Board of Education February 17, 2026 – Business Meeting

001Hello everybody. Are we all ready? >> Close. Guess Amy's doing something. Thank you everybody for being here. We'll start with the pledge of allegiance. Mr. service. So, would you lead us please of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley and justice for all Thank you, ma'am. Amy, you want to do a roll call, please? >> Mr. Chavez, >> present. >> Mrs. Cole, >> here. Mrs. Evansson, >> here. >> Mrs. Heights, >> here. >> Mrs. Woods, >> here. >> We doing approval of agenda. May I have a motion to approve for agenda for 21726? >> Motion to approve agenda. >> Second. >> Mr. Chavis, >> approve. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mrs. Evansson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Heights, >> yes. >> Mrs. Woods, >> yes. >> For meeting minutes and summary

002approval. May I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes of January 6th and January 20th, 2026? >> Motion to approve January 6 and January 20th meeting minutes. Second, >> Mr. Chavis, >> approve. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mrs. Evansson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Heights, >> yes. >> Mrs. Woods, >> yes. We have some recognitions uh this evening. Uh need to mention that these are all musical awards and due to musicals and concerts going on this week, some of the students will be recognized uh will be recognized at the March board meeting. They they're not here tonight. Uh first one is All State Middle School. We're getting fancy. [laughter] Uh, could I have Chris Hancock and director Christine Buddha be up front for here? [applause] >> Hello. Hi. The middle school all state choir

003features the best of Colorado's top young vocalists and helps prepare students for advanced musical music opportunities in high school and beyond. Open only to seventh and eighth graders, this election process is competitive and includes a rigorous addition and a director's recommendation confirming a student's readiness to perform at a high level. Clarissa, an eighth grader at Booklift Middle School, was the only district 51 sal student selected for this year all state choir festival. An exceptional honor earned under the direction of choir director Kristen Buddha. The board of education and superintendent Dr. Hill congratulates Clarissa on this outstanding achievement and are proud of how she represents district 51 at a high level. We all re we also recognize and thank our middle school choir directors for the important role they play in in nurturing and developing students

004musical talents. [applause] Congratulations. Take a picture. >> [applause] >> All right. So, would the students and their directors named to the All State Choir and All State Jazz Choir this year, please join me at the front of the room. The all state choir and jazz choir festivals bringing together some of the most talented high school singers from across the Colorado to rehearse and perform challenging music with guest conductors. Students earn their place through a competitive audition process and perform alongside peers who share the strong dedication to vocal music. Jazz choir highlights a different style of performance emphasizing rhythm, blend, and expression in contemporary vocal music. This year, D51 students from across all four high schools were selected for these ensembles and performed at the festival earlier this month. Their selection reflects the time, effort, and

005commitment they have invested in their craft. The board of education and Dr. Superintendent Dr. Hill would like to recognize these students and directors for their outstanding work and congratulate them on this achievement. So, I have a whole stack, but I think there are some that are not here. So I have Alexis Waffle, Bray Brown, Reagan Pulba, Pepper Ren, everybody here tonight. And then we have the director Matt Dodie as well. Thank you so much. [applause] >> [applause] >> This is fancy. All right. May I have the students and the directors that were named in the 2526 All State Orchestra join me at the front of the room, please? [applause] Students in our orchestra programs spent the year refining their technical skills, musical expression, and ability to perform as part as an ensemble. With the support

006of their directors, selected students audition for the All State Orchestra, where they are evaluated on tone, accuracy, and technique throughout through challenging repertoire. The All State Orchestra Festival begins together some of the most accomplished students. That does not sound right. Let me start that over. The All State Orchestra Festival brings together some of the most accomplished student musicians from across Colorado. Earning a place in this ensemble is highly competitive and reflects significant dedication and preparation. This year, four district 51 students were selected to participate. The board of education and superintendent Dr. Hill recognized these students and their directors and congratulate them on this outstanding accomplishment. Um, our directors were director Rachel Levdy and director Nicole Ruse. And our students are Eron Aaron Franen on violin. Congratulations. Benjamin Britain on cello. And these two students are

007from Fruit of Monument High School. And then our other two are from Grand Junction High School, which is Sarah Gimone. Did I say that correctly? >> Gammon. Congratulations. [applause] And then George Omi, who is on cello. Sarah plays the violin and George is not able to be with us this evening. So, congratulations you guys. [applause] >> [applause] >> All right. So, let's have the students and their directors name to the All State Symphonic Band. Join me at the center of the room right here. [applause] Can I get you to come to the side? Thank you. All right. Uh, the All-State Symphonic Band represents one of the highest levels of concert band performance for high school musicians in Colorado. Students selected to perform demonstrate exceptional technical skill and music musical maturity. Earning a spot begins long

008before the festival. Thoughtful throughout this year, students in our band programs devote extensive time to rehearsals, sectionals, and individual practice. Directors nominate students to audition for All State Symphonic Band, where they must perform advanced scales, prepared pieces, and site readings. This year, five students from across our band programs earned a spot in this elite ensemble. The board of education and superintendent Dr. He'll recognize these students and directors and congratulate them for their incredible achievement. [applause] So, I'm not exactly sure who I have. So, as I call your name, if you're here, Corbin Kerry. Nope. So, that is from uh Central High School. So, we'll congratulate them next week. Nicholas Pint. Nope. Taylor Dean. [applause] All right. And that director is director Isaac Lavadi. [applause] I That's all I have. Tell me your name. >> Oh,

009congratulations. [applause] Thank you for being here. Before [applause] we before we go on, if people who were recognized, if you would like to leave, you can leave or if you could stay if you would like. Drive safely. So, now we will move on to um the next section of board reports is good things. Board members, do you have anything you'd like to report? Go ahead. [laughter] >> So, um, we actually had received an email from a parent and, uh, I'm not sure if we are recognizing them next month, but we had, um, six elementary school students that went to the elementary all-state choir. Um, that was at the Broadmore early early in February. Um, I had talked to Cali about it and she had said it had been on [clears throat] your superintendent uh letter

010that went out, but it was [snorts] um from Broadway Elementary by the direction of Nicholas Dodie. It was um Adeline Adeline Austin, Maline Lopez, Helena Schoberg, and Lincoln Stowe. And then we also had two from Top Elementary um under the direction of Matthew Bulick, which was Eva Deperio and Isabella Barrett. So, congratulations to those elementary students. That's pretty awesome at that level at primary level to make it to uh to that level of competition. And um there was something else I wanted to bring up, but while I'm gathering my thoughts, if you'd like to jump in your thoughts, great. >> Yes. I had a a couple of things. One was I may have mentioned this before just kind of in one of the presentations, but I just wanted to give a congratulations to our district

011folks around career and technical education. I was able to visit three of four high schools and career center as they showcased their work uh being done in their career and technical education offerings. Um I hope all of you will look up these videos as they come available uh over these next few couple of weeks. Um, I'm incredibly impressed at the leadership and the quality of courses offered at our district 51 high schools and most importantly hopeful of those opportunities for our students. And then the other was I was able to visit the dual immersion academy um as all of our directors were able to attend. Uh they presented to each of us individually the work and success of this program. uh one of the options for our families and their students here in district 51.

012I understood from this presentation that the results and achievement are strong and even stronger than some state averages. So just congratulations to the work they're doing and certainly the work across our schools. Um, I got a chance to go to Lincoln Orchard Mesa's one of their assemblies and um, I was able to watch the Grand Junction High School drum line perform at that assembly. Um, and wow, that was really incredible. There were some kiddos who uh, who were in the drum line who actually went to Lincoln Orchard Mesa, so they were able to come back and walk the halls and and see their uh, students. But the amount of precision and um dedication that those students put into the drum line was phenomenal. They don't have like a conductor or like um I'm sure they

013have a teacher, but they they weren't there. And so they were doing this all on their own very independently, which I thought was really um phenomenal to be able to see those students, young and old, grow through our system and develop their passions and their goals. Um, I also got to go visit Taylor Mount Garfield and Palisade High School and see how the IB program and my program is um being put together um throughout from elementary, middle, and high school. Um, so that's one seamless system for or not system model for all of those students who live in that area and other students in D51 who choose to go to that those schools. So, it was really fun to see the intention um through kindergarten through high school. And then also visiting Rocky Mountain Elementary,

014which is my former school. Um but they have something called flight time, which I think is really cool with their Eagle mascot where all of the kids go to their own intervention um room based on their need. It doesn't really matter what teacher they're in or what teacher is their home room class, but they go to whatever teacher based on their need. And they've seen some really great growth. So, I was really excited to see that work being done. I have two things. One, uh, I was able to participate in to go look at the property for the owl program is going to be at. If you ever get a chance, go look at the property. It is gorgeous. It's right at the base of the monument. It's beautiful to see and I think the

015program is going to really flourish there. Uh, I thought Greg did a really excellent job showing us the grounds and talking to us about speaking to us about what the owl program is about. The other uh thing I was able to all of us I think went to the DIA program and spoke to them and they uh shared their presentation of what they do. They spoke about their achievement growth and also their person their uh growth with what their children are doing within their school. I was really impressed by them. I think they have uh Simbra uh on March 5th I believe and so I know we are all invited to to go to that also. So for clarification, when you guys hear DIA, our community, we think of dual immersion academy, which is our

016elementary level program, but we actually have a program at Bookcliffe Middle School that is um is kind of like our float over from dual immersion academy. And we have uh quite the program over there. The teachers are very impressive and that's where we received the presentation from. um they took us through all their data as far as the success level of children that are involved in the dual immersion academy program at Bookcliffe and um just showed that ch the children that are in that program are excelling just exponentially um and just giving us all the data to run through all the way from elementary up because they they do track that data as well since most of their kids do come from dual immersion. Um, but they also have the ability to bring some kids

017in um from different programs that might not have attended dual immersion academy that might be bilingual already or um are able to uh perform quite a bit in um uh Spanish and or English. And so just challenging them to to uh be involved in that program. So that's what we went and saw was put cliff middle school. So it was great. Thanks I'll just add that um I don't want to reiterate that I I got to hear the same program. I think one touching story was um uh just a couple of students that um were waiting to get into the program. Um one delayed because he didn't want to leave his friend group. Um but then parents decided to um get him into the program and then he really thrived and then um next year

018his friend was able to get in and um what they really saw was the one was really disengaged from wanting to be in school. Um I don't know if you guys got to hear that story. It was really touching and actually brought some tears to my eyes because um some other teachers were concerned that this student was going to be trouble and then ended up being an absolute joy to work with um in the program because sometimes kids just need something, right? They they need to find the thing that works for them and um this program ended up working great for this student. And so it was just a really neat story to hear that um he like they found their place and so loved like was excited to go to school. Um I think

019the family thought maybe they had a girlfriend at school so they but he was just like no I just love going to school. I love learning now. And so that was just a really touching story that um it just it like they really just found their place. And so that was touching because I think for all of us it's not just a matter of just getting up each day and going to school which we know sometimes that's what it is but it's about creating that lifelong love of learning. And so it was really neat to hear that story for that student. So anyways I just that's what really just stood out to me. So it was great to see that that program ended up being available and open for those two students and the friends

020that they got to keep and be there together. So next we have is committee activity updates. So we have started meeting with is it Melan? Mellan uh Vicki and I and some leadership and Brian uh just to start looking at looking at if we could do a mail levy or not. trying to put the surveys together to send out to the community and guess that. So, we're just at the beginning trying to explore all that. So, I just want to give you guys an update on that. Uh I'm sure that once it grows further, you'll have two two ones and you want one with Brian and he'll explain more about it. Um, I am on the district accountability committee with Jose and I just wanted to shout out to Jen putting together a really great

021charter school application training. That's one of the roles that the uh DAC runs. So, that was our last meeting was getting that training which was really well done and in depth. So, I really wanted to uh shout that out. That that was really nice. And then also the other committee that I'm on also with Jose is the AOAT which is the access and opportunity community um group. And the last meeting that we had we talked a lot about data growth and achievement in our disagregated student populations. And it's just really showing some great strong growth in in those areas. Um not quite enough to close the achievement um gap, but we're getting there. And we had some really great conversations about how do we reach these kids? How do we um move our system in

022a way that our teachers don't feel overburdened in the work that they need to do to help these students close this gap? Um but also showing that growth is really steady. It's just we're closing that gap. That's our biggest um problem. But something I noticed on there is that in our strat plan, our strategic plan, some of the goals that in elementary, we're meeting most of those goals already um for the strategic plan. And then middle school, we're getting there. We're not quite there in middle school. And then in high school, um it it shows really strong uh movement towards those achieving those goals in all of the areas in literacy and ma math. So, I thought that was really promising information that we got >> and the um that I think um President Chavez

023had asked if we can have that presentation at a board meeting. So, I think it's on the March work session meeting. So, you'll all get that data. It's old at this point because it's older CMS data, but we'll give that presentation in March, too. So, thanks for sharing that. >> It's still just super cool information. I haven't attended the two meetings, but I think it's important to just note that I am on the Riverside task force. They are um organizing that and I'm on with director Chavez. Not sure exactly when that's going to start yet, but I'll be attending that. And then also it's the local special education advisory committee um is scheduled for um in March. So I'll be reporting back on that as well. Thank you. Uh next we have D51 happy happenings

024and celebration. >> Good evening board members. I'm Sierra Hawkins, communications and marketing specialist for district 51, here to share the latest happenings and celebrations across D51. Our February Golden Apple Award winner is Kayla Jones Powell from Central High School. She is recognized for making every student feel valued and supported. In addition to serving as an ELA teacher, she took on several leadership roles, including volleyball coach, social media manager, department chair, and member of the welcoming committee, CCC. Her kindness, energy, and leadership makes a meaningful impact on her school community. Kayla's dedication to students and commitment to a positive school culture made her truly deserving of this award and we are proud to celebrate her as part of D51. Last week D51 celebrated kindness is contagious week kick week and the impact was felt across our

025schools and throughout the valley. What started as a student-ledd idea at FMHS has grown into a district-wide effort led by our secondary student councils and supported by staff, families, and community partners. From spirit days to student led activities, our campuses were filled with reminders that kindness and belonging matter. While cookies, drinks, and sweatshirts were fun ways to participate, kick week is about something bigger. It was about creating connections and showing care for one another. Kick week reflects who we are in D51, a community that values belonging, empathy, and lifting each other up. Shout out to everyone who helped us recognize the large impact a small act of kindness has. During National School Counselor Appreciation Week, we took time to celebrate our D51 counselors, the people who show up for students on their very best days

026and the really hard ones. They're constantly lifting students up, guiding them, cheering them on, and making sure they feel supported and seen. Our schools truly wouldn't be the same without them. In partnership with CMU, D51 hosted a breakfast in their honor, creating a wonderful space for connection and appreciation. The morning offered counselors a well-deserved moment to reset, connect with one another, and fill their cups so they can continue showing up for students every day. We're grateful for all they do to support student well-being, belonging, and success. At Palisate High School, it was once again time for the MYP personal project expo. PHS sophomores showcased their IB Middleear's program, personal projects, work driven by curiosity, creativity, and personal passion. Each project reflected months of research, planning, and hands-on learning as students turn their ideas into real

027world outcomes. From exploring cultures and niku research to designing pet beds, creating cosplay, junk journaling, CPR training, and more, the range of projects was inspiring. Well done, Bulldogs. Grand Junction High School hosted its seventh US naturalization ceremony, continuing a meaningful tradition that brings civic learning to life. During the ceremony, new citizens took the oath of allegiance, marking the culmination of their journey to US citizenship as students witnessed this important milestone firsthand. Several of the newly sworn in citizens shared parts of their personal stories and students in attendance had the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the path to citizenship. Congratulations to all our new citizens as and well done to the students for their thoughtful questions, engagement, and curiosity around civic responsibility. February is career and technical education month or CTE month. And

028across District 51, we're celebrating the opportunities CTE creates for our students. Through programs at our four comprehensive high schools and the career center, students gain hands-on experience, earn industry certifications, and explore career pathways that connect classroom learning to real world skills. From healthcare and skilled trades to technology, agriculture, and business, our students are building skills that prepare them for college, career, and life. This month, we recognize our CTE educators and industry partners who open doors for our CTE students to explore their interests, discover their strengths, and build confidence in their future. Your partnership truly makes a difference in students lives. That's all we have for February's happenings and celebrations. Be sure to keep on keep up on all things D51 by following us on X, Facebook, and Instagram at D51 schools. Thank you. >> [applause]

029>> Um before we go on, I just want to remind everybody if you we have audience comment today. If you would like to sign up, it's over here on the desk on on the left hand side. Please sign up so that you will be able to have you'll be able to come up and and speak. Next thing we have is superintendent report. Amy Atwood, she's here. >> Yeah. Um so we have two items tonight. The first one will be a legislative update. So, we have Amy Atwood on the line. Hi, Amy. We can see you. And uh can you hear us? >> Great. Can you hear me? >> Yes. And I'll turn it over. >> Great. Good evening. Amy Atwood, contract lobbyist with the district. It has been a very busy few weeks since the

030last time that we spoke. There have been so far about 250 bills introduced. We have or we will have about 700 bills. So, we're almost 2thirds of the way there. It has been very very quiet though in education. Um, very few bills for this time in session and really that is because of the budget situation that is making it I I mean there just isn't money to run bills. So, with the few that have been that are out, uh, the ones of impact, Brian and I'm sorry, Dr. Hill and I have spoken about, but like I said, it's been really slow. We do expect more to come in, particularly this week and next week. We've seen some drafts of bills that we know are going to be introduced. If you remember last time I spoke,

031we had the glitch or the hold harmless problem that was found where in school finance where D51 was supposed to be held harmless between the old formula and the new formula. And it turned out that the legislation wasn't written that way. The new school finance formula wasn't written the way that everyone intended. So we found that out on a Friday afternoon activated and worked with Representative Tagert. We worked very closely with the Speaker of the House and were able to get that fixed in the supplemental bill that is moving through the process right now. No one has pushed back on the fix for the hold harmless. The bill passed out of the House no problem last week and it was it'll be in the Senate starting tomorrow. So I I really appreciate Dr. Hill and

032Mel. They both on a Friday and over the weekend were available and pushed back on that that this was not okay. So, I just really wanted to highlight that staff really, really helped on this and that the speaker and representative Tagert did as well. Dr. Hill, do you have anything you want to add to that? >> No, I um I think it it's another reason why it's great having um your support because you were able to give us a heads up uh on that before we even got the phone call. [laughter] So, we were kind of prepared for it. And so, I appreciate that. And then also, I I did hear from um the commissioner of education. she reached out afterwards and was apologetic about the way the information was delivered and, you know, said

033they're they're in our court and they're fighting for us as well. So, I just wanted to shout that out as well. The um commissioner um shared that with me. >> Thank you. And so, the supplemental takes care of the 2526 school year. So the so the budget we're in currently and that is in the supplemental bill that will finish going through the process next week. The fix for 2627 will be in the new school will be in the school finance formula bill for this year. The one that we will pass well the legislature will pass at the end of session. We have commitments from the speaker, from bill sponsors, from the joint budget committee and CDE that the same fix that we are getting passed for this current year will also be taken care of

034for next year. This current year there were only four districts that were impacted. D51 was one of them. Next year there's 12 or 14 districts. So we we also have allies if for some reason um legislators would push back on that. Okay, let's move into the budget. Since we last spoke, nothing has changed. I'm sorry. Usually I am always looking for the glasses half full and the state budget is still down 850 million to a billion dollars. What does that mean for education? I think it means that we need to prepare to at best stay flat. So what we have this year that we will have the same amount for next year. It's not that the state budget isn't growing, it is growing, but expenditures are outpacing revenue and particularly within Medicaid. So with that,

035that means the budget is down 850 million. I just don't see how everyone else, everything else, every department is being cut that K12 doesn't get cut. There are three options on the table for h how we would be funded next year. The first option would be running the school finance formula exactly how it is in statute. That would really deplete the state education fund and it would be a a big hit to the state budget. The second option is this specific ownership tax. You may have heard about this that it would be moving specific some of the specific ownership tax that is not currently counted in the formula to put it into the formula which in effect would be a cut to the district of about $5 million. Or the third option is pausing the

036new school finance formula roll out. By pausing, the state saves a lot of money. As a district, we just are held flat to where we are right now. And the SO tax issue uh is tabled and is is put to the side. It seems that that is where the joint budget committee is heading is is just to take a pause. It was a seven-year roll out. We were in the first year of seven years. So it just pushes that roll out. Mel, do you want to or or Dr. Hill, do you want to talk about the work that we did with the so tax with legislators were when you were at in the building? I know Dr. Hill, we met with a number of legislators specifically on the SO tax. Yeah, I I think um

037part of it was just and and again I appreciate you setting up those meetings because we had I think five while I was there. Um I part of it was the education around it because I think a lot of the legislators we were talking to it was new to them this topic and so really just trying to educate them on what that tax is, how it's split currently, some of it's in the formula, some of it's not and how that's been ongoing for a long time. And I think at the end of the day, just letting folks know it's going to be a cut to our um funding, even if they may present it in a way that sounds like it's not. Um so I I feel like the feedback we got from folks was

038like nobody wants to cut from um K12 and especially not in that way. Um you know, obviously a lot can happen between now and when um it's passed. So I yeah, the feedback was positive in that light, but I feel like a lot of them weren't completely kept up to date at that point on what was going on. Um, and then I know they wanted specifics around not only the numbers, but what would that mean for you as a district? So, if we had to lose five to$6 million all of a sudden, what would that mean for us? And so, being able to express um, you know, the pain that would cause within our own district, I think was beneficial for them. And Mel provided all that information. Um, so I appreciated the opportunity. I

039hopefully it'll make a difference. And I think most everybody who was there, all the superintendents were kind of on the same page with that of saying we need to push back on this and it's not fair to just drop this on us. Even though it felt like um Mr. Farendino was saying that this was something that's already been talked about for years, I don't know that that was necessarily the feeling from the legislators. Um so hopefully that stays true as things move along. >> Thank you. And when Dr. Hill was up at the Capitol, there were two days. There was the case, so the Colorado Association of School Executives day at the Capitol and we had a day full of meetings and then the next day we had the CASBY, Colorado Association of School Boards.

040they were in the building and we had meetings on that day as well with board members and had the same message and really uh getting feedback from case and CASBY every legislator was talked to in those two days about school finance the same you know please don't cut us if you have to cut or just hold us flat if you have to do something but do not take that so tax and mess with the so tax. So, it really was it really brought to the forefront that that is not a viable option for districts. And like I said, it has been quiet on bills so far, but if there are bills on the chart that you want to discuss or like more information on, we can talk about them here or we can talk about

041them offline. I I have a question about the pause of the roll out. >> Is that a pause of and Mel maybe this is a question for you too. Is that a pause of the averaging whatever how they were moving the averaging down from five years to one years would one year would that pause that part also or is it just a pause of the new formula? I don't know how they interact. So perhaps some clarity there. So that specific question about the averaging is still being discussed. So there is a discussion about a smoothing factor for districts like ours that have such a high declining enrollment. Um, ideally just pausing exactly where we are, which is which is what districts want is just pause it with how it is now with same with the

042um to include the averaging, but the governor is pushing to move move it down to ratchet it down to three years. I mean, he really wants to see current year average or no averaging. He just wants to see current year. So those discussions are still happening >> and remind me if um or correct me if I'm wrong I there was language last year that for the smoothing factor they ta didn't they task case with creating a committee to come up with a smoothing vector and if I and Mel was on that meeting I think like their proposal is three years the the most current year is 50% the second year is 30% and then your third year is 20%. So, it's putting more weight on your current year enrollment. Um, and then that's how they're

043kind of smoothing it out. I mean, it still would be better just to have three-year averaging for us, but um, but it's better than them going down to like two or or one. So, I I don't I think that was already presented maybe from um, Case as the proposal for smooning factor. Is that correct, Amy? >> That is correct. It has been presented and it's discussions now within the joint budget committee, the governor's office, office of state planning and budgeting to see if if that if that idea will take hold. >> And Mel, I think you presented it earlier, but I can't remember it off the top of my head. there is a difference between the number of students who are actually enrolled versus the number of students we get funding for because it's the

044one day um whatever. So if we go down to one year where we are the ones actually funding these so-called ghost students um that we're trying to eliminate from the averaging. Is that correct? >> Yeah. So right now we're getting about 8.8 million I think is the number this year through averaging than if we were just funded on a one-year count. And so when uh Amy Atwood's presenting about pausing the new formula, right now we're still kind of getting the benefit of five-year averaging through the hold harmless piece of the old formula because the old formula hold harmless is just a total dollar. And right now the new formula phase in at the reduced averaging is lower than where we would have been at if we were just on the 94 formula with fiveyear averaging

045still. So that's why those hold harmless pieces are going to be really important for us to make sure that they get right and that with some of these changes that we still don't lose traction on that piece. >> Yeah. And I think the other part of my question is the total number of students we actually have enrolled in D51 is different than the number of students who are at school on that October count. Right? So, we're not getting funded likely for every single student who is in D51 because they are not we don't have 100% attendance on that one day in in October. Do did we >> So, if we go down to one year, right? We if it's just whatever it's it's not truly our enrollment. It's who whoever shows up to school on

046that one day. >> There's a little bit of a window still. that's not just truly one day where students have time to establish attendance both before and after the count day and we can still provide documentation to CDE and get funding for them. But certainly like if a student came in January like we're not getting funding for them. >> So that's why I think it's even been talked about at the state level to change that at some time to go from that single count day to more of a count throughout the year. So just something okay kind of around >> yeah and to your point you're right like you you do have kids in the spring that maybe weren't there in the fall and it's at that point we're not getting funding for them this

047year if they stay with us the following year then we would and I I would assume that the the date in there also creates a mechanism so that schools aren't pushing kids you know you're getting credit for kids and then maybe they get pushed out and then um you're still getting the funding for them so it's trying to stop that. I the biggest issue that I've heard from superintendents around the averaging pieces that um when it went from five to a proposal just to go down to your current year that's such a drastic change folks were asking for some sort of a phase in and so we've kind of been doing a little bit of a phase in and the smoothing factor obviously added into language was is supposed to help with that as well

048but it's it's just changing so much I I think I would assume there's some districts that would like to fully implement the formula because they're gaining enrollment and they're and they may have demographics of students that they benefit more from the new formulas, but I think a majority of the districts are going to be hurt in some way by it as far as funding goes. So, >> and I think Mel, you had said in the past that while the funding formula technically gives us more money per pupil, the rate of decline outweighs that. Is that correct? >> Yeah. Yeah. So, so far based on the runs that have been put out um on CDE's web page, based on kind of current law and the governor's proposal back in November, I'm calculating just folding our enrollment

049in there that we would be losing somewhere between 350 and 700,000 next year. So, not totally held harmless, um but still going backwards a little bit just because of those declines. So, thank you And if we don't have any more questions or questions on bills, that is my report. >> Okay. Well, thank you, Amy. Um, we appreciate it. And then I know you always said if board members have questions um about anything, they can reach out to you. So, we appreciate that. >> Definitely. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. And then um the other item we have and I'll have the team come up for this um we want to give update on staffing and uh budget for the school district. So get those slides pulled up. I think I have a clicker here.

050Um so um we're going to go through a handful of things tonight. This is a little bit longer presentation, but I want to kind of give some background on how we got here, um, where we're at financially, and then some decisions we've had to make recently to try to help us with balancing our budget, preparing for the next school year. Um, I love this quote. Um, used it with principles last week. Uh, the time to repair the roof is shining. And um we've had a lot of things come our way over the past few years and we've had to make some decisions to try to prepare for those quote unquote floods um or that rain. And so um we we've been doing this over the past few years because of um mainly because of this

051issue. So declining enrollments uh hit us pretty hard. This is 2019 cohorts compared to 2025 cohorts. So if you look at the I should have I I made this and I don't I'm color blind. Is that green on the left? Okay, green bars. Um, uh, it's always fun. Uh, so the green bar is, uh, the cohorts in 2019, the amount of, so amount of kindergarters we had in 2019, over 1500 students, and then the bar next to it, I'm assuming is blue, is um, around 1,200 students. So, you can see kind of the drop over the last six years of the amount of kids that are entering our school system or our school district compared to six years ago. Um, and then I think the thing to keep track of here is these larger cohorts

052are are graduating out, right? So you see the larger ones in 12th and 11th grade, um, they're moving out and they're being replaced with smaller cohorts. And so that's led to, um, declining enrollment over time. And I've already shared enough with you all about the demographic reports and how we're getting to this through birth rates and things like that, but just I think this visual is important. And so knowing for that or knowing that's happening, we've been trying to prepare um, for what that means. So, you know, over the past few years, the quoteunquote roof repairs we've had to do. Um, building up our reserves was important. Um, you don't have a lot of opportunities to be able to do that as a school district. And so, um, through some smart financial decisions, we've been

053able to build up reserves from around 5% to 20%, which was a board goal. And so, we appreciate that. Um, the school closures, while they're tough, um, that's about $5.8 8 million in annual savings that we're not having to try to find on top of um the savings we're already been looking for. Um we I've mentioned before we've already cut 1.8 million in central office staffing um over the past few years. Um and then it's really important that we secured that MLO funding this past fall um through the board voting to put that on the ballot and having our community support that. That would have been a loss of $6.5 million if we didn't remove the sunset from that. And so that was really important. um staying true to the staffing model as much as

054possible. As you all know, um if we don't stay true to that, it can quickly get to where we're overstaffing schools at a rate that is um you know, reaches into the millions, which we'll talk about tonight. Um and it makes it really hard to correct for that later. And then passing the 21 and 204 bonds was important as well because um that means less money that we're having to take out of general fund to uh fund capital projects because we have um bond dollars to be able to do that. So, these are things that, you know, we've been trying to do over the past few years along with other things to try to prepare for this decline in enrollment um when we could. So, this is um current year to projected year. Um I

055think a couple things to look at here. One, it looks like there's some flattening out at the lower grades, which, you know, that's a a positive sign, but again, you're not replacing these larger grade levels that are graduating out with larger grade levels at the at the um earlier grades. And so this is kind of our new reality um that we've been moving into is we're a smaller district and we're going to continue to be a smaller district. And so we have to plan for um no longer being a 22,000 plus student district like we were in 2019. We're now close to 19,000 student district and we're going to drop below that as well. And so we have to make decisions to plan for that. And then this is just that comparison of 2019 to

056the projected numbers for next year. So, it's pretty drastic and again, we want to make decisions now instead of waiting too long uh and then digging ourselves into a deeper hole, which we've seen other districts have happen, right? These are tough decisions that the board has had to make and that we've had to make as a district. Um but they are wise decisions that we've had to make. Um and districts that have been waiting on this u and not making those decisions are now in a pretty tough situation. So, um I we've talked about enrollment before. I just want to remind the board and the public where we are with that. We're down 622 students this year from the prior year. Um again, that's a um 3.1% drop. And then cumulatively over time, um we've

057dropped about 12 and a half% since 2019 2020 school year. Um and um the district's funding has been averaged since 202021. Um and then you can see that, you know, we've had that fiveyear averaging over time. it's been reduced to four years, three years, and then you heard from Amy what the um discussions are at the capital right now about um maybe even trying to get to a point where we have no averaging at all. Um and as Mel shared while ago, we receive about 8.8 million through that um averaging this year. Um but knowing that these are some things we're going have to prepare for in the future um with the changes there. Um and then so the quoteunquote upcoming storms um that we need to prepare for uh and Mel will talk a

058little bit more about this in the next slide some of these but the district's share of employee health insurance has gone up u 1.4 million transportation cost um 500,000 um we do market reviews for our um different position or employee groups uh to try to make sure that we're within a range and we have board members that are on that comp oversight. So I appreciate the board members that serve on that. Um, but we did a market review for our parah uh positions and they were out of market and so that's a $400,000 adjustment um to make sure that they're within market uh or within range. Utility costs going up um if planning for a step increase. That's been a goal of ours is to how do we get we didn't weren't able to do

059that last year. We did a stipen. How do we make sure we don't go two years in a row without a step increase? That's $3.3 million um to do a step increase. Um, you heard about the hold harmless provision um from Amy Atwood. If that were to go away, that would also hurt us um with our state funding. Um and then she already talked about the $830 million hole that the state budget is in right now. You uh heard her also talk about so tax. If the if the SO tax was pulled back from us or at least the share that um comes directly to us, it's not included in the funding formula this year. That would have been $5.8 million that we would have uh lost. And so that's something that we're having to

060prepare for as well if that were to happen. I mentioned the averaging changes. Federal funding is always a thing that we have to keep an eye on. And then the enrollment declines all around. So these are things that we're keeping an eye on and having to prepare for for the future as a school district. So I'll turn it over to Mel talk a little bit more about um each of these items. >> So when we first started planning um you kind of want to come to a base budget of some of the things that you know as far as your costs next year. And so like Dr. Hill mentioned there are some costs that just increase from year to year. And so those are things that we typically would plan for. and one of those

061is making sure we're budgeting the full year of our district share to the current rates. Um, our transportation contract also increases every year. And then that compensation oversight committee for our pair of professionals, of course, that's a large group of individuals, a lot of physicians. And so that's why that is a high dollar amount that it adds up to be. And so those are significant costs that we know and are planning for in some of our preparation for next year. But then on the right hand side, there's a lot of costs that it's just too early to know. Um we did get some good news the end of last week about our district share for next year for 2027 rates and so we're hoping that that one um will come out okay. Utilities, our facilities

062folks have done a really great job controlling usage but rates go up every year as we know and so there'll be some adjustment that we'll need to budget for that. What that is yet, we're not sure. um comp oversight will continue meeting throughout the spring and so there could be additional market review recommendations brought forward to plan for and then our postseason contract with CMU tech that also increases typically every year and then just making sure that some of our budgets like our concurrent enrollment but the budget is keeping up with costs and so those are some of our just adjustments that we would see in a typical year year-to-year um this last one cost implications for change in daily HR departments and um researching different day leave increments that teachers could take at smaller

063increments than a half and full day while also being mindful of any cost implications that that could have. But that's kind of a wild card. It's just something that would be really hard to estimate based on what the usage might be. And so they definitely are being mindful with looking at that. But that could also have um some budgetary pieces as well. And so just folding these together, um the minimum savings that we would need in order to have a balanced budget with the things on the left and also to provide that 3.3 million step increase would be 5.6 million, but realistically because of all the unknowns, our target is actually higher than that for next year. >> So um when Mel came to us and said that that's the amount we need to find,

064we've obviously that's a lot of work that we would need to do. So we started meeting as a senior leadership team. um really in the spring, but this fall um having these uh quoteunquote retreats so we could figure out where are we going to find this close to $7 million within the current um budget. And so we had six of those meetings um throughout the fall and into the spring semester. Um, we also offered the early retirement incentive. Um, that opened up in November and we actually received 63 letters. Uh, and we'll talk a little bit more about that later. But, um, what that does is it frees up potential openings for folks that might need positions or might be looking for positions, but it also could mean um, savings if there's positions that we

065don't backfill um, through this process. And so, um, having 63 letters helps. I think we were um planning on having maybe 30 um so about twice as much as we uh usually get out of that. Um and then every department not only looked at um this is central office, every department not only looked at staffing but also just at other ways that they could cut from the um the departmental budgets as well to get to that $7 million. Um so I'll turn it back over to Mel talk about the ERRI letters. So this is just a list of the folks or the positions that will be vacant because of the early retirement incentives. So like Dr. Hill mentioned, um we did have a great response to it. Um this was the first time in several

066years that we had offered the ERRI as a district-wide program um in the past recent years that had been targeted to uh levels affected by school closures. And so we still had um a good response at the school level. a few building administrators, 33 teachers. You can see the list here of the positions kind of across the board. And then within the central office as well, um several folks that were ready to take that retirement incentive. And so it would be $1.6 million um approximately that'll be paid out for that early retirement incentive um to be paid out of reserves. But again, the goal at the end of that one-time cost is to find savings either through not backfilling a position, doing something there, and just increasing the attrition. So, as folks are retiring and

067are at closer to the top of the pay scale, and then typically they would be replaced by folks maybe entering their careers. And so, you'd get some additional attrition savings that would be generated as well. [snorts] um the non-ERRI related vacancies as of the end of January. We also had a handful of retirements and resignations and so you can see those listed here. Um this list will grow exponentially in the next month or so as more folks are making their commitments for next year and either planning to retire or resign or move any of those things. And so we'll continue to add to this list, but that really typically starts upticking in March. So, we're going to go into um all of the positions that we have reviewed and then we're going to share with

068you those positions that we're reducing by. But it's really important that um everybody knows and understands that keeping a focus on student outcomes is paramount. So as we face necessary budget reductions including staff FTE and department budgets, our central support capacity and response time to schools will be reduced and we want to be transparent about this impact. Our focus on student outcomes does not change. The D-51 strategic plan remains our anchor to engage, equip, and empower our students, staff, and community. The academic systems and structures we have built are working and will remain in place. What will change is the number of people available to lead and support that work, requiring greater reliance on clear systems, shared responsibility, and discipline priorities. Even in reduction, we remain committed to strong instruction, continuous improvement, and long-term success

069for every student. And that's across everyone of our um departments. >> So, the other thing to uh keep in mind here is that when we were looking at, you know, the org chart and and positions, um a couple things to keep in mind. one um we reviewed every single um department um and the structures that were in place and were there ways to if you eliminated a position maybe you could move folks that reported that position um to still get uh same level of service if you could. Uh we also there were positions that were created during the pandemic because we had er funds and those esser funds don't exist anymore and so we can't operate as if we have that same level of funding that we had back uh during those couple years. uh

070and the funding has gotten worse since then at the state level for us. And so um you know some of that was taken into account as well. These were positions that were added for a certain purpose when we had that funding and we don't anymore. Um and so just a lot of things a lot of factors went into making the decisions around where we were going to cut positions uh at the central office level. Um but making sure that we could try to prioritize how do we make sure that that um those day-to-day operations within our school buildings um uh can continue to happen while it's hard to make cuts anywhere at a district especially for a district that um is pretty lean uh at the central office level to begin with. Uh and again

071I know Mel shared that data before with um comparisons between other districts in the state were well below um that and then also that uh independent study that was done by Alvarez and Marcel showed that we also were um well below um comparable districts on the level of staffing we had at central office. So it already makes it tough when you're in that situation. Um but we wanted to make sure that while we're making these decisions because we have to um that we try not to interrupt that that service to the schools as much as possible. So each department's going to go through and kind of share where the positions are being reduced um and um how we're going to try to maintain a level of service through that. Obviously um the academics department uh

072under Jyn um has the most folks and so they'll have a a majority of the position cuts. Um so we'll start there but each department will go through um each of their uh areas. So we'll start with Jen. So, I just want to take a moment to remind the board that I have three executive directors that are underneath me. I have the executive director of um teaching and learning. I have the executive director of student services and the executive director of technology. So, I'll go through each one of those um departments and share and I just want to um share where those uh positions were reduced and I just want to emphasize again what Dr. Hill was saying, and I'm sure Mel will say that the majority or all, I'm sorry, of these positions were

073positions that were um enhanced by our ESSER dollars. And so once those ESSER dollars were gone, they went to the general fund. And so these are saving the general fund a great deal of um dollars. But the first department I'm going to review is mine, um the chief academic officer. And at that department, we have gone from four site directors. Um, last the last two years, I've had three site directors and next year we're going to go down to one site director. And you will see that some of I'm sorry, two site directors. We're reducing by one more. So the no hill, sorry, Dr. Hill. Um, so and you can see over to the right that many or you'll you'll notice that it's through attrition. And so it was either a retirement um or there

074was some other um means that they were leaving. And then our record specialist is going to go from a full-time to a halftime. Then with our teaching and learning department with PL and curriculum, we had all of um our instructional coaches in fund 10 [clears throat] and um that was to uh the tune of $1.2 million. So we had um a reduction there. And then our alt license coach um was a certified position that actually was a position that was left from Esser as a secondary um coach that we had because of Esser. And so we reduced that one as well. Oh, um student services, we had our sped, you can see is over here on the left side. our special education department. We reduced our sped secretaries. We had one swack tech. Um we

075had an adaptive PE position. Um we reclassified one of our sped coordinators um and that sped coordinator was open due to attrition and that his um position will move over to TDP for admin. We had um two special education specialists that we reduced. one was biatrician and then we had two social workers again one was biatrician our social emotional and behavioral department we had um an MTSS specialist we had in a behavior system support both of those were uh one was certified and one was TOSA then we also reduced our um one director um with our access to opportunities and family partnerships and And um in the technology department we reduced that department by one audiovisisual support tech. It's important that we I highlight that while we reduced a director he that position had um

076direct reports and I think it's important to share that the work and I know Dr. Hill will have something to say about this as well. This is very important and work that needs to continue and the folks that reported to this director um is will be uh going to other directors. So the translators there were five of them two there are five of them two of the special education translators will report to um the director John Paul um in special education. Two of the district translators will report to communications with Cali. And then we had one early we have one early childhood translator and they will report to Teresa Swanson and she is now as you all know in the early childhood um center that Nisley and so it makes sense that there is a

077place and then that translator will go there. We have two reach advocates and those reach advocates will now and actually in the past they have before reported to the director of social, emotional and behavioral services and we're going to um have them report back to there. And then we have two attendance case managers and two attendance advocates who will also report to the director of social emotional and behavioral services. And then we have one family coordinator. This family coordinator was actually a pos is actually a position that the funding is through title one and title three. And so there are two different um similar but distinct difference in their the roles and the responsibilities of this family coordinator. And so this person will now report to Sherry Taylor who's over um title one and Lana

078Holshiff who supports title three. >> Yeah. Yeah, the only thing I add is, you know, over the past few years, the the goal was to try to figure out how to take these were existing positions that were in different areas and try to get them under one house um to try to meet some of the strategic plan goals, but to um provide some more collaboration, but in a time of reductions, we're we're basically having to move folks back to other departments. So, we're the good thing is we're not having to reduce uh any of these supporting positions so they can still get that work done to support families. Um but that this was kind of a fairly it was a fairly new um setup that we had over the past few years um when we

079try to create that um department if you will. So the folks will just be moving back to where they were before. Um but the goal here again was to try to provide the same level of service by not having to reduce uh any of these reporting positions as well. I'm not done yet. So the additional academic department budget reductions um contracted days we reduced contract and this is for next year our teachers on special assignments all specialists they were at um a reduction of three days they're going to go from a 207 20204 contract and then our instructional coaches um they had uh 197 days and we're going to reduce uh that contract to 199 for the intosis Um and then and I do want to go back a little bit to um our instructional

080coaches that were taken out of um fun 10. We will still have coaches. They're going to be named literacy coaches, but they're going to go back to um p primarily or only with um title funding. And so they'll go back to our and be funded by um the title budget both from the district title budget which is called DMA and the school title budget. So we will have coaches um they just will be solely or only taken out of title or their FTE systemic staffing. >> And you're talk then you're talking about title one >> correct. Um, we also reduced the induction budget and our library contracted services budgets. We're going to continue to look at our library contracted services, making sure that um all of the services that we have and that we're using

081are are they at where they need to be to um include uh the level of money that we're using for each one of those. And then the district level intervention um if there is any way which Mel will share later if there is any way if there are other budgets whether it's a grant budget that we can pull out of fund 10 then we will do that. So um a read 180 is an intervention that we have but we have some grant money that can pay for that so we're going to pull that out of the fund 10 intervention budget. So, how are we going to maintain, like I said at the beginning, um that our our main focus is our students. So, how are we going to make sure that we're going to maintain

082that level of academic service with fewer staff? The first thing that we're going to lean into is that consistency. We all know and understand, and I think even with our new members on the board, we have had a rhythm and routine in our academic calendar, and we're going to keep that. It's a it's a sense of obviously that that comfort and knowing understanding where teaching and learning our inservice days and everything that's involved in our calendar when we start when we stop um is it's going to stay consisted consistent. We have our unified resources instructional practices. Um, we know through some of our um our our grants funding that we've used with um our RED dollars and other grants that we know what those high leverage instructional practices are and we're going to continue to

083use those professional learning calendars to include such structures as early release inservice and instructional leadership convenings. Our strategic plan implementation and monitoring. Um we've seen great success by holding true and staying focused on those strategic plan goals and we're going to continue to do that. And then the last thing is our grant continuation to support early literacy. Right now we have easy and I if you've been on the board or in the audience we've had easy grant dollars for the last I would say five plus years. We have um some money that ends sunsets in September, but we do have some other grants that will be able to stay with that academic calendar and instructional practice consistency. >> Okay. On the support side of the house, got four positions that we're looking at and um

084you can see that three of these we're losing through attrition and one of these is a reassignment. Uh so the nightroving custodian, irrigation specialist, carpenter and plumber uh will be losing those positions and um got some plans on how we're going to take care of that and I'll talk about that in just a minute. Budget reductions. We've gone through all of our budgets and on the support side of the house and have reduced that by 103,000 uh reducing things like supplies and um unused budgets that we've identified. And then we're also focusing on uh route efficiencies and transportation. Uh those are always things that we can look at. At the beginning of the year, we started with I think 138 routes, reduced that down to 131 and that was a savings of about $420,000 uh

085itself. And so we continue to look at that and we'll work with ST on that. All right. How will we maintain uh our operations? as well structurally reduce demand by expanding zeros escaping to permanently reduce irrigation and grounds workload. So um we've got a plan since we have uh smaller staff to look at some areas where we can reduce grass in the front of our buildings maybe uh the section in front of our administration building for example could be uh changed to zero escaping where we don't have irrigation running and the guys mowing uh when they don't need to. uh cross trainining uh across our um our teams wherever we can uh allowing others to do jobs that other that they can do in other departments and then relying on seasonal and transitional support. Um,

086so if we need uh to do some mowing or snow removal uh and we need to contract out for that, we can do that and rather than having a body to do that as a one-time payout and then use outsourcing as a primary contingency through bundling contracts and on call plumbing, HVAC and custodial services. Same thing. If we need work to be done, we can contract out for those services and that's it. >> Okay. in human resources. Um the position that was eliminated uh will be the volunteer coordinator. We had a budget reduction of about 75,000. And then as Mel mentioned earlier, we're going to keep our eyes on um what the budget impacts will be um for the the new leave increments that will happen next year. [snorts] >> Great. Um, in finance, uh,

087financial services, we've identified about $25,000 worth of department budget reductions. Um, in past budget reductions, our department's been hit pretty heavy by um, having positions eliminated. And so, unfortunately, we don't have any to really give back, but certainly as vacancies occur, we'll continue to identify those and look for any opportunities. But the 25,000 really is just in our contracted services and through um reducing some of our professional learning opportunities. Um unfortunately when there's budget constraints that increases the workload um not reduces it. And so our staff is doing a lot of work and just planning and trying to identify areas that we should be looking at for next year to get us through these next pieces. Some of these bullets are for temporary fixes that maybe get us through the next couple years, such as

088moving some of our SSP positions that are claimable into Medicaid funding. That might buy us a little bit of time for a couple years. Um, looking at our maintenance and technology positions, they're currently split between general fund and capital projects. So, either changing the transfer to capital projects to put more back into general fund or changing those splits. Some opportunity there. We're working to identify that. And then just looking at all of the transfers that we have between funds. Um there's several funds that are supported in part by general fund dollars and just making sure that um we're chewing those up to just the amount that's needed in order to get us through this tough time. Um we're continuing to look through underutilized budgets. Um like Clint mentioned, they had found some things in maintenance

089department where there were some underutilized budgets. We're doing that at a district level as well. So looking at big budget buckets that are kind of district level budget budgets like substitutes, overtime, planning, stipens, indirect, some of those big pieces just to make sure that we're budgeting appropriately. Um, and pulling back any piece and then looking at school budgets, the capping the amount that schools can carry over. Again, just making sure that the budget that's out there is being utilized. And so that would be a savings of probably about $240,000 based on last year kind of the funds that were left over and rolled over to schools. >> So that's central office staffing and budget. We'll talk a little bit about um school staffing. >> Um so last week principals received their school staffing and so

090just a thank you to the site director on Jen's team that they've been working very hard with principles and schools to plan for next year. Of course, this year we were down 622 students across the district. And then next year, based on our finalized October count and Shannon's projections, we're looking at a decline of almost 300 additional students. And so what that means is that we've entered the year with a current overage based on our October count of the about 38 um SSE, that's systemic staffing equivalents where it's based on the average teacher salary and benefits. And so that's about $3.8 $.8 million that we're currently subsidizing out of general fund to cover these overages. Of course, by far it's at the elementary level where you can see all those smaller cohorts coming in. Um,

091but then next year looking at the projections, we've now finalized those as well to include the school of choice movement. And so, high school really was impacted there as well. And if you go back to those graphs, that was this is the last year of the larger 12th grade class. And so that class will be moving on and replaced with a smaller. And so next year those overages across the levels increases to over 50 SSE at a cost of about $5.1 million in subsidy. And so um we wanted to have a little bit of flexibility with our schools knowing if they were trying to like fold in a literacy coach, some of those other kind of impacts across the system. Um, and then also just being sensitive that they're all feeling the declines of enrollment

092as well. And so our goal was to recoup at least $3.5 million of that $5.1 million projected overage. Um, and so we've been able to identify that $3.5 million of savings. And then early on our goal was to get to three and a half million. would really balance that with a centralized side for overall savings of 7 million, but right now we're closer to at least 4 billion in savings opportunities that have been identified. And again, this is in addition to the already 1.8 million that we've reduced in recent budgets. And so that's how we'll get to that overall savings goal. But of course, we're continuing to look and just knowing all the challenges that we have um and some of those unknown revenue and cost pieces. So, uh, next steps, obviously, you know, we've

093sent out communication, we've sent out, uh, letters to staff and families. This is a presentation for the community and for the board, but tomorrow, um, we'll start posting positions for teacher and counselor positions and some support staff positions, and those are posted internally uh, for three weeks because, you know, as we've mentioned, it's mentioned in our strategic plan, our goal is to retain folks first um, and also attract folks to our district. And so we realize that there's going to be individuals that are going to be looking for positions because we've had to cut positions. And so we want to help folks find um those positions internally because we have great staff in our district. We want to make sure that they stay with us. And so um those will be open internally for three

094weeks. We'll also um start posting assistant principal positions internally and externally. And we'll have other positions as well um that will be um posted throughout the spring and the summer. Um, and then again, I mentioned our our goal right now is to support our current staff with um that process of secure positions within the district that come available um and post those positions, excuse me, as we learn more about it. And then this is something we've talked about um with the board and as a district for a while and um uh President Chavez mentioned earlier that we have a group that's looking at the possibility of maybe a milly override. um you know that that's obviously a bigger topic for a later board meeting but um we're getting to a place where you know the

095past four years have been closures and cuts and um I don't think we can continue to rely on state funding to um solve the problems for us and so um we're running out of areas where we can close and cut and um we're going to need to potentially go to our community and talk about how do we better um support our school district moving forward um through local funds that are for our local students that we have local control over. And so that'll be more of a conversation that we have as we get some polling results back and and have that conversation um at the board level. Um but that is something we're looking at as well. And I I don't have it up here, but you know, the board knows this. School closures are

096not off the table as well. We're going to have to continue to evaluate that uh in the future uh as well as we continue to decline in student enrollment. So um and then I'll turn it back over to Mel talk about the remaining unknowns. So, I think all of these reductions were really again just kind of to recap with the goal in mind of getting back to a balanced budget, goal of being able to return to step increases. But there's a lot of unknowns that could kind of change our planning. And so on the revenue side, there's the school finance funding. We heard from Amy all the uncertainties there and the hold harmless level, specific ownership tax, and then the federal budget. Um, so there's a lot of pieces on our revenue side. And then

097just to go over those unknown cost increases as well, health insurance, utilities, um market reviews, um contractual pieces. Um so those are all things that we'll continue to work through, but I think um obviously these reductions are tough, but they were necessary to put us into the best position possible based on what we know today and hopefully give a little bit of um a start towards some of these unknowns. And so some of the ongoing work that we'll continue to work through, this is typically when we would enter our budget season. It kind of feels like we've never gotten out of budget season this year. Um but some of the pieces that we'll continue to look at are any of those position vacancies that come in. Looking for opportunities there. That work isn't going to

098stop. Um looking at some of our other additional payments outside of just bas pay like stipen payments, making sure that those are in alignment and necessary. Um departments will continue to look through their budgets, continue to look at contracts and opportunities there. Um special education and preschool will also be that doing their staffing planning for next year and um adjusting their staffing to the levels needed. Um we continue to work on summer school opportunities. That was one piece that was pulled back into general fund after ESER ended. And so looking to refocus that um make it concentrated on those read plans and high school credit recovery like we had before the co dollars were available. Um and then through our comp oversight process looking at evaluating the job descriptions and the compensation for those folks

099that are now being asked to take on significantly more work and responsibilities and if any adjustments are needed there. And then just always being mindful if we need to do a second round of ERRI um for to have the level of vacancies that we need in order for our staffs to find places. >> So um before we get to questions, you know, I just want to say obviously this stinks. Like nobody wants to be in this position have to cut positions, but it is it is what it is. It's where we are with our budget. Um and so I do want to say I'm you know I am proud that in this time of our staff having to go through and find these savings. It's not an easy thing to do and the conversations that

100have had to happen over the past few weeks with staff, you know, essentially letting them know that the position is going to be cut for next school year. Um, but I'm proud of the staff for um working really hard to find those savings um so that we can move forward as a district. And I do want to say even in these times of um declining resources, we've we've continued to make progress as a district for our students academically and for our staff. And so um we're focused on continuing to do that into the future. um while we have um depleted resources. And so uh I just wanted just wanted to say how proud I am of this staff who's up here, all the departments that have had to go through this and then also our

101school staff as well that have um kept the focus on kids through um through these difficult times. So with that um we'll stop presenting and if the board has any questions about um anything that we presented, we're happy to answer. >> Well, first I'd like to thank you all. I know this was a hard thing for the for the district as a whole, but I also want to uh mention that this is a new for us on the budget. And last year, these three of us that were on the board, uh when we did Dr. Hill's evaluation, one of the things that we directed him to do is to look at reorganizing the staff because we were sure of what the budget was going to look like. it didn't wasn't looking good. And so it

102isn't just I just want to say that that it wasn't just Dr. Hill saying I need to make some cuts. I mean needs to make make some reductions in in staff. It came from the board that directed him as part of his evaluations. I wanted everybody to be aware of that. And so I am really pleased how well you guys did it. you went through there with caution and looked at what you can reduce that wouldn't affect students and your focus was always on the best impact for students and I do appreciate that and I do hope the individuals that have been uh reduced will be able to find other positions elsewhere within our district. Anybody else has any statements or questions? Um, a a small one, something that has come up and I feel

103like I kind of know the answer, but I want to ask it publicly. I'm sorry, Mel, I did not give you prior knowledge to this, but it's just been coming up a little bit. Um, the savings that we would capture if we were to go to a 4-day school week, um, really relies on not paying salary on that four on that fifth day. Um, and so I'm just trying to make that clear that when we think about the savings, there's a lot of times there's people that come out and say, "Well, why don't you just go down to a 4 day, um, work week and capture that savings?" And so I just want to be clear that this a little bit. >> Yeah. So, um, in the past it is something in past budget reductions

104that we've looked at. It isn't something that we've recalculated or looked at seriously any time recently, but by far the biggest cost savings is in transportation actually because you have one fewer day that kids that buses are running. Um the second pieces through staff. Um but not all staff will be impacted equally. It would really be the staff that are just there when students are there. So think of like our pair professionals, nutrition services, like they're serving food one fewer day. Some of those positions that really center around when students are in school. Those are the positions that would see the reductions in pay, but transportation by and large is the biggest cost savings. That and probably some utilities, but um in most schedules there the buildings are still open somewhat on that fifth day.

105There was a and I can't remember it was like a year or so ago a longitudinal study that was done on the impacts of going to a 4-day school week in Colorado and the results actually were not great as far as cost savings but also like academic success for students. Like there was a lot of downsides to it as well. So, I think if we were to explore that, um that would be a a lengthy conversation with the community around whether that's one going to actually benefit us that much, but two, is that going to have a negative impact on um student success and then also um just the the level of service we can provide to students. But I I think it was CU Boulder. Somebody put out a study in the last year

106or so and it was um it's pretty good. And it would seem in congruous with one of or the last mill that we just lifted the sunset which added five days and so then removing one day per week would seem in congruous with that. So I just I wanted that to be out there because it's something that I've been hearing a lot. Why don't you just go down to a 4 day work week? Those types of things. So I just wanted it to be out there. Thank you. >> The only thing I would add to that conversation is um I'm not sure we could reduce hours, right? We're just reducing days of week, the number of days so that those four days would be longer where students would attend because we're required to do that.

107But I also just think about our staff that is named whether it's our transportation folks or nutrition or pair professionals and what a hardship that would be to keep really quality people in front of our children um to do equally important work. uh I can't imagine too many people that can go from a 4 day week or a five day week to a 4 day week. So I think just I hear that often also and it's just complicated to think about that. But I can I know even in the calendar presentation that um Mrs. Marsh and Mr. Worth presented, we have had many conversations about the 4-day week and we'll continue I think to engage in that. But I think at this point it's not um I'm not sure it's worth or fair to our

108student outcomes. One more thing um and I don't know if this can be explained clearly but we we talk a lot about staffing models and I just wondered if if we can summarize on what we mean when we're talking about our staffing models. So, we have a systemic staffing model is what we refer to at that's based on putting staff where students are. And so, it's a model that's been in place many years now, probably getting close to a decade maybe. And it's been kind of tweaked and refined over the years, but basically the piece of it is that there established ratios and minimums for the schools based on the level that they are um based on things like free and reduced lunch, the overall student count. um it sets a a guideline for staffing,

109but then the rest of the staff that's allocated, schools have some decision making over how they utilize their staff. But the overall basis is just that it ties it to student counts. Whether those are overall declines like we're experiencing now where then fewer staff are needed to fulfill those ratios or even historically just shifts between schools as well. If one school is growing, another one has fewer students, we're going to put the staff there where that school is that it has the students and is growing. >> So, did the overages occur as obviously as as students left, but also that when schools were closed, does that create the overage and then we're just not keeping up pace? I can imagine that we don't always know how many students will show up um in August and

110so we staff for our projections and then we're still low is that we actually try to equalize that a little bit that way we're not basing on just a projection alone but we average in the actual January count and in that way we are tying it to an actual number and not solely on projection and also with the the mind to staff for the entire year and how uh populations can fluctuate throughout the year. Um, but to speak to your question about the overages, I think what we primarily see at elementary, the other two levels have kind of stabilized, but elementary was that we had a significant overage going into the last round of closures and the decision was made to close three, but really just based on the numbers alone, we probably should have

111closed five. And so that's where we've had kind of that overage that's building up over time that we've come into it and not been able to completely recoup. And we also we never have a year where you get to zero. Um so when we have these conversations at for staffing meetings, you're looking at when they sit in a room and say, "Okay, well this school based on its projected enrollment is supposed to have this many FTE and then trying to look at grade cohorts." And so you're not always going to get it down to zero anyways. So um I think this year we tried to get it within was it one >> one and a half? >> Yeah. Within the formula. So you're always going to have a little bit of an overage because of

112that and because as you know the kids don't come in nice packages at every grade level at the same number. So um you have to make adjustments along the way. So so yeah it we are over and we always will be a little bit over because we never get to exactly zero. >> Yeah we were able to recoup about 70% of the overage. So that's what we'll come into next year with the remaining. >> I have a quick question. So on the early retirement, if we were anticipating I guess about 30, but we're seeing double that, are we okay budget-wise as far as anticip that anticipation? >> Yeah, I think we are. So this will come out of that portion um that's getting smaller as we speak, but um that portion that was above the

11320%. So we're still operating with that amount that was over the minimum requirement set by the board. Anything else? >> Yes, sorry. So, um, yeah, just a couple of comments or thoughts on early retirement and I think about how many took early retirement and how many may take a typical retirement. But to me, I just think about the talent loss and when we're cutting potential support to buildings for new staff. to snow instructional coaches and some of those are important to help our newest staff uh gain the talent and skills they that we all hope for. But can you speak to that at all and just how we balance and how will that and losing our tenure folks? Yeah, I think it's a good point and it's going to be a little bit of a

114struggle because when we lose experienced staff um that that's always really challenging, but we also have very talented incoming staff as well. They may not be as experienced, but they may be really great teachers, but it's important to continue those programs that provide support and mentorship. Our our induction folks and team play a big role in that um as well. And so that that continues to be a priority is how do how do we support our new staff. I don't know if that answered your question. >> Well, I think it's just the nature of what is happening and I think to we recognize that our cuts it looks great on paper that we're really reducing budget which is what we're required to do. Um, but I always say there's a cost to some of that

115and just to keep our eye on that. Certainly as a board and as a district, I know you all are. But when I look at the reduction in coaches um and support to buildings for um a lot potentially a lot of new incoming staff. I know we're not increasing, but um it would be interesting at some point to know how many of our teachers are really within those first five years of teaching because even though they're skilled and talented, it's a it's a big learning curve for sure. >> Yeah, it's a good point. The other thing too is the um not so I don't want to give out the perception that like all of our veteran teachers are um not going to be with us. So we still have a lot of really great um

116veteran teachers and then not everybody qualifies for that ERI. So you could be a veteran teacher who came into the district in the last few years, but you didn't have as many years within the district to be able to qualify for it. So um we do still have a lot of um really qualified um highly qualified veteran teachers in the district. But I hear what you're saying too though, we we got to keep track of how many new teachers are coming in, make sure we provide the level of support that they need, um through our induction program, and and there still will be coaches. It's just going to look um different. And as you said, it's because of the situation we find ourselves in. I just want to name something that Jen said. Um, and

117kind of Dr. Hill, you said it, too. Like this, this really sucks. I know he said stinks. I'm gonna say sucks. Um, but we are in it together and it's going to be the work doesn't end. Like Jen said, it's just being transferred to other people, which will reduce other parts. But if we are all focused on students and student outcomes, we can do it together. um it's just going to be a little bit harder of a lift. Um and so I wanted to say thank you, Jen, for naming that, but also recognizing that we we are going to have to work together on this. Every piece of the puzzle together, we're going to have to fit. So, um I don't know. I just felt like that needed to be said and thank you. >>

118I did write the word you said down on my paper, but I didn't say it. Uh so, >> you know, there are a lot of words that I'd like to say. Hey, I just want to say it was on there. Uh >> I'm not going to >> Yeah. Um well, if there's not any other questions, um that concludes the superintendent's report this evening. So, thank you all. >> Our next will be audience comments. >> Okay, we have five people uh signed up for audience comments this evening, and I will call you up and let you know who's on deck. We do have a bit of a new system. So, when you start speaking, you'll get a green light and when you have 30 seconds left, it will turn yellow and then at the red it

119will just beep at you. So, three minutes. Um, and first we have up Miss Meg Moors. On deck is Stanley Magnus. I have four children in D-51 who had only attended Gateway School from the time we moved here 10 years ago through last year. I'm not here to talk about the Gateway building. I was never trying to save the building. I was trying to save my children's school. And while not happy with the outcome, I do understand the difficulty of the decision that had to be made. I recognize that there were no good solutions available. That being said, the complete lack of communication from board members and administration to Gateway residents throughout the process left us feeling completely ignored, overlooked, and as if our students did not matter to you at all. Today, I'd like

120to explain how much your lack of consideration affected actual students under your care. At the end of May, after we finally had an official decision on school assignments for secondary, I sent an email to the entire board and the admin team that said, "Ruby and Cora Moors will be seniors next year enrolled full-time as concurrent students at CMU. The only high school they have ever or will ever attend is Gateway School. I am requesting they still be Gateway School students next year and be allowed to graduate from Gateway School. This will require no resources, no transportation. they would simply be on the books as gateway students while they attend CMU. We are already working closely with Randy overpurp and can continue to do so to make sure all requirements at for graduation are met. Please

121don't make them graduate from a school they have never attended. Imagine showing up to your graduation not knowing any of the other students, any of the teachers, the administration, and none of them knowing you because you never actually set foot in the school you're graduating from. Would you do that to your child? Please remember the students in your care are people, not numbers. I did not receive a single response to that email. None of you cared enough to even respond. In July, when I went to enroll my kids for school this year, no schools were listed for any of my schools students. And I had to talk to somebody at the district. I don't remember who. Um, and that was who informed me there was no possible way to enroll my oldest children in Gateway.

122At that point, my life was literally on fire. So I enrolled the twins in GR so we could continue working with Miss Overurf and moved on. Had I realized then how many difficulties would come up, I would have thought. Every college and scholarship application has been made more difficult because they have two high schools. None of the college systems recognize that all their classes are listed on one transcript. They all want two because two high schools are listed. CMU didn't even know Gateway was no longer a school and therefore didn't get the twins grades sent to the correct place after last semester. It also messed up the CMU automatic admission system for current concurrent students and only one of the twins has been admitted to CMU for next year. We're still trying to figure that

123out for the other. Um, also my school girls don't know any classmates or their class rank. And on top of it all, you took not only took away the gateway graduation they've been expecting for 10 years, you took graduation completely. GRA's graduation is scheduled for 10 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday of CMU's finals week. My twins have two finals that day. There's no possible way they can attend the GR graduation. Thankfully, there are people at the school level who actually care about students and we will still celebrate our students even if it's unofficial. We have Mr. Stanley Magnus. And on deck we have Miss Christy Anderson. I'm address is it is that a red light? No. Okay. Okay. I'm addressing the todo board members because their platform on their campaign was hiring more teachers.

124Now, I know we do definitely need more substitute teachers. I've got through the years got many sources that say we're running short every day of substitute teachers. And I even talked to a science teacher at Grand Junction High School who said it's just always running short. It's it's making the teachers have to cover the classes for the or they can't get subs and all that. A lot of people don't like this substitute on secondary and high school level, especially like science or math or vocational type things. So there, but for some reason they just hire a few a limited number of substitute teachers. I don't know. I've been trying to get the information. It just seems like some mystical knowledge that only I guess maybe the you people know. I reached out to the board,

125the superintendent. Nobody, conservative, liberal or moderate, is going to help me. Uh, I I told that teacher, I said, "Well, I I they all these things yet that they they don't want to do anything about." He said, "Well, well, they don't know anything. The superintendent, the board members, don't they don't you just they're just they don't know. They're dumb, I guess. I don't know." So, uh, I think that they ought to really look at this and get more substitutes for the schools. You're not overt taxing the teachers and so you're providing the quality care. Maybe cut down on some of these special uh investigations or all these things where people these special studies that just probably just going to the money is going to some people just trying to make a quick buck. And do

126we do we really need instructional teachers? I mean, I didn't in my day, we didn't have instructional teachers. You're either a good teacher or a bad teacher. If you can't handle discipline, they throw you out. If if not, you're allowed to stay. But again, just that the lack of it's the board is just the criterion like Sodom Hussein's pritorian guard for the administration. They don't want to they say, "Oh, we don't want to deal with with hiring that type of thing." I think if it causes something in your school where your students are having a lack of education because of not hiring substitutes because of some cruddy administration by the personnel human RESOURCE ADMINISTRATION. IT INVOLVES THE SCHOOL board and you I think you just need to really deal with this issue and stop blowing

127it away. You need to deal you you all of you need to deal with it. I I'm pleading with you. That was your campaign issue that we're going to hire more teachers. want to make changes. Now, show me you're not just representatives for the teachers. You show me that you're going to make a difference. Make a difference. And next up, we have Miss Christy Anderson. And on deck, we have Miss Lisa Cast. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Agendas and ideologies in classrooms have never been more obvious. Students have experienced significant academic setbacks. The wizard was revealed behind the curtain during COVID. Reading and math proficiency remain below expected levels, and instructional time is more valuable than ever. This reality should guide every decision we make as educators. Did D-51 have a high number

128of teachers out on January 30th? Whether coordinated or coincidental, students lost educational time due to a group that chose to hold the others back for a political statement on school time. Did any staff ask if the kids were okay who come from law enforcement? Did they have a voice? D-51 policies provide guidance on this. Policy GBIA prohibits political activity during the workday or any encroachment on instructional time due to political activities. Policy IMB restricts the use of controversial materials and messaging. Policy GCMEF reminds educators that each teacher represents the district as a whole and that public trust depends on our conduct. Policy GBE requires stop to uphold high professional, ethical, and moral standards and specifically states that educators should not distort or suppress subject material to promote personal views. The event raises legitimate concerns about

129whether policies were upheld. Additionally, the protest language and signage signage, regardless of one's personal beliefs, do not align with professional and ethical standards expected of educators as role models. While teachers, like all citizens, have the right to personal beliefs and civic engagement, those beliefs do not belong in our classrooms or indecisions that remove students from learning. If students know where their teacher is politically, they've done something wrong. Do your protesting and indoctrinating on your own time. Use the weekends. You have the evenings. Teachers often ask to be treated as professionals. Well, with that comes acting like a professional. When is the pro ice walk organized on school time? I hope that we will continue to review these events carefully with a lens of equality, reaffirm district expectations, and ensure that our focus remains on academic

130excellence, neutrality, and the education of every student. Teachers need to be remembered for the effective instruction and role modeling they provided, not their sexual orientation or political beliefs. Thank you. Next we have Miss Lisa Cass and on deck is Miss Anna Elliot. Good evening. My name is Lisa Castow. I live in Gateway Whitewater area and I I spoke at the last meeting. I guess you'll learn my name. I'll be here again and again and again hoping that you hear me. Almost all the things that Miss Amy talks about on the big screen about the government and the funding is how we feel about this district. We we have decreasing numbers. Why? Because people aren't having babies. Well, okay. When when when Gateway Schools numbers were decreasing, the district was like, "Well, we just need more

131students." So, should I be telling you that you just need more students? How is this leadership team going to handle this? The money situation is a big thing. People are looking at this board about the finances. The money that came from from the presentation that the senior leadership team presented to this board that I I don't know that whether you voted on the the removal of the Gateway Schoolhouse or not. I couldn't find anything that said you did. I guess the attorney just spoke for you saying that you're going to go ahead and demolish it. Uh what is your plan for rural day 51? What what are you planning to do for our students who are young and coming in? We just aren't going to provide services for them. You want to put a 5-year-old

132on a bus for an hour and a half one way. What is your plan? How are you going to be leading us? I don't plan on moving. My kids are seventh generation Colorado cattle ranchers. I don't want to go anywhere else. Are you considering turning the school back to our community? Are you going to sell it? What is your plan? What are you going to do? Are are you believing the numbers that your leadership team presents to you? Because I can tell you they're faults. We made them false. Did you know there was 100% attendance at that parent meeting? Do you have anything else where 100% of your teach your parents show up? That's unheard of, isn't it? And yet that's what we had. And and we we basically showed that those numbers were false

133from people at the county, from engineers, from people in the business of of construction for 20 plus years. It's not going to cost $7 million to repair the Gateway School building. It's not. That's false information and you just going to doze it under and forget about us? Mega is right. The communication between district 51 and the Gateway community is poor. Very poor. You ever campaign, you campaign on listening to parents? Why do we not hear the parents then as a board when we come down here and speak to you and then you never respond to emails? And you know what? We are rural. I've been rural my whole life and I'm about getting things done. I would love to hear your thoughts and how you're going to take care of rural D-51. And last up,

134we have Miss Anna Elliot. In case you missed it in business time, dear editor, Colorado's lawmakers are hemorrhaging money. They're bleeding out the taxpayers of Colorado by spending more dollars than revenue currently coming in. I attended the Tuesday, January 20th, 2026 schoolboard meeting where CFO Mel Trillio had to give a very painful midyear financial report for D51 that was due by the end of January. Mel's report came right after Amy Atwoods, who is the legislative liaison to the district. Amy stated that on Friday the 16th, because of the way the Colorado Department of Education legislators ran the formula for funding D-51, it would be cutting the current year's budget by $600,000. Mel would be required to revise the entire budget with the new information to comply with state reporting laws for school districts. Amy describes

135how on Friday, Colorado lawmakers found it convenient to describe the cut as a glitch with budgeted numbers as the reason for reigging on promised funding to the schools in order to compensate for the state's own budget shortfall. The legislature guardians of state tax dollars overspent more than $850 million of money they didn't have. Read that number again. So to balance the state's books, they robbed from the budgets of public education and children's programs to deal with it. Reinformation, this has impacted all 178 districts in Colorado with D51 ranked at 171 in the state and receiving funding. My thought is all school districts should be automatically released and unburdened from any and all unfunded program mandates imposed by the state so classrooms can return to the very basics of education, reading, writing, mathematics, history, and civics.

136In addition, invite the Bible back into our schools classrooms as a reminder of eighth and ninth commandments. You shall not steal. You shall not lie. And hold accountable those in Denver that do. And I would edit this to say that those within this district also I'm going to piggyback on what Christy said about the ice out. I believe that if our high school students, middle school students had education and civics and how federal government takes care of federal business and state governments take care of state business, there wouldn't have been an ice out. I think it was deception that I didn't hear in celebrations and happenings that we weren't aware of a walk out. I had to listen to KN KNZC news to hear that students walked out. The only best part about that report

137on the radio was that those that felt it was more important to walk out about federal officers doing their duty to respect our immigration laws was to walk out and jeopardize their ability to attend athletic events. That jeopardized them. They were mind mindfuls of mush quoting Rush Rush Limbbo. They're they're easily led as sheep instead of being able to think critically for themselves what that was doing for their future by walking out. [applause] >> That concludes Thank you all. Uh next thing is we have a consent agenda. We have two things. We have the gift the resolution uh we have the gifts which is $19,3729 and then we have the resolution 2826 regarding careers and uh the grant for careers and construction of Colorado. I just need to ask if you want to have um

138if you want to have a one vote in both of them together or do you each like me to separate them? Just question. together. Fine. Thank you all. Then could I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Motion to approve the consent agenda. >> Second. >> Mr. Chavis, >> approved. >> Mrs. Cole, >> yes. >> Mrs. Evansson, >> yes. >> Mrs. Heights, >> yes. >> Mrs. Woods, >> yes. Thank you. We do not have any business items. Uh future agenda items. Would anybody like to say future agenda items you would like to have? If not, remember we always have you always have the opportunity to send an email to Amy uh Vicki and I or Dr. Hill regarding any agenda items you would like to have. Okay. Thank you. future meetings. Uh, next

139one will be March 3rd, 2026. It'll be here. It'll be a board work section. Then we have another one on March 24th in this room and it's five o'clock and it'll be the board business meeting. That is all. Can I have a motion for adjournment? >> Motion to adjourn. >> Thank you all. Drive home safely.