Board of Education Regular Meeting: 5.20.2026

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> All right, folks. If I could have your attention. We've now concluded executive session and no action was taken during executive session. I'm going to call the business meeting to order. >> [clears throat and cough] >> Laura Lee, would you please call the roll? Stu Boyd. Here. Denise Chapman. Here. Lori Gobel. Here. Don Kirk. Alexandra Lesson. >> Here. Nancy Rumfelt. Here. Mike Scholl. All right, thank you. Nancy, would you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Thank you, Nancy. Denise, would you read the mission statement, please? It empowers, challenges, and inspires students, faculty, staff, parents, and school leaders, and community members to learn, achieve, and excel. All right, thank you, Denise. Next item on the agenda is the adoption of the agenda. Could I have a motion from a member of the

002board to adopt the agenda? So moved. Second. All right, it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion regarding adopting the agenda? I would like to pull item 6.8. All right, let's do that when we get to action consent. >> Okay. And we'll you can pull it at that point then. Who made the motion? Sorry, as to who made the motion? Um Denise. Denise. Thank you. All right. Loralie, are you up to what what we've done? Okay. Uh so, we have had a motion, a second, there is no discussion. We'll proceed to the vote. Loralie, please call the roll. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. I. Lori Gobel. I. Don Kirk. I. Alexandra Lessin. I. Nancy Rumfelt. I. All right, thank you. And the vote total is six in favor of the motion, zero against. We'll

003move then to the next section of the agenda, which deals with public participation. We'll begin with presentation by Loveland Classical Schools and New Vision Charter School. So, I invite whoever's part of that to come forward. And Mr. President, I believe it will just be Loveland Classical tonight. New New Vision had a conflict, so it will just be Loveland Classical tonight. >> thank you. I didn't know that. Thank you for the opportunity to share about our school year at Loveland Classical Schools. My name is Rich Magoo, and I am entering University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the fall to study communications. I was awarded the LCS Foundation scholarship for my time at UNL. We are happy to share that LCS was designated a top public school charter school by Education Insider this school year. We appreciate the support

004and partnership from TSD as a school of choice in Loveland and Berthoud. I'm excited to share this year that this year's graduating class has collectively been awarded $1.4 million dollars in scholarship offers this year, including two Daniel Fund recipients. This is the most of any class at LCS this far. As examples, we have students attending GCU, CSU, St. John's, and Benedictine College, all with full ride scholarships. We have students attending schools at Hillsdale, GCU, CSU, University of Nebraska, BYU, and many more. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Brett. I'm a senior at LCS, and I'm entering into Benedictine College in the fall. I'm considering entering into their ROTC program, and I was awarded the $200,000 ROTC scholarship. In addition to these scholarships that Rachel just listed from our graduating class, we also have a

005senior who will be moving out to Georgetown and working on the Georgetown Loop as a brakeman for their train system. A senior who who has won a Lock a Lockheed Mar- Martin internship and will work with their company over the summer. And a senior who will be attending Purdue Univer- University's cybersecurity program. It's a top five program in the nation. I'm also excited to share about our senior theses, which wrapped up a few weeks ago. This is a long a long year-long project resulting in a 20-page paper, a 5- to 10-minute presentation, and 20 minutes of questioning and examination on their topic. With topics on What Is the Good Life, ranging from Perfection Is the Standard, Failure Is the Process, Where True Roots Develop, Friendship, Growth, and Change, The Bounds of Moral Obligation, and an

006Aristotelian Perspective on the Virtue of Creativity. Thank you. Hello, my name is Bentley. And my name is Suzy. We are eighth grade students and will be presenting on extracurricular activities [clears throat] at LCS. Middle school and high school clubs include math lab, fencing, mock trial, chess, poetry, crochet, robotics, wrestling, speed and quickness, yearbook, science bowl, spelling bee, battle of the books, national art honor honor society, drama drama club, and magical singers. We have a robust dramatics arts program. We put together together three to four dramatics productions annually. Our fall play, magical dinner, winter play, and spring play usually include students in the 6th through 12th grades. We include a musical into the rotation every three to four years. Our music program achieved many distinctions this year. We had two students participate in the high school

007league honor orchestra. We had four students selected for the high school league honor band. Further, we had seven students selected for the middle school league honor orchestra, and five students selected for the middle school league honor band, and two students selected for the CU Boulder middle school honor band. And in our choir program, we had five high school all-state choir participants this year, as well as three middle school all-state choir participants. One of our middle school all-state singers was highlighted as an outstanding vocalist [clears throat] and sang in a small ensemble during the final concert. I'm also happy to share that our middle school battle of the books seventh and eighth grade team won first place within the district. Finally, our high school mock trial team made it to the state championship. We received the

008most professional team award, and we were also the recipients of two outstanding attorney awards and an outstanding witness awards. So A, my name is Abby, and I am senior at Loveland Classical School, and I will be attending Hillsdale College with a pre-med major in the fall. I will be presenting on this year's student athletics updates. In the middle school, the LCS middle school boys cross country were NCIL league champions this year and last year. Our middle school boys soccer were the NCIL league champions this year and last year. Our middle school girls soccer team were the NCIL league champions this year and last year. While our middle school girls basketball were NCIL league semifinalists. And our middle school boys basketball have been NCIL league champions every year since the 2022 season. In the high school,

009LCS boys cross country were the 2A state meet fifth place team. And our girls cross country team were the 2A state meet seventh place team. Our girls volleyball program were Foothills league's runner-up and state regional qualifiers. Our boys basketball were Foothills league champions in 2024, state qualifiers finalists in 2025, and league semifinalists this year. The girls basketball team were Foothills league champions and state qualifiers. Ranked 13th headed into state playoffs. LCS boys soccer were Foothills league champions in 2023, 2024, and league runner-up in 2025. They have also qualified for state playoffs since 2022. And our high school girls soccer have been Foothills league champions for the past 2 years. They were 2A state champions in 2025 and state quarterfinalists in 2026. Hello TSD Board of Education and Superintendent Hiller. Um my name is Grayson. I'm

010in I'm in seventh grade at LCS and I'll be presenting on leadership opportunities and achievements. In the middle school this year, we had approximately 40 middle school mentees participating in our Lions Mane program. This is a mentorship program for middle school students. With Within this program, a select number of middle schoolers are paired up with high school students based on teacher recommendations. Within this program, our middle school students have received assistance in confidence building in their time spent with high school men mentor. The middle school house system continues to grow. This year we implement we implement a virtue integration lessons once a week during study hall with the objective of assisting middle schoolers to see how our foundational virtues play a role within our lives. House leaders work with teachers to implement the new curriculum

011this year. In the high school in the Lions Mane program, we had approximately 40 high school mentors. High school students prevented middle school mentees with assistance, organization, homework, social peer interactions, etc. Students met weekly with their mentees to support them. This was the fourth year of this program here at LCS. For the fourth year, the student council planned the field trip to Estes Park YMCA with the eighth and ninth graders. This trip helped to sprout growth and foster community building between our middle school and high school in this off-campus weekend long event event. Students participated in team challenges, bonding, and friendship building. It was an awesome weekend. Our student council program is extremely robust with a high school program in charge of running and designing the winter craft fair, homecoming, and our junior senior gala.

012We really thank you for the opportunity to share and for the opportunity to attend a school of choice within the Thompson School District. Have a great evening. Thank you. Board, any questions for the students? Uh before you guys take off. >> [laughter] >> Well, we'll see if the board might have some questions for you. Uh Lori, I'll start with you. Thank you, President Board. I just want to commend you on how articulate each one of you are. Uh every one of the grades here. Uh do you know what percentage of your seniors are receiving scholarships by any chance? And then I wanted to commend the young gentleman who's received the ROTC of uh two of them. Uh A lot of four of my sister's children, two of them received ROTC scholarships. I know it's it's

013a tough road, so anything on percentages? Yeah, I'm not exactly sure about the percentage. I'm I would probably guess around 90%. Um it's actually it's been pretty incredible as all three of us are seniors. Um it's been really cool being able to see how much It's specifically Mr. Phillips, he's our futures counselor, he works with us and he's done a really great job working with us and I think the majority of our grade have gotten um a lot of college covered. So and mo- the majority of our class as well is planning to attend college. I think only like maybe three of us aren't going to college, so. Okay. Thank you very much. All right. Uh Nancy, any questions? Not really a a question, just I'm really impressed that you this class received the most

014scholarships ever, 1.4 million. That And how many total graduating seniors are at There's 37. 37? Yeah. 37, 1.4 million for 37 high school seniors. That is that is impressive. Um and I also um am so glad that the district offers so many different choices for our students. Along with New Vision, we have the Lisa program at Mountain View, we have many STEM and STEAM programs, IB, and I think choice is what makes it work for all students because they can not They're all so different, so thank you for the presentation. All right, thank you. Alexandra? I don't have any questions, but thank you all for a very nice presentation. Good job. Denise? I've just been wondering about the mentor program or mentee mentor program and how many hours do they spend together? Um so basically

015it's the uh with teacher recommendations, one teacher will match up a middle schooler that might need help with some classes or just anything in general and they'll match them up with a high schooler who might be able to help them with that. And this year there was 40 around 40 middle schoolers and around 40 high schoolers that helped with it. Done. Question? I just wanted to thank you for packing so much in in such a small amount of time. That was a lot of information, but it was really a nice snapshot into so many different things that you're doing and I want to say congratulations to you seniors. Nice work. Um and please pass that along to everybody else in your class. All right. Um I'll close with a couple of questions or I guess

016actually comments. I had the same question that Nancy did in regard to how many students are in your senior class. Is that number of students fairly typical of the ninth grade, tenth grade, and eleventh grade students at Loveland Classical? You may not know this. Um it's not entirely typical. The number declines a bit from freshman to senior. It has over the past few years, but this year is our biggest senior class yet. It's the largest senior class this year. Is that what you said? To my knowledge I it could be up there. It is the largest right? Yeah, the largest class. So the a class of 37 is the largest class you had? >> Yes. All right. All right. Thank you. Uh Dr. Heller, are we doing photos with these students or what was the

017plan on this? Uh for you we certainly can. All right. You guys can come around. As you guys are moving into place normally when students present to us, uh we have a picture taken with the Board of Education. So that's that's just kind of common practice. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, the next item on the agenda is 4.2, awards and recognition. And Dr. Heller, are you taking care of this for us tonight? Yes, sir, I am. We have some awards and recognitions tonight. I'm excited to share with you. We'll start off with our Thompson School District Elementary Robotics Tournament, which was held on April 24th at Loveland High School. We had approximately 175 students on 31 teams from across the district who participated. We want to thank more than 50 students, staff, and community

018volunteers for supporting this event. And tonight, I believe in the house we have and we're honoring the grand champions, the Big Thompson Robot Reactors. Yes. >> [applause] >> I'd like to invite coaches and the and the students to come up front. We're going to do a picture with all of you as well. Dr. Heller, are they speaking to us or is this just a picture? Okay, that's fine. Just wasn't sure. You guys want to come around the front here? Okay. All right, board. Let's assemble. >> [applause] >> All right, before we move on to >> Sorry, I got more. Oh, okay. All right. Quite a bit more. All right. >> Good. This next one is an exciting one as well. So, on April 28th at the Denver Art Museum, the Colorado Department of Education formally

019recognized and celebrated the 2025 school and district achievement awardees from across the state. I was honored to receive the John Irwin School of Excellence Award on behalf of Coyote Ridge Elementary School. The John Irwin Awards are given to schools that demonstrate exceptional academic achievement over time. These schools received an exceeds expectation rating on the academic achievement indicator of the school performance frameworks. Reflecting exceptional performance in math, English language arts, and science. Obviously, we want to say congratulations to the students, the families, and the staff at Coyote Ridge, and we have invited Deion Davis, the principal, and as many of his Coyote Ridge family as he could could you know, get here tonight to come to also get a picture with the board. So, if we can ask all of you all to come up, we

020have an award for you. >> [applause] [applause] >> One more round of of introductions and recognitions. We will not be doing photos. It's never easy when we really good people like Deonna and John and those folks who leave us, but we do have some really good folks and we're really really excited about joining the PSD family. So, first I'll introduce and as I call your name if you could make your way up to the podium so everybody can stare at you and then we'll we'll let you say a few words as well. Uh first up is Luke Jones, the new principal for Coyote Ridge Elementary School. >> [applause] >> As everyone knows, Luke has been named the principal of Coyote Ridge Elementary School effective July 1. He will fill the position that is being vacated

021by Deonna Davis who is departing the district. Mr. Jones brings over a decade of experience in education including 6 years as an elementary teacher and he most recently served 4 years as an assistant principal at Bethke Elementary in the Poudre School District. Mr. Jones and his family live in Loveland live in live in Loveland. Outside of school he enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and three young children. Mr. Jones holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master's degree in Music Education as well as a graduate certificate in educational leadership from Colorado State University. Please help me to welcome Luke Jones. >> [applause] >> Mr. President? Yeah. Good evening Mr. President, board members, Dr. Heller, thank you so much. Over the past couple weeks I've had a chance to interact with this amazing staff

022right here through some listening sessions and I cannot stress enough how honored I am. They are completely collaborative. I feel like I'm talking directly uh a very collaborative group that works very hard and dedicated for students so I'm excited to work alongside them this next year. So, yes. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Nice to meet you. >> [applause] >> Next up is a somewhat familiar face for I think everybody, Adam Cone, Turner Middle School. >> [applause] >> As you all know, uh uh Adam has held the interim position as principal for this school year, but has now been named the full-time, permanent, for a long, long time principal [clears throat] of Turner Middle School effective July 1. He previously served, as you know, as an assistant principal at Turner for the past 2

023years prior to this, at Northridge High School in Greeley for 3 years, and he has an extensive career background in education, including work as a third grade teacher, a high school counselor, and as a culture and climate coordinator. Mr. Conant earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder. He also holds a Master's degree in school counseling and human services from the University of Phoenix. Adam, I'll turn it over to you. Thank you very much. Uh good evening, Mr. President, board members, Dr. Heller. I want to thank you so much for recognizing me tonight as the new principal of Turner Middle School. It's an absolute honor to step into this role permanently, um and to have your trust as we lead our school forward. Having already worked alongside our fantastic

024students, staff, and families, I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to continue the great work we've already started here at Turner. I look forward to deepening our relationships and partnerships with the community, supporting our educators, and ensuring that every student who walks through our doors has the environment they need to thrive. Thank you for the opportunity and for your continued support and trust. And I hope you have a wonderful night. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Next up, Monica Ramos-Carlson, Bill Reed Middle School. >> [applause] >> Monica has been named the principal of Bill Reed Middle School, again, effective July 1. She will fill the position that is being vacated by John Clymer, who is departing the district. Ms. Ramos-Carlson currently serves as the Dean of Students at Boltz Middle School in the Poudre School District.

025She has worked as an administrator in both middle and elementary school settings since 2023. Before relocating to Colorado, she lived in Utah and served as a middle school and high school assistant principal in the Davis School District. She began her career in education as a school counselor and went on to serve as a district multi-tiered systems of support coach before transitioning to school leadership. Ms. Rommel-Carlson earned her undergraduate undergraduate degree in English education from Utah Valley and a Master of Science degree in psychology as well as principal licensure from Utah State University. Welcome, Monica. Thank you so much. Good evening, Mr. President, members of the board, and Dr. Heller. It is such a privilege to have the opportunity to serve Blevins Middle School. I can't wait to get started. I've had the opportunity to interact

026and get to know some of the staff members and I'm so excited to work alongside them, to meet our students in the fall, and I just can't wait to get started. So, thank you so much for this privilege. Thank you. >> [applause] >> And finally, I'm not sure I didn't see is Colleen Dodge in the building? She All right, Colleen, come on forward. Colleen Dodge, Peak View Academy at Conrad Ball. Colleen Dodge has been named principal of Peak View Academy at Conrad Ball effective July 1. Ms. Dodge is currently serving as principal of Preston Middle School in Fort Collins, where her focus has been on strengthening instruction and building consistent systems across classrooms. Her career experience also includes service as an assistant principal at Altona Middle School in St. Vrain Valley and as an assistant

027principal at Wheat Ridge High School in Jeffco Public Schools. She started her career as a special education teacher working with students with significant support needs. Ms. Dodge earned an Associate of Arts and Sciences degree from Front Range, followed by a Bachelor of Arts in Special Education and Secondary Education from Metropolitan State University, and she holds a Master's Master's of science degree in teaching and learning from Colorado State University. Colleen, welcome. Awesome. Um good evening. Um thank you board presidents and members of the board and Dr. Heller. Um I also have had the opportunity to start meeting some of the staff and students over at um Peak View at Conrad Ball, and I am just so excited to be a part of the community. It's been such a warm welcome, which has felt amazing, and I

028just can't wait to build on the great work that's already happening there, and then also take some of my strengths from my career and make it even better. So, I do just such an honor. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Mr. President, that's the end of my uh awards and recognitions for tonight. All right. Agenda item uh 4.3 is an athletics and activities update. So, I would invite Kevin Clark to come forward. And as Kevin is walking forward, I will just say that the uh the board tonight has had plenty of opportunity to have uh our photo taken. If there's anybody present who would also like to have their photo taken with the board, now might be a good time, and if not, you could email me and we'll try to set up

029a special session. So, thank you. Kevin, we'll turn it over to you. You bet. Mr. President, Dr. Heller, members of the school board, thank you so much for having me this evening. Uh Kevin Clark, director of athletics and activities, and lots to celebrate uh There is a lot of talent in this room, and uh just for the the sake of time, Laura Lee, if you could just skip to the last slide. Um we are going to So, I wanted you guys to have the packet of celebrations, but uh uh when Stu talked about a lot of pictures here, uh we'll do one at the end with this uh group of special students that we're going to be recognizing. So, uh first, if we could have from Mountain View High School, Andrew Willets, come up here.

030And Andrew Andrew participated in FBLA and was the state champion in customer service. >> [applause] >> Any questions for Andrew? Or anything you'd like to ask Andrew? Andrew, are you working with any of the businesses in Northern Colorado trying to beef up their customer service skills? >> [laughter] >> Yeah. That's a wise guy question. You don't actually have to answer that. Congratulations. I was going to ask if he was if he was going to go to Excel Energy and give them a class on Cuz they need Is this your first year? Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah. This is also his first year participating in FBLA. Bring the next group up. Just stand right there. Yeah. And the next from Mountain View High School, uh a dual sport athlete uh this spring, but uh focus

031is swimming of JJ Phillips uh can come up here. And JJ was the state champion in the uh 100 freestyle. He also hit All American recognition with that. Um also qualified for the state track and field meet the following weekend, so he's been uh a busy young man and he will graduate and be off to George Washington in the fall. So, any questions for JJ? Are there any questions or or comments? I have a question. Will Will you be swimming and doing track at George Washington or just one or the other? Just swimming. Okay. Awesome. Congratulations. >> Thank you. All right. Congratulations. >> [applause] >> And next, if we could have Caitlyn Kellogg and the Loveland High School Winter Guard come up and we'd like to honor them for their uh color guard state championship.

032Took place at DU and uh coach Kellogg is here with her squad and uh anything you'd like to speak about on the season or any questions from the board. Hi, my name is Caitlyn Kellogg and I am the director of guards at Loveland High School. Um thank you all so much for recognizing us. Uh this is our first state championship since I believe 2013 in the winter guard. Um this is my second year at the school so um we're excited to see what the future holds. Um and we're very very proud of them. Um it was a small but mighty group so thank you. All right. Board questions or comments for the color guard. Right. Many congratulations to you as well. >> [applause] >> And next is for uh fresh off of uh the weekend

033Thursday, Friday, Saturday we had this. So these recognitions were uh tossed in here not knowing what was going to happen but uh forget to bring up our Berthoud High School boys relay. So if Eric, Jacob, Ben, and Aiden can come up here. Uh they set the tone for probably all of Thompson School District uh Thursday by winning the 4 by 800 relay. So each young man ran two laps before they handed off and uh um Aiden anchored that uh to the state championship. Um so as we're talking about Berthoud and uh Aiden maybe step up here a little bit. Aiden also the following day um won a probably one of the most exciting races at the state track meet and uh went down leaning at the line actually fell down with uh the competitor that

034was second uh and he was the state champion at 800 m. Uh Aiden will be graduating and I thought I heard maybe a change of plans, maybe UCCS to to run track and field. So, yeah. Any questions for this group of young men? Questions or comments, board? I just have a comment. As Berthoud's member of the board and a long time member of the Berthoud High School faculty, I have this to say to you guys. Go Spartans. >> [applause] >> We did have a state champion at Loveland High School in the discus. Unfortunately, their track and field banquet is this evening. So, Ashton Dailey was unable to make it, but he's a junior. We get him back for one more year. So, yeah, hopefully we're back in in this situation. If we could have Sophia

035Sigg come up here as well. Sophia is a sprinter from Berthoud High School. Won the state championships at 200 and 400 m. Sophia is a very talented athlete, great basketball player as well. And we found out today CHSAA named her the 3A track and field athlete of the year. So, Sophia Sigg. Yeah. >> [applause] >> Yeah. All right. Comments, questions from the board for Sophia. Yeah. All right, Sophia. I've already said go Spartans. Sorry. I won't do I won't do that again, but congratulations to you as well. Yeah. And we get Sophia back for one more year. So, yeah, excited to see what she can do next year as well. And then Madeline Clark from Mountain View. She was a state champion on Friday at 800 m. She had the fastest times of all classifications,

0361A through 5A. And she'll compete this summer in the US Under 20 Championships. And yeah, special to me is this is my daughter. So there you go. >> [applause] >> Kevin, what was what's the event again? So she'll be competing in the USA under 20 national meet. And at the state track meet she competed in the 800, the 1600, and the 4 by 800. Yeah. All right. Any board comments or questions? I'll just say I just want to say congratulations and I know a lot of times with extracurricular activities, whether it be sports or other things, balancing your academics is can be sometimes a challenge. So I just want to say thank you for pressing forward. All right. Just stand there. Congrats. I have to also just say real quick, Madeline, nice shoes. Love the

037shoes. >> [laughter] >> And I do want to know at what age were you able to beat dad in a race? Really young, I imagine. I don't know. I think she clipped me in a turkey trot like 3 years ago. So yeah. [clears throat] >> [laughter] >> Um and then as we are finishing wrapping up talking about track and field, if coach Blaine Bostic and his track staff who are present can come up here through the weekend and again on the shoulders of Sophia Sig, they were able to bring home the state runner-up trophy. And so Bertha finished second to a very talented Classical Academy group. And they have the trophy. Oh yeah. That's the best part. Yeah. So Yeah. So make sure we get that highlighted. Uh Yeah. And turn it around so that

038the folks in the audience can see it as well. Cool. >> [applause] >> Comments or questions here? Congratulations. And our last recognition that we would do is uh if we could ask longtime educator and coach Paul Coray to come up here. Uh we received exciting news uh this school year when uh coach Coray, who is a retired educator from TSD, was inducted into the Chassa Hall of Fame. And coach Coray uh his track and field career um state championships at three high schools, Battle Mountain, Middle Park, and he won five state championships at Loveland High, three on the girls side, two on the boys side. But uh again, the ultimate motivator um of young people and a lifelong teacher um Paul Coray. >> [applause] >> I'll just say it was a great honor in my

039life and privilege to coach and teach in this district and be sharpened alongside coaches like coach Clark, so I enjoyed every second of it. I can't quit. I work today, so Congratulations. Board comments or questions for the coach? All right. Thank you. All right. So, with that uh this like I said, incredibly talented group of young people. If we could do uh one picture with you guys, that would be great. Sweet. Awesome. Right now? Oh, you're part of it? everybody in this picture? >> Yeah. Come on around, guys. Come on down, guys. Keep coming down. Okay. Are you ready? Let's see what we can do here. Okay. On three, one, two, three. Great. Good. Good. All right. >> [applause] >> All right. Agenda item 4.4 is public comment. Don, if you would like to read

040the introduction to this part of the meeting. Because the board wants to hear the viewpoints of the public and also needs to conduct its business in an orderly and efficient manner, it will schedule time during its regular board meetings for brief comments and questions from the public. The board will set a time for public participation prior to the business portion of the meeting. The time for each speaker will be limited to 3 minutes and each individual will only be recognized once. If there is a large number of speakers, the board may elect to take comments for 1 hour before the business meeting and conclude public comment after the business meeting. Public comments and questions at a regular meeting may deal with any topics related to the board's conduct of the schools. Speakers may offer such

041criticism of school operations and programs as concerns them, but are encouraged to exercise their speech rights responsibly. Speaker remarks should be suitable for an audience that includes kindergarten through 12th grade students. Personnel matters will be discussed in executive session. Finally, as a reminder to all present, the board and staff do not respond to public comment. This is our opportunity to hear from students, parents, and patrons. The board may discuss public comments later in the agenda or on future agendas. Um first up, we have Ali Gibbons. And your timer is going to come up on the screen that'll show when it when you're getting close to time. On the screen? Oh, thank you. Uh good evening, Mr. President, Board of Directors, and Dr. Heller. My name is Ali Gibbons. I'm a senior or incoming senior at

042Loveland High School and I'm speaking today not only for myself, but as a voice for all of Loveland High School and our band program. When I was a freshman at Loveland High, the only community I had was founded through the band program and that community has become a found family for me. As you see here, um that would not have been possible without the combined efforts of Michael Williams and Kyle Friesen. Their teamwork is the reason our marching band is consistently in the top three at state, the reason our jazz programs are among the highest ranked in our state, and the reason that our concert bands represent the level of excellence that Red Wolves strive to achieve. Oh, I lost it. Hold on. The two of them make our band program and frankly, the good

043reputation of our school possible. Michael Williams, especially, is an essential part of our community. Without him, our nationally ranked indoor percussion group would not exist. Without him, our Jazz 2 program that I'm part of would not have received the rating it did of excellent at our UNC Jazz Fest this year. It's hard to miss the importance of his efforts for our band program. He runs brass sectionals when Friesen is working with the woodwinds, and he teaches and or Mr. Williams teaches every level of percussionist so that all of them can be the best that he knows they're capable of. He makes sure that every student, whether he teaches them personally or not, knows that they have a home with him and within our program. Without him, without Mr. Williams, and despite Friesen's impressive capabilities, our

044band program and the safe space that it has become for so many students and families alike would suffer dramatic setback and loss. I encourage you to reconsider and take into account the impact that you can have. Thank you. Next up, Timmy Vanderwall. All righty. Oh, there it is. Okay. Hello, Board of Directors. My name is Timmy Vanderwall. I am a senior, so incoming college freshman, going up to New York next year. Um also speaking about the the um ab- about Michael Williams and and his position. Um I just wanted to start by saying in your mission statement, and as is on the wall right there, you are uh it is your duty and goal to empower students, challenge to achieve, and inspire to excel. No one else exemplifies that better than Mr. Michael Williams. He

045has pushed me personally to be just the best version of myself I can be as a person, as a player in his ensembles, and just all around has improved my life and my abilities exponentially. Um he has he has incredible accolades himself. He has taught he has been given instruction by Dr. Hollenbeck from CSU, Shilo Stroman also from CSU, and has taken world-class drum corps to finals and in like Dayton, Ohio from here to Dayton. Um he Yeah. I've I have much I'm much less uh prepared than my previous uh friend, but I'll try. >> [laughter] >> Um yes, I just want to end with just I would not be where I am today and would not be where I'm going where I'm going today if it wasn't for the community that Michael Williams has

046built and for his his efforts and his impact in my life. So, yes. Please reconsider that choice as well. Thank you. Alyssa Gibbons Good evening, Mr. President, board, um Superintendent Heller. Um I'm speaking today as a band parent. I have two um students in the Loveland High School band and orchestra programs, and I think many of us are here tonight because we're concerned about um what we have learned about staffing assignments for many of the arts and language and specialist teachers at Loveland High, including Mr. Williams, Mr. Freezing, Mr. Smith in the orchestra program, and several others. We understand that the district is in a dire financial situation and that difficult decisions need to be made. My hope as a parent and a community member is that you as the board will always act to

047prioritize and direct building leadership to prioritize maintaining the quality of education that our students receive. We are concerned that the current staffing plans are working against that goal by taking highly credentialed, highly experienced, expert specialized staff out of the specialties they were hired to teach and redirecting them into study halls and administrative functions. Um I think as you well know the Loveland High School music programs involve more than 10% of the student body. Um so the reach of these educators is tremendous. In bands, orchestra, and other music programs, as well as the arts and language, um and similar programs at Loveland High, our students are learning exactly the career, college, and life readiness skills that you all have prioritized. Um they are learning responsibility, they are learning accountability, they are learning teamwork, and so much

048more. Our music programs consistently achieve a level of excellence that is on par with or that exceeds far better resourced schools in far better resourced districts, and that is entirely because of the expertise and dedication of Mr. Friesen, Mr. Williams, Mr. Smith, and the other staff. Our students have learned to strive for and have attained excellence because of them and their work. As their records clearly demonstrate, these are world-class educators. Taking their time and energy away from the programs they have built to serve other functions is fundamentally a cut in resources to these programs and one that directly impacts the quality of the educational experience for our students. If our district wishes to retain world-class educators, attract further world-class educators, and encourage the development of future world-class educators among our current staff, it needs to

049respect their expertise and recognize the extraordinary effort that they already exert. I hope that the board and Loveland High School leadership will take the time to listen to these exceptional staff about the resources they need to maintain their success. Thank you very much. >> [applause] >> Tomey Roberts-Davis Hello. Um, good evening to you all. Um, I am relatively new to uh the Loveland High School band experience. Um, my son is an early start and his middle school experience was not great. We were looking at pulling him from the Thompson School District until we've had Mr. Friesen come up and say, "Hey, I have a I have this thing. You're a really great musician. I want to pull you in." And that has been the most amazing thing that has happened to my son. My son

050is a percussionist, so Mr. Michael Williams is um one of the educators that he um works with the most. Um, but the most important part that I think um I first off wanted to say is that I I am very grateful for the um program that you guys helped develop and support so that I could see what it was like and my kiddo could see what it was like and realize that band is amazing and he's not scared to go to Loveland High, which we choice into out of Mountain View just so that we could stay with this program. Um, Mr. Williams creates this amazing, inclusive, educational, artistic, um rich environment that allows my kiddo to thrive. Um, not only in band, but it has helped him also like, "Oh, well, now I'm doing better

051in science and I'm doing better in math." And I I better I really have to pay attention to my grades cuz there's a thing like eligibility. I'm like, "Yeah, huh." Everything kind of goes together in a circle. Um, the other kids that are in his band as as well as Mr. Williams are like, "Hey, are you doing your homework? How are you doing? Do you need help with that?" So it becomes this big community where he feels very accepted. Um, Mr. Williams and Mr. Friesen, they have both um guided my son and helped him find his voice and find himself as a learner. He did his POL today for um the IB program at Lucille Erwin. And it was cool projects and lots of science and then band. And then cool projects and then I

052read these books and then band. And what am I going to do in the future? Oh, it's band. And he put pictures in there of the other people that he plays with, his other teammates, but mostly of Mr. Williams because Mr. Williams holds him accountable and I really want him to have the same amount of time and um experience that at the that there's already existed of having that kind of pull, of having that kind of um uh assistance and help. Um my concern is going to be the same of under the proposed plan of span of control, maintaining meaningful individualized instruction and support for a program serving 130 students would not be feasible. Reassigning Mr. Williams' instruction time to supervise study hall rather than teach music despite his deep experience in a percussionist and

053music director music educator would severely limit the students' access to high-quality instruction. This represents a disservice to both program and the students it serves, depriving them of his specialized expertise and undermining the educational purpose of his position. Um I know that Mr. Friesen and Mr. um Williams work as a team. I don't know how you would have the span of control of 130 kids all by yourself. So [gasps] I appreciate you taking uh the time to listen. Sorry, I'm super nervous. I don't usually do this kind of speaking. Um but uh thank you for the program that you've developed. Um I'm just hopeful that we can find other options such as um maybe a delay in a year to do some data gathering. >> Thank you. Thank you. Deb Sprague >> [applause] >> Good evening,

054all. That was quite a crowd today. I had no idea we were going to follow all these amazing awards. So, thank you for your patience this evening. Uh hello, my name is Deb Sprague. I'm a Loveland resident. And I was here and spoke at the superintendent's first meeting last year, actually. Um so, seems like this will be an annual thing for me. Um when I was here last year, I was speaking about my granddaughter. Her story is not very different from a lot of other young people. She lives with her other grandmother, choosing at age nine to attend a small public rural school versus her larger schools uh city school. Amira, who is my granddaughter, asked for this in part to avoid some of the chaos that was happening in her mother's home. More importantly,

055Amira found that school offered her a place to feel welcomed. Her hard work would be noticed, she'd be honored for her academics, her solo musical performances, and school engagement. I'm proud to say that Amira graduated with honors this past Sunday, receiving scholarships and grants, and will now be attending Union College. Her sights are now set on a five-year master's program as an occupational therapist. Amira's story is one of resilience and acceptance, both of herself and her amazing public school. Public schools are essential and foundational to our society. A place where history should stand as truth, without censorship, without false interpretation. Where young people are offered a space to learn and grow, to negotiate a world where we should and must honor and honor individual talents and choices. Amira has continued and expressed herself in art

056and music and in engaging in community activism. She continues to explore her sexual orientation, and at the age of 18 is a very happy and healthy young person. Her declaration to her grandfather and I at the age of 14 that she thought she might be gay or bisexual never negatively impacted her school experience, her community, her words, and the faculty at school have welcomed all students to be their true selves, honoring names the students choose and attending prom with dates of their choosing. No stigma, no harsh religious judgments, only acceptance, honoring, and welcoming. Public school staff must maintain their role as educators without bias, without favor for certain religious beliefs, race, gender, or sexual orientation. Public schools must not bend to the will of a few who wish to stigmatize our youth and promote othering

057students who don't conform to particular belief systems. We are a nation where prejudice, unfortunately, has found renewed energy in that regard. Public schools must not, should not, and shall not participate in any actions that are not welcoming or accepting to all students and their families. I thank you for your service and your time. >> [applause] >> Hello, my name is Joanna Johnson. I am a Loveland resident and a current TSD parent. I am calling regarding your proposed high school policy changes. Policy JHCA eliminates open blocks for ninth and 10th graders and replaces them with study halls that effectively warehouse students rather than support meaningful learning. This pulls teachers out of classrooms and into supervisory roles while reducing the students' access to fresh air and movement. Policy IKF introduces a mandatory year-long freshman seminar, adding new

058staffing and scheduling demands at a time when schools are already stretched thin. This is the wrong moment for sweeping policy changes. First, the district must address existing challenges, staffing shortages, budget strains, teacher furloughs, and compensation issues that are already undermining retention and morale among our greatest resource, our teachers. The policy changes risk misallocating some of our strongest educators. For example, Michael Williams, one of the most accomplished music educators in the Rocky Mountain region, could be pulled from the classroom into supervisory roles while increasing the burden on Kyle Friesen, who is directing the region's premier music program. How is this in alignment with what you claim in your negotiation process? Quote, "The district will continue emphasizing its mission, culture, support for employees, and professional growth opportunities to promote staff engagement and retention." End quote. I urge

059you, please reconsider. Strengthen what is working, resolve current gaps, and ensure any future changes are fully supported before making extensive changes. Even well-intentioned policy fails when it outpaces staffing, funding, and planning. PO Box 7062, Loveland, Colorado, 80537. >> [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Elizabeth Newton, and I'm a grandmother of three TSD high school students. Email [email protected]. I want to speak tonight about a pattern that is becoming increasingly difficult for families to understand. Our director of school board members frequently speak about parental involvement and insist that parents must be the primary decision makers for their children. But then when comes to actual policy decisions, that principle seems to shift depending on the issue. A recent example was the week of the child, but the global declined to have her name included on a proclamation

060because in her words, public schools should empower and support families, not gradually replace them. Yet now, when the district suggested a proposal of reasonable classroom level approach to cell phone use, one that allows teachers to manage their own learning environments, and allows parents to guide their own children, you see board members approaching for a blanket ban for all students. So, I'm left wondering, which is it? Do parents know best, or do they only know best when it aligns with these certain board members' personal beliefs? A universal ban removes decision making from both parents and teachers. It tells parents they cannot be trusted to guide their own children's phone use. It tells teachers they cannot be trusted to manage their own classrooms. That is not parental empowerment. That is not local control, and it is not

061consistent governance. This inconsistency is not limited to cell phone discussion. I have formally requested multiple times since November that board president issue a clear statement affirming that this board is non-sectarian as required by the Colorado Constitution and by your own policies. I have not received any response. Silence on the matter as fundamental as constitutional obligation to remain non-sectarian only deepens the concern that principles are being applied to selectively. So, I'm asking this board to explain how it squares this public messaging about parental rights with actions that remove authority from parents and educators, and how it squares its silence on non-sectarian governance with its stated commitment to serving all families and becoming a destination destination district. Look forward to your response. Thank you. >> [applause] >> This is May Torres Solis Albert of Burleson. As a

062parent, I'm speaking on behalf of the proposed cell phone policy for the schools, um, and with children in currently enrolled in the school district. I do support having a clear personal technology device policy in our schools. I understand teachers need the ability to maintain focus in the classroom and reduce distractions caused by unlimited cell phone use during instructional time. Right now, many teachers are expected to manage that challenge without a consistent policy to support them. At the same time, there is another very real concern that many parents share. Fear about what is happening in schools and the need to maintain communication with our children for safety reasons. Whether it's an emergency or lockdown, a family situation, or simply peace of mind, parents do not want students completely cut off from communication throughout the school day.

063Because of that, I believe there is a reasonable middle ground. Students should be allowed to keep devices on silent and in their pockets during school day. Teachers should have the authority to address disruptions when phones are being misused, but enforcement should begin with the warning system. If a student continues to use a device inappropriately, then confiscation during that class period is reasonable. However, the device should be returned immediately after class ends rather than held for the entire day. This approach supports classroom focus while also respecting student safety and parent communication concerns. I'm also not in favor of each individual school creating its own separate policies. Families and staff really need consistency across the district, so expectations are clear, fair, and enforceable for everyone. Ultimately, I think each of you should consider these safety concerns as

064well as the welfare and ability for our students to focus in the classroom. Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> My name is Greg Johnson. I reside in Fort Collins, Colorado. My topic is about the Loveland High School band program. Good afternoon, TSD leadership and TSD Board of Education members. My name is Greg Johnson, and my wife and I are proud parents of a graduating senior and rising sophomore at Loveland High School. We're a military family who retired 2 years ago after over 27 years in the Air Force. During our military time, our daughters moved six times and attended six different schools by the age of 13 and 10, respectively. With our last assignment bringing us to this area. We experienced both great school districts and ones that are in trouble. The Loveland High School

065band program reconnected my oldest with the love of her French horn and provided her with the musical development she needed while surrounded by a supportive band community that literally saved her life through her darkest and most severe obsessive-compulsive disorder bouts. This was made possible by the leadership and time dedicated to each student by talented band director and assistant band director. Building a strong, supportive culture enabling all their students to grow, develop, and be resilient for our Loveland community and beyond. Through my time in the TSD Leadership Academy, I understand the budget strain TSD is under and the decision needing to be made. However, programs like band and other arts programs seem to be easy targets. The Loveland High School band program is not just sitting in a chair playing music. Time dedicated by the directors

066has led to 68 superior and excellent ratings in jazz and concert ensembles, three Colorado State Marching Band Championships, five Bands of America class championships, two state winter guard championships, four progression state solo medals, and hundreds of students awarded for Loveland bands under Mr. Friesen and Mr. Williams. The 75% reduction is in specific FTE allotted for marching band and 100% removal of co-teaching support for concert band and guard percussion ensembles leads to less feedback and development and leaves one teacher responsible for over 130 marching band students equating to over 1,300 assessments between day one of school and the end of October, an incredible workload. This does not meet TSD's Thrive 20 for 2025 strategic plan and vision of creating the most impactful learning conditions, enabling students to reach their full potential and TSD being the destination

067of choice. While tough decisions are made at high school leadership levels, I ask the board to ask for data and feedback on the education environment when teachers are reduced in teaching specialty capacity input in freshman seminar study hall sessions. Ask for feedback and data on the benefits of Dr. Hera Dr. Heller and Sara Rasmussen's proposal proposal requiring two semester freshman seminars. I'm concerned this requirement adds just another staffing and schedule going to impact in programs like the LHS band program. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments and thank you for your leadership. Please contact me at 856-296-5229. >> [applause] >> My name is Taryn Hybeck. It's t a r y n. Last name h y, y like boy, e c k. I am a Loveland resident. My son Eric Hyback is a student at

068Loveland High School and a member of the Crimson Regiment Marching Band. My message is in regards to the FTE allotment to the arts programs at Loveland High School. I do appreciate the responses I got from the members of the board and the superintendent who replied to my email. The concern that I want to voice is the cutting of an FTE to the music program while requiring students to take a music program. It increases the difficulty and decreases the benefits of the program. In addition, Michael Williams specifically as the associate director of band whose FTE would be in consideration to be cut is my son's number one mentor. And a critical member for the band specifically. Michael has taken an overly introverted student and taught him to thrive in the environment. It is critical that we

069not lose Michael as his level of expertise and passion for music will make him an amazing benefit to another program and an incredible loss to Loveland High School. I can be reached at 970-310-0781. 81 if needed. Thank you. >> [applause] >> All right, and that concludes public comment. Uh we'll move on now to agenda item number five, which is the superintendent's report. Okay, a couple items for me this uh this meeting. So, first uh we celebrated as Thompson School District National Teacher Appreciation Week from May 4th through May 8th. As you know, I gave everybody a snow day in celebration of that uh on on our just joking. Uh the commemorative week uh was created as an opportunity for students, families, and community members to recognize the educational professionals for their service and dedication. As

070part of this year's celebration, TSD invited students and family members to nominate a favorite teacher to be recognized on social media. The district also posted fun videos featuring teachers sharing their favorite memories. Many of our schools also honored teachers in special ways throughout the week. A huge thank you goes to out goes out to all of our amazing teachers and instructional staff throughout the district. Next up, National School Nurses Day was May 6th. I think as many of you know, our school nurses show up for our students every single day. They handle everything from everyday care to urgent situations all while making students feel safe, seen, and supported. Whether it's a quick check-in or ongoing care, they make a real difference in helping students stay healthy and ready to learn. To our school nurses, thank

071you for the com- compassion that you bring to our schools. We appreciate you more than you know. Recently, I met with my elementary, middle, and high school student advisory committees for the final time this school year. The high school advisory committee, as you know, wrapped up its work and met with the Board of Education on May 13th. Their two final projects included a focus on fostering freshman success in the high schools, as well as additional programming opportunities to further empower our low-income students. Throughout the year, students from all three groups shared valuable feedback and insights on district and school processes, and gave us input on policies along the way. The input we received from these groups is incredibly helpful and plays an important role in guiding our work, and honestly was all often the highlight

072of every month uh spending time with that group. On Friday, April 24th, the district safety and security team hosted an all-day training for staff from across the district featuring live drills, tabletop scenarios, and educational sessions. The goals of the training were to empower all TSD staff to increase knowledge in crisis response and strengthen emergency procedures. Thank you to all of the community partners, Loveland Police, Larimer County Sheriff's Office, Banner Health, and Thompson Valley EMS. Thank you to a couple of our board members who participated for the entire day and the entire activity. And thank you obviously to our safety and security team for all the things that they did to make that day a success. I also want to wish some congratulations to Loveland High School for being named the Nine News Cool School of

073the Month. Nine News crew broadcast live from the campus of Loveland High on Thursday, May 14th, starting at 5:30 a.m. I would make sure to go and check out the reels on on Thompson School District social media accounts so you can see highlights from that morning. Students, staff, and the entire community did an outstanding job representing LHS in the spotlight. I do want to really focus on the fact that one of the big parts of that was a group of our students who built furniture for the Landing, which is a project and a thing that we've had going in partnership for many, many years. The students were so proud and so excited to do this work to really give back to their own peers at the Landing and the furniture they built was amazing. It

074was It was a fantastic just opportunity for collaboration between our kids and that program. On May 14th at the district admin center, we held our final Thompson Leadership Academy session of the school year. That session focused on opportunities for those community members to become more involved in the school district. As you all know, the the academy is a unique 7-month program designed to connect community members with important work in service of the district. Through the monthly sessions, participants gained an inside look at the district's programs, daily operations, funding, and more. And a special thanks goes to all who participated in this year's academy. I think we've even got a few of them that are maybe now interested in running for board someday. So, that's a It's always a benefit. On May 14th, um we had

075the opportunity to honor the graduates of Project SEARCH at Banner Health Medical Center. We are super proud of these graduates and um it was an emotional time to see these kids These These students were have truly built a community. That group of kids that is part of that that Project SEARCH group, um they are a group of young adults who have disabilities in the ages of 18 to 21 who work at that Banner Health Medical Center to earn and learn competitive employment skills. They develop transferable marketable skills while gaining valuable hands-on experience in a real-world work environment. So, I want to say congratulations to those Project SEARCH graduates. And of course, finally, congratulations to all of our 2026 graduates who'll be walking across the stage starting on Friday. Thank you, Dr. Heller. We'll move now

076to agenda item six, which is the action consent items. Let me begin by reading the list. 6.1 approval of minutes for regular meeting April 15, 2026. 6.2 approval of minutes for special meeting April 30, 2026. 6.3 approval of minutes for a study session May 13, 2026. 6.4 approval of personnel extra duty coaching recommendations. 6.5 approval of expenditures over $50,000. 6.6 approval of the Head Start Community Assessment. 6.7 approval of the Loveland Police Department and Larimer County Sheriff's Office school resource officer intergovernmental agreement. 6.8, approval of the proclamation recognizing National Teacher Appreciation Week. 6.9, approval of settlement and release agreement in resolution of claims filed in case number 2025 CV30681. And finally, 6.10, approval of superintendent unused vacation days for 2025 2025 2026. Board members, would you like any of these items pulled from the action

077consent list? President Boyd, I'd like to pull item 6.8, please. All right. Request to pull item 6.8. Request to pull anything else. All right. So, item 6.8 will become item 7.6 in the discussion action list. And in terms of its effect on this list that I just read, um number 6.9, approval of settlement and release agreement in resolution of claims filed in the case number that I read previously, will become 6.8. And the approval of superintendent unused vacation days for 2025 2026 will become 6.9. Any other items requested to be pulled? All right. In which case then, I would entertain a motion to accept and approve the action consent items. So moved. Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Lori Lee, would you call the roll, please? Stu Boyd. Aye. Denise Chapman. Aye. Lori

078Gobel. Aye. Don Kirk. Aye. Alexandra Lessin. Aye. Nancy Rumfelt. Aye. All right, thank you. And that passed six to nothing. So, we will move now to the general section seven, which is discussion action items. Uh and we will begin with 7.1, which is the approval of second read policy IKF graduation requirements. >> [clears throat] >> Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Heller, members of the board. Sarah [snorts] Rasmussen, assistant superintendent of learning services. And for um the second reading of IKF, what we wanted to highlight is that after the board study session, we did make some changes. And those changes were around having um a table that was put in there that could speak to the graduates that would not apply to the policy that we put forward. So, we want to make sure that we

079made that revision, as well as um removing and editing the verbage that went along with the um 23 credits to receive a Thompson School District diploma. So, those were some of those were the um edits that we made, but we want to see if you have any other questions. All right. Board questions, beginning with Don. Denise. Alexandra. I don't have I have I still think the sentence about the 23 credits is a little weird and confusing. Um but I'm Well, we'll go with it and see how if if other people are confused, too, then maybe we can edit it, but if it's just me, then that we're good. All right, Nancy. >> [cough and clears throat] >> No, I think this is a good move in making the Thompson High School diploma actually have a

080lot more value. Lori. I'm going to steal a phrase from Dr. Heller to keep the bar high. All right. >> Thank you. Thank you for your work on this. I don't have any questions or comments. If there are no other questions or comments from the board, I would entertain a motion then regarding agenda item 7.1. So moved. I move to to approve the graduation requirements. All right. Second. Been moved and seconded. Lori, did you get those all right? Any further discussion? We'll proceed then to the vote. Please call the roll. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. I. Lori Gobel. I. Don Kirk. I. Alexander Lesson. I. Nancy Rumfelt. I. All right. The total was six in favor, zero against, so that motion passes. We'll move now to discussion action item 7.2, which is approval of second

081read retirement exhibit of IKF-E graduation requirements for graduating classes 2016 through 2020. Um uh Board members, we did not make any changes to that. There wasn't any feedback after the study session. All right. We'll have an opportunity for questions then, beginning with Denise. Uh no Alexandra? No. Nancy? Lori? No questions. Don? No, I move that we approve the deletion of this. I have no questions, either. If there is no further discussion, let's proceed then to a motion regarding discussion action item 7.2. So moved. I second. Okay. Any further discussion? Lorelei, please call the roll. Who was the motion by? Don, Lori. Stu Boyd. Aye. Denise Chapman. Aye. Lori Gobel. Aye. Don Kirk. Aye. Alexandra Lessum. Aye. Nancy Rumfelt. Aye. All right, that motion passes 6 to 0. We'll move then to discussion action item 7.3,

082which is approval of second read policy JHCA open closed campus. We did make a revision to the space off of the um information that we received the feedback um on Wednesday last week. The revision that we made was regarding the the verbage around attendance. And so we did make that revision so that what we um stated instead is that we will review open block eligibility. So hopefully that addresses your concerns. All right. I'm proceeding to questions and we'll begin with Alexandra this time. Yes, it does. I appreciate that change. So I I think it's good. Thank you. Nancy? Uh I would like to clear up or maybe clarify um this policy and I've read it more than once. I don't see where it's creating study halls. I simply see where it says grades 9 and

08310, they have to maintain a full academic schedule, meaning classes, not study hall. And that um 11th and 12th, they can have an open block, but again, my understanding is the open block is not a it's not a study hall. Um it's something for the student to use as they see necessary for how they want to study, get extra help. So, could you just confirm that this does this is not creating study halls? Correct. This policy does not state anything about those um removing the the open blocks it that they are being replaced with study halls. That is not the intent of this. Okay, thank you. >> I could just I'll just add >> [snorts] >> the intent is that kids have a full schedule. There will undoubtedly, there will be some students who do

084choose to fill a who ask for a study hall, who may request a study hall instead of having an open block, but there is not a all open blocks go away and study halls are added. Our goal is that these kids are adding courses that they're interested in to their schedule and have a full academic course load. We also wouldn't take away the opportunity for a student who wanted a study hall, a structured study hall, to have one on their schedule. Um we don't want them to fill their schedule with study halls. We want them to be taking the classes they should be taking as freshmen. And I'm guessing that you guys would be monitoring if some students said, "Hey, I'm going to do three study halls." >> [laughter] >> That's what Okay. All right,

085thank you. Okay. Lori? Uh I want to thank Director Rumfelt for that clarification and for Dr. Heller and also for you uh for your clarification on that and I do believe that that up some questions that were raised earlier this evening. So, thank [clears throat] you for that explanation. All right. Don? Uh I just want to throw the monkey wrench in because I think that a lot of the feedback we've been getting of calling things study halls is about our decision around freshman seminar. There people are calling freshman seminar a study hall when that is not at all what's been presented or recommended. Um and so I'm not entirely sure that this decision had anything to do with the feedback we've been getting about that because this isn't the decision on freshman seminar. This is

086the decision simply around making sure that we don't have most of our students taking open periods when they are when it's not helpful. Um and so I I'm glad that we are cleaning this up. I think that the fact that we found out that there was a shocking amount of ninth and tenth graders who had these open periods that weren't getting the supports they needed or access to classes when they probably would use that time really wisely if they had just gotten you know, like a policy that backs it up so that we're helping to give them different guidance. I think this is going to help us to to guide kids more effectively through the process. So, I appreciate this, and I just wanted to throw that out there cuz I do want to make

087sure that we're not um confusing and conflating two things that are very different. All right. Denise? Uh no questions. And I don't have any questions either. So, board, regarding agenda item 7.3, I'd entertain a motion. So moved. Second. All right. Any further discussion? Let's proceed to the vote then. Laurie? Stu Boyd. Aye. Denise Chapman. Aye. Laurie Gobel. Aye. Don Kirk. Aye. Alexander Lawson. Aye. Nancy Rumfelt. Aye. And again, the vote is 6 to 0 in approving that motion. We'll move now to uh agenda item 7.4, approval of second read policy JICJ, student use of cell phones and other personal technology devices. >> [clears throat and cough] >> We also made some changes to this particular policy based off of feedback that we heard very specifically. We adjusted the language under expectations for use, and this

088was in the classroom setting, so bullet point number two. Because we wanted to make sure that it was very clear that any sort of personal technology devices that are being used in the classroom are one teacher approved, and teacher approved because it has to do with a very specific learning activity. So, we cleaned up that language and tightened it up in the policy. All right. We'll move then to questions for 7.4. Uh Nancy, beginning with you. >> [clears throat] >> I think it's important for anyone that's maybe listening right now or later to understand that this policy is coming about because this of a state law that requires us to do it. We didn't just Dr. Heller just didn't say one day, "Gosh, I don't have enough to do. I'm going to do a cell

089phone policy now." So, that's one thing. The other thing is it's pretty clear that students can still maintain and keep their personal technology devices. They simply have to keep them put away, turned off, on silence, and the only time they can pull them out is that as you said, the teacher has said clearly, "This is part of the learning activity in the classroom." You know, I think the only ambiguity might be the between class and periods passing and lunch time. That's still up to each school. But again, those are during the students' free time. So, um would I'd rather see them talking to each other? Sure, but um I think this is our first pass at it. It might be that next year halfway through we say we really need to standardize that and say,

090"No, they're all put away throughout the entire day." But this is a starting place. Okay, Lori. As um when I ran for school board, this was one of the things that I really pushed about was having respect in the classroom, respecting the teachers' time in the classroom for them to teach, and respecting the students' time to learn. And I actually believe that it should be more relying on the policy rather than having to rely on the teachers to police. And I think the as I call it the bell to bell or you know, put away all day, not saying that they can't have a device, uh but it is put away during the school day from beginning to end. I believe the policing of that would make it much, much easier instead of relying and

091putting the burden on the teachers to police that. I do believe this is Obviously, it is something that is uh recommend or a state mandate that has uh brought us to this point with the state legislature. Um in talking with people about this, it is once again um and it's not taking away anybody's parental rights. Just like when you go into any other say meeting and they expect you to have your cell phones put away. Um, it's no different than that. So, I think making it easier on the teachers would go a long way um to make this policy even even stronger than what it is. Um I'm still a little bit ambivalent whether I'm going to fully support this, but it is definitely a step in the right direction and um I guess I

092would be in support of this if we can um I know Dr. Heller and I we talked about uh keeping in touch with the teachers as far as how that is going to impact their workload. And maybe this is something that we actually truly do put on the calendar. I know we've been talking about what we're going to be talking about in the future, but maybe come October after a couple of months or November or even very beginning of next year how how it went that first semester. And get the feedback from uh the teachers and staff and see how that truly affected them. Once again, I I think it'd be easier to have a solid policy. Um the other concern was substitute teachers when they come in that a lot of times they if

093it's different at each school um maybe during passing periods or something of that nature, it makes it more difficult for them to help be part of you know, what is expected at the school and instead of being distracted by a thing on the phone or some notification even during a passing period or lunch time that the students can focus on being there. So. Thank you. All right, Don. Uh I just um really wanted to applaud um this. I was um grateful to read how clear the exceptions are and how thoughtful they are. Um and I really wanted to make sure I passed along that something I said earlier today, which is that that I I really appreciate the thoughtfulness that went into writing a policy for 2026. Um I think that our obligation is to

094teach kids to live in the world that they live in, not the one that us adults used to live in. Um And the reality is is that phones are ubiquitous, technology's ubiquitous. If we don't teach them how to use it responsibly, when and when not to, how to put it away, how to be respectful, then um they won't learn it. And um we see that with all zero tolerance policies that exist everywhere, the blowback is significantly worse than the problem we're trying to solve, and that is true repeatedly with everything that we've ever tried to prohibit. Um However, when we are able to teach why and how, um and I think that you know, as much as I did hear overwhelmingly from the people who really wanted to have a a one-size-fits-all policy, and I

095appreciate that there are some legitimate concerns that have been shared in that that we still need to support staff with that are not addressed with this policy, but aren't necessarily part of this policy. They're part of a bigger challenge that we have as far as classroom management, engagement, um when and how to integrate tools effectively, um and and really the overall feeling that we've we've been told by staff of of how much support they're needing right now for the kids they have. We know that social media is part of that, the distraction that devices um can be is significant. But it is also um something I will never ever vote for a a way all day policy. And there are two reasons for it um, that we can't address. And therefore, I'm really grateful for

096us writing a policy that that does address it to the best of our ability. One is everything that's listed in exceptions. When we have policies that put away technology when when technology is how kids access their learning it makes them more excluded when they need technology. More so today in this environment where one kid goes, "Why does that kid have their phone? Why does that kid get the device?" Again, we're not create you like we we're not creating an environment where one size fits all. We have some families that are very technology engaged and very high touch and very high engagement and very high communication and very high needs that happen inside and outside their school day. And we can't address that with one single policy. Our exceptions are too important. We're legally bound for

097most of them. We can't take we can't ignore those. But the other one and I'm again, this is why I will never be okay with it is because it is a literal lifeline. In the worst case scenarios it exist. Period. It is how we save lives. It that and it actually is how we save lives sometimes day in and day out in the classroom in ways that may not look like it. It's a student texting their parent or their sibling to say, "Hey, is everything all right? Because I can't get a hold of mom and I don't have a ride home." It is a student who checks in to say "I'm ruminating and my anxiety is out of control or I'm having these symptoms, what should I do about it? Right? It's And it's frankly

098how we are finding people in cases where there's an actual emergency, right? And so um I in this world that exists, this is a considerable tool to safety and access. And I'm really grateful that we were able to come with with a first pass that I feel like gives us some room to start thinking about it and exploring it at a school level and at a classroom level in a way that we haven't yet. So that hopefully those places where the decisions are being made, they have more support for us to move forward with more thoughtful um processes around it. So thank you for that. I really want to applaud you. All right. Denise. So thanks. >> [laughter] >> I Thank you to everybody who's contributed to this. Uh it's such a lightning rod issue

099um for so many reasons and I'm impressed with the um way everyone's chipped away at it and come back with something that I feel very comfortable voting yes for. So thank you. Alexandra. Yeah, I would just say I mean I really appreciate the change you made to the the point two. I mean I think it was a small change, but I think it was significant um in you know, saying just just like you said, clarifying that really they are not to be used unless specifically authorized to be used for a specific purpose. Um and so I really appreciate how you took, you know, sort of the feedback we had last time cuz I think a lot of us were a little bit concerned about that being a little too nebulous. Um and so I like

100this for sure. Um and then I would definitely still, you know, agree with what we had talked about last time as well as far as the end like Lori mentioned, having kind of revisit towards the end of the semester and be like, is this working? Do we need to make some more tweaks? Like, how can we do this? Because I think you know, any policy, it can be the greatest policy in the entire world ever written, but really, then none of that matters if if it's can't be implemented with fidelity and with the teachers having the support that they need and with the you know, things like that. So, I think that's really the important part of it is to um once it goes out, see how it's really working and adjust where we need

101to. But, I I think good job. Thank you. All right. And I'll wrap up. Um I have some problems with the draft policy. Uh first, in the section entitled purpose and scope, this is fairly minor. Um the inclusion of meta glasses as being acceptable uh forms of of a technical device, uh these meta glasses have been banned in school districts in several parts of the country. Uh I read just today they have been banned on a number of cruise lines as well because of their capabilities. So, I have a problem with that. I have a problem also with the expectations section in general. The unstructured time and classroom sections, I think allow great inconsistency among the buildings. And I believe that if we're still going to allow some flexibility in some areas, I think we

102need to make sure that we're pro- providing consistency in terms of what we're asking of the students and telling the community uh from building to building. I've received only a handful of emails asking for a policy that allows for access during unstructured time. On the other hand, I have received approximately 300 emails and calls asking for a bell-to-bell ban or some other type of a more restrictive policy than the one that's set forth in this draft policy. Several of the emails and calls that I've received have actually come from parents I know and also from teachers. I suggest that we postpone a decision on this until June. That gives us the opportunity to discuss this issue again at the June study session, perhaps again at the June business meeting, and vote at the June business

103meeting. This gives the staff a month for further work on this and still allows us to meet the state requirement of having a policy in place on July 1st. I want to close with some information from a 2024 research study done by the Pew Research Firm, which revealed that 1/3 of all teachers at all levels believe cell phones are a major distraction in doing their job. 72% of high school teachers, when surveyed by this Pew Research study, said that they believed that the cell phone was a major distraction. Our two charter schools in the Thompson School District, Loveland Classical and New Vision Classical, both have bell-to-bell bans. Students are allowed to use the office phone if they have a particular need, and I've not heard that that particular approach has created a problem. So, that's

104where I am on the policy that has been presented. And so, I am the last of the board members to comment, so we will proceed then to a motion uh to approve the policy. Do you want Do you want to make a motion to postpone? Is that what Um Would you rather do that? Un- Under parliamentary procedure, I'm not sure that the chair can make that motion. Lori? Uh President Boyd, I would like to make a motion that we postpone the approval uh and second read a policy JIC J student use of cell phones and other personal technological devices until June and I would request also in that motion that we address this at our June study session to have further information presented to us as well as um further discussion. All right, thank you.

105In order for us to proceed, that needs a second. I'll second it. All right. Uh further discussion. All right, let me get out my cheat sheet now on what we do when we are postponing a motion. Um the advantage of postponing a motion over um some of the other options is that it does include a definite date and um Lori did mention the date of the next study session. Um it is debatable and it does require a majority vote. So, we have a motion and a second. Is there further discussion on a motion to postpone this item to the June study session? If not, let's proceed to the vote. Let's make sure that we're clear on what we're voting for here. So, at this point, we're not voting on the mo- on a motion connected

106with the draft policy, we're voting on a motion to postpone uh further discussion on this until the June meeting. All right. Lorelei, would you please call the roll? For the dis- Well, just say for the discussion, are we going in sequence like you have been or we or should a person just jump in? Um Which would you rather do? >> [laughter] >> You're the president. All right. Uh Let's start down with with Don, then. Uh I would say that future reviews of this um can't include a way for the day. I'm sorry, would you repeat what you said? I'm not sure I heard what >> Any updates to this can't include an away for the day to get my vote. It's not feasible. It's not practical. It's not um accessible. And um there are too

107many things that our our kids have lives outside of of school um and teaching them how to use it responsibly during their breaks um is our obligation. So, um if we postpone this, I just want to make sure that it's clear that I not I won't vote for an away for the day policy. All right. Denise? Yeah, I'm in the same position. Away for the day does not I just don't see how it works in our large and very diverse classes or schools. Okay. Alexander? I appreciate your points, but I don't really see value in postponing it. I think what we've got is a good starting point, and I think like I said, I would rather implement it and then revisit in a few months once we see how it's going. Um I don't see

108what would be changed substantially between now and June. Um in my mind as far as the policy goes. Okay. Nancy? Um again, I think it's important to understand away for the day means that the student still has the phone with them. It still that they still have their phone, a personal technology device on them. And there will always be exceptions for IEPs, 504, all of that. There's that's built into the policy. I think postponing this, the only thing we would gain is that during lunch time and class passing time, they would be put away and not in use. I could go either way, but um I'm inclined to say let's just pass it and monitor it. >> [clears throat] >> Lori? In regard to postponing this to date certain, I do believe that some of

109the issues that President Boyd brought brought up as far as with the meta glasses, making sure that that is specifically addressed because that is truly a security uh issue and a privacy issue. So, I say even just for that one aspect, we do need to postpone that to make sure that that is specifically addressed. And >> We do have meta glasses in the policy. It is addressed. >> that you cannot use meta glasses unless um they are specifically required by a teacher. Yeah, I want to make sure we're clear that where meta glasses are mentioned is giving definitions of types of personal technology devices. So, as this policy continues to expand, right? As technology changes, this policy will have to change. There was a point where cell phones wasn't a thing in our schools. Uh

110and now they're smart phones and we have tablets, and we have cameras, and we have smartwatches, and these meta glasses. Um that is they're trying to be as exhaustive as all the different things that might be considered a personal technology device, but all personal technology devices would fall under these expectations as far as not being used. Now, I will say with meta glasses, the challenge with them is there's not a light that comes on to tell you that they're being used, but we also have students currently in our system who have their prescriptions built into their meta glasses. So, we would be asking parents to go change those out for a different set of glasses. It's the meta glasses is I agree with you. There is a lot of concerns about how we're going to

111manage and monitor that because it is harder to know if they are or are not wearing them. I would struggle with telling a student they couldn't have those right now when they are their primary prescription glasses. The other piece I will just add is if the board decides to table this, we're going to need very specific guidance on what is that what exactly you're wanting us to change between now 2 weeks from now when we come back to the board because so far what we've heard is different levels of expectation for what this policy could or should look like. I can't make a policy recommendation unless we have an idea of what you're specifically as a board kind of wanting us to change. I I do have um a one recommendation, which is Just just

112a second, Don. Lori, did you have anything else that you wanted to say? Uh yes, please. Um I know that one thing that we had on as part of our discussion was anything that is required as far as homework. Um we're not saying to ditch technology or anything by that stretch of the imagination. They still have their Chromebooks. They still have other ways to participate uh for homework related and assignments. It does not have to be uh something that they have to access on their phone because they do have their Chromebooks. And once again, I feel that this is moving the responsibility from the policy to the teachers. And I think we need to make it as easy for the teachers as possible. And once again, we have the you know, medical needs and things

113of that nature. We're not disrupting that. And in regard to the worst-case scenarios that were brought up, I know that during the live drill in the safety and security day that I attended, a lot of times, unfortunately, for students, if they are on their phone or something of that nature, trying to communicate maybe with a parent or you have 50 kids calling into 911, which call does that operator pick up? Where if they are put away, the first information they're going to get is from probably the most critical. And with the the safe just as far as the safety and the access. And also, if they're distracted by a phone during a crisis, that a lot of times they will miss hearing important instruction from a teacher, from an SRO, from somebody that sadly. And

114I understand, I have compassion for you know, people wanting to know about the safety of their children. Please hear me on this. But a lot of times if they are distracted by that, they're not going to hear the necessary instructions in order to keep them safe. So, just something else to consider. All right, Don, go ahead and then I'll wrap up. Uh okay. So, are all of the concerns that um were included in the I I do believe need to be addressed and are asking to be addressed by this policy, I think are truly much deeper, richer challenges and important and worthy challenges. I think that you're not going to create a policy that's going to address the challenges that people hope will be addressed with the runaway for the day policy. And so I

115do think that having the data having sharing best practices, sharing experiences and not waiting. We the board don't need to be the ones to decide that something is really great and we should be doing it everywhere. I'd like to celebrate it because it is everywhere and we realize that. I think sharing best practices, figuring out where the real barriers are that are policy related versus behavior related versus tools and supports and resources related um is going to get us a lot further and actually make progress towards the challenges that we've been asked to solve. um and and so I don't want to discount that at all. I just want to do it in the right place. Because if we expect this cell phone policy to do any of that it is going to fail no

116matter what we put on this piece of paper. >> [clears throat] >> And that would be way worse than taking steps now to to try something and learn from it. um or waiting uh because we're asking for a policy to to address things that are much larger and deeper. We've had years of requests to address behavior um address bullying, address distraction, address how do we use technology well, how do we do things fairly and equitably? How do we not exclude? How do we include? How do we engage? Those are real pervasive challenges and cell phones are a drop in the bucket and they're just a really easy target to say that if we solved cell phones, we'd solve those problems. And reality is is even with the schools who are seeing some great progress because

117of no way for the day problem policy, it's not all that. In fact, in many cases, comes down to them having classroom sizes that are half the size of ours, um having a student population that may not have access, a population that has purposely excluded the kids who need technology to access education. Um those kinds of things probably have a lot more to do with why those policies are successful in that area. And so, um I'm passionate about us doing what we can towards the bigger, richer issue. And a tool, all tools are just tools. You can use a hammer to build a house or to murder someone. You can. And the same is true for cell phones. Cell phones are a lifeline for many students. They are how they access their education and without

118them, they can't. And so, I again, I'm I won't be going anywhere on any policy that's a way for the day for delaying the critical needs that we have or for distracting us with a cell phone policy when what we're really needing is more supports for supporting people in the classroom with engagement and enrichment and behaviors. All right, I'll go ahead and wrap up. Just to quickly repeat one of the points that I made I think particularly weak in this draft policy are the sections on unstructured time and classroom. Um I believe that the vagueness here allows for inconsistency among buildings, and I don't I don't know why a district would um adopt a policy that consists of such vagueness. Also, as a long-time educator, what I learned was that um early on if you

119establish a policy that's loose and weak that then trying to tighten it, whether it's 2 months or halfway through the year or whatever uh is more difficult than going the other direction, which is starting with something that's uh tougher, and then it's always easier to loosen it, and is always better received by um the people who are impacted by it. And with that, I think we're ready to proceed to the vote. Uh the the motion is a motion to postpone until the June study session. A yes vote um has nothing to do with the policy itself. It has to do whether with whether you want to um postpone it until the June study session. A no vote is means that you do not want to do that. So, Lorelei, will you call the roll? Stu

120Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. No. Lori Gobel. I. Don Kirk. No. Alexander Lessin. Nay. Nancy Rumfelt. Uh I don't think it's going to matter. Um I. All right, the vote is three to three. So the motion does not pass. Am I correct Lorelei when there is a tie vote? Yes. So the motion to postpone fails. Are we ready to vote then on the motion to approve the policy as presented? I move that we approve the policy as presented. Okay, and we need a second for that. Second. Any further discussion? Yes. >> This is a Boyd. Yes. I think the points that you brought up are very valid as far as, you know, especially as far as tightening it up. I saw nods of the heads, um, you know, in regard to the policy with uh, the

121sections that were vague. And I would suggest that that be addressed as quickly as possible so that we could possibly even update this policy maybe even at the June session should it pass tonight. All right. Uh, I believe we're ready to proceed to the vote then on the motion to approve the draft uh, policy. Please call the roll. Stu Boyd. No. Denise Chapman. Aye. Lorelei Gobel. Nay. Don Kirk. Aye. Alexander Lessin. Aye. Nancy Rumfelt. Nay. All right, so that is also a tie vote. So that motion also fails. So now what I don't know and I don't have help from my cheat sheet here is where we go then from here. The the motion to postpone failed. The motion to pass to approve the draft policy also failed on a tie vote. So where do

122we go from here? Well, certainly you can engage in further discussion um and another motion can be made and see if anybody changes their [clears throat] changes their mind based on some of the further discussion. Um I do have some things I would love to add to the discussion when if and when you're ready, but I will I think Director Gobel has a comment. Okay, go ahead. I would like to make a motion that uh this item, the policy JICJ, be placed on the June agenda for both the study session and our regular board meeting um June study session. Well, that's it. Period. All right, I believe that is an another way of of stating the motion to postpone. So, um um I've never had experience doing this uh in this particular situation. So, I

123I think we need some guidance or some direction from someone who's knowledgeable and can help us figure out where we go from here. >> May I I'd like to make a a recommendation. It's pretty clear that there's some differing views up here. And so, what I would recommend is um maybe Dr. Heller, you request that we all by Friday send you what we what we would like to see changed or we can sit here and hash it out. Um the the those are the only two options that we have. So, if we send in our recommendations to you by Friday, I can tell you right now my recommendation would be that we just say every school in the district no phones during lunch or passing period. They still have them on them. They're still turned

124on. And that we really clarify which classes would need um a phone for instructional purposes. That should be I mean, that would probably only be at the high high school level, I can't imagine, but that would take away the ambiguity. So. I do have another suggestion. Um and I don't know if this is allowable. We do have a board member missing. Um It's not allowable. When I talked with this individual, he told me what his vote would be would have been had he been here. Is it possible to No, let me finish. Speak for another board member when they're not here. >> I don't intend to speak for another board member. I intend to state what my suggestion is. Is it possible that we could um have a vote via some other thing other than

125meeting in person when the other board member is back? So, we any any action has to be taken in a public meeting. So, we cannot vote any other way other than taking action in a public meeting. I will say both motions have died for lack of approval. So, that can just be it for this meeting and it'll be up to us and then we will have to bring it back to June because both motions have died. Um we will have to bring it back in June. I would certainly ask for and will probably reach out electronically using Nancy's suggestion to get some very specific clarity on what types of recommendations were we would be bringing back to you because we really have a very limited amount of time for us to make any changes. Um

1262 weeks from now is that board meeting. We have to get all of our stuff in really by the Friday before. So, we have a very small window of time to get these changes made. I do want to address one piece. There's a There's There's that was made that essentially this policy and the way it's written is going to put larger burden on the teachers or the staff to hold this policy, to make this policy happen. I want to be very clear, any policy that that says that kids cannot use their phones will fall only on staff at the administrative level, the teaching level, and the classified level. They will be the ones that will be having to say to a student, "Hand me your phone. You're using it inappropriately." So, we whether that policy

127is super general or very, very tight, it won't fall on me to enforce that policy. It'll enforce It'll fall on the people in our buildings to enforce that policy. I do know talking to our building administrators, there is a lot of concern over the capacity of the system right now to confiscate the sheer volume of phones we will be dealing with. If we're talking before school through the end of the day as a system, we do not have a place to store those phones safely. We don't have a way to catalog what condition those phones were in when we received them so that we don't have allegations of phone destruction by students when we return the phone back to them. We have We don't have a mechanism when a parent says, "You will not, over

128my dead body, take my child's phone," which I have already heard from parents regarding this policy. We don't have that capacity built in our system right now. That is my largest concern with two day for fall to put in something that is bell to bell, complete ban. Hearing from our staff, they feel and have told me, again, this is not everyone, there's a concern about the capacity of the system to go from no policy to this far in a very short amount of time. That said, if that's the will of the board, we will do it. We'll put it in place, and we'll do our best to execute that with our administrators and with our staff. Um but I do have those concerns. Having lived through being an administrator in a bell to bell ban

129school, we will deal with a lot of real big challenges, especially for the first couple of years. I'm worried that we're going to be having kids put in in-school suspension because they refuse to hand over a phone. Some of those things that will come up over time. But like I said, both motions have died. So, unless there's a different motion that somebody wants to make, this would be kicked to June. We would bring back a draft. If I'm given if we're given enough feedback of what specifically people want to see changed, um we can make those changes. The hardest part for us, I will tell you, is we're going to get partial or we're going to get ideas from seven different board members, and each of those may be in conflict with each other, right?

130So, some of those some of those ideas may not agree with each other, and we have to navigate what actually goes in the policy that we as administration would be recommending to the board for next year. Let me just say that bell to bell is only one of the stricter policies that could be considered. There are others uh that are not do not go quite as far as bell to bell. Um so, in terms of where we go from here, because both of the motions died, my sense is that we are turning this back to you and your staff to bring something, whatever something looks like, back to the June uh study session. Board, do you agree with that on the basis of the fact that both of the motions failed? I I do have

131just a couple kind of clarifying things that I want to throw out there. One is that there is absolutely no possible way that I can do anything before graduation. I'm surprised I'm here. Um and so, I know that my ability to give input is compromised, and I am one of three board members who are in a very similar position. Um and so, that there's a tight time frame, and what I I did just hear is that um what was put in front of us to vote on largely feels like the most um practical or pragmatic solution for the capacity of our system today. Um and I think that any changes to make it more strict that then are trying we're trying to get done in June um we have even less time to try to

132figure out the solutions when we push it back and that concerns me and I just want to call that out because I think that there is some really considerable things for us to talk about. Um but I think us trying to solve them with the input of the people that we need is is not going to be significantly improved two weeks from now either and that concerns me from like I don't want to ask you guys to do something that I'm afraid won't be very feasible and that concerns me. So I I do want to just call that out cuz I think we're going to have a challenge. >> that. We've already discussed the fact that both of the motions failed. I don't see that we really have any other recourse except to turn the

133issue back to the staff and see what they come up with. Maybe they'll maybe they'll return with exactly what we're looking at today and consider it again at the June meeting. Um I I think that's our only choice because those motions both failed. Okay? President Boyd Do I need to withdraw that motion and you're just giving direction to staff to bring it back in June? Um I think yes. I think you need to withdraw your motion which is essentially a motion to postpone. Okay. So that's what we're going to do on this. Thank you. All right. Let's see. There's my agenda. All right. We're ready to move then to agenda item 7.5, which is approval of tentative agreement for negotiations. Good evening, President Boyd, members of the board, Dr. Hilliard. Tiffany Rogers, Chief Human Resources

134Officer, and I have with me Sue Timer, our TEA president. And we are here to discuss the tentative agreement for negotiations for on the 26-27 year. And so I'm going to let Sue um lead off with an update. TEA did vote on the tentative agreement, and 59% of the TEA members voted to ratify the tentative agreement. So TEA has ratified it. Do you have any questions for us? That's our only update for this evening. Um Questions this time would start with Lori. Uh just a couple quick questions. Out of the uh number of teachers that are are part of um or that are full-time employees that are part of TEA, um what is that percentage? I've heard 51, 52% of the total number of teachers that are members of TEA. I just wanted to get

135a clarification on that. As of our count um late October, cuz it has to be turned in by November, it was 52.8. Not exact on the point eight, but pretty sure. >> [laughter] >> Okay. Thank you. That was my only question. All right. Um Don. I'm wondering if you got any feedback from the 41% who voted against it. Um and if we did, does it is it things that we talked about through the negotiation process and tried to address. So, you have optimism that 100% would vote. >> Oh, yeah, fair. Thanks for that. Yep. >> So, we actually had 61.19% of the members vote. To be honest, we had 10 people We We had 10 people in our final count who had no votes. They were very disheartened by the financial situation. Okay. So, The

136ones who spoke, not all of them spoke to me. Okay. Thank you for clarifying that. So, we're talking about a pretty small percentage overall. Um and mostly it's about the situation and the pieces of it that we can't control. Okay. Just wanted to clarify that I under And And there was a pretty strong sentiment that we as a union did not fight hard enough. And we shared that we felt there was a lot of collaboration and we did what we could. And I would believe the negotiation team is as a whole both um both groups are also disheartened by the financial situation but are attempting to do the best that we can do with the financial situation that we have available. All right. Uh Denise. Thank you both for leading the efforts uh for the

137respective parties that um you know, the grace that the entire organization had uh seeing you know, both sides and coming to an agreement. And you're in a no-win situation with the way the financial situation sits. Um so, yeah, made the best of what we can. Uh hopefully, you know, and we'll do it again next year and see what happens but um it's a hard time right now. Alexander. Uh I don't think I have anything to add. Thank you for work. Nancy. Now, again, it's a it's a difficult decision. Um the only thing I would add is I I do wish at some point we could figure out how to get to the board some information that's really relevant to deciding the monetary raises for not just licensed, but classified and APT that we just recently

138I mean it would I think we need to figure out a way how to get some of that information to us sooner when we're trying to make a very um critical financial decision when it comes to employee compensation. So again, that's my wish. Um but again, I know you guys do a lot of hard work, so thank you. I'll go ahead and conclude. As I've mentioned to the board before, I attended at least part of all of the negotiation sessions. Um I believe this was truly negotiations in good faith. Both sides did everything they could to cooperate and collaborate. Uh I believe having been there for most of the minutes that they spent together that they received information, budget information, et cetera that they needed to. And I believe that they believe that they arrived

139at the very best possible agreement that they could. And so, I'll just echo uh what some of my board colleagues have said, thank you for your part in that. We're involved in a difficult financial situation. But congratulations on the professional collaborative approach that um you and your negotiators provided. So, thank you. Thank you. And we are requesting this evening that the board with the tenant agreement being ratified by TEA that you would vote to approve the tenant agreement this evening. All right. You've heard the request. I'd entertain a motion. So moved. Right. Second. Further discussion? Loralie, please call the roll. Stu Boyd. Aye. Denise Chapman. Aye. Lori Gobel. Nay. Don Kirk. Aye. Alexander Lesson. Aye. Nancy Runfeldt. Aye. All right. That motion passed five to one. All right. So, the motion is approved. Thank you.

140Thank you. All right. So, what was formerly 6.8 now appears as discussion action item 7.6. This is the approval of the proclamation recognizing National Teacher Appreciation Week. Laura, you're the person who asked that it be moved. I have a handout connected with this. So, I'll let you speak first. I'm not sure if all of my colleagues were had an opportunity to read the email. I did send an email to President Boyd yesterday, it was. And hearing back from him was given just a little bit of direction on how to proceed regarding this. And just wanted to make a couple of clarifications as I stated in the email is one was to remove the second whereas clause. The rationale was just acknowledging widely differing backgrounds implies that the teaching methods or expectations should vary on a

141child's background rather than holding all students to the same high standards of excellence. We've talked about this earlier tonight as having that bar of a high bar and raising our graduation requirements as defined in was it IKF policy. And just removing it ensures the proclamation focuses on equal education opportunity for every child without suggesting differential treatment by background. And then actually defining quality education which is uh explained we actually have that in one of our policies as well. Uh the court mastery of the core subjects reading, writing, mathematics, science, and history and development of critical thinking and character delivered through proven evidence-based methods with high expectations for all students. And then having another uh clause put in about the children being whereas the children being educated are precious to their parents and we could even

142put in parents/guardians if that would be a correction somebody would like to make or another amendment who entrusts the schools with their most cherished responsibility the well-being, safety, future success of their sons and daughters. Um I did have a an attachment there and as we discussed that this was a boilerplate proclamation and I just believe these amendments were focusing more on equal education opportunity for every child and truly honoring our absolutely amazing and wonderful teachers. And uh I know that the week has come and gone, but this was not on the agenda till this month. But I would ask my colleagues to to consider these uh amendments uh to this uh proposal or to the proclamation. And that we can truly stand in unison to support our our teachers and families as well. All right.

143Don. Don't we have to have a second? If she's proposing an amendment, don't we have to have a second? Um Is she proposing She was going to. If she's proposing an amendment. Um You just asked me to explain it. So I would I would make make a motion to approve the uh the proclamation recognizing the national teachers teacher appreciation week as amended. I'll second it. All right. Um let's proceed then to discussion. So Lori has offered her comments. >> Uh I wouldn't be able to approve this second version um because it violates board policy. Uh Denise. I'll second. And I we don't provide an equal education. We don't provide >> I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you. I said I don't think we were are in the business of providing equal education. It's just an equitable

144education. Um but our kids are different and so you know, we don't just create robots here. So I can't um approve the second. Although I did think the parents and guardians is a good thing and then sons and daughters I would just say young people or something there. Alexander. So I um not in favor of the amendments. I think that I I think that teachers encountering students of widely differing backgrounds does not say anything about teaching differently or anything like that. And the very next sentence says our country's future depends on providing quality education to all students. I think it's just acknowledging that they come from different backgrounds and you even say that in your in your uh third statement regardless of background, so I don't see that that is really any different. Um I

145don't see I mean, I can see your point as far as defining the quality education, but I don't feel that that's necessary or important for a um teacher appreciation um to have that level of detail in there. Um the part I really take issue with um when you added the guardians part, I think it's helpful. Um but I think saying that the children being educated are precious to their parents who entrust the school, etc., etc. Um unfortunately, there are many children in our students who are not precious to their parents. And while that is tragic, it makes it more tragic if if we erase their existence by putting this clause in there. We have a number of students who are unaccompanied minors that we know who do not have anybody looking out for them. We

146have students who are taken care of by grandparents, by brothers, by sisters, by aunts, by uncles, by family friends, I mean, by any number of people. And so, I I'm absolutely not remotely supportive of that of that um thing because like I said, it erases the experience of many of our students who very sadly are not in the situation that you mentioned there. All right. Nancy. Um I mean, overall I understand the intent of the changes to it. I like defining quality education. I I think that's um good instead of using uh a boilerplate. Um I understand the point that Director Lawson's making about our precious to their parents. Um in the future we could say something like our precious to um to their families, which would be more inclusive of whether it's a parent,

147a grandparent, a guardian. Um I Overall, I I do like the changes, unfortunately, because I mean, this week is part of this month and this is the last meeting that we have of this month. I'm just want to acknowledge that I appreciate her amendments and changes and understand them, but I would probably stick with the original proclamation simply because we don't have time to give this that it deserves. All right, I'll I'll wind up the comment on this. Um Lori, as I told you when you sent me the first draft of this and asked for my reactions to it, um you've seen those reactions. The rest of the board hasn't heard my reactions. Um I don't interpret the content or intention of the second whereas clause in the same way that Lori does. Regarding the

148new clause that was proposed, kind of echoing what Alexandra said, many children these days are not being raised by their parents and they're being raised in um various ways by various people. And finally, I don't feel the need to define quality in the proclamation, although I certainly agree with your definition that quality education is grounded in the aspects that you mentioned and delivered through evidence-based methods. So, with my being the last comment on this, I think we're ready to proceed to the vote. Um let's see. We have a motion and a second, is that correct? All right, to vote on the amendment. All right. Um Lori, would you restate the just the amendment part? The amendments were to remove uh the second whereas clause as it was presented in our packet. And then to add

149the whereas quality education definition clause. And then the final clause of uh uh the definition of whereas children are being they're being educated are precious. Those were the three changes. All right. Has that received a second? Yes. >> Yeah, I second. >> All right. Then, let's proceed to the vote. Loralee, will you call the roll, please? Stu Boyd. No. Denise Chapman. No. Lori Gobel. Aye. Don Kirk. No. Alexander Lessin. Nay. Ann McRumpel. No. All right. So, that motion um fails five to one. So, I believe now we are back to the original proclamation. Um which was 6.8. Help me if this isn't the way that we're supposed do this, but I think probably we go back to that proclamation. Which um we now need to vote to approve the wording of the original proclamation. >>

150Yep, you would need a motion and a second to approve the original proclamation. >> All right. I move that we approve the original teacher appreciation proclamation as written. Second. Done. Okay, thank you. Uh any further discussion? President Boyd. Yes. I would like to uh make an amendment to add the whereas clause regarding quality education. Wha- would you say that again? I would like to make an amendment to add in the whereas clause as presented on in the email uh defining quality education. All right. Just that single one. That needs a second. All right, that motion fails for lack of a second. So we're back to uh the original proclamation. We have a motion and a second, correct? All right, any further discussion? All right. Um if the original motion passes um after that that vote,

151then Deni- Denise, you would offer to read the original proclamation, and I'll ask you to do that then. All right, so Lorelei, would you call the roll, please? Does everybody understand what they're voting on right now? Yes, okay. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. I. Don Kirk. I. Alexander Less, sorry, sorry, hang on. Denise Chapman, then Lori Gowel. I. Um, Don Kirk. I. Alexander Lessin. I. Nancy Rumfelt. I. All right. Before Denise reads the proclamation, uh, just a bit of clarification. Um, we were to have met during Teacher Appreciation Week, which was the week of um, May 4th through 8th. We didn't meet because uh, of the snowstorm and the snow day that Dr. Heller and other powers that be granted the district that day. Um, I suggest that we honor our dedicated professional teaching staff

152um, by doing what uh, Denise is going to read then uh, in the proclamation. So, Denise, would you go ahead then and read the proclamation? Whereas teachers mold future citizens through guidance and education, and whereas teachers encounter students of widely differing backgrounds, and whereas our country's future depends upon providing quality education to all students, and whereas teachers spend countless hours preparing lessons, evaluating progress, counseling and coaching students, and performing community service, and whereas our community recognizes and supports its teachers in educating the children of this community. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Thompson School District Board of Education proclaims May 4th through 8th, 2026 to be Teacher Appreciation Week, and be it further resolved that the Thompson School Board District Board of Education strongly encourages all members of our community to join with it

153in personally expressing appreciation to our teachers for their dedication and devotion to their work. All right, thank you. I believe we're now finished with the discussion action portion of the meeting. We'll move to general section 8, which is discussion items. 8.1 the 2026-2027 budget update. Of course, we had a request for a short break. About 7 minutes. Do it. Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> All right, Bob. Thanks for your patience. Ready for agenda item 8.1. Good evening, board president, members of the board, Dr. Hiller. I'm Bob Iverson, chief financial officer. And I'm coming before you with a first draft of the 2026-27 school budget. Um the process, as we've noted before, first starts with student-facing a process regarding uh the student projected pupil count. And as we've been going down in pupil count, that

154means the the reduction of teacher classrooms because there are fewer students to teach. Uh that proposed allocation was sent to the schools uh including teachers, at-risk staff, and special education. Um the uh principals then adjusted that accordingly to their schools, and they came back, and they were reviewed by um the staff here. Um uh we reduced 11 positions in administration. Uh we assumed level funding for all other staffing. Uh we assumed level funding for non-FTE uh expenses to the extent possible. We noted that health insurance costs uh are after reduction of adjustment for coverage is going up $2 million. The state bouncing back and forth ended up with giving us a moderate increase of 400 to 500,000 after the cuts of the reduced students. So that resulted in a balanced budget with no wage increases.

155We were not taking a position one way or the other because negotiations were going on at that time. You just recently adopted the licensed negotiation process which included steps and columns for staff but with four furlough days for a net impact of zero. We appreciate that process. Following past practices and after some discussion with the board and uh we have included in this budget a 1.76% increase for APT staff with four furlough days. Almost equals each other at that point. And following past practice and direction from the board we are have included a 2.76% increase of raises for the classified which is 1% more than APT and only two furlough days. So that results in pretty close to a 2% net raise for classified. Um from that we have been working to update our budget

156format and what was sent to you was the first draft using a proposed format that I've since sent you links by a separate email similar to Poudre, Saint Vrain, and Strasburg was another one that we've used based on talking with other proposals. Um, we will be sending you additional information as requested for the non-FTE portion. That will be coming out and that will be included before the next draft comes out for the study session and that will be included in the public portion as well. Uh, so you'll be able to review that. Um, we appreciate your patience. Um, as we have been ironically preparing for the audit for the current year and doing the budget at the same time. Um, we have not got the budget book to where we want to be, but it's

157the first attempt to do that. We will also, as the budget software goes through, we will not for for your adoption this year because we aren't anywhere near that, but later this year we'll be able to to slice and dice it by schools, by programs, and other information as for that's coming through that. Um, after tonight, uh, the next sessions will the the next board session on June 3rd, you'll have another opportunity to talk about it there. I will be holding a budget community forum here on June 8th. Uh, and then ultimately it'll come back to the board for a meeting on June 17th at this point. Um, just uh, coming attractions for the following year. Um, we again are projecting additional reduction of students for the population for next year, so that'll be an

158additional reduction. Additional increase in health insurance, which is probably about another $2 million. We have no idea what the state is going to do regarding cost of living, specific ownership tax, um, um, the uh, averaging. The current, um, >> [snorts] >> formula has averaging of 3 years. They're talking about that going down each year to possibly 2 years. So, we are catching up on a point on that point. So, that that's my overall process at this point. Um, we have given you a little bit more detail on the other funds other than the general fund. When you actually do vote the budget, you will be voting for on the budget for all the various funds at this point. And I would be open it up to any questions that you have on the initial draft.

159All right. Um Don, I believe we'll begin questions on 8.1 with you. I am looking at the projected pupil count and I realize we're projecting, but it I it does seem to be a fairly decent increase. Um And I'm Oh, sorry. Hold on. The pupil count that you you see on the in the description is a 3-year average. It's not the actual students we are going to see in the fall. Thank you. I Between that and me looking at the chart and reading the rows right, I'm good. Thanks. For now, I'll be Okay. All right. Um Yeah, thank you for your walk through there, Bob, but particularly in kind of what's happened so far. Um it's helpful to see how it all came together. Um no particular questions about the numbers, but just thank you.

160You're thorough as always. Alexander. So, I just have a question on the licensed FTE. The I know you had told us before that the number of teachers was going down by 19, so I do see that reflected there. I'm curious about the at-risk is going down 16.5 FTE and I'm curious about about that. Um if you could provide a little bit more information. Sure. Um what we have found the way the FTE listing has been here has not necessarily been consistent with the actual staffing sheets for each school. So, I believe and I will do more research on this, that those positions are actually incorporated into some of the other positions down below um and that we've actually are keeping the at-risk We have We have the >> [snorts] >> Chief Human Resources Officer. That's

161right. Some of it, I believe that there's the number 12 in there. Some of that is in previous years we took a 1% pool and pulled it aside. And so part of that is reflective of the 1% pool component being added into the at-risk. So, there was a pool being pulled aside. When we did FTE, we kept 1% back. And we did that to use so when people made requests, if we had increased head count, what we did this year is we did not want our schools to work in scarcity. And so what we did is we gave out the entire FTE pool based on the new base models that we built. And so that's reflective of the why that number looks different. So, the at-risk looked different when we divvied it out. Okay. And

162so is that also why the pool teachers looks different because that's now incorporated into like base base staffing or whatever. >> the buckets don't look the same as they did before when we laid out the base model and we pulled it that FTE had that FTE pulled aside. Okay. Okay. But but each each of the schools that are entitled to at-risk actually have the assigned at-risk for the population of each of those schools. And the other thing we've been very intentional in how the at-risk um pool is used and so we're I'm being intentional so if we need to report that LA data we can explain those at risk dollars are being used for X, Y, or Z. So we've been very intentional in our FTE planning for that and with the schools. All right.

163Nancy. Um So I know I sent you a lot in the email and I'm still I'm still processing this. And so know that um the sooner you can get out the next update the better. Um I will say again like I said in the email to have the non-FTE so summarized is is just something that I'm not okay with. Um We we spent a lot of money on that budget module. Not so that we could be the same as other school districts, but for me so that we could be different. We could set ourselves apart and show a better way um to do the budgeting reporting to the to the public. And so and again I know it's a long drawn out plus process getting this implemented. Um And so um I'm still I'll just

164I'll withhold but I want you to know that as far as the public goes, I have been really talking about that you know that you and Zach and your team are working hard that with this new budget module there will be a new level of transparency. And so I would just ask if there's any way that when you go to do the June we get the final one to approve that that some of that is incorporated so that they can see that there is there is some transparency light. I don't know what else to call it coming. Um So, I won't I know it's already we've already had a lot of discussion tonight. So, I'll probably hold any other questions until I get this next update because I think that's the one that'll have a

165lot more information in it. So. >> Sure. We we we we will have the um non-FTE almost in the exact same format as it is in the current year because it's not ready to come out of the software yet. So, you're you're you're going to get the information you asked, but it's not going to be broken down into [clears throat] the different categories the way we will be doing it next year, but you will be able to see the information. So, we >> I do have one last question. I'd be curious cuz on the 3-year average of students, what would it what would that number be if it wasn't the 3-year average? If if it was actually what you're projecting for students to be here next year? What would it be if it wasn't the

166average? Um I will have to look at get that number. I don't remember it off the top of my head. >> what the schools have to use to staff, not not a 3-year average. >> That's correct. So, when we did our staffing, we did it based on the actual students. We're getting effectively more money than we are going to have in the seats that way. >> the 3-year averaging is all part of the the funds go for that. >> the actual number. That that will be You Right. Okay. We work together. The our the number of actual students when we're using it to budget for FTE is not just the students that are sitting in seats today. It has to do with the projections that our demographer does to say what is the population coming

167in. Um historically from like just a good example from last year, from the time that we budgeted from the time where the student count was in October, we lost 400 students from the time we budgeted to the other. So, that's to tell you we're looking at that projected kind of a model. So we're looking at people graduating and people coming into the system. So it looks more different than the actual head count and that gets confusing for our principals sometimes. So we have worked a lot on that this year is talking about how that process works and why we do that method that we do. >> Cuz I know the averaging is different than what you're actually planning for. So when you do the next one maybe you can include that. >> Okay. Great. All

168right, Lori. Um what was the funded pupil count for this last year? And I I don't >> Thought it was I thought it was uh 13,871. I'm I'm just trying to recall what it was. I remember at one meeting Dr. Heller had that number at the just right in front of him. I don't know. That would be about appropriate because the the number going down is about 270 and I've been using the number 250 reduction. I I will I will verify that and get that out with the next version. And that was that was the count in October is the one they use correct? I I will verify that. Thank you. Um just by having having the So we're uh the reduction in admin of 11 I guess I was just kind of wondering is

169like on the classroom aids in the spreadsheet that you sent out. Um so it shows classroom aids reduced by 9.4. Um that was in just in that spreadsheet that you sent out. And maybe I'll just say and just having a little bit better um better bucket explanation. Um because I also saw and I'm not finding here in my notes, but it was in regard to the uh Head Start program or the pre-K program. There was like there was a number somewhere that I was trying to figure out why it was in that particular place cuz it appeared to be part of the K-12. Um I think with the teacher count is where that was. Um but just trying to figure that out. And then we have a communications and security specialist. We have uh increase

170of eight on I said once again back to the the spreadsheet, which I appreciate. Um I have a quick answer on that one. >> You do. Okay. >> The communicate um the security folks were budgeted in the schools and were considered their FTE. They've moved under Joe Vadansky in the security department. So, that's how they are moved around. Certainly, I wish we could do a little asterisk to have explanations when stuff like that happens because that would make a lot more sense, especially, you know, from the outside looking in, people um you know, just pulling this up and like going, "Oh my goodness, we're almost doubling our staff on that. Why did that happen?" And that's you know, it makes a lot of sense when you say, "Hey, it moved from here to there." So,

171I appreciate that and um uh that's all I have for now. Thank you. All right. Um I'm not going to ask any questions about the numbers themselves, but I'm curious and would like you to refresh my memory at least, if not that of the other board members, um what are the significant dates between now and is it June 30th by which we need to have um formalized, finalized the budget. Can you tell us what the next steps are? When will we see you in June? What will we be doing at those particular meetings, etc.? >> So, the first important date was today. We had to get you a draft budget. It didn't have to be the final draft budget until before the end of May. Mhm. Second deadline is I have to hold a community

172forum. That's on June 8th. You have to vote by June 30th. So, your second board meeting is when you vote. The study session is not in statute, but that's when we give you the initial thing that is going to end up becoming then June. So, you will have the board will officially have two times that your study session and your final session in June. And then if you want to come to the community forum, you're welcome in that, but that one we try to open up to the the forum. In addition, we were advertising in the Reporter-Herald, and I put a copy of a draft budget at the Berthoud Library and the Loveland Library for public access as well. So, you have some some busy weeks ahead of you, you and your staff. We do.

173All right. Is there anything in particular that you would like the board to know in regard to challenges you're facing connected with this whole process? I have not had any challenges communicating with anybody in the organization. Okay, good. >> department heads, staffing, um, board comments, the everything is welcome. We have been incorporating the information together. Um, information when we were talking about a reduction of administrative staff is not done by finance. Cabinet was reviewed on that. We looked at various positions. We also understand that we are looking at what's going to happen next year depending on the the two ballot questions that we're expecting to be there. There may be additional funding that will help us solve our concerns, but we will still be looking for the right sizing and the right positions that we

174would be having when going forward at that point. Regarding those two funding measures, uh we know that 26135 will be on the ballot because that's passed the both the the Senate and the House and probably signed by the governor, is that correct? >> I've not heard about the governor signing anything. >> Okay, I don't I don't know about that. Okay. And then it is the deadline for 175 Is it 175 or 195? Cuz there are two ballot initiatives. The one that's the graduated income tax, they have until sometime in August to finish gathering their signatures, is that right? >> Since that's not my job, I don't remember the date. Okay. All right. But but you know that's in process. >> That's correct. Okay. Thank you. All right. Um any other questions from the board? I

175welcome any email questions. That's the best way to get it and then then as we do regularly, we share the answers back. I do have one more thing to give back to the board for the current year budget so that it's easier for you to read, we now have ledger size copies of the current budget because the I would like to say that's how I've increased the budget, but that's not how it works. >> [laughter] >> Um you just came into the inner sanctum, you're aware of that, right? >> [laughter] >> The new budget book will not require the need to have to be making the things as big, so. Thank you for your your attention. Thank you again, Bob, to you and your staff for all the hard work you're doing. All right. Uh

176we're going to move to um agenda item number nine, which is future topic items for board consideration. Does anyone have anything that you would like to talk about and offer as a future topic? Who's >> [laughter] >> I don't know. As she said, we don't have anything else. I'm not sure if this would go under this or request for information, but I would like to discuss the possibility of doing uh an independent survey as to school why uh parents uh guardians, whoever are choosing to have their children educated outside of Thompson, and then also to the Thompson parents, you know, what is you know, why are you choosing Thompson so that we can better uh meet the needs of the families and the students. I'm not sure where that would go under. >> Let me

177make sure I'm understanding what you're asking for. So, you'd like to do some type of a study which would >> had we had discussed um exit surveys, but that I've not really seen the information from that as far as you know, um I know we've written the the opt-in opt-out number was 1,100 that opted out, and we've talked about it uh briefly, or it's been mentioned to do some type of exit survey, but I think uh maybe we need to discuss having an outside group do something of that nature, like we do with several of our other studies in order to get information to better serve our students and their families. >> understanding what you're asking for. So, we're talking about students here. We're not talking about staff. Is that correct? >> Correct. Yeah, but

178So, you're you're asking if the district could conduct some type of a survey to discover why students are leaving the district and also why other students are staying in the district. Is that what you're asking for? Dr. Heller, I'd have to Yeah, President, I will say that we've already the cabinet has been working on a for lack of a better word, an exit survey that would be provided to families when they inform us that they're leaving, um so that we can gain some information. Purely optional. We can't obviously require them to do it, but we are working on the kind of fine-tuning what questions we'd want to ask. The next step will be figuring out the mechanism to make sure it's happening across every different campus and how do we do that? So, cabinet has

179been working on developing that that tool. And then the we'll have to work probably in the fall with our with our receptionists or secretaries, registrars, those those folks that when they're notified the family is um has an intent to go somewhere else for whatever reason, that they would ask those families to complete that that survey. All right, so this is information that would be available sometime maybe during the first semester of 26-27. Is that the hope? >> Yeah, my hope is once we have a kind of a game plan and how we're going to pull this off that we can bring that to the board and give them a report on kind of the and that you see what the survey questions are asking, all of that. Okay. All right, thank you and thank you,

180Lori, for raising that. Anyone else? Future topic items for board consideration. Hearing none, let's move to agenda item number 10, board communication. Each member of the board Excuse me. has the opportunity to report on events or to communicate with other board members and the community. Limit of 3 minutes per board member and Denise, I'd like to start with you. I don't have anything this evening. Thank you. All right. Um Alexandra? I don't have anything prepared per se, but I think I've just sort of been reflecting a lot on last 15 years. Um as of Saturday will be my last time being a parent in the district. Um which has its pros and cons, but it's been a long time. Um and it's been a journey. Um seeing, hearing all of my my band friends here

181today talking about the band. All of you guys know that that's been a huge, huge, huge part of of our time as well. Um hearing about, you know, my kid with one of the kids building the furniture at the landing. Um and he was doing it with two of his friends. Um one of whom he's been friends with since kindergarten and the other one um since middle school. Um and so it's kind of a lot. Um and it's been it's been a journey and it's been, you know, we've had our ups and downs. We've had um uh overall I would say it's been a been a positive experience for for my older child and now for Isaac who's graduating on Saturday, God willing. Um >> [laughter] >> um and I think I'm grateful for for

182being on the board that I'll still be able to have a connection to the district for another few years um and it won't feel like, you know, quite as quite as much of a loss. So, I appreciate all of you. I appreciate, you know, the role that I have and I look forward to continuing to serve as a non non parent, which will be something very different. Yeah, before I move on to the next person, this dawned on me the other day that your younger child is graduating this year. Dawn, your youngest child is graduating this year. Mike isn't here this evening. He's attending an out-of-state graduation event for a family member. His younger child is graduating this year. Um and so that's a a real period of transition for at least three of the

183people on the board who are um currently board members and parents. Denise, you've been through this with the last child. I've been through this with the last child. Nancy, you've been through this with the last child. And Lori, I assume you have too. So, it's um I guess it's part of what board members do to grow up, I guess. >> [laughter] >> For lack of lack of a better term. So, thanks for letting me interject that. Um okay. Um Nancy, Um I have I do have a quick report that I will just follow up with that. Once they all leave for college and everything, then there's then you begin the the discussions of well, who really didn't throw away the empty cereal box and put it back? [laughter] Cuz there's no one left to to

184blame. Except Robert. Except Robert. [laughter] So, anyway, um put that aside. So, um I I don't think I've talked about the security train that we did. I can't remember. Um but it was a fun day. Um I I loved I think the best part was the role-playing part. Um and then and that was like the end of April. It seems like forever ago. And then um Friday, last Friday and this Tuesday, I was a panelist at High Plains for their um project-based learning um class. and that was really interesting. I have to say that's the first time I've done it and I really enjoyed it. And it was also nice nice and sad because it's also Lindy Jones is retiring and so that was you know it but the the kids were it was interesting

185listening to them to all of their solutions. I was explaining that you know maybe it's time we really do need to implement classes on government earlier because some of their ideas were well one was they wrote a letter to Mayor McFall to basically make a law that no more energy drinks can be in schools. And then and then another said school boards could just ban energy drinks and same with cities. So but it was really it was really a fun thing to go through and and score them and and give them feedback. I really I really enjoyed doing it. And then this isn't school related but I did attend issues on tap this Monday. And John Kenny gave this really fantastic report on what's coming for the regional airport which I had no idea which

186I think will be so good for the school district. Um we Colorado Springs only has 500,000 when they did their regional but we're already at 900,000 for potential customers and so they're going to close down the runways widen them and then sometime this in Q1 of 27 it's very likely that those will start having some commercial air service which I think will just be good for the community bringing in job other jobs more tourism which I think will also help us in trying to attract more um um teachers and staff. So, it was a great presentation and um that was really exciting so that you A, just we don't have to go to Denver to get a plane, but um anyway, that's my report. All right. Lori. Thank you, President Boyd. Um I just wanted

187to give a a shout-out today is a historic day uh is my grandson's birthday. So, I wanted to say happy birthday, Jesse. Um and he is actually a member of an award-winning band in his school district. I would also like to thank uh uh Joe Vidansky and his team for putting on that live drill the safety and security day. It was very, very eye-opening and I would truly encourage everyone uh board members and especially uh faculty, staff to attend that. Um I learned so much that day. It was absolutely wonderful. And hearing that about the airport, um I hadn't heard that yet. So, um my oldest son actually did uh with a college and they had concurrent credits and he was able to get his private pilot's license before even graduated high school. So, um

188with the colleges here in the area, I think that'll be a a great uh great asset as well. So, and just in mentioning that about my grandson is because of that love that for my grandchildren that I do serve here on this board. And this last Sunday, May 17th, was another historic day because it marked Re-dedicate 250, a national jubilee of prayer, thanksgiving, and re-dedication on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. And it was an honor to pray along with the leaders of our country as we celebrate America's 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And here's a bit of history. It was exactly 250 years ago on that date, May 17th, 1776, that the Second Continental Congress proclaimed a national day of humility, fasting, and prayer. Congress called on the American colonies to set

189aside that day to confess their sins, seek God's forgiveness, and humbly ask the Almighty to protect the cause of liberty and establish, {quote} the peace and freedom of America on a solid and lasting foundation. And George Washington even ordered the Continental Army to observe it as well. So, our found founding fathers understood that the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are endowed by our creator. And they believed that a free public requires citizens and leaders who acknowledge dependence upon providence. And that same spirit of prayer and rededication guided them as they moved towards independence just mere weeks later. And I honor that heritage. As a school board, we have the a special responsibility to ensure our students learn the true history of America's founding, including the central role of faith, prayer, and

190moral character in the birth of our nation. May this year's celebration of 250 years of America remind us all, their parents, guardians, educators, leaders, to recommit ourselves to the principles that made America the greatest republic in history. Liberty, justice, and gratitude to our creator. And we, like our founders, seek wisdom and unity, so that the next generation inherits not only knowledge, but also the character to keep America one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Done? I'm in the same boat as you. I'm sorry. I'm in the same boat as Alexandra. Um I uh this is such a momentous occasion and I really um have been incredibly grateful for for all the amazing educators uh who have been part of my children's lives. Um I've just seen some of the

191most beautiful things and I'm I'm constantly [clears throat] amazed by the talent and care um that our staff shows up with every day. Um they have patience and kindness and depth um I mean it's amazing and I'm inspired by them. Um I'm also grateful that I got to do this work because when I started on this board, I wouldn't have been able to say that same thing about some of the experiences my kids have had. And you know, in this short time, there have been such significant changes and I realize that that's asking a lot of people who were kind and dedicated and caring the whole time. Um and so I'm really grateful for their ability to to show up that way every day for for kids. Um I'm I am incredibly grateful for this

192district. It's my home. Um and I I I'm also really impressed with our kids. I think I I do want to make take a second to just shout them out. Regardless of how kids cross that finish line it is a beautiful thing to see um just how they take in what we're offering and use that to then figure out what they're going to do next or not yet cuz who had it figured out at 18? Everyone I know who thought they did didn't. um And so I'm really grateful for all of the experiences that we've had. um and what I've seen the students do with it. Uh so thank you to everyone who's been part of this. And um if you see me crying in the next like week or so just you know give

193me some water cuz I'm probably going to need it. All right. Absolutely. You you can reclaim your spot. >> I shall reclaim. >> [laughter] >> It's made me feel you know really um you know having graduated two last year um one my younger son stayed with the district and went through project search. um And Brett and I were at the graduation this last week. My son wasn't because he has obtained employment as a result of being a part of project search. um But I just want to say what a great program that is. I mean the kids with such diverse skills and talents and um challenges were able to be part of the community of the hospital. I mean there must have been 30 to 35 employees there. um All excited not only for the

194cake but to see these kids that they really built relationships with um and gone through kind of hard times here at the hospital as they were closing um and changing uh and to see the joy and the tears of the graduates um I guess well they graduated last year but and get their diploma. Um it was really a wonderful thing um that we have in the system and uh and you know those are kids that often you know get overlooked or don't get to the finish line and it was just nice to see them um hit that moment and be celebrated again. All right. Um I've recently received emails from community members um enough that I I felt that I needed to respond publicly in some way. So I've actually communicated with our attorney Coulter

195Bump. Uh I've sent her two or three drafts of what I'm going to read to you. Um what I'm reading to reading is from an individual board member, not from the president of the board and that's where I really wanted her her input. So with that as an introduction um let me read this to you. When an individual board member states during either board comments or the discussion before a vote that their individual values, beliefs, or ideology is the major factor determining their vote or position that statement becomes problematic for me because it violates what I believe board members swear to do and is disrespectful to the rest of the board who have checked personal agendas at the door. When we became board members, we swore to uphold the board's code of ethics policy BC-E-1

196three of which are these. Render all decisions based on the available facts and my independent judgment and refuse to surrender that judgment to individuals or special interest groups, and inform ourselves about educational issues that we will discuss, including those issues that particularly impact a segment of our population. And finally, remember always that my first and greatest concern must be the educational welfare of the students attending our district schools. So, then, complete change of direction here. Um I tried diligently on behalf of the board to acknowledge all emails that the board receives. Because we've received approximately emails in the last week related to the cell phone policy, I haven't been able to acknowledge those. Please know, however, those of you who are listening that the board has received them, and the board appreciates your comments. And

197finally, as you've heard, May is a very busy month for board members. I've a join I've enjoyed attending several school and district events. Two highlights for me were the geometry and construction open house at Thompson Valley, celebrating their completion of another house for Berthoud Habitat for Humanity. And also, I attended the final Thompson Leadership Academy session of the year, where I was asked to speak about board duties and responsibilities. And um someone said, "Maybe we'll get board members, you know, from that group, or maybe after they heard what I had to say, they'll decide maybe not. Maybe that's not for me." Anyway, so moving on then, uh agenda item number 11 is written reports, and written reports were part of what we all received. 11.1 District Accountability Committee Minutes, and 11.2 Families Families Partnering in

198Education, EIE, the PIE report. Agenda item number 12, does anyone have a request for information? Hearing none, meeting adjourned.