Dar that you good okay all right we start with roll director Assad Lucas here director bastelli here director Goldstein here director Marsh holen here director
Potter here I'll will entertain a motion to approve the agenda as stated so moved second director Assad Lucas I director belli I director
Goldstein I director Marsh holen I director Potter I okay rise if you were able for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation
under indivisible with liy and justice for all we have a very special guest with us tonight and our leel Reed is going to introduce the fifth place National Spelling be
[Applause] winner okay so when I um took over coordination of the District spelling a couple of years ago I was really terrified because the previous coordinator told me coordinator told me that we had one of the best spellers in
the state of Colorado Well turns out we have the top the fifth place at Nationals winner ad Muk Kumar standard wave everybody so over 11 million students compete in the spelling beat every
year and AD d last year um went to Nationals placed 74th and this year out of 245 of the best spellers in the country she took fifth place and I know among my um spelling
nerd friends sorry ad we had a whole text thread going as we were watching Nationals on I on TV and watching for her and I was so amazed at how poised and gracious she was every time at the podium so a little bit about ad she's
currently a ninth grader at Legacy High School she loves to read Jane Austin and write as well she performs Indian classical dance and plays the flute so she is about as well-rounded as you can possibly get for an Adams 12 student or
anyone and then you're going to have to help me ad because the word you spelled to win the state be was mermoine merox to advance to National Finals merma coine okay I can't even like look
at it and get it right but be I want her to come up here and talk about her experience but I have to say DT even when you misspelled a national to take fifth place the smile on your face when you stood with your mom and dad and sister Adia was so inspirational there
was no disappointment there was just like it was the best day of your life and I just think that I was really inspired by that on um hello esteemed board members hello everybody um I'm so honored to be here I'm adid mumar and I'm a ninth grader at
Legacy High School [Applause] so can we ask you some questions of course yeah I guess my question is what does that word even
mean um so that word comes from the two Greek Parts mermo meaning ant and zenos meaning foreign so um I don't completely recall the definition it's been a while but I'm pretty sure it's like a foreign um insect that coexists with ants cool
CU don't they tell you the definition when they give you the words oh yeah they do fascinating um anybody else have any questions I want to bombard her but what are you thinking about After High School are you thinking that far yet um so I'm
definitely hoping to move on to college um I'm very interested in stem so I'd love to go into medicine because that's one of my passions um I love research I I love being there for the community so
I'd love to potentially be a doctor or go into research but um for now I'm just hoping to see where the future will take me just incredibly impressive thank you that you got I mean Past St fifth in
National I mean that's just amazing and so you have so many people who are proud of you and I hope you or just as proud of yourself if not more so because that's a huge huge accomplishment thank you so [Applause]
much well can I ask a question real fast so how old were you when you started thinking that you might want to do the spelling BMB really competitive at the state and National level and then the other part of the question is how many hours a week would you typically practice um so for the first part I've
been watching the national spelling be since kindergarten I've always been pretty pretty good at spelling I think like in elementary school there would always be those weekly spelling tests that um I love doing I would always be pretty good at um fifth grade is when I
officially started participating in spelling bees and then I started seriously spelling in the sixth and seventh grade um could you repeat the second part of your question yeah how much time did you spend practicing like during the course of a week or an average day or month I'm just trying my
sense is that you worked really hard at this uh yeah so weekday would typically be anywhere between like 2 to 3 hours but weekends it was just whenever I had time so it could go from like maybe five hours to like anywhere to 10
hours awesome I guess the final question is can you compete again and do you want to compete again if you can um so no I can't compete again so it ends at um the eighth grade level so you can't participate in high school but if I
could participate I would do it all over again awesome congratulations I'm sure definitely when you do medical terminology you're going to have a head start on everybody else I just wanted to say to I assume this young woman right here is your
sister right uh yes and I just want to say I'm I'm sorry I'm sure you feel like you have huge shoes to fill now right but you'll make your mark so uh yeah so she actually got third place at the Colorado State B this [Applause]
year yeah so we just wanted to recognize you and show our our how proud We Are of your achievement so we've given you we have a certificate and a card and thank you I'm sure you're so
proud too um do you guys want to all come down for a picture and you get a picture with all of us congratul impressive [Applause]
hi okay next on the agenda we have another celebration we are going to meet our new administrators so Chris you want to introduce us to our new admin sure I think Bo F's going to take the lead on this piece we just feel like it's really
important for the board not only to know senior leadership in the system but folks who lead our schools and our directors and and other places of important responsibilities in the system so if you have questions or there's things that you're wanting to dig into deeper you at least have a face to
attach to the name so here we go excellent thank you superintendent kavosi board members it's great to continue our long-standing tradition of uh introducing you to new administrators and leaders throughout our system we have a variety of people that you're going to meet tonight a variety of
people who are going to do introductions I'm glad that we've broken the ice with some photo opportunities CU we're going to do that at the end those of you that are going to be introduced tonight once one of us calls your name come on up here let us finish the introduction we're going to have you do a walk of Pride across the room to the other side
wait patiently against that wall until we're all done and then we do a big group picture at the end sound good okay I have the pleasure of starting us off tonight with our elementary and K8 principles who are new to the system and we're going to get it started uh tonight with our new principal at Cotton Creek
Al lizy Gooding iizzy has previously served as uh the assistant principal at Cotton Creek she also spent 16 years as an educator with 14 of those years in Adam's 12 five-star schools she has been a middle school language arts teacher a
teacher librarian and Technology coach along with instructional coach and an assistant principal for the last n years very well-rounded indeed the Cotton Creek community is thrilled to have her named as their new leader congratulations
Lizzy this is your War there you go great next up is our new principal at the studio School Christy Samson as you know the studio school is our District's Arts integration Magnet School for students in grades K through
5 uh chrisy has worked in Adams 12 for 20 years as a high school teacher a middle school dean Middle School assistant principal and an elementary assistant principal a rare breed indeed to have worked at all all three levels uh she is thrilled to now start her
dream job as principal and support the community at the studio School congratulations Christie next up is the new principal at Eagle viw Elementary School Lindy Peterson Lindy has served in the Adams 12 district for the past 9 years in the
capacity of teacher instructional coach at the elementary level and for the past 5 years as the assistant principal at Eagle viiew prior to joining Adams 12 she served 10 years in the Lichfield Elementary School District in Goodyear Arizona as a teacher reading specialist
and dyslexia practitioner congratulations [Applause] Lindy our next two principles uh were unable to be here tonight but I do want
to uh introduce them in their absence and tell you a little bit about them first up is the new principal at Coyote Ridge Elementary and that's Carolyn Webb Carolyn began her Elementary teaching career in Atlanta Georgia in 2005 in 2010 she moved to Colorado and
served as a classroom teacher intervention teacher instructional coach and interim principal in Denver public schools over the course of nine years for the past four years Carolyn has served as the assistant principal of Coyote Ridge Elementary and is delighted to have the opportunity to continue to
lead the Coyote Ridge Community as its new principal and finally at the elementary level is the new principal at Westview Elementary Kelly Fleck Kelly served as a Spanish teacher for 5 years in Colorado Springs District 11 and as a second grade teacher for 5
years in Adams 14 she then served as an instructional coach in Denver public schools before becoming an assistant principal at stuki and a rapo Ridge Elementary in Adams 12 Kelly is thrilled to be serving the Westview community and now we're going to Pivot
to the K8 level and it's my pleasure to introduce our new principal at Thunder Vista jod rooper jod has served the Thunder Vista Community since the school open 6 years years ago prior to joining Adams 12 she served in the Adams 14 school district
for close to 16 years as an educator Jody has extensive experience in education as she has served a diverse population of Learners over her 20 plus year career she previously served as the assistant principal at Thunder Vista and jod is highly invested in the community
and will continue the tradition of Excellence at Thunder Vista congratulations and now it's my pleasure to uh hand the mic over to our executive director of Middle School Scott Simon who is going to do some introductions of our new Middle School
leaders thank you I'm excited to introduce two new uh leaders at our middle schools um our first is Lana corals at Rocky Top Lana joined the Adams 12 team six years ago after teaching science in the
states of New York and North Carolina at the secondary level LESA has served the last six years as an assistant principal at Westlake Middle School and at Century Middle School lesana has worked hard this summer to quickly transition uh to her new role and continue the traditions
of success at Rocky Top Middle School our new principal of North Glen Middle School is Sarah Stone she thank you unfortunately she is unable to join us tonight uh but Sarah started her teaching career 10 years ago at North
Glenn Middle School and has subsequently been a Dean at Sentry middle school and an AP at both both thoron middle school and Centennial Elementary School Sarah is a dedicated leader and his focus on maintaining the upper trajectory at
North Glenn Middle School and I get to hand it off to the executive director of high schools Lee Peters thank you Scott thank you for having us here tonight I'm excited to introduce Miss Chrissy kanig the principal at Future Center at
Pathways Chrissy's career has been a long-standing counselor in our district at North Clint Middle School Thorton high school and Vantage Point campus and since 2010 she's been Pathways as a counselor dean of students assistant principal and she began her principal
role last January as we made a midyear change and she's just going to be a huge upgrade over the previous person who's going to be introduced shortly um but her skills and talents and experience as a school counsel will serve her and her student body well as
you know Pathways is made up of a student population who are overage and under credit and have many at risk factors for missing out on graduation so we're excited to have her leadership at Pathways and up next I'd like to introduce our chief academic officer
Megan Kane thank you before I get started introducing my people I just want to say thank you for saying yes and thank you every day for coming back and saying yes um to this job because it means everything to our
system so just want to say that out of the gate um the first person I would like to introduce is Miss Trina Spears she is our new oh yes yes clap Trina is our new executive director of professional learning and strategic
planning um she has been in education for 28 years and in Adams 12 five-star schools for 23 years uh Trina most recently served as the Director of literacy she has also served in various roles including classroom teacher
assistant principal principal and central office leader please join me in welcoming Trina next up is Miss Teresa Gilbreth so Teresa has been named uh this spring as our new executive director of Elementary and K8 schools
and Teresa has served in Adams 12 five-star schools for the past 25 years in various roles including a classroom teacher instructional coach District math specialist and assistant principal and most recently she served as a
principal at Cotton Creek Elementary so welcome next up I'd like to introduce Stephanie [Applause] frankenfeld so Stephanie um has 23 years
of experience at the elementary level and in Adams 12 five-star School serving in both the title and non-title environments as a principal an assistant principal and a classroom teacher and she was most recently our school principal at Westview Elementary she's
now going to serve as our new director of literacy welcome next up I'd like to welcome Kayla Swanton so Kayla will begin serving as our new director of instructional technology and Library Services Kayla
has served the system as an itls coordinator since 2017 in this time she's persisted with multiple cross-functional teams strategically planned and implemented resources professional learning for our digital literacy partners and led
professional development to improve pedagogical practice for increased student achievement we are excited for Kayla to bring her skills of collaborative leadership her strong understanding of instruction and her partnership approach to the work to our
director team welcome next up Miss Teresa [Applause] banalo so Teresa began her position very quickly after she finished her last
position uh this June uh as the Director of preschool for Adams 12 uh we welcome her um and her most recent service was uh as the inaugural principal for the last six years at Thunder Vista p8 where
she successfully built and implemented an integrated a p8 system prior to her tenure at Thunder Vista she was a principal at Leroy Drive Elementary Teresa had the opportunity to serve in the Adams 14 school district for close
to 20 years prior to that as the elementary and middle school teacher instructional coach and administrator Teresa has extensive experience in the PA education including work with our own preschool program we are thrilled to have Teresa bring her expertise to our
youngest Learners and Educators who have the honor of serving them so please welcome Teresa and now I would like to pass off to Molly our chief operating [Applause]
officer all right I have the pleasure of introducing our new business service administrators and first um up is Sarah gruno Sarah is our nutrition services director Sarah has eight years of
experience working with school nutrition operations and USDA programs uh with the last six of those years as the manager of nutrition operations here in Adams 12 prior to being here Sarah served as the assistant director of nutrition services
and two Minnesota school districts and we welcome her expertise and creativity as we March forward in our meal programs [Applause] next up for business services is Carrie
Locker Meer Carrie uh has the pleasure to serve us as our before and after school enrichment director she brings over 30 years of experience with Adams 12 where she has pretty much held every role in the base Department she has served
schools Centennial Leroy Glacier Peak and has been at the central office level for many years now we are uh excited as she previously served as our operations manager for Bass and is now the director of Bas and with that I will pass it off to
Mila Shepard our chief human resource officer thank you Molly well uh as we wrap up the row of introductions tonight um I it is my pleasure to introduce you to uh newly selected HR Director Tim
Griffin so I had the opportunity to present Tim with his 20 years of service pin just last week uh so 20 years in the district um Tim has served in a variety of roles here uh in that time he uh most recently has served as the principal at
Rocky Top Middle School and uh at Glacier Peak Elementary School for nine years before that Tim has been an assistant principal at the elementary and middle levels and he was an American history teacher at some point in the distant past um uh Tim is a highly
regarded leader of schools and uh the work of the human resources department uh is is all about the support of schools and the rest of our our teams in the district and so we're really looking forward to um that expertise that he brings in supporting all employees and I
know we're going to be enriched by his insights and his experience welcome to [Applause] uh I think there are two positions that we need to also recognize that there are new people in the
role at the new Chief academic officer Megan Kaine and the deputy superintendent um Bo fobber and I'm not that good at speaking off the cuff about all your merits but I've worked with you guys over the years I
had the pleasure of teaching you when you were in Middle School Molly oh okay I'm sorry yes and Molly well we introduced Molly last spring and with that oh go ahead yeah I appreciate the acknowledgement I don't know if it's through the two of them I even forgot that I was new it just felt
just like a continuation but thank you um I'd like to invite board members and superintendent gdowski down we always like to memorialize this with a kind of class of 24 photo if you will so we'd ask you to come down and uh we're going to get a photo taken we've got a big
group this year so we're going to figure out it's not going to be against the wall like that so come on out we're going to kind of stage this a little bit and we'll get set up e e so it's it's great to have these celebrations here um in this
meeting so next on the agenda superintendent update thank you so tonight I just want to focus my comments on extending some words of appreciation for both Fert and his dad Joe um so last Wednesday uh was obviously a
big night here in this boardroom with lots of folks in attendance and the day started in a much different way than I think many of us had hoped when Bo received word that his dad who'd been in Hospice Care was entering into the final hours or perhaps days of his
life and so early in the day Bo departed and spent the day with uh family and his dad and and then felt the obligation to come back to be part of the board meeting that night and as you all know Bo was eloquent and focused and
passionate about uh the bond and over R proposals um and near the end of that evening uh while he was still in the space he received another call that it was time uh to get back to the facility and unfortunately Bo wasn't able to get back before his dad had
passed I appreciate um B's commitment to this district and I think part of what allowed him um to go forward in the way that he did that night is the Legacy that he's mindful of that his dad and his mom
have created in this District Joe fber many of you may know was a longstanding educator in the system I was lucky to have him as one of my teachers um he was a basketball coach and kind of an ironic guy to be a basketball coach because he wasn't very
tall and he was carrying around a lot of extra pounds at least at the time he was my coach and didn't look very much like a basketball player but what I love so much about uh Mr forward as a basketball coach is that he was super competitive and pushed us all to be 100% in and
giving our best and that's a life lesson that I've tried to apply in everything that I've done in life since he was aw my social studies teacher in eth and nth grade and up until that point in time uh social studies wasn't an area of very much interest for me I thought uh there
were a whole lot of career options I was thinking about everything from engineering to medicine and after being in Joe H's class um he was intense and he probably wasn't like the cool teacher that everyone wanted to have necessarily but his passion for government and
history and Civics uh was unmatched by anybody and I I credit Joe fobert as a very influential person in my life and leading me down the path that eventually became a political science major and going on to law school one of my
favorite memories of Joe fobert was sharing a room with him at the University of Maryland College Park campus when I was a sophomore in high school so twice in my life I I uh competed for national uh prizes but unlike a DT earlier tonight I was
nowhere close to being even in the top five but the contest I was involved in was a National History Day contest and as a sophomore I was the only kid outside of uh Junior High in the system who had qualified so Joe was willing to be a chaperone and a roommate for me and one of my favorite memories
was laying on our twin beds in a typical college dorm room and probably uh the early 1980s early June in Maryland no air conditioning and we talked till probably 11 or 12:00 at night about a whole lot of things and just having that kind of experience when you're a young kid with
an educator and and getting to see different dimensions of them than what you see in the classroom was just a really special memory for me so I think part of what uh allowed Bo to compartmentalize and be present and lean into the work last Wednesday even when
he's dealing with one of the most heavy days I think comes to us in life which is losing a parent was because of the Legacy his dad left and was part of the entire family you may know Bo's Mom Donna was an educator and principal in the system Bo's brother is an educator in the
system his wife's an educator in the system and I think there are aunts and uncles who've served as well and Bo I just appreciate your commitment to Adams 12 and uh I'm grateful for your dad's influence on my life thank you that's all I have
tonight uh director Potter we're moving on to board comments um I would just like to Echo what superintendent gadowski said my condolences are with you and your family Bo um I know I appreciate all the help that you've been it's me and my family
um and I'm sorry for your loss that is really all I have to say tonight as well thank you director Mars holson yeah I would um Echo the same as a family of Educators I understand um that divide
often and um I didn't get to know your father but um I appreciate all the work you did last week and have done um continuously and I don't have any other board updates but excited to start going into schools thank you direct
belli I guess I'll third everyone and say I'm my condolences go to you and your family I can't imagine how difficult that must be um I do have an update I went to um Cherry Drive Elementary where I got to relive my uh
my teenage years of making Fast Food for People I was able to I uh made the teachers waffles that day and I wore a fun little Waffle hat um Chris and uh Lori have the proof if you really want to see it um but I
was able to operate three waffle irons at once and I think I deserve a plaque or something for that and my waffles were Primo so I still I still have it um it was wonderful to be there uh and welcome the teachers back that was the whole intention and purpose of it and I
was glad to serve in that capacity just as a small um you know token of my thanks and you obviously we wish we could give more but you know we do what we can and in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month I believe which has started this
September and trying to keep it educational and fresh um Ruben dun Donado he is now professor ameritus at the school of education and a uh judge in Southern Colorado uh recently
discovered one of the earliest Mexican-American School segregation cases that took place here in Colorado um so if you're curious about that it was the Francisco may mestas I believe
um at all versus George shown so a fascinating case um and you know a fascinating moment in our history um showing the Deep Roots our Hispanic Community have in in our state
so thank you director Asad Lucas I'll start off with also giving my condolences and it's one of the hardest days is losing a parent and so my my thought is or my thoughts are
with all of you guys um I don't have any other updates we've had lots of board meetings the past few weeks so not not much new but I just want to say thank you to everybody from last week I mean
and the past few years of working on blueprint and the time and commitment that's gone into it the time and commitment that's gone into presenting it to us multiple times um sharing it with the community and looking forward
to moving forward with it thanks thanks and Bo your family is a rock in this Adams 12 community so my heart goes out to you guys too um I had the privilege honor experience of being invited to
participate in a town hall um representative Shannon bird invited myself the president of J Jefferson County school board and the president of Westminster Public School school board and two state school board members uh
our own Kathy pler and congressional district 8s Ronda Solis uh to a town hall and uh it was at Legacy Ridge Grill that's where she holds her town halls and I had to be late and I told her I had to be late because I had a North
Glen High School football game that morning and I ran in and just in time but we had a really great conversation and the questions that she asked were really really um conversation stimulating and we had a really great
conversation about the needs of each of our districts um Westminster is going for a bond um and us and talking about accountability talking about Cass testing and so it was really a a great
um it was really a great two hours that we went on uh talking about public education and uh the people in the room were really appreciative of that so that's the educationally oriented thing that I was able to do in the last
week on to public comment good evening the board welcomes public comments to learn about the preferences and concerns of the 12 festar Community each speaker will have 3 minutes please use the microphone and state your name and city of residence
before beginning your comments please give any handouts or information you would like to share with the board to Lee Koka here to my right speakers will be prompted with a sign when you have 30 seconds remaining please begin to wrap up your comments speakers will also be informed when time has expired please
end your comments at that time our first and only speaker tonight is Thomas Scoville good evening Thomas Scoville Thorton your meeting last week was an unseemly campaign rally fraught with
electioneering and bullying I asked the superintendent to assess this uh see if it's consistent with state law and board policy meanwhile you might want to consider another message because the
current one is about payoffs to the union and bribes for parents this is off-putting to many others however inspired by the by director Assad Lucas is saying that she's ready to pay higher taxes if she
knew the money would go to education I've also asked the superintendent to tell us how to make donations to the 12 general fund here's an opportunity for the director and like-minded individuals to
put money where mouths are and to inspire the rest of us these donations could self-identify as taxes and I see you're going to have a classified Employee Appreciation Week Bravo but I continue to wait for a
resolution on taxpayer appreciation why not share some of the love the ones some love for the ones paying your bills while a single day each is sufficient for veterans and our war dead maybe you could spare
squeeze in a microsecond for taxpayers before the ballots go out next month meanwhile recognizing the abomination of a 25% tax hike that we had to pay this year Governor polus called a special section to give us a
limit of five or 6% growth per year that's progress but it does not roll back the gouging already done he expects us to live with that forever and you're going to keep every
penny of it and you have just gotten uh 25% more I simply cannot understand well you need another 133% that's a compounded rate of 41%
over over two years this is not love for taxpayers finally I'm corresponding with the staff on the $70 million you say is available each year for the $830 million Bond it
sounds to me like you have some Mills that have served their purpose and can be re and can be retired I hope to hear more on this good evening and God bless everyone okay next on the agenda we have
a revision to theou with CSEA um in terms of the supplemental compensation for specified positions due to Staffing shortages so I'm going invite I think Mila up here to explain or to
summarize hello again yeah sorry I uh wasn't sure if Chris was going to direct comments or if I was so little little uh disorganized on my part anyway um right last year uh in response to
Staffing shortfalls that were significant uh in their nature and it in an effort to retain the really good and hardworking folks that we have in many of these classified roles who were covering and making up for vacancies uh
we uh implemented uh a um incentive pay structure uh and we as the uh CCA the the Union uh for our classified employees and and HR that's meant to address uh a couple
of situations one when the numbers of vacancies really mean that the people who show up every day are doing double triple the amount of work to cover for their absent colleagues or yet to be hired colleagues and then the other situation is Staffing shortfalls that
require us to move people around so you're hired to work as a custodian at a high school but you regularly get called and asked to go to one of the elementaries because they simply don't have uh they're not fully staffed yet uh I'm happy to report that
Staffing uh shortfalls are easing a little bit we uh uh every year coming out of the pandemic we've done a bit better with uh you know our our numbers of vacancies as we begin the year and as we go through the year but we're not
we're not back by any stretch Workforce shortages exist and I I think can predict will exist for for many many years to come so uh we continue to struggle to find that um just right balance of of holding on to people and
not not burning them out through overw work and and yet recognizing that many of them are stepping up and doing much a lot of extra load so that's just a little bit of context around why thatou came into being last year as we looked at the start of the Year this year and
is there still a need what is our data telling us we we don't have anywhere near as many vacancies and needs for for the movement but we still have some and so continuing that practice into another year allows us to recognize and honor
people who are really carrying the load until we can fill all the vacancies I'm happy to answer questions or um superintendent could ask you if you have any color commentary to add and welcome it I don't I thought that was a nice
summary questions any okay thank you and I'm G to blame it on me not putting my glasses on um but um I do want to entertain a motion to to uh approve this mou so moved second does that work Phil
it's an MOA memorandum of agreement with cssea has presented okay do I need to restate that it might be more clear okay I will entertain a motion to accept the memorandum of
understanding with C CA on the supplemental compensation for specified positions due to Staffing shortages so moved second any discussion director Assad Lucas I
director bastelli I director Goldstein I director Marsh Holan I director Potter I okay and also because I didn't thank you be because of not wearing my glasses we forgot the board committee liaison reports um Dak and fact so we'll start
with the Dak uh director belli do you have anything to report we did have a meeting shortly before the meeting last week and it was largely an introductory meeting to see all the new parents and community members who are
participating um and I'm pretty sure they gave them a broad overview about 30 minutes into it I had to dash over and meet with you guys um and the fun fact that we learned from that is that Dave does not like pomegranates because he's very fastidious and they're messy so if you
have a good source for pomegranate seeds Dave needs it thank you how about the fact director putter we had a very brief meeting um really it was just to decide who was going to come and present to us um I do
want to point out that there was a little bit of a struggle because last time they presented to us they got bumped pretty late in the agenda um so I promised I would at least ask if they could go earlier in the night and um make sure that we are are aware of when
our guests are coming fact wise at least um because I think they were here like 10 11 o'clock the last time they were here so just putting that on the radar thank you thank you okay on to more business I will entertain a motion this is the
proclamation for classified Employee Appreciation week I will entertain a motion to adopt the proclamation declaring October 7 through 11 2024 classified Employee Appreciation Week as presented so
move second discussion well just be just except um our classified staff it would make it or break it without them for sure with um supporting our kids in so many ways and so many of
our staff build such strong relationships with students that are incredibly meaningful and you know one example that sure is uh the boy my boys's Elementary School the bus
driver that has done that route for many years comes to school events and celebrations to celebrate the kids that she sees twice a day or sometimes even more and um just to be with them and
celebrate them cuz she has such a strong relationship with them and that's just again one tiny example of what is happening systemwide so thank you to all of our classified staff for everything you do every day
for kids well and since knowing uh students by name strength and need is so important so many of our classified folks do know those kids by name strength and need okay call a vote okay director Assad Lucas I director bastelli I director
Goldstein I director Marsh holen I director Potter I okay Proclamation attendance awareness month I will entertain a motion to adopt the proclamation declaring September as attendance awareness month as
presented so moved second any discussion I would love to have Marie Lori and Matt come up to the podium um because I may have questions board members may have questions but I think attendance is a huge issue and I think going Beyond just
ratifying this resolution and having some insight uh about the scope of this challenge in our system and the steps we're trying to take as a district and as a region uh to better support attendent outcomes it would be good to hear more from whichever of you uh would like to speak about the work that's
underway good evening board and good evening superintendent gadowski we would just like to give a brief overview of the work that's been done um over the last 18 months or so in the attendance space and some work that we'll be doing moving forward um in addition to share some data with you as to why this is such a a
challenge for us here in Adams 12 want to start off with a definition of chronic absenteeism a student is chronically absent when they have missed 10% of the school year and those absences can either be excused or un excuse any reason at all that a student's not in school so simply just
missing two days of school per month can make a student chronically absent and add up to that 10% of the year so when we think about just taking a day off because it's a birthday or it's not a big deal it's a Friday to long weekend those days do add up very quickly and have a significant impact on our
students this graphic I think is pretty telling in that um the graphic on the left shows the um intensity of students that are chronically absent pre- pandemic so in 2017 the one on the right shows the impact of chronic absenteeism
in our country post pandemic and two in 2023 so a pretty significant change in a very brief short period of time this data gets a little more localized when we look at The Chronic absenteeism right in the state of Colorado from the 201617 year to the 2223 school year and
you can see the spike that we would anticipate after the pandemic and then also uh when we compare it to The Chronic absenteeism rate in Adams County in the 2223 school year one out of every three students in the state of Colorado were considered to be
chronically absent that equates to about 270,000 students and in Adams County alone that's 46,000 students I think this graphic is pretty interesting and telling as well um in the state of Colorado or excuse me in
Adams excuse me in in the state of Colorado what absenteeism looks like by grade level so this graphic in particular shows um students in kindergarten and 12th grade have our have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism however however in Adam 12
that looks a little bit different so in this graphic you can see last year our students who were most chronically absent were in either 8th 11th or 12th grade when we think about race and ethnicity again this graphic shows a comparison of Adams 12 and the state of
Colorado and this is by specialized programming so our students that are uh multilingual Learners experiencing homelessness migrants special education Etc you can see how they are um often um more highly impacted by chronic absenteeism as to
their um peers within the system looking at chromatic absenteeism attendence rate and treny rates you'll see in Adams 12 that we generally fall kind of in the middle between um the county and the state but the numbers are pretty
compelling when we think about um in the 22 23 school year 33.6% of the students in um our system were considered to be chronically absent and just one more graphic that compares um Adams 12 Adams County and
the state of Colorado in the space of chronic chronic absenteeism attendance rate and treny so as you can see attendance is a challenge one of the hardest parts about attendance is that there's always another root cause attendance is never the the primary
issue it's never the primary barrier and so one of the most challenging things that we do in the attendance space is trying to uncover what that more challenging barrier is so that we can then identify ways to remove it so it could be health issues it could be academic issues it could be U mobility
issues or a combination thereof our um Commissioner of Education Dr Cordova has um joined along several other states in the nation um to reduce chronic absenteeism as from the high in the pandemic by 50% by the end of the
2627 school year so in Colorado that would be a reduction down to 17.8% in the next couple of years definitely achievable but a big challenge so what have we done in Adam schel in the last 18 months to address The Chronic absenteeism rates that we
have first of all our attendance intervention services team became part of a chronic absenteeism cohort with the Colorado Department of Education we were one of 10 school districts in the state to be part of this um opportunity it was a great learning to really examine what are our challenges where are we
successful and where can we be better additionally we were part we are part of the Adams col County collaborative management partnership that's an organization of school districts in multiples um service organizations within Adams County that come together to think about ways that we can reduce
further penetration into the system for families so it could be that they have a student that's been adjudicated they may be connected with Social Services uh there may have been um addiction issues things like that and so how do we support those families so that there's not further engagement with our
systems because of that that team has identified um a priority within the work that we do um and we um hosted the first ever attendance Summit in Adams County memberships that attended from Adams 12 included our intervention services team our student family outreach program our
Extended Learning team our Equity engagement team our executive director of secondary options and Innovative programming we're all part of that work and then we are also part of the um Adams and Broomfield county treny program teams so those are teams that work with our treny court magistrates
and judges to address our processes within that system to reduce the number of students and families that are engaged in truy court moving on to this school year we've increased our scope of initiatives um all the way from the classroom level to the N the national level we continue our
work with the Adams and Broomfield county treny teams We are continuing the work with the Adams County collaborative management partnership where we have a countywide attendance Campaign which you had a little swag given to you this evening earlier um that's um connected
to that so it's a countywide initiative to identify and remove barriers for students who are considered chronically absent um we have um awareness we've given talking points to our community and just really lifted up the importance of um the work that we have to do to address a chronic absenteeism in Adams
County is a collective work it's not specific to one school or one team or one Department it's something we all have to engage in collectively to ensure our students are attending school we know that when students are engaging in school they have better likelihoods of reading on grade level and graduating which then has a long-term impact on our
community as you've just done you've and identified and proclaimed that September is attendance awareness month and Adams 12 just again bringing a systemwide awareness to the importance of that um attendance and then finally Marie Matt and I are part of the league of innovative schools in digital promise
chronic absenteeism cohort we are one of 19 school districts across the country engaged in a six-month long cohort where again we are identifying root causes and looking for um strategic ways to address chronic absenteeism and reducing that rate within Adams 12
so just check with my colleagues if there are other pieces you want to add to the information we've shared with our board tonight I think we would just add that we know that this work this crisis is far-reaching and we know that the complexity of being able to really
address this issue requires all of us not only student staff and our communities and so as you can see we have three departments invested in this work and our work with the league is really grounded in research-based practices that really come alongside in an Innovative and unique way for us to
really take a look at how we engage with multiple stakeholders within our community and Beyond to address this in an Innovative approach so we're really excited about that opportunity and we hope that we would have also the opportunity to share updates along the
way with each of you some of things just to keep in mind all the work that's been done in Blueprint ties into dealing with chronic absenteeism right so we're looking at ways we can engage students all across the Spectrum and when you look at the atams 12 data
what's particularly interesting is that really heavy concentration of chronic abs and ISM at those Upper Grade levels and then again at the eighth grade so when you think about the work that we've been looking at over the last two years putting that plan together it's how do we find programming that's engaging for
more students in our district all the way from adding CTE courses in the Middle School to expanding CTE programming at our high schools and then of course the whole concept of reenvisioning what thoron high school is going to look like we're happy to entertain any questions or provide additional
information or context if you'd like always with the questions no um but I am kind of curious if we'll ever I mean if you have plans to um I know we collect data to the degree that parents report the data on why kids
are absent so I don't know if there is a plan to share that data um as sort of a talking or Reflection Point with the board I would be curious to see it um some other wonderings I have is with regards to
Transportation um it is transportation part of the issues we're seeing with uh maybe some of the younger kids and not being able to get to school to what degree and I know we're focused on the eighth graders and 11th and 12th but you know I'm just
trying to investigate all of the potential reasons for that um that's another thought that comes to mind when it comes to looking at the reasons why students are absent um because that information is self-reported by parents we don't necessarily always know why a
student is absent sometimes they don't have access to a phone to be able to inform us they may not have access to Medical Care to tell us you know is it a particular diagnosis or something like that so we can we can pull that data only to the extent of which it's been reported to us in the transportation
space that can be a barrier um our student family outreach program works very very closely with our transportation partners and they are fantastic about finding unique and creative ways to help get our kids to school but again it is an ongoing challenge I think just across the board for
families I have a question and I'm not sure which end to direct this to but um is there some continued education or some opportunities there to help help our Educators better understand um kind
of how to differentiate between absentee situations I'm thinking more like um a student is out with an illness or concussion comes back struggles to come back now they're behind and often I shouldn't say oftentimes sometimes the
educators are like okay well you're behind go get a tutor go figure it out next thing you know they're not going to class anymore because they don't feel like they can catch up as opposed to a kid you know and that student maybe wanted to be there but had something happen as opposed to a student who does not want to be there is there some kind
of dialogue going on in that space yeah now that's a great question and I can tell you even going to the uh the cohort that Lor's team was a part of with the state and meeting with people from other districts and schools and then the research that we're starting now at the league of uh innov League of
innovative schools is really diving into those reasons but one of the things that's already come out how of that work is exactly what you're talking about and it's how do we change how we react to students right as professionals um having come from the
place that worked with the students that had the worst attendance in the district for almost 10 years that is a GameChanger right when a kid's gone and they come back and you're not just immediately on them for being gone and like oh my God we got to help you get caught up but like hey it's great to see you Accord you know it's like that makes
a huge difference and that's come out of that work that happened with the CDE cohort I'm going to take a wild guess it's going to come out of the work that we're doing with the league of in Innovative schools absolutely and then it comes into play as how are we're going to make sure our Educators understand the importance of their
approach and one of the things that does tie into this it's not exactly tagged to it but it all fits is we have a program what we're piloting with five schools this year called capturing kids Hearts you'll see it at two high schools th uh Legacy High School Horizon High School two middle Shadow Ridge century and then
stem launch for our K8 and this program is all about working with our adults in the building on how we treat kids we talk a lot about name strength and need but really looking at how do we actually work with adults to be strong at that because it sounds simple it's not always
simple but that ties directly into that how do we work with students when they come back from being gone that's amazing I'm I'm so excited to hear that as a mom that has a kiddo that had to come back after an injury it it was a struggle at times so I'm really grateful that we're leaning into that
and um finding all the ways to encourage kids to come back thank you has there been have you seen like has that has shown some improvement with attendance with the new calendar especially with being and SE with older high school
middle school kids maybe also missing when elementary schools were in session due to having to stay home and help out or whatever the case may be have have we seen any change with that with absentees at the higher
levels we have seen an improvement or a reduction I should say in our chronic absenteeism rate in Adams 12 from uh 2223 to 20 to this last school year but I think at this point being one year into the new calendar it'll be pretty difficult to draw direct correlation at this time but there is possibility that
we will find that there's some connection there for sure kind of piggy backing off of that and not to freak anyone out I'm not making any suggestions but being in a cohort like this I hear a lot in the community the frustration that the major
school districts are not on the same schedule um and so like I I can't go on vacation with my kids at this time because we're on different schedules or I need child care during this time is is that cohort maybe open to having that
conversation I might jump in with that piece a little bit um no worries bringing that up it's a very legitimate point it's something we have heard as we now have had one full year with our revised calendar moving
into this year we plan later this fall to collect some feedback across the community about what's working where he might need an adjustment one piece that's been very clear is the difficulty especially around spring break in particular where I've heard our lack of
align ment with some other peers nearby is challenging that's an important data point we have folks in our system that um teach here that have kids in other districts or vice versa and we don't want to create an unnecessary barrier certainly for employees but most
definitely for students in those situations so it's a great um point to bring up not causing any freak out and it's something that we're going to have to consider as we tweak and adjust our calendar moving forward I don't want to call Adams 12 because I don't think any
Jeff Co Boulder Denver I don't think any of them were on the same week if I remember correctly yeah so I don't think it's a standalone problem it's not but I think our move maybe created another week of difference in there I've heard
Chris talk before among his superintendent colleagues of you know maybe some interest in that space um I won't speak for him but I think those things can be very tricky even if well intended um but regardless we need to be
open to some feedback in that space I'll just add that I think Boulder and Jeff Co superintendent have interest in seeing that there's a way for us all to get on a more similar calendar uh as early as next year we'll see you can have the interest but then uh getting into brass tax and getting it done can
be challenging but we're going to give it our best go superintendent get dowski do other districts have they caught on yet are they like wow you guys are doing great things with this calendar we want to come over to your side of the party or are they still like knock it off go back to
normal I think there are uh varied perspectives within our district and in other District about our calendar and their calendars so in our district we uh we have I think staff generally are favorable about the calendar that we used last year and are starting this
year and the ability to have every six to eight weeks a week away staff have indicated that's allowed them to be um more present and less stressed and more effective I think parents often find in many cases it to be challenging to have
to find child care for a week uh periodically during the course of the year when their kids are out of school so that can be a different perspective from some parents I do know that uh our calendar there are a lot of employees in some neighboring districts who are fond
of our calendar and are urging their districts to adopt a similar one and then uh there are many in our district who'd like us to go and have a 4-day calendar like 27j so there's lots of different interests between staff and parents about what's the right way our
real motivation behind calendar change was to improve quality of instruction and attendance both of staff and students and we made some really modest gains last year but this whole attendance uh challenge that these three colleagues
are talking about it's complicated and as as much as you'd like to say all right we're giving you periodic times to tap out to chill out rest play and then come to school consistently and play hard that hasn't worked we haven't made the leap forward that I would have hoped
so it's a complicated issue for sure does 27j or the 4day work week actually show a difference in attendance rate does anyone I don't know that information but it wouldn't be difficult to find out we could abolutely reach out to our
colleagues in 27j just to see if there's a comparison from um the last couple of years I believe that chalkbeat released a an article recently on the 4-day school week and some of the academic um
reasons for pursuing it or not pursuing it I think there's some data now um and I'm pretty sure it suggests that the 4day week is not so great as far as student um growth yeah I can just tell you as a neighboring District that have a similar demographic profile in terms
of free and reduced lunch and multilingual Learners that um are student achievement and growth is significantly higher than 27 JS has been there can be other factors beyond certainly they're funded quite a bit less than us and so some of the wraparound services and supports that we
feel like make a difference for kids they have less of there but other than grad rate uh they lag us fairly significantly in terms of a lot of other achievement and growth factors right now when a family like calls in because their kiddos sick or they go
online or however they mark them out is there like a checkbox or something online like a form they fill out to say their kids absent it's a phone call into the school yes okay so and then the school staff
then have to to Mark the attendance manually and do they have like a checklist of like options to pick from correct yes it's it's basically an excused absence or an unexcused absence unless it's a school related um activity or the student has been suspended so it's really those are kind of the
categories that are okay back to Paula's point I think having that or maybe Alexis's um to have that data like broken down of why they're leaving even if it was like excuse doctor appointment Athletics or sick like I think that would be really great especially as I'm starting to see like the chatter in the
mom groups already of Co is starting to circulate again keep your kids home like did you s you better stay home for 10 days um and it would be really interesting to me to figure out how much of attendance is being driven by what kind of category so just looking for
ways to improve kind of that option and I know at a charter school we don't we can't call in we have to do an online form and we as a parent have to check the box and so that they collect some of the data that way I think though um Lori you you made
a great point when you said many times um the parents don't call call in um so I think it's just it would be interesting too even with that to have the the rate of parents who aren't reporting so thank you for all the work that you
guys do on this thanks so much okay uh director Assad Lucas I director bastelli hi I director Goldstein hi director Marsh Holan I director Potter I all right um
next on the agenda at board IBS Representatives uh bargaining starts next week I believe so we just wanted to uh touch base with you guys on that um I myself am still interested in serving on this
committee I am also still interested in serving on this committee and this committee I think part of the beauty of it is the consistency of having people from year to year that are familiar with the process and the historical aspects of it so is there any conversation or
objection okay we just wanted to make sure you were informed okay I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes of the regular board meeting of August 21st 2024 and the work study session of August 21st
2024 is presented so move second any discussion director Assad Lucas I director bastelli I director Goldstein I director Marsh holen I director Potter I
okay on to consent agenda Personnel actions to approve the person I will entertain a motion to approve the Personnel actions as listed resignations and terminations transfers and reassignments employment and leaves of absence so Mo second any
discussion director Assad Lucas I director bastelli I director Goldstein I director Marsh holen I director Potter I okay on to Future agenda items our next meeting is September 18th
2024 my dad's 96th birthday yeah um anyway we have a list of things here that uh our potential agenda items I also want to point out
on Friday the 13th is a very important football game you'll find out who won at this meeting if you don't find out ahead of time so I made dinner uh uh a dinner
date with a friend like six months ago and just had to text her today say I have to change it I have an important game to go to yeah it's the north Ben Thorton football game uh the I25 bll then we
have a special board meeting on the 25th of September here at the ad building uh to meet with principal Representatives um every year we meet with a a group of um a slice of the principles and we have a opportunity to hear from them what's
going on in their schools and then the next meeting will be October 2nd anything anybody wants to add I like starting an hour earlier I hope you guys do too because now you get to go home
earlier all right we Jed