Board of Education Meeting: August 26, 2025 (Spanish Captions)

001All right, we're going to go ahead and get this meeting started. Um, it is 5:31 p.m. on August 26th and welcome to our board of education uh meeting this evening. Please go ahead and mute your cell phones or anything else that might be for buzz. Um, today is Tuesday, August 26th. Um, for those attending this meeting in person, live captions are available on the TV in the boardroom in the lobby. To access the live captions in a language other than English on your own device, please scan the QR code on the screen or on the table near the entrance and select the language of your choice. The live stream of this meeting is also available in English and Spanish on YouTube. For links to these live streams, please visit the board of education page of

002the PSD website or PSDTV on demand on YouTube. So we will go ahead to um the approval of the agenda. Would any board members like to make changes to the agenda? Okay, I see none. We will move on. All right, so we'll move on to the superintendent report. So superintendent Kingsley will make remarks to the board of education and to the community. Welcome. >> Thank you. Uh good evening everybody. It's great to be with all of you tonight. Uh my intended remarks tonight are not just for those who are in the room or watching online, but for really our entire community. Uh the start of every school year, as we all know, brings excitement, energy, and possibility. And we're so grateful to see that our students are back in our classrooms, reconnecting with friends, meeting

003with new teachers, and continuing journeys of growth and discovery. But this year, however, uh the joy of a new beginning has come with real challenges, too. And I believe that's important to take some more time right now to share important information about how we are responding to the challenges that we're facing. I don't believe this is a time for brief messages or quick sound bites. We have already faced several days of extreme heat leading to early dismissals at most of our schools. We know this has disrupted schedules and has been very difficult for our families. These decisions are never made lightly. I want our community to know that we have 32 PSD schools that do not yet have air conditioning. While swamp coolers and other temporary heat mitigation measures provide some relief, they simply cannot

004keep up during extended stretches of hot weather. Guided by our district's heat protocols, we determined early release was necessary to protect the health and the safety of our students and our staff. It might be surprising for many people to realize that we've actually had these heat protocols in our districts for two school years now. Um last year, as a result of the temperatures, we did not have to to use them, but this year, unfortunately, we've had to use them many, many times. Our heat protocols are available on our website and have been shared with our families and staff via email and social media to make sure that we are transparent with our community about how these decisions are made. We want you to know two things. One, we hear you. These schedule changes cause frustration,

005especially for working families. And two, we're taking action, but it's going to take several years to install air conditioning across 32 school buildings because construction must happen in just 11 weeks. 11 during the summer and older buildings require significant upgrades to accommodate air conditioning installation in all of our schools that need AC. Well, it's just going to take time. Thanks to the voter approved 2024 mill levy override, funding is now in place to do this work and it's already begun with the installation of air conditioning at Batty and OD elementary school this summer. We are already making progress. It is going to take time, but it really is happening. Alongside questions about heat, I have, as the superintendent, also heard concerns about our school calendar. Some have asked why PSD doesn't begin school later in

006August or after Labor Day. This is an important question and I want to be transparent. Building a school district calendar is complex. We must meet state instructional time requirements while aligning with partners in higher education so our high school students can take concurrent enrollment courses and remain on track for graduation. Our calendar must also consider national AP and IB exam schedules and a variety of other factors. Recently, the state changed how districts must report instructional minutes, revealing that PSD elementary schools are falling short on the number of minutes required. We have convened as a district an action team to address this. Their work may impact bell schedules and the length of the school day in future years, which in turn affects the calendar. While this work is being completed by the action team this fall,

007the calendar committee's efforts are on a temporary are temporarily on pause. But please know we are still committed to exploring options for future calendars, including staggered starts and ends by grade level. Please know though that a staggered start and end to the school year comes with its own challenges. However, we will continue to explore this option. The action team will present an update at the October 7th board of education meeting which the public is welcome to attend either uh in person or watch online. And I also want to take a moment to sincerely thank the calendar committee not just for their hard work but for their openness to the community's feedback. And I look forward to the resumption of their efforts really soon. In addition to extreme weather and the challenges that we need to

008address with our instructional time and calendar, our district has also faced deeply troubling news in recent days. The arrest of a former employee on very serious charges as well as an incident at one of our middle schools that resulted in a student injury weigh heavily on us all. These situations are heartbreaking. and my heart goes out specifically to those who have been impacted the most and their families. Please know that our school district, PSD, will always act quickly to protect our students, communicate openly when serious incidents occur, and provide support for those who need it. The safety and the well-being of every student and staff member is and always will be our highest priority. I share all of this because I believe trust comes with honesty. We cannot and will not pretend that these challenges

009don't exist. They do. But what defines us as a community is how we face them. and we must face them together. And even in this difficult start, there is so much to celebrate. Just this week, we received our latest CAMASS, PSAT, and SAT results. And once again, PSD students are outperforming their peers across Colorado by wide margins. Our students are achieving at rates 12 to 21 percentage points above the state average in CMAS subjects and 14 to 20 points higher on college readiness benchmarks in the PSAT and SAT. Simply put, our students are excelling. Our staff are pouring their hearts into teaching and we appreciate the partnership we have with our families every step of the way. These results, they don't happen by accident. They reflect the tireless dedication of our educators, the resilience of

010our students, and the support of our families who believe in the power of public education. In the weeks ahead, we will share more, including our latest graduation rates, which we expect to set a new record high. Yes, the start of this school year has been difficult, but it has also reminded me why I'm really proud to be a part of this district and this community. We don't run from challenges, we face them. We care for one another. We lift up what is good and we work tirelessly on what needs to improve. I want to thank everyone for your patience, your partnership, and most importantly, your trust. Together, we will navigate these challenges and ensure that PSD remains one of the best places in the nation for students to learn and to grow. I want to

011thank you for allowing me the time to read that statement tonight. >> Thank you very much. It was well said. We will move to uh community comment right now. So, community comment. Oh, apologies. I need to have those on before we start reading. Welcome to the community comment section of the board meeting. The board desires to hear the viewpoints of all stakeholders, including students, employees, parents, guardians, and community members. Public comment is designed to address issues, not personalities, or personnel matters. Please keep your concerns and comments focused upon the district and appropriate for a K12 audience. Please note that the board does not generally respond to remarks made during community comment. Our lack of response should not be construed to mean that we agree or disagree with what is said or with the description or

012interpretation of events as presented by any speaker. Further, even if some remarks may be factually inaccurate, we generally choose not to respond to correct the record here because formal board meetings are not the time or place for back and forth dialogue. As we begin this community comment session, let us model for our entire community how to listen and how to interact respectfully, even with those with whom we disagree. For we all have the students best interests at heart. So this opportunity for public comment is for members of the community who registered to speak by the designated deadline. Those people will be called on to make remarks in the order that they signed up and each speaker will be allowed three minutes to address the board. So first up we have Jared Evans. Welcome. Thank you.

013Next up, we have Tori Papus. Welcome. There we go. Hi, I'm Tori, mom of two. My oldest is a second grader at Batty Elementary. I support maintaining access to community comment at both business meetings and work sessions. I understand the need to address meeting length. Reducing community comment just doesn't feel like the right move to me. Obviously, I'm here a lot. Uh so, I like it. But for other reasons, too, um let's I think we should look to our Colorado State Board of Education as an example to follow. They recently added the ability for remote comment and this is something that I and others have been asking for at these meetings uh many times before. When CASBY was here in March, I don't recall them suggesting to reduce access to community comment to help address

014the meeting length. Um and I also don't feel like listening sessions are an appropriate substitute. Those are great and I totally support them, but they aren't the same. They don't feel the same to me at least. I look at the list of of listening sessions and my school isn't on it and nor was it on it last year when you all had listening sessions. So, um I've heard how comfortable these listening sessions can feel and you know when when you're when they're happening at your own school and I just wonder what happens when there are no listening sessions at your school. What happens to the issues that are important to those families? Like are we just supposed to wait? Um when you vote tonight, please consider doing it in a way that maintains community comment

015or you can add remote comment. You can do anything, I think, to increase access, but with everything that's happening around us that's out of our control, feels like the right move to lean into increasing access. Uh, thank you so much for the opportunity. >> Thank you. Next up, we have Sabrina Heric. Welcome, I want to start out tonight by thanking Jim Brokish for two things. First, the August 12th meeting was the first time Jim has said words directly to me in the two and a half years I've been coming here. So, thank you for finally acknowledging I exist. Second, last meeting I suggested this board wants to cut public comments to silence people who are outing embarrassing situations about this district. Thank you, Jim, for admitting this is in fact your motivation. I do also

016have a question for you. You made it clear in your inaccurate public call out last meeting that you think were disrespectful. The ADA, section 504, and IDEA protect both our children's rights to an education and our advocacy for such. Could you please point out which of those states that the only protected advoc advocacy is emotionally blowing the board until they get around to caring about human rights? And if none of them say that, can you please clarify how many years you expect parents to tolerate blatant systemic disrespect to their children's humanity and right to education. Onto a more recent situation, which I promise right now I will address with all the the respect to the situation is due. First off, thank you for finally acknowledging of sex crime arrest. That's a step in the right

017direction because in the last 5 years, we've had so many PSD staff arrested for child sex crimes, I can no longer count them on one hand. And this is the first proactive acknowledgement I've heard. The problem is back in March, a different employee was arrested for child sex crimes. Shortly thereafter, Kingsley had a listening session where I asked him what PSD is doing to protect ch children from sex crimes by staff. He ended his response with, "But we have to consider that this is an issue of personal responsibility." In the moment, I was stunned into silence, but I later told several of you about it. Now feels like a good moment to revisit it. You see, an ex employee who worked with this most recent accused rapist shared some thoughts about her on FCPD's Facebook

018page. Two of Two of You already received a screenshot, but to paraphrase, they said staff had concerns for years, but couldn't prove it. And staff that tried to report concerns faced threats of civil action and/or loss of lure. Meanwhile, 9 News reports that she was arrested based on a confession and that PSD SRO's had done a safe to tell investigation that resulted in new action in no action. So, what do you think we should be doing right now? Should we be assessing if our efforts to empower victims to speak up are actually empowering? Should we be assessing why our staff feel they'll lose their livelihood if they report suspected child rapists in their midst? Should we be assessing the efficacy of the safe to tell investigation process? Should we demonstrate to the public that PSD

019takes child rape seriously by proactively explaining to them what policies are being reviewed? Or do you want to stick with this child rape by staff is an issue of personal personal responsibility stance? Look good by doing good, y'all. Thank you. Next up, we have Chris Fiero. Welcome. >> Hello everyone. Um, let me start by saying thank you um for that call of empathy. I think that's what we need most of the time. Um, those six first six days of school were pretty hard for a lot of people. Um, including staff who had to, you know, reformat, juggle, coaches, had to reschedule practices. Everything was up in the air. Um, still empathy is really not enough. We need change. Let's be honest, climate change isn't just coming. It's already here. According to the National Oceanic and

020Atmospheric Administration, the past decade has been the hottest on record. This year alone, Colorado experienced multiple days nearing or over 100 degrees Fahrenheit in August, which used to be rare, and these patterns are only intensifying. We must adapt. The community generously passed 4A to help fund air conditioning. Thank you. But retrofitting 32 schools will take likely 20 to 30 years. Um, we do not have that kind of time. Every summer will get hotter. Every delay risks the health of more students and staff. A straightforward step we can take right now is to adjust the calendar. Um, many states start school at the end of August or beginning of September. Why are we beginning school earlier and earlier in August during the peak of dangerous heat? Since 2020, the school year has started earlier each subsequent

021year. As this board has said before, we can't keep kicking the can down the road. Yes, a calendar change may impact our relationship with Front Range, but change won't come unless we're willing to push for it. We can partner with Thompson as they also had to release early due to heat. We do also have alternatives for concurrent enrollment besides Front Range. There's Ames and there's also CU Succeed. And we could rework the high school schedule to support AP and college coursework in other ways. We need the calendar to work for the 85 to 90% of PSD students not taking concurrent enrollment classes or AP classes. I'm a concurrent enrollment teacher. I teach AP as well and there are solutions. Okay, we can fix the calendar and make sure that our students are a accessing higher

022education. Um, other states have figured it out. We just need to look to them. Um, let's show our students and our community that we value their well-being. Let's lead with empathy. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Anna Labetta. Welcome. Give me a minute. All right. Good evening. Suffice it to say that my family has had a medically complex couple of weeks since the last board meeting and we've had to spend some time at the hospital recently. And every time I would walk to the cafeteria at PBH, I would pass a UC Health campaign sign that said, "I need clarity." Three words that mean everybody stops and listens no matter what is what the sign said. So with that said, I want to give this a shot. I need clarity. It was said multiple

023times at the last meeting that the district's current results that we see aren't random, that they are in fact by design. This was said in the context of celebrating the gains that we have made across the district in a number of areas. However, it was also said as a side note that the same in the same part of the presentation that the graduation rate of students in the district supported by IEPs has once again fallen. As a parent of a child on an IEP who has experienced incredible difficulties on account of how our district approaches special education, I can tell you that the statistic will not change without this board taking special education concerns seriously. The report to the board two weeks ago said this. The four-year graduation rates of students supported with an IEP

024are lower than like peers statewide for each of the last five years. PSD graduation rate gaps between students supported with an IEP and PSD overall are substantially larger than the respective statewide gaps and substantially larger than the respective gaps among Colorado districts most like PSD in size and student characteristics. As a concerned parent, I need clarity. Is this an intentional outcome? If not, why is this data okay with the board? and why has this trend remained ongoing in our district for five consecutive years without an aggressive effort to change the trajectory of this data? I'm asking the board to consider the optics to recognize that the district data is consistent with the uncomfortable messages that you have heard on repeat from myself and a handful of others over the past few years. What is your

025plan as a board to meaningfully disrupt disro disproportionality for students served on IEPs? Even with the knowledge that this particular group is sliding more, this year's UIP deliverables focus on tier 1 gened measures that will be available to all students. There does not appear to be an intentional focus on students on IEPs. If the messages coming from us are not palatable, I am asking the board to consider initiating a third-party disabilities audit on the basis of this data to dig deeply and find out why our IEP kids are sliding further off the charts while our comparison district kids are showing steady growth. Thank you. >> Thank you. Excuse me. Thank you. Uh next up we have Kim Carlson. Welcome. >> Hi there. I'm Kim Carlson. I'm a teacher at Lenton Elementary and I have a

026daughter who goes to Lincoln. And I'm actually just here to say um thank you to Dave and Trudy who work in facilities and to Superintendent Kingsley and the cabinet and the board uh for um implementing the heat protocol. Uh, I know it was a lot of um work and I know the community wasn't maybe thrilled with it, but um as a teacher in one of the really hot schools and having um a daughter who is in a school with air conditioning but not the gym, um it was so appreciated uh to have those early release days. I noticed my students were way less uh disregulated um because they weren't sitting in the heat for the last two hours. Um so, thank you very much. much. It was a truly collaborative effort and I appreciate being

027heard. Um, and I know there's a lot of other elementary school teachers out there who feel the same way. Um, after years of talking about it, we truly feel heard and respected. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Next up, we have Sawyer Green. Welcome. Good evening, board. Um, my name is Sawya Green. I'm a current senior at Rocky Mountain High School. Um, today I've come to talk to you about really two things. One is school of choice. The second is this act of taking away public comments. I understand it. It's hard to have these happen every single every other Tuesday and every month. I get it. It takes a lot out of you guys for the public comments. But out of the out of the PhD wild and fire training program, I was one I

028was in the first class of that. The thing they taught us to do in that class was to communicate to communicate and to communicate. The fact that you guys are getting rid of it not only harms the community, but also harms students. You make it incredibly hard for students to be in this room already for having it being at 5:30 p.m. on a weekday. But again, you're now going to take away now I get to the actual main part of my speech. I want to talk about school of choice. You guys say there is school of choice in this district. On the conventional level, on the surface level, there is school of choice. On the deeper level of it, there is not I'm a I go to Rocky Mountain High School, so I'm not able

029to do the future farmers of America program at Puda High School right there. But again, I'm going into when I go off to college, I'm going to go into an agricultural education major. So, I'm not allowed to get scholarships for it. But on the National Technical Honor Society level, I'm the only one in my school with agricultural education that qualified me for the National Technical Honor Society. The other debate is should I go to Rocky Mountain High School where I'm about to get academic all-American within the first three tournaments of the year for speech and debate? I am top 30 in the state for it. Do I sacrifice getting an academic all-American to wear a future farmers of American jacket that my greatgrandfather wore that my grandfather wore? My grandfather was the national treasure for

030the FFA. It is unjust, unfair that I was not able to compete and do the same activities at Puda High School and yet I qualify in the National Technical Honor Society scale on the national scale for agricultural education through the futures lab that then you went ahead and took that program away also took away the natural resource management program at futures lab because not enough kids were interested in it. So that's what I leave here today is you guys say this school of choice. I disagree. You guys have made my college more expensive. Thank you. >> Thank you. And next up we have Danny Lawrence. Welcome. This past summer, PSD voluntarily entered into an agreement with the Office of Civil Rights regarding the violation of my son's rights at the National Honor Society ceremony last

031fall. The agreement states, quote, "Please be advised that the district must not harass, coerc, intimidate, discriminate, or otherwise retaliate against an individual because that individual asserts a right or a privilege under a law enforced by OCR." End quote. And you did just that at the last board meeting on August 12th. What you fail to understand as directors is that advocating for disabled students is a federal protected activity. The ADA, the Rehab Act, and IDA all protect parents of disabled students who make public comments in this place. And last meeting's display was meant to shame, humiliate, discriminate, and certainly to coersse those parents. Those actions violate the agreement that you made with OCR, and I hope they will soon be investigating this board for retaliation. Why the district would choose to escalate in a situation where

032you're clearly wrong is anyone's guess. Holding a grudge for 10 months over a three-minute public comment is both petty and narcissistic. What's so totally offensive about the 4A comment at la last October is that regardless of the mill levy passage this district had a legal obligation to ensure that special needs students including those with dyslexia receive their services. It's uneducated and it's a liability to be spouting off to parents that they need to pass a ballot measure to pay for this district's already legally liable requirements. It was ignorant then and it continues ignor to be an ignorance on display today. A word of advice with the male dominated board that we have here. Consider that shaming mothers trying to get help for their children looked and felt patriarchal and misogynistic. Several women in the community

033reached out to me. For me, it was a four-year overdue Scooby-Doo moment that I desperately needed. The mask came off and suddenly I knew that why we had made no progress with special education. When the board liaison for SEAK feels like that about special needs parents that he's never spoken with, there is certainly a correlation to the continued declining graduation data. I have received the message loud and clear from this board that disabled students aren't a population worth protecting and that you'll do nothing to help regardless of how many public comments are made. The district's own data isn't enough to compel you to act. Every one of the individuals named in that meeting last two weeks ago has been approachable and would be available for any discussion that you guys haven't cared to have. The

034lack of fiduciary responsibility shown by this board and its harassment of protected parents is astonishing giving PSD's financial status. Before you start demanding respect, maybe you should consider whether you model it. I really don't care what you do with public comment at this point. For me, all hope is lost. It's clear that you aren't listening by your own willful choice. If public comments are ineffective, then that is more an indictment of you than it is for the people presenting them. A vote to reduce public comment tonight is a vote to silence a protected class and supports my claim of retaliation and discrimination with the Office of Civil Rights. So get busy wielding that power to silence the community and the teachers who elected you to punish four parents that you don't like. Thank you. [Applause]

035>> Thank you. And thank you all for taking time to share your thoughts during the community comment tonight. We appreciate your engagement and the feedback that you provide and look forward to further discussions at our next engagement sessions uh which will be on 9:18 um at 5:30 at both Oander and Warner. So we hope to to see you there. And from that we will move on to board topics and committee reports. This agenda item is an opportunity for board members to provide an update on committee work or to speak to board topics. Do any board members have something to report? Jim. >> Yeah, I'd like to go ahead. Um, I need to apologize for my comments at the last board meeting. I was trying to make a point about committee community comment and I did

036it very poorly. So, first I apologize for naming names which as a board member was not appropriate for me to do. Uh, second, although I told the story exactly as I remembered it, I got something definitely wrong. At least one thing. I said two community commenters related that I had bullied a constituent. That was not correct. Taylor Runwin saidn none of that and I apologize specifically to Taylor and I am sorry u for not remembering that correctly. Uh it won't happen again. Um let me go on to a different item. Um my wife and I have been planning a September trip to Europe for over a year. So, I'm going to miss the first September board meeting and the September communication session. And I'm really sorry to miss those. Thanks to Jess for covering DAB

037and Kevin for covering CEK. >> Thank you, Jim. And if I can go ahead and just um similarly apologize to the public. Um I should have stopped names being named at the last meeting and I apologize for not doing so and I will do better. Thank you. Others comments. Yes, board reports. Go ahead. >> Um, I just wanted to clarify that even though we have listening sessions at a select number of schools for each of them, anyone in the community is welcome to come to any of those listening sessions at any time. It does not have to be at your home school. The goal was to try and spread them out around PSD to ensure that all of the feeders were um getting targeted at some point. So, we were at least landing in each

038part of our community, but they are open to everyone. All right, go ahead, Scott. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, I just wanted to follow up on what Brian had said earlier regarding uh the deeply disturbing news of the recent arrest of a former PSD staff member. Uh, many in the community have reminded us that just in the last few years, we've had six or seven of these situations. These are very sensitive topics and I don't take that lightly. uh but someone I deeply respect reminded me today that silence is complicity and for that reason I cannot stay silent. I want the public to know that the superintendent administration and we in the board of education are taking this very seriously and are already taking several steps to help prevent these situations in the future. I

039want to be clear the vast vast majority of teachers and staff in this district are incredible people. They are professionals that take the responsibility of educating our children very seriously. And believe me, this breaks all of their hearts and our hearts. I won't let these incidents sully their reputation or that of this district. I'm asking the PSD administration and the BOE to continue to step up. We need to start by looking in the mirror at our own policies. We need to redefine student and staff boundaries. We need to strengthen the vetting during and after hiring and enhance our efforts to foster a culture that encourages students, staff, and parents to report any appropriate relationships through our safe to tell program as well as other avenues. I just wanted to reassure the community that we're paying

040attention and giving this very serious situation the consideration it warrants. Thank you. >> Thank you, Scott. Others Go ahead, Kevin. Thank you. >> I'm gonna give this a go. My voice doesn't sound great tonight. Um so I'll be briefer than normal. Don't all applaud at once. Um I wanted to to thank Superintendent Kingsley for addressing three important topics that I wanted to cover and he did an excellent job. So, I'm not going to rehash what he's already said, but we have received an overwhelming amount of community um feedback uh given the early release PSD calendar. And I think the missing ingredient or one of the missing parts of that discussion, which I think you you hit on, Superintendent Kingsley, was the CDE requirement that's going to have a slight wrinkle on how we calibrate or

041or count our instructional time moving forward. So the the big topic that I want to to to state is that these three things are all interwoven and um I stand by the decision that was made which is a killer decision at the beginning of beginning of any school year to have to announce an early release excuse me before the start of school. Um that's tough. Um we do have a heat protocol that was gamed out last year. It went through an iterative process. It went through a lot of people to talk through how it would work. I'm a family that's affected negatively by an early release because we have to scramble for child care. We have to figure out our own days which are now thrown into whack. So, I I empathize with everyone's frustrations.

042I I felt them uh in intensely. That said, the safety of our students, the safety of our staff has to be our our number one priority in making those decisions. And so while it's not perfect, I think the implementation at least this year and giving people as much notice they could, you know, the weekend not feeling great, but better than the day before. And we'll continue to get better at that. We'll continue to tighten up our messaging. Um, one feedback I think that I I heard, which I think is well placed, is that um the messaging was that we'll re-evaluate on Wednesday what the forecast will look like to determine whether there's going to be an early release on Friday. I think that I I know it was there because I read it, but I

043think it got lost in the weeds with some folks who had already secured child care for the following Friday. And so that was another frustration that they had already secured it. They had to pay for it. And so um just to be super clear with it is absolutely set for the early release for these days. We will re-evaluate Wednesday to the extent we can uh make a termination on Friday. So I thank you for your leadership in that and that was a right I believe that was the right call. Um and thank you for our our our staff and our our our teachers who have said the same. Um, moving on to the PSA calendar, we've also I want to address this publicly as well because we've heard a lot of feedback, rightfully so, on

044moving the calendar and some of the things that go along with that because to get a reprieve from those early days, um, I I believe that when we when I was I was trying to look for it, I couldn't find it off the off the grass, my my fingers right now, but the notion that if we just if we just move the counter back two weeks, we'll be a complete reprieve from everything is also, I think, misleading. Um last year anecdotally I'll be but last year uh some of our hottest weeks were actually in September and so just moving the calendar that one fix won't alleviate everything. I think it's I think it's prudent. I think we should stay at it. I think we need to continue talking about the reprieve for those 32 schools

045that aren't going to get AC anytime soon. We are going to get an update on that tonight. So I'm encouraged to hear some of the work that's already been done this summer and some of the work that we've got on the agenda. And um again, I I credit Dave and his team for being aggressive in that. Um but some of the other intricacies about the calendar that that I've been learning about too, which I think are important. We hear a lot about how um you know, our graduating with options or our front range participants are what's driving the entire show on that. And that's that's not entirely true. Um to unpack that um I asked and please someone Julie correct me if I'm wrong in this but I I asked for the numbers on that

046about how many of our 2024 grads participated in not just Front Range but other participating programs and I was amazed to hear that it was close to 40% of the graduating class >> between IB AP and concurrent enrollment. >> Yeah about 40. So, what that translates to then is that students in our in our footprint who are able to get a head start on college to make it more affordable, to make it more accessible within their own school year. And that's something that I think we've worked really hard to accomplish. And I don't want to sacrifice that. Um, I don't think it's an either or. I think it's a both and we need to be thoughtful about that. But just to suggest that Front Range is dictating our calendar, I don't think that's accurate. I

047think we can continue working with our partners to see what concessions can be made. I think that's appropriate. Um I also think that for students that are going to travel independently to those those partners. Um maybe we could explore allowing them to start their school year two weeks before to take advantage of those if they're going to independently transport which won't affect our our calendar. So I think there's some some ideas that we need to we need to be thoughtful of. Um, the other thing that I was impressed to learn yet again is that there's no with a with a school district of our geographic sprawl and our size, there is no quick and easy button to press to fix anything. That that I've learned the hard way in in the work that we've done

048together. Um the calendar committee is a is a incredible group of thoughtful hardworking people that have put forward some really good suggestions and there is going to be no scenario just to to be candid with our community. There's no scenario for big seismic change in which not everyone is going to be is going to be happy about it or there's going to be I don't like the word winners and losers but there will be some gains and some losses in convenience and logistics to anyone but to to shift the calendar in a certain way also requires us to reevaluate the logistical um I don't want to use the word nightmare but the logistical challenges of transportation for schools that start at different times for schools that end at different times that are ge geographically not

049clustered with those start times and end times. I know we've been doing a lot of work to try to standardize some of that as well. And then the big wrinkle and this this isn't an excuse to our community. It's just I think I think we owe it to you to include you in the thinking of some of the the facets of this conversation so that we have informed feedback when we go back to you and say here's what we've come up with with our with our possibilities. Please weigh in and tell us what we're missing and how we can make this slightly better. Um, one other thought on the counter committee because I do want to talk about CD requirements just briefly is that um there there's an understanding or there there's some data suggested

050that if you misalign uh high schools with middle schools and elementary schools that the siblings who have younger siblings at the elementary and middle schools will simply not attend those days. And I thought that sounds anecdotal. Show me the data. Tracy, I think you were the one that showed me the data. Where are you? Oh, she left. Okay. the days when high school last year did not align on a professional development day. So there's no non- studentent day with middle school and elementary schools, the attendance at high school was down across the footprint something like 17%. Not quite a quarter, but a sizable enough where I think, all right, back to the drawing board. So I'm not a wild fan of that that sort of disjointed calendar. Um that said, I think we need to

051we still need to think aggressively and be a little bit bold about trying something to get a reprieve because the heat's not going away. And um the the aggressive roll out I think the Mckinstry uh report had done a very sophisticated analysis. I think Dave has has talked about this may touch on it tonight. um is that the projected roll out for all of our schools was going to be something like on an aggressive side with no problems around 7 to 10 years I think total less more >> maybe a little bit more >> this was in 2023 so they they changed but that that's if everything goes well and so we'll talk about the update tonight I'm I'm encouraged to hear that but um this is a problem confronting us now if I circle

052landing for this plane and so we do need to be thinking about it now but there is no one change that's going to be a one-sizefits-all for everything so I I I think we owe to our community to talk a little bit about the complexity without being hypnotized by that complexity and make some tough decisions once we get feedback um especially about our our heap being too too much. And then the last thing I'll say is that there are also these surprises that we get um when the CDE requirement um and just again for the the community's uh education, we as a board voted on I think it was the June 17th or the midJune meeting um to essentially uh give us a waiver for a year before those requirements were to go into effect.

053That is because, as you can imagine, snapping that kind of requirement on schools that are that are in compliance with that, that are technically not based on the language, um, is incredibly disruptive to staff as they're being asked to either do away with recess altogether, which I'm not a fan from a policy standpoint, um, or to ask folks to work longer with no pay or to force that into our negotiations and that's what we negotiate this year and I'm not a fan of that either. So, I think we need to be thoughtful this this year, work in partnership, but I think we can't make any huge change until we at least know other ground is going to set beneath our feet on the instructional time. Um, I'm also interested too and in what other possibilities

054of at least going to the CD and asking for an additional waiver, asking for more time if we need it. Um, I think that's appropriate because I think again of a system of our size and scale and scope that that was um not great news to receive at the end of last year um that we have to navigate. So anyway, I just want to add a little bit more gloss onto that and I really appreciate Superintendent Kingsley taking the time to talk about the myriad of factors that that are all interwoven. They're all interconnected and we're we've got our eyes on all of it. Of course, we need feedback from our partners in our community to to understand that. But I think we all are better when we have come from a place of informed

055um transparency and I think that's the message I took from your from your comments. So I really appreciate that. >> Thank you. Others any comments? >> Okay. Um I'm just going to add in um in the words of Nate Ditto to all of that has been said. Um I think you know one of the things that we struggle with most is the other nuances of these things. They're very complex. if you pull a lever over here, something changes over here. And we have to be aware of that. And so this is something that when you look at um as a calendar um maybe there's an easy solution if we just move everything back. And that's unfortunately not the case. It it it switches all kinds of levers over that you're not actually seeing. So there's

056there's very much a complexity and a nuance to all of this and we are looking at those and we are studying those to see what it is that we can go ahead and do. I would also just like to to um end on a on a positive note as well and that was last evening. Um we went to the transitions pathway center grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony and that was absolutely amazing. Um it was uh they took the building um that was what was it before the partnership center. Thank you. I cannot remember. Um, and it has been transformed for those students. And it is so exciting to see the building, the people, the I'm I'm still so impressed by the kitchen. The fact that they will now have two kitchens to learn in to

057um to use. It's uh everything is mobile. It's it's just fantastic. And you know, those the kids that are in there um are getting what they deserve in there. It's it's absolutely beautiful. And I'm so excited for them to be able to start learning. yesterday was their first day um in the in the uh the new building and it was just it was incredible to see. So, I just wanted to say thank you um to all of those who just worked so hard this summer to make sure that that happened and that it opened on time and that everything is just a a beautiful place for the for the kids to be. So, thank you. Next up, um, if we're done with board topics of committee. Okay, fantastic. We'll move on to consent agenda, would

058any board members like to pull anything from consent? Okay, seeing none, can I get a motion? >> Go ahead, Connor. >> I move that the board approve and adopt the recommended actions for the items on the consent agenda. >> Can I get a second? Thank you, Jessica. Jill, will you please call the vote? >> Jim Brokish, >> hi. Kristen Draper. >> Hi, >> Connor Duffy. >> Hi, >> Kevin Havda. >> Hi, >> Scott Shoenbower. >> Hi, >> Andrew Spain. >> I >> Jessica Zamora, >> I. >> Motion passes 70. >> All right. Thank you. Moving on to 7.0. Action item 7.1 board consideration of revisions to board policy GP 3.13 public participation at schoolboard meetings. Second reading. Can I get a motion? Go ahead, Connor. I move that the board approve the revisions to board

059policy GP3.13 as presented. >> Can I get a second? >> Thank you, Jim. All right. And any discussion, Connor? Go ahead. Yeah, just for clarity for the community tonight, I'm not going to be supporting this um motion uh just because I think that we need a little more time and a broader discussion around what we're going to do with our working sessions. I articulated that point um maybe not very well last meeting, but I think that we need to revamp these meetings so that we get to discussion topics a lot sooner so that we can have a much better discourse on the things that are going to be coming in front of the board. So this evening I will not be supporting this one. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? >> Go ahead, Kevin. >>

060Can I ask a point of Sorry. Go ahead. >> Yes. >> I said a question a point of order. Um because this come for a second read, are board members able to make revisions or suggest revisions by motion um not the the current but add a motion for a different language on something on a on a on a second read for an action item or would this have to be folded into a first read with revisions and then to a subsequent? >> Um you could do a motion to amend the original motion and include changes there to the policy. So you could fold in other changes today. Um if there's a lot of substantive changes, it may be easier for the board to consider over two more readings, but you could do that um through

061a motion to amend the original motion and then add the proposed change in that motion to amend. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Go ahead, Jim. >> So I've got some comments here. I want community comment, but what I really want is more conversation. What I want is more communication. And anytime one of the parties is in listenonly mode, it's just half the communication puzzle. Um my observation is that in the community comment se communication sessions that we tested out last year at the schools, uh both the board and the community have been open to discussing issues, exchanging views, learning from each other. Um I think those have been pretty great. So here's the thing. The problems we face together are complex and generally have many facets and it's too easy just to focus on one

062facet. Um, after my comments last week, the parent of a child with a disability reached out for me and asked for a one-on-one conversation. We had coffee for over an hour and I came away with a much deeper understanding of where parents of children with disabilities are coming from. I learned things I did not understand before. So, I'm not proud of my comments from last week. Uh, the part that I'm most disappointed with myself about is that I fell into the trap of oversimplifying a very complex issue. I felt unfairly attacked and told my side of the story to show why. But I what I didn't do was cover all the complexities of where others in the story were coming from that brought us to that point. I didn't give the benefit of the doubt.

063I didn't give sufficient grace when the conversation is one way only. It was easy for me to fall into that trap. So for me, I think the proposal of replacing one of the two community comment sessions a month with a communication session is actually a good one. I think it fosters strong two-way dialogue that brings us closer to solving the complex problems that we face. >> Thank you, Jim. Others, go ahead, Andrew. I I find myself coming to this discussion with probably some similar and also differing viewpoints from other board members. I get concerned every time I hear things that are are are negative. And so when I hear that there's supposedly teachers that were worried about their job, that worries me. I don't know if it's true or not when when people feel disenfranchised

064or disempowered or worried for their job and there's there's certainly plenty of other things uh that that even having listened in on board meetings uh I I know Brian you've made a point we have to earn trust that that's incredibly important and we have an ongoing effort for that. No matter if we think we have everybody's trust, we have to keep it. And I'm I'm gonna have to be definitely on the side of more listening rather than less for now. I I that's where I find myself. And I actually uh very much appreciate Conor's efforts in in providing some additional structure uh to these sorts of things. I I think there's some great opportunities. I know we've talked about are there opportunities for for additional written communication or digital communication, things like that that can

065be shared with the community as to how the the board and the district in fact communicates and for what purposes through each venue. Uh community comment always I mean it certainly isn't always fun when it when it's when we we know people can you know bring different things. I mean, I wasn't here for the guy showing the book. That must have been a very interesting day for you all. Probably not constructive, but there's a lot of times when I I think I can appreciate that I have to just listen. I think that that that's value there, for example. But just as much, there's value in having those great two-way conversations and listening sessions, coffees. I I mean, I'm I'm going to look forward to all the coffee I can have with people because I'm an

066old medic, so I'm going to enjoy that, right? And so I think there there's a lot of opportunities for us to expand right now until we've earned that higher level of trust and then perhaps we can have another conversation to say how do we balance time a little bit better as we as we've learned more and and and done better and and build into things like what you again I know Connor's made some additional suggestions and I'm sure there's many others from uh that we can engage so that the community can hear what we're doing and how we're working to engage to build that trust to to get the points across. Be it the heat issue, the the late starts, any of it. >> Thank you. Others? Go ahead, Scott. >> I'll be brief this

067time. Um, I will say ditto to what Andrew just said. I thought that was well said. Um, I also wanted to commend uh Connor for putting together some reform ideas. I'm all in favor of of looking at that and taking some extra time to to flesh this out. So, um I uh I appreciate you putting that forward. It's a good discussion point. And um I also am curious about uh the remote comments that people have talked about. I think that might be something that could really help um you know, single parents and others that might not be able to come to these meetings. So, um just wanted to put that out there. Thank you. Okay, Jess, go for it. So, after last meeting, I mean before last meeting and after last meeting, I've given this

068topic a lot of thought because I've had lots of conversations with folks. Um, and what I grapple with is that we have these competing goals, right? We both deeply want to listen to our community. We also want to ensure that when we're meeting together, we can thoroughly discuss all of our topics. So, I'm still trying to wrap my head around how we do all of these things and do them well. Um, and I think one thing I was reminded of last week is that my lens is often very different. And having been in this role for four years, my my lens has grown in a way that not everyone has the opportunity to. So, I continue to trust that our board will offer these opportunities that are above and beyond our policy. I trust that

069our community will continue to elect directors who will continue that work as well. That nobody's going to allow us to simply only have community comment once a month. However, I also realize that that policy is the only promise that our community has. It's the only obligation to listening to our community that we have. And the possibility that our community could encounter a board that at some point restricts community engagement to only community comment brings me great pause all by itself and especially if we reduce it to only once a month. And so on the one hand I do agree that our listening sessions are the avenue for having both the two-way dialogue and continuing community comment once a month allows for both options. We continue to read all of the emails. We take phone calls.

070Um, we have meetings with really generally whoever asks for them as much as humanly possible, right? Um, and if our community can only depend on the promises in our policy, I struggle to restrict it. Oh, sorry. I had one last thought. the thing that so uh Scott last time you brought in the idea of just moving community comment to later in that meeting because I also still do want to ensure that we are using our time with our student representative when that happens that we're using that as effectively as possible and if we have 45 minutes of community comment that's a fourth of their time spent on that um now it could be valuable for them to listen to uh and the whole point of them coming is to give us feedback so I would

071like to while it's not a policy shift I would like to unknow where we collectively come out on that idea so that we're kind of getting both pieces of that puzzle. >> Thank you. All right. Um and I just wanted to to just thank everyone for the awesome discussion on this. It's been it's been really great. Um you know one of the things that um Connor has brought to our attention is ways that we could tighten up the meeting and we have um tried to implement that in this meeting um so that we are having two discussion items um and we actually if you check on your little notes here we do have time limits next to those. So not that we're we're this is our first foray into this so we're not quite there

072yet. I was just adding up the minutes and we're not quite on on point yet, but it is there are ways that we are um also um trying to tighten up those meetings so we can have that that time with our student um when they are here. Um and if we were to go ahead and move the the community comment later, just to keep in mind that that is not a policy change. Um what we're looking at for a policy change is is yay or nay on that. Um, and the other thing I just wanted to do is remind everyone that over the years that we have added a just a huge number of engagement sessions for dire uh ways of engagement for directors to meet with the community. Um, we have each director visits

073at least seven or eight schools a year. Um, we have regular communications and meetings with staff associations so that staff voices heard. Uh, liaison to various committees that people are on. Um, active listening during community comment. uh community engagement sessions um over the years to increase dialogue. I know we had them prior to COVID and then during CO we we did not do them and we're um bringing those back and I have found those to be um truly insightful and being able to talk to somebody I know that we say for an hour and a half and I have not ever left before three hours um after those so I find them very enriching um you know individual meeting with community members group meetings with community members um the reading and responding to email and

074then of course we've had multiple additional community engagement sessions for sort of our big ticket items. So, you know, our strategic plan, school consolidation conversations, for a mil levy conversations. So, because I want to engage with the community and dig deep into the hows and wise of each community member's stories and concerns, I will still vote to replace the community comments uh during a work session with community dialogue session as I value that open communication over a one-way commentary. So, with that, I believe everybody has had um a chance to speak. Go ahead, Kevin. >> Um, just briefly, appreciate it. Um, I've said what needed to be said the last meeting and I echo a lot of the comments and I appreciate the board's uh consideration on this topic. Um, to the extent I can't

075always do it, but I try to for the board is sometimes I like to my own perspective, I think it's helpful if I zoom out. And so while I don't believe it was the intent of anyone on this board or anyone in this room to restrict uh the exchange of ideas or the democratic process, I am concerned that even it could be construed as the appearance that that's the case. And at a time when I believe that our democracy is under attack, um I want no part in anything that could even be perceived as adding to that restriction on democracy. I mean, it's it's messy, but it's what we've got and it's worth fighting for and it's worth protecting. And so, with that, I will be voting no for the policy. >> Okay. Thank you.

076So, just to clarify, a yes vote is to amend the policy and a no vote is to not amend the policy. Correct? Just wanted to make that clear. So, uh with that, I think we will go ahead and uh call the vote. >> Sorry. No, >> why don't you clarify just a little more. Is it a yes vote is to delete one of the >> Yes, a sorry apologies. A yes vote is to amend the policy so that they would uh we it was it is the removal of community comment for once a month. Does that does that make sense? >> Okay, we all we all understand. Yes. Thank you. So Jill, we can go ahead and call the vote. Jim Brokish, >> hi. >> Kristen Draper, >> I. >> Connor Duffy, >> no. >>

077Kevin Havda, >> nay. >> Scott Shoenbower, >> no. >> Andrew Spain, >> nay. >> Jessica Zamora, >> no. >> Motion fails. 25. >> Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to 7.2 two, legislative priorities and proposed resolutions. Can I get a motion? >> Thank you, Connor. >> I move that the board of education and the Pter school district board of education legislative priorities and proposed resolutions. >> Can I get a second? Anyone? Andrew. Thank you. All right. And let's go ahead and have some discussion. And we've got the um the resolutions from CASBY up on the board or they're coming up on the board I should say. And the other thing that um I just wanted to point out and Jill, if we can go to page 10 on that um on the

078new one. Oh, is that on the new one? I'm sorry. Sorry. Um I had sent a new one to uh Jill. If we could make that a little bit bigger, that'd be great. Um this is the actual draft that Casby has sent for the delegate meeting. And the reason I wanted to have this one up here is it also has their priorities and um bill ideas for 2026. So there are two things here happening here. There are resolutions that CASBY is going to be talking about at the delegate meeting on um the 9th, sorry, the 5th and 6th of September, but they also have these um priorities and bill ideas. And I thought it was important for people to be able to read uh in particular the finance ones because some of these are not

079resolutions, but they are um finance platforms that they will be um be supporting. And is it possible to make that slightly bigger? Oops. Sorry. Let's see if I I I'll pull it up and I'll read it from here. Okay. So for the proposals um for the 26 platform um excuse me here get that up there. So it says CAS believes the state must prioritize and provide Colorado's public schools with adequate equitable reliable and sustainable funding. Colorado must ensure the funding needed to meet today's future educational needs of every Colorado public school student. And so CASBY members are committed to advocating with legislators to accomplish the following. And just keep in mind, these are not the resolutions. These are just things that they are advocating for every day. Ensure the use of public monies for K12

080education does not include vouchers for K12 private schools. Increase total pupil spending to get to the national average as a minimum. Um increase uh sorry, modify aspects of TABER that represent a barrier to full funding of K12 education. fully fund individuals with Disabilities Act or the IDEIDA. Ensure budget stabilization factor is not reinstated. Uh commit to to SB23287 on the adequacy study recommendations. Ensure adequate and sustainable funding for public education capital improvements including options like best. Ensure adequate and sustainable K12 funding levels and um equitable distribution of the school finance act. adopt the school finance act before the long bill adoption, evaluate grant propo programs and fully fund ed effective grant programs via SFA and protect the state education fund and accelerate growth of the multi-general permanent fund. So there's several more um if you

081scroll down there you'll see studenta and staff safety access in local governance and accountability. Those are all part of their platforms and then there are the resolutions that will be being discussed. So, I just wanted to make sure that everybody had seen those as well um as we're talking about it because I think otherwise people might be wondering where um the resolutions for, you know, the equitable funding or the vouchers or uh any any of those questions might pop up. So, with that, um did we have anybody who wanted to lead off the discussion on these resolutions? >> Can I start with a question? >> Absolutely. >> Um again, point of clarification, we're we're being asked to vote on the resolutions as presented in mass, right? Not individuals one or off. >> Correct. Um can

082can we not everyone volunteer at once, Connor? Um can someone give us a primer as to how uh these uh resolutions were put forward at least to PSD um among others that were not included in the ones we're being asked to vote for tonight? >> Yeah. So in general, CASBY has a legislative committee and that goes through that process and they take ideas from school districts, from teachers, from a lot of people, a lot of constituent stakeholders and then they put the list together. I would say this is the second year in a row that I think that the the platform is always aspirational, but I think a lot of the resolutions in the last two years have been very aspirational. And what ends up happening is it's um it's just the the starting point

083for the legislative session. Um and they I'm trying to think I believe maybe only one of them got passed in some form or worked its way into an actual bill that was approved and signed by the governor this year. Um, so >> so here's the question I've got is so are other school districts also being asked to approve this exact menu of resolutions at their board meetings or is this one tailored specifically to PSD? That's what I'm >> No, the platforms for everybody, but I'm not sure that every single school district, you know, has a formal approval of it. >> Did you have a question, Andrew? I I think the only one that you and I talked about at the CASBY meeting that we had concerns about was the one related to the board member

084from outside the district as long as there was a connection through a family member to being in the district which is something that small school districts need. But my my only question was a process one because I I wouldn't want to inadvertently send a message to Casby saying hey we're we're in favor of this and I don't want to do it on a promise of oh we'll look into that. I don't think that's appropriate either. So, how do we, and that's assuming we all would agree, of course, but if we were all to say we don't like that for PSD, do we send this back saying we approve all of these except for this one? And that >> we can do that and say that there's an Yeah, we would like to see an amendment.

085And I believe that was number nine, um, if I'm not mistaken. Um, and there's a way to go ahead and and submit amendments for that. >> Yeah, I see you can amendment amend it with Casby. um and try to massage the actual language that they'll come up with. The other thing on that specific one, um we wouldn't be the only district that um has reservations with that. Um and I think there would be probably even louder voices than us um in that conversation. >> I guess I'm just asking if if we are to approve this, can we have even like the friendly amendment to say that our vote on it would be we approve all this except for and then again Perhaps this is something I I don't know who I need to ask about.

086>> No, this is he's he's getting exact because I'm Can I hijack for a second? >> Absolutely. >> Um and maybe as a suggestion, maybe we can go through each resolution and just say if there's any question or comment or because some of these I had a few and some I had absolutely I was ambivalent and I was going to defer to what you guys thought and I am a little bit concerned with signaling in in mass or one fell swoop. We agree with all this when I I've got reservations about one or two as well. Yeah. The other thing we could do is just take those one or two that we are um concerned about and have those discussions because I think there um I think most of us have the same concern on

087on number nine for sure. Um if if we could bring that one up. I don't know if there's a a way to go ahead and do that for people. Um and that one is um No, it wasn't nine. Which which one was that? >> Eight. >> Maybe eight. Okay. Thank you. It was eight. Um so eight um was brought by Edison School District proposed legislation allowing one atlarge outofd district candidate to be appointed or elected to occupy a seat on the board uh the district board of education in the district which an immediate family member is enrolled as a student. Um, and to tell you the truth, this was one of those that both Andrew and I at that CASBY meeting. Um, we were concerned about, others in the room were concerned about, and CASBY

088said there's no way this is going to actually go through without an amendment to say that you would have to have um it was I I can't remember what the numbers were, but very it was for very rural school districts. Um they were using the example of one of the counties where they had um they had looked at everybody who was eligible to be on the school board in the district and it was fewer than 40 people. And so they decided this was one of the ways that they could combat that. And the larger school districts um along with some of the the smaller school districts as well were very concerned that this could um you know be a problem. So CASBY itself at that meeting on Thursday suggested that there was going to be

089an amendment to it as well. And so I would suggest that if we want to make an amendment and suggest that it be, you know, for schools smaller than X or with fewer than 50 people who are eligible to be on the school board or something to that effect. I think that would be a wise decision. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> I'm not trying to be difficult. I was just looking at our proposed motion language. I move that the board approve the Pter school district board of education legislative priorities and proposed resolutions. So, I'm not maybe I'm just not a politician. I'm not wild about saying that I'm going to vote in favor of something with Oh, yeah. But down the road, I'm going to caveat an amendment. So, >> we can but we can

090make an amendment now. We can. >> Yeah. >> Can we can we isolate maybe the resolutions we are? Is that a way to do it, too? Okay. >> Yep. We can go ahead and >> I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be pinned. >> Oh, no. No. Absolutely. No, we got to do it the right way. And we can say, you know, we want to uh we can have somebody make a motion to amend um that we will adopt with an amendment to uh resolution number eight to be. Yeah. Were there other concerns or for other resolutions on there? >> Go ahead, Scott. on the earlier we were looking at one talking about um evaluating grant programs and fully funding effective grant programs via S SFA. What is SFA? >> Believe that's school finance act >>

091state money. Okay. How likely is that to actually happen given the states issues? I I think some of this stuff is pie in the sky, >> but it's still worth advocating for. We want to ask what we want, what we need, uh whether we think we're going to get it or not. But okay, >> I I think you're right to understand that I think the spirit of that is aspirational with the looming budget situation at the state and federal level. Um, but I do think the spirit of it resonates because a lot of really important work that happens across this state is continuing to be funded on grant cycles without any kind of real permanent solution to ensure that important work is sustainable in any school system, not just PSD. So, it's a fair question.

092>> Go ahead, Kevin. >> Let me jump in um to get this thing this train moving. Um, I'm going to speak uh in favor of resolutions 9 and 10 in our packet. And my thinking being, this building off of something that um I think Scott and Connor were alluding to, is that especially in the context of the special session that we're finding ourselves in and the incredible um state deficit that we're uh that we're looking down the barrel, I think maybe a shift in our priorities is to non-monetary yet very meaningful and impactful resolutions might be more of where we get a value in this legislative session. So resolution 9 submitted by St. for school districts. Uh it was a resolution in which CASBY Sports legislation that restores local control over Oh, excuse me. That

093was not nine. I was I jumped ahead. I apologize. Um I was at I was at 10. Excuse me. St. Brains. That was a same It was I'm on resolution 10. Bear with me. CASBY sports legislation that establishes nonpartisan elections for members of the Colorado State Board of Education. Um I liked that one. And that was married with the other one I was trying to find. I apologize. Uh >> I think number seven. Number seven from Durango. Thank you very much. Um from Durango School District, um which is a resolution honoring local control, a new charter school application appeals to the state board of direction. Kasby supports limiting the role of the state board of education and new charter school appeals to determining whether the chartering authorities decision was arbitrary and capricious. So the state

094board being the the quasi or really the judiciary entity that will hear the appeal um based on a local board of education i.e. us our determination whether a new charter will either get its charter or not in very high level layman's terms. Um I do like that idea. Um I think that those two should go in in in handinand and that the state board being a fairly partisan board in historically um without disparaging anyone on that board by any means. But you'll typically get appeals from various school districts that are going to be decided along party lines and not what's the unique specific circumstances um from each individual school district. So I' I'd like to put our energy towards uh those two. Whether they get traction or not remains to be seen, but um I

095still I think the policy is is sound. >> And I'll just jump in and say I think the aspirational ones, yes, they we all know that they are aspirational and it's extremely important that we keep reminding our legislators of just how important education is and if the best that we end up doing is keeping the status quo, we have definitely won. um because I think we have to be very concerned of what's going to happen both in the special session and then throughout next year. So, I think really keeping this um even though that we know that we are probably not going to get to a national average as a minimum this year, um it's something to keep our sights towards and make sure that our legislators understand by just reading that that means we're

096below the national average and that should worry our Colorado legislators that we fund our students at below the national average. So to me, these things um yes, aspirational, yes, a reminder for our legislators of just how important education is, and there's some real good policy changes that can be made as well. So I think there's there's um a yes to all three. And um I would propose that we just amend um we we make an amendment to change um resolution >> number eight. number eight and say, you know, I don't know what the number could be, but for those who have fewer than something in a school district, Connie, you have an idea on that one. >> Well, Jill, I'll defer to you, but I was just going to read the motion in again with

097an amendment on it. If that's palatable to everybody. >> Actually, let's go ahead and we need to make an amendment. Yeah, if you can guide us on this. You can make an amendment uh to the original motion and then the board will vote on the amendment and then the original motion after. So there'll be two different votes. So first you can move to amend your original motion to do XYZ and then vote on that and then >> there could be the other motion. The other the other thought, Connor, before you get going, >> is we could also that make a motion to amend and just isolate the resolutions we know we're in support of, leave that one off and then keep that for an amended amended language. Or if we don't vote on amended language

098for eight, for instance, doesn't signal that we don't support it. We're just not going to make a a board approval of that. Does that make sense? >> I think so. There's two options. >> Or you could just amend to to remove number eight. >> That might be the simplest. >> Okay. Um, I'd like to enter a a motion. I move to um amend um the P pter school district's board of education legislative priorities to exclude resolution number eight as presented in our packet. >> I'll second Jim seconds. Thank you. All right. Well, so take a vote on the amendment now. >> Correct. You can do a discussion first if needed and then take a vote on the amendment. >> Any discussion needed on that? Okay, I think we did. So, taking a vote on the

099amendment. >> Jim Brokish, >> I. >> Kristen Draper, >> I. >> Hunter Duffy. >> Hi, >> Kevin Havda. >> Hi, >> Scott Shoenbower. >> Hi, >> Andrew Spain. >> I >> Jessica Zamora, >> hi. >> Motion passes 70. >> Okay. And now, correct me if I'm wrong, but we have to take a vote on the original motion, which if we already voted I for the um amendment, we cannot do both. Is that correct? >> Now, the original motion as amended to remove number eight is on the table for discussion and then a vote. Yes. >> Okay. >> I have another one I'd like to discuss. >> Okay, let's do that then. >> Um or have curiosities about. So if we go to number two, it's from Harrison School District resolution ensuring full public school funding

100in the event of v voucher impleation implementation. I I would argue I agree with the sentiment of this one. What makes me concerned about the way it's worded is it seems like it almost assumes that vouchers are inevitable and it tries to say that the state of Colorado will not what is the word I'm looking for? Use vouchers until we're fully funded. And I don't know if we have a line in the sand for what fully funded is. Um, we just did an adequacy study that told us multiple different things. So, I'm a little concerned that we approve a resolution that even though the current door is open for a voucher implementation, it almost in some ways reads like it would encourage it as long as we get money. And I could easily see somebody

101saying you are fully funded. It's according to me and therefore vouchers are fine. And that doesn't sit well with me. So I think I I agree with the sentiment behind it, but I don't like the wording and I don't but I didn't know if anybody else had thoughts on how they were reading it or maybe I'm misinterpreting. Well, I'll just jump in as I I think that um it opposes any legislation that establishes or expands a voucher program unless it includes provisions to fully and permanently fund public schools at or above current levels adjusted annually for inflation and enrollment change. So it I think the idea there is to whatever if vouchers come in um that it is not removed from the current education fund as part of education >> and no state has entered

102vouchers and been successful in keeping their funding model. So a resolution is like this is what we want and then if vouchers I just wish this was a stronger resolution and opposition to vouchers for the foreseeable future until the state of Colorado figures out public school funding in the first place. Can I jump in on that point? I'm going to be lawyerly again just for a moment. I read the exact same sentence you did President Draper as a what I call condition procedent. So, you're not going to allow for a voucher mechanism unless and until it includes uh provisions to fully and permanently fund public schools at or above current levels adjust annual for inflation enrollment. So, I I don't I don't see them as separate and distinct. I see them as as before and

103then. So that's why I don't have as much I agree with everything you said, but I don't have as much concern based on how this is is drafted because the truth is if we're talking pie in the sky, I don't think one either of those scenarios will actually ever come to fruition. But I do think it's worth sometimes having the argument to have the argument is how you get some noise. >> Go ahead, Scott. Uh Jess, you made me think a little bit, which is takes a bit, but I actually really appreciate what you had to say there because if you do read it, Mr. lawyer um at current is almost like a back door to at current meaning right now maybe I'm not thinking this through right but if they funded fully there then

104vouchers they would support vouchers and that could be ushered in at the 2025 level but like down the road in 2028 or something like that if if there's a different legislature I don't know if I'm misreading that when when they're saying at current, are they meaning at the point when this is being talked about or at the time? >> The next line says adjusted annually for inflation and enrollment changes, but we also haven't got a determination with how enrollment will impact our funding for the long-term future either. So, >> yeah, it's a little squishy for me. I'm not I'm not sure I'm a fan of the wording on that, but thank you for that. I think some of the comments um from the legislative committee on that was if I recall correctly was setting a

105floor on funding which is the current level and then that inflation factor on there would increase over time indefinitely. So we would be funded at the same level going forward excluding decline in enrollment. Um I have some issues on what you consider decline in enrollment. They've got some things in averaging on here but I think setting that floor. If you could like these are aspirations. If we could set that floor and get inflation factor on it, I'd take that all day. Other discussions? All right. Does anyone make an amendment? Okay. Seeing none, I'm going to call a vote. Jim Brokish. >> Hi >> Kristen Draper. >> Hi >> Connor Duffy. >> Hi >> Kevin Havda. >> Hi >> Scott Shenbower. >> No >> Andrew Spain. >> I >> Jessica Zamora. >> I motion passes 61.

106>> All right. Thank you. Well, that was fun. Let's go ahead now and jump into something completely different. So, we've got 8.0formational reports and discussion items. Uh, so 8.1 is GPA and class rank policy change. And we should have a couple of special guests for this. >> One very special guest and joining us this evening to present the GPA class rank policy change is Dr. Julie Chaplan, one of our uh, fearless assistant superintendents. Welcome, Dr. chocolate. >> Hi, good evening. Uh, thank you so much for allowing me to uh talk with you. I plan to keep this very short and sweet. So, um, if you'll just oblige me, I'm going to discuss the communications plan, um, and actions that have already transpired related to the change to the grade point average and class ranking process,

107uh, and and superintendent policy made uh, at the end of last school year. So just to ground us in those changes, this impacts the current ninth grade class, which is the class graduating class of 2029. Um those students will now see a cumulative GPA, which is unweighted on their transcript. Um, we have removed what the was unique to PSD was this adjusted cumulative PG or GPA that was only used in our district and none other districts around us or through the nation. Um and we also will report however a weighted GPA that is on a fivepoint GPA scale and that is used for our courses um that receive AP credit, IB credit or concurrent enrollment um post-secary credit. Those will all be listed. Um in addition, class ranks have adjusted from a specific um individual

108rank out of the total in of number of students in that class to a desile rank. meaning that students are ranked either in the top 10, 20, 30, 40, 50%. Um, we uh do not anticipate reporting beyond 50%. Um, however, as you'll see in my later discussion, we're still going to have conversations about the exact transcript um, prior to this graduating class. Um, these changes were made for several reasons. uh one of those being um transparency and consistency. So when students are filling out uh scholarship applications, college applications, when counselors are filling out those um applications for college enrollment, uh they are all using the same terminology, GPA, and that is similar as what's reported around the nation. So even those colleges who are receiving our student transcripts don't have to decipher the PSD code

109that we made up in our district literally. And so um that will also allow us by having a desile rank of a top 10% of students as opposed to a validictorian or saludiatoran allow for recognition of a broader range of students and I will talk a little bit further about that um as well. Um this also helps us with our um really four major areas of coherence that is again alignment not only within our district and how things are reported but across districts within the front range across the state and across the nation. than access. So consistency in grade point um GPA reporting as I had said um helps us and helps our students when other um post-secary institutions are looking at them and trying to compare our pter school district students to a Thompson

110SCU student or to a student from across the nation. Um, and it also helps reduce um some of the concerns for AP courses um that we see in our district. Um, when we have the GPA bump that was previous to this and uh the validictorian saludatoran um there was is um heavy participation in outside vendors um that families enroll their students in at a fee. um to complete additional AP courses in because they can't take anymore. Um literally their schedules are full, can't take anymore. Um but they can pay outside providers. And so that becomes an equity access issue only for those who can afford that to continually add to their grade point average to get to that number one or number two spot. um and um do historically see students um actively monitoring that

111and enrolling in courses even very close a week or two prior to graduation um to complete something to get that little bump up. So uh we also uh also want to be really tight in alignment with rigor. We offer um really high level high quality advanced options for students both in our schools and in our concurrent enrollment providers. Um, and so we want to also make sure that the choices they are making are not simply choices just for a GPA um, bonus, but they are choices that are in their individual career and academic plans and their post-secary outcomes. And so we have seen in some cases where students may have not chosen courses that would align with their post-secary goals um for reasons um to just continually add to their GPA environment. Um you know

112we we workshopped this with um students around the district. So this was something that we did go through several feedback loops last spring. the counselors did. Um they met with um students in the district uh the student accountability committee and the feedback from students um was a a resounding support from them um and the um improvement of mental health for students in these highly competitive um mentalities that they engage in and how um how much pressure they can put on themselves as well as potentially others around them putting pressure on them. Um and then also um having them again have a wider scope of recognition as I said by recognizing more students. Um and when we look at a decile um our friend and data expert Dr. Dwayne Schmidz when he looks at slicing our

113top 10% GPA they are hundreds of percentage points difference in most cases. Um I'll I'll make that generalization but I think that's fairly true. And so even within a top 10% we're not talking about a wide range or difference in those GPA at that decile level. All right. So uh following the board presentation last June um the board policy was officially revised and posted on the website prior to July district emails went out to two groups. The first group was um to the families of these ninth grade students, current nth grade students, informing them of the change um because they are the ones impacted uh in their graduation year. And then there was also another communication that went out separately to our current families in 10th through 12th grade just to let them know of

114the change and highlight that this did not apply to their students. the district's website um was also this information was updated again not only in the policy section of the website but we had we do have a back tochool website and this information is on there and this was also um linked in the back to school newsletter that came out before school started on August 7th. So um we are going to continue this messaging and working with our communications department. Every fall, the district um sends out the high school planning guide, which summarizes all things high school and planning wise for career um uh post-secary education. It will have industry certification information, workrelated inter information, career technical information as well as all of the graduation requirements. And this clarity will also be in that for

115the graduation class of 2029. Then as we move into January through February, um that is when students in high school and our um current eighth graders begin selecting their courses for the following school year. They do that very early. So uh they will start in those conversations and students have individualized meetings with their counselors. So specifically the students in ninth grade and eighth grade counselors will discuss this and make sure they are aware as well in a one-on-one conversation um and that they're talking with them about their course selections in alignment again with their um four-year plan in their individualized career and academic plans which are annually updated um and aligned um throughout the their high school career and even starting in before high school. And then uh we will continue conversations throughout this year

116and potentially beyond, most likely beyond with counselors and high school leaders as we think about how the 2029 graduation celebrations and their ceremonies, their recognitions, how they will shift, what that will look like um as we've moved from a val to potentially recognizing um a a desile. Um and there's many conversations around those as to um potentially do we look at a suma magna kum laad type situation that recognizes a potential maybe 1 to 5% 10 to 15 20 to 30 that's a pretty typical um process throughout the nation and in post-secary institutions definitely and then also how we will report on transcripts um and so as we've heard um some feedback from others asking for um us to consider possibilities of reporting um potentially something beyond a 10% or um a decile. That's something

117we will continue to discuss with counselors um and our high school leaders. Uh and we will have to involve our um our our folks over in information technology into this discussion as well as all of that generates um not seamlessly unless we all are on the same page in what gets reported and how how that gets um factored into with their grades on their transcripts. So, those are the highlights. And I would also say that um Dr. Schmidtz, myself, um we have in the back of the room, which some of you may see, we have Beth Green. She is our lead counselor. Um and we also have Liz Davis, senior executive director of student services. So, the four of us have been a tag team of um support for specific questions that have come through

118um and are happy to continue to work together to address those um as we go and as as certain pieces come forward um that need attention. So, having said that, thank you. Less than 10 minutes, y'all. What do you think? All right, now it's your turn. Questions? Can you keep it within 10? No, here and go. >> Just teasing. But anyway, >> go. Thank you so much. That was that was fantastic and and great work. So, comments, questions, discussion. >> Go ahead. I got comments. >> Yeah. Thank you for that uh succinct presentation. It was good. You had 15 minutes, so you can talk about anything now. >> You got more time for questions. That's what that means. >> Um, so I I'm a fan of the the Suma Magnad Kumla. um designations. Um what's

119just because we've gotten feedback from people that are frustrated that >> we don't have the val s you know traditional thing. Um I'm always a fan of pursuing excellence and and encouraging our kids to do that. So I feel like this would be a good a good way to do it. What's the negative of of that? What would be the counterargument to having the recognition? I don't know that I really can see one that would be a negative. Um, in a ceremony where we're not wanting people to sit for multiple hours, I think we will need to be mindful about the public recognition of that and have conversations about are there visual ways to recognize that and and what we might constitute for that. Um, but I don't see any major downfall to being able

120to um to have students say and report suma magna or >> kumlad. Other questions? Go ahead, Jess. Now, because Scott was so rude. No, no. I really first wanted to just say I really appreciate that this is coming from counselors because I think some of the uh feedback that we've gotten is wondering even where this idea came from and why and how it's you know impacting students and I feel like the counselors are the ones who would know best both for college applications as well as within our schools. So I really appreciate that the experts are leading this charge. Um, the other thing I want to say is, you know, I appreciate that this there's this idea of like we're recognizing students for more than just an academic point, right? And it's really only two

121people typically, unless there's a tie, which is rare. Um, and we do such every school does such a good job in their own way of recognizing students with their passion passions and interests rather than a number. So, I love that we're going this way. I still think that, you know, if we're doing the kumlad, we're still going to honor the students who whose passion is academics. We're still doing that. We're just doing it in a different way. So, I just wanted to really just say thank you for this work. Where are the people? Thank you for this work. Um, and I appreciate that this came forth and just giving us the update. >> Yeah. Thanks. >> Other questions or comments? Go ahead, Connor. So, I know Scott's been a big champion of this about CTE

122and kind of hands-on actual work knowledge. Have we considered um adding CTE courses maybe and dual internships in this weighted GPA classification? >> Great question. many of our CTE courses and in fact in the district career tech center um they've worked to align I believe almost all of them receive concurrent enrollment now so they do factor into those courses um I will be um open to having conversations with the director of career and innovation Tanya Alcarez when we know more from the legislature about the big three changes which is no more free year of college after this year with Ascent and focusing on work-based learning um getting credits for college while with us for free and then the third is the did I say industry certifications it's work-based learning industry certifications and and concurrent enrollment

123credits those are the three so as we learn more about that we may have more conversations about do these work-based learning courses and job tied experiences have a place that lives in this area as well. So, >> that's fantastic. Thank you. Go ahead, Kevin. Um, the last time this was presented, I exploded with my nerd-like excitement for this topic. So, I'll I'll try to temper my enthusiasm for tonight's discussion. But I I will say um I'm a big fan to be a part of a district that's focused on this this kind of work to um to to look at the the top end of our student graduates and examine closely what we can do to be more fair, more equitable um while also not in any way sacrificing or compromising our academic integrity and that

124we're we're we're one of the leaders of the state as you pointed out. The question I had, I wonder if you could touch on this a bit, is what role did student voices play in some of the feedback that you got and how was that amplified in the process that you've got so far? >> Sure. Absolutely. So, uh, informally we have had the reason counselors are coming forward is because of their years of working directly with students and working directly with students who have shared their feedback and their their stress, their anxiety, their frustration. So, that is an informal anecdotal process. But formally in what in our feedback loops in addition to going to special education advisory committee, district advisory board, district accountability board, the student equity coalition um was a group, the student um

125accountability committee was a formal group that was presented to and then um um the EDAC committee as well I believe was also presented to for this information with counselors if I remember correctly and if I misspoke on that I apologize. Um but yes, so they were formally presented and we gathered feedback um from them and that was the feedback that was included. It was very positive and um as a side note, we have representatives from high schools across the district. So students from across the district are a part of the student accountability committee there. I would say based on the makeup also is a right now last year's um we're probably a high correlation with some of these high achieving students that are looking at these recognitions and engaging in um some of this coursework

126and they themselves experiencing the anxiety and stress. So I think they could share their stories um as well when it was presented. Yep. And I would say one other side note that I think um may come a little bit I think with what you were saying Jess is we're thinking about um some of this may being seen as taking away something from um or a motivating factor for students that has come up and um we actually um when we see students that feel they have no hope that's when we see motivation lost. And so if their only target is for a one or a two spot and that's their only hope is one or two spots and we open up the opportunity for them to be recognized a academically for their scholarship in more areas.

127We're go you can you're going to see students who may have not thought about it before think wow I'm that close to a top 10% recognition or if we do the suma magnaum right they're going to be able to monitor and and and have some targets beyond just those two spots um that may have more room for growth that acknowledges um some of their work and dedication throughout their four-year career and not necessarily just a real race at the And >> okay, >> and Julie, really quickly, um, this last part on here about, uh, transcript reporting >> prior to 2029, it says, um, and I guess after that, are students allowed to, um, and maybe confidentially asked to have their actual class rank reported on their college admissions? So that is a complication with how

128we track, how we report and we cannot guarantee right now with the um information technology systems that we have. It wouldn't be just a simple we can track top 10 by decile and at the same time top track individually student rank one by one by one. So it is more than likely not possible for a parent to call and say but I want to know if they are number one or number two that possibility of doing that along with a decile ranking in this reporting process in the system they they don't align with how those are calculated and reported. So, it's a good question and my colleague Bud Hunt, if he had anything else to add, I think it would just I I would just speak for him and I think that's something we have

129to explore further, but on the cursory look, that is not an easy just easy button. Yes. There we go. Thank you. Other questions or comments? All right. And I'll just wrap up by saying thank you so much. This is fantastic. I I love the work. Again, like like you had said, Kevin, I just love the the idea of of um this district supporting the whole child and being sure that we are recognizing the academic work and making sure that this is not just for one or two people that it's an equity issue and we are we are looking at that. So, thank you so much for all the work that you have done that you are doing and that um I I love the fact that we are going to be communicating this out for

130the next four years as well and saying, "Hey, just a reminder." So, thank you for all of that and the planning that goes into it. Yeah, absolutely. And just to put credit where credit is due, I get to be the voice tonight in our new efficiency reporting system, but all the credit goes to our counselors and our schools. So, thank you. >> Thank you, counselors and schools. All right, thank you so much. Did Did you have something you wanted to say, Brian? >> Let's keep it rolling. >> All right, let's keep it rolling. All right, 8.2. We might actually end on time here. Summer construction update tonight. We look Oh, sorry. I'm going to steal your line there. >> You're welcome to. You're welcome to. I just as we tee up uh our chief finance

131officer, Dave Mononttoya, I just want to lead again and say thank you to our voters. uh the ex the comprehensive report that you're about to see would not be possible without the passing of the 2024 uh mil levy override that is really just transformational for our system in a lot of different ways. And as we continue to calibrate around this work, both past, present, and future, I do want to continue to remind our public while, and I shared this in my opening remarks, while the 2024 Milvy override provides us funding to be able to install air conditioning across our schools, many of us who were around the table at the time remember a couple of years ago when we hired the Mckinstry, uh, the engineering firm to do an audit of our deferred maintenance. We

132have a billion over a billion dollars of total need. And so installing air conditioning is a priority, but what we will continue to have to wrestle with as a governance team is around how much funding is available to invest in that over a period of time while also tending to the other uh pocket. We're talking about hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars. But I'm just so proud of the staff who worked around the clock project managed to make sure that we were able to open all of our schools successfully at the start of the school year. We've learned a lot uh through this work as a result of really not being able to take on this amount of work ever in in an 11week period. So just really proud of Dave's leadership uh the

133work he's doing with so many thought partners across the district. And I'd like for you to kind of share your story, Dave. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you, Superintendent Kingsley. And uh and again, I'm going to I'm going to say it twice because I think it's really important. um this presentation would not be possible at all without the election, the debtree millie of November 2024. Um for those of us that were involved in that prior to the election, the the situation was pretty dire. We had some remaining bond funds from our 2016 bond that we were holding on to to say if something breaks, that's how we're fixing it. Beyond that, we don't have money to do much else. So, um, so this whole presentation is really a result of the, uh, the the generosity

134of our voters as well as the hard work and putting that together and getting it, um, getting it to the point where the voters could vote on it. Um, so I'm going to hit a couple uh, I'm going to hit a couple high points here uh, of some projects that we've completed. There's a couple that aren't on the slides that I'll just kind of add lib in on the way in. Um, but let's just start out with some of the some of the things that are more visible on the outside. And so um, and I'm not going to go through all the pictures. We do have a video and a couple slides here that I think I'll will really emphasize the work that was done. But starting off with playgrounds, we did a number of

135playgrounds and there's actually more playgrounds that are listed on this slide, but these are the the large renovations of playgrounds that we did. Um, and so we had full replacements at Shepardson, PGA, Stoke Prairie. Um, we also had significant upgrades at TLI and Bennett and uh and again some other smaller upgrades and maintenance uh to some other playgrounds. On the bottom left of this slide, you're gonna see a concrete pumper and what looks to be a tennis court. And that's exactly what it is. It's I am sorry. I am sorry. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, um coming back to the slide here, the outdoor playgrounds I just talked through there. And then looking at the picture on the lower left is a concrete pumper and um it looks like it's pumping onto something that's a tennis

136court. That's what it is. Um, so that was a tennis court uh replacement that we did over at Bolt. Um, and uh, pleased to say that that is now complete. That was one of the projects that was kind of dragging at the finish line. Um, we were waiting to get some epoxy paint to to make sure that the paint that goes on there is going to stay on there. Um, there was a misorder earlier, but we got that straightened out and uh, and I'm pleased to say that we're we're moving forward with that one. Um, we did a lot of programmatic moves this year. Um, and some of these were things that we had tried to do a number of years and just couldn't quite get them put together. And I'm really pleased to say

137that we had some really good success with some of these programmatic moves. Um, and this was really a concerted effort within three different things that were happening here. One was the alliance program of which is like the the daycare that takes care of our our teen parents that are that are in high school. Um, they moved over to Community Connections at Rocky Mountain High School and that was a big renovation. I I have personally have not gotten in there yet, but the people that have been there have said it's it's amazing and and the work that was done is is high quality. So, we're excited for that. Um, some of us joined the ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday for the transition programs. Um, that was a great event and and again, I I won't restate what

138was said, but um the the the excitement and what that's going to bring to our to our students is just it's off the charts. We're so excited about being able to do that. Um and then kind of a smaller piece, but part of these moves was that PGA Pter Global Academy. Um they were actually in the partnership building. Um kind of spread across two different buildings. And so the idea here was get them back into their building at PGA and do some work there. And so we're pleased that all three of those happened and we were actually able to make them all happen together of which is I am sorry. >> I will try to get Would you mind? I'll I'll do it just >> I'm gonna I'm not used to not being at the

139podium. So, okay. So, um so the the programmatic moves uh again the three of them uh they went hand in hand and I'm really pleased that those those went off um in the way that they did. Um, and then kind of a bigger one, um, that for those of us that have been on this journey with the the advanced manufacturing, career techn, futures lab, whatever we want to call it, um, we actually got this project done this this summer and that is the career tech center up at Pter High School. It's an advanced manufacturing lab. Um, and it's really exciting. I got to go over there when we handed that over to the teachers. There I think there are two CNC lathes, two or maybe it's two CNC mills, one lathe. pretty big machines. They

140came from Woodward. Pretty amazing. It's going to be really exciting. I got to work on machines like that when I was in college. So, it's really exciting to see that that's actually happening over here. And then the other thing that I really got excited about was the just the plethora of welding booths and everything else that's going to go into that advanced manufacturing. So, it's really exciting to see that come together. And I believe we have an event on September 10th where we're going to be doing a grand opening of that. So, we're excited for that to come. Oh, still backwards up here. Okay, so the next slide here is um some of our more building specific items and then there's there's some other things that aren't even on the slide that are maybe a

141little least glamorous that I do want to mention. Um, so we did some um, HVAC and uh, building automation uh, projects this summer and these were really probably some of the the first two are really some highlights of things that we're really trying to accomplish this summer and that was fully air conditioning both OD and Batty. um OD. Um both of these projects came right up to the finish line and and I want to just take a minute to pause and thank our project managers, the staff, the custodial staff, everybody, teachers, teachers were in there on the weekends helping to get school ready because this this came right down to the wire. Um but uh I'm really pleased to see that the team really pulled together as a district and we were able to get

142uh get students back in those buildings. OD was um functioning with the air conditioning at that point, but um as I think many of you know, Batty did not quite meet the rate the rate of functioning at the day of opening of school. Um but we are moving toward that. Um and just just a brief update, we're hoping to have RTUs one, two, and three um flowing and working by the end of the week. We've already done soft startups of those. So they're they're kind of balancing controls and adjustments and and doing the final pieces of that. And then our hope is by the end of next week, maybe a little earlier, we'll have rooftops units three, four, and four, five, and six running. Um, so that would be the all six rooftop units would

143be fully functional by the end of next week. Um, so that's uh that's been a a sprint to get that done. And uh again, we're going to have a slides on lessons learned, but um these projects were massive and the the intensity of the projects was was a lot and the time period that we had to do them was very short. Um, so that is something we'll come back to. Another big project that happened this this summer was Fort Collins High School. We did a U building automation system replacement. Um, so this is where we go in and replace the controls from Oh, sorry. Oh, I'm still on there. I thought I was off the slide. Okay, we're still on the right slide. So, um, boy. Um, okay. So, uh, so the building automation system,

144uh, is is is very intensive because you got to go through the entire building to replace all those controls that that actually run the building. Um, but some some knowledge that we heard right after the start of school was that air felt like it was moving better and that it was cooler. And so that's exactly what we were trying to accomplish with that. And I look forward to following up even more to make sure that that's exactly what's happening there. But uh early early uh words tends to sound like that that is actually a success and working. Um we did a number of fire alarm system replacements. These are pretty big projects as well. Um and we can see we've done three schools PCA, Blevens, Lincoln, and Putnham. Um these are kind of the we're

145starting to get down into the least glamorous projects. You know, fire alarm systems. They're extremely important, but I don't think anybody comes in and looks at them when they walk in the building unless they're fire people, right? Um so so fire alarm systems are extremely important for the safety of our students and we're glad that we actually have funding to replace these. These are the kind of systems that without the debtree mill levy we would have run into some real significant problems. If we had safety systems that started failing we would be in a lot of trouble quite frankly if we did not have the the the voters generosity for the debt free levy. This allows us to be proactive and stay ahead of some of those things and and we're going to continue to

146do more fire alarm system replacements as we move forward. Um, roofing is another uh project that uh we did do one roofing project. Um, we did design a number of roofs, but we did actually just implement one this year and that is over at PCA. Um, so that's right across the street here and it was nice to be able to look out the window and actually see that project come together um over time. So, so really happy about that. And then two two other projects that aren't on this slide. There were two flooring projects done. Um I believe it was a Trout and Warner. Um the carpet looks fantastic when you walk through those buildings. I was able to visit both of those sites on the first day of school. Um and and it was

147just amazing. Um so so really pleased with that. Um again, we learned that those are very big projects and I'm going to describe that in a second here. Um so we'll have to be thinking about those a little differently as we go forward. And then probably least glamorous on all of this list is we did do um four boiler replacements as well. Um and so those are things that are important for the building, but nobody really ever sees that or feels the the boiler as it's as it's working, right? Um so we're really pleased with that. Um I'm going to ask Matt to ceue up a video for me and and what we're going to do is move away from the slides and the v and the pictures I had and actually show something that

148shows how this work was being done. [Laughter] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] and again the the video team does such a great job with those. I've I've always enjoyed watching those throughout my years here at Pter School District and this last year actually being a more even more involved partner in in some of the work that was being done. It's it's really it's nice to see and it's it's enjoyable. So, um glad that we were able to to be able to get that film in front of you and kind of walk through um some of the projects that were happening. Um the uh so just some highlights over the summer. Um we established some strong working relationships with some new contractors. That was that was good. And I would say uh continued relationships with existing contractors

149that we've been using for many years. So, um, the amount of work that we're going to be done doing is going to require multiple contractors and and that's very important for us. Um, continued strong cross departmental collaboration. So, um, one of the things that we're learning and that one of the things that we are really trying to lean into is leaning into the experts that we have in the district. Um, we have a number of experts whether it be in plumbing, HVAC, control, structural, um, all these different areas. um electrical, plumbing. Um the the the staff that we have, especially the department leads and the staff in there are extremely knowledgeable in in our buildings. Um when you think about an HVAC unit and we have a a department person that takes care of all

150the HVAC units, got 54 plus sites plus others. Um there's multiple systems. They're all different and somehow these people maintain them. They keep them running and it's pretty amazing actually. So, um really leaning into that expertise I think is going to help us um plan even better projects as we as we start to flex that muscle more. Um the majority of the projects were completed on on time for students. Um I do want to just call out that the the tennis court did drag out and Batty. I'd give you an update on that. Um and that should be complete next week. So, um lessons learned coming into some things that were learned. Um >> yes, I will. Thank you for reminding me. Okay. Um so lessons learned uh the red zone schools um red zone

151what red zone means is the school is empty while the project's taking place. And so the the lesson learned here is that the sooner we can identify what those red zone schools are, the quicker the instructional program has to respond to that and to actually in collaboration make sure that we can vacate that building when we're doing work. And if we're not able to vacate that building, then we will move that project to another time and take up another project that will work in that time. So, um so that's something that um that is very important and and something that uh as we go through the next couple slides, we're going to start thinking about what those red zone schools look like and where they are. Um there were a number of large projects that

152we did. Um, and kind of the lesson learned here is that in an 11week period, that's not a lot of time to do a project. And when you think about 11 weeks, just just think about this with me. You have a week to move like a big HVAC uh project, you're going to have to take all the desks, the furniture, everything out, load it up into storage boxes. That's going to take a week. It's going to take a week to bring it back in and clean up. And we should we should be leaving ourselves a buffer for unforeseen events of which in this short window is hard to do but we should be thinking of about at least a week and that doesn't even sound like enough. If you do that math real quick 11

153becomes eight and that's two months of window that we have to do this work. And so what we are doing is really leaning into understanding that is the window that we have to do the work and working with our designers and and uh and contractors to actually scope work that fits within those time frames so that we're not in this time crunch of trying to do too much too fast. Um part of that is beginning designs earlier. Um we uh we've already begun a lot of work on this and uh and and are moving forward quickly on this. Um, and one of the things that happened last year is that we did not have the election the the results of the election. So, some of the designs, even though we jumpst started some of them,

154some of them couldn't be fully implemented as far as a design work until we actually had the answer from the election. Um, we have a little bit more grace of time. We don't have to wait for November for that. So, we're moving quickly in that direction. And then kind of I've kind of thread this out through the the presentation, but working on scope clarity is is going to be another important thing. That's where we're leaning into those trade professionals that we have to make sure that we understand the scope. Um, many of you in your in your other careers probably know this as well as I do and I remember this from you in auditing. Um, the more time you spend in planning, the better off you're going to be with how successful you are

155in the end. And so that's really what this is about. It's it's about planning and clearly defining scopes um so that when we do take these documents out to bid um that the contractors know exactly what they're working with and and can actually bid on those. So um those were some highlights of lessons learned. Um now I'm going to kind of move into So that's the summer of 25. Now, I'm going to move into just a preview of what is coming so that um so that we can at least get our minds around some of the some of the items. Um we've talked a lot about uh tonight about air conditioning. I'm stop I'm not moving my slides, am I? >> I am going to give it to Julie. >> I am gonna give it

156to Julie. Okay. I only have a couple more slides. So, you're back. >> All right. So, air conditioning priority plan. Um, so, uh, our initial idea around this and and there's really three bullet points that we're focusing on that lead us to the next round of schools. Um, and and the first one's kind of a, yeah, that makes sense. Um, implementation of mechanical cooling at sites that don't have it or don't have tempered cooling. So, so that's just one filter there. That's a pretty obvious one. The second one is really going to be leading us into our next phase, and that's prioritizing schools with large student populations and higher occupant densities. And when you start thinking about what that means, it's really talking about schools like middle schools. Um we are also going to be

157prioritizing schools that typically run hotter. Um and so kind of looking at these three basic criteria. Um two schools really filtered up to the top as the as um really the candidates for the next large push for air conditioning and that's Weber and Leer. Um so we're going to be moving forward with starting the design. Um I'm going to talk about that in the next slide. Um but uh but that's really uh where those two schools come from is it's really that second bullet that's really driving that um as well as the third bullet and the first bullet obviously. Um again like OD and Batty were elementary schools. They're small. These are very big schools. Um so even trying to do that in the summer is not feasible or even rational. Um, so when we're

158working with our design professionals, we will be working again to phase these in over multiple years, understanding that limited window of wait eight weeks that we're trying to target and working with the contractor and the designer to make sure we're fitting work that can fit within that 8week uh within that 8week window. Um, so kind of an update on where we're at with Weber and Leer. Um, we currently have a solicitation out for a design build um, contract. And what that basically means is you bring your contractor and your designer in early in the process and the efficiency and what what you're hoping to gain is that they can talk to each other as well as talking to the owner ger school district and come up with a joint plan earlier that is more thought

159out. Um typically what you would do is you bring design, you complete the design, you put those those plans out for a bid and then you would c have contractors bid on them. By doing this, we save um two steps of a solicitation by bringing in a design build firm build firm in early. Um what they will do, it's very similar to a CMGC process that we've used in the past here for our big builds. Um where at some point during that process, we would need to come back to the board of education to say, "Okay, here's our design. Our contractors have gone out to to bid this and here's what the cost or the the the GMP um of that project would be." and and so that's kind of the approach we're taking. Um

160the update on this is that the solicitation closes at the end of the week. Um we do plan on award very awarding very rapidly. Um most likely the the week of u of September 8th. Um I want to take a second and just maybe take a little rabbit trail to talk about some heat mitigation strategies because it it felt like it fit right here in the presentation. Um, we also just knowing that, and we we we've said this a couple times tonight, air conditioning isn't going to happen immediately. It's going to take us time, it's going to take planning, and it's going to take phasing. Um, so we also want to be trying heat mitigation strategies where we can because um, as we heard in public comment tonight, and I I I agree with it,

161uh, the heat's not going to go away. We need to we need to learn how to to manage this. Um, so we did try something this summer and we tried putting some window film over at Putinham. Um, the results were mixed on that. It worked at a certain point, but then when the day got to a certain threshold really about 93 95 um any benefit of having that that um that that window tinting kind of disappeared. So, so that's something that we we're not ruling it out yet, but um it wasn't probably the the the favorite mitigation strategy at least at Putinham. Um we are going to try it over at Polaris and at Boltz to see if we have some different different um results there. So not just you know not just quitting there

162but we're going to try it again. The neat thing about this is we can run data from last year and this year with and without window film match up days that are similar in temperature and see is there a change in in the classroom temperature. It's not hard evaluation. So that's that's work we're going to be doing. Um, obviously when we're putting window film in October and November, um, those are our cooler months. Um, yes, but we want to keep moving on projects as well too. Um, so that's that's why we're doing that. Um, heard a little bit about, um, some of the successful things that are also happening happening with heat mitigation strategies. Um, we purchased 500 portable air coolers and this was a really big effort. Um, I appreciate uh Treaty Trimbath and

163the team kind of putting this together. Bringing in 500 units while everybody's gone. Getting the boxes torn down, getting them assembled, getting them distributed back out to the sites is a is a pretty big feat. And uh and we did it and we are hearing really good good information around those those units. They're they seem to be working. Um and so that was that was actually a really good sign. And uh I think we're going to continue. We're we're actually ordering more where some sites are saying, "Hey, I still could use a couple more." We're we're ordering a couple more of those. But that that one is fairly successful, I would say, at least in what we're hearing right now. Um from from the results of those uh we're also doing another uh heat mitigation

164tactic or strategy and uh we we just kind of started dipping into this one. Um the Delaney models when you go into those schools like Johnson, Linton, Warner, um you look up and they have the skylights or um I forgot what they call them. I call them skylights. Um and they're the windows that are up in the ceilings and and those windows let a lot of light and heat in. And so I know we've tried these in the past, but we're taking another swing at it is taking kind of a lowcost approach to is there a way to use some heat um resistant material that doesn't let the heat through um newer technologies and trying to put those in front of those skylights to see if they will cut some of the heat down. Um

165we're just starting that work, so I I don't really have an update as to how successful that is, but we're going to continue doing that. It wasn't a high cost. It's just taking a little time to do it. Um, and then we mentioned earlier, uh, and Superintendent Kingsley mentioned in his in his openings, um, we've also implemented the the PSD heat protocols for early release as far as mitigating T strategies. Um, coming up into 26, I wanted to give you a preview of some projects that we're thinking about. I will put a caveat here that we're still in design phase. We're still phasing things and some may move in and some may move out, but this is at least our current thinking right now. Um, Fort Collins High School, there is a very large parking

166lot project that is that is overdue over there. Um, this will most likely be a phase pro project as well. We'll probably do front and half one one year and then the other back half the other year. Um, that way the whole building doesn't need to come offline when we're doing that. Um, athletics, uh, we were going to try to fit this project in last or this summer. Um, it did not happen summer of 25. It is going to happen summer of 26 and that is a track and field replacement at French. Um, this was a good good one. We were trying to move pretty quick on this and then I think most of the people involved, including athletics and others, realized we need to slow down a little bit and get a really good

167plan for what we want with this replacement. And so, we're taking that time so that we can do it next summer. I'm excited about that to happen. And then some major civil projects. And civil just means like moving concrete, asphalt, dirt kind of stuff outside. Um Irish uh Elementary and Polaris both have some fairly major um concrete and asphalt things that we need to tend to. Um so these are all currently in the state of civil engineering review right now and um and moving forward to design. Um upcoming mechanical projects that we're thinking about. Um Fort Collins High School and Bennett Elementary are up for emergency generator replacement. We've already ordered those and uh we'll we'll install them when we can. Um if we can do it over a break that'd be great. Um but

168but those are already kind of moving in. Uh McGra Elementary, we are going to do a boiler replacement on that. Uh remember we just did four of those this summer. We're getting pretty good at how to do boilers. Um so we're going to get even better as we keep moving through and forward with this because I I suspect we'll be doing boilers every year. Um and so McGra will be getting a boiler and we're just entering design scope for that. Um we did the four fire alarm replacements this summer. We're going to we're targeting two next year. Um the solicitation has already closed. I don't think we've selected the vendor yet. Um but those would be at Bolts and CLP Middle School where we'd be focusing those fire alarm replacements. Uh Fossil Ridge High School,

169just like the Fort Collins High School project, the building automation system. Um we are planning on doing that as at Fossil Ridge High School as well. Um lesson learned from this summer. We're going to phase that and again focus on how much can we get done in that 8week window. Maybe a little bit longer in eight weeks. I don't know that we're moving as much stuff like we did in elementary for an HVAC project, but you get the idea. Um, we're going to we're not going to try to do the whole thing if that's not reasonable or rational to do that. Thank you. And so upcoming building projects, uh, we have a a number of things that we're uh, looking at. Bolts, Blevens, and Harris. Um, some flooring replacements. any of these projects when you

170think about like flooring or HVAC or fire alarms, um they're really big projects and what they require us to do is move a lot of stuff. Got to move books, you got to move media centers, you got to get desks, you got to get chairs, all that stuff out of there. Um, so we are going to look at the potential of phasing multiple projects at once so that we can fit within those windows and not have these mad scrambles of trying to move things in and out really fast in that in that one to two two week period that I talked about out of the 12 weeks that takes to just move things around. Um, Trout, we are going to be looking at exterior door replacements over there. Um, we're going into design review there.

171Um, I didn't mention in the slides earlier, but we got done with some fairly large door projects again this summer, too. Um, crews had a very large door project that we got done this summer that has taken us a while to get there. And so, we're really pleased about that. And we're going to continue working on our exterior doors u moving forward. Again, this is what the debtree mil levy was designed to do. Um, we have roof replacements that are that are planned. Um, the good news is we actually have completed the design on these. So, so we're pretty far ahead on that. Um, but when you look at Pter High School and you think about Pter High School right to the right of right to the right of me up here over to the

172south, that is an enormous building. It is very big. There's multiple pieces of that building that were built this time, added on this time, and there's a lot. Um, so when you think about a pter high school, that will definitely be a phased project that may take up to three years, maybe even four, depending on how complex and the timing of that is. Um, but we will also be doing other roofs as well. Shepherds and Irish and Harris. Um, there's there's a lot of roof attention that need that's that's needed in this district. So, we're trying to move forward with it as quickly as we can. Um, I know there's more roofs that need to be attended to beyond the ones that I'm talking about today, but these are the ones that are the high

173priorities. Okay. And then next slide. So, kind of rounding it out. Um here I wanted to also talk about just take one second to talk about some other things that aren't projectoriented but are very much in line with some other things that the debtree malevia is supporting and when you think about it I talked about a lot of big projects right there's also a lot of small stuff that's happening like small water heater breaks okay that's maybe a couple thousand bucks that's not going to be a big project that's going to be something our trades people deal with and so when we think about some of the money that went to the trades to do this um We we started our new ticketing system April 1 and at that point or at the time of

174this this slide was created, we actually had 4,800 work orders since that time when that system was turned on. Um good news is we've completed about 85% of those and and I don't have statistics in the past. I just know that that seems like a really good completion number to me based on what I've heard through the through my years at the at the district. this is this is really important and and it's actually a a change of direction how we're doing things. In the past, I think a lot of these requests would come in and the answer was we don't have money. We can't do it. Um so so really pleased about that. Again, we're seeing some really good movement there. Um we did 200 plus preventative maintenance um work orders. Um so those

175are things that aren't necessarily glamorous again, but you're going to go replace filters or replace a bearing. I'm making some of this up, but these are the things that make those machines go longer. And again, our our um our trades people are very knowledgeable in how to make a system that is only supposed to run for like, let's say, 10 years. Somehow they magically make that thing work for 25 years. Um and so, so this is what we're talking about is that preventative maintenance where they know where to put the preventive maintenance and hopefully that allows us to have equipment longer. Um, we did also take in about 88 project requests. Um, last year about 55 of those were complete. These are smaller projects. Um, they're they're they're smaller things like I I want to

176move some cabinets from here to here. It's not I want to do an addition on my building. That's those are different projects. These are the smaller ones and we did have a number of those come through and we'll continue to work on on some of those um as we go forward. Some of them are complex. Some of them have budget requirements um but we're working through those as well. Um, so that really I think wraps it up. We talked through the summer, what happened in the summer of 25. Um, talked about a little bit about lessons learned. Um, we talked about where we're going in the future and kind of where we're at in process with some of these projects um that are coming up. And then also touched on some of the other things

177that the debtree mill levy is doing that really might not be making our radar and that's really those preventative maintenance and those work order items. Um, so with that, I can pause and take any questions that you might have. All right. Thank you, Dave and team. I think this is it's incredible work. Um, and I'm exhausted listening to the list of what you did this summer. So, I cannot imagine how y'all are feeling actually having done the work. It is very impressive. It's going to be exciting, too. It's going to be exciting to see um that we can actually do this work now. Um that requests can be fulfilled. And um I see you smiling over there. So, I know that this is feeling good for you, isn't it? Yeah. So, any questions, comments? >>

178Good. >> Okay. I've got a couple. So, if I need to stop between that's fine. Um, I think if I recall correctly, during the Mckin Street report, one of the thoughts was as we need roof replacements, we would also potentially get efficiencies by doing AC at the same time. Am I remembering incorrectly? >> No, you're not. That is true. and and that is work that we will be needing to do with these air conditioning projects. Some of them interrelate a lot, right? Um and so a better example might be um and this is one that we are doing um like when you're tearing the roof doesn't come off the building, but the ceiling on the inside has to come out, right? And so you can expose everything up there. And so so when that ceiling

179comes down, we are we are able to start working on we're able to tie other projects in there. So like lighting is something that is also in the Mckenry report that makes a lot of sense when you got all the ceiling tiles down and all that to to replace the lighting and and you'll see that at Batty when we're over there. Um roofs we'll work with our designers and determine is there some synergy that we get by joining those projects and if so absolutely. Um yeah >> just gonna keep going. Um, can you also I had some questions with this uh that were asked of me during our heat days and there seemed to be some confusion about how costly and how difficult AC installation was. So, first, can you give us a range of

180how much it costs to install air conditioning on our buildings? And two, about how long it would take it has taken over the summer to install a unit at Batty or the unit at OD. If I recall correctly, it's between five and 11 million depending on the school to look and see exactly where our projects came in on. Um, but that's that's where my mind was going is really um we have it on the whiteboard too. Um, probably about $6 million on smaller projects and it could go up to $12 million on more intense projects like the middle schools. Um, where we also found that the Mckenry report had they had an approach to air conditioning in their report, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's the best approach to air conditioning that building as well.

181And so that was something else that we that we learned during our day and Batty is that um even though McKinstry outlined this is how we would do it when we got in and started working with the designers and our trades um we actually modified that a little bit and actually came in under cost. So So I I think those are good ranges for us to think about. I think also as we start getting into these next middle schools in the next couple months, we'll really have a better idea of what that upper range is for for a large middle school project. >> Thank you. Um, okay. And then, sorry, I hate to just keep talking about air conditioning. So, we ordered 500 coolers. Can you tell that means 500 classrooms now have something that

182didn't have it before. How many classrooms do we have that are not air conditioned? >> I don't know that number right now, but I'd have to get that to you. >> Right. And ask beforehand. I apologize. >> Thank you for that question. the the goal of that project and installing those portable coolers was to place them in every single room that had no cooling unit. I do think it's really important to to the public to state that these cooling units are not air conditioning. It is a mitigation factor that we are trying to just bring the temperature down. Um, but as this heat persists and it gets extreme, their ability to be effective is diminished. I think that's really important, but we wanted to make sure that there was something in every non-airconditioned classroom if

183the school building thought that was important. >> Yeah. And I would say that 500 is probably the lower limit because there were some of those units that were in place already. So, it would be 500 plus classrooms. >> Did you have another Where do you want somebody else to go? Scott's looking eager. >> Um, >> yes, exactly. Uh, Dave, thank you for the presentation. A couple things. Uh, Jess made me just think of this. Um, with the, uh, the 500 cooling units, are we measuring the the overall building temperatures like we were in past years? We got plenty of photos of people doing it on their own thermometers in in rooms. Are we keeping track of how effective those are? >> Yeah. Yeah. We we're just like with the window tent and everything else, we're

184we're trying to run comparative data to see how did they do what what were the temperatures last year, similar temperatures. Do we see a drop in temperatures here? Not all classrooms have temperature monitors, so it varies to sight to sight as whether we actually have a a temperature thermometer in that classroom or in that zone. Sometimes it differs. Um, but yeah. >> Okay. Yeah, it just makes me think like the outside temperature being 95. that's what kicks in the uh the heat day. But maybe we should be thinking about the inside temperature in those schools because it's a different um set of mitigation that we have now compared to when we put that uh in place. I don't know. That's maybe down the road. >> I think our hope is that we're going to find

185that they they cool the rooms and then I guess the question is how much? >> Yep. Is it is it enough to take the edge off or is it enough to say, "Hey, we're actually changing the environment here." I I don't think it's probably that. I think it's probably closer to the other one, but I the data will tell. We're going to need to look at it. >> Okay. Um couple other things. Uh how confident are you that we'll get the two middle schools done next summer given that they're bigger projects? >> So, I we cannot get the middle schools done in one summer. Um they're going to have to be phased over multiple summers. >> Yeah. And again, that goes back to that 8week window. Um, to be able to move an entire middle

186school out, furniture, everything, books, media center, clean that whole thing out, take the ceilings down, start working on it, and then to be able to move them back in in 8 weeks. That's not even feasible. >> Um, so that's where we're going to be working with our design professionals to say, how much work is feasible in eight weeks? and to not over capacity ourselves so that we have the room to be nimble where we need to and not not put our teachers and other staff into a situation where we're trying to do a mad scramble at the last minute. >> Okay. >> Um can I just add sorry one piece to build off of what Dave is saying there. I I'm really grateful that Dave is articulating lessons learned around scope, but another part of

187that same story, multiple things true at the same time, is our financial capacity to take on these projects, too. And I really appreciate directors of more asking that question around how much do they cost? So, if we have an elementary school project that's costing $6 million, the debtfree mill levy was transformational, but it's not an infinite amount of liquid cash that we can tap into. It's about $23 million a year. So, as we take on these larger projects, middle schools in particular, that potentially could be double uh you know, tens a little over $10 million a project. And I am not an expert in that, but I just want us to also just have that context because that means punting on other really important deferred maintenance. Some of it safety related doors, fire alarms, floor,

188like those types of things. So there's a there's a cost impact, not just scope of work within the 11 weeks that I think is an important part of the story. >> Yeah. >> I would go ahead just to add on to that for the public's information and understanding, getting $22.5 million out the door in in six months isn't something that we've done. Um, all right. So this is and and the good thing about the debt 3 mill levy and thank you to the voters for that is this is the first year for into perpetuity. So the learning curve we're going to get better and better and better and better at that and hopefully we will start to also get preferred suppliers. I mean that's kind of how it works in industry. You know you kind

189of set the groundwork the first couple of years and then it becomes a lot more efficient. And I think that when we get going a little bit more, we'll be able to balance the larger projects with some of the more safety and deferred maintenance and all that. Last but not least, um the reason why those numbers were, you know, close to a billion dollars is we had deferred maintenance for a real long time, right? So, we've got we've got a long queue of projects that have been put on the back burner for multiple multiple years, and we'll get to them. I I was going to build on what Brian was talking about because I really think it comes down to in my mind now three different things. We have time that we have to deal

190with. And when I'm talking about time, I'm talking about time of work. Um we have budget. So we're going to have competing interests around deferred maintenance. We just talked about the billion dollars and that the fact that we hadn't been keeping up with that and that's going to have to be balanced in the budget with new wants around air conditioning. And then the last one and and probably I don't know which one of these are dominant. I think the time is a big one as as well as budget but contractors. Do we have enough suppliers to do the work right? And I'm not as worried about that. I think once the word gets out and if we're doing correct planning where people can see projects potentially they can staff up in a year or two

191to get ready for those projects. But I I don't think that that's I I don't I think there's a lot of work that can be done on all of these to to make it work better. Um, I've got some ideas on budget. Um, we we have a little bit of bond money left that I think we could inject to help do some of these projects. It's not going to get everything done, but it'll maybe start. Um, but there's there's I think that's really the three variables that we're working with is contractors, budget, the competing interest there, and then the time that we have to do the scope. >> And Dave, really quick on number two on budget. I hear, you know, 500 uh air conditioning units, two HVAC units. Uh we're going to have to

192do middle schools, high schools, so on so forth. What have we budgeted for the increase in our utilities cost? Because we all know our utility bills go up in the summertime and it's directly linked to AC. So, have we kind of educated um especially at the new schools that you're going to be getting a much bigger electricity bill coming in? I know it's taken care of at the at the district level, but it all at the end of the day, it's all coming out of the same pot, right? >> Yeah. So, um I do think we'll need to monitor utilities to see how these changed. Um, like thinking about those portable air conditioning units that we did, um, we intentionally got ones and and I'm glad that they they're working as well as they are,

193but we intentionally got ones that don't run on compressors and so hopefully the energy usage is a little bit lower there. But yeah, if you're plugging 500 of those things in across the district, there will be a noticeable change on your meter. Um, our utility budget, I I don't remember how much we increased it for this budget cycle. I want to say 700,000. Um, but I don't know that it fully anticipated all of that. So, we'll have to look at that a little closer. >> Just had one last one last question. So, just doing the rough math. Um, if we're only doing two per year, this could take 15 plus years. Could be 17 years, >> right? >> Um, I I think we need to factor that in. I mean, we always are saying, "Hey,

194it's going to take several years, people." But I think it's a lot longer than that. And I think you know most of us will be retired by then. Um so I I think we need to keep that in mind when we're talking about other mitigation things that we can do the calendar all those things because this is a generation that we're talking about before we're really where we want to be. So if I'm assessing this correctly. >> No I I think you're right. Um especially when we're talking about large schools like middle schools. I mean those are going to be big hurdles to get over. Um, we're going to be pushing the design team and the contracting team to really once we get done with uh Weber and Leer, what's the next phase that fits

195in like a puzzle piece with the phases that we've created and it I'm not saying that we're going here, but it might be that we fill in with an elementary school because that makes sense and we have the capacity to do that. Um, but really focusing on those two middle schools first to really understand the the breadth and complexity of a very large school. We'll define our kind of our upper limits of budget. will also define our upper limits on time. And then I think when we start to build those phases out, we'll know what puzzle pieces might fit in and and actually join to to work better. And my goal would be to hopefully start adding more schools as we get better about this. kind of to your point, Connor, >> I would I'd

196be kind of aiss to to think that in five years we're only doing two schools a summer because if we can come up that learning curve, you know, it goes three schools and then maybe four schools and maybe five schools, I I think we can get it done faster than that. >> Yeah, I I would agree that there's capacity to do that. I think the the challenge is we're going to have to balance that with the competing in needs of deferred maintenance. Um so like even if we could do it all at once, we're going to have a budget constraint on how much we can do. >> Go ahead, Kevin. I want to offer some thoughts and I've got some specific questions, but um something that Brian said kind of triggered this thought as far

197as we're going to make tough decisions as a governance team as far as allocation and correct me if I'm wrong because I'm I'm I'm going to again try to take a step back and kind of how I'm viewing this work is that one I'm very excited. I really appreciate the update and was looking forward to this for a while. Um we got some skin in the game now. We're we're making it work and I credit your team for their aggressive approach but also thoughtful etc. Um, I guess my my point is as a as a governance team from the board, it's not my purview to question or criticize the operational management side of the house. However, it is my job to scrutinize big ticket expenditures. And so, I think those two are kind of go

198hand in hand. So, if everything's going swimmingly, ideally, you won't hear from us, right? But it is our job to kind of jump in when we think things are going wrong or let's say a subcontra subcontractor went awall and now we've got a massive change order that the board's having to approve and we've got litigation and things like that. So I guess my my questions at least that's the lens I'm looking at this as far as the value ad that how I'm going to approach this. Um so again just take my questions with that lens as appropriately. Um I'd like to avoid problems and so I want to be thoughtful of some mitigation that we're doing to avoid some issues. So, some of the things that jumped out at me that I thought were that

199I'd like to talk about. So, again, this is no criticism. This is just where I'm thinking some problems may could arise and what we're doing to address them is that we a 10-week window or I heard you say timelines are very short, taking things right down to the wire. Um, and also we're establishing strong relationships with new contractors, which is on slide five of the presentation. Um, so I guess first question is this. When we're reviewing RFPs, how much of an audit or investigation are we doing into the insurance premiums of the vendors or biders? Are there thresholds that we're looking at that we're that will disqualify some or others or, you know, how does that work? >> Are you talking about the insurance limits that the that the vendor would cover? Yes. So, we

200work with our risk management department for all big solicitations. is they determine what the limits of or what the insurance requirements would be and um and we should not be proceeding with any contracts unless we have that certificate of insurance on on file. >> Perfect. All right. That's that's help. I appreciate I thought that was somewhat of the answer, but I like to hear I appreciate that. >> Each project may have a different level of insurance depending on its its complexity like >> Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. Um there's also products out there like rectification insurance which is a different beast but it's it's helpful for big scale projects. Um the other thing that I heard and and I understand why we we're essentially doing this in the summer. We're doing this when there's no

201bodies in the building. So that that's in in in nature of the compressed timeline. One concern I've got though is with a a pre compressed timeline, we're also likely going to be seeing a premium in some of the the work that contractors are bidding on. And I'm thinking, well, if you want this done in 10 weeks, it's going to require on average, you know, six hours a day of overtime for our staff. It's going to require, you know, us dropping, etc. So, I like I did appreciate you addressing that at least in part that the more we get into a cadence with certain contractors, they'll know, they'll anticipate what our needs are. They can plan ahead of time. And I understand this summer was just wild and different, but I want to be mindful of

202that, too, because that's how things could add up. Um, I'm assuming process for change orders would still need board approval uh for anything exceeding a $250,000 threshold. And I guess the comment question there is that I hope that contractors are well aware of working with a public entity that they're going to get some more public scrutiny if they're asking for a change order. They can't just slip by the desk of the the owner. >> Yeah, our change order policy um does allow for change orders and there's a certain threshold where I believe it's over 10%. I'm looking over at Autumn to confirm that if it goes over 10% then that would require more reporting out. But there is some flexibility to do some change orders um just because there are often change orders that are

203that happen. But again, it's that 10% limit that would require more more work on it. >> Okay. And then last question, this is a random one I thought of tonight, but I have to ask it. Um I'm not a tax person, not a tax lawyer, but I am very interested in exploring to the extent there are they still exist any kind of tax credits for high efficiency units like heat pumps, things like that. And are we taking advantage of that before they sunset? What's the the >> Yeah, Conor's saying shaking his head though. He's >> we're going to be we're going to be looking at anything we can, but I think those are starting to not be as available. Um but but we're not we're also looking at other things, too. Um, you know, in

204the past we've had people come for community comment, talk about things like energy performance contracts and and other financing mechanisms. We're going to we're going to look at all the different tools that are available and determine which ones make sense for us to use and and how they would be how would they would fit the projects when when appropriate. The other the other thing I'd say on that, um, yeah, some of the tax incentives for residential to commercial to public buildings are are quickly fading away, but there's still other monies available out there. They're a little more difficult to to get after and I think that those um are probably suit our needs a little bit better. Um, so and I and I wouldn't put it all the way on the back burner because things

205can change again. This isn't the first time that this has happened, by the way. Um, and this is where Jim comes in and talks about the great work that the audit committee does on construction. >> I was prompting you to say something, but also one of the things that I I don't think um probably the public is aware of it is the audit committee does um do a lot of look backs. Um they did a very very good look back on the 2016 um bond for the new high schools and addition on on Zach and that work um has it's kind of ongoing and it's it's it's really good. >> Other other thoughts? Andrew, >> I want to appreciate what you and your in fact the whole district are doing. And and this is this

206is where I have a little bit of fun first because right off the bat I' I'd love to see us get to this with not just what you're doing, but the entire board because the can can stop here when you're when you've been dealing with deferred maintenance for so long. And I think actually there's a lot of things that the board has had to deal with and hasn't been able to do what they want. The superintendent probably and the staff. And so this is just a great example of how we're flipping the district into the can stops here. And so I'm channeling a little inner Harry Truman little Missouri. Take take whatever you want. It's all good there. But you and I have talked a little bit about some of the opportunities that you've had

207to work with students actually on some of the work. And um I I a just want to encourage that because when you when you started listing all the different projects that you're going through, I see such amazing opportunities for those who want to learn about architecture, project management, planning with businesses, even prioritization matrices and things like that actually are really cool things for for students to learn, let alone the individual CTE related activities that are obviously going on within each project. And so I think that's some really good opportunities there. But even when you started measuring or talking about measuring heat um transfer and some of those things like that with the different things, it prompted ideas like working with CSU students for example and it's like what happens if we actually put in the

208window units for solar and what does that change for for temperature inside and then turn into a dual efficiency kind of concept. Um and then you know things like PhD students probably look at all that kind of stuff as well and what amazing energy we have in this district to actually tap into all those things. And then finally I had one thought it's like how many of our buildings are going to actually become lead certified potentially if we wanted to gain into that whole different level. I understand that and I'm sure there's costs and all those things like that, but again could be one of those things that we could lead into or lean into, excuse me, long term for the district and and again sort of show others what what we're capable of doing

209here in this district. >> Yeah, I I think um one just coming back to the students anytime we can have interaction with our students and they can learn something from what we're doing, I think that's great. And in fact, I think um putting that in the maybe even an evaluation criteria of an RFP, it' be maybe a small weight, but are you going to be able to help with it and do something with our students would be something that would be maybe something that we'd want to start to focus on a little bit more. Um as far as the lead certification, um we haven't talked specifically about whether that's the direction we want to go or not. I think we need to go back and with the team and have some more conversation. And uh

210that's not to say that we're not looking for energy efficiency if we don't go that direction. Um and and to your point, there's a cost to getting lead certified as well. So um do we want do we want the recognition or do we want the inter the savings and maybe not have the recognition with the cost, but let me go back and talk about it. >> Certainly wouldn't call it a high priority. It's sort of a way down. I'd much rather be partnering with the community and students and things like that before we're worried about spending money on lead certification. But at the same time, if there's ways to maximize things, again, the multiple things all at once, >> yeah, >> it could actually of course work to our benefit if we determine that way.

211>> We also during the heat um work, we al also worked uh Treaty Trimbath worked with some folks over at CSU. I don't know if they were students doing the work or not. I think maybe I think there are professors but I'm sure they had students involved in that. Um so so there's connections there I'm sure as well. >> Thank you. >> Certainly want to encourage that. Just keep it up. >> Other thoughts or questions? >> All right. Well, I just I I do have just a couple I just want to um throw out there. Um first of all, I just have to ask because I'm a geek. Um new tracking system working well. >> Yeah. Um the as far as this the service now the work order system. >> Yeah. I think for the

212work order piece of it it is um we're continuing to advance more into that system for other parts that we need to build out more but work orders were priority one. >> Yeah. I know that that's you know for for the teachers and staff in the buildings when something breaks and they need it fixed you know nothing else matters. So I'm glad to hear that. Thank you. Um uh a couple questions on um just the the video that you've got there. Um do we have that on the website and do we have on the website too like a look what we accomplished this summer and have a list of >> I don't believe so but I'm looking at John. I'm sure we can work together to come up with something. >> The video is not

213online right now but it will be um and we have been updating the the mail website. We we'll continue to do so. >> Perfect. Thank you. I just think it's important for people to see what what's happening. Um and maybe even if we had um to your point Jess if we had um you know rounded costs of so people understand that you know air conditioning in Batty was this many millions um and you know just for for their um edification. So um and then the last question I have and this is I'm just throwing this out there. I had thrown it out there years ago um when we were talking um about air conditioning and considering the fact that we do have schools that are not maxed out as far as um people in the

214buildings, is it at all possible, can we think about an out of the box, you know where I'm going with this, Dave? Yeah. Um of Yeah. of being able to take a school offline for a year or six months. And so we could have a semester plus or maybe two semesters worth of um you know work to be done while we take a school. Yeah. So you know exactly you do some cohabitation for a semester. Um we get you know maybe if we have an an empty school that that becomes the stage school and so we move one school into that building for a year and then while that you know their building gets redone and then they can move back and then next year another school gets staged in there. Um just a just

215a thought so that the money is not infinite. So I understand that that you know we'd have to work with budget on that as well but it might be a way to keep costs down as far as um you know overtime and um timing wise so we don't have to squish it all into >> Yeah. >> eight actually you know 11 actually eight weeks. >> Yeah. When you get to the you know I mentioned time, budget and contractors, right? you're you're talking about time, work time, and to your point um earlier, when you're compressing it in such a short window, that definitely is probably coming from a cost from your general contractors that are doing that because they're having to put more people on the job. It's more intense and the stakes are higher because

216your deadlines are tighter. If we can expend that expand that window of time, that allows us to do a lot more planning and a lot more maybe potentially moving a lot quicker. Um there's complications to that. we have been talking about it. Um so it's not something that we haven't been talking about at least at the leadership level. Um other other tactics that have worked I I wasn't here when this was done but I guess at one time at Booter High School um we actually worked the schedule so those students got out like in March into March I think and so we had April, May, June, July to actually do work and so there there can be work done on a schedule in a different way too. Um, but I think we need to explore

217all those options. Um, because to be able to get through this in a in a reasonable amount of time. We're going to have to we're going to have to start poking at those variables of time. I'm going to work on budget and see what kind of plans we can get there and then contractors. But time is probably the one of the biggest obstacles that I see right now. >> Okay. Thank you. I'm just I'm glad to hear that, you know, that's um a possib you know still thinking about it for sure. Um, I know that there's multiple complications with that and um, all kinds of things, but just having that out of the box thinking for how we can, you know, make that time seem longer um, is great. With that, um, anybody else have

218any other questions? Thank you so much. Thank you for the presentation, but thank you more importantly for the work. Um, I know that this has been um, quite the summer for y'all. um and a lot of learning being done, a lot of building, a lot of fixing, a lot of new um everything, you know, and I I just can't thank you enough for all the work that you have that you're doing. >> And and I want to thank I want to thank the board and our voters again. >> Absolutely. >> Without without the voters, um we we would not be having this presentation and this district would be in a whole lot different situation right now than what we're doing right in this moment. So, absolutely. I'm really excited about that and I'm I'm looking

219for time for us to celebrate some of this too as as a staff. Um it's been so >> fast-paced and intense that um we need to celebrate a little bit too because we did a lot of work this summer. >> And I think that was what was so special yesterday too about the transitions pathways um building. It was just it was a celebration for the for the students but it was also a celebration for you all to to say look what we did and it was truly amazing. So, thank you. All right. And uh with that, the meeting, believe it or not, is now adjourned at 8:20 p.m. Have a great night, folks. Yeah.