001PVC Board of Education regular meeting for April 11, 2023. Could you please call roll? Garcia, we will begin our meeting with Land Acknowledgment. The Valley School District resides and operates on lands that are the ancestral homeland and territory unjustly and legally taken from the Ute, Anáhuajó, Chayanne, Apache, Navajo, and 48 other Tribal Nations historically tied to this land who have long called this land home. In commemoration, we acknowledge the atrocities committed here, including the painful history of genocide, forced assimilation, and efforts to fill the Indigenous inhabitants of their homeland with the support of U.S. government policies. The district is aware of the many Indigenous peoples, past and present, and their worthy nations and cultures that care for the lands with strength and resilience. The district recognizes the history of the land in Colorado and the
002survival of many nations that carry their oral traditions into the present. It is the responsibility of the district to educate ourselves, our communities, and our students so that we may embrace the wisdom and knowledge of Indigenous peoples and actively join together. To address and do justice by offering this land recognition, we affirm and honor the history, wisdom, oral traditions, and resilience of Indigenous peoples and recognize the responsibility to care for and value this land. Thank you. I would like to remind everyone that the Valley School District is committed to creating meaningful and aggressive learning challenges and opportunities so that all children thrive, are prepared for success, and are specifically engaged. Good night everyone. Thank you for joining us electronically, for watching. We are glad you are watching and participating in our meetings. There is excitement
003to try our agenda. First and second, Porcyn, you can call Rol Garcia. We begin tonight. As always, with the report, the amazing pending Dr. Johnson. Good night. Thank you to everyone who can be a part of it today. A couple of updates this week. Many of you will recognize this name. It's already been. She was a BBC student. She just returned from space and visited her school. She spoke with the staff, the students, and about her experience in space. Later this week, she will go to the [unclear] and talk about how she officially made them Space Pirates. That's their mascot. You already know part of the group. ARMYs, we're crossing our fingers to see if she's selected for the trip to Mars! So, a shout-out to Jessica! We're so proud of everything she's accomplished, and
004we're grateful she came back and shared her experience with the students at the high school. We have a lot of art exhibits right now, as you can see. Some of the art on display is by the students from May 8th to 7th at the Jetta Library until April 19th, and you can also see the art at the center until May. It's a pleasure to recognize her. She's in charge of the drama and plays program. I want to thank her and all the teachers for all the work they've done to make these art presentations possible for her, our students, and the parents. Thanks to the whole team for organizing that. And I think there's a video you're going to share. One of the traditions we have, if you haven't had the chance to go, is the
005grand opening for the cosmetology program. It showcases all the things they offer with a presentation where they demonstrate all their skills doing hair, nails, makeup, and they did that live this year. So, thank you to the teachers and our kids for all their talents! They showed you it was a great month to celebrate art here at Babies Members. Last Friday was our second Leadership Academy session, and as a reminder to the council and community, this is a contribution for anyone within the community to learn more about babies and leadership. The session we had last time was led by collaborators from the Parent Involvement Network and Servant Leaders. We had about 40 to 50 individuals who participated in the program. Thanks to Pen for participating and to those who were present. And the last part of
006comments from your pending April is Earth Month. We are thinking about how we can make more efforts to take care of the environment. Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to be here. As you said, my name is Fabio. The reason I am here is that I am the leader of a club called the Institute. My background is several years in student government where I learned about advocating for myself and many projects such as working on climate change and the importance of science. This program was carried out by the science teacher because the students wanted to see a change in the world. Recently, the work on this mission has included activism in the Environment and trying to involve the community are some of the projects we've been participating in and planning. We did a tree
007planting in two places where we got together in groups and planted trees in response to the March fire. We also participated in a program called Solar Chargers for You Crane. We've collaborated with people to do events where we've added inverters to solar panels and sent them to elementary schools in You Crane that don't have electricity. Over the past few years, we've also teamed up with energy compressors and in the Senate. We're also working with the legislative chapter that passes laws to identify and talk about climate change. This year, as a club, we've brought back the program. The intention is to motivate students to find environmentally friendly ways to get to and from school. Another project is that we plan to build an outdoor classroom outside of Fairview. Right now, we're in the planning stage. We're
008collaborating with gardeners and local businesses to raise donations and materials, and we hope to start in May or June of this year. Some of our work in the community includes [Music] where we are trying to create a unity after the shooting. We did bingo games and see what families can do to help the environment. Fabio also has a very nice tradition that allows [Applause] children or clubs to be inside the school and participate. In recent years we have had games where we motivate students to reuse items, to conserve water, and also information on environmental issues for adults. We will be registered in the elementary school with games and teach children about sustainability and small things they can do every day to reduce their impact on the environment and support renewable energy. My contribution to this
009Club includes, and I have been a member since it began in 2021, deciding which projects and opportunities we follow. I organize the projects and facilitate the work for each member of the Club. I also help with the Club's communication and facilitated collaborations. In 2021, when we planted the trees in response to the March fire, it was through my communication that we informed a group of leaders who contacted businesses in the city of Berserk and organized this. This project, which lasted three months before we planted those trees, was also on Earth Day. We're currently working on requesting school solar panels for the elementary school. I sent an application to the district and to people here. I understand that the school officials are looking for solar power for different schools around here. I'm very excited that I
010can already see all my hard work bearing fruit. We're working on funding, installing, and generating the power we'll be able to produce. The last thing I want to say about this presentation is that activism can be frustrating. Some days we may see little to no progress, but those days are examples of why we have to be consistent in order to make a difference in the world. Thank you for having me today. It was very nice. Could you take a picture with us? Maybe one day it will be worth something for all the work you've done. I'm standing here next to you. Council members, that concludes the comments from your representative. Council members, any questions for Dr. Andersen? We will not continue with public participation. Council members who wish to speak at this meeting were asked
011to fill out an application before noon, which can be found on the BBC website or by contacting the BBC. Board Secretary: Public participants have the option to attend the meeting in person or join by commenting via Google. Respect the public's right to speak about matters related to the operation of the attached schools. Do not endorse any speaker's comments. And remember, everyone speaks; you are responsible for your own speech. Keep in mind that this is an opportunity to listen to the board, and the board does not participate diagonally or answer questions as part of public participation. The administrative board seeks comments made and may include items from the future to ensure our meeting is conducted in an orderly manner. We ask those addressing the board to limit their comments to matters related to school business. Recognize
012that students often attend. Obviously, the speaker's comments should therefore be appropriate for an audience that includes infants through 12th-grade students. The board chair may interrupt, admit, or terminate a participant's service. Limit your presentation to two minutes. If you run out of time or would like to share more information, you can email the board. You will see a yellow card when you have 30 seconds remaining. When you have ten Seconds you will see the orange card please also these comments at the end of the two minutes an alarm will sound and your microphone will be muted. We begin with the student speakers. The first is called " No Fear of Anyone." We continue with the third, which is called "I Stay." And they reach the end of Public Sharing. We will be able to engage you
013in this time. Next, we have, and I'm going to remind you so that you can receive the four minutes. The people who were given the two minutes have to be present, and I understand that the secretary made that clear. So, if you want more, you will have two minutes. Thank you, thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is [name omitted]. Every year I have the honor of working as a saint for fifty of our outstanding high school students. This year has been a year of much tragedy for my school community. Considering the last few years, clearly we are not alone in experiencing traumatic events. My students have felt alone navigating through this. This year we are very fortunate to be supported by the team, but every time they leave, I see issues. Fifty
01413-year-old students trying to process the events through Snapchat or comments during lunch. So the question is, do we tell the Sixteen-year-old students teaching other students how to manage not by creating a space with an adult, but a community of their peers. Yes, we let them teach each other how to manage their pain, their anxiety, and listen without judgment. We seek hope in times of loneliness when we are facing a future without knowing what will happen. I am here to say that our accounts have never needed a counseling program like they do now. I come here to present my thoughts, this research, and I have taught in an admissions program for seven years now. The research doesn't even illustrate half of the benefits, which is a benefit for adolescents as well. I recognize that there are
015challenges in implementing it, but despite these challenges, I see that a counseling program would help other industries that I will email you. I want to share the voice of my student who wrote about this. She asked you students, she wrote: " Today's adolescents are not dramatic. We are hurting, and we are afraid. We hide all our battles because we know you won't help us this time. Please listen. Give us hope that everything will be okay this time. Please do something. There are many teachers who are excited for..." Do something and I'm going to email you more notes. Please do so below. Good evening, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm back again for a follow-up on what remains of the fire and the measurement tests against the fire hazard. We have a petition
016with 375 signatures. In previous meetings, I've found out, I've shared what we've found, what's left of the fire, that without fire particles, things that remain. To give you some context, insurance companies, sorry, these are measured, that there should be less than two percent, and some companies are at levels that they don't find. We've been talking about the parent population and media attention. Then the fire director shared that during spring break they replaced all the filters, vacuumed, cleaned everything. In March, we received an email that they are investigating the assessments, the tests. So my question for you is, what progress is being made up to this point, and when can we expect to receive an update on the next steps? Are you going to continue thinking that we don't need to do more testing, or are
017you going to be more transparent, given that it would be good to have fire particles or fire hazards for more than a year? After the fire, it's possible there are other fire particles where students sit, where they learn, and where they breathe. So my request to you is that there be more testing. We want our children to be safe. Thank you. Next, we have... Good evening. I mean, you know who I am. I want to comment further because counseling is a good idea for babies in the last few weeks. I've been reviewing the data from the last decade of the Healthy Children Survey, and I think we're going in the wrong direction. Since 2013, there has been a five percent increase in students who have shared that they feel sad and stressed. There's also a
01825 percent increase in students who have attempted suicide and a three percent increase in those who feel they are being criticized because of their race. There are also 25 percent of students who don't have a relationship with an adult. We know this is the most important thing we can do to prevent... I also studied the RFI counseling program. And yes, there are counseling programs, but I enjoy them, but they could be more successful with three-year-olds. Three of the four high schools have a counseling program, but at Brunfield there... Five high schools have counseling programs, but talking with those teachers, I know they're struggling due to a lack of curriculum funding and teacher training. This program started four times a week and has been reduced to once a week. The Centures program is also struggling. We
019can fix this; for me, it's an easy decision. Mental health is of paramount importance to the district. We have all the equipment to do this. We have two hundred parents who signed this petition. Thank you. I believe she's not present because she wasn't there either. We have virtual meetings. Hello, good evening. I would have liked to be here in person, but I'm working. The last time we spoke was at the board meeting in March, a month ago. We had just had the swarning threat incident, followed by the shooting on February 28th near the campus. We had more police the next day, and then the next attempt to resolve the shooting in March. I ask you to use your voice regarding the visible harm to the children and students. This isn't hidden; it's out in the
020open. There are attempts on the west side of the campus, and we know it continued recently. After that, I'm not going to tell you what I told you, but I did tell you one, two, three, the sixteenth. March 17th and 20th: explosions and fires are threatening the safety of our children and members of the public. These could have been prevented if they had used their voices. These issues and afflictions don't need this piled on top of what they are already dealing with. They have a voice and they haven't used it. As a member of the Parents' Association, I have spoken with the leadership. We told them this was going to happen. I sent them pictures and nothing happened. Worse, their Twitter account posted something idiotic. We had spoken with the team members and they are
021fine. They use their voices. They take care of the children. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have the last one. It's virtual. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I would have liked to be present. I am Judith. Besides having two children who attended the District, I am also a children's book author through Brandon House and others. I am also the founder of a book writing challenge that includes two thousand authors of various levels, those without publications and those with several publications. This is a resource within that industry. I am a resource within that industry. I am opposed to banning books. Supporting those bans is against the Parental rights and freedom, then freedom for whom, rights for whom? My association in America and other organizations showed that most of the books being banned that have
022characters and authors from diverse backgrounds or who are LGBTQ are not offended by the words, but by the people presenting the story they represent and imagine the harm it can cause a child. Here, a book that has a person who is like me, who has had an experience like mine, and it's banned is bad. I'm bad. Please don't take those kinds of books out of our libraries. Thank you, thank you. That concludes the public participation. I haven't seen anyone else who wasn't present earlier. No, they haven't arrived. We'll continue with the board communication. Board members, who wants to start pizza? Yes, thank you. I want to appreciate the conversation about not banning books and the comment about when there's sunshine in a room. But last week I testified on my own behalf in front of
023the governor about a housing bill. We had this long-term planning and how we can support different types of housing for people in our district. For those who weren't present, there were 14 hours of testimony. It was very good to hear from climate experts like Will Tours and other teachers across the state—that 's a law that's supported by the city of Boulder, and I'm anticipating it will pass. That's all I have. Or that it passes is all I have. Richard, I want to thank those who spoke tonight, particularly Jolie Edland for the presentation she gave. Regarding banning books, I agree with her. I also attended the legislative session yesterday to support a bill my daughter introduced. She was seeking financial support, which I received, but the bill still needs to pass to see if they can
024continue providing funding for translation in the districts. I want to thank her for her efforts, and she received testimonials from parents in our school district. Thank you for your efforts. We make many efforts to translate Individualized Education Plans (IEPs), and I also went to Centaurus to educate Spanish-speaking parents about IEPs. Board member Nicole, I want to say thank you to everyone who came, to those who spoke virtually, and to share your ideas. It's a way for us to know what the community is thinking. I had the opportunity to participate in the Leadership Academy after spring break, and I was very impressed by the number of people who participated. It's a great opportunity to share with the community what we are doing and to encourage participation in the district's good work. I want to tell you
025that there is a connection event. I hope that... You can still participate. We are looking and have opportunities. We are looking for potential board candidates for next year. If you are thinking about it or want to do it, we are having coffee, going out with people who are interested, and we encourage it. April and May come quickly, and summer is when they start getting ready for the board. Echoing what Nicole indicated, we are all willing to talk to you about board service. We are going to extend it to April 27th. We have a virtual meeting. We wanted to do it virtually and at a time that people can attend, from 5:30 to 6:30. You need to contact Lafer to receive the link, but you can spread the word. It is a great opportunity to get
026to know the schools and participate in the community, and any of us are very happy to talk to you. I didn't mention it before, the Colorado Boards Association hired a director, Dr. Jenny. He is willing to answer questions, and we welcome him. He can talk about advocating for boards, and we are very excited. He is from Wyoming and has been on the job for a month and is already traveling all over the state. As Nicole indicated, I attended the Leadership meeting, and I want to thank I'm sorry because they made these presentations. There was a good amount of information. Thank you, Dr. Andersen and others, for making this presentation. We have the Connection event, and we invite you to participate. It's a good opportunity to talk with board members and administrators, and you can get
027your questions answered informally because we ca n't answer them here. And I hadn't thought about the ban on books in that way. So I appreciate the comments regarding that. I was able to attend the annual convention of school board associations, and the last speaker was the person who invented Siri. He can talk anywhere and always returns to the conference, and his talk was about GBT chat. He said it's a little overwhelming. He wants people to pay attention so they can get ahead or anticipate it. We have to get to know it well, and I want to try to share his talk. It was very informative, and he had the gift of explaining very complicated things very well. I'm anticipating the conversations through the technology department about how we can deal with GBT because the potential
028is enormous and exciting, but as with everything on the internet, there are negatives too. And his advice was, I talked to my daughter. She's a sophomore at an out-of-state school, and I didn't It can be used. It's a tool, and people are going to use it, but pay attention. GBT is something we need to think about going forward, particularly as the board came to the meeting and asked. There were like two people on the board who had used it. I encourage you to have that conversation in the future, to know how to use it productively. I'll speak later to see if we can share your presentation because it was very helpful. That's all I have for board comments. We're good. We need a break. We're not going to talk about the consent group. I'm going
029to read to you. We have a lot of informational articles. Sorry, I forgot. Allison got so excited to read the consent group. We have two informational articles, an update about the Education Impact Foundation. We're very happy you're here. We're going to welcome you. Thank you, Mr. President. I would say that over the past four or five years, the relationship the district has had with the foundation has been something I'm very proud of. It's focused on our budget. We have these values aligned. The foundation used to fund the district, but it has become much more. I'm on the board. Education Impact has brought it to the scene. It has done a great job working together with us. Solving things together, I'm excited that she's going to share with you and the public the impact that education
030has had on students in our community during times of great need— mental health crises, the fires. We've been able to ask for help in times of crisis, and they've always answered the call. Thank you. You can give my presentation a rap, but I appreciate working together with the District. It's my role as Executive Director, and the relationship we have is special too. We can't do what we need to do without working with you. Every year I have more opportunities to work with more people, to face more things. That's what we've been doing recently. And here are the slides. The first one is okay. I do n't know why she's doing that. Okay, we can see the second one. The important part is that our investment in 2022 has been a record high—more than $3.5 million
031directly to the district. And that was the result of a variety of investments. One role we played, as Radden mentioned, is spending some of those dollars. The March fire had a huge impact on the schools, and we had to respond immediately and put the investment directly into the schools. We're participating in career and college readiness. I think it works while they're working on... I want to start with the March fire in particular because I haven't updated the board. We won or raised $1.5 million in response to the March fire. We've done important work with families and schools impacted by the fire, but I want to give you some information about what we did specifically. First, we gave direct support. We received a list of students and staff directly. We were able to reach staff members,
032but with the students, we were able to give school supplies and replace things so that students could get back to school as quickly as possible when they were ready. We had calculators, we replaced band uniforms, we provided textbooks, we provided missing school supplies, and we used district insurance first. Then we used or paid for funds if a child lost their instrument or didn't have a donated instrument. We paid to repair the instruments to get things back to normal. We gave transportation funds last year, and this year we're helping pay for those who aren't living near the school because of the fire so they can drive their children to school. There are supplemental funds. Most families have stable housing, and They're not receiving those funds. But those who have to drive or travel from elsewhere, if
033they can, we pay the mileage. It's a small piece of the puzzle because the major impact we made was expanding Mental Health support in January 2020 and 2022. That was an immediate need. We responded to crises in other districts, and that lasted several weeks. We donated millions of dollars to hire staff to work for 18 months to expand this type of support long-term. This year, if possible, we're continuing to pay for transportation. Last year, meals were free; this year they aren't, but next year they will be free again. We want to ensure that these students have less of a burden. We have free after-school childcare for those who need it before or after school. When you live close to the school, it's very easy to pick up the children, but when you live farther away,
034it's more difficult. Those who need it have childcare before or after school. We're also very pleased to offer virtual tutoring for families because students are present, but they've had discounts. And Mental Health—beyond those directly impacted, you may have heard in the public commentary. I think one can't go a day without hearing Regarding the mental health crisis, we've made quite an impression in that area. We paid a year ago for a year and a half, and we're committing another $510,000 to continue paying for this mental health support for the next school year. That's for student and family crisis support, and the lawyers or advocates for children's mental health are district employees, but we're paying their salaries. We're very pleased to share with you something we started at Manarch High School with those fire donations. We opened
035a wellness center. It's a place where students can go during the school day to take a break, regulate themselves, and talk to someone. You can see the numbers: 40% of Manarch High School students have gone voluntarily at some point. During the first few months of the school year, some days there are 100 kids who go. They can enter their ID, their student number, and then rate themselves on a scale of about five, and there's a counselor there talking to kids all day. It's part of the puzzle, one piece, but it doesn't solve everything. But it's been very positive seeing the students who come to receive coping skills. We're committed to investing in the center for the Manark for next year is also part of the puzzle, but it's an important resource for students. The other
036place the district has requested help is with training and resources. Those who aren't coming tomorrow for a community conversation— we have 240 people coming. Those who want to come, there's a link on our website. It's free, but you need to register. We're going to record it on video, and there's a resource we'll share afterward. If you ca n't attend, there are opportunities to ask questions, learn how you can help, and recognize that it's not about one particular child or family, but requires the entire community to work together. We have community nonprofits that will be here. It's not that one family or one school has to solve it alone. That's tomorrow night, but we're going to have ongoing work to provide resources to parents, and we're going to inspect that. Of course, the crisis response to
037the Marshall Fire and mental health hasn't stopped us from doing our regular work. We're going to have the Impact Awards, impactful awards. We're going to have the Lifetime Achievement Award winner at Manark High School. We're going to do it on May 3rd. We support educators by funding what they need. We have an academic opportunity fund. We award 200 grants to 218 individuals and schools. It seems like a lot, but we're very careful to ensure there are no additional resources that might be needed. Sometimes we help them find other types of funding. But sometimes it's the beginning of the year and there aren't any other funds, and we want to support educators in helping students. And then the work we do is about the students. We have the Early Childhood program for those starting kindergarten, and
038we work in conjunction with the Summer Learning program. And that's available for those starting first grade through ninth grade. But kindergarten had a gap, and the gaps we noticed start very young. With the district team, we were able to work with those entering kindergarten and those graduating. We know there are opportunities, and we 've worked in conjunction with Grant to help them prepare for work, apply for jobs, and write cover letters. Those who might not have those skills might just take the job their cousin does because they know someone who works there. So we have a career readiness academy with Fifty students who participated in workshops and won a great award did a lot of interview preparation. We're working with the team to prepare them to join the workforce. There are other programs we've had
039for years; I don't have the data. But we are committed to ensuring that all children have the necessary tools to start school each year. So, those are school supply backpacks. They come directly from the school. It's not discreet or respectful, but we want to ensure that everyone has what they need to start the school year. And finally, this is our 40th year. We started in 1983, and we're going to have a gala in October with an '80s theme. Forty years is a long time, and I've had the opportunity to talk to people who participated 40 years ago, and what we do now is changing a lot. It has always been, and probably always will be, a need for a foundation, and a strong foundation. We're going to start a campaign and share more information in
040the future to raise more funds so we can always be here for the District in the future. That's all that's been going on. Very quiet, very calm. I'd be happy to take your questions. Yes, I was wondering, who won that award you just mentioned, and what is it? The criteria for winning that award seems very important. Yes, it is. The Impact Award recognizes all the people from all the schools so that all the schools are represented, and each school is selected individually. So we did it for one of the people who had died at one of the schools, and we thought that the impact he had made on education was the foundation of that award. So we are trying to communicate with all educators, and it is open to the whole community to nominate all
041educators who have had an extraordinary performance. It is open to everyone. Right now, we are doing it at the Monarch school, and it is for an individual who made a video like this, and all the impact she had. Having met her for the first time, well, she seemed a little shy to me. She is quite tall, and well, I think she is a force with the students. She has made a huge impact and has worked for about 20 years or so at the Monarch school. And well, we really didn't want to shock her there in the classroom with all the fuss and all, but well, it was really fabulous. Yes, thank you very much. Yes, thank you for everything. You do, yes, you haven't been very busy. Yes, well, thank you very much for that
042presentation. Now I want to go back to the wellness center and I want us to talk a little bit more about that. So, we're going to change it, we're going to improve it, and what can we do to support you in your efforts? Well, really, when I took this job, I thought, I felt that our relationship with BSD is really very important, and we weren't thinking about having any kind of funding for something that the district wasn't interested in. So, at Monarch High School, some of them had gone to Fort Collins. Yes, there are some of those, and well, we were trying to see. We had the opportunity to see what was happening here. So, we were able to see some really dramatic results. We had some conversations with the principals, with some of the
043staff members, and well, we tried to see which schools could do what parts needed to be the same everywhere and which ones could be more flexible according to the environment in which these projects were taking place. So, we were trying to find some people who were helping with mental health, with people in education, and people who were there all the time, and well, we really learned one of the things that What we learned this year are things we will continue to learn as we develop the projects. And to add to that, I'm really excited to see how this idea develops across all the districts. And really, if we're thinking about high school and all the expectations there are, being able to create a place where they can walk in, a low-stress place where they can
044just go and arrive instead of having to make an appointment to see a counselor—something where they just go and show up—that's an extraordinary idea. It's very good. Yes, I asked, "And what about you?" And he said, "No, I've been there, and it really is the kind of place where this time there's no stigma. It's a place where you can walk in and start doing mental health work. It's something they're going to do for the first time, and where you can ask them questions, and they say, 'Well, this is what I'm thinking.' Yes, it really is a wellness center, and Monarch has done an extraordinary job with this. So we're very excited to have this partnership and to do it with all of you and have this partnership to develop this project. And this is really
045a partnership where we can create more impact and support the ideas that the community has in the different areas." schools and it's really how our relationship has been able to mature with respect to all these support situations that we've been involved in, or something else I'd like to add to this is that the most complicated part is that many times we get a little shy about being able to fund the art projects because, well, it's something tangible that we can achieve in terms of getting funds to do it, but if we have more advanced brands where we can do a project and we can achieve more continuous long-term work to be able to get the funds, well, I'd also like to talk about well-being. I love this, it's an idea that I really like, and
046I'm thinking if at this moment, well, maybe you're not thinking about how you can do a quantitative evaluation of what difference that is producing. Well, this is [Music], here we're making a million-dollar investment, it's a huge investment, and that's why we're bringing in some evaluators from outside because we really need to have this information, this data. Yes, but sometimes we ca n't tell if these are the best benchmarks for this data or if we have strategies for how to address these issues. So, absolutely, that's going to be an important part of what we do, and that's what we 're trying to do: get donors to help us support these ideas and make them happen. For those who see this on BBSD, and well, something we're trying to see in different environments is what we can
047do and what we can learn from them. How differently different schools operate, what's better in this school, or what kinds of things we want to continue and keep building on that are working. And we're really trying to get our funding, or we're trying to get individuals to help us. And this is how we 're doing it. Thank you so much for that presentation. Your team is doing much more than before, and I'm very curious about the size of the team you have. How can this be sustainable? How are you planning to grow with the grants? And how are you trying to manage all these volunteers you have? I imagine you're still looking for more, and how can people sign up on your website? And how can we help you continue to cultivate those volunteers and
048keep them active? that they can do some activities regarding donations, or perhaps how the team can grow according to the needs. Well, thank you for this question. Yes, the truth is that asking that really means a lot to us because we have a great team, but we are also trying to be very smart about how we are making these partnerships and companies work. And in a perfect world, the program funds would be made continuously, but at this moment, we are letting BSD be in charge of managing this. We are really going to need to make some much larger investments, and there are many ways that can be done, how people can get involved, and that is with the volunteer aspect, making donations, and other types of relationships that can be cultivated and that can grow.
049And there are tons of people in this community who don't know who we are or what we do, and really, the more people we can involve, the more we can present this, the more we can talk about, the more we can be visible. Well, it's something that can help us grow our network, and that's something we can do. Yes, I know that you do a PTO event that I've heard is fabulous. It's an event that you do that is very, very good. And well, this question is perhaps for Dr. Anderson, listening. Allisonville was talking about the grants they're already raising, the resources they 're spending here in this community, and how they're trying to get the teachers, the other teachers in the community, to help. But there's uncertainty in the coming years. What kind of
050data are we collecting regarding the benefits of these programs and the investment being made? And how can this information be captured? Well, we have our metrics, our surveys, but I'm really curious to know the status of BBCD in a much more concrete way regarding what we 're doing. What is the tangible impact and the benefits? Because this is something we're trying to collect and try to use to help us decide where, in what areas, we're going to make an impact. This does seem like a fantastic opportunity for our board here to try to see what we 're doing collectively and in what areas we're making an impact, which areas are really having a good return on our investment. And this is a proper way to measure, to evaluate, and it's really a regular service that's
051being done for the children in our community, the kids in our community. We're trying to help with psychologists and counselors. There's a huge investment being made in this type of staff, and we want to see how we can all do it together. If there's any interest from the board in having any of this data that we can evaluate, we can do that. If I'd like to add something here regarding the metrics that are being used, it's very important for me to see how committed they really are and if they think mental health is a priority. And this health and wellness center is very important, and we really need your help. There are other school areas that are realizing they need our help. We need your help, but it's much more common that schools don't have
052the funds they need. We're even trying in many of our district. Sometimes, children who were at home during the pandemic need food, something that isn't our responsibility, but it's part of the community's responsibility. We have to help. So our district is trying to see if it's something the children need. We have to do it. Yes, I have one more comment. In case you didn't know, you can donate monthly and automatically here in the impact section. And yes, it's something I realized. Thank you so much, you already have a spot here on my whiteboard. Yes. Well, we can put in a little money, and this is one way we can support Impact. And well, I say to everyone, please think about doing it. It's not a lot, but we can do it. Yes, thank you so
053much, and thank you to the board for all your support. And well, I want to see you on May 30 at our Impact meeting. And I still have more questions. I'm last today, Richard. Why don't you give this? Yes, give it to me, Richard. Yes. I want to thank you, Allison, for your hard work. Coming from a nonprofit background, I know how difficult it is to do what you do. And really, when we first met you at Market, that's not what it's called. Now, when you came here, when you came here, yes, I immediately realized that you are a perfect person because you had that lens of equity. And I really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much. And now, with what Nicole was saying, continuing with that,
054we have different programs, but I don't know how they communicate with each other or how they work. How they work together, I really don't want to understand what the... We have concerns about the roles of educators, teachers, and counselors. I want us to be very careful about how we talk about this and to stay on track within the community. But this is something I do n't want us to overlook because we want to understand the significance of when a child needs support, when they're not feeling well. How can we address this? Because I know it's not easy to find and maintain this kind of support. I think this is a question for one of our officials here. I believe Tami can answer this in light of these notes we've received. What is this point of
055entry into the system? Yes, I think it would help us a lot to understand how all of this relates. How can we support them if a child needs support? How can they achieve it and how can it be sustained? I understand this as simply showing up, but how can it be sustained? Not just showing up, but continuing. And if I hear what's happening in our schools regarding how children can have an adult they can connect with, communicate with, and you are considering some kind of role for the counselor. What are you all thinking? Well, really, because the school already has counselors and advisors, this is more for those who don't have them. I think the truth about the Wellness Center is that it can be an entry point for a child who's never been on
056our radar, a child we 've never seen as having any problems. So, the individuals who have these roles, who work and are part of our teams in the schools, the funding comes from Impact. And well, the idea is that they can provide an opportunity for a child who's having a bad day or who needs to calm down. So, instead of skipping class or hiding in the bathroom, where nobody knows where they are and they get into trouble, they can. So, from a design standpoint, the idea we have is that these spaces are good for them to go to, that they go to be the entry point to seek help. Yes, and I want to get feedback from our team on how they think these investments are working and how they can work better. Yes, I
057think we had a presentation a few days ago about how we were working together, and I want to see how all of this is connected. So, we can make a requirement here for the agenda that we can put on our Agenda, yes Katy, so you know, all of this has been co-created with BBSD and with the people who are trying to help here, and we're trying to see how everything is working out. These are very valid questions, and all of this is about how we can not go to class or miss third period, and if you're really right to think that we need to see what's going on with the children. Yes, I think it's all fabulous work, and thank you so much for coming and letting us know what you're doing. Does anyone else
058have any questions from the members? Thank you very much, Allison. Thank you very much, members. Now we continue with Rob. I think we have a legislative update. Yes, one small thing is regarding the funding laws. Well, we've been hearing that there may have been some movement regarding the regulations on school funding, but if it's something that's happening, it's perhaps trying to change how the average or the cost of living is calculated. Well, we're trying to find that capital, and well, at this point it's too late to change the regulations on funding, but I want you to realize that one of the consequences that was n't expected... It's like you solve one problem and create seven. So, the financial regulations here are definitely important. We need to get educators involved, and the school districts involved as
059well. This is going to take quite a bit of time, but I want to continue giving the board an update and keep this going. I'll probably have something to say by the end of this week or next week. But really, all these parts— funding, the cost of living changes, and not preventing students from enrolling—we want to look at the legislation. How can we fill the gaps? How can we utilize the billions of dollars in state funds? And remember, we've talked about this before: we want a fully funded education. That would be a good start, but we're really trying to push something that some individuals are interested in, rather than something that can help all the school districts in Colorado. So, we're keeping a close eye on what's going on, and we can have the delegation
060tell us if something is happening that's going to take resources away from our district. We'll be able to see the school soon, but we also want to determine what's working in the School District. Some of the members have questions. Robert, what do you know about the accounting? Well, there are more people who are very interested in that, and we have a group trying to work on it. There's a lot of risk involved, and there are other benefits as well. The more people try to think about what we're going to do or how we're going to do it, the more we're thinking that moving forward with this is something we have to continue observing. And maybe the results will be different, but we hope that this group observing what's happening will allow us to see if
061there are any changes. Because many times we can't reach a consensus, and the changes aren't made. And the community is so large that we can't achieve the impact we'd like. Now, regarding the school's finances, what makes me anxious is the cost-of-living factor. What 's the biggest factor for me? Because what we can see is that we're being given an 8% increase in the cost of living and inflation. And well, what I think is trying to explain to the public how this conversation is about them complaining that the Constitution is against us, and how are we going to be able to explain this? This is something that's going to be very difficult and complicated because potentially this could have a negative outcome, a negative effect in 2023. And well, we're trying to see how we can
062do everything in a constitutional way. And then we have that there's no support at our locations here, and that's something we can talk about, and it's one of the things that worries me the most. So let's look at, like, why aren't you happy? How can you be happier? How can we improve this? I see that you're worried. And well, given the time we have, I think we'll be able to cancel our meeting at the end of June if we don't have the budget. Well, we have to wait and see what's going to happen. And well, I would say the unfortunate nature of the changes that are happening behind the scenes, that we can't really see, well, we have commitments to our employees here, to our board here, regarding what we're doing with our funding, the
063money, and how are we going to change that at the end of the day in a quick way? And really, the commitment is so based on those numbers we've shared, and I know there are districts—well, the big districts—that are trying to make these changes happen. They're talking about forty million dollars, and that's the average. It's really, really painful for the districts, and they only receive half of that. And well, these school funding laws... Well, if we can do something that can create some people who are going to be the losers, try to get some of the dollars to go to other districts so we can give more money to the education part of each twelve. And well, when this was done, 2008 to 2009... Yes, I think this has to end now. It's time. And
064well, we're also waiting because there's supposed to be this change to property taxes and everything that's going to change. And well, there are still many parts that are moving, and we haven't been able to figure out what's going to happen in the end. Well, we're really looking at this many times, and I want to see what's going to happen. So, one more thing, can we continue? Yes, I think everyone agrees that we should continue. Yes Let's see seven point one personal items seven points approval of minutes March 13, 2023 7.3 approval of acts March 14, 2021 23 74 approval of minutes March 14, 2023 Seven five production of minutes March 29, 2023 approval of hmh contract for intoring up reading writing ipd for literacy materials every five seven Seven approval of contract with hmh to
065check six eight math math materials for academic services seven eight approval of new selective bilingual sixth grade classes in almost 79 award of software contract in managed programs and services community bond oversight committee membership recommendations seven eleven Chromebook purchase Code license renewal for fiscal year 24 7 14 Power School renewals for fiscal year twenty-four seven fifteen Fluent Stream telephone services contract amendment seven sixteen resolution 23 08 non-renewal of licensed contracts seven seventeen community school subsidy Montessori preschool equity Tempo Foundation Honey Bell 23718 grant health services comprehensive health education Colorado Department of Education 23719 grants Justice High School 21st Century Learning Center Is there any item the board members would like to bring up? Is there a motion to ask for approval? Do you have any questions about this? Kiri and then Nicole, I just noticed
066when I was going over this 50 pesos. It's not always easy to recruit people, but I was really hoping to see more from West County better represented. Nicole, as you mentioned, has been. I also want to thank everyone who stepped up and being a part of that very important committee. One question at 7.8. It doesn't feel good. There will be a course that we don't really know what it's going to be yet for our policies. But we know more or less what it is. It says to test delinquency in the high school course. We have an idea that it will provide schools with new languages or some qualification. More information, Dr. Anderson. Looking at our team, then the concern is that there aren't enough specifics to test the Duo Language elective class. So maybe we
067need Taking this out and thinking more deeply about this has a concern because there's more to it than that someone didn't clarify when this would be the end point and they asked for more time. I can't, I don't want to put the brakes on her receiving more selective courses, but I want more conversation, or if we had an idea of where this is headed. Dr. de la Cruz, thank you, Doctor. You are working with the CLD team to create a new course, a new language. So if we need to, we can, as she is out today, my advice is, we can take the article out and bring more information about the intention. The intention is to be more selective in order to offer more. I do n't have more information than that. The big idea
068is to move towards more courses, offering them in correct Spanish, without... and we don't know what that lecture would be, right, because we don't know who the teacher would be. Yes, all that. I think the course title is in recommended actions, but they are not detailed in the description. So I think that's where we have placed the content, the recommended actions that were approved: violence in the world and art and culture of the Hispanic world. Where are you seeing this? What are they doing? Because they have added to the article, the titles are in recommended articles, in the details of that agenda. Apparently, it doesn't come out in the... I'm looking at the board documents, so could you list the course titles again? That would help me with my question. My high school teacher is
069very disappointed in me right now. She says " World Dances" and "Art and Culture of the Hispanic World." Thank you for showing. Thank you also for that clarification. It's under recommended action, but it's not clear. Do you see it? Yes, I see it. If it helps, Nicole. That 's perfect, thank you very much, and here we clarify that. It was fun to hear you speak Spanish, what do board members do? Any other questions? Can you take on the role, Laura? Please, Garcia, the excitement is passing. We have two study articles, we're well done. We're going to open the floor so I can talk about the two policy articles we're going to talk about today, but only in Spanish, said the member. I'm definitely going to work on that. I'm very excited about myself. The first
070study article is something we focused on in February. It's the policy and society regulation, it's the responsibility and commitment to achieve the policy. We have a working session on February 21 where we reviewed Daniel Rojas and reflected on a lot of work from the accountability committee. This has been something we've been working on since 2020. We're very happy to put it on the Board Council's agenda to present it today. Since February, we've made additional revisions to add comments from the Council. For example, they asked us to include study papers and be clearer for taxi, and we also added details to perhaps raise more flexibility. We don't always have working sessions on policies, but this time we did. So it's here tonight to study it. We hope that Bring back our next meeting so we can
071adopt this article. Questions, Council members: two questions or suggestions, perhaps under Jack's membership, as it's currently worded, it says you have to have 56 members and six individual members, which are three teachers, one teacher, and one administrator. The way it reads or the way the words flow makes it seem like I do n't like the word "Plus." I don't know if you can see here where I'm referring; it's page number one. We can change that to make it clearer that your individual members can be separate from a school member. And also, another comment/question: in the last paragraph of the page, it was changed to say that members could miss four meetings, but it's only required to meet every hour. So that means four meetings a year? That means you can miss all the meetings of
072the year? And change that so it doesn't say four. Sorry. And I look here, it talks about the minister at the arch and great concern for board members, that that's not included. So I'm not sure that's there yet, and I remember, I'm willing. We're not convinced that having long-term members would create what we were told that It would create a more diverse group and all that stuff, so I 'm not in favor of keeping that there. I'm not speaking for everyone, but we did have a conversation. So the fact that it's still there surprises me. We answered your question. Are you going to respond to the recommendation? Yes, I look at that. Honestly, I don't know why it was changed. I was trying to have a friend, to social growth. Remember, I don't like suggestions.
073If we can do that, board members, it's a question. It's just a note that I forgot to change. I apologize. One more thing, Nicole, I was just going to say that we don't agree, but I am in favor of long-term membership. My question at this time was something to help. I don't know if we can vote as a council to see if it should be included or not. It can be an effective tool to promote diverse representation in our community. With those security vanguards, I would be happy to keep it in there, and if there is a disagreement, then let it be what the council decides. Long-term members, right now, do you think it makes the group more diverse? That would be the question because that is their purpose, and it seems to me that
074maybe not, because nobody is shouting. Yes, yes, they are. They are nodding their heads. What is it? The procedure here is really to take additional comments from the council and then we would return to the red line for consideration. That means we'll probably go back and study this article. I'm going to go back and review my notes in Jack and then come back to the council about the red line. That's what I was going to say. Maybe have the data that the member is asking for when they're talking about long-term membership. Yes, I would be happy to see the data, but I want to agree that we had several people concerned, and I wanted to add my voice to yours that I 'm not in favor of that. Anything else about this study, since we're
075going to bring it back in ample time, if that's alright with the council, if we come back in two weeks, I feel like I have to sit down for everything, for everything during all of this, just to have gone back to study anything else about this policy. We follow the policy each time. Collaboration between family and community is a new policy that is being proposed for study tonight. This policy from the Council comes from the TAC and reflects a lot of work by the submitter in terms of how the process works. In this particular case, we have an existing policy. We started with the red line. Or, I'll give you an example from Kelvin. This particular document came Directly from the document, the committee took a lot of time to do this, a very long
076process to collect comments because I know what this board expects. So after I received the draft, I took this policy to the internal staff for input. This was when, for me, you were here. So that already says it all about how long we've been working on it. We incorporated Sam's comments and many other comments. We made revisions to the draft tax document to make it consistent with the board's three policies. A big part of the change I made was moving some language around the policy's community contributors to the specific partnership strategy, and that's to reduce this repetition. And you can see the full memo on the subject in the tax document. And as legal advice to the board, I make sure that any policy represented by the board meets all legal criteria and board policies
077that are realistic practical expectations for the district and the schools. There are some recommendations within that that are not in the policy that will be presented tonight. In particular, the main article is that it was a requirement for each individual school to have a specific partnership policy, a plan that they will adopt and implement. We are fortunate at the district level to have the Dr. Biancaídos, who is responsible for our district-level collaboration, is doing a great job. Dr. Gallegos can do it at the district level. I did n't include the recommendation that each school have the plan on the red line because I'm concerned about asking you to do this in each individual school without that district-level support. There are some other things the council can look at if they look at the memo, their
078red line proposal, and it's on the first few pages after the cover page. I'm happy to review those articles, specifically the other article, school plans. There were just a few pieces that I wasn't moving forward with, including the language on page two about the district connection that gives them authority. We want to make sure we present the council's priorities, and since I'm the district, we're not only receiving feedback from families, we're not only engaging families, we're establishing meaningful, legitimate collaborations, and I think that's what the policy is that I'm presenting to the council tonight. Thank you. Any questions or comments? Nicole and I already sent this email, but I would like to request that all the acronyms and initials within this should be the organizations. They should be written so that everyone knows and is
079talking about them. Probably everyone knows they are GTA ifeteos and they will recognize babies, but I think the other acronyms should be written with the full name. Okay, one more thing, Kelly Nicole, this shouldn't be commented on. Also, in that same paragraph, I would also like us to put in capital letters the responsibility committee and add, but not limit, to adding these care tips. And I also wonder, do we want policies that have a long lifespan? This is a constant practice to list existing groups because groups change over time. So we want to talk about the good things those groups do for our policy and maybe attract more interest to those groups, but groups change over time. How are we going to handle those kinds of situations? Oh, with the policy, and I'm going to
080say that my preference is not to use names as job titles or group titles because if they change, as we talked earlier tonight with the coordinating councils, the curriculum is probably going to change more frequently, particularly with the proposed language. These groups have been very important and instrumental in this work around collaborations, but I really understand your point of view, member, and I could take the preferences there. The council It matters whether we keep those in there or take them out. There are so many organizations that might be offended if they see this policy, and we've been included, but I'd really like to push to keep the sheet where it talks about parent organizations and groups, including nonprofits that serve families and parents. So you want those specific words included? I just wanted to make
081sure something else is always advice, so I'm so in agreement with that. Anything else about the organizations being named? I don't see any strong feelings. I think it's probably better to take it out because, for example, there might be a time when there's no faith. But the fact that it's in the policy doesn't feel right. Those are my thoughts. I wouldn't be open to removing them too, just to save us work later. When someone doesn't see these groups in schools, we're fine with the generic language that you said. The policy says formal and informal parent groups. So maybe say formal and informal and link the word " parents" with Richard's idea to have it fall under one or a larger category. Okay. We'll be ready to put it into action in two weeks, and at
082the end of those changes, anything else about this? Members of the... I just want to thank you for all the work. What you've done has been a lot of work over a lot of time. It's very nice that you see the district accountability committee and the baby staff. It shows the community and the schools where we want to be and where the power is in our collaborations. So I thank you for doing that work. Yes, it would be the same. Thank you, thank you for being here in your collaboration with the staff, contact with your emotions. A great collaboration, and I thank you for that. So, requests for things, the future agenda, in what I said with Dr. Brahm, thank you. I have a series of updates on the Universal Preschool Program. Because there are
083still many questions around it. So, yes, we can get an update on the main program. I think the deadline is in April. So maybe we're getting one or two updates because there's a lot of uncertainty around all of that. Four-year-olds are going to be going to schools, and we're going to add that, and at some point, I think it would be very good. And that's longer-term. I'm looking to Fink to ask for guidance or ideas on how to talk about maybe some information on what it is and figure out what we do with it because I think if we all stick with our devices, we're going to come out with different definitions. It's going to say what it is. What do we have to say or do? Maybe you can figure out our budget. Read
084an article last night about the biggest profession that's going to be threatened. It's legal because right now what we 're using is [something] and can do that much better than us. So we could be out of work. So we have a meeting doing work last week, right? Yes, there's an option to shut down. First crap and we finished at 8.