##VIDEO ID:OhtJMFLH9-k## e e hi director Olson hi and director pal I okay motion approved I move that the board approve the minutes from the January 13th 2025 meeting as presented second any discussion okay dor oop sorry director Callahan hi director Olson hi and director help I okay motion approved next up we have communications I will go ahead and kick it off so I attended the spelling be the District spelling be which was a lot of fun um seems to get better every year the kids did a fabulous job um the volunteers also did they also did a great job um granted I've only been to a couple but it it ran very very smooth and I want to say a special thanks to Jessica Benson um this I believe was her first year as an organizer and she did fantastic and I also want to thank Melanie k um she was the MC and she just kept things rolling and smooth and it was it was wonderful it was a lot of fun it was all I got I don't really have much the back meeting got cancelled last week due to the weather and it's rescheduled for tomorrow okay um well I just wanted to make uh one quick announcement that the board coffee that is scheduled was scheduled for February 6th has been cancelled and we will keep you posted about scheduling otherwise and um I went uh last week I went to the uh first grade class in Singing Hills Mrs fory uh room and it was uh so fun I read a story to the kids and they were so engaged and it was uh just really a lot of fun so anybody in the community whoever would like to go read I know that they would love to have mystery readers readers so it was funny it was they asked a lot of questions I'm they grw you yeah they do but it was fun all right John did you have anything that you wanted to add or no okay all right R light D you all right just a couple of uh announcements uh we're excited to have finalized our lease of the Frontier building for independent Classical Academy um so that lease has been finalized and uh they are beginning uh to continue to have their uh information nights at um uh at Frontier I think you're holding them now correct the next we're we're doing a copy um to meet the board ask questions and that is going to be this coming Thursday evening at 4:00 to 6 um at Vos okay in kowa um our next open house at Frontier is going to be February 12th oh no it's February 11th okay I was trying to skip over my birthday but it's going to be at my birthday so we'll have eight okay and um that is going to be from 6:00 p.m. until 8 p.m at great thank you so February 11th 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. is open house at Frontier and then coffee at binos Thursday yes from 4 to 6 okay great thank you um we are also beginning I know it's hard to believe we're not even halfway through this year but we are beginning the process for planning next year so uh parents and staff are receiving intent to return forms so that we can find out kind of what individuals are thinking for next year giving our staff a chance to indicate interest in other roles potentially so um that intent form is not just about returning but is much also about you know interests and and different areas that might open for next year um we do have a job fair on Saturday March 8th from 8:30 to noon that'll be at Elizabeth High School um and um uh Jeff and I are going to be working on really promoting that um to teachers in the metro area about our focus on academics and I'm hoping that we'll uh attract uh people who are interested in joining our team so again uh Saturday March 8th from 8:30 to 12 at the high school our Auto building is progressing greenhouse builders is um continuing to get um work done we are still hopeful that that building will be occupied and the not too distant future um and just really appreciate greenhouse builders and their leadership on that I know we've had electric po I know we we're in the midst of um cabling for fire alarm and and data and things like that are underway as well so just a great job on their part um and then license compensation committee continues to meet um we will be bringing to the board at the next meeting a recommended change in the retirement track um so there's uh obviously making the retirement track sustainable and long term um they've made a recommendation to change the structure of pay that someone would receive when they enter the retirement track we only have two candidates this year for retirement tracks so last year I think we had eight who applied and then ended up with I think six who who have been approved so um so two this year is a little smaller number than expecting not going be disappointed about that yeah both both applicants are amazing and and certainly people we don't want to lose so again the retirement track's design is to keep people a few more years and maybe they might have stayed otherwise so um we're really excited to have the two of them so I think that's it for me for tonight all right anybody public comment okay so next up we have consent items um I move that the board approve the consent items as presented believe we all have them in our packet second okay okayy can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Olson hi director Powell I and dor Waller president and I all right motion approved um next up in action items we have our 2425 midyear budget revisions Dan you want to talk about that y absolutely so um obviously we know this year we had um uh did not hit our enrollment targets and so we made some midyear adjustments as first budget that actually reflects that um obviously Revenue uh decreased so you'll notice that the drop in Revenue uh we did not we cut um as far as we felt like we needed to um to to balance the budget um so um you'll see that in the end our we're hoping our fund balance at the end of the year will be pretty darn close to where it was at the end of last year um obviously we hope we'll make up some ground um during the year but we've really um um try to tighten our our belts as much as possible uh so that we can make sure that um we do end the year in that positive position um the salaries reflect excuse me actual salaries for all of our staff so we actually did a a complete spreadsheet pull of every staff member in the district what they've made so far what they projected to make through the end of the year our budget is always an estimation and so uh you'll see that salaries have increased much of that is benefit that's benefits costs have increased since the projection that was made so we did see um about a 3 to 4% increase on benefits across the board so when you look at the salary number you'll notice increase in almost every line most of that is benefits that have increased uh between um our budget and this particular um uh this particular uh amended budget um a lot of our departments really also tighten their belts so when we cut staff um we were proud of trying to keep that as far away from our kids as possible so while we had some School staff um we had had departments also that cut from their budget Safety and Security you'll see has cut um we did secure a few grants with Safety and Security and so we were able to pay for some things out of some Grant fun funds um you'll see other departments that have reduced slightly uh based upon just changes they were able to make um over the year you'll see curriculum instruction increase because we did some curriculum after we budgeted last year we added to the Middle School some curriculum that was Sly needed over the summer um so we see an increase in that as well um so right now we're projected to be about 6% um at the end of the year again we'd like that to be higher but I'm trying to budget conservatively the other budgets you have food service fund um this is really treed up based upon actual expenses and so you'll see a slight increase not only in revenues but and also in expenditures um and that's just because we always take our best guess we are seeing more money com in from state aid this year you'll notice a significant increase so last year was the first year that the state law had passed where we were feeding students at no cost I and the state was supposed to backfill that um last year we did not see as much revenue as we are seeing this year so we're pleased that that that's finally catching up um and you'll just see again some other things that are treed up based upon actual expenditures we still have quite a fund balance in that midyear budget so you'll see food service is actually operating I'm really proud of our food service program because many districts are having to subsidize and and our district is not so um if you remember last year we had to actually spend some fund balance uh on the box truck um so we are actually building some fund balance so we'll have to continue to watch that closely Grant funds are treed up again based upon the grants that actually came in we did have some cut in federal uh grants last year Title One decreased by almost a half I mean in the past um uh running creek was our only school that qualified for title one they still are the only school but the funds are about half and I think a lot of that has to do with um the number of students are actually making application for free and reduced lunch now that students are being fed at no cost no longer have to apply for free and reduced lunch and therefore the applications we still use TANF numbers and and food stamps and and public assistance numbers but we still have families who would qualify who just aren't applying anymore because I don't need to my my lunch is being covered by the state so so is there a way imp do something about that to communicate just continue to educate our parents that you know it is important that that is that is a another driver of funds we don't know with the new Administration whether that will change or not whether those funds will still be there I think that's something to be to still watch for um but again our grants did did decrease um uh from what we had expected uh to what actually uh came in this year um we also just to be to be clear the last year's funds when you look at last year we did still have some eser money some of that Co money that was finally spent last year um on some instructional practices that we were doing so that that actually is also adjusted the number Down based upon that um people activity fund this is really where we show money coming in and money going out so um this is where any any outside fundraising that our kids do um is contained within uh I'm sorry pupil activ yeah in pupil activity so um that fund is is clearly um uh kids raise money and then they spend it into their clubs or into to their Sports and Athletics the Student Activity fund is uh again one of those that it's money in money out and so typically we we try to budget um for um what's what comes in so that it goes out you'll notice that we are trying to spin that down there were funds in that uh particular account that haven't been touched for years and so um we've brought that to the school's attention um and so there is a concerted effort to try to make sure that those clubs are spending the money on the students who have raised it yeah versus scking away money long term so you'll notice the expenditures are increased by 800 because we really are intentionally trying to make sure that that fund is being spent on the children who are raising those dollars um cap Reserve fund um because of our change in our bus purchase and the fact that we've gone to a lease and we actually did not need to transfer you'll notice the projects that are contained with within there that uh uh transportation is our fuel system we actually are getting some dollars to offset that from our town our town is contributing towards our our fuel system since now our town our police and our fire are all using our gas pumps and we're actually entered into a joint agreement with those and that's officially started so we're excited that that is now underway so folks in our who might be watching know that if you see fire trucks in there it's not because there's a fire they're fueling they're fueling up so um so anyways you'll see um still we have Reserve funds for the two roofs and so that's the adjusted budget for mid year um there is talk of an additional increase in per people revenue from the state um so there may need to be another modified budget brought back to you because there may be increased Revenue so our fingers are crossed that that would that would happen increased Reven increased revenues is good so yeah so any questions anyone has hopefully it's one of the rumors that turns out to yeah that would be nice one minute all right so I move that the board accept the 2425 midyear budg budget revision as presented second that and any further discussion no okay can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Olson hi director Powell hi and director Waller hi okay motion approved next up we have our 2526 proposed District calendar changes so the first calendar is 2526 is next year's calendar um all of us know that we've been watching snow days this year and we've spent a few more than we thought we would this early in the year we're winter is far from over so um two reasons we're making this change one is for the that we have the opportunity of changing a teacher work day to a staff to a student day so um I think there's always a good idea to have um more student days um but also our high school expressed a concern in that they have a 4-day finals week and that calendar particularly had three days in the last week and so they'd have to bridge finals from Friday Monday Tuesday Wednesday this actually also helps in by having finals that last week so Monday through Thursday will be finals teach are still do their work day on Friday and done before Memorial Day so we felt like adding that day was actually a positive and in two different directions one for an additional student day for snow days as well as um to help our high school have a solid week of a finals instead of starting one week and then having the weekend so um so that's the modification we'll get word out to our parents it's a very minor change we did take a teacher workday off the top off the front um so there's there's not I think there were seven now there's six teacher work days before school begins which still is more than they've typically had so we feel like that still works out well okay so I move that the board accept the changes to the 2025 2026 District calendar as presented second ad any further discussion no all right can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Olson hi director Powell hi director wallet hi okay motion approved and next up keeping in line we've got the 2026 2027 proposed District calendar so this calendar obviously every year we have to take into account where holidays fall and and try to work this out this calendar also um this calendar actually ends a um um a full week before Memorial Day because of how the calendar actually falls um Elementary children will begin roughly the same time um we will have Sixth and ninth graders come back on August 13th of 2026 hard to believe we're talking about 2026 and then um high schoolers will have a Friday start day which will be a quick run through for their for their all of their classes they'll do a stack day on that Friday so students will meet all of their teachers get all of their syllabi and then start that next week with with full and with obviously full instruction with the normal schedule so um again this does end um a week before Memorial Day which I think um there will be people very happy about that um one of the things that we did discuss with fa we were trying to set beginning and end of semester and and Christy's here in the audience our chair of f of Dak excuse me I said back I said it sorry of Dak um the high school is would like to to be able to be responsible for that determine whether they need to bridge we were talking about maybe having them Bridge into January try to balance the semesters there are some concerns that have surfaced from staff about just student focus and um so we've basically taken off this when um when the uh semester well we've left December 18th but there's still discussions going on about whether they will bridge that but but frankly we felt like that was a decision that the high school could make and as long as they met the required minutes for instruction for each semester that that was less needed to be micromanaged by us and more could be dealt with at the high school so that's the only thing from our D conversations that is not here although I noticed it we did we did say December 18th is the last day of the first semester um if that changes obviously we can make that modif a but that's less of a concern in my opinion so so typically the last day of school was usually a half day and it's not that year it hasn't been since I've been here um it was before I was here I didn't know that and so we've scheduled a full day um and actually that's has worked has worked well um so we certainly can look at that but it does cut into time so it's on the 2025 2026 it shows as a have to let me look and see May 21st oh absolutely yeah yeah um this doesn't yeah the 2526 doesn't have a half day yeah it does it's the bracket it's box box the Bold box around the 21st that indicates half day the 21st of of May 2026 which one are you looking at I think there's I think there's some confusion because you have it as a regular day but it's got the bracket oh you know what the the bracket is start and end but you're right because it says half day yeah it's we need to clarify that I we've boxed the beginning and end of the school year but we that but that box them yeah we need that box I'll un but then it'll that wasn't meant to be half day thank you thanks for catching that yeah yeah is it just on the one or on just on the 25 26 on the parent calendar yeah on the parent calendar on August 26 August 13th 2026 has got a bracket as well in August 13th is a half day we actually release it Sixth and nth graders only come in for a run through of their schedule and kind of orientation so that is a that is a partial day so what just the 20 theend the last date correct yeah thank you Mike for catching that sorry I didn't notice that he's got some investment in that I yeah really got to know when to have to pick up the GS to speak at the end okay okay all right so with that I move that the board approved the 2026 2027 calendar as presented second that all right any further discussion no okay can I get a roll call director Callahan I director Olsen I director pal I and director Waller I okay motion approved okay next up we have a very sad topic um we have the accept acceptance excuse me of resignation resolution to declare a board vacancy do you all want me to read this or okay just well it probably would be a good idea to that I think so be it resolved that the Board of Education of Elizabeth School District accepts the resignation of Heather Booth from the Board of Education affected January 13th 2025 and be it further resolved that in accordance with state law the the board declares a vacancy in this school director office that will be filled by appointment by the board within 60 days in accordance with the following procedure interested persons were invited to send a letter to the board with a statement of interest and qualifications by 5:00 p.m January 24th 2025 as outlined in the board member vacancy posted on the district website on February excuse me Friday January 17 2025 to be eligible for appointment a candidate must be a registered elector of the Elizabeth School District for at least 12 consecutive months prior to the appointment and must not have been convicted of a sexual offense against the child and the appointee will serve until the next regular school banial election in November of 2025 so with that I move that the board accept the resignation of Heather booth and declare a board vac vacancy as has been posted on the district website and communicated out by the district second any further discussion on that okay can I get a roll call director Callahan hi director Olson hi director Powell hi and director Waller hi okay motion approved and next up um we have appointment of a board vacancy so I will kick this off so we received four applications two of which I believe they're educational district for the vision would fit in well with the board one expressed a strong commitment to our community and to education and both hold a high regard for education and understand the vital role it plays in the success of our students there was at least well there was just one that stood out um above all to me and it is a person whom I have interacted with at Coffee chats and other community events over the past year he understands the need for a rich academic filled curriculum teacher supports and proven instructional methodology and I believe his resume reflects his leadership in collaborate collaborative skills and um that would be for me David fleder well I uh I also reviewed all four of the applications and um I David Fletcher also stood out to me um because he in in individual conversations over the course of the last year or so um he has shown that he does indeed share the vision of our board for education in our in our school district the goals that we have as far as kind of a more traditional uh education and traditional teaching methods and these are the goals that we are striving toward and that we are trying to implement uh and and strengthen uh as we go forward and so um he David Fletcher also uh stood out to me among the four applications or letters of Interest or whatever the heck they were letters of Interest Okay and like Mary I couldn't agree more uh he's shown a big interest of being here all the time at our meetings and obviously he is very engaged and I believe he holds the same values we have so yeah I I concur I agree with everybody else here I met David the first time out of board Cofe um I believe it was only him and one other person so thank you for coming give us something to do um but yeah he shows up here um I see at board meetings all the time so absolutely okay right well with that I move that the board appoint David Fletcher to build the board to fill the board vacancy until the next election in November of 2025 second any further discussion all right can I get a roll call director cahan hi director Olson hi director Powell I and director Waller hi all right motion approved all right congratulations congratulations okay before we move on to board planning and new business we have our illustrious former commissioner prin editor so represent represent well representative you promoted them I have visions I have visions for you so I know would you like to come on up thank you for coming sorry about that it's no I appreciate you accommodating me the traffic down from Denver is never pleasant but it gives you a lot of time to think sometimes not great to thought when the traffic clears and you come into Elbert County things are good again so um I would again like to congratulate um Mr Fletcher for his appointment and take a moment to to thank Heather she's very passionate very effective board member and I know you guys have come through quite a bit together and there's quite a bit ahead um about say having been County Commissioner for eight years having sat in your seat for four years as well and now at the capital um not every decision that you make is going to be popular um if somebody's suing you it doesn't mean you've done something wrong but it does mean that somebody doesn't agree with a decision or a direction that you're taking uh but from what I've seen in this uh most recent Kur fuffle you guys are on the side of our children and that's the right place to be um I've written about it I've talked to folks uh across the state and I wanted to come tonight to just present a letter of support from the other elected officials that represent this District so if I may read that I've got copies for you but it was dated January 21st last week and it's addressed to the Elizabeth School Board uh in regard to support for your efforts to safeguard the students in your care and it reads dear board members as elected officials as officials elected to represent you and the citizens of your District at the state and National levels we offer our support what we discovered over the past several months is your district has conducted a careful and public review of Library materials is shocking uh the transparent and extensive Gathering of community input which resulted in the thoughtful decision to remove 19 books that contain sexually explicit and other adult themes inappropriate for children from your collections is a tremendous example of attentive and responsive local governments in response to this entirely appropriate action your District now faces a lawsuit one brought by those who appear to prioritize furthering an agenda over ensuring a safe learning environment for the children of your small community we want to express our full support for The Prudent and thoughtful actions you've taken to ensure that only age appropriate materials are accessible in your school libraries claims of banning materials are overstated and fail to recognize your legal and moral responsibility to safeguard the learning environments of the children in your care your decision reflects a careful balance between providing educational resources and upholding Community standards the commitment to your responsibility deserves recognition and respect not mischaracterization and legal attacks we applaud your actions and urge you to stand strong in the face of outside opposition your dedication to your community and the and its values serve as a model of service that others should aspire to follow and it's signed with respect and encouragement from congresswoman Lauren bobert US House of Representatives Colorado District 4 Senator Rod Pelton of the Colorado general assembly representing Colorado Senate District 35 Christy Burton Brown Colorado State Board of Education representative for this area and myself representing Colorado house district 56 I I do applaud what you're doing I know it is not easy I know that in hindsight there's probably other steps or other actions you wish you would take Communications you had made um hindsight is always 2020 but what you were doing for our kids and to uphold the values of our district and the folks that elect to you certainly needs to be applauded so thank you I appreciate thank you thank you very much I'll just leave with this please extend our thanks to waren and Rod and Christian appreciate it thank you so much you so nice um next up we have um board planning new business so our next board meeting is going to be February 10th 2025 at the boardroom here in the district office um one thing I want to set a reminder about again is we've got our book fair coming up so when does that start February I think February I have it on my okay you and at that meeting we will swear um David in uh so we'll start we'll start with that so February 6 okay that's when our book book fair starts February 6 yeah I have gotten um comments from a parent I know um who I guess I guess they've already given out sheets on the the fa and she was gr y y we've had some positive comments about the change so I'm excited yes did you say we're swear in Mr Fletcher on the 10 10th yeah and we'll do that at the beginning so it'll look a little different and that we want to do that right at the beginning of the meeting before we do Communications and anything else so we'll have an action an action item first and then go back and then do action again at the end that's so that he can get right to work that way right no no rest for the newly appointed so you're on okay if uh no one has any other business I will go ahead and adjourn this meeting at 6:35 p.m that may be a record right