001All right, I'm going to call the meeting to order. Thanks for being here tonight. We'll start with roll. Director Assad Lucas here. Director Batistelli here. Director Goldstein here. Director Marsh Holen here. Director Potter here. All right. I'm going to um entertain a motion to approve the agenda with a little flexibility because we're going to kind of go a little out of order. So moved. Second. Director Assad Lucas. Hi. Director Batistelli. I. Director Goldstein. I. Director Marsh Holen. I. Director Potter. No. Okay. All right. Let's rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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, we are going to honor some very important spellers. Um, we are going
002to recognize the Adams 12 state spelling bee participants. We have quite a few of them. So, uh, Miss Leisel Reid is here with us and she and I are going to give out the awards. Board members, if you want to come down on the floor with me and congratulate these young spellers. You too. [Applause] Okay, we'll have spellers come up so everybody can see them. But um so every year hundreds of thousands of students across the nation compete in spelling bees at various levels, including thousands here in Colorado. And to get to where all of these fellas got to, you have to first do a classroom competition. Then you have to place either first, second, or third in your school competition. Then you have to take a written test in order to go to the
003oral B at the district level. You then have to place in the top 14 at the district level. You then have to take another test to qualify for the state level. And so only 17 students went to the state oralbe this year on March 8th and six of them were from Adams 12. Huge [Applause] accomplishment. So Shervatza Moragan and then I'll give you your certificate. I can't I can't I only have two hands. So I'm going to give you a certificate. Okay. And then the board members would like to also congratulate you SA Ma Aia Mutha Kamar. It's because of the uh beautiful font they use. Congratulations Siobhan ready. Congratulations, Sahil Sanami. Congratulations, Reese Blair. Yeah, that's me. I don't know if you quite want to shake this hand. So, shake the other hand. You
004know what? I don't know. Just gonna do that. That's notless. And the last fell who's not here with us is Leavana Sethi. I also want to recognize the um people who come and they help at the spelling bee. So, our district spelling bees clock in at over four hours on a Wednesday night at studio school. And so, I want to recognize Lori Bailey who is the judge or the judge this year. I want to recognize Suzanne Carol um who is the prouncer as well as Susan Schuler who is not here, another judge. and then Hope Garcia who was our very very important record keeper for the evening. So, thank you for all of the volunteers and helpers. If you'll all meet me in the back, I have some additional um gifts. Just a quick question,
005Lisa. I don't know that you identify the schools that these students attend. I sure can. So, Shiman and Shatza attend Stargate Charter. [Applause] Sahil, Adia, and Levana attend Holstrom K8. Where's Dr. Erlick? And Reese attends Prospect Bridge. [Applause] You go. Congratulations. [Applause] Okay, now we're going back to the order of the agenda. Well, one second with superintendent update. So, uh, just a few things that I'll share quickly. One is that a number of us on staff have been working very actively around some legislative issues on school finance and Gina Lirer, our CFO, and Aaron Oberg, our director of finance, have been devoting a lot of time and energy to that. And really, it's a technical issue that um in the end, as we've changed from a school finance act that had been in place for
00630 years to a new school finance act, all the cross referencing hasn't quite uh been dialed in. And so there's big implications about what does this mean in terms of allocating funds to our charter schools. Ironically, we just had a lot of students from our charters here tonight. And I think we finally had a breakthrough today and that we're going to work with the legislature to get some technical amendments in place so that there's the right clarity for finance folks to make decisions about how to allocate those funds for next year. And then there may be some broader policy discussions that come in future years. So I just thank Gina, Erin, and others who've been involved in that effort. It's time consuming and it goes well beyond making things uh make sense in Adams 12
007but statewide. So we're lucky to have folks uh who are leaders at the state level. I'll share that today. We did some discussion uh some analysis of what the Mellan survey after the election tells us about our mil levy override election outcomes. And the Mellan surveyor said that really the core issue that uh they see in the results is tax sensitivity and tax concerns. Um but that otherwise we're not seeing feedback about the package that we had in any significant way being off track or not aligned to interest and values of the community. I do think in the months ahead we're going to work pretty hard to figure out what should be part of a possible mevy override package for this November. We'll do some engagement, some stakeholding, some surveying to see are there some
008changes that should happen because certainly six months ago we weren't foreseeing the significant reductions that we had to make this year in part because of declining enrollment and other changes in school funding. So that's a piece that we're working hard on. It's helpful for you all to know that as we look at a new Thornton High School campus, part of what will make that campus uh come to life in the way we envision it is acquiring some additional land that currently the Thornton Economic Development Corporation owns. And unfortunately, as we've done some uh basic environmental testing, we've discovered there's some asbestous on some of those parcels. It seems to be a common issue with lots of the land we have interest in. Uh that was true of some of the property over by Washington Square
009a number of years ago. I think it's been fairly common in the course of our community for some people to pull out asbests floor tile from their homes and dump it somewhere. And when that happens and it's discovered, there's a lot of remedial things that have to go on. So we're working with the city of Thornton staff to take care of that and get it into a good place. Lots of final budget decisions being made right now, especially at the secondary level. middle and high schools as school principles have developed their school-based budgets. And there have been a lot of tough decisions to be made about having folks who've been outstanding members of our team and served our community well being in a position where they're displaced and then sometimes entirely losing their job for
010next year. And so that just acknowledging that very real stress and sadness in the system is an important thing for you to hear. Those are highlights from me. I shared with you some other parts over uh the earlier work study session and we'll continue to keep you updated. This is a time of year when lots of things move pretty quickly. Thank you. Okay. Board of Education comments, recognition, awards, and vision. Director Potter, I don't really have any updates since we met last week. However, I want to say thank you to the Westminster Chamber of Commerce for inviting us to attend their business awards gala. one of the art teachers at one of our schools was nominated to win an award. So, that was exciting to see him up there and kind of learn more about
011his mission and what drives his work. Um, and then as a parent, I was able to attend um, I don't know exactly what it was called, like the pre-approval night for um, future forward Washington Square and learn more about the construction program as I have a freshman son who's very interested in that. And I can't help but leave that building every time just feeling so proud of the work that um, everyone in the district has done to support CTE through all of our grade levels. Um, I know even my my kindergartener is always excited. and she goes, "One day I'm going to go to the big the big fancy school is what she calls it." Um, and so there's just so much excitement around all the opportunities that we offer our students and I'm just
012so grateful for that and the continued dedication to creating more pathways. So, thank you. Thank you, Director Marsh Holen. Thank you. So, this is the time the board gets to recognize our students, our staff, celebrate achievements, and I wish my comments could be that tonight. Wish I could graduate congratulate the art show participants and winners, which I do. And I wish I could call out the creative prom proposals that I have seen. And I wish the I could send my sincerest celebrations to our seniors getting their military acceptance, their career offer letters, or their college enrollment. But unfortunately, these times call for a different type of recognition. So my first recognition tonight is to our transgender students. There is nothing wrong with you. There have been too many assertions made that there is something wrong.
013And I'm here to say clearly, there is nothing broken inside of you for being who you are. We see you and we stand with you. My second my second recognition is to all our students from kindergarten like my son to seniors like director Assad Lucas's daughter. I was in seventh grade in Westlake when our presidential election ended in a tie and Mr. Eman's history class was filled with uh uncertainty. Mr. Gil paused orchestra to talk to us about the historical implication that this was. I was in Mrs. Likes uh 9th grade uh English class at Legacy when the second tower hit on 911. And I was in Madame Griswald's French class when the final plane was brought down in Pennsylvania. I was in Miss Dumas's 10th grade history class when we entered Iraq and declared
014war. She was my touchstone on how I felt during those times. So students, I know what it's like to live in a country that's in upheaval. And you should find your people, find your classmates, find your teachers, find your counselors and talk to them because it's okay to be scared during these times and it's okay to talk about it. My third and final recognition is to the adults that are interact with our students, whether it be our custodians, our bus drivers, our teachers, our sped teachers, and the leadership here at the administrative level as well as my forward former wow fellow board members. We see your work. You're appreciated and students depend on you. Some assertions have been made this week that are so egregious they shouldn't need to be called out, but here we
015are. My mom faced her second bout of cancer two years ago. Never once in my family did we think the doctors treating her cancer were cancer sympathizers. To the therapists, doctors, social workers, we know you're here to use your talents to help people heal and we appreciate it. Board member Assad Lucas uses her talents every day in her professional life and her personal life. She serves our students in the community. Student safety is a top priority for all the members on the board. And to suggest the contrary is incredibly offensive. I'm sorry, Director Assad Lucas, that a small minority has lobbed these accusations against you. to our other therapists, counselors, and mental health professionals. This is certainly not how we see you. Those are my recognitions. I hope the political grandstanding can come off social
016media and out of this boardroom and we can continue to celebrate our amazing students. Thank you, President Goldstein. Thank you, Director Marsh Olsson. Very well said. Director Bastelli. So, I will mention the art show because I think our elementary kids um deserve that recognition and I saw some really beautiful artwork from our kids. So promising uh such a demonstration of the importance of arts in in schools um to help kids express themselves. I also want to express uh my thanks to um Director Assad Lucas and Director Marsh Hen. Why do their names have to be so long um for being the representatives that they that they are for all of our kids? Um and so I have some remarks to I want to take a moment to talk about the public comments that have been
017made around the Adams 12 um particularly policy around bathroom and facility usage with regards to transgender youth. Um I want to speak specifically about the safety issue. I'll begin by saying that it's my belief that we're a board member to have a hypocratic oath and I suggest we include that in the future. It should be something along the lines of always striving to ensure our learners can learn. One of the ways to do that is by helping them feel safe. In the last meeting, the safety of girls was a dominant talking point um among a few public comments. And I think it's understood by everyone that we should keep girls safe. Heck, I was even a girl myself at at one point, believe it or not. Um I didn't do I wasn't very good at
018it, but I was a girl. That said, I feel compelled to remind everyone that the board should be obligated to be concerned about the safety of all of our kids. Um whether that's cis boys and girls, LGBTQ, undecided, or in the case of my 13-year-old son, oo yuck, no thank you. No loveydovey stuff. Um we've talked about our sis girls sharing locker rooms and bathrooms with transgender girls. What was implied is that sis girls are in some sort of perceived danger based on this. Even though the data and the facts don't bear that out, what is borne out in the data is that transgender kids in general are at higher risk of violence and trauma overall, particularly when they are forced to use their sex assigned bathrooms. So, I'd like to paint a data portrait
019of the obstacle our transgender kids face since we're talking about data and data is important and facts are important. Here in Adams 12, we've had zero cases that I know of involving a kid who was assaulted or harassed in a locker room or bathroom by a transgender child or adult. We've also had our bathroom or locker room policy in place since the state mandated it a few years ago. Luckily, we don't have any data to share about transgender kids being assaulted. I think for that reason at the national level though researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health analyzed data from 3673 transgender youth in grades 7 through 12. And what they found is that when transgender kids are forced to use their birth sex assigned bathrooms, they are 2.5 times up to 2.5 times
020more likely to be assaulted. Again, I reiterate the board needs to care about the safety and well-being of all of our kids, not just the kids we prefer because we align with our parents' values. I'm open to suggestions that help keep girls and assist girls and transgender kids safe. All of them. I'm open to those suggestions so long as we also humanize trans kids and we don't treat them like secondclass citizens. Forcing them to get dressed in segregated areas under adult supervision is dehumanizing. So to our sis girls and boys, I'm committed to keeping you safe. to our transgender girls and boys and everyone in between and undecided and like my son Gross, I have no interest. Um, I'm committed to keeping you safe, too, because that's our job. We keep kids safe. And I
021know that in this current climate, unfortunately, it's sometimes a difficult task. Thank you. Thank you, Director Badiselli. Director Assad Lucas. Good evening everyone and thank you for being here. Um I usually don't get emotional. I mean I do I do get emotional but about this stuff. Um this is what I do day in and day out. And I completely forgot about about the sympathizer comment. I mean, we all know the internet is an incredibly toxic place. Um, and when you're an offender therapist, you realize how incredibly dangerous it is, too. Um, bathrooms are not a problem in our schools. They are inc. They're very safe minus well with problematic sexual behaviors. But we do have an issue and what we should be talking about instead of not real phantom issues is issues with vaping and
022keeping our kids safe from drugs, bullying, vandalism. Those are the real issues happening in bathrooms. So when again I had all these comments ready to um share and and I'll still share some of them. But I think, you know, one of the biggest things I think I really triggered people from last week of my comment was saying how the most prominent traits of an offender, the most common um type of offender is an adult, white, straight, cis male. I get it. It's hard. And especially if that's how you know you identify, just because you identify does not make you having offended behaviors. What makes you having offender behaviors is if you commit an offense. Um I can I understand how I mean I can't I can't because I'm not I'm not that I don't I
023don't have those traits. So I but what I've been what I've heard in my years of practice is you know afraid of that stigma and afraid of uh being labeled that then what I ask if you are truly afraid of that and worried that you know being an an adult straight white cis male then let's work together let's let's bring safety community safety this is all I do and it is exhausting seen some days um and ensure that our our kids are safe, our community is safe. Um another subject that was brought up was people pretending or claiming to be transgender just as well. If that's happening, they're not transgender. they are still a a cis male or cis female but most likely a cis male not transgender. So let's address the behavior. Let's address
024the problematic sexual behaviors and um ensure community safety. We just laid off 150 educators in our district. we just impacted whatever statistical amount of relationships that is for kids. We need to be talking about that. We need to be focusing on that, school funding, fixing a broken system with funding so we do not rupture relationships, meaningful, impactful relationships for our kids. Those are the issues we should be addressing. Again, I have no problem continuing to share facts and I will do it. I'm I I just it is my ethical obligation. But it's disheartening that we continue to be sidetracked or distracted or deflect real. genuine issues for kids that matter. So, I think I addressed most of my comments that I wanted to. Um, let's move past this. Let's just again we need to be
025better for kids. We should always want, however we find, however we age into our society and the issues that we may inherit from the previous generations. Let's do better. Let's leave a better society for our kids and let's ex let's set the expectation for our kids to do the same for the generations after them. That is the least we should be doing as leaders, as adults, working together. So, thank you all for being here [Applause] tonight. Thank you, Director Assad [Applause] Lucas. I think that my thoughts have been expressed very well at this point, but I do want to I look out and I see a lot of people that I know. I see elementary educators. I see mental health providers. I see secondary teachers. Some that I've worked a lot of you I've worked
026with or have taught my children. My two I have three children that have gone through these schools. I see retired educators who still take the time to care. I see staff members who are here to do their jobs and do it well. We have a great we have we have great legal support in this district that make sure that our policies are kosher for lack of a better term. We have academic um people who are in charge of making sure that our kids get the best that they deserve. We have elected officials in the room that care, too. And I appreciate that because that's we are Adams 12. I've been a part of this community for over 40 years and I've seen it go through a lot of changes, but what I still see is
027that sense of community that was there 40 years ago or 40 plus years ago and I hope I continue to see that. On a celebratory note, I had the pleasure of going to the congressional app challenge that the STEM schools had on Saturday. Um there are about six teams or even singles that put together a an app, a phone app and it's part of the congressional challenge that every congressional district is invited to participate in. And I remember back in the days when Representative Pearl Mutter, Congressman Pearl Mutter would come to North Glenn High and be a part of it and they'd come to the board meetings too and and tell us about it. And I had the um I had the pleasure of spending time with Rep. Congressman Gabe Evans and he he came
028it was it's his congressional district and gave out the awards for the apps. There were um a real big theme on um oceans on these apps. You could um click on a sea creature and um on some of them and you could you could see how they affected each other. So there was that theme of the oceans. There was um a mental health app that one um person submitted and they all showed they showed us the apps and how they did them and everything and then they got their awards and then Congressman Evans took the time to take a tour of the STEM program at North Glenn High School and see all the cool toys that the kids have there and to show what a public school has to offer. So, I appreciate that. So,
029um that's all I want to talk about tonight. Okay. Now we will talk about public comment. Good evening. The board welcomes public comment to learn about the preferences and concerns of the Adams 12 fivestar community. Each speaker will have three minutes. Please use the microphone and state your name and city of residents before beginning your comments. Please give any handouts or information you would like to share with the board to Lee Koko. A threeminut timer will be set for each speaker. Please keep an eye on the timer. Speakers will be informed when time has expired and we ask that you end your comments at that time. Our first speaker is Kathy Zeleleski. Hi, I'm Kathy Celelesque. I work at North Glenn High School. However, I live in Arvvada. Um, I had something else prepared, but
030I'm not going to do it. Um, I just want to thank the board members who are actively working to protect all of our students and working to make sure that we can do the best that we can. Um, because as a lot of you have said, it has been a rough time and I agree that we need to be focusing on what we need to do as a district, especially with all the losses. Um, so thank you to those of you who care about all our students and who want to do right by all our students. Thank you, Kathy. Our next speaker is Thomas Scoville. Thomas Scoville Thornton. I don't know anybody that thinks there's anything wrong with trans kids and I resent the suggestion that I do or any of the people I've been
031speaking with do. That's a low blow. Adams 12 is government and it's generally the case that government cannot do something good for one person without doing something some harm to someone else. like when we spend money to help someone by spending taxes taken from someone else. Sadly, government tends to be sloppy in minimizing the bad part. Your policy on transgender students as an example. We have a long-term cultural norm of segregating children by sex in bedrooms and beds. We all observe this with only occasional exceptions for the youngest children and rare exigencies. Life has a dignity which we should all respect. This bedroom practice is important for teaching children to respect their bodies and persons to respect the bodies and persons of others and to require the same in return. Dignity requires boundaries. Children need
032to learn these boundaries and and schools need to help them in that learning. Sadly, Adams 12 has cast this cultural norm aside, and school staff now decide who sleeps with whom on student trips. Your guidelines for supporting transgender students on overnight trips says, "In most cases, a transgender or non-conforming student will share accommodations with those who share the students gender identity. This alludes to the cultural norm of segregating sleeping accommodations, but substitutes gender identity for sex. This trashes the norm by ignoring the facts of biology. Gender identity and sex are not the same. And putting male plumbing under the same sheets with daughters, granddaughters, and nieces as an avoidable peril. Any action will have seen and unseen effects. You see value in tending to a tiny few and virtue signaling to the advocates of a
033non novel gender policy. You seem to care about the significant problems of playing with the physical safety and mental you care you seem not to care about the significant problems of playing with the physical safety and material and and mental and emotional health of everyone else. This policy is absurd. Our next speaker is Rose Eder. Hi, Rose Edigger. uh mother of five Thornton resident and my oldest is 23. She came with me today and my youngest is in second grade at Sky View. Um first I want to say thank you to our commissioners, our board of directors, excuse me. Um, I know this is a volunteer position and I know I hear from a lot of you your parents and even if you're not a parent, you have a very busy life and um, I
034recognize that and I want to thank you for the time and the love you're putting into our community. Um, it's very meaningful and we appreciate it and we appreciate you. I do and my household does. And I um also want to say thank you to all of you for coming. Um and I think what it shows me is that we all share a value of the dignity of our individuals in our community. Um, each human being has dignity and each human being deserves love. And I hope that we can each take the time to listen to our neighbors and our children, no matter how they identify themselves. It's important to listen to them and to hear them and to understand what's their challenge, what's their barrier, and what they need. And that's our role as
035the adults in the community is to provide that to them and to help them feel safe as you all have shared. Um and also I'd like to to ask the board or anyone here and just share my concern about today's climate uh the threat to our democracy and how can we support the school district in ensuring our students and their families are safe and not deported. um not grabbed by who knows who at this point and taken where. Um, I'm concerned for our students and my community members who I love and um, I support the work you're doing and I support all of you for coming here with me today and um, thank you and I hope to be more engaged and um, that we can join together in showing the love that a community
036can share its neighbors and support its neighbors and speak out and um, keep those negative bad experiences from happening to people who we love in our community. Thanks. Thank you, Miss Ediger. Our next speaker is Kathy Henson. Okay. Uh, good evening, Superintendent Gdowski and Board of Education. I'm Kathy Henson. I live in Thornton. My boys went through the Adams 12 school district K prek through graduation graduation. They're both in college now and doing well. I am a former Thornton City Council member and a current Adams County Commissioner. And tonight I'm speaking in my personal capacity. I just would like to say thanks to all of you for your continued work in the trenches of public education. Um I've said it before and I'll say it again. Public education is the cornerstone of a free and
037civil society and it is essential for a healthy and functioning democracy. And I'm here to thank you for the work that you do on behalf of all of our students. I caught the not all of the commissioners um excuse me, director comments, but the ones I did here regarding keeping all of our students safe, including our LGBTQ plus community and making sure that we are providing a setting in all of our schools where all of our students feel safe and valued and seen. um is is most essential to kids being able to access their education and really get the most out of it, which is what we owe them is the very best shot at the best public education we can give them. I'm really heartbroken as we all are over the funding cuts to
038our district. It reminds me of the first years when Mr. Gdowski was the superintendent and uh year-over-year when my kids were in preschool and it was 10 million here and 9 million the next year and over and over and we lost essential staff members, we lost interventionists, we lost specialists, we w lost special ed, we lost paraprofessionals, we lost tenur teachers and here we are again. And I think if anybody is really interested a couple of things if somebody's interested in getting involved in the district I highly recommend the five-star leadership academy. I did that. I went on to serve on the materials review committee and then five years on the finance and audit committee where I got a very deeply uh humbling appreciation for the work that is done by everybody across this district.
039Every year we ask you to do more with less. We have got to fix Taber so we can pay our teachers what they're worth so that we can hire the staff we need so we can keep feeding kids lunches at school every day and have the materials we need and the curriculum and the facilities to give them the worldclass education they deserve. I am here to offer you all of my support in that in any way that I can help bolster uh the Adams 12 district. I am always here for it. Um we are with you. I'm I'm speaking for my family uh in standing up for the rights of every student in our schools. I know you do that. We see it. We love it. We are here to support you. That is Thank
040you for doing your job on behalf of our students and our democracy and your support for public education. If anybody wants to support kids, then let's fix the let's fix the fact that the only place that our state can take money from every year to fix whatever other messes we've gotten ourselves into is by shortch changing our students on their public education. Um, your time has expired. Thank you very much. You know where to find me. Great to see you all again. Thank you, Commissioner Hansen. And thank you for what you do for our county. Our next speaker is Kyle Lucas. My name is Kyle Lucas. I'm from Thornton. Um, I'm a professor of psychology and I've taught a human development course for over a decade. And so I've spent many years thinking about human
041development and what optimal human development looks like. I recently read a book called of boys and men by Richard Reeves. And as I read it, I thought of all of you up there and wanted to recommend it to you. Uh this book talks about the challenges that boys face and men in our country um and in our communities. A lot of the book was related to education and how boys are falling behind girls in many aspects. And so this book u highlighted a lot of real world problems that I thought were important uh to address. Uh there's real data in there. Um, and as was echoed earlier, I don't think we should be spending time on problems where there is no data or research to back it up. We do have other problems um in
042bathrooms as was mentioned. I have a middle schooler and she talks about all the time vandalism, vaping, bullying, etc. So one of the best ways in my opinion to combat all of this um going back to my psychology background there's a very famous study by Albert Bandura which was about modeling and how adults model behavior to children and particularly he talked about aggression and how children learn aggression by simply watching adults be aggressive. And so my point is is that as adults I think we have an obligation to rather than model aggression on the internet posting or in person that we have an obligation to model maturity communication conflict resolution and when we disagree about policies to be able to sit down and have mature adult conversations with one another to find common ground to
043address these real world problems that children actually face. So, um to echo Lori about building community and how that community has existed, I think we can do better. And this is a call of action to myself because I don't do this very often, but to all of you that I want to build this community. I want to model to our children this uh responsibility and maturity to have these kinds of conversations. And so let's take action, real action, not just coming here and talking or posting on social media, but really building that community. Thank you. Yep. Thank you, Dr. Lucas. Our next speaker is Liz Wilson. Good evening. My name is Liz Wilson and I live in Eerie. So I'm one of those few people that had the the good fortune to choice into Adam's
04412. So thank you for existing. Um we came from St. brain, another great district, but we're really happy where we are. Um, I wanted to come up here to say I have seen an adult embarrass, harass, and intimidate LGBTQ per children in person. And every single one of you on the board knows who this person is. I will not stand silent while people pick up on these attacks to win schoolboard seats. These attacks are disingenuous. These attacks on trans kids, trans kids about pronouns, sports, locker rooms, dress codes, etc. are weaponized political distractions. If you want proof, see me afterwards. Look up Lance Wallno and Christopher Rufo. Some people who keep attacking one member of the board are sincerely terrified of trans people. I feel compassion for you and pity that that is the most
045important issue in public education today for them. Of all the things to be worried about in today's world, whether the very, very, very few trans kids in our district will do something to my daughter is a very low priority. I can assure you I would rather her spend the night on a school trip with these trans kids that I know at her school than some of these sis kids that speak hate and write anti-semitic and racist things on bathroom walls. These trans kids are afraid because they know gay and trans people have been bullied, beaten, and killed for existing. Some people make noise about this for political reasons. They're doing what they've been told to do. They are circulating talking points from extremist groups such as Moms for Liberty. Some have been manipulated into thinking
046that this is a problem. I ask you to focus on what is important. This focus on trans issues is disproportionate. The NCAA said there are 10 or fewer athletes in their system that are trans. Focus on the right things, not wedge issues designed to destroy trust and confidence. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Wilson. Our next speaker is Laura Garcia Pasco. Okay, thank you. Wow, I don't know how to follow that. I was going to forego my whole speech because nobody's going to like, well, some people aren't going to like what I have to say, but I am a neighbor of yours and I deserve a voice as well. I am not here to say who is right or wrong and I need my glasses. Most people I know, family, friends are kind of freaked out
047about the issue of boys and girls, XX,X XY, trans girls, trans boys comingling where they shouldn't be co-mingling. Some of y'all are trying to circumvent many of the issues by just imposing the will of one group over another. I'm here to let you all know that out of my very large, close-knit family, many of whom live in Adams County, I have only one grad niece in the Adams 12 school system. Many have chosen charter schools, private schools, and many are homeschooled. In fact, I tell anyone who will listen, if you truly love your children, you will get them out of the public school institutions. Please forgo the lollipops and the fancy pants and do what you have to do to make that happen. So I'm here. So why am I here and who am I?
048I'm telling you this. I am third generation of Mexicans and Spaniards who love being American who loves this nation. And this board here is an arm of the government. And you have a duty to protect all the children. I may be a lone voice here today, but trust me when I tell you that I have I am speaking for many. And many of us hold and uplift our girls in our traditions like kinsmenas. And our girls deserve their own spaces and to compete against other girls where sports are concerned. And I also want to point out when you impose the will of the few to others, you impose trauma on those and the cycle continues. I just want the trauma to stop. Thank you for your consideration. Our next speaker is Becky Bean. Thank you
049so much. Um, I want to first say that I am a member of the Thornton Arts Sciences and Humanities Council as well as holding a lot of other leadership positions, but I am speaking in my personal capacity. So, first of all, I want to say the most sincere and heartfelt thank you to each and every one of you for continuing to stand up for LGBTQ folks and their families. Um, I am a member of the LGBTQ community. I was also raised in a Christian conservative home. The only trauma I ever felt was because they did not support me. It took me, sorry I'm trying to be calm, but anyway, it took me until I was 32 to stop hating myself every day because of the trauma that I experienced. I never came out to my
050father because I was literally worried he would kill me. He purported to be a Christian man and he would kill his own child before he would let the world know that she was a member of the of the LGBTQ plus community. So your support matters. Everything that you do to support gays when they're young matters. I don't want to see young folks come up in this world with that same kind of trauma and fear. I'm a proud public education graduate. I went to K through 12 in Thompson Archuj. I went to Colorado State University and the University of Illinois because I had to move there for work. So, no shade on Colorado. I like it here. Um, so if you value public education, I want you to keep showing up here each and every time
051you can and showing your support for these fine folks. And I really and truly just want to say again, thank you and thank you for your time. Thank you, Miss Bean. Our next speaker is Jessica Troy. Uh, good evening. Um, I originally came here tonight to maybe just vent and express my dismay and rage about the budget cuts and about my children losing teachers that they have developed relationships with. And I'm super super pissed about that. But then when I got here and saw what other people are here to talk about, I thought maybe I ought to change what I'm talking about and talk about uh standing up for LGBTQ plus kids. I am the mother of one and this is a really big issue for me as well. Um, I'm not quite sure what
052direction I want to go at this point because it does kind of seem like the people here to stand up for the LGBTQ kids vastly outnumber the people who are here to crap on them. So maybe I don't know. I don't know which way I should go here. Um uh I I will say um you know keeping our kids safe from sexual abuse is super super important. It's a very personal issue to me and I know from unfortunately uh very personal experience that the vast majority of children who are abused will be abused by their own family members. And I also know from personal experience that the ven diagram between the people who freak out about trans kids and the people who cover up for the abusive family members that they know good and well
053about has an awful lot of overlap. So it's incredibly triggering for me personally to hear these discussions in these public forums and it's it's I'm sorry it's It's made up this freaking out about trans kids. There's hardly any trans people. It's 2% of the population, right? It's a tiny portion of the population. And the fact that we are distracting from very real issues with this conversation. I am so upset about all the teachers who are being laid off. I am so upset. This is all happening because of a law that was passed when I was 9 years old. because of decisions made by people who are dead now. By voters who are dead now. My kids are paying for that. And all of us, all of us are paying for that. We should be asking
054why we are living in a society that wants to cut funds to education. This is absolutely insane. They want to keep us dumb so that we don't know when we're being exploited. That's what the problem is here. And I I know like all of us here as individuals don't have the power to do anything about this, but I know there's legislators here. I know there's stuff going and I have not been able to go anywhere with the Democratic party for the last 10 years without hearing everybody say this is because of Taber and nobody's doing anything about Taber. And I think it's high time that we made time has expired. People afraid of not doing it. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. [Applause] Troy. Our next speaker is Jesse Meyers. Thank you. How do I follow
055that? Um, my name is Jesse Myers. I'm a resident of Thornton. Um, I am also uh president of the Thornton Arts, Sciences, and Humanities Council, but I'm speaking on my personal behalf tonight. Um, I um would just like to thank the the board members uh who um who express their support for the LGBTQ plus um kids. And I agree with almost all of the sentiments that have been expressed here today. Um, but I also just want to point out um how incredibly weird and creepy it is that these people think about our children's genitals so much. Um, it's it's really really bizarre and disturbing and probably warrants some therapy. Um, because it's not normal to think about children's genitals all the time. And I can guarantee you that none of us in here uh who
056are speaking um in support of these children, we don't go into bathrooms and wonder what's in people's pants. Um it's very weird and it's a sickness and uh if you're thinking about kids genitals all the time, you should probably get some help. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Myers. Our next speaker is Dennis Fogle. Hi, Dennis Vogle, City of Thornton. Um, I have three boys, all went through the public school system in Adams 12, two in college, one of which was non-verbal and could not read until he was 10. He is now graduating from a university because of Adam's 12 schools. So, the crap that is being laid upon our public school system by some people is just nonsense. Just wanted to get that off my chest. As far as our trans community, holy crap,
057the amount of obsession, somebody stole my thunder, with what our kids have in their pants is disturbing and a little weird. I will echo that. Trans kids make up less than 2%. Some studies say.7% of our school population. They are not a problem. You being obsessed with them is a problem. Trying to force trans kids to go to where you think their genitals make them more appropriate in a bathroom just adds to bullying and assault of these vulnerable kids. and attacks on our schoolboard members is tantamount to online bullying because you're just making up and then throwing it out there as red meat. Facts matter. Some people seem to think that they can sit there and make up their own facts and then get people pissed off. Pedophiles are not kids. They don't go into
058our school bathrooms because we screen everybody who goes into our schools and make sure that they're not sex offenders. Doesn't matter if they have completed any sort of therapies. That's still on their record. And they don't get jobs at schools, you dumb asses. So trying to make up that they are is bull. And it's just you trying to bully trans kids. Focus on what matters. The issues today, Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, school funding. That's what matters. Not bullying transfers. Your time has expired. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vogel. Our next speaker is Gabriel Cervantes. Hi, my name is Gabriel Cvantes. I am the youngest of six who went through all Thornton schools. So, thank you Adams 12 for producing five rock stars. Um, but thank you so much. You're so much better than Jeff Co.
059I want to say that. Um, I am a multi-generational Mexican indigenous person because apparently that matters. Uh, my wife is from Mexico, which apparently that matters. Um, but I want to express my frustration and how upset I am because I was just in an Apac meeting across the hall celebrating with my relatives and figuring out how we can provide better support for our indigenous students and I had to just come here. I didn't want to be here for this kind of conversation. This is a stupid conversation. I'm sorry. What frustrates me is that trans people have existed for 10,000 years. Trans people will continue to exist for 10,000 more years. And if you are going to say that you are proud of your heritage, specifically from Mexico, they acknowledge trans people. And I think that's
060something that you need to be aware of if you're going to talk about being Mexican. So, I agree. We should absolutely protect our children. All of our children. That was what was said. We need to protect all of our children. And that includes our trans students more than anyone. That includes our more our most vulnerable students. We need to protect them. And this idea of segregating them and they're not allowed to talk to boys and girls no matter how they identify when this has really only been a system for a few hundred years is a ridiculous notion. Let people be who they want to be. If you want to pursue the ideas of liberty, then let people make a choice about how they live. Let people do what they want to do. We've never said
061sis people can't exist in the spaces. We've never said straight couples can't exist in their spaces. We want people who are proud to be who they are to exist in these spaces and that's all we want. So, I'm sorry, but this this entire argument is stupid and I'm going to go sit down and then I'm going to go back to my meeting. So, thank you all so much for your time. Thank you, Mr. Cervantes. Our next speaker is Cody Leblanc. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Cody Leblanc. I'm from Fort Lupton. Uh just before I start with what I had prepared, I wanted to thank uh President Goldstein for the conversation about the Congressional App Challenge. Uh, in a previous life, I was the director of constituent outreach for Congressman Kenbach, former Congressman Kenbuck,
062and I oversaw the Congressional App Challenge. It is truly an amazing program that is offered to our youth, especially as we advocate for more STEM programming and additional resources for our students. Um, I am a former school board member uh from a neighboring school district. As I said, I don't live here and I don't have children enrolled in your schools, but I do pay close close attention to educational policies across Colorado. What you do here matters because it shapes the culture and standards for all of us. I recently did view a public statement made made by someone in the district with influence over students and policies. And in that statement, she offered what can only be described as sympathy for these sex offenders, questioning the legitimacy of registries, downplaying offenses, and focusing more on the
063complexity of those labeled as offenders than on the devastation experienced by the victims is something that's truly heartbreaking to me. Let me be clear, this isn't a nuance. It's a pattern of reframing predators as misunderstood. That kind of rhetoric sends a message that public sympathy for offenders is more important than accountability and more urgent than child protection. That mindset is dangerous enough on its own, but even more so when paired with your district's current policies on these bathrooms and locker rooms. Quite frankly, I don't care about any student that's transgender or not using whatever bathroom they choose to use. To me, I see much more issues with the fact that this policy can be extrapolated and cause so many additional problems when you have guests and teachers. I mean, it is not very common as
064much, thank goodness, and thank God that we see teachers getting arrested for pedophilia as often as we used to. It does still happen though, and these policies scare the heck out of me. allowing any adult to ac access sex specific spaces based on self-declared gender identity, no safeguards, no questions, and no accountability cannot continue to happen. It is not an inclusive policy. It's a reckless gamble with student safety, comfort, and trust. As a former schoolboard member, I understand the pressures that you each face. But I also know this. The first duty of a school board is to protect its students, not to appease political activists, whether that's what you consider me or not. It is not to push social experiments and certainly not to cater to individuals who demonstrate more empathy for offenders than for
065victims. There is a line. The district has c crossed it with this policy. I urge this board to reexamine these policies, reenter the conversation on student safety, and ask yourselves a simple question. Would you be comfortable explaining this policy to the parents of a child who is harmed because of it? If the answer is no, then the policy doesn't belong here. Thank you. Our final speaker is Representative Phillips. Thank you. Wow. Um I didn't get the memo that there was a policy or or anything. So um I came here for something else. So I'm Representative Dr. Jackie Phillips Esquire. That's that's a lot of hats, but um education is my jam. I represent Colorado House District 31. That's Thornton. Not all of Thornton, but most of it. First of all, I want to apologize that
066I had earbuds in before. I was literally in I'm on the education committee and we were literally in committee still and I had to stay on until we could vote. And the good news is you guys, we voted out of committee a bill for dyslexia for dyslexia screening. There's some good news for us tonight. We're kind of like the school board. We get beat up a lot as well. So, it's kind of nice when we can actually do something that people clap about. Um, I just wanted to do a quick introduction and um, shout out to the school board. Thank you for your work. And I I did hear some things come up tonight. Um, the school finance bill today uh was passed on second reading through the House. That's good news for most districts
067in Colorado. That's not great news for Adams 12. And we have worked relentlessly um to make this bill be good for Adams 12. And we are not done yet, but um I want to do a shout out also to the other representative, Shannon Bird, because she's the other one that has also been spending a lot of time on this. And of course, Superintendent Gdowski, thank you so much. Um we're still in the fight for school finance for Adams 12. But anyone who wants to talk to me about any issues, please just reach out and you don't even have to write me a nasty email. What would be super nice is just email me and go, "Hey, let's talk about this issue." I will be happy to meet with you as I do every single weekend
068at the churro's place on Hiron. Lots of teachers especially because teachers are angry, right? And I can tell you nobody wants to be the representative from the school district that had to fire 160 teachers. Okay? Happy to talk to teachers. I'm happy to talk to anybody, even a I thrive in conflict. I'm an attorney. I don't back down from that. And um and I'm happy to talk to anybody. So reach out and uh and we'll get together and have some churros. But tonight, I am here for the kids from Horizon High School and Mushrooms. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Phillips. Um, and we'll get to that in a bit. Um, it's on the [Laughter] agenda. All right. Actually, it's next on the agenda. Recognizing Horizon High School students with House Bill 25-1091, which was the
069designation of a state mushroom. Okay, we have a state flower. We have a state bird. Let's see what else did I learn in fourth grade. Um, state dinosaur, state tree, state um mineral, and we didn't have a state mushroom, but Dr. for Representative Jackie Phillips conjured up a bunch of students from Horizon High School along with Greg Sanchez, their teacher, and they got the bill passed. So, they're going to talk to us a little bit about it. I just want to say I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the bill signing. I don't get invited to too many of them, but I did get invited. I was out of town visiting my dad. Um, so anyway, um, I think you guys can come up to the podium. And did you get the um PowerPoint? Uh
070sure. Okay. You have to email it. And then uh folks, the students from Horizon High School come on up along with um Representative Phillips Aid I believe. Roxanna All right. Well, we're getting things started here. And we're kind of in some heavy space right now. And uh I think the mushrooms will will maybe lighten things up a little bit. This is a celebration for for a kingdom, the kingdom of fungi. So, we'll get you going. And so my name is Greg Sanchez. I uh I am a product of Adams 12 myself, starting with uh first grade Cherry Drive. Go Cheetahs. Um it was a brand new school when I first moved here. Um this part of Thornton and uh went on to Northland Junior High at that time, graduated from Thornton High School, student taught
071at Thornton High School, and now I've been at Horizon for for my 29th year, going on my 29th year. So, thank you for uh everything Adams [Applause] 12 and so I'm filling in some space here. So, um I I I'm part of micological community as well as a as a social studies teacher and I've been a president of the Colorado Micological Society of three times. Um, and I like to start meetings with a a little humanities and and I got a a short schoolboard meeting haiku to kind of set the tone for us. And so here it goes. Noble new symbol, Agaricus Julius, the emperor's law. It's short. It's ha coup. So there we go. All right. So, I'm just going to give a little context and background. I want to let the students have
072a chance to to speak on this on on this topic because without their support and without their voice um this wouldn't have happened. Okay. So, we do need to acknowledge uh the voices of our young people that can make a difference in our in our in our government. There's my poem. All right. So, as we talked about state symbols, um I mean this is a civic process. All right. And and so in our in our government, um in order for a new symbol to be introduced or or uh identified, designated, it has to go through legislative process. All right? And and it's a long process. And I teach civics and I didn't know how it worked and I learned. Okay? And so that's that's a good thing. All right? So it was a huge learning
073opportunity for me and and one of the inspirations is actually some of the history of Adams 12 that some of you might not realize and and so in 1982 um a teacher from Mawne Elementary School uh Ruth Sado uh and her class of fourth graders um worked to get the state fossil uh Stegosaurus identified as a new symbol. Uh my wife was actually in fourth grade at that school at the time and and she remembers it well as uh but uh this was was something that helped me kind of just reinforce the fact that hey Adams 12's got some history here and maybe this is a tradition we could continue. All right. And so thank you Ruth Sto and McQueen Elementary for for starting it. Um as far as our background through Horizon High School,
074I I did introduce this myself. All right. Again, I I teach social studies. we're coming off of COVID and um you know it was right before break in 2021 um and I'm starting to think of how can we what kind of things can we do to help students engage with civics and and so um at that point there were only three states that had state mushrooms. Texas just recently in 2021 uh designated a mushroom for their state. And so if Texas could do it I'm thinking hey why not Colorado? All right. And so in 2021, I reached out to then Representative Caraveo. Did not get a reply till later in January after my third attempt. I I emailed her twice. I called her once and and to give her uh some grace, she's a pediatrician
075and it was COVID. So that's okay. Right. November 22 comes around. I I contacted Representative Shbini. Um and again, it was a little late. The timing was wrong. Uh but August 23, uh we did continue some talks about sponsoring a state mushroom and developing a a bill. Uh Representative Charbini attended a a school uh a meeting at our school with students to show his interest in sponsoring this bill. Unfortunately, he resigned that session and the bill was not introduced. come to the present December 2024, Representative Phillips was there to listen to us. She attended a meeting with our politics club students and and seven of them are are here with me. Um and and this is where she committed to sponsoring the state bill with the help of our politics club students. And so um
076uh in in January 20 uh January 23rd, 2025, Representative Phillips and Senator Kyle Mullica um sponsored co-sponsored this bill to introduce a new state symbol. And so some of this came from the the the natural world, the the environmental side of it. And so we have eight animals represent the animal kingdom in in our state. We have four plants representing the plant kingdom. Where's the fungi? All right. And and and from a amateur micologist perspective, fungi is probably the most important kingdom out of all of them. And because if you have no fungi, you have no plants. You have no fungi, you have no animals. You have no animals, there's no us. And so, um, as a symbol, this is a very important symbolic symbol because they can't vote. And they really don't care if
077you know they're there because a lot of times they're not. They're underground, but um it's our purpose to to help raise awareness for the for their importance. Um fungi is in a lot of places. All right? It's becoming more and more common and a lot of things are misunderstood and there's a lot of misinformation out there. But, uh mushrooms are present. And so, I'm going to skip to our students because that's really what I want you to recognize. and and going with this process, it was really intended to provide a real world civic learning opportunity and and and to show students you can participate as active citizens in our government and you can shape legislation. And so, um, I was honored to have seven of our students join us in this effort and I want
078to give them some time to, uh, to speak as well. If you want to go So, uh, this was like a huge opportunity because Tell us your name, please. Uh my name is Davien Bedford and this was a huge opportunity because I was born tongue tied and I took speech therapy for around five years or through elementary and it's been like a struggle to even have my voice heard and this was a great opportunity that made me learn about mushrooms but also taught me how a bill is signed and it was just a great experience. [Applause] I'm Delila Viano and I'd like to give a big thanks for letting kids actually come in here because I've been to one and a half board meetings today and they're really cool. And thanks to Mr. Sanchez for
079letting us actually have a chance to do the mushroom because I know nothing about them. But it was really fun to actually get into the politics of it cuz I've never done anything like this. And I've read so many National Geographic magazines and still there's like nothing about mushrooms in them. So getting to actually talk in front of important people and get your voice heard as a ninth grader is really cool. And I really enjoyed this whole process because now I'm over my stage fright. So that's pretty good. And I just really had fun with this entire process. So thank you [Applause] I'm Cortagia Pocrell and I was really happy to be here because I to for the mushroom I really thought it was such a cool thing for my voice to be heard as
080a ninth grader and being young. So just thank thank you to everybody. My name is Logan Berdick and I'm going to be honest, I had no idea we were speaking today. So, I have I have nothing lined up or like planned out, but I'm going to throw a few things a few uh like speed thoughts out there. Uh I was in Mr. Sanchez's uh freshman year econ class, and that's not civics, but it was still like relating to some sort of like government. And ever since my freshman year, which was 2021, he's been talking about this mushroom bill. And so, it's super super awesome to like finally actually, you know, four years down the road get it through get it like passed, get it like it's real now, which is super awesome. And although I
081didn't keep up with it through my junior or sophomore years, from freshman year to senior year, it's a total like it's mindblowing and it's super fun. And it's also really cool to finally get like a chance to be like a civic like person, which is a silly thing to say, but it's like I used to go by my life and I was like, "Oh, I'm just a little dude walking around, you know?" But now I'm like a dude walking around who also has like a voice in some government that like I have an impact. I have an effect. So does so do all of my like uh peers, colleagues, if you classmates, that's a good one. um that you might call them. But it's just super awesome. And so I wanted to say um go
082check out this mushroom. It's you can find it places. Yeah, it'll be on the website. There's a website um near like the forest near like mountains. Yeah, you can go you can find these near the forest near mountains. Um anyways, but yeah, go check it out. Super fun. Go on a hike. Amazing. Here's Trent Sanchez. Oh, thank you for introducing me, Logan. Um, so I'm Tren Sanchez and I am a am in my senior year of high school. I joined uh politics club when I was in my junior year of high school. I joined because of my concerns for the current political state of our country right now. And um as I went into 12th grade, uh not to use uh a relation for clout or anything, but um Mr. Sanchez is my uncle. And
083and um and I I've known that he he had he had a fascination for mushrooms ever since I was a kid. And it's kind of cool to watch him fulfill this um ma major uh to to create a major symbol in our state that is Colorado. So yeah, thank you Trent. I'm going to make this brief and if you know me, that's not my strength. Um first of all, there there were barriers along the way. Um and I'm glad that Mr. Sanchez did the shout out to the former representatives um Caraveo and Charbini because then I just I came in just in time to be able to hit that soft pitch. So I was just lucky. But also early on there was an email from an Adams 12 administrator um not in the not in
084at Horizon High School that Mr. Sanchez shared with me that actually said um no this has nothing to do with curriculum. So like you you can't proceed with this. And we were lucky that you know we did some conversations and were able to move forward. The second big barrier is you guys people made fun of this and at state ledge you know it was all this stuff about I referred to this as the most important piece of legislation of this session. And so then there's all kinds of social media like always you know that that said um oh what are you doing? Oh what a waste of time. And even DPS even Denver public schools put up something and don't worry we made sure they retracted it and they did. But the reason why this
085was so important for me it I mean, Mr. Sanchez is super into the mushrooms. It wasn't about the mushroom for me. It was it was about the process and it was about, you know, we're always talking about getting kids involved, right, in politics. And so, it was about the kids being able to see that from years ago when they started that process all the way to coming to committee. They testified in committee. They got to see it's on the House floor. Now, it has to go to the Senate. There were amendments in the Senate, which always not the best thing for when you work in the House, but the amendments on the Senate ended up being super fun because the Senate amendments were about this mushroom was formerly known as Prince. And so then they
086made an adjustment. We had to come back to the House and it was super fun. That's why in the picture I'm wearing a raspberry beret for anyone who's my age. And um and then we started off everything was dearly beloved we have gathered here today to talk about a thing called life. If you know Prince you know the music. So there was so much fun with that. Okay. You know it was kind of all those these different you know Prince jokes going around. So that was great. But the biggest shout out for me of course is to the kids and to Mr. Sanchez. Thank you. Are we okay with time? I've got just Oh, we're fine. Is there anybody has any questions or comments up here? I I have comments. So, first of all, I'm
087with you, Mr. Sanchez. I'm reading a book called Gathering Moss. Yes, it's about moss. Yes. And I can say without hyperbole that it's the best book on moss you'll ever read. Um, so the second thing I was going to say is that you're already doing better than Oklahoma, my home state. And I can poke fun at them because I grew up there because their state floral emblem was the mistletoe which when you think about it, it can't be a floral emblem because it's actually a parasitic fung fungi. So you're doing much better than them. You have an actual mushroom and everything. But in all due seriousness, what you've done here is fantastic. You have a group of uh high school students who thoroughly understand the legislative process. We have potential future political candidates in front
088of us right now whether they know it or not. Um the other thing is the mushroom may seem like a small insignificant thing but when we look at all of those state emblems we're sending a message that we value our state's natural beauty resources and biology. And even if it's a small mushroom formerly called prince or whatever moss we have here in Colorado, maybe you can tell me. Um, it matters. It matters. The way we frame things, the way we look at our world, the way we value it matters. So, I thank you for that. Thank you. And thank you for recognizing that. Yeah. And you same I think just these issues that we think are important um and teaching kids that there's things that are so much more important because without them oops we
089wouldn't have life like you said. Um and so so exciting that you got them involved. Thank you so much for what you do. Thank you for your dedication to kids um education, everything. And thank you kids for and students for um taking charge with this and getting involved. This is this can be really intimidating and you guys nailed it. So great job. Good work. I would like to add, you know, this is an incredible project and it's just so wonderful that you were able to take them along on this journey. And I think a different thing that was taught maybe unintentionally was the importance of perseverance and you did not give up. I mean, we had one student that shared like this was something you were focused on a long time ago. It took you
090multiple representatives and you did not give up. And I think that's an important life lesson that goes along with everything you guys learned through the process that I just am so grateful you were able to share with with all the students and that example that you were able to set with all of our community in Adams 12. And I want to say a special thank you to Representative Jackie Phillips because I know that it is a very very busy legislative session and you guys have been down there late nights and weekends. So for you to make time to bring our students and our staff under your wing and include them in this adventure has just been it's been really meaningful and it speaks a lot to the kind of representative you are and we are
091honored to have you serving our Adams 12 community. So thank you. Thank you. I'd like to echo everyone's um I some of you might know um work down at the capital a lot um in my job job and so students I think you have um way above a lot of CEOs that I have to explain the bill process to so maybe you could do that for me and that would be great you guys are far ahead of them um and you should very um seriously consider you can testify anytime on any bills remote or in person and um your voice is important it's very important. So, um I appreciate that and thank you um Mr. Sanchez for I think really what we try to show when we talk about school funding and when we talk
092about public education is the ways that we reach kids in many different levels. And I too was a kid that was not great at reading and writing and test taking. And so when my teachers went outside the box um with their educational lessons, that was vital to me. Um so I really really appreciate that. and Representative Phillips, I know how hard it is, especially in these last few weeks of the legislation, so legislative sessions. So, I really appreciate it. As a former biology teacher, I appreciate the fun the fungus kingdom getting some attention. I guess my question is when you were testifying for this bill, did you get any push back questions? Because I know that happens a lot when you're testifying. Yeah. just wanted to say uh we got not like super like we
093didn't get a lot of like questions against it but we did get questions on how did we choose which fungi we would pick and how if any of us actually seen it or not. That was a big one. But uh it was a very like clean process because it didn't require any funding. there was support from it and it was more like a baby bill. It was attached to like the bigger board meeting on there. So that's all I really have to say about that question because I know how it can be down there and um I'm sure that you guys understand the process a lot better than some of the legislators down there too. And we won't name names but sorry President Goldste wanted to respond to your question about was there any push
094back? So, um, on the when I went to do the bill on the House floor, there was in fact another representative that asked, um, two challenging questions and seriously um, he asked um, well, he actually stated that um, this seems like an is this eotterrorism? This seems like eotterrorism. And then the second question was, is this a land grab? And so my response was, uh, with all due respect, Representative, I believe you're thinking about a different bill. And then we called for the vote and it was unanimous. Sound was good. Did you guys get to watch the floor work on it or No. No. Yeah. I If only the school finance bill could have passed this easy. Well, yeah. And and yeah, one of the things I I just want to touch on that that
095was mentioned um you know, the perseverance side of it, it it's worth it to me. And and I think, you know, from the start, part of my intention was also to help help show students civic engagement doesn't happen overnight. And sometimes you got to stick with it and and if you don't like something, do something about it. You know, don't just argue about everything. Do something. Show show that you're willing to put put up some put up put your put your put your work into it, you know, and that's part of what we did. Um, but in terms of the legislative process, I I do have a few things I need to acknowledge. Um, and and initially my my my intention was to include all students of Adams 12 and I and I I did
096have to apply for permission. Was not given permission. I wanted them to be part of the choice in the selection and and so that was not an option eventually. Um and so uh the the choice kind of was narrowed down because Utah beat us to one, California beat us to another that we had. And so we we wanted to go in a different direction. And so um as far as the the process, I I just want to acknowledge this. I mean there's a lot of steps here. All right? And and even you saw us started in 2021. that was just when it was in its infancy and then going through the steps was a whole another deal. But um as far as the uh the selection um I want to show the students there again
097real quick. This was at man this was a a teacher defining moment just watching students share themselves and I really didn't coach them. They they spoke from the heart and they realized this this is this is important stuff. Um but I but I do have to acknowledge a joint committee made up of professional and amateur micologists throughout the state. Um and they worked very hard to help with the uh taxonomy and all the the the justification and the rationale. And so, um, if you want more information about that, uh, this was documented in, uh, a publication for the North American Micological Association, and this was before it got passed, but they were, uh, some of our our joint committee members were just documenting the process, just kind of explain, hey, this is why we chose
098this one. So, thank you, Mr. Sanchez. Quick question or maybe students. So, I don't know if this is myth or reality, but when I was a kid, my brother and myself and our friends always thought that it was illegal to pick a coline because it was a state flower. Are there any restrictions on picking this new state mushroom? No, that was I don't believe that was ever part of the discussion. I think that would have to be drafted into the legislation itself and and that was never the intention. To be honest, you'll be lucky to find this one. Uh it I mean it's there for sure, but you know when you look at this diagram here, let me let me go back up. Um when it fruits, you got to be there because it's not
099always going to pop up when you want it to. And so it does it does uh grow near our our blue spruce, which is another state symbol that we have. Um you have to be in the high elevation. Uh but there's so many factors, moisture, humidity, temperature, and luck. So if if you want to know where they are, I I can take you out and and we could look. I think you ought to organize a trip. Count me in. Uh when Representative Phillips came to an early legislative meeting with the board maybe November, December, I suggested the King Bit. And I think she said Utah already has that I think is my recollection. And I think getting folks out to to see these things in person uh would be a great opportunity. So if you
100organize that, count me in. Okay, I'm in. Thank you guys. This is great. Thank you. It's great to have a little levity in the room. um pictures with us or All right. Um, we are going to take a 10-minut break. So, uh Yeah. All right, we'll uh readjourn here onto proclamation AsianAmerican and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. I will entertain a motion to adopt the proclamation declaring May as Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in Adams 12 five-star schools as presented. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Director Assad Lucas. I. Director Bastelli. I. Director Goldstein. I. Director Marsh Holen. I. Director Potter. I. I will on to minutes. I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the work study session and regular board meeting of April 9th, 2025 as presented. So moved. Second. Any discussion?
101Director Assad Lucas. I. Director Batistelli. I. Director Goldstein. Hi. Director Marsh Holen. I. Director Potter. I. On to monitoring reports. Operating limitations policy 2.2 treatment of staff. I will entertain a motion to acknowledge that the board received a monitoring report as of April 16, 2025 for the period April 17, 2024 through April 16th, 2025 of the superintendent concerning board policy 2.2 treatment of staff and finds the superintendent's interpretations are reasonable, supported by data that is relevant, justified, and complete. So move second. Hi Miss Shepard. Good evening. Thank you. Good to see you tonight. And uh probably better not to be up here in front of the entire crowd. It's a little nerve-wracking. I admire the people who got up and spoke spoke. Uh I'm here to present uh the treatment of staff monitoring report to
102you. There are seven items in this uh report and uh I I think it's a fairly familiar one to you and so I will move through the just some high points of this year's results and entertain any questions that you have certainly. Um so in the first uh part of the policy where the superintendent is charged with protect protecting against wrongful conditions such as nepotism or preferential treatment uh we have some custom questions that we ask in the Panorama culture and climate survey each year and um the survey was given slightly earlier this year right after the winter break in January. And so we had uh our results back and uh um saw very positive trends for all these custom questions. You see a series of tables there on pages two and three that show
103since uh the the beginning of asking these custom questions what the general favorable responses are. And um we're in the uh 80% favorable to the question about um staff leader relations and um a positive trend to uh the question about connection to the larger vision and mission of the district. And then um as for rights as an employee not being violated and my supervisory person displays fair treatment, those favorable responses are both n3 and 90% respectively. So and positive trending. So I report compliance in that uh first item. Um the uh second item has to do with uh being clear about performance expectations and evaluation timelines. And so we have uh you utilized the state model evaluation system for many years. Uh this year we do have a bit of a revision in the training
104process. And so at the bottom of page three, there's a paragraph that talks about the training for principles and APS which took place um via the uh the Colorado Department of Education's required evaluator training and that's per Senate Bill 22070. So that's just a slightly different process, but as we have done annually, we have trained our our evaluators to be sure that we have consistency in their approach to that process. So, I I do report compliance in that item. The third item uh has to do with um internal grievance processes and um we've got a custom question in there which shows a generally uh favorable trend. Um talks about if I had a complaint which was not resolved by my supervisory team, uh I I know that I have an option to take a grievance
105to the board of education after exhausting internal processes. 87% of our people are saying yes, I I know that I agree or strongly agree with that answer. Um I do collect and track the responses from people. There's a free response text box there and uh for folks we've been concerned and monitoring for a number of years uh the any perceptions of retaliatory or fearfulness in this space. Uh you'll see that we have fewer overall responses, only 365 this year. And of those uh large percentages are people who who respond but they respond with the words NA or the letters NA or leave it blank, you know, leave it blank or a question mark. And so there are a few who do say that um there they have a fear of retaliation. These numbers are not
106or a fear of reprisal or more commonly a perceived waste of time or a lack of trust that it would really make any difference. Um, one of the larger response groups is the 17% who say, "I I don't know what the processes would look like. I would need more clarification." And so answers along those lines. So, you see the the compilation there. But generally speaking, the majority of people feel like they they know and they would be able to make a complaint ma known and and um and so I I do report compliance in that item as well. The fourth item has to do with um not allowing reprisal against staff. And so we have some data reported here that gives you some specifics about uh 8400 which is our uh non-discrimination policy section and
107any complaints made in that area. Um we do up we do annually train in the title nine uh sexual harassment training uh area and we have um some dates for those trainings this year included in the report for you and um and so we you know I am Meg Brooks our title N coordinator who's just recently left the organization had uh shared with me that there were four complaints that the district staff filed related policy 8400 three resulted in no finding and one investigation is ongoing. So that's what I have to report to you on that that item. Um the fifth item has to do with um appropriately training and equipping staff for foreseeable emergency situations. So you see a summary here compiled by Anthony Muk, our our director of security. He's got some links
108here to uh threat assessments and other information in this in this category. We do report compliance on that item. The sixth item has to do with um acquainting staff with the superintendent's interpretation of these items. So, it's a bit of a circular item. We do report compliance in that area. And the last the seventh um item talks about ensuring that there's an assessment of climate and culture of the district and that is the big panorama climate and culture survey process that I described occurring in January this year and you'll see a table of trends over time participation rates and uh I would note that this year's participation rate uh among uh non-instructional staff it's that second column you note it's down to 38.3%. %. We did some pretty significant restructuring of the of the categories
109this year and so the numbers those folks had opportunities to take other surveys but the numbers look a little uh wonky and I don't think it's really that that many fewer. We also did have some diminishment of of participation. We've been giving this survey for many years and there's a little bit of fatigue that occurs but some of that um drop is due to reorganization. So, um, but I do, uh, want to point out that the favorable responses in those in those areas, uh, in the big table on page nine, when we have a national percentile to compare to, our district is at 60th, 70th, 80th percentile compared to others asking the exact same questions across the nation. So um and then where we don't have a national percentile to compare to you do see
110an increasing positive trend in every category this year. So so that's you know that feels good. Um of course this was given in January before some of the really hard work we've been doing in the last month. So um might not look the same today but uh our principal surveys similar process to years past. We have a a instrument that asks uh for feedback from our principles and assistant principles on the um support from cabinet and they give us um some pretty transparent feedback and we have good participation rates as shown there. Um and I would just point out to you uh that that in this in general everything is is an improving trend and a positive trend. I would I have noted in item three of the compliance statement that the learning services um
111increase you know all of our cabinet feedback was positive and um and an increasing year-over-year with the exception of learning services and Megan and I have talked uh at length about and at cabinet we've talked at length about the work that we're doing there and we had been hearing feedback from principles uh with some some feelings about the um the value out of professional learning and also the support they get from their executive director. And so listening tours and work to engage and and understand those concerns was happening in the fall before this survey was given. And so the survey, you know, reiterated the the concerns that they have in those areas. And so work is is happening to address changes in professional learning to um ensure some greater coherence and alignment for the support
112of principles from their executive directors. So I know some really intentional work is happening on that learning services team to address areas these areas of focus that we knew and recognized were were needing some attention and greater greater attention. And um so we're confident we're going to see a different sort of result next year. And I think we're already hearing some feedback that indicates positive reception for the efforts that are being made. So um superintendent, I don't know if you have anything you would like to add in the way of color commentary. So I'll just acknowledge that I think this is the last uh monitoring report that Milo will present in her career. I think is it seven years? Is this your seventh year? This is my eighth year. Eighth year. Mhm. So after eight
113eight years of outstanding service here and lots of years of outstanding service to public education, Mila's nearing the end of her uh time of service. And when I think about this broad caption of treatment of staff, the really strong results that we see in here, I think have a lot to do with Mila Shepard. It's so important uh in setting the tone in terms of an organization's values and the way that they do business to have somebody in the HR seat that everyone in the system sees as a fair and honest broker who's going to call it as objectively and unbiasedly as they can and that they're not beholden to the superintendent or the board or this association or the other. And Mila's very much been that. She's willing to say I don't think so.
114uh to me and to some others. She says it to Dave Lley, to Paul Williams, and also sometimes stands with them, especially our association leaders on occasions when we've had principles make decisions that aren't in the right lane. And so just the trust and confidence that folks have in Mila in terms of being fair, being reasonable, being willing to admit mistakes that she's made, her team's made, that the system has made. Um just tremendous respect and credibility. And I think you're leaving the culture of our system when it re as it relates to human resources in a really positive place and we're grateful for that. Thanks, Milo. Thank you, Chris. Questions or comments? Um, yeah, to echo what Chris said, thank you for all of your amazing work. I'm not going to say like end
115of service like you're a bus or something, but thank you for your time and dedication. Um, however, I do have a question. And I think it's more for maybe President Goldstein and Chris. Is there a time that we can discuss? I pulled up the attachment, the threat assessment data. And it is alarming to me that that is an increasing area like we're seeing more threat assessments and more um full screens and and FOS and all the things in there. Um and hearing that safety was a a kind of a common theme tonight, I would really like to dig into that a little bit more and see what are we doing in that space. what, you know, is that going to be impacted with some of the cuts that we just made? What is what does
116that look like? Um because the panorama data was fantastic. There was improvements in a lot of great areas, but this is one of those that kind of snuck in there that was not so great. And maybe having Anthony come in and talk to us would be the right thing. Sure. We could bring a few different people. There's actually a woman who's fairly new to our team. Is it Olivia? uh who would be great to join in who's got lots of experience in that space in higher ed and has served us well the last two threat assessment folks we've had uh have started right out of the gate with really high intensity uh sorts of situations with students I think for you all to meet her to hear more about her work. We could also pair
117it with suicide risk assessment work that we're doing which is something uh that we take very seriously too. If it's the pleasure of the board we could probably make that happen at work study in May. if not the first meeting, the second meeting, and I can have Bo get some people huddled up to do that. I think because of graduations, we decided to cancel one of those work sess the work session during there's a graduation right before it. So, keep that in mind. And I'd also say if you're up for it, I think doing it in public session would be just fine, too. Um it's nice that we start earlier these days and I think our broader community I mean they can always listen into work study but they might have strong interest in this
118topic as well. Yeah. Well and I don't know I know some of it is like private. We don't want to share it with everyone like our tactics and stuff around how we keep some of the students safe. So that's why I don't know whatever format is the best I think would be great especially seeing some of our neighboring districts recently have had some pretty um terrifying struggles I think as recently as of yesterday. And so, you know, having safety on a front of mind, I think, is important. So, thank you. I just want to say that one of the last things I did before I retired was to help hire you. And I got the bonus of coming back and working with you. So, thank you for your years of service. Could I go back
119to some of Courtney's comments before we move on? and that is we can definitely have a public session on publicly available and appropriate information on suicide assessments and threat assessments. If we wanted to get into some details about security issues, then that would be a proper executive session topic. So, I'm just going to ask you ahead of time what questions I am allowed to ask and which questions I'm not allowed to ask so that we don't we don't spill any secrets. Not that we have any secret. You can ask questions. They may say that's not a matter for public discussion or something. I don't know. Yeah. My gut is most everything that board members will have interest in, I think we can do in public session. Just understanding how the protocol works, who's involved, uh
120some of those procedures, I think we can share meaningful things that'll hopefully reassure or prompt some questions that allow us to be more responsive. Okay, I'm call vote. Director Assad Lucas, I Director Bastelli, I. Director Goldstein, I. Director Marsh Holshin, I. Director Potter, I. Okay, on to the consent agenda. I will entertain a motion to approve the personal actions as listed, resignations and termination. Wait, no, joint one. Sorry. to approve the consent agenda items E2 and E3 as presented. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Director Assad Lucas. I. Director Batistelli. I. Director Goldstein. I. Director Marsh Holen. I. Director Potter. I. Okay. Future agenda items. Our next meeting is May 7th, which happens to be the last day of the legislative session, too, by the way. Um we'll have some board committee lays on reports, mil
121levy oversight presentation and consent agenda and then we'll skip to May 21st. Yeah, the graduations after the graduations. Okay, any discussion? Anything for the good of the order tonight? Okay, I'll call the meeting ajourned.