001You know, we're successful. Water with Sharon. >> I'll call the meeting to order. Laura Lee, will you please call the role? >> Stu Boyd >> here. >> Denise Chapman >> here. >> Lorie Goel here. >> Don Kirk >> here. >> Alexander Lesa. Talk one more time. Alexandra. >> Yeah, I can hear you, but nobody else can. [laughter] >> Let's go ahead. I'll get it figured out. >> Larly, are we ready to move on? >> Yeah. >> All right. Go ahead then with the rest of the roll call. >> Oh, sorry. Uh Nancy Rumfelt >> here. Mike Schaw. >> Nancy, will you lead us please in the pledge of allegiance to the >> flag of the United States and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley and for all. >> [clears throat] >> Thank
002you, Nancy. Denise, will you read the Thompson School District mission statement, please? >> The Thompson School District will be a school district that empowers, challenges, and inspires students, faculty, staff, parents, school leaders, and community members to learn, achieve, and excel. >> Thanks, Denise. We will move then to the adoption of the agenda. I'd entertain a motion to approve the agenda. >> So moved. I'll second it. >> All right. Any discussion on the agenda? >> All right. Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Who was the second by Stu? >> Stu Boyd. >> Hi. >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi. >> Lori Goel. >> Hi. >> Von Kirk. >> Hi. Alexander Lesa. >> Uh Nancy Rumfelt. >> Hi, >> Mike Schul. >> All right. So, the vote total was seven. Uh in favor of adopting the agenda,
003we'll move then to agenda item number three, which is public participation. 3.1 is a presentation by Walt Clark Middle School. So, come on up. >> [clears throat] >> Clark. My name is Mary Lane and I'm the proud principal. I am joined tonight by Jake McCullum aka Mr. Mack, our assistant principal, as well as Mr. Green, our dean and instructional coach. And we are also joined by our wonderful teachers, Mrs. Bout, Mrs. Yman's or Miss Yo, and Mrs. Myers. And most importantly tonight, we have our fabulous students to answer questions for you after our showcase. And this they are Luke, Harper, and Ella. Many of our students are at wrestling or basketball games tonight, and they send their regrets at not being able to attend. Our digital media class put together a showcase of our STEM
004program. Please enjoy. >> [music] >> On your marks, get set, go. >> [music] [music] >> Thank you. [music] >> [music] [music] >> The number you have dialed has been changed. The new number is [music] >> Welcome back, Cougars, to another amazing week at Walt Clark. And this week, we're in the holiday spirit. Um, so we're going to start off with this week with the lunch. On Monday, we have pizza. >> Pizza. >> Tuesday, we got roasted turkey. Wednesday, we got bean and cheese tostadas. >> Bean cheese. >> Thursday, we got a ramen bar. And Friday, we got crispy chicken wrap. >> Great lunch for the week. >> And for >> I feel like it would be like boring because in my STEM class, we go out and like take pictures and gather information about people.
005>> If we didn't have STEM, it would be kind of more boring just because you wouldn't have like a fun class to look up to at the end of the day. Like STEM classes are really fun and it would probably just be a less like fun day without them. >> Without STEM classes, it wouldn't be as fun as it is now. It would be hard to learn what we do learn and it just in general it will be very inseparable. [clears throat] >> Uh I'd be kind of sad if we didn't have STEM classes cuz they're fun. If our school didn't have STEM, I think it would be really different because kids learn a lot from STEM. Like they learn math, science, robotics. We have a lot of cool STEM here. And if we didn't
006have STEM, I think it would be really boring here and towards something of your interest a bit more from just your basic core classes. >> So I think the benefits of having a STEM class is that it helps you learn. So, for example, I have construction with Mr. Smith. It helps me out because I get to learn how to like have building and uh read from a manual to like build it the real stuff. >> My STEM classes help me learn things that I haven't learned before outside of school. >> I think STEM is really good for preparing you for college, preparing you for high school, preparing you for like life and what comes next. And if we didn't have that, then you wouldn't really be prepared for what comes after school. about Steam, I
007think uh the grades would drop. >> I really like STEM because it has like extra activities that aren't offered in electives um nor core classes. So, it adds a lot to school and a lot more fun to what we do every day. And I just think that it's very important for most schools to have STEM just for kids to have their brains learn more and expand more. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Right. [music] So Harper and Ella are some of the students who took some of the footage for a video and Luke is here because he is kind of when we asked teachers who should come and talk, Luke was mentioned by multiple teachers. So you guys have [clears throat] any questions? We can open up board. Any questions? >> So, which uh STEM classes have
008each of you taken? >> Um my STEM class I have um media broadcasting and I've had puzzle project which that one was really fun and yeah that's all I've had for STEM. I've had media broadcasting was which is like videoing and scripts and stuff and then dunkable which is a coding class where you like code and make fun games and stuff. >> Uh for Mstone classes I've taken drones and uh yearbook. >> Luke, do you want to stand a little closer to the mic and then >> I've taken drones and yearbook. >> Okay. Okay. Any questions for it? I think we'll just do it intermittently for this part of it. So, if you have a question, just raise your hand. Go ahead, Mike. >> Um, I just I noticed that it said music by Marshall.
009So, did you do your own soundtrack, too, as well? >> Marshall did for that. >> Well, please send him my compliment. >> I know. Yeah, he's was pretty cool. >> Awesome. >> Lori, question. Whose idea was the sound effects on the drone footage because that was very clever. >> We had some students working on that that are not here this >> definitely fun. Um brought back memories of Casby. [laughter] >> Okay, Nancy. >> Um I I love the video, love the music and the drone sounds, but I also was wondering with the new advent of AR, are you guys in your STEM program? Are you are you working that in? Is that becoming part of it? Because Kelly Sang will tell you I was one of those people that didn't believe in AI, but now
010I'm a true believer and I use it all the time. So just curious if you are implementing it into STEM. >> We are. That's um the funkable class that she talked about, Ella talked [clears throat] about. Um that came from an AI conference that I attended with my other cohort last summer and it was a they code using AI. they code an app that they create that they can use on their actual cell phones once it's all created. So that came directly from the AI conference. So trying to use AI stuff that makes the students build and have to learn and not just kind of borrow from AI is kind of the AI we're looking at to you know not not easy AI but thinking AI [laughter] >> but yeah >> so I have a
011question for the three students individually of the ST and M which uh one of those or ones of those are you particularly interested in we'll start over here on this side. >> Um, I'm particularly interested in probably technology because it's fun to code and video and do all the fun stuff that technology has to offer for you. >> All right. >> Um, I think that the engineering part is because I like to build stuff and I just think it's very fun to build things. >> Okay, go ahead, Luke. >> I'd also agree that the Wow. Uh, tea. Yeah, tea and uh STEM, sorry. [laughter] Uh is my favorite part because uh technology is it's um interesting to learn about. Thank you. >> All right, Borton. Anybody else have questions? Because I have one more for
012for the uh sponsor. Um is your entire curriculum STEM related in all content areas? We implement STEM where we can, but as of right now, it's like a end of day program, almost like a third elective for our students. Okay. They cycle through, it's a different STEM offering each quarter. So, they're able to sign up for things that they're interested in and get a touch of four different STEM offerings throughout the year and then 12 STEM offerings by the end of their career at Walt Clark. >> All right. Thank you. Anyone else? building on that. So then each teacher has a area of interest that then they teach or how does that um work? >> Yep. Either an area of interest and and if you want to talk Christine you can. Um or Christine came
013back with multiple ideas from the AI conference um kind of ready to go things for the students to work on depending on teachers comfort level and so she's available to help teachers through that as well. So >> all right anyone else? So, Dr. Heler, I think we would probably like to have our photo taken with the Wall Clark students, right? >> I would agree. All right, >> board. Let's come on down. >> You guys come. Why not? All right. Can you all bunch in a little bit for me? Let's get together. Okay. All right. I think so. Gota wait for Okay. On three. One, two, three. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Agenda item 3.2 is awards and recognition. And we have a lot of awards and recognition to do this evening. So, I'll turn it
014over to Dr. Heler. >> Good evening. Yes, we do. We have quite a few. Uh, as we go through each of these individual uh recognitions, we'll be pausing to ask these folks to come forward, take pictures. So, all of you in the audience, bear with us because we have quite a few um folks to recognize tonight. So, first, uh, it's my honor to congratulate Loveland High School senior Preston Evans, who was named a Daniels Scholarship finalist. The Daniel Scholarship offers a comprehensive 4-year college scholarship that provides financial and personal support focused on helping these scholars succeed in college and life. We want to welcome welcome Daniel. I believe he's here tonight. >> Preston, I'm sorry. Preston Daniels, I'm sorry. Preston, come on forward. [applause] Preston, anything you want to say to the board while you're
015while you have a chance with the mic? >> Um, honestly, no. I wasn't prepared for any questions or anything. Thank you for having me here. I really appreciate it. And then I hope it goes well. I found out late March if I get it or not. >> That's great. We'll have the board. I think they're going to want to take a picture with you. >> Absolutely. Come on down. >> Thank you. Okay. >> And three. One, two, three. Great. Thank you. Thank you, sir. >> Perfect. >> All right. Over there. [clears throat] Okay. Next. On January 24th, Thompson School District hosted its annual secondary chess tournament at Lucille Irwin Middle School, which welcomed middle school and high school students from across the district. We want to congratulate our high school winners and our middle school
016winners. I'm going to announce all of these individuals. Some of them are in attendance tonight. So, if I call your name, start making your way this way because once again, we will be taking some pictures from our high school. First place, Rick O'Brien from Berthood High School. Second place, [applause] Jack Clark from Berthood High School. [applause] Third place, Kellen Buts from Loveland High School. [applause] Fourth place, Hayden Reinhardt from Thompson Valley High School. [applause] Fifth place, Sinara Valdez from Thompson Valley High School. [applause] And from our middle school, we have first place Adakus Garcia from Bill Reed Middle School. [applause] Second place, Liam Cole from Riverview. [applause] Third place, Delansancy Shadic from Turner Middle School. [applause] Fourth place, Aiden Velasquez from Bill Reed Middle School. [applause] And fifth place, Chase Bilman from High Plains. [applause]
017All right, board. >> All right, >> you know the routine, >> guys. Come around the front. All right. Um, I think that'll work. Okay. On three. One, two, three. Great. Thank you, [applause] and we have some more. On Saturday, February 2nd, TSD hosted its 29th annual district spelling be. And our elementary and middle school spellers did not disappoint. Congratulations first to our elementary top spellers. Uh, as I call your name, if you're in attendance, please start making your way down. First place, AJ Bonner from Riverview. [applause] Second place, August Newberger from Big Thompson. [applause] Third place, Thea Canz from Ponderosa. [applause] And from the middle school, we have first place Barrett Hansen from Turner Middle School, [applause] second place, David Winters from Lovelin Classical, [applause] and third place Rowan Canz from Walt Clark Middle School.
018[applause] If you all will come around to the front, we'll have the the board join you for a picture. All right. On three. One, two, three. Great. Thank you. [applause] All right. Now, we're going to talk about math counts. On February 4th, 44 middle student school students from across 11 teams from Bill Reed Middle, High Plains, Riverview, Turner Middle School, and New Vision Charter competed in the Math Counts event. This is a nationally recognized competition which brings math to life through fast-paced in-person B-style rounds where students tackle challenging problems across four engaging and competitive levels. We had a number of winners that we want to recognize tonight. So, as I call your name, please come on down. First place, Mason Parks, Turner Middle School. [applause] Second place, Barrett Hansen, Turner Middle School. [applause] Third place,
019Finley Rayon, High Plains. [applause] We also have team trophy champions from Turner Middle School including Brandon Brandon Neokei, Brady Lear, and Grace Kissinger. [applause] I also want to recognize and I hope I think she's in in attendance, Christy Leonard, the coach. [applause] Come on down. I heard a rumor that there might be a retirement in your near future. So, congratulations as well to that. >> Not that I'm counting. >> I believe President Boyd is going to say a few things and he is also going to be presenting the trophy when we take the picture. >> Right. Um, I saw your photo on the uh district website and also because I live in Berid, I saw your your faces and your story on the front page of the Bertha surveyor. And for the benefit of those
020in attendance, math counts is quite a competition with a number of different steps uh and so on. And uh one thing that I noticed uh Barrett that uh I think you're a double threat, you won the spelling bee and you're part of the math counts championship team. So congratulations to you on that achievement [applause] and congratulations to all of it to all of you. Uh you make Thompson School District proud. [applause] I'd also like to say that Brandon is going to be one of our finalists in the state spelling B2. [applause] All right, I think so. All right, on three. One, two, three. >> Thank you. [applause] [applause] I believe so. >> Take it with you. >> You won it. [laughter] >> Traveling trophy. >> Yeah. All right. We are to the last of our
021recognitions. And I I do want to say this is one of my very favorite programs. Um program very close to my heart. Uh I'm pleased to recognize Mountain View High School's teacher and sponsor uh Jill Fitz Fitzpatrick as as well as members of our unified sports team. Jill has been instrumental in the growth of unified programming at Mountain View High School. Because of the program excellence at the school, Mountain View was recognized as a national banner school by the Special Olympics. Mountain View High School meets or exceeds 10 national standards for unified sports and is one of five Colorado schools that were honored this year. I'd also like Kevin Clark to come forward uh say a few words about Jill, about Mountain View High School and the unified program and obviously would love to hear
022from any of you as well. You bet. Mr. President, Dr. Heler, members of the board, thank you so much for having us. And uh again, one of the biggest areas of growth we've had, especially coming out of COVID, is our unified programming. And uh it starts with champions at our schools and the administration support that you see here uh for all the great activities going on with the unified. Uh, at this time I'd like to uh recognize Jill Fitzpatrick and she can talk a little bit about the application process, uh, what it took to be nationally recognized, one of five Colorado schools, and to also get a shout out on ESPN. >> Wow. [laughter] >> Okay. Um, I'm going to give part of this, but then Leah Esham is also here, who she is along
023with Riley Barry, co-presidents of Club Unified. But, um, this has been a long process. We didn't it didn't happen overnight. It's something they started Erica Greece started Special Olympics with with Thompson and Pter school districts 14 years ago. And then Carrie Herring, Coach K, um started unified basketball back in 2017, which Jojo was on the very first team ever and she came here tonight to represent where we are now, but also the journey and all the people along the way who helped support us to get to this point. So saying that, Lee is going to explain a little bit about the pillars we needed to meet to win this national award. >> Yeah. So there are 10 pillars, but there are three pretty important pillars that I memorized. One of them is having inclusive um
024sports. So we have several inclusive sports. We have unified cheer, unified basketball, unified flag football, and unified track. So that's a lot more than a lot of other schools have. And there's also inclusive youth leadership, which is having somebody in YAK. And we had a coach now who was in Yak last year when we applied. And now I'm in Yak. And we're going to find someone else to join. Yak. Yak is the youth activation committee. They work with Special Olympics in high schools and I think also middle schools around Colorado just to make sure that every school is being properly represented. and they ask how unified can improve in each school and they communicate that with Special Olympics. They set up the youth summit every year. If any of you know about the youth summit
025and then there's the third pillar, whole school. >> Oh yeah, whole school engagement. Um, just we have a whole bunch of peer buddies both in positive PE and just I peer buddy in science class, some peer buddy in life skills class and just everybody's very inclusive and everyone's all best friends with each other, so that's nice. >> Good job. Thank you. Good job. >> All right. Uh, do you guys have any questions? We have several athletes and peer buddies here tonight that would be happy to answer any questions you have about our program or how we got here. >> All right, Don, anything. >> What's the your favorite thing that you've gotten to do so far? I I realize there's a lot of you, so just a couple of you who want to share can.
026Um, when I was a freshman, I didn't get to play because I was only a freshman, but the unified program got to play against Lovelin's unified program. There's even a picture in the corner against the Nug or not against the Nuggets, but we played at the Nuggets halftime game and we all got to see the game. We also met the Broncos either last year or the year before that in last year. Yeah. At a clinic and some of the Broncos and the Broncos cheerleaders were there. Miles was there. It was super fun. So >> yeah, >> Denise, >> I just want to congratulate all of you on this achieving this award and the um in climate and environment that you've built at the school for everybody um can take part in this. >> Nancy, >>
027I love this program and I think just congratulations to you guys. And then I would again since there's so many what would be from a couple of you your just what you feel is like your best proudest accomplishment from the unified sports. >> Did you hear the question? >> Yeah. What do I like to do for unified sports? >> Can you repeat the question? What what's your proudest moment or accomplishment from participating in unified sports? Um, I like I liked uh I I like doing unified sports because so that I could uh do them so that I could uh um I wanted to be a part of the team because so that I could take turns playing basketball and I love my team so much and I wanted to ride the bus to everything and
028[laughter] I do not want to miss being part of the team. That's great. >> All right. Thank you. >> Any other students want to talk about that particular question? >> All right. >> Do you want to say something? >> No. >> They're shy. >> Okay. Riley sometimes she is very outgoing, but she has talked about she helped us to get our unified cheer team started. um she was one of the members and we get to perform at the cheer state championships each year and coach Jojo helps with that as well. Um and coach Peggy and Coach Harshman. Um and so we get to go down and perform at the same time as all the other uh state championship performances and it's pretty amazing. So I think Riley loves doing that each year. >> Very good.
029Mike, anything you'd like to say or ask? >> No, I I just I I uh I really appreciate kind of the opportunity. I think sports is such an integral part of kind of the high school experience and I hope you maintain friendships for for life cuz I I I remember when I played sports and I still have friends from my high school days. Lori, >> we had our first um alumni basketball game this year and everything and it was fun to bring back all the old alums that played in this program and stuff and they and they kept the friendships over the years. >> Lori, >> which sports do we have represented and then maybe if one or two students, why you like that sport in particular? Okay. Um, I do all of the sports
030except for cheer. Cheer. The peer buddies are usually actual cheerleaders who are on the cheer team. Um, but the big sport is definitely basketball. Everybody does basketball. There's a whole bunch of peer buddies. It's actually state neo week in two weeks will go to state. Um, but basketball is definitely the big deal for everybody. Everyone does basketball >> and oops, sorry, I have to add something. I'm sorry. I'm Coach K. And when I first started coaching at Mountain View, I had a team of five and that included two peer buddies. So, we only had five students altogether. And now we have to actually separate into two teams because it's grown so much. It's incredible. It's incredible. >> All right. Anybody else want to make a comment? I don't have any questions or comments. >> Stu,
031before we uh bring them around for pictures, uh I just The question was asked, what's your favorite moment or I will just say for anybody in the room, anybody listening, if you have not been to a unified event, it's that you have to go to the next one that's out there. Um no matter how good or bad of a day you are having, you will walk out of the gym having a great day. Uh there is nothing more uplifting and filling of your soul than watching a unified event, watching all the kids support each other. and uh people like Leah um one of our biggest students uh that we have is also part of the student advisory council and we need champions like her um in all of our schools to do this type of
032a program and make it work. So thanks to all of you. >> Lori, something else? >> Where and when is the state competition? >> Oh yes, it's down at Gold Crown and it's March 5th or 6th. They actually, this is the first year they're gonna have to split it up into two days because there are so many teams around the state, they can't put us all in in one day, which is phenomenal. And so we'll go down to Denver and play down there. And then, as a side note, next Wednesday night, 6:00 p. p.m. at Mountain View High School, we're having our now annual game of our unified teams versus Leland first responders. So, plein police and fire. So, you guys are welcome to come to that. It is a blast. And so you anybody
033who wants to in the community is invited to come and watch that at Mountain View High School. Yes. >> Yep. Um and then before we take a picture, I want to make sure I don't forget to thank like some important people. We've had so much support from Kevin Clark um from sitting down to figure out how we can have this as a priority in our district and his support has been unbelievable and we couldn't have achieved this without him and also support from the administration at my school who's always there to to back us up and support us and so thank you to both of uh Mr. Walstrom and Miss Ramirez for helping us with that. So I wanted to make sure to get that and you guys are awesome too. Well, [laughter] congratulations to
034all of you and kudos to the adults who are part of this program and who are supporting this program as well. So, all right board, let's move on down. [applause] >> Might have to back up to get that. Yeah. Let's have everybody. >> Okay. I can get everybody. >> All right. You ready? All right. On three. One, two, three. Cool. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Are you looking? All right. Thank you to the students and the parents who came with them, members of the school staff who are also here to support them. We'll move now uh to agenda item 3.3, which is public comment. And Dawn, would you read the introductory statement to public comment? >> Because the board wants to hear the viewpoints of the public and also needs to conduct its business in
035an 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 three 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 one 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 criticism of school operations and programs as concern them and are encouraged to exercise their speech rights responsibly. Speakers remarks should be suitable for an audience that
036includes kindergarten through 12th grade students. Personnel matters will be discussed in executive session. Finally, as a reminder for 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. Up first, we have Caleb Waldron. Hello, Mr. President, board members, and Dr. Heler. Um, I'd just like to give a few comments on the freshman seminar idea that has kind of I've been pinging ponging emails with a lot of you throughout the past few days, but I wanted to give a few of my comments to the entirety of the board. Um, so starting out, some of you probably recognize me from a few different committees that I'm on. I recognize almost
037all of you from CASBY and I'd like to talk about the freshman seminar for a little bit and my concerns regarding it, but also how it's been conveyed to the schools. My core concern here is that it's going to disproportionately affect elective classes and harm their vitality. Specifically, because we already have about five to six classes that freshmen are required to take between their core classes and then with health and with PE and then with financial literacy coming up, we see a lot of classes that they already have to take. So adding an extra one on there as a mandate harms classes like band, choir, metalwork, woodworking, theater, catering, photography, robotics, marketing, orchestra, automotive classes, and even like advanced coursework for people who want to specialize in any of those core subjects. So when we
038take an extra slot away from those, we're going to see harm to the retention. And I've seen a lot of concern about that with teachers with across the district, but specifically within my school. And I for one needed all that time my freshman year to keep up with speech and debate and with robotics which I'm now very actively involved in. And I feel like that's given me a lot of great opportunities to get involved within my school and to have my own academic potential reached. But then I'm not alone in this belief either because every teacher that I've talked to in the past few weeks is concerned about how this would degrade programs that they've put all of their time and effort into. And aside from that, the students as well generally don't want this
039program. I sent a form across the district that reached all schools, had over a 100 respondents from students in high school. And when they're given the option between choice in classes and a freshman seminar in academic preparation, there's a 2.5 times greater amount of students who believe that it's more beneficial to have choice in classes rather than a year-long mandated freshman seminar. And in community engagement, there are three times the amount of students who believe that choicing classes are better than a mandated freshman seminar. So across both of the domains of benefit that we supposedly would see from a freshman seminar class, we don't actually see that that benefit is going to happen. And then most importantly, only 20% of respondents said that they believe it should be a mandated class. And then finally, I'd
040like to address the fact that when I have been emailing with Dr. Heler, he's told me that we will get more student input. We'll get more teacher input and board approval is yet to come. But I'm concerned that that hasn't really gone down to the school level because at the school level, we see that freshman registration sheets already have it as a mandate and communication to teachers is that it will be mandated next year. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Aaron Bender. >> Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Heler and members of the school board. Um, I'm here tonight to advocate for ELO, not Electric Light Orchestra, but extended learning opportunity at Thompson Valley High School. That was the joke. Thank you guys. Okay. Um, what is ELO? ELO is a 45minute block of time 3
041days a week in between first and third hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays and between second and fourth hour on Fridays. These blocks of time range from silent reading, study halls, AP study sessions, sports, um teams meet, look at footage, um recruit or check in with grades, um with other teachers. The first year we did it, I did a just dance one. So, it really is uh teacherdriven, teacher choice. Um teachers are required to teach two of them and then um have one as a plan. Uh I presented to y'all about my ProStart program a couple um or like last month. uh me and my colleague Jacob Little um that is our planning uh time together because we run the kitchen all eight hours a day. Without the ELO, we would not have any common plan
042to work on PLC or PLTS. Um that is a district goal. A few weeks ago, we received communication from the district that the district had decided to cut ELO's without a shared decision-making process. There has been mixed communication about whether this decision is factual or final and the uncertainty is pretty hard right now. Um, we're here today to present different perspectives on ELO from staff at Thompson Valley. I've been at Thompson Valley for 9 years and I cannot remember another time that 90% of our staff have agreed on something. What's that something we're agreeing upon is keeping ELO's. I don't think ELO's are perfect and I see a lot of room for improvements. Um, and if we're looking at attendance, yes, but I think getting rid of them is not the solution that we as
043staff need or students need. Um, as a family consumer science teacher, I have a career and technical student organization like our other CTE classes. All of our CTSOs or career and technical student organizations are currently meeting during this time. We've collaborated with each other so students can join multiple of these. Um, I think of one student specifically right now that I have for baking and pastry, and that is the only class that would benefit from 97 minutes, I'm telling you. But right now, if we run over because of the raising of the bread and things like that, they're missing a little bit of ELO and not another core class or other um elective class even. Uh, the student uh does National Honor Society one day and then another day they do um a fun one,
044I think it's theater, and another one they're doing AP chemistry. uh they have theater after school, they work and they do dance outside as well. So without ELO, they would not have these opportunities for leadership within our school. Um other big one and I know I only have 20 seconds left. Um MTSS strategies, I have been so fortunate to sub for our skateboarding ELO and our skateboarding ELO is for 12 students. Um and the teacher who does that does grade checks every single week. They can't uh be failing more or becomes a study hall. Um, and just having that carrot, um, is getting kids to show up and they're getting better relationships and building such a strong sense of community. So, thank you for hearing our ELO plea. [applause] >> Amy Mahares Lopez. >> Good
045evening, uh, Mr. President, Dr. Heler, school board members, and community. I am speaking on behalf of students and staff at Thompson Valley High School in strong support of continuing the extended learning opportunity hour as a protected and supported part of our schedule. For us, ELO is not an extra. It is an equity structure for many of our students. After school access to extracurricular programming is not realistic. Transportation barriers, jobs, athletic commitments, and family responsibilities prevent most students from staying late after school. Without ELO built into the school day, these students lose access to academic help, clubs, leadership opportunities, and enrichment. During ELO, our students can receive academic support, participate in various honor societies, science olympiad, FBLA, DECA, Model United Nations, LUT club, and many others. They also prepare for AP exams and complete capstone requirements.
046They participate in extension opportunities for several classes, collaborate with middle school feeders, and engage in service learning and special interests. Over 85% of our students at Thompson Valley High School actively engage in ELO time. That level of participation demonstrates that students find it valuable and necessary. One powerful example is our LUT club, Latinos Unified in Community. During ELO, both Latino and non-Latino students gather in a safe, affirming space to celebrate culture, break down barriers, build leadership skills, support one another academically, and strengthen their sense of belonging. For many, it is a lifeline of connection and representation within our school. I have with me tonight if useful statements written by students who participate in Luck Club. During my employment with the district, it has been consistently communicated that we value student voice, choice, and agency. Educators
047are asked to build a sense of belonging, to be trusted adults, and to cultivate strong and welcoming classroom and school communities. Our own data shows that students sense of belonging at Thompson Valley High School has increased year after year. ELLO is one of the vital structures that makes this possible. Our students are not the students of pre-COVID and COVID years. We are working with decreased attention spans, challenges in communication, and heightened student anxiety. Structured time to connect, receive support and build relationships is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Not all community building and forging of connections can happen during instructional time when we are asked to hit learning targets and academic standards. There is an assumption that eliminating ELO would automatically increase attendance and participation and maximize instructional time. Our experience does not support
048that assumption. Seat time does not equal engagement. When students feel connected, supported, and seen, instructional time becomes more meaningful and more effective. On behalf of our students and staff, I urge you to continue the extended learning learning opportunity hour as a commitment to equity, community, and student success. Thank you for your time. [applause] Julia Sanders Taylor. Hello members of the board and Thompson school district community. I am Julia Sanders. I am also a teacher at Thompson Valley High School here to talk to you about ELO. Um beyond and um beyond equity, I teach AP classes. I teach AP chemistry, AP physics. I've run multiple clubs. I run robotics, Dungeons and Dragons, board games, prom planning. Um to say that I love our my school and our district is an understatement. Um because of ELO, I
049have been able to get involved and meet students where they are at even beyond my advanced placement kids. I teach science. If a student is gone, ELO is a chance for them to make up a lab without me having to stay late, give up lunchtime, give up a plan period, do things beyond my contract hours. And it also lets the student actually do the lab and not have to do something that they've had to make up on their own. I also look at the activities that I get to run during ELO versus what I run after school. Um, my Dungeons and Dragons club has 30 people that come consistently and we always overfill and sometimes have to get another teacher for help. I look at robotics and while I get interest every year, I run
050robotics after school due to lack of busing, transportation issues, competition with sports and other events. I have two kids show up consistently and that's not really a good like it's not great for the kids because I know that more would come if they had the time and I was even considering moving it to ELO before learning about this and now we're in limbo. Um, having this time is good for all students. It lets AP kids see me to study. It lets people make up labs. It gives students a chance to connect. I worry sometimes that because the classes I teach are viewed as very difficult that without them getting a chance to meet me and see that I'm not scary and will help them get through some of this hard content that my enrollment would
051drop and maybe I wouldn't be able to teach the class at all. Maybe the kids won't even take the chance. I have had kids tell me that the reason they took my class was because they met me in a non-academic way. and ELO gives me the chance to build those relationships with kids. Um, I know that my colleagues in the science department too really value that time and the lab thing is huge. It would completely change how we are able to teach our classes in the day-to-day. So, thank you for your time this evening. Um, I'm I know I or my colleagues would also be happy to answer questions and want to give you feedback so we can hear as many voices as possible on this situation. Thank you for your time, >> Jen McDermad.
052[clears throat] >> So, good evening all. Um, most of you already know me. So, um, my name is Jennifer McDermad. I'm the instructional coach for Thompson Valley. I also want to talk about ELO. Going to take a slightly different angle and talk about how ELO directly supports the district's own priorities and investments. The district has made PLC and RTI at work a priority. We have invested heavily in solution tree trainings, brought in national experts, and required every school to implement structures to support PLC, MTSS, and interventions. Thompson Valley has taken that charge very seriously. At the high school level, this work cannot live in a single small team. It requires multiple aligned teams representing many departments and roles. We are currently the only high school in the district with a fully functioning guiding coalition along
053with aligned MTSS, PBIS, and 9th grade transition teams. Roughly 20 teachers, about a third of our staff routinely engage in leadership work aligned to district initiatives with nearly half serving on multiple teams. None of that work is paid. You know, it's an addition to our work. And the only reason it's possible is ELO. High school schedules are complex. Our collaborative planning time is reserved for department and course related PLC's. Without ELO, there is no time in the school day when multiple cross department teams can meet. Expecting those teachers to meet regularly outside of contract hours for unpaid work is neither real realistic nor fair. Alo is the logistical backbone that makes our district initiatives function at the high school level. Ending Alo will not only affect students, it would dismantle the structure that allows teachers
054to do the collaborative work the district has spent years asking us to do. ELO was originally created to strengthen student belonging and it's done that exceptionally well, but we know it needs to do more and we make changes every year so it can. This year we have used the RTI training provided by the district over the last few months to explore how to expand ELO to include structured time for intentional tier 1 and tier 2 academic interventions. We were planning on piloting some of our ideas next year. That opportunity disappears if ELO disappears. If the goal is to improve nth grade transition and academic support, eliminating the one flexible block of time that makes intervention possible is counterproductive. I respectfully ask the board and district leadership to reconsider this and engage with the educators who
055actually implement these systems at the high school level. We are more than willing to improve ELO, but we're not ready to lose it. Thanks, [applause] Will Sherman. Go ahead. Hi, school board members. My name is William Sherman. I've been teaching at Thompson Valley or Thompson Valley High School for about four years now. I've been in the Thompson School District for 26 years. A couple of you know me um from way back. Um but I'm here also to talk about ELO's today. And and I wasn't sure what I was going to say. I have two things. I will hand off a bunch of handwritten letters from students. So, that's one thing I'm going to do. Um, the other thing I'm going to do real quickly is just describe my own what's worked for me for ELO's
056in the last four years at Thompson Valley High School. I inherited when I started at Thompson Valley uh AP seminar class. It's for 10th graders to do AP level work. They can receive college credit through this class as a 10th grader. It's the 10th grade core English class for AP. It's our first a real AP class in high school a kid can take. Um, when I started the class, there were 12 kids. Now I have 73. And the way I've done that is through ELO's because I'm able to open up that umbrella, pull pull more kids, get more kids interested, and then during those ELOs's, I have the interventions that allow the kids who normally would never even dream of taking an AP course, excuse me, be successful. So, >> [laughter] >> Sorry, it was
057that it's a strong moment, but um and I'm particularly thinking which makes me a little emotional about a kid three two three years ago when I started severe dyslexia. She went from Mr. Sherman I can't read in nth grade English to getting an A and AP and getting AP credit and it was the ELOS. It's that equity and it's that opportunity to have the kind of interventions and support that the kids need, all of the kids need. And it just dramatically changes what kids are able to do and the opportunities for the kids. Um, and it really has gone from 14 kids to 73. And so, you know, that's not because I'm some magical teacher. It's because I have two 30 minute periods, 40-minute periods every week with groups of kids from those classes that
058I can sit down one-on-one or one to three or one to two and work through stuff and give them some of the support that they need. Right. Thank you, >> Aria Fiero. [applause] Good evening. Um, Mr. President, Dr. Heler, and schoolboard members. [snorts] Uh, my teammate and I are here today not just as teachers, um, but as women who deeply love our students, our colleagues, and public education. [snorts] We're currently teaching fourth and fifth grade combo classes at Namaka Elementary, one of the first schools in our district to move into this model because of budget cuts. As we hear that more schools may have to do the same next year, we feel it is our duty to share our experience and speak to the changes that need to happen moving forward. [snorts] This year, we
059were asked to teach two grade levels across all subject areas with the same planning time and the same materials as teachers who teach just one grade. We [snorts] were given no targeted training on how to combine two grades. So, we figured it out the only way we could. Late nights, weekends, and a constant mental load. At district PDS, we kept asking the same question. How does this apply to a combo class? Most of the time, there weren't answers, just acknowledgement of how hard our situation was. Those days, which were meant to support us, became lost time that we really couldn't afford to lose. And it made it clear that this model hadn't been fully planned for or supported at the district level. Combination classes also require more social emotional support to account for developmental differences.
060But without that extra support, we saw increased anxiety and behavioral challenges in our students. [snorts] At the same time, us teachers who are already stretched thin planning for two grade levels are working in a constant state of stress and exhaustion. I want to pause here and acknowledge something important. The challenges we've faced so far are not due to a lack of effort from teachers and they are not due to a lack of effort from our building administrators. My teammates and I have poured our hearts into this year and our admin has worked tirelessly to support us. But we're all navigating a system that offers very little guidance. This is a systems problem. It's a failure of intentionality. And when decisions are made out of necessity rather than intention, the burden doesn't disappear, it just shifts.
061And in this case, it shifted onto teachers shoulders and into children's classrooms. Teachers and administrators should not be left feeling like they have to reinvent the wheel. Combo classes are not new and proven models already exist. And it's the district's responsibility to provide real frameworks, resources, and training when forcing schools into taking on something this complex. We worry deeply that as more schools move into combo classes without proper supports, more teachers will burn out and more students will struggle. Not because they're incapable, but because the system failed to set them up for success. >> [snorts] >> If combo classes are going to continue in our district, then our district needs to do better. Children deserve learning environments um that are intentionally designed for their needs. Teachers deserve tools, time, and training to do their jobs
062well. And schools deserve district level systems that support, not strain, the people inside them. If the budget can't change, then the support needs to change because our students are not line items. They're human beings and they deserve more than a system that asks them and their teachers to simply make it work. Thank you for listening. [applause] Cassie Doer. Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Heler, and members of the board. I'm Cassie Doer. I'm Erica's teammate, and I'm teaching the 45 combo. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our experiences. We are sharing this because we care deeply about our students and our district. Our goal is not simply to name problems, but to offer solutions that would allow combination classes to function in a way that truly support student growth. We believe combo classes
063can be successful when they are intentionally planned and properly supported. Based on our experience, here are the some specific steps that would make this model stronger moving forward. First, teachers need increased planning time. Teaching two grade levels across all subjects requires additional collaboration, preparation, coordination without protected planning time. The quality of instruction and teachers sustainability are both at risk. Second, students need increased social emotional support. Combo classrooms bring developmental differences that require proactive SEAL instruction and support. This could include additional counseling time, separate counseling sessions by grade level, and prioritized SK scheduling that allows students to receive the services they need without disruption. Collaboration time with other combo teachers across the district would also be invaluable. No school should feel like they're reinventing the wheel. Structured structured collaboration and professional development specifically designed for combo
064classrooms would allow teachers to learn proven models and implement them effectively. District PD should include clear guidance on how initiatives apply with a combo setting. Logistically, classrooms must be equipped to handle the demands of two grade levels. This includes sufficient instructional materials for all students, adequate furniture and physical space, larger classroom spaces when available, paris support when available, district provided substitutes to allow for grade level activities such as caps, also so students can have the access to grade level experiences such as separate fourth and fifth grade field trips so they don't lose important milestones. These supports are not luxuries. They are the infrastructure needed to make combo classrooms effective and sustainable. Our primary concern is the setting up for students for success. And that begins by setting up teachers for success. When teachers are supported,
065students thrive. When systems are intentional, classrooms are stable. When planning is proactive, anxiety decreases for everyone involved. Our students only get one fourth grade, one fifth grade. We have an opportunity right now to make sure that experience is intentional, supported, and successful. We've lived this model. We've learned from it. Now, we're asking you guys to learn with us. Let's make next year better than this one. For every classroom that follows, thank you for listening. [applause] Sam Berdon. [snorts] I think you called my name right. Sam Bordon. Is that right? Do I click start or do you click start? Okay. Thank you. It's different every time. Um, thank you so much for uh hearing from me today, board, and um, everyone here in the community who's here, especially the teachers. Um, you all have been fabulous.
066U, my name is Sam. My pronouns are she, her. I am a public health professional, an aunt to four awesome kids, and a member of the LGBTQ Q plus community and this community. I'm here tonight on behalf of families of the students in Thompson School District who carry the daily task of protecting their loved ones from the relentless federal and state efforts to erase their personhood. I'm also here with my friends from P Flag. My chosen family is comprised of the most compassionate, intelligent, driven, creative, and resilient individuals. Their paths have taken them into fields that improve the lives of others. They build vital systems, work tirelessly to prevent death and injury, and link individuals to care and community. They have carried so many through so much, and are such rich and complex individuals. However,
067we continue to live in a world that sees their gender and sexuality as an excuse to deny them dignity, medical care, and peace. The trans and non-binary people I love were children once. And in addition to being alike in their wonderful character, they also share experiences of growing up in families or communities that found their very existence threatening. Some of our students face the same experiences today and deserve so much better. There are individuals on this board that have demonstrated a true desire to see the children in this district thrive so that they can become like my friends, true drivers of a better world. I thank you sincerely and I hope you will continue to hold the line for our kids. There are also individuals on this board who have decided to use their precious
068time and a position of power to gain political capital capital through mocking and otherwise terrorizing an already small, underresourced and marginalized community. In this room, on the news, and seemingly seemingly everywhere I look, there are people who have made it their mission to impose their limited worldview on others. Often in the name of cisgender women, in my name, I know better. The issues that actually threaten women, children, in our communities as a whole, have been made clear time and time again. And anyone who centers their platform on our trans, non-binary, and queer communities, my community, is not serious about keeping anyone safe and thriving. For many students, school is not just a place to learn. It's where they find safety, belonging, and trusted adults, many of whom who have just spoken to you today. As
069attacks on our LGBTQ plus students continue, I urge this board and this community to think critically about the actual material threats our children and our teachers face and uphold educational systems that validate the inter inherent worth, potential, and self-determination of every student. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Reggie Johnson. Good evening. My name is Reggie and my pronouns are she, her. I'm the proud mom and grandmom of LGBTQ kiddos and grandkids. I'm also the president of P Flag in Fort Collins in Northern Colorado. Our mission is to create a caring, just, and affirming world for LGBTQ folks and those who love them. [clears throat] Tonight, I'm here to talk about the additional burden that those LGBTQ students in Thompson School District carry, which is unlike the majority of their peers. Within the last six weeks or
070so, many of them have lost their health care. They do not have a doctor. Both Denver Health and True Center at Children's Hospital have stopped providing care for the um trans and non-binary kids and they have no doctor. Imagine that you did not have a doctor. That puts their families into a very difficult situation. So in addition to having that burden in their life, imagine that you are one of these students and you go to King Supers in Loveland and you are met with people who actually hate you. There are people there who are trying to take away your very rights and you have to try and shop there. My kiddo went to King Supers and was literally shaking all the way through because they know that people are out to take away their basic
071human rights. I don't know if you remember, but earlier this year we had a mom whose kiddo went to Berth High School who was here and told her story. her child tried to end their life at Berth High School and she was called. She got there, the ambulance was taking her child away. She was not allowed to go with. She found out later that her student because they were trans was being harassed and bullied to the point where they could no longer take it. I will tell you she is not alone. There are lots of P flag stories unfortunately like that. And so we are asking you, the school board, to take time to support these students. Many of them do not have [laughter] affirming families and they need people in their daily life at
072school to support them and help them because they are carrying this extra burden with them, which is difficult. So imagine you're carrying all that and your teacher says, "Write me a five-page paper on the Civil War." It's very difficult for them. So many of you are supportive and we appreciate that. For those of you who are not, I invite you to find a transgender person, sit with them for an hour, and then send me an email about why you think they don't deserve their rights. Thank you. [applause] My name is Elizabeth Newton. Email EA Newton [email protected]. Fort Collins grandparent 23TSD students and taxpayer. On December 19th and January 9th, I submitted formal letters regarding serious ethical and policy concerns. To date, the only response I have re I have received is a receipt notification. Silence
073is not a substitute for governance. I'm still waiting for a response. I'm here tonight because recent board discussions have not merely shifted my concerns. They have significantly amplified them. My focus is no longer just on policy, but on the fundamental issue of constitutional integrity. Director Global's defense of the plumline standard paired with the proposal to recite Colorado Constitution's preamble reveals a troubling trend. In this boardroom, the only plum line is the law, not personal doctrine. Introducing the preamble into opening rituals is a performative attempt to use this mention of the supreme ruler as theological call to worship. You cannot claim to represent 14,000 diverse students while actively weaving secret adjacent language into public school board proceedings. Our focus must remain on civic duty, not religious centering. These are not just philosophical disagreement. It's a direct
074violation of our established policies. Policy ABB, policy BCE-1. Furthermore, the personal attacks we witnessed by Nancy Rumfeld against a fellow director are a breach of policy BC2. When this board reacts to a legitimate ethical questions with interpersonal hostility, it demonstrates a total breakdown in professional governance. Because the board has failed to provide a witness response to me, I am now formally requesting additional three specific actions. A statement of neutrality clarifying that religious doctrines will not dictate fiscal or curricular decisions. Facilitated training with a third party like CASBY focused on constitutional neutrality. An agenda item to discuss how we maintain an environment that protects all students from the imposition of the singular world world view. A public school board's only plum line is the law. When you swap the law for personal doctrine, the structure becomes
075exclusionary. I look forward to a substantial email response within 10 business days to e newton203gmail.com. Thank you. Is that it? All right. We'll move then to uh section four of the agenda, which is reports. Item 4.1 is the superintendence report. Thank you, Mr. President. So recently uh I met with student advisory groups at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. These are I they're excellent opportunities for us to continue to hear from students and to see things through their lens. Um our high school students recently also had the opportunity to meet with some of our district leadership um as they pursue some of the projects that they're working on, which I'll I'll spend some time talking about later. Uh our elementary and middle school students uh that we met with just just this week
076were at times brutally honest. Um especially when we asked them about school lunch. Um they had plenty of things to say. Um but every single thing we talk about, they just they bring so much um unique insights into the conversations we're having and we had conversations about everything from curriculum uh to attendance to cell phone policies and they bring phenomenal insights into the process. On the 28th of January, our fourth graders from Thompson School District and the Pter School District brought a ton of energy to Moby Arena as the Colorado State University women's basketball team battled the San Diego State Aztecs. The cheers were loud, really loud, earplug requiring loud. Uh the excitement was real and the memories were unforgettable. We really have to thank Colorado State University for hosting this. um for Kevin Clark,
077for Top Picone, for the the athletic departments, all these folks across the district who put this together. It's a it's a phenomenal opportunity. You got to see there's a picture of me in the middle of a bunch of kids. It was a great time. On February 2nd, artist Tony Ortega led a half-day pastel workshop for fifth grade students at the Beat Education Center in Loveland. Students explored pastel techniques while learning color theory, mark making, composition, and value. To participate, fifth grade students were nominated by their art teachers with two students selected from each elementary school. It was an inspiring day of creativity, focus, and artistic growth. Thank you to Tony and the Beat Education Center for providing our students with meaningful hands-on experiences. Last Thursday, we held our fourth Thompson Leadership Academy session at the
078district's transportation center. The meeting focused on the operations side of the district, including facilities, safety and security, nutrition services, transportation, and bond work. Attendees also took a tour of the center which provided a behind-the-scenes look at our transportation operations. Want to talk a little bit about ELO. We heard tonight from a number of our teachers uh from Thompson Valley High School regarding the ELO program. We also over the last couple of week and a half I've heard from a large number of Thompson Valley High School students as well. I'm not sure exactly what was communicated that led to the belief that there is a final decision that has been made because as far as I'm concerned, there hasn't been anything finalized about this. I do know that for the past couple of years there has
079been a lot of conversations appear about ELO um prior to my coming here and then throughout this year concerns about large numbers of students not in attendance at ELO on a regular basis and real concerns about our responsibility to know where our students are during the school day during those structured class periods and additionally not all of our schools offer and utilize an ELO period which creates some scheduling differences. Um there's going there is currently a need and there will only continue to be a growing need for us to share staff across high schools as we deal with budget constraints. So having a more standardized common bell schedule across all of our high schools will become a more significant need in the future. Uh so again I no decisions have been made but there have
080been a lot of conversations around what high school needs to what changes need to be made at the high school level. My plan is to take some time and actually go to our schools that offer an ELO period and actually see it for myself. How well is it working? what's working, what's not working. Uh I'm also I definitely would like to hear from staff regarding this issue. At the end of the day, if ELO were to continue, one thing that has to change is we have to have a better ability to know where our kids are during the school day when they're supposed to be in an ELO period. And that is currently a a significant concern. Uh so next I want to talk about the student advisory council uh project um that they're working
081on and specifically um the two the two projects but I'm spend more of my time probably on the freshman seminar conversation. You heard tonight from Caleb, one of the students uh in the student advisory council. Leah, who was here for unified sports is also in the student advisory council. This past fall we challenged our students to identify a topic or two that they wanted to solve or they wanted to focus on. They spent a number of different couple sessions brainstorming and trying to identify the the projects they wanted to work on. Through that time, two different groups emerged for in terms of projects. The first one is focused on this idea that family income should not dictate opportunity. They really want to focus on the hidden barriers to success that our students may have based
082on family income, including things like AP courses and those costs, dual credit enrollment, extracurricular activities. They met with our family um and community engagement folks to talk about what we can do to better meet the needs of all of our students. The second group is focusing on transition for 9th graders to high school. They recognized early on as we did the brainstorming that that is an area they see as a gap at the high school level is getting all students to make that transition from 8th to 9th but then to really transition into functioning high school students. They were inspired as they discussed things around this idea around the success that Mountain View High School has had within their freshman transition program, but also students from Thompson Valley talked about the AVID program that they
083have. AVID provides a ton of res resources for students to help them get prepared for their future success. But AVID is not available for all students at all high schools. So, while it's not available everywhere, the students liked the idea of could they embed some of the AVID principles into a freshman course for all students at all high schools. Now, they have not come to a final proposal yet. At the last meeting, there started to be more traction around this idea of making it a required freshman course. Um, there was discussions of one semester versus two semesters, lots of discussions, no final proposals. We meet with them again next week. A couple of the things that we will be talking about next week with them will be first the master schedule kind of concern that
084you heard tonight um from Caleb. The concern that if this is now a required course that takes up one of the periods that you have available to you in your schedule, what does that mean for the electives, the different course career pathways that might exist and does that create a true barrier for our students? What does that do to programming and those different elective programs? That needs to be considered. The other thing we have to consider is staffing and FTE implications. Um, in the current climate with federal state and federal funding, adding adding FTE for something is probably not something we are going to be able to do. Uh, so if this is going to cost us a significant addition in FTE, it's going to be something we're going to have to think differently about.
085Uh, additionally, and finally, if this is something the students do want to propose and it's something the board is interested in pursuing, that will require some changes to our policy regarding graduation requirements. And so, we're quite a ways away from anything being final. We'll be meeting next week with the kids to talk more about this. While this has been happening, our high school principles have been talking about this. Um, our learning services team have been talking about this because they knew this was coming from our students. And so, they are starting to prepare. what would this look like if this were to happen? And so that work has been happening. Um I just first of all super proud of the work these kids are doing. Um last time we met um our curriculum team sitting
086with the students and the things that were coming from these students, the Mountain View students who were able to communicate what they've learned from their freshman transition program, what's been good about it, but also what needs to be improved was phenomenal. the things that the AVID students were able to bring in and explain how that would be helpful for every kid who walks into high school. Tremendous um opportunity and we will find a a lane that these students feel comfortable with and they will propose that to the board likely in April and then it'll be up to us to go from there and see where this where this program takes us. Um just because the students recommend it or propose it doesn't mean it happens and it doesn't always mean it happens that next school
087year. So, lots of things still to be decided on that. And that's it for me. Thank you. All right. Agenda item 4.2 is board reports. And Lori, I'll start with you. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, the one board committee report that I have is that I was in attendance at the DAC, uh, as was director Schaw and we had a great time learning about Victor. And if anybody knows anything about Victor, it's involved in the EMS program and is typically a good way to describe it or as it was described to us, layman was a giant iPad where you can actually look at an entire person from the skin all the way in and it was phenomenal and they were able to rotate it and do all kinds of different things. Um, being over
088at the uh the Thompson Career Center was very enlightening and uh it was uh very educational for uh I believe everybody there. The one thing I guess I would recommend is that we would have name tags because meeting a lot of faces all at once uh sometimes is a challenge and uh but overall it was uh great uh seeing the opportunities that our students have over there. >> Right. >> Thank you Mike. >> Uh I [clears throat] don't have it. All right, Nancy. >> I just wanted to turn that on first. Uh, I just wanted to talk about that. One year ago, I wore the shirt, real women rock. It caused controversy then and I still stand by it. I have lived through decades of progress for women, progress that didn't come easily. And over
089the years, I've learned that equality requires both courage and clarity. Women fought for the protections secured under Title N. We fought for fair comp competition. We fought for equal access to scholarships and opportunity. We fought to be evaluated on merit, not stereotypes. Those gains matter. As a board member, my responsibility is not to follow cultural trends. It is to ensure that policy decisions protect students, preserve fairness, and respect both legal protections and biological reality. Every student deserves dignity. Every student deserves safety, compassion. But compassion must be grounded in truth and policy must be grounded in evidence. When we discuss athletics, privacy or medical interventions for minors, we're not engaging in abstract debates. We are making decisions with lifelong implications. Children deserve the time to grow. We can support students who struggle without rushing them towards
090irreversible pathways. Parents deserve a meaningful role in major decisions affecting their children's bodies and futures. Girls deserve the full preservation of the opportunities generations of women worked to secure. This is not about exclusion. This is about balance. It is about safeguarding both fairness and freedom. It is about ensuring that in expanding rights for some, we do not inadvertently diminish the protection for others. Equality does not require us to erase women, and I will not be part of that. Respect for all does not mean surrendering truth, and leadership requires the courage to say so. >> All right, Denise. Uh my month was spent uh a great deal in the early childhood space. So uh attended the family pie uh meeting for February and got to know that team and and participants uh which was really nice
091to be um with them and you know engaged in a meal after the meeting uh and getting to know some of the smallest people uh in our district. Uh it was also with the Thompson Education Fund um which I'm now the board liaison for was able to attend the women's women gives lunchon um which is a United Way um founded or based uh a program to help proide child care scholarships to single parents and learned a lot more about the um desperate need for child care in our communities. of Blonlin and Fort Collins and just how um expensive it continues to be uh and how you know Thompson kind of folds into that with the tremendous programs that we do offer um at the early childhood level. Um and then this morning I had the
092opportunity to go out um with Dr. Dr. Heler and uh director uh Rumfeld to the uh Stansbury uh early childhood center and see a one of our Elevate Thompson winners receive his award um nominated by uh someone there on the staff. Everyone um in the entire building, the all the staff uh gathered in one room and they you know surprised him. Uh this was the head custodian for the uh Stansbury Center and just the joy that was in that room and um seeing Steve um Stephen uh uh accept it was it was really nice to see not just someone being recognized here in the boardroom um but with the their peers and colleagues recognizing them um a [clears throat] nice touch. All right. Thank you, Don. >> I don't have an update. >> All right.
093Uh, Alexandra, I don't want you to think that I've forgotten to call on you through through the evening. Do you have No, no report. Let me conclude then board reports. Um, Dr. Heler talked about uh the most recent Thompson Leadership Academy presentation which was held at the transportation center. Um I was fortunate to be able to attend the presentation. There were about 30 community members in attendance. Uh Dr. Heler reviewed what the topics were. So I won't go through those again. Uh but those who were in attendance were um full of questions. There were many questions about all five of the various areas and I think uh that this being I believe this is the third of the Thompson Leadership Academy sessions. Am I right Mike? Fourth. Okay. Uh, I think it's off to a
094great start and I think what members of our community are finding out about the Thompson School District through being able to ask questions and hear presentations is certainly valuable. So, I'll use about my other minute and 15 seconds to talk with you about an experience I had yesterday. I attended the Amazing Shakes competition at New Vision Charter School. This is the third year that they've invited me to serve as a judge for the final round. Uh, Amazing Shakes is an opportunity for students in grades four through eight to gain skills related to building self-confidence, meeting people for the first time, and interviewing skills. Um, as a former uh educator in the Thompson School District, one of the best times I have as a board member is being able to hang out with kids, to interact
095with them, to see the various ways and to listen to the ways that they are applying what they're learning. And uh so to my fellow board members, next year when uh New Vision puts out an invitation to uh participate in judging, if you have that time, uh I would recommend that you do it because it's so affirming on so many different levels. All right, we'll move then to agenda item number five, which is the action consent items on the agenda. Let me read the items that are part of action consent. 5.1 Approval of minutes for regular meeting January 21, 2026. 5.2 Approval of minutes for study session February 4, 2026. 5.3 Approval of Personnel extra duty coaching recommendations. 5.4 Approval of Donations. And after we uh finish working through this particular agenda item, Nancy will
096read a donation memo. Item 5.5, approval of building excellent schools today. Um the acronym best is the way that we know that better. Their grant submitt. And finally, the approval of a bus lease to purchase recommendation. Um, are there any items on the consent agenda that anyone wants to have pulled? >> All right. >> I simply have a clarifying question. >> Sure, you can certainly ask a question. >> Uh, clarifying question would be, will we have a moment uh before we take the vote after the motion is made to have a brief discussion or a comment uh comment time? >> And the the answer to that question is no. What we discovered, what I discovered in the president's boot camp session that I attended on parliamentary procedure that um when action consent is uh up
097for um is present as an item on the agenda. Uh there are three steps to approval and that is a motion, a second and then a vote and there is no discussion. That's part of that. Uh, in that case, I would like to pull 5.4 and 5.5, please. >> All right. >> So, Laurley, help me with numbering here. So, 5.4 will become 6.7. Is that right, >> Mr. President? Can I >> Yes. Go ahead. While I'm writing, please. So, While I understand that there's some need to maintain fidelity to Robert's rules of orders of order, the other thing that I learned was we also have the discretion to be flexible in how we apply them. And and I think if I'm I'm not going to speak for my colleague to to the right of me,
098but if it um if it was just a clarifying question, would it not be fair or couldn't we allow some discretion for that question to be asked beforehand so that we could see if it's still okay to leave those items on the consent agenda and so we can kind of move through the the agenda more efficiently or do we need to go through the process of removing them and then reconsidering? ing them. Um >> um questions can certainly be asked. So do you have a specific question that you want to present? >> I uh Mr. President, I simply had a just a comment on both of those items that I would like to be part of the record because it was things that we actually discussed during the study session. I'd just like to have
099them reiterated as part of uh the record. >> I have no objection. All right. I think we can probably do that. >> May May I real quick, just reading the word document that you sent out after you um made some corrections, it does clearly say that questions about content of consent agenda item can be answered without removing the item from the consent agenda. So >> yes, you're correct. But she asked for the items to be removed. >> Okay. with that with that I would if I can make just a brief comment I would >> certainly >> I would recall that or pull that withdraw that >> all right certainly go ahead >> yeah go ahead >> so just you want my comments now or >> sure >> uh the two very quick comments I just
100wanted to and regard to 5.4 before. I think it's so wonderful when uh we have community members that are able to gift and to fan the flame of the creativities of the gifts and talents of our students here within the district by the donation to the photography club. And the other thing on the 5.5 on the best grant, uh part of those monies are from uh the marijuana as well as the lottery sales. And the comments that were discussed uh during our study session was that when those items were brought to a vote for the before the people that that was something that was extremely that was very well promised uh that if we if those measures were passed that it would be as a huge benefit to our students. And meanwhile, both of those
101things sadly are detrimental to many families. Um, I'm not going to say no to uh to money uh because money is green and money has no conscience. However, sadly, some of the families do pay the price and a very high price at that. And we are not getting what we were promised. And I don't believe anybody here in this room has an any idea exactly where that money is all going. But we were promised to have excellent schools, excellent roads when both of those measures were passed. And that was just a discussion that was part of our study session and wanted that to be stated here. Thank you. >> All right. So your comments are noted. So you're withdrawing the request to actually remove these for discussion. >> We will leave them as they are.
102Thank you. All right, Mr. President. >> Okay. Um, in which case then I would entertain a motion to approve the action consent items as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Laura Lee, would you please call the role? >> Did you want Nancy to read the donation? >> Um, let's go ahead and take the vote on the action consent items and then Nancy will read the the donation memo. >> Okay. Stu Boyd. >> Hi, >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi, >> Lori Goel. >> Hi, >> Don Kirk. >> I >> Alexander Les. >> Hi, >> Nancy Rumfelt. >> I >> Mike Schaw. >> Hi. >> All right. So, that motion passes. Seven to nothing. And Nancy, would you then read the donation memo? Um [clears throat and cough] recommendation that the board review the
103gifts donations listed below that will be approved under action consent at the February 18th, 2026 meeting. Purpose schoolboard policy states that gifts and donations over $1,000 need to be approved by the board of education. See below for the gift and donation for the amount and purpose. A donation of a Nikon digital camera model D810 value of 600. A Nikon Necor 70-200 millimeter AFS value 450. A Nikon Necor 50 millimeter value 70. And miscellaneous supplies, camera bag, chargers, cords, battery, GPS device value 100. total value of $1,200 to Thompson Valley High School Photography Club for student use from Jeff and Mary Hyatt. >> All right. Thank you, Nancy. We'll move now to agenda item six, which is discussion action items. 6.1 is the approval of the Big Thompson site name recommendation. We talked about this at
104our study session and I believe more information has now come to light since we had that discussion. So, uh Todd, that's you, huh? >> Yes. Good evening, Mr. President. Board of Education and Dr. Heler. Todd Piconei, assistant superintendent of operations. Uh we did discuss uh the name of the proposed name at the study session. Um since the board discussion, there's been more discussion within the committee. So, I'll invite Kim and Sarah up to discuss the change in the memo tonight. >> Good evening, President Boyd, members of the school board, Dr. Heler, Kim Aly, Sharon, executive director of Thompson Education Foundation, and I'm joined today by Sarah Walgass, who's our principal at Thompson or Big Thompson Elementary School. Uh, we we asked to have this pulled so that we could talk to you or explain what
105um transpired from the point that we spoke to you at the study sess session until today. Um at the study session you saw the three names that the committee had put forward which include Pium Gathering Grove, Pium Learning Grove and Pium Nature Grove. Pium Gathering Grove at that time was the recommended um suggestion to the board to consider. But after having the conversation here with the board at the study session and conversation afterward among staff, we decided that it would be prudent to go back to the committee and ask them what they thought about elevating pullium learning grove above the other two. The reason for that is because really we're thinking about the long term the longevity of this space, the longevity, the amount of time that it would be named that and its primary
106purpose which of course is learning. Yeah, I mean just so to clarify, we did go back and and talk to all of the people that were in involved in that community uh or committee, excuse me, uh staff members, our parents, and as well as our as of our children that were involved in it. And they all were in under the understanding and agreement that the learning would probably be the better name for that since that's what they're there for is to learn. >> All right. Uh questions for Don. I'm going to start with you. Do you have any questions? All right. Denise, >> no question. >> Alexandra, question. >> Uh, no. >> All right. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Nancy. >> Mike? >> No. >> Lori? >> No. >> And I don't either. So,
107are we ready then to uh entertain a motion to approve the Big Thompson site name recommendation? And Kim or Kim, would you tell us again what the proposed name is now? >> Pium Learning Grove. >> All right. Pium Learning Grove. All right. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Motion by Dawn. Second from Denise. >> Way around. Is there any >> motion? I >> Oh, I'm sorry. We got it. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. Is there discussion? >> All right. Let's proceed to the vote then. Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Stu Boyd. >> I. >> Denise Chapman. >> I. >> Lori Goel. >> Hi. >> Don Kirk. >> I. >> Alexander Lesum. >> Hi. >> And Nancy Rumfelt. >> Hi. >> Mike Schaw. >> Hi. >> All right. So the motion uh
108carries seven to nothing and so it is approved. We'll move then to uh agenda item 6.2 2 which is approval of the second read policy of JH/JHA/JHAB student absences and excuses. Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Heler, members of the board. Sarah Rasmmanson, assistant superintendent of learning services. And this evening we um bring forward the second reading of everything that was just shared. And there are a couple of changes. So I'm actually going to um I'm I'm definitely going to have Dr. Jennifer Guthals explain those changes because something came up that we wanted to make sure that we addressed in the policy. So I just would like Dr. Guthles to have a moment to share those changes with you. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Heler, members of the board. Thank you so much for
109having me tonight. Um, as you saw in the memo, there are three changes since the last time we were together, um, including uh, a removal of a couple of words from the allocation of school attendance responsibilities, a clarification of something that, um, new came into our system that we were made aware of during this work. um and then uh the addition of one word and a slash um to clarify documentation sources. So if we take a look at um the uh student absences and excuses, if you go to page three of 8, you will find the slash or and this is a recommendation of one of our board members to clarify that sentence about documentation. So we made that change. If you take a look at page six of 8, you will see a new
110sentence. Uh that new sentence says, "For high school courses offering specialized certifications, makeup work requirements shall be determined on a course specific basis in coordination with the certification provider. Um, as we were working through this policy, we discovered that through the amazing efforts of our school principles, our CTE director, and others, we continue to expand offerings for our students, including the ability to get certifications from outside um providers. And what we've discovered is that the sentence prior where we talk about following the attendance policies where the course is located physically um didn't take into account that when we engage in these course works where you courses where outside providers require certain number of seat hours in order to take the exam for the outside certification um that we have to work with them to figure
111that out in each specific course. And so that that work has been ongoing, right, to design the schedule, the schedule of the courses, the timing, all of those things to um allow for that to occur. So we wanted to acknowledge that in this policy um without making it hopefully unnecessarily complicated to just say we know these things exist. They're very new into our system. Um and it's something that in each case we'll need to look at very carefully so that students have the opportunity to maintain the credit um and attendance required by Thompson School District. Um as well as uh how we're going to handle the outside requirements of these um outside certification students can achieve. And then lastly um in the I wanted to mention too that the truency policy that is separate right
112now um just to remind you that the reason we are recommending um removing that policy is that's been incorporated into the students absence excuses. So all the requirements in state statute regarding what we um need to have a policy on regarding truency have been incorporated into that. I believe those are all the changes. Um actually and then really quickly just make sure uh could you just go to the allocation of school attendance so we can just make sure go all the way to the bottom and you'll see the two um the exhibit if you go all the way to the bottom you'll see the two words that we removed uh it's under e district responsibility for school attendance number four to assist school and district attendance teams on complex attendance matters wherever possible. the intention
113was to broaden uh the district support, but we received feedback that it sounded like we were trying to restrict the district support. So, that was an easy change because the intention is to broaden it. So, um thank you for that feedback and we made that change. um the many of the other questions that the board shared with us the last time we were together uh in conferencing with the other directors helping with this project and the people um across divisions helping us. We uh feel very confident that those can be addressed through standard operating procedures and we're very excited to get that going. We actually started lining out in the hopes that you would be approving this what that would take. So, we have quite the timeline map over the next few months to work
114through technical details, professional learning, um, and the other things that I shared with you at the study session. So, that is all I have to share with you tonight about the changes since the last time we spoke. >> All right. Um, board questions. Denise, I'd like to begin with you. >> We don't have any questions. >> All right. Alexandra, any questions? >> No. Nancy >> uh first for making that uh thank you for making that change about the concurrent enrollment. Um my only question is is now within the course uh information when students are signing up for it will that also be a be presented more clearly that the policy even though it may be held um at TCC if it's being done by another organization like Ames or Front Range that their policy for
115um work and attendance is what will apply. >> Yeah, thank you for that question. [clears throat] So, one of the steps we'll take as we work through the SOP timeline will be to um identify things that need to be updated at the school level in their handbooks. So, that would be included in that. Um, for instance, in in the particular case that brought this to our attention, one of the um details that had been missed um was an understanding the difference between semester absences and quarter absences, which is easy to miss because we only have one high school with quarters. Um, so those are the types of details we'll be looking for through this SOP process and continuing to um ensure that that we update accordingly. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you, >>
116Mike. Uh, just a quick comment. And I just want to thank you for for kind of listening to kind of us and un and some of the comments that we made and and I hope um that as you operationalize the policy that we could just get some updates. I'm just curious how how uh how it's being implemented if there's any issues or any need for any course correction because I I feel like that's always important. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right, Lauren. Um >> my questions have been addressed already. Thank you. Done. All right. I don't have any questions. Um, let's proceed then to a vote on approval of this second read policy. Uh, could I have a motion, please? >> Uh, so moved. >> Second. >> Discussion. Let's proceed to the
117vote then. Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Stu Boyd. >> I. >> Denise Chapman. >> I. Lori Goel. >> Hi. >> Don Kirk. >> Hi. >> Alexander Lesum. >> Hi. >> Nancy Rumfelt. >> I >> Mike Schaw. >> Hi. >> All right. Thank you board. So the vote total was seven in favor of the motion and no one opposed to it. So that motion passes. Let's move then to uh agenda item 6.3 which is the approval of second read exhibit JH JH JH AB-E student absences and excuses. So I will just Dr. Goth already privile kind of spoke about the changes to the exhibit as well as the the changes of why we're moving the truency policy and deleting that. So the next two kind of items you're being asked to approve, she talked
118about that all issue is up there. If there are specific questions regarding the exhibit, I have no doubt that she would be happy to answer those. >> All right. Are we rolling 6.4 into that as well, Dr. Heler? >> Correct. We'll we will need to take separate motions on each of those, but yes, that's all kind of together in what she spoke about as she was at the DAS. >> All right. Uh let's proceed then quickly to questions. Alexandra, any questions about agenda item 6.3? No >> Nancy >> Mike. >> Uh, no. >> I'll come back. >> Lori, >> no. >> Don Denise, >> all right. And I don't have any questions either. Uh, let's We will need to vote on that. Uh, could I have a motion, please? I move to approve this new
119policy. >> All right, that needs a second. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Let's proceed to the vote. Laurely, please call the role. >> Stu Boyd, >> I. >> Denise Chapman, >> I. >> Lori Goel, >> I. >> Don Kirk, >> I. >> Alexander Lesum, >> I. >> Nancy Rumfelt, >> I. >> Mike Schul, >> I. All right, that motion passes. Also seven in favor and zero against. Moving on then to 6.4 which is the approval of second read deletion policy JHB truency. Uh Nancy any questions. Mike >> no >> Lori >> no >> Dawn Denise >> Alexandra >> no. >> All right. And I don't either. So let's proceed then to a vote on agenda item 6.4 which is approval of second read deletion policy JHB truency. Uh Laura Lee, please call the role.
120>> We need a motion. >> I need a motion. >> We need a motion still. >> We not had a motion yet. Okay. >> So moved. Sorry. >> Second. >> All right. So we have a motion and a second. >> Any discussion? >> Now we'll proceed to the vote. Laurley >> Stew Boyd. >> Hi >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi >> Lori Goel. >> Hi. >> Dylan Kirk. >> I >> Alexander Lam. >> Hi. >> Nancy Rumfelt. >> I >> Mike Schaw. >> Hi. >> All right. So that motion also passes seven to nothing. And so we have approved the deletion of policy JHB uh truency. We'll move now to agenda item 6.5 which is the approval of second read policy beb uh involving changes to the agenda and that will be >> I'll take that
121one. All right, Mr. President, >> as we discussed at the study session, this is a somewhat minor change to uh change uh section five from reports to just superintendent report. Then to add a new section eight called board communication and then a change to our study session agenda. What was previously referred to as CASBY updates is now just updates which would allow for a variety of different updates including CASBY lura or any other updates that the board would like to provide at the study session. >> All right, we'll proceed then to questions. Mike, I'll begin with you. >> Lori, >> none. Don, Denise, Alexandra, >> no >> Nancy, >> no. >> I don't have any questions either. So, I would entertain a motion then to approve uh second read of policy BEDB agenda. >> So
122moved. >> All right. Did you get those, Laurely? All right. Is there any discussion? Let's proceed to the vote then. >> Stu Boyd >> I. >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi. >> Lori Goel. >> Hi. >> Don Kirk. >> Hi. >> Alexander Lesum. >> Hi. >> Nancy Rumfeld. >> Hi. >> Mike Schaw. >> Hi. >> All right. That motion also passes seven to nothing. And so we have approved on second read policy BEDB changes to the agenda. Let's move now to agenda item 6.6 which is approval of citizen bond oversight committee selection. Uh for the information of the board, we put this uh back into discussion action rather than action cons consent because we thought there might be some additional questions or comments on the committee selection. So Todd, >> great. Thank you, Mr. President. Board
123of Board of Education, [clears throat] Dr. Yeah. Top county assistant superintendent operations. Uh in front of you tonight are the final names um that we selected in the study session. So if there are any questions about uh where we're at to this point, uh we do have the kickoff meeting scheduled for March 11th. Um and we'll send out agendas prior to that entire group, but there was a uh email sent out to the entire list of applicants uh stating who was selected, the process, and all the pieces that went into it. All right. Um, we'll proceed then to questions. Lori, beginning with you. >> I really don't have any question, but uh, I guess the one thing that we did find as we were talking is when we did make our selections blind on how
124definitive it was. So, I want to thank you for the work that you did on that to redact the names and we were looking at the candidates uh based solely on the responses to the questionnaire. So, I just want to say thank you. >> You bet. Don Denise, >> this is Did everyone that submitted their name accept the invitation? Maybe they get busy or >> um we haven't got full confirmation, but we'll get there. And then if someone were to drop, is there a replacement process or? >> Yes. So, we'll bring back the applications and kind of do a similar process again. The hope is that uh they'll all accept and they're excited. >> Yes, of course. >> All right. Alexandra, any questions on 6.6? >> No. >> Nancy, >> I just echo what director
125goal said. I know it was a different kind of process that got proposed, but I thought it worked really well. Great, >> Mike. >> Um, I I was [clears throat] going to needle you a bit and move that we redo the whole process, but [laughter] I >> that'll be awesome. >> But I I but I do thought the better of it. So I uh but I just wanted to echo what my colleague said. I do appreciate that extra time and effort you put into it and I think that it, you know, to the extent that we can have a more fair and transparent process, I think is a good thing. So thank you for that. >> Great. >> All right. I don't have any questions. Let's proceed then to the vote for agenda item 6.6.
126Do I have a motion? >> I move to approve the citizen bond committee members. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? >> Laura Lee. Let's vote. >> Stu Boyd. >> I. >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi. >> Lori Goel. >> Hi. >> Don Kirk. >> Hi. >> Alexander Lesum. >> Hi. >> Nancy Rumfelt. >> Hi. Mike Schul >> I. >> So the vote total was seven in favor of the motion. No one voted against. So we have approved the citizen bond oversight committee selection. We'll move now to agenda item seven which is discussion items. >> President Boyd, could we take a short uh personal break before we go into the discussion? >> Absolutely. Let's do that. So we're going to take about a seven minute break. You can time us if you want to. All right,
127board will resume in about one minute. All right. Resuming the meeting, we will move to um item seven on the agenda, which is discussion items. 7.1 is the 2025 graduation and dropout rates and the 2026 middle ofear I ready results. So I'll invite up Sarah and maybe you'll have a cast of supporting characters as we move along. >> Yes, that is true. >> Good evening. Sarah Rasmmanson, assistant superintendent of learning services. And yes, I do have several members from our learning services leadership team who are going to be walking through the presentation right along with you. Um, this evening we are bringing forward our just more detail about our graduation rates and our dropout rates from last year. So, we'll have an opportunity to go through those and um ask any questions at the end.
128And then we will also be digging into our middle-ofear data and um we'll talk about what's working, what's not working, and what are we going to do to address the areas of need. So at this point, I will call up the members of our team. I think Carrie Bartman is going to start us off and each uh member will introduce themselves during the uh part of their presentation. There are many of us. So, good evening, uh, Mr. President, members of the board, Dr. Heler, Carrie Bartman, director of assessment and evaluation. I get to start us off this evening. Uh, as uh, Mrs. Rasmmanson said, uh, we are talking tonight about our graduation and dropout rates. Then we'll move to our middle of year assessment data and then follow up with all of the professional developments
129and different learnings that have taken place this year and where we hope to go by the end of the year. So, starting us off with amazing data um and updates for you on our graduation and dropout rates. We're starting tonight with our ontime graduation rates. On-time graduation means in the state of Colorado that when a student enters their ninth grade year, the very first day they start high school, they are on track to have four years to graduate high school. So August of their freshman year of high school is when this cohort is put together and then they have four years to graduate. So for 2025, we had 90.9% of that cohort graduate high school on time. In comparison to the state uh at 85.6%, we are outperforming the state again and we have carried
130that trend for the last three years. When you're looking at the first bar graph, the green shows um our 2022 2023 grad rates. [clears throat] The orange shows our 232 24 grad rates and 2425 is this last year. Per school our district total in comparison to Berthid, Loveland, Mountain View, Thompson Valley, and Lovelin Classical. I will talk about Harold Ferguson in just a second. All of these schools have the same four-year graduation rate that they are rated on. Students entering their freshman year have four years to graduate at each of these high schools. When you look at our comprehensive high schools, again, they're all well into the 90th percentile across the board. And you can see their three-year trend data. Going a little bit deeper, um, Ferguson High School is our alternative education campus. They
131are rated differently. We've given you their four-year on-time graduation rate there. However, what they're rated on is actually completer status when each school gets their school performance framework each year. This school is rated separately because they're on an um alternate education plan. And so, their actual um completion rate of graduation this year was 64.7%. And so, they have a a different level that they are working toward. And so I just wanted to point that out. Since it was lower, they are rated on a different scale than everyone else. Graduation on time rates by race. As you can see here, um, all the way across the board, when you see Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander in NA is there, we need 16 or more students in that group in order to be reported. And so
132anything you see with an NA or something not there, it would be fewer than 16 students. As [snorts] you can see across the board, we have many 100%. Um, as well as the consistency, um, our black and African-American went from 50% last year to 100% graduation rate this year. Seeing amazing trend data across the board for each of our race categories, on-time graduation rates by our student groups. So on the left you're going to see our tsd all grads comparison to the state which are the two graphs in gray. So in blue this last year we were 90.9% as I said and the state was 85.6. We've put these groups together for you to show that we are outperforming the state still in each category. Our gifted and talented students were at 96.8% this past
133year whereas the state was at 96.2. 2. Our multilingual language learners were at 82.5% and the state was at 72.6%. Our students with disabilities graduated at 81.1% this year with the state at 74%. And our highly mobile group was at 73.8% with the state at 71.6. Shifting to our dropout rates now. We're wanting to see the bar graphs go down. So, anything uh deescalating is what we're wanting to see on this. This past year's district total dropout rate was at 1%. And the state total was 1.6. You [snorts] may be asking yourself, well, wait a minute. We were at 90% for graduation. How are we only at 1% here? We're measuring different groups of students. So our dropout rate is measured each year for 7th through 12th grade students. So last year's students 7th through
13412th grade we had 1% dropout. Okay. So graduation is measured when they enter their freshman year of high school. Dropout is on this yearly calculator. That's 7th through 12th grade. our high school dropout rates. As you can see here, tsd's total and then each of the high schools across the board. Herold Ferguson, you're going to see a jump in. I'm not able to give you the total amount because both of those numbers are less than 16. But just know it looks like it doubled there. However, with it fewer than 16, it could be a five to an 8, a five to a 10. So, we're talking about fewer than 16 students in each of those categories. District dropout rates by race. As you can see here, we put the comparison to the state. Again, many
135of our categories are at 0.0%. Across the board, and you can see the comparison to the state in the gray. Similarly, uh, dropout rates by our student groups here, we overall again were at the 1.0%. Our gifted and talented group this year was at.1%. Multilingual learners was at 1.8%. Economically disadvantaged was 1.3%. Students with disabilities was8%. Highly mobile was 1.8. And as you can see, we are still below the state in each of those categories. Switching gears and different colors of bar graphs coming. So get ready. [laughter] Our middle ofear I ready data. Middle of year I ready. Our kindergarten through 8th graders take this diagnostic three times a year. Beginning, middle, and end of year. How we read the graphs in front of you is by a criterion reference placement level. And so the
136dark green shade is going to be students that are in the category of mid or above grade level already with their end with where they need to be at end of year. So meaning these students have already mastered the skills for everything that they'd need to see. For example, in fourth grade early on grade level means they're mastering the majority of them and we see them on um at or above grade level at the end of the year. one grade level below has them almost there. In the fall, um any kiddo in yellow still, we consider them almost on grade level because it's just that fall beginning of your assessment and they haven't seen all of the um curriculum yet to be able to master it for that school year. So, one grade level below
137here, they still um hitting typical or stretch growth can definitely make it into the green by the end of the year. And then in the your kind of pink shaded and red shaded are two and three grade levels below where we're at. Okay. So overall uh I Ready uh reormed uh every one of their diagnostics uh postcoid and so your national norm is from the winter of 2223. They reormed everything in that 22 23 season. So that's what we're comparing the that national norm to at this point in time is from the winter 22 23. The second bar graph you see there is our the national how many students which was 4 million 4.2 million actually that took this diagnostic nationally. Our Colorado amount of students um we were compared to um 128,000 and then
138our district at for the year. You can see in all of these comparisons that we are outperforming national standards in reading. We're looking at reading first and we're very comparative to the state of Colorado at this point in time. [clears throat] So we have 27% of our students uh mid or above grade level. 21% are on grade level. 30% are right below grade level. 10% two grade levels below. 12% three grade levels below. Okay, I've separated that data out for you. Here is our elementary reading data, K5. I'll give you a second to look through that. It is three-year trend data. So, you're going to see the last three um our current year in 2526 compared to the previous two years. Again, with the reorms happening in 2223, the number of students assessed is that
139number below. So, how many students were assessed in that winter diagnostic in that grade level? In kindergarten, you're not going to see any students in red because they haven't been in school long enough. So, kindergarten is looking at your green or your yellow. You're there or you're not quite there yet. And the next slide for reading is our middle school 6th through 8th graders. Very consistent trend data for the last three years just in general as you look at where we are. All right, we're switching to growth. So we're still in reading. So that was how students performed overall just that one day when they took the reading diagnostic in December. Now we're going to talk about the growth data that we see. So on the on the bar graph on the left, this is
140where students were in the fall when they took the beginning of year diagnostic the winter. So we were halfway through the school year. This is how much growth we've seen. So to give you an example, we had 16% of our students in kindergarten through 8th grade already at or above grade level when they started and took the diagnostic in the fall. We bumped to 28%. Middle of year we were at 18% of those students in the fall. Now we're at 21% for um early on grade level. And you can see so the great news is we're wanting to see more in the green in midyear um and less in the red. And so we're trending in the right direction there. Students are assessed fall to winter. You're going to see that number is less than
141how many students actually took it because they have had they had to be here and take the fall and winter diagnostic to be counted in this cohort. And it had to be at least 12 weeks in between the diagnostic from when they took it. The fall to the winter. It'll be the same for our end of year. Winter to spring has to be 12 weeks in between. Giving you another bar graph or quadrant chart to look at. Here are all of our grade levels and where they performed each grade. Where we're wanting to see students in grade levels is in the upper right hand quadrant. That means our students are high achieving and high growth. We're seeing them on track where they want to be. So you can see the majority of our grade levels
142are falling in the reading category in that high performance and high growth, especially with eighth grade really knocking it out of the park. The second quadrant where we're hoping students and grade levels would fall would be on the upper left. Low performance, high growth. They may not have hit that achievement yet, but we're seeing that high growth to get them to the achievement because we know growth precedes achievement. The next quadrant would be the lower right. high performance students are already there, but we're not seeing that growth piece that we're wanting. And then low performance, low growth is an area of um where we're definitely focused in on that grade level or that group of students or what strategies um and different standards have we not hit yet that that group of students may need.
143All right, more colors, different bar graph. High school. high school has piloted this year doing a beginning and middleofyear assessment. We created this high school benchmark utilizing um released items from PAD and SAT. They take this assessment, this benchmark assessment inside of our illuminate DNA platform and it's released items really trying to have students see not taking full practice tests but really seeing the content. Where are students missing? Where are they at? And so this pilot this year, we have our 9th, 10th, and 11th graders, some seniors chose to take it. However, most of the time on um when they're doing these, seniors are working on ACT work keys or different um assess um assessments that they need for graduation. However, we're piloting this year. We simply have at this point in time, have they
144mastered the concepts or have they not yet? Okay, so middle of year in the blue, for example, our freshmen, 54% of our freshmen have mastered all of the concepts in evidence-based reading and writing to perform well on the PAT 9 in April. Okay. 65% of our students have mastered the content on the PAT 10. 41% of our juniors have mastered the the SAT content. Okay. And then here we have growth. Again, we're still piloting how this is going to look. So looking at this, we had 664 freshmen take the fall and winter diagnostic. And [snorts] that group that 664 students grew 9.2 percentage points. Okay. Ferguson did not take this assessment as they have to take both I ready and ACT work keys to meet their um AEC requirements. So this is based on the
145four comprehensive high schools. All right, switching gears to math kindergarten through 8th grade. Back to I ready data. So same exact format. Green means above grade level, yellow means one grade level below, and the reds are two and three grade levels below. We're going to compare this mathematics data when we talk um about the national norms. Again, they reormed 2223. So that's what we're compared to. The national group over 5 million took this assessment middle of year. That's where the second bar graph is. 129,000 plus took it in the state of Colorado. That's the third bar graph. and comparison to us as a district where 7,200 took it. Moving again into K5 data here, you can see across the screen the last three years of how students per grade level have performed on the middle
146of your assessment. I'll give you a second to look at that. As you can see, very similar results again across the board. We're seeing very consistent trend data. And our sixth, seventh, and eighth grade math scores. All right. and then their growth data. Same graph in the fall. This is how many students we had performing at mid or above grade level already. 7% were there in the fall K8. We're now at 18%. So we're seeing significant gains again from fall to winter. That's the growth we want to see. And hopefully we continue to see the red shrink and the green grow for end of year. Here is that four quadrant chart with all of the grade levels K8. Again, we're looking to see um our students in the upper right hand quadrant. Majority of our
147grade levels are there. Our sixth and eighth grade group um landed in that second upper left hand quadrant. We have our fifth grade group landing in the third quadrant. And our seventh grade group is almost there and they're in the fourth quadrant. Similarly, high school again with this pilot program, they took all all questions and we put them into illuminate DNA, released question items from College Board [snorts] and 721 students took the PAT 9 uh math side of the assessment. Middle of year, 47% have mastered those skills. In 10th grade, 648 students, we have 60% of those students mastering all of the standard area. And our SAT group at 509 students, we had 29% master the math side. Similarly, in the growth, we're seeing less growth. We're taking trend data where we are right now.
148um with this pilot, how seriously did students take it? What feedback are we receiving? Some things we have received already that we're looking at is can we shorten the diagnostic? So that's something we're looking at. So [snorts] shortening the number of questions, ensuring we're hitting all of the standard areas that they need. Each educator has access to this illuminate DNA profile. They get a report and they can see which students were low in what certain areas and which areas they know my student to or my this student or this class totally understands slope of a line so I don't need to re you know go over that more but we really need to work on the quadratic formula for example and those kinds of equations and so all of that data goes back to our
149teachers and they get to see and adjust as needed some of this maybe they haven't seen the curriculum yet because we're still coming into it. As we know, high school especially, each each student group takes a different subject and so it really does depend on when they're taking algebra 1, when they're taking geometry, etc. Next steps for our high school students is they take their full practice test inside of our College Board Blue Book app on March 2nd. This is actually the they're timed. they get to use their accommodations for this um making sure everything is correct. And our um seniors, I'm sorry, our juniors also will have the opportunity to send um their SAT scores up for four colleges of their choice if they'd like. And so, um on March 2nd, they'll get the
150full run through before they take the actual PAT and SAT in April. All right. And I'm going to hand it off to Dr. Pulka. Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Heler, and members of the board. Carmen Pulka, executive director of elementary schools. So, what I would like to illuminate here is our instructional framework. So, in our learning services department, um we really like to think through what a multi-tered system of support can look like. And so what you'll note here is that you'll see the the four domains. So you have inclusive and supportive learning environment, intentional instructional planning, facilitation of learning, assessment and evaluation through PLC's or you might hear them called PLTS. So when we're looking at our multi- tiered system of support, we're looking at um student outcomes, teaching and learning within each of
151those domains. This this is a drill down of what that document looks and sounds like. And so um when we think about student outcomes, for example, you'll see grade level standards noted, you'll see lesson design, you'll see tsd curricular materials. Also, we know that one of our levers for improvement are our PLC's, our professional learning communities. We also think through instructional planning and how do we respond to student data. So this this um instructional framework really is a comprehensive lever for how we support uh the idea of what's happening in the classrooms in real time with instruction and student learning outcomes. And so I bring this forward because um myself um and then Brandy will be illuminating our next steps. So I want to just name what our next steps are at the elementary level.
152Uh so this is this is a little bit exciting to share because I made this slide and then we had an an incredible opportunity yesterday with our professional development for elementary school. So I'm I'm for all of our district, but I'm going to speak to elementary. So specifically within literacy, within the domain of literacy, we are in that adoption phase. Um we have we're in year one, you know, we're halfway through our year with our benchmark training. So our curriculum approved was benchmark. And so within our curriculum adoption, we think through well what are stakeholders going to need? meaning um all of all of those instruct instructional um leaders that we have. So we think through our teachers, we think through our our administrators, our instructional coaches. Then when we drill down, we think through
153okay in the general education classroom, what does what is that going to look and sound like for our training? Uh we have a curriculum adopted and this came up actually a couple months ago in one of our meetings. Um, we have curriculum adopted with our interventionists, so our literacy interventionists, our ELD teachers who are supporting our multilingual learners as well as in our general education classrooms. We have um provided training with our gifted education um teachers, our dual language schools, Cottonwood and Truscuit as well as our special educa special educators are also receiving um an inclusive training alongside our general education teachers. And what that means is um for example yesterday during our professional development we had a a very beautiful opportunity and that was our district leveraged our instructional coaches, our curriculum leaders all
154at the elementary level. instructional coaches, our curriculum leaders, our building principles, and just teacher leadership with a very um intentionally designed professional development opportunity for them yesterday for about three and a half hours where they were able to engage with their um benchmark curriculum. Specifically, they were looking at their unit 7 and deciphering within unit 7 what are the the most essential standards not only that they're going to be learning but what have what have they perhaps learned in through their past units of discovery um maybe what's still continuing and then what might be at a mastery level um for that unit 7. So they basically are unraveling and using a backwards design approach to say what are our students really going to need to know and be able to learn right now in these
155next three weeks in our unit 7. So that was our literacy development um professional development yesterday that occurred can go forward. So with math we are in a different place because we are we have already adopted our math curriculum as well as we onboarded our all learning all learner network um processes and the support of all learner network to help really with pedagogical approaches for our students. So when we think about pedigogy again we need to think about who are the stakeholders that need to be um in the room learning learning and growing in their practices. So because we are further in our um implementation, we are now in that place where that first bullet is naming. When we are onboarding new teachers and new administrators, we are still providing training for them around the
156all learner all learner network strategies. That's a mouthful. um the high lever concepts assessments. What that is is three times a year each student in elementary school um they are taking this assessment and what this assessment is doing is that it is really um highlighting those um conceptual understandings that are really the anchoring concepts that they need to know to know to do all of the all the math things right so it gives a different look as opposed to like I ready like you just saw that's one piece of data They also have their high leverage assessments which um our building leaders and staff are using um as a guiding force alongside I Ready to say here's another data point that will help us to know truly what our students knowing and understanding at this
157point in time. Uh we have provided and are continuing to impro provide this year embedded teacher and principal coaching as well as um each building site identified a a math person. Well, we're all math people, but they identified someone that can be their point person um to be a bridge between leadership, teaching as well as they have a little a more direct line to ALN to say, "Hey, can we get some additional coaching? I have some questions related to my building needs." And then within that, we also have 20 hours at each site that are coupled with that coaching um for people to continue learning and growing. The picture there that you're seeing, those are the components of an all-arner um lesson design. And so the launch, main lesson, math menu, closure, those are some
158of the key elements of what we're looking for when we think through the pedigogy. What does it look like and sound like for students to be learning? What does it look like and sound like for teachers to be teaching and facilitating learning? Good evening, Mr. President, Dr. Heler, and members of the board. Brandy Greavves, executive director of secondary schools. Um, I'm going to continue to talk about ALN. I don't want to repeat the things that Carmen has said for secondary schools. We're in year two implementation. Um some of the things that are very powerful about this training for math teachers is it is specifically designed for math teachers. So they are able to take their content um with experts who speak math and they are able to not only learn um collaboratively with all the
159other math teachers in the district. But then when they go back into the buildings they have coaching that comes in um that is also extremely powerful for teachers um for one of three reasons. they can choose to have um one of the all learner networks um coaches come into their classroom and actually model the strategies that they're trying to master. They can co-e, they can present and then have that person give them feedback. Um they can also sit and have planning time. So say that they are maybe creating some lessons that students have been struggling with. They could also ask that that coach sit with them and think through the barriers as to what maybe is not working for students. So having the ability to have those people come into the building and work in
160real time with um our math teachers has been highly effective. The second focus that the district um professional development has this year is um around UDL which is universal design for learning. Um this um I don't want to call it a program but the ability to be able to understand how to design something for learners. The premise is that it's that you are as the instructor learning to recognize barriers in a learning environment. So if you think for example of say I'm a English teacher and I have 30 students in front of me, students are going to learn differently. They're going to have different needs. So maybe I need to take into consideration 504s, IEPs, any kind of any kind of accommodation a student might need. The premise behind teaching teachers to use these strategies
161is to forward think what might those students need to be able to access this specific standard or this learning. So, for example, if I have a student that needs note-taking, there's probably another student in that room that would benefit from that skill set. And so, as you're designing a classroom, you're thinking ahead and you're thinking through the students that you have. How might they best get this material and be able to show me what they learned? So, for example, if we're reading something, then I might offer students to have a copy of it in their hands that they would be able to write around um and take notes. Other students might feel more comfortable going into their Chromebook and reading it online and being able to type. Another student might um benefit from being able
162to sit quietly and have a headset and be able to listen to being read aloud to them. And so this is training teachers ahead of time to think through what am I presenting to students and how am I teaching this in a way that all students will have access to being able to get that learning in real time. So the one of the reasons that we have decided to use universal design for learning is when you think about all of the students again in the classroom and how many different needs and learning styles there are. If we can train teachers to recognize these barriers before they start teaching, then when they move into their professional learning teams, they're already getting to the questions about what are my what are my kids able to do? How
163do I know if they're learning it? And what do I do if they're not? because that is again removing some of those barriers. So hopefully more students will get it the first or second time versus us having to focus in on how are we reteing and pulling students to do um interventions um or having other opportunities to be able to master grade level standards outside of the content um and outside of that classroom. So if you'll move to the next slide. Um we are just in the beginning stages of using um univers that is hard to say as well universal design for learning UDL. So the first day that all of the secondary educators were um together they are doing um this training in their own buildings with their own staff and so um we
164have brought in um trainers to each of those buildings to work with those um individuals. So the first day was just understanding what UDL is and why um you as an instructor would want to understand these strategies and be able to lesson design in this manner. Day two was getting into the guidelines. And so it um when you talk about guidelines in UDL, it's again trying to recognize is it environmental, is it a lesson structure, is it a sense of belonging, like do I feel safe in this room and I can learn, is it engagement, um is it resources or materials? So again, empowering teachers to try to understand which of those might be the barrier for that student and then thinking through what they're what they're designing. Day three we actually had yesterday. Um
165just as Carmen said that they had an amazing day with Benchmark. Um we had some um I was able to sit in with three different schools yesterday and they had some really um great conversations about how they were using some of the tools like journey mapping to be able in real time to start planning. So yesterday focused on teachers being able to come in with their own lesson plans and doing a workshop model which meant they they revisited some of the the learning that they've already had from day one and day two and then they were able to sit and start taking their own lessons and um using UDL to be able to design what they were going to take back for students. Um we also were able to um design a day for the
166um leaders and principles across the district um including district admin. And so UDL provided an opportunity for all of us to be able to sit down um and not only to continue to learn what UDL is, but we asked them that they take our um professional learning teams or professional learning community concepts and they um overlay them. So that way when principles are any of us are going into buildings and we're going into those teacher collaboration times where they are sitting and they're talking about what is the student data telling us who's learning who's not what are we doing about it how are we responding that they they also know how to apply UDL concepts um in those conversations and so the goal of that training was to again not feel like we keep adding
167additional things to teachers plates but really make those intentional connections between all of this work um so that way then they are better to um better able to design learning for our students. All right, at this time I don't know who else wants to I'm going to ask that they all come up. Um does the board have any questions? >> All right, Don, I'll start with you. Okay, Denise. So, what's going on in first grade? Um, from the middle of the year reading data, I mean, it just seems like things get better after first grade, but first grade is just hard in general timing wise for readers. >> Are you talking about the growth data first grade or their overall scores? >> Overall scores. Let me go back. >> And I wish I had page
168numbers. Oh, I do. Um 29. >> Okay. So, we're we're seeing their achievement data right here. >> Yes. >> So, again, where our first graders are at um when you're looking at this bar graph for first grade. So 62% remember in the yellow doesn't mean they're necessarily behind. They still have only had half of the first grade content. And so many of them will hit that that point. Um I will allow Carmen to speak to what the curriculum is. But just in reading the graph um we just have to remember that um that piece is they still haven't had half of that grade level of content. >> Yeah. I would just I would just add yeah that idea that we are measuring end of year standards correct >> in the middle of the year. >>
169Uh but I think what you're also you're pointing out is first grade is performing >> lower at the middle of the year than other grade levels are. That's so >> why are we maybe not seeing as much of them in the green at first grade as we're seeing at kinder and at second and third. Right. >> Is that accurate? Anecdotally, I would say we have a brand new curriculum in reading this year and possibly some of those areas may not the standard areas may not have been taught yet either since they're restructuring everything. But uh the other the other thing I would mention is that when in kindergarten data in in a kindergarten classroom um the skills that they are learning in kindergarten are very um they're targeted and specific at every grade level. But
170in kindergarten it's like this micro skill, right? Because when they get to fifth grade they're more in a macro skill. We're applying comprehension. And while these are all being tested, it is at the kindergarten level, it's more drilled down to those those micro skills. What's happening in first grade is first grade really truly starts to be the bridge between I'm learning I'm reading I'm learning to read and I'm reading to learn because our expectations now in second grade are that they are really reading. We want it in kindergarten. We want them reading. We want it in first. But there is a there's going to be a developmental gap because like I said in kindergarten it's very skill skill skill skill. In second grade you start to get more of a I'm going to apply it
171to what I what I can learn and be able to do. But first grade you're kind of in that like you're almost like upsetting the apple cart because they really are in that I'm still learning skills. I'm still learning skills and now I need to learn how to. So they're now I'm now I'm learning like actually how to read. Like I'm I'm really in this place again. they're learning how to read in kindergarten. It's just different in first grade. The other thing that um when we look at first grade that we are questioning is we have science of reading. That's something that all of our teachers K through 5 were trained in. And so equally important is our noticing as well that okay while we know that about developmentally appropriate and and what's happening from
172K1 and two um it still is a question that we're also pondering upon. So, we know that developmentally and we're also not going to ignore the data. >> Okay. >> So, >> thank you. >> All right. Um, Alexandra, do you have any questions or comments? >> Can you guys hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, so I guess my comment or my thought is just kind of like looking at like the graduation rates are great and the you know the stuff from um, you know, seeing growth and things like that is good. Um, but it worries me a little bit like looking at the placements again I guess on like slide whatever that is 22 you know relative placements change from winter to winter that we're not really seeing a lot of movement from year
173to year um despite some of these you know professional development things that are are in place and some of the changes and things like that. Um, and so, you know, I appreciate everything that you guys are doing and I'm hoping that that it'll turn around that that >> Did you want to respond to her comment or just to hear it? >> We are very aware of that as well and that that stagnation piece we are talking about in all of our meetings. >> All right. Thank you. Anything else, Alexandra? >> No, that's fine. Thank you. >> All right. Thanks, Nancy. >> Um I guess I'm going to echo um similar to um director lesson what she said. So what I've seen since I've been on the board, it's 21 or whatever. And before that when
174I used to also follow this, I I really do see the I Ready scores for many years. they stay they stay fairly um stagnant. And so one thing that would be helpful is I I I appreciate and understand the statement about that we're testing them middle of the year but on endofear concepts. So what would be nice is if included with this was somehow the data from the end of year the prior year. So you can see well what's the trend if if some if a if a class in the middle of the year then when they go to do the end of year you can see that oh all of those um students in the red did did jump up. But without that, you just you just look at this and go, "Oh my
175gosh, you know, there's 70% of eighth graders that can't do math. That's horrible." >> So, I think that would help put it in, you know, add some context to it. That's really important. >> But I also look at it again, again, going back to my, you know, you always hear me talk about third grade reading is that at a certain point, because you guys are the experts, you're the professionals. So every year you see yes it's different students but these students I would think you would start to build a library of these we keep seeing this group of students perform at three grade levels below or two and start really attacking and developing those additional tools that are needed. Now what those tools are I don't know that's what the board needs to hear from
176you so that we can say that needs to be a budget priority you know or something like that and I also think it would help and I know that there's resistance to this but to include so that we can see how every school is doing these summary numbers they're great but I also know you know my careers in math when you lump things together, you really blend a lot of stuff. So, you can't really see what's really high performing, what's low, because together it all puts it all right here. So, it kind of makes it difficult to know where we should say, Dr. Heler, we think resources should be directed to, you know, school ABC or something. And it makes it hard I think for you as well to make that ask because we don't
177have the data in front of us. So I [clears throat] I love the all learners network and the UDL. Um, and so I, you know, there's just got to be a way I think where we can start maybe taking more advantage of it because when I look at it, I look at 24 25 third grade reading and then I look to I look to 25 26 fourth grade because I want to see where that class is now. And you can see >> that, you know, in the lower you can see that they're not they're still not picking up. They're not they're not increasing the growth. So, I don't know if there was a question in there. Well, I think there was a few, but just in general, just I think these are things that would
178help us as a board be better able to know what uh what you need. >> Just so you're aware, our Ready partners, we have to be selective in the slides we show you. Uh we do have that data. Uh they give us broken apart per school, grade level, student groups, etc. as well as standard area. So when we go back to Denise asking about first grade for example, we know their lowest area was high frequency words. So we're able to drill that down into saying, okay, where in where in the curriculum in the standard area are we really touching on high frequency words? How does that fit into all of the new benchmark curriculum? Those kinds of things. So those are conversations we are having behind the scenes. Um, and we're, you know, any additional
179data you would like to see, I Ready does a phenomenal job of giving us all of all of the information we could possibly use. It's just, you know, when you're delivering up here, I it's it's hard to know what all of that is that you would like to see, but we are we do have all of that available. I don't mean necessarily that you would have to go through it during the meeting, but if it was in the packet, then >> yes, >> if some of us were, you know, like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so bored. I'm going to read through all this or whatever." >> Just your weekend fun. >> Got it. Mike. Um, yeah, I was kind of kind of ask similar to kind of along the lines of what Director Romsfeld was
180asking because I it's a lot to digest and I really appreciate the thoroughess and the information that you provided and and but the one thing that I always struck is, you know, data has to inform policy and has to inform decisions and and I do think that um, you know, I'm I want to think about it a little bit, but I also would want to kind of push the administration a little bit and to kind of help us understand like what can we do to help you? I mean I because I don't want to come up here and say be punitive and say well they're doing better or so it's you know I I I'm want to look forward with everything that we do and understand you know how can we get better how can
181we continue continue to improve and and understand what the data means >> cuz that was the same thing I when I looked at the data and it's like I was like okay wait kindergarten and 23 24 and then first grade and 24 and I'm like oh is is that better or is that and I don't you know and what are those expectations Um, you know, and I do appreciate the comment about kindergarten because I I do think that's a different, you know, it's important to understand >> some some of those nuances are really important in terms of establishing policy. Um, so I guess I I suppose I don't really have a question either. I suppose was just a long soliloquy about my um uh but I I uh I I do appreciate it and I
182do think kind of in the future I as we kind of go through this and digest it and as we get additional information I think what I'm really want to understand is is kind of you know I think director Rumfeld like how how does that translate into our budget decisions >> you know because I think that's you know I always say how we budget is our priorities And that's you know we can strategically we can do everything else but how we budget how we spend our money which is our responsibility as a board um are our priorities and I think it should be our students and it should be student achievement and so what I want to know I think as a board member is how can we spend the money to help you and
183to help the the team you know do what's best for our kids. So so um you know with that I think I'll end my TED talk and turn it over to director goals. >> Thank you. All right, Lori. >> Um, I definitely agree with my colleagues up here. I I guess one question I would have is the percentage of kindergarteners who are in the early learning centers. Um, how does that affect the scores? Um, I'm not seeing anything here, but I mean I guess that's just another question. And then also kind of a breakdown by the schools. uh as far as where to make the where to make the adjustments, where to make those investments. And I also would uh like to renew my um I guess objection to uh believe it's slide well one
184of them. Oops, I got the wrong I believe it was slide six because in uh the Colorado State Constitution article 9 section 8 it says nor shall any distinction or classification of pupils be made on account of race or color and yet we're separating out groups but we don't have the information on the schools. I think knowing which schools are performing and how they're performing is much more informative for our decisions. And to me, that's you're kind of eroding the purpose of inclusivity and belonging when you're segregating out classes um you know by by race. And that's something we should not be doing anyways according to the constitution. So, but thank you. >> All right. Um, first want to make a comment about the professional development opportunities that we're offering our staff. Uh, these are
185opportunities to improve instruction and I think ultimately we'll see that there will be improvement in student achievement. The request for more information concerns me a little bit. Um, your presentation was very clear. If you give me if you send me additional information, unless it's in pretty much an identical format to what you've presented, >> right? Am I going to understand it without digging in uh and spending considerable time trying to figure out what it is? And I have a background in in looking at data, student performance data and so on. So I I am concerned uh so I'm not sure that I agree with my colleagues who would like additional information. [snorts] um only if it can be presented in a way that is certainly understandable. Um, I guess my my closing comment would be
186in regard to seventh grade math, which has been [clears throat] uh an area of growth I I think ever since I've been on the board, um, has [clears throat] learning services, and this would be a question maybe for Sarah, uh, as well as the executive directors of the of the different levels. Um, is there a plan to address and I'm I'm kind of picking something out and because it it u stood out to me when I was looking at the at the data and looking at the slides before the meeting. Um, where are we going with with seventh grade math in terms of improvement? Does my question make sense? >> It it does. So um when um Brandy Greaves shared the information around all learners network we are in year two of implementation. So that
187means they've had one and basically a half especially when this information or this data was was gathered um of really understanding what does it mean to change how we are teaching our students in math and I think we have to remember that about professional learning because it's not just an overnight change especially when we're we are really trying to change pedagogy throughout our entire system. So we are not teaching the same students that we would have had even when I was teaching several years ago. We have different students and we have to change our teaching practice. And so, for example, speaking with with math, um we are really training up our teachers and our leaders to know what does it mean to engage students in thinking around math practices in providing opportunities for them to
188engage in in different levels of um of of math throughout their their um class even though it might be the class that they're taking they that we still have learners through the whole entire continuum of where they are. So for example if we are going to say you know what we have to engage our students more so for all learners network as you saw when um when Dr. PA put the slide up that talked about a launch. That's how we're engaging kids. So that's different because we're creating opportunities for every single student to access that concept whether their understanding is what they call low floor, high ceiling. So no matter where they are, there's an opportunity for them to say, I can enter into this mathematical concept at the level that I am. So that's
189one example that's new. The other would be that main lesson, how we are structuring our lessons so that our our kids have variety. They have the ability to make a choice. In fact, we hear a lot of our middle schoolers right now talking about u mild, medium, or spicy. And they're choosing the types of tasks that they want that they feel comfortable engaging in at the at the level that's the challenge that they need at that moment. So maybe they choose mild at first, but then they're going to most likely um move up in what they're choosing to access later. So then we also have what we have launch main lesson. Thank you. Math menus. So at that with our math menus and this is different. We're we're talking we're talking middle school. Small groups
190don't usually happen in middle school, but we are really trying to change this because our students again are coming in with varying needs. It's really hard when you have a class of 30 to meet those very specific individualized needs. So, we're working with our teachers to help them understand what does that small group look like and how do they create a math menu that the other students can access that are going to give them opportunities to practice the skills through games, through perhaps some independent practice. Um, math journaling is another portion of that uh math menu. And so it just provides a wide variety of um of opportunities for the students. And then it's the lesson closure, right? I need the graphic. The lesson the lesson closure and that's wrapping it up like pulling it
191all together. And um those of us who are educators, I don't know how many times I and I'm like, "Oh my goodness, it's time to go. The bell has rung." We can't do that. We actually have to stamp the learning. It is so critical to stamp the learning. And so that's just a an idea of what's being put out there for um in this case seventh grade math teachers, but yet it's all of our teachers in mathematics throughout our whole entire system. So it's going to take time because we do have this is a change in how [clears throat] we are teaching our students. Um and change isn't always easy, but we know it's the right thing to do for kids. And so we're as learning services, we are we are really supporting that work.
192We're in buildings. We're walking through. We're working with the principles and um providing the supports that that hopefully they find helpful and and we want to see this now implemented in in each classroom. [snorts] >> All right. Just one closing comment. I kind of picked out seventh grade math because that jumped out at me when you went through the slides and I know that that's a challenging area not just in Thompson. That's a challenging grade level and content area in the state of Colorado and nationally. And Carrie, as you were going through uh the slides and I saw example after example where we were exceeding the state percentage, exceeding the uh the national percentage. So I don't want to focus on seventh grade math which is a challenging area but also to congratulate our staff
193uh all members of our staff who are working uh in the area of instruction for um the strides that uh kids are are making and the improvement that they're showing. So anybody have a closing comment? Dr. Heler. I do actually if I could >> go ahead. >> I just I wanted to touch on something that I think has [snorts] comes up in different ways tonight. It came up um around trying to have this tie back to something and in some ways you are you're saying like this is what we're doing next, right? So it's essentially saying this is our plan now support it and you didn't put that in writing and maybe would help sometimes, right? You put it in red bold at the bottom to say by the way this is you guys. it
194does help us right because there is a lot um [snorts] but I also think that the data graduation rates academic success budget those are things um that are so big we have to chunk them out and in fact I've seen this data sometimes chunked out into smaller segments so that we could spend a little bit more time saying okay here's the thing and we really want you to understand the data because we need you to help us with more of the nuts and bolts of I so we have done that before and I just wanted to recognize that I've seen you guys be strategic about that and so when I see it put together all together like this um to me then it it I think of it more as it's helping me with context
195because essentially everything we decide up here is going to come back to academic success and what money you're spending on it what results are we getting from it what else like right what is the important parts of it literally everything you guys come up here to show us is to say, "We're doing this. Are you going to stop us or do you need to vote on it?" Um, and we don't always have the ability to bring in all this data for every decision, right? Um, as much as sometimes it would be really helpful, it's also, as we talked about, overwhelming. And so, I just I I understand that. Um, like I've I just want to recognize that there are components of that that I've seen you guys try in different places. I've seen you do
196different thoughtful approaches to this because this was the breadth of it, which I think is also really important because when we dissect it out, then the criticism you guys have heard has been like, but but how does that work with this? just because we got this score doesn't mean that our graduation rates are good or just how does that translate to dropout rates? And so, um, [snorts] you know, I think with something a data set this complex, um, every time you present it, there's an opportunity to present it a different way that would be more helpful only after you've presented it and found out what it is we're worried about. Um, and so I I appreciate that we should have a very robust data set and this is ours to go along with the budget
197because at at the end of the day, everything we're doing comes back to this and how much money we spend on this. So, thank you for helping us kind of lay that groundwork. And I I hope that helps my peers because um sometimes we get buried in the data if we do data with every single thing every single time. >> Dr. Hillard, did you have a comment? >> Yeah, I would just like to a couple things. Just elevate first the work of the educators. Um when I say educators, I'm talking district leaders, building leaders, and then I'm going to specifically really focus on our teaching staff. um this work benchmark um all learners network universal design for learning this is big it's heavy work it's a lot of work it's for a lot of people
198a real change in thinking about how they do their job or at least rethinking it in different ways um and it's the right work but it's a lot of work uh and um for each one of our teachers that are showing up every day and really trying their absolute best to really do this work and put it into practice hearing from our kids during student advisory council. We asked them questions about benchmark and we heard from our kids. It's really hard. It's a lot harder than our last curriculum, which is not a bad thing. Um it's a good hard rigorous curriculum, but it's also a huge lift for our teachers, right? It's a huge change for our teachers. This work with all learners network. Some teachers it comes very naturally the way they do their
199classroom and some it is a major shift in how they teach their classes. Um UDL again another thing that for some is very natural and others it's going to be a larger shift and it's going to take time. Um I think that fall to winter growth data is the data though though I wish we started to see year-over-year we were getting this better end of year data. Watching what kids walk in the room with at the beginning of the year and what they're doing at the middle of the year and in the end of the year is a testament to the actual work being done in the classroom that year. Uh, and you're right, as staffing and budget issues become tighter, what we budget is what we prioritize. And as we get tighter with funds,
200we are going to have to look more closely at which schools need more allocation of staff based on their academic performance and how do we make sure we're providing each school with exactly what they need. the days of every school gets the same based on just a ratio of maybe student numbers isn't probably the best way to do it when we have schools that have different levels of actual academic needs. So, we're looking at all of those things as we go through the process. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you very much for the presentation. >> We're going to move now to agenda [clears throat] item 7.2, which is a financial update. And Mr. Eersol, I bet that's you. Uh good evening uh Mr. President, members of the board, Dr. Heler, Bobby Briscol, chief financial
201officer, and I will start with uh thank you for already engaging in the budget process. We're not going to [clears throat] talk about the budget tonight, but thank you for starting that process. Um so the financial update has been sent to you. Um, one of one of the things on the revenue, um, as our property taxes go up, our state aid goes down. So, at the beginning of the year, we're getting less state aid. So, we're borrowing money with the state's, uh, interestf free money with the property taxes should be coming in March, April, and then we'll be paying back that loan. So, we'll be changing our budget forecast for next year, but again, it depends on how much taxes we actually raise at that point. Um uh other other than the property taxes versus
202the state aid, there's not much uh to talk about on the revenue side. On the expense side, um I may have said this before, I'm going to repeat it. Um we pay in July for June salaries for a lot of our people and we acrew it back, but we actually pay it prior to Zach and I being here. Those acrruels were booked in June. of the end of the year instead of July. Not sure why they did that. By the end of the year, the fiscal year was fine. So when we look at the some of these numbers, we look at the budget to actual the budget numbers on each a monthly basis were based on what was done in the prior year. So the the sequence is not there. But as Zach has stated
203in in the statement here, we're on track by the end of the year. We're going to be okay at this point. Um uh we are still fine-tuning these line items. Um these line items are not the ones that we want to be. We're in the middle of the budget software updates. I'm actually excited about it. I don't often get excited about software, but it slices and dices in ways that are going to be very useful to departments, to the finance department, to cabinet, and to the board. Um so I'll leave it at that part. And then cash, we're doing okay at this point. I'll I'll point out the $8 million that we have in the bond redemption. As we discussed before, a lot of that money relates to interest that's been earned in the money
204that's been in the bond redemption. We're going to take 4 million of that and apply it to the new debt that is actually going to come in tomorrow uh and start paying that down over a schedule of the years. We're holding the four million other four million back as a reserve and then we'll be revisiting the dollar amount to pay things down on a regular basis. So that's a a good way of doing that part. Um before I go on to two other things, any questions on the financials? >> Uh Denise, question. Alexandra, any question dealing with the financial update in terms of what Bob has presented thus far? No. >> Okay. You want me to pass you and then come back? Mike. >> Uh, I I don't have any questions. All right. Lori, >>
205uh, just one simple request if we can ever get larger print to >> Yes. Um, I know we talked about this at the study session, but and I know it was a quick turnaround, so I'll look forward to that in the future and thank you in advance for it. >> We'll also try to give it to an Excel format, so it'll actually be able to be able to use it as well. >> Don, I'll I'll have you question after Dawn. Anything? All right, go ahead then. I'll close up. [clears throat] As I was looking through this, there were four different line lines that jumped out at me and were concerning. So, I didn't look at all the negatives because some of them are they're negative because of the year, you know, year to date. But
206there are four that like the edtech and library the annual budget is 3 and I'm not uh it's 314. They've already spent 310 assessment. The budget was$1563 and they've already spent 2264. So that's not a a year-to-ate timing issue. That's a that's a department that's already over budget and will probably continue. And the same with early childhood budgeted 359. They're already at 1425. Athletics was at zero. We budgeted zero. and they're at 238. Now, for those watching, these numbers, you would take them all times a thousand. We're just keeping it. So, those are the line items that are concerning to me because at this point, that adds up to a little over 4 million. um which in the size of our budget like oh 4 million two but given that we still have unknowns coming
207of what what's the state going to give us the rest of the year what is this look like when we do start budgeting for next year I do think these particular line items right now that are where they at trying to understand what drove their budget's already gone I mean you you can't spend anymore Carrie >> [laughter] >> Sorry. >> Okay. >> Thank Thank you. Well, I'll I'll get back to you on those items. Some of this the budget to actual may not be correct. And then some of it is our classification process. We're still refining that thing. So things may actually be coded to where they should be, but they might have been budgeted in another category. They may have been budgeted in learning services as a category versus there. We're finding that as
208we're designing the new system, which is anyways um the new system is going to actually have the things line up right from the beginning instead of saying here's this major thing and then here are the categories here. We're actually going to be budget budgeting at the categories here. So I will verify those items and get back to the board back to the board. >> Um if there's no other question >> I don't have any questions. Go ahead. So uh two uh notes of good um point uh we just received um uh Friday and with a long holiday we weren't able to include in the board packet single audit has come in. We will be discussing at the uh the next study session. All six audit findings have been cleared and no new audit findings for
2092025. So kudos to Zach Moser and his staff for that. Secondly, um we did um uh go to um Denver for the bond uh process that the uh voters voted for 99 million last fall. Uh and we thank them for that. Um part of the process was we had to document why we as a district were a good credit risk, what the process was with with Todd and his groups for what the operations were going to do to actually do the process. We have a double A2 bond rating which is just about as high as you can get for a school district. Um so we were a very popular uh uh candidate for buying our bonds. Nine times the amount of bonds were sought by people throughout the country. Uh that meant a a blended
210interest rate of 4.45 and we got 17 million additional in premium. So there's my my uh the uh the the prop tonight. So we are going to go from the 99 million to spend on our bond to about 115 million. And so Todd is already trying to figure out how he's going to spend. We're already doing purchase orders. So tomorrow morning at 9:00, we're going to close and this $150 million is going to come into our bond fund and we'll be able to start spending money. So, thank you to the voters of the district and thank you to the board for supporting this. >> Let me just add one thing in regard to what Bob said. Uh Tammy can now actually presented that information at the Thompson Leadership Academy and I really perked up when
211I when I heard that I hadn't heard that information or seen it. So, [clears throat] I emailed Bob and I said, "Is that actually accurate? and if so, let's share that information with the board at at tonight's meeting. So, that's very exciting news. Thank you, Bob. >> Thank you. >> Can I take a quick question before? >> Yeah, go ahead. >> Uh, it's a little bit off topic, so I'll be quick and and um you know, and I know appreciate just as you come back with all the bond issue. What I'd like to know and maybe the board president or or Dr. Heler is I'd like to have a conversation about the next ask >> at some point. When is that appropriate? I mean, and and I know we've discussed informally about some different options,
212but I but in terms of being new to the board in terms of process, >> um you know, I'm trying to anticipate kind of are there opportunities for us to to go back to the voters and when would that when would that be? >> Well, I would certainly say that we can begin that conversation as soon as the board wants to. I would think that's a great study session opportunity for us to we can do that at the next study session. We can do that as soon as the board is interested because I think there's a number of conversations that next ask what is it and why is it >> and yeah I I I would advocate that we do that sooner than later and I I I don't know if we're prepared to make
213a decision on that but I but I would I I will say just anecdotally at the I was at the urban renewal board last week and you know it's about to expire and they said oh this big windfall and I said Well, it's really not. I mean, we do get the bond proceeds, which is good, but when I said to the, you know, I said, "Look, you know, whatever we get more, we lose." And it was a bit of a shock to a lot of that people just don't understand that the the reality of school finance in the state of Colorado. So, so I again I just, you know, I I really appreciate kind of the work you're doing and I look forward to kind of having these discussions with the >> just to put
214put a a period in in the urban renewal part. Um the there's about 220 million of assessed value that's in the tax increment finance that we're not receiving taxes on. As a result, we're getting more state aid as a result. That's sort of an equalized thing. On our mill levy overrides, we would be able to get more money and on our subject to the cap that there's on the mill levy override. And when we went out to borrow, we based it on the tax assessed value. If we had that, we could have borrowed more still at a no tax increase at that point. Now, in 2029, that's going to go away. We're going to be able to start picking up some of that. And so, we need to think about this is 2026. We have
215three years out. We should be looking at a three-year budget for what's going to happen at that point. So, I think that your discussion about what's the next ask will flow right into the whole budget discussion as well. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you, Bob. Um, item eight on the agenda is written reports. And is that a family pie report? >> I believe family pie and deck. >> All right. Um, board moving to agenda item [clears throat] nine, requests for information. >> Are there any? Go ahead. My request is I would like to know in regards to the budget um because I've this is something I've asked for often is that the board get involved in the budget earlier to really establish what are the spending priorities um so that we can have a
216better idea of what's coming. And I think this budget for next year is going to be a tough one. And we really need to look spend more time on it. And I think a three-year budget now that once that software is in place is really what we need to do this time. But I'd like to know when when when is the board going to start discussing the budget and what we think the priorities are, what the needs are so that we can provide input and feedback to our one employee, Dr. Heler. >> Okay, thank you for that input. Um, any other requests for information? All right, meeting adjourned. Thank you, board.