001Good evening and welcome to the st. Vrain Valley schools board of education meeting. Please join us in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance Good evening everyone Christie can you please call the roll this evening? Mr. Aarons present. Mr. Berthold President mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Martyr present. Ms. Pierce here. Mrs. Ragland here. Mrs Here, thank you Christy and were there any addendums or changes to the agenda this evening? No, thank you right Agenda item 6.1. This evening is the Lions middle senior high school student advisory council feeder report with the board's agreement I would like to move that agenda item up and go ahead and have them present now so that they can get home and Start some homework any opposition from the board? Great. Thank you. Then Brian if you'd like to introduce the Lions
002middle senior Advisory board great a report welcome. Thanks. Thank you very much. Madam president board of education. Dr Haddad, thank you for your time this evening and Thank you for the opportunity to highlight the Lions feeder system I'd like to introduce the administrative team as they come in here On my far right your far left is David Glover the Dean of Students Colleen Ford the assistant principal athletic director and then on the other side here, mr Andrew Moore the principal of Lions elementary school and then dr. Andrea Smith principal of Lions middle senior This administrative team is one of the most creative hard-working and dedicated teams I've had the privilege of working with in my career They are passionate not only about the students in schools in Lions, but the Lions community itself Andrea and
003Andrew are a great team and they work hard to make The experience for students from pre-k all the way through post-secondary a great one And I'm proud to chance to have the chance to work with this team So I'm going to turn it over to dr. Smith and mr. Moore at this time Hello. Hi I'm gonna plug this in and have that moment of panic where technology might not work. It will work perfectly I'm certain and I appreciate I have a lot of homework tonight. So thank you for bumping us up. You do have homework All right. I want to make sure it's ready. We have a green. Oh, there we go. Perfect. All right. Hello It's so great to be here in person It's been a it's been a while since we've been able
004to see you in person and I just want to start by just saying thank you I love that our district highlights different feeders and gives us the opportunity to come talk about all the great things Going on in our feeder and thank you to dr. Haddad with your great leadership through the last couple years That strong leadership and that strong vision that you have for our district is fantastic So thank you. And also I want to say thank you and farewell to Paula and John I don't know same brain without you on the board. I've been in this district for seven years And so it's definitely going to be different to see new board member faces up there, but I appreciate all of your service So, thank you. All right, and then finally, I want
005to thank Brian Brian is our steadfast leader of our area and He is one that lets us be as creative as we want to be but also sometimes reigns us in and says hold on Let's have a conversation. So Brian. Thank you so much. We appreciate you And you know, I'm I always say whenever I get in front of the board I'm honored to be a principal in st. Vrain It's really a special place and I'm even more honored to be and in the Lions feeder the Lions community is So unique and so amazing and every day we sort of pinch ourselves and say do we really get to be school leaders? In this amazing and small community We designed our presentation tonight to really hear the authenticity of the student voice We know that
006our students haven't been able to present to the board in a while So we want their voices to shine through Andrew and I are going to do a quick intro Give you some highlights of what's going on in our buildings and then we'll hand it over to the students All right. So you see this hashtag if you're on Twitter small and mighty. It's really important to what we do Anytime I get a group of people in a room I say it over and over the and is all capitalized because we're mighty because of our small size It's not in spite of our small size and what's so great about Lions is we have this small school Community and a small school feel but we have all the resources and the amazing support of a large
007district and that includes things like Technology and access to technology It includes things like an amazing counseling team that's supported by our district leadership and it also includes amazing things like this auditorium Get excited. That was my best game show voice We this is the biggest thing going on in our in our building right now because it's right on The edge of being open and we are so so excited. We're so thankful to the same brain community For for voting for education and basically saying we want to support you. This auditorium is going to be beautiful I want to thank Brian Lamar. He came to a design advisory group Meeting about halfway into the design and he challenged us He said how are you going to make the Lions auditorium a place of innovation and
008I was like, how do you make an auditorium innovative? I don't know and we did So I'm not going to show you pictures because it's not quite done and I want you to see it When it's all done and we do our ribbon cutting but we have windows that face the mountain view As a part of the auditorium with rolling shades so that we can have that mountain view That's so so characteristic of Lions and then also All of the the auditorium seats are closer than a normal auditorium to the front and it's a wider stage So it gives you that intimate feel that's so characteristic of our community and our connectedness. So we're really proud of that space And the other thing I want you to know and then I'll stop talking I promise
009Andrew The other thing I want you to know is we switched to a block schedule this year for our high school So we are now on an alternating block that aligns with our entire system and we're really proud of that work Immediately this the number of students engaging in Innovation Center CETC and pTeach programs Increased we went from two and a half percent to sixteen percent From May of one year to August of the next year, she's excited about it And we're really excited about that The other thing it allows us to do is have that that depth with our students and that really we really dig in with students Now that we have them for 90 to 95 minutes In each class period and we're incredibly proud of that organizational change That was a
010big move for our school and the pandemic allowed us to do it It allowed us to lean in and say what's really going to be best to be connected to our students And then finally we had our open house on Monday We had a packed house. We tried we worked really hard to be COVID safe. We had lots of breakout rooms But it was incredible to see our community come out Andrew was there with a future ninth grader. So get excited about that I don't know how that happened And it was a really wonderful night for our community. So without further ado, I'll let Andrew talk a little bit about the elementary Thank you. Dr. Smith and thank you to the entire board and leadership team. It is a pleasure to serve in this district
011This is my ninth year as a principal at Lyons Elementary School And I'm so proud of these students who are about to speak I had the distinct privilege of being their principal for a number of years and they've just continued to blossom and grow and just Make me so proud. I just a little bit tickled. So and it's been wonderful to work with you for these past years, too Dr. Smith, it's it's a joy for sure you know one of the things that I want to add to the level of Appreciation is to some of our folks from curriculum and development back there we've been lucky to be a part of a dyslexia accelerator program for the past number of years and we have Relentlessly pursued a deeper understanding of the science of learning Our
012teachers have spent so much time not just studying but implementing. We've had a lot of walkthroughs observations to really craft a Program that gets all kids proficient by third grade and we believe it's in sight and we are so proud of that work We've just learned so much with the district team and they continue to astound me in terms of their level of support engagement intelligence and follow through so it's been a real joy Professionally to learn and grow so much as a leader and I'm happy to say that we're a part of a math a math task force Which is emerging we're going to do the same level of deep and persistent work to transform our understanding of how students learn math and then promote Really strong conceptual understanding procedural fluency and application over
013the next couple of years Our teachers are so rock-solid on reading now and we're excited to advance our practice in mathematics It's again a professional privilege to work in this district and our students are really reaping the benefits as well as our teaching staff Beyond that kind of super disciplined approach to understanding and promoting academic excellence We're so proud of the science and leadership program. We've developed I mean we have 20% just about of high school students who participate in this and what this program is is Every grade level has a standards-based project that they work on throughout the course of the school year That ends in a demonstration of learning at the end of the year where students get to speak about Understand and present to the community Topics that they've been pursuing through
014inquiry work in the community So for example in second grade students are asking right now How can we grow enough food to feed the school a salad for a day or in fifth grade? How do we understand? communicate Synthesized data around the health of our river systems all this work is authentic and it's community-based which increases engagement Exponentially the minute you give a kid an opportunity to make a difference in their local environment their level of buy-in Accelerates and they see their high school mentors support that work through planning development and execution on a monthly basis really Mobilizes the entire community towards these common goals and it's been so joyful to watch this program flourish and to have the support of the High school students. I'm just telling you I'm tickled and it's and it's
015something I'm proud of and it's something I think our students will speak about really clearly and And we'd like to turn it over to them I think All right. So we split the presentation into two with the students So Maya soul Rooney Casey Knapp and Cassidy bats will come up and talk about science and leadership and then Cambria Burton and Cole Thomas will come up and talk about academic excellence and student engagement So Maya Casey and Cassidy come on up. Hi everyone. I'm Casey Knapp I'm a senior this year and I've been in the Lions feeder system since first grade First of all, I'd just like to say thank you guys so much for having this opportunity I know I speak for all of us when I say this is something pretty new to us,
016but it is very exciting and We are really appreciative that we get to come here and talk to you guys To talk a little bit more about science and leadership It is an interactive and hands-on Opportunity where we get to teach elementary schoolers about science and build their leadership skills We go every late start and we have meetings every Monday and There is about 36 high school students ages 9 through or sorry grades 9 through 12 to teacher advisors and our very own miss Ford Each grade level is you has two science leaders and two Leadership leaders as well as a social and emotional leader that helps any kids who might be struggling and just kind of eases that divide At the very end of the year in May there is going to be a
017presentation that encapsulates All the work that the grade has done. I think mr. Moore talked about it a little bit and that will be in our brand new auditorium in Collaboration with the Ecology Board Riverwatch and all fifth grade leaders, which is really exciting and something really new Yeah, I'd like to give it to Maya to talk a little bit more about that Hello, my name is Maya Rooney. I am in a 12th grade So I'm a senior as well I've been in the Lions feeder system since I was in first grade and I think something that makes the science and leadership Program so very unique is our cycle of leadership that we build so it starts in first grade Or just the elementary school in general where as the elementary school grows and they
018go to different grade levels So do the leaders so for example last year I helped the fourth grade Students and now I'm helping the fifth grade students I stay within those same students and that same community and this way we as Leaders really get to see how these kids are passionate how they learn best what their little quirks are and we get a form Not only just a mentor and student relationship But a relationship that is much closer and much more representative of what our community is and then if those students decide Decide to stay within the feeder system in freshman year They can then become leaders at the science and leadership level within the high school club and they can become leaders and go back to the elementary school and really get to see
019both sides of that same coin and get To see the impact of their work because now they don't only see it as leaders as we have During the beginning of this program But they get to see what it means to be taught under this program and then become a leader in this program and it really shows The impact of what they are doing and we don't get to see that as much but in the past several years We've been seeing that start of cycle of leadership, which is very unique. I'm gonna hand it off to Hi, my name is Cassidy bats. I'm a senior at Lyons High School I've been in the feeder program up to like KCMI for a very long time since preschool science and leadership You know it it gives you so
020many skills for the future in your life. And I think I mean overall we've become better leaders Through our everyday life because of this program It's given us skills that we will continue to use not only in our professional future, but our everyday lives We've developed problem-solving skills that help support students and activities that we lead as well as communication skills that allow us to ensure All students are taught in the best way possible I'm gonna go ahead and pass it off to Cole and Cambria and they're gonna talk about academic excellence and student engagement. Thank you Everyone. How's it going? Good good. Okay Well, I'm Cole Thomas I am a junior and I have been in the feeder program since preschool so 13 years A big part of academic and excellence in our feeder
021program is concurrent enrollment online classes and the CETC slash IC so all of these allow for flexibility in your schedule and lots of counselor support Which is very useful if you have a busy schedule like me It allows us to take electives we prefer while getting advanced classes, too so I actually took online Spanish through the FLVS virtual schools last year and it was very nice because I was able to work out work at my own pace and I Didn't really have to you know sit in a classroom. I could just kind of sit at home at my desk and just Work on my Spanish, you know Another important thing in academics and excellence is having opportunities to make a difference in the local community a Great example of this is the Lions Leo Club,
022which I'm a part of although this isn't School sponsored a lot of people from Lions High School Go to lot go to Leo Club and it's very available for them to go there We do all sorts of volunteering in Leo Club like a couple weeks ago. We cleaned up Highway 7 we've planted trees in the local cemetery We've helped knit blankets for people in need and give them gift baskets and it's just a Great way to get involved in the community There are a lot of connections Between elementary and middle schools and us of course These of course include science and leadership, which they talked about The cheer squad went to the went to the elementary schools monster mash Monster mash and just you know danced at the monster mash There's athletic and activity camps
023Which include of course like cheer for you know young elementary schoolers who want to get into cheer? There are bands and choirs performing together so there are four bands in Mine's middle senior high school. There's the middle school beginning band the middle school advanced band the high school band and the high school jazz band and Regularly they all perform together, and it's a great way for Us older students to help out with The younger our younger bandmates like I've seen a bunch of our percussionists Fill in for the younger bands because they don't have enough people they're in robotics and computer science Our high school teacher who teaches both of those works together with middle and high schools parents to get that going and to keep students engaged and With that I will pass it
024on to Cambria I'm a junior at Lyons. I've been in the same theater for quite a while I'm here to talk about the academic excellence and student engagement that comes with a small-school community So we have a very small community which helps people Be accountable because everyone knows everyone pushes them to be the best they can be Everyone is seen like I feel like students don't fall through the cracks, so you can get what you need because people can see you At Lyons At Lyons Elementary every day all the students have an eye block period Which is a carved out time where students get individualized support and they're learning and development, which I think is really cool and interesting What's great about small schools is students have the opportunity to be a part of sports
025music and clubs You know like all these wonderful opportunities Sponsors and coaches work together and support students goals if they want to be in multiple things they usually Figure out how to best do that We are small and mighty. Thank you board members. Do you have any questions for our student advisory members? Thank you. You guys did a great job. Thank you so much. I do board members have any questions or comments Would you like to John? Thank you very much Your community is completely united. I had the opportunity to get up there last week Thank you for your time. It was on science day in fact and so you guys were outside the elementary schools I think Andrew was coming off of the brook Just after I arrived which was neat to see What
026really excited me today was your Engagement and you know following the st. Vrain storm. I think you really Had a perfect storm with the block scheduling to hear you're increasing your Personalized schedules for the CDC and the Innovation Center is remarkable and so that I learned today And I thank you for sharing that as far as you students You've got some big worlds ahead of you And you know you have shown that you're ready to take it on and so I'm I'm honored to hear you and thank you very much for coming Of course so Cole I have full transparency when you you first introduced yourself I was very distracted by the sunset in the picture You guys have the best view up there at lines We have amazing views from many many many schools,
027but with you all being up in the foothills So my apologies for that. I think you guys did You guys did an incredible job of capturing You know I try not to bring my my personal experiences up here to the dais But in this case I am going to break that rule because my daughter is a recent graduate of Alliance middle senior She was open enrolled there, and you guys absolutely Captured the essence of her experience perfectly You know I was taking notes. You know Cassidy Maya and Casey you all talked about science and leadership I love how you said that we're all leaders and every day. We have an opportunity to lead So so true you also talked you know about the strength of small and mighty Absolutely, and then Cole and Cambria you
028talked about connections academic excellence and student engagement And there is absolutely an opportunity for every student to engage at lines middle senior you guys captured the heart of it Beautifully I wonder do you have any any parents or family members here that you might like to introduce? That I'm positive must be very proud parents or loved ones or friends Where's dad hi dad Great and oh cool. Do you have somebody here? No, oh, okay. I thought you were stepping up to introduce somebody my apologies and then we have some seniors Do you guys have an interest in talking about what you think you might want to do next year and no pressure if you don't? Cole is much taller than me. I intend to attend a four-year college Hopefully majoring in film and media studies
029classic classical studies or theater Fun and very similarly. I also hope to attend a four-year college Either majoring in theater or something STEM based. I haven't decided yet I also hope to pursue a four-year college studying wildlife biology That's great. You know it is a little unfair of me to ask that at this point in the game, right? It's only awkward. It's only is it not it's November. Is it November? Oh my goodness Yes, so thank you so much all of you Andrea and Andrew Thank you so much for your leadership and lions We're grateful and we'll look forward to seeing you in the very near future for the grand opening of the auditorium Yes, thank you to all of you. Enjoy your evening All right, that brings us back to agenda item 3 which
030is our visitors and specifically 3.1 Don which is a superintendents excellence in education award Hi, and Axel do you want to come on up and bring everybody with you? Just want to point out. It's a tough gig following the Lions group So I was really wonderful to hear and it's wonderful here what they're doing because they're one of the partners in the work that we did Yeah Thank you very much. Dr. Haddad for Having us here tonight to recognize this special project that we've been working on for several years Thank you to the board and all the district leadership as well Not only for your interest tonight, but the ongoing support that we've had for four years to do this kind of work I want to echo what Andrea said about Paula and John Both
031of you for many years Really admire your commitment to our community by serving on the board will miss your presence on the board But we know you'll still be actively involved with the district with our community So wish you the best and look forward to future conversations The northern red-bellied days recovery project exemplifies our district's vision of providing students with both a strong educational foundation As well as meaningful opportunities for innovation It also illustrates the value of having a compelling vision powered by thoughtful planning hard work and the collaboration of like-minded partners The vision which resulted in the summers culminating event, which was the release of over 800 fishlings raised during the summer Had its start in a conversation over three years ago between dr. Mickey McCombs cobsa Mac cobsa and myself After some prior
032collaborations we were amusing about how we might bring truly transformative opportunities to St. Vrain students After reflecting on the popular trout in the classroom program, which incidentally is done at Lyons Elementary and was an inspiration for this project And this project is where students raise and release trout fishlings into the river We decided to take things to another level by focusing on a local species the northern red-bellied days The nerds as we call them and this is the nerd nerds over here Are indigenous to the portion of the St. Vrain which runs through Longmont and are listed by the state of Colorado as an endangered species They were particularly impacted by the floods of 2013 successfully Raising them in captivity in St. Vrain Valley schools would be both challenging as well very meaningful for our
033community So once we set this vision a lot of planning and hard work was put into motion Including a trip down to Colorado parks and wildlife state fish hatchery applying for grants purchasing equipment The most difficult part of this experience by far was responding to the closure of our schools due to kovat the adult fish literally arrived from the hatchery a days before the closure and You can imagine how difficult it was for us to decide what to do and how to care for these fish Well, we had no idea if we could even be in the buildings Little Mac and Mickey know that they're going to become proud foster parents of over 40 fish By taking two tanks into their basement and over the course of that summer Those two tanks became six and
034then eight plus a horse trough and the result while they raised over 1,000 baby fish in their basement Who says this is a tankless task? Our Collaboration grew to include the Rooney family from Lyons, Colorado Who provided a pond on their property for us to release the first batch of fish into as Webster pond where they currently are? Latest release was done was not available We had multiple student project teams from the Innovation Center and from Lyons Middle Senior High School We had graduate students from the University of Colorado and most recently the Denver Zoo in the left-hand Watershed Center are joining our team This has been a very rewarding experience for all of us. We're very grateful for the recognition tonight I'd like to introduce the partners and have the recognition Our first partners
035ocean first Institute represented by dr. Mickey McComb Copsa Well, thank you. This has definitely been a labor of love and I do feel like a fish mama after having them in my basement It's a it's a you know conservation really is Something that requires us to do something bigger than ourselves and to look towards the future and that's exactly what this project has become and the future is the students and to see the students that have been involved in this project to Learn how to care for these fish and to care for species that are imperiled has been just really incredible And I'm excited to see where the project goes as it grows and I'm really excited that st Had the leadership and the vision to allow the doors to open to this project because
036it's not really Typical and I think it's really been a success. And so I'm really grateful. Thank you Just want to mention this is one of multiple collaborations with dr. Mickey And ocean first Institute they are and she is really a treasure and a resource for our community So thank you. Thank you for everything you do for our students Our second partner is Boulder County Parks and Open Space represented by Mac Cobra Well, I will be succinct. I'm just been thinking of all the upper the Relationships and opportunities and achievements. We've already had in this project and it continues to grow I just want to say I think one of the one of the main things we were trying to do with this project was to create meaningful ways for students to engage in environmental
037conservation and Create perhaps pathways for further opportunity and ladders of success for students in the sciences, especially in resource conservation Wildlife biology being one of them and also at the same time There's a we have a strong mission at Parks and Open Space to recover species of special concern Fish are among them. You don't see them. They're under the water. They're not like elk. They're not charismatic, especially the small native fish. So I Think this project highlights a unique fauna that we have in Colorado these are endemic native species just like an elk or a bighorn sheep and Students are having a meaningful impact to reintroduce them into the wild and this cannot happen without Community collaboration and citizen science at this scale. So I'm really excited to see this grow continue perhaps the Whatever
038comes beyond the red-bellied days I'm excited about but let's work with the days and see them Return to the wild and a natural reproducing population in the same brain Creek and we can say our students in our local community did this together Thank you Mac didn't mention the next species we're thinking about that includes frogs toads dragonflies And I will never forget you all know Patty, of course And when I first introduced the idea of Patty bringing another fish tank into our robotics classroom And she's she's pretty flexible that even her eyes got kind of big Our third partner is Colorado Parks and Wildlife represented by Boyd Wright and his partner Ben Swigle, but is not able to be here tonight All right. Thank you Boyd Thank you Yes, so Fancy, so I'm the the
039regional native aquatic species conservation biologists for the state for Colorado Parks and Wildlife and one of the really challenging yet Paramount pieces to conservation of our native species Really involves this education and outreach and community engagement component, but as an aquatic biologist That's really difficult for me to do so. I'm really here today just to express gratitude These really fine people they work really hard. They had an incredible vision that was seemed almost impossible to me when I first heard about it Yet, it's been really impressive to see how they brought that vision to light And implemented it so a huge. Thank you to them. I really appreciate all your hard work Our next partner is Lions Middle Senior High School represented by Colleen Ford who will also introduce some of the Lions students involved
040Thank You Axel Thank You Axel and thanks for having us today. I think what has been so instrumental for me in this project is that st. Vrain Valley schools bring communities together and What I mean by a community you just heard from Lions Middle Senior High School and how our community is so very close But looking at all these different people back here and their dedication to our community as a greater whole Has been inspirational for me and for all of the students involved And I am honored to be a part of it and and honored to give these students an opportunity to understand What conservation is and at the fish release Mickey said something dr. Mickey said Conservation is love and it's a love for your community. It's a love for your home And
041that's that's what we've we've learned So I want to introduce Cassidy Bats who you already heard from but she also is a part of this project Thank You miss Ford. Like I said before my name is Cassidy Bats. I'm a senior at Lions High School I've been a part of the Northern Reveille days program since the beginning which is really exciting I've got to watch it grow and succeed. I hope to pursue wildlife biology in the future So this program has not only given me the opportunity to learn more on that topic But also have the opportunity to work in the field and learn in the non-traditional environment I have been so honored to be a part of this program and I hope to see it continue to thrive. Thank you Cassidy I appreciate you
042sharing your future plans. One of our next step goals for this is to develop that talent pipeline and workforce Readiness career readiness for students who have a passion like yours Providing internships other work-based learning opportunities connections with the universities and things too. So best of luck in your studies And come back and visit us Our final partner is the Innovation Center represented by Jamie Snyder and she will also introduce a student some students and a staff member Thank you so much Common theme tonight is definitely that idea of giving back to the community and that's what this is all about is How can we be impactful and be helpful and beneficial for our community? And so this project has taken these students outside of their comfort zone I started with a team that really liked
043electronics and Robotics and they thought that they were just gonna be building sensors to collect water quality data And instead I was like, oh no, all the data is also out in the field So in addition to these fish tanks, which we now house at the Innovation Center and they have helped breed throughout COVID and throughout the summer program They've also been out in the field at Rooney Pond So you did meet Maya Rooney her parents were very helpful with letting us on their property as well as being at Webster Pond Which Boulder County parks and open space has said is this idea of a living laboratory? Where students can get outside and realize that there's so much more to learn outside of the classroom walls and there's so much data to Collect and so
044much to learn and they even see Just common people in our community walking by enjoying the open space and we have these very bright vest That axle is so nice to buy for us so everyone sees us and they stop and asks us questions and what are we doing and The students are about to tell you what they do. So I'm going to introduce Matteo has recently joined the Project and then Jenna Watson who has been with us since the start My name is Matteo I've only been I recently joined this project and I'm a senior at Niwot High School. I I'm not great at talking. So please forgive me for anyways, the um, I really just wanted to talk about how What an overwhelmingly Positive experience it's been for me so far in this
045group. I mean, I've I've met new people. I've made new friends and from the very start I was Struck with how well organized it was and how nice everybody was and I've learned so many new things, too That I never would have been able to in any other school district Turbidity I can measure turbidity now As he said turbidity that's if you don't know what turbidity is it's how clear the water is It's a one of the data It's one of the many fields of data that we collect we also collect things like conductivity, so how conductive the water is as well as pH which is the Like levels of water it all tells us how healthy the ecosystem in the water is in order for us to know What we need to do in
046order to help this ecosystem in order to have these fish actually thrive in the water that we are trying to reintroduce them to and Another as he said the community that we have it's very friendly. We I have fallen into the water twice I will say I'm not gonna make this up. I fell into the water mud. It quick mud is not fun But we are all techie nerds and geeks and stuff and we were pushed into this Wildlife where we have to trek through mud and take data samples and it's it's just an amazing experience And I'm very thankful to be a part of it I noticed that there's only one left And I do have to point out both of their parents are here tonight I have to thank their parents because they
047do drive them all over the place They do have home high schools And then they're asked to come to the Innovation Center sometimes out to Webster Pond sometimes out to Lions to Rooney Pond so it's all over the place and so it definitely takes a team effort And I do also want to introduce one of my co-workers another staff member at the Innovation Center Nate Wilcox He is part of the robotics group, which we also work with so tons of collaboration is going on here as you can see I don't get the automated thing That's okay. That's okay Thank you so much. I just wanted to thank you guys so much On behalf of the Innovation Center for supporting our program and many projects just like this Not just because of what they do for
048the students But I can speak for every teacher that I've worked with it's an amazing experience for us as well It's enriching to our lives. It makes coming to work so exciting every day We have genuinely come to work and have no idea what types of challenges We might face and what types of exciting solutions we might find so it's just really awesome from my perspective we're this these types of projects are ongoing because We can't stop here right progress is great. We want to continue to progress and so Some of the things that we've been working on in my classroom involve responsive automated solutions or systems like overflow alarms and leak sensors as well as Doing some research and development around winter breeding so that we can try and align the breeding cycle of
049this fish With the school year so that we could get more students involved and get more schools involved That's something that's super important to us. And thank you again for having us really appreciate it One other acknowledgment would be to acknowledge Patty can you own us as you know She is our assistant superintendent of innovation out here tonight. She I think is watching and Without Patty none of this really would have been there. She as you know as a visionary A perspective and Really gives a support when people have a passion like this group has had a passion and I know that is reflective of Our leadership across the district and the community. So again, thank you so much for allowing us to be here tonight to share and thank you For the recognition. Dr.
050Haddad Thank you Thank You Don That brings us to agenda item four, which is audience participation Are there any audience members here this evening who signed up to speak on an agenda item? All right, and dick then I think you just have non-agenda items on on the sign-up sheet. Is that correct? Is there anybody here to speak this evening that it hasn't signed up? All right. Thank you, dick the board of education values community perspectives and feedback from our parents teachers staff and community During board of education meetings The board will hear up to 30 minutes of public comment on non-agenda items and 30 minutes of public comment on agenda specific items To allow for the greatest minutes of public comment on agenda specific Pardon me to allow for the greatest number of community members
051to participate Each person will be limited to three minutes of public comment at the end of three minutes I will thank you and move on to the next speaker or the next agenda item If you're speaking this evening on a non agenda item Please limit your comments to matters of public concern about the district If you have a concern about a specific individual or personnel matter Please reach out directly to a board member dr. Haddad or the HR department and we will assist you with next steps It has been the long-standing practice of the board to not address or respond to public comments the public comment Section of the agenda, but please know that we are listening and we greatly appreciate and value the perspectives of our community This evening we have one speaker Stephen
052are you here and hi Stephen? I'm sorry. I don't know how to say your can you help me with your last name? Halleasey great so Stephen if you would like to please come up to the podium if you could state your name and your address and then We'll start timing your comment after you've done that and you'll have three minutes and thank you for joining us this evening Hi, so my name is Stephen Halleasey. I live in Firestone So I'd like to start out by first saying that I appreciate dr. Haddad hearing my concerns along with the principal of Coleridge Middle School where my daughter attends sixth grade Lisa Nybo And they were very responsive and you know They shared my concerns about the inappropriate nature of the lesson that my daughter was given by
053her language arts teacher I'd like to read part of that assignment today I'd like to read part of that assignment today, and I printed out some copies of it if you all would like to take a look But they're particularly there's a portion of it that I'd like to read which was Given as context of a video that was also attached to the slide so There's a definition in the slide entitled white privilege and The definition was given that by the teacher as the in question and unearned set of advantages entitlements Benefits and choices bestowed upon people solely because they're a white Generally white people who experience such privilege do so without being conscious of it and then it continues with a note White privilege doesn't mean that white people don't experience hardship or that
054they are spoiled It simply means that the difficulties and disadvantages they do experience are not because of their color of their skin I'd like to repeat that last part That the difficulties and disadvantages that they do experience are not because of the color of their skin I it's not it's impossible for that to happen And so I'd like to ask you rhetorically obviously, what is the lesson being taught here? And what do you think the children are taking from that lesson? From my viewpoint my daughter is being taught that because she is perceived to be white that it's impossible for her to be discriminated against Based on the color of her skin, which we all know is not correct She's also taught That white people alone are being singled out and separated from the group
055as the only people who cannot experience discrimination And I'd also like to pose to you What do we normally call it when we single out groups of people and make judgments of them based on the color of their skin? So over the over the course of the last several months parents have moved throughout the country to have their voices heard And to say that they will not stand for their children being taught biased subversive and racist lessons in their schools SVVSD Has recently added a banner on the board of education page specifically stating that our students curriculum does not include Critical race theory and while that may be true the school district still has teachers within it At least in this case that are teaching portions of that framework That make up CRT whether whether
056or not it's approved. They're obviously doing it For it to be claimed that that it isn't being taught I'd say is disingenuous at best I Believe that parents should be in charge of giving their children social lessons not schools and parents are responsible Thanks Brian Agenda item five this evening is the superintendent's report done Okay, thank you All right. I have a few things that I'll just try to run through relatively quickly You know one of the things we're very proud of in our grant writer Hillary Sontag she has Written grants to the tune of about going on 24 million dollars now in the last several years and she recently acquired another hundred thousand dollar grant to put towards stem and then a Couple of other grants to support our nutrition services program as well
057as our operations and maintenance and airflow program So that's a you know, it's almost hard to keep up with her she is so talented in the work that she does and the number of Corporations and businesses that we are working with continues to grow at a very fast pace And so we're very excited about that. We're well over 95 right now and continuing to climb and that includes internships and mentoring programs And apprenticeships and things along those lines I'm also very proud of a lot of our students who are selected for the Colorado all-state choir. It's a It's it's it's really incredible to see how many kids we have involved in the co-curricular arena with music and athletics and the arts and things but St. Rain will be very very well represented with a large
058number of all-state choir students The Frederick logo the you know that the name by per state law We were required by law to change the mascot at Frederick High School, and I will pass around this Logo of the Golden Eagle that Carrie McDermott and her team. It's the one that's circled and you can take a look at that I also want to read to you a few with new Meridian High School with the new principal there Just a number of incredible accomplishments They had their largest advanced placement psychology class running and students are engaged in the on-site p-teach program With many concurrently enrolled with CU Denver, and that's our grow your own teacher program that we have we also have one of two school districts in the entire state that were selected by Toyota and
059Lexus for the Elite program getting off the ground with the automotive department I went to their presentation and it will bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars And it will create a pipeline for our kids in automotive to go directly to college and then graduate and go right into jobs Making fifty sixty seventy thousand dollars a year Through Toyota and that program so very excited about that We have one of our teachers Andres Garcia He's a welding instructor is running for a national welding teacher award And he was selected as a December recipient for staff inspires I did mention to you the launch of the pre-law program there and then our front-range community college partnership continues to strengthen with more opportunities for our students and the work going on with the ag science program and
060the drone technology Programs that we're working on and the advanced manufacturing academy continues to thrive with many industry partners So just a lot of exciting things happening at New Meridian and the Career Development Center all of those programs Many of you were at the Education Foundation Gala it was a great event we had about 350 people there in person and another hundred or so virtually and a couple outstanding students spoke which was really powerful we had the Music group from Silver Creek High School there and just an incredible support from the community So I was very grateful and thank you all for for attending and thanks to the Education Foundation for their great work Veterans Day is tomorrow I will be at Long's Peak one of the reasons that we are excited about having school
061is we get to have so many celebrations across the entire system All of our school a lot of our schools are doing really powerful presentations putting up billboards Having veterans into the schools large assemblies where the students come in and recognize the great sacrifices that our veterans have made and It's it's a great source of pride in st. Brain if any of you have the opportunity I know that oftentimes you do almost always but I'll see you at the one that's I'm gonna go to Long's Peak tomorrow There are several throughout the district, but that should be an exciting time Leadership st. Brain we have that meeting coming up on Friday We have about 150 parents engaged and it's we're going through all types of topics. We covered finance We'll be covering legislative agenda items
062this time around and very appreciative of all the parents and the community coming together and then The next thing with our triple-a program we have about 1300 students participating after school with our teachers focusing on literacy and math and really advancing their academics and We are just really excited about the turnout and these are after school optional Opportunities, but kids are flooding into them and our teachers have been great in terms of the work that they're doing We're also launching our telecommunications for classes to start our pilot and that will provide the opportunity For our students to be able to take classes at other schools while they're still in their Existing school and not have to drive there. So if we only have let's say one World language offered at a school Kids from all
063the high schools can take it and they can log in virtually and get the credit and it's a great experience And so Michelle which one and kale Charles have worked very hard on that and that's one of the things that Really will advance our system because it provides opportunities for kids to take just about any class They want to take in the district and you know we're a unique district in that we allow kids to take eight classes and A lot of districts have reduced that because of their finances and other reasons but in fact a lot of districts only have school four days a week and That's something that you know I've oftentimes believed kids need to be in school for even more than five days and more time in the summer But I
064know that's not always the most popular thing But I'll tell you the way school is going now our summers are packed with students over the breaks that we have we have lots of reading challenges and lots of students participating in robotics and just a whole host of other things, so It's great work, and it's great to see our kids involved and our enrollment continues to climb we finished the October count, but we are we are busting out at the seams and our Open houses have been more crowded than ever before We have more parents coming into our open house Meetings at all of our schools than we have ever seen at least in my time over the past 14 years It's just an enormous rush of people and our we're just added another two preschool
065classes and continue to add staff For more and more students coming in we will be planning this summer Starting to plan for a future bond initiative Probably two years out still one of the nice things about the way in which our money and our finances have been Managed is we will be able to go for for a bond for well over three hundred million dollars without having to raise anybody's taxes and so that's a That's a really good deal, and it's a tribute to the great work that our community has done so Very excited about that and more to come it's still a long ways out, but we always start the planning Early on and with the number of kids we have coming to schools. It's it's gonna be very well Well needed so anyways.
066Thank you Thanks, Don appreciate it, and I'll see you tomorrow morning at Long's Peak That would great yeah, and then Paula will actually be talking about Board governance at leadership st. Vrain on Friday as well perfect. Thank you. Yeah All right that brings us to our consent items this evening and Todd I would like to give you an opportunity to come to the podium very excited this evening you will be Introducing Olga Cordero, and then Alvin Brown as well. I will thank you Thank you, and good evening president secrets members of the board and dr. Her dad I'm proud to introduce Her supervisor assistant superintendent Johnny Terrell join us joining Olga is her husband Victor and daughter Janelle sisters Natalia Margarita Leticia and Irma and then most importantly her mother Bartola So welcome So I'd
067like to introduce miss Olga Cordero as the executive director of equity and community engagement Miss Cordero graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor's degree in psychology She continued her education at the University of Colorado Denver where received where she received her master's degree in counseling education For the past three years miss Cordero has served as the director of equity and community engagement for st Vrain Valley schools where she has been responsible for leading and providing guidance and direction and Monitoring budgets that support students staff and community stakeholders in the district from 2015 to 2018 Miss Cordero was a counselor at Rocky Mountain elementary school and prior to that she served as a counselor at Skyline high school From 2007 to 2015. So I'd like to introduce miss Cordero and you can say
068a few What he failed to say is that I was actually a kindergarten student at Rocky Mountain elementary back in the 1900s so I'm rarely at a loss for words. You can ask my village back here, but tonight I am I am incredibly grateful to the board members Dr. Haddad Dr. Capuchin and many of the people who have served as my mentors in this district It's very personal work because when we talk about each and every student I am talking about the entire spectrum of students and this work is deeply deeply important because this is where I raised my own children So thank you for that this opportunity. We've worked with many departments. We have Just recently this morning you and I were on a phone call Brian and so this work embeds in many
069many Departments, which is really exciting lots of community groups that we meet with which is very rewarding Leadership st. Brain you mentioned that that we have a group of very committed parents and Those conversations are very deep and and very meaningful So we're here to support students and I do believe that our work is Only as strong as our team and here in st. Brain. We have an incredible team of people committed and and really really determined to make excellence and education a priority for our students the last thing I want to say is that in Spanish there's a word and it's called familia and Here is my familia outside of my my job and you all are my familia here So being able to bridge that is really important to me and being able
070to bridge our students and our parents To our education system is just as important So thank you for this opportunity and of course Johnny Terrell who come up here Johnny Talk about familia. This is it takes a Big level of trust and integrity when you do work and this man has done that and he People call him coach T and now I know why now I know why so yeah, it's a privilege. Thank you so much Thank You Olga Olga I Did one of Don did you want to say a few words? I did but after you you sure oh good Chico was not able to be at the meeting this evening But he did ask that I would pass along to you that he wants to acknowledge the great work that you have done
071Up until this point and moving forward the great work He knows you'll continue to do and Don Chico also wanted me to acknowledge you for your commitment to equity and community engagement as well Olga congratulations, and it's not that often that we have a mom in the crowd and so Olga's mom Just want to say thank you and certainly you must be be very proud of your daughter Thank you. Oh, I just want to say you know I have known you for years I mean well over a decade and the work that you've been doing for many years in this district Students always come back to see you they talk about you in ways that you've impacted their lives I have watched you work tirelessly to support students all the way up through our system
072and to support our teachers and our staff and our community and You are just an outstanding educator and a wonderful person and I really I have enjoyed working with you for many many many years So thank you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And also my dad is not here, but I'm sure he is I'm certain he's very proud right now. Okay. Yes, if the years old and still it's just it's amazing to do this work So, thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you. Yes I'm also pleased to introduce. Mr. Alvin Brown as the executive director of human resources Mr. Brown graduated from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs with a bachelor's degree in political science He continued his education at the University of Colorado Boulder where he received his jurors doctor degree
073For the past nine years. Mr Brown has served as the director of equal opportunity programs and alms bud services for Colorado Springs School District 11 Where he oversaw the equity equal opportunity program for the entire districts including approximately 3,800 staff members from 2008 to 2012. Mr. Brown was an attorney at the law office of Alvin Brown prior to that he was a deputy district attorney at the fourth judicial district in the Attorney's office and the 10th judicial district Attorney's office from 2005 to 2008 and 2004 to 2005 respectively So I'd like to introduce to you. Mr. Alvin Brown now, but if you want to say a few words Welcome. Well, I really want to take the opportunity to thank you and thank the board thank the same brain leadership team for giving me the opportunity
074to Bring my skills to such an amazing school district as I was looking to further my Education career. I was really looking for a district that was committed to student success and for all students and When I studied st. Vrain, it was clear to me that you all have a commitment to making sure all your students are prepared for the future and from my own personal experiences I put a high value on education and I want to do what I can To make sure that every student is able to get those same opportunities that were afforded me and so I look forward to Continuing my work here so far. Everyone's been great and Thank you very much Thank you and welcome Don this Very very highly recommended from so many people That know you and
075have worked with you for for many many years and you bring a variety of great skills So welcome to st. Vrain Alvin just a brief comment we at st. Vrain aspire to be the kind of organization that attracts the very best of Educators and administrators not only from throughout our state but throughout the country. I do know some of the people who worked with you and in D11 and When I heard that you were coming to work for us in st. Vrain I I guess I had a little hooray moment in that Your choice to come to st. Vrain affirms that we were becoming the kind of organization We aspire to be that organization at the very forefront of moving public education and caring for our students forward So welcome to our team Congratulations, Alvin.
076Thank you. All right, we'll make it official now Would board members like to pull any of the consent items this evening Yes, seven point six seven point six. All right. Thanks stick anyone else All right, then I would entertain a motion for approval, please of agenda item seven point one staff termination and leaves seven point two staff appointments Seven point three approval of minutes for the October 13th, 2021 regular meeting October 20 21 study session October 27, 2021 study session and October 27, 2021 regular meeting Seven point four approval of recommendation to hire executive director of equity and community engagement Seven point five approval of recommendation to hire executive director of human resources Seven point seven approval of change order five to Alliance middle senior high school auditorium rid of and renovation project So moved
077So moved by jim second and john Mr. Aarons. Yes. Mr. Berthold. Yes. Mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Martyr. Yes, miss pierce. Aye. Mrs Ragland. Aye. Ms. Segrist. Aye All right, dick, you pulled seven point six, which is approval of purchase of vehicles If you don't mind asking for that clarification and then making a motion for approval when you're done, that would be great. Thank you Yes, this is not in any way Reluctance to approve this but I would like a reminder of the work that this is part of in terms of refreshing our bus fleet our vehicle fleet and the Longer term plans that you are implementing in terms of bringing down the average age of our bus fleet and how that's progressing Yeah, so not not the specific numbers necessarily but just a sense of
078the progress we're making that multiple-year plan, right? Well, we have 140 buses in our fleet and Presently there are 20 that are entering into that Stage where we need to replace them. So over the next couple of years, we'll be replacing a total of 20 buses This this is for eight buses I believe it's five gen ed and then three wheelchair buses Our present Average life is 10.5. I remember stepping in here the average life. I want to say it was around 14 It was 15 as I recall. Is it really it was high and and our goal truthfully was Was to bring that down. We were we were Uh, well actually i'm still hoping to get it down just below 10 And uh, we think that's a pretty good place to be now interestingly
079enough this this set of buses is gasoline not diesel and Diesel is turning into a bit of a problem in regards to the air quality and all of the regulations tied to it So so these are are gasoline buses. So that's a new one for us. Yeah Well, thank you and so In your mind we're implementing the plan at a pace that is both sustainable and makes sense Absolutely. Yes You know truth layer some of our next steps some of the interesting stuff we're looking at of course is electric buses And uh, there's still some issues to work through there, but we've got some some good ideas tied to that And uh, I don't know. We'll see how that comes together there's a difficulty of heating an electric bus in the middle of winter, but
080nonetheless, we're looking at that of course, uh propane we do have propane buses, which is certainly a benefit and And like I said, we're kind of moving away from diesel even though most of our buses are diesel Well, thank you. I just wanted to acknowledge the progress that brian and his team are making your transportation team. Thank you um the sustained effort isn't enabling us to um, you know make sure that we continue to provide both Economical and safe vehicles as we move to reduce our emissions so i'm in these moments when we have these snapshots it's sometimes Well, I appreciate being able to uh tie it to the progress over all this being made in the direction that we're headed. So Thank you very much brian. Thank you. I would add to that list
081dick that's uh of transporting more and more students each year as well Absolutely And if I may I would move uh adoption of this resolution 7.6 second Mr. Arendt. Yes. Mr. Berthold. Yes. Mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Martyr. Yes, miss pierce. Aye. Mrs Ragland. Aye. Ms. Segrist. Aye All right. Thanks dick. Thank you brian. Hi greg, uh, you're uh, you're up next for action items Actually 8.1 is a recommendation for the acceptance of the 2021 fiscal year annual comprehensive financial report And we did discuss this at length with the auditor at a study session I you I thought it was october earlier So anyway at a lot of a recent meeting as well as at a regular meeting I know that you've talked about it at the finance and audit committee, uh meeting as well. Yes,
082so we paul nader-mueller was here from cla back on october 27th to present to the board in a study session before the regular meeting and then we talked about it a little bit in that meeting, but we also have Been through it in depth with the finance and audit committee So we're asking you to accept this report tonight It shows that the district is in a strong financial position I would like to thank jane frederick and the staff in the financial services department And other departments because we do have to interact with other departments as we're going through the audit and they're doing testing and some of those things They did provide us with an unmodified opinion, which is a clean opinion So there were no material weaknesses. No significant deficiencies Um, just want to
083remind the board again that this is an audit of our financial statements only We will have to go through another audit the single audit related to federal funding once that the compliance is released Um, but based off of when they project those that compliance to be released we ask The board to request an extension that's been requested and we have received an extension to march 31st for that And then we will put this Annual comprehensive financial report on the website within the next couple of days. I know a little late getting to you This year, but it's been one of those years it's a covid year and we've been working hard and trying to get some of our charters to To come in online into into line But we are done and you received that
084and i'd be happy to answer any questions you have Thank you greg any questions or comments? No All right, greg, please pass along our appreciation as well And certainly pass along to the community that that document Will be available in a couple days on the district website and if there are any questions they can reach out to the the finance department Absolutely, great. Thank you. Appreciate it. I hope that you feel a little bit of um, you have a little a little bit of a sigh inside of you now that this has Made it to the board for approval. Yes, and I know jane has and then we just found out that we have gear slash rise monitoring questions from an auditing firm from the state That is due next tuesday. So Step right into
085the next thing right step right into the next project. No shortage of things. Well, thank you We appreciate you. Uh with that. I would entertain a motion, please for approval of action item 8.1 So moved by jim and paula Mr. Aarons. Yes. Mr. Berthold. Yes. Mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Martyr. Yes Miss pierce. Aye. Mrs. Ragland. Aye. Ms. Segrist. Aye Greg on the heels of that 8.2 Is something that that comes next and that's a recommendation for the acceptance of the district's charter schools 2021 fiscal year assurances for financial accreditation Yes, so colorado department of education must determine annually if substantial and good faith compliance was achieved with relevant Provisions of state law and generally accepted accounting principles. It's required by statute. You are only accepting tonight Um the individual charter boards Would do the approval.
086So the next thing on the agenda would be you approving our um assurances, but this is just you accepting it, but again that um You know, they the state looks at financial data pipeline submissions audited financial statements and responses from management to inquiries As they develop this but each charter school has to fill this form out individually And get it approved by their board All right. Thank you Uh district district board member questions or comments. Sorry dick Thank you, uh, madam president, uh, just a question i've read the uh certifications carefully as I know you have and I just uh am wondering uh whether in your review of the various submissions That any uh questions or concerns arose that were not answered to your satisfaction Yeah, no there were none with the there were none
087What I would say is the form is designed for yes responses And if you have a no response, then you have to provide justification for that And we had two charters who each had one exception One was that there was no resolution to the beginning to use the beginning fund balance Um, and the other one was They didn't provide a uniform budget summary and it's two it two different charter schools. So one for each of these two charter schools Um, they and that was because they were in the process of splitting out funds They had maintained everything in one fund and this year they moved to splitting it out into three funds But they didn't get the uniform budget summary broken out that way So it should be good moving both both of these should
088be good moving forward So their explanations were satisfactory, yes, thank you All right, if there are no other questions, I would entertain a motion please for approval of action item 8.2 karen second and john Mr. Aarons. Aye. Mr. Berthold. Yes. Mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Martyr. Yes Ms. Pierce. Aye. Mrs. Ragland. Aye. Ms. Sechrist. Aye Action item 8.3 is a recommendation for approval of the district's 2021 finance pardon me fiscal year assurances for financial accreditation Yes, and very similar to what we what you just accepted. This is your approval of the district's assurances For financial accreditation. We did also have a no on ours and the reason for that was delayed payment in nutrition services, so Working back and forth with CDE their their timing has expanded in terms of when we get funding and so
089what happened with us was we had a Our nutrition services was borrowing cash from our general fund as of june 30th And even though we've received those Those claims that we put in That would put us into a positive. We also have expenses this year And so we we have claims out there we have We have requested claims back from CDE that would put us where we're not borrowing cash from the general fund We just haven't received those Claim reimbursements yet. All right, any questions from the board? All right with that. I would entertain a motion please for action item 8.3 Karen second and jim Mr. Aarons. Aye. Mr. Berthold. Yes. Mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Martyr. Yes. Ms. Pierce. Aye Mrs. Raglin. Aye. Ms. Segrist. Aye. Thanks christy Action item 8.4 is a recommendation for
090adoption of resolution proclaiming american education week, november 15 through 19 2021 hello diane president, thank you so much for today for great I don't know all those presentations were awesome from the students and to our new hires. I'm just kind of speechless, too It's and it's so fun to have the kids here the students it really is it's such a great reminder of why we all Why we all do this work and why we're all here this evening. Yes Well, and with all of that celebrating american education week, it's very fitting And so we have this resolution and I know in the past paula you have been able to read it I didn't know if you wanted to approve it and read it, but I bring it forward to you Great. We actually Are I
091had asked jim if he could read the resolution so we're going to shake things up a little bit Yes, we're going to spread the resolution reading around Jim, thank you ready It's a resolution american education reek november 15 through 19 2021 Whereas public schools are the backbone of our democracy providing young people with the tools they need to maintain our nation's precious values and freedom civility and equity and whereas by equity young americans with both practice skills and Equipping young americans with practice skills and border broader intellectual abilities schools give them hope for and access to a productive future and whereas education employees Be 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 linchpins bringing together adults and children
092educators and volunteers business leaders and elected officials in a common enterprise and Whereas our nation is celebrating the week of november 15th through the 19 2021 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 Need the board of education after that I think it's fine. Great. Thank you. Jim. Appreciate it Diane, thank you for the opportunity to read that and uh with that I would entertain a motion for approval for action item 8.4, please John and paula Mr. Aarons. Hi, mr. Berthold. Yes, mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Martyr. Yes, miss pierce. Aye Mrs. Ragland. Aye. Miss egress. Aye Hi brandon. We have action item 8.5 next which is recommendation for approval of
093first reading and adoption Of board policy bg school board policy process Uh, thank you, madam president, uh bring before you action item 8.5, which updates board policy bg the school board policy process Board policy bg is being revised to provide greater flexibility To make ministerial changes to the policies to keep them current non-substantive technical items such as titles of specific administrators website addresses statutory references revision history Typographical errors may be corrected by the superintendent or designee as necessary to keep the policies up to date Thank you brandon very logical in my mind. Uh, any everybody's nodding their head very all right With that anything else you'd like to add I think we're ready for approval Just one thing we've done quite a few policies the last uh, you know several months We have and kind
094of the unsung hero of this work is christy joneson And diane hargash they they work very hard um kind of updating everything manually in the sister physically in the system, but also Dating the agendas and and that sort of thing and putting up with me, so I just wanted to say thank you Great. Thank you and christy. Thank you to you and diane as well appreciate it. It's no easy task, you know How many policies do we have now? You don't have to answer that when before we did the policy overhaul I think it was just over 500 and we paired it down to just over 300 I believe I don't know the total number that we have but I know over the course of the last several months we've updated Approximately 20 policies 20
095which is a lot of work each of those to make sure they're compliant and best practice and So christy, thank you again to you and diane and brandon. Thank you For you for your work as well. Appreciate it With that, I would entertain a motion please for approval of action item 8.5 paula second and karen Mr. Aarons. Aye. Mr. Berthold. Yes, mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Martyr. Yes, miss pierce Aye, mrs. Ragland. Aye. Miss segrest. Aye Action item 8.6 is a recommendation for approval to request an exception to board policy gbea staff ethics conflict of interest for nancy kelly hisslop Hi, greg. Thank you Um, yeah, so board policy States that no school district employee or firm owned by a school district employee shall be allowed to sell To the school district or its schools or
096staff goods or services of any kind without the express written consent of the board of education So nancy kelly hisslop Owns a screen printing shop where she provides shirts And she has her husband is stephen hisslop who who is a driver for nutrition services again, we're asking for an exception to this she Um, she does not sell directly to students She would sell to the student to the school who would you know through fundraisers or team events or whatever? And if she she does not plan to Exceed five thousand dollars for this school year. If she does we would require her to come back And we would get additional board approval Thank you greg any comments or questions from any board members dick Just a quick comment I I want to say that I do
097appreciate the diligence that the our finance department and the district takes and ensuring that there is uh, there are no substantive conflicts of interest in our financial dealings and I appreciate the work of you and your staff Greg to ensure that those things remain true each and every time So, thank you. Thank you Thank you greg, uh, I would entertain a motion then for approval of action item 8.3 so moved By dick second and a second by jim Mr. Aarons. Aye. Mr. Berthold. Yes. Mr. Garcia absent. Dr. Marder Miss pierce. Aye. Mrs. Ragland. Aye. Miss secrets. Aye Thank you christy Uh, we don't have any discussion items this evening. So that does bring us to uh agenda item 10, which is adjournment The board will reconvene again on wednesday, november 17th from 6 to 8
098pm at a study session And then paul and john, this is your last regular meeting and so we look forward to recognizing you on december 1st at 5 pm At a reception to express our appreciation and gratitude and thank you for your eight years of service And at that time we'll also look forward to welcoming our two newest board of education members as well With that, I'll wish everybody a feel like i'm forgetting something a fantastic evening and ask for a motion for adjournment, please By karen second and a second by john All in favor. Aye. Thank you everyone