001e e e welcome to the March 4th board meeting I would like to call the meeting to order and ask that you stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge alleg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all may have a motion to approve the regular meeting approv all second John Christensen y Chris Luca Kathy Helen Ann o AJ Wilson y motion carried okay Mr Christi pick it up yes um pertaining to the open forum tonight um we have four speakers for bua school and we're under time constraints for open forum tonight so I'm assuming you all know who who you are if you wouldn't mind picking one to speak on behalf
002of Bula so we can stick to our time would that be well I hope that's acceptable because that's if you could just give us enough time for the two stud the two students absolutely or we can do the we did last time we 230 so you get up to 10 minutes you get either over perfect absolutely okay okay that's all all right okay we're going to start with gifts um our first item is a donation an in kind donation to District 70 from the Denver Broncos Foundation Mr bugard yeah good evening Board of Education superintendents directors all the guests and our sweet YouTubers online I'm here um for a gift and all of you that support the Denver the Denver Broncos in a variety of ways whether you buy their tickets support their refreshment Gardens
003or other Bronco apparel they have decided to their Foundation is given back to the state of Colorado over 15,000 football helmets across the state essentially what they're doing is they're breaking it Down based on classification so chassa classification and Football goes from six-man all the way up to fiveman based on those classifications they have identified numbers that are going to each school over the next four years right thanks thanks Matt um over the next four years we'll receive essentially uh next year Ry High School will receive nine helmets publo County High School will receive receive 17 publo West will receive 21 over the next 4 years we'll total about 200 helmets in this in this donation um from the Denver Broncos foundation so I'm here in front of you um with that generous gift from
004the Denver Broncos questions no cool thank you go Broncos [Applause] okay um our next items are donations to Ry High School Mr Addington hi and thank you for the uh Board of Education I have two donations tonight the first one is a $1,200 donation to Ry High School general Athletics from High Country fence LLC the second one is a $500 donation to The Ry High School baseball team from the power wash LLC so certainly accept that those um very great of those two businesses uh same person from both of them so we certainly really appreciate their support any plans for it yet so coach Graham for the baseball team is going to be using his money for some uniforms and then for the general fund I think we are probably going to allocate those to
005another Sports team's uniform fund as well very nice thank you thank you [Applause] he may have a motion to accept the gifts as presented some hi y motion carried okay we have a good news item this evening um it is about the Ry High School oyster fry Mr Bean evening board um can't believe it's already that time of year again but just as every year I'm here to invite you and everybody watching to our annual Rocky Mountain oyster fry it's coming up on March 19th um the whole board you receive two tickets and those are our sponsor tickets um we provide all of our sponsors with a different color ticket that gives them a little bit of a fast lane past the line because we serve about 750 to 800 people in just over an
006hour at that event uh but we have Rocky Mountain oysters for those of you that don't know what they are they you know what they are um and for those of you that are a little bit more chicken we also serve chicken um but with that we have all the fixings that go along with it we have the oyster fry um we have a silent auction or silent auction that is huge filled with items um It lines the entire gym from all of our gender sponsors and folks around the community and we also have our annual member labor auction which is where our members who attend Stock Show in exchange for their trip to Stock Show they give eight hours of Labor to the chapter to be auctioned off to local community members and businesses
007to work for the pay that goes to that stock show so they do not pay a dime to go to stock show with us uh but they do pay it back in their labor that they provide to the community um so we auction off um we'll have about 30 different um freshman and Junior or freshman sophomores sell together Juniors and seniors are individual and it's a it's a hoot we have a local um Cody shy is going to be our Auctioneer again this year and he really interacts well with the crowd so it's a spectacle like I say we have about 750 every year um also tonight I did want to introduce this is Mr Tristan Holland this is my student teacher for this year um from Fort Collins originally from Otis and we actually
008have to head out of here I'm kind of excited kind of good news I know um we're going to head out of here as soon as we're done with this to head to Fowler because my first ever student that was mine that is now an A teacher has her Hired Hand auction tonight so got to go support her but I appreciate you all I really hope that you have the opportunity to come use those tickets if you need some more let me know we have plenty and I look forward to seeing you all there can you tell everyone what on average you guys raise at that de pretty phal so over the last 5 years we've averaged right about $32,000 on the night um between all of our [Applause] sponsors so we have all different
009things we have our sponsor levels from um bronze being 1 to 99 silver 100 to 4.99 gold 500 to 9.99 and then Platinum a th000 um we have all those different sponsor levels each one come with different sponsor um um advertising opportunities and about 12 to 13 comes from our sponsors directly in monetary somewhere around there every year then we have a bunch of sponsors that do the monetary value of items for our silent auction it can be either monetary or silent auction items then we have however much through the food and the auctions that we have gets us like I say right around 32 to 34 and we're hoping it's the same this year because this year we did have to pay for a team to go to National Convention so we're a little
010bit over our our typical spending this year so we hope it's a good another good event but awesome it's a ball it's G to be nuts all right guys thank you so much thank [Applause] you okay um next we have information from the board superintendence um let's start with John uh yeah had a piggyback not really Piggyback in addition to the Ry FF R High FFA program the craer FFA program which is now recognized by the state was just awarded a $75,000 grant for a new Greenhouse out there to help with that program so hopefully we can get all the te's crossed and eyes dotted to make that work work and benefit those kids there's still some things a few little line items to get through but hopefully we can make that work and get
011it going so that's a very good exciting thing happening out at Craver I got plenty coming all right Cathy let's see uh not too much it's kind of like my house has been um Typhoid Mary everybody's been sick at one every and a different person every single week so was my turn like two weeks ago and now it's my granddaughter so we're just working on getting better but at least I'm here that's right so that's the good news AJ I don't think I have anything tonight okay superintendent R uh well I spent some time in Rye and in Bula on Monday to alleviate some uh fears of those individuals at those schools to to let them know you know we we had gone through um the Staffing patterns and that uh at least for this
012this year you know even considering the budget with worst case scenarios that um we had no intention at this point in time of closing karer Bula or avendelle um so I I just wanted to go out and have some of those conversations with those principles and talk to a few of those teachers uh in those buildings to alleviate some of the concerns that I know I know everybody has some of those concerns you know what what does the future look like and and we do too because we are also waiting for those line item budgets to come through so that we know exactly what we're getting um and I'm sure you guys all hear uh in the news every day it changes a little bit and so we just need you to be hopeful for
013us and to continue to reach out to your legislators and and ask them to fully fund education because uh it's it's important for our kids it's important for our teachers and it's important for our community because it's it's jobs and it it's our livelihoods so sorry we have had them reach out too so yeah and we have yeah I mean it's working because they they are hearing us and they're not just hearing from us I mean they're hearing from all over the state but I they have certainly heard from you and we have heard back and I appreciate that cuz so that's working so thank you not much to report other than that I always try to recognize certain groups throughout uh the year all of our winter sports are are wrapping up in activities
014and now we're moving into the spring so just want to congratulate all of those uh kids and teams and organizations that have been representing our district at various events over the last three months uh they've had a good year and we uh we're proud of everything that they've done and now we're moving into to Spring and so we wish all those teams uh well and hopefully we reporting on uh good things that that they're doing coming up okay I don't have anything for this evening either okay we'll move on um our first presentation is a call to action um and it's for a resolution I'm going to go ahead and read the resolution and then um we will be signing up so we're at in 2010 as a way to balance the state budget during
015the Great Recession the BS Factor borrowed money from K12 education every year until Colorado students faced a funding gap of more than 10 billion combined with state tax code restraints constraints excuse me per pupil funding levels have failed to keep Pace with national standards consistently placing Colorado among the lowest ranked States while buying down the BS Factor was an important step to fully funding public education in Colorado doing so last year only returned public education funding to 1989 levels that commitment would fund our schools to the minimum amount required by the state constitution Beyond meeting constitutional requirements there is an inherent need to Dev deeper into the intricate fabric of funding support supporting our education system it necessitates identifying and implementing sustainable long-term solutions that will not only Bridge the existing gaps but also Foster
016an environment where schools receive adequate and Equitable funding whereas the public County School District 70 Board of Education recognizes The Chronic underfunding of public school education with Educators students families suffering from subsequent effects of these education funding costs Cuts daily and whereas we are confident our community including parents families caregivers Faith leaders and followers Business Leaders laborers Educators families and their school district administrators neighbors and friends will gracefully fill the Gap and make the sacrifices it will take while our Educators advocate for what they need to educate our children and secure the future of Colorado in ways they see fit be it resolved that the public County School District 70 board of education is in full support of our Educators and stands ready to take any steps necessary to improve conditions for our Educators and
017will not retaliate or support retaliation against any educator who takes part in days of action during the 2025 Colorado general assembly legislative session regardless of whether they travel to their state capital in Denver or participate in activities within loc their local communities be it finally resolved that the public County School District Board of Education urges the Colorado general assembly to commit meaningful and significant funding to public K12 education during the 2025 legislative session on behalf of the children families and Educators in our state and we're signing this into resolution um today does anybody have any comments on it be can I comment on it yes to me this to me this shows us support for our teachers and our administrators and our leaders to go to the capital and to um support this call this
018call to action and I thank Allison for bringing that uh toward forward to us so that we would know um about this plan for educators to go to the capital and ask for our funding to be fully funded our education to be fully funded so you know we we support one another and we are a team we are in this together it is always us us trying to make it happen for our kids so that's that's just what I wanted to say that so thank you thank you yes and I'd like to say every opportunity I get which is is pretty significant because I attend a lot of different things I see the Educators the legislators and I I have one that like sees me coming and he starts running the other way so it's
019like every single chance I've had and I'm talking over the past like three and a half years I am constantly hammering legislators first off I wanted rur designation for our schools and I found out we're at $10,000 10,000 students were not considered girl which really upset me and um but trying to figure out how they can stop this BS Factor because that's what it is and we know all know what BS stands for and that's what that's what we've been getting from the governor so keep in mind it's not us it's the governor that's done this to us over and over and over again all right okay we'll go ahead and move on um next up we have our our first Traders report here we go you guys are much better looking from this side
020of the room just going to throw that out there in case I jack up all right so we're going to try and debunk some things or prove them to be right um this recommendation has come up quite a bit that we should split the district up and we could get it to the correct size and we can get the correct funding to get that rural status so um first up for the finding so if we were to split it we'd have to split it to at least five different districts so couldn't split it down the middle like we think it'd be just that easy to do um it looks like to get that rural funding that $ 18 to $23,000 per student that we would Aspire for we'd have 50 to 200 kids per District
021not per school so I don't know that we could even get down that far I don't even know if the math is five it might even be a little bit more than that um so the other piece of that is what do you know where do the charters go um would they go to District 70 A B C D or F um so that's another piece of it that would either put us over most likely so we can't really split it down that far um next one is if we were to split it no matter well I guess the the region that stayed District 70 original would be responsible for paying any outstanding bonds um so the last Bond measure that we had let's say we split it in half the Mesa stayed the district
022just the Mesa would be responsible for paying back those bonds so publica West would not have any financial responsibility even though they reaped the benefits so that was another one that didn't make good sense because at that point we couldn't afford it without public West infrastructure um out there um next piece um if we were to split it they'd have to fire hire a full Administration superintendent CFO HR Athletics maintenance ESS Food Services Etc so after all of that again that at cost that I don't think based on the numbers that we would have per dollar or per kid per student we would be able to afford that in two different districts um the next one is if we were to do that CDE would punish us for that so they've thought against I guess
023ahead and if we were to split our district to basically um accommodate for the correct funding um we would be penalized for the split um and if it was that you know it was was uh declining enrollment they would phase out that loss and funding instead of penalizing us so in conclusion um it sounds like a great idea but we'd not be able to pay the bonds the state would penalize us and we cannot split into the numbers needed for small rural designation any questions there this status what what is our current status so people know cuz we're labeled on the thing as P rural we're not technically so one week we're Urban last week we were what were we Urban outlier no Fring Town Fringe Town yeah so that I get that's just that's
024a new designation isn't it huh a new designation so Town Fringe would actually benefit us if we were to stay that status so um that that's that I think on that let's run to the next one so we thought it'd be cool for our public to see kind of what we're up against um and what that timeline looks like so in February we were made aware that the state could possibly cut two million $2 and5 million dollar from our budget um so that's kind of when um we started basically the conversation started um we are looking at staff adjustments for this March 2025 era um based on that resolution we just signed though it's really hard to even say that that should be a suggestion right now so I do want to throw out a
025third option um when we see our numbers in two weeks there is something where we don't cut until we know what the numbers are um it could be a $2 million gamble but that's something that I think that we should think hard about and consider um and then we're not putting everybody into a tail spin so just that one's out there for that um in the spring we'll get our final budget numbers of course um we'll know what our funding is per um as it sat this last run instead of being short 2.4 we're only short 1.9 now um so that's that's fun um we'll then get our final budget allocation and in the summer of 2025 we're looking at hopefully if the board agrees um to try again for another mevy override um in
026the event that we were to pass that mil Levy override we basically we can kind of stop there um we're back into a safe zone for a while until the legislator ties to somehow derail us again um if we are unsuccessful again in that override um then we'd have to start looking at um more budget restructuring which most likely would include consolidation of schools and more positions so so um kind of the highlights here we're not closing any schools until we know for sure that we've exhausted every option and I just threw that on your plate about um the staff adjustments um I did want to throw out just a couple of things um based on the last run with that funding that we are um it is a plus $2 million for our next
027uh funding year basically if they were to keep it as is as the town Fringe we're in a much better spot and then I did want to share if I can find it now um the correct funding so CDE School Finance project put out there um they had two independent studies on what our funding should be so there were two recommendations our current total that we are funded is 113.5 million one independent study found that we should be funded at 26.6 milon milon per year and the other felt that we should be at $1 171.123 be almost twice what we get now okay good job thank you for all that thanks Chris any time oh wait I'm not done but wait there's more um we're looking at some other um cuts just to kind of
028bring them up real quick um we are looking at Vehicles if they're um if they're being used at all um insurance if we're paying too much in Insurance Etc like that we can downsize vehicles um look at some other things I I think um what else we were going to look at um if we're still using cell phones Etc um wanted to look at some other things I can't remember right now because I got all nervous just now but um if I remember them I'll bring them up later but yeah that's where we're at for that right now cool sounds good thank you thank you I do think it's very cool that we perform at the level we do for the funding that we have yeah and that that is a testimony to all of
029the staff in the district and how great of a job they [Applause] do okay our next presentation is for the second quarter financial report Mrs wh evening so as Chris this so as of December 31st um the graphs show what we have received quarter to dat in our general fund revenues and as you can tell how dependent we are on state revenue that uh is in the orange and then um we are right on track with our budget to actual um there as well on the next page is our expenses for the general fund and there we go and this one's a little harder to see but uh you can tell that we're right on track with our budget we're not over budget um we're right on track for the quarter and year to date
030so there any questions all right thank you thank you okay next up is a PO excuse me presentation of policy GCE GCF revisions Mrs Russell oh there you are I just saw her good evening Madam president members of the board um I was asked to um have a discussion regarding policy GC GCF which is professional staff recruiting and hiring um annually we do re review our processes and practices and we do make policy updates as required generally uh via casby when there are uh wording changes legal references Etc we do make those updates policy GC GCF was last updated on August 8th 2020 2024 and basically those were legal updates um the section in that policy that is um up for discussion tonight hiring of administration was not changed in that update um in reviewing
031updates of that policy clar back to 2006 which is as far back as we could find uh board uh docs that would indicate policy updates that section of the policy was in the policy at that time as it is now so it hasn't been changed since 2006 so that's good information to have um we we did also review other District policies in regard to hiring of professional staff and hiring of administration and other policies do not list a specific um process for hiring Administration in our um current language as you know that there is very specific what that process looks like um that the director of Personnel Services orchestrates um a meeting of community members and parents to obtain traits and qualities that the community is looking for in in leadership at the building um
032the HR Director also meets with teachers and staff to uh get uh input on the traits and qualities of leadership within their building and then um organizes a committee of principals and District directors and coordinators to screen any applicants um the superintendent the assistant superintendent the director of Personnel Services and other directors interview the candidates and the superintendent or designate checks professional references and background checks and then the superintendent makes the final recommendation um to the board of education for hiring again this is the process in our policy for hiring Administration our past practice has not been aligned with the policy that is that is not our practice of what we have done um we have had Committees of um parents staff and District administration often times that committee is 15 people it's a very
033large committee for hir in um and can be quite intimidating for candidates to walk into that type of an interview process um we would make some suggestions and we've had some conversations about what maybe that process should look like um that perhaps we should have you know we we would continue to get uh input from Community parents and staff on attributes that they're looking for in their building leadership that we would have a screening team with a staff member two to three principles and one or two directors um those scores through the screening are very um objective based on uh the roles and responsibilities required to um be a principal and with the job description once those scores were received from a screening team that then our assistant superintendent and superintendent would review those and
034determine who would be interviewed we would have an interview team with two staff members a parent two to three principls two to three directors and coordinator and the Director of Human Resources we would have the committee then recommend two or three candidates to go to our superintendent and assistant superintendent for a final interview and they would then the superintendent would then make a recommendation for hiring of a a leadership Administration within the district so that kind of some suggestions like some input on that um as I said that piece of the policy hasn't been updated since before 2006 any questions 2006 I was a sophomore everybody know that that's age me or you yeah well I was hired in 2002 as a principal and that was not the process that I was hired under so
035I know it was not the process then but it might have been a policy I don't know okay well one element that we talked about was the two staff members and and the board member from that region could either have a choice of sitting in as a community me member or getting with some of the staff from that school and appointing a a Community member to sit in with them as well um like you said we've kind of stepped outside of that policy um it's what happened with Ry High last year and it I think it kind of turned out pretty well um thought it was a good process and we ended up with a really good principle that would be me personally would be a direction I would like to see go through these
036these committees just to throw my two cents out there know AJ in an email it said that that might be tough because like PA West there's essentially three of you but I mean four oh yeah that's right CU we're all jacked up uhuh we could always agree on someone though or appoint someone as a group so like as the board we could appoint somebody yeah to represent I I think it's important to have a a community voice on there yeah and I really like the the the recommendations going to the superintendent because the principal ultimately does you got to get along with the community their staff and the superintendent so that's that's a good final step to to take that's all I have okay well we definitely I think we like having the community input
037and stuff though I think that's I think that's very policy to reflect it yeah so we didn't we didn't want to change the policy right before we were hiring principles because we didn't want it to appear like we were trying to change policy so that's why we're asking for your your recommendations so that we can change the policy according more accordingly to our practice um and we can change and be transparent about what we're putting into that policy especially whenever we're doing it um right before we're hiring principles so that's why we're asking for this discussion so that the community and everybody knows that that we never did change that policy and it we practiced different from our policy Mr dietro and I I will begin our meetings in fact we're at Ry tomorrow so
038we'll be having those meetings but I would be happy to bring a revision to the policy to the March 18th board meeting okay which would be before we would start the interview process that'd be great thank you thanks okay uh next up is open for do we have any comments oh boy um yes we do uh you uh I'm going to leave you guys till the end is that okay we'll get through these other couple and so we'll start with Miss Maggie D Mato want me to talk just discussed that very do you have anything to add I mean just that we would as staff members we would prefer to have a voice you know it doesn't have to be a majority Voice by any means but I mean we always have in the past
039and we've always done well I think with our choices yeah um so yeah I don't want to waste everybody's time if we are going to revise it yeah if you are happy with what we discussed then yeah I think I am so so you just would like a voice in when you're the higher than princi it's the way we've always done it and so yeah it'd be super if we could have couple staff members Community member be a part of that interview team absolutely agree we agree cool so I'm not going to waste your time with my my passionate spe okay is it the same one you emailed no oh well that one was very good too all right um okay perfect moving on uh next up Miss Alison B spit my gum out my
040Barry VPR is a speech teacher so spit my gum out um so Alison ballis I'm president of the public County Education Association and resident of pu West um thank you for proposing and passing the resolution to support fully funding education notm only only here in District 70 but across the state state so a little participation even though I'm not I'm not really allowed to have it raise your hand in this room if you went to were educated in a public school keep your hand raised if you were educated in a Colorado Public school so thank you that's the importance of public education um I'm here tonight to give some facts about the Public Funding in the state of Colorado so that we can understand why the resolution and a day of action that's coming up
041on March 20th this is so important um and as as I read the word teacher it also means all of our educational support or classified employees too so Colorado's public schools have been are $4 billion dollar behind our fund leading students need to to thrive classrooms are overcrowded resources are outdated and education educators are stretched too thin and a cut is a cut and our students are paying the price as the state level Colorado marks uh ranks 46 in starting salaries for teachers pushing Educators out of the profession and hurting students investing in schools means investing in kids Educators can afford to teach in Colorado and our students are paying the price with one of the lowest starting salaries in the country country we're losing teachers faster than we could replace them here every student
042in Colorado is missing out on $44,000 in education funding per student almost half of Colorado's Educators can't afford to live near their schools more than eight and 10 Educators know a colleague who left the profession in the last year um and nearly half of Colorado's educators are thinking about leaving the profession low pay high stress and constant underfunding are pushing them out across the state um if we don't ask now our students will lose what can we do we can talk to our legislators um at count just the um Colorado Education Association there's a link through their website that their members have sent 65,000 emails to the legislators not including what they've gotten here from District 70 um community members um the Colorado educating Education Association is asking members to partner with school boards and
043administration to present to participate in a call to action day on Thursday March 20th in Denver at the capital results will happen when Educators take time away from their classrooms to attend Lobby days because they know that legislators must hear directly 30 seconds I no from our schools every day because too often they don't see what happens inside our classrooms legislators make decisions that shape Colorado schools many legislators have never stepped into an underfunded classroom Public Schools need investment not excuses 4 billion in funding thousands of vacancies so I continue to ask you to email your legislators and your federal legislators thank you I forgot to say earlier we got kind of mixed up with everything that the timer is on the TV three minutes be a 30 second morning warning um so with that
044being said uh next up is Miss Amanda grou oh man I was gonna say that you should try her M name that's hard oh yeah that's a good one being an elementary though like the so it's ravich but little Elementary have a really hard time saying the V sound so I'll let you do it that way okay so I want to start off by saying first off um I appreciate the policy change and I acknowledge that I just want to um kind of solidify the fact that teachers um were from prair winds and were coming up on having a new principal um so we want the option to be able to be involved in that process it's important to us um so teachers bring valuable insights that are specific to the building where the new
045principal will serve we live and breathe the culture of prairie winds every day we know what works what challenges we face and what qualities are necessary in a leader who will not not only support and enhance the strong Foundation that was built um leadership is more about just more than just administrative skills it's about organization fostering relationships and maintaining the culture of trust and collaboration that makes a school successful Chris I know what you're going through now I don't know what it is about that Podium but oh my goodness uh Miss Brenda Jury has set the bar very high her dedication hard work and Leadership have shaped perie winds into the school it is today finding someone who can carry on and build upon that Legacy is essential the teachers who work at with Within
046These Walls who know the heart of this school should have a state in selecting the person who will lead us into the future most of us know from personal experience that a principal can make or break a school the impact of strong effective leadership is undeniable just as the effects of poor leadership can be devastating the teachers who will work alongside the next principal need to feel that their voices and experience expertise are valued in this process no one understands the day-to-day workings of our schools better than those of us inside them we preach the important importance of community in our schools and often within our building we tell our students that their voices matter that working together makes us stronger and that collabor collaboration is the key to success yet leaving teachers out of
047the hiring process for the person who will lead us um is the opposite of what we say we value if we truly believe in community then we must practice in moments like this moments where unity and shared decision- making will have a lasting impact um our input should matter in choosing the next leader who will shape Prairie WIS for years to come and I thank you very much for your time and consideration thank [Applause] you and next we have um Adria Sharon I say that right yes you did good get better that's rare um I am here tonight speaking on behalf of my children their students at North Mesa Elementary School I am a mother of multiple children at that school currently and then one potentially within the next couple years I'm also a board
048member of the North Mesa Elementary School PTA um so I just wanted to come and speak on the impact that budget cuts could potentially have on our little school it's clear to me that you understand the impact of budget cuts and you really your goal is not for that to happen um but it is always worth speaking on um if we were to have the proposed budget cuts at North Mesa the impact on our classes um our class size specifically would be pretty big right now our student uh teacher ratio is about 21 to 23 students um per teacher our classrooms are relatively small if we were to receive the budget cut um that are is being proposed that would go up to 30 to 35 per um teacher and that's obviously a huge impact
049not only is it a going to be a large impact obviously on the quality of instruction but also the logistics of it the classroom size fire safety and then of course we always have to ask ourselves are we going to be able to continue to be a performance school and continue to do what we do with these students with that decrease instruction um I do know as a parent and as a product of d70 myself um that when it was time to look at putting my kids in schools I had options and I chose North Mesa specifically because of the quality of its education and I chose to stay in d70 for that very same reason so kudos to you all for that I am a proud d70 graduate um I would like to continue
050to be able to do that I would like to be able to continue to speak um about what a great education we are delivering not only at our school but at our district and to help continue to encourage parents to support public schooling um secondarily complete pivot specifically I'm a product of Avendale elementary school I had the privilege of walking to and from school every day K through 5 um I was raised in Avendale and I have a very intimate knowledge of how difficult it is thank you to function in that small community um as a family and as a student and as a child being so separate so I just also would like to make a quick little blurb um a strong request to really really please please do not consider closing avendelle Elementary
051School it's very much worth your consideration not only um for the um English Second Language Community um but for the very very rural community that it truly is who might not get the quality education any other way should you close it thank you thank you and M Amber prior can can I address the class size oh because I I just want to address the class sizes because based on principal projections we we ensured that there were not class sizes of over 30 that we tried to look at them to ensure that they were around 25 and so what we had talked with principles about were that once they hit that 30 Mark to me that's not acceptable and we would add another teacher and so I encourage principles to pull from their wait lists and
052and say that you are going to take those kids that have applied within your District so that you can actually show that they're in power school and they're coming to your school and and that parents know that you're going to accept those kids if we don't accept those kids they move on they parents want to know where their kids are going to go to school like as soon as possible so that a conversation that we have had and so there will not be class sizes of over 30 because we'll add another teacher just no I mean like I'm not you can afterwards I'd be happy to talk about it but um but that is not the intent ever to have a class size of 30 to 35 and and I think it's also important to
053note that depending on where the budget Falls um and we've been doing this for several years is if if those class sizes were a little larger in K2 then we we would put those instructional AIDS back into that piece of it but we have to know where our budget is at first because across the district we've been consistent with this class thank sorry thank you hi I'm Amber prior um I was asked to speak today on behalf of my son the students and the faculty of North Mesa regarding the potential budget cuts in the impacts I speak to you as a parent and a former d70 educator and administrator I understand that there is no easy decision to be made here and I don't envy the positions that you all are in as you consider
054cutting positions from North Mesa and the schools I ask you that you consider these important information and how it impacts the students family and faculties Colorado has a critical shortage for educators when positions are eliminated we lose quality teachers to other districts according to the CDE educator shortage report for the 2324 school year there were 1,436 positions that remained unfilled for the entire school year while it is easier to cut probationary teacher positions these teachers are quality staff members that we lose there used to be a saying that we would wait to hire that third or fourth teacher for the grade level until we saw the whites of their eyes but when we wait the schools are faced with detrimental impacts to their students and to The Faculty not only do we put ourselves at
055the risk of not finding highly qualified teachers and or quality teachers but these moves impacts the student social emotional well-being as well when students are forced to move classrooms and are separated from their beloved teacher or from their friends it impacts their social emotional needs educators are already faced with doing difficult jobs but changing the Dynamics of the classroom in October when another teacher is hired impacts their learning and the social emotional health in my experience over the last 14 years in the classrooms that begin with teachers hired after the school year starts those teachers have had difficulties with classroom management and increased behaviors that resulted in disciplinary needs with class sizes between 26 and 31 students first best instruction is near impossible to be quality District 70 has a special education population that continues
056to climb at 16% of those students for the 2425 school year for comparison the state average for special education is around 13.35% when class sizes become too large the first best instruction suffers resulting in more students needing further intervention and qualifying for special education many of these students are still facing the impacts of the pandemic and what education looked like during that time smaller classes allow teachers to differentiate and give more individualized attention teachers do the best that they can with what they have but without quality instruction we know kids will suffer CDE school school view represents the district 70 has a 14.4% turnover rate for the 23 24 school year I imagine that this rate will increase as teachers let are let go when teachers lose their teammates than they are required to teach
057larger class sizes the job that they once love becomes intolerable intolerable District 70 will lose quality teachers and this will impact their students while being an achievement 3 minutes really isn't long enough for this long-winded educator to share but I implore you to explore options and consider all possibilities before cutting teachers and increasing class sizes that will have detrimental impacts thank you all right vaa so what we're going to do we're going to put 10 minutes up there and then you can let your students go and then what's left and you can just keep going till you're out of time does sound good almost done CL when you're ready hi my name is Logan Cooper I'm 12 and I'm in the sixth grade at bu school hold the microphone down honey there is no microphone
058up there oh there you go okay hi wait hi my name is Logan Cooper I'm 12 and I'm in the sixth grade of beer school I wanted to talk about how closing beer school would affect me as a student I been at buer school since since kindergarten I have watched my four older siblings graduate from 8th grade at bu school and I'm looking forward to doing the same thing my first reaction to this news was where would I go to school and then I thought I would just go where my friends go then I realized that will probably not happen all of the schools are so far away we will all be split up depending on where we live where our parents work and other factors I would likely have to start over at a
059new school alone the thought of this is very scary for me and is not something that I'm ready or prepared for in any way at this stage of my life being a middle school is hard enough as it is we all know that as that a lot of us go separate ways in high school but we are older then and it makes it easier the chances of Us ending up with friends at the same school then are more likely since there are not as many choices I also started to think about the travel time this would add at least an hour and 30 minutes to my day in just driving and car rides are not my thing I looked it up and it was recommended that someone my age get 9 to 12 hours to
060sleep at night I go to bed at 9:00 and I'm up at 6:30 so I typically get about 9 and 1 half hours of sleep and that is if I go to right to sleep if I have to drive 45 minutes or so to school every day I would have to get up at 5:30 or earlier if I take the bus and I would not even get the minimum amount of sleep I'm supposed to get in addition to this I do Sports I do Sports every season so my evenings would be cut short even more leaving me very little time to do my homework chores spend time with my mom or just have time for me I love sports and there are times where I'm happy for the cancell practices or the end of seasons
061in between sports where I have a little more time to myself in the evenings I would never have this extra time because of the long daily back and forth when am I supposed to have time to be a kid I I know that this would make my mom's life harder also the teachers and students at bu score and my family too I'm comfortable there I know my teachers how they teach and what they want for me I know my peers very well we are cohart I know that I'm getting a good education at bu school and when it is time I will be ready to go off to high school but I am not ready to leave ba yet the thought of it closing makes me very sad I hope that you think of us
062the students when making your decision thank [Applause] you um so I I my name is Henry Emmons I went to Bula for all of my primary education um and I have two younger brothers there now uh one's in E one's in third um and everything I was going to say has been stated much more eloquently by the people before me but uh I just wanted to say that I loved going to Bula throughout my time there um and then I went and I went to Central last year uh for my freshman year of high school and it made me recognize how extraordinary buo is the class sizes and location and teachers I feel like it's really a excellent school and so I just wanted to say that and I don't I know that you guys
063have already made it clear you're against as well so but I think it's a amazing place for the kids in Bula and in Pueblo to have that opportunity and so um yeah I think it'd be a shame to lose it thank Youk you thank you so much to the board U my name is Lisa colrip I'm a parent of two bu kids currently um we sincerely appreciate the board's consideration and thoughtfulness and for communicating with us for communicating with our teachers and principles directly we know that you recognize um based on the last working meeting the impact that closing bu would have um on our small community we're already a Consolidated School we're k through eight um this is it we are the only school it's the center of the community it is everything to
064our town um unlike color City and Ry you know this is this is the only school um that we have it's 40 minutes either way on a on a in a direction on a good day for our kids to get to a different school um but we are in Bula because we choose to be and we want to be there and a big reason is the school so you have created something incredible this little Mountain Community congratulations the thought of closing it has invigorated our entire Community the business owners the teachers students staff parents everyone in Bula is concerned about the school and we thank you for creating a place worth saving so thank you to the board thank you for prioritizing that thank you for everything that you are doing to fight for this
065school and know that we are with you um whatever it takes if that's getting people to vote if that's continuing to communicate with the legislators whatever it take some we are with you we will help whatever we can do to save this treasure that you've created your Mountain schools are unparalleled there is nothing like them um I have five children our older three were in D60 and then in other d70 schools and there is nothing like bua it is better out there um and we thank you sincerely um for what you've created and we thank you for your efforts to save it I have more time than I thought I would all right it is nerving up here so yeah I'm also from Bula um the students had a great I mean I have a
066second grader my name is Megan canos by the way from bua um I have a second grader and a son that'll be in kindergarten next year so the thought of putting my little one on a bus it's not something I want to do um again he brought up sleep it's so important our kids are hardly getting up sleep as it is with a 7:30 start time to put them on a bus my six-year-old to go to R Elementary and then to be busted back I mean I would probably rather take him into town which means you guys might lose District 70 students you know to go to District 60 school where parents work where I would start working against once both of my kids are in school so it's just that's what we're dealing with
067is like we have no other school in Bula it's our only school and I know it's rough we thinking about Cuts it's not fair for our Educators it's not fair and you guys know the more I've worked with you guys the more I know this is a collaborative effort so I want to thank you all because this is only my second board meeting it's very interesting to know that we can affect change you know so that's something that I would like more of is how to get the groundwork going um superintendent you've been awesome at sending lists of legislators to get a hold of and templates of what to write but I I want more like how do I get a hold of polist every time I email him it's like it's like a remote
068email sent back to me like I want to know how to impact him so he knows that he has to change this because this is not okay education in Colorado what you said 46th right that's terrible as no one I have a sister-in-law who went to Florida to teach because why not I mean if we're going to keep our Educators here I mean people are moving here and drove so how is our education system getting so depleted it doesn't make any sense so if you can send me like concrete we have a certain Coalition at our school for each separate thing like to get a hold of legislators we've been emailing them so more of that like how to concretely get to them CU they impact us and we need to impact them to realize
069we're not going to vote you in next turn if you're going to keep doing this to us so that's why votes matter yeah seriously and that's one thing too like this the M Levy last time we it didn't get voted in because people aren't aware that if you don't vote for this we're going to lose our schools so I'm like gearing up to stand on the corner with signs be like vote for this or we will lose our schools so I will I will do the footwork if needed and I will get a group going bu people from bu are tough and as I've seen all these rural schools we are tough people and we can affect change so if you could give us more like concrete ways to do that what to put on
070my sign when I'm standing on the corner like seriously cuz we'll fight for these schools and for these teachers cuz it's worth fighting for these are our kiddos you know so um I have more time I mean because even I mean I know that we have parents that would volunteer for positions if needed until funding comes in I know that's not fair for the teachers but I know that even teachers would volunteer to keep these schools going if there's a position I could I I'm a ballet dancer I will teach gym class you know like there are ways that we as individuals can help our schools stay afloat if we're willing to give our time and our energy um this amendment 23 thing all this budgeting right 13 million and we're supposed to have 216
071possibly that's 100 million like where is this amendment 23 money going like yeah so just how can we help more and I just want to thank you to all of you cuz I know you've been Sleepless over this stuff too and these are our babies we want the best for them so thank you for your time thank [Applause] you I there's like 40 seconds still on there I'm pretty sure um clear I just wanted to say that the um k through eight uh that situation that buus k through eight has a profound impact on the children the older students are are role models for the younger students the younger students look up to the older students and it creates an unusual Dynamic that is very different from separating elementary and middle school and high school
072and I think besides like holding on to BU school I would recommend that type of school for other districts or not other districts but other schools within the district because I think it's really impactful I've seen it in our kids and in the other kids thank you thank [Applause] you um I would like I know we're not really supposed to comment but I would like to address you young man you got up there and faced more fears than anybody in public can even do so when you're afraid of making new friends and the challenges that you're going to face you just you just overcame more fears than 90% of the the public that you will ever run into so you're going to go a long ways kiddo you did better than Mr Duca and I
073practice that's right uh that's all for open Forum okay okay we'll move on to our action items um so the first item is approval of the proposed budget Milestones get back up there and try again I'm good I'm going to sit up here from now on it's much more comfortable maybe you guys are better looking from this side I don't know um I would recommend that we approve this budget Milestone with the understanding there will be flexibility for adjustments modific and modifications as necessary okay do I have a motion to approve the proposed budget Milestones so moved second John Christensen y Chris DeLuca y Kathy Holland an o y AJ Wilson y motion carried okay next item is approval of the school board call to action resolution and letter of support Mrs R did you
074have anything I you approve the resolution as okay do I have a motion to approve the resolution moved second John Christensen y Chris Luca Kathy Helen Ann o y AJ Wilson y motion carried okay item 10 is approval of the consent agenda items do I have a motion to approve these items so moved second John Christensen y Chris Luca Kathy Helen hi an o y a Wilson yay motion carried okay our next board meeting is scheduled Tuesday March 18th 2025 at the Educational Services Center beginning at 6 p.m. our regular meeting is now thank you all for coming yes thank you thank you we're done last time I waited till do this to give the littleit on me while doing it Con here was our Fu contract that I signed that was I'm not going
075to go up there any you seem like you're fine and then you get up there and then I did it too I and then I