001took Dr. Brinkmire upstairs to sit with Robert Thirstston, our composer. My husband was up there. >> [music] [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, hey. [music] Hey, [music] hey, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Peace. Peace. [music] Joy, joy, joy overflowing. [singing and music] [snorts and music] Love, love, love, everlasting [music] and true. This is our gift [music] for you. Our message [music] may be simple but the meaning is clear. [music] Our hearts [singing] are overflowing. This special time [music] of year. So listen [singing] to the words we say. Let them keep your hearts away. And [music] the days go by yet still remaining [music] joy. >> [music] >> Joy overflowing. [music] Love everlasting. [music] This is our gift for you. [music] Precious ever true overflowing [music] everlasting and [music] true.
002This is our gift for you. [music] Our gift for you for you. Our gift [music] for you. [music] [applause] >> [applause] [music] >> Oh. [music] Oh. oh heat. Heat. Heat. N. Hello. [music] Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Hey, Heat. I'm doing that. Hallelujah. Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Come on. Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. Good. We call this regular board meeting for Wednesday, November 5th, 2025 to order at 4:33 p.m. Thank you for joining us today. We do have executive session today before our public board meeting at 5:30 p.m. But before that, roll call, please. Miss Olson. >> Director Vis >> here. >> Director Kerry >> here. >> Director Hley
003>> here. >> Director Huber >> here. >> Director Jorgensson >> here. >> Director >> here. >> Director here. >> Six board members are present in person. Uh, Director Jurgensson is joining virtually. >> Please join me as we observe a moment of silence. Thank you. Dr. Kerry, can you please make the motion to adopt the agenda? >> Yes. I move that the board of education adopts the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Roll call, please. >> I, >> director, >> I, >> director, >> I, >> Director Huber, I, >> Director Jorgensson, >> I, >> Director, >> I, >> Dr. >> Hi. >> The agenda has been adopted as presented. Director Huber, can you please make the motion to move into executive session? I move that the board of education convenes into executive session
004to discuss legal advice per CRS 24-6-424B particular matter workers compensation claim negotiations per CRS 24-6-424E particular matters workers compensation claim and superintendent evaluation and personnel per CS24 4-6-424F particular matter workers compensation claim and superintendent evaluation >> second >> moved and seconded roll call please miss >> director Bis >> I >> director Kerry >> I >> director Hayley >> I >> director Huber >> I >> Dr. Jorgensson >> I director >> I >> the I have it uh the board will move into executive session and reconvene here to the public portion of the meeting at approximately 5:30 p.m. Thank you. Good. Hey. Oh, hey. Hey, hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Nat. Hey. Hey. Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Okay. Board members. Board members. >> Okay. So that's for pledge. >> Yes. >> What? >> Okay. And Jason
005is ready to go. >> Can you >> Okay, board members, if you are present in the audience, could you please come up to the dis and superintendent Gaul as well so we can get the meeting started. You're gonna show us what happened over the weekend. Okay, good evening to all of you. We have a packed uh boardroom today. Uh it's good to see all of you. Uh parents, staff, students. Uh wonderful to see all of you here. We are reconvening in public session and there is no need to modify the agenda after executive session. Um, we missed, when I say we, I mean the board missed the performance by our uh, honor choir out here earlier this evening as we were downstairs in executive session. But I hear that they had a phenomenal performance here.
006Uh, uh, entertaining the audience. Uh, I did get to watch them this weekend on Saturday along with several other board members. uh uh director bankers was there, director Huber and director Art uh uh we were at the Pikes Peak Center to see their performance. So, I'm going to invite uh Miss Kimqincaid up here and share a little bit about the honor um the inaugural honor choir that performed at the Pikes Peak um center and set up the video up here. And I want to thank also, but I'll get to that after after you get done with what you have to present. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, while we have had middle school and high school honor choir for many years, this was the inaugural performance of our elementary choir. So, this past Saturday, we
007partnered with the Colorado Springs Philarmonic and 300 of our choir students from across the district performed amazing music to include the world premiere piece that we're about to show you. Robert Thirstston, who was is is retired from the United States Air Force Band in Washington DC, working with the Singing Sergeants, their jazz band, composed this piece to uh commemorate this first collaboration with the Philarmonic and what we will know to be an amazing experience for our students annually. that music. The song is but a door which opening wide lets forth the pent up melody inside. Your spirit's harmony which clear and strong sing lots of you throughout your whole life. Your songs, your thoughts, your doings each divide this perfect beauty. Waves within a tide or single notes amid a glorious. The song of earth
008has many different chords. Ocean has many roots and many tones, yet always ocean. In the damp spring woods, the painted trillium smiles. Well, crisp pine cones autumn alone can rip it. So is this one music with a thousand cadences. music. [music] He is You sing Sorry. [music] [music] Are you blessed? [music] >> [music] >> highest praise. >> [music] [music] >> The words of heaven. inside [music] of you. Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [applause] >> So this link is available on the Colorado Springs Phil Harmonic website along with photos that have been taken both by their media team and ours and has now been shared out to all families. If you don't have that in your email, contact your teacher. Um, but thank you to our parents, to our teachers. This was a monumental task and
009it couldn't have happened without the budgetary support from the school board. So, thank you very much. >> Well, thank you. You're not leaving yet. Uh um um as I said, several of us were there to witness what transpired that evening and I was talking with several of the board members during and after the event and also to several of the parents who were uh there during that performance and we were just blown away by the students performance that evening. Uh it was just phenomenal and then sharing that uh 300 of our students were there for a couple of days from morning till evening time and logist logistically figuring out the operations for all of this and making sure that they are behaving and all the uh meals and food arrangements for them throughout the day.
010It all starts with you. Okay. So, uh, thank you, Kim Kim Kaid. Um, Hannah Tensio, uh, who works for your department. Any of the music teachers that are, uh, up here, could you please walk up to the front up here, uh, so you can be Yeah, I'm up here. [applause] >> There are 47 teachers that made this happen. So 47 between elementary, middle school, and high school. Um, and what you saw that piece, they only had a half an hour rehearsal with the Philarmonic. So what you saw had to happen at at home and in the schools. And so these are the people, the unsung heroes of the day, not not me, >> but the parents too. That auditorium was packed with parents. There are three uh uh layers of seating out there, and I
011was able to was packed up to the rooftop out there. and the students were amazing for two hours. Just a great entertainment. So, uh I do want to thank you and I also want to thank everybody involved with the district, all the parents as well that helped coordinate this and were part of that evening. Uh Superintendent G and team uh putting putting this together um just for the inaugural effort. It was great. And I remember one of the conductors out there um choir conductors urging the parents that they should not stop the students from singing. Sometimes you know you get caught up in uh school activities and other things as students proceed through middle school and high school and even college. And this urge to the parents were was that make sure that your students
012don't do not give up on singing that singing is an art that um students should continue to practice throughout and that's my urge to the district as well. Um and please let's continue keeping this program going. When I talked with some other teachers out there they said like if the funding is going to be there we will continue this program on a yearly basis or uh however often you guys plan on doing so. Um uh the students were thrilled when you t see them. They were beaming from year to year getting to perform on a big stage in front of their loved ones. Nothing to beat that and gives the confidence uh in them as well. So thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Yeah. [applause] I'm just going to give a minute for
013them to Okay, let's get started. Um, good evening again. Good to see all of you. And before we uh before we start this evening's proceedings, I do want to share a brief message about the recently concluded board elections. First, on behalf of the board and the district, I want to thank the D1 community for participating in the election process. That is paramount and really important. Elections are the hallmark of our democracy. It is the accountability system, the periodic checks and balances through which our community ensures their voice is being heard. Voters in our community got the opportunity to research, engage with candidates, weigh the facts in front of them, and then decide on which candidates best reflected their overall values, the current and future direction of the school district, and the issues that should be
014prioritized going forth. and they cast their votes accordingly. Looking at the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder website, the unofficial election results this morning said the voter turnout was roughly about 31%. Uh, if you ask me, that is still on the lower side, but for all of you in the community that voted and participated in the process, thank you from all of us. And I also want to thank the seven candidates for throwing their hats in the arena and going through that grueling campaign process. It's often easy to criticize the work of the board or individual board members, but it's only a few citizens who are willing to actually step into that arena and take on the challenge of serving on the school board, which is often a thankless job. So as President Roosevelt said,
015it is not the critic who counts, but the credit belongs to the man or the woman who is in the arena striving to do the deeds and in this case make a positive positive difference for our students and the entire D1 community. So to the seven candidates who were willing to be those bold and often foolhardy men and women who were willing to step into the arena, you have our sincere appreciation. And I'll end with this. All of us understand the nature of the election process. Whether we like it or not, things get contentious and divisive as various individuals and organization try to promote their individual agenda, sometimes even indulging in personal attacks. All part of the political process to gain an advantage in the elections. But the beauty of our democracy is that once
016elections are over, we set our divisions aside and unite. And that process of coming together starts today, the day after the elections. The boot's singular priority that guides all our work is highlighted in the banner on the wall, which is missing at this moment. Uh but there used to be a banner up here, but it's simple. Improve student outcomes. That goal is not going to change when we welcome three new board members to join us on this DAS next month. I often hear some in the community share and say that the school board is aligned to the left or aligned to the right. In truth, school boards are nonpartisan and we are elected to serve the entire D1 community. We are not moving to the left. We are not moving to the right, but we
017are going to march forward for every single student with intentionality and urgency. Our primary elected objective is to improve student outcomes and we do not have a day or a minute that can be wasted. So today I urge each of you in the community to join us in that march. It's very easy to criticize decisions, especially if you are behind a computer screen. It is far more difficult to step up, engage in civil discourse, meet with board members to provide objective feedback, and volunteer to be part of the decision-making process by serving on our commu committees. The elections are over. The community has spoken. It is time to set aside our differences, come together as a community, and elevate our students to excellence. In District 11, students always come first. And by putting students first,
018we are simultaneously ensuring our staff are supported with excellent working conditions. My appeal to the D1 staff and community the day after the elections, let's march forward to serve the best interest of our students. Let us unite to ensure that D11 is the premier district of choice for excellence in education both for our students and staff. Thank you. With that, we are going to have the pledge of allegiance next. And may I please have uh Eli Jordan from Freedom Elementary. You are a fourth grade student. Come [applause] and join us and lead us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you guys. Freedom Elementary School students that led us
019in the pledge of allegiance. Um the next item on the agenda is awards and recognitions. Students awards and recognitions. I know that we have plenty. I'm going to turn it over to you, Superintendent G. >> Yeah. Uh thank you, Dr. Malpac. And we're going to start differently. We're starting with the schools. Is that right? Or are we starting with the students? athletics. >> The athletics. Okay. Awesome. Uh before we bring in our uh super athletes, that's our focus on awards and recognitions. I do want to also acknowledge Kim Concincaid and every one of our visual and performing arts educators and administrators. This is a district that is on the record that says that visual and performing arts is a way to drive agency and learning. It's a way to keep kids in school. It's a
020way to get kids and families engaged in their community. Seeing our Pikes Peak Center filled with our students and our families is just one of the many peak experiences that you get by being in a D11 student and family. We will continue to expand that. I recall everybody back to the first week uh the first Friday in October where our eighth graders took over uh Pioneer Square in Acacia Park and all drew chalk renderings on the sidewalks of what Liberty meant to them and they had scaling uh and they were using proportionality. We believe that visual and performing arts is the place to invest. We believe in crosscurricular opportunities for children to get competency based demonstrations of knowledge. Yes, we are accountable to the state test, but learning is displayed when you see and you
021just saw the video there of our students and you saw them performing the prelude. That is the actual example of learning. And so yes, the test is what this the test the state will measure us by, but our children will continue to be advocates for their own education and continue to be seen in our community thanks to folks like Kim Concaid and all the other administrators and educators that she represents. So just one more round of applause uh for them since I didn't get a chance to comment. And now it is with great honor that we get to bring in a couple of our sports teams and we will be ending with our first district-wide state championship uh in my superintendency. So excited to be able to announce that. So go ahead and get us
022started here. Melissa >> Dhy High School flag football team. [applause] >> [applause] >> This season, the Doherty High School flag football team continued to make history. In just their second year, these athletes captured a second consecutive Southern Colorado League championship. The team also qualified for the playoffs once again and made history by winning their very first playoff game against Legacy High School. >> Awesome. [applause] What was the score of the game? >> Legacy. >> Oh, I ain't gonna lie. I don't know off the top of my head. [laughter] >> 2521. >> Tell us who you are and what year you're in. And what's the best part of being on the team? >> Okay. So, my name is Nila. I'm a junior at DHY High School. And to me, the best part of being on the
023team is just like how fun we could be and like how comfortable it is, but also how competitive we are with each other and how much like we just want to better each other. So yeah. >> And the best principal in all of district 11 is >> um Miss [laughter] >> Coach, anything from you? I just think the the support that we've gotten from our school, uh, Mr. Shu, Miss Heayen, um, the community as a whole has just been incredible. We went from ending the season last year with 19 girls and then we started the season this year with 50. >> Wow. >> And that's a tribute to our growth and our support that the community gives us. And then these young ladies up here, these guys make our jobs so much easier because the
024attitude that they bring out there makes my job easier as a coach. So I'm truly blessed to be out here with these young ladies. >> Awesome. >> Okay. And so state championship next year because you're a junior, right? >> All right. So states next year. Awesome. Thanks everybody. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Way to go, coach. Thanks a lot. The DHY High School 5A [snorts] CSML League Champions. The Doherty boys cross country team achieved a remarkable milestone this year, winning the 5A Colorado Springs Metro League Championship for the first time since 1999. These young men showed exceptional dedication, pushing through the pain in every obstacle, embracing their guiding mantra, trust the process. Congratulations. [applause] Congratulations. All right. Who's our captain? Who's our student spokesperson >> right there? >> There you go. Tell us uh your name,
025your grade, and why did it take since 1999 to get back here? [laughter] >> You weren't even born yet. >> Uh hi, I'm Isaac Sullivan. I'm a senior, and it uh took so long because uh I don't know. I just had to show up, I guess. >> All right. I asked the same thing to the flag football team. Who's the best principal in district 11? Someone from the team. Shout it out. >> Miss Heiden. >> All right. There we go. She didn't ask me to plant this. Go ahead. Pass down to coach. Coach, tell us what's special about this team. Hey, this team is uh seven homegrown uh uh athletes who we've had since freshman year. And uh one thing that we preach all the time is trust the process. And um if you have
026the right process and you are consistent and you're all bought in, this is what you get. Um and and 5A CSML is a very very as we know 26 years to to win a championship uh with these homegrown kids. So that makes them special. And um just the community that has been built here with the parents and the athletes and that we have at DHY makes it a special place and a special time uh in the history of DHY. Over 50 years and uh glad uh we're over glad we got that uh at the 26 year mark. >> Okay. What's the prediction next year, boys? >> All right. Two feet. I love that. >> All right. We're going to make them run back. >> Yeah, we're going to run on back. It's warm enough, right?
027[laughter] With the way the crow flies, it's only like seven miles to a walk in the park for you all. Right. Just watch out for Union Boulevard. Congratulations. [applause] Next up, the 2025 Coronado High School Girls Cross Country. Tonight, we are proud to recognize the 2025 Coronado High School Girls Cross Country team. This outstanding group of student athletes has continued to build on a tradition of excellence, hard work, and teamwork throughout their season. The team had an incredible year, earning the title of Colorado Springs Metro League Champions for the second consecutive year. Their commitment and dedication also led them to qualify for the Colorado State Cross Country Championship for the second year in a row. A remarkable accomplishment that reflects their consistency and determination. At this year's state meet, the Cougars achieved their best finish
028yet, placing ninth overall, a significant improvement from last year, and a testament to their growth, grit, and team spirit. Please join me in congratulating the 2025 Coronado girls cross country team, their coaches, and everyone who supported them them [snorts] throughout this exceptional season. They truly represent the pride and excellence of Coronado High School. >> All right, way to go Cougars. [applause] >> All right, Libby, you get to tell us your name, your grade, and what makes this team so special. >> Um, [clears throat] my name is Libby Gatowski and I am a senior at obviously Cornado High School. And something that makes our team so special is we're not just a team, but we're a family. >> I love that. I love that. Okay. Any juniors or sophomores on the team? Are you all Okay.
029Well, what's the prediction for next year for the girls team? >> I think we're going to do even better than we did this year. >> Even better than this year. That That's awesome. Coaches, any words that you want to share about the team? Somebody's got to say something. Give me Give a shout out for Lisa, which she's not here, too. >> Sure. >> Um, it's a great group of girls. I mean, like they said it, they're set up to have an awesome season the next couple of seasons. It's not just what they did now. Like they're they got a program that's building. They got great girls that continue to come on. Their attitude is changing. The culture is changing for this girls team and they're only going to be successful as the years go by.
030>> It's awesome. Thanks. Okay. So, I asked the all the Doherty team who is the best uh principal in district 11. Anybody have a comment from the Coronado team? You want to say it out loud, >> Miss Arnell? >> Yeah. Okay. See you here. There's Principal Arnell as well. So, all right. Round of applause for the girls cougar cross country team. Go out the center. >> And a drum roll, please, for the first state championship, at least since I've been here in 2022. Go ahead, Melissa. >> The 2025 Coronado High School boys cross country. The 2025 Coronado High School boys cross country team has completed a truly remarkable and historic season. This exceptional group of athletes capped off their year by capturing the class 4A state championship this past Saturday, the first cross country state
031title for Coronado since 2012 and the first overall state championship for the school since 2014. Their hard work, discipline, and team spirit have brought tremendous pride to the Coronado community. The team's performance at the state meet was nothing short of outstanding. Oliver Horton delivered a phenomenal run, winning the 4A boys individual title with a course shattering record time of 14 minutes 48.4 seconds. Right behind him, Xavier Campos earned an impressive third place finish with a time of 15 minutes 36.2 seconds, helping to secure the team's dominant victory. This championship adds to an already remarkable legacy. The boys are now fourtime Colorado Springs Metro League champions and fourtime regional champions, consistently setting the standard for excellence in teamwork. Please join me in congratulating the 2025 Coronado boys cross country team, their dedicated coaches, and everyone who
032supported them along the way. Their hard work, unity, and achievement have made Coronado High School and our entire district extremely proud. >> All right, round of applause. All right, Oliver, I'm going to call you out here and you got to tell us um you know uh how far the run was. It was 14 and change. So make some people out here do the math. Tell us about how many minutes per mile and you know how much faster can you go? >> Okay. Um the race was like 3.11 or 3.12 miles. I ran it in 14 minutes 48 seconds and it evens out to like a I think a 445 444 mile. [applause] >> All right. You're Is it to to come in uh just behind him there and tell us what's so special that makes
033us such a great team? Uh, I'm really blessed to just have all these guys as my teammates because it's so special because we all get to work together in all our workouts and just push off of each other and it helps us just be so great as a team and just excel to like these high levels that we're at. >> So, is it the new track that you all have at Coronado that got you all this? You got to give a shout out to the board for putting a new track in there for you because I know how much cross country kids love interval training, right? Everybody loves to do intervals, right? Coaches, anything you want to add? I know that Lisa is not here and please give a specific shout out to Lisa and
034the work that she's done to really get this first state championship. >> Uh yeah, definitely. Uh coach Lisa ever since uh was it three years ago? Three years ago when she got placed on this program, you know, she came in with a goal and it was to win championships for these kids. And we have great kids like I just mentioned, they keep coming up. They keep coming to our program. Um, one thing I do want to say, you know, Coach Lisa and I were talking, uh, these kids didn't get here by luck. It's been work and it's been years of work that they've they brought themselves here and again, they're only going to get better. They're going to move on to do greater and better things for our seniors. And the younger guys, they're set
035up, right? >> So, this dynasty, did I just hear dynasty? Is that what I heard? Are you guys going to leave a legacy of a dynasty? I love that. Okay. Who's a senior? Okay. And are you guys going to run in college maybe? Uh, I think we're all planning. >> We're all going to plan. Okay. You're just going to run to college. That's what we're hoping for, right? We want you to run up that hill. Okay. I've asked everybody. So, you guys get to bring it home. Best principal in all of district 11. >> Miss. [laughter] >> All right. Thanks everybody. Huge round of applause. Way to go, Cougars. Thanks a lot. Thanks a lot. Great job. >> Hey, good luck in Arizona when you guys go down there. Uh, the team is headed down
036to Phoenix for the Nike Invitational. Is that uh in a week or two? When is that? A couple weeks. >> Two weeks. So, I imagine that uh some of these runners will be up here again for more awards. >> Now, we're doing the school accreditation. Great. Thank you. All right, we're going to shift gears. Uh this is normally a part that we would do as part of an action item. Uh we're going to celebrate the schools that have been uh awarded distinction and governor's awards, but it's easier to just bring the principles in the same way we brought kids in. Uh, we always put our kids first, so we made our principles wait downstairs. They're all in trouble. But go ahead, Melissa. >> Back in May, the Colorado Department of Education announced its annual awards
037recognizing exceptional performance by schools across the state. Today, we have the chance to propel to properly celebrate with the well-deserved banners now in hand, the schools that earned these prestigious distinctions. These awards reflect not only student achievement but also the dedication, collaboration, and excellence demonstrated daily by our educators, staff, students, and families. Furthermore, in addition to recognizing the state level honors, we are also celebrating schools within our district that have earned an accreditation of schools with school performance framework SPF rating of 74% or above as awarded by the board of education with advice from the district accountability committee as accredited with distinction and performance. These recognitions signify not just strong academic outcomes, but a deep and sustained commitment to student growth, equity, and excellence. Congratulations to all of our award-winning schools. Now, please join me
038in recognizing our 2025 Accredited with Distinction and Performance Schools. First, we have Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning Accredited with Distinction Principal Terresa Brown. [applause] We've been practicing all day to make sure they >> on the floor. >> Awesome. [applause] Next we have Chapita Elementary School accredited with distinction 2024 John Irwin School of Excellence Principal Tiffany Brown. [applause] stretches right out. >> All right, Coach. [applause] Next up, we have Freedom Elementary School, accredited with distinction. Principal Relle Williams [applause] in the house. Where are you at? Awesome. Way to go. [applause and cheering] >> This way. Next up is Howalbert Elementary School 2023 Governor's Distinguished Improvement Principal Toby Lefir. [applause] >> Turn around. Everybody see your certificate. >> Everyone with their certificate has a banner coming. They just weren't all printed on time. And so we
039have uh uh we're gonna hold it really high like a banner. Look at that. [laughter] >> All right, let's hear it for Howard. Thanks Toby. Thanks [applause and cheering] team. Thank you everyone. Next we have Jackson Elementary School 2024 center of excellence principal Sarah Miller. [applause] All >> [applause] [laughter] >> right. Here for Jackson. And we have King Elementary School 2024 Governor's Distinguished Improvement Principal Tammy Krueger. [applause] >> Hi everybody. Keep coming. There you go. >> Awesome. Way to go, King. [applause] >> And now bring on Thomas McLaren School, accredited with distinction, principal/executive director Bridget Recctor. [applause] All right. >> All right. >> [applause] >> Let's welcome [laughter] >> aboard action. >> Welcome Madison Elementary School 2023 and 2024 Governor's Distinguished Improvement Principal Darien Latimer. [applause] Hold it up. >> Hold it up high. >>
040Thanks for coming. >> And come on down. Odyssey Early College and Career Options accredited with distinction 2024 John Irwin School of Excellence Principal Stacy Miller. >> [applause] >> It's such a long title. I'm still rolling. >> [applause] >> Next up is Queen Palmer Elementary School 2024 Center of Excellence Principal Christina Butcher. [applause] >> Awesome. We go. [applause] >> So for these last last three schools, I'm going to invite the DAC accreditation chair Courtney Hner to come and join in because her committee was responsible for recommending the schools with accreditation with recommendation. Back to you, Miss Olsson. >> Next up, we have Scott Elementary School, accredited with distinction 2023 and 2024. Governor's Distinguished Improvement Principal Thomas Papley. [applause] >> [applause] >> Steel Elementary School accredited with distinction 2024 John Irwin School of Excellence 2024 Governor's Distinguished
041Improvement Principal Ryan Miller. [applause] Let's cheer for Steel. [applause] >> Cody. And last, but certainly not least, Taylor Elementary School, accredited with distinction, 2024 Governor's Distinguished Improvement Principal Kim Gilbert. [applause] All right, let's hear it for Taylor. [applause] >> One more round of applause for all of our schools who work so hard every day to educate our children. [applause] that includes awards next. >> That's a lot of schools out there. So, thank you for all the principles, staff members that were present here this evening to uh join us in celebrating your accomplishments. Uh as we go through this year after year, hopefully the number of schools that we recognize out here keeps growing in number as well. So, a big shout out to all our athletes that were recognized out here and our uh schools
042as well. One more round of applause. [applause] Thank you. Uh the next item on the agenda is spotlight. Uh and I'm going to turn it over to you, Superintendent Call, to introduce this item. >> Yeah, it's really exciting uh to be able to celebrate our schools and the work that happens every day. We know that that happens because we have the best educators not only in the county but in the state of Colorado. And that happens because we invest deeply in the quality of the instruction that happens. Uh and so I've asked the team today to come forward and really talk about the indepth way that we're asking our education quality to increase and to spread through the excellence that you just saw come through there. And so I'm going to bring forward here today
043Dr. Carol Fry and Charlie Ryder to talk about our model classroom program. Carol, >> thank you and good evening board. Thank you for having us. It is truly an honor to celebrate our Bunnel classroom teachers, many of whom are in the audience tonight. And so without further ado, I'm going to turn it over to Charlie Ryder, who is the director of academics over our southeast region. >> Good evening. My name is Charlie Ryder and like Carol said, I'm the director of academics for the Southeast. And in addition to supporting the teaching and learning across Southeast Schools, I also have the incredible privilege of helping to lead a new district-wide initiative identifying and celebrating model classroom teachers. As we've shared at previous board meetings, our district academics team has been partnering with school-based leadership and coaches
044to ensure that all teachers receive support and development. As we often say, everyone deserves a coach. Model classrooms are a deepening of that belief and that strategy. Just as we believe in the power of agency and teaming for our students, we believe the same is true about adults. Sometimes the most powerful professional development comes from learning from our peers. And we have incredible teachers in district 11, but we also have a lot of room for growth. Model classrooms are an accelerant that will help us to build our strong instruction. in every classroom every single day and our vision is excellence everywhere and our strategy definitely matches that ambition. This is a new initiative so we are still in the early stages of working with school leaders to identify and onboard teachers who deliver consistently excellent
045instruction and produce pathchanging student outcomes. Excitingly, there's also a lot of really strong crossover between district initiatives as our agency early adopter cohort of over 50 teachers who have opted for additional training and instructional empowerment and our high school school embedded coaches who teach part-time and coach other teachers part-time are helping to build an even deeper pipeline of model classrooms. So, as teachers, we often tell our students that it's important to show and not tell. So, I'm going to follow that advice by handing the mic to a few of our wonderful model classroom teachers who have graciously agreed to speak tonight. So, first we'll have Michelle Zberg and Kelsey Eberhart who are the fourth grade team at Freedom Elementary. And then we're going to have Flora Roen who is a fourth grade teacher at Rogers
046Elementary. So, without further ado, I'll kick it over to Michelle and Kelsey. [applause and cheering] >> Good evening. Uh my name is Michelle Zelverberg and I'm Kelsey Alberheart and we teach fourth grade at Freedom Elementary and we are actually teammates. So we've been teammates for 16 years now. Um and we are departmentalized. So I teach reading and writing. I teach the math, science, and social studies. And today we are honored to share a little bit about our journey as model classrooms. Being in this role has been both humbling and inspiring. And it has given us a chance to reflect deeply on what matters most in our teaching, which is student learning, engagement, and joy. Being a model classroom isn't just about showing strategies or lessons. It's about demonstrating the beliefs and practices that make a
047classroom thrive. It's about sharing a vision where students are actively doing the thinking, where they feel ownership for their learning, and where joy and rigor coexist. Strong instruction is at the heart of what we do. In our classrooms, students carry the cognitive lift. They grapple with ideas, wrestle with problems, and articulate their reasoning. We use tools from IE and Kagan, which ensure that every voice is heard and that every student participates meaningfully. We also incorporate wind time, what I need for both ELA and math learning. It makes learning individualized and targeted. Some students receive support while others enrichment. But every student is growing. Every student is challenged. This combined with our daily opportunities for student agency create measurable growth. Well, we know that instruction alone isn't enough. And what we hope visitors see and what
048we strive to model is a classroom culture where joy is a huge part. Students engage with rigorous content, but they also love the learning process. We think a huge part of our success is that we are departmentalized and we teach what we love. When we when they see us excited about reading, writing, or math, it makes them want to engage in the content. Our classrooms are joyful because we own all of our kids. We set high expectations, but we support students with care. We celebrate effort, creativity, and perseverance. And when other teachers observe this culture in action, we hope that they see this achievement and joy are not opposites. They are partners. One of the most meaningful parts of being a model classroom is knowing that our impact extends beyond our own students. When colleagues
049visit, we know that our practices, our routines, our strategies, our ways of building engagement can influence the learning of students that we've never met before. And that is pretty powerful. It's also a responsibility. Being observed encourages reflection. What are we modeling? How are we showing what strong student centered instruction looks like? Every time we open our doors, we have the opportunity to inspire, to spark curiosity, and to support other teachers growth. Serving as a model classroom has made us more intentional. We see the ripple effect of our work. When another teacher applies what they've learned from our classroom, their students benefit and the circle of impact continues to grow. Knowing that we're part of that chain, that our practice matters beyond our own walls is both motivating and deeply fulfilling. We also love that being
050a model classroom allows for collaboration. Teachers can feel teaching can feel isolated at times, but sharing our practice reminds us that growth is communal. We learn from our visitors just as much as they learn from us, and together we elevate the entire school community. Ultimately, the model classroom is about possibility. It's about showing that what can happen when strong instruction, high expectations, and a joyful classroom culture come together. It's about encouraging teachers to take risks, to reflect, and to believe in the potential of every student. It's also about lifting one another and lifting our students to new heights. Seeing students engaged, challenged and enjoying their learning is our daily reward. Seeing colleagues inspired in to implement what we what they observed is the ripple that keeps us striving for excellence. Thank you for allowing us
051to share our experience as a model classroom. It is a privilege to learn, grow, and impact not just our students but the entire teaching community. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] All right. And now we have an incredible model classroom teacher from Rogers. Flora. Thanks. As they said, I'm Flora Roten and I teach at Rogers Elementary. Um, so first I'm going to talk about student agency in my classroom. I am part of the instructional empowerment um cohort that has really made me reflect a lot on practices that I had and make them more purposeful. We have always done Kagan strategies, group strategies, things like that. But I've really fine-tuned it, really have looked at the questions, the type of questioning I'm asking my students, and it's really increased our conversations and really having them interact
052more deeply with the content. One thing I have is very high expectations for all my students. I don't I think that they can't do it. We talk the very beginning of the year that the power of yet we're going to get there and it may look different for everyone and that's what we have to find out is how to best get them there. The most important thing this was great comment that was made today. So we were doing one of the instructional empowerment mats and the one group didn't get the answer that everyone else got and one of the students looked at the other one she said that's okay. She goes we'll get it next time. The important thing is that we tried So, they're learning that. Um, not lowering rigor. That is so important.
053Um, but you need to make it accessible to them. We do a lot of chance. Those who've come to our um room have heard us do the verb rap. And one of the other things I like to do is projectbased assessments. Not everyone can take a paper test or a computer test. So, one of the things that we do when we do our circuits is we make electric houses. So, kids that may not be able to do that, explain it on a test can definitely show you how their circuit works and why it doesn't work and explain that. Okay, I'm just gonna do this. There we go. Okay. One of the biggest things to bring the joy in is make it relevant to them. Why do they want to learn this? Why would they why
054would this be important? So, we just read about the Middle Ages and they're like, "Okay, why are we reading about these old people?" So, um, one thing we talked about is the Magna Carta. We got our democracy from there. Our constitution comes from there. When we finished reading Small Steps, the year I got polio, number one, they loved it so much we had because we only had excerpts, we had to read the whole book um, as a read aloud. But we also then did some research. We at the end of every CLA unit we do a project. So we researched the game Candyland and played it. The person that actually developed it had polio herself and was in the hospital and was inspired by the other the young kids there and wanted them to have
055something to escape from that. And it didn't hurt that we got some chocolate frosties um donated from Wendy's. Um well that's how Peg, you know, first ate. It was a chocolate sundae or shake. >> Um oh, biggest thing we do is be the book because it's it's like do you want to read it or do you want to be the book? And some got to experience it the other day when we had our medieval fest. The other thing we did is we did the feudal system. So for that's one of the pictures that's up there. They made crowns and so for half of the day they were lord and ladies and the other half they were surfs and they got to order their surfs around. So I definitely told the people in the morning said
056be careful because they are going to rule you in the afternoon. Um the other thing up there is the living museum that we did at the end of last year. The other big thing on making that relevant as well is we are the DLI program and I work very closely with my DL counterpart. We actually found Hispanic heroes of the American Revolution. They presented that on them and in Spanish. Um, making explicit crosscurricular connections is also important. In fact, today in math we were talking about factors. So, we read a book of the doorbell rang and it's about cookies getting split up. So, again, food is always joyful in our classroom. So they had cookies and they were able to make all the different factors in the book expanding the impact. So it's important to
057me this has given me the best of both worlds. I've been toying with the idea of like maybe I want to be a coach but oh I'm going to miss the kids. So this gives me kind of the opportunity to do both. I've always hosted student teachers in the past. So, um, my professor that used to place them with me, they said, "Doesn't matter. We're all learning. Whether it's an adult or children, you can still make an impact." I also tried really hard to make home connections. Bringing in parents right there, there's a picture of our night and shining armor. He actually, this is actually one of our parents came in that his dad made him this. He's actually jousted and that is his family shield. So, um I really hope that I'm truly making
058an impact. It means a lot that I could be touching other kids in other um schools within the district. I feel it's a way of honoring and giving back to the district that I was part of. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> So something inspiring about model classrooms is that they clearly illustrate both the art and the science of teaching. I think we see that they share in common the science of teaching, the high expectations, the engaging classrooms, the rigor, but you can also see that they embody the art of teaching. They do it in very different ways and yet they're reaching the same high outcomes. So, excitingly to give you a little glimpse of where we are in this work, we have over a dozen established model classrooms right now in the district, which
059is great. And we actually have a few more who are present here today. So, I'd like to give a chance for other model classroom teachers who are joining us tonight to just come up, introduce themselves, share what school they work at, their grade level, their content area, so that we can take a moment to celebrate and thank these teachers for their incredible work. Come on. I'll start it off. >> Hi, my name is Ameilia Kronzer. I am at the one, the only Holmes Middle School. There is no place like Holmes. I'll have to tell you that. I teach sixth grade ELA and I'm also the master teacher at Holmes Middle School. Thank you. [applause] Uh my name is Hannah Shaw. I teach at Midland Elementary. We call ourselves the hidden gem of D11. Um, I
060am teach kindergarten. It's my 18th year of doing it and I still absolutely love it. So, [applause] hello. My name is Kelsey Davis. I teach third grade over at Rudy Elementary and I've been doing it for about 17 years now. I absolutely love my job and I'm excited to be a model classroom. So, [applause] my name is Sarah Gonzalez. I teach first grade at Rudy Elementary and it is my fourth year teaching and I feel very lucky to be a model classroom this year. [applause] My name is Tiffany Walker and we say that I'm at Jordy because I'm at Jenkins at DHY. Um I'm an eighth grade language arts teacher and just glad to be part of the process. [applause] So, like I mentioned, we have over 12 already identified in the district and I
061thought that I might wrap up with a little glimpse of the future of this work. So, we currently have over 70 teachers who are identified in our model classroom pipeline and our initial goals are to identify at least one model classroom per grade level, per content area, and also per school. So, that's a bit of our guiding light um at this moment in the work. And please know this is just the beginning of a a long journey. And we're very excited about the endless possibilities, some of which I'm sure we haven't even imagined yet. Um and if there's time, we'd be happy to answer questions. And if not, we just thank you for the opportunity to share tonight. [applause] Before we open up for questions, Carol, can you just describe for the board and the
062community like how do we how do we operationalize this? How is it that if I'm struggling or I'm a new principal and I'm not sure how to build out departmentalization? Give us an example of how some of our great educators are having that larger impact. >> Yeah, absolutely. One of the most exciting parts of the model classroom program is the peer observation component. And so you heard several of the examples tonight, but what happens on in practice is that teachers or coaches or principles, it can really come through any of those avenues, identify classrooms who want to go and learn or need to go and learn a certain practice and then they go alongside usually a coach, sometimes their principal where they get to come into these model classroom spaces, watch instruction and action, and
063then immediately debrief what they've seen. We had a great example of this with a couple of teachers coming over from Carver into the classrooms at Freedom. They immediately debriefed in the afternoon what they've seen and then their instructional coach reported that within the next two days there were already shifts in those classrooms. >> Awesome. Thank you. Open to the board. Thank you so much Charlie and all the team for uh especially all the educators who came here. This has been a long time to realize. So I appreciate it coming to fruition. Yeah, appreciate all of you being here and sharing this information with the board. Um, uh, now that we know where the model classrooms are, we hope to stop by one of these days and, uh, partake in the model classroom process. So, uh,
064board questions or comments? Director Hay Fley, you're first. >> I don't have any questions, but I do have some comments, and I just want to say thank you for what you do every day for other people's children. and also taking time out of your Wednesday night to come and tell us all about this because now that we know >> I'm going to have keys to your room. [laughter] I'm just kidding. But I I it would be great to see this in action. So, thank you very much. >> Just a quick note on that as well. I switched to this slide. Outside of all of these classrooms, you'll see a certificate framed on the wall outside. So, as you're walking through buildings, this is something to be on the lookout for. Thank you. Thank you for
065that pointer. And I was in Miss Roten's classroom for that medieval celebration, I think. So, I got to engage with a parent who had the armor. I didn't joust with them, though. [laughter] Back to Bankers. >> I want to also add [clears throat] my recognition and and thank you for those folks who have stepped forward and made your classrooms into model classrooms. I've had the pleasure of going to your classrooms and seeing you in action. And it was a true pleasure as a former fifth grade teacher. It's like I want to go back and do that again. I'll come visit. Thank you, >> Dr. Rock. >> Thank you. It is exciting the progress that is being made and thank you for everyone who is indeed stepping up to these model classrooms. Uh I wonder if
066we could get a list even so that when we are as you say in the buildings, we don't just have to look for that. We can make a point of visiting classrooms. >> Yeah, we'll share that with Melissa. Thank you. >> Great. I don't see any other questions or comments. So, thank you for the work that you are doing. Um, peer-to-peer learning from our teachers from the model classrooms. So, many of our teachers come into this uh and kind of are thrown in the deep end of the pool. So, having some somebody that they can look up to and model after, this is great. So, we look forward to engaging with you when you vis when we visit your classrooms. Thank you again for being here this evening. >> Yeah. [applause] >> Back to you,
067superintendent call for your report. >> Okay. I'm going to switch over to the superintendent's report. If uh Eliva and Jordan can come forward to give their teacher shoutouts. So if all the mo model teachers kind of hang out for a second. Come up up up to my chair. You get my chair. >> Jordan up. >> Ellie up. >> Come on up. sit on and you guys get to give a shout out. >> Good evening. My name is Ellie Off Hector and I am in Miss Zberg's and Miss Everheart's fourth grade class at Freedom Elementary. Miss Z is a caring teacher and never gives up on me. When I had a broken hand, Miss scrapped for me to make sure that I could still learn and not get behind. Miss Eart wants me to grow and
068learn even when it's hard. I know she cares about me. When it was my birthday, she surprised me with a birthday banner signed by the whole class. >> Thank you, Miss Eberheart and Miss Silverberg. I will never forget your kindness. A [applause] good evening. My name is Jordan Brewer. I have been going to Freedom Elementary since I was in preK. And this year I am in Miss Z and Miss Eberart's class. It has been an amazing year so far. I really love learning about all the amazing topics like poetry, the Middle Ages, factors, and the distributive property. Miss Z and Miss Eberhart have also taught me that it's okay to make mistakes and how to stay on track. I am so grateful to learn the new things and have them as my teachers. Thank you.
069[applause] >> Well, look at this penmanship up here. Isn't that awesome to see this? And she came prepared. >> Thank you. Actually, I'm gonna ask Jordan to stay for just a second longer because if everybody heard, Jordan just said she likes the distributive uh property of math. So, thanks for making math fun again. Okay, can I get Jack from Rogers to come on up? Jack, your turn to take my chair. My name is Jack Duncan and I go to the best school, Will Rogers Elementary. Miss Roen is the best teacher. Here are three reasons why she is the best. First, she is the funniest. She tells jokes in the morning for us to solve. Second, I love that she is in this program. It helps us ch it helps challenge us to learn a lot
070in a group. Third, she he helps us learn many new things. Last who day [laughter] there are those are some reasons why she's the best. [applause] If it just doesn't bring a smile to your face to just see how awesome it is to be in District 11, just like go go check your face in the mirror is what I say. [laughter] Uh this is uh this is great. I'm going to try and speed along here. Uh Crystal, you want to come forward? Uh we had uh an an enormous number of kids participate in the math Olympiad. Crystal, you want to give us a summary? Yeah. So, I had the pleasure of going and speaking and handing out awards. Um, lots of representation from D11 from a lot of different schools. Um, so it was really
071neat to see they come and they do five different problems and then they come back and find out, um, how they placed. And so, um, just the perseverance they demonstrated was amazing. I looked at the math problems and it was confirmed that I am not a math pro person. Um, so I was super proud of them. Um, and we are lucky enough to have Trevor here tonight from Coronado High School. So, I'll bring him up to speak. Trevor, come on up. [applause] >> Uh, hello. I'm Trevor Lockage. I did the Soyfer Mathematical Olympiad. Uh, at first I didn't even really want to do it. I was told it was going to be too hard to even try really, but that wasn't true. It was actually pretty pretty doable. And main reason I went was just
072they had free books if you went and did it. So, I I just went and I did pretty good, it seems. >> Awesome. What math class are you in now as a junior? >> Uh, I'm in AP pre-calc. >> Okay, there you go. So much for not being good at it, right? [laughter] >> I just really like learning things. So, anytime I get the opportunity, I'll go and take it. >> Okay, I'll give you the last word. Best principal in all district 11. >> Uh, Miss Now, >> there we go. Thanks, Addie. You're up by one. [applause] Uh we have a great opportunity here to share one of our um apprenticeships. I'm sure you all know Connor and Connor's work has been recognized um as an award winner here for a documentary. He's was awarded
073over $136,000 in scholarships for the documentary that he put together. He just came back traveling from Washington DC to be able to share that. Connor, are you here? Where is Connor? >> There he is. Connor, come on forward. tell us a little bit about your journey. [applause] >> Yep, you got it. >> Yeah, so um it was I think almost two years ago around the same time when I was applying for the apprenticeship. Um I applied for this program called the Youth Documentary Academy. Um and through that program, I was able to make a a documentary uh just a short one. Um and I am very fortunate and very glad to say that I've found some success in it. and I was able to go to the All-American High School Film Festival where I'm very
074glad to say I took first place for documentary the documentary category. It's awesome. [applause] >> Uh just uh real quickly real briefly tell us how your apprenticeship kind of complements this work that you've been rewarded for. Yeah. So, uh, a lot of the things that I used like to make my documentary, um, and a lot of the things I use now still doing film things in college, um, I learned a lot of hands-on experience, uh, using media equipment in my apprenticeship, and I still am learning, um, lots of marketing stuff and just how to get good shots and get people to care about what you're filming. >> Awesome. Thank you. Thank you, Connor. >> Thank you, guys. [applause] Uh Kayla, are you here? Can you stand up? Is Kayla here? I will recogn Oh, please
075come on forward just a little. Yeah, just do a lap. Do a lap soap so people can see who you are. Uh thank you. Uh [applause] Kayla as one of our uh educators was recognized by the Youth Documentary Academy also for her work in all the other kids that actually went out there and didn't quite win the level of recognition that Connor did. But you can see the incredible work that's happening all across Palmer. All AC. I see I went to Palmer. I gave Christa. There's a vote. Connor, who's the best principal in district 11? >> There you go. There we go. [laughter] Got one. We got one for Palmer. Thank you, Kayla, for the work that you did as well. Thank you. Okay, I'm going to try and zip through these. These are um
076available on every one of the web pages for the Palmer transformation and for the Gall for the uh Jenkins work that's happening and for the DHY work that's happening. But I did want to give an update to the community since I have the chance here. Uh as you can see the uh the the former tech wing on Weber Street is no longer there and you can see great construction happening at Palmer High School. This is really the plan. we will complete that academic wing by December of 2026 and then uh kind of at the same time we'll be starting the renovation of the original 1939 building. So they kind of show in two different colors as if they're happening in sequence but they'll kind of happen at the same time. We're super appreciative of the
077partnerships that we have with Perkins Eastman and Adolfson and Peterson and RTA. I see that uh my good friend Doug Abernathi is here today as part of uh one of our action items. This is just a slice computer view of the third floor layout. You know, we could do this for every one of the floors, but this is that new academic wing that I showed you here in blue. And so, this is kind of the flexible uh convertible, adaptable space that we'll be putting in through the entirety of uh for both the new academic space and then the renovation. Um, another cut here you can see as we come to the second floor. And then you can see we're just kind of thinking about spaces that are attractive to youth in 2025 and how they
078can sit in spaces and flexible ways to learn and not always just be restricted to the classroom. And so you can see again here even as you look from the bottom up being able to see and have access to all three floors of learning at Palmer would be a completely different view than what we have currently uh at Palmer. So really excited about what's happening at Palmer. on schedule uh under under budget right now. We got a $5,000 grant uh for five million so so far. So sorry 5,000. Yeah. Um thank you so much. $5 million grant for the geothermal work that's happening and that's also later in the agenda this evening. An update that what's happening at Jenkins and our strong partnership with uh CRP architects and Brian Construction. This is a layout. You
079can see kind of the bird's eye view the existing school and the new addition happening uh in that what used to be a parking lot. Uh they've already been down to Bedrock. We did a great groundbreaking just uh couple of weeks ago students gave some really really powerful speech speeches. I really appreciate Tiffany one of our model classrooms commenting on the challenges of what it means to teach in two different locations. Jenkins has not only met that challenge they've exceeded it. They had the highest performing uh growth and achievement of any of the middle schools in the district 11 portfolio last year when they were split between two different locations. So under great crisis uh and challenge can come great opportunity. Some of those renderings as you think about what current Jenkins looks like. You
080can see kind of keeping and paying homage to that motif but giving it a bit of a modern flare for us to continue to attract in uh the um in the northeast part of our city. And that's just a different elevation view coming in from the other angle for that new academic space. This is uh the media center. This is the reimagined media center. So you can see still have access to a multimedia opportunities for kids. But again kind of a flexible stair space for kids to kind of use as a learning or a study area or for us to use as kind of an auditorium. And up the stairs will be a couple additional learning areas which we didn't have in the media center before. Uh to the left of that picture is a
081wall of windows that frames Pikes Peak. And I say to everybody, you can't get lost in our city because you just keep turning around until you see Pikes Peak and you know you're pointed west. So having that great view from Jenkins uh framed will be great. And I'll end real briefly with Dhy with the fieldhouse. Thanks again to the Will Fong family for their generous donation. This is actual the other ones that were showing were renderings. We got steel superructure up. The fieldhouse is going up. We are on schedule to be have the interior uh completed by uh this December and open for students when we come back from holiday break. So we move fast in district 11. And I've had other people comment to me on all three of these projects how quickly we're
082moving. Uh we we're there are no corner cutting. We're following every inspection. We're doing all the guidelines. But we move with intentionality because students have a limited amount of time to have access to our facilities. We want to make sure that these things are opened and available for students to use. It is the student who gains from every dollar that we invest in this district and we're very appreciative of the board for their support and for the philanthropy that's come forward on these. That concludes my superintendent report. >> Perfect. Thank you board. Any comments on the superintendent report? Seeing none, thank you for sharing the work that is going on at three different schools. Okay. Um at three different schools. So, thank you for sharing that with the community. That's great progress that's happening at
083uh Palmer Jenkins and Dodi. Um and uh I frequently visit Doi dropping my child off and I see that construction taking place right in front of my eyes. So it's great to see that this is going to be done by January and our students are going to access that fieldhouse. Okay, with that um we are moving on to public comments. Um we do have public comments. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Going over the board protocol for public comments. As a reminder, the board welcomes and is very interested in listening to community feedback as it as it helps us better do our job. Please approach the podium when your name is called. You have three minutes to deliver your remarks. Please monitor the clock that is on display and complete your comments in that allotted time.
084Board meetings are primarily business meetings for the orderly and efficient conduct of the business of the district. Keeping that in mind, the clear expectation is that your feedback is provided in a civil, professional, and courteous manner without resorting to disparaging or defamatory remarks. Students are often in attendance or watching our broadcast. Speaker's remarks therefore should be suitable for an audience that includes minor students including no use of profanities and or abscinities to adhere to the board policy and accomplish the work already on the agenda. The board will not respond to comments during this time. But I can assure you that your comments will be taken into consideration as we discuss pertinent agenda items. To maintain the flow of the meeting and not have prolonged interruptions, please refrain from clapping. If you want to show support
085to a speaker, please stand as the speaker is talking or use a silent applause. Lastly, the statements made by the public do not reflect the views of the board or the district. With that, I have um a few public comments here and we also have a public hearing scheduled at 700 p.m. for priority improvement and turnaround schools. and uh that is Roger Elementary and that's required by state statutes to uh hold that public hearing at 7:00 and we are approaching that 7:00. We are a minute away but I'm going to turn to uh Miss Olsson and ask if anybody signed up for the public hearing. Okay, since we do not have anybody signed up for that public hearing, I'm going to move on to the public comments that people are signed up for. And the
086first comment is uh if I mispronounce your name, I'm sorry about that. Uh Kumiko Norris. Thank you, Miss Norris. Hello. Um, my name is Kamiko Norris and I am a D11 parent and I'm here this evening to comment on draft policy J. I understand the desire to create a simplified policy regarding the selection, adoption, acquisition, and reconsideration of instructional materials and library resources. However, to repeal several of the regulations and exhibits listed in the recommended motion would be a mistake. Many of these exhibits and regulations, specifically regulation JL-R, clearly and explicitly outline the procedures for approval and reconsideration of library resources. Whereas neither the JL policy revision nor draft policy J articulate or reference explicit criteria for approval, denial, or formal reconsideration of resource requests. Further, draft policy J does not address the reconsideration of
087instructional materials while the existing policy policy JJ does. The absence of any straightforward criteria for both the approval and removal of instructional materials and library resources is bothersome. This absence will obiscate the review and decision-making process, omits formalized parent, community, and educator involvement, and can introduce an unnecessary degree of speculation and potential mistrust around resource review. Library resources and instructional materials should be subject to a thorough, transparent and well- definfined examination by teachers, LTE, content facilitators, subject matter experts, administrators, and a community and a committee of community members. Maintaining the guidelines as currently articulated inj--r and other existing regulations will ensure clarity and consistency of process, engender trust in the review process of materials and resources, and continue to guarantee that such materials and resources meet state academic standards, and align with the district's core
088values and educational mission. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Devin Chatron. If you guys could just give me a second to like get acquainted. Um, okay. So, hello. I would like to start off by asking this. Why are you trying to pass a policy to ban books and educational materials that talk about marginalized communities? I don't think it's my place to talk about the clear racial aspect of this issue, but I am comfortable speaking on the LGBTQIT plus aspect of it. I'm going to be blunt. The Nazis started off by burning books from the first center in Berlin that did research into transgender and queer health. >> Oh, >> I'm having a hard time hearing. >> Okay. Can we restart the time? Okay. So, I'll start from the beginning for you. All right. Hello. I am
089going to start off by asking this. Why are you trying to pass a policy that bans or to ban books and educational materials that talk about marginalized communities? I don't think it's my place to talk about the clear racial aspect of this issue, but I am comfortable speaking on the LGBTQIAT plus aspect of it. I'm going to be blunt. The Nazis started off by burning books in the first center in Berlin uh that did research into transgender and queer health. It sounds like this board is find or trying to find ways to do a similar albeit sanitized version with this policy. Are you going to remove the education that helps the queer or queer and trans students thrive? Wait, you already have. If you have the nerve to physically cut out pages from books the
090for LGBTQ plus students, what will stop you now? This policy could be used for good. I don't have good I don't have faith that this board is doing this for a good reason, though. I think the board is going to use it to further hurt, bully and mar uh and bully marginalized students. Members from this board have already shown us their true colors uh by how they have talked about the transgender and LGBTQIT uh LGBTQIAT plus communities. Over the past year, I have been attending uh most of these board meetings. I have done research into board members like Miss Jorgensson with their hateful anti-transposts from 2022. Thank you, Ka or KO AA for reporting on that situation. I'm also concerned that this uh that this is the first time uh give me one second. I'm
091also concerned that this is the first time we could talk about this with the board. It seems like most of the board has been trying to rush it through without anyone noticing, but we did. Students, parents, and staff and community members are not happy with this blatant attack. Director uh I want to thank you for being a staunch supporter of marginalized students and communities. I think that we all or I think I speak for us all when we say that we're sad that you leave or that you're leaving this position. When I first started coming to these board meetings, I was upset that I couldn't help students as much as I wanted to. Your resilience on this board inspired me to keep going to these meetings. Your comments against hateful policies might not have stopped
092them from getting passed, but it showed people like me that we should keep fighting, especially against hateful comments. You're an amazing person, and I'm glad I had you at my graduation. I stand by that. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, do we do have a parent comment pertaining to priority improvement and turnaround schools, Rogers Elementary School? Um, uh, I think this comment was signed just recently and it, uh, Miss Olsson brought to my attention just now. So, I'm going to invite Mr. Joshua Galvan to, uh, come and provide your comment. Do you have three minutes, sir? Uh, yeah. So, I'm Josh Galvan. I teach at Dhy High School. Um, my kids go to Rogers Elementary School. Um, this is their second year at Rogers Elementary. Prior to that, they're at a D20 school. I won't
093name any names or anything, but um it was a great high achieving school and and they did okay there and they they did, you know, got high scores and everything like that. But when we moved over to Rogers two years ago is when they found their [clears throat] love for learning. Um and I I just kind of wanted to talk at here for a moment about uh the importance of this school to their education and uh and how great of a job uh the principal is doing over there, the teachers are doing over there. Um they are they have [clears throat] an amazing DLI program and I don't think a lot of people in this city or uh even in this district know how great of a program they have going there. And I know
094their data doesn't show you know that they're top in the state or things like that. But when they're educating children in two different languages and it's not just like hey we're doing this part in English and this in Spanish but they're doing everything in both languages. Um it's amazing to see their growth. um even if that doesn't pertain or or realize to um you know these high scores that that maybe that the state wants to see or anything like that. Um my kids love going to school every single day. They're excited to go to school. They're excited to learn. They come home and they want to do more of what their teachers have taught them there. Um it's an amazing thing to see their joy for learning. And um again, they were at a great
095school at District 20 before. um nothing wrong with it. It just they didn't have the joy for learning that they have now that they're getting from the teachers over at Rogers Elementary. And so I just really wanted to speak on behalf of of that entire staff there. Um from their music teacher to their PE teacher to their to their art teacher to their librarian. Every one of them knows our kids' names. They interact with each one of them. They're all in different grades. Um we have three of them there and it is just an amazing place. I would encourage anyone who has young children to to go to that school. Um, I'd encourage anyone in District 11, if you haven't seen what the DLI program does at Rogers Elementary, go to Rogers Elementary and see
096the amazing things that they're doing because the data does not show the entire picture of what Rogers Elementary School is doing. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you for sharing that feedback on Rogers, which will be an agenda item later this evening. Uh, going back to public comments, Mr. Edward Sanders. Hello, members of the D11 board, superintendent, staff, and community. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is Ed Sanders, and I'm a community member in District 11 and also a survivor of the Club Q mass shooting in Colorado Springs. and I know firsthand what the singling out of certain groups can lead to in real life. I am here to oppose the proposed policy changes that would grant the board unilateral power to ban or remove books, especially those that represent LGBTQIA
097bipac or historically marginalized voices from school libraries and curriculum. First, this policy undermines intellectual freedom and free speech. When a few individuals decide what counts as inappropriate or obscene, we risk silencing entire communities and restricting students right to explore ideas, to think critically, and to see themselves reflected in literature. Books are not endorsements, but windows and mirrors. They allow students to see others lives and understand their own. Secondly, the proposed policy centralizes power in ways that exclude voices that matter. The new process strips away meaningful roles for students, educators, and parents in reviewing and defending books. It substitutes swift top-down decisions for thoughtful inclusive deliberation that concentrates control in board members who are not experts in child development curriculum design or literally literary analysis and removes the checks and balances that should protect against bias.
098Third, this policy disproportionately attacks marginalized voices. The very books likely to be challenged are those featuring queer identities, racial diversity, or nondominant perspectives. Eliminating or restricting them erases students ability to see themselves in literature and sends a message that some stories are less valid than others. That is deeply harmful in a diverse district. Fourth, the acceleration of this process moving from non-action to action with minimal public notice silences community engagement. Appreciate your time. Thank you. >> Thank you. Deianne Curtis [clears throat] Reagan. Thank you. If I got your name wrong, please introduce yourself. Thank you. >> Hello. Thank you all for what you do. Appreciate it. >> I am Diane Curtis Rean and I grew up in District 11 schools from K through 12, a long time ago. Um, I'm a former Colorado elementary school
099teacher and a current author of 60 traditionally published books for young readers, ranging from picture books to young adult novels. I'm also the recipient of the Pikes Libraryies Golden Quill Award for my body of work and my books have been finalists for the Colorado Book Award and the Colorado Authors League Award. My runin with censorship happened with my very first novel. I write mostly humor and fantasy for younger kids and mystery and suspense for teenagers. My first novel, I've Got Your Number, was published by Avon Books and it was actually a parody of young adult romance stories, which were popular at the time and they were always innocent romance stories. [clears throat] So, when a young reader who was actually way too young to be reading young adult novels told her mom that there was
100a non-existent rape scene in my story. The shocked mother complained and my book was pulled from libraries in every school in the district where I lived. No one bothered to ask me about it or actually read the story to find out about this supposed rape scene. But I'm telling you this because it's an example of about how quickly people can get rid of a book because one person had a problem with it. What I'd also like you to know is that when you go through the process of having a book published, there are so many gatekeepers. There is no way anything offensive or harmful to young children could make it to publication. In my picture book, The Snowblue Inn, published by Holiday House, the little girl main character is waiting for her friend to [clears
101throat] arrive for dinner, but there's a snowstorm outside. She sets a table just for the two of them and places a candle on the table. Well, I thought New York was going to have a meltdown over the candle that I placed on my character's table. You absolutely cannot do that. It's dangerous. So, they immediately replaced the candle with two lace napkins. Now, we're safe. No one has ever taken issue with the lace napkin. Yet, the point I'm trying to make is that so many editors and copy editors will go over your text with a fine tooth comb to make sure everything is correct and there is nothing the least bit offensive or dangerous. So, when I read online that we have pornography in our children's libraries or that we're trying to indoctrinate them, I know
102for a fact that is just being said to rile people up. It could not be further from the truth. And I'm adamantly against one or two or a small group of people telling others what their children can and cannot read. Parents are smart enough to decide for their own children, and that's called education. Thank you. >> Thank you. That's Patty Donovan. >> Miss Donovan. >> Hello. >> Yes, District 11 board. You're moving too fast. Some places are good, but I'd like to ask you to slow down as you concern yourself with moving to the new IR policies. Thank you for this opportunity to present. I am a retired LTE. I had a marvelous career in district 11 spanning kindergarten through high school. Uh please do not eliminate all 10 of the school library policies without
103having conversations with your LTE. The benefits of the library technology educator position is defined in these works and in the policies. Take the time to have the conversations with these stellar ed educators. The results will be seen in student achievement. With LTE input, these policies can be streamlined, narrowed, and restated to help D11 navigate the new technologies coming our way and to take it from 11 policies to two, maybe three. These function the policies that we have are functional and provide for the work that schools need us to do. Library technology educators have always been at the forefront of the Colorado Department of Education and District 11 learning initiatives. The LTE is your early adopter and your teacher of teachers within the buildings. LTE's work for the best interest of students, teachers, families, administrators, and
104communities. Director provided a tidy summary of the LTE concerns in the work meeting. Uh but I want to remind you that uh our program programs are developed from these policies and again we have teacher innovation. We have the art and science of teaching um best instruction policies and resources as they are applied to students. Our work results in student achievement. We are part of the school leadership teams. We work on the usips that you require. We provide working technology and we teach everyone how to use it. We work to provide the best of instructional materials. We research and we teach how to research. Our standards are measured. We teach information literacy and we teach kids how to think. We are maybe most importantly the point of need support for students, for teachers, for staff, administration,
105and families. These policies were collaboratively determined and they were nationally recognized. I was able to be a part of the alll presentation um I would say 15 years ago um because they were efficient and they were excellent. Please do not throw this work away. These policies are efficient, fair, and transparent. They shelter children from obscenity and pornography, and they provide an excellent process. >> Thank you, >> Miss Christy Howard. Good evening, uh, D11 board members, fellow colleagues, community members, students. Uh, my name is Christy Howard. I am a D11 graduate, the parent of two D11 students who are also graduates, a Crystal Apple recipient, and a recently retired D11 first grade teacher. I was also the 2017 Colorado History Teacher of the Year and I served on the National Council for Social Studies Trade Book
106Review Committee for three years. I've also worked with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Colorado and I'm a member of Authors Against Book Banning. I share this with you to let you know my deep commitment to children's literature and the effect that it can have on young children and how passionate I am about sharing diverse stories. All of these organizations that I have spoken about also have the same values and importance of sharing diverse and inclusive stories for students. Each one of us in this room and each student in our classroom comes from a different path in life. No one path is more important than the other. We all come from different religions, ethnic groups, family structures, gender identities or learning abilities. We are human and each one of us is unique. The stories in books
107serve two key features. One, to serve as a window into a life or story different from yours, creating a new understanding. Um, or two, a mirror or a place that you can see yourself being represented within a story and within our world. None of us would argue that there are age appropriate topics, no different than a movie reading. However, by censoring the representation of stories within a library or classroom, we are limiting our students abilities to see themselves and to learn about others. The history of our country has been built by individuals in our great American melting pot. Stories are not always pretty or perfect, but they all matter. And in a district that looks to engage communities and families, all stories matter. This is a time to stand strong and not let groups of
108indiv individuals become even more marginalized by taking their stories and voices away. I would like to share a page with you from one of my favorite books that I've shared with my kids from an author and illustrator who worked for Walt Disney um during the 1940s. She was a Japanese American Guio Fujiawa. She saw her family sent to an internment camp in California while she worked in California or in New York for Walt Disney. At the time when Guil was writing books, illustrations were limited to certain colors of kids and the publishers p pushed back and said, "No, you cannot do that." With this said, she pushed forward and continued, "Each person's story in this room is important, just like all of our students stories are important, and none of us has the right in
109a small group to decide whose stories can be told and who can be left out. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Miss Nancy Bentley. Hi, thank you for having me. Thank you for opening this up to this wonderful community discussion and input. I am a former library media specialist in school district 11 and I know how arduous the book selection process is for school library books and school textbooks. Nothing is purchased without reviews and a timehonored selection process. I'm also a children's book author who was published with Double Day Scholastic and Enslow and Milberg Press. I've worked in New York at Holiday House Children's Book Publishers and I'm also a documentary filmmaker with a number of award-winning films. I have lived in Colorado Springs for over five decades. And I've always been proud of the
110school district 11 staff, community members, and especially teachers. But what I now see happening to our educational community and to our students has brought me here tonight. As someone who has worked with and for the young people in this community, I expect you, the members of the school board, to lead with wisdom and not fear. To expect the best of our educators and students and not the worst. And most importantly, to open your eyes to all the students in our buildings and to treat them as you would your own children. The students sitting in our classrooms today come in all sizes, all shapes, all colors, all religions, all backgrounds. They are our future and we must respect them. We must be honest and open with them. We must help them navigate rough waters and not
111pretend that differences do not exist. The thought that this school board is censoring books and not trusting our professional librarians and media specialists who have done an indepth professional selection is extremely disturbing. And to hear that pages of textbooks are being torn out of books is folly. We will be watching you. The eyes of our future is sitting in those classroom seats and they will be watching you. I only hope you have the courage to keep your eyes and hearts open. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Jackson Hoskinson. Good evening. Uh my name is Jackson and I am the school advocate with Inside Out Youth Services. And before I discuss any policy changes this evening, I I must use my time to give a huge thank you to Director Aught. Um while this room
112has been used to limit students access to their own rights in D1 schools for beyond the past year, none of those decisions were ever made unanimously. Every time a policy that was going to take away students rights comes up, it has received one no vote. Director Aught without fail demonstrates what it means to represent the best interest of students, the district, and the community. Thank you truly for being a beacon of hope, of civility, and of showing what we can all do every day, and that is to vote and to put students first. To the remaining six of you, you have already heard a variety of perspectives, including from LTE of your district, former and p um former and current. Um why it is inappropriate for a board of education to insert itself as the
113sole arbiter of what is and is not appropriate content in a school district. Inside Out follows the lead of your teachers, parents, LTE, and CASBY to call for the addition of a review committee to be formed with public four public complaints which include student, parent, and educator voice. But beyond the concerns with the concentration of power in the hands of the board of education um who have members who are not as a a rule uh experts in education policy is extremely concerning to those who value diversity of thought and representation in schools. When I compare the current policy to the proposed one, the changes in language belly an effort to prepare the district for a purging of books as has happened in similar policies in Texas and Florida after policies like these passed. What language
114has been removed? Language that requires a district not only to have a balanced collection with diverse perspectives, but is committed to including quote media that in that includes historically historically underrepresented and marginalized voices. Why does updating this policy require require shifting the goalposts away from historically represented minority voices? And why does the language that is replacing it focus on the removal of books? any books in D11 that have that are there have already been deemed appropriate and others have spoken to that. So my question is are there books in are there books in schools that this board is planning on removing? Are there books perhaps that they couldn't remove without unilateral control? Well, let's look at recent examples. At the beginning of this year, someone in the district decided to cut out a whole chapter
115of new brand new in a district books um health textbooks for for D11 high schools. Um, that chapter was titled concerns about sexuality. H, ironically, it is this under the table destruction that your new policy and the state law that passed requires it will prevent. But is this not the same? Is this not the official process for removing books? Let's remember in D11, pride flags are inappropriate, chosen names are controversial, and trans students are banned from sports. Is this how we plan to ban them from libraries, too? Uh, my joke is that I'm just going to hand you scissors right now to cut the pages out yourselves. Thanks. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Bruce Hamilton. >> Thank you. Oh, thank you. Um, I'm a retired teacher and um, [clears throat] it's difficult to follow
116up on on all those eloquent, intelligent speakers already. So, I'll see what I can do. Um, are you concerned that there was a protest outside today? I wish you could have seen it. And why was there a protest? What caused it? Well, D1 plans to make it easier to ban books and to censor materials. That's why it happened and that's why I'm here. Um, and how how is that proposal going to help enrollment in this district? I don't know the answer to that question. So when I was out there did I I asked I asked if there was any discussion about this proposal between the board and um CSEA and the response I got was the school board has ended contact with the educational association. What is that true? It seems well the person seemed
117plausible. Um so that that if that's true that's anti-education. The teachers and the educational association or that's the teachers are what causes education to happen here. And I would hope that you were supporting that. And that's all I can say because I'm too mad to say anything else. >> Thank you. That is the end of public comments. I've gone through all the names of people that signed up. Thank you for being here and sharing your feedback with the board. Um uh later on during this evening the board will have uh robust discussion on both the policies that are going to come in front of the board and JL one is coming as an action item and one is coming in a non-action item and I would encourage you to stay here and listen to the
118conversation if your schedule allows for the rest of the evening. If you guys have to leave, you guys have to leave. Um, but the board will engage in a robust factual discussion about the policies and the impact. Uh, thank you. >> Okay. Um, does the board want to take a five minute break at this time? Okay. Could you >> Okay. Do we need to take a motion for that? You just need to step away. You just step away. >> Well, we are just going through. Okay. Well, the ne the next item on the agenda is board member reports. Are there any board member reports from board members at this time? >> And I see director Jurgensson, your hand is up, too. I'll come to you in a minute. Director, you're up first. >> Um, well,
119I think it's unfortunate that we didn't take a break because we could make sure Director Bankis could make a report if she wanted. Um I I just um thank you for everyone who came and spoke today and shared their concerns about the changes. Um I appreciate the comments. I also want to note um like we we had our fabulous performance earlier and the honor choir performance earlier over the weekend. Um, and on that theme, it's music and theater season for fall of District 11. So, I have to mention all the plays that are coming. So, Community Garden is showing at Doherty this week, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and next week you'll have to be really coordinated because there's the Clumsy Custard Horror Show at Mitchell High School, Arsenic and Old Lace at Coronado, and Kodakchrome at
120Palmer. And who knows what the middle schools are doing because they are also out there especially at North uh Sabin already had a performance and so it's happening. Get out there see get into some schools and see the great talent um of our students. Oh and of course music. I mentioned that briefly. Uh just band concerts, orchestra concerts all the way through elementary school. Be watching for those as well. And I think otherwise um I'll just mention there was a future educator conference on Monday. Director Bankus and I were both there. I don't know if anyone else made it. Just so many things happening in our schools. Fabulous things and I hope that everyone can get out and enjoy them. Thanks. >> Thank you. Thank you for sharing about the theater program. I know that
121a lot of schools put theater programs at this time of the year. Um so uh and the board gets invites as well. So if um the district can share some of those uh schedule with the board and send us calendar invites if possible. >> On that note, uh we will receive a VAPA visual and performing arts newsletter probably Friday. It's the first Friday of each month and so we are blessed with receiving that. I imagine they will also put information out on through the Facebook page and elsewhere. >> Yeah, we look forward to that email. Thank you. Uh, Director Jurgensson, your hand is up. You are up next. >> Thank you. Uh, before we move further into tonight into tonight's agenda, I did want to take a moment to address the silent protest being held
122tonight by the teachers union over our draft policy on libraries and instructional materials. Let's be clear, this board is not banning books. In fact, the misinformation spreading is so bad that basically none of the public comments this evening were even remotely related to the truthful intent of these policies. As President Makam said, please do stay and hear the discussion on the facts and next steps of these policies. Feel like some people came in tonight just gla blazing based on what they heard and didn't take the time to to look at some of the things and we'd be happy to clarify those for you uh in the work session in the in the topics of the agenda tonight. Draft policies J and JL bring our district in line with Colorado Senate Bill 2563. That law limits
123who can challenge library materials to parents or guardians of current students in the district. So, not even a taxpayer who has kids that are grown and gone like some of the speakers tonight are even able to challenge library materials. The law is very clear. [clears throat] Uh this has to be reviewed through a transparent lawful process that does end with the board. one that specifically prohibits removing materials simply because of a book's viewpoint, author, or topic. What it does require, and what this policy will reflect hopefully when we're done, is that the materials in our schools be age appropriate and free of obscinity or pornography as already defined by the US Supreme Court under the Miller test. That's the same legal framework every public institution in America follows. So, let's ask an obvious question. We
124don't show Rrated or X-rated movies in our classrooms. We have internet filters that block obscen pornographic content districtwide. Why wouldn't we hold our libraries in the same basic standard of protection for our students? It's common sense and it's the law. I respect the right to priestful protest tonight, even when it takes the form of silence, but it's rather ironic that tonight's vigil is effectively in support of keeping obscene or pornographic materials in our schools. That's not standing up for intellectual freedom. That's crossing a clear boundary of what belongs in K12 education. Our students deserve safe spaces to learn and explore ideas without exposure to explicit material that parents may or may not be ready for them to learn. That's what these policies hope to ensure. So, let's move past the misinformation, get back to doing
125what this community expects of us and voted for, protecting kids, giving the responsibility of sensitive topics to parents and guardians, and supporting quality education. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other board member reports at this time? Seeing none, as Director Jurgensson said, and I also stated, uh, we will have a robust discussion about both those policies when they come up on the agenda items later this evening. Um, Director Bankers, do you have any reports? >> Please do. >> You're just in time. >> Can you Yep. press but director bankers. >> Thank you. Um I do think I heard that um um that the honor choir was recognized that the uh chess tournament on Saturday morning was recognized and thank you for the teachers who monitored who helped support that and who put all that
126together. It was wonderful. You know we took away cell phones at uh schools. We want our kids to be able to concentrate and you go to a chess tournament. You ever watch people play chess? It's really slow unless you're the ones who are actually playing, but you can see the brain power going on. So my point in mentioning that is going to the um chess club chess tournament in the morning grades 2 through 12 and that evening 300 kids on stage the uh chalk adventure over at Pioneers Museum that was already mentioned the students who came up in front of us. The key word this year is agency, student agency, teacher agency. And yet we see demonstrations continually being promoted, the rockets from last year, so that children have the opportunity to stand in front
127of an audience or be in front of an audience and be engaged with the adults who provide the community in which we want them to grow up to be safe, to grow up to be able to take on challenges. and whether they win or whether they don't win or whether it's not even a contest is just participating giving them that opportunity to stand on their own and get their own identity independently and with confidence. And I can't thank um all of you that make those things happen enough. It's important for kids to have that sense of safety in their community and all of these activities, these opportunities to stretch themselves in ways that they hadn't recognized before gives them that confidence to stand tall and to be proud of who they are. So, thank you.
128Thank you for letting me make my board. >> Thank you and welcome back. >> Thank you. [laughter] I don't see any other uh board member report at this time. So, um thank you for those that shared um some of the good things that are happening in our schools. Board members, um moving on to the next item on the agenda, it's consent items. Director Art, can you please make the motion to adopt the consent items? >> Yes. I move that the board of education adopts all consent items as designated in the agenda. The consent items are personnel recommendations November 5th, 2025. Approval of October 1st, 2025 regular board meeting minutes. Approval of October 15, 2025 special meeting minutes. Resolution 202613, American Education Week, November 17th through 21st, 2025. Resolution 202614, Native American Heritage Month for November.
129And resolution 202615, family and school partnerships and education month. >> Second. [snorts] >> Moved and seconded. Roll call, please. >> Director Director Bankis, >> I. >> Director Kerry, >> I. >> Director Hayley. >> Hi. >> Director Huber. Hi. >> Director Jorgensson. >> Hi. >> Director Malpa. >> Hi. >> Director. >> Hi. The eyes have it. The consent items on the agenda has been adopted by the board. Moving on to the action item on the agenda. The first is a resolution in uh support of education support professionals ESP week which is from November 17th to 21st, 2025. Director Hayley, can you please read the resolution and then make the motion for U action item I1? >> Yes, thank you. Uh resolution 2026-12 Education Support Professionals Week, November 17 through the 21st, 2025. Whereas Colorado Springs School
130District 11 education support professionals are a valuable and essential part of Colorado's educational system by providing support to our schools and facilities and assisting students in reaching their academic achievement objectives. Whereas education support professionals provide educational assistance in the classroom, maintain clean and healthy environments, sustain the efficiency of district property, transport students safely, prepare and serve nutritious meals, support everchanging technology, and provide customer service to students, parents, district, and community members. Whereas education support professionals through their dedicated efforts contribute significantly to providing a safe learning and working environment serve as integral members of the building team and culture and should therefore be honored for their invaluable contributions. Whereas it is appropriate for Colorado Springs School District 11 to recognize the vital role classified school employees hold in promoting student achievement and to salute these employees
131for the dedicated service that each one provides to the district students and communities. Now therefore, be it resolved, we the members of Colorado Springs School District 11 Board of Education do hereby proclaim the week of November 17 through the 21st as Education Support Professionals Week and encourage parents, students, teachers, and administration to join us in recognizing and honoring these dedicated professionals. Signed this fifth day of November, 2025. I move that the board of education approves resolution 2026-12 recognizing November 17- 21, 2025 as education support professionals or ESP week. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded by everybody on the board. [laughter] Um, Superintendent G, I think you have a couple of people from your team. >> Miss Harris. >> Good evening, board. Um, I am so excited to come to you this evening to talk about
132the impact of our educational support professional group. This group is also described as being the wizards behind the curtain and our unsung heroes here in D11. It's easy to come in on a daily basis as a D11 employee and not pause to think about the impact that the people around you make on your everyday lives. And it's hard um to take that moment to pause, but when you stop and think about it, one's day does not begin here in D11 without the impact of an educational support professional. If you think about what happens in the schools, students get on buses that are driven by a pos a bus driver that is in an educational support professional role. Not only are students greeted by our bus drivers, but students end their day with our bus drivers
133as well. That's how critical that educational support position is. Once students get to school, they're greeted by an amazing welcoming team, most of which are the people on duty from the ESP support group. And then they walk into the building and they're greeted by our office teams who are in ESP positions. They go about their day with behavioral supports and instructional supports provided by our ESP team. And teachers, being a former teacher myself, cannot do their job to their best of their ability without the ESP supports. When you think about outside of the school building, there are so many people in our ESP roles outside and in the departments. Let's talk about central office departments for a moment in those ESP roles. If you want to get paid on time, more than likely it's somebody
134behind the screen entering all the data to get paid on time. If you are an employee that just has to take a leave um because life happens, it's more than likely an ESP professional that's behind the scenes helping employees through the leave process. There's so many more examples that I have to share with you about the impact and the power of our ESP team and we quite frankly couldn't do it as a district without them. This is why we call them the wizards behind the curtain and the unsung heroes. It's my absolute honor to bring to you this resolution for ESP week to show them a very small gift of appreciation for the pure joy that they bring to our work every single day. So, thank you for showing them that appreciation through that resolution
135and we are so excited to celebrate them in a few weeks for ESP week. >> Thank you. I appreciate your feedback. Board members, any feedback or comments? >> Director, >> thank you. I just want to note under the consent items that one of our resolutions was for American Education Week and it's the exact same week. So, I don't know if that was ever on purpose out there in the world, but it is pretty special that those overlap. Um, absolutely, they do so much. And when you talked about bus drivers, I just wondered like even the bus mechanics that are making the buses go for the bus drivers who support the kids and get them to school for the teachers and staff to um help with learning. It's it's a really amazing group of people, you
136know, plumbers, electricians, they make it all happen for the comfort and the learning. So glad we're recognizing them again this year. Thanks, >> Dr. Benas. >> I want to recognize the um first person that the students meet when they come to school or when they leave to school and it could be the bus driver. And as a former principal, I always uh talk to my kids and I talk to my bus drivers to say, "Your bus is a classroom on wheels." And the standard of uh behavior that we expect in the classroom is the same that we expect on the buses. And for the most part, that actually happened whether you're standing on the bus corner waiting for the bus to come. And to all those drivers out there, again, there was a police officer
137out in front of uh DHY High School giving a ticket uh for someone in ex speeding exceeding the speed limit. So, please respect our our schools, our kids, our bus drivers, our kitchen help who make sure that they engage and talk with their kid with kids that come through their line. Um, every adult in the building has demonstrated a a wish for kids to be able to feel comfortable and to feel as though that they can come and talk to someone. And I so appreciate that for our ESP because they are respected. And I remember getting uh new on the board and listening to ESP personnel say, and this is what it's like for where I work and working for the last four years to try and make things better, improving not only salary and
138benefits, but the camaraderie and the respect that they deserve as well as professional development. So, thank you to all of our ESP and you're right, the wizards behind the curtain. >> So, thank you. Um, that's all the board member comments uh at this time. Thank you. I echo the comments made by my colleagues on the board up here. Uh, the amount of work that our ESPs do behind the scenes to ensure that learning happens at the classroom. It's phenomenal. And we don't need one week to celebrate them to uh our parents in the community. It's a year-long celebration. So, a small token of appreciation to the crossing guard or the bus driver or the um uh people that work in the cafeteria or our facilities. Uh please do so especially during that week and throughout
139the school year with that roll call please. Miss Olson. >> Director Benis. >> Hi. >> Director Kerry. >> Hi. >> Director Hley. >> Hi. >> Director Huber. >> Hi. >> Director Jorgensson. >> Hi. >> Director Malpam. >> Hi. >> Director. >> Hi. The I7 resolution for ESP appreciation week has been approved by the school board. The next item on the agenda is accreditation of schools with school performance framework rating of 74 or above SPF. Director Bankers, can you please make the motion for action item I2? >> I move that the board of education accredits the school performance framework ratings based on the recommendations submitted by the administration and the district accountability accreditation subcommittee for the following schools. Scott Elementary, Steel Elementary, Taylor Elementary, Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning, Thomas McLaren School, Japeta Elementary, Freedom
140Elementary, and Odyssey Early College and Career Options. >> Second. >> Moved and seconded. Um, this information, these are the schools that we uh celebrated uh earlier this evening. Those are the schools, the representatives of the schools that were in front of the board. And uh we presented the banners to them. It's coming as an action agenda item at this point in time. So we we didn't want our school staff to wait uh this long into the evening. They've got school the next day. So um uh board, any comments on this before I ask for roll call? >> None. Uh I do want to thank the DACA accreditation committee and uh Miss Kotney Hner was in the audience earlier this evening. uh her committee brought forth this brought forth this recommendation to the school board. So,
141thank you for the work that they do. With that, roll call, please. >> Director Bankis, >> hi. >> Director Kerry, >> I. >> Director Hley, >> hi. >> Director Huber, >> I director Jorgensson. >> Hi. >> Director Milk, >> I director. I >> the eyes have the um schools uh uh with SPF rating of 74 or above uh has been accredited with performance and district and uh we look forward to seeing those banners when we visit your schools. U the next item on the agenda is the unified school improvement plan Rogers Elementary School. Uh, Director Kerry, can you please make the motion for action item I3? >> Yes. I move that the board of education approves the unified school improvement plan for submission to the Colorado Department of Education for Rogers Elementary School. >> Second.
142>> Moved and seconded. This information was presented to the board during the October 15th work session and the special meeting that followed. Um, the board had a robust discussion at that time along with school personnel being present. uh during that work session. Superintendent Gaul, any additional information to share with the board? >> No new information. >> Board, uh any uh comments or feedback you have at this point in time? >> Director, >> I just want to recognize the person uh Mr. Yelvin who spoke because so often we don't have people who come and speak to us about during the public hearing about our schools that are facing challenges and he spoke about his love for Rogers and his children's joy of learning and I think that's very valid as we as we know people can
143often be down on a district but love their individual schools and that is true for so many of our schools. So, I'm glad he showed up and spoke to us and they are doing great things over there at Rogers. I know you went to the medieval thing. I was so sorry to miss that. I did make it to their little school uh story book thing there where it's like George Washington with the hair of cotton balls. So, I just they're doing cool things. >> So, thank you for giving a shout out to the parent, Mr. Galvan, uh who was here and shared that remarks. If you weren't going to do it, I was going to do it. and I see him and his wife in the audience at the back out there. Uh it's always
144a concern to me when we have priority improvement schools and turnaround schools that are in the school watch list and we don't have community members that come up here and hold us accountable for these schools being under the school uh under the state watch list. Uh we hear public comments about so many different things, but our primary objective is to ensure that our schools are excellent um uh centers of instruction. uh for our kids. So, thank you for sharing the other side of the story about Rogers Elementary School. Um I don't see any comment any other board comments at this time. Roll call, please. >> Director Bankis, >> hi. >> Director Kerry, >> I >> director Hayley. >> Hi, >> Director Huber. >> Hi, >> Director Jorgensson. >> Hi, >> Director Malpam. I >> director
145>> I >> the eyes have it. The unified school improvement plan for Rogers Elementary School has been approved by the board and uh we encourage uh the personnel the school staff at Rogers to work with that uh unified school improvement plan and ensure that the school is not going to be in the state watch list next year. The next item on the agenda is the resolution for Palmer High School IGA uh G2026003 for $5 million tax credit reservation from Colorado Energy Office. Director Huber, can you please make the motion for action item I4? I move that the board of education approves resolution 2016-1616 and authorizes Rosa Garcia, executive procurement strategist and contract administration and Jennifer Odelling, capital program manager to effectuate the intergovernmental agreement IG2026-00003 for a $5 million tax credit reservation from the Colorado
146Energy Office geothermal energy G tax credit offering Gecko program project end date December 31st 2027 >> second moved and seconded I just want to make sure that the resolution was the number was read correctly it's resolution 2026-16 and Miss Huber uh I wasn't sure if I heard you right so that's why I'm just making sure that the resolution is the right resolution on record um superintendent call this is new information this is new exciting ing information um that you did uh kind of preview at the beginning of our board meeting and uh could you share more details about this? >> Yeah, I I could talk for the rest of the night about all the great things that are happening at Palmer. The team is here to talk about it. Um but I am going to
147uh deviate for just a second because we always like to get live news updates. Um one of our largest champions of our project for Palmer has been Dr. Jessica Weise and being really that uh interloper in between the vision of what the board and the administration has put forward and how do we navigate the spaces in between our downtown partners, our alumni, our current students, our future students. And I couldn't be prouder to let you know that I just learned that Dr. Wise won 2025 Mayor's Young Leader Awards for Education. So, um, [applause] and that's why she's not sitting back there right now for me to be able to say stand up and take a bow. She is at that banquet right now and has just been recognized. But it go I think it goes
148and it shows it's a testament to not just uh the top layer, but the depth of which we're providing. And now you're going to hear my 5,000 which is now a $5 million um tax credit coming forward. Dr. Comfort, please. Good evening, board. Uh, you've never heard the superintendent say the number on the small side. I always have to remove zeros when he talks. So, uh, it's exciting to to go the the other direction. Um, I'll I'll echo what the superintendent said. I think uh, a year and a half ago, I don't know if we thought we would be here. Um, with so much excitement around Palmer, uh, one of our leaders getting acknowledged primarily for the work she's doing at Palmer. Um, also if you remember just a couple of months ago, uh, we
149had a really healthy discussion about energy work in the district. Uh, we committed that we were going to take that really seriously and do really high quality energy savings work. I had no idea at that time that we would be coming back two months later and saying um, that we received a $5 million uh, tax credit for the geothermal project at um, at Palmer. I'm going to let the the team who actually did the work get up and talk about it, but I just want to put that into scale. The entire award that the Colorado Energy Office uh awarded in this cycle was just over $7 million. Um and so out of the entire state, uh Palmer received the maximum award, which is $5 million. So uh I wish I could say that every time
150I come to you with an energy performance project, we'll be saving $5 million. Um but we'll take the win uh now. Uh before I hand the mic over, Miss Odin will talk about the inter uh governmental agreement, which we're here requesting tonight. But I do want to um give a shout out to um our capital program manager, Jen Hotelling. Uh this is another this is the latest uh latest example of a big win for her. Uh this is her um putting in the time and and making sure that we submitted everything we needed to submit. They don't give these awards easily, especially at this dollar amount. Um so I want to acknowledge that and I'll turn it over to Chris to talk about the IG. >> Good evening, Board of Education. Thank you, Dr. Comfort.
151Before I ask Jen Hotelling to come up and share this exciting news, I'm going to cover some of the details and the mechanics of the IGA. Um, the Colorado Energy Office awarded the maximum amount available to our district for what Miss Hotelling put together. This award supports the implementation of an innovative geothermal energy system at Palmer High School. The noted strengths of our submission are reflected in your board packet. This IGA is time-sensitive such that we cannot claim credit for reimbursement for work performed before an executed agreement is in place. Miss Hoteling has been feverishly finalizing the statement of work in collaboration with the state energy department. The draft that is in your packet is mostly complete pending some final tweaks which is why we need to execute approval via the resolution. Um it provides
152a level of nimleness. This is um this will allow two district representatives to effectuate the IGA. We expect it to be finalized within the next week. Um, policy DJ requires any IGA of more than $250,000 in value be approved by the board of education, which is why we're presenting it to you tonight. That is my overview of the IG. I will now ask Miss Hotelling to come up and share this wonderful news. Hi, good evening board. I couldn't be here on a better note. There's a couple things that are exciting happening. Um the heavy hitters as we um lovingly call them in our team was updated with you tonight as well for the work that's happening at DHY Jenkins and Palmer. So there's just a lot of great things happening that wouldn't happen without your
153support. So, thank you for all that you've done to help move these things into the position they are and provide the opportunity to u make district 11 the best that it can be. I tell my team all the time, we don't we're not a business that makes money holding money um or holding bigger bank accounts to invest in other things. When we hold money, we reduce what we offer to our students for their success. So, our goal is to get every dollar in the field to support students as possible as much as we possibly can. And this lets us further that at Palmer High School, which is really exciting. Palmer was awarded the um awarded the $5 million based on the strong app attributes of the application, a lot of which Dr. Wise and the
154team that helped do community um engagement pieces supported. So, it really has been a team effort. Some of that team is here tonight, RT architects um and AP also helped support this. We found out about this offering a little bit late. So, we were a little a little rushed to get our application in and it was heavily um technically charged and it required a lot of time from the team and they just without hesitation came in around getting it done which is really exciting. What's even more exciting is the geothermal impacts that that has for students and staff. The clean energy, the different ways that it helps provide thermal comfort in the building at Palmer High School, the acoustics. The building that you're in here is also a geothermal fed building and you don't hear
155the air kicking on and pushing all the time. The same experience will happen at Palmer High School now in their new building and their existing structure as well which is really exciting. It'll help support just the best possible instruction. Um additional information is available there at the source if you want to go see what other things that it can do. Um, but it's just it's a great system and what for us is um I guess the the great things that keep getting better. There's a huge cost savings from energy reduction at Palmer over the next 30 years. So we see a difference of $15 million in the cost of utilities if we were to keep the same system versus transitioning over to a geothermal system. So, we're just super excited that we have the opportunity
156to put this kind of system in place at Palmer and for all the benefits it will have for D11 both now and financially forward for years to come. So, any questions? >> Thank you. Thank you for the work that your team put together. Uh, a lot of work went into it and I see representatives of RDA and also a Adulus and Peterson in the audience. Thank you all for being here. Uh, director Bankers. >> Um, I have a question on this graph. I'm looking at the red that says our current energy cost and then I see the green. >> Um, so I don't see that the existing B building energy cost comes down. It's >> so the green is the recommend is the uh reflection of the high performance building energy cost. So with that
157system in place, your energy cost is 4.6 million instead of 20 million. So, if you were to not put the system in place and maintain the same types of systems for heating Palmer and then adding air conditioning, you would pay $15 million more over the next 30 years. >> I see. So, it's a comparison. Gotcha. >> Yes. Mhm. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you. You know, I had to say something. >> I was expecting you to push the buttons. >> Yes. I appreciate the amazing award you've got here and and the energy savings and the comfort because you may recall I expressed interest or curiosity or dismay about the big glass windows that yes, they're going to face west and they're going to be amazing with the view, but also just bake
158our children, you know, >> not really, but the concern there with that that heat load um of the sun setting coming into the windows. So this is very encouraging also for addressing that kind of issue without great expense and that's that's very exciting. Um and I also remember when I first started on the board the boilers at Palmer High School were like on their last legs and they might still be in getting replaced. I don't know. But this also is encouraging for addressing some of those needs. >> It is different levels of challenges there. I believe we do still have a steam boiler in in use at Palmer. >> Yeah. where they don't make the parts anymore and it just sounds like people are patching things together. So, >> yep, >> kudos to you all
159for making these things happen. >> And as far as the windows go, they do put some exterior dressing on that will help reduce sunlight as well. So, that is part of the plan for Palmer's building. >> That's great. >> So, that we'll take care of that, too. >> Thank you. >> You bet. >> Great. Thank you. Any other comments or feedback from the board? Seeing none, thank you for for your team's work. again. Uh, Superintendent G, any closing thoughts on this? >> Uh, no. We've got more Palmer to talk about here. So, >> great. Uh, roll call, please. >> Director Bankis, >> I. >> Director Kerry, >> I. >> Director Hayley. >> Hi, >> Director. He >> director Jurgensson. >> Director Malpam. >> Hi, >> Director. Is that you, Jason? >> Yes. Yes, ma'am. >>
160And I >> the I have that the um the resolution for the $5 million tax credit reservation from Colorado Energy Office has been approved by the board. The next action item is a contract about Palmer High School renovations modification. Director, can you please make the motion for action item I5? >> Yes. I move that the board of education approves the contract C202510001 modification 2 for the construction build for the renovation of Palmer High School at a guaranteed maximum price GMP of 86,77. Boy, there's a lot of sevens. Let me just start over. [laughter] 86,777,839. The contract has been awarded to AP Mountain State LLC doing business as Adolf Peterson Adson and Peterson Construction. The period of performance will begin November 6, 2025 and end February 29th, 2028. >> I need a second. >> Oh, second.
161Sorry. Uh moved and seconded. Uh Superintendent Gaul, I'm going to turn this over to you, >> Miss Om. >> Thank you, Superintendent G. Good evening, Board of Education. I would like to recognize from AM, just AM. [laughter] Um we have Mr. Tony Siganelli and his AM team. So, if you can just wave if you're here from AM. Thank you so much for coming tonight. I will. Palmer High School, where we honor the legacy and empower the future. This next phase is where ideas and concepts will come to life and where you'll be able to see the transformation happen right before your eyes. Tonight, I am bringing the contract modification that encompasses the construction work and at a minimum will deliver a new academic wing, a new outdoor courtyard, and deliver transformational renovations to what we
162affectionately call building 1939. The modification and supporting documents are in your board packet. Just reflecting back to last November, here is our contract phases. We awarded a preconstruction phase effort to AM as a CMGC contract and we had just awarded the design effort to our TA Perkins Eastman team. And here we are now awarding the construction effort that will [snorts] start in November and will should have a ribbon cutting in November of 2027. There's a small phase that will finish the contract that goes through February of 2028. Phase one, these are all the efforts that AM has been able to finish since last November. I would like to highlight just a couple of those bullets. The subcontractors that were identified, over 70% have been placed on a contract with AM. And of those 70%, 93%
163are local. That means local within El Paso County. That means that the majority of this contract are keeping the dollars here in El Paso County. As Superintendent G identified, AM has demoed what we call the tech building and they have been able to deliver the GMP. Not to repeat what the superintendent has already identified, but that little red shaded area, that is the area or the building that's been demoed and that's also where the new academic wing um will be built. Phase two, this slide uh provides a very high level overview of major work components that collectively represent the guaranteed maximum price. You will see that in there there are three D11 assigned efforts technology security cabling installation and permits. These are traditionally districtowned but for this project because it's more coste effective and time
164effective to have AM perform this work um at no additional it's just a direct cost. This is why the GMP is higher than the 85 million that we set in our um RFP. This just provides a level of awareness to the board and our community that for each of our projects there's an ownership that we have inside for our capital team and an ownership a list of responsibilities for our general contractor and ultimately those responsibilities and budgets are shared accordingly. This provides um insight as to what the superintendent talked about earlier for our new building. This is going to allow students to have more spaces in our new wing that have more natural lighting and allow them to have um opportunities to learn in different ways. the yellow footprint here that says phase one academic
165edition. This work will begin as soon as we award the contract and issue the notice to proceed. You approved tonight, we'll get going tomorrow and this will have a completion date of December 2026. That's 13 months from now. Once that is finished, the students that are attending class in the 1939 building will be moved over to the new addition um in the January 2027 time frame. And then the renovations that transform transformational renovations that we've been seeking will happen to the 1939 building and that will be complete by November 2027. Same iconic bell, different outdoor courtyard. This is a different view of the new academic wing. And just around the corner, you'll see the new front entrance for Palmer. This is what we're we refer to as the Weber front entrance and currently will be
166located um on Weber where it intersects with Boulder. This is important to show that show the community that we are doing a project with students in our building and there's important work that has strict [clears throat] timelines that we have to move students to get work done. The abatement on the very left side will occur during the summer months when students aren't there. And then the demo will be working in the June time frame as well. and then we'll be able to start in January those renovations for that building, the 1939 building. Um, just to wrap it up, we are still looking for a ribbon cutting in November of 2027. There's what we call a commissioning period that aligns with the new [clears throat] HVAC and other final warranty requirements that will take place from
167November through February of 2028. Most importantly, there are no changes to the contract terms and conditions or the available budget allocated for this project. That concludes my overview of this contract mod. And at this time, I turn it back over to the board for any questions that I can answer or that Miss Hotelling can answer. >> Thank you. That's exciting work. Um, thank you for all the renderings that were put together as well to share with the community. Uh, it gives us an idea as to what Palmer is going to look like. Uh, and that's really exciting. Um, every time it seems like I go down that road, more and more work is being completed there. So, thank you for all the team members being here. Uh, board questions. >> I'll just uh add as
168the boards come up. Um, the processes with the city are ongoing. We started some of our uh planning work that goes up to city council. We have dates in January with city council to uh um continue the advancement of the ideas of the vacation of Boulder Street as part of more um um other phases as they come forward. So that is advancing. We came out of one of the working groups this week with a positive vote. So that continues along just so folks know that these things are all kind of happening in parallel. This is just the pro-forma event of now it's time to award this portion of the contract. Okay. And Dr. Weiss is significantly involved >> significantly impacting that work and say young leader of the year award >> back to bank. >>
169It's good to be young too, right? [laughter] >> I have a question about the 1,779,324. Is that I don't understand how that plays into the overall budget. Did we was the overall budget set when we started this project at 86 million777 and all of that business? >> That's a great question. I'm going to attempt to answer it and if Miss Hotelling or Dr. Comfort would like to augment what I'm going to answer with, please please come up. Um, we had a budget of hund00 million. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> A portion of that was set aside for the in-house capital programs team to do the work that the general contractor isn't going to be able to do. There's inherent work that has to happen. So, we set a budget limitation of 85 million for the
170contractors to design to and build to. So when we issued the RFP, we said build it to 85 million. I want the general public to know why we've gone over that GMP. And the reason is we've transferred work from the district inhouse side to the um general contractor and the budget that needs to go with it >> and still within that 100 million. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you. And then I have a question about acoustics. I see all that open space. And then when we took that trip down to to DC and they had this cavernous open area at one of the schools that we visited and the acoustics were wonderful. So I'm looking at all this open space not only for uh Palmer, but I also noticed we're going to replicate that at
171Jenkins. So but I'll confine my comment to Palmer. Is acoustics part of the development of um I see you're shaking your head. I'm going to say yes, but I there's a better technical answer. [laughter] >> Do you want to briefly I mean really briefly um highlight how it is that you're able to take a cavernous space and make it uh so acoustically sound that you can actually hear someone speak to you from 20t away. >> So some of the places that we visited in DC had acoustics even in the railing around. >> Can you put the microphone? >> Sorry. some of the places that we visited had acoustics even in the railing around the um around the the large areas. So, there's just ways now that engineering allows for design solutions that help to keep
172those spaces um large and cavernous but still acoustically pleasing and able to just have multiple conversations going on without feeling like you're in a gym, like an athletic gym, right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Like Mr. Abaneti once. >> Yeah, that's that's totally fair. So, we can actually model the acoustics of the space now. And with the acoustical engineer, we can actually do a calculation to achieve those outcomes like we saw when we were in Washington DC. Like Jen said, we'll get the right material in the right locations so that we have really good acoustics in all of those spaces to support learning. >> That really makes it usable. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions? from the board on this topic. Uh thank you for sharing some of that timeline as
173well. It reminds me that um uh in two years time there could be a whole different board out here. But I do want to um acknowledge and at least point out that the work started with this board up here. So the work could be finished by another board in the future. So I do want the board members here. I want to thank each one of them for supporting this project and going through all the process and all the approval process and supporting uh the work that is being completed out there. So and when we have that ribbon cutting whether you are not if some of you are on the board or not on the board you're all invited to join in that. Oh, director >> art. [laughter] >> With that, um, roll call, please. >>
174Director Binkis, >> I. >> Director Kerry, >> I. >> Director Hayley. >> Hi. >> Director Huber. >> Hi. >> Director Jurgensson. >> Hi. >> Director. >> Hi. >> Dr. >> I. >> The IVIT. the uh contract award for the Palmer High School reunion for renovations modification has been approved by the board. Thank you all for being here from RTA and also from Adolfson and Adolfen and Peterson. >> Thank you very much. Okay. The next item on the agenda is draft policy J, instructional material selection and adoption. Director Hafley, can you please make the motion for action item I6? >> Sure. I move that the board of education adopts policy J, instructional materials selection and adoption, and repeals policy JJ, instructional resources selection, adoption, reconsideration, and discarding and policy JNC, school library technology programs regulations JJ-R
175and JNC-R. >> Second. >> Okay, moved and seconded. This information was presented to the board during the October 15th work session and the special meeting that followed and has since then been uh and since that time been reviewed by the district legal council and undergone um comprehensive additional revisions as well. And I have Dr. X uh um uh in front of the board to provide an update as to what transpired in the preceding weeks leading up to today. uh just providing some context to the community. The policy that came in front of the board uh on October 15th was one policy uh J if I remember at that time there was a robust discussion with the board at that work session. CASBY had come up with the Casby is Colorado Association of School Boards had
176come up with the recommendations that morning and the recommendation was to um separate uh the policies into two different policies. One for instructional materials and one for library resources. Uh and the previous recommendation from CASB was something different. So that came just that morning. It was uh brought to our attention by director art. The board uh had a healthy discussion on that uh and um feedback was provided at that point in time that uh this policy would go in front of legal uh and legal will review. Legal provided a recommendation to the board. In the meantime, the board also received several emails and today we had several public comments as well. uh but this policy J is just on instructional materials selection and adoption not about library library materials comes as a non-action item. Uh
177with that I'm going to turn it over turn it over to Dr. X to share additional information and then we can discuss this as well. >> Good evening members of the board. I I would add some additional information but uh President Mal Pakam gave a nice summary. Uh as you remember we did present uh one policy uh as a result of the legislation that was passed last spring. CASBY had made a recommendation and the state had passed a law regarding uh the reconsideration of library resources. In June of this past year, CASBY made their uh recommendation. It was an updated that was a single policy. They had updated us through uh a a brief. They use a they do a policy brief for us. We reviewed that policy brief and in that policy brief it
178said if you already have existing policies you did not have to meet this deadline by September 1st. We brought forward one policy uh and as president said on the 15th um director uh made us aware that there had been an update to CASBY's recommendation and a new policy brief that came out that day same day. So their recommendation their new recommendation was to have two policies. Um unfortunately we had not adopted the first one to then have to go back and revise it like some other school districts did to meet that September 1st deadline. Uh but we um took the advice that director provided and we reviewed that um update. We then uh well we we made two calls to legal. First call illegal was a should this policy be divided into two uh and
179then the second one was a review of both prior to resubmitting those uh onto the agenda which you see as both red line and clean versions of J and then what we will uh get to next on the agenda which is JL. So we [clears throat] took J and we aligned it directly to CASBY and what CASBY's recommendation is in the these three paragraphs in the simplified J. In the first paragraph we did two things. We wanted to make sure that it was explicitly clear um as CASBY recommends that the board does have a statutory authority to be the final say uh for instructional materials. You do take votes on those. Uh we also use professional personnel. Uh if you have reviewed some of the materials that we are presenting for um repeal, uh they're
180loaded with lots of titles for jobs and um some of those are no longer appropriate um with uh the district's focus in the realignment. The second paragraph just talks a little bit about instructional materials and aligns to CASBY's recommendation. And then the final sentence of that first uh final sentence of J uh is the uh statement about the board um at at by law is required to be um the final inspection and authorizer of instructional materials. >> Anything else, Dr. X? >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh just to provide some additional context and this was shared at the work session on October 15th as well. Um at a board retreat earlier in the year the board had a conversation about policy work and uh coming out of that board retreat uh the board requested
181couple of our board director director Jurgensson and director Hayley to look at uh the policy IE complete ICE policy and bring uh a recommendation to the board. Uh uh the uh uh intent being that some of these polic are too into the weeds and prescriptive and descript very descriptive and it was based on alignment with the direction of the board uh going back to the policy work previously to lift some of these policies to a higher 30,000 ft level. providing some guardrails to the district while uh charging or um uh requesting the superintendent to figure out regulations that align with the policies. Um and this policy after considerable amount of work was uh done was brought to the um uh brought to the board by director Jurgensson and director Hayley. Uh I will first uh
182turn it over to Director Jurgensson. Director Jurgensson, is there anything you want to add specifically about this policy? >> Uh, not at this time other than just what was already mentioned, very simple and clear, the 30,000 foot view and then what Dr. X will probably get to with JL is that the regulations will come. So, um, you know, for the for the public comment that said you're you're taking away all the process, we're not taking it away. it's it's momentarily uh being taken away while we reddraft these policies and then bring back the new regulation that will be honestly much simpler uh than what it is right now. So um but yes, alignment of professional personnel uh is is a great phrase versus all the different titles and staff members that unfortunately policy used to
183be written for. So um we're we're elevating the policy. We're making it clear and overarching uh to show the intent of of the board's wishes. >> And just to add, it's the administration's intent that the following board meeting from whenever the board takes action on the policy, we would provide a regulation. And given the context of this uh particular issue, we will do that either in a work session or as part of the superintendence report where it's public as regulations do not require board approval. But our commitment is within the next month that 30-day period that regulation would be complete and transparent and visible to the community. [snorts] >> Okay. Um and the policy J the draft version that is in front and on the screens up here in the boardroom. There is another policy
184uh in uh the board uh uh bodoc's um the diligent community platform out there and that's CASBY policy recommendation IG. If you look at the language in this policy IG that the board is considering adopting it reflects exactly the language that is being proposed by CASBY and is being adopted. CASBY is the Colorado Association of School Boards. It's a uh body that provides uh recommendations and feedback to boards along the uh throughout the state of Colorado. So, what we are adopting is nothing different than what other school districts are considering and uh we have just tweaked the language to make it uh district uh 11 relevant. Um uh there was a public comment that was uh made today about reconsideration of uh instructional materials. That was uh a discussion that legal council provided a recommendation
185and the current state statutes allows for the community to provide feedback to the board during the adoption of instructional materials. The board is legally as it says uh in there in the statement the board is legally responsible for the final selection of the instructional materials. Uh it once the instructional materials has been adopted, the community can send emails regarding concerns that they may have um about the instructional materials, but the board is not legally required to have a reconsideration process for instructional materials. There is a reconsideration process for library materials, but not a reconsideration process for instructional materials. If I got anything wrong in that, correct me, Dr. X. >> That's correct. >> That's right. Okay. With that feedback from the board on this policy, >> Darat, you're up first. >> Thank you. Remind me.
186Uh, Dr. X, policy, KEC. Yeah, KEC will also come forward uh the same to with in a non-action at the next board meeting as we work to reddraft KEC after we pass um because KEC will have implications with to JL not to. >> Okay, that's what I needed to double check before I like rummage to try and find it. Thank you. Um just a couple of concerns. Um, our JJ, which we would be repealing, stated that all instructional materials will be available for review and comment by the public uh prior to adoption by the board. And I'm curious, um, this version of the policy does not do that and we've certainly had plenty of interested folks making comments about the materials that we may adopt. So, Superintendent Gaul, I guess my I have a couple
187of questions for you. One of them is would you feel comfortable um building that into a regulation or is if you if the board wanted that would you expect us to have that in the policy? >> I think I'll would take further direction from the board after the policies passed on what is expected uh in the regulation. We have been listening to the comments particularly from our staff members the LTE on making sure that they have part of that review process. I believe that was obligated to last week in the work session. So I think the general answer to your question is yes but um I want to make sure I'm not answering to just a specific board member question as direction. So I think first we have to get to the policy to then
188understand the direction of where the regulation should land >> and and this one is specific to the question is specific to the instruction and instructional materials and the reason partly or follow-up question that I would have had for you um was this does not there's a there's a section in the past policy about um instructional material s being able to be more innovative. Sorry, I'm not seeing it in my notes right now. Um, but allowing like short-term curriculum projects uh for innovation being the board the policy specifically allowed that. And so it this one doesn't preclude that necessarily, but that's a question I would have because it partly determines whether or not to vote whether or not I vote yes or no on this policy is if you think that that is something that would
189work if if the district is interested in it even. >> Yeah, I would answer by uh practice right now other than what's actually written down. Many of our um schools are piloting specific curricula. Last year we used CKLA in a pilot format for us to then decide to go further. We have a couple of special math pro uh curriculums being um piloted at North right now. A lot of our edtech we will roll out in individual schools for opportunity. Um and so I think the innovation and the natural way that we're seeking to uh continue to improve. I believe that and and I'll speak candidly that's happening not because it's written in the in the policy. it's happening because that's what educators and administrators demand. So I think as long as it is not procluded
190then again I think this idea of the absence should be to trust that we will continue to innovate to ensure that we're providing opportunities that are advancing along with what we're seeing in neighboring districts and across the sector. Um uh if there is a requirement for the word innovation there is no obl there is no objection from the administration uh for that singular word. >> Okay that helps. Thank you. And I I just will note that going back to the transparency side, obviously we've heard from the community they're interested in transparency. Um JJ says twice that the instructional materials will be available to the public before adoption. And unfortunately for us, CASBS didn't put that in there. um it's not a legal requirement, but this version does not include that. And that's that's part of
191my reason for concern. >> Yeah. And you brought up that concern. I think this policy that's in front of the board is in alignment with the CASBY policy. Some of the language that was recommended in CASBY policy is out there. The paragraph three talks about material available for inspection. what you are talking is before the board adopts it that you want it available for inspection. I don't have that's the intent of the policy personally as a single board member I I don't have any issues with because that's a process that has taken place all the time that before the adoption there is a week where all the material is put out we expressly let the community know about it that's the intent of the policy so I don't think that practice is going to change
192nothing is precluded but if you want that policy language language added that one word that before the adoption process I'm supportive of it. Okay. But uh I will leave it up to the board on that. >> Director Bankers. >> Yes. And and that was going to be my question as well. I would like to have the um comments that the community makes before adoption comes before the adoption comes to the board. Yes. I think we um take it upon ourselves not only to look at it um from the lens of being the final decision maker but also from the community standpoint and then in in the past practices that we've had here community input has made a difference on whether we approve or not approve. So, I I think it would help if um that
193was actually that that that word was actually inserted into the policy that all textbooks and other instructional materials would be made available for inspection by students, parents, guardians, and the district community prior to uh going to the board for approval. >> Yeah. uh if the board is supportive of it, we can adopt this policy today with that change being implemented out there. So um there is no issue about it. Uh again, the policy was adopted as CASB presented. The policy is presented to the community as CASB presented and uh director, you serve on the CASBY board. Maybe you can take this recommendation to CASBY that when they provide the policy, they consult with you and bring those recommendations in front of us. I will note um governance is different than management and operations. So I'll
194pass that along but they're creating policy for 178 school districts and we are all allowed to update it by ourselves. >> Perfect. And I just want to make to the community like when you mentioned in in the interest of transparency, we are interested in transparency. there is especially we I just talked about it earlier that the board doesn't need to have a reconsideration process for instructional material. So if there is no reconsideration process for the instructional material it it you know for us it behooves us to have that material for inspection prior to the board adopt adopts it so that we can take that material into consideration. there was no intent in leaving that out. So by a show of thumbs is the board supportive of adding that language before the adoption process and the
195policy. >> Just one final one point though as it's written it will be available like once it's adopted it will be continue to be available for inspection. So somehow that wording needs to be tweaked >> for both. it can be continued to be available uh as we go through the process but if [snorts] they want to provide there is no interest I just want to make it clear that there is no intent by the board to keep the community away from any of our instructional materials they it is going to be available to them before the adoption process it is available to them for them to come and inspect it afterwards as well okay thank you director Kerry um let me Thank you. >> Just to make a quick um on topic suggestion, if you
196take a look at the previous wording in JJ for kind of this third paragraph here, the way it used to be phrased is all instructional materials, excuse me, all instructional resources shall be available for review and comment by the public prior to adoption by the board. All adopted materials shall be made available for inspection by the public if requested. That language to me seems like it meets the intent of our conversation. Can we just one to one swap it? >> Almost change out shall for will. That's the going wording for policy these days, the popular text. Thank you. >> Okay. >> And thank you for reiterating that. >> Great. Thank you. uh with that change being implemented that that third paragraph the reason uh like director you mentioned that this was repeated twice in policy
197uh JJ um the interest in consolidating all these policies into one is not to have repetitive language uh once we convey it's good enough so uh with that with that change um any any other feedback on this policy before adoption? No other um change. So um uh do we need to change any other motion adopt policy with the changes proposed? >> Okay. Good. Could you make that motion, Director Kerry? >> Go ahead. >> I'll try to say it right. I move to amend the motion on the table to have our policy J reflect the proposed language change which the board gave consent to. >> I need to change. >> I think you have to read it. >> Do you need me to read it? >> Sure. >> Yeah, we have to say. >> Okay, I'll
198try it again. Um, I move to amend the motion on the table to change the third paragraph of our proposed policy J to reflect the old language in policy JJ, which reads, "All instructional resources shall be available for review and comment by the public prior to adoption by the board. All adopted materials shall be made available for inspection by the public if requested." Will will excuse me. Okay. All adopted materials will be made available for inspection by the public if requested. >> So moved and sec I need a second. >> Okay. Moved and seconded. Um can we vote on the amendment first? Am I right? Yes. >> Roll call, please. >> Director Bankis. >> I. >> Director Kerry. >> Hi. >> Director Hley. >> Hi. Director Huber. >> Hi, >> Director Jorgensson. >> Hi, >>
199Director Malpeka. >> Hi, >> Director. >> Hi. >> The eyes have it. The motion has been amended. Now adopt the policy with the um new wording inserted. >> Whatever. >> Yes. Okay. Do we can I call roll call? >> Okay. Uh, so director Hafley, can you make that motion? I >> if you give me the language, I'm happy to do it. >> Adopt the motion as amended by Director K. >> I move we adopt the motion as amended by Director Kerry. >> Yeah. >> Give me a second. [snorts] Okay, great. That's what I was asking. Roll call, please. >> Director Vis, >> I. >> Director Kerry, >> I. >> Director, >> are you sure? >> I just want to make sure. Yes. I >> director Huber. >> Hi, >> Director Jiggson. >> I, >> Director
200Malpam, >> I. >> Director, >> I. >> The motion was unanimously adopted by the board. So uh policy J was unanimously adopted by the rule. Moving on to the non-action item. Now we get the policy JL which is the library media selection adoption, acquisition and reconsideration. It's coming as non-action. It's not going to be adopted this evening. Uh again this information was discussed at the work uh session on October 15th and special meeting and pursuant to the conversation that took place that evening policy J which initially had more both instructional material and library resources under one policy has been divided into two different policy and policy is coming now with just library resources in front of the board. This is the first time this policy is coming as a non-action item in front of the
201board. Uh uh Dr. X, I'm going to turn it over to you. >> Yeah. So, as was mentioned with policy J, we took sections of the proposed draft from J and moved them into policy JL [clears throat] which requires us to revise that policy. And before you you have the newest version of that. I'll make a few notes about some of the work we did with legal uh to make sure that it it met the statutory requirement as well as uh some CASBY recommendation introductory paragraph uh stating the purpose of the of the of the policy. Um right afterwards in the second paragraph we talk about our uh library programs and we inserted a paragraph there uh with from feedback from our uh school staff about the importance of library programs. Uh so we added
202a general paragraph there in the second um second paragraph. We then move on to a section of definitions. One of the items that is included in uh the CASBY sample as well as the law is uh what is commonly referred to as the Miller rule or the Miller standard. Uh we spell that out in the definitions. Um the state law mentions it and uh CASBY has a a reference to that but we made it for transparency under the definition of obscene. And we put the Miller standard there. We removed uh instructional materials from the definitions because it no longer falls into this um this uh series of policy or this policy. Under selection and retention of library resources, uh we added we adopted CASBY's language there for all library resources. Um having consultation with uh
203professional staff, faculty, the bullets remain the same. Under uh the donation section, we kept some of our language uh from a previous policy and aligned it uh revised it just a little bit to make sure that donations fit the law. As well, under the reconsideration of library resources, we made sure to include two statements. The first statement being that students have a first amendment right uh to read and view library resources. This was included in CASBY as well as the state law. We then added a section or added to that paragraph um mention of parents being able to opt students out of specific library resources. So this is the first step in the consideration process. We wanted to make sure that ended up in policy. The next section details where we will uh the superintendent
204if the policy is passed the superintendent will be charged uh to create regulations. Um and specific to the law and specific to CASBY sample is that any parent or guardian of a student uh in the district may file uh for a request for a recon consideration of materials. So it begins with that initial filing by a parent or a guardian. Uh we then have a a statement in there about school library must not remove, discontinue or restrict a library resource as the result of a request. So during the reconsideration the book cannot be removed. it must stay uh on uh in in the library until the decision has been made. Um there's also in the stat in this in the statute that the district shall not reconsider the same library resource more than once every
205two years. So they give us a time frame. Uh so that's been included as well and a library re resource will not be excluded uh because of the author's disability race and creed. This aligns to uh the law uh and also aligns to CASBY. A district staff member shall not be subject to termination or demotion if in good faith they follow uh the process here and then uh of course at the end the reserves final authority. So in our process and we will have a regulation that comes to this um there will always be uh an opportunity for the board to have to be a final authority on whether a a work is excluded or incl uh in or remains in the uh library uh materials. Those are the changes that we made in accordance
206with review by uh district 11 and legal and >> Okay, thank you for sharing that information with the board and the community as well. I know that several public comments were made earlier this evening and the board received uh some uh feedback through email as well. uh uh as you read this policy as it's being proposed out here, there was several information that was shared that is not factual and align with the wording in this policy. This is not about removing books indiscriminately from our libraries. Uh one person making the decision or a board making the decision. As you read this, there is a process that is clearly in place and the process that is put in place also aligns with the CASBY policy that um u is also attached out there um for u
207uh the public to consider out there. All of this was precipitated by the Senate Bill u 25. I want to make sure that I get the number right. Senate Bill 25-063 and which required the board to uh make sure that our policies were in compliance with that and the Senate bill 2563-063 all those uh requirements are um met by this policy that is uh being considered by the board at this time. Um, with that, uh, I see Director Kerry first. >> Thank you. I'm just going to be really brief because I want to just frame one part of the discussion here. Um, in part to kind of in response to some of the public comment upset about the notion that the board has final authority over some of these questions. On the screen right now,
208you have a series of legal references, and I'm just going to read CRS22-32-101R. So, this is a statute that outlines a list of specific powers that the board of a school district has to be exercised in its judgment. I'm just going to read this one verbatim from the law. to exclude from each school and school library any books, magazines, papers, or other publications which in the judgment of the board are of immoral or pernitious nature. So, we're going to have a discussion about the policy. We will probably have a discussion about the procedures as well, but I would like to remind everyone who is watching that this is straightforwardly one of the things that a school board is tasked with accomplishing under the law. >> Thank you. uh Dr. Bankis. >> And so when I
209looked um through references for this and it's already been mentioned once um a couple of court cases, one is Miller, the other one was Pico. And when I looked at the judgments that came over those um court cases under Pico versus whatever the school board was denied or lost their case in removing a a material from their libraries because they could not show cause. So there is um the pernitious whatever you just said >> it it's uh something about um >> immoral or pernicious nature. >> Yes, immoral and pernitious nature. Um we already have a definition in here for obscene and uh pornography. When it come finally comes to the board, it has already gone through the school, the the librarian, the principal goes up to area superintendent and whatever task um committee has to
210uh be the next level of review. Then it goes to the superintendent. And if it makes it through all of that, then it comes to the board. And again, the board, we are local control. And I'm very concerned that we maintain that boundary between what the state makes us do or not do and those of us who are elected to make sure that we are following through with the people who put us in office. And so by the time you've gone through all of that, um, being able to follow the criteria for which a book or material is, um, removed or not removed should be in good faith and it should be, um, I would like to say obvious to the folks who are most concerned about the materials in their school libraries. So I
211think we're on steady ground. I think the um opportunity for the review through our own legal through the uh previous court cases through other school districts and the CASBY has provided a conference uh to which I attended and a former board member attended so that we could have some deliberation on how to best serve our community um all of our community. Thank you. Um, Director Bankerson, one more thing since you mentioned u >> Yeah. Uh, I will come to direct director Jurgensson as well. Um, since you just finished talking, uh, I want to, uh, thank you for joining me when we went to Sabin Middle School. Uh we had an um LTE from uh library technology educator from uh Sabin Middle School, Miss Heidi Gomez, reached out to the entire board and invited the board
212if they are interested to uh come and have a one-on-one conversation with her. and she expressed several concerns in her email that uh she was not only talking for herself as LTE at Sabin Middle School but also providing feedback from several other LTE uh that she was in contact with uh director bankers and I uh met with uh Miss uh Gomez and uh Dwight Pickering from district admin as well for about an hour and a half two hours that morning. We had a lengthy discussion. We uh shared with uh uh her the uh new policy that was based on the feedback that we received from the community. And at the end of the discussion uh director bankers, you can uh correct me if I'm wrong. she was uh satisfied with or assured that the board
213was proceeding in the right direction and she was thankful for some of the new language that was introduced and she said that she was going to communicate that to the rest of the LTE uh that she was in touch with as well. I'm going to come back to you. >> Yeah, I walked away with the same impression. I think that the sharing of information, we also walked away with a better understanding of the review that LTEEs go through in order to put books on the shelves and integrate with the curriculum that's going on in classrooms and providing for a diverse um a diverse set of resources that children can access. She also said to us that the uh computer library system is also set up although not used. So if a parent calls and says
214I don't want my children or my child to access horror books is the example she gave. I don't want them to check out horror books that they can put that in to the computer system so when the child goes to selfch checkout that notice comes back up and it's like I'm sorry your parents said that you can't do that. Um if that capability is um is talked about and all of our LTE know that and our parents then are made aware of it. It also gives greater opportunity for parents to be able to um support their child in a manner that is in line with their family values. And she did a great job. It was a two-hour conversation that it went by very quickly. the um guard rails in place are recognized not only
215in district 11 but through the publisher. She happened to talk about folit uh which is a publisher that um many of us might know. So it would be on a national level and it's not um necessarily uh location specific uh generally accepted. I think that that goes a long way in saying that we're just trying to provide a safe environment for kids who um should have access to materials that give them an opportunity as somebody said at the podium to um see what it's like to live a different life and make different decisions and the consequences that follow from that. We want to be able to provide all of that, but we also want to make sure that we're just not opening the the doors and allowing just anything to come into our library. We
216would not be responsible if we were allow if we were doing that. >> Thank you, Director Bankers. And uh I want to um we have a student here from uh Did you say Hidaho? >> Um Indiana. >> Indiana, but what co college do you attend? >> I go to Ball State University. >> Ball State University. Um you can come up there. Um, I'm a online social work student through Ball State University. I do it online because my husband is actually in the military and is stationed out here. Um, and part of my courses is to engage in macro social work, which comes through schoolboard. I also attended one of our city council meetings last month. Um, so I'm just thankful to be here and to listen to all of your opinions and everything that you
217guys are doing for the community that I'm currently living in and how that can educate me in my future with social services. So thank you for letting me in. >> Thank you. Uh this has got no relevance to the policy that we are discussing at this time but um uh at the beginning of the meeting uh I engaged with her and she talked about how this is part of her coursework and she was just about ready to leave the board meeting. I just wanted to give you a shout out for being here patiently watching the rest of the meeting and hope our discussion helps in what you are trying to accomplish for your uh uh coursework as well. And then going back to director bankers, uh what I wanted to share with the community is
218when these type of policies are being uh any policy is being implemented uh whenever the community wants to engage with me or another board member, please reach out. Uh we are happy to uh engage in that conversation. often um as I shared at the very top of the meeting uh you can come and criticize the board or you can engage in a productive conversation and we are willing to engage in that conversation. There is a community member that I see that is at least present still who shared a uh feedback uh from inside out uh out here and uh uh when a previous policy discussion take took place I reached out to inside out and I asked for them to engage with me. I'm still waiting for a response back. I haven't. So, it's easier
219to come and criticize the work of the board. It's often more productive if you engage with the board and we can get your feedback and as we went through this process incorporate some of our community feedback where it's appropriate. Thank you, Director Bankers. Uh, Director Art, >> do you want to check with Director Jorgensson first? I don't see his hand up any longer, but I can come to you first. Director Jurgensson, do you have any comments? >> Uh, I do. Yeah, but I I'll yield to the uh to Director. >> Okay, Director. >> Okay, thank you. Um, so I I want to note first that yes, CASPY recommended that the two that the policy be divided from J into J and JL and I am so grateful that we did that. I think it's it
220lends a lot of clarity. Um, I'm also grateful that JL is a non-action item this evening so we can have a deeper conversation and I wouldn't mind if it even went to work session in between because I think there are some structural changes and some wording changes will not shall being one of them. um which is a small one. I know the library language that is now in JL might seem awkward but I'm glad it's there. I think it's a reassurance to our LTE and our families that we are still having library programs and that the board values that. I think that's a valuable ad. Um for all of the conversation about this is CASBY policy, this is CASBY policy for J. I will note that this is not what Casby wrote in this version
221and I'm not sure why we could not have discarded the former J in its entirety and started over with either our old JL or the CASBY version. Um like the vast majority of the first page for the CASBY version is just not even in here. And I think if we'd kept that, it would have been reassuring to some for the parts that we left out. Um, specifically, uh, some of the diversity commentary and the value of that that is mentioned in the CASPY policy. So, sorry, there's so many versions here. Um, I won't even look for it. I guess the other part that I would like to see um perhaps brought in from our current is something that was referenced tonight in our uh in the comments. Materials selected for use will reflect an embodiment
222of diverse perspectives including historically underrepresented and marginalized VO voices. I mentioned that in my suggestions regarding the previous J policy which did not get that did not get pulled over from the last. So if we're going to I guess where I'm going with that comment is if we're going to change significantly the policy from CASPY for all of our speaking to how um 30,000 foot level it is. If we are going to just wildly go off task of that, uh why not bring in some of the other quality stuff, it can set us apart as a district to recognize uh that some people were and still are underrepresented and marginalized. So we can bring in that language. Also, um the bullets where we will strive. There used to be a bullet inj that said we
223would strive to meet the needs of students according to both the stated needs of students and general understanding of students interest. And that seems pretty key to me as we try to increase literacy as we try to engage our students that we should try to meet the needs of students according to their own desires and the understanding of our children. So, those are things I would like for us to go ahead and bring back in. Um, I will also note that the [sighs] well, I think I already said the policy could use some editing and structural changes. And when we approve of this policy in whatever state we do approve it, um, the regulations don't have to go away right away. they can stand until the the new ones are proposed. So that would leave
224us with some material um of some process for at least the 30 days. But I am really glad that it's only going to take you 30 days, Mr. Call. I must say that. So um I would like us to revisit this. I would be happy to work with Director Jorgensson and try and um move some of the formatting around if that would be acceptable and maybe bring in a couple of those other items or or start over with the CASBY policy if that would be of interest to the board. One one thing I would change out is to pull out the to ensure transparency and responsiveness. the board directs the superintendent or designate to develop a regulation on the reconsideration that's kind of stuck and lost in the middle of some of our reconsideration information.
225So I think that could get pulled out and put toward the end too. >> Just put at the end >> for better flow, >> right? >> Yes. So some of the structural changes where you want to move a paragraph from the beginning to the end things of that nature that could be worked out and uh if director Jurgensson and I see I'm coming to you director Jurgensson if director Jurgensson and you can work together on that. This just involves grammar changes and first I'm talking about the grammar and the structural changes that are u moving shifting things around. if [clears throat] you can work with Director Jurgensson on it before it comes back to the board, whether it's going to come at the work session or an action item in the future. U we can
226talk about that. Director Jurgensson, I'm going to come with you. Come to you. >> Sure. Thank you. Um yeah, just a couple I guess pieces of feedback and a couple questions for uh Dr. X. U if you don't mind, sir. So I did like that we added the piece about libraries. Uh it was disheartening to hear that people thought we were getting rid of our school libraries. Um that misinformation being spread was alarming that it was spread so quickly and and without any due diligence it seems. Uh but the current process right now director mentioned keeping the current process in place. Isn't that process pretty cumbersome? Would you just take maybe 30 seconds and explain how easy it is for somebody to want to review books? Um, there's a [clears throat] few there's a regulation
227that's included in there that I believe goes all the way to step S. So, I think that's 18 or 19 steps for the reconsideration of a of a material. Part of that [clears throat] is the formation of a committee and who's on the committee and that the committee should take notes and that the committee should have notes ready. And so, um, that whole process is kind of laid out from the beginning to the end. It's not a simplified process. So that was one of the reasons why we went to looking to collapse uh those uh regulations. We also have some handbooks that we're trying to clean do some cleanup language on. Um so we have a regulation and here's what the regulation says about the process and then to um basically to make that uh
228workable we created a handbook and that handbook was floating out there for a while uh and was being used and we are in the process of working with the chief of uh instruction to bring all of this together. Ideally, we would like to say if there's ever a reconsideration of a resource, it follows a very very simple process, whether that's an application on the computer screen or a book in the library. Um, but we we did kind of feel like 19 steps was a little much. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that 19 steps and as you read it, I mean, it's, you know, people, staff members from other schools coming in, it just seemed cumbersome. Um, so the goal from speaking as a single board member is that this would be much more streamlined. Uh,
229and as we align it with the Senate bill, um, just clarify for me, only parents or guardians of students in the district are able to request a review of a book. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> I think it's more specific parents and guardians >> of students in school >> of students in the school. school >> uh can request a review of the material in that school. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you. So, I mean just the I think the concern I had was you've got people who I we heard from a couple of them tonight, right? Retired uh folks from the district, folks who kids are grown and gone obviously took time to speak tonight but are not going to be able to speak on behalf of students in our schools. Is that
230correct? No, they could still speak. They would not be able to they are not by law allowed to uh start the process of a reconsideration of a of a library resource. >> Okay. I think that that's going to be frustrating for some to realize that they literally are having their tax dollars go to these districts and schools but are not able to be involved at that level. Um so that that is disheartening as well. uh director u to some of your points on adding pieces here or there. Uh I'm amicable to that. I think you know the starting from the CASBY version is probably not going to happen for me personally. Um there is a third bullet point there that says maintain a balance collection with a diversity of perspectives. Um you know I like
231the idea of adding the student interest piece. Um, so we can work through some of those pieces there and a couple of the grammatical pieces, but I I do believe that the definitions there, which I know are not in CASBY's, are important for us in our district in having the ability to uh give the guidance to the new regulation being hopefully maybe three to four steps tops and then giving also then the task of the superintendent to kind of check check what our schools have right now without having to worry about, you having everything come as a review. So, uh that's my hopes with this as it moves forward um once everybody feels good about it. So, I'll leave it at that for tonight. >> Okay. Thank you, Director Jurgensson. So if it's okay with
232the board um before this item comes in front of the board the next time director art and director Jurgensson will work together and um move some of the uh items uh around u to reorder to make it read uh probably easier and u uh any grammatical shall wills will be uh uh addressed and u and Director Jurgensson is also willing to work with you on inserting some language in there based on what the recommendation is from CASPY. Okay. Is the board open to that before it comes up by a show of thumbs? >> Okay, great. >> Thank you. Can I make one followup? >> You you spoke as though there were process here for repeal. I I know the CASBY version actually has one and I would agree if any I'll just say it. I
233think that can go into regulation, but I don't think it outlines a process. And I think that's part of the concern we're hearing from the public. And so it it while it might be an easier process, I think they want in general something that is a little more substantial than I object to a book and it comes before the board and I think again we're asking for trouble if we do that. So >> and we are not doing that. I think the policy language uh reflects that at this point in time. Um it says that develop a regulation on the reconsideration of library resources and we direct the board directs the superintendent. The regulation shall contain a clear review process using district personnel and a parent. We have that language in there and the regulation
234shall include an appeal to the board as the final step of the request for reconsideration process. So it's something that we are directing the superintendent to develop that regulation and the regulation would involve steps at the school level or the district level before it comes in front of the board. So I don't anticipate uh the board uh considering a lot of materials before it goes through the school and the district process and the board is the final step. It's clearly in policy at this point in time. If we start we can start being prescriptive and say what the school process should be and then does it belong in policy or does it belong in regulation would [snorts] be the >> I think I think we just have a disagreement on what you expect to go
235into regulation and what I and and what policy dictates will go into the regulation. Yes, there will be a process, but there's no guarantee it will be starting at the school and that it will be a step or a couple of steps before it comes to the board. So, you may have more trust and faith in the system than I do at this precise moment. But I know they have 30 days to come up with an option and hopefully it won't veer too wildly from a reasonable process. Just maybe shorten it up a few steps from 19 to I don't know, eight. what's reasonable. All right, that's all. Thank you. >> Okay, if the board is interested I mean you heard director art if the board is interested in putting a more >> I am
236not interested in prescribing that. >> Okay, >> I just am saying that what the policy is and what our expectations might be it's not clearly outlined and it never was. I mean if you go back and you look at JL right now it doesn't say thou shalt or will have 20 steps or five steps or that you will go back to the school. So to be fair we could have changed we could have tweaked the policy a little bit for JL and just said hey can you rewrite those regulations because the law has changed. We could have changed it just enough to meet the law for the policy. Sorry, I'm not being clear. We could have changed the policy just enough to make it work with the law and the regulations never had to come
237to the board. They could have been addressed at a completely different level. Does that make sense? >> We I >> we did not have to say this is cumbersome, redo it. It could have just been done. So, >> okay. Well, I'll summarize it in a minute. Uh [laughter] >> well, I just want a point of clarification that the regulations we were not able to really clearly find that these we think these may have come forward and been part of an overall approval uh in a vote. So, we had to have that discussion about those regulations. >> Okay. Director Kerry, you had the last word, I think, and uh we will try to summarize it. This >> It sounds like you're about to do this anyway, but I was just going to ask some clarifying questions
238as to the timeline. So, when we So, we're we're going to bring the policy back for a work session with revisions done by directors and Jorgensson. Correct. >> If that is the will of the board, >> we did Did we not give thumbs to that 15 minutes ago? >> Well, yes. Uh it can come as an action item directly. It doesn't need to come to a work session, but if it's the will of the board to come to a work session, we can bring it to a work session before it comes as an action rate. >> Am I misremembering that we got thumbs to do exactly that? >> We got thumbs that director Art and Director Jurgensson would revise the policy, would work on that and it can come directly to an action as an
239action item at a regular board meeting. But if the board wants that extra step as of it to come to a work session, would prefer to have that conversation at a work session before adoption as an action item, we can do that as well. >> I see. Okay. Thanks for clarifying. Second question, the regulations that Superintendent Gaul is going to work on. Are we going to see those when this is up for action or will we see those earlier? Do we is there anything we can say yet? So um my understanding is is I need policy to build regulation. Um I think if you uh pass a policy and then give me thumbs on the framework that you need in that regulation then I am accountable and have uh shared that we although not required
240would bring that regulation to this space uh for the board to be able to opine and make further direction. So then my last question is because you had mentioned um director that you did not want the policy itself to be super prescriptive with respect to the regulation consensus with thumbs at some point as to okay when you put together these regulations can they please include X Y and Z does that kind of meet your intent of of having some maybe I totally misunderstood you >> I'm not sure I understand the questions. >> So, so you had said I don't so you had said okay if we're going to be changing regulation I don't want the policy to be super prescriptive with respect to the regulation right but you do have some feelings about the way
241the regulation you know things that it should include relative to last time right >> I think that is accurate I understand your >> so if so at a at some point if we were to kind of give some manner of consent thumbs to okay when you develop the regulation please consider X, Y, and Z. Does that kind of meet your intent and your concerns? Like if we were to do that at some point, >> I would say in addition to changes within the policy. >> Yes. >> I think yes. >> Okay. >> If I understand. Yes. >> Yeah. >> Has to come first. >> Yes. >> President Makam explained that. Yes. >> So I think that can be even a verbal communication from the port to the superintendent as we are discussing that policy. It
242doesn't have to be written like XYZ what she's talking about what you were referencing. >> So we as a board we may just want to consider what we might want to task the superintendent with when we you know at such time as the policy is actually passed. >> Yes. Perfect. Thank you. So uh if there is going to be extensive revision to the policy it can come to a work session. If it requires just minor uh tweaks here or there and structural changes and grammar changes, insertion of a sentence if it doesn't require lengthy discussion from the board dire then it can come directly to the board dire >> I think that would be fine. I I'm imagine if it makes it past director Jorgensson and myself it probably will be safe for humanity. >>
243[laughter] >> Okay. Come as an action item. Is that what you're saying? >> Um, let's keep it open as a possibility that that we can at least get like a thumbs up at a work session. >> Yeah. But we'll work on it. So um still the timeline since this board has >> started this conversation, the timeline for adoption of this specific policy is going to be the December uh first meeting that we have >> with this current board before the new board is seated >> December 3rd. Okay. and and I appreciate this and I think if we do just even glance at it at a work session that will um be responsive to community concerns too that we are moving this forward quickly. Okay. >> Um so I appreciate >> great we couple of work
244sessions between now and December 3rd I think the 10th uh two work sessions I I don't want to get the 12th and the 19th or something like that. Um, so if you can work with director Jurgensson and bring it let let us know when it's ready to be posted on one of those work sessions and we go forth after that. >> Any other final thoughts from the board are we good? So we had a discussion about this topic and um uh we know future how we are proceeding on this. Thank you for your patience as we discuss this uh policy JC school attendance areas in school building capacity. Uh this is a new pol this is an existing policy that requires minor revision. It's coming as non- action superintendent call. I'm going to ask you
245Dr. Comfort. >> Okay Dr. Comfort. >> Good evening board. Um if the board recalls last year when we discussed the capacity report there were a few things the board was in support of. one was an adjustment to the capacity model. Um you will see that next week. I I think you will be pleased with the simplicity of the model as well as the addressing of the outliers that we had in the in the previous uh implementation of the capacity model. We also discussed the adjustment of the timeline by moving the capacity model later in the semester. It allows us to use much more accurate data in terms of enrollment. Um and then finally to do both of those things was the adjustment of the policy. Um I'm uncertain whether to say this, but we did
246uh adjust the policy to be consistent with the CASBY uh policy. And so um that's what we're here to uh bring in front of you tonight, a policy that's um at the board's uh level of of 30,000 ft. It doesn't get overly prescriptive with the implementation of the capacity model, but does require that we continue to bring a capacity update in the first semester of each year. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, again, this is coming as a non- action item. Um, any feedback uh at this point in time from the board? >> Director, >> thanks. Um, I first question was just formatting again. Sorry. Uh, there's no cross references, legal references, and the adoption dates and revisions. They've all been crossed out. I assume that there that was just an exuberance of deletion and that's
247really coming back. >> Okay, that was one thing. Um the information it's it's not just a short edit really. It's taking a significant amount of information out of the policy. Um so I was curious for like charter school people who are looking for the capacity information. This outlines very specifically what we're going to do and indeed much of it should probably have been in regulation. Will it go to regulation? Is that >> Yeah, it it can go to regulation. Uh more importantly, a number of those things are just law and so the notification um by November 1st of uh open seats of a certain amount is in law. And so uh we will continue to operate under law um and and address all of those things. All right, that was that was my feeling, but
248it since it just went away and there was no >> Yeah, just as a clarification, director, we've already sent out the notification this year um to our charter schools with the uh open available seats. >> Okay. And guess what's coming up later under future agenda items? Um but this um I guess that's the only other question I had was did legal review this as well? It's one of the CASBY things. They recommend that legal review such things. >> If they're doing the CASBY, >> if they're do Yes. If they're doing the CASBY thing, CASBY still can recommend that [clears throat] you check their own. It's kind of a >> Yeah, it's there was a mention of this one when I spoke to legal. Um the topic of school attendance areas is the only uh requirement
249for this policy. >> Okay. The school building student capacity was a committee that was created and they were looking for space and they added it to this policy. So there's no we we violate nothing legally by removing another committee. >> All right. And all of that's out there anyway from in law. All right. Sounds good. Thank you. So the request that came from you um was to make sure that when this policy comes back the uh legal references and stuff like that are inserted right okay thank you all of those yeah u anything else any other feedback from the board at this time seeing none uh is the vote supportive of this coming as let it come as an action item. I I don't want to move it to consent. Um with the >> is
250that thumbs or not? >> No, I let it just come as an action item. Uh I don't know what the policy process is. I think it requires us to bring it as non-action and action. Uh or can it be moved directly to consent? Okay. If so, is the board supportive of moving this to consent with the Okay, great. It'll come as consent with the revisions in place. Moving on to the next non-action agenda item. I think we are right about at the end of the meeting. Miller rate certification and this is an annual item that comes in front of the board at this point in time. Superintendent G. Dr. Comfort, bring us home. >> Yes. Um, I'm going to give a few minutes for Miss Olsson to bring up the presentation. It's that time of
251year when we talk about our our Milvy uh certification rates. And so largely what we're discuss going to discuss tonight is the opportunity to apply an inflation factor to the 2017 MLO. Uh, as the board recalls, our 2000 MLO is fixed dollar. Um, so any of those costs as they rise, we have no opportunity to to try to balance that out. Um, it we do have an opportunity within the 2017 MLO. So, we're going to take a look at that. Um, we're also going to look at I I'll just kind of go to the end to to talk about it. Um, you'll see some data at the end about our assessed valuation. Um we went it's projected that as a school district we're going to go from a $4.1 billion assessed valuation to 4.9 oneyear
252$800 million increase. So I say that to say please community hear me loudly that when assessed value increases and your taxes increase it does not mean the school district gets more money. Remember we are a dollar for-dollar trade with the state. That just means that's one less dollar that the state backfills us. Uh and what you'll actually see is the school district part of this. So we we tax in mills have drastically decreased um over the last five or six years. Part of that was so we we were taxing at 56 mills in 2019. We're all the way down projected this year to 39 mills. Part of that is because the board did pay off bond debt and also because uh the amount of of um the the the tax rate that we get is
253not um equal to the increase of property values. Okay, I think we are >> I can I can just scroll down. >> It's gigantico. >> It's a big mill levy >> here. I can I can manage it, I think. Hold on. >> We got it. >> Okay. Uh real quick, uh as the the the board may remember last year there was a whole special legislative session that was called last minute. It kind of made a mess of our timeline. It pushed us into January. We are back in the original timeline which tells us that by December 15th, we have to have this certified. So we will bring this to you in the first board meeting in December um to sign off on. You'll also see that uh we are now going to go with the
254tax rates that we were supposed to be in and that were approved last year. they were adjusted in that special legislative session. This is the tax impact of that uh inflationary amount. Remember, our inflation is based on the Denver area consumer price index. This year or last year going into this year, it was a 2.3% inflation. That's um significantly down from the previous year where we had 5.2%. And so that 2.3 will get us about $1.2 million. Uh, and then you'll see that down there in kind of the lower text, really the way that we're looking at at using this money is yes, we can use it for new MLO programs, but largely what we're looking to do is to balance the offset of the general fund. Right now, there's $1.4 million of general fund
255impact in the 2017 MLO, right? Where because costs have risen, especially with FTE, the general fund is having to come in and and cover that. And so potentially a portion of this could go to help offset that if the board remembers that was one of our strategies last year. We used part of that inflation money to cover um some general fund impact that freed up some general fund money that the board allocated to teacher compensation. So we will as we always do we will bring uh uh if the board approves the inflation um rate we will bring this through the MLO oversight committee for their recommendation to the board through a plan amendment. Is that Thursday? >> Uh in two Thursdays. Yeah. Um and then this is just some uh basic information about kind of
256our district. You'll see again this was supposed to happen last year. The um commercial rate dropped from 27.9 to 27 while the residential rate increased from 6.7 to 7.05. And you will see there that uh total assessed value increase of 4.1 to 4.9 billion. Um, I will say that is in everything we're hearing from the state, while property um values have increased, El Paso County is seeing the the the largest impact of that. And that's my presentation. >> Okay. Thank you. And this will come as an action item in December. Okay. Feedback from the board at this time? There is none at this time. So, we look forward to the presentation when it comes as an action item in December. Thank you. >> I do want to, as the board considers prior to action item,
257give accolades and praise to Dr. Comfort and his team of uh for many years the district has gotten itself kind of out of balance of where it is that we are using dollars and and how they were approved. and this idea of using the inflationary opportunity to actually rightsize many FTE are allocated within the MLO and that there is no way to grow with that as their cost of personnel continues to increase by other cost of living or by benefits causes and so we've had these kind of um artificially um aligned mismatches in the system we're able to balance the budget overall but these are opportunities for us to actually rightsize that when MLOS's are passed and specific ific m FTE are allocated within that that as that cost of that particular individual even while
258we budget by average salary continues to increase you don't have to go to taxpayers um and then allocate more tax burden upon them this this inflationary clause gives us the opportunity to kind of grow with that original intent so I appreciate that right sizing that's been happening over the last couple years it's given us a lot more flexibility to be as strong on compensation as we've in bonds for buildings, MLOs's for people's and programs. That's kind of the basic place where we're trying to rightsize the system back to. Uh we believe that the future of the district is very bright in tens of if not 20 millions of dollars of MLO being realigned back towards compensation. Uh that could be uh present significant to the tune of maybe 10 $15,000 per square on the pay
259scale um as we move forward. So when we can get this right sized, we'll put the district in a place where not only are we competitive but be absolutely um light years ahead of our competitors in every beginning, mid and end of year career uh educators. Thank you. Thank you for the work. So we are at the end of the non-action agenda items, future agenda item uh tasks and requests from the board. Director, >> thanks. I was thinking um given the discussion around the policy JC and uh capacity, is there a timeline for when we will get the capacity report? >> You're getting next week the work session. >> Sorry if I missed that if you talked about it. Um and the other thing just as we are rolling in with a new board next
260month and um some of them may be paying more attention to the district meetings. Um just a reminder that all of our edu edu speak uh and abbreviations and you mentioned what CASBY stood for the Colorado Association of School Boards and I there was something else somebody mentioned today. I appreciate that there's already seems to be an awareness building of um the need to specifically spell it out. So, thanks. >> I think new board members go to the abbreviation school where they get [laughter] >> educated on all the education lingo. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Thanks, director. Director Huber, >> I know I had talked with um Dr. iz a couple weeks ago and we were talking about vendor issues with some of the ELLL materials. We just like to get a quick update on
261that and make sure um if there's anything we can do to support and just get a update on that before the end >> vendor issues on ELLL materials. >> Yeah, there's been a series of emails back and forth. I'd love to include it in the Mars report if that's okay. I think we're due to send one out here from October that hasn't gone out. So, that should be either the end of this week or early next week. Can we handle that? >> I think the October one already went out. >> Yep. >> Oh, you did get October. I'm sorry. I just didn't see it. We can put it in the November or send a singular email update. >> Yep. Is the board good with that? Show of thumbs. Thank you. I don't see any other
262future agenda item request. >> Okay. Um, >> President Bakam. >> Yes. Oh, I didn't see you. Go ahead. All right. Um, I would like to just get an update on the calendar review uh process. I know we mentioned that back in September and maybe have that be something we look at kind of like we did with the EEG where the board gave an outline or tasks that they wanted the EEG to accomplish before we have the uh committee calendar committee. I'm sorry, I'm two hours later here, so I'm very tired. Um, before we have the calendar committee build out a calendar, I'd love to give them some some guidance or what we're thinking of as far as ideas they could brainstorm with uh versus having to come, you know, not know what the board wishes.
263So, is that something we could look at uh getting on the calendar? >> Uh, thank you, Director Jensen. Has the calendar committee started meeting already? The committee is going to come together later this month in a design sprint. It's going to look a little bit different than a committee that meets routinely as it did in the past so that we can get some ideas in. But a couple weeks ago when this came up at a board meeting, there was an ask for board members to email me ideas. And I did get those from two board members. If there's more, please send an email. >> Okay. Is that uh Director Jurgensson emailing um emailing uh Chief Atmar u what you want addressed through that uh committee discussion or design lab discussion. >> I I believe I
264was one of those emails but um Chief Almer, would you please email me if if you did not get that feedback? >> She she gave she gave a thumbs up. She received your feedback. So what I'm uh requesting from the board is um I think director Jurgensson if I heard you right you wanted this as a work session agenda topic. what was uh presented by or what was shared by Chief Utmer was that board members can share their feedback u with Chief Utmer and um uh maybe it can be shared with the rest of the board as well so the board is aware of what is being >> that was my yeah because that was my concern was what if I'm the only one who wants a certain thing >> right and then they're not
265getting the will of the board as something that they say okay the board wishes to solve this. So would be good to have, you know, here's the feedback and do we have a, you know, a majority of the board that wants to pursue a solution to that, right, >> superintendent? >> Yeah, I mean, we could put together a work session, but it sounds like a much lengthier um conversation because I think we have to do a lot of fact gathering. We're already a little bit late in where we should be for the schedule. So, when I'm thinking about the timeline between now and Christmas, I think early December, we can do this in a work session. Um, I think what might be better is if anybody else has any other items of interest, we can
266just share back to the board and say this is what we heard from the board. Um, and and uh, you know, um, as director said, I'll just say it. If we do this at a work session, we're going to go all the way to the well, do we have recess before or after lunch? And then we're going to go on the excavation of well let me show you the number of schools that are before and which ones are after lunch. I think if that we heard some very clear things that director Jurgensson was interested in I think if we share them back to the board you all can just give us thumbs instead of it's if this was a topic that the board was hyperinterested in during its um retreat then we're four months behind
267in being able to actuate significant changes. This is what I want to be clear on. So, if there's desire from the board of should we be adding instructional days, do we should we be rethinking some of the break periods that we have, I'm not sure we're in a position right now to be able to equip that level of change for this year given that it's already November, but I stand by and wait for further direction of the board. So far, we uh who's Chief Omer, who's the second set of comments from [snorts] >> or or if if you don't know, we can get back to it. I have some from Director Jorgensson and Director Kerry. Director Jorgensson did CC the whole board. That was we won't all reply to it just so we're complying with
268rules, but that was on October 1st. >> Yeah. And that's why I asked for us to tackle it much earlier when we had this discussion January of saying, well, how do we affect like change like longer lunches for elementary school teachers who have to walk their kids and pick them back up? like we just I wanted to be ahead of the curve this year and it sounds like we're going to be same old same old and that's frustrating. >> I I I your inputs uh director Jurgensson are ready for action and that's why we're using a design thinking center to get out of the u the traditional tradeoff of minutes and to think about it more broadly. But the idea of the use of time as the most critical resource uh both of instructional time
269and then what I'll just call processing time for both children and adults is really the takeaway that we had from both your email and Director K's email which was for us to think about either secondary recess or longer um flexible time spaces for kids to be able to process. Um and that's what the design process is about. So I think we're well equipped to execute on what your ask is. I think the question is is if the board wants to open up that box to a larger broader conversation. That's what I'm feeling um behind the curve for. But I do feel prepared to be able to deliver options for what both you and Dr. Kerry have expressed as an area of interest. >> Great. If there is simple request that the board wants considered um
270as part of that calendar design process that is happening, send that direct that email to Superintendent Gaul and Chief Utner. >> Can I also offer um that you ask either director Carrier or Director Jurgensson to participate in the design center since they had been the two most um interested >> either or both. >> Yep. That's a common practice that we've used before. >> Director Jurgensson, are you interested or are you available to participate in that process? >> You said it was December. >> It's November. >> We we can send the information. Yeah. >> Yeah. Chief >> I'll get the date to you. Um we're booking out the space right now. It'll be before Thanksgiving break, though. >> Okay. I'd be happy to see that on the calendar. >> Okay. and director Kerry you if possible
271if not we can assign another board member as well >> my flexibility is federal government right now >> okay um we'll find two board members to participate in the process um just get us the dates and the time and then we can figure out two board members to participate in that process uh thank you director Jorgensson yep u upcoming meetings events Uh, Wednesday, November 12th, we have a work session. Wednesday, November 13th, a work session, the special meeting. And then we have the Thanksgiving break after that. December 3rd is the next potential um it is the next regular board meeting in which uh by going through the process and if the u elections are certified and I think that elections will be certified by then the new board members would be sworn in and seated
272um at that December 3rd board meeting with that uh seeing no further business if there are no objections this meeting will officially adjourn turn at 9:46 p.m. >> [music] >> Fatima Mojibi, University of Colorado, Boulder. Alice Nuahiwa. [cheering] Julia Ariana Moreno, Pikes Peak State College. >> Miguel Antonio Moreno. [cheering] Anthony Joseph Morin Musa, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. [cheering and applause] Richard Promise Mark Murphy Colorado State University PBLO [cheering] Evelyn Jasmine Nape Garcia Camila Abigail Nolasco A Costa, Pikes Peak State College. Cynthia Nunees Guard, >> Damen Nunees, Pikes Peak State College. Andre Ordonz, honors diploma, Pikes Peak State College, District Seal of Biteracy. Carlos Danielle Orelas, honors diploma, Colorado State University, District Seal of Biiteracy, International Balora Diploma Candidate. >> Aaron Sienna Ottero, Pikes Peak State College. Giovanni Yer Padia, Miguel Antonio Pagan, Pikes Peak
273State College. Isaac Aruro Palifox, United States Marine Corps. >> [cheering] >> Alan Ricardo Pantoa, Zachariah David Patton, Pikes Peak State College. Adulo Perez Flores, Pikes Peak State College. Lauraai Leanne Powell, Pikes Peak State College. Samuel Pringer Garcia. >> Raymond Kenyon Price, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Adeline Marie Puit, Pikes Peak State College. [cheering] Telicia Annayia Diane Puit, Pikes Peak State College. Naveen Joseph Pudy, honors diploma, Washington State University. [cheering] Shayen Isabella Kintana, Pikes Peak State College. Carlos Antonio Kirrosa, Pikes Peak State College. Amii Mish Ramadan, Hikes Peak State College. Trayvon Luis Ramirez, Pikes Peak State College. Yaseli Ramirez, Pikes Peak State College. Luis Isael Ramirez Pario, United States Marine Corps. Jesse Marcos Ramos, honors diploma, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Diego Ramos Lopez, Priscilla Reyes, Pikes Peak State College. >> Miranda Reyes Verera, Pikes Peak
274State College. Eric Ivan Reyes Paredes, Pikes Peak State College. Leo Migildo Robo III. [cheering] Alen Robles Anchando, Pikes Peak State College. Felipe Rocha Zuniga, Pikes Peak State College. Carlos Rodriguez Estraa, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Alonzo Rodriguez Pas, [screaming] Pikes Peak State College, Colorado State Seal of Biiteracy, International Blora Diploma Candidate, Carla Rodriguez Valdeinos, Pikes Peak State College. Gel Roas Aldav [cheering] Alyssa Marie Romero, Pikes Peak State College. [cheering] Alan Romero Hernandez, Pikes Peak State College. [cheering] Hel Israel Rosales Hernandez, Pikes Peak State College. Zeriana Elena Russo, Pikes Peak State College. Matin Hanife Sed Briggs, North Carolina Central University, [cheering] >> Jose Armando Salguero Lopez, [cheering and applause] Gabriel Shane Sammons, Pikes Peak State College, Leslie Ruby Sanchez del Toro, Joselyn Sanchez Marquez, Pikes Peak State College, Kitia Ranada Santenna, Chia Joseph Sewan III, University
275of Northern Colorado. [applause and cheering] Antoine Brier Neva Saraphica honors diploma University of Colorado of Colorado Springs District Field of Biteracy and International Bllora diploma candidate Aurora Elise Cerna Budro [cheering] Amir Jel Sidner there. [cheering] Kabir Singh >> Kahim Jamal Smemelly Colorado Mesa University International Bloria diploma candidate [screaming] you're not >> Cody Benjamin Smith Pikes Peak State College. Jala Karice Smith, Colorado State University. PBLO. Kylina Charmaine Smith, Pikes Peak State College. Kirkland Shane Smith Jr. Shenia Marie N Snipes, University of Oregon. Dne Marian Solano, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, International Blora Diploma Candidate, [cheering and applause] [screaming] Maria Enhala Solano, Zion and Elise Amaya Sullivan, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Emily Samantha Hernandez. That's fine. Emily Samantha Hernandez Terrence Ares Thomas Jr. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, [cheering] [applause] Namaya Tan Thompson, [cheering] Robin Bo,
276Thai House. Isidra Topete Pikes Peak State College Brian Torres Ruiz >> Alina Tran and honors diploma. Pikes Peak State College. [cheering] How Hoy Chun, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Hayden Troy Jumper, honors diploma, Pikes Peak State College. Nadia Liliana Turnup Seed, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, [cheering] >> Brian Valdez, Joseph Le Korea Brenda Gena Vera Solis Cristiana Elisia IA [screaming] Ciella Elysia Bea [cheering] Dalia Via Seenor Marice University of Ko Colorado Colorado Springs district seal of biiteracy. [cheering] Tedex Tyrone Walker honors diploma Pikes Peak State College international bloria diploma candidate Bradley James Wadhall. Kiier Christina Ward, [cheering and applause] California Hart Weber, Pikes Peak State College. [cheering] Omarana Kaya Wilki, Louisiana State University. Terrace Liddell Williams, Pikes Peak State College. [cheering] Ariana Mong Wilson, Pikes Peak State College. >> [cheering] >> Valerie Yvan Jiannis Moreno
277[cheering] Jahir Jesus Zamora Relas [cheering and applause] >> [cheering] >> Good lordy. Congratulations. [applause] ations. [cheering] [applause] [cheering] Open up your diploma and take a look at what your hard work has accomplished. On behalf of the entire Harrison High School community, I want to say you have made us very proud and we know great things are waiting for you in the future. Now for the turning of the tassel. Here is Kiamara Kid. [applause] >> Oh my goodness. Okay. [laughter] So, good morning families, friends, teachers, admins, and the class of 2025. I want to start off by telling you to take a good look to the person to your left. And now you're right. One of them might be your best friends. One might be the person you only talked to when you needed gum. And
278one you might be seeing for the very first time and wondering, "Have they been here this whole time?" And yet, here we all are together one last time. After four long, confusing, hilarious, and sometimes painful years, we made it. Every single one of us, through the early mornings, the late nights, the homework we definitely didn't procrastinate on. Surviving the school Wi-Fi, the awkward group projects, and at least one fire drill that felt too real. So, take a second, be proud of yourselves. Really proud. Not just for passing tests or turning in assignments, but for showing up, for growing, even on days it felt impossible. And I don't want to make you emotional, but I will. Because this really might be the last time we're all under one roof, the same roof. After this, we'll scatter.
279Some of us chasing big dreams. Some of us still figuring it out. And some are just excited to sleep in tomorrow. but will always share this one roof, this one moment, this one version of ourselves. I want to remind you, it's okay to be scared of the future. It's okay to not have a plan. You're not supposed to have it all figured out. No matter how many times you've been asked, "So, what's next?" The truth is, your place in this world will find you as long as you stay open. Don't shy away from opportunities just because they're scary. Try again. Say yes even when your voice shakes because the answer will always be no if you never try. And when you do succeed, make sure you're surrounded by people who celebrate your wins like their
280your own and keep those people close. To our staffs and families, thank you for guiding us, cheering for us, and loving us through the messy inbetweens. And thank you, Mom, for always being there for me, for being my rock and my home. This is for you, class of 2025. Go out there and be you. And maybe give the gum borrower a hug on your way out. Now, for my last time as class president, please join me in turning your tassel from the right to the left. [cheering] Congratulations, class of 2025. Thank you and go Panthers. >> [cheering] >> You ready? Congratulations, class of 2025. You did it. Thank you to everyone for coming this morning. [cheering] Thank you for coming this morning to the Wool Arena class of 2025. This is not a goodbye, but
281a see you later. And if nobody told you today that they loved you, I do. Thank you. Have a great day. [cheering] [singing] Soon these will be the good old days. [music and singing] All the love you forget and all these reckless nights you regret. Soon soon your whole life's going to change. The magic of these good [singing] old days. >> I was thinking about the band. I was thinking about the fans. We were underground loading merch in that 12 passenger van in a small club in Minnesota and the snow outside of first [music] half. I just wanted my name in a star. Now look at where we at. Still growing up. Still growing up. I would lay in my bed and dream about [music and singing] what I've become. Couldn't wait to get older.
282Couldn't wait to be some. Now that I'm here, wishing I was still [music] young. Those good old days. I wish somebody [singing] would have told me, babe, that someday these will be the good old days. All the love you won't forget. And all these reckless days you won't regret. Cuz someday soon your [music] whole life's going to change. [singing] You'll miss the magic of the good old days. >> Wish I didn't think [music] I had the answers. Wish I didn't drink all of that blast first. Wish I made it to [music] homecoming. Got up the courage to ask her. Wish I would have gotten out of my show. Wish I put the bottle back on that shelf. Wish I wouldn't have worried about what other people thought and felt comfortable with myself. Rooftop open and
283the stars above moment frozen. Sneaking [music] out and falling in love. Me, you, and our futon. We just beun on the grass dreaming figuring out who I was. Those good old days. I wish somebody [music] would have told me babe that Sunday these will be the good old [music] days. All the love you won't forget and all these reckless nights you won't regret. Cuz someday soon [music] your whole life's going to change. You'll miss the mag. >> Never [music] thought we get old. Maybe worse though young. Maybe you always look back and think it was better [music] than it was. Maybe these are the [singing] moments. Maybe I've been missing what it's about. Been scared of the future. Thinking about the past while missing out on [music] now. We've come so far. I guess I'm
284proud and I ain't worried about the wrinkles around my smile. I got some scars. I've been around. I felt some pain. I seen some things. But I'm here now. >> Those good old days. You don't know >> what you got >> till it goes >> till it's gone. >> You don't know what you got till it [singing] goes till it's gone. Wish [music] somebody would have told me that soon these will be the good old days. All the love you forget. All these reckless nights [singing] you regret your whole life's going to change. Notice the magic of these good old [music and singing] days. >> [music] >> And so like our robot has to line up with these little stakes over here. [music] They're the green ones cuz we have something called autonomous which basically
285when the timer starts the robot goes on its own. Basically, there'll be one robot like on this side and then there'll be another robot on that side cuz we're allianced. [music] And then on the other side, there'll be two other robots that you're fighting against for points. Our main goal is usually to get as many donuts as possible on our stakes. And then we usually [music] put them in the positive corners because those will like double our points. We spend maybe 20 to 30 minutes in the arena and I'd say we spend majority of our time working on the robot. It's like hours upon hours we're working on it. >> I think the competition's fun. We make a lot of friends with other teams. So, we get to see like all the different robots. [music]
286Um that was kind of how we started like doing different things for our robot is we looked at other people's and we built from there. And then it's kind of just building the base of the drivetrain with our brain. This [music] is what kind of works the whole thing. And we have four motors on the base and then from there we kind of build up. No, I think it's fun. I think it's something to do. It's not like sports or anything where I have to do a bunch of physical activity. [laughter] It's kind of fun to see what we can do with the robot over the year. >> What should I do here? You should push that button. >> So, Inquiry Lab is a steam program, science, technology, engineering, arts, and math that we have
287here at Analopee Trails. It's intended to be really outside the box, hands-on learning for kids. >> Right now in Inquiry Lab, we're making a stickbot motion animation. >> Two little stick bots that like you move it and then you take a picture, move it a little bit, take a picture, and so on and so on. We learn about history and later on in the day we do a fun activity about it. >> We are working as a team and making these movies and we have different themes that we're doing. >> We spend a little time sitting and talking and discussing as we begin a session and then we sort of release them to be on their own to collaborate as they're able. Um, and it's very important because they need to learn to communicate with
288each other and they have that chance to do that. >> With the stop motion videos, you literally have to have like something like this. And if you do that, then you take a picture of it. You just move it like just like that and then take another picture. Once you're done, it feels like he's actually moving, but you're actually just taking pictures and [music] he's not actually moving. >> Really, the point is to have fun while learning. >> We see kids coming out of their shell that don't have that opportunity in the classroom. They have the opportunity to uh use technology to add value to what they're learning and to also just really understand at another level. Um, and they absolutely love it. Inquiry Lab is the highlight of of their day. Often >> I
289like Inquiry Lab because you get to do all this stuff. You get to be free by like using your hands and not just like writing just work and work and work and work and work. Heat. Heat. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> I want to welcome you to the 41st annual Colorado Youth Citizenship Awards program. And my name is Dr. Ron Wyn. I'm a retired superintendent of schools. And at this time, I would like to um have the presentation of colors by the Doherty Navy JOTC captain USN Navy retired Greg Thomas. Please stand. Where is it? Say [singing] by the dawn early lights. But so proudly [singing] we [music] at the twilight last gleaming whose bright stripes and bright stars [singing] through the barrel spread [singing] [music] [singing] the balls bursting [music] in air through
290the [singing] night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that [singing] star spangle better yet? For the land of the [singing] free and the home of the of the What Mark.