001Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Oops, there we go. Thank you for joining us this evening for our October 7th work session. Um so first up we have our strategic plan update um staff retention and recruitment. So we have Nikki and her team coming up. So we are kicking this is kicking off our new five-year strategic plan. Right. Okay. Just want everybody to know because we have now transitioned from wrapping up our three-year strategic plan now transitioning into the new five-year plan. So >> great. Well, thanks so much for having us. Um my name is Nikki Jo. I'm the chief human resources officer and alongside me we have our recruiters Carter Ness and Katie Beckl.
002So we'll run through tonight. We're going to focus on retention and recruitment. Um, as Jen Marsh said when she presented in August along with her team, um, there are some things that are unchanged in our strategic plan. And so our mission, vision, our core behaviors, and our graduate profile remain the same. So tonight, again, we're going to focus on retention and recruitment, excuse me. And I just want to um make sure that the language that we have in our district instead of recruit and retain that we really have a focus on retention and then recruitment. So we're going to start first with just some statistics in terms of where we are right now. Um our staffing levels are a little bit down as compared to years past, but of course that makes sense with our
003declining enrollment. Um, but there is one thing that I want to point out and draw attention to, which is our total number of substitutes at 510. When Dr. Hill did his back to school presentation, we're at 430 and that was back in August. And so within the last 6 weeks or so, our folks have hired a lot of subs and that really helps us with our fill rates. So, a shout out to both Carter and Katie um in making sure that we have plenty of substitutes and of course that hiring uh will continue. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Carter. >> Sweet. Uh so, this year we're proud to share some exciting hiring uh updates for you guys. So, to begin, we welcomed 114 new license hires across the district. Um, this number
004includes not only brand new employees, but also individuals who transition from support staff to certified roles. Uh, substitutes stepping into certified positions and even some former licensed staff employees returning to continue their careers with us. In addition, we had 146 transfers take place. And these moves include staff transitioning from school to school, some inbuilding shifts, as well as licensed staff members stepping into administrative positions. Uh thanks to these efforts, we were able to start the school year with just eight open positions among our teachers, counselors, and administrators. Three at the elementary level, four at the middle school level, and one at an alternative school. Um with some of those openings even being filled shortly after the start of the school year. And while these eight openings don't reflect our special service provider openings, we are
005grateful to share that our open SSP positions are also filled through partnerships uh with our contractors, ensuring strong support for our students and staff. And then please note that these numbers are constantly changing as we're still actively posting and filling positions as well. Um and we've also included numbers from the 202425 school year as well. Uh, but keep in mind those are also including hires that were hired during the entirety of the 202425 school year as well. And so with that, I'll pass it over to Katie. [Music] All right. When we look at our support staff numbers, we saw an encouraging growth this year in both our hiring and internal movement. We welcomed 82 new hires into roles across the district compared to the 63 the year before. In addition, 67 staff members transferred into
006new positions. Thanks to these efforts, we began the school year with 46 open support staff positions, which is a notable improvement from the 58 openings at the start of last year. And just like Carter said with our licensed staff, these numbers reflect the beginning of August, but hiring for support staff continues well into the month and through the year. So the picture is always changing as these positions are filled. Then I'll hand it back to Nikki. >> So um one of the things that we really wanted to highlight is what's helped us retain and recruit. And there are a number of areas that have a significant impact on people wanting to work for D51. And so I just want to point out a couple of things. First of all, our support from our community has
007been amazing um just with the community partners that we have, but also in passing the bond and the mill levy. That makes it a very attractive place for people want to to work here. Um then of course we want to shout out our amazing students um and the highquality resources that we have and the really historic milestones that um we've made in academic gains. And then I think also important to highlight is the more social less media campaign. And in addition to that, of course, we have to shout out our staff and that includes our skilled and dedicated leaders, our educators and support staff. We have a lot of systems in place to support teachers through professional learning and the induction program. So, we're providing a lot of support for those that are new to
008our system and those who continue to uh come back year after year. And then a a focus from our strategic plan and a commitment to staff health and well-being. Um and then I think it's also really important to note um the effect of district operations. um when we have a facilities master plan and we have ongoing maintenance and we have some new buildings that makes it an exciting place for people to work. Um and then our ongoing commitment um to increasing salaries and so all of this and I think the board has done a really great job in making sure that we're really highlighting each of these areas and that all makes a huge impact on our staffing. So with that, I'll turn it back over to Katie. >> All right. So as we look
009ahead to 2025 through 2030, one of our major major focus areas is ensuring that our staff feel prepared and supported. So priority one with within this area is retention, which means keeping the talented people we already have while also developing their skills and attracting new professionals to join our team. So our goal is to build and sustain a workforce where every position is filled with individuals who are not only skilled but also deeply committed to advancing student success. So by 2030 we are aiming for a 20% increase in favorable responses on the Panorama survey specifically around job satisfaction while maintaining strong participation. Um this will serve as a clear indicator that our staff feel valued, supported and engaged in the important work that we do for students. Right. So, as you can see, our most
010recent panorama results from spring of 2025 show that 69% of department staff and 70% of school staff uh reported being satisfied with their jobs. Both of these numbers are up two points from fall of 2023. So, looking ahead, our goal is to reach about 90% favorable responses by 2030. The next Panorama survey will be issued December 1st through December 12th of this year, and it'll go out anonymously to all staff. Um, so participation has been strong with 86.3% of employees completing the survey in spring of 2024. A big thank you goes to our wellness or staff wellness team who helped drive that increase by offering prizes and creating fun competitions to encourage participation. Their efforts are making a real difference in ensuring that we hear from as many staff voices as possible. Then I'll hand
011it over to Carter. So, in our priority two area of staff recruitment, our goal is to attract and hire highly skilled professionals who meet the needs of our students and schools, ultimately strengthening teams across the district. When our schools are equipped with highly skilled professionals, the results are clear. For example, 100% of our schools rank within the top two performance levels on the school performance framework. Looking forward, we are setting a bold goal. By 2030, 95% of our staff will report on the TLCC survey that schools in D51 are a good place to work. And you may wonder why is that important? And it's because we know one of our greatest recruitment advantages um is word of mouth from our own staff. If our teachers and staff are sharing that D51 is a great place
012to work, that reputation naturally attracts more highly skilled professionals to join our district. So to provide some context, the TLCC survey was initiated through House Bill 081384. And this is a statewide anonymous survey is designed to support improvement planning at the school, district, and state levels, as well as inform research and policy. For schools and districts to access their data, they must achieve more than 50% participation and have at least five responses. The survey is administered every two years uh to public school teachers, education support professionals including our teacher assistants and paraprofessionals, school leaders and special service providers. In 2024, district 51 achieved a response rate of 69.8% and the next survey will be administered in this spring. As we shared earlier, our 203 our 2030 goal is twofold. To not only increase survey participation,
013but also to see a 5% increase in favorable responses to the question. I would recommend the school as a good place to work. This metric will help us gauge progress in creating a positive working environment that attracts and retains highly skilled professionals. >> I'll pass it over to Nikki. >> All right, so we're going to talk about some of the initiatives that we have in year 1 and in year two. Um the first one is actually a boardgenerated topic um that we need to examine some of our leave policies for employee groups. And so right now when a teacher wants to take off um let's say they have a doctor appointment, they have to take leave in fourhour increments or full day increments. And so we want to take a look at that and see
014can they take leave just in hour increments instead of half day and full day. And that's really going to be a great benefit to our staff. It also presents some logistical challenges for us. And what that means is we're going to have a new absence management system. So we know the system that we're going to use and it will take us this year to figure out what that transition looks like, how we make that transition and then how do we train everybody in the new system and how do we train everybody around taking leave. So we hope that this will be implemented next year. but we need that significant ramp time um in in order to um really make sure that we have everything ironed out. So, it's a it's a big undertaking for us.
015Um and as it currently stands, we're only extending opportunities for EXA interviews when a staff member is departing the district. And this is an important process as it assists us in identifying different areas that may require needs for improvement. Um, however, we are currently not identifying why a staff member may be transferring from their school or position to another school or department. So, by introducing a transfer exit survey, this data will also help us identify potential patterns and trends uh that may be influencing staff movement. So, for example, it could highlight strengths within certain schools or departments that are attracting staff uh while also uncovering challenges such as workload, leadership, culture, or professional growth opportunities that may be leading staff uh to seek a change in the district. So, having access to that information will
016allow us to be more proactive in supporting our schools, uh strengthening retention and creating environments where staff feel valued and want to stay. Um and then so the next two initiatives the first one being an induction program for support staff supervisors. So when new assistant principles and principles come on board to D51, they go through an induction program and that program it ex it extends over the course of the year and it's really designed to not only orient them to D51 but also help with some of those skills especially if you're a new supervisor around coaching or um documenting performance um creating relationships and really kind of understanding um a pretty uh a high level overview of the district and so we don't have something like that for support staff supervisors and so um this
017year we're in the mode where we want to research and design and then next year would be when we implement that program. So we'll try to um mirror some of the things that also are included for principles and assistant principles but then also cater it to support staff. So, we're super excited for that opportunity and I think that that will really help us strengthen our pipelines in the support staff side. Um, the next one, as Katie mentioned, um, our staff survey is going to open up on December 1st and we're going to add a question to get a little bit more information about why do people stay here? And so, um, I I think that's important for us to try to understand and learn. It's almost like a stay survey. What keeps you here? So
018then we can identify what some of those things are and what's important to folks. Okay. Then our final year one goal is to evaluate and update our post hire feedback survey. So this survey is given to our new hires and it allows us to gather feedback about their experiences during the application, the interview, and the onboarding process. So by listening to our newest employees, we can better understand what is working well and what we may need to improve. And updating this survey will ensure that we are asking the right questions to capture meaningful insights, which in turn will help us strengthen the hiring and onboarding experience for our future staff. All right, so that was year one. In year two, which is next year, we're going to implement our leave policy changes. We're going to
019implement our induction program for support staff. Um, and then one initiative that will start next year, and we're we're excited about this, is to try to evaluate any sort of differentiated pay for hard to fill positions. And so, we're going to need a year to figure out what that might look like and see what some alternatives might be. There are some districts that already have something like this in place. Um, and obviously this would impact a number of different stakeholders. So in that year where we evaluate is this something that the district can do and wants to do, we would want to make sure that we have buyin from all those important stakeholder groups. So we would explore that next year and then if we recommended any changes that would be implemented in the 2728
020school year or year three of the strategic plan. [Music] >> Yeah. And also in year two. So we're going to look at our grow your own program. So, as it currently stands, our Grow Your Own program provides financial support for current support staff and substitutes who are pursuing their alternative teaching license. Um, historically, alternative lensure programs cost candidates anywhere from $5 to $6,000 out of pocket. Um, so the grow your own program was designed to help uh reduce that financial barrier for staff um to obtain their license. Um but um however as of the 202425 school year we were very fortunate to launch our very own alternative lensure program the D51 elevate program. Um with that it's a zerocost alternative lensure program that's offered directly to our candidates. So uh with this success of elevate
021we have seen a reduced need for financial assistance through our grow your own. So looking ahead to year two our goal is to expand the grow your own program to address additional needs. So, you know, in areas of our special service providers while also meeting the growing needs of our robust uh robust options pathways as well. >> All right, questions. This is just really exciting to see some of this stuff come to fruition. Um, when we first broached the subject about the hourly versus the half day and full day, um, there was a lot to work through. So, thank you for doing all that ground work, you guys, because I I know it was a lot. Um, everybody wants those things to come along really quickly. Yeah. >> But I feel really confident that if
022we get there, um, it's going to be solid and it's going to work well for everybody. So, I think >> we still have a lot to work through. So, we're just at the infancy stages, but um I do think we want a very thoughtful approach and and one that um doesn't have too many budget impacts. >> If you can get the rest of the work done this year and be able to launch that, I think you guys have knocked it out of the park. So, >> keep you updated. >> Thank you. It's going to make a lot of teachers really happy. >> Yeah, I think so. It's >> good to see that we're going up in subs, too, in the time we were struggling to find subs to see question I have is when when
023the staff said that they're not satisfied, do you know is there a place for them to write down the reasons why? >> Yeah. So, when they leave the district, they're issued um an exit interview right now and that's electronic. So, that that's optional for them. Um we probably can increase participation rates. Right now, our participation rates in that exit interview um probably are around 35%. We'd like it to be higher than that. And then they also have the opportunity to meet in person with someone on the HR team if they feel like the questions or if they feel like they have more to share than than they did electronically. They can meet in person with somebody. What about the people that are just doing the survey and in the school survey and they put down,
024you know, because you have 70% is satisfied with their job. So that would leave 30% that are not. So is there a place for them to write anything the reasons why they're not satisfied? So that you don't have to do an exit interview and and they're gone. >> Right. I understand your question. So there isn't right now in the survey. Um but I think what schools and departments can do is identify some themes because you may see some themes in a school or a department. Um that maybe there are some concerns in other areas or in other questions. For example, we have questions about communication um support of colleagues, support of your supervisor. Um, and so there might be some other areas in in which we can glean, but not they don't have an opportunity
025in an open field to answer why they're not satisfied. >> And there's a a protocol that uh like Jen and the site directors and their team follow when they meet with principles if they do have a school that has, you know, lower um favorability ratings on how they could um, lack of a better term, investigate what's going on and try to figure out a way to make changes. But to your question, no, there's not a and these are when they fill out the panorama, we don't know individual responses, right? So there's no way to actually go back to an individual teacher, but it's just for your your whole school or your whole department, it gives you a an overall rating or an overall percentage. And then for the district, it does. So there's not a
026way to kind of pinpoint it that way. But obviously, like if I was a principal and I had, you know, a very low response rate for or favorability rate for my staff, I would want to start to figure out like what's going on? What are those themes? um what's how can I try to change the culture within the school and so there's a protocol for working with schools on that >> and and I think you know I think most schools would take a look at the data to say okay this is the overarching data do we need another survey or another way to get feedback that's really specific to our schools so we can dig into that data a little bit >> okay and I do like the idea of the uh the differential pay
027>> I really like that that for hard positions special ed title schools, you know, that would give continuity with staff staying there and working with the students. So, I really like that idea. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Okay, >> so I think this is all great data. I mean, it's good to see that we're up with our sub positions, especially I mean, it seems like we're up with all numbers and we even have less open positions at the beginning of this year than we did last year. Um I have one question about the strategic goals and so with the exit interviews and I understand the panorama data and how that's used and how it's collected and you know how it's kind of disseminated amongst the schools but with the exit interviews um how are we
028compiling that and then where does it go? How do we ensure that the entities that need to know what are happening with that and is that and I know that even you know like support staff so such as um uh safety and security uh maintenance you know I know that they also receive those but I just want to ensure that that data is going to the right place so if there are some things that people are concerned about and they are leaving and we're getting that back to those supervisors so that they know hey this is something that you guys need to be looking at and this is why your staff member left or Not. Yep. Great question. So, um, last year what we did is we built a dashboard for each school and department
029regarding exit interview information. However, you had to have so many responses in order to share that data because what we say to the employee who's leaving is that this is anonymous. It's not going to go back to the supervisor. So, we need to share information in aggregate form. And now that we have our transfer survey, I think that we can incorporate both of those things. And that's just another data point where they might be able to have more responses because there are some buildings that may only have one or two people who leave. And um we we do want to make sure that this is a survey that people feel comfortable completing um without that fear that somebody's going to know what one individual said. So now that we have some different data points, I
030think those departments or those schools that only have maybe one or two people that leave, we might be able to share some additional information. And so that's something that we have to continue to work on because it makes no sense to gather the data and then not send it somewhere, right? And so we need to make sure that it gets back to those that can um either celebrate or identify an opportunity for growth somewhere. >> I agree with that. And I also, and I don't know, maybe there's another way that this is being handled now, but when you have an exit interview that's in person that's not a questionnaire, how do you how do you um transfer that data to who needs to know that information as well? >> Yeah, I think it depends on
031the person providing the information because some people will say absolutely don't share this with with my supervisor and then some people might say, yeah, it's okay if you share this information. um because sometimes when people leave, they share such specific stories. Um it really depends on their comfort level. And so that's a question I think that we want to continue to ask is h how can I get this information back to the people that can actually do something or make the change. >> And just so folks know like this is um if it's weird because we finished a strategic plan, right? And we're already in it. So, it's kind of been a smooth transition. That's because we have a process for this. Just Monday, the task force teams all came back together. We have quarterly
032um large group meetings where there was I don't know probably 80 100 people, I can't remember in there. And it's not just staff, it's community members as well and partners and um and so they use that time to um to look at the the goals and objectives, look at what's working, what's not, and make adjustments along the And so we'll continue to give updates um to the board each month on the different priority areas moving forward like we've done in the past. Um but I I really want to thank the folks who this was the second meeting of the year. So we had one at the beginning of the year, they had one Monday. Um and again we'll do one in uh in the spring. Um but all the folks that took a whole day
033to come together to work on this because it's it's the difference between a plan sitting on a shelf and a plan actually being operationalized. And so um that's happening and I appreciate everybody who's doing that. And also just thanks again to Alex from CI was there and also Jackie um from our teaching and learning department um has really you know taken a lead on a lot of this as well. And so they're organizing in a way that the time is is meaningful when we're together um so that we can actually look at this information and have actionable um goals when we come out of those meetings. So anyways that's a longwind way of saying appreciate all the folks that are actually working on this so that we can actually hit these goals and not have
034it just sit on a shelf somewhere. >> Thank you. That was really great information. We're excited to for the next one and two year goals. Thank you guys >> so much y'all. >> All right. Um, next up we have the priority improvement projects and Freedom Monument High School presentation. [Music] All right. Good evening, board. Thanks for having us tonight. We're excited to share with you tonight some updates on uh last year's priority improvement projects and the work that we've already done uh on the bond projects and then year two, our second phase, uh the 11 schools that we're already starting to work on and plan on for next summer's work. And then we're going to highlight just a a little bit uh with uh Freedom Monument High School and some new renderings that we have.
035All right, with that I'm Clint Garcia, chief operations officer with the district. This is Micah Adams with Dynamic Project Management and Daniel Gardner with uh Chamberlain Architects. >> All right. All right. Uh well, hello everybody. Thanks again for having us. Always enjoy seeing you guys. Uh once again, Mike Adams with Dynamic Program Management. um DPM is owners rep for these projects. As usual, we've got a slide up here just recapping the um total bond project into three main categories. This is a slide that uh we've included in all of our presentations uh so far, so you should be pretty familiar with it. Um I will say too, I know our last presentation went a little bit long, so I'm going to keep this one shorter. Sorry about that. Um >> it's good stuff. >> Um
036so go ahead and go to the next slide. Uh so quick recap of project phase one projects. We've hit on this a number of times. Uh so you're pretty familiar with it. On the left side is a scope overview. Um just some quick numbers of what was completed. As you can see there is a lot of work done at a lot of schools. Um so budget overview uh total budget of about 28.8 8 million um and about 23.4 of that committed to date. So about um $5 million in savings or in under budget on those projects. Um you know that primarily is contingencies uh with the speed of the projects uh from when the bond was passed get getting through the design and jumping into construction, the amount of abatement in unknown conditions. Um thankfully
037things went really smooth this uh summer um and so we were able to to see good amount of savings there. So that that was great to see. >> It's a great opportunity now for us to use those savings forward in the rest of the projects. >> Um so next slide. So phase two overview there's 11 schools on the docket budget of about 38.6 million. You can see the list of schools over there on the right side of this slide. Um, there were three general contractors selected. Unfortunately, one of their logos didn't want to show up on the slides apparently. Um, sorry, Shaw. Um, but they uh Yep. So, >> oh, is it okay? Great. >> Oh, man. I'll take them out to lunch or something. We've got um uh recently completed uh schematic designs were
038done about a month ago and we're actually expecting um estimates from the three different general contractors here uh tomorrow and Thursday. So, it'll give us a really good idea of where we're looking at pricing wise for uh next summer's projects compared to the budget. um if we need to um change approach or dial anything back or potentially add some work. Got a lot of coordination going on with the principles. Um design development documents are well underway. Uh those documents are expected in November. Um got site utilities, geotechnical investigation, a lot of uh investigation work going on right now. >> Next slide. for context too. Design development's the second phase in in the construction drawings and we've just got one more step after that construction drawings and we're we're ready to to move forward. >> Yep.
039Um so with that it really doesn't like Shaw's logo apparently. Um Fra Fruta Monument High School. I swear it was on there when when I put it together. Okay. Um, we got some updates on the Freedom Monument High School project. Uh, the budget right there around 21 million. Uh, not a whole lot committed to dates. Um, we're early on in design. Um, we've got estimated construction budget of about $16.3 million. Um, and so things are progressing well there. Um, but uh, still still early. I believe we received design development drawings yesterday. >> Uh which means here in about four to six weeks we'll have um updated cost assessments with where we're currently sitting um and continue to move from there. We recently had a open house at for the monument high school there when they
040were having their parent teacher conferences a couple weeks ago and I think that went really well. Um Daniel and his team was out with some the renderings you'll see here in a minute. Um, people ask good questions and so, uh, got a lot of good feedback. Um, with that, I I think that kind of covers everything. I I won't read the whole slide to you. Um, go ahead. And, uh, with that, I'll go ahead and turn it over to Daniel Gartner with Chamberlain Architects. As I mentioned before, um, him and HCM uh, Chamberlain and HCM are teamed together on the design. So, he'll speak some to the floor plans and the renderings. Sir, >> thank you. Daniel Gardner with Chamberlain Architects. So, the floor plan, site plan that you see in front of you highlights
041the areas where we're going to be modifying or improving Fruit Monument High School. The light blue colors are additions and the purple colors are areas of remodel. So, there's three main addition uh components. The one at the bottom left or the southwest area, that's the science edition. There are two laboratories, a bi biology lab and a chemistry lab as well as a connecting corridor that makes the west building of that campus integrated into the main building of the campus. Same similar thing happens up at the north end, northwest corner. that's basically just a a hallway addition that really connects all of those classrooms that currently only have exterior doors to them. So, there's 10 classrooms that all have exterior doors. Um, and with that addition, those classrooms will uh become part of the main building
042as well. And then the other uh addition is the CTE edition which links the A building on the far right with the main building. So this really these additions really sort of bring the whole campus into a single hole which is huge from a security standpoint as well as just sort of monitoring uh kids as N likes to say you can't ditch anymore. So the um so the purple areas are remodel areas. one in the middle of the uh campus. Those are existing this the existing science classrooms. Those will be repurposed into some special ed and gened classrooms. And then the rest of the CTE department is already up there in the upper right corner. And so that will all get sort of reconfigured. So CTE will become a a sort of unified part of
043the campus. That's pretty much it. And then following U that sort of jumped. So then these are the renderings that we've been showing. Um this is from the southwest corner. Um looking into the science classrooms. Uh we get a little um uh Wildcat Pride here on the side of the building and um more of the the fruit of blue. Um but that's that's sort of brick and and metal and storefront there. And then next is this is the CTE uh addition. So this is really looking into the hallway that connects the A building on the right with the main building on the left and a little bit of outdoor space as well. And then this is a interior rendering of the science classrooms. Um so you can see a big um improvement from uh the
0441970s classrooms that they currently have. [Music] I will say that um thank you to Principal Klumeer and his staff for working with us through this process to get these final renderings done and the final drawings done rather. Um there's been a little bit of work and some um adjustments that we've made along the way, but appreciate all the time that they've put in. Thank you. >> Any questions? I just want to point I just want to point out that if you enjoyed the fact that you could see the colors on the schematic this time is because Dan Burke and his team finally they replaced our so I think we should give them a round of applause actually see what's on the screen >> any questions board >> no it just looks great thanks for um
045letting me ride along for >> yes >> some of that process >> absolutely >> um >> it's not easy I hope that um there are at least a few members of our community that can really truly appreciate what goes into trying to retrofit these buildings to meet the not only the safety concerns that we had, but also the academic concerns. Making sure that these classrooms are really functional and that they are really going to provide not only what we need now, but what we're going to need into the future so that our again those bond dollars are very well spent. So, thank you for all the work on that. And I know there were trying days where it was really challenging. So, thanks for bringing it home. I think it's going to be amazing. >>
046Thanks, Angela. >> We get some music with the next presentation. >> Listen to music later. >> We will do that. >> Um, the other thing I just same thing I said for the strategic plan. This happens for two reasons. One, we we did a facility master plan, right? So, it's super important that we went through that process. So, thankful to the board for approving that. thankful to Clint, his team for actually um facilitating that process with HCM. So now we actually have a roadmap to build it. So it's not random. We're not just asking for random things. And then I I don't want to lose sight of the fact that um you know, junction project came in under budget. The safety and security upgrades came in 5 million under budget. The PIP project from last
047summer came in 5.2 million under budget. So, we're trying to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, stretch those dollars further because I don't want folks to forget that we still had $600 million worth of deferred maintenance in our buildings. So, we're going to have to go out for future bonds. But, we're we hopefully the community sees that we're being smart with these dollars. But, if we want these things, if we want to see really cool buildings and and not just cool, but actually things that our students need and our staff need and functioning facilities, we have to pass bonds. And so, appreciative to our community for passing the bond last fall. Um, and we want to be able to continue this work moving forward, but we're really appreciative of the team for being able to
048work so hard to get keep those projects under budget. >> That's a good point, Dr. Hill, because I think, you know, coming into this, we do not get any capital dollars from our state funds. So, it's it's our we really rely on our community and you guys finding us a lot of good savings um to make sure that we can use those dollars for our buildings. So, so well done everyone for pinching pennies and thank you to our community because the the per pupil funding we get does not get to go into our buildings. So, thank you guys very much for that. So, any other questions? >> Great. All right. Well, thank you. >> Thank you guys. >> All right. And next up, we have our school improvement presentation. All right. Good evening, board of
049education and thank you for your time. My name is Ari Goldberg and I'm the director of secondary site leadership. Getting to put my glasses on. Sorry. Um, Jen Marsh would normally be here, but um, to present as well, but she's out of town this evening. So, tonight, Principal Hayward of Central High School and I will be presenting to you. And so, we'll get through our presentation and hopefully open up for questions at the end. At District 51, our vision is clear to engage, equip, and empower every student every day for success. This work is grounded in our four core behaviors. Focusing on the whole learner, believing in our strengths, valuing individuality and inclusivity, and committing to continuous improvement. These beliefs guide all of our decisions and the directions of this plan. Tonight's purpose is to
050inform our community about Central High School, receiving a state rating of priority improvement. We'll share what this means, how our school is responding, and the concrete steps we are taking to ensure success for our students. This process is required by the Colorado Department of Education and reflects our accountability to you and to our families. Accreditation categories are based on percentages of points earned through the state accountability system, which as you may know is basically our report card. Schools earning higher percentages are accredited with a performance or improvement plan. We're excited for Central High School and District 51 with Principal Hayward as the building leader. He was hired at the beginning of the summer and literally started working the day he was hired. Principal Hayward has been a positive and focused leader since that first day.
051In addition, Central has mo a mostly new administrative team. CHS has a new dean of students, two new assistant principles, and a new athletic and activities director. This team has been very goal focused, cares about kids, visible, supportive, and leading CHS with a really strong presence. So again, we have so much to celebrate with CHS as well as our district. So, our only priority improvement school, Central High School, academically achieved improvement status and were a mere 0.2 points from a performance rating. If CHS earned the 02 percentage point, they would have earned the performance rating and if dropped due to participation, they would have gone to an improvement rating. So, it's important to note again that Central earned the academic points towards performance. In this example, we highlight the two different places where participation rates
052appear in the school performance framework. The first is the participation rate provided as a point of information. In this calculation, parent excusals are removed. When the rate is around or above 90%, it signals a strong representation or representative sample of the student body that was tested. This gives schools greater confidence in using the results to guide big decisions such as adjustments to their master schedule, allocation of core resources, or designing of interventions. Without a sufficiently high participation rate, it would be risky to make schoolwide changes based on the performance of only a small a small segment of students. That's why this participation rate is shared forformational purposes. It helps the schools understand whether their data can truly support informed decision-making. The second and most important participation rate is the accountability participation rate. Schools are required
053to have either a parent excusal or a valid test score for at least 95% of the students enrolled from the October count through the end of the testing window in April. If a school does not meet the 95% threshold, it directly impacts their accountability rating. Central was unable to reach the required participation rate and as a result their overall performance rating dropped to a priority improvement. And now Principal Hayward is going to speak specifically to Central's data and what the plan will be to meet that 95% accountability rate. >> Thanks Ari. Um, as already mentioned, a major metric of the school performance framework is that accountability participation rate. And as you see here, depending on our math and ELA test scores, we came in at 91.7 and 91.6. Um, and that's the overall one that
054is judged to meet that 95% um requirement. So, if we look at the next um slide, we'll kind of talk about a little bit where our goal is obviously to get to that 95% accountability rate. And a big part of that is analyzing what were some of those schools that or students that were not reached. Um and we looked it was about 59 stu it was 59 students. Um 26 that didn't take the PAT 9. Um 21 PAT 10 and 12 with the SAT. What really is probably the biggest thing that we did come across though too is that on the next one our total participation rate I think is is already spoke to is we have to have a good baseline data. We don't want to make illinformed decisions. And right now looking at
055that, we had about 69.4% of students actually participate in testing last year. So this is where we have to have a really that baseline to see what are some of the things that we need to do moving forward and what do we need to do to make sure that we're holding ourselves accountable that all students are being tested and what are some of the measurements that we need to do or some of the actions we need to have some appropriate measures in place. So on this next slide here is something to notice is that looking at the data from the other three high schools and this is Grand Junction, Pruda and Palisade. Their test participation rate was 87.4% while ours was at 69.4. Um and parent excusal rate came in about 24.2% for Central High
056School and the other three schools varied from anywhere from 8 to 12%. Um, our goal is we want to get that parent excuser rate down to less than 10%. And it is really about, and I'll open up to questions here at the end, but it's really about changing the really the narrative around what we're doing with testing because we want to be able to prove what our kids can do. Um, and we want to be able to address those shortcomings if they are and make sure we take appropriate steps to do so. But we need to have accurate baseline data in order to do that. and the 95% test participation is a big part of that and changing the narrative within our school and with teachers and even recently with our panorama data and I'd
057say like our you know really proud of the admin team we've been able to put together but even our recent panorama survey we usually hover about 50% participation we were well over 80%. And so those action steps of just accountability to us as an admin team is probably the biggest steps we need to take as well. So, I'm really proud of the work my team's already been able to do with establishing some new norms. Um, but again, prior to the testing window is again a lot of that it comes from our our classroom teachers and making sure that you know all students are prepared academically for testing that really it goes down to a lot of the work that we're doing. Um, and a big a lot of pieces of those have come from and
058probably even jump into the next are our commitments. It's our work with our Strive team that is coming through the district and working on our walkthrough tools and having common practices within classrooms. Um, building on common assessments and just improving our overall practices from the classroom all the way up throughout like we said with our admin team as well, but you know, an emphasis on what we need to do and I think a lot of that is a communication with our community and with parents. uh we already have plans on reaching out to the over 200 parent refusal forms and you know really touching base with them and explaining why it is important that they test. We want to make sure all doors of opportunity are open to our students after they leave high school.
059Without them having a test score in hand, it's difficult sometimes to enter into college without that test score to back up back them up as they apply for colleges. So we want to make sure that we do have a plan and also you know have a structure for makeup testing. That's a big piece of it is where do we have you know when we do those makeups we are able to grab those students accordingly and making sure that they are tested just like we're required by the state. So but it is a a lot of it is just overall importance um and building up to it. So, um, as mentioned here, and there's a lot to read from, but there's a lot of different things that we're planning on doing and really just communicating from
060our counseling team to our admin team and just explaining the importance all the way down, like I said, to our teachers. Um, test prep, uh, what we're doing with from our daily lessons and preparing SAT integration into our lessons. Um, and just overall reading comprehension in each of our in each of our curriculums as well. and having common plans and having just a higher baseline for all of our classrooms is very important. So, in closing though, I do want to say that, you know, we're emphasizing this challenge. It's not just about meeting state compliance, but it is really about the debt that we owe our community to making sure we're providing opportunity to our students. Um, and every student, and I think it goes with every test that we do take, it's practice. It's that
061feedback. it provides that pathway to their future. But we want to make make sure that we understand like where we are and that priority improvement status isn't doesn't define where we are, but it's going to be where we're, you know, it's just as a part of our journey on what we're going to get to. So, we're excited about this opportunity to show some growth and some success. And be honest, we got a little bit of a chip on our shoulder right now to do better. So, open it up for questions. >> Well, thanks for stepping into that role. Um, I've got personally about six kids in our family, extended family that are that have been and are this year current students. And the feedback I'm getting just from that handful is that communication has been
062greatly improved as well as the consistency within the school as a whole. um which has led the students to feel more comfortable, more excited about being there. Uh I think it I think you guys are really on the right track and have made some huge improvements already in just a very short time. So kudos to the rest of you back there as well. >> Yeah. And I think uh you know the emails we get with the attendance rate there with the kids are attending school more. They're happier. there's a sense of belonging being there and the accountability from all the way from the admin down to the teachers to the students themselves is really a big change. So, thank you guys for all you do and you work really hard. So excited to see some
063changes and I appreciate that. I think there's some transparency with even our coaching staff and everyone it come but it comes down to every role that we have within the building. >> I mean, I can't really put blame on you right now, you know? I mean, you're stepping into >> I'm sorry. >> Can you hear me now? >> There you go. >> I'll lean in. >> I can't really put blame on you. I mean, you're stepping into a huge position and I've got three kids that I talk to pretty frequently um throughout the community that attend Central High School and they've said that this has been they're um all three are in 10th grade and they've said that this has been a completely different environment for them this year and so kudos for that. And
064so, uh, I guess where I sit with this is like I really look forward to seeing what you do there. Um, I know how hard you worked in the district in out in Palisade and so I look forward to seeing what you do at Central High School. Um, Dr. Hill, I think this might be more of a question for you because I know that so I see and this is just I guess me not completely understanding this and maybe just somebody can give me some clarity. So 95% is what the state and federal guidelines are kind of giving us. They're saying, "Hey, we want 95% participation, but then we have kids that opt out of it. So we might end up at a lower level, but I know that we have some schools that don't
065have enough participation." So like what's the cut off like the percentage cut off where they say we're not going to uh configure this data or what is >> yeah I I don't know the exact number Curry would know but it it's if the if the number is too small where you could individually identify specific students and that oh the reason why this school got this rating is because of these five kids. Um that's when they don't want when the number is that small they don't want to actually give them a rating. So we do have some schools that don't receive a rating. Right. Um, for this one, uh, in particular, right, you have you have your 100% of kids that are eligible to take the test. Um, you take the opt outs, so you don't
066count those against the school. Um, and so you want to get to 95% of the kids that are left that are eligible that have not filled out parents who did not fill an opt-out form. So, I think if I'm remembering the numbers correctly, there were 59 kids in the entire school that were eligible to test but did not test and did not fill an opt out form. Is that right, Ari? Okay. So, I don't want to get on a soap box. I think there are some Anyways, it's an antiquated um metric and so you you ding an entire school a whole performance level um because of that. And so I I think there's if CDE wanted to actually do some work, they would on that they would come in and ask questions and but they
067don't they just they just knock you down a level. So that's the part that I don't agree with within the accountability system. I do agree with what principal Hayward said though is as a school you want kids to test because you want to have reliable data that you can actually um take action on. So, um, so I I I I understand why we're going after these metrics because we want the the data and we want to be able to say that our our school's performing this way because we have this many kids that are taking in. It's real good data. I I hate the fact that the school got dinged though a whole level because of 59 kids didn't fill out a opt out form or didn't show up for the testing. Um, but I
068know that's going to change in the future. Um, and they won't have the the below 95% anymore. But to your original question, yeah, if a school's got a really small in um of testing students, they don't it's too easy to identify that it was those kids that caused you to get this score, if that makes sense. And we only have a handful. I think like Gateway um has in the past not received a rating because of that. Trying to remember if we had if we have any other schools that have such a small Mesa Valley, you're right. Um yeah those two but like our other ones Juniper and Independence they get ratings because they have enough kids testing. So yeah >> and just to clarify I mean we we're we are celebrating they they made
069it academically academic. So there's no confusion about anything. So when we say 100% schools made it then that's what we we mean by it. Yeah, it's uh so on that original slide um that had the SPF um they were they academically scored in the improvement category. They were 02 points 2 away from being in the performance category, but the state says well because you had a lower participation rate, we we knock you down an entire level. So um so academically they were at the improvement level. Um but their rating is going to say um prior to improvement because of that participation rate. And I and they the school was already on the clock, right? So I think they're in year three now and you have to be you have to be out of turnaround or
070improvement for two years in a row to get off that clock. So you know ideally next year they're at the improvement or performance level. I know Principal Hayward would want performance level. Um and so and then you do that for two years in a row and then he gets you off that clock of the state watching. So >> I am just curious about something like how does that with the people that call in don't call in. How does the children that are homeless work in that part of that because the parents aren't able to call? They may not be able to have phones or anything like that at home. So I just wondered does the state or anybody look at that >> for opting out? Yeah. I mean >> yes. >> Um well y'all can
071speak this better than me. The opt out is a form they have to fill out right. So, um, so if a if a if I want to opt my kid out of a test, there's a form I actually have to fill out and then I send it into the school. Um, so I don't think they can actually I don't think you can make a phone call to the school and say, "I want to opt my kid out." Right? >> We try we communicate to our families the opt out process. And essentially our process is you need to get on the website and under the parent tab, you pull down, you go to assessments, and then it has the form right there. And you do have to print it off and take it directly to a
072school. >> And and we do have copies of that form, too. We do have a I I would say to one of our attendants secretaries has gone through training to make home visits. So we've already prepared on what are some of those next steps we would be doing for families that have difficulty coming into schools. I we're willing to make those home visits as well. So um we do have a you know my goal is obviously to get to about 90% of our kids actually testing versus where we're at with 69. And I hope we keep that metric with where it's at with our perform, you know, close to performance academically. But we also need to see where our kids are. >> Well, I'm really happy to hear that you're willing to go do home
073visits. I think that's really important. If we have unhoused children that are living in in their cars or, you know, or in a shelter, I think that's real important that because if you they track form and they're living in a car, there's no way that form is going to stay. It's it's it's going to be lost. So, I'm really pleased to hear that your staff is willing to do home visits. So, thank you. And I think too with that 5% threshold, we can get to 95. We don't have to get to 100. So I mean there's going to be a couple that just fall through the cracks that we may not be able to get to, but that allows us that, you know, some leeway to be able to say, "Yeah, there's some we won't
074get there." But we're going to strive for 100 all the time. >> You guys are doing such a great job of shifting sort of the mentality and the culture there. I have heard nothing but great things from your staff and families and students. Um, you guys have literally hit the ground running. Um, obviously I am a CHS grad, so I have high hopes and am so excited for you and the spectacular admin team that you have picked. And so I just want to give kudos. You guys have really done um some heavy lifting. And I think the true testament is you guys have really raised um some levels with your staff that I just can't um I just keep hearing such great kudos of like your staff just raving about you guys. And so I
075think that just is a true testament because that is going to um just bleed down to the students and that is just going to rise everybody up. So I know that this is just going to be you guys are going to do great. So we won't even be sitting here this time next year. >> Thank you President Heights. But I definitely owe that to my team. I have a very strong team around me and a team of teachers that are willing to go on this journey. So I appreciate that. >> Well, and this will just be this is what's best for kids and so um I know you guys are going to just do great and this will just be awesome for our students. So thank you guys. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, I it's
076funny you said that cuz and you're not going to be here next year doing this and I reflect back on past years. We at one year we had to do two nights of this because we had so many schools that were having to present on their turnaround and prior improvement plans. And so the fact that we have one school and it's because of participation rate is I think a s a celebration for the entire district that we are getting to the point where we're not having to have these pres presentations. Um and you remember last uh month when Jyn presented I think we have 82% of our schools now are at the performance level. And so it's this is that's a celebration for the the district as a whole that we're not having as many
077schools uh presenting. And I know like I said central won't be here next year doing this. So >> well done. Well, thank you for the presentation. So I will encourage our families to make sure they get our their kiddos there. So thank you. All righty. Um so next up we just have our first reading for policy IKF which is our graduation requirements. So board, if you have any questions, um just make sure you um these are just, you know, again, requirements that we have to make to our policies. Um I think we're making some pretty good progress of getting through a lot of our policies here that we have made a commitment to >> over the last 10 years. Yep. >> We know how much time and effort you put into pouring through these policies
078that were quite frankly kind of a mess when you inherited them. So thanks for your patience. um handholding Andrea and I through the process as well. >> I know that that's been a little >> that's been a little challenging and interesting sometimes. >> There's been there's been >> I think we've gotten to a good point and um I know there's a lot of this that you've poured through that we haven't even had to to do because it was so much cleanup that needed to be done. So, thanks for doing that. >> Yeah, we sure that's always the always the >> kind of never ending. Well, clean up and we're getting rid of redundancies. Well, just because we need to make it easier for staff um because, you know, they have to follow the policies. So,
079we want to make it clearer um more concise for staff to be able to understand and um and be able to how many you were able to eliminate. >> I'd like to see that number just we can help our >> just just um for staff to know how many were eliminated. So, so they really can know that this is you can get your arms around this whole policy thing now because for a long time it was this prohibitive to try to even find anything because there was so much that was just redundant and out of date and it's really been nice to have that cleaned up. >> Yeah. So, just for those that didn't hear, um we don't not necessarily know how many we've eliminated, but we rewrote 40. Um Tammy helped rewrite 40 policies.
080So, that's either combining or streamlining and working through those policies. So, um all right. Any open board discussion? Anything that needs on the agendas or anything coming up? Um I know we normally do this during business but uh Angela and I director I'm sorry Julie Kim and I attended uh uh the council at Palisade and >> oh the student the >> the student yeah the student student led it was very very good actually and was good to see so many different um different opinions out there and very proud of Palisade and the things that are going on the kids are happy and again a sense of belonging the way that they feel at home and welcome and warm and every teacher puts a hand on them or you know just a conversation with them makes
081them feel like they're wanted there and as they as they put it, they're their own little family. So, it was good to see the things going on out there and with really no and then they they said they were doing a good job, too. So, that was >> Yeah, we know that that particular group of students um their sense of belonging I think at Palisad is always pretty high anyway, partially due to the size of their school. It's a little easier, but I was at Grand Junction High School a couple of weeks ago. I went out to check out the um the amount of students that are that are trying to move through and and take a look at that and I was just really impressed with Principal Sorenson's connection with every single one of
082those kids that walked past him. He knows who they are. He knows who's in his building. They know that he knows that they're there and that he cares. And the rest of the staff as well. And even though that is our largest high school, it feels like a a good community. So that was really good. >> Yeah, we have a few more of those student um meetings coming up, which was a board goal that we had, which was to get out and meet with students. So I know a few of we all are taking different ones. So did the kids bring up the cell phone policy? Because I know we talked about that robustly. I went out to Palisade last year, so that was a big conversation because it was our first year that we
083implemented it. So they bring that up this year. >> We talked to Yeah, they we mentioned about it, but there they seem to be really comfortable. Yeah, >> the principal out there amped up the cell phone policy more than >> Okay, >> they were totally comfortable with it. Yeah, there were there were no complaints or anything like that. >> So yeah, that's good. Cool. >> And just a shout out to the schools that we went to today with the performance banners and everything. And you know, I know we have more to do, but it was it was good to in variety all areas of town. So it was good to be out there and celebrating with the kids out there. >> That's awesome. I had a chance to go to the marching band event, the
084Valley marching band event um on the 17th of last month and I have a favorite, but I won't say it. It was stinking awesome. That is like the best. Just the showmanship and the skills and abilities that these marching bands and their their flag I mean it's it's awesome. Yeah. >> So, and there's another coming up. Uh Cali, do you remember? It's the the I believe so. Yeah, this month. >> Yes, it's going to be amazing. So, if you can make it out to the stadium for that. And then, um I had an opportunity to attend, uh an event that Windgate Elementary had for Battle of the Bands out at the warehouse and they're raising money um for their playground. And so, they raised a little bit above $14,000 of their goal. So, they're doing
085an awesome job and that's all through their PTO. Like their PTO is on it. >> Um, they did a great job and it was just to see, you know, a lot of the parents and just other community members that came out to that. It was it was really cool. So, >> all right. >> Board coffee. >> Yes. So this Saturday um is a board coffee um here in the um Harry Butler boardroom from 9 to 11 and then uh next up we have our board business meeting on the 21st and so those are the next coming up meetings. So um there is a change in November. We do not have our business meeting on the 4th because that is >> um >> work meeting >> sorry our workshop meeting or work meeting >> work session
086uh sorry work session on November 4th because that is election. Um so just watch for the dates. Uh we had to change up the meetings in November. So uh so anyways just the next two coming up are the board coffee this Saturday and the work our business meeting on the 21st. All right we are done for tonight. Thanks everybody.