001Adam, you ready? You ready? Okay. Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call the April 27th board meeting um to order. It is 5:00 and we'll start our 5:30 and we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance. [clears throat] Pledge of Allegiance. 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. Can I get a roll call, please, Mr. Alexander? Yes, Mr. Albright. Here. Mr. Alexander is present and Ms. Brady. Present. Okay, and um Director Reeser is um out of state right now and um Director Miley is um recovering and he said we could share tonight that he's being moved out of ICU into a regular room. So, great news for Mr. Miley. So. [clears throat] Um
002next up, um Mr. Hartman, are there any changes to the agenda today? Yeah, thank you for asking, Mr. Albright. We do have a change under two general business. A, two, B, three B under termination and leave, there is an addition. Okay. Do I have a board director wanting to make a motion to approve today's agenda with the modification? I'll approve. I'll make a move a motion, rather, to approve the agenda with the modification. I second that motion. I have a motion and a second. Roll call, please. Mr. Albright. I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Ms. Brady. I. Motion passes. Next up is the consent agenda. Do I have a board member that would like to pull anything from today's consent agenda? No. That said, may I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? I motion
003to approve the consent agenda as written. I'll second. Okay, I have a motion and a second. Roll call, please. Mr. Albright. I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Ms. Brady. I. Okay, motion passes. Next up, we have board members' reports. Um hasn't been a very busy couple weeks. Um we're getting speeding towards the end of the year, which is great. Um I was at had an opportunity to go to the CASA luncheon, um which is the Court Advisory um student for for advocates for um kids in trouble situations. It's a phenomenal organization that helps a lot of troubled young people in difficult times. So, we were able to do do a fundraiser luncheon and there was a lot of uh board of directors and different folks, they were there um helping that participate in that, which is
004great. And then uh Todd and I also got to participate in the um rural superintendents um training. Um and so, we got to discuss um a lot of great things from different perspectives, even, um but about what it's like when you're merging um new school boards together and what it's like with new directors coming and going and how that works. And so, there was I would say 25 to 30 um superintendents and superintendent possibilities throughout the state who came here for that rural alliance um that George Wells Welsh held. It was a really, really good experience and a lot of great people. We got a lot of really positive feedback um that they got a lot of information from our perspectives, um which was great, as well. So, we did that. Okay. Go ahead. I
005have uh two things. I also attended the CASA luncheon and um I also represent our school board on the CCEOE um organization, which is Canon City Educational Opportunity. Help me out Adam, what's for excellence. And um that's all I had on my agenda. Okay, well I I had a few things. I um I was invited to judge the Southern Colorado One Act Festival in Pueblo. And um it was a little awkward cuz we had Canon City kids participate in that as well, but I just kind of abstain from comments until I um could just say I agree at the end. And Canon City did really well. They got um they were got runner-up for best one act of the entire festival and they got a best actor award for Caden Nimmo which was pretty impressive
006and um um I got a best um commit to the bit for the actor who played Sherlock. I'm sorry, I don't know his name right now, but he should have been on the Carol Burnett show. You have to look that up if you don't know who Carol Burnett is. It makes me sad. But [clears throat] um anyway, that was really exciting and we did serve on I served on a couple of panels for the rural superintendents. First one I did was on our on our IPR review and I know our IPR review very well and I was very excited to to share that and they had lots of great questions about it and um of course you know, Adam was Adam is woven through all of those documents. We did that. So it was nice
007to be able to share that and I know Adam couldn't be here, but it was nice that your words were in the back of my head and I could share them freely and speak so passionately about what we are able to do even though I do think it's a great deal more work than what a lot of schools do do. Um I think the value completely outweighs that and I'm very passionate about it. And then Matt and I got to do the second panel on board transitions and I think they enjoyed the Matt and Todd show. So we had a good time and we shared a lot and um and I did one more thing. Oh, and as my role on the CASB Board of Directors I attended and the the legislative committee of um
008CASB to learn about new upcoming bills and how they might affect schools. And I shared a little bit of that with the board earlier today. Okay. Now onto awards and kudos. In the event we are honoring multiple recipients, we encourage audience members to stay throughout all the awards and kudos section of the meeting in order to honor and celebrate those individuals. We'll start today with today's top Falcon. The board and CCMS would like to recognize top Falcons. Um let's see. I think is Ella here yet? No? Not yet? Okay. So Silva Valladares and Caden Owen. Come on up you two. [applause] Ready to drum make your assault? Yeah. Okay. Um I've got both of them here with me. I'm going to talk a little bit about both you guys, okay? You look at the board
009and look at mom and dad. I'll take pictures, okay? Here. You can turn around and talk to them. You can walk around and hear it. Um so oh, that's real loud, isn't it? So the first uh young man here is Caden Owen. Um Bailey and Greg Owen are mom and dad. Wave at mom and dad. Look there. Um Caden is a seventh grader with us who has a 4.0 GPA and is currently the number one ranked seventh grader. I didn't know if you knew that, Caden. Well done, young man. Um and here's some things that Caden's teachers had to say about him. I just got real weird. Okay, sorry. I was talking to nobody. Um Caden, you're an awesome young man and a great student. You work hard and you put forth the effort time
010needed to be successful. You're incredibly kind and genuine whether it's helping a classmate understand a tough concept or just offering a kind word, you can continuously go out of your way to support those around you. Hard work again, your you are you have fun learning, you help your peers, you're dependable. I couldn't ask for a better student. Um Caden, you truly represent what it means to be an outstanding student. So that's what your seventh grade teachers had to say about you. Caden, I'm sure glad you're part of the school. Well done, buddy. [applause] Okay, you just come over here for a minute. No point sitting down. And then this is Silva Valladares. So Silva is an eighth grader with us. Janelle and Greg are back there. Hi to mom and dad. Okay. Um Silva carries
011a 3.9877 which ties her with the num for the number fifth eighth grader that we have at CCMS. And Silva was nominated by her band teacher and her band teacher says sorry, choir. Um this eighth grade choir student exemplifies what it means to be both a dedicated musician and a supportive member of an ensemble. She consistently demonstrates a strong work ethic always coming to class prepared and ready to contribute. What sets her apart is her willingness to step in and help wherever needed often without being asked. She's a quiet leader who celebrates her own successes with humility while genuinely uplifting and encouraging those around her when they achieve success as well. Her presence helps create a positive and collaborative environment in choir. Silva, there's more. I'll let you read it. Thanks for being part of
012the school, kid. I appreciate you very much. [applause] And then Ella is not here yet. So I'll wait and when she gets here maybe we can amend and do that. Okay? Yep. So we're doing the pictures. Yep, on YouTube. Mom and dad, come on up and get pictures if you want. I'm there. [laughter] [applause] I apologize, Mr. Oliver. I didn't mean to throw you. I just I just can't imagine why we would make all of them look at your backside. [laughter] Okay, next up we have a very special kudos for Black Hills Energy tonight. The board would like to recognize Black Hills Energy for its continued support of Canon City Schools. Black Hills Energy facilitated a contractual change that allowed the district to receive production credits from two existing rooftop solar facilities resulting in more
013than 52,000 in revenue in 2024, 25,000 2000 265 and in 2025 27,000 200. In 2025 Black Hills Energy also donated subscriptions in a solar garden enabling the district to benefit from solar energy without the need to install panels. These subscriptions measured in kilowatt hours directly offset the energy use and are expected to provide an estimated annual benefit exceeding $13,000 with increased value as energy rates change over time. To date this partnership and it's truly been a partnership with Black Hills has generated more than $57,000 in financial benefit to Canon City Schools and is projected to provide more than $38,000 in 2026. So we would like to invite um John V. Hill from Black Hills to come on up so we can give him a kudos tonight. [applause] As John is joining with the board, I
014would just like to give a little bit of additional there. The district has four priority areas in our strategic planning efforts. The third one is community engagement and John on behalf of the district, not only the board, but also leadership, any penny we can save goes to kids and we just appreciate that Black Hills has been thinking about how you can do right by one of your community partners, Canon City Schools. On behalf of Mr. Morton, director of operations and my own self, thank you. [applause] Okay, I don't see We haven't have an had an an Ellie sighting yet, right? So okay, there we go. Okay. So next we have kudos for John and Carol Dominguez. Tonight we want to recognize two I want to make sure they're here. Are they here? Okay, there Hey
015there. I see you. Okay. Tonight we want to recognize two extraordinary individuals who have spent over a decade turning our community into a community of readers. Carol Dominguez and her dedicated partner John. Known affectionately across the district as the book lady, Carol first reached out to the district in 2010. What started as a simple donation has grown into a monumental literacy effort spanning 16 years. Carol and John spend their weekends hunting through garage sales and bookstores to ensure our students have high-quality, like-new books of their very own. To date, they have placed well over 20,000 books directly into the hands of our children. Their commitment is staggering, delivering 225 books every single month of the school year. Their impact is deeply personal. Carol takes specific requests from students, hunting down the exact titles they're dreaming
016of, and she never forgets a special book for our teachers as well. This effort is even helping our students practice their own literacy. They regularly write letters to Carol and John, and in this latest round of notes, our educators can see the students' growing writing skills and character traits shine through. Carol and Oh, I'm going to have you come up for a minute. But, as you come up, I'm going to read a couple of these letters that these kids have written to you. Please come up. Dear Yeah, give them a hand. [applause] Here we go. This first one says, "Dear John and Carol, it is a pleasure for you to send us the books you give. We honor you with lots of appreciation and generosity, for all you do must be hard, and I am
017thoughtful for that. Your integrity puts a smile on my face, on everyone's face. Thank you a ton. We are touched by what you have done. Thank you." And that one's from I would I don't think it has a name. Maybe on this side. Nope. Here's another one. "Dear Carol and John, thank you for all your kindness and generosity. You guys are the best and also the best book choosers. You guys get some of my favorite books that I could ever read. Thanks to you guys, a little brother has been getting better at reading because you pick good books for him to read. Well, I wish you guys the best." And there are several other letters here like just like that. [applause] Carol and John, you aren't just giving away paper and ink. You are opening
018up worlds of opportunity and ensuring that every child in our district has the chance to build a library of their own. On behalf of the board and the entire Canyon City School District, thank for Thank you for your tireless dedication to the love of reading. Now, Jamie Davis, I believe, has something she would like to do for you. I appreciate that Jamie um leads this district and this HR department focusing on relationships and finding opportunities to share gratitude for the great people we have helping us out. Yes, I was the first classroom in 2010 when John and Carol answered a call looking for books to do a book swap for our summer um nutrition feed and read is what we called it. And now I don't have a classroom, but I so I'm the vessel
019to get them connected to teachers. So, if you're here tonight and John and Carol bring you books to your classroom, if you want to come on up, um I know you few of you brought maybe some cards and things that you have from students. Come on up. Don't be shy. [laughter] I have this for you. I have just something. Oh. Your kids do well. They're really writing well. Thank you. Thank you. So, they have seven different classrooms this year ranging from kindergarten all the way up to fifth and sixth grade. I just [snorts] died. Oh, [laughter] there you go. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I got to get this. Hey, you know what? I have a rubber band. You put a rubber band on it. Yeah, I have to have one hand free for
020the cane. [laughter] Let me help you with the rubber band. And I'll hold I'll hold this for you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. And we all want a picture with you guys, so don't [snorts] It's the best part. And Carol, did you want to say something? Thank you. Well, you pretty much said it. Well, you go ahead. I know you have something. all right. Look. Oh, wow. Thank you so much. We've all loved it. All right. You're You're welcome. Hey, teachers, teachers, don't run off. Let's have you be in the picture here with them today. Let's all gather up here for a picture. No, that's okay. Well, I want to thank everybody for this recognition. And it has been a long almost 20 years, it seems like. And we do we do spend our summers
021at yard sales. So, if you see them, [laughter] including Olathe, Kansas and West Virginia. Wherever we are on the weekend, if we travel, we're at a yard sale. So, we're always thinking about finding books for your kids. Thank you very much. [applause] [clears throat] [laughter] [applause] Carol. Um still no Ellie sighting yet. Okay. From the other room. Here we go. Okay. [clears throat] So, next I think we have our staff report. So, the following items are presented for information only unless otherwise noted. If a board member has a question. So, first one is file SOP GBEE-A, employee acceptance use guidelines for the internet and electronic communications, presented to the board for information. This is an update to current SOP from director of technology Dan Copa to establish guidelines for the appropriate use of the Cañon
022City School District Fremont RE-1 CCS network and electronic communication systems to ensure compliance with district policies and federal regulations and maintain professional and secure usage. The next is file SOPJICJ. Student use of cell phones and other personal techno- technology devices presented to the board for information. This is an update to the current SOP from director of technology Dan Copa. The update broadens the definition of applicable devices, reflects ongoing technological developments, and incorporates grade-level specific changes at the high school level. Next, we have our presentations. We're going to start with a very special one by the for the McKinley preschool presentation. And I have to start by reading a resolution for tonight. Whereas Cañon City Schools Board of Education, the County of Fremont, ECHO, and Family Center Early Childhood Council are joining together to honor child
023care providers and all children of Fremont County and whereas the first years of a child's life represent the period of the most rapid brain development and lay the foundation for all future learning, children's cognitive, physical, social-emotional, and language and literacy development are built upon positive interactions with adults, peers, and their environment. And there are approximately 2,500 children from birth through age five in our community. And whereas investing in the early years is one of the most powerful investments we can make in the future. As we come together to celebrate this special week, we reaffirm our commitment to providing all children with the opportunity to learn, grow, and succeed. And whereas child care providers are essential to the health of our communities by fostering welcoming spaces, supporting working families, and creating positive, enriching environments where children
024can develop lifelong skills. And whereas the Cañon City School Board of Education recognize that high-quality early childhood education depends on well-prepared early childhood educators who ensure that children, supported by families, have the early experiences they need for a strong foundation for life. Now, therefore, let it be proclaimed by the directors of the Cañon City School Board that the week of April 11th through the 17th of the year 2026 is hereby designated as Week of the Young Child in Fremont County, Colorado. The Cañon City Schools Board of Education urge all citizens of Cañon City to recognize this annual celebration sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children which highlights the importance of early educators and families who support young children every day. And now I believe we have some teachers um and some
025very special students coming forward to do a presentation. [applause] The teachers coming I'm going to wait till all the teachers come out cuz I want you to meet them, too. Okay, we have teachers here um when I call your name, can you wave at them so we can all know who we or who's the behind the scenes here. Jo Ann Shedel. Emily Wright. Deondra Gould. Tara Loose. Erica Sanchez. Okay, and Danielle Herrera. She Amy Pushchak. [gasps] I knew Amy was here. And Carrie Burford. She hasn't made it yet. Okay. Well, we are ready for the special presentation. [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [applause and cheering] [music] [singing and music] [singing] [music and singing] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [applause and cheering] Thank you. Okay. So, we have a gift for the Board of
026Education. Um it says "Little feet, big dreams. Thank you for helping lead the way and believing in every one of our preschoolers' future with Cañon City Schools." Thank you. And we have um a picture for our superintendent and then our board members also for you to keep. Um they we took all of our 104 children out in the back field and had them run towards the [laughter] we got about 20 of them. Cuz they were all running different directions. Um but we did really good and they had a great time. So, thank you. There we go. Thank you guys so much. You were all amazing. Wow, what good singers. Was that ASL? That was I love that you did ASL. Wow, you're multilingual already. That's amazing. Can we take a picture with you? Can you
027guys come forward a little bit cuz we we should stand behind you. Don't you think? We're kind of big. We'll come behind you. Here we go. Come on over here. Come on. All the teachers in here. Yes, we do. Let me set this down. Shake your hands down. You can come right down there and shake your hands. We can go around and do a line. Here we go. Clap your hands now. [laughter] I love You Are My Sunshine. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU. [applause] THANK YOU ALL. THANK YOU TEACHERS. Thank you students. Thank you parents for coming tonight and trusting us with your children. Thank you. Okay, I believe we can Do I need to do something special? Can we amend the agenda? Okay, so can I get a motion to amend the agenda
028to allow another kudos? I motion to approve the agenda to allow the late coming um recipient for the Top Falcons. I'll second. So, roll call, please. Uh Mr. Albright? I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Ms. Brady? I. Okay, uh amend the the agenda is amended. Okay, no, we'll go that way so we can get Okay, um thanks, guys. Thanks for amending the agenda, I appreciate it. Um my last Top Falcon I've been trying to wrangle here since January. So, well, we're going to miss the opportunity. And this young lady was late tonight because she's already working on her next phase of her career um in education. She was up at high school cheerleading tryouts. So, Ella Brant, COME HERE, KIDDO. [applause] OKAY, THIS IS ELLA BRANT. Ella's an eighth grader with us at CCMS. She carries
029a 3.9877, which ties you with Silva back there for number fifth in the number five in the class. You girls are both doing great. Um Kezia and Tanner are back there. Hi, Kezia and Tanner. Wave to mom and dad. There you go. Um Ella, here's some things that your teachers had to say about you. Um your work ethic and communication skills are going to take you very far in life. Ella always does what's right and pushes those around you to do the same thing. Ella, you always come to school with a positive attitude and ready to work. I've never received poor quality work from you and you always put your best foot forward. Ella, you are an amazing student all around, prepared and ready to work, and really good self-advocating skills. Ella, it's been a
030pleasure having you at CCMS for the past 3 years. Well done, young lady. Good luck at high school. [applause] Mom and dad, you can come take pictures, too. If you want. In the middle. [applause] Okay. [clears throat] Next, we have a presentation by Jamie Davis, who leads our human resources department. And I again want to talk about how I think Jamie leads by example and continually looks for ways to appreciate and share gratitude with people and value our people cuz we value relationships in this district and I've seen Jamie do that in very difficult situations, not just in the good times. So, grateful to have you, Jamie. Well, thank you, Todd. All right. I see John and Carol stayed back here. They stayed for my report. They didn't know I was presenting tonight. All right,
031I will share these slides with you. There's a few things that I just update every year, but I won't go through all of um some of the staff reports. I'll just hit some of our highlights. So, I'm planning on touching over yearly highlights, going through updated staff statistics for the state, which were released last week. Um share with you a new my it's become my passion project, retention and recruitment with Next Education Workforce. Give you a little bit of a teaser with our TLCC. We'll later share more information with that during Compass. And then um wrap up. So, this continues to be our strong team, welcoming and onboarding, offboarding folks. Highlights this year, we um continue to meet our things that we've put in place for key performance indicators. The TLCC survey showed showed tremendous
032positive results for and that's a survey that we take every every other year. This year we put in place office hours in the spring and that's something that will continue where both Miles and I go out to the schools. Typically around lunchtime, so folks can just stop in the emails that they think they need to send that they never get around to sending. Um we're just there and they can pop in and ask us questions. We also had community educator benefits program. That's where we've had local businesses opt in. You can show your ID badge and they we have local businesses that have offered 10%. Um some have offered unique different types of discounts. So, that's been a positive new thing that we've um put in place. And then we're increasing from three houses to
033five houses. So, we'll have five houses for student for um educators at the end of this year. So, we continue to be a staff of around 542. That doesn't include substitutes. We have about 120 licensed classified substitutes. And then we have it broken down to our classified um support staff and um 218 certified staff. Recently, I was in a a meeting where someone said about the substitute shortage problem. We actually we I mean, there's always when someone's not here, it's we'd rather them be here, but we do have a healthy sub pool. Um we are fortunate to have even educators who retire to our community and they're looking for ways to meet people and so they come to the school district and that's one of the joys that I get to do is interview them
034and then get them connected into our schools. This year we had 100% fill rate for um all staff vacancies. So, we've this is the first year since I've been in this position that we started the school year at 100% filled. Compared to regional, you'll see our average teacher salaries. We still have that gap, but our average teacher salary is around 63,000. [snorts] And then our turnover, this is an exciting um information that we were I'm going to share this year is that our turnover rate is decreasing. It's the lowest it's been since um pre-pandemic. So, this screen is for all staff turnover. So, it compares Cañon City Schools is in red. Those of you in the colorblind, that's on the left. Um and then green is on the right. That's all staff. And then this
035is our teacher versus state turnover. You'll see this is what I'm talking about that it's the lowest it's been since 2021. Um [snorts] where Cañon City teachers we're retaining folks. Fewer retirements, people are staying. And then this is a trend line overall. On the left, you'll see Cañon City all staff and then Cañon City teachers on the right. And those are specific numbers. We do staff data that we turn in to the state of Colorado each year in February and then they post the results for us. So, it's consistent. Um it's probably been more consistent the last 3 years for the the things that we report um with the addition of our HR manager. He does all our staff reporting. I like to keep track of our teaching light teacher license types. Uh with our
036you'll see some are filled with emergency substitutes, but some of those cross over. That the light blue with our CTE and technical, some of our folks that have CTE certifications also have professional teacher license. You can see majority of our staff have the professional teaching license. [snorts] And we're seeing more initial license. So, those are folks who actually go to school for teaching and they're able to carry their initial license versus somebody who has a bachelor's degree and comes into the field. They're they have an alternative license. And then here's what I'm going to highlight. This is my passion project that I've been working on. This is Next Education Workforce. So, this was brought to us probably in 20 or brought to me 2021-22. Um where Arizona State University was promoting this idea of team-based
037instruction. I'm really glad Courtney's in the audience cuz we have a a big celebration this week. We did a site visit or last week. Uh we did a site visit for CDE. ASU was there. So, it was state, national, um the Gates Foundation was supposed to be there. We had folks another school districts coming and they're already asking Courtney when they can come again. So, that I don't think this will be the last time that folks want to come and just learn about what we're doing and we're We're doing anything new that's other schools are not, but it's a shift in looking at teachers of record where we have a teams of record. [snorts] So, it's all about like deeper personalized learning, building teams of educators to distribute the expertise. Shall share with you how
038our model looks at McKinley and that it there's not just one model, but what it looks like at McKinley is we're also developing a pipeline while supporting students in personalized learning. So, ASU has specific three big ideas. The first one is that there's not one model. When we specifically Adam and I even went down to Arizona to tour, there's others pockets in the state that are creating some different teaming models. They all look a little bit different. And McKinley's is a little different cuz it's even because it's Dewey it's looking at multi-age even versus some of the larger school districts that you would see teaming, they might have four third-grade teachers. And so, four third-grade teachers are teaming together, but at McKinley, we have a fourth and fifth-grade classroom that's teaming together. The second big
039idea from ASU is that it's um that it's healthy, it's lasting change moves the speed of trust. So, we've even Courtney and I have worked I mean trust with her and I working of strategic staffing, trust with her and her staff, so she's worked to gain the trust of her staff in order to take some of these risks. And the third idea that ASU promotes is that it's it should be good for students, families, and educators. [snorts] So, the early outcomes that ASU has seen as far as nationally with team-based is that there's lower turnover rates. Um folks are are more satisfied just in the profession itself. Um they're feeling it's less lonely, so you're not just one person in a classroom. And then you're they're also seen starting to see have good data for
040student growth. Um higher reading, they're reporting um higher levels of reading, and then access to more um regular opportunities for collaboration. So, at McKinley specifically, we were looking for in the school district I was looking for ways to promote growth within, so you're growing your pipeline. And at McKinley, we were experiencing one with some declining enrollment, one-track classrooms where you had a fourth-grade teacher, you had a fifth-grade teacher, and then on top of that we had new teachers. So, they didn't have anyone that they were collaborating with. So, we were solving a problem, we wanted folks to be working together. [snorts] And we were solving a problem, we wanted a really strong lead teacher so that we could have another teacher and then an opportunity to have a residency or an apprenticeship that's working who
041would then be able to get their license afterwards. So, this is what it looked like before. Your special education paraprofessional, your title, those are your extended teams. [snorts] And then you had your teachers that were siloed. And then here's what it's looking like at McKinley now. You have a lead teacher, a teacher, the resident teacher. So, that person knows they're only there for a year because their job is to get a job somewhere else and hopefully teach someone about teaming. And then an instructional assistant is in the classroom and that's someone who's maybe in their first or second year of teaching. So, they get to remain in that position. The idea is for them to remain in it, so then they can move into the the resident teacher and have an opportunity to do their
042student teaching experience. All while being paid. So, that's the other part of this that we've been using a quality teacher recruitment program. It was a grant that we worked that we were awarded last year. It's a two-year grant. We have to reapply for it, but we have wonderful data to show them. But it's allowed us to pay for these positions. So, folks in student teaching are getting their earning para, they're earning a wage, and so they're starting their career earlier. [snorts] Did you did you say the instructional assistant Did you say the instructional assistant is a first or second year teacher or are they still First and second year in their program. So, it could be like a freshman or sophomore in college. Okay. Thank you. These were some of the slides that Courtney shared
043during her IPR, but we shared um majority of these slides during our site visit last week. This is what you'll find on the rubric at McKinley of how they're assessing their work um in the teaming. And we've [snorts] worked with our Arizona State University coach to help develop um that work. This just explains more. I kept these slides up there cuz I think the pictures are great. It really just shows a lot of people in the classroom and the work they've been doing. And then when you think about like teaming, what does that look like? So, for an instructional person, these are all the different models you might see. So, it's called lead and observe. You have the lead teacher who's teaching. You might have the residency who's observing that. You have lead and assist.
044That's a cool model to watch, too. You have the lead teacher, but they've planned different ways they're going to assist throughout the lesson. You have station teaching, so you there's little dots in there so you can kind of see where the lead teacher. Parallel teaching, they might be teaching the same lesson side by side even in different classrooms. So, it's not just that you have 45 kids always in one room. It could look very It could be all of these in one day. So, what So, this is this is some of the highlights that we're already seeing. Courtney pulled her behavior data, some student attendance, but we're seeing a 30% reduction of high-level behaviors. Uh 57% reduction in referrals from even just second semester. We've kind of like talked had conversations of why do you
045think that is? Well, we attribute that to a lot of relationships. Four. Oh, power Oh, we're not getting to that slide. Yeah. Um student attendance, we've had a 15% reduction in chronic absenteeism, and we've also seen a reduction in staff absences as well. Professional climate at McKinley is is up all the way. T- What did I say? Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I'm hearing lots of sidebars. I'm like, what? I know it's great information. Yeah. I just I'm sorry to interrupt, but a 27% that's significant. Mhm. Wow. Well, people want to be at work. And so, the feedback that we're getting is that they they have a team. You don't want to let your team down. So, if you think about leaving, well, that maybe or have to be gone, that's a burden for my teammate.
046Also, when people do have to be gone cuz they get sick, you also have a team around you supporting you if you have to be gone. Just some of the literacy pieces that Courtney pulled. They're well So, you can see the students reading as well below. This is just beginning of the year, middle of the year, so they'll have end of the year benchmarking I think starts next week or in 2 weeks. And then um students reading on grade level is above, it's increased by 16%. So, this is our fourth and fifth grade that we've been um Well, this [clears throat] is K3 and then the next one's fourth and fifth grade. [snorts] So, fourth and fifth grade you'll see that an increase in their changes of grade equivalents. And then math is well as
047increasing. Wow. Look at fifth grade. So, overall, the results that even came out of the IPR, we pulled Well, when for the site visit, we pulled out specific things that kids feel safer, there's a greater access um to trusted adults. And one fun little story to share about that is Courtney took a risk the other day asking kids to all 10 of them, by the way. Um we did a student panel and the kids were asked, you know, what teacher do you connect with? Like, who's your go-to person? Every kid on that panel named somebody different. And they all they talked about a teacher in all of their um different One kid was like, well, for personal issues I go to Miss White, the counselor. [laughter] For math, I go to this person. Well, what's
048so powerful about that is they had so many teachers or educators that they could access and it wasn't just the lead teacher, it wasn't just the teacher or the instructional assistant. They named different different folks. It was that was pretty powerful. I've got [snorts] Educator impact, there's a reduced turnover um at McKinley. They're feeling really proud of the work. It was just you could feel it in the in the school on Thursday of that they're starting to feel that agency and autonomy and wanting to take risks. They're hungry to learn more. Some are dipping their toe. Um they're not feeling bound by a schedule. And then again that um even the teacher voice in scheduling for next year, they're making some tweaks. So, I'm just overall really proud of the leadership and um the work
049that's happening for strategic staffing efforts at McKinley. So, here's the when Courtney shouted like the power of four is she was told that she needed to coin mark this term. But what we're finding is this power of four is pretty instrumental of a team and large districts would have might have a four track on their team, but little districts, you wouldn't have that. So, if you find a way to combine and do some strategic staffing efforts that way, you're going to see result I believe you'll continue to see results like this because folks aren't working in isolation. Um our first time with it's our first time with new residents. So, we're we're excited Courtney has interviews tomorrow. We have four or five people. So, it's like becoming a competitive process. People are reaching out to
050us. So, we're going to have to see you now what that looks like to off board our residents and on board. And one thing that we talked about at our um at our site visit too is that it's not just about Cañon City Schools. We're developing educators for even our county and public education cuz with our turnover rate, there hasn't been many positions open for them. So, that's the other thing that we've tried to figure out how do we get these folks that we've worked hard to train um connected with other schools that might have a position. Um we're waiting for the grant. So, I did share this at the event that right now the barrier is the timing of a grant. So, when we have strategic staffing grants where we can use it on
051people, um I'm hoping that that was a message that was heard last week is that that needs to happen sooner so we can know if we have grant money in order to be strategic with it. [snorts] We plan to continue our instructional assistant roles and then continue with the coaching support we've had from Arizona State University. So, that's teaming. So, that's a little bit different than my report, but it's so important that you all understand and know what we're doing with the side of the schools and my hope is that it it's not just even though we're calling McKinley a learning lab school, um a ground for learning that we'll start to see teaming show up in other areas um and it and it is. There's other pockets of teachers that are are doing this
052type of work. Um quick to just recruitment data. You can see that this year we've posted the 91 different job post that includes coaching and 91, but look at the number of applicants we've had. It's increased significantly. inverse like that. Thank you, Daniel. But the number of jobs posted is reflective of the fact that people are staying in their work and we're not losing them. And then also the number of applicants going up at the same time you're seeing the number of postings go down. That's why those numbers on applicants per are shining like that and that's not just the work of HR. That's the work of the school district for sure, but that's a really tangible way of seeing this and I and HR, thank you for tracking this because this really speaks to
053what we're doing for our people. I mean, I'll say it in some of my comments from time to time around priority area number two could have very well been priority number one because good people in front of kids directly results in learning opportunities for students and kudos Jamie for calling this out tonight. That's a real overtime, real numbers, not a blip testament to a lot of hard work. Thank you. [clears throat] So, during our Compass Committee, we'll go over some more we'll get into a few more details. So, if there's specific questions you even have prior to that, you can shoot them my way. Um but these are just some high level snippets. 20 out of 20 says our we have scored higher than the state in every area that we've tracked. Um 13 out
054of 13 every category with historical data saw positive or stable growth since 2024. So, remember it's every other year. And then these were specific categories. So, just school leadership evaluation, um district support, support for AI. That's an area that was um low across the district and I think that might have been a new a new area that they put out a question for, but still even that we're significantly higher than what we see in the state. And we had 78% of our staff that took it, our instructional staff. So, not only did we we perform we're showing positive feedback, it was a significant number of our staff that took it and gave us the feedback. [snorts] Uh were those numbers who took it or that's their score that they gave? It's the So, Colorado 83%
055the school leadership. So, it's just the notable like advantages of it. I don't think I may answer your question right. Well, [snorts] is that saying 100% of our leadership team took the survey or our survey reflected that they thought 100% of our school leadership? I think it's the 100%. So, that well, it's the difference. It's showing the difference of Colorado to the Cañon City Schools. I'm still not answering your question right. It's the favorable response. Wow. Thank you. Just wow. I got chills. That's really cool. That's So, here and this is favorable response too. I'll make sure that's clear for Compass. So, we have that clearly so there's not questions there for that. I mean, we want questions, but um I'm just looking at the time and my I was hoping to be done by
0566:30. So, these are our goals for next year. We're going to just continue to focus on strategic planning goals, set new goals as we enter into our new um strategic plan. Um next year we have the stay survey. So, we we do that every other year. We ask folks why do you stay in Cañon City Schools? That's just a survey that we do. And then we'll year two of our quality teacher recruitment program. And then we have some specific goals on how we'd like to in the HR department promote a better job of the professional development from the educator hub through Arizona State University. So, that's what you can expect out of just a few things. There's a lot that we do. Those are some highlights for next year. And I'm glad Courtney stayed. I'm
057I'm truly I wouldn't have told you about this because you put in a lot of time and we worked a lot really hard for that site visit. So, I didn't need to give you another meeting. I'm glad Courtney stayed too because that's really a perfect example of how we are forward um we were forward thinking, we're future focused and that's an innovative instructional model that you brought to our school and worked so hard on it and I love what you said about seeing ourselves as not just our kids, but part of a bigger picture if not even bigger picture and community that we are raising people for this to lead this world, not just our schools. So, um I'm glad Courtney was here to hear that. I'm proud of you. So, I'm proud of both
058of you. All right. Thanks for having me. Awesome. Thank you. Well done. Thank you. [applause] Okay. Now it's time for our Superintendent's report. First we're going to do Adam. I teased her. Oh, wait. I I think I forgot something. So, is this all or do we have anyone who would like to address the board tonight? No. I even had a big pink sticky note here and I ignored it. I was too excited to hear from Adam. Okay. Now it's your turn, Adam. teasing Jamie as she stood up about good luck topping the the preschoolers. [laughter] Now I should tease myself, good luck topping all of that data there. So, thank you for that report. It's refreshing. I was having a conversation with Brian today and he said sometimes in this role it's difficult to know
059whether or not the work we're doing is making a difference and um I that's that's a lot of people rowing in one direction with shared goals and it's showing up in a really tangible way. So, thank you Todd for asking me to come up. Jamie, thank you for the presentation. I'm sure the board enjoyed that as did all of your colleagues. I I've had a strange two weeks since we were together last. I went through my calendar just to look at it. We were at CES two weeks ago this evening and the next day I left for Washington, D.C. So, just chronologically um during the week of what must have been today is the 27th 14th during the week of the 13th, um I spent 80% of that week in either in travel to, travel
060back from, or actually in the nation's capital. It was my honor to be selected as part of a delegation of Colorado leaders in K-12, um mostly superintendents, but also some people that represented the financial side of the house as well as the Colorado Association of School Executives to meet with elected officials from Colorado on their home That's not their home, but in their environment of actually Capitol Hill. It was quite an honor to be selected for something like that. I actually really enjoy Washington, D.C. Um I enjoy democracy. It's a honor to actually be inside that Capitol, whether it be a visitor or somebody whose opinion has been sought. And in our case, we were able to meet with a number of our Congress people as well as one of our senators. I feel like
061the messages we shared around the importance of title funding for a move of consistency across all public school in America, but also what we're doing with IDEA and dollars invested in students who are some of our highest needs, students through special education were well received. My hope is that those funds are protected as we go forward. Um and that also that the legislators might have gained some insight as to ways that they can evaluate the effectiveness of their investment. I was impressed by some of the ways that the questions were at put back to us to say, "What are some models that are working especially well? What states perhaps we should look at in terms of flow through from federal dollars to the state level?" And then back to my point from earlier, "How do
062we measure the success of our investment?" So, that was almost all of that week. Um I came back and then we completed some work that was ongoing work between my office, the business services offices, as well as HR, with inputs from our associations as well, both on the classified and certified side, regarding the health insurance benefits package that Cañon City Schools offers to its employees. Um as of Friday last week, you probably saw an all-staff email that went out regarding our selection of the Colorado Educators Coalition CEC platform of Harbor Bridge. Cañon City Schools will begin um a a window will be open to help begin to um enroll all of our employees onto CEC's Harbor Bridge starting on May 4, Monday, May 4th. We've asked for a little bit of an extended window and
063we've made sure that CEC is prepared to provide additional capacity for that rollover, noting that we are the largest of what is now 24 school districts in the state that'll be part of this option. Different than where we were before, this is more of a self-funded option with some cost containment strategies inside of it to allow us to better preserve the overall utilization of the of the package, direct traffic, if you will, a little bit with hopes of keeping costs down. Um we had a long and good relationship with former our former provider. However, just like you were hearing earlier um when it both in work session and kudos, when we're talking about things like utilities and the fact that some of those costs continue to go up, we've certainly found that to be be
064the case with health insurance. Um Todd, you talked earlier about we're future-focused and how that showed up with the work of um next education workforce with ASU. What part of also lives in that particular core It's at a core belief is that the risks that we take are worth taking. This is a The school district is leading in taking a risk here. We recognize that we're large for this group, but we're doing something different because we recognize what we were doing wasn't working for our people. And part of what we're trying to do, not just in the classroom, but also how we support our employees to help them want to continue to be here, to decrease that number of jobs that we have to post, is to take care of their personal needs, too. And
065that showed up in the insurance work. That said, I want to thank everyone that was involved in that. Um there's work to be done. It's going to be a big lift now in business services. I'm going to thank you in advance cuz this is big, but it's the right thing for us to be taking a good risk on for the district right now. And then lastly, I just want to speak to define my week last week. Sometimes your personal life will almost collide with your professional life in a way where you even have to prioritize which of those things comes first. That happened for me last week. Two weeks ago, I was talking about how thankful I was to hear about Director Miley and his what was then very new news about a turn for
066the better with his health condition. That caught us by surprise. Restored and better, by the way, and Todd, thank you for mentioning that earlier that his family was comfortable sharing that. It's a celebration. My life changed a little because something happened involving my mom. Glenn sent me a text the other day while I was dealing with it and he Actually, it was email and he said, "Moms are the best." No. Think everyone Everyone's got a mom. Everyone's got a dad. This allowed me an opportunity um to to be there and support my family cuz yeah, my mom's the best, too. So, to be able to leave the school district like that and to know that I was surrounded by people like this who are pushing this place forward. We're getting better during a really hard
067time in American education. Cañon City Schools is getting better. And it's because of the hard work. So, directors, I've done it before, but tonight I perhaps do it with even more zest than I ever have before. No one batted an eye. You all said, "How can we help?" The board supported me in helping to support people like my dad when that time called. So, I It's been my pleasure to not only come back and feel this moment with the rest of the team this evening, but also to to report to you, directors, that I'm almost done completing all of their evaluations. I am surrounded by exceptional group of leaders, six of whom are in this room this evening, and that's what I've been up to. Thank you, Adam. [applause] Thank you, directors. Yeah. We're glad
068you're back. Thank you. I'm glad to be back. Okay, looks like we have some policy work. [sighs and gasps] Do I have a board member who would like to introduce and make a motion on our first policy tonight? Yes, I'll make a motion. Our first policy is file JB equal educational opportunities, presented to the board for second reading and final vote. This is an update to current policy from CASB to conform with Title IX regulations. I second that motion. Okay, roll call, please. Mr. Albright. I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Miss Brady. I. Okay, do I have a board member who would like to introduce and make a motion on the next policy? I motion to approve file JF admission and denial of admission, presented to the board for second reading and final vote. Also an
069update to current policy from CASB to conform with Title IX regulations. Do I have a second? I'll second. Roll call, please. Mr. Albright. I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Miss Brady. I. Great, do I have a board member who would like to introduce and make a motion on the next policy? Yes, I'll make a motion um to accept file JFB A, which is intradistrict choice open enrollment. It's presented to the board for the second reading and final vote. It's an update to current policy from CASB to conform with Title IX regulations. Do I have a second? I second that motion. Roll call, please. Mr. Albright. I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Miss Brady. I. Do I have a board member who would like to introduce and make a motion on our next policy? Yes, I motion to
070approve file JICDD violent and aggressive behavior, presented to the board for second reading and final vote. Update to current policy from CASB to conform with Title IX regulations. Do I have a second? I'll second. Roll call, please. Mr. Albright. I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Miss Brady. I. Um do I have a board member who would like to introduce and make a motion on the next policy? Yes. I'll move that we accept file JII student concerns, complaints, and grievances. This is presented to the board for second reading and final vote. It's an update to current policy from CASB to conform with the Title IX regulations. Do I have a second? I second that motion. Roll call, please. Mr. Albright. I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Miss Brady. I. Do I have a board member who would like
071to introduce and make a motion on the next policy? Yes, I motion to approve file JICJ student use of cell phones and other personal technology devices, presented to the board for first reading and first vote. Update to current policy from Director of Technology Dan Copa to clarify that students with IEPs and 4 Excuse me, and 504 plans may use communication devices during the school day when required as an approved accommodation and to include technical edits from CASB. Do I have a second? I'll second. Roll call, please. Mr. Albright. I. Mr. Alexander votes I. Miss Brady. I. Do I have a board member who would like to introduce and make a motion on the next policy? Yes, I'll move that we approve file IJ instructional materials selection and adoption, presented to the board for first reading
072and first vote. This is an update to current policy to comply with Senate Bill 25-063 ensuring proper management and reconsideration of instructional and library materials in alignment with state requirements. Do I have a second? I second that motion. Roll call, please. Mr. Allbright? Aye. Mr. Alexander votes aye. Miss Brady? Aye. And do I have a board member wanting to introduce and make a motion on the next policy? Yes, I motion to approve file IJL library resource selection, adoption, and reconsideration presented to the board for first reading and first vote. New policy from CASB to comply with Senate Bill 25-063, ensuring proper management and reconsideration of instructional and library materials in alignment with state requirements. Do I have a second? I'll second it. Roll call, please. Mr. Allbright? Aye. Mr. Alexander votes aye. Miss Brady? Aye.
073And do I have a board member who would like to introduce and make a motion on the next policy? Why, yes. I'll move to adopt file KEC, public concerns about instructional materials, presented to the board for first reading and first vote. This is an update to current policy to comply with Senate Bill 25-063, ensuring proper management and reconsideration of instructional and library materials in alignment with state requirements. Do I have a second? I second that motion. Roll call, please. Mr. Allbright? Aye. Mr. Alexander votes aye. Miss Brady? Aye. We have a couple items for information only. The first is file GBEE, staff use of technology, presented to the board for information. This is an update to current policy from CASB to incorporate artificial intelligence parameters and technical updates. Next is file JS, student use of
074technology, presented to the board for information. It's update to current policy from CASB to incorporate artificial intelligence parameters and technical updates. And we have no old business. We do have a couple of items for new business. First one is a request for out of state travel. And I believe Dan Dorado is here. As hard as he works, he's still coming here to share with us tonight about a trip. You want to tell us about it? Thank you very much. Thanks for allowing me to speak on behalf of the Raider team for Junior ROTC. Uh, they've had six competitions so far this school year. Um, all in state. And so, the team captain came up to me and said, "Hey, can we do an out of state Raider meet trip sort of as a last hurrah
075before the end of the school year." So, we found some place close, um, to Amarillo, Texas. So, we'll bring the team, um, Thursday. We'll leave this coming Thursday, uh, travel down to Amarillo actually with Fountain Fort Carson's team cuz they're also traveling to the same competition. So, we'll be convoying down there. That's good. Um, and then we'll spend the night, um, on Thursday evening. But before that, we're going to visit, um, Palo Duro State Park and do, uh, some hiking in there. Um, we're going to stop by Cadillac Ranch on the way to Amarillo, um, and of course hit up a Bucky's while we're there as well. Um, [laughter] and so we'll spend the night on Thursday, um, wake up in the morning. Uh, we'll compete at Caprock High School, which is a Marine Corps
076Junior ROTC down there. Um, and then we'll head back up, um, on Friday. Uh, get back to Canyon City probably in the evening, uh, just in time for Blossom. Oh. So, um, that's kind of a whirlwind trip, um, but the cadets, I'm taking eight cadets and, um, it's it's a bit of a reward because they've done a great job this year, uh, competing. And we thought that would be a fun trip to do something out of state. So. Great. Great. Any questions from anyone, uh, regarding the trip? Just, um, enjoy Palo Duro Canyon. It is absolutely stunningly beautiful. Uh, and I've probably seen rattlesnakes about 50% of the time I go, so. Yeah. Enjoy. I'll keep that [laughter] in mind. All right. And since I'm sitting in Robin's chair, I'm going to ask, did they
077fundraise for this or how is it being paid for? Yes, uh, the ROTC is paying for all lodging and meals, um, for the cadets. So, um, and we try and as much as we can, um, fund all the, um, requirements so that we can maximize participation from all the from all the students. Um, That's great. We're limited basically by transportation. So, we're taking eight cadets and we did fundraise. We do two each semester. Uh, so that, um, goes a long way in funding not just the Raiders, but also the rifle team, which you're familiar with, and our drill team as well. So. Okay. Great. Well, thank Thank you for all you do. I wanted to say thank you for giving our students the opportunity to travel. It's life-changing. Yes, we look forward to it. It's
078a great way to get their hands dirty. Uh, they'll they'll probably come back with some scrapes and bruises, but nothing too serious. So. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, it is recommended that the board approve out of state travel for Canyon City's High School Junior ROTC Raider team to travel to Amarillo, Texas to compete in the final competition of the year at Caprock High School from April 30th to May 1st. Do I have a board member willing to make that motion? I'll move that we approve the out of state travel. I second that motion. Roll call, please. Mr. Allbright? Aye. Mr. Alexander votes aye. And Miss Brady? Aye. Okay. Congratulations. You guys have a great time. And next we have an approval of a new K-12 assessment system. It is recommended that the
079board approve the adoption and purchase of a new district assessment system, NWEA/MAP for K-12 use in Canyon City schools. Do I have a board member willing to make that motion? I motion that we approve, uh, the adoption of the NWEA MAP program for the Canyon City School District. Do I have a second? Yes, I'll second it. Roll call, please. Mr. Allbright? Aye. Mr. Alexander votes aye. Miss Brady? Aye. And no miscellaneous business tonight. Can I get a motion for adjournment, please? I'll move that we adjourn. I second that motion. Roll call, please. Mr. Allbright? Aye. Mr. Alexander votes aye. Miss Brady? Aye.