Ladies
and gentlemen, we're having some technology issues, and we will be starting in just a few minutes. Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the July 10th, 2025 Board of Education regular meeting. The time is 6:37 p.m., and I am calling this meeting to order. Can I get a roll call? Here. Here. Here. Here. Here. Can you please stand and join us for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance 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 all. Thank you. Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? I move to approve the agenda. Second. Any discussion? Can I get a vote? Yes. Ay. Ay. Ay. Ay. Ay. Okay.
And that passes. We welcome comments from stakeholders during district 49 open Forum. Please stay seated until your name is called by the Board of Education chair. Then approach the podium to introduce yourself. Speak clearly into the microphone and keep your remarks respectful and orderly. Personal complaints against individuals connected with the district, except for board members or the superintendent, are prohibited. Each speaker is limited to two minutes. The board will not respond during the forum, but may assign follow on action to the superintendent.
We also encourage you to use the stakeholder grievance process for resolving concerns, which may cumulate in a formal appeal to the board. Thank you. For parties. The views expressed in the forum are those of the commentators, and do not represent official policy of district 49 or of the Board of Education. And I guess we had some people who signed up but did not show up. So our speaker tonight will our one commenter will be John Graham. And Lindsay Lee, if you want to come up here
and wait for John to finish, we didn't see you. We spoke last night. You should go second. Okay, we'll we'll start off with Lindsay Lee. Hi, I'm doctor Lindsay Lee. I am a D49 parent, member of the, Horizon and Springs Ridge SAC and member of the DAC. My message tonight really is for Director Dolan. So I hope that you will pay attention. In response to your comments at the May 8th board meeting concerning policy JBA.
I sent you an email a couple of weeks later, May 28th, because I feel like, felt like and feel like you owe many of us from the district an apology, a public apology that we have not received in the six or so weeks since then. So I'm going to read the email that I wrote to you then. Jamie Lynn I have honestly been seething throughout, and since the policy JBA discussions have taken place, I've tried to get some distance and perspective, but the extent to which you so deeply offended D 49 students and families like mine cannot go unaddressed.
I'm bothered by many of the untruthful claims you made, but what is especially troubling was the accusation you made about parents like me in D 49. You accused us, and by proxy, the expert medical teams that surround us of committing child abuse. I'm honestly asking, do you ever step outside of yourself and consider that people live their lives differently than you do? That we are guided by values and that those values are not inherently less than yours, and that, at least for now, we have the freedom to do that in this country.
In your capacity as a board director, you have a duty to respect those choices, even if you disagree with them. Lest you forget, the Board of Education, Diocese, not your pulpit. I'm. I'm writing today to offer you the opportunity to demonstrate your humility and integrity by making a public apology to myself and all parents and families like mine in D 49. Your disdainful and hateful comments are harmful and you owe us contrition and assurance that you will not subject us to further unwarranted public judgment in the future.
I'll look forward to your apology tonight. Okay, next up we have John Graham. John Graham parent, former board, president, businessman, homeowner, taxpayer of the works. It is good to see district 49 taking a principled position on student use of cell phones and other electronic devices. I'm aware that following the practice of the last ten years, that the district did reach out to parents and staff to get input. This is a practice both Mr. Hilts and Mr. Miller.
I and many members of this board have championed since 2015. District 49 leadership has proven over and over the last ten plus years that you've been a staunch advocate of parental input, parental involvement, and parental rights. You may not always agree, but you provide that. You have been strong. You have been instrumental in changing the conversation of what is public education and how can we improve student outcomes not only in the Pikes Peak region, but statewide.
The supplies to the previous boards of education, this Board of education, current and former leadership staff and teachers. But make no mistake, though, there are some that want to ignore parents in our community. They don't want input. They want agreement. If they don't get agreement, they want submission. This is authoritarianism. You see it on the left of the political spectrum, and you see it on the right of the political spectrum. We have seen that noise over the last few years from the usual suspects board.
Take a stand. You are where you are supposed to be, where you will make a difference. Don't be discouraged by those seeking to dominate and dictate. Do you? 49 makes a difference in student lives. Every day you follow the cultural compass. You follow your mission of educating students. All of you make that difference. And I turn back the remainder of my time. Thank you. Thank you. I'm going to check for one more name just in case. There was any problems with signing in? Daniel Scheel had also signed up to speak.
Is Daniel here? Okie dokie. Does anyone have an item that they want pulled from the consent agenda? Can I get a motion to approve all consent agenda items? I move to approve all consent agenda items. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Can I get a vote? D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt.
Ay. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Heil. Ay. I and that motion passes and we are on to the superintendent. Update. Good evening. Board. Very good to be with you again. I much prefer in person to, remote from from low cell coverage in Alaska. But it was good to be away, and I appreciate you all supporting that. And the team here did did a great job with some, time, time sensitive time constraint issues. One of the most significant things, that you are already aware of,
but I, I want to give some praise to the power zone administration, in particular to Power Zone Superintendent Teresa Ritz. As you know, our our middle school, Skyview Middle School principal Mike Weder has left our district and will be leading in another part of town. And so Teresa ran an expedited but thorough process, had very strong candidates from multiple districts around the area and internal candidates as well, and has, moved forward with one of those. Corey DPH doctor Corey De Felice, who's currently
principal at Ridgeview, will be leading at Skyview. And and already is and is hitting the ground running. And so that means we will have an expedited but thorough and professional process, to select a principal for Ridgeway Elementary. But the quality of the candidates in June and even into July is evidence that great people want to work in our great district. And so I'm, I'm, I'm very pleased about, the direction. I'm also always pleased when an internal candidate rises to the top of a very competitive pool, because that tells you something about the quality of the people.
And everything we know about district 49 is that the people are our strength. And so I think this process, beginning and exemplified by Teresa Ritz, but with Corey, continuing on with the pool that is assembling now. It just shows that the people, good people, want to be part of a of this district and want to lead in this place. And so it really fulfills our third part of our mission statement to learn, work and lead in district 49. I am freshly back. I got off the plane at 635 this morning in Denver.
And so I am myself, hitting the ground running. I did some overnight email and and spent part of my day, kind of recovering and clearing through some backlog. And so I will be leading a cabinet retreat tomorrow. Then we will be, here for some work on Monday. But starting Tuesday, I will be largely offline. The cabinet knows that I trust Doctor Lemmond and others to to act in my stead. But I will be in Denver, where we are going to trial. This trial is in the case
of Schmidt and Coles versus district 49, I won't elaborate. All of us who are named in that case. But we are going to trial really on two issues. The judge, denied a motion for summary judgment. And in that denial, the judge observed that school board meetings and specifically the district 49 school board meeting, is properly classified as a limited public forum, which means that you may make reasonable restrictions on time, manner and place of expression of participants as you do
as you did tonight with time limits on open forum or characterizations of who who may be personally addressed or or criticized and who may not. And so the judge determined that the the correct standard constitutional legal standard is limited public forum. And the question then that will be resolved at trial is whether the standard that you created is reasonable. And then as a secondary matter, whether it was applied consistently. And I think we are in
very good stead from the judge's point of view, because this is the judge's characterization. The policy is objective and workable. Signs with written messaging are not allowed. The policy draws a clear line and allows its enforcer to make simple, objective decisions. And so, as your lead executive, I'm the enforcer in this case. And if the jury finds, as the judge found, that this was objective and reasonable, then we will be in very good chance to prevail in the lawsuit.
However, there's a lot of testimony. There's a lot of witnesses on the list. This this trial will almost certainly take multiple days. And while we're in trial, I will be offline. I will be inaccessible. Just as if I was in the middle of the ocean, or up a river in Alaska. I will be offline. And so, I may not be as responsive to queries or things that are going on. But this is the right, the right thing to do to to stand up for the policy that you've asserted.
And so we're going to do the next right thing, and that is the next right thing. We don't think this is the next right timing, but we made that argument with the judge, and the judge did not agree. So we are proceeding next week. And that is my short abbreviated summer superintendents report because once school opens, there'll be a lot more going on. It's quiet now, but I can hear noise on the horizon. And we are now on to board updates. Director Schmidt. I hope everybody had a really good Independence Day.
One of the wonderful things about this country is the First Amendment protects speech that you like and speech that you don't like. I've actually made it a point not to bring this case to the public, and I am disappointed that Mr. Hilts is represented at one side of the trial that will be taking place in Colorado Springs, not Denver, next week. Director Heil. Not much to report. Enjoying the summer break?
I've had actually zero, district activities since our last regular meeting. But I do have something to look forward to tomorrow. There's a group that is providing youth advocacy training, and the students asked to hear from board members specifically. And so tomorrow, I will be participating in a panel where we'll be, teaching the students about, school boards and why they matter. And I will be joined by peers from district two and district 11. So that'll be fun. So, like, I.
Director La Vere-Wright. I'm not going to try and do an update from online. That's okay. Director D’Avola. Well, I hope everyone has been enjoying their wonderful summer. I do know that, district 49 put on that awesome Reed camp and our, staff that we're a part of that are enjoying their July break since they have a very short amount of time to enjoy it. And I'm also enjoying
my short amount of time as well for my break. And other than that, I. I'm good. I've been trying to figure out how to get on to my computer because I changed my password and I can't remember my password now. So sometimes. So that's what I've been doing for the last ten minutes. Still can't get in. Tonight is our night of technology. I don't know if you reset that. Well, I attended during the 4th of July week. I attended a webinar on the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution put on by Constituting America with, guest panel that included both professors and college students. And it was excellent. They provided some great resources, and I sent those links out to the board. On teaching American history and any board members who are interested in attending those, I, I highly recommend them. But when it comes to constituting America, district 11 is outpacing us with their free classroom presentations of the Constitution and declaration,
and they're now pursuing a partnership with Constituting America. Just so you're aware, charter schools, public schools, well, public schools are charter schools, but traditional schools and charter schools can use that free presentation. Grades four through 12. I attended it at Skyview Middle School. It is excellent. The most pivotal, pivotal ages that they recommend is grades five, eight and ten. And, it's just a wonderful program. Teachers can be in the classroom, they can catch up on planning time.
But if you get a chance, I highly recommend you sign up for that free presentation from Constituting America. I have been invited back to the Teachers Freedom Summit, which will be in Washington, D.C. next week. I've never been to D.C. I'm not going to have a lot of time to do a lot of the things I'd like to do, but I might want to try to schedule a nighttime tour of the monuments. Just not to waste the opportunity. Unfortunately, my outgoing flight is at 6:01 a.m., which is not my preferred time. In addition to the speakers, there are some great opportunities for different breakout sessions to include explicit
instruction, navigating school choice, history of the Department of Education and Public Education in America. Building better parent teacher relationships, math and science standards, anti-Semitism from learning to leading socialism and communism. So I am going through the agenda to figure out which classes I want to take, but I'd like to take most of them. And that's all I have for now. Okay, now we are on to item 7.1. Student. Policy changes.
Student use of cell phones and other personal electronic devices. Can I get a motion for action item 7.1? Do you need my sheet? I move to approve proposed policy. J I c j. Second. Any discussion? Okay. Director Schmidt. Do we plan on going through the red line tonight? We're going to be discussing the policy and including the red line version. So whatever you want to speak about first.
Well, the way I kind of had my thoughts together was as we address each policy, have some discussion items on that, but I don't know how you want to proceed with it. You mean as far as the red line, each proposed change on the red line version? We can do that. Oh, and one thing I'd like to make clear to, Doctor Lemmond did not participate in our Red line version. I had reached out to her about the process that went on, and those were her responses that I shared in the red line version.
And then I added one of my own comments. But before we get into that, I'd kind of like to discuss what this policy went through. In the beginning, there was a community meeting which included parents and students and educators, and they did one of Peter's whiteboard sessions, which are really informative. Later on, it was run through a bunch of different committees for their input to include student Board of Representatives. The fact meeting it was covered in our safety and security with engage 49. Jamie Lynn later told me it did not go through the DAC, which I think would have been worthwhile.
Then we had groups of principals and administrators that came together after we launched a protocol, and they obtained feedback on how is our cellphone protocol working out. And they brought back their suggestions. So over the past year, there have been a bunch of different eyeballs on it to come up with this, this policy that Doctor Lemmond helped put together, taking in all of that feedback. And so what we're discussing tonight, then, is proposed changes under the red line version.
So I guess we'll start off with each of the proposed changes. And they will include some of the comments that were provided to me from the work session. So is that the policy or the red line? Is Thompson, may I add one additional piece of context? Yes. Because I think that the most critical stakeholder group, for a lot of reasons is our principals. Certainly students and parents, other administrators, staff members are important, but a policy that is restrictive in this nature will rise or fall based on the principals
belief in the policy and their ability to implement it effectively. And so principals have been, deeply involved, and most of them have, asked us to tighten up and to remove variability to increase consistency. And so the draft that Doctor Lemmond prepared has a lot of principal input in it. And I think that's an important that's an important observation because as having been a principal, at a school that had a tough uniform policy,
I can tell you that if the principal feels that the policy is unenforceable, then the policy will not have the effect that it is intended to have. Principal belief in the workability of the policy is is very important. So the first red line, part that was proposed was to strike the first sentence. The Board of Education believes that personal electronic devices may be useful tools for students in the educational environment,
and can play a vital communication role during emergency situations. So that is the first thing is whether or not to strike that through. And I'm open to board input. Director Schmidt. I support taking that out. For one, it says that the board believes that phones are useful tools in the educational environment. I do not believe that, I do not believe that it is for the safety of the children either.
I realize. I realize that this was drafted by a working group of building and zone leaders. However, the draft did not include specific import input from board members. I have been asked for a cell phone. I've been asking for a cell phone policy since early 2025. I find it difficult to understand. Why would you why you would ask the speaker, SBO or the clerk or SCA to make revisions and not include board members, especially when a strong interest was shown in policy Bcba.
It is stated that the board is responsible for the development of policy and for the employment of a superintendent who will carry out a board policy through the development and implementation of regular regulations. That means the board is very active in policy development, and the superintendent is very active in how policy is carried out. Regarding educational environment, developing brains of adolescents are particularly vulnerable to the potential negative effects of excessive screen time and social media.
These impacts emotional regulation, impulse control, and social development. How does that help educational environment? Staying on task is a feature of maturity and a sign of good executive function. However, even a brief distraction can significantly impact focus, causing attention fragmentation. Many adolescents get hundreds of notifications per day, meaning hundreds of distractions and hundreds of times to refocus. How is that helpful to the educational environment?
Adolescents come to school. And we will get back around it. And just to be clear, under this policy, cell phones are prohibited during academic time. Specifically for some of those reasons. Director. Yeah. So I'm a board member, and this, came before me two separate times. At the SCLAC. First, when it was proposed, after the whiteboarding session. It was run by us for, for feedback and then put into place as a protocol.
And then when it moved from, protocol to draft policy, it came before us again. So, as a board member, I got to have, input into it on two separate occasions. I can I can cut out a lot of conversation here by saying I don't agree with any of these red line edits. Because the the went through a robust process that got a lot of feedback from a lot of stakeholders. It's about balancing a lot of different interests. And I don't have the hubris to just strike all that hard work
and, impose my own viewpoints. To some of the points that, Director Schmidt raised, the not only are they not allowed to use their phones during instructional time, but this policy also says that if it even chimes that the that a violation and the phone can be taken away from the student. So, we've addressed the concerns, and I'm very comfortable with the policy as it was provided to us. Director La Vere-Wright.
So I would prefer that. Okay. Hold on. Just just. Because some of the issues that we've had in classroom here are the ways in which we limit it. And I think that that. It introduces the policy in a way that it, you know, is what some people might bring up when they're reading it. And I agree with the statement itself as well. I am comfortable with the process. The policy in its entirety went through in development.
Having been a high school teacher and a still parent of high school students. I think that the way in which this has balanced it, especially at the high school level, is both appropriate. It's and we'll get the administration the teeth they need to enforce it. And I think will also circumvent some of the students dancing around it because they'll see pieces of it is reasonable. So if you tell them we're concerned about your education,
and that's why we don't want you to have the cell phone. But when we're not teaching you and you're sitting in the lunchroom, you're not allowed to have it either. Any any 15 year old is going to sit through that argument and say, but that's hypocritical. If you're really concerned about my education, it shouldn't matter to you that I'm using my cell phone to check my work schedule and check my sports schedule, and to communicate with my friends, during my free time in my lunch time, just as adults do on their break times at work, we're preparing them for the adult workplace. And in the adult workplace, they're not required to have their phones
somewhere else and not on the work site unless they're working in a top secret place. And as someone who's married to somebody who does. Those folks lock their phone up for a portion of the day that they're in the top secret room, and then they have their phone right back. Even in the military. That's true. So, I think we're also preparing them for the adult world by setting boundaries similar to those which they will encounter in the workplace and treating them with the level of maturity that they should be having at that age. So I think it's a great job of starting this policy,
and I think we should pass it as it was originally written. Director D’Avola. Yes. So I mentioned this last time. I was also concerned with the lack of board input. I know that you are a part, director of the ESC S-Class. SCLAC. Sorry. The Skylark. However, as a board, we did not actually assign board members to be a part of this policy. Adoption. And that is the role of the board.
And so it did not actually come as a board notification that this was even being worked on. So even though one board member was aware of this, draft happening, the rest of us did not know. At least I did not know. And neither did Director Schmidt. And so that is concerning. Second, I also do not agree that electronic devices are useful tools for students in the educational environment. So there's no way that I could put on there that I believe that, because it's it's it's not,
I could say that, it could play a vital communication role during emergency situations. At the high school level. Not for the elementary school level at all. And so if we want to revise it, I would be willing to revise the statement. But I want to take out that we believe that they are useful tools in the educational environment. Case in point, to director Olivia Wrights point.
I am an educator, and I am required to have my phone, not on me the entire time that I am working. So when I am with children, I do not have my phone on me. It is in my purse. It's in my drawer and it does not come out. It is not needed for the educational environment at all. Anyway, just wanted to, reiterate the belief there. Just to clarify, under this policy, K through eight, there are no cell phones allowed.
Full stop. So what we are talking about is nine through 12, and I'm going to have Doctor Layman in just a moment, respond to one of the things, the comment about can play a vital communication role during emergency situations. That was the number one input from parents. I also participated, and I really have to push back about, the student Board of Representatives and their input on this because they were articulate, they were intelligent, and they were in favor of having a cell phone policy.
And what those student leaders shared was, if you explain the why to us, you can get our buy in. If you and they talked about more face to face interactions during the time we were doing the protocol. They they liked the cell phone policy. But then they also said, if you tell us no phones because we said so, then they might get a little bit on rear. And they, they told us all the ways they would defeat the cell phone policy. They were highly creative, but they were talking about everything from pouches to hanging ones over the door.
So the student board was very much in favor of having a cell phone policy. And I think it is perfectly acceptable to get student input on this. So not only did I participate in those, but we did the safety and security engage 49 out in Falcon. We also discussed it. So it has been discussed with a couple of the board members depending on what they were involved with. Also, when we launched our protocol, it was stated at the time, we are going to try this protocol for a year and then roll into a policy.
Now typically on policy development, where used to be doing revisions, where there's usually two board members has signed on revisions. And so we could look at the ways we are when we're developing a policy to include more board involvement. But to say that there was not board involvement would not be accurate, because I came across it in two different venues, and I like the fact that we got input from students, parents, teachers and administrators when this was being put together. But Doctor Lemmond, am I correct on that one line
right there where the communication role. Now there are also areas that I'd also like to hear from. Superintendent helps in just a moment. As far as the educational environment. If you have any ideas on that. But is that sentence part of that from the parents? So Doctor Nancy Lemmond, deputy superintendent and executive director of Individualized Education. It does come from the parents. It also comes from the knowledge that there could be emergency situations. And again, I cannot begin to fathom what all of those might be, where a parent has had their child share their location, a child has run.
They are hiding someplace because they don't know what's going on, and a parent can then figure out where their child is to help. Search and rescue or help, emergency individuals find that child. Again, also, it I can't even begin to fathom all the different ways that it might be used. Reunification. I could see where the cell phones could be used during reunification. Mr. Hilts, is there anything you want to add? You've probably. Yeah, I would add that, respectfully, Doctor Whitman doesn't have to be hypothetical.
We know precisely how students use them. We had we had to evacuate three different schools during a wildland fire just two years ago. So we relocated the entire Ridgeview student body, staff and faculty over to Vista Ridge High School. We relocated the entire Skyview student body, staff, and faculty, first to a public park and then over to Sand Creek High School, and having individual students be able to connect with their parents was instrumental in reunification. It made it much more efficient.
More importantly, it made it safer because parents were not frantically, coming to places that were then unsafe. I was on the ground as this was happening. I was I was literally sitting parked at the intersection of Black Forest Road and Dublin, watching our elementary and even preschool age students coming across. And most of those adults were carrying cell phones. Those were elementary students. So we wouldn't they wouldn't have had them and we wouldn't expect them to have them. But the middle school and then the high school students, that were, either,
sort of hosting or were around, the reunification sites did have phones and they, they were meaningful. We've also had a fire at Sand Creek where we evacuated completely. And what Doctor Lemmond alluded to is the hypothetical we experienced as a reality. It was helpful. It created an additional information resource. But I don't think it's really my perspective is not what's most important here. I think the toughest job in our district in any district that I'm familiar with, is high school principal.
And I've done that job in in two different states and in three different districts. And I believe that job is uniquely complex because you have a difficult you know, first of all, you're you're leading humans on staff who are in charge of adolescent humans. So those two things there create infinite complexities. And principals, as I said before, need a policy that's enforceable. So I have a lot of respect for their insight. I'll make a final observation.
I've been a pretty strong advocate for parental rights, and although it may not be the way that any one of you individually would parent, a parent whose child has a cell phone almost universally is paying for that cell phone. They're setting boundaries. They're setting expectations. And it has never been our practice in my 13 years that we substitute the judgment of parents. We substitute our judgment for the judgment of parents when it comes to something like safety, and access to their child.
And so what we heard from parents was they felt that this was a reasonable restriction at elementary and middle school, and they felt that it was a reasonable allowance at high school to have to have students have fun. So just in contrast, for example, to Director Schmidt's perspective that that students should not have phones at all. That's not what the parents of our district say. And they say that by their actions. Last question of what about what says the statement here about, useful tools for students in the educational environment.
Now, if either one of you has any input, just very. Briefly, almost anything can be a useful tool. It could be it it could be a useful tool. It depends on what the teacher does with it. I've used all kinds of digital information resources computers, iPads, phones. But I've also used all kinds of analog information resources. So to say that it can't be a useful is is an incorrect absolute. But to say that it is always useful would be an incorrect absolute.
The truth is, in the middle. Director Schmidt, did you want to say something? Yeah. For one, I'd appreciate the same five minutes that the superintendent just got. Regarding the. We kind of got far a foot from what we were looking at regarding the part of this sentence that we want taken out. Part of, why? I don't believe in this is we should be showing parents more respect by educating them on how the district handles emergency situations. We need to let them know that we will inform them and allow their kids
to call home as soon as the situation safely allows them to do so. They need to know that kids giving kids access to their phones too soon in a bad situation puts their kids at more risk, and can be the source of gross misinformation. Parents need to know that if there really was a shooter on campus, the light or sounds coming from cell phones would attract the bad guy to the kids, putting them in more dangers. Parents need to know that we've invested millions of dollars in our schools for increased safety, and encourage them to trust our professional safety staff,
who are well trained in keeping our kids safe. They need to know that in reality, cellphones in students hands actually impede safety in emergency situations. Educating parents on waiting as excruciating as that might be, will bring the best outcome for the safety of the children. Students, parents and staff need to know that shootings are highly sensational lies, but in truth, are not a common event and that K-12 campuses are one of the safest places for kids in America. Cell phones won't stop a shooter,
but cell phones can make the situation much worse. No policy is foolproof. Bad things happen. Parents don't need bland beliefs. Statement as this is, parents need to be respected and empowered with this kind of information so they know what happens in a bad situation and how they can best be a part of their children's safety. This belief statement is a belief statement that I do not believe. Director Heil. So coming back to, Mr. Hilts, his comment before, which was an argument
I also made at the previous meeting when we discussed this. The parents have made a choice, in putting a cell phone into their child's hands and paying for the subscription if there is some sort of, safety security threat at their school, the parent doesn't want to wait for, complicated process to notify 900 students when they can reach out to their own student directly and hear from them. Now, as far as educational value, I can think of a number of scenarios
in which, a phone would be a valuable educational tool, particularly the camera function. You know, you've got, a science experiment where you're making observations over time. If the students can take their own pictures of something growing or decaying or whatever it may be, seeing change over time, then the that's them collecting the data, and it's going to be so much more meaningful to them. I could also see another, lesson on perspective where maybe a 3D model has been constructed for, the students,
and they take pictures of it in different angles and they see different details. So, yeah, plenty of, plenty of educational, opportunities. And we're leaving that up to the teacher to determine when that is appropriate. So. Director La Vere-Wright. Well, and I think it even goes further than what Mr. Heil just said about the educational component. I believe that teachers don't even have that discretion according to this policy,
the way I read it was that that would still require administrative approval. So administrators would still be reviewing whether there would be something specific, in a classroom at the high school level where, personal device, would be beneficial in some way. And I could I could see in something when we're talking about the personal finance classes and some of the classes that use, pumpkins with the time management, installing an app on their phone is probably the more appropriate place
for them to then use the app, because then they put all of their life into it. You can't do that. Some of those things you can't actually do on a district device. So, but I know my son realistically also had a project for his Earth science class that was actually his final exam. When she got it and where he had to use a device that could take pictures and get pictures of, a specific environmental issue. And he actually did the water, water flow in Meridian Ranch. And several of his pictures were on Falcon High School's grounds that he used in his final exam.
Because he had not if he had a district device that could do that. But his classmates all needed to use their cell phones to get those pictures, to be able to complete their final exams and I think that was a correct use of technology. And if some of those pictures were on Falcon High School campus and showing irrigation and how irrigation was part of water conservation, there's 100% inappropriate use of, that technology with building permission for the project. So I think we're giving the right people with discretion on this. And parents,
today's parents are a lot more savvy about tech and how to restrict it and what kinds of things to set boundaries and how to do it, and what options are out there available for them to monitor their kids. And, and then then some may be aware of and I think that parents have that right to be able to set those boundaries for their kids. So I think, again, I would like us to just move this forward and move on. Director D’Avola. All right.
I moved to amend it to say that the Board of Education believes that personal electronic devices can play a vital communication role during emergency situations. Can I get a second? If we don't. Second, it's going to stay the way that it's written right now. Second. Well, I thought we were going to go through each one, but I understand wrapping it forward. And I would just like to to say I'd really several times I have been brought up with the superintendent.
We've had discussions about having technology information awareness for parents because there's it's like with any tool, it can be both good and bad. And it's true, a lot of what different members have mentioned as far as attention span distraction, which is specifically why we're prohibiting it during educational periods. Director La Vere-Wright has always been a strong proponent of telling us about safer cell phones with restricted apps where the parents have full control at their computers.
Unfortunately, a lot of the providers, they sell these packages and the individual phones that can be more restricted by the parents are more expensive in their separate plans, but they're really useful tools. I also believe in teaching high school students agency and consequences and responsibility, and a lot of people really diminish them. And these are the people who are going to be our future voters. They're going into our work force if they violate the policy. I want their phone taken away. I want them to explain it to their parents and have their parents come in.
I want them to learn some self-restraint. I will get to everyone, but I also get to speak. So if you could hang on one second here. That how can they learn as citizens in a digital society if we don't give them the opportunity to see whether or not they would fail or succeed with this policy? I also don't believe in necessarily micromanaging everything that the principals have shared and that the administration has shared. Although I do believe it's viable to have input, and that's what we're doing right now. So the discussion is, is whether or not to amend this.
There has been a motion and a second. Do you want to discuss it further, or do you want to have a vote on that discussion. Okay. That's what I'm saying. I was asking Director Schmidt, do you want to have a discussion or vote on this? I do not believe either one of those statements. Okay, well, we've had a motion and a second. So the vote is to amend it once again. Jamie Lynn, if you could state what we're voting on. Yes, we moved to amend it to say the Board of Education believes that personal electronic devices can play a vital communication role during emergency situations.
So we're going to take a vote for that proposed change. Can I get a vote, please? D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. No. Schmidt. Ay. La Vere-Wright. No. Heil. No. Okay, so that one will remain as it was. Now, let's go on down to, the next change. I think, is students in grades nine through 12 are prohibited from using personal electronic devices. My apologies.
Director Thompson, just to go back up. So the the original read the original version and then the red line version. We are back to the original version. That's correct. Okay. Thank you. So we voted on the amendment okay. That makes sense. Okay. So the next proposed change, students in grades nine through 12 are prohibited from using personal electronic devices during. And the original verbiage was instructional time. It was changed to the designated school day. The school day includes but is not limited to, instructional time,
school sponsored programs, events, and activities, or any other time as determined by the administration. So this one, it sounds like they want to prohibit the use of cell phones during any any time during the school day to include school sponsored programs, events, or activities. Am I correct on that amendment? Director Schmidt? One reason for the suggested revision was to put in place
the same cell phone safety measures that we have for our K through eight students, and apply them to our high school students. First of all, electronic devices are not necessary for learning. They don't need to be in the classrooms. Students have access to school approved devices with filters to do research while they're at school. Their books. There's other media. Students need to learn that there are other ways to acquire information than just their phone. When we allow student use of personal electronic devices
in the classroom for instructional purposes, which never happens, by the way, talk to your principals because I had one tell me they wish we had a strong policy. Anyway, if we're if we allow that, we're opening a can of worms. It doesn't happen. And the onus for enforcement falls on our teachers, our teachers. We're losing teachers. Why are we losing teachers? They don't want to be phone Nazis. Okay, there does need to be exceptions for medical and special events,
and building staff are aware of those special events. Signing day travel students and staff do want photos of that stuff. We understand that should be an exception, but then those are on the school calendar for the most part. But I do have a strong reservations to blanket discretion. There needs to be something that these leaders and these teachers have solid to follow. With regards to ambiguity. The port. The added portion was a cut and paste from the four or from the k eight through the 912.
It wasn't ambiguous up here. Why is it ambiguous down here? I, I just don't know why we're not going to protect our older students and we're going to protect our younger ones. If you protect them both, we're not protecting them. Cell phones are a major issue. Director Heil. So as students get older, we, expect to transfer more responsible responsibility to them. We can't simply, treat them as as children with no responsibility.
And then. Oh, now you're 18 and you graduated high school. You're an adult now with with no transition in between. They've got to practice, responsibility. So one of the things that this does is it allows our students to have their phones on them with the expectation that they will use them responsibly within their certain parameters. They can't use them during instructional time. And if it chimes, then that is a violation. So they are expected to turn them off, while they were in class.
Now in between classes during lunch, you know, our high school students, many of them my my high school student had a job and she might need to check, to see, what her, work schedule is for, you know, coming up, maybe her boss is trying to ask her if she can come in a day early. You know, lots of different reasons, why they would be using them. But it is their personal device that has been put in their hands by a parent. And when they are on their own time, it is reasonable to allow them to use it.
Director D’Avola. So I know one of the concerns with, with the change here was that the designated school day may not include drop off or pick up from school. And it is my understanding that we have that phrase in there any other time, as determined by the administration, the administration can choose to make it more stringent than it than it already is. So if they want to determine that the designated school day means when you're on campus, that is,
up to the administration before school starts or after school starts, that could very well be a part of that determination. Second, I am hearing that there is concern about having the school sponsored programs, events or activities included in there. I would not be opposed to striking the school sponsored programs, events, and activities for the high school level and just leaving it for instructional time. I kind of want to hear thoughts on removing that portion.
That was one of my concerns was removing that portion because, I have been invited by student board to attend choir practices or choir concerts, and I went to every 3.75 dinner we had, with the highest performing students, and they were involved with their church groups. They were involved with ROTC, they were involved with band, they were involved with sports. They were involved with so many different activities. Some of them did all that. Plus they had a job and they still were performing at an extremely high level.
Some of them also helped transport younger siblings to and from school, and so school sponsored activities that that could have included some of those situations where they do need to be contacted, they need to contact with their parents. Hey, are you picking up this child? Whatever it is, I thought that was overarching. And also I think it contradicts the next one because it says the designated school day, but then it makes it okay for lunch. And so I did want to read one note that was provided by a board member.
Return to original language consistently limiting during instructional time. Addresses learning concern and remainder of access can be needed for activities, work, and when students need to travel for school purposes. For example, attending a class off campus with our concurrent enrollment, that's a reality, off campus where it was I oh, going to a sponsored activity, etc. add back, administer relative discretion. And so that was input.
And then, Director La Vere-Wright. Did you ever do you think about that part? Yeah, I think most of you have basically covered those pieces. But, you know, we have students actually, who travel even between some of our campuses. Kids take the culinary program at Patriot and then go back to their high school. We've had kids cross from Sand Creek to Falcon High, or from Vista to Falcon, or from South County. Sand Creek or Vista to be able to take part, participate in some of the programs that those schools Vista actually has classes off campus.
And students may coordinate rides with one another, and they're communicating with each other to be able to make sure they meet up. We also have school sponsored activities where there isn't a bus transporting kids. To various events. And so kids are taking their own vehicles with parent permission, with other students, that there are a lot old enough to drive a second student in their car. Our kids are with other people's parents, all of those things, and issue. And again, I think that having that administrative discretion in there is really important.
Because like the example I gave of my son's final exam for his environmental science class at Falcon High School, using their phones to be able to get the pictures of the irrigation system to show appropriate water management if they chose to do water conservation, water management, and water cycle as part of their final exam was a really good use of that technology. And it had been restricted during the school day and on the school campus, then they wouldn't have been able to use any thing that's utilized by the district
as a part of their project, which, to me would have made the project less valuable. So, and there's even things there's apps for the kids for studying agriculture. There are apps that identify plants and help you identify, what the plant needs in real time. When you take a picture of the plant, it analyzes it. So there are things that are coming out all the time that could be useful in some of the career and technical education courses that might not make it through our filter system. Just because our filter system sometimes filters out things that, you know, if you search the right to bear arms, you're going to get flagged
as someone who might be considering a school shooting, for example. But there are plenty of other things that will get over flagged. I'll take your time. It's up to you. My personal device to be able. Yeah. If you could hold the remainder of your thoughts for just a minute. Field. You okay? Director La Vere-Wright. If you can hear me, this could be important. Okay. Thank you. To director. Oh. One thing I did want to address real quick. Director devel, and then I'll get to you is the question was, why are you doing it? K through eight, not nine through 12. Brain development.
Brain development is a little different between k through eight and nine through 12. Director D’Avola. I still think it's extremely important for us to make sure that the students are not allowed to use their phones during passing periods on campus, so that is one thing that was not in here, which is why the lunchtime lunch period was the one period that they could use their phone, going in between campuses and things like that, I, I agree they would need they would need their phone if they're going to different campuses or for,
going to a sponsored activity, etc.. But the a lot of the issues that we have been having are students who are being late to classes because they're checking their text messages while they're walking from class to class. That piece is not in here. So that's the one thing that I wanted to make sure was in here was saying during passing periods and during instructional time, no phone should be visible or out. So, I would move to amend it to say during instructional time
and passing periods. Can I get a second? Second, ma'am, any further discussion on passing? Here's Director Heil. Yeah. So, when you're arranging transport in between, campuses, that might be the opportunity that students have to talk to each other to, to make sure that they get together for if they're writing together. And the other thing is, I really think that's going to be unenforceable. I mean, you've just got a bunch of students in the hallways and, yeah, they're going to anybody who wants to use your phone, who's
going to find a little blind spot in the camera system or whatever. And, I think it causes more problems than it solves. Director Schmidt. So just because you don't feel it's enforceable doesn't mean we shouldn't still make a good rule against it. Heavy cell phone use distracts kids from time spent face to face, socially physical activities and outdoor time. When social media came into the schools on smartphones back in the 20 tens, it changed the culture for everyone and not just the users.
Students talked to each to each other less between classes and at lunch, because they began spending much of that time checking their phones. Even if the student was not using a device, there was less eye contact, less laughter together, and less practicing making conversation, which creates social isolation. They're developing brains from 10 to 19, as defined by the World Health Organization, is particularly vulnerable to the potential negative effects of excessive screen time.
We need to be the ones to cut that down. The parents aren't going to be cutting that down. It impacts their emotional regulation, impulse control and social development. If they have attention fragmentation because they don't have good executive function. A lot of them get up to 100 notifications every day, 100 notifications, meaning 100 distractions, meaning 100 times. They need to refocus, whether it's in a pouch, they're still thinking about it.
If it's sitting up there in a pouch, they're thinking about it. It needs to be in the locker or in a locker somewhere else if they want to use it at the high school level. At lunch. Okay, you're still losing some social stuff, but you're giving a little bit there. But other than that, there are exceptions. Case by case, you need to have a couple people looking at that. And I would like to like I said, we're we're getting through. This will be done with it shortly. But I would like to talk to the most recent principal in the room has no longer principal.
And I would like our zone superintendent, Brian Smith, to talk about what he thinks about the enforceability during the specific topic of passing periods, which is what we're discussing right now. Ms. Thompson, may I set Mr. Smith up quickly as he's coming up here? And I promise, quickly as written, students could not use cell phones at a football game. They couldn't use cell phones after a theater. Right? Theatrical. And this is why, if you look at CASB's guidance, the board members, administration makes recommendations to the board, and then the board
adopts policy that adopting policy is different to drafting. And I appreciate and welcome input. But we had a year of input that's why we landed where we landed. And so as Mr. Smith speaks to you, he's speaking from years of interactions with parents and students and teachers. And I would I don't know what he's about to say, but I would take his I would take his word very much to heart. Well, the amendment is what we're talking about. Not not that piece, not the rest of it. Just to clarify. So as a former middle school principal, there's a lot I could share related
to this, because that's a common problem we have in middle school with phones. So just so I highlight specifically your question, what specifically do you want to hear from me on this. Since we're talking nine through 12? And of course, you were just the most recent principal that I could shocked, enforceability during passing periods. Enforceability during pass through. So as a principal, my expectation was, is that staff are out supervising hallways. So teachers are standing in the hallways as kids are coming and leaving their classrooms.
We have security officers that are present roaming the hallways. Administration is out there as well. And so if that is an expectation we have in our buildings, as I at Falcon Middle School had the expectation phones were out of sight, out of mind. So as we were walking the hallways, if we saw students with them, we confiscated them at that time. So there was an enforceability piece to that. When we had that in place, it felt middle school. Now, as we all know, students are creative.
They're sneaky. They're they're good at, So are board members. Keeping devices. In different places. And so we have had times where, yeah, the students know when we're watching and when we're not. And so our staff does the best job possible to monitor. And when we see it, we enforce it. But there are times where it does get by them. So. Thank you very much. Yeah, yeah. Director D’Avola. So back to my possible amendment.
Actually, if we could go back. Sorry. Yep. So for the, amendment that I have proposed, what we're discussing right now, it would say students in grades nine through 12 are prohibited from using electronic, personal electronic devices during instructional time and during passing periods. Question for Doctor Lamond and Superintendent Hilts, if we added in passing period, what would we want to define passing period as.
So for on campus, for example, versus passing off campus to some other class that's off of site ideas. So I just want to clarify that CTE does classify passing period as instructional time. Excellent. So adding the word passing period is not going to contradict what we're trying to say. What. So Doctor Lemmond I may have may have a pedantic and we we work together, respect and love each other enough that I can say some I think they I think they classify passing periods as contact time
but not instructional time. And that distinction is pretty important. But. The greatest vulnerability we have in schools in society is that we are a free society. I cannot think of a way to enforce a restriction that students may not use cell phones during passing periods. There aren't enough staff to cover all the parts. There's a saying in school construction, the architecture always wins. I can guarantee you what this. My concern is, what this does is create
an adversarial relationship between staff and students. And if it's a battle, I'm going to be blunt. If it's a battle, the students are going to win this battle. If we can carve out places to allow them agency, then it doesn't have to be a battle. And that's what the protocol was originally designed to do. You might remember in the protocol, and I was the author of that. I drafted that based on early input, okay. That that protocol allowed teachers to use five minutes at the end of class time.
And the principals and teachers said, we don't want that, and I respect that completely. I have not heard and you did not hear from parents over the last year, any uproar about students using phones during like, like they didn't come in and demand that students be able to use their phones during class because there was a reasonable outlet. There's also a truism, especially in a choice environment like we're in in elementary, parents pick the school in high school, for the most part, students pick the school and the middle is muddled, as everyone knows.
But the tighter we are on some of these kinds of things, the more we imperil enrollment. I can't quantify that because it's speculation, but it's not. It's not a fabrication, it's speculation, but it's not a fabrication. I think this would have some impact on enrollment. Direction to follow. You had your hand up first. Did you have anything? You know, I saw that that went up too. Okay. Director Schmidt. We're not going to catch every single kid. And I do believe that we need to confiscate the phones when we see them. Are we really going to allow a device
that has, in history, never caused so much mental health and anguish amongst our kids? Are we going to really allow this in our schools? What are we doing? Point of order. We're discussing passing time right now. Marie also was waiting to speak on passing time. Yeah. So a couple of things. One, if you have walked through any of the hallways of our high school, they have our coordinators, high schools, and,
you know, the one I'm again familiar with the smoking height. You can get through the crowd of kids to get to the kid in the center who might have a cell phone. The lack of it won't be enforceable in those halls. And not only will it not be enforceable because people then might feel like they're trying to enforce it, students will see it as selective enforcement, and we'll see it as is. The kids getting away and getting away with it as being favored in the kids who got caught being targeted, even though that's not what the adults are doing, you're going to be setting up a place for battle that it doesn't need to be.
Number two, they'll just go to the bathroom to use a cell phone. Because then the teacher can't follow them in there. So they're going to find a way around it when they see it's unreasonable when they feel that it is unreasonable. There is also during a passing period is when they can quickly check something. So that's when the message from their parent is going to get through. That's when when my daughter was there. What color guard hat is the color guard? And she was told at 730 in the morning, we need a color guard for an event immediately after school or by 3:00 today or whatever. She would be sending messages to everyone on the color guard team
and checking in between classes to see who would respond. Okay, Maria, for the event. Yeah. Thank you so much. Herself. Yeah. We were all doing protecting. That is important. Yeah. Okay. We were just just. Passing period where it was. Thank you. Okay. Director D’Avola. So we are leaving a time for them to have to have their phone, which is during the lunch time. So it's not that they're not going to be able to check their emails or,
see their messages, etc., during their lunch break. This is just when they're the purpose of a passing period is to go from one class to the other, in a timely manner, to use the bathroom quickly and get to class. The purpose of the passing period is not to check their phones. That's not the purpose of it. Okay. Now, I want to be clear about one thing, because I know that we could discuss each of these for an extended period of time. My understanding is, and by the way, I'm opposed to a school sponsored program, activities or events
because my daughter participated in those and would take pictures. So you were talking about just the passing period. Period? Not and not changing this verbiage on school sponsored programs and events. Oh my. Okay, let me be clear. My amendment is students in grades nine through 12 are prohibited from using personal electronic devices during instructional time and passing periods on campus. Period. Take out all the green. Then it goes into instructional time includes the entire period.
That was my amend. My I proposed. Had a motion and a second and I'm going to call the question. So we're voting on that amendment. Can I get a vote please. D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. No. Schmidt. Ay. La Vere-Wright. No. Heil. No. Okay, so that's going to remain the original verbiage on that one. And the next one we've kind of talked about because, lunch periods and those struck is determined by administration.
I'd like to read the notes from Doctor Lemmond. This section wording was based on comments made by the working group, which included principals, other building administrations and a zone superintendent. They wanted to continue to have some discretion and professional judgment on it. On if and when cell phones could be used for one school. Cell phones are not allowed. Drink, pick up, and drop off by changing the language to designate school day, which goes back to the previous one. Hang on, I just block that out. You have ambiguity over whether the school day
includes carpool or starts at the warning bill. The first bill also limiting non instructional time to only lunches, limits the buildings leader ability to allow cell phones for other principal designated times or special events to include signing day. On this one, I was just. I would like to make a motion that we retain the original language based on the input from our principals and our zone superintendent. Can I get a second on that one? And then we could have a discussion second. Okay. Now we can go to discussion on that change.
Director D’Avola. I feel like something was missing from the original language. I could be wrong. I believe that there was an egg with more words. Am I incorrect in that? No egg stands, for example. So I just gave an example of signing day. There would be other, again, school events, other situations where a principal, would designate that as a time to be able to use your cell phone. Maybe it's a pep rally, maybe it's a veteran's
assembly, maybe it's I just gave signing day as an example. I'm sorry, I think I was confusing the sections. So where it says personal electronic devices may be used during non instructional time. Comma, e.g. there was more there. There was lunch. Lunch something. Can you read it for us. Oh I don't know I didn't I didn't touch this. So I think it accidentally got deleted. So if we could add it what did it say previously. So our red line carries on to talk about students responsibilities,
to ensuring their personal devices are turned off and placed. Regardless of the permitted use. And there several bullet points here. Is that what you're talking about? No, I'm talking about the last line of students in grades nine through 12 where it says personal electronic devices may be used during. So, David, can you bring up the original do you have the original? Do we have the original? It's in your board docs and the to match it. They do. Match. They do. Okay for. E.g. lunch. Okay. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify that I appreciate it. My.
Okay. Personal electronic devices may be used during lunch as determined by administration. Is what? Your amend your recommendation is. Lori. No. Right now the red lines are, they struck non instructional time. And I think the example was lunch periods and then, it was struck as determined by administration. Some mine was to revert to the original language. And personal electronics devices may be used during non instructional time e.g.
lunch as determined I think periods. So I don't know if that was additive. That was original as determined by administration. Thank you. That's I just wanted to clarify that I was I was told. That we revert to that. We had a motion and a second, can I call the question on that one and get a vote. D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt. No. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Heil. Ay.
Okay, so now we are moving on to I think there are two other changes. And I really want to kind of be efficient with this one. It looks like it was I'm trying to determine this was changed when their use is otherwise prohibited by this policy or by school rules. Oh, yeah. The zone and okay, the original red the zone or school admin is administrators. If somebody could read the original for me. Because I look at it.
Their colors here. Was prohibited by this policy or by school rules. The zone or school administrators may at his or discretion. There is something missing. Oh, establish and enforce edition. Oh, there was a space put in. Establish and enforce additional rules for the use of personal electronic devices appropriate to individual campus needs. It should probably say, at their individual discretion, to just to be grammatically. The modern use of their can now refer to individuals. So and the notes from there that that was actually discussed whether to use and or
and so the modification requires that the school administrators and the zone superintendent have to agree on this one. And so it removes some of that discretion the way I'm reading the red line. So if anybody wants to have I'm going to allow one minute for additional inputs specific to that change. Director Schmidt. So this wording was placed in the revision specifically to encourage principals and zone leaders to discuss each possible situation. This improves clarity and communication between zone leaders and building administrators,
as well as the educational atmosphere for the students. It's a quick phone call and it would eliminate any possible confusion. We have had a bit of a revolving door of principals coming and going in past years. The zone leaders should know if there are exceptions that a new principal wants to make, and keep them in line with policy. That is a veteran principal. Obviously, nothing has changed and there is no worry. Director D’Avola. Yeah, I guess my question is,
when there are decisions being made at the discretion of the school administrators, where in this policy does it clarify that school administrators need to inform the zone superintendent of those differences? So that isn't clarified in this policy that is set by those zone superintendents who said they would be, again, they supervisor principals, they have those weekly bi weekly meetings with their principals. So they are having those conversations. I believe some of this allows for if there is a event that may be reoccurring
and the discussion is this event is happening, I would like to go ahead and allow cell phones. That conversation is occurred with the zone superintendent. There isn't the need to have the conversation again for the subsequent event. If there of similar. Again, there was a zone superintendent in with this was when this was being discussed and it what we did go through the end or or and working group landed on the Or. Director Heil. Yeah. And I really think we need to be leaving that at that order in there,
because it's really up to the zone superintendents and the and the principals to be navigating that relationship. We know what the, the, the chain of command is that the zone superintendent has, authority, but they can delegate that authority and they don't need to get involved in micromanaging their schools. And so if they prefer to defer to, the principals on additional restrictions, then, that's for those individuals to, to navigate. And if you're going to speak for Mr.
Smith, he said he agrees with the order. Okay. Director La Vere-Wright. Do you have anything you want to add to this? Yeah. I agree with Mike Heil. I think if you realistically think about, the way in which those decisions are going to be made, it's going to be a teacher or a coach or someone coming to the principal and saying, hey, I have this special present, or I have this advantage, or I have something I'd like an exception to the policy for this specific thing. And if they have to go to the zone
leader every single time you're creating a, an extra level of supervision that, for the most part, shouldn't be needed. And if that principal needs that level of supervision, then they're probably on a correction plane with their zone leader. There we have to let those building leaders lead, and some of that is being able to have that decision making capacity. And last, they're either so new to the D 49 culture that they still need to learn some of it or, they're struggling as a leader in the first place.
I think we should be letting their supervisors make that decision about whether they can handle that decision making. But I don't think we need to be micromanaging that relationship. Especially given it was, you know, zone leaders were in favor of the original language. Thank you. I would like to make a proposal that we leave, we change it back to or strike together and then make the change from his or her to there. So it would read when. Yeah. You want to add in director Davila. And so I'm proposing when there uses otherwise prohibited by this policy
or by school rules, the zone or school administrators may have their discretion to establish and enforce additional rules for the use of personal electronic devices appropriate to individual campus needs. Can I get a second? I think you have to make it as a as a motion to amend, but I will. Second. I moved to amend that. Correct? Yes. Second, Director D’Avola. Yes. So is it, it's my understanding that the zone superintendents then have some sort of, like, regulation or some sort of communication,
tool with their principals. Regarding this specific policy, is that my understanding? I can speak. I mean, Dustin Treece and I are probably very similar in this piece. We meet with our principals regularly. And when there are policy updates or new policies that come about, we do talk about them at our principal meetings. And how we're going to make sure that that's enforced consistently. And so there are times where a split second decision may happen, and I want my principal to act and make a decision, and I trust them to make that decision.
But we do in our meetings, discuss and make sure we're in alignment with policy. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Can I get a vote? D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt. No. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Heil. Ay. Okay. And that passes. I think we are on to our last one. And that one. Oh, this one defines emergency. I think was this added in?
If a situation does not fall under these specified categories, it's not considered an emergency and phones may not be used. And I'm trying to see if that was added in or if it replaces. Okay. That was added in. And actually, my comments already in there where when my father had a stroke, I notified my, my kids, teachers and administration that there might be times I need to give them an update. Of course, I was cautious of what kind of updates I was giving them during the school day, but I don't think we can rigorously define any emergency.
And at that point I want to leave it to our parents, our administrators and our teachers to make a determination on that use, as to what constitutes an emergency, instead of restricting it only to imminent threat to the health or safety of students and other school personnel, which may result in death, bodily injury, or property damage. So I would like a little bit more flexibility in there for parents, administrators working with the teachers. So I'm going to give everyone one minute to talk about this one, Director Schmidt. So I do support adding the green sentence, leaving the green sentence
in that says if a situation for situation does not fall under these specific categories, it is not considered an emergency and phones may not be used. But I also agree with clarifying what defines an emergency because I know of a student who is in another district who is being heavily threatened by another student. Admin work together with the teacher and the parents to decide that this student could discreetly carry his phone with the ringer in the vibrate functions off until the threat had truly passed.
I can see that could be defined as an emergency and a totally appropriate temporary measure to take. However, it still needs to have input from more than one person parent, zone leader, teacher, principal. The more the merrier. But you know, at least a couple of people really should be looking at each of these kind of special cases to decide how to handle it. Director Heil yeah, I think that I think the green text there about, if it doesn't fall under
one of these emergency categories, it can't be used. I think that's implied just because this is a carve out to our existing. Like we're in the middle of instructional time and the teacher is having a stroke, right? Like we want our students to be able to, call 911 and get services. Right. That's the kind of thing we're talking about here. So, I think it's implied and I think it's I think once you start adding the phones may not be used, it starts to create a little bit of, of, ambiguity there.
So it's like, oh, well, it's not an emergency. Well, there are other times here that are carved out that, that where it is permissible to. So, it seems like it would create a little conflict and probably unnecessary language. Director D’Avola. Yeah, I can see how that that could be unclear. My only concern is with emergency, definition of emergency for one person, as it, could be a different definition for another person, especially when it comes to, adolescents.
And so we want to make sure that it's very clear what an emergency is and what an emergency is not. And so I don't know if there's anything that we need to add there to make it a little bit more clear that they can't just use it because somebody called them a name during class. Like that's not an emergency situation. And so. Do we want to add in here anything that says other emergency situations need to be,
Defined or designated by school personnel or decided by a team of of personnel of what this emergency would be? Superintendent, I'm. Not sorry to be a pragmatist on this. This is always going to be after the fact. Nobody's going to consult your policy to see if this is an emergency or not. They're going to act. And then we either going to sanction them or we're going to gently rebuke them, or we're going to say, that was reasonable. You didn't know that person was have you didn't know what a seizure was, but you saw that behavior and you call. And so this is only guiding
decisions made after the emergency or the perceived emergency. And we would all say, oh, a breakup is not an emergency. Except Doctor Lehman will tell us that one of the number one precipitated for suicide is a breakup. So if you're the child who thinks the world has ended, maybe reaching out to a loving parent is an emergency. We're not going to cite the policy on the front end. It will always be applied, I hope, judiciously and sensitively on the back end. So I'm okay leaving it. I do think that the green is a double affirmative. It's unnecessary for reasons Mr. Howell said.
But I think any more definition will create more problems than we can anticipate. Director La Vere-Wright. So I think the original language is what we should stick with. I think it's clear enough. And, ultimately it's leading decision making afterwards. We're not locking administration into something in a way that that second term is might when they're looking at whether or not it needs to be disciplined, because there's no way we're going to come up with everything that could truly be an emergency to put on the list.
But an intelligent administrator is going to be able to listen to the whole story with the kid and be like, okay, I understand why, you really needed to do that. So I think we just go back to the original. And to be clear, the original is an actual or imminent threat to the health or safety of students and or school personnel, which may result in death, bodily injury or property damage. Director. Ebola. What about adding or other situations as determined by administration?
Do you think that's necessary? Or should we just leave it the way that it is? Because there could be other things besides death, bodily injury and property damage. So what I'm saying is, even if you don't put that in the policy, that will have to happen because it's the administrators who have authority to determine if a student's actions were in or out of compliance. So they're going to have to exercise their discretion and judgment after the fact anyway. I'm okay. Leaving it out wouldn't break my heart to put it in. What do you guys think? Director Schmidt.
So if we don't have something like this in. What is the deterrent for hoaxes? Because you're mad at Johnny, you're going to say that he's going to be, you know, acting badly. What's what's the deterrent? Of it's hoaxes. I think there's quite a few deterrents, but. I think the current is going to be that if a cell phone is used, the student claims it is an emergency situation. There's going to be an investigation because there is the potential for disciplinary action. So I do think the deterrence going to be that investigation
in that disciplinary action, potentially a ban on the child bringing the cell phone into school because it has been used, you know, as a hoax or inappropriately. But again, as Mr. Hilts has pointed out, we're not going to be able to know those, but we can't we can't anticipate all of those before they ever happen. But, But doesn't this pretty much say if it doesn't fall under these specified categories, that kind of covers it? Yeah, not cover it. If I may. I think your first the first bullet covers it.
If they engage in conduct that violates the code of student conduct, which what you're describing is a form of harassment or it's a form of deception, or so I think your first bullet is a good broad catch all. Director Heil and also, when I think about a student reporting an emergency, I think that is primarily a 911 call. And there are already, legal penalties for making a fraudulent 911 call. Okay. So I think at this point we're going to vote on retaining the original language.
Can I get a vote, please? D’Avola. Yes. Heil. Ay. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Schmidt. Ay. Thompson. Ay, and that one passes. The last thing is just to strike through, where what was struck out is on a limited basis for instructional purposes, in accordance with specific school procedures and under the explicit permission of the administration. In my opinion, we've actually covered this in 2 or 3 different areas right now. So I think that we need to remove that strike out.
So I make a motion to remove that strikeout second. Okay. Any quick discussion on that one. I just want to know that I do support that being struck out. It should be removed. As I stated twice before, cell phones are not mandatory for learning to take place. I think you probably have people in here that know that cell phones are not mandatory for teaching. For learning to take place, we need to encourage students to find information other ways. And the only comment I have for that is once again,
that involves a teacher and administration. So I'm okay with trusting the judgment of our teachers and administrators working together. Can I get a vote, please? D’Avola. No. Heil. Ay. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Schmidt. Please clarify again what I'm voting on. Returning to original language. Returning to the original language without the strikeout? No. Thompson. Ay. Okay, so now,
we're going to be voting on this, with just. I think. The amendments were to leave in or change to there. I'm trying to keep track of what we've done here, but I think right now we're going to vote for the policy. Were there amendments? I thought there was on I think the only amendment is changing his her to there. Yeah, that's my understanding. That's the only material change. Otherwise we reverted it back to original language. Okay. Can I get a motion to approve the policy as amended?
Let's do that. I had a question first. When we had originally talked about this policy, we also discussed because there was not board input and I'm not talking go into meetings, I'm talking board input, sitting down working with these people. Because there was not any of that. We had tried to you tried to leave it open by saying this could be amended yet in the future. And I would like to make sure that we do that in the near future. And that is something that can be brought up and it can be amended in the future.
Charter. How? Yeah. So, I would argue that board input was given pretty exhaustively, in the previous discussion in tonight's discussion and in all of the red line, activity that happened in between. So this was our process and this was us providing input into the policy. And then also, yeah, any time we make an update to a policy, it can always be brought back and, amended again. I'd like to remind us all that we are already breaking board policy
by making this policy without the board. And I respectfully would disagree that there was board input and there was board up input during the protocol, and there has been board input over two meetings. So can I get a motion to, approve this policy as amended? I move to approve the policy, as amended. Second. Okay. Can I get a vote? D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt. No. La Vere-Wright.
Ay. Heil. Ay. Okay. And that policy passes and by the way, I want to thank the people for Marzano. You have attended two of our spicier meetings. And so if you like your sausage spicy, you get to see how the sausage is made. Are you sure you still want to be part of. No. I'm kidding. Next up we have 7.2 way points students rights and responsibilities, and I
can I get a motion for Marie? Did you say something? We're going to get a motion here in just a minute. Okay, okay. What did he them. Can I get a motion for action item 7.2? I move to approve the way student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook. Second. Okay. Any discussion? Director D’Avola, your little fingers went up really quick there, so I'm going to let you go first. All right. So, I move to amend on page five
the bottom line that says value all people. I'll wait till we get there. Yep. To say, to strike out what's currently there and to replace it with we value all people by respecting and celebrating everyone's individual worth and contributions. Can I get a second? I'll second that. Discussion. Okay. We had one amendment. Okay. Director Schmidt.
I'm sorry I was late. I think it would be a good idea at this point to. Because of some of the executive orders that are out there tonight, promoted equity and diversity because of all the Dei stuff that's going on. Might be a good idea to back off from that for a bit. And I think that question was addressed with Superintendent Hilts earlier today with, changing that one. Superintendent helps you want to have any input on that? I indirectly, I guess the input that I provided
to, director devel was that this is reasonable. It's always the board's prerogative to change expressions of our values or our statements. And it certainly, it certainly communicates the essence of value. All people. I always remind us that this did not come out of the national movement. This came out of teachers advocating for support personnel that we should financially value, people. And so this is no more or less consistent with that original concept. And I think it, it, I think it's a nice synthesis of what we mean.
And it has this additional sort of protective factor. My caution was to make sure that we don't go on sort of a, an aggressive purge, because there are all kinds of contexts in which words like equity and diversity are very appropriate and mean what this board wants them to mean. And I don't like other people telling us what our intent is. You decide what our intent is. Not someone is a rock. So it's kind of important that. We totally agree. So I totally agree with asserting the board's preferences at the higher level.
And then let us trickle it down and saturate it through other documents. Director D’Avola. Yeah, I, agree that we shouldn't aggressively go and try to cull through everything, all that kind of stuff as it comes up, though, that that would be the opportunity for us to, to address it. So since this is before us, that's why I wanted to address it. So do we want to take a vote? Director Heil, I thought you wanted to hear it. Okay, now. Let's go to the vote. Okay. All right. Can I get a vote, please?
D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt. Ay. La Vere-Wright. Yep. Heil. No. Okay. And then, I think we've already made the other change that had been discussed before. So can I get a motion to approve way points? As I'm, It was one that we did last time. And Doctor Lehman, what page is that one on? Page we have haven't. And we had a consent basis to make this change at the last meeting, correct.
To, Yes. Remove all of the protected classes and instead just state applicable state. And federal Director Heil. So I'm not sure we did, poll for consensus. So, if we could do that now, or at least, do a vote on a amendment. My contention at the time, and I still stand by it today, is that one of the primary audiences of this document is students. And I think when you say, state, and federal protected classes, I don't think they know what you mean.
And so having examples of that is, is critical. And because, you know, whenever we state that we want to make sure we use the comprehensive list, my preference would be to update this with the full list. And actually we did have a consensus for this amendment. And you had voted no against it at the time. And one of the other arguments, by stating specifically state and federal, if anything changes, is automatically covered and it doesn't have to keep coming back for other amendments on a current list, we're already missing. I think hairstyles aren't on this list and several others, and we never know
what will be added or deleted. Hairstyles as a protected class. Pregnancy and pregnancy. Is something on the crown. And I'd like to state that I am not pregnant. But we had gotten legal advice on that, so that was actually amended by consensus. So I would like to get a motion to approve way points, as amended. Second the. Motion. Oh. I'm. What are we doing? I move to approve the way points.
Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook as presented. Second. Can I get a vote? D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt. Ay. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Heil. Ay. Okay. And that one passes. Next up we have honor charter school of Marzano Academy. Can I get a motion for action? Item 7.3.
I move to approve the Honor Charter School, a Marzano Academy charter application. Second. Any further discussion, Director Heil? Yeah, I just want to say that when you guys presented at our last meeting, I heard some things in there that were very interesting to me. As a parent when my child was in elementary school. And so if I would at least have come to an orientation and ask some questions. So I think if, if I would, if I would at least consider that choice for my, my own child, we should be providing
that same, opportunity to other children in the district. Director D’Avola. And yes, I can tell you guys put a lot of, time and effort behind your charter application. It was thoroughly done and thoroughly well thought out. And there are quite a few people who, are interested in having a charter school, that you're, that you're offering. So thank you for your hard work on this application. It was well done. And I would just like to make a comment
that Marzano is a very respected name in education. And I am glad that after our last two meetings, you're still here and you still want to be part of district 49. And we believe so strongly in parental rights and in school choice. And so that's what I wanted to add as a thank you, for being here and for presenting, Miss Thompson. Yes. May I make a request? You know how sometimes when we pass a resolution, we read the resolution out loud, and the purpose of doing that is to
is to kind of illuminate and elaborate on the reason for the recommendation. Miss Brennan is prepared and has a very compact, really three slide presentation. And I think it's good when we bring a new charter into the fold, which is what this recommendation is. It's good to start that exposure to the community by articulating why we're recommending them. This isn't random. In fact, it's the opposite of random. And so I would I would simply invite the board to invite Miss Ren into to go through that brief.
And I thank you for the reminder of that, because, Brittany, I know you worked hard on this. I really appreciate your activity. You were there for the organizational meeting, so if you think you could take it away, okay. So good evening. Members of the board and Superintendent Hilts. Again, Brittany Brennan, charter school specialist here at D 49, presenting executive summary and recommendation for Marzano Honor Charter School and Marzano Academy. Oh, sorry. Okay, we'll start off with some quick facts and some of the numbers.
They are projected to open in August of 2027. They will start with a K-5, adding one grade per year until they're full K-8. Their opening student count will be 414. Their final five year year five count is projected to be 621. Sorry, that other one is a projected as well. As you heard at the last board meeting, they are, a competency based model, using the Marzano Academy, model as well. You also heard how they plan to serve the community,
but also how they plan to enrich our own professional community, with their professional development and engagement opportunities that they have said will be open to all the schools in our portfolio. So each section of the application was reviewed on a rubric and was used a scale of not developed, being one partially developed two, mostly developed three and fully developed for the number you see is the average rating from all review members. The review team was made up of district employees representing multiple departments
which I labeled as professionals in the field, and DAC members. We are required to have representation from DAC as well as the DAC subcommittee. The opportunity to participate was presented to DAC along with the timeline. In May. We fulfilled this requirement by having three members, one from DAC being the DAC secretary and two from the DAC subcommittees. Being a parent of a charter school student in our portfolio and a community member. As you can see by the average rating in each section, this was a high scoring, strong application.
Two of the lower scoring sections have to do with timing being that they are over two years out from opening. And then section Q was lower, however, not significantly and not a concern considering their eagerness for collaboration and learning. I wanted to recognize that for most of us, this is our first time engaging in a new school application. So to put these ratings into context, the Honor Charter School application demonstrated strong performance, scoring higher in 13 of the 19 evaluated sections compared
to one of the last approved charter schools. Their final score was 3.30, the internal score was 3.07 and the DAC score was 3.44. These scores are absolutely in range of what other charter applications showed that were approved and are operating in D 49 now, I just wanted to provide this comparison to help clarify the strength of this application and offer important perception. Sorry. Perspective. Oh my gosh, sorry for
the study perception to guide next steps. I'm so sorry. Perspective. With that said, based on the application and the capacity interview, it is recommended that the Board of Education approve the honor Charter school Marzano Academy's application. This would be an approval with milestones, and these milestones would be conditional because CHS will be required to fulfill these by this specific due date in order to open in August of 2027. The first is to show that they have land purchased by no later than February 28th, 2026.
This is also consistent with the timeline that was presented at the last board meeting by their team. The intention of HCS is to buy land and build. However, because charters are unique, using an existing facility is an option to them as well. So if they cannot purchase land, they will need to show that they have a viable facility as well by the end of February. Either option requires the team to verify it meets all requirements shown here. Number two, they must start submitting or have submitted letters of intent to enroll by August 31st, 2026.
This is to show they will be able to meet the student full time enrollment to balance their year one budget. Number three, they will need to meet enrollment projections by these dates 75% by January 1st, 85% by March 1st, and at least 94% by June 1st. All of 2027. The final enrollment projection of 94% was set because that is what is identified as meets expectations on our annual performance review. The schools must have a variance of less than or equal to 6% to meet expectations.
Number four, if HCS applies for the Colorado Charter School Program grant, they will need to develop and implement a financial plan, ensuring upfront funds required for CSP grant eligibility and to submit a comprehensive enrollment policy that aligns with CSP requirements. This is only if their current enrollment policy is deemed not to be in compliance. Number five, by the end of August of this year, 2025, the team will need to have met with D 49 team in order to understand crucial information about getting on
the district's Powerschool by March 31st, 2026. The team will need to submit a comprehensive implementation timeline and who is responsible for each task. By January 1st, 2027, HCS will have a fully implemented and ready to use Powerschool on the district's instant shortly after school choice. Applications usually start rolling out as well, as early enrollment on will also be expected to have multiple ongoing touchpoints with myself and this team during pre-opening on this topic,
and I do not doubt their willingness or capability of doing that at all. Number six, all charter schools are required to meet certain pre-opening requirements and to ensure they are fully prepared to serve students. Day one. To support this process, I have provided you all and the school with an access pre-opening checklist which outlines key operational, academics and governance milestones. While these these specific deadlines. I'm sorry. While these specific tasks do not have a deadline assigned to them, they are required to be met by day one of opening HCS will be required.
That is with students. To clarify, these will be required to diligently accomplish these tasks in a timely manner. And again, I don't doubt their ability to do that. Number seven, each of these will need to submit their final food service plan to the district by January 1st, 2027. If they plan on contracting with D 49 service teams, we will have conversations with the Director of Nutrition Services to determine the needs and requirements for that contracting at a later date. Finally, number eight HCS will be required to higher school year by January 1st, 2027.
Whether that be a principal, head of school, executive director, there's a few different terms that charter schools use. But they will need to have a leader hired by January 1st, 2027. Okay. Sorry, I was really fast. And may I add a small addendum at the end here? Yes. One, I really appreciate Brittany and her presentation. I've been part of the approval or application approval process in district 49 nine times. One before I had this job, I wrote an application, for a charter school that came to the district.
And then I've been involved in approving multiple charter schools, some of which did not meet their milestones and therefore did not open. And I'll say that this group, specifically the people that you see here tonight representing, honor charter school, Marzano Academy, this is one of the strongest application groups that I have encountered in my time. And they have produced one of the strongest applications. Now strong group, strong application do not necessarily mean high performing school.
This school is going to have to to fight for enrollment because our, our students parents have great options. But I think there's a competitive streak over there. And I think when you add strength to your district portfolio, it makes your operating in other charter schools better. And that's what I'm hoping will happen. And so as your superintendent, I want you to know that I have an unqualified recommendation that we invite and then and then support this group as they turn their application into a plan and turn their plan into a school.
I think this will enhance district 49. And I just like to add, Brittany, I know that speaking publicly before the board is one of your favorite things to do in the world. What is it anyway? I just wanted to. Other than the hearing part, you did an excellent job tonight. Do not sell yourself short. I was here for your first presentation, and you're stretching and growing in marvelous ways. So I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you so much. Okay. Can I get a vote? Oh, Director Schmidt.
I only had one concern with the milestones, and that's because we just had issues with it not too long ago. And that's the student information systems. Is that going to be more cohesive than what we dealt with a few months ago? They are, fully on board with using our system. But is it going to mesh correctly? Yes. Yes, I am confident in that being in new school, especially not having to do a data migration. Thank you.
Okay, can I get a vote? D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt. Ay. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Heil. Ay. And that one passes. Welcome to the district. That's what I was just going to say. Welcome to district 49. Please meet those student, those enrollment numbers. And, I think you will be a fantastic addition to a district that values choice. So thank you so much.
Okay. Next, we are on to submit, Board of Education resolution for alternate education campuses to CASB. And this is from the Board of Education. Can I get a motion for action item 7.4. I move to approve submitting the AEC resolution to CASB. Second. Any discussion on this structure? D’Avola you went up first. There. Yes. I just wanted to thank, Director Heil for, looking into how to write a resolution, with the CASB format.
So thank you for converting that over. So that it looked the way it's supposed to for when we presented to CASB. So thank you for that hard work. And actually, I'm going to I'm going to segue a bit on that one. When it gets down to it, I would like you to read the resolution for us when that time comes. Is there any other discussion on that, Director Heil? Yeah, the only thing I wanted to draw your attention to, for the most part, this is constructed of phrases that were already in the, the, the resolution that came before us in our style.
And the only thing I, made a change to of substance was just that last sentence. And it's just because I didn't want to end it on a negative. So I wanted to make sure that we were emphasizing that there is a, a positive benefit to what we're doing here. And I think it's so important to encourage other districts to include alternative education campuses. Director La Vere-Wright. Did you have anything you wanted to add to this one? Okay. All right. Mike, would you mind, director, how would you read the resolution? All right.
Resolution on alternative education campuses. Resolution. CDE district performance frameworks to separate accounting for ECS. CASB supports modifying the District Performance Framework calculations to separate alternative education campus data from all other aggregated performance data. Rationale statement ECS offer a variety of models, including online programs, hybrid education, flexible schedules, personalized programs, and drop in centers
that benefit students in a variety of situations. Attending an ADC can be an attractive option for students who are behind on their credits, possibly due to life challenges and are at higher risk for dropping out. ACS serve an important role in increasing the number of high school graduates throughout the state. Students who earn a high school diploma have higher earning potential throughout their lifetime to the benefit of themselves, their local communities, and the state of Colorado. Because of the unique challenges facing students who attend ECS,
their graduation data and academic performance may be significantly lower than conventional schools. The graduation data and academic performance have significantly and disproportionately impact district performance frameworks. The Colorado Department of Education currently recognizes the challenges faced by ECS by applying a different standard in evaluating them via their school performance framework, but their data is incorporated into the District Performance Framework. Unadjusted, the current state of affairs
can be considered to have a punitive effect on school districts who operate or authorize ECS, and can discourage districts from adding others to the detriment of the students who could benefit from them. This modification would continue to allow ECS to be fairly scrutinized, while also allowing districts containing them to be fairly evaluated on their overall performance. Okay, can I get a vote, please? D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt.
Ay. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Heil. Ay. And that passes next for a 7.5 resolution for call for nominations for school director candidates. Can I get a motion for action item 7.5? I'm move to approve the resolution for call for nominations for school director candidates. Second. Any further discussion? Can I get a vote?
D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt. Ay. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Heil. Ay. And that one's passed and so do you have some discussion. On that point of I don't know if it's a point of order, but normally do don't we read this out loud? At Superintendent Hilts, is that normal for. It's been an inconsistent practice. I think sometimes, some resolutions are more sort of philosophical or principle based, and some are more formulaic or,
ministerial. I think Mr. Miller would say. That's one of my favorite words, ministerial. But I don't think you need to read it out. It's it's standard. 7.6 resolution providing official notice of intent to participate in coordinated elections and appointment of a designated election officials. Can I get a motion for action item 7.6? I move to approve the resolution providing official notice of Intent to participate in the coordinated elections on November 4th, 2025,
and to appoint Lannette DePaul as a designated election official and Kari Frederick as the deputy designated election official. Second. Do we need to read this one now? All right. Discussion. Can I get a vote? D’Avola. Ay. Thompson. Ay. Schmidt. Ay. La Vere-Wright. Ay. Heil. Ay.
And that one passes and we are on to discussion. Job description. Coordinator of charter school relations. Superintendent Hilts. Thank you. And, this evening, we are, evaluating the possibility of taking this, job description, which, specifically applies to the person who presented just a couple items ago. In our older model, when it came to managing and leading our relationships with our charter schools,
the most senior leader in the district, would have been our iconic superintendent, then our zone academic administrator and then our zone administrative assistant. I probably was in maybe the top five there somewhere. The specialist role was a technical role, particularly with compliance and calculating and, and, and, running the approval process. And we have eliminated most of those roles. So we no longer have I can zone administrator or superintendent or educational administrator.
What we have, what remains though, is the importance of more than 50% of our portfolio and the importance of having good relations with those schools. And so it's it's my judgment and recommendation to the board. And I invite questions and discussion. But it's my judgment that this is a leadership position, and we do not normally characterize specialist positions as leadership positions. They are technicians, and they they apply a specific kind of expertise.
But for example, as you saw tonight, we would not normally have expected the specialist to make a presentation to the Board of Education or to go and make presentations at at charter schools, boards of education, which has already happened. Brittany has already done that. This honors the transition. It honors the additional responsibility and authority and presence. And it is significant that this position reports to the superintendent, reports to me directly, not a member of the cabinet, but a direct reports to the superintendent.
That's because it's my conviction at this point in our development, that I should not have any distance between me and the person who oversees over half of our student portfolio. And so that's why I am asking for this upgrade. It is that this is a promotion of the position which comes with a budget implication, a salary implication, I believe it's absolutely justified. And it's more than, more than covered, much more than covered by the reductions in administrative leadership roles that we've already done with our consolidation.
Are there questions that I can answer for you, Director Schmidt? I don't really have any questions because I didn't get a chance to get to this one. It was a little bit later in the packet. Is there any chance we can meet and discuss this before we vote on it at the next second? Yeah, this is a discussion. Well, I mean, I. Think she's asking about. Because I haven't looked at it is what I'm saying. We would need to talk about that because of the case that I mentioned earlier. We are we are opposing parties in a case that is now actively at trial. And I am I want us to be really scrupulous about you and I meeting, normally that
normally you wouldn't do that while you're in that process. We have been, but I would take direction from legal counsel, and. This has nothing to do with that. We agree. But if we're meeting privately, I don't. Bring somebody along. I don't want to creek and that and that might. I'm fine with that. If we sign with that. If if we met with one other person, I'd be okay with that. Yeah. And I'm happy to do that. The, I'm also happy if you had if you have a specific question, I can answer that here. Now, fair. Director D’Avola.
I think this is a, the right direction because of the consolidation that we had, previously done. And we need someone who's, a strong leader in that role, for the for the charter school relations, because we no longer have that zone superintendent and, for you to say you want to have that clear connection, with over half of our district. Absolutely. I 100% agree that you should be the one that's directly above that position.
So I'm I'm I'm definitely for this. And I did have a chance to read over it, because we we need to have that for sure. And Brittany's awesome. So. Yeah. And I would like to add in, since we no longer have an, I think, zone leader, it's not a budgetary hit because we have the savings and we will have our charter schools spread through the remainder of our zones. So to have a coordinator not only to handle the applications and connection communication, I think it'll be a really valuable service
because it does serve over half of our student population within our charter schools. And so just to you covered a lot of it in the cover page, but just to talk about the basic roles and responsibilities of this position. So I began by saying I consider this a leadership position, because a, a leader needs to be able to speak in the moment. Sometimes without, you know, they have to go off script or improvise or extemporaneous. What would be the right relationship in the moment?
I trust Miss Brennan. But this isn't about her. You should never create a position for a person. You should create a position because it's the right position. Miss Brennan is quite talented and highly, highly, marketable. What if she found another great opportunity? I would want to have the right position to attract a capable successor. So I'm really speaking about the position, not the individual. Although I have great respect and share your your, kind words
about her presentation tonight. But this is the person that is our face, our liaison, our secretary of state to these members of our community who are part of us. And yet, in a way, separate, and so we have a unique relationship. They are geographically across of our zones, but they're not in any way, organizationally affiliated with the zones. And so, it is conceivable, for example, that Mr. Smith in the Falcons zone might have something that he needs to coordinate
with, Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning, and he would work through Miss Brennan or whoever is in that role to facilitate that conversation. So they really are our liaison. The word coordinator is exactly correct because they coordinate relationships, kind of like a wedding coordinator or like a, an event planner. This person has to coordinate things like the application process. They ran that meeting. They created the presentation that you saw tonight,
calculated and brought together all of the data. So it's properly an administrative position. It's a leadership role. It is the face of the district to those schools. But it is also the face of those schools back to me as superintendent and back to other members of the cabinet and to the board. Director La Vere-Wright. So I think also we need to remember when we're talking about the budgetary or financial component of this, that our charter schools pay an administrative fee to us explicitly because,
and in her school, due to all district D 49, we charge only what we have to. We're very good to the charter schools, but that the money that the charter schools are paying back to us in that fee is to cover positions like this, to ensure that they're getting the adequate support and adequate collaboration from the district. And so this fee that this salary, I believe, would be coming, would essentially be a part of that fee that there it comes under that, that part of our budget. It's covered by the funding that,
those charter schools pay back to us as an administrative fee for the things that that we do for them, because it's a decision that explicitly works. And with the charter schools. I confirm that. Director Schmidt okay, I might have missed it when you were talking. I'm not sure. Is this an appointed position, or do people, is this an appointed position, or is this a job interview with many people? That's an excellent question. And we occasionally have the condition where it would not be honorable to pretend that it is an open competition.
So I am not intending to post this and ask Miss Brennan to compete for this. We are, in a sense, lifting the ground under her, and that's not her fault. That's because as we've as the transition or the consolidation, more properly, as the consolidation has matured, it's become clear that this is going to be, a higher level leadership administrator. Thank you. Okay. If there's no other questions, can I get a consensus to move this forward
for action? Yes. Yes yes. Yes. Yes. Okay. Next we are on to and I am so grateful for her patience. If she has any left, we are getting our education. Legislative update from Amy Atwood. Boy, I don't know that I really even want to talk because it might change. Good evening. Amy Atwood, contract lobbyist for the district. Thank you for the opportunity to review the legislative session that concluded on May 7th.
I hope you saw the end of session report that I sent back in May. It provides much more detail than what I could present tonight. It has been a privilege to collaborate with you, Doctor Hilts. Mr. Miller, during this session, the legislature made significant strides in implementing the new school finance formula while also preserving part time funding despite considerable challenges and opposition. District 40 Nine's principled leadership and advocacy
for local control and parental rights and parental choice have served as a powerful voice at the Capitol. This influence is clearly reflected in the heavily amended final version of House Bill 1312. Legal protections for transgender individuals. The cornerstone of this session was the new school finance formula, the first in 30 years, which is set to launch this year. It has already launched for years, Colorado's education funding debates have focused on eliminating the budget stabilization factor, the BHS factor.
Recently, though, the priority has shifted to reforming the entire system, the entire funding system to better support high needs and at risk students in 2024 led leveraged federal pandemic relief funds and strong state revenues. House speaker McCluskey and Julie McCluskey led the passage of House Bill 1448, if you remember that, and that was the new School Finance Formula Act. The bill came with a major challenge.
An additional 500 million annual cost will be incurred by the time the formula is fully implemented. To address this, House Bill 1448 included a multiyear phase in hold harmless funding to protect districts and enrollment averaging for areas with declining enrollment. It also empowered the Joint Budget Committee to pause implementation during budget crises by fall of 2020 for a potential billion dollar budget gap emerged, prompting Governor Polis to propose slowing the formulas roll out,
cutting hold harmless funding and redirecting money from best. His plan faced strong opposition from legislators and education leaders. Speaker McCluskey leadership this year led to the passage of the annual School Finance Act, which started the implementation of the new. Formula. To help defray some of the 500. The costs of 500 million, lawmakers added. The Kids Matter account, which is funded by a small portion of state income taxes,
generating an estimated $230 million, directed specifically for K-12 for K-12 funding that will begin in July of 2026. So next year, the final school, the final School Finance Act for this year, increases per pupil funding by $195 to 8691 each year. I report those two numbers. It extends the phase in of the new formula from five years to six years.
So there was a compromise there and maintains four year enrollment averaging for this year, but shifts to three year averaging next year. And full implementation is set for the 2031 32 school year. Despite stable revenues state revenues. The session faced a daunting budget crisis, with warnings of a shortfall of up to $1.3 billion. If you remember before session, when I presented, we talked about the big the big budget gap, and that is due to taper spending limits
and rising fixed costs like Medicaid. The JBC Joint Budget Committee balanced the budget by shifting funds rather than relying solely on cuts. They swept cash funds to the general fund, eliminated a number of grant programs, and reduced agency budgets by 1.5% to force savings. Senators Bridges and Kirk Meyer, they both sit on the Joint Budget Committee, warn of a structural deficit as fixed costs outpace revenue growth.
Last month, the June revenue forecast came out, and it does predict that fixed costs again will outpace revenue signaling, signaling tougher cuts are coming in the 2627 budget. Despite these budget constraints, over 70 education bills were introduced in efforts to respect local control. This is the legislature's, effort to respect local control. Some bills offer guidance rather than mandates. Notable bills include Senate Bill 63, which establishes guidelines
for school districts regarding book removal requests. House Bill 1192, which allows financial literacy to be integrated into existing curriculum. And finally, House Bill 1135, which mandates districts establish policies regarding cell phone usage without specifying those what those policies should entail. So it's good to see that you've already begun that process. A major education policy achievement was House Bill 1278,
originating from the 2023 Accountability Task Force. I reported on that task force over the last two and a half years, and Doctor Hilts helped shape this legislation with feedback he provided on the bill. It focuses on targeted reforms, such as enhancing state tests for students with disabilities, eliminating the SAT writing section mandate, adjusting accreditation criteria, and intervening earlier with underperforming districts. The session also addressed broader issues outside of education,
tenant rights, gun control, and AI regulations. There were 733 bills introduced, and 562 of those passed. The work doesn't stop when session ends. Planning for next session has already begun, with interim committees meeting and stakeholder meetings being scheduled. The Joint Budget Committee also meets during the interim, and I follow those meetings closely as they foreshadow what is to come. You may have heard that the legislature is planning on the governor calling for a special session in August
to address urgent issues before the next regular session in January. These are issues that have to be dealt with before January. The special session will focus on federal Medicaid reforms, particularly cuts outlined in the One Big Beautiful bill, which will strain Colorado's budget and in turn could reduce K-12 spending to cover Medicaid costs. We have to be very vigilant, protecting our K-12 funding. Additionally, 2024 legislation 2024
I legislation will be revised. It. The way it passed. It couldn't. It just is impossible to implement, and it will affect the district's educational technology curriculum and data privacy protocols. When a special session is called, the topics are called out and only legislation can be introduced that falls within those topics. So we are hearing that definitely Medicaid. And I
continuing to serve as your lobbyist is an honor. I'm eager to continue our work during the interim to prepare for the upcoming special session and a successful 2026 session. Do you have any questions? Director Heil. Hi. So we heard a lot of at the front about the, changes to the, funding formula, but, at some point during the, the session last year when, it was, being discussed and eventually implemented
there, they produced a document that, illustrated how much each district was going to be affected. And D 49 had one of the smallest increases. Is that still true? I'm going to point to Doctor Hilts. She keeps calling me doctor. I'm sorry. Doctor. No I'm not. Oh you're. Not. And I heard someone over here giggle and I said, that's okay. I even changed in my script to doctor for sure. Okay. Mr. Hilts. But but, I've only saying that I'm only making that point
in case what I'm about to say is wrong. I believe actually, Mr.. How that the, the formula, what happened with the implementation is it's now spread out over multiple years. And so we're doing comparisons of two hypotheticals, what it would have been and what it will now be. But both are future looking. And so when our our CFO evaluated those, it was mildly positive compared to what it would have been,
but it was mildly negative compared to what it could have been. And that's based on whether the new formula or the old formula was fully funded or was not fully funded. And so we ended up in a fairly neutral position compared to what we could have expected or projected. Not catastrophically bad, but also not a windfall. We we had there was a point where it could have been a significant windfall. It ended up not that that ended up not being the scenario that played out.
So basically what I said and we got one because, some of the like the rural districts in particular, we're in this particular spreadsheet, we're seeing huge gains. And we were just, you know, no were winners, but not by much. We were winners, not by much. But there were some that were significant losers. And the only reason they didn't lose funding is because they included what's called a safe harbor provision by formula. They should have been losers by legislation. They were not we were not a loser.
And so the safe harbor didn't end up applying to us. But there were definitely people that by formula were were harmed by this formula. And we weren't one of them. There were actually five districts that would have lost significant dollars, and the formula is based on the district demographics. And so putting more money for at risk students, that is the priority of the legislature. Director Schmidt yeah, I had a question about 63.
Was that House or Senate? Senate bills. Senate bill. Okay. Let me pull it up on my cell phone. That is a responsible use of technology. For an adult in a board meeting. Library resource decision standards for public schools. Okay. Library. Senate bill 63. Okay. Did that pass already? I'm sorry. I'm kind of behind the legislature. Finished May 7th. Okay. And so everything has passed. And that was signed by the governor on May 1st.
Okay. Great. Thank you. And you mentioned local control, article nine, section 15 of the current state constitution. We are one of only seven out of 50 states that retains local control and curriculum. We still have to test the state standards, but I'm glad that so far I know that over the years they've talked about modifying that, and it has not succeeded. And so thank you for advocacy, working for caring. Our voice is there. Director D’Avola. I just want to thank you for the long hours, the late
nights, the early mornings, the driving back and forth. I don't ever want to have your job, so thank you for doing it for us. You're very welcome. And I love my job. I love what I do. I love my job to. Director La Vere-Wright. Do you have anything? Okay. If there's no other questions and comments, I wanted to say once again, I appreciate you saying being here in person, we will come up with some type of an honorary degree for Superintendent Hilts. Yes.
And I was kind of laughing because my Costco card comes under my husband and it actually reads on my card, attorney at law. Oh, and so I understand these unexpected promotions are degrees that weren't there before. But thank you very much for coming. Thank you. Okay. And there is no second public comment. I would like to bring up one thing during miscellaneous. We've had an opportunity for additional resources, policies and trainings. Colorado Leaders for Academic Success class has now come up
with an introduced introductory fee to show what they have to add to districts, and that introductory fee for the training in the policy, assistance is $1,000. And so I would like to get a consensus of the board. We pay a lot more to CASB but I like the idea that we could have additional resources and training opportunities. I personally have attended one of their trainings and it was very, very good. Director Schmidt, you were there too, and it was an excellent, excellent opportunity.
So I'd like to get discussion about having Director Schmidt. I really did like that training. That was really good. I learned a lot. There was a really good a couple of really good teachers that really had their finger on the pulse of teaching and making sure the kids got the information in a good way. Is the thousand dollars is that every year for once a month, every quarter? How often an dollars for a year?
For a year, and then later on, they'll have other opportunities for either individual board members or districts can join them. Okay, great. Thank you. Director Heil. Yeah, I it's not something I would feel comfortable just authorizing just having you know, heard about them just now. So, I don't know if it's a valuable use of our, resources, given that, we already have, we, as a great resource. Director D’Avola. Yeah, I've, attended several different, trainings and events through class, and they are highly, highly, highly
valuable, especially with our district and our demographic. And, the goals in that we want to achieve as a board. And so I wholeheartedly agree that we should be a part of class. Director La Vere-Wright. I am just I don't know what organization you're talking about, so, I can't render an opinion when I have absolutely nothing to read. And being online, I'm, I can't even I can't understand what the abbreviation is, is being, even being said.
So I would appreciate actually having something to read and to look at. So I knew what I was talking about before I gave an opinion on and whether or not it was a resource worth it. Like on this one. Oh, hang on just one second. And it. Okay, I think this one is coming from John. He's a volunteer for class, and I don't know if he wants to do a quick presentation or if you're looking at doing it at a future meeting.
That face. Did you want to add something red? We're in the miscellaneous section, and I'm just being hesitant about adding too much content to this, but. But I also recognize the value he's. Here and and his knowledgeable. So I have nothing to say. Really. It's okay. Yeah. John can give us a brief overview. Yes. Class is the Colorado Leaders for Academic. Success. And it is a more, hands on approach to training school boards
to help better communicate and focus on student outcomes. There's a lot more to it. And if the board approves, I can give a presentation at any one of your next meetings that actually will be on the screen. You'll be able to review it, stuff like that. No, I think that's worthwhile. Just so, especially because three of us have attended different class events or different trainings that they offer, and to me, it's a nominal fee for some really good training or opportunities. And so can I get a consensus to get more information at this at an at our next meeting?
Yes yes. Yes. Sure. Director La Vere-Wright. That was sure were good. Okay. And, Director Schmidt, I think you wanted to add something else to miscellaneous. Yeah. I just have some comments on the cell phone stuff. I'm not going to give it up. That I didn't get a chance to get to you during the time stuff. Can you keep it brief? Just. Yeah, I, I did. I did check out the stuff that I've already covered. So yes, it's it's fairly brief. So adolescents 10 to 19 and young adults are the age groups
who are most negatively impacted by impacted by smartphones. This policy would allow one of the most destructive devices to mental health in history to be used in our schools by the most negatively impacted age groups, who spend 6 to 8 hours a day. Their. There is a plethora of research showing the negative and unsafe effects of cell phone overuse for the group. We all know this, but let me remind you. Studies show up to 50% of adolescents report feeling addicted to their phones.
Research actually shows that 20 to 30% are multiple. Studies show a correlation between high smartphone usage among adolescents and increased risk factors for anxiety, depression, and sadly, even suicide. Adolescents who spend excuse me? Adolescents who spend five or more hours on electronic devices daily are 71% more likely to exhibit suicide risk factors, compared to those who limit usage to one hour. Adolescents spend an average of seven hours
on devices not including school or homework. Skip, skip skip skip. 67% of AV adolescents report losing sleep due to phone or internet use late at night. Longitudinal studies have shown that sleep deprived adolescents cannot concentrate, focus, or remember, as well as their peers who get enough sleep. Their learning and grades suffer reaction times. Decision making and motor skills are diminished, which increases the risks of accidents. Tired teens are also more irritable and anxious throughout the day,
so their relationships are hurt as well. This proposal that we just passed opens the door to very real risks to one segment of our students that can impact them negatively mentally, physically and academically. And I don't know why we did that. Okay. And with that we are adjourned at 915. Board, if you want to take a quick break, go to the bathroom and we will go into executive session.