if you if you want to. Yeah, it's six o'clock. Yeah. is Deb is Deb here. Okay. Okay, here we go. All right, we can go ahead and get started. Welcome to our November Fantastic 49 presentation. My
name is Kayla Maldonado. I am the internal communications manager for district 49. Tonight we have some great nominees. We will recognize staff who are exceptional examples of how D49 is the best place to learn, work and lead. For our honores and who nominated them when your names are called, please come
to the podium for remarks and then you'll head to the photo backdrop in the back of the room. Um with your plaque, take a photo. We ask each of our honores to stay for the full presentation so that our board members and district team members have a chance to offer you their congratulations after. Before I
introduce you to our honores, I always like to give a shout out to our awesome sponsors. We are so grateful to Dion's Air Academy credit union and raising canes for donating gift cards to our honores. Tonight, our honores each get a $25 Dion's gift card. So have fun with
that pizza party. Okay, our first honore of the evening is Katie Murray, kindergarten teacher at Bennett Ranch Elementary. She was nominated by Shauna Anderson, special education instructional coach. Katie's willingness to redesign lessons, rethink
classroom systems, and go the extra mile helped her students with significant learning challenges make academic progress, and gain a sense of belonging. She combines a deep passion for teaching with tireless dedication to her students success. So, if I could get Katie, Shauna, and Martina up here. Go ahead
and give a round of applause. >> Hi, good evening. I'm Shauna Anderson. So, I'm an autism instructional coach for the district. Can you hear me now? Okay. I was trying to hide. Sorry. Um, and in my position, I'm going all around the district and I'm in and out of all these classrooms. And every time I go
into Katie's classroom, um, she just blows me away with her willingness to go above and beyond what most teachers do to make sure every student in her classroom is included. Um, I started working with her last year with some students with autism. And then she would even reach out to me over the summer like, "Hey, can I get more training? I I
need more training. I want to be the best teacher I can be." And so, she just is an incredible teacher. So, I wanted her to be recognized. Martina Meadows, building principal at Bennett Ranch. I agree a thousand%. Katie goes above and beyond and really
does what's needed to support her students, her colleagues, and her families. And we want to say thank you to Katie. >> Thank you. If you don't want to go back to your picture back there. >> Okay. Okay, our next honore of the evening is Sarah Loose, math teacher at
Vista Ridge High School. She was nominated by Tom Payne, Vista Ridge High School principal. Sarah was instrumental in the rollout of Wolf Time, an intervention period aimed at making sure no student falls through the cracks. She is the definition of a teacher leader
who wants to see her students and peers succeed. So, if I can welcome Sarah and Tom, to the podium, please. Thank you. Uh Tom Payne, building principal at the Visttor Ridge High School. Uh I have four expectations for uh uh my teachers at Visttor Ridge. And
uh first is uh success for all. Every student uh everybody that works there, goes there wants to be successful. It's our job to figure out how to make them successful. Uh be curious, not judgmental, right? Uh no matter what they present. Secondly, I want every teacher to build relationships first. uh
nothing uh nothing starts nothing can happen before we start building relationships. Uh thirdly, I want uh every teacher to be the variable in the class. Don't look outward for uh for answers or problems. Look inward for what can I change and what can I do to make the difference in a student's life.
If we aren't the variable in a student's life, then we're going to have front row seats to students failure. Uh we have to be the variable and that takes a lot of work and takes a lot of heart. And finally, we have to figure out how to turn obstacles into opportunities. We're faced with hundreds of obstacles every single day, sometimes every single
period. And we have to figure out how to turn those obstacles into opportunities. Few teachers in my this is my third year at Vista. Few teachers exemplify exemplify uh meeting these core expectations more than Sarah Loose. Uh
Sarah is a teacher that will come in whether she agrees or disagrees. She has an idea. She has a plan. Uh multiple times she's been in my office. time I got to talk about X, Y, and Z. And she starts putting stuff on my whiteboard. I'm like, "Oh goodness, this is going totally against everything I thought we
should do." And she is so brilliant and she has so many fantastic ideas and she is such the teacher leader uh that by the end of our 15 20 minute conversation, I agree with her completely uh and we're going a completely different way. Uh a year ago,
I start I asked for volunteers for a wolftime committee for teachers. I knew it had to be run by teachers. Uh this is a systemic intervention period to make sure that no students fall through the cracks. Sarah quickly volunteered. She quickly became the lead. We've been well we uh and they started meeting. I gave
parameters and left the building and they met as teachers and they came up with something that uh I think is going to last the test of time that's going to be great for students. Um we went up to Heritage High School to see how they do it. uh and uh and she's been with us and
leading the entire way. Um and now that it's actually rolled out, we're seeing a a huge amount of improvements, but we're also I'm also still see Sarah without being asked and without asking for things uh like stipens or this or a parking spot or whatever. Uh she's
sending out newsletters about ideas about what teachers can do and still taking those reigns of leadership. And I'm telling you, any successful school and anyone, you can find uh terrific teacher leadership. And uh and this is Sarah Loose. And I'm so amazingly proud
uh of her and uh grateful that she has chosen to be a teacher at Vista Ridge High School. So Sarah, thank you for everything that you do. >> Thank you. Uh I
I mean I guess I do a lot but I don't know. Um it does doesn't always feel that way. Um but the committee really helped get this as well. Um so the whole wolf time committee helps and and does
things to support me and me being able to do the things that I do and the math department and the administration. I I I couldn't do what I do without everybody else's support. So, I want to thank everybody
else as well. Okay. Congratulations to both of our nominees. Before we wrap up, I would like to turn it over to Miss Lori Thompson, president of the board of education for final remarks. Well, it's really wonderful to have a fantastic 49 with two teachers who are
not only exceptional teachers, but they focus on a population that needs a little bit of extra help. And so, Katie with focusing on those who have significant needs and Sarah to look at the the interventions to make sure that nobody falls through the cracks. It's
really an honor to see them get this recognition and to hear Sarah also give credit to the committee that backs her up to know that hey there's more than one person involved but there has to be something special about her to be focused that way. So I just want to say thank you to both of both of them for
being exceptional teachers. Okay, that concludes fantastic 49. The board of education meeting will start promptly at 6:30. Dirty. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the November 6 Board of Education regular meeting. The time is 6:30 p.m. and I am
calling this meeting to order. Can I get a roll call? >> Davala >> here. Hyle >> here. >> Le Wright >> here. Thompson >> here. Okay. Can we please stand for the pledge of allegiance? And tonight we have student board
members from Vistar Ridge High School. We have Lily Payne and Avery Romney. So, welcome. This is your first time here. Hopefully, we'll get you to come back again. Can I get a motion to approve the
agenda? >> I move to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Can I get a vote? >> Dvala. >> I hyle >> I >> Le Wright >> I >> Thompson
>> I. And that passes. And we can bypass the public comment reading because we have no one signed up for public comment tonight. >> That's a first. >> I know. Does anyone have an item to be
pulled from the consent agenda? Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda items as presented? I move to pres to approve the consent agit agenda items as presented. >> Second. >> Any discussion? >> Can I get a vote?
>> Dvala >> I. >> Hyle >> I. >> Levier Wright >> I. >> Thompson >> I. And that passes. We are on to superintendent update. Well, as you know, um we are returned from our fall break, actually a couple
weeks returned now. And so, um now we are starting to look down the calendar toward the Thanksgiving break and then eventually our Christmas break. And so, um this is a season when we start to get into two important things. One is our middle-ofear testing. And so when the zone superintendents come to you in
January, they will be coming to you with the the growth measures from the beginning of the year to the middle of the year and of course the achievement levels based on that. Um and those testing windows start to open right about now. Uh maybe in another week or
so. Uh we have also um now begun I I've finished all of my school performance meetings. Uh and I'm now into two additional series of meetings. one is the the department performance framework meetings that we do uh to to kind of be
in an analog of school performance meetings. So, I'm meeting with the leader of every department along with the cabinet member to look at their strategic plans. Uh that's that's 68 different uh departments and and meetings that we'll go through. But we are also simultaneously kicking off our
vow learning tour where uh another cabinet member and I go to every school and every department in the district. That's about 45 meetings between now and the annual planning summit. And so we're looking to triangulate what we learned from the vow annual survey with what we
learned from the vow learning tour. And this is a season of great learning. So whether we're learning from our assessments with students or from the workforce or from our department leaders about their strategic plans, um this is a an information dense season we're
going into. We would anticipate bringing you a midyear update on our annual strategic objectives. Uh some of them are are getting traction and I just want to call out uh one specifically. Um, we
are processing lots of anecdotes about increased writing. Students who a year ago might not have written anything in response to a prompt are writing something. Students that wrote um competently are now writing with style or they're writing with depth. And so we
think that the the uh strategic investment in writing across curricular areas at all levels, we think it's already showing good signs of traction. And then once you have traction, you will be able to accelerate. And so that annual strategic
objective is going well. I will give you um a no secret preview. We will we will certainly come and ask you to extend that for another year because we think writing we're just getting traction. we're not going to be as far as you will want us to be by the time we gather in February. So, we're we're seeing some
good traction on the writing objective and we're seeing really good work through our learning services team and of course the principal leadership teams at our middle schools for our middle school performance objective. Um, obviously the writing also supports the middle school objective, but there are other things going on there as well. Uh
we have solid curriculum for our math side at all of our um district operated middle schools and most of our charter schools. And so uh we think those two academic side uh strategic objectives are are going to plan. They're they're
showing the results that you would expect early in implementation. So those are some of the the um kind of strategic side, governance and administration side. Uh then there's some great school stuff going on. I do specifically want to call out that the Vista Ridge Show
Choir was able to go to Nebraska to uh a very competitive and highly rated competition and all they did was win two major categories including best costume and best overall and the overall and uh Lily's father said it it was a little unfair. He said it was kind of like
Metallica going to a battle of the bands in a high school. Um and we love Mr. Payne and and his expressions. Uh there's a proud principal and proud dad uh appreciating and I'm I'm sure every every choir there was fantastic and and
showed out. Um but it's it's wonderful to see that level of performance from one of our schools. So um really really wonderful things happening and it's also since we were here together. Um, this year was the first year in at least
a decade and and probably well before that when all three of our major high schools uh placed a band into the state championship and they they played together at Falcon Stadium across the across the freeway. And so we're seeing we're seeing academic movement. We're
seeing movement in arts and athletics uh as you've heard me report before. And so we're we're pleased about how things are going in our schools. Um, I am also, um, always appreciative of the electoral process and so two of you ran. I thank
you for your service and and what it takes to step up and be a candidate and subject yourself to that process. Um, I have um I have respect for that and and so I know we are still uh finalizing all those counts and so I'll hold my
congratulations till we know uh where they land. But congratulations on on being candidates and on and showing leadership and wanting to serve our community. Um that that deserves our admiration regardless of the results. So thank you. Thank you both uh as incumbents and and and thank you to uh
candidates that that reflected honor in their campaigns as well. And that is my report. >> Okay, Lily, now you get to tell us what's happening in your school and then Avery, you get to catch up anything she misses.
Well, is it okay Avery actually had something first she wanted to mention if that's allowed. >> Smart move. Let's do it alphabetically. We'll start with Avery. >> Um, did you mean like student board specifically or at like Vist? >> Both. Okay. >> Okay. I can talk about Vista and you can
talk about student. >> Perfect. There we go. Um, for student board, we did have a leadership conference a couple weeks ago where we just were able to get together and just um with we were able to get together um as a as a um board and just talk about happenings in the district and it was a really cool opportunity to be able to
just have that time to interact with um the other students on the board. So cool. Um and then for Vista specifically um again like we've had our show choir and both of us are captains in show choir so we had like a personal connection to that win because we're in
the show choir. Um, and then I know um, a lot of our band friends are really excited because I guess this is the first time they've placed in band in like many, many years or placed in state, sorry, in many years. Um, our football team is going to the playoffs and so yeah, we have our first playoff
game tomorrow at Vista at 7 and then our um, theater is starting our almost main, which is our fall play and that's November 20th through the 22nd. So we're almost and we're also both in that. So, we're almost like we're getting ready for that play to happen. And then, am I
missing anything? Any big stuff? All of our other fall sports are over. We're getting ready for winter season and stuff. Yes. Yes. And that's it for our school right now. >> Don't you have a choir concert coming up in November, too? >> That's in December. So, December 18th.
>> All right. Thank you so much, Director Hy. So, congratulations to uh Vista team for uh qualifying for the playoffs. Um I last uh time I spoke um I was talking about the San Creek school. Uh their
football team was on the cusp of a unbeaten season. Um they remain unbeaten on Fridays, but they had a final game on Thursday night where they came up short and uh I'm really disappointed that after a nine and one season, they're
somehow missing the playoffs. There's a team in Vista's division that is making it on a five and five record and San Creek beat them head-to-head. So, I can't say that I find that uh to make a whole lot of sense, but it is what it
is. Uh congratulations to San Creek. Uh what an amazing season. Um so, I attended the um state of the district uh get together of the COS city hub on October 24th. Um and uh it was really
about building partnerships um for our schools and I've been hearing about how uh CAS I love you in particular is pulling together um community groups and um you know churches and you know any other kind of organizations that want to
help in our schools and they're having listening sessions with our principles where the principles get to tell them what they need. So, it's not one of these we're oh, you know, we're going to help you by giving you a bunch of stuff and it's like, well, is that really is
that helping us? So, I don't know if this is directly connected, but it seems like an awful coincidence, but we um and we heard that the all of the students at Falcon Elementary are getting a new coat through one of these partners. And um I'm just really excited to see that
those kind of partnerships are coming together. So, I attended there to try to do my part to, you know, foster those connections and um really exciting stuff. Um, I also attended uh the DAC and I've got to say I'm very pleased
with the change that the DAC has made with how they're holding their subcommittee meetings. They used to hold them before and it would be all broken up and we didn't get the kind of energy into those and participation that we needed. And I gotta say there was a
there was a new energy and new enthusiasm and they're really starting to carve themselves a role and start to take leadership of that subcommittee. And uh I was also very pleased. Uh, thank you for Miss Brooks for resolving
some of the longstanding members had a a transparency issue um where some reporting had kind of fallen through the cracks as we went through a number of um uh CFOs and that problem is resolved and so I'm really glad to see um what's
going on in there. That's what I have. >> Thank you. Director Levier Wright. So I am the liaison to the Falcon Education Foundation for the board and one of our big um contributions to the district every year are the teacher miniigrants. They will be formally
recognized at the December fantastic 49 but teachers have already received notification of their award and are already um requesting to be able to spend those funds on our students. We had some great proposals and personally I'm going to call out Mr. Haby at Falcon
High School for being brave and looking at incorporating a lot of hands-on things into high school math classes, which those of us who taught high school know high school math tends to stay pretty theoretical for most people in in
most of the classes unless you're in a very small subset of those. And his proposals were all about building some more practical skills in some of the lower in some of the beginning general education math classes. And so seeing a high school math teacher be willing to
start um accepting that challenge and knowing that some of that is part of the mission DNA initiative in the district um made my heart feel good as I read those. Um so I'm excited to see some of those proposals in action this year as
well. And remember that's only because everyone's support of the Falcon Education Foundation that we can do that. Um so please remember when those event requests come and donations come requests come for the auction items that this is what it lets us do is fund some
of these amazing pro um projects. Thank you director Dvola. All right. So I was able to attend a seven steps for a languagerich classroom training not actually in D49 but actually in Harrison District 2. But I'm really glad I
attended because I know that's in our district and it was really helpful to see how to integrate uh language into all of the subjects and making sure that we are helping uh um English language
learners to uh acquire English language even with um different backgrounds that they have. So um yeah, that was really good training that I was at. I was also at the DAC meetings and um just like director Hy had said uh I really like
the change that they did so that we have the subcommittees meeting and we actually had a lot more people show up than would have normally because they're at the DAC meeting and they do it simultaneously which is awesome. Um and uh Rebecca Brooks did a fabulous job of
presenting to the DAC and even answering some very difficult questions about um of transparency with the uh pots of money that we have. Um and then she also made a key for the different pots of money so we could understand what pots
you could actually take from and move to other ones and which ones were fixed and you can't take anything. and she had a key set up and it was like a eye opening to be able to see it. I just love how she's really working with um with us to
make it user friendly. Um so I spent most of this month actually campaigning and door-knocking uh for my race and I got to meet so many wonderful people who fully supported me and agreed with what this board has um fought to accomplish
and what we had continued to plan to do. Uh, and I want to thank everyone who has support who had supported me and voted for me. Uh, you guys are awesome and thank you so much for all of that effort that you put into this. It has been an honor to serve the district and to work
with this board. So, thank you guys so much. I also um attended the state of the district event with senior leadership, invited guests um and vendors. We were able to hear from guest speakers to include the mayor and our city council
representative as well as more information about cause I love you which I had attended some of their meetings here within the district before uh with the previous board. Yesterday I attended the SBOR meeting and I got to hear about
their planning summit and even see some video evidence that will live forever. That was most awesome. and they were talking through learning how to write a resolution and what they wanted included in the resolution. And the one thing I
really enjoyed about yesterday is there was no shortage of opinions. I mean, they just kept coming to the point where you guys had to move into a different room so we could take care of other stuff. But it was really awesome to learn how much participation there was
and also the encouragement to have a good rotation of the representatives at the dis so we can have different schools represented which is also good because I know it's not always easy to be up here. So I want to thank you guys for yesterday and your participation. I
thought it was a really invigorating event but we'll have to ask Lauren to get more Chick-fil-A the donuts. all that sugar and caffeine. Great. Anyway, um let me think right here. I think that's all I have for now other than I would like to thank everyone who
participated in the election. It'll be a while till the results are certified. And I have to agree with Director Dvola. It really was um an it is an honor to serve this district and door knockocking. You get to hear so many different perspectives. And to be
honest, it's only about one out of 15 that say, you know, get off my lawn. Um, but you know, most people are willing to engage and talk with you and you do find out a lot of interesting information. I discussed some of it with Mr. campaign tonight and he gave me kind of more
background information on that. But there was a whole bunch of uh really good information that the community shared with us and it was everything from our traditional um schools to the homeschooling program. One of the best parts is I got to talk to a lot of
recent graduates and one of my favorite conversations was with one of our recent graduates and I said, "What would you do differently with your school?" And she looked at me and she goes, "Nothing." You know, to hit that level of
satisfaction and to talk to different families. Now, not everyone said everything was, you know, sunshine and roses. However, there were a lot of happy parents and happy recent graduates out there. And that's a message we don't hear enough. We don't get to hear about
people who really love District 49 and are happy with the direction that we're going. So that's all I have for now. Can I get a motion for action item 7.1? I move to approve the HSED GED course
for the online expulsion program. >> Second. >> Is there any further discussion? Can I get a vote? Tvala >> I >> Hyle >> I >> Wright >> I >> Thompson
>> I and that passes. Can I get a motion for action item 7.2? >> I move to approve the renewal for Mountain View Academy. >> Second. Any discussion?
Director Hy, I think you raised your hand first. >> Yeah. So um we talked about doing this without um any um meaningful um uh conditions and um since then as we kind
of expected um their um performance has sort of cratered. They went from some of the highest CAMs scores in the district to the lowest. and we're going to see a presentation later on today where we'll see that the they've been uh on an
improvement plan for four of the past five years. So, I just wanted to point out that um you know, everybody on this district on this board was talking about um uh student achievement and student outcomes being very important. We, you know, it was part of the messaging of
the two campaigns that just ran and uh I feel like we're really dropping the ball by not um not being more involved. >> Director Dvola. So yes, um I I did receive some
information about some of the like the issues that were um a part of this contract. Um, and there was a question on whether or not the board um, if there was a lawsuit against the
board uh, of District 49 and Mountain View Academy, whether or not they would be able to have a say in choosing their um, representation when it comes to legal representation. I don't know if you guys
could speak to the rationale for why we have it the way that it is just because I want to make sure we're we're covering all of the aspects of that part in the contract. >> I I appreciate that question and I'm and I'm happy to respond to that. Um,
we have experienced a condition and uh I'll allude to without being completely precise, but we've experienced a condition where a a level of service at a charter school was not compliant with state statute. And so there ended up uh there being a formal complaint. That
complaint ended up being resolved. And the resolution, even though the even though the activity that was out of compliance happened at a charter school, the resolution ended up placing a very significant, we're talking uh over $100,000 judgment
against the district. And that was primarily in our judgment, primarily because the charter school and the district had different council and to a certain degree were were uh played off of each other by the by the complaining
party. Um and so in our analysis of both what happens around the state of Colorado, there are essentially two models, there is a model that we have had where we allow charter schools to have independent counsel even when we are uh colloquially co-defendants or
co-respondents to a claim. um that is the model that we have used that has bitten us financially pretty hard and um I don't I think it's not responsible of me to bring you a contract that perpetuates something that has harmed the district and so there is another
model and that is the model that is that is contained here and Brad can speak a little bit more to the legal side of this but there are also examples in other contracts uh between prominent districts and charter schools that they
authorize where the district retains authority to select counsel. Of course, the charter school has input and is is often involved through their legal representation in in settlement conferences. Um, but there there does often come a point where someone has to
have the authority to say this is acceptable. Interestingly, while we were in development of this contract, uh, a a settlement came through and it involved two of our charter schools because a student had moved between them and we were able to settle where the district
had very minimal responsibility and the charter schools accepted what was reasonably their primary responsibility. uh that is the kind of condition that this contract is designed to secure or guarantee or lock in. So that's the
non-awyer explanation of it. Um even if the charter school felt like we had acted in bad faith, they still have recourse. They have a grievance process. They could further um pursue a complaint against us directly. So this doesn't this doesn't create a condition where
the charter school has no recourse, but it means that we take the lead on the kinds of settlements that create liability for the district and and it's our responsibility to act in the best interest of district 49 so that we can be a strong authorizer for our charter
school. So that's the the non-legal explanation and Brad may have some additional counsel. And if you can give me just one moment just to be clear, the se the settlement you referred to had nothing to do with MBA. >> That is correct. I'm comfortable saying that because there's still eight other
candidates. >> Um, hi Brad Miller. I'm I'm going to actually respond more globally and maybe less lawyerly, but uh overall this charter contract, if you compare it with the contracts of almost any other authorizer in the state, remains very
amendable to the autonomy and the authority of a charter school. We did come down to one section, actually a couple of sections that we disputed and and we ultimately prevailed and said we're going to we're going to impose our our position with the section 8.11 which
has to do with the legal fees and the shared costs of that. But in many other sections of this contract, this is a this sort of a contract that gives a lot of flexibility and sort of autonomy or agency to the charter school, which would be by comparison with let's say
the charter school institute actually even more favorable to a charter school than they would be um in terms of our term, in terms of the way that we give them um authority to make their own decisions on their bylaws and a variety of things. This is a very favorable com
uh contract overall. And with respect to this piece, it's section 811 of the contract, it's narrow in scope. It's specifically narrow in scope to where if we are co-defendants, if both parties are named because we are the administrative unit, then we take
priority in terms of selecting or at least approving who council is for th those purposes. It's not a big big delta. I >> I'd like to mention one other thing. Um, we recognize that our our previous
generation contract, which was kind of the the second generation contract for for our charter schools, our previous generation, our previous generation contract, um, had some imprecision and it had some things that needed to be cleaned up. And so, uh, Dr. Nancy London, previous I
connect zone superintendent, Dr. Ver Gutierrez, uh, Britney Brennan in her role as specialist, I have been involved, Brad has been involved. We really worked hard to create essentially a new template for our charter school contract. This is the first instance we are bringing to the board of that new
template. Um and so it took quite a bit longer because there were a lot of things that required due diligence on the on the contract uh on the charter school side of the contract as well as the district. And so this is um the first instance. Our expectation is that
we would include this 8.11 in future contracts. There are some other things for example um we have we have shifted to um we have shifted expulsion authority to the charter schools uh because that was another area that created liability where we were making a
decision about expulsion for a student that was not enrolled in our schools and about you know with whom we had no relationship our capacity to judge any kind of nuance was limited. The charter schools and their boards now have that authority per this contract. So, as we go through a five-year cycle of renewing
schools and and signing new contracts, you'll see this new generation contract um coming back to you repeatedly. Of course, there'll be some tweaks per school and in each instance, but um we we feel very strongly that this is a best of breed contract in Colorado. And
if you don't mind me just saying one more thing, Lori, I I want to make sure that I expressly thank council from MVA who helped us to make this the best it possibly could be. I mean, this was really greatly collaborative in almost every respect and we pinged on a couple
of things. And then Britney Brandon, holy moly, the the work that she put into this, this is a multimonth cycle. It really took a long time, but we do think and this is why we're both sort of jumping into this fray because we got so engaged with it to make sure that it
really is the right vehicle for all of the replications going forward. And then I want to finally note that this is a five-year term and that's pretty um that's pretty generous in terms of term like again compared with CSI that might do four years at the out at the most. Um
we're giving some flexibility here. Well, just to address a couple of things. While it's true that two things were said that were were true and that they have been one of our top performing charter schools and they did have a dip, but to say they've been in performance
or out of performance for several years. Later on, we're going to have a presentation that will show that a school can be in performance in one area and not in another area. So, it's not really completely correct to characterize it as being on performance um for several
years because they have excelled academically and then they had a dip. Um my only question is is there a deadline to get this finalized for the CDE or is there any other you're saying that now the 8.11 is going to be the standard
element in future charter renewals going forward? Th this this we believe ought to be our template for every charter renewal. So folks out there that are in charter schools can look at this and look ahead towards that expectation. We have pressure because we're in a
position where we actually don't have an effective operative contract. And so to the extent that things come up, we certainly want to rush to get this completed. And and we were content to take a little extra time on a couple of key issues, but we do need to move. Absolutely.
And what is that deadline? I was just curious. >> I would love for it to be tonight, but and we don't have a specific CDE imposed deadline, but they have put increasing pressure on us to get this complete. And this has to do with other things like waiverss and and and various reports
that we have to provide. >> It looks >> we're actually operating in the current school year based on the previous five-year cycle. So technically this this could have been in place July 1 because it's because you and and we don't really we don't have
administratively any authority. You granted them a 5-year renewal. You then tasked us to contract that grant and that's what we're doing. And so the the opportunity to Mr. Hile's earlier point, the opportunity to place conditions on renewal was last spring. Um you didn't
place conditions on renewal. We wrote a contract accordingly. Student board, do you have any thoughts about this? >> Not particularly on this topic. >> Fair enough. Are there any other comments or questions?
Okay. Can I get a vote? >> Davala I. >> Hyle. >> No. >> Leave Wright. >> I. >> Thompson. >> I. And that passes. Can I get a motion for action item 7.3? >> I move to approve the resolution for
American Education Week. >> Second. Any discussion? >> Oh, I was going to ask who would like to read this resolution? Director Dvola, I guess I'll read it. All right.
Resolution American Education Week, November 10th through the 14th, 2025. Whereas public schools are the backbone of our democracy, providing young people with the tools they need to maintain our nation's precious values of freedom, civility, and equality. And whereas by
equipping young Americans with both practical skills and broader intellectual abilities, schools give them hope for and access to a productive future. And whereas education employees, be they substitute educators, custodians, teachers, bus drivers, or
librarians, work tirelessly to serve our children and communities with care and professionalism. And whereas schools are community lynchpins, bringing together adults and children, educators, and volunteers, business leaders, and elected officials
in a common enterprise. Now therefore, we the District 49 Board of Education do hereby support the obser the annual observance of American Education Week in District 49 and urge all community
members to recognize those who provide our young people with an excellent education. Director Hy >> and I just want to say every week is American Education Week in my view and
thank you to all of the educators in D49. Thank you for everything you do. >> Director Dvola. >> Yes. I would um I want to move to amend the first paragraph of whereas to take out the word democracy and put in
constitutional republic. Can I get a second? >> Never mind. We'll move forward. Um well because part of our democracy is participating in a constitutional republic for the resolution. The one
thing that I wanted to uh that I really liked about the resolution was they honored substitute teachers, custodians, bus drivers, librarians, and everyone who works with our students. And so on
this topic, would student board like to weigh in at all about this resolution? Um, I like what how you pointed out how um substitute teachers and bus drivers and all them because they really are um they really do a lot for us even though
um their works might be kind of underappreciated but um I know we do like appreciate them as well as teachers and all that they do for us. So >> yeah, I think um just anything extra, anything like yeah, anything extra we can do to help those people or um like praise them as much as possible I think
is great. Especially like because I know teachers get a lot of love, but subs and bus drivers and cafeteria workers and like all the janitorial staff deserve all the love too because none of our schools could be a school without them. So yeah, I think anything um with extra praise is great and I'm sure the rest of
the student board would agree. And I promise you with all of the students we have in district 49 that our janitorial staff comes across some fascinating stuff and they are definitely underappreciated. And as someone who used to ride a school bus, um I know we
drove those drivers crazy. So I think they really do require the patience of a saint and even more so our teachers and substitute teachers. So I was really glad that they included so many people in this. So, Director Levier, Wright,
did you have anything you wanted to add? >> I'll just add in terms of some of those folks that were just mentioned, the bus drivers, the janitorial staff. I don't know how many people necessarily realize that. Um, so many of those
support staff, students, students are judged at some level in a classroom because they're graded. And so no matter how great some of those relationships are between students and teachers, there's still that grade PE part that that is a judgment at some
level. Um, so I remember teaching at high school and being worried about a kid and knowing they weren't going to be able to say much to me. And the people who would be in the no were the custodians who were seeing them in the hall and chatting them up and the
security guards and the bus drivers and the folk cafeteria workers and the people who those kids interacted with in our buildings who weren't part of the system of evaluation. And so they were the first ones I'd go to when I was worried about a kid who
was kind of withdrawn in my class. Hey, do you know this one? Um I'm noticing some stuff. Can you can you check in with them at some point? And as a parent, I know for my daughter who rode the special education bus, the parah on that bus made sure those kids all
arrived to school in a good place. Um, which made their special education teachers day much better. And at one point, my daughter had a 45 minute ride in one direction and an hour and 20 minute in the other. Um, and so when she learned, oh, my daughter liked stories,
she brought books. when she could recognize that classroom hadn't been so great that day for my daughter, she made sure that u by the time that bus got to my house and my daughter got off the bus, that kid was in a good place to enter our home. And so those staff do an
immeasurable amount for our students every day and sometimes without anyone really realizing how important um that role is and how they sometimes are the ones literally helping those kids get through the day and saving some of our most vulnerable students. And so I really appreciate
that we're including them and recognizing them as a part of the system that supports our kids. >> Director Dvola. Yes, I echo what what you guys have said about the substitute teachers, custodians, teachers, uh bus drivers,
librarians, everybody comes together to help. Uh and then I also especially like the next whereas where it says um educators, volunteers, business leaders, and elected officials have a common enterprise in making sure that education is great. So, um, all of those pieces
are really important to making sure that we are supporting and doing what we need to, um, bring up the children in the way that they should go. And even though it has the broad the broad brush of education employees, we could add so many others to this if we
wanted to. We could add the comm's department and keeping the communication flowing and the information. We could add our incredible security team. And so there's no way to include everybody who participates in the health, welfare, and
education of our students. Director Dvola. >> Yeah, just to point out, there is a typo. It has the wrong year. So, we'd want to make sure to correct that. It's 2025. She's correct. It takes a teacher to find out that right above the signature
line. It's a template that we have to edit. So, thank you teacher Dvola. Can I get a vote? >> Dvala >> I. >> Hyle >> I. >> Levia Wright >> I. >> Schmidt. >> Oh. Thompson
>> I. And that passes. >> You've got it memorized. >> Can I get a motion for action item 7.4? I move to approve the policy revisions listed in the policy and procedure review. >> Second. Any discussion?
Okay. Can I get a vote? >> Dola. >> I. >> Hyle. >> I. >> Levia Wright. >> I. >> Thompson. >> I. And that passes. And next up we have our charter school
performance report. So, Miss Thompson, if I may, as as Miss Brandon is approaching the podium, um you're you're in an interesting position because you are about to review um get an orientation to and and then review at
your leisure the final presentation of the of the annual performance report that we began using in 2017. So under the leadership of then zone leader uh Andy Franco, we developed a way that was a lot more objective. Um
but at that time we were still under a we were actually two state assessment systems ago precoid. We only had I just looked at the list we only had six charter schools. Um there's a lot has happened in the last decade
and so uh again with contributions from former Iconnect zone superintendent Dr. Gutierrez, Britney's strong help, my involvement and involvement from charter school leaders. We are about to bring you generation two of the annual performance report which will then be
calculated based on next year's CAMASS results and we'll bring when we do this meeting a year from now, you'll be seeing the the first fruits of that very hard work. That annual performance report is now complete. We've got the template built. We'll be sharing that
with you uh with additional emphases. Um we've raised the bar as just one example in that new model. In in the old model, if a school was in performance, they met expectations. But we we expect more of our charter schools. We actually have it
written into their contracts that they should meet or exceed performance of district operated schools. And so in the new model, it's not enough to be in performance. you have to also be at least as good as the operated schools that are comparable. So, middle school to middle school, high to high. Um, and
so I'm really proud of that great work. And I also want to compliment uh Britney Brandon. This is a new configuration for how we support our charter schools and she is doing a fantastic job knocking out of the park. Um, I I am very very
satisfied and I'm sure you're about to be as you you heard her explain our process. So, thank you. Uh well done in getting us to this place and thank you for leading a decade of accountability for our charter schools. >> No pressure.
Um okay so I'll just do formalities. Good evening board superintendent Hilts Britney Brandon Charter School is not coming up. Okay. Uh Britney Brennan, coordinator of
charter school relations, here to present our annual performance review. We use the word report as well. Same thing um for our charter schools. So our authorizing objectives are going to be continuing to maintain high expectations
while also providing meaningful support. Um we intend to hold up charter autonomy but also have strong accountability. Um, and our role, it's important to know that our role as an authorizer is to focus on the not, I'm sorry, to focus on the outcomes, not the process. Meaning,
we do not control charter's day-to-day operations, um, staffing, curriculum, policies, schedules, those types of things. Um, and we provide provide guidance, report, support, and resources. Um, in return, charter schools are expected to demonstrate high
performance and a strong commitment to commu their communities. So uh annual performance reviews are required by Colorado law. They are also best pra best practice backed by NAXA and CAXA. Kna is the national
association. CAXA is Colorado's. Um and as Mr. Hilt said, there is not a specific template that uh charter authorizers are supposed to use. We have the authority to create those as we see fit. Um we have three main categories in our
APR academic finance and operations data is collected from many different sources. A big one being report well for compliance submissions um we have included all CDE most CDE data collections into that. So, it's all-encompassing. Um, financials,
governance, enrollment policies, there's just so many. Um, we also mainly use the SPF and then we have a reporting template that the schools fill out and then have to submit to us. Um, that's a lot of in-house things and then their financials as well as most of the
operations. So, here's just a quick glance of where our schools stand. Um, and it's important to remember this is last year because we don't get those SPFs till, you know, the September after the school
ends. Um, I will go into more detail in just a minute. Um, and I believe that the board members understand our APR, but we're just going to do a quick review. Um, so our APR has multiple tabs for each category. There are five
standards in academics, two standards in financial and six standards in operations. Each tab is scored on the data that we received from one of those sources I mentioned earlier. And criteria you can see in the cells labeled the school. So it's the school will the school has. Um and then we
score each of those grade levels. The element score is an average of the grade level scores. And then the standard score is an average of all the element scores. Then it pulls all of that information to
the first page of the APR. Um, super helpful in organiz organizing it and being able to get a quick glance and see it as a whole. Um, the indicator score is an average of each tab within the section. That score is then weighted to
give us the overall score, which would be either does not meet, improvement, or good standing. Um this is also the page that I will be presenting in this presentation but the full APRs are available in the board packet. They are lengthy.
Okay, starting with Banning Lewis. So they are in good standing for the fourth consecutive year. They did experience a slight decline from meets to approaching in student achievement in OPS6. That OPS6 was due to compliance submissions for on time.
Um but notably their math scores and post-secary readiness improved from approaching to meets and the graduation continues to be exceeds graduation rate. Uh BLA staff and administration remain highly collaborative and are actively
working to improve timeliness, compliance, submissions and overall responsiveness. Next we have goal. um goal is in good standing for the second consecutive year and they achieved their highest SPF to date. While student achievement remains
in the approaching category, they did increase this by point.8 points. So now they're 02 points away from meets. So they're very close. Um goal continues to be highly collaborative, regularly extending invitations for engagement and partnership. and they demonstrate an
exceptional reliability compliance reporting with 99.5%. And even more impressive, they are offis so they have a lot more benchmarks. Um, Grand Peak Academy, they are in good standing for the second consecutive year
with significant positive movement in both the SPF and APR. They earned 10.4 more SPF points compared to the previous year, which is an impressive improvement. both student growth and student achievement increase from approaching to meets.
Uh GPA also consistently engages with the district. Um I heard especially in district learning services team and they also foster positive strong relationships. Um DP GPA also demonstrates excellent responsiveness and compliance with
on-time submission performance at 83.8%. James Irwin Elementary School. Um, so this is their their school's first SPF and APR, complete APR. Um, we did operations and finance last year. Um, so while growth and achievement
scores are currently low, it is reasonable to expect significant positive movement in the two 2026 SPF as the school establishes itself. The mission specific goals category is reflecting approaching and that's due to the absence of the reporting template I
mentioned earlier. That also is why the financial performance is non-compliant because we did not receive that back which then didn't give us enough data to score. Um I say we I'm still trying to learn I um timeliness it's me and my
personalities. um timeliness of submissions continues to improve um and the school typically provides compliant documentation on the first attempt. So that is important. They may um need to improve on the on-time submissions but their submission is is normally
compliant the first time. Um and then admin is very collaborative as well. uh Liberty Tree Academy. They are in good standing for the second consecutive year. Growth and achievement did decline slightly from 24 to 25 and
post-secondary readiness remains in the approaching category. Um compliance performance remains solid though with an 84.2% on-time submission rate. Um and the school continues to have positive relationships with the district. It is worth noting that LTA
progressed from a priority improvement and then improvement year to good standing and has maintained that for four years. Um, Mountain View Academy. While the results align with challenges that were previously identified, we've had multiple conversations um with MVA
and communicated to them that proactively addressing these areas will be essential for improving future performance and meeting contractual expectations. and they fully acknowledge this as well. They've put in some great uh changes and supports to address these collaboration with MVA has been very
strong. Um last year we were invited to numerous school events which we um attended and enjoyed. Um and I'm glad that glad to say that will continue this year with the new principal and their DSQ. Um does not rate I'm sorry does not
meet rating in OPS6 was a compliance issue. we had to notice send a notice of concern and so when that happens that tab goes to does not meet automatically. Um but since then they have um shown notable improvement in responsiveness
and the timeliness of compliance submissions. So they are directly um addressing the issues of the notice of concern. I need to go quicker. uh Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning in good standing for the fourth consecutive year and they continue to dis demonstrate
exceptional outcomes in student achievement and growth. Their academic performance is significantly above the state and district averages in ELA and math for elementary and middle school. PTA, I'm sorry, Pipsil maintains a strong culture of collaboration,
regularly inviting district staff to school events and fostering a productive relationship. The school also demonstrates an exemplary uh compliance. They have a 99% on-time submission rate. Pioneer technology and arts academy PTA
has progressed from improvement to good standing. Um and the school leadership expects to maintain that year-over-year and that's what they will tell you. Uh the school has achieved positive gains in student growth and financial performance. Um, additionally, their SPF increased by an impressive 13.9 points,
reflecting significant uh, academic progress. PTA remains highly collaborative, regularly um, extending invitations to school events as well, and the principal's responsiveness and partnership with the district is greatly appreciated. There does remain room for
improvement in the compliance aspect. Can I keep going? >> You can definitely keep going, except I'd like to interrupt on PTA. Um the board may remember that they intend to open a high school. They secured land at approximately Tamlin and Markshuffle.
That land then had to be annexed by the city. That has happened. And so they are proceeding uh they they they will do what many charter schools have done which is they will bootstrap a a smallcale high school class and then
they will phase that up as they are able to occupy a building that they haven't started building yet. But they are but they are moving on it. Uh and their intent is to eventually serve that prek12 population with their their particular model. They are also very
collaborative. Um and and since I'm already talking I will tell you I've met with all of the school leaders to go through their school performance framework to help set goals. Those meetings are advisory in nature. They're not our we don't we are not the boss of them but we are the authorizer of them.
So we have the conversations. It's voluntary and mutual and they have been uniformly impressive, collaborative, more than respectful, they have been uh insightful and helped us even think about our own school of performance. And
so um the the strong relationship with our charter schools is an asset to our entire district and to our operated schools. So, thank you for letting me jump in. Uh but you will you will anticipate seeing PTA add a high school level to their school performance
framework next year and then further years after. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Uh Power Technical PEC received its highest second highest SPF rating to date and returned to good standing. The school saw an increase in student
achievement while post-secary readiness declined slightly uh primarily being primarily due to metriculation rates. OPS6 was ne negatively impacted by a notice of concern. Um again that makes it go automatically to does not meet. Um
although substantial improvement has been observed in submission and responsiveness since that time. The new assistant principal has been amazing. Um and the principal as well. Um, we just I mainly work with her, but they have been a lot more responsive and collaborative,
so we're very happy for that. Um, and then last but not least, Rocky Mountain Classical Academy. RMCA is in good standing for the second consecutive year. While there was a decrease in SPF points, the school has implemented significant initiatives to improve academic outcomes for the current year.
Uh, timeliness and compliance of submissions has been pretty good, but it has improved even more. it moved from approaching to meets um alongside an increase in a student student achievement. Responsiveness has been consistent throughout 2425 school
year and improves to get be continues to improve to get better this school year. Um RMCA remains collaborative and they also extend invitations um to school events and um that we attend. Um
okay. So, um I know there's a lot of data provided in these APRs. Um so, I would encourage you to look at the um APR data charts document that I provided. It just provides an easier or
easier to digest charts. It also has all school information in one place and has comparisons. So, any questions? Director Hy. Yeah, I just want to um you know because the whole point of um having charter schools is for choice and
also for competition, right? And so I want to give a special shout out to two of the schools in here who hit all green and blue. Um gold medal goes to Pepsil for three blues and the rest of them greens. Wonderful job. You guys are doing amazing work. And then um GPA uh
with just one fewer blue. Um great job. >> Yes, I agree. Thank you for that, >> Director Dvola. >> Yeah, I have to say that uh I heard a lot actually as I was doornocking um and a lot of students and families that were
really highly impressed with Grand Peak Academy came up all the time probably because I was doornocking in that school's uh precinct. um they were very high highly pleased with that school.
And then um um Rocky Mountain Classical Academy, that was another big one that a lot of people were very very highly satisfied with. Um so lots of good good work that's going on there. And then Pepsil, people are like, "Yes, Pepsi is the best place. I that's amazing. I love
it. My kids go there. It's it's it's awesome." So, yeah, lots of good things that are happening in our charters and um and it's good to hear that if there were issues that they're being resolved or that they the charters are making an
effort to make sure that they're in compliance with those things. >> Yes, thank you for sharing that. That's great to hear, too. Student board, I know that you are in one of our traditional schools, but are you understanding some of the reporting requirements within our charter schools
or do you have friends who go to our charter schools? >> Um, well, I don't have any friends specifically that go to any charter schools, but I know my mom works at Bang Lewis Prep and my brother goes there and um just from what they said, they absolutely love it. So, um that's the
only personal connection I have. I don't know if you have any more. So, your brother is not your friend, just so we're aware. >> I understand that. I had three of them. Okay. >> He's just a little young to Yeah. But he's a sixth grader there and he came from Inspiration View. Um, so he didn't
go to the Banning Lewis um I for is it the ranch, the elementary school? Yeah. So, he didn't go there, but um yeah, he loves the um charter school when going to Banning Lewis. So, and I know my mom loves working there. So, I don't know if you have any connection, >> Avery. Yeah, my sister did go to GPA um
for fifth through seventh, I believe, and I know she did really like it. And it's really good to um be able to see like the results of this, too, because that's just a perspective that I haven't been able to have. And so, it's really cool to um just see like the academic performance in that. I've also had friends that go to Liberty Tree and
Banny Lewis. So, it's really cool to just see the academic growth with all that. >> Director Dola, >> that was the one school I missed. Banning Lewis was also a big hot topic when I was doornocking. So, yeah. >> And the only >> And they love it. >> Yeah. And the only thing I heard when I
was door-knocking specifically about a charter school actually wasn't um a critique directly with the charter school, but my understanding is uh RMCA now has a homeschool support portion and the only thing they requested was more they didn't know where to look for
things and I was going to pass that on to them just to have like a place within their website that would direct people where to go to look for different supports for their homeschool support program. So >> yeah, I mean, um I've actually noticed their website is has so much more to it
this year with their new um director of business or I'm not sure title, but he's business. Um so I've it's on the homepage. So I don't know, maybe they just didn't look recently, but but they should be able to look again and it's right there on the homepage. They made it easy.
>> Director Dvola, >> I forgot one more thing. So, um, these special education departments have been moved or shifted to be charter schoolled. It used to be district provided and now it's um with the charter schools. >> Yes.
>> And with uh Banny Lewis Prep or C, which one's the high school? >> Preparatory. >> Okay. I just want to make sure um with that one, they were really uh pleased with the special education department um
that they're providing that they didn't experience previously um until the charter schools had their own. And from my own perspective too, um, with the charter school I work at, uh, the special education department is
significantly more solid than it was previously because it's inhouse and we get to hire the people who we want and things like that. So, >> yeah, absolutely. >> It's a good thing that we have the charters doing their own special education. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. Well, there's no other questions. Thank you so much for your presentation tonight. you did a good job of laying it out and giving us a good format to understand your reports. So, thank you. >> I know it's lengthy. Okay. Do I just close out of this? >> Okay.
>> All right. Thank you. And next up, we have our own Mr. Nan Carol. >> Good evening, board. David Nan Carol, director of communications, and it is my pleasure to present our performance report for the fall. Thank you so much for having
me tonight. Uh I will jump right into uh take a look at our traditional metrics that we uh follow throughout the year. These uh are talking about the stories told uh the the coverage that we do, the reporting that we do in collaboration
with our schools and departments across the district who have a good story to tell. they turn to us to tell those stories. And so that is what you are seeing in the metrics that are presented are presented here. Uh we are always encouraging through uh in-person visitations and other u means to
encourage this type of request for coverage because we know there's a lot of excellence that is going on around the district and it is our obligation and pleasure to report that to the broader community. So we uh we we do that in a in a manner that we balance it out. uh we are also that's not reflected
in this particular metrics are all of the the pieces that we get to share from our other schools that are producing their own types of stories and reportings uh that we leverage for district channels as well. So one of the other pieces that I want to talk a little bit about here as we're looking
at this slide is you can see that we have featured comm plans and promo plans. uh that is our portal, our systematic approach to actually process requests, get them into our calendar and and create action plans to meet with our district customers and ensure that we
are reporting what they need to be reported and creating what they need to be created. So although it's not reflected in this particular um table, that same process gives us a systematic way to uh to respond to other requests to include uh video production uh web
page planning and development and workforce recognition. So again, while not captured in this particular slide, we have uh recent examples of our performance in those areas included in the extra slides that we have attached to this presentation. Uh we have had a fantastic fall semester
in the communications office. Uh this slide uh really kind of captures what I would like to share with you tonight. A number of the things that we have done as a team that I'm incredibly proud of. Uh we developed and produced another successful Peak View all staff event
with the help of a big thanks to our student volunteers, our workforce volunteers, our transportation team, balance audiovisisual safety and security. uh San Creek High School for turning over their gym to us for uh a
day and a half to uh basically take it over and turn it into a arena uh for our all staff event which we've done again uh this year. So, a couple of quick highlights of this exciting day. For the first time ever, we had excess seating
in the San Creek High School gym. Uh we listened to the folks who had been giving us feedback over the years and we came up with a strategic way to add more seating on the floor and uh for the first time in years there were seats in the bleachers and there were seats left
in the floor. So we're pretty pleased with that because that meant no one was sitting on the floor, no one was jammed together um into uh into the bleachers in an uncomfortable way and I think that added to the overall uh enhancement of the of the event. Um, we worked on the
pace of this year's program. And then I would like to give a quick shout out to Odyssey Elementary School, which our panel of judges said, uh, were the winners of our best dressed theme contest for the all staff event. Um, it was our pleasure to serve them breakfast not too long ago, just a couple of days
ago. Our back- tochool coverage this year featured 40 stories in a week-long push as we welcome students and staff back to school. uh we really worked as a team on creating variety this year. So as you were looking across the reporting that
we're doing, it looked as robust as it possibly could be featuring different ways that our campuses were wel welcoming students back to school. one in particular um led us to a video piece that was one of our most engagement uh received some of the most engagement
during what back to school that was all about our bus drivers and their commitment to safely getting our students to and from school. So that received a very um great deal of positive engagement and interaction. We also been featuring national observances, read a book day, arts and
education week. Um, we have updated our Peak View displays, the monitors that you see around our district, um, with a new vendor and a fresh look. So, be on the lookout for more material coming from those very soon. And then last, but certainly not least in this particular
slide, um, it's been talked about a bit, our second annual state of the district event that just took place on October 24th. A lot of the things that I had in my notes have already been covered in the resolution that we just talked about. Um and that is acknowledging that schools
are uh foundational to thriving communities and acknowledging that the other key sectors are also instrumental in partnering together to ensure that everybody is leveraging success based on what's coming out of our schools. So this was an event that allowed us to do
that to have some very robust conversations. a panel discussion uh with uh Mayor Yim Moilotti, uh Council Member Roland Rainey, Gina Temple from Penrose St. Francis, Stu Davis from Kos, I love you, and uh led by Mr. Hilts. Um
a very very well put together uh panel and I think enjoyed by all. And so one of the other pieces that I wanted to mention that in addition to putting together that program, you have some tangible results of a strategic communications plan that was put
together by our team. So you have the folders that include a lot of district information that we invited everyone to take home with them in case they had any other additional questions. They could learn a lot uh from the event even if they couldn't stay for the entire thing. So, um, you have that right there in
front of you, and it's a testament to the strong work that's coming out of the communications office. Real fast, I want to talk about some of our metrics that we track in the digital in the digital space. Uh, what I'm showing you here tonight are the results from the last 90 days as we are tracking
our engagements on Facebook and uh, and Instagram. And what we're really looking at are the key metrics of reach, interaction, views because these types of positive trends tell us that this is a way that a lot of our audience is actually getting their information from
school district 49. So we want to see those positive trends. It also gives us a way uh really to say this is we can encourage involvement in district 49. So what does that mean? That means coming to football games. That means coming to events. That means potentially enrolling in school district 49. It's also useful
for giving us a sense of gauging the temperature of how well District 49 is being received by our audience in the community. And so to see those upward trends is encouraging to us as we continue to work on the content that supports that metric. So what I've done here is given you a quick snapshot of
some of our top performing um posts and content from the from the fall semester. uh and really not only just to show you the the engagement that we're receiving, but also to note the talent and the versatility of the communi communications team. And I think it's
important to note that because uh other of our neighboring districts actually who are larger have people on staff that are dedicated to do just social media. And our team across the the composition of our team are the ones that are creating the materials uh in addition to
all their other duties that they do in the communications office to create this type of engagement. We think people are taking notice. We are seeing our neighboring districts follow our lead and that has been very satisfying for us as a team. So in the works uh between now and the
next time that we get to talk uh we will have uh put together discover D49 the magazine we will have completed our Veterans Day coverage which is coming up next week. Uh we will continue to work on digital accessibility awareness and learning for our campuses. Uh we will
begin a 49 voices podcast season 4. Uh we will be working on the employees of the year celebration as well as a school public relations association awards season which comes up early next year. We will be in the running. We will be in the submissions. The materials that you have right here in front of you will be
part of our submission uh to the awards of excellence. So uh we're working on that. Plenty to do. Um we are always busy and I would be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Director Hy.
>> So, I appreciate you bringing up the um the panel discussion because you've given me an opportunity to say something that I had hoped to include in my um in my personal presentation and it just fell through. Um and that was the the
speed round where Mr. Hilts asked each one of the community and business leaders who were on that panel, what is the most important trait for you when you are looking to hire? And the answers would were things like, you know,
curious, hardworking, um, gets along well with other others, you know, team player, things of that nature. And it was striking to me because as I was listening to all of those answers, I could very quickly categorize them all as either uh culture or character. And
so that was really profound to me because we talk a lot about how important achievement is and our test scores and stuff like that. But we heard from the leaders who are doing hiring from our schools that that's, you know,
I I'm sure that that that they care about that, but it's not the most important thing. So, just thank you for giving me an opportunity to to talk about that. >> My pleasure. Thanks for being there. >> I have a question for the student board. So, they've talked about Discover Magazine, Instagram, Facebook. I'm
curious of what's produced. How much of this do you engage in or do you see from the communications team? >> So, I've actually I've been in the district for um all of since kindergarten. Um but I will say that like one thing that I have always
noticed is that there has kind of been this um this communication even since like elementary school. I remember like the magazine coming in the mail and like flipping through pictures and stuff like that. Um, and I it's really cool to see that kind of carry into more social media aspect too because that's
something that um I'm able to like get more involved in, I guess. Um, I don't know on I really thought I was really cool on um I think it was the fourth slide um when it has like all the Yeah. This the social media numbers. Um if you look in the bottom right corner of the Instagram page, that's actually Vista
Ridge Dance Team. >> Dance team. >> Yeah. And so that's really cool to see. Um I mean because those are my friends that are on that team. That's super cool to see that. um as well as just like the other things that are going on in the district. I think it's so amazing to see all that happening. So >> yeah, I definitely think um and I mean I
just we've been using like social media more like in our school especially like with student council to like blast more information and stuff. Um and it's helped like our school personally like have more attendance at like football games, have more school spirit, more like dressing up on dress up days for like spirit weeks. But um and I
definitely think uh with like just the D49 like social medias and communication stuff I think the students like obviously you can say see from like the data like the students definitely look more at the Instagram. I know um even like I remember when they did posts on the Instagram about the dance like team
and the dance classes. I remember like all my friends talking about it and like looking through the photos to see if like they were in the photos. So, um I definitely think um I mean Instagram is just the main thing that students now look at, which I think they're kind of moving away from Facebook more, but um
yeah, I think it's great and I think, uh yeah, I think it's great to like just look at everything and have everyone like see what's happening in the district. >> So, it sounds like it makes you what you see makes you feel more connected to not only your fellow students, but to the district at large because like I said,
you are part of the consumers. So, thank you for your input, Director Dvola. Yeah, I'm always impressed with the work that you guys do and so thank you so much for pouring your heart and your soul into these things and I really do appreciate receiving those magazines in
the mail and uh seeing all the different platforms and how impactful it is to bringing the community together. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> By the way, I never get the magazine in the mail. I always have to swipe it from here. So, we're going to have to do an address check real quick. And I was
really disappointed that I had to miss uh Peak View all staff event this year. Um and I think best dressed is a really vague I'd be I'm not sure if that's always the best description based on what I've seen in the past. I think we
might want to change that to the most interesting dressed school that shows up. >> Um >> it was broad for a reason. >> Uh yes, it should be broad. I remember last year there was one staff member with incredibly tight pants on that just
is seared into my memory and I remember some our staff is incredibly creative and they find very unique ways to make their school stand out. Okay. Um so I had a question about the one with the most engaging surprise return. Was that
the military member greeting their child in a classroom? So, we've had two of those this year, but the but the one that we are reporting about tonight um happened right at about the first week of school, and this was at Meridian Ranch Elementary School, and and the
principal over there contacted us and said, "Hey, we're going to have this opportunity. Would you have some time to get over here?" We said, "Absolutely, yes." Greg Mueller uh helped us out on that one. got there, prepared the the the the story, got it out there, and it
lit up um for District 49, Meridian Ranch, and for anyone who has the heart that connects with that type of story. >> I may have been three of those views because I watched it more than once because it was really phenomenal. And then I had another question on something
I saw in here. I hope I can find it. It's okay if I can't. Um, but I just wanted to let you know that uh I really appreciate a lot of the videos. Oh, I think also back to school. I think on one of those videos we even saw Superintendent Hilts welcoming welcoming
kids back to school. So, yep. Anyone who who hasn't had the chance I actually haven't checked out the Instagram, so I'm going to have to bump that up to 107.5 by checking it out. But for anyone who doesn't follow the district's Facebook
page and some of their other communications, I really encourage it because it's really a delight to go through it and see different events that are happening in different classrooms across the district. So, if you have not checked it out, please do so because
it's great. It's really great that you showcase all of the hard workers all in our district and and the teams from transportation to the teachers. Is there anyone else who wants to have any questions? All right. Well, >> if I if I may, if if the board would
indulge me, um I would like to share another piece that was put together by our video team that is again again connected to the state of the district event that we just that we just put together. If if you would indulge me, it should be less than two minutes, but but I think it really came together well. It's going to be something that we can
use here coming up. >> I would love to see it. >> Give me one moment. I'm here because I even though I'm not in charge of of schools, I also understand as a parent of three young kids in schools, as as a mayor,
community leader, I forgive me. I'm here because I uh even though I'm not in charge of of schools, I also understand as a parent of three young kids in schools, as as a mayor, community leader, I know that both professionally and personally, the
impact a strong school district and strong schools really have on the flourish of our community. For the city to be successful, District 49 really houses the next generation of those leaders. It's >> lovely to have time with all of the
different leaders within this district and then also just helping to support the school systems and and giving back. So, that was it was a great experience today. I'm super energized as a newer nonprofit leader here in the community that uh to see nonprofits at the table
um and to realize that the same needs that we're dealing with on a communitywide basis are the ones that the school districts are often seeing first. And so if we can partner in that way um to make sure that the community needs are met as you as a nonprofit
community, we can help each other out by knowing where the need is, referring, providing the data, um and then responding. >> I just think that we're better together when we bring our resources and our imagination, our creativity, our skills together. I think we can better serve the people in our communities.
Thank you very much for your time and your and your kindness. >> And one other comment about this year's state of the district. The venue was beautiful, the food was fantastic, and so I thought it was a real sharp event.
>> Thank you very much. Next up, we have item 9.3, the expansion update from Superintendent Hilts. >> And if the board doesn't mind, I'll stay seated here. If I stand up, I'll talk more. And I'm the last thing between you and going home. So um as you know we are
uh we are moving forward uh based on your your general grant of authority. We are intending to relocate and colllocate Falcon Elementary School at Bennett Ranch Elementary School. So there are significant plans underway there. We are
also almost in final design for a a addition here that will take us out about to the three-point line and create two stories of office buildings. That will give us the opportunity then to uh to relocate other programs within the district. The most significant ones
would be relocating the peak program to the former Falcon Elementary campus. Won't be former until next year. And relocating the majority of those that work at the ESC. um over by Bent Grass Meadows and the frontage road. Uh some of them will come into this complex that
is coming here and then we would have the opportunity to time the market and uh put those properties for sale when it's most advant adv advantageous to us. uh because of the ways that development happens and and and bids and and
appropriate confidentiality uh I can't be very specific but I can tell you um that there's a big orange store coming in our area and a big red store coming in our area and a big green leafy store coming in our area and some of them are going to be pretty close to places that
we currently own. So we think as that development happens, the value of our current holdings along that north side of Woodman Road is going to go up. So this is this is good fiscal stewardship. The construction that we're able to do
here is coming out of a fund that came to us from developers. They are required to dedicate land or provide fee in lie of land. So we're using some of that fee in lie of land as leverage to to generate even more financial benefit for the school district. Um, in terms of the
relocation of the Falcon Elementary School community onto the campus, Mr. Smith is working incredibly hard and acquaint including transportation and nutrition services because we will require some different routing. We are at least
exploring the possibility of retaining the current Falcon Elementary campus as a dropoff point and then we would consolidate and shuttle students. Uh we already moved students out of that entire attendance area to Falcon Middle School. So the buses are right now running down those roads, but there may
be some efficiencies in pulling students together in in one part of the current Falcon Elementary attendance area and then moving them as a large group up to the the Bennett Ranch campus that will house both of those schools. Um, we're we're really working hard to be smart
and costefficient. And I'll give you one specific example that seems to make people smile. As part of moving Falcon Elementary, we need to provide spaces for preschools. Preschool spaces are the most highly regulated spaces in the school district because there are things you need for littles. You have to make
sure they have appropriate uh access to bathroom facilities. For example, you have to make sure there's available water. there's there's decibel requirements for preschool spaces. And so through a great brainstorm and walkound, and I give Mr. Mr. Smith and
Dr. Lamond a lot of credit for this, um we are most likely going to convert the locker rooms that had been dedicated for the Falcon Middle School annex. So those are middle schoolsiz locker rooms. We
are going to be able to convert those to preschool spaces. We'll we'll pull out the lockers and save them for the future. We'll pull out the benches and save them for the future. We'll refloor. We have to do something to manage the HVAC sound because you don't care if locker rooms are allowed, but you need
preschools to be managed. Um, it has all of the the facilities that you need to to run a licensed preschool. So, that's an example where we're instead of having to create new, we're going to repurpose something that we have that's available. And I think it's just really brilliant and it's in the character of being
purposeful and working as a team to see what's possible. Um, this is going to be good for district 49. We are also having conversations that I'll I'll prevent I'll present to you um at a future executive session and then when it's
appropriate to bring public, we'll bring it public. But we we have another um significant interesting development uh with somebody that would like to partner with district 49 to build spaces that will serve our students directly. And so we'll come back to you um with more
detail about that. But this this notion of futureproofing the eastern half of district 49 is is doing exactly what it's supposed to do. uh it's setting us up to be cost-effective, wise stewards, and also improve services to our
students and families. So, uh I can answer questions if you have them. Some of them will necessarily be pretty vague answers, but I just wanted to assure you that we are paying close attention. We're meeting with the right people. Um Mr. Smith met with the PTA at Falcon L.
He's got a a meeting scheduled with the PTA at Benner Ranch. Those principles are working really well together. uh the staffs are beginning to work well and talk about ways that they're going to be collaborating. Um there is a a specific
uh allocation of title funding that comes with Falcon Elementary that's going to support that school in that location, but our learning services team with Miss Fellow who's here tonight are already working to support this new configuration. So, uh the things that
need to be on track are on track. Thank you for giving us the green light to to start working out these details. Uh and we will update you as often as you like, but certainly we'll have some major updates as we go to bid and go to contract on some of the interior remodels as we finalize the contract for
this space. Um you'll also begin to see steel coming out of the ground, but in in the area that was our former bus uh parking area, we're putting our facilities cold storage, which is outdoor unheated kind of pole barn structure. that's going to be uh coming
out of the ground very soon and will be available we believe in the June time frame. Uh we're expecting to have this uh in the the late summer, early fall u to be available. So things are moving in district 49 and we're able to do all of
this within our budget resources that we've currently identified because we have funds that are specifically reserved for capital expenditures. uh that's how we have to spend them and that's what we're going to be doing. So, are there any questions that I could answer?
>> Student board, do you have any questions about future expansion plans? Because one thing that makes us unique is District 49 has land and that's why we grow with new developments. And you'll see some of that up north, but
when you go east, we have land. And so they've got the new percheron development. I think we had a discussion once in student board about types of horses. And so it's kind of exciting to see what's coming next. Any questions from the board?
>> Go ahead. >> Director Liv right. I think the move for Falcon L to move over to Bennett Ranch is being perfectly timed because just this week because I live out there um posts were starting to talk about road
changes near the school and concerns about danger to kids and some of the as they're expanding and improving the roads to handle the additional traffic that's out in Falcon and the impact that was going to have on on the school and
this is addressing that safety concern by ensuring those kids will be moved before that gets sign before that significant impact happens. Um so it it's we're we're staying finally a step ahead
of when you know some of these things that negatively impact um some of the negative impacts of growth. It finally feels like we're staying a little bit ahead um and being able to plan for our students in a proactive way and which is I I'm grateful to our community for.
>> Yep. If I may be specific, there are two there are two projects that are significant. Uh the Colorado Department of Transportation is expanding Highway 24. And that expansion is going to take over um about half of the north parking lot at the Patriot Alternative uh I'm
sorry, the Patriot Applied Learning Campus. and it will require the removal of the four classroom pod that sits on the north side of of Patriot High School. Um, but on on Falcon uh Elementary's campus, the south parking lot, which currently hosts the entire
car pool, most of that south parking lot is in the easement for Falcon Highway. And as they are now getting ready to expand Falcon Highway, we would lose what has been a safe and and efficient carpool space. we would completely lose access to that and we would have our
students even closer to an even busier highway. So, thank you for for that observation. This is the right time. We're doing it the right way and there is a future where Falcon PreK8 will rise further east. Those are many more details and and months and probably
years down the calendar. Um, but we'll set ourselves up to potentially have a K8 on the eastern boundary. Bennett Ranch is ideally positioned and and actually designed to be a K8. And so you'll see the operated schools beginning to enter that K that preK8 uh
marketplace and this is the right time to be doing it. >> Okay. Thank you so much. And we don't have um a second public comment. Is there anything for miscellaneous? The only thing I'm going to apologize
for is because the meeting was brief is I didn't provide any more material for a Tik Tok video. So, tune in next time and I'll try to do a better job. And with that, we are adjourned at 8:02