001[Music] Christmas. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Down. I want to let it down. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Welcome Welcome to the board of education Gley Evans School District 6 business meeting for October 13th, 2025. I'd like to call this meeting to order. >> Would you please join me in the pledge of >> allegiance? Pledge allegiance 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. Miss Lemon, could you please pull
002call the role? >> Director Zari, >> present. >> Director Bentley, >> present. >> Director Campo Spitzy, >> present. Director Mash. >> Director Matthews, >> present. >> Director Norwood, >> present. >> Five board members, present. >> Thank you. Um, not much in the way of announcements. You might notice that I'm a hair tad bit uglier than Mrs. Nash. President Nash. Um, we would like to uh we would like to excuse her and send uh her and her family a heartfelt condolences. she's dealing with a personal family issue and we just want her to know that we love and thinking and praying of her at this time. Um after that we have the superintendent's honor role. So I'll turn over to Dr. Pilch. >> Do we need to adopt the agenda first or do I go first?
003Okay, >> I'll let you got it. >> It's after I'm just going in order. >> I'm a new guy. >> It all started so quickly. >> 99% chance that I >> Good evening. Good evening everyone. Um and thank you um for the opportunity to do my superintendent's honor role. First, I'm excited to recognize Early College Academy. So 10 years ago, Early College Academy opened. Um it was my first year here, so I can't take any credit for for getting it up and running. That was really my predecessor and the then uh college president at Ames Community College who brought that together and that board of education and that uh board of trustees as I will just tell you we have seen honor after honor at early college academy and it is truly remarkable to know
004that this school is representative of our district 6 demographic. Um it is we're not peeling off our you know our wealthiest kids or our kids um who who uh need uh special education services. We take them all at early college academy. And I will I am so excited tonight to recognize them for being recognized by US News and World Report for earning high high national and metro area rankings in the US world US News and World Reports 202526 best high schools report. Uh these rankings are determined by a compilation of sources. Um, but I but I would say that probably a big part of this recognition is their graduation rate and their SAT score. And as a school this past spring, Early College Academy had an SAT score of 1,084, which is 86 points higher
005than the Colorado State average for SAT scores. I mean, it's truly remarkable and we're so proud of the work um that the leadership and the staff and faculty and the students have have done at Early College Academy. I'd like to introduce to you all Mr. Bill Fern who is the principal at Early College Academy. Um and it looks like he has Dr. Law with him as well who is our Ames counterpart administrator. Um and I'd like the two of you to speak a little bit about the accomplishment at Early College Academy. Dr. Pilch and members of the school board. Thank you. At Early College Academy, uh our mantra is effort creates achievement. Um in the spring of 2025, we had 76 graduates, 62 that graduated with associates of arts degrees and three more that completed
006them over the summer. So 85% of our graduating class um graduated with two years of college under their belt. um with our SAT uh scores, PSAT and CMAS science, um it placed us uh 13th highest um high school in Colorado. So, we are super proud of um everybody involved in that. Um this year we're launching our associates of science degree option and we already have 12 students who are currently qualifying with degrees of designation um including associates of science in math, associates of arts in history, political science, psychology, and also Spanish. But these things don't happen in isolation. It's collaboration of effort from our incredibly talented and hardworking professors, teachers, students, and support staff. This is a collective achievement, a community of learners dedicated to high standards and hard work. Dr. Pilch and esteemed members
007of the board of education. Thank you so much for your support and continued belief in ECA. Without your support, none of this would be possible. >> Thank you. On behalf of Ames Community College, I just want to thank you all for allowing us the opportunity to continue this partnership. This year, while we do have a smaller class, um we are almost on board with 100% of our students getting their associate degree. So, we are really pushing hard on this current class. And in open enrollment, like Dr. Pilt said, we are open enrollment. So, our community represents who ECA is. Thank you. Okay. Also tonight for the superintendent's honor role, I am honored to recognize Miss Claudia Kesler who is a counselor at Gley Central High School. Um, and we're recognizing Claudia because she has been
008selected as the high school counselor of the year for the state of Colorado. Uh, yes, WOW is right. She was selected by uh the Colorado School Counselor Association and she was honored just last week uh for this at an awards dinner. And so, Claudia, we're just so proud of you. I'm want to invite you up um to be recognized and and to receive your certificate tonight. And No, I saw you, Claudia. There you are. [Applause] >> Do you want you have notes? >> I did. I did. >> We'd like you to share. >> Okay. Good evening. Um, first of all, I want to thank District 6 for this recognition and the School Counselor Association of Colorado. Um, I'm not just here representing myself, but I'm representing all of the Gley Evans School District 6 counselors.
009We do this because we love our children. We want them to feel safe. We want them to feel safe and have a safe place in our building. No matter where our students come from, we are here to love them and support their dreams. I want to thank my past and present school administrators for supporting my ideas and listening to my concerns, for giving me a safe space and their guidance. Thank you to all the Gly Central teachers for supporting our work and most importantly understanding the importance of mental health of our children. Thank you for our community and parents for trusting us and guiding our students to success. But most importantly, thank you to all of our past and present students for giving us an opportunity to gain their trust and help them grow and
010help them graduate. So, thanks. [Applause] So, this is yours. This is awesome. started. >> Thank you. >> You can come over here if you want. >> You can come closer. You really can. [Music] You take this black. Thank you guys. Thank you, Dr. Pilch. Now we're on to The approval of agenda item number four is the action item on the motion. >> I move that the board of education of Gley Evans School District 6 approves the agenda as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you guys. Uh any discussion? Miss Lman, could you give us a vote? >> Director, >> I. >> Director Bentley, >> I. >> Director Campo Spitzy, >> I. >> Director Matthews, >> I. >> Director Norwood, >> I. >> Motion carries 5-0. >> On to 501. special items. Uh the council of student
011representatives report. Um as always we have president Sarah Venegas with us. Um tonight we're joined by Edwin Power. Correct. Right. And then looks like we have a presentation. So turn over to you guys. Unless you have anything to say, Dr. Pilch. >> Good evening members of the board and Dr. Pilch. I'm Aaron Allen, principal at Northridge High School, and I have the priv privilege of being the repres uh the supervisor of the Council of Student Representatives. Uh I am so lucky to work with these wonderful students. Tonight, you'll be hearing from our officers. Uh they run a very tight ship at those meetings. They have a lot of fun. Uh they do a great job representing the district and they are such an amazing voice um for our district. They have some amazing things planned
012for this year. And I'll turn it over to Sarah Venegas to start us off. Good evening members of the board and Dr. Pilch. I am Sarah Venegas and I have the honor of being this year's president of the council of student representatives. I am a senior at Early College Academy where I also serve as their student body president and the president of their national honor society. However, today I'm here to share along with the other CSR officers the amazing work that CSR does within our community. CSR has been able to build connections and that community within our district, providing events and fundraisers for families and students to enjoy all around. We've helped provide strong student representations throughout all of our schools, fostering that connection, big or small, in order to showcase that inclusivity and diversity
013that our district 6 is all about. We focus on the opportunities to have feedback discussions with our district departments in order to improve the district for our students and also voice their opinions. Furthermore, we help provide strong student representations of our students throughout District 6 by providing the opportunity for our students to showcase their school here at the board meetings in order to showcase the opportunities and uniqueness that they offer. We strive to continue improving our district through community outreach, voicing our students, and building that sense of belonging within Weld County District 6. I will now pass it on to CSR social media officer and treasurer Maybelline Zarate. Good even Good evening everyone. My name is Maybelline Sarate and I am the social media coordinator of CSR. Today I will be sharing my experience in
014CSR as a new member and a new social media coordinator of the team. CSR is an amazing team with even more amazing people. See, um, every member has a every every member has a role to play in CSR and they has a role to play in CSR in and every member has a voice and they they get to use that voice to speak on matters that they need that need to be fixed in their schools. CSR is really amazing because you you are with a you are with people that you sorry you are with members that have the same opinions as you and want to achieve the same goals as you but also on the same line have different different values and different beliefs which help us make different decisions on different matters which is
015really important which is really important because CSR is being able to see all schools all high schools in in the in the district. We we will be discussing sorry um we have some exciting speakers coming to CSR. First Dr. Pilch and Dr. Pils. We're excited to see and um and also our district 6 um um director of of safety and security um Wade Cornells. Um thank you for listening. I will now pass it on to our vice president, Edwin Power. >> Good evening. My name is Edwin Power and I'm the current pres vice president of CSR. I am currently a junior at Northridge High School, a STEM student, a member of National Honor Society, and play basketball for the school. Today, I'm here to talk about CSR's plans for this semester. One of the primary
016goals of our group is to contribute to bringing the community together. This year, we plan to do lots of outreach and we'll begin this by helping out at the Funplex's Haunted Night at the Family Funlex two Fridays from now on October 24th. We decided this would be a great option as we can help give back to the whole community as well as be able to interact with kids and families from across the whole district. This is however just one of the events we plan to participate in within our community during our first semester. Though the next event is still in its planning phases, we will soon decide whether to commit to toys for tots or Santa Cops. These events will give us an opportunity to represent District 6 within the Gley community and support people
017in need. And we as a group are excited to get started. I will now pass it on to our secretary, Aaliyah Medina. >> Hello everybody. My name is Aaliyah Medina and I am District 6 CSR's um secretary and I will be sharing information on our upcoming trip to CASBY. I have participated in the CASBY event last year along with our previous CSR president Tim, with our current vice president Edwin, with our newfound president Sarah. Last year, we attended meetings where we shared ideas and shared experiences from our schools and districts with other students around Colorado. We went through a leadership seminar and at the end, we met with other school band members from across the state and shared ideas on how they could try to improve their district. The experience of attending the CASBY event
018last year was something I will never forget. The Broadmore was incredibly beautiful and having the chance to help other districts see how they struggle and have the opportunity to help them was something I can't put a value on. Being in CSR has given me the chance to work so closely with all of you. And I can say I would never think what I think now about the district without having been given the experiences CSR provides. This year I am planning to attend once again. I've taken what I've learned from attending last year's CASBY event and I've applied it to what we're doing in CSR. Uniting the district like CASBY United Colorado is something we continue to strive for at every meeting. And with that being said, thank you for your time and we'll be back
019to tell you all about our experience with CASBY in the near future. >> Thank you guys. Anybody have any comments or questions for CSR? Mr. Matthews. >> Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you for being here tonight. Know this is an u not necessarily an important time, but also often a busy time. October is a busy time for students. I know you guys have a lot uh going on. So, thank you for taking time out of all your studies and all your extracurriculars and all the different things that you do to come and present to us tonight. We appreciate uh your work in the district. >> Ditto. Uh I know you guys are very busy. It's uh pretty wild that you guys have find all the time you do to uh put towards your
020schoolwork and then everything else on top of this. So we really appreciate your input and you guys being here in your report. So thank you guys. All right, on to 5.2. The fullbrite teachers. Okay, there you go. [Applause] Um, District 6 welcomes exchange teachers from across the globe hosted by the University of Northern Colorado as part of the Fullulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program. We heard from them at our last work session and I see Mrs. Overton coming up to uh introduce them, let us know what's going on. >> Thank you. As you recall and as you had mentioned that they were here, we talked about them and they um presented some of their facts at the September 22nd board meeting. These international and secondary level educators are in the United States for a six
021weeks um professional learning residency at UNC. During their time here, participants engage engage in academic seminars and and work through um classrooms and observe and co-e in classrooms in our district and collaborate on best practices with our educators and also with the UNCC faculty. They're also involved in civic and cultural activities within their host communities to foster mutual understanding. And then of course, one of their requirements is that they attend a public school board meeting. District 6 in continued partnership with UNC is honored to welcome these fullbrite educators to our community. We're pleased to host them at your board meeting this evening. At this time, I would like to invite them to stand and be recognized. Thank you. There are 22 of them um with us in this program and these teachers will return to
022their home countries with a new insight gained from their experiences in our middle school and high schools. They will share what they have learned in colleagues and with students bringing with them a broader perspective on education in our country and in our state and in our city. We would like to thank you all for being here and coming to Gley and sharing your thoughts and being engaged with our students and with our staff. Surely no doubt your presence in the um will have lasting impact on our students and staff with your your presence here. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Uh looks like Dr. Cample Spitzy has a question or comment. more a comment, but um just proud of this partnership that we have with UNCC to allow um teachers
023from around the globe to come see how we do education in district 6. And I got to meet quite a few of the Fulbright teachers um at the multicultural festival that UNCC hosted a couple weeks ago and um learn a lot about um their different countries and their different cultures. I know my children, they they all made these boards, you know, like presentation boards um about each of their countries. And my kids were fascinated to learn about where y'all are from and and educated my husband on um the crater. You know what I'm talking? There's a crater that has burned continually forever and they went home and told my husband all about it. So, thank you for being here and and immersing yourselves in our community and for letting us benefit from learning from you.
024>> Thank you, Dr. Cample Spitzy. Um, seeing nothing else, we thank you guys for your time and appreciate everything. On to item 6.01, uh, superintendent report. So, I'll turn this over to Dr. Pilch. >> Thank you, Vice President Bentley. Um, I just have three items tonight for my superintendent report. First, I want to recognize that today is Indigenous People's Day, and I want to honor that um on behalf of all the indigenous people in our community and in our state. Um, and then I wanted to just share a little bit about our work session for those who weren't able to watch that. Uh, we were fortunate tonight, really very fortunate to have four of our legislators join us in the work session with our board of education. We had Senator Scott Brightite, Representative Scott Slaw,
025Representative Lori Garcia Sander, and Representative Ryan Gonzalez here tonight. Um, we had an opportunity to talk with them a little bit about our priorities as as a school district and as a board of education. And then we we were able to hear from them on their priorities and and really what what their focus is. And what was especially uh delightful and reassuring here was just how deeply dedicated they are to K12 education. um really dedicated to public education and I appreciate the them giving up their evening to come out so that we could put a name with a face and get to know them a little better and really hear their priorities and I look forward to working with them during this upcoming legislative season. So, thank you to them. And then finally, uh, we
026have among us tonight the Colorado Counselor of the Year, the Colorado Superintendent of the Year, and the Colorado Teacher of the Year. Now, um, we we had the opportunity to recognize Mr. Pollson uh, here last week at his school. Well, he was recognized and and the surprised by the news that he is the Colorado Teacher of the Year, but we're going to bring him back in November for more formal recognition from you all. But I wanted to share with you all tonight some some video pictures from the assembly uh last week when the folks were all here from Colorado Department of Education and the Betcher Foundation and uh Blue Bell Ice Cream and our state board members. It was just a nice crowd. So, Miss Lemon, if you'll go ahead and proceed with that. Thank
027you. And that concludes my report tonight. Mr. Bentley, [Music] >> he's just like so amazing. He's a teacher that I'll always remember. I've always been asked, "Who's your favorite teacher?" And I never had an answer before. >> First of all, we learned that you are on from the moment you walk in this door to the time that you leave. And I have a feeling even beyond that. >> I will forever cherish everything he has taught me, everything he has made me experience. You are a world opener. You teach students and other adults that there are opportunities beyond what they thought they could achieve. I am pleased to introduce a very special guest, our education commissioner for the state of Colorado, Susanna Cordova. So, we are very excited to be here today and we were here
028just a few weeks ago to celebrate something very special. Mr. Carson Mr. We're here to announce that your teacher, Mr. Steven Paulson, is the all teacher of the world. He just tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And I think for anybody who just wants to, you know, help their students and connect with their students and support their students, Pollson is exactly the type of teacher that you want to look up for because you can tell by all the supporters that he has. It's for a reason. Never before has the Gley Evans School District had a Colorado teacher of the year. You all have a star among you, a superstar, and we're so honored he chooses to work in the district and at Dilly Central High School. We're so
029honored. I honestly was not surprised when he was named a finalist. I was like, "You're going to win." I just knew he was going to win. So, as his wife, I I know what he's capable of. I love this. I love our I love all of you. I'm just very glad that you guys get to be celebrated. I think this is the best place I've ever worked. You guys are the best. And I'm going to make some kids angry with this comment. You are the best students I've ever had and I've had a lot of good students. So, I'm just glad that people got to walk into this gym and see you guys. Thank you guys. That was amazing to be there for you. you that was there and and us that got to witness
030that the the the whole auditorium or the gymnasium chanting we love Paulson was was something pretty special to see and uh it's pretty obvious that the state made the right choice. So congratulations and we're honored to have you here. Um do you guys want to say anything? I feel like we should open this up. >> Dr. Britz Campos Spitzy. >> So I I've talked a lot about you Mr. Steven Pollson, but and I know I I share with you personally when when students um tell me in the exam room when I do my well adolescent exams, uh what's your favorite class? And often AP human geography is their favorite class as Wildcats. Um and actually the day you got the award, um I took an hour off of work to just run to Gley Central
031and then I went back to work and I only worked a half day. So between 10:00 a.m., you know, the social media was active and before I had finished my day, I had a Spanish- speaking patient who saw me wearing my Gley Central shirt and said, "Did you hear Mr. Pollson won teacher of the year?" And so her son was your your student when you were at Gley West. And um he's an amazing kid. I'm sure you would know him if I gave you his name. But um anyway, I just think every teacher in district 6, how extraordinary that you get to touch so many kids' lives year after year after year. Um and and you're you're something special. You were my medical assistance teacher, too. I actually got to quote her during um I
032got interviewed on on one of the panels for Mr. Pollson to receive the award. And and she said something along the lines of and this is without knowing that I was memorizing her words. um he is the type of teacher who gives his all. And so I got teary again watching the video even though I was there and we're we're just so beyond proud of you. Um thank you >> Mr. Matthews. >> Yeah. Um Mr. Pollson's had a had the opportunity to um to teach a couple of my my students, my kids, and um Dr. Campo Spitzy and I got to be on on part of the the team that uh that was interviewed to to say should this should this person be the teacher of the year and I I will say what what
033I said then um Mr. Pollson changes the courses of of students lives. I mean we have fantastic teachers in this district to stand out among this group of teachers is uh is is truly remarkable. But what Mr. Pollson does I think that is unique is that we do a great job of preparing kids to to go to college um in this district. We we have so many students that that do leave this school district and do so many incredible things. But what he does is he gets kids to believe they can do it. And I think that's our challenge as a district that our students don't always they don't always believe how good they are. Um, and I think Stephen Pollson as as well as anybody in this district convinces students uh that they can
034they can achieve and he changes the directory of their lives. And so we're so uh so thankful to have him here and so so proud of you, Mr. Pollson. >> Thank you guys. Um it's pretty pretty amazing to have the trifecta the hattick, you know, the triple counter Colorado here in our in our buildings or in our district. So, you know, it's true. Iron shopper is iron and and we're just very very lucky and blessed and honored to have all three of you guys here, especially now joining us, Mr. Pollson. So, thank you guys. Um, on to 7.01 innovation 2030 student learning and achievement update on AVID AP and IB. I think Oh, there Mr. Asma's coming to the stand. I should share that Mr. Pollson did not know we were doing the video tonight.
035Um I really intend to do that as part of my superintendence report. Um so it's serendipitous that he's a part of this presentation and is is here in the room tonight. >> Get a chance to be with with him and and many others even a student tonight. So, good evening, Vice President Bentley, members of the board, Dr. Pelch, and members from the Council of Student Reps. My name is Anthony Almus. I'm the assistant superintendent for secondary and K8 leadership and post-secondary readiness. Tonight, I'm joined by Kim Silva, our director of schools, Brian Lamos, director of multilingual education and family engagement, and Lisa McGee, our K12 language arts and aid coordinator. We're also joined by the Colorado Teacher of the Year, Stephen Pollson, and my new friend and student, Isaac Bitler, to share a little bit
036of the school perspective around AVID, advanced placement, and what we do with international baloria. And I forgot we have Bridget Kaylor with us, too. So, there you go. And we have more. So, we're all here for this. And so over the past few years, we have intentionally removed barriers so that more students have access to advanced opportunities to make sure every student in this district graduates career and college ready. We also know there's a lot of work to do. Research says high schools a high school's poverty rate is one of the biggest factors in whether students go on to college and finish. Nationally for the class of 2024, the student clearing house has reported that about 74% of students, so 74% of students from lower poverty schools enroll in college right after graduation compared to
037just 51% from higher poverty schools. Furthermore, 59% of students from the lower poverty schools finish with an associates degree or higher compared to only 25% from higher poverty schools. That's a big gap. And it shows why we work so hard to expand access to rigorous coursework with support and why that matters so much here in district 6. When we make sure that more of our students experience college level classes while still in high school, it's more than just giving credits. It's giving confidence that our students can do hard things. This work is grounded in our mission and our vision and our values. And as you know, all of our work is found in our strategic plan. Our objectives for this section of our strategic plan are found in our student learning and achievement focus area.
038specifically to implement a consistent, coherent, and aligned curriculum where we implement research-based curriculum, assessment, and instructional practices to ensure that all of our students are achieving at high levels. It also enhance educator instructional practices to support teachers in delivering instruction that promotes rigorous coursework, ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed. And we measure this um through ongoing commitment to improving student achievement outcomes for all students by providing meaningful meaningful and rigorous learning opportunities that challenge all students. And we're dedicated to increasing the on-time graduation rate in our district and ensuring that every student leaves our schools prepared for success in college and a career. This work is driven by a dedicated group of individuals that meet often to look at data and implement action steps to improve every day throughout the course of this
039year. And tonight's presentation, we will highlight our support systems that we have in place for students as well as opportunities we offer to prepare our students to be college and career ready. To get us started, I'd like to first turn this first section over to Lisa McGee, our K12 coordinator for English language arts and Abbott. Good evening. Tonight, I'll provide a quick update on AVID implementation in district 6. AVID or advancement via individual determination is a college and career readiness system that supports students by teaching them the academic skills, behaviors, and mindset that will allow them to succeed in rigorous courses and beyond. In district 6, AVID is well established. We have eight secondary schools and 16 elementary schools implementing AVID. Currently, 16% of our high school students and 78% of our elementary students are
040served through AVID classrooms. Over half of our staff, 58% have been trained in AVID practices, ensuring strategies reached beyond the AVID elective and impact all students. We also have one of our high schools, Gley West, entering into the revalidation process to maintain their demonstration status. At the secondary level, AVID increases student access to rigorous courses and teaches the academic behaviors needed for success. In elementary schools, AVID builds student agency, a growth mindset, and strong academic dispositions starting as early as prek. Across both levels, AVID practices are not limited to one class. They permeate classrooms and leadership practices throughout the campus. Focusing on our class of 2025, our AVID seniors continue to achieve a 100% ontime graduation rate. This success is rooted in academic rigor. Nearly 3/4 73% of our AVID seniors participated in concurrent enrollment
041and 97% took an AP or IB course preparing them to excel in college. Finally, the strength of our AVID culture is clear as 80% of our AVID seniors from last year indicated that they would like to return as a tutor, ensuring the legacy of mentorship um continues in our program. This slide demonstrates the power of AVID in closing the opportunity gap by comparing our work in district 6 to the AVID Colorado state averages. Our results are outstanding. Col uh sorry, notice the huge jump in rigor. 97% of our students took at least one course of rigor, significantly outpacing the state's 84%. Our students are highly engaged in post-secary planning. 88% of District 6 students applied to a 4-year college, a 9-point lead over the state's 79%. With a strong 3.25 average GPA, and 95% of
042our AVID seniors completing college entrance requirements, these numbers prove our AVID strategies are succeeding in creating college ready graduates. And next, I'd like to introduce Brian Lamos, Bridget Kohler, and David Whiskers to represent IB. Hello, Director Bentley, and members of the board. I am Brian Lamos, director of multilingual learners and family engagement, and also um have that little clause that says other duties as assigned, and that's the IB program. Uh with me I tonight I have Bridget Kaylor who is uh the current vice principal at Gley West and former IB coordinator at Gley West. And next to her is David Whisker who we joined our team this year at Gley West as a IB coordinator. Uh currently we have three schools that are offered the IB program. Our first school is the primary years program
043which is at Dos Rios Elementary. The second one is our middle years program which is at Brentwood Middle School. And the other school is Gley West, which we're going to go into a little bit more details tonight on some some data that's pretty impressive. And they have our MYP program, middle years program, plus our diploma program. The IB uh program aligns well with our I2030 strategic plan, especially in SLA uh 2 in two primary areas. One, it provides opportunities for students to engage in meaningful and rigorous coursework. And secondly, it prepares students for to be college and career ready. With that, um there's really some alignment that has to happen because it has core principles within the IB program. Those core principles are really four principles. One is to be inquirybased learning. Two to pro
044really develop students holistically in their thinking educationally. Secondly, to be internationally mindful and third to have conceptual understanding, a deep understanding of the local issues and the global issues that are complex in the world and to and with that um we come together from the PYP program, NYP program, and the DP program to really ensure that there's alignment among our D6 IB schools with a focus on rigorous and relevant well-rounded education. And the next two are really what we're going to focus on tonight as we talk about the diploma program. The expanded access to IB classes so that every student at Gley West has an opportunity to take an IB course and secondly to increase the enrollment in our diploma program at Gley West and the diploma program. It's it's critical to understand that there's
045a program you can take classes and it doesn't mean you're fully committed to the whole diploma program. Since making some bold moves in 2022, we're going to share some numbers that are going to be pretty impressive with uh to how many kids are accessing the IB classes and courses. At this time, I'm going to turn it over to Bridget Kaylor to talk more about the stats. >> Hello board members. So once again, I am Bridget Kaylor. I am one of the assistant principles at Gley West High School. So, what we're going to see in numbers here in just a minute is actually a four-year plan. Four years ago, we decided that instead of being a school that had the IB program, we were going to be an IB school. We believe that the IB is
046a world-class education. And our kids deserve a world-class education. And with the right structures, our kids can do hard things and take at least one IB class. That class that we rolled out is IB language and literature. that explores both literary and non- literary works. And so a lot of the jump in numbers you're going to see is because of that. But we have also found that students are not just taking Lang and lit, they are also engaging in more IB courses because they realize they can. It's not this scary course that was inaccessible. We have been getting both international and national recognition from IB and school districts across the country because we have implemented a model that has co-taught laying and lit classes for our ML students and for our students who have IEPs
047and they are finding success. We have a video that the IB came from Washington DC and they interviewed our teachers and our students and as soon as that is finished I will I will send it on to you but it's really really cool. um students are expressing liking to read and they're expressing liking to engage and they feel like they're they're part of the school and so it's really positive. So here's the numbers that we see and once again what we're seeing here is this first graph is showing us students who are enrolled in one or more diploma program course. The big jump is last year. That's when all of our juniors took either IB literature at the high level or IB Lang and lit year one at the standard level. The increase that you
048see this year is that a lot of those juniors who took standard level lang stayed in the class to finish it out for year two. So our seniors right now are the final four-year plan coming to fruition. and we are seeing massive success and we are blessed at Griy West to have an amazing set of teachers who said our kids can do hard things. Last year we had 140 students who took a IB exam that scored a four or above giving them college earning potential. Some of the difference that you see in our numbers versus the tests that are earning college earning potential is a student can be enrolled in an IB course. It may not test that year because they are in two-year cycles. So, it throws the numbers off a little bit, but
049once again, we had 140 students who were able to get college earning credit because of IB courses. And I think this is the one that we're most proud of here. When we look at the breakdown of our special education students enrolled in our IB courses, this is where the support of the co-eing model and our teachers saying yes, we can shows up the biggest. So, our gifted and talented students make up 10% of our classes. The IB program used to be viewed as a course option and or a program that was really tailored to gifted and talented students. And while the diploma program in its entirety is very well suited for this population, we have also found success with co-taught models in IB language and literature. And we have 72 students who currently have IEPs
050or 504s taking one of these IB courses and 313 multilingual learners or 42% of our students um in these courses for a grand total of 737 total here. Thank you, Bridget. This time we're going to turn it over to Kim Silva to talk about our AP programs. Sorry, they didn't use the notebook, so sliding it over. Good evening. I'm Kim Silva, director of schools for district 6. Tonight, I'll be providing an update on advanced placement programming in our district. AP courses are a key component of our high level instructional programming at our schools. Um, this slide shows the 23 AP courses currently offered across our district six comprehensive high schools. We're so grateful to our community for passing the Millvy override, which allows us to provide consistent district-wide resources for AP and to cover the
051cost of AP exams for our students. These resources align with the College Board suite of online tools, including unit guides and exam uh preparation materials. AP teachers across our high schools have actively participated in the district's curriculum and resource adoption process. All AP courses follow the structure of a comparable introductory college level course, offering students rigorous academic experiences and the opportunity to earn some college credit. Teachers are provided the opportunity to attend AP summer institute in their respective content areas. These trainings provide instructional strategies for ex from from experienced AP educators and help prepare teachers to guide students through both the content and the format of AP exams. In addition, our district professional development days offer ongoing opportunities for AP teachers to collaborate, share best practices, and strengthen AP instruction across all of our schools.
052So over the past five years, we've seen a pretty steady increase in enrollment. While our numbers from last year uh to this year have remained relatively stable, uh the overall enrollment trends are very positive. This fall we have 1,899 students enrolled in at least one AP course. Many of our students take multiple AP courses and pass multiple AP exams throughout their high school experience. This slide shows the longitudinal data for the district 6 high school AP scholars based on the 200 or the 2025 AP exam results for our district 6 high schools. The blue bar represents students who enrol who were awarded AP Scholar designation for receiving a score of three or higher on three or more AP exams. The red bar represents AP scholars with honors distinction, which was is awarded to students who
053earn an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken and a score of three or higher on four or more AP exams. The yellow bar represents students who receive the AP Scholars with distinction designation for earning an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and a score of three or higher on five of these. AP exams. This year marks the highest number of AP scholars for district 6 high schools. A total of 254 AP awards were earned in 2025 as some of our students earned more than one award. Congratulations to all of our students and teachers for this accomplishment. In addition to our AP scholars, 18 students earned an AP Seminar and AP research certificate for earning scores of three or higher in both AP seminar and AP
054research. 12 students earned the AP Capstone diploma for earning a score of three or higher in AP seminar and AP research and on four additional AP exams of the students choosing. Overall, our data is really incredible in advanced placement. We're very proud of it. At this time, I'd like to invite Stephen Pollson to the podium. He really needs no introduction at this point. Uh our Colorado teacher of the year, but he's also he is a he works at Gly Central and he teaches AP courses and AVID. If I had known you were playing the video, I would have skipped this meeting, too. But um I come from this or this perspective in a unique way because I teach nth grade human geography and I was lucky enough to pilot AP for freshman 10 years ago
055with one of my colleagues at my previous school and it's a challenge for nth graders no matter how much work and time and support they put into to go from eighth grade to AP. It's a huge jump. And so over the past decade we're doing what other school districts around the country are doing which is giving nth graders college level opportunities right out of the gate. But you can't just put a kid in an AP class without support. It's it's that piece of convincing them they can do it and then giving them the tools when you know you're lying to them that they can't do it yet, but they're going to figure it out. And so that's part of the battle is even when they're not quite ready, we just got to keep them hanging
056on to that belief until they actually can do it. And so the other perspective I have is teaching AVID for the last 11 years in the district is how do you give students skills, tools, resources that when they do graduate, they move on, they're college and career ready and they can access all of these courses in college and be successful. And the AVID program expects all students to take one course of rigor at minimum every single year, specifically jumping into AP their junior year. Um, and I really can't speak to all the high schools, but I did a little digging on our own school at Gley Central. And when you study the seniors that just graduated in 2025 at Gley Central, 40% of our students took AP and concurrent enrollment at Central. 85% of the
057AVID students took that same opportunity. So, more than double. Taking at least one AP exam. 22% of our seniors took it. 47% of our AVID seniors took at least one exam, if not more. Our pass rate was identical. So, even though we had less students taking AP classes, and our AVID students are typically the the middle student, they're a 2030 student, they're not the honoral, the the advanced placement traditional student, they had an identical pass rate on those exams. So, the work we're doing is helping them not only take the class, but pass it at the same rate as their peers. And when they come into high school, oftentimes they don't see themselves at the same level as some of their peers. So, that's a big jump that they have to make. Our AVID students
058in AP classes experience a 95% attendance rate, whereas our seniors last year were at an 85%. We increased the average attendance by 10%. Our Colorado higher education requirements, our AVID students finished at 90% higher education. Our seniors finished at 50%. And then the last data point I found is that 50% of our seniors applied and got into a four-year college. 100% of our seniors applied and got into a four-year college. So, it's not just putting them in these AP classes and saying good luck. It's the resources. It's the tools. It's the skills that we develop that allow them to continue to push forward. And it's starting them early as freshman and giving them those exposures and that belief that they really can do it. And once they see they can do it, we see the
059data over the course of their four-year experience. They're not just going to drop AP after their freshman year. They're going to take a second AP class or a third AP class. I have multiple students taking four or five AP classes that never thought they can do that. And they're passing not only the class, but they're passing the exam. So, the work we're doing in AVID as a district is really supporting these students in college level classes. And they're earning college level credit before they even get to college. And our average students right now, they're moving into their second year of college at a rate of about 84%. So they're not just getting to college and dropping out where the national average of dropouts about 50%. Our students are almost 85% retaining college after year 1.
060So that tells us that they're not only graduating, but they're going prepared and they feel confident in what they're being asked to do. And so this is Isaac Bitler. He's a senior at Gly Central. he'd like to share his perspective of how AVID has supported him in college level classes. >> Good evening everyone. Uh my name is Isaac Berler. I'm a senior at Gley Central High School and I've been a part of the AVID uh program since I was a freshman. Um being a part of the AVID program has encouraged me to take multiple um challenging classes classes. Um, since my sophomore year, I've taken four AP classes and passed each exam with a three or higher. Um, to start, the AVID program has helped me tremendously with my AP classes, preparing me for my
061future at a 4-year university. Um through tutorials for example, I'm able to collaborate with my classmates who will give me different student perspectives on the work that I'm doing in other classes which will help me expand my expand my knowledge and succeed in those classes overall. also through uh tutorial request forms and notebook checks for example. They have taught me to be more accountable with getting my work done on time and that directly benefits me in my other classes to earn earn good grades in those classes and ultimately pass the AP exams. Also, in addition to the coursework, um AVID has opened up multiple leadership opportunities for me. One being that I was an avid peer tutor for ninth and tth graders the past two years. And that has built my confidence in public speaking,
062leadership, and communication. And I hold I hold these skills really valuable because when I'm in college, uh they'll be helpful when I decide to lead groups through study sessions or or if I decide to speak in front of audiences. Um, overall the AVID program is a community of students and teachers who have helped me grow and reach my full potential. And I'm thankful for the AVID program and what it has prepared me for in high school for what I will be doing in college to ultimately succeed as a person and as a student. Thank you. So, as you can see, we have some pretty amazing opportunities for students. Just by raising the bar, they they will respond and they'll um and they'll do the hard work. So, next steps for us is just uh continue
063with this rigorous support. So, we're going to offer these challenging classes for students and support them as they're needed um to be career college ready. We'll continue with the diploma program at Gley West um to make sure that all students have that opportunity to be challenged every day and then continue to increase enrollment AP courses and um and continue to see great data all across the district. We are really in a good spot in the district. Um but the real winners here are our students with all that we offer them. So with that, we would love to take any comments or answer any questions. >> Thank you guys. I'm sure we'll have a few. Looks like Dr. Kemple Spitzy's first though. Um, do you mind going to slide eight of the presentation? >> Tell me
064when to stop. >> Okay. >> Um, so, so Avid is magical, right? Um, it's so cool also that it targets kids whose parents haven't gone to college and the middle, not those honorable kids that you know from second grade their teacher knew they were going to go to college. It it's the middle and does extraordinary things with them. Um, so so you have us convinced of that. Um, my question is, is there a way to expand it beyond just 16% of our high school students, or is the magic of AVID the fact that it's kept small? Both. I think that we do want to see the AVID elective expand. Um, but we also are really intentional about the students who need that support. And so we go through a pretty structured process for our 8th
065to 9th grade transition and our AVID interviews. And so um one of our program goals is to increase awareness in our middle schools, uh especially if they don't have an AVID elective class. That way all of our eighth graders have the opportunity to apply for AVID. And then our high school teams are really working to identify potential AVID students who maybe as an eighth grader didn't see how this program would fit them, but now that they're there and they've seen their peers in an AVID elective class that they have the opportunity to still interview and apply. So, we want we want to expand and make sure we're supporting all of our potential AVID students. And we know that AVID's magic really is in targeting the correct group of students. And and kind of along those
066lines, um I know that AVID has been implemented in a lot of our elementary curriculum, the WICO acronym. Um I'm curious why it's 78% if there's a plan to get higher. >> Yes. So when our elementary schools implemented AVID they started with one or two grade levels and as they've been able to send teachers to more trainings then they've expanded the levels of implementation at the buildings. So the hope is especially as we work with our EL education and we help identify where within those lessons Wicker really already exists and the magic of those structures uh we're hoping to see that expand as well so that we we do get to that 100% implementation. >> Good a couple slides there. >> Let me add to that Dr. Campusy. So we do have Avid at every
067elementary school. We don't have it in every classroom at every elementary school. Okay. >> Okay. >> Um, can we go down to slide uh just two slides down? Yeah, that one. All right. I took notes, guys. They give us these presentations before the meeting. So, um, so the trends, right? We we look at trends, which is why there's a um time on the x line here. Um from 2020 to 2025 is what we're looking at. Um can you help explain the trend that in 2020 99% of our avid seniors um had completed four-year college entrance requirements. So the second line um and and why that dipped down to 84% last year and how we've bounced back to 95%. >> Okay. Um I wasn't in the position at the time, but I was an AVID coordinator.
068So, I'll speak to kind of um what I've seen in my experience is that AVID initially was all about the 4-year uh college entrance requirements and it really was meant to prepare students for a college, a four-year college. And then AVID recognized the value of those two-year programs and our trade schools. And so some of our AVID students will come in and they have a vision of themselves in a specific career that maybe is um trade oriented or allows them to maybe start at Ames first and then transfer to a 4-year university. So I think some of our students are are focused on that and that might be where we see a little bit of that dip. Um, and then I know just as a program, we want to make sure that those um, doors
069are open and that students aren't necessarily locking into something before they recognize all the potential that they have. And so our push is really to make sure that we have 100% of them that have met those requirements. So should they decide to pursue a different path than what they originally thought that that's available to them. That would be my guess. I don't know if you want to add anything. >> Well, I would just add a lot of times we borrow the average strategies for everyone, right? And so when things are working, we say, "What can we borrow from there?" It's rigor with support. Maybe you're not in an AVID class, but we're going to look at your data and decide who needs support. We still want you to take a challenging class and we're going
070to support you to do that work. And this year, just like AVID bumping up, we've also doubled down on all students applying for college. And so you'll see that go up probably probably here as well as every other category that we'll have. >> All right, Mr. Aari. Uh thank you Vice President Vendley. So I I I also have a few questions. Uh the first one uh concerns FAFSA FA FAFSA. Okay. If I am correct on my um remembering this and I kind of have to check with our legal counsel a bit. In 2027 there's going to be a law requiring all the students to submit the FAFSA. I'm thinking >> for 2027. >> I I don't believe so. I think that there was legislation proposed for that, but I don't believe that legislation has passed.
071>> It was proposed. That's it. >> It was proposed. Okay. All right. So So that Nate wants to say something. >> It was watered down. I think it passed, but it was watered down to the point that it's ineffective. >> But and I will say this, we we are working hard to get to where every student does FAFSA. We're working really hard. Um, we've got we have strategies and goals in place to to make that happen. It's just it's a big lift. >> You know, our work with direct admissions now with AS and UNCC. So, we have more and more of students that are applying for college and have the opportunity to go. So, then we know that we need to support them with FASA as well. And we have our first event coming up.
072It's called FASA with Tacos that we um provide to our community. And so, we look for opportunities for fun ways to come in and engage with our families to make sure they are filling out the FAFSA. And um I think we set our goal this year at 80% and last year it was right around 45 I think. So >> well it says 89% at 2025. >> Well of the AVID students. >> So our our goal really would be to have every student do it. Yes. >> Okay. Um and the second question I have uh involves the IB. So Gley West is um moving to have every student in the building take at least one IB class. Is that correct? Is that what you're saying? Yes. >> Yeah. And that's actually where we are now. So
073last year, our current seniors, every junior was enrolled in either IB Lang and lit at the standard level or IB literature at the high level. And then in year two, they can continue um and finish that out if they so choose to. And most have elected to. They also senior year can um go to AP comp and or they can take like a mass media and or poetry. So, have you um h has has the system laid the groundwork for that to happen? >> We know IB classes like AP classes can be very challenging. Of course, we understand that. But we do have preparation programs for IB uh in the district. We have, from what I recall, an IB elementary, right, prep program and an IB middle level program, much to Brentwood's um acclaim being
074recognized as such a a an award-winning school here in the United States. I'm just wondering, are we partnering with those schools in some way to lay the groundwork for all the students at Gley West to take an IB class? >> Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and we feed from Brentwood, but we also feed from Prairie Heights and and other middle schools as well, but we have done some vertical alignment with Brentwood and with Dos Rios to just look at, you know, where they end up in high school. Um, but really where we foundationally have started them was in ninth grade. So, our current seniors when they were nth graders, our nth grade team reworked ninth grade so that they were going to be ready for 10th grade. That reworked itself. So we leveled them up to
075make sure that from ninth grade they were foundationally prepared. That's why we didn't just go let's go IB for all laying and lit year one. And so we really made sure that all of our entities were on board. We took advantage of free trainings that we got through IB because of piloting this um and paid trainings as well for like our ML teachers, our special education teachers and our English team so that they could vertically align so that they had that the students were prepared when they got into that junior year course. And then we were able to then structure the curriculum so we can go slow to go fast. So our co-taught laying in literature SL classes really build them up foundationally and then they launch more second year. >> Okay. Thank you. And
076then my third question and the last one, Mr. Vice President and our our Colorado teacher of the year went through this very quickly. And for for those of us that may be slower learners, uh we have 51 more kids this year that um have gained the AP scholar designation. And you went through this, Mr. Pollson, but could you could you just reiterate simply what you would attribute that to? Again, it's partially the I the IB work at West, I would presume, that has fed into that, but I don't know. I mean, AP IB and AP, they kind of cross over periodically, don't they? >> When it comes to AP scholars, that's going to be freshmen taking an AP class right out of the gate typically. So, we look at them taking AP humanography at West
077Central and Northridge as ninth graders. And then to get that scholar, the AP scholar, they have to take three AP courses and get a three or higher in one um in in that year to get that schol the AP scholar that you're talking about. So I think the buildup at all three schools of ninth grade AP classes and then also transferring to AP seminar in the 10th grade. We see a very high pass rate nationally in AP seminar as well in the district. We're at the national pass rate for that class and and on most of the buildings. So, I think students being able to take those classes in in ninth and tth grade is what's attributing such an increase in those numbers because again, it's building that confidence. It's building a skill set. It's
078understanding what it takes to to take and pass an AP class and take and pass an AP exam. So, I think our work at all three schools at that ninth and tth grade level to make AP something that's not waited till junior year is why we're seeing such an increase in our scholar numbers. >> And Dr. Clutch, do you have anything to add on that? Because >> as we're moving forward through this, >> you know, I do. We're going to build we're going to build on this. >> So really Yes. And really what you are seeing is um a decade of work of a decade of work that has really focused on um a a guaranteed and viable curriculum for every single student in the system where throughout the system our expectation is that students
079are accessing ongrade level content and they're getting the supports they need to be successful in that. So by the time they're reaching high school, they're capable of taking more advanced courses than what students were in district 6 10 years ago. We had students who were AP scholars 10 years ago, but really this is this is the compilation of of years of work to get here. Um, and the work is not done. We still have more work to do. But it it really is about the shift in mindset with with teachers like those you see here today who believe that as you heard Bridget say, our kids can do hard things. um and teachers can teach hard things. And it's it's really that shift in mindset that teachers can do this and our students can do
080this and then providing the supports in place to do that. And um and pushing kids so high expectations with a with high support uh for success. And you know, you saw our SAT scores this year that are higher than they've been in well over a decade. and and that's really the result of the work that's gone on K through 8 and then they hit high school and and they're continuing to push those students. >> Well, thank you and please extend our appreciation to everybody that works so hard to to get this. >> I will tell you too, in my when I started teaching high school 11 years ago, freshmen were not taking AP classes. It was it was very rare. It was it was hard to get a kid to take a class like that.
081And we even had folks in the system who did not believe um freshmen should be in AP classes. And um we had to and some of those were leaders, administrators, not just teachers. So we had to we had a lot of work to do around shifting mindset around the belief that students could actually take um advanced placement courses as early as nth grade. >> Thank you. Thank you u Miss Venegas. Thank you, Vice President Bentley. Um, I just kind of wanted to comment on all these great opportunities that US as students receive. Although I do attend early college academy where they offer dual enrollment classes. Um we do believe in that rigorous that ninth and tenth graders are more than capable of taking those higher level classes because at ECA once you enter ECA you're
082started off with dual enrollment and as you progress we just go off to only dual enrollment classes. However, IVID um AVID, IB, and AP programs all offer such an amazing opportunity to build resilience for those college classes in order to jumpstart your career and jumpst start those students within that confidence as they attend college or trade school or whatever career they decide to pursue. Having the opportunity to take those higher level classes are great for students who desire a challenge um while also earning college credits which will ease financial burdens as they go into college as well. So, it's just what a wonderful way to support us, the students, and I know many students in the district are so grateful for all these wonderful programs and opportunities. >> Thank you, Mr. Powers. >> Uh, thank
083you for letting me speak. I just want to touch on the AP subjects more. So, I've I've been taking AP classes at Northridge since I was a freshman. And I think the like obviously the main appeal to the APs is getting the early college credit, but I think a lot of like a big effect that doesn't get talked about much, which the students very appreciative of, is just the like the extra support that they get from the teachers and counselors and stuff like to help with through help them through the rigorous classes. I've seen like many students turn from like freshman year entering high school. they're maybe not the best students, but as they get more incorporated into like AP and they get more help from their teachers and like administrators and all that stuff
084that comes from taking AP classes, they they turn to like model students by the time they're in junior year and senior year. So, I think that's like a huge impact AP has and I want to say that the students are very appreciative of that impact. >> Thank you, Mr. Matthews. >> Um, have a quick question for I guess Miss Kaylor. Um perhaps Mr. Whisker, I'm not sure. Um but I I think a lot of people in in the room in our system are very familiar with AP. They understand what that is. A lot of us even had AP classes way back when we were in high school. I don't think people are as familiar with IB and what that means. And so can you just give us a quick elevator speech? Something that when people
085ask me what I mean, what's the difference? What is what is the advantage of IB? what does it provide that you can't get anywhere else? >> I think that both IB and AP classes are wonderful preparatory classes and they might speak to different skills of different students. So when it comes to standalone classes, both are rigorous, right? And both are very foundational for post-secary goals. Where IB classes differ is that they tend to be more depth than breadth and they do a lot of grappling with 25st century skills asking questions about like global context and really getting that international piece to it. Um there's one additional element in IB diploma program classes and that is an internal assessment which is either an individual oral that they give in their language classes or it's like um
086a research project that they do within the class. And we have found that it can be very beneficial because the students have a lot of locus of control over a piece that holds up 25% of their overall score. They get to work with they get teacher feedback on it's very applicable. And so I think that that's where it rounds out a little bit differently is it's not just the one test the one day, which is why I think we found that like a lot of our ML learners do do well in those IB classes because they have the opportunity to have that piece that has a little bit more like teacher guidance and student guidance. Um IB is also meant to be like a program with like a core being the theory of knowledge class.
087They write an extended essay that's a 4,000word essay. They complete um CASS hours which is community service essentially on top of having six other classes. So it really is meant to work as a full program. We are looking at bringing in also the career program at Gly West High School, which we're a candidate school for it right now, which will blend our CTE with IB for an additional diploma opportunity, which they basically would have to complete their CTE certification and two additional IB classes, as well as they would have a senior thesis very similar to the extended essay, but in the realm of business and or um like ethics within the CTE realm. Um that just once again like expands what the students can do. It can expands their opportunities to have that additional certification
088as well as just the standalone classes that are like the individual diploma program classes. I don't know if that was an elevator speech. That might have been a really that's a really long >> I don't know if I got all of that, but I I I think I got enough of it. Thank you. Uh I also have a question for Mr. Pollson uh on AVID. Um and and it's clear clear that you believe the strategies in AVID are are contributing to student success. And so my question would be what what's the one if if you if you had the chance to mandate for all high school teachers? Uh, and we know that that would never that would never work, right? Uh, but but if you could if we could mandate for all high school teachers
089uh a strategy, a skill from AVID, what if you could say just if everybody would just do this, our students would do better, they would be better prepared. What would the one that one skill be? >> The interactive notebook. Um, I think our freshmen come in with they don't know what they don't know. And so teaching them how to organize themselves, teaching them how to process their own thinking, teaching them how to take notes, teaching them how to keep track of their materials, how to go back and get multiple repetitions with something because the average student remembers 10% of something they saw one time. So then by the end of the week, they barely hold on to much of anything. But if we can create two, three, or four repetitions, they can hold on to
09070% of what they remember of what they've been taught. And that notebook is a tool that allows them to write, to collaborate, to organize, to read, to think, and it keeps everything in one place. And so for me, even though human geography is not an AVID class, I teach it with Avid strategies. And I think the results that we're getting at Gley Central in that class prove that Avid or not, it's working. And so I think that notebook would be a key tool to get students to be more successful. You've seen the we call it the geography bible essential. >> You've seen it at home. >> Yeah. Um and and so but that would be the one thing, right? If we if we could just get every teacher to to get on board with the
091interactive notebook and whatever that means. I'm not sure what all what all packed into that. >> It varies from from discipline to discipline, but the idea that you have one place to write, read, think, organize, collaborate, discuss, reflect. I think it gives you a lot of tools just in one simple activity or one resource. >> Thank you. >> Yep. And then I I'll just put this one >> and then I just want to say I'll be the wish granter because this year we did purchase notebooks for all of our students third grade through eighth grade in our district. And so with that with that hope that we will get all of our students organized and ready to go and use the use of a planner, the use of the notes and and stay organized. We've
092noticed that as a gap as well. And and so we we supported that um through through our through our u mil levy override dollars. And so we're thankful for the community to be able to do that. But every student in third grade or eighth grade does have a notebook for this year. >> Thank you, Mr. Dawson. Um, and but last question, and you might be the person to answer this, too. I'm not sure. I'm I'll open it up to anybody, but um believe this work is tremendously important for this district. Our our work at at ECA, our our work on AP, IB, AVID, and in getting kids to college. What is uh what do you need from this board to to better uh enable you to do this work? >> You want to take that
093one, Dr. Pil? >> I will. I I'll start. And well, they're thinking um we what we need from this board is for you to continue as you have in the past to advocate at the state level for funding. This is a very all of this is very expensive. um the the AVID teachers that paying for AP tests, paying for IB tests, it's very expensive. Um training advanced placement teachers, training international balorate teachers, all of this costs money. And unlike many districts in the state of Colorado, we pay for every student to take their advanced placement or international balorate exam. We do not put that burden on families. And uh yes, our our voters have helped us with the mill levy override, but the reality is it takes additional state funding to be able to do
094these programs. And so we need your advocacy in that. Um and then we need we need you to continue to understand how important this is in this community so it it remains a priority in future budgets. And none of what we present tonight would be possible without mil levy override dollars and additional support. So well said. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bentley. >> Thank you guys. Um I just kind of echo what everybody said and and just express my gratitude for for the job you guys are doing from uh you know the CTE stuff and the in catching our students up who are you know behind on the timelines to this advanced work you guys are doing. And it's very exciting to hear you guys talk about maybe collaborating those two. I think
095that's a very big missing part in the in the trades world at least. We get we get a lot of trade oriented people who are coming in at least in in my experience with with the certificate or some experience uh that's tangible but but that world is is business and it's and there is a whole advanced side to that that would make them better employees, better better managers and and just better all around community members. So exciting things. Thank you guys. [Applause] All right, we're on to our public participation portion of the meeting. Uh read this real quick. As a board, we welcome comments of comm community members and we dedicate a portion of each business meeting to provide an opportunity for the community to present brief comments. All speakers are limited to two minutes
096for comments. Our board members typically will not respond, but we may ask our district staff to do so. All written testimonies and handouts must be submitted to board secretary, Miss Amy Lemon. We ask all speakers and those in attendance to conduct themselves in a dignified and non-disruptive manner. Cheering, snapping, clapping, and other distractions are not permitted. Anyone who disturbs order may be required to sit down and or leave the boardroom. Speakers are responsible for their own speech and to refrain from profane and obscene remarks. All remarks must be suitable for an audience that include kindergarten through 12th grade students. Additionally, District 6 does not support nor endorse any political candidate and we encourage this forum to not be used as a camp for campaigning activities. This board is committed to providing a safe environment where
097all members of the school board school community are treated with dignity, respect, and we expect all speakers to exercise their speech rights responsibly. Tonight, our only speaker is Mr. Jerry Harvey. Good evening board members and Dr. Pilch. My name is Jerry Harvey and I'm running for House District 50. I believe with every fiber of my being that everyone deserves dignity, respect, and a fair shot. These are my core values and they'll be the guiding light for my campaign. This campaign is not about me. It's about the people of House District 50. It's about building a community where everyone has a fair shot at a bright future. It's about fighting for our shared values and ensuring our voices are heard in Denver. If I have the honor and privilege of being elected to represent the people
098of House District 50, I will focus on five priorities that impact everyone in this district. Quality well-funded public education from preK all the way through college. Quality affordable health care, infrastructure, affordability, especially for housing and workforce. I will work hard every day to serve the people of House District 50 and provide them the leadership in Denver they truly deserve. The leadership of someone who has worked their whole career in public service, not a career politician. The leadership of someone who knows how to balance a budget and knows what it means to live paycheck to paycheck. And the leadership of someone who will fight for everyone in this community, not just the select few. For more information about me and this campaign, you can head over to jerryforhd50.com. I hope to be able to meet with
099each of you during the course of this campaign. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. Harvey. On to item number nine, our consent agenda. This is an action item that will need a motion. >> I move >> Oh, go ahead. Jinx. >> I move that the board of education of Gley Evans School District 6 approves items as presented on the consent agenda and authorizes the officers to sign any and all contracts. >> Second. Thank you both. Any discussion on the consent agenda? >> Miss Lemon, will you please give us a vote? >> Director Zari, >> I. >> Director Bentley, >> I. >> Dr. Campus Fitzy, >> I. >> Director Matthews, >> I. >> Director Norwood, >> I. >> Motion carries 5-0. >> Thank you. Um, on to item 10.01, approval of school accredititation plan
100types. Uh, this is a action item that will need a motion as well. I move that the board of education of Well County School District 6 approve the school accredititation ratings as presented on the condition that if any of the appeals are granted by the Colorado Board of Education, the updated ratings will be revisited in January. >> Second. >> Thank you both. It looks like we have a presentation on this. Thank you. >> Good evening, Vice President Bentley, Dr. Pilch, members of the school board. appreciate the time tonight to share with you um both an overview of our accreditation stuff as well as our district unified improvement plans and building unified improvement plans. Um the state board of education will be approving the district's um plan type at their meeting, but we are given the
101task to approve the plan types for the buildings. Let me back up a little bit and just talk a little bit about the history real quickly. The um accreditation became law in 2009 in Colorado. This system is a method of accrediting districts and schools across the state and provides guidelines for giving differentiated support to districts and schools depending on their accreditation category and associated school plan type. Each district and high school is held accountable to a set of key performance indicators as reported on the performance framework. The district and high school breakdown for these indicators include 40% on academic growth, 30% on academic achievement, and 30% on postsecary workforce readiness, which is sometimes referred to as PWR. Each elementary and middle school includes 60% on academic growth and 40% on academic achievement. Districts are accredited
102by the state in one of five categories dependent on the percentage of performance indicator points they earn as on the district performance framework. They can be accredited with distinction, accredited accredited with an improvement plan, accredited with priority improvement plan or accredited with turnaround plan. The latter two accreditation levels include varying degrees of intervention by CDE. Our district is accredited with an improvement plan. And this show slide shows the positive direction of movement over the last three years while still within the improvement plan category. Now let me shift to school accreditation types. District 6 will be accrediting schools based on the plan type each school has been assigned by the state. Based on each school's attainment in the performance indicators, the Colorado Department of Education makes a recommendation as to whether each school should implement a
103performance plan, an improvement plan, a priority improvement plan, or a turnaround plan. These are the same designations as the district without the distinction option. These are 18 schools that are at the performance level. This is the highest number of performance schools that district 6 has ever had. These are 10 schools that are imp at the improvement category. These are five schools that are identified as priority improvement. And again, no schools in turnaround status second year in a row. We do have three schools that we are submitting a request to reconsider and that is Central Centennial and Maplewood and Colorado Department of Education will present those to the board of education and that will be make its determination in December. If we are granted those, we'll bring that back to you for reapproval at that point
104in time. I'm going to turn it back over to Vice President Bentley and Dr. Pilch to answer any questions and for your board's approval of the plan types as they have been presented. >> Any comments or questions? Mr. Tuttle, >> Dr. Cample Spitzy. >> So, I'm glad you uh commented on the positive trend um you know between 2023 and 2025 that every year we inch towards accredited Um, I did have to look up how many points we need um to be to have the accredited designation and that it would be 56.0. Um, so we are we're not too far from that, but if we continue at the pace we're going, it might be a couple years. Um, what's your thinking on moving that needle from 52.3 to 56.0? >> Yeah. So, >> I'll take that.
105Thank you, Mr. Tuttle. Um because >> I 2030. >> Yeah. No. Well, it's more than that. So, um so also what you see when you look at these, you see that several of our schools that did hit performance barely surpassed that 53 >> and there 53.1 53.7. Um so, we've got very steady work that we have to do to to continue to move this this this achievement. Um we are meeting with each school around their major improvement strategies and their their building improvement plan um to identify their needs uh the supports that we should provide as well as um to provide feedback to them and our guidance around the work that that must be done in the system. Um we will also meet with those schools that have have hit performance or have been at
106performance to ensure that we can stay there and maintain that student achievement. So, um, we know we have to take a harder swipe at this than what we have in the past. Um, the other piece is the work we're doing, uh, with special education around the special education review that was done last year. Uh, those folks were in the district all day today, uh, working in schools and we'll be here all week. >> Yes. >> Yeah. All week um, and here every month for a week working with directly with schools, uh, with leadership and with staff. Um also uh we're doing some intense work around literacy and the science of reading. We know that that there's big work to do there as well as as still work to do around mathematics computation. So um your
107urgency is my urgency Dr. Campospitzy. I I I believe we can do this. I I've we've seen it happen in many of our schools and and schools that have moved and stayed there. I I believe that we have the skill in the system to do that and I believe we can develop the will to do that in the system. So um Mr. Tuttle, what would you add since I jumped in on top of you? >> No, you did a beautiful job and I will add that the percent to get it to performance rating is slightly different from school to district. So it's 53% for schools, 56% as you pointed out for the district. So it is a little bit different target, but all the work that Dr. Dr. Pch just described is exactly what we're
108about this year. >> It's really about I mean it's looking very deeply at each student in the system. Um we I mean in some cases really two or three students can change that school's rating uh depending on their performance on the state assessment. Uh the other thing that we're doing is we're looking more closely at kindergarten and first grade and really looking at um how our students are performing on their interim assessments right now and are there children that we should be having conversations about having them do two years of kindergarten or two years of first grade. Uh which we've been really reluctant to do in the past is the literature around retention is is controversial and it indicates in many cases that it can lead to high school dropout when a student is retained.
109But um What we realize is we are seeing more and more students come to us in kindergarten who are not as as prepared as we would like them to be. They haven't been in preschool um and and they haven't been in Head Start. And so it's going to take them a little bit longer. And and you see it when you look at our middle school achievement this year. You see that we're catching students up. when you look at our multilingual learners, we can see we we we are catching kids up, but but um they're not we're not going to see that performance on a third, fourth, or fifth grade test if if we've only had them in K1, two >> in three years to try to catch up three years and three plus more years
110of student achievement that's necessary. So, uh we're we're looking at the system very differently than we have in the past. I'm I'm so interested to hear that comment on um having some kids redo kindergarten or first grade. I actually just got a totally outsider perspective. I have her living in my house right now, a 16-year-old from France, and she said in France about 50% of kids get held back in first grade, half of them, because they cannot read and write yet, so they do it again. She said there it's a little less stigmatized because they pair grades and so they're still with the same classmates they were the year before. Um so it doesn't feel as much like they were left behind. Um because it's like first and second grader are together kind of thing.
111Um, I think truly though when when we are honest and loving and supportive with families, families want their children to be successful. And and if we really help families understand the the implications of not being ready for first grade when you leave kindergarten or not being ready for second grade when you leave first grade. Um, I I think, you know, I think we can help create some understanding around this. And we're not talking about retaining hundreds of students, but we are talking about looking at this differently than we have in the past and and maybe even doing some things second semester um with our kinders and first graders to adjust instruction for them. >> Yeah, I do want to celebrate that all four of our comprehensive middle schools were at performance. So, Brentwood, Franklin, Prairie
112Heights, Heath, you know, amazing. Um, and another trend I noticed in our K through eights that five out of seven are at performance. Um, so another, you know, thing to celebrate and, you know, we always talk about the parents love K through8s, but now I feel like we're seeing some achievement data behind the K through eight model as well. Um, I will, you know, I I'm the the one who looks at everything. Um, our elementary is where we're we're not we we don't get to celebrate as much. So we have 10 K through fives in our district and only three are at performance. Um four if we get Centennial to to get it reconsidered. Um but four out of 10 is not enough right in K through five. I know we are working um individually
113with those schools. Um but it does worry me. I it does feel like we do catch them up in middle school. Um but it worries me that in the foundational years of you know K through three which um which is where we do seem to be struggling and so I I know that I am preaching to the choir and you are well aware um but just wanted to highlight those trends that we do really do well in our are doing well in our comprehensive middle schools and our K through8s overall are doing well and it's our K through fives that seem to be struggling. anything to add? >> Oh, Mr. Zarya wants to chime in. >> Just just a question uh just to uh reinform me our relationship with the charters and do we have
114any responsibility in regards to their u achievement and well >> how is that used? >> So their data is in our district data. It's there. I mean, it's and we have very little leverage with our charters unless they're up for for a contract renewal. We have very little very little leverage. Um, we will offer supports. Uh, you prior to you coming on the board, Dorne, we had a charter that had been in turnaround for multiple years and um was up for contract renewal. We did have some leverage with that. We were able to impose district support with that school. Um and and we saw some big change with that district support and there is a a new leader at that site who understands turnaround work and now we see that school at performance but quite
115frankly we have very little leverage very little. >> Dr. Pilch, can you touch on how are the these grades the same bell curve as like CMAS testing where 50 is the state average or is this a different system of how they do this accreditation rating? It's all based on the on that same score was that Cam Mass is to that with the 50 being, you know, >> the state average. Yes. So, so correct me if I'm wrong, but if we get to 56, the law of averages says we're going to float the state average up and it's a moving target, right? Or vice versa. So, >> sure, we're the 13th largest district in the state. And so, it behooves the district for us to do better because then we're going to help move the state
116average, too. >> But at the same time, then then we're back to if the 56 If everybody's at 56 and all the sudden next year we're at 50, right? I think a lot of people just see 50 and go, "Well, that's an F." >> Yeah. You don't stay at 50. What's wrong? But it's it's >> there's no 100. I mean, there's nobody at 100 points in the system in the in the state. The highest district is in the low 80s and it's one district in the state of Colorado. >> Thank you guys. Anything else? >> All right. I think uh we need a vote. Miss Lemon, >> Director Zari, >> I. >> Director Bentley, >> hi. >> Director Campo Spitzy, >> I. >> Director Matthews, >> hi. >> Director Norwood, >> I. >> Motion carries
1175-0. >> Thank you guys. On to 10.2, approval of the district unified improvement plan and school unified improvement plans. Tuttle, you up again? >> Yeah. Do you want to do your >> Oh, we need a motion, guys. >> Motion for that. >> I move. >> I'll do it this time. I I move that the board of education of Greley Evans School District 6 approves the district unified improvement plan and school unified improvement plans as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you guys. Thank you for keeping me in line. This is my my freshman meeting. So >> you're doing a great job. Let me shift now to the work of the unified improvement plans for both the district and the schools. Let me begin with the district UIP. We began this work in May as we wrapped
118up last year and had our local data to analyze. Then as the state data became available over the summer along with our district performance framework that came out in late August, we made revisions and triangulated our focus and made appropriate revisions. We also received feedback from our district accountability committee and aligned our action steps and our implementation benchmarks to our I2030 strategic plan. MIS1, as you referred to it as major improvement strategy one, MIS1 utilize aligned resources and effective instructional strategies to ensure all students, including multilingual learners, students that are on IEPs, students with read plan, and students who are identified as gifted and talented are supported in meeting or exceeding grade level standards. Instruction should be differentiated to meet the diverse academic needs of every learner, providing appropriate scaffolds, enrichment, and acceleration as needed.
119MIS2, the district will implement a comprehensive MTSS system to address the academic and behavioral needs of all students across tier 1, tier 2, and tier three. In addition, targeted support will be provided to improve student attendance, promote student and staff wellness, and strengthen overall engagement within our school community. MIS3, the district and schools are committed to fostering a welcoming environment where all students and families feel a strong sense of belonging. We will take intentional steps to engage families and the broader community in our schools. In addition, we will monitor the experiences and outcomes of diverse student groups to ensure equity and success across our system. Our efforts will prioritize creating meaningful family engagement opportunities that reflect the interests and needs of our families guided by the CDE family and school community partnership framework. Now, let
120me transition to the school UIPs and their work. House Bill 161440 allows schools with a performance plan type to submit a UIP on a bianual basis. Internally, we require all non-charter schools to have two years at a performance rating and consistent leadership before considering bianual submission. These five schools are opting for bannual submission, meaning they are not submitting a UIP this year and will submit one again in 2026. just know that those schools still use our PM tools and are still actively planning how they're going to do their work. Our um so they're still designing their action steps around a major improvement strategies work within their school. So that work's not stopping just because we're opting for the bannual submission. The unified improvement planning template aligns our analysis and planning around three guiding questions and
121includes these critical components within the UIP process. Both the district and building UIPs are aligned to our I2030 and the district focused work. It also allows each school to analyze their data and determine specifically what the focus is for their school. The team then identifies the major improvement strategies as well as implementation benchmarks how they're going to measure that work as well as action steps to be taken at their school and to move their school up to performance level or to sustain it at the performance level. We asked schools to align their building UIPs with these three focus areas similar to the district UIPs. MIS1 quality tier one instruction, MIS2 support for students and staff. Some schools in included the family engagement strategies in MIS2 while others distinguished it as a separate focus in MIS3.
122In your board packet, you have a summary of each school's UIP and their plans to strive for continuous improvement. The school plan planned action steps for all four quarters, but what is in your 102page document is just the first quarter action steps to give you a sense of the work at each school. While the board of education is required to approve the improvement plan types for priority importer improvement and turnaround schools, we choose to bring all of them to you. That being said, I'll turn it back to Vice President Bentley and Dr. Pilch for any questions and the approval of the unified improvement plans. >> Anybody got any comments or questions? >> Mr. Matthews, >> I have a question for um maybe for Dr. Pilge, but but maybe for you, Mr. Tuttle. Um I've looked
123at a lot of unified improvement plans in my eight years on the board. Uh and a lot of the a lot of the work looks similar to you know this unified improvement plan looks pretty similar to some in in the past. A lot of the work is the same. Um in your estimation in terms of moving uh the district is it is it more that we should uh is there work that we haven't been doing? I mean, you mentioned this in in a comment and uh earlier in the meeting that is that what we need is there work that we need to do maybe some new data that we need that we've seen that indicates we do something different or is it we're doing the right work. We just we just need to do we
124need to get everybody on board. We just need to do it better. Uh what's the is there one of those that's that's more important than the other? >> Well, so uh these are the questions that keep me up at night. Uh I will say this that there's no doubt in my mind that this team at the district level and many of our principles know what is necessary to move student achievement and between knowing and actual implementation and getting results can be a really long walk and and that's what we're seeing here in some cases. I I also will tell you that I think some of this is staff turnover. We've been looking at you see Miss Overton nodding her head. We've been looking at staff turnover and we do see a correlation with staff turnover
125with student achievement. No question about it. And so when we talk about retention work and and retaining our teachers and teacher satisfaction, it may be the most critical thing we do here. Um it is also um when we take our eye off the prize. So whether that we as a building principal because they've gotten distracted by a lot of stuff, whether that we is us because we're distracted by things that have that have come up. Uh who whomever that we is, when we take our our eye off the work that must be done, we also see a lapse in student achievement. There's no question about it. Um where we saw the greatest improvement this year um is at schools where we put very intense focus um and very and a lot of supports from the
126district office. Uh a lot of coaching, a lot of instructional leadership was provided to those buildings and um unfortunately there are only so many of us to go out and do that work. And so when you talk about 10 elementary schools, I mean, if that's 10 schools that West Tuttle should be in every week and he is one human, it's 10 schools that the director of special ed should be in. And then you have another, you know, another set of K8 schools and middle schools and high schools so that we don't lose the progress that we've made in those schools. So it's um it is big and I I will tell you that um because of the movement we have seen I know that the work can be done and I I think that makes
127me even more anxious more urgent to do the work because I I we know it can be done. We know it can be done. Um so we have to do it. We just have to do it. I I don't know if I answered your question. I will tell you leadership matters. >> Um we have a school right now that is on improvement um that has a very strong leader and and we have we chose that school to implement some specialized programming and I think that might have been a mistake. And yet we expect that school to come off of improvement. And we put this specialized programming in there that is requiring a great deal of principal attention and other staff attention. And um and we did that because this leader is so strong. But even
128a very strong leader can get very distracted by really big issues that are occurring at their school. And and that's where so tomorrow I mean we we have another meeting to talk about how do we provide the right supports um at the right schools to get the right work done. And you asked the question about is there more data we need something we don't know? Yes. Uh Jenny Jensen, director of assessment and I have been having more conversations than we've had in the 10 years that she and I have had, I think, since I've been superintendent, quite frankly, about our assessments and and what are the right assessments. Do we have the right assessment in K12 especially to tell us how our our students are really doing and and what what else our students need.
129We primarily use dibbles and dibbles tells us when our students do not are not able to actually say the word, read the word, read the sentence. We know that from dibbles. Dibbles does not tell us when our students are comprehensing what comprehending what that sentence means or what that paragraph means. Not really, not very well. And so the question is, do we need another instrument in addition to dibbles? Do we need to scrap dibbles alto together? And so we're we're doing that work right now to explore that and and to look at that. Um Dibbles is one of the the assessments that is approved by the state of Colorado and we get we get $100,000 a year to implement to help us pay for the Dibbles testing. If I move to another assessment over here,
130I'm not going to get that $100,000 a year grant to pay for that assessment because this is one of them that the state um has approved. But let's look at the state data. the state is they're I mean quite frankly considering the statewide demographic they're not they're not really outperforming us that much. They're not. I mean that's the reality. The whole state of Colorado is >> we're all struggling and we haven't figured this out. Um >> we figure it out at individual sites but then but we got we got to figure it out as a system. Okay, that's probably enough. >> That's a great answer. >> That's my brain dump on this. >> Yeah, that's why you're superintendent of the year. Yeah, >> you're always thinking about these things. >> Uh Dr. Pch, one of
131the things you said to me at at a event the other day um regarding this was not only this year we with the unified improvement plans and and obviously looking at the schools that are underperforming. You mentioned that you was going to be very intentional this year about looking at what worked at the schools that had big movements and then seeing if you could replicate that, right? >> And I think you know that that might pay dividends going forward if we can implement some of that. >> Yeah. you know, we've done some of that like with two principles partnering together and learning from each other, but this idea of really looking um at patterns across the system like looking at what's happening with staff retention across the system. And so those K8s that you're talking
132about, Dr. Campos Spitzy, many of them have some of our best, most of them have our best staff retention in the system. And so, you know, that's looking at patterns across the system of what what what really needs to be systemic across the system. Not, you know, not just like this middle school replicating this middle school, but really this needs to be a practice across all middle schools. >> Thank you. Anything else, you guys? All right, Miss Lemon, can you give us a vote? >> Director Zari, >> I. >> Director Bentley, >> I. >> Director Campos Spitzy, >> I. >> Director Matthews, >> I. Director Norwood. >> Hi. >> Motion carries 5-0. >> Thank you, Mr. Tuttle for all that. Uh, that's all of the business we have for today. We just want to thank
133everybody for joining us, participating. Um, shout out to our student reps who join us and give up so much of their time. And a big thank you to Miss Lemon for helping me keep my ducks in the road tonight. Thank you guys. >> Good job. >> Meeting is adjourned. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]