001okay it is Monday March 10th 2025 I call this business session of the Elizabeth School District to order at 6: PM can I get a roll call please director Callahan here director Fletcher here director Olen here director Powell here and director Waller is just running a few minutes late be here shortly okay so let's go ahead and stand for the pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the FL of the United States of America and to the for stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all is it public okay I move that the board approved the agenda for this March 10th business meeting as presented second any discussion okay can I get a roll call director Callahan I director Fletcher I director Olsen I director pal I okay motion approved next up
002I move that we approve the minutes from the Board of Education meeting on February 24th 2025 as presented any discussion on those all right can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Fletcher hi director Olsen hi director pal hi okay motion approved next up we have our communication section um first up board member reports does anybody have anything have anything been we have a fact meeting on the 25th is got res yeah yeah yeah we realized it was during spring break prob they wouldn't have worked right I go ahead go if you want to go ahead go go for it I was just going to say I got to uh the last couple weekends I got to attend our our theatrical presentations from both of our high school and our Middle School make
003sure I do the right one for that and they were both uh as always they were both very fun to watch watch so good job on those um on behalf of the Elizabeth Education Foundation I'd like to invite everybody to our fundraiser this Friday at ziggies uh Ziggy coffee here in Elizabeth and it's from 6 o'clock in the morning till 6 PM so go in there and mention Elizabeth Education Foundation or Elizabeth schools and they will uh um count your purchase toward um a total to give a percentage for the donation to The Elizabeth Education Foundation and I'd just also like to wish everybody a happy spring break for next week both students and staff and administrators and hopefully it's a nice refreshing time all right um well I had the TAC meeting last week
004it was great it's it's nice being able to converse with the teachers and you know hear firsthand any issues that they have what's going on um I also stopped by the job there the job fair uh briefly on Saturday it was a hit and miss so or hit and hit and run should I say um but um it was it was a very positive environment um got some good applications great great candidates that we hired so it looked like it was pretty busy because I I had to drive by there for something else and I forgot I mean the signs are right there but I forgot but anyway I'm driving by I'm like why is it so busy there today and then on the way back I'm like oh that's why so it looked like
005there was a lot of traction steady traffic yeah throughout the day that's good okay enjoyed the um Q&A with the teachers at the high school that was really good yeah um it started off slow but I thought it was a was a really good event and y'all do those like what once a quarter we're trying to do them we're trying to do them once a semester so I know Adam's going to come back to see if we can do one more before the end of the year so kind of at each school right locations and so I I had one of the teachers Corner me in a in the getting water and but uh she just wanted to thank us for what the things we're doing I was like well I haven't been there these
006guys but but the she was very thankful for the retirement uh the work that you done on the retirement plans and everything and so yeah it was very positive all right zero all right my update um I have a superintendent form the Wednesday after spring break so March 26 uh just want to make sure I mention that out loud we'll be sending that out in the superintendent update this week um next week is Spring Break um and it's a great time for many of our year round employees to take a little time off so there there may be some closures in some of our offices um it'll depend on who's who's taking what day off so we'll have signs posted if if any of the offices are closed um uh we're really excited about our
007direct explicit instruction initiative um that we have um our trainer Zach relle Dr Zack relle who will be here on March 24th which is our PD day know we've had a few parents say Can we cancel that and make it a student day to make up for some of the snow days again we've got a national trainer coming in um so that when we could not but um really excited about it and the conversations with teachers and the conversations with administrators have been been really good of course board members are welcome to join us we have high school 8 to 10 uh we have Elementary 1: three and then the middle portion of the day is a lunch with administrators to really talk through with with Dr Chelle um kind of what we should expect
008how to support staff and and teachers so when we talk about direct explicit instruction it really is about keeping kids engaged in the content throughout the period um we we public education has moved to a lot of facilitating Le learning and kids work in small groups and they work together and and while that can be great for some kids some kids need to be taught they need to be given the content and and taught the skills necessary to be successful um and so really trying to shift our teachers back to thinking about how can I make sure I know what my intention is today what do I expect students to learn how will I know if they learned it um and how do I make sure that every student in the room is actually engaged
009in that learning so I'm really excited about that initiative and um certainly be sharing a lot more um some of the teachers that were there on Saturday were really excited to hear that I think you know the when when students are given lots of free time in class needless to say sometimes students get disengaged and find other things to do um so we're really excited about that we will have a Dak parent survey coming out Rhonda's uh our board member on Dak um and that parent survey will come out hopefully before the end of the week um and then we'll resend it out right after break so that parents who may not check their email because of whatever is going on next week we'll make sure that it's sent out both before and after um
010and it'll be a great opportunity for parents to give feedback on their schools so uh for parents who have children in multiple schools It'll ask you to answer on one school and then it'll let you go back and select another school so we really want to make sure we get feedback on each of our schools that our principles and our building leadership teams can use to make sure that we're continuing to try to improve our our services and then I do want to talk a little about stars um Bill King our our president of our foundation is here stars is probably one of my most favorite um events um it's when we recognize kids for something that we don't do a whole lot of which is recognize kids for just great character and we've got
011amazing kids here in Elizabeth and that is um exciting night kind of like the Emy Awards um night anyone who hasn't been to one it's a great feeling uh cafeteria is decorated and and really a great opportunity to recognize kids who just are great kids um and I think sometimes as I said we don't recognize that enough so April 12th it's a Saturday evening uh when that event will be held at the high school um and certainly we want to make sure that that um people know about that um children will be nominated here in the next um I don't think not are they all in now okay I wasn't sure if we were still accepting up through Friday so parents will be notified that their child has been nominated and will be recognized here
012in the coming weeks yeah student it y it's a lot of fun it really is board is all invited y try to put that date on the calar Y when was it um April 12th um and I believe it's yeah 5:30 to at the high school yeah 5:30 to 7:30 on April 12th at the high school so okay I think that's enough for me thank you okay well with that we have public comment see we've got a few people signed up all right first up we have uh Bill King Bill if you would go ahead and turn that microphone on and then we can just leave it on until I think you have to hold it until it turns red hold it and then the turn red yeah should be good okay if you got
013numbers you're good okay got numbers thank you good evening um good evening my name is William King I've lived here in Albert County for 20 plus years and I reside within the Elizabeth School District area I'm here tonight to talk to you about the Elizabeth School District cell phone policy and propos changes we all know that the cell phone I hold here has enough power to send a man to the Moon it also has the power to save lives in emergencies and if used maliciously it can cause death and in extreme cases it can it can be relied upon uh it can relay an individual's final message to their of love to their family as we found out during 911 and even in Coline the policy changes of B Boe is being asked to consider
014present a double-edged sword I urge the Boe to move slowly and with Extreme Caution a great number of people within the community oppose a total ban on cell phone access to students during the school day conversely cell phone access during classroom instruction testing and by teachers for personal calls during the during class time poses an extreme disruption uh imposes extrem disruptive situation to good cashroom order and discipline the issue Falls within classroom management Law and Order cannot be cannot and should not be viewed as black and white neither should the Elizabeth School District or this board's cell policy there are Shades of Gray to be considered in everything in life many within many with harmful consequences and many with liabilities which may be costly I urge you move slowly I realize it's a problem stay
015with that don't jump to conclusions or anything like that um that's all I have to say thank you thank you B thank you okay next up we have Shelly Manning thank you hi hi hi hi hi I keep hearing students are at the heart of everything we do and parental choice this is regarding the cell phone policy two words classroom management and safety is the current policy not enforced that's classroom management will the parents and Guardians and their child or children be able to reach one another in case of an emergency that's safety excuse me what happens if a student is disruptive or worse a teacher is disruptive again classroom management how does a student access safe to tell if they do not have their phone with them that's a major safety issue would the
016board please consider the following no use of cell phones devices during classroom instruction put it on silent mode yet remain with the student use the cell phones devices be allowed in between classes at lunchtime on the bus and at and at activities no confiscation whatsoever does a teacher in District want the liability if the phone or device is lost stolen or broken while in their possession please do not restrict the students from their devices because a teacher is not able to manage their classroom and please please please do not put the kids in peril because their phones are Out Of Reach in case of an emergency just last week an explosive device was found in a Ponderosa High School students backpack a person or person's told and a tragedy was averted how would you feel
017if that happened to our students and no one was able to tell someone okay next we have how good evening normally I do use cell phone etiquette and I have my phone in my purse all the time during meetings every single time today I'm going to utilize my cell phone for my notes cell phones are already required to keep phones turned off in class what you're proposing is no phones at lunch that's personal free time for a child no phones during passing period no phones on the bus no access to safe to tell app during school no 911 access during school our kids will literally have have zero ability to use their phone during their free time no ability to use them for group projects no ability to read a book from their Kindle app
018this does not negate the fact that parents have a right to know where their children are and their children have a right to their personal property and ability to contact their legal guardian in an event big or small turn them on silent put them away during class seems like a no-brainer there are teachers already gleefully bragging about taking your kids phone because they can and buying boxes to lock them away taking total control over your private property imagine evacuating a school after an explosive was found on the grounds and only seeing a static unmoving dot representing your child because they were also forced to leave their belongings behind when evacuating you don't know if your kid is in the building or if they're safe oh wait there was an explosive found at Ponderosa High School
019just last week after law enforcement was called and after the bomb squad was called communication is not only important but plays a big role in comforting a very scared child in a time of Crisis this is totally unacceptable we do not need more rules enforce what's already in place teach cell phone eate and responsibilities teach engaging content and classroom management this is absolutely disturbing for somebody who has known families that have gone through the total destruction of another family during Coline during other mass shootings being shot out myself in Aurora driving down the road and needing to call somebody for help reconsider what you're doing okay next up we have Brady my pronouncer fiper you got [Music] it thank you to the board for uh putting this on you guys volunteering your time appreciate it
020um I'm in favor of a full cell phone uh ban at the schools uh our society is battling a serious epidemic of anxiety depression self harm across all ages but especially increased in our younger generation um I kind of straddle the um those Generations I had access to a flip phone when I was in high school and I can tell you that the distractions at that time were high I can't imagine what it's like Now with uh modern smartphones and social media um I'm sure you're all aware of the statistics of how prevalent self harm depression anxiety has increased um as a parent of young children too hearing things about the average age children's are exposed to pornography is now eight because of the access to these phones and most of that time that's occurring
021at school on the bus in the hallways in the lunchroom uh I don't believe there's any reasonable argument Why students need cell phones during school hours um you all talk planning about the distractions that they pose um there's been a lot to talk about in the worst case scenarios the what ifs uh I I think that's not the prudent way to make those decisions that's catastrophizing and fear-based on a one in a million chance what we know is every day the students are trying to battle against this invasive technology and that's what the board should be taken into account when they make this decision what goes on every day not what's the worst case onetime issue in a what if scenario uh Banning schools uh or Banning phones during the school hours will help parent
022help Empower parents to place boundaries uh on this technology uh there's lots of polling that's been done that the majority of parents in our situation uh would would be more forceful on placing boundaries and holding off on the technology if they didn't feel alone if they didn't feel like I have to get my kid one because everyone else has one and that's the feedback we get in the home uh by the board placing this uh ban into effect putting this policy in you'd communicate that to the community that you stand with those parents as we try to find the healthy boundary for this technology um again like I said i' I'd be uh support of a full band I think trying to find middle grounds of well they can have it during lunch hours they
023can have it in the uh just silent just in their pocket that's too high of a Temptation for students to try and navigate I think we need to be the parents for them the grown-ups for them and put this uh Temptation This distraction uh out of their pocket it's during school hours so thank you very much thank you next up we have Tim and Tony Cashman just be Tim thank you good evening um thanks Tim Cashman I am a u member in the district um I've had the great pleasure of raising six Boys Still to in this District um two of them there in uh in the high school but uh started out Elementary Middle School and now into the high school I have to apologize because I don't know the existing policy and I
024have not read it I don't know that the students know exactly what the policy is which is disturbing in itself the beginning of every school year teachers have expectations that they lay out for the students and they write a syllabus a syllabus does come home and a lot of times the parents required to sign that syllabus as well too so the parent is fully aware of what the expectation is of the child in that class per the teacher who's going to be performing the duties of managing that classroom and teaching the curriculum so I have to think that number one why do the students not know what the blanket across theboard cell phone policy is now I will tell you I know at the elementary school it's one Middle School they do a little bit
025of a different type of process where they're doing the pockets in the back of during the high school there's actually no standardized policy whatsoever because it is up to the individual teacher to do as they seem fit for their classroom now with that being said I do know that with this kind of a blanket make your own policy that when there is infractions that are going on in the classroom there seems to be a classroom management discipline that is not being brought forth well how would they know if they're not enforcing it if they have not been told about it how would you expect these students to kind of grasp this whole concept of what's going on um safety is a big issue um I agree with most persons that spoke before me uh this
026is a issue I believe that uh is going to take a heck of a lot more than just this meeting and one you know section for public opinion to come to speak to you about this this is a whole lot greater than um sitting down after this and let's take a vote um I would say that uh wrongly implementing a complete ban watch The Exodus thank you so next up we have consent items so I move that the board approv consent items as presented have 8.1 through 8.7 second and can I get a roll call Dr Kelly hi director Fletcher hi director Olson hi director pal hi and director Waller hi okay motion approved next up we have discussion items first up is 9.1 which is the non-appropriation of the power schools contract so discuss
027it first yeah so so in Colorado um no multi-year contract can be enforcable and ultimately what that does is it prevents one board from committing the funds of another board um and so even when a district signs a multi-year contract um there is a required non-appropriation clause in that contract that says that if a board decides that we're not going to continue this practice or what this contract was for that the board has the right to say we're going to non-appropriate funds uh for this particular thing it can be for people it can be for contracts Goods Services what whatever it may be um we have an unusual situation here in that we have three products from this company named power schools um two of which we are open to continuing to use and one
028that we no longer need it was one that a prior leader in the district had started um and it's it's a part of that multi-year contract we have worked with power schools to attempt to cancel that particular element um and unfortunately this company has Tak a stand to say well you can't cancel just part of it and so we have um as a result gone out to look at similar products that would address the areas that we still need support in um and at this point we are asking the board to non-appropriate funds to this contract we need to notify them there's a clause within the contract that says we must notify them if there's movement to cancellation so many days which is why we're bringing this forward um while we haven't brought you the
029full budget um I can tell you that the work that we've been doing behind the scenes to look at our staffing and our current contractual obligations um this is a contract that we would not prefer not to continue so we're asking you tonight to go ahead and move to non-appropriate funds for this particular contract so that we can meet within the obligations of that contract to notify this company that we will cease all three products at the end of the year have yeah correct yeah and they're less expensive better yeah all right with that I move to non-appropriate funds in the 2526 year for the current contract with power school for the products outlined second any further discussion all right can I get a Ru call director Callahan hi director Fletcher hi director Olsen I
030director Powell I and director Waller I okay motion approved next up we have modification of the 2425 school calendar year um modifying by adding May 22nd as a stud a student staff day so I think all board members have been monitoring our instructional calendar we we typically build in five snow days into our calendar um this year has been we used three of them in November with that um interesting storm we had early November um we monitor our instructional hours to make sure that we don't drop below those if we drop below the required instructional hours we run the risk of during an audit in the future having funds taken back from the school uh school district and so we are within one hour of dropping below that so we do not have any longer
031the option of calling a delayed start when the weather is expected to clear we are right now being forced to Pivot to a to a remote day so even even if we know that in an hour from now it's going to clear but we can't get our buses on the road to get kids to school on time um we no longer have that tool um we have have proposed we've talked with staff um um we are proposing that we add May 22nd as a half day our district has in the past ended school on the last day has been a half day for students a half day for staff um so we're proposing that we do that that gives us two more late starts that we can in those instances like last week where um
032had we waited a couple of hours we could have had school allowed parents to go about their their day um we're asking that that day be converted now any parent that has vacation planned I want to make that very clear if someone's already booked tickets because that was supposed to be a non-student day those students will be excused the other advantage of adding that day is currently the School needs four days to do their final schedule they have eight classes and they do two a day um right now they're based on our schedule having to start that on Friday we've made sure that all future calendars have four days that last week this calendar did not have that and so by doing this it will allow the high school also to issue their their um
033uh Finals within that final week of four- day week um and um have all students and be transported home at midday so buses will run at the midday Point get the students home that day um so that's what we're requesting it it seems like our best option I know there's been some calls for why don't we just do without our late start challenge with with that is late start is important I know people think oh it's teachers come in later no teachers come in at the same time um that's when teachers are looking at data that's when teachers are working as a department to modify plans to make sure that what they're doing is most effective for kids um we also have a number of speakers and in professional development lined up for teachers between
034now and the end of the year so doing away with that would also cause us to end up paying for professional development that we could not then have delivered so um this seems like the best option um obviously we're hopeful that um this winter will go away sooner than later um it's been an extremely odd winter and I can agree that there have been days that would have been nice to have called something different so I wish I had a crystal ball to always make the perfect call um but obviously that's been challenging so this will give us two more days within our quiver to make sure that should there be a day where it's just a matter of letting the wind die down and stone out to blow make zero visibility that we'll have
035that ability to call it and not um not have to Pivot to a remote day that impacts parents the entire day so all right I move to approve the modification to the 2425 calendar changing May 22nd to a half day for students keeping the remaining half day as a teacher work day last day for staff second any further discussion on that one seems pretty obvious yeah it really is all right gonna get a roll call director callaham hi director Fletcher I director Olen I director po I and director Waller hi all right motion approved next up um approval of our new auditor wall Smith baitman Incorporated so we have gone out to bid our current our current auditor has been the district auditor for quite a few years we're actually trying to calculate and it
036goes back certainly well be before 2019 We Believe probably five or six years before that um so anyways HL and Associates has been our um current auditor um we've had numerous challenges um with our our working relationship with that particular firm um this year in particular where we ended up having to ask for a play to actually get the audit done um and all of that so um because typically the board um is asked to look at regularly look at audit proposals and look at is there a need for a change we believe it is time for a change uh we did go out for bid um and we do have both our current auditor and two additional Auditors which is three three in particular that we are presenting to you um we interviewed invited
037our fact I know Mike callaham was able to join us for the interviews I would say either of the other companies would do a great job I don't think there was one that was necessarily better than the other other than the experience with Skyward which is really going to be helpful we've implemented a new business software as a district um that's been obviously anytime you implement a new business software there's always those challenges W Smith baitman actually walked through that with another District who implemented the very same system and so having an auditor familiar with our finance system we like giving them full transparency giving them access to our system so they can look at all all transactions within the district so having a company like wal Smith baitman who has that knowledge and experience
038will allow them to really be helpful to us um walsmith baitman also engages your round so typically Auditors wait until you say Okay My Books are closed here they are um wsmith baitman is a company that actually works throughout the year stays in contact answers questions their goal is to make sure that they are help helping guide the district to ensuring that it's compliant with all of the the county rules and regulations and So based on all of that we are recommending that W Smith baitman uh be um selected um they are the cheapest firm and I will just explain that because obviously when you look at Hinkle's original letter they they said an amount this year we will exceed the amount that wall Smith bitman will charges next year because of the additional time
039that was required to actually get across the Finish Line with our current so we are are probably at 26 to $27,000 so far for our current auditor their proposal was 15 but obviously it always has that in if F additional hours W Smith baitman is guaranteed to not exceed um the amount that's in their contract so T I'm sorry done done fixed price got it yeah so so we are excited um I I have experience with W Smith baitman I worked with them in other districts they are one of the top firms in the state that does School District auditing um as as the other um company that we interviewed like I said either of them would be great while Smith baitman had the edge with that Skyward experience so that's our recommendation okay I
040move to approve the selection of wall Smith and baitman as our new auditing firm beginning with the audit of the 2425 school year second any discussion you were good yeah you were like them yeah it was a good interview yeah they were both good interviews yeah yeah that mean it's I mean they know our software they come in under it's a winwin it's a winwin yeah sure y I agree okay can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Fletcher hi director olon hi director pal hi and director Waller hi all right motion approved okay next oh we have a few huh um next we have our second and final reading of revised policy bdb School Board officers so there were some changes made to the policy that we discussed at the prior meeting
041so I move that the board approve the second and final reading of revised policy bdb School Board officers as presented and discussion um I still have a question with regard to the treasurer duties the number three on there I I'm just not sure what this practically means sign either by written signature or fim so this is you as all all warrants are orders drawn on the county treasure or checks drawn on District depository and then number four I kind of get it's like deposit to our credit the stuff we get from the treasury I get that but what would we actually both you and Mike sign all checks it's a digital sign a digal digital signature that's why it's a fact simile but drawn on the county treasur yeah it it's it's odd wording um
042yeah um but but it it's um this is the the the recommended policy um uh so checks drawn on the District depository is probably more of the common aspect um I don't think we draw on the county treasure unless except for the fact that we do build them for the taxes that are due to us so we build them and so yeah so that's kind of yeah that's so as our signatures your job your job is to make sure that happens just like as secretary you're not taking the minutes you're ensuring that the minutes are taken um so in this case it's a Treasurer um and because you're the secretary you attest to so so it's so all requests for dollars and all checks are signed by the two of you y okay I just
043wanted to yeah it is it is I I wish it were word it in a more maybe 21st century I got I got a big Bill coming up can I here just kidding yeah it is it is worded oddly um but but it is because you all are the author signatures on those requests for money to come to the district that are due as well as money that goes out to pay bills so yeah I knew our signatures were on something but it just seemed odd that direction but yeah okay as long as practicality and the reality is there y okay any further discussion on that one all right can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Fletcher no director olon hi director pal hi director Waller I all right motion approved next
044up second and final reading of revised policy becc executive sessions so again there's changes that we made that were discussed at the prior meeting I'll just share that we are going to have a our attorney here present at the next meeting to go through this I think it's important for the public to understand what are executive sessions when can you hold them why do you hold them what happens afterwards so um just with approving this policy tonight um this is I think second and final yes um we'll also have a chance for our Council to really educate our community about what what is executive session when is it used when's appropriate to be used Etc so that'll be at our next meeting okay so I move that the board approve the second and final reading
045of revised policy becc executive sessions second any further discussion yeah I don't see any issues with the vit written so um if no more discussion uh roll call director Callahan hi director Fletcher hi director Olsen hi director Powell I and director Waller hi okay motion approved next up our first and final reading of revised policy ebce school closings and cancellations so primarily this is to update to the current practice the prior policy said the director of transportation is the one who was responsible to make those calls um we our our calls are usually based upon can the majority of students make it school and of course we put out messages to parents it is always a parents right to say where I live it's not safe my child's going to be excused from school today
046I recognize how critical it is for parents to know that kids can go to school so um buses running is important there may be days that one bus can't run that's not going to cause us to cancel school that's going to say we're going to notify families a bus the tiger bus may not run today because of the conditions in the area so this is reshing that Authority to me to make sure that again if a majority of students can make it safely to school we should hold school we always Empower parents to make decisions we it can be blizzarding up in Sun Country and it can be sunny here unfortunately it's a quite an interesting Colorado weather pattern so um so most of the changes here are just correcting how we operate because we
047no longer leave it to the to the um director transp okay so I think I need a second did I already make the motion on that I thought I did okay I move that the board approved the first and final reading of revised policy ebce school closings and cancellations second all right any further discussion on that one okay was labeled as a first reading but weit was brought for discussion last meeting so you've looked at it twice just the first one wasn't an official where you made a motion okay all right so can I get a roll call director kaham hi director Fletcher hi director Olson hi director pal I director Waller I okay motion approved next up the first and final reading of of revised regulation ec- school closings and cancellations again changes were
048made to the policy that were discussed at the prior meeting and this is the regulation that goes with the the policy we just discussed so it's again just providing more detail of how we how we make those decisions okay so I move that the board approve the first and final reading of revised policy ECE school closings and cancellations second um one question I had do we need to put any reference to remote instruction in here uh it is in the first one um so we don't need it in yeah no ebce does outline that should we run into an issue with instructional minutes that the district could pivot to remot learning so we hope not to have to do that but obviously this year we are all right can I get a roll call director
049Kahan hi director Fletcher hi director Olsson hi director pal hi and director Wallace hi all right motion approved next our first reading of replacement policy gbgh our sickly bank so this policy I brought to your attention I think at the last meeting that we wanted to try to align um casby and clas both have a single policy for sickly bank and yet we've had two we have one that's classified staff for support staff our bus drivers our caras our office staff our non-licensed individuals whose jobs don't require a Colorado license and then we have a license s Le Bank um the policies were very different so for a classified staff a lower paid employee to join their sick Le bank they have to give up two leave days where teachers give up one um that's
050one example a licensed staff allow maternity leave to be covered our classified staff didn't um and so we really felt like we needed to be very aligned and consistent with what what people have to do to join their sickly bank and how they can access and what are the conditions under which they can and felt like this business of oh you're classified you can't but you can just seemed very odd um we will still maintain two cly Banks so we'll maintain a licensed cly bank and a classified cly bank with a number of days um employees will now contribute on the same process the the other policies had different processes when you had to kick in another day versus the other group when they kicked in another day so now it's consistent if it drops
051below 499 days people contribute another day to make sure that that bank is always healthy um so really what we did was we took the two policies aligned it there's one other thing that we did include because administrators fell in one or the other if you are a licensed administrator meaning you have to have a Colorado Department of Education license like me as a superintendent or principal they they pulled from the license bank if they were a director like Andrew Rodriguez who's our director of facilities and maintenance who doesn't have to have a CD license he pulls from the classified Bank One bank had the requirement that you exhaust all but F five days of your vacation time but the other bank didn't and so we've aligned that as well to say that employees who
052are 12-month employees who also earn vacation time they earn discretionary leave or sick leave they also earn vacation time that before they can access this they should use all but 5 days so someone gets really sick they're hospitalized in October we recognize they may need some time off later in the year and so we're going to let them hang on to five vacation days but they must use all but five days before they can access so this just ensures that we're consistent the other thing we added in here is that the classified advisory Council reviews requests from classified staff the licensed um staff are reviewed by our teacher advisory Council administrators have been reviewed by one or the other and again not looked that with the with the view of an administrator so we're recommending
053that that comes to superintendent cabinet it'll still go to the appropriate counsel either teacher advisory or or classified advisory Council to to do final approval but administrate an administrative group will look at it say okay this person have they met the criteria before they can use and all of that's outlined in the policy so that summarizes the changes we're just recommending we get we get all of these into one policy um this I believe will come back this is first reading so it we'll come back to you at the 24th for final approval and then we will ask you to repeal the classify policy because then they'll all be covered within one so are we ready for discussion or do we need the motion we need a motion first I think okay I move that
054the board approved the first reading of replacement policy gbgh sick Leaf Bank second all right I really like what you've done with this because it seems like it makes things more consistent and more fair yeah yeah acoss definitely everyone's playing by the same rules exactly love it there's just a couple of things I wanted to just um ask about so in the first well it's the second paragraph on the first page it's the first purple MH um it says sustain and then to your point of what you said before then on page three it talks about use up all that five days so that seemed inconsistent yeah they they use up accumulated leave you're right we probably could add in accumulated leave as outlined in the policy because again depending on which group you're in
055if you're if you're a 12-month employee you have you have vacation leave which is outlined in the policy if you're not you only have discretionary leave and that's outlined in the the policy so maybe we just need to say and does not have um does not have outlined accumulated leave I don't know what the best wording is Mary yeah I'm not I'm not sure I have to think about it but I just that just felt inist we can since this is first reading we can we can add something in there and then then bring it back to you so I'll just make sure we address that and then under the certified leave one I I know under when we get to the classified one it says bank I think just to clarify and make sure
056everything is clear we need to add in certified s l Bank um on at the bottom of page one um we have certified CCL bank and then the next paragraph is classified Bank just in the language oh it's it's spec it specifies oh I see just for cl so it should be so add the word certified where it's talking about certified okay that makes sense thank you under a yeah what used to be a and under administrative procedures under I guess paragraph a there MH I know I know later it kind of talks about um you know that the number of days that have to be given um but in that kind of added language it says um they will contribute one of their discretionary days to the bank during their first year of membership
057so is this just like a so this is just their first time that's how they kind of become a member that's how they become a member they give up a day okay and so then every year thereafter does everybody add one more year or only if the bank drops below the the number of hours so it's really just one time you're giving up one unless the bank drops when the bank drops below 499 days then everyone kicks in now a day if you're in your first so many years yeah um so so again it's consistent between both where they weren't before okay um okay those are just couple of couple of comments so I maybe I'll just send a couple of suggestions any suggest any language any language clarification we want to make sure it's
058very clear it might be good for us to actually accept these changes and then let to read because I know it's hard with the crosss it so that would be a good idea why don't we do that but I just think especially with the you know the T and the CAC kind of being the it's really important because that's going to have a fluctuating membership yeah we want to be sure that the policy is very very clear so everybody knows how to apply it and it's I I love that it's combined and I think it's really good but there's just a couple of we want to make it as clear as possible and that's what we count on you we get we read it so many times it makes you all know exactly what you're
059doing but this is all brand new to me right yeah but no but but but you're reading it and having it make sense is important because staff will need to do the same but we have not pushed this as much as we should I mean this is quite a benefit for someone um and we've had a couple situations this year where someone has been hospitalized had an accident and they weren't members and so you know there's been talk in the district about oh can we donate days we we specifically don't allow that because that puts a an employee in the position of well what if they end up in an accident they've given their days to you because you were out now I don't have days and will anyone give them to me so we
060intentionally don't allow employees to donate days to each other because if they give a day they actually have access to this large pool this is an amazing benefit really is um so I you know we've had people say can I donate my days too the reality is is we just need to do a better job when employee joins our team or and it does say 30 days if they join during the middle of the year that they're offered the opportunity I don't think we've done a great job with that so this will become a major push in the paperwork for our human resources department to make sure that when employees being on boarded they understand yeah that this is a huge huge benefit good I like it all right can I get a roll call
061director Callahan I director Fletcher no director Olen hi director pow hi and director Waller hi all right motion approved so this will go then to Second reading yeah it'll go into second reading and Mary any anything you we'll we'll accept the changes and then send it back out to all of you so be good be easier to read us after a while with all the yeah purple and red and green and blue yeah okay next up we have our first reading of replacement policy jcj student use of cell phones and other personal technology devices and again this policy was recommended by the teacher advisory Council um they came with the first revision we've made edits um so this is the feedback that we've received from them and from us so far so a couple things
062I think even a couple of the speakers spoke about the fact that we do have policy that clearly says cell funds don't belong in schools they shouldn't be on during instructional time um I think what what teachers have said is it's it's left to interpretation so what I think is a good use may not be considered by you a good use of that phone and now we have kids who are completely confused about oh I can in your class but not in your class and you'll take it and put it in the pocket and so the teachers request was that we have a more consistent policy that we don't leave it up to to you decide because that just leads kids to not know you know where am I what period am I in am
063I allowed to here or not you say children don't understand Nuance the nuances are like from here to here that's the challenge is it it's not so I think I think teachers recommendation is that we that we come up with a policy that's a little clearer that that outlines um and again this is our starting point so I I know I know that it appears as that people think we're ready to adopt this we're not I think our our Point here is to begin the conversation and I think we're encouraged to take our time and I think that's our intent is to continue the conversations um uh and we do have a we do have a parent survey so I will throw that out um that if we had anything if the board would like
064any Community feedback that survey as I said hopefully will go out before the end of the week and so the board would like to add anything to that survey around this we do have a district section and then we have each school section so as you look at this certainly keep in mind that if you wanted to get get parent feedback from the broad Community we certainly can add something to that as well okay so I'm going to make a motion so we can get ourselves into into discussion excuse me I move that the board approved the first reading of replacement policy jcj student use of cell phones and other personal technology devices can I get a second I'll second it all right so let's go into discussion on this one so there seems to
065be this conception that the kids aren't going to have like they going to school and we're taking their phone and we're locking it away and that's not the case what we're proposing we understand that some parents feel more comfortable if their child has a cell phone in school but there's other parents that that don't and it we do know there are studies that show that it does interfere with the education so I think that we have a very good middle ground in this policy that the cell phone is off and it's in your backpack MH um and my attitude is Bell the bell bell the Bell yeah you can turn it on when you get on the bus and you can open it up and see if you got a message to not get on
066the bus that day or whatever I read it through thoroughly while we were having all other discussions and I don't see in there um if there is an emergent circumstances yeah they can access right other of backpack well no because you have to take into consideration what might be okay for one kid and maybe it doesn't affect their learning but when you have a teacher playing a game of whack-a-mole when you have kids breaking out their phones no no I'm talking about school shooting I'm talking about something okay on theal disaster tornado there's an exceptions par section on the second page is it there yeah about students maybe per I mean it's not like they're being removed entirely the phones and I think yeah Okay the phone's this close right yeah it's in the backp
067it just needs to be turned off and I think it's just I think I mean we are trying to first of all our first mission is the education this and we really need to make it the so that teachers aren't having to fight the battle against the kids on the phones and getting in late and uh all of that stuff we we have to be able to have teachers be able to start the teaching right away and teach through this the thing which I mean and we somebody said you know we got to have better classroom management we're working on that I mean you heard uh Dan talk about earlier you heard him talk about um this direct instruction situation next year we've got uh so many we've got some amazing plans we've got amazing
068curriculum that we are really trying to get implemented so we we have that in mind we know that that is an issue we need to get the teachers to have uh to directly instruct explicitly put all those words in there from Bell to Bell pretty much you know and so that is gonna that is going to create much better classroom management um and then but we've got to have it so that there there's not the distraction of these phones that are keeping things away but the kids will have them available to them they will be there they will be put away but they we're not going to have them you know taken away unless they start to abuse it that's kind of the only time there would be a taken away if they start to
069abuse it those are those are kind of some of the violations and what you know first offense is you know put it away the second offense is you know it has to go to the office and Etc but you know we have to have consequences and people were talking about are we enforcing the current policies well this is you know we have to have consequences to to enforce so um anyway so but this will lead to our first goal of a better education but there will be the safety concerns of the the kid will have access to it in an emergency situation if they need it um we have you know they can turn it on as soon as the endbell stops so they can get messages and know whether they're supposed to get on
070the bus or if you know mom's going to come pick them up or whatever the messages are the parent can send it you know during the day it'll show up as soon as they turn on their phone I think it's going to be a matter of both kids and parents just changing habits and teachers and teachers yeah is Bel to Bell this like first Bell in the morning to the last bell at the end of the day is it yes oh Jes oh so anyway so um so we need to we need to just recognize that the point is to have the classrooms get back under better control without the distraction of even during lunchtime yes well this is what we would like at this point because you know and this is this is why
071we're still discussing this as well you know there's I think an exception for lunch might be good to check in to see if you got messages from Mom or Dad or something yeah but um we just we just feel really strongly that you know the education thing is the first thing and we we feel that these other adjustments take care of the safety issue take care of the communication issue that's required but we just need to change habits the kids need to just change habits to interact with so um anyway so so if you see what's going on at the middle school the middle school was it was having some issues and you basically put enforcements on our vag cell phone policy basically we took the current policy and said teachers we can't have it
072because of what's going on and and we we were getting continued complaints about students who were sending inappropriate pictures students who were bullying each other um that was completely distracting our middle school I will say one of the things that I have probably has made made my my week my month my year for that matter is watching at the middle school where kids at lunch are actually talking to each other they're actually engaging in conversations I mean prior to that this was lunch and you've got a whole table full of people that maybe could be your friends but you're you're you're there and that's just I I guess it's something that I we go to a restaurant we see that even with adults we see people husband wies you know on their phones and I
073don't know I it it it has been re rewarding to see kids actually talk to each other actually have conversations go outside and play at recess time go outside after lunch is over and and and so that that's I will say the positive side of it I mean it it's a it's a tough topic and we know people fall on all sides of the issue so I think the continued conversation like I said seeking some feedback from parents on the survey might be might be wise uh lunch like I said lunch at the middle school has has allowed kids actually reengage with each other kids who weren't friends are now friends because they now are talking to each other at lunch but again um it it's it's a tough issue and and I know the
074only ones this is occurring across the country well we need to know there's a law right now that if if the legislature passes a law La we won't have a choice yeah Illinois their governor was talking about it today I think California as well I mean that that bill is likely to be passed at the legislature highly likely where where Fones won't be permitted in schools so whether we act or whether the legislature acts I think it's it's a it's a pretty challenging issue and like I said lunch or not those are that's where I I can see value on all sides and um you know it's launch a time when kids can check in and parents have that ability of being able to connect with their kid I I think that's something some schools
075invest in Pockets like a pencil case if you will that phones go in there that way you know if I'm not carrying my backpack I I have something that's still containing my phone but it's accessible and it's it's here with me um I mean those are things too we can talk about there are some schools that have pockets that literally lock when they go into school and they unlock when they walk out of school how those work I have no clue but there are districts who have invested in that takes two weeks a lot of a lot of money to to spend on a device like that but a pencil case may be you know something that kids can have that way if if they evacuate they grab it and they take it with them
076I witnessed that firsthand at bries they have a huge cart and all these cases and some kind of locking device and the kids lined up like you wouldn't believe grabbing their phones yeah yeah so I I like said I'm not sure what the final answer is this is the beginning of the discussion but I I think it's there's value on both sides of the argument and I think just continuing to figure out what's happy medium and I I think Al the kid to have it but keep it in their backpack is I think it's a good compromise um you know you're not Banning it but it is there um there has to be consequences but at what point I mean if you would just have empty threats of you know turn it off turn it
077off turn it off then you're just playing a constant game of wack-a-mole and that distracts from not only that child's learning but all of the other kids in that classroom and then not to mention you have problems with cell phones being used for bullying pornography sexting I mean there's all kinds of ways that cell phones are used improperly and everything that you have to all the energy that you have to put into that is taken away from academics and you look at our scores I mean we're trying so many different things trying to get those scores up trying to get the kids the education and you know when you have to focus your attention on stuff like this versus curriculum versus teaching methodologies it just I mean this this really it makes sense to me
078and again it's it's a first draft and it's not the final know there's going to be there's going to be work but I really want the kids to be able to focus on academics inpersonal relationships where they actually communicate and talk with each other where they're not late to class because they're hurrying up trying to get those last minute texts or social media posts in between classes um you know schools should be everybody always talks about a safe space a safe space how about a safe space for academics I y'all don't know much about me but I grew up dirp I mean living one point I all our stuff was thrown out and people were going through it I came home from school and all our stuff is being pilfered through so I mean it's
079the living in cars uh that sort of thing and so I went to the poorest schools right um and schools with x-ray machines I mean and this is 1980s right so but I mean they I didn't have a cell phone then and you could I don't know if anybody's noticed I'm short uh and uh I'm white at all black schools um and so it was it was not safe uh for me but I went every day and I didn't have a cell phone so so somehow I I lived to this moment um and uh but I I just I don't see where we're not taking the phone from so you ever heard the 8020 principle right usually talk about in business right it's you know 80% of the people or or 20% of the people
080do 80% of the work or like you know but they they found that it actually works in a number of areas science and it's like all of a sudden like 80% of the population bacteria or whatever seem to exhibit the same but anyway um it works in law too like 80% of citizens just want to that do them break occasional speed limit they generally want to be good citizens they don't they don't never see the inside of a courtroom whatever but they then there's like that 15% who are waiting to see what happens to the other 5% who are just bad people right they they just want to do bad things all the time and the what you're really trying when you Hammer somebody for something or you enact a punishment you doing you're doing
081it on the 5% to keep the 15% from doing bad that's why we don't we don't have one cop for every person in in town right we we have a small Force to take care of the 5% to hammer those people right and so I mean the most kids are going to come to school and they're going to they're going to keep their phone in their bag they're not going to take it out so 80% that's not the kids we're talking about here really we're talking about the 15% who are looking to see what happens to the 5% so we're going to have to make sure that whatever policy we initiate that it's being used and that we are hammering the kids who violate this over and over again so that the other 15% get
082the message um I and I think that's I mean I think there's some some wiggle room in here I mean I think you know I think it talks about uh having having them at the bus or you know on school transportation well and like you said there's long bus rides yeah yeah and our transportation department feels like there's the benefits outweigh the risks um and so they're comfortable right now with us not expanding that through through through school buses yeah word yeah so I mean there's I think there's some give and take in here um but yeah I think we need to have something that's strict that we can Hammer the kids who are repeated violators and uh know and I don't think that we don't nobody here wants to take anybody phone like and
083you know it's not like we're going to gather up phones and put them in a shoe box and you know you know come by and you just leave that box in the lobby or anything else like I mean it's in my mind you put the lock boxes in the school office and the kid puts his phone in there her his her phone and pulls the key and they walk out and I couldn't get in there even if I well if I really want I could get in there but it requires some lockpick tools or something but yeah I mean that's what I foresee and another option is too if you know if the parent doesn't want the kids put their phone in the locker after repeated violations then perhaps the parent just comes and picks
084up the phone um which yeah alligned in the fences Y and you know we've worked very hard on the security in our district and we have an armed security officer in every single school which is there's no other District I think in Colorado that can say that so um I mean I would feel much more comfortable moving forward with with something like this but you know at some point I would love to get Tyler's um Tyler's thoughts on cell phone use during an emergency you know yeah and I I sent him the policy to to look at I think you know there's a couple things one is um you know I I I think emergencies is when everyone fears and again I think the point of um you know we're talking about that one occasion
085but that occasion is real I it's a something I think every parent fears because of of unfortunately what's happened in other places um I think you know that when we go into lockdown and children are in a room you know they move away so hopefully someone comes to the door they think nobody's in there obviously everyone's out of sight you know that phone ringing um could definitely give away the fact that hey there's there's someone in there um safe to tell can be reported from the Chromebooks that kids have too so I do want to clarify for people that I could do a safe to tell right now if I wanted to on my on my computer as kids can on their on their Chromebooks so um so safe to tell yes I I get
086I we we get some amazing tips through safe to tell and we appreciate our kids doing that we don't want to take that away from them so there are other avenues supposed to be anous they are Anonymous yeah yeah so again anyone Chromebook can easily be overseen verus Oh you mean you mean someone looking over their shoulder yeah I mean what gets transmitted is anonymous but yeah if somebody sees them doing that but they can also they can see the phone and I think um at least an article that I read yes there were safe to tell reports at pondosa with this incident last week but there was also a couple of students who reported a direct to teacher or some or whoever so um you know we we need to remember that even though
087I guess it wouldn't be anonymous then but if there is a enough of a concern hopefully the students will step forward and not worry about how was the initial report name there were my understanding is there were a couple of two several safe to tell on but at least a couple of personal reports so I don't know what order they came in or I don't know how that happened it was just an article I did but there were some personal reports so um I think it was both yeah no I know that one one concern that came up was the office and phone coverage in the office and that is something we will work on address yeah every every classroom has a phone in it um so so you know it's there's still access in
088the classroom um to phones um and so that's important to note I will say that you know ly when there's phones that aren't answered at schools that's problematic and and something that when parents bring that to our attention We are following up on that because there's no excuse for a phone to the school to ring and ring and ring and not have somebody answer so um so those are definitely issues um but there are phones in every classroom multiple phones at in the front office so um this policy will kind of you know point out the the things that need to be tweaked you know I mean it's not just this I do want to share we we've had kind Garten teachers who have reported that children are getting calls on their watch from their
089parents during the school day um we had a high school student who got a call from his boss who wanted him to come in at one o00 instead of the four o'clock regular schedule I mean there's there's things that sometimes are just like come on people you know you're you're in class yeah you know um if there's a concern certainly call call the school we'll get your child to the phone you know we would never prevent a child from talking to their parent but but this this just I don't know gets to a point where you know that disrupts the entire Kindergarten room and then so again I think it's just I think it's going to be everybody learning new habits you know the kids the teachers the parents everybody so is there something in
090particular that would be helpful to the board to to put on the survey is there something that you'd like to get parent feedback on with regard to this I think we should just ask him kind of summarize the policy they're okay with it just ask yeah here's here's what we're considering the problem with the survey is what maybe 30% for that Yeah we actually had better response last year I think we had about half of our families responded last year so it was much better than past years's but I think this type of an issue may cause people to fill it out well and you made it shorter and a little bit yeah yeah we shortened it easier yeah there's five questions on each school so it's not not the 40 questions you have to
091answer four times if you have kids in four schools so but yeah we could definitely summarize it I'll share it with all of you make sure that you're satisfied that we've summarized what we summary is good and then probably the lunch issue is probably a specific question we need to get feedback on yes or no on much time so we'll probably need to tweak again like Dave said um put an option in there for you know versus I hate the word confiscating you know versus surrending your phone for the day you know call the parent for retrieval y and say other than that take action on this time well for first reading it's a first read first reading yeah yeah we'll do walk call on first reading yeah doesn't mean it's final yet I there
092there still is I mean as a person who has been watching you know the school district the Tik Tock videos and all the videos over the last five or six years um there's some teachers who have done some bad things in classrooms and I think I don't think we really have a lot of that here um but uh it has been in an emergency situation where a child needs to record a teacher basically breaking the law um you know that's helpful I mean and that's on the other side of this this policy does also address the you know whether the phones are off or on the this addresses the things that are not allowed to be done regardless and that is creating audio or video recordings of student or staff without their permission um you
093know taking taking pictures in the locker rooms and bathrooms Etc um for you know cheating obviously no all the the sexting and all the sexually aggressive things and bullying and all that stuff so there's a very specific list of things that um you know are not allowed anytime so I I think that's a good one and then also um I think somebody brought this up last time but we do also have an exception is when a specifically when it is specifically authorized under an IEP or a final 4 plan or a healthare plan that they can use the the the phones they can have them on because you know if it's specifically in their I or whatever and they can use them so um yeah we tried we tried to build in all the Practical
094stuff and all the all the real stuff that that you we have to consider and um you know I I think we and you know if you look at our acceptions under exceptions as well it says students may be permitted to access their phone during emergency situ to initiate communication with their parents or other family members such permission will be directed by the staff member in charge during an incident such an incident so it's still under under direction do also want to point out we've had a couple of I've had a couple of parents who question teacher use of cell phones and and I do want to point out um if if a teacher is using it for personal reasons that's unacceptable and we have had situations where that's been reported I'm taking a call
095to schedule my nail appointment or haircut that's unacceptable um we do have teachers also who will use their phone to text a special ed teacher because a child is is having some huge challenges and and it's that or call over the radio and say hey Rhonda needs help in my room well every school has a radio and does Rhonda's um confidentiality has just been breached so so teachers do use their phones to text their special educator to say hey can you come to my room Rhonda needs some additional support she's got some anxiety she's having some challenges right now um you know and and so so every teacher using a cell phone is not necessarily taking the the the hair appointment phone call um so that's the challenge is you know our radios are great
096everyone has a radio but because everyone has a radio if I were to call on something that's you know related to David everybody the building's going to hear about David's issue and so so the cell phone is is is something that teachers will use to communicate with with support staff of the administration so that we're not publicly shaming somebody who might need support and plus with life spot yeah yeah yeah LIF stop spot is y yeah so I think we have a lot of work to do but I'll I'll summarize this for the survey um for this week and make sure that it's in there with outline and then spefic specifically ask you know with this policy lunch yes or no I going outline the reason the rationale for for it and against it outline
097you know again and been I do lunch and passing periods lunch and passing period I think I mean I'm not a fan of this policy um not at all I understand there are distractions in the classroom like I said last time but to ban it during lunch and passing periods when instructional time is not happening I think is ridiculous yeah yeah passing periods are challenging from a standpoint of you got X number of minutes get from point A to point B um there there have been a couple of social media sites that have been created by students that that sometimes focus on posting unflattering pictures of students um and of course those are Anonymous social media sites but then you get kids who are you know in compromising positions between classes and and and they
098get posted on social media so um passing periods are challenging because they're so short so five minutes to get from point A to point B get to your luner get your things and get um lunch again there could there's Arguments for it I I will tell you when my children first got their flip bones uh years and years ago um I was one of those parents who went through and turned it off from the start of class period to the end of class period And I did have it on during passing periods um that was my compromise with my children was you know you're not using it during class I could see when calls or text messages were being initiated and when I saw wow there's an awful lot of text messages during class I
099shut them down I had the app to be able to say this phone does not work from this time to this time um of course that was before smartphones and LIF spot and all of these other tools but um anyways I think passing period so ask about passing period and lunch maybe a different question about each okay well and they been bullying incidents that have brought to my attention and I won't any specifics but you have kids who set the they set a hot spot on their phone they make their phone a hot spot and they use a name that is derogatory or picks on other kids and it's out there for everybody to see that's got their phone so I mean does that benefit outweigh the potential ramifications I don't know all right we'll
100get a survey out and then get those responses back to you and and one caveat too is you know we're going through all of this and and this is good but it's potentially the state could pass something that we don't you know remember we don't have to worry about it yeah yeah all right so any further discussion okay all right can I get a roll call did you read the whole motion I thought I did did she yeah okay John oh yes yeah director Callahan hi director Fletcher hi director Olen hi director po hior Waller hi and just to be clear to the public that does not mean this is passed it this means we've acknowledged that we've looked at it once um and and I and I want to thank the community because I
101think again we're stronger when we get feedback from everyone so thank you everyone who came tonight and shared their thoughts and ideas and I think adding it to the survey will give us a broader uh feedback and certainly be public with what those results are so okay next up uh board planning new business our next border meeting is going to be on March 24th 2025 it's going to be here in the district office at 6 PM did anybody else have any new business anything they want to bring up all right so with that I call this meeting adjourned at TR 7:28 7:28 p.m. one of these days for