001We will resume our regular session with the Land Acknowledgment. Could you please read it? I would love to. The Bolde Valley School District resides on ancestral lands unjustly taken from the Ute, Arapajo, Cheyenne, Apache, and 48 other nations associated with these lands and who have called them home since time immemorial. We acknowledge the atrocities that have occurred here, including the painful history of genocide and forced assimilation of the Indigenous peoples of their lands with the support of the United States government. The district is aware of the many Indigenous peoples and their nations who care for the land with strength and resilience. The district recognizes the histories of the land in Colorado. It is the district's responsibility to educate our communities and our students so that we can celebrate and respect the wisdom and knowledge of
002Indigenous peoples and work together to address injustices. By offering this Land Acknowledgment, we affirm and honor the history, wisdom, and oral traditions 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 Bolde Valley School District is to create challenging learning opportunities. Meaningful and engaging so that all children can thrive and be prepared for a life of success and commitment. Good afternoon everyone. We gladly accept everyone's participation. I would like to take the motion to approve the agenda. Motion by [ Music] Roll call. [Music] [Music] The motion is approved. The first item on our agenda is business from Superintendent Anders. Good afternoon, good afternoon, members of the Board. President [R], what has happened since we last met? I think Randy
003has some slides and pictures to show. I want to thank Ni and [Name] for being at the ceremony, and Jason was there too. It was an iconic moment of this ceremony when the most important thing is [Name], ... The state educators who are going to address the emergence of immigrants to the State of Colorado, and many authorities from the Department of Education recognized the activities that were coordinated by the Arap high school program and administrators. The teachers and we heard stories that our students shared about the challenges they face upon immigrating to the state and entering the Bolder Valley School District. They have gone through many tribulations. This also gave us an opportunity to talk about our district and other districts that have also gone through this, and we are considering how these concerns will
004be addressed in the updated legislation. We have good news in that regard, and we are very proud of our schools and our programs and the response we have given. Next, we want to congratulate two groups that have been selected from across the state as part of the Inspira Music Educators Conference. This is a very important thing, and we are very proud and happy to congratulate the jazz ensemble directed by Travis and also the Monar ensemble. Both groups are from Fairview and Monar, and they have worthily represented our district and had the opportunity to perform last week. Last year, unified teams met for a volleyball tournament at the Fire and attended this tournament with different high schools. Trophies were presented to the winners, and our students had the opportunity to participate and meet other students. I
005want to thank Jennifer Dixon for her support and participation in the ceremony. We also have a basketball tournament that will be in March, and finally, an update before our student moment: for those who don't know, Cassy High School is turning 100 years old, which is an outstanding achievement. The students are organizing a presentation at the Bolder Museum with artifacts that they will display. It will be open for three months, and we will be collecting treasures from the community. It will be a big celebration, and we will announce it soon so you can attend. We also have students from Nevin High School. These students represent Inspiring Education because they want to build a positive culture. Thank you very much, Superintendent and President Rash. We are very excited to be here to celebrate the work of our
006counselors and students. The social-emotional well-being of our students is very valuable to our community. Our goal is to have an inclusive school where all students and staff are valued. They feel safe and have a sense of belonging where they can be their best and most authentic selves. This leads to respectful interactions and clear, continuous instruction. These activities we weave together with our philosophy based on research programs. There is no place for hate. It is our strength to present inspiring programs. We want the program to be called Inspiring Education. It was created by the center and with the core belief that young people are important. We want to amplify the voices of students and empower young people to participate in our school activities. Thank you very much for inviting us. We have coordinated this program for
007several years in high school. We are very impressed. This program started with students, and now we have 20. Our students are passionate and know how to seize the opportunity when they are given a voice so they can build their own community. And I will allow you to hear directly from the students. About what I want to say: Hello, I am... Hello, I am... This is my second year in this program. Inspiring Education is a program developed by... whose objective is to have a positive impact on students to improve their positivity and creativity. Students from all grades participate. Our process is to evaluate the school climate and conduct a survey in October. We analyze... The data, we looked for ways to improve. Then we took another survey in April and reviewed the results. The next slide.
008My name is [Name], I'm in eighth grade, my third year in the Inspiring Education program. Last year, when we took the school climate survey, we talked as a school, as a community, and we wanted to improve. For strategies we implemented, we interviewed staff, asking what we could do to improve this environment, and we created an event with the participation of the entire school community. The employees organized a very inspiring day, and we enjoyed it a lot. Last April, we also had a community activity, and the objective of these activities is to build and strengthen the community, and we see a 14% increase in the surveys. Hi, my name is Johnson. I'm in seventh grade at the high school, and I've been in this program for two years. We realized that rumors and gossip were very
009frequent. So, an intervention program was implemented in March and April. Thank you so much for allowing us to share what we do. [Applause] Thank you so much to the high school and for the wonderful work you have been doing here. Thank you, and thank you to the board members. Do you have any questions for Dr. Anderson? I would like to add that I participated in the event. The newcomers and the entire region gathered to see how they could improve the welcome. Welcome, Vista was also very excited to be able to receive all these visitors. The next matter is public participation. Ask the participants to take into consideration the comments made by Elito, not the comments of the others. You will see an orange card. When you have two minutes left, the alarm will sound and
010the microphone will turn off. At the end of this, if you require more time, you can email us directly. Our first participant is [name missing]. You will also be given two additional minutes. Stella Mary: Hello, can I start? My name is [name missing]. I am a senior. My classmates and I were informed that they are going to cut programs at the end of the school year, and I want to talk about that. I have become a more well-rounded, conscious person. That person I was before would never have been able to speak in front of you. Coming here and participating in our programs has allowed me to gain more confidence in myself. I have gained more education, and I want to obtain a license and then continue to university to obtain a degree. By using [this/the
011program name missing], I can study at university. The academic plan and the teachings I have received have been excellent. I don't know why they are getting rid of three programs and what [these are] We are going to do without these programs since it is about expanding educational opportunities. I am sure many of you are familiar with Law 16, which allows concurrent enrollment. This law says that you can take another course while finishing high school, and if the district does not offer this course, the district is responsible for paying for it. The district has agreements with [unclear] and also with Metro for some [unclear] so that students can obtain college credits. The district has limited the number of [unclear] and apprenticeship programs. And this is for students who are still enrolled in the university. A course
012in environment and aquatic resources is a very important class to learn about natural resources. Metro University has [unclear] courses. Students can take these courses either at Metro, where students can get the education necessary to obtain their cosmetology license. The fact of replacing these courses with [unclear] limits the availability. If you want to study cosmetology, I want to ask the board to reconsider the elimination of the cosmetology program. This program has made me the person I am today. I also sent a copy to each of the board members with what I have said, as well as visuals and photos. Also, what my classmates have to say. Thank you for listening. Thank you for our additional minutes. Upon graduating in 1990 from the cosmetology program, whether playing with someone's hair or being allowed to express my creativity,
013when I had the opportunity to obtain my cosmetologist license, I jumped at the chance. During the last few years, I've had the opportunity to grow professionally and also as a person and gain more self- confidence. I had a business as a cosmetologist and beauty practitioner. Not having had these programs would have left me in debt with many thousands of dollars. I've been told that the reason for these programs is because they don't lead to well- paying jobs. I compiled data from the Department of Labor, and this data, but at no point does it identify the cosmetology industry. I'm confused about how they got to that point. The employment of stylists is projected to grow at a higher rate than any other job. There are many positions and job opportunities that will grow during the two
014programs: natural resources and arts. Very common in Colorado. I think no one will dispute this. The commonality among the demand for this doesn't have Nothing to do with the income or salary rate. The data doesn't mention information about the cosmetology industry. The data I was given, I do n't know where the industry comes from. I'll give a couple of examples: it could be a stylist specializing in professional makeup. It's a very long list. Finding the documents my classmates mentioned, I want to recommend not eliminating cosmetology programs. Thank you for your time. Thank you to our audience tonight. This is a virtual Padilla last year of the program. As my classmates mentioned, we are very disappointed that we are going to be losing our program. One of the main reasons, for me personally, is that we
015are losing a very large part of our education. 7% are in other programs. We are seeing the statistics: more students in these programs, others. Please, the program. I am a low- income student and I don't have to go to college. When I was given the opportunity to go to this program by my advisor, and as an opportunity, it happened with other classmates. They did their best to finish the cosmetology program. It was additional to the above. Above all, we don't want them to eliminate programs where Latinos are most interested. Please, cosmetology program. Thank you. Good. Good afternoon, my name is [Name], I am a second-year student in the hairstyling program and a third- year student employed at a beauty salon. I came to speak out against the elimination of the cosmetology program. My experience with
016the university program before graduation suggests they will replace it with culinary arts. In my first semester of senior year, instead of attending the cosmetology program through classes at Metro, I took classes such as [Class Name]. One of these classes was a basic cooking class as an introduction to basic techniques. We had to practice this as basic cooking knowledge, and other classes were European, Asian, and Latin American cuisine. In these classes, we explored traditional methods, indigenous ingredients, and how to be part of the global culinary culture. I was able to take the classes through the university program before graduation. The Metro program has a very good culinary program, and I could attend my classes either by public transport or by car. I can conclude my idea as a student of the beauty salon and also of
017the culinary program. The elimination of the cosmetology program reduces our options. We will advocate for a diverse and enriching education for the future. Thank you. Our next participant is [Name]. How are you? It's great to see you all again. One thing we haven't talked about is how cosmetology or barbering is mostly done by women. Having said that, when you're a mom and you have to go to a baseball game or any other activity, you have to ask for the day off. And if you're a cook, why aren't you allowed to work? You have to work, and if you don't, you'll get fired. Many of you know me as the trainer, and I'm part of the community involvement. I have many roles as well. As you may have noticed, I'm Black. We talk about diversity, we
018talk about inclusivity, about having diversity. Eliminating these programs is eliminating diversity because in hair culture, it's all about the hair. I look around and I realize—I don't know your names—but your haircut costs more than I could ever afford. Last year, I had an income of $100,000, and it's just one business. We need these young people; they're going to keep our businesses and our communities alive. They'll be the next trainers. Thank you very much. Have a good night. I like your hair. Thank you very much. Next up is Mr. Wilson, who gave up two minutes. I'm Ash Carlos. I am the mother of two children in elementary school. I am very passionate about mountain schools. As discussed at the meeting in October, there are disparities between mountain schools and those here in the valley. We have
019growth, and the perception that we receive less is a lens that will influence everything in the future. We need immediate action to address these disparities. We don't have a SAC committee. There is no after- school care. Many families work in Bolder. We have 9-hour workdays with to-do lists. We do n't have this supplemental care. Will attending this meeting cost me more than $100? The basic needs of our working families are important because we need care. Isn't it a district goal that children are ready for college and careers? Full-time allocation has a huge impact on children and schools. Mountain schools are disadvantaged by having a smaller population. Being 20 miles into the canyon affects us. Hiring staff requires more time and care, but the quality of benefits in the district highlights the incentives. Many people don't
020want to travel all the way there. What incentives can be given to address this difficulty? We've also lost a lot of staff, and that will continue into next year. Can we work together to find this qualified staff? These are just a few examples from a growing list of these disparities. What are the minimum standards across all schools? How will you implement those standards equitably? You're saying you're allocating resources focused on students, but if you're not going to do that, the strategic plan shouldn't say so. The law the governor just signed says that rural schools— and I know we're not rural—have higher costs, and rural schools have received this additional funding. Since we 're within the district, it doesn't consider us rural. But there's an urgent need for more action, and it's critical this year. We
021've made a mistake in raising our families in the Netherlands. We want you to see us, to hear us, because I must continue to expect the District to continue. My expectations as someone who pays my taxes, as a resident, are that this should be standard. Operating this way indicates that we're lost. My goal here is to highlight the disparities that are being created by the policies for schools in the mountains today. From now on, communication would only be to ignore us. Please, for the benefit of our children, support us. Thank you. Next, Steve P. seems to be absent. Let's continue with Andre. Good evening. I am S. Andrews. I am a mother of two children in Netherland Primary. So, my husband and I are unable to work remotely. The last few months we have had
022several concerns regarding support. I am here to speak about the fact that children in the mountains do not have access to childcare at schools. This has created difficulties in our careers and safety issues for our children. We do not have additional resources for the school, and I have been told in the district that the district does not have to provide them because they do not want to. With the decline in enrollment, you may be trying to attract more people to the district, or you may be looking inward to treat the students you already have. The children in this district deserve to be more than a percentage. They are worth more than the minimum the district has to offer. Thank you for your service on the board and for listening to me. Thank you. Finally, P.
023Shepard. Good evening. I am P. Shepard, and I am here as co-chair. This is the stakeholder council for Title 9. We are appointed by the District and the Title 9 Coordinator. Our council is comprised of parent researchers, and together we have knowledge and experience regarding Title 9. I am here to bring to your attention priority areas that require urgent attention and recommended actions. We have two recommendations: the first is that the District contract with a third party to conduct a needs assessment; the second is that the District improve support in some fixed ways for students facing Title 9 issues; they need to expand the council, which includes the stakeholder council and the student council, and review the distribution of workload for Title 9 and also publish an annual report of Title 9 measures. You should
024have received the report by this time, and all the recommendations are described in more detail in that report. Thank you very much. That concludes public participation for the benefit of the board. Thank you to everyone who has shared their experiences and thoughts with us tonight. Now we will move on to the next item, which is communication from board members. Who would like to start? Kitty has something she would like to share tonight. She has not turned on her microphone. Sorry, this is going to be written forever. I went last night to the Manhattan High School's play presentation, and it was incredible. It was the seventh and eighth grade class taught by Brandon PR, and he created the show all by himself. He gave a Shakespeare monologue to each of the students, and the students memorized
025it and chose a song from the pipes that they wanted to accompany their monologue. It was orchestral; they weren't singing. They did very well. They talked afterward; it was so much fun, and I'm so glad they did it and that I was able to go see them. Rob mentioned that I went to the bowling tournament several weeks ago and spoke with Jen, who had coordinated it. I told her that at the last meeting, they had specifically invited us by email, and I told her that I would love an invitation again. It's mentioned in the news and articles, but it's on a whole list, so we should receive invitations for upcoming events. I recommend that you go if you can. The kids are lovely; they support each other, they get excited for each other, they have
026many friends from other schools. They're not like typical kids who are looked down upon, but they're not. They are, that's all I have to say. It was incredible. Thank you for sharing, Kitty. What you shared reminded me I had the opportunity to attend the high school, and it was like all of Boulder was there. This is over, the tickets are gone, and it's my favorite part of my job. Rob, Laora, and I participated in a meeting with the teachers, and I value the opportunities we have to listen to the teachers, to hear about their experiences, and to know what they 're thinking because it helps when you 're sitting here giving us context. I want to thank you for that opportunity to listen. I wanted to thank the community for contributing their knowledge. Thank you
027to the Title 9 Council for gathering the information. I think we do n't value enough the expertise of the community. I want to commend the community for looking out for each other. Alex, I have a few things. One, we had the audit committee this week, and I want to thank the staff for their careful analysis. People have said that Robert is very good, and also the staff. Things to share about the audit and the meeting: we reviewed fiscal year 2025, what we 've spent from December through the end of the year, and how it compared to last year. It's similar to what we've... What I've heard before is quite clear. We're doing pretty well financially, staying within budget or under budget compared to districts emerging from the pandemic. Other things I'd like to share are
028interesting: people have been talking about the end of COVID funding. The good thing is that, as a district with a fair amount of money, we don't receive as much federal funding per child as we do for regular programming. It doesn't feel as rich, but it's a reason to set aside money for schools with higher concentrations. We have that commitment to differentiated funding, and when that money runs out... Another thing I think is that there's data about the cost of preschool programs. We've heard how difficult it is to start a program. I'm very keen on expanding that universal preschool program. Districts will probably gain more students based on what we provide. And that's one of the best indicators: quality preschool. Because people want to stay in the district, we have preschool programs that we provide with
029our staff. We pay more than other districts, and when enrollment did n't go up as much as we had hoped, you can correct me on the totals, but it's a point of pride. We should tell the community that if someone enrolls in the preschool program of... District. Because they can choose, they're going to receive a benefit from the extra investment we've made. People have complained that this system is too difficult, or we can say, I want to let you know that we have this, we're dedicated to ensuring everyone receives an adequate salary, and we've invested a lot of resources in this program. That's my opinion. And another thing that comes up in the report is interesting things regarding workers' compensation. And as we enter into negotiations with the union, I'm interested in workers' compensation claims.
030If you hear about classroom disruption and violent, disruptive children, you can see it in a duplication of workers' compensation claims. No, I'm not very interested in budgets, but when they're complaining about that, we notice it in the budget and the insurance we're paying for. I mean, it's very important, and we're well- staffed. I want to share two more things. I was at the district accountability committee meeting, and we spent 20 minutes talking about, or two minutes talking about, just one thing. But if you go to this meeting, you can have a very in- depth conversation. It's like the other side of the planet. Listening to the DAC committee, these are very important issues, and we must... I listened to them too. Last night I went to the Jewish community center about hate speech, and the
031entire police force attended. It was a very diverse and engaged panel. One thing that came up was the fear among communities that are victims of hate speech, about the fears that the election cycle brings. I heard examples from parents of how young people are dealt with, uh, who use these hateful racial words. These are young people, and they do foolish things, but I think we need to be thinking about programs that say 'no place for hate' because in the last 15 months or the next 15 months, we're going to see more. I 'm betting that... And finally, the art building is excellent. I met some of the artists, and I encourage you to see the artists in the district. Jason, thank you. I can talk about the legislative part a little more, but I want
032to highlight a few things. It was a very cool event to be at the Capitol with board members from across the state. I was very fortunate to meet Glory Goldstein from the 12th district, and she has many connections. We were in the Senate meeting the senators, talking with Speaker Fenberg. We went to the House of Representatives as well, with the Speaker of the House. She is part of... Co-chair of the joint budget committee, and we were talking about the new students who had just arrived. It was a very special day to have that access, to have a very in- depth conversation with the members of the legislature, and I'm also very excited to participate in that. I listened to what happened, and I can update you about the new laws and draft regulations later in
033the last few months. There was a Bloomberg editorial titled "We need to ban Tic Tacs in schools," and I want to highlight some things it said: allowing children to have phones in the classroom decreases their performance. There's a link that there's more depression and anxiety. All of this is indicating the need for us to have a very in-depth conversation about technology policy. There was an issue about mental health. Is it hurting the mental health of our students? Can we do something to address that? I don't know what the right answer is, but I would like us to think very deeply about technology policy. That's all. Thank you, Jorge. Thank you. I want to thank all the students who spoke, especially the younger ones who spoke about their experiences with the climate in schools to make
034a meaningful change. We want to welcome everyone, and having students who are very invested is very... It's critical, and we need to focus on the ways the climate we have in schools addresses different issues. I appreciate your passion for your programs. I wanted to thank you all. In the last few weeks since we've been together, it feels like a lifetime. I've been very involved with the community. I went to Sanchez and Bromfield for a Connect with the District meeting. I also went to C. Creek Fireside. I agree with Beth that every time we touch with parents and students, it's very valuable to the work we do. Thank you to everyone who participated in those events for allowing us to hear. The theme of all five events was questions about the decline in enrollment. So the
035community is thinking a lot about what we're doing here. I'm excited to move on to addressing the community's anxieties and questions. As Alex mentioned, I reported from DAC to DAC, and it was great to participate. They are very knowledgeable and participate a lot. I was able to stay. At the end, they had asked a lot of questions about the budget. So they were asking me what they find valuable in the board. How can we present that information to the board? Staying until the end can be mutually beneficial for the board and the district accountability committee members. From UTAC, I participated in the first negotiation meeting with the BEBEA union, and I was also able to attend a movie. This is not " Who We Are." Thank you for inviting us to watch that movie with
036you. It's a very powerful film, and I was very pleased to see so many staff members reflecting on it. Two other topics related to what Jason mentioned about Healthier Colorado have communicated about a proposed law they are introducing regarding technology accountability. So there are several bills. Regarding mental health, I had a meeting with the city of Bolder, the University of Colorado, and the county commissioners. It was very good to see and hear from everyone working within the city, and the topics that came up were a lot of discussion about housing, capacity, construction, and also the degree to which government funding will impact many families and community members as programs and services have to be reduced. We have our own difficulties as that money disappears, but there are other challenges as well. Those were my last
037three weeks. Now we're going to move on to the information items. We have an information item, which is the legislative update. They want to start, of course, they are... Warming things up in the legislature for the public on February 20th, we're hosting a legislative breakfast. I believe it's scheduled as a breakfast lunch, unless they've changed the time. For delegate members watching, or anyone who is a delegate, I would love for you to be present to talk about priorities. The most important thing is recommendations being made by the School Finance Force. They have recommendations, and I believe the recommendations are strong, with additional funding for kindergarten, second grade, and school funding. Adjustments to the formula, if accepted, without additional funds, the Bolder Valley District is going to have $7.5 million less to do the things we
038do as a district, and that's a significant amount, particularly if one doesn't have the timeframe to adjust. As a member of the Metropolitan group of superintendents, we're going to advocate in March for the idea that we believe we should have funding for rural partner districts. And certainly, there's merit to the aspects of changes, but without new money, new funds, it's not something we support. We're going to share our thoughts and opinions, and if it passes without additional funding, members of the We're going to have some tough conversations without those $ 7.5 million in funds. That means we're going to cut student services, hire less staff, and pay people less. My hope is that we can advocate the right way for funding this budget. And that's what we're advocating for. That's the most important thing happening
039in the legislature, and that's what we're paying attention to. I'm just going to add a little bit to this. Dr. Anders, I mentioned that we met with Representative Anders, who also sits on the Budget Committee, and we met this afternoon to talk about the mid-year budget. It was an additional $24 million for kindergarten through 12th grade schools to support students who are new to the country. I do n't know exactly where they are, and I don't really understand the need. I just know that I saw there are 600 students, and 200 have arrived since October. There's an article in the New York Times that said in Denver alone, there have been 40,000 new migrant students. But when you think about $24 million and how to allocate and use these funds And obviously, that's the starting
040point. We're having those conversations all across the Capitol, and they're affecting different districts in the suburban areas. I don't know if 24 million is enough, and I don't know if that's where it's going to end up, but I know that's the number they presented last week. And Nicole, last week you talked a little bit about the bill they wanted to propose to not allow certain books. And I think those are very practical and logistical concerns. We're carrying all those concerns around that bill, and maybe when they introduced this bill, they didn't understand what this bill meant for school districts. But hopefully, as this bill moves forward, it will answer some of those concerns. And we also had conversations around other bills, charter schools, the use of [something]. There was also legislation that was introduced, I
041think the main topic of the day, that other students could use with other students. Many things. It was very exciting to be there. Thank you. Thank you for [something]. A bill that I wanted to present, or rather talk about, and that we are supporting is bill 24014. It's [something] in preparatory schools [that] can guarantee [something]. Students who demonstrate sufficient skills with green and technical green skills— this falls under the new green deal—these students proposed to give testimony in front of the Capitol. As it was a weekday, we couldn't get the students to the Capitol, but relevant work we 're doing. I wanted to bring that to your attention. I just came in and wanted to go to breakfast. No, no, a couple of things I wanted to say about the pros of book banning. It's
042true, it creates a very complicated process, but what I like about it is that it has good pros for public libraries and schools not to ban books. I liked this part. I hope they're going to work on improving that. What else, the independent ethics commission? I'm curious, I don't know if we know what the impact might be. Reading the draft, the penalty is double the value of a gift, but the litigation, the cost of litigation, can be very large. So I'm just wondering to talk to them later. But this is something that I'm sure I can ask that question at another time, unless someone already knows. And that's all I have to say about legislation. Board members, any other questions? Comment on the legislative update: Very good. Well, at this moment I would like to
043take a 5-minute break. If that's okay with the board, yes, thank you. Another bathroom break. And I would like to call this meeting to order. Our new items are action items: 8.1 Personal items; 8.3 Donations for the first of January; 8.4 Academic fees for the 2024-2025 school year; 8.5 License renewal with Adv Management; 8.6 Contract approval for architectural design; 8.8 Extension of Learning grant; 8.9 University H grant; 8.10 Motion by second by Jorge. Board members, is there any discussion on the action items? There are many grants here. You can call the roll for acceptance of the motion. Very good, board members. We don't have any action items on our agenda. We will continue with policy items for study. We have three. The first is the JC policy on assistance in schools. Welcome from the board.
044I just have some slides to help you understand that it's not part From their agenda, this is the chart we showed you before. These are policies that interact with each other. So, we're going to be the first thing tonight with JC attendance and open enrollment, JSC regulation, and then policy. A couple of reminders: we've talked a little bit about the policy book. Everyone has their own opinions about the grammar and the words we use, but just to remind you a little bit about what we 've talked about in other meetings, we adopted a review of the policy process, and we established that this policy is intended to establish the philosophy or principles of the board, specifically regulations. But this is where we put in more detail so as not to lose the philosophy of the
045policy. But we can include the level of detail that the board believes best serves its community. Number three: That's maybe a little more Kath-style, but I'd like to encourage endowment. Something I've found over time, having been creating policies for the last 16 years, is that when the board is really struggling with a specific issue, a point of continuation, maybe they'll look at that issue or that problem coming out in different parts of the policy, but the danger is that they're going to Reviewing policies can be difficult; finding problems when connected is difficult, so I would like to present the content more clearly so that people can understand the policy, and the last one is a review. The document we've discussed is eliminating gendered pronouns and using preferred terms like student, community member, and School District,
046with assurance to the board when doing work as big as what they did tonight. And in their chapter policy, we're going to make sure that if there are elements where the board finds a he or she pronoun, we correct them and capture them for the board. And with this in mind, we're going to talk about four tonight, but I want to emphasize that there are other related policies that we'll also be talking about. There are going to be some things to pull from the board, like references to transportation that were left over, and there to centralize in the trans policy. Policies that are right now in the drafting process, I'm not going to present them to you tonight. We're going to work on them during the following meetings so we can present them later. Okay,
047starting with policy J, this first part, the red line policy, in the same order. But we had a series of meetings in the fall and talked about different topics and also staff feedback, and these red lines really try to capture the feedback. The excellent feedback we received from the board and elite. The memo is this agenda item, and It was officially adopted last week. Okay, so JC, it's a simple policy. This is the attendance limits policy. We codified this policy in 2019. But before this, it was basically an old version from 1988, with formatting below and above. Basically, we put it in the correct format to establish at least a 5-year cycle to review them, identify the processes, and incorporate this language into the limits. And instead, cement a solution when they make attendance limits
048changes, adding language that we have to remember so that schools and families are impacted in case there is a change in limits. This is on the red line, JC. Board members, who would like to begin, we've had the pleasure of looking at these policies a couple of times already, both times before we changed boards, and now with this new board. I'm very proud of the work we 've done here. They are very specific words that have very impactful changes. One of the biggest changes that stands out to me is that the board is going to review this every 5 years. It's the first time to my knowledge that we're stating this. Maybe it can be a shame for the community. They're going to get used to this, and it's going to be a policy that
049will help a lot. I want to thank the board members and the staff for all their hard work on this policy. Thank you so much. I'm very happy to say there were no problems; basically, they were just mistakes. I'm very happy that we're putting an agenda in place to continue reviewing this. I read an article, I think in Education Web, about an artificial intelligence program in a school district that used to change its limitations. They included that the swords didn't talk about how big an expense it would be. I don't know if it's something we're considering doing. I would say that while we're reviewing this policy, what our staff would do is go over how to create the new attendance limits, create a rhythm for whether this starts, tell the public, the board, and say,
050"There are certain concerns, and community involvement would need to learn a little bit more about the program. There are programs out there around the world that can help us address our concerns, our problems, and as artificial intelligence develops more solutions..." It was just a little thought I had. I just want to repeat what was said: it puts us in a very good position going forward with that in mind. and review it every year, but I know there are some very good people who work with the districts. Someone who has done a great job with Colorado and nationally, when you want to figure out how to find your existence limits, there are people who work specifically on that, and maybe think about taking advantage of those people. I'm very excited to look at this version. And
051I thought when we talked about this last session, when we said review, that the board is going to review this every 5 years, that's also not very clear. We need to be clearer, add more details. I do n't want to get too fixed on something, but I want to take a real step on the limits and not just put a checkmark in the box to say so. But my concern is that it's not clear enough. I suggest we leave it there for now. Sure, I understand the point you 're trying to make, and maybe it's time to do a review. Not very clear, but before we know the process we're going to use and how we're going to involve the community, I don't want to be so direct in this way, but the spirit of
052this is to create a policy around reduction and enrollments. And change the attendance policy and make changes that would help with the drop in school enrollments. I don't know if we necessarily need to be more detailed about this; that's how I interpret it. I don't know if the staff interprets it that way, but ultimately, it's the board's decision. I obviously support what he says. I think the word "review" or "review" for M is an active word. Look, there are other things that say a report will be made for the board. This is something more passive for staff. This is using these words. That is, they will have to present information and be ready for a detailed conversation. K, sorry, said most of what I was thinking, but only about reviewing. The board never gets involved.
053We ask the staff to do that. And as it says, we would have a detailed conversation about it. I just wanted to highlight the additional language. And be considered financially viable, and we have to be responsible with resources and capital buildings. I like that addition, and I agree with my constituents that it is a good policy. Any other additional comments on this policy? I think it feels very positive. Very good. We will continue with the GSC policy assigning students to schools and GSC open enrollment. Ah, those microphones. And the policy buttons, JS assigning students to schools, we haven't changed this policy in 22 years. It's an exciting moment. There are some things we did. I realize that when I wrote this slide, it says we consolidated and reviewed the policy objectives. I realized it was
054really the first time we were changing anything here. If you look at the points—oh, sorry, the microphone. I'm sorry— in the second paragraph, they come from the discussion, the board. The other part wanted to speak, and I think it's very important when we talk about school title issues, learning conditions, equitable conditions in schools. There are times when we're going to have to make decisions about where students are enrolled to make sure all children have access to school. So we introduced language to the policy. You can see it at the bottom of the page, within the school assignment section. We talked about schools being very full, administrative transfers, or career transfers. Students ordinarily assigned to school by school is incredible. After our meeting, I received a lot of feedback from board members and the Red Line,
055and being able to bring recommendations, I think, is very important. One of the things we did is take it out of JSC, where we're talking. Regarding the right of students with disabilities to have admissions decisions made without consideration of disability status, we brought those articles, we presented them to the board members, and the board members said that we are not going to ask about disability status, we are not even going to consider it. The difference is that if they are already in the system, we already know their disability status, so it really wouldn't bring assurance to the family that they would receive a non- discriminatory process, which is a good suggestion. I would move on to our next draft; it's really a change in language. [Music] The other part of this policy is about school
056selection, and we can give an example that represents this. Well, factors that don't count, we have to take into account a broader context and also include the last article of this policy, a discussion that addresses the fact that we have data that we are providing to the District with information about this policy, and this is the basic summary of changes we are making to the policy. Thank you very much, Board members. Do you have comments on this policy? For now, thank you. This is the first part on the points of equal opportunity access to schools. Add the phrase "there is something to the effect of" To allow access to equitable opportunities that reflect the composition of our community, to allow access to happen taking into account the design of schools and other factors that come
057into consideration. That is, access alone does not capture everything we are trying to say. Ki Kiri Buend. How would that look? I like that idea. The change that has been made in state policy to comply with federal rights is to ensure that enrollment decisions without access to information— the first part is to say that people know what the decisions are based on, and also the data on people with disabilities and the guidelines that, once people publish them, allow access to their information. The admission of the student who begins attending school, and once they are admitted, then we will have the Individualized Education Plan (IEP) board, and some students will be redirected, but the decision will not be based on their disability and the management of their IEP. But parents who have a child with a
058disability, and I include myself, well, I know how this decision is made. They have analyzed my child's needs. Well, what happens to students who have these needs? They don't want to know that their admission is based on need, their disability is clear. We do n't want our school community to represent the community population. Well, in principle, access is a very important part. Open enrollment is also a key factor, but the services students receive are designed for their success. We can improve our selection policies, our school selection policies, but the services needed to serve the entire student population are not yet programmed. And so this leads to a stratification of students, but we don't want schools to create stratification either. And open enrollment, when designing our schools, we are thinking not only about ensuring that we
059want schools to be successful for all students. Thank you. Now I understand better. Thank you for your discussion, and I understand that we must prioritize schools that represent our communities. They must be involved with them, they must be aware of and take advantage of those offerings, but also include other policies and recommendations with details on how we should prioritize enrollments and think about how academic programming is done throughout the district, and how planning is done. By adding this data, I appreciate all the work and effort that has been put into this. Thank you for this contribution, Council members. On that third point, I like that it allows one to think about the different students we want to have access to our schools. I wouldn't want the language to make it mandatory for some populations. Perhaps
060more granular language regarding the options would be better. As Jorge mentioned, I had a comment on the last part of the second paragraph on page 2 of JCC, clarifying that all our students are admitted through a lottery regardless of the number of applicants. I would like that last sentence removed to be very clear that we always have a lottery system regardless of the number of students applying. I like how it's explained; I like the tone of what this policy is trying to achieve, that we work with regulations and different levels that must be considered for programs focused on different schools. Alex, on the third point, what is proposed—well, I have n't read it in front of you—but I did n't propose that we use language about ensuring access to representation because this cannot be guaranteed.
061But we do want equitable access to opportunities and to promote the representation of our student population. I understand that we cannot guarantee that or make it happen. Council members, any further comments on the policy? Does it feel like it already has a good direction? I'd like to clarify that if we used "promote" instead of "ensure," would we have any objections to that? Well, I'd [Music] leave it to the details to agree on the vocabulary because we can't cast a vote today. My hope is that after today's working session, there will be clarity by the time we return because the 27th is when we'll have the presentation on enrollments, and we need to be ready. This is the challenge: we have to be sure that we are responding to the will of the Council. And if
062any single member has objections... But there are conflicting opinions; it's difficult to decide how to overcome this. Although we took a couple of extra minutes, especially on the topics... For example, I heard Alex promoting a different statement, Jorge supporting... Well, we really want these statements to be very clear and in accordance with the majority opinions. Well, I'd like Alex to clarify his phrase again. Well, I'd like him to say " ensure equitable access to opportunities in schools and promote representation in schools that reflects our communities." I think I support that. Okay. I appreciate the seriousness, and this captures more information. The word " promote" works well without having to meet too many requirements. I also agree that the record should show K's approval. I agree with these recommendations. Well, I prefer brevity, but let's continue
063with JSR. I'm not sure if it goes in JSC or JSCR, and it's about the right to return to neighborhood school. Well, that corresponds to JSCR in Katlin S's presentation. Thank you. That would be my recommendation. We talked about it a year ago. JSC- R is going to be modified. We talked about this previously. Well, we cut it from 19 pages to one in JSC-R. What the council will observe here is that the red line is like a massacre. We're proposing that we take this to the right point of view. Every time we have a change in technology, we don't end up having to redo the entire regulation. When restructuring, I removed all the details like who participates and really tried to capture the most important pieces of the recommendations. We want to know the
064timeline, when the information will be available, and when to make decisions. Appropriately and dramatically reduce the volume after the discussion at the previous board regarding geographic areas and preferences. This came from conversations with our team. It seems that this is not something that will be promoted frequently. This red line eliminates all those limitations for charter schools, and the council has already discussed this. We also simplified the preference per employee. When looking at the preferences given to charter schools or other schools, it was difficult to understand. In this case, this preference was dramatically simplified. The final part states, "Well, we had a very good conversation at the last meeting about the preferences given to charter schools according to the contract. If we had a significant difference, our point of reference would be that we have the
065data. But we have spoken at every council I have been on in this district. We have discussed the preferences for charter schools. Here in this small paragraph, these preferences are detailed, and after further discussions, I see the usefulness of removing them from the regulation, knowing that we have to discuss them in negotiations with the charter schools in case they disagree. But it would be something shorter, simpler, clearer—a clearer regulation for the members of..." The community can understand it, and it's a general review of the JSC policy. As the Council member agreed, we could go back to this process again, and I'm not sure what was concluded on that occasion, but let's see. We want to make sure everything is captured in these paragraphs. And this is something that will be discussed by the Council. These
066preferences—may I ask a question to clarify based on your recommendation regarding language for charter schools and the documents we have—would you remove all this vocabulary, this language about preferences used in charter schools, and then discuss it in the agreements the district has with the charter schools? Well, at this moment, based on the discussion we've had, it would be a paragraph that explains what our policy is, what the Council's philosophy is regarding preferences. It would be a short paragraph similar to what we have now, which considers some preferences inappropriate. Thank you, Klin, for capturing this. I appreciate the conversation at the previous meeting, and this really is a summary of the goal we have. But I agree with Alex's recommendation to maintain the language used here. But this paragraph does require clarification, and something we should
067To clarify, there's a memorandum where, when you read the preferences that charter schools have and all the policies surrounding it, they point in the opposite direction: not having regulations on these options for selecting a school. But the way you put it in this paragraph makes more sense. Basically, I wanted to say the same thing. Because of its simplicity, it's understandable. I think it sounds very good. I have a question: do you have a charter school that chooses to adopt our policy before the contract negotiations? Yes, I think you could, but you don't have to. Well, any good licensed attorney would say— I reserve judgment on many creative arguments—but I think it should happen that we have already started having some conversations with our charter schools that have some preferences that align with the district's preferences.
068But what I've heard from this council is that once this policy is finalized, we're going to start the conversation with our charter schools immediately. Our timeline, I think, for the policy to be implemented will be next year. Yes, thank you, but the question was, do you have any idea when they're going to adopt this policy when they start the selection process, even if their contract doesn't... It is in effect, yes, and well, I think this direction has been clarified by the member council with the JSS policy. Well, I agree that the policies also say that what is included here may be a little confusing, but we have to cross-reference the information and see what the preferences were that the charter schools manage. Jason and Alex, well, as for the language here, it says that the
069Wer Valley School District adheres to the policies for charter schools. Well, for lack of a better word, I think we expect most schools to comply with these policies. I wanted to clarify, well, I support the district's charter schools. There are some with which we could negotiate our goals, but we have to frame this, mainly talking about the principles of ours. And one point that is good to know is that in the same way that a person applies to enter a school and can appeal if they are not accepted, we can review the contract with the charter schools, but not unilaterally, and we should direct staff to conduct the review with the charter schools. And when negotiating, we should do so in accordance with the policies we have on charter school negotiations. Eliminate this language. This
070is something I have been requesting for a while, but it is important. Removing the names of all schools—we do n't want to name any in particular. Because we don't want them to appear, it's different from other schools. By not having any school names, that can clarify things. But including a list—the list of schools with their names—by removing that language, it's a... The last paragraph talks about there being a lottery, but it says that the open enrollment lottery should be included for consistency and so the public knows that we always have a lottery. This policy used to have seven pages; now it's only two. Our public will be better informed and have more clarity. And I commend the work of this council and staff because this represents the values and doesn't make it too complicated. A
071policy shouldn't be so complicated, but it should represent the reality for our families. Changes have been made here, and I definitely agree with these changes. I'm very excited to be able to present them. Millennium: I agree with the part about charter schools and that if students want to return to their neighborhood school, they can. I'm of the opinion that I wouldn't want that to be number four. I don't even know if I would want it to be there. If you want to return to your neighborhood school, it's a good thing, given the... The current state of enrollment, we want to give people options, and one option is for them to return to their neighborhood school, and that can easily happen. That's my opinion. The number I 've been thinking about, there are many that we
072have that are full, but there are some, and by not having preference and not having to go through a process, that would lead us to... well, this as an option, potentially we could have to add staff. You're paying twice for a spot. If you put staff in the school to serve the students who are going to come in, then they are already paying for that spot. If they allow students to return to their neighborhood school, in some distances it doesn't make much difference, nothing at all. If you have the groups, if they change, it's not a problem, but if the teacher... Let's say if a teacher has 31 students and has two more students that make it 33, well, anyway, we consider it in our budget because the students move. The intention was probably at
073different times, but I wouldn't know the financial impact of that, but we can try to keep track, and it might turn out that it's not a big deal depending on the number of students who go to a school and decide... Returning to their neighborhood school would potentially have some financial implications, but if this is the Council's guideline, we could check how it looks. But I don't know if there's a way to implement this; we don't know the impact because, currently, the public doesn't see it the way I think it would be interesting. I know K wants to talk about when there are people who went to check out High Horizons and came back. They all received their spots through the open enrollment process. He's not talking about mid- year; it's the following year. We're talking
074about two different things. The following year, if we knew they were coming, that would be one thing. If we didn't know they were coming and they showed up directly, it's like this: we do when we enroll kids on the first day of school. Oh, so those are two different things. One is the open enrollment point, and the other is a point of... When this policy is in place, there are two scenarios: I go to High Peaks, I'm there for several months, I don't like it, I want to go back to my school. That's potentially an unplanned staffing situation. High Peaks the following year, I don't want to go back to High Peaks; I want to go back to my other school as a preference. We know if we accept it, but if they don't put
075it as a preference, then you never know if... They're becoming two Slightly different things. KY has his hand raised. This is correct. Robin wants to speak to help us. KY, while Robin is coming, asks a question. Part of it clarified. I didn't realize we were talking about a student who, at any time during the school year, should be able to return to their neighborhood school. What I understand from this policy is to return a subsequent year, and I'm confused by what you were saying because you said it as if you didn't want it as a preference, that you don't want them to be able to return to their neighborhood school. Or, I want to clarify. What is your opinion? Sorry, it was confusing. At any time a student wants to return to their neighborhood school,
076I would like to see them have that option. I understand the staffing. It's possibly not possible, but possibly they could change their position on this list. I do think it's important as we're looking at children being homeschooled, going to private schools. I would like to incentivize students or make it easy for them to return to their neighborhood school because there are many incentives in terms of transportation, being with the neighbors, and I would like to assure you that we are making a better effort toward that. I hope that explains it to you. From what I understand, I could be wrong, but any child who lives within our boundaries, who attends a private school, or who has open-enrolled outside the district, can decide they want to go to their neighborhood school, just like a student who
077transfers mid-year. Is that correct? Isn't that correct? So, in this situation, there's no barrier for those students who return to their neighborhood school. Yes. So, first, regarding a transfer from one school to another during the school year, that's handled through an administrative transfer process due to circumstances. However, if a family is going to change their enrollment, that qualifies as a special circumstance. It's a decision based on staffing and space availability. If a family were to request an open-enrollment referral in a subsequent year, that's also dictated by space availability because sometimes schools don't have space for open enrollment. Choice is a common example; they're often at their maximum enrollment for the school year, and possibly the maximum number of eighth- grade students are already present and moving up from seventh to eighth grade. So, there is
078n't necessarily space in eighth grade. The grade for those students who return to their Choice school is a choice program, but what I can say is that those cases are rare and not very common. A more recent, broader example is during the pandemic. Families had the opportunity to choose universal options if they wanted to spend part of the pandemic with an online experience instead of the regular experience. For those families, if they wanted to return at any time after a short period after the pandemic, if they wanted to return to their neighborhood school, we accommodated their preferences. And many students, most of those who initially enrolled, did return to their neighborhood school. And if we were able to accommodate them, that leads to policy because we have a policy about administrative transfer. And then Alex,
079I want to make sure I understood what he said. I think he said that if a parent mid-year wants a student who is in another school to return to their neighborhood school and threatens to leave the district, that is a special circumstance, and the child would be eligible for that transfer, not partially. If a family applies for an administrative transfer from one school to another, we do our best to accommodate those students and families. Almost a high percentage we can accommodate. It doesn't depend on whether they choose to move; it depends on the space and capacity of the school. the school where they want to attend to see if they can accommodate them. Thank you. That clarified things for me. I also have a question: How many students come to the district after October? What
080is the mobility rate in the district? At the district level, I'm very happy to consider you. We have several students who do come after October and several who leave, but in general, the enrollment fluctuation is minimal in our district compared to other districts at the state level. I want to clarify what I'm thinking. What I would like is based on my experience with people enrolling, and 3 or 4 years of experience, it was fine, but then it doesn't work out. I would like to return to Table Mesa, the neighborhood school. At that point, they were told they did n't have to go through the open enrollment process, which I found very unfair. A family that is in a school of choice couldn't return to their neighborhood school, but a person who has a preference point
081could enter. Students who have chosen another school do n't have to go through open enrollment; they have the right to simply enroll as normal. I would like to accommodate as much as possible through open enrollment, but the point is, staffing can be difficult. The administrative process is another thing. That would be the second conversation, but that conversation is much more important. It's preschool because we're going to have preschool programs that are expanding, and there's an expectation that they're going to enroll in kindergarten after preschool. And we're going to have them in preschool who are going to want access to kindergarten. You've mentioned several good points. The circumstance you referenced with your own son and enrollment at Community Monori, he's entitled to it in the past, before that decline in enrollment or these early times. Very
082often, the situation was when the family wanted to return to their neighborhood school or another school, but there wasn't space, they couldn't accommodate that transfer. Ah, it's much less the situation now. It was n't my son, it was a friend's son, but to be clear, there were two pieces of advice they received: enroll in a private school for six months and then return, and the other, why not contact a member of the school board so they can make the change for you? And that's how it was 15 years ago, Rob. Obviously, the scenario you mentioned doesn't feel right. To be able to enroll in your neighborhood school, you have to do a lot of things. That's an equity issue. I can understand the question I have. It's important for us to know where children are
083and aren't enrolled. If a family is enrolled, we keep them as the number one preference, the downside is that they might not have the seat. But the benefit is that we know where they're going to be enrolled and where they aren't. Because if a parent doesn't tell us they're going to take their child out of their neighborhood school, when we allocate staff for that school, we're assigning staff to the school where we think they're going to be enrolled. There are challenges in not harming the school. One can make it number one and guarantee enrollment or something, but for me, I'm thinking about the logistics of being able to hire the right staff for each school. In March, we never remove staff from schools if the children aren't coming. I'm saying this now because it's a
084privilege to be able to do it in schools where I've worked. On the tenth day of school, if there's too much staff at one school, they move them to another school where there isn't enough staff. But right now, we don't want to move staff from school to school. If someone wants to attend their neighborhood school, they should be able to, and we can do that. We would need to know. I would pay once, but I don't want to pay twice because we're going to have too much staff in one place and not enough in another. I have a question related to your last comment. We have a section in this policy about preschool saying that this preschool program is complete. We're not going to give preference for kindergarten. We need to change that language. Preschoolers
085can't choose where they're going to attend. If we can clarify that sentence about preschoolers, those who are going to attend kindergarten are going to start over because we have very little control over preschool. I wouldn't want to penalize the preschool staff. We have to... I think it would be good to address that difficulty. Lia had raised her hand, and then... Yes, I notice she has her hand raised. I understand, Rob, what you're saying is that we need to know where they're going to be. I'm thinking, what happens if you put it as the first preference? It would be that people who go to their neighborhood school later on, then people who have moved but want to stay, siblings, and then eligible employees. I do n't think that's probably a lot of people, but I think
086it gives an indication that we want you to go to the school you want to go to. We're not going to penalize you simply because you chose another. No, it doesn't indicate that you, when the line moves, the number that returns to your neighborhood school, is guaranteed admission. We want it declared that you are going to do it so that we know beforehand because if we don't know, that's what happens with kindergarten. We think we're going to have a lot of kids in kindergarten, and then more arrive and we didn't know. We're trying to find information. We're trying to know what's coming. If one knows and the parents know, while they comply with the process, and the process is clear, and everyone has the same access for any situation, the challenge would be in March
087or April. God knows, that's not for me. That doesn't capture that. If there were no deadline to notify the variability of where we put the staff because we already know that we have to give these spaces for staff for the schools because they want to hire more before. We are doing the projections of enrollments in February, April, and May. People are deciding and they let us know in June and July. One has to deal with the variability. There is variability in the money that we have to spend to cover it. I think we could direct a preference if you do it on time in the district. If you want to return to your neighborhood school, there is nothing more important than that. I I suggest that you do it this way for the act. I'm
088going to lose sleep if people get divorced or have to move. We're sending a person who made a bad choice or a bad decision. It's advanced that that person wanted all students to attend the neighborhood school. I want to make sure that's an option, but when we change the order, we're going to have unintended consequences. But I'm particularly concerned with rising rents and the reality of divorces. A parent dies, they have to move, and staying at their school is priceless. That's what I want to protect: protecting stability for a student who is dealing with a difficult time. I absolutely want to support your sentiment. I also suggest that once a student is enrolled in the schools, they don't have to do open enrollment to stay within the district, no matter where they live, for the
089next four years. If someone is in second grade, that's their school; their enrollment stays. And we want to keep the kids in our schools, and they don't have to fight each other. Someone who is in the schools can stay in the schools. I think that's a point I mentioned in the last discussion. So it wasn't included. So I was thinking there was a thought about that. I don't know if there is or not. It would be good to know about guaranteed admission for families that are in a school. I suggested that we do an update regarding the data if they choose that, but it wasn't adopted. So I thought there was a wise reason why they hadn't made it known where the students are. I would love to talk about whether that should be a
090preference or not. Sorry. Then, K, then, a child has to move due to unfortunate circumstances. I don't want to traumatize that child a second time. That happened to me. But fortunately, my ex-husband lived in the vicinity of his school, so we changed his address. A question about preschool: So, magic indicates where a child goes to preschool? No, yes, we're talking about it. We're all laughing about the reference. If it's magic, it's not. The district, if a child goes to preschool and it's not their neighborhood school, that child has to do open enrollment to attend their neighborhood school. Not at this time. Preschool location. Open enrollment starts in kindergarten. There is no open enrollment element to enter preschool or to leave preschool. I wanted to To clarify, a child can go to their own kindergarten in
091their neighborhood school, no matter where they went for preschool. I can support the idea of returning to their neighborhood school and raising it in the priorities because I understand that. Alex, I understand it more this time when he spoke about it, when he gave his example. I appreciate his opposition, but I agree with Nicole. I wouldn't want to put a child who has to move mid-year higher than Dr. Anderson. Can you put both groups of children at the same level? Yes, it doesn't have to be one and two. It can be one that is either this or that. If the feeling is, no matter the situation, we feel that these things should be true as part of the norm, the policy. If we know what's happening, we can consider the staffing implications. Sometimes when people
092come in, we have to increase staffing. It can be part of the equation, but there's no reason why one has to give preference to one over the other. But if they are going to move, it's good to know if we can plan. We can have more staff; we won't have too much or too little staff. That makes sense. We can put both in the same group. Absolutely, there's no reason why it wouldn't work, in my opinion. I think, Alex. I support mant I'll keep it, I'll add my contribution to that. I've heard many points. Well, we need a prayer for the community. The students who want to return to their neighborhood school with available space... So, a warning: if you take your child out and want to return, it might not be available. There might
093not be enough space. Keep that in mind. It's simple. I'm missing some clarification on the process and addressing the news. If in the main sentence, open enrollment is for the next school year, and the lottery process for open enrollment for the next school year isn't clear, I might be missing something, but that would provide some clarity. We're not talking about children mid- year for the next school year. That's all that's needed. I think it clarifies it, but I think the question they're dealing with right now is if someone changes schools and then wants to return to their neighborhood school, and it depends on space, or it depends on the lottery, or there has to be a guarantee. And if the guarantee is something like a family that's already in the school and, due to circumstances
094beyond their control, has to leave, move out of the district... those are the most important parts to address with open enrollment. Those students are basically being... Guaranteeing their enrollment. They're never going to say that enrollment has never been guaranteed before, with the exception of those who live in the neighborhood and are already there. But those who want to return are children who live in the neighborhood, tried a school of choice, realized it didn't work out, and want to return. And there are children like Alex, for example, who can't return to their neighborhood school. Alex, and then K, according to what Be says, that's what I want to correct. That's how they are. I'm saying that they treat them in the language I would use, which I shared with Kathleen. Students who do open enrollment, which
095isn't their neighborhood school, and want to return to schools the following year without using the open enrollment process, it's the same method as for schools or students who live in the neighborhood. So, both are on the same level, but guaranteed. That's the same thing. And then they have to be treated in the same ways as families who live in the neighborhood who were in private schools and return. That's the instructional accounting for the children who are there. Then the only difference there would be that they have to know by January 6th, that's what is decided between January 6th and the end of the school year. That's based solely on The school is available, but that also allows us to hire the appropriate staff, and that's the problem I want to solve. Teachers come with a
096salary of $ 125,000. So multiply that by 10— excuse me, that's a million dollars or more. To understand where things stand from an operational point of view, it will help us better organize class sizes and all the things we do to accommodate staff where they are needed. We have problems with parents; maybe they don't understand or aren't aware of the open enrollment policy. There are parents who only come to the schools because, for example, they don't go to the open enrollment school and they come in the fall to the neighborhood school. I think it depends. I'm sure there are all kinds of people who come to the schools; they don't know the State Education System, the Valley System. I think some of that could be true, but if we make a change, if it's board
097availability, saying that returning to the neighborhood school is guaranteed, we don't put it at the first level. You do that, and you say the word " guarantee" admission on time and within the district. Unless the district comes out, it's to solve the problem, since we're not really the What are the implications of that with people? What's the advantage of that? We could organize the staff differently. But what could be done, and if they would also do this, the decision program would also know. They have places, how many spaces they have to fill those spaces. They can solve the many problems. It's just a change of preference. They can do it for a year, see what happens, and it's a change that only affects the year. Once, and not a recurring change. And these parents, by
098definition, have gone from open. These are the parents. I wonder, are we clearly explaining what it is so they're not confused, and I think a little confused about neighborhood. Not necessarily in Colorado, but in schools around the country, it's also true. If a private school or an out-of- district school, if it's out-of-district, you want to go, and the child chooses to go to Ar, and then they come back and enroll in their school, there's an inconsistency. There are choices, decisions that people can make, where they would work, and there are others where they wouldn't work. And those would be our choices. There's an inconsistency, and that can be a little confusing. Thank you. How does the current system work, and the language, the policy that articulates a family? When you have the request, you have
09910 days to notify the District whether you're going to accept the space or not. If we don't give that, they can notify us, but maybe I'm not worried about the financial implications because what if it's not just a student? The staff situation is very real. I'm also worried about the option schools and the waiting lists; they're not going to be respected anymore. A student has been at an option school for three weeks and then drops out. Now, the implications of that... again, I'm going back to the implications of our transfer policy and how it relates. I don't want to overcomplicate this policy. The preferences, so they work against the time we've identified, against... excuse me, against our transfer policy. I want everything to work together, and if it's a change we 're suggesting, we have
100to look at the language of the rest of the policies and see how it would play out if there's a space available. You receive first preference, but if we guarantee you a space we don't have, it puts us in a very complicated position. The language of guaranteeing—I like to use language that we respect the space—the baby... So we have to go back and review the language for the rest of the policy, and I know that... We told the community that we were going to review and finalize this policy, so I don't know if this board can reach a conclusion where we have a consistent agreement, Kath, and then Dr. Anderson, and I think it's very important that we are very clear that the open enrollment policy is for the annual lottery, the waitlist language is
101preferred. That's how all those spaces are filled, and the transfer policy applies to these changes that are made mid-year. Under certain circumstances, that policy will return. It was on the second slide; we can clarify this in the administrative language, including open enrollment, but this policy governs the annual school change because, as the GSS policy states, it establishes your philosophy for the school. We shouldn't get too bogged down in those changes mid-year; we do n't have to change that, adjust it for the GSC or GSJ policy. That's just to plan around staffing, as Dr. Anderson said. I think the point of open enrollment is to know where the children are going to be and the spaces we have to fill. And if we have to consider where your space is in the lottery, if you're very
102low, we need that notification in our lottery process. To know where our students are ending up, that's what I was going to clarify. I think that after the open enrollment window closes, everything else is open until August. If you want to return in September, it's an administrative consideration. If you accept your spot at your neighborhood school and then want to return to the school you chose, that would be... We want to create the correct mechanism. Let's say the school you chose, and for some reason you didn't fit in there, you don't have to choose a neighborhood school. But you can return to your neighborhood school. That's how I 'm understanding it. I apologize if I'm not being very clear with this. The part where I said " guarantee" because they might face the school saying,
103" We're not accepting open enrollment, but if you're the first one, but if you force it early," we would be... that's part of how enrollment works, like if someone just arrived. If someone is new to the community, they don't say, "We're not full, you can't just come in." We can't say there isn't a process to request a break. You passed me a note to take a break, but I usually do it between topics. I say... The same person who said I do n't feel very comfortable with the words " guaranteed admission," but nevertheless, I'm just writing the word "available" so you can return to your neighborhood school if space is available, which is more or less like, "We're not going to accept you if there isn't a space for you." I would feel comfortable combining
104preferences and adding a sentence that says something like, "If space is available," and covers all our bases according to the comments. I don't like the word " guaranteed." I agree with how it was written. While we're not guaranteeing, it does n't seem necessary to say that space is available because all this is based on whether space is available. I feel more comfortable with "not guaranteed," but we are saying that if space is available, that's what we're doing. And maybe there aren't that many people at the front of the list trying to beat this person to the spot, but we are signaling that we want them. I want to add something small: the point is, in time, the numbers of families wanting to return to our school attendance in our initial enrollment so that in January,
105before we make staff adjustments, we have the numbers. But to clarify, the instruction process is open and ongoing, and we allow people to apply for instruction. Open enrollment and admission if there are open spaces. For that reason, we continue to consistently monitor the waiting lists of all schools. We hold the lottery until September 1st, when the wait closes. The administrative transfer period begins on September 2nd and runs until April 15th. We are experiencing a decrease in enrollment because there are not enough students. So, if a parent is involved in a school choice and cannot return to work, it is very likely that they will choose a private school. While we are organizing our options, we are going to affiliated schools. And regarding what it says, we should n't hold back. We can say that they
106have the right to remain enrolled in our schools, and similarly, with open enrollment, they have the right to enroll in their neighborhood school. I believe that in this way we can keep more students in our schools for the next decade. And what happened, based on the comment I made, the experience was very inconvenient to accommodate this family in their neighborhood school, and the people who are unhappy will want to change schools. And what we say is, wait, stay here. I would like to know the Data on how many changes are made during the year in the registration process. I'd like to know what that number is. Is it a small number? We have a lot of changes, it's not a problem for me to guarantee it. It helps me to help make it work for
107the students educationally, even though it's difficult for us as adults. I was wondering if you could tell us how they've seen this in other places, how other neighborhood schools work. A couple of things: the data you're requesting would be incomplete just because people don't request it, they know they can't get it. Data that we can get is for people who apply for preferred schools. We can get that. That's what you 're looking for: preferred schools that don't guarantee at least have available spaces. How many children have applied through this process and have been denied? And I think we can get that information. I think the Colorado education system is like no other. You can send your kids to another place, for example, in Florida. The options are always within the district or a charter school.
108It's not just any school you want, and it's really very comprehensive and prevents or helps to have a balance. So if we had, for example, a high enrollment decline, only We changed our boundaries, but the problem here is, no, I don't want to change them back to children. It's very complicated. We can create some drafts of different versions: one that keeps it as it is, another that changes it to preference number one, and another that moves it to guarantee preference number one. Those are the three options I've heard right now, and then you want to vote forward or not. But in the meantime, we can look at this data: how many people applied under that preference and weren't given the option to go to their school. I'm looking into it because I'm making a lot
109of promises here, but I'm not sure. So you can have the different versions, 1B, 1C, and the board. This hasn't happened in years; it's no longer a problem. And you can move forward because we're a little bit under the impact, really having. Because everything else is fine, the policy, and the only point we're not in agreement on is that we can vote and then make an amendment while this is ready for the 27th. That's the only thing I ask. The board has used specific procedures when there's a disagreement. We can't bring different draft policies and vote on one or more of them. It's a way of... another comment Tom, break for option very well, I'm going to take a break. The final policy to study is the If F school option policy. This policy has
110n't had much attention or discussion last time. It follows the principles that are already redundant and doesn't really have any final review process to be consistent with the original identity. We have dramatically cut this policy, as President Rash mentioned, regarding specific school names being redundant. We should establish what this policy establishes: high-quality education for all students, a relevant context for these current schools, and also a monitoring and revocation of status. Because this language can be very strict, we should talk about specific actions to take. But these reviews must be in accordance with the guidelines and refer to If. And the last thing we will mention about this policy is why it is coded as If. Why is it isolated in the nomenclatures? UAS policies like the one we just talked about, as we discussed in
111Chapter 1, open to education and the agency of education and other policies. I would like to mention that I do n't know this code. We have to change the choice of this policy to match the other nomenclatures. of the policies and keep it updated with our schools. Thank you, Kathin. Um, I can't see you. I wanted to start. Do you have any questions or comments? No, not at the moment, Dr. Anderson. Yes, the only thing, and I have the impression that this would have to change once we have the report of the schools that have had less than a round and a half of less than 50% capacity because in that case what would guide the District is to ask the schools for that report. But if we're going to try to use this as
112a strategy to increase enrollment, we have to consider things beyond the neighborhood. Because if we want to attract students beyond the neighborhood boundary, well, I know exactly how it looks right now, but I think it's in a kind of bottom- up context, but it should be a two-way street. But we have to add something. We can approve it and then amend it in relation to other processes, or take everything out and redefine these concepts. Then you can add this to a regulation that can be developed. If that makes any sense, you brought up something I had in mind: creating options, creating schools with focus programs as options for the community. But that already follows a process, I don't know, including district staff as well as the Representatives of a group there to obtain this flexibility,
113but at the same time, I would be willing to make a broader modification to this policy because you mentioned it, and I just wanted to comment on it. We can add some definitions to clarify this policy, Alex, and then Millennia. Well, I'll start with the fact that we must maintain that since we have discretion to create ways to attract students, I don't want to lose sight of the clarity that we have these two tools, but at the same time, I like the idea that we want to keep our communities in our schools by responding appropriately. Where do they fall? They aren't schools with a focused program. Those are historically schools that we should consider. It's an optional school, not a school with a focused program, but giving the public opportunities to choose. But why aren't
114those considered? Well, we haven't called them that, but they fall within the definition. These schools certainly have a focus. Yes, but we have some that we call focus schools. But what would it be to clarify that our view? Now, it has a 3-year review cycle. If I need time to consider it, there are things that I think... because what you're saying is that a focused school wants to ensure that whatever standard you have established has been... But well, they simply are. It's an alternative high school like Nuvista that has a very different focus. It's an alternative center, a high school with an alternative focus. And the question would be if some schools would qualify them like any other school that would have different objectives, like Montessori language. I don't know what a clearer answer would
115be. We can take into consideration what that means. It's somewhat complicated because it almost goes beyond what we 're mentioning here in the policy. Because this policy does n't establish this. This is a group of schools. Well, we've never called Nuvista a school with a focus. Well, we don't have good answers, but it's a program like a magnet. But since this is different from H and BC, it would give us a solution. The discussion we had last month was about clarifying for the community, giving them more information, but the language has developed to clarify this policy. But what happens is that these words still don't include all of our schools. I think it could offer clarity if we put a list of all our schools. Well, for Nuvista, it has to have open enrollment, but
116it wasn't listed that way. So it always has to clarify for parents which schools fall within which range. We have to be very Clearly, and because you were asking for suggestions, then I, I mean, I spoke, but excuse me, my first comment was that the nomenclature is now closer, let's consider Nuvista as a number C focus school in our process. So the law will be made Retroactive policy, that's confusing. But I really like your suggestion to have this revised policy include all our schools regardless. Well, we'd have to work on the terminology, but the policy seems to understand what we need. And if you could take the proposals and the process and put this into a proposal and review it on the 27th, this would make more sense. All schools that aren't neighborhood schools are
117focus schools. Jorge, I think Nicole has the point of including all the labels, and I like the idea of reviewing the process. But where are we going to get with this policy? K, back to you, we call them all optional schools and don't differentiate between alternative and focus schools or something else. Would it work this way, or are there some categories that necessarily have to be a certain way because of funding? Yes, we could. The question we have to ask ourselves is how specific do we want to be? And if we want to put them in a category, do we have to call them optional? But because we have focus school programs, or we also have schools that specialize in a subject, or you could say optional schools, programs, and specializations. Well, I need some
118time, but your suggestion is good. We have to put this into a regulation, clarify the policy, and include our conversations. Alex, I have an observation. I think that when considering our options, given the declining enrollment, we should explore the concept of specializations more deeply. Schools with specializations have been proposed, but there are things that aren't viable. However, if people have an idea that this would attract parents and keep them in our schools, perhaps we could attract more students. We could call most students optional schools, but if we call them schools with specializations, it doesn't sound very coherent. Please explain what a specialization is compared to a focused school. No, I can't explain it. The practice can be different. It's that we're focusing on something we haven't paid much attention to. A specialization could be an
119element in our neighborhood school that provides a specialized experience. The way I envision it is as a more popular concept where you have a team of teachers who do something specialized, and then you have the rest of the school that functions as a neighborhood school, and a group of students who integrate with the neighborhood school at lunchtime and other times, but have a specialization. For example, all students are having the experience, but if we want to Expand it in BCS. So the elementary school has a group of teachers that would give an academic experience. But all the optional subjects... uh, they would have, for example, the fourth-grade kids would go to a recess hour at a different time, so they would have an academic experience that would be different from the school, from the typical
120academic program that is carried out in a neighborhood school. That would be what it is. But what I understand is that we have some focus programs that have additional resources if someone decides to have similar experiences, but in a minimal way. The specialized experience is highlighted. It's not a specialty, but it's not that different from the general school, but it's a little different in a certain area. But what you're mentioning is a model school. We have schools that fall within two, they have two and a half rounds, but if you want to fill it, you need another half round. You have the round and a half that you have there plus another half. So you would complete three, but it would be based on a request. So there would be integration in optional subjects, recess,
121lunch hour. Does what I'm saying make sense? Well, I see that Robin is getting closer to the front. Very good, Mr. Anderson is right. This chart is the one we have used with our committee. The long- range content of a specialty school is a subgroup of schools that have a different academic program. For example, a better example is Columbine's Dual Language program. Not all Columbine students participate in the Dual program, but this school does have this option. Another example would be the arts focus in Manhattan. You can choose to take all your electives in music and visual arts, but it's not for all students. And what I see here is the International Baccalaureate program, which is a focus for every student, but they choose this school because it's a neighborhood school. That's the point. No,
122they don't have a limited attendance area. A better way to articulate this is if our focus schools are 100% open enrollment. They don't have a neighborhood area. Thank you, Robin, Council Members. I have a couple of questions/comments about this policy and how great that you're redacting the policy content. We have to consider the importance of focus schools and what impact neighborhood schools have during a period that is declining and perhaps somewhat controversial. We have considered how we are naming the schools, trying to create more consistency as we continue to think about supporting options and Programs to improve enrollment at non- neighborhood schools should be reviewed. Since they are consistently providing a philosophy, we will review our charter schools consistently. Our academic philosophy, we have standards for it, and I don't think it's a bad idea,
123especially at the beginning, to have a regular cadence and ask: Are you offering the program you say you are offering, and is it still relevant to our community? Or maybe no one is interested in the type of program anymore. I think there's no reason why we shouldn't evaluate our charter schools when renewing contracts. Anything we put in place as regulation should have stronger language, especially for other schools that aren't neighborhood or specialty schools but are actually providing the services they are providing. We need more information when navigating the points I wanted to mention. I think it's a great idea, and I would add to the policy that it should be about information, but about... We will have to find a way to describe what's best for the community, that is, say, "Well, this is the
124flavor that is offered here," so that they can have a well-informed decision. [Music] For our schools, like neighborhood or other schools, State-evaluated tests, like other schools, well, it has another type of evaluation. I was thinking about how to treat schools in a traditional way. I like the idea of new programs that we evaluate to make sure they're doing what they say they're doing, but a program that's been around for a long time... Well, I think Nuvista would welcome the opportunities offered because they clearly have a different model. As an advisor, they have a very big presentation day, evaluations of all our schools. They have the highest score in 30 years in terms of the ceremony, where it gets a little confusing when you have schools like in the area of... it was called the stratification
125area, which was something specific, special for neighborhood schools so that families wouldn't leave, people who were leaving. So if we focus on schools with specializations, the problem we're trying to solve is keeping children in our schools by giving them something more special, and each child can choose something for that, that little special detail. Well, yes, it has worked, the children have stayed, but those programs weren't to attract children from outside, but to keep... Those who already have, but to this day the evaluation can be good. What could be the next step to increase feedback? Well, an evaluation is not to penalize anyone but to meet state standards. It can be something to celebrate for what our schools are providing and would also clarify what the specialty of each school is. Any other ideas on policy?
126Klin has the guidance he needs. Yes, Council members, the next one is agenda item requests. This is when we bring up the topics we want to include on our future agenda. Our meeting has been rescheduled for May where we want to give members an opportunity to include other topics. This will happen in May. Once that's mentioned, do you have any topics that you consider potential priorities to include on our future agenda? Kiri, I'd like to talk again about our enrollment policy. Other Council members? Well, that's fine. If you don't have anything to say, we have a long list. We've already discussed... I don't know if it will be a priority, but I'm interested in the idea of evaluating. And the mental health and mental health of our students, along with our mental health partners, remains
127a priority for me. Anything else? Council members, Alex, on behalf of my colleagues From the council, those of us with young children would like to reconsider the start time of the meeting. I know you can be very helpful, but why don't we consider 5:00 instead of 4:30? I know it's on the agenda, but it's something to consider. Our meeting doesn't start until 5:00, but that refers to dinner. Very well. And finally, let's see... anything you'd like to add. A motion to adjourn, seconded by all. Very well, the meeting is adjourned. Thank you very much. It was a bit late, but thank you for your work. Good night next time. Take care. Bye. [Music] Bye.