallace will be investing in and to support that effort moving forward. So, thanks for accommodating assuming you vote yes so that I can uh join with those colleagues on that >> and it is a important meeting because we'll be swearing in the new board and electing officers for the next session of schoolboard stuff. So, Director Assad Lucas, >> I director Batistelli. Hi, >> Director Goldstein. Hi, >> Director Marshian. I >> Director Potter >> I. >> Okay. On to minutes. I will entertain a motion to adopt the minutes of the work study session and regular board meetings of October 1st as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion? Okay. >> Director Assad Lucas. >> Hi. >> Director Batistelli. >> I. >> Director Goldstein. >>
067Hi. >> Director Marsh Holen. >> Hi. >> Director Potter. >> Hi. >> Okay. On to monitoring report. Action item. Internal monitoring report 1.0. zero schooling, graduates, dropouts combined data report. I will entertain a motion to acknowledge that the board has received a monitor monitoring report as of October 22nd, 2025 for the 2024, 2025 school year and finds the superintendent's interpretations are reasonable and supported by data that is relevant, justified, and complete. >> So moved. >> Second. >> And Dave, you're already queuing yourself up, so there you are. Good evening, Superintendent Gdowski, board members. Um, we ran a little late at the last board meeting and wanted to keep this um, what to fresh your eyes, shall we speak. Um, there's quite a bit of data in this document. It was going to fall in nicely
068with our last board meeting because we talked about our unified improvement plan there and a lot of this data really flows into that unified improvement plan. Um, so just wanted to run through some highlights with you. Feel free to ask questions as we go. I'm happy to um address a number of those. Just going to hit the highlights relative to each section of the plan. First, in terms of demographics, what you'll notice is that there were we've seen some change in demographics. The data presented here is really from the 21-22 school year to this most recent year, the 2425 school year. We've seen some shifts in demographics. The three largest changes were an increase of 10.1% in free and reduced lunch students, uh, a decline of 4.2% in terms of the white student population and
069a 2% 2.7% increase in multilingual learners. Um, thinking about these demographics, they color some of the other data because we provide a lot of data that's disagregated by um, special population, by ethnicity. And when we look at these data, you'll notice that the population of our district is comprised 8 over 85% is comprised of white students and Hispanic students. So when we get to those other populations, they're much smaller in number. Um the next largest in terms of ethnicity is is Asian students at 7.4%. Um so those were some of the changes that we saw in terms of demographics, which obviously we can take a look at as we get into these various data sources. Yes, Mr. Gowski. >> So they was just going to interject. I I know that Paula posed a variety of
070questions to Dave and to Amanda Clayton who supports our ELD work. And one of the things I don't think I had realized before is that students who have relocated here from Afghanistan are typically identified as Asian from a demographic standpoint. I I just hadn't put that together before. So part of the the increase that you see there is probably a byproduct of some of that migration and immigration here. >> Yeah. And it will be interesting uh when we see our October 25 count to see if there's a shift in terms of reduction in that number. Obviously, we'll look at that when we begin to look at these data again for this current school year. Um as you look at the next few pages, we're looking at achievement data. That's reported as mean scale score. Um
071on pretty much every standardized assessment, there is a scale that is created. So for the SAT, it used to be 200 to 800 for each subject. For CAMS, we're talking 650 to 850. Um, and so those are the typical scales. It's not like it's there's a perfect scale, but ultimately that scale score, the higher the number, the greater the level of achievement. So we're looking at average achievement for students. There was one odd trend that I when we look at all the assessment and outcome data noticed that there was significant declines for the Asian population across achievement across growth grad rate. So that was odd. I wanted to point that out. We're looking into that. Uh Mr. Gdowski alluded to this population shift that we've seen. That may be the case. I did take a
072look at some data to see are we seeing like is there a greater percentage of free reduced lunch eligible for for free reduced lunch of Asian descent and we didn't really see much there. So we haven't dug in and had there's no smoking gun as it relates to that decline but I did want to point it out because I've never seen a trend like that for that subgroup. Um then in terms of our achievement, what we saw are some small increases when we compare 22 to 25 and then we see even smaller increases from 24 to 25. So slight increase is not significant. Yes. >> Um just real quick, do we um break down optouts for these tests in these same categories? >> We we can look at that. One of the things we do
073when we first get our results back for achievement is we look at the students who tested their demographics and compare it to our October count. I sent a couple of emails to Superintendent Gdowski. I believe he forwarded on to you that color how we interpret the data a little bit. um because obviously if there's a greater percentage of optouts in a particular area that can either make us think that the achievement might be higher or might be lower depending upon the group that opted out. Um so we do look at that um because obviously we need to take that in into consideration when we're thinking about the district as a whole. Thank you for your question. So, uh, again, small increases when we look at 22 to 25 as well as 24 to 25. When
074we look at SAT, they're kind of, uh, flipped in terms of, um, SAT, we saw some small increases for math and slightly larger increases for literacy. Um, but one thing to note here, I reported SAT and not PSAT. For CAMS, the scale is the same regardless of grade level, 650 to 850. for uh SAT and PSAT the scale changes slightly and what we expect of students is goes up. So I chose to report on SAT which is the culminating assessment of those sequences. So that's those are the general trends we noticed in terms of achievement in terms of growth when here we're talking about CAMASS we're talking about PSAT SAT and this includes both PSAT and SAT as well as access um this was the first time uh uh for each school level elementary middle
075and high and each content area math and ELA that we were below the 50th percentile in all six of those areas combinations. Um, we missed it in three areas by one percentile point. Obviously, that is something we're trying to remedy with the the unified improvement plan and our academic strategy moving forward, but I did want to call that out since because since I believe it was 201819 that we haven't seen uh no values being uh above the 50th percentile. Um, when we look at growth, we're seeing declines when we're when we're comparing our data in 25 to both 22 and 24 with larger declines to where we were back in 22. So, our growth um has not been what it was right when we first got back from the pandemic. In terms of access, we
076saw general declines across the board in a variety of subgroups. The positive news there is that overall at each school level, elementary, middle, and high, we're still at the 50th or higher. Uh but obviously that's a trend we want to reverse and get those growth percentiles going back up to where they were back in 2024 and also 2022. Uh so in terms of growth, those were the trends that I noted in the report. As we look at the next three elements, AP, four-year graduation rate, and dropout rate, um, we see some more positive data, more positive trends. In terms of AP, we see a steady increase from 2022 to 2025 in terms of the percent of students scoring three or higher on an AP assessment, meaning they would be eligible depending upon which institute of
077higher education they go to get some credit. This is also at the same time that we're increasing the number of test takers and tests taken. So, that's a very positive thing to note. We're seeing stronger achievement on those assessments. In terms of four-year grad rate and dropout rate, we're seeing general improvements from 2022 in grad rate and general declines in terms of dropout rate. Um, but again, we see that little kind of blip with Asian students there that are either flat or not as positive. Moving on then to ninth grade Fs. Obviously, we track nth grade Fs. We track Fs across all grades, but that ninth grade is a very is a gatekeeper year to get students started on the right track as they enter high school. What we're seeing there is since 21-22, we're
078seeing a slight increase in F rate for each of the four core subject areas overall and for most subgroups, but there is either was a slight uh decrease for most subject areas this last year in 2425. One uh content area was flat, but the others showed a decrease. We're hoping we can continue that trend where we're seeing lower F rates. Um so that's what we're tracking in terms of that particular data element. When we look at chronic absenteeism, this had been trending in a very positive way from 22 to 23 24, but we saw a slight uptick again this last year. Um, obviously we know attendance is very important and as a reminder, chronic absenteeism is students a student is chronically absent is when they're enrolled if they have missed 10% or more of the
079days they're enrolled. All of these things that we've talked about are things we're monitoring as part of our academic roadmap and we're monitoring these things monthly. So, we're keeping an eye on that. What I can tell you is in August when we tracked chronic absenteeism, it was lower than it was last August. So, we're going to do that on a monthly basis. In terms of discipline, there's some positive news there. Compared to last year, we saw some declines in terms of in school, out of school, and expulsions uh compared to that 23 24 year. However, there's uh variability in terms of the discipline types and we're seeing increases in some and declines in others. In terms of the areas where we saw the greatest increase, um destruction of property and marijuana violation were the two
080that saw the greatest increases. And in terms of declines, the greatest declines were the other violations and disobedience defiance. Um Paula asked a question via email about this other violations and what that entails. Um Lori Bailey who was here earlier shared that they're working with uh deans and others who code discipline to more provide more operational definitions for those other categories. So we have fewer um incidences in that other violation category. But there are some incidences that occur that don't really fall neatly into those others and so they naturally would fall into the other. Yes. >> Um sorry, just curious. Um is is it do you actually look at the vape when you're looking at drug violation, marijuana or tobacco to see if like a vape pen or are we just assuming vapes pens are
081tobacco? >> Yeah, vape pens. My understanding is vape pens are tobacco. It's not a marijuana violation. I can confirm that with Lori Bailey though and be sure to share that as well. Then lastly, in terms of the Panorama survey results, you can see the panorama survey results for all the different surveys we give family, staff, and students. Generally, what we're seeing there was considerable improvement this past year compared to 2122 and some slight improvements when we compare to last year 23 24. Um so by and large what we're seeing from those surveys are general increases particularly when we first came back from the pandemic in 21-22. Those were the highle items I uh wanted to pull out for your attention but happy to address any other questions you may have. >> Oh um there was
082a just a it was a color coding error. >> Oh okay. Um a is under is AP. >> It's under AP. >> Yeah. AP. >> So for uh um black students the change it says negative 8.4% but it's blue. So it's just making sure. Okay. >> So So it is still the negative 8.4. Okay. Yeah. >> That Yeah, that was my error. I'll make sure to rectify that. That should have been coded red. >> Red. Okay. Paula has a question. Paul >> has a question. Which one? This. This one. Oh, that one. Okay. Have we tracked how attendance has changed since we changed Oh, since we changed uh bus transportation to more than one mile from home. >> I I'm not sure what year that was. Superintendent Gdowski, do you recall when that policy change?
083Well, that was when we made all those cuts. >> Yeah, it feels like it's more than a decade ago that we made any adjustments to our transportation distance. Yeah, I I don't unfortunately have those data. What I can tell you overall um in terms of attendance, we're as part of our um data tracker for the academic roadmap, we're tracking student attendance by month. What I can share is this year at um overall and at each school level we've seen improvements in attendance at all levels and overall uh for both August and September. Obviously we'll continue monitoring that as we get to October and further into the year. It'll be interesting to see how the changes in the calendar also impact that things like um you know the the that not having a mid-winter break you
084know things of that nature. So we'll see how those things change but that's why we're monitoring the data. >> Well and I know we only have the data of since 2021 which co coming back all that. Would you say that attendance has been more impacted these last five years than probably previous years even with certain district changes with like transportation or what? >> Absolutely. Yeah. Since returning from the pandemic, we've seen significant changes in attendance. Um and Bo made illusion to this at the the DAC meeting that we see the biggest changes or the most uh troubling attendance at kindergarten >> and then at 12th grade. And so they're kind of bookended there. Um but yes, since we've come back, we've noticed differences. Also, obviously, we made a change in terms of our calendar moving
085away from the early release Wednesdays. So again, this is something we're monitoring as we go. >> Okay. >> Um there's a lot of things I could talk about in here. Um, but if I had to package any of this in a more macro wrapper, uh, and emphasize it, it would be to to take a slide that Dave shared at a recent principal meeting, and it really talked about where we've been around achievement and growth and the post-secary factors under our DPF, our our district rating. And the thing that's really dramatically changed, not for the good, during the last handful of years, is the percentage of growth or the rate of growth of our students compared to where it was before. Student achievements very comparable to where it was uh a number of years ago. Our
086dropout graduation rates very comparable to where they were all things considered. But our growth has declined in a significant way and there's a lot of um urgency focus um I think re-evaluation of strategy that's been going on in recent months because of that and as I shared with our group yesterday uh we've eaten some humble pie uh the last couple of years in our district because heading into the pandemic we were feeling really good about our trajectory and where we were at and exceeding St. brain and Jeffco and our DPF score even if it was by a couple of ten of a point and we've lost uh the growth edge post pandemic but I'm really optimistic about what we're doing both in terms of awareness energy urgency and strategy and expect that we're going to
087be in a much better place at the end of this year. Director Assad Lucas. >> Hi, >> Director Batistelli. Hi, >> Director Goldstein. Hi, >> Director Marsh Holen. >> Hi, >> Director Potter. >> Hi. >> Thank you, Dave, for packaging all that data into a digestible. Understandable. All right. On to the consent agenda. I will recommend an act a motion to approve the personnel actions as presented. Bless you. >> So move. Bless you. Second. >> Director Assad Lucas. >> I. >> Director Bastelli. >> Hi. >> Director Goldstein. >> Hi. >> Director Marsh Holen. >> Hi. >> Director Potter. >> Hi. >> Okay. Um, next meeting. We have the agenda lined up here. We're going to get an update from Trainer on the Thornton High um proclamation. Graduation requirements policy says action, but we're going to
088put that off for another meeting to have more discussion. We did already have some discussion about um financial literacy and healthy choices and where we're going to go with that with our um graduation requirements. And then we have policy matters coming at the end of November and we're going to honor some community members. And uh anything else? >> Okay. Well, I feel weird. It's only 7:30. I know. We