and the first tonight our student board representatives are Marin Hoffman and Danielle I'm not sure how to pronounce your last name It's Certic Certic Okay Thank you
Oh fantastic And I see you're wearing your sweaters Well groovy And the first item we have up for discussion is our um education legislative update with Amy Atwood who will be joining us by Zoom Good evening Can you hear me yes Great
Well good evening I am Amy Atwood lobbyist contract lobbyist for the district I am still here at the Capitol tonight We have had a very very big day today So let's just jump right in and
talk about the state budget and school funding So the state budget has not been introduced yet and it is running a week behind And because there are so many cuts in the state budget there were so many decisions that had to be made by
the joint budget committee that they they just couldn't get it get through all of it Usually it runs the last week of March first week of April We do anticipate that it will get introduced on Monday You may have read that the state
going into this year was over a billion dollars in the red So the budget committee has had to find millions and millions hundreds of millions of dollars to cut The good news is that today the joint budget
committee made the decision that the new school finance funding formula would go into place and start implementation next year in the 20 2526 budget There has been a lot of
behindthe-scenes lobbying and work done to not have the new formula go into place And so today was was a big vote that then this vote sets the stage for how much we will have in in school
funding for next year And there is not a large cut or even a cut at all to K12 funding We'll see once we see the budget on Monday but the
joint budget committee has been has been committed to not cutting K12 education So at least at least funding will be flat So next year will be like this year there may be an
increase So that is that's what you can plan on Um Peter and I have gone back and forth a number of times over these last few weeks with different scenarios and how how will it impact
uh D49 and everything is trending in a good in a good direction for the district So we should see the school finance act on Monday likely on Monday as well
and it'll run in conjunction with the budget So in our world having the budget close so it can get introduced and knowing how much money is going into into K12 education it is it is a big milestone
for everything we do in K12 legislation So that that's the budget and funding The next part that I want to give an update on is where are we in session so we have six weeks left of session
Session is four months If you remember it starts January this year it was January 7th and it goes through May 7th It's 120 days and there is a hard stop on May 7th So if bills have not passed
uh they they die they die what they call on the calendar because the funding is so tight this year or there are cuts We have not seen the amount of legislation the number of bills that we usually do We're
at about 550 bills with six weeks to go and last year we had 750 bills So because there isn't any money for legislation um it's really cut back on the amount of bills And we've also seen that in K12
legislation as well The numbers I mean we're we're at about 30% of the usual amount of bills that we're seeing in K12 education So with six weeks left um once we get through the budget we'll probably have
three weeks three and a half weeks left and bills will start to either pass because they were they've been funded in the budget or a lot of bills are going to die It has been not a particularly
contentious session so far and I think that's because a lot of bills are are sitting waiting to see if they'll get funding So there there haven't been the big floor debates in both chambers So the divisiveness
um we haven't seen that quite yet There have been a few bills but we really haven't seen that quite yet So with that I I want to open it up for questions if you have questions on specific pieces of legislation that you've heard about or I can go through
um a couple a couple of bills that you probably have heard about Director Hy Hi Amy Um so when I'm hearing about um the total allocation from the state
projected to be flat although of course it can still change between now and then and we've been seeing a statewide slow decline in student count So would that then would we expect to see a small increase in PPR as a result of all this
only if you are in a declining enrollment district So the districts that are seeing declining enrollment um they they are the ones that could be seeing a reduction but with all the
scenarios that we have seen um it is a four-year averaging which is what all the districts were planning on because that's what was passed last year was a four-year averaging and if they have um if they are seeing declines so that they're not held flat they will be held
flat So there's been a guarantee that districts that could be cut because of declining enrollment will won't be cut They'll be held flat Yeah that's another factor I wasn't thinking of Thank you for that Yeah My question is as far as you talked
about the bills that die on the calendar what other significant bills that directly affect K through 12 education that you see on the docket right now sure So House Bill 1278 Educator
Accountability System if you remember I've reported for the last two year two week two years that there has been the accountability task force that has been meeting to make recommendations to really revamp the entire accountability system So that
group came came forward with their recommendations They had 30 recommendations that they reported on in November And House Bill 1278 has all of the recommendations in it There were a number of amendments that passed today and the
amendments were to clarify the intent of the recommendation There wasn't a recommendation that was taken away It was more that the bill wasn't written to how the um how the task force the intent of the
task force So in a good good budget year it would have an impact on a district And I've worked with district staff all the way through They've seen the recommendations I've gotten feedback on the recommendations So we've been actively
engaged in in the recommendations and also in the bill Um but the bill costs over $5 million to implement So it won't be it won't be implemented in its current form There will be a lot of the
recommendations that will be stripped out of the bill and those are the big recommendations because those are the ones that will that will cost the state money So we'll we maybe will see a couple maybe a handful of them that come through but the biggies that would have
a real impact likely aren't going to pass Are you seeing that across the board with pending legislation where depending on the cost that's what could be throttling back some of it absolutely
Absolutely I think that um the budget the state budget is so so tight and and was in the hole going into this session that there really isn't money for new programs for anything new Just funding
what we currently have in the state has been a stretch So educa K12 education is out of all of the big departments coming out the best Um higher ed has been
cut Medicaid provider rates have been cut Um those are and and K12 education it doesn't appear is going to get cut So they have pulled from other places in the budget
um to you know just cover what is already in place So bills that are going to cost a lot of money are going or cost any money even $300,000 is going to have a hard time passing I do have another bill that I
would like to bring to your attention It is and this you specifically asked that would it impact the district So there is house bill 1210 data reporting requirements for kindergarten through 12th grade
schools So we have heard from districts all over that the data reporting is crushing It takes so much time It is so costly and it is so resource intense with all of the data reporting and
there's duplication from this report to this report or it's slightly different but it's asking the same question So 1210 sets up a task force to look at the data reporting requirements and really
try to streamline them down so that districts don't have to spend so much time on reporting And there is also some data reporting that the data just flat out isn't being used anymore It may never have been used but until there's an audit of all of the all of the
reporting we don't know which ones what can be streamlined and what can go away Am I correct that there were additional proposed amendments to the read act as well um you could There isn't a straight
up unless the education accountability system has read Act implications Right now there isn't a bill that specifically is targeting the READ Act Yeah I had heard about additional
amendments but I know it's been amended several times since its implementation So okay So I'll coordinate with you on that just because that was one thing I had heard Unless Peter have you heard about that as well no And I'm along with Amy
we pay attention to the legislative tracker from Colorado Association of School Executives Amy has her own tracker Um that's not one that and I and I attend either the legislative committee meetings themselves or the sessions when we had the case conference
And so the all of the attention and energy is around other things There's a financial literacy requirement There are some other kind of uh content specific requirements Not I have not heard any discussion at all about readact amendments
Student board are there any questions that you would like to ask i didn't have any at this time I do not have any Did you say I'm finished i think so And then uh just a quick
question Um do all of the board members have that bill tracker link so I received that last year but I have not received it this year Is it the same link um no it's a different link I can resend it I sent it like the very first
day of session on January 7th So I'll just resend it out to everyone and that has the full list of all the education bills on it And I would encourage you if you if you do click on a bill make sure you go to the most recent version the
latest version because at this point in time in session bills have changed a lot Um typically for the better and they've been amended So just when you click on it look for the most late the most It I think it says latest version
Thank you Okay Thank you so much And I think you're done Okay Thank you And please know you can always email me call me or text me if you hear of something and I can always chase it down All right
Thanks for all you do Thanks Bye Bye Next up we're on to item 1.22324 annual comprehensive financial report Thank you Thank you for having me
tonight Uh Tom Cair with Holy & Company We've been performing your annual audit for a number of years now Uh you should all have uh just a summary of my presentation for tonight and the big thick audit itself Um and I'm going to run down through that but certainly ask
any questions uh as you have them Uh our team was on site for about a week in early June uh testing controls and compliance Then we designed our audit uh programs our audit procedures based on
those tests uh field work was performed over a week towards the end of September this year Uh we found that the overall financial condition of the district is strong and the financial statements are presented fairly in all material respects Uh so as in past years we
issued an unmodified or clean opinion I mention this each year but it bears repeating You have you have two different presentations within the financial statements The fund statements reflect how the district keeps its books on a day-to-day basis Uh so reports that
the board receives and budgets are based on this fund presentation Uh the governmentwide statements on the first couple of pages of the the financial statements themselves uh combine all funds and are presented on the acrruel basis uh governmentwide statements
include capital assets uh debt and other long-term liabilities that are not included in the funds Uh so the first statement I want to look at is the statement of net position Uh it essentially it's the balance sheet for
the entire district Uh and hit a few highlights here Cash and investments for the year were down about $23.4 4 million uh primarily due to spending on capital projects Uh other assets were down about
$2.5 million That really was a timing difference Yes I just um for the display if you could click on the link so the community members can see what you're talking about would be great And then board members if you could hit refresh some of that information has been
updated Whoops Sorry to interrupt you That's all right Okay thank you And yes that's what we want
Excellent All right so I am on number three now All right Uh so again other assets down about $2.5 million Uh that's primarily primarily
due to a decrease in grants receivable which is a time just a timing difference Uh capital assets up $26.7 million That really corresponds to that decrease in cash as you spent monies down on mil
levy projects uh liabilities uh were up uh $32.9 million primarily made up of net position and OPED liabilities being up a little more than $40 million Those uh pension and oped liabilities vary
based on contributions as well as actuarial determinations and they can fluctuate quite a bit from year to year net position or equity in the governmentwide statements was down about uh
$144,000 or 0.2% So no no big changes there Moving on to the general fund and just really looking at a ratio of your uh fund balance to expenditures that
increased this year from about 75 days to 99 days uh long-term debt Uh no additions there this year Uh bonds uh capital leases uh were paid according to debt service
schedule So nothing unusual there In number six here I'm just going to hit a few highlights on the funds Uh the general fund was up $12.4 million Uh overall revenue was up about 12% while overall
expenditures were uh up about 4% Debt service fund balance was up about $5.6 million Grant receipts were down about $2 million as Esser grants uh phased out and got on to you just kind of got on to
normal grant footing This year capital projects mill levy fund balance was down about $49 million with five pardon me with $53 million spent on capital projects Internal controls are a big
focus of our audit the big focus of our financial audit as well as the um the grants audit Uh we had no internal control findings this year on either one So it's really good news uh federal awards again big focus of our audit
There were no compliance issues noted in current year So a good clean report there And last I just want to express our appreciation for having us do the audit again this year and to the finance
team with Heather and her group It was a challenging year this year because they didn't have their people at the top Um it was down to Heather and she did a great job bringing everybody together So thank you to Heather but I'm happy to answer any questions
Student board do you have any questions i don't I do not Board Okay Director Hy So I just want to make sure that the folks know that um this isn't a rubber stamp thing You guys are getting in there and you're really
looking Uh are you guys the company that did the audit for a nearby district that has been making the news recently for all the wrong reasons yes you're the first the second person that asked me that tonight So and that's if there's issues you're going to see them reported
Thank you Director Levier Okay I believe you all have been doing D49s for at least 16 maybe even more like 20 years at least Maybe longer Yeah pretty close I think since
2011 maybe 2010 So well Yep So because I've never heard from any audit company but yours Um and I was 2011 was the first one I would have heard and then read and heard on combo And I can tell you if you look at older audits you will
see things that needed to be improved Um and as a board and as a district historically um over multiple boards those were taken seriously and addressed systematically That's right So it's taken a lot of work and I think Heather's been there for a lot of that work because she's been in our district
for a long time so she can attest to that too So if you think there was a rubber stampin go look 20 years ago and take a look at what it has taken to improve each of those pieces and the systems that have been built to do it based on their feedback which is also
incredibly important because people can be to trying to do the right thing but unless you have someone help you see where your blind spots are you can't get better So thank you Thank you Director Dvola Yes I want to uh personally thank Heather for all the work that she has
done Uh we really value you getting in the trenches and being there for so long in order for the consistency to continue to happen Um and you've definitely been a backbone of that department So thank you so much for all of that hard work that you've put into making sure we have
clean audits I have to piggy that a bit because District 49 has always led the way when it comes to financial transparency And since you audit both us and other districts you know that we do a lot with a little Yes That there are other
districts that are far better funded than district 49 And so when it comes to uh being good stewards of our resources um I appreciate the auditing and the double-checking and I appreciate all the hard work that our team does to do a lot
with a little So thank you Are there any other questions may I make an additional comment in in addition to the welldeserved accolades for Heather and the team because it really does take a team and that team has been operating um
thin for about 18 months truthfully Um so they've done just a remarkable job Um remember when we came to you and and you would have seen Spencer present earlier in the school year that we were going to have a mild shortfall in enrollment that was going to be that was going to lead
to a about a million.2 lower revenues and yet you just heard Tom say we were 0.2% change negative in our net position What that means is that zone leaders and principals and department leaders certainly our financial staff everybody
was incredibly attentive this year to make sure that that 1.2 million never touched a classroom didn't touch students Um and I'm really proud of the team that did that And part of why we can do that is because we get such great partnership with our auditing firm So we
know what we can do and we know what we should avoid Um so deep gratitude throughout the organization because this year we we protected our mission critical learning and teaching from what what could have been more impactful than
it was Well said Thank you so much for coming Thank you all very much Have a good evening Next we have item 1.3 director of building maintenance and director of grounds maintenance Dr Fletcher is going to present
uh Dr Fletcher executive director of facilities and operations I was just realizing it had been a while since I've been up here So welcome back Um I said my mom she taught me about there's never a wrong time to do the right thing Um my K12 mentor Peter
Hilts has told myself and many audiences about doing the next right thing I think that's an example of what we have in front of us right now Um definitely entrenched in the cultural compass about how we treat each other and how we treat our work Um if you had
a poll said we value all people's opinions So if you're at a poll and you ask most people they'd probably say because this is not about the people in the position right now but they're great examples so I have to bring them into it If you ask them about Daniel if you ask them about CJ they would probably already say "Aren't they directors?" And
I would say to you they are When we did this in conso consultation with Paul Anderson um really and truly by definition we could have simply said "Let's just change the titles." nothing substantial was very much changed inside of the um uh job description and could
have done it administratively But I think when we have an opportunity to be transparent and do the right thing in front of people we should give our governments that opportunity because you're going to get enough eye from people when you do things they don't like But I think this is a thing
that we can do together Um long story short uh Daniel and CJ are the faces of this But um in the past we had co-directors and the natural progression when these things got big enough for them to
independently take on their teams the natural migration would be director director Uh somewhere in the mix right there we decided to create wholly new you know nomenclature for them group manager Um it doesn't communicate
necessarily internally and it definitely doesn't communicate externally And as we look toward many of us who are getting more and more gray hairs most of my mine are in my beard The ones on top I execute Um we know that there's going to be some turnover in the future and we're
going have to replace us with some new people are going to be good people to respect the cultural compass And for us to attract those people we need to make sure that what we do internally communicates not only what we uh see in action every day but also what
communicates from what we believe in every day from the cultural compass So that's kind of what this is all about I mean uh the difference in pay I'll give some history on it kind of thing like that is kind of is kind of negligible because what we have done and one of the habits we got into and Paul Anderson thank goodness is getting us out of it
is stipens We would put stipens daisy chain on top of stipens and daisy chain on top of stipens What are stipens for they're for temporary things that you do for a little bit not for things you do forever So it does a couple things It doesn't necessarily make their retirement right Uh it doesn't
necessarily um honor them and it also puts them in a place where you got to wonder if you get those stipens from year to year So what we're really doing in this whole process right here is changing the name Nothing substantive has changed about their roles Daniel's still going to be out there at 3:00 in the morning
caring about all of us and using trucks and whatever to shovel snow and talking about the roads and driving around and leading a team in the dark while we sleep so that we can be safe when we wake up Um Daniel's still going to be out there when a pipe burst at 2 o'clock
in the morning with his team or HVAC goes down or during the day and that kind of thing He's still going to be doing the same things he did before But um what it will signal now to people is that they are rightfully and truly the directors they've always been and we get
the opportunity to put them in a place where we respect that job and we respect uh that position and we respect people coming in after them who know what it is and I think this is kind of extension of the educational program too We talk
about pathways All pathways aren't college intensive and we don't want to create a cast system where it's second class and first class citizens and things like that is about the work If you do the work and you have the job you are the person you know So with that you
know preamble um I'm here to answer your questions about things you really want to know about I know one question is always asked Um this is not increasing the amount of administrators because they're already administrators Go Would you find Dr pleasure just opening the presentation just so the public can
see it with us here Absolutely The press of a button As a retired Air Force missile I'm scared to press a button because I don't want to nuke anything But there you go Uh this one is for the director of grounds maintenance and it would be taking the
place of the um uh grounds group mana man grounds group manager position And one interesting you'll see we don't know what we're going to call it finally right there is that I always ask the question why are we facilities and operations they said well operations doesn't have any directors I mean facilities don't have any directors
because everything is operations so with this change we'd also have the occasion to fold facilities into operations so I don't know I'll be called you can call me Lou but um at the end of the day we'll make sure this is right for the next person who comes in who looks at it and understands they want to lead in a
great school district um do you want to see the other one as well cuz I don't want to press another button Let's see we got here Anything that doesn't require a special code or a backup system you're probably safe I know I know No unlocks came from the
National Command Authority And I don't need to put a keys in and uh turn keys on Count now Stop That's a flashback But here's the director of building maintenance And it's a little bit about these two teams These teams are very large teams that need to have this kind
of level of re leadership day and night Um if you compare it to any other director in our district uh they really have probably in most cases more budget authority and more span of control than many directors we have in the district So you know as we tell our kids on their
pathways it all means something when you get to the end of it Some people are going to go down the microwave some people are going to go down the Dr Lou way you know and um both are very valid and both should be valued And if are there any other questions yeah So student board these are the
people who do heating cooling road maintenance clearance and everything to keep schools going good Do you guys have any questions about these positions so is this just a change of title or is it like a Essentially it's a change of title Okay Um but it's not a change of
responsibility It's a matter it's a recognition of the responsibility that these individuals have had right for a long time There was an opportunity in the past where we could have made this move and we decided not to and we made a different we made a different title for it I think disalines things right okay Thank you Thank you I do not have any
questions And Director Schmidt I saw you raise your hands Thank you Um given the tight budget is this the time really to add to new administration positions i mean can
we do a possible pause on this until we see where that's all where money's all going for clarification it's not adding to administration positions These are already administration positions and the difference in you know the difference in
pay is negligible really Um we don't know the we don't know the pinpoint exact amount which Paul Anderson give us later because we don't know what raises are and what that kind of thing would be for next year But behind whatever their regular salary is they already have at
least regularly recurring stipens So it's not really it's not really the budget hit you would think it is and it's not adding administrators at all I appreciate your question though Superintendent Hilts do you have a breakdown on as far as our administration because this isn't adding to it but I think when it comes to the
breakdown we do pretty well I I do have a breakdown Um and actually I've seen some of the national publications about uh you know skyrocketing administrative ratios and I'm really proud uh that in the 13 years I've been here we have actually decreased our administrative
ratio One of the one of the ways we've been able to do that is by holding and retaining people who give above and beyond In most districts there would be somebody probably with a title like assistant superintendent for operations and and grounds or something like that
And then that person would have supervision of these two individuals We are able to just frankly be more efficient because we have such great performance in those roles and I wholeheartedly support this Um it is it is not it is not no raise There will be
a raise because directors are paid at a different level But it is absolutely respectful of the responsibility and the performance that we expect from this position And the reason we expect it from this position is because Daniel and
CJ have shown us what is possible And so yes we we're not promoting people we're promoting the positions but we're able to promote the positions with confidence because these people have shown us how valuable they are And so I I wholeheartedly stand behind this And in the context yes we run very thin Sorry
long-winded answer to a short question Our our ratio is actually lower than it has been Um it's lower than it was 13 years ago I think there have been some variations but we have maintained an extraordinarily low administrative ratio and we continue and will continue to do that
Director Levier Right So when we were doing that calculate really you're there's no there's no change in personnel We're we're eliminating one title and creating another title Yes Um and paying more appropriately by instead of doing I'm guessing this was on the pro tech pay scale and then with stipens
No this was or was it on it got moved to administrator scale a while ago when I did the group manager piece Okay So it was actually so it was on the administrative and is still on the administrative It's just getting taken care of to make sure we're not doing stipening in addition so that it's
actually a more clear budget item So therefore it's not even so it was already classified that way as a manager position And it's one of those things where you'll get a great a great presentation from Paul in a few weeks I don't know when it is but he um eloquently puts it out there how we are trying to get ourselves in the right
lanes that we're supposed to be in And I think we're we were we were kind of a leader in this case instead of a lagard and we got there first But I think you'll see more more of the same But okay from a from a topline and bottom line perspective we're not we're not doing anything that negatively impacts
the district financially Okay Well and it didn't it if it was listed as pay range administrative pay schedule before and now then it is truly a zero sum administrative change Yeah Even in terms of what little column you're putting it in the spreadsheet
Yeah absolutely Which you know shifts fractional things a little bit Um and I'm gonna indulge and just give a a CJ story um because I've known him a very long time But the man's dedication his wife now works in a different position
She's moved throughout the district but when mine were little she was the attendance secretary at Stson And that man was driving and finishing clearing and the first time he'd seen his wife in 24 hours was when he finished plowing
the parking lot at Stson and she pulled in as he left to do another school Um so he he's it was amazing to just kind of he was like "Well yep See you later Britney I'm going home I'm going to sleep." You know as they passed one another to do
that work and both very positive and did it without anybody ever saying thank you I think there was a time when we had a big storm and we did something and it was overwhelming to them because no one was ever recognizing how essential they were and how much they do And he's been
doing that consistently and working through all of the pieces for well over 20 years Yeah And I spent 20 years in the military and what you described right there we call leadership 100% Director D'vola Yeah Uh both of these men are very
deserving of having the correct title Um for sure And I will have to say the um my first few weeks on the board uh I I had the privilege of meeting CJ in his office and just having him show me around And I was very impressed by his
level of knowledge and um his uh personal personable um persona and how he just welcomed me and we were able to talk and um I was very impressed by his leadership qualities in the very few
moments that I got to spend with him Um so he made a big impression Um for sure I I 100% agree and support both of these Yeah rest assured education doesn't happen without what they do Are there any other
questions okay if there are no objections this will be moved into action at the April 10th board meeting Thank you very much Connley and um have a wonderful evening Next we are on to 1.4 for policy and procedure review
So these are just our normal updates that we get every now and then Does anyone have any questions director Schmidt I was a little alarmed I was a little alarmed with the um the restraint one
I'm just curious if we can kind of pull that out and look at that a little bit further before we move on with it I believe there's two of them Are you talking about both there's two Both And I think some of that ties in
with state law Um so I don't know if Superintendent Hilts wants to address those changes Director Dvola Yeah I might I have um a clarification slashquest that I think might help um with this process
Um there was a a typo that was in um the restraint um that I wanted to make sure everyone knew that we had or that that had been fixed Um and it's under the JKA the first document under straight restraint The first paragraph if
property damage may be involved restraint may only be used when the destruction of property could possibly result in bodily harm to the individual or another person So I had asked a question because it did say may not And so I believe we clarified that to be may
instead of may not Um I don't know if that helps to clarify any questions that you had on that one Okay And then also um it is my understanding because I have also been CPI um trained Um that's the
holds training that uh our professionals go through in order to restrain um students Uh I believe that uh state law says that we are not able to physically restrain them even if they are causing
um property damage unless it is under this category that they will be um uh showing bodily harm Yeah if I may if I if I may speak to this and and Brad may want to uh improve my answer Um there is a long tradition under the
general umbrella of a duty of care The antithesis of that or the inverse of that would be negligence And so there are situations where an adult a responsible adult needs to rest restrain a child That child may be imminently harming others imminently harming themselves or or the adult in that case
Um so we have a duty of care that involves restraint And if we fail to restrain when restraint is appropriate then we're negligent But it would be completely inappropriate of us to do that randomly So we have a policy framework We have expert training We have legal analysis
We have statutory guidance And we are following all that The majority of these green green line changes here are things that bring us fully into compliance with evolving statutory language or with our understanding of best practices And so
um what I do not want to do is ask Dr Lemon to come up and defend uh an entire policy for which she's not uh prepared she is always prepared But if there are specific questions if the board would like to bring this back um I would ask that the the board determine whether there's a majority consensus because if
it's if it's Director Schmidt specifically I'm happy to talk about those things when we meet one-on-one uh tomorrow Friday excuse me Um or we could have a meeting with Dr Lamond But generally speaking we have to have the policy and the policy has to be right
and we have to train to and and implement it as it's written So that's why the dash R is also important because that's our implementation of the policy Director Dola Yeah if I may
um I understand the the legality part of this Uh I don't know if there's anything else that we could possibly add maybe in a different area or a different place um of how to help students to um uh repay
or pay recompense for damages um if they do have property damage involved um that would be part of showing uh personal responsibility um and making sure that they do repay um
the damages that they they uh occurred If I may respond to that the board the board has previously adopted a policy on restorative practices That is not a synonym for restorative justice That has its own unique place in the discussion But but some of the restorative
practices include um personal acknowledgement and taking responsibility personto person It also can include rest restitution can it can include financial restitution But I'll tell you what um you spend some time scrubbing graffiti off a wall in cold
temperatures you are experiencing a natural consequence And so your commitment as a board to restorative practices includes restitution on a personal level on a on an environmental or physical level and on a financial level Those are all already encased in our policy
And I'm going to just make a general comment that with some of the green line changes they are either statutory changes and not only that we have such a great safety and security team that are up to date on training And so if there's something else that could be looked at I'm not in favor of pulling this out
because it's bringing us into compliance but I think it could be something that if someone has concerns they could address some of that Director Li you're right Um as an aside on the property damage anyone over the age of 10 can be charged criminally for the property
damage to schools and sometimes when it's egregious do get charged and then the court makes them pay restitution to the court which then anyone whether it's private property or public get um restored So there's another layer to those pieces Um and many of these green
pieces if I remember correctly these laws some of these laws were put into effect after there were some very specific things that did not happen here but happened in other places in D49 where specifically children with special needs who were under various types of
restraint in districts who weren't implementing appropriately were harmed And so state statute changed to address those problems Um and that that's what I'm reading here because I I tend to follow those pieces of the law very
fairly carefully as a parent Um so I'm in favor of moving it forward as written to ensure that we're fully compliant and we're recognizing those additional pieces Um and then if there has to be another review of this at a later date we can do that But I'd rather have what
we should be having legally in place in place Director Hy Yeah I just wanted to circle back to what you were just saying Marie because I think you may have accidentally had a slip of the tongue and I want to make sure we clear this up The things that you were talking about those events none
of them happened in D49 Is that correct correct They were not here Thank you Director Dola Um and also we do get another chance to look it over because if we move it to the next agenda that's another opportunity for us to have input
So I'm in favor of moving it forward to our next meeting So students I know this might be an interesting topic you don't think about too often Do you have any questions about this i do not
I don't know it Okay If there are no objections this will be moved into action at the April 10th board meeting Next up we have proposed policy revisions for AD School District 49
identity vision mission and philosophy And director Schmidt do you want to put forth the logic this was something that was agreed to by the board at the annual planning summit is to take a look at it Now one thing I have to state is that there were a couple of additions and changes made to it after the meeting was
published that would be part of the discussion So I don't know Lynette can you upload the latest Okay Do we need to hit refresh on ours too okay And then director Schmidt we'll go cover some of the other changes as we go through this if you would like to make
the presentation So there are nine proposed rei revisions to policy ad The first proposed revision is just a spelling error I'm sure we can all agree on that The second proposed revision is to include the long form
version of the vision statement in the policy because it is good I'm not sure why it wasn't in the first place in there in the first place The third proposed revision was originally changed from caring to supportive but after thought and this is where the updating
it now comes in Um after that after thinking about it um the revision reads we will prepare students in a safe caring and supportive environment Um that's keeping our mission statement grounded in a safe environment for
students and teachers because it's a state statute The fourth proposed revision change changes um changes a global society to a constitutional republic because that is our form of government
We are a constitutional republic Um nowhere in 2232 109 is the phrase global society which means it is not state required policy language Correct me if I'm wrong Um the preferred language in
this proposed revision is constitutional republic The fifth proposed revision would now state that we are committed to meeting students needs and it includes a list of academic needs social needs and
physical needs with definitions So academic needs would be students led by educators Students led by educators will take on an active role in their own learning The achievement of significant educational outcomes will be a major
goal as well as a measure of success for each student Some of that is the same I just did it all in green just for the ease of it Um social needs Parents are predominantly responsible for a student's social well-being However
parents can work in partnership with school staff in the social development of students And the last one is the physical needs D49 will offer nutritious meals physical activity and an accessible and safe environment where
all students can thrive So that's all in the fifth proposal The sixth proposed revision states that every student has the potential to achieve excellence I believe that by giving our teachers great materials and techniques our
students all have great potential The seventh proposed revision states "Responsible and productive citizens are the foundation of a constitutional republic that replaces I believe
democracy." Um this again is our form of government That's why I'm asking for this change Um the eighth proposed revision is all students can learn and want to learn In my experience no matter what the
circumstances of life all children and really people in general gain profound pride and self-esteem in learning and they want to be successful in school and life And then the ninth proposed revision says individuals are
responsible and accountable for their own actions which is self-explanatory So those are the nine proposed revisions and they are up for discussion I guess now Yeah I think if we cover some of them
individually because there were other proposed comments and revisions and um so if we start back to the Yeah And that way we can have consensus for each one of what goes in what stays what goes and what the board comes to a
consensus about So we're starting about the very first choice If you could go to that It's just Yeah Oh the first one was the spelling correction I think we have consensus for spelling
mistake Okay Okay And the next yep the long form We endeavor to be the best choice in education by respecting the voice of our community delivering valid path valued
pathways for students in pursuing performance excellence And the only comment we have there it should be run through formal input channels before adding and and there was a discussion It was a valid discussion when some of this was originally created um to include the
beginnings of our cultural compass They had town halls they had different meetings Um they had the school accountability committees and the and the district accountability committees We've had a couple of revisions since that time I'm not sure if every revision went through that process I I don't
believe that they did May I speak to that Miss Thompson yes please So the revisions went through different kinds of processes Some things like the revision of the rocks We had a big survey process Um the revision to the compass because this is version 20 Um we
had multiple board meeting discussions but we didn't run a survey uh at that time Um but the point is when you're making changes to your core commitments it's reasonable to give people an opportunity to give input Some of these additions and and the one that we're
specifically discussing right now what we call the long form of the vision that has actually been approved by the board multiple years in a row because it's part of our waypoints document which is navigating the cultural compass It's already in there And it is it is my
fault I'll say a tiny bit tongue and cheek that out of our foreigner policies I didn't make sure this one was well aligned with the document that it hosts Um the document that it hosts is actually something you're required to vote on annually And you have this doesn't come up very often And so this
actually lags the document What this what this recommended language the long form vision does is it brings the policy in line with the uh with the expression of the policy It's not it's not just a regulation It's
actually the elaboration of this policy And so um I I will say just from the administrative side we we we support this as we have for multiple years But to your broader question public input has had a lot of looks It's come through DACK and SAC student board has weighed
in The board repeatedly has weighed in Public forum has weighed in but we've also engaged our comm's team to do surveys and town halls And so um it we have never lacked for input on these processes Director
are we moving on to the next item yet because I think we already have a consensus on the long one All right let's move on to the next one then Right So um I'm a proponent of um you know anything that we may hear that is
substantial and meaningful should probably not just be done in one or two quick sessions with the five of us I really feel like the this district you know we can't compete financially for for talent for
families you know we we have our own special sauce that we use um to give us a competitive edge and that has two important components So there's the calendar which we recently had to do some updates to but we were very careful not to make any substantial changes Um
and then our culture which this establishes the baseline for that So I would strongly support any um any further um meaningful changes to it being done in a more communal manner Um
and so this next one up here is a good example because okay um we're changing from global society to constitutional republic Now neither one of those are incorrect We live in a constitutional republic and we participate in a global
society But does that inform how our you know teachers are presenting the world to our students and and the students place in it and is that something that we want to be giving careful consideration to rather than just
rushing through a process with the five of us um actually I think in a way it aligns with what we've discussed as far as having an American history course And so when you look at are we totally changing the meaning well right here we do have
something different One of this provoke proposed revisions is um constitutional republic in the world at large that kind of ties them together And that's one of the changes that we're discussing right now And so I didn't know if anyone else has
any input on that particular one Director Schmidt there's a lot of reasons that globalization is good but there's a lot of reasons that globalization is not
good Um you can have loss of cultural identity So even though you're sharing and exchanging cultures and traditions and building respect at the same time you can be undermining the richness of
diversity and dilute local cultural identities and traditions This can lead to cultural homogenization Speaking for myself I prefer not to dilute our culture and traditions with ideas from say Sharia law North Korea's
authoritarian system or the ethnic cleansing as you see in Rwanda or my Mayanmar There's a loss of cultural identity and I just don't want to see that I want to see America stay America Um there's also economic issues Um
wealthier countries and corporations often benefit the most from this Um and that leads to greater economic divides Um there's power struggles there's trade wars there's ideological conflicts as nations compete for resources influence
and security Um poor countries where labor laws may be weaker can be exploited In Bangladesh an estimated four million people work in the garment industry where the average worker earns less than a in a month than a US worker earns in one
day It also contributes to environmental degradation Industrial globalization increases pollution deforestation and carbon emissions In the pursuit of global trade corporations may chase profits with little regard for
sustainability Differences in regulations among countries can also result in pollution havens where industries relocate to be in areas with lacks environmental standards So there's a lot of not so good things about
globalization about a global society that we should probably discuss and consider Director Levier rightight so a global society The way in which it phrased isn't necessarily talking about whether globalization
either However this is part of why I strongly suggest we take those nuances and ask our community what is most reflective of where they are using the set of tools And an example in the past
that isn't necessarily related to this was the renaming of the district And I can tell you the majority of the board at the time thought there was nothing Um and that educational philosophy statement shouldn't say Falcon School District number 49 anymore because we are no longer titled that and haven't been for a really long time In fact that
was a giant um I I remember the three officers and the majority of the board thinking it wasn't going to be a big deal And two of us said um I bet it will be And the two of us who said "Oh I bet it will be," were right Um and it
changed perception and we still went down the line of saying what can we do differently to make it all of these legal different places were recorded legally the same and came up with something that resonated with our whole community instead of only parts of it Um having that discussion this to me is
very very similar in that you could ask which of these phrases is most reflective of how you would like our students to see their role and how we teach it Right because in fact many of the things you're talking
about that understanding requires the addressing those things like way understanding that when you order from Timu you might be supporting slave child child slave labor in another country and did you know you were doing that right So you ordered your $2 thing that's $10
somewhere else and in fact there's a six-year-old in a sweat shop making it somewhere Did you know that you don't know that if you're not educated about the global society and you're only educated about what's happening in the United States I don't know what happens in those pieces but that's why things in
mission statements matter and why we should be asking And so to me rather than five of us saying this is what we think is most reflective of where the five of us are coming from say we are looking at this phrase in our mission
statement here are five different versions and do you suggest another version and see what kind of feedback you get because sometimes the feedback you get is better than anything the five of us could come up with and addresses the same concern addresses the concern
um that director Schmidt is bringing up So that's my perspective and that's my perspective honestly on quite a few of these things is that because language matters let's ask Director D'vola So I uh what's really important
to note is it does say that um by learning working and leading we will prepare students and then I'm going to skip a few things to be successful competent and productive citizens in and then we had a global society Well in order to be considered
citizens that means you're a citizen of a country and that country is the United States of America which is a constitutional republic So if we're going to have um and that has already been pre-approved as that citizens piece what's extremely important is to to note
that uh in order for us to be productive citizens we have to know we live in a constitutional republic And uh to Deb or to Director Schmidt's point um our economy is different How we run our uh
elections is different Um we took um valuable um things from our founding fathers uh in order for us to create a society that has not been um matched in the entire world Um and so we are very proud of that and we had that at our
last discussion of uh the reasons why we wanted US history history to be a required course because our citizens need to know who who we are uh where we've come from in order for us to continue this great great nation and not
lose our society as a whole Um and so I actually would propose instead of saying in a constitutional republic we would change it to of a constitutional republic because the citizens of a constitutional public instead of just being in one
Miss Thompson Yes Mr Miller Point of privilege please We've just been remarkably successful in winning on a summary judgement motion in a case having to do with the limited public forum that we are And I'm going to ask you to ask the audience not to
verbally or audibly respond as you guys are interacting here tonight We need to be consistent in our practice Okay So that's what we're talking about right now which is a separate case right now as far as limited public participation which uh I understand just
to keep the meeting flowing and to avoid reactions for now That would be most appreciated Um you know one thing I have to say is I think there's a way to marry these two things together because we are a constitutional republic with
representative government And I think omitting that from once again tying in with citizen is is an omission And I think you can tie it together because I do believe that not only has America had a great role throughout our history with
global issues We are not independent of ourselves I was a little bit saddened where I had one person say that the phrase constitutional republic was a dog whistle No it's a system of government And if you ever read the book 5,000-year leap you'll see that it's kind of a
remarkable form of uh of running a country So likewise we are interdependent on other countries for goods and materials We have trades There's a lot of discussion going on right now about different trade wars or tariffs We are interdependent And I
recommend if you get a chance to look over either the YouTube clip or a little short reading summary called I pencil and it shows all the materials that are needed to make a pencil and how they come from different countries and how they come together to that bright number
two pencil that has are they still using those for tests but if you get a chance check into eye pencil And so I think that uh America we've had our flaws like every country throughout our history but for the most part we have been a force
for good throughout the world So my proposal would be is that we find a way to tie them together But I don't think you have just one or the other That you just talk about a global society and you fail to mention where we're at We have
exchange students and they come here to learn about the United States of America If they're from Japan they don't come here to learn about Japanese culture They know all about it And so when we have exchange students or students who are here from another country I think it's important for them to understand
what it is So I would like to find a way to marry those two phrases together that we are citizens of a constitutional republic but we have a place in the world Director Schmidt Oh I'm sorry Superintendent Hill since we've been through one round may I make may I make
one quick observation um I would ask you to as a board please be considerate of what a mission statement is It it's intended to be a short punchy We could laden this up by saying learning working leading and collaborating because collaborating is really important And we will prepare students in a safe caring
and joyful And so we could we could layer more on This language was at the top of every agenda for a dozen years I just went back and looked at one from from September of 2013 when I had first joined the district It didn't yet say learn work and lead but it said
everything else including a global society Here's my recommendation and it it will offend proponents and and and opponents equally I think we ought to put a period after the word citizens And here's why Danielle's a citizen of the Falcon community of El Paso County of a
home rule school district and of the state of Colorado None of those are constitutional republics All that citizenship really matters And so I I would suggest there's a way that we'll be it doesn't make the political point or the cultural point in either direction but it focuses on what we need
from our students which is in whatever entity you are a citizen of be a really good one which is kind of a Abraham Lincoln sort of expression Whatever you are be a good one I would also suggest we ask the students
We've gone through one round but we haven't on any of the edits We haven't asked the students yet what they think Actually I was going that direction Marin is there anything you'd like to add to this one um I think when it I
think uh like reading it and like listening to your guys' comments I think Mr Hilt's comment was probably the best Um it keeps it general without going into specifics but it also is like it stays inclusive and we're not specifying
who or what they have to be So I think putting a period citizens is perfectly fine as a mission statement for a school district Danielle I'm on the same boat with Marin on that And I also agree with um I
forgot your name but I agree with you about how um you should add of wait in a global no of a constitutional republic because that is who we are as Americans And I feel like on the same boat what you guys were talking about how it is
very important to educate them on American history too because that is who we are as a nation And we could use world history to help educate them on like labor industries and stuff like that Director Schmidt I would just put forth that the
comm the community has already spoken because they voted us in We speak for them Director Hile Yeah I want to endorse uh Superintendent Hiltz's solution I think it's the
simplest It's the most elegant It keeps us um uh you know neutral um politically um and that's probably where we should be Director Dvola um I wasn't aware that
saying we're a constitutional republic was political but um I would go ahead and I personally would move this forward for um action at our next meeting um with the change of of or in to of a
constitutional republic Period Director Marie Liv you're right If I had to pick between the three I'm picking Peter's version Um but again it doesn't take that much to ask
And yes I was elected I've been elected in contested elections three times and I've not once presumed that I automatically knew that the people who voted for me knew what I thought about every single piece of this And even when I
thought I knew I'd rather be gut checked because I'd rather take longer and make sure it's truly reflective of our whole community than simply the circle I live in because we each live in our own circle and we hear the voices within our circle but that those circles aren't our
whole community Um and I think we do better when we ensure that we're listening And if the feedback overwhelmingly comes that it's of a constitutional republic period and we're not interested in any other pieces then you know what that's the community's feedback And I say "Okay not what I
would have thought but okay." And I move forward Um I would hope that others would be as open to hearing that and not just through open forum and email because we all know we hear the same voices and they're the same restricted
groups Um they're not really expansive and of our whole community You know one comment I would like to make and it's a conversation that I have had with Director Hy It's a conversation I've had with director Schmidt Um because we hear the word constituents
and I have to tell you this that the constituents are the people who voted for you and the people who didn't vote for you In Falcon District 49 we have director districts but that doesn't mean we only own this little area That was something that was set in place by the voters on a 3 to1 basis to split into
director districts Okay But that doesn't mean that I only represent my director district and the people who voted for me I've talked to a couple of people who actually did not vote for me and uh we've been able to reach an understanding on several things over
time I represent the Falcon district I represent the S Creek district I represent the power zone the icon zone I represent districts I do not live in And so I will get that input and listen to other voices And I think it's really
important for everyone to listen to other voices that are voices you don't normally hear from And at the same point we have to reach a decision because we are elected representatives One of the reasons why I wasn't really in favor of going through the whole process again is because we're not rebuilding it We're
changing words and ideas and attitudes can adjust I heard some surveys the other day that showed over the past 20 years younger people have shifted away from spreading democracy around the globe or nation building that there is less support let's say for NATO or for
the United Nations Times do change And so I think to look at some of this I think some people think a constitutional republic is a dog whistle Some people think the word global is tying into globalization and that that's a dog whistle And the only dog whistle I've
ever used is one to train a dog So I think that we have to discuss words and we have to have debate because that's how this country was formed And so are there any other comments before we decide whether or not to move this one forward okay So is this one that we want
to move forward in this you're going to have to clarify the change Oh yes And then so are we staying are we ending with a constitutional republic are we going to end with citizens so I'd like to hear from each director on that portion of a
constitutional republic Citizens Again I think you should ask but citizens because asking doesn't mean going through town halls It means asking the communications department to do a couple of surveys of a couple of various
stakeholder groups and yet you'd have the you could have the feedback by your next work session Um and empower your community and make them feel heard at the same time which is what that whole like when we talk about
sustaining enduring trust that's how we did it in the past and that would move in that direction But if I have to pick between the two it's citizens period Director Dola constitutional republic
I have another question I'd like to ask the board is if there are areas where we don't have a strong consensus if you are open to the idea of surveys or not Now I am going to tell you that right now my answer would be citizens in a
constitutional republic because that's what we are So right now we have kind of a three-2 situation with citizens So my only question is is the board open to having that go out as a survey question to various groups within our communities
Yes We would need to make sure we have parameters over who that survey would go out to No input here from Mr Hilts Mr Hilts As far as typically for this kind of a survey
we're we're relatively open-ended We posted on our social media and web web presence platforms and then we don't we don't make any specific attempt to vet um or or take identity Um
this so we we could gather public input on this Um we have we have other uh we have other entities like our school and and district accountability committees uh that could that could weigh in our student board And this isn't
urgent We've been a long time with this Um and I will uh I'll lead enthusiastically in in whichever of these constructions go forward Um by the way below I would I would strongly support the shift from a democratic society to a constitutional republic
under the educational philosophy section I'm more I'm I'm you guys know me Um I'm I'm a simpleton or a simplifier and and that's why we have a vision and mission statement that are three words long because sometimes you need to be able to
communicate quickly and concisely Um and if your mission statement is provoking disagreement that's a problem And so that's that's what's motivating me Not because I I oppose or it's because I'm the one that uses that thing
all the time I use it when I hire I use it when we onboard And so um I just I want to make sure that it does for us what a mission statement needs to do for us which is which is less than 30 second elevator discussion of what we are and
and this is a it is taking a position and it is absolutely the board's prerogative to take that position Um I I would agree just grammatically I think of you are citizens of a republic not just citizens in a
constitutional republic Um so if we if we move that forward and I would apply that language to whatever the 13th bullet I think in the list down below Um but we can run a public input process pretty rapidly What we can't do is say
well we have to prove that you're a district parent or a district student or a district That that would be another order of many Yeah that can pose its own issues So I just I just have one proposal to run past the board real quick so we can move forward If we were to end citizens with a period and then
down below keep the change that says responsible and productive cit citizens are the foundations of a constitutional republic would that would help balance out some of the concerns So that's a proposal I'd just like to hear what you think
of and we'll even go back to the students to say what they think Marin Um I think the idea of a survey is good Um getting as much opinion as you can from the community is always a good option Um as well as maybe what uh Mr
Hilts was saying bringing this back to the student board because ultimately the students are who matters here Um so I think if we talk to them about it at our next meeting that would be good input for you guys to receive um as board members when uh considering what to
proceed with in this l Danielle I think a survey too and bring it to the student board too If we're going to do a survey we need to have adult members as well And I don't disagree that it should be sach stacks It should be people who are
actually involved with the district if we go that direction Director Levier right well and that in part is part of the point of the survey So if we did it in the manner Peter is discussing um similar to the
way we do the weather ones right and I guarantee you there are people who do not have children in our district who also comment on those and they check the boxes off and you can see it on the comments But we have a set of tools communications is great at doing and they can have the person self-classify
check all that apply Are you a parent an employee a resident uh whatever and it's self-reporting So can some people lie yes Do the majority of people lie when they check those boxes off no So will it give you a temperature of where people
are who are interested enough to be following it yes So there's that piece And then student board of reps the DAC um and if Peter can if there's any place else we should be kind of like SKAC
would be perfect Um throwing it in and saying "Hey you know just give us your feedback on this." Um ultimately as a board you can choose to completely ignore the feedback too Don't recommend it Um but having watched
what happens when you choose to ignore it it is not fun But um I think that that's a smart thing to do on something like this And it really doesn't it doesn't take months or years You're talking about a few weeks Um but you can
certainly make sure that anybody who's interested if they're following our district does which means taxpayers of all ages have a way to weigh in Director Dola do you have anything well I know I was trying to go back And how do taxpayers of all ages know about how
to go how know to go to the website i mean how do they know about it i mean it seems to me like it would be a little bit uneven because you're not getting just taxpayers also You know what I'm saying i get getting the
student board I get getting the DACK in the sack but those taxpayers out there that are paying for all this how do you get them to see this to make a vote i think that has to be I think our communications department actually does a pretty good job with outreach they
actually you know mail the magazine out to residents of this community And it's been my experience that people talk among one another And so I think that that would would be um a way to to see what comes through Another thing I think
you would see is if you see a vast disparity between what's on the website and what comes in from the student board the Sachs and the DAX I think that can also inform you of a direction to go So my question is with the rest of this
because this is taking an extra amount of time So I'm going to kind of tighten up some other areas is do you want to move forward with the surveys and bring this back to another work session because it is the mission statement for the district So this is going to be yes or no We'll get input on the surveys I'd
like to hear from each board member on microphone So the proposal is to essentially engage the community Correct Yes Director Levir Wright Yes Director Dvola Yes I'm going to be a yes And so Director
Schmidt then you have a consensus Okay that's good So may I invite a tasking that uh that I that you direct me to facilitate a survey um and I'll I'll just kind of publicly say we'll draft a survey and then I what I'd like to do is run it by the board so that you
understand we're not you know kind of skewing it I think we would pull out some specific things like the mission statement That could be a single item but we would probably invite comment on all of these proposed changes Um we would post it to our social media and
web platforms We can email it to anyone for whom we have an address Um and to Director Schmidt's point we do our our all of our surveys all of our listening activities do tend to draw people who
are engaged with the district If people are disengaged from the district I don't know how to combat that But if they're paying attention and they they're even seeing what the agendas are and they're they're glancing at our Facebook where we have 17,000 followers I think um it it would be
almost intentional to not be aware of it um if it's happening and we've gotten many thousands of of feedback items when we've done things like this in the past Random suggestion So so those of you who are in the close to AARP range which I
am only a couple years from as well myself um who belong in various Facebook groups if you take the survey if you take D49 stuff and share it on your page all of your friends on Facebook see it and you've just reached a group of
people the district might not have Um I know things like that get reshared on Falcon Community Forum and Meridian Ranch and Meridian Ranch Woodman Hills No Rules and Meridian Ranch Woodman Hills that still has rules and all the other random ones that exist in my part of the community Um so that's another
way to reach more people is if you're interested in making sure more people see it share it on your feeds Um because those folks are following the same things you are And I think it's good to encourage people who actually live in our district or who have students who attend school here So as to the tasking
what he said So are we in consensus with that okay All right Now we are on to par uh 1.6 the resolution for safety and private spaces And this is one I kind of wanted
to cover with some information If you can bear with me here Um we've received a lot of email both pro and con on this one and there has been some misunderstanding So I'm going to start if Vice President Dvola could read the resolution and then I want to make some
comments before we get into discussions Point of order So we're not going to discuss any of the other changes I'm kind of confused No I thought we're going to grab the survey information So I think he was going to put it together on all of the proposed changes Am I
correct Superintendent Hilts that's what you had in mind that was the tasking I invited Um okay My intent was to bring it back in front of the board before it goes out Director Dvol you want to read the resolution real quick as we go on to 1.6
Whereas District 49 in El Paso County Colorado prioritizes student safety and equality as embodied in the purposes and language of Title 9 And whereas the board of education believes that there is a clear distinction between sex which
is the biological design at birth differentiating between male and female and gender expression and gender identity which have been designated by for example Colorado HB21-108 And whereas the president of
the United States on January 20th 2025 signed executive order defending women from gender ideology extremism and restoring biological truth to the federal government declaring that it is the policy of the United States to
recognize two sexes male and female And whereas the affforementioned executive order further states federal funds shall not be used to promote gender ideology which puts at risk federal funding to the district should its policy or
practice fail to recognize and honor biological sex And whereas the president of the United States on January 29th 2025 signed executive order ending radical indoctrination in K12 schooling declaring the federal intent to
eliminate federal funding for K12 curriculum instruction programs or activities in schools which even indirectly support the advancement of gender ideology or social transition of students And whereas the board represents students and staff's rights
to personal physical privacy and personal security in restrooms and locker rooms and the right to fair competition in sporting events Now therefore be it resolved by the board of education of district 49 the board and ensuring the full instructional
environment respects the distinctions between the two sexes authorizes and directs the superintendent One we're legally appropriate to update any relevant administrative policy procedures and facility agreements and usage guidelines to be consistent with
the knowledge that there are only two sexes males and female and consistent with the right to personal physical privacy and personal security in restrooms and locker rooms and consistent with the right to fair competition and sporting events Two
unless specifically compelled by the state to ensure restrooms and locker rooms separate males and females And three to take all available legal steps to ensure males are not competing as females in sporting events What I would like to address with a lot
of these because based on some of the emails that we've received that uh a lot of people interpret words or what they're reading in different ways and um modesty has always been a big issue for many students when it comes to private spaces regardless of biological
attributes or self-identification Parents guardians and community members have also expressed concerns when it comes to shared spaces Um for sports that are not specifically co-ed which many sports are there have been both anecdotal and verified reports
from around the country of sports injuries when biological males compete against females Currently there have been rapid developments when it comes to the issues of federal funding when it comes to education curricula and sports funding that we must be cognizant of We have a
fiduciary obligation to pay attention to funding public education to the best of our ability Children who identify as transgender at much higher risk of bullying and injury We want to protect all students There are community members who have religious
objections or conscious concerns about mixed biological genders in private areas and sports Under the first amendment of the constitution we must share those concerns as well D49 has a history of valuing families of all persuasions beliefs and opinions We
value parental choice Our big rock of value all people is the bedrock of our commitment to do just that to include listening to people who may have a different viewpoint Um CHASSA has failed to take a stance on this We are not sure
how executive orders will or will not impact funding in our school districts There are constitutional arguments that will be made I think a lot of people will look at the 10th amendment to the constitution to paraphrase um areas not
designated to the federal government are reserved by the states You also have the 14th amendment to the constitution which has been upheld multiple times to affirm that parents have the right to uphold
the education and the upbringing of their children When we passed our parents' bill of rights and responsibilities nowhere in there did we put a phrase that said "But only for the parents that we agree with." That language does not exist And so I admire
parents who advocate for their children no matter what their opinion is And so there are a lot of uh different areas here And we're kind of caught in the crossfire because earlier I mentioned that we do a lot with a little when it comes to funding So those are areas
we're going to have to look at Now as a board multiple times we've been told if you get this money you must do this We get requirements from the state of Colorado We have gotten federal requirements with federal funds that we had to uphold People have called them
strings to federal funding And the truth of the matter is some of those strings are going to be changing And so it's an ever developing situation And I admire people of good conscience who have different opinions on this issue I personally can tell you that uh I think
the design of the future is going to be a lot of private spaces more privacy for our students And I'll tell you the truth I've been in favor of that since the late 70s because I felt awkward in locker rooms I felt awkward with private
spaces And so anyone who thinks that this is it intended to be an attack against anyone really needs to look at where boards are going to be put in a position So I value a lot of different opinions on this and I value privacy and
I want to see every one of our students heard and kept safe and that's our kids No matter what their opinion is I want them to be heard and I want them to be safe And likewise I want to hear from people with different viewpoints So I
just wanted to get that out of the way before we start our discussion on this one Does anyone have any questions about this resolution or comments director Hy So looking at the first executive order mentioned referring to biological truth
it defines female as belonging to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell and male as belonging to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell So each one of you has received a collection of four medical studies which I will attach to our next agenda so the
public can see them covering five patients with a condition called Sawyer syndrome They produce no reproductive cells So what sex are they they are all chromosomally coded XY So are they male uh physically they present as
underdeveloped female and with normal female infertility treatments were able to carry a successful pregnancy to term So are they female this is just one of the many natural human variations that have doomed every attempt to apply a
universal scientific definition to sex to failure Given these facts the only correct use of the term gender ideology is in reference to the position that insists on a binary model that has long since failed the test of evidence We are in the business of
education and science is one of our core subjects We undermine our primary mission when we adopt policies that are contrary to well-developed science This resolution acknowledges legal restrictions to what can be done
and we should already be aware that the goals expressed here are in conflict with multiple state statutes With no clear path forward this feels performative and unnecessary I should have been giving been giving my
attention this week to the 144 page comprehensive financial report we briefly discussed Instead we're dealing with what looks to me to be just a distraction We noted on our board evaluations that we were downgraded I
forgot to get the timer going We're going to do a twominut for people's comments So I'm in my last sentence Okay great We noted on our board evaluations that we were downgraded on value all people This is a perfect example of why And I would like to be clear that we are
not going to be doing genetic or chromosonal testing of any student Um director Schmidt are you going to say two minutes on the phone wow there's a lot here isn't there
um you know one set of comments that the board received was supportive of the district honoring transgender students I shouldn't say transgender I guess it's identifying sorry By allowing them to into private spaces that have always been designated according to biological
sex The other set of comments were supportive of those traditional private spaces remaining as they have always been designated according to biological sex The deal is that if the district fails to recognize and honor biological sex we
are put at risk of losing federal funding And I really don't think President Trump is kidding around when he says that I believe that we can put our heads together and figure out a way to honor both without sharing private spaces Director Levier
right so I have eight questions and they're actually for Peter and Brad So I'm going to read all eight of them because I started the timer Um and then you all can take as long as you need to answer them So here they are One when was Matthysse decided and can you explain what that decision mandated for
schools in Colorado two has District 49 been in compliance with Matthysse since that decision three what process has D49 followed to be in compliance four what other state statutes and regulations related to this issue are we legally bound to follow five legally which takes
precedence executive orders or the Matthysse decision in state statute and regulation Six the resolution states um and I forget the exact word now where legally and I read it wrong the first time allowed or permissible It's not
permissible um but it's the legal directive Um how does that change what we are doing g dig doing we're legally appropriate given those first five questions How does this resolution change what we're doing seven the resolution speaks to contract language
changes What contracts do we turn currently write that include any of that language and eight can you describe the types or categories of discipline issues and or incidents that occur on our campuses in bathrooms and locker rooms how does this address any of what's
actually occurring in those spaces that we have to apply discipline to thank you Which one of you wants to start uh Brad Miller here Uh great questions Marie Thank
you And in a I took you know hectic notes I didn't get it all So I will tell you that the Matthysse case which arose locally and south part of Colorado Springs was uh maybe a decade or more ago It was through the Office of Civil
Rights or the I think more properly the Colorado Civil Rights Division Was not a federal case in that sense and it was resolved at that level Uh it um and I really can't go into the details I I remember it you know and I
know we've looked at it here briefly tonight but um I can't give you much detail and I can follow up with the board on that In terms of the the state laws that are applicable predominantly there's
one-sided here which is House Bill 21108 uh which is the sort of the exemplar of the definitionally saying that the state is going to protect the rights of um individuals in respect to their gender identity and gender expression both of
which are defined terms within that statute And it's it's been a little bit of a an open question in some respects because of the potential that US Supreme Court juristp prudence
stands for a proposition that the parents have a role in that decision for children under the age of 18 And that is a question that isn't fully litigated But but I know that this board has engaged with that thought process is you know is that a parent role or is it a
student role but uh assuming that it's agency to an individual that law is pretty explicit about the right to be protected from discrimination on the basis of those um categories
In terms of compliance I I was looking at bullet two down here and and one of you did describe I think it was it was Lori described the idea of of privacy and modesty in the sense that one way that we could comply as a district with
this bullet for the most part is to ensure that every student has individualized privacy Right so there are ways that this could be enacted to some degree even now And then you asked this question Marie
about something about contracts and I I didn't catch up with you on that one Somewhere at some point it talks about changing contract language Maybe that disappeared in a newer one because the original one I read talked about
um referring to the con any type of contract we had when so it sounded like contractually when we deal with outside organizations Maybe that piece is not where I saw it anymore because I read it several days ago Search there's no hits on a search for the word contract Okay Because I thought I saw that I don't
believe that this is revised since it was first introduced to the website So I don't know what you're talking about All right So then somehow I convoluted the piece when I read it Other than that just to be you know candid as possible I I appreciate that the
language here says where legally appropriate unless compelled by the state etc It's it's in effect aspirational and kind of in anticipation of what may follow from these executive orders which to be clear are not law And
and to the extent that the second executive order had to do with privacy in federal buildings or for federal employees that might apply to our local uh post office but it doesn't apply yet to the schools So many of these things would
be affected by administration in the event that federal funding was um connected directly to something or if there was a congressional action that that put these into law Director
Dvola not all of them were answered Peter hasn't gone through how did we implement Matthysse how did we Right So um because math has actually explicitly was about bathroom access of a six-year-old in Down by Fountain Um and I was on the board when we did it Yeah So I'm sorry to interrupt Go ahead Um
but I know our district has had policies and practices in place that have been supportive of students We had something we were doing So are we can we not talk about what we've been doing we are in fact complying processes law Marie with
the caveat that with respect to gender expression and gender identity we do include parents for the most part there's cases of you know there be cases of students who are not with their parents or that there's reasons to have other concerns but for the most part we
include parents in the thoughtful dialogue around those decisions and they're made in a in a manner that is respectful but ultimately always respects the right of students to to to have that sort of access So that's the approach that we've taken and would
continue even under this resolution Kind of the pieces I'm asking for the two of you to elaborate because I don't know that the majority of our community knows how this has been handled over the
last decade um which from direct knowledge of folks I know has been handled in in a manner that built relationship and was respectful and trusting and like all kinds of pieces We did it right which is why we haven't had
people showing up and blowing up Um and those are the pieces that I kind of need you guys to elaborate on so that everybody gets that piece That's what I was looking for If you don't mind I'll just go a bit further uh the last two summers um it since the passage of of
1108 so maybe it's the past three summers I've been invited to the the leadership launch which involves most of our building leaders at at you know multiple levels of building leadership and we have an open dialogue about the rights and the responsibilities and and
when to be cautious about including a parent who for some reason uh we need to think about differently in terms of the way they might interact with the students choice and so forth But but we also are very respectful in in in making sure that every
leader has a first instinct to go to the parents work it through with them get their consent if possible and then develop a plan because oftentimes a student who's in transition of whatever you and I'm not going to use proper terminology perhaps but but thinking
through um their gender identity or gender expression there's oftentimes students students aren't ambitious to fully go down the road of maybe going to the opposite sex bathroom for example And so we can put in place options for
using staff bathrooms and and having other respectful approaches to those things And and this is all done in dialogue and it's done in a way that's remarkable Frankly that's part of the point I wanted to have come across I I'll speak to a
couple of other things if if if I may that are responsive to that set of questions Um in the same way that I I wouldn't have asked Dr Lamont to respond to all of those I'm not prepared to respond to all of those in depth but Marie and I met earlier this week We had some conversation about this She knows
um some of what I know When I read um number one of the resolution where legally appropriate that tells me that I need to know what the law says And Colorado is unique in that we have a constitutional provision We have statute and we have case law that give me strong
guidance They they let me know and I would I would expect that the board would not permit me to put the district in in clear legal peril halfhazardly or or or irresponsibly Um and so uh as an example I believe part of this
resolution means that our our bathrooms should be labeled boys and girls And I believe that then students should use the bathrooms consistent with the law which right now this is the matist decision Um right now an individual regardless of their biology who
identifies with a a female gender would use the girls and and and that's the law So what you're telling me in this resolution as your superintendent is follow that law That doesn't really change much of what we have been practicing Where we have not had an explicit practice and where where I take
more direction from the board is item three which is to take all available legal steps to ensure males are not competing as females in sporting events Each of you individually and several members of our community have heard me say it is the board's prerogative to pick the
fight If this is a fight you want to pick I I am your superintendent I will fight this I think this is a fight worth picking I would prefer to see Chassa take a position on this I understand that they have not But this is a case where Colorado does not have case law
does not explicitly have statute and and only what we can infer from the Colorado Constitution So we would be helping develop precedent were we to focus on item three And why that matters is related to our earlier conversation We
live in a constitutional republic which has as one of its core political science tenants the idea of federalism which is that the states have have broad discretion over setting their own standards so that people can choose to or not to live in them and an executive
order doesn't have the force of case law constitution and statute and so I I have to be sensitive to that as well but it is also the board's prerogative if if you want to be Um if you want this to be the place
where you take a stand it's the board's prerogative to take a position um that that invites a legal reading or that invites a uh potentially a statutory change I I would predict in Colorado that both or either of those things
would follow on pretty quickly And it's my job to report that to you Um because that's part of why I go to these legal conferences go to case is to is to get a sense and take the temperature of the state So I know that's not responsible to all eight of them but it gives you a sense
of how I would have to turn around and and administer the guidance that you're providing in bullet points one two three I will I'm sorry Marie I I will add that um director Hy's comment that this is
performative is is not inaccurate and but I think that there potentially is a value for those who are are supportive of this that it could signal to organizations like CHASSA and like the legislature and potentially to other
districts uh of a of a stance and a perspective and and that can um signal change in in I've I've seen that happen certainly I you know a relative in the legislature and and getting uh emails and and things of that nature are
influential And just as it has been worthy of note to you that you've gotten several emails on this topic in the same way this board adopting a resolution in this nature there's three television cameras in here There's things going on This is going to catch someone's attention and that might have
value Director Dvola Uh yes Um I actually have a suggestion for a change to the resolution Um on the second whereas it says whereas the board of education believes that there is a clear distinction Um I would propose that we
change the word believes to acknowledges Um I think there's a a good difference in there Um and then also on Peter's point with number two of um unless spec specifically compelled by
the state well it does sound like the state is compelling us to allow um biological um uh males who identify as female or otherwise to be able to use those
bathrooms Is that the state the current legal construct compels us to honor the preference of an individual student to use the the facilities that and this would be bathrooms or locker rooms that align with their expressed gender
identity That's that is the current compulsion from the state Okay And then uh it is my understanding that as a district we have worked hard to have those as a an adult restroom that that child uses Is that correct or are
we allowing them to choose to Brad's point we've been it's been highly individualized and it has begun from a place of care and respect It has not begun from It is It has begun from a place of care and respect And the younger the child the more the parent
has been involved And I need to elaborate this a little bit further There are boys who are completely uncomfortable going to the boys' bathroom or the boys locker room And we care and respect and are sensitive about that And that is exactly true for girls going to the this isn't
as much of an issue about crossing the streams of of gender sex and expression as it is about caring for individual children in the in the context of their family system their school their development And I think what what I am most proud
of is that we have always been care forward respect forward parent involvement forward That is our history That that that's our legacy and it has served us very well including some issues where we've gotten national
attention Um we've got commendations from organizations that represent very different perspectives on these topics um not because our policy was always perfect but because we we were care forward student forward and and
so I appreciate that there seems to remain opportunities to be very care forward I especially appreciate the expectation of the board that we that we partner with parents Okay Well with that um explanation uh I
would also propose that we take out um unless specifically and compelled by the state and put in just ensure restrooms and locker rooms separate males and females as defined by biological sex Thank you The one thing I want also to let people
know that when there have been we have procedures that we have followed I have never once asked which restroom a student uses I've never sought out that information And one thing I'm really proud of with this district is that this
district honors parental choice and involves the parents And I hope we always remain that way because um it's important Are there any other comments marin did you want to have any comments on this one
i guess my question I don't really know who it's directed towards but is this resolution somewhat preemptive like or is it like Mr Hilts was saying like individualized per student per situation like is there a reason for this re
resolution to be adopted you know it's kind of I'm glad you asked that question It's a very good question and some of it is preemptive because we don't know what's going to happen with federal funding We don't know what's going to come down the pipeline as far as federal funding and the various streams that will be attached to that
federal funding Also um I have been in discussions with starting a petition a petition to CHASSA to have them take a position international track and field has taken a position and so there are other groups that have not taken a position and so we're kind of left in
the wind right now We've we've had a threat from one community member to report us to some website And so it's really difficult to know the way forward because there will be a clear conflict between federal executive orders state laws what could come down with strings
strings for funding And that's part of the joy of what a school board gets to navigate There used to be a time when school boards got to decide how to fund a baseball diamond And the world has changed a lot since that time And so there's a couple of tricky areas that we
have to get through And the purpose of it was once again to be preemptive because we don't have a lot of leeway when it comes to our financial situation in district 49 And we want to respect families of different belief systems
Most importantly we want to respect the privacy of our students and how they feel about it as well So Director Schmidt and by the way I apologize real quick for the second round because we are running a little bit over We're going to
leave the second round to one minute comments if everyone can be brief Um one of the comments in one of the emails that we received mentioned that some of the children that identify are uncomfortable undressing around others
So respecting that privacy as well as protecting the privacy of a cisgendered person um I think is is a concern we need to again put our heads
together and figure out a way to honor both I don't want to say sides but both sides um honor them respectfully give them their privacy everyone Director Hy So I want to point out that
I do hear and understand and respect some of the um some of the concerns of the of some of the folks who are in favor of this resolution And although they may be valid concerns I don't think that they are being realized here in
this district And I heard um Peter and um Brad sort of affirming some of the suspicions I had but I'm really disappointed that this came forward during spring break when I could have spoken to some of our building leaders and confirmed these suspicions But I
suspect we're talking about a very small number of students I suspect their situations are being managed one-on-one basis with the involvement of the parents I suspect transgender students are not in the locker rooms and are intentionally avoiding those situations
So they find other solutions and I suspect that we have zero transgender children involved in sports Director Levir right I don't know that we'd have any way of knowing if the person transitioned before they came to our school Um so we there's lots of things
we can't track Um and my entire issue is our district has worked out the right way to do this in compliance with state law without indoctrinating anyone and it's worked beautifully for the decade that
Matthysse has been in place and that's fairly evident by the fact that you haven't been hearing it about it at open forum for 10 years um because of the deep level of respect and care and the level of conversation and relationship our admin administrators build with
families on anyone's concern including a cisgender kid who says "I don't want to change in that locker room because I'm worried about X Y or Z." We care about each individual kid and approach them in that individual way And so specifying something that
essentially implies something to our community that's also not true This implies like that until now we weren't doing any of this Guess what your child may very well have been in a bathroom with a transgender kid and they never would have known And that's been true for a decade in the entire state of
Colorado Um and we are compelled by the state to do it And the state provides more funding than the feds do Um so there's whole pieces of this that that I see issue with because I think it's calling out something that
didn't need to be called out at this time Director Dvola Um can I call for consensus on changing the word believes to acknowledges yes
Yes Yes Yes Awesome That's it Okay So right now we have had at least one change to this and I do have a proposal to get more input is what I
would like to do is instead of asking which I could ask for if I say if there are no objections this will be moved into action to the next April 10th meeting I believe there will be objections What I'd like to do is I would like to get more information on this and move it to our next work
session to include legal advice direction from our superintendent And so if I can get a consensus that this will be moved to the next work session and not necessarily onto action for the April 10th meeting
Director Thompson Director Dola Director Thompson there was a proposed revision that would have legal implications To the extent that we want to consider those things I would ask that we might need to consider an executive session
for that sort of thing And separately since this is not a policy uh we don't have to do the sort of serial reads So you could actually come up with two versions at a at a future meeting and then decide between them there So to give you a little bit of latitude
And I think it's a wonderful idea to have the executive session to get legal advice on those topics Superintendent Hiltz did you have something you wanted to add yes My my question and I and uh it may be because I read this later in the development process but I understood
under the resolutions number one I I misread this but I I took the term or the phrase where legally appropriate and I applied it to items one two and three And it's sort of implied again in in
number three But here's the clarity I'm asking for from the board and that may be some mild revision Um because the language of number two that director Dvo is recommending we remove which is unless specifically compelled by the
state to me that speaks to where legally appropriate and it speaks to available legal steps So I wonder whether items number one two and three should all follow the stem phrase directs the stu superintendent to where
legally appropriate update relevant administrative policy Ensure restrooms ensure males Right I This is the the bottom line question Is the board expecting us to develop
administrative practices that violate known law or is the board asking us to implement this resolution compliant with law that's that's the key question that I have for you as a superintendent I I
don't know that that determination can can be made without an executive session to receive legal advice We agree on what could be done So do I have a board consensus to Well I don't know if Director Dvola did you want to take because we've done the two rounds real
quick yeah Uh well I already know we don't have consensus for my second one which is why I didn't ask for consensus for that one Um I just wanted to make a point Um with with where we're going I don't want to belabor this I think this is important for us to move pretty
quickly on in order to get this this going Um and if we're proposing a bunch of changes to it which I'm not I think as it stands that one proposed change is going to be very important Um I think we
should just move it forward to our next uh meeting for an action item Before we do that this is what I would like to do is I would like to have an executive session to receive legal advice to the concerns of all board members And I think that ties in with
our fiduciary obligations to the to the district And so I would like to propose if I could get a consensus to schedule a an executive session and then we can make a determination either on changes and how to move forward So if I could
get people on microphone if you are okay with me scheduling then an executive session Oh you you said you had a question I was just holding it to two rounds but if you could make it brief I'd appreciate it It will be brief Is there a way to have an executive to move it forward and have an executive session
in between we could have the executive session at the outset of your regular meeting that's it's irregular but it's not illegal You could start with an executive session have a chance for public comment have the action item to be considered thereafter
Okay So then what we could do is look at moving this forward subject to an executive session prior to our April 10th work session to receive legal advice Yes Yes No No What you come out of with executive
session won't have given the community time to read it I'm sorry Could you repeat that Marie i couldn't hear you If we come out of executive session and then choose to take action on anything that's been edited the community hasn't seen it until right before we vote on it We did
that once I don't think that that was the right thing to do then I don't think it's the right thing to do now You have a meeting April 10th Have the exact session whenever you want We'll all figure it out But whether we vote on it on April 10th or May 14th is not that
materially different because ain't anything changing in a month Um anything that anything that they needed time to do wouldn't be in effect until next school year Uh so to me it makes more sense to at least make sure people have had a chance to read whatever you come
out of executive session with You know it's interesting I'm going to both agree with director Levier Wright and disagree with her just on one thing The one change that was made before was two parents versus one parent consent and uh that was actually her proposed revision
I did not feel like that was a big enough revision to have to have another month worth of discussion on an item However on this resolution I think it's worthwhile to have the community input on any revisions So I am going to say that I think that we need to schedule
the executive session and move this to a later date after the community can see any revisions that come to the resolution So what I'm hearing is that we have 32 to have an executive session and make sure that the public has the
chance to look at any revisions Am I correct on that you'd have a 4-1 minimum on that If you're willing to do the executive session and then go a month later then I agree to it Then you have my agreement as well And I don't know where Mike is on that
I don't see myself supporting any version of this So I'm still a no I would be I would be for an executive session as long as we still have this as an action item in April So I would propose we schedule it for next week
I think I would like to have an executive session before April but not immediately before the meeting so that the community can see it Okay So you're saying that you want the community to have the chance to see any
revisions as well Correct But that would mean an executive session next week And so last but not least let's see if we can have an agreement that we will have an executive session next week and that we will also make sure that any
revisions are made available to the public before it is an action item on April 10th Yes Yes No Yes Yes Okay Director Thompson my only
night is Thursday next week Same I'm traveling through Wednesday Okay Well then I guess we will have an executive session next Thursday Okay And then we have information items and we are adjourned Bless you