001Good evening and welcome to the St. Frame Valley Schools Board of Education meeting of June 11 2025 Please stand if you're able and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Christie would you please call the roll sure mr. Actually mrs. Babs absence. Mr. Berthold present Mrs. Gilligan present mrs. Horanik absent. Mr. Lechuga absent. Mrs. Ragland here. Mrs. Weiss here Thank you. And are you aware of any changes to our agenda? No, I'm not. Okay, great and Welcome to those that have joined us. This meeting is being streamed on our website We're recording will also be available if our live audience would please be sure device notifications are silenced We greatly appreciate it The meeting is being translated into Spanish and headsets are available for anyone in our audience that would like them I will begin
002tonight'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 First up we have visitors and there are none this evening Missing the students, but hope they're having a wonderful summer already And then the next item is audience participation and I do see that we have two people signed up if you would like to Address the board this evening. I have Debbie and Tammy on the list We'll start with Debbie and I just want to thank you in advance for joining us tonight We greatly value we greatly value feedback from our community and we'll hear up to 30 minutes of non-agenda
003items Non agenda topics and 30 minutes of agenda topics per meeting and each speaker is limited to three minutes of speaking time It's long-standing practice that we do not address or respond during the public comment section of this agenda But please know that we are actually actively listening And if you would please state your name and address when you get up there for the record Okay, awesome. Thank you My husband is actually bringing my paper of what I was gonna say But I'm gonna do it from my phone and try my best here. So Okay, my name is Debbie. My address is Debbie Odom. My address is 618 Teal Circle, Longmont, Colorado 80503 I've been a parent in this district for nearly 15 years My son just graduated Longmont High School and my daughter and
004my exchange student for next year will be attending as juniors next year So ten years ago when my kids were in kindergarten and second grade We hosted our first exchange student from Ukraine who attended Silver Creek She had a lasting impact on Our family in the school community and that experience led me to become a local coordinator So since then I have placed over 90 students throughout Colorado the predominantly within the st. Brain Valley School District It's always been a joy working with this district. I've loved seeing students share their cultures in our school and watching local teens Genuinely impacted by their presence. I bring them into elementary schools the middle schools. They do presentations at their high schools And st. Frank's always been very open to having these exchange students here But lately there's
005been a shift and there's been some barriers that are making it harder for host families to host in December The district made updates to the exchange student policy While some were helpful in streamlining the process and adding clarity others had created unnecessary obstacles One in particular that I'd like to talk about tonight is this new June 1 deadline for exchange students admission I understand the intent was to reduce administrative burden before school starts But I raised concerns early on and proposed a simpler solution Where we let the families who have already committed begin the registration early reducing last-minute stress and the bottleneck that was happening for the counselors That is how it used to always be done in st. Brain and somewhere along the line that it shifted So the the work is being done
006at the few days before school, which is causing a lot of work for the counselors Across st. Brain's eight high schools on an average There's probably five or six exchange students who attend one per year. Some schools have more some have had none It's really a very small fraction of the overall enrollment and while most placements happen before summer Some of the best host families step forward later once their plans are clear Just yesterday. I had to tell a family who you'll hear from later on today that they couldn't host because there were nine days due Past a deadline. I'm sure she'll explain that situation I work with multiple school districts across Colorado and not one of them has adopted this kind of deadline Jeff co sees over a hundred something exchange students per year
007into their system They have a great way and the way they handle the exchange students But they don't have a deadline other than the student has to be there before the first day of school, which we have as well Hosting is a big commitment Families support teens emotionally financially logistically for free. They deserve flexibility and time to decide especially during the chaos of May Pressuring families into a premature decision is causing us to lose great placements I'd like to point out how difficult it is to even find host families in the first place Try asking busy American families juggling work kids sports in their own full plates to voluntarily invite more chaos into their lives By feeding housing mentoring and emotionally supporting a teenager. They've never met for free for five or ten months It's
008a very big ask for people I know not everyone sees exchange as essential and some see it as a drain on resources But now in today's world with global instability visa challenges and rising barriers for international students We should be doing the opposite now more than ever. We should be embracing cultural exchange and not putting up these walls Please reconsider the June 1st deadline and let's return to the flexibility and the welcoming approach that St. Vrain used to have for these students Thank You Debbie and next up we have Tammy if you could also state your name and address for the record Hi, Tammy Richards, 3921 Florentine Circle My son attends Silver Creek. I am sort of the reason Debbie's here I wanted to take a foreign exchange student, but I had to wait until
009I found a job and I was just accepted at Silver Creek which is where Henry the student would be attending and Immediately emailed her and I'm like, okay, let's do this I've got a job and she said there's a deadline and we missed it And so I'm just here to ask you to change your mind. I Don't know what I didn't have anything planned I just got in town two hours ago and just showered so and haven't eaten so I am My son attends there. He plays tennis. I heard the student plays tennis. He's into aerospace. We have the amazing Innovation Center the axle knows I'm a huge fan of It would be perfect for Henry and when I read his profile while I was on vacation I was like, oh we have to have
010him He would fit in perfect and my late partner is from Germany. And so we I still talk to his family in Germany So it would just be a lovely fit. So look one minute. That's all I need just to beg you Beg you to let me have Henry Thank you. Thank you Okay in moving along we'll have our superintendent's report delivered tonight by Jackie confusion Well, good evening. Dr. Haddad could not be with us this evening I'm gonna give just a short superintendent update. I've had a chance to visit most of the project launch sites I think 11 so far out of the 14 Learning is alive and well during the month of June in st. Vrain on Monday, which was our first day for project launch We had a 98% attendance rate from
011students so there is a very big commitment from our community to have their students be in school during the month of June and Really to Prioritize it and to get them there in addition to a lot of the foundational skills that we see going on Especially in the morning in project launch. We also have in the afternoons a lot of guest speakers We had the traveling planetarium at some of the schools We have the Raptor program where they bring in the big birds For the students to be able to experience Our mobile lab is out and about to all of the sites in the next couple of weeks and they're doing some special stem programming We there's a lot of movement and outdoor play Some field day type experiences for students. So it really is
012just such a beautiful thing happening right now In addition, we have middle school advanced math camps going on We have credit recovery for high school students taking place Our Innovation Center is doing a lot of stem work and a lot of stem programming in cyber security Robotics students are building airplanes and flying drones We have some students at Calwood for day Events at Calwood Outdoor Ed Center And then we also have an arcade game camp that's going to take place So just a lot going on in terms of learning but it's very experiential Which is just really really nice for for our students So we're also we also can are continuing our plans for the opening of the 25-26 school year We have a lot going on those first two weeks that we have staff
013back and then as we welcome students back So all of that is in the works right now It's going to be a busy time and it's only in six short weeks So we always feel like the summer is really long where we get to catch our breath a little bit And actually there's there's a lot of work that continues. So that is my update. Thank you and I'm Happy to answer any questions related to summer programming or any of that if if board members have any need any information related to that Thank you so much and great to hear about the the program for Students continuing their learning over the summer and a great opportunity for teachers as well. Thank you Okay, next up we have reports Excuse me 6.1 the public hearing of superintendents
014proposed budget all funds fiscal year 25 26 We have Justin to present welcome. Thank you. And good evening president Raglan and members of the board Two weeks ago. I had the privilege of introducing the superintendents proposed budget for st. Brian Valley School District for fiscal year 2026 It was previously presented to the finance and audit committee as well in compliance with state statute and in the spirit of transparency Transparency and community engagement I'm happy to assist the Board of Education tonight to convict a public hearing on the budget and in doing so bringing forward any comments that the Finance Department has received and to make myself available for questions that the board might have or community members who may be present Pending any changes we would expect to bring the 20 the fiscal year 2026
015budget back to this board in two weeks on June 5th for adoption Since we presented two weeks ago, there have been no changes to the budget. It is attached in your packet. Just some very minor clerical type graphical changes formatting, etc an electronic copy remains on the st. Rain Valley School District website and a printed copy copy remains on site for inspection by members of the public So related to the public hearing the budget was posted We posted notice and the Longmont Times call as is our kind of tradition from May 30th to June 1st over the weekend That invited comment and participation in the meeting this evening The finance department received no comments or questions or feedback So aside from that, it would be my pleasure to address any questions that the public has
016or the board might have Thank you, Justin. Do board members have any questions? We've certainly had that opportunity many times I Would just I would just note that that I would invite the public to read that narrative About the budget and the executive summary if they only want to read the 50 pages Especially that significant trends events and initiatives section that really speaks to the success and the unique opportunities of our district for all of our students And just talks about how that that those opportunities in our success is built on the foundation that you also so carefully Take care of our taxpayer dollar. So I just thank you for that. In addition, that Sankey chart is beautiful it makes money things look easy to people like me and Helps really understand cash in cash
017out and and the way we do business and then that glossary reference I I Look at that often. So thank you for all of the work. It's an award-winning Budget and and so I thank you all and your team for that work. Thank you Okay Next up. We have six point two the finance and audit committee update That is also me. So good evening board Really? I'm just gonna make a quick introduction as you all well know We have a finance and audit committee who currently comprised of four members of the community and two of our board members And I would like to introduce tonight Heather parish who is our chairperson and Lisa Fallon and just as a quick aside We so appreciate their give or take but they're approximately a meeting a month And
018so we really appreciate their time and insight The time that they're willing to give up and the expertise that they're willing to bring to our group in our district So very much appreciate it and I will turn over the time Okay, so thank you for having us here this evening, I'm Heather parish and this is Lisa Fallon and like Justin said We're representing the finance and audit committee tonight Just as a background for those that don't know we're a group of finance professionals from different sectors and disciplines across the finance industry and across the district Actually, we live a lot of us live in or near the same frame district We have representation from corporate finance and from an investment banking and from consulting So we do have like a wide wide group of individuals
019kind of overseeing what's happening at the district So we're really your second set of eyes to just to oversee the internal controls and financial health of the district And I really can't can't say enough about the finance team here at st. Vrain. They're they're fantastic CLA who is the district auditor? They actually they always have great things to say about the finance team as well They continuously say about their professionalism their dedication their discipline and their accountability and you can ask for more from that from a finance team And all of that's really fully supported by an unmodified opinion of the act for I know it sounds not glamorous at all But it's a huge accomplishment to get that from your district auditor, so Huge congratulations from the to the team another matter of fact
020last October when we were reviewing the act for The principal from CLA actually commented that it's very rare that you go through an audit and don't have any errors And that's what you get from this finance team. So a huge, you know huge cute a huge kudos to that team As you mentioned Karen one of the things like the budget it is an award-winning budget You know the district continues to receive multiple awards They receive the certificate of excellence in financial reporting for the 21st year in a row and that has to be a record and the meritorious award for budgeting for the second year in a row so Huge congrats to the team there as well. We did review the 25-26 budget all in all it looks good It's got a you know, a
021good general fund reserve. There is a spend down It's something that we know about it's planned for and there are really good assumptions behind that So I think the 25-26 year will be great in spirit of Continuous improvement for us in the committee. We always bring in various departments across the district just to keep our Finger on the pulse to learn about what's happening in the district. We obviously kept a Lot of interest in the 2024 bond measure. So congratulations. That was a huge accomplishment We heard from the athletics and fine arts Department we heard about how I AI is being used across the district. We heard from dr Haddad which is always a great a great meeting that we have with him the universal preschool program and most recently the business modernization Project so
022there's a lot of great things happening across this district and those meetings and those presentations are really important to us because it keeps us Educated on what's happening and we had two new committee members join this year So it's really good information for them as they kind of get their feet wet and what it means to be on the board for the district Overall the district remains in really good financial standing and with a solid general fund reserve and we have a huge trust in High regard for the finance team here and just how they provide decision support to the department the district and the board And as the board transitions to new suit Under new leadership of dr. Caputian. Thank congratulations You know, we're here to support the board on the finance and audit
023committee in any way we can so just know that we're here To support and and be your advisors as needed. I wish dr. Haddad was here today I wanted to give him a huge congratulations on his pending retirement. So please do that for us And I think you know, he's done amazing things for this district and he's really he's really Set the bar high I think so over his tenure so of wishing him great things as he Goes on to this new chapter in his life. So with that I'll open it up to any questions anybody has Great. Thank you so much Heather and Lisa. Thank you for for being with Heather tonight And you you Heather in your 15th year on the finance and audit committee and and Lisa you're in your eighth year
024I think yeah, that's pretty impressive and and the work that you do and and Volunteering your time on this committee is so valuable for our community Thank you so much for that commitment and and your great mind And asking, you know some challenging questions and and helping our team really think about our taxpayer dollars in the most serious way From the community. So thank you so much. Thank you Tony and Justin are have really done a good job taking over for Greg too So we've appreciated that Heather and I were really familiar with the Greg obviously after all the years But it was it's been it's been great to have new people on the team as well. So yes Well, thanks to the consistency you provide as well, so thank you so much. Thank you.
025Yeah Okay, next up we have consent items would board members like to pull any of our consent items this evening Then I would ask for a motion to approve all consent items as listed in our agenda. So moved second Mrs. Babs absent. Mr. Berthold. Yes, mrs. Gilligan. Yes, mrs. Horan ik absent. Mr Lechuga absent mrs. Ragland. I mrs. Weiss. Yes Thank you, Christy. And next up we have our action items 8.1 is the recommendation approval of 2025 2026 negotiate negotiated agreement with the st. Brayne Valley Education Association Amanda Thompson welcome Good evening president Ragland members of the board and dr. Caputian tonight We bring forth a recommendation to approve the 2025 26 changes to the negotiated agreement between St. Bryan Valley School District in the st. Brayne Valley Education Association I appreciate the opportunity to
026share highlights of the changes with you We met for nine sessions this spring and the teachers ratified at 94.5 percent Thanks to the association and st. Brayne negotiations teams for your time and collaboration We appreciate the partnership with SVV EA and the ability to come together to discuss difficult topics For the betterment of our students staff and district without compromising our standards of excellence this includes Appreciation in support of mr. Whiteley and the finance team. Dr. Haddad. Dr. Caputian and the Board of Education Thank you for your support We're fortunate to have strong collaborative teams focused on providing continued excellence in terms of highlights in the area of compensation our current base salary was at 62,500 and will be moved to 74,500 which is the highest starting teacher pay in the state and we're very
027proud of that This allows us to have a great competitive advantage to recruit and retain the very best on top of that for the first For a first-year teacher if you were to participate in project launch AAA some of the summer programs teachers earning potential could be well over $70,000 annually and provides a great opportunity for our students and for teachers to live and grow in our district Professional and technical and classified staff will receive commensurate increases of four point one nine percent and administrators will receive a 3.86 percent increase Also important to note in the area of benefits Again this year as in the past We're pleased to share that our group insurance plan employee portion of the increase of the benefit premium Was absorbed by St. Rain Valley School District this year amidst
028still growing increases in the area of high claims and high plan For the areas of supervision and evaluation we reviewed our memorandum of understanding in a pilot program with using AI and evaluation we had a small group of teachers that did participate over this past year and overall the experience was positive and it was decided to Incorporate the optional use of this and put that permanently in master agreement language as an option for those effective or highly effective in our self reflection evaluation option This supports providing additional tools for educators in an alternative way to reflect upon their craft In the area of lateral moves and horizontal increments Lateral moves is a process that allows for teachers for continued education and professional learning and to move along the pay scale This year we're including an
029appeals process in the instance that Someone would submit a request and it would be denied We noticed that that was absent and it's fair to to be able to provide that avenue of understanding and a multi-level process for appeals Workload class size and hours we clarified language about consistent scheduling of individual planning time for teachers and Special service providers including efforts to capture comparable planning time across the building We also added new language specifying convocation events being during the district and our building portion. So adding clarifying language develop procedures to include teachers an avenue to Understand how FTE is allocated within a building annually and how it's distributed in an avenue for teachers to discuss class size and caseload in a building in the area of student discipline in current language We revised language to
030include processes to review and develop strategies for prevention intervention in School-wide discipline systems within a teacher team and also added language in the area of district supports and expertise in student success interventions Association rights language is added regarding teachers having a right to representation in certain situations Which is really just adding in our practice within language We also inserted updated processes for payroll dues and deductions in partnership with the association again codifying practice into language in Terms of memorandums of understanding we extended the dates into the coming school year for current memorandums or mo use Around workload caseload targeted ranges and staffing guidelines for our SSP specialized service providers and special education We extended an mo you to further study an innovation and technical programs compensation task force To explore alternative methods for career tech
031ed and innovation programs and where they would fall on the teacher schedule We created a new mo you regarding association vice president release time Where it would grant the association vice president halftime release time from their teaching assignment for the next two school years to allow Time to dedicate to support the president and the duties of the association an Existing mo you was extended around stipends for performing arts teachers And then the terms of the master agreement was extended to go from July 1st of 2025 until June 30th of 2027 Thank you for your support, and I want to express our sincere gratitude to all district teachers staff Administration our Board of Education and our leadership to their unwavering commitment to students Parents in the community at this time. I welcome up Kara Smallwood association
032president to say a few words Welcome Kara Madam president esteemed board members. Thanks for allowing me to come up and speak I do want to say Amanda covered most everything I We are super appreciative Of the collaborative nature that our team and their team can come together and and work Allowing us to work with Justin and Tony is super helpful to our Abilities to to make some gains in the financial and again We are the top highest base pay in the state and we're very proud of that We're very proud of the work that we've done to get there over the years. I've sat on the negotiations team. I think nine or ten years And that has been something that we are very proud of being able to get to over the over the time
033and we all know we've come from a situation way back when Where our base pay was not the highest in the state and so we've accomplished a lot in in a little bit of time So we're super excited about that. We appreciate the language Changes we're excited about the opportunities around that And thank you Thank you so much. This concludes our summary regarding this action item for your consideration and we're available if you have questions Thank you. Thank you. Miss Raglin. Can I add some just a little bit of context before the board has its discussion as well? Yes, please. Thank you. I also would like to thank our negotiating teams They spend lots and lots of hours in the evening For those nine meetings in the spring and it's a heavy load with all
034of the other things that are going on in the school district in the spring so both teams Really provide a lot of dedication to that. I want to give just a little bit of historical context And update our board on how we got to this point of our compensation in st Vrain it took a tremendous amount of focus and hard work on the part of dr Haddad and our finance teams over about the last 15 years We do as we are all celebrating currently have the highest base pay in Colorado And it was really a long-term effort that started back with the passage of the first mill levy override in 2008 At that time we also back awarded two steps to make up for lost steps that occurred during the recession and then a couple
035of years later the association partnered with our finance teams and our Central administration and dr Haddad to develop a new salary schedule to have a viable and predictable salary schedule That would eventually lead us to the highest pay in the state When at that time we were lower than most districts especially districts in the metro area and we were one of three districts the other two were Greeley and Pueblo who had never passed a mill levy override at that time And so we created that new salary schedule and now today the result is that we have the highest base pay by a significant amount in Colorado and thanks to the partnership with the Association thanks to the work of dr Haddad with the community and to our community who have been very generous with their
036tax dollars We now are at this place where we can recruit and retain the highest quality teachers in the country So we are just incredibly proud this was a by design effort that has been walked out over a decade and a half and It took the hard work of a lot of people and we just never want to forget That history and what it took to get here So thank you for allowing me to give a little bit of that history to you all and thank you both for your work I Just had a quick question for miss Smallwood Wanted to make note of the percent of our Teachers that are members of the Association We are at 77% Yeah, so 94% of that 77% Voted to ratify. So that's a critical number of our
037teachers and I just I wanted to Echo the sentiment that it is so special and crucial that our association and our district leadership worked so smoothly together And I'm happy to see that that's continuing under your leadership I think you know, you're off to a great start and I think under dr. Kaputian's leadership You know our teachers can really feel comfortable that That our commitment is to them just as strongly as it is to our students and other Community members as well. So thank you guys for your hard work And yeah, we're off to a good start. I would definitely add in here We wouldn't be able to do that without our team. So thank you to our teams Some of them who are sitting in here some of them who are not put in
038lots and lots of hours lots and lots of time to make this happen and thank you to the members too for ratifying and For giving us the information that we needed to do this work well Nobody said this yet. So I'll try to make another point here We all sat here you all stand there. Everybody sits in this room. Everybody's in our buildings about our students and it's always about the students and for organizations to be able to sit down and Meet and discuss issues like pay and leave and all those different issues That still keeps in mind The bottom line is doing what's best for the students and to be able to grow the way it has The time that I've been in this trust we can watch this happen is Testament to the
039dedication of Just everybody in our district. I don't care what level you're at What school you're in what program you're in? Everybody's about our students and we keep our focus and this just shows so thank everybody involved Thank you so much again and and dr. Capuchin. Thanks so much for that historical context I know Kara and Amanda this was your first year doing this and and I appreciate also your your calling that the Last at least decade of work to brought you to bring you to this place where you've where you've arrived And I just appreciate your great work and I appreciate you caring for that that collaborative spirit Well, I would ask them for a motion to approve 8.1 so moved second Mrs. Babs absent. Mr. Berthold. Yes, mrs. Gilligan. Yes, mrs. Horanic absent.
040Mr Luchuga absent mrs. Ragland. I mrs. Weiss. Yes Thank you, Christy and next up we have Actually, I'm 8.2 recommendation approval of negotiated superintendent employment agreement. I Would just call for a motion to approve So moved. Thank you Mrs. Babs absent. Mr. Berthold. Yes, mrs. Gilligan. Yes, mrs. Horanic absent. Mr Luchuga absent mrs. Ragland. I mrs. Weiss. Yes Thank you so much and we did have a few board members missing tonight and I just wanted to express their Support for all of the things that went on in this wonderful meeting this evening and and they were sorry They couldn't attend in person, but are fully supportive, especially of our new super a new superintendent. Dr. Capuchin. Thank you so much No discussion items this evening and at this time I would like to ask for
041a motion to adjourn So moved second all in favor. Aye Thank you. Next meeting is June 25th. It is a study session and then a regular meeting