001Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Come [Music] on. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] How? [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Good evening and welcome to the board of education business meeting May 12th, 2025. This meeting will now come to order. Please join us for the pledge of allegiance. Pledge 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, will you please call the role? Director, present. Director Bentley, present. Director Campos Spitzy, present. Director Mash, present. Director Matthews, present. Director Norwood. Director Sullivan present. Six board members present. Well, thank you for joining us
002this evening. I would also like to introduce Timothy Longacre, president of our co council of student representatives from Northridge High School and Sarah Venegas, also a member of the Council of Student Representatives from Early College Academy. We always enjoy having you with us and your input. Um, we have reached almost the very end of our school year. This is the time of all of our celebrations of the accomplishments of our students and also thanking our staff for their tireless and gracious, generous use of their time, talent, and resources for our students. Um, this week we were able to celebrate with our retirees, um, folks who have served in district 6 for two years, folks who have served in district 6 for over 40 years. It's always a lot of fun to hear folks who stayed
003in the exact same building, the same um level of education with, you know, they they taught third grade for 20 years and how they love that. It's also fun to hear about folks who who jumped around and did a little bit of everything. But, um, from the board of education, we want to offer our heartfelt congratulations to anyone who retired this year. And also, thank you so much to our teachers and educators who go above and beyond. We know this year, this week is AP exams and our students have been working very diligently so that they can potentially get some college credit um but also just finish that college level practice class um that they're able to take in high school. Many of our um teachers offered exam prep on Saturdays. So again, we really
004appreciate you going that extra mile to make sure that our students were um prepared and best wishes. um for these last couple of weeks. Moving on, um we will uh have our superintendent's honor roll and I'll give this to Dr. Pilch. Thank you, President Mash. I have several folks to recognize tonight on the superintendent's honor roll. I'm going to start with one of our staff members first, uh Vita Trevino. Uh I think she's here tonight. Oh, come on up, Vita. You get to stand by the podium and we get to look at you. while I talk about you. Um, so VITA, uh, as many of you have heard, was one of the was the 2425 Colorado finalist for presidential award for excellence in mathematics and science teaching. This is a highly sought-after award. Um, it
005it's really something to be recognized with this award and and we're so lucky to have Vita here in our school district and committed to our students. So congratulations. I would like for you Vita u to take a minute at the podium and just if you want to if you want to share about the award a little bit and um what it means to you that would be great and if you don't want to you don't have to. Okay. I'll share just a few words. Um the the award is pretty special to me because it it is a culmination of the work that we do at Heath Middle School. I'm so proud and hap happy to be at this school where I get to impact students every day and I feel the support of my colleagues.
006And so the the award being a finalist is more than a just just about me. It's about everything that we do collectively at Heath to help grow our students. Thank you so much, Vita. You know, I was a middle school teacher and a middle school principal when I started out my career. Uh it is it is a lift, especially here in the last couple of weeks of school to be a middle school teacher. So, thank you for all you do here in District 6. Uh next I'd like to recognize our two students who are sitting to the left of me um as this is their last board meeting in these roles um as Timothy Longacre will be actually graduating and leaving us. He has been the president of the council of student representatives and then
007Sarah Venegas is the vice president and she fortunately she is a junior and I learned tonight she is coming back as the president next year. So, I think she'll still get to sit here next year and and represent our students across the district, but um I want to recognize you both as part of superintendent's honor role. It it is so important to have a student voice in all that we do. And uh Mr. Matthews and I have had a chance to come and visit with the council student reps and hear from you all as well as your peers uh across the district and and help us to be better leaders for the district. And I want to thank you for for giving up these evenings here in the boardroom and for for taking the courage
008to to hit your button and and share a comment or a thought with us because we do what we do because of the students in district 6 and you two are like a big deal. You're like the big representatives of that. So congratulations to you both. I want Do you want to go to the podium? Do you want to speak from here? Okay, great. So, actually before we move on with this whole award and everything, we actually want to announce to the board our closing statements and the following officers that will be taking on their positions for the following school year. There's a little group right here. Uh, I'm just going to start off with my speech and then we'll move through. Good evening, President Mash, members of the board, and Dr. Pilch. You all
009already know my name, so I won't go into any unnecessary introduction. I've been greatly honored to serve as the president of this year's incredible Council of Student Representatives and as a sitting representative at the D6 board meetings. Since September of last year, Sarah Venegas and I have been able to participate in board meetings and grant a voice to the many students throughout District 6 with our comments always being welcomed with hospitality and acceptance by board members. The ability to represent our schools and the students that make them up has both been empowering and at the same time eye-opening. These meetings have shown me that the hard work and dedication of our district not only comes from our fantastic teachers, but also the staff throughout our district, like the janitors who clean our halls, the counselors
010that serve our minds and health, and the cafeteria workers who keep our bodies energized, and especially to the students that make up the district's hardworking identity. I have been district 6 for most of my life, nine years at this point. And I must say that out of anywhere else I could have grown up and developed, District 6 is the place I choose 100% of the time. I thank every educator, counselor, staff member, and student who has watched me grow up and has helped foster who I am today. I would like to give a special thanks to Miss Kimberly Foster, my fourth grade teacher, who welcomed me into this entire school district in 2016. And now to the future. I will be graduating in the coming weeks, leaving my position as the president of the Council
011of Student Representatives and proudly passing it on to someone I know will bring passion, care, and utmost prowess to this position. Since the day I first met this student, I have been nothing but astonished by her ability to solve problems, interact with others, and bring a muchneeded energy to the group's efforts. She has always done everything possible to ensure our group success and has intended every single group activity possible. She's truly the future of this team and its inspirational members. Without further ado, I excitedly pass the mic on to the incoming Council of Student Representatives President, Miss Sareneos. Thank you. Good evening, President Mash, Dr. Pilich, members of the board. I am grateful for the opportunity to be one of your student representatives here on the D6 board meetings. It was an honor to witness
012firsthand the dedication and strategic thinking that went into every discussion. Being included in these discussions gave me a unique perspective of all the hard work that goes into continuously improving the district for our students. It was such a wonderful experience to see how connected our district was within our teachers, staff, families, and of course, our students. Acknowledging all of our student success within the meetings with the same amazement and values made me realize that we are truly appreciated. Furthermore, I want to acknowledge Timothy Longacre. Timothy is truly a great leader and being able to work with him closely during this time has been a privilege and a great learning experience for me. He did an outstanding job being the president of the Council of Student Representatives. He was always inclusive and open-minded about the diversity
013and ideas between the schools big and small. His dedication both for the Council of Student Representatives and for the District 6 board meetings was amazing. There is no doubt he truly has the voice of a leader. Now, the future of the Council of Student Representatives is bright as we introduce the new officers for this upcoming year. Mr. Edwin Power, a hardworking and dedicated young man as our vice president. Miss Aaliyah Medina, an intelligent and optimistic young woman as our secretary. And last but not least, Miss Maybelline Zarat Reoso as our social media specialist. She is new to the group, but has already shown promise through her new design of the CSR logo, and we are excited to introduce a new perspective into our group and are excited to see what she will become. We look
014forward to continue working with Mr. Allen and Miss Lonard this next upcoming year. Thank you for your continued support for the Council of Student Representatives and for the schools all across our district. So many congratulations so you just one more President Mash. Um, finally, I'd like to recognize some parents and community members who are here tonight from our district accountability committee and honor all of you with the superintendent's honor role. Um, and so I'm going to talk about you all a little bit and then I'm going to ask uh Nate Johnson, the the chairperson, to come up and help me pass out certificates to you all. Um, but I am I am so honored to recognize DAC tonight. They have concluded their school year uh serving as the district accountability committee. Um most of them
015made it to every single meeting. Uh we meet I think seven times a year. Uh the DAC not only informs the school improvement plan um and the work of the district, but for me they have been a sounding board for parent input and community input on a regular basis. I've been able to go to the DAC and pose questions to them or issues that we are working on as a board of education or revisions to the strategic plan and these individuals have given me honest and meaningful feedback to to better the work of the district and it was actually the idea came from DAC to actually include um an action around artificial intelligence in our strategic plan over a year ago. we had not included it yet and it was one of the DAC members
016who said hey what about what about artificial intelligence where's that at Dr. Pilch and so um it's just that's just one small example of how important they have been to us. Uh they have also informed our portrait of a graduate. We haven't completed that yet but we have we have a a nice draft of that that we're scrubbing up and we'll be bringing back to you all for more input but Dak has has given input on that over two over two different meetings. They gave us input on that and um they look closely at our panorama survey data. uh they they look closely at our district improvement plan and and their work is not to be taken lightly. They also go back and represent uh at their building. They serve on their school accountability committee
017and they represent their building then when they come back in into our meeting at DAC. So, I'm so grateful to you all. Um you're going to hear me talk about you just a little bit more a little later when we actually have Nate come up and and and do the budget, but I I want to bring you all up. Nate, are are you here? Did I Okay, great. I'm going to give you the certificates, Nate, and then I'll read the names um as we go. Okay. And you can help me with this. The first one is Kaylee Height. I didn't see Kaylee. Valerie Fernandez. Nope. Deborah Chastain. These parents are all getting their kids ready for finals is what they're doing. They really are. Lisa Shelly. I thought I saw Lisa. Kelly Jackson, I saw
018you. Come on up. AndreaRandle. El Dominguez, I see you out there. Come on up. Diana Rubicava. No, no. Diana. Kathy Hefron. Jennifer Gman. Brianna Wakefield, Geneva Garahan, Amber Coleman, Tanya Alde Katano. To be fair, they did not know they were getting recognized tonight. This is their surprise. Uh Barry Hollstead, George Alana's, I thought I saw George. There's George. Nicole Ortega, Christy Aldridge. Come on up, Nicole Christy Aldridge, also Emily Ellen, and then Nathaniel Johnson himself who's helping me with the certificates, Germaine Wilson, Senior, Lisa Woody. Oh, did I miss one? Oh, and our principal representative, Lindseay Gentle. Ariana Warz, Diana Letman see Diana. Rebecca Herald. Hi Rebecca. Saw you sitting out there. Rebecca's actually our staff representative from the Girly Education Associ. No, I lied. Never mind. Shut up. Dearra Rox Roxan Martinez. Uh, Brandon
019Yetto, Heather Bunan, do you want to come to work for us? Jonathan Cole, Jerry Jennings, I see you out there. And Christy Stewart. So, I want to say thank you to all of you. Um, you're a small but mighty group tonight and but I appreciate you showing up and really your role tonight is is just to be here to support Nate as he talks about the budget recommendations. So, thank you for being here. Thank you, Dr. Pilch. Our next item is to approve the agenda. This is an action item and will require a motion. I move that the board of education of Gley School District 6 approves the agenda as presented. Second. Thank you all. Is there any discussion on the agenda? Seeing none, Miss Lemon, will you give us a vote, please? Director Zari,
020I. Director Bentley, I. Director Campos Fitzy, I. Director Mash, I Director Matthews, I Director Sullivan, I. Motion carries 6. All right. And back to you, Dr. Pilch, for the superintendent's report. Thank you, President Mash. Um, first I'll point out that you do see an administrative piece in your agenda related to student expulsions um for for your review. Um, I also want to share with you uh I want to add on to your comments, President Mash, about coming up on the the close of the school year. Last week was teacher appreciation week, but really when we think about closing that week out, it really is about appreciating and recognizing every single employee, every single staff member in District 6 and all that they have done for our students. As we wind up another school year here
021and and we get ready to go into field day and the final concerts and programs and and finals for our older kids. Um, we're just so grateful to our staff and grateful to our families for supporting us. Um, and and allowing us to serve your children. Um, and we are grateful for the children, the little bitty ones and the great big ones who are ready to go off. Um, so just just a lot of heartfelt gratitude for our education community here in District 6. And speaking of gratitude, I am grateful to get to introduce two new hires um, tonight. one you have already approved, the other you you have in your personnel report. And so the one you've already approved is Mr. Derek Lefabre. Um so Derek, stand up, give a wave. Hello Derek. Um
022yes. So uh Derek is no stranger to district 6, although he's he's been gone for us for a little while while he was working on his doctorate degree um at CU Boulder. But Derek is our new assistant principal at James Madison Steam Academy. Um, we're so excited to welcome him back to District 66 after working on his doctorate. Prior to leaving district 6 to go do that work, he was a social studies and Spanish and speech and drama teacher at Brentwood. He taught science at Heath Middle School. Um, and he also taught at Celita Dul Academy. He was actually a teacher there when I came through I think 10 years ago interviewing for this job. I believe you were a teacher there um teaching social studies science and Spanish. So Derek, welcome to the assistant
023principal ship. I think we've already put you to work actually. So thank you for starting a little early. We wanted you to to hit the ground running and and excited to have you over there with with Nidia and and supporting the students at at Madison Steam Academy. So welcome. And then our second new hire that you all have on your agenda tonight to consider. Um and with your approval, I am recommending Mr. Russell Tupper um who to be the new principal at Chapel K8's arts magnet. [Applause] So Mr. Tupper has been in district since 2018. uh he came to us uh to serve in the dean role at Winterrad K8 and then he helped to open Twinton pre-engineering academy um as an assistant principal over there um and prior to that he was in the
024St. Brain Valley School District as a special educator um and he also worked as a special educator facilitator there um and prior to that he was in Morgan County School District supporting students with special needs but really excited to have Mr. Tupper um join the chapel staff and to come on as principal um at our our only K8 arts magnet. So welcome Russell. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Pilch. We are now to the portion of our meeting for public participation. As a board, we welcome welcome the comments of 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 for comments. Our board members typically will not respond, but we may ask our district staff to do
025so. All written testimony or handouts must be submitted to the 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 or to leave the boardroom. Speakers are responsible for their own speech and should refrain from profane or obscene remarks. All remarks must be suitable for an audience that includes kindergarten through 12th grade students. This board is committed to providing a safe environment where where all members of the school community are treated with dignity and respect and we expect all speakers to exercise their speech rights responsibly. Our first speaker this evening is Miss Jerry Jennings. Miss Jennings, thank you for being here and you will
026have two minutes. Thank you, President Mash, Dr. Pilch, and all board members. I've never done this before. I'm so nervous. I've only watched on TV. So, um, I was supposed to have a student with me that could testify to how much this has benefited them and what it will in the future. So, I'm here to talk about the Gley West booster car show that we're having. It's our second annual. It'll be on June 15th. And I I hand I gave flyers for each of you to to have for your own. So, um, it's open for everybody. It can be your little jalapy. It can be your fancy car that you've worked on forever. But we're going to have food vendors, um, a kids area, smoothie bikes. Where's Danielle? Um, and it's it's a lot of
027fun. So, it'll be 10:00 a.m. to 1:30, rain or shine, on June 14th. I think I just said the 15th, but the 14th. So, um, if you have any questions, ask Cranson. He knows. So, that's all. Thank you. Okay. Good. Good. All right. Thank you. Or did you have any questions? Okay. All right. Thanks. Thank you, Miss Jennings. Our second speaker this evening is Mr. Josh Wayne Scott. Thank you, Mr. Wayne Scott. You'll have two minutes. Beginning of every school year, district employees are supposed to review their policies and procedures within the school district that staff are supposed to abide by. I would like to direct your attention to policy JKA, use of physical intervention and restraint. Use of physical intervention and restraint to maintain a safe learning environment. District employees may within the scope
028of their employment and consistent with state law use physical intervention and restraint with students in accordance with this policy and accompanying regulations. Such actions shall not be considered child abuse or corporal punishment if performed in good faith and in compliance with this policy and its accompanying regulations. The use of physical re intervention is allowed to quell disturbances threatening physical injury. It's for the protections of persons and property against physical injury. Restraint is over a minute and it must be documented. Anything less than a minute is not restraint. In this policy, there are no additional trainings required or certifications required. only people acting in good faith. Based on that information and the way things have gone, I would ask that any persons, employees, current or former in this district have any letters of reprimand removed from
029their file immediately. And I hope moving forward the district finds a better way to use taxpayer dollars. Thank you, Mr. Wayne Scott. Our next speaker is Miss Molly Davis. Thank you for being here, Miss Davis. You will have two minutes. All right. Um, I'm Molly Davis. I teach first grade at Maplewood Elementary. Um, I want to speak about something a lot of us feel but feel few are willing to say, and that is the growing lack of trust in our school administration and how it's fueled by one major issue, and that's poor communication. Um, time and time again, we're left in the dark. decisions are made behind closed doors. We often hear about major changes not from at the administration but from rumors, social media, or each other. Whether it's schedule changes, safety concerns, or
030policy updates, we are rarely given the full story. And when we are, it's too late to voice our thoughts or concerns. I am speaking specifically of how the accusations against Joshu Wayne Scott were handled. administration was quick to come to our school and tell us of his arrest and the notification that went out to families. But when he was found not guilty, we didn't hear anything from administration. How can we trust leaders who don't take the time to listen or even inform? Trust is built on transparency. And when communication breaks down, confidence follows. Students and even teachers feel powerless like the their voices don't matter. And when people feel unheard, they stop engaging and they stop caring. Mr. Wayne Scott's life was turned upside down unfairly. The morale of our school also declined. When a
031student makes an allegation against a staff member, all the staff that interact with that student should be interviewed to get the whole picture in order to protect our staff. I learned that two teachers were formally written up for not reporting child abuse that we know now didn't happen when he was found not guilty. I would hope those writeups are now rescended. My hope is that in the future when allegations are made about a staff member, it is handled better. We can do better communicating with all staff members involved with the students daily routines. Good leadership requires open lines of communication. Without that, trust can't grow, only doubt. Thank you. It's time. Okay. Thank you. Our last speaker of the evening is Miss April Kramer. Thank you for being here, Miss Kramer. You will have two
032minutes. Hi, my name is April Kramer. I'm a reading interventionist and a GA member. On April 30th, DE uh District 6 staff received an email asking for our feedback to help assess progress in strengthening district-wide communication, collaboration, and consistency between staff and administrators, specifically around student discipline practices. This was more than just a request to fill out a quick survey. It was an opportunity to share honest reflections about how discipline decisions are made uh made, communicated, and supported in our buildings. And I can tell you staff did not take this lightly. I personally spent three separate 30 minute sessions of my own time thoughtfully respond responding trying to convey the ongoing frustration I feel about the lack of consistency and clear communication. We have work to do and that work starts now and must continue
033from day one of next school year. I'm urging all of us, our building administrators, staff, students, and families to commit to high expectations and shared accountability through the effective implementation of response to behaviors of the response to behaviors matrix and code of conduct. In addition, I respectfully request that the results of this survey be shared with all employees. There is power in transparency. Seeing the patterns and trends in the responses can help all of us understand where we stand and more importantly where we need to go. If we put in the work now together, it will save us time, stress, and confusion later. But that only happens if we're all on the same page. Since I have a few minutes left, I realize why I'm here because I continuously see students from our school representing
034our school and it's worth it. Thank you. Thank you all for coming to speak to us this evening. Our next item on the agenda is our consent agenda. This requires a motion. I move that the board of education agre school district 6 approves items as presented on the consent agenda and authorizes the officers to sign any and all contracts. Second. Thank you. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, Miss Lemon will give us a vote. Director Ozari, I. Director Bentley, I. Director Campus Fitzy I. Director Mash I. Director Matthews I. Director Sullivan I. Motion carries 6. And our next item on the agenda is to receive the DAC budget recommendations. So I'll turn this back over to Dr. Pilch. Good evening, President Mash, members of the board. I don't usually come to the
035podium, but I am standing in for uh Mr. Anthony Osmus, assistant superintendent tonight. Uh he's actually taking his um 18-year-old to actually start in the the army. Um and so they took a trip to Denver tonight. So, he can't be with us this evening. Um so, I said I would step in. Um I spoke a little bit earlier about the responsibilities of the district accountability committee. I want to share just a little bit more about um one of their responsibilities that brings Nathan here with me tonight. Um DAC is also responsible for looking at recommendations for budget consideration and and making recommendations to the board of education around those budget considerations. And so DAC has looked at the district unified improvement plan. They've looked at innovation 2030 throughout the year. And then I shared with
036them um earlier this month some of the things we've been looking at in terms of priorities in the district for keeping um in our budget and some of the priorities for looking at possibly cutting in our budget um as we finalize the budget and and then DAC had a conversation and they were able to make some recommendations around their priorities as a district accountability committee. So, with that, I'm happy to introduce to you chairperson Nate Johnson, um, who will present to you additional information about the top recommended budget priorities from the district accountability committee. Thank you, Dr. Pilch, President Nash, members of the board. Um, appreciate your time this evening. Uh, you'll find the the formal uh, budget recommendations in your agenda packet um, as well. So, as I kind of talk through them, um
037there's a little bit more information there and a little more specifics. Um after spending a considerable amount of time learning throughout the year, um talking with uh different staff within the district and getting to know the district better, um we went through at our last meeting and after Dr. Pilch kind of talked about the current state of the state budget and the money that the district should expect to receive next year. Um went through and looked at different areas within the district that um DAC representatives who bring the feedback from their schools should kind of direct the district to um focus their time and efforts on. Um, in order to do this, we created a matrix and we ranked our priorities on a scale of 1 to four with four being a low priority and
038one being a high priority. Um, after all of the DAC members uh tallied their scores, um, Lindsay took it back and pulled everything together. The highest possible score uh would have been 18. And um the highest recommended priority from DAC was to provide at least one school counselor in each elementary school and increase the number of school counselors at K through 8, middle, and high schools. Um and that received 23 points. The next three priority items were parent and family advocates in each elementary, K through 8, and middle school, maintaining a low class size, and having social workers in all of our K through2 schools. Um, additional comments that were made from DAC included recognizing the importance of mental health support in our schools. Um, something that especially postcoid has been a a revolving conversation
039in DAC around all aspects of the district. While we understand this is just one piece of the budget process, we hope that you will consider our recommendation as representatives from all schools across our district. We have become familiar with the budget process we work within and we believe these priorities will further support our teachers and students to be successful. Um, since I have the podium for a second, I'd also like to uh make a comment to all the dads out there. Um it's something that we don't tend to see in DACK and I've been in DACK for three years now and was a lone soldier for the first two years uh minus a couple staff members and this year we had two dads involved and it was really awesome to see um George is doing
040great work in the transportation department um and is representing INDAC and it's so important to get dads in our schools and involved in our kids' future and I would throw that challenge out to any of the dads that are watching tonight. Um it's really really important and and when I started with that uh there was kind of a question in my mind of hey this is a state required thing is it really important and it has been phenomenal to see how much the district truly pays attention to the things that DAC brings to the table. The questions the concerns um the things that we want to see for our kids and takes action on those. So I really appreciate your time and thank you very much. Thank you very much. Um, are there any questions
041for Nate or for Dr. Pilch? Dr. Campos Spitzy. Um, not really a question, more more a comment. Um, I I really like the format you guys give us. It's like super easy to understand and to to see the ranking um of your budget priorities. Um, I really appreciate that school counselors are appreciated by parents as much as they are by staff and and building leadership. Um, I I I I think this comment is for the board that as we look at the budget um, as much as as we can and I I guess I'm speaking individually um, we will definitely keep that priority in mind. Um and uh parent and family advocates as well and and class size uh is always a priority. Um so I I we appreciate this. I I appreciate this. Thank
042you so much, Mr. Matthews. Thank you, President Mesh. Uh thank thank you, Mr. Johnson. Thank you to our DAC members. We we do know that that's a lot of time that you commit and we do appreciate your input into the budget process every year and so uh can you tell us just a little bit more um why school counselors maybe rose to the top just if you uh recall any of your discussion and I would say those those top four are all are all very big priorities for us but how school counselors rose to the top. Absolutely. I think um you know a big part of the change in in times has become a much better recognition and focus on mental health um across the board, but especially in our schools. Um our students just
043because they're young and resilient doesn't mean that they're not affected by the outside world and change um and the effect of their peers. Um home life, you know, there's all kinds of things that contribute to that and a lot of that comes to light at school. um you know they're in a in an environment where they're stuck in a desk for most of the day and really having to kind of focus their efforts and that's where a lot of that stuff kind of comes out and I think the parents recognize that while we can do our jobs at home there's a second component and a big part of their life that we aren't always involved in and we can't always be there and that's a big role that the school counselors play um from a
044mental health aspect along with guiding their education. Um, it's that one-on-one contact and availability for kids to be able to reach out for that. Um, and knowing that it's there instead of having to ask around or wait for somebody to come in from another school um is really really important. And you know, CO was a a huge thing that changed everybody's lives and had a drastic impact um on mental health. And I think a lot of that I think there's been a bigger focus on that after co um and it's just something that it's come up every year that I've been in DACK. Um and I think all of the parents are um very passionate about Thank you. Absolutely. Are there any other comments or questions from board members? Well, thank you so much for
045bringing that to us. I agree with Dr. campost that this is easy to to see and um thank you for answering the questions. Um thank you for giving a plug for DAC and also I am excited to see if some more dads will join. Um I get I get to attend the DAC meetings in my role as vice president. Um so I think Mr. Bentley will be joining you next year. Um but the DAC parents are extremely astute. They ask excellent questions. Um, I guess some of the perks of being on deck, you get to take tours, you get to be, um, in, you know, in the beginning of a lot of information and, um, if you have smaller kids, you know, you get to see what their opportunities are coming up, um, in the
046later grades. So, please join Dak, have a a big impact in our community for only one meeting a month. So, thank you very much for being here. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you. The final item on our agenda is to receive um I'm sorry, let me get to um to receive our certified staff master contract agreement. This is an action item. I move that the board of education of Gley Evans School District 6 approves the tenative agreements to be incorporated into the 2024 2025 district 6 master contract. These tenative agreements include the adoption of the salary schedules as presented. Second. Thank you both. We have two motions. Are there two motions or is I move that the board of education of Gley Evans School District 6 approves the tenative agreements to be incorporated
047into the 2025 2026 m district 6 master contract. These tenative agreements include the adoption of the salary schedules as presented. Okay, second. So just one that we will be voting on correct. Okay, no worries. Sorry about that. Okay, thank you Mrs. Overton. Thank you so much for um always participating in negotiations. I will start tonight with the um the way that I usually end this every year and that is talking about how successful this negotiations is and the partnership that we have as a group from the school board that participates in negotiations really honoring and listening to teachers from Dr. Pilch who has set up the um environment and the problem solving and collaborative um message that she sends out to us and from Aaron who um the president who will work tirelessly throughout the
048year with me to bring problems together um to me or concerns and that we can work through them and in a year-long process of negotiating and um solving problems. So tonight we're here to talk um to talk about the tenative agreements that the the association, the um school board and the district administrators have come together as a negotiations team. The agreements that we've made. We're going to talk about um the uh adjustments to the language and the changes that we can make. We talked a little bit about this in negotiations where it was about um restructuring some of the formatting and then also changing some of the language. Uh this will be something that we can work that we have been working on together. And we also had to um get we have changed the
049document so that it is now accessible um as the new rules that have come out from the state. Um we're also here to talk about the reports on the progress around recommendations for next year's work with any of the committees that have we have. We've got four committees that are working. One is time and learning. Uh another is systems of support. The other is the alternative new teacher uh support group uh support uh task force and then of course compensation. We utilized this year the s the uh solutions committee uh soulcom is what we affectionately call it throughout the school year as a mechanism to problem solve with um the between the association and the administrators and it's been insightful and collaborative this year um language changes as I started to talk about this really
050just updating the master contract making sure that we've got new salary schedules updated uh with the co-curricular schedule, the stepoff leadership schedule, the certified schedule, and um any of the uh steps and columns that teachers might use in to advance their uh their salaries. The step off leadership has always been an option in the contract. That's something that you have seen maybe if you have read through the contract, but teachers are well aware of. We want to make sure that they are um they see visibly in the contract the schedule that they would um how they would go ahead and make additional salary, what percentage it is. So, we're adding that to the contract which has never been in there before. Um each of the committees that um the purpose statements and the committees that
051are running that I talked about a few minutes ago, they are um going to be updating and their mission statements. they'll be looking at their purpose and what they're going to be doing for the for the year as well. So then the committee reports include time and learning. That's one the first one we're the work we're still in action includes um uh collaboration on co on um class coverage and class compaction. We are looking at how to having dialogue about the professional learning communities and what their expectations are and then how we are going to enhance the uh new professionals academy that's being done through the school leadership division in the in the district and um we're looking at an HR and a GEA component to that in the in the early in the early
052fall. We are still going to continue working on the um late start Mondays where teachers will get 16 late starts. Uh they'll have individual planning and then with uh buildings and districts then having training uh 11 other Mondays for trainings. Um we want to continue the conversation uh and the expectations around uh professional development as well. That's been something that's been happening through the school leadership department. And then time and learning will continue to to maintain the three standing committees time and learning um I mean sorry elementary secondary and special education. So the systems of support this is um we're considering the survey that we have just recently um pushed out to all of our staff. They um gave us good quality feedback and we'll doing we'll be doing some analysis of that. We're also
053heard in negotiations that the best team was a great um addition to uh supports for buildings this year. We also need to look at what their form and function is so that everybody is aware of what's happening with that team. We are taking the alternative the alternative and new hire task force to the retention. So, we're going to dissolve it from or um sunset it from negotiations and move it to the innovation 2030 uh retention task force. You may also remember that we are training all staff to respond to disruptive behaviors of students. We did that training last fall. We'll do the second round of that and um uh expand that training again this this um this fall. So the last committee report is the compensation. This is exciting because we have all agreed that
054we want to remain competitive in northern Colorado, indeed Colorado, but for sure northern Colorado. And um in order to do that, we have a new starting salary of $53,040. We'll update we, as I said earlier, we'll update all the existing salary schedules and all employees will see an increase in pay. This is the what you can see on this slide is the new stepoff leadership schedule that has never been in the contract but will be going in the contract this year. Um the uh the percentage increase is um 2% to the base of the salary certified salary schedule and uh the highest level um we'll we'll talk about that in just a second but the um any of the staff that we have in the district AP and classified will also see a salary increase.
055that communication goes out um after uh tonight's presentation. If you all approve the master contract, then that communication will go out by um our chief of communications. This is the new salary schedule. And while the cells are hard to read, I wouldn't expect you to be able to see them all. You can see the top left corner on that slide is $53,040. And you can see the bottom right side is 121,000. It's over 121,000. That is the new salary schedule for the 25 26 schedule. You want to share that? Go ahead. I just want to point out that the um that the things that are highlighted in green are every five-year increments that's been built in at a higher percentage rate um than the regular steps in the effort to recognize people for their retention
056and not everybody has that. We what's exciting for us too is that it is a it is a 2% increase to the base. It's a average of 4.3% raise for our teachers and our staff. If those that have participated in horizontal advancement or stepoff leadership, they can earn even more on their raise for next year if they've participate and are awarded that kind of um horizontal advancement. So they're also going to receive steps and columns which is part of that horizontal advancement. That is our presentation around the tenative agreements and we'd be happy to entertain any questions that you may have. Thank you both for being here and for that presentation. Um Mr. Bentley has a question. Um more of just a comment. Um just want to first off thank you guys for all the
057hard work. Um negotiations have been very eye opening for me. I I didn't know expect my first year and I think this is my fourth time negotiations and I I value that process so much I've actually brought it into my my own business and and seen a lot of uh you know ROI on that there. Um the one thing I that was brought up in negotiations and and we've heard it a couple times is the uh the desire for communication and while we're sitting in negotiations I sat there and we heard the same thing. I heard a couple people mention we didn't hear about this and and and a couple questions and I I sat there and I went well I know the answer to this question and how the heck do I know the
058answer when I only come to one two board meetings a month basically I'm not involved in any of the day-to-day operations and it hit me it's because I come to the board meetings so I really think that a lot of these communication issues because I know Dr. Pilch and Teresa. Basically all Teresa does is communicate. That's her entire job description. And I hear it from my side and I hear from your guys' side. And I just want you guys to know that communication, this is this is a little of my therapist wisdom. Communication isn't key. Comprehension is key. So if if it's out there and you're not taking advantage, you know, the newspaper recaps basically every board meeting we have. There's ways to get what we're doing to everybody in the district. And I don't
059know if another newsletter or maybe maybe if I mailed you guys a postcard if that would help. But the the information is there and I just want you guys to take advantage of, you know, they're on YouTube forever. So, um, you know, they're pretty easy and accessible and I think that would that would start off answering a lot of people's questions and the need for communication. But I I know that we're trying and I and I know that Erin's trying because I've heard her say that and I've I know that Dear just said it and I know that Teresa said it and I I hear it. So, um, I just want to let you guys know from from my point of view, every everybody is trying and I don't know if it's a solvable issue
060ever, but, um, I appreciate the effort you guys put into it. Thank you. I'm just being sorry. Uh, Miss Sullivan, I don't know if you uh can go back to uh the salary schedule. I just have a question on that. On the uh section that's grayed out, why is it on step 10 with a bachelor's there's no pay increase? and then um so on with that scale where it's in gray. We are we encourage people to continue and be lifelong learners and get extra courses, move along the horizontal um along horizontally or vertically um in the system and it freezes at step 10 because that's where um that that's as far as they can go in that bachelor's column. We want them to continue their learning and continue growing. So then they move over with
061horizontal advancement. That's what horizontal that's what that means is moving over. And then as they continue to stay with us and earn seniority and um experience in the district, they are awarded by moving down the column as well. So that's where that comes from. Thank you. Yeah. Um I don't see any other questions. I was just curious. I know these are the tentative agreements. Um but I was wondering if um there is a piece around benefits that or if that was kind of straightforward. I feel like I included that. Um but some of that stuff has to happen before we actually go into negotiations. So, we did get to keep nice healthc care at free of charge for the employees and um you guys ate the increase that it would that has been otherwise put
062upon employees in other districts like you guys ate that. So, we still have a fully paid benefit option for employees. Excellent. All right. Not seeing any other comments. Thank you very much. Um, and we will now take a vote. Director Zari, I. Director Bentley, I. Director Campos Spitzy, I. Director Mash, I. Director Matthews, I. Director Sullivan, I. Motion carries 6. Well, thank you again for joining us this evening. Um, I think there's only 10 sleeps until summer vacation. Are you you're you're yang about that. tell you that GA membership has um voted to accept that like we have voted to accept the tenative agreements through a ratification vote. Oh, okay. I apologize. I feel like I was supposed to do that. Okay. I'm sorry if I rushed that. No, that was not about Well, we're
063all in agreement and it passed. So, excellent. Thank you for all that good work. Um, best wishes on the end of the school year. This meeting is now adjourned. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]