Crazy. All right. >> Good evening, everyone. I'd like to call our meeting to order. It is now 6:30 p.m. May I have a roll call, please? >> Hy >> here. >> Levia Ray >> here. >> Schmidt >> here. >> Thompson >> here. >> Right. Wright
>> Withers, sorry. >> Here. Please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance 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. >> And we are on to item 31, approval of agenda. May I get a motion, please? >> I move to approve the agenda as presented.
>> Point of order. >> Point of order. I move to amend the agenda to table action item 7.1 JBA. >> We would need a second for that motion. Is there a second for the motion?
>> I second. >> Any discussion? I spoke today with Kevin Tibo who is Robert's rules who is a Robert's rules parliamentarian. He informed me that if we vote to suspend something that has already been adopted, it only suspends for one
meeting. Policy BG, school board policy process, says that any section or sections of board policy, including those governing its own operating procedures, may be temporarily suspended by a majority vote
of board members present at any regular or special meeting. However, policy BG does not specify what temporarily means or how long temporary is. Robert's rules say temporary is one meeting.
Regarding policy JBA as creating a specific legal rest risk, I would remind everyone that we are looking at a practical conflict with JBA. Schools following Colorado law risk federal level title 9 complaints and potential
loss of federal funds which make up about 10% of district revenue. Schools ignoring Colorado law risk state level discrimination claims, which are also a potentially large chunk of change for the district. No matter what we do, it
is possible that someone will file a complaint against D49 regarding facilities. Either way, suspending this policy because it creates specific legal risk is a bit of a reach because people can file a complaint either way. It goes
both ways. State law doesn't necessarily legally supersede federal law here. Federal preeemption could apply if the administration proves a direct violation. In short, state laws can offer more
rights. However, in direct conflicts with enforced federal requirements, federal law prevails. >> Point of order. At this point, it's simply about the procedural component of whether this is amending, not whether or not we're voting on the policy itself.
And the suspension component about one meeting reply applies to board policies that govern how we run meetings. For example, if we were extending open forum, suspension for operational policies refers to operation in the district. With that information, I am
calling the vote on whether to approve the amendment to remove this from the agenda. May I have a vote, please? >> Hy, >> no. >> Levia Wright, >> no. >> Schmidt, >> yes. >> Thompson, >> yes. >> Withers, >> no. >> That motion fails. May I have a motion
to approve the agenda, please? I move to approve the agenda. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. May I have a vote, please? >> Hyle. >> I. >> Leia Wright. >> I. >> Schmidt. >> No. >> Thompson. >> No. >> Withers. >> I.
>> That motion passes. We are now on to public comment. And prior calling anyone up, I will read the guidelines. We appreciate and welcome comments from our stakeholders as part of District 49's open forum. Please remain in your seats until called to the podium by the board president. Once called upon, please
approach the podium. State your name in relationship to the district before beginning. Please speak into the microphone. Written statements may be left in the basket by the podium. We ask that you do not address anyone in the audience and that your comments be made in a respectful and orderly manner. To fill to fulfill our values of trust and
respect, we decline to create a forum for attacks or criticism against specific staff members, students, or other stakeholders. Therefore, with the exception of members of the board or the superintendent, personal complaints against individuals connected with the school system are prohibited in this forum. Follow-up actions may be assigned
to the superintendent in accordance with board policy BEDH. Open forum participation is limited to two minutes per person. It is the practice of the board of education to withhold any comment or direction to the superintendent until after all who have signed up for open forum have had a chance to speak. I would also like to
make you aware of our stakeholder grievance process. This process can be initiated by anyone in our D49 community and guides the stakeholder through the correct people and process to help resolve their concern, including as a final step the opportunity to formally appeal to the board of education. We
encourage you to utilize this process if warranted, remembering it has to be a policy violation as many have successfully resolved their concerns this way. Thank you for participating in our open forum. Our first speaker tonight is Jordan
Martin. All right. My name is Jordan Martin. I am a 7 through I'm a 9th through 12 social studies teacher at San Creek High School. And then do I Okay. Uh board members, I want to ask you who works for whom. The last years it has felt as though the board works for the superintendent. But
the reality is that the superintendent works for the democratically elected board of education. You have a fiscal e a fiscal exigency vote pushed on you with a gun pointed to your head saying that you had to pass all of this by tonight or else only one board member
dared to question the plan. Now you have the chance to correct that vote. The procedure for today's meeting doesn't allow you to ask questions or discuss the exigency. It just forces you to vote. However, if you read the packet, there are no specifics about what programs or positions will be cut. There's just general comments. The only
specifics that have emerged is 100 teaching positions and around $2.5 million in teacher contracts will be terminated. They know the teachers they'll fire. The rest is vague. The administration has claimed that these cuts are due to increased spending and decreased revenue. Yet our own audits
show that their estimates for revenue are consistently under by 20%, not the 1 to 3% that CDE recommends. Money from MLOS's and per pupil funding from the state continues to increase. Even today, 3% was how much per pupil it will be increasing in the governor's budget.
Even if our student numbers drop as much as the district predicts, our state funding for non-charter schools will increase, not decrease, by under $3 million. So where's the gap coming from? When we were fined millions for not meeting educational hours by CDE, no jobs were lost. But when there is a
mysterious budget hole that has not been explained to you or to the public, it is frontline workers will take the hit. If the superintendent confronts you about timing and says that you're making mistake about rushing things, you have the right to remind that it is the
superintendent's duty to explain the reasoning to you, to show you the numbers. You are the public oversight. Voting no today on this exigency allows you to take a step back, ask for a detailed plan, not vague references to programs, and make sure that if this emergency is truly required, there is a
specific plan. Thank you for your time. >> Our next speaker is Zachary Parish. My name is Zachary Parish. I am a 47-year-old father of three and have been a D49 parent since 2013. My oldest daughter has graduated from high school. My son and youngest daughter are both in middle school. I am here to address
agenda item 7-Eleven, JBAA policy, access to sex segregated facilities. Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. Philippians 3:2. My youngest daughter is a four sport athlete. for her, her female friends, and her female
teammates. I am here to stand against evil and its manifestation through transgenderism. Boys cannot become girls. To believe otherwise is ignorant. Evil wants us to question truth. The truth is that there are only two genders. One divinelyappointed, unchangeable, and without error to each
of us. Transgenderism is the result of absent or cowardly fathers, as well as misguided mothers who deny but weaponize their unadressed personal trauma. Because of these conditions, children are being parented without truth. It is normal for a children to be for children
to be confused. When children are confused, a healthy parent grounded in reality will speak truth to combat their confusion. It's abnormal to encourage and celebrate gender confusion. It's abnormal for a boy to be convinced he is a girl. I implore you all to use your positions to align with truth today and
always. To the females on the board, the fact that you're considering allowing males into female bathrooms is asinine and shameful. To the board member who believes man invented God because we can't stand that women create life. Shame on you. God opposes the proud. Pride becomes comes before the fall and
your pride is plain to see. I implore men to be men and for all D49 parents to take back and purify ground that's been poisoned by transgenderism. Boys cannot become girls and do not belong in female bathrooms. Policy JBAA must remain in place to preserve good, provide safety
to enforce common sense, and to preserve God's favor on district 49. In closing, policy JBA holding it in place will give credibility to the district. Perhaps this board will be considered credible if policy JBA is held in place.
>> Thank you. Our next speaker is Deborah Ul. Tonight, I want to speak clearly and directly about a policy that affects every student's privacy, dignity, and emotional safety. I'm Deborah Al. I'm a board-certified psychiatric mental
health nurse practitioner with experience in child and adolescent mental health and a parent in this district. Biological girls deserve privacy in girls facilities and biological boys deserve privacy in boys facilities.
Every student, regardless of identity, deserves dignity, privacy, and emotional safety and intimate spaces. These are not political statements. These are foundational principles in child development and trauma-informed
care. I reviewed policy JBAAA alongside relevant case law including the Koi Matthysse decision. This made one thing very clear. The purpose of this policy is sound. What needs refinement is the language, not the intent. Policy JBAA
should not be repealed or paused. Repeal removes protections without replacing them. Creates uncertainty, inconsistency, and greater risk for the district. Strengthening the language is a responsible path forward. I did not come alone. I am here with a petition signed
by parents, guardians, and community members who support refining, not dismantling this policy. These are families asking for stability, clarity, and privacy for their children. They want solutions and not division. I emailed a board a formal amendment
proposal. These amendments make the policy clearer, stronger, and more legally aligned. They protect the privacy of all students, provide staff with clear guidance, and give families confidence that this district takes students safety seriously. At the end of the day, we all
want the same thing. A district where all children feel safe, parents feel respected, and our community can move forward instead of revisiting the same conflict year after year. Strengthen strengthening this policy, not repealing it, is how we get there. Thank you.
>> Our next speaker is Terresa Embry. My name is Teresa Embry and I'm a D49 taxpayer and general education par profofessional. I hold a certificate from the CDE that meets the state require statute requirements of the Colorado Read Act. I teach early
literacy and math to children K through 5 at Stson Elementary and my students call me Miss Terry. Let me tell you about my typical day. 8 to 8:20 crosswalk duty. 8:30 to 9
prepare and review day's materials. 9 to 9:40 ELA kinder intervention support. 9:50 to 10:30 first grade sips beginning level four students pulled 10:40 to 11:20 second grade sips extension level
pull four students 11:20 to 11:40 lunch duty in the cafeteria 11:45 to 12:15 is my lunch 12:15 to 12:50 first grade math support 12:15 to 12:30 teacher 1 pull two students teacher two pull two
students 12:35 to 1250 teacher 3 pull another three students. 1 to 140 kindergarten math intervention. 1 to 115 teacher one pull three students. 120 to 135 teacher two pull three students. 150
to 230 second grade math intervention 150 to 205 teacher one pull two students. 210 to 225 teacher two pull three students. 2:30 to 3:00 ELA focus boards kindergarten. 3 to 3:20 is my
break. 3:25 is my crosswalk duty. We are not gened paras who make copies and put bulletin boards together. We are teachers, mentors, cafeteria workers, and crossing guards. We play a direct role in the foundation foundational
stages of these children that are that are at risk of falling behind during their formative years. I am Miss Terry and I am a Jenna Perah at Stson Elementary. Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Casey Herrera.
>> Good evening. My name is Casey Herrerero. I am a district 49 parent and I am here to ask the board to affirm policy JBA. Um, as a parent, I believe that it is a standard and an expectation for many of
us that when our children go into a restroom that individuals utilizing the restroom are separated based on biological sex. And this is based on anatomy, not identity. I would ask you to recall and remember that parents um
you know fear for the safety of our children and that during events it is not just students who are using the bathrooms but it's guests that do not necessarily go through the same background checks or you know safety protocols that our teachers are made to
go through. Biological sex bathroom use reduces confusion for our children who range from ages K through 12 that may not have the cognitive maturity or ability to navigate a confusing, intimidating or potentially abusive
situation in a restroom on their own or independent from their parents or a teacher. In addition, it creates a loophole for those who actually do have abusive intent. I would also ask that we still continue to find a respectful
solution to some of the concerns that are raised by parents of or even transgender students themselves, which would include the use of single occupancy or genderneutral bathrooms. Um, but I really think that a larger concern that's being brought to the
forefront with concern about people using bathrooms based on their biological sex is that people are being mistreated in bathrooms that are based on biological sex if they're identifying as transgender. I believe that that is largely a bullying issue and that our
district in general needs to take a more serious look at implementation of our already existing anti-bullying protocols. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is John Graham. Thank you. John Graham, former board
president, taxpayer, business owner, parent, still a parent even though my kids graduated. Welcome D49 parents, students, board members, community, staff. Want to remind the
>> Please only address the board. and everyone who uh participates in public education. Want to remind the board of education that there is a very specific and valued culture in District 49 and that tone and
culture is set from the top down. We all know what happened the last two years of my board presidency. Let's not see a repeat of that. We also know what happened when before I was on the board and there are shadows of that happening
now. We don't want to repeat where employees feel threatened or that their jobs are at risk. Mike and Holly, I hope you have the courage to thank your personal hero. She who should not be named for both your
electoral wins. JBAA policy was a well-thoughtout policy taken many different views to provide privacy, safety, and natural rights to biological children, but also to children who identify as a different gender. If science, which in this case
is biology, and truth are to be considered, this policy will not be rescended. So, I got a few questions for you, and this is out of respect for all students. Have you discussed this with students and parents and staff?
Can a man get pregnant? Does removing the prostate of a man due to cancer make him a woman? I actually had a another analogy, but I won't use that one because it could be offensive. D49 is doing amazing things. I saw the
uh recent Facebook advertisement. It was awesome. I want the staff to keep doing that. keep keeping the all the students safe no matter how they identify how biological students keep them safe and keep progressing on student outcomes.
>> Thank you. Our next speaker is Sue Burner. Good evening. I'm Sue Bruner. I uh am a parent, grandparent, and uh voting um constituent in district 49. I want to thank the members of the board for
taking time to review a policy that may not be agreed on by everybody. As policy setters for 49, I believe it's very important to hear all voices in an issue and then to formulate the policy based on what's best for those who you serve, which of course are the students and the
parents and the teachers of district 49. I'm speaking today in support of maintaining the policy set for item JBA which is currently established that is currently established. My support is based on the small cohort of students that may consider themselves to be
transgender and the larger po population of the students that may be with uncomfortable with sharing uh private facilities with somebody who presently has the anatomy of the opposite sex. I maintain that by preserving the current
policy, there is a reduced chance of division within the majority of the parents and students in the district and the current policy is not designed to exclude any student, but instead to provide a solution that's best for everyone. regarding the argument that
refusing to allow a ch trans transgender person into the restroom designed for the sex that is different than their biological sex may cause the child to become depressed or suicidal. I'd like to remind you all that we already have in place the resources to address uh
mental health issues such as dep depression and suicidal thoughts. These young people need to be given tools to deal with such emo emotions in a healthy manner as opposed to teaching them the falsehood that uh society will conform
to accommodate everybody's choices. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Annette Iba. Hello, Anette. Uh, Annette YBA, taxpayer. Uh, just a quick reminder of
executive order 14190 concerning your agenda item 7-eleven. Uh this order is entitled Ending Radical Indoctrination in K through 12 schooling is an
executive order signed on January 29, 2025 by President Donald Trump 9 days after his second term started. This prohibits K through 12 schools from teaching any material that's considered
anti-American or subversive as well as anything promoting gender ide um ideology and critical race theory. Under the order, the law enforces uh uh law enforcement to conduct
investigations of educ educational and education related institutions suspected of involvement in the instruction, advancement or promotion of gender ideology or discriminatory equity
ideology, declaring such ideas to be anti-American and sub subversive. Uh the order further directs law enforcement to criminally prosecute any teacher that unwilling or unlawfully facilitates uh the social transition of
uh transgender minors. Um, just want to remind you that this allow uh part of this also includes um allowing students to use segregated facilities or participate in segre
segregated sports that differ from those of their birth sex. And um additionally, schools found in violation can have their federal funding revoked. So just a reminder Thank you. Our next speaker is Mike
Bruner. Hello board members. Uh my name is Mike Bruner. I'm a dad of kids that attended District 49 and I'm also a grandfather of a grandson. and he's 8 years old. It currently goes. He attends.
And I was going to throw it in here, too. I actually did ask my grandson what he thought of uh I'm speaking against the suspension of JBAA, too, I should say. Uh asked my grandson what he thought of girls being in boys bathrooms
and uh girls being in or boys being in girls and he didn't like the idea. So, I'm kind of here representing my grandson and myself. But I'm here to speak against the suspension of JBAA, which is access to sex segregated
facilities based on the biological sex at birth. I fully support to maintain the current policy as written. It is it is designed to protect all children.
The current policy complies with title nine of the education amendments of 1972 and it protects the privacy, safety, and dignity of all the students based on biological sex
because it's not like the school saying the transgenders don't have a bathroom to go to. They do. I mean, everybody. And in line with that, I believe there's really not a policy out there that's going to make everybody happy. I just I I don't see it happening. I believe the
current current policy helps the majority of students get get a helps the majority of students but still accommodates for all. And um I don't know this is a interesting subject because I get a lot of stuff
going through my head not sure what I should share or shouldn't share but I just think it's sad for like I'll pick on girls that their first experience of seeing a naked male is in the locker room or in a bathroom you
know and then they got to go home and talk to their parents who should be the authority and good parents will talk to them. So, I thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Our next speaker is Yolanda Edwards. Thank you, board. My name is Yolanda
Edwards. You probably don't know me, and to be frank, you probably don't want to get to know me, but I promise if you repeal policy JBA, you will be getting to know me real fast. I'm a local women's rights advocate raising the alarm on this issue for going on over a decade now. I've been all over the
country documenting this problem. Even showed up in a documentary about the eraser of women's sex-based rights, and I'm Title 9 certified through the Leadership Institute. Without policies protecting the sex-based rights of female athletes, they lose the right to consent to when,
where, and how they are exposed to male genitals. This violation used to be known as indecent exposure and was considered sexual harassment. I know the term grooming gets thrown around a lot. And while I don't like to use the term myself, I understand the sentiment and
maybe it just hasn't been explained to you well enough. But I'll give it a shot. Consider this. In strip clubs, there are strict rules on how men can interact with the women. There is there is ample security for to remove any men
who break the rules and the women are compensated for their naked bodies being seen. When girls are taught from a young age that they don't have a right to say no to boys seeing their naked bodies, stripping seems like a valid option. This is grooming. We don't want school
to be the place where our girls are taught that sexual exploitation is normal. But that is exactly what you do when the sex-based rights of your female students are violated by boys they are not allowed to say no to. On January 13th, the Supreme Court heard
arguments on this exact issues with rulings expected in June. If you repeal policy JBAA, I will make it my mission to document every single Title 9 violation. And when the heavily conservative Supreme Court inevitably rules in favor of protecting sex-based rights of female students, I will be
sure that every single board member that who votes to repeal policy, JBAA, will be held accountable for violating those sex-based rights. My suggestion is at least putting off this vote until after the Supreme Court ruling before you end up getting sued for blatant Title N
violations. Thank you. Our next speaker is Holly Bumbria. >> Hi, Madame President and board members. I'm Holly Bombria, mom to three D49 graduates. >> Holly, can you step up to the microphone a little bit closer? >> Sure. Should I start over or just go?
Okay. Okay. I'm Holly Bombria, mom to three for D49 graduates, a homeowner within the district, taxpayer, friend, and neighbor. Happy New Year. Thank you for giving of your time to serve our
students, teachers, staff, community, and the future. You really matter. I would like to give my comment regarding action agenda item 7.11 regarding JBAA. I urge the board to not only suspend
this item, but to go further and delete, remove, or expunge this policy altogether. I've learned a lot in my 67 years. I just recently turned 67, 67. One of those things is that all humans
relieve themselves. We pee, we poop. My kids even had a book about it when they were little. Every person should be able to use the restroom when needed. This is a right in public places,
including public schools. JBAA is immoral and illegal. It discriminates against protected classes in Colorado. It puts this district at risk. Do away with JBAA.
I have some training in mental health and also in gender. And anyone who's trained in mental health knows that kids are at risk. I mean, just being a kid these days is risky, but transgender
youth are at high risk and they are being attacked and they are protected in Colorado. Also, I want to add one thing about I've heard some rumors about board members maybe being recalled. I disagree
with any recall of you guys. The voters have spoken. You guys are here to do your job. Your volunteers recalls are crazy. Thanks for listening to me. >> Thank you.
Our next speaker is Rachel Canel. Good evening. My name is Rachel Canel and I'm a CLLD teacher at Vista Ridge High School where I've taught for the past eight years. This is my 13th year in the district and I love D49. Thank you guys for your service. Thanks for
taking the time to listen to my concerns. I'm also the president of Falcon Education Association. I would like to speak against the um exigency vote tonight. Um so while a reduction in forest may seem like a solution to a financial shortage, it
carries long-term educational and emotional costs. Sustainable solutions require creative budgeting, transparent communication, and a shared commitment to protecting the learning environment for every student. Announcing an exigency based on a
financial emergency that may or may not exist. With the plan to cut tenure and new teachers along with our wonderful support professionals, pair of professionals, it is not only harmful to staff, but it mainly hurts the kids who
need them the most. I teach multilingual learners who are a vulnerable and marginalized population who are especially hurt by cuts. As an example, last year my paraprofessional was cut to part-time at my school due to budgets
cuts. This directly impacted our CLLD program at Vista Ridge. It hurt our students because no longer could she go into all of our newcomers classes and help those kids that needed the most help, but it also hurt um the entire program and a lot of our vulnerable
students. Then after that, this year they cut the position completely. So now I no longer have a pair professional who was an educator like myself going into classes pushing in and helping those kids all day long. Now we don't have that and it's a huge gap. my students
have not recovered from that and I'm I would like to see what our test scores are like this year because with just me in the building it's really difficult. Um and so I just want to say that cutting students especially hurts cutting teachers that is and educators
especially hurts those vulnerable kids. Please vote against it and thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Amy Persons Burch, Amy Burch. A lot of time spent spent on bathrooms. I'm I'm here to talk about education.
Um, under the guise of Yeah. under the guise of uh seal D49 is funding programs taking up valuable time from the student. >> I'm sorry ma'am. You have to speak directly to the agenda item you signed up for or you'll have to wait until the second open forum.
>> So the second open forum though you can speak at any topic. Thank you. >> Our next speaker is Ali Glesner. Okay, there we go. Hello and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Olly Glesner and I am the
advocacy director of Inside Out Youth Services, which supports LGBTQ plus youth here in Colorado Springs. We are here tonight to express our full support for a permanent suspension of policy JBA and to thank the board profusely for reconsidering it. As the
cover page for this agenda item acknowledges, trans and gender expansive people have the right in Colorado to use the facilities that align with their gender identity. Therefore, implementing policy JBA could open the district to another costly lawsuit.
With the financial challenges facing all school districts in Colorado, including D49, we appreciate the board's attention to the unnecessary legal risk policy JBAA poses. We all want D49 to thrive financially, academically, culturally.
Suspending this policy would mitigate a financial risk, allow students to focus on their studies rather than where or when they're going to use the restroom, and most importantly, show all students that they are valuable to this district. The evidence is clear that one,
bathrooms like JBAA harm the mental health of trans and gender expansive students, and two, trans people pose no danger to cisgender people in public restrooms or otherwise. A suspension of this policy simply makes sense. Your
trans students, staff, and families deserve the same dignity and public accommodations as anyone else. Thank you for taking another look at this policy uh and all of its implications. We urge you to vote to suspend policy JBA tonight and we are so grateful for the opportunity to share why. I'd like to
close by reiterating that Inside Out Youth Services is always here as a resource for this district, for you on the board, for all of your staff and families, and most especially for your students. If we can support you in creating safer and more affirming environments, or if
you have any questions about this beautiful community of trans and gender expansive young people, you know where to find us. Thank you. Thank you. Our final speaker is Jamie Lindola. Hi, my name is Jolen Davola and I am a
taxpayer resident of D49 and former board vice president and this is my first time speaking to you guys on this side which is kind of fun. Um I just wanted to speak to you guys about policy JBAA. Uh I believe it's very important and imperative that we keep this policy
in place. As you know, District 49 has been seen as a city on a hill when it comes to uh choices for parents to send their students when they're thinking of um safe safe places as well as places where they know that they're going to
learn to read, to write, to do arithmetic, and to have all the good choices that we have in this district. in including making sure that we have conservative policies and that we are a conservative district. Uh and making sure that boys are in boys bathrooms and
girls are in girls bathrooms and that uh anyone who's feeling uncomfortable has an option to be in a separate facility. Um and that is the best option. It's also the most common sense. Uh common sense is very important to this district
and very important to me personally as well as many of um our students, staff, parents, and families who believe that this district should remain um a district that continues to shine a light in the Colorado Springs, El Paso County
area. um we do not want to lose students by making by forcing this issue of allowing boys to be in girls bathrooms and girls to be in boys bathrooms etc. So please make sure that you are voting with common sense and that you are doing
what is right and I want to personally thank Deb and Lori for holding the line on this policy and on this issue. Um continue to work hard and to stay strong. uh your faith is what holds holds um this district together. So I
thank you guys for your commitment to excellence and for everything that you do. >> Thank you. And we are now on to the consent agenda. Does anyone have an item they need pulled from the consent agenda? Hearing none. May I have a motion,
please? I move to approve consent agenda items as presented. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. May I have a vote, please? >> Hyle. >> Hi. >> Le Wright. >> I Schmidt. >> Hi. >> Thompson.
>> I. >> Withers. >> Hi. >> And that motion passes. We are on to updates. And first would be the superintendent update. >> Good evening. Uh I did not know how fun it could be to get together on a Friday night. Um but thank you for the
flexibility when we had a tough weather event last week and uh every time we have one of those events. It's a great opportunity to thank um the the facilities crews, the grounds crews, building managers that come in. Uh they were working hard at midnight. They
started at midnight um the night of the snow and it just did a great job of getting us back to safety and uh to being able to use our our district facilities um as intended. And so thank you to those folks. uh anytime we've got an event like that, we're going to give them a shout out. We we budget five days
in our calendar as a buffer that are true traditional snow days. We have used three of those five. Uh if we get to a sixth day, that has to become an Eday. And uh with our with our grant of permission from the Colorado Department
of Education, we are allowed up to five E days on snow or other events. And so, um, that update, I think, matters. It, uh, it seemed like we were in a good place until we weren't. Um, and so we'll, uh, we want the snow pack to
increase, but on weekends or perhaps during spring break, uh, when we can go powder, um, but we're back in it. We're rolling. One of the things that happens this time of year is we pull together our middleofyear academic data uh particularly related to our star
assessments and other assessments and you're going to see a presentation about this from the zone leaders. U but I just want to tell you that both the data and the anecdotal conversations across the district are telling us quite clearly
that your priority on writing across the curriculum is already paying dividends and we're in year zero. We don't usually measure the impact of our strategic objectives until a full cycle. And yet, we're seeing early indicators that writing is one of the one of the most
impactful things that specific things that we've focused on in our ELA, but we're also seeing increased confidence about writing in other than ELA subjects. So, we're seeing writing in math classes, writing in our science classes, writing in other subjects as
well. So encouraged by the um the growth that we're seeing at middle of the year in many of our schools, most of our schools um particularly related to writing. Um today our Colorado legislature convened and uh that means
that we saw revision well the the second version so I guess it's the first revision of the governor's proposed budget. And there are some things the board needs to pay attention to. Uh, as you know, the the initial budget from the governor is
always um a little bit a little bit general, a little bit idealized. And so we already see uh there are some some places where the governor is assigning additional revenues locally to school districts that may reduce our state share. And so
we're paying very close attention to that along with our our lobbyist Amy Atwood and our state partners at uh at Case in particular. Um there is a possibility uh that in exchange for this increased allocation of both benefit and
then cost to local districts and this would be this would be negative to our budget. But there's a possibility then that the governor is proposing to accelerate the the roll out of the new school finance act or SFA. And so we're we're watching that very carefully. There's a lot going on, but the name of
the game for this legislative session is going to be budget, budget, and budget. And as is normally the case, we won't have final confidence about that budget until May. Um because that's when the long bill will be passed and that's when
all of the negotiations end and they make final decisions. But we are staying very involved and paying close attention and uh we'll report major developments to you as those happen. Um the final thing I want to close on is a little bit
somber and uh kind of wistful. Uh we learned just tonight just in fact as the meeting was beginning that our friend and colleague uh Dr. David Troutenberg, former CFO passed away on January 10th. And his obituary says that he was a man
of great zest, that he made friends with everyone, uh, and that he was, and I I I think this is as as accurate as anything could be, that he was a force of nature, and he was indeed. And so I honor our friend and and colleague Dr. David
Troutenberg tonight. >> Thank you, Peter. Next would be our student board update. And today representing the student board are Mariah Vokes from Patriot Applied Learning Campus and Anessa Gua from S Creek High School. Would you like to give your update?
>> Do you have anything to share from the student board tonight? Um, recently our student board has been talking a lot about just ways to improve our school and our opinions on just everything going on with the district
and decisions and things being passed. Um, I think it's a great opportunity for students to get their voice across and heard. Um, but besides that, I think we're doing really well and growing as students in this program. I'd have to agree with everything she's
saying. I believe we've gotten a lot of students opinion across about um the transgender bathrooms and the teachers and their um working interest and all that stuff. And I'd have to say that it's sad that we have to cut a lot of
our budgets for something, but I'd say we're doing really good right now. >> Thank you. So, we're on to board update. Holly, would you like to start? >> Okay. So, it feels like it's been a
whole year since I've been here last. Um, I attended CASBY conference in December and, uh, the theme was work for all students and tried to eliminate phrases like that kid or those students.
Um, uh, and that they all need to feel safe and loved while at school. And then I also liked the idea of having literacy everywhere. So like just words on the wall everywhere you go. I thought that that was a really neat concept. Um I
attended a few law classes, elevating student voices, and a few school finance classes. Um and then last weekend I got to do uh speech and debate tournament judging at San Creek High School, which
was super fun. So Mr. Martin and Miss Garcia did a great job putting that on. Um, it was really engaging and neat to see. Um, then on Wednesday, I got to observe a prek class at Stson Hills Elementary just to see how they get so
much done in such a little time, the three hours that they they do have. Um, and that was that was it was cute and uh really eye opening. And I'm, like I said, three hours is really impressive for learning their numbers and their
letters and working together as a team. Um, and then I also just kind of want to take a moment to address something directly. Um so it has come to my attention that a communication uh has been circulated among staff and administration following a meeting I had
with a group of stakeholders and it suggested that I would be casting my vote this evening in a particular way. Um I want to be clear about my intent and more importantly take responsibility for how my words may have been interpreted. I met with those
stakeholders as I would with any members of our community. And out of my responsibility as a public servant, I I genuinely care about the employees of this district because they are there to help our students grow. But my goal in
those conversations was not to signal a predetermined decision, but just to listen, to understand concerns, and to mo to work toward an outcome that minimizes harm and unnecessary pain points for everyone involved. And since that meeting, I have continued to
listen, gather additional information, and hear perspectives from multiple sides. So, in doing so, I've also developed more questions and questions I hope that will be addressed this evening um so that I can just cast my vote based on a full and informed understanding of
this issue. As a new board member, I recognize that this experience has been a very valuable learning opportunity. I take responsibility for choosing my words uh more carefully moving forward to avoid any future misrepresentation of my intent or position. Um this is
obviously a sorry, complex and nuanced subject matter and it's in no way intuitive to me. Um, I am still learning. So, I just ask for understanding as I continue to do so in good faith and my commitment is
and remains to make decisions thoughtfully, transparently, and in the best interest of our district as a whole. >> Lori, would you like to give your update? >> Yes. I also attended the CASBY conference and
I attended a very informative session on career and technical education. Um then I went to a great session on Robert's rules. Um and it was kind of interesting because uh when I was talking with the instructor after the class um she she
actually just suggested we revisit one of our policies BDA and that has to do with paper ballots. and her feeling was is that anything an elected official votes on in a public manner should be done publicly. But she was just a fantastic instructor. that I also
attended a very good class on AI and the future of different career opportunities and we have discussed the AI is issue in student board and like any new technology um it can have its advantages and it can have its potential pitfalls
and so it's an area where we need to move I think judiciously with developing AI policies um but there are definitely career opportunities within the field of AI Um, so that's just going to be an ongoing discussion. At student board, we
discussed the fiscal exigency and the students actually asked if they could do fundraisers to help out the district and I was so impressed that the students care enough about their schools that they wanted to make a difference. I had
mentioned uh deficit spending. We had also talked about we are unable to print money and one of the students asked why we can't print money and I explained to him that I do not look good in stripes and I will not identify that particular student but I
think he also discussed creating a digital currency that we were going to call niquecoin and to see if we could market a digital currency. Um so it was just a wonderful discussion
and I have to tell you I was deeply moved um by the students commitment to school district 49. I can only speak for myself as an individual board member but I've heard enough from my fellow board members that one thing I can tell you
with with a lot of confidence is that nobody on this dis wants to see anyone lose their job. That that's not why we're here. That's not what we want. And so I just wanted to put that out there before we have a further discussion
later tonight. Thank you. Deb, would you like to give your update? Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to switch it up a little bit. Um, I would like to highlight an important African-American in honor of MLK Day. The first American
to be shot and killed in the events leading to the Revolutionary War was Christmas Addex. He was a sailor of mixed African and Native American ancestry and was killed during the Boston Massacre.
On March 5th, 1770, a crowd of colonists, including addicts, confronted a group of British sailors, throwing snowballs, rocks, and sticks. The soldiers then opened fire on the crowd, killing five civilians and wounding six.
Crispus Addex was the first to fall and was shot twice in the chest. While the official armed conflict began later at the battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775, the Boston Massacre and Addict's death
became a symbol and a rallying cry for the American Revolution cause against British rule. He is widely regarded as the first martyr of the American Revolution. Addict's story was later highlighted by abolition abolitionists
in the 19th century to advocate for the rights of African-Americans emphasizing his sacrifice for American liberty. A monument honoring him and the other victims was erected on the Boston Commons in 1888.
And that's my update. Mike, would you like to give your up? >> Sure. Welcome everybody. I hope you enjoyed your extended holiday break from this room uh that one day all winter that um the snow finally showed up. Um I also
attended the CASBY conference. I spent most of my focus on um financial issues and um I got to hear about teacher housing uh provided by the district and I got to say that um even in a district that is you know financially challenged
like us it turns out that it's um that there might be something that we can do there and um start and ask um administration to start looking into it. Um, I also got to hear directly from our old friend, um, Brett Rididgeway on the
history of the MLO, um, match fund. Um, you're going to hear about that a lot later tonight because that, you know, its defunding in Denver was one of the primary drivers of, uh, the item we'll
be discussing tonight. Um and um we had a really great general session on um on community engagement and I was really pleased because this speaker was giving actionable stuff. You know, we try to engage the community. It's
like, well, what do we do? You know, we try to invite them into our buildings for, you know, special events and stuff like that, but are they really engaging with us? And this principal um he gave us, you know, this is this is what you do to really get your parents engaged and invested and
knowledgeable about what your students are doing. And um so we're going to talk about that at our annual planning summit and see if we can um maybe put a strategic goal up there uh around that. Um so really productive time over at CASBY. Um I also attended an IG meeting.
That's our investment grade audit part of the um Schneider Electric uh project. I understand that um they are in buildings. They are interviewing people to um so so that that process is really getting in deep. We're starting to get
an idea of what that project is going to look like. Um and there's going to be some uh updates for the board on that um soon. Um so we're working on getting it on the schedule. And um I wanted to speak about because there was there was
some community conversations around uh a meeting that the union wanted to have with me and I just want to say that um when they came to me and they wanted to put you know multiple people around me to speak about our uh audit which is not
a document that I'm very familiar with I felt like I was going to be very disadvantaged and so you know let's let's do this as a different meeting. Let's the district's case is out there. Let's get the union case hit there. They're talking about our budget or our
audit where it says we have $45 million in in general funds. That's quite different, right? So, let's talk about that. Let's look at that, but let's make sure that both sides can talk about it equally. >> Thank you. And Mr. Graham, I think, has
already walked out, but um I'm sure he's listening. So, I just want to remind him that the reason Harry Potter could beat Voldemort was because he wasn't afraid to name him. Um so, um you know, there is a there is a component of that. Um my
only component of my board update primarily tonight is I did attend um our Santa's toy express with my daughter to help wrap presents this year. Shauna Orth has taken it over in her capable hands from the ever illustrious RJ Barry
who although he has retired will never go away. Um thankfully because he's absolutely amazing and I am forever grateful to him both as someone who transported my own children and who was the originator from the Santa Toys Express. So we really truly enjoyed being a part of that outreach program.
Um I will touch on the budget as well. Um, I know that some of the communications we've received at this point indicate the state is looking anywhere from an 800 million to 1.2 billion dollar shortfall that they will be solving in their budget cycle. Um,
with one of my other hats, I am a um Medicaid provider for um in the adult disabled adult community. Those providers have already taken under Medicaid a 1.6% 6% pay decrease. And we were notified today to expect another
3/4 of a percent decrease in the adult community. Um in the child community served by those um types of waiverss, people are looking at cuts in services of up to 30%. Um, so that obviously isn't education
funds, but when they're starting to cut those things and the two big eat things that eat up the state budget are Medicaid funding and education, know that that's also another bell weather for us to be paying attention to in terms of what the financial outlook is
for our state. Um, which is a part of why we have to look at some of the things we're looking at tonight. I also want to thank everyone um because obviously we have two very difficult topics on our agenda tonight and the level of overall respect that I have
observed among people tonight whom I know have significant disagreement on some of these issues I am impressed with. I want to thank you uh for for um behaving respectfully towards one one another tonight.
And that's all. We are now on to our action items. Our first action item is 7.1. May I have a motion, please? I move to approve the Vistar Ridge Advanced Dance Class Course Proposal.
>> Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? >> Go on ahead. Just real briefly, um, we had some, um, questions sent to us, uh, about, you know, why are we approving, um, courses when we're looking at, um, uh, fiscal exigency. And so, I just want
to let you know, we these were in process before we got to that point, right? There's a there's a lot of steps that the the staff have to take to get this in front of us, but most importantly, what we're doing is giving permission for the program to exist.
Whether it's funded or not is an entirely different question. >> Any other comments? Yep. And I think another thing that we're looking at right now um with the current situation is any class that does not
meet the enrollment expectations is one that may not continue in the future. Okay. Any further comment? Okay. Hearing none. May I have a vote, please? >> Hyle >> I. >> Levia Wright >> I. >> Schmidt I.
>> Thompson >> I. Withers. >> I >> That motion passes. We're on to item 7.2, intermediate dance class. May I get a motion, please? >> I move to approve the Vista Ridge intermediate dance class proposal.
>> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion hearing? None. A vote, please. >> Hy. >> I. >> Levier Wright. >> I Schmidt. >> Hi. >> Thompson. >> I. >> Withers.
>> I. That motion passes. We're on to item 7.3, Visttor Ridge Music Composition, and Songwriting. May I have a motion, please? >> I move to approve the Vistage Music and Songwriting Composition course proposal.
>> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion hearing? None. A vote, please. >> Hyle. I >> Lev Wright. I Schmidt. I >> Thompson. I >> Withers. I
>> that motion passes. We're on to item 7.4. Vista Ridge Advanced Guitar Course. >> I move to approve the Vistar Ridge Advanced Guitar Class Course Proposal. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion?
Hearing none. A vote, please. >> Hyle. >> I. >> Levier Wright. >> I. >> Schmidt. >> I. Thompson. >> I. >> Withers. >> I. >> And that motion carries. We're on to San Creek High School's partner series expansion. May I have a motion, please?
>> I move to approve the S Creek High School partner series expansion course proposal. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. A vote, please. >> Hy. >> I. >> Leight. >> I.
>> Schmidt I. >> Thompson. >> I. >> Withers. >> I. >> That motion carries. We're on to item 7.6. San Creek High School's medical assistant course proposal. Can I get a motion, please? >> I move to approve the S Creek High School medical assistant course
proposal. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. A vote, please. >> Hy. >> I. >> Leight. >> I. >> Schmidt. >> I. >> Thompson. >> I. >> Withers.
>> I. >> That motion carries. We're on to item 7.7, new course proposal, jewelry design 2. May I get a motion, please? >> I move to approve S Creek High School jewelry design 2 course proposal. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any
discussion? Hearing none. A vote, please. >> Hy, >> I. >> Levier Wright >> I >> Schmidt I >> Thompson >> I. >> Withers >> I. >> We are now on to 7.8 Eight. Course proposal for project management and organizations. May I get a motion,
please? >> I move to approve the S Creek High School project management and organization course proposal. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? Did you have something, Larry?
Oh, no. Okay. I thought I saw your hand. Hearing none. A vote, please. >> H. >> I. >> Levier Wright. >> I. >> Schmidt. >> I. >> Thompson. >> I. >> Withers. >> I. That motion carries. We're on to item 7.9, contemporary media literacy. May I
have a motion, please? I move to approve the S Creek High School project management and organization course proposal. >> We're on comm. >> Yeah, I know it was just it was typed up wrong. Sorry. >> Can you resend that motion and make it? >> Yes, I resend that motion. I move to
approve the S Creek High School new course proposal, contemporary media literacy. >> Second. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion hearing? None. A vote, please. >> Hy. >> Hi. >> Livia Wright. >> I. >> Schmidt. >> I. Thson.
>> I. >> Withers. >> I. >> That motion carries. We're on to item 7.10. Honor Charter School. May I have a motion, please? >> I move to approve the contract for Honor Charter School of Marzano Academy. >> Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? So I just wanted to point out that this is essentially a technical vote. We have already approved this charter school at this point. This is the technical approval of the contract for that
charter school. So this is um the actual application for the school has already been approved. So this is just a secondary step. With that, may we have a vote, please? >> Hyle >> I. >> Leia Wright >> I. >> Schmidt >> I. >> Thompson >> I. >> Withers >> I.
>> That motion carries. We're on to item 7.11, policy JBA. May I get a motion, please? >> I move to suspend policy JBA. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion?
>> Go on ahead. We've heard from um the community on both sides of this issue and we had a very interesting amendment proposed as well from a community member to reduce the litigation risk on this and that was
to retain policy JBA and allow an exemption for a casebycase discussion. But I wanted to reference Colorado House Bill 23-1057. It's also known as the bathroom bill.
And I wanted to read some portions on what actually passed through the state house. Um there's one section here exert exerts from health providers to faith leaders including the occupational safe and health administration stress the
need for single occupancy non-gendered restrooms. Another section says, "Using gendered facilities can pose ha health and safety issues stemming from experience of harassment and physical threats in gendered facilities
regardless of which gendered facility they use on their physical presentation. Due to these experiences and associated stigma, some people avoid using the public restroom whenever possible and may refrain from eating, drinking, or relieving themselves for extended
periods of time in order to avoid gendered facilities. Delaying or avoiding using the restroom can cause physical health implications. Also in this bill, non-gendered single stall restrooms means a restroom that is available for use by people of any
gender that is fully enclosed. A fully enclosed room with locking mechanism controlled by the user and contains a sink toilet and no more than one urinal. providing a non-gendered single stall restroom or a non-gendered multi-stall
restroom where a restroom is accessible to the public and ensure that any single stall restroom is not a gender specific restroom. And so a lot of people have talked about safety and one of the issues for safety is also
for transgendered students. So, I'm wondering with the suspension, are we talking about forcing gender non-conforming students to use a bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity and making the
assumption that everybody wants to use that particular restroom rather than going by a case-bycase basis and making available that single occupancy restroom in compliance was with what was passed at the state house. The other comment
I'd like to make is we say that we value all people. Does that mean that we're telling biological girls if you don't feel comfortable the problem is yours? I I don't agree with that. To me that's misogyny when we're telling them you
have to believe this way. If we have a situation where we >> That's three minutes. Um Director Schmidt, I believe you had your hand up next. So restrooms and locker rooms are private spaces and an essential part of
daily school life. JBAA does not force a trans female who is a biological male into a traditional male facility. I do not believe forcing that would be fair. What JBA offers to students to trans
students is a private facility. so they do not have to enter their bi biologically based facility, a place where they are not comfortable. That is fair accommodation and builds trust, shows respect, care, and responsibility, and that we value all students. Some
still want to force trans girls, who are biologically male, into traditionally sex-based female facilities, and vice versa. If you were to tell biological girls and their parents that trans girls who are biologically male will be forced into their private facilities, many of
them would not feel comfortable in that facility. I do not believe that would be fair either because now the burden of accommodation is placed solely on the biological girls. This does not build trust, show respect, care,
responsibility, or that we value all students. It goes both ways, folks. Forcing a trans student into a facility in which they are not comfortable or requiring a gender expansive student to use a traditional facility where others
may feel uncomfortable can result in both groups avoiding facilities for the entire school day. Because of this avoidance, these students are at risk for urinary tract infections and constipation. Also, anxiety issues around facilities
take up valuable brain space and energy that could be better spent on learning. This goes for both camps and is not healthy for either. These outcomes highlight the importance of providing the JBAA accommodation that
respects the comfort and dignity of all students. All means all. Um, director Hy. >> So, we heard um in our emails about a lot of parents who are talking about their students feel very safe in our
schools because of this policy. And I just want to let everybody know that this policy isn't in force. Um, nothing has changed in our schools since this policy was approved. The reason is we have not yet given our staff guidance on
how they can um they can enforce it. So if your student feels safe, that's great. They should feel safe. My stu my daughter attended our schools for four years while the same uh situation existed and I never heard a single peep
about any concerns about uh what was going on in the bathrooms. So, this status quo has essentially existed statewide since the Matthysse decision in 2013. Um, and you know, we're hearing a lot of panic about what could happen, but we're not actually seeing that. I
mean, that should have manifested itself over that many years in that many schools. Um, I also want to draw everybody's attention to policy ACA. So, that is our name change policy. And so that is where essentially a transgender student declares
>> order that's a different policy. >> I am speaking to the I'm speaking to this policy. So policy ACA is the um it declares that that student identifies as transgender. That policy requires
parental notification. And so it cannot the concern that just regular boys are going to walk into the girls' room. That's only that that's not what this policy covers. This this policy covers transgender students. They would have
gone through policy ACA and so therefore um their parents have been involved. Like this isn't going to be a situation where boys can just walk into the girls' room because they want to. Um, I also want to talk about a a true story that's
happening in Mesa, Arizona. A I think he's 8th grade um student likes to play basketball and he got yanked off of the boys basketball team um because of a policy that's identical to our sports policy. Um the reason he was yanked off
is because there was a typo, a clerical error in his birth certificate. And you know, parents, brand new parents, you know, they're not they're so inundated with things. They his parents didn't notice it at the time, found out about it later. Oh yeah,
that, you know, we should deal with that. I suppose wasn't a high priority, but the people around him treated him as a boy because he's a boy. And um anyway, this policy came forward. He was not not
only not allowed to be on the boys basketball team, he wasn't allowed to be in the boys' locker rooms. Per this policy, he would have to go to the girls locker rooms. >> Um Holly hasn't had a chance to speak. So, we heard in uh public comment
tonight uh someone mentioned refinement of language and I actually agree with that because after going through this with a fine tooth comb, I don't know if the typos are intentional or is it signaling like maybe a legal unreliability.
Um it should read in the first paragraph it says 3 CFR. It should be 34 um which is comparable facilities clause um which is also a non-discrimination on
the basis of sex and education programs or activity activities receiving federal financial assistance. Um under the scope and requirements the use of the word must um it should read permits because that's how it's supposed to be phrased
uh just legally. Um and that's about separate facilities. Um so the must and permits is almost a false dichconomy fallacy and permissive allowance is not equivalent to mandatory use. Um I would
say that this also violates the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. That being said, there was a lot of comments made that kind of raised some alarm bells and I and I totally agree with that. if we need to revisit bullying protocols. Um there's also a
portion in here about staff and visitors should follow the same regulations. I think on some level that should be looked separately because I agree I don't think adults should be sharing facilities with students um if
ever possibly avoided. Uh, let's see. It obviously violates the 14th amendment, which is equal protection clauses. It could even violate the fourth because of unlawful search and seizure, which
brings me to how are we expecting the the teachers and staff to enforce this? And what kind of legal implications are we opening them up to, not just for the district, but for them personally? Um, I understand that nobody's going to be
happy about which way this rolls down the hill. Um, but I just think it really opens up opens us up to a lot of legal ramifications, but mostly I'm worried about the people who have to enforce those things and what that looks like in
the future. >> Student board, did you have any comments? >> Yes, I would like to comment as a student myself. I believe that this is not an important topic about transgender bathrooms because if you look at the public eye, you can see that there's a girls and a boy's restroom. Period. I
believe that I think we should all be able to go into our own biological uh restrooms because there are some cases about men going into girls restrooms saying they are a girl because they want to see and visual and get off from the visual of girls going to the bathroom. I
would like to make it known that me as a girl myself, I do not feel comfortable with this. And for boys, I'm sure they don't feel comfortable with girls being in their bathroom either. I believe that this is not about a topic about girls. I believe this is also a topic about boys. All boys and all girls should feel safe
in the bathrooms no matter what their gender is because at the end of the day, it is not it is not our job to jud judge other people based off what they choose. If they make the choice to choose this, then they have to make the choices to go to a nurse's office or somewhere else
because at the end of the day, it's about our safeties, not other people's. Thank you. Vanessa, did you have anything to add? >> Um, I think my opinion on this is just it's a very heavy topic. Um, I feel like
everyone should feel like they're safe in the bathroom. I think there has been cases of assaults in public bathrooms and I know it was mentioned that previous students say they had like no issues with it but it's different present day. I feel like there's a lot
more going on and I think from a student's perspective a lot of students aren't fully comfortable with it. >> Thank you. >> Actually I want to say one more thing also. Well, I believe that we should have a vote on students opinion more
than parental opinions. I'd like to do a petition where students will have the choice to sign whether they feel comfortable with this decision or not because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter about what parents or what teachers feel. It about it matters about us because at the end of the day, we're going to that school and it
matters our opinion. >> Thank you. Um, I'm going to take my three minutes now. Lynette, can you set Okay. So, the Matthysse decision was in 2013. At that time, I had a fifth grader, a fourth grader, a first grader,
and a kindergartener. My kindergartner is now a senior. And so, that means we have been compliant with the Matthysse decision since my youngest for my the entire time my youngest has attended D49, the Matthysse decision. And you can find it online by searching Matthysse v
Fountain Fort Carson School District. If you just search Matthysse um other laws come up instead that have nothing to do with this. Explicitly said that providing a single gendered stall as a um accommodation for um gender identity
was not sufficient and that the student had to have access if requested to the bathroom that aligned with gender identity. Knowing that our district has worked very hard to come up with respectful in highly individualized
accommodations on a casebyase day basis that allow us to be compliant with Matthysse. We've done that for 12 years. Um our because the policy reads as active in our policy manual but has not been implemented. our principles are at
risk of being accused of violating policy, which is part of why this is looked at as a a suspension initially. Um, if we enact if we have a affirm this policy and then enact a regulation and implement it and are sued because there
has already been an OCR finding based on Colorado law, our liability insurance will not cover those costs. Um so it is truly a legal issue at this point. If um the policy is suspended, literally nothing changes in the schools. What was
happening yesterday is exactly what continues to happen today because the policy was never implemented. If it is suspended, there would be a vote to repeal at the special meeting at 6 PM on January 27th. We have all had one round
of comment. I don't believe additional discussion is going to further resolve anyone on this issue. So at this point I am going to call the vote exc point of order. You know it's has not been uncommon to have a second round of
comments. So to have one board member say oh I think we've had enough discussion and it won't change anyone's mind. To me that is dismissive of the rest of the elected officials on the board. I hear your comment and it will be if if
this motion passes we will have a second opportunity to speak to it on January 27th. Please call the vote. Hyle >> I >> Levia Wright >> I >> Schmidt >> no >> Thompson >> no >> Withers
>> I >> okay motion passes the policy is suspended >> we are now on to item 7.12 um the fiscal exigency may I have a motion please I move to approve the contract
>> for the adoption of the statement of f fiscal exigency. >> Can't speak till the second occurs. >> Okay. >> May I have a second please? >> Second. Have a presentation by administration
and then we will have an opportunity for extensive questioning. Good evening board. Uh Peter Hill, superintendent. Um and we are going to um move through some some information, some that you requested directly and
some that is responsive to other questions that um either came through you or or came to you. And what we want to do is is share with you the reason that we have asked you to declare a fiscal exigency. As members of the board
know, um I began um notifying you about this possibility on November 11th, so over two months ago, because we that was when we first got our enrollment firmed up or tred up in the state's terminology. And that is when we knew
that both based on enrollment patterns and on revenue patterns um that we were likely to not be able to balance our budget for the 267 school year. And so this is the exigency that we have uh recommended applies to next year's
budget. And so as you know and and a couple of you alluded to elements of this earlier sorry I I use my mouse to go in the opposite direction. So I have to I have to remind myself to scroll in the correct direction. Um as you know um
we have had declining enrollment and the presentation I'll I'll show you in just a minute will show this that our operated school portfolio has declined by just over 3% over the last five years. Um we've seen that decline really really stabilize especially in the last
two years. Um and so that's one of the realities that we've faced. You also know that we are in the middle of a transition from the prior school funding formula to the new school funding formula. And every year some variable changed. Uh
last year they were talking about a multi-year phase in where they were doing a thing called smoothing for districts with declining enrollment where they would count students that weren't actually enrolled but they were they were trying to provide a moderating
effect for districts as they lost enrollment which many of the districts most of the districts in Colorado are losing enrollment as the state generally loses enrollment. And so those fair v variables within the state funding formula are somewhat unpredictable and
they have not tended to be in district 49's favor. And as Mr. H and others have mentioned the defunding of the mill levy equalization MLE program at the state. This the program still exists but it has zero in the state budget. And that's a
program uh district 49 was the prim was the um recipient district in the state of Colorado that benefited the most and it was multiple millions of dollars over the three years that we received it. So all of those flattened out our revenue.
Meanwhile, we made significant commitments on the compensation side. We had significant health care charges. I won't revisit the the reasons for that. We talked about that when we first introduced this. And there's been general inflationary pressure on district operations. So the red line,
which is our expense line, went above and has stayed above our our revenue line. And the way we closed that gap in the current year is by spending down our available fund balance. So as you
remember, our expense profile is is heavily people weighted. We're a people operation. Every one of our departments is people intensive. Not just schools and zones, but transportation is people intensive. Human resources, individualized education, these are
these are people inensive uh businesses and service lines that we operate. And out of the 17% that isn't people, the vast majority of that, somewhere right in the neighborhood of 14 or 15% of that
is fixed cost. It's things like our COP repayments. We can't pause those or postpone those. We would be in default. Um utility costs, diesel for our buses, uh food for our cafeterias. Those are costs that aren't people costs, but
they're also not costs that we can we can sort of arbitrarily reduce. And so our margin of action is incredibly narrow. 3% is is probably a little on the high side, probably just under 3% that we really
have to work with. Across our plan, there are these five general categories. We have reduced administrative staffing as we did a year ago. U probably the primary evidence of that was consolidating from four zones
down to three. Uh but there were other administrative cuts across schools and programs in the district and there were administrative cuts in other departments. uh including some that you'll um that I will allude to tonight. Uh I want to I want to point out whether it's administrative staffing, support
staffing, or or teaching staffing, we have a lot of positions in district 49 that are singular. They're singleton or one deep. And so if we had a director of advanced yoga, we do not, but if we had a director of advanced yoga and a single person filled that position, I would be
prohibited from coming and speaking to you about cutting the director of advanced yoga because that would be personal and I would be violating confidentiality by being that precise. So there's some frustration around the lack of specificity at this point in the
process. that frustration is reasonable and that frustration and and that lack of clarity is required in a public setting like this. Um we think that there are programs that add value that help us fulfill our mission that are not
as missionritical as some other programs. We don't think we're cutting anything that isn't valuable and we're not proposing to reduce positions with any position that isn't a contributing position. um our condition is severe
enough that we're con we're contemplating cutting services and individual positions that we really value that we know add value. We are uh aggressively renegotiating contracts and uh you'll see in in one of the future slides that a significant part of our uh
cost reduction on the operational side is in aggressively renegotiating contracts and we're not done in that area but we're giving you a snapshot of where we are now. We do have some support staffing and this will show up in the administrative and professional technical area as well as our
educational support professional ESP area. It would also include positions that were hired as intent not to renew or INR positions. And then there are some teaching positions that are not core teaching positions. And again, I'm
I'm careful not to be too specific in this setting. Um but depending on the board's decision and and tasking to me um you'll get very granular data about that. Our normal expense ratio as I showed you earlier is 17 to 83 where the 17 is
operational 83 is is personnel. The reduced expenses that we are planning recommending um and will pursue pending your vote tonight disproportionately impacts that 17%
slice. So, we found almost 27% of our savings out of the 17% slice. That took a lot of of work on the part of our principles, our SW superintendents, our executive directors, and their their direct reports. Um, but when your budget
is 83% people, some of the cuts will impact people. And so what you see here in the gray and green on the right side is that the the vacancies or intended exit could be a retirement or somebody uh resigning and leaving the the
profession potentially. Uh those are represented as gray. And then the 46.5 of the total reduction in expenses uh on the green side would be would be actual non-renewals. And that that accounts for a total in our current plan of 73
positions, although I believe we dropped that by one or two today. We're working all day every day, right? >> Yeah, that's accurate. We dropped it at we dropped the green again a couple more. This slide then is related to our
enrollment trends. Um, we are well aware and it it follows later on in this uh presentation. I won't present all the slides at the end, but they're there for information. We're aware of of uh communications that have gone out in the public from different sources and emails that have come to you that said, "How can the district claim that it is
declining enrollment?" We've never seen that data. I respect that they may not have seen it, but you've seen it. You've seen it every fall for three years. Dr. Troutenberg, uh Ron Springs before him, Heather Diaz, Rebecca Brooks have presented you enrollment data disagregated by operated charter and
Boseis schools. And you see that here um where there's been growth in the district, it's been at G High School and at the erosce. Mild growth over a five-year period for our charter schools, but even our charter schools dropped enrollment in the last enrollment cycle as measured. And so
this is where that number that the operated schools dropped from um 1333 in the 2122 school year to 12641 in the current school year. Those enrollment trends directly drive our per
pupil revenue. And so there's two ways of looking at it. This one shows you um the district's line here. The dark green at the bottom is just our per pupil revenue. This one shows you our total program revenue which brings in our MLO
and uh some of the other local local tax resources. Sorry to clarify the top one is is statef funded portion of PPR and then this is the full PPR piece. It does not include MLO. Sorry, just to be clear.
>> Thank you. I appreciate that. And and uh I think members of the board, you got this um middle of the day because this was in direct response to a question that you all asked us. Uh and we're trying to be kind of rapid response to what you are sharing with us. Um I I failed to introduce Mr. Anderson and
Miss Brooks behind me. Um they're here and they're willingly letting me present most of this and yet they stand uh ready and able as experts with quite a bit more uh content knowledge than I have. Um and and yet part of my responsibility
is to present this here. The compensation trends, this is this is very critical. Uh both the growth in real dollars and the growth in percentage show you where we've been putting our money. Um, we do not pay ESP
the same as special service providers, the same as teachers, the same as admin. So, the different groups have different real dollar amounts. I would draw more of your attention to the bottom half of this chart. And you can see that over a five-year period, we have intentionally
and consistently elevated support personnel, special service providers who primarily serve students. Um, Wick Hinds. Um, we have we have not not granted raises and supported our
administrative and professional technical colleagues, but they have both lagged district revenue and they have lagged the other um support categories or professional categories, workforce segments in the district. There have been a lot of questions about
our our fund balance and I'm gonna yall watch over my shoulder and if Miss Brooks really grimaces we'll know I got it a little bit wrong. um our total reserves on this slide are an aggregate of a set of funds and
in that set of funds some of the reserves are available to us and some are not and I'm not going to go into detail in any of the numbers here because the next slide is is even more revealing but the big story here is that while our total reserves have grown
that's the that's the solid medium green column to the right. Our available reserves, which is the dark green block to the left, uh took a dramatic decrease this year. We had to spend down in the
current budget so that we could maintain a balanced budget because we can't print money. We don't want to go to jail and we have to balance our budget. And fund reserves don't automatically replenish. There's it's not like a spring. um we have to
spend less than our in order to replenish our our available reserves where those come. Keep 3% in tab. It's untouchable. Even if you voted to touch it, you'd have to get permission from the state and you wouldn't get it. Um MLLO reserves. We are a pioneer in
Colorado in sharing MLO with our charter schools. But the way we do MLO spending in District 49 for both charter and operated schools is on a reimbursement basis. So the school spends the money and then they submit to our MLO subcommittee of the DAC, the district advisory and accountability committee
and that then is approved and we reimburse. Well, that money really belongs to the charter school. It would be unethical, unprofessional and fraudulent of us to spend their money on our purposes, but we do hold it in trust and it shows up in our accounting. We
have capital construction reserves. These often are characterized as contingency funds within capital projects. We have to have them in case of things changing or material prices going up. We were um we were granted a fund by a local partner to build in
exchange for some land to build a central office. When a donation is dedicated that w that way it's unethical and fraudulent to use it for any other purpose than the dedication. And so those funds subtracted from the total
fund leave you with the part that may be applied to the budget. And so in in the current year, we applied $8 million $9 million into our our fund 10, our
general fund in order to balance our budget. So the fund the reserve argument while initially it looks like there's there's a lot of money available in reserves the reality is only a very very small slice of that this year that slice
is under $2 million is is available for further uh either contingencies or to apply to district operations. We'll come back around. You may have good questions. The harder the questions are, the more likely I am to step away.
Uh this chart is difficult to understand so please help me slow down. The columns that are boundaried in black show you how our workforce is naturally composed. This is the composition. It's
been pretty steady this way for for most of the the five years that I showed you earlier. Subtle variations but but not major. And so you see that in in a normal year, we've had 44% of our workforce, our ESP, 25.8 are
nonprobationary teachers, uh what we would colloquially call tenure teachers. That's not the term that we use in Colorado, but it's a term that a lot of people understand. Probationary teachers are those who have not moved out of that initial phase uh and and demonstrated
effectiveness and and achieved non-probationary status. They calculate just under 18% of our staff. And you put those two together and you see our workforce is about half teachers. We have a portion of our staff that are special service providers. These are
school psychologists. They would include counselors. There are other providers who have often specialized licenses to serve students with with needs of of a variety of kinds. And then we have our administrative and professional technical category. So the black
boundary is our normal composition. The red boundary columns are how each of those workforce segments is represented in our planned reduction. And the big story here is that the planned reduction
is less impactful on ESP nonprobationary and special service providers. And I want to make special comment about special service providers. A major reason that there isn't a lot of impact there is because many of those
professionals serve students with IEPs. Under the federal regulations, we are required to follow a doctrine called maintenance of effort. We are not allowed to cut from year to year. And if we do, we're subject to a fine. So
maintenance maintenance of effort ensures requires ratchets us into maintaining funding for special education generally but particularly in this case for those special service providers. And so ESP, probate, non
non-probationary, and SSP have less of an impact than their natural proportional representation, while our probationary teachers and our administrative and professional technical have a proportionately greater
portion of the reductions as planned. We we generated this for you today based on some good questions. We appreciate those questions. Sometimes they come with um with some pain, sometimes with some accusation. You heard some of that even tonight. Um
but they're valid questions. We want to be able to answer all of the questions. And so we are mildly ahead of our headlights on this because you haven't declared an exigency, but it would be irresponsible of us not
to have done any planning in advance, not to be able to answer questions. And so as part of what you are seeing on the screen, uh, and as I'll I'll bring up the resolution in just a moment, um, what I can attest to here is that the
members of the the leaders of the departments of the district, the ones represented here, uh, serve on the cabinet, um, have done an incredibly good faith effort to find a balanced, careful approach to cuts. And I'm just
going to use one contrast. If you compare people in culture with seven positions and $945,000, if you compare that to any of the zones, well, why why are they so much less than the zone? Because they're about the
tenth a tenth of the size of the zone. And so you see a far greater proportional impact on some of those smaller departments. That shows you members of the board that our cabinet took your expectations
seriously that we would work hard to protect our core mission and we're not cutting fat or fluff. There isn't any left. We are stripping away things that we value that these are contributors. These are programs that we would want to
keep and we would like to bring back. The cabinet did a a remarkable job of keeping this balanced, keeping it fair. And that is why if you were to proceed to consider the the statement of fiscal
exigency, I would ask you to perhaps consider an amendment. In our preliminary planning, we were not yet as precise as we are today. That number now says 2,500,000. I would invite the board to reduce that
number to 1.8 million 1,800,000 and that's because the cabinet has worked so hard with principles and directors to bring that number down. Now I want to point something out. According to policy
GCQA which is the policy on exigency, you are not adopting any plan. You're not approving a single cancellation of contract. You're not approving any reduction in program by adopting an exigency. What you are doing is directing me as your employee to
bring you a plan. And just as you had to approve some resignations and non-renewals tonight in your consent agenda, you would get a name by name list. Now, that list would not go public until we
have had an honorable conversation with every individual named on that list, whether they are subject to the exigency or subject to the non-exigency riff, everybody would have a conversation and would have a heads up before that became public. But as the governing governing
body of the district, you have to approve those. It's not I don't have that authority. We don't have that scope. And so we are asking you to approve this tonight for a couple of reasons. Um we believe the language of your policy
GCQA is crystal clear that the conditions that justify a declaration of exigency already exist. They have existed for a couple of months. That's why I started talking to you about it in November. We didn't spring this on you. It just came to the surface at the right
time. The conditions already exist. Whether or not you approve the plan that we put forward is a completely separate question. And policy G uh the regulation R for GCQA actually explicitly empowers
you to add names to the list. Now, I believe in confidence you won't do that. You certainly wouldn't do that without consultation, but it is your prerogative should you choose to do that. And it is also your prerogative to deny any of the pro proposed reductions in either
program or in the workforce. And so what adopting the exigency tonight allows us to do is to move forward. There are individuals who will be subject to a reduction in force that are not subject to the exigency because the
exigency is only and narrowly applied to non-probationary teachers. It only affects that portion of the workforce segment. And since we're trying to close an 11 million gap, we think a couple million of that will come from the state
funding uh increase that the governor is proposing um and and that we're projecting. But the nine million that remains, we have we have found a lot of savings that don't impact our our core and they don't impact our
non-probationary teachers. The people whose names would be on that list deserve to know sooner than later. If they're going to be impacted, I would ask you to help us get the conversations going. We are ready. We have thought
very specifically about who will be in which meetings. HR has done a great deal of support. We would generate individual letters, have individual conversations, and there will be people impacted by this riff who will turn right around and apply for for non-rift positions that
become vacant because there will be other vacancies, quite quite a few between now and June. And so we know that some of our colleagues will find other landing spots in the district and we welcome that. But the sooner we move, the less likely it is that those people
will feel compelled to seek employment elsewhere. And if they are compelled to seek employment elsewhere, we want to give them the earliest start into that that labor market that we can. Um, in district 49, we begin posting on
February 1. Our districts around us will do the same. And so if we delay even a couple of weeks, while it may look deliberative, that period of deliberation could impact
people that we value and care about. And so I am making my appeal to you that we adopt the exigency that you then immediately direct me as as the the resolution states to present you with a plan. We will get that plan into your hands and we will begin the
conversations. And remember those conversations are not your contract is terminated as of next year. Those conversations are we are making this recommendation to the board and you as a board have to have to make a decision about whether to approve them
or not. There will be a very small number of special circumstances where it makes sense for a position to conclude mid year. We will not wait until the end of June or the end of the contract. Um, I've already uh had one of those positions, a director level position
that we did not backfill. U, we've had a couple of others of those directors, senior administrators that we are not uh backfilling. Um, and there are some embedded in the plan as well. And so
we want to give those leaders um opportunities to move forward. And if there were a case where there were an individual member of the workforce for whom the contract it makes sense to end now, we would grant them administrative
leave with pay for 60 days, which extends their health benefits out almost two more months after the end of the 60 days. So it's two months of pay and four months of health insurance. Um, and we think that's the honorable thing to do based on our values. And so that is our
that is our case for declaring an exigency tonight, tasking us, getting us moving, and putting the decision back in front of you with specificity. What questions can we answer? The harder, the less you have to hear from me.
>> Go on ahead, Lori. >> And so from what I'm hearing is on item three, which specifically addresses teachers, lowering that from 2.5 to 1.8 8 million. Okay. I just wanted to clarify that. Yeah.
>> And that would be a maximum. So we we would make sure we stay under that. So it's a maximum of two of of 1.8 if you make the amendment. >> I want to just I think I'm correct on this technical point. Um but we keep
saying teachers in that that specific number. My understanding having kind of followed and sort of lived through this previously and having been um a certified professional myself is that it doesn't necessarily mean classroom
teacher because we also have other position. It's anyone who holds C teacher certification who's paid on the certified teaching schedule who would still qualify under TECA as tenure. So we have things like TOSAs and deans and
some other positions for whom I think TETA extends even though they are not what um someone who is not an education professional would call a teacher anymore because they think of people who are in front of a classroom full-time. Is that correct?
>> You are correct. Yeah, there are roles that are uh that are uh require a teaching license that aren't classroom teachers. uh and and uh many of those individuals are have attained non-probationary status here in district 49.
>> So other questions? Um Director Withers, >> so if if there's a no vote, um can you kind of go a little further into you know like how that affects teachers
right now? Like if we say no, does that mean that they go without a raise increase for any allotted amount of years? If you are allowed to tell us that. >> So, we've tried hard not to be too
hypothetical. Um, but I would I would draw our attention back to that slide that showed 83% and 17%. Um we have we have cut so much out of those green dollars out of the 17% operational
and without being explicit and specific um without the exigency then we would have to find other workforce members across all departments we we would have to cut deeper in other areas and policy GCQA
directs us as a district it's board policy says consider the impact on the district and the performance of the teachers. If the exigency, if you do not pass the exigency, then we don't consider those factors and we go back to kind of a pure budgetary analysis. But
we still have to find that $1.7 million and and the vast majority of that 1.7 will come from people. >> More questions? >> Yeah, I I do have a lot. Sorry. Um, >> it's awesome that you have a lot.
>> So, I know that we can't assume with all the development uh going on right now that potentially that there are going to be students in that housing. Um, but there's also supposed to be a ballot measure that comes down, I guess,
allegedly as per I think I got an email about it yesterday. Um, for 2026 that is basically talking about raising the Taber ceiling. Does anybody else know what I'm talking about? No. Okay. So, it's supposed to
raise the Taber Seal. You do? Okay. And so and that money is supposed to be allocated for education specifically in the whole state. Um so my question is while that is going on, are we still
looking to potentially run an MLO campaign? >> I hope that we'll be talking about an MLO campaign at the annual planning summit. Um what you're referring to is there there's a couple of mechanisms related to Taber. Taber is an acronym for the taxpayer bill of rights and it
essentially says that if the government collects more taxes than it was planning, it has to refund those. And the the concept is not it's actually not new this year. It's come up before. It hasn't passed before, but the concept would be to say that the state can keep
more of the surplus taxes that they've collected. And each time that that is presented um there are different potential recipients of that of that uh retention of Taber reserve of Taber
refunds. Um Taber has been very durable and has has not the Colorado voters have not wanted to reduce the impact of Taber. And so it would not be responsible of us given kind of legislative and electoral history in Colorado. It would not be responsible of
us to count on that. It is certainly some I like just like I'm not panicked about the governor's budget. I don't also want to be sunny happy about that possibility. >> Lori, >> um you had just mentioned 1.7 million. I'm assuming you're saying the maximum
of the 1.8 million that you were talking about in number three. But without this, you can clarify that in a minute. Without this exigency, I would still assume in order to make our budget that they would still have to look at staff
reductions in some of those same areas. >> That is correct. And and almost certainly there would be some forms of reassignments of individuals because we would still have to make determinations about which
programs are drawing students and which programs essentially do does it make sense to continue and which and we we do that every year anyway. We just would have to do it more aggressively and yes because of the the movement of conversations the
the correct number is 1.8 8. Uh I I'm saying 1.7 I think because that was a a number that we were discussing earlier today, but we had consensus on 1.8 as as the reduction under number three. So, circling back to that proposed uh
legislation around Taber, um we my recollection is that there was no Taber overage uh last year. Um and therefore there was nothing to retain. Um is that correct? >> So I I only know from being a taxpayer
that I still got a Taber refund. So I think that we did have an overage but it was less than the year before but I do think that there was still an overage I believe. >> And so I think that if you know in that kind of environment where it's not predictable um it would be irresponsible
for us to um try to plan um our budget around you know not only is it not is it not approved yet it's could it it could be subject to defeat. It could be subject to modification. And then even if it were enacted, um the the budget um
effect of that is unpredictable. >> Yep. Lori, go on ahead. >> Paul is asking to clarify something on this last slide. So, let me jump back here. The last this one. >> Yeah. two points of clarification for
for people looking on and um doing math with with the numbers they see here. Uh first point of clarification is that u the total savings dollars are personnel plus operational costs. So there are reductions in contracts. So these aren't
all salary dollars. Correct. Um so don't do the math and say well one person in the superintendent department was making $314,000. that is not the case or other it was one position but other operational cost cuts there. Uh the
second point of clarification uh is that uh where the numbers number of positions shown do include already vacant positions. We're not backfilling or or retirements and resignations we've already received for this year. These are not uh these numbers don't represent
addition or full you know individuals going to be notified all you know in the next if we move forward with the plan. It also includes some situations where we may be cutting two positions and adding a new position to cover pieces of
those. So this is net including add backs as well. So there are just a few that had to be kind of redefined to take pieces of ones that were cut. So it does not include reductions in calendar but we are doing some calendar
red well actually the totals of dollars do but the number of positions do not because they don't constitute a cut of a position. So, we captured the savings in the dollars for those cuts in contract days um or reduction in stipens, things
along those lines. Um but we did not capture that as a a cut either way, positive or negative, because we're keeping the person. >> More questions? >> Yep. Go ahead. Well, this is more of a comment um going back to something I'd
referenced before that I was really deeply moved when the student board of representatives wanted to find a way to help solve some of these problems. Um I was just really impressed with your dedication to your schools and to your teachers. And I want you to know that
the public does listen to your comments and I've had a lot of positive feedback about the student board of representatives. So also just a general comment when I was president I would listen to people even if I disagreed with them. So thank you.
>> Yeah. Mariah did you have something? >> Um I would like to talk about some of the uh uh funds that uh we had talked about in the meetings for student board. We had talked about um making fundraisers for bringing all the schools
together to make enough money to um support teachers funds and uh field trips, you know, all the stuff that we have to support our schools. And I still feel like that we should make it known that we should come together as a school
district and make it known um that we're a family, not just uh workers, not just colleagues, not just all this that we should come together to support teachers, to support families. Because at the end of the day, teachers have families and teachers have relationships
with the children in the schools. And it's very important to realize that and to support them more because everybody's kind of having a hard time in this generation right now with money and funds. So I feel like we should still make it known to come out there and try to bring up new ideas that we can bring
our district together and maybe be the first district ever to be known as a real family. >> Thank you, Mariah. Or questions or comments? >> Yep. My uh thinking got derailed a little bit
there at the the end of that. Um trying to reorganize. Um so I want everybody to understand that we got into this situation in part because of this board.
Um it is it I own responsibility for my part in it. Um, we approved some pretty aggressive changes in teacher compensation and that's the kind of thing I came onto this board to do. I
came here in a climate where our teachers and our administrators were basically under attack. They were demoralized. They're fleeing the the the district. and um you know I'm thinking about our students and who is going to
support our students, right? And so I came here to support the people who support our students and so I voted in favor of those increases knowing that we were flying pretty close to the sun and
that we needed positive trends um in um funding to continue in order to be able to continue funding those. And things turned against us. they turn pretty quickly. But I want us to think about the things that we are not hearing about tonight because we're not hearing a
proposal to freeze increases. We are not hearing a proposal to claw back the repositioning project which was very expensive. Um, and so I just want everybody to know that we we did those
things in good faith. And, you know, to to take those things away would would just be devastating to everybody. And so what we're doing here, this proposal is more targeted. Um,
and you know, it's it's terrible. I don't want to do it, but we've got $2 million in uh in reserves and a $9 million funding gap, and we are required to
deliver a balanced budget. And so, this is the situation we're faced with, and we just have to deal with it. Deb, >> I just want to say that everything that is not required by law, these good
people are looking at them to either optimize them or reduce them. This includes bulk purchasing, service contracts, marketing, conferences, and travel, and virtual professional development. We might lose some staff. I don't like
that either. But I would like to ask you guys to make staff light layoffs be the last last last option on every item. Ask yourself,
can we keep a staff person and do away with that? Do away with something else. Just ask that on every item. That's all I ask. >> Okay. Other comments or questions?
Okay. So, I haven't said much yet on Oh, no. >> I'm gonna ask you a really simple yet stupid question. And so, speak plainly. >> Are charter schools keeping us afloat?
Like I just >> our relationship with charter schools is contractual literally. We have a contract with each charter school and they are neither keeping us afloat financially nor are they dragging us
under financially. um they are a factor. The place where we have gotten the biggest benefit over the years is that there are thousands and thousands almost half of our K8 resident
population attends a charter school. Those are seats that we did not build and buildings that we did not fund serving our community. And and we are a district that has lots of split families. We have lots of families that have a child in a charter and I was I
was at S Creek yesterday doing a voice of the student um conversation with students there and a third of the students had come to San Creek High School from one of our charter schools. So they are a feeder program in the sense that they give families a reason
to stay in the district and to express their choice. In that sense they have supported our enrollment. Without our charter schools, historically we would have had more families that would have opted to go across powers into one of our neighbors and they don't come back. So in a sense they have been an
enrollment driver but more into our high schools because most of them are not high school level programs. On the other hand we in order to support charters we we were giving a portion of the MLO proceeds our local uh mill levy
override. We were giving that to charter schools before the state required it. And so to promote choice, to be a great partner to our charter schools has given us both benefits, but it has also required investment. Both are true. They're not keeping us afloat. They're
not dragging us under. They're absolutely in the DNA of District 49. Lori, >> just a comment to make because there's a lot of assumptions that, you know, every kid in a charter school is taking money
away from our traditional schools and we do have open enrollment in the state of Colorado. So, people can cross over to another district. We actually have people coming from other districts into both our operated schools and our
charter schools. And so I had a conversation at at uh Casby with a with a another district and they were saying, "Oh, we don't want this Goal Academy satellite and they're going to take our kids." And I thought I told him I said, "Some of those kids you may have lost altogether anyway." But there's a
tendency to look at kids as little pots of money and it irritates me, but it's a reality, too. So the thought is, gee, if we don't have these charter schools, these kids will come into our traditional schools and we'll have lots more money, but we have to build classrooms for them and we have to have
seats for them. And right now, the charter schools, they take care of those buildings and they take care of those seats. So if we were to eliminate all of our charter schools, we wouldn't have enough room for those students in our operated schools, nor would we have the resources to build the classrooms to
accommodate those students. So, I just wanted to make a point that they really are not taking from us and if they are a feeder, they're actually benefiting us. Plus, it increases the opportunity for choice. So, we say we're the best
district and we talk about choice and I do believe we are, by the way. Um, but to have that choice, families should have that choice. And I've seen them change their minds. I'm one of them. I used to pay for private school education. Then we were in district 11
before I moved in district 49. And I found more opportunities in school district 49 in the traditional schools than I did with either the private school that my kids were attending or the school we attended in district 11.
So I just wanted to share that. >> And Holly had her fan hand up first. We'll do Holly and then Deb. >> Well, I only ask just based off of numbers, right? It kind of seems like there's we've had a 4.8%
increase in charter but a 3% decrease in regular operated. So there's still that 1% and that that's why I asked like I just noticed that there's so I'm just you know I see the the necessity for for charters also. I was just wondering you
know is that is that helping um the situation? Um my next question is you guys send out the intent to return emails to not just um parents of
students but to staff as well. Yeah. >> So that's done at each school level. The school principles do that in their buildings. Not it isn't done centrally. >> Okay. Then never mind. >> Okay. Deb. Yeah. I just wanted to kind of bounce
off what Lori had said. Um, a lot of people look at the budget and they see these this amount of money in the reserves. The reserves hold money in trust for the the charter schools. Um, the state gives funding for the charter
schools and we just hold it for them and, you know, distributed as needed. It's not our money. When you see that big number, that's not our money. It belongs to the charter schools. So, I just wanted to kind of get that one out there,
>> Mike. >> So, Holly, just to respond to your um commentary about the the percentage changes, um we have been seeing um uh aggregates uh student counts for all of our um charter schools and then all of
our operated schools. Um, but that aggregate includes goal and goal has been growing tremendously. And so I'm posing this essentially as a question because I'm not entirely sure, but I look at our individual charter schools and I see that they're pretty small
compared to uh most of our our operated schools. And so I would think that, you know, a the percentages don't necessarily map because uh isn't the the the charter school portfolio
geographically significantly smaller than operated. So, we intentionally broke out Goal High School here as the blue portion of the stacked column. The geographic charter schools are the pale green. And I I did
this on purpose. I put dark green and and green together because those are the schools located within the boundary of district 49. goal as a statewide uh alternative campus online school. Goal by itself is larger than all of our
other charter schools put together. Our district schools are a little more than double the size of our geographic charter schools. But when you include goal, the charter school portfolio is larger than the operated portfolio. And
then the red component where we've seen the most growth is is the erosce both and that's both programs and schools and homeschool uh programs. >> Yeah. So these are the numbers and they tell the story that I was looking to tell. So yeah, if we get a 5% increase
in, you know, only 5,800 students, that's that's not like a a one for one um you know, percentage- wise for the um operated Okay, >> just a quick comment too. I wanted to
say thank you to Superintendent Hilts for presenting some of the slides to student board so they could get a better understanding of how the funding operates. Um, so it was just thank you for communicating that to the students so they could have a clearer understanding of how the different pots
of money go and and where they go to. So that was it. Okay, other questions, comments. Yeah, Mariah, >> correct me if I'm wrong. So, I'm understanding that this is because we're
losing a number of students to our district schools. >> It's a combination of two things. It is true, and this is the correct chart to illustrate it. It is true that over five years, our operated schools are down in enrollment. Um, and you can see that
numerically that's uh 359 plus 33. Um, I should not do math in public, but that's the raw number of of students down. The percentage over five years is 3.01. Meanwhile,
our commitments don't go down when enrollment goes down. our compensation commitments, our commitments to provide safe and secure and and to transport students and to feed students and to secure them with our armed and unarmed security staff. All of those things keep
rocking up. >> Okay. So, I just want to put this thought out there. the the more teachers we have, the more individual learning our students will get because the individual learning numbers of uh
oneon-one is better than a big school only having so many teachers. So, I just want to put that out there. The more teachers we get rid of, the less individual work we have as students to be learning more. Can I comment on this kind of one one
more piece? Of course. Um I just want to kind of clarify a point of kind of technicality around our district because we are growing overall like including the Boseies and goal we even though we have declining in
our operated when that we talked about that smoothing factor earlier it doesn't apply to us because we're all lumped together. So every thing that that we have a decline in enrollment hits us full force. So just
clarifying that too. >> Okay. Other questions and comments. Okay. So I have a a bit of a longer perspective. Um because so I came on to my the board in my first time of service
shortly after the board prior to me had to enter fiscal oxygen. Right? So the housing bubble crash in the late as 2008 2010 time frame and the state clawing back money from districts at that time
because of how Tabor impacts the state budget when there is a recession um necessitated that board making decisions fairly quickly and having to cut funds and I you know served with some of the people who had to make those decisions.
Um, hindsight is 2020, so there is no intentional criticism of the decisions they had to make at that time. Um, because they were in a different situation. Much of the situation we're in now, we have had a level of grace um because of
15 years of action of prior boards building up um that reserve that we were able to use. When we adopted the budget last year um in June, we knew we were spending down fund balance and at that time we tasked administration
with figuring out what had to happen. We said we can do this one time to give you time to identify the most strategic way that will have the least amount of impact in classrooms to balance this budget moving forward. Um when we made
that decision in June, the budget forecast for the state was better than it is currently, significantly better. In fact, you know, again, from the Medicaid component, we were getting a 1.6% increase as of July 1st. And then when federal tax law
passed, which then impacted how AGI is calculated, which then impacted what state revenue is, our our raise got rescended. Um so and we see the same thing in education budget. But when they made those cuts, one component is the
board was heavily involved in identifying various positions and where to make those cuts rather than tasking the administrative experts. Um and some of that probably had to do with the fact that we were changing superintendent. I think we had had three superintendents
in three years at that point. There was all kinds of other angst happening. Um but the board is a governing body and not an expert on how to run an educational organization or the level of technicality and that resulted in a significant maintenance of effort fine
to our district. Um because there was not an understanding at the board level of the complexity of TETA and education employment law. they let go the director of HR and when I got on the board we had to try and quickly figure out how to fix that situation
which eventually led to the hire of Paul. Um and that also cost us significant money because we didn't let people go correctly in subsequent years because we didn't follow TEDA correctly.
Having that technical expertise was a problem. Um, but being able to fill the position was a problem too because it had been cut under oxygen. It was filled by someone who had been a certified employee, so was covered under very specific rules. So, we had to wait and take hits for a while. Um, the teacher
repositioning project that we are still paying out, that gap that required those fixes was created because of the actions of that fiscal exency at the time. because pay was completely frozen for
three years. And when I mean completely frozen, not only was there not an increase granted, but no steps and no lanes were granted for three years. While that was occurring, when new hires came in, they were still given credit for their experience. So if you worked two years in D11 and then came over
here, you hired in step three, but your friends you graduated with might have hired in when you did it and have been here for three years and they were still getting first year teacher pay. Um, then it took an additional three years to unwind that, which for people who are with us the whole time created a
six-year gap, which is part of why we saw all of these disparities when we went to address the teacher reposition, when we did the initial um, recalibration of teacher salary and then had our long-standing people who lived through that with us say, "Whoa, wait a
minute. Yet again, I'm getting messed over." And we said, "Where the heck did this come from?" Um, and in my head I'm listening to the conversations going, I know exactly where I came from because I watched it. That's part of why when administration who learned from this experience, Paul lived through and Peter
lived through trying to unwind that situation. Why when they presented this, they said, "Well, we're not talking about increasing providing a percentage increase to the t to the scale and bringing it all up, but we want to be able to continue to give steps and lanes
across the board. that ensures that we don't end up creating that gap again. So some of these decisions are incredibly intentional. the discussions that got down to positions started happening in your October, November, December time frame at the
cabinet level because Rebecca's team had already been working since we tked them in May and June to identify everything that didn't involve somebody's job first. Um, so
and when I spoke to folks who lived through having to declare the oxygen C the last time, they said, you know, we heard of we we were making the decision. We were hearing it in January and then we did town halls for months and we still had to make the same
decision in the end because the budget reality was the budget reality. So in the end, all we did was give our people less time. And um that hit me hard. It hit me when I was speaking with the building principal and he said as awful
as this is we you know people start posting positions the good positions all start getting posted in February and anybody that I can't renew I want them to land somewhere. Um, and I want them to know that I want them to be able to find
something good for their family sooner rather than later. And giving them a five-month lead um allows families to plan and to look and to apply for position to get ready to apply and apply. All of that is a hard process. Um
and so it I think those are also components that we need to think about because the reality is the budget task is the budget task. State budget isn't getting better. Um the projections aren't getting better. Any of us living in the economy
know our bills aren't getting smaller. Um, I think last year we had some employees who although everyone got a raise, their net paycheck coming home didn't actually went down because it was impacted by their insurance premium. Their insurance premium jumped up so much it ate their whole raise. So that's
another area in which we're seeing inflation. Um, so these are just the the economic realities right now. And um I think it's important to think about what is most honorable in terms of making
sure people can land in a place that's good for their families as well, knowing we have to solve this budget number. Um we have any other questions or comments right now? >> Yeah, and I just wanted to add to that.
Um you know, the worst thing is not knowing. Um, I've seen that with people who get, you know, devastating medical diagnosis, right? It's it's serious. But just knowing and being able to put a name to it is actually a relief, right?
So, I want everybody who is unaffected to know about that as soon as they can so they can set aside their anxieties and focus on the students. I want everybody who is affected to know as soon as they can so that they can begin
making their plans for what comes next. It's the only fair way to treat everybody and um that's all I had. Okay, Holly. >> So, the action plan that you offered um
if if this goes forward, uh I the caveat or what I would like is for you and for us as a board to maybe figure out a plan uh to avoid this in
the future on the things that we can control. Um, I don't know what that looks like, but you know, these decisions have faces and families and it's difficult. And if we can do our best to not put a future
board in the same situation, um, that would be best case scenario. >> Yeah, I can speak to that a little bit. Um, a lot of the things that we've been doing operationally for the cuts behind
the scenes will have lasting longterm um effects essentially. Yeah, it will stabilize us. We're we're setting up schedules for things that will be easier to predict budgeting. We are setting baselines. We're going to talk about that a little bit in a couple
more items uh forward in the agenda, but we are actively putting into place those schedules and planning tools to make sure that we see things coming. Now, granted, we can't always see a recision from the state or if the budget stabilization factor came back, those
are kind of unpredictable through legislation, but the things we can control, we are putting things into place to make sure that we have better budget predictions and projections. Mike >> and just wanted to add to that real brief briefly that when it comes to the
budget, we have almost no control over revenue. Um it's pretty much in the uh hands of the voters. So, you know, Taber limits the um the amount of um increasing revenue that the state can
collect, but there is no matching break on increasing expenses. Um and so that's kind of how we got into this situation. Um and uh so as far as local funds, if we wanted to raise those, we have to go
to our voters. You guys are in control. Um so when it comes to increasing revenue, we have extremely limited um uh tools in our tool set. And so when we find ourselves, you know, in a situation
where things are happening to us that we cannot control, the one thing we can control, unfortunately, is expenses. It's really the only tool we have in the toolbox is cuts. >> Okay. So, at this point, we have a
couple of options. And so the first thing I need to know is whether each board member feels they have enough information to make a decision tonight. Um because if we do and no one else has any more questions or comments, I'll
call vote. If however you feel you still have some questions that you would like to give them now to answer, we can choose to table it and add it to the January 27th special meeting. So, I I need to hear from each of you whether
you think you have enough decision enough information to make your decision. Lori, >> are we talking about it as presented or with the proposed amendment on item number three? >> Um, I would have a motion to amend first before I would call it.
>> So, where are we? >> I agree with I want to see it with the proposed amendment. >> Okay. So, then let's make I Well, I need a a motion to amend. >> I move to amend the fiscal exigency as
presented with item number three being reduced from 2.5 to a maximum of 1.8. >> Second. Okay, it's been moved and seconded. So now that would be the motion. We would vote first to amend this. If we amend
the document, we're not approving it. The first vote is simply to amend the document. So, I'm going to call a vote on amending the motion to reflect the 1.8. So, you're not approving the exigency by making this vote. You're
approving changing the number to 1.8 that we would then vote on afterwards. >> Point of order. Do we need to clarify that we mean 1.8 million? I think probably. Yeah, because it's so we need to say
1,800,000. >> And I'm sorry to speak out of turn, but >> No, you're not. >> We noticed that it does not say El Paso County, Colorado School District 49. Could you also amend that as well? I apologize for the error. >> And the date.
>> And the date. >> Yes. Because of the snow day. Yep. They're just technical pieces that she can fix without an amendment though. Correct. >> Can we get it? Is it I hate diligent already because it's making all of this
really hard. We had to because of legal reasons we had to change from board docs to a new format. Um because board docs did not meet accessibility standards that were required to meet. This is our first meeting running with it and we
found a gazillion ways in which it stinks. Um, so we're going to give Lynette a chance to figure out how to adjust the document correctly and then um make sure I'm covered for calling the
vote. >> So, I'll get into the weeds then and uh offer and motion to amend the amendment >> and then we would have to vote on the motion. Whoa, whoa, no, no, no. Have her rescend her amend her amendment. >> Can do that, too. >> Just rescend your motion and make one
motion to amend. >> I move to resend the amendment. >> Oh, you don't even have You just say I rescend my motion. >> I resend my motion. >> We're covered there. Now, may I have a motion to amend the document? I move to amend the document uh updating item
three the total $2,500,000 to $1,800,000. >> And I move to change the date to the current date and >> add uh 49 after district.
>> All one motion to amend. >> Well, that was so >> Yeah. Do you want to try it again? Do you want me to write it down? And then >> this is not fun to try and do this off the top of your head. >> You're used to me being able to do it. >> Yeah. I thought we decided those two
didn't have to need amendment. >> Okay. >> But I think we're good. We've got it all there. Do we have a second on that amendment? >> Point of inquiry. Yep. Does Colorado have to be in there? >> Yes, because that is our legal name so
that we're not El Paso County, Texas. Yeah, I remember going through and adopting that name, so I remember the why. So, Lynette, once you've got everything you need covered, let me know. Gotcha. Yep.
What I had to do at home was log out and log back in in order to get it to refresh. Oh, we got it. >> All right. So, this is what's in front of us. >> Yit. Okay. >> All right. So, a vote at this point is
not approving or um rejecting the fiscal exig exigency, but solely changing what we're considering to this document. So, if you vote yes on this, you're only agreeing that this is the document we should vote on. You're not approving the document. Does that make sense to
everybody? >> Okay. So, then are you ready for me to call the vote? Okay. Then I'm going to call the vote on the amendment. >> Hy. >> Levia Wright. I >> Schmidt >> I Thompson >> I >> Withers >> I
>> that motion carries. So the motion now before us is to approve this document as amended. So now my question then again stands. At this point in time I need to know whether folks are ready to vote or if they feel we need to table it because
they need more information before they can vote. You're good to vote. Okay. I move to approve the con. >> Oh, we've already got the motion. So, I just need to know whether you're ready to vote for it. >> I just didn't know if I need to clarify that as amended.
>> No, because I've already stated it. We don't We didn't need another motion. So, are you okay to Are you ready to vote, Deb? >> Mike? >> Yes. >> All right, then. I am going to call the vote on fiscal exigency. So, at this point, you're a yes vote means you approve the statement of fiscal
exigency. A no vote means you're voting against fiscal exigency. It h and we need four out of five I believe. Um in order to pass this we need a super majority. So um can I have the vote please?
Hy >> I >> Lev Wright I >> Schmidt >> I >> Thompson >> I >> Withers >> no >> and the motion carries have approved the statement of fiscal exigency.
>> Thank you. Thank you for taking it so seriously and and holding yourselves and us to a high standard. We appreciate that. Um we are on to our discussion items and the first item I believe is Paul will be
um presenting. >> Good evening board. I'm Paul Anderson. and I'm the executive director of people and culture and I'm coming this evening to uh make a recommendation uh associated with the item that we were just talking about and the the broader um workforce um planning that we're
doing and as we work through this process and it was alluded to this evening that there may be some positions that are consolidated uh after we we um as we make adjustments in in some areas where there are cuts. We still need some uh uh some specific functions performed
and and those might uh be from a couple of different positions or or people may take on other responsibilities and there be a need to make adjustments to a job description or ultimately create a new position. And as it currently stands in policy, we bring brand new new positions
to you. So it's a role and when we say a position that's defined in a job description. So, we bring job descriptions to you first at a work session and then and then for a vote. Um, so any new position uh comes to you uh as as it's currently um as policies
written. Um that ends up taking adding about probably on average six weeks to the process of creating a job. And uh so my re request is that uh you suspend this particular policy for the remainder of this fiscal year, giving uh the
administration the opportunity to move a little more uh swiftly or with a little more agility to uh create um get uh get a position um defined, sent to legal for review, do the other steps we do like
getting it to a compensation consultant to say how should we pay this position? Um, so there there are a number of steps that happen anyway on the administrative side in addition to uh into in addition to your role in the creation of a new position. So our request is that you would suspend that that part of the
policy and uh delegate essentially to to Mr. Hilts the approve the authority to approve those job descriptions and we would in turn um that we'll then we will go ahead and post and fill as we normally do after you approve a job
description. During that time we would uh record or make a record of all those any positions that we've created um and report back to you what we've done and as I've indicated in the cover sheet my I would say we will report to you no later than
the I think I've worded it as um no later than the first regular board meeting of fiscal year 26 27. So July if there's a meeting um that no later than than then then would you see what we've
the positions uh Mr. Hiltz has approved during that time. >> So board questions. Yep. Will this flexibility also give us the opportunity to open up for job positions as we're going through possibly some of the fiscal exigency?
>> Yes, for sure. This gives us really the opportunity to get them posted faster uh so that any of the individuals who are who have been notified of a position elimination would have an opportunity to sooner apply for something that they might be qualified for. >> Other questions?
Anybody? So, um kind of a comment question and comment. Um because obviously I think the transparency around this is paramount. Um, I know we say no later than that fiscal
year 20, the July one, but um, I think the expectation as one board member from me would be um, when you're ready to post that job, when you've got the job description done and it's ready to post, it's on our agenda as an information item that's
viewable to us and the public. I think that um I think that's your intent, but I want um as one person and I so this can't be said unless everyone else agrees. That would be the minimum expectation for me. Um >> and I'll just interrupt and say that is
that would be my intent. Um, and then secondly, again, because anything around the finance component is um, obviously going to be incredibly sensitive, is there a way to show in that information
item, you know, okay, so we're combining this position and this position into this position? Can that be explicitly stated in some way to show how it's related to the fiscal exigency and the overall reduction in expense? um you know or you know and I know like
you might have two job descriptions that are really because a third third person was eliminated their job duties are now getting split between two other people and that's been distributed those two people are having additional responsibility their pay might go up a little bit each but then the total savings is because of the elimination of
the third I know that's a little complex and I wouldn't expect it to be completely perfectly accurate but would it be reasonable to ask for that information to be included in the information item. Is that doable? >> Uh, excuse me. I think that's completely
reasonable. Uh, we we're going to expect our administrators to do that. Uh, to identify if if we're some they're request requesting to make something. What is it? Is it is it replacing part of some part of a position that's been eliminated? So, I think we we will
gather that as we go along. Anyway, then I think in addition to that we would so we can create that connection to uh to the uh exigency or the rift or other reductions um uh and from a a budget impact perspective which is something
our leaders need to do anyway when when they bring a job description to you talking about what is the impact to the budget. This would be just a little bit more specifically related to how is what is the net impact? Uh, >> right, which I'm assuming is kind of been a huge significant part of your
discussion. Anyway, I'm guessing that as you're looking at these positions, there's already been some significant discussion about how to do that. >> There has. Yeah, >> Peter, >> if if you would like us to, we can we can memorialize this intent as part of the decision because we're we're in a
discussion now and we would be bringing this back to you. we are we would we would enthusiastically present that as Paul said we're already doing that work >> just to make the tactical calculation and so making it transparent and public and including it as part of the
information item perfectly reasonable highly transparent we're happy to do that and we can make that commitment so that your adoption of this recommendation is de facto a tasking to me to ensure that that's how we >> well because I'm also assuming that when
we're having these conversations. There's also a part of a conversation that happens with if you were going from three positions to two that happens with those two people whose jobs may turn into something that is going to have additional responsibility about whether
they want to stay knowing they have they will have those additional responsibilities and so having a you know two-month lead time like taking the amount of time it takes administratively to come before the board and get is I understand in the number of job
descriptions you may be talking about having to adjust um makes that time frame harder for people for making those decisions. Um so I just I want that piece to be in everyone's mind. So other questions, Deb.
Um what does it look like when you're modifying range changes within the same pay schedule? What does that look like? I mean what are what does that allow you to do?
>> Uh where are you making a specific reference to uh >> under modification of existing >> policy >> or in my cover sheet >> staff staff positions and job description
>> actual policy still learning to navigate. >> Okay, there we go. >> Yeah, the top one on modification of existing policies. Uh the top bullet point in the second batch. >> Okay. Yeah. So this section um the
policy has already delegated these these changes to uh the superintendent or his designate. So in that case in this case it's I'm I am the designate. Um so if there's a uh a range change within the same schedule. Let's say our
compensation consultant is evaluating a a professional technical ranged position or salary scheduled position. They recommend us move that from range two to range three. I don't need to bring that to to you for approval. >> Thank you. That was very confusing. I
didn't realize that was the existing policy. >> Yep. Mike. >> Yeah. And uh regarding u Marie's request for um transparency on the financial impact, you hit the nail on the head, right? where when there is a um proposed
uh new job description or modified job description, part of the cover sheet includes the um the budget impact. So I am seeing that we would probably see a packet of updated or net new um job
descriptions, maybe even a couple of them retired. Um, and then, um, uh, what I', what I envision this looking like is essentially like a cover sheet that goes over those that packet that addresses each one of those and then says, yeah,
um, you know, gives gives a dollar amount of the overall budget impact and then just a brief description of this position consolidates um, you know, responsibilities from a previous position. we moved it maybe up
in the um pay scale to account for those additional responsibilities, but we also retired this many um positions. And so that just don't get into the weeds, but definitely give us the details we care about. >> Yeah, I think that's very doable and pro
and I anticipate I could have a a mockup or or at least a template in in for the for the the meeting where you'll vote. >> Okay, other questions? Anyone? Okay. So, at this point, I need to know
whether we have consensus to move this forward for action. >> Yes, >> Deb. >> I'm not sure I have enough information, so I'm going to say no. >> Is what specific information would you
like so that we can direct them to provide it? Well, honestly, we had two other really big big policies that I focused most of my time on today and I have not had a chance to really look this over or ask Paul any ask Mr. Anderson any questions. So, I would like
the opportunity to do that. Okay. Um Lori, >> yes. Holly, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. So, the consensus is to move it forward for action. However, if you could get um look it over and get your questions to Paul ahead of time,
this would be on we're moving this forward and it would be at the February regular meeting that we would um vote on this. So, that also gives everybody significant time um because the special meeting we have the budget adoption and
some other things. All right. So, um I now have a question for you all because it's 9:20. Um would everyone like a five minute recess? >> Yes. >> Before we continue through the rest of the agenda. Okay. So we are going to recess in for five minutes if everyone
can be back at 9:25. I know I need to go. Um, I am briefly going to just explain really quick what this spreadsheet means and then I'll go into the actual resolution and why I'm asking for it.
Um, but this is kind of the backup behind what I um what what basically helps us calculate what amount is acceptable for us to pull out of our fund 39 cop repayment fund. So, uh, this
is a subset of our MLO. The MLO is split 7030. 70% goes into this COP repayment portion. the other 30% is used for the other areas of the ballot language that we are that are
acceptable purchases. So, that being said, this is a tool that was um utilized by RBC. They let us they are they're the ones that you've uh seen recently when we did our COP refunding. This tracks exactly the percentage of
what our increases are in assessed values and our fund balances and our COP payments. And so it is recommended that we keep some number over a 100% uh of coop payments from one year to the next so we could make another year of
payment if something were to happen devastatingly and we didn't get our property tax money for some reason. So um in conversations we have kind of set 125% as a target. we wanted to have a little bit more than just 100% of our
value or of our CROP payment uh requirements in there. So that is where and it's kind of hard to read because it's really dark and it is small but essentially it's a little over 4.7 million um that and that is what fed us
or or um informed us for the amount that we were able to pull out of there. So, I'll switch back over now. And this is the actual resolution that we would love to um ask you and we'll probably need to change the date on this
one as well. Um because it notes January 8th from the snow day in there. Um but >> no, I think at the bottom it has the 27th day of January. >> It does, but in the middle it's got January 8th. >> Yeah. >> So, I mean it still could be because
that is still as of the the balance hasn't changed, so I don't know if that's necessary to change it. Um, but essentially what this what what the idea behind this is is because we have excess fund balance from
increased assessed values along with the cop refunding that we we have some savings from that um ongoing. We don't want to utilize any of these fund balances for recurring purchases because this essentially will eventually free us
up to have another coop if we ever choose to. Um and so we want to keep the structure as it is. Um but we can utilize it for one-time year transfers. this particular year that we're looking
at, we are going to set up and I alluded to this in the the fiscal exigency uh conversation to set up some baselines and get us to a certain level and set up schedules so that we're on a regular repeatable predictable schedule for tech
technology and curriculum. Any questions about why I'm asking for this? This is a little indirect um piece that ties into the exigency um but it is a separate topic and but it
will ultimately indirectly help with the exigency through these purchases. >> Go ahead Mike. So, I'm going to go ahead and ask the question that some of our staff are going to be asking uh almost immediately, and that is since this MLO
funding is essentially recurring uh funding, um why would we not be able to apply this to um uh the general fund and um and fund uh teachers?
>> That's a really good question. And in theory potentially we could. However, that would require a overall change to the board policy on the structure of how much goes to the coop repayment and how much goes towards the other Milvy
approved purchase approved purchases and it would essentially eliminate our option to ever issue another COP if we reduced that. Go ahead. Um, so it looks like this is one-time use to use towards technology and
curriculum which would not change the overall structure then. >> That is correct. >> And I'm just going to comment on um the reason that structure exists is um the percentages were written to explicitly
reflect what was promised to our community when we ran that MLO. So, one of the things that was included within the MLO was that we were supposed to have recurring capital funds for both repairs and new construction. And so, if
the board went back and changed those percentages, we would essentially be reigging on what we promised our community we would do when we ran those MLOs's and when we combined them. Um,
and I explicitly remember very specific pieces of that because I was on the board when we ran those approved MLOs's and therefore and then was part of writing the policy to ensure that we made sure future boards understood the re that this was the commitment made to
our community when they passed that ballot. Um, and so that's part of why that percentage is set where it is set. >> Mike, >> and I just want to add to that too that What the cops would be useful for is
building new construction, so new schools. We've had the conversation about a new uh K8 uh in the Falcon area. So, by making that change, we constrain ourselves from being able to do that. We heard some criticism both through email
from the community and also um you know here at the DIS about um or at least concerns about charters and how the charter growth might be affecting our um operated. Well, you know, you cannot uh have growth in the district in the
places where the construction is coming online without classrooms that can host them. And so this is yeah, we could take that as a short-term fix and we would face long-term pain.
Um, other questions? Okay. And because this is related to some of the budget tests at will, some of which I think is this year, um, Rebecca had requested we include it at the same time as we vote for the amended budget. that statutoily has to happen
before the end of January, which is why we have the special meeting on the 27th. So, if we have consensus to move this forward, it would be on the January 27th meeting. Mike, are you good with moving it forward? >> Yes. >> Okay. Deb,
>> yes. Lori, >> yes. >> Holly, >> yes. >> And I'm a yes. So, we'll move that forward for action on the January 27th meeting. Um, thank you, Rebecca. And our next item 9.3 is power technicals um
renewal application and recommendation. >> I'm sorry that's exactly what you told me not to do. I'm sorry. >> And we don't have attachments for the first one. Uh >> uh the the power technical does not have
attachment so you can just leave it up. Yeah, as is. Yes. Okay. I'm just going to introduce but good evening um members of the board, superintendent Hilts. I'm Britney Brandon, coordinator of charter school relations. Um and tonight we have representatives from Pioneer Technical and Arts Academy as well as Power
Technical uh to give short presentations of their school. after I'll come back up, give a little bit more, and then answer questions. So, first we'll have PEK, then we'll have PTA. PEK does not have attachments. PTA does. Thank you. >> Thank you very much to the D49 board uh
for hosting us here tonight. My name is Kelly Diaz. I'm the assistant principal over at Power Technical. Uh Jim Downing, our principal, is currently dancing with our high schoolers at our first winter formal. Um, so he sent me here to represent PEK tonight. Uh, PEK is a high
performing school. We serve students in grades six through 12, uh, just a few blocks from here, who are interested in pursuing careers in the skilled trades, including welding, engineering, plumbing, construction, management,
masonry, automotive, and woodworking. The mission of PEK is to prepare our students to enter the workforce with the skills necessary to be successful in trade while also having the character and work ethic to become the most valuable members in their chosen trade. The administration of Power Technical
and the James Irwin Charter School Board would like to thank the D49 board and our and the D49 leadership for their partnership, their support, and their collaboration over the past 10 years. We are formally requesting a five-year charter renewal for power technical and
this request reflects the confidence in our school's stability, direction, and long-term value to the students and families in district 49. PEK has moved beyond the startup phase and is now a mature, stable program with clear systems, expectations, and
identity. Our leadership structures, instructional models, and student supports are firmly established and functioning as we intended. PEK has a strong alignment between core academics and career and technical pathways, providing students with both educational
rigor, relevance, and application. Consistent daily engagement in CTE programs ensures that our students are building real world skills alongside their academic foundations. And we have clear pathways that prepare students for the skilled trades,
certifications, college coursework, and post-secary success. PEK has a strong emphasis on safety, structure, and character. Uh, creating an environment where our students can succeed both academically and personally. And our emphasis on character development is
reflected in our character pillars of respect, responsibility, honesty, integrity, and excellence. Students and staff expectations frameworks have been developed around those core character traits and are explicitly taught to our students. And during the past several
years, we've improved our systems for supporting both student behavior uh as well as attendance and engagement. PEK's unique program and structure has proven highly successful in supporting students who have not been successful in a more traditional educational setting.
PEK has worked to establish clear, well-defined systems for ongoing success. From the time of our initial charter with D49, we've improved our staffing stability and added clarity and definition to staff roles and responsibilities. We have implemented strong internal systems for monitoring
student progress, safety, and instructional quality. And we continue to be firmly committed to being a responsible steward of public dollars. Our administrative team is transparent and committed to
accountability and collaboration. So, why does a five-year term matter for us? That five-year contract renewal provides the stability necessary for long-term planning, staffing, curriculum development, facilities management, and student services. It ensures continuity
for families that are selecting PEK's educational programs and are expecting consistency in those programs. Additionally, it allows our school to continue to refine our programs without any short-term uncertainties. We are extremely proud of the progress
that PEK has made over the last 10 years in partnership with D49. So, in closing, we respectfully request approval of a five-year charter renewal, and we look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with D49 to service our students and our community. I
welcome the opportunity to answer any questions the board may have about the power technical programs, and thank you for your time and consideration tonight. Any questions? Deb, >> are you open to having board members
tour your schools? >> Absolutely. We welcome board members to tour our schools. >> Okay, I'll get with Lynette and she can schedule that. Thanks, Lori. >> This isn't necessarily a question. Um, but the very first student of PEK to
graduate with an associates degree in engineering was a young lady named Jasmine Zinc. The first time you were open, she came right over. And I may have a little bit of bias because she is my second cousin who is now working for
Classic Home. So, I may be a big fan of PEK. >> Thank you. Uh we are a big fan of Miss Sync. She's now Jasmine Holland. Did you have a comment, Mike?
>> So um you mentioned um uh career technical. Um could you give us just uh it doesn't have to be comprehensive, but uh some of the highlights of uh the the career technical um offerings that you have? >> So we actually have nine shops in our
building that operate on a daily basis. Um, we have a plumbing program which, uh, our students actually have built a mockup of all of the plumbing components of a house. So, we have a half house uh,
in one of the rooms of our school. Uh, it has a bathroom and a kitchen and, uh, all of the appropriate uh, water heaters and HVAC components. And our students actually install the plumbing in real walls.
Um, a highlight that I can give you of our welding program and I'm not just an administrator at PEK. I'm a parent of a PEK student. My son graduated from PEK three years ago. Uh, he is now 21 years old. He has an associates degree in
welding from Pikes Peak State University or State College as through the partnership with the PEK program. And he is currently the welding foreman at Skyline Products. as a 21-year-old.
This is our program in action. So, we are sending kids out into the world. I could tell you the story of his classmate who currently owns three mobile welding rigs in the Falcon area and goes out and makes repairs on ranches. I can tell you the stories of
our students who have gone on and work for Classic Homes in construction management and uh architecture. We have a student who uh went through an apprenticeship and is an elevator technician. Our students are going
directly into the trades from their high school experience. And so some of our kids are choosing to take the two-year associates degree program that we offer through Pikes Peak State College. And they're getting those degrees and then they're moving into the workforce. But
about half of our students are direct to workforce students. And what that means is that we are turning out students with certifications who are employable today. Um and we have set a new goal for ourselves. Uh last year we certified 60
students in their skilled trade. Um where they earned a trade specific certification. We have already surpassed that number this year. uh we certified I believe the number was se 69 students in OSHA 10 which is a
highly sought-after certification in the workforce field in trades education and uh we have another 83 enrolled in certification courses for spring semester. So we expect to more than double the number of certifications
our students earn this year. And those uh this spring semester they're working on the NCCER core certification which is the foundational certification for welding, construction management, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, uh masonry
and any number of other programs. So I would welcome you to tour facilities and see all of this stuff happening in action. I was curious, do you guys help um I guess find them internships or job placements or is that kind of all up to
them with their certificate when they graduate? >> So, we actually have a course called work-based learning as part of our work-based learning and IAP program as part of the PEK program. Um and our students actually do what we call PEK
connects. We invite industry partners into the school, not just to teach, but also to interview students, to do practice interviews, to review resumeumés, and to provide them with the supports needed to actually go out into the workforce. Um, the vast majority of
our students who leave our school are working in their trade. So, I am privileged to have been on the board that originally approved the charter. Um, so this is and then worked
closely to help support the school through its bumps as it opened. Um, and remember way back then when I was, you know, still doing 4 with my kids, one of the very first seventh graders in your
program was um, a child who did 4 with my kiddos whose mom homeschooled who was at her wits end trying to figure out how to get her very bright son to engage. Um, and he loved working with his hands. And I said, "Look, we are opening this
new school. you really need to check it out because I think it would be great for Kevin and Kevin is now a welder. Um, thanks to PEK. And so I'm just thrilled beyond measure to see this continue. Um, and this is the kind of
partnership that because it was a charter, different types of funding were available. This is not a program we wanted to bring trades into our district. it isn't the kind of program we would have been able to do within our operating budget without
having a way to partner with a charter. And so it's an example of how we we improve our offering and our choices to meet what all of our learners need in our district um by using the charter system to our advantage. And so I'm so grateful that you're here and thriving
and continuing um now looking at your your third contract with us. Thank you. And so I think does anybody else have it? Yep. Lori, >> just one more quick comment because last year was the first year I couldn't attend your graduation because of a
conflict. But two years ago uh when we were on the builtup DAS for the graduation, it wasn't until the end of the graduation that we found out that that entire platform that we were on was built by the PEK students. So
we're an innovative group. Um, so our students often build things that we need. Um, and we are very creative. Um, our engineering class is currently building a driving simulator. We already have an air we already have a
flight simulator. So, they're very creative. Okay. I think Britney also has some presentation to do, correct? >> Okay. Okay. So you're going to present on both of them after. >> No, actually we need to make the re because these are individual these are
independent. So first we need to make our administrative recommendation about P tech. >> Yeah. >> Do I speak on both of them after or >> Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Um so thank you Miss
Diaz for being here. Um, PEK had an exceptional review, renewal application, and site visit. I highly suggest you go visit. Very cool to see. I was just blown away. Um, lots of different aspects I explained in the executive
renewal, but a lot to talk about it. It's amazing. Um, and they also receive a strong recommendation for a five-year renewal term. Um, as stated in the executive summary, they do have a CIS. It's going to be a recommendation, not a condition. And that is because they are
not already on our CIS. Um, so I can kind of it's going to be the same for both schools, but each year the district's academic performance and data services team continues to experience increasing workload demands from charter schools operating outside of the district CIS. uh to support the quality
and timeliness as we uh sorry as well as reduce staff burden. It is recommended that the district explore the option of moving all charters to utilizing the district cyst to be considered at the time of renewal. Um and we do recognize this is not the preferred option by all
charter leaders. Um but it is becoming increasingly more the standard um for area authorizers. uh offic's charter data requires additional time for verification, correction, and reporting. This creates an ongoing operational impact on the
district staff. Um so just like I said, it's going to be that's going to be the same for both schools, but to keep them separate. I just give it to you now. Did you have any questions? >> So administratively, what would you need for So you're looking at um what would
you need from us to follow administrative recommendation on that component? So we are not asking you to make the renewal con contingent on whether they join our cis. Um we are continuing to
raise the significant operational increased operational workload of having charter schools that are not in our cysts. And so as we come back and and create uh charges for future um future assignment,
future overhead charges to the the charter schools, uh it is likely it it is certain that we are going to have to increase um what we charge to charter schools that are not on our CIS or we are going to have to ask them to fund
positions or partial positions to explicitly support them. um because we do not have any margin as we discussed extensively earlier. We don't have any margin to be generous and to take on the
translation load and the um and the the if you were to ask our data and services people, they would tell you that the workload of supporting charter schools that are off CIS is is a order of magnitude 10x compared to a charter
school that is on the CIS. And so we're actually letting you know that now at the point of renewal. Um the board could decide to make that a condition. Historically the board has not decided to make that a condition. We are not asking you to make it a condition. This
school has to be part of our portfolio. We'll continue to work with them. But it is entire entirely probable certain that we will have to increase what we're asking them to contribute. >> Yes. >> And so that option then would be Not at this stage, but when you enter
contract negotiation, it would be where you would be giving them options in contract negotiation of either you need to move on to our CIS or we're going to increase fees based on actual expense to district to be able to translate your
data type of of piece. Correct. And you don't need guidance from us at this point on on that component. Is that correct? Okay. So um at this point it's do we have consensus to move this forward um for action that would
indicate that we are renewing the contract but it is not the contract negotiation that would happen separately and come back um for approval at another time. Um do we have consensus to move this one forward for action?
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Hell yeah. Yes. >> And I'm a Yes. And statutoily, this has to be done before February 1st, which is why it will be on um as an action item
on the special meeting on January 26 or 27th. Thank you. >> Correct. >> We'll invite PTA up. >> Yeah. Uh good evening board members. Uh my name is Shioban Pandy. I'm the superintendent of Pioneer Technology and Arts Academy. And with me is Miss
Shannon Houston who is the principal. Um so I would like to do a quick presentation to go over uh our general vision, mission and things we are doing and then we are here to answer any questions you may have. Uh the vision of uh pioneer technology is to be global
leaders in STEM or steam education. Our mission always has been to inspire students through inquirybased uh steam curriculum that empas emphasize on creativity. It emphasizes on critical thinking, collaboration and innovation.
Um this requires this whole process requires us to constantly evolve our curriculum. being in the STEM side and steam side we always have to make sure that we are current with the market and that's kind of this is a big example which I always talk about is just 18
months back our traditional model was we would teach coding starting from kindergarten every student coming in from K through 8 every student class will have it and we do not do that anymore and the reason is the AI systems do way more better coding than actually
humans can so now our focus has completely changed into prompt engineering, AI research, AI ethics programs and AI integrations and things like that. Um, one of the good news is we are working on our high school campus. Uh, it's actually have finally annexed after
18 months of going back and forth and uh, we are now uh, pretty much I think a month away from getting our permits and this is on Mark Sheffield. The idea is that we're going to move our grade 7 through 12th in there and the current campus will be K through six and that'll
allow our uh you know students with the right grade level to be in right campuses. I know we heard a lot about PEK. Uh we'll also add more to the PEK. Uh we have several schools in the nation that have very high pathways in technology in
early college high school. It's a mouthful. uh but our uh PEKs are specifically around uh uh you know the STEM programs and steam programs uh especially on we used to do software engineering network administration we have a lot of engineering programs
pre-med predental programs and I'm telling the board right now all these will change in next year because of all the processes that going on in the technology world and you will see a lot of AI integrated Ptech programs coming in next year year and a half uh but our high school programs have done this for
years And we are very we excited to continue that with our new high school program. We are also uh have our own proprietary AI platform uh essentially the current capabilities that we have this alpha 1 AI u something that we have been working
since almost two years from now uh in several school systems uh outside our own uh it's a threethinking supplemental model essentially here to help the teachers in a classroom. It's personalized learning pathways. It's uh allows them to have their lesson plans
kind of always uh specific to the the standards of the state. Um this uh month specifically we are uh doing the next version of it and this will provide the full uh summitative and formative uh assessments. Uh it has any coaching in
any subject matter. We were limited to the core subjects earlier. Now it's pretty much open to anything. And now it's also extends outside education meaning now you can go to operations, finance, HR and that allows all the other training platforms to take place through that as well. U this has
definitely gone national. We are working with federal agencies right now uh specifically on the pilot programs uh several state government partnerships going on too. So you can see that you know PTA has always it's not just in that process we have come out of it and we are definitely doing lot more than
just in the classrooms. Um, we want to reaffirm our support to uh, District 49 and the uh, the community of Colorado Springs and uh, we are here to answer any questions you guys have. >> Questions?
Anyone? >> Mine was mostly just a comment. I've had a handful of my friends have students that attended or attend this school and they all love it. The only thing they complain about is the traffic right there at Dublin. That's it. But
>> it's getting better. >> It is. >> Other comments or questions? >> Mike. >> Yeah. So, and of course this is completely outside my scope as a D49 board member. you guys have your own board who selects your curriculum and
stuff like that. But as somebody who does programming for a living, um I was I thought it was intriguing that you guys are moving away from teaching coding skills and towards AI. Um is there uh like a an opportunity there to
to to teach the students the concepts and the basics of coding so that they can evaluate what comes out of AI, correct it if necessary, etc. because I don't see the the human component of that going away. >> No, definitely. So, we definitely still do the Python programming concepts of
it. So, they still learn the programming, the structure of it. Uh you know, anything that connects to uh you know, loops and structure uh so they can understand what comes out of it. The main thing is the structure what they used to learn earlier, it now comes back to them as a finished program and then
they are able to evaluate it and then they're able to use it. So the speed has been very different in learning curve has been different and that's essentially all has evolved. One of the exa the reason of the example was how quickly we have to adapt for things that
come up and that's being the the mission of the school uh that we have taken steps towards it. >> So I thank you for that. uh there's a parent who is looking for a STEM school and I suggested you guys to him and now I can answer his questions and in fact
he does what I do for a living. So that's going to be very easy for me to uh give you guys a strong recommendation. >> Thank you. So yeah, just listening to the coding conversation takes me way back because
when I was, you know, this little um I remember my dad bringing home the punch cards that you used to run through mainframes because that was initially how you programmed and then watching it change over his career and he was running helping program the main frames
at the power plant he worked at. Um so just seeing those changes is interesting. I also was on the board when PTA came twice. First time the application was denied and we encouraged you to
improve and reapply. Second time you came back and got approved. And so this is another kind of happy moment for me. But also I I wear another hat. Um, I teach the STEM workshops at Skate City
and I enjoy when your students come and spend time playing with me with some of our things. So, some of your younger grades come on some of my field trips and we really have a lot of fun with them. Um, it's great to see you continuing to grow and thrive and see what that vision was continue to develop
in our community. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Yeah. And now I believe does anyone else have any other comments or questions? Okay. So then Britney, I think we're ready for your recommendations. And again, thank you, Mr. Pandy and Miss
Houston. Um, with the coding, when I did my site visit, um, their middle schoolers were coding and building video games. It was very cool to see because they were very proud of themselves and they were also trying to figure out the problems and
they were going back and forth and I was not able to keep up but they were and then their game they played it they were presented it to their uh classmates which was really cool too because I do not like public speaking so I think it's great to instill that so young but I really enjoyed my site visit there as
well. Um, so PTA also had an exceptional renewal application um, and SI visit. Uh, they also receive a strong recommendation for a five-year renewal term. Um, so this one's going to be a little different for CIS. This one we
did write as a condition because PTA is on the CIS already. So we just want them to stay on the CIS. Um, so that's the difference between the two. Um, but otherwise pretty much the same. So if you have any questions,
>> any questions? Okay. So then do we have consensus to move this forward? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Heck yeah. >> Yes. >> And I'm a yes. And so that will also be moved forward for action for the January
27th special meeting to meet that statutory deadline. >> Thank you so much. >> Yep. May I make a comment and and make a request? Um the comment is simply to to >> acknowledge and recognize what a great job Britney is doing for us and the relationship she's building with our
charter school friends. And obviously these schools add great distinctiveness. Um I I anticipate that you will move them forward. I would prefer not to ask Britney to come to that meeting uh so that she could be home with family. Um if you have a different expectation, let
me know. Um but the work her her main work was to get you to this presentation and and for for you to hear the strong recommendation from administration. So, thank you for doing a great job, Britney. >> Thank you. >> And Britney, after seeing I remember the first time you presented publicly, you
did not take a shot of Jack Daniels, I was very proud of you because I know how much you love presenting. You're doing a great job. Okay. >> Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Yeah. Mike wanted to come in as well. >> Yeah. Uh, I just wanted to say too, um,
Britney, um, you know, you have, uh, presented for other charter schools before and you've been, you know, a a tough but fair critic and, um, that is in alignment with, you know, board direction and superintendent direction where we need to have our charter
schools to be high performing if we're going to realize that behag of being a a, you know, district of distinction. And so the fact that you gave these two schools very strong recommendations um speaks to the quality of them and I
just want to thank you for for being the kind of person that you have been so that we can we can definitely count on your recommendations. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. I like to make sure I keep my relationship strong too. >> I won't walk away. Thank you. Okay.
Thank you. >> And stay home on the 27th. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Okay. So, we're on to our final item, which is looking at the draft of the planning summit. And I know already one
aspect um is the request to add um uh engagement as another item for possible review for strategic objectives. Right. So, community engagement. So, if we can make that change on um item two. Lori, did you
have another comment? >> Yeah, and I know we've had the chance to get input, but I would also like if we can to put in another um portion with a review with the parliamentarian on Robert's rules.
Okay, we can with Casby on um whether they have some training on that. And um there's Yeah, Deb, did you have a question? >> I was just wondering,
we have three strategic objectives here. Um I don't see academics at all. Writing, math, reading, >> which have always been >> they're in they're in 2.1. So when you look at the 2526 strategic review um
because that included all the academic ones um they're all included in that one >> and and may I clarify as well we are we are going to ask the board whether you'll you'll agree to or not but we would like to keep both writing and middle school performance for another
cycle. We think we're getting great traction and momentum. We want to keep our our eye on those two targets and move forward. Um, and so we may end up with four or five or three, but we would like administratively we've already made that commitment that we would like to
keep those two. >> Okay. So, I think the other thing we had talked about um a little bit was superintendent um evaluation process. And so, I think if we have agreement, we should add that to this. then it's close
enough to when we um we did it that we can bring up hey these are some some opportunities for improvement as a part of that. Um, so and I think also I'm looking at how we have it written out, but I think where we have board management
trainings, some of these, so like the charter finance basics and charter authorization process were we going to discuss as a part of that charter school relationship so that we we were trying to group things together, right? So um the timing won't
doesn't make doesn't follow because the same thing is true for finances where we talk about long range financial planning and school district finances. I think all of that comes together as right
in terms of doing the presentation and think it so we were kind of trying to combine training and information so that when we then discuss the understand the strategic priority all together rather than breaking it up in two separate segments or not. I mean that scheduling
component we can figure out again a little bit later but I thought that was what we were trying to do. >> That is what we were trying to do. >> Okay. Just because the way out doesn't reflects it a little bit differently. >> Okay. Huh. Okay. Right. We can we can
work out kind of you Peter and I can work that logistically component out. And I wanted to make sure everyone understood that bottom one district structure accountability and autonomy. So that um is both the training and then possibly does it become a tasking or not as well once everyone kind of
understands that piece. Um because so this would include the what are zones? Why did we you know where does that structure come from? How do we how do we distribute decision- making currently in the district? How does that compare to other large districts? Um because we're
continually getting questions on those pieces because we use some different terminology. So that's making sure first that board members are all on the same page and then do we want to give direction on on refining that changing it um all of those pieces. Um
anything else? So we have to kind of think through how long the stay is getting. Um and so I'll look at Right. Right. Well and so there's two components of that. If um if I look into
if we look into the parliamentary component, if we can't get that on this, we could also do that at a future work session as a training um rather than at um the annual planning session. Just knowing that there's some pretty when we
add the superintendent evaluation process, I think we might be at our four or five o'clock point looking at the information. Is everyone okay with that approach? Yeah, just as a note, um it doesn't even have to be a work session. One thing we did, and I think you were there when we did a resolution training.
So, we were trying to work in extra trainings that were independent of a work session, which is specific to district business. >> Yeah, you did that while I was in Michigan, but so I was not there. Um >> Okay. Yeah, I came after a funeral, so it was a tough day. But just to add that
opportunity because to me a work session should be about district business but additional sessions are to improve board governance. We can look structurally at how to schedule it um and work that out. Just sometimes it's depending on how heavy
those work sessions are. If it's a 30 minute training it may be easier than trying to schedule extra meetings. Um but um Lynette and I can work on kind of identifying some options for that component. Anything else to bring up on
this one? Yes, Mike. >> So in looking at 6.2 charter authorization process, uh just like to refine what we're doing there a little bit because I feel like as we go through the the process, administration is doing a really good job of walking us through
the requirements there. Um, but what I feel like I really need to understand, we've had hints of it in the past and I don't fully understand it and so I'd love to hear about it in more detail and that is essentially what um we can
legally do and not do um in the in the charter process. So for example, I've heard well we cannot um deny a charter application over you know certain reasons. So I I would just like to have clarity on um what our role is there as
far as um you know what we can and can't do. >> So it it may be appropriate that that be I've talked for example with Maria about doing a a charter leader summit with members of this board, the school leader and the board president of the charter
schools. Obviously, they don't have to come, but we would we would welcome them partly to talk about how how we can be a better authorizer, how we can improve the relationship. But in that context, it might be appropriate for us to consider whether either somebody from the school of choice unit at CDE or from
the Colorado Colorado League of Charter Schools, potentially both, um, whether they could provide answers to specific questions. So po possibly part of what the board could do at the annual planning summit would be to brainstorm questions that we want to use to frame a
request for engagement from one of those agencies. Um, I mean I I know a bit we've had other people that know quite a bit about charter schools, but having a third party, an external person would really be appropriate because I have vested interests in the various relationships we have and having having
a truly outside perspective would be helpful. >> Does it help or make sense? >> Sort of. All right. Anything else to bring up on this item?
Okay. So, then we are going to move to our second open forum. I got to find something here. My understanding is we have two people signed up, but one actually is only going to speak um which is Mr. Holtz.
And so, um, before you speak, I need I'm going to read a caution, um, because I'm assuming it's related, um, to the email that we also received and the Facebook post that I've read. And so, I have read the email you sent to the
board of education and I appreciate that you appropriately utilizing that tool to communicate your concerns. I also live in your neighborhood, so I have seen the extensive Facebook posts. Before you begin your statement, I want to caution you that according to board policy
beedh, complaints against staff members other than the superintendent or board members are prohibited. You can describe a process, but you cannot name individuals other than Peter Hilts as superintendent or board members during open comment. If you do, then I have to
turn you off. So, I just wanted to make sure you were aware so that um and I think it sounds like you understood that ahead of time. So, because I was going to >> if not give you a few minutes to edit your statement before you chose to give it. >> Completely understand. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Appreciate that.
>> Yep. >> My name is Jared Holtz and this is my wife, April Stander Holtz. Um we are in our 12th year uh as parents in district 49 and proud Falcon community members. We are here tonight to raise serious
concerns about parental discipline practices and policy within D49, specifically the lack of transparency, fairness, and due process my family has experienced. On July 24th, uh we were served disciplinary action by district
legal counsel that restricted our rights to volunteer at a school where we as parents have actively volunteered for 11 years and another school where we have not even stepped foot on. This occurred without prior notice, documentation, or
an opportunity to respond. For over five months, we have repeatedly sought basic due process, clarification of allegations, an opportunity to appeal, and the ability to defend ourselves. We followed the proper chain of command outlined by the Colorado Colorado
Department of Education and even filed a stakeholder grievance, yet have received no evidence, no documentation, and no meaningful review. This action was issued two months after school ended and one week before the start of school, leaving us with no
realistic path to resolution as parents. As a direct result, we were forced to remove our child from the only school he had ever known because we did not feel safe to return him to an environment made volatile by this action. To this day, no documentation, video, or
verified evidence of wrongdoing has been provided. Legal parental discipline within the school district cannot be based on hearsay or unchecked narratives and must be grounded in documented facts and due process. The manner in which this disciplinary action was taken reflects a misuse of authority and a
failure of due process that warrants board review andor corrective action. We respectfully ask the board to request a proper and independent review of our case to ensure district policies governing fairness, transparency, and due process for all parents are followed
districtwide to include written determinations supported by documented evidence. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> May May I leave these for your reference? >> Sure. >> Thank you.
Um, at this point I believe we are adjourned. >> I have a miscellane. >> Okay. >> So, do we have to say we're not adjourned now? >> Go on ahead. >> I'm going to address JBAA because I was
rudely cut off last time. First of all, we had 34 emails from parents and community members. We had nine speakers tonight and two SBOR student students
who spoke up to keep JBAA. That's 45 people. There were only 13 emails to suspend and two speakers. That's 15. This board did not listen to the
parents, the community, and the students. Regarding law, state law doesn't necessarily legally supersede federal law here. Federal preeemption could apply if the administration proves a direct
violation. In short, state laws can offer more rights. However, in diff in direct conflict with enforced federal requirements, federal law prevails. I would like to add something a
procedural complaint and keep in mind I've been going through this and this is part of the reason why I requested additional uh parliamentarian review. I was reading where the chair puts the question which you did on certain items tonight. are you ready for the question or is there further debate and there was
only an opportunity to speak one time and then it was cut off saying you know basically that it's not moving the needle procedure for smaller boards which is under 12 uh members a board member may speak any number of times not just twice or tonight just once on a
debatable questions except that regular rules apply to appeals there was no opportunity to do an appeal on that as Well, and so I would like um further research into whether or not procedures were followed correctly tonight. Thank
you. And now we are adjourned.