001[Music] Yeah. Well, there's a card that we put in front of you. Okay. Hi, Amy. Do you want to go grab a sandwich? Okay. There's a card that we'll pass down to you. Alexander just got here. Ready? I'm going to call the meeting to order. So, Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd here. Denise Chapman here. Amy Doran here. Don Kirk here. Barbara Cruz here. Alexander Lesum here. Nancy Runfeld here. All right. Thank you, Laura Lee. Um, Nancy, will you please lead us in the P in the pledge? I pledge algiance 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. All right. And Stu, if you'll meet read the mission statement, please. Of course. The
002Thompson 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. Thank you, Stu. Our first um item of business is the adoption of the agenda for today, June 18th, 2025. Are there any changes to the agenda for today? Hearing none, I will take a motion to um adopt the agenda as printed. So move. Second. So Stu and Don. Okay. Laurely, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Hi. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Lesum. Hi. Nancy Runfeld. I. All right. The next items of business will be the approval of our minutes. And we have three of those tonight. So the first one, sticky fingers, bone fingers. Um, first one is for our regular
003meeting which was May 21, 2025. Does anybody have any changes or connection corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, I will take a motion to to approve the minutes for May 21, 2025. So moved. I'll second. That was Don and Nancy. Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Hi. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Lesum. I. Nancy Runfeld. Hi. A motion passes. So, um the second one is for the approval of the minutes for June uh 4th, 2025. And this was the early session that we had which was from um 5 to 7. So are there any changes or corrections to the minutes of that special meeting? Hearing none. I will take a motion to approve the minutes for June 4th, 2025. So moved. Second. Second. Okay. Don,
004was that Denise? Yes. Denise. Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. I. Amy Doran. Hi, Don Kirk. Hi, Barbara Cruz. Hi, Alexander Les. Hi, Nancy Rumfel. Hi. Can I Can I see the agenda somewhere that you guys have? Sorry, I'm having to I've got the wrong Okay, thank you. Um, the last one is for June 4th, which was our regular study session. So, I need approval of the study session um minutes. So, does anybody have any changes or corrections? Hear none. I will take a motion to approve the minutes for June 4th, 2025 study session. So, moved. Second. Don and Denise. Okay. Um, Laurley, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Hi. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Les. Hi. Nancy Rumfelt. Hi. Thank you.
005All of those passed and we will now move into um public comment. We'll turn it over to Dr. Schaefer. Good evening, uh Madame President, members of the board of education. Uh I am pleased to bring you updates for the month of June. So, we'll get the PowerPoint up and I can slow play this a little bit. That's all good. Here we go. Maybe on Memorial Day weekend, we officially celebrated the class of 2025 through our graduation ceremonies that were hosted at Mountain View High School, Berth High School, and Blue Arena. Each of these graduations has worked each of these graduates have worked extremely hard and we wish them the best of luck in their future endeavors. If you're not able to attend the ceremonies this year, please visit the district's YouTube channel where you can
006watch a recording of each event. As seniors prepare to graduate and embark on the next chapters of their lives. They were invited to participate in a graduation walk at their former elementary and middle schools. This procession is a meaningful experience not just for the elementary students, but also for the graduates to reflect on their school years. The graduating seniors presence helps to serve as an inspiration to young students who are just beginning their academic journeys. This year we once again hosted our senior snapshot program which is designed to spotlight graduating high school seniors while sharing their personal journey to that special day. During the week of graduation, one student was featured each day on the district's website on social media and also through a short video piece. To view these five profiles, please visit our
007website located at tsd.org. We want to congratulate um the five uh students that we uh did snapshots for this year. So, congratulations to Cam um Addison, Void Lro, Kayla Chapman, Jack Harkiner, and Presley Stevenson. During Memorial Day weekend, Cottonwood Plains Elementary School's destination imagination team, Los Compen Compon, and I'm minored in Spanish. Um, there we go. Componus, showcased their skills and creativity on a global stage at the DI Global Finals in Kansas City, Missouri. They delivered their entire presentation in Spanish and placed 24th out of 36 teams in their division. Congratulations to all such a terrific achievement. On June 2nd, staff leveled up their edtech game with an action-packed conference. The day empowered educators with fresh insights, practical tools, and innovative strategies to enhance student learning from AI integration. Educators left with valuable skills to
008bring back to their classrooms. Thank you to all who joined us for this incredible event. It was called Technanigans. I want to give a special shout out to Kelly Sain and her team um and all the staff that actually participated. It was a huge uh success and a wonderful event coming this fall. And I was actually there today because I visited the campus. Uh we are opening up a new EMT pathway. Um the new EMT pathway building is nearly ready to open for the upcoming fall semester. The state of Colorado has issued a tenative certificate of occupancy. If you drive by, you will notice the landscaping is almost complete. The team is beginning to plan the grand opening. We're thrilled about this exciting new opportunity for our high school students. Today, TSD had the amazing
009opportunity to take over the Colorado Department of Education's Facebook and Instagram accounts for a day. It was a wonderful opportunity to showcase all of the great things happening in our district. We had a variety of posts and activities including live events from the summer scholars program buildings, staff profiles, highlights of exciting programs like the new EMT pathway, and celebrations of some of our incredible 2025 graduates. Summer scholars students are having a great time learning in unique and engaging ways this summer through TSD's summer scholars program. Summer scholars is a fun, creative learning experience for students currently enrolled in grades K through 8. New this year is an innovative component for fourth through 8th graders that immerses students in career exploration through hands-on engaging classes. This initiative is closely aligned with the Thompson Career Campus. In
010addition to outstanding educational activities, students also receive two nutritious meals each day provided by our district's nut uh nutrition services team. Program classes will wrap up later this month. Finally, uh want to take this opportunity uh to thank everyone for a wonderful school year. Now that the school year is officially wrapped up, I just want to give a hearty thank you to all of our students, families, and staff members for all of your hard work. We accomplished so much as a district this year. I'm very proud of each of you, and I hope you have a wonderful and restful summer break. So this evening, a little bit later on in your agenda, uh you'll be asked to um approve um a number of our newest administrators, and we have four of them joining us this
011evening. So I'm going to um introduce each of them by name, and when I call you up, I'm going to invite you to the podium, and um as you awkwardly stand there, I will read some really nice things about you, and then we'll ask you to talk for 30 to 45 seconds. So the first person we'd like to bring up is Nicole Jones. So Nicole is here and here she comes. We are excited to recommend Nicole Jones as the assistant principal at High Plains School. Miss Jones first job in education uh was a ninth grade English and geography teacher at John Maul High School. She taught for three years. Nicole left education to become a mental health counselor at Pter Valley Hospital. there. She was a lead staff member who managed the environment for teens,
012adults, and staff members while evaluating behaviors and addressing safety threat concerns. She held this position for five years and then returned to education as a fourth grade teacher. She spent four years at Grand View Elementary and two years at Bethy Elementary. Miss Jones designed crosscurricular hands-on units to enhance student engagement learning in reading, math, economics, geography, and computer science. Nicole spent one year at Gaul High School where she taught online math and English classes before she went to Riffenberg Elementary School in the Pter School District to teach fifth grade, a role she had for six years. There she helped design a teacher resource room to be used when implementing tier 1 and tier 2 classroom interventions. She also assisted teammates with classroom management and collaborated on transdisciplinary unit of inquiry and pacing guides. While at
013Riffenberg, uh, Miss Jones also did her principal internship. For the past four years, Miss Jones has been the dean of students at Boltz Middle School. Here, she has led restorative practices to strengthen relationships between staff and students, designed and implemented comprehensive behavior management systems that align with the district's discipline matrix and code of conduct. She also spearheaded the revamp of MTSS frameworks to address diverse learner needs. Miss Jones holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from UNCC, a master's degree from UNCC in elementary education, and a master's degree from CSU in education human resources principal lensure. Nicole's overall experience in both elementary and middle school will be an asset and as you can hopefully you hear uh she is a powerhouse. She has a great background. So we welcome you to the Thompson School District. You
014don't have time. I'm just teasing. Um, no, thank you so much for this opportunity. I just feel very humbled and I'm so grateful that I have the chance to continue to work with students and teachers um at High Plains and um took my daughter actually today and showed her around the school. We got moved into my office and it was just it's just so I'm just so excited and grateful to continue my career path in this direction and um I can't wait to get started. Thank you. Welcome aboard. Thank you so much. So, next I want to um invite up Jacob McCullum and uh as Jacob makes his way forward, he uh we are excited to recommend Jacob as the assistant principal for Walt Clark Middle School. Mr. McCullum um comes to Thompson from the
015Pter School District where he has held a variety of positions over the last 22 years. Jacob began as an English language arts teacher at Well, there's a trend here, Study, here. All the English. Yep, that's that's how we roll here. Uh yeah, he he ELA teacher at Wellington Middle School where he taught nth grade honors English, eighth grade English, speech, drama, and mass media. He was in this position for four years. For the next six years, Mr. McCullum taught at Lincoln Middle IB World School. And here, Jacob continued to teach eth and nth grade English with 81% of his students exceeding the adequate growth percentile in reading. He also created and facilitated a tier 2 intervention program and was also recognized for his expertise in building relationships in classroom management. Jacob also coached a number
016of sports throughout his 10 years in the classroom. Mr. McCullum moved from the classroom to an administrative role at Lincoln. He has held several positions within the past 12 years, most recently as an assistant principal and athletic director. In this role, Jacob connected learning to the real world and increased enriching opportunities for all students, especially in STEM, literacy, and service learning. He created and implemented kindness revolution, a socioeotional curriculum designed to teach and spread kindness, leading to more than uh 100,000 random acts of kindness as a school. Jacob has also led or co-led professional development and initiated and facilitated district-wide middle school assistant principal reflection best practices forum. Jacob holds a bachelor's in English education and master's degree in educational leadership from CSU. He also holds a master's in educational technology from American College of
017Education and a graduate certificate in culturally and linguistically diverse education from University of Colorado. Jacob's experience in the middle school classroom as a coach administrator makes him an amazing fit for Wall Clark. Jacob, welcome aboard. I I I can't tell you how excited I am to work with Mary Lane. Um, and in reality, the challenge and inspire have been on my whiteboard for 13 years as an admin when that was the personal mission statement that I created. And when I saw it, it was like that's money. That's that's where it needs to be. And so, um, I appreciate the opportunity, um, to work with kids, to work with staff, to the community, um, to continue to grow in my expertise, as well as share, uh, what I've learned along the way. So, I thank you
018so much. I can't wait to get started. Thank you. Next, I would like to welcome up uh, Miss Valerie Lara Black. And um we are excited to recommend Valerie Lara Black as the director of human resources. And she's already actually working as a director, but we're still excited to recommend her. Miss Lara Black is currently serving as the principal of Peak View Academy at Conrad Ball, a position she has held since January of 2022 when she was hired to help develop the prek8 campus as it prepared for its opening in the fall of 2023. Prior to that role, she served as the principal of Mary Blur Elementary School for nearly 10 years. Her previous career experiences also includes assistant principal positions at Centennial Elementary and Chapelo K8 Arts Magnet School in Weld County School District
0196 as well as English language development, Spanish language and cultures teaching roles at Lucille Irwin and Wal Clark middle schools in Lovelin. Val earned a bachelor's of arts in Spanish secondary education in a master of arts and educational leadership and policy studies from the University of Northern Colorado. and she is currently pursuing a doctoral degree ever so close in executive leadership for equity at the University of Colorado Denver. We are very excited that Val will be serving in this role and uh welcome aboard to your new job. Thank you. Thank you. Um thank you everyone. I'm excited to see you all tonight and thank you so much for um the opportunity to continue to serve the Thompson School District in a new capacity. This has been a home for many, many years and I'm just
020grateful to be able to continue to serve in a new role and hopefully be able to use my skills and continue to grow. Congratulations. Thanks. Last but not least, I will like to invite up Sarah Rasmusen. and we are very happy to uh strip the interim title off and recommend Sarah as the assistant superintendent of learning services. Hopefully an easier title to remember. Uh Miss Rasmuson's tenure with the district began in 2011 when she joined the team as the principal of Monroe Elementary School, a role she held for three years. Following that, Sarah spent the next 11 years as the director of elementary education, director of elementary and early childhood education, and executive director of elementary schools. In March 2025, Sarah became the interim assistant superintendent before permanently taking over that position. Miss Rasmusen's career
021also includes instructional experience as an elementary school teacher, instructional coach, and assistant principal. In total, she has over 27 years of uh experience in education. Sarah's committed to fostering a culture of continuous improvement where every decision is driven by our goal of academic excellence for each student. She looks forward to collaborating with students, staff, families, and the community. Miss Rasmusson holds a bachelor's degree in elementary education and elementary teacher license from Iowa State University and a master's in education administration and supervision principal license from the University of Phoenix. Sarah will do an incredible job. She already is, but um we are pleased to recommend her as the new assistant superintendent of learning services. Thank you. I am so appreciative of the opportunity to continue to serve Thompson School District in the role of assistant superintendent
022of learning services. So much easier to say. Um my commitment to the district is that we will continue to work toward our goal of ensuring that each student has the best educational experience possible. We will keep our students at the forefront of our conversations, the center of our decisions that we make, and we will make sure that we are providing excellent opportunities for each. So my commitment is to make sure that I lead the work with integrity and ensuring that we are doing the best for each student. Thank you. So, finally, uh, as personal privilege, um, I am, um, you know, today is my my final day in the Thompson School District as I will be, um, stepping down from my role to, um, assume a new pres new superintendent position in suburban Chicago, which
023is my hometown. Um, the last seven years in the school district has been um, exceptional and extraordinary. Um, this is the first time in my 32-year career that I've actually lived in the community that I've worked in. And I had the opportunity and privilege to send my daughter uh from 6th through 12th grade um to schools here in the Thompson School District. And my wife even uh worked in the Thompson School District as a counselor in a number of our um elementary schools. Um the there's a lot to celebrate. Um there's a there's a lot of amazing things that I think have have occurred over the last seven years, but um the credit is really due to our um amazing students. um the nearly 15,000 of them. Um and our incredible and dedicated uh Thompson
024School District staff. Um not only the staff that um teach and educate our students in the classroom, but but all staff from our our classified staff who um drive the buses and work in food services and operations. Uh to those who um support the district um here at the district office as well as um through instructional technology. Um it it definitely takes a team. Um there's there's a ton of community partnerships. Um there's a ton of involvement from uh parents. Um people have deep connections to the the school district. Um it's been um just incredible um forging and forming these partnerships and just watching this district grow and thrive. And so I will miss it. I will um miss um our collaboration working with the school board who have um who have pushed me and
025inspired me and have challenged me to be better. And as you know, I'm a very competitive person. So, I've appreciated that. Um but it's been uh it's been a great seven years. So, um I appreciate it. I thank the community. I think um this district has a really bright future. So, thank you. [Applause] to be to celebrate Dr. Schaefer and then also to um share any events that they participating participated in as the school year came to a close. So, I'm going to start with Nancy and then we'll go down and come back this way. Um, so I've really enjoyed working with you, Dr. Schaefer. You you taught me a lot. Um, I know sometimes I've been a handful. Um, and I really appreciate all of the patience that you with me and helping me
026learn and navigate some of this. I also appreciate your dedication to this district. I will forever remember you with the frog hat. um at one of the beginning of the year events. I just I cannot get that out of my head. Um and it's green just like the cucumbers that you really like. And so I'm gonna have to find a picture so that I can every summer put a picture of your face on one of my cucumber plants. Um he he always asks me for cucumbers every summer. So um but again, you've done a lot. The the Thompson Career Center, the landing um you know, there you know, as we welcome Dr. Heler, there are some areas um some grows as you would say, but that's for another time. And I just I know that
027you're going to be great with your what a diff what a relief. Two school he has two schools where he's going. Um so you should be able to have time to grow your own cucumbers. So anyway, thank you so much and best of luck. Thank you, Alexandra. Thank you for your years of service. Sorry I couldn't make it earlier. Um, I think there's a lot that I appreciate about you. One of the things that I think I appreciate most is how easy you are to talk to. Um, and how accessible and approachable you are for for us as a board and for I think the community at large. Um, I've, you know, we've had some good conversations over the years, um, about good things and bad things, and I feel like I've always, um, been
028able to be very, very honest with you, and you've been very honest with me, um, and I've appreciated that. So, thank you, Denise. Mark, I just want to thank you for welcoming me aboard. um as the newest board member um the the district and this this Thompson community the leadership starts at the top and you're a a great example of the warm welcome which um has been so important to helping you know change the climate and um make sure that all of our students and and staff and everyone interacting with the district feels important here and that they have a place and and it's so well exemplified by you and I really want to thank you for that. I've been great when I feel lost um and when I've you know still been coming up
029to speed. You're such a source of information and you know reflective um thoughts on just any question I was able to ask. You always had something important to share back with me. So thank you. really enjoyed working with you. Done. Um, some of my favorite things that I've ever done in my life and probably the things I'll be proudest of over my entire lifetime have been done in our time working together. And um, they wouldn't have happened without your leadership. And I really appreciate seeing how far uh and wide the changes have come in the district. You know, there's just a lot of ways that we are so much better and caring um and thoughtful and excellent um because of it. And so I'm incredibly grateful for the fact that you were my breaks all
030these years. Some of my hardest days have also been with you. And I appreciate that you uh have been a nice balance to say, "Yeah, that's great." But also, here's some practical pieces of it. And I just really appreciate that because you dream big, but then you're also able to to make it happen because of your ability to be thoughtful and thorough and I really appreciate that. So, I'm going to miss you and I hope that you have wonderful things to come. Amy. Um, yeah, it's, uh, you know, want to thank you very much for your, um, I've learned a lot from you just as, um, as a human, um, and as a, a professional, um, you know, as I, um, was new to this board. um you know, navigating um my life. You know,
031you've been very um kind and very gracious um while holding me accountable as well. Um, you know, I think you're uh, you know, you've been invested, you know, having your your spouse and your daughter here in the in the district, and I think that that has given you, um, you know, just that extra um, uh, ownership in the in the district. Um, and you know, you told me once that, you know, I do have an agenda being a board member, that my agenda is kids. you know, um I think that is the same for you. You know, your vast um you know, your experience in teaching and administration and um you know, superintendent, uh tenure, um you know, we've done a lot as a district. I'm really proud of the work um you know, and
032everything. um you know but seeing each employee, each um staff person and each um student I think has been important. Um so again um I wish you well you and your family well. Um and thank you for for your time here, Stu. So, Mark, I'm going to talk to them about you and you can listen in if you want to. All right. Shortly after I was elected to the board, um I went on a school visit with Mark uh and another board member. And I did that several times um through the years because Mark believes it's important for him to be in the schools. He believes it's important for us as board members to be in the schools as well. And on this first occasion, I remember saying to him, "Isn't it great to be
033around the kids? I'm a retired teacher." And he said, "It's the favorite part of the job for me." And that has stuck with me and that's very important to me. Um, yes, he's the superintendent, which means he's an administrator. Uh, he's the manager, he's the CEO of a multi-million dollar corporation, which is the Thompson School District. But I really liked and still like the idea of the person who's in charge of our district being totally invested in kids and saying that of all my duties, the favorite thing that I do uh is uh to spend time with kids. And we all know this because we have been with him on school visits and particularly with the elementary kids because very often they were doing something at their desks and either working individually or with a
034partner. And I see him right now getting down talking to the kids whether they were writing a story or or looking at a computer and interacting with them. So, uh, I appreciate that and I have appreciated that ever since I've been on the board. The second thing that I really appreciate about Mark is his prompt communication with me as a board member. I expected when I u became a board member that if I called the superintendent, emailed the superintendent, texted, whatever that I would hear back from him. I kind of expected that, but I didn't expect that it might happen even before I finished the email or even before I finished uh the phone call. And he takes the responsibility very seriously of communicating with the board. And I'll close by just saying I talked
035to him last uh Thursday of last week. I wanted to share some thoughts about a particular issue with him. And at the end of the text, I said, um, there's there's no big hurry. Certainly, you don't need to, um, contact me today. If you have some time tomorrow, that would be great. Or or next week is okay, too. I literally hardly had finished the text when the phone rang. And that's been my experience working with Mark Schaefer. He is interested in communicating. He wants to keep in touch with people. And so the two things I talked about are two of many that I really appreciate about you. Thank you, Stu. As you were sharing your thoughts here earlier, um I something struck me um when you were talking about both your daughter and your wife
036being in the district. And part of me said to myself, how come we didn't see this coming then knowing that your daughter was graduating? And that was kind of the end of the time. and I should have thought through that and realized that that's why and what was going on. So, I will miss you. I appreciate everything you've done. The role as president, as you know, is not something I was really fancy about and uh and I your leadership in helping me through that was really important. I also think frequently of our colors and how you sort of have the big idea and I want all the details kind of worked out. So when we do agenda setting, we have to go through all of those pieces. So I will miss you and I appreciate
037everything that you have brought to the district and I wish you nothing but luck. So and it should be easier only two schools. Yeah. All right. Anybody else have anything like more? All right. We will now move on to uh public comment. We will be having two public comments tonight. Did they sign out sign up in two different papers or Oh, okay. So, if you have something you want to talk about with budget, that's going to be our second one. If you're here for any other thing, any other topic, that's what um we'll work with first. So, Don, you want to read the spiel and all the stuff? Yeah. 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
038schedule 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 board school operations and programs as concerns them, but are encouraged to exercise their speech rights responsibly. Speakers remarks should be suitable for an audience that includes kindergarten through 12th grade students.
039Personnel matters will be discussed in executive session. Finally, as a reminder to all present, the board and staff do not respond to public comment. This is our opportunity to hear from students, parents, and patrons. The board may discuss public comment later in the agenda or on future agendas. Uh first up we have Jordan Kger. Um let me preface this by saying that I originally wrote this in April but was not able to make the previous meeting. So numbers may have shifted a little bit. Um but hello, my name is Jordan Kger. I'm a teacher within the Thompson School District and I have been a TSD student all through K through 12 years. Uh let me shift the discussion from student genitalia to things that actually matter like providing adequate supports for our students. The special
040education case load at my school is an almost 18% increase so far for this next school year. With those numbers in mind and being stressed beyond words, we also learned that our FTE is being cut to a pair of professionals and half of a social worker. so that the increased needs have less support available. Please tell me how that makes sense. After learning this, I watched a study session from March 5th and became outraged. The discussion decided that the hiring range for the superintendent would be $220 to $260,000 salary, relocation expenses, and benefits package. This is equivalent to a little over first four first year teachers or almost nine per professionals. When we have a shortage of teachers and certified staff, it sickens me that a single position will be taking away funding from our
041students or employing those who make an impact with and get them to graduation. Same goes for many of our admin level staff, which is all public information, by the way. In the um article stating Dr. Schaver's departing from his position, graduation rates increasing was added as a win for the superintendent. I can tell you firsthand working in a high school that this is not the sole or direct impact of him. Nothing against you, Dr. Chabber. I think you're great and we will miss you. Um but um you are not in the classroom working with them every single day. You are not losing your plan period daily. You're not contacting parents weekly regarding progress and you're not working through your lunch periods with students staying past contract hours to help them pass class, finish credit recovery
042courses and make it to graduation. That would be those of us who work in the school buildings teaching and supporting our students. There was also a statement that the insurance may need to be negotiated to include the coverage of family. While this is not a benefit for benefit for our other staff as a full-time employee to provide health insurance for family costs monthly over $1,000, spouse 800, children 700. This can account for roughly one-third of a new teacher's monthly net salary. I appreciate Don Kirk and Alexandra for speaking up about this during that discussion and keeping the needs of those who directly serve our students in thought. Having a salary of over 200,000, one can afford to provide family with health insurance through this district. While many certified and licensed staff, struggle to pay this
043price. Sorry. My call to action is to keep the needs and livelihoods of those who directly work with our students, licensed and certified to be at the forefront of our minds. Schools cannot function or provide meaningful education to students without the employees um in the school themselves. I understand that the salary is something that can't be changed, that we need someone here. Let me end by saying that I love my job. I absolutely love my students. But when I have to work a full-time job as a teacher and hold two other part-time jobs to be able to survive, it makes sense that we're in a shortage. Thank you for your time. And Anna Walls Wells. Um, my name is Anjo Wells. I use they them pronouns and I'm a parent of three kids um two
044now actually one graduated in May um in the school district. My other two are in middle school so they'll be here for a while. And I came to talk to y'all about the ILC um classroom specifically. So one of my kiddos is in ILC classroom and Lucille Irwin. Um and I'm concerned about it for two different reasons. So, one is the federal administration's focus on dismantling Department of Education, which funds special education across the nation. And um I'm basically here to ask that y'all strategize or get your finance people to strategize how we're going to manage delayed responses, delayed invoice payments, those kind of things from our request to the Department of Education. um anytime there's big disruptions in large organizations with um minimal profit margins if you will they don't have profit but um
045then they don't adjust well to change and there's been a lot of change in the department of education as we're all aware of so um I'm asking you all to strategize for this coming year so that those students don't suffer. Um the other thing is we've been in the school district for four years now and every year there's a tremendous amount of turnover in the pair of professionals and the other experts that support those teachers and I'm really concerned about how it impacts um my daughter's education. So my daughter is very bright and bubbly and lots of fun. Um, but she's also non-verbal and so you have to know her in order to understand her. And so the turnover really impacts her academic achievement potential. Um, the last day of the school I found out
046that the entire group that we had just learned is leaving. Um, she started sixth grade, so she's gone through that first year of middle school. um which feels like a big milestone to our family, but I'm really concerned the entire fall semester is going to be spent with people having to get to know her all over again. And you know, if you just think about it in simple terms, how do you know when to teach the next topic if you don't know what she's really been able to absorb from the current one? Um so I can understand her, her dad can. Um teachers that have really gotten to know her have done an excellent job, but we need that consistency. And so I don't really know what is underlying the turnover. It may be the
047financial stuff that was just mentioned. It may be something else. But my ask is that the school district looked in look into that and um try to keep that more consistent. Thank you. [Applause] We have four callins. We'll turn to Laura Lee for that. Good evening. I'm Nancy Meredith from Lovelin, Colorado, and I'm calling in to thank most of the board for putting transparency of budgetary decisions in the forefront versus sewing doubt into decisions being made. I appreciate the fact that you continually keep the positive focus on kids, staff, and our community. You maintain an assetbased versus liability-based stance and the fact that you have creatively found a way to bring in major dollars without raising taxes is commendable. I thank most of you for your service. It is greatly appreciated. Thank you. My number
048is 970-2152817. My name is Elizabeth Newton Fort Collins. My contact is e newton2013gmail.com. Dr. Schaefer, thank you for your contributions to the district. I wish you all the best. Nancy, your role as a board member is critical and distinct from an accountant. Your five responsibilities are to set direction, establish an effective structure, provide support, ensure accountability, and lead as an advocate for our children. This means focusing on the strategic vision and the district's overall financial health while empowering the superintendent to manage day-to-day operations. District accountants provide vital expertise in financial analysis, budgeting, forecasting, and risk management. Their role is to ensure accuracy and transparency, which requires thorough analysis before any public statements are made. Budget requests are complex and public comments without full understanding can lead to misinformation and harm our district's reputation. Accountants must
049act clarifying questions and fully understand a budget request before offering formal comments. As a board member, your job is to hire a superintendent who manages operations and has access to informed data on budget priorities. While you must ensure the responsible use of taxpayer dollars, you don't unilaterally determine operational priorities. These are determined in collaboration with the superintendent. Your essential focus is to promote our district strategic direction, hire the best superintendent, and build community trust. You have far greater power in achieving those goals than in clutching every budget line item. engaging in divisive tactics and political grandstanding, especially on social media without seeking clarification or working collaboratively, undermines your duty to advocate for our children and our district. It's time to end the political grandstanding on social media and divisiveness and focus on TSD's shared mission
050to lead, ensure accountability, and work together for the benefit of students. Thank you. Hi, this is Olivia Lendine. I have students in the Thompson School District and I was calling to ask about or to just put in the ears of the board and others there um the calendar that was coming up. We're coming up on um shaping the calendar for the next two years of school. And I was hoping that it could be considered to push school into June. um maybe a week or two uh just because well one it's usually not nearly as hot in June as as in August and so that would save the um that would save all of us money on air conditioning that we spend in August to open the schools for students and also um it would just
051allow for more hot summer days to be spent uh for children where in June it's not always a real hot summer day to be out and um be having a good summer time. Also, um I've been told that teachers make that decision, but I have talked to some of the teachers about the calendar and they said they they don't necessarily have a say in it. So, I was just hoping to know exactly what that committee is made up of who um does do that and I'm hoping to be a part of it coming this September. Also, I just want to remind everyone this school district is within the city of Loveland and we have a huge thing that's very popular in our town. Um, the second weekend in August every year. It's the sculpture in
052the park show and uh many people in town are involved in that either volunteering or at their job. And it's just it's just a lot to um to go and have school start three days after that event uh closes up for our city. So if um if we could just consider starting school, you know, either right after Labor Day or uh the week before, then I think that that would be best for our whole community. Um and we could definitely take school, I believe, to June 6th or maybe June 13th or something. So anyway, just a suggestion. Thank you. Have a great meeting. Goodbye. This is Bonnie McDermad, 7121 Spring Road, Lovelin. I am a former parent, volunteer, and grandparent of Thompson School District students. I want to thank the six of you who remain
053positive about our schools. You do not mire yourselves down in extremism and religious politics, and you support every child, no matter what their abilities are. I want to thank you also for respecting district staff, supporting them, and for not making unwarranted and selfish demands of them that waste their time and district dollars. It is rude and disrespectful for Nancy to throw district staff under the bus for not doing what she wants. A comment on her Facebook page accused her of getting mired down in the weeds where she doesn't belong. That detail is the job of the superintendent and his staff, not the board. Nancy is always also going to tell the districts what brand is Nancy also going to tell the district what brand of paint they might buy? No school district can ever please
054all parents because they must always make decisions as to what is best for all students. They must do that with their finances and the budget, too. I am appalled at NY's behavior and especially the targeting of students at risk, as she and her friends are doing. Her latest attack on the new budget and the Monroe funds issue is juveniles. How many students have had to watch as her and her friends have blown her transport agenda all out of proportion with nothing but gossip to back them up? I am tired of NY's fear-mongering and her need to create a divide between our schools and the community. I am a grandparent, a longtime volunteer who knows that there is no lack of transparency by this district and I believe that this community does trust the board. I
055am tired of Nancy claiming otherwise. NY's politics come through loud and very muddy. her posts on social media should be enough to warrant a censure. And yes, I support a recall. Thank you. And that completes our public comment. Thank you. Thank Thank you, Don, for running that. Okay, our next item is the actual consent items, and we have uh five or six uh six on the list. Five. Yeah, these are items that we've had discussion about at our uh study session or need to be approved. So, I'm going to read through the list and then I'll ask board members if there's something they would like pulled for further discussion. Um the first one is 5.1 approval of personnel extra duty and coaching uh recommendations. 5.2 is the approval of expenditures over 50,000. 5.3 is the
056approval of Head Start grant. 5.4 is the approval of Edmonton online platform. 5.5 is the approval of uh project budgets and contracts for use of Monroe Elementary School sale proceeds. 5.6 is the approval of designated election official and district participation in the 2025 coordinated election. So, um, board members, are there any items that you want pulled and moved to, um, discussion, action? Sorry. Um, yes. I'd like 5.2 and 5.5 removed. And I would also request that 5.5 be discussed before 5.2 because 5.2 is dependent upon 5.5. So you want us to put 5.5 before 5.2, right? Because it's the use of proceeds from the sale of Mont Monroe and the contracts one 5.2. Some of the items rely on that item. Is the rest of the board okay with that? Which ones did you want
057pulled, Nancy? 5.2 5.2 5.5. And then she wants us to do in the order of five. 5.5 would be 7.1. And um 5.2 would be 7.2. But we will be having the public participation ahead of that. Right. Okay. All right. Um, so I would take a motion to approve the remaining items that are on our action consent items. That would be 5.1. 5.3 would become 5.2. 5.4 would become 5.3. 5.6 would become 5 4. That make sense? Did I do it right? All right. I would take um a motion to approve those, please. So moved. Thank you, Alexandra. Second. Thank you, Don. Second. So, Laurley, please call the role on those four items. Stu Boyd, I. Denise Chapman, I. Amy Doran, I. Don Kirk, hi. Barbara Cruz, hi. Alexander Les, I Nancy Rumfeld, I. All
058right. So we will now move into public participation about the budget. So Bob, is there stuff you want to say? Thank you, Mr. Ibersoff, [Music] President Cruz, members of the board, Superintendent Schaefer, uh Bob Soul, Chief Financial Officer. Um I'm not going to go through a full PowerPoint because that's been done a few times and it's on the website as well. I will state just uh to have it in the record um that the uh draft was made available uh to the public on May 28th. Uh it was on our website. There was an ad in the newspaper about our public uh forum on June 9th where we had about 14 to 15 people show up. Copies, paper copies were at the Loveland and Berthood Libraries and the Loveland Chamber of Commerce in accordance with
059board policy. Um uh the we will have public comment after my comments. In addition to the posting of all that information, uh I was invited and I participated in the uh weekly Zoom call for the Lur County Republican uh committee uh to explain the budget and our finances and I am on the agenda for the Lamur County Democratic Committee later this summer as well. I will go anywhere and anywhere anywhere and everywhere to talk about the budget and our financials. Uh that being said, um we have updated on the website uh typos and uh headings to make sure things are correct and clarifying information. So once assuming the board takes action tonight, we will then change it from a proposed to an adopted budget and uh we will be implementing that after that. Uh we
060welcome any comments from the public uh and they will be incorporated into the record. Thank you. Okay. So, this is your opportunity as the public to come up and ask any questions you might have about the budget. And I don't see anybody racing up. Okay. Thank you, Bob. We will move on to discussion action items. Um we'll start with uh 5 point it'll be 7.1 which was the 5.5 which is the approval of Thank you. I thought I was short of page. I kept looking flipping over my page. I don't know where that is. Um what am I looking for? um 5.5 which is the approval of project budgets and contracts for use of Monroe Elementary School sale proceeds. So Nancy, you are the one that pulled this. So Todd, I have a feeling she
061has some questions for you. Um I I pulled this because the sale the proceeds from the sale of Monroe Elementary School while I understand you know operations putting together this list when we have proceeds like this I do think it's something that the board should working jointly as one of the callers uh pointed out to collaborate on what the priority should be for the use of it. Some of the issues I have with this is that because it's a small amount, it's I mean in relative terms it's 4.8 million is that we have athletic stuff on here and I don't think that should be on here. Our core um mandates are ADA compliance and making sure that the school buildings are safe and secure and so forth. Um, so and it's also as far as
062the ADA compliance work, I'm not comfortable with putting just a plug number in there because then once we approve that, you're approved to spend 800,000 and I think we should have more detail before we approve that. Um, the shot clocks we don't they're not required till the 26 27 season. So I don't know why there is a rush to do that at the moment. I um because it's also on the contracts uh greater than 50,000 to approve. So, it's already going to go in into motion. I think that um I would prefer that you work and get a quote maybe from Colorado Times Systems. They're local. Um and I think that they would be quite receptive to it. I I spoke with a gentleman there tac just trying to understand why did we need to
063move forward and why would a clock cost um a scoreboard cost 140,000 what was I missing and he gave me some information which I could share with you again with same with the tennis courts and the HVAC for the pool that's athletics I think that's something we could talk about putting incorporating into the bond the mercury floor in here you have it as 155 but in the contracts greater than 50k that needs to be approved. It's now down to 62855. So I think that amount should be changed to reflect so that we're not approving 155, we're only approving the 62855. And I'm just curious if the mercury floor abatement at Stanbury for 200,000 in here would have some similar price that would come in much lower. And that is really all I have. Um so
064with that, I would like to make a motion on this item that I would like to move to amend the use of proceeds. And Laurel, I'll I'll send this to you in email real quick. Um, the use of proceeds from the sale of Monroe Elementary School to be the amount of 929,855 per the list below and is a line item approval. The remaining amount of proceeds from the sale will require board approval with complete details of proposed use. Any cost savings that occur um should remain in fund 43 until the board approves a new project. And any line costs that exceed 5% of approved amount require board approval to proceed. The list of approved projects are thirdparty ADA assessment 120,000 mercury floor abatement at Turner Middle School 62855. Mercury flora baitman at Stanbury 200,000 lighting
065at Sarah Milner Elementary School 20,000 gas line at Thompson Valley High School 90,000 Walt Clark Middle School gas line 20,000 weapons detectors 50,000 uh Mary Blair Elementary Security 15,000 Thompson Valley High School fire curtain 32,000 roofing at Lovelin High School 150,000. 000 and 170,000 for the birectional amp and so so Nancy just made a motion. Is there a second? Shock there won't be hearing no second. The motion fails. I'm surprised. But I will take a motion to approve the budget project budgets and contracts for use of Monroe Elementary School sale proceeds. So move second. That was Stew and Don. Can I make a com? Yes, we can make have discussion. Okay. So, in regards to NY's motion and all of that, I think I would like to say that Todd I and his team have
066put a lot of work and a lot of effort into choosing the things that are on this list. They're not just chosen from random. You know, there is a long long long long list of needs within the district. And I know that they go through a process to find the ones that can fit in this amount of money that we have for pay 8 million as you said is not enough to address even really a small fraction of the needs that we have. And so I would say I am supportive of the work they have done. I am supportive of the choices they have made. I think that athletics while not, you know, truly academic are a fundamental part of people's educational career. I think we see students who benefit both. I mean, there's multiple
067studies showing that kids who participate in athletics do better in education than those who don't. It makes them well-rounded. It supports their college career if they get scholarships. Um, and so I think there there are arguments that can be made that it's important to try to fund as much as we can. We're not going to meet all the needs, but I think that we need to respect the work that Todd and his team have done and spun what they've laid out before us. Thank you, Alexandra. Anybody else have any discussion? Yeah. U thank you for for teeing that up because I think what what struck me as well is how important it is to call out the collaboration piece of it as well. Um so this list that's created isn't just your team although they
068look at it probably more than most. Um it has been done through the review of multiple committees that are parents and community members and students. um it's done through the work of all of the staff um either at the school sites or through those committees and then um our presentations on these kinds of things is extensive. I'd like to say that if I had to cover for you to do some of these presentations, I probably could because I've seen it that many times and I appreciate that. You know, I appreciate that I have seen it so many times. Um and many of those were study sessions where we were um given something to react to which is still a level of collaboration to ask about who gave input um to find out what else was
069considered even when this was presented two weeks ago. That was where a lot of the questions came from because we have so many needs. It is really really hard to narrow them down. And so we we had many questions around how this money was spent. And I know that you did make some some edits based off of some of that feedback as well. You've you've dialed in some of the numbers. You clarified some of the information based off of the collaboration that we had in that meeting. And so I just wanted to also say that because I um I think that this is one place where our community speaks up quite a bit as far as what they think is important. And I see that reflected here too. Um when you think about how our
070community shows up, there's a lot more people at our athletics than there ever is at a board meeting. Just saying. Anybody else? St. Yes. Um, at our study session, we talked about the importance of being ADA compliant and I asked um, knowing that our need for compliance is somewhere in the millions of dollars. Is that right, T or Todd? from what was said previously at at the study session that money from the sale of Monroe can't begin to meet all of those needs. And then you also said that the district has a plan for meeting ADA compliance. Um, of course that's important, but the other things that were detailed in the list that uh Nancy read also needs in the district. And so I I support uh the work that Todd and his team has
071done with full knowledge of the importance of ADA compliance and knowing that some of the money um is designated for that. Anybody else? I'll go. You've had an opportunity to share. You I still get to have a discussion during the vote. Okay. That's Robert's rules. Um, I would just like to add that Todd, you and I, you know that this is not about disrespecting you. This is about gathering as much information as possible and doing what I believe is my job, the fiduciary responsibility of a board member to make sure we spend taxpayer money payer money appropriately and on the right things. Athletics is it does do a lot. I agree with that. For 4.8 million at this point, the athlet want. It's not a need. And I do believe that the board, if we
072would would have set this aside, we could have decided other things such as maybe considering another one-time stipen for some of our staff that have made clear that they need this money. Again, I understand I put this forward. Um, this was not discussed in depth at the study session like it um has been stated, but I will be a no vote on this. Laura Lee, please call the role. And this is for approval of the the project budgets and contracts for use of Monroe Elementary School sale proceeds. Stu Boyd I Denise Chapman I Amy Doran I Don Kirk I Barbara Cruz I Alexander Les I Nancy Romfelt no. The motion passes six to one. All right. Um Nancy you already also pulled 5.2 two, which will be our new 7.2. That's the approval of expenditures
073over $50,000. Correct. Um, I pulled this because I noticed that there were also items on here such as the digital scoreboard, um, which in the list that we just approved that we approved it for 264,000. It is in here for 280,000. Um there was also questions on the Zale which Kelly has done a really great job of explaining um something like the Zoale where we're actually moving away from pulse um when we haven't even completed six months of service with them. I understand that it's saving money and I think that you know I understand your the reasoning for it and I will support that. The problem is for me it just leaves not a good feeling with me in the way that this were treating to me in my opinion a really valued and trusted
074partner in the city. So um again I understand the need for it. I just I'm just not it just doesn't feel good in the way that we're going about it and treating the the city who is a very um important partner. But I do understand the need for it something like that in the future where there's so much information and so many details to explain it. I do think it should be done through a presentation. I would also ask that going forward on these contracts to approve, if they're contracts that we're supposed to approve, then I would suggest and ask that we be given all of the information and not just a one-s sentence description because from that we're supposed to decide that that's a good use and that is our job. Um, so with
075that, it doesn't matter anymore about removing the digital scoreboards since we already approved um the monies. I do have on the final thing is the Loveland High School ADA settlement. I do not have any idea what this is about. I can only guess it's related to the lawsuit that was in the paper recently. And so I don't understand why we are putting on a consent agenda an amount for a lawsuit settlement that we have not discussed in executive session. I don't know who the 50,000 is being paid to and for what. And same with the 150,000. I don't know what the details of this is. And I do not support voting on this tonight and passing this particular part. So, I will move to amend the contracts greater than 50,000 by removing the Lovelin High
076School ADA settlement so that the board can have a full discussion regarding the settlement details with legal counsel in executive session. Is there a second hearing? None. The motion fails. Well, no, I'll second because I have a I have a question. Okay. that if Todd are you able to speak to that because I know there was work done at the parking lot this summer and so I'm curious to know what what this additional work would include if you could give us some insight into that. Yes. Good evening madam president board education doc shaer topic assistant superintendent operations. Um this work is associated outside of the work that was completed this summer. It's work associated um inside and outside the building. Um the majority of it is some parking lot and sidewalk issues that are being
077repaired. Uh work inside the auditorium to create additional space for AD access. Um so it's four or five different items um outside of the work the scope that was done this summer. Okay. Any further discussion? Okay. Which motion do we vote on? NY's first. Yeah. Okay. The one to remove the Loveland High School. So, would you would you read your motion again, please? I move to amend the contracts greater than 50,000 by removing the Lovelin High School ADA settlement so that the board can have a full discussion regarding the settlement details with legal counsel in executive session. Discussion or Lori, can we vote? I think we have discussion. Okay. Lorley, please call the role. Stu Boyd, no. Pardon me. No. Denise Chapman. I am sorry. I What are we voting on? Can we repeat? Would
078you read it again, Nancy? I move to amend the contracts greater than 50,000 by removing the Lovelin High School ADA settlement so that the board can have a full discussion regarding the settlement details with legal counsel in executive session. No. Amy Doran. No. Don Kirk. No. Barbara Cruz. No. Alexander Les. No, you're onel. Yes. Okay, that motion failed and we now need to vote on moving the current um the approval of the expenditures for $50,000 as it was printed and stated. So, do we need discussion? No, we've had it, haven't we? Can I ask another question? Absolutely. Todd, sorry to keep. Can can you speak to the question about why some of the costs are different as far as like the the shot clocks and the mercury abatement? Yeah. So, this is they're two separate
079funds. So, these projects have been um priced out for specific schools. talking about the shop clocks. Um the projects that are in the other list for the the um Monroe sale proceeds, those are projects yet to be finalized. So different schools, different electrical requirements. So the pricing is then um different. So that's capital funds. Um the ones listed for 260 is the proceeds funds. And just a note on that, we won't proceed and go until we get the actual proceeds from from school, right? Um the mercury flooring we because we had to start on it to get it done by school, we pulled it out of the um proceeds amount and put it in capital funds. So it started we had to get it done for school. So we pulled the abatement out which was
080the 64,000 now. Okay. Okay. So thank you. Any further sto I have a question. So when we vote are we voting on the list of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 nine items that was part of the original originally what we were set all nine of those are still on the list. All right. Thank you. Can I ask? Yeah. So just to clarify on the Turner Middle School Mercury floor abatement, so the 62855 is that just for partial work or is that for all of it? No, that is just to remove the that's just the abatement. So the abatement scope was bid out um and that's 62,000 is just the removal, not prep or put back of any any material. Okay. Information like that on here would help. And it is also for
081Turner Middle School. So I would also ask on the shot clocks. So what was on the Monroe list? Are those clocks for Thompson Valley and Mountain View High School? And these two clocks here are for Berth at High uh and Lovelin High. Yes. Okay. Again, the details um I still Did you put those out to bid? Did you get bids on those clocks? the I would have to see the actual process, but we did I mean we followed either the cooperative purchasing or bids. We have all that available. Okay. Would like. Yeah. Okay. I'll come look at it later. Thank you. Thank you, Todd. Laura, please call the role. I don't think we've made a motion. Oh, we didn't make the motion. I apologize. I thought we had it. So, I am looking for a
082motion then to approve the expenditures over $50,000. Yes, we did. Was somebody No, we didn't. So moved. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Lori, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Hi. Don Kirk. I. Barbara Cruz. I. Alexander Lesome. Hi. Nancy Rumfeld. No. Okay. It passes 6 to one. All right. Now we're going to move on to 7.3. 7.3 is getting into the whole nitty-gritty of the budget approval that we need. And so, Mr. Ibrosald is back up. This is the approval of the state of Colorado interestfree cash flow loan program resolution. Good evening, uh, President Cruz, members of the board, Superintendent Schaefer, Robert Iver, Chief Financial Officer for the District. Uh, we have slightly changed this from your original packet. It was updated today. Um the uh in the packet
083that you received last week, it had a spreadsheet. Uh the spreadsheet was sent to the state's u uh interest free loan program and they recommended that we uh have a resolution for 25 million, not the original 20 million on your basis to give us a little bit more flexibility. They ask us to do that. We do not borrow to the maximum. We only borrow and actually they only approve what our cash flows shows what we actually need. So the resolution is to uh allow us to borrow up to $25 million. And again, it's cash. It does we do not pay interest and it's while until we receive the full property tax distribution from the counties. So it's just a boost for us. That's correct. Okay. Are there any questions? Okay. So Bob, this is a
084loan that will have to be repaid. That's correct. It it is it in fact we have to repay it. Yes. Within three days of receiving the property taxes. We can't make any more interest than we would like to. All right. Thank you. Okay. I'll take a motion to approve the state of Colorado interest free cash flow loan program resolution. So move. Second. So that was Stew and Don. So Laurley, please call the role. Stu Boyd. Hi, Denise Chapman. Hi, Amy Doran. Hi, Don Kirk. Hi, Barbara Cruz. Hi, Alexander Lesum. Hi, Nancy Rumfel. Hi. All right. Thank you, Lori. That passes. 7.4 is the approval of the resolution of budget adoption for 2025 2026. Uh, and this is the budget as presented to you um in the study session and updated on the website. Okay. Are
085there any questions? I just have a Okay. Um Bob, I only have I only have um a couple questions and it relates to the instructional um budget amount on the nonFT and the non-instructional costs. I went back and looked at um a spreadsheet that Gordon had sent me and I was just curious on the instructional rate for elementary school it's 85, middle it's 100, high school it's 95 and Gordon showed that those have not been updated since um the June 22. I was just wondering are they still the same rates for the fiscal year 26 due to the reduction of the total amount of money that we in order to balance the budget and not draw further from the reserves it will be lower than that amount I don't have that number in front of
086me at the moment uh we reduced those supplies uh I could get really quickly See I I think it's so I mean so basically what you did is instead of doing the normal take that reimbursement rate times however many students you did a kind of like a lump sum reduction. So, we're going to be doing a reverse Excel program where we take the final number and actually calculate that uh amount that will go out at that point. And I can get you that after after this meeting. It's okay. Again, it just goes back to my concern that the teachers and the classified staff will be putting more out of their own money um to cover those costs. And then my only other question was on the appropriation resolution because you and I have discussed this
087is the way it's written now is this will ensure that we're um the spending is restricted to the appropriation for what's on there for the um budget expenditures for each fund. That is correct. Okay. Thank you. Okay. I will take a motion to for approval of the budget adoption for 2025 2026. So moved. Second. Second was Denise. Thank you. Laura Lee, please call the role. Before that, could I Oops. Yes. I'm sorry. Bob, um, as an individual board member, I want to thank you, Zach, and your staff for your prompt response to board questions related to the budget. Thank you. Our goal is to try to answer the questions before you all ask them, but that's a work in progress. We appreciate you. Okay, Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd, I. Denise Chapman,
088hi. Amy Doran, hi. Don Kirk, I. Barbara Cruz, hi. Alexander Lesam, hi. Nancy Romfeld, I Okay. 7.5 approval of the resolution of appropriation 2025 2026 budget. So this is a format is required by the state. Uh and it's actually a thumbnail summary of all the all the funds that you have uh approved the budgets for and it shows a starting balance. It shows what we expect to get in revenues, what we transfer among the funds and what we expect to spend. And as um board member Nancy Rumfeld stated, these are what we are limited to unless we come back to the board. Uh, so the total expenditures would be about $286 million. Okay. I will take a motion for approval of the resolution of appropriation 2025 2026. I'll move. Thank you, Nancy. Second. Don and
089Laurley, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Hi. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Lesson. Hi, Nancy Rumpo. Hi. All right, one more. Um, 7.6 is approval of the resolution of using of Let me try that again. Approval of resolution of use of beginning fund balance for 2025 2026 budget. So the state uh requires the board to actually vote if you're drawing from reserves or if you're taking a starting balance such as u capital projects that you actually recognize and that's available for appropriation. You're we expect to spend those funds this year. So you've already approved the budget. This is another slice and dice of that budget. Is there a limited time? Uh it's only this fiscal year. It ends June 30th, 2026. Okay. All right. Um, I'll take
090a motion for approval of the uh resolution to you to use of beginning fund balance 2025 2026. So moved. So moved. Second. Thank you, Alexandra. All right. Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. I. Amy Doran. Hi. Don Kirk. I. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Les. Hi. Nancy Ronfeld. Hi. Thank you, Bob, for all of your support. Thank you to the board for the uh recognition. This is not the CFO budget. This is the Thompson school district budget. Uh we thank you. Well, we appreciate you. All right. 7.7. This has nothing to do with budget. So, this is the approval of the amendment to 2025 school calendar, which Tom is going to talk about. It's on your if you look on the look on your diligence. Look on diligence. Yeah. Yeah. Good
091evening. Hi Tom, Madame President, Dr. Schaefer, members of the board. Tom Tasher, director of human resources. Tonight, uh we are discussing uh amending the school calendar for the 2526 school year. Uh this discussion began in uh negotiations and so we are addressing board policies um IC um a there's three screens there actually four screens there that'll um delineate that board policy that talks about the parameters that we have for days and hours for um elementary and other levels of school time. So the critical question that we addressed was addressment uh adjustments of elementary plan time and one of the pieces that was negotiated with full consensus was to add personalized slash plan time for K5 staff on January 7th, 2026. That is the Wednesday after the um staff come back uh to work on Tuesday
092that week, which is like a teacher work day. And then the Wednesday is typically the first day students come back. So what the adjustments um that uh we're discussing on the next um slide please is that that little tiny star on the 7th of January um is the day that would be adjusted school day for secondary students 6 through 12 or yeah 6 through 12 a non-school day for K5 students. so that elementary um staff have a personalized slashplan day on that January the 7th. If you recall, we negotiated uh 24 hours of time um for elementary um plan time extra for next year and this would constitute eight of those 24 hours. The only one that needed an adjustment to the calendar. Any questions? Other questions about that? Can I just ask a clarifying
093question? So in the K8 schools, the sixth through 8th graders would be there that day, but the K through five would not. Yes. Okay. That is the intention of that day. Okay, perfect. Thank you. You're welcome. Anybody else? Was a key part of negotiations. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, Laurley. Um well, first of all, we need to make a motion for it. We need the approval a motion to approve the amendment to the 2025 2026 school calendar. So moved. Don, second. And Alexandra and Laurley, please call the role. Stu Boyd, I. Denise Chapman, hi. Amy Doran, hi. Don Kirk, hi. Barbara Cruz, hi. Alexander Lesum, hi. Nancy Rumpel, hi. All right. Thank you, Tom. All right, we have some people that have been sitting over there very patiently waiting for us to get through all of our
094uh motions here. So, we are moving on to 8.1. Is that right? 8.1. Yes, it's um our discussion items and that will be the master planning committee which will be introduced by Todd again. Hi. Yes. Good evening. You're wearing a hat out there. Board of Education. Dr. Schaefer. Todd Pone, assistant superintendent operations. Before I uh turn this presentation over, I do want to take a moment to thank a few groups. Um, one is our staff. So, we have some staff here tonight. Uh, Ryan Baker, our planning manager, Kristen Betiki, our director operations. Um, and all the staff that support this work. Um, along with that, the community that's involved with this. When you look at the amount of work here in the report, um it's a significant time commitment that we are always like every
095month we're doing subcommittees, committee work, doing work outside of committees um to really make sure we've thought through what what our future plans are for capital needs. So, it is um it's a uh daunting task, but this year we've really um focused and updated our long-range master plan, which which is um reviewed our inboard policy. But I do want to take a couple minutes here and recognize those two groups because um without that you know this type of collaboration and output of product uh wouldn't be here. So in saying that I am going to turn this over to Kristen Mati our director of operations and also want us recognize Tom Pittz who's our MPC chair which will be up here in a second and Brett Grimditch who's our co-chair and he will be our chair
096next year. So, good evening, Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Schaefer, Kristen Batiki, director of operations. So excited to be here tonight to talk about our master plan committee and give this great update. So, the to start off with the strive 2025 connection. Um, this committee plays a key role in aligning our facility investments with priorities identified in the strategic plan supporting the thoughtful and equitable allocation of resources across the district. Some background in here, the MPC or master plan committee are the planning adviserss to the board of education per policy FBA and FBAR and the bylaws that are in the MP MPC website. We currently have 22 voting members and membership is updated annually with a district-wide application which will be coming out again this fall. All right. So with that, um I'm
097going to allow a few minutes for our chair and vice chair to come up and speak a little bit about their their work this year. Um and I just want to say I truly love this committee. um the care, the passion, the the dedication, the extra ass that we had and people came excited to really look at how we make the Thompson School District better. So with that, I'll turn it over to Tom Pittz, our chair. Okay. Thank you, Kristen. Uh primary activity of the master planning committee this year was to update the master plan, which was last updated in 2020. The update incorporated and considered all the accomplishments with the 2018 bond issue which were many and but the primary focus was to look seven years in the future and see what what are
098the district needs now and we did that in the four areas up there. capacity, which means growth needs. Uh, capital maintenance, building modernization, which means bringing our older buildings up to standards to to present day standards, which is much needed, and security. And uh, Kristen's going to give you some details on that. I have to echo Todd's uh comments that Kristen and Ryan Baker and others on the staff did an outstanding job in formatting an enormous amount of information and data into an understandable and usable uh uh plan that the committee could deal with. Brent, I'm Brent Grimditch and I'm the vice chair. I'll be the the chair next year and our next semester. I don't really have anything to add. I'm just learning from Tom and and the group. So, I'll turn it back
099over. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Tom and Brent. All right. So, I'll go into a few of the the details around this plan. As Tom mentioned, this hasn't been updated since 2020. Actually, the beginning of 2020, so precoid, in fact. Um, so with this, we really kept the same format, the same outlines. We updated the data of course and made some other changes. So we added the security section that had been folded into um what's now called the building modernization. Um however that is such a critical part of our schools and capital needs that we felt it was important to call that out as its own section. We also updated the section names. I think all of them actually got a little update. We want to provide clarity in these. Um, so making sure
100they're really speaking to what we're talking about in there and doing that in simple terms. Um, for instance, capacity went from existing utilization and projected demographics. And while that's very precise, it's hard to understand. So we really, the committee was amazing in helping us to really fine-tune some of those pieces to make sure it's understandable. We also updated the built capacity of some of our buildings. Um, did a deep dive into capacity actually, and added a new term, modified capacity. So, I'll talk about that in the next slide. We also updated our building standards which are part of that building modernization section um which was previously learning space enhancements. So, we've gone through a number of different iterations of that. Really trying to get at what are we talking about here? Um which is modernizing
101our our older buildings. They just weren't built for our current education um how we deliver education as opposed to 100 years ago, 50 years ago. Um, so with all four of these different sections, this outlines our capital needs, which total estimated capital needs over the next seven years are approximately $735 million. So the first section within the master plan document is capacity. Um, so as I said, we have a new term modified capacity. the committee really took this effort on to update um how we look at the utilization capacity of our buildings because while we look at built capacity, you know, how many rounds does the school have, what it doesn't take into consideration for some of our older buildings are those additional services, OT, PT, um gifted education, those weren't factored in again 50,
102100 years ago. And so spaces are carved out within our schools, but we haven't actually taken that time to um call that out here. So while we still have the built capacity, um that modified capacity is also important because we also have programs. We have ILC um intensive learning centers, we have early childhood, which isn't factored within that. Um, so we have this updated information in here that includes utilization based on built capacity as well as at modified capacity that takes into consideration what is actually going on in our buildings. So we can share both of those pieces within here. Of course, we updated the the data around our projections. So that information is within our master plan document. Um, the projections are made using a combination of methods and data. the cohort survival method.
103Cohort survival method um is this the standard method for educational planners um to look at this. These other data points are also really important as we have to be looking at what's coming. So what else is going on aside from just tracking this? Um so Ryan Baker does an amazing job looking at all of these different pieces and putting together great information for the district. The capital maintenance section. So this is a capital maintenance needs list. It's focused on the next seven years as we did for these various sections. Um in 2021 we engage architects and engineers to conduct a thorough assessment of our buildings and grounds in partnership with district staff. Having both of those pieces together is critical. Our district staff are incredibly knowledgeable and having that outside perspective is really important as
104well as we look at different solutions. Aside from, you know, the maintaining, our crews are focused on keeping things running. And so we need that aspect, that historical knowledge as well as this other piece to look at some of those bigger items. Um, this is a dynamic list. Sometimes feels like changes daily as we are identifying different pieces. Um, there's different regulations. Lighting regulations was a huge piece this year. Um, we're also looking at changes in refrigerant regulations. You know, there's there's things always on the horizon. And so updating this list at least annually and and really we do it more than that. We're constantly looking at what are these most urgent needs, what how are they prioritized. That also shifts around as well. Um so estimate here is $280 million over the next seven
105years. Building modernization. Um, so in order to support our educational goals, health, safety, overall well-being, it's critical that we're looking at things aside from our building maintenance, which is fixing things that are broken. We have to look at what don't we have. So that's really what that modernization piece is looking at. So we developed facility principles and standards in our last iteration of the master plan. We went through an extensive review with district staff, students, and community in 2022 to update these Um through this process we identified the top standards and assessed a cost. So that's what this table is showing is based on feedback from these various groups. Um these were the the the categories that came to the top and then it also shows a potential cost range. You know depending on what
106type of solution that's put into place that cost can vary. In addition to this in building modernization there are also programmatic needs. Um so we think of CTE, we think of athletics, other enrichment pieces which are also critical for our schools. So this estimate is around 240 million to 307. And then security. So this is our newest section that we have added into the master plan document. Um, as we all know, this is incredibly important for the district. And the key elements included in this are our secure vestibules, making sure that we have that standard that's met across all of our locations, physical security improvement. So, this could include things like fencing, some kind of a perimeter, um, film, various things like that, doors, walls, those kinds of pieces that enhance our security. Birectional amplification
107systems. So the this is the communication within the schools so that our radios work, first responders radios work within our schools. Um and then surveillance system upgrades. So as we look at our camera systems, that technology is continually evolving and we have great systems in place and they also need to be updated. So priority needs for security are about 17 um about $18 million. 17 million. Any questions? So my question was around how you sliced out security. Um because that is still a word that can sort of mean a lot. So I just want to make sure that I understand it. Are we talking about really like security and safety limited to um the stuff that that team does the name of that department security department as far as the infrastructure aspects of that? So
108this master planning document is really focused on the infrastructure pieces. Okay. And then the building modernization is where we see um some of the safety aspects that are related to anything that's more ADA. Um the like the temperature I see on here as a interesting number. Um so so basically we've got building modernization having still most of those things um but we carved out for safety. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Just a comment. Um, as the board representative, as your representative on the master planning committee, I have worked with the committee on this for four years, four and a half years. I've seen the various iterations. I can assure the the board and the community that this master plan agreement that's presented tonight um has been approached with great care, lots of deliberation, much time spent
109in investigation and a great deal of effort expended by staff to take care of questions that arose during the various sessions. So, this is a document um that of course can be changed, but what Kristen is presenting to the board tonight is one that uh is very carefully prepared and I think one that um the committee and ultimately the board can be very proud of. I just had some questions on the I don't remember which page the summary that showed that there are 25 schools with ADA issues and then the dollar amount was 8 to 32 million. I know that some of that might change when you get the that third party assessor back. My question is on these ADA compliants, how how are you prioritizing them? Like in the $und00 million bond, how much
110of that will be taken care of because and I don't have the information in front of me. I know that there was recently a change so that and I'll just make something up. There's some ADA compliance. I don't know that poll's wrong or something and it impacts 10 different people. Well, if one person brings the lawsuit, it's not done. Each each of those 10 people can bring a lawsuit for whatever um it might have impacted us. So, I know you're trying to balance all of these other things, but I think we also need to make sure that we're balancing the ADA because again, I'm guessing that one lawsuit is from the uh settlement is from that one. And I know that we have other OCR complaints as well. So, how how are you making sure
111that we get that all prioritized? And I would hope much of it is in the hund00 million bond so we're not open to lawsuits. Absolutely. So, that assessment will certainly help us to prioritize that. Those 25 bill buildings are looking at what is not at 2010 standards because those buildings were built prior to 2010. So, can't build a a building to a standard that you don't have yet. So, so that's what's what's showing there. So, um that assessment will help us to determine what those priorities are. Um how we increase accessibility across buildings. That's okay. Thank you. And then my only other one was I've seen where you have um for Kinston a middle school heron lakes an elementary farmstead. It didn't say but I think that's an elementary. I would have to defer to
112Ryan or Todd on a PK a PKA. It didn't say in there. And then we're looking to also purchase a 60 to 80 acre site. I'm get probably for a high school. I'm guessing it just said yes. Some point down the road, you know, in the seven years plus, there'll be between Mountain View and Berthood, you know, the growth we're looking there'll be some sort of development out there. So, we'll have to look at uh that size of um sites. So if if we if we ignore the 60 to 80 psycher um purchase and we just look at those other ones for those schools are those schools that will probably have to be doing a bond um another one like maybe I don't know five years down the road 10 years down the road because
113I don't know how that growth is going. I know Kinston's really growing. Yes. Yes, we can have that discussion I think in our next topic as well. But yes, to answer your question, um will be covered for the next four to five yearsish and then we will have to look at um doing something more south and east. So Bertha area and Kinston area. Okay, thank you. If a member of the public wanted to read the master plan, where would they find it? Absolutely. So, we have been working with our communications team on making sure that the document we're putting on the website is the an accessible version. Um, so we just finished that today and so we'll be working with them to make sure that gets posted on our um master plan committee section of
114the website. Great. Thank you. item. Good evening again, Madam President and Board of Education. Dr. Schaefer. I think it's the last time I'm going to say that, isn't it? Yeah. A look at that. It's just Look at this. Um, tonight I also am going to have Mike Hman up with me. Oh, there he is. Okay. Um, so we've talked obviously a lot about uh future bond um options. Tonight we're going to we're going to talk more about what we're doing on community outreach. Um the progress what we've done since la last time we've talked in the last couple months. Uh timeline because although we're not meeting in July, there's a lot of things that are happening next month. And then as as we just talked about a little bit about what that's going to do
115um for the district in the next three to four years. So I'll actually uh invite Mike up to talk about uh community outreach and what that looks like. Good evening members of the board. Dr. Schaefer, Mike Houseman, uh chief communications officer for the district. Um, as you'll recall, um, not that long ago in a board study session, I provide you with a little bit of an outline of our community outreach that we're doing, um, specifically around some advertising in the community. I just wanted to give you kind of an update of kind of where we stand right now. Um, we are continuing to work with Mile High Public Affairs, um, who is collaborating with us and serving as a partner to provide us with some terrific insight through polling that they've done and also to
116help us kind of develop some messaging that, um, that we believe will be successful in kind of communicating the district's vision and providing them with information on where we're at, not just at the district level, but also um, at the state level with just education in general. Um, total advertising impressions as of June 10th, you can see we are at 2,363,342. Um, I checked just a little bit ago and to give you an idea of how it grows, we're now almost to 3 million now. And so, as of today, we're at 2,950,000 plus in terms of impressions. So, it's going up significantly. It's been very successful. This is well above our expectations of what we were hoping to get for the entire two-month run. We have a few another week and a half or so
117to go here in June and we're already beyond the 1.8 million that we're hoping for getting that we were hoping to get for the entire campaign. So, we're doing very very well. Um it will run through June 30th. Um, at the very bottom of this slide there, you can see some um, stills from our second ad that we've been running this month, which focuses on our students and focuses on um, us preparing kids for a future beyond high school in terms of their career and how we are proud about that. And there's of course a call to action there for people to be able to learn more about the district in that sense. Um, beyond that, we are working Oh, I'm sorry. Let me get one more thing. No, you're good. Um, beyond that, we
118are designing web pages. um uh working on designing web pages to kind of uh to contain project data, provide more information for folks who are interested in learning more and we are exploring social media and other advertising options uh moving forward. So for July and on in terms of what that's going to look like and our next steps and and communing communicating messaging and stuff on this next slide um I'll cover a couple of things here and then some of this is for Todd too. So, communication, coordination. Um, one of the big things we want to make sure is that we have a consistent message with for our community and for the folks that are working with us and our our stakeholders and make sure that we are speaking very clearly around what the district's
119challenges are and also just structurally how we are put together and what the district does for the community. And so, we're working on that. Um, we are putting together a state of the district presentation that we'll be using for some community meetings here moving forward. Um, when Dr. Hiller joins us. Um these we'll we'll be rolling out a obviously a a meet and greet for him in the community, but we'll also be doing several meetings um with other groups like the chambers of commerce and um nonprofits in the community, parent groups and that kind of thing to first of all introduce him to the community, but also to talk to them um about the state of the district, talk to him about what we're working on in terms of uh challenges and what we're looking
120toward from there. and then I'm gonna turn the rest here up to Todd and I'll be back here later on. Yes. So, what you see is the coordination and communication enhancement um that really has happened in the last few months. But when we talk about grassroots uh support and development, it's just that personal touch um to individual companies, individual community members. Um, so we can have, you know, the messaging that's going out is great, but then we're also having that just personal touch to different committee members for an understanding of here's what we're doing. Uh, we didn't pass, you know, in November 24, so here's the different things we're doing. So, it's just more of an organic, um, conversation about what the needs are, um, the why behind it in those pieces. And then also
121to you know that hopes to create community involvement um you know assuming the board votes in August that you know they can carry that on themselves. Um coordination with uh bond council. So this starts getting more technical pieces I'll talk about next but um you know we talked about putting ballot language on. We've all discussed you know previously about our ballot language you know the positioning of where it was on the ballot what the ballot said all those pieces. So there's been a lot of discussion um about what that is going to look like moving forward. So we do have um just received in the last couple days the proposed um language for the uh ballot initiative and it's complicated because each year you know there's an election you want to go right back to
122you know this is what this ballot said in this district just copy that. Um you know it it evolves and so you can't you know there's there's law that's the changes there's lessons learned from ballots. So it's kind of taking all that and putting it together. Um and then you'll see um really in the next uh slide is our timeline. So what we're looking at doing um well really like right now um and then in the next month. So we have um a pretty good task in this next month to get done. Um the one piece is we just have to let the counties know, make them aware, nothing official, just say, "Okay, this is where we could be planning on it if the board elects, you know, in August." But it's an awareness that
123we're required to do them. Um the biggest piece that we have to kind of finalize and it's probably one of the more tricky ones is to finalize the assessed valuation for the district. So the complicated part is we get preliminary numbers up until like mid to late August finalized right after that. So preliminaries are pretty close to what they will be finalized but um you can't really finalize you know everything until you get that you know final number. So we have to maybe assess and think you know a more conservative number. so we don't put put a number out there that our assess valuation is less than what um we thought it was. So working on that. Um we're also working on the IGAS. So when you put on the ballot you got to go
124through with each county and you work out the intergovernment agreements. So those are some of the things that um are happening now along with what um Mike's talking about is just communication planning. You know, I think when we think back to what about a year ago now, you know, there was we've learned and you know, we've done things different and um that's really a lot of the work that's happening right now. Um and then just community outreach. So, we're doing all we can with the state of the union. You know, one it'll be a introduction for Dr. Heler, but then it also be a continual introduction of not just these needs, but you know an overall bigger picture um look at the district and the district needs. You'll see on the next slide um that's
125kind of the range of if you assume like no growth on our assess valuation um it would be a 70 about a 70 million no tax impact compared to 10% um is about 108 million. So it's um you know almost it's it's a complicated puzzle right now but um some of the um input we've received is go more conservative about that say 99 million um at 7.5% is kind of the look at the assessed valuation that would mean we go 99 million with a no tax impact. Um there's a lot of other legal items that go with that and pieces that are in the ballot language that explain that. Um but it looks like right now when the board sees it come in August um it'll be right about that 99 million. It's a good
126fair conservative number that we don't um over assess ourselves then we get something less which would create some mistrust that um you know we want to make sure what we're doing now um aligns in November. So that's our table um of what it could be. Just want to let the board know that it's looking somewhere in that 99 millionish. But we're um reaching out now to the county and saying, "Okay, give us give us an idea. What are you thinking?" Um Well, County is the more complicated one because there's oil and gas there. So that um tends to like come in very late, which doesn't it does still sway, you know, move the number, but um you know, that's just a piece that ends up complicating some of it. And then what does this mean?
127So as we briefly talked about and and we've talked about before 100 million really helps us in the next 3 to four years and we have some critical needs. Um you know there was a list provided to the board of what 2000 some items I don't remember what it was but we have this will cover 38 million of our critical needs and I think our critical needs were somewhere around 70 million. So it doesn't even capture all of our critical needs. Um 12 million for safety and security and that's physical. So we really what that is is that's our secure vestibules. So we have about six or seven left from the previous bond that we need to kind of button up I'll say. So that's what that 12 million is for. Um growth is for
128enhancements to Berate and Ivy Elementary. So it's both capacity and then some other pieces to um yeah one for the capacity and then two just um educational enhancements and then 6 million in building modernization. So that's other pieces throughout the district that you know we know are going to be needed. So you know that's um as Christian shared the in the master plan that's pieces like program enhancement or um higher need space needs throughout the district and buildings that we're going to help kind of throughout. The challenging part is as you saw the big number um you know just in the previous presentation this is just scratching the surface. Um, it helps it helps us progress. Um, but there's still significant need out there. And I believe next slide is oh, we're moving on to
129Leadership Thompson. So, we'll take we'll flip again. Um, Mike's going to provide an update on Leadership Thompson and what we've done. So, as we've gone through with the communication updates and building this bond plan, we've also looked at, you know, future. So, we're not just doing now, but we're sustaining communication as we are now. And then also as Dr. Heler starts, we'll get into leadership Thompson and kind of this framework of um progressing this in the future. But I'll have Mike. Okay. So, um I put together just um a couple of things here. First of all, a proposed structure slide. Um as you'll recall, we kind of talked in general terms about what this program is and what programs like this how they work in other districts. And so, we didn't really have a lot
130of specifics then. So, I wanted to put together just some ideas for you in terms of how something like this could work. Like Todd said, the next step would definitely to be to make sure that there's buyin across um across the board with the board and then also with Dr. Hiller as he comes in with his role as our new superintendent. Um but I'll I'll kind of go through this with you and just kind of explain this. So, we're envisioning, for example, a nine-month program that would start in September um on an annual basis. It would kind of run in parallel with the school year to kind of give you an idea of how these would be structured. um members would be a combination of appointment by the board. So this would be a situation
131where you could um definitely appoint members on your own um have a certain number of slots and then also have an ability for members of the community to register to if they would like to join and stuff. um individuals for example that this is designed for is certainly business and community leaders, nonprofit partners, our partners in higher education um who work with us a lot, parents and community members who are interested in serving and promoting and leading within the district. And I'll talk about the leadership aspect here in a minute, but that's that's a real key about people who are really interested in growing leadership skills and wanting to learn more about the district in that sense. Um the program is designed to foster awareness and increase leadership throughout the community and it does include
132it would include a training component for committee for committee bond advocacy and potential BOE service. So you're really looking for people who are interested in leading in the district and helping in the decision-m and whether it be through service on a committee or certainly if they're interested in running for a board slot at some point. Topics for example would be uh district structure. So just the overall functions of the district, how we're put together, how it works, our instructional processes, and the instructional programs, operations, financial management. Obviously, school funding, as you know, is very complex as we've um seen again tonight with the approval of the budget and stuff. So teaching folks about how um schools are funded in the state of Colorado, how that works with um what you do as a board, but
133also then just how the budget works at at a at a pretty significant level, safety and security, and then just a a focus on district needs, like what our challenges are, making sure that we're communicating um like how we're structured, but what that creates for us and challenges, what we see for opportunities, what we're looking at, long range planning and that sort of thing. Um okay, next slide please. In terms of a proposed timeline, so what we would envision is having a nomination application process that would be launched in August and then our first monthly meeting of the group would then tenatively be in September. The session locations would rotate to various sites across the district. So it'd be very important. We would probably have our first one here at the district office, but then
134after that you take the show on the road and you make sure that you're in the buildings and not just the schools. You want to make sure that people are able to see other administrative buildings like our transportation center, um, see the kitchens, um, SSC, you know, where it is located and that sort of thing. Your meeting lengths are usually around two, two and a half hours or something like that. You want to give yourself enough time to where you can kind of cover what you want to cover. You also don't want your time commitment to get so so long that it's hard for folks to be able to do this. We want we want it to be accessible for people even if they work so that they they know that they you know that
135they're only taking off for example a short amount of time during a day once a month to come in and learn. You want to just make sure it's as accessible as possible. And then in May we would have our graduation of our first class and we would celebrate our first class. when we ran our explore Thompson program um several years ago, what I will say is that one of the best advertisements for that were the graduates from the previous class going out and going to PTO and PTA meetings and talking about how much fun they had and all the neat things they learned and stuff and they then got their their friends and stuff. So, um getting an initial class through the program does a lot to help advertise your future efforts. And with that,
136do you have any questions about that or anything else that Todd and I, uh covered today? is what does the ideal class size look like for a leadership Thompson group? Yeah, that's a good question. Um, I think that's I will say that's debatable. I mean, we can definitely kind of scale up. I mean, a lot of the information that you're covering is not it's not really tied to specific small numbers or anything like that. Um, I think we I think that is 100% kind of scalable for what we'd want to do. Um you what you usually find when you run these programs is there is you want everybody to come to every session and you want everybody to commit to that but naturally what happens is you have some people that come can't come to
137every meeting. It'll be natural for them to say well I'm more interested in this than I am in that and so they will not come to a specific meeting or something. So you'll have kind of a varying attendance usually monthtomonth from your overall pool usually. Yeah. Thanks, Mike. On the community outreach on the um like the advertisements, what what counts as an impression? So, an impression is basically when your ad is served and it's and it's something that people can see and it's there. So, it's a banner ad that's there or if you're watching Paramount Plus and the district's um the district's ad popped up, that's an impression and stuff. It's not exactly um it's and call to action and clickthroughs is a little bit different. So the way I would describe it like if
138you're watching TV and an advertisement um comes up, you don't necessarily go to the website of the of the of the company that just just advertised, but you've seen the ad. You hopefully remember the ad, you know what it was about. You take that and carry that with you and stuff. And you may go to their website later on. You might click the learn more button or something like that. But it's really it's how you measure the reach of your ad and who you're serving it to and the frequency upon which you do it. Hopefully that answers your question. Yes. So basically it's like the number of times that it's been viewed or served. Yeah. It's like there for them to see. It's like there for them to see if they're clicking through it. Okay.
139After like clicking on the learn more or something that also gets tracked too. But it's like what's there what's there in front of them. Repetition is very key in this too. Obviously, we do not have three million people in this community. Okay? So, repetition is very key. It's not just about sharing the message you want to share. You want to share it over and over and over again so that it sticks and stuff too. So, you're trying to you're trying to communicate it um in as many creative ways as you can, whether it be through a banner ad or on a different online streaming platform that they're watching or something like that. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, Nancy, I have just a couple questions. So, on this ad, um, since we're on that topic, I mean,
140so how I mean, I understand the number of impressions. I understand that. How are we measuring the effectiveness or the impact of it? Because maybe somebody sees the same ad with the little school building over and over and over, but how do we measure what did it do? did. So measuring impacts of advertising is tough because when you have someone have to take a second an extra step like click a learn more that's very measurable but it is always hard to know like you know what what are you gaining from putting that out there and from people seeing it. What I will say is that the biggest reason why you want to make sure you're putting together ad campaigns that are consistent and that are stretched across time and that you have the repetition is
141because the more you do that and the more consistent you are, the more the better odds you have of sharing your your consistent message. And it's a lot in some ways um it's a lot like when you put an advertisement in the newspaper, we do newspaper advertising. I can't tell you how many people actually see Thompson School District's ad, but what I can tell you is that over time, you know, we can we can we obviously get feedback from people who say, "Hey, I saw that." We can tell that people have seen things based on questions that come in, you know, whether to the district or things that get me messaged or get um communicated at the school level or to Dr. Schaefer to something like that. So, so is that tying into I think
142you started off earlier with you're working on some different landing pages so that maybe the next phase you'll start you know more online so that when they will click they'll click on a landing page and then you can track the stats from the landing page. Yeah, you can click the stats from the landing page. Again, my my one caution to that though is as I said, it's an extra step you're asking people to do. And there's a lot of influencing that you're able to do of of community members that doesn't require them to take an extra step, but they do take that message away from them because they've seen your message, they've seen the message you're trying to communicate and then that hopefully um you know impacts their thinking or impacts a question that they
143ask down the road or something like that. But that is one option. Yeah. And then on the leadership, I just it's not really a question, it's just more of a comment on it. I would just want to make sure that whatever our application process is is that we are working to re um recruit in get in people who maybe are skeptical of the district so that they can run through it and learn a lot more about the district and then and then become somebody who says, "Oh, wait. I actually know now that blah blah blah." Um that that would be my only comment on that and then I only have one question for Todd on his part. I know. Well, Todd, I can't leave you alone. I mean, you know that. Um so on the
144diagram where you have the $38 million in critical needs. I'm just curious, why are the ADA dollar amount why is that down in the $6 million um and not up in the critical We talked about it could go either place. I mean it's not it the important part was to get it included um where it sits. We talked about going both directions in the end. We'll have a list that'll be a part of the maintenance list when we get the the um audit done that we'll be able to see the items. Um so when we actually you know assuming we're successful we start a CBO and they start looking at the items it'll be part of that overall bond list. Um, but when you looked at building modernization, there's other pieces that ED aligned with.
145So, it fit at this time we fit it in there, but it could be either place. And the reason it stood out is the estimate was 8 to 32 million. That line there is only 6 million. So, it's clear that we're not going to put a whole lot towards ADA. Well, we I don't know right now. I mean, we're going to put a chunk to it, but what we don't want to do is commit one way or another what we're going to do or not. what we need to do. What I'd suggest is what we are doing is getting that audit. We can have a clear plan um of what we're going to do because regardless we're not going to cover it all now um even out of this bond that we know the needs
146are significant. So, okay. Thank you, Steve. Um back to Mike. Um, Mike, I recognize quite a bit of what leadership strain is doing and I'm I'm glad to see that. And regarding NY's point about making sure that the the membership of the leadership group um is inclusive, I know that leadership strain considers that very carefully and they actually have a a process that they use to make sure that all um segments of the community are given the opportunity are made aware of the opportunity to become part of their leadership program. Um, Dr. Schaefer, I think you told me that Pter has recently decided to pursue something like this as well. Uh, I'm I'm glad to know that. I think this is a very important outreach of the district. I do still have um a concern
147about the name. Um, when we first talked about this, someone mentioned that and I believe this uh group is still in existence called Leadership Loveland. and I went through that years and many years ago. I did and they are still in existence. Yeah. Um still in existence has been around for a while and I wonder if we choose the name leadership Thompson. Uh if that could be confusing. You mentioned at one point that there was a a group called Explore Thompson. Uh I've also heard someone throw around the idea of Impact Thompson. I would hope before we would roll this out that there would be a way of uh getting community input or talking with a public relations firm or whatever this would look like or maybe a combination thereof to make sure that the
148name that we choose for this is distinct and distinctive that people don't get confused that this is the same thing as leadership loveland or it's an arm or an outreach of leadership loveland. So just encourage you to investigate whether this is really the best name uh for this primarily from just a public relations standpoint. Thanks. No, and yeah, that's great feedback. I I definitely appreciate that when we uh part of the reason why we named Explore Thompson, what we did actually was because of that back then, too. But I I think you have a great idea about us um working together kind of figure out what would be a great name that would um be catchy but also would uh very much describe what the program is and what we're trying to achieve. Amy, I
149don't have any but it's cool to see this play done. Uh yeah, thank you. I am excited about it too. I think that it it is going to be really helpful for people to be able to go that deep. I know um there are often questions that we get that are like, "But we talked about it in the board meeting." Then I realized like there's a handful of us who actually remember that and maybe watched it. Um is a handful more. And so it's it's nice to have that because I know there's a lot of people who really do care. They just need it packaged in a way that allows them to ask the questions. Um, so I'm excited about that. I'm also really grateful for the um the master plan getting updated when it
150did because I think that, you know, we we really need that information, right? The the just the kind of doing the overhaul and the update of it to go along with the asks and to to know that this is really like been um something that has been overhauled recently. is helpful to go along with the potential ask for a Miller or bond. Um, and then I did have one question about turn it all. I'll think of it at 3:00 a.m. I'll let you guys know. Not at 3:00 a.m., but I'll send like an email. Um, Yeah. Sorry, President. One more item, just a piece of awareness. Um, it was in the presentation, but there is a possibility that um on the first board meeting of August that we could do a special meeting just for
151um the resolution approval and the ballot language. Um because the other thing we learned too, the later you wait in August, um the other pieces get on, so it puts you further down on the ballot. Um so there there's some advantages to doing that first meeting. I know they typically do study session and then approval. Um you know we've talked about with um legal council of just doing a set aside special meeting just for approval of the resolution bow language in IGAPC. So would it work that we did a an presentation on it on the August 4th I think is our meeting but then do a a study a special meeting because we or did we want to wait till later in August? No, it would be a it would have to be a vote.
152So it would have to be a vote at that August 4th meeting. Um the special meeting for action. Okay. On the item. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. All right. Anybody else? Remember my thing? Do you remember your question? I do. Um so last uh year you had all this great information by school for the ask and I do think that that was really really helpful information. And just the other day I was I was looking for it. Um because I do think you know this is this is local right and people really care like what are you going to do for my school? We know how much that that has mattered that people think about their neighborhoods or the people they know and so I'm wondering if we have plan how we plan to um do
153something like that this time. I don't know what the ask look like. Yes, we do have that plan. So between Mike's team and operations teams, they're working on a dashboard. So you can kind of see all those items and not just specific to, you know,$undred million dollar bond item, but capacity, energy usage, just an overall awareness about kind of a scorecard or, you know, a deeper depth view of all the pieces. So yes, that'll be that'll be up and running along with the pictures of the projects that we most urgently need because God knows that freaks people out. Yes. Yes, we're including a few pictures. Okay. Anything else? We have one written report which is the PI um early childhood report. Anything else? If not, this meeting is adjourned.