001I'll have Josh Griffin the principal at Erie high school come up and join me here at the podium and then students if you want to Go ahead and stand Next to him. We'll just kind of get ready and get into place for our presentation as we are getting getting ready to Kick off the first feeder presentation of the year for you I do want to recognize all the principals in the Erie feeder And so I will have you guys stand up now that I put the students right in front of you We could just part the seas a little bit. All right, if we could have Andrea Smith, please stand She's our principal from Erie Middle School Francesca Craver from Grandview Elementary School Ryan Ball from Highlands Elementary School Sherry Carter from Blackrock Tim Garcia
002from Red Hawk Elementary School Lauren Eaker from Erie Elementary School and Cyrus Weinberger is our principal at Soaring Heights PK 8 and he is actually Conducting conferences tonight for a teacher who is out and so he will not be able to join us tonight So I'm really proud of the work of all of these principals and all of the staffs that they lead I just feel so grateful to work with the Erie feeder starting this year in this capacity And I think the one thing I would want you to know that I've seen as I've visited classrooms in all of these buildings is the excellence that's happening in classrooms is just It just permeates everything from pre-k all the way up through 12. We do two things really well in the Erie feeder the foundational
003work All of the courses and the way that we're providing intervention to kids It's just it feels very intentional and we see great results Academically because of it and then of course the innovative work as well And so you'll hear a lot about innovative work tonight And I know you hear a lot from our high schools and middle schools when we bring in State champions and people who have gone on to Robotics championships and all of that I just want you to know that a lot of that work is also happening in our elementary schools across the whole district and certainly In the Erie feeder as well So I want to thank our principals for the work they do and the outstanding teachers and staffs in each of these Schools so I'll turn it over
004to mr. Griffin I know the highlight of the night is our student advisory council student leaders, and so we'll be hearing from them shortly So thank you Josh Thank You Dina and thank you board and dr. Haddad for inviting us tonight It's my privilege to introduce that and represent the Erie feeder in my first year as the principal at Erie high school I'm now I think I'm about 60 days into my tenure and it's been a great experience I found a great group of dedicated and hard-working students Committed staff and faculty and very engaged in active parent community And it's really been a pleasure to get to know our community better and learn more about our great school and our great feeder system I want to thank our principals of our elementary schools and middle
005schools They're doing the important hard work of providing a great academic and personal foundation for our students that prepares them to be successful in high school And I'm very grateful to them in general, and I'm particularly grateful to them for helping us tonight to prepare a video for you That is a great representation of all the schools in our feeder system so with that I'd like to kick off our video which we've entitled in Erie we thrive, and I hope you'll enjoy it I think it's a great representation of our of what I'm learning and seeing in our school community thrive thrive means to grow vigorously or to flourish to gain and wealth or possession to prosper the Erie community with its 6012 students in six elementary schools one middle school one PK through eight
006and one high school is Thriving in the past five years Erie schools student enrollment has increased by over 500 students a number that continues to grow Families are flooding to the area to take part in the extensive list of opportunities available throughout the Erie feeder Opportunities designed to help students thrive the Erie high school Superintendent's Advisory Council talk to students at each of the Erie schools to answer the question How does your school help you thrive? Hi, my name is Kara Klein, and I'm a fifth grader from Black Rock I'm going to talk about flexible group flexible grouping is when you move to another classroom for reading or math That classroom you will learn at your own pace Sometimes when you don't like your own pace students can become frustrated or stressed in math Flexible
007grouping has helped me learn on my own pace and learn what I need to know and if it's too easy for you You can move up if it's too hard for you. You can move down this is my math classroom for flexible grouping and We kind of just like do a different lesson every day and then if you need more practice on it We review it kind of like the next day and then we quietly work on independent work after She's told us our assignment and then sometimes she gives us homework, but never on the weekends Hi, I'm Sherry Carter and I have the privilege of being the principal of Black Rock This is my second year here and the way we thrive at Black Rock is in many different ways But if I had
008to pick two it would be around our flexible grouping for students And it would be around how we practice kindness every day in our daily announcements We say spread a little kindness wherever you go today and every day. What do you like best about your school? That has a lot of nice people and people that can stand up for you and then how does the community of your school help you thrive by Helping us with learning because through hard subjects and other things they push us through hard times What do you like best about your school? how everybody's a community and together as a community So it's resilience. How does the community in the school help you thrive? They show from hard subjects and also makes it fun And helps when something's hard By focusing
009on citizenship at Grandview all students understand the importance of being responsible for their own actions and how their actions can impact By doing so all students are able to thrive in a safe and loving environment my name is Ella Jean Hightower and STEM means yes stands for science the T stands for technology and the E stands for engineering my favorite and stands for math STEM makes me better learner because I Get to feed animals I get to learn about them I get to feed them learning and STEM you get to do experiments. It's fun learning My name is Milo and I'm in third grade and my favorite part of STEM is engineering It allows you to build a lot of new things and discover things you never know Many people have asked me why is
010Erie Elementary a STEM school and I always get the same answers because all kids love STEM In some capacity they love STEM. They love to build a bridge and see how many pennies they can put on it They love digging in the mud. They love problem-solving They love figuring out how to build a toy for their baby brother that he'll love All kids can become invested in STEM and that helps them thrive as they choose careers as they move forward What do you love about your school? How does performing arts help your school thrive? I think it helps because if we didn't have this school to perform arts and stuff like Annie Then I feel like he doesn't have that much fun in this school Hi, my name is Ryan Ball. I'm the principal at
011Highlands Elementary School and Performing arts is really helping students at Highlands thrive This year we have 90% of our fourth and fifth graders participating in all-school choir Which culminates in our kids singing the national anthem at the Rockies game in May We've added this year a production of Annie which has over 90 students Participating anywhere from being a character In the production to set design to helping out with logistics It's offerings like this that really connect kids to school and get them excited about about their learning and being here every day So what makes you guys excited to be at Red Hawk? Well, what makes me excited to be at Red Hawk is You have fun reading What about you? I'm excited to learn how to read. You're excited to learn how to read too
012So I saw you guys doing movement out here a minute ago. So what what about that is fun? What what makes you fun? What makes you have fun in movement? Well, what makes me fun in movement is I dance and Dancing a lot. Okay, so I saw you guys outside at movement a few minutes ago So what about that is nice and what what about that makes you excited? Well, I just love the environment during movement It always has been good to me because like when I first came here in kindergarten I remember when we did all-school movement. I was like, wow, this is a really cool school tradition So hey, welcome to Red Hawk Elementary School and you know at Red Hawk We've really focused on our climate and culture coming to school being
013positive being energetic and providing all of our students our staff Just a place where everybody's excited to come every day to learn grow achieve and succeed I believe that it helps it helps me be more prepared because it shows me that of the harder assignments and also The sooner due dates for things so it can help me manage like right me studying and also mean working on assignments I'm in advanced language arts because I really like to read and so I'm able to again I'm able to ask friends and teachers for help if I need it and I'm also able to Ask for extra credit and more assignments if I feel like I need it or extra time My favorite class at your middle school is algebra because I love the way I am able
014to figure things out and it's all really interesting my peers and my teachers Well, I believe I've thrived in academic choices and also in Extracurricular activities such as musical and also robotics, which has also Taught me by time saving and time management So I've learned different ways that I learn So like I know that I'm a very like touchy-feely kind of letter And so it helps me know when doing assignments and getting choices I Know what I'll succeed best with One of the positive things is building relationships that can possibly last a lifetime At your middle school my teachers challenge me in class, which is a great way for me to get prepared for high school I take AP classes and it's super cool They challenge me for different problems that I do She is
015It allows me to get the right amount of academics that helps me thrive and Do what I need to and it helped me be more successful in high school and college if I want to do more Advanced classes then hi My name is Andrea Smith and I am the principal at Erie Middle School What amazes me about Erie Middle School every day is how much we push our students to thrive and we push them to thrive by engaging in their community whether it be a year-long music elective orchestra choir or band over 70% of our students engage in one of these classes or maybe it's athletics or maybe it's one of our 18 clubs Students are connected and we know that when students are connected to their community They're more likely to be successful in
016middle school and beyond and we also know they're learning amazing skills They're going to help them thrive in high school as well Well neuroscience helps me thrive because it's neuroscience is kind of a focus on the brain The importance of neuroscience is to understand how the brain works Which in my opinion is an amazing thing to learn about the school Neuroscience helps us think about what our brain and body will be like in the future And I would like to learn more about that because I may want to be a scientist or an innovation teacher when I grow up Also neuroscience helps us all figure out how kids will grow socially and how they will learn which is very important for teachers Hi, what's your name? What grade are you? What do you love about
017your school? I love that we have unlimited resources for school and that we don't have like a very few electives We have enough to like help every student like achieve their goals Hi, my name is Cyrus Weinberger, and I'm the principal here at Soaring Heights. At Soaring Heights our students thrive through neuroscience First they get to be propelled into the scientific process Through their interests in a way a very high level. The second thing that does is it provides a vehicle for hands-on project-based learning and lastly through studying Neuroscience we're able to help kids understand that they have different states of their brain and the more they understand that the better They're able to be prepared for stressful situations the better. They're able to recognize that in other people and that Ultimately helps them collaborate
018and be more successful in the future Those are skills that we really want students to have both in their academic careers, but also in their work We learned that in Erie students thrive and that there is no better place to learn than in Erie I want to thank Liz Russell and Paul Stacina two members of the Erie High School Administration for facilitating that and our Superintendent's Advisory Council students here from Erie High School are part of our roadshow They want to talk to you a little bit more directly in person about their experiences here But they also were responsible for organizing the footage and the photos for that slideshow as well So I'm very grateful to them and without further ado. I want to let them come forward and talk to you a little bit
019about What they love about Erie High School and how we're helping them thrive in our school. So Calvin you're up Hi, my name is Calvin Casasola. I'm a senior at Erie High School and I plan on studying criminal justice after high school Erie High School One thousand seven hundred fifty students thrive because of a strong academic athletic creative and innovative Foundation its feeder schools built here just a few stories of how students thrive at Erie High School Hi, I'm Emily Freck. I'm also a senior here at Erie and after high school I plan to study to be a physician's assistant here at Erie We have 450 students who are engaged in the Academy of Engineering and Aerospace That's about 25% of our student body that's involved in this rigorous pathway I myself engineering has been
020a large part of my life and it's only been enhanced since I've attended Erie High School myself and many other students we have been challenged to learn the basics of engineering and then take those foundational concepts and Create our own ideas and allow our own ideas to come to life I've been prepared for my future through this pathway, but especially through our senior design course Which is the capstone class of our pathway which allows us to be challenged to Take real-world problems and engineer real-world solutions My name is Jackson King I'm a junior at your high school and eighty five EHS students are involved in the Erie Tiger Network a Broadcast journalism pathway that prepares students for careers in television radio or journalism Hi again, I'm Ethan Dillinger. I plan on studying engineering in some
021capacity at the Air Force Academy The Erie Tiger Network has been a massive part of our life by helping us with public speaking and better elements of filming and editing videos Thanks to mr. Bird We know how to shoot good b-roll and get intriguing interviews from this class We can get into future careers and become announcers and broadcasters for the news in this class We live broadcast the news musical concerts and sporting events like football soccer volleyball basketball softball and more My name is Atish emblem I'm also a senior at Erie high school and after high school, I plan on attending college for astrophysics Erie high school currently offers 22 AP classes over 700 students who make up over 40% of the entire student body take at least one AP exam 270 of whom are
022also registered to participate in our AP capstone pathway this spring Erie high school students have registered to take 1,466 AP exams which altogether have a potential of saving their parents over a million dollars in college tuition I myself have been able to take advantage of the numerous AP classes offered at Erie high school throughout my years here and AP classes for me personally have allowed me to Experience college-level coursework while still being in high school These classes have given me the opportunity to challenge myself academically and interact with Much more diverse and deep coursework than I would have otherwise had access to and these experiences I feel have prepared me for college and have given me the confidence that when I go I can take on much more rigorous and challenging coursework Hi, I'm Chloe
023ice and I am a junior at Erie high school and Over 400 students at Erie high school are enrolled in choir orchestra band or theater classes Performing arts has always been a major part of my life and ever since coming to Erie my love for performing arts has only increased The teachers at Erie high school truly strive to set up their students for future success Performing arts creates a fun and creative outlet for a number of students at Erie high school And it also provides everyone with a supportive and joyful community And one of my favorite parts about the performing arts program is the community it creates the amount of effort Erie high school puts into its performances is Astounding and the results truly show it and Erie high school's performing arts department We are
024taught that hard work and perseverance will lead to success and joy Which is a model for success in real life I plan on using performing arts in the future because I plan on pursuing a career in music and The confidence and skills I've gained through the Erie high school performing arts department will be a great asset in the future Hello, my name is Presley Ayers, and I plan on attending Ole Miss University and studying psychology and childhood nutrition You're close to 700 Erie high school students are involved in at least one extracurricular sport during the 21 22 school year every Erie varsity team qualified for Chesa State playoffs Athletics have always played a large role in my life being involved in both athletics and rigorous academic classes I've had to develop strong skills of time
025management and communication Time management is crucial when you have a full plate Teaching you to balance hours and hours of practice amongst difficult classes that require loads of homework Communication has been key allowing me to advocate for myself some examples could be emailing teachers for help or grading issues Communicating with coaches coaches about personal life etc. These are skills that will always be necessary and applicable to my daily life Thank you for having us this evening and we have enjoyed sharing with you what makes Erie community so special We would have we would be happy to answer any questions you guys have at this moment Thank you, and do board members have questions comments Joey I have a comment Hi, it's wonderful to see all of you. You are our first student group of This
026school year and it's great to have you back. Thank you for being here It's wonderful to have you So I'm curious a couple observations But I wonder did any of you go to elementary school or middle school in the area feeder by any chance? So when you're when you were back and you were in the elementary schools in the middle schools when you were Preparing the video. What did you notice changed most from when you were an elementary school student? Was there a change I? noticed a lot of just people who Cared a lot not that that wasn't there when I was there But it just seems like they're putting a lot of things in place and giving kids all of the opportunities that they need to pursue Anything that might they might want to?
027Anyone else no pressure No, I think that's interesting Ethan because that's right in alignment with I mean clearly you all are Attending wonderful schools, but you focused I heard some words that were more frequent than others And one of those was community and I think that from a sense of community, you know, you're connected You have a sense of safety You have a sense of belonging and all of that is obviously good for for your education and your academics and for learning But it's really also good and directly related to our mission statement as a school district, which is to ultimately Produce Great, you know contributing citizens kind of high level. Maybe that's a bit on the smushy side, too But I think that's what you all are on your way to being it's pretty
028incredible Yeah, do you have family here by any chance or or friends or anybody here to cheer you on? No, all right, then we are going to have to cheer for you. Obviously great job. Thanks Chico yeah, I just want to say thank you all for being here and thank you to The principals staff that are here tonight and all the work that you do every single day This feeder is doing amazing things and and you all are very impressive and the things that you're headed towards and and what you put Together today. So just want to thank you all for that piece the question I want to ask similar to Joey's is When you went into the schools and asked, you know started asking kids questions Was there maybe just from one of you?
029Was there something that surprised you that you didn't know about one of the one of the schools at Presley? So me and Emily went to Soaring Heights and when we were looking over the questions and it said neuroscience We were like do we need to explain what neuroscience is to these like fifth? like how would you expect a child to know what neuroscience is let alone like Actual things that are happen within it. And so when we started interviewing them, it was amazing to see that they like 100% knew what it was and they could explain to us what it was. So I found that to be truly incredible That is incredible. Can you explain it to me now? No, thank you all I also want to give a shout out last night I was
030at a Latin X heritage night celebration at Red Hawk and it was amazing and thank you to the community and parents who put that together So great work happening. Can we get a picture with the students and principals? That was great, thank you eerie high school theater wonderful presentation Great way to start the year. Yeah Thank you next on our agenda. We have the Donna superintendent's excellence and education award Yeah, and I'm gonna have Mr. Todd Fukai Say a few words and then then I'll share a few words. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you President Ragland members of the board Superintendent had that I wanted to Bring forth and I'm gonna have Our executive director of HR Ty Valentine step forward I nominated tight, excuse me for an excellent an education award Recently our group of
031HR administrators across the state from a group called Casper and Casper meets on a monthly basis to help school districts navigate HR needs and to to be collaborative and and work together And every year at the end of the year we collectively come together to nominate somebody for what we call our lifetime achievement word the Santa Sri board and so to receive this award You had to show leadership in the organization and Ty has been a former president at Casper and also one of the few Casper members that was Able to serve as president of case during kovat times, which is probably that the one of the tougher leaderships to lead a state organization But Ty has come to us from many districts with wealth of information about small districts and about certified and classified
032and Has joined our team in this is now the third year third year about the same time kovat happened And Ty joined our team and it was actually funny because we when we talked about Joining our team when we actually got to take off our masks I saw people for the first time in our team because he's never seen people without masks but he has been a great addition to our team a great addition to Saint brain and well deserving of our Santa Sri of award in our state organization and I want to bring that forward to the Board into the district to acknowledge that in public Great, would you want to share a few words Ty and then I'd like to say something but rather hear from you first. Sure Thank you. It's quite
033an honor. Thank you very much As Todd mentioned, I've had the unique experience of working in rural suburban and urban school districts around the state and I'm just so blessed and fortunate to be Hopefully ending my career in the best district in the state and the nation as far as I'm concerned And I don't say that lightly and I don't say that just because I'm standing in front of you I say that every time I talk to somebody about st. Brain Whether I'm at career fairs or I'm talking to other HR folks or I'm in other states this district is amazing and From the the cohesiveness of the board to the leadership in the district to the staff that are serving these amazing amazing Eerie feeder students and everybody else all the other students in
034the district It's just a phenomenal place to be and I'm more honored to be just a part of st. Brain than I am for all the other accolades So thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. Yeah, and really I would like to thank you as well you know one of the things that I feel so fortunate around is just having the very best of the best on our team and I see you two up there and Ty and Todd and I know you guys have Known each other for a long time and I think how did we get so lucky to have the both of you here? But you you've been a great leader not only here in our HR department Ty But you've also been a great leader around the state
035as Todd mentioned your leadership around case the Colorado Association of School Executives and Being in other districts around the state, but You just do a great job. So, thank you I appreciate you a lot and I want to present you with this superintendent's excellence in education award. It's Nowhere near enough to say thank you, but it's a small token of my respect for you and my appreciation for you So, thank you. Thank you. Dr. Depp. Thank you Ty and Congratulations, and that brings us to the next agenda item Which is audience participation The Board of Education values feedback and perspectives from our community and we hear up to 30 minutes of non-agenda Topics and 30 minutes of agenda topics per meeting each speaker will be limited to three minutes of speaking time And it is
036long-standing practice of the board not to address or respond during the public comment section of the agenda But please know that we are actively listening We do have one person signed up to speak tonight on a non-agenda item Is there anybody else from our audience that has not signed up that would like to? Okay May we have Brenda? Step up to the podium and please state your name and your address for the record my name is Brenda Everett, and I live at 93 93 ute Highway Longmont and I'm here tonight to address you because I'm concerned about the culture wars that are going on in our country and Public schools shouldn't have to be the place for these wars to be fought our children our teachers and our staff Should not have to be the
037soldiers that take the brunt of this battle schools in my opinion should be Switzerland They should be a neutral safe haven that protects our most vulnerable citizens, which are our children I'm not here tonight to offend or disrespect, but I'm very concerned about the assault on public education That's occurring in our country I have very little time so I'll follow up with email to the board members and anyone else who might be interested with some resources data and research to support my concerns the Boulder Valley School District recently passed a resolution urging the State Board of Education To include issues relating to LGBTQ INA and I apologize if I missed any initials They want these included in the state social studies standards for all grade levels as a school counselor for over 20 years and
038a lifelong advocate for children. I would urge this board to not follow suit I know there are many passionate and emotional arguments in favor of an equity type of curriculum However, the effort to reconstruct our schools according to an emotionally based social agenda is damaging the reputation and support for our public schools Gender identity is only a piece of this curriculum The terms and definitions included such as lesbian bisexual and others are based significantly on sexual attraction and sexual behavior it is immoral to instruct young children in sexuality and Sexual behaviors Parents of adolescent should also be informed about what their children are being taught in these sensitive areas And when this type of curriculum is embedded in other subject areas, we lose transparency and accountability I've reviewed the district document gender identity guidance. It
039states. It is not a formalized plan the website The district website cites one Colorado is a resource for this document one Colorado describes itself as the leading advocacy Organization organization for LGBTQ They do not claim to have any knowledge or any advocacy for the developmental and educational needs of children I also reviewed SB 200 and have reviewed other state laws and federal mandates that have described what schools must do in order to be inclusive Unfortunately, what is legal is not always right? segregated schools were legal until 1954 child labor was legal until 1938 It was legal for girls as young as 12 to be married and considered able to give consent for sexual activity in 38 states until 1890 With all due respect. I wish to remind the board that Colorado is a local control
040state our Community has ultimate responsibility for our children. We need to teach May I say the last two sentences? Sure, we need to teach our children that they have intrinsic worth just as they are They need to be able to express their unique interests and personalities without being labeled Categorized sexualized or feel that there is something so wrong with who they are and their gender They must undergo psychological chemical and surgical procedures to change who they are Thank you. Thank you Brenda and that concludes audience participation next we have our superintendents report and Before dawn I ask you to get started with that. I just wanted to recognize You for another yet another accolade for being Inducted into the National Association of school superintendents Hall of Fame, which is a tremendous Honor and recognition for
041you among so many others. So congratulations. I appreciate that. Thanks a lot, Karen All right we are going to Share a little bit about our October count Formally at a little later date, but I'll give you just a little bit of where we are We had the two-week window we had the day I think was October 3rd was the actual count day and we started with several thousand We I think we had like 92 to 93 percent Attendance on that day, which was good It's a little bit higher than we had last year and it was on a Monday And that's not always the world's greatest day to have a count day But nonetheless but since that time we've been systematically getting reports and we're down somewhere in the area of a little over a
042hundred now and We have the rest of this month and so amber Muir is in the schools looking with each of the schools to see those remaining few kids and we're hopeful that we'll recapture the majority or identify where they are and And then close out the count in that first week of December. So We're in a really good space with our October count when you get this low was still a couple weeks to go You're in you're in really good shape. So We also administered the National Merit Scholarship exams and we had 2,000 and these are where you get Your juniors to take these tests and you can become a National Merit Scholarship winner based on the scores. We had 2,186 11th graders take the test and we also had and these are not
043required tests statewide these are tests that That we like to promote and I'll share you a little I'll share a little story after I finish this data but in the 9th and 10th grade We had 4,272 students take the 9th and 10th grade practice PSAT So it's not the PSAT. It's the practice As is this for the SAT and you know, it's interesting how you you work to change systems To get the best results. I remember my first year as the principal at Niwot High School back in 2001. I walked by the counseling office and I saw a sign that said This test would be offered and the first 50 students to sign up would be able to take it And so I remember going into the counseling office and having a conversation and asking
044them why is it limited to 50 students and talked about the challenges around Implementation and all of those kinds of things and so we quickly moved from that At least at that one school to saying I want all of the juniors to take this test I want all of them to experience it and all of them to have the opportunities and then as time evolved and we got into the executive director of secondary ed we began that Systemically district-wide and the significance of it is I think when you you know, I think when you set up systems For what you might perceive to be an exclusive group You begin to make assumptions about people and I think the assumptions that are dangerous to make about people is that Some will and some won't it's the
045same concern that I have with Graduation requirements across the state Being so low in most school districts that it doesn't qualify All students to apply for a four-year college or university and I can share with you from just personal experience when I had that conversation Long time ago with somebody they said well the parents of the children who are going to go to school know that and they'll just take The extra classes that they need to take over and above the graduation requirements, and I think that's what they mean by systems That make assumptions that have bias within them and then create practices that reflect those assumptions So I think it's important and you know to come away with 90% of our students taking these tests that are not required. I Think that's a really
046good thing, you know, we'll keep trying to get to a hundred percent But we're definitely pushing the envelope there and and that's an important thing Systemically because sometimes people say we mean all kids, but not really and I'm really proud of our counselors for the work that they're doing and our building principals and our students and parents for responding appropriately Our schools are doing really really well right now. We had a great start. It's nice to see You know people focused on the things we need to be focused on we need to make sure that our students are focusing on Academic excellence we need to make sure that our students are focusing on co-curricular excellence we need to make sure that our students are conducting themselves as outstanding young people and charting the course for
047the next step the next chapter of their lives and We need to make sure that our students are not being distracted by so many of the external issues that are out there and so we're we're focused on what our children need to be focused on and Right now our schools are in a great place. They're full There's a lot of energy if you go to any of the events You'll see tons and tons of energy and you'll see our students doing extremely extremely well I also spent a couple of days up in The mountains with a group of about 20 30 25 superintendents of from around the state recently and the topic of the discussion was how do you sustain in the superintendency and What they're wanting to try to identify is why our superintendents
048turning over every two to three years and it was interesting because as they lined up all the superintendents they lined them up by seniority or tenure and Good bad or indifferent. I was on the far end and meaning I had the most years in the superintendency going into my 15th year and you know when I when I heard some of the comments and the conversations from Early on superintendents what I began to realize is that oftentimes the the system does not prepare well for the job, you know, one of the things about school boards and I Feel very fortunate and I've been 38 years. I've long since learned I don't say things I don't mean even if it's not what you want to hear But I will tell you this you guys are an outstanding
049school board and you do your work in a way That's so top-notch and professional Unfortunately, that's not the case across the board. It's not a given You know, we have a lot of school boards that are engaged deeply in culture wars We have a lot of superintendents that are engaged in those conversations We have a lot of school boards that are so political that they're so Distracted from the work of the day and they're so engaged in the political Issues that are out there So they're not focused on what they need to be focused on and unfortunately That tends to cause them to hire superintendents that might share some of their political views and that's Comes first and then their ability to do the job comes second And so when people were asking why such
050turnover well because the hiring process is flawed I think the process for electing school board members is flawed I think when you need 50 signatures and not be a felon and live in a school district area for one year I don't think that that prepares a school board. I think it's saying brain We've been fortunate because we go through a lot of work Beforehand and people like you that choose to be on a school board You come here because you care about kids and you care deeply about kids and again That's not the case and so we had these conversations We we talked deeply about it and you know what I heard from all of these folks is You know our enrollments declining. We're trying to figure out how to manage our budgets We've got
051a teacher shortage and it was it was really a moment where I felt like I needed to stop the Conversation and and say if you and public education are going to continue to perseverate on all of the things you cannot do Then you will continue to be ill-equipped to do them You have to start focusing on our students and you have to start focusing on either you have the capacity to do the job or you don't and if you don't it's incumbent upon you to step away because you can't just occupy a seat and Expect things to happen and the job is really really hard and the job of a board is really really hard We've gone through probably the most difficult two and a half years that you can go through in this job
052you know, but But the results are clear you see the work that our students are doing and so it's this long-winded way of saying hats off to all of you for being really dedicated and focused and I'm enjoying the conversations tomorrow. I'm going to be part of a group of about a hundred people in Colorado that will be meeting with the Denver Metro Chamber and the Denver Economic Corporation economic development and our charge is going to be What's next for Colorado and I was fortunate enough to be asked to represent public education in that conversation with mostly business and corporate leaders and It's going to be an interesting conversation as we try to continue to bring business and corporate and education together you know, there are so many conversations we need to be having and
053We have been distracted so much in the last two and a half years By conversations that are really really just challenging so the other thing getting back to a less Focused area and something that could be perceived as challenging the band night the other night I have heard and I've seen tweets and just was probably an incredible night with so many of our bands So many of our students reflective of all of the work that is happening with our teachers and our staff And our students and you know I know some of you were there Jackie and others that you might want to say something But it was a great night. Did you want to reflect on that at all? Well, it was a beautiful evening. Are we started with the unified band playing drumline
054playing first? Which is amazing unified has been really fun to watch this year both in The band night and in unified bowling which happens every Monday afternoon and then for the first time In band night history all of the bands played together at the very end and it was beautiful And it was just a really to see the community Come out for all of our students who participate in in the arts and to share that kind of evening and community event is What really? makes you pause and Understand how impressive public education is and how important it is to our communities. So it was just a great evening I'd like to really thank all of our athletic directors and our high school principals and our performing arts our band teachers and Chase McBride who organized
055all of that because it's no easy feet getting all of those students there that evening But they did an outstanding job bringing those students together for that event. I think I got a text message from chase after the event and he was Really fired up good good job back there chase you do do great work as well So thank you and I did appreciate the text and it was packed packed house. So that's great Just to close up, you know, we had a couple of positions that we're looking to fill that aren't yet open but they will be open at the end of the year one is our planning director and one is our payroll manager and What we like to do oftentimes is hire a little bit earlier so that they can spend time
056with the current person so we're able to hire a really experienced planning director from Pooter School District who's been in the job for a while and so he will come on board and work alongside of Scott Tillian and Do a few months getting finding the specifics around st Rain and getting acclimated and so we're very excited about that. We're in the process of interviewing new payroll manager and Linda won't be Retiring till the end of the school year, but again, we like to have those smooth Transitions so and we still continue to get Todd and his team get are getting great applicants for these positions So we're excited about that and I think I'll stop there. All right. Thanks Thank you, Don You know if I can just reply that this board is a beneficiary
057of a great inheritance I think as a board we our most important work is to hire The best superintendent we can possibly have and none of us here. We're part of that process. Well, maybe no not even Joey So All I can say is in in reply to that. It's a symbiotic relationship You know and and we just appreciate you so much. I speak for the board. I know that so thank you Okay next on the agenda You know before we move on I just want to check in Ethan Do you have any observations or you want to have any questions about the process or what you're hearing tonight? Well, yeah, I just wanted to thank you guys. It sounds like I'm fortunate enough to be in a district with a very Dedicated board and
058I just wanted to thank you guys for that. Well, thank you for being a dedicated student Next on the agenda. We have reports. I Believe it's Tony 2022 23 first quarter public gifts to schools report Good evening. I know Greg normally gives this report to the board He sends his regrets. He's sick tonight. So I'm filling in so it's my pleasure tonight to report the 2022 23 first quarter public gifts to schools. That's the first quarter of our fiscal year So that's the months of July August and September This report recognizes the generous contributions from the community from individuals and businesses in the district to our district schools to help support the Unparalleled education that we're giving our students and make that happen make that possible this quarter we were able to recognize almost $140,000
059in contributions from individuals and businesses and I'd like to just take a moment to recognize a couple of those a few of these out One was from Longmont Estates Elementary PTO group. They can contribute more than $13,000 to support special education para educators field trips and teacher supplies on the supplement programming down there they We also were able to receive two donated vehicles for the Career and Tech Education Center The automotive programming down there Ready mix contributed more than $5,000 to meet high school for choir and band programming staff Toyota provided a gift of more than $70,000 for district-wide needs and then Northrop Northrop Grummond Donated more than $5,700 for summer stem programming at the Innovation Center Again overall is more than a hundred and almost hundred forty thousand dollars Across more than a hundred
060individual donations. I just wanted to make sure we acknowledge all of those donations there in the board packet We can see all the all the even even the small amounts of the hundred dollars or so Are just greatly appreciated and we wanted to extend our generous or thank you for that generosity Thank you, Tony. Do board members have any comments or questions? It's Exceptional thank you for that report and thank you to our community for their generosity Next on the agenda. We have consent items Would board members wish to pull any items from consent this evening? Okay, with that I will ask for a motion for approval seven point one staff terminations and leaves seven point two approval staff appointments 7.3 approval minutes for the September 14th, 2022 regular meeting September 21st 2022 study session
061in September 28th, 2022 regular meeting 7.4 approval purchase of service now software licenses 7.5 approval contract of professional services 7.6 approval food purchase with Gold Creek foods 7.7 approval fee adjustment number three to consultant contract at Central Elementary School 7.8 approval amendment to CMCG contract for the Northridge elementary renovation project 7.9 approval amendment to CMCG contract for the hygiene elementary renovation project 7.10 approval change order number two to CMCG contract for the Indian Peaks Elementary Renovation School project seven point eleven approval second reading adoption of board policy JRA JRC student records release of information on students and Eight point. Oh, sorry, so moved. Thank you Okay Yes Mrs. Brooks absent. Mr. Garcia. Yes, mrs. Horanek. Yes, dr. Marder absent mrs. Ragland I miss egress. I Thank You Christy and Next we have action items first
0628.1 recommendation adoption of resolution proclaiming Classified school employees week October 17 through 21st 2022 Todd Thank you again president Ragland members of the board and super ended had dad It's my pleasure to bring forth the resolution for the recommendation for the approval of the proclamation proclamation that October 17 through the 21st 2022 be proclaimed classified employees week in the same Grand Valley schools. We have approximately 1,300 classified staff in the district many of our staff work in the schools as para educators community schools workers secretaries food nutrition workers campus supervisors and custodians just to name a few and then we have a number of support staffs that work in the district such As bus drivers technicians carpenters groundkeepers plumbers and other roles that help support the schools and departments All of these employees are critical
063to the success of our school district and as many as much as any other group of employees Classified employees are a valued and integral part of our school system and the work is vital to the success of our students So I'm proud to bring forth this proclamation and I believe that we're number Ranik is gonna read the proclamation. Is it right? All right resolution Classified school employees week October 17th through the 21st 2022 whereas classified school employees are an essential part of the st. Rain Valley school district's educational system and whereas classified employees are dedicated to assisting in the provisions of safe schools for the students of this district and Whereas the classified employees of our school district perform the daily cleaning Maintenance and delivery of school property safely transport students prepare and serve nourishing
064meals Maintain records and reports provide maintenance and support in the field of technology assisting classrooms and school playgrounds and perform a variety of other tasks on behalf of our students and Whereas we recognize the important role of classified school employees and the invaluable services they provide to students Now therefore be it resolved that the st. Rain Valley School District Board of Education proclaims October 17th through 21st 2022 as classified school employees week in the School district and urges all parents students and staff to join in saluting these dedicated men and women Thank You, Sarah. I Will ask for a motion to approve action item eight point one So moved and a second, okay Chico and Sarah Mr. Berthold. Yes, mrs. Brooks absent. Mr. Garcia. Yes, mrs. Horanek. Yes, dr. Martyr absent mrs. Raglan. I miss
065secrets. I great and action item eight point two recommendation adoption of resolution approving 2022 23 district employee membership and Colorado High School Activities Association Association Good evening, President Raglan board members. Dr. Dad. Thank you for having us tonight I'm here to ask for the adoption of the resolution that the Board of Education recognize the service of the individuals listed in front of you as really as a resolution to be within the scope of employment of the school district personnel and within the performance of those duties as employees of the school district as members of the board of directors of the Chassa or as a member of the Chassa committees Legislative Council or interscholastic activity League committees under Chassa Thank you, and I extend our appreciation for that Participation in Chassa of those members. I would
066ask board members for a motion to approve a point to So moved mr. Berthold. Yes, mrs. Brooks absent. Mr. Garcia. Yes, mrs. Horanek Yes, dr. Martyr absent mrs. Raglan. I miss secrets. I Next up is eight point three recommendation first reading and adoption to board policies BEC executive sessions GBA be workplace health and safety protection and GBJ personnel records records and files Tim good evening president Raglan Members of the board dr. Dad. I have some policies here that have been that the administration is recommending Amendments to and these are all due to recent changes in the law So with respect to board policy BEC covering executive sessions The policy has been modified to include a ninth type of matter that can now be discussed in executive session Negotiations concerning the terms of an employment contract
067with one or more superintendent finalists So the statute has been amended to include that Topic for discussion executive session and the policy has been adjusted accordingly board policy GBA be which is Covers workplace health and safety protection Has not likewise been modified to reflect changes in the statute It's the term public health emergency has been removed from the policy because Senate bill 2297 modified the Protected health safety expression and whistle-blowing law called the few act and Basically what they've done is they've extended the protections for health and safety whistle-blowing Beyond just those matters that are related to a public health emergency so likewise the statute the policy has been reflected to Change to reflect that modification and then finally board policy GBG regarding personnel records and files The definition of personnel files Under the open
068records law has been modified to include the dates specific dates of an educator's absence. That's designed to protect Educators a little bit given kind of the heightened sense of scrutiny. They've been receiving over the last few years so again that change in the statute has required a change in our policy and These three policies because they are changes that are mandated by the recent changes the law will require only one reading So they will become They will not be brought back for a second reading and they'll be effective upon majority vote of the board Thanks to many questions Okay, I would ask for a motion to approve eight point three recommendation first reading and adoption to board policies be C GBA be GBJ second Mr. Berthold. Yes, mrs. Brooks absent. Mr. Garcia. Yes, mrs. Horanek.
069Yes, dr Marder absent mrs. Raglan. I miss secrets. I and Tim is still up for eight point four recommendation approval of second reading adoption to board policy be a electronic participation in school board meetings This this policy change came for the board at the last regular meeting Normally a second reading like this might be put on the consent agenda, but because of the the board's Amendment to the policy at the last meeting we're bringing here before the board as an action item this change again was simply to provide a definition of exigent circumstances to obviate the need of a Board member explaining those exigent circumstances on the record at a public meeting And then it also includes the amendment which removes The requirement that the board member call the superintendent for the amendment last meeting.
070Thank you, Tim And again, as you said we went through this last board meeting Any questions? Okay, then I'd ask for a motion to approve eight point four So moved mr. Berthold. Yes, mrs. Brooks absent. Mr. Garcia. Yes, mrs. Horanek Yes, dr. Marder absent mrs. Ragland. Hi miss egress. I thank you Thank you, and our next agenda item is discussion items. We have one 9.1 conflict of interest discussion. We have Tony Hi. Hi. Good evening. So this is a little housekeeping item. We wanted to make sure we were disclosing properly. This is regarding policy a GP a conflict of interest so per board policy, we want to make sure we disclose any potential conflicts of interest for any Relationship with an employee who is working in the district and their relationship to any vendor that
071we may be doing business with This was an approved conflict of interest that was brought forward for the board and approved on August 24th Just this this past August And that was approved up to a limit of $5,000 and this Was for a company called hisco the individuals name Was Nancy his slop and her husband is a part-time delivery driver for nutrition services. And so She's providing screen printing t-shirts products for a meat elementary and that approval was done back in August for a limit of about $5,000 since that time Meet elementary has asked that she provide some additional t-shirts that would exceed that $5,000 limit. And so Per that agreement back in August. We needed to bring that back forward to the board after discussing it with Tim and Greg We thought it not
072needed to be an action item But just a discussion to disclose since the item was already approved under the previous the previous conflict of interest exception Thanks, Tony. Do board members have questions? Chico Tony. Thanks for bringing that up. I'm wondering if Sorry, I forget the names of the sure it was the company's names has lot. Okay I'm wondering if the real in relationships is with her husband is a delivery driver the district. Is there any Is there any? More of a connection to meet elementary for her driver than any other of our schools in the in the system. Is there we did Some extensive correspondence with her and she did make she actually used the term She's not even sure her husband knows where meet elementary is What she explained is that he works
073for nutrition services and he really goes to multiple Locations and delivers food to the kitchens directly never interacts with any other staff members Not not with any of the students or anything like that and then just back to the central warehouse does those drivers? routes Thanks Tony, how much of an increase what did we talking about the initial the initial Transaction back in August was less than $5,000. I think it was I think it was $35 to $4,000 This second one was $4,500. So the combination of those two is just under $9,000 then one of the Potential that they'll come back again That remains to be seen and that's something that we'll keep an eye on and we can certainly come back to the board if they Come back once again and exceeds the another
074$5,000 limit. So this is just to Approve this one. There's one more one-time purchase. Yeah, this is a disclose that they are Exceeding the originally authorized $5,000 limit that was approved in August. That's right Thank you And they did have an exemption last year in the 21-22 year And so this 22-23 exemption back in August was their second And so we just wanted to make sure that was that was clear Any other questions? Okay well conflict of interest we take very Seriously in this district and thank you for providing the background and the information as well as what you didn't go through and what we know well your very detailed process to vet any vendor in the District and any relationships that they may have so thank you. Sure. Thank you Tim any legal considerations
075you'd like to add I Was just going to say in this particular instance given the the in talking to Greg who handles the request for waivers There really was no concern that there was any Control over mead's decision to order from this particular vendor by this delivery driver But we would like to keep I think his goal was to have the board informed so that we're as transparent as possible Thank you, we appreciate that transparency and That is the last item only until adjournment But before we do that, I just like to check in with Ethan one more time any other thoughts or share with us any You've got the superintendent. You've got the Board of Education. We're all yours Well, I just wanted to thank you guys for having me out again. It's been
076really good opportunity to sit in on this meeting and see what you guys go through just to Make sure that the students in your district are successful and I really appreciate that Thank you and any shout out to fans or a family or friends? No family members here tonight, but I wanted to thank my mom and dad getting me out the door on time and everything Yeah, thank you and best of luck to you in your final year of high school and wherever you may go next year Thank you Okay, our next meeting is Wednesday, October 19th It's a study session at the Main Street School from 6 to 8 and then our next regular board meeting is Wednesday, October 26th There's no further business until we meet again. So I will ask for a
077motion to adjourn So moved and a second all in favor. I