ESD Board Meeting: Special Meeting for Monday, February 24, 2025

001e I don't my that all right okay it is Monday February 24th 20125 and I call this special meeting of the Elizabeth School District Board of Education to order at 6: pm. can I get a roll call please director Callahan here director Fletcher here director Olsen here director poell here and tror Waller's absent okay let stand for the pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America for it stands one under indivis libery and justice for all okay I move that the board approved the agenda for this February 24th special meeting as presented second so Mike you second or Mary one of us both both of us it's a race it's third okay any discussion all right can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Fletcher hi

002director Olen hi and director pal I okay I move that the board approved the minutes from the board meeting on February 10th 2025 as presented second any discussion on that all right can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Fletcher hi director olon I and director pal I okay motion approved uh next up we have our board member reports I will kick it off um so I attended the TAC um the teacher advisory Council committee and um we had a great uh discussion there was some great feedback on the cell phone policy which we'll be talking about tonight um it was good interacting with them and and getting some feedback I'm going to be at the Q&A at the high school later this week looking forward to that as well and of course

003we have our deck this Thursday evening one thing I wanted to bring up in Dan I pull in on this one is um there were some concerns about confidence itial um we approved the policy for the change to the policy for reporting to include and um law enforcement and there was concerns about law enforcement might not protect the confidentiality of the reporter the same way as if they reported it to the county so um Dan you talked about those concerns and yeah we we we have two options there's three ways that teachers can make that report one is obviously they can pick up and call um dispatch uh which allows a police officer then to be sent to to gain the information that does require that you provide your name and your position the other

004two are will not have to do that one is calling our school resource officer which is Officer Steven herbel with the Elizabeth Police Department he certainly um is able to take the information provide guidance as to whether police should should respond again we're really most concerned if the child's in imminent danger Because by the by the time DHS actually is able to get to the report it could be three or four days and so if there's imminent danger we'd like police to be able to obviously intervene we appropriate and the third option is that one of our security Specialists under um Tyler rabido leadership uh will make that report and and be the reporter that the school security specialist would gather the information from that staff member so there are two ways that teachers can

005fulfill that requirements without being you know the the reporter and I think that's the concern that surfaced is we want to maintain our relationship we are required by law to report if there's a a concern or a report of a of a child possibly being neglected or abused um but that teacher's got to maintain the relationship with the parent as does our counselors as does everyone so we really felt like in our procedures we provided two options where people could still report anonymously if you will um provide the detailed information and that the police could be notified without having to be have them be the reporter so so are we going to need to amend our policy a little bit I think the policy is still appropriate as is it's just again you're still required

006to ensure that that report's made and we've given two Pathways that prevent you from having to be the reporter I just wanted to alleviate those concerns yeah that people have over confidentiality so okay that's all I got I'll go um we didn't have a fact meeting because on Thursday we interviewed two new auditing firms um so those went well and we will need to to pick one I think we kind of discussed one that we prefer right and we'll bring that to you because obviously ultimately you're the one but we do have one that we we are going to recommend uh selection of we've talked with that firm to let them know that right now they're our finalist um and obviously we'll bring that to you at the meeting in March so that's all I

007got I have uh nothing significant I'm be at the Q&A with you um this week so great for that that's this Thursday morning y are you going um I was planning on it is okay to have three of us yeah yeah for q& a yeah it's already posted so I will be there too I know it's hard to believe but I actually don't anything to I probably okay you're up okay well a couple I I don't have a whole lot tonight um autoshop um just I think I shared last time but we continue to work on the inside of that building thanks to greenhouse builders um we are making significant progress um and it's still our fingers crossed that that it will be opened and accessible to students before the end of this school year

008obviously that's coming rather fast it's hard hard to believe that March is upon us um but we really appreciate greenhouse builders um last week I had a superintendent's for um and was probably my best attended Forum I Chrissy how was was present in the audience as well as uh um probably about 20 people I think were here we actually filled this room um and um we discussed a number of things um uh the majority of parents who were present were from our Middle School um and brought forward similar concerns that they did not come together but all of them shared similar concerns and we have and I've kept the board up to date on some of the responses that we've done to try to address some of those concerns that have existed um and today

009was our first day of implementing some new procedures and I will tell you it was amazing to see kids actually talking to each other instead of doing this um we have um at this point in time asked it cell phones not be um out at the middle school that they remain in backpacks and and obviously available students for emergencies but um uh we had no students who were late to class students got to class on time teachers began instruction right when the bell rang um teachers taught through the entire class period till the end um there was this fear over the weekend that we would not let children go to the bathroom except during their three minute um passing period And I think the confusion came from we did let students know that when teachers

010are teaching when you first walk into the room that is not the time to say can I go to the rest let the teacher provide that initial instruction when you get to that um ID do portion where they're working on practicing or they're working in a group on a a new skill they've learned that's when bathroom passes are available and obviously students need to be able to take care of their personal needs so we tried to clarify that over the weekend I think I provided the board all of the communication that went out and so um today was a very smooth day um at um the Middle School we're still working through with some parents who have still some questions and appreciate parents who are emailing us so that we can understand where there's still

011confusion and when there where there's some things we are looking at potentially expanding passing periods 3 minutes is pretty tight um uh it's not a huge campus but three minutes is pretty tight so even though we saw students make it today uh we still feel like that might be pushing our lock and so we may extend that to four minutes um no more than five minutes I think five minutes is more than adequate but um just defitely making sure that students have that time to catch their breath get their things out of the locker get to the next class and not feel rushed and so we're monitoring that pretty closely um again I can't thank the parents enough who came forward and and and attended the Forum I think we all left feeling like we

012knew what what we needed to do and hopefully parents feel like we've um responded and I've gotten several emails from some of those parents who were who were present that evening I just want to comment on that that that is so refreshing because it sounds like communication was direct and none of this craziness on social media complaints y so hallelujah thank you parents and please keep that up and I and I truly think parents came thinking well maybe my child's seen something different than others and I think as parents heard other parents share similar concerns to some degree it was reinforcing to them although not not great for us we obviously don't expect those things to be happening um but obviously we can't fix them unless people share their concerns and I just again can't

013thank them enough for doing so um I do want to let people know there were a couple people who didn't know about the Forum um I do announce them here um uh often and then I in my newsletters I try to give kind of a update of when the next one's coming I'll just share my next one is on Wednesday March 26th um and so that's the Wednesday after we come back from Spring Break and um look forward to inviting parents again at that point in time to share thoughts ideas concerns areas that we can maybe improve um so are those posted online too yeah there're um the superintendent's web page has all of the dates the ones that have passed are crossed through so they knew that when they happen but they're they're passed

014um and and the March 26 date is up there so yeah I want I appreciate you not just having the Forum and listening people but then doing something about it yeah that is it's huge and it it helps the parents know that they're we're not just in here just dictating things and not doing anything it's great exactly I mean I hope what people have learned about this board and myself is we're going to be transparent and when there's something we can do better and it's brought to our attention we're not going to let grass grow under our feet we're going to do something about it so app hopefully that that was what they saw um and then finally I'd like to share a quick video with you um this is one we're still still uh

015working on to uh get um ready but we do have a job fair go one more there it is right there yeah um so U we have a job fair coming up and this is a promo again there's um some things we're still working on whoops scho District because as AED for Elizabeth School District because as I love working for Elizabeth School District because as a teacher I'm given the freedom to decide what's best for my students I'm also given the support that I need to be successful in order to meet those needs of the students for other teachers who are looking to join the school district I will tell you this is a great place to teach the teachers are warm they have a friendly Community every student and teacher matters in this school

016district if you are looking to join the district uh especially coming from a maybe a larger District or maybe a more M focused districts where they may think you know we need to push agendas on the teachers and things like that what I've noticed is they really have left me alone to just teach what I need to teach I teach math every single day without having any outside influences or anything directing me to say this or do this because I want this to be done it's really been about what can we get to the children that's best for their their knowledge and their instruction I understand there are a lot of other school districts out there and the focus here at Elizabeth School District is not to push agendas not to make things something that

017they are not our Focus here is to meet the needs of the students educate them and get them ready for a career or postgraduation Readiness I feel like I'm a part of every single family here I feel like I'm a part of the staff they come in they check on you every single day somebody's going to check how are you doing today is everything okay and they're genuine about it it has really been so unique as to such what a small tight-knit community can do for your spirits as far as coming to school and having such a great support system because you know that everyone around you is willing to help out willing to go the extra mile and then because of that you develop such good friendships that go beyond just your work overall

018I love my job here because I'm given opportunities to grow and expand I've given opportunities to become better at what I do I'm also so treated as an equal out in the auto shop in the building at District events I'm treated as though I'm a big part of the community I love that we still have that those small town values we still have those things that make Elizabeth Elizabeth they just extended into the school [Music] so our JN fair is um Saturday March 8th um sorry you don't you don't need any more of that sorry um so um we're really excited about the um uh opportunity to recruit teachers and those three teachers were speaking from the heart they do feel like you know they're able to teach that's what they're here for and that's

019really our message is if you want to teach if you want to stay away from some of the craziness that happen in public education where the district for you and so we're excited we're excited about our job fair and look forward to welcoming people who might want to work in our community yeah so those were good representations last last update um just legal update um we do have I want to draw people's attention to the fact that on our website we do have a page where we're keeping people up to dat on uh matters involving this this lawsuit that we're involved in I appreciated the opportunity to be on k& us last week and and had an hour-long interview with with h the Jeff and Bill show um this coming Thursday pbs2 John Caldera is

020is welcoming us on his show to talk a little more about uh the situation that we're facing and what we're trying to deal with and so um again just appreciate the outpouring of support that we've had and and just for parents who want to know what's going on that website will be updated anytime there's a new filing we do speak through our filings we try not to talk outside of that um but what's in our filings is fact and so that's very hopefully helpful to the community to follow along so I think that's it thank you all right great um next up public comment anybody for public comment okay Chrissy Howell and I think the microphone is off yeah just gotta hold the button down okay there you go all right okay well good evening

021thank you guys all for being here thanks for letting me be here um we are very blessed to have a school board that takes Safety and Security seriously as well as respecting parental rights in our schools with the potential State Bill requiring school districts to have a cell phone policy in place I'm glad our district is reviewing the policy it has maintained since 2017 in today's uncertain World particularly after tragedies like Coline many parents take comfort and know that they can locate or contact their children with the touch of a button even during times of crisis when phone lines are overwhelmed texting is often a reliable way to reach someone for parents especially those who live through such events and are now sending their own children to school this ability offers peace of mind mind

022at the same time it's critical that children learn cell phone etiquette and responsibility which should absolutely be taught in school phones can be silenced and out of sight even on their person without any disruption in the classroom good classroom management led by engaging teaching practices can ensure that students are focused on learning and not distracted by their devices if a student is causing A disruption due to phone it should be treated as any other classroom disruption similar to how a workplace would handle personal distractions by sending an adult home students who continue to ignore classroom rules could be sent to the office and or lose Credit in class for that day confiscating personal property or requiring students to give up their phones infringes on a parent's right to know their child's whereabouts and ensure their

023safety it also sets the district up for potential responsibility if a phone is damaged or broken while in staff possession I hope the district continues to carefully balance classroom management safety and parental concerns in its approach to cell phone use in schools I'm leaving you today with a picture of plat Canyon High School student Emily Keys who is declared dead 2 hours after texting I love you guys to her father during the school shooting in Bailey Colorado s thank you okay next up we have discussion items and we have our curriculum director Chief academic officer Kim Moore here to give us some midyear data reviews just a second you met it's going to it's not going to wake up now giving it a workout thank you for driving tonight Jamie I appreciate problem just tell

024me when to proceed you may proceed so this is the middle of year data based on I ready assessments that were given after Christmas break um it was decided to do the middle of the Year assessments after Christmas because there was such a short time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas so we were worried that that wasn't enough time coming back from Thanksgiving and and before Christmas to be able to get kids back on track before giving the assessment so we'll consider that every year based on the calendar and where Thanksgiving falls so um just so you know um these are the I ready assessments are Criterion based and the color bands that you're going to look at is the dark green or at when kids are at Mid or above grade level um and then

025the lighter green is the early on grade level the yellow is on grade level below the light pink or the light red is two grade levels below and the the dark red is three grade levels or below and please keep in mind as we look at these These are expectations for the end of the year so so when you're looking at the colors and and where students are scoring it's based on where they should be at the end of the year so we're not expecting all of our students to be green now because it's not the end of the school year okay so the first slide set next slide there you go um just a just a quick question so before the end of the year or the at the end of the year you're

026going to come back and yes okay got yes we will assess um I believe it's the first week or so in May okay and then I'll be back to give you a whole breakdown of the entire School Year's data and where we're where we land the only thing we won't have is CS for so video will be all green by then yes that's that's the hope and the what we're all aiming for is all green um that's what we're all working hard for so um wanted to show you first off this slide here of how the placements have changed from last winter to this winter so you know 2223 school year to the 20 um I'm sorry they put 2223 but it should be 23 24 winter so last winter to this winter um so

027you can see where those scores are oh I'm sorry it does break it down 22 23 23 24 and 24 and 25 so if you look at those last three school years where kids have scored and this is on math so this is where our kids have scored over the past three years at this point of the school year so we're very similar to where we have been in the past questions so if I'm reading it right so so for this year um a little little bit lower on the dark green but a little bit higher on the light green right and then a little bit lower on the on the one grade L below and okay and then the two grades below went up a little bit a little bit there a little bit

028of shifting a little bit of Shifting back and forth but pretty consistent to where we've been over the past few years and we had a few less testing too yes we did have a large portion of students um now this is kindergarten through 8th grade so we did have a large portion of middle school kids that were sick during the assessment so um they did finish the assessment but they didn't show up in our middle of the Year benchmarks course so just so you're aware that you know the wonderful Flo going around after Christmas break questions on that one okay thank you so the next SL is still on math and how um for the winter placement how we scored based on the national Norm the national year-to date scores Colorado and then our district

029where we scored so the Norms um are based on nationally representative sample that reflects student populations um and then the national year to date is overall scores nationally then you have the Colorado scores so when it says District students assessed 1,42 so I know we've got about 2600 students overall about 700 of those are high school so they're not in here right that's still legac and neither is Legacy Legacy is not in here either so we have about we have about 2,000 students without Legacy okay all right so this is our our kindergart through 8th grade 300 or so were out and not included in these would wouldn't be 300 I don't think we had 300 students out those days no but the enrollment is lower than it had been so that's adjusted too we

030don't have Legacy in there and we only have kindergarten through 8th grade okay is do you know if Legacy is going to be providing any information Legacy does Maps testing so we can ask them to share that I think we haven't had Legacy come forward but I think it'd be good for us to schedule them to do I think we had talked about having them come and do their middle of the Year assessment review and also do it at Dak correct so you can see that our numbers are pretty solid in the in the greens for this year compared to other areas if you want to compare us to the state as we know that isn't always where we want to set our our bar we obviously want to be higher than that but it

031gives you an idea of where our students are achieving based on on National and state norms and then I did break it down by schools again this is still math if you want mind thank you very much so to date we have 43% of our students at Singing Hills that are scoring at or above grade level in the math assessments and the section down below you can see the different domains um that they've been um assessed in and where their strengths are and where some areas for opportunities for improvement um geometry is one area that that tends to be a struggle for a lot of elementary schools um it's usually something that's not taught until typically after Cass if you follow the curriculum scope and sequence but normally what you'll see is because we know

032it's assessed on cmass that schools will bring in some some of the geom omry and kind of flip-flop things around so it may be that our teachers just haven't taught that domain as of yet um and they will get to it before the Cass Assessments in April questions on Singing Hills is there anything to do about that I mean it's I remember when uh when we kind of went through this with last year I guess and we were kind of digging into the questions that were problematic and GE geometry just is always ugly but we we realized it was because you know they really hadn't been taught it yet so it's kind of like something is wacky we need to do something about that well typically what you'll do a school will take and they'll

033look at at what the problems were on the where they scored lower on cmass or any assessment and be able to kind of flip flop some units in the assess in the curriculum in order to make sure that you cover those or they hit see time so has that been just started to kind of work that out so that's it's not really reflecting yet right so they probably will get to it they haven't gotten to it in the first two weeks of January but they'll get to it before April to make sure that we cover it before SE so um another thing that we can do with I ready personalized learning platform is that we can have the set the system up so it teaches the students G uh geometry in their personalized learning platform

034so they get that that exposure to it and get some work on it before see us as well okay cool thank you yeah I guess I like I love geometry at this age I mean geometry is fun when you get to College geometry not but geometry here is is fun I mean it shapes it's I mean it's it's a lot I mean it can be pretty exciting house designs right yeah what what kid wouldn't want to learn stuff it just hadn't been taught by the time we took the middle of the Year assessment so by the end of the year we'll see those numbers grow okay so I mean given that our numbers reflect pretty much the same across the board for the last three years like I right I mean I guess there's it's

035probably safe to assume that it's probably the same I don't know just I think the kids if you if the teacher teaches it I think the kids would love to learn it CU it's fun that we used to do fun house design projects with area and and all kinds of design design planning with geometry so you're not making them solt triple integrals or anything so than goodness at running creek we're at 3 I'm sorry thank you running creek is at 34% um at or above grade level for math at this point of the I say at this point this was a month ago um so that is where they scored at the the beginning of when we returned from Christmas break and you can see the domain areas that maybe need a little Focus um

036numbers and operation would be an area that we probably will focus on a little closer at running creek to make sure those students have those skills solidly in place before moving into the next grade level a little bit well I guess it just depends on the domain area um comparing Singing Hills to running creek because geometry looks a little higher yes but numbers and operations look a little lower so yeah it's just hard to believe like kids are better at algebra than they are at geometry at that grade level well but remember what algebra is for an elementary school student four plus what equals 10 that's they consider that algebra because it's a missing element right right or 10 minus what is four that's that's algebra so but less fun than geometry exactly I think

037it's not as visual so maybe you should go help teach geometry I'm thinking that might be a good board interaction there don't you think yeah I would love to actually I can work that for you we can figure something out um questions on running creek okay we'll move on to the middle school so keep in mind for Elizabeth Middle School this is their first year implementing the I ready um classroom curriculum they are at 41% um at or above grade level at this point of the year and um I did sneak a little Peak at last year's scores and it is a little bit we're about 3 percentage points higher than we were at this point last year so we are seeing some some growth in those numbers so um but any time you change

038curriculum you need to kind of keep that in mind sometimes you see a little bit of a dip before we see things actually get into place and and our kids make great growth have we had any parent um um input on the new curriculum for this year in math because I know we had negative comment from the old one I have not heard any negative or positive comments about the math curriculum at the middle school system news is good news that I don't know Dan have you heard anything I have not no to say yeah okay so next is reading there we go so same slides as we saw on the math so this is winter to winter so we're looking at three years of data for reading and and this is remember kindergarten through

0398th grade so looking at very similar numbers as what we've seen in the past a slight decline in the yellows couple points here a couple points there any questions the next slide jimie you're doing a great job being there thank you um so the the next slide is for reading again it's um the placement based on um the district and compared to the National Norm the national year to date in Colorado so you can see where we are there and if you just look at the color blocks we definitely a little bit better in the green areas than the other um columns it's a lot of data to digest yes it is so I didn't want to overwhelm and put too many slides because then you don't have time to to look at them do

040you have any questions on that okay we'll move on to singing pills remember this is for reading so singing pills that um 62% at or above grade level at this point of the school year which is a 1% increase over last year this time you can see a lot of the things that that um I noticed down in the domains in the reading portion is the great growth that we've seen in our students in our pH phological awareness and our comments our students um our teachers and our intervention teach have been working really hard during the wind time so that intervention block that we put in have put into place and they've been working really hard to ensure that our students have really strong um basic reading skills so those scores um are really strong

041the area at the top for the PA that's grade out those students weren't assessed on it because their skill levels were so high they didn't need to be assessed in there so you can see we only have a tiny portion of students students that are still struggling um in the red area or in the yellow in phonological Awareness which I think and even our high frequency words were really strong questions so you said this was about three points higher than last this one's one point higher y one percentage Point higher than last year at this point of the school year right so um if we go to the running creek slide you'll see um 46% of our students are at or above grade level that's a 5% increase over last year at this point once

042again they've done a great job with um implementing wi time our intervention block we have um dedicated inter ventions at um running creek because they are a title one school but our teachers um at the grade level we have one teacher at each um grade level during the intervention time that's also teaching Spire which is our Intervention Program and so we're seeing a lot of great growth with our students with that program and you and the difference here is last year there was not a specific intervention time it was sort of hit mess is that the deal that is my understand that's that's a good good description yeah okay I think the intention was there but we it has been built into their master schedule and it is a dedicated time every grade level has

043a specific time um students are ability group if they need to be pulled out for um IEP minutes or if they need to be pulled out for inter reading interventions they get pulled out for that and then the remaining students that aren't pulled out for IEPs or interventions the in teachers or the remaining students are split amongst the teachers based on what their skill skill levels are and those teachers are teaching at that level so and building up those skills for those students so if you have a group of students that are above grade level they're getting extensions and if you have students that are still struggling and we don't have enough room in the intervention block then we have a teacher teaching Spire in the in the classroom to that small group doing it

044systemically and scheduling it as a school allows your staff to really be maximized oh yeah so if it's left to grade levels you may have two grade levels trying to do that at the same time and then you only have so many interventionists who can flood in and support So yeah so I think Kim's approached to scheduling that as part of the master schedule was really key to making sure every grade level had the maximum support I'm I'm thrilled with that because nothing should be hitting Miss well and I I think they had systems in place we made sure that it was consistent across the two buildings so good cool and then the last slide we have is elizth and they're at 48% at this time or at the I guess it was um beginning

045of January at the be um for the middle of the Year assessment so that's where we are at this point you can see the gray area on the on the bological awareness that's because we didn't have students being um scored or during that time but during we do have a few students that are still struggling with phonics so we have um we are working on a program for next year to be able to get a dedicated um reading interventionist at the middle school to be able to support those students that are still struggling Beyond those students that are on I so 6 69 students yeah so um what's the comparison to last year what's is it higher or lower actually about 3% say well I appreciate having this because it's it's critical to to to

046see our momentum and everything that we're implementing and how it how it improves things I mean we've got a ways to go but at least we're putting things in place and we're working on yeah imprs yeah our teachers have been um have embraced the changes and we're seeing some great um growth with our students they're working very hard and I think the hard work that that they're pouring into their students is paying off so that's appreciate um kudos to our teachers our interventionists and and our Administration that helps support that because it's it's not easy work so um you know we we know we have room for growth but you know we just set the bar high and and help our kids achieve so at the end of the year I'd be if you want

047to send me some notes as to exactly what you'd like to see at the end of the year for the breakdown and the assessments and the scores what not I'd be glad to make sure I bring that to you then so um if you want to give send me some details of of exactly what you're looking for I'll I'll make sure I work on that when do we have that data um probably the middle of May so we'll be assessing um I think it's the end of April and the first week of May and then I'll need a little bit of time to digest that and and maybe a first June meeting yeah and that'll be I ready assessments yes C it's so delay relased they're released at least to um my level at and

048the end of July but it's not released for consumption until usually August yeah so okay and they take those in April right yes start on the I believe the sth and go through pretty much the whole month with different schools doing it on different days trying not to with the system really so um we have a really strong dedicated group of school assessment coordinators that are working hard and and diligently right now creating groups and their systems for for all the assessments and all the accommodations so question than you for the 100 students that are two or more grade levels below like what what I mean if they go on to high school that's just they're just set up for failure so it's it it's great commercial for the work we're doing next year with

049direct explicit instruction with adding take flight for students who are dyslexic because we can't let students get there got to H that off and obviously next year we need to still have interventions at the middle school to prevent that from happening um with the goal being that no student leaves Elementary School without that proficiency moving forward but in the meantime we have kids who are there as pointing out that we still have to scaffold and support for yeah and keep in mind that does include um students that may have IEPs with reading goals so they may have a specific learning disability or some other disability that that um inhibits their ability to to be reading at grade level we still Provide support and try to help them achieve um but sometimes you're things getting in

050the way of that M so there's scores are included in there as well so and you're usually looking at about used to be 10% of the population but now it's probably closer to 15% of the so those is a quarter right of our population not an excuse yeah yeah an explanation yeah defin so for for those students who have an IEP that is is boing their their reading efforts um is there um other than just kind of probably being in the yellow and red ends of it is there a way to kind of keep them out of the general overall percentages so that it's um you know what I mean I mean it's like I think the average you know that's kind of I mean we we don't want to excuse um expectations I mean

051we don't want to lower expectations students with learning disabilities some of them with the right supports we've talked about dyslexia in particular dyslexia is a learning disability that student with dyslexia very well could learn to a greater degree with the right intervention and so that's why we're trying to add to our toolbox so that we can start intervening with students who who are current instruction isn't reaching um and so I think you know certainly we don't want to say just because you're an IP we don't expect you to learn to read oh no we just want to we want to make sure that they're achieving to the potential that we show that they have and obviously um I can't say that right now we're doing that with every student but we we need to continue

052to work on improving those services so I'm working on a plan for the schedule for next year for the Middle School in particular to make sure that we have an extra reading block for those students to get that intervention time so that we can hopefully fill in those gaps for that so they can be successful as well so will those gaps be addressed before they're moved on or like maybe that's a question ready that's our intention is is um starting next year we will we will have some some gates that students will need to demonstrate a level of proficiency for we want to make sure we have the tools in our toolbox to make sure that there's no excuse for that or that we've exhausted in all options and so I think right now we

053at the middle and high school in particular we still need to build intervention systems that hopefully won't be needed forever but will be needed because we have children who are there right now and and require that so if if children if children leave the elementary school with a more solid foundation no less than no no more than a year below grade level um you know if they're close to that then there's supports that can be built in to cause that student to close the gap um when their two grade levels are more below it you're you're dragging them along um and the key is will they ever close that G and so that's where we just have to we have to shift how we do business yeah so next year will be a a year

054of putting things into place like we've done at the elementary schools to be able to support those students that's good like it any other questions thank you K thank appreciate it okay so next up we are going to be going over our quarterly financials with Rebecca our CFO while Rebecca's getting settled this is our end of December financials um we we were finalizing the um audit um um which uh has been uploaded into the pipeline um and so Rebecca was able to get these finished for us so we can look at these next month we'll begin looking at budget to actuals through the end of the year um based on our revised budget in January and so hopefully at our March 10th meeting we'll have those numbers to be able to track March April May

055June um to make sure that we're on track with our budget so this is this is December 31st yes that's fun um so we will start on the general fund um the main things that I'd like to point out um kind of as Dan alluded to we we do have some tweaks from the very last little bit of the audit so a lot of those are footnoted you'll see um where our beginning of your balance um at the very bottom um on the 1 million 6610 for our year-to date actual that has been updated to reflect our audit so we were slightly off from what we put into the revised budget so revised budget was was $18 off so you'll see that those have been updated to be exactly what our financial statements are per

056the audit uh the other thing I'd like to kind of point out um clearly we are nowhere near halfway of what our revenues should be be um and so that is very largely in part because we as a school district we get a lot of our money from property taxes so those are very heavily weighted to the end of the year so we start getting those in March and March through June essentially we get more than 50% of our Revenue um so I know that um you guys have heard me talk about the interest free loan this year we did not not have to borrow until February and that was the only month that I anticipate we will have to borrow this year because we'll be getting our property tax payment starting in March so

057um I know there's a lot of misconceptions around the interest free loan um in the past we've had to borrow much sooner and much more money um the state has shifted their payment plan so it tries to help offset school districts so they frontload your Equalization payments from the state but because we are more than 50% of our state monies are through property taxes it's still skews it a little bit to where we still don't have we're still not at that 50% Mark at the December 31st um time frame so just kind of looking this over do you guys have any questions um it's also not that uncommon that we would be a little heavier on spending earlier in the year because we we try to spend on students while they're in our district and

058we do cut off spending um usually around spring break so they they try to spend this year's Budget on this current year students but before we move on any questions on general fund okay we'll move on to Food Service fund which um again you'll notice our fund balance B changed just a little bit by $2 um of what we started off with um our food service fund is in really good shape it has been ever since covid we actually had to do a bit of a spin down plan um but we still continue to have a decent carryover from year to year um and I don't foresee us having to contribute from the general fund unless healthy schools the healthy schol School meals has us back filling which we don't know yet there's they have

059a lot of commitment to try to keep that going um but it is a potential so you never you never know the state has a a big backlog in their budget that they've got to they've got to fix any questions on Food Service okay on to our grants fund so I did not bring a um grants fund budget up until the revised budget because we didn't know what we had been awarded so you'll notice the revised budget in the past on the first quarter we had a zero for all the budget but this is actually what we are anticipate receiving in Grants um and as with the grant fund it is required to zero out at the end of the year so we will not have any fund balance from year to year you cannot

060carry over a fund balance any questions okay pupil activity funds so this is our fund 23 which is basically our Athletics um so we do contribute from the general fund to the Athletics fund to cover coach Coach pay um and basically anything that we have to pay out that the a the athletic participation fee doesn't cover which is quite a bit um so basically this is just as lean as we can get our Athletics and activities fund um we do not anticipate a very high carryover at the end of the year but that's by Design we because if we did it would just be taking money from their from the general fund to to funnel it over there and the reason that this looks so negative for the year-to-date actuals is because the allocation will

061be done at at the end of the year any questions all right and then Student Activity fund so this one is more around Student Activities like field trips um fundraisers principles discretionary things like that that are non- taxpayer money um and so this particular one we do not allocate to they have to raise all of their own funds um and in here they have kind of had a a decent amount that they carry over from year to year so we did we have talked to some of the higher balanced balances groups um and requested that they they spend some of that down especially with the current budget situation trying to be very lean on our expenditures to utilize some of those fundraised monies this year so we do I I I'm hopeful that that is

062a success and that we can bring that 600 ,000 um up that I normally I normally do a wash of $600,000 in revenue and $600,000 in in expenses but I've bumped that up to $800,000 to hopefully spend down some of that fund balance there and those are funds that have been sitting there for quite a while some of them have we're trying to to say you know if you raise money spend it yeah really um instead of always looking for the general fund to to fund some of those activities and in reality I mean if you're fundraising for a purpose it should in theory be spent on the kids that you are fundraising for and so it really isn't appropriate for most things to really carry over a lot of that how many like departments

063or whatever is like each school just have so some of these things are anything from like different clubs it can be there's also so principal discretionary for each for each school but each school has its own set of clubs there's usually accounts in here for the book fair funds that they that they fund raise or if they do a fund run they'll have different pockets of money that kind of sit out there for different things that they fund raise so it can be anything from a overall school fundraiser down to this Lego Club it's almost like a a mini tracking for them because they don't have the resources to do their own booster club so how many of those make up this for me just a moment and I can let you know but I

064would if I had to guesstimate I would say it's probably a conglomeration of 50 to 60 different groups wow most of them are at the high school right but there are some at the elementary some at the middle school as well yeah they they're all over and there's a couple that are districtwide like we have our steam camp for GT has one so there's like certain districtwide things there's a variety of Elementary but I would say half of them are the high school with their various clubs and activities they got it do we subsidize the book no no it actually funding giving us fund raised dollars so any other questions around this fund all right capital reserve fund so this is one that you guys have heard us talk about because it was new um

065it was new last year but then we didn't really do anything other than put money to begin the fund we ended up doing the bus lease instead of purchasing buses so we didn't have any expenditures come out of here last year um we do we didn't move our roof reserves over there so that's different um and it's it makes our fun 10 fun balance a little cleaner um but we do have several expenditures that have come out of here already this year and this is kind of where all the big stuff happens so I know we've talked about a lot of these things already but the the water tower when we finish when we paid for that um but there's a there's the fuel system at Transportation there's several things Singing Hills well repairs yes

066so there's a lot of things that make up these bigger dollars in here here um but this is truly just for large equipment or construction type projects any questions around this one this one's pretty simple all right any questions overall no that's where is it is that part of the general fund so it is part of the general fund yes and they're kind of lumped in several different things in the general fund um they have two pockets of money so you'll see more information with the way I break down budget to actuals for our budget conversations this is more of a traditional financial statement where it breaks it out more by object as opposed to department but we'll go over in more detail the kind of Department level items and their budgets and then where

067they sit with those the way I break down budget versus Financial um but they have pockets of money they've got our budgeted money and then they get a a piece of the M that was passed in 2018 so they kind of have two major budgeting items to to fulfill that they can purchase from there's anything in particular you want to see I can just let me know and I'll get it for you all right thank you Rebecca appreciate it you have a good night okay so next up we have um discussion over our policy and regulation IH and IH a-r help and family life sex education so this this policy um we are bringing to you I think there's a few things I want to point out um to you in this policy first of

068all this District opted out of comprehensive sex education um which is an option that that um districts have um there is a comprehens of sex education curriculum um that the state encourages districts but it is not required and so this District long time ago long before me opted out of comprehensive sex education and any education that might be considered human growth and development is done in our health class program so we really focus on body systems how body systems interact yeah biology exactly so um so as you read this you'll see the district if we do it we have to do it this way and if not we don't and we cover it through obviously parents are always welcome to review any materials um uh that are used in health education and so um I

069would say in my time here we've never had a parent ask but it is available so any parent who would want to see um can we see the materials that you use in health um certainly they're available for inspection and the policy requires that we do so um there are some um comments we've looked at both class um Colorado leaders for academic success and casby um to look at any required uh revisions um to these policies and you'll see those we do have some options we can choose from um we have typically chosen um uh option two which you'll see in both policies where we do not require parents who want to opt out to give a reason they can just say I choose not to have much participate um and so that's been the

070option that we've uh selected in the past Jamie's provided you both in case you want to see what the other option is the other option requires a parent State specifically why they want their child Exempted and I think our focus on parental rights has been if a parent says no it's no and so um our suggestion would be that we stick with that um and so as we bring this policy back to you with any of the minor updates that casb or class is recommended that we stay with that with that portion on the r the regulation and and keep in mind you have policies and then you have regulations regulations typic or how you manage um the policy um again you'll see that that um we've chosen option to in the past and we

071would bring this back to you with that unless you direct us otherwise um and then class has added some additional language you'll see in green there um um uh if if a parent wanted to just exempt their child from specific portions of the curriculum they could so they may want their child to participate in all parts of the health education program but maybe the human growth and development section so they can be specific um we also have um looked at class recommends 10 days versus 7 days in advance that a parent would opt out um of any portion so it it it's providing the school a little more time to plan if a parent says I'd rather my child not participate um and that we would respond to the parent within 3 days versus two

072which was in the original draft policy um and then you'll see that there is a exemption form that class has included that we would probably include in our new regulation so really just looking to make sure what you're hearing tonight is how you'd like us to proceed and we will bring these back to you for first reading um with option two selected um the the class language um as a class member I think we'd adopt the class language and um uh and then bring these back to you at the next meeting for first reading so I'm a little confused on this because I kind of looked up the statutes and so you have Colorado revised Statute 22-1 d128 um which was revised by House Bill 1032 but we don't have to cover sexual and like

073sexuality sex ed um but if we do has to be comprehensive right right and we're choosing not to but this says sex education so my thoughts are yeah I I mean I do we want to clarify language so that it's very clear that that we've chosen to I we can certainly work on that possibility well there's the opt out but even if the parents opt out if if we if we venture into the if we venture into sex ed it's comprehensive if yeah if you even go there you yeah I mean our our approach has been body systems which we teach the respiratory system the circulatory system the reproductive system so that's how we've approached it I think traditionally in this District to stick to the system how the system works but um if you'd

074like us to we can certainly reach out to class and see if they can help us maybe work through that language so it's a little clearer that we choose not to yeah um do that they did not have IH on their in their policy list they just have the regulation yeah so we'll want to work so where did the green language come from the green Lang the regulation yeah they only have the regulation so I I agree I do think that we need to be very clear something to show that you know if we were to have it this is I mean we know that we have to show something that we this is what we would do but that there is the option that the school district has to opt out of it and

075we have chosen to do that the other thing about the options one and two I'm a little confused I mean I definitely agree that we want option two that the parents don't need to say why but the way this is worded um it doesn't really have language for option too it just sort of has a description to us that we can say we don't have to require so we I think we need to make that language be a statement that because even in class is um their regulation they they still have a reason which I was going to say that why would we ask a reason because they're assuming a reason on that that that's wrong yeah so that we were a little surprised but we wanted to bring you what they recommended so yeah

076I appreciate that but yeah I read that I'm like oh we said we didn't need a reason so now you're going to assume a reason and no yeah yeah so yeah so that whole exemption will be granted or if if the request is exemp from a specific portion of the health education curriculum no reason must be given I think really we can get rid of everything before if the request for exemption is right yeah and some of the stuff is kind of vague to me like it should inform students about potential physical and mental health hazards they're likely to encounter in various life situations and help them main maintain make make sound Intelligent Decisions when they are confronted with choices but that kind of seems like we're diving into parent territory there I mean I

077yeah a lot of this seems like we're you know kind of just the opposite of what we're kind of Bring It's there's there's and we were hoping that class would have an IHM and that they don't they're still working through I think I think this is one we'd probably want to reach out to them and and and say you know here's here's what we here's our our feedback is we don't do it we've chosen not to the policy doesn't really say that and how can we make this policy basically say that yeah so yeah I think I think we need to do that yeah so yeah okay so we'll work on that um I'll we'll try to share that in advance um with you so you can see what coaching and guidance we get from

078them and then obviously um when we bring it back to you if there's still feedback we'll take it and modify it further okay okay cool okay does anybody have anything else they want to add to that okay you H all my okay um so next up we have um policy and Regulation ebce and EB c-r school closings and cancellations so this policy um was definitely very outdated from how we've proceeded in the past it was truly left to the director of transportation to make that decision um and they would they would decide are we having school or not um obviously that's not been how we've done it I've taken personal responsibility to G gather input from my team from um Emergency Services Emergency Management um before we make a call on whether we have a

079snow day or not so in this case um we felt like we needed to update that um to make that very clear that it is not a director of Transportation making that decision but that it is myself obviously Consulting with appropriate personnel um and so you'll see the the recommended things the one thing I did catch which I didn't catch when we first did this is contact appropriate radio stations I'm I recommended we change radio stations to Media because we we do communicate with a variety of different media that then post um I will tell you that one of the things we've been told is that those media stations are going to start charging uh for us to post uh the software that we access to update our position um we've been told is potentially

080going start costing districts to buy to actually use um I will tell you very few of our families use that we communicate on our social media we communicate on our website we call text we do all of that and so if it came to that we probably would just cease um Kad does not post on any of the media stations all of theirs is done through Facebook so parents know check Facebook and it'll tell you if they're closed or not so yeah I don't know is the teenager awareness any here because my teenager just tells me immediately she knows I think before you do is she sending subliminal messages is that what you're saying yeah that's not in here on the top of our website too don't is a on top of there there is

081a section on the um policy itself about remote learning and while we have shifted to a potential of remote learning if we have additional snow days um it it does it does concern me um that this may be really not necessary in the policy we do have hotspots although we don't unlike with covid where we provided hotpots to children who didn't have internet at home um we don't know when school's going to be canceled so getting that out yeah really provides quite a quite a challenge um so I I'm thinking that one first red on the bottom section I think that first one should go um because obviously that's saying we're going to do that but we don't give those out permanently we loan them out can loan them out for a period of time

082but we don't know when there's going to be a snow day in advance so um so I'd like to work on that a little bit um uh to to make sure that that's there and then we may want to put some language in here about when remote learning will take place and what's required and there's a couple of things there that that still require you know how are we going to take a 10 if we did remote so there's a few more things we need to add in but we wanted you to see some of the changes we were going to be bringing to you um as part of this so any other questions on that obviously you we'll we'll try to make sure it's very clear what else we've changed when we bring this

083back for first reading I don't envy you having to make those decisions it is yeah I can always guarantee I'm going to disappoint somebody it's pretty sure so now I know won't be popular but you know it currently says that employees don't have to report um seems kind of dated with everything in the cloud now I mean it would be a great opportunity for like professional development day or um yeah yeah there was a segment um that says all staff members except for teachers have to come in when school's canceled because of weather so you're going to make directors you're going to make custodians you're going to make all of those people come in on a snow day when you're excusing half of your staff we've taken the position of when it's a snow day

084only a central person I'll come in essential Personnel or pay time and a half because everyone else is not here okay um and and so for saying it's unsafe to come into the building making anyone come in yeah really does make a a lot of sense but most people are lesson planning obviously now our secondary teachers will be doing remote learning um if we have any additional stud at this point okay so so do we have that kind of thing in in here or bottom of the of the policy um where it says during days of remote instruction teachers will take a attendance so we we now have a procedure that we can actually embed into this policy so we'll we'll work on that um to make sure that that reflects what our practice is

085now so students on a remote day will have specific hours available for certain subject Area Teachers we want to make sure that we don't have all teachers available during that one hour and I can't get to all of my teachers so we have an hour that Math teachers are available an hour that language arts teachers are available and then all teachers are available on that same Link at the end of the day should there be something I run into that's just confused me and I need some help before before I'm done my school workor for the day um and then obviously lessons will be posted on Google Classroom where students can begin accessing and then be able to also email teachers during the day but we felt like that uh asynchronous uh time or synchronous

086time when teachers are available to to work with kids really need to be scheduled so teachers across all subject areas would be available to all students that's a good idea so but just to clarify it's like right now there's remote instruction is just on a Case by case basis the elementary school if you haven't you have Elementary we still have plenty of days so we we we don't believe remote instruction is effective at the elementary level um at the secondary level level we believe that that teachers can provide students meaningful work that either can be with the with video instruction that they can record and and place in the Google Classroom uh or certainly work to practice skills that they're solidifying so that that's really going to be the focus on those days and God

087will it more it I think it would be wise for us to put in policy um we do have one option this year and and that is that we changed our calendar next next year to add four days at the end of the last week of school we only have three this year um uh we we're going to talk with principes last Thursday and we ended up canceling our leadership meeting um so we could address some of the concerns at the middle school um there is a desire for the high school to have four days because that's how many days it takes for them to complete their finals at the end of the year um we could if there is a snow day cancel school tell employees they're off and have them work work on

088that Thursday of the week before Memorial Day um and then that way there would be the 4- day week for for high schools to actually have finals and it would give us one more non- remote day so that was something we had hoped to bring to you tonight but because we didn't have our principal meeting we'll probably bring it to you March 10th if that's something we choose to move forward with that would give us one more snow day for secondary students so right now there's no major storms in the in the forecast so really quick we'll work on these and get them to year again so you can look at them in advance okay so next up we have policy jcj student use of cell phones and other personal technology devices so you have

089two policies attached one is the first one is our current policy as it has existed um our current policy says um it is based on teacher discretion basically that you know students can use it when teachers um when teachers give them direction to do so um again we do have many many classrooms where it's handled very differently we have some schools with pockets where kids put their phone in the pocket we have some schools where kids put the calculator in the pocket because it looks like a phone and they keep their phone um but um we really are inconsistent right now on how it's being applied and and that in and of itself itself could be a fixes let's be consistent um Tac brought forward to um uh District administration and board members um in

090November that they really would like the board to consider a stricter personal device policy and it's I say personal device because we even have Elementary children whose watches are phones and parents are calling their children during the school day on their watch um which is again a distraction that occurs in the classroom so um this policy the second policy you see is one that Sterling um uh School District it's actually I think it's our Valley School District re1 or something but it's the town of Sterling their school district has put into place a a more significant policy outlining kind of expectations um and this is a policy that they brought and Rhonda was your representative at the TAC meeting this is a policy they really wanted the board to consider consider obviously with some changes

091they really would like to not have it be teacher discretion they really would like it to be everybody will do X whatever X is um they feel like when you throw in teacher discretion you create that confusion where some kids think oh I can bring my phone because Miss olon lets me but better not let Miss Powell see she'll get all over me think it's so so their recommendation is take out and I think there's one reference where it says unless directed by the teacher they really believe that phones we're not saying phones can't be brought I think to to to to our to our public comment um phones phones are a valuable tool in a crisis and we want to make sure that students have access to that um if we're in a lockdown

092if students need to you know again the story of MLA Keys is very heartbreaking to know that that father will treasure that last text message that their daughter sent them it's not something we want to worry about but it is it is something we should think about um so so I think our thought is students need to be able to have them in their backpacks that way after school they can access them they can stay in touch in a in a crisis in an emergency they'd be able to to access the phone um and that would be the only time that a teacher would direct is you know you may take out your phone um and let your parent know you're okay or whatever the case may be so that's this is a policy they

093like us to build off of we wanted to bring it to you we've made no changes from uh Sterling's policy um but did did feel like this would be the policy we'd bring back to you and make a few of those edits but also wanted you to have some time to look to see if there was any other edits you'd like to to provide does outline violations it does outline what happens which they also felt was very clear that parents needed to be able to to know you know if if if a phone is taken what what happens first second third fourth um the uh part where it's confiscated and stored have you all thought about the mechanics of that um yeah obviously we prefer that not have to happen because at the minute you

094do take a phone you're responsible for it and so um it is it is something right now our Middle School is addressing that that any phone that is out right now at the middle school based upon their new policies implemented as of today is is taken parents are called and parents are asked to come pick it up um so it's not returned to the student and actually will be return to the parent um and so that's how the middle school is choosing to to operate now um I think we're going to to think about what do we do in the case that confiscated this this violation thing has kind of got a stage thing so the first offense they get a verbal warning take take it off um you know turn it off and put

095it like in their backpack just put it away so they it's not taken from them second time it was taken and stored in the main office and behavior referral and then the third one you know then the parents get called and all that stuff um so I I I kind of like that progression because the first time it's like oh okay got caught put it away and hopefully that will take care of the majority of them um but you know just what you were talking about just today at the middle school the kids had had to put them away and they were communicating with each other and they were we had had no phone issues today not one student had their phone out not one student day and there was that much effect that is

096incredible it's actually Pleasant to see children talking to each other the art of conversation what a concept I yeah actually really I mean I've been in our schools at lunch where children are this and they've got a whole table full of peers and they're like this and so the ability now for children to actually talk it was re refreshing today actually see children engag in conversations amazing I've seen articles about that I mean there articles about how much healthier the atmosphere really is when when the kids are you know not doing that the one thing that I was so on prohibited uses in paragraph one versus paragraph two so the school day means hours between the starting and ending time of the school and then but then in both paragraphs one and two then it

097also talks about kind of school bus time actually and they're a little bit diverse from each other so I think we need to tighten those two I spoke with our director Transportation who I've asked to do some consideration talk to drivers there is there is value of that phone during the school bus ride some of our bus rides are pretty long and children do entertain themselves with that phone they can communicate with their parents they can let their parents know where they are where they're you know I'm about five minutes behind whatever um so the transportation department was going to let me know when I had my one-onone with them today if they their first reaction was we're okay with phones on the school bus that after they leave the school building they could take

098those out um but I did say you know think about it talk about it with your team and then be prepared to share more of what your thinking is um because I I I I think that there is value in the Fone on the school bus still the the issue of filming you know in appropriate things those are those are not okay but most children aren't so that that would be my only that would be my only concern is is the is the phone to bully right yeah right um yeah but so some things though we've only known because kids were able to film right true true one film one kid is filming you know another kid beating up yeah yeah unfortunately yeah but means you're probably participating in it but um I don't I

099didn't know under prohibited uses do we even need paragraph 2 I my thoughts were paragraph one and and basically you don't use the device um I I think paragraph one doesn't have to stay pre prek I think it could just be students are prohibited and and and two could be godone and I like the idea of it it being the school day MH because again passing periods you know you can have kids interacting with each other instead they're going to be sitting there going all right can't wait till this class is out and they're going to be distracted I got to get out in the hallway and use my phone the number of students who are late to class because they get distracted by the phone is is probably one of the things I've heard

100most from teachers is is you know at the high school you do have five minutes to change classes but it doesn't give you a whole lot of time um to get from down especially if you're on one side of the building going to the other so um I think tax recommendation would be to eliminate that first paragraph on the back of page or on the top of page two um just so that they're out they're they're in backpacks they're secured during the school day and then after school they have access to them so so the difference between one and two secondary so you're saying not I don't think not allowing passing like I just scratched out two Al together I don't think we need it I just make make one all students yeah are prohibited

101from using ptds on school or District premises do we want to premises and premises okay so football games yeah and I guess that's something we also need to talk about is if you do that then are you policing the stands um it's after school hours it is a school event um kids come to a play they want to film they want to take pictures of the play and that may that may so really I I'm thinking school day is our focus is beginning to end of school day I think when we start trying to say they can't be on premises for football Gam games basketball games that's going to be a police nightmare that I don't think we should go there because I think there's valid use certainly kids are dropped off to watch the

102game they need to call their parent let them know hey we're at the half probably another hour I mean those are things I think we would be think we'd be going a little overboard can I jump in yeah um I don't like the policy at all um it's our job as a school district um to get these students ready for after school and I guarantee you every single one of you uses your cell phone in your daily life in your career never nope I can't I work in a classified environment I can't well most people do with exceptions of military you do Dan does I know I do I mean I couldn't I couldn't operate my business without it um so technolog is here it's only going to continue and I think we need to

103embrace that as a school district we have been a strong board for parents rights and parents own these phones and if they want their student to have them then I think we let the parents make that determination um I let my children have phones who I think are responsible enough and the ones they're young I don't let them have them and I think that should be a parent choice but what happens when they become become a distraction in the class then we we handle it like any other distraction in the class I I've had kids in the school district for a long time and teachers have habit very bad habit of punishing the entire class for the behavior of some of the students and that is wrong and if a kid is being disrupted with

104a cell phone then that kid needs to be punished and when that kid's punished enough that behavior will stop and the distractions gone but one of my concerns is if you have you know Johnny over here he's doing it he gets punished okay class we're paying attention again okay next next Susie does it and that's another distraction and it's just in my opinion if they they have it on them they have it on them it's in their backpack it's off or it's muted and it's it's there and available for them to use in the case of an emergency but again we have armed security now in every school we have an office and we have teachers with phones with LIF spot and you know my opinion and I respect your opinion but my opinion is

105mental health of students has declined since phones have been predominant and um it's affected again mental health it's affected academics we can see our our scores our are not good and and and the state's probably going to pass something anyway they're going to force a force something to be passed so um I I think it's reasonable to say when you're in the classroom it's off and that way we know that they're paying attention and they're not going to cause some distraction I I I agree I I mean I understand your point but you know we we the students don't have to learn how to use their cell phone unfortunately and so it's not like if we just tell them you can't use it during this time frame they're not going to know how to use

106it in the business world I mean you to your point you know you have to have it because that's part of your business but their business is to pay attention to class and to teachers and to not be distracted by this and you know getting a text and I can't believe a parent is calling a kid during a class but whatever um and it just and I know you don't do that but um you know there are I I think it's important to to have the the cell phones off during class time and I I like that you know on the bus it's probably going to be a good thing to have it and you know and but it's not going to keep them from knowing how to use it it's just controlling their use

107during time when they should be focused on on learning and I I do think it's a huge distraction and just you know like you were talking about the kids are actually talking to each other instead of playing a game or texting somebody or whatever um and just you know actually hopefully having real human interaction instead through a device you can sit next to somebody and be texting them yeah yeah did you see so I I I like the policy and I I mean it definitely needs some tweaks here but I I really like this idea and I do think I mean just you know even in uh Colorado now we can't drive can't you know has be handsfree and all that stuff and I think there's stricter requirements for kids I'm not really sure what

108they are but drivers you know driving so um it's not like it's kind of foreign to control the use of the cell phones I think so I think it's going to upset a lot of parents probably but when I think it's I we stood for we ran on parental rights so we ran on academics too um and you know their right is if they want to send their kid to school with a phone it's just when they're in school except for in an event then they're paying attention to the academics and the phone is there the parents want the comfort of having it there um I don't want to get in the I don't want to get in the habit of being the phone police as far as um you know you have to check

109in the phone every you know on so many consequences okay we got to work with your parents to check in the phone and check the phone back out um there I think there do need to be consequences if there are repeated violations um if we have students who repeatedly refuse to follow the rules then how do we deal with that do we say you can't just keep saying bad bad bad and and not have any consequences and I think it's interesting that the teachers are the ones who asked for this and it's obviously a problem yeah um now as far as the um confiscation goes there has to be there has to be some consequence so it could be voluntarily turn it in to the office or um just don't bring it at all yeah

110I think like I said I think um finding finding the middle ground finding what what you all can agree on and that you feel like is in the best Direction it's going to be interesting to see um you know how this goes at the middle school right now since they have kind of implemented this for now the head of this policy but because these parents came in and you know mentioned how how distracting it is and how their kids I mean it just disrupts everything kids aren't getting into class in time they don't settle down right away um it'll be interesting to see how this goes you know today was great um and I'm sure it'll you know need some tweaking as we go and and uh but it'll be I think this is a

111kind of a good experiment in a way and I will say this um Mike one of the things that did come up was there were a couple of parents who shared that teachers received phone calls during the day and answered their phone and so this policy that we've done at the middle school is everyone and we've made it very clear that teachers your phone is off and in your drawer obviously accessible to you in an emergency but um I mean that was that was a concern the parents expressed at at the Forum was was I'm hearing that my son's teacher Tak in a personal call during the day on their cell phones and so we're not modeling I mean that's really poor we need you have that happening and so we needless to say that's

112the same expectations for kids as the same expectations for staff and maybe that needs to be put in here I mean it's called student use but maybe we need to say use of cell phones and have a have a teacher me I think we we can certainly look at this and and try to to find that sweet spot that that you know we can find that that dire ction that you want to give but like I said I think our intent tonight was to at least bring you what staff had asked you to build off of and obviously it's your your policy is yours so it's not up to us it's up to up to you as a board to make that decision well and I just want something that's that's feasible I mean I

113don't want to put extra burden on staff to have to bit cell phones y so but this came from them so we know their we know their input at this point so I guess what I'd love is is specific feedback from each of you that we can include let's see if we can't come back with something that maybe is maybe maybe finds that right spot um and certainly you know don't hesitate if if you can send Jamie and I you know this is this is where I'm comfortable this is where I'm not and let's see if we can't find a policy that ultimately has has appropriate restrictions but maybe finds that right spot so I'm certainly hearing you might kind understand your point of view I mean even with with the teachers yeah I don't

114think they should be taking personal calls but I don't think they should have their phone off and in their drawer because they may have a student in another District that's calling them with an emergency and they need to answer it I mean that that's going to happen so I get it out of sight but yeah they may need to respond to that and get that call right and they have to isn't the LIF spot thing on their phone yeah so they'll need to have it on and absolutely accessible in case they need to do something because life spot really becomes ineffective without you got to be able to hear and can we utilize utilize the office as more I mean if there's an issue a parent needs to reach a child back in the old

115days you would call the office and they would go get them from the classroom yeah I I think you know unfortunately I think sometimes that phone brings so much it doesn't get answered and so I think we've gotten used to I can call that person directly and so it's we've changed our culture and that used to be call the main office and they get the message to and um I can tell you there's times that I call and it rings and rings and rings and Rings because they're running in plent Direction transfer it to a cell yeah they're walking around yeah anyways all right well obviously there'll be some good discussions that will come out of whatever we bring forward and we'll try to find some middle ground that can satisfy everyone okay okay so

116next up we have policy gbgh certified sick Le bank and gu we can do them both yeah they're kind of combin policy g d gdca so many acronyms too late in the day um classified SI B so so these policies I'm bringing to you for two reasons first is um Rhonda at our first haac meeting heard our Tac reviewing a sickly request a sickly Bank request um these actually come to you you have you are the final decision maker on are we granting sickly Bank typically the board has supported the TAC and the CAC the TAC is the teacher advisory Council they manage the certified sick leave Bank um the CAC manages the classified sick leave Bank the second policy um administrators actually fall on both so for an administrator who has a license like

117I have a superintendent's license if I contribute I contribute to the certified cly bank if you're an administ Ator like Jamie that maybe doesn't have to have a license by CDE but she's in an administrative role she would pull from the classified C Bank the policies are not exactly the same um and one of the things that I'm concerned about and and I'd like to modify so I'm bringing this to you verbally and then obviously we'll we'll work with those two groups on their policies I really would like um us to consider existing leave now for teachers that's discretionary leave and the policy clearly states you have to use all but two of your discretionary days and the reason it allows you to access a sickly bank is if you are truly sick discretionary days

118also cover the personal family events my child's graduating at the end of the year I want to be able to go to their graduation if I exhaust all of my discretionary leave graduation is not a sickly Bank reason to access so so the policies have been written to say that you exhaust all of your leave except two days and at that point you can if you're sick if you you're out for two weeks because you're in the hospital you can access a sick leave Bank while keeping two of your personal days for those special events mom's turning a 100 I want to be at a birthday party those types of things what it doesn't take into account is is 12-month employees who have vacation and so for a 12-month employee to access sick leave bank

119they can have 30 days vacation banked but they can then go and tap the sickly bank and that's something I'm struggling with because typically if you have 30 days vacation you really should use some of that now do you use all of it you know what what's the right number of days to allow you to preserve a vacation time when you're that deathly sick that you need to to be out of work and so um we had a request come that actually was approved by Tac U from an administrator who actually still had vacation days now just because they approved it doesn't mean you have to um and one of the other things that we're going to work on is making sure that the full sick leave Bank request comes to you so that you

120can see the details in that in the past years ago that used to happen you used to get to see the full sickly Bank here's John Smith you know I I've been diagnosed with this I'm in the hospital I've used all but two of my days and I'm asking for five days out of six bank for whatever reason that's shifted from we don't tell Tac those details and we don't tell you the details we say do they meet the criteria sure let's give them the sickly bank and frankly that's something I'm struggling with I really think you as a board are confidential you're not going to share oh so and so has cancer or so and so you're gonna but but I think the details are important as to whether we should approve or not

121approve um and so I'd like to modify these policies to take it into account vacation time again I don't think it has to be exhaust all of your vacation but it certainly you shouldn't keep 30 days in your bank for vacation and then ask for 10 days of sick leave time out of the sick leave Bank our sick leave banks are very healthy but my fear is we can drain them down pretty quickly if we don't hold people to certain expectations so um in the past I don't think administrators uh I don't think we've thought about that I don't think we've had a request from from administrators in the recent past this one just made me think o something's got to change here because not not that the person wasn't sick but but is it

122time to access a sickly Bank when you have teachers who have 10 days and if they ended up in the hospital if they ended up in an accident we have a teacher um right now that's been involved in a very serious auto accident has not been able to return she's tapped and maxed out the sickly bank and now she's being docked and it's completely out of her she's a great teacher but can't come back and and and she can't access any more the sickly bank because she's maxed out but then we have someone who's accessing the sickly Bank who has vacation time so does that make sense okay so I'm gonna try to align these two work with Tac and CAC before the March 10th meeting and then bring you back a draft that will

123outline checking days and then making sure that you get the full request the full detail of why the person's asking for days is that Tac and CAC also see that full detail again they're theyed on a confidentiality agreement as well but I think that's important that that people see the details before they say yes or no I'm giving I definitely think so too I mean we've had a couple of them that we've looked at and I'm kind of like yeah I guess yeah well and again you don't have the details so what else can you say but I guess it's okay yeah um I mean we we the sickly bank is a great benefit and not everyone's a member of the sickly bank so there are people people who have chosen not to and then

124they get deathly death deathly ill and can't can't access and they end up being docked I mean it's really a benefit that's crazy for someone not to give a day when you first join the district so that you have that insurance policy but there are people who don't so so that's how it works they have to agree that they have to op in so when you first get employed by the district you get a form to opt in okay um I'm not sure we've done the greatest job of explaining to people what that is how benefit beneficial that is more often than not someone says I've got 10 I've only got 10 days I don't want to give up one well yeah but you know when you're on maternity leave or and you've no longer

125getting paid there are many people who this year think that Family Medical Leave Act is paid that if I'm out sick and I take FMLA that I get paid through that you don't you only get paid for the period of time that you have sick leave to to pay you and then your job's preserved until you come back but but you don't have pay you don't get paid so any all right so I'll align these and bring them back to you but I wanted to at least explain publicly what what I was thinking and where I was going and making sure you're okay with that so do the teachers have any kind of I know federal workers have a procedure where somebody will get deathly ill and they're and they just kind of you know

126it's proverbial P they had around the office would anybody be want to donate days we don't because of the sickly Bank um what what what has been a concern in the past not only in this District but in others is that then people get pressured you know how can you say no to your colleague who has cancer and you've got your days but I also know that I'm going to be expecting and I want to have my days to help me get through my maternity leave but how can I say no to poor Rhonda who's who's who doesn't have days well we have sick leave bank and so we we've chosen sick leave Bank over that so that people don't get pressured into again I you know you have a parent who's who's in hospice

127you want to be able to use it but you gave your days to your colleague who also had that happen now you don't have them and no one will give them to you so we really felt like sickly Bank prevented the need for that yeah you give up one day and you can get up to 60 days of paid leave from the sickly bank if it's a qualifying condition so felt like that was better okay all right okay so with that next up we have board planning new business our next board meeting is going to be March 10 2025 here in the district office um next up on our agenda we have executive session so I move that the board go into executive session under Colorado revised statute 24- 6- 424a purchase acquisition lease transfer

128or sale of any real personal or other property in regards to the 25 Acre Site at the Independence development and a possible lease of that land to Independence Classical Academy also Colorado revised statute 24-6-12 4 e determination of positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations development of strategy for negotiations and instruction of negotiators for the contract with Independence Classical Academy and Colorado revised Statute 24-6 424b conferences with an attorney for the purpose of receiving legal advice on specific legal questions on the two topics listed did I miss anything no you sure got it all covered all right second okay Mary second call roll call roll call director Callahan hi director Fletcher hi director Olen hi director pal I and we will not there's not any decisions that will I'll ask you to

129make in this executive session just for the audience so that we'll come back and gav the meeting closed in here but there won't be any motions brought to the floor after this session based on your discussions it'll be the next it'll be the next meeting if there are any any decisions that need to be made I people are going to stay to the end yeah y if you want to stay till the end in that happen and I want all of you to read e e e okay it is 8:45 p.m. and I adjourn this [Laughter] meeting for