I'd like to call to order this regular meeting of the Boulder Valley School District for Tuesday, December 16th, 2025. Board members may attend and participate in meetings remotely in accordance with board policy BME and state law. Laura, can you please call the role? >> Booker
>> here. >> Chavez >> here. >> Medler >> here. >> Quinn Linua. Raj Paul here. Tamuadi >> here. Anger >> here. >> Thank you.
>> Like everyone to turn their attention to the screen for a land acknowledgement this morning. The Boulder Valley School District resides and operates on land that is the ancestral homeland and unjustly and illegally taken territory of the Ute,
Pueblin, Arapo, Cheyenne, Apache, Navajo, and 48 other tribal nations historically tied to this land who have called this land home since time and memorial. 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. BBSD 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. BBSD recognizes the histories of the land in Colorado and the survival of many nations that carried their oral traditions into the present. It is BBSD'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 challenging, meaningful, and engaging learning
opportunities so that all children thrive and are prepared for successful, civically engaged lives. Thank you everyone. Good morning. Happy to have you join us here today. It feels like a full house for a Tuesday morning. Um we're glad to have you observe and participate in our meetings. At this time, is there a motion to approve this
morning's agenda? Moved by Jorge, seconded by Alex. Laura, can you please call the vote after? >> Yes. >> Chavez, >> yes. Medler, >> yes.
>> Raj Paul, >> yes. >> Tamuading, >> yes. Anger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. This morning, we will be taking an in-depth look at BBSD strategic plan. And I will turn it over to Dr. Anderson
for introductions. >> Thank you, board president Raj Paul. Board members, great to see everyone here this morning. Uh board members, this is our second in-depth update of the BVSD All together for all students strategic plan. Uh we had an update for you all in September. Uh we've our team
has put together I think a very thorough update uh today uh to touch on some of the things that we didn't get a chance to touch on in December. Um and so with that that I will turn it over to Dr. Da Cruz, our deputy superintendent to introduce our team and get the presentation started.
Good morning, President Raj Paul, board members, and also welcome to our new school board members to your first deep dive work session. We're so happy to have you with us. Uh we typically do bring a team to these conversations and that's true today. So at the table with
me are Dr. Nativity Miller, our chief academic officer, Dr. Dr. Emma Herszog, our executive director of academics. Shannon, uh, sorry, you're not in the same order as what I'm looking at. Shannon Gamble, our director of MTSS. Across from me, we
have Senna Nau, director of student support services who oversees discipline, behavior, restorative practices, and bully prevention. And Tammy Lawrence, a director of student support services who oversees counselors, mental health advocates, mental health supports, and trauma response. Not at the table but also in
the room. We have our executive directors of schools and our strategic plan support team members. All of whom are perfectly queued up wave there. All of whom are invested in this conversation and of course are deeply involved in actualizing the strategic
plan in schools. We do have a substantive agenda today focusing on the efforts and priorities within the all together for all students strategic objectives that you see here of no limits in which we'll provide detail about depth of knowledge and cognitive lift next best steps in which
we'll report on MTSS implementation data and valued and included which will highlight discipline data and opportunities for the development of our next two-year UIP. As always, we're going to pause throughout the presentation for
questions. Um, we are going to be bringing you a progress update in the spring again on our efforts in the define the destination postsecondary success objective. So, that's not part of today's discussion. Today's deep dive is into the work of these three
objectives and will convey the monitoring and shaping of leading indicators in the form of live data, adult actions, and short cycle improvement planning and of course the lagging indicators in some areas where we're discussing more periodic data. In
last Friday's board update news and notes, you received three documents to refresh the memory of continuing board members and to build understanding for new board members. Those were the MTSS implementation summary, the BBSD discipline framework, the data reporting
cycle, and today you've received a hard copy of a depth of knowledge document that will be referred to as well. As Dr. Anderson said, we bring the board updates in um a pace and cadence, and you see that pace and cadence here. And
we bring these updates and review the data that's available at the time. And that was detailed in the data reporting cycle that you received in news and notes. Uh we were all here with you um in this cycle last year that you see here and in September we came to provide
a data and strategic plan focus update and today we're here with the December 16th progress check. So we'll be back again in spring and summer. I also want to let you know that we've updated some of the data points because they they updated in Vizlab. We wanted to have
current um visualizations for you and numbers and so today you may see some slightly different numbers and we will update those in board docs after today's presentation wraps. So we're going to start with a brief overview of our all together for all student strategic plan
which comprises four strategic objectives that focus our work which you see here and that I also named um in the agenda slide. We have defined success markers that we're aiming for within the five-year cycle of the strategic plan. So by 2029,
what we believe success looks like for us is achieve um increased achievement and growth scores overall and for historically marginalized groups. Appropriate growth of students receiving academic interventions. Proportional rate of students identified
for special education and gifted and talented. An increase in the percentage of students who graduate and obtain at least one grad plus recognition. Increased fidelity to the BBSD discipline framework. And a decrease in out of school suspensions while reducing
disproportionality. So we're going to begin by diving into our first strategic objective and this objective is no limits and it sets the expectation that all students experience grade level standards uh standardsbased
instruction. We know that this requires a multifaceted approach and that's indicated by those leading measures that we name in our UIP and that you see here in the implementation measures. All of these measures require an understanding
of the depth and rigor of the standards and the cognitive lift needed for students to engage in deep learning. Nativity and Emma are going to talk about depth of learning, professional learning or depth of knowledge, professional learning, uh where we've
been, where we're going, and they'll connect this to extensions and differentiation and how these are part of a larger MTSS system that we'll also discuss today as we move to um talking about tiered supports. And with that, I'll pass it over to Nativity and Emma.
Great. Good morning. All right. Go. Um, as you know, depth of knowledge is in our strategic plan and depth of knowledge is a framework that is used to analyze cognitive demand for students. And as an academics team, we're
responsible for leading professional learning for our leaders during PK-12 sessions. Our goal as an academics team is to provide leaders with the learning and resources that they need for implementation. and we work in collaboration with our executive directors of schools for implementation.
As you can see on the slide, this year we are facilitating a four-part arc of learning that is focused is focused on leader learning around depth of knowledge and cognitive lift in connection as Dr. De La Cruz said with grade level standards as well as our
BVSSD adopted curriculum which was a request from our principles at the end of last school year was to connect this work to the curricular resources that they already have um through um and helping them think through their instructional observations which again is where we work in collaboration with
our executive directors of schools and they take the baton so to speak for um implementation. each professional learning we provide, we try to include resources for our school leaders that they can use in their buildings to help guide their work. And um there and so now I'm going
to pass it to Dr. Herszog and she's going to talk about um the the expansion of that work into gifted and talented and acceleration and differentiation. So board members, uh, just a little bit
of background on what web's depth of knowledge and cognitive lift are. And for folks who may be watching this who aren't educators, web's depth of knowledge is a way to really think about um the level of thinking that is
happening at any point in time with the idea that you know the further you advance in school, uh topics change and get harder, but we want our our students to be able to think deeper within those
concepts. So, as opposed to be to recall or taking a vocabulary quiz or um a um you know, multiple choice or a matching type of an activity, you want to be able to evolve kids so they can analyze, synthesize, evaluate, create
with what it is that we've taught them. So, that is the basis of Web's depth of knowledge. Um, and cognitive lift is, you know, it's it's funny and we've been in a lot of classrooms and um uh and certainly
our team has and I think we're doing it right when our kids are working harder than our teachers, >> right? And so as we think about what cognitive lift is, you know, we're asking our teachers, our leaders to to really create conditions in our classrooms
where where that, you know, the kids are doing, you know, a lot of thinking, not a lot of paying attention, notetaking, right? and really evolving our instructional practices and methods from one where we're just um transferring
knowledge to where kids are taking what they're learning and applying it in ways that allow them to think and learn. So, I wanted to I hope you weren't going to say that on the next slide, Emma. Maybe you were. No, you never know. So, if I
did, you know, I'm I'm I'm stealing your cognitive lift. I apologize that. Uh but at any event, I just think that I'll I'll interject to make sure that you know any terms that I feel like our general public might want a little bit of depth on, I'll just try to interpret that a little bit. >> One thing I would add too is that um
what we've really tried to emphasize with our leaders is that if you look at the resource that you have, it has um depth of knowledge as from levels one to level four. What we are saying is we are not expecting kids to always be in a level four, but we are hoping that kids
experience a one through four throughout their school day on a consistent basis. And I just want to jump in, particularly the last school visits we went to, I'm thinking like Shelley Ro's math class in particular came to mind. She was really using a lot of that and asking the learners why um and really kind of
elevating that conversation about their thinking. So it is just for the new board members who haven't been able to be in our schools. We are seeing that on site visits which is really exciting. >> Board President Raj Paul, you queued me up perfectly. Um so as our principles and assistant principles have been
learning about web's depth of knowledge, they've begun incorporating that learning into their school leadership and we're seeing some beginning application in schools as a result. Um, we're seeing principles leading their staff either as a whole school or starting with a leadership team through initial shared learning about web's
depth of knowledge and how to use it as a lens when planning for instruction. We've heard from many schools how helpful using resources from our PK-12 arc of learning has been for their leadership. Principles have also shared that when they visit classrooms either on their own with a member of the SPST team,
their network executive directors or directors of teaching and learning, they're thinking about trends they're noticing across classrooms in what students are doing, what the task is, and what the related level of cognitive lift is in alignment with that standard. From there, they're discussing implications for their next steps in
alignment with their 90-day plans. Some schools are also beginning to connect thinking about cognitive lift with their data-driven instruction cycles. From unpacking a standard and thinking about the culminating task to revisiting how students did and planning for a next-step retach. Some schools are also
beginning to embed feedback related to web's depth of knowledge in formal and informal observation debriefs. It's been important to start with shared learning and understanding first, and it's been exciting to see how school leaders are applying their learning in their individual school contexts.
Just one point of clarification. Uh Emma um mentioned something that's really really important for our work which is this idea of unpacking standards. Would it be helpful if we explained what that meant? So, do you want to open up that one?
>> Um, so when I think about unpacking a standard, I feel like that is one of the major buzzwords in education in 2025 and everybody says it and actually doing it is pretty critical, right? Because we all know the standards and we look at the standards and we see the standards. But >> and the standards are what the state
defines within each content area what kids should know and be able to do, >> right? Thank you. Um, but when you take one standard, any grade level, could even be first or second grade, low lower grades as well, and you really think deeply about what do the verbs say? What's required that students know and
are able to do as a result of that standard? What does it mean for how I'm teaching the standard? And then to Dr. Anderson's point, what does it mean for how I'm planning my questions and tasks to make sure students are doing the work of the lesson? Um, it's pretty easy to check a box and say we're teaching to what the state says. And it's a lot
harder to deeply internalize what it means to show mastery on each and every standard in a way where the students are doing the thinking. So when we talk about data driven instruction and unpacking a standard often typically um those cycles will start with looking at
an upcoming standard or standards deeply internalizing what it means to teach that and then planning accordingly for where you're going with your tasks and questions. And this becomes critical because if you look at the standards um vertically
right from grade to grade to grade there's nuance you may be teaching the same thing but getting you know deeper within the the level of thinking what you're asking kids to do but if you only stay in like that those early stages of web's depth of knowledge and don't get
kids to think what happens to students what do they say I learned this for, right? They're not you're not challenging kids and then the kids are getting bored and then you're getting all kinds of other issues. And so whether we're talking about our students
on grade level, above grade level, or working to get to grade level, making sure everybody get gets access to the depth of the standard, meaning that they they're challenged with what it is we're teaching uh is critical and uh and and
certainly really really important to the ways that we're trying to make sure um that we're teaching our kids so they're engaged and everybody's learning and growing. And I think the only piece that we would add to that before Emma goes on, >> one question before we move on. Uh for
the teachers and the training, um what is the frequency and do they have a like a long-term plan and goal and what does that look like? >> I'm glad you said that. That's something I was going to comment on. So, um, I think one of the things when we talk about the DDI and unpacking the
standards, we are super grateful for our SPS data coaches as well as our DDI coaches for the district because what they do, they cover over half of the schools that we have in our district. And their job as coaches is to teach the teachers on site with real data, real
assessments, real standards in in with those with the curriculum that they're teaching. And so they provide what I would say embedded coaching on a consistent basis because they each have a case load of five schools and they are there on a weekly basis assisting
teachers in understanding the process and utilizing the data that they need in their schools and the and the curriculum that they're teaching. So they I would say that they provide the embedded coaching consistently and then what we're doing is working with the leaders
um at these sessions so that then they can lead some of that work at their buildings. >> Can you repeat what DDI stands for? >> Yes. Data driven instruction. Yes. >> And then strategic plan support team SPS. >> SPS. Alex, >> thank you. we get so in these activities
>> and I don't want to take us down uh too far because there's so much to cover but I am curious uh our professional learning or professional learning opportunities are with the school leaders and then the coaches are helping the people in the classroom do this um
we where and how do we get data that's not anecdotal about the teacher buyin and implementation that could be like shared with other colleagues or that could be shared with a board. So we could say, hey, the teachers satisfaction with their PD in the school
has gone from 80% to 90% or something or because we have a history of districtrun PD where the teachers don't even show up. So I'm really curious if there are metrics for that that we could see as a board. So we're talking about two two different things, right? You're talking about um
professional learning sessions that may happen on on dedicated professional learning days and times. Um, and then you're talking about this this idea of job embedded professional development, which is really the application of what you've learned, um, over time, the
refining, the deepening, and the understanding. And so, um, I'd have to check with our team in terms of I we do collect we I I know that we collect information on, um, the sessions that we're that we're providing in terms of
um, quality and and suggestions. I don't know that we've done anything around the effectiveness of some of the job embedded things that we're doing. But then there's also professional learning that happens at the school sites that's schooldirected. Um so you know there's
like three kind of aspects of how we're asking our our educators to learn and grow and and learn how to implement some of these new and different strategies. Uh and it's a combination of kind of where if you were to triangulate all that data in the middle uh the end result. So, let our team think about
what that could look like. Uh, I I don't think it's like I don't think it's straight line. We'd have to think about it. >> What I could tell you is that for our professional learning, we have over the course of the last year or so, we have started planning that in January for
both kickoff and all year long for late start. And so, one of the things that we're doing is asking our teams like what are the things that teachers need? We're not just doing things that we feel like doing. Um, we're looking at curriculum adoptions, assessments, and then these skills and strategies that
they need for datadriven instruction or other things and strategically mapping that professional learning throughout the year. >> Uh, thank you. That that's helpful. I appreciate the multi-, you know, tiers of strategies about how this is all working and the metrics not matching up.
I was thinking um like one data source that might be useful would be the Colorado teaching and learning conditions survey. Right? So in in general you end up having school level data on how people feel about whether they're being supported in their work as teachers. So I would encourage us to think about that as a potential thing to
to bring back to the board. And I'd also suggest the reason to start setting it up as sort of a public part of this process is that we have intentionally picked the high priority schools. And as we see the benefits of this, we will likely be spreading it, you know, farther and farther in the district and will be going to places that may not
have that internal sense of urgency about all this. And if we can show them that the teachers like this and it makes their job easier and they feel more effective in some credible ways, that will help us with later uh dissemination and diffusion. That's why I'm interested in it,
>> Deianne. And then we'll pick up with the slides. >> As a as a former teacher, I'm imagining that some of these coaching sessions probably feel a lot like um uh team planning sessions and not
necessarily like they are instructional, someone standing up and telling the teachers what to do. It's like they're planning together for what's going to come next. And I can't imagine that that wouldn't be useful to anybody to have an extra team member. Dr. Anderson had mentioned that um web's
depth of knowledge can be very helpful when we're thinking about extensions. So, as we sort of close out talking more in depth about WEB's depth of knowledge and move into talking about MTSS, multi-tered systems of support as the next portion of our update, we wanted to spend just a little time also talking
about our gifted identified students specifically in the context of both of those things. We know from research that while being gifted is one label, it spans a variety of different profiles, traits, and behaviors. There are six profiles of the gifted learner as shown
on this slide. And each profile includes different ways giftedness can present in a student. These profiles are something that we're keeping in mind as an academics team, whether it's a content team, our gifted team, or our MTSS team under Shannon's leadership, and helping schools to effectively support all
profile types in the classroom. For example, the successful profile is one that's often associated with gifted students. Students who do well in school, rarely get in trouble, can be for perfectionists, and often seek approval from adults. However, gifted students can also include profiles like
the at risk gifted learner. At risk gifted learners are more likely to act out, present as angry or depressed, and have poor attendance. On the next slide, Dr. Miller is going to talk more about how our gifted students are doing and how we're leveraging Web's depth of knowledge to meet their needs with meaningful extensions. But we wanted to
include these six profiles to also note that we're always keeping in mind that one label of gifted spans a variety of student presentations and needs. When we think about programming for gifted learners, um, one important option is acceleration, which many
people talk about. But another important consideration is um regardless of the course a student is in is how differentiation and extension are embedded intentionally on a daily and weekly basis to support student learning. Instead of just another
worksheet or more additional work, we define differentiation and extension in alignment with the center for MTSS. Differentiating differentiation meaning tailoring content, process, product or environment to meet student needs and
extension meaning targeted learning activities that deepen students understanding of the core curriculum content. They involve more complex or challenging versions of the same skill or cont concept requiring higher order higher order thinking as we talked about
such as analyzing, evaluating, creating and problem solving. Differentiating differentiation and extension for us is helping us aid in meeting the needs of all learners including our advanced advanced gifted or high achievers making lessons more
relevant engaging hands-on and applicable for all learners and increasing the depth of discussion and thinking related to the standard as we mentioned with DK as Dr. Da Cruz and Dr. Alzine shared with you in the September work session.
Our seamass overall we are seeing strong growth from our gifted students. We attribute that attribute that in part to the work and learning we have done with webs of depth of knowledge as well of the curricular adoptions. Thank you. Over the last several years we are
ensuring that our lessons have intentional cognitive lift for students through our depth of knowledge. and what we believe that that will help build our capacity um to continue to embed meaningful differentiation and extension in daily instruction.
Additionally, having high quality curricular resources helps us ensure that differentiation and extension align with grade level content and standards. They both differentiate and extension are critical for our learners who've been identified in a gifted identified
area. But they also matter for all students who show mastery in one topic and one unit but maybe not another and may need an embedded extension for one unit or another. Focusing on depth of knowledge allows us to build our capacity and understanding for how to
design instruction for each and every student we serve. After questions, director of MTSS Shannon Gamble will be sharing with you the work of our MTSS implementation and learning as we believe MTSS provides the framework to serve all of our students.
>> Question just waiting for that slide to turn over. Board members, any questions on this first um of the strategic plan? Yes. >> Um thanks very much for the presentation. I have Can you go back a slide? I just had a question on the gifted and talented piece. Um, you know,
this is one of the things we hear about a lot from parents is not feeling like kids are being challenged sufficiently. And so I was wondering if you could give us some examples of kind of what this I mean I I think we understand the concepts, but what does it look like in a classroom in reality? Like what does this look like for kids who are not just
getting an extra worksheet? So I think in connection to what we talked about with depth of knowledge and cognitive lift, our hope is that if they're at gifted identified in a certain content area that teachers would teachers and leaders would be able to know that and if student has mastered
say um a social studies standard and or needs wants to raise their cognitive lift, they would a an activity might look different for a student who is just learning it for this first time and then somebody who is um you know wanting to
extend their learning. So if you look at this this might help. So let's just say like a level four they might things that we we say to connect are to relate or make connections. So they may do some sort of debate or something with another
group of students around a concept or argue a side of a story in social studies. Whereas if you're learning it for the first time, you might simply being identifying or recalling information as you're learning it. So you can you can what we've been teaching
leaders is how to span the depth of all through it with the one single standard so that they can see what it looks like for a student. >> The other Oh, go ahead. I I would say that as importantly um if you're a parent um and uh and you're
seeing that your your student is doing the same thing always as everybody else then we're probably not doing what we need to do. Does that make sense? So, and this is critical board members for our strategy and for our health as a district that we that we learn how to
leverage our depth of knowledge and that we um are able to differentiate not just down but up uh because otherwise what will happen is you will have I think and this is some of the what Jason I think you're referring to is that parents will want
to go to schools of all gifted kids right which then if we can't serve them in their neighborhood schools or in all schools to make sure if you're a gifted learner, you know, your needs are being met. I think that that's that's the risk. And um but I would say that if
you're a parent, right, or if you're wondering, is my my gifted kid getting what they need? In some places, and we've had this discussion, the gifted kids get the pull out, right? Like when I was in Fulton County in Atlanta, one day a week you went with the gifted teacher. Now, what you did may or may not have been been strengthening what
was happening in the classrooms. it was like a whole different special thing where you were maybe challenged cognitively but not maybe through in the context of the standards and in your peers. Um and so we don't have that type of a pull out model with the state doesn't resource us in that way but if
you're moving here from another state that is the traditional national model especially in elementary school. So um it could be that folks are used to something else and they're not seeing that so they don't know what's happening. So for a parent and if a parent were to come to me and say,
"Gosh, my, you know, my gifted kid isn't being challenged," I'd say, "Well, you know, what are they good at?" You know, are they ever are they ever doing things that are directed intentionally by the teacher that um challenge their thinking? Um the other telltale sign is do you get finished with your work
early, you can do do what you want, some independent project that may not be directed to get you to deepen your thinking. I would say that would be a red flag, too. But not easy. You know, differentiating is hard. And I think that, you know, because of our intentionality with our high quality instructional materials, our
standardsbased instruction, our MTMSS process, and now our focus on depth of knowledge, over the past seven years, we have created the conditions to be where we're at today for teachers to have the the the support and systems that they need to be able to do this. Well,
>> I'm going to piggyback on that and then I saw Alex and Anna Um, I think it would be exceedingly helpful. I think a lot of parents don't parents of gifted learners automatically jump to acceleration. And I think
there's an underappreciation or a lack of understanding around extension and enrichment, which is really for I think for a lot of kids can be the best path forward, not just leapfrogging ahead. And I was I'm just putting a plug in um
the communication to our parents around the good work we're doing around extension enrichment and what that looks like so they know and dispelling some of the myths around the only way to be challenged is to accelerate would be exceedingly helpful whether it comes from probably like the district level or sitebased but I think we need to educate
our parents that this is a really these are two really powerful ways that we can meet our gifted learners that aren't necessarily you know jumping ahead or in ways that may not be developmentally appropriate or academically appropriate so we're not leaving gaps in understanding and knowledge. I think
parents don't really understand those parts of gifted education >> and and I think that's where we're really trying to lean in with the MTSS work, right? That it's not if they're not making it's for every student. And so what our hope is is that if schools are implementing the framework, they're
sitting at the table, a team, a leadership team having the conversation around what does an extension look like or can it look like for X, Y, and Z student? And so that is the work that we were working towards. Um, but that's our best hope is that they would that we're
start to use the MTSS framework to serve all kids both academically and behaviorally. >> Thanks for nativity, Alex. Anna, back to Jason. >> Um, well, Nicole, you were said a few of things I wanted to say, so nice job. I
agree. Um, I guess one of the things I've been thinking about after a couple years of hearing from frustrated parents of gifted and talented students is at that communication level. And I do think people are expecting pro pull out program and that's not what we do. And
that the kids have different challenges and we need to talk about these things. But we're introducing a whole bunch of um jargony words. So extension, enrichment, acceleration, integration into curriculum um are all harder to visualize than I don't mean to be
patronizing, but there it's much more nuanced than what's the pullout program. >> And um so I I do think communications about this is really good. And it's not going to be from the board or the superintendent. It's going to be from teachers to the parents and it's going to be from teachers to the kids. So the
kids talk to the parents. Um, so I might think about what the words are. So when mom asked their son, "How'd it go in school today?" They can say, "I did this really cool thing." And they might use the word extension, but they might say, "I got to do this other thing nobody else did." Um, so that the parents and
the kid are feeling it too with normal words. Um, and then the other thing I I really I've harped on this before, but I really want to know I do believe that we have different senses of urgencies for different populations in different schools. And so we are focused on our
high uh priority schools and we have gifted and talented students everywhere. So um I think uh the lack of the sense of programming is one of the things that contributes to open enrollment choice white flight and actually exit from the
district. So, I do think we need to like talk about it not just in our high priority focused improvement schools, but in the others and then as a district help our teachers and leaders think and talk about it to parents because I really do think gifted and talented is a $200 program. We're probably spending
$40 million figuring out how to implement our strategic plan, right? So, like the scale of what we're investing in this stuff is so much greater than the gifted and talented program. And I don't think parents can appreciate that the way we talk about it.
>> And if my question is going to get answered in the next section, that's totally fine. Um, similarly to what Jason was asking in the differentiation and extension, um, what and how do the coaches teach the teachers on how they implement that during the day and if you
also have a real life example of how it plays out for a student um, during the day. So when I mentioned our coaches, both our SPST and our DDI district coaches, um I think it can play out in lots of different ways depending on the school.
So often our teach we what we tell them is that we're meeting the principles where they are and wherever their inpoint is. So often you will find um I would say for my DDI leads, their day looks very different every day. In some schools, they're working with a group of
teachers in a small setting like you mentioned where they're talking about the standards, but they're also um they could also be modeling in the classroom for the teacher and giving feedback. They could also be coaching a principal who wants to actually do the work with
the teachers. And so often sometimes our teachers are just coaching the principal to coach their teachers. And so I think it looks a lot of ways um based on our five different coaches that we have at the district level. Um we also work um Em and I lead the coaching cohort. We
have schools that have coaches um building instructional coaches and I would say the same the same would fall that they have a variety of where they depending on what the principal needs um lean into either the leadership team and they're working with that team or they're working with different grade
levels or content teams. So it's it works in a lot of different ways but they are their whole sole role is teaching and learning with the teachers and you and practicing these skills and getting feedback in a timely manner. >> I think one thing I would just add what what Dr. Anderson said about the pullout
model really resonated with me. And so I think something that we have started doing as an academics team is making sure our non-content but supportive teams like the gifted team are really deepening their understanding of our curricular resources because I think historically in gifted it was like okay you do your stuff in your classroom over
here and now go over here and play this game or do this thing or do this project that may or may not relate to the math lesson you just had or the ELA lesson you just had. And so part of our work now is when we talk about extension, you just learned about this particular math thing, you got done with it, rather than five more pages of worksheets at the
same level, what's an applied problem you could take on with a couple other students in your class who are ready that relates to that standard, but to Dr. Anderson's point is maybe bumping it up a level in preparation for the next grade or the following grade. So it's definitely a work in progress, but when you act ask like what might that look
like over time to me that's sort of we need we're building our capacity as a team because everyone needs to deeply understand content standards in order to then then get to that place and back to the multi-tered systems of support connect connection Shannon will talk more about it but as
schools are operating within that frame as we're planning for our learners who may need additional support to access we're also planning for our students who have already accessed and mastered. So to Alex's point, it really is like a both and and that structure allows us to do it at the same time.
>> Thank you. >> Um I just comment on the education piece and I think Nicole and Alex cover that. I I do think you know it's not necessarily your job. I think your job is to implement and you're doing that. Um but I think there is I think as as both Alex and Nicole said, there's a real kind of perception that we are not
serving our highest you know our gifted and talented students, our highest achieving kids. And I do think it contributes a lot to people leaving the district. And so I think, you know, I don't know that it's a email to parents or, you know, communication from the board. I don't think that's effective. It's going to it should be something
where we, you know, we embed this in back to school nights. We embed this in, you know, as as teachers communicate with their parents for the first time about here, you know, not not just addressing all families, like this is what we do to kind of extend the learning for your kid and this is what
it would look like. And I think um you know this this stuff is really helpful for us who kind of were you know more in the weeds on this but I think talking about depth of knowledge in some of these terms really doesn't resonate with people and I think talking nativity as you said about you know maybe it's a debate or maybe it's a you know really
giving people an understanding of what this looks like. So because I think you know whether it's people's own experience or just this idea that if your kid is gifted and talented that they get this special you know bus to a middle school to take math or they get pulled out. And I think we need to help educate folks that that is not the
model. Um, and this is the model and this is what it looks like and this is why it's more effective. And so, you know, not necessarily your job. I think it's all of our jobs. But, um, you know, one important piece of that I think is, you know, the very first time we communicate with parents, which is back to school night, people need to understand that this is what it looks like for your kid and this is the way
they'll be challenged in this classroom. >> So, this is exactly how it's supposed to work for our new board members, right? You have board members hearing from constituents trying to know and understand what we're doing. You have experts on the team doing the right work
and then how do we marry what we're doing with the experience of folks within our community and explain it in a way um that connects the dots. So just a just an observation as superintendent there. And I think one thing we'll add, we didn't I don't I think I failed to
mention this when I talked about our um arc of learning with leaders, but that's one of the things we've been talking about with our executive directors of schools is what does it look like? So, we've learned all the things. We've learned what the big words mean and how it looks with standards and curriculum,
but what does it mean for me as a leader as I lead in my building and what can that look like? So, um I we have a session coming up in February, actually January, I'm not sure, one of those months. But anyway, we that's one of the things we can add is thinking about um
the application piece in the in the school, but also the communication piece, which is something I don't think we've touched on. >> Jorge, then Alex, and then we're going to move on to next best step. >> Thank you for the thanks for the discussion. It's been great kind of
getting a better sense of this and I feel like we're the the sandwich school district right the gifted and talented or kids in the middle and the kids that we're trying to bring up from the bottom and so I appreciate um that you highlight at risk kids who are also gifted learners underground or under group kids as part of that twice
exceptional and so I'm curious kind of what the district is doing to kind of help us identify those kids who are seen as at risk but actually need more challenging stuff right especially because we're making great progress overall as a district but our disproportionality our disparities are still there and that's really it's it's
it's hard to move that needle on that. So, I'm curious about kind of what this differentiation might look like um for those kids who are at risk in those under groups, underrepresented groups um and kind of how we can kind of what what kind of what that looks like. Yeah.
>> I mean, I think going back to what Emma said, I think our first take was understanding the standard. So, that unpacking the standard, right? So we what I think we're at a place where we're where we have done the work to under to unpack a standard and understand what students are know and
able to do where we are now Phil is really understanding individual student need which is hard right so what if they're below grade level what are what is their need is it just the standard or is it actually a skill gap that's preventing them from ac accessing the
standard and then if they're identified gifted many of our gifted identified students are not identified in the content in math and language arts. It might be talent um or something else. And so that is that is where we're leaning in to help teachers understand
where are the gifted identified areas so that you and what's challenging about it as Dr. Anderson mentioned is you know in a school that has a large student population every student could be identified differently. Some might be 2e some might be content some might not be. And so I think that's the challenge is
is utilizing this the resources that we have their ALPS, IEPs, intervention plans, all the things to understand where students actually are so that we can plan instruction better for all the students that we serve. And I just I'm
I'm biased, but I think leaning into the MTSS framework as an every day, every week, every year process is how we do business is really the way to know and understand each and every student in our system. And again, both academically and behaviorally, which I know our team is
going to talk about. >> I would just add two very small things because I fully agree with everything Nativity said. One is we're constantly working on expanding who has access to our gifted screeners. So, for example, just in talking with the gifted team last week, like several examples where we have students in subsparate full-time
programming and they're still getting access to a gifted screener. And then I would also say just ongoing collaboration with our friends across the table of really like when we have students who are presenting at risk and twice exceptional is so multi-dimensional in itself, right? because you can be any type of two things as Intivity said taken together
and just really working to get to like what is the root underlying cause of the behavior and trying to support the student with that as opposed to how the symptoms might be presenting. >> Um uh don't feel like we need to have a discussion about each of these three questions but I I do have three I wanted
to raise. >> Yeah. So um uh and again I'm thinking about this from both a teacher and a parents perspective. When we deepen and unpack the the standards and when we uh deepen
the knowledge of the kids working on the standards I I note that our standards are pretty heavy in ELA and math. So, does this take more time out of the day so that the things that aren't in the standards or not in the assessments aren't aren't still there? Or are the
teachers using their ELA time more deeply and their math time more deeply with this? Or are we eroding the circle time with music? Or, you know, whatever the other things are that are not about this. That's that's number one. Another question for us in the long run when we're working on this in the schools and
this I would like to hear a little bit on but maybe more later but for the sake of our community is all this work easier with a school with 1.5 classrooms per grade or with three point three classrooms per grade um is there advantage to more colleagues in your
school to do these groups well or is small n of teachers make this easier to do and then as we get into it uh you know How hard is this for a teacher to learn to do? Is it five years of support when a new teacher becomes a master of
this? Does a master teacher who's already been here 20 years uh is already doing a bunch of this and we're just giving them a little coaching to tweak. So what is it as we think about our HR and the great teachers we have? Like how is it different for different teachers to get up to speed on this? Is it more
helpful for a new teacher or more threatening to a senior teacher? And how's that work? So answer any of those you want to. Great teachers are the answer to all problems first and foremost. Let's never ever ever forget that. Uh I would say
that there are advantages significant advantages to a three- round school in meeting different and differentiating meeting different needs of different groups because you have more people and you can organize kids in different ways to do different things that you just can't if you have one one and a half. Um
uh and it's hard. It's hard. You know, differentiation is is is something that we talk about, but it's really teaching a group of kids not one thing, but maybe three, four, five different things at the same time while, you know, while managing the classroom
and putting on band-aids and doing all the other things that our educators do. So, uh I love the question, Alex. It's the right question. Um it's hard. Uh great teachers are the answer. uh schools with more rounds create systems and structures that give you more
resources to meet individually needs of kids that uh um but I would say that there's teachers in this school district that meet the needs of every single kid in their classroom every single day regardless of what's happening within the greater school of systems. I think that that's right. So, um, you know, I
will I'm I'm just really proud of the progress we've made because, uh, we're being super thoughtful on how we really want to do this and do this well and we've got the systems that we can build upon and support and plug into that let us do that. So, um, I think I
answered your questions. I I do have an idea though, board members, because I know we need to move on at our next school visit. Would it be helpful to look at some gifted and talented differentiation and strategies? Yes. as a place to look where it's working well and maybe where we're still in progress.
Does that sound like a good idea? >> I see the team taking a note as we're planning our next school visit. So, that's good. >> Thank you board members for the really thoughtful conversation uh suggestions and considerations. as nativity said um
with depth of knowledge and cognitive lift we are really looking at practical application next now that there's been some extensive knowledge base that's been built and part of that practical application um can should be and will be the communication that you referred to
and working with our leaders on those talking points and how to embed this um the communication around extensions differentiation and real um a person if you will conversation around what depth of knowledge looks
like and sounds like in classroom. So thank you for those. Moving now to the next strategic objective next best step as defined by implementing and tracking tiered supports and instructional strategies.
This is really referring to multi-tiered systems of support and using data to drive instructional decisions. So to be clear, when we talk about multi-tered systems of support or MTSS, we're talking about tiered supports for
students and the structures that need to be in place to do this. And this is where we focused our efforts toward changing the conditions in schools in order that we can provide those tiered supports. And because the effectiveness
of MTSS relies on consistent, high quality tier one universal instruction, that's been a priority of ours. We've taken many deliberate actions and made many deliberate investments to support this in schools such as initiating and
sustaining a standardsbased focus and datadriven instruction practices investing in high quality standardsbased curricular materials as well as consistent assessments such as the new MClass literacy assessment and progress monitoring tools.
the resources that we've placed in the BBSD instructional playbook so that every educator can access what they need when they need it and short cycle improvement and planning across schools with 90-day plans. Our strategic plan support teams or SPST teams are
providing intentional focus along the lines of a double dose, if you will, of support to schools to deepen MTSS datadriven practices and use of 90day plans. And something that we're doing that we've never done before in BBSD is
that we're aligning our MTSS uh foundation to a national MTSS standard as Shannon's going to describe. Although the indicators you see on the slide name the implementation of MTSS apply to academics as well as datadriven instruction, what we know is that we
have to understand our implementation landscape. So Shannon will share a balcony view looking at the ecosystem within each school and our system as a whole. Thank you, Dr. Dele Cruz. Um I was thinking that you could consider this
little segment of um today's meeting a little bit of a pallet cleanser between the deep learning around some of the academics and then moving into the non-academic pieces that Senate and Tammy will share next. So we're going to kind of um as Dr. Dela Cruz said come up to that balcony level and we're thinking
about imple implementation of a system around MTSS. So we're going to look at how our fidelity of implementation of MTSS looks across the district. So um looking at the systems and structures that need to be installed and maintained
for us to be able to be at full implementation. I'm going to walk you through the phases of implementation, some bright spots, areas for growth, evidence of progress, and close out with some final reflections.
So, we'll start here with kind of a a big picture view. Where are we in terms of implementation of a multi-tered system as a whole? Um, this visual here is from the center on multi-tered system of supports and it's an example, as Dr.
de Cruz said of how we're aligning to some national standards for MTSS implementation. Over the years, we've moved from planning and installation in the early years um and into implementation in school level monitoring and improvements.
Over several years, we've continued this work without really having a standardized way to monitor where we are and to ask whether all the work that we're doing is really sticking when it comes to how it's implemented in schools. And we know that monitoring is a critical component to get us to
sustainability. MTSS is not static. It's an incredibly dynamic system. And we know that we can't build it, put things in place, and say, "Check, we did it. We did MTSS. We have it in place." As the Center on MTSS explains it, effective MTSS
implementation requires teams to regularly engage in continuous improvement activities to improve the efficacy and efficiency of MTSS implementation, but also to address the evolving needs of staff, students, and
state, and federal demands. MTSS teams continue to build infrastructure and align existing systems to ensure staff can sustain full MTSS implementation even when faced with staff turnover and changing priorities.
So this is the real challenge when it comes to implementing and sustaining MTSS. So now more than ever we need to make sure that we're really closely monitoring and adjusting our efforts so that we can maintain a strong system. One other addition that's a challenge
that that Shannon hasn't stated. Uh, you know, we hire a lot of experienced teachers and everywhere you go, they talk about this differently. So, we could be talking about MTSS and if you came from Adams 12 or Adams 14 or Jeffco
or Westminster or St. Vin or Pter, they'll they might not have the same understanding, different definitions. But if I were to ask an experienced teacher, do you need training on MTSS? They would say, what? No, I've been trained on MTSS. But it's
different. This is a problem, right? >> Absolutely. >> So, it's just it's it's it's just one of the challenges that that by creating these strong clear systems on how we do business in BBSD. Um it's one of it's
the only way to overcome this challenge because implementing IMP MTSS isn't like um something that that is the same everywhere else. It's nuanced and different and not maybe as connected to everything else as we're really
attempting to build. Hopefully I was okay to say. >> Yeah, absolutely. Thanks. Um, I think the other thing that's really great when we think about this in terms of a continuous improvement cycle is that that type of work is becoming more and more the fiber of the organization as we
scale out the use of 90-day plans across our schools using data to set short-term goals, monitor actions um, and outcomes. That is all mirroring exactly what full implementation of MTSS looks like. So the short cycle planning that schools
are doing with 90-day plans is MTSS at a system level. So last spring, our MTSS department collected implementation data across our schools. In these conversations, we had um consistent facilitators from our
department to increase our um consistency of scoring and make sure we had some inner raider reliability. We use the tool called um we've called it the BBSD MTSS rubric which we've standardized um and adapted from the
National Center on MTSS's fidelity of implementation rubric. Um we took their tool and we made it match with CDE's COMTSS um language and kind of the way that they organized some of their components of MTSS. So along with using
the rubric to gather quantitative data, we also gathered really rich, wonderful qualitative data from these conversations and we were able to synthesize all of this and integrate it into a broader analysis. The purpose of having these conversations was really to understand
as a district where our bright spots are and where we need to focus on making some improvements. Um it was not to rate or rank individual schools. So we'll start by looking at some of the big bright spots that jumped out from these conversations. This is where we
saw the highest concentration of schools scoring with either a four or a five on the rubric. So a score of a four indicates implementation of of an item and a five indicates that it's not only imple being implemented but it is
thoroughly and consistently operationalized across all staff clearly documented clearly communicated. So I think it's important to think about that difference of moving from a four which means strong good things in place a five is where um I could walk away and it
would continue to happen because it's it's a process that is so clearly communicated. >> So reflecting on our some of our school visits and I don't have the numbers so I'm going to say some things but I think I'm right but I could be wrong. Uh, Cole Elementary
five, four or five. >> Well, there were a variety of scores across the rubric, so there's not like a one single score for each school. >> I'm just thinking to the meeting that we had at Cole Elementary board members, she'll remember that and how intentional and system with the data driven instruction piece. Um,
make a note, this might be something else that we want to look at in our school visits, some fours and fives. All right. Sorry, Shannon. I totally messed that up, but back to you. Can I ask it's related >> um
how does this look different at a primary school versus a secondary school and just so I can frame as you're going through bright spots areas of growth and takeaways like how does it look different and h are you are you assessing it differently or looking for
different things at a primary versus high school for example. So the the assessment piece, the rubric is universal, could could apply to any to any type of setting. Um what's different
is is the ways in which things become operationalized. So um I'm trying to think of an example of some specifics. All schools have um an expectation to provide standardsbased evidence-based tier one instructional
practices. what that's going to look like in a biology classroom in high school is going to look very different than a first grade, you know, reading lesson, but still having those standards aligned evidence-based practices in place for for tier one. Um, when we look at things like meeting structures um
data conversations looks very very different. Our high schools for example are um you know would be meeting weekly pulling some really high level data drilling down from thousands of students to the students who need support immediately tomorrow or today coming
back next week. So there's this kind of fast um turnaround of getting supports out to students immediately at a large scale at a high school where um if you think about an elementary school, it might be more about looking at some of
the um academic needs of students that are coming up through formative assessment in those conversations as well as thinking of the whole child and some of the social emotional piece of what this teacher is able to know and understand of being with that student all day. So I
think when it comes to how this is operationalized, it looks very different at different levels, but the key principles of an MTSS framework and the practices that need to be in place, the systems that need to be built are universal. I I'd also say that at a high
school you have um like as as we think about the other aspect of of MTSS like we have advanced you know IB AP like so some of the differentiation happens as this the as we schedule the students in terms of what it is that they need um as
opposed to being in um elementary school which is everybody's kind of in just in a round and then in middle school depending upon where you are in middle school some of them have some of that and some of them don't. So I think the structure of how kids get you know their schedule also impacts how those things
could be different. >> Yeah. And I think you know as a district we've been really intentional and starting to focus we focus our energy first on elementary schools moving to middle schools. We're not entirely you know in the weeds at our high schools.
And I just think of like use of standardsbased assessments. Are they consistent horizontally and vertically even within a building or you know just how how these scores might shake out differently based on where we are with our level of intentionality around supporting different schools at their
levels. Um just brings up a lot of questions I'll keep to myself right now. Alex, >> uh yeah, I just wanted to have one of the questions in my head, not just speed of myself on this one. Um, and the high school question is great, Nicole, because I I totally agree and and I understand the prioritization that we
have and sort of the fall back to the scheduling sort of solution to this. But one of my personal big priorities is helping us really understand how we fulfill the potential of all the kids. And in our secondary systems, the kids in the middle are often like doing okay
and not a fuss and not challenged. And so we have all our grad plus stuff and all sorts of things to challenge them. But I do I would love to hear more deeply at some point what our secondary schools are doing so that that kind of multi-tered system of support is not
related to just the scheduling. I'm not saying that's what you said, Dr. Anderson, but that the kids, the students, because they're not kids anymore by the time you get to high school, are really finding challenging, engaging stuff without being pressured to be in an AP class or an IB class to
do it. And that's where I think historically some of our most high performing quote high performing schools have dropped the ball the most is how do you make sure the kid who's not an AP and IB is having that kind of exposure to deep knowledge and cognitive lift
that an elementary school is being supported to do. I don't know how we support a high school teacher in a nonAB IB class to get that cognitive lift going as much as possible. Jorge. >> Um, this kind of piggybacks off of these questions a little bit. Um, in terms of
understanding what is presented here, spring 2024 is when the rubric was developed or when the data right now we're talking about where So, is that the starting point from 2024? Do we have more recent data? Have we seen in terms of our implementation? What does that look like and what is the progress been like in terms of where we're at now?
>> So, spring was when we collected the data and had these conversations with schools. So, these trends are coming from that data from last spring. Um, schools all have, while I'm kind of sharing district trends and areas, each school has their own reflections and their own specific areas for growth and
bright spots, which then they've woven into their 90-day plans. And so, um, right now, where the data sits is within those measurable outcomes in the 90-day plans, depending on how schools decided to focus their next steps in
improvements. um in there. I we at some point it would be important for us to come back and have these broader conversations again to look at trends over time. Okay. So when we think about these bright spots, so again these are the
these are the um areas where most we had most schools score at a four or a five. Um we the first one here is around an assessment calendar. So schools pretty consistently following a defined assessment calendar communicating those
schedules to both school as well as families. Um using a body of evidence to assess student needs. So this is really about um using more than a single data point to tell a story about a student but bringing in a variety of data to
understand what the needs of a student might be. Um we saw a bright spot with our um systems and expectations for multiple means of two-way communication with families and caregivers um that would be used consistently with
most or all staff. Student support teams are in place in schools to engage in problem solving for individual students. So this is kind of the thing when people first think of MTSS, they often think of this team, which is where you have a a group who
comes together around a particular student and does some problem solving to get some supports in place for that student. um these teams are not only in place but um there's time set aside to meet regularly and schools feel like they have strong structures and processes um
with these teams. And the last bright spot here is around our standardsbased assessments. So schools are using formative interman summitative standardsbased assessments to monitor students mastery of grade level standards across content areas.
For our areas of growth, we noticed that there was a need to address these items that you see here on this slide. Um they're all closely related and they all fall under the response to intervention kind of piece of MTSS. So progress monitoring tools,
diagnostic assessment tools, and then thirdly is the ways in which these data are used to measure a student's response to intervention. So there are three ways we're we're addressing these needs in our system. First, by filling some of the gaps that we have in our assessment
inventory. Secondly, increasing awareness of what we already have. So we noticed that um in these conversations, we would say, well, have you have you have you using this? and said, "I didn't know we had that." So, really just making sure that our schools are aware of what resources they do have
available. And then third, providing um professional learning, training, and coaches so that the tools are being used correctly and as intended. Um we're excited to have our assessment resources like MClass, EXL, and MAP to address some of these needs more
consistently across the system and pairing those with some intentional professional development and coaching. So we do expect to see these implementation metrics change um as we continue to grow as an organization and we understand that this will take time to learn and use these new tools and to
integrate them into practice. Okay. There are some areas where we noted um some evidence in progress that maybe wasn't reflected necessarily as a quantitative data strength but it came through really strongly in our in our conversations with schools. Um one that
was celebrated by schools was regarding the implementation of datadriven instruction or DDI as our district-wide approach to planning and monitoring our core instruction. So we attribute this growth um to first
of all having some clearly stated expectations for what full implementation of DDI looks like having an increased availability of standardsbased assessments paired with clear expectations that are for using those that are outlined in our
instructional expectations. Um an investment as Dr. Miller talked about with our both our DDI district coaches as well as our strategic plan support teams um and the data instructional coaching cohort to build
capacity across schools. The other area that um that we're seeing some evidence of progress with implementation is in that the strongest most consistent areas of MTSS implementation align directly to those
in which BBSD has provided some clear guidance and resources. So our school teams reported sorry I'm just going to click through all of these so they're just up now I have to click and talk. Um, our school teams reported strong implementation of academic evidence-based resources and
practices connected to leadership development, our adopted materials, and guidance provided by the district, including a BBSD instructional model, the MTSS guide, and the instructional playbook. When we were having these conversations in schools, it was not uncommon to hear
things like, um, "Wow, this conversation would have been really different if you had come if you had come here five years ago and asked us these same questions." or um okay, we're not there yet, but we are so much further along than we were even just last year. So, there was
definitely a sense of pride and growth and um continuous improvement in all of these conversations. And we believe that this is in large part because of the strategic investments that have been made to increase coherence and equip schools with the resources that they
need to implement best practices within MTSS. Starting with strengthening our tier one Um so we have as you can see here on the slide protocols to guide databased problem solving and decision-making. We have an aligned assessment calendar. Um
we have standardsbased assessments being used to drive instruction. Investments in high quality standardsbased instructional resources for tier one and evidence-based intervention resources and consistent use of the assessment tools that we that we have provided. um
as I mentioned MClass NWA common lit and so on >> I've been hearing a lot about this instructional infrastructure particularly our um our standardized assessments just as a look for I've also
heard that there's inconsistency in how like some some teachers are putting these as gradebook items and assigning point value and some teachers are not. And what does that mean when you have an exam that's a beginning of the year, middle of the year? So there's some
inconsistency in how that is tracked and then how those reports are also shared with parents and the explaining particularly of like a beginning of the year standardized assessment where a student is not expected to get an A but a grade might show up in a grade book.
That's so there's some inconsistency in that aspect of these standardized assessments. We don't want to do that. We don't want to do that. So, if we're hearing that, we need to correct that, of course. And ju just to clarify for the team what tier one instruction means
and how many tiers there are uh in an MTS model. Um I'm a little gunshy here because I messed up last time, but t tier one uh is whole group, whole class instruction. Tier two is if I didn't get what was taught in whole group
instruction, it's not too bad, so sad, we're moving on, get a tutor. It's let's circle back and and figure out what we need to do to group you in a small group or give you some independent support. Um, and then tier three is when those tier 2 strategies continue to not work,
we look look to add more intensive interventions. Sometimes that ends up in IEP, sometimes 504s, sometimes other like real intensive services. Uh with the idea that tiers aren't necessar like if you're in tier two or tier three, the idea is to try to get you back to tier
one. >> Got that right? >> And and just to add that it's that example was academic, but it it applies to non-academic areas as well. Deian and then Alex. >> I'm interested um in sometime getting to
see the aligned assessment calendars and what that looks like. Um I think that one of the variables that we are bad at taking care of is the fact that it might not be um the standards or the um depth
of knowledge that a kid can't get, but they don't have enough time. And so I would like to see how uh schools are adjusting for students that all they really need is more time to get there.
Uh not that you got it wrong. Um but I do think um in following up on the discussions we've had with our neurodeiverse community um in particular uh tier 2 is not a place to stay out of as long as possible. It's not always a path to IEP or 504 plan and it's not
always an intervention to get back to tier one. There are kids who need that support all the time and that becomes something you know about the student and incorporate into how you serve them all the time. I got some more questions but I'll wait till the question slide. >> Okay. So, um there was one more button
to click there. assessment tools. On this last slide, there's several pieces here. So, I'm going to talk through each one. Um these are just some reflections that um our team had as we kind of looked broadly at the trends and all of the data. Um the first is really about
the mindset regarding the purpose of MTSS as we were we were just discussing. So, as we all know, there's so many misconceptions about what MTSS is and what it isn't. Um, and many schools really wanted to share noticing that
there's an increased understanding among their staff that MTSS isn't a single process. It's not that team that meets about that kid, but really that it's um and not a pre-referral process to special education, but that it's a
preventative schoolwide framework that encompasses academic and non-academic areas for all students. Um, as we discussed earlier, it's not just for students who are struggling, but it's really for all students, including our advanced and gifted learners, whose
needs can and should be met through an MTSS framework. The next is something I mentioned earlier um, regarding our 90-day planning. So, as schools are beginning to make meaningful connections between the continuous improvement model of MTSS
and the short cycle improvements of a 90-day plan, um we saw really clearly with our schools when we had these conversations last spring, our schools who had already been engaging in the 90-day planning work, whether it was as part of a UVA cohort or with alongside
the strategic plan support team, when when the MTSS goals were already baked into the 90-day day plan implementation of this framework felt much more authentic, much more tied to the day-to-day work that the leaders were
were guiding. Um, and our principles, this maybe is me being a little um, just giving my opinion, but there seemed to be some more autonomy and ownership in terms of how the work was being led at the school when it was built into the
work of the 90-day plan. Um and and also I would would add that in those examples the leaders were able to really um articulate really clearly how they've determined what actions need to happen next, how they're monitoring um the
impact and most importantly how these moves are meeting the needs of their school community. The third reflection here is regarding our schoolwide behavior systems. So, when we had these conversations last spring, the vast majority of schools
reported um confidence around having processes in place to monitor their schoolwide behavior systems um and having consistent alignment of schoolwide behavior expectations across classrooms. Yet, at the same time, we understand
that um the needs of students and staff continue to evolve. And so, our support in this area will continue to evolve as well. So, we're not marking this one as a a done. We've arrived. This is something that we're paying really close attention to. Um, and so you'll hear
from S Tammy and Sennon later about some of the ways that um we're thinking through additional supports um for schools and how we're continuing to listen and learn about current needs that are happening. The fourth um piece on this slide is
around resources. So, as I'm sure you can imagine, any conversation about MTSS or or any school improvements, the topic of resources is going to come up every time. So, our schools are looking for ways to meet the needs of kids, families, and staff, which are
constantly changing with less and less. And they're asking, how can we sustain our efforts with increasing demands and decreasing resources? We all know that this is the million-dollar question that that you all are coming together and ask all the time. um and that we'll continue to
problem solve through together. And the last the last reflection here is something that I don't think prior to this that we've really named as a key factor in MTSS implementation. The challenges for implementing implementation are there are unique
challenges relative to a school's size. So for example, a small school with one administrator, part-time counselor, a 0.25 25 interventionist and itinerant staff faces some unique dilemmas when it comes to the logistics of planning for
MTSS. Scheduling meetings um professional development with part-time staff who attended that one was somebody here on Thursday or were they at their other school becomes an added layer of complexity. Um, we have schools, you know, running
multiple committees and leadership teams with the same 20 people just putting on different hats and running to different committees to do the work. Um, and we know that teaming is a core component of MTSS. So, when you have a middle school with one math teacher and one social
studies teacher or the first grade teachers don't have the same planning time because their kids don't have specials at the same time, um, having that collaboration becomes incredibly complex. On the other end of the spectrum, our large comprehensive high schools, as we
kind of talked about earlier, also have unique challenges, but very different due to their volume of staff and students. So, um, when you think of needing to orchestrate the complex meeting structures and communication structures to make sure that there's a seamless flow of information from the
top to the bottom, um, that we're getting large a large staff of teachers aligned around the same universal instructional practices across classrooms or responding swiftly to the mental health needs of our students
while managing recordkeeping of over a thousand students. that can feel really daunting and difficult to tackle. So these challenges really reflect our current reality of being in schools. So we know that
solutions we can't find solutions in a in a research or a book somewhere because this is a constantly evolving um situation. So, I think our best move here is to really make sure that we continue to walk alongside our school leaders and our teachers as they're wrestling with these challenges,
listening to their needs, co-creating solutions that are that feel feasible and sustainable. Um and ultimately if we really lean into the implementation science and thinking about the continuous improvement cycles as a way
of doing business um that will help us continue to to shift and stay nimble as the conditions in schools continue to evolve. So now I'll move to the questions slide. >> Well, we know Alex had a question so we can start there.
>> Okay. Um, first off, I just want to say thank you so much for this uh presentation and this chance to have this conversation. I want to check in later with uh everybody on the on the board and see how they feel about this level of inquiry because I'm super excited, but I'm a data implementation
nerd and this is what I live for. Um I guess the first question for me is as we try to um look at this from a familyf facing perspective. Uh I would encourage us to work with Randy and his team and really figure out the family facing language we use about this because uh we
on the board get coached on what MTSS and DDI is. And I just think there's a lot of better language to explain this to families. the it's it's also that the the language around what we do MTSS and DDI are kind of very teacher facing and
school leaderf facing. It's not what the student experiences because of it. So man, I think we want to get to well, we here at this school, we really look at how the students are doing and we make adjustments in how we interact with them in the classroom uh in order to better, you know, always be changing to help
them learn the most like that's what MTSS and DDI kind of are and from a family or kid facing. So I would like us to work on the language. Um secondly, uh I'm so excited that we have an assessment system and an assessment calendar. I I know this place from a
long time ago when uh we had 56 different schools with 4,000 teachers and they were figuring out what assessment they wanted and that meant there was no support, no ability to do this. Um I am I want to ask about two things. One is
how do we make the there's a an impulse in America I hear it all the time as an official of assessment's bad. That's why kids lose their souls and that's why they shouldn't be in school and you're not doing anything. you're just testing them all the time and there's way too much testing, right? And so there's no
distinction between CAMASS which is used to give us our summitive data and compare to other students in schools across the state at which we rock to formative assessment that's used for all this stuff to the assessment that's linked to our curriculum that is part of what teachers do every day to understand
if kids understood what they thought they taught. Right? And so I think we need to again have a familyfacing version of this that builds the constituency for smart modern teaching which uses formative assessment in all
these complex ways. So we've made great progress because we now have the system. I still talk to families in the grocery store who like how we my kid's being tested too much and they don't or they disagree or don't understand or don't think that the role of assessment is so
key to making sure every kid is differentiated with and that they get a different experience. So again, it's a um a sort of outward-looking thing about how we communicate that which does go down to how teachers communicate and how leaders communicate as well as people
here. And then related to that, I'm so curious how we as governing board people and other people in the public, is there a rollup of the data that comes from our assessment systems that lets us have the
kind of inquiry that a sack would have into their school? So when do we get who all gets the data from this assessment system? Is it avail uh unified improvement planning process,
the 90-day process? Um it should be uh perhaps considered by the SAC as they think about approving a UIP and what how does that roll up to us as schoolboard members in a way that also demonstrates the value of it so that we win the fight
to protect assessment systems. I'm afraid we could lose that at a state, especially with the current federal changes and the ability of states to just wave all federal requirements for summitative assessment. We could also have a ground swell of people continuing to opt out and of people resisting the
use of formative assessment. So, I just want us to demonstrate its utility and also let people be familiar with it again with family facing language. And I guess Dr. Anderson, I'm curious what your reactions are to that and to the
team about like, well, is it a bad thing if parents ask what the data looks like? Is it a good thing? Should the SAC have access to this? What do you think about the data transparency and insight and how we deal with the public about it? >> Well, first of all, I think uh
I think your assessment is spot on. These are national issues and I think that, you know, being able to take a look at what's happening at the federal level, right? like if you don't have if you don't have the ability to assess you know you know I'm not talking there's high stakes testing and then there's
assessment right that drives instruction and intervention right so so the assessment to drive instruction and intervention you know h happens through the assessment framework which by the way you are right when I got here eight
years ago it was uh you know we it the assessments that we had uh weren't even for yeah it was a mess now I'm really really really proud of where we are um but I and I and I do think this idea of
this family focus family facing and focused language is the right thing right even as we've talked about some of the technical uh nuanced phrases in this presentation and I've been like well this is what that means right like we probably need to have a lot of that um
uh but it is a critical piece in terms of of access to the data, you know, to, you know, there's we can certainly if we get data um and it comes in some kind of CSV file, then we could upload it into a a visualization through Tableau and and
we could do that, I'm pretty sure. And we do some of that. Some of that maybe we haven't made it external facing. The question that we would have to have is when is what's too much? And if if you sometimes, you know, folks hide in plain sight. Oh, we're super transparent.
we're going to flood you with so much information you can't go that you can't understand this way from that way and you don't know how how we're doing or what's happening and then we say oh but we're super transparent but we're not clear right so I think that that's the balance there certainly we work with our
school advisory committees which also wasn't always a thing to get them the data that they need to be able to develop improvement plans that then also align to our overarching district strategy uh but in terms of the access to the data and what people see. That might be a good question for DAC to say
what's too much, what gets too confusing, and at what level do you need to understand to be able to develop improvement plans um alongside your principal and school staff. >> Piggybacking on that one, board policy
says that the district shall communicate to families district and state assessment calendars. And so that's just like that document is a great place to just insert what do these what is the what's the purpose of a district versus a state versus a school or your
classroom specific assessment since we have to do it anyway. We're I mean it's just an opportunity to insert some of that detail that Alex is coming up with. >> Did you know that off the top of your head? Did you >> We just reviewed that policy. Dr. Anderson. >> I know I say that's pretty policy
Deianne. >> I am um interested in in um helping those teachers that are isolated like you mentioned a middle school teacher that's the only one that teaches their content in that school. Um, have there been any plans to put together um
something like an action research conference where um teachers could share what they've done, how it worked, and what kind of assessments they're using so that it goes across the district and it isn't isolated.
>> I I would say that we have and this came out of our teacher roundts that we did several years ago. um uh for for folks that that are the only person that teaches their subject in their school, we've done some we've tried to arrange some of our professional development
days so they could have some co some time together. I don't know that we've developed anything in an action research format. uh but but is something we're sensitive to and I would say we probably have done less with schools that are so small that somebody who teaches a
subject that's widely taught throughout the district but because of their small school they're the only one who teaches it. I don't know that we've done as much there as we have with maybe some of the other other subjects where there's one teacher in the school that does this and they have nobody to plan and nobody to relate to and nobody to kind of bounce
ideas off of. Um, additionally, our teams, uh, Shannon's team as well as our DDI coaches and leads, we often will coach a teacher, um, if there's a request. So, we have an internal system to provide support. While we're small, we do lots
of work and we try to expand around 56 schools. So, if there's ever a request for a single teacher or a grade level, we will respond to that and send somebody that's on my team to to help coach. I can um add two examples to that too. In one of our smaller middle schools,
it's it's not impossible, but they've kind of paired within like maybe um you know, math and sciences, you might not be um you know, teaching the same course, but there are some some planning that you can still do with a colleague. Um and so it's not that it's impossible,
it's just an added layer of complexity and planning for the leader. Um and then one example of kind of what you described that um is actually within our elementary specials teachers that um Aubrey Yay, our amazing coordinator has
has um you know put together structures last year where an art teacher for one school could partner with two other art teachers and they could look at how they were planning with the standards and assessing. And so putting some some thinking kind of innovatively and creatively outside of the box to give
teachers those experiences. >> One more question or perhaps a clarification since I'm sort of new at this. Uh when you say the word assessment to me as a person who uh who works with students all the time, I don't think those are tests always. Is
that a tr is that truth? is are you actually talking about tests or are you talking about projects that might meet standards? >> I think the way we would design define assessment could be used broadly to include a variety of project- based assessments, tests, more traditional um
yeah, I think it could describe a variety of things, >> but our assessment district-wide assessment framework is tests, >> right? So, we don't have district-wide projectbased assessments. Those would be more school-based, teacher based.
>> We are more than halfway through our time today and we are less than halfway through our content. So, I'm going to ask if folks rather than taking a cover break, folks can manage their own comfort as needed.
And maybe we start the valuating included, get through all the discipline data, pause for some questions, head into bullying, pause. Um, but getting through those chunks of slides just to help us stay on track. Does that sound like an okay tactic moving forward? Perfect. Thank you.
>> You differentiated our meeting there. That was excellent. >> And I love the engagement. These are exciting. It's exciting work. And I think we're all very happy to see that we're actually living um not just talking about MTSS, but we're living the work. And so I think that's why board members have asked so many thoughtful
questions to this point. All right, with that cue we are moving to the strategic objective of valued and included. And the work in this objective is comprehensive as you can see in the implementation indicators on the right. And the aim here really is for all
students to feel and have experiences of being valued and included in their learning environments. for schools to engage in restorative practices with students when appropriate and to consistently apply recommended resolutions for specific disciplinary
events. The endeavors here span discipline decisions, adherence to the BBSD discipline framework, addressing disproportionate discipline, as well as responsive and preventative measures to address bullying. Senn is going to guide
us through our current context responses and next steps and um I know that we're going to pause for a break in between but just to introduce this. Additionally, we recently shared the be well action plan with the board and the well-being of students is inherent in
this strategic objective. So Tammy will also address related data about the well-being of students and how our system is responding. But Sen will get us started. >> Thanks Dr. Da Cruz. Good morning everybody. It's it's an honor to get to present to you today. I'm excited about
our work um and to share our our bright spots and our challenges as well. All right. So, the first section, just to kind of give you an overview, I'm going to provide um some year-to- date updates around discipline,
including an how office discipline referrals work, how decisions are made during that process, our most common types of office discipline referrals, and our most common resolutions to those office discipline referrals, our year-to- date suspension rates, and a
comparison to some neighboring school districts. our year-to- date discipline proportionality, our year-to- date adherence percentage to the discipline framework and how that tool is used. And then following that, um, we'll get to the kind of then what
next and what are we doing in response to all of that data. All right. So, this slide gives us a nice foundation. It's helpful to set a foundation of the general process of what happens when there is an office
discipline referral. Oh, thank you. I can't see those slides. I can just see my slides. So, thank you. Um, the first step always for the school and school administration is to restore safety and tend to injuries, physical or emotional,
however those may look on an individual basis. And then depending on the severity of the situation, parents or caregivers may be contacted at that point. Um or depending, you know, if it's a less serious matter, then students are given a chance to share
their experience, give their side of the story. Additional information is then gathered from any witnesses, staff, surveillance, video footage as appropriate and available. Once all that information is gathered, the administrator might seek
consultation from me, from their executive director or a level colleague at another school to be sure that their investigation is thorough and equitable and within in compliance with policy.
Then with the facts as or as close to the facts as are possible to be gathered, the administrator makes a determination to the best course of action to be sure that the incident doesn't happen again, that the students who made the mistake learn from it and
that harm is repaired. Support plans might be written to provide longer term care for the students involved. And then further followup is provided to caregivers and staff who are connected with the students and who may need to know um about how about what happened
and how to provide care for the students moving forward. Finally, documentation about the communication with families and with staff, documentation about the incident and any support planning is completed.
All right. So then considerations for the office discipline referral process. It is expected that our school administrators make objective decisions regarding disciplinary situations while they balance the distinct needs of the
students involved, the impact of the incident on other students or even the greater school community. And again, safety is the number one factor that is considered. So restoring it, putting measures in place to create ensuredness that behavior won't happen again. You'll
hear me say this a couple of different times because it's certainly appropriate, but the age, stage, abilities, and aspects of the students involved and how those factors may have influenced what happened and has been reported are always considered in the
outcome. Our school leaders, oops, our school leaders are supported in making equitable decisions with the guidance documents that we have for them that provide procedural support. So, uh, the codes that they are to use when documenting, an investigation checklist
to make sure that they're following all the steps and and everything is tended to, the discipline framework that you'll hear more about in a minute. And again, I'm available for consultation. And I always tell them 247 even if you're working on something after hours if I
can answer I absolutely will. We also have um assistant principal advisory groups at the middle and high school levels to discuss the most t common types of office discipline referrals that are happening so that we can have really in real time conversations about
how everybody's approaching the response to students so that if it happens at you know east network northwest we're h we're responding similarly and equitably. We also have ongoing professional development for administrators to stay
current on best practices, any procedural polishes that we're making as a part of the valued and included work. We've also continued to have professional learning on implicit bias, restorative practices and we
consistently review our discipline data. Now getting into some data. So this is a year to day year-to-ate high-level look at the top most five common types of office discipline referrals and the five top most common resolution types or the
outcomes of the office discipline referrals. And you can see in the bar graph that the most common type of event is in some type of inappropriate contact followed by detrimental behavior and disruptive behavior as the top three
with peer conflict and then offensive language or offensive gesture ragging lagging behind those three. our top five resolution types where you see a very remarkable and positive difference between how often a restorative intervention is used as a as a
resolution compared to the four listed after that parent conferences, a lunch detention, supporting a student, and a diff a different type of loss of privilege. I want you to please note that nowhere in this top five list is is any type of exclusionary discipline. and there are
no suspensions, indicating that our schools and our leaders take a lot of different other approaches that are restorative to repair harm and support students. You might be curious about the codes,
the numbers and letters next to those names. The codes that are numbers are state codes that we get from the state. The codes that have a letter B next to them are distinct to us here in BVSD. Every year we review the codes from the
state to make sure our coding is current and accurate. And then the reason why we have Bcodes is because we want to have a greater depth of knowledge about what is happening in our schools so that we can respond appropriately and have just more accurate data. Is there any more you'd
say on that? >> Okay. This next slide gives us a yearto-date comparison of out of school suspensions so far or at this point in the year. So August through November,
you can see at the top in 2023 at this point in time we hadund 183 out of school suspensions. Last year 166 and this year we've had 160. So we're noting a downward trend.
We did And in the analysis of this take into account declining enrollment and maybe that could be part of the reason that we're seeing fewer suspensions. However, when we calculated that the number of students enrolled compared to number of
suspensions, we still note a downward trend over the past three years. This is my favorite slide. Oh gosh, there's a suspense. Okay. So, for for greater context, because it's so easy, you know, I've been in this district almost 20 years. It's we don't
always get the opportunity to look outside and and check in with our neighbors. This slide provides us some interesting information about the number of suspensions that are applied for misconduct in some neighboring school districts compared to us here in BBSD.
These numbers are taken from the Colorado Department of Education and their raw suspension numbers for the last school year, 24-25. You will notice that BBSD's numbers of suspensions are dramatically lower.
This speaks volumes to the work that we do to keep our students in school learning alongside their peers while we help them shift behavior, repair harm, and stay engaged. Another important piece to note
is that our neighboring districts also suspend students kindergarten, first and second grade, and we don't. Again, just another point of pride about how we support our students and their engagement here in BBSD. I wish. Okay, now I'm done. See you.
Just kidding. All right, this one's good, too. The discipline framework. This slide will show you a percentage of adherence to our discipline framework that we imple implemented last school year as a part of our valued and included work. And we continue to be
successful with this. What this tells us is that so far this year, August through November, out of the 1,613 office discipline referrals, 95.7% of the time the resolutions to those
office discipline referrals fell within the expected range of response that we would deem to be appropriate. Now the small number of incidents that don't fall within that range are situations that are really exceptional
or unique and have yeah just some unique circumstances. So, it's reasonable that there may be times that there's a larger or lesser response again given the the circumstances with the students involved.
And in those circumstances, schools are consulting with me or their executive director and and not making those decisions in isolation. Five years ago, uh, every school
had their own set of codes, no common form, no common discipline matrix, no accountability for suspensions or exclusionary dis discipline. uh working with
equity council, Latino parent advisory council, teachers, principles, uh we have revolution like it completely transformed how we look at um discipline and how we support students. No, no
restorative p. I mean, of all of the progress we've made, I don't know that there is an area that has been more transformed in how we approach this. Uh, so I just wanted to for those that are new on the board, uh,
this wasn't always the case. Uh, and we've been super intentional. Um, and you're going to see in a second, we still have work to do. uh even though I think that you know in comparison to other places that aren't even tackling
some of this really difficult work and they just chalk it up as kind of doing business suspending kids out of school. Uh that's just how you have to do it to to to to accomplish what you want to do. I just am really real proud of that. So I just wanted to kind of interject that.
>> Board members, any questions on the first eight slides of the valued and included objective? Anna, >> I do I um and some of the what um Dr. Anderson just said um answered some of those questions because I was wondering if
there is um is reporting standardized and what is the process for a student to report incidents and then who takes it on? And then uh we just talked about most of these being resolved within an appropriate um time frame. So I'm also
wondering what is that time frame on average? >> So So this is all data that comes from reporting to the state. Our data is clean as a whistle. Uh we the data that we report is incredibly accurate because that was one of the things we were
worried about is because when you start to dig into work like about this, what happens is that uh you could incentivize bad behaviors at schools where as opposed to filling out the forms, they just go off the books and tell kids to
go home for a couple days to cool off, which is exclusionary discipline, right? So, uh, I would say that the data that that you see here is is data that we report out to the state. I would say that you're and I can let Son talk to
this more, but, uh, these these, um, resolution to a discipline referral is pretty quick within the week that it happens, if not, you know, sooner than at a couple of days depending upon what's happening. Um, and, uh, again, I can't speak to those other districts in
terms of what's being reported, what's not being reported. I can assure you that it's accurate and that we're not like miscoding things to do things we shouldn't be doing. Right? That's the adherence to the framework. So um if you
do something uh we're really clear on our matrix on where it falls on the matrix which then gives you a range of supports and potential consequences uh that you can choose from as an administrator where without any oversight or any um
um accountability uh in this what can happen is you can have administrators go rogue right uh and over penalty ize and over discipline. Um and and I've seen that everywhere that
I've been except for where I'm at and where we are today right now. Uh so in any event, uh very very comfortable with uh re really more I'm proud of kind of the work that we've done here. But I can when when we say we have 493 or four um
suspensions that that's what we had and very very clear and and really uh confident of the data that we have. >> And what might be helpful is for our two new board members an on part of their onboard onboarding is how what does this
process look like? What do vortex meetings look like? What what is that framework? and maybe a place where you have more time to really dig through process, not just the where we are at at time if that sounds good to staff and board members to hold off on some of those very that it will take a lot of
time to get to those questions and I think they're really important ones. But I think there might that on boarding might be a great opportunity to dig a little bit deeper in the process. >> Yeah, that sounds great and I will speak to the reporting question here in just a minute. >> Jorge and then Alex.
Uh first I'd like to thank the uh teachers, administrators and everybody for for this trend. I mean it's I know it's been a lot of work. It's been a long slow process and it's amazing um that we've made it this far. Um and it's clearly not just um the discipline part of it but it's what the work that lies
ahead of that's done beforehand. Right. So I'd like if you can if you could speak a little more about um what proactive strategies have we used like what's coming before this right to address this because the behaviors can arise still right but we're not just responding in a negative way but what are we doing in advance of this to prevent this and and where do our school
safety advocates fit when all within all this thanks >> I'm going to get to the the preventative and the before part in my next section so if you don't mind pausing on that um our school safety advocates are there to
help in almost any capacity. So, if there's a really in-depth investigation, they are available to help with that. Um, if there's a situation that, you know, has major safety issues there. They lies between um, law enforcement as
needed. They can be a consultant with the school administrators and another thought partner. They can help meet with families and explain procedural pieces and outcomes. So they really serve as a um a sideby-side partner with schools. And some administrators have a lot of
experience and confidence and ask less of their school safety advocates. Some of some of them like to do everything with them. It kind of just depends. And um it really is a beautiful partnership. Um, and this may be some of this we can talk about during the Q&A on this larger
section, but um, uh, and I'm channeling for the excellent input from Kitty Sergeant on the board, uh, who, uh, has historically been our, um, copy editor. I'm sort of a graph copy editor sometimes. And so when I look at slide
27, um it'd be really help to know what those numbers are because all I can tell is the proportionality, not the scale of that, >> which is important because when you look down at the uh couple slides later and you see a number like 160, I don't know
what proportion of all those other disciplines 160 is. >> And that gets to sort of the the meat of my substantive question on this. I really want to know the pre-strategic plan baseline for these numbers because in my estimation we made a huge change
when we changed the policy and we went to being like the other districts with numbers in the thousands to being a place with less than 500 a year and now we're comparing whether we get from 168 to 160 when 95% of the change from that policy change is implemented. So for the
last two years and the next two years, whatever, we're we're watching noise in the system, not substantive data. By that I mean whether or not our out of school suspensions are 160 or 168. The deal is we went from 2,000 to 500 and
now there's individual cases that are driving specific things that don't really have anything to do with our policy or what we're overseeing, but we're just congratulating ourselves rather than moving on to the next question. So I'd love to hear some discussion of that. The next part for me
is part of as a schoolboard member um one of the things you get are agrieved parents uh who have been participating in these processes and rarely are they the parents of the kid who's subject to the discipline. So, I'd even like to
know what proportion of our disciplinary events involve another student and how much of it is a student versus the teacher or the school and there isn't basically a a person who's the recipient of the bad behavior because the stuff we hear about a lot are the kids who are the recipient of it and we've focused
our strategic plan and all our metrics on the perpetrator. And I have no data on the feelings of the kid who was harassed and the kid who was bullied um that I can interpret from this. And we get a lot of grief. We have a lot of people choosing to open enroll. We have
problems and disproportionality of the enrollment by uh by people who are the ones receiving it. Our LGBTQ community is always talking about how badly their kids are being treated. And then there's a disciplinary thing and inevitably the kid who's been bullied for three months is the one who slaps the other kid and
is then the subject of the discipline. So I'm I'm really curious if we can I don't want to change the strategic plan metric. Now I know that's not my place, but I feel like the discussion we're having about out of school suspension is at this point not constructive to the important work we need to do for the
next two years. And in fact, we could be asking much better questions about school climate and culture and the experience of our students and the question. So people know they can't suspend the kid out of school. Great, we won. That's why we're at 500 and everybody else is at multiple thousands.
But so what are we doing next? And I feel like our data is keeping us just in that track because a board four years ago picked that number which was great. They did the right thing. But I don't think we're measuring the right thing anymore. I I will say uh I think that there's a
validity in a lot of your points. You know, the goal isn't to get to zero, right? Like at a certain point there's going to be incidents where we have to suspend students, right? There's going to be incidents where we have to expel students whether we'd like to or not. Like there that is
an appropriate consequence for some um situations. I will say that uh some of that information you're asking to quantify like I understand the spirit of what you're asking. I'm not sure that that's how to get to it. We do have some slides that that um that we're going to go through that talk a little bit about
the bullying but and I think that we can have a greater conversation as a as a governance team after that happens. So, um, but I do hear what you're saying and, uh, yeah, no, it's, um, at a certain point it's maintenance, right, versus trying to even continue to, to
drop down to, are we at that point now? I mean, at a certain point you get there. Um, I think when you look at the disproportionality, you'll see we have more work to do. >> All right. Right. So, speaking of disproportionality, this slide shows a year-to-date and a
three-year comparison visual of our discipline disproportionality for our Hispanic and Latino students compared to our white students. And obviously, this continues to be a prominent area for our growth in the realm of discipline. So, the orange bands with the key up in the
top right corner, you can see um the numbers of incidents And you can see that the the the different student groups there on the left and the the orange band means much less favorable.
The blue band is much more favorable. So, we've made, as we were just talking about, strides in reducing suspensions, adherence to the discipline framework, and and our focus is continuing to narrow to determine the root cause of
this challenge that we and so many other states and district across the nation face. We are facing this headon and continue to work collaboratively with our schools to name and and tackle the challenge. bullying reporting or this this types of
concern. So most types of reporting is done at the school level. A child reports to a teacher, a parent calls the teacher or an administrator. However, we do have a link on our district and school websites for as a dis district
reporting tool. This slide provides the annual numbers of reports for the past three years. And on the far right, the little gold shield, our number of reports made so far this year, actually through yesterday, where we sit at 53
for essentially halfway through the year. Continuing with some bullying related data, here is a look at trends over the course of the school year in bullying related incidents. You'll see that our trend data is lower at this point in the
year than the past couple of years. This slide gives us bullying incidents by code. So the top code, well, let me back up. This slide has this the same data as the previous slide
broken down by types of codes that we use related to bullying related incidents. And we can see the prevalence of each type compared to the last two years and to date this school year. You will see that among the types of
allegations of bullying and harassment based on a protected class, race is the most common. So the the top code is allegations of harassment or bullying that are general in nature nature and don't apply to any protected class and
then ranking below that. So you can see that um race is the most common in the protected classes for the past couple of years. Note that these office discipline and referrals are um not disagregated in
terms of the incidents that have been founded or unfounded. This is just all of the allegations that have been reported and investigated. >> And to be clear, Sen, and back to that slide, the the data for 2324 and 2425 is
endofear data, >> correct? and 2526 is C like we're going to want to clarify before we post these slides clarify that and 2526 is is year to date. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Yeah. On that fact, I mean if if we're
releasing these slides to the public, I I think doing it that way without comparing if you're going to do a bar graph or a figure, it should be the same time period. Otherwise, you're just misrepresenting for quick cognitive use by the the people who receive that
graph. So I I don't think that's an appropriate way to share that data if you're trying to get appropriate conclusions from the audience. Um another point I would make I can you go to the slide of 34? Um I'd be really interested to know how
these break out by grade level. And I ask you that because I think allegation of sexual harassment is hard to code in the lower grades when you've got uh pretty ambiguous things going on. And uh I think you might have a lot of uncoded bisexual orientation when sexual
orientation is not really what's being manifested um in a world of uh trans kids and other things going on. So just based on the anecdotal reports I get from parents. I I think if we knew by elementary grade, then we might see
more, you know, uncoded harassment that is that if the kid were older and they had the words to describe, it might be based on sexual orientation or uh gender status if we use more than just sexual orientation as a measure. Ju just to be
very very clear like we as we present this slide, I do think that you make some valid points, Alex. We're not presenting this as some type of win that we've done anything other than just presenting what actually the the information is today. We're not presenting this as evidence of of progress or or anything along those
lines. This is just where we are today. Um and I just want to be really clear with that. And to the extent that we have anybody being bullied, right, like we have work to do. Uh and uh the the impact on on on students, board members, you hear from the same parents I hear
from um you know this this data is is me is in the big scope. You know maybe you think oh gosh there's not that much bullying on until your kids bullied and then then this becomes the most important thing that the district needs to needs to address and deal with. One last point. If we can integrate the
things we as a board talk about when we have declining enrollment, I'm always interested in how we keep the families that are in our district. And one of the reasons they leave is because their kid is bullied or harassed. And so every one of those is a kid with an experience that may lead them to leave our district. Um and so that's where I want
a of you know the the person who's experiencing the bullying and harassment um to be you know really a part of what we're talking about more. >> I just have a point of uh clarification for from slide 31. Can you explain the difference between the much less
favorable and the much more favorable percentages in the student body and what that means? >> I I can do that. And so as we really started to measure proportionality um if you look at the um in the key up
in the the upper right hand uh so gray would be proportionate. So the the light gray bar is the percentage of Hispanic Latino students that we have or the white students that we have in the district. Right? the the orange line is
is much less favorable because it's disproportionate going the the wrong way. Meaning that we have significantly more um referrals of Hispanic Latino students by percentage than the percentage of
Hispanic Latino students we have. Conversely, for our white students, we have much less behavior incidents, referrals um proportionally than we have percentage um of white students. So to
create to so both are disproportionate just in different ways. And so when we created this key, uh, we tried to scale it to say that some disproportionality would be more favorable, some would be less favorable. And that's how we used
the color of the bars to kind of communicate that. Uh so by looking at slide 31 you can see that we have a dis a proportionality issue with behavior incidents for our Hispanic Latino students and um not necessarily
proportionality issue for our white students. Yeah, this is one of those slides that should be like focus grouped because I think less than like two or 3% of the visual people looking at it will take the conclusion away easily that you're trying to give them. Like share it with
Sachs and say and you look at some other models, talk to some people about how to present this data because I think this really doesn't communicate very well. I mean, you can figure it out eventually, but I'd be really curious like what percent of SAC members within five minutes know what it's doing. Not to pile onto this slide, but just
another Do you >> want me to go go back? >> Uh, I don't think we need to. Um, but you know, the numbers clear this these are behaviors that include suspensions, but are not just about things that end up in suspension, right? So, includes a whole range of behaviors of different various levels, just different
discipline referrals. And so I'm curious if you could speak a little bit to what what rises to a level of parent notification or documentation that would fit this the data that's in here. >> Very generally speaking, anytime a student is referred to the office for
some type of behavior that is that significant, parents should be contacted. >> But we wouldn't have a data point to say parent has been contacted or not contacted. The expectation the expectation is that you contact parents when when a student is sent to the
office on on a discipline referral >> and the doc the documentation point for these data then >> is the actual referral >> the actual referral >> right >> okay great um and one more thing for slide uh the bullying incidents by code
are those exclusive categories or it could example you know a full range of bullying right on gender sexual orientation and race inity. How are those coded here? So, is it just the primary one or can I have I could can one incident fall into three of these categories?
>> That's a good question. Yes, an incident could have multiple codes related to it depending on what happened, how many students involved. Absolutely. >> I do think it's important to one of the changes that we made several years ago is to make sure that we look at this
data in real time. to board member Medler's point about is the code being appropriately used across levels. We have a multi- it's not it's a multi-ep department group with Sen Liz Lundelle
our equity compliance officer and um our data team where we go through a full report of every incident reported under that code. We read the description of the incident to make sure it's coded appropriately and then we're able to
provide real-time followup if a school perhaps is using a code in a different way than another school might so that we can have that across school comparison. >> One last question from Deian and then we're going to move on. Is there any
attempt to um find out the data from teachers about some of the things they don't actually take the time to write an office referral to so we know how many are actually happening in the classroom instead of just the ones that are sent to the office because that process in
itself is disruptive. So teachers may choose to >> to put a squash on it while they're there so it's not disruptive. We don't have a data point on that, but it it it pulls us back to Shannon's
comments about our MTSS systems and the work that we um will be doing to enhance those systems across our schools in terms of behavior in the classroom, how it's supported, what teachers are doing. Um yeah, and answering that bigger
question, we we don't have a data point on that at this point. All right. So, now shifting gears to our response to what we are doing to prevent and intervene. And like do Dr. Anderson was just saying, we do have some bright spot and there's spots and there's lots
of work to do. We know that improving our disproportionate discipline particularly will come as a result of improving a variety of factors that enhance our students sense of knowing that they are valued and included. So, we continue to focus on the overall
well-being of students, the aspects of MTSSB, the recommendations from the Bwell survey that that you'll hear more about in a few moments. The next three slides provide a snapshot and summary of the proactive and responsive systems that
are in place um at the school level, smaller grade level or smaller systems, and even individual student or teacher level. All right. So at the universal level, you can think about this as what's available to all all schools and at the
scale of the school level. So we have professional learning specifically around building capacity for restorative practices in everything from restorative questioning, implementing restorative circles in classrooms all the way to
restorative justice conferences after harm has been caused and there's some type of disciplinary situation. Professional learning has been ongoing during our PK12 meetings with school administrators. Additionally, our bullying prevention grant that I'll speak more about in a
moment, resources to support schools with classroom management, restorative practices support and consultation for schools with their schoolwide systems between MTSS and student support services department is in place. So all that means is that the
MTSS department and student support services and our teams meet weekly to discuss needs of schools and really decide the best approach for to respond to the school, who's the best person to do it and then execute from there
in terms of targeted support. So think about this as what's available for all schools but on a smaller scale. One thing that's new this year is the use of the disengaged teen book, which is a newer research-based book that categorizes
disengagement in a nice contemporary way that's really actionable and usable for parents and caregivers and educators. And we're using the book in professional learning with our assistant principles and deans specifically. Some of our schools have opted in this
year to being a restorative practices school. Whoops. So that means that they are working, one of their leadership teams is working directly with our restorative practices coordinator to flesh out however that
those next steps are in their school. And that might be just focusing on what restorative mindset means, how to build staff capacity for um implementing that those practices and mindset in the classroom to larger school systems as well. We also provide support for 90-day
plans on culture and climate goals if schools need that support. And particularly this spring, our schools who need more support with discipline disproportionality um will be having particular support in
their 90-day plans this spring to have a focus on improving that in their school. And then at the intensive level or you can think just smaller scale. This is when we're talking about really individualized
student level support. Um a principal might reach out to Shannon and her team and say, "I've got a teacher that needs some it's a newer teacher and they might need some particular support with classroom management." Or we've got a student that um is in general education and we are really struggling with next
steps for how to support them differently. So again, that's where our departments collaborate and respond to this the school's needs there. This next slide is an update on what is happening with our bullying prevention grant from the Colorado Department of
Education. We are in the first year of another three-year grant cycle. At the beginning of each school year, the school team who's responsible for implementing the grant work uses data to
decide their area of focus. And that data could could be anything from their bullying survey that's student bullying survey that's required as a part of the grant every spring, their student climate data, discipline data, or all the above to decide what what exactly is their focus going to be this year and
what are they going to do. Further, all BBSD staff have been trained in identifying and responding to incidents of bullying and harassment. This training has been particularly enhanced this school year through Senate Bill 296 where all staff were required
to participate in a a learning module by December 1st. There are I mentioned the annual student survey for students in grades 3 through 12 that gives us some great information as well. There are evidence-based classroom lessons at both elementary and
secondary levels. There, let's see. We reviewed the data from the BBSD online reporting tool a moment ago and the access for reporting concerns remains visible on our website and um
just two weeks ago you we probably all got one the beautiful email from communications just reminding our whole community about what to report, how to report. Please, we want you to report so we can help make things better for all of our children and families. There is
also a bullying prevention and education toolkit that is revised every year and available to any of our schools and teachers. One other piece of information about the bullying prevention grant that I want to make sure you're all aware of is that um
in this now next three-year grant cycle funding is being reduced by 40% over the the life of this grant which is prompting us to make some changes. And one change that's already happened is that our bullying prevention specialist is now working halftime instead of
full-time. she's able to meet a need as an as an elementary counselor halftime in one of our schools. So that supports that need and then she's now half-time again instead of full-time as the grant coordinator. So it was a strategic solution to fulfilling a school need as
well as meeting a financial need for the grant. Next, an update on restorative practices. So, I want to just paint a little picture for you about what restorative practices, programming, and support looks like for schools. It is not
it is, I think, one of those buzzwords that's pretty abstract. But being restorative is not a task that you check off. It's really actually a mindset about how we approach other humans, how we approach students, and really the work of being an educator. It means that
we approach everything. um knowing and understanding and acting from a place that everybody in our school community brings value that everybody has a responsibility for their impact on the community because everyone matters
and for that reason every everyone's voice matters and everyone should be heard and valued and included if you will in our school. So in addition to ongoing professional learning for our administrators, para educators, bus
drivers, and all transportation staff, all safety and security staff have also received restorative practices training this year. And our restorative practices coordinator continues to collaborate with our colleagues in special education and in MTSS to create professional
learning content that's available for teachers and schools directly. And then the five schools that are our restorative practices schools um are represent elementary, middle, and high schools. And they continue, like I mentioned before, embark on building
that culture within their school and their capacity as a leadership team. And our restorative practices coordinator is available for consultation with schools at any time. She is on the phone with families explaining things. She's going out to support individual teachers, principles,
do RJ conferences. She is very adaptable and available. So beyond all of that, um I think we all understand everybody here that behavior is communication and there are a lot of
factors that drive student behavior and we would be remiss if we didn't pause to consider the impact and the presence of our federal government climate, the presence the very real presence of ice in our communities, um the economic hardship and food scarcity that our
families are facing as well as just overall tension and increased violence in our own country and beyond. And we are seeing that stress in our students and our families. And and that is very real. And it's important that we honor
and recognize that and own that as we continue with our work. And as I said, um as leaders in student support services and MTSS, um we work really closely together. We've had some really rich professional learning this fall
that's continuing to help us narrow our focus and drive our work. One of those pieces being a framework specifically for reducing disproportionate discipline. This comes from the national PBIS leadership forum. It's an
evidence-based fivepoint intervention approach for equitable supports to reduce discipline disproportionality. We have aspects in place in all five of those components. However, that second bullet, and a few of your questions and comments have
alluded to this, the second bullet of implementing a preventative multi-tiered culturally responsive behavior framework is at the district level is our largest opportunity for growth here. And so while that work is happening on a
request basis in our in and in in some of our schools um again we're going to continue to discuss how that can look and how we might flush that out through MTSSB through valued and included. I think I was lucky and have lucky enough to have the most slides in this
presentation. So thank you for your patience listening to me. And now I will turn the floor over to my esteemed colleague Tammy Lawrence. Good almost afternoon. I was going to say morning, but we're going to say afternoon at this point. Um, thank you so much um for having us um today to
share with you um where we are with um all of our data. Okay. So, as we discuss other wellness related data, we'll talk about suicide risk and mental health referrals. Before we do, let's take a look at the overall trends with our BBSD
safe to tell reports. For clarity, suicide risk review reports are also included in this data. Safe to tell Colorado provides an anonymous way for students, parents, school staff, and community members to report concerns
about their own safety or the safety of others. The program was founded on the belief that prevention and early intervention are key to reducing violence and saving lives. Safe to tell encourages young people to and community members to take an active role in
prevention by giving them a direct anonymous way to report concerns and empowering them to make a difference. The framework established by this model offers a sophisticated and efficient system for sharing information with local responders, schools, and district
staff. Callers can choose from 38 different categories of concern, including bullying, depression, suicide, drugs, violence, and others. Once a report is received, school officials and law
enforcement after hours begin the investigation. You can see that there has been a steady increase in reports from 2022 to 2025. This data reflected here was pulled through the December 8th and not reflective of the full first
semester. I got to do the right ones here. As we look at our behavior trends, it's important to recognize what important to recognize that what students show externally is only part of the story. More and more we're also
supporting students who are experiencing internal struggles particularly around mental health and suicidal ideiation. In the first half of the 2526 school year we're seeing strong utilization of student support services across the district reflecting the depth and
complexity of students needs. One key component of this work is our suicide risk reviews or SRRS. These are initiated any time we're notified of a pot potential threat of suicide. The purpose is to respond quickly, gather
accurate information, and ensure that students receive the immediate support and care that they need. When an SRR is initiated, staff work to identify the specific source of concern, whether that's something a student said, something observed, or something
reported by someone else. From there, the process helps to ensure the appropriate people are notified, including mental health staff, administrators, families, and outside partners when necessary. SRS also guide teams in putting the right supports and
safety precautions in place immediately. to this to do this consistently across the district. Our staff uses an internal tool adapted from the Columbia Colombia suicide severity rating scale which helps them assess level of concern and
determine next steps which includes a support plan. Looking at our looking at our data for the 25 and 26 school year, we've completed 369 SRRS as of December 15th with the highest volume coming from our high
schools. For context, in the 2425 school year, we completed a total of 777 SRRS, which was a decrease of 90 from the previous year and an an additional decrease of 186 from two years ago. This
overall data reflects the ongoing and significant need for timely mental health response across our schools. Overall, SRRS remain a critical tool in ensuring students are identified, supported, and kept safe as quickly as possible.
As a resource to support our students, mental health is our mental health advocates or MHAs. Their role is to provide short-term school-based support focused on stabilizing students and addressing immediate needs. It is important to note that this support is
not therapy, but targeted assistance within the school setting. Also, MHAs work directly with students who have recently experienced major traumatic events and need additional care to regain stability. Their goal is to promote academic success and resilience
by offering intensive social emotional support impacting their academic progress. As of December 15th, we completed 1,284 MHA referrals reflecting ongoing high demand for support. The previous year
total referrals for the year was 1,847 and 1,111 at semester. Every SRR and MHA referral requires a coordinated school-based team, typically including school counselors, MHAs,
social workers, school nurses, and/or school psychologist to provide comprehensive wraparound support for each student. This work often involves developing support plans, collaborating closely with parents and guardians, and
partnering with outside agencies and community a providers and community agencies. Although we are declining in enrollment, we are still seeing a slight increase in the MHA numbers of referrals for the year. We are continuously monitoring the intensity
of the needs, especially Oh my. Thank you. Sorry, my computer Oh, no. It just came back. >> That was weird. My whole system went down >> for a second. Let me find where I was. I apologize. Okay.
So, we're going to start again. Thank you. Um, although we are declining in enrollment, we are still seeing a slight increase in the MHA number and referrals for the year. We are continuously monitoring the intensity of needs, especially as our providers are navigating this work while managing
through limited district resources in this area. As a reminder, the board received an update earlier this year on the bewell actions that are prioritized by our district. We are currently in the process of taking steps in alignment with the recommendations outlined by the
Renee Crown Wellness Institute. For the board and for those watching, the Be Well Project was created to help us better understand the perspectives of the people who are closest to our school's day-to-day experiences. That includes our educators, our
families, and of course, our students themselves. We wanted to hear directly from these groups because they see firsthand what students are experiencing and what supports are or are not working for them. By gathering insights from all
three groups, the project aimed to identify our bright spots, areas where we are already doing well, as well as gaps that need our attention. Ultimately, the goal of the Be Well project is to use what we have learned to strengthen and expand the mental
health supports available to our students across BBSD. As you can see, the Be Well report identified five key findings that are guiding our next steps. There we go. I didn't know I had that
extra thing there. Um, five key findings that are guiding our next steps. These findings are focused on students own reports of their mental wellbeing, how aware students and families are of the mental health supports available to
them, how frequently wellness centers and other supports are being used, families awareness of mental health resources across BBSD, and the broader BBSD systems that are currently in place to support students
mental health. Our valued include working group has taken a closer look into those recommendations. The above data helped us determine where to focus first, what can be built out over time, and how we can best support students
across the district moving forward. And now we are going to open up the presentation for questions. Sen and I are happy to answer. Thank you for that very thorough discuss conversation. Dr. Anderson wants to kick us off with questions. I can see.
>> Thank you. Um, you know, board members, as you can see, uh, the need for mental health advocates and mental health support continues to grow. Uh, you know, I think that that is, um,
that is that is a growing trend. Um, and as we know and think about the resources that we get to support mental health in our school district, um, th those are are not I they're not they're not directly correlated to our need. Uh, so
if the need goes up, there's no extra dollars to support the mental health of of of students that are in our school district. and we we do a lot of proactive work to help kids so they can they can be mentally ready to learn. Um
and so I will just say that this the the declining resources uh is a challenge for us. And then also uh this is where some of the small school challenge that we discussed as we discussed declining role. It re
declining enrollment really shows itself because when you have growing needs and you're going from full-time to halftime counselors and you're reducing the number of mental health advocates. uh you know thinking about how you can have schools that are more filled with kids
and resourced fully versus smaller schools that are partially resourced. I do think that that that comes into play. Um so I just kind of wanted to lead with those two ideas. I have a question looking kind of just doing some quick math as you were
presenting. The suicide uh risk reviews, the um request for mental health advocate support and the safe to tell reports all were higher in the first semester than in the second semester. And I'm wondering
as we think about academic stress and the the conditions in which our students are showing up to school like if we have if there's something at the start of the year that maybe not that are we could help our students with to prepare or what that might be or in the future just looking at the data in those. I know
sometimes we've seen data on different items that kind of show the monthtomonth like is it correlated with the start of the school year and there's a lot of unknown expectations and I'm feeling overwhelmed. I can't get out of the class that I thought I was capable of taking, but it's now it's too hard. Is it midterm? Like I'm curious if over
time just because for all of the all three of those types of reports the numbers were larger in the start of the semester and like really supporting our kids um early will help them be successful throughout the year. So I'm just kind of curious in the future to dig into that a little bit more so we
can really make sure our setting our kids off on a positive trajectory. I I think that's as as you all contemplate homework and grading policies, I think that's an important data point for us to see to see what we can get to the extent that we could create a visualization that's similar to the discipline referrals by month. Um I'm wondering
I'll have to go back to the team, but I could see what see where that be would be something to take into consideration. I think another area that um impacts that as well is we are coming off a summer and so students don't have that direct um supportive adult in a school
system to talk to day-to-day. So oftentimes when we come back to school our providers are you know inundated with the different amounts of supports for our students to share what has happened throughout the summer months when they didn't have that directly um connected supportive adult around them
every day. Alex. >> Yeah. Um, thank you very much for this really important work and for this update. Um, uh, some of my questions are related sort of about information and they don't mean to imply that we're not doing the right thing. Just as a
governing board member, I'm kind of disappointed in the information that I have to have insight into it. Um, for one I I mean I think about when I came in I was I knew we were doing a lot big priority and I was a big advocate of getting evaluation to be part of this so that we could know what's working and
what's not working. And I am frankly underwhelmed by the Renee Crowns information that we've got from it in terms of the findings and insight. And I and I'm I'm really like I don't know if more reporting is a good thing because things that weren't reported are now reported or if the thing that's worth
reporting is going up. Like without knowing whether an SRSR is a good thing to have had or um uh or what the underlying thing that's reported, it's really hard to interpret whether we've improved people's knowledge of the mechanisms to report or whether we have
a 40% increase year-over-year in terms of the bad thing that's being reported. So I'm I'm left just not knowing very much from this. Um you know uh is it possible to catch you know what's the estimate from other data to
triangulate whether the SSRS are catching all the kids who needed it? Can we use the Healthy Kids Colorado data and see if our data on bullying is wildly different from what kids are reporting in other instruments? Um, so I would love to see a more uh
evidence-based understanding of it and I need to understand when we do get stuff reported like whether we think a big number is a good or bad thing um and how that relates to the phenomenon we're trying to understand more deeply and I I just don't see it yet. And then on a
couple of just substantive things, one of the things that makes me nervous about report uh safe to tell is that we're putting it on kids uh to report their their peers mental health issues. And I can tell you how many times I've heard of people who end up leaving the district because their kid reported
somebody else's mental health crisis and they suddenly lose their entire health group. I mean entire friend group. So I really want on the mental health world to check in on the kids who are doing the reporting as well as the kids uh who are reported on. I know safe to tell can be anonymous but I I know multiple
people whose kids uh social experience own mental health staying in the district changed because they made a report on another kid's suicide risk. And so I I really feel frustrated in these topics because they're so important. We have to I think we need to make budgetary decisions to protect this
work and invest more in it. and we're likely to have pressure to not do so. The feds and the state will underfund us going forward. So that's why I think it's crucial to actually have a much better level of insight into that what kids are feeling and how things are working. And I just don't feel like we
have it. It's really tricky, right? And I think about this a lot to the extent that you know the data that's reporting out is more of a current conditions versus trend data because of actions of the school district, right? to to think
about kids who are in mental health crisis or or at risk of suicide. You know, how many of those factors are school related, home related, personal related, I think is really almost impossible to triangulate. Now, now that
being said, um as somebody who's also data dri, it's it's really it's really I think complicated um and challenging. Um, I do think that there's other data sources that we could potentially triangulate, right? You know, you have Healthy Kids Colorado, not but not everybody takes that, right? So, you
could pull some of that data. Um, you can pull some of the data on the suicide risk reviews and mental health advocate referrals. To your point, is safe to tell. Is that awareness of the system? Is that a bubble of mental health crisis that's going through with from a
particular group of students? I think that is super tricky. So, um, you know, uh, I've I've thought about this. I do think that we can continue to think about it more, Alex, but I I don't I think some of these things just are more of a this is where things are right now.
Um versus a you know, I would never put in a um um a superintendent goal or a strategic plan. Um anything related to some of these data points because I think some of them are more community conditions in addition to school-based
conditions. So, uh, but making the case, right, is that's what makes what's makes making the case hard. Like, if if I staff out and if I were to add 10 mental health advocates for next year, I mean, I don't have any data from next
year on how many folks I would need to respond, right? Like, so, uh, if you if you're always using lagging lagging data, then I think it's tricky. So um I will say that uh you know making sure that we have the right ecosystem dialing
into data by school right because you know you could have outliers in this data that are school-based where we might really have a problem at one school versus other schools. Um how do we allocate mental health resources? Is it the same everywhere or do we
highlight the flip the places where we know we have more issues and then do we differentiate based on trend data from previous years. So um I'm open up I'm always open to new ideas around how we can better present data to to explain
what's happening or to assess what's happening. I do think that um that there may be some limitations in in um in some of this data. Uh and I would say that to um to the extent that the Renee Crown
Wellness Institute had a research model uh that may have told us some things that um we had already assumed we knew. Like I think that's maybe some of the frustration like we we spent a whole year figuring out what like that you know we kind of did we know some of this
already. Uh so so the validation and um and then the the recommendations on some of the key findings. I mean I think they're nuance. I don't think there may be transformational changes. Things like uh folks aren't aware of the resources, right? Maybe you could have intuitively figured that out, but we've validated
that that's something we need to do. Expanding wellness centers, we could have probably intuitive figured that out. We've validated that. Um what what didn't come out of that study is that there was something that we were doing that wasn't massively not working or hurting or harming kids. Um but uh
certainly didn't give us maybe some of the transformative information that we would have hoped to to to deepen work. Um but again, you know, sometimes you do studies and sometimes that you you know, you you you find things or sometimes you validate things that you may have known.
So um I do appreciate how data centered this board is. I do appreciate the ways in which we need to think about using data to inform our community and inform our practice and inform our investments and inform our policy. And in this area, I think there's some things that we
could probably strengthen, but also um some limiting factors, but I do think that there's things that we can consider that we haven't considered previously. So, I know the team's been taking notes um and that's something we'll go back and reflect on. Last
question. There's two slides and we'll move on to our next final agenda item. >> Yeah. I just wanted to to talk about the wellness centers and see if there's a way I don't know how you kind of I mean this seems well how do we overlay kind of the wellness centers? I think
anecdotally we're hearing that more and more students use them that there's a greater need and yet the data here shows kind of you know that the maybe the need is not being met. And so I'm not sure how we're able to track um wellness centers with this data and showing that
you know it's there's real benefit to kids that there's a need for expansion. I'm not sure my question but more just like I want to be able to kind of connect the resources we have. I mean we talked obviously about the need for mental health advocates and more counselors. um you know obviously our
budget limitations there but here's an area where we potentially can expand and can provide more services um but I'm not seeing that reflected in this work in this presentation and so I don't know more of a question kind of for future looking f you know looking at this down
the road is how can we better track those centers the impact on kids to this data that we're seeing here >> yeah we did not sorry do you want to go first sorry we did not include wellness center data in the um slide deck.
We really look at our wellness centers at a universal support for students. So all students are, you know, welcome. They know about the center. They know that they can come there and find a trusted adult and we use that as a way to connect them with the supports available for our tier 2 and higher tier
three level of supports. We absolutely could look at what that looks like. But those teams in the schools, it's staffed with the mental health advocate. They work closely with the other mental health advocate and the school team, social workers, counselors, and the admin team to help support students.
>> Couple of ideas in in the findings. One of the recommendations was expand to middle schools, mental health or wellness centers to middle schools. Um I will tell you that our funding for our high school wellness centers is at risk. It is um almost 100% funded through
philanthropy through our foundation. And uh you know, one of the tricks with philanthropy is that folks um get excited about new ideas. And then how do you transition some of those startup funds into ongoing
resources? And uh given our situation with declining enrollment and budget budgetary challenges and then the changing of the school finance act uh we we are are relying on um philanthropy to
maintain our wellness centers as opposed to like a startup this is a good idea and then transitioning the cost over to central you know to district general fund dollars. So um I don't have a good answer. I I do think that um there's there's work that we can do within the
be well report that will help us. Uh I do think there's other data that we can look at to try to continue to sharpen our focus on what are the things that are emerging as they're happening. And uh but I think the our biggest risk is
that um and and you know we have the data to show that the wellness centers works. Kids who show up when they leave they're feeling better. we have that data. I I don't you know so to the extent that I could tell you if you go to a wellness center it prevents ABCD are happy I can't tell you that right I can just tell you the kids are having a
good experience and folks like them and that's why we're kind of looking that as a universal because gosh this is working kids like them we think that it's a pro preventative proactive approach and we're also connecting kids to to more kids to preventative kind of opportunities but uh resources will
become our biggest challenge here Any final questions? Board members, >> did you want to present your last two wrap-up slides? >> Is is that like a sign if your mic dies and you're done talking? Is that like a Do we have some kind of strategic micilling kind of
>> As we transition to the last few slides, uh, very few, I want to just say a couple things. Thank you for the thoughtful conversation. um around the valued and included work we're doing. And in respect to um board
member Anger's question regarding wellness center reports, our partners at Renee Crown actually do track several domains of um wellness center data including attendance, time of visit, students reasons for going, perception data before and after and other domains.
Um, also I want to recognize the my colleagues at the table for their expertise and the expertise they bring to their work every day and that they brought to this presentation and conversation. We have some other colleagues in the room who bring expertise to our schools every day and
that is our SPS or strategic plan support team. They are here. We have two administrators and three data and instruction coaches. And what you see on this slide is actually the 10 schools that make up the first two cohorts of
SPST schools. And so the first co cohort kicked off last year. I won't name those exact schools in the interest of time, but they are all included here. Um and the second cohort of schools is in active support by our STS SPS team. Now
um one thing to note, these are not one type of school. It's a heterogeneous selection of schools. We did that by design with a range of readiness and implementation uh when they enter the cohort and then when they get to and then they get to deep implementation over the course of time with support
from executive directors and a double dose of support from our SPST teams last year. the first SPST cohort, excuse me, um schools showed impressive results overall and uh the cohort the second
cohort had an advantage. They started earlier this year. Uh the cohort one started in October last year. We were building SPST last year and this year it's definitely a welloiled machine supporting schools. SPS teams are charged with accelerating the
implementation of the strategic plan in the cohort schools and they are driving schools toward the established expectations of datadriven instruction core implementation establishing and utilizing MTSS and
standardsbased instruction. And of course, all of this work is driven with short cycle improvement planning and 90-day plans, monitoring progress and adjusting actions accordingly. All of those expectations are in place in every SPST school and between our UVA schools
or SPS and our SPST schools. We've seen that these evidence-based expectations and practices are being uh not only actively supported, but are resulting in greater outcomes for students across groups. differentiated funding and support for
schools has been allocated in the form of additional FT at schools but also through our SPST teams supporting schools. Something that we have definitely uh learned is the realization that we know focus enables excellence. Strategy alone
is not enough and in fact we know that uh the ways that BBSD has scaled out this work across all schools has been getting national attention. our focus, the results. Um, UVA has asked our team to present at their annual summit in
November, which we did. They amplified our the work that we're doing through its publication in a partner spotlight. And what's proven to be true is that um success really comes from disciplined execution, focusing on fewer goals, acting on what drives those goals,
tracking progress, and being accountable. In other words, a clear narrow focus, clear goals, monitoring leading and lagging measures. And that focus and alignment can be seen in a coherent manner across our schools in BBSD more than ever before. Of course,
we still have work to do. We're aware of this and we also know we've come a long way in building coherence. We recently asked our principles who've been using 90-day plans and short cycle improvement to guide their leadership for a couple years or more what's really val valuable
about it and they told us. So, we're going to spend a couple minutes just watching what they shared because it really captures the value and the impact on school improvement and another sign from the universe. Okay, so we will skip this for now but
send you the video. unfortunately um because it's an excellent example of short cycle improvement making a big impact on leadership in schools and outcomes for students. So this brings us to the conclusion of our presentation. We're always grateful for the
opportunity to spend time with you. We value the discussion and your thoughtful questions and we're still here for any remaining questions that you might have. Just want to thank you send send a thank you out to our strategic or student
support services, the SPST teams and our MTSS teams for all you do to help improve the opportunities and outcomes for our kiddos and support our teachers in that really important work and for taking the time to answer all of our questions. Um you do amazing work and we wouldn't be where we are without all of
you. So thank you for that. Uh I would I would like to move on to our next item of the agenda if that's possible. which is >> what's the next item? >> We have an executive session still. Yeah. >> Can I ask one thing? >> Okay, one final round of questions.
>> Um, first off, I just want to thank everybody um who's presented and all the people that contributed to preparing for this and I know I sometimes ask questions and can't understand what's presented, but that's in the spirit of trying to not only for my understanding to make sure other people can understand
what's going on. So I and I know that our disciplinary stuff dealing with climate and culture and our mental health issues are are harder to measure and quantify. So I'm not trying to figure out what the quantitative numbers are for these things. I'm trying to have more insight into them and I I maybe
it's a mismatch of like well there isn't enough numbers so got a few numbers and those numbers aren't providing me insight. And so I'm if it's qualitative, if it's people telling stories, if it's people giving me their expert judgment, I'd like to hear that as a board member so I can understand how we're doing on
the mental health issues. So maybe it's not a strategic plan metric, but it is perhaps qualitative insight would be my suggestion. And then I do have a question for uh my uh fellow board members. Like we've been doing this for a while. We have two new board members. It was great at CASBY to hear Nicole and
Dr. Anderson explain sort of their theory of change of how we work as a governing board. I think these meetings are super helpful to me and give me uh a lot of information and insight. I am curious how the other board members feel about this level of the depth of inquiry and the use of this much time for it. If
anybody wanted to share >> seeing thumbs up any other last burning can't leave for winter break without this question being asked Dr. Anderson, I >> I'd love to to answer um Alex your question. I think it's helpful for us to
think it's helpful for our team to have these moments that we reflect in time, prepare, dig in, think through what's working, what's not working. Um getting great feedback from the board. You know, I've got like 10 really good ideas that came from our conversation today. Uh so
I think that to the extent there's benefits for the board, I think there's benefit for our incredible and amazing team as well. >> Thank you again for that presentation. Board members public as indicated on today's agenda. We have items to um
discuss in executive session. Is there a motion? I, Deianne Booker, make a motion pursuant to CRS24-6-424F to convene into executive session to discuss personnel matters regarding the superintendent's evaluation process,
specifically the superintendent's midyear evaluation. >> Is there a second? >> It died again. Seconded by Anna. It is time to go. Four members, we will I need to
>> shall we reconvene? Okay. Booker, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Chavez. >> Yes. >> Medler. >> Yes. >> Raj Paul. >> Now I have that one died, too. Now I
have three mics. Two of which. Yes. Tamuading. Yes. >> Anger. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Okay. We will now adjourn this public portion of today's meeting and convening Glacier.
>> Lunch is available.