001Good evening. Welcome to the St. Rain Valley Schools Board of Education meeting of November 12, 2025. Please stand if you're able and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. So nice to hear those little voices in the pledge. Christy, would you please call roll? Sure. Mrs. Babs? Present. Mr. Berthold? Present. Mrs. Gilligan? Present. Mrs. Horanek? Excused. Mr. Lechuga? Excused. Mrs. Ragland? Here. Mrs. Weiss? Here. Thanks, Christy. Any addendums or changes to the agenda? No, there are not. Okay, great. This meeting is being streamed on our website where a recording will also be available so you can watch your performance at another time for the rest of your life. If our live audience would please be sure that device notifications are silenced, we would greatly appreciate it. This meeting is also being translated into Spanish and
002headsets are available for anyone in the audience that would like them. I'll begin tonight's meeting with our district's mission statement to educate each student in a safe learning environment so they may develop to their highest potential and become contributing citizens. This mission provides clarity of our purpose and our focus leaders make all decisions within its context. We will kick it off this evening with a lively group of visitors from Blue Mountain and I would introduce Matt Buckler to introduce them, please. That's great. President Ragland, board members, Dr. Kaputian, thank you for having us tonight. I think this is going to be one of the most exciting board meetings in the history of St. Bram Valley Schools. And without further ado, I am going to introduce Mr. Stefan Hole, the principal of Blue Mountain Elementary School
003and his outstanding music teacher Amber Hodges, who is a St. Bram grad and one of my former students at Longs Peak Middle School. I'm excited to be here because as the principal of our school, the most important thing I do is hire great teachers. I'm going to introduce you to one of those right now. Amber Bartels has been our music teacher for the last four years and we're very hard to turn this into an outstanding share a little bit about the group and then a little bit about what we have ahead of us this year. All right, hi everyone. I'm Amber Bartels. I'm the music teacher at Blue Mountain Elementary School where I also direct the Blue Mountain Beats percussion ensemble as well as our Summit Singers Choir. And yeah, I'm actually also a St.
004Bram Valley School District graduate. So I'm really proud to work in this school district still. I went to Sanborn Elementary, Longs Peak Middle School and the Longmont High School a long time ago and my own child also now attends St. Bram Valley School. So really proud to be here. This is the Blue Mountain Beats percussion ensemble. This is a group of fourth and fifth grade students. They auditioned to be here, which auditioning on its own is really scary. So the fact that they were brave enough and did the audition and made the cut and are now here is a really big deal. We're really proud of them. We practice once a week in the morning before school and we were accepted to perform at the 2026 Colorado Music Educators Association Conference, which is a really
005big honor and is a testament to the work of this ensemble over the last few years. This is our third year that the percussion ensemble has been around. The Colorado Music Educators Association Conference, you have to submit a recording. So to be accepted is a really big deal. So we are really excited to play two songs for you tonight that we're going to be performing at that conference. The first song is Rocky Mountain. We're going to be playing an arrangement of that folk song and then our second song is Violet Light, which was written by Carl Orff and Guneild Kaepman. Performers, how do you feel? You should feel great. You should feel so proud. Thank you so much for that wonderful performance. We know how much hard work goes into all of this and I
006know you're moving your instruments. That's one of the pieces, but we would also like to thank you for your dedication to your craft and all the hard work you put into your performances and the extra time you spend rehearsing and learning your music and also for your poise tonight. It's not a small feat to play in front of a bunch of adults, so congratulations. Very beautiful. Great job. Okay, that was the best way we've ever opened a board meeting, I'm pretty sure. And thank you parents for joining your students. Amber, can I ask you a question? Up here. You practice how long and how often? Once a week for 45 minutes. That's amazing. It shows you have really good control and you're a really good teacher. So obviously congratulations. Congratulations to all you parents as
007well. I know you take extra time and get those kids on time to school and do that rehearsing and you should be proud of them. Really great, really great community. Thank you. Yeah, good luck. Next up we have the second grade field trip to Sandstone Park. It will give these folks a little time to exit while the next group gets ready. And Diane, I'll let you take it away whenever you're ready. Well, good evening, President Ragland, members of the board, Dr. Capuchin. We have an incredible night here with lots of students. We had our fourth and fifth graders from Blue Mountain. Today we have second graders from Fall River. It is my great pleasure to introduce our K-12 science curriculum coordinator, Mike O'Toole, who has been working for a number of years to put on
008a district-wide experience so that students can get hands-on learning time at Sandstone Ranch. This has been part of a collaboration with the City of Longmont and really it is probably one of the most incredible opportunities our students have to get out into nature and to learn and to see this beautiful area we have in our community. So with that, I'd love to introduce Mike O'Toole. Evening. Tell you what, that's a tough act to follow there. So we're excited about that. They were amazing. My name is Mike O'Toole. I'm the district science coordinator. We're here tonight to recognize the second grade Sandstone Ranch environmental field trip program. This program was started in spring of 2016 with four schools and today we're excited to report that we've had over 11,000 St. Vrain second graders visit Sandstone. The
009program has grown to 26 schools annually. For those who aren't familiar with the City of Longmont's Sandstone Ranch Learning Center, it's about a mile east of County Line Road off 119 right behind all the ball fields. If you haven't visited, I highly recommend it. It's a really neat place. While at Sandstone, students are introduced often for the first time to the wonders and excitement of nature and hopefully leave with a sense of place and appreciation for all that Colorado has to offer. From the beginning, this project was a collaboration between the district and the City of Longmont. We received the use of the facility at no charge and the city actually recruits and trains volunteers that deliver a prepared standards-based curriculum. Tonight we have several of City of Longmont personnel as well as Sandstone Ranch
010volunteers here with us and they truly are the backbone of this program. We have Kristen Renzell, City of Longmont Recreation Program Supervisor, Kirsten Bell, the Environmental Education Coordinator at Sandstone Ranch, volunteers Laurie and Richard Pateman, Stanley Paxton, Lindy Lubbers, Mary Claire Collins, Ted Holfer, and Rick Park. These volunteers represent approximately 50 to 75 volunteers who have built this program over the last 10 years. Now I learned long ago a very valuable lesson and that's that you never say what a student can say for you and so tonight the stars of our presentation will be Ms. Sandra Schaeffer's Fall River Elementary second graders and I'll let Ms. Schaeffer take it from here. So much for having us here tonight. We're so excited about the hands on science that we get to do, that we get to
011get outside and touch things and explore things and have fun with them. My wonderful student teacher slash co-teacher Miss Ives is here who also went on the field trip with us and it also gets us inspired to get our kids outside on a regular basis to learn just out behind our playground. There's all kinds of exciting things to explore so thank you for having us and thank you for approving the wonderful mystery science curriculum that we get to use but this field trip is really the highlight of our year. We have so much fun out there and the students want to tell you about the four elements of a great habitat that they learn about at Sandstone so they wrote about their favorite station and some of them are coming to share. So first we
012have Charlie Schlegel and Kira Rudohut come on up here and they're volunteers and they they decide if the land is good for a habitat if there's enough space and they get to use compasses and maps and do exploring while they learn about the history of Sandstone Ranch. So here's Charlie. My favorite part about Sandstone Ranch is space. First on our adventure we learned we got compasses and learned about our direction. Fun fact the mountains are to the west. Next we went on a little hike to go see the groundhogs done then we went on a bigger hike to go feel Sandstone walls in the cave. This is it is so cool that it is in our own backyard. About my favorite thing at Sandstone Ranch. First I liked how we got to have a compass
013and a map. Next I like going on a hike. Finally I liked looking at sandstone. Now you know my favorite thing is Sandstone Ranch. Another important aspect is shelter. So Jimena and Booker are going to come and tell us that about the shelter station where they got to touch bird's nest and see if all of the important things to make a good shelter are available. My favorite station was shelter because I touched a bird's nest and looked through binoculars. I saw a blue heron and a turtle in the lake. I like learning outside and Sandstone Ranch was very cool. My favorite station was a shelter because I got to see the bird's nest up close and guess the bird's nest and eggs and it was the red robin and the owl's nest. Last it felt
014so excited. So Brexley and Aliana and their volunteers are coming next to tell us how important healthy water is in a desirable habitat. So they got to take temperature sample and samples of the critters and they'll tell us about the water station. My favorite thing at Sandstone Ranch was the water station because I got to catch fish and tadpoles. I also caught the biggest fish in my life ever and I also liked all the other stations too. Thank you Sandstone Ranch for the best field trip ever. My favorite part was the water station. I learned that water has to be clean for animals to live in the water. I also learned how to catch fish with a fishing net. That is why I liked learning about Sandstone Ranch. And next Hayden Schultz is going to
015come tell us about the station we'll never forget the food station because they determined if there were good food resources and other exciting things she'll tell you about that. Well my favorite station was the food station because we ate crickets and caught 17 grasshoppers. What I learned is you could eat bugs. Ew! I also learned about scat and there was a lot of it. And learned that deers dropped their antlers. What I loved about the field trip is the groups and the crickets. They were sour cream and onion flavored. They were like sour cream and onion chips. The crickets were so good. The program was going to tell us. Good evening my name is Kirsten Bell. I'm out I'm with the city of Longmont. I'm the environmental education coordinator and I run the field trips.
016So you've just heard from these second graders just how impactful their visit to Sandstone was. They're actually among the over 1700 students we've had who visited Sandstone in 2025. They were able to experience Longmont's most wild open space area. So kids have seen great horned owls, great blue herons, bald eagles, wild turkeys, coyotes. They've caught tadpoles and minnows. They've learned about the geology of Sandstone and why prairie dogs are so important for a healthy ecosystem. These moments and more were all part of their outdoor learning experience. I've heard kids say that this was the best day of their life. I've also heard kids say that they have never been on a hike before. While our partners you at St. Frank Valley School District, the city of Longmont and until recently Thorne Nature Experience created these
017field trip opportunities. It's really our volunteers who make it happen. So just this year our volunteers have provided over a thousand hours making these field trips a great experience. So outdoor learning not only inspires stewardship and curiosity but it also supports pre-k to 12th grade education. It promotes positive youth development and it creates healthy kids. Despite the research that shows that academic scores increase when students are exposed to the outdoors only five percent of Colorado's teachers take their students outdoors on a regular basis. By supporting these field trips St. Frank Valley School District is helping to bridge that gap. So don't just take our word for it that Sandstone is a special place. It's been a while. If it's been a while since you've visited or if you've never been I encourage you to take
018some time to visit and walk the nature trail up to the scenic overlook on a clear day. You can see Pike's Peak and or check out the river on the bridge on the bridge and you'll be reminded that when we invest in nature our dividends are endless. Thank you. I'll make sure that Dr. Fuchs actually has a schedule for the spring so you can see when some of your schools are out there you come visit the bald eagles will be nesting. It's pretty pretty cool. Kids did a great job of introducing what Sandstone is all about. We have a little two-minute video hopefully it'll take you there and show exactly what they were talking about so let's see. Thank you so much students, educators, volunteers for sharing that experience with us. Field trips are just
019the best aren't they? Michael I was so glad to hear you refer to a sense of place. It's such an important public education concept defined as emotional and psychological attachment individuals and communities have to a specific location shaped by personal experiences, memories, culture, and physical characteristics. It's the unique feeling or perception of a place evokes influence by its history, geography, social interactions, and it contributes to a sense of identity and belonging. So important in education to have that whole student touched by by their experiences in the community so thank you. Great job guys. Get a picture with all of you. Yeah Tim O'Neill whenever you are ready. All right thank you President Ragland, members of the board, Dr. Capuchin. You know in light of our our district's commitment to being an exemplary school district that
020inspires and promotes high standards of learning and student well-being in partnership with the parents and guardians and the community at large which I think we just saw two fantastic examples of the district's commitment to that vision. I want to recognize a team within our student services department that I think has been critical to our ability to execute that district vision in their own way. This is a team and I'm talking about the translation and interpretation services team that has exemplified the type of exceptional service and professionalism that I believe make the same Rain Valley School District the exemplary school district that it is. So I'd like to recognize Martha Bustillos and her staff in translation and interpretation services. They're always busy this time of year between all the back to school events, the parent-teacher conferences,
021you know sometimes there's disciplinary hearings that they help us with, they translate letters, they help us on phone calls to parents and to other community members and what is amazing to me is that they do so sometimes on very very short notice and they always do it with a smile. A lot of times when I'm talking to them they do it with a joke which I greatly appreciate but they always do it with just such an incredibly professional approach to what they do and Martha recently presented to our leadership team about really the critical role they play and not only us complying with the overall law but being the kind of district that makes sure that it's communicating with all of its members in a way that is effective and neutral and unbiased and just
022the way it needs to be. So I just wanted to recognize Martha who is the the translation interpretation coordinator and then all of the members of the team some of whom are here but Natalie Bogus, Rose Castorena, Griselda Guzman, Arlis Loya, Stephanie Martirino-Gonzalez, Lupita Ramirez, Miriam Rodriguez, and Anasoto Harrison because they do an exceptional job and they should be recognized. Thank you, good evening everyone, Dr. Capuchin, members of the board. Thank you very much for for this recognition it truly means a lot and we're really humbled. This year actually marks our fourth anniversary in what started as an office of one member it's now an incredible team of nine dedicated professionals that serve our schools and our families always with a smile and with professionalism. We are really really grateful to be the witness of
023first-hand witnesses of the rich and varied opportunities that our kids get every single day and not only that but we also get to see all the hard work from all the teachers all the departments all the work that goes behind the scenes to make that possible so it is it is truly a privilege for us to get to see the work of all the schools and all the departments in the district it is actually a motivator for us and an inspiration to to continue providing this service and to continue being that bridge for communication for direct communication between the schools and the families that we serve so that they can understand the educational process and get more engaged and support their children's journey and well I also want to thank my district leadership Olga Cordero,
024Johnny Terrell, Dr. Capuchin, our superintendent and you members of the board you have been incredibly supportive with our office and also or more meaningfully I say that um you're truly committed with them equitable communication in the community so it is an honor for us to serve this community to grow alongside it and to serve you and serve our community because we know that their voice is heard and understood thank you. Often the quiet and behind the scenes leadership go unnoticed and those are the people not to say that the leaders in the forefront don't um have an impact but those are the ones who have a very large impact thank you so much for all that you do I've seen you over the last four years be here every every Wednesday and I'm sure at
025many other events that I'm not at and throughout the district uh I'm sure the the community appreciates your services and that again as you I heard the word equitable making sure that every family is able to get the proper information for their child's education so thank you so much. You know how I feel uh I've complimented you I've seen your leadership St. Frane at the student advisory committees at every public event uh somebody's there but from a different perspective there's people that you're helping those students and the people that are helping them and from my daughter I know she does nothing but praise you every day when she comes home from working with the special needs students they'd have to have translations for parents and students so that they can get a better grasp of
026what they need to be doing and what their problems are and so you should also be able to take some credit for this graduation rate that have increased in our Hispanic students up to almost 90 percent or whatever higher if it comes out that's that's you uh it's just not all us it's our team but you're just a big part of our team and I could sit here and talk for hours but you know how I feel and uh that's never going to change you guys are phenomenal I don't know how you do it I have trouble speaking English you guys are able to translate what we say into another language at the top of a hat and the skill that's uh unbelievable to me and I'm just so proud to see all of you
027getting this recognition it is long needed and long and it should be every single day everybody should be doing it for you so I'll stop thank you los mismos sentimentos de mis amigas aquí amigos aquí que fenomenal estoy tan orgulloso de este grupo de departamento los aprecio muchas gracias miss raglan I want to thank Martha and her team you have been amazing at the work that you do and you show up with such gratitude such flexibility in all that we ask you to do and oftentimes we need urgency in communication with either individual families or district-wide in terms of translation services and you are always there with just the best attitude and willingness to help so thank you for your humble leadership we really really appreciate it you want a picture okay next up we
028have audience participation do we have anybody signed up to address the board tonight or is there anyone in the audience that would like to address the board okay seeing none we'll move right along to uh dr capuchin the superintendent's report great and i'm going to keep it short because my voice I have a little bit of a cold my voice is weak and I don't want to start coughing so um I love to see all of the students here and the staff and the audience participation and the parents who were at the meeting this evening it just we have so much talent among students and staff in this district and it's just highlighted every day but in these formal settings it's just so nice to see to see the students on monday we had carla
029esser dr carla esser from the state board of education visit our career and tech ed center as well as our innovation center very impressed with all of the programming work and opportunities that we provide to students in both of those locations in our district and she was very dedicated to potentially trying to get the rest of the state board out to visit our school district so we appreciated her visit yesterday we had an amazing veterans day across the entire district you know often we get questions about why do we have school on veterans day when it is a holiday for many other organizations i will tell you that to see the work done across the district to help our students learn and understand about veterans day i would not trade that for anything and not
030all of our students have the opportunity to learn about that or even have parents at home on those days off when they would when they might be home and so to have them here and to have them participate in all of the different activities that honored our veterans is just very heartwarming we had all eight of our high school bands play in the veterans day parade yesterday and so we just had really nice representation and it's so nice to see that bridge in generations our younger students really honoring the history and all of the service and dedication of our veterans so that was an amazing day and truly if you want to see some of that work go on to our twitter feed because i just scrolled and scrolled last night and i was so
031proud we are wrapping up our fall season we have tomorrow i'm going to go down to the coliseum to see a couple of our teams play at the state volleyball tournament we have unified bowling here in longmont on friday and we have some of our football teams still in the playoffs so we'll continue to watch them excel and last evening at erie high school i was able to watch most of our cheer teams in the regional cheer competition so we're wrapping up fall season but we're starting winter sports on monday so there will be a little bit of crossover and a lot of busy here in in saint bring and i will stop there thank you thank you next up we have reports and i would call doctors hess and lauer up for the instructional
032and school culture and climate framework and safe and civil schools thank you well good evening president raglan members of the board dr capuchin it's wonderful to be here this evening my name is diane lauer and i'm the chief academic officer here in saint brain one of the things we really are proud of is as our work as a system when you take a look at our tagline academic excellence by design that means with intention and we know that when we communicate with one another having a shared understanding and a shared language for what high quality instruction looks like matters so that we can speak across 60 schools into a 411 square miles three years ago we brought together 75 educators representing all of our schools to work on a task force to take a look
033at the best quality strategies that we're currently using comb the research to say what else can we be using and then looking forward to the future and taking sight of what students need to be prepared to have that strong competitive advantage so that they can be successful in a highly complex globalized environment after combing through all the research and looking at our high practices that we already have in place they created the the saint rain valley schools instructional framework that product was so outstanding that the very next year we brought together another group of 75 educators to do the same thing so we could create shared meaning around what a high quality positive learning environment looks like so the purpose of this report is to share a little bit about how these frameworks are transforming
034and being implemented across our system and so i would like to introduce greg george our senior manager of curriculum and academic programs who's going to share a little bit from his perspective thank you and good evening saint rain valley schools proudly brands itself with the tagline academic excellence by design our instructional framework is the roadmap that helps us deliver that commitment every day in classrooms across the district it reflects our belief that teaching and learning are human centered dynamic and iterative processes and it captures the profound impact that public education has on the lives of those we serve at its core the framework ensures that teaching is engaged challenged and supported it defines what great teaching looks like through continuous cycles of planning instruction assessment and reflection allowing us to adapt and respond to student
035needs beyond academics the framework emphasizes the importance of learning environments and partnerships with families students thrive when they feel safe valued and supported by both schools and families working together our instructional framework is grounded in six interconnected and interdependent domains that build momentum to propel student success now let's take a look at each of the six domains and their attributes as teachers plan and prepare lessons using standards data curricular resources and collaboration they design instruction that is relevant differentiated and engaging for all learners careful planning ensures that lessons connect to students backgrounds and prepare them for authentic learning tasks teachers engage and instruct students in active responsive and meaningful ways blending guided practice discourse and real world application students are inspired to collaborate think critically and use technology responsibly as they deep as they build
036deep understanding teachers analyze data and feedback as they reflect and adjust refining instruction and improving student outcomes they collaborate with colleagues develop action plans and continually adapt practices to ensure all students succeed and thrive teachers empower students to assess and analyze their own learning through reflection feedback and goal setting this process builds resilience self-direction and growth while providing targeted support and extensions to meet grade level expectations teachers cultivate a positive learning environment that is safe respectful and supportive where students feel a sense of belonging high expectations strong relationships and structured routines encourage curiosity confidence and a willingness to take risks in learning teachers build trusting two-way communication through strong family engagement to celebrate strengths and support growth by valuing families as partners they extend learning through mentorship career exploration and community connections at this time
037i'd like to introduce temple hales instructional coordinator who will show us this framework in action hi everyone this video that you're about to see was filmed at timberline pk8 it captures the integration of our instructional framework into grade level plcs as well as a third grade math block you're going to see the engage and instruct component of our instructional framework in action with the classroom of students as they engage with multiple opportunities to apply newly learned math skills and in collaborative small groups as well as independently students are provided with various opportunities to explain their mathematical thinking the video will also highlight the plan and prepare stage of our instructional framework as third grade teachers collaborate around a common summative math assessment to use as a tool to measure student mastery of identified essential standards
038for math this plc meets on a weekly basis and they analyze student data as well as plan next steps of instruction how do we build momentum to propel every student towards success in saint rain valley schools the answer is our instructional framework it's our blueprint for designing academic excellence and ensuring every child thrives it all begins with how we plan and prepare and there's two versions there's more than one version of the topic assessment so if we could find a couple of questions that are similar to what was on the topic as another check-in we can do that too this is where we ask how can our lessons be differentiated relevant and aligned to standards and in what ways is my planning informed by data and collaboration with colleagues teachers collaborate using academic standards to
039develop dynamic instruction we purposefully connect learning to students backgrounds and real world problems and incorporate strategies like scaffolding and varied grouping to meet every learner's needs this thoughtful preparation sets the stage for success now we are ready to move into the engage and instruct component as we implement our intentional planning into our instruction here we ask ourselves how will i facilitate instruction so that each and every child learns and what strategies will i use to motivate inspire and empower students drawing from the collaborative analysis of student data and the planning of our instructional strategies we bring the plan to life all right so i'm going to get you together into groups of three give you a little more time to continue working on the solve and share this is about creating meaningful learning experiences through
040inquiry guided practice and robust academic discourse we use formative data to responsibly adjust our teaching in the moment and to foster collaboration understanding through structured student interactions the goal here is to create a space where students feel motivated and capable those are the only two addition equations that you can have with these three numbers hey now what would be our subtraction go ahead and try to do a subtraction but these components don't work in isolation the framework is a connected continuous cycle what we plan and prepare shapes how we engage and instruct that engagement provides data for us to assess and analyze then we reflect and adjust using that new insight to inform our next plan this entire cycle is powered by a positive learning environment where students feel a sense of belonging it is
041also critical that we build strong family engagement that creates a powerful partnership for success the instructional framework isn't a checklist it's our commitment a commitment to thoughtful planning dynamic instruction and continuous improvement all designed to propel our students forward the video presentation effectively illustrated the core components of our instructional framework a pivotal element within this framework is the establishment of a positive learning environment throughout the 24 25 school year the district successfully convened representatives from all school sites to collaborate and provide substantive input on the requisite characteristics and development of the positive learning environment the tangible outcomes of this collaborative endeavor are now actively operational within each of our schools as you can see through our positive learning environment school culture and climate framework while the instructional framework outlines the broad elements of pedagogy our
042new school culture and climate framework is designed to clearly articulate the specific practices and behaviors expected within the learning environments that we exhibit each and every day the framework is instrumental in detailing the methods utilized to enhance student belonging safety and academic achievement and highlights where the students have ownership over their own learning experiences inside the classroom a benefit of this initiative has been the creation of a clear and consistent visual that is utilized by all district employees and in all of our schools this shared language facilitates the seamless integration across each and every building and hopefully we'll engage our broader community into this work we plan for the incorporation of all of this work as we open our new schools through the our bond initiative the work dedicated to the positive learning environment represents
043a fundamental commitment to our students' well-being and serves to clearly define the high expectations established for their ultimate achievement i will now transition to johnny torrell who provided detailed overview of the specific areas of this work research overwhelmingly demonstrates that a positive school culture and climate are critically important because they create the foundational conditions necessary for student success well-being staff effectiveness and retention a positive school environment acts as a protective factor for young people fostering an environment where all members of the school community feel safe supported and engaged a positive culture and climate can be hard to articulate but you know when you see it or feel it we have great examples of positive culture and climates throughout our system beautiful school buildings where you're proud to call your place of school or work great
044people who greet you with a smile and send you off better than when you arrived because we are intentional and demonstrate excellence by design we have provided some key data points that highlight what a positive culture and climate look and sound like in our system 80 of our students participate in athletics arts or activities this is a critical measure that supports the idea that connecting young people with a positive adult in the school setting is critical to their social development and academic success we believe this number positively contributes to the next number highlighted in the slide 94.3% which represents our two 2024 on-time graduation rate we continue to outpace the state graduation rate for all students by over 10 we are excelling in the ultimate measure of success in a k-12 setting and that's putting
045diplomas in the hands of students and preparing them to have a competitive advantage in an ever-changing world with the hope that they'll positively contribute to their local communities and if we're lucky they'll come back to an organization that Forbes magazine ranks as the top k-12 employer in the state of Colorado i'll turn it over to Dr. David Baker to explain the idea of frameworks setting the foundation for everything we intentionally do the instructional framework and the school culture and climate framework together provide that clear framework and clear guidance right from the start so whether i'm talking about the work that principal josh barnett and the new staff and the leadership team at big sky pk8 are doing right now or the work that we do in professional development as we bring on and help onboard
046new teachers teachers new to our district or student teachers who are coming in and learning the way that we do our work in st brain these guiding documents serve to provide that clear roadmark landmark excuse me roadmap of culture and climate of what's expected in our schools it also helps us ensure that no key elements are overlooked during those exciting times opening a school building is as busy it's exciting but that foundation sets the course of a school and sets the course of students learning just like those first days when teachers report and we help them realize that in st brain we do work with each and every student in mind we follow the standards and we talk about how we work our set up our classes but also what we teach and that common
047language spreads throughout we also know that we have to help align our staff our students our families around these common expectations teachers do not go to one school and remain there some do but not all stay in that one spot for their entire careers teachers talk students when we have a guaranteed viable curriculum for our students the only way that happens is when we have common expectation common practices and common language as teachers work to meet the needs of each and every student and each and every family that consistency also of language is so powerful because it allows us to allow our schools to have the individual characters that our schools bring forth of each of their own individual communities that feed those schools but yet when people come in to our district they see
048a common thread throughout each and every interaction that we have with our students so with that dr house so now we're going to transition to how we make that positive school environment come to life as we have recognized the work that we have done in the area of positive learning environment it was important for us to identify some additional tools that can be that can support our goals for student success inside the classroom safe and civil schools has provided a nice addition to our already large amount of tools that we have at our fingertips to embed into each of our schools to help us with that common language and common approach on this slide you'll observe the historical presence of the safe and civil schools framework inside our district while this initiative has been established
049for several years a significantly more proactive unified approach was started in 2024 to support its implementation and consistency across all school sites not just with new teachers or teachers that needed support in classroom management the work in the 2024 academic year really was the first time that our office of professional development student services and special education came together as a team to work to implement this across all areas of our schools this integration represents a major step forward to maximizing the efficacy and consistency of the framework i would like now to introduce aaron mildoff who's going to explain a little bit more about what safe and civil schools looks like inside of our schools good evening i'm aaron mildoff i'm an instructional coach supporting some of our elementary schools in the district and in my
050role i get to support rolling out safe and civil schools and that starts with understanding the underlying philosophy themes from that philosophy include honoring each individual student building strong relationships with them and using positive interactions to nurture their growth with this philosophy we also recognize that students need instruction in the area of behavior both to set them up to meet our daily expectations and when responding to students who may need some additional support safe and civil schools also encourages staff to reflect on the learning environment stoic and champs are two tools that support this reflection and planning for example the teacher pictured here has finished her whole group math lesson and is preparing to send her first graders off to work independently at their desks because this is a change in routine she takes them
051through the champs acronym explaining how to get help what the conversation level will be this equips students with both the academic and behavioral knowledge to engage in their learning i also want to celebrate that this is one of many state brain staff who as we've brought these systems into classrooms have said yes to learning and implementing new behavior management strategies in order to promote a positive and productive learning environment this school year patty hagen and i have teamed up she's another one of our instructional consultants to create monthly mini pd sessions 20 minutes in length around stoic and champs additionally i know patty has spent time training librarians early childhood teachers and even our district nurses our elementary and pk8 schools each have a school champion who works with their administrator to deliver the mini
052pd to staff as staff work together and adopting this work what i see and hear is that we are naming what we are doing this common language brings us together to plan and problem solve around individual student needs our classrooms and our buildings and with that i'll turn it over to one of our principals katrina good evening i am katrina strada principal at thunder valley k8 safe and civil schools has brought clarity consistency and confidence to our teachers at thunder valley they now share a common understanding of expectations and use proactive systems to support positive learning environments across k8 it is a shared resource for special education mtss classroom teachers and administrators giving everyone practical strategies to support students they work with the stoic model gives teachers a proactive framework for classroom management helping them
053structure teach observe interact and correct effectively we've also clarified which behaviors are managed in the classroom which need additional support and which require administrative involvement teachers now have practical tools to teach and reinforce appropriate behaviors along with guiding questions that help uncover the root cause of student actions so responses are thoughtful and consistent across k8 we're using common language for behavior expectations through champs and our shared school rules students experience consistency from classroom to classroom and grade level to grade level this work builds on our foundation of positive relationships and supportive environments where students feel known and valued because expectations and responses are consistent students understand what's expected and how teachers will respond creating a calm predictable learning environment for everyone students know what to expect and teachers respond consistently safe and civil schools has
054given our staff the confidence to improve student behavior and classroom culture using the stoic framework we have teacher leaders facilitating professional development to deepen this work and teaches actionable steps that they can implement in their classroom the next day through our mtss process staff are using early interventions planned discussions to proactively change behavior and support every student safe and civil schools has unified our staff around shared expectations proactive systems and positive relationships we're seeing stronger classrooms empowered teachers and students who understand what it means to be successful and we couldn't be more grateful for this resource we want to thank the board and dr kaputian for this opportunity tonight and we opened the floor for any questions you may have not a question but it's clear that a lot of thought has gone into this
055and it's really nice to see it all laid out and i just appreciate every one of you that took the time to really thoughtfully put this together and create a standardized approach so thank you thank you yeah excellent presentation thank you for walking us through it did you did you come up with the champs and stoic on your own or was that from a model oh no no that's that's that's that's from dr randy sprick from safe and civil schools oh yeah he has helped guide that work and he's a national leader in the work of classroom management and has been for over 25 years okay okay i was gonna say it's very clever but i wish well you can take credit for using it no that was excellent and and again that consistent approach
056is so important you know way before i started on this board there was a rumor that we were known as a district of schools instead of a school district and one of the ways that we really came together as a district was through that consistency and equity in all of the materials in the curriculum and and dr lauer i mean hands off to you that you've just done a phenomenal work in this area of of bringing it all together and creating such an excitement for professional development in our district um i would i would i'd learn anything from you i'd sign up if you're teaching anything take a look at this this team it's incredible to bring forward student services uh our office of special education curriculum instruction assessment and at the school level professional
057development that's what creates these systems we are not operating in a silo and i am just deeply gratified to be able to work with a team like this because they want to work together and to put their brains in the same room and just see what they come up with is is incredible so i am yeah beautiful example of interoperability thank you so much have a great evening thank you next up we have consent items would any board members like to pull any of our consent items i would then ask for a motion to approve all consent items as listed in our agenda so moved second mrs babs yes mr berthold yes mrs gilligan yes mrs harannick absent mr lechuga absent mrs ragland aye mrs weiss yes thanks christy next up our first action item
0588.1 recommendation approval of resolution proclaiming american education week november 17th through 21st 2025 dr lauer well when we think of public education and the power that it packs i mean i think tonight is clearly an example of that and so with this board request we are asking that you approve a resolution to have next week be named american education week so thank you thank you and me osha would you please read that okay absolutely resolution american education week november 17th through the 21st 2025 whereas public schools are the backbone of our democracy providing young people with the tools they need to maintain our nation's precious values of freedom civility equality and whereas by equipping young americans with both practice skills and broader intellectual abilities schools give them hope for and access to a productive future
059and whereas education employees by the custodians or teachers bus drivers or librarians work tirelessly to serve our children and communities with care and professionalism and whereas schools are community lynch pins bringing together adults and children educators and volunteers business leaders and elected officials in a common enterprise and whereas our nation is celebrating the week of november 17 through 21st 2025 as american education week in the saint frame valley schools we encourage community members to support our local schools by participating in school-sponsored activities and by volunteering to help with those activities board of education and superintendent of schools thank you may i have a motion so moved second mrs babs yes mr berthold yes mrs gilligan yes mrs hranik absent mr luchuga absent mrs braglant aye mrs weiss yes thank you and now 8.2 we have
060recommendation approval of board exhibit jf abb-e yes and so as board policy states we go through an annual process by which we look over the list of approved organizations to provide foreign exchange experiences in our district this is a really important process and this year we have the list and there's one major change that you'll see to our approved list we are putting in place the rocky mountain rotary youth exchange which is actually the umbrella organization for which twin peaks rotary is a part of and so what's important for you to note is we're actually not striking twin peaks rotary from the list this allows that umbrella organization and all the other local rotaries in our community to participate they thought it would be easier for them to put one comprehensive application together rather than
061separate and so we were able to walk them through that process and they passed with flying colors the other change to this list is the pan atlantic foundation they are new and they meet all of our standards when you are on the probationary list that means that you're allowed to bring in a foreign exchange student for that first year and we carefully monitor your success and once they demonstrate that success we will move them to our list of approved organizations one quick pardon me i have one quick question i don't recall i remember seeing the list last year but i don't remember the names but how long have we have you noticed or have the other organizations been on this list that is a great question the majority of them have been on for a
062number of years um we did see uh probably in my eight years that i've been overseeing this process the most change we have seen was during the covet years there were some organizations that went out of business during that time because many districts like ours um put a hold on foreign exchange for during the covet years but typically they're pretty robust organizations and they stick around from year to year and provide high quality opportunities for students do we see um on the probationary status list do we see that the ones that are here or have been on here remain for more than a year or two or i mean alice yes the objective is to get off of that list and get on the the more tenured list if you will yes so what happens
063is um organizations that look to get on our in our system um they may be on the probationary list for a while um because perhaps they weren't able to make a match in our community so those that are thinking with a lot of foresight want to come into our community they get on the probationary list uh as soon as they have one successful foreign exchange and we analyze that we'll move them up but if you have been looking at this list for the past three years some of them have remained in that probationary status just waiting um to make that match here in our community thank you so much yep thanks diane and i know the rotaries do a great job helping with placement of students um as well as all of our exchange students
064are such great diplomats so it's great to see that program growing and expanding in that and keeping an eye on it as well i would ask a motion to approve so moved second second mrs babs yes mr berthold yes mrs gilligan yes mrs harannick absent mr lechuga absent mrs raglan aye mrs weiss yes thanks christy next up 8.3 tony welcome thank you good evening president raglan dr capuchin and members of the board um please present um action item 8.3 tonight this is acceptance of the 2025 fiscal year annual comprehensive financial report or act for so this is uh just following up on the work that we uh did with the board uh last uh regular board meeting as well as the study session just prior to that regular board meeting as well as the work
065that we did with our finance and audit committee in presenting um that uh what what at that time was a draft um report of our annual comprehensive financial report and we just want to again to acknowledge um jane frederick and her accounting team and the work that she did on that and uh again she appreciates the recognition um from that last board meeting wanted to me to share that with you um as you know our auditors clifton arson allen that serves at the pleasure of the board reviewed our financials and presented a clean opinion and that again has all been finalized at this stage and is being presented to the board tonight for acceptance and so again we've gone into it in depth in previous meetings and happy to answer any questions tonight but again
066this is sort of a formality to follow up with you there were no substantive changes between the draft that was brought to the board previously and the final version that we're bringing tonight great thank you so much again and please share our gratitude with your with your team for a great another great report happy too they deserve it thank you yeah i would entertain a motion to approve 8.3 so moved second mrs babs yes mr berthold yes mrs gilligan yes ms harannick absent mr lechuga absent mrs ragland aye mrs weiss yes thanks okay 8.4 tony thank you so each year along with the um finalization of our annual comprehensive financial report the state of colorado excuse me the colorado department of education requires an assurance that's just a checklist that um the that we are
067adhering to all financial related statutes and that checklist is what this uh this um action item is tonight we've been able to answer yes to all of them there were no deficiencies or anything like that and um so this is a in the board packet and uh was approved by dr kaputian myself and signed by the president ragland and just wanted to make sure that uh there was an opportunity if the board had any questions on this um there there were no like i said anomalies were in compliance with all relevant statutes thank you all good motion to approve 8.4 please so moved second mrs babs yes mr berthold yes mrs gilligan yes mrs harannick absent mr lechuga absent mrs ragland aye mrs weiss yes thank you and 8.5 tony yes thank you so um
068as an authorizer of six charter schools those charter schools have to perform the same financial assurances to the colorado department of education and the the nature of the approval tonight is slightly different rather than approval this is just an acceptance similar to the act for an action 8.3 and so those financial assurances have already been reviewed and approved by the respective boards of the charter schools and then are just being presented to the board tonight for an acceptance and so again i wanted to offer if there are any questions on any of those all good again thank you tony may have a motion to approve 8.5 so moved second mrs babs yes mr berthold yes mrs gilligan yes mrs harannick absent mr lechuga miss or absent mrs ragland aye mrs weiss yes thank you thank
069you thank you tony next up we have board reports i don't have any tonight to share with the community but i would entertain any other board reports that that other board members have prepared i do i do have just a few things so tomorrow actually november 13th erie high school has their open house and we'd love to see the members the community out and learning about the program there and to extend upon learning about their programs this is i mean near and dear to my heart because everybody knows that i love robotics and anything science um we have in our arrows academy of aerospace and engineering program over 400 and 485 students enrolled in that program taking at least one of those classes so that is very astounding to me to see that there are
070future roboticists or engineers that could be coming out of that program um and of those students we had a select number of students that qualified for the human exploration rover challenge and they will be attending that in huntsville alabama so i'm so proud of them and all the work they do and not only that program but all the programs that are at our schools in particular our middle schools and our elementary schools they're doing very good work in in those programs in those schools so thank you so much and i hope that the community goes out and go to the open house on tomorrow from six to eight p.m all right so tuesday was veterans day and i was very happy to be able to attend the longs peak middle school veterans flag raising that
071is an annual occurrence that i go to it's only two blocks from my house so i can't even walk there and it was phenomenal the students get to raise a flag and then our brandon shafer who's one of our staff does a presentation to them on the colors and the flag and what it's about and causes them and it's and they're um they're all so attentive and so excited and they raise the flag and they sing the national anthem for us the they give us a concert inside afterwards um it was a medley of of uh you know very patriotic songs ending with the god bless america song that greenwood sings and um it was just a really good deal and um for the first time i recognize that the parents of um tyler who
072was a student at long street middle school and long me on high school who joined the navy became a corpsman and was killed during the iraq war and his um his full length uh painting of him is in the hallway with the rest of the phenomenal if anybody hasn't gone to long street middle school is phenomenal history painting from civil war through the current time and um everything around it um it's a really a great day and um the children are just so excited to see the vfw is there supporting and anybody there who's a veteran and it's a great feeling and that uh you know it's it's like jack dr crucian was saying you know the um the spirit uh that we're giving to the young children to understand the price that was paid
073by many many many people um i stopped there because i it affects me a lot um that um that they appreciate that and they understand it and they they give credit to them and that's so important to build a community which we just did the resolution for education week and we witnessed it we witnessed the resolution here tonight with the community volunteers the students the city everybody involved in education of our students and that happened on veteran's day um big time in our community so it's a really positive positive thing to see and i'll stop there thank you though i uh also have some thank yous i wanted to thank all the voters for their participation in um our election um i know open houses are ongoing um but those are always great things to
074attend um and i was sharing with some community members how lucky we are to have such great options um in our district and parents making those decisions really can't make an incorrect choice um i also wanted to mention the elementary coral festival that happened last week um which is i mean as we saw tonight it's just such a joyful thing to see these young performers um not just for the music but for everything that goes into it in their hard work and um kind of in that light i was able to recognize um janay bird our fine arts coordinator with um a saint reen advantage uh recognition um she's had i think a very busy um fall at um and is just doing so much to serve our district and i also just wanted to
075mention that it's karen's last full regular meeting tonight so um yeah i don't i that's all i can say on that right now i guess i don't have a lot to add um i do know the open houses have been going well and i appreciate everyone that's involved in organizing those um i feel like it's such a i know one of our board members is at one of those open houses this evening um so i do feel like it's such an amazing opportunity for parents to really get to experience what school could be like for their students at different parts of our district so it's such an amazing thing that we get to do that um i also was able to participate in the education foundation they had a brainstorm last week um just sort
076of thinking about their priorities they do a lot for our district and i'm just so grateful for the members of that organization that really support our school district um it was really cool to be a part of that and learn a little bit about what their priorities are coming up so yeah that's about it for me thank you all and uh that concludes our meeting this evening our next meetings are wednesday the 19th we have a study session at six and then wednesday december 3rd we'll have a study session and a special meeting to bring on the new board member as well to sign or for them to uh to join the board and with that i would entertain a motion to adjourn so moved all in favor all right oh sorry a second thanks
077have a good night