001I'm going to call the meeting to order. Thank you. Uh Laurley, please call the role. Stu Boyd here. Denise Chapman here. Amy Doran. Don Kirk here. Barbara Cruz here. Alexander Les here. Nancy Rumfel here. Thank you, Lori. And uh Nancy, will you lead us 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. Thank you, Nancy. And Stu, will you read the mission? Yes. Thank you. I have it in the folder, but thank you for rescuing me on that. The Thompson School District will be a school district that empowers, challenges, and inspires students, faculty, staff, parents, school leaders, and community members to learn, achieve, and excel. Thank you, Stu. The first
002item um of business is the adoption of the agenda. So, are there any changes to the agenda for today, May 20 21st, 2025? Yes, I have a a suggestion for a change in the agenda. It's item 4.3, board committee reports. I'm going to suggest that we dispense with that this evening for two reasons. Um, number one, we have a lengthy agenda and we'll save some time by not including those in the meeting. And then I had the opportunity yesterday to look through the reports that all of us have actually filed that will be put online. They're lengthy. They're complete. And community members who are interested in knowing what the board does when we're not involved in meetings up here. uh you can go to the district website and there you'll be able to see the
003many different activities and events that we have supported in the last month. So I move to remove uh the board reports from the agenda. I'll second. Okay. Um is there any other discussion or any comment about it? Okay. Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Les. Hi. Nancy Rumfeld. Hi. Thank you. So, um the motion is approved. We will move on to appro the approval of the minutes and we have four sets of minutes to approve. So, um the first one is approval of the minutes for our regular meeting which was April 16th, 2025. Does anyone have any changes or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes for April 16th, 2025. So moved. Second.
004Thank you. First from Alexandra. Thank you. And second from uh Don. Laura Lee. Please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. I. Amy Doran. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Lesum. Hi. Nancy Rumfel. Hi. All right. That motion um is passed. 4.2 is the approval of the minutes for May 1, 2025. And that was a special meeting um where we interviewed um the candidates. So, does anybody have any changes or corrections to the minutes of that meeting? None. I'll take a motion to approve the minutes. Thank you, Nancy. I'll second. And Stu. So, we have first from Nancy, second from Stu. Laurely, will you please call the role? Stu Boyd. Hi, Denise Chapman. Hi, Amy Doran. Don Kirk, hi Barbara Cruz. Hi, Alexander Lesum. Hi, Nancy Rumfel. Hi. All right, the next one
005is April um the approval of the minutes for May 7th, 2025. This was the special meeting that we had where we made the announcement of our superintendent. It was very short. Does anybody have any corrections to that those minutes? Hearing none, I'll take a motion to approve the minutes for May 7th, 2025. Second. Who was that? Thank you. Denise and Don. Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Lesum. Hi. Nancy Roel. I. Thank you. So, that one also passes. The last one is the approval of the minutes for May 7th, 2025. This was our study session that we had after we had our special meeting. Um, are there any changes to the minutes? Hearing none, I will take a motion to
006approve the minutes for May 7th, 2025. So move. Second. So first from Stu and a second from Don. Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Don Kirk. I. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Les. Hi. Nancy Rumfel. Hi. Thank you. That's one big page done. Um 4.1 is the superintendence report. So I'll turn that over to Dr. Schaefer. Good evening, Madam President, members of the board of education. Uh I am pleased to provide you with um a report on um many of the activities that have gone on for the past month here in our district. So we'll first start with teacher appreciation week. May 5th through May 9th was designated as National Teacher Appreciation Week for 2025. The commemorative week was created as an opportunity for students, families, and community
007members to recognize educational professionals for their service and dedication. As part of this year's celebration, TSD spotlighted five dedicated and hardworking teachers from across the district. Those stories can be found on our website at tsd.org and on our social media channels. In addition to those five inspiring stories, we also invited students and family members to nominate a favorite teacher for recognition on our social media accounts. Uh many of our schools honor teachers in special ways throughout the week. A huge thank you goes out to all of our amazing teachers and instructional staff across the district. And a little bit later on this evening, you'll be asked to uh pass a resolution commemorating uh teacher appreciation week. The 2025 trailblazing Thompson a salute to excellence event took place on Tuesday, April 22nd at Embassy Suites in
008Lovelin. The event recognized outstanding staff across the district honoring top of Thompson awards of excellence and community champion awardees along with recognizing TSG retirees and the Thompson Education Foundation educator of the year winners. This year was the first time that all recognition categories were celebrated together and the event was a big success with a lot of positive and encouraging feedback. Students from across the district submitted plans for the 2025 Youth Make a Difference contest, sharing both big and small ideas designed to create a positive impact in their schools or communities. This year's elementary winners are Winona Elementary fourth graders Quinn Beckin and Kinsley Schmidt, whose project focuses on improving the school's reading room to increase access to resources and create more opportunities for reading. The secondary school's uh winner is Mountain View High School freshman
009Luca Leendre, who plans to coordinate a skin care drive for underserved populations, offering both products and educational resources. Congratulations to all three students. Your projects are inspiring and will truly make a difference. On April 25th, 165 talented fourth and fifth graders from 15 Thompson School District elementary schools competed in the third annual TSD Elementary Robotics Scrimmage League competition at Lovelin High School. Each team participated in an interview with judges who evaluated them on core values including discovery, innovation, impact, inclusion, teamwork, and fun, as well as their robot design which showcased their building and coding skills. Family members filled the bleachers, cheering on their teams through three exciting rounds of robot performance. Teams strategized which missions to tackle during their two and a half minute matches to score as many points as possible. At the end
010of April, all three of my student advisor groups met for the final time this school year. At this month's board study session, the high school group presented their proposals on two major topics, substance abuse and class offerings, and did a wonderful job. The administrative team and I always enjoy meeting with these incredible students to learn about their school experiences and to hear their valuable feedback. On Wednesday, May 7th, the TSD career and college readiness team hosted their annual impact awards event which celebrates students as well as businesses and community partners and the meaningful impact that they make on career futures. Hosted at the Forge Event Center in Loveland, the celebration included recognition of valuable partners as well as the presentation of several impact awards. This past Thursday, we proudly celebrated the 2025 Project Search graduates
011at Banner McKe Health Center. Congratulations to all six incredible students who completed this life-changing program. Project Search is a dynamic one-year schooltoork program that empowers young adults with disabilities ages 18 to 21 to build realorld job skills and confidence for competitive employment. We're very proud of these graduates and all that they've accomplished. May 15th was a special day in TSD as students from across the district participated in the second annual elementary unified sports day at Thompson Valley High School. These young athletes had the opportunity to experience the excitement of participating in a variety of sporting events. Students, staff, and volunteers all had a wonderful time, and it was heartwarming to see so many smiles throughout the field at Patterson Stadium. Well, there's a familiar face. Congratulations to Stu Boyd and Caitlyn Little, uh, who are
012recognized by, um, Kada, which is the Colorado Athletics Directors Association. Um, again, congratulations to our, uh, very own Stu Boyd, vice president, who was recently named the 2024 2025 outstanding board member for the Colorado Athletics Directors Association. Mr. Boyd was presented the award in recognition of his valued service and contributions to Colorado Interscolastic Athletics. Um, Kada also uh presented its scholar athlete of the year award to Caitlyn Little from Lovelin High School, which included a $500 scholarship. The organization's mission is to support educational athletic programs through the promotion of the professional growth and image of intercolastic administrators. The awards were presented at the organization's 52nd annual conference in Breenriidge. So, is Alana Collins um I'm sorry, Ilana Collins, are you here? Can you come forward, please? So, this is um not a stranger to us.
013Iana has been um first she was a semi- finalist, then she was a finalist, and now she's a legitimate winner here. And she's she's always been a winner. But um as mentioned last month, we want to congratulate Mountain View High School senior Ilana Collins, who was selected as a 2025 Betcher Scholar as well as a recipient of the Daniel Scholarship. So, both So, winning both of these awards is an exceptional honor and we are very, very proud of her accomplishments. Lyanna plans on attending Colorado College in Colorado Springs this fall and we're going to take our first picture of the evening. How's that sound? [Applause] Okay, I'm going to invite up uh Sarah Rasmusen as well as uh we have three principles this evening who we want to uh recognize and honor. So, you can
014make your way up and then we will uh um I'll read some words here. At a ceremony hosted last Friday in Denver, the state of Colorado's Department of Education, CDE, formally presented academic achievement awards to three Thompson school district schools. The awards were earned as a result of student assessments that were completed last year. Administered each spring, the state of Colorado's assessment program is a standardsbased process designed to measure student performance at schools throughout the state. Bertha Elementary School and Coyote Ridge Elementary School were presented with the 2024 John Irwin Schools of Excellence Award, which is given to schools that demonstrate exceptional academic achievement over time. Kerry Martin Elementary School captured the 2024 Governor's Distinguished Improvement Award, which is presented to schools that demonstrate exceptional student growth. We want to congratulate uh these three schools.
015We have our proud principles from each of these schools representing. And uh again, we're really proud not only of you, but of your staff and of your students um for this wonderful achievement. Congratulations. So, we're going to invite you forward and I understand we have some staff members from these schools as well. If you'd like to um come forward and we'll we'll do one big grand picture and board [Applause] This evening we move on to our uh top of Thompson and community champion recognitions. Um this evening we um have um classified and licensed although we'll start with classified. We don't have either the nominator or the nominee there but I will um recognize them. Our classified award winner and again these are um peer nominated recognitions that we do monthly um celebrating um staff and
016um organizations throughout our district. So Tracy Doctor, who is our insurance benefit specialist, was nominated by Steve Fry. So um neither of them are present tonight, but we will make sure that Tracy does receive her um award, but our licensed are both present. And so I'm going to invite Christine Tina Trout, who is a kindergarten teacher at Berthood Elementary. And Christine, if you would come forward. Christine was nominated by Anna Marie Pike. So please come forward to the podium. I hear beeps. They may be in the other room. So, we'll And here they are. We'll have you uh go to the podium, please. Sorry. So, if you would read the the nomination, please. Oh, gotcha. Thank you. All right. So, this is Tina Trout. She teaches kindergarten at Bertha Elementary School. Tina demonstrates all the
017qualities of an exemplary teammate and member of a school community. She is driven and shows an abundance of initiative to support her teammates and students. She's not afraid to try new ideas or take constructive criticism to make positive change for all kids. She advocates for each of her students, no matter their skill or need to ensure that all students are able to feel successful and confident. Whenever there's a need on our kindergarten teaching team, she's the first to lend a helping hand, to provide coverage, to help with lesson plans, or to just take something off our plates to support us. She always has a positive outlook and attitude, and she loves to share some TLC with other staff. I cannot imagine our school without her. Congratulations. So, here's a small a small plaque for you
018that we'd like you to take. And um is this these are our only um awardes awardee for this evening. We'd love to take a picture with you if that's okay. Computer crash. Yes. One, two, three. [Applause] And before I wrap up, I do want to mention uh community champion award and uh they're not here this evening, but we'll still mention. So, Kids Hope mentoring program um Lori uh Fulka uh was uh going to be was nominated by Jessica Hinterberg. Um but again, we'll make sure that um Lori and Kids Hope gets the recognition. That concludes my report. Okay, thank you. Um, we're going to skip over 4.3, so we're going to move to 4.4, which is public comment. So, um, Don, would you please read the public comment, um, protocol? Because the board wants to
019hear the viewpoints of the public and also needs to conduct its business in an orderly and efficient manner, it will schedule time during its regular board meetings for brief comments and questions from the public. The board will set a time for public participation prior to the business portion of the meeting. The time for each speaker will be limited to 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 topic related to the board's conduct of the schools. Speakers may offer such criticism of school operations and programs as concern them, but are encouraged to
020exercise their speech rights responsibly. Speakers remarks should be suitable for an audience that includes kindergarten through 12th grade students. Personnel matters will be discussed in executive session. Finally, as a reminder to all present, the board and staff do not respond to public comment. This is our opportunity to hear from students, parents, and patrons. The board may discuss public comments later in the agenda or on future agendas. So this evening I will be reading two and three names ahead so that people can get in from overflow. So if you hear your name you're going to be cued. Uh up first we have Frankie Dixit. And as you come up um as you start talking the light will go green. When you have 30 seconds left it'll go to yellow. And then when you're done it'll flash
021for you. Oh, sorry. Yes. Thank you for the reminder of what I just said. Nate Donovan and then Claire Doyle. Okay, now quick question. I'm signed up way later. Can I just use the balance? We can't do that. Sorry. Go ahead. [Music] Bill important. Gracias. Next we have Nate Donovan, then Claire Doyle, then Janna Marzuch. Good evening, President Cruz, board members, Dr. Schaefer, and community members. My name is Nate Donovan. I have served as a school bus driver in the Thompson School District for 7 and a half years and have been active in preK to 12 education for 12 years. I also serve as treasurer of our Thompson Educational Support Professionals Association, known also as TESPA. Behind me and in the full overflow room are supporters wearing blue. Following me will be several folks with
022public comment and what I always thought was one of the most interesting parts of the school board meeting, especially when you hear unique perspectives or something unexpected. on behalf of a significant number of overall classified employees and dozens of my fellow transportation colleagues who signed the petition to you asking for recognition of TESPA. I offer the following example of the impact on mentoring students that classified employees have on a daily basis. I recently received a thank you note and graduation party invitation from a student who has ridden my bus for several years. It was surprisingly touching to me and I share it with you. Nate, I just wanted to thank you for driving me around all of these years. You were there for me when I needed it and I appreciate you. I will miss
023you. Thanks again. And there was a particular incident with this student that I didn't realize the impact that my actions had on her and I was very touched to receive that uh thank you note. We have the great honor and responsibility to help our students thrive. And TESSPA has been active in holding listening sessions to gain an understanding of the highs and lows of the work our fellow classified colleagues do for students, families, and the community. We respectfully ask you to include our collective classified voices in negotiating the employment agreement. Such collaborative efforts can work well. I have seen it in action in a neighboring school district. Thank you for your consideration, support, and your efforts generally on the school board. Next, we have Claire Doyle, then Janam Marsuch, and Cody Pierce. I'm so sorry
024for how I pronounce names. Good evening. My name is Claire Doyle. I am a paraprofessional in our district. I have been a parah here since 2001. Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you today. I would like to bring up some of the issues that the purists face throughout our district. The number one complaint I hear is that we do not get paid enough. We always hear that we could not survive or support our families on our own. Many of us are needing to work additional jobs just to pay our bills. I personally did house cleaning for 20 plus years, just to make ends meet. And I'm hardly an isolated case. Even when we're promised to receive raises, the amount is often so insignificant that it does not make any difference to our day-to-day
025lives. I have shown my loyalty to this district for going on 25 years and this is how myself and others get treated. It is disgusting. Supposedly, our classified staff advisory committee does a meet and confer for raises. My honest opinion is that I do not believe any negotiating is taking place on our behalf. I also hear very consistently that we do not have enough help. We have been understaffed for quite a number of years. The job is hard work. Every year is different and has different demands. We encounter very physical demands, lots of screaming and crying, refusal, and violent behaviors. Of course, we also have very happy, hard-working, and delightful students. I have had years where I started the year off with no te teacher and I was the only parah. No one has ever
026offered any type of compensation for the unfilled positions I have covered. In actuality, there has never even been an offer of appreciation. We are just expected to do it. We cover all of our students when the teacher needs to be out of the room for meetings such as IEPs, individualized education plans, and weekly specialed meetings. When we need to evacuate the classroom due to a student being unsafe, we can end up out of our room for a couple hours and we are teaching the students during that time. We oftentimes do not get our absences covered by substitute teachers or paras. Quite often our subs are not really capable of being much help to us in our classrooms. It is also pretty consistently heard that paras do not feel respected. We are on an island by
027ourselves. As I have already stated, we are many times short staffed. When we cannot get a sub for us, we are on the absence list. But it is never asked for staff to help fill our position like it is for teachers in our building. Thank you. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. We have Jana Marxich, Cody Pierce, and Lola Nelson. Good evening. My name is Janna Markwis. I am currently a certified health tech for the Thompson School District. Prior to this position, I worked as an ILC paraprofessional at one of our middle schools. I am here tonight to stress the importance of a contract for the education support professionals. First, I would like to address the need for respect for our individuals who work tirelessly to create strong, supportive, and safe environments for
028our students. Whether it's food services, custodial duties, health aids, pair professionals, or any of the other important functions that hold these schools together, you will find individuals working with strength and passion to provide spaces allowing our students to thrive. These individuals are frequently taken for granted. Given the time constraints of tonight's meeting, I will focus on just one position, that of the ILC paraprofessional. ILC stands for intensive learning classroom and means that it supports students with significant disabilities. Who here understands what an ILC parah does on a daily basis? You just heard Claire. I'll give you a hint. It's a whole lot more than babysitting or flipping burgers. Let me explain who our students are. We have incredible students who have challenges the majority of you will never understand. Our students may be in wheelchairs,
029walking or struggling to walk. They may be hard of hearing, deaf, mostly blind or completely blind. They may have feeding tubes. Yeah, feeding tubes, tra devices. They have barriers to learning like behaviors, cognitive impairment, and neurodeiverse brains. They will struggle to learn but they will learn because of our belief that all children have the right to a free and appropriate education in this country. So every parah will be learning about leading the blind basic braille behavior patterns medical conditions like recognizing seizures seizures feeding through a GI tube which is often different for different students. Various ways to assist students with toileting the differences between adaptive learning and modifications to learning. various forms of communication from basic sign language, adaptive devices, gestures, verbal and non-verbal. Our par professionals will learn behavior patterns, avoidance tactics, positive behavior
030support, documentation of behavior, and so much more. They will do all of this while frequently frequently understaffed, un underappreciated, and overworked. Their turnover can be high. Why? Because the rate of pay does not match the expectations. Low pay often leads to lowquality applicants. people who are not aware of the complexities of this position. I have seen new hires who believe their job is just to babysit. I have heard those same people exclaim, "Why teach them to learn? They'll never learn it wrong." With paraprofessionals like myself and the many who I know who are committed, our children will thrive, meet milestones, be safe, and feel loved. Our students don't want a babysitter. They want to learn, grow, and be the best they can, just like everyone else. By creating a contract, you will be showing us
031that you see our hard work, respect us, and understand that you need to be there. [Applause] Cody Pierce and Lola Nelson, and then Jennifer Dong. I know that you're all very passionate about being here tonight, and and I appreciate that you are here. I would like you to hold the applause so that we can get going get as many in as possible because once an hour is up, we're probably going to have to stop. Okay. Thank you. Good evening, President Cruz, board members, Superintendent Dr. Schaefer, staff and community members. My name is Cody Pierce, and I'm a parent. I'm a spouse of one of your staff members, and I'm also a fellow administrator from another district. My wife Jenna Pierce is excited to join Thompson in August of 2024 and especially Riverview. She was hired
032into a position that she had 10 years of experience at the high school level and was so eager to start in the elementary and middle school level as a library media specialist and technology facilitator. She was discouraged, however, in the three days before school started when she found out she was going to be teaching two Raptor 101 classes 5 days a week. She was given one piece of paper and told that's the curriculum for an entire semester. While she is not a certified teacher, she immediately knew one page of paper is not a semester's worth of work. When she tried to explain that she was not credentialed, she was asked she not a she asked not to be lesson planning, taking attendance, recording and submitting grades along with a number of other teachers responsibilities. She
033was told that in her job in uh description it says instruct. While she doesn't mind instructing, it is not appropriate that she is a classified employee, is the teacher of record, doing lesson plans, grading, classroom discipline, and so much more. As she worked with her administration and district administrators, she asked if she was going to be allowed to doing all of these teacher tasks like other teachers for prep and for compensation. While they did make adjustments for her prep time, which she was grateful for, they could not pay her as a teacher because she doesn't have a license. if she's doing the job of a teacher for those two periods, she should be paid like one or she should not be required to be a teacher of record. She also found out during this process
034that her colleagues in similar jobs at other schools saw these types of classes one time a week for 30 minutes where she's seeing them for 45 minutes every day, 5 days a week. While she does the best she can, neither position is being done at the level of which she expects of herself because she's pulled in too many directions. She's worked hard to build curriculum for her students. She's worked hard to program for the library and the media tech facilitator position. There were and continue to be inequities in regards to the work she is being asked to do compared to her fellow library media specialists and technology facilitators. She loves Riverview and her job at the same time. She should not be the teacher of record be required to do all of those things that
035teachers are cuz she is not a teacher. This should be a licensed teacher. Even if she continues to be the teacher of record, she should be compensated at a teacher at least honor the 10 years of service she's already done in this position. Well, in Windsor and severance has already said that they will use her past experience to increase her stepping column. Rather than 1881 an hour here, she'll be making closer to 23 an hour, which is what she made in California where we came from. She's just one examples of the inequities here in the district. We choose to be a part of this district. Please help her stay here. Thank you. Next up, we got Lola Nelson, Jennifer Dong, and Betty Pascal. My name is Lola Nelson. Thank you for I'm happy to be
036here, but I do have some concerns as a custodian for the Thompson School District. I've been a custodian since 2007. um coming up on 18 years um I feel like our department um does not get recognized um they do they make a lot of promises and it doesn't happen like equipment um carrying tables I have asked for a cart for the past 5 years and and have said yes we'll get it and I still haven't seen it as you can see my arm is from lifting tables we don't get enough support um our uh managers make a lot of promises and they don't support us when it comes to um people not doing their jobs. Um and I have to go and and help. Um I'm just a little nervous to be up here. Um
037I was not expecting this. I work two jobs. I work at Walmart. I leave from Ber High School and I go to Walmart. And here are my notes. And so in order for me to survive, I have to keep two jobs. Uh because what I make is not enough for to support myself, my family. Um and I feel like without us, how are kids going to achieve? If we don't clean, how are they going to come to school if they get sick? They're our future. There are lawyers. There are doctors. They're our future. Without us, our students will not be here. And so I am speaking for the custodial department to please approve this. We need more money. We work really hard and we don't get recognized. Thank you, Jennifer Dong. then Betty Pascal and
038Andy Chrisman. Good evening. My name is Jennifer Dong. I work as a pair professional in the effective learning center. My first year I worked in the intensive learning center. I've been in the ALC program for seven years now. The students I work with have high behavioral needs due to trauma. I love these students and what I do. There have been numerous times my job has required me to go above and beyond the job description. I used to buy educational materials out of pocket to help students with their learning and success and incentives. This one time I bought special pencil grips for a couple of the students which increased increased their writing abilities and the motivation to write. I have not been able to do this type of things this year because of the cost of
039living is so high. It does not match our cost of living increase. The stress of financial burden of a single inome household does take a toll outside and at school. It is taking good quality people away from the students who need selfless, caring and devoted classified staff that can't continue to commit to afford to this career. Our classified staff deserve financial security and respect. There is there are so many devoted classified staff that give their hearts and their souls to the students they work with. We deserve a career autonomy with the district and the board through union recognition. We have Betty Pascal, Andy Chrisman, and then Rob Eberly. [Music] Good evening, members of the board, co-workers, and interested citizens. I'm Betty Pascal. I'm a 17-year employee of the Thompson Schools Transportation Department. I'm a bus
040par professional, or as I like to say, the onboard mama. Uh, a story from this. Several years ago, I had two non-verbal wheelchair girls, one deaf, one blind, with a feeding tube. And uh, they love to tease me. They uh, when I would bend down to hook up one of the wheelchairs, the one behind me would yank on my shirt. And as soon as I turned around to her, the other one would yank on my shirt. and whenever they could, they would try to knock my hat off. They uh and then they'd both laugh like a son of a gun. I love interfacing or interacting with these special needs kids in unusual and unexpected ways. I also work with non-English-speaking youngsters to help them learn English. I enjoy working with kids, but not always with
041our administrators. Many of us feel the higherups don't have our backs when we encounter violent behavior, rudeness, and disrespect from students on the bus. I've been kicked and hit, and others have been bitten and knocked down, too. I know two of them that have had to quit because of injuries sustained on the job from students. Uh I've well sometimes I think we need um hazard pay. Uh our pay is not a living wage and is not equal to surrounding districts. Benefits could be better. Safety could be better and appropriate training could be better. Communications could be a lot better. We at transportation are frequently short staffed and with the timing of the bells, any little thing can make us late, including trains. Uh if the school is short-handed, they can't get out to the bus
042to take our special needs children's off the bus and then we can be late for the next school uh stop that we have to make. And that uh will frequently upset some of these children because it's uh not their regular way of doing things. Can't students can't learn if they aren't in a good headsp space and we set the tone for the day. There's no incentive for special skills or advanced training. Some someone may have I speak, read, and write Spanish. Others are certified EMTs. And there's no incentive reward. We're required to take 14 tests at least once a day or once a year. And we are not Thank you. Uh we don't have any say in the matter on next up. We've got Andy Chrisman, Rob Everly, and then Liz Liz Wadick. Hello Madame
043President, Dr. Dr. Schaefer, members of the board of education. I'm Andy Chrisman, a parent of two students at Thompson Valley and a past and future worker in the Thompson School District. I'm excited that the members of the Thompson Education Support Professionals Association are petitioning you tonight to elevate their voice to represent over 900 workers in the Thompson School District. And they're filling this room and a room just behind you. Our classified workers are a critical link between the school district, our kids, and our families and our communities. They are the first people our children see in the morning, the people that take care of them when they're hungry or sick, the folks who keep their learning environments clean, and the last folks they see when they leave school. Many more of our class moreover many
044of our classified more of our classified workers I talk pretty I promise live in our communities and more of them have children in our schools than any other group of workers in our school district. Their voices, opinions and well-being are essential to our well-being as a school system and as a community. In short, we need their voices in order to make sure we are being responsive to our kids, our families, and our community. They deserve wages and working conditions that enable them to continue living in and contributing to our community because when our classified staff are taken care of, our children are taken care of, too. One of my own children entered preschool and kindergarten with a feeding tube and needed help focusing on his eating well into middle school. Classified workers like Miss Amber,
045Coach Joe, Miss Ellie, Miss Sherry, and several others made sure Herby got the nutrition he needed every day. Danielle and I are forever grateful for the loving patient care and attention he received from so many. I'm particularly excited by the quality of the TESPA leadership that is bringing this petition tonight. Janna Lewis is a tsd graduate, a parent of a tsd graduate, and part of a family that has been deeply involved in serving our community for nearly 50 years. She has worked in several buildings in the school district. She is deeply invested in the success of this community and its children and will represent us well. Nate Donovan is a bus driver, attorney, and was a member of the Pter School District Board of Education for several years. Pter negotiates wall-to-wall with all of its
046workers each year. He understands firsthand what bargaining looks like from a board member's perspective and what board members need in order to feel they are successful in representing community stakeholders in the process. I feel Janet and Nate are the ideal leaders to set up a long-term successful relationship that gives our classified workers a true authentic voice in our school district community. I urge you to recognize TESPA as the official voice of classified workers in our school district. Thank you. We've got Rob Everly, then Liz Wadik, and Jana Lewis. Good evening, Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Schaefer. My name is Rob Everly and I'm a teacher at Mountain View High School and I've been in the Thompson School District for 25 years. I'm here tonight to voice my strong support for the recognition of
047the Thompson Education Support uh Professionals Association as the collective voice of all classified staff in our district. Every day at Mountain View, I see how the school relies on the dedication and hard work of our classified staff. the secretary who comes to work an hour before she's supposed to. Pair of professionals crucial for the support of special needs kids. Our campus monitors who keep our halls safe, custodians, food service workers, bus drivers, and so many more who help create and maintain the positive learning envir environment for our students. Yet, the turnover rate in classified staff is high. Jobs are hard to fill. And by February of this year, one in five classified staff had left their position in TSD. At Mountain View and across the district, classified staff are the first to greet our students
048in the morning and the last to ensure our schools are safe, secure, clean, and ready for the next day. Throughout their day, their contributions are essential. All too often, their voices are not given the platform they deserve and decisions that impact their jobs, their lives, and ultimately the success of our students. Without the support of classified staff throughout the district, teachers, counselors, and principles simply could not do the jobs of educa educating our children. Recognizing the Thompson Education Support Professionals Association as the collective voice of all classified staff in our district ensures these invaluable staff members have a seat at the table. It affirms that the district believes they deserve safe working conditions, job security, and the respect that comes with being heard. Stronger representation leads to better outcomes, not just for our support staff,
049but for the entire district. When our entire staff feels valued and supported, our students are better served. And that's a win for our greater Loveland and Bertha communities. This is not just about fairness. It's about strengthening our schools and the future of our students. Our district cannot function without our classified staff and they should not have to struggle to be heard. As a member of TEA and you as the board know the positive power of of collaborative action. By recognizing their collective voice, we're taking a meaningful step forward into ensuring they receive the agency, demonstrated respect, crucial resources, and stability they need to continue their vital work in the district and continue to live securely in our community. I urge you to do the right thing. I urge the Thompson School Board to recognize the
050Thompson Education Support Professionals Association as a representative body for all classified staff. Our schools are stronger when we all stand together. And tonight I stand with Tesa. Thank you. We've got Liz Bodic, then Jana Lewis, then Sue Timer. Hi, thank you for having me here. Um, my name is Liz Wadik. I'm a Spanish teacher from Summit County. Um, I am currently serving as the vice president of the Colorado Education Association. Um, with 40,000 members strong. And I'm here to assure you that at the state level, um, we work closely with Case and Casby and our needs and our values are often aligned and the relationship is quite sound. Um, we had reps from both Case and Casby speak at our rally this year and we work together with the common goal of strong public schools
051for Colorado students. Um, and you've heard from your classified staff about their experience in here at Thompson and that overflow room is completely full. Um, their pet petition for recognition is a sign that these workers are committed um and invested in the work of Thompson School District. They're saying that they believe in this district and that they want to be a part of the greater system. Um, that they want to work aside alongside you all to ensure that the needs of the students are met. Um, as I stated previously, I'm from Summit County where I was uh where I taught for the last 18 years. And the cell phones were recently banned at Summit High School and teachers report uh better engagement, less distraction, and it's, you know, super exciting and expected. But what wasn't
052expected for me when I walked in this year into Summit um as a visitor this year um is that the students are all over the commons in the at Summit High School playing ping pong and life-sized Jenga and talking and hanging out which was different from when I worked there last year. Um they're no longer on their playing on their phones. Um, so I approached a group of former students to say, "Who's winning? Who's winning in the ping pong?" And they said, "Oh, it's definitely Jace who's a student." And Jace, uh, I said, "Oh, yeah, high five, Jace." And he said, "It's actually Louise, our custodian. Uh, he crushes us." Um, and that, uh, Irma, our bus driver in Summit School District, who used to work in the cafeteria, is a mother to hundreds of
053Summit County students. Um, and that's that's the real deal. Our classified staff in our school districts are the lifeblood, the very fabric that makes up our districts. Um, give them a seat at the table so they can help you do the very best for the students from Thompson in your strategic plan. Uh, focus area two beautifully speaks of the goal of of fostering a welcoming environment, a feeling of hope, and a sense of belonging for students, families, and staff. They're telling you how they want to belong. They're telling you exactly how they want to belong um and what they would like in order to feel supported and comfortable in their growth right now. And they want recognition and a seat at the table. Thank you. We've got Jana Lewis, then Sue Timer, and then Courtland
054Fitzgerald. Good evening, President Cruz, Dr. Schaefer, and members of the board. My name is Jana Lewis and I stand before you tonight representing the Thompson Education Support Professional Association or TESSPA. We are the classified staff of this district, the bus drivers, para educators, cafeteria workers, custodians, office staff, and so many many more who make our schools function every day. We are the backbone of this district, and we are here tonight to ask you for your respect and your partnership. We are your neighbors. We live in these communities. Our children attend these schools. We are invested in the success of our students and the well-being of our district. We love our jobs. We are dedicated to our students and to providing the best possible support for their education. However, we face significant challenges. Many of us
055struggle to make a living wage in this district. We are working harder than ever and we are seeing our colleagues leave for better opportunities elsewhere. As we discussed at the last board meeting, 20% of classified staff in Thompson left their position this spring before the school year has even ended. This turnover disrupts the stability of our schools and negatively impacts our students. We know better than anyone what we need to improve our working conditions and professional development. We know what it takes to create a positive and productive learning environment for our students. We are the experts in our roles and we want to have a voice in the decisions that affect our work and our students learning spaces. We believe that by partnering with the district, we can make Thompson School District a truly exceptional
056place for students and staff alike. We want to work collaboratively to improve our working conditions, retain quality employees, and ensure that our students receive the support they need to thrive. We understand the importance of fiscal responsibility and challenges facing our district and the state. We are confident that by working together, we can find solutions that benefit everyone. Recognizing TESPA as the sole bargaining unit is the first step to building a strong collaborative partnership as well as showing us that you value and respect us as professionals. It is my honor and privilege tonight to present you with 543 signatures of over 60% of your classified staff asking for the opportunity to work with you and be recognized as the sole bargaining agent for classified employees. I am reminded of the powerful insightful words of Maya Angelo.
057Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. We are ready to work with you. We are ready to make a difference. We are ready to make Thompson School District the best it can be for our students. Thank you for your time and consideration. We got Sue Timer, Courtland Fitzgerald, and then Leah Johnson. Good evening, Madam President, Dr. Schaefer, members of the board. I'm Sue Timer and I'm president of the Thompson Education Association. Um, and I'm here to talk to you about the amazing collaboration we had through negotiations this year between district administrators representing you as the board and teachers in Thompson. Um as you know we had a lot of tough questions, a lot of long days spent um working through things and together collaboratively we have
058come up with um plans that will improve education for students in Thompson will improve working conditions for uh for teachers and will um uh help with the uh retention of staff recruitment and retention of staff. I'm really proud of the work we have done. Um after we had reached a tenative agreement, we did um send it to the um TEA body for ratification, we had um 90 uh 60 69% of our members vote and over 99% of those members voted to ratify it. So, I want you to know that there's a strong support uh from the teachers for the um uh tenative agreement you will be looking at tonight. And I can only hope that at some point you will also be hearing a a report like this from TESSPA that they have also been
059collaboratively working with you to move things forward. Thank you. We've got Courtland Fitzgerald, then Leah Johnson, and then Lori Goel. Well, then if Courtland is not speaking, we've got Leah Johnson and then Lori Goel. Good evening, Board of Education. Uh, thank you for your service. I know these positions can be thankless. So, um, I'm here breaking up the TESSPA testimony, but, um, super supportive of them and what they're doing for sure. Um, I am here to follow up on my daughter Frankie, uh, who came and spoke to you and eloquently in Spanish, um, in support of the dual language immersion program and the magical school that is Trescat Elementary. Um, I try and come at least once or twice a year to express my gratitude um to you all and them as a as a
060school and in the district um so people know what the amazing things that are happening um all around our district and specifically at Trescat Elementary School. I get emotional because I am so grateful to send my children to a place every day that I know they are taken care of. there are educators there who love them and care for them and are invested in who they are as humans and who they are and what they're becoming. And I know um I now have a fifth grader who's going to go to Bill Reid next year. And I'm very excited to start to work with Bill Reid as well on how we continue to um develop and encourage and uh foster the DLI program in our district and celebrate it as a program that truly um creates
061a global community right here in in Loveland. And we were so lucky to have the tenure celebration. Uh and I saw some of you there just a couple weeks or a week ago I guess now. Um, and I just I just want to stop and pause and celebrate what that means for our community and for our students and the the kids that are a part of it. And it's truly building that global community. And my daughter's ability to speak Spanish has now expanded her horizons and her ability to learn and have friends. Um, she we had the gift to go and live in Mexico for three months earlier this year and went to school there because of the gift of the DLI program. She's traveling to Spain this summer because of the gift of the
062DLI program. And so I think it's so powerful that we are creating a global community right here in Loveland and it's because of that program. And so I just want to thank the district. I know that there's been some uh questions about how it's proceeding and I know that I I I want to thank you all for stepping up. I still believe there's work to be done, but I think that we're moving in the right direction and I want to thank you for that. And again, I will just um want to give my deepest gratitude to the educators at Trescat Elementary School for making my children's educational experience nothing short of magic. So, thank you. And last up, we have Lori Goel. Lori Goel. Okay. All right. Lori Goel, if you are coming from the
063other room, you're the last one up. Nobody and we don't have any callins. Correct. We're trying to be [Music] patient. I don't see her. If she comes, we'll we can take it to Yeah. All right. We're going to assume that's the end of public comment and we are ready to move on to our action consent items. All right. Our action consent items are items that we have seen at previous meetings um or have standard pieces that come through each month like uh maybe there's a resolution or it could be there it's our donations or it's it's uh cost over $50,000. So these are the things. It's a long list. So, I'm going to share it, read it all the way through, and then I'll ask my partners up here if anybody has something they want
064removed or pulled to another item. And um then we'll do these all as one, but this is a long list, so be patient. Um 5.1 is the approval of personnel extra duty coaching recommendations. 5.2 was the approval of expenditures over $50,000. 5.3 is the approval of the second reading exhibit JQE student fees. 5.4 is the approval of elementary English language arts curriculum benchmark advanced benchmark adilente um with the with the associated learning costs. 5.5 is the approval of the Head Start community assessment. 5.6 is the approval of the termination of the YMCA lease agreement. 5.7 is the approval of the 2025 director district boundary. 5.8 is the approval of the revised grant contract with Lurmer County and Thompson Career Center, the TCC. 5.9 is the approval of the contract of EV bus charging stations. 5.10
065is the approval of the second reading of DID inventories and property accounting. 5.11 is the approval of probationary license staff contracts. 5.12 is the approval of the 2025 2026 um Thompson School District Organization chart. 5.13 is the approval of the proclamation recognizing National Teacher Appreciation Week. Hold on just a minute. Is that it? Okay. All right. I'm sorry it was so long and then I thought I had a little bit more on another page. Um, is there anything that the board members want to pull for further discussion? Nancy, I'd like I would like to pull item 5.2 and 5.9. 5.2 2 and 5.9. So 5.2 is the approval of expenditures. Okay. 5.9 is the um bus charging stations. All right. So we will re number all of that. Um I assume that Laura Lee will
066take care of that to get them numbered correctly for us. Thank you. All right. Um we'll discuss those. Then I'll move to our next item. Yeah. Okay. Um, this is also the time when I would like Stu to read the approval of the uh the proclamation recognizing National Teacher Appreciation Week. I'm honored to do this proclamation honoring National Teacher Appreciation Week. Whereas teachers mold future citizens through guidance and education. And whereas teachers encounter students of widely differing backgrounds. And whereas our country's future depends upon providing quality education to all students. And whereas teachers spend countless hours preparing lessons, evaluating progress, counseling and coaching students, and performing community service. And whereas our community recognizes and supports its teachers in educating the children of this community. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Thompson School District Board
067of Education proclaims May 5 through9 2025 to be teacher appreciation week. And be it further resolved that the Thompson School District Board of Education strongly encourages all members of our community to join with it in personally expressing appreciation to our teachers for their dedication and devotion to their work. Thank you, Stu. We appreciate all of the teachers. That's for sure. All right. I will take a motion to um approve the items with the exception of the two that have been pulled. So moved. Second. So I have a first from Don and a second from Denise. Yes. Okay. Thank you. All right. Laura Lee, would you please call the role? Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Don Kirk. Hi, Barbara Cruz. Hi, Alexander Lessum. Hi, Nancy Rumpel. Hi. Thank you. And it carries. All
068right, let's move into our discussion action items. The first discussion action item is the approval of the tenative agreement um for negotiations which Sue was talking about. Does anybody have any questions about this agreement agreement that Okay. You gonna come up and share a little bit with us, Tom? Is that what you Okay, if you would like. That's fine. That's fine. And I don't think so. We want Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Schaefer, Tom, director of human resources. I'm here along with a few of my colleagues for um negotiations team. Sue will be um presenting with me also to answer any questions for you. Okay. I'm Sue Timer, president of Thompson Education Association. So, thank you for having us tonight. Um, this uh discussion action item, we had provided a bunch of information
069at the last meeting and so we're really just here to find out if there's any questions that you have for us. And the um slideshow I don't believe is working right. So, um just to highlight um parts of the agreement that we had talked about having um the increases uh for staff and um maintaining the uh insurance. Um it's a a big support for staff moving forward and uh we just wanted to make sure that we talk about the great relationships that we have with TEA and the association and the um fund we have in spring negotiating over a few hours and a few meetings. You have good snacks. I've I've been there. We have good snacks. Any other any other information you want us to know? Okay, folks. Do you have questions? Okay, let's
070start down at Denise. Do you have any questions or Okay, Alexandra. Nancy, I I only have a comment in that. Um I think it's good that there was some movement forward coming forward on the discipline behavior issues. Um, I will say that I'm still I hope that this task force that's going to be put in place because we've already had this study for like two years. And I think as we heard from the classified tonight, this is an issue that doesn't just affect teachers, it affects the entire organization. And so I'm really hopeful and looking forward to what this task force comes up with because it's a critical issue we need to solve and I um would encourage you to really make sure that we have good parent representation with this because they're part of
071the solution. But I just wanted to share my concerns. I just think it's such an important issue. I appreciate you bringing that up and that is absolutely a a very big deal for teachers. I will tell you that uh part of that task force, one of their charges is to be sure that classified staff can now also input um discipline referrals which has been a really big issue that they couldn't. So definitely even though they are not at the table, there's something that we really care deeply about as well. Okay. All right, Ste. I don't. Done. I guess I would hope that we could have classified representation given that, you know, the intensity of of some of the things we heard just this evening. Um, and the fact that we know that we see different
072um challenges that might exist in different environments as you all are aware. Um, so I would love to see that as well. Um, in order to be able to really get to those solutions that are systemic and not just solving one at a time. That'd be great. I would take a motion to approve the tenative agreement for from negotiations. So moved. I'll second. I guess it's a first from uh Don and a second from Nancy. All right, Laura Lee, would you please call the role? Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Lesum. Hi. Nancy Rumpel. Hi. Yay. Congratulations. All right. Thank you very much. Um, one bit of business with the concluding statement. We'll just do the signatures um from carbon um and date. So, I'll just
073Okay. Okay. Okay. We have to really track Amy down this week. Okay. Um, do you have a pen? Here. I got one now. I I don't write with um two places. No. Oh, that's Yeah. Yeah. No, I wouldn't do that. Okay, there you go. All right, our next one is the approval of our incoming superintendent contract. Does anybody have any discussion or questions about it? Yay. I would take a motion to approve the incoming superintendent contract. So move or seconded. Okay, Stew and then Don. Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd, I. Denise Chapman, I. Amy Doran. Don Kirk. Hi. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Lesum. Hi. Nancy Rumfel. Hi. Yay. So, we have a replacement and it's free. You will be free to go when it's time. We aren't going to hold you hostage.
074Not yet, though, Dr. Schaefer. You have a few more things to accomplish. All right. Um the next item then is going to be uh 6.3 which I think is the expenditures over 50,000 that Nancy pulled. Did you share with us? I pulled this because um when we were at the study session this item particular item wasn't on um the list and I was brought to my attention by a constituent. It's the complete digital LLC um for 60,000 for the tsd digital promotional videos. And so I did an RFI that I believe Bob completed, maybe Mike helped him as well. So my concern with it is a in reading this policy, I'm a little uh I just like clarification first on because the money has already been expended. It's already been committed. obligated and so we've
075already spent this money 60,000 for two videos to run for two months. Um so to me it would seem that this is something that should come before the board before we commit those dollars in case there's questions or an issue. That's one issue. The second one is is based on my looking at the video and seeing what was being done for $60,000. It's just my opinion. I don't think that was a good use of money. I think there's other ways we can engage and educate the community. I think the $60,000 could have been far better spent in fact on some of these pair of professionals tonight or some supplies for them or for the teachers. I just I don't think that this was a good use of money. And unfortunately, because these are all lumped
076in one. I I have to I have to vote no on everything on this list even though it's only one thing. So, um that's the reason I pulled it. Any further comments? I guess I'd just like to point out that I've seen the video um the ad dozens of times in the last like few nights. And so um I guess I I the saturation that we're getting for for that is uh pretty remarkable. Um and I just wanted to point that out that there is high visibility on that. So I think as far as the cost is concerned um I'm I've been seeing it a lot. Anybody else? Mr. Iversall. Um Madame President, members of the board, Dr. Schaefer uh reporting for uh Mike Houseman who's at his daughter's eighth grade graduation tonight. That's right.
077Yes. Um u part of the expenses of this is ongoing expenses that for other advertising communications and that was less than $50,000. This additional ad campaign pushed it over to $50,000. So that's part of why it's coming to at this point. But I understand the con concern we're trying to have these contracts to you before they actually get to that point. Uh and we'll work with that on the future. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. I would take a motion to approve the uh I want to find approval of the expenditures over 50,000. So moved. Second. So that was Denise and Don. Laura Lee, please call the role. Stu Boyd. I. Denise Chapman. I. Amy Doran. Don Kirk. I. Barbara Cruz. Hi. Alexander Lesum. I. Nancy Rumpel. No. All right. So that motion fails. Um
078I mean passes. Excuse me. Um 5 to one. All right. The next one is 6 point uh 6.4 is going to be the one of approval of the contract for EV bus charging stations. Nancy, um I'm pulled it simply because staying consistent in the way I've been voting on the electric buses using federal and straight state grant money that also requires us to destroy three other buses in order to get these electric buses. I just stand by I don't believe it's an appropriate use of any taxpayer money regardless of the source. It's especi especially frustrating when we're looking at potentially cutting special education transportation as we're buying these three buses. So, I'm just pulling it so I can vote no. Thank you. All right. I'll take a motion for the approval of the contract for
079EV EV bus charging stations. So moved. Second. Thank you. So that was Don and Alexandra. Laura Lee, please call the RO. Stu Boyd. I Denise Chapman. Hi. Amy Doran, Don Kirk, hi. Barbara Cruz, hi. Alexander Les, hi. Nancy Rumpel, no. All right, we'll move into our discussion items now. And we'll begin with 7.1, which is middle school bell. Middle school bell schedule. Mr. Robinson and Sarah. Okay. I didn't realize you were coming, too. All right. Good evening, Madame President, Dr. Schaefer, members of the board. Sarah Rasmmanson, interim assistant superintendent of learning services, and this evening, I have the privilege of being able to introduce the presentation for the middle school common bell schedule for the um upcoming school year. First, we'd like to start off by just um making the strive 2025 connection. As we
080are looking at this um adjustment to our middle school bell schedule, we are impacting student achievement as well as um focus area two, which is inclusive and supportive culture. So, when we think about our um goal in Thompson School District, it's to ensure that we have a guaranteed and viable curriculum. So when we think about that, we are thinking about highquality instructional materials. Each student has access to that. We also want to make sure that each student has access to strong instructional strategies in each classroom. And a third component of a guaranteed and viable curriculum is making sure that each student has equal time within the content. And so this evening, um, our team will explain a little bit more about how how this middle school bell schedule is going to do just that. Greetings,
081Madam President, Dr. Schaefer, members of the board. I'm Theo Robersonson, executive director of secondary ed. So when we look at our agenda, one of the things I wanted to bring up is the current state of reality as it relates to our middle school bell schedules. And so we're able to see that we actually have a ton of autonomy that we give our schools in order to create their own bell schedules. And so within this some of the things that we find that um are indifferent to one another or some of the things such as our dual language immersion time. So because we allow our students to I'm sorry our teachers to plan the schedules sometimes we see that we have inequity there in those areas. Also we see that we have shortage in elective time
082amongst our schools as well. So in some schools in variation there's a certain amount of time that we allocate to our to our actual elective programs too. And then in addition to that one of the things that as uh Sarah our assistant superintendent just stated is that we really want to ensure that we have instructional time that's more aligned across the system as well in order to ensure that the guaranteed viable curriculums that the districts are bringing on board is actually being implemented with integrity. And then also one of the things that we saw that was in discrepancy as well is our teacher plan time. So we've seen a ton of variation throughout our different middle schools as it relates to teachers plan time. And so when we think about the professional learning that we've
083been developing in the system around professional learning communities, these are one of those areas where that plan time is critical to support our teachers. Also, one of the things that we have within our presentation is the timeline. And so when we started this work, Sue Tamer, our uh TA president and myself, one of the things that we found in our initial committee meetings is the importance of understanding what's working and what's not working with that current system pertaining to the autonomy that we were providing to our schools. And so what we were able to do during two eight-hour meetings between November to January was we actually kind of worked through what of our working and non-working components of the schedules that we currently have. Then in February, what we were able to do was kind
084of refine some of that conversation with the purpose of developing our priorities and using that interestbased model that we use in negotiations to better define some of the priorities that we were going to have. And so within that, some of those priorities obviously would be our students having the appropriate classroom time for the instruction that we need, but then also teachers having that adequate plan time as well. And then from there, what we were able to do is actually create some videos and actually some of the board members were actually available in our middle school advisory committee to facilitate some of that table conversations with our students. But we're able to show that and take some feedback from our students. Then in March, what we were able to do was solicit more stakeholder feedback from
085our actual parent community and then also our students as well. And then we took that work back to our to our committee to try to refine some of those schedules as well. And then also currently we're in the process of doing some conversations pertaining to professional development to better support our system around planning specifically for our students that are multilingual learners and our students that are um have disabilities as well. And then one of the things that came up also in April was that when we got all of our survey results back, we also took that work back to our teachers and had our teachers vote on the schedule that they felt would best meet their needs as well. And then so Sue will be able to talk to you more about that process. Right.
086So, um, we out of some of those eight hour days, we ended up creating four schedules that met the various criteria that the district put forward. How many minutes of instruction in each subject um, and a variety of those kinds of pieces. So, um, two of the schedules were very, very similar. They each had, um, ELO, which is going to be an advisory kind of time. one put it at the beginning of the day and one put it at the end. So, we referred to those as schedule one and schedule two and just kind of lumped them together. Uh, but those those schedules had core class periods of 65 minutes each um on on long days, uh, 56 minutes on Wednesdays, elective classes of 42 minutes and 40 minutes on Wednesdays, four-m minute passing time
087between classes, 30 minute lunch. Um and then that ELO time was 33 minutes on u Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and 15 minutes on um a Wednesday. There was a very different schedule built that schedule three. Um it had a Monday, Tuesday, a traditional six period day with anywhere from 53 to 56 minutes. Wednesday late start but with six shortened periods 43 to 46 minutes. And then Thursday and Friday um in that schedule had a block schedule with three extended blocks of about 108 or 110 minutes each. One of them was split by lunch. Um and then in addition to that there was an interesting component u that so so within those the core and the electives were the same length of time. So, um, uh, each of those blocks and then the the smaller times
088on Monday, Tuesday, those were all the same amount of time for elective class or core class. Um, and then an um, an interesting component of that was that there was this interesting three periods around lunch, which um, students would get um, um, lunch, intervention, and extension. So each student would get um one of each of those within that chunk in the middle and then those blocks um or the um other periods would be out and before it. Um one of the drawbacks to that in many people's eyes was that passing period had to be shrunk to three minutes in order to meet all those other minutes. And then there was a fourth schedule um which had Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday um seven period day with additional ELO time. The periods were 55 minutes each for
089core and elective. Um and again passing time of three minutes. Um and then lunch was scheduled um staggered throughout the middle of the day. Um and Wednesday was similar to that with just a little bit um shorter schedule. And um okay. So then we shared these with um the middle school advisory committee. Some of you were there. It was kind of interesting to see. Big takeaways from the uh middle school advisory. Three minutes is not adequate for passing. We probably should have five, but four would do. Um and don't shorten my lunch. Not that any of these shortened lunches because teachers are guaranteed a duty-free lunch. Um but here are some of the things they said. So when they looked at the one and two, um they said they liked the passing period, they liked
090ELO at the at the end on one um and some liked it on two where it was at the beginning. Um lunch was too early. Um they didn't like back-toback electives. Um they wanted more breaks spread out. Kids kids see the world in ideal terms, right? Um, so there were several things, but but really they were um things they might say about any schedule. Um, when they looked at schedule three, they didn't have a lot of positive to say about it. They did like that core and um electives were the same amount of time. Uh, but they said the schedule was too complicated, which you might have heard from teachers as well, and passing period was too short. Um, and they thought lunch would be too short because they would only eat for 15 minutes
091and have 15 minutes of recess. I don't know why that didn't come up anywhere else because it was the same. Um, so and and they thought electives might be confusing in that. They also looked at schedule 4. They liked that it had equal class time for core and elective classes. Um, they did not like three minute passing. Lunch is too short. Lunch is too early. ELO's too short. You know, those kinds of things. We also looked at and there are links in your slideshow um that take you to the summary of the results from the students as well as results from parents. We didn't have a lot of students or parents um able to complete it. I think we just didn't have a long enough time period. Um there's one slide in your show that
092shows you um looking at where votes fell u by school and I'll go into talking about that a little bit more from a different um angle of criteria. But if you look at that, you just see that votes were all over the place. The the color wheels are different across the the schools. And that told you that there wasn't we weren't finding consistency in responses from the schools for sure. There wasn't one thing that was completely standing out. Um, schedules one and two were were preferred, but not strongly and not consistently. We had had the te this the team working on this um create uh priorities um and criteria we would call in negotiations and and they prioritize those and one their top priority was collaborative plan time. And when we looked at collaborative plan
093time, schedule one and two um was preferred and then schedule four and not very many people liked schedule three in terms of collaborative plan time. Um another was meeting the needs of each student which was talked a lot about about the small populations um multilingual learners, students in special education or gifted education. Um and if you see the vote looks fairly similar. one and two had the best um were seen the best schedule four and then schedule three. Actually, if you go through, I think people started to look at these schedules and think one could one schedule of some type could do it all because the votes kind of come through the same. Equitable for teachers again, one and two, then four, and then three. Um, sustainable. This was pretty big because we don't want
094to make a lot of change for something that we can't continue. Again, one and two preferred, then schedule four, then schedule three. And one more area that we had them look at was student voice and choice. Where do will students have opportunities for choice? Will their voices be heard? Again, one and two and then and then four and three was not popular across the board. So, when we looked at all of this, we realized that there was not a consistent there was not a a a strong winner among them. There was not one that seemed to meet all of that. They all meet the requirements from the district. They all um to some degree meet the priorities that the team set up. And so it was suggested u by Dr. Schaefer and it agreed upon
095when we looked at that to pilot three of the schedules. We took three out because it was it was a complicated schedule and it was not appreciated um by the teachers or any of the groups as much. one and two that are almost exactly the same except that they have ELO at the beginning of the day or the end of the day. A lot of philosophy on that. Those were um available for piloting and four which has core and elective the same in their seven uh periods through the day. So each school was able to pick one of those three schedules to pilot for this upcoming year. And as it turned out, two of the schools are going with one or two and two of them are going with four. Um so so there will
096be it will be interesting to see data. We plan to look at data next year and see how achievements going and look at various other criteria and try to determine if there one of these schedules is leading the way or whether perhaps this is something because they all meet so many of the criteria perhaps they could continue to pick between them. Miss anything? Okay, questions. I'm going to start. Okay. Um, the K8s, are they part of this or not? Because I I I sat in on some of those sessions and it was explained to us. That is a really good question. Um, we we realized that K8s can't necessarily do the same thing that the middle schools can do. So, right after we got started with the process with middle school, couple weeks later or
097something, we started a proc the same process with K8s, but their schedules are so complex that even before we got to the point of the voting and whatever that we did with middle school, we said we need to put a time on this and we need to bring um K8s back together next year. Okay, that makes sense. I'll start down here. Any questions, Stew? Yes. Will the pilots um be for the entire school year next year? Yes. Will you do any midyear or partyear evaluation or are you waiting until the end of the year to do? So what we know we want to look at is we want to look at our student sense of belonging data, the staff's data also and panorama survey. We're also going to look at the beginning of the year
098and compare that to the middle of the year I Ready data as well. And then we also want to reconvene our committee to also get some additional things we want to look for as well. Followup question that if one of the pilots appears to be a disaster partway through the year, are you going to continue it for the entire year anyway or might you switch to one of the other options? Let me let That's not a question we had addressed yet, but I think as we're pulling people together, if one of the schedules isn't working, obviously we need to look at something. I don't know that we would have enough data to see that any of them was a disaster early in the year, but certainly I mean, I don't think we're tied to something
099that isn't working for students really thinking about maybe midyear. uh by mid year something could emerge as just not working. So you are prepared to address that if it happens. And thank you. No, and and I'll add in a little bit more to that too. So some of the rationale of comparing middle of the year. So what we'll look at is the current I Ready data that's coming in for end of the year. Then we'll look at the beginning of the year I Ready data. Then the middle of the year I Ready data. And there would be some opportunities like we've had in the past where students have changed I'm sorry the principles have changed some schedules in our system at the midyear because they saw some things weren't working. So there would be some
100opportunity but we don't want to think that into existence. So well thanks for not being locked into something that doesn't work. Nancy, um I was there at the when they were doing it and and it was actually really quite interesting some of their comments, but I was going to point out to you so at my table it did get brought up about a five minute passing period and all of the kids were just like we don't need it and anyone who needs five minutes they're just wasting it. They're trying to do no I mean these were the kids saying I just listened. So, um, they all seem to really like the fourminute, but when you brought up the five minute, I was like, I remember when they were all just like, no, no one needs
101five minutes, but, um, it was a really good collaborative process with all the kids. Alexandra, um, I just have a question about I know, well, one, I'm glad nobody's doing three because that sounded way too confusing. Um, but my question is how many how many class periods typically do they have? Because I know that one had six and then four has seven and does one two have seven as well and is that standard? Is that like what they have now is seven or what does that vary between schools as well? So once you have six plus the ELO and so each teacher is teaching four although of core um electives it would look a little bit different because one and two have that shortened elective period to get more electives in but for core teachers
102they're teaching four of the six periods the other two periods the kids are in electives and then everybody's teaching the ELO. Okay. And so for schedule four, the seven periods, one of those is ELO as well. So there's still like the six, four cores, two electives, and then ELO. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Thank you. And Denise, no questions. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. Actually, I do have something. Sorry. Um I just wanted to throw back to um little old me when I was shorter. Believably, I was at one point shorter at Wall Clark and um I needed more than the time we had. Um and I have heard from multiple students who have uh varying needs that aren't represented by our student focus groups that the current time isn't enough. And so I do want to make
103sure that that doesn't get lost because there are students who are already struggling um whether it's due to their height and their short legs or whether it is because of any other need that gets moved into those short passing periods. Some of our buildings are bigger than others. Um and um some of our classes it's dumb luck, right? You have the classes that are the farthest apart close back toback and that kind of thing. So, I do want to make sure that that gets um brought back into this because I have that come up multiple times every year from students who aren't in that focus group. All right, thank you you guys. Our next item is 7.2 and uh the 25 2025 2026 budget development update. Good evening, Madame President, members of the board, Dr.
104Schaefer. My name is Bob Iversol. I'm chief financial officer. And with with me is Zach Moser, who's our director of finance. Um our uh first slide talks about our connection with uh strive 2025 um which uh relates to the increased alignment of resources reflect the needs identified in the strategic plan some of which you heard tonight with the earlier presentations and to provide transparency in the use of resources. Uh we are following the same procedure we did last year where we give you a preliminary budget. Now we have the draft full budget will be available uh next week. Uh that will be available online in per board policy. It'll be available at the Berard and Lovelin libraries, the Lovelin Chamber of Commerce. And there will be a notice of this budget being available in the
105Reporter Herald. Uh uh Monday uh June 9th, we'll be holding a community forum in this room from 5 to 7:00 p.m. That's included in the advertisement. Uh the June 4th board study is when you'll have the full discussion on the full budget and then that will come back again to your final uh June meeting on June 18th. It will have another opportunity for public comment separate from the regular public comment. Um so we uh our pupil count is going down. Uh it's going down approximately 500 students this year uh starting for next year. Again, that can change as of October 1st. We never know that for sure, but that's pretty consistent with what's going on throughout Colorado as well. Um, program revenue, uh, program revenue, program revenue. Uh, state of Colorado continues to teach me
106new lessons as we go along with the revenue. Uh, the number that we have at this point is the final budget that was signed by the governor and finalized thereafter at 159 million. That is a hold harmless number that does not take into effect of our reduced student population. They have told us we're going to get that same number next year regardless of student population. Now, if the student population goes up, we will get additional aid, but that's what we know at this point. Not taking bets on the on the legislature. our override uh money that's coming in. Um we have a cap and it's based on the state aid that you get 25% plus a cost of living adjustment. Seems to be a reverse incentive because if state aid goes down our percentage max
107goes down as well. It almost seems like we should be able to make up the difference but I don't write the laws. Uh so we'll be uh that we've given you information on we are getting additional revenue that's been factored into preliminary budget at this time. Other revenue that we get we get a reimbursement for transportation doesn't cover the entire part but it covers a portion. We get money for trans special education doesn't cover the entire program but it covers a portion of it. Career and technical education we get money doesn't cover the whole thing but it's a portion. Uh specific ownership tax, we all pay taxes that get funneled back to us from the various taxing agencies. Um universal prek, there's revenue. Doesn't cover everything, but covers a lot. All of the revenue uh
108this year, we have upped the estimate based on investment income. Uh that was uh lower than lower in the past years. Uh we're trying to be frugal with our estimate but trying to capture as much as we possibly can to try to get to a point where next year at the end of the year our revenues are as close as estimate as possible. FTE costs as we've said before about 80% of our costs are in staffing costs including salaries and uh benefits. Um this year health insurance has gone up 13% which is about $2.3 million to the district. Um you approved the contract tonight. So the licensed staff will be receiving a 2 uh 5% to each cell and that we will be funding the steps and columns as people get additional educational duties and
109move up on the steps. That's approximately another 2%. uh like um this is offset by reduced full-time equivalent of about 43 positions due to the reduced P pupil count and I'll talk a little bit about that. So the process this year included human resources business services executive director directors of elementary secondary and special ed. We reviewed the needs and requests of staffing for each school because of the expertise of the room in there. They looked at the demographics scores, the staff skills at the schools, and the compliance requirements for special education, Medicaid, and title funds. That's a lot to consider. I was impressed in my short tenure with the expertise of the people in the room. They knew what was going on at each school. Um then that created a staffing pattern that was sent
110back to the principles. They appealed some things saying we need a little bit more. You may not know about these various things like that. A process was included to increase it to an certain extent but we still had reduction of staff during that part. During my various visits with the principles, they knew what they were doing. They understood at the local level what they needed to do to make sure that the students were going to get the proper education. this uh there is no increase to the employer or employee share of the para cost for retirement at this point. That's a really great thing. Um this staffing costs um uh let me come back to that part. the classified uh administrative and professional staff will be receiving the similar pay as the license of 4.5%
111and for the classified employees we've been able to include a 5.5% with the recognition we're trying to include the staffing for those uh employees. Um we took into account the DAC recommendations which included we need to make sure we were paying our teachers what they should be paying. uh this sal the negotiated salary is bringing the salary to I believe a 50 close to a $55,000 starting salary which is your goal was trying to get eventually to a $60,000 level at some point. I will note having worked in the nonprofit world for many years that we are reducing student pupil count and therefore reducing teachers. that doesn't reduce the administrative burden that we have because of the reporting requirements for Medicaid, Title 5, uh, special ed requirements, Colorado Department of Education, the federal department of
112education, you still need a certain level of administrative staff to comply with that. You go back to the audit from last year with one of the recommendations that you need additional staffing in the finance department for compliance for grant compliance. That's part of the discussion. So at this point there is no reduction in administrative um costs at this point and in fact there's an increase due to the pay raises that will be given. Uh that will certainly be reviewed as we go forward this next year. I included a chart that included reductions in the budget. What we should have said is reduction of the budget requests. So we have a line that says we're reducing utilities by $200,000. Actually, utilities are going up $400,000. We reduce the budget for utilities by $200,000 and move that
113over to the debt because we are going to have a $5 million project to reduce water and electric use by increasing energy efficiency in the buildings. So, we're moving the savings that we're getting from the utility and moving it into a debt type of account. So, we pay the lease purchase for that items. So a lot of the items, so for instance, facilities maintenance, it was a $550,000 decrease. Actually, we funded it at $600,000 last year and the request was 1.6 million. We have millions of needs for us. We understood why that was requested. In order to balance the budget, we requested that reduce that 1.6 million by about 550,000. So the various other items that we were done were actual cuts to what was a level funded budget in order to balance the budget
114for what we had for available resources. Not included in our cuts were any projected impacts of new tariffs which our IT department is estimating of a 20 to a 30% increase in our computer costs. Luckily we've been able to buy in advance. Any potential recession that may come down the pike. We've also not included the proceeds of the sale of the Monroe School. When that actually comes through for expenditure, that will help start bringing back some capital items. So, I've already talked about the hold harmless. Um, the other thing as I've talked about in my looking at and Zach's looking at our financials and how we report it to you, we have an Excel budget system and we have a computer system that's a programmed software package. They may talk to each other to an
115extent, but the numbers are correct, but they're in different places. So when we uh for anybody in the public that might have looked at the the financial uh spreadsheet, the summary of the thing, it looks like we're spending much more money on staff than budgeted and less on non staff. Well, in looking at the line items, the nonft line items, which is down below, actually includes $8 million worth of staffing, which includes extra duty contracts. the athletic directors, the BN, a lot of those things that are legitimate expenses that we have, the substitute budget is down below, incentives, extra hours for drivers, for bus drivers, that's down below. So therefore, but our business plus software when it reports out our year-to- date expenses shows it up above compared to the FTAs. You move them back
116together, um, they will then explain what's going on. And so we've asked you to look at the bottom line as opposed to some of the line items. Starting July 1st, we're going to be running a budget and we'll be running the financials in the business plus software, not in Excel. Your reports are going to be coming out differently. As I talk about when you go and you buy a liter of Coke, how many quarts is that? I don't care. It's just liter. We're going to be converting to the new system. You're going to have new reports. It's going to be much more streamlined and we'll be getting it out to you. That's a long way of explaining where we are with the preliminary budget. This was to give you a snapshot. You will be getting
117next week um in addition to the public part. We will be getting you copies of the the full budget in the format. We're still using last year's format. We didn't have time to change everything. We're not going to have as much of the comparisons that we'd like to do. We're not going to have as much of the narrative as we will in the future. Uh but uh Zach and I are are committed to getting it to the point where it's going to be very user friendly. Uh we've already talked to all the departments and the principles. They're going to be getting monthly reports budget to actual um and that's going to be helping us. So open up to various questions that you may have. [Music] So with licensed staff, you talk um rows and columns.
118How is classified? I mean, do they have a similar system or are their raises just based on uh tenure? It it the ra the the raises for uh classified and apt are based on where they are now. So they don't have steps and columns in the same way that the classified that the licensed staff do. Thank you, Alexandra. No, I don't think so. I had a couple of questions, but you answered them. So, thank you. That's my goal is try to answer your questions before you ask them, Nancy. Um, first, I appreciate, you know, as always, all the work that you and Zach and the rest of the team do. It's really nice, um, on the nonft report to see that that what was going on is now it's going to all be up above
119where it should be. So, that's really good. Um, as far as anything else, sorry, my throat. Um, I know we're giving the classified five and a half percent raise. I think it was at the beginning of this year, maybe it was last year when we had said we were going to raise everybody up to 19 so that no one would um make less than at Walmart. My understanding at that time was that e every classified person, no one would be below 19. But in one of our meetings, I heard differently. So I just want to make sure that no classified person should be making less than 19. And if that's the case, then we we we need to absolutely figure out a way to make that happen because when we did that raise to, you
120know, so that no one made um less than at Walmart, that was what my understanding was. And I I just want to make sure that we we do what we need to to make that true. Um, and then the other thing is is I appreciate what you're saying about the AP, no staff reductions, but whether it's maybe it's not this year, but next year we're I can guarantee we're going to have to start looking at how do we improve the efficiencies for all these reports that are required because we can't with our budgets and and enrollment, we can't keep supporting the same level of AP and then cut teachers. and classified. That's just my the way I view it. Um, but I look forward to the rest of the budget. I think I'll wait for
121my other questions until then, but again, what you sent me really helped. You know, me, I flipped the numbers in my spreadsheet and then everything made sense. Um, just like you said, so I appreciate the work and thank you. We'll come back regarding the uh the lowest paid uh employee and uh take your uh consideration about admin under consideration. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Bob. The PPR amount for next year is 11,315. Is that right? That's correct. What's the amount for this year? Oh, no. About 11,000. Yeah, it it's just about 11,000 at this point. It's about 11,000. We'll get you that specific number. Oh, thank you. For next year, I asked about Oh, sorry. Sorry. Um, and I know because you and I had conversation about this that um, we were pretty much assured
122that uh, we would receive $192 more per student um, that would be reflected in the PPR amount for next year. Did you ever receive an explanation as to what happened after we were pretty much guaranteed that we would see that extra money and then all of a sudden it was taken away? Did you hear an explanation of that? I have not heard an explanation other other than this is what it is. They added some money into the system to correct some inequities for some other school districts and we got slightly more than we had originally projected before we projected the higher amount but they did not give come up with the final amount. So I don't I have not received an answer to why it was different than what we had projected. All right. Um
123I'd like you to pursue that. I also intend to pursue that with a couple of contacts at at Casby and see if we can figure out what happened there. Thank you. Thank you, John. Okay, I'm going to have some questions, but I can't quite pull it together in time. So, I just want to let you know that um I do have a couple that are coming up. Um mostly around um you know, the size of what we're cutting for next year. I'm I'm I think it's about two positions per building if I I mean that's averaging and I realize that's being really grossly Yeah, slightly less because it's about 43 and there's 30 schools. Okay. Yeah, thank you. Um but none of that's AP and then classifies we're keeping the same. Is that correct as
124well? That's correct. Okay. Um I I am gonna need more information on some of that. Um because I have gotten questions from people about that. Uh mostly I mean you gave a good highle explanation but if you can provide the next level of detail that would be really helpful. Um, essentially, you know, as you were talking about how these our AP are mostly funded by these contractual obligations, those haven't changed even though our puke count is changing and teachers is directly related to the people in front of kids. That makes sense generally, but it would be helpful to be able to say, okay, this is these are the obligations that AP are meeting. Um, in fact, sometimes as things go up to the district in times, we're having to cut based off of people count.
125And so, I just kind of would like to see a little the next level of detail. Um and then um I think we also need to be thinking ahead next year for um you know some of these challenges of things that we know that are going up in in large numbers right the 20 to 30% here the 13% here I can't even I can't even begin to do the math on how many how much insurance has went up at that 10% 15% year after year after year. And so I think um some of those things that are going up in huge costs are other things that I I think we should probably highlight not before the end of the year, but as you do some of your transition work, that's something that would also be
126hugely helpful for us is to just be able to say this is why these costs are going up. Even though we might have less kids, it's costing us this much more to to do everything we do for kids. I know that that sounds like so obvious to anybody who's paying their own bills right now. You know, your your own needs aren't going down just because things cost more, right? But I think we need to highlight some of that uh not just in the mill and the bond, but as well as like really thinking about kind of taking that specifically for the budget, not just as the co as we talk about the programs. Does that make sense? Yes. Thank you. I appreciate that because that would help with the questions I'm getting. Thank you. All
127right. Anybody else? All right. Thank you, Bob. Thank you. The one thing I will say is that uh Zach already have on our calendars for January of 2026 to start the following year's budget. That's impressive. All right, we have come to the end of our agenda as far as um people's sharing with us. Uh we do have one written report. It's the early childhood report that we get monthly. And then there's an announcement that I need to make and it's about our next meeting which is uh June 4th. we will be in a uh special meeting on June 4th at 5:00 which is our normal start time um regarding a student issue. So our study session that night will start at 6:00 p.m. Okay. So we will have one hour ahead of time with and
128it'll be um it's an executive session that we will be having. All right. Um, anybody opposed to the idea of ending the morning the evening? The meeting's over.