LA VERE WRIGHT: Please stand and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance. [all] 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. LA VERE WRIGHT: We're on to item 3.1. May I have a motion to approve the agenda? THOMPSON: I move to approve the agenda as presented. WITHERS: Second. LA VERE WRIGHT: It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion?
Hearing none a vote, please. DEPAUL: Heil? HEIL: Ay DEPAUL: La Vere Wright? LA VERE WRIGHT: Ay DEPAUL: Thompson? THOMPSON: Ay DEPAUL: Withers? WITHERS: Ay LA VERE WRIGHT: Motion carries. We're on to item for public comment. We welcome comments from stakeholders during district 49 Open Forum. Please stay seated until your name is called by the Board of Education chair. And 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 their superintendent, are prohibited. Each speaker is limited to two minutes.
The board will not respond during the forum, but may assign follow up action to the superintendent. We also encourage you to use the stakeholder grievance process for resolving concerns, which may culminate in a formal appeal to the board. Thank you for participating. I would also like to remind everyone we have two open forums. Each is actually dictated by a different component of our policy in our first 30 minute open forum. The only people who can speak are those actually speaking to a specific item on our agenda. Those willing, wanting to speak to items
that are not on the agenda may speak during our second open forum. And with that, we have one speaker for our first open forum, and that is Emily Kennedy. KENNEDY: I've been trying to get clear answers from Stetson Elementary administration about what would be put in place for the current dual language immersion students now that the program is closing. Stetson administration told me the only confirmed Spanish enrichment for DLI students would be attending Spanish specials with the rest of the school. Nothing specific was planned to maintain or improve their Spanish for the 26-27 school year, typically citing staffing,
lack of funding, And scheduling as various constraints to my concerns. On March 6th, my husband received the CORA documents he requested the documentation revealed as of December 2025, that just under $1 million of grant money remained. D49 administration started looking at ways to spend down the remaining budget. The zone superintendent was actually hoping the district could just give the money back to DODEA. They were actively looking at everything except helping the DLI students. The I will fund allocation for 26-27 has a remaining balance
of over $900,000 as of March 2nd, 2026. There has some. There's though, some has been reallocated elsewhere at an absolute minimum. There is still $192,000 remaining and not yet reallocated. An email to the zone superintendent from a grants compliance specialist states DODEA would really like to see us offer some kind of continuing support for the kids that went through the program at SES. The documentation proves it is imperative
that D49 remain in good standing with DODEA. Christi from DODEA once follow through for the students in the DLI program. Stetson elementary is not providing increased or advanced learning for the DLI students compared to the general population, and there is a large sum of money available that would allow D49 to remain in good standing with DODEA and help the DLI students. I'm asking the board to step in and do what Stetson administration will not put something meaningful in place. Using the remaining grant funds to help the current DLI students
maintain and continue their growth in Spanish for the 26-27. LA VERE WRIGHT: Thank you. We are now on to item five consent agenda. Does anyone have any items I'd like pulled from the consent agenda? Hearing none. May I have a motion, please? THOMPSON: I move to approve all consent agenda items as presented. WITHERS: Second. LA VERE WRIGHT: It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion?
Hearing none a vote. DEPAUL: Heil? HEIL: Ay DEPAUL: La Vere Wright? LA VERE WRIGHT: Ay DEPAUL: Thompson? THOMPSON: Ay DEPAUL: Withers? WITHERS: Ay LA VERE WRIGHT: Motion carries. We are on to item 6.1 which starts with our superintendent update. HILTS: So this is always a really fun time of year, as the numbers of events and the kind of importance and finality of those events seems to, accelerate. And in one of the examples of that, we had, wrestling tournaments at the state level for CHSAA and we had some state champions, that returned.
We had state champions emerge. And so I'm going to recognize two of those students, from Falcon High School. Allison McDaniel is a state champion representing district 49, and a student who attends the high performance program that is at Springs Studio for Academic Excellence. But wrestles for Air Academy High School. Name name David Burchett also became a state champion. So they are proud of David in Cadet Nation. And we are proud of David over here at Spring Studio and on the Yeti campus and across D49.
So some great accomplishments by some of our great student athletes and worthy of congratulations. There are more championships to come. In fact, we we sometimes have, athletes that are, competing in baseball or track on the day of their graduation, we have had some mini graduations on a baseball field and in the middle of a track, meet up in Jefferson County. Because our student athletes are outstanding. In their spring sports as well. So I anticipate some more good news as we come on down the road. As of two days ago, I have completed the virtual learning tour.
I remind the board that the VOW learning tour is the Voice of the Workforce learning tour, which is where I go out with another cabinet member, I visit every school. I visit every department. We sometimes mix departments, and we also have a voice of the students that is rolled in there. I know the acronym doesn't work for vowel, but we also meet and this year with parents and I have additional meeting scheduled with parents. And what we are, what we are hearing, in addition to some of the same messages that you are hearing, angst about our, our budget and real concern care for one another.
In the middle of challenging times, that's been a key theme, but we are also hearing a lot of appreciation. Still, for those managers, principals and department leaders and coordinators. And that theme remains the strength of district 49. And it's it's the thing for which, we received spotlight recognition from the Baldrige program. And so I just want to let you know that we've we've wrapped that season for the learning tours. They've gone really well. They will continue again into the future. Remember that, as a board, you asked me to continue
to make that a priority and to make sure I went to everyone. And so I've honored that, that good direction from you. And we are close to the end of our student board. We have a couple meetings left, and the student board, is still on track to provide you some feedback and recommendations related to the district's device and cell phone policy. And so that also is getting some national attention. And I may have something else to announce about our student board the next time we get together in May. A couple of really fun things happened.
And if you're not, if you're not tracking on our Facebook, you should be because great photo stories. They're our comms team, and our zone liaisons do a great job of featuring the good things that are going on. A couple that were, really celebrated were a math night in the Falcon Zone where we had, oh, I think I think Mr. Smith and the principals told me 50 or 60 families came and the principals led different kinds of math themed activities, and it was a really strong community engagement slash academic performance event.
And we love to see those, those kinds of events be successful because if it works, you can do more of it. So that was a that was a win. And then we also had, our annual multicultural fair, the biggest one we've ever had more student performances than we've had. And that was also a great hit. And so the programs that are, that are going on, are attracting and engaging our families. And that's a great thing to report. Last thing that I'm going to report and I'm going to invite people to go visit our Facebook page, or come on to our main web page at D49.org.
Because with the transition to prepare more space and potentially sell our property at Mohawk, we have we have now moved in a new program or we will be moving out. As of June, a new program into what has housed Falcon Elementary School of Technology. That site will be called the Student Success Center. It will house, among other things, our PEAK program, our transitions program, and it will have full day preschool. And so we know that there is significant interest and that this is, for some of our workforce, a significant benefit.
And so I just want to encourage people to get in, take advantage of that application. We hope to fill up a couple of full day preschools at the Student Success Center next year. Good things happening all over the place in district 49. And that's a snapshot and a sampling of them. Thank you very much. LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay. And so we're now on to our student board of representative updates. WELCH: Hi. I'm Megan Welch and I represent Falcon. And on the student board this week, our Falcon student board, team had the chance to go and visit our leaders and students
of the younger schools in our feeder elementary and middle schools. And we got some really great feedback and opinions and got to share some ideas with our younger students, which was super fun. Of course, as you were mentioning, our sports are really booming with Allison winning, the toss a champion and our soccer team, a soccer girls team going off and our baseball. And so we have some good things leading into spring break, and it's going to be super fun when we get back, when we can finally hit it off. LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay. And next is our Board of Education updates. Who'd like to start? WITHERS: Sure. I'll go.
Okay. Happy spring break Eve Eve everybody. Shout out to everyone who participated and facilitated the multicultural fair. I learned a lot. I ate some super Good food and I was. entertained by performances. And also special thanks to the D49 family for checking in to see how my daughter was after her surgery. I appreciate everybody who reached out. But right now I kind of want to talk about something a little serious. Hopefully it doesn't bring the mood down, but, just over the past several weeks, I've been paying close attention to the
conversations being had in meetings, online forums, multiple Facebook groups about the future, board appointment for director, district two. And the thing I've noticed, is that much of the discussion has been heavily focused on party affiliation and who controls the board. So I am taking off my board director hat and I am speaking to this purely through a parental lens, that we as grownups need to do better because we have lost the plot. In fact. It feels like a good. Time to remind us all that up until Covid drove us all to insanity.
School boards were and are supposed to be nonpartisan for a reason. Decisions about educating our children were meant to be guided by what is best for our students, teachers, and community. Not by political party priorities. But lately, it feels like we and myself included, sometimes have completely lost sight of all of that. Because no one is discussing what actually matters, which are student outcomes, quality education, and healthy work environment for teachers and staff. Instead, this position is being treated as a game
political fodder with a score of who's winning? And as a parent, I'm just left wondering who sincerely wants to serve for the right reasons and who doesn't. And really, all I just want to try to get across here is that as a board member and parent I implore you that we need to do better and be better. If we expect our students to treat each other with respect. Curiosity, understanding, then we have to model it first in the community. Because We can either show them how to build a healthy community or how to tear one down.
LA VERE WRIGHT: Thank you. Who'd like to go next? Go ahead. THOMPSON: Okay, so I attended the student Board of Representatives, and we discussed a variety of topics, including the resignation of director Schmidt, director districts and vacancy applications. We also discussed their all student voice project. We heard about very enthusiastic, enthusiastic responses from the elementary students. More recess was a common theme, but the kids did go more in depth
on other topics. I mean, they were really impressed with what some of the responses that they got. And then we discussed how to kind of fine tune those questions, and they like cafeteria food. And so there was some surprises in there, I think. But I agree with them about more recess. I could use a little more recess myself. I attended the multicultural fair at Skyview. It was really it was one of the best that I have attended. The turnout was phenomenal and I was able to practice saying
thank you in multiple languages and learned about several different cultures. I could not stay for all of the demonstrations, but from the little I saw, they looked really interesting. I attended the E.R. Boces meeting on Tuesday. I am still learning the acronyms that they use. I'm very enthused by the different homeschool enrichment programs being improved, such as science, math, and PE, as well as other online alternatives with drop in support. Similar to what goal offers.
I've been very impressed with the efficiency of their meetings and how they apply Robert's Rules. And it's it's a wonderful learning experience. So that's all I have. LA VERE WRIGHT: Mike, do you have an update? HEIL: I do, so I attended the Engage 49, cyber safety, event. Really good event. Parents came there were very engaged. You know, concerned, looking to learn. And,
we had a wonderful panel up there that, that gave them some great information. So, thank you to Lauren and the rest of the, Engage 49 team for putting that together and for being responsive to what, our family members want to hear about. I've attended two DACs since the last time we had a regular meeting. The, the DAC got to hear about, title update, which I believe we also will be hearing tonight. And, we are so glad to hear from Schneider
Electric on the, status of the, power contracting effort. The, IGA investment grade audit is about halfway done. They're starting to get an idea of the scope of the project that we're going to be able to, to fund. And, we'll be looking forward to them presenting, something to us, about, June timeframe. Community note. As you guys came in through the main driveway here, if you parked in the in the, in the the big parking lot out front,
there is an vacant lot just, to the left of, of the Starbucks as you drive away. And, that lot has been purchased by the Pikes Peak Library District. And they are hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate that on Friday at noon, next Friday. So, you know, if you're interested, come on and turn out. And finally,
there's been a lot of tough news with, finance, both locally and at the state level. And I just want to let you guys know that there is some hope on the horizon. Initiative 195, which is a graduated tax initiative, has cleared the title board and is now allowed to start circulating signatures. So this would create a graduated income tax rather than the flat tax that we currently have. If you make less than $1 million, you would get a small income tax cut.
But overall it would raise revenues by about $2 billion. So, granted, the state has other priorities besides education, but education is very much a priority as well. So we can use all the help we can get. So if you see people out there collecting signatures, considering supporting it. Thank you. LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay, so I actually have a few things. I had to look up one of them in my home email instead of my board email. Which, hold on now that I can't get my password to work.
Oh. Good lord. So I had announced at the last meeting that we had several students from district 49 placed at the county level in the PTA Arts Camp Reflections competition. And we have actually had three students place at the state level, one of whom will be moving on to national competition. Ava Gallegos, who did “I Make No apologies - This is Me” as a video, I believe, right? Nope, nope. I'm reading the wrong grade. Where am I? That was dance. I've got the wrong category. There are too tiny. Here we go.
Lauren Nordin from Falcon Elementary, “Be kind to caterpillars.” Took a gold in the pre-K to grade two film production category, and her video will be now judged nationally. And Freya Nielsen placed silver in “We belong to the Earth” and Falcon in film production. And she was from Falcon Elementary as well. And then Falcon High School is Christiana Hale placed silver at the state level as well. And so congratulations. It's great to see our students in the arts are continuing to move forward. I neglected to mention at our last update that, also through my connections
with PTA, Whitney Yeager reached out to us as PTA members, and they she is the education outreach coordinator for OneChanceToGrowUp.org. It is an organization that is being funded actually by the funds that were recovered from, the class action against Juul and their marketing of products to children, and they have put together free educational programing for parents and students. Related to THC marijuana and the dangers of high THC products. And so they're looking for folks who are interested
in accessing those materials and helping to present them to students and to parents. So anyone who's interested in that resource, I have all of her contact information. I know Falcon High PTA is hoping to be able to use some of that information, and maybe have them have a table at our, at the Falcon Fest in April, but that information is available and they will come to absolutely anything we ask. They're there. They want to use those funds to have impact there. So please feel free to contact me if you're interested in that information. Also, as I am board liaison to the Falcon Education
Foundation, our primary fundraiser is April 10th. We are still looking for donations and still selling tables, so if you are interested in purchasing a half table or a whole table, either individually or through corporate donation, please reach out. We are will be selling tables through April 6th. We're also looking for donations for both our silent and live auctions. This is the primary way we raise money for the teacher mini grants, and for the student scholarships that we offer every year, and the Falcon Ed Foundation board is actually reviewing 34 applications for scholarships right now.
We have to have them read and rated before March 26th. So that'll be my reading after this meeting. But please consider supporting that organization as well. Thank you. And I don't have any additional administrative updates. So we're on to our action items. And with that I will call 7.1. May I have a motion please? THOMPSON: I move to approve the resolutions recognizing and celebrating schools of distinction. WITHERS: Second. LA VERE WRIGHT: It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? I just want to say congratulations again to all of our schools.
Anyone who is here for Fantastic 49 saw that we had a cross-section of schools who individually have reached distinction either in 2024 or 2025 on the Student Performance Framework, which is an incredible achievement. We had schools from all three zones, as well as charter schools make that achievement over the past two years, and so they are available as role model schools to help, one another continue to move towards that goal. I want to congratulate all of them again for that achievement
and hope that they can continue to do that and hope they also both inspire and challenge our other schools to reach. Any other comments? Lori. THOMPSON: I just want to give a shout out to Superintendent Hilts as well because he tilting his head quizzically. He called through the SPF and he found out where we were leaving points on the table, and he broke that down into a grid and worked with the principals. So part of the reason we have so many schools
that were just under that are now over have to do with a lot of the the empirical data you went through and the work you put into it. And so it's always a team effort. So I really appreciate you because we have so many incredible schools and I love seeing them honored. LA VERE WRIGHT: Any further comments? Hearing none a vote. DEPAUL: Heil? HEIL: Ay DEPAUL: La Vere Wright? LA VERE WRIGHT: Ay DEPAUL: Thompson? THOMPSON: Ay DEPAUL: Withers? WITHERS: Ay LA VERE WRIGHT: Motion carries. We're on to 7.2 Sand Creek High school English curriculum.
May I have a motion please? THOMPSON: I move to approve the Sand Creek High School English curriculum and text. WITHERS: Second. LA VERE WRIGHT: It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none a vote, please. DEPAUL: Heil? HEIL: Ay DEPAUL: La Vere Wright? LA VERE WRIGHT: Ay DEPAUL: Thompson? THOMPSON: Ay DEPAUL: Withers? WITHERS: Ay LA VERE WRIGHT: Motion carries we're on to item 7.3 updated sand creek high school sociology textbook. May I have a motion, please? THOMPSON: I move to approve the sociology curriculum and text.
WITHERS: Second. LA VERE WRIGHT: It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none a vote, please. DEPAUL: Heil? HEIL: Ay DEPAUL: La Vere Wright? LA VERE WRIGHT: Ay DEPAUL: Thompson? THOMPSON: Ay DEPAUL: Withers? WITHERS: Ay LA VERE WRIGHT: Motion carries. We're on to 7.4 strategic objectives. Recommendation for the Board of Education. May I have a motion, please? THOMPSON: I move to approve the school year 2027 strategic objectives recommended by administration. WITHERS: Second. LA VERE WRIGHT: It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Mike?
HEIL: So, very receptive to the three that were brought to us by administration. And, just if there were, a couple of others that were discussed at the annual planning summit, and I don't know if we want to add those now or, or do we do we even have consensus to, to add them? So one of them was for a learning year regarding, family engagement, and the other one was, around, long range financial planning.
LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay. So I and, family engagement that at the time we had built a consensus on adding that as a strategic goal because they were going to come back with a to us first after doing some of that, learning to then determine whether there was something that needed action on it rather than having the the gathering of data be the strategic priority. Is that is my memory correct on that one? HILTS: That that is my memory as well. And, we had talked about having a presentation at the March work session,
but because that falls in the middle of spring break, the people that would be the primary presenters asked if we could shift it to to April. And so that's our intent is to have that presentation at the April work session. And these are our goals. As the motion says, for 27, the board could amend or add, I did not I did not hear any consensus on the long range financial planning. And so I did not do any work to develop that. I have begun the groundwork. And if the board after that presentation decides we want to
we want to have an objective for a learning year, we can very quickly stand that back up and bring it back to you. I mean, technically, you could even adopted in in August or September if you wanted to. But I don't think we'll have any problem having these adopted in in place. Before we get into the new school year on July 1st. LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay. So on the first one, then the question is, at this point, are we looking at saying we want to add a strategic priority on family engagement, or do we want to follow the listening to the presentation in April? And then after we have that information, deciding whether there's something
additional we need to pursue or whether we're doing, at that point. Mike. HEIL: Yeah. So and I didn't get the sense that the, the long range financial planning one was, you know, had a strong consensus, but I wanted to just check in and see see where everybody was tonight. But as far as the, family engagement one, as long as we're still, keeping that, you know, on the front burner, we the these strategic objectives don't go into effect until next year.
So we can hear in April, and then we can confer. And if we have, reason and consensus, we can add it then. So that satisfies my concern. Thank you. LA VERE WRIGHT: So you're you're in agreement. So on on the first piece, you're in agreement that we'll wait until after we hear a presentation and make a decision on if there's some additional we need to add. Does anybody else have any comment on the community engagement? One first, because we had two components that Mike brought up comments and either okay, so then I think we're sticking with the original plan
and then the long range financial planning. I didn't think we came to something that was actionable on that. That's my memory as one board member. We had a lot of information on what is in our control and what is not in our control. And the consensus, I thought was we're we're doing a really good job of what we're in control of. The issue is what we're not in control of and therefore we're there. It wasn't a secondary action plan we could put in place. That was my understanding.
Where is everyone else on that one? WITHERS: That's kind of how I remember it also. Because we couldn't really even decipher what does that even look like going forward? I mean, we've such an abstract concept almost. But yeah, that's how I remember it too. LA VERE WRIGHT: Especially because of the state doesn't know what they're doing in the feds don't know what they're doing. It's hard. Okay, so then it's Lori. Did you have another comment? THOMPSON: No. What I recall is part of the discussion is we don't know what the state has in store. So I think that's another one that as we gather more information,
we can see if that's something that could be added. So it's a valid point. LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay. So it sounds to me like the consensus is that we're looking at these as presented at this point. Right. All right. Is everyone ready to vote on them as presented okay then I'll call the vote please. DEPAUL: Heil? HEIL: Ay DEPAUL: La Vere Wright? LA VERE WRIGHT: Ay DEPAUL: Thompson? THOMPSON: Ay DEPAUL: Withers? WITHERS: Ay LA VERE WRIGHT: And that motion carries we're on to item 7.5 adoption of the resolution for canceling of teaching contracts due to the justifiable decrease in positions.
May I have a motion, please? THOMPSON: I move to approve the resolution to cancel teaching contracts due to a justifiable decrease in positions. WITHERS: Second. LA VERE WRIGHT: It's been moved and seconded. And so I wanted to provide a technical explanation on this. So as a part of declaring the exigency, there are legally specific steps we have to take after that that are technical under the law, that have to do with meeting the Teacher Employment and Dismissal Act, statute. And so this is a technical component based on the timelines from the time we
declare the fiscal exigency, notify teachers of pending cancellation of contract, and then once a specific period has passed under which they can have a hearing, we then, have to make a final approval of canceling the contract. So this isn't in addition to the fiscal exigency we declared or any of the positions that were identified previously, it's the final technical legal step in following through on that action. It also doesn't mean that if something miraculously changed
and funding changed and we had, you know, the state came back and said, wow, all of a sudden we can do better for education that we couldn't then pull back and actually reissue a contract. And someone who has reissued a contract under that condition would still maintain their same tenure and placement. But this is the technical requirement to make sure that we stay compliant with the law. Under that fiscal exigency. Yeah. Mike. HEIL: And I wanted to point out, too, that these are the names that are on this because of the technical protections for teachers roles specifically.
And there are a lot of other names that could have been on this if they were under the same protections. We're losing a lot of really good people. And every one of these cuts hurts. The one comment I kept seeing out there in social media, especially when there was news coverage and the headline simply said, we are cutting teachers and people would, you know, be upset and say, we should be cutting admin. We did. We cut a lot. And, you know, some of those people are directly supporting the people who support your students in classrooms.
And they're they're going to be missed. And that's why I'm banging the drum up here about initiative 195 and just, you know, everything I can do to try to, you know, shore up these finances so that we can give these students the education they deserve and give the, staff the support that they they really deserve. LA VERE WRIGHT: Lori. THOMPSON: You know, this is, and I have shared it with others that this is one of the most difficult times that
that we've had that I've had to go through as a board member. But it doesn't even touch what some of these teachers have to go through. I just know that, our zone leaders and our principals and our staff worked really hard to be strategic on this and that. Our HR department worked hard, and this was something that no one wanted to do. But we do have a requirement to have a balanced budget. The other thing I wanted to mention is there was some improper news coverage where they indicated we failed an audit.
We did not fail a financial audit. They did audit instructional times. And there's a whole bunch of background to that that we've discussed in previous meetings. But they tied in the instructional hours and they said, gee, if you had done that correctly, you wouldn't have had to do this. And that was incorrect information. And so that's something I wanted to point out, is we're talking two different things. One was instructional hours. The other one is our financial audit. And because of that instructional time, a lot of parents have noticed
that snow days or they might be online instructional days. And that's how we could meet the state requirements for instructional hours. And we're not the only district going through this. I've talked to board members and other districts that have had to do similar things, whether it was increasing their student day by 15 minutes and doing what they have to do to meet the audit requirements on instructional hours from the state. So I just want to clarify that if you see information out there saying it's because of an audit failure that is incorrect, and they are two separate items.
LA VERE WRIGHT: Other comments I just need. WITHERS: Clarification real quick. This list, are individuals who didn't contest this correct? LA VERE WRIGHT: I believe they've already passed the time frame of the right to hearing. Correct? HILTS: That is correct. There is a defined window. None of these individuals, sought an appeal. LA VERE WRIGHT: And kind of as a technical follow up to Laurie's comment, the two things she's talking about being conflating conflated are the fee that we paid back to the state, which was,
I believe it was a 0.2% error in student, or 0.2% of students were actually impacted that year in their contact time. It was around, what, 2 million? What was the actual fee, the fine or the payback? HILTS: So it was actually over a four year period. LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay. HILTS: So you're right. It was it was .15. And so it was 99.99 .925 accurate or so. But I think my percentage is a little bit off. But it was over 99.9% accurate in terms of schedules.
But even so, over a four year cycle, even 1 or 2 students per building added up. And so it was actually, the the initial amount was 2.6 million. We advocated with the, the CDE with Colorado Department of Education and the commissioner on her authority, granted us essentially a discount, for $600,000. LA VERE WRIGHT: So to put that in perspective, in a four year period and I'm rounding, I don't have the exact number in my head. And I wasn't on the board for some of those four years either.
You're talking around $100 million a year as our budget. So in a $400 million that the state paid us, we had a $2.6 million where the time didn't quite match under a technical rule. That sometimes until the state audits you, you don't have the clarity of how they're going to apply it. So I actually explained to somebody that passing period between classes can count, but I think passing period between a class and a lunch doesn't. So when you add
those minutes together, could that add up or something like that? Right. There’s something weird. HILTS: It counts going to lunch, but it doesn't count coming from lunch. LA VERE WRIGHT: So please explain to me how my kid goes to lunch but doesn't come back. But yeah, so like those types of technical rules that could also be based on who's decided what the rule is at the time or where we got caught on something very tiny. And so when you think about that kind of rule, over $400 million worth of student count money, that amount is very small. It was also a one time amount we paid back.
When we have the clarity from the state, we then said, okay, now that we know how you're going to apply that rule, it won't ever happen again. And we fixed it. And that was a one time payment. One time payment does not equate to a way to balance a budget for a recurring expense. And so those are the components that got conflated in that news story. HILTS: But an a portion of those, a portion of those, student schedules that failed the audit were charter school students. And so they reimburse the district for those charges. So there were layers of technicality, to that event.
But we honored that obligation. We honored it immediately. Once it was finalized and made it one time, a one time charge could not have paid for recurring compensation. LA VERE WRIGHT: Correct. And I believe we paid it in the 24-25 budget. Did we not? Did it? Wasn't that part of our amended budget in 24-25? Yes. Well, am I right? Yeah. Because we paid it. Not this year. We paid it last year's budget. That was part of our amended budget. And during the summer was we paid that fee. So we paid that fee a year ago.
It isn't even in this year's budget, much less next year. So I hope that clarifies it. For anyone who watched a very poorly put together, news story on that component, but I think we're okay. One more comment. Yeah. HEIL: And I just wanted to comment to that news story. They reached out to us at 10:44 a.m. with a 2 p.m. deadline to respond. This was old news. The exigency had been, talked about for more than a month prior
to this coming out. So I don't understand the urgency. And, we are a board of volunteers who have to earn a living before we can show up and do this work. So, I found it to be very, Very. Yeah, I can use a lot of words right here that I probably shouldn't. So I'll stop there. THOMPSON: And then just have to follow on to that. Did any of the board members see it before the deadline? Because I know I didn't.
LA VERE WRIGHT: I saw it only because I got pinged by someone saying, hey, because of my role as board president. But again, that's not adequate time to be able to put together a technical answer. That's correct. And it also is in all of our public information. So if someone actually wants to know the information and they read the packet or listened to a meeting rather than the set of questions were were, not things that were were great. But we did send an answer explaining we did provide an explanation explicitly
saying this is what the percentage was, and it's already been paid. So they may not choose to reflect that, but they were given the information that that clarified that that was a one time expense that had already been paid and the the minute size of it comparatively. When we think about our size of our budget. So I think at this point we're ready for a vote. Correct? All right. So can we have a vote, please? DEPAUL: Heil? HEIL: Ay DEPAUL: La Vere Wright? LA VERE WRIGHT: Ay DEPAUL: Thompson? THOMPSON: Ay DEPAUL: Withers? WITHERS: Ay LA VERE WRIGHT: And that motion carries
okay. Our next items are information items just for the board. So now we are on to 9.1 discussion item, our title programs with Karen Bixler. BIXLER: I'm going to lower this. Sorry. Good evening, Mr. Hilt. School board member, student board. Thank you for having me tonight. I'm here tonight. I'm Karen Bixler, and I'm the coordinator of title programs. And I'm here to present our annual update about our title programs. So the first title
we have for titles that are administered through my department, the first one is title one, part A, it is for improving the academic achievement of the disadvantage. We, allocate funds based upon poverty rates within our schools. And, it is designed to help the historically underserved populations at the, at the schools. And so the funding specifically. Oh, excuse me to go back. We,
our overall allocation is just over $4.1 million, and we serve ten schools, about 4900 students, just a little over that. The schools here on the slide are our current title one schools. We did add two schools this school year. Power Technical Middle was new to title. So and then Skyview Middle School is also one of our newer schools to title for the 26-27 school year. We're working on preparing, onboarding two more schools, Patriot Applied Learning
Campus for middle school grade span, and then Mountain View Academy. The middle school grades Pan as well, so that'll bring us up to 12 title schools in our portfolio of title one schools. Within title one. There's two categories. There's budget managed. Excuse me, district managed funding. And then there's school managed. I'm going to talk a little bit about that district managed side. You'll see a theme throughout all of these titles. We have salaries that are supported through all of our title programs within their district. Managed to highlight a few.
Our Mckinney-Vento liaison in our family, school and community district title one Tosa. Her salary is supported through this as well as we provided many professional learning opportunities through the district managed side. Each program also has program administration, a little bit built into that for the program administration of these programs. Just because when you deal with federal funds, there's a lot of requirements and documentation that is required. We want to make sure where we are in compliance as a district. And then we also,
take in directs on the, some of the funding which we are allowed. And those funds are directed to the general fund to support the operational needs of the district. Our school managed side. I went ahead and on this slide, put some of our budget priorities just to highlight a couple of these. Again, you can see the salaries are, showing there. Providing supplemental interventionists, paraprofessionals, instructional coaches, deans, tutors, counselors, community and family liaison. So lots of really important supplemental positions that support our title one schools, another big, funding,
funding initiative within our title one schools is providing before and after school tutoring opportunities as well as supplemental resources like intervention materials, supplemental school supplies that might be needed, such as like math manipulatives or literacy manipulatives for our students to, have a more concrete, more concrete materials to be able to learn in a different way or, be able to apply their learning through these materials, using these materials.
Excuse me. Go back again. The family engagement set aside down at the very bottom. Title one requires 1% of our allocation to go to family engagement initiatives. So all of our schools have events or family engagement initiatives where, we are really encouraging families to get involved. They promote family engagement and, the involvement of their students, through a lot of the events they have or the initiatives that they, hold at their schools
for title two, part A, this one is specifically for the improvement of our educators, teachers and principals. It it also, includes, making sure our teachers are highly qualified by providing professional development opportunities. Much of our title two priorities this year has gone to providing professional development opportunities. You'll see at the very top there, the salary and benefits for district literacy and math coaches are provided
with, the title funding for title two funds. And these are also job embedded that coaches go in and model lessons. They work with teacher teams, district leaders, to improve the, student outcomes for their students. Another one I wanted to highlight is the literacy, math literacy, and math trainings. Recently, we had a math summit in our district and a couple of the speakers that came and and presented at that were funded by title two.
So we support all of the different initiatives across the district. We also, another one to highlight here is directly related to a strategic priority is the middle schools. Structured literacy supports really, really supporting our middle schools with school improvement planning. Title three and title three. And the grant set aside is specifically for, enhancing the education of our English learners. As well as the immigrant set aside is to enhance the instructional opportunities for our immigrant students.
We received just over 100 and $100,000 for title three and just over 2500 for title three. Immigrants set aside. And, on this slide, you can see again, the salary shows up. We, we do, provide the salary for our CLDE family, community liaisons, amazing ladies that do amazing work in our, schools across the district. Also, this provides,
outreach events, supplies and books, things like that, to support our English language learners and their families. Title four is for, there's three categories within title four. It's to provide access for students to, have well-rounded educational opportunities, improve school conditions as well as improve the use of technology. Here, we received just over $300,000 this year and some of the budget priorities. Sorry, there's a lot on there.
It's because we have three buckets, the safe and healthy schools bucket, the well-rounded bucket and the educational technology bucket. Again, you will see salaries as a part of this, providing, district level family, school and community liaison posts. The salary portion of that is split with title one as well as Engage 49. We provide some supplies that might be needed for those events, as well as a big one. Here is the care portal providing, families that might have a need
to help their student be, be successful in school. School counselors, school principal, school leaders, our family school and community liaisons could submit requests through the care portal, where we tap into community resources to provide those needed supports. Under well-rounded. Couple things to highlight here. Title four provided the PSAT for our eighth grade students, as well as the salary, again, another salary for the dual language
immersion specialist. It also provided some, professional development around CTE, CE and work based learning. And I also really wanted to highlight here, title four provides college level textbook for our low income students. The last bucket is the educational technology. This, one is really, there's a certain percentage you have to take for a professional development out of that in order to meet the the statute and what we're required to do within this statute. So we did provide professional learning opportunities for our edtech leaders,
as well as stipends for our building edtech leaders, ambassadors, as we call them, and some Nearpod licenses. And again, you'll see that program administration and indirect costs that we take. That comes back to the district's general fund. I wanted to just talk a little bit about our annual review process. We go through it's like a cycle throughout the year, by conducting a comprehensive needs assessment to determine our school needs, our district needs, aligning them to our district strategic priorities.
Of course, setting goals and identifying strategies, creating comprehensive, plans, which are our unified improvement plans. So those really tie in to all of the title planning that happens. Of course, implementing the plans at the district level, if it's district level supports or at the school level, monitoring the progress, conducting reviews throughout the year, and pivoting when we need to. So within our consolidated application, which is our title application, we might do revisions throughout the year to make sure we are pivoting and meeting the needs of our students.
And I I'm going to ask if you have any questions or anything needs to be clarified. LA VERE WRIGHT: Holly. WITHERS: What can you give me some examples of what family engagement looks like. That's not just like a traditional parent teacher conference, correct? BIXLER: It could be. It could be changing the way we do parent teacher conferences. It could be, communication that might go home. We have, at one of our middle schools, we pay for a title page for a platform that increases the communication and how they communicate with their families.
It could be a family engagement event, maybe a math night or a literacy night, in which title will pay for some of the supplies that might be needed. Like or I believe one of our elementary schools, has a math like they they send home math games that are they put together and then families play the game and then they have some feedback so that back and forth. So it could even be a parent academy if, a family, it could be, a muffins with mom or, donuts with dad, you know, those kinds of events as well.
Yeah. LA VERE WRIGHT: Lori. THOMPSON: Well, first of all, thank you for such an informative display. I really enjoyed this. I had, I was curious to hear more. I was really excited to see it because it's something I've discussed before. And that's the ESL classes for adults. Because as families become more proficient in English, they can better help their students. They can better communicate with teachers. So I was curious about the ESL classes for adults. BIXLER: Yes.
We I work closely with Grant. We've, he does put that in our title three plan to provide those ESL classes for adults that are also learning English so they can better support their students. So that is one of the allow abilities in title three that we can also support with that to provide our families that need that support, those classes. So he does offer those throughout the year, and many families do participate in those. THOMPSON: Another thing, with Engage 49, we did have pretty decent turnout for the last one.
And that was informative and chilling at the same time. BIXLER: It was. And I attended it too. Yes. THOMPSON: Yeah. And I'm glad to know they're going to take some of that information and continue to get it out. And, I brought it up during Student Board two that it would really be great to have some of our high school students begin to attend those events as well, because they are so informative and I don't know how to encourage the community show up, come to these because they are so informative
and they have a panel of experts and we feed you, and it's just a really good event. But the one on on cybersecurity and safety was, chilling and informative and really great information for families to have. So thank you for all that you do. BIXLER: Thank you. LA VERE WRIGHT: And so I just had a couple of clarifying question pieces. I think when they calculate the amount of money they give us for title, they look at the overall poverty rate in the district. Correct.
And then we designate the schools. BIXLER: Yes. There are different methods of serving and different criteria that we could use. Our criteria that we use in district 49 is we look at the grades, we look at the district wide percentage of our poverty rate with all of our schools to include our charter schools, and then, our, I believe, our average rate that we're looking at for next year, around 40 to a little over 42%, and any school above that can qualify for title one specifically.
So we that's we've grown our portfolio of title one schools over the last few years, based on our poverty rates, increasing as well. So. LA VERE WRIGHT: Well, and part of why I ask that is if, you know, if you look at the pattern like we have high schools that would meet the title, that meet the title, one designation because the middle school that feeds into them does. And therefore it's the same students feeding in. But the pot of money we get is the same regardless of how many schools
we designate, because it's based on the number of students. So in not designating those high schools, that's in part because where that money can be most impactful educationally is in the elementary and middle schools that we have designated, where at the high school, we have different types of things that are available. And, and the money would just not have the same level of, of educational impact. But I wanted that kind of recognize that if we're really looking at overall poverty rate, when I think people who don't get that technical component
sometimes think, well, you know, the title one school is only that school. But really Sand Creek High School, if you look at the feeder schools, there's no way that high school doesn't meet that same criterion when the middle school that feeds into it and the elementary schools that feed into it do it's designating. It doesn't get us any additional funding. It would require us to divide that by smaller, which means we'd have less impact in the elementary and middle where we see that that money can make the most difference. Same thing is true of Vista because Skyview feeding into Vista.
So Vista's percentage can't be that different than Skyview. And so I just that, that technical component, I think for people who don't understand that part sometimes can be important for understanding that reality is also true for our high schools that we're serving, that that those schools feed into it, the technical designation that would require us to divide that $4 million up even smaller, between those schools, just the, the benefit ratio. It doesn't do anything for us. BIXLER: That is exactly correct.
That and we do, as we do planning teams and with school leadership, district leadership, we're looking at the biggest impact that that funding can make. So it is directed at our middle and, elementary grade spans. However, we do have schools at high school that might be above that 40%. What statute says is once they reach 75%, that's where you absolutely have to start serving. None of our schools are at that 75%, poverty rate. Yet. HEIL: And just to supplement that to our high schools are getting some support
because I believe I heard in title four, if I'm correct, that that, college textbooks are being provided to our students in concurrent enrollment who, who couldn't afford them. So that is, it's not title one, but it is definitely a support that our, our high school students. BIXLR: I should have said that. Yes. That all of our schools can get support through title two, three and four, including our charters, so that funding does go direct. Even like our coaches that are funded with title two can work in different schools, high schools.
And I know they spend quite a time, quite a bit of time in the high schools. So yes, title two, three and four does impact all all grade spans. LA VERE WRIGHT: And to that point, although it's not title fund, it's board budget, board budget also covers fees, registration fees and and for both activities and academic coursework for anyone who qualifies for free and reduced lunch so that, that is our district impact at the high school level is ensuring that finance isn't a barrier to any of our educational pathways
or any of our extracurricular or sports pathways for any of our students. That's a board commitment that has been consistent for at least 18 years. I think, where the board has paid those fees. So it also doesn't mean that we're not doing things to take care of, of those schools. I just think when we're looking at when people are comparing test scores and they use that designation, I'm like, well, recognize these schools also hit those poverty markers. And that can be important in some of those outside the community conversations. But thank you very much for all of this.
BIXLER: Can I highlight one thing? All of our title schools are in performance. I know Mr. Hilts has brought that up before, so that's just a huge accomplishment and something to be very proud of as a district, to have all of our title schools in that performance band. HILTS: Several recognized tonight. BIXLER: Yes. THOMPSON: And does student board have any questions about the title programs? Okay. BIXLER: Thank you very much for the opportunity this evening. LA VERE WRIGHT: Thank you. And we are on to our policy and procedure review. So the policies included in that are technical changes
that are either required because of adjustments in the law or we also there are quite a few coming forward. If you look at the chart, last month in this month that because of the district, because of the number of positions that we are eliminating, some people, some reporting folks and people who are responsible for different positions have change. So who is either responsible for the policy or under some of our, anti-discrimination policies, who the person you report to technically. And the law has changed.
So we had to make sure that those job designations are correct in policy. And so those are our primary pieces here. So these anything that comes through under Policy and procedure review is an administrative recommendation. And generally related to those two things. Did anyone have any questions or concerns on the ones brought forward? Lori. THOMPSON: I saw some of the updates for the AI requirements that I know we had discussed in the past, and it's something we've discussed in student board to later on have some sort of an AI policy which is separate from this.
This just looped it in, but it's such an ever evolving field, both good and bad. Just to keep it on the radar to work on an AI policy. HILTS: And that is actually one of the elements of our current annual strategic objective around optimizing our cyber, presence. LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay. So does anyone do we have consensus to move these forward then, at next meeting? Yes, yes, yes. Okay.
So we'll move those forward to our April meeting. To be voted on our April regular meeting. We are now on public comment two, and we have three people signed up. Our first is Lonzell Ivory Junior. IVORY: Good evening. My name is Lonzell Ivory junior. I'm a prior service, disabled US marine, a father, and I'm running for State Board of Education because I believe that every child in Colorado deserves to feel safe when they walk in school. I'm not running because it's easy. I'm running because it's necessary. And like many parents, I trusted the system to protect my child.
My daughter, Amanda, was bullied so badly in fourth grade that we moved her to Grand Peak Academy for a fresh start, and no parent should ever have to move their child just so they can feel safe at school. But what happened next is why I'm standing here today. During recess on February 24th, Amanda was alone on the swings when a boy began harassing her and called over five other boys. They began, grabbing on her swing and kicking her. She tried to run and they surrounded her. One boy struck her in the neck and knocked to the ground, while another held her down and the others kicked her.
The attack lasted eight minutes. With no adult intervention, she returned to class, bruised, shaken, struggling to breathe deeply, and reported it to a teacher, but was not offered medical care. I didn't hear about it from the school. I heard about it from my daughter crying when I picked her up. At the end of the day, that moment changed me because no child should ever have to worry about, sitting in a classroom with her, attackers, sitting right next to her.
And no parent should have to learn about an incident like this hours later. We cannot expect our students to learn if they do not feel safe. That's why I want elected. I will fight for immediate parent notification after violent incidents where medical care for injured students, stronger recess supervision, and real enforcement of anti-bullying policies. Because safety is not optional is a foundation of education. Because we're tackling our children is not political, it's moral, it's parental, and it's our responsibility.
Thank you. LA VERE WRIGHT: Thank you sir. Our next speaker is Kim Beckworth. BECKWORTH: Good evening. Kim Beckworth, DAC member. Excuse me. Our PTA unit has passed an initiative for a health awareness month where students, staff, and community are encouraged to wear a health awareness t shirt for the month of March. Mercedes Jarette was unable to make it to our PTA meeting and had written to express her thoughts on the Health Awareness Month and, the exceptional staff at Evans. I wanted to share her letter with you this evening,
she wrote. The special education department at Evans Elementary is amazing. For starters, they have been a part of my son's school life since he started pre-K head Start at Evans. Miss McAuliffe specifically is spectacular. She recognizes and sees things quickly, coming up with ways and ideas to help. She is always there, willing and happy to help. Damien wouldn't be where he is without her and Mr. Burrell. They are the hidden gems behind the children. Success. I appreciate the fact that they meet him where he is at
in his learning and then go from there. My kiddo is able to have every resource needed. If something is not up that could help. The special ed department makes it happen. For example, my son had a major surgery with a six week admission. When he returned, he was using his wheelchair more. His wheelchair doesn't fit under his desk. The special ed department got a new desk that worked for him. Within a few days, they saw there was an obstacle and solved it. I have friends with kids and D2 and D20
that also have children with special needs IEP and 504 plans. Their experiences and mine are vastly different. Evans Elementary is an amazing school with a special education department like no other. My only wish is that Evans went through middle school also Mercedes it. So I would like to encourage everyone to wear a health awareness t shirt for the month of March. Thank you. LA VERE WRIGHT: Thank you. And our final speaker tonight is Ellen Deckers. DECKERS: I'm Ellen Deckers.
I've been coming to board meetings three months short of 38 years. Sorry, I've been missing quite a few the last two because of medical problems and I feel comfortable leaving you guys without me here. It's nice to know you guys are guys doing a great job and the kids are in good hands. It hasn't always been that way. And the young lady, I've heard good stuff about you too. Since you've been on the board and, about seven weeks ago, I was watching the news
and I saw a video of Vista Ridge High School football team. A child number 11 walked up to the coach. There was a coach and another adult talking. I could only see the back of the child, and he had a helmet on. And he said, like maybe two words to the coach. And the coach hauled out and smacked the kid in the face. Now, I don't know. I didn't see the face. I didn't see how much gear was in the front of his face from his helmet. But the kid just turned
around and held his head. LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay, Ellen, I'm going to ask you to move on to another piece. DECKERS: My opinion that coach should be fired. Period. LA VERE WRIGHT: Ellen, we're not going to speak about individuals. Ellen. DECKERS: Nobody should hit a child. Nobody. LA VERE WRIGHT: Ellen, I'm going to ask you to stop. We're not going to speak on an individual staff member at this point. DECKERS: I know it’s about a staff member, but it was on tv. LA VERE WRIGHT: And at this point, we're going to stop. If you want to talk about something else, you can. But if not, I'm going to stop your time for tonight. Thank you. DECKERS: Well, you know my opinion, I always let you know. LA VERE WRIGHT: I understand I need. DECKERS: But I love you guys.
LA VERE WRIGHT: Okay. And we're now on to miscellaneous. Did anyone have anything to bring up? Holly. WITHERS: Sure. It's just a couple of things. Because It's kind of tying in the rest of the theme. The safe to tell, hotline. They reported it yesterday. Has seen an increase of 18% in bullying. And we need to kind of wrap our heads around That, because that's 18% growth of kids that felt so bad that they felt like reporting it.
And so I'm just I'm just throwing it out there as a little tidbit, as we leave here tonight and we seriously need it because it sounds like there's bullying going on everywhere. And then two, is there a way. Mr. Hilts, if like, how are we going to spend, the DODEA funds or is there Like, a can we put together a task group on what To do enrichment wise, aside from the things that were already mentioned?
I mean, I guess my question is. Yeah, how do we how do we take next steps and have it solidified so that these parents that have children in those classes, like, have a confirmed plan for the rest of 26 through 27? HILTS: So it wouldn't be appropriate to me to, to really problem solve in real time. I can tell you that from the very beginning, of of any consideration of shifting, we were talking with DODEA. And so their commitment is to a goal, not a specific program.
There's different ways you can reach that goal and the things that they have suggested to DODEA, DODEA has been receptive. But they there is an evaluation and monitoring process that has to continue. And we I on your behalf. But we as a district submitted to their evaluation. So they really are the ultimate authority over what we are providing and whether it meets their expectations. And so, we actually couldn't to put together a task force that would then supersede their authority.
What we have done and the record that that you all received today shows this. We approached them. We actually proposed extending the grant, returning the money, actually not receiving the money. They said, no, we believe you can still meet the goal. And they made some suggestions. And so there's an appropriate back and forth that is happening. There are both staffing constraints and scheduling constraints. So I always talk about there's only three resources time, people and money. We're trying to really manage the time and the people
part of that equation is providing the grant money. And then there are signing off on the processes. So that's that's the best answer I can give without some additional, some additional content. But I also will will observe. And I think you've been copied on some of these communications. Both principal McCoy and Zone Superintendent Horras have been, open to suggestions. And so I think they will be they will continue to be open to them. Some of the things that have been suggested, for example, an after school Spanish club has been suggested,
they've had that and they've had relatively low interest. And so we want to be innovative and think about what else could we do. Our commitment is to meet the goal that DODEA set. And they believe and we believe that we're we're on track to do that. THOMPSON: Just to follow out of it and, and just for, historical context, since 2020, we had a big spike in, you can call it dysregulated kids. Or just saying just incidents of different behavior and over the top. I've been on the board. I have been to, primarily in the Falcon Zone teacher trainings
where they talked about how to handle these situations. I know our security team works really hard on de-escalation, and, it breaks my heart to hear what some of our parents have experienced. Takes me back in time to some of what I got to experience. And so there can be spikes and safety tell reports. And we receive as a board, we receive executive summaries on different disciplinary activities that happen. And it's something we've discussed in student board as well.
And, and overall good news from the student board is they were seeing a little bit less bullying and so safe to tell can spike and fall. But that is always a huge priority. And I think it is really imperative that as community members and as parents in the district, that we model behavior reaching resolution, conflict resolution, how to speak to one another, how to speak about one another, what do we model in our homes? And, it's a different world, especially with social media,
where things are different and it's really easy to cross over that line behind the keyboard that may not be crossed face to face. So I encourage our students, I encourage our parents and our community members speak to each other. Don't assume the worst. Don't throw out pejorative just because you think it's there. You disagree with me. So xyz, and I was actually talking about this with Dustin prior to the meeting. Tonight is what happened to having a difference of opinion and being able to have conversations.
So that's all I wanted to add. Thank you. LA VERE WRIGHT: Anything else? Yes. Yep. HILTS: May I add a point of information? This one is, we're actually a little bit ahead of our, our plan. After you showed initial interest in an annual strategic objective to upgrade our charter school relationships. We had a principals meeting. I asked some of the charter principals that were there to step into my office, and we met, for a short time. And there was a lot of enthusiasm and appreciation for that. And we have good work to do.
The only point of disagreement was they did not want to wait till the fall. There are some changes happening with both manager organizations and individual leadership, but they felt it would be, beneficial. And because we're asking, a board member, board president, ideally to be involved, they needed it to be on a Saturday. So we are moving forward and have started confirming even before you approved it tonight. But thank you. We're moving forward with a charter Leaders summit on April 25th, and I will,
hope that the board would, of course, defer to Maria as board president. But if Marie is not available, we would appreciate having some board presence. We will have our members of our own cabinet who work with charter schools either to provide services or oversee their, their programs. I think it's going to be a productive conversation. I had a good conversation with Andy Franco, former, zone superintendent in the iConnect Zone and who now consults and works with multiple of our charter schools. He will participate. So I I'm, I'm anticipating this is going to be a really constructive thing.
And the only tweak that I'm reporting to you is just an acceleration. But that's a actually a really positive thing because it means we hit into the new year with some, some, identified opportunities to collaborate and probably a meeting rhythm and some other positive things. So I just wanted you to know that you're going to see that. And and you will wonder if I got, a little bit ahead of my headlights. And I did, but it's a meeting to upgrade our relationship. And the charter leaders asked for us to accelerate. So it made sense. And I knew you would support that. LA VERE WRIGHT: Anything else?
Then we are adjourned at 7:49 PM.