001Evening everyone. We'll go ahead and get started. Good evening everyone. Need a gavl. Can I have your attention please? Thanks. There you go. Thank you. Thank you. We need Will's booing voice to get us started. All right. Good evening everyone. Um to start this evening, we uh we're a little bit out of order um because we have our budget hearing uh that we have our second one. So, first off, um if anyone is here to comment on the budget hearing, uh go ahead and come forward uh to this microphone and we'll give a couple minutes for anyone who would like to give comment on the budget. Me never. Okay, seeing none, uh we'll go ahead and adjourn the budget hearing. So, all right. So, now we'll call to order our meeting. Um, if you can
002stand with us, we'll go ahead and do the pledge of allegiance. And Director Jones, can you kick us off, please? To the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Thank you everyone. Do I have a motion to approve the meeting minutes from May 6, 2025, May 20th, 2020 25, excuse me, and May 27th, 2025? Motion to approve the meeting minutes. Second. Mr. Chavez, approved. Mrs. Evansson, yes. Mrs. Heights, yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Miss Lima, yes. Okay. And now we will uh move into our recognitions um for uh for our public relations people. So, if it's a smaller group, she'd like to take your picture up front. If you're a larger group, she may have you
003step out after we're done with recognitions and take your picture out front. So, uh, so please stick around and make sure that Cali, uh, gets your picture. So, uh, Will's going to kick us off here when Mason Zanamichek, Cooper, Van Mau, Sage Serest, and Hayden Banell, please join me at the front of the room. [Applause] Is that your 2025 state track and field championships were held May 15th through the 17th at Jeffco Stadium in Lakewood, bringing together top athletes from across the state. D51 student athletes delivered standout performances, including multiple first place finishes and podium appearances. From sprints to field events, D51 athletes demonstrated the strength, depth, and determination of our track and field programs. The board of education proudly recognizes the outstanding accomplishments of our Central High School and Grand Junction High School student
004athletes who place in the top three of 4A state track and field championships. Mason Zamichek, Grand Jackson High School, took first place in 110 meter hurdles. Cooper van Mau Central High School earned first place in pole vault. Sage Crist became f came in first place in the girls 800 meter run and Hayden Benell GHS second place in girls discus. These achieve [Applause] these achievements are a reflection of their individual dedication and talent as well as strong leadership and support of their coaches and track staff. The board of education and superintendent Dr. Hill congratulate each of these athletes along with the entire CHS and GJ HHS track and field programs for representing D51 with pride at the state level. [Applause] You want to come up and take this for you? Standing in is Mr. Rubino. No,
005no. [Applause] Uh, we are going to talk about the all state first team baseball. Mr. Embry, are you here? Come on, Eastston. Stand up. Come on. Thank you, sir. Mr. Eastston, who graduated from Pal State High School in May, was originally named named to the class 4A all state first team for baseball. A rare and prestigious honor in district 51. While is not uncommon for athletes to earn all conference recognition, being selected to all state is a significant accomplishment that reflects a level of excellence seen across the state and recognized by high school coaches. A true two-way player, Eastston contributes to the mound and in the outfield, bringing a fast ball that topped at 86 miles an hour, a four a488 batting average, and a consistent leadership throughout the season. But what truly sets Eastston
006apart from not just his athletic skills, but the way he led his team with focus, heart, and humility. His 3.935 GPA and clutch performance in postseason played reflects the kind of student athlete every school hopes to see walk through their doors. Eastston will certainly be missed in the field next year, but his impact on the Palis program and his teammates will carry on as a young players follow the example he set. He has signed with Florence Darlington Technical College where he'll join the Stingers baseball program, a strong junior college team that has reached the JUKO World Series multiple times through the last decade. The board of education and superintendent Dr. Hill congratulated Eastston on his amazing accomplishment. Thank you for representing D-51 with integrity and excellent. We can't wait to see where your future takes
007you both on and off the field. [Applause] Will Josh Weaver and coach Casey Sullivan join me up front? [Applause] Each year, coaches in the Southwest League voted to honor the top players and coaches in this region. This year, Fruit of Monument High School coach Josh Weaver was named player of the year, and head coach Casey Sullivan earned the co- coach of the year's honors. Jos has had a standout season, contributing significantly both on the mound and on the plate. His season included a perfect game against Central High School where he struck out 14 batters and allowed no base runners. At the plate, he consistently finished with strong batting averages, driving in key runs to help lead Fuda to a league title. His ability to deliver under pressure, lead by example, and contribute in every part
008of the game made him a clear choice for this honor. Casey Sullivan shares the title of Southwest League co- coach of the year for his pivotal role in guiding the Wildcats to back-to-back league championships. Under his leadership, Freud Monument High School became a powerhouse capturing the 2023 and 20 2024 5A Southwestern League titles. Sullivan trans transitioned into the head coaching role in 2022 and his ability to build team culture and bring out the best in his players has earned the respect of his peers across the league. These honors reflect individual excellence and strong team leadership. The board of education superintendent Dr. Hill congratulates Josh and Coach Silivan to earning coach player and co co- coach of the year and proudly representing D-51. We look forward to your contribute success each season. [Applause] with the members
009of our D-51 communications team. Please join us at the front of the room. [Applause] Earlier this month, the D-51 communications team received the Golden Medallion Award from the National Schools Public Relations Association, one of the highest honors in the field of school communications. NP received more than 1,800 submissions this year across their three award categories, but only 207 were selected for a Golden Medallion Award. District 51 was one of those three schools. uh one of those three school districts in Colorado to receive this recognition. The award honored the team's more social, less media campaign, which supported the district's new cell phone policy by focusing on what students gain, such as connection, presence, and stronger relationships rather than what they were giving up. Through creative messaging, video storytelling, and strong community involvement, the campaign encouraged healthier
010school environments and more meaningful student engagement. Behind this recognition is a small but mighty team dedicated to clear, creative, and compassionate communication. Their work reflects a belief in the power of storytelling to support students, staff, and schools. The board of education and superintendent Dr. Hill congratulate our communications team on this well-deserved honor and thank them for the important role they play in keeping our schools and community connected and well informed. Do you want me to take your picture? Where's your camera? [Music] She's got it. She's got it. You have to have a picture. [Applause] Okay. Would Chapita Elementary Principal Jamie Charara please come up and join me at the front? You may bring everyone you would like. Jamie and team. Jamie and team. You got it. I I can Okay, we got it. All right.
011Earning the Colorado Department of Education's Center of Excellence School Award is a significant honor. This award recognizes schools where at least 75% of students are considered at risk. Yet they demonstrate exceptionable ex sorry exceptional sustained academic growth in multiple areas including English language arts, math, and English language proficiency as measured by the Colorado growth model. This award reflects the strong leadership of principles who put the right strategies in place to help students succeed. They use data to guide instruction, make sure that every student gets the support they need, and create a school culture focused on fairness, growth, and high expectations. The impact of this achievement extends beyond school leadership. It shows the determination of students who are pushing themselves academically, the creativity and adaptability of teachers and staff who meet students where they are, and
012the dedication of families and community partners who support learning every step of the way, both in and out of the classroom. Principal Chyro's steady leadership, belief in every student, and commitment to equity have shaped the school culture built on growth, support, and high expectations. Under her guidance, Chapida has become a place where every child, no matter the background, has the opportunity to thrive, proving that with the right leadership at the helm, the right people on the bus, amazing things are possible. The board of education and superintendent Dr. Hill are proud to recognize Principal Chai and her team for this well-earned honor. Thank you for engaging, equipping, and empowering each and every student each and every day and creating a place where where all learners can thrive. [Applause] with the principles from Broadway Elementary, New Emerson,
013Scenic Elementary, Windgate Elementary, and Gateway School. Please join me at the front of the room and teams. You come right up and represent Dan. Get up there. Come on. The John Irwin Award is one of Colorado's most respected honors in education. Named after former state senator John Irwin, a champion for highquality learning. This award is presented annually to schools that consistently demonstrate exceptional academic achievement and sustain student growth. Tonight, we're proud to recognize Broadway, New Emerson, Scenic, and Windgate for earning this distinction for the second year in a row. a reflection of their continued excellence and commitment to student success. We are also excited to recognize Gateway as a recipient, earning the John Irwin Award for 2024. Earning this recognition is no small feat and reflects the dedication, focus, and teamwork of everyone involved. From
014school leaders and teachers to support staff, students, and families, it takes a shared commitment to excellence to create the kind of environment where students can truly thrive. This award is a celebration of that effort and a reminder of what's possible when we all work together in support of student success. But Broadway, New Emerson, Scenic, Windgate, and Gateway aren't just high achieving schools. They're led by principles who are truly committed to building positive, supportive environments for every learner. Each of these leaders has prioritized strong instruction, meaningful relationships, and a culture that fosters academic success, a sense of belonging, and the love of learning. The board of education and superintendent Dr. Hill proudly congratulate principles Westbrook, Hoffman, Scott, Shrader, and Allen along with their school communities for creating environments where students feel supported, challenged, and set up
015to succeed. [Applause] You had Who's the area director? Before [Applause] you guys sit down, could I have the principles and/or representatives from Broadway Elementary, Loma Elementary, Mesa View Elementary, New Emerson, Scenic Taupe, please join me at the front of the room. [Applause] [Music] Act like you like each other. Squeeze in there. Good job. The Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award recognizes schools that demonstrate exceptional academic growth over time. We're excited to celebrate the D-51 schools that have earned this honor through their focus on innovation, opportunity, and student achievement. In 2023, Broadway, Mesa View, New Emerson, and Scenic Elementary Schools received this award for their outstanding progress and commitment to growth. This year, Broadway, New Emerson, and Scenic earned the award once again, and joining them on the 2024 list are LMA and Top Elementary Schools. These schools
016have built cultures of learning where students are engaged, equipped, and empowered. Through creative instruction and focus on connectivity, they fostered environments where kids can truly thrive. This recognition is a testament to the hard work of our students and the leadership of principles Westbrook, Whimsat, Cohen, Hoffman, Scott, and Kennedy along with their dedicated staff and supported families. Together, they've created school communities where growth is driven by collaboration, strong leadership, and a shared belief in every student's potential. The board of education and superintendent Dr. Hill congratulate each of these school communities. Your commitment to continuous improvement, and belief in your students make a lasting impact across District 51. Thank you all. [Applause] All right. Well, thank you everyone. That's the end of our recognitions. So, unless you'd like to stay for the rest of the board meeting,
017we'll give you a couple of minutes to go ahead and um enjoy the rest of your evening. Thank you all for coming and congratulations. as the max exodus happens. Okay, I think we are good. We'll go ahead and resume our meeting. Um, if anybody is unfamiliar with um public comment, our signup sheet is over here to my left, your right, right under this television. Um, so you can sign up for your three minute public comment up until our public comment time. So, uh, next up we have board reports. Um, board, I know it's been a little bit quiet. Um, any good things or committee activity updates that anybody wants to report out on? Um, for me, I just did a special Olympics uh just last couple weeks ago and then uh we were I read
018a uh proclamation on behalf of the school district at the Junth celebration of Lincoln Park this last weekend. So great. Thanks for doing that. Any It's been quiet since graduation for me. Vacations and summer happenings. All right. All right. We are ready for I think D51 happenings and celebrations. No. Help. All right. Hello. Hi, board. I'm Sierra Coulson, marketing communication specialist for D51 schools. Here to share with you the District 51 happenings and celebrations. To start off, Amber Shannon is June's Golden Apple recipient. Recognized for her unwavering dedication to students both in and out of the classroom. As a math teacher at Mount Garfield Middle School, she's known for creating a learning environment where students feel respected, supported, and empowered to succeed. Amber makes math approachable and meaningful while also building strong relationships that help
019students thrive. Her passion for real world learning shines through. This summer, she's even leading an educational trip for students. Her commitment to academic growth and enriching experiences makes her a truly exceptional educator in District 51. Remember the start of the school year when Redland's middle school surprised our leadership team with a dodgeball challenge? Well, on the last day of school, we flipped the script and this time D51's leadership team and board of education came ready, dawning athletic gear and repping the D-51 name. Still, we didn't stand a chance. Redlands Middle School's flight crew soared past us once again. Thanks for the rematch, Redlands, and for helping us end the school year on a high note. Yeah, you guys look great. Um, every summer, D51 kicks things off with the Lunch Lizard summer meal program, ensuring
020no child goes hungry while school's out in partnership with the Western Colorado Community Foundation. Lunch. Lizard trucks travel to neighborhoods and community spots, delivering free, healthy meals to all kids 18 and under, no matter their economic background. One of our favorite sites, watching students enjoy a good meal with friends all across town. Huge thanks to our incredible nutrition services team for making it all happen. This year's annual book giveaway was our biggest yet. For more than 30 years, this beloved tradition has connected our schools with the community, offering thousands of free items like novels, textbooks, crafts, and even furniture. Everything was available at no cost and open to all. A huge thank you to Matt Sprat, D51's warehouse lead, and the entire warehouse team for organizing and hosting this incredible event. And a big shout
021out to our friends at Schneider Electric who sent five team members all the way from California for their day of service. We couldn't have done it without you. This summer, D51 schools are getting key upgrades thanks to voter approved bond funding. From enhanced safety features to muchneeded classroom renovations, construction is underway at nine school sites across the district. These improvements will help create safer, more modern learning environments for students and staff. Thank you for saying yes to D51 and for believing in the power of strong schools to build stronger communities. School may be out for summer, but learning is still going going strong across D51 school. Several schools are hard at work hosting summer school programs, giving extra students giving I'm sorry, giving students extra support, enrichment, and opportunities to grow. A big shout out
022to the dedicated educators and staff making it all happen. Thank you for keeping the momentum going and of course always making it fun. And that's all we have for June. We'll see you back in August. Don't forget to stay posted with all things D51 by following us on social media, D51 schools. Thank you. [Applause] All right, next up we have our superintendent report. That's all right. So, I'll have uh Dan Burke come up to present. And while he's coming up, I just want to reiterate how important that um lunch lizard program is. Dan Sharp and his team do such a good job um with that program. And you know, that's come together over years with donations from like Western Collar Community Foundation and other groups. And so to be able to um take those mobile
023uh lunch trucks out into the community, especially over the summer, it's just huge for our community. I mean, my kids even taking advantage of he's doing Eureka camps and CMU Tech camps and the lunch lizard truck is out there as well. So, just a shout out to uh Dan Sharp and his team for always finding ways to um feed the students throughout the community. So, we appreciate him. So, um with that, I'll turn it over to Dan Bert. Board of Education. Dr. Hill, thank you for letting me come and talk to you today. Um we've come to talk to you today. probably haven't seen this in years past, Brier, because we've we've only been doing year-to-year um contracts with our network um our connection between schools. Um this year, we are looking to um go
024out and um upgrade our network. We're looking to um create some fiber loops that will create um consistency and so if one spot goes down, it can go back around out and and keep our schools up and running. With doing that, we've looked at uh saving as much money as we could, and we went out with UPN and found a 15-year contract, and we're going to save approximately about $150,000 a year um per year on our network money. And so, I just kind of want to break it down for you a little bit here. Um our current monthly is 81. Our new monthly proposed is 52. Now, I know that that doesn't sound right when you look at the current annual, right? because it doesn't look like times 12, but it's times 12. And then
025we get um 60% refunded from -ate. So that is what that figured out. So um our annual bill is about $393,000 a year and it will move to $252,288, which is a great savings for us and creates a um selfhealing loop um in our network that gives us some redundancy so we won't have very long down days. So, I'm coming to you to ask for a 15-year contract. We will segregate those out into five years each and then renew if we have to. Obviously, they'll be written in um tapered terms. So, if we can't afford it, we can afford it. Um I also want there's another one we're looking at too and it's a internet content filter. So, this is what we use to content filter out um pornography sites, um chat sites, things like
026that we don't feel are safe for our kids. We've been using a company called Content Keeper. And during the pandemic, we used a a product called Aristole K12. And with talking with my teachers, the Aristotle K12 was a very um it was a lot better of a program. It ran a lot smoother. We tried to use a program called Impro this year. Um and it it was brand new and so it had some definitely some some designer flaws. So, we were able to go out with Aristotle K12 and come up with about save about $30,000 a year and get Aristotle K12 as our main web content filter. And it off also offers a the teachers a um classroom monitor um system that allows them to monitor what they're doing on the the other thing that
027I want to make sure that I'm very upfront with you guys about is it does also allow us to maintain and monitor um screen time which may become valuable for us in later on. So that with all that said, we're looking about $37,000 annually on that one. So really just kind of reaching out and going a little bit further like going to five years and I'm able to secure a much better contract for us. And so I think going forward, this is exactly what we did. The neat thing about it is we did have the pandemic to to try that Aristotle K12 and it worked very well and the teachers um were very animate saying that they liked it a lot better than the new Appiro and I think it's very smart for us to
028move. So, like I said, I'm sorry there's a typo there. The savings is about $185,000 a year um with going with those extra loan contracts. I'd like to open it up to any questions that you guys would have for me. My only question would be what if what if things drastically change like they most certainly will in the next 15 years? What kind of guarantees do we have that if if for some reason this company falls behind and can't sustain the growth of technology, how do we how do we address that? So that and that's that's a great question. I think I'm looking at um um the company stability, right? They've been around for about 30 years. Um their main um the main business is creating networks for school districts. They're predominantly in Utah um
029but have made it quite a bit uh ground here in Colorado putting in networks. The reason that I think this is a safe thing for 15 years is that we will always need a network and whether we go with a different company what would have to come in is they'd have to come in and build our network for us to put fiber lines out which would the cost would be very much. And so when we went out for bitto bid this year, what we found was is that um or obviously Unite was able to come in a lot more um just a lot under price because they've already built the infrastructure and are maintaining it right now. So that's a leg up they have. But like I said, being able to use that to our
030advantage, we're able to create some self-healing loops to keep us running. Thank you. All right, guys. Thank you very much. All right. Um and so next up will be our um an update on our two large high school projects um from the bond. Um we did give uh an update previously on some additions at uh Central High School due to some savings that we found. Um, but we also want to give an update on um the progress that's going on at Fruto Monument High School as well. So, we're excited about both these high schools getting um some much needed renovations. So, I'll turn it over to Clint and N. All right. Good evening, board. We're going to get the the correct uh PowerPoint up in a second here and then we'll get started. We're excited
031to share with you tonight just some as Dr. Hill said, "We've we've done some bond updates already to kind of tell you where we're at with our priority improvement projects, but Central and uh Fra Monument uh have some really neat stuff going on, and we want to be able to share a little bit of that with you tonight. So um so over the past few months um many of you know that we have been uh doing DAG groups, design advisory group meetings and those design advisory group meetings um have had we've had five of those meetings and then seven focus group meetings with students and staff and those folks have helped us kind of form where we're at today uh with the design that we're going to show you here in a little bit. Um
032some of the things that we're working on uh that we are looking at are safety and security. Obviously we've want to honor what we said in the bond campaign. We want to uh look at uh securing that building and creating a single point of entry building. And that I think we've done in this design. So we'll take a look at that as well. Uh improved campus connectivity. What I'm going to show you tonight is uh a design that uh was not in the original uh master plan. Uh, and it what it does is it really capitalizes on what we started in 2017. You'll remember in the 2017 bond, there was some work that was done at Fruit of Monument High School and they um took the um the center area and they the commons area
033and they made they created a common area in there that kind of set the stage for creating a single point of entry building. What we're going to be able to do with this design is to complete that. Uh and so we'll show you that as well. We'll show you some added instructional space. This design includes four new classrooms in the science edition and three new uh classrooms in the C uh CTE area. And then the funding outlook for this um this design is going to be more expensive uh by about $4 million. But what we've what we've looked at and what we're projecting is some cost savings with our priority improvement projects. So those are the projects that we have going right now in the nine buildings that we're working on. and you just saw
034the pictures of some of those. Uh we should be able to see uh significant savings in those and we'll know more of that by the end of August into September what those savings what those dollars will be. Um we anticipate that we're going to have enough money to cover this and we'll uh once we get to that point we'll be able to talk to you about those savings. All right. You'll remember in the um in the original master plan, this is what we were looking at as a design or an upgrade to Fruit Monument High School. You'll see in the bottom leftand corner, these were classrooms, uh a singlestory classroom wing that we were going to add some science classrooms to. Um and then up in the far uh upper corner there, you'll see uh
035some renovated classrooms in the kind of purple area. And then there was a hallway we were going to put in there to kind of connect those classrooms. And we were going to be able to uh have an indoor hallway for students to access those classrooms. The bottom center there, that purple area, was going to be more uh classrooms uh in that space as well, renovated. And then that little center piece was going to be some additional um renovated classrooms. Wanted to paint that picture just a little bit so you'll understand why we're looking at what we're uh going to do in this new design. So, what you'll see here is in the green or teal color, you'll see um Oh, let me go back a slide here real quick. I want to note something. You'll
036see in the um the overlay there is that one's a little bit old, but you'll notice in the bottom right corner, there's some grass there. That's now a parking lot. And I'll show you that and then you'll see it in the next slide. The the A building to the far right there is separated from the main building. There's a driveway that uh connect connects those two parking lots right now. Right now there's student access through those parking lots through that through that access point there. And there's deliveries that come through that section and I believe right now you have staff in there that um monitor that area during passing periods. Is that right? We do. I actually teach a class in the a shop. I teach advisory. Um, in between the main building and the
037a shop, we have students driving, we have deliveries coming in, and as Clint said, you know, one of our priorities here is safety. Um, that is one of the last areas on campus where someone could just enter a classroom unobstructed. There's no fencing. There's not another door. They could just walk in from the parking lot into a classroom. We we monitor it right now, but, you know, brick and mortar would be better. So I think you're going to get to that. Yeah. And so um all of that was discussed in our DAG group meetings and um as a result um this is what was presented. Um Chamberlain uh group uh they came up with a a great design that covers all of this stuff. So in the upper uh leftand corner you'll see the security
038edition. Instead of just creating the single hallway, this hallway, this circular space um covers that entire classroom section. So those outdoor classrooms on the far north of the building now have a hallway where you can enter into the uh classrooms rather than going outside. Right now those are the classrooms that students have to exit the building and enter from the exterior of the cla of the building. In the bottom leftand corner is similar to the the older drawing. There's some science science edition down there with some larger hallways. This does a couple things for us, right? We wanted to to um enclose that courtyard area. This does that as well. That center purple area, which is a renovated area, is um is currently a science area, will be renovated to general ed classrooms. If you
039go up to the far right in the top there, you'll see that green section in the middle. That's the area we just talked about that currently has is an open area where vehicles pass through there. That would be infilled with um CTE space and would connect both of those buildings. Again, successfully creating a single point entry in essence um building. The two sections to the left and the right there are um CTE space as well on the left and then the A space on the right. uh that would be remodeled as well. Um I' I'd also note and you can um help me a little bit with this, but in the bottom left corner near the science edition right now there's currently some CTE space in that bottom left area. So those two classrooms that
040are just adjacent to the science edition that's shown there. What we do with this design is create a better create better adjacency with the CTE classrooms that are currently that we'd place in the top of the building. So those those CT classrooms would then move up to the top and now we'd have everything in one area and we would move u general ed classrooms or something else to the bottom. We we'd be able to do that with pretty much every department is the hope and the plan. And the why behind that much like we're trying to do with early release having teachers next to one another one another during the day. Um I'm going to quote one of my assistant principles. She calls it natural collisions. It creates natural collisions during the day where in
041between classes they can talk about what worked, what didn't in a lesson. Um, so we wouldn't be able to just do it in the CTE area, but also with science. Yeah, I won't get into the weeds. I can talk movement all day, but that that's he's a little excited about this. Just a touch. Yeah. All right. So, this is just a these next shots are um just closer images of of what we're looking to do. That's the same classroom space in the top left corner. the circular space that kind of uh moves through those classrooms there. I will note also in that um sorry it's hard to read that security addition there. But um those classrooms that you see the 8 9 10 classrooms there. Had we not used that hallway and created that circular
042space around there, we would have had to take away classroom space because we would have had to create a hallway inside of those classrooms or some kind of access in order for us to to get access inside from inside the building. And then the classrooms, a science edition on the right, those are the classrooms uh that uh will be in the bottom that will enclose that courtyard. Again, this is the remodeled space. We're looking at the purple spaces. Those are the CTE spaces that will be remodeled. And then the A space on the right. This is those center science classrooms currently that will be remodeled and uh where we'll add general ed classrooms into the center of this of the building. And then the classroom remodel. This is that infill space that will add the
043new classrooms in the center here. This one shows four classrooms, but it's only three. Correct. That's the plan right now. Yep. Um and so this again encloses the entire building creating a safer space. So let's just look at some exterior conceptuals briefly. You'll see this is from the road looking from the southwest corner. You'll see the new uh science wing there with uh to the far left. And then the um we're looking at some windows uh adding some windows to the existing classrooms that are there. Those of course can be changed if we decide to do that to reduce costs pulling those windows out. That's also an option. Um this is from the northwest corner. This is that hallway that we talked about that'll allow students to be able to enter from inside the building,
044not have to go outside to enter inside the inside the classrooms. Uh and then this is the northeast corner uh view. This is that uh infill space that will no longer allow traffic through. will be able to enclose the entire building. And then uh this is from the other side of that CTE space as well. All right, that is it for Fruda. Any questions? I'll pause there for just a second and see if there's any questions with this design and what we're looking at doing. And you might have said it. Um so this is include this um addition. How much extra is it adding extra square footage? Uh, it is adding extra square footage. Yes. You know, approximately like how much? Um, I would defer back to my friend in the back of the room.
04520,000. Okay. Okay. So, we're obviously getting a bigger footprint and more space with that additional cost. So, absolutely just so people know that we're not just spending extra money and not necessarily, you know, we're also getting extra space. We're getting extra space and I and I really do I I really want to go back to what I was saying before. I think we we started to plant the seed in 2017 of trying to create a building that was enclosed completely and and we didn't quite get there. Um this design helps us do that and creates a much safer building for for our students. Um it's it's a win without question. With this design, there's a net reduction of approximately 30 exterior doors. And with that new infill in between the main building and the a
046shop, that takes care of just about 10 doors itself. So, that area is just really exposed and unsafe. Um, but overall, it's going to make for a more safe experience for our kids and our teachers. Does this cover that? Um, I know when Mr. McCloskey was the principal there when we first went out. Does this cover that outside vestibial space that covers the classroom? I think it's to the west. So, it's going to cover Yes. towards the Maverick. Yes. Yes. That all will be connected and infilled. And then it will be covered. With this design, kids won't have a reason to go outside unless they're weaving or ditching. And Ruda kids don't ditch, right? So, we're good. Yeah. Never at the Maverick. Yeah, that Maverick's never full of kids. I know. It was kind of
047an odd space that created and then it would get um iced up in the winter time because it would get that weird shaded y um in the winter time and cause some issues. So, that'll be nice. It's covered. It will be. Yeah. Okay, great. Yeah, I didn't see it open here on the plan. So, does it are you talking about here, Andrea, where there's this open space still? No, not that open space. Do you remember if you go from the offices and if you go across um so if you're coming in the doors and if you went um to the right the students used to be able to go outside and there was that weird right there it's that security I I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about the science edition the security edition
048and yes that will be enclosed as well. It will be enclosed right there's still that other area that kind of courtyard area that's open right but it's all enclosed. It'll all be enclosed, but but that side it's outside. Yeah, it is outside. Correct. Yeah. No, I'm talking to the one that's that's north of that. Yeah. Yeah. That was just that weird passage area. There were several weird areas. There was a lot of I just remember I just remember Mr. McCcluskey saying it was a very strange space. Um that was kind of a thorn in his side and in mine in yours since you took it over. Yeah. If you've ever gotten complaints about how congested it can be in our hallways, it's happening right there. Just Yeah. It It's going from 1960 to 2017. Yeah.
049And we've grown significantly since then. So, Oh, great. I'm glad some of those things are obviously getting addressed in this plan and I'm glad we're gaining 20,000 square feet. So, well done. Great. Awesome. Looks good. Right. I'm going to swap out people and Eddie if you'd like to join me. Be great. Thank you, sir. Thank Principal Clusire. All right, we'll shift our attention to Central High School. Um we're we're a little bit further along in the process with Central, but um still in schematic design. Um so that uh actually this says wraps up this week. It actually wrapped up last week. Uh schematic design did. And then cost estimates will be uh we'll be able to see those in July. We'll have a really good picture of what what costs are going to look like.
050uh final uh phasing plan is done. This thing is going to be complex um in order for this building to get complete. And uh with they walked through it, I'm not going to even pretend to to deliver that to you tonight cuz uh it is complex. But what I can say is one of the things that um that has been taken into consideration, the most important thing that's been taken into consideration is uh not disrupting students uh during this process. And so that is going to push out the project just a little bit further uh into 2028. Um but we'll we'll minimize the disruption to students during the process. There will be some um we'll be moving some folks into modulars for a time, but um the phasing plan is um I think a good
051one for us to to keep uh ourselves from keeping kids out of class or moving them around too much. Uh so some this the work will start summer of 2026. Uh that will begin with federal hall upgrades, wrestling room renovations, and athletic edition. What'll happen here is we're going to create some swing space in order for new classrooms to be built in there so we can push students into those spaces permanently without and then being able to do remodel work in other places. uh new space that's coming includes collect classroom wings, updated dining area, new stem STEM spaces, and modernized CTE areas. And then uh the campus reconfiguration will be a safer layout uh with improved entries and traffic flow. I think I mentioned that to you the last time we talked about this. Um
052again, the adjacency of the administration area to the classrooms uh will be a lot better for uh for students and staff. And then we've already started some um selective abatement work in the building. So some small stuff is already starting to happen. Uh we've got a long way to go, but we're trying to get some stuff started. And then site prep is in progress. Soil testing and utility investigations are ongoing. As you can probably imagine, there's a lot to consider with where utilities are right now and where they're going to be moving forward. So um that work is already started. And then uh estimates and updates ahead detailing cost estimates as I mentioned will be coming in July. And then uh we plan to do some ongoing community uh planning or commun communication uh with
053our uh community. So all right, let me show you some some images. I think you'll enjoy some of this stuff. So this is um this is the building uh first floor in the new plan. You'll see to the far left in yellow everything in yellow. Kind of tough to see on here the different colors and I don't think you'll be able to see it on the screen. I don't know if you can see it on your laptops or not, but the bottom left is yellow and those are the athletic areas. Uh there's a small yellow area in the middle of the building. That's the wrestling room currently. You'll see in the front of the building where the new um the new entry will be the pink area or salmon. I don't know what it's what
054you want to call it. What do you think, Dr. Hill? What color is it? Yes, that's the administration area. All the green areas are classroom, general ed classrooms. You'll see in the middle of the um that long hallway there, that orange area is library. Those um purple areas or lighter purple areas in the top are all sped spaces. And then you'll see um ROC uh and tech spaces in the darker purple areas. That's the first floor. Now, what you'll see with this design again is that we've created a single building um where everything is connected and there is no reason for anybody to leave um the building for any reason um unless you're again ditching or doing something else. And this is the second floor of that two-story building that'll be in the center of
055the building. You'll see these those uh green spaces, the lighter green or general ed classrooms. And then uh this the other they're kind of bluish on this sheet here or they look green up here. Those are science classrooms. Just some conceptual images of what the um entry might look like. You'll see on the top uh top left there, that's uh the main entry and then straight ahead is the baseball field. A straight shot on the top right of the entryway. And then on the bottom left, that would be the new athletic entrance um closest to us there. And then that's a shot on the bottom right from the baseball field looking down at the two-story the two-story building. Just some images of the interior of the building. Again, these are kind of hard to see
056on the screen here, uh but from the main entrance there. Again, that would be the library to the left in the main entrance or the down the hallway of the main entrance. Um, more images of that same hallway there. This looks to me to be the locker room area. All right. And those are all the images I have. Any questions? Yeah. If you go back to the uh image that shows the layout of the first floor, is that building that's way at the top, is that connected to everything else? Okay. Is that a separate sped space or what have we got? Right now, that's a ROC space or is it CT space? CT space. Uh CTE now it'll be ROC in that just ROC. Yes. Okay. So, those will be the only kids going in
057and out. They will be the only ones around. And will you be doing something with the track? To be determined. Would love to do something with the track. [Laughter] Yeah, it'd be great. So, how are we how are we looking at this one on budget or are we Right now we're fine. This has been this is major change. This is compared to where we started out. Yeah, this is And just kind of for the for the community's understanding. No. Yeah, I know. But I'm just saying that top space up there is where the old building will come down. Yes. Top left. Top left where there's a parking lot on the top left there. Again, it's hard to see it on this. There is a current building there now that'll be torn down. Yeah. Just to
058just to reiterate, I know it's we've done that, but um have have there been any additional real changes since then? Nothing. Going to be pretty minor, if any. Nothing to note at this point. Again, I think the the as I mentioned earlier, the phasing piece is was a little bit of a task to figure out how we're going to get make this happen. Um yeah, kudos to everyone working on this project because we knew it would be challenging. It's going to be a but there was some extra stuff that came up. Yeah. At every turn. So, absolutely. And working with with with the schedule so that we don't disrupt students, it just compounded challenge. So, well done. And again, it'll it'll push it out a little bit further, but I think it's it'll be worth
059it in the end. It's got to be right. Yeah. We only get one chance to to make these changes. And just want to again thank the voters for passing the bond last November so we could be able to do all this. I and I don't want to even lose sight of the pictures that Sierra shared earlier of all the priority improvement projects happening this summer. Just a lot of work happening at those nine schools because of those bond dollars. Um and then these two major high school projects are going to be huge. And we just want to make sure that we're coming to the board and the public anytime we are making changes. So we're being transparent when don't want anybody caught off guard um down the road. And so, uh, the good thing is,
060as Clint said, that those, um, safety and security upgrade projects came in so far under budget, which is a great thing. We were able to free up funds for the central high school editions. And then, um, we're anticipating savings in those uh, pit projects this summer that can cover the fruit of Monument High School um, costs as well, which is a good thing because we will have additional funds throughout this process, but we're trying to hold those in case, you know, unforeseen things pop up later in later projects. So the fact that we can stay within the budget is going to be a good thing for us and it'll get central what they need and also some of the things at Fra that um we should have done maybe down the road that we can
061actually knock out now I think will be really good for the school. Um so I'm excited about both those and then yeah to the point of Joseé Louise um tracks you know that's something that we can always look at down the road as well if we have some cost savings because I do think the high schools all need all weather tracks um which would be nice. Um, yep. All right. Thank you. You All right. So, our last um presentation is for our charter school recommendation and Jen's going to present. Just a reminder, tonight it's not actually a recommendation being made because that's for next Tuesday. There'll be a recommendation and a vote by the board. Jen wants to present an update on where we are in the process. Um and so I'm going to turn
062it over to do that. Okay. Hello everybody. Thank you very much. Yes. Um tonight's presentation um will provide an overview of the charter school review and evaluation process to ensure that we've got clarity, transparency, and transparency in how each application was assessed. Like Dr. Hill said it tonight will not include a recommendation from the district. So, first I'm going to start with the process overview of the charter school application process. First, charter schools apply to operate under D51's authorization. So, we become the authorizer. Applications must meet legal, academic, operational, and financial standards. These are based on board policy LBD, LBDR, and obviously state statute. they all align with each other or everything aligns to um state statute. There is a structured timeline and process um that um will guide the application review and decision-making. And
063just to finalize it all up, the final approval or denial is determined by the board of ed via a resolution. So whether it's an approval or a denial, it has to be by resolution. There are eight key phases in this process. The first phase is the letter of intent. It's submitted prior to when the full applications are submitted. Full applications um are submitted. There's a window from February 1 to April 1. So that letter of intent needs to happen before February 1st. Um that window of February 1 to April 1 was of this year 2025. that begins about an 18month clock. So, um, all the applications, everything will be reviewed. The board will determine by the end of June. June 30th is what state statute says for schools to start in the 2026 school year.
064After the applications are all submitted, we notify the board and then the district accountability committee has the opportunity to review and evaluate parts of the application and give feedback. Then um D-51 leadership team reviews and evaluates the entire um application. Um then we move per state statute. We have community meetings which you all were a part of. It was Saturday, uh, May 17th, we had, um, a community or community meeting. Then capacity interviews with applicants. I do want to note capacity interviews are not required by state statute. It is um, best practice and we held um, capacity interviews on June 4th. And then lastly, the district makes a recommendation and the board makes final decision and that will happen next uh next Tuesday in a special meeting on June 24th. Here's a timeline um that
065I through the lens of DAC um we started I started training on February 6. I provided a training to DAC. I knew at that time the window had just opened but I knew at that time that we would have some charter school submissions. So I trained DAC. We meet on the first Thursday of every month. So on February 6th I trained um DAC. We reviewed um all board policies like I said LBD and LBDR. We review and state statute. We reviewed the application and an evaluation standards document. We have viewed the evaluation rubric and I shared what that process would look like. Um we received two applications that we will um provide findings on next week. The first one that we reviewed as from DAC was gateway for success and we reviewed that um as
066a DAC on April 3. DAC review. They have the entire with each of these um applications. They do have um the entire and we'll review it and read it and look at it, but they only evaluate the sections that we have up here. That's A, B, D, K, and L. So, the executive summary, vision, and mission statements, evidence of support, parent and community involvement, and enrollment policy. We came back the next Thursday on April the 10th and um DAC reviewed the Somerset Academy um scenic view application and again they did the same um the same sections. I do want to add um that there was a conflict of interest screener that I administered to each member of um the DAC to ensure there wasn't a conflict of interest with any member. And um I actually
067received that from CAXA and it was a great addition. So that actually has been added to our process is a conflict of interest. So then I'm going to share the timeline that we did with the D-51 admin team. So that training happened on April the 7th. Again, very similar. reviewed the board policies um state statute application and evaluation standards document the evaluation rubric and the process overview overview I do need to add that and these are all documents that you yourself have seen because I've shared them with each one of you along with the applications um I want to share that uh I forgot what I wanted to share additionally but I'm sure it will pop into my head any moment now. So, huh. Oh, I know what I wanted to share. Sorry. Um, that
068that application and evaluation standards document, that is a document um that I shared with each charter school when they sent in their letter of intent to apply. And I'll go over that a little um more in detail on the next slide, but I wanted to share that they too received board policies and that document. Um, then the application evaluation. So, while I trained everybody on April the 7th, we all gave them a a little bit of time about six to seven weeks, six weeks to review each one of the applications and they needed to have their reviews done by the end of May 30th because we did capacity interviews on June 4th. Um and so reviewing the application against the evaluation standards and the rubric had to be done by the 30th so that we
069could have um the capacity interviews on June 4th. Right before those capacity interviews, I did train again our um admin team on what a properly um constituted capacity interview. Remember these aren't required but it is best practice. and then board presentations tonight, the charter school evaluation um process overview and then next Tuesday is a special meeting. I do want to add in addition the district contracted with an external um evaluator, Dr. Mackenzie Khan from the Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers, also known as CAXA, to ensure the charter application review process was transparent, thorough, and aligned with best practices in charter school authorization at both the state and the national level. Dr. K Dr. Khan helped the team stay objective and eliminate any biases through the review process. So the evaluation tools used again I
070said you you have had the opportunity to look at these tools I've shared them with you the charter school application and evaluation standards document this tool provides a comprehensive framework aligned with board policy and Colorado state statute ensuring that all required components of a charter application are addressed and evaluated consistently. Charter school evaluation rubric also aligned to state statute and board policy. This rubric provides clear criteria and rating scales across each area to support evidence-based decisionmaking. And last, the capacity interviews. These interviews allow the evaluation team to assess the applicant's readiness and ability to implement their proposed model in practice. Um they these interviews help verify information in in the written application and identify areas needing any further clarification. Together these tools ensure that all charter applications are evaluated rigorously equitably and in the best
071interest of students, the district and our broader community. I am going to share this um this slide. It's got a little a lot of words. So, if you just want to take a moment and read it, um describes each of the rubric ratings. The top being fully developed from mostly to partially, and unfortunately, it's a little hard to read on the the front screen, not developed. I have highlighted or bolded some words that should grab your attention in each um area rating. So the evaluation process essentially has three steps. This first step um we will review uh the committee will review and evaluate the application against that new charter school application and evaluation standards document and the evaluation rubric. On the evaluation rubric, we note the strengths, concerns, and identify key questions that might need
072to be asked at the capacity interview. Finally, each evaluator will assign a preliminary rating for each section of the rubric reviewed and evaluated. When we move to step two at the capacity interview which is the capacity interview step um the evaluators ask clarifying key questions as identified in the evaluation rubric for specific sections. Evaluators may change their original rating based on the responses at the capacity interviews. Then the last step, all ratings are gathered from each evaluator's rubric and combined into one document and then each section is assigned an overall rating. These three steps collectively provide a body of evidence that will inform the final decisionmaking. While there are 19 sections of an application and all sections are reviewed and evaluated, there are eight sections, these listed above on on the slide, that represent the
073foundational elements necessary to open and operate a school. If any of these sections are underdeveloped, they raise concerns for the applicant's readiness to launch and sustain their school. Those sections are C goals, objectives, and pupil performance, D evidence of support, F plan for evaluating pupil performance, G budget and finance, H governance and facilities in section Q serving students with special needs and the section S school management contracts. So now I will share a little bit of information regarding the two applications that we received. Gateway for Success and Somerset Academy Scenic View. So the overview of Gateway for Success anticipated opening they would like to open um the fall of 2026 grade levels that they serve as 9 through 12 high school. The model, it's a blended learning model to include online and independent study coursework
074with dropin options. They plan to, if accepted, um, apply for an alternative ed campus and AEC. We do have one of those in the district already. The educational program is considered alternative, credit recovery, and a yearround school. And they'll have multiple of these drop-in centers. they are um they have or they're working in partnership with a charter management organization and that um CMO is pathways management group. Their enrollment projections are here and you can see those. Our second application is the Somerset Academy Scenic View anticipated opening fall of 2026. They plan to start um year 1 K5. Then years two through five there'll be a gradual expansion from um 25 to K8. I'm sorry, year 25 they'll gradually expand from K to 8th grade. Model is traditional in person on a school campus. their charter
075management organization that they are going they want to work with is Somerset Academy of Colorado. It's a nonprofit profit um corporation which contracts with the educational service provider Academica. And here you'll see their enrollment projections. So my final slide of the evening, what is the board's responsibilities? I know you know what your responsibilities are. However, I thought well this would be an opportunity to share not only with you but with um our the public. So you have had the charter school applications as long as we've had. So you need to ensure that you review those charter um applications all those materials entirely and thoroughly. You have both of those evaluation documents um to review and evaluate these applications. watch the capacity interview recordings. Um, and then next week, consider the D-51 summary of findings and
076recommendations. And again, it is your responsibility to vote to approve or deny any by resolution. And I put by June 30th. I know we're meeting on the 24th. State statute just says June 30th. So, it has to be done by June 30th. And with that I have shared the process with you all. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Jen. And that concludes my superintendent report. All right. Okay. Next up, we have audience comments. So, um, Director Jones will be calling who's up and then who's on deck. Uh, so up there at the microphone, you do have the timer, uh, which will be counting down, and then you also will have, uh, the ding at 30 seconds, which will just let you know that you have 30 seconds left to wrap up, and then a longer tone,
077um, when your time is complete. So, uh, Director Jones, are you ready to go? So, you have three minutes. uh for public comment. All righty. Up first we have uh Chris Masters and on deck Stanley Magnus Board of Education Hill. Thank you for having us today. My name is Chris Masters and I'm the chief operating officer for Homebound of the Grand Valley and Pathways Family Shelter. I am here today to advocate for transportation to and from school for our unhoused children. Um, our unhoused community, as we know, is the most vulnerable in our community, and our children out of that population are the most vulnerable. Um, I took the liberty of taking the walk from Pathways Family Shelter to Fruit Veil, both routes. Um, it took me about an hour. I would just imagine how
078long would take little 12-in legs to make that walk. Um, just something to think about. Since January, we have had about over 200 school age kids come through the shelter. And remember, we also share a parking lot with uh Pathways Village, which also has children that are have been recently unhoused that are just moving into an apartment that also will be affected by this. Um, I just want to paint a quick picture for you. You have a disabled parent with two school-aged kids, a toddler and an infant with no transportation. Um, it is going to be impossible for them to make it to school. Uh, as we know, transportation extremely improves learning and attendance when it comes to education. So what I am asking for is transportation for the most vulnerable of our community to
079and from school. Uh again right now we have about 50 children at our shelter. Please please consider this. This is very important. We have children um with all sorts of disabilities and uh the the last thing I would want is for a parent because of some of the uh issues with the children developmental and whatnot and physical um to take that walk and for one of the parents to lose positive control and the kid just run in the street and get hit. Um as I was walking down Orchard, I counted about 80 cars as I was going down Orchard. As I was going down past the Patterson, I stopped counting when I got to about 150 cars. Um, I also took the route through 24 and a half, through Bookcliffe, through Dawn Drive, which is
080not a very safe neighborhood for our children to be uh walking through. Most of most of our parents do not have uh transportation. So, this is my plea. Please provide transportation to the most vulnerable individuals in our community, our unhoused children. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, up next we have Stanley Madison and on deck Sheila Worth. Recently I had a chance encounter with a highly respected and long tenur faculty member at Grand Junction High School. He told me Grand Junction High School runs short of subs every day. Since this is the case, I wonder why does District 51 limit the number of subs it employs? Is District 51's incoming revenue so limited they can't employ all the subs they need? Uh most places they just say most districts are saying get bring your girlfriend, bring your
081mother or so have them be subs type of thing. I just I never have been able to understand this where there's such a limitation on the number of subs and yet they're running short every day. Uh I don't think it's a lack of funds. We've been talked that people have been talked to about all these funds coming in here, savings here, this and that. And then of course we recently had the chance to build a new Grand Junction High School uh that from complete scratch up so to speak and that took a lot of money and well he was 68 years old and did have flooding problems I as I understand but looking at the original four Denver high schools north, west, south and east those are all about 100 years plus and still going
082and also So, but uh I think there's there's plenty of funds that are coming in. Uh on another highly critical note, when I interviewed with the the human resources, the director of human resources some years ago, she told me she didn't think I could handle the students of Mesa County District 51 as they are truly very unruly and misbehaved. Perhaps the principles and the faculty of the district 51 schools should be given additional inservice instruction on student management. Also in regard to uh campus security officers, maybe not have them only be protecting the students from outside perpetrators, but monitoring and somewhat getting after the students that are causing disruptions in the classroom and making things so hard for teachers, administrators, and the good students to have to endure. There was a measure that worked well
083in the Amarillo schools. It would regarding to have the resource officers the option of charging the person and a fine or community service. That would be something that might work well in in uh Grand Junction schools. Um yeah, I think that just is seems to be quite a mystery why they're running short every day yet they only hire a limited amount of subs. I that's a mystery I have yet to to try to understand. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Stanley. All right, up now we have Miss Sheila Worth and on deck Joshworth. Do I start anytime? Yes, ma'am. Okay. Dr. Hill district administration um and board of education. I through this whole charter process um I have gained a whole new appreciation for what you do. I just have to say
084um from the top down I just it's it's huge. Um I don't have a whole lot of comment um other than to say that I know Somerset Scenic strongly desires to partner uh with District 51 in a strategic and truly collaborative way um to address the needs that have been shared tonight and and during other times as well. I do want to say we are not adversaries to anyone. Um but we are partners and that's truly how I see it. I wouldn't be part of it if it weren't the case. I'm not I'm not into that kind of thing. So um but we are truly partners in providing highquality education and a culture of kindness for all students. And um I think we have we all have that in common. um with an estimated and
085this is just uh just making phone calls almost 400 students on weight lists at the current charter schools in Grand Junction. Um and this doesn't include the number of students that are on weight lists at school of choice um schools in the district. Um but with almost 400 students, I I don't think it will be hard to um to meet our enrollment um projections. And I also want to challenge kind of the paradigm thought and maybe not necessarily yours but just maybe in the community or with different ones about how that we're not taking from the district but that we would want to work with the district to kind of rise everything up. So it would be it it just really could be quite possible where in the end D-51 could benefit, everyone would benefit.
086Um, but that that really requires strategic conversations, collaboration, um, and and those kinds of things. Um, I know in our application, it's not just words on a page. It's not a template. It isn't just things that just sort of we just threw in there because it sounded good. It it really is what we what we believe and who we are. Um, and I can't believe I have time left. So, um, oh, that two corrections perhaps. One, we'd love to have it, uh, in 2025, not 2026, if that's a possibility. Uh, and then also the CMO is Somerset Academy, Inc., so just one small little correction, but thank you. Ready up now? We have Josh Worth and our final one, Miss Miss Miranda Young. How you guys doing this evening? Uh, I just want to thank
087everyone from the district for this collaboration uh with Jyn Marsh and and everyone with the district through this process. Uh, like Sheila said, I can't say any better. a true appreciation for what you guys do every day. Um to just get a little glimpse into um the lives of of the district employees and the people that make this district run so flawlessly. So, thank you guys for everything that you guys do. I think it goes unappreciated. So, I just wanted to start off by saying that. Um uh I just had a couple questions. I uh we have some updated enrollment numbers for our charter application and some facility updates and different things. I didn't know if uh uh I was under the impression the recommendation would be tonight. So, I was going to speak to
088those tonight, but I didn't know if I should email those uh or what the best way would be to get those to you just to make sure you guys make the most informed decision based on our most up-to-date um data that we have. Um I just wanted to talk a little bit about this morning. I uh sat in on a uh board meeting, the annual board meeting for the Somerset Network. Uh it was the first chance I got a chance to see all the principles and other board members during these annuals that they have for the whole CMO network and I was extremely impressed. I just want I wish I could have recorded it or shared it. Maybe it's recorded and I can share it with you guys just to show you the people that
089are behind this mission. Um it's the same people that were coming here to Grand Junction, speaking with our families, with our parents, having parent meetings and uh and they're just so open and just so loving on all their kids and it was just so kid focused during this, you know, meeting when they're talking about millions of dollars worth of budgets and it still everything came back for how this is going to benefit the kids in every single one of their schools. They had schools that had intense challenges with um free and reduced lunch, really high rates of that in underprivileged areas and they were giving out awards to those students that made these huge growth strides into the principles. So, it was just really encouraging to see even though it wasn't our community, just to
090stand back and watch how that could look like in in our community, how we can pull from that and uh and really shape it with ingrain it with what makes our community so special. So, I just wanted to share that with you guys and hopefully I can get a hold of that recording and pass it along because it's a public document being an annual board meeting so anybody can watch it and anybody could attend those meetings. Um, we've been told by community members that they've been emailing letters of support for the charter. So, I just wanted to ensure uh that that those are coming through and and u I think a few people said that they're they may have been ending up in spam folders. So, I just wanted to share that. There were some
091concerns some parents. So, I just wanted to pass that along that that's the the communications that they have chosen to kind of show their support was sending in some emails. So, um I I just am really encouraged by the community as a whole. It's been very encouraging to hear from parents um just the motivation they have behind this and we really look forward to what's next. Thank you guys. [Applause] And our final audience uh would be Miss Miranda Young. Good evening. I just wanted to let you know some of you not might not know me. I am a special education teacher for D51. I've been teaching here for 20 years and I absolutely love working in D51. And I also love the students that I work with each and every day and watching them grow
092and improve. A in the last couple weeks, a couple of issues have come up um that I've noticed. One is the relationship with MVA and the board. I know that it's gotten tricky. Um I've watched for 20 years. I'm not I'm an I'm a member but I'm not an I don't I just basically observe and I've been observing and I really hope that in July that we can get to a point where both sides can work together um and create the positive outcomes for teachers and for students. And then the next issue is looking at steps and lanes. um that it's really important to teachers and especially steps because we can't gain those back as um like making up steps and I learned that through our transition back to the um steps and lanes model
093and so as I'm at my 20 year mark I'm starting to look at retirement not for a while but I need it really is helpful when I look at the steps and lanes of knowing when it's that time and how to plan my life. So, thank you so much for your uh time and thank you so much for all that you do for us as teachers and for our students that we are here for. Thank you. [Applause] That concludes our audience comments for the evening. All right, thank you everyone. All right, next up we have our consent agenda. [Music] Right, the consent agenda contains personnel actions and acceptance of gifts. Uh these are items that are routine and can be approved by a single motion. Items on the consent agenda will not be discussed individually
094by the board unless an item is removed for individual consideration. Uh board, is anyone requesting any items to be removed this evening? Okay, seeing none, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Okay. Mr. Chavez, approved. Mrs. Evansson, yes. Mrs. Heights, yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Miss Lima, yes. All right. Um, next up we have um business items. So board, you'll see we have some policy first readings. Um, so if you have any questions um between now and our next meeting, just make sure that you uh are able to ask any questions just a lot of these are again minor changes or changes that were required to make via the state. Um, so we have our first readings for these changes and you'll see those red lines
095that we received um in our emails. So these are just the first um and then next up we have um the new strategic plan adoption. So I'd like to actually uh move to table this just until our special meeting on Tuesday. My apologies. I just have not had enough time to get through everything this week since I got back into town. So if I just to wait until Tuesday to approve. Is is everybody good voting on the strategic plan next Tuesday? Delaying it one week. Okay. So, just next week. Okay. Well, do we have a Oh, sorry. Thank you. Do we have a second to table the um new strategic plan adoption to next Tuesday? I'll second it. Is Is there any But is there can we have a discussion about it really quick? Is
096there is there any issue or like anything that's going to offset that by giving it seven more days other than I'll have a a better chance to see it and just go through it. I mean I feel like you spent a lot of your personal time doing that. I mean I know I was able to attend one of the meetings but you attended the majority of those. So I think out of the respect of the time that you spent at those meetings that you would have a better insight on that than I would. So, I would if there's anything that you saw during your time in those meetings that just doesn't look right to you. No, you spent more time than that. Well, I'm just saying there's no there's no specific reason, right? Well, I'm
097just saying that out of respect for the time that you spent at those, you know, those meetings like I would second that. Not to put words in your mouth, but you were on vacation, so I think you were just needing time to look at it. Time to go on vacation. Well, you were just you were away and you didn't have time. I just have not had time to get through everything. There's a lot that went down in the last three weeks. So yeah, I just you had a life and just asking for a little more time. If I could just have a little more time absolutely do that. So board good. Next week, next Tuesday. Okay, we can vote on it next Tuesday. We'll vote on tableabling it. Yeah, vote. Yeah, we're voting on tableabling
098it till next Tuesday. So we'll vote. Okay. Mr. Chavis? Yes. Mrs. Evansson? Yes. Mrs. Heights? Yes. Mr. Jones? Yes. Miss Lima. Yes. Okay. So, table. All right. And then we have a resolution for display certified staff. Um, so we have that resolution in your packet. Do I have a motion for the resolution for certified staff to approve a resolution? Move to approve the resolution. Second. Any discussion? This is no different than what we've had to do before. Okay. So, just so everybody knows. All right. So, seeing no further discussion, we can go ahead and take the vote. Mr. Chavez, yes. Mrs. Evansson, yes. Mrs. Heights, yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Miss Lima, yes. All right. Um, and then do I have a motion to approve the 2025 2026 uh budget adoption? Motion to approve the 202526
099budget adoption. Second. Any discussion on that? We had Mel present the last couple of weeks and we've had our two budget hearings. So, okay. Seeing no discussion, we can go ahead and take the vote. Mr. Chavis, yes. Mrs. Evansson, yes. Mrs. Heights, yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Ms. Lima, yes. All right. And then also with uh well, do I have a motion to approve the use of the beginning fund balance? Motion to approve the use of the beginning fund balance. Second. This was also discussed um with Mel. So, okay. Seeing no discussion, we can take the vote. Mr. Thomas, yes. Mrs. Evansson, yes. Mrs. Heights, yes. Mr. Jones, yes. Miss Lima, yes. I suppose I could have done all three of these together. Sorry, board. It's okay. All right. Uh, do I have a motion to
100borrow unencumbered monies for other district funds? Motion to approve borrowing unencumbered money for other district funds. And I'll second. Go ahead and take Mr. Chavez. Yes. Mrs. Evansson. Yes. Mrs. Heights? Yes. Mr. Jones? Miss Lima? Yes. All right. Thank you, board. That concludes our business items. Um any other board discussion? Okay. Seeing none, we have um our board meeting. Uh well, we actually have a candidate a board of education candidate workshop. That'll be something new that we are doing this year. We actually have um the Colorado Association of School Board uh Matt Cook uh joining us to help us with a candidate workshop and that will be uh Monday, June 23rd here in this room at 5:30. Um I think some board members will be here to help answer any questions for anyone that's interested
101in being a candidate for uh board of education. and uh Matt will answer some questions and I believe our own legal counsel will be here to answer questions. And then we have our uh special meeting um next Tuesday the 24th for both the charter and um our strategic plan adoption vote. So all right, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Motion to adjurnn. All right. Thank you everyone.