e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e e this meeting to order all who are able please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag
of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for we will have our land acknowledgement read by director Egan on behalf of this board and the
Cherry Creek School District I would like to acknowledge that this meeting is being held on the ancestral and unseated lands of the Cheyenne Arapaho Ute and oet Shaka people who stewarded it for Generations the AET
Shaka band so I would also like to recognize that over 40 additional tribal Nations likely use this area for trade ceremony and social Gatherings thank you I'd like to call for a motion to approve the agenda for
for the February 10th 2025 regular Board of Education meeting so moved is there a second roll call please director's Allen I Bates I Egan Garland nolles I
motion carries I'd like to call for a motion to approve the minutes as listed on the February 10th 2025 agenda so moved is there a second second roll call please directors Allen I Bates
I Ean I Garland I nolles I motion carries now we will have our monthly reports and we'll begin with director Egan thank you and good evening thank you to Fox Ridge Middle School and principal
yamagishi for hosting us tonight and to our technology setup and Safety and Security teams for everything they do in preparation of our meetings February is Black History Month and we honor and celebrate the achievements contributions
and Legacy of black individuals who have shaped our history and Inspire Generations I was honored to deliver educator initiative Grant check to classrooms and teachers at Cherry Creek High School last week these grants made possible by the foundation really
do make a difference in our schools by rewarding the positive and Innovative work of our Educators the Cherry Creek Schools Foundation had its first service event at pton elementary on Saturday where more than 40 members of the community
gathered to assemble 2,000 hygiene kits for our school resource pantries special thanks to Comcast for sponsoring this amazing event the foundation will also be hosting his annual Elevate Gayla on Thursday March 27th visit CCSD
foundation.org to learn more about this event featuring student performances a live and silent auction and more all to support the students of Cherry Creek Schools the foundation is also looking for a new executive director the
foundation staff and board are confident in finding a new leader following Jill henden whose 13 years of service help guide the foundation's recent positive impacts the job posting can be found on the foundation's LinkedIn page
linkedin.com company CCSD Foundation the CCSD Career and Technical education department hosted the fourth annual women in Industry win event the week before last there were a record 173
8th through 11th grade CCSD girls and over 50 industry leaders in attendance at the arapo county fairgrounds when helps students explore and envision Bright Futures and challenging and rewarding careers they might not have
considered before such as Aerospace and firefighting Saturday was a busy day at CCI 2 as students gather to compete in the skills USA Regional competition thanks to all the participants families volunteers and Industry partners for
their support of this competition congratulations to the Cherry Creek High School women's swim team for winning their fifth state championship title in a row and to Cherry Creek's nurse Darcy congratulations on being named educator
of the Year by District Health Services it's power week at Cherry Creek High School the online auction is directing all of its proceeds to benefit bags of fun a nonprofit profit started by a local mother who lost her daughter to cancer this amazing organization
delivers bags filled with activities to bring joy to children in local hospitals and Cherry Creek schools has been selected to partner with the King sup Fight Hunger program throughout February and March when you purchase a reusable
Fight Hunger bag for 250 at the yose and biew king supers $1 will be donated to CCSD resource pantries Happy Valentine's Day to you and your loved ones this concludes my comments thank you director Egan
director NES thank you so much thank you to Fox Ridge Middle School for hosting and for everyone who helps make our traveling boardroom possible providing quality public education for all children is a
fundamental component of our country in our Public Schools we take all kids for the past 75 years the Cherry Creek School District has been committed to public education and providing a quality education through our neighborhood
schools over the years much has been added to the plates for of public education for example it's become the place where children may get the only meals of their day it's become child care for working parents due to advancements in medicine we now have
more medically fragile children in our schools than ever before this is incredible and it it comes with the need for additional staff and knowledge Cherry Creek has taken on these additional responsibilities and additional mandates oftentimes investing
more money than were allocated by state or federal funds because of our commitment to Excellence this the past several weeks have brought a lot of uncertainty to our country including to the future of public education I ask that you please stay engaged please commit to keeping
education free and accessible for all students I ask that you speak up and Advocate by calling your members of Congress and Senators call our governor and please encourage state legislators to work towards protecting public education in Colorado I also encourage
in this time to seek connections make a commitment to take care of each other choose to see the humanity and everyone around you we are all more alike than we are different hes and dreams you have for your kids are the same hopes and dreams others have for their kids keep
yourself grounded by staying connected with people around you we can continue to make a big impact in our local community stay engaged and stay hopeful thank you so much thank you director nolles director
Allan thank you president Garland and good evening everyone it's great to be back at Fox Ridge and thank you to the community for hosting and for our setup and security teams for all the behind the scenes work they do every month um February is Black History Month and it's
a time to honor the achievements and contributions of black Americans throughout history in Cherry Creek we integrate black history into our curriculum year round ensuring that all students see themselves in what they learn I encourage families to
participate in District and community events celebrating at the federal level we continue preparing for potential ice activity in our community our our Response Team remains focused on training communication and ensuring
every student feels safe and supported our commitment is clear Cherry Creek Schools welcomes every student and staff member without exception we remain committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment where every student can
Thrive at the state level the proposed elimination of declining enrollment averaging threatens to cut and 17 threatens to cut 17 million from our uh from our district roughly 170 teachers schools cannot adjust overnight to
funding changes and funding stability is essential we have testified against the proposal and I encourage parents to contact lawmakers and voice their concerns at the local level as a board we are responsible for
requiring for acquiring reliable information analyzing data and evaluating educational programs and outcome assessments to make informed decisions that shape the quality of Education in our district this year our district achieved a record
high ontime graduation rate of 91.2% for the class of 2024 exceeding the state average of 84.2% and the national average of 87% these gains reflect our commitment to expanding opportunities and improving
outcomes for all students we will continue to assess our programs use reliable data to guide decisions and hold ourselves accountable for PR preparing students for their future Cherry Creek School District recently held its women and Industry
forum and I will um Echo what director Egan said about the event um I I had the opportunity to attend the full day forum and it is a place where CCSD students met female professionals across a
variety of Industries I had the opportunity to lead a small small group sessions at the conference speaking with students about careers in the law and criminal justice these discussions highlighted opportunities challenges and the importance of representation in
these fields it was inspiring to see students engage with professionals and gain confidence in their future careers I recently hopped on a school bus with Falcon Creek eighth graders a whole Bus full of eighth graders to go visit our chair Creek Innovation campus
and while they thought it was eye opening my eyes were opened watching them experience walking onto that campus for the first time um the kids got to explore Hands-On opportunities with Fields like healthcare it and skilled
trades and these experiences help students connect classroom learning to real world opportunities making a lasting impact as they plan for high school and discover their pathway of purpose and also Rec at the 2025 Cherry Creek School District spelling Beast
students showcased their incredible skills and determination congratulations to our fifth grade Champion anelie kakar I practiced that so many times I'm sorry Angelie the top 20 students now move on to the state competition and we are
incredibly proud of all of our participants who put in the hard work to compete at that level parent involvement strengthens our schools and supports Student Success here are some upom coming ways to get involved the special education advisory committee meets on March 13th at 9:30 to
11:30 at the Fremont building this month's topic is getting started with advocacy a valuable discussion for parents navigating also consider joining your school's accountability committee or voices of color committee both are great
ways to shape our schools the next Grand View accountability and voices meeting begins is on April 10th at 6 pm. and you should check your C your school's calendars for dates of these meetings and lastly please join us for the Grand
View versus Cherry Creek girls varsity basketball game on February 12th at 5:30 p.m. these top ranked teams promise an exciting high energy matchup come out and support our student athletes and school Community thank you for being here tonight and for your continued
engagement in our schools thank you director Allan director Bates thank you and good evening thank you again to Fox bridge for hosting us this evening and as always thank you to all that helped make these meetings happen
um without you all we would be um stuck in a small boardroom without any visitors um I would also like to say thank you to the board and DT to take time off to care for my own physical health I appreciate your
understanding when I had to miss meetings and activities in that vein I have not attended many activities since winter break so I would like to discuss what has been going on in our country recently regarding diversity equity and
inclusion I am sickened by what we see what we are seeing that this is being taken away from so many places Dei has been made out to be a system of hiring people based solely on their race religion or their identity this is
simply not the case I can almost guarant guarantee that every one of you is sorry every one of you in this room has benefited from Dei let me just list a few that you may
take advantage of on a regular basis and never thought of it as diversity inclusion or Equity we have wheelchair ramps curb cutouts and elevators in all facilities we have flexible work hours for f for those who have families there's job
protection now for those who are returning to work from an extended leave for illness or caregiving we have ergonomic tools such as standing desks footrests and risk supports we even have tuition reimbursement for continuing education
ccea even offers free classes for our teachers to earn credits we have access to Industry conferences and training programs even this board takes advantage of that and attends an annual conference to learn from other districts in our state
mental health days and wellness programs we have those to reduce burnout from our staff many of our schools if not all have zenen for our staff now so they can take time there's also areas for our students as well to take time out from
their day we have teleah health services for both physical and mental health breastfeeding and pumping areas for private with privacy and comfortable seating yes women would feed their babies in the bathroom stall or a
changing room in the past we also have changing tables in all restrooms now there was a time when only women's restrooms had changing tables and fathers had to change babies on the dirty floor or get creative and of course making our best
effort to hire staff that represents the diverse nature of our students in both race gender and Creed this is only a short list of what diversity equity and inclusion is all
about there are many Resources with list of items that help all so please take a look at you your family your friends have you been helped by having these systems in place if the answer is yes
why then should these be getting dismantled please remember that February along with being black history month is also the month of love please go out spread that stuff like it is glitter one small gesture can lead to a whole
movement and that concludes my comments thank you director Bates good evening and thank you to the fo the Foxridge Community for hosting us tonight the long grage planning committee met in late January over the past two and a half years this committee
has focused on addressing the maintenance and capital Improvement needs throughout our district the committee has worked closely with members of our district leadership team to assess Community Trends and also the improvements needed by several buildings more specifically they helped develop a
PRI prioritized list of Capital Improvements which played a key role in shaping the mill the mill Levy and bond package presented by this board to our voters during the January meeting the group received an overview of several departments including Transportation
nutrition and finance we also talked about Trends in population and the growth within our community these reports served as a reminder that our school district is larger than many cities in our state it truly takes a Vi Village to manage and
support this educational Community the long range committee will continue its work and forwarding forwarding information to the board regarding our District's needs some members of the long range committee also s also received an overview of several issues currently
facing facing our school district in the legislature including challenges around the proposed budget potential cuts to K through 12 and the school and school Finance as a whole congratulations to Independence Elementary School specifically the third
graders that participated in Civics lessons and then wrote letters to Aurora's Mayor Mike Kaufman mayor kof visited with the students and engaged with the classes and held a Q&A and and held a Q&A session it's it's exciting to see the
next generation of Voters already engaged in their local government a big congratulations to the Smoky Hill Community on a successful wish week wish week provides our students with an opportunity to conduct and participate in in a philanthropic campaign at every level also it's Smoky
Hill a good job and well done to teachers of the Year Kelly stros who teaches math and Chris Toco who teaches social studies parents of middle and high schoolers please check your school's website for information regarding course enrollment for the 2025 26 school
year finally over the past month I've had the opportunity to interact with students and community members on various evening and weekend events both at schools and in our community additionally I've taken advantage of opportunities to converse with state legislators and both Chambers and on both sides of the aisle about various
issues surrounding school funding and how some of these current proposals would negatively impact not only Cherry Creek but districts across our state please stay engaged and happy black history month thank you and now we'll have comments from superintendent
Smith thank you president Garland thank you Fox Ridge Middle School for hosting us tonight I appreciate it thank you for your leadership and thank you for all that you do for our students each and every day um I also want to recognize black history month and the contributions our black community has given to our school district our
surrounding community and this world representative hamri welcome thank you for all that you do for our school district we appreciate you um a couple of things that I just want to share with us and that have been touched on by our Board of Education first off I just want to say thank you to our board of
education for always having the focus on what's most important and that is the students who walk through the doors of Cherry Creek Schools every single day and as stated earlier we welcome all we welcome everyone it doesn't matter your race
your religion who you love how you identif ify we welcome you here Cherry Creek is a family and while this world is uncertain one thing is not we stand in our core values and we will continue to push forward and making sure that all
of our students get the best education they possibly can this afternoon I sent out a video to our community talking about our undocumented and immigrant families and the resources that we are providing to them on Saturday and on Tuesday there are opportunities for
those families to know their rights from an organization called Diversified also this afternoon I sent out a video to All staff talking about the things that we are doing and the things that I ask of them to continue to love every student as they come through the doors
of Cherry Creek not just this month but every month and ensuring that they know that they're valued and they're cared about and they will be taught to the best of our ability every single day I also do want to talk about the DraStic cuts that are being talked about at the
state level the state budget has been balanced on the back of public education for the last 15 years it's someone else's turn our students deserve the resources that they need to have the education that is properly given to them and we will fight
to ensure that that happens and I'm not just talking about Cherry Creek School District I'm talking about all the students in the state of Colorado they deserve the best of what we can give them and once again we've done our part and it's time for someone else to lean
in and we will continue to be down at the capital and have these conversations and while our world is turbulent and while things are uncertain it is my job to remain calm as superintendent of this school district it is my job to ensure that people get
the information that they need and our students get the care that they deserve and I will continue to do that so I will continue to send out Communications once a week so our staff is informed about all the different things that are happening because while I trust my principles to get them that information
it's important for me to share information with our staff every week because I'm the superintendent and I will continue to go out to schools and have conversations with staff if they ask me to come but I want one thing to be Crystal Clear we
are public education and it is our job to make sure that we welcome everyone and the students that spoke this evening spoke of equity spoke of diversity and the value that they as students have in those areas Equity is not a dirty word
Equity is about the lived experiences of those that we serve and those that we serve alongside it is incredibly important that I know your story because your story is who you are that is equity Equity is ensuring that every
student who walks through the doors gets what they need at the level that they need it the resources that they need if they need food we provide it if they need extra education we provide it if they need transportation we provide it that is equity and it is one of our core
values and we will continue to do it and there are trainings that we do in this District about some of the things and some of the lived experiences that our families go through being a white male my experience is very different than a black
female and those perceptions that are put on them I do not take that lightly and we need to continue to support everyone in this district and I will continue to do so this is public education this is what I came in for and
this is what I will fight for and I will continue to fight for it every single day because it it's a window and a door of opportunity for many of our students so I thank our staff all of our staff for what they do do for our
students each and every day because I know it's not easy and these times are making it even less easy but I care about you is who you are so if please reach out because I need you to take care of our students so if
you need supports please reach out to your leadership so we can get you what you need and with that I'd like to thank our Librarians over here for actually having a really fun opportunity coming to us Cherry Creek Reeds week so thank you for
your leadership that's one of the most fun times I get to do is go out to schools and read the kids so thank you for constantly making that a priority especially while our strategic plan is reading so thank you for that I I I I really really appreciate it and that
concludes my comments Miss Garland thank you superintendent Smith and also thank you for your leadership I mean I know um it's not not easy to have these conversations right now so thank you for your bravery and being um just a Forward Thinking leader appreciate
appreciate that now I'd like to introduce Scott Smith our Chief Financial Officer Chief Operating Officer for uh um operations update this evening thank you superintendent Smith uh board members I'm here with an update on our operations um as you know we are
an incredibly large organization and um generally we like to stay in the background and not be visible um but as I tell all of our folks um they're all Educators as well um we have the opportunity to greet our kids
first um see them at lunchtime and be the last ones that they see at the end of the day and so our operations team plays a huge role and so thank you to Mr David Henderson who is here Kim Kilgore Matt Schaefer Gary Thompson Mark Van Cleave um all those folks who help make this happen every single
day so we'll touch a little bit on each of the areas just brief and giving an update on where we are at so thank you to our voters who passed a $950 million bond this fall um we are off and running um we were the first school district out of the gate we did a ton of work up
front to be ready to go um and we have already broken ground in some places but you can see here the biggest projects that we have the doubling the size of the ccic um building a pool at Overland as well as refreshing the IST building rebuilding Loro Middle School building a
new single building for the holes rebuilding West the west building of Cherry Creek High School and then finishing our new nutrition Warehouse um are all well um into production um we have broken ground in places but you can see um we're going to have some buildings start to open uh for the 26 27
school year um and then you'll see the rest come online after that um the ccic I still remember the first time I walked in there I was not working at this school district and I said oh my goodness no one has anything like this and still no one has anything like like it and now we'll be able to double the
size of it um one thing that you'll notice on these slides is that we've started to understand where we're at with budget um we built our budgets based construction estimates um construction is expensive as I've told you altitude Elementary cost us about 28 million Woodland cost us 35 million and
prices only continue to go up from there um good news on ccic is we're slightly under budget um we're seeing prices at our different um construction areas anywhere from $600 a square foot up to 700 $ a square foot it might depend on um the partner that we're using it might
depend on the materials the finishes the square footage the complexity of the project um but all of this goes into our plans and how we adjust the bond over time and so good news is on the CCI is that we're coming in slightly under budget overland's the other side of the coin um we slightly underestimated the
cost but there will be no uction in scope we have Savings in other places we make sure that we have contingency in so that we can execute all of these plans um the pool building at Overland will be bigger than our other pools in the fact that it's our it's a standalone building it's not part of the rest of the campus
um it will be eight Lanes just like Cherry Creek High School is as well and so we are building a facility there that I think is going to be um truly magnificent for the Overland feeder as well as refreshing the IST building to make sure as we've talked before that it becomes what it was truly envisioned to
be um which are Pathways um for our kids that are largely on the Overland campus but also Pathways that are unique and if our kids at other schools want to access them just like they do now through IST they're able to do that as well the r is on budget 150,000 foot new
Middle School um the flythroughs the designs um it will be spectacular um it will be probably as Stark a difference as any two buildings that we will see from where we're at to where we are going um we are right now um getting close to getting to those groundbreaking ceremonies we'll be doing that at every
single building engaging with the community celebrating with the community but Laredo is moving along um with our other projects the Hol um we are expected to be on budget there as well um we had a great community meeting there a few weeks ago um you know talking about how
do we preserve the history and Legacy of those two buildings they're the third and fourth oldest buildings in the district um the community was great excited um not surprising their biggest concerns are the logistics of how all this happens in a very crowded place over the next 18 months or so um I will
give a ton of credit to Molly the principal um she said you know for one year I can make anything happen and when we talk about growth mindset that is exactly what we are talking about because when this is said and done um hopefully everyone will forget about some of those bumps and bruises along the way because we'll have a truly
incredible facility um that reflects the uh education experience that's already occurring at the Hol Cher Creek High School phase one um so this is the most complex project it's also the last one that is going we are in the midst of a year-long design um
right now you can see that red box um if you haven't put together a lot of the people in this room work underneath that red box um and we are going to be displacing them and knocking down those admin buildings to replace um the west building at Cherry Creek High School um it will definitely be inconvenient we're
going to find Space um nearby to rent for a few years until we find a permanent home but the question in my mind is always um if we're going to inconvenience someone should it be the 4,000 students or the 200 adults and that's a very easy question when you're um looking at what the core values and
why we are here for this organization and so um we have selected a general contractor there jhl who's been a partner of the district for a long time and are just starting on that process um of Designing the new West building at Cherry Creek High School enrollment um we are not unlike
almost every District on the Front Range declining in enrollment largely due to demographics birth rates are down across this County across the state country and the world um what's interesting here is that in the past um you can see our kindergarten enrollment um in red and
births in blue and it tracks pretty closely with it but you'll notice for a long time we had more kindergarteners than births that means people were moving in in between those first five years now that is flipped where we have fewer kindergarteners than births that's largely reflective of the cost of living
um in our district but you can see that those track very closely together and a very good proxy for what um enrollment should look like in the long term so we've declined from a high of about about 55,000 students to just over 52,000 students this year and we will
continue to decline by a couple hundred students every single year until we flatten out uh the state demographer is projecting increased bursts in arapo county and Cherry Creek School District and so we'll see that we'll grow in enrollment again again in outside the forecast period which we're pretty
comfortable with about five years but this is important because you'll hear a lot of rhetoric at the state around changing how we count kids and what we should do to save money and unfortunately from the state the answer is well you just need to close schools faster um that might work in some communities but we don't have any
schools to close at this time um we may have schools that we need to repurpose in the future that we need to look at as enrollment continues to decline but we run really big schools our smallest Elementary School is bigger than the vast majority of elementary schools in other districts and so sometimes these
very simplistic Solutions are based on a narrative that we might hear out of our larger districts in the metro area but just don't apply everywhere and so the ability for us to be strategic and plan for our enrollment is really key in making sure that we can deliver a robust education for all of our kids for the I
guess now 14 years that they are with us with universal preschool our district is largely built out um one of the largest last developments is Prairie point this was previously known as Kings Point um as the folks who have been around here longer than I have have told me um we've
been 6 months away from moving dirt for about the last 20 years but I'm happy to tell you today we're about 6 months mons away from moving dir um if this were to come on full online um you can see the impacts into our schools in that area um due to declining room we don't have any concerns especially at Liberty Middle
School and Grand View um we may have to look at Creekside Elementary and boundaries few years away should we have to get there and we'll have to see how the rest of the enrollment plays through um but this is there are about three developments that are left this is the biggest um but also the one that has been delayed over and over and over
again so we'll continue to update the board as we go further our food service we heard about the great Kim Kilgore here today her team pulls off Miracles every single day um before the pandemic we were serving about 4 million meals a day we're now serving about six or Sorry 4 million
meals a year six million meals now we are about to serve 40,000 meals a day right now um it's a really easy to say that number when you think about what that would take I'm still blowing away that we're able to do it um and we're doing it in a warehouse that was built
for about 15,000 fewer kids and 20 fewer schools um so that's why we're excited to bring on our new nutrition Warehouse that can actually serve all of our kids and be able to ensure that we have robust meal offerings Choice cultural sensitivity all of those things that we want to make sure that we offer when we talk about equity and whole well-being
nutrition services plays a h a huge piece in that we receive about half of our funding from the federal government so you can um probably not surprised when we heard that all federal funding was being paused that was a huge concern um we received receive about $50 million
a year in federal funding across USDA Medicaid Title One idea support for our students of special education needs it's a real amount of money and would have a material impact in our district should that go away um but you can see we have state reimbursement and we have all the
cart sales as well and I know that's a topic that a lot of parents bring up and so I'm going to touch on that in a second because I've learned a lot having two kids um who go through the meal program Miss kilar always says that I probably know more about the day-to-day menu than she does um because we're always judging on whether we have to pack a home lunch or send the kids to
eat hot lunch at school the menu is a real Balancing Act um we've got challenges logistically in our warehouse and what we're able to do but there are probably no surprise to anyone there are lots of rules and regulations that we have to follow um but most importantly we have to keep our kids safe so whether
it's food safety allergies special diets those kinds of things all of that um is at the hands of our food service team they take that very seriously as we're serving as I said about 40,000 meals a day we try to make all as much as we can in house and from scratch that will get a
lot better with our new facility as we have space to do it um but I think a lot of the things that people don't realize is the food we serve um is appealing and it is delicious and it's also healthy and it's not always what it appears to be so for instance we get Domino's Pizza
a lot of times on Wednesday I know that Wednesday is always Pizza day um but you cannot buy that Domino's Pizza as a normal consumer Domino's has a separate production line just for K12 schools so that it meets all of the nutrition requirements from the national school
lunch program the same thing is true on our allart sales it looks exactly like the bag of Doritos that you buy at the grocery store except it probably couldn't be any different um and that's the intent right is that we want our kids um to be getting healthy food right
and yes there are allart sales um that we have but they all meet the na the guidelines of the national school lunch program and the smart snack program but they are Des designed to look just like the other food that you eat that Rice Krispy treat you cannot get unless you are in a public School lunchroom um
right but these businesses have set up separate business lines to be able to comply with these standards and of course parents can limit if they don't want their kids to have certain things or the amount of money they spend they have that ability of course um through their kids uh lunch program
Transportation so we run 250 routes every single day roughly half are special education routes and half are conventional routes we continue to add more routes so whether it's due to changing boundaries of schools and what feeders they're in
um but also as we have new students with special education their IND individualized education program their IEP if it requires them to have transportation um we have to transport those kids as well and so we have cover as many of those routes and house as we can but no District can cover all of the
routes that they have to inhouse and so we rely on thirdparty contractors we also use third party contractors for non-sp special education routes so it might be kids who qualify under mckin vento to attend their school that they first attended before um they went through housing and security or it might
be kids who need rides to Traverse Academy right who don't have access to that we are able to provide them rides to make sure that they can access the programs that they want we do more in transportation than any large District on the Front Range um in DPS once you reach high school you get an RT RTD bus
pass our other big districts are doing kind of Furlow weeks and timeouts and changing walk distances and all these things as I've talked to the superintendent about a core value of equity if you can't access a program it's not truly Equitable right and so we do things that nobody else does from
midday routes to the ccic shuttles with our ilc students getting out in the community um they do an absolutely incredible job our mechanics are right there with them um we have a three shops across our district in addition to all the buses we service you can see there
about 250 addition um vehicles that we have whether they're trailers or what we call White Fleet for our trades and security folks they are working all the time to keep us on the road um a celebration here is we do have an apprenticeship program through Transportation we've hired um two of our
own students after they've graduated to become mechanics with us um and put them on a career path um being a diesel mechanic whether hopefully it's here at the school district but anywhere else they want to go some celebrations for the first time in 20 years we've filled all of our buses system positions um
that is a massive win especially for families with students with special education needs um we've been able to replace buses um we're able to replace about 1 15th of our Fleet every year um and so that really helps our bus drivers with safer buses lower emissions um it's
everything that you know you recognize when you change cars in your personal life right um but that's their working environment that's also our kids environment first thing they see when they come to school and the last thing that they see we're continuing to push the use of our bus cards so swiping on and off is you go off the bus it's really a security measure we know where
kids are when we need to find a kid um we know if they're on the bus or not if they got off at the wrong stop if they didn't get off at all whatever it may be um our elementary kids are doing great middle schoolers are doing better high schoolers are still a little bit of a tough nut to crack um but we are getting there and then a massive uh celebration
is Wanda on our bus team they do these things called bus rodeos and there's one in Colorado and peblo every year that we do very well but Wanda actually won the national bus rodeo champion which is all about how do you drive safely back you know things I think about backing around a corner in a passenger vehicle and then
do it in a 70 passenger bus um those types of things and she is the national bus rodeo Champion a great celebration for Cherry Creek lastly facility operations so we have almost 8 million square feet of space so whether you think about keeping
that maybe to my colleague shagrin hot enough or cold enough um on a day-to-day basis um clean all the plumbing that has to keep working working um all of those things that hopefully you never notice were there but when something goes wrong you definitely want us there and so
really what we have stressed is that all of our people are Educators and play an important role about our grounds Department um just like adults if you go into a building that isn't well kept or doesn't look invested in um you don't really think that the people want you there or want you know to feel that
you're included there our grounds team just like our bus drivers is the first impression we get to make what does it look like to come to work here what does it look like to come to school here um that is important that goes into culture and climate and we're really driving that that yes we're here to keep the buildings running and keep them healthy
and safe but we're also here to build relationships with kids and make sure that our schools are welcoming places and our pillars of our community as well right we know that our we run a very strong neighborhood School model that means we're in the middle of neighborhoods we need to make sure that we're doing our part um to match that
look and that feel in that neighborhood we hired as I mentioned Van Cleave is our new director of facilities he's really taken a data approach to this and saying you know we we obviously have to fix things when things go wrong but let's start to shift some of our work and start to do more preventative maintenance because the best problem
that we can have is one that never actually occurs right that we catch things before they fail or we fix areas that haven't been attended to and then our schools can spend their time focused on what they need to which is educating kids um they don't need to be spending their time on putting in work orders and double-checking and making sure that things are running that's our job to
take care of our our maintenance team unlike um other places really leans into construction and maintenance and so there are to be projects in addition to our bond projects this Summer that are maintenance team is helping to lead so whether it's Roofing Electrical Plumbing HVAC all of those things as well and so
as you go around if you see a building engineer or you see other folks um that we have here on our team um for Maintenance and Facilities um they are the quiet champions in our district and um you know we're very lucky in this district and I that extends to our facility folks as well they do an
incredible job and sometimes we joke we wish they didn't do such an incredible job because it makes it harder to convince people that we have Capital needs um but a lot of those are Behind the Walls that you don't get to see all the time so you know in closing I'm incredibly blessed I came up the finance side um and was able to take a role here
that included operations and being able to work and learn from David Henderson and the other great people in this department um Cherry Creek is truly lucky to have this group in operations um and our kids are the beneficiaries of that and I'm truly proud to work with them and I'm happy to answer any
questions that our board members may have thank you uh director Egan do you have any questions hi thank you for being here Mr Smith it's good to see you I wanted to just have a shout out to Kim Kilgore who's sitting back there about doing
such exceptional work around our food services and making things that are appetizing for our students to eat I know you feed thousands and thousands of students and we appreciate that so thank you uh I'd also just like to just mention a
couple things I know that um when we went to tour the bus hub it was fascinating to see that in process and to all the parts that go around that just that we don't realize in terms of also the the work that goes on in our
schools that we don't see that's behind scenes and so much of our Mill and bond and our budget goes to those kinds of things too and so I think it's it's good to be able to have it lined out and see it on the screen um I wondered if you could talk just a little bit about um
Universal free meals what's happening with that at the federal and state level sure so I mean I think the first thing is that we absolutely love and support the idea of universal free males I think we've seen um correlation in our data
around treny chronic absenteeism student performance um the stigma around especially at our Title One schools we're seeing way more participation by our students who already qualify for free reduced lunch um and so it's a win all around the the challenge is that and
it's a familiar story unfortunately in Colorado lately is that it's underfunded um and the state has been backfilling it with reserves um but essentially we designed a program that didn't have enough Revenue to support it um you know I would like to say in Cherry Creek
we're not going to go backwards um but we need the state to make sure that they fund School finance and um everything that they have asked us to do I think the challenging part is that in order to qualify for State reimbursement we have to do everything to maximize Federal
reimbursement first and some changes that have been proposed out of the new Administration are going to make that much more difficult um the first is that there's a provision called a community eligibility provision or C and essentially the idea is that if your community qualifies at such a rate for
free lunch we can reasonably extrapolate that the entire Community could benefit from free lunch that's oversimplifying it but that's the idea um the new Administration essentially wants to Triple the threshold of what you would have to do to qualify in order to get your entire School qualified the other
is that um income verification so if you submit a an application for free lunch by law we're required to audit 3% of those applications to ensure that you do indeed qualify for free lunch the new um proposed regulation would be 100% audit
of every single application um I will tell you having talked to Kim we don't catch a lot of fraud waste and abuse among people applying for free school lunch um and I think this is just another example of where we are trying to balance the budget on the backs of
those who are the most vulnerable um the bang for your buck of auditing from you know and again we can be reasonable on anything if you said we need to go from 3% to 6% or whatever it may be we're not here trying to fight that we understand what the idea would be but it seems to me to be incredibly punitive um and
targeted um to Som how suggest that folks who are trying to qualify free lunch at school are the ones gaming the system yeah I it's it's an issue there's if we expect schools and we expect K12 public education to be all things to all
families and all students it's important that our kids don't go hungry and we start with that so I I guess I was unaware that we have a I don't didn't think we had a diesel mechanic program currently we we did we
do so there are there's some Diesel and then um Smokey is the big Automotive area and then we run an apprenticeship in partnership with the ccic through our transportation okay but not stand alone at ccic no not at ccic that's what I wondered I think I misheard you uh and
then also I guess just the last thing is I know that I'm preaching to the choir on this but with declining enrollment and with these situations that are tricky and will become more tricky going forward I just I think and I talked
about this both times I ran for election about making sure that our communities our our Public Schools really are the Cornerstone of our community and I just those decisions are just it's hard to have that looming out there it is and I
think where we we've looked at is you know the $17 million cut that the governor has contemplated is the equivalent of shutting down four elementary schools um we don't have one Elementary School to close right now but that is the equivalent or two middle schools or one high school um that's
just not the reality in our district and so what I've always told people is you know if we lose a 100 Kids across 65 schools and 13 grades nothing changes here at all but the governor wants to cut us 7 million
in that equation right and I think that's um helping to understand that what really matters in our district is when we have to hire more staff or redu staff if we're getting smaller right it's not a one for one function it's when do we need another teacher another nurse another assistant principal or vice versa as you know the
superintendent and I have talked is if we lost 100 Kids 20 kids a grade all at one school you could cut us one for one and we'll figure it out but when you spread it across the system it just doesn't work like that um and unfortunately that's falling on De fears
right now yeah no absolutely but thank you thanks for being here tonight appreciate it thank you director nolles thank you so much um very interesting and every time I hear it I
learn again something new even though we've heard this before you know I was looking at the population of Colorado cities and if you added together our staff and our students we would be around number 20 between Littleton and
Parker um so yeah it's a significant amount of people that we serve and you have great teams um so I really appreciate you sharing tonight uh I love your slides they're always informative I go back to them when I talk to people
and let them know about what's happening in the district when they have questions because you just have a lot of really good facts in there so thank you so much for preparing such good slides um that we can then take that information and bring it out to the community um I you might have shared
this before but can you remind us if you have what do you think will happen to the old food nutrition Warehouse when the new one's built or do you know no I think in all of these pieces is that we're committed to use it in some way in an instructional way right and so we know and I'm just throwing out ideas so
please don't hold me to it right we know we need more space for endeavor would we look at expanding that campus using it we're going to need a place for ESC at some point as we move out in the long term um you know we've talked about things about resource pantries and Community um access to those kind of
resources um different magnet programs we even talked about possibly at one point chassa was looking for space and would we rent it to chassa or a portion to chassa um I think the biggest thing we've talked about this with Holly Ridge as well the nutrition Warehouse those kind of things is that we're not getting
rid of that land we're not selling that land we're going to use it for something instructional um but we haven't gotten there yet and that's really what comes out of the 2028 bond is what do we do with those spaces we know another one is we need spots for four-year-olds Universal preschool is is great um but
we also need room form so we look at preschool centers across the district um there are plenty of ideas among my colleagues percolating when we're sitting in cabinets um and I we will put it to good use but we're not quite there yet okay yeah it's kind of fun to think about uh I asked most of my questions
when you presented to us last week so I don't have any anym but just want to also comment that I love the farm references in transportation like the rodeo um and the bus barn like the images that they create are so fun um so
just wanted to throw that comment out there thank you so much thank you director Allan thank you so much for your presentation again I I agree with um director NOS I learn something every
time um this is presented and it is it's so incredible to think about the community we serve not just the population but how big it is um physically so I just wanted to start with something that I'm always reminded
of um you know superintendent Smith talks all the time about the importance of relationships beginning with the bus driver at the beginning of the of the day and um just anecdotal story story whenever I get all the eighth grade girls that are in my life together
because my daughter is in eighth grade um I ask I ask those things I I love hearing about what what relationships they're building and what's important to them and one of the questions I ask is who's the first person you would buy a present to to say thank you and the
amount of times I hear the bus driver is incredible so they they are driving this bus with 76 sth and eighth graders and that's the person that stands out to them and I think that's remarkable so thank you to that Transportation team
and to true to our word about all all of the all of these relationships matter it's not once they walk into school it's how how they feel when they get there so thank you um and I would say the same with food and nutrition thank you Kim for creating such an incredible environment for our employees to work
and to be proud of where they work and to be proud of how how they're serving our kids even when they're when it when it's behind the scenes um so thank thank you so much and and we do recognize how much more there is to this District than the the faces that we see every single
day in the classroom so thank you I don't have any other questions but keep up the good work thank thank you director Bates all right thank you again um always appreciate this um presentation
um one question I do have is on the bus routes how accurate is the GPS um for estimated times of arrival and things like that I hear I hear parents come and I I hear things I read things and you know oh well they're late
again well check the app but I'm it's a fair point I think you know in a perfect world yes it's accurate I will say it's more information than our parents have ever had in the past you know your kid is on the bus and those things but um you know there are things that we deal with in transportation
where if you know we have an accident or something like that we have to wait for a relief bus to come right or we're in traffic at the worst times of every day um it still mystifies me how often times the massive yellow school bus gets hit um by people that somehow didn't see it
coming around the corner um but it's you know it's those types of things our driver's job number first and foro first and foremost is to keep kids safe and then it's to deliver them on time um and so if there are specific instances we're happy to look into it and see if there
is a systemic issue with it um but I will tell you is in a semi Urban type environment predicting arrival times perfectly sometimes proves more difficult well is it based though on GPS or no yes it is based on GPS so so if
you're sitting if if the yellow bus is sitting because it's been hit they should be able to know that their bus is just sitting there and we will push out with our Communications team and other folks whether it's messages through the app or through other things to let folks know and that's and that's I guess the real question is too then I
guess are parents really UTI are they utilizing the app like they should be using the app and how how can we push it up to more parents to use it because we continue to push it all the time I will tell you A lot of times where it has helped is where we get the feedback of
this bus is 20 minutes late all the time and we go and look at it and it's actually not or other things or it it may be right but we now have the data that proves that out and so we can adjust routes we can add more buses um it's especially difficult at the beginning of the year um but as that
gets ironed out um it generally runs a lot smoother and I'll give a lot of credit to our transportation team and our schools they really leaned in over the past couple years to figure out you know it's not as simple the first week of school is just going to pick up all the kids where you think they're going to be right they move around they Chang the grades change those kind of things
um but we've come a long way with it and that real-time data does help us because we don't want to be running buses that are half full right we don't have the luxury of doing that right and so we're able to respond quicker um but I've also know we've used it with Safety and Security we know if a kid has eloped or hasn't been found have they gotten on a
bus have they gotten off of a bus um you know even when parents are frustrated and I understand it but we know if a kid gets off at the wrong stop exactly which stop they got off at that helps law enforcement that helps everyone find that kid that much quicker so I would say that yes there are some growing pains and things that we need to work on
but overall um from a safety standpoint it is definitely a huge step in the right direction thank you um and just just one other comment I know you mentioned the other day the $50 million in the federal funds what people I I don't think people
realize is that if we lose that it's 500 teaching positions that we really it's it's 500 staff members right because you know teachers we spend 90% of our money on people 75% of that is on licensed teaching staff there's no way that
teachers don't get affected and there's also no way that principles and assistant principles and nurses and bus drivers and up and down the organ gation um at $50 million is the equivalent of closing 12 elementary schools um there's no way to do that without impacting real
core service of of our school district and I mean it'd be one thing I don't think any of us super surprised from the federal level of what we've heard and what's been coming um but when your Governor is trying to do it to you at the same time that makes it even worse the thing that I would just add to that Miss Bates and I appreciate the
question is is it to to our most sensitive Learners so when you're thinking about this it's it's it's an impact on our most sensitive learning at title schools and special education and all of those other aspects so again to your point in your comments you know putting it on the backs of our most
needy kids and families than again I know mentioned the meals and the cut from the government that that we don't even get enough money from the those that's just it's incredible what
they're able to do um you know we're not immune from inflation and other things um you know it's you know when Kim told me my kids loved the quesadillas that they had one day and she told me it takes 3,000 pounds of cheese to make quesadillas for one day in this school
district um that food inflation is very real and they do everything that they do for $425 a meal at lunch um it's incredible yeah okay all right and finally as a former swim
mother I appreciate the fact that you are making the Overland swimming pool um an eight lane pool I appreciate that's going to be an eight lane pool and that that facility will be larger than our other high schools because it needs to
be it's tight in our other schools so I app I appreciate that so thank you that concludes that's my question um I do have a couple questions um for um I know there's like all this
discussion around making our Fleet like all electric um what are some of the challenges or are we able to do that it thank you president gar that's a great question um one thing that I am proud of is having brought some more green practices to the district and a little
bit more of an eye on those types of things um but we're running an $800 million organization and needs to make sense um the unfortunate reality is that electric buses the story that has been sold doesn't reflect the reality of how that would work and so we have for using
a terrible pun we have kicked the tires on um electric buses and it's just not real yet I think it will be at one day um right now we spend about $130,000 per bus an electric bus is about $425 um so you're at roughly three times
the cost um the weight of those elect buses two out of our three um bus barns can't their Bays can't accommodate the weight there are basement under the bays and we've been told that those Bays will collapse under the weight of the electric buses um we had Excel run us a
quote to put charging stations at one of our Terminals and just the infrastructure was $2 million and then the real downside was by the time we could plug in all the buses at night they wouldn't have time to fully charge before they have to leave in the morning um the other challenges around Fleet Management on long distance and in cold
and Mountain trips and those kinds of things um we really thought that propane was an area we'd look at the industry is starting to move away from propane um as an alternative fuel um more and more energy is around hydrogen and clean energy derived through that process I
think that has more of a chance um but I also think there's opportunities with what we call our White Fleet so all of our trades our security those kind of things that's much more of an opportunity in the short term um I fully believe electric bus are going to get there we're just not there yet and it's
unfortunate that I think the story's been built that anyone who's not doing it is missing something um I would say leaning in with my colleagues who have gone down that path we're not missing anything um and it's created more headaches than um problems that's solved
but when it makes sense we're going to do it it's just not there yet I know our students are gone but we used to call that and when something wasn't quite working out we would call that the struggle Buzz so I don't know if that's still a concept of The Struggle Bus but I'll find out um then
my other question was just about um as far as the universal free meals now I know before um families had to fill out the free and reduced lunch information to get that and also to qualify for discounts and like the sports and different activities so because everything is free for everyone um
regardless of the income of the family where are we with um getting those forms filled out and our level of reimbursement before the universal ledge it it's a great question um the rate of forms being filled out is going down um which is not surprising because there aren't as many benefits to getting it
filled out there are still definitely some like you talked about on fees and other things but um when the tangible immediate benefit isn't there people aren't inclined to do it and that's why you're seeing around the Front Range free reduced percentages of school districts are plummeting um and it's not
because the communities are getting richer right it is because it is being under reported um and we know this to be true when you see our mck vento families our students experiencing homelessness when that number doubles or triples over a couple years and your free reduce
numbers are going down there is a disconnect there right um we know that the needs are there and the needs are growing but every district is experiencing this and the unfortunate part um that the superintendent was talking about when they talk about cutting out risk funding one would think when you've allocated a certain amount
of money to at risk students and then that count comes in lower you could very easily just give all those atrisk kids a little bit more money and call it even in our state we say good news we don't need to spend that money and we can cut it and allocate it somewhere else um and
so that's really the challenge and I I I don't disagree the state has a massive budget problem this year um but as a superintendent said um you know we already paid at the office um we've done this for 15 years someone else can take a turn balancing the state's budget this
time um our kids who qualify free launch who should be the lever on how we get back into a balanced budget situation and then just overall I know this is not necessarily our problem but it impacts us so with um the increase in the multif family housing and particular
Point those sort of developments like are we concerned about um as we get more um what has been historically labeled as transient families are we concerned about again more High need students or is that not a thing is there not a correlation between that no really what
we look at is the type of dwelling unit being built and then there's a historical both nationally locally and then in our district a student yield out of that type of Housing and so single family homes tend to generate the most School AG children multif family housing actually generates the least amount of
um student age children on a per capita basis if you will by how many housing units that you're building and so we've tracked that over time uh Matt Schaefer I know many Of You' have gotten to meet is a data genius when it comes to GIS and all these types of things um he did it you know again another story that we
see he did it for 18 years in Adam's festar district and then came to Cherry Creek um right and so um being able to leverage his expertise um we don't necessarily correlate it to a quote unquote type of student but the numbers of students and generally our demographic stays pretty consistent um
you know a lot of times when we're talking about multif family especially in the Kings Point or now Prairie Point area um these are really highend type multif family units um and you get a lot more of empty nesters retirees um not as many young families just based on the
type of unit that's being built but it's definitely something we watch and we work with our principles we work with that up to make sure that we're ready for whatever population changes whether it's from new development or other things that are going on in our world well think that concludes my questions thank you thank
you it is is at this point in our meeting that we make time for members of the audience to have completed the online public comment form prior to 12:00 noon today to address the Board of Education in order for everyone to be heard please limit your comments to a
maximum maximum of two minutes a buzzer will sound at the end of the two minutes and the microphone and audio will be automatically muted each speaker may only speak once during public comment speaking time may not be shared between speakers this is your opportunity to make comments to the board of Education
in accordance with board policy it is not a question and answer session please confine your comments to matters that are remaining to the business of the district further please recognize that students attend most of our meetings any speaker whose statements or behavior are unrelated to the bus business of the
district appear threatening or unsafe or inappropriate for K through 12 students may be interrupted or warned and their opportunity to comment terminated audience members who speak are asked to do so in a respectful Manner and the audience is encouraged to listen
respectfully any speaker or audience member who disrupts the good order of the board meeting including the speaking time of others may be asked to leave we are very interested in your and will listen carefully on behalf of the board I want to thank you in advance for your
comments and for taking time to come to tonight's meeting Mr Cony could you please call our first group of speakers as I call your name please line up behind the podium in order and remember to state your name at the very beginning tonight we have Erin
laor and Len Brian Erin Lor um first I want to mention and thank the amazing students who spoke earlier they are the reason why I am here as we stand here before you or as I stand here before you protection safety and funding are being stripped from our most vulnerable
students you as you've all mentioned tonight students in the families are scared they're staying home from school and work we have students who are facing eliminating the elimination of life-saving health care we have students who depend on our schools for most if not all of their daily food intake
studies and our daily School interactions tell us that these things impact all students in a school whether or not they are directly impacted by these specific actions all while we are literally waiting on baited breath for the possibility of the Department of Education to be eliminated
it is not enough to look for the helpers right now we have to be the helpers teachers are born nurturers and protectors that's why we do what we do as the student mentioned earlier tonight teachers and staff are her anchor to her school here at Fox Ridge
it is our duty to stand with these students and families and demand the protections safety and funding they are so rightfully due we ask you as a board and administration to continue to stand firmly with us as things quickly change please be ready to take necessary
actions for our families please continue to communicate clearly and to all staff and families in a timely and consistent manner I really love the video idea I think that's a great idea I think it's really difficult being in schools that are all separate from one another and hearing different messages even though
the intention of principles is always to be um direct and to give information in the same way it doesn't always happen that way and I think there was a lot of confusion in the beginning about what was happening and not happening so I appreciate all you're doing to provide clear messages it really is helpful for those of us who are in schools and
trying to do the work on a daily basis I also appreciate all of your stances tonight makes me feel firm and comfortable and confident working in Cherry Creek schools and I hope that we can all continue to work together to make sure that all students are served to the best of our ability in Cherry Creek Schools thank you for your
time wake you up sorry about that go ahead thank you my name is Lyn briyan uh I I have a dual role here I'm a parent in the district I move my family halfway across the country to come to Cherry Creek schools and I also am the partner for Library Services um I
want to thank you members of the board administrators and the community um I'm delighted to speak speak to you tonight about Cherry Creek reads 2025 um it'll be taking place uh the week before spring break March 10th through the 14th um this is initiative that exemplifies
our community's uh commitment to literacy and Community engagement a lot of things we talked about today right um this is the seventh year for this program and I'm super excited about the uh theme for this year's program which is read together celebrate together um
it really captures one of the things that makes um Cherry Creek reads special when families Educators and students read together they do more than just share a story they create lasting bonds and memories that strengthen their connections to each other uh to reading and to their school Community think back
to having that son daughter grandchild on your lap sharing a story that's a truly magical experience uh we believe this year's featured book a faces a poem by Julie Morad to be an exemplary choice for this program um it's full of imagery it's full of a beautiful illustration
I think it's something that our Educators and our students and our families uh can really get a lot out of um these programs demonstrate why literacy is so important why our libraries and and books are so important in the lives of our kids their families
and their Educators and again I just want to express my sincere gratitude to the board to our administrative staff to our community to our elected officials all of whom have given such great support for this program and literacy program like it that are happening in our building all across the district um
thank you from the bottom of my heart for welcoming me and my family to uh Cherry Creek and for all the support you're giving to our kids through literacy libraries and books thank you thank you president girl that's all I have for
tonight thank you I'd like to call for a motion to approve the consent agenda resolutions 25.2 do1 through through 2.2.11 so moved is there a second roll call please directors Allen
I Bates I Egan I Garland I NES motion carries our next regular meeting will be Monday March 10th 2025 at 700 p.m. School 25100 East bellw Avenue
Aurora Colorado 80016 I'd like to call for a motion to adjourn the February 10th 2025 meeting move to adjourn is there a second second roll call please director Allen I Bates
I hegan I Garland I nolles I our meeting is adjourned e for