Greeley Evans School District 6 Board of Education Meeting 3-25-24

001[Music] for [Music] n [Music] the [Music] n [Music] a [Music] n [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] n [Music] a [Music] he [Music] n [Music] yeah [Music] he [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] evening and welcome to the Board of Education meeting for gy Evans school district 6 today is the 25th day of March 2024 this meeting will now come to order please stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance to our flaged alance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Miss lemon will you call the rooll force please director Zari present director Bentley present director Campo spitzy present director Mash present director Matthews present director Norwood director Sullivan present six board members

002present thank you Miss lemon well again welcome to the Board of Education meeting for gy Evans school district 6 we appreciate that you're here tonight I see a lot of people here tonight I imagine some of you are here to receive some some awards and so we're glad to be able to have you here tonight um just want to give you a quick announcement probably you've noticed our screens are going off and on we're experiencing some technical difficulties so you may see those go black uh our screens may also go black so it may cause some delays for us but uh nothing that we're too concerned about um also want to let you know uh well first welcome uh to my left we we always have our students with us and this is Miss Natalie

003Lea Valenzuela and Reagan delis sitting with us tonight and then you also notice that we're missing a couple of people and uh our superintendent Dr pilch she is uh sick she's recovering from a respiratory infection and won't be with us tonight and then um Mr Norwood he is under under the weather as well and so he won't be with us tonight either but we do have a uh a meeting to get to and uh few announcements for you one um we had the success Foundation breakfast this morning uh many of you know what the success Foundation is it is our nonprofit for district 6 and they do a fantastic job of raising money for for things that sometimes we don't have money in our budget to accomplish and one of the things that was focused

004on today was the John W Hayley and deia hafley opportunity fund and that fund provides opportunities for students who don't have don't get to do some of the things that that other students get to do and so like one of the things that's mentioned that that people don't often think about is that when we do extracurricular activities after school when we play a sport after school when we uh have a play performance that requires practices after school we don't always have trans not all of our students have Transportation uh to those uh to those practices and to those uh rehearsals and so one of the things that they mentioned was just wanting to provide uh rides for for students to who generally take the bus to school and after school but so that they have

005the opportunity to to be part of of some of those extracurricular activities that mean so much to students in our district and so we we just can't say how thankful we are uh for the success foundation and all that they do for for this district and so I just wanted to bring something to everyone's attention and that is they announced that there is a matching uh this breakfast was to raise money for the success foundation and I don't know that it's still true that this is still applicable uh but but there was a 1,000 $100,000 matching uh for this breakfast this morning now I don't know uh when they check uh the website to see when all those donations came in but if you were thinking about giving to the success Foundation uh this this

006year today would be a great day to do that because it might it might be matched um anyway we're we're thankful for them and thankful for all that they do just also wanted to let everyone know uh that we just finished uh looking at our budget and just this is preliminary we won't pass a budget until uh June but we were beginning to look at that and to look at everything that uh that might um we might do and and might not do and there's some things that we might we've been doing that we might not do and that's because our Esser funding and if you don't know what Esser funding is Esser funding are the federal covid funds that were given to school districts and we've been spending those for the last four years

007to provide uh additional classroom support additional uh better uh student to teer teacher ratios for our district and and those funds are going away this year um and so it just made me really thankful as we're looking at all the things that that maybe we are going to have to cut it's roughly a a little under $20 million that we'll have to that we had last year that we won't have this year but it made me thankful for for the passage of the MLL and uh that funding that we do have and that that funding that uh our community provides for us to do those additional things for students and so and just so thankful for this community in any number of ways and we just want to say that every time we we get

008the chance and so that's all I have tonight and we're now to our superintendent's honor rooll but I'm not thinking uh oh sorry I am thinking that uh Miss thees Myers is going to come and do the superintendent's honor role for Dr pilch tonight welcome Miss Myers thank you Mr Matthews and members of the board I am a poor substitute for do pilch so I apologize to our honores tonight I did spend some time with her yesterday and she was very disappointed not to be here tonight to honor you so I I know her loss will be felt tonight but we are still happy to honor um those who are on superintendent honor role tonight and first I'd like to bring up the gy West High School robotics team I see you guys back there

009come on up and there is U Mr Ben Gilder here oh sorry sir come on up so the grey West robotics team is being honored tonight for their uh representation of district 6 at an international robotics competition that was held in Calgary Canada this year the team is made up of seniors um Brennon Truitt Raise Your Hands Brandon Logan Reynolds uh Caleb lamb and Junior Holden Kleinman and their sponsor is gy West science teacher Tristan van Gilder and so around 160 teams competed um in Calgary and the greedly West team was awarded the sportsmanship award which I'm very proud of them for that was for their cooperation at the event they're um helping other teams their just Congeniality at the event so I thought that was really cool um they gave a highle interview where

010they demonstrated good teamwork to the judges and I'd like to turn it over I guess to Mr van Gilder who's gonna talk about what they're showing us tonight and I if you could step to the podium yes um hello everybody um so what you see in front of you um is the product of their hard work throughout the year um I am not allowed to do anything with the robot so they um are just showing you some of the things that the robot can do which is is drive around um this year's game they were asked to move these Tri balls around the field and be able to score um goals throughout the year um and so as the robot design is developed throughout the year this is kind of where it's at and then

011at the very end of the game to earn extra points the robot is able to elevate on these elevation bars um as you can almost see from these two students here um where they are able to come out to the bar and use a racking pinion lift to be able to um Elevate the robot off of The Ground by itself um and so they are amazing um students and I'm just super super proud of their accomplishments this year um and I couldn't ask for a better students to have tooken um to an international competition thank you Mr van Gilder here is a certificate that we'd like to present uh for your team you thank you I got to interview uh the team a little while ago and um they told me some great stories about

012actually getting to travel outside of the country and that was such a huge part of this experience for this team uh to experience a different culture and different foods and um to meet people from all over the world so we're we're very grateful uh that they got that experience our second honory tonight is Carly Engel Carly Miss angle is being honored tonight for being named as the Colorado Association teachers of family and consumer Sciences Sciences outstanding new professional of the year um Miss Engle brings a dynamic blend of Industry expertise and academics to her role as a family and consumer science teacher at Northridge High School with a bachelor's degree in hotel and restaurant management and a master's degree in Business Administration she seamlessly integrates real world experiences into her classroom providing students with a

013unique perspective Miss Engel has served at Northridge as a teacher since 2021 and has been an asset to the students and the team thank you Miss Engel for your continued dedication to the students and in the field of family and consumer Sciences congratulations on your well-deserved recognition you are welcome thank you for being here tonight our third honory tonight is Jamie Valdez who is also a family in consumer science teacher at gley Central High School and Miss Valdez is being honored tonight for being named as the Colorado Association teachers of family and consumer Sciences teacher of the year and during the um group's conference Miss Valdez intoduction stated that one of Mrs valdez's strongest qualities is her ability to enourage students backgrounds cultures and preferences through the work completed in class student choice and voice

014is evident in nearly every piece of her teaching should a student present a new idea she Embraces it researches it and makes it part of her content Miss Valdez has worked with District level Partners to get servesafe funding for students to complete the food handler test and pass their Capstone requirements along with building relationships to get internships and work based learning opportunities for her students Miss valdo has served as Central since 2019 and thank you Miss valdo for your continued dedication to student growth and for your advocacy of family and consumer sciences and congratulations on your very well deserved award and finally but certainly like very importantly we would like to recognize is Megan net who is the choir teacher at Mccalla STEM Academy I've known Megan for a long time and she works very

015hard for her students um you may recognize her from this morning she helped lead the silver FAL Falcons choir um at the success foundation in the national anthem we are honoring her tonight for being dedicated to students throughout district 6 with the support of music teachers throughout the district miss new to organized the districtwide gy Evans Elementary course Coral Festival that took place at the ulec on February 27th and I know some of you were at that event that is a huge event to orchestrate that's that stage is filled with students um at the end and it's a lot of coordination and Megan did a wonderful job with that she um has already been invited to be recognized tonight when we received another honor rooll nomination for her choir festival and I'd like to read

016you part of that nomination now Megan's commitment to our community reaches far beyond her classroom walls as a director of the CH really children's Coral both of my sons have had the opportunity to learn from her musical expertise more importantly the past 2 years she has coordinated the decc festival which is a massive undertaking as I sat in the audience I not only thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Young Voices and watching their enthusiasm but I watched the audience members parents and grandparents who were smiling ear to ear so proud watching their children I cannot even fathom the extra hours it took for Miss net to make this event possible for our district six Scholars but I do know that it was magical to see so many singers come together in one space and share their

017love of Music this is why I am recommending Miss Megan for the honor role this nomination was submitted by Sarah moral who's a teacher at Maplewood Elementary School thank you Miss Morales for for recognizing um Miss Net's efforts and for nominating her for the superintendent's honor rooll I just have to do another little shout out to Megan when we were having our staff-wide convocation we called on Megan to organize teachers this time to sing the national anthem at that event and she did not hesitate she came forward and did that and it was amazing as well so thank you and join me in honoring Miss net for her amazing work in district 6 hi first of all I just want to say how incredibly humbled and honored I am to be recognized here tonight but

018I also wanted to say that the month of March is recognized nationally as music in our schools month and so on behalf of myself my husband Tom nent who's also a music teacher here in district 6 and all of our other fabulous music teachers we just want to say thank you to the board to District leadership and to our entire Community uh as a whole for the dedication and support to music education here in gy so thank you very much thank you Mr Matthew thank you Miss Myers and congratulations again to our gy West uh robotics team Miss inle Miss Valdez and Miss nen uh next on our agenda is the approval of the agenda so if somebody would make a motion we'll proceed I move that the Board of Education of greedy Evans school

019district 6 approves the agenda as presented second thank you both is there any discussion on the agenda seeing none Miss slimon will you give us a vote please director aari I director Bentley I director Campo spitzy I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan I motion carries 60 thank you Miss lemon next on our is our Council of student Representatives report and so I'm not sure exactly who is coming to make this report tonight froner Academy is I don't know how thank you for being here tonight we stood up and you said Frontier like we had name tags on so good evening members of the board president Matthews and members of the gy community thank you so much for having us here tonight I'm so proud to introduce Frontier Academy's members of the council

020of student Representatives four amazing students who embody our mission at Frontier of building leaders they will give you a glimpse into the goings on at Frontier what we're most proud of and some of our goals for the future my name is Kaylee Bumgarner I am a junior at Frontier Academy I am involved in the Council of student Representatives the student health advisory committee I'm the president of Frontiers women and stem Club the Secretary of Key Club a member of the Frontier Academy Jazz BAS and National Honor Society Academic Decathlon and I run tech for our theater program my name is Elaine henriksson I'm a junior at Frontier Academy and I'm involved in the Council of student Representatives the district 6 student health advisory Council National Honor Society the theater appreciation Club the theater program and

021gy West swim and dive I'm also Web Master for Key Club and vice president of women in stem Club my name is Joshua Clair and I'm a sophomore Frontier Academy I'm involved in the Council of student Representatives as well as Frontier interact club and jazz band and dance um my name is Kaden Clark and I'm a sophomore at frener Academy I'm involved in the Council of student Representatives I'm a member of our jazz band as well as our interactive clip I participate in both basketball and track in addition to various service opportunities in my school and community at last year's board meeting presentation we brought up that we wanted to find a way to increase school spirit as well as attendance at Frontier home games we are excited to report that we are seeing a

022large increase in school spirit and participation one of the ways that we have seen the most school spirit is through our school's participation in the Colorado make A- wish organization our school sponsored a wish week in which we had several games and fun ways for our students to Rally together to do something truly special special additionally we have added a new concession stand and restrooms to our track and soccer fields parents and students are more excited to go to home games knowing that they will be able to use the restroom and have a bite to eat we also have noticed significant increases in the amount of clubs and school activities available to students lunchtimes are always filled with several options and opportunities to participate and get involved I feel like it is amazing that we've

023had such important glows that have made a huge impact on our school spirit but we've had a few ways that we could grow one of the most impactful things that we could do to improve our school is getting new equipment for our outside lunch area as of right now we have a field for students to socialize in and play some interactive games for example football and a single basketball hoop which makes it hard for more than one group of people to play without the game becoming too overpopulated new equipment would open up more ways for students to socialize and have fun while on their lunch break another way we could improve the frontier experience is updating our parking lot area because it would help keep students and parents that are coming and leaving a lot

024safer one of the problems with our current parking lot is that the spaces are a little bit close together with so many young drivers a little extra space in the parking spots would make it easier to park without the risk of swiping a car when driving into the space in addition to the parking lot update one thing our school would love to move towards is taking steps to improve the safety of drop off and pickup the rotor school is on has a stoplight at one end but only a two-way stop on the other end this is an area where I have seen many almost accidents and it causes a lot of traffic after school as it can be difficult to turn we would love to eventually ask the city of gy to put in a

025four-way stop or light at that intersection to help improve the safety of all our students regarding the issue of traffic near the exit of our building on West 16th Street and 65th Avenue we would love to hear your thoughts and advice on how to work with the city of gley to improve improve the school zone and ensure the safety of our students thank you for your time and consideration regarding our school you are much appreciated you have any questions for us we have you I think we have a few maybe uh Mr Bentley not so much a question but a comment uh I remember you guys here last year talking about school spirit and trying to get more people involved but I just want to say I went to a middle school track meet on

026Thursday and I couldn't even sit down right so I I think you guys are doing a great job and uh the parking is a huge issue so glad you guys are thinking about that and working on it so good job thanks for being involved any other questions or comments from board members not seeing any so I'll just say thank you for being here tonight we so appreciate Frontier and everything they provide for for district 6 and uh kudos for all that you've accomplished thank you very much next on our agenda is our classified Council employee of the year and I'd like to invite assistant superintendent Annette Overton to the podium to make this presentation good evening I want to ask Sasha to come up great tonight I would like to um talk for a minute

027about our dedicated support staff who support tirelessly who work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure smooth operations of our district from the bus drivers who prep for transporting students to school school to the nutrition services department employees preparing meals to get students ready for learning from friendly faces who greet us at the front desk to those who maintain our facilities and manage our buildings bringing our employees into the system we honor the human resources the finance and the payroll support staff as well of course we have many support employees who work with students families and instructional work at the schools and across the district let's take a moment just now to express our gratitude for their unwavering commitment for their they are the heart and soul of district 6 and without them our path would

028be far less bright we highlight your dedication your hard work and your invaluable contributions and it's this time of year that our classified Council honors one of their team members in the classified employee of the year award and Sasha is here tonight to share this year's process and their candidate hi um thank you for having us tonight my name is Sasha kahun I'm the office manager at gy West High School and the classified council president my name is Jessica Penza and I am the vice president for classified Council and Gest athletic secretary uh tonight we are honored to have this opportunity to present this award and recognize the top five nominees uh we had 100 about 130 nominations this year um the top five nominees are Abby Massie from Franklin Middle School Amy walm from

029Northridge Manny Zamora from Jefferson Maria Ramirez from D6 Online Academy and Martin Sil silra from facilities um thank you all for your hard work and dedication to the building to your buildings and to the district uh this certain recipient uh had over 15 nominations um and all nominations had amazing things to say about them um and I'd like to share a couple of those tonight uh this person exemplifies the vision and mission of the district to the highest standard they are always willing to jump in to support staff and students they volunteer for extra duties such as board meetings dances and Friday school he is an outstanding individual takes his job seriously Works diligently to keep the hall safe while building relationships with students and staff he always has a smile on his face and

030provides encouraging words to everyone that passes while patrolling in his role as a security guard he has gone above and beyond to Foster positive relationships with students staff and visitors alike his approach is grounded in respect and empathy creating and welcoming secure environment while everyone feels valued and supported he maintains a Vigilant presence throughout the campus proactively identifying and addressing potential risks before they escalate quick thinking and decisive action have helped prevent incidences and ensures the protection of our school Community Manny is known to most of us and serves gy Evans school district 6 as a campus monitor at Jefferson High School congratulations to the 2024 outstanding classified employee of the year Manny Zamora [Applause] well it's an honor I'm very pleased to get this award I'm a little nervous um I love working for

031district 6 half for 12 years um my biggest thing is working with the kids I work with at Jefferson High School um been able to play a part to push them through when they feel like they don't have a chance it's huge so to see them walk across the stage that's my paycheck that's my award um I appreciate you guys I love you all um Co Jefferson thank [Applause] you next on our agenda is our school Social Work month Proclamation and this is an action item that will need a motion I move that the Board of Education agre Le Evan school district 6 approves the proclamation recognizing March 2024 as school Social Work month as presented second thank you both before we go any further Miss Mash would you be so kind as to read

032that Proclamation I would be happy to honorary proclamation of the Board of Education of wel County School school district 6 Proclamation recognizing March 2024 as school Social Work month whereas the significance of social School social work as highlighted in the elementary and secondary Education Act of 1965 and the individuals with disabilities Education Act underscores its in integral role in education settings and whereas School social workers play a central role in cultivating positive School environment and whereas School social workers unwavering commitment involves guiding students to explore their unique abilities strengths interests and talents employing evidence-based strategies while championing educational equity and whereas as licensed mental health professionals within educational settings School social workers administer crucial assessments interventions counseling Family Outreach and Community referrals and whereas School social workers scope extends to a myriad of student issues

033including but not limited to mental health concerns family Dynamics trauma homelessness and substance abuse and whereas National School Social Work month serves as a platform to acknowledge and celebrate the unwavering dedication professionalism and compassion of school social workers in meeting the diverse needs of students and families now therefore the Board of Education of gy Evans school district 6 proclaims March 2024 as National School Social Work month recognizing and honoring the invaluable contributions and accomplishments of school social workers in fostering fostering the well-being and academic success of students in gy Evans school district 6 given under the hand and the executive seal of w County School District 6 this 25th day of March 2024 Michael Matthews president thank you Miss Mes there any comments or questions from board members regarding the proclamation Miss Mes um I

034will just say I always love when we get the opportunity to highlight um the work of one of our specific uh roles here in district 6 and especially over the last four years we've seen such an increase in the needs of our students and families and so um I greatly appreciate all of the work that our social workers do throughout the district so we are very pleased to honor you tonight thank you Miss Mash Dr Campos spitzy um I just wanted to say at the work session um just before this meeting we as President Michael Matthews mentioned had to talk about budget cuts right because our covid 20 million covid dollars are gone are going away um and I was so happy to see how thoughtfully our finance team um in in uh partnership with

035our leaders leadership team had thought about what positions really we had added with that money that we couldn't um we didn't want to lose and I was really happy to see that social workers were on there as a position that we find so valuable and that even with the budget cuts we we as a district are trying our best to keep those um those positions filled so thank you Dr campus spitzy um want to invite um and I and I'm sorry that I'm not going to get your your last names pronounced correctly but but Jesse kagano kagana uh Shelby gpol and Jessica Hernandez uh up and would somebody like to uh would you guys like to say anything on behalf of our social workers thank you so much for having us tonight my name is

036Jesse kiano um and I'm here with Shelby and Jessica our social Elementary School social workers and I am the lead School social worker for district 6 I would like to thank Dr pilch president Matthews and members of the board um as well as our district leadership for your support of the district six School social workers district 6 hired our first school social worker in 2013 and due to the invaluable contributions of our early social workers and the unwavering support of our administrators and School Board we have grown to a team of 19 dedicated professionals extending our reach to Elementary K8 middle and high schools School social workers approach to overall Wellness is rooted in understanding the individuals families and the community our school social workers have helped students through some of the most challenging moments

037in their their lives School social workers are the ones who help families find housing and resources after their lives have been turned upside down they are the people who listen with empathy and compassion after loss and Death School social workers are the people who will make sure our students are fed and have clothes that make them feel like their best selves School social workers sit with our students in all of life's changes and find the strengths in each and every student our school social workers are dedicated to fostering positive School environments where every student feel safe supported and empowered to thrive academically emotionally and socially we are so grateful for the teachers administrators school counselors School psychologists parents and Community Partners that we collaborate with to support our students I'm honored to accept the proclamation

038of the school Social Work month on behalf of all the district six School social [Applause] workers well thank you and again I I will will add my thank you to that for all the work that you do in our district we know that mental health is such a such a big uh struggle for our for our students and and for our employees right now and and we just we appreciate uh you guys and everything that you do I think we um have a few more people that want to offer some thank yous Mr Bentley yeah I just uh just wanted to say thanks um to you guys that 19 of you is seems like a pretty good sized team but we have we have 36 buildings you know so it's it stretches you guys and

039that in 23,000 students and 25 200ish employees right so you guys have your work cut out for you and I I just want to recognize that the diversity of our of our district there's one thing in common that everybody has in its feelings and as as a little kid and going through what I've gone through in the last three or four years I realize how important those are even in little boys to to kind of be able to express that with someone who's not their parent sometimes um there are some some of those things where they're more comfortable with you guys and I've come to learn and appreciate that um so I just wanted to express my thanks and and to wish you guys well and let us know if you need anything Mr aari

040sorry I'd like to chime in as well as a former staff member um I know how significant the work is that you do out there and uh it's often not seen it's it's the silent folks behind the scenes that are the glue that keep the system together and uh you cannot be than thanked enough uh for all the all that you do and I think if somebody were to follow you just for one day to see what you deal with on a day-to-day basis uh we would just marvel at the jobs you do so thank you so much thank you Mr aari and I don't see any other questions or comments from board members and so miss lemon will you give us a vote please director aari I director Bentley hi director Campo spitzy hi

041director Mash hi director Matthews I director Sullivan I motion carry 60 thank you Miss lemon and I have a proclamation for you thank you very much thank [Applause] you next on our agenda is our gy creative District coloring book presentation and we have Michelle burin and Louisa Anderson here to make this presentation so i' invite you guys to the podium good evening District Six board members and members of the community uh my name is Louisa Anderson and I'm the chair of the art commission uh one of the things that the art commission is in charge of is uh the Outreach to the city of gy uh for our art which you've seen everywhere especially in our downtown trees and throughout our parks and on our traffic boxes so um here is Michelle bin she is

042a teacher at mwood elementary she's going to give a short presentation about the coloring books that are going to third graders this year um it's my privilege to present to you the eth edition of the art commission's coloring book um every March since 2014 the art commission has prepared these coloring books for G's um young residents and district 6 third grade students one of our goals for students and their families and teachers and others who see the books is to recognize and appreciate and help protect G's vast public art collection and to understand that each piece of art in the collection actually belongs to gy Citizens regardless of their age these beautiful sculptures murals utility box covers as well as our indoor pieces are yours to enjoy and we encourage you to venture out and

043explore our amazing public art collection the eth edition of the coloring book was updated last year with some new and significant changes um one of the changes was adding new artwork to the book including the cover which you might recognize um if you've been to the Family Funplex in the last year um the utility box cover on page nine which was designed by HMA Ortega who was a Franklin Middle School student at the time when she created the artwork which for me as a um art teacher is always a really inspiring story to share with my students um another update is that um the committee that focuses on the coloring books um we came together and carefully looked through um art curriculum and vocabulary to choose um third grade level uh vocab and questions to

044include so that the book books can reinforce lessons that they're already learning in their art classes um and personally I love using these as a tool um we're about to start some public art and community lessons and we'll be using these as our inspiration um and then one of the most exciting updates to this Edition is that um all of the text included in this book this year is in English and Spanish uh making this more accessible to our Spanish speaking students and families um we're very proud of the progress this prog project has made over the last 10 years um so thank you for letting us um share it with you this evening and with our students throughout the district um we'd also like to thank you for your support and collaboration over the

045past 10 years um and your ongoing commitment to empower our students with a well-rounded and excellent education which absolutely includes the Arts and we uh invite each of you on the board to uh take one of these coloring books home with you so you can experience it like all your third graders thank you and thank you both for being here tonight we always always appreciate these coloring books and uh and the work that our students do and the celebration of Arts that happens every March and so thank you um next on our agenda tonight is our superintendent report and as as we said our superintendent is missing tonight so we we won't have a superintendent report so we'll move on to our next agenda item which is an innovation 2030 update Safety and Security I

046see chief of security uh Mayor John Gates coming to the podium so welcome be here just a short time because I'm going to turn this presentation over to director of Safety and Security Wade corus all yours Wade pull this up here all right should you able to see that presentation on your okay all right thank you Chief Gates uh president Matthews uh members of the board and Council of student Representatives uh this presentation that that I'm going to provide to you um is just kind of an overview of our Safety and Security team here at district 6 uh what we're we've currently been working on um some things things to look forward to to the Future and uh so that's what I'm just going to give you an overview on here if you look on

047the bottom left there that's what our current Safety and Security team is with Chief John Gates myself and assistant director Brad luky who's there in the back corner of the room um across the top of this FR front page that is our our gy school resource unit um this is actually a picture from last year on at gy West High School during uh the uh National SRO day and we've un there's a couple of new faces on that now we have officer Diaz um that she's not pictured here but now at gy West and officer Cowart who's at gy Central in Jefferson um on this first page page I want to show you we lost it again um so what what we're moving towards here is definitely I kind of have a picture there of

048a of a Dispatch Center I do know that a lot of you saw the press release in regards to the the grant that was written uh to get a Command Center going uh that will be uh something that will be coming soon and that we will be we will be looking uh to to get this going in May is when the when the Project's going to be getting going um where does uh Safety and Security uh come in to district 6 and Innovation 2030 it falls under our climate and culture um district 6 cultivates a safe healthy and inclusive learning environment for all um embracing our diversity and engaging all stakeholders um what I what I have in the in the presentation is an image of maso's hierarchy of needs um and how Safety and

049Security contributes to um getting our students all the way to self-fulfillment and and accomplishment and Safety and Security kind of falls into the same ranks of psychological needs in regards to food shelter and clothing the one above that is Safety and Security and creating making them feel safe and and be safe at school um because if they don't feel safe at school we're not going to be able to get them to the to the upper level to uh social friendships group mentorship uh esteem uh recognition and self-competence or confidence and ultimately to self fulfillment um in graduation uh uh some resources that that I do uh that I get all my information from would definitely be Colorado safe schools act um and the and the packet that they've put together um avert averting targeted School

050violence from the secret Services report and the national preparedness goal from FEMA um I also another additional resource that I continually go to would be the Colorado uh office of school safety which often uh continually sends out training opportunities while it's still up here here presented um one of my one of my favorite quotes um from FEMA and this comes from the national preparedness goal is preparedness is a shared responsibility it calls for the involvement of everyone not just the government in preparedness efforts by working together everyone can help our keep our nation safe from harm and keep it resilient when when uh when struck by hazards such as natural disasters acts of terrorism and pandemics um that's directly from the FEMA and I've used used this to kind of tie into the things that

051I want to do for district 6 and the the biggest message that I want to convey is it's Safety and Security for district 6 takes everyone it takes everyone in this room from our students and parents uh to our faculty our school administrators um to all our to everyone in this room is is a part of my Safety and Security team and that's how we're going to continue to keep our schools and our community safe um not going to read everything in regards from the national preparedness m mission but the US secret service has long held that the prevention is the best form of protection this goes from protecting to the pre protecting the president to everything that we try to protect in our country is continuing to be vigilant and being of prevention efforts

052and making sure that we're putting our school structures and getting everything in place uh so that we're prepared um because the more that you prepare you're going to be ready to handle any uh any circumstances that may may come your way um these are listed on our website for anybody to access um if you want to ever see the information it's under crisis Management on our Safety and Security link on our web page for the district um but it ties into prevention mitigation protection response and Recovery um I've tied that into this diagram that I created above u i created this when I came to the district last fall in 20122 um this diagram gives you a good illustration uh and some clarity as to what are the Safety and Security things that we're putting

053into place um I used the I use the the information from the national preparedness uh goal of prevention mitigation protection response and Recovery to tie into everything that we're trying to do here at district 6 um I labeled it five pillars of Safety and Security for district 6 it starts with information technology everything that we're putting into place there from monitoring Crow book activity to go Guardian Beacon alerts um on into all the everything that they do from a cyber security perspective from it um secondly would would definitely be something that we used a lot of the the MLL dollars for would be towards uh environmental security and control systems um everything in regards to to camera to cameras to our access control system secure perimeters around our schools um just increasing those those entry

054vestibules everything that we can do to make our schools a hard target um thirdly I have listed would be threat management and uh our daily practices at our schools um this goes this come ties directly into our climate and culture of our schools I'm going to tie tie I'm going to break down each one of these a little bit further here in a minute this is just to kind of give you an overview of them um also into daily practices would be threat threat management threat assessments when when necessary and and Title 9 investigations um the Third fourth column is uh Emergency Management and crisis management um if when you're in our schools you've probably seen everything from the standard response protocol when it comes to a hold secure perimeter lock down evacuation and shelter

055um those are those are the same procedures that we're doing at each of our schools and it's it's continuing to train our staff and making sure that they know everything that they need to do in in case of an an emergency and then the on the last column I have is our law enforcement and First Responders um as they are a part of our daily practices and they are integrated into the culture culture and climate in our schools but then at the same time in in in the incident of a major emergency they're kind of our last go-to that we we call in for additional resources and and assistance from law enforcement so across that top bar there I kind of have the kind of the green yellow red which kind of indicates that we're

056we're kind of operating in the in the green and the green and yellow on on a daily basis but at the same time we need to be prepared to get our Emergency Management uh practices and and have that continual contact with our law enforce law enforcement and First Responders um I do want to tie this into everybody in the room who I lean on a lot um I got Mr Henson sitting here to my left um he is he's a great resource for me from the information technology and from our our environmental everything that we're doing with our new buildings um that that that kind ties into Safety and Security um I want to recognize Kent Hanson uh the IT director uh Tony Czech all of our system engineers and it techs that continually help

057to maintain and keep all of our Safety and Security um software we have a lot of software and a lot of systems out there that we lean on these guys to kind of continually manage and and keep our keep our it uh up and running for for our Safety and Security needs um I'm not going to sit here and read all of these off um but they they definitely help with cyber security monitoring um our communication systems phones intercom getting automated messages and alerts out in our schools um Tony does a significant job helping us with our radio communication systems um go Guardian Beacon that is a that is a uh important system that's constantly filtering information that's going on student Chrome Chromebooks um we get we get alerts when there's uh information that that's

058going on that could potentially be a threat to a school um could it could be a suicidal situation or it could be someone researching weapons um things of that nature so I can't express enough how much the the it teams and and them being efficient at what they do how that ties into the Safety and Security of our schools uh when it comes to environmental security again I want to definitely recognize Kent Hansen um our district 6 Master's locksmith John Tate um in our city of gy Evans uh and city of gy and Evans traffic departments um when it comes to our environmental security this definitely goes to our secure entry vestibules um our access control for our doors key card management um the the door hardware fencing all the things that you would want

059to as far as the brick and mortar that helps maintain uh a solid School perimeter and and creates a safe envir learning environment for our students our schools also need to be set up in a way that we can lock down our schools quickly but then we can also get our First Responders in as fast as possible um I definitely want to make sure that we we get recognition for for John Tate and all the work he's done in the school district especially with uh getting these these secure entry vestibules and the the camera systems that we now have at all district six schools uh we have topnotch compared to to many school districts our size when it comes to the the camera systems um thread threat management daily practices again I want to recognize

060several people um throughout the district one being our our district administrators who are continually uh monitoring the behavior in their in their school environment and and continuing to contribute to that climate and culture of the schools our administrators do a great job of communicating with myself and our security team and making sure that we're we're keeping a safe environment for our students um when it comes to the the threat management and threat assessments um our our crisis team counselors have have taken a very active role in that led by Kristen Dalton Deb heck and Kristen Arnold um who frequently attend threat assessment situations uh when we need to when information has come about of a Potential Threat we meet as a team and it's designed to to make sure that we're being preventative and proactive

061to to preventing threats from happening at our schools um additional resources again with with with so many people being involved on our on our safety team is our outside partners of of North range Behavioral Health and Colorado school safety Resource Center and they averting targeted violence from the US Secret Service um so again I've kind of already covered a lot of this information on here um as far as daily practices it also goes to our visitor management system what are we doing are we checking visitors in as they come in the door um are we are we screening volunteers that we're wanting to volunteer at our schools all of that goes through our Raptor system in our Raptor screening process and making sure we're doing everything that we can to make sure that we know

062who is coming in and out of our school buildings uh to keep our students safe um the uh couple of more things I do want to to speak to is definitely the multi-tier systems of support that is built integrated and continually trained to our administrative teams of of focusing making sure that our students have a a trusted adult in the building and that we know who their who their trusted adults are um sa safe to tell systems um just just that constant daily daily management this is what's going on in our schools all day every every day and I can't express enough how important uh the third column is is to prevention protection and and and Recovery in our schools um this also ties into to Title 9 investigations as well um fourth fourth column

063here is we have emergency crisis management again that's the standard response protocol that you see in all of our schools focusing on making sure this we get this information out quickly we're communicating in our schools and then we're also doing a good job of communicating with our parents um I can't express enough of how important it is when we have these situations that we communicate with our parents immediately um one of my bet Teresa Myers is one of my best friends over there for for these situations um I contact she knows when I call her generally in the middle of the school day I need to get a communication and we need to get it out quickly um that also goes to uh the Raptor alert system we have a system um that we're working

064on increasing our communication between First Responders uh myself and also with our building administrators getting them information as quick as we possibly can um with uh also en ties into that reunification planning our school safe radios um ongoing uh with our our health clerks and management of uh Medical Services training and just being prepared to handle any emergency event that may end up coming our way um then last again is our definitely I want to recognize our our law enforcement stakeholders and uh Partners um between the gy Evans Well County Sheriffs and the the District Attorney's office um I can't express enough um of course I come from the background of being a school resource officer but the importance of having that connection with our students and having quality providing quality school resource officers in

065our schools um we've had a uh Chief Gates has has fostered a wonderful relationship um with our law enforcement Partners um which they they're continually giving us and and and funding us with um outstanding SRO officers that are able to be in the schools interact with students and then respond to emergency events when needed um one thing I want to hit on there is our all our law enforcement officers are trained in alert active shooter training which is Advanced law enforcement rapid response training um that's one of the most nationally recognized uh uh law enforcement response to active shooter events and emergency events um they do this training in our school buildings throughout the summer we do have certain times when Evans trains Well County trains and the City of gy trains um I also

066want to make sure that I I recognize we have the gy Evans firefighters and the UC Health paramedics who are frequently responding to our schools and providing additional support um so last this my last slide is I want to highlight how all of these things tie into our district 6 Command Center that we will be building starting here in May um it's going to touch every single one of these uh pillars that we're working on for Safety and Security in regards to Information Technology environmental security threat management daily practices Emergency Management and communicating with First Responders um so the the grant that we received was a $59,000 grant uh to build the incident Response Center enhance uh districtwide security and crisis response uh the grant was through the school security dispersement Grant which was created

067by Colorado State Legislature funded uh they funded 16 million this year there was 120 applications which they awarded 68 grants and we were one of the one of the recipients um I definitely want to make sure and give thanks uh where it is due uh Brad lopi there in the back left corner he ran with about 80 to 90% of this Grant and did all the the writing um did a lot of creative writing you know he did a really did a really good job getting this grant approved um he worked again closely with uh Kent Henson Tony Czech and our our district 6 finance and grant department so um without those folks this none of this would have happened they've done a great job and we're continuing to meet to to to make this

068continue to happen um where it's going to be located is in the front front part of the administration building there's that empty space where the bank bank has uh vacated us um we'll be clearing that out act acting probably here in the next month I start getting everything out of there and begin putting uh putting Tech and some construction uh that for emergency command Command Center in the the command center uh with the all the tech that's going into it um primary functions of that will be monitoring school security cameras um assist with district 6 Communications during emergencies to get those Communications out as quick as possible um assist with monitoring saf to tell gogu Guardian Beacon alerts School emergencies crisis planning um Access Control Systems key card management and Building Technology and the list

069goes on there's there's a huge need for this this is a this is a current School Trend a lot of school districts our size have already built and and started integrating command centers um into their daily practices for their schools here's just a couple images of a couple command centers um to the on the left side that is uh some photos that I've taken from the command center down in Boulder um so top left is just some of their screens that they have displayed um they primarily put up all the front doors entry vestibules entry entryways into all their school buildings which are under constant surveillance and then when they have problem areas they're constantly trying to watch them as well bottom left is their Command Center what they call Emergency Operations Command Center um

070we will be looking to build a kind of a smaller version of that um in that front section up front um bottom right corner is uh from Adams 12 um and that's that's kind of their their Command Center and everything that ties into that um that top one is just just a photo of a command center that I that I hold to put in the presentation so without further Ado I know that was a very very quick rundown that's about an hour presentation I tried to cut it down um Amy was supposed to let me know when I when I went past 12 minutes so any questions well thank you director corus uh for being here for the presentation it's very thorough and I'll just have some some questions on the on the command center

071because I'm having a tough time you know visualizing like how many people are in the command center at any one time and does that number fluctuate depending on on the incident I mean is that where you will office in the in the command center is that something uh where numbers of people are brought in for specific uh incident so um the focus on that would be definitely to start uh we're not going to be able to go immediately and and do kind of like a 24-hour Staffing um that is what some districts have done to basically for for mitigation of trying to prevent incidents from occurring but primar would start with probably about one to two just working out of the command center that would be monitoring screens uh monitoring activity helping with Communications taking

072phone calls from schools um that would be kind of about where we would start now an emergency event happens um that's where you would take your your your school district leaders um Dr pilch and her cabinet would meet in the Emergency Operations Center and then they would be able to be fed information um from from the Personnel working in the command center and get direct information as to helping to make decisions the bigger decisions that they need to make behind the scenes as to what may be occurring out at a school um you're going to have your director of security some of their leadership team that's going to respond to the incident but sometimes when it when it ties into incident command systems and incident command structure um you want your your leaders and this

073is the same as what they do for long enforcement and fire as well is you have your your decision makers are not directly on scene and they're working to communicate from a from a bigger landens okay thank you for that M MH um I got to get a sneak peek of this at the Dak meeting but um I just thought maybe one of the pieces that I think we really enjoyed hearing about was the the rapor alert system I wondered if you wanted to just give a little more detail about how that works and how quickly that gets information out okay um so given it I wasn't able to pull it up in this presentation but what our our Raptor alert system is um is basically a an app um you can actually look it

074up on Raptor tech.com um it's an app that it is fully integrated into our school district um I've done a lot of work on it myself um assistant director luky has been working on it um it helps tie in to its reunification but it primarily is to get information out to our First Responders as fast as possible so they know um when a school has been put into a secure perimeter or a lockdown um I have the ability from my phone when I pull up the app and it and it's it's uh raptor is um communicates is is it does the exact same lockdown policies as uh standard response protocol so that information is on my phone I can pick what school that an incident is happening on and I can send an alert and

075the the administrators at that school get notified as well as our fir is is we don't have it for all our Law Enforcement Officers right now primarily our school resource officers uh school resource sergeants and day shift supervision are the ones that get those notifications but they know they need it's just everything that we can do to shorten that response time to get First Responders there quickly any other questions or comments from board members I'm not seeing any so you I'll thank you director corus Chief security uh Chief Gates we appreciate everything that you do as a parent in this District um I I never never doubt the security of my children and the safety of my children and I appreciate how quickly you you guys do get information to parents when there is generally

076it's not an incident inside of a school but outside of a school and in the community that we need to Something's Happened in the neighborhood and we need to lock down a school and just how quickly we get that information and just to know that that my kids are safe and so we appreciate everything that you do there was one thing that I forgot to mention in the presentation that we we have been working a lot with the city of gy traffic division with the the crosswalk over at gy Central High School um there is flashing lights that have been installed there as of over spring break um they're also working uh believe it might be with some of the student council but uh the Lauren Apple Hans um with gy Central High School they're

077working on getting more signage to get kids to that crosswalk so that's it that's great news as well thank you again next on our agenda is our public participation as a board we 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 or engage in discussion but we will ask our District staff to respond as appropriate r testimony or speaker handouts must be submitted to our board secretary Miss Amy lemon not to individual board members the board is committed to providing a safe environment where all members of the school Community are treated with dignity and respect and we expect all speakers to exercise

078their speech rights responsibly speakers are responsible for their own speech and speakers remarks must be suitable for an audience that includes kindergarten through 12th grade students anyone who disturbs order may be required to sit down or to leave the boardroom 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 allowed during or upon completion of any public comment with that right our first Speaker tonight is Mr Brian suin welcome Mr solivan thank you for being here you have two minutes thank you uh I'm here today to talk about the book The Good the the god of small things this like many of the books you decided to ignore has pornographic and immoral descriptions with within those pages it has a

079character that is clearly a pedophile that prays on young children the book describes in great detail when the oranged drink lemon drink man took the young boy behind the counter and had the boy manually stimulate the man to a point of ejaculation on the boy's hand the book also had many other elements that describe sex between brother and sister and infidelity between spouses I'd like to know why you as a board of education refuse to acknowledge the grotesque abuse of our students when will you stand up and protect our kids from the filthy immorality and The Taking of our kids innocence may I suggest that this book be used in the prison system rather than the educational system uh more specifically this book should be reserved for child rapists and molest child molesters for the

080simple reason that those types of people would love this book because the narrative fits their lifestyle and agenda in closing I would like to call for the elimination of this book in District Six schools I would also like to know if there is any which board members voted to keep this book that's it thank you Mr suin next t i we have Mr David neek well happy Resurrection thank you Jesus he's alive sad part is most of you don't know it as we go into this week you got to ought to read Matthew 23 as we go towards the cross that's when Jesus really came down on the Pharisees the Sadducees herodians all unbelievers and he you know what he did he called them snakes and hypocrites yes he did that's what I begin to

081realize that's about 98% of our Council people and board members and so forth and so on some of you already got your millstones and you still haven't repented and done anything about it Mr Sullivan I don't know who you are but I can tell you the reason why is because they're not born again even the chairman of the board who claims to be a pastor is not even born again otherwise he would have done that long time ago he would never put 666 up on the logo it would never happened if he was born again and so you got the blind lead the blind I'm sorry but that's what's happened to us Madam marel orir took the Bible out of schools in ' 62 and Bible or prayer out the next year with her son

082now her son is now a minister of the Gospel in U Washington DC William Murray we have gone downhill we don't even know if we're a boy or a girl how sad it is and we got to pay for all the security which is crazy why is because you have produced uh terrible evil people you have produced them because you have not told them the truth and so what the resurrection does is tells us Jesus is the way he is the truth truth and he is the life no man comes to the father but by Jesus Christ and the only way you're going to make Heaven your home is to be born again so father ask somehow some way open their blinded eyes they'll turn to you and accept you as our Lord and savior

083and turn our school around and make it a premier school not only in Colorado but in our region in Jesus name amen thank you Mr Meek that concludes our public participation next on our agenda tonight is our consent agenda and we'll need a motion to proceed I move that the Board of Education AG gely EV school district 6 approves the items that presented on the consent agenda and authorizes the officers to sign any and all contracts second any discussion on the consent agenda hearing none Miss lemon will you give us a vote please director Zari I director Bentley I director Campos spitzy I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan I motion carries 60 thank you Miss lemon next on our agenda tonight is a book review education U Board of Education review of

084book appeals and so uh we will now hear the appeals for the superintendent's decision to uphold the book review committee's findings and recommendations for the book The God of small things by a DTI uh Roy uh we're here for a very specific purpose today or tonight and um that purpose only is to hear uh the appeals and whether the Board of Education should uphold the superintendent's decision uh of the book The Goddess small things for appellant purposes this is not an opportunity to speak about whatever you like it's which is normally the case during public comment this is only to speak about whether the particular book belongs in District Six libraries depending on whether the board finds the book is educationally suitable for students in light a board policy uh to that extent the conversation

085to the extent the conversation veers off into something that it's not about the book um and the about the appeal I will stop you and cut off your microphone your voice is very important we want to make sure that uh we were uh that the record is clear so that you are heard and the board of education is able to make an informed decision on the law and the policy of this board to that extent we will ask uh the public and appellant for your cooperation to speak uh to be respectful and speak to the issue that it's before the board um it is requested that when appellant address the board that comments are not to be directed personally to board members uh it's also important to keep in mind that some of the mature

086audience uh content contained in the book may be inappropriate for young audiences particularly for kindergarteners and Elementary age students uh the book in question is uh a high school book and so uh not available to kindergarteners and elementary students um after our appellant speak then uh we will have Mr West Tuttle uh come up to um speak on behalf of the book review commit and to inform the Board of Education about the selection in the review review process and will be available um he will be a available to answer questions uh of the board members and any uh any that we might have West tutle uh facilitated the book review committee and is in the best position to thoroughly describe all aspects of its process similar to the appellants I would encourage board directors to

087prepare to prepare any questions they may have in advance in order to gain uh further clarification for Mr Tuttle regarding the selection and a review process uh Mr fall is also available to speak with board the Board of Education um to discuss board policy and to provide any some legal guidance uh on the board's final decision with that um having read that uh Miss Castile would invite you up M castio you'll uh not the traditional two minutes but five minutes to um to give us more we have your written uh complaint um and your appeal uh but if there's anything else that you would like to say uh about this book and and your opinion on the book and know also that we may have questions for you uh as well so thank you for

088being here thank you so much I'm very disappointed that I'm the only one up here we went from hundreds of complaints to one person willing and I think that's because the word got out that your or your spouse's employer would be contacted um for saying something that's not appreciated I actually don't have much to add to the email that I sent specifically because I can't say those words in here I'm sure that a lot of people wonder why I continue to fight and to be truthful it's because when I get to go meet my ABA father I hear well done good andir faithful servant and not turn from me in your wicked works because I do not know you that's all I have are there any questions board members might have for Miss Castile Miss

089Mes uh Miss Castile did you read the book in its entirety yes I did um and did you read the document created by the book Review Committee yes I did so I was curious in your appeal you stated um that they don't list any type of literary value um that there's actually no reason why the book committee is keeping this book um so I was curious because it there's a three-page document um in which uh there are 12 criteria which the book is evaluated for literary merit and educational appropriateness so I was wondering which of those 12 um you know each one is a paragraph where the book Review Committee stated why they feel that that book is appropriate based on those 12 criteria is there one of those or multiple of those specifically that

090you take issue with um I think I just mostly take issue with the content of the book the discussion of the sexual acts and stuff um I feel like this is more of a college level book um something that more mature children should be reading um instead of and so although those value those literary values may be deemed appropriate I think that the it's more geared towards College age students okay um also I guess because I mean even as an adult I mean there's a lot of things that I I don't feel like it painted any of um you know some of the concepts in a good light um in terms of like what what the um the ways of the the culture the country um you know they talk a lot about the um

091the white people the the Europeans and and their problems I I don't feel like that is shine really shining through the way it probably should because of some of the detrimental um portions of the sexual acts in there um these children's brains are not developed enough to handle this yet this causes massive stunting in their intellectual growth I I don't understand I guess I'm just so disgusted by the sexual nature of the book that I just don't feel like it's geared towards even high school students unfortunately so the sex act that takes place is absolutely portrayed as abuse and there's nothing positive about that interaction and in fact the entire book is about how the family dissolves based on that act how that character's life was ruined um so the book Review Committee talks about

092that that could help children to openly discuss trauma's impact um you know we know that one in Four Women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime and we have 22,000 students so this is the experience of some of our students and I find that uh refusing to talk about it is um only perpetuates well I think what you're missing though is is the fact that the parent is not signing off on it prior to so if the parents not aware that their child is reading this and that this may be something that they need to be prepared to have a conversation with them about that's my biggest grief here is that we're not notifying the parents before talking allowing them to check these books out that that is where I think we can have the

093librarian it's just as easy for me to reach out to the librarian to say in the principal right because that's the proper role is you have to email the princip and the librarian and say please restrict access to this book for my child but it's just as important for the librarian to be able to reach out to the parents and say hey your child is interested in reading this book I want to let you know it has these hard conversations in it and prepare the parents so that they can come around around their child and support them as they read it I couldn't imagine you know I actually this isn't completely off topic but um I Heard a woman talk when she was hearing about some of the stuff with the book complaints and she

094was sexually assaulted and and she states that she has no idea what she would have done if this book would have fallen into her hands without her knowing what was in it beforehand and without somebody to be there to help her guide through it because of the trauma that sexual assault had caused on her are I'm not saying that our teachers are not equipped to handle this but is it fair to put that full burden on them to be the only ones to know that students are reading these books why are we not including the parents before we have them if you look at my original complaint I ask for Parental no um notification or parental consent to check the book out not to pull the book out of the library I have a question

095Mr Castillo B on what you what you just said how how would we just as a matter of practicality right if we were going to notify parents about books ahead of time which which books would we notify them about well I mean I think we have so this is one of my concerns too right is um Mr Tuttle has said that right we can opt our children out of books but there's no way to notify parents who are coming in it's not a very easy process to find what books are in the school a lot of parents want to believe that books of this magnitude aren't in the school um The Bluest Eye as well but I think that if we can have an idea of saying hey this book has now had a complaint

096made about it so this is goes on the list so if a student wants to check this book out like we asked for for the parental consent prior to checking it out you know once a complaint has been been filed about a specific book then for that book in The District anytime a student is wanting to check it out then parents would be notified beforehand and and like I was saying you know with the librarian reaching out um giving a phone call um I've gotten a phone call that my daughter wanted to take ibuprofen at school I feel like this would be kind of of the same magnitude so any book that would receive her complaint then we would put on a list and and then on that a parent would have to to sign

097off ahead of time tell their um um say that their child could read those books do you do you think that that might produce a lot more book complaints I me you see how that might cause a lot of people to to say well you know I don't I don't want my child reading the Bible uh so I'm going to uh I'm going to complain about the Bible and then that goes on on a list right I mean it I I just could foresee the number of books on that list being being rather large well I mean we originally complained about 11 books um to my knowledge um I personally have not submitted any other complaints um I you know know that there were some other books especially after it was discussed The Bluest Eye

098was removed but now it's back in at gy Central um you know maybe put a complaint in on that one but I you know am not um I guess in protecting the children if somebody feels like their child should not read the Bible and therefore wants to make a complaint that parents have to consent then I'm just saying it could be it could be a large number right I agree I mean in how how do we go about it in terms of protecting children too though you know like Miss Mash said one in for women will be sexually assaulted how do we protect the kids who are being sexually assaulted right now from stumbling upon this but I would submit that those might be the children or the students who would benefit from from Reading

099someone else's experience from um or or their friend who knows their that their friend is going through that to to develop some some empathy to understand what that person might going through but I guess I would also push back on we want we want parent involvement and we want each parent to make the appropriate decision for their child but if we are requiring a it's the reverse right so now we're requiring the parent I will discuss with my child what my child should read and what and I will protect my child from whatever books I think and I think that we need to trust our parents to do what's best for their child child um rather than than beginning restrictions um so you're saying basically a phone call to the parent saying hey this is

100a heavy topic I wanted to give you a heads up you know are you good with little Sally checking this out and the parents saying yes I'm completely fine that's too much well that's a an added burden to our librarian when if a parent has concerns that there might be books they don't want their child to read they have a they have recourse for that um and um you know additionally our students have the right in the books belong to them and they have a right to information and to ideas so even putting in that parental um permission slip is a is a level of restricting the CH the students access to that book and we know that that I have a question um if a a child does check one of these books out

101and loses it is the parent going to be financially responsible for that book to pay the school back for that if it was destroyed lost damaged I think as with all of our books and our resources yeah I don't I just I kind of feel like if you if the parent going to have to pay for it because it got lost or damaged doesn't that take away the child's right to privacy from their parent for being able to read that book I didn't say that they have a right to private see said they have a right to the information and so if we're requiring their parent to sign off before they can read the book that's a restriction thank you Miss match Mr Bentley has a question um I guess I guess I just want

102to clarify that you think it'd be better for for a a librarian who has say a thousand books to to monitor a th000 books times 200 to a th000 kids and make those phone calls to parents who may or may not answer you think that's better than the parents who have an issue with 11 books calling and just giving those 11 books a list to this librarian because we already have that policy in place you can protect your kid if you know about it ahead of time but there's the librarian there's no way that they've read all thousand books in their Library I don't in my opinion well I I think that also poses another problem that the oversight of bringing books in there're really isn't one at least as of November 202 that's not

103true we have a policy and it's it's loud and clear and we've discussed it 100 times if you would let me finish as of November 2022 when I talked to Dr pilch about it she had said there was no oversight so I apologize we've had a we've had a policy for a long time on how the books come in but go ahead there's also a lot of laws protecting the books once they are in we we've been through this I don't know five times now but that that you you don't like the policy of if you don't like a book calling restrict your kids is is that because like we have a what I think is a good policy I'm just trying to I mean I guess so like I said you know just um

104having parents be aware how how to look in the libraries um that's you know not something that's readily put forward by the District of how to research what books are in your school's libraries um and if so when a parent calls or emails the librarian and the principal to restrict access what is the next step that the pr um that the librarian does do they like type that in a note in the students do you see what like I I generally don't know what happens after I email I believe there's a digital catalog and it's it's highlighted on their thing but I'm not exactly sure how the system works the same way that you guys found the books it's accessible to the entire public went through and found which so then under that book my

105daughter's name would show up saying no it'd be under your daughter's account which is private and then if when she read her thing it would be hey she can't check this book out okay so there is an extra step though after sending the email that the librarian has to do to my knowledge I'm pretty sure we we we discussed it a couple times yeah um unless there are any other questions for Miss Castile um I think probably Mr Tuttle can shed some light on some of the questions that that you've asked Miss Castile um are there any questions further questions from Miss Castile again thank you for being here thank you tonight we'll bring up Mr Tuttle Mr Tuttle again is um giving us the um I guess the summary of what the book committee

106has has decided and uh I don't know how many of those those questions you were able to answer for us uh Mr tuttles to speak authoritatively uh in terms of process and how that how that works but if you can answer any of those we we would greatly appreciate it can definitely can um I appreciate this and and Stacy I have to just recognize you and say thank you I do appreciate your concerns um the committee it's a complex topic and I really do um feel like we have a really good solid process in place and we've been following that I'm going to take a few minutes and just kind of highlight those that process for you again I know Mr Zari is new on the board and so this is the first time he's

107had the opportunity to go through this but it's been a while last time we had an appeal at the board was in June so I'm going to go back through real quickly and just highlights the process in general the book is the god of small things that we've alluded to um Mrs Castillo alluded to the fact that there was 165 complaints this was part of the filings that came in in December and certified letters were sent out to all of those recipients saying that we were in the process and how those would be um handled many of them were duplicated copies of each other um some people would submit three copies if there was if the book was at three different locations this particular book you'll see here in a little bit is just at

108Central High School so this one had just single copies submitted communication wise that initial communication like I said certified letters went out January 4th 2023 made sure that all the people that had filed complaint forms were in the loop on what we were doing how we were handling things like that then before the committee started convening our meetings we met um October 31st we opened it up on the website for people to be able to sign up to come and speak to the board to our um committee or to submit addition of written communication and we did not have anybody sign up to either come speak to the committee or submit an additional written communication my apologies the screen is off can you guys see this at all on yours okay so I'll just know

109that it's here you can reference back to it um February 14th then both the um committees and the superintendent's decision were posted on the website we sent out letters to everybody who had submitted original complaint forms on that date as well and then they were given the opportunity to appeal that and then on March 18th letters were sent to anybody who did appeal it and as you heard tonight Stacy was the one that um did appeal this one the committee in order to participate on the committee we require that people be objective not have preconceived determinations in other words we didn't invite any anybody at the end of the Continuum who had submitted a complaint form because they kind of had their thoughts and stuff already made likewise we did not invite anybody from high

110Plaines library or the UNCC library because they have a very strong First Amendment thing about I'm not ever Banning any books we asked people to be in the middle and to be able to consider all options for our students and for the books that were being considered the committee that was comprised here we had 19 members um we purposely targeted community members that would have some experience so we got a pastor from a large Church in town we have people from North range that deal with students that are dealing with trauma youth that are have traumatic situations and we wanted them on this committee six parents we went to Dak and so those parents are from across the system um we've got great representation there two recent graduates recent graduates meaning they graduate in the

111last four years that are now in college and they were able to be a part of this we had four teachers um one language arts teacher from each of the high schools as well as then our certified librarian that's also at one of the high schools we had four District administrators two District level ones as well as two building ones and then um two facilitators so the the committee really is a broad representation and they were asked to read the book its entirety participate in person in the committee and then participate in consensus decision it was not about a m majority vote and we move on we would talk about it we would look at the rationale we would look at the concerns and we would continue this conversation until everybody felt comfortable and supportive

112of the recommendation that we make the dates that we met we started in November with this particular book um November 14th we did an orientation for new members on some of the legal boundaries that we have to live within what are the board policies that we have to abide by what's the Colorado and state um guidelines and so forth then we looked at and we also distributed all the documents at that November 14th meeting so that's when everybody got all of the complaint forms that had been submitted that 165 complaintants then we met November 28th we had scheduled for December 5th but we didn't end up needing that meeting date context as I alluded is a gy Central High School we on our first meeting we review the criteria we look at those criteria the

11312 that you alluded to um cley I believe it was or maybe it was Natalie mash um we we look at those 12 criteria those are our guiding decision-making things it's not about our gut feelings about the book it's compared to those 12 um criteria we also can provided everything to the committee those 12 um criteria by the way they were up updated in relation to communication with color Department of Education some other schools that were also doing this work as well as the American Library Association that oversees both Public School libraries as well as our school public libraries in our school systems and so in consultation with all those organizations we did some refinement of these 12 and these 12 now have been part of our board policy for several years now they are

114um part of the policy for adop and purchasing books as well as then if there's a challenge we use the same 12 criteria then the second meeting we met and we utilized that consensus like I said and we came up with this recommendation so our recommendation is that the committee recommends the god of small things continue to remain openly available in high school libraries without any restriction and you can read the other paragraph there are as Natalie M mentioned there's 12 statements each aligned to those criteria I'm not expecting you'll be able to read it on the screen but those are just the paragraphs that we went through each criteria to say we need to look at each aspect in relation to the god of small things the report concluded with two additional paragraphs and

115I just want to highlight a couple things the god of small things challenges World readers World Views on issues such as generational poverty and Trauma through its extraordinary narration and nuanced exploration of complex social issues the god of small things is Well written poetic provocative emotive and deeply insightful further it depicts the life experiences of individuals living in various casts in India and the intergenerational trauma they have and continue to endure which empowers readers to become more empathetic with their peers and broadens their perspectives the other paragraph then again it does have complex things the committee finds that the novel is is educational suitable for high school students and not pervasively vulgar the god of small things provides an age appropriate outlet for students to better understand how to deal with these difficult subjects and

116how to understand each other that was submitted to Dr Pils our superintendent she then wrote her own response to that and her decision is that the committee's recommendation stands and as Stacy Castile uded to then reminded parents that they always have that right to request the limitation for their own child whether that be access to the entire library or whether they be access to particular books that always is an a available option for parents and you're right that then if a on Patron comes in to check out a book we can flag it so when that Patron goes to check out the book and they try to check out a book that the parent has restricted it comes up for that particular student nobody else knows about it but that particular student that would be

117trying to check out a book if the parent has restricted it it would come up with that flag when the when the teacher was trying to check that book out and they would know not to check that book out to that par to that child that is the work of the committee any questions I think we may have some uh I know Mr Bentley has one um I just was wondering the the the frequency of this book being checked out and we heard that last time and I didn't see that in this report um the this book only been checked out twice since it's been purchased so it was purchased in 2018 and it was checked out once in 20121 and then again in 2023 any other questions Mr Bentley again um the last time

118we had an update only one one parent had called in to restrict books is there any updates on that status um nothing that I'm aware of no changes from that time that same yeah so even with all I mean it has been fairly well publicized right what we're what we're doing uh with these books no one has has called to restrict there have been a couple of uh a couple of them but I have not um checked recently on the status of that but to my knowledge only two parents have called in and restricted their child's okay ability to check up okay thank you any other questions from board members I'm not seeing any uh Mr Tuttle so again thank you for your work please I say this all the time but the large majority

119of the work that's done in this district is done by committees and and people who who volunteer and it's a lot of time that that people have given to reviewing this book to reading it to meeting it to discussing it to uh producing a document and so thank you uh for your work and and please on on our behalf thank them thank you we'll now let uh board members um speak to this and I I think we've done this in the past but just let Let each board member uh have a chance to speak and Mr Zari this is your first time uh going through this so I think we'll start down here this time and start with you Miss Sullivan then we'll just move this way and finish with Miss mash and myself um

120but if you have any comments uh we'd love to hear those now I do thank you so um when I started reading this book it was a challenging read and it's way above a lot of the reading levels of most of our students as we know um our reading level isn't as uh high as we'd like it to be but this one is definitely more of a college level reading and I mean I found it I was struggling um to take hold of what was being said because I couldn't pronounce the names I couldn't pronounce the the cities and the locations and when you can't do that that kind of disengages you from the book so I actually had to take notes and write down how people were um assimilated the relationships and whatnot between

121each person until I finally got into the groove of the book but I probably was about 80 pages in and at that point I didn't know why this book was being challenged and then I hit I think page 85 and then I realized why it was being challenged and then I uh I started getting a little frustrated but um this book um I feel that uh it does encourage infidelity in the marriage and coming from families that's not what the encouragement we want from our for our children we already struggle with the divorce rates and we already strug we already struggle with um the infidelities within marriages and the broken marriages that happen so that is damaging to a child um we also had in the book there was a seven-year-old that was sexually assaulted

122by an older man wi out you know in the open in a movie theater um that's abusive and that was very disturbing to me um when I got to that uh spousal abuse that was also Al promotion of spousal abuse and it was accepted for the men to beat the women within their marriages and whatnot um it promoted incest between siblings this book I found to be it was also very depressing and when we talk about the safety and the well-being of our children within um our district we're always pushing and talking about how we need to support them we need to make sure that they're feeling safe that they're feeling um protected and I don't think that book does that because this book who to me was a highly depressing I'm sorry highly depressing

123to read um with the issues and the some of the issues I mean you might say that Natalie and I know you did say that it's does not promote um the sexual assault but a a student that reads that book is not going to interpret that in that fashion not necessarily this reading or comprehension is way above this level uh it did nothing of the sorts to bring um encouragement of power and enthusiasm in life it was it was depressing through the entire book uh look at the amount of the adults now that are reaching out for themselves that are looking for self-help that are in many forms of counseling and the pursuit of the internal happiness we're struggling why are we not promoting that within the school so that when they become adults they

124have that um Solid Ground this book is the opposite of everything we talk about for protecting our kids we also have permission slips that we hand out in the classroom when we're going to use a book for that we feel is uh not appropriate for instruction and the parents have to sign those books off but we're also learning from our own children at home that the permission slips are very vague and they don't always go into the great detail as to what's within the book so um to me I'm going to be a no on this book um it it was get it goes against all the values of what I believe our school should be focused on on which is protecting and bringing safety and morals and values to each of these children so

125they have the opportunity for Success not the dreariness of what this book entailed thank you Miss solivan Dr Kus spitzy yeah so um I've got to say this is one of the best reads um of my life really the god of small things um beautifully written um almost to the level of beloved um kind of poetic I think is how the book committee described it has a certain Cadence to it as you read it um has been translated in 40 languages um I'm not surprised by that at all um I am a a proud yes and I question why it's not at the grey West and the Northridge High School libraries um I I don't think it promotes domestic violence um if anything there's a really great scene in the book um where a child

126who had watched his mother be beaten throughout his life by his wealthy father who you know was a um important uh figure in in their community and well respected but nobody knew that behind closed doors he he would beat his wife to the point you know a lot a lot of abuse when that child came back from Oxford University um one of the first things he did is tell his father that he would he should never ever see him beat his mother again and his father never did after that scene um he also never spoke to his wife again which is awful um but it highlights the cast system um to me one of the most grotesque scenes was not the ones that have been mentioned but one where a mother thinks of a black

127hand on her daughter and almost vomits thinking about about this person that she thinks lower than herself because of the the cast system um there is a class of of people called Untouchables um in the in the Indian cast system um and and the mother because of the color of this person's skin and their and their lower class uh almost vomits just with the thought of a black hand touching her her daughter and it's not because you know it it had all to do with class and and race and colorism um and and to me that those are the disturbing scenes in the book um that highlight the human human nature you know so many of the books that we've reviewed uh the kitr runner highlights the cast system in in Middle Eastern culture and

128beloved you know took took place in times of slavery um there's there's so much to to learn from them to to improve from them um like Natalie already mentioned the scene in the theater absolutely horrible um but that is a a scene in the book that is meant not to arouse but to disturb um and to and it really is what as Natalie mentioned dissolves that whole family um so yeah I I don't think it promoted infidelity I don't think it promoted incest I don't think it promoted pedophilia doesn't mention those topics as well as racism and colorism yes but not in a way of glorifying these things um is it depressing to read about sexual abuse and racism absolutely um should we be protecting our children from difficult conversations from The Real World absolutely

129not I would be thrilled if my kids read this book in high school and again just proudly voting yes to keep um to uphold the superintendent's decision and the book review committee's decision on this book Mr Bentley um yeah this kind of comes down to to to our processes and procedures I think um from from the legality standpoint we sat through multiple meetings with our lawyers and the the laws and the case studies are are relatively clear um the first amendment is pretty strong and it and it's pretty broad um we've seen or heard nothing from anybody um you know from the committee to to our lawyers that that would want warrant uh this you know falling under the classifications of a book that we could remove do do did I like the book not

130not particularly do I think it's a hard book yes um do I believe that cenal kids probably are better readers than me also yes um I don't I I can see the value in a in in a hard difficult book um it's not really about that to me it's more um we have a good process in place we we have refined it as as this issue was brought up but I am confident um going through casby the legislative session um you know we we walked around and and people grabbed us and and said that our models being used across the state because nobody can figure out a better model to review these books and and I'm confident in what we're doing as a a district to ensure that there's a way that the parents have

131a say in their child's learning and at the same time as protecting them um we keep hearing over and over that it's one or two times in in the years that these books are are are being checked out um that that is sad and and alarming but it's also the way Society is moving we're going digital and and books getting checked out from library is is kind of dying off so um to to me this just comes down to a procedural and and a litigation standpoint um and and I'm I'm confident in what we're doing as a district Mr aari there we go well this is my first book review and I took this very very seriously um and I examined all the materials all the written materials and I would presume that when folks

132turn in things in writing that they put a lot of thought behind that documentation because it's now part of that legal record I and it's out there and it's it's documented so I I went through all of this stuff and read it very carefully and since I have the dubious honor I read a lot of this since I have the dubious honor of always being able of always being the first to cast my vote I feel it important to explain publicly the foundation underlying that vote I would like to make it clear that I try through this process to eliminate any personal bias I might have toward the literature in question uh that's not my position my position is to be a board member my position is to to take a look at the written

133material to listen to the appellant uh who was very eloquent in in what she had presented to us and I understand where she is coming from uh you know in a lot of ways okay but in appealing the superintendent's decision to uphold the recommendation of the committee the appellant rights on the document that there is no actual reason why the book committee is keeping this book but in analyzing the committee's review carefully I noted five primary reasons that the committee cited in their recommendation to keep the god of small things on the Shelf of the gy Central Library which is the only library that contains the book at this time I'm going to read those five that I that I focused on the committee cites the impactful things explored in God of small things such

134as childhood trauma interpersonal relationships the indoctrination into the white Catholic being illustrates a few of the traumatic experiences the characters went through by discussing these complex topics the book provides an opportunity to better help students contextualize such issues both in their personal lives and as applied to society as a whole number two the book illustrates perspectives often overlooked depicting assault not only as a violent attack but as a means to threaten silence and exert control this reflects many real survivors experiences though traumatic these candid depictions may help students process their own suffering or the suffering of loved ones three for high school students seeking to understand Global Injustice this novel invites empathy and education to reveal why social advocacy remains essential four the author uses strong Visual and poetic language to help readers imagine a

135place they've likely never been this goes to the high standards of writing and it also teaches our students about a different writing style and different type of narration if the school district's goal is to make future writers students will learn so much from reading the god of small things and what a great a writer can achieve and she's risked her life to write this book in her country number five it is important students have the right to read this if they so choose it is important that students have the right to read this if they so choose now as a high school teacher from the past it is a college level reading book but we have college level scholars in our schools we have students that take college level classes quite a few of them

136now if a parent is does not want their child reading that book one of the benefits of having this procedure that we have in place is that people publicly now know about this book so there's a benefit to what we do here in this school district I'll wrap this up furthermore on the public Complaint Form public concerns complaints uh about instructional materials when answering question number seven what do you believe is the theme or purpose of this material the appellant writes not sure but the committee does have an answer to that question and by the way I'm not slamming the appellant I had to read this book I had to listen to it I had to examine it I had to study it it's like an AP Literature book it's way up there and the

137and and what they write about in this book is not always what it is the river means something papachi discovering a moth that he wanted named after himself and then the university says it's not a new species he retires and then the person that replaces him says it is a new species and they name the moth after that new guy and papach he goes crazy and abuses members of his family that's a deep thing but what does that moth stand for it keeps recurring through the book the kids keep seeing this moth this MO all the time through the book it's deep it requires thought and evaluation and education but the committee does have an answer to that question in their review the committee makes it clear in their assessment that the god of small

138things invite students to control depths of tragedy shaped by shaped by unfair power structures and intergenerational Trauma the god of small things challenges readers World Views on issues such as generation poverty and Trauma through its extraordinary narration and nuanced exploration of complex social issues these perspectives of the committee have not been disputed in the documents submitted by the appellant nor in this appeal uh today rather the appellant's complaint is centered on specific passages with graphic content which the committee defends by writing quote despite its inclusion of content or language that may be considered offensive the relative literary value of the material as a whole outweighs its potential to offend in studying this book in great detail to determine the accuracy of the committee's examination I found it to be an accurate evaluation as a board

139member I see no compelling reason or substantial ation why the superintendent's decision in accordance with policy ke c-r should be overturned that's all I have Mr President thank you Mr oari Miss Mes thank you Mr oari for that very complete um report and and I have nothing much to add to that other than I trust that this um process is is robust and is an excellent process for um um examining the literary merits of challenged materials I trust our parents to do what is best for their individual student and I trust our students um to to manage themselves to um to self-censor if they begin reading a book that they decide is inappropriate or triggering for them um that they'll make that decision not to read it and um so I will also be voting

140to keep this book in our schools yeah I I appreciate that that some of you uh really enjoyed the book and some of you uh did not enjoy the book it's not um I think my opinion is uh closest to Mr Bentley's it's just a very straightforward decision that we're we're looking at each each time because our our students do have a First Amendment right to receive information and we can restrict that uh if we find that a a material a book is educationally unsuitable or uh pervasively vulgar and you heard Mr Tuttle use those words um and while there there are some vulgar words and some vulgar sentences and uh like Miss Miss Sullivan said you you don't find any of those until about a page 85 and then uh there's a word and

141then you read about another 10 pages and you find a few sentences and then you have to read all the way to the end of the book page page 320 or somewhere around there and and you find a handful of other sentences and there's just even though there's um there are there is some vulgarity is just no way that you can Define it as pervasive existing throughout the work um and so there's no compelling reason as as Mr aari said uh to overturn superintendent's decision or the book committee's uh decision in my opinion so um unless there's any further comment and I'm not seeing any Miss Lon will you give us a vote please we didn't make a motion oh we need to make a motion thank you Miss Mash I move that the Board

142of Education of gy Evans school district 6 upholds the superintendent's decision regarding the recommendation of the Review Committee for the god of small things by aony ro Roy based on the rationale included in the review committee's findings and recommendation second thank you both is any further discussion on the motion hearing none Miss lemon director aari I director Bentley I director Campos spitzy I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan n motion carries 51 thank you Miss lemon next on our agenda is our employee benefits renewal and this is an action item that we need a motion I move that the Board of Education of gley Evans school district 6 approves insurance renewal as presented and authorizes the officers to sign any and all contracts second thank you both before we uh open this up

143to board member comments uh questions I imagine Miss sponsor you you have some presentation for us you um we'll hope that our PowerPoint continues to show up on the screen if not I will just keep going um tonight it is time for you all to approve the renewal of our employee benefits program for all of our employees um just a reminder of what our employee benefits entail uh we have medical insurance we have new last year or this current year is nice healthc care the dental insurance V vision insurance life insurance then we have some voluntary options for employees to choose from and we have a pretty robust wellness program so the medical insurance this is an something that we talked about in our negotiations time with our teachers and administration and board members present

144so this is nothing new to you but just an official recommendation that we renew with Etna we would move from a fully insured plan to a self-insured plan and we would move from four plans to three plans and this should actually be a little bit easier for our employees because you really have two choices two questions that you have to answer the first one being do you need coverage out of network and the second one being do you want a high deductible plan with an HSA or do you want a co-pay plan so that should really simplify things for our employees to make a decision for themselves and with the change to the three plans uh one thing that we have heard from our employees over and over is they want options and so this

145will give them options uh all of our plans would offer coverage at Banner and UC Health so those are our two local providers and um all would be covered and then we will continue to pay a portion of the dependent premium costs when employees choose to add a spouse children or family onto their plan and here's some good news um from my perspective the cost to district 6 will be comparable to what we are currently paying that means that we don't plan to see an increase in fact it'll be a decrease in the premiums that we pay um the cost to employees will also be lower and so I think that's pretty unheard of at this point in time but employees can see a lower premium when they add um dependence onto their plan this

146is all contingent upon all of you agreeing to uh transfer some money we'll call it kind of the seed money for this plan into a new bank account this would come from your fund balance um to seed money this change to self-insured uh insurance coverage that will officially happen when we bring you the proposed budget for your consideration um nice Healthcare we keep getting just amazing reviews and response from people they really appreciate having that as an option it's easy to use um pretty immediate uh appointments um sometimes same day sometimes the next day but that's been a a big plus for our employees that does come with a cost and so there is a $5 a month per employee cost increase but our savings from our insurance plan will help offset this increase um

147dental insurance again we recommend that we renew with Etna no change in the rates and no change in the plan same with vision insurance we would recommend that you renew with iMed no change in the rates and no change to the plan benefits and life and a andd insurance we recommend renewing with the Hartford again no change in rates and no change in the plan benefits the voluntary benefits uh we will keep the same options available to employees those include accidental life um and a ad and coverage accident policy or a hospital Indemnity policy and then finally we have our Wellness programs um in partnership with Etna they continue to be huge supporters of our wellness program we have amazing team of Wellness staff and volunteers um from across the District who participate in our

148Wellness programs to offer amazing opportunities for our staff and they continue to be very popular and we continue to look for new and innovative ways to bring Wellness op opportunities to our staff and in addition to the wellness programs through Etna we also have our employee assistance program that we continue to offer to employees so that they can access mental health care or other Support Services as they need them so with that said um I'll turn it over to you if you have any questions have a we may have a few for you uh Mr Bentley yeah mine's more of just a general comments um we talked about this in in uh negotiations last year and you you finalized a very well structured deal this year um more more onong the lines of the employees

149and and the the exciting opportunities that this provides the district as as a as a benefit um you know you covered you covered your bases with the three different plans you know you uh people don't realize like outside of yourself you know different stages of Life different just uh life circumstances people need different kinds of insurance so it's not a one plan fits all so um I just commend you for you know it to me it seems like you've got all the the bases covered um the the high deductible plan with the HSA is exciting because you can put 4150 a year at the 24 levels away tax-free and so basically I can't remember exactly what the deductible was I think it's 6750 is is that what I can't Rec that's the maxim you can

150be or something but basically in a year and a half you can have taxfree you're deductible and then you pay your deductible out of your HSA and you get 100% of your spending power of your dollar instead of tax rates right so if your tax rate's 30% you actually got to spend 100% of your dollar because it comes out of your paycheck pre-tax um on the flip side of this on the district side with that seed money basically you guys can run this like an endowment fund and after years of pulling those profits back from the insurance companies this account could be generating enough Revenue to fund this account going forward and it's just it's very exciting on on a financial and and opportunity level and and it'll give the district more ability to do

151more going forward if if if it's managed correctly and it and it's kind of you couldn't really ask for a better option in my opinion to to manage it yourself outside of paying in giant insurance companies more profits who are already posting record profits so um congratulations and I'm I'm so ecstatic about about this um this part of the the benefits package that I I I just can't put it into words so thank you so much and uh just to the to the to the district and and the the residents just like this is a big deal and and I I hope that you guys realize the job she's done to get us to a position where we can do this because this isn't this isn't easy and it and it's it's actually very hard

152and it's very risky for a little bit until tell that funds build up and stuff so um it's it's it's her and the district and being more responsible with with the tax dollars and and I can't express my gratitude for that I would I would Echo what Mr Bentley said I really appreciate uh how you've used onetime money uh money that we we want the money that's in a uh a saving so to speak uh in our fund balance to to generate ongoing savings for us and and we do appreciate the work and the creativity Miss sponsor very much there any other questions or comments from board members Miss lemon will you give us a vote please director Zari I director Bentley I director Campos spitzy I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan

153I motion carry 60 thank you Miss lemon well that is all that we have tonight uh we will say uh get well Dr Pils get well Mr Norwood um and this meeting is adjourned [Music] he [Music] now for