001I'm going to call the meeting to order. >> I'm going to call the meeting to order. I'm going to break up the socializing. I'm sorry. Thank you. >> Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Stu Boyd >> here. >> Denise Chapman >> here. >> Amy Doran. >> Don Kirk >> here. >> Barbara Cruz >> here. >> Alexander Les >> here. >> Nancy Rumpel >> here. >> Thank you, Laurie. Um Nancy, would you lead us in the pledge, please? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, Nancy. And Stu, if you would please read the mission statement. >> Sure. Thompson School District will be a school district that empowers, challenges, and
002inspires students, faculty, staff, parents, school leaders, and community members to learn, achieve, and excel. >> Thank you, Stu. Okay, the first item on our agenda um is the adoption of the agenda, and it's for today, September 17th, 2025. Are there any changes to the agenda for today? >> Yes, Madame President. I'd like to add an agenda item uh under discussion related to legislation and it will be brief. >> Okay. So, as a motion, you want to add? >> Yes. >> Okay. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. So, I'm going to hold off any discussion till at the point in time when we're going to move it to and we'll put it in the discussion section of our agenda. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you, Stu. So, um I would like a
003a motion to approve the agenda with the addition of Stu's request. >> So, move. >> Second. >> Thank you. So, first with Stu and then Don Don was second. Did you get the first one? Okay. All right. Um we need to um Yeah. vote. Roll call over there, please, lady. Stu Boyd. >> Hi, >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi, >> Don Kirk. >> Hi, >> Barbara Cruz. >> Hi, >> Alexander Lesum. >> Hi, >> Nancy Rumpel. >> Hi. >> Thank you, Laura Lee. And it was a past um full approval. All right. Approval of the minutes. We have three of those tonight. We have our regular meeting August 20th, which is the first one that we were going to be going to do. Does anybody have any changes or corrections to the minutes of the August
00420th? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes for August 20th, 2025. >> I'll move. >> Thank you, Nancy. Second. >> Second. >> I heard three, I think. Who was down there? >> Denise. Okay. So, we'll go with um Nancy and Denise. >> Um Laurley, would you please call the role? >> Stu Boyd. >> Hi. >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi. >> Don Kirk. >> Hi. >> Robert Cruz. >> Hi. Alexander Les. >> Hi, >> Nancy Remfeld. >> Hi. >> Thank you. The next one is the approval of the minutes for our special meeting that we had on September 3rd. This was the one prior to our study session. Does anybody have any changes or corrections to the minutes of the special meeting on September 3rd? Hearing none, I will take a motion to
005approve the minutes for September 3rd, 2025. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Don. >> Second. and um Alexandra. Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Stu Boyd, >> I. >> Denise Chapman, >> I. >> Don Kirk, >> I. >> Barbara Cruz, >> hi. >> Alexander Lesum, >> hi. >> Nancy Rumpa, >> I. >> Thank you. All right. And then the third one is the approval of the minutes for uh the study session on September 3rd, 2025. Any changes? Anybody have any changes or corrections to those minutes? >> Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes for September 3rd, 2025. So moved. >> I'll second or >> so it was Don and then >> N. >> Okay, you can pick. >> We can go with me, I guess. >> Okay. Um, Laura Lee, please
006call the role and go with Na with Nancy. It was um >> Don and Nancy. >> Okay. Uh, Stup Boyd. >> Hi. >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi. >> Don Kirk. >> Hi. >> Barbara Cruz. >> Hi. >> Alexander Les. >> Hi. >> Nancy Rfeld. >> Hi. >> Thank you. and all three of our approval for the minutes um passed. All right, public participation. So, we'll turn to the superintendence report first. >> Thank you very much. Couple items for us to review. Uh on Saturday, September 13th, Thompson Education Foundation hosted a homecoming dress giveaway, which was a free event for TSD High School students to ensure that each participant was able to attend with beautiful attire and confidence. A total of 63 dresses were distributed. So, thank you to the foundation for supporting our students. Next,
007uh on Wednesday, September 24th, coming up soon, the Thompson Career Campus will be hosting their open house at 5:00 p.m. to celebrate the launch of the new EMT emergency medical technician pathway. We're inviting the community to come to tour the new facility, but also to learn more about both that program and all of our other additional career education opportunities for students. And the next one, very exciting. We actually have some people in the audience to help us celebrate this. As you all know, last month I shared that Namakqua Elementary had earned the 2025 All-Star award by the Alliance for a Healthier Generation for achieving excellence in all nine areas of school health. But in addition to that, Big Thompson, Centennial, and Truscuit Elementary Schools were all also recognized as America's healthiest schools. So, for example,
008Big Thompson was recognized for supporting school health services and implementing a local school wellness policy. Centennial Elementary was recognized in the categories of supporting school health services, strengthening social emotional health and learning, and cultivating staff well-being. Truscuit was recognized for supporting school health services. And as I mentioned, Namakua received the all-star award by earning recognition in all nine of the categories. I do want to uh invite all of these folks who are here to celebrate their school. If you'd stand up and we're going to probably gather you together because I think we like to get a group photo if we can. So, can we all get all those folks all of our folks that I just mentioned from those different schools? >> So, come you guys will come up in front of the rope here
009and we'll >> Yeah, we'll join you. >> Yeah. I will do that. Okay. Three. One, two, three. [Applause] Is this yours? >> Yeah. Okay. Mine's kind of reddish like that or seems to me or maybe my old one was. Next item on my report is uh some congratulations to Thompson School District Board President Barb Cruz on receiving the McGuffy Award at the Casby Region 4 meeting in Gley on August 21st. McGuffy Award recipients are recognized for outstanding service to their school district's board of education. Barb was honored for her unwavering commitment to serving all children and her passionate advocacy for every student. As president, she has helped guide the board through challenging times, has strengthened communication, has supported student success across the district. I know Barb would say this that she feels like this is
010a team award. Um, but we want to say congratulations to you and I believe Mike would like to get a group photo with all of you together regarding this one. >> The award been in my bag that night. You want me to come down too? I can come down. Okay, ready, two, [Applause] This week I also I had the opportunity to visit with a couple of our community partners. Uh first earlier this week I was able to visit the afterchool program at Lago Vista community. Uh Nancy Nancy and Amy Doran both joined me for that uh event. We had a chance to walk through the afterchool program, visit with the staff, visit with students, uh visit with volunteers. Uh, I will say they are doing something pretty amazing there. They identified a need in their
011community and they did something about it. They didn't just talk about it. They went and took action. I think lots of communities around the country should see the great thing they're doing because they truly are meeting a need. They have about 30 or so students that they're meeting with on a regular basis after school from elementary through high school. They have tutors. Uh there is a need for more tutors. So, if any of you want to be sign up to be tutors, they really are looking for more, especially at the middle school and high school level. uh just amazing opportunity for these kids after school to have a safe place to both get academic support but also um learn how to interact with their peers in a positive way. It was just phenomenal in every
012way. Uh second, just this morning I was able to spend some time at our kids pack the kids pack facility um meeting with both again staff and the volunteers who do the work. If you have not seen this operation in action, you don't fully understand the scope of the things that Kids Back is doing and the amount of amount of food they are packing up every single week and getting out to so many of our kids. It is truly an inspiring thing. Again, another group that saw a need and rather than talking about it, took action. It is it's phenomenal. Uh I think I'm going to be going out there. There's a day when uh Mountain View High School football team is going to be doing some packing of bags. I'm going to go out
013and hopefully join them on that. make again amazing and just so thankful that we have groups like this serving our kids. Uh so now it's my opportunity and to uh recognize and celebrate some new folks who are either new to our district or new to their roles. So as I introduce each of you uh if you'll make your way to the podium and we'll give you an opportunity to say a few words. We'll start out with Brandy Greavves, the new executive director of secondary schools. Since 2017, Miss Greavves has served as the principal of Turner Middle School in Bertha. Prior to that, she worked as the principal of Groveport Madison Middle School in Middle School North in Columbus, Ohio. Her highlights of her career include service as a middle school language arts instructor, a high
014school English teacher, and a high school assistant principal. She has earned a bachelor of arts in English with a minor in Spanish from Colorado State, and also holds a master's degree in educational leader leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Las Vegas. Brandy. >> Good evening, Madam President, uh, members of the board, and Dr. Heler. Um, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to continue to serve our district. Um, I am honored and looking forward to continuing to serve our students, staff, and community in this capacity. >> Good evening. Next up, Mr. Justin Blick, principal at Ivy Stockwell Elementary. As most of you know, Mr. Blick served as the principal of BF Kitchen Elementary School in Loveland, a position he had held since 2012 before joining Ivy Stockwell in July. His his experience also
015includes an elementary school teaching time, dean of students and assistant principal. In total, Mr. Blick has 22 years of service in education. Justin holds a bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies and a master's degree in educational leadership from the University of Northern Colorado. Justin, >> good evening, Madame President, members of the board. Dr. Heler, it is very good to be with you this evening. Um, I was so nervous about not saying Dr. Schaefer. I'm going to just be honest like it's been on my mind all day long. So, Dr. Heler. Um, it has been a privilege for me to serve in the last 14 years here in Thompson School District, and it truly has grown to be my home as an educator, and I am so excited and honored to be able to serve the birth
016of community in the same capacity. Um, it you may not know, but this is we are actually celebrating the 50th anniversary or the 50th anniversary of the opening of Ivy Stockwell Elementary. And so we're very excited and it adds a new perspective as we think about what has been in terms of that tradition of excellence and what will be how we can continue to ensure that our students will thrive for the next 50 years. Not that I will be there for 50 years, but that they will strive and that we we're laying the foundation that they can be successful. So I'm very excited for this opportunity. I thank you for that and for the opportunity to work with you. Um thank you. >> Congratulations. Next up, Becky Rousen, principal at Berthood Elementary School. Miss Rousen
017recently served as the principal of Windmill Spring School in the Franklin Mckenley School District in San Jose, California. Her career experience also includes service as a general education teacher, a teacher on special assignment, and an assistant principal. Becky earned her bachelor of arts and history from California Polytenic and a master's degree in educational administration from Concordia University Irvine. Becky, >> um, Madame President, members of the board, and Dr. Hillier, um, I'm so excited to be here in Thompson School District. Um, I think it's a wonderful school district, and Bertha Elementary has been so wonderful. I felt so welcomed by the community and the kids. Um, I just feel like I fit in. Um, it's a home away from home now and just I'm so blessed to be there with that staff and those students and
018those families. So, thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Next, Vivian Panka is interim principal of Peak View Academy at Conrad Ball. And I think many of you know that Vivian served as the assistant principal at Peak View Academy, a role she has held since July of 23. Her career in education also includes experience as a teacher, educational technology coach, academic and behavioral interventionist, and as interim principal at Mary Blair Elementary School. She earned a bachelor of science and elementary inclusive education from Minnesota State University Morehead and a master of arts in educational leadership and principal lure from the University of Northern California or Colorado not California in gley Vivian. >> Good evening madame president, members of the board, Dr. Heler. Thank you so much for this opportunity to serve in this role as the
019interim principal of Peak View Academy. I am thrilled to continue on in this capacity with our school as we roll into year three. We've done a lot of great work to build positive culture, to set traditions, and to really grow as a school community, and I'm thrilled to continue that work. And I am so excited to continue on in a school community that I have so much commitment to and passion for. So, thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] Last but not least, Shannon Brennan, our new principal of Centennial Elementary School. [Applause] Mrs. Brennan is new to the Thompson School District, but most recently she served as the director of teaching, learning, and assessment for the Northco County School District in the Dallas, Oregon. She's very familiar with the education system in Colorado, having previously worked
020for 17 years as a teacher in the St. Vine Valley School District. Shannon earned a bachelor's degree in sociology from St. Joseph's University and also holds two master's degrees, one in elementary education, and another in leadership and educational organizations from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Colorado Denver. Shannon, >> good evening, Madame President, members of the board, and Dr. Heler. I am honored to serve as principal at Centennial and be with students and staff every day. Uh, this is day 12. Um, but in those very in a very short span of time, um, I've noticed a part of me has come back alive, come back to life, just being back in a building with students and staff. Um, so thank you very much for having me and I'm just really excited to
021serve Thompson School District. >> Thank you, Shannon. In terms of my report, that's really all I had for tonight other than to say that I actually had some time last week to spend at Namaka Elementary uh and uh got the chance to walk the school with the principal, go into classrooms, see uh what's actually happening in that building beyond just the healthy schools um side of things. Very impressed with everything I saw. um lots of students hands-on, engaging and digging into, you know, into content, um asking questions, collaborating with each other. I'll tell you one thing I didn't see much of, which I thought was okay, was I didn't see many kids on screens. I saw lots of kids one-on-one interacting with each other um and with with their with their teacher, which was which
022was great. There's always a great value in and for the tool of technology in our classrooms, but we also really want to find the balance of kids being able to interact with each other with content. And that's what I saw a lot of when I was in in the school last week. So, I'm looking forward to their presentation, which I believe is next up on our agenda. So, thank you. >> Elementary. All right. Good evening, Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Heler. We are honored to be able to share with you what we are working on at Namakqua, um both instructionally and climate and culture. Uh so I want to give you a little bit of background on who we are as a building. Um in 2019 when I started at Namakqua, we actually
023merged two schools together due to the closure of Vanurren. So, we um have a very diverse population at our school. Um we are the only elementary school that has both an ALC and an ILC. So, we serve quite a few students with special needs. Um we have about 230 kids at our school. About 3% of them are multilingual students. 15% are chronically absent, which is a decrease from 33% two years ago. 18.4% are minorities, 25% of our population has an IEP, and 43 almost 44% of our students qualify for free and reduced meals. Over the last four years since I've been at Namakqua, we have received four different awards. Four years ago, we received the Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award for our growth on CAMASS. Uh three years ago, we received our first America's Healthiest School
024Award in three categories. Last year, we received it in six. And then this year, as was stated, we received it in nine, the only school in Colorado to receive that award. So, I have some of my staff here with me to help present. I have our four five combo. So, we're navigating through what that looks like. Combo teachers, Kim, Erica, and Cassie. They're going to share with you about depth and complexity, which is one of our instructional strategies. And then Autumn Anderson is our dean of students and instructional coach, and she's going to share with you the claimment culture work we are working on. All right. Our school is embracing depth and complexity for the second year. Last year we were trained in it and this year we're really diving deep. And it is an
025instructional framework that uses 11 thinking strategies. And these strategies guide students in how to approach and process learning beyond the surface level recall and also help students have a deeper understanding of the content. and why it gives access to all learners by differentiating instruction, engage all learners and promote critical thinking and analytical skills. And we also wanted to share with you how we implement this in our school. So um a lot of teachers have used it in creating our classroom agreements. Um you can see we have some different um posters and projects that we use it for. And um next And then also uh we have our learning walk that we use it for. So today we had our um staff was walking through and we were observing each other and we had the learning
026walk document that we used which also mimics um our principal's um observation document as well. All of those questions that we have on those documents are framed with depth and complexity questions. So just to build on that um with depth and complexity it's not just something we do it's who we are. We encourage children to critically think and we build capacity within our educators to be able to feel um confident in doing so every single day. In regards to our climbing culture, yes, we're a bit competitive at Nomqua and um we wanted to be number one and we got it. So, in addition to building on our efforts uh to get our award, right? We are building our climate and culture by implementing conflict resolution, teaching children how to speak to one another and then
027again building that capacity with educators to say hm let me take a moment and teach you that skill which there is clearly a deficit. Um in addition to that we have sensory paths that we've put throughout our whole building. We have one in our intermediate and then another in our primary wings. And then we have a sensory room where students can really regulate themselves and feel better to go back into the classroom to access their learning. In addition to that, we have really built um knowledge within our teachers for our professional development days by implementing um ways we can change our affective language as well. Um, so we're here to increase the skills related to social emotional learning and students and staff. In addition to that, as a building, we're increasing our sense of belonging.
028Right? This has been an initiative that we have driven as a community and very much so at NAqua. So some of the things that we have implemented include putting things in our PBIS structure um that includes not only our depth and complexity lens but um equity as well. So you'll see that within our pause reward systems, you'll see that in our pledge where we're being more equitable to all peoples within our building. And then when we look at social emotional regulation, we acknowledge that we all feel different things and that we are going to accept it and how we're going to persevere through that just like we'd want any adult in our community to have those same skills. Um we have built reflection sheets for students to look upon their learning and say, "Hey, what
029can I do differently next time? Mistakes will happen. How do we move forward from that?" And then we also have implemented our warm welcomes to make sure that not only the students feel a sense of their own belonging from pictures that we've taken from our own children, but that each child is greeted by an educator that at Ednamaka every day knowing that they are loved and cared for. So moving forward for this year, we are working on implementing benchmark, our new literacy program, and we're continuing our work with ALN and in um implementing envision. This is our year three as our district. Um we are also continuing implementing depth and complexity. This year we're focusing on SEAL and math. All of us are trainers now of depth and complexity with also the support of our
030GE department. And so we learned you don't do two news at once. So we're not implementing it during benchmark right now. We're trying to learn that program. And then continuing our tier one and tier 2 restorative practices um that are so important for our students with life skills. Do you guys have any questions for us? >> I have just one. the the first few slides you had a bunch of icons. Yes. At the bottom. Are those related to your >> that is depth and complexity. So we have um and you guys are going to help to help me remember them all. We have language of the discipline. Uh we have details, rules and patterns, trends, unanswered questions, ethics, big idea over time, multiple perspectives and across disciplines. >> Perfect. >> Yes. And they are purposely
031vis visual pieces too for our non-readers so they can see that they can still access that. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Questions other board members? >> I have >> Okay, let's just start down here first and we'll go this way. Any questions? >> Alexandra, >> can you give like a sort of brief example of how you would integrate the depth and complexity into a lesson or kind of what it looks like >> to share? Do you want to go to one of those slides? Like >> so one of them that we did if you want to go back to that last slide in on the your guys's right corner there's the triangle and a lot of uh writing that is our classroom agreements. And so you have at the top the big idea of
032what is it that we want to see with it's kind of like our norms and our rules in our classroom. What is it we want to see? What's the big idea of having classroom agreements? And then each of those pillars if it is is a different detail and it's really naming how are we showing respect, ownership, acceptance and responsibility which is our PBIS motto and then at the bottom is the rules and patterns and that is what do we do when those are broke and so they went through and did that as a lesson. >> Thank you >> Nancy. I I just I had a question on the the sensory room. Is that for like starting from kindergarten all the way to fifth grade? And then as as kids are going through the elementary school,
033is part of it part of it as they're learning the sensory room, is there also um additional learning of how do you do the self-regulation when you you don't have a sensory room? Um, so I'd just be curious because I don't I don't think middle school has the sensory room. >> No. And we have regulation stations within each of our classrooms, too. Our sensory room is students are supported with either myself, our dean of students, our counselor, our specialist, and we go in there and help them regulate. They're not in there on their own. And then we're always reflecting at the end on what can they do as they walk into class to be ready to learn. So then in theory by the time they go to sixth grade they're basically equipped to deal with
034it on their own. >> That's our hope. >> That's really that's I like that. That's good. >> Yes. In theory. >> In theory. >> Well, as the healthiest school in Colorado, tell me what changes you've noticed in your students >> within the last two or three years. Um, I would say, you know, and it's always a work in progress and we have different kids every year. Um, but we are very dedicated to our SEAL block to be able to have kids be able to talk about their feelings and be able to problem solve. Like that's a life skill that we want our kids to be able to do. Sometimes that's with support from one of us and sometimes it's on our own. We have seen kids go through our um thinking strategies without us on
035the playground with each other and using the language that we use. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Uh yeah, I I wanted to spend a second on restorative and congratulations. Um I I love that you're adding to it, right? We built this foundation and now we're adding to it. And so I just would love to get to see that in practice and >> wonder if if this worksheet is one is just one of the ways or is this like the anchor that you're working on? >> This is one of our many strategies that we use cuz as we know kids are all different and how they access learning and their needs are all very different. So we have to differentiate for some of our kids. So and you guys any of you are welcome
036to come to Namakqua to check it out in action. Thank you. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. The next item on our agenda is our board committee reports. And I asked them to just think about if there was a committee that they have that's has started meeting this year or an event that they demonstrated um that demonstrates uh an activity they saw or participated in school. Um I'm going to go first and then I'm just going to let the rest of us just go down the line. Uh Dr. Heler uh talked about the not the prom dresses, the homecoming dresses, and I went and spent my Saturday here at the AD building uh helping girls. high high school girls try on pick out. Some of them had their moms
037with them, some came as a group, but it was really fun to watch them. Um, I understand we had a little bit of extra glitter on the floor cuz these dresses, if you shake them, all the glitter falls off and it was kind of all over. But it's it's such a worthwhile event. And you know, this is the first time we've ever done homecoming. And we probably won't do it again because we really our goal is prom. And so we've now told people that we wouldn't take short dresses. We'll only take the long dresses because that's what kids want for the prom time. So in April, I think is when we'll do the same thing, but it'll be prom dresses. And it's not here at the ad building. It's out at um Cantara in a
038closed store that they let us use. So, thanks for introducing that. It was what I wanted to share. Okay, I'm going to start down here with Don. >> Uh, so I'll give my update on DAC, which meets next Tuesday in this room. Um, and we meet once a month. Um, we have a new chair and co-chair and they're really, you know, hashing through what do they want for this new year and how do we really get um all the things covered that we have to get done, which is a lot. and then also really have a chance to have more um organic conversation, more kind of just voices in the room uh talking about not only what we have to talk about, but what isn't getting talked about that they are there for, right? Most
039people come to that room because there's something that they're really passionate about or they care about or they have questions about. And um it's it can be a real challenge to make sure that that happens uh with everything that we have to cover. And so it's it was really interesting to have the first meeting with the new group um rolling out what their plan is and um changing around to building relationships and taking some more time for that than I think we've done in quite a while. Um so I'm excited. And then they're going to be submitting written reports for to go with the board packet. So for anybody who's can't make the meeting but is curious, there'll be that attached to all of our meetings going forward. >> Ste, >> so I'm going to
040take us back in time just a little bit. Uh the board will remember this and if any of you watched our last study session, you know that we talked about uh several resolutions that were going to be presented at the Colorado Association of School Boards fall conference. And I want to tell you about something that happened in regard to one of those resolutions. One of the resolutions that we talked about um was proposed by a school district in southern Colorado and they were suggesting that we should separate alternative education campus data and for us that would be Ferguson High School data from all other performance data. We discussed it as a board. We got input from Sarah Rasmmanson, our executive director um of learning services. And as we concluded discussing this particular resolution, I asked
041Sarah if she would be willing to write a paragraph that I could share during the public comment part at the conference and she did. I shared it at the conference and this is uh probably the sentence that was most important. um she wrote and we had agreed to this as a board. If we're committing to the operation and support of an AEC, so an al alternative education campus, then we are committing to being held responsible for their success and maintaining a culture of inclusivity for them as well as for the rest of our students. So I wasn't the first person to speak about this resolution at the conference and the three speakers who preceded me uh I think were kind of leading the rest of the delegates toward uh adopting this resolution or allowing it
042to go forward. So when it was my turn to speak, I just read Sarah's paragraph which concluded with the sentence that I just read to you. And I could kind of sense from uh the non-verbal communication from people in the audience that they hadn't really thought about it that way. There were three people who spoke after me and they concurred with what I said. When the resolution came up for a vote as to whether it would advance to the next level, it was voted down. It failed. And probably what meant um just as much to me was when a friend of mine who teaches uh or pardon me as a member of the board of Boulder Valley um board of education uh when he said, "What you said, what you read to us really turned
043the tide." and he said, 'I want to thank you for that because I didn't agree with the resolution. And he said, 'The other thing that I'm going to do is you mentioned that your board had discussed this and the other resolutions. We've never done that before. And he said, I'm going to take that back to our board and um urged them to do that next year as we um move forward with this. So, first of all, thanks Sarah for giving me the ammunition that I needed uh in order to support what the board wanted to do and um that's what I wanted to share with you. >> Thank you, Stu Nancy. >> I haven't had committees. So, I'm right I'm um reading something I wrote about um first amendment and constitution day. The first amendment
044is the cornerstone of our constitution and it is uniquely American. This sacred right was established with the signing of the constitution 238 years ago today and America became a beacon of hope for all the world to see. The first amendment doesn't ex exist to protect the speech you agree with. It exists to protect the speech you disagree with. Liberty is messy because it requires individuals to take responsibility for their choices. Government was never meant to do for us what we can do for ourselves. And we must never forget government cannot create utopia. The cost of that illusion is always the same. Your liberty, your freedom. Since being elected in 2021, I have witnessed the erosion of respect for differing beliefs. And I've seen how hostility and division have spread in our schools and our community.
045For decades, the classrooms were places where children learn to read, write, do math, study history, explore science, and develop skills to become informed, productive citizens. Today, too many classrooms are shifting away from that purpose. They're increasingly used to push ideology, promote social change, and to supplant parents with trusted adults. Instead of fostering curiosity and knowledge, classrooms are becoming breeding grounds for intolerance, division, and hate. Students who hold different views are often forced into silence. And now we're left mourning the the shocking political assassination of Charlie Kirk, a husband, a father, a son, and a devout Christian. His life was cut short by a young man consumed by hate for everything that Charlie represented. Whether you agreed with Charlie Kirk or not, we should all agree on this. No one should ever be assassinated for their
046political or religious beliefs. It is up to us to stop this madness, to stop the hate, the division, and the violence. We have a duty to remove activism and ideology from our classrooms and our schools and this dis. We must lead by example, showing what it means to respect diver diversity of thought, belief, faith. Charlie said, "When people stop talking, that's when you get violence. That's when civil war happens because you start to think the other side is so evil. They lose their humanity." I've said many times, "We can't solve problems if we don't talk." I'm asking this board and the community to commit to talking, to listening, and to respecting each other. This is how we end division and hate. This is how we stop the violence. This is how we fulfill the promise
047of liberty and justice for all made on September 17th, 1787. >> Thank you. >> Um Alexandra, >> so I am on the So the joint insurance committee is the committee that looks at the um basically insurance for all the employees of the district. Um and we meet from September through the spring of each year. So we just had our first meeting um a week or so ago. Um and it is always interesting um and not not entirely delightful unfortunately. Um insurance rates are continuing to rise. Um, we had last year, um, as some of you may recall, we had, I think the insurance rights went up about 13% for our district, um, which accounted to $2 million for, um, renewal, um, which the district funded because we we pay for the insurance of our employees,
048um, our full-time employees. And so we were hoping for things to kind of ease off a little bit. Um, and it's and they're they're not quite yet. Um and so it was it was not a sunny meeting. Um but hopefully things will ease up a little bit. It's always really interesting in looking at um looking at you know we look at utilization. So how how many people are using insurance, the cost of insurance claims versus the amount of um that's getting paid in. Um and so that was that was interesting. Um and we'll continue looking at that through through the next few months until it's time our renewal is always in July of every year. Um and so we look at it through sort of the next few months and then by the time um
049the spring comes we're ready for to see what happens in July. So hopefully things will get a little bit better. Um and then I'm also excited I'm on the calendar committee which meets only every two years. Um and so last year was an off year. Um but I'm excited that we'll be starting up with that again in the next couple of weeks um to make the calendar for um the next the next two years. So 26 27 and then 2728. Um, so that's always sort of fun to a big a big puzzle as well to look at how to fit everything in and make it all work out. Um, so I'm looking forward to starting that up again as well. >> Your fall will be busy. >> Very busy. Denise, >> I had the opportunity
050to attend the Head Start family pie and PI stands for partnering and education um group uh first meeting of the year and it was uh a traditional business meeting um getting well first started with pizza uh pizza pie uh pie meeting and concluded with actual pie. So, a really nice way for families and um educators in the um early childhood program to connect before um the school year got too far underway. Um and after electing officers for the year and talking about priorities, um we also had the opportunity to learn that um the national or sorry, regional Head Start conference is going to be in Denver this year. So, we'll be taking a number of um staff members as well as parents um to this very valuable um opportunity to learn more and bring um
051additional knowledge and information back into the district. Um and so that was uh I think exciting for everybody um that this would be um supported by the schools. uh and then covered um how to use the social emotional curriculum that's being used in the classroom um at home. And so the uh the the take-home part of it and they discussed how to encourage all parents and participants in the in the early childhood program to be taking advantage of of the resources um that are being sent home. Um it was a just great opportunity to see parents at the beginning of their their journey um with tsd and with their children's education um really excited about um participating and um helping their kids learn. >> Thank you. I'm glad you went to that. All right, that
052um Oh, there's one call in. Is that correct? >> Huh? >> Did we not? >> Excuse me. Yes. little blurp brain. >> That's the end of our uh reports and we're moving on to public comment >> because the board wants to hear the viewpoints of the public and also needs to conduct its business in an orderly and efficient manner. It will schedule time between 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
053public 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, but are encouraged to exercise their speech rights responsibly. Speaker remarks should be suitable for an audience that includes kindergarten through 12th grade students. Personnel matters must will be discussed in executive sessions. Finally, as a reminder to all present, the board and staff do not respond to public comment. This is our opportunity to hear from students, parents, and patrons. The board may discuss public comments later in the agenda or on future agendas. Uh I'll call you up and then we have a new system that will be right in front of you for the timer. First up,
054we have Carrie Walters. Hello, my name is Carrie Walters. My pronouns are she, her. My husband and I have four kids that have gone through with the birth at schools. Our youngest graduated in May. When one of our kids was 12, the school called to let us know our child was having suicidal ideiations and we took them to MCR. After several hours in the ER, the hospital found a place for them at Denver Health where they would spend a week. One of the scariest moments of my life was watching my child being loaded in an ambulance for the ride from Levelin to Denver. We couldn't go with them. We felt helpless. It was then I vowed to make sure that what whatever was hurting them so much that they wanted to die was going to
055be my mission to help them live. Our child was assigned female at birth. I dressed my baby in pink. I grew her hair long enough for curls and ponytails and pierced their ears. There was no shortage of doll houses and play kitchen sets in our home. I did all the girl things such as tea parties and princess dress up. The baby was named a very girl name. It fit their personality, bubbly, cheerful, and sweet. But at 12, they were no longer bubbly and cheerful. The psychiatrist at Denver Health helped our child unravel the dark thoughts in their brain and find a root cause for the scary thoughts. Our child was afraid to tell us who they were. My great aunt Margie was born in 1921. She lived her life as a single woman and made
056a career in an army. In the army, I inherited her treasured photo album, which left me with more questions than answers about who she was. She had to hide who she was. I spoke with her 85-year-old cousin about her and he said, quote, "She was born in the wrong body." So for at least a hundred years in my family, there is a history of LGBTQ plus loved ones. My child is not the first one in my family to be born in the wrong body. People who were born in the wrong body still deserve our respect. They still have positive contributions to make to society in the world. The same kid that wanted to die is now in their second semester of college studying biology. They achieved all A's in their first semester. I'm proud to
057be their mom. They're going to make a positive mark in the world. And I thank Thompson School District and its inclusivity. I knew I was going to screw that word up. Inclusivity and understanding of their students. My kid had some fantastic open-minded teachers at BHS. Then that would not have been possible without a supportive school board. Thank you, [Applause] Tara Hildebrand. Hi, I'm Tara Hildebrand and my kids went first to Big T, then to Bill Reed, and then to Thompson Valley. And my youngest one is now at Ithaca College, doing great. And my second one, or my first one just graduated, so from college. And um I read this this week. Um, I'm not great with numbers, so it helped me. So, there is saying if you had 400 people in a room, 85 are
058illiterate, 48 live in poverty, 40 have untreated mental illness, 36 don't have health insurance, and two are transgender. Um, so you guys obviously have a lot on your plate. and um but one of my children is um transgender. So, I really really appreciate your policies of inclusivity and um safety for all. And um I wanted to thank Nancy for um a statement you made on your Facebook page and for the tsd where it was um our focus, it was all bolded and kept. Our focus must be on providing a safe environment where women feel empowered to share their stories and where due process can take place so that justice is ultimately served for everyone. And um and I love that that is the policy of the school district that everybody is treated um fairly in
059a safe environment is for all which really made me excited about Miss Raspson's um statement that you shared earlier about the inclusivity of all the students in the district. Um so um I just wanted I so the unified statement of this school district helps clarify the perceptions of injustice I think sometimes and so my youngest while she is at Thompson Valley um was being bullied and so I had her just look on the website research your guys' policies on bullying and take it to the school and um when she got there, the administration was confused about the policy because it wasn't their policy. And um and it really hurt the whole um process of her communicating with her teachers and the administration about how she felt she was being um bullied because since the policy
060didn't match up with what she had read on the website. um it caused a lot of confusion and I know our perceptions are not always the truth but just having a clear concise unified policy I think helps clear up a lot of those perceptions of injustice. Um and so I just ask for the um board members to maybe get a very to check in with all the schools and make sure that those are clear and concise. And I know I've heard some um talk from the immigrant community in town that each school has a different policy on how they treat the ICE um situations and what happens within the school there. So um and that might be a perception as well. So it would I just say sometimes the um a unified declaration of what
061the school district is supporting is really helpful to the entire community because then we know where we stand and it's not just one school versus another school. So thank you very much again for supporting our students. Michelle Coons Hello, Madame President, members of the board, and Dr. Heler. I'm Michelle Coons. I'm from Bertha, Colorado, and I'm a counselor at Berth High School. I'm here to let you know of a time-consuming task that high schoolers, high school counselors have been completing each year and to offer a solution as to how it can be simplified before even second semester begins. The task is ensuring each senior has met ELA and math competencies when they haven't met the required scores for their SAT. In case you're not familiar with what I'm referring to, all high school students in
062Colorado are required to meet ELA and math competencies prior to graduation using a menu of options provided by CDE. In the 2017 2018 school year, many districts paired down this menu by embedding the competencies within the scope and sequence of ELA and math classes or individual classes required for graduation. A solution for streamlining this task has been requested by counselors to district administration at least once per year since 2020 to the 2021 school year. While I appreciate having a variety of options to help students meet these competencies, it is a tedious process to check and recheck how a student has met them. The capstone option currently offered can only be met with English 12 or advanced algebra uh semester 2 to be specific. And these classes can only be taken at the brickandmortar school. online
063English 12 and financial math and more advanced ELA and math classes don't qualify for this competency for this capstone. I've sent you transcripts and academic progress reports of two students from birth at high school. Their personal identifying information has been removed. Have these students met competencies just by looking at their transcript or the academic plan progress report? The red rows leaves students and families confused. There are too many options on the report and course information within the options is not necessarily accurate. Additional information needs to be gathered from teachers to determine if these students have met competenc competencies or will need to take the ACT workies. What are the ACT workies? They are a set of three assessments that take students approximately three hours to complete. Students and their parents' guardians become quite frustrated when
064they hear that the pre-cal that they took or the algebra 2 will not meet the competency requirement and they need to take the work keys instead. From a fiscal standpoint, the work keys are expensive. Each set of each set of assessments is approximately $40. With the exception of exam score, CDE has given local school boards and districts a degree of autonomy with how students meet ELA and math competencies. from CD8 from CDE. Local school boards and districts select from this menu to create a list of options that their students must use to show that they to show what they know or can do in order to graduate from high school. School districts may offer some or all of the state menu options, may raise a cut score on an included assessment, and may add graduation
065requirements in other content areas. DPS Satan Brain and Pter School District students can meet ELA and math capstones with classes that are required for graduation from DPS from their website. Mathematics and literacy capstones are assessed through district provided performance tasks and are aligned with district curriculum. Keeping in mind that capstone are district determined, students in TSD are required to take four credits of ELA and three credits of math to graduate and a passing grade in TSD is a D. My proposed solutions to increase time counselors are able to spend working directly with students and to reduce stakeholders confusion by being able to tell at a glance if these competencies have been met is to expand how the capstone can be met. Students who have passed four first-time credits of ELA and three first-time credits of
066math have met the district capstone requirement for ELA and math competencies. Our graduation requirement should demonstrate that our students have met competencies in ELA and math. >> Michelle, I hate to interrupt. We need to stop. >> You've gone way over time. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. >> But what I would ask is that you make sure that we have the information that you're sharing. I know you sent us something, but I didn't have time to open it. >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. But yeah, so that we can um discuss it. >> Yes. >> The monitor went to sleep, so Mike's gonna fix it. >> I'm I'm just like, "Wow, this is this is great. I'll just keep on going." >> Yeah. >> Thank you to our help. >> It's okay. I just think everybody's looking
067at me. Do something, Barb. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> I didn't Yeah. Okay. Got it. >> Is that it? Is there one more? >> We do have one more, but try it now. It's back. It's Becca >> Nate Donovan. Okay. I was really glad that uh the other ones were going to four minutes because I thought, "Wow, cool." Uh members of the board, President Cruz, McGuffy award winner and President Cruz and Dr. Heler. Uh my name is Nate Donovan. I'm an employee of the district, but I'm speaking on my own behalf. I just wanted to highlight um a few important things that I saw on the uh contracts above $50,000 at your last meeting that you had that on the agenda. appreciate the uh approval of food and the uh meals for all is a
068really important thing that I think is overlooked sometimes uh in helping students learn and appreciate the fuel for transportation that helps us uh continue to pick up students in a safe manner. Um, but this on this agenda is uh one of the contracts is for legal services and I just wanted to highlight that uh that shouldn't be taken lightly and now that you've had a couple of settlements that you approve, you know, what goes into the negotiation and and uh consideration of those and getting good legal representation is helpful. And as I observed one of your board at the CASBY conference in December cuz I was with the CASBY Foundation uh having a booth and next to us was Kaplan and Earnest and uh that's one way to get free legal advice when they're at
069their booth um marketing their services. So it was a long conversation too. uh probably saved hundreds of dollars there. But uh appreciate that. And to Stu's comment, um about the resolutions, um I'm glad that you all took some time to look at some of those because some of them sound good, but they're just kind of goofy. And uh it's amazing how things can turn with uh wellplaced comments and debate. So giving your uh delegate to the CASBY delegate assembly the discretion to stand up and speak is really important and I wish you all well. Thank you. >> Okay. Now we have one call in. Correct. Okay. Sorry. My name is Elizabeth Newton, a taxpayer who lives in Fort Collins in TSD's District C. My email is EA Newton 2013 atgmail. Three of my grandchildren attend
070TSD high schools. I'm here to discuss the recent CMAS test scores. Our very own Nancy Runelt, who runs her team, took it upon themselves to publish raw CMS test scores and jumped to conclusions without attempting any real data analysis or waiting for the experts to do so, stating things like she was shocked to see a drop. Stop pulling kids out for non-stop counseling, which parents are not told about, and stop complaining about parents, but include and engage with them. This is harmful political rhetoric that damages the district, is a slap in the face to our teachers, and most of all, a disservice to our hardworking students. So, let's use an analogy to help this make sense. Imagine that Nancy leads an aspiring accounting team for a company, and her job is to create financial documents
071and share them with the CEO for analysis. When the latest sales report comes out, she sees that Robert's sales team numbers are down 5%. Without any other context, Nancy and her aspiring team publicly release the members and blame Robert's team for focusing too much on customer service training and not enough on sales. She incorrectly claims that the sales team is not skilled and that customers are leaving in droves. What Nancy and her team do not know is that the sales team decline was due to several factors. a team member's cancer diagnosis, major supply chain issues, market shifts, and economic conditions. She also doesn't know that the sales team focused on customer service skill training due to direct feedback from customers about prior poor customer service. So why wouldn't her team know about this? Because their
072job is to create financial documents. They have no insight into the day-to-day operations of the sales team. Therefore, do not have the information to make an analysis. That's the CEO and Robert's job. This is exactly what is happening here. When someone takes raw data and jumps to conclusion they are causing real harm. This kind of action is a service to everyone, especially our students and teachers who are working hard every day. It seems to me like political ambitions and getting political points are getting in the way of critical thinking. We should use available data analysis tools and listen to experts in the district before jumping to conclusions. By the way, in my analogy, Nancy and her team are fired for damaging the company's reputation. I say recall Nancy before she does more harm to our
073kids and the district. Thank you. >> I'll bring it or recall me. >> Um that concludes our uh public comment. All right. Our next item that we have is the action consent items and these are items that we had presented to us um at a previous meeting or study session and are actually needing some approval. I'm going to read the list before um we begin to to talk about them. so that we know what they are. I can find them. Here we go. Um if you want to pull anything from here, just let me know. Uh that there's just three on this list, but I do want to make note that um the approval of expenditures over 50,000. When we had our study session, there were three items on it and and it's been expanded,
074but all of those are related to um kids that are being educated or or supported with another program. So, and um so the first one 5.1 is the approval of personnel extra duty coaching recommendations, >> approval of the expenditures over $50,000, and the approval of gifts and donations. So Nancy, would you like to read the gifts and donations for us first? >> Sure. >> Um, Strive 2025 alignment 4.2 assets are properly inventoried, maintained, and used appropriately without waste. 4.3 provide transparency in use of resources. 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 donations for the amount and purpose. A donation of $6,910 for materials for wood shop and construction classes from West Brown with Benchcraft Custom Millwork,
075Inc., a donation of $1,555 for music supplies and transportation to the senior facilities from Peter R. Marsh Foundation for Bill Reed Middle School and a donation of five automated external defilibrators, AEDs, valued at $5,000 for all high schools from the Denver Broncos Foundation. >> All right, we appreciate those uh donations for our schools. Thank you, Nancy. All right. I would uh ask for approval of the uh special um action consent items so we can >> um I move. >> Okay. >> Second >> in a second. All right. So, it's Nancy and then Alexandra. And so, it's just for those three items that we talked about. Um Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Stu Boyd. >> I. >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi. >> Don Kirk. >> I. >> Barbara Cruz. Hi >> Alexander Lesum. >>
076Hi >> Nancy Rumfelt. >> Hi. Thank you. Okay. Then we move on to discussion action items and these are ones that we toyed with last time when we had our um meeting our our study session and so we're just going to clarify them. Um the first one is the approval of the second reading of policy BEDB agenda and that was the result of our conversation at our retreat. Did you want to add anything Dr. >> Yes. I would just add the only real change from Did you do it Barb? Did you? >> Yes, I did. I just just about >> uh based on our our our last meeting uh just made a couple of tweaks just to make sure that the action consent area was very clear based on some comments made by members of
077the board. So, that's the only change since last uh reading. >> Okay. Anybody have any questions or comments about it? Okay. I would uh like a motion to approve the second reading of policy beb agenda. >> So second. >> Okay. Stu and then um Don. >> All right. Laura Lee, would you please call the role? >> Stu Boyd. >> I. >> Denise Chapman. >> Hi. >> Don Kirk. >> Hi. >> Barbara Cruz. >> Hi. >> Alexander Lesum. >> Hi. >> Nancy Rampel. >> Hi. I think this will really kind of clean up our minutes and our flow of the meeting will be a little bit >> easier. All right, second one is 6.2 and it's approve approval of the second reading policy KLG relations with state and federal agencies. And does anybody have any questions
078or discussion they want to make about that? >> Is this one is this any different from the one we did at our study session? >> This one does not have any any changes. The other one has the changes. The regulation has changes. This one is essentially identical. >> Okay. Okay. Anybody have any comments or worries? >> Okay. I will take um a motion to approve the second reading of policy KLG relations with state and federal agencies. Discussion. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Who was the motion by? >> Uh >> I don't think we had a motion. Okay, I'll make the motion if someone wants a second. >> Yeah, I was reading the whole title and that kind of threw her off. >> Okay, so
079we need a second. >> I'll second. >> Thank you, Denise. I mean, Alexandra. >> All right, everybody happy with that? Got everything. All right, Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Stu Boyd, >> I. >> Denise Chapman, >> hi. >> Don Kirk, >> hi. >> Barbara Cruz, >> hi. >> Alexander Lesam, >> hi. >> Nancy Rumpfeld, >> hi. >> Thank you. That one also carries. All right. Last one is 6.3. Approve approval of the second reading regulation KLGR relations with state and federal agencies um records procedures. >> Anything we need to add? >> Well, I will add and I'll Sarah's here as well if there's questions. Um the only real change was based on a request that was made at the last meeting in regards to how do we handle when one of these individuals
080is on site and they do not have proper identification andor warrants or subpoenas. So there is one area that is added um related to that that essentially would allow the school if necessary to move into our safety protocols because that individuals is there trying to request either students or staff without having proper identification or those proper proper documentation. >> Okay. Does anybody have any questions that that they have for Sarah or >> you know Sarah? do have one and it's not something that came up before, but in reading it this time around, I wondered if there's any bandwidth problems that happen because there's two people that can be notified because I do know that in some communities there's large efforts that happen all at the same time. And so I wondered if you guys had
081already talked about that and you felt like this is something that you're you know that you guys could cover in in a case like that or if that would be something that we might want to we might need at some point. >> Where are you referring to it? Uh, it is >> I think one of the things that we're referring to is that essentially when there's a one of these concerns, the building administration team is going to call and speak to Joe essentially about what's going on so that he can help make sure they're navigating it correctly. And the question is if there was a large scale effort all at once, do we have enough bandwidth at the security team to handle that? >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, Madam President. Uh, members
082of the board, Dr. color. Um, thank you for your question. So, the answer is yes. So, we have our dispatch center. So, there's one number to call. They're not just trying to find my cell phone. Um, which is good. And then we have our mass notification system that we use. My entire team, which is just over 20 people, have been briefed on the board's policy in the next steps. In addition, we have um we're going to be providing formal letters to our partner SRO agencies so that way they understand the expectations as well. So, it won't just fall on me. I'm just um I'm putting in place a system to make sure that our students are supported and we're following board policy. >> Is that a bit? Yeah. >> Yeah. >> All right. More. No
083>> for me. >> Okay. Sorry. >> I'm just curious, uh Joe, um just in Colorado, not the whole country, but just in Colorado, how many times has there been any kind of ICE raid at a school, let alone a largecale one? I >> I I don't want to speak to the state. Um, I my job is to work on Thompson. Um, I'm not aware of any in the Thompson school district or neighboring districts. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. I need a a motion to approve the second reading of this. >> So move. >> Okay. And this is the regulation that we're working with. So it's approval of second reading regulation KLG-R relations with state federal agencies. So, Don has made a motion. I need a second. >> Second. >> Thank you, Alexander. >>
084Um, Laura Lee, please call the role. >> Stu Boyd, >> I. >> Denise Chapman, >> I. >> Don Kirk, >> I. >> Barbara Cruz, >> I. >> Alexander Leam, >> hi. >> Nancy Rumpel, >> I. >> And that one passes as well. All right. Um, >> can I just say something? >> I'm sorry. >> Can I just say something? >> Of course. >> Okay. So, sort of in relation to what we talked about last time and what we just heard in public comments is please make sure this is well disseminated to all the schools. Yes. And you it sounds like Joe working on this with your group so that there is >> one policy and consistency throughout all of our schools. >> Correct. Thank you. >> In everything. >> Yes. >> Not just this, but
085in everything. >> Yes. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. Um the next item is discussion items and um I'm taking what Stu had proposed on our agenda to this point. So Stu, would you like to talk to us about it? >> Sure. Um I've mentioned to you before that other boards um not just in northern Colorado but around the state uh boards uh who govern districts of our size as well as larger districts have a policy of meeting with their legislators. people who serve um the legislative districts that the uh school district comprises prior to the beginning of the general session in January uh to hear their ideas for bills for us to share platform information with them uh to talk with them about if there are particular bills or aspects of school governance that we
086believe there's a need to have a bill for. So, I'm proposing that uh prior to our December 17th regular business meeting that we invite the four legislators who uh represent us at the state house to have dinner with us to ask them to bring bills that they are planning to introduce. and we'll have an opportunity to share thoughts and ideas about other legislation that we think um would be important. Since this is something that we haven't done before, I would certainly talk with Casby for guidance. And the other thing that I think would probably be important is that we spend a few minutes uh at either our December 3rd study session or at our retreat uh at the Broadmore to get ready for this after having now been your CASBY representative for two or three
087years and listening to uh people from the districts that do meet with their legislators. I think this is a really valuable experience. It gives us an opportunity to establish a partnership with them, for them to know us, for us to know them. And I shared with you, I believe it was at the study session that uh Bob Ibers uh as a result of connection that I made with Senator Barb Kirkmeer uh was able to answer a question for her uh related to Medicaid for students and u he answered a question for her. She followed with a question or two and I believe Dr. Heler sent the whole board uh the email exchange that um ensued. So, I think we're ready as a board uh to do this and I would encourage us to uh do
088it. And I'm not sure, Barb, if we would if we need to do this as a vote or or how we do it, but I did want to bring it to the board and I also wanted to bring it to uh the community uh that we we seek to cooperate with our legislators. Okay, we can't vote on it at this point, but if you're interested, um, just kind of give us a nod ahead. Do you want to pursue this? I will be gone at that point in time. So, it's something as to whether you're wanting to do take the time. This would be on the 17th. >> I think it's I think it's a good idea. I think for the legislators, they would probably be the ones that would have to deal with like u
089the open meeting because there'd be four of them >> or no? >> I don't know. That would be the only concern, but I think it's a good idea. >> The reason I'm bringing it now is um I'd like for them to get it on their calendars as early as possible. Uh I know it's three months. I in fact I think it's actually three months from tonight and that seems a long ways away but it will come quickly and they're busy and as the legislative session uh looms they're going to get even busier. So I had had mentioned to Barb that I would like to bring it up tonight so that we so I can make the contact and um I think if they can't all come I think we meet with whoever does. >> Okay.
090I would suggest for this that Stu, you just send out a email real quick, a response, and have them reply to you so you have that number that you're looking for. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> As to whether they're interested in participating. Sure, I can do that. >> Yeah. Just to get a feel for if they're interesting. If not, >> yeah, >> I'll try to get that out to you tomorrow and then if you could let me know maybe by Monday so that I can make the contact if we're going to uh move forward with this. Thank you. >> Okay. Um there's one written report, the PI early childhood report is on there. Um are there any requests for information or further meeting ideas? All right. hearing now and I'm going to adjourn adjourn this
091meeting.