Board of Education Meeting: October 8, 2024

001e e e all right well thank you for joining the Board of Education this evening uh go ahead and please mute your cell phones uh as we begin this meeting today is Tuesday October 8th 2024 and this meeting is now called to order at 6:38 p.m. thank you for your patience um now those if you would like to join me in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance please stand all right thank you would any board members like to make changes to the agenda Jess go ahead I move that the board amend the agenda to remove consent agenda item 9.1 and place it on the October 22nd 2024 board agenda do I have a second thank you Jim all right then we're going to move on to recognitions and reports oh sorry call the vote my bad

002please call the vote Jim brokish hi Kristen Draper hi Connor Duffy hi Kevin havelda hi Carolyn Reed hi Scott shanower hi Jessica Zamora hi motion passes 70 all right thank you now moving on to recognitions and reports um so we would love to have you um stay for the individuals being recognized um we'd love to have those individuals stay for a group photo at the conclusion of the last recognition um instead of individual photos so if you wouldn't mind staying that would be wonderful and in this case we would like to have uh superintendent Kingsley introduce them thank you good evening everybody this evening we are super excited to recognize excellence in the district for both staff and students and value this opportunity to highlight their achievements leading the celebration is our Communications coordinator miss

003Emily shley welcome Emily we're glad you're here tonight all right thank you for having me and thank you to excuse me everyone who's in our audience tonight um and also watching on YouTube uh live or in the future um welcome board members and our superintendent I'm excited for the first person to bring up to be um Dr T um she told me to go with that it's easier to one to pronounce um she'll be introducing stie good mustad who won the President's environmental youth award for her project do something sweet for the environment good evening everybody so just to sh you a little bit you know so when s first learned that habitat loss and climate change threatened be populations across the United States she decided to take action she recognized that bees are vital

004to the biodiversity and ecosystems as well as the Watershed Health in her local community city has focused her efforts in helping solitary bees which build homes undergrounds or in logs rather than traditional beeh Hypes and she has used reclaimed wood to begin construction be hotels that have been able to build essential habitats for nesting locations across Colorado what started as a class project has led her to be a finalist for a care for a watershed twice also earned second place in C for water competition in Colorado rice Challenge and her project now has gained wh for recognition in August she traveled to DC alongside her family to receive the president's environmental juice award at the ceremony hosted by the Environmental Protection Agency we often tell our students that they're the future but why wait when

005they can make a difference today so stie I hope that you continue to inspire others okay and sad if you can join us up here uh Jessica is going to give you your certificate thank you congratulations thank you nice job all right next we have two of our professionals from the PSD Transportation team we have Destiny armenta and Dory Pickering and they're going to be excuse me introduced by Laura Chandler um who will talk about their their great feats um to keep students safe on a a day in August SE actually it was on September 3rd that they were making one of their stops um one of their regular bus stops to drop off kids in the afternoon up on Conifer Street and they opened up the doors of the bus and a Gentleman tried

006to board the bus uh so our two employees Dory and Destiny worked together with the help of a security guard from um the uh Murphy Center across the street they were able to keep the gentleman from boarding the bus and they were able to close the doors and to keep the kids safe um that's one of our biggest fears as bus drivers is to have somebody come on to one of our buses and to hurt the kids that we're responsible for so we take that pretty seriously so we have uh Dory Pickering and Destiny armenta here tonight we're super proud of what they did then so thank you very much you guys come up here okay can you two come up here please thanks do you still need [Applause] me so Dory Destiny Destiny thank

007you here we are so and I just want to say on behalf of the board a huge thank you um to our public not all heroes were capes um a lot of her Drive buses so no thank you that was it it's an amazing thing that you you both did and it it saved our our kids so thank you thank you um and then if STI and Dr T can join us and the board and the superintendent will take one big group photo right up here hello you're welcome thank you thank you thank you hope you got my VOA oh I believe I'm really bad aty okay I'm super than [Laughter] so we don't have to worry you're fine [Applause] you did what you needed to do in the right moment so thank you all

008right that concludes tonight's recognitions okay so we are now I'm I'm going to move on to our resolutions um our actions action items um and 5.1 is resolution and supported lgbtq plus history month and believe we have a speaker for this did you do the motion first oh did I do a motion no I did not can I get a motion thank you I move the board approve a resolution in support of lgbtq plus History Month October 2024 and I get a second uh Carolyn thank you apparently I'm having trouble with this today so thank you okay yep so joining us this evening to speak to lgbtqia plus history month is Shaina saek our lgbtqia plus coordinator welcome shayana it's great to see you thank you to superintendent Kingsley and the board um for introducing

009this resolution AS lgbtqa Plus History Month gives us the annual opportunity to highlight the contribution of the community um throughout history and also to celebrate and affirm those who choose to come out and share a part of who they fully are with us and tonight I have the pleasure of introducing our student speaker Leilani uh Leilani uses she her pronouns and she is a senior at Fossil Ridge High School so please join me in welcoming Leilani hi guys um my name is Lani and before I get into my speech um I'd like to thank superintend Kingsley and the board members um for giving me this opportunity to speak here tonight I'm a big Advocate and believing that everybody deserves a voice and I really appreciate it um I also like to thank sha for um

010reaching out to me and letting me speak her I really appreciate that as well um so today I'm going to talk about three things so one who am I two why is lgbtq month in October and three um why is it important to have lgbtq plus month instead of food or school distri District so um first off I'd like to start by introducing myself my name is Lani shirinsky and I'm senior at F Ridge High School um I you she are pronouns and I'm a me and I'm a member of the lgbtq community um I'm trans male to female and I've been out and presenting female for around five years um and one of the biggest supports for me was the clubs and communities that I've been a part of at PSD um so I'd

011also like to thank all the advocates for the lgbtq community past present and future because without them we would be nowhere close to where we are today and without them I wouldn't be here able to present as who I am um so that's why lgbtq plus history is so important is because learning about the people who brought you to where you are and have give you the abil the ability to be who you are today is just really important um so one of the most important history parts inside of LG one of the most important parts of lgbtq History um was happened 37 years ago on October 11th 1987 and this was the day that 750,000 Advocates um allies and lgbtq members um join together to March on Washington for lesbian and gay rights this

012March showed advocates for lgbtq rights that when given a space to be themselves um when people are given a space to be themselves they're themsel right and when you're yourself you're so much happier at least in my case and I think that it's just important because they realized how important it was to give everyone a space so they actually the year after um advocated to start a day on October 11th 1988 called um National Coming Out day and that was the day when um it was kind of a place for people to come out in very simple terms but also just a place to place an a day and a time so that when you're like hey I'm I'm not going to come out today you know I'll do it tomorrow you know I'll do

013it the next day it's like a designated day right like it kind of pushes you out of your procrastination that I felt when not really wanting to present myself as who I am and it's it's important um so and that's really what lgbtq plus history month is all about right it's giving people an opportunity to not only be thems but also like a time and a period right it gives people knowledge and it teaches them like how to not only like respect the people that came before them but also people who are completely outside of lgbtq how to understand that this isn't just a new thing um so like making October a recognized history lgbtq history month empowers the general lgbtq population and all students in PSD um and now that we've established what lgbtq

014plus history month is let's talk about why it improves the well-being of the students in pter school district one of the scariest parts at least for me when coming out socially was being bullied and that's it's it's it's a real fear and it's something pretty gen um genuine and one of the biggest ways to get rid of bullying and um get rid of hate inide the school place is just education right crazy we School we're educating um but the biggest thing is that we're humans right we're afraid of what we don't know just instincts right and once we understand that this isn't just a brand new unknown this is something that's consistent and it's something that's real it helps take away a lot of that hate and a lot of that place and space for

015um bullying um and by recognizing October as lgbtq History Month um we not only impure EMP power career students to learn more about the history their history but also all students to learn about the history of other people um when you educate all students uh um it improves the overall wellbeing of all students um and that's why lgbtq history month is something that can help many people and it's something that has helped many people for 36 for for about 35 years um we let's make it 36 [Applause] thank you so much um board members do you have any comments or questions before we call the vote go ahead Jess I love the structure of your speech giving us your history overall arching history and then bringing it back to PSD specifically thank you so much

016for sharing your story and encouraging us to keep educating ourselves anyone else yeah go ahead Brian heon I'm just so proud that you are a part of our school district thank you for bringing your authentic self into all of our spaces helping us understand to respect those who came before us and to honor the history moving forward so really really I'm proud of everything that you represented today and always so thank you thank you and Leilani I just want to say thank you so much um I see um the future in you and it makes me very happy and very proud and I'm especially proud that you'll be coming from PSD so thank you and with that can we call the vote Jim bookish hi Kristen Draper hi Connor Duffy hi Kevin havalda hi Carolyn

017Reed hi Scott shanower hi Jessica Zamora I motion passes 70 thank you all right let's see if I can do this right this time 5.2 is a resolution in support of national bullying prevention month can I get a motion go ahead Jess I move the board approve a resolution in support of national bullying prevention month October 2024 can I get a second thank you Jim all right and we believe we have a special guest for this as well yeah we have two I think so speaking to the National bullying prevention month resolutions are Leah Hager uh Behavior prevention and intervention coordinator and again Shaina saek our lgbtqia plus coordinator welcome to both of you all right um so I'm Leah higer she her pronouns you've already met Shaina um and we just want to start

018by thanking superintendent Kingsley and the board and truly everyone across all of our PSD sites and departments and in the larger Community who all support and champion this critical effort of bullying prevention and education and we'd like to highlight the themes that resonate most powerfully from the resolution and from the work that is being done and has been done for quite some time across our system um first we know that effective prevention and intervention are rooted in strong positive culture and climate that is co-created to be inclusive of all students families and community members uh prevention and intervention must also be reflective of the inherent value and dignity of each and every individual in our school communities and they must be trauma informed and restorative in nature uh next it is clear that a safe

019School environment that is free from bullying and harassment relies on students experiencing schools and classrooms that are affirming and reflective of their identities it stems from all students feeling a sense of belonging and from the guidance we provide as adults to support them in building trust and respect among and within their peer groups and even across their differences a truly safe school is built from the efforts of students Educators leaders families and community members all doing their part and finally we recognize that none of this happens accidentally it requires implementation with Fidelity over a period of years of layered supports and evidence-based practices along with District policies that are part of a comprehensive system that is proven to yield positive outcomes and growth for all students one that centers equity and is organized to support

020Educators as much as students and Families so in PSD we will continue to align and coordinate our efforts within a tiered framework of Colorado M PSS we will continue to lead with education as the pathway for students to develop the tools to avoid bullying and harassing behaviors that may cause harm or exclude others the pathway to become upstanders and role models for inclusivity and kindness and the pathway to repair harm and heal any damage done to individuals or relationships thank [Applause] you thank you so much board members do we have any any who would like to speak go ahead Kevin thank you for that I appreciate it um for our board and our governments and our community um I thought deeply about tonight's resolution and a recent story that a friend has asked me to

021share on her behalf um and the story is a charge we must be mind mind ful as the adults who are making policy decisions for our community our kids of where our students and our children are the most vulnerable when we talk about these instances and I'm talking not just about the playground or on our buses or in our cafeterias in our gyms or our locker rooms but anywhere where there's a potential for a child to feel unsafe um and it comes in all forms and the form of abuse and bullying that that my friend asked me to speak about tonight was uh racial abuse that her son endured in very recent weeks um and I think it's we need to be mindful of all forms of bullying and abuse including racial abuse that that

022that occurs in our schools in our district and on our watches um and so again this this uh this friend of mine who actually happens to be one of my my kids teachers pulled me aside and was Brave and had this conversation with me that was a difficult one um and I want to give immense credit both superintendent King and Dr Tracy guile and the leadership the effective school who immediately elevated it to the appropriate level um address the situation well um but again I think the charge needs to be forever for all of us is that we we tend to be somewhat reactive in these situations we hope for the best but we need to rededicate ourselves into fiing out all the venues and possibilities where our kids are going to be unsafe and

023to anticipate that for them because they can't always know when it's when it's going to come um so the work we've done in this district is immense in this regard and I'm proud to be a part of that work but we're not done clearly and we have a lot of work to do and so my only charge and I include myself in this charge is to rededicate ourselves to living up to the ACT to make sure our actions reflect the words in this resolution so they're not just spoken once a year and that's that we need to be mindful as school leaders where abuse is happening where bullying is happening charge our school leaders our teachers to be Educators and to teach our kids not to do this and to have conversations hard ones with

024parents with family members with students and be proactive um so that we can mitigate these type of instances that still happen and we're not unique in that by any means but I think that we can be one of the districts that uh we are that is a a Beacon of Hope for kids that are uh targeted um and specifically in racial abuse and if we have to change some of our policies and our language to name that then then so be it so that's what I want to say thank you well said anyone else okay Jill can you take the vote Jim brokish hi Kristen Draper hi Connor Duffy hi Kevin havelda hi Carolyn Reed hi Scott shanower hi Jessica Zamora I motion passes 70 okay thank you [Applause] can we grab a picture as

025well that would be wonderful if we could do that thank you e all right thank you so much and we're now moving on to 6.0 the superintendent report superintendent Kingsley will now make remarks to the board of education and the community thank you I know quick good evening everybody it's great to be with all of you tonight uh can proudly say that since I've last been in this boardroom I've worn out a brand new pair of shoes uh being out in schools out in the community having fun celebrating uh tiny humans and uh talented humans who make this District go and I want to give a special shout out to some of them in no particular order of importance I started uh last week on the east side of I25 and had an opportunity to

026go to Bamford Elementary School who we've talked a lot about recently uh they have a seasoned veteran principal Jill berella who recently moved from timoth L down to banford and is doing great things in partnership with the community and staff and I had a chance to visit uh their three uh center-based autism classrooms and saw incredible human beings being supported by dedicated teachers par professionals and staff and was quite fascinating as we learned more about banford elementary school is that those three classrooms represent over 10% of its student population so it's really uh amazing around what's happening in that program had a chance then to go to Tim at elementary Jill's old stomping grounds and met their new principal uh jod who has her own therapy dog that she brings to school occasionally it's a

027corgi Named Gus didn't get a chance to meet Gus that day but I heard all about him and I'll tell you out of our 49 traditional Public Schools what stood out to me about Timnath Elementary School is that you can get there around 11:45 the middle of the day and it's one of the most Zen calm smooth running places in town they are incredibly mindful around teaching some of the practices around restorative practices trauma informed practices to make sure students on a daily basis know how to regulate check in with themselves check in with their adults if they need extra support uh and I was just really Blown Away by not only the calmness but the attention to detail in the academics there uh Tim nith middle school high school had a chance to meet

028with Jesse and sit and observe at one of his leadership team meetings which was really a pleasure uh to see some of the academic growth that has happened in their school performance framework over the course of the past year was really great their attention to detail and how their approach to data informed leadership really stood out they are going to have their first ever well not first ever graduating class but this timoth Middle High School there used to be a timoth high school as we all know but they're going to have their first graduating class this year I believe it's about 130 students that are going to get ready to graduate and out of all of those students they are really tending to those that are not on track which is only just under 10

029so they're working around the clock with their families with the wraparound resources to make sure they're doing everything they can to Shepherd all of those good human beings across the stage prepared to graduate uh with options which was great went to oday elementary school those families raised fund raised at over four almost $40,000 in the last month to support some of their school efforts to see how integrated the parents and the broader Community is with that school was quite outstanding didn't had a chance to go to Rice Elementary School I don't know if you knew this we've talked and bragged a lot about our literacy scores improving over the course of the past year in our elementary schools out of all of our elementary schools we on average had a 22% increase Rice's increase was

030over 30% so had an opportunity to celebrate not with their just with their leadership but with many of their teachers and students which was really awesome ended my week last Friday at blevens Middle School uh where I had an opportunity to participate in a carnival um I was invited to get a pie in the face and sat bravely for 15 minutes in the parking lot as one student at after another student after another student ponied up to throw a pie in my face which I thought was really fun and really engaging and there's one left-hand student who was in seventh grade that had gold pants he can never throw a pie at me again because he doesn't miss so I thought that was important to note uh and had a lot of great other opportunities

031being at PCA talking about reimagining their future and I've been working with many members and colleagues in our cabinet and members of our board engaging the community uh about factual information regarding the upcoming election so it's been a real treat we have real great people living in this community working in the school district trying to do everything they can uh to support our students and we're going to continue to figure out new and creative ways to celebrate our people and so we are getting ready today to launch a new Communications series called we at PSD and I want to introduce uh a video that our coms team did in partnership with our brand new curriculum director Miss Amanda creger if you can please launch the video at really appreciate it of curriculum and instruction here

032in pter excellent excellent what's going on here today um hey Amanda how's it going good how are you good well hey thanks for doing this with us today absolutely thanks for stopping by of course so for those of us in PSD who don't know you can you introduce yourself to us sure uh my name is Amanda creger and I'm the new director of curriculum and instruction here in pter excellent what's going on here today um I am just setting up for a meeting of the curriculum and instruction team excellent how do you like to start your day uh with coffee um I like to get in a little bit early and then have a chance to just um get my mind set and ready for the day before everybody comes in and how long have

033you been with PSD about a month and a half what made you want to come here uh I'm an Alum of CSU and I love Fort Collins and so when I saw that there was a curriculum and instruction director job posted I thought this is my dream job and so I um applied and I'm just so honored to be able to work with the students and families here in pstd excellent what's one thing you want people to know about the curriculum and instruction Department this year uh that there are incredibly amazing people and that they're all over this District um they're working on new curriculum adoptions they're working on supporting teachers they're working on making sure students have everything they need all the way from our coreon areas to our elective areas to libraries to

034GT and then um also all the folks in the warehouse who are moving around books and helping with that are part of our team as well excellent what are you reading right now um I'm reading the dichotomy of leadership um by Navy Seals um Babin and Willen it's a great book it's just about tactical leadership and how to pull a team together excellent if you could give your younger self one piece of advice what would that be that tomorrow's coming whether you're ready or not so um enjoy those little moments today awesome all right Amanda last question what's your favorite thing about your job here in pter school district the people um as I said before they're incredibly amazing they've been super helpful and wonderful and um I feel like I just get smarter when

035I'm in a room with them so yeah okay all right we'll let you get to your meeting thanks for having us thanks for stopping by that's so awesome our comp team does a great job in humanizing our employees you know Amanda is not only a new hire she's a representative of Administrators across this District dedicated classified staff and licensed teachers who make this system go in partnership with our parents and partners so it couldn't be more proud to have this new series launched and welcome Amanda and colleagues like her to PSD I want to close my remarks tonight uh by giving a special shout out to another group of employees because it's National principles month and when you think about the extraordinary results that we get in our system uh leadership is happening in PSD

036by Design it's extraordinary the level of longevity that we have with our principles across this district and our new principles or newer principles give me hope and inspiration around the future of this system to continue our successes and building off of them but whether it's tending to leadership tending to culture Building Hope being strong communicators building inspiration and continuing to take uh to cultivate systems that ensure how we've inherit something we leave it better than what how we found it um and I couldn't be more proud of all of our admin administrators across the district who we should be celebrating every day not just this month so thank you for giving me a few moments to address the community and staff tonight appreciate it all right thank you so much all right moving on to

037community comment um 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 a description or interpretation of events as presented by any speaker further even if some remarks may be factually inaccurate we generally choose not to respond or correct the record here because formal board meetings are not the time or place for back and forth

038dialogue 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 comments for members of the community who reg 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 Kristen staly welcome ah that helps hi president Draper members of the board superintendent Kingsley my name is Kristen stty I'm the principal at Linton Elementary and I'm also the president of our administrator Association and AD administrator Pro which is called Pace as superintendent Kings leus

039mentioned um I'm here to just shout out to our uh principals during principal Month in May we recognize teacher appreciation month in February we recognize our classified staff members and in October the principles are honored National principal month is celebrated every October in the United States to recognize the important role that principles play in fostering a positive educational environment this monthl observance highlights the dedication the leadership and the hard work of principles who contribute to the success and well-being of students teachers staff and communities principles are vital in shaping the school culture for managing resources supporting staff and ensuring that all students receive a quality education National principal month provides an opportunity for schools districts and communities to show their appreciation so tonight I want to celebrate and give a shout out to our 50

040principls and 74 assistant principles who truly do serve the PSD Community thank you thank you so much next up we have Anna leetta welcome sorry number two is not here that's why no no worries good evening last October I made my very first board meeting public comment appearance in honor of Dyslexia awareness month that's this month since then I have stood at this Podium and made approximately 40 minutes of public comments specifically about dyslexia and how our District's current policies disadvantage students and families across our district I've had two main requests to no avail first I've asked for one Community engagement session for families experiencing dyslexia to be able to share our specific challenges and secondly I've asked our district to consider forming a dyslexia task force to see how we could strategically use resources

041we already have available in our district and Community to start to alleviate our crisis beyond the minutes I have stood at this Podium I've spent many hours engaging directly with District leadership and board members standing here today I know that any lack of awareness or action on the part of the district District or board of education is deliberate so in honor of Dyslexia awareness month I want to address families who are navigating dyslexia and reading struggles in PSD and share lessons that I've learned along the way dyslexia is not due to either a lack of intelligence or desire to learn with appropriate teaching methods students with dyslexia can learn successfully to the families who are concerned about their children persisting in the red on Dibbles and aadience don't buy the story that it's normal or

042nothing to worry about until third grade children at risk for reading failure can be reliably identified with 92% accuracy even before kindergarten through the use of an effective screening process early intervention is crucial to keeping your child's self-esteem intact it is vitally important to capitalize on your child's amazing brain neuroplasticity if effective interventions are not in place by first grade it can take four times longer to remediate an attempt to close the learning Gap battling the perception of repeated sense of failure is almost harder to overcome than the actual remediation of Dyslexia under federal school or federal law school districts are charged with evaluating and identifying children who need special education in order to receive a free appropriate public education in comparison in National averages PSD under identifies students by a whopping 30% PSD commonly

043uses semantics to imply that they can't determine whether a child is has dyslexia or not and suggests that caregivers need to pay for a costly outside evaluation in order to learn whether or not their child has dyslexia but this is not true this is a purposeful chosen stance in comparison Boulder proactively screens for dyslexia in kindergarten provides parents with helpful information provides evidence-based in school remediation for dyslexia starting in first grade if you're having to pay for an outside tutor for your child to learn to read please know that our district is failing your family the persistent lack of actionable concern over time has eroded my once robust and hopeful confidence in PR School District the fact that the same lack of actionable concern extends broadly across our district with disabilities is appalling in the

044I'm sorry you're going to have to wrap up in the words of MLK Injustice anywhere is a threat to Justice everywhere thank you and next up we have Jeff offra Heidi not here okay next up we have Danny Lawrence welcome I keep thinking that I'm going to stop coming here I'm convinced that you aren't listening and there's no amount of evidence that would be sufficient to help you find a pulse and then something happens that's so outrageous that I can't look the other way Plato said quote the worst form of Injustice is pretend Justice end quote and that's that's what your bullying resolution is here tonight the sickest most degrading form of large scale Act of bullying this district has ever seen resulted in job promotions and pay grade escalation for three of four District

045staff members Miss Mora your children go to school in a place where the principal failed a mandatory report abuse of an adult on several non-speaking disabled very vulnerable children does that worry you because as a mother that would scare the hell out of me in last week's second Federal filing two of the four individuals named at name there were either promoted in pay scale or title where else could you work that you could expose your employer to a multi-million dollar lawsuit still have a job much less get a pay raise and so I ask what is wrong with all of you is there a leadership vacuum here like a Twilight Zone caliber portal that sits over this building or something has anybody heard the term mitigation it is your fiduciary responsibility as a board to

046mitigate the legal liabilities and I tell you that continuing to give three of those named in a federal lawsuit supervisory roles sounds like insanity to me bullying is gaslighting bullying is ignoring bullying is lying bullying is looking the other way when children and families were hurt and every one of you has done that an employment decisions like this do just that last week I heard something so shocking that I've been seething with anger since at the dabog coffee Meetup with Mr Shen Bower and Mr broish I heard that it was communicated to a mom who has stood up in front of you at least 4 times in tears begging for help with the literacy needs of her child that if she didn't vote for the mill Levy she could expect no new programming to help

047dyslexic children are you guys that bold that you would ignore an entire community's needs and then use their fears to sell your Mill Levy I can't think of anything more repugnant or disgusting than that how dare you not a single dollar of the mil Levy funds appear to be earmarked for the is community anyway it's outright lie and pure snake oil salesmanship Integrity has long left the building it got sucked out of here in that leadership vacuum that I spoke about earlier I am not voting to give any more money to people who themselves bully our community with their inaction their lies and their apathy I am not voting to give any more money to people so abhorent that they would use the pain of disabled children's families to deflect their Kick the Can down

048the road lack of accountability your bullying resolution is nothing more than political lip service in the face of people so complicit and corrupt that they Define bullying and retaliation themselves if you intend to stop bullying this District you should start by looking in the mirror thank you thank you next up we have Sabrina her welcome I have some pretty specific thoughts on tonight's anti-bullying resolution quote whereas bully bullying harassment and fear can harm of harm harm can create barriers to learning and contribute to emotional distress unquote yeah my daughter left school early today for post Anella therapy so we can call her exhibit a on that one quote whereas school districts have a responsibility to ensure a safe School environment to increase belonging that is free of bullying and harassment unquote not going to hear

049any disagreement from me on that one but as I've said before actions speak louder than words and here are the actions I've seen from this district brokish is out here in is parents into voting for The Mill Levy saying their kids will finally get the services they're entitled to under law only if we cooperate with your cash grab Jeff Connell was allowed to resign roughly eight months after telling a district committee he didn't want to build a system designed to catch staff who abused students David Oliver was allowed to retire from his position as a bus driver last month Sonia noveski got moved to a salaried position in transportation and this week Emily bickerton is up for promotion to senior HR director for the those who missed the memo those last three are named defendants

050in my lawsuit against PSD to summarize David as the bus driver accused of covering for anel and making threats of violence against the family who got zanella investigated Sonia is accused of blowing off a complaint against zanella by saying he's a good guy and Emily is accused of letting zanella start work prior to completing a background check and of keeping him on staff after the background check showed he lied about his criminal history during his interview I don't think I've ever heard of another employer who gets we getting named as a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit lands you with a 50% shot at promotion and a 25% chance of leaving the district on your own terms many of you have heard what I do for a living in my line of work I risk

051getting named and shamed by multiple government agencies if I fail to properly document that a dog has a scab on its ear suffice to say that's a really stressful situation and it gets tiring sometimes my life would be so much easier if my employer didn't care about things like following the law are enforcing basic morality so I'd like to apply to work at PSD the job security is amazing and I'm sure there's some role at this District where my decade of experience treating animals better than PSD treats our kids doesn't over qualify me you all have my email address feel free to reach out for my resume thank you next up we have Fred kersch welcome good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight uh my name is Fred kers I'm here representing

052the members of community for sustainable energy I'd like to start out tonight by um thanking Dave and Trudy for scheduling a meeting with me to talk about um solar projects at pstd that meeting is scheduled for next Monday afternoon which is perfect timing um because our newsletter goes out early on Tuesday morning to coincide with uh ballots showing up in the mail um this newsletter is our election Edition and we anticipate about 5,000 um readers of that newsletter we will have links to candidates and issue information and we will headline the newsletter with the story of PSD and solar we'll also be mentioning how Denver and other schools are using solar to save money reduce pollution and maybe most importantly to help their students gain a competitive advantage in a growing industry um jobs in

053the Solar industry that do not require college are paying an average of twice what competing jobs are paying um Denver has a solar certification program that gives their students an edge over PSD students in this job market and in addition to that prestigious schools um universities science and engineering um schools are developing programs around solar design and Innovation other public schools around the country if you've um had a chance to review some of the videos that I sent to you about those other districts and what they're doing um those are just some examples of the programs that grade schools um are using to utilize their solar projects to teach students about solar um and which students do you think Stanford is going to be more likely to accept students that have had an education about

054solar or PSD students so I'm really hoping um on Tuesday morning to be able to report to our readers that PSD is currently taking some actions and has a solid plan to implement the feasible solar projects outlines in the mckinstry study thank you thank you next up we have Charles Fitzpatrick welcome good evening and thank you for the opportunity to speak uh I'm a organizer with Community for sustainable energy and this evening I will be reading some letters written by uh other members of community for sustainable energy dear members of the pter School District Board of Education I hope this letter finds you well I'm writing to express my support for the implementation of the financially feasible solar projects identified in the district's 2023 solar feasibility study as the board prepares to shape its upcoming

0555-year plan I urge you to consider incorporating these initiatives into the district sustainability and financial efficiency strategy there are many benefits to installing solar panels on the roofs of schools in Fort Collins one cost savings solar energy can significantly reduce the district's long-term utility costs by harnessing our Region's abundant sunlight schools can produce their own electricity which would cut down a monthly energy expenses over time the cost savings could be redirected to other vital resources such as classroom supplies teacher salaries and student programs two environmental stewardship implementing solar energy is a powerful step toward reducing the district's carbon footprint it aligns with the city of Fort Collins's climate action goals it would be an example to students in the community of what can be achieved through environmentally responsible choices solar installation could offset thousands of

056tons of carbon emissions contributing directly to cleaner air and a healthier environment for our children three educational opportunities beyond the environmental and financial benefits solar panels provide excellent opportunities for Hands-On learning they offer real world examples of renewable energy technology and can be incorporated into the curriculum to teach students about science engineering and sustainability practices these educational enhancements can foster a sense of responsibility and Innovation among our students preparing them for the future green economy four energy Independence and resilience solar panels contribute to energy Independence allowing schools to be less reliant on traditional energy sources which can be volatile in cost and availability in the event of power outages solar energy combined with battery storage systems could also provide critical energy resilience for school operations I understand that implementing such projects require thoughtful planning but

057the long-term benefits of solar energy for schools students and Community are clear I strongly encourage the board to make the financially feasible solar projects a key component of your next 5-year plan thank you for your time and I appreciate your consideration of this important issue I look forward to seeing the district continued its leadership in sustainability and educational Excellence um here I have one written by a student says Dear pter Board of Education we should add so solar panels to our schools it is better for the environment it cuts down energy bills and helps improve the air we breathe did you know that DPS Denver public schools has over 40 solar projects and they save $1 million a year and this is the picture they drew with the sun and the tree so anyway uh

058thank you for your time and have a good evening thank you next up we have Janet Wright welcome hello I should have printed this out um Mr Kingsley president Draper members of the board thank you my name is Janet Wright my pronouns are she her hers I have three children in the pter school district a Fossil Ridge SaberCat a Polaris penguin and a Preston Puma they're the real excited ones over there I am also on the board of directors of P flag of Northern Colorado as a parent I want to thank you all for supporting all of the students in the PSD um inclusion affirmation and recognition of your lgbtq plus students saves lives we all know that lgbtq plus history month has been celebrated every October since 1994 by passing this resolution you are

059sending an important message to our community and most importantly our students about the vital importance of recognizing and exploring the role of gay lesbian bisexual and transgender people in American history a few of those famous names are Sally Ride James o bergell Margaret me Barbara Jordan Susan B Anthony Alice Dunbar Nelson Rachel LaVine Washington Carver Pete Budaj Sandro belli and our own Governor paus I am the very proud parent of a transgender daughter we moved to Fort Collins a little over three years ago from a state that would never have passed a resolution like this like you have passed tonight so thank you and since moving here I have met other families who came from unsafe states to this beautiful place for similar reasons my family is fortunate and we are grateful we are grateful

060for a school district that leads with respect support and love for its students and families so thank you to the board and to every single staff member and all of pter school district for all that you do thank you next up we have Taylor Unwin welcome my son who is supposed to speak after me tonight is homesick and to be honest I don't want to be here today I would rather be home making sure he is okay I would rather be spending my time speaking to our family who are in Florida in an evacuation Zone but we're unable to evacuate and are set to be in the eye of hurricane Milton I would rather be doing anything else I know this board is capable of responding to public feedback and taking action with public feedback

061in mind for example consolidation for over a year though I've been deeply confused about why the board has not responded to the public feedback given here about the wful state of Transportation policies as they pertain to safety lawsuit after lawsuit article after article public comment after public comment nothing has changed the asss brought to the district have been in good faith and they've been specific what makes this issue so different than the others the district and board have worked collaboratively with the community to resolve is it a distaste for our approach or attitude I don't think so consolidation discussions sometimes displayed more fiery and direct displays of anger is it that the undertaking will cost more money I don't think so costs haven't even been evaluated and other less essential projects seem to cost more

062on their Fe alone if that were the issue surely there would have been some funding for it in the m ofy is it because there are active lawsuits my legal experience and interaction with professional liability insurance tells me that doesn't make sense attempts at mitigation like policy change are a core component of providing an intelligent defense is it because a Report was generated by a consulting firm already that would be strange considering the actual report and what was shared in Jeff connell's presentation which is cited on the district website are not the same thing they're not check them fact check that anyone who read it would see the glaring discrepancies issues and opportunities is it that the district as Jeff Connell said doesn't want to design a system to catch this level of Mal fence

063and that creating a better system would leave them open and more liability that would be a very dark view so that can't be right what is it why haven't we moved toward creating better transportation policy to protect students why hasn't there been an attempt to rectify the issue are there more important things than fundamental student safety are there not enough of us are we not direct enough are we not angry enough are disabled students worthless or worthless to this District or this board if my child and others like him had the ability to communicate verbally would this be different each public comment made about this in each day that passes my concerns fears and pain grow I'm heartbroken for my child and others like him who deserve more and are entitled to safety my grandfather

064was chairman of his Transportation union he worked for a large busing company he was a bus driver a diesel mechanic and the person who taught me how to drive stick president Draper was right some bus drivers are heroes but some are also complicit in abuse failing mandatory reporters and criminally cruel in their own right I have never even heard my the words I love you from my son but next meeting I want you to watch as my child delivers comments my child who cannot speak his own name or typically communicate in another way I want you to look at him at our family and tell me that his safety isn't important enough to make policy change I want you to tell me that he isn't worth longer video retention or a better monitoring program I

065want you to tell me that you're he could abused and I would never know if you're not willing to tell me that then I'm here to tell you actions speak louder than words have a meeting with us Dave have a meeting with us do what hasn't been done help us fix this every child every day right thank you and last up we have Oliver Hofer welcome oh Oliver's not here okay oh sorry my mistake okay thank you thanks to all who came and spoke today okay we are moving on to board topics and committee reports um this agenda item is an opportunity for board members to provide an update on committee work or speak to board topics do any board members have anything they would like to report go ahead Jim I'm sorry Connor yeah

066I just wanted to say from the uh pter School District Foundation they're going to have the ignite the impact event on Wednesday October 23rd um there will be multiple Communications about this but I just wanted to talk and let everybody know tonight because this is uh the night after the next board meeting thank you anyone else go ahead Kevin can someone with access to the calendar give me uh give an update of the information sessions regarding mil Levy override I know there's one tomorrow night at Rocky at 6: PM 6:30 sorry to put anyone on the spot I could have pulled it up I didn't because I thought someone might have quicker access but I think we should if we can give a plug to those information sessions as well that is correct tomorrow night

067from 6 to 8 at Rocky Mountain High School and that would be located in their theater there is also another one on October 15th um the information session at Fort Collins High School at 5:30 so October 9th U at Rocky Mountain 6:00 p.m. October 15th 5:30 at Fort Collins and one on October 17th as well at the future Ed Center excellent thank you okay anyone else okay moving on to the consent agenda would any board member uh yes would any board member like to pull any remaining items from consent seeing none can I get a motion I move the board approve and adopt the recommended actions for the items on the consent agenda okay and can I get a second all right thanks Kevin all right and Jill will you please call the vote Jim

068brokish hi Kristen Draper hi Connor Duffy hi Kevin havelda hi Carolyn Reed hi Scott shanower hi Jessica Zamora hi motion passes 70 thank you all right and now moving on to action items 10.0 10.1 approval of the 2023 2024 Head Start and Early Head Start annual report can I get a motion go ahead Kevin I move the board approv the 2023 2024 Head Start and Early Head Start annual report can I get a second thanks Jess okay and I believe we have a special guest for this we do she's very special here to PR present information about the 2324 Head Start and Early Head Start annual report is Becca Benedict our director of Early Childhood Services Becca welcome we're so glad to have you here today thank you so much for having me here today

069um I love any opportunity where I can highlight the work of the Early Childhood department and the tiny humans we all love so well um I just wanted to let you know that this Head Start and Early Head Start annual report is a request requirement of the grant that we receive each year um for approximately half of our early childhood budget um the board of education is one of the three governing bodies for Head Start so we have the Board of Education we have our policy Council which is our parent group they have approved this at our last meeting and then we have our leadership team which compiled the information so um thank you for entertaining us for a little bit um there is a lot information in this report and I will not read

070you word for word what's in the report but on the left hand side of this slide um items a through H are the required items that must be in the report those are things like public and private funds budgetary expenditures Children and Families served results of any recent reviews or audits percentage of children enrolled receiving medical and dental exams parent involvement uh Readiness for kindergarten and then anything else that the office of Head Start um tells us that needs to be in the report I also want to highlight that this is from the 2324 school year our grant years do not match up to the academic school years so um we will report on a full Academic School year each year um to to fulfill this requirement so the rightand side here is just a

071graphic of the front page to help you Orient in your packet where the report is so let's talk preschool um our total preschool students served last year was over a th000 so we had 1,28 302 of them were Head Start funded students and 332 students were students with identified disabilities or IEPs and our preschool students are our students that are ages 3 to five our Early Head Start students those are our students that are prenatal so zero all the way to 3 years old um we served 153 students and we served 26 prenatal families many transitioned into our Early Head Start program I just want to highlight the work of the team on this one um it's something that gives me goosebumps every time the grant is written to serve two prenatal families each year

072and last year we served 26 so um there are there's some amazing work happening and um as programs in our community dis appear um other programs step up and um we're just so thankful to be a part of that Journey with families all right so um if I look at the home visiting section and that's for um any student in Head Start or Early Head Start um has a home visiting component as part of their education so our Early Head Start again 0 to 3 years old um we conducted over 2,821 home visits with families and 733 prenatal visits one of the prenatal groups that I'm really really excited about right now is a father's group that has just started meeting um as they're preparing to become families and uh it's really exciting to see

073um our Head Start uh home visiting requirements are slightly different they are required to have six home visits a year we had 1315 Head Start home visits those are our three to 5y- olds and from these home visits and conversations and work with families we had 2,821 Community referrals so our job as home visitors and family mentors is to help families navigate the systems that exist in our community and so the top five uh referrals were for the Museum of Discovery The Gardens of Spring Creek Rotary Club the holiday assistance MC backpack which serves um provides food weekend food support uh for families qualifying as mckin vento or homeless and the food bank and pack Pantry so many of these are food related resources and then others are connecting families to organizations in the community

074so um I I was smiling and joking with Jess at our last policy council meeting as she looked around the room and she said how do you get this many people here and um it's not magical it's just a member uh part about being our in our community they the families are amazing the teachers are amazing the mentors are amazing um we had a total of 30 parent and child together events last year uh were required to have two per month so we had a few extra because we just like it and um we had 563 families participate in the 30 events and our back to school bash is one of the things that we like to do to welcome new preschoolers in um to PSD right before school starts we had 720 attend that

075one so um it is no small feat they're small children but um they are a force of nature as a preschool um environment some examples of our family and events include parenting classes in fact at fuana right now down the road there is a gym of parents um starting their uh parenting classes we do something called circle of security um we've done cooking matters classes virtually so the groceries are delivered to the families and then they virtually cook together we've done fatherhood engagement events um we have partnered with the Bamford pack Pantry to help families connect with resources in the community um we have hosted technology help days to help families navigate patient portals for their medical records and dental records which are required by our program but also application support for both upk and

076for kindergarten registration we offer CPR and first aid classes in both English and Spanish and we partner with many Community organizations um my favorites are some of the swimming pool packs they're adorable so if you ever get a chance it's really fun if we are looking at student achievement data that's what our next slide is um we have two distinct groups the prek group as well as the Early Head Start group the prek group um our goal for each group is 85% of our students to be within widely held expectations um in each of the domains that are assessed so you can see the fall scores um and the spring scores um in order to be included in this data sample they have to have attended fall winter and spring so you'll notice our sample

077size 972 does not match how many kids we served and part of that is because they did not participate in all three checkpoints um and then we also have a class that does Spanish language and literacy that is assessed in Spanish as well um so we're seeing some really promising numbers um social emotional had a big jump um our students grow in exponential rates and it's just so fun to watch them come alive and they just are incredible our Early Head Start data um is written this is our TS gold data and I'll help you understand what these indicators are 1 a is uh manages and regulates emotions so manages feelings now keep in mind Early Head Start is zero to threey olds so how many zero to three year olds are working on managing

078their feelings all of them um so they're working very very hard and then 2A is about forming relationships with adults and so that healthy attachment is so critical 8A is about comprehending language so even if they cannot produce language they can understand what their Guardians are talking to them about and become animated 9A is that expressive vocabulary as they're starting to develop 11a is attending and engaging to tasks and 11d is showing curiosity and motivation and so for having eyes on kids we can really tell early if interventions are needed and get families lined up with the supports that they may or may not need um right away and just work alongside them and it's just such a gift one of the things that we also ask every family as they transition away from Early

079Childhood is how ready for kindergarten do you believe your child is and so we take um each of the indicators from PS gold the domains and we asked are they very prepared prepared somewhat prepared or need support So if you look our our data is strong our families believe that children are exiting our program ready for kindergarten and I also want to highlight that we are currently sitting at 32% of our students are on individualized education plans and many many of their families have identified that they are ready for kindergarten and so a disability is not a barrier to being ready it is an opportunity for us to get in and work together and um get that extra Head Start before kindergarten our health information is um a story of success and then also uh

080a covid story and so I have put three years worth of data on this slide I know our focus is 2324 uh but really would love to celebrate the team's efforts on the um Health portion as we recover from covid so um all Head Start students are required to be up toate with medical and dental exams as required by um Pediatrics and so if you look from 2122 that was 60% last year we were at 81% um the year prior and then last year we were at at 91% so we have really worked hard to uh re-engage families with their medical homes and their providers same thing with dental we went from 56 to 89 to 99% current um having a medical dental home and then up-to-date visits for Early Head Start we have to

081be mindful that students are not required to have dental exams if they don't have teeth because the zero to three-year-old range has quite a few families that don't have teeth yet the littles um and so our um medical and dental are up um at 97% last year our mental health referrals um have seen a significant jump over the last three years um so if you look at 2122 just postco as we're starting to recover we had 64 referrals and then we had significant jumps to 93 and 90 as a result of those jumps we have HED a second mental health specialist um specifically to work with Early Childhood so we have one mental health specialist that works with the zero to3 population so a lot of the family supports and uh one mental health specialist

082that works with our 3 to five population and when I say they are working with our students there's never a separation between our students and their families very excited um it's a part of a team and so uh we work very hard to support support classroom teachers as well as families and students along the way here's the dollars and cents um while this is a very busy slide it has all of the federal requirements where we um disclose how much we receive from federal funds including Head Start and Early Head Start as well as state and local funds so you'll notice here our head start and Early Head Start also have a category called non-federal share as part of the GR Grant we are required to provide a portion of the money um as like

083a district match um so we receive a certain amount of uh federal funds and then we have a non-federal share we have some idea special education funds and some Child Care operation stabilization funds the part at the bottom is the universal preschool funding as well as some integrated Services funding funding as a result of Mill levies and then at the very bottom um we have some tuition funding on the right hand side you'll see a graph um and these are the categories that Head Start requires us to report um the majority and you can see the overwhelming majority of our budget goes to Personnel our people matter we spend money on our people um so that they can invest in our families so we do have some Fringe that is like benefits so I that's

084still in the people pot of money um travel equipment supplies contracts are um for Early Head Start we contract with lafamilia the family center and they um support 14 students receiving center-based care zero to three so more like a daycare environment um and the rest are indirect uh costs such as lights buildings things like that um our most Financial our most recent Financial audit found no findings and just another way to highlight what my team does um last year through stabilization dollars and uh grant called capacity funding um we brought in an additional 1, $377 many of which went straight to offsetting tuition for families or paying the other half of days so that families could have a full day instead of a half day when Universal pre hours did not work out the way

085that they had proposed um and then the capacity funding is furniture and flooring funding that we got as a result of upk expansions and um the reason why I put this here is that we we look for what do our families need and our families tell us over and over and over we need full day care and education um and so we try to find ways to reduce barriers as covid relase funding has dried up um finding those extra pots of money is uh harder to do uh but my grant team and my finance partners are fearless when we call them up and say hey I was thinking about another Grant and they go okay and we we bring in the revenue that we need so um very proud of our team in that regard

086um in terms of our most recent Federal review we are actually only supposed to have one Federal review per year um last year they happened in October and November which were actually two different Grant years for Head Start so October was one Grant year and then we turn over November one and so we got two back to back so our first one is class coding and class coding is when a reviewer comes into the classrooms and um they are looking for three domains emotional support classroom organization and instruction support so they're looking for things like positive climate are kids feeling safe are is the teacher sensitive to what the kids's needs are is the teacher uh paying attention to different student perspectives what's the behavior management look like how productive are the students what kinds

087of formats are they teaching what is the concept development what is the quality of the feedback and um how is the language modeling coming along so um you can see in our we have two categories where we are doing just great we are above um the quality thresholds and um The Head Start averages and then we had one area we where we slipped back a little bit and so I am not surprised by these scores we have been heavily focused in the emotional support realm and the Behavior Support um with preschoolers that are coming in without experience with other children as postco babies um and so we there is a lot of instruction about Behavior there's a lot of instruction about regulation and things like that um and so the language modeling and the quality

088of feedback concept development score did slide back um so our goal this year is to uh really focus on language language development um but keep in mind that some of these um coding many of these class coding observations occurred during meal times and things like that where there aren't as heavy instructional on um so we're going to work on how to bring in more language and more instruction during those times um to improve those scores our second Federal review uh was a weeklong um interviewing of every Department within our program uh the red on this graph means that there there was an action plan needed so areas of concern were identified yellow concerns were identified but things are in place green is meet expectations and purple is an area of promising practice so if you'll

089notice the majority of our indicators are green program design and management is green across the board family and Community engagement is also green across the board fiscal uh our fiscal team is doing a phenomenal job our Ura which is our enrollment recruitment selection eligibility and attendance group is not only doing a great job they are also highlighted federally for areas of promising practice when students need support with attendance so they're specifically looking at students that have fallen below a 60% attendance rate and how we recover and how we support families to re-engage with school our yellow areas our safe and sanitary environments we had um some issues with the lead readings that we were working on mitigation for water that was not completed yet and so um they knew that we had a plan so

090we were working towards that and then our screening and assessment tools there were six children total that were missing a screening tool um out of all of our preschool and Early Head Start students which is like a 98% success rate but it was still highlighted as as an area for us to focus on our um area that we have been monitoring postco and um that we've been watching the numbers on was health and oral health care and status and so we have been working hard to do dental exams within classrooms really work with family mentors and family Specialists to help families reduce some of the barriers to get in to see their doctors and get current on vaccinations and um just working with the overall uh habits of Health um that come alongside with our

091zero to3 population and our 3 to five population um just so you know the area with the action plan needed um our action plans were turned in October 5th with very very promising numbers um and we have not yet heard back um from the office of Head Start because um the feedback I'm sure will be here any day now about how we're doing towards our action plans so do you have any questions regarding our head start or Early Head Start annual report I have a question sure how do you do it all with a smile and yeah all while trying to find money in other places and I I think just once again um you know I've had the pleasure of watching you do this for years now and every year it just gets better

092and better and it's just I'm so impressed with uh your leadership and with your ability to um just draw your staff in and your kiddos in and your parents in and your Guardians and with just give them all a big hug uh it's they're very special it's just amazing work and so I want just to start off by saying thank you and thanking your staff because I know that this is incredible work that they're doing and that this is they're getting incredible results so you thank you yes go ahead Jim uh my question is can you come present every board meeting it it's an honor it's an honor thank you your confidence and your joy it just uh lights me up thank you thanks go ahead Scott thank you very much for coming and I

093just had a question so this year 2028 preschool students do you have projections on what you think next year looks like yes I do I can give you a right now this moment um I had a feeling this question was coming so I was like I'm G to get some data so I can come with some data um so this year in the moment right now our Early Head Start uh program is 94 % enrolled so we have 101 students already enrolling and we constantly are enrolling um our prek numbers oh sorry our prek numbers are um at 719 right now which is 76% enrolled we cannot be 100% enrolled right now because we know that at least 100 or more students will come in with IEPs and they age in when they turn three

094so we will continue to enroll and we must have seats available for those students that are aging in with um IEPs so uh we have to leave some of those seats um just to give you context though we're 76% enrolled as of today we're last year at this point we were 74% enrolled so we're tracking very very closely with what we were doing last year our Head Start is 100% enrolled with a waiting list that's that's getting extensive um what I will tell you is we have applied for an additional 64 slots for Head Start we applied in may we were supposed to hear either way in September and so um as as Federal uh Communications sometimes occur a little bit late we haven't heard about those 64 slots if we are to get any

095or all of those we could enroll many of those now um and we would have one year to fill those slots headart has just changed the rules about how to qualify for Head Start and it will really benefit the families in our area and so um currently they use federal poverty levels in order for families to make the income um qualification levels that is very difficult to survive at a federal poverty level in Fort Collins so one of the ways that they've changed the rules is they are allowing families to um report their income but also report the cost of housing and bills and if they are spending more than 30% of their income on housing and bills they can deduct that from their gross income so we will have more families that qualify now

096the great news is more families will qualify the not so great news is every seat that we have for Head Start is full so we're really hoping that those additional 64 seats come in because I I believe that we could fill them um right away so um pretty excited that currently we're sitting at number of students with IEPs um this year is 222 last year was 232 so we're real close um and just as we're tracking upk we don't have a lot of historical data we only have last year and this year to track but at the end of May last year we had 585 slots funded through upk and as of today we have 5 80 so that's actually tracking higher uh because I know that we are going to add more than five

097students um by the end of the year um and that would have our numbers for upk increasing most of the students coming in at this point because the other funding sources are full um will fall into the upk category we do have all of our tuition spots are full the majority of our tuition slots are filling out the rest of a day so So a family would qualify for a half day ver of services for upk and then paying tuition for the other half of the day so the majority of our tuition uh paying families are doing that so that they can take part in a full day session is that did that answer your question okay other questions go ahead Jess more of a comment because I'm going to respectfully disagree there is Magic

098it is Magic because I would like to remind everyone that Universal pre got switched immensely and you're still smiling and standing and serving over a thousand students with your team and going into fana is still like just the most joyful place on the planet thank you regardless of all that so lots of magic is happening and you just need to know that thank you thank you all right anything else okay thank you so much thanks for sharing the magic and yes now we need to call the vote thank you Jim bookish hi Kristen Draper hi Connor Duffy hi Kevin havelda hi carollyn Reed I Scott shanower I Jessica Zamora I motion passes 70 thank you and before we move on to 11.0 informational reports and discussion items um we're going to take a five minute

099break we're going to reboot the computer to see if we can get internet and hopefully my brain will reboot as well we'll see uh so we'll be back in five minutes I need Sak e e e okay everything has been rebooted let's see how it works so we're going to go on to 11.0 and oh sorry I need to call it back to order don't I um so uh we are at 8:16 p.m. and we are back in session um and we are at yes 11 sorry yes um 11.0 informational reports and discussions and it's 11.1 budget informational items student based budgeting and program support part one so here to introduce Brian is Brian yes Brian squared here tonight so if you remember we're in the middle the midst of a four-part series talking about

100the ins and outs of our budget and our budget director Brian Guston is here tonight to talk about our district expenditures and how they are applied across the system Brian welcome back we're looking forward to your presentation well thanks for having me um appreciate being back to keep talking about school finance and real quickly uh I'll I'll just offer to to Heap on additional praise to Becca and that early childhood team if you think school Finance like we talk about is complicated Early Childhood school finance my gosh that that stuff is really it is intricate and different fiscal years and and she and her team are really on top of it so uh it's great working with her that department and and makes a lot of this a lot easier so uh as as uh

101Brian mentioned we're in part three here of a little forpart Series in school finance and in September Dave and I talked about Revenue right we talked about property taxes uh Equalization the state formula and revenue of course is necessary to establish how we're going to budget and spend our dollars throughout the district and so tonight what I'd like to do is provide an overview of how we budget and spend and then what we'll do is we'll get into more depth later in October um in two weeks and talk a little bit more about school-based budgeting and and some more specifics there but I want to give you a an overview of the big picture of how we allocate how spending occurs and then how we evaluate spending and and we're going to keep it to

102the general fund uh tonight and all of this will be based on our fiscal year 25 budget right so that was adopted back in June and uh we'll talk about kind of where we're at in that process but even though we have a pretty basic budget document we actually report out and identify our expenditures in a variety of ways or as Dave likes to call them slices we like to slice things differently and and for different reasons and what I'm going to go through is is just an overview of each of um these various ways we have a district managed versus a district Charter managed view of our budget hey we have a look at the CDE format which is a program uh related portion of the budget we'll look at a different way to

103um identify expenditure categories and why we look at certain expenditure categories differently than Maybe others and we'll take a look at our compensation Focus lens on the budget compensation being salaries and benefits uh specifically in our general fund and then our most frequent uh references and our our most typical way of reporting our budget is based on location types so we'll look into that as well this will be a little bit of a progression of kind of the least detailed format to the more detailed formats and and hopefully an explanation of of why we kind of Focus the way we do so we'll jump in at a at a real high level and again talking general fund expenditures and our general fund this year we're budgeting to spend just under 426 well just under just

104under $427 million the first thing we do is we separate District managed Charters out from um our just District managed budget okay so the charter allocation based on per pup funding and other funding sources we carve that out that's about $36 million uh right now this year this is going to change as uh we get into the midyear budget revision and we get updated pupil counts right but that's about 9% of the overall general fund budget that that District allocation typically runs in that 8 to 10% range he so we we set that aside we flow that through to the the charters then they manage it they talk about they they work with their folks on how to spend on compensation or services or supplies or whatever ever it is they're going to do and

105we focus on the remainder which in our budget this year is just under $391 million okay so we're going to focus on that $391 million 390 uh 62,6 75 and the first look is by program and this is a CDE reporting element uh and each year we have to do some conversion version uh to report our our expenditures in a program format to the Department of Education hey so we have to to make sure coding lines up and we send them a whole lot of data and I'll show you kind of where that comes out later but the CDE the the the CDE establishes a chart of accounts that wants us to uh really identify categories that are really high levels of description for activities okay for which we would spend um compensation dollars Services

106Etc so on the screen here is a table in it and you think wow that's high level what it actually is it's only 15 categories on over which we spend $390 million and it's really basically instruction the instructional program and then a whole bunch of Support Services programs okay instruction being those interactions of classroom staff and students right so at the very top here uh that that program of instruction we have budgeted just over $225 million to spend on Direct instruction in the classroom okay then below that are variety of Support Services like student services that's kind of a one step one layer remove from direct instruction it might be um activities to enhance instruction like Counseling Services right and then and you keep going through some of these different categories and they all have

107a little bit of a glossery and and frankly I have to kind of carry that around with me sometimes because we don't really deal a lot in this CDE reporting element you know for instance I look and I see uh we have a general Administration category a school administration category and then there's a central category what's the difference between all of these well a general Administration for this reporting purpose hey that's that's really activities dealing with the overall Administration duties of the district right the high level administrative um tax that that are needed to make sure the district operates School level is pretty self-explanatory that's more of the building level administrative uh needs and then you've got this this Central item and in in Ed you speak we have right you often hear like central

108office Central and we often associate that with you know kind of the that sort of District Administrative series of tasks and this kind of captures that but really if you look here are some other categories like business operations and maintenance some other departmental categories that are represented but there are a handful that aren't things like I don't see Information Technology he or um Communications or human resources and this Central category really captures a lot of those other sort of functions right again we don't like to use this so much because it really just doesn't have quite the detail that we like to report out all right but it's interesting uh it's interesting to be able to cross reference we do have to report this this sort of data to the Department of Education and we

109do put it in our budget U just a quick side note here we've we've uh put a little tag up here that that indicates that instruction student support and instructional staff support hey that makes up about 70% of our district manage expenditures and and what I think is interesting there is all of that is really directed at at the students that's pretty pretty dang close to student contact he an additional 14% of that remaining oh about 116 million is also very closely connected to students and you'll see that in a little different slice later on okay so that's one way to look at our budget um yes sir do you mind if I ask you a really quick question would you go back a slide yep so thank you so much for the clarity in

110your explanation of how these different categories make up different groups of people for the public you were super explicit around the biggest dollar amount there being direct Support Services to students can you differentiate what instructional staff means are those par professional positions are those instructional coaching type positions maybe both and or something else it yeah that that's a diff it's a difficult one to separate out just because of the nomenclature and it's a both and right so instructional staff support is going to be those activities that assist the instruction that might be Paras it might be other um you know close to students U but maybe not that direct direct instruction by licensed just a a quick other way to look at it and and the reason why I like uh looking at this is

111you see how instruction really is the bulk of of how we spend our money and it should be right so about 58% that general fund is really that direct is construction all of those other activities make up the support right so that other just over 42% whether it's student support administrative support Operational Support all of that comes in to help with instruction but it's really about instructing the students so another way to look at it and and this may not be more detailed but it's a little different view uh that we like to put in our budget and that's uh looking at some some large expend categories primarily to compare these with our compensation category right so in that that program look we couldn't really pull out uh specifically compensation dollars right and and in

112other ways we look it's hard to separate out compensation so we want to do that in our budget and uh it's fascinating of course to see how much of our budget is allocated to compensation right 84.8% of the general fund budget budget goes toward salaries and benefits for staff hey we compare that to what we call site-based uh expenditures and those are operational budgets that go to departments schools besides compensation um utilities this is a spot where we do like to point out things like utilities and our insurance uh risk rated needs the state on behalf line that you see in the table on the left right that that's a hard one to figure out uh for a lot of reasons but really that is the district's annual portion of the par unfunded liability for

113the the Statewide pension program right if a catastrophe were to happen um you know today and we all had to cash in and kick in our our part for the year to fund perah that that's really a place where we budget our portion okay it's offset by an equal Revenue amount so really it's it's an in and an out that state unfunded manand or the unfunded liability mandate but a number of years ago was added to our governmental statements so again just a different way to look at our expenditures uh and in the pie chart at the lower right again highlights that difference between compensation and all other all the other ways that we spend in uh the general fund so let's dig into that compensation wedge a little bit and the next slide is

114another pie chart that is only that our compensation dollars uh we obviously have an administrative piece of the pie that's about 10 a half% of the compensation dollars and then two different classified slices and these are important to differentiate one kind of kind of to a previous question is instructional classified he these are classified staff members they might be exempt they might not be exempt from overtime rules but they're going to be mostly in the buildings working closer to kids and that's that's the instructional classified about 12% of how we spend on compensation he then our just classified wedge that's more of Staff in a supportive role supporting all parts of the district not just schools excuse me but things like Finance HR um other other areas that maybe aren't right in schools okay and

115that is about 12.7% so to put some other numbers to that of that $3 31.4 million okay um licensed it's about $215 million over oh just over 1,960 um FTE or units of Staff a administrators that's about 202 staff and just under $35 million the instructional classified portion is about 394 FTE and just under $40 million and then that classified portion about 500 staff members and $42 million Brian could you please talk a little more about what's in the administrative wedge that's so if think back to that other program list that's going to be your general administrators right the district level administrators that's going to be building level administrators and that's going to be administrators that also fall into the other categories that maybe weren't in general or building so like Finance administrators or HR

116administrators or Tech administrators uh directors and executive directors Chiefs those kinds of folks sure all right okay so we'll jump into a different way to look and this is really the primary way way we look at our budget and it's it's pretty unique here at PSD and what I like about it is it's kind of the it's a it's it's a much more relatable way to look at things okay and that's by location type so I could say you know if we're talking about programs and which is pretty typical at other school districts I could talk about well let's talk about the central program and then you have to figure out you have to remember what does central mean but here in our location types if I say okay well let's talk about how we

117spend money in facilities it's it's pretty easy to dial in and okay I I have a pretty good idea what facilities means or technology or curriculum so on and so forth so this is a list of all of the different location types uh that we we work with and and you've got of course early childhood like Becca and her crew integrated services or special education security transportation and Technology are interesting and and I'm going to show you something it'll be hard to see in the next slide but we actually look at those twice each one of those in our in our budget sort of in two different locations um but we also look at assessment Administration Finance HR and risk activities here as well right now what's on the screen is a screenshot from our

118website so this isn't actually in our budget document so we're actually getting out of our budget document now although I I'll probably include this in the future this is on our website it's a on our financial transparency piece of the website and it's something we like to do annually and it captures those location types but what it what's really cool about is it also crosswalks them with those expenditure types that we talked about so it's it's location types in the rows and it's different expenditure types like let's say Athletics or technology or textbooks in columns and what we do is we look at the audit each year and we go through that and we say okay well how much did we spend for um Athletics at high schools boom and we plug that into this

119this table or you know how much do we spend on uh Administration in curriculum and instruction and we plug that in and so we start to get an even deeper look at at how we budget and allocate dollars he this uh this is is a really difficult chart to read initially but when you sit down and you kind of look and you see that there's a scale in the rows uh from the top being really school specific to the bottom being centralized expenditures and as you go from left to right okay you see all those different expenditure categories I talked about but what you find and and and what seems to be pretty consistent from year to year is that 84 to 85% of what we spend really leans toward that school-based expenditure level so

120I mentioned that earlier when we were talking about programs 84 in this is fiscal year 23 data a 84% was really directed at schools with another 16% being available to support school right might be Central expenditures but supporting school and so that's I encourage you you know I'm I'm sure you're just chopping at the bit to get out and check out the fiscal transparency chart but I encourage you to check it out out um it it does lag and that it's based on audited actuals right so it's based on some some older information but we do like to have it there to illustrate a different way to look at our budget yeah quickly on there um for a point of clarification where you have facilities listed on here can you tell us the difference between

121that cost that you're listing there and the cost that we've heard about $800,000 for replacement cost and capital expenditures yeah yeah that really good question so you also have a number of columns here so there's a significant total at the end right facilities that $800,000 cost that you you referenced is really an annual allocation of budget to address facilities needs okay so specific like facilities upgrades type needs okay this line encompasses all sorts of expenditures primarily compensation right that that fall into that category so and and potential carryovers and things like that okay and and I'm glad you asked that question because I did want to point out here's where we do see technology and transportation come in twice right you'll see a technology and a transportation category up there towards the school department location

122and then each category down there towards the central location well why separate them out well those are two categories where you really have some significant differences in expenditures that can be re really related to schools or really closer to being centralized so think about busing Kids versus having to have a a White Fleet for the facilities and maintenance crew right so one of those the facilities and maintenance White Fleet is going to be more towards the central support and then transporting students obviously towards towards the top uh when it comes to technology one-onone devices you're really talking about addressing kids um the business plus accounting software you're talking more Central support so that's where we do like to split those into their own separate double locations so we'll break away from our budget document but

123still a link on our um our website and this is a screenshot from the Department of education's Financial transparency tool a and and another really kind of interesting interesting way to look at not only our fiscal data uh here at PSD but the fiscal data at other districts as well and there's opportunity to compare school to school within districts school to school across districts District to District how much does PSD spend versus Cherry Creek or you know whatever like our our uh transparency chart there is a lag here in information and it's important to note that this this creates complexity in that this is older data okay based on fiscal year 23 because CDE collects all of our data reports in March and then it takes them about three months to get it plugged into

124this and then wait for the next cycle so we won't see the fiscal year 24 data in here till probably close to the end of this fiscal year and that's kind of a bummer but that's that's the lag of that data also it's important to note that when you look here and try and reconcile to our our information it's all based on the same data but this consolidates a lot of sources all of the sources so it's not just general fund it'll be what do we spend on a per pup basis general fund grants fund Food Service all lumped together and and have to kind of glean through that can be a little challenging right but again it's it's interesting to go in and you get some some graphs and some uh illustrations on how

125districts spend and compare right so again something to to check out so we've got a budget you know how do we put it together and and this is real high level just but just thinking about all right we've got some we've got revenue projections how do we need or how do we decide where to put it in our budget and of course a lot of those decisions are based on data but really a lot of feedback as well and so I want to illustrate on this slide uh the various levels of stakeholder input that we seek on an annual basis uh to to build the budget right and depending on resources that are available you know how scarce things are you know we may be able to utilize more feedback one year than maybe in

126another year hey but obviously the board of education is a tremendous stakeholder in determining the budget you get at least uh four versions a year right you have a lot of um discussions whether it's uh looking at expenditures or or having conversations like this that uh provide feedback and input on the budget our principles are our key stakeholders in this process because they engage other stakeholders the community and each of their school communities with their accountability committees their staff members I should even put students on there as well right because I know that there are principles that that engage students in some of their budget conversations our principles additionally engage in an annual Compensation Plan process where they get we're going to talk about this more next time but they get an allocation and then

127they have to plan how they're going to staff their building they work with our assistant superintendent and other administrators on how to build that plan and approving that plan and making sure that that plan makes fiscal sense as well as HR sense uh the cabinet stakeholder group hey they engage their department leaders their directors coordinators managers hey those folks that are that are working not only in schools but other other departments for for Budget feedback we have various committees that contribute to the process we have a budget design team which is more of an internal group that uh looks at budget items we have an a budget advisory committee which has not only internal members but external community members uh that that gets engaged in the budget process and then we we receive feedback from

128our district accountability committee as well okay and then lastly on the list here but certainly there are other um cycles and and for feedback but our negotiations interest based bargaining process contributes to this he the labor groups and cabinet work together to to not only go through um you know employment agreements but decisions that impact the budget directly right so it really is a lot of feedback on an annual basis that helps build and and maintain what we do so where are we in the process right now well right now we're living in three years we're we're finalizing FIS fcal year 24 right obviously we're living in fiscal year 25 and we're operating and we're just starting to be able to monitor what's going on in 25 just a quarter in uh but we're also

129thinking about 26 and so we're already in the process of planning you know what is our analysis of 24 and 25 look like in order to to prepare for 26 and and we're calling that the budget Deep dive this year really um each year is unique but each year has annual uh evaluation and and uh recommendations scrubbing looking at different parts of the budget okay was it look like this year really we see some parallel processes internal groups going through the budget and taking a look at departmental and school Staffing excuse me and also looking at operational expenditures then uh we're going to get external stakeholders engaged as well well probably through our budget advisory committee and uh again look at departmental and school Staffing look at levels look at operational expenditures departmental expenditures and

130and and talk about questions or talk about needs or talk about wonderings um what's really cool is we're developing some tools now that can help not only our internal folks but other stakeholders dive just a little bit deeper get a little bit more granular into looking at our budget so we're working on that right now and I I think we're in a pretty good spot to roll that out soon right ultimately then the goal is of course we wanted to align to the Strategic plan and make sure ad Heering to the values that uh are identified throughout other processes like ensuring high quality educational choices a continued stewardship of our resources hey growing programs that are popular and and uh on the up and up and in high demand okay so next time we'll dive

131into a little bit more of that school-based budgeting if interested again some resources uh the CDE page the fiscal transparency sites uh and that new school Finance act simulator we're still kind of waiting to see how that's all going to start shaking out uh and we're going to in about a month hopefully have a pretty good idea of how our midyear budget revision will start to shape up with our updated funded pupil count so that's going to be a big process coming up here before the end of the calendar year and with that what questions can we try and answer for you thank you so much Bo do you have any questions yeah go ahead Caroline I know this is new to our budget and I guess this is really more of a question for

132you Brian that um new new to our budget is the Medicaid dollars and it's not a big part of our budget but it is a new part of our budget that we're leveraging to buy different things can you just kind of explain or to let me know or the the community know how those dollars are being leveraged do you want to take that yeah so so Medicaid and Dave might want to pop in here too but those dollars are really to address the unmet health needs of students and so really excuse me those are helping to address like U nursing support and those kinds of um I guess needs uh screenings and services and Staffing then can you explain to the community how those decisions are made okay thanks Dave so um so for the

133Medicaid uh for the Medicaid portion we do have a Medicaid committee that is working on this and it's actually um I'm doing this off the top of my head it's it's got our mental health folks it's got our integrated Services folks it's got people from lce in there and they're collaboratively thinking about how those resources are best used so um I I know that we had a number of positions in all of those categories a lot of it was integrated services and nursing support like BR Brian said go ahead Kevin yeah I've got a question that was not the presentation and if it's if you're not prepared to answer I apologize and it can get back to me um I just Googled uh our free reduced meals that we offered again for the 2024 2025

134school year do you have any idea how much that costs and if that is going to be a continued item uh for our students so the cost to the district for the free and reduced meals I don't know that I do know that um we received State funding in the healthy meals for all um legislation from two years ago to support that um that level I couldn't tell you off the top of my head what I what I do know I mean anecdotally what I do know is that that program cost the state more than they expected because there is greater participation uh not just addressing free and reduced needs but the healthy meals for all uh and so they're they're working through continued funding of that the the free and reduced side of things

135added Medicaid uh into the equation and so we're still waiting to to get some data from year one of that from last year but we'd have to dig into what do it cost us specifically and we it's not urgent um but would like to know that number at some point okay other questions all right well thank you so much Brian really appreciate it and um all the work that's gone into um our budget 101 sessions it's been really great really appreciate it thank you yeah see you in a few weeks thank you all right yes exactly exactly before o' yeah no absolutely anybody who can translate budgeting into something I can understand done good moving on to 12.0 um executive session can I get a motion go ahead Jim I move the board in our

136executive session to receive legal advice on specific legal questions relating to pending civil litigation against the district regarding a former bus paraprofessional attendant Tyler zanella as authorized by CRS the vote Jim brokish hi Kristen Draper hi Connor Duffy hi Kevin havalda hi Carolyn Reed hi Scott Shen Bower I Jessica Zamora hi motion passes 70 thank you we will now convene in a closed session this is the last agenda item before adjournment at the conclusion of the executive session we will come back to this room publicly uh to publicly adjourn the meeting the adjournment will be recorded but will not be televised all right and it is 8:49 so we will start at 9:00 e