Eagle County School District Board of Education meeting 9/24/25

001evening and welcome to the Eagle County School District Board of Education meeting September 24th, 2025. Please join us for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> Thank you very much. And thank you to the new teachers that um came to our work session this afternoon to talk about their experience about being recently hired uh with the district and to the principles of Berry Creek Middle School and Eagle Valley Middle School and Gypsum Creek Middle School and World Academy. um those [clears throat] principles for sharing what's going on with their schools. Very exciting. All right, we're going to start the regular session portion

002of the meeting tonight with approval of the consent agenda. These are items of a more routine nature. On the consent agenda this evening are approval of the meeting minutes from September 10th, approval of the personnel list, approval of the DAC membership list. I'm not I'm not I'm not on that right. Yeah. [snorts] And uh approval of monitoring report GP4E board selfassessment. Uh any item might may be removed and considered separately. Otherwise, this is an action item. >> I move to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Thank you, Kelly. Thank you, Juan. >> Natalia. >> Miss Alter. >> I, >> Miss Conlin, >> I, >> Miss Hovie, >> I, >> Mr. McQueeny, >> I, >> Mr. Pena, >> I, >> Mr. Reynolds, >> I, >> Missunas, >> I, >> Super. Thanks. Motion passes 70. Uh,

003next on the agenda, we have our reports. Starting with the report of the superintendent. >> Thanks, Mr. President. I'd like to start first by acknowledging that we've got some visitors here tonight. Often we present to an empty room. So, happy to see uh community involvement and public participation. Tonight, we've got a few cards that we've collected. If anybody's in the room who would like to address the board during public participation, you need to complete a blue card. They were located on the table outside. So, I'll give you a couple of minutes here while we're making our reports to uh draft your blue card and uh and bring them up here uh to somebody on the board. Um many of uh of you who are here, I know I've met over the years. Uh, I suspect

004a few of you are here to express concerns over comments made by one of our teachers in the aftermath of the assassination of of Charlie Kirk. Know that the district doesn't condone, excuse, or marginalize those comments. U, they were unacceptable. They were inappropriate, unprofessional, and we have taken action to address it. And I suspect that you want to know how that situation was handled. I appreciate that, but I have to balance your desire to know with laws that require matters of employee discipline to be kept confidential. That said, I can provide an explanation of how our policies and state law guide employee discipline. When accusations of unprofessional behavior occur, the employee is put on administrative leave while an investigation is conducted. The findings of the investigation determine the next steps and consequences which exist on

005a continuum from least to most serious consequence. It starts with a verbal warning and then progresses to a written warning. The next step would be a formal letter of reprimand placed in an HR file. Next would be uh a leave and then a suspension without pay and finally termination. That process is outlined in writing in our collaborative bargaining agreement article 20 posted on our website if you'd like to see it. Uh it also aligns with [clears throat] state law uh around uh teacher employment compensation and discipline uh which is referred to often as TEDA because we like to use acronyms in education. >> [snorts] >> I know that some of you will not be satisfied unless the employee is fired or resigns. However, state law, specifically TEDA, defines actions that can result in termination after

006a single incident. They include crimes that if the employee is convicted, pleads no contest to, or receives a deferred sentence for the violation, they can be sumearily terminated. Those crimes include things like illegal sale of a controlled substance, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, unlawful sexual conduct, or assaulting a child. That is not what we are dealing with. Inappropriate, unacceptable, and unprofessional, absolutely, but not illegal. I want to be unequivocal in saying there's no place in our classrooms for divisive or disrespectful communication. And I want to assure you that we take this matter very seriously. The teacher acknowledges the mistake, understands the damage it has caused, and has expressed regret, and is present at tonight's meeting. We are an organization built to promote learning and growth, and that applies to students as well as

007staff. I believe a lesson was learned from this episode, and the employee knows that it cannot and will not happen again. I'd like to end by reflecting I'd like to end on this topic by reflecting on comments that were sent out today by Chris Romer, executive director of the Vville Valley Partnership as part of his regular message. Uh his essay was titled choosing civility in divided times and I'll quote him that practice civic dialogue by entering conversations to listen, understand, and seek solutions not just to score points. And I'll say that as I drive to these meetings, I always pass the Eagle Baptist Church coming down Highway 6 from Eagle to Gypsum. And I always read their sign because it's usually clever and inspirational. And as I, you know, the signs I'm talking about as

008I drove past the church today, the sign said, "Forgiveness, forgiveness is God's grace in action." So, thank you for being here tonight. We look forward to hearing your comments. And that was an impromptu addition to my presentation. So, I'm going to jump back into to my uh original presentation. So, Natalyia, if you could go to the next slide, please. We've got quite a few celebrations that that I think the board needs to be aware of. Uh this week, I'll begin uh celebrating school performance frameworks with those schools that had exemplary performance. And when I say celebrating, I mean, uh I'm going to meet them for Friday afternoon club. Take them out and uh and celebrate with them wherever they want to meet and tabs on me. So they've worked really hard to make the growth

009uh and they need to be recognized for that and have a little time to cut loose. So those schools include Eagle Valley Elementary School, Eagle Valley Middle School, Homestake Peak School, and Red Hill Elementary School. Those four had the highest uh school ratings since COVID. So I want to congratulate them for that. Good work. [applause] We have three three more schools that reached the 5% growth target that that I established for them. That would be Brush Creek Elementary, Eagle County Charter Academy, and VSSSA. So, I'm taking seven seven different schools out for for beers, and I'm excited about it, and they they deserve it. So, uh looking forward to that. Also wanted to recognize Eagle Valley High School is a national high school of distinction, recently honored by Project Lead the Way. uh this is

010an organization where we get training in curriculum based on on science and their particular programming that is a is raised them to this level of distinction is their biomed program. It's a very rare opportunity in high schools to have that level of curriculum. Uh they're doing that in association with Colorado Mountain College where kids are earning college credit and career ready skills to jump right into to well-paying jobs in the medical field. So, congratulations to Eagle Valley High School for that distinction. And finally, we did have a surprise visit from Governor Polus last week. Uh stopped by Gypsson Creek Middle School and wanted to celebrate the construction of the new Gypsum uh early learning center that's right across the street from GCMS as well as acknowledge our efforts on the affordable housing uh development. That

011will be 40 units of rentals there and 10 units of for purchase housing with our partnership with Habitat for Humanity. So, uh, those are, uh, big accomplishments for this district, big accomplishments for this community, and, uh, he was wanting to stop by and recognize us for that work. So, thank you to the governor for stopping by. All right, now to some dry updates. Let's start with the Colorado economic update. It's important for us to follow this information because it has a significant impact on our finances in the coming year. Uh so the office of state planning and budget presented to the joint budget committee last week at the state capital. The economists in that meeting are warning of economic uncertainty driven largely by unpredictability uh based on on tariffs and consumer spending and a weakening

012labor market. They are predicting that economic growth will continue but will slow down. uh they are concerned that Medicaid will become the largest expenditure in the state budget uh overtaking K12 education. Uh so where that money comes from is to be determined. The inflation rate in Colorado is at 2.1% which is lower than the national average of 2.9%. So in that regard we're we're looking pretty good. Uh they do expect Taber refunds to happen this year. uh but they will not happen the year after that as the state budget continues to get tighter. In the special session that met about a month ago, uh they did cut $750 million out of the budget uh to get us into the black, which is a state requirement. We have to have a balanced budget every year. But

013uh since that uh session ended, we have now grown that deficit by $37 million. So that's going to have to be solved in the legislative session when they come back in January. That's for the current fiscal year. For the next fiscal year, they're already anticipating a $750 million budget deficit that they do not have any idea how they're going to resolve. So we got to keep a close eye on that, see how that's going to impact um K12. Uh we will know more about what the budget's going to look like next year on November 1st. That's when we anticipate seeing the governor's budget proposal for uh the upcoming legislative session, which will start in January. So, we need to keep a close eye on his budget proposal and see how that's going to impact K12.

014One tiny piece of good news uh on the budget front uh and and CFO Bryson over there is desperately wanting to hear something positive. Uh the healthy school meals program will be fully funded this year. Chris Delordo sitting right next to him. uh high fives on that. So, we're we're happy that that program will be fully funded this year. However, we still anticipate but uh ballot questions uh statewide uh to um ask citizens of the state if we'll continue to fully fund that in the future because it is not looking like it's going to be fully funded at the levels that the state passed uh previously. So, slight good news on that one. All right, H1B visa concerns. Um there was u an announcement that came from Washington that vis H1B visa application fees would

015go from $5,000 to $100,000. We do have H1B visa holders um on our staff. We have dual language schools all over the valley. Uh and we do have to do some recruiting internationally to find enough bilingual teachers uh to cover those positions. Uh some things of uh that I think are important for us to know. The majority of our visa holders are J1 visa holders. So they're not in this category. Uh the J1 visas are are good for a couple years and then we convert them to the J1. Uh so there will be uh some challenges uh for folks who intend to convert uh if they've been here for uh multiple years and would like to stay longer. Um, right now we have eight eight H-1B visa holders and their positions with us are secure.

016Uh, the $100,000 fee will not apply to them. Uh, but it is recommended that they not leave the country because there's concern that they might not be able to return to our community and to their jobs with our kids. So, we'll keep you posted on this more as we learn more about it. But it is a definitely a concern for the the eight H1B visa holders in our employee as well as the the 20 how many? Seven 28 J1 visa holders uh that might uh like to extend their stay here at some point and utilize the H-1B visa conversion. So that's a that is a concern but we will we will stay on it. So, uh, next thing on the agenda would be for board members to provide their reports and after their reports, then

017we'll move into public participation. >> Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, Superintendent Quman. Harry, would you like to start us off with board reports? >> Sure. Uh, a couple things. The past time between uh, our last meeting and now, both Leah and I went over to uh, Red Sandstone. They had a ribbon cutting. I didn't realize they lost their outdoor basketball court when we redid um the makeover for the school because [clears throat] of the preschool took over basically the where the playground used to be. So, they finally got a nice basketball court. So, we went out there and celebrated that. Uh I did see on our notes the district accountability if you still want to get on that. It's a great way of learning about our district. um you hear from every department

018in our district and all the principles. Um I always found it really uh fascinating to hear especially the principles if you're a fifth grade uh parent or you have a student with a fifth grader or a ninth grader those transition years of hearing uh what the new schools are going to uh look like. I would highly recommend getting to those DAC meetings. Um lastly, as we look at trying to uh find money places, especially for education, uh there is a ballot issue. This one uh for uh one a um part of it goes to wildfire and another part goes to early childhood. We know that if you spend money in early childhood and education, the more kids get educated, the better world we have. So if you know you need any information on that, you

019can see me later. Thanks. >> Thanks Harry Lou. >> Okay. Um one of the amazing partnerships we have is with a youth power and they provide after school activities for our students. And yesterday I was invited to cook at the middle school. They're doing a Latin cooking. And so I was there teaching everybody how to make Argentinian empanadas. And um yeah, I don't know how to describe the spir the experience. It was fun, chaotic, but in the end uh we got them done. Everybody was fed and we all had a good time. I was exhausted. I just got home and I was like, I'm going to bed. So teachers, especially middle school teachers, I don't know how you guys do it, but thank you for teaching our kids. [laughter] >> Thank you, Lou Juan. >>

020Um, I'm going to go back to my old PTO president days. Um, Wild West day is this weekend. One function, support nine elementary schools. Be there. >> Be there. >> Thanks, Juan. Gretchen. >> Yeah. So yesterday [clears throat] I got to spend the day with um also a bunch of middle schoolers at the middle school cross district school leadership meeting and it was an energizing experience for sure. They ca the kids came ready to share and they were thoughtful and so enthusiastic about what was working at the school district, what was not. Um, we dug into the difference between leadership and stewardship and brainstormed some ways that we could make the district better. Uh, things like Homestake Peak said there's a lot of sagging happening at school and they think there could be a school

021policy to not sag. Maybe some school uniforms. Um, Eagle Valley Middle School mentioned needing longer passing periods between classes because there's not enough time to fill your water bottle, go to the bathroom, and get to class and get to your locker. [snorts] Uh, Gypsum Creek said that the gym gets too hot and maybe they could fund raise to put some fans in the gym. Um, but yeah, the the room was just buzzing and I was so excited to be there and uh there was one particular moment that stood out to me. Uh, Tia Luck was facilitating the day. She's our student engagement uh coordinator and she had put some she had been putting some pictures of different leaders on the board and she put up Lux Luther who's the villain in Superman and asked the

022kids if Lux is a leader and there was a a kid from Eagle Valley Middle School and he said that Lux is not the type of leader um that we that we typically see and that we t that we would typically admire, but he is undeniably a leader. Um, on the other hand, Superman can be seen um as the ultimate leader, but this this kid argued that maybe Superman might not actually be the best example because being so visible and powerful also makes him a target and his very presence can put others at risk. And um I was just so I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is so sophisticated." Like the way that these kids are breaking it down. Um and I just loved I think you know what that what leadership can look

023like to one person um might look like something different to someone else and that it's just such a complex and human experience. Um, and it just gave me tremendous pride in our district and how we are just teaching these kids to analyze and question and engage so thoughtfully with the world around them. So, yeah, thank you and I look forward to next Tuesday when we get to do the same thing with high schoolers. >> Thank you, Gretchen Kelly. >> Um, I'm going to second one. Wild West Days 10 to 3 Sunday for Eagle Ranch. I assume everybody knows, but just in case, um, the auction does open on Friday. Um, I just got back from a road trip with my mom and my sister a week on the road. So, I'm a little uh little

024frazzled. So, I'm going to let Gretch and uh take my time tonight, but Wild West Day is great cause for elementary schools. Be there. >> Thanks, Kelly. Lilia. >> Um, first I want to thank everyone that's here tonight. Like, um, SuperintendentW said, sometimes um, there's no one here, so it's really nice to have everyone here. [snorts] Um, and I appreciate I'm grateful we live in a community where people feel comfortable um, voicing their opinions and concerns and appreciations. Um, and thank you to Superintendent Qualman for reiterating um, that there's no place in our district for uh, divisive rhetoric. Um, on a lighter note, I'd like to share a highlight from my last week. Uh Harry mentioned uh we went to the Red Sandstone basketball court ribbon cutting and um it [snorts] was super inspiring to

025see the community come together and celebrate something they've worked on for so many years. Uh this has been multiple years, multiple PTOs, multiple uh districts and town like everyone's come together. Uh special thanks to Kevin Foley, Red Sandstone principles because it's been so many years. Um Miss Laidman and Miss Hecman, um PTO presidents, fundraising chairs, um especially Dudley Williams for making it all happen. Um watching the kids play on the court was amazing. Um they were already having so much fun. The uh red sandstone tiger was there. It was there were giant scissors. It it was quite a ceremony. Um but even more rewarding was seeing um there were so many families there. Um all the staff um community members were there uh sharing an afternoon of food and games um and building a strong

026community. It's a really amazing example of what we can accomplish when we all come together and support our schools and really support um each other. Um and Red Sandstone um presented Harry and I. So um and we want to pass it on to the board a very special Red Sandstone Elementary School basketball um as a thanks for um your support in getting the uh the very important uh basketball court uh made. [applause] >> [laughter] >> That's all. >> Yeah. Any Yeah. >> Thanks, Lillian. >> There's an awesome basketball court ready ready for you. Uh I just want to say I I appreciate the time and effort that all of you uh superintendent, assistant superintendent, the human resource department, principal, vice principal uh put in to conduct a full and thorough investigation of the very serious

027incident at VSSSA. I appreciate all the parents who are here tonight and community members. Um, you're involved in your kids education and you care about what's going on in the schools. Thank you. My son came home from school on Monday and he said, "Dad, you got to watch Tulsy Gabbert's speech at the Charlie Kirk memorial service." So yesterday I watched it and I wrote down something she said. She said, "Our schools are meant to teach to trains train students to think critically, debate ideas, test their strength in the clash of reason." I like that. I like even more that my son values critical thinking [snorts] and discussion. And he's not the only one. When I heard Tulsi's speech, a light bulb went off in my head. And I remembered [snorts] about three years ago as

028a board. We spent a year and a half going through our board policies. And [snorts] our ends policy, our board ends policy act on academic achievement starts off each student will develop the skills to be resourceful independent learners and critical innovative thinkers who can advocate for themselves and problem solve effectively. [snorts] I like that. So, Superintendent, thank you. Thank you for your commitment to educating critical, motivated, and resourceful thinkers. All right. [sighs] Shall we move on? >> Okay. Public participation. Again, thank you. Thank you all so much for coming. Um, thank you for turning in the blue cards. We appreciate all your input. Uh [sighs and gasps] please remember that public participation is limited to three minutes per speaker. There is no combining of minutes from another individual. If you were if you are with

029a large group, please appoint one spokesperson spokesperson to respect everyone's time. [snorts] The board cannot engage in discussion although there could be a few uh there this there could be future discussion in work sessions or additional research followed by an official response and you are all more than welcome to stay through the entire meeting. Uh it can be honestly a bit disruptive if if a a lot of you get up during a presentation and we have great great things on the agenda tonight. [snorts] Shelley Smith is honestly one of the greatest people. She's here every every meeting, thank goodness. [snorts] And she takes up a lot of time, so that's great. Uh, all right. So, I'll turn it over to Lou, our fantastic secretary again. Three minutes. When Lou calls your name, please come up

030to this lectern. [snorts] There's a little uh person icon button that you can push. And once that pushes once that's pushed, then that your um microphone lights up and Austin is happy. We like to keep Austin happy. Good. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And I just want to say I saw some last minute people coming. We're not that strict. So if you have a blue car, we can still take them. Just uh wave it at us and we'll come get it. Um okay, first one up, we have the one and only Wendy Riml. Education Foundation of Eagle County and I'm wearing my hat to represent the event that we have coming up this weekend. Um, everyone up here shared Wild West Day. It's a fundraiser that benefits our elementary schools. Um, and if you don't

031know about EC, we um are I like to call us the number one teacher and staff fan club for Eagle County School District. And um a little out of breath because I get nervous public speaking, but um we do a lot to support our teachers and our support staff. And we're going to hear from a bunch of people today's in today's meeting. And whatever we can do to help you guys celebrate your staff, we're here for you. Um so I'll leave these flyers for Wild West Day. Come and join us. I really believe it is the most incredible what I say real community event. Everyone from all of our schools comes out. We have around 3,000 people there at any time during the day and it is a hoot and root and good time. So

032I'll put these out. Um and then I uh I uh I'm going to take my hat off and get a little bit more serious. Um, I wanted to share the topic that's at hand and why a lot of people are here. Um, I'm a little embarrassed to share that I hesitated to speak. Um, it's a little bit of a scary time to stand stand up and say what's real and true for oneself without worry or fear of retribution. My dad once said to me, "There's no battle to be fought, only a team to build." That's why I'm speaking up. We're each here to share because we care about our kids and community, which inherently puts us all in this room on the same team. I want to say something about Lara. She's been teaching in

033this district for 26 years. That's more than two decades of showing up every day for kids, guiding them, encouraging them, and helping them grow. The gift of her service and that of other teachers like her inspires my life, inspires my life's work at the Education Foundation of Eagle County. It's true that Larara made a mistake. She regrets it. And she's here tonight to offer a public apology. One mistake does not erase a lifetime of service. It does not undo the hundreds of students she has taught, supported, and inspired over the years. Across the country, teachers are becoming targets, and the story is making national headlines. Teaching is already a fragile profession. In Eagle County, Colorado, and across the nation, we're facing teacher shortages that make it hard to keep classrooms staffed. Losing a teacher like

034Lara, someone who has invested so much of her life in our students, would be a real loss for kids in our community. Our kids need their teachers, and our teachers need us to stand behind them. Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Wendy. I gotta say, I miss uh selling those raffle tickets. It's the first year I don't have an elementary student anymore. So, no more raffle selling for me, Wendy. I'll buy them, though. Um, okay. Next one, we have Lara Dowling. Dear community, I s sincerely apologize for the comments I made on September 10th and for allowing my emotions in a very stressful situation to affect my professional judgment. To be clear, I abhore gun violence in all of its forms. My utmost priority is the well-being of all of our students, as is

035evidenced by my successful 26-year teaching career. I truly regret any distress this has caused anyone. I intend to learn from this and move forward. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lara. Next, we have Tessa Kishner. gotta read a speech when there's so many people in the room. It's nerve-wracking. [clears throat] Um, good evening. I'm Tessa Kersner, and I want to speak tonight about our teachers, the very heart of our schools. They dedicate their lives to guiding, encouraging, and inspiring our children. They show up every day with patience and creativity, always going far beyond what is asked of them. When our teachers are attacked or undermined, it isn't just them who suffer. It's our whole community. I want to make sure our teachers know this community stands with them. I look forward to tonight's agenda where we

036will celebrate all the people who work so hard to take care of our children, custodians, kitchen staff, school bus drivers, and the transportation department and our principles. And finally, recognition of National Disability Employment Awaren Awareness Month, [clears throat] which celebrates and recognizes the value that individuals with disabilities bring to the workforce. Education Foundation of Eagle County works hard to support our teachers, our schools, and our students. We hope you will join us this Sunday at Foragle Ranch from 10:00 to 3. This amazing event is in its 35th year. Um, I know that because I've been doing it for 25 of them. Um, and we um we've in past years had over 3,000 people. And my most favorite part of the event is standing in the middle of the games field where all the kids are

037playing their games and just turning around and seeing all of the amazing and wonderful diversity of our community, which I just um love, cherish, and hope we can all embrace. And so I would just hope that um and to let everybody know that all the proceeds from that event go to the elementary and preschools in our valley to support the teachers kids and kids come join us. Thanks. Thank you Tessa. Next we have Amy Lewis. It's on now. Yeah. >> Okay. I'm Amy Lewis. I am coming to um speak to you as a parent who um of two kids who went through the Homesake Peak school system. And Miss Larara Dowling was a fantastic art teacher to both my sons and they have carried art all the way through high school. They both still do

038art and even my college student is doing art. So I have to attribute that to a really great teacher and I just wanted to just say how much I appreciate Larara and her experience and what she brought to my family personally. So and thank you all. >> Thank you Amy. Uh next we have Alexandra Bomb. Are we good? Okay. I just want to take a few minutes and say who I am. I'm Alexandra Vaughn. I grew up here. I grew up in this valley that we call home. I work here now as an adult. Carrie Bangston, you were my teacher at Mentor Middle School. Quam and you are my principal. Um, you know, I'm here as a concerned citizen and as an alumni of Eagle County Schools. Um, I just want to quickly say the

039following is a policy in the VSSSA student handbook. Bullying can include, but is not limited to pushing, shoving, hitting, and spitting as well as name calling, picking on, making fun of, laughing at, excluding someone. Bullying can cause pain and stress to victims and is never justified or excusable. Everyone should enjoy our school equally and feel safe, secure, and accepted regardless of color, race, gender identification, popularity, athletic ability, intelligence, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation. Behavior and conduct is outlined by level one, two, and three. These bullying behaviors are in the red level three, meaning a student will be removed from class, barred from practice, and have a meeting with parents, administrators, and teachers on their behavior. I would also like it to be noted that threatening behavior is bolded. When the teacher decided to cheer for

040the death of Charlie Kirk and expressed tra sadness that Trump was not shot, she created trauma to those around her and our community, but also made it clear there is no safe space in the classroom. We must reject threatening behavior. A mistake isn't wishing death upon another. A mistake is not cheering for happiness after a young man was assassinated. A mistake is adding salt instead of sugar into a cake. I'll close with this. I'm nearing 30. I'm eagerly awaiting the day I become a mother. God willing. And I will say this as a future mother. Do better. Because when I have children, the last thing you want me doing is to be here having to speak about something like this. When my children are at school age, I hope I never have to have them

041come home in tears crying because a teacher was cheering for a death of another human. It's vulgar and it's threatening. So I say and I plead, do better, be better. Put the humanity back in the word human, please. [applause] Thank you. Next we have Linda Beckett. Hi, I'm Linda Beckett. I live in Gypsum. Uh, I'm here to address the comments that Larara made in front of her students. And she used words that communicated that she was happy that Charlie Kirk was killed. And the only thing that would have made it better is if it had been President Trump. Through her comments, she is teaching the future future generations of our community that the murder of a peaceful man is a good thing and is advocating for future violence against those in which she disagrees. Eagle

042County School District's collective bargaining agreement spells out how teachers are supposed to handle controversial topics. It states clearly that teachers are expected to keep discussions balanced, draw from recognized scholarship, and create space where students feel free to exchange ideas. This employee spoke on behalf of the district as one of your employees and in doing so violated your collective bargaining agreement. On September 16th, her principal sent a letter stating that this individual will will remain on staff at VSSSA. I would like to understand how those statements don't blatantly violate her responsibilities as an employee and your collective bargaining agreement. As a taxpayer, I don't understand how that's possible. How is it okay with each of you board members that this is occurring? And do you mean to tell me that this employee is stage one of

043five of this verbal warning? I would like to know where she is in the cascade of this, but you will probably tell me that that's not available. Another letter from the principal states that they are taking steps to prevent this from occurring again, including providing additional training for staff. Okay, so let me get this straight. As a taxpayer, I'm supposed to tolerate this vile rhetoric that is dangerous and intended to persuade students towards violence. And when a teacher egregiously breaks their code of conduct, it is I, again, the taxpayer whose dollars pay more for training to secure this person's job. What kind of training is done for an adult staff member who promotes murder and violence in the presence of her students? Honestly, I don't have much confidence in re rehabilitating the behaviors of one

044who is arrogant and entitled enough to flagrantly use our taxpayer dollars to promote her own personal agenda in the classroom. And Mr. Qualman, I forgive her, but that doesn't mean I trust her. Out of the mouth, the heart speaks. It is the school board's responsibility, duty, and obligation as elected officials to never allow the permissioning of violence as a mean to solve disputes. In my opinion, your employee promoted rhetoric that does contra contribute to the delinquency of minors. >> Thank you, Linda. We appreciate that. >> The only right choice is zero tolerance in this kind of behavior. >> [applause] >> Mr. Varunus, before before you proceed, just want to make a point of clarification. In my statement previously, uh I did not indicate that the consequence for the teacher was step one of five. I

045listed out a continuum of possible consequences. Uh that ramp up in severity. Uh I considered it a serious offense and I'll leave it at that. Thank you. Next we have Susan Colbert. Hi, I'm Susan Wagenct Colbert. Um, I'm here to talk about Lara as well. Lara, Lara, whatever. Um, it's not illegal to say that Charlie deserved to die. um and that you're glad that he did. People have a right to say that and you're an employ but you're an employee representing education and you say to student students as truth and as your opinion as well that I'm sorry you say this to our students as as it's truth not just opinion that they deserve to die. You can't walk into school and say that you're into homicide. You can't be an educator at our school

046and say, "Hey, I'm comfortable with coldblooded murder. More people need to be killed." I mean, that's advocating and and and radicalizing kids to become school shooters. It's disgusting. Um, if you're glad that Charlie Kirk was killed and you thought he had it coming to him and you sit and you know, my kid has to share a class with you. I I don't I don't think they should be under your authority and have to have to listen to that and feel safe. It's it's unacceptable. She's advertising that she's a maniac. She has no decency, no compassion or humanity, and she's indifferent to death. And not only that, but she's sickly gleeful about it. That makes her a threat and that makes her dangerous. We need to be really careful about the type of people we allow

047around our children. This person is not entitled to work for us. This is more than just a disagreement about the border or crime or politics or anything like that. We're talking about murder. Would the school be okay if a girl was raped? And Laura said, "Uh, she had it coming to her." No, we wouldn't be. What if she said, "Irea should have been killed on the train. She had it coming to her." No, we wouldn't be okay with that either. Or the flood victims in Texas. Oh, that's karma. Hope they can swim. Never would we be okay with that. Never. And we're not saying she should be put in prison, but we're saying that she should not belong in an authority position around our children. Period. They aren't allowed around my family, these people that

048speak this way. I was at Charlie Kirk's funeral, the memorial in Arizona, and it was absolutely amazing. And this is disgusting. Charlie Kirk would not agree with it either. I think that if she doesn't get through her five strikes that you've set out, Pullman, then I think we can petition that we have her resign. And I think we can do that as a town. [applause] Thank you, Susan. Uh, next we have Tim Chickamman. This one. I know. I'm seeing the computer. I don't want my computer and that computer to make another computer. Um Tim McMahon, Avon. Uh first, the electric speed limit sign on West Bever Creek Boulevard going westbound um is out. It's been out for a few weeks. I brought this up at Avon Town Council last night, but I'm bringing up to

049you guys because of Avon Elementary being right there. It's a sign that flashes lights, tells you to slow down. Um, I know it's Avon's responsibility, but I figured maybe you guys could put a little pressure like, "Hey, kids are lives are at stake." I don't know. Um, second is having voter registration drives at the high schools. Um, next Tuesday I'm having one at Second Street Tavern from 6:00 to 8. I know you guys are all registered. Um, but if you have friends that aren't, send them over between 6:00 and 8 and get registered up. Um, and one thing when I was getting reertified this year, I noticed that in Colorado, unlike any other state I've lived in, you can register to vote at 15. So, you know, in the spring, majority of the kids in

050high school are 15 or older. Um, so they can get registered to vote. I think it's, you know, getting them on, you know, early would be great. Um, and then as soon as they turn 18, they're already registered and they go vote. Um, which plays right into my next point, student participation in their lives. Um, sorry. A few weeks ago, some Battle Mountain High School students reached out to me about their planned walk out. They wanted help getting organized and what steps to take in the future. I explained that attending meetings is a very good start. When I was in school, we were told by the adults that or told the adults always knew what was best for us and let them handle things. Now that I'm an adult, I really don't think that's true.

051Uh most of us in this room have never had to practice active shooter drills. Hell, Coline was my sophomore year in college. We can't relate to what these kids are going through. We need their input and how they are feeling and what concerns they have. I have a solution though. Making attending a certain number of schoolboard meetings part of the curriculum. Think about all the good info that they can bring to you, which would in turn allow you to serve these students better. Plus, get kids involved in having a voice and being involved in their future. Even town council or county commissioner meetings would be great. I think this would be a win-win. Plus, these kids are the future of this valley and we need to give them every chance we can. Lastly, we are

052all humans. We all make mistakes. as learned from these as long as we learn from these mistakes, we grow and be become better humans. If people were judged by one thing said, I would have been banned from these rooms long ago because I still occasionally drop f bombs at council meetings. That's it. >> Thank you, Tim. We should give him a couple more minutes so that he speaks a little slower. [laughter] Um, next we have Spencer Gustafson. I hope I said it right. Otherwise, I'm sorry. Hello. I'm a senior at Veilski and Snowboard Academy. And first off, I just want to say I love my teachers. I respect them very much. They are excellent teachers. But this I I was not present for this incident. And that's not why I'm here to talk about it.

053But this is a constant theme I've seen throughout my years at VSSsa. The first example that comes to mind is in freshman biology class, we had critical thinking Monday, which involved a slideshow of Ben Shapiro and AOC on separate slides. And it basically our teacher basically went along the lines of saying Ben Shapiro is dumb, AOC is smart. That was basically what critical thinking Monday involved. As a freshman, it was biology class. Uh the second example that comes to mind was last year in English class. We were watching a music video and analyzing it for symbols and the teacher there was a firearm placed into a red cloth in the music video and our teacher paused the video and presented the statement as a fact. She said, "The red cloth represents Republicans caring more about

054firearms than human lives." So, this is a common theme that I've seen throughout my years. I I love VSA. It's a truly unique school, but I think this needs to be addressed and worked on. Thank you. Thank you, Spencer. Uh, next we have Peter Gustafson. Okay. >> Thank you for giving us license to be a little emotional. You kind of broke the seal on that. It's kind of a an emotional topic. Um and and and Laura, thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for apologizing. It was great to hear the support for you. I don't know you. Um I don't hate you. I do forgive you. I hate what you did. Um so some some of these comments have probably already been addressed. I wrote them down. I'll try to get through them all.

055Um but like Spencer mentioned, VSSsa is a very special school. has a unique culture, excellent academics, in my opinion, some some of the best educators in the county um most of the time. Uh that's why I'm here. Uh the administrative response to this has failed its students, its values, and its reputation. The incident itself was disturbing, but the response was equally lacking. No transparency, no apparent response from the teacher to explain their statements, which started tonight. I don't think it should be over. It's about two weeks into it. Um I have three kids at the school, uh sixth grade all the way through 12th. Um I've heard similar I wish you were statements made against each other in my house. Um they're childish statements. They're made by children. Um when that happens in our house,

056it's dealt with swiftly. Um, it includes an apology, perhaps a short time out, but most importantly, an opportunity to reflect, learn, and grow. The response to this gave no details, leaving the VSSsa community to rely upon gossip and rumor as a primary means of communication. The message to students, however, was clear. A person in authority can say whatever they want with impunity. This was a missed opportunity to teach leadership and accountability. And without an apology, continued apology from the teacher, the chance to rebuild that trust is lost. Worse, it raises questions about whether this educator is capable of complying with policy IMB, which calls for the process of examining evidence, facts, and differing viewpoints through the exercise of freedom of thought and moral choice. In a time of school shootings, a teacher is the very

057last person who should be endorsing gun violence. I heard a quote today and it resonated. When someone tells you who they are and what they believe, you need to believe them. The comment made failed to exercise decent judgment and basic emotional intelligence. I choose to believe this was a moment of weakness and poor judgment. Something for which all of us are probably guilty of, just not while at work and in front of children in which we have an unfair power dynamic. The response was unacceptable. Tolerating this rhetoric from teachers creates division with students and fear to engage in conversation. I am not for the record in favor of anyone's employment being terminated. It might teach the employee a hard lesson, but it teaches our children the wrong lesson. That ideas should be punished, not discussed,

058and that silence is safer than dialogue. Um, in the words of Rahm Emanuel, I would encourage you, do not let this crisis go to waste and think about this between now and November. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. [applause] >> Next, we have Barb Wendell. Barb Wendell. I'm an Eagle County resident, um, parent of grown kids, but a concerned citizen and a former teacher. Um, Laura, I'd like to address directly to you. As a former teacher, I would be appalled to think that would ever come out of my mouth to my students. We have a we upheld a code of honor for being upright for our students and setting an example. And you guys referenced Eagle County policy IMB. Um Mr. Qualman underneath ad administration rights and responsibilities. Leadership starts from the top and

059it filters down. I think it's time for you to take that leadership role and um have this teacher be removed from teaching. Maybe stay in the district somewhere else. Um I keep I kept telling myself on the way here, what would Charlie do? What would Charlie do? So, I'm trying to act in a manner that Charlie Kirk would act. Um, it says, "A teacher who's in doubt about the appropriateness of discussing certain controvers controversial issues in the classroom or regarding his or her ability to explore such issues, she'll confer with the building principal. And if the building principal and teacher are unable to agree, then she would go to you, the superintendent. I'm assuming that did not happen in this case." Um the teacher is also has a responsibility to select issues for study and

060discussion which contribute to the attainment of course objectives and the educational program established by the board and to make available to students materials concerning the various aspects of the issue. She also has the obligation to be objective as possible and to present fairly the several sides of the issue. Um, I'm assuming that she didn't show any of the the podcasts or the videos, multiple multiple videos of Charlie Kirk. He does not he does not lecture on disscent. He lectures on critical thinking like the prior gentleman said, learning, having kids speak up for what's right, not saying that it's okay to kill someone in cold blood. So, I'm asking that she get [clears throat] would get removed as a teacher and maybe work in an administrative role not close to any kids. That's absolutely unacceptable behavior.

061As a former teacher, I think she should be gone. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, Barb. Uh, next we have Jenny Kate. Hi, thanks for giving me time to speak. Um, I have lived here since I was 19. I'm now a lot older. Um, both my kids have grown up here. My daughter went from Brush or from, yeah, Brush Creek Elementary all the way through school, Eagle Valley High School. My husband was killed when my son was going into fifth grade. At the end of fifth grade, he asked to go to Veil Christian Academy in Veil Christian High School. And I am grateful for that because all the stuff that goes on is unbelievable to me that you're not just teaching math, science, how to just good stuff, but this gay pride stuff. And I'm not

062against gay. I don't care. But all of it. and the fact that this teacher is allowed to say freely whatever she wants about somebody being murdered about Charlie Kirk being murdered and too bad it's not Trump and really so I'm frustrated because I watched this school system and I didn't know better I know better now I watched this school system destroy my daughter you know my daughter um she thinks she's non-binary and two of her best friends have transitioned to be men, which that's not even um statistically correct. So, the things like I want to know what else would Laura say to her kids underneath that we don't know these kids. What else are they hearing that we don't know? We know that this was said because it's so egregious, so awful, but what else

063has she said? or what else have some of the other teachers said and done that are very underneath and the critical race theory is not it's been proven that the DEI and all that stuff is not equality. It is not creating equality between people. Equity is not the same thing. So Lara should not be teaching children. She's been here 26 years. It's time to retire. if this is what she thinks and she's allowing politics, murder, other people's possible death into the classroom. I know some teachers that worked at the Veil um ski and snowboard school and >> there is a lot of >> wokeness going on which I don't think is appropriate. Teach our children properly. Teach them what they need to know. teach them social skills, but none of this other rhetoric of you

064can change your body parts and you can and too bad that person didn't um that Trump didn't die too. Really, I thought we were supposed to respect our president no matter who it is. No matter which side they're on, that's an office we're supposed to respect just like our kids are supposed to respect us as parents. So, I vote for her to not be teaching anymore. [applause] Thank you. Okay, we got it. Thank you, Jenny. And last but not least, we have Andrew Kaiser. I think it's on already. Yeah. >> Uh, presuppositions. I married a teacher. I'm very pro- teacher. I'm very pro- education. We graduated three Battle Mountain High School students. Love education. I'm all about it. So I don't want to be p painted into a corner that because I disagree with how

065a particular teacher spoke and what is justice for that teacher that I'm anti-teer in any way. So with that presupposition um it it seems strange to me that while Mr. Coleman did a great job of addressing the policy, we're addressing we're addressing the board beyond policy. So, you did a great job discussing what the policy is. I'm sure the principal on site did a phenomenal job of uh addressing the policy for that situation with what is written. But who could fathom that we're standing here talking about a teacher in one of the great professions of the world who wants somebody to die. And not just somebody but a good man who talked and dialogued and debated which is the essence of education. No, no manual except one contemplates that kind of person, right? And that

066kind of comment. And I would submit to you that the sign that you read is in line with that that manual that manual the Bible does acknowledge that our hearts are totally evil and that without some sort of restraint there. We would all be that way. And so this is not just a mistake board. We are not talking about just a mistake like I didn't file my lesson plans on time with the principal on site. We're talking about an egregious breach of trust. And so while the five steps might be the policy that we all envisioned in a norm normal world, the board is called to deal and you were voted in because the community thought you had the timmerity to make tough decisions. And so beyond the policy is why I'm here tonight. I

067understand the policy and but nobody except one man uh could pre presume to know the heart of mankind in what was expressed in that classroom. So I called for the board to take the extra step to assess whether that policy is applicable steps one through five. And I understand you're not at step one uh Mr. Coleman. So I I appreciate that. Right. But it's are we at step five? I did not hear that it your step five allowed for this type of breach of public trust. It's just incredulous, right? Uh I appreciate the fact that you saw that sign and you ch in from my world and life view you cherrypicked forgiveness. Forgiveness is absolutely one aspect of the Christian faith. But justice is also the next step. And so acknowledgement of her her error

068is great. The fact that the school board has some sort of response is great. And now the community is looking for justice, not just the enforcement of a policy. Thank you very much. [applause] >> Again, thank you to everybody for coming. I want to uh specifically uh thank uh Spencer for your comments um and and remind you and everybody else in the room when incidents like you experienced in 9th grade and 11th grade occur, please reach out to me, reach out to Katie Jarno sitting over here, assistant superintendent Melissa Reald Thuan. It's our job to make sure that our teachers are providing balanced instruction that is not in trying to indoctrinate you in any specific beliefs. And if you feel that that that's happening to you in the classroom, we need to address it. So,

069thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing those comments and and please let your principal know. Let us know um when that happens. Uh at at this point, we're we're we're done with public participation. I see a hand up. Uh please call me, email me. I'm happy to to set up time to to speak with you um outside of the meeting. >> Thank you, Superintendent Nick Coleman. All right, moving along in our agenda. We've got new and old business. So this is an opportunity for input on work session and agenda items tenative topics for the October 22nd 2025 board meeting also known as my last board meeting for the record right Natash October 22nd uh tenative topics we've got uh maybe an executive session and in work session we've got CASBY conference topic input.

070Great. And then we've got some more school improvement plan presentations from Avon Elementary, Edwards Elementary, Red Sandstone Elementary, and the Edwards Early Learning Center. In regular session, we've got a number of monitoring reports. And then in the business and operations section, housing master plan update and final October county update, October count update, maybe. >> Yeah. All right. So, um, are there any other items that board members would like to add to the October 22nd meeting, also known as my last meeting? Maybe a full review of your performance. [laughter] >> That's fine. Um, is this an action item? Nope. Okay. Hearing none, we'll move on to we get another Maryanne Stavy update report in our public interest items for discussion section. stock take presentation on the district's pathways and education initiative. Yep. How's that? >> Excellent.

071Thank you for that introduction. I appreciate it. >> All right. My name is Maryann Stavy. I work with Eel County School District as a learning and instruction specialist. So, a lot of my time is spent with new educators as they get hired. um new educator induction over the course of their first year as well as working with teacher leaders and all kinds of folks. [snorts] Um the uh district leadership team aligning curriculum practices to high standards is what this pathway falls under. It's to create a locally grown Eagle County school district educator pool from current Eagle County school uh students, staff, and residents. So, our pathways in education has been um an effort we have worked on for many years. Um it's done in conjunction with uh Colorado Mountain College and some other uh partnerships

072to try and recruit people from within our own community. Uh I had the opportunity to be here earlier today with uh during the work session and had some new educators here to kind of talk about their experience and they all represent um different pathways to becoming a teacher. Um why do we grow our own? Uh we have a commitment to district values and we feel that those folks who live in our community and grow up in our community um understand our values of being engaged learners, inspired professionals, um that we have a commitment to equity and a sense of adventure and a caring community. Um that we align our teacher preparation practices. It's one of my points of pride, I think, with uh Colorado Mountain College that they really work closely with us in order

073to um align our teacher preparation so that when um uh people come through their system, they're actually already kind of set up for working at our district. So, it's a team of people. I just happen to be the person who comes in and presents. Um Dr. Katie Jouro is part of our curriculum instruction team. She's our assistant superintendent. Dr. Ashley Winn is the director of instruction and I work directly with her. Uh, another very important person is Shannon Grant. She's the director of post-secondary learning and career readiness. Um, in addition, we work closely with human resources Adele Wilson as our chief human resources officer and also Carol uh Amanza who's come onto the team in recent basically in about a year or so um as a human resources recruiter. So within our partnerships, we work

074um we've created a CareerX internship which goes beyond education um into all kinds of career pathways. But Career X does offer internships for students who are interested in becoming a teacher. We work with Career-Wise um and teacher apprenticeship programs in conjunction with CMC and then Youth Power 365 as well. um the pathways to getting and becoming a teacher. You have your traditional teacher preparation programs um which CMC has, Colorado Mesa and then all over the state and from beyond. Um we do have a lot of um teachers who come to us who become alternative licensed teachers. So that's a pathway when someone who has their undergraduate degree um decides this is a a a calling that I have. I want to become a teacher. um they can interview, obtain a job, and then they work

075with another provider who helps train them while they're on the job. So, um it can be kind of a daunting process, but we have several people who do it, and I've listed um those providers we work with. Um and in addition, we have a mentoring program uh that works uh at Colorado Mountain College, and so they do some training um around mentorship. So our goal is to maintain or increase the number of locally grown educators participating in our programs. Um we have uh three improvement strategies. We work directly with our high school students to give them opportunities to do internships and apprenticeships in education. Uh we have coaching up our own employees. So we have many employees who work with us. They may come in as a guest teacher, become a perm sub um and

076and choose to become an educator. We've worked with Americanore volunteers who have stepped in to becoming teachers for us. And so we're constantly trying to coach up people that are already here and committed to our students. Um and then obviously job fairs and the rest. Um traditional recruitment is a challenging prospect anymore. I have uh recently been at um University of Northern Colorado, which is where I got my job at Eagle County School District. 30 years ago this month was my first year of teaching here for Eagle Valley Middle School. Um, and when I went to the job fair, it was packed and it was in a big arena and you had to elbow your way up to get to a principal. And um, unfortunately now it's 30 recruiters to one student teacher who's coming

077through. And so there is a real change. There's a concern in our um, in our world about how we are able to uh, keep people interested in teaching. It's a hard job. So um in recent years we've worked with career-wise apprenticeships. This year we did not have any new apprenticeships. The folks that are from 24 25 we have um are in their second year of their teacher apprenticeship. Um we do have lots of um we've doubled our career X internships which is just the high school kids doing an internship. It's not a formal apprenticeship. Um but we also have what's called CMC teacher apprentices. So, these are adults who apprentice with the district to become a teacher. Um, it's a program that's been um brought on from uh Colorado Department of Education and uh we

078had four last year and we have four additional ones this year or the same ones this year. Um, in terms of like what's the latest, so this is the stuff that the board hasn't really heard or looked at. Um, so we have had a drop in new hires and I've done new hire. I've done new educator orientation for 10 years. I see the new group that comes in. You'll notice at the bottom uh row that in 2022 23 we had 63 new teachers. 23 24 we had 71 new teachers. So those are kind of they seem like high numbers but they're not unusual. I had them when I got hired here. Um that that kind of a crew isn't super unusual. I will say the year before that there was very little movement postcoid. Um,

079but since then, people tend to come into Eagle County, they get settled in, they stay here for a bit, um, and things will tend to drop. So, last year we had 47 new teachers, and this year we're down to 25. I did note that we have 11 school-based therapists. So, we have had additional resources put into social emotional needs um, and some restructuring of some programming. So, I did want to note that we did have um 11 uh school-based therapists, but 35 new educators or teachers in the classroom. Of the 35, uh nine of them or 26% are alternative lensure. So, that's um an adult who lives in our community, has an undergraduate degree, and is choosing to become a teacher and getting that certification. Um you'll notice that over the last four years, we

080went from 13 to 19 down to 11 down to nine. So again, the numbers are somewhat waning at at this point. Um, we've hired international hires and we only had three international hires this year as compared to 11 last year, 21 the year before. Again, I would say that these teachers, they come in, they get settled in, they have um a a a good experience, and so they're kind of stable right now. Um, of course with international hires, they do have visa issues, so that might change next year. um our initial lensure that's your typical teacher prep your brand new kid who's right out of school super enthusiastic just want to be a teacher um so this year a higher percentage of that so we've been attracting initial teachers um into the into our our

081group and our professional licensed teachers these are experienced people who are coming from across the country or the front range and come up and so that percentage uh seems to be up again so that's kind of what our group looks like um my celebrations that I kind of gleaned from this. We do have four alumni again, people who graduated from our schools who have chosen to come back to our district and become teachers. Yay. So excited about that. Um so that's that that is totally excites me. When I'm at orientation, I look down in a crowd and I see a kid who used to be in my classroom when I taught at the high school. So super exciting. Um we have a steady draw from our local community. Um, so we still have alternative licensed

082teachers. Uh, we have an increase in the percentage of educators hired with initial and professional licenses, which is nice because we're not trying to retrain them. Um, stable group of J1 visas. I would say in recent years, um, we've had more cross-dist collaboration and coaching and supporting. So between edtech, uh, multilingual education, we have more people coaching up our new teachers as they arrive. And I think that makes a big difference. Um, and we have an increased number of district housing units. I just have to say, Superintendent Qualman, I think that the efforts around housing have been amazing and they make a difference. And so I see that in our new teachers being able to have a place to live. We continue to have the challenges when we are hiring without license. It is a

083stressful uh pathway. Um, obviously the competition from other industries in terms of salary and job demands and affordable housing continue to be our challenges, but I love our teachers. We have some great ones. If you want to see them some more again at another time, by all means, just invite me and I will bring you teachers. >> We do. And I I blew it because we should have given you more than 30 minutes. >> I know. I know. I know. >> It was actually Lou's fault, but [laughter] um we >> at least I know who to blame. I'm the one that told him we should do it longer next time. So, >> you can't just say that after I said it. So, yes, we would like them to come back and more time. >> That

084would be great. Everybody good? Any questions? Okay, good. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Marian. I had so much fun with the teacher. Sorry. They were great. We did definitely need more time. They were amazing, inspirational, happy, young. They're young probably, [snorts] but yeah, it was super fun. Highlight of the day, maybe the week. >> And I will bring them back. those particular ones, they love to come back. >> Thank you. All right, we got some fun stuff. Some [clears throat] resolution approvals starting with Frank and the uh National School Bus. >> Uh we're starting with Mr. Re. >> It's however you feel. >> The next item in the agenda is Joe. >> Where's Joe? This is Frank. >> Good evening. >> Starting with Joe. >> Yes. Uh I am here today to talk

085about our amazing custodial staff. Um and as you all know, an amazing staff usually is led by an amazing leader. That's not me. That's Miss Elia Gonzalez that I tricked into coming here tonight so we could all give her some credit. [applause] Uh she runs an amazing staff of people that are really dedicated to their jobs. You all are in these school buildings all the time. You see how immaculate they are. What you may not know is that some of our staff or all of our AM staff is responsible for all the snow removal all winter long. They are responsible for resurfacing gymnasium floors. When teaching staff is off on break, these guys go to work 40 hours a week on their hands and knees scraping floors, scraping black marks, it's absolutely amazing to see

086them. And I don't know why they come to work every day sometimes with the work that they do, but they are just that dedicated to the children and you can see them how they interact with the students that they really care about their job. So, I am here tonight to ask approval of resolution 20 202526-3 National Custodial Appreciation Day. >> I move to approve resolution 20 2025 263 for National Custodian Day as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you, Gretch. Thank you, Harry. Natalyia, >> Miss Alter, >> I miss Conlin. I >> Miss Hovie. >> I >> Mr. McQueeny. >> Hi, >> Mr. Pena. >> Hi, >> Mr. Reynolds. >> Hi, >> Mr. Tunes. >> I >> Any questions? >> Thanks, Joe. >> Thank you. >> So, I just want to point out though, Joe, too,

087is it's on October 2nd. >> It's October, >> right? And it's during the week of the 20 September 29th through the 3rd. So, if you see your custodians, make sure that you uh pat them on the back during that time. Absolutely. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right, thanks Frank. Um, next up is Chris Delorto with our National School Lunch Week and Kitchen Staff Appreciation Resolution. >> That is correct. Um, thank you for having me here tonight. Um, I'm here to recognize my staff, nutrition staff, for all the great work and hard work they do. um asking the board to um what's the word I'm looking for? >> Approve uh 2526-3 uh National School Lunch Week and National Appreciation Day for my staff. Um we're going to be celebrating ours the week after

088um October break. That's really what the National Week is is when we're on break. We're going to do it the following week. And on Thursday the 23rd, we're going to celebrate the staff by giving them a little gift. Um, we're all going to go out and just thank them for everything they do. Not that we don't thank them every day for what they do. Um, but I would like you guys to approve that resolution. I move to approve resolution 202526-2 for National School Lunch Week and Kitchen Staff Appreciation as presented because they do a fantastic job for our kids. >> Second, >> thank you. Juan and Lou, Natalia, >> Miss Alter, >> I >> Miss Colin, >> hi. >> Miss Hovie, >> I >> Mr. McQueeny, >> I >> Mr. Pena, >> I >> Mr.

089Reynolds >> I >> Munos I >> Well that motion passes 70 as well. >> Frank >> thank you Chris >> now Frank. >> Yeah. >> Sorry about that. That's right. >> We don't bumble it. Sorry, Joe. He He told me twice this week. Make sure you hit the right. Okay. Sorry. Uh my name is Frank Viss. I'm your new transportation director. Um I'm excited to be here. I started two weeks before the school year started. Um which is about the perfect amount of time to learn everything there is about this job. Um, I've been in transportation a long time. Um, I've managed restaurants and been in hospitality and, um, I also have two kids at Edwards Elementary. Um, so hu, huge fan of the school system, that school. Um, I get nostalgic walking through there

090and seeing that group of people around my kids. And I just wanted to ramble a little a little bit and let you know some of the observations I've had. Um, I see the same kind of commitment with the drivers that I've been spending times with. I've been doing um, ride alongs and watching the routes and um, seeing where they're going and seeing their interactions with the kids and it's and it's awesome. It's um I I was blown away by it and I've been blown away and I just [clears throat] I I didn't realize that they would know most of the kids' names and welcome them on and go so slow and be so gentle with them and the kids know them. Um the respect that they're throwing out is coming back. Um I'm watching the

091drivers. Um they're looking at their mirrors, safe following distances, mirrors, turn signals. They're they're outside when it's dark in the morning turning on their vehicles, making sure all the lug nuts are there, the tread depth is correct on their tires. It's it's a it's a it's a cumbersome job and uh they work in the morning, they've got a gap, they come back in the afternoon and um from what I've seen, besides being short staffed, um they're in a good spot, there's a lot of experience there. There's a lot of drivers who say this job is my DNA, which is pretty cool. they've been doing it for 15, 20, 30 plus years. So, um I've been really impressed and uh I'm excited to be here. So, with that, um I am here today to ask for

092approval of resolution 2025 2026-1. Um I think I said that right. >> Great. Thank you, Frank, and welcome to the district. >> Thank you. Uh, with that I move to approve resolution 2025-261 for National School Bus Safety as presented. >> Second. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Lou. Thank you, Harry. [clears throat] Uh, Natalia. >> Miss Alter. >> I, >> Miss Conland, >> I. >> Miss Hovie, >> I >> Mr. McQueeny, >> I >> Mr. Pena, >> I >> Mr. Reynolds, >> I >> Mr. Yunes, >> I. Motion passes 70. Thanks, Frank. Thanks for all you do. >> Okay, moving on. More resolutions to approve. Superintendent Coleman, >> you have one more, actually two more. Uh, the penultimate is the, uh, resolution to recognize National Principles Month, uh, which will begin in October. And

093I I think it's uh important to recognize that that all the research would say that the most important factor for kids to be successful in school are quality teachers, quality educators. Uh and and closely behind them are the school principles that they have to organize all those teachers, all the curriculum, all the facility, all the communication. They have an incredible workload. uh some some of the challenges that they face. Um you think we face challenges every day in this role. Uh the principal seat is extremely challenging. So this uh uh this resolution honors and recognizes the contributions of school principles and assistant principles to the success of students and encourages people in our community to observe the month with appropriate ceremonies and activities that promote awareness of school leadership ensuring that every child has access

094to a high quality education. So ask you at this time to please approve that resolution. >> Move to approve resolution 202526-4 for National Principles Month as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you. >> We'll go to Gretchen. >> Thank you Lilia. Thank you Gretchen. All right. Uh Natalia. >> Miss Alter. >> I. >> Miss Conlin. >> I. >> Miss Hovie. >> I. >> Mr. Mr. McQueeny. >> Hi, >> Mr. Pena. >> Hi, >> Mr. Reynolds. >> I >> Mr. Wunas >> I. >> Excellent. Motion passes 70 Troy with our National Disability Employment Awareness Month recognition. Thank you, sir. >> Greetings. It's great to be back. Um I'm I'm super excited to be back with a strong team and some great work. I know last board meeting Tim Moffett came and shared um an awful lot about

095swap and a little bit about climb and you've been really familiar with with the contribution that both of those programs make to uh supporting employment opportunities for our students with disabilities. Uh and we certainly want to recognize those folks. Uh because you saw that, I just want to um also expand our understanding that that our special ed team, our teachers in particular, our high school teachers really are their goal for kids is to help them find and secure employment that that fits their life, fits their interests, their abilities, uh their passions, and their careers. and and as you move around the community, um it's really exciting to be able to see those kids uh as adults now in employment opportunities. So, uh I'm not asking for approval um from you. We're just uh taking a

096moment to recognize uh National Disability Employment Awareness Month and the contribution that u that all of our teachers make uh from preK on to get our kids to a place where they can live successful uh adults in our communities. So, thanks. >> Thank you, Troy. Well, [sighs] I don't want to say that we saved the best for last, but we sort of did. Shelly, it's Shelly time. Shelly time. Too much. >> It's on, right? Okay. So, a couple people apologize that I'm so sorry you're going last. You have a cold. Um, but I'm so excited because all the group ahead of us really help um support early childhood. I just I'm going to take one minute. Um, when we moved um our whole new second floor opened that up, Joe and Elia were there. everybody

097on his team helping us move and get everything set. So again, it was all hands- on deck and it was a long day. And then Chris has been at so many meetings getting the new GLC ready. Um he's got nothing else to do other than to attend construction meetings. So thank you, Chris. And then our transportation. So we're just getting to know you, but we have special harnesses and special times. So, I like following this group because all those departments go were special because of our special little ones and they all go above and beyond. So, thank you again each year for people that are new um to the um meetings that we as a head start are required to provide information to the board as the grantee um so when we have decisions they

098have the background information. So, we do come a lot and I'm going to have to find a reason to be here on the 22nd. I don't know what it is yet, but um so first is enrollment. Um I'm excited because we are um up of prior year and even since this report, we've grown four more children. Um so, and if we um we're still looking in a minute, I'm going to talk about staffing. If we could hire that uh qualified infant supervisor, we're still looking for we could have another infant full classroom. So we're um we're able to open all the other classrooms at ELC. So we're just looking for one more qualified person, an infant supervisor as um a special niche. So we will keep working on enrollment because hopefully when they start with

099us, they stay with us. Um and so hopefully our growth will hopefully impact um enrollment long term. So as Head Start, again, very specific that we have filled um 66 of our 69. We had them all filled by the beginning of the year, but some families did not return and it takes a while to go through the applications and get the next one. So, we have the applications and we feel that we are going to fill them within the 60-day refill requirement. So, um not concerned about meeting our Head Start enrollment. Um the only thing I wanted to point out, I was surprised that only three um of our enrollments actually were because the housing adjustment. So, we have been able to fill um even without with just three of our enrollments being taking into

100account the 30 um%. So, that means that families of four making less than $24,000, those are the families that we're serving. So, just to put it in perspective, um talked about staffing a little bit. Uh so much better um than years ago where we had 22 vacancies. So, it's gotten really a lot better. There is some key positions we had um a challenge filling our extended day programs this year. We're now to only Red Sandstone um that we have don't have fully staffed. But I'm very grateful to many people of our department team, family service coordinators, our operation coordinator, all of us. Uh it's all hands- on deck. So we've closed no programs even though we are short staffed. Um so we're making sure that we can provide that. We continue to have a special

101education teacher. And then I talked about the infant teacher supervisor. So um we have a couple critical positions um open and so I do want to also thank um Maryanne. Um I benefit from a lot of her work and several of those people as she talked about are coming to work for us and are some of our best. Um so uh support that work too. Um an update I'm not going to go into a lot of detail but this is a review year. I'll have that be part of the training. But from October 20th through December 5th, we're doing a virtual um review of our classrooms where we have to submit um one hour uninterrupted videos to the office of head start in 15 of our different classrooms where they evaluate the quality of the

102interactions, instruction, and how we are doing. So um that report should come out on how the findings of that evaluation by February. So, which is about when we're coming and sharing with you about the self- assessment. So, we'll be getting back to you about that process um at that time. Um and then just a couple official communications that we're supposed to share with you. There is pretty significant funding um from the office of head start around nutrition, but we didn't move forward with it um because of the match. um we only can put about 25% towards we have to match the other 75% and obviously you know with the budgets we have and that that is not a realistic investment right now. Um and then lots of um news around Head Start not going to

103have it at all. No longer can serve children that were undocumented but that um there's a link to the injunction and that is been um we've been had told to cease and desist. we continue to do and serve the same children and families that we have before. Um that nothing has changed officially and any potential change at this point has been stopped. So just to kind of keep you informed of the federal um landscape. Um any questions on that before we do the two kind of annual action items? Okay. The first one is to review and approve the policy council. Um and again, thank you Juan and Wendy for going to join our our policy council. We had um the largest group of policy council members. I'm so excited. We have about 17 this year

104and it was a great start to the year. So I'm super excited um for this year's and the you have the long list of members um in your packet and we do the board is the governing body does need to approve those members before we can move forward. I move to approve the 20252026 policy council voting member list as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you Gretchen and Juan Natalia. >> Miss Alter >> I >> Miss Conland >> I >> Miss Hovie >> I >> Mr. McQueeny >> I >> Mr. Pena. >> Hi, >> Mr. Reynolds. >> I >> miss >> I >> Great. That >> motion passes 70. >> Go Shelly. Go [laughter] Shelly. Go Shelly. [gasps] Go Shelly. >> The last thing is the approval of um the bylaws, which again has to be

105done each year. And I was really um excited that we got through that um with that first meeting. Um two minor changes um just expanding the number um due the number of interest and our growing number of classrooms. Um so that and clarified what a community member was. It was somewhat vaguely worded on who was eligible to be identified as a community member. So one was more of a clarification and the other one was to increase the number of voting members. And you have a copy of the bylaws in your packet. >> So before we continue, I'm just confused. the on our agenda it has the policy counting vote member list but it's the >> list it >> it's not the list it's the review of the bylaws [snorts] >> apologies I will work on

106that in a minute >> okay >> well that's good because that's what we need to approve now yeah >> right so make a motion >> uh where is Move to approve the 2526 Head Start bylaws as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you, Harry. Thank you, Lou. >> Natalia, >> Miss Alter, >> sorry, >> Miss Conlin. >> Hi, >> Miss Hobie. >> Hi, >> Mr. McQueeny. I >> Mr. Pena >> I >> Mr. Reynolds >> I >> miss >> I >> motion passes 70. Thank you Shellyley. >> Thank you and um just want to thank you for your time. I know you're dealing with much more significant issues but you guys are always gracious and allow the time that we have that's required by the office of Head Start. And I had to share with you

107and again Joe gets a lot of credit that um now all of our playgrounds look like this. Um, so this is the new playgrounds at Edwards Early Learning Center on the backside and um, it's been a great investment and um, hopefully you will have reduced children needing special education and more graduates and lots of things because of this investment. So we appreciate you very very much. >> Thank you. >> We appreciate you, Shelly. >> All right. Uh any feedback from tonight's meeting from the board members? I noticed Marian's still here. So, thank you for staying with us all night um all day, but no, it was in but thank you. Um, it's the other one is [snorts] Tim comes uh comes in every now and then and more than often, but he comes to support

108the teachers or what he thinks is good and they'll leave and Tim stays and so just little shout out for Tim to that. [laughter] No, and then yeah, but I would like to thank everybody for coming in today and uh showing their support whether one side or the other. Um takes a lot to come up and and voice your opinion in front of the board and part of that means we have a strong community that believes in our students. >> I'd like to second that, too. And I just from sitting in a a classroom as a teacher and then moving to a principal uh position and into this position. Um I wish there were times that we could tell the public exactly what was going on HR-wise, but you just can't. And you know, it's

109privacy, it's their life, and it's community's life. And and it's really hard when we go through uh big things like this. And I would just like everyone to know that it's not taken lightly, you know, and and there were a few comments tonight about um following policy and making sure that things were going uh in the right direction. And I think we are and that's why we have policies. If that's not meeting our needs, then we need to go back and readress our policies. And that's what our board should be looking at is making sure that we are following the rules and expectations we put out there. Um, with that being said, um, we all make mistakes and one mistake should not change your life forever. And you know, working with students and families over

110the years, um, middle school, boy, kids make really bad choices in middle school. Um, but it's a learning experience and they learn from that and be able to be a better human in the future. So hopefully we're all learning. You know, I'm always being a teacher. I'm always learning. And I think if we look at it that way and move forward, understand what is going on and how to make things better as a whole community and be able to talk and be able to work through problems, that's great. Um, and I appreciate everybody showing up tonight and give their two cents, but just know that it is really hard being in the position of you just can't share some things. So, thank you guys. Anybody else? Go to Wild West Day Sunday. >> Sunday. Sunday.

111Sunday. Wild West Day. Meeting adjourns. See you October 22nd.