06/2025. Board members may attend and participate in meetings remotely or in person in accordance with BVSD policy BMEA and state law. Laura, can you please call the roll? Chavez. Here. Medler. There. Hesnik. Here. Quinlan Ueda. Here. Rajpal. Here. Sergeant? Here. Anger? Here. Thank you. If we could now turn our attention to the screens for our land acknowledgment this evening. The Boulder Valley School District resides and operates on land that is the ancestral homeland, and unjustly and illegally taken territory of the Ute, Puebloan, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Apache, Navajo, and
48 other tribal nations historically tied to this land who have called this land home since time immemorial. We acknowledge the atrocities committed here, including the painful history of genocide, forced assimilation, and efforts to alienate the indigenous inhabitants from their homeland supported by the policies of the United States government. BVSD is aware of the many indigenous peoples past and present and their dignified nations and cultures who care for this land with strength and resilience. BVSD recognizes the histories of the land in Colorado and the survival of many nations
that carried their oral traditions into the present. It is BVSD's responsibility to educate ourselves, our community, and our students so that we can embrace the wisdom and knowledge of indigenous peoples and actively stand together to address injustices. In offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm and honor the history, wisdom, oral traditions, and resilience of indigenous people, and recognize the responsibility to care for and appreciate this land together. I'd like to remind everybody that the mission of the Boulder Valley School District is
to create channel Jellyfish lighting is an all in one permanent exterior lighting system. Through an app on your phone, you are able to decorate for all holidays like Christmas, Halloween, Easter, and fourth of July, as well as set nightly programs to turn on and off from sunset to sunrise or customize static times. The color of your jellyfish lighting system is matched to the color of your home, so it is discreet from the street. Technology. Always keeps us on our toes. Starting again, I would like to remind everybody that the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education has create a challenging, meaningful, and engaging learning opportunities that all children thrive
and are prepared for successful, civically engaged lives. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for joining us in person and remotely. We're glad to have you observe and participate in our meetings. At this time, is there a motion to approve tonight's agenda? Moved by Kitty, seconded by Beth. Laura, can you please call the vote for the motion? Chavez? Yes. Medler? Yes. Nesnick? Yes. Quinlan Ueda? Yes. Rajpal? Yes. Sergeant? Yes. Unger? Yes. Motion passes. Now turn it over to doctor Anderson for this evening's superintendent's report. Board members, great to see you all this evening. Have a few things to update the board and the public, about tonight.
First item is back to school. Board members, as you know, back to school was a couple weeks ago. We have a quick video highlighting some of the fun as staff welcomed our students back to class. We're gonna go ahead and ring the bell to kick off our school year. It's gonna be a good day. It's my time. Standing in the sunshine. My victory in sight. I've waited my turn now. It's my time. So I had the the opportunity to be up at Ned, Ned Elementary and, had
a chance to ring the bell with the students. And that bell is actually from the original schoolhouse up in Ned. So, it was really great. And it was great. It was just great to see teachers as we came back, to see our kids, to see our parents. And it feels like that was seven months ago, but it was only a couple weeks ago. And the school year is definitely, moving forward, very rapidly. Speaking of school visits, board members, I know last week, the majority of you were able to join, district staff to visit three of our schools at our our, monthly
daytime meeting, visiting Creekside Centennial and Crestview Elementary. From classroom to classrooms, you board members had an opportunity to see great learning in action and connect with our school leaders, educators, and staff, and those are the folks who make our schools thrive. I just wanna thank everybody for making the time and thank our schools for hosting us, last Tuesday. Board members on Thursday, the Colorado Department of Education released the twenty twenty five state accountability test results, both achievement and growth, for students in the Boulder Valley School District
and students across the state. We will be getting more results in terms of school performance frameworks, district performance frameworks over the course of the next few days, and I'll be make sure to be sharing those details in a future meeting. But we have a lot to be proud of here in BVSD. We are the best and only getting better. Last year, in third through eighth grade for CMASS tests, more students were meeting or
exceeding Colorado academic standards for both English and language arts English language arts and math than ever before. The highest in both areas we've ever performed as a district since this version of the test. And I can't wait to tell you what's gonna happen when they result. They they, they release the school and district performance frameworks. Very, very exciting. And again, lots of celebrating to happen. Just wanna thank our educators, our school leaders, our families for all of their support.
It's just very exciting for myself. It's very exciting for our senior team, and and for our schools to watch when you put together a great strategic plan and you execute with great talented people and watch the results come in. So lots and lots to be celebrating over the course of the next month. Speaking of celebrating, US World News and World Report's best high schools in Colorado list came out this week. Proud to report that most of our high schools were ranked. Three of them, peak to peak, Fairview, and Boulder High were in the top 20
in the state of Colorado. So great job to our to all those schools, our hardworking students and educators for making our schools just amazing places to learn. And finally, board members, no student moment this evening, but we'll be planning to kick off student moments at our next board meeting. I know that that's a highlight of these meetings and needed a little bit of time to to get things started, but we'll be starting that. I think I ran out of time. Nope? Okay. That's all I have for for comments this evening. Thank you, doctor Anderson. Board members, any questions for doctor Anderson this evening? These initial results are really getting to see how well our citizens are performing.
Moving on, we are next up tonight is public participation. The board respects the rights of the public to speak on matters concerning the operation of our schools. The board does not endorse the comments of any speaker and remind all those who speak that you are responsible for your own speech. Speakers will each have two minutes to speak. You will see a yellow card when you have thirty seconds remaining and an orange card when you have ten seconds remaining. If you run out of time or would like to share additional information, you can always email the board. We do read our emails, regularly. Our first speaker this evening is Amy Franke, who is virtual.
Hi. Can you see me and hear me? Yes. Hi. My name is Amy Franke, and I'm speaking about the proposed relocation of elementary and middle school students in the Gunbarrel area from Crestview and Centennial to Heatherwood and Platt. I am the parent of a Boulder High student and a student who just started sixth grade at Centennial, having gone through all elementary at Crestview. Our family has been engaged with these schools for the past eleven years and greatly appreciated the incredible teachers and community within Crestview and Centennial.
The proposal, claims to balance enrollment, which is a laudable goal, but shifting this group of kids to new schools doesn't fix the problem. It simply puts a Band Aid on BVSC's major issue, which is keeping families within their school district and at their local schools. Instead of shifting students and families around and inserting your challenges into our community, BVSD should be asking the tough questions, like why families in the Heatherwood or Platte areas aren't going to those schools, or how BVSD can attract families back to the district.
Will BVSD just resort to constantly shifting students around every time this issue presents itself? That is clearly an untenable answer to this problem. Our community has been built around our current schools and the friends of our children. Removing them from the only scholastic experience they have known only tears them away from their community. It doesn't build it. BVSD's proposed actions will cause anxiety and turmoil for our kids and alienate yet another group of families away from BVSD. Middle school is hard enough.
We don't need to add further change on top of an already tumultuous time. I ask the board to reject this proposal on behalf of the affected kids and families. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker this evening is Michael Wicker. Hi, board. I wanted to come back after talking about the AI policy last week to follow-up on the comment I sent you all an email on Sunday. I brought my kids this time and Jasper. Sixth grade. And I brought them because the world that they are going to enter, college in the workplace, is going radically different from the world that we have today.
And EBSD is the unique position to prepare our students to be ready for that world. And I wanna emphasize this. This is not a tech this is not about a certain tool work or doesn't work, should or shouldn't be used, but it's actually something that should be grounded in the the educational values of district and individual skills. If you value equity of opportunity, you might also value classroom autonomy. You can't update their tools and where they link for your number and opportunities to
be ready for AI future. If community is a core core, value that you hold, you have to bring the voices of the parents and the students into this conversation and not have it be done in the background. I just finished back to school. You know? Yes. There are a few handful of classrooms that talked about it. Don't copy and paste. That's cheating. Okay? Don't use Google or don't use Google Translate or don't translate your English to Spanish. That's cheating. That's easy. Like, that's an easy line to draw. There's a whole lot of gray area that isn't nearly as easy. The teacher that I thought that did the best grounded it in his teaching philosophy.
He said, the job of my language arts class is to help you to develop your authentic voice. And I be believe that AI distorts that voice. And so we will only use AI in on certain exercises in certain instances, and I want you to develop your your voice separate from that. That's okay. I may or may not agree with that, but at least it's grounded in a philosophy. And that's what I'm asking the board to do is to have those fundamental value philosophical discussions and how this promotes the educational values of the district and not leave it as a technology challenge or leave it up to individual teachers to find their way.
Thank you. Our final speaker this evening is Beth Lehrer, who is also virtual. You might be muted. We can't hear you. Sorry about that. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Beth Lair, and I'm here as a parent and community member to share urgent concerns about the proposed Fraser Meadows Manor expansion and its impact on Horizons k eight and other BBSD student safety. The proposal would add 94 living units and 638 parking spaces by taking over the
Mountain View Church property. To do so, Fraser Meadows plans to close Ponca Place, shifting primary access to Soo and Pawnee, the very corner where Horizons sits. The main entrance and exit for the parking garage would be on Soo, a street heavily used for Horizons' drop off and pickup and by students walking or biking to Horizons, Manhattan Middle School, and Eisenhower Elementary. Currently, Horizon relies on the church parking lot and the quiet Pawnee route for safe
drop off and pickup, closing Ponca and funneling garage traffic onto Sioux will upend these routines, create years of disruptive construction, increase noise, and produce long term congestion. This expansion doesn't just bring residents. It adds workers, supply trucks, visitors, dramatically raising traffic and activity around the school. The church site is central to Verizon's daily routine, and Sioux Avenue is a critical
corridor for safe passage between the Fraser Meadows and Kuwaiti neighborhoods. Closing it raises serious safety risks for children walking, biking, and crossing the streets. I urge BVSD to advocate for student safety and take a strong position against this expansion. Please oppose this project and demand for a safer plan for children. Thank you for your time and putting students first. Thank you. This concludes today's public participation. On behalf of the board, we'd like to thank everybody who took the time to
attend both in person and virtually this evening. The next item on our agenda this evening is board communication. Board members, would anybody like to begin? Lalania, then Kitty. First, I'm thrilled about our achievement results. That's excellent, and I look forward to, celebrating more when we know more. Second, I was disheartened to have it brought to my attention that we are having some trouble implementing our cell phone policy with Fidelity. And policy is not optional, So I'm encouraging everybody who's listening, who understands that policy
is not optional, that this is, grounded in what this board believes the right thing to do is. There is research out there, whether you agree with it or you don't. This is the will of this board to have cell phone policy implemented with fidelity all the way through our district. So that was my disappointment since we last met. Kitty. First of all, thanks to all of the people who participated in public comments. I'm excited about the girls' flag football team that's at Monarch High School.
And I wanna say the only bone I have ever broken, I broke in the middle finger of my right hand playing flag football. And I walked around looking like I was making a very rude gesture for quite a while, but it's exciting that this is happening. I wanna congratulate Frankie and the IT team for the Pinnacle of Excellence Award. BBSD is one of four k 12 organizations in the entire world to win this. So great kudos to Frankie and the team.
And I'm also pleased to see that Amy Thompson, our safe routes to school coordinator, is going to be part of the South Boulder Road Corridor Study Steering Committee. And that will really help it make it, I'm hoping, much safer for our students who live in that vicinity and need to be crossing the road. And that's all I have. Jason. Yeah. Thanks. First of all, I wanna just thank Doctor Anderson and the team and, all the folks at the schools we toured last week. I had no idea we were going to two schools where my kids go to
school and, my middle schooler, thankfully, didn't know I was there. He would have horrified to know that his dad was walking around the school, kind of unsupervised. But, I appreciate I know that's very disruptive on the second day of the second week of school. But it was really amazing, particularly because of that. Just the kind of teaching that we saw, the engaged students, the kindergarten class we saw at Creekside, which has a special place in my heart because, my kids go there. It was just really masterful to see that teacher be, you know, so engaging in
so many different ways. Kids on the sec kindergarteners on the second day of school engaged, talking to each other, talking with the teacher, working in groups. And it's just everything you kind of, you know, hope that we work on here at this you know, in these meetings, it's it's wonderful to see that in, in practice. And so congratulations to all the folks who make that kind of teaching happen and, administration and school level leaders and teachers, it really was heartening and it really makes you know, we we did tours for the first time, at least this board, in the spring, and we asked to do more because of that because it really connects
to, the work we're hopefully doing here. So thanks to everyone. Maybe we won't do it on the second week of school next year. I think that was probably a little disruptive, but still, great to see that. Also, on the I wanted to make a comment on the AI policy. I really appreciated the, you know, after at our last meeting, we, we actually added that to our prioritization, to have a bigger picture conversation about AI policy, not just, the platforms we use and the things we shouldn't do with it, but how we can better integrate it into, into teaching and learning and and finding ways to navigate
this really, you know, new and exciting but also scary technology. And so just wanted to make sure you're aware that, you know, we're, we are all interested in or some of us expressed a real interest in doing that, soon. And then I just add and I appreciate, Lelani, you bring that up. I was also disappointed to read about some of the, kind of, different levels of implementation on cell phones. So I don't wanna end on a negative note, but, hopefully, we'll have an update on that soon, and we can talk through ways to to make sure that policy is followed. Alex. Yeah. I'll start on the negative note, and then go into the positive.
But I was also, dismayed doesn't cover my frustration with the coverage of the cell phone ban. I'm another person for whom campaigned on it a lot. It was an applause line everywhere I went. My email was 98 to two from parents in favor. We, adopted a nonambiguous policy. As a board, our biggest vehicle is to enact policy. The district's administration's job is to help and support the schools in implementing the policy. And what I hear from I live in South Boulder, so what I hear from parents of kids at Fairview is not just that it's not going as fast as
it could be, but it's worse than it was last spring, and that it's really widely not being followed by the adults in the building. So combined with the coverage and the camera last week, I'm I'm just deeply disappointed and plan to track this and push it myself and advocate for the board to be watching it very closely and to see how quickly we can get to implementation. I know we adopted it quickly, and we pushed people to move right away last winter and spring, and I would expect uneven implementation by then. But we've had another I mean, we started this discussion, literally, I looked at my
calendar, a year ago today, by the board. So the signal's been sent loud and clear from the board on down, and I'm ready for all the adults to be on board. And I don't wanna read more articles next year about adults who are figuring out where kids should be using the cell phone during the day to make it easier for them. I did a great job in high school of coordinating with my friends when we went to seven eleven, Drank a lot of big gulps, played a lot of missile command, and we were able to coordinate it all just by talking to each other. So I don't think cell phones are necessary for kids to plan their trips to seven eleven. That's the I'll I'll do the celebratory stuff now too.
Fantastic to see the woman's interest in the flag football. I think it's indicative of the things we ought to be doing for, girls sports. And I remember the ADs talking to us about why we needed to pilot it because they weren't sure there'd be any interest. I think the question is answered. There will be tremendous interest and we should embrace it more. Also really excited about site visits. Great to see one thing I'm every time we do the site visits, I am struck by how great the instruction is and the cool things we see going on in the school. And I feel so privileged to see it. And so I think it's I don't know.
We gotta figure out how parents can see it more. And, it, it's great to see the evidence of the strategic plan being put to work, evidence of the instructional infrastructure being followed and support structures being used by the staff. And then right away, kids are thriving in it. And I just wish more parents, had some way to see that in action and draw those things together, because I I just don't know if everybody gets to see it as it's happening. And, finally, I look so forward to seeing more of the data on the performance.
I think the initial growth data is really, quite stellar. It's a testament to everybody in the district who's been working on it for years, and, the benefits are really starting to show. So that's what I have to say. Beth. I wish I'd gone first. I wanna say ditto to almost everything that was already said tonight. Similar to Alex, I was having the thought of, do I start with the negative or do I go straight to the implementation.
I'm just adding to the chorus that it is absolutely a priority of the board, and it is our as Alex said, it is our our major lever at which we can affect real change in the district is through policy. So that is something that we're gonna be monitoring and continuing to to be keep harping on, I believe. I was really glad you brought up flag football, Alex. I get excited every time I read that for some reason. It's it's exciting. I did not. I have no personal connection to flag football, but I really wanna go to a game. And so I was hoping that maybe, like, we can do it as a board or something. That'd be kind of fun. And I also too wanna thank doctor Anderson and the leadership for taking us out
to the schools. It was so so fun. It's so energizing, and it's just it's amazing to see the work we're doing in our schools. I wish more people could see it because it's incredible. And that's it. Just wanted to add ditto to what you all said. Jorge. Thank you. I wanna echo the thank you to the schools that we visited. It was great experience. Always so positive to see students so engaged and just kick off the year in such a positive way. And, and, and the work that they're doing to make sure that we're serving all our kids. As Alex noted, seeing those CMAS scores where they're at now is, is kind of
the work that we've kind of done. And I'm looking forward to seeing kind of how we're serving all our kids, right? Thinking thinking about the kinda important subgroups that we need to make sure we're serving that are underlying all that data because that's been our focus. And and I think we need to stay on that track, and it's central to our strategic plan, and it needs to be there along the way. One thing I that was part of this, new year was seeing all the kids going back and all the work that's been done with the bond with the bond work. School's looking great. Playgrounds are looking amazing. There's a lot of chatter about it. My only thing is my kids are a little upset that the playground wasn't in
place before they left elementary school. So so they but they were excited to see it. And, it's it's great to see, I know we're in the middle of it. We're in the thick of it. There was a lot of work that was done this summer to get schools ready, but you really see the difference in the payoff that it does and what it means for those kids. So, I wanna thank them, everybody for doing that work, and getting our schools ready this year. And I'm looking forward to a to a positive year. It's exciting seeing how engaged our kids are, and I know we've got some challenges coming up. But I think it's important for us to kinda stay on track and and and keep doing the work we're doing. And so I'm looking forward to working with you all this year.
Thank you. Jorge, I also hear from my children that the bond work is done when they leave the school, and they have to, like, live through the construction at the school, and they don't get to see the see the outcome. So share that sentiment. When I was able to go to schools, four schools in the first day of school, we got to see some of that bond work. And I would say it is amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do to a building. Boulder High, some white paint and some new lights looks entirely different in a good
way. A lot of great work is happening there, in particular, that I observed that day. It was fun to be up in Netherland and celebrate their first John Erwin award. Was it John Erwin award? Mhmm. Yeah. And ring the bell there. So that was fun. The energy And growth. And growth award. That's right. There were a couple awards that, they were they were handing out there. And other thing, board members, I was able to attend the first SAC deck training of the year. It's a great opportunity for school principals, for their SAC chairs and their DAC representatives
to get together to talk about what the purpose of the district accountability committee is, how that work aligns with the work of the school board and the school district as a whole. It was great to see them playing with the dashboards and engaging with that. I'm excited with with some of the direction and just the layers of planning and accountability that they have, and we'll talk about that when they come to the board next board meeting. So I think it's gonna be a really exciting year for the district accountability committee. And one of the things I'm really looking forward to is making sure all of our schools have high functioning SACS, because then a lot of the things that we
hear about at the board level could really be addressed at the site level, which is is for the most part, where they should be addressed. And that evening I think Doctor. Dela Cruz and I had a conversation about how it was like five years ago the strategic plan, maybe a little bit more, was a whole bunch of items. It wasn't aligned with the unified improvement plan. Unified and now we have everything clearly aligned. Strategic plan, unified improvement plan, ninety day plans. The work is consistent. We're focusing our attention on the areas that need to be focused on, and we're seeing results both in consistency and operation across our schools and the achievement that we're
seeing and growth that we're seeing in the classrooms. So that was it sometimes feels like the pace of change is really slow when you're in this work and when you're in the schools. And then you take a moment to think back of, wow, we have come a long way. I mean, since I was probably first on the deck maybe eight years ago, it is night and day with what the work the district is doing and how much attention they are focusing on on improvement and that cycle of continuous improvement. So just wanted to elevate that.
I know sometimes you hear things aren't moving fast enough or things still need work, but there has been a lot of progress made. So I just wanna shed some light on that. With that board members, we will now move on to the information items this evening. The first information item we have is healthy school meals for all program and the proposition LL update. Doctor Anderson, would you like to do the introductions? Thank you, board president Rajpal. So we have Rob Price and Carolyn Villa with us today to talk about the Healthy School Meals for All program and and really share with the board and the
community what will, what the potential impacts will be if the two bond measures that will be on the ballot this year do not pass and some of the great things that it does for our school district. So with that, I'll turn it over to assistant superintendent of operations, Rob Price. Rob. Yeah. Good evening, president Rajpal, members of the board, doctor Anderson. Thank you for that introduction. I believe this was an item that the board, prioritized maybe in the summertime and wanted to hear more about this. So tonight, our proud director of food services, chef Carolyn, will be presenting an update
on the Healthy School Meals for All, program. And as doctor Anderson mentioned, just the potential outcomes associated with propositions LL and So, Carolyn's gonna do the heavy lifting, and we'll take it from here. Alright. Thanks. Hi. Good evening. Well, like I said, I'm here to talk about healthy school meals for all. So I'm gonna talk tonight about, how HSMA has rolled out and played out here in BBSD, what's worked and what we found. Also, we'll walk through the challenges ahead that we're facing with this program, the gaps
in policy, and, finally, I'll explain what BVSD needs to do to be prepared for an uncertain future with this program. Healthy School Meals for All is really at a crossroads right now. The program made school meals free for, students in Colorado and it's been a big success. Participation is up. More kids are eating. Families are saving money. But that success has created a challenge, which is the funding hasn't kept up with the program costs. So there will be two ballot measures in November that will decide the future of
this program beyond this calendar year. There's a timeline on the slide here you can look at to give some context. So, pre HSMA, before this, this was passed, students were required to pay for meals unless they qualified, for free meals. Then in 2022, HSMA was passed by voters. The free meals that resulted from that started in August 2023 and they continue today for our students. This fall, we're gonna be preparing for the outcome of these ballot measures that will be on the ballot statewide this November. And then if those ballot measures fail, this change will happen very quickly thereafter, right
right in January 2026. I wanna give a little bit of background on what school meals looked like before HSMA. Only students then who qualified for free and reduced meals, could eat for free. Either they qualified through programs like SNAP or income applications that their families would complete each year. Lunch debt was unfortunately a regular problem or a regular issue in BVSD. That said, I want to be clear. Our long standing policy has been to feed all kids no matter what. So no kid was ever turned away or not given a meal because they had
a negative meal account balance, but the debts the debts did still accumulate. And also, because meals were free, only if you qualified for them, only for low income students, That meant that, unfortunately, school meals became associated with poverty. That's not just a BVSD problem. That's across the country. But that stigma meant that there were kids who really needed or wanted the food that chose not to eat. Families also, back then, would often let their kids eat school meals, like, once or twice a week. Pick your favorites. Right? But that meant that our participation in school meals went up and down a lot.
It bounced around a lot. That inconsistency made our menu planning and our forecasting very difficult. And it also meant that our staff spent significant time tracking payments and managing accounts instead of just focusing on, kids and food. But in November 2022, Colorado voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition FF, sorry, which created the Healthy School Meals for All program. So that means that every kid in BVSD gets and across the state gets a free breakfast and lunch at school every day. Every public and charter school in Colorado opted into the program.
Participation statewide has jumped over 30%. But that growth has exceeded the projections and that has led to the funding shortfall. So, propositions LL and will be on the ballot and will decide whether universal meals continue in Colorado. Here in BVSD, since HSMA began and kids started eating for free, our lunch participation is up about 40%. Our breakfast is up 90%. And with that consistent and increased participation, we've been able to expand our menu and,
to make it more inclusive for students. So for many years, we've offered a daily vegetarian entree and we've noted our gluten free options on our printed menus. But now, with this steady demand associated with HSMA, we've been able to offer gluten free option every day. We've also expanded that to give a dairy free option every day. And, we've also expanded our vegan options for kids. So, I want to note that the dairy free option in particular was a decision based in equity. Our students of color are more likely to be lactose intolerant, so this is one
way that food services has attempted to align our work in food with the strategic plan of the district. Families save up to $1,100 per student per year with HSMA. Because school meals, research has shown, are generally healthier than those that are packed from home and brought to school. That means that kids are also just eating better. And especially here in BVSD, I like to think. But we have also seen notably the stigma that I just talked about, dramatically reduced or just disappear in places in the district. The program has also been the program has also been especially valuable and important to
families who make just above the income threshold for free and reduced meals. Last year, that threshold was, around $58,000 for a family of four. It's the same threshold across the country. It's not regionally adjusted. So it doesn't account for the high cost of living in a place like Boulder County. And that means that without this program, many of our working families would struggle to to pay for meals. It's also provided consistent support for families who maybe, don't feel safe completing a free and reduced application. And I think, perhaps, just as important, research has shown that universal meals, increase trust,
decrease stress for students and parents and foster a sense of community between families and their schools, by removing that transaction, that monetary transaction, between the parent school relationship. Operationally, HSMA has made our participation more predictable. More kids eat every day or more consistently. And that has improved planning. It reduces our food waste and has helped our kitchens to just run more efficiently. Lines are moving faster. Fewer cashiers are needed. And another big win, before HSMA, we had 15 schools in BVSD that didn't have
breakfast because participation was just too low to justify the program. But now, all schools in the district offer breakfast each day for kids. And then notably, you'll see on the chart here, our unpaid, meal debt, bad debt every year, has gone from right around a $100,000 a year before HSMA to this last year, it was only $1,100. Now, we need to take a little bit of a side step, a detour for a moment. In order to maximize federal funding to the state, HSMA mandates that if a school
qualifies, it's required to operate under something called community eligibility provision or CEP. CEP allows free meals without applications based on students what's called directly certified through programs like SNAP or Medicaid. If a school or a group of schools has at least 25% of students identified in this manner, then they can offer universal meals under CEP. BVSD has 37 schools operating under CEP right now. Under current federal law, those schools will remain free for meals through at least the
twenty seven-twenty eight school year, even if HSMA doesn't continue after the ballot. The caveat is that CEP can be very confusing. And that means, because the schools can be grouped to reach that 25 aggregate, it's not obvious or intuitive which schools are or are not in that CEP bracket. And so if we are to return to a landscape where we have some schools paying for meals, parents, in all likelihood, will be very confused about why kids have
to pay or not pay at different schools. Another another issue is that, at the federal level, the CEP threshold is being discussed. And there are some are proposing to raise that threshold from 25% to 60%. 60% would disqualify all BVSD schools from that program. Like I said before, the success of this program has led to this funding shortfall. So, the state legislature helped to stabilize things in the short term, really just for this semester. And then voters will make the long term decision when with these ballot measures.
The first of these ballot measures is proposition LL. It's a retained measure. It would just allow the state to retain some surplus revenue that they've made to help cover short term costs. Notably, it does not impact the future of HSMA. Proposition m m, the second one, is a raise measure. That is the one that is more important, for HSMA going forward. It would create an ongoing increase of the funding stream by adjusting deductions for high income earners. Excuse me. If that measure passes, then HSMA continues statewide and universal meals remain in place.
If it fails, the program ends for most schools. And then starting 01/01/2026, only CEP schools will offer free meals to students. If these ballot measures don't pass, HSMA ends, like I said, for those non CEP schools, January 1. And only CEP schools will continue to offer free meals to students. Everyone else will return to a traditional paid, reduced, and free system. Many families who don't qualify for free and reduced lunch will likely struggle to cover
their daily meal costs which could lead to increased food insecurity. And, especially for those vulnerable families, who will be forced to make some hard choices. Operationally, we may see changes in our staffing and our menu options and predictability overall. What questions do you have? Kitty. Thank you, chef Carolyn, for that presentation. I have a question about why there was any school debt after HSMA was implemented. So not school debt, lunch food debt, whatever. Yeah. Bad debt from meal accounts.
It's It's a mouthful. So that is because the debt follows the students for a certain amount of time. So those are the students who are no longer active in the district where the debt is essentially being written off to the general fund. Got it. Thank you. And then is CEP funded differently from HSMA? So, CEP gives a variable reimbursement rate to a school or a group of schools from the federal government. It's a confusing program. So that money comes from the feds, not from HSMA.
Exactly. And then the state basically backfills the difference. So in order to maximize the federal funding coming to the state, they've mandated that you fall under the CEP bracket, and then the state backfills the difference between that federal reimbursement and the minimum reimbursement for HSMA. Got it. And then my last question is about how would, if since it doesn't impact the future, how would it be helpful and for how long would it be helpful? Okay.
To clarify, LL is the one that doesn't impact the salary. LL, not I wrote down I wrote down LL. So LL covers the costs that the state legislature has, you know, reallocated to cover the cost of this semester. Okay. Raises the tax revenue to fund the program in the future. So LL is just this semester. Correct. Got it. Thank you. Melania? Thank you so much for this. It super helpful presentation for us going out into the community. Advocating for these bills.
I also wanna say thanks. I appreciate that equity lens for the for our students and, really being mindful of reducing the stigma. And 58,000 for a family of four is an astounding number as the qualifier there, in Boulder. Yeah. Can you say just a little bit more about the federal government, potentially going from 25% to 60% on the threshold so that we understand when we might see that,
what that might look like? Unfortunately, at this point, it's more questions than answers. So it's being floated at the federal level to make this change. And we don't there's not really a clear understanding of when that might move forward or what that would mean to the current status of CEP. They would have the option, if they changed it at the federal level, to stop the program as it was right then in states, or they could honor that commitment, basically, where we're in a four year window of time. So those schools would continue to get free meals through 2728.
But that is all unknown. Beth? Thanks so much for the presentation and sharing all that really critical information. I do just wanna say how food services in BDSD. It is a continual point of pride, about our district for me. So thank you for that. I look forward to our meals that we have here. My my child enjoys your food at school as well, so thank you. I do wanna ask a quick question about the is there a scenario where LL passes and doesn't? And what would be the implications of that, or vice versa?
And maybe we can have some some more support in how we can best advocate so that hopefully both pass. If LL passes, that's the short term one, and does not, then the state will basically not issue TABOR refunds for money that they've already collected. If passes and LL doesn't, then the TABOR refunds will go back to, you know, the taxpayers. And then, will be fund will fund the program in the future. That's how those play together. Is probably the more important one, for our students, I think.
And I think most of advocacy groups are really pushing Alex? Yeah. I've got a couple, I guess, budget questions. What's our total spending on the nutrition services, and how much is HSMA versus federal versus local? I'd have to get back to you with the exact numbers. K. And then I'm I'm also curious to know, like, how much we're spending per child total on the whole thing with all this, and getting a sense of what the loss of the HMSA funding means in terms of the the budget.
So Okay. Love to Love to get that follow-up on that later. Jason and then Kitty. I don't really have any questions. I just, kinda wanna echo these comments. And I think, you know, such a great presentation. I'm hoping, I'm hoping there's your equivalent in districts across the country doing this kind of advocacy because I think it's really important that we're doing this now. I would imagine that there'd be support in this community to pass these measures. But what was interesting to me is the the 100% take up is that you have communities across the state, and I'm glad they did, that that opted in that
may not support this politically. And so I'm hoping that this kind of work is happening in those communities across the state to make sure people know, you know, kind of the stakes, not just the meals, but some of the things you talked about that are so important. The reducing the stigma, you know, less time on paperwork. I mean, the whole concept of, like, food debt is just, you know, really astounding to me. And so I'm hoping either you will help lead that or there's others like you who are doing that across the state. Because I said, you know, it's important for us to make sure our community knows what's at stake here. But I think that's really critical in places that may not support this even though
their kids are all benefiting and as they should. But we, you know, we'd hope that you'd see the same level of support as you have participation. So, I don't know if that's a question so much, but I'm hoping that there's this this kind of education happening in school boards across the state. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. I just need a clarification in case I heard you wrong. So you said if LL does pass, but does not pass, did you say that they the state would not use would not retain the TABOR?
If LL passes and does not, then the state would retain TABOR but would not fund the program going forward. So if LL passes and doesn't, that means LL passed for no reason. Is that right? I mean, it sounds like it would have absolutely no impact. It would not have a future impact. But would it have an impact here in BVSD? Well, no. I guess it would because I thought that money would be used for the this
semester. So they would even if FM doesn't pass, they'll still use it for that. So the state has committed to fund this semester Okay. Regardless. So I just misunderstood that retained was hard. I was hard. No. No. You were fine. I just okay. So they retained it to use it for what m l l says to use it for? Yes. Got it. Thank you. I have two budget questions that maybe you can just earmark if we don't know the answer to. Following up a little bit on kitties, I was wondering if any as a parent of somebody who purchases a second lunch, if any of the bad debt is because
somebody wants more than one lunch because they're so delicious. And and then how was the savings per person per student per calendar you're you're calculated? So, the first question, the seconds, it's it, debt does not accumulate from that. Kids have to have money in their meal account to purchase a second. That's one place that it's pretty clear. As far as, and I'm sorry. Could you repeat the second question? You had a number that you calculated Oh, yes. The per the savings per student per calendar year.
That's the cost of breakfast and lunch each each school day. And then I would like to understand the answers to Alex's questions as well. I think one of the things that the board I mean, we we will talk about advocacy. There's an advocacy component of this. On Sunday, senate bill three passed, which says that SNAP benefits, they modified to now include SNAP benefits in which wasn't there before. That might make, the the discussion of this change slightly as as we we can think consider advocacy.
And in our community, one of the things I hear about are and I think if we want to advocate on behalf of this talking points that we really need to to beef up are the folks in the community who can afford to pay. There's not really a mechanism to do so. Should, you know, talking points around the benefit for everybody, even when there are folks there's some very extremely wealthy folks in this community who are also benefiting, who could easily pay. So some of those talking points that I think are gonna be important in addition to whether or not the the modifications with senate bill three, change our narrative a
little bit. So just some things to consider as we move forward to towards advocacy board members and staff as we're building those talking points. Alex. Yeah. I was I was just gonna say based on my preliminary Googling, I mean, I think we're getting, like, 5,600,000.0 a year from the HSMA from the state. And if we don't get that, that'll either be paid by parents or that's food that won't happen, or that, will be hit from our budget. So it's, however we think about it, there's a lot of resources that the community of Boulder should get behind us keeping in the mix because it's not a great
time to just blow off 5 and a half million dollars. Doctor Anderson? Just to be completely clear, if these things don't pass, there's no plan to backfill this from the general fund from BVSD. We do not have those resources. Any other questions for members? I have one more question. Some of the bell schedules have changed at our some of our secondary schools, shortening school lunch times. And I've heard that the lines are long. And with the this program, I just out of curiosity, how are you accommodating shifts in participation and the volume of students that are now in some of our schools,
particularly as enrollment in some schools has increased? Well I would say, I don't know about the time frame, but the first couple of weeks of school the lines always move a little bit slower. They'll get faster as the kids get better at picking their what they want to eat and all of those pieces. And our staff will get faster at serving them too. There are quite a few things that we've sort of built into the structure of serving kids to get them through the lines faster. You know, we do a lot of planning on these things down to, like, the number of scoops that need to go onto a tray for us to be able
to efficiently serve that meal, and that's part of how we build our menu. There are some schools that don't have a cashier at the end of the lunch line to help that move faster. Where we're where we're permitted to do that, we do that. There are, so, I mean, it's kind of a layered approach, I guess. I can I could provide, if you would like, a long a long explanation of those points? And I think it's just good for us as board members if we hear grumblings about how long the lines are taking that it will become increasingly efficient as everybody
gets used to the system at the start of the school year. Yes. This is you know, every year, the lines are slower at the beginning of the year. That's unfortunate, but it's true. And they do every year get faster. So usually within the first six weeks or so, we sort of start to hit our stride. Okay. Jason? You know, I I just just on doctor Anderson's comment about no plan to backfill. I hate to end the conversation this way, but, you know, knowing and I mean, obviously, we'll do what we can to advocate for this and make sure people are aware of the stakes and, cross our fingers and and hope this does continue.
But in the event that it doesn't, you know, just thinking of the timeline, you know, in early November election and by Jan early January, you have to then, like, stand up a whole new I mean, not new, but re stand up a whole system. And so, just quickly, I guess and I'm curious to know what kind of contingency plans are in place to get that to notify the community to get that infrastructure back in place should should this not pass? We've been working through those plans pretty extensively. It's helpful that we have documentation of everything that we had to do to start
free meals. So our starting point really was like, well, how do we undo that at these schools that will be impacted? So our plan is, you know, there's operational plans and then there are communication plans. And really, a lot of that will kick off after we after after today. We have put some information out into the community. There have been a few messages that have gone out. Some schools have released in their newsletters. And then we've sent direct communication to families about some of this. But, you know, these this the language of the, of the ballot measures has been
in flux for some time. So it's really kind of just today, the governor, I believe, signed, to be able to take the additional revenue for SNAP. So, districts, I think, across the state, we've been coordinating to try and, figure out what is our approach for such a quick turnaround. Thank you for all you do. Board members' second information item this evening is advocacy work. I will turn it over to Kathleen Sullivan for that update. Thank you so much. So oh, my mic is definitely working.
Move that away. So this is the time of year where we talk a little bit about advocacy, including items that we think will appear on the ballot. And we I thought we could start tonight with just a reminder of what some of those rules are. Our board, our superintendent, all of us that work for BBSD do have restrictions through Colorado's Fair Campaign Practices Act in terms of what we can do when we are at work and we are engaged in work.
The central theory of this law, just as a reminder, is that public funds and resources are really not to be spent on advocacy for ballot issues. So that pertains to I remember when my kids were in Denver public schools, Amendment 60 Amendment 66. And like any good lawyer, my first thought was, whoops, that's a fair campaign act
violation, which it was. So sometimes it's so obvious that these are important measures for our students, but we'll wanna make sure that we're really careful in the way that we advocate. And just for I think I linked it or shared it, but we do have a memo that's available that I'll make sure is part of this agenda item. The next thing I wanted to talk about was the board's guiding principles and norms. When we were together two years ago, the board spent quite a bit of time identifying the way that the board wants to communicate.
Of course, we understand that you also can act as individuals, on topics outside of your role as a board member. Just being very clear about that and asking that if you do, you stay in communication with Doctor Anderson and the board president so that we can make sure we're clear on all the spaces we're occupying and the hat or the role that you're filling when you do so. The board is able oops, that is advanced on my computer, not yours. So the Fair Campaign Practices Act does provide a clear way for boards to advocate.
It requires boards to pass a resolution, take an official position, and then it in so doing, the board is permitted to ask staff to support in preparing those resolutions or to take do other incidental research. And we are also able to share the board's resolution, which is typically how the board has acted in the past. We'll act on a resolution in support of a particular ballot measure, and then we're able to share that information broadly with our community as we have on other things
like your, statement of support around immigration enforcement and some of the more recent resolutions this board has adopted our process or the board's process in considering what issues the board will take action on or consider a resolution. This was discussed by the board at your meeting in August 2024, And I shortened up the language here a little bit. But really, that process starts with a request by the board president to the board
members so that you can identify those ballot measures that you believe would be appropriate for the board to consider at the meeting where we discussed these items. The board member who submitted that item would initiate the discussion by providing a summary of why that issue would be relevant to the district and what action the board member believes would be appropriate for the board to take. The board would have an opportunity to discuss the issue at that time and give
direction to staff so that we know those items that the board wants to have a resolution included on a board agenda. So after that discussion, we have a little time for your staff to do some work and then we bring the resolutions back and they're voted by the board at a future meeting. This is the time of year that we do this work. The key election dates from the secretary of state calendar. So August 4 was the last day for initiatives to be filed. September 3 is the last day for the secretary of state to issue a determination
as to whether they are sufficient or insufficient in terms of making this pattern presenting the plan this pattern presenting the plan at the meeting in August, then in September, having the opportunity for identification and discussion of ballot issues and then making sure that
the board would take action on those items either at your September 23 meeting or October. No. Sorry. Really September 23 if we wanted to make sure that the board had taken action before the ballots are mailed. But certainly there's no deadline. The board can take action as it sees fit to do so. And maybe I'll stop there for a moment and see if there's anything, any questions or any discussion the board would like to have about the process of, considering resolutions
I just wanted to share that in the past, while it's not ideal we have past resolutions after the date the ballots drop because it is a pretty tight turnaround between that September 3. We won't meet into convenient September until the ninth, and so it is a short window to get some of the information. It could potentially be a short window. We don't have to be bound by that tenth, but as soon as that September date hits, we'll get that ball rolling. So I just wanna clarify that as well. Questions for Kathleen about the process? Historically, we've also taken positions on things that impact students in BVSD as a whole,
not necessarily from one particular sliver or piece of BVSD. It's been one of our board norms as well. I imagine most most of these ballot issues will fall in that nature. Okay, great. So the next item that's part of this agenda item was just looking at the advocacy platform materials that the board used last year. I'm sorry, Randy, that I cut and pasted this slide together. And Jade. I'm sorry. To the board too, Obviously, I apologize. These are the four large legislative priorities that the board established last year.
You'll remember we went to a folder format and we had inserts that I think really was thank you very much, board member Quinlan Ueda. So I think it provided both a really polished and professional looking, product for board members to use in their advocacy. It was an improvement on what used to be a very long list on fairly specific issues and allowed the board and our, leadership to be nimble in responding to
the issues that are considered by our state legislature. So, at this time last year, the board had a little bit of discussion because we were making that large shift from the prior lengthy platform to this format. I think as the legislation and as the session starts to take shape, we're just finishing our special session now, that we'll want to come back to these materials, identify the key areas that the board would like to have included this year and revisit any, standing materials.
Who we are as a district with the two page introduction and then this central document that provides the four core what a what shift it's been even on like our time on the board, mine and Nicole's time here and certainly Kitty's as well. I remember the really long list of just pages and pages of advocacy notes and I I'm recalling, what was it, January or whenever we met with our delegates, they
all had really positive feedback about our lovely folder. So thank you for your work on that. I think it's been a really and and to the communications team as well. It's been really helpful. Alex? Yeah. I guess, I'd be interested in hearing from superintendent Anderson about, how BBBSD fits into the front range of attendants, groups like and CASB and their advocacy agendas, and, like, how are we doing with CASE these days? Thank you for that question. You know, Boulder Valley has always been a leader in this state. I think that the boards that I've had a chance, to work with over my,
seven going on eight years here as superintendent have, have embraced that, have have acted early, whether it's passing resolutions on things that are passionate passionate about, that align with our values, our the board's values, our community values. And I think that once the way to magnify your advocacy is to act early. So if there is if the board wanted to direct staff to pass a resolution, for example, on, on what was shared with you earlier, in terms of Allen you
could do that this evening. We could begin to work on that. We could get a draft. We could get that forward. And then I would share that with Case. I would share that you could share that with CASB. We'd share it with our, certainly all the superintendents on the front range. And they may not take it verbatim, but it's a lot easier to know and understand what how to do that if there's one already out there. And it also brings the question to folks who may not as be proactive to the extent, well, Valley passed a resolution.
Are you gonna pass a resolution or not? Yes. Why? Why not? I think those questions can begin to bubble within a community. So acting early, I think, is a great strategy, in terms of of of getting ahead of what we know today could be potential issues. What we know today is the, what we shared with you earlier in the presentation, that action you could take today. And, we do have a standing, we have a standing agenda item.
Where as we talk about legislative update, that's also an appropriate place, I think, within each of our agendas to have, bubbling conversations. I typically share, Nicole shares, but board members can share things that that are that are, that are happening for terms of advocacy. Now historically, as a board, we we put this agenda item as an annual item
on our for the board to consider, because, I don't know, three or four years ago, there was an, an item that, that some board members thought would be great to support. Other board members did not think it was in their purview to support, and then it was having a hard time finding its way on the agenda. So this meeting, if there's any board members who think, gosh, this is something that we we should advocate for as a board, this is a great time to do that. But if you don't do it now Other boards have said, this is the time
to do it. And if you don't do it now, then as as a collective, we're not gonna consider it an act. Unless something comes up that we didn't see or didn't know, and then I think that there's exceptions to that. So that's the history around this. I think it's been really effective. It's gotten an opportunity to not be not to assume that the board's gonna take any action one way or the other to create a process in a system. And, but long answer to your short question, Alex, act early, act convincingly, and the opportunity for you be able to spread your influence, I think, grows exponentially.
Alex? Yeah. If I can follow-up on that, I would like us to take that action plan, and and I would also like allies, perhaps for an update for what we expect in the legislative session and how that relates to our strategic plan and our priorities for the upcoming legislative session because I with you there. Earlier we talked, the better. And then that will prepare us to have more influence on our delegation. And I'd, I would like to recommend we do arrange another meeting with the delegation as soon as we can.
I think we heard from board members as we were hearing the presentation on school healthy school meals for all and LL and M and there's a great deal of support for that. So an early start would be great. I think one of the things we've talked a lot about that continues to change in its shape over time are, like, the adequacy studies and fully implementing those. I think we talk a lot about making sure we remain whole with the school finance act and not playing around how we calculate numbers.
I think those are kind of within our wheelhouse and will continue to be a big a big issue. So with our one pagers, as we're thinking about those, I think those are really important as well. I think for our one pagers that we have, I find that you the preschool one confusing because it talks about how the program used to run and then how it currently runs, and that's not clear. And so if we wanna continue to advocate on preschool if we don't wanna continue to advocate on changes for preschool, we don't have to discuss ways in which that handout can be improved. But if we wanna continue to have that be included, I think that that could
use some finessing. Jason? Yeah. I'm glad you asked that. I I think, I wasn't here for the previous long list of, advocacy items, but I I it was a great thing that we had that last year. Although, I think we have some suggestions for how to make those better and kinda more relevant for this coming session. So I don't know. I guess just a question for Nicole and others is where how do we provide that feedback? How should we do that at this meeting today? Okay. Yeah. We're in our yeah. That specifically is listed. So now is the time. And so maybe I'll rephrase my question, board members. I know it's not a vote, but preschool, are we or doctor Anderson, is there
a reason to continue to advocate for or to changes to, the preschool program given all the other things we might wanna be advocating for at this time? You know, at this point, I I would say that, if we would were to want to do that, we'd have to change it. Right? That was last year's material. Material. I think we added these materials in there just as the reminder of what we did. I don't know that if we were to pick four or five topics preschool right now, I think that as many people are doing, we're watching special session. And what comes out of the special session, if k 12 is is is And
what comes out of the special session, if k 12 is is somehow makes it through unscathed, you know, that is the that's what people are hoping for that there's you know, and there's some potential for that to happen. Doesn't fix all the budget issues. I think that we would wanna have some really strong points around the way students are counted, the way funding is is is supposed to happen, and get real specific on things that were part of last session or last legislative session that were that
ended up, getting taken out of proposals. The governor's budget will will show up November 1. And, and so I do think that there that would be appropriate, in terms of funding. You know, the accountability stuff, you know, the accountability bill passed, that's well in implementation. I think we watch that monitor that. If there's something that that doesn't happen or changes, we could take a look at that. And if there's other things that the board has interest in, in having me investigate, kind of figuring out, you know, the impacts if you're hearing things, I'm happy to
do that either now or later on as we think about our legislative update. And if there's recommendations around how we can improve what we did last year, this would be a great time to be able to get that feedback and so we could start working on that. We wanna be as effective as we can during this session and your feedback's valuable. If that's the case then, you know, that that's great. So the I guess the kind of big picture recommendation I would make, you know, we go to these meetings, you know, people come in and out, they're handed folders, they're coming from another meeting where they're doing the same thing.
And so even as streamlined as this is compared to previous things, I would recommend, like, two pages max. One about the district where we try to dispel and educate folks on kind of what is BBSD, the students we serve, the challenges we face, and another one where we list our four or five priorities. And I think as visually appealing as these are and a lot of detail, nobody even, you know, even down to four pages, I think is gonna look at four pages. And so I would recommend, you know, as as fewer as few pages as possible, like I said, one about the district and one, about our priorities.
And if people are interested, if they're if they ask, hey. I'd like to learn more about your views on on the counter, you know, adequacy study or whatever, we can have that in our back pocket, but I think we should prepare my my suggestion is to prepare two that we can hand out under at a regular basis that could be kind of universal, that could apply to, you know, all levels of folks in the legislature. Alex? Yeah. I would totally echo what Jason just said. I think the the, the infographic approach is really good for communicating to a general
population as background information, but I do think the policymakers need short bullets, in text mostly, and that speaking points that we can use that are talking points, and that the kind of things and that less is more. But at the same time, we want to be able to talk to multiple things. We can't predict what crazy thing will come up that will become a priority later. So I I do reinforce that I like the infographic approach and the information thing, but but I think it's a supporting material to the one pager that you're leaving
behind that is much more text based and bulleted and shorter. I would add that I consist continue to like our legislative principles. I think they're broad enough to encompass all of the work that we are trying to do within the school district. So I think maintaining that makes a great deal of sense. And then if we wanna dial in, I mean, you know, underneath those specific advocacy things or a way to tighten it up, I think that's great. The other thing one thing that I think is can sometimes be hard to keep separate, ballot items, which we have to pass resolutions for, and those are a little
bit more near term. And then, like, the advocacy yes. So we well, now it's time to get our feedback on give feedback on advocacy. That runway is a little bit longer. The session doesn't even start for a few months, but, and the process is a little bit different. So that would be my feedback. The legislative principles continue to be relevant. If we can tighten it up for these one pagers, think about we can continue to think about what those additional details might be for the legislative session. And as far as ballot issues and I'm gonna have to brush up, and I
like the suggestion of getting an update on, like, what everybody's trying to what what might be in the coming down. I feel like I'm hearing more about waivers and some stuff around that or some bills around charters and or ballot some just different language there. I'd be con curious to keep an eye on it, and I should do a better job of listening to see what this is gonna be. But I'm I'm hearing there might be some changes to that kind of language that is in conflict with some of our legislative principles. So that's something I would be keeping an eye on too.
Yeah. Here's the beautiful thing, board members, so we can make this any way we wanna make it. And we can prepare for our big delegation meeting. Right? But then we can also prepare for going down to the capital. Right? Which may be, like, so we can put more moves. We we can have deeper dives on any topics that board members are interested in or are, delegations interested in, and then we can prepare differently for our meeting down at the capitol. You know, we typically have done that right before session starts or right as it
starts, so we get higher attendance. Jason, to your point, it sometimes the folks come in and out, and then, I think that that's been pretty typical. When I first arrived here, we used to have invite everybody to dinner here at the district, and I think the first year, nobody came. And so that we didn't do that again. So then we were like, okay. Why don't we head down there, not make it a big dinner event? So here's what I'm hearing from board members, and and you can give me nods if we're on the right track. We like the legislative principles, board our delegation, new members, everybody should know what we
stand for, and this gives us a good broad sense. We should be clear and concise and, information rich, but not too long, when it comes to certain things we're advocating for. So you can leave a one pager behind and then a one pager about the district and legislative parties and then a one pager around, look, during this session, you have for us, you have to pay attention to these three, four things. And this is what, you know, is important to us. And if you need more, we have another we have another, for whatever that that
shortlist is, we have another folder or a two pager for each, like, small group of bullets. Am I hearing that right? And we could so we could draft it like, you know, Nicole said, but we have, plenty of time. And we have, the the framework built out, so I don't think it should take us long at all. So we're excited to get to work on that for you all. Kitty. Now I would like to see us make available, the one one of these pages about that starts 40,000,000 below and for the public and update it for this year
and get it out there because the way schools are funded is extremely complicated. Hardly any member of the public understands how it works. And, you know, we hear from people, you know, making assumptions about how the budget works and then we should be spending money on this and not that and, you know. So I think this would be a great way to educate the public about where we are and about what we would like. Because at the very bottom of it, it says, if this impacts us too much,
if the state can't adequately fund us, then let us raise mill levies. Because I think our community probably would. They're extremely supportive of education, and we're so grateful to the Boulder Boulder Valley School District community for that because our kids benefit directly. That might be a conversation that's coming up, I think, as depending on what happens in the special session with the school finance act and the state ballot about mill levies overall. I just pulled up the Boulder County's ballot, things that are gonna for sure be on the ballot. There are two around mental health and behavioral services talking, and they talk about addressing
unmet needs for youth families in a bunch of different areas, but it talks about coordination with governmental entities. I'm feeling a little protective against other governing bodies trying to address things within the boundaries of our school. And I'd be curious to understand what kind of services they're hoping to provide with this tax and if they're if it should it pass and if they're going to rely on BVSD or our support for any of those those provisions in this resolution a couple of these resolutions that might end up on the Boulder County ballot before
that comes back to the board. Lastly, in this big bucket item, board members, I mentioned at the last board meeting, there is the CASB delegate assembly coming up. I said at that time if you had feedback on specific resolutions within that to get a hold of Jason. I know I sent him some of my comments. There's an interesting resolution, a proposed resolution in there that talks about forcing the State Board of Education to move from nonpartisan to partisan. And I phoned some friends about that one. And the question was, what are they trying to accomplish and what, you know, my
question was, there's pros and cons. I'm not really sure where this is coming from. The folks at the State Board of Education that we know had a lot of wonderings about what they're hoping to accomplish. My wondering is why would the Colorado Association of School Boards be weighing in on what the State Board of Ed is doing around partisan versus nonpartisan? That one was one Jason I said I was just gonna get back to you. And I'm not, I don't have a sense of real support from the State Board of Education level from the folks I've talked to, but that would be my question for you if that one comes up about why and what are they trying to
accomplish in that. I know there has been, even at the school board level across the state, discussion about making it moving it the our races from nonpartisan to partisan, and that could, you know, create a whole host of unknowns. So I just wanted to share that feedback. And I don't know. Board members, I would say just, Jason, if you're getting a lot of conflicting feedback on board members on different items, we should probably bring those to a full board discussion. Well, this will be my first time as a CASB delegate. So I'm, I'm learning here along with, maybe others there.
So I I don't know my role exactly, but I'll figure it out. I've only had feedback, I think, from you. But please do, I guess, right up until the date of the conference, which I think is the fifth and sixth. So colleagues, if you have any thoughts on these resolutions, some of them are pretty random, to be honest, and some are seem innocuous and fine, but it seems like Casby should really have a few, important things to focus on the big picture issues we just all talked about, and some of these seem very peripheral, but we'll see how this goes. So, yeah, wish me luck.
And I will say with CASB moving its timeline up, I know we did not propose any resolutions this year. I know we've had mixed feelings on the effectiveness of CASB the past couple years in their advocacy. Board members, it's on my radar to well in advance of them noticing us on a last minute date to or deadline for potential CASB resolutions for next year just to circle back during our let let our typical legislative update to see if there's anything that we would like to add to CASB's, document.
And also when we convene at the at the Broadmoor, there are it's an opportunity to have resolutions from the floor, typically. So it would be a time if we wanted to also kind of plan in advance. That's a potential opportunity as well. Alex. Yeah. I would, for I when it comes to the CASB stuff, I would just say that it's it's good to engage in part, sometimes to defend what we're trying to do and to keep CASB from going, off the rails a little bit. So, I think the politics of school boards across the state are tricky these days,
and CASB seems to be as influx as anybody. So I it's worth Jason, thank you, and, Kitty, thank you for your service on this area to to know what they're doing, have a handle on it. And part of it is knowing enough in advance to figure out, you know, if we need to weigh in more. So, that's just thank you for doing that. And I think, there's there's defense as well as offense. So it's hard to figure out, okay, what do we want CASB to do? It's also good to know what would you like CASB to not do, because then they become a credible voice in the rest of the legislative session that can get
get in our way. And then I would I would say, I do wanna I don't I know we have our, contract lobbyists. So in the world of, like, not putting more work on the BVSD team, I do wanna continue to track the discussion about early childhood because I think with big budget cuts, that could be not seen as a k 12 cut, and then we'd be in a worse spot. I do wanna see the accountability bill follow-up. I think, superintendent Anderson did a ton of work over a year and a half
and weighing in on legislation. So it'd be a shame, again, to have the budget problems or other people, who aren't interested in pursuing that sort of unravel it. And I think there's aspects to, the finance stuff that's gonna come out. And then also, I I would just add that it's, probably fair for us to just give Rob and Nicole updates when we hear of other ballot measures that are getting going through the petition process and find out when things are up there. So they're on our radar even if we don't know what's gonna happen to them
yet. Any other thoughts or feedback on this agenda topic board members? It's probably gonna be another exciting session. Can't wait. Okay. We will then move on to our next item this evening, which oh, sorry. Our final information update, which is a legislative update. I did mention board member Senate Bill three, the addition of SNAP benefits being, any leftover funds from going being applied to SNAP benefits. A little bit change there. Doctor Anderson, I don't know if there anything you wanna Just waiting on special session.
You know, you know, what what we're hearing is, you know, the plan is to not touch k 12, and to do that through some additional, you know, removal of, like, tax breaks and, things of that nature generate more revenue as opposed to cutting more expenditures. And so waiting to hear I think I saw somewhere today the first set of bills are came out maybe today or it's they're in the process of coming out. And so we'll have a better handle, I think, at our next meeting on kinda
where things are. We'll be able to get update the board on that. And I sure hope that promise holds true, though. Public education has generally really taken a hit anytime there is a budget shortfall, and $1,200,000,000 is a lot to scrap together. Okay. Board members. We are moving on to action items. Consent grouping item 7.1 personnel items 7.2 approval of minutes. August '3 acceptance of donation Broomfield High School 7.4 acceptance of donation Broomfield High School. 7.5, grant, career and technical education, Adelante.
Plus, from the city of Boulder. 7.6, grant, career and technical education, Perkins Colorado Community College. Are there any items four members would like to pull from consent grouping? Hearing none, we need a motion to approve the items in consent grouping before we discussion. Kitty? So moved. Seconded by Alex. Board members, any discussion on these items? It's exciting to still see grants coming through no matter who they're coming from. Seeing as there's no further discussion, Laura, can you please call a vote on consent grouping? Chavez? Yes. Medler? Yes. Niznik? Yes. Quinlan Ueda? Yes.
Rajpal? Yes. Sergeant? Yes. Ungar? Yes. Motion passes. Next up, board members, we have policy study items on the agenda. The first of which I'm gonna retract that. We are going to take a ten minute comfort break, resume our meeting with the start of policy study aims. Calling this meeting back to order, resuming under policy study items. We have three policies to study this evening. The first policy is newly retitled BAM board meetings.
I'll turn it over to Kathleen Sullivan. So as the board will recall, at your first meeting back, this school year, the board adopted a number of policies, for immediate implementation. And the purpose of that is to really make sure that our schools have one set of policies as much as possible that we're following all year. The board's policy policy on adopting policy then requires us to bring those policies back
to the board to go through the normal policy adoption cycle. So tonight we returned two policies to the board as part of that normal cycle. You will see all of those policies again in the next two or three meetings, but we're breaking them up while we get some additional feedback from our system and our teachers and our principals also. But this one, we really are doing just some minor updates. We are going to recode it as well as making sure that all of your
published meetings are considered regular meetings that will give the board the flexibility to vote at meetings as you need to and to amend agendas without that, extended notice window that we're required to have. And then we made just a technical, correction to the order of business. We sort of varied in the level of detail that we were gonna include in that policy. So just returning it to sort of our policy style as intended. And this is here tonight just on first read.
Thank you for that overview. Board members, any questions or comments on this policy revision on SETI? Katie? Yeah. The only comment I have, and it's not really so much on the policy as it's written, is this made me think about our noticed meetings and retreats and we have frequently had retreats in Colorado Springs, which, you know, have to be noticed, but I cannot imagine any member of the public ever coming down to Colorado Springs to participate in a or or observe our retreats, and we don't have them broadcast.
And so I would like to suggest, now I won't be on the board anymore, but that the board conduct retreats inside the boundaries of the school district so that the public could come if they wanted to rather than having to schlep all the way down to the springs or someplace else. Alex? I guess I would speak in favour of retreats being able to be retreats. And there's something that comes from being able to be away from our regular lives too as board members for an extended period of time. So I, I understand the impulse for that, but I think having the option to
do it both ways is good, just for when we get more time with each other. And I'm not trying to prevent the public from seeing it, but I'm also trying to protect our ability to actually talk as a group when we're all together in the same place for three days and not have something inadvertently be going on that's problematic too and have the space for it to to have real dialogue. Yes. I'd like to respond to that. I'm not suggesting that the board not set aside in, like, an entire day or something to have a retreat. And I and the official retreats we have, Pat and Springs, have not been over
the three days. It's been a specific time of day. I just think they ought to be held in the boundaries of the school district. My question to staff would be, is there any statutory guidance that would indicate that we would have to be within the boundaries of school district. I know retreats are often off-site for all kinds of elected officials, not necessarily in their facilities. Sometimes they're varying distances, but I wonder if there's guidance on on that particular topic.
There is not. I think I would tend to concur with Alex and just thinking about how other elected officials operate with the retreats. They tend to be off-site just to promote a different type of environment and discussion. I I don't necessarily know that we all all elected officials have public meetings. I don't know that we necessarily need to be governed differently in the aspect of retreats than others. I like the change, that special meetings are really for special purposes and not to conduct board business.
One question I have is around canceling meetings and the use of the word shall under the regular meeting section. Does that indicate that we shall consistently or always have to have meetings on the second, third, and fourth Tuesday? Or if there's no need and we have holidays or there's this district operations are not in session or meetings are canceled. But let's say we are highly successful as a district and there's nothing to talk about at a cert one of those regular meetings, can we maintain the ability to
not have that meeting? Because that was very easily accomplished when they were considered special meetings in the past. So I just wanna make sure we still retain that that flexibility with that second Tuesday meeting even though it can be a regular meeting. I know this board has been very eager to meet, and we typically meet all three Tuesdays, but previous iterations, they frequently did not meet on all three Tuesdays of the month. And we have a mechanism on for canceling meetings. We do it at least once a year, So I don't see how that would
be a problem. I just wanna make sure that the word shall does not make that overly burdensome with the addition of the third there. Alex? Really reiterate for the public that the, the redlining of the land acknowledgment reflects a movement of it into another section rather than not a doing of it. So in case anybody missed that earlier. And that's aligned with our student moment and some of those other things that reading of the mission, all kind of under that board that umbrella of board procedures. Any other feedback on this policy board members?
Seeing as there is none, we will move on to the next policy for study this evening, board policy j o student records. So like the prior policy, this is returning to the board on first read after a temporary adoption in August. It did give us an opportunity though between the board's first meeting and tonight to address some of the content that was new in state law as a result of the bill on protecting immigration related information. So, there are a number of red lines that were included tonight that were not
part of the board's original action in August. You'll see that entire section on page two that's titled immigration related information. It seems important to make clear to our public and all of our employees this very significant change to the law and the clear understanding that we're not able to collect or share this information. We made some additional clarifications on page three, getting our directory opt out process correct
for parents and families and being able to implement it is really important. Brandy Barber and I had an opportunity before school started to spend time with our journalism and yearbook teachers and advisors, and they gave us some great feedback. So you'll see some additional clarification. In that section on page three, we also, there was a correction to the this policy item between the posting of our agenda on Friday and yesterday.
One of our executive directors, Neil Anderson, was reading through all of these red lines and noted that I had inadvertently struck a sentence that was in your existing policy that specifies that grades cannot be challenged through this process that has been in our policy forever and is an important limitation, in looking at this federal law. So thank you very much to the other doctor Anderson for making that catch for
us. It does take a whole community and those are really the significant addition, additional red lines for the board's review tonight. Kathleen, I just wanna appreciate the information that's included on the information related immigration related information and then on the next policy you're about to topic to to discuss. It really is the practices that we've we've we have upheld are now being codified into board policy. And so I think it makes a great deal of sense, made me wonder why
we we didn't have to have them there before, but it really is a reflection of what our practice has been, and I appreciate that they are now in policy. Board members, comments, questions, this policy. Kitty. So I just noticed a difference between will and shall and want to see if it is significant. It's in the immigration related information. The first paragraph of that says the district will not collect and it goes on. And then the second paragraph has the school district shall not disclose.
Is that on purpose the the difference? And if so, what's the difference? Well, board member Sargent, I was afraid we'd have this discussion one day. And I'll just no. I'm teasing. I will confess to you. Will and shall mean the same thing to me in a board policy? The board says it needs to happen. They could say shall, you could say will. But as long as you're not saying may, it isn't discretionary. So I use them interchangeably. But as the board's counsel, we are happy to add to the board style book
a preference and make sure that we consistently use one or the other. I don't have a big preference on it. I would but I would like to see it consistent. And I have two two other questions, just and this is not any suggestion I'm making. It's that I want to understand why I'm voting for something in case anybody ever asks. Why does a board member need access to student records that are not their own students? The that section in the policy that addresses board member access is a provision of
state law that is incorporated into the policy. But anticipating the next question, even board members could none of these board members, obviously, but a hypothetical board member in a different community could make an inappropriate request for access, in which case my legal advice, since I've been at CASB before now, is that if there's any question about the appropriateness of that board member's request, then that
issues referred back to the board for a decision. Is this part of the board role that we're granting access? So including the language and policy doesn't mean that we it would be an unequivocal, unbounded right. It is simply the state law right. And that makes sense to me. My other question is about the controller general of The United States and why that person would need access. And I'm wondering if it has to do with student loans or it's something financial
because that's what the controller does. So I will look at that language again before the board reviews this item, but I will tell you that the red lines between last meeting and this meeting really are based on the new Colorado bill. So the language that you see that is there, I definitely didn't type comptroller myself. That's not a word I've ever thought about putting in policy. So that comes straight from the state law To the extent that it's distracting or just not helpful, I'm happy to look at that level of detail and see if
we could use better language. Okay. Thanks. Now that we have a little bit more time, I think the in the whole section disclosure without written consent, there is a lot, a surprising amount of disclosures without written consent that, you know, could could occur, and some of the language is a little confusing. If it's required by law, we can just leave it at it as it is. But if there's things that could be cleaned up now that we have time and space to do so, I'd welcome your expertise there. I wonder if there are provisions of this. These are all specifically included in FERPA in the federal law.
But that doesn't mean that we have to parent federal law in board policy. If some of those exceptions are things that we have never used or they're not something that we expect our schools to be able to be conversing in on a daily basis, then we could shorten those to the most frequently used and relevant and leave the rest as just a cross reference to the law, which shorten it up. I like the idea along with the comptroller, the secretary of ag agriculture, and there's
some interesting ones, ones included. Other thoughts or questions on this policy board members? Seeing as there are none, we'll move on to the final policy study item this evening, which is board policy K I dash R two request for access by federal or state officials. So as board president Rajpal already noted, this, this proposal is also based on the new Colorado law. That law does require us to have a policy, which is the reason we didn't rely on our existing materials.
Our recommendation when we're talking about access here rather than have another really large policy was that we have made proposed to make this a regulation to the board's policy on visitor visitors to schools that I think will keep it at that right level of honoring the state law and allowing us flexibility to update it if we need to. We are required, for example, to identify designated employees in this policy and to give
contact information. We didn't put names, but we do have phone numbers and other thing that they just require a regulation we can update very quickly with just notice to the board. So that was the recommendation that we made to include this as a regulation to your existing visitors to schools policy. It's not it's been our practice to remove those phone numbers. I hear the importance of potentially having them in this case. And I would just like to ask, are these phone numbers gonna are they very static? And no matter who is in the office or it the phone number will remain.
Yeah. We use the security dispatch number here. I currently as legal counsel, I'm the identified person. My cell phone number is on all of the cards that we share with government officials. But to your point exactly, we use job titles here instead of names. It just took a point of privilege on that. And then we used our security dispatch number. This is the very best number to use in our district. Any time there is an urgent matter that requires attention, and we know that security
dispatch would be able to go through our tree of who to call first, second and third. That's great. And along those lines, the phone number in the paragraph right above responding to request for access to information, that phone number is just labeled 247 And then in bullet two, the title for that phone number is slightly different. I would just be consistent in what we're calling that so everybody knows it's those are both going to the same place. Alex? Given the environment we're in, I would just like to make sure that anybody who's
watching or checking on our policy changes know that this is what we do to comply with the law and that nothing about, our intention, our ability, and our focus on making all our students safe and welcome everywhere, this doesn't change any of that. So we are still working and honoring all the commitments we've had to our communities and our people. And this these, policies don't affect that. Any other feedback on this resolution? Thank you for your work on this. That concludes our policy study items for this evening.
Board members and public, we are now at future agenda requests. Board members, this is the time we're all very familiar with where we can bring future agenda items to the board, for consideration at our next prioritization meeting in the winter. Jason? Yeah. Just referencing our our, comments on cell phone implement implementation. I I think we passed that policy in November. And so at some point, we'd love to get a year, to be a little past a year update on implementation.
I know in the spring, we heard from several high schools and it was a really positive report. I feel like we would love to hear from, the rest of the schools just to to see how that's going. So just a kinda general cell phone implementation update. And with that update, I would like to just emphasize it's all schools that are required to comply with the policy, and it's all devices that are required to comply, not just the cell phone components. Our policy is pretty broad. We were in schools. There are a lot of watches out too that we saw when we were, touring
last Tuesday. So just to make sure we're not we're being fully encompassing of what the policy language asks. I would just add to that detail. We might be talking about this. I've been hearing some conversations from schools around pledge of allegiance frequency and changes this year and compliance with state and federal law on the topic. So if we wanna revisit that policy as appropriate, I would I would bring that up when it fits.
Alex? Yeah. I have an an issue I'd like us to discuss, I'm not sure how to describe it, but let me give it a try and see if someone else could summarize it into what it should be. But I I believe we do a great job of offering multiple pathways to our high school students, particularly those that might get off track. And so we have our two, alternative education campus charter schools. We have Arapahoe Ridge. We have credit recovery everywhere that's for free. We have another alternative high school operated by the district. I'm thinking of the times when a student and their and or their parents sort
of fall into, like, a panic crisis mode when they realize how far behind a kid is from graduating. And I feel like we have a great array of offerings that can help that young person leave, successfully and be prepared for the future. I don't know that the communities know about it until they sort of reach that crisis point. So I'm interested in us maybe having a discussion about what that array of options is because I don't think it's the same at every school. And so I'm interested in particular of removing the incentive for kids to leave our
comprehensive high schools to go to alternative places because they have a different approach to how they give credit recovery or credit for work or life or things like that. So if we were to systematize it, I think we might be able to have more kids stay if they want to in our comprehensive high schools, enjoy the other wonderful things that are there. And also have a full understanding of the array of alternatives that we provide so they can make informed choices. So I'd like to get an update on what that array is and what we might do to, make sure more kids, have access to the strategies to solve those
problems wherever they are. But at the same time, protecting what's unique and special about school. So I'm not trying to say everybody should be the same everywhere, but I'd like to learn about that and discuss it. Starting year strong with that prioritization list. That concludes our regular business for this evening. Board members, we do have items as indicated on our notice or agenda this evening to discuss an executive session. Is there a motion? Kitty. Excuse me. I, Kitty Sargent, make a motion pursuant to c r s 24 Dash6Dash4024 f to
convene into executive session to discuss personnel matters regarding the superintendent's evaluation process, specifically establishing goals for the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six school year. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Beth. Laura, can you please call the roll? Chavez? Yes. Medler? Yes. Niznik? Yes. Quinlan Ueda? Yes. Rajpal? Yes. Sergeant? Yes. Ungar? Yes. Motion passes. Board members, we will convene in the Glacier Room. And as I prematurely said, that that concludes our regular business for this evening, so
we will not be returning to the boardroom after that.