001[music] Command of order. I would now like to welcome everyone to today's regular session, January 27, 2026. Let's take attendance. Chávez. Present. Rashpa. Present. Temarin. Present. Present. [music] Bolder Valley School District resides and operates on lands that are [music] ancestral homelands and rightfully taken from the territory of the Ute, Puebloan, [music] Arapao, Cheyenne, Apache, Navajo and 48 other Tribal Nations historically associated with these lands and [music] who have called these lands home since time immemorial. We know of the atrocities committed here, including the painful [music] history of genocide, forced assimilation, and efforts to align the indigenous inhabitants of their lands with the support of [music] policies of the United States government. The Bolder Valley School District is aware of the many indigenous peoples in the past and present and their dignified nations and cultures who
002care for the land with strength and resilience. The BBSD recognizes the stories of the Land in Colorado that have carried their oral traditions into the present. It is BBSD's responsibility to educate us [music] and our communities and our students so that we can celebrate and respect the wisdom and knowledge of indigenous peoples [music] and actively unite to address injustices. By offering this acknowledgment [of the land] through music, we affirm and honor the history, wisdom, oral traditions, and resilience of Indigenous peoples and recognize our responsibility to care for and cherish this land together. I would like to remind everyone that the mission of the Bolder Valley School District is to create meaningful opportunities to prepare our children as engaged citizens in the community. Thank you to everyone who is here and to those joining us online.
003Is there a motion to approve today's agenda? Promoted by Lelania, seconded by Jorge Ducker, Chávez, Rp, yes, yes, yes, the motion is approved. Our first item on the agenda is the student moment. I'm glad our students are with us in the building. I give the floor to Dr. Anderson. Thank you, President Rashford. council members. As you know, BBSD is the place to be eco-friendly. We are proud to promote ecology in our district through the new green deal, including making progress towards achieving zero waste, reducing gas emissions, and we have implemented the eco-label, recognizing the efforts of our students and their involvement in ecology. Students of Centauros High School , the Sisters, I offer you the microphone. Forward. My name is Harper and my name is Taylor. We are grateful for the opportunity to be here
004tonight. I would like to share with you the new program, the Ecological Seal Junior program. Where are we now? And where will we be in the past? We are at different stages in our education. We have become passionate about the future of our planet. Fortunately, the district offers opportunities to put this work to use. District-level initiatives, two senior students and a group that helped improve resolutions passed in 2023 such as climate education. Now, this is recognized as the ecological council. Uh, last year was the first time this council operated. We implemented a program where each student could recognize, so that those who ask themselves, "Is it similar to the biliterary seal?" One of the main components is a long-term commitment and the goals that are identified at the community level. This certification seemed very difficult,
005not only because of our age, but also because the goals were very advanced. By creating the junior seal, we have created age-appropriate opportunities and students can start at any age. Making this plan a reality sometimes seemed like a huge challenge, but we created groups that promoted the idea that this was possible. As we developed this plan, we were able to offer it in some of our high schools as a platform and we developed a subcommittee to help us expand this program. We had subcommittees, including fundraising and other activities. This allowed us to have very productive activities and expand the program to other secondary schools. We made plans for communication throughout the school year and also refined the request. Now we have a digital application instead of just a paper form. And to get to where
006we are now in this program, we held several events, mainly at the BBSD 2025 exhibition at the You Arena. Looking to the future, we want to continue with this ecology focus for students in the district. We want students to get involved at a younger age, to take action on the environment. We would like to add Councilwoman Greenwood for all her work for the Planning Council. No, these activities would not have been possible without her and her team. Thank you. Thank you very much for your presentation. Council members, do you have any questions? I do have a question. Why are five secondary schools already participating, and what kind of activities are they involved in? Son Plat, LMS, Manhattan, Aspen Creek and Metalarc. And to achieve this, you can carry out various activities, for example, picking up
007trash, which can be like a goal throughout your life, or even a community event. It is open to various activities, especially this year since the students were unable to create a portfolio. So we are more open to participation. Thank you so much for all your efforts on this committee. Well done. The next topic is the superintendent's report. Good evening, superintendent. Thank you very much, President Rushp. Thank you for the opportunity. On Saturday, one of our district's student musicians had a concert at Monarch High School. They worked with a guest musician and thanks to the efforts of our students, the directors, organized this event for the bands of our auditorium. As you can see in these photographs, many very happy musicians. Last week the athletes gathered for the bowling event. If you haven't attended one of
008these events, you're missing out on something. It's a lot of fun. Tuvier, I want to thank the staff at all levels of the district who made this a great success. And speaking of success, a couple of weeks ago Plat, the high school, completed the challenges we faced. This is organized in collaboration with Sentaurus and Fairview, discussing careers, renewable energy, and other topics. The guest speakers included members of the Bolder Chamber of Commerce and the city of Bolder, and more. We had a newsletter where they published more details about this event, about the celebration of technology month. Students and parents learned a lot through these preparatory courses at this event. Council members, these are my comments. Council members, do you have any comments or questions? It's always great to see what's happening in our schools and
009community. The next point is public participation. The board respects the public's right to speak about matters related to the operation of schools. We do not endorse or are responsible for the comments made by any speaker . Each speaker will have 2 minutes to speak. You will see a yellow card when you have 30 seconds left and an orange card when you have 10 seconds left. If you are running out of time or would like to share additional information, you can email the board for public and board members. Uh uh we don't have any more uh we only have 2 minutes. We can no longer give up the eh minutes. With that said, today's first participant is Chrisan Kimbell. My name is [name omitted] and I am a parent of students in Mesa, Archer in third
010grade and Harrison in first grade. When our family came to live in Walder, we wanted to find a place to live where our children could walk to school and make friends and build community. When we were going to buy the house, I remember the image, a group of children on bicycles, others walking, showing that they belonged there. I was very excited that my first and third graders could be part of that group. Now, these families are the cornerstone of welcomes. throughout with other groups such as the teachers and the principal. Soon after Harrison started preschool, she had trouble with reading; she couldn't regulate herself. Harrison was an exceptional student who lived with attention deficit disorder. The table team was able to work with my son Harrison's special needs . It helped him navigate individualized education
011plans. All this while miraculously fostering a school environment where they were able to make them feel welcome and not harassed. We are having great results. We are teaching our children to accept their peers. Oh, and we've had great academic results. Thank you for protecting this performance. Thank you. The next speaker is Melisa Jennings. Hello everyone. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. I am a Mesa parent and in my professional life I heard about these small schools and the economic issues that are having an impact on these small schools in South Bolder. I studied the trends in this area, created this graph, and sent it to you. I'm going to start with academic performance. It 's no surprise that Berk Crick is like a bright star. It's an elite school program. Mesa is also
012a bright star in South Boulder. At the educational level, Berkek and Mesa are serving the needs of the community to a high degree with an attendance of 70 and over in enrollments. I would like to pause to reflect on the results of the survey conducted. The results stood out by a wide margin in 33 indices. I am a data professional and this is not an anomaly; it is parents like Christian and myself who have contributed to this type of culture and this type of dedication from teachers. As for enrollments, it's not at a very high level, that's not a surprise, but people want to stay there in all demographic areas. I have two students and it's always a very difficult decision how to adjust the academic programs. I ask that we recognize the great performance
013of these schools. Thank you. Our next speaker is Craiger. Good night. While I am on the advice of Dr. Anders, I want to sincerely thank you for your service. I know that your role on the council requires great effort and I appreciate your dedication to all the students in the district. My name is Greg. Dryer. I am the father of a current student and I have a second child who will be attending in 2027. I know this school faces great challenges regarding enrollment numbers. For these reasons I am here to highlight Mesa's performance as a role model for the future. It has maintained its enrollment numbers and this is no accident, it is the result of well-founded principles, but the indices sometimes cannot be found on a worksheet. This is a very solid community and
014some families were about to leave for a private school, but upon finding Mesa School they decided to stay. Mesa is a school that retains students who would otherwise go to a private school. The Mesa school is quite unique for some families who wouldn't stay there if they decided to consolidate with another school. Mesa is a school, it has high performance and it is exactly doing exactly what we want our schools to do: grow and perform well. Thank you all for your attention. Our next speaker is Cathy Mary. Good night. I am here to question how concern for the safety of our students resulted in an investigation and now in the dismissal of a teacher. I have two students in Aspen Creek. I have heard concerns in the PTA council about reporting to the principal. I
015have seen faults in the dismissal letter since I heard it on September 8th. I am concerned that our students have a safe environment. Now they are saying the actions have been alleged actions. We are talking here about access to data. The data must be well protected. The document that was published and I reviewed the policy, who is responsible for data access in this district. Policy J states that he will provide a student's records as long as proper procedures are followed and each principal is responsible for access to this data. My question is, why were the controls not followed? And this makes us wonder about this dismissal. Why are the problems of access to and security of student data not being addressed? Thank you. Our next speaker is Jennifer Rap. Hello, thank you. I am a
016mother of two students in Aspenck. I'm here to talk about the firing of Melinda Kner. The published recommendation states that teacher Kner had access to the Frontline student system at her previous school where she had been a teacher. The first question that came to mind is, why did he have access to these records in the first place? Why did he have access to all the records of the entire school? And why did the access continue after she accepted a position at another school in the district? And the most important question is, who is responsible for authorizing and managing staff access to data? That's where the question lies, isn't it? With teacher Carsner. She had access to the data, but she was given access. She shouldn't have faced security measures. in the system. She had access;
017she did not violate any security measures. Student information should only be accessed by those employees who require it. But if someone else has access to this data, that's a problem with the district's system , not Ms. Ksner's. And how many other teachers will be investigated? and dismissed given the precedent you are setting today. It was an investigation that took 4 months and ended in this dismissal. Thank you. Our next speaker is Alexa Jones. I have two and soon to be three children in Aspen Creek. Regarding teacher Kner, I wanted to comment on what I read, what was published, and what was required. Therefore, they need to maintain the idea of duty. She has this focus on students. I have heard many stories from the neighbors and other children, from the parents of La Fén. We
018are facing a national shortage of teachers and we are willing to lose a teacher who helps children feel seen at school. We're going to penalize it for not having the right policy. This is a dangerous precedent that we are having in our community. Thank you so much. The next speaker is Jana Navarro. Good evening, council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I am Jana Navarro and I am here as the mother of a student at Aspen Creek who had the privilege of receiving his teaching from teacher Kchner. The recommendation is not simply about politics; it is about the loss of an exceptional educator. And that's why he asks , was the policy developed to support exceptional teachers? She is the best teacher my son ever had. And it's not a phrase I use
019easily. My son has always said that he feels the teacher saw him, that she taught him well. Good teachers are hard to find. When we find them, we need to do everything we can to keep them. I understand that schools need responsibility. Politics and all that, but we also need humanity. The offense is costing our children a teacher who is making a difference for these children. I respectfully encourage the council to reconsider the recommendation. Exceptional teachers change lives. I hope they take it into account. The next speaker is Lisa Sa. Good evening, council members. I am Lisa and I am here as a mother, a member of the community to speak on behalf of teacher Melinda de Kersner. I have two children at Aspen Creek School who were fortunate enough to have her as their
020teacher. After two years of being exposed to bullying, my daughter was afraid to enter the fourth grade classroom. We did n't know if our daughter was going to have a good day or a bad day. The teacher knew about our daughter's situation and she helped our daughter in a way that no other educator had . The change was extraordinary and was the result of the teacher's professionalism. Every parent hopes their child will have a teacher like her. She is very involved in the community and I am fortunate to know her as a teacher, neighborhood member, and friend. I'm not here to talk about the details of the investigation. I am here to give details about a person I know. She has had a positive impact on the lives of the children she serves. I encourage
021you to consider who the teacher is. She deserves justice and this dedication is paramount given the situation she experienced. I hope there are other students who are fortunate enough to have her as a teacher. Thank you. The next person to speak is Jared Kner. Good night. I am Jner. I am the father of a student at Aspen Creek. I am here because an email was sent to the community on September 26th to the students. Regarding a matter concerning my son, the student's mother . The email was sent without the students informing me beforehand. I didn't have the opportunity to talk to my daughter or help prepare her for what she might be feeling. My daughter received information from the school about a personal situation involving her mother. It is a situation that the school does
022not control socially. That put him in a difficult situation without his father's support. I am not here to address the investigation or the authority to respond to situations under the district's control. I am here to talk about the details that directly affected my daughter. A staff investigation should take into account the audience schedule and the impact on students. particular. When a student has a connection to this employee, sending a message like this directly to students during the school day creates a risk of emotional and social harm. The privacy of students needs to be taken into account. Failing to protect one thing should not come at the expense of another. So, I want you to investigate how those details were revealed and why the parents didn't have the opportunity to prepare their students to receive that
023information so that it doesn't happen again. The next speaker is Fallen Dudec. Good evening, council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I am Valent. I'm here again to talk about this, the firing of Ms. Kner. Yesterday we received information that she is recommending that she be fired. Now we have information, and the information that has been given is vague, and there are still many questions to answer. It is unclear why district systems do not restrict access to the systems directly. They are subject to legal control because of their lack of recognition of the laws. So, there's no plan for the chicken, and that shouldn't have happened. If the concern is for the children, it's what things were taken into account to ensure their access to education. They need district support, district enrichment,
024educational opportunities, the appointment of assistants, and a transition plan as they are entering fifth grade. I am asking everyone listening today, or those who are educators, that there is a different path beyond termination that should be supported. I'm going to echo another parent who can't be here today in saying, "The loss of this talented educator would be a loss to our children and the community. Accountability is important, but the response needs to serve the students and reflect on what we should be modeling for our children. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next speaker is Lori Breda. Good evening. I'm Lori Breda, and I'm one of the teachers at the intensive care center in Aspen Creek. I'm here to thank you for taking the resolution to terminate the teacher very seriously. We have many responsibilities
025beyond giving you a free education. One responsibility is to protect your basic dignity, and we do that by maintaining privacy and trust. As educators, we have a responsibility to safeguard private and sometimes painful information about students and their families. Much of that information is recorded on Frontline. The misuse of this information from a trusted educator is horrifying, particularly for the most vulnerable students with unique needs. Our responsibility is to the children. I love my job, and I keep all the families and students in my heart. Thank you for This opportunity. Next speaker is Katun. Tilahun, please forgive me. Kat. Hello, I'm K. I'm a parent of students at Fallet. I came here several weeks ago talking about how upset I felt regarding the investigation, the lack of communication, and my continued support for the teacher.
026All of that still stands. It has been a failure for the past three months, and there are three individuals or three groups who have been harmed. First, the students—there's a pattern of safety that isn't being addressed in the district. That's horrifying. Second, and I apologize to those who have suffered, the fourth- grade students at FET who lost their teacher three months ago haven't had a teacher since due to a technology violation. She broke the law, the rules, if she did in her situation. If one feels that their students aren't being protected, as a parent, I believe we would access the information we need to make our case. It's a disservice to everyone involved in that situation. The investigation isn't adequate, and I'm confused about a pattern of safety because the school hasn't addressed the safety
027of The children. So I want to ask why. Because it feels political, and I would like to understand, as the Board of Education, before saying yes to what has been presented, you are independent. So why is the investigation focusing on the teacher and not the administration? Thank you. Next up is virtual Mark Melan. Yes, I'm here. I am the parent of two students in elementary school, one who is in fourth grade with Ms. Kner's class. The others who have spoken have been right because firing the teacher would be a disservice to the students. I want to say that it was a mistake on the part of the district to put her on leave while they investigated the situation. They need to address the risk that was addressed here, which was access to the students' records.
028They should have kept her in a classroom with a warning and simply removed her access to the systems. If they don't have the capacity to do that, they need to investigate that. Restrictions should be enforced electronically. The district is properly assessing the risks. There are alternatives that protect students equally. They are available. The Board must immediately re-evaluate the criteria that were used. This was used for research, and they should use this extreme measure if they are addressing a real risk. Their conservative approach that doesn't take everyone into account is n't working. They are harming students who are unrepresented in the district. Thank you very much for listening. Next speaker is James Bush. Thank you. I 'm not talking about other topics, but my son went to Mesa Elementary 35 years ago . Yes, it's a
029great school. I'm here to talk about student parking at Fairview High School. In 2022, I spoke with the board about the gates and whether they were installed. I'm asking the board or the district to enforce the policy on the signs and locks at 11 p.m. with snow and the gates open. There are people who were driving there making a lot of noise. That has continued for 3 years or more. We have spoken to the police several times. I live across the street from the school on Glespy, across from the parking lot. I'm not going crazy. All I'm asking is that the policy that's taught on the sign be enforced, which says to close the student parking lot after 11 p.m. From 11 p.m. Monday through Friday and on weekends. The gates are going to be
030locked. Does anyone know if you leave your cars there? Nobody is going to get locked. The gate. We need to enforce the policy. That's all I 'm asking. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes the public participation for the benefit of the board. Thank you to everyone who spoke tonight. Next item is the district accountability committee's report on the budget recommendations. Hello, thank you. I 'm excited to be here with you today. Excellent. Thank you very much. I'm Al BR. I'm the co-chair of the district accountability committee for 2025. I 'm still working on recruiting a co-chair. We're here to share one of our statutory responsibilities, which is to provide input in consultation with the school accountability committees for the district. I wanted to start with why. As those listening, or perhaps unaware, may know, the
031district accountability committee addresses several issues that come before the board, but there are a few that are required by state law. This includes budget policies with the Council, we reviewed these charter school applications , but we can do the work we're presenting tonight, which requires a lot of volunteer time from parents and community members. Thank you to the team for maintaining their focus and helping us stay focused on the budget issue. I wanted to begin the presentation with a thought that comes at the end of the memo we shared. The better we understand not only what's working, but how things work, the better we can advocate for our schools and priorities. That's the process we used to arrive at the recommendations, which was a little different. So, I think it's helpful to review the process
032before presenting the results. Last fall, we started with the strategic plan. As a group, we had the opportunity to hear from Dr. de la Cruz, among others, to learn what the priorities are and also the data we consider as a district and school community to understand how we're doing and what we need to improve. The message here is that the strategic plan and the budget fit together. We need to find ways to integrate those conversations. We reviewed the strategic plan dashboard that It indicates how students are doing in terms of priorities with different characteristics. We also looked at the Unified Improvement Plan dashboard, which helps us accelerate progress in areas of need. We wanted to review the data to really understand, from a budget perspective, to utilize the data, to address perceptions, what is making
033progress work well, and where we are not using money well. To be actionable, we worked with partners in the district to present several ideas about investments that have fostered growth and have had results for schools, and what our opinions are about areas where we need to focus more or change resources to help us move forward more. These slides were shared with the board. Parents feel more confident participating in budget discussions when they understand how the district receives our money. We had the opportunity to understand Taber, the state law regarding funds and taxes. We understood what happens when decisions are made locally at the district level or the decisions that are made at the state level to focus on the recommendations we will be implementing tonight. We wanted to understand the income and expenses and how
034they compare to other districts. That has helped in past years. We heard a lot of talk about needing to spend more, needing to invest more, but we are spending more than other districts, and it was interesting to see all this information. This comes from a report by the Colorado Department of Education . We heard from Robin Fernandez about the process that occurs in the district that reports the school budget and the spending decisions that are available. We have other slides available to the public that we won't go over tonight about the designation of the Differential School Support Fund, federal grants, expenses on school resources, and also grants or fundraising in schools. All of this information is in the slides that are available to the public, and it also includes the budget that Bill Sutter does
035each year, the process we use as the DAC. We are very grateful to Dr. Sutter and the district team for working with us to co-design a flexible protocol that we shared with the school accountability committees, with communications that reviewed the basic information about the school budget instead of coming with us to say what they need that isn't working well in the environment we found. Right now, we're going to analyze the alignment between priorities and school spending. So, the schools had to answer several questions. What is fostering progress? What would help facilitate improvements? And also, what are they earning by spending the funds that the school individually raises? We received 33 responses, 56 or 59% of them, mostly from elementary schools. DAC membership includes representatives from every school. So, most of the members are representing elementary
036schools. We also wanted to have the perspective of high schools in the results. One of the members did the visualization to show the geographic representation of those participating in the process. I also wanted to remind you that some teams may have had discussions about the budget, but a representative did review the information. This is another opportunity to ensure that the information we have tonight is a good representation of the schools in our district. So, I'm going to pause. Do the council members have any questions about the process before we talk about What did we find? Yes, ahead of the line. Before we go any further, I know, I know it's upsetting that only 33 out of 56 schools participated. If they didn't complete the survey, they had the opportunity to review it. How many more
037schools? We had five committee members who didn't participate in the original survey. So we're at 65%. Possibly the other schools read it and agreed and didn't let us know. The response rate isn't where we want it to be. It's something the Family Engagement Subcommittee is prioritizing in its work this spring, and one of the things they're going to do is ensure that we're recruiting members who do represent the school community as a whole. We'll be talking with the Family and Educator Committees together, or the Fed committees. What are the processes we're planning for next year to increase the response rate? We have n't made a decision yet, but we want to ask for input on the budget—in a different way, either just once or multiple times. It's a high- participation level. We appreciate all the
038work you're doing for this. Many Thank you. For the community and for the council. The way the law is written is to participate with the School Accountability Committee. There aren't any others in the state. Our committee meets the minimum requirements. So, while we love those who are paying attention, even better participation. And for the meeting, we're going to start with the remote participants because I don't see them, and then we'll move on to the rest. Thank you, Ali. And keeping in mind what Nicole said, how does this map monitor the SACs or, uh, those involved? I know you work very hard on this. How can we improve support at the SAC level? I don't know if there's a connection or just a question. Yes, I think there's a relationship between SAC well-being and opportunities. I've
039had several principals come and ask me about the process and making sure they were planning effectively in CL. And for me, that let me know if a principal is really relying on their accountability committee when they're making decisions in their school community. We have a number of schools that have SACs that are more or less starting out, and we hear from many of those schools very often that the SAC chair was... who was leading the process, to draw attention to the budget questions and add that. But when we looked at who filled out the survey, we had principals, residents, coordinators, and I think that's a strength of SAC, but also the variety of leadership structures in the community. Is it okay if some of these agenda items are carried out by the SAC director, and
040will it work well for the school? It's very good, and in other schools, we have members very involved; they're reviewing all the documents, and they know there isn't a Jack at their school, and we're supporting them. For example, today someone called us and told us they identified a TAC representative. We're close to having 100% of schools in the TAC. We want to make sure we're supporting all the schools, no matter where they are. We'll be checking in with all of you this spring to talk because we've administered this SAC and DAC engagement survey, and that's what we're going to do to see how things are going. Jorge or Alex, maybe it started with Alex. And Alex, if Do you have something? Let's go with Jor. No, I'm fine, thank you. Hello, thank you for the
041opportunity. I just wanted to highlight the great efforts you make to get participation from all our schools. I know a lot of work goes into it, including this parent engagement, understanding the complicated processes involved in presenting the budget, and how it directly affects what we want to achieve through our strategic plan. I wanted to thank you for that great work, and I recognize that it's difficult; it's difficult to bring together schools that are at different levels of capacity right now. Yes, thank you very much to the members of the Chávez Council, and one thought. We think that the best way to motivate schools, so that they really have fully functional sacks, is to make the Jack very valuable for the principals, and we have made sure that the resources we are developing are meaningful for
042community schools and that people feel that it's something they want, and it's not something like we're just looking for compliance. And there's a second thought that I forgot, but I'll let you know if I remember it. Okay, let's review what we found. First, we are very happy to hear that the feedback on the strategic plan reflected what we wanted. That's great. We also noted that more than half of our school teams are referenced to differentiated funding, which helps us make improvements. This applies to schools that were receiving all three levels of different funding, and again, that is a testament to the rigor our district has employed these past two years. We also shared in the memo the staff concerns that are directly tied to the strategic plan priorities, and that helped us talk to and
043have these reading and writing data coaches. I don't know how long we'll have them given enrollment and fiscal realities. And in the memo, we also have a list of specific roles in the schools. Another thing we found that is very interesting, and we appreciate hearing it without us saying so, is that we were told there was a lot of alignment between school goals and priorities, and the goals that the PTEOS were meeting. Other schools told us that the exercise did n't let us know that non- private funding wasn't helping align with school goals, and finally In the various responses, whether explicit or implicit, we considered how the KH and KHB policies can be reviewed in the future when the time is right, when you begin making decisions regarding the decline in enrollment. In response to
044what feels like progress, there were three key areas we heard about at our school. The first is the high- level curriculum. This specifically refers to math and literacy being better aligned with the science of reading. We also heard that data-led instruction is really helping schools look at data holistically and make changes in the moment so we can better support all students. It's very much related to that. Another point highlighted was the role of interventionists and how they used data to identify children who need more support and the people who can actually take action in this process, as well as collaboration among educators. We fit those three points together and identified this as a fourth area of what we feel is progress, because it became very clear in the responses: being able to understand more deeply
045what the expectations are in a new curriculum. How does teaching change when you're shifting from direct instruction to a new model, and looking at the data and being able to collaborate on how teachers can change their instruction the next day, the next month? And all of that is possible because we can come together as a community, look at the problems, and solve them as a group together. And there was a bit of focus in the other responses we heard around ideas that parents and community members have about what more teachers can do that would get them out of that environment where they're collaborating together. We all wanted that to be visible, especially. Well, it was made visible to us, but we wanted it to be made visible to our community. And sometimes when we ask
046for something, maybe we don't realize that what we're asking for is for teachers to spend less time collaborating so they can review the data and create interventions for our children. Some of us felt it was very necessary to bring that up, and the fifth point here was student support and collaboration between the school and families. In many schools They shared with us different ways in which they address the needs of their students and the needs of families and the community. And that's different in every school. Many of the Title I schools and some high schools specifically highlighted the role of student supports and collaboration between families and schools, credit recovery, online classes, and it was very different at each level—elementary, middle, and high school—to have these additional supports to help families really based on their
047distinct needs. We also discovered four areas of what is needed to accelerate improvement: more school counselors and mental health support. That's something we look at a lot in the responses. Schools really appreciate the additional support they received in previous years to support children at the primary level. We see a lot of responses around what it means to support young children. in order to develop those social and emotional skills so that they can take a step back and identify their emotions, how to get along with their peers at the middle school level, and how to navigate bullying at the high school level. There is much appreciation for mental health centers that receive impact funding for education. We also heard in DDI schools that it was referred to as accelerated improvement and they told us they need
048more of it to continue improving. Specifically, we had some schools that mentioned that the work of the DDI is extensive. They were very excited about them and felt a need for more support from the district to be able to do that DDdiDI work on their own, and we had some schools that actually told us they were at an implementation point where they felt more of the DDI work could come and be in the school. Then it started very heavily with the support of the district, coming, teaching, training, modeling the practices and now they feel in a place where they are more balanced, balanced and thinking, okay, now that we have funds and resources. Something else that was mentioned was interventionism, and how it was accelerated and something we need more of. There is a little
049bit of detail about this in the meno of what this is and thinking about supporting supports that are already in place or when we use the term interventionist we are thinking of a mathematical interventionist, but sometimes we are talking about a person who is providing interventionist services in the building. We wanted to name this, and this came up in some of the comments from the schools, which indicated a desire to retain or increase interventions. But to be completely honest, as we are doing, this doesn't have to be a full-time person as long as the person providing that support is trained to support our children. And finally, this one was very interesting. Several schools shared this need for help on how to create a master schedule to ensure everyone is successful. Literally in the way we
050design our school day. We thought this was a very interesting aspect of this conversation, but as an example, we heard some of the high schools mentioning the idea of designing selective classes, workshops, and whether the children would have access to the coursework so they could be ready for the next level. They also talked more about different things that they mentioned at the primary level, and some high schools said they are using the adult who has to be there with the interventionists every day or every week. And finally, this new private spending. We ask schools to share how they are investing private funds. We didn't ask them to align or give an opinion on whether this was the right thing to do, but this is the first step to clear up any doubts. This is our
051step as DAC in private funds, uh those for professionals, also investment in learning experiences, professional development, classroom materials. That aligns with those enrichment experiences, additional mental health support, school culture, events, and other efforts that are important to our schools. They feel that the schools mention community members and, although they remain critical of the way students feel they belong and also of the investments. Taking all of that into account, we offered them three DAC recommendations. The first is to continue community planning involvement around the decline in enrollment. Many of the schools that are sharing with us right now are a direct result of schools that don't have enough children or enough resources that we can allocate to the schools. We don't offer solutions, we don't know what they are, but we know we have to find
052that out. We leave this process with renewed gratitude for how difficult it would be to try to find short-term solutions and have a full-time music teacher and a full-time counselor . Our next recommendation is to continue prioritizing investments in all schools. This is clearly making a difference in schools, communities, principals, and I know they are making difficult decisions, but we would urgently ask them to retain the work they are doing with the DDI's work. We also include many things in a third recommendation, which is the beginning of a list, not a complete list. What are those neutral strategies that could be developed around the funds? If every math teacher received professional development, how could we show accelerated growth in writing and math? So, I don't know if we can provide more opportunities for professional development
053that math teachers receive in inflation, and also hybrid roles and other staff who could also benefit from the training they have done in restorative justice, cultural work, developing a culture, and social-emotional learning that is happening in our schools. We also learned in this process that many schools are assigning positions in roles and noises. There are many people in our buildings who are point four here, point four there, and we thought this could be very creative. We heard an example from a person at the library who is a library teacher and a literacy teacher, and she says it's the best thing that has happened to her career. We heard from another educator that it is also very difficult to divide her role and this does not work for her. So, we're not recommending that we implement
054more hybrid positions. So, we want to understand these positions, share them, and use that information to make strategic decisions. Perhaps there are different roles that are more effective for certain educators, and perhaps there are some others that are really working. Another thing that was presented was training for the master program and connecting schools in different implementation areas. For the most part, many schools were excited about DDI's work, but some schools did say it was too much work and they didn't see the value in it. But what we think is that they've just started the work. Yes, it's a lot of work, but perhaps if they had the opportunity to listen to their colleagues who have been doing this for two or three years , it could help motivate them and show them that other schools
055see value in this. We also receive questions from some schools about tutoring programs, and this aligns with the feedback we receive from interventionists . Some schools are using the language of mentoring in the way they are structuring their interventions, and in some places, especially in primary schools, they are saying that this is changing children. The children are gaining drivers every week, and the number of children with access is growing significantly. At the secondary level there were concerns that the children who received help from tutors during their free time were not benefiting as much. So, we want to make sure that tutoring is a very effective way to support our children and students in times when we are adjusting budgets. We don't want to describe this, just adjust the way it's implemented to ensure it's helping
056children with their challenges. And our fourth recommendation is about the sources of income from private funds. I do n't know if they're changing or not, but if they are, we ask that they make visible data on how those dollars are being used, potentially project the policy changes, what that may mean for private funds, and make sure that we're using that to really ensure that we feel good as a community about whether these changes are supporting our equity goals. We know that schools want to raise funds or families want to raise funds for their schools. That's very important. We know this can be very valuable and we want to make sure this is done in a way that allows everyone to sleep soundly at night if a change is made. This was a very good experience.
057So we ask that you continue working with us. We appreciate the BBA team's collaboration with Council Member Chávez. The second thing that just came to mind is, we had a lot of questions at the beginning of this process and some concerns that we should have been asking all these questions. We went in hoping or wishing that by entering a lot of data in a lot of detail we thought maybe it was going to be a smokescreen or that it wasn't going to be a good idea, but we were hopeful that it would be, and you all were with us and we are very grateful. I think that at times when we are trying to simplify and use more concrete language about schools for family community members, we want to achieve simplicity on our end, but
058that doesn't help. So, thank you for going through the difficult part to get to the other side. Jack, thank you very much, it was a very valuable process and we want to share it with more members of the community and hopefully replicate it with more parents and community members. It was a lot of information. Thank you for putting up with me. I like to bring up this image. Someone put BBC on one of the vans we made. We have some questions. [laughs] No, we do n't celebrate graffiti, but we appreciate the love for BBD. We'll start with Jorge's comments, then Alex, and then the rest of the members. Thank you for all your work on this. It's really nice to see that people understand the questions about what we're doing, the effects of the budget,
059and what our schools have experienced. I appreciate the way you've presented this and that we're receiving input from the SA. These recommendations are aligned with what we want to achieve and are shaping our future. But I wonder if from your point of view there are gaps that you see, or areas where we need to focus more, or people we need to contact, that someone was missing in this process, or if there are still questions to be asked. Yes, as a follow-up I would say connect more with high schools. We have very good representatives from these communities and yes, they are incredible contributors to the work we do. These are places where we are continually paying attention to whether the recommendations we are sharing with you really apply to community schools. It's something that comes to
060mind, and right now we feel like our Title One schools were really involved in the process, the high schools are involved in the process, right? We are happy with that participation and the representation of those experiences in those communities, but I would say that if we were to take another second step, it would be to ask more of the high schools. Thanks, Alex. I want to express my sincere gratitude for the comprehensiveness and depth of what you do. This information is very useful, especially for being on the board. Congratulations to you and everyone who has done this great work. I think it's very helpful and I'm very happy to see the direction in which they differ, which is facilitating the conversation about these very important issues. That's all we can do to support, as districts,
061having more involvement and deeper participation. I think it will help us if we are going to be facing this decline in enrollment, the strategic plan, how to retain our investments, and the final challenges we will face as a district, as a state. My comments are mainly a big thank you and I'm happy because we'll be talking tonight about future involvement around the history of registration. Having that ability to discuss our strategic plan, I think it's a very big anchor for us. I mainly have a lot of gratitude towards you. I recognize how much these comments help us . Thank you. Ana, I also wanted to share my gratitude. I think that sometimes we get so focused on ourselves doing politics that we do n't look at the obvious things we can continue doing that actually
062align with strategic evidence. And again to reiterate what Jorge and Alexieron. Thank you for putting all that together and taking the time to do it, because we are going to face a very difficult year financially. So, doing things day by day will help us ensure that children continue to receive that enrichment in their schools. It's very valuable and I'm very excited that many things are aligned with the strategic plan and are working flawlessly, and we want to make sure that we're not missing any of those crucial parts. Yes, thank you so much for that. There is a reflection. In past years we have provided schools with a menu of investments where we really do conversations piecemeal, or that's what we have to do to get better feedback, and we took that out completely this year.
063So, seeing school teams independently report that our investments are in line with the strategic plan was very powerful for us, and it let us know that schools are ready to participate in this process. It would be a good idea to take a moment to write it down and express my gratitude. I am so excited to hear in the community what we believe as a council. We reiterate our work to make significant changes for students, staff, and the community, and we cannot continue doing that work without addressing the issue of declining enrollment. This is something that worries us about other things. and also several people in the audience. These are individuals who have been assigned to do the KH reviews, and I recognize that many of the things that schools are raising funds for are directly
064related to the decline in enrollment, and I think that helps us focus if we don't have those hiring problems. Perhaps schools don't have to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to support those decisions, and the policy can look very different as a result. I believe that policy does need to be reviewed, and we must focus our time on it. And as an observer of the council's prioritization, this remained on the red line, but after the concern about the decrease in enrollment subsides a bit, we can focus more on the fact that language causes certain behavior. So, when things calm down, we'll be able to confront those policies, but I think the conditions will change. We'll wait until it's formed before we act on that. And the last thing I wanted to say, for those watching,
065is that Jack is one of our best partners here on the school board. They do incredible work, it's mainly volunteer parents and there 's no more meaningful way perhaps as a former member of Ducrarse to make important decisions. They have a community school, but they don't have a DAC representative. I'm asking you because your work is so important to us. This presentation of the budget is so important to us; we cannot do our work without your support and without the connection to the schools. Thanks to Al, to Felicia Gordman, to the president, the CI co-chair, to everyone on the school accountability committee. And with that said, I think we're ready to continue if there are no further questions. Yes, thanks. And just for the rest of you watching, become part of what's happening in the
066world, in my hometown of Minneapolis, join your TAC. So you're one TAC meeting away, join us. We're doing great work and we want all of you to be a part of it. [applause] Thank you to everyone on the budget committee. The next item on the agenda is council communication. Alex, we'll start with you. Ah. What I can say is, I'm sorry I can't be there in person, but I have a stomach problem. I'm very excited about the discussion we had today with DAC. We have received very valuable information from the community. It's very gratifying to know that we have such good collaborators. Jorge is going to speak. To learn about DAC's work, the total expenditure per student that we have evaluated, and if you please put it on the slide, and we are talking about
067Tor and school finances. This morning we met with the legislators as a council. They don't know how much we spend per student, but they do know about Tor's finances. We had some discussions this morning and they focused very precisely on the financial way in which we are operating. That was very helpful for our council, sitting down and talking with them and discussing these issues and talking about what we can and cannot control. As a member of this council, I am eagerly awaiting today's discussion on the decline in enrollments. And what I want to encourage the community to do is to think holistically about our community, not just as their own school, because this is a bigger problem than their school, it's a community problem. And as we've begun to discuss, enrollments are declining, and given
068the budget constraints and the decrease in enrollments, I hope our community will take that holistic perspective. And good night to all. I want to acknowledge what I see as a former teacher, driving through our beautiful community and seeing every day, Saturdays and Sundays, there are always teachers in the parking lots working overtime, making sure that for you when you go and spend Saturdays working for your students. That's a very good thing. Ana, yes, I want to mention that we had a working breakfast with the legislators and representatives. It was very useful. I am grateful to have been able to see the state of our budget at the state level and to hear about Rob, about solidarity. All the superintendents are standing firm. We are protecting school finances as much as we can throughout the state
069of Colorado. I am very grateful, I want to thank Policy Matters for bringing this group together this morning. Furthermore, as a board member, as a mother, as the daughter of immigrants, my heart goes out to those students and community members who are feeling fear and uncertainty. Last week I was very upset about a 5-year-old boy being used because he looks very similar to how my son looks with his backpack and hat. So, we all have a kind of contingency plan, how we're going to protect our families and feel part of the larger community . I want to take this privileged moment for the students of our schools. Regardless of immigration status or identity, they deserve to feel welcome, appreciated, loved, cared for, and safe—these are not concepts we say lightly. We strive to create these
070feelings at BBSD. I am committed to working directly with community groups, with families who feel anxious seeing what is happening in our country. You are valuable, you belong here, we see you. Thank you so much for those comments, Ana. Our statement was wonderful thanks to everyone who voted. for choosing such participatory representatives. Uh, I really enjoyed discussing this with them this morning, and thanks to those who elected them. We have 56 schools in our district. Approximately 53 have a primary education. We have more schools than we can fill. I want to emphasize, each of these schools loves its community. Every parent, every teacher is showing growth and improvement in student performance. They have had great results regarding the sense of belonging. We are not looking at this data to make decisions. These are very difficult
071decisions about facilities, about finances. When this community arrives, they say, "No, not my school, let it be that other school." We're all in the same boat. This is going to be the hardest work we'll ever do: working together for the future. And my biggest goal is that we achieve it. We all want to save our school, and at the end of the day that's not going to be the reality. Let's work together learning by supporting our neighbors. I think it's the best thing we can do moving forward, because you might have to work with a community, with the parents of the neighbors. I've been thinking a lot since the weekend. We've been watching how the energy builds around this issue. These are very difficult times and I wanted to mention it. Having said that, we
072conclude our comments. We have information topics. The first is the strategic plan and the goals. Mr. Rob Price will be giving the presentation. Go ahead, superintendent. As you may recall, in October we had a presentation, we talked about the reality that our district is receiving fewer and fewer registrations and there was a consensus from the council that we need to start accelerating this process. On behalf of the district employees and the community, we brought a very comprehensive plan for community participation. Before I mention any recommendations to you about closing schools, reconfiguring schools, or consolidating them. We have been working for the last 4 months. And before we begin, I want to thank our team for their work. What you saw in tonight's presentation is a district that wants to listen first to understand what is
073most important about the student experience. We want to create the best results the district has ever seen for all students. This is going to be difficult, it's going to be a challenge, but we're going to start by listening and working together to see what the best path forward is, and with that, our team has a great presentation to share with you. And I want to introduce Deputy Superintendent Rob Price. Good evening, President Rushp. Thank you for this presentation. In this presentation we will define the process of community involvement in the face of the drop in enrollments. Most of our schools have been in a status quo. This is no longer sustainable. This strategy that we are going to present today clearly defines the problem for the public, including the operational problem, and we want the
074community to understand the need for change. Tonight's presentation is intended, first, to confirm that the urgency created by the decline in enrollments is understood, to reaffirm the council's goals for future decisions, and also to review community participation in the viable development of these options. and finally establish a clear path toward action by the fall of 2026. Allowing schools to remain small and undersized is no longer an option. The decline in enrollments is not a BBSD problem. This is happening all over the country and all over the state. This year, enrollment dropped by 10,000 students. The largest decline since the pandemic reflects demographic changes as birth rates and demographic patterns are changing as enrollments fall. We have already discussed in numerous working sessions that these issues are due to reduced birth rates, meaning fewer children in
075kindergarten. The cost of housing is very high in districts that do not have affordable housing prices. This has had an impact and will continue to do so in the coming years. This slide shows that registrations have decreased since 2022. We have held working group sessions. We have demonstrated our interest in solving this problem over the years. We've explored all the options. We have had extensive conversations about the topic for several months. This council has been deliberately working in recent years to solve this problem. Over a 5-year period, from 2019 to 2020, our enrolled students have dropped by 2800. This is the largest decline we have seen since the pandemic. As we said in the December session, we have seen changes at the federal level, such as in immigration, but if we take longer to make
076a decision, this creates a greater risk to the experience of students and our staff. We currently have the capacity to serve approximately 14,543 elementary school students. We are currently serving 9732 elementary school students. The utilization rate is 67%. and leaves us with 4811 vacancies to be filled by other students. We are maintaining a significant number of open spaces, and this has significant financial and structural consequences. The most significant impact on enrollments, declining as the superintendent has explained in more detail, is as our schools move from three classes per grade to two classes per grade and now to one class per grade. The schools are smaller. This results in something very complex in preparing the schedules. Very limited collaboration among teachers. Queenland Council Member Agueda. You mentioned that we want to recognize the efforts of our
077staff. Teachers for educators are making a great effort to provide a high-quality educational experience, but this is not sustainable. This year several schools had to teach multi-grade classes. One teacher said she prefers to teach a class of 50 students, rather than having to teach teachers of students of different grades. We are asking you to teach two different grades in the same classroom. And this is something very different from what we expected. And with that, I'm going to present a short video. As you heard, we may be facing low enrollment. But what does it mean, and what impact does it have on our students? Over the last decade, birth rates have declined, and with fewer children in the neighborhood, fewer children go to school. School funding is directly linked to the number of students, so we
078have less budget. The district has had to stretch the budget, and so we have services like special classes, physical education, art education, and sports, but maybe we have to cut back on administration and employees. But our students aren't happy with smaller classes, and now there are fewer adults supporting our students. Our students are having fewer opportunities [in music]. When there are fewer students, schedules are more difficult and they no longer have the individual support they are used to. Things are very unpredictable. Teachers have to move between different grades, and it's like a roller coaster. In the district, we want to ensure that our students receive a high-quality education. with the best teachers to discuss how to move forward together with strong schools and with students at the center of any decision we make. In the
079last two slides of the video, we have been doing this for four years, and this does not depend on where the student goes based on the resources that the school offers. So, the services have become very different from school to school. We want to continue working on equity and the experience for our students. As you can see from this chart, this is a 5-year projection. In the next 5 years, the projection is that enrollments will decrease, all levels will be affected, we are going to lose 1670 students. That's why we're talking about this. Five-year projections for primary school using 2024-2025 enrollment data. We have not updated school by school, but based on this data, it allows us to study reasonable patterns. Two indicators we are analyzing are the number of schools that are projected to
080have two or fewer classes per grade and the utilization of facilities, how efficiently they are being used in that region. Boulder continues to suffer the biggest decline in enrollments. Uh, it's projected that they'll be in two classes per grade for the next 5 years. Building occupancy will be at 58%. This means we have a lot of underutilized space, and that's why Bolder is going to be a focus area in this strategy. Leville Superior continues to see a decline in enrollment, and this has been analyzed in several schools. In Lafayet, we are experiencing slow growth in enrollments. Uh, some schools have two classes per grade and we have an 88% space utilization. Bromfield continues to have low registration numbers. Two of the four schools are at 50% capacity and are projected to have two classes per
081grade, with space utilization at 73%. This is also going to be an area where we will be focusing. We know that the impact is not the same in every region. This projection helps us understand why different regions will have different solutions. If you can go back to the previous slide, board members, this is going to be one of our main challenges. We are solving a problem that is coming, but it's not here for everyone. If we wait until it gets here, it will be too late to solve it. I see districts across the country that postponed and postponed the solution until it was too late because they didn't listen, they couldn't put plans in place. The 5-year plan is based on whether we maintain this projection. But it would be like 3 million dollars in
082this year's school budget law . We're not going to focus on making sure everyone understands tomorrow's problem in today's context. As we begin to review this plan, we will be very detailed in sharing it so that everyone can understand, in order to maintain the district at the level of operational excellence as we have done so far, we face very difficult decisions. But at the end of the day, if we don't make these decisions, we won't be able to get back the district we have , the one we're used to, because then we'll have undesirable schools when all our schools are currently desirable. In October we began a process of community participation and engagement, including how our employees and our families can participate. We send communication, including the chronology of the topics to be discussed and
083what participation will or will not achieve. Well, it will help us understand the problem. First of all, we are going to gather information, priorities, values, negotiations. However, to be very clear about the process, this does not guarantee the preservation of specific schools, and we are not going to delay decision-making just to set limits from now on, and we will continue to communicate as we move forward. The structure focuses on regional reports. While we consult the data. We organized this according to three regions, Boulder, Lisville Superior and Broomfield, where the rates are lower and most of those schools have a projection of having two classes or less per grade level. We will continue to monitor enrollment and potential impacts in IR areas. This will give us other opportunities for this adjustment, and mountain schools have unique
084circumstances, so they are not being considered at this time. We are going to inform community members, parents, students, and teachers during the community engagement process, and we are also going to inform them of the consequences of not making decisions. Right now, as I said, we're going to communicate the details about public participation in the process. As we move forward with the timeline, I have divided it into seven stages. Stage one has begun, focusing on engaging with principals, teachers, other staff, district advisory committees, and the municipalities involved in the process. That work will continue until February of this year. Stage two is where we will begin these meetings with regional community groups, and this will take place between March and May of this year, TAPE 3. Staff will present a summary of community participation and their
085views to the council in June. Staff will spend time during the summer to develop adjustment options based on the perceptions we have noticed and the educational council goals we had discussed. During stage four. We will present the possible options to the council. It's going to be in August. This is your opportunity to discuss the options, and there is also an opportunity for public opinions, a public comment period. Stage five is that we will present the final plan to the Council, including the updated attendance limits, transportation preferences, and facility improvements if required. And in stage six we will present the finalized action plan . That will be in October to align with this open registration period and stage seven that marks the transition for support for impacted families and families. We are committed to supporting staff
086and families through this transition and moving forward in a way that will hopefully strengthen the long-term stability and excellence of the school district. That concludes tonight's presentation, and I welcome your questions. Is it possible to go back to stage one? I would like to talk more about this for the public's benefit. We have already scheduled 35 meetings, we have sent out invitations, and Dr. de la Cruz and I are going to talk to the teachers in elementary schools, we are going to talk to every principal in the district. There are many good things about the district. Our staff is a strength for us. We need to listen to them, we need to move forward with them so they can serve the students in our district. We are going to be intentional, we are going to
087engage with the teachers to listen to their opinions and to hear what they fear, what is beautiful, what our educators need. In stage one, I wanted to talk more in depth before starting the discussion. While we're there on that slide, I know there are people watching, who are curious about stage two. When will you have a schedule of community outreach events? When will that information be published? In a month. We're going to communicate that. The details of this session or these community participation sessions. Sorry, Alex. Alex, we'll start with you, then Jorge, if you have any questions or opinions, then the line. No, I appreciate the plan and look forward to seeing the opinions. I also want to reinforce something you said, Nicole. I believe it's a community-level problem we 're facing, and we've seen
088what happens when you have to close a school. Sometimes people think that making political comments is the best way to change the process, but we need to focus on the students, think about the community. How are we going to preserve the student experience? Everything that is happening affects children in primary school. We have children from third to fourth grade who are affected by this. So I encourage you to keep thinking about the end goals and all of that should be focused on the students to support them and keep them as well as possible for everyone. I'm excited, well, excited isn't the right word. So I anticipate moving forward according to the schedule. If we don't act now, we can do it later, but what it will cause is that people will leave the system and
089it will worsen the situation. If we focus on the students, and I encourage them during the public participation period, we continue to focus on the children. Jorge, thank you. I want to thank Rob and the administration for the presentation. I appreciate everything you are doing to address the needs we are noticing in schools and the challenges they are facing due to declining enrollment. It's good to be addressing this issue now instead of waiting. We have goals in the process and a clear timeline, in particular the recognition that the problem remains the same throughout the district. I would like to return to one of the previous slides that has the structure for the public participation period. We will be having meetings with each school. They do not face the same situation as other areas of the
090district, but they will participate in the public comment process and have the opportunity to participate in the process. I want that to be clear as a matter of principle. Thanks for that question, Jorge. In stage one we will participate with all schools, including the FA IR, and while we have the regional community participation structure, then it would be different at this time. I believe that everyone who lives in the community has an interest. Many people will have opinions if we are willing to listen, but the plan here focuses on the areas of greatest need and each process may look a little different. While we are communicating with teachers and principals, they will give me an indication of the process and how it should be done. Thank you. We appreciate the flexibility in ensuring that we
091have that connection across the district. Thank you. So I'm going to continue to echo Nicole and Alex about considering that as a whole community rather than individual schools. We need to consider the community as a whole first and keep it student-centered by taking students into account . I would like to see slide 16 to ensure the community understands that the final plan will be submitted for study in September, for action in October, for the open enrollment period. All parents would have the opportunity to understand what the plan is in order to alleviate as much stress as possible. And I think this is a very important part that we are trying to work hard to meet the timeline because we know that this is going to cause stress for the community and we want to give
092them this necessary information as quickly as possible. That will be important to continue focusing on the students. So, I'm grateful that we published that for the community from the beginning. Jason and then Dian. Thank you for your work. That's good thinking . My colleagues have indicated, and I share the same opinion. We need to look at it holistically. We can't wait. There are schools or districts in neighborhoods that close schools from one day to the next. We are not guaranteeing the preservation of schools, but I appreciate that we are thinking it through and that they presented it here. To echo what Jason indicated, I believe the timeline is important, and it's important to point out the contrast, what the districts and neighborhoods are doing is putting up ads without asking for opinions. So, I appreciate
093the timeline, the timeframe we have to consider and decide on the best plan given the circumstances and the way the world works that is forcing us to make decisions. Sometimes we may feel that it is very slow, that this space is for a reason, to give us time to consider and facilitate the best decisions for our children. I appreciate the timeline, a long period for making decisions. Thank you. Speaking of timelines, I appreciate that the staff strikes a balance between not giving us too much time, because sometimes they feel like they're in purgatory waiting for the decision, but also giving us time for the community engagement process . So, I think we found a good balance with the schedule. Yes, it's going to be a lot of work for the staff. The community will feel
094it because it takes a long time, and the staff will feel like they are running a marathon every day. I believe it requires time and effort. One thing I've heard during the decline in enrollment. So there is a lot of indecision. There is one year that we combined first and second grade. Another year means two second-grade classes and many changes. So we want those staff members to have their full-time jobs . So, hopefully we have a lot of predictable data regarding class sizes. What are the things we can continue to offer? Everything fun is harder to do when there aren't enough staff. The interventionists, this one, a librarian, that's more difficult when the school is smaller. For me, I think a lot about the positive experiences once we have addressed the changes that students are
095going to have. So, I keep thinking about that. My children attended schools that had three rounds and had every opportunity. It's very difficult when there aren't three rounds of school or classes. It's difficult for the staff to make it amazing for the students. I wish they didn't have to work so much. Ultimately, I 'm hoping it's the right thing for the students, the staff, for the money we have, and that it's appropriate for the environment, the school setting. Those are my important goals with the process, and I hope the community participates. We are often told that the facilities, uh, they tell us that the facilities look very ugly, so if we had fewer facilities they could look better. I 'm thinking about that for the student experience. It's going to be a challenge. When we
096met with the delegates today, they offered us these condolences that they had to address. Leadership often changes at the superintendent level, the council, because it is a challenge, it is difficult. So, I commend the leaders for addressing that, knowing it's what's best for the students, knowing it might cost us our jobs. We anticipate the conversations. I'll be at a school this week to start the conversation. He's going to do a very large listening tour and I'm anticipating that the community can participate in a meaningful way. We can explore the different options. I believe we have a good plan to be as successful as possible. Thank you. Other comments. There are none. I'd like to take a 5-minute break. equipment. Thank you for the presentation. Today and for years to come we're going to take a
097short break. Tam. Welcome back. We are still in the section on subject matter or reports recommendation for dismissal. Kathle, anything to add? No, the members of the council are an informational matter because that's how the statute works, it's taken into account, right? More. So, the next topic is legislative updates. Dr. Anderson, would you like to begin? Thank you, President Rush Paul. Thanks to the delegation that came outside the Capitol this morning for breakfast with us. Our priorities, I believe our delegation supported. The top priorities here are to try to join with other districts to stop the effort of taking taxes and sharing them instead of allocating them directly to the district. If it goes ahead, it will cost us $6.5 million. We can't handle that. We talked about the declining enrollment and the process we're
098reviewing, ensuring that if elected officials begin to participate in guiding the school district, the elected officials will not have decision-making power or authority over the decisions. We talked about it, we talked about it, the deregulation of early childhood care because we cannot occupy these facilities. Parents need care before and after school and we would love to use the facilities for that, but we ca n't at the moment. However, there is a bill coming that we support. They're silly things during the day. During the day the children can occupy this playground, but after school it's not cool. And other things we're asking for regarding preschool include empowering families, taking over the district instead of this taking over another process because we want families to get involved in their neighborhood school. It's difficult. I know you understand,
099members of the council, the budget is tight. We knew, three years ago, that school finances were going to be tight, very much on our own. We spoke out against the statewide school finance law, and now it's clear they never had the money. the way children count, averages. Hopefully the delegation will continue to be with us and we are uniting to protect kindergarten and grade education. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Any questions or comments? The other thing for the public, we spoke this morning about the state budget. Many legislators are asking to pass laws that have no fiscal cost. They are asking for or passing laws that will add more time for us. So it costs the state, but it can cost us money or time. We have asked that you be very careful in the delegation.
100simply saying no when there is a tax bill that negatively impacts us . That's what makes us, and we have to say yes to the laws that will help us. I have a question. Dr. Anderson is looking at the package. If we can attach the documents to this morning's agenda or this meeting's agenda, that would be excellent. Anything else? There is no more discussion. This, grouping of consent, action topics, item 8.1, Personal matters 8.3 approval of the minutes January 13. 8.3 Approval of the minutes January 20. 8.4 Reimbursement to members of the Education Council. 8.5 Approval of the contract with Pine Roofing. 8.6 Rescheduling of the ordinary meetings of February and March 8.7 Resolutions 26-02 to 26-05 Revised budget 2025-2026 8.8 Grant Is there any issue you would like to bring up a motion to
101approve the line. There is discussion about these topics. Is anyone watching from home? Nothing here either. I want to thank the team. The revised budget looks excellent. We would be happy to sign. So we need to manage our money well, and the district is doing a good job. There is no further discussion. This Laura can take the roll. Booker. Yes. Chavez Chavezler. Temading. Hunger. Yes. The motion passes. Following. These are the topics of study in politics. They 're all in Chapter D, that's what covers finances. Very exciting. Kathle Sulven will tell us the policies. Thank you, President Rashpal. As mentioned, the Council has been working on maintenance to ensure that every policy is reviewed at least every 5 years. We've been reviewing the policies in Chapter D. You've already heard six. We have six more
102to study tonight and at the next meeting. We're going to study the last five policies in Chapter D. The six with which we'll begin. The budget and the way we refer to the district's financial status are discussed. It is an area with a lot of state and federal regulation. The last time this review was done was in 2010 and overall there is a lot of detail that restricts your staff from being able to make timely and reasonable decisions. So let's narrow down those details and make references to current policies. I'm going to start with DB's annual operating budget. There are n't many updates to be seen. They are really trying to align it with the style of the council, to make the references current. We are removing things, for example, notes that do not provide
103additional explanation for the public. We are referring to the stated rules that actually dictate what the school district has to do. regarding its budget. Council policy, questions, or thoughts about changes to that policy. Jorge and Alex, there are many people shaking their heads no. If they want to say something, now is the time. No, no further comment. Me neither. Very well, continuing ADBJ, these are also budgetary transfers, unnecessary details that we are proposing that the concepts and legal references be included in the policy of B and that this point be eliminated. Council members, questions. I didn't look at anything. Continuing Ab, we found that there was nothing worth salvaging. We more or less found a line that we do think we might remove and add to the DB when the council reviews it. Next time
104there's a line our CFO recommends we take out, and these will be comments Bill mentioned, but I did n't respond in time, and you'll see them at your next meeting. The sentence I would mention is: money will not be transferred from one fund to another unless authorized by a board resolution. That would be the sentence that you will see reflected in DB. That's a good sentence to transfer. And board members, none of those policies are required for us. It's just a dot. They are not required by state law or CASI, because much of the language is within the law. That's exactly right. This entire chapter of politics. The following policy. The following policy is DFA. It is cash management and investment policy. It's a very detailed policy, and as the board knows, when it reaches
105seven pages, it's very difficult for our staff to stay focused on all the details that a seven-page policy entails. Unless it's really required by law, it's not very good practice. So we have substantially reduced this so that it complies with laws and regulations. And that's what I have to say about FA's policy. Council members, any questions or comments regarding DFA? Listening to none. Let's continue. Continuing the policy of using authorized signatures for deposits of funds, it 's funny because that never actually includes authorized signatures. I think this title didn't fit for a long time. With this policy, we are eliminating much of the information that is unnecessary or does not really reflect modern times. There aren't many checks being issued in this digital age. Yes, I think that in this one of the comments that
106Bell mentioned is that in the first sentence it refers to an official bank. This is the example sample from CASY, but other districts that are more justified in using investment banks will look at a review between now and the next meeting to reflect the recognition that investment banks with the right security can also be used. This was a question I was going to mention. Banks, yes we have diversified and I am pleased to see that you have mentioned this and I noticed that the word "manis" is written in two different ways and we are going to choose one. And that was my second comment on that policy. And also in the second to last sentence we said that with requirements in state law under if I see it under the sentences where it says income.
107I like the language that was added in the green part. Perhaps we can make it a little easier to read. Council members , questions, comments. Very well, let's continue with the policy . We have this audit policy, which I love, called D i E. Numbers and audits are not my strong suit. So, this policy of only not being an update. Current language states that the board must issue an RFP at least every 5 years seeking auditors. These are people who possibly feel that there is not an abundance of auditors. It may not be prudent or practical to issue an RFP every year, but it is something the board may decide to do. The suggestion here is to say that the board will review whether it possibly makes an RFP and not require it. That makes
108sense, council members, questions, comments. I have a couple of these. Looking at Casby's sample, there is one sentence that might be worth entertaining. He says that within 30 days, once the council receives an audit, it will be handed over to the state audit commission . That needs to be done within 30 days because otherwise I don't want it there, but it was very specific and it caught my attention. It's not a requirement, but our policy has this date of December 31st. Yes, I looked at it when I was updating the policy to see that the December 31st date would work, but let me check it again. And the other question I have is, does the Casby sample highlight many inclusions required in the audit? I do n't know if they will necessarily help us or
109be required, or if there is a way we can ensure that board members know. And I only have that one question. We can use something like in Deb, where we have a sentence that says it will follow accepted principles. We can usually look at professional standards. It looks good. And the latest council policy is the district audit committee, and we've refreshed the language a bit. I wonder, one question I really have for the board is whether the audit committee is an advisory committee to the board. The remaining advisory advice is referred to in Chapter B, which is coded with BDF. This is not a recommendation at this point, but I wonder if it would be more efficient to have a reference to the audit policy, leave it in Chapter D, but move the audit committee
110to Chapter B with an appropriate code to keep it with the other similar policies. This was a question I also had, in part because I was going through the list of committees to select for prioritization and I had to look for this one because it wasn't with the others, and I wondered, does that make sense for me? I know it's not where Casby leaves it, and that's why it has the title it does, but I think that in order for our community to understand what the Advisory Council intends, having this in Chapter B makes sense to us Council members. I see that some say yes, I think that coding, that change in coding would help us in the points about quarterly reports and meeting three times. The committee meets three times, but they receive reports
111four times a year. So, I wonder, how do those calculations work? Honestly, our audit committee is a diligent and dedicated group of human beings who are going to want to take this policy. I brought it to the board first because it is a board policy, but it makes sense to take that audit committee to the audit committee so we can make sure that they connect issues that really end up being, or are, due to practice. I also wanted to point out that in practice, community members, that's not what we do in practice. So it's fine that it's different, but we need to make sure that we correct it in the way we're currently doing it. Talk about the terms. Yes. The term, I myself would be in favor of a longer term, but that doesn't
112matter here. I know that someone else may have an opinion about that, but if we are not complying with this. And I wonder when we talk about Alrax, I think it's the Alrax committee, the terms are for this amount of time, but there's no limit to how many terms can be used because it's very difficult to find people with very specific knowledge. Perhaps it is a sentence that we can present that your term is 2 years, but they are renewable. We can use the term intelligent here. Yes, as a member. Yes, I think this smart member would find it very funny. Any comments on this policy? I can't hear any of them. That concludes the policy study. For tonight. We will continue to make our goal of 20 policies our own. Thank you Kathlen for
113keeping us focused. The last point, no, it isn't, sorry. The next point is requests for the future. At this time we can talk about different points they want to recommend for the following meetings. Are there any board members? I have one. We all received an email from the community about how old we are. Let me look for it for a second. There will be information about BC employee gifts . The last time it was coded was in 1979 and GB-R and it relates to employee gifts. So I wanted to raise those because times have changed. Anything else, board members? Seeing that there are no additional points to add to our list, let's continue to the last point, the executive session that was mentioned. The school board has points to discuss. There is a motion. I,
114when I do n't make a motion gu 042 to receive legal advice on the most recent bond. Just a second. Second, Anaura, can you come in? List. Chavez Chavez. Yes. R. Yes, Hunger, yes, the motion passes. Members of the board, we are going to meet in the public room and those of you who are here are going to conclude our business for tonight and we will be closing up to meet in the executive session. Good night,