There's a different pot of money, not, what, fee for service Medicaid is. But if we have students that are on Medicaid, we can actually bill for services like speech language, OT, mental health. And, that pot of money as more districts participate in the school health services with HCPCS, the bigger the pot gets, which is kind of exciting. So we joined it this year. The big push has been to get, releases of information so that we can look
up to see if a student is in Medicaid. It's a one time consent form, and we have about 35%, almost 36% that had returned them when I was, like, a couple weeks ago. I think we've had a few more returned. So we're continuing to ask families just to sign that consent. It's a one time consent. If they say no, we will ask them every year to see if, I think some of it is just it's been new and figuring out what it is, but
it provides the district with additional resources, that then we can pay different, we could pay staff salaries. We could buy, like, we're in need of a new, vision screener. It's called a spot. They run about $6,000, you know, things like that. We need medical equipment for students, we can use that money as well. So, Francesca is actually leading the charge to get our local services plan put together, and we're really excited about, how we're gonna use that money for health related needs
within the district. So, salaries can be one of those things. So that's great. Very exciting. So we have some goal updates. These were our three goals from last year. We wanna continue to increase preschool growth and achievement and positive preschool skills, remove those barriers for parents to provide us feedback. We did send out, the parent surveys that the Colorado Department of Education provides us. And last year, we had zero, returns. So we are gonna work on that, because we need parent feedback, to improve our
programs and get their perspective of how we're doing. So we really that's really valuable to us. And then, of course, we wanna continue to increase those graduation rates, especially for our students on IEPs. So like I said, Friday, we're gonna meet again and update these goals and review our data. So very excited about that. Yeah. Absolutely. So, I think I think a lot of heart goes a lot of our teachers have a lot of heart and want to do the best for kids and, may
not be as strict on the criteria for eligibility as we may need to be. And sometimes those are hard conversations to have with families. But what's really nice is we are increasing our MTSS process and our response to interventions, so we also have interventions that we can do outside of special education. So I think, also I think there's been a barrier in, we have to do a full reevaluation every time that we exit a student, and I think sometimes people
wait for that three year review instead so we're gonna look at some students that I know have some speech goals that are, actually their articulation is sounding really good, that we may move those meetings up to look at that. So there's, like, for a child who comes into special education, they should all set very concrete goals. And once those goals are met, then that child will graduate. They could. Yes. If they, meet that criteria.
We're really looking at that educational and academic impact on their ability to access general education. So, I think we're still diving into some of that as, somebody that's new to the district, but I'm starting to see some trends that we'll continue to address. So great question. Best practice in evaluating that student over time? Is it annually? So we do an evaluation every three years, and then we meet every year to update goals. Three years is a long time to go about evaluating Yeah.
To see if the process is working. Yeah. Exactly. Do you think that is that best practice, or is that just That is Colorado Colorado law. Yeah. And we and we collect data in between. It's just the formal reevaluation is what occurs every three years. Data is being collected every year. Obviously, performance on goals, other types of assessments that are being administered, annually. It's just the full battery of of reevaluation that occurs every three years, and that's by federal law. So the soonest you've got a month graduate within three years.
We can do it earlier. I was gonna say. Yeah. We can definitely do that. And you can reevaluate at any time. So parent parents can ask for a reevaluation at any time in between. It has to occur no no more than, yeah, no longer than three years. And I know you mentioned sometimes rather than, you know, being identified as an ISB student, there'll be interventions instead. And that would be like the dyslexia program that we have. So Mhmm. Is that the primary issue for that we have. Mhmm. Is that the primary issue for students? Yep. And they can get that intervention without getting that without going through the process of doing my Correct.
Correct. Yeah. Yeah. And we have multiple plans. So we have we have MTSS plans. So a student doesn't necessarily have to be qualified for special ed to have a plan that would address their unique learning needs. And so there's five zero four plans, there's MTSS plans, there's GT plans, there's ELL plans. So there are plans for students based on what are their needs, and so that can be addressed even without special education. So Okay. Well, and I know with with the emphasis on the intervention that we've put in place this year, I hope that there might be a lot of kids who would benefit from the intervention who might not need Mhmm.
The entire IEP program. Yes. Have that targeted. Yes. Agree. So I really see some we've put some really nice things into place that I think are gonna really help us down the road as we continue this process. So, yeah, very excited about that. So, we do a count twice a year, for special students on IEPs. We do our end of year. That is all the students that move in and out of our district that we touch. That's 489 total students.
Our December count last year was 360, so, we have a December count coming up for this year, and that's our federal funding, and our state funding comes from that December count. It's not the October count. So, we do get some money from through October count, but most of our, grants come from, December count. Our application is for our budget is complete. We are still waiting because of the shutdown of the government on federal allocations. So, they have estimated CDE has estimated, and we have, put some salaries and benefits
on that federal grant, and then we're waiting for, final numbers, once things loosen up, hopefully soon. One thing that we do every year is make sure that maintenance of effort, a district, needs to spend the same amount of money as last year, on special education. That can't go down unless there's, extenuating, circumstances. And we have met that every year. So it's a good celebration that we've met our maintenance of effort. Indicator 13, we always do a survey, post school outcomes, and it was submitted on
time, and I'm actually excited to see this year's, outcomes because we have some students that went to college. We have a lot of students that, are in full time employment. So, all of our data is a couple years behind, so that'll show up may not probably next year. So, excited about that. And then like I said, December count is coming up, so all of our students that are here on December count, we, count them and that's what we use for our funding. We do have a new program, to support students with challenges in regulation and behavior.
It's located at Running Creek Elementary School, and it really is to help students learn skills on how to be a student. And we're really excited about that. We have, a board certified behavior analyst and two behavior technicians that are supporting those students, and we're actually seeing some really nice growth. Right now, we have three students in that program, and, when they came in, they needed to be in that room full time, and we are starting to get them back into general ed and to their special ed services.
So really excited about that. I mean, they've been receiving those services within the program, but now they're able to go out of that classroom because they're learning new skills. So very excited about this program. Really feel like it's, a great prevention for, suspension, especially for our elementary students. We also, have behavior support, BCBA that will consult, other buildings, and this team also is doing professional learning. So, really excited about continuing to build our staff skills and supporting students.
So, no. You're good. Talk a little bit about happy medium and with that. Yeah. So happy medium collaborative. It actually is, there are three stages in that program. We're really looking at identifying skills that students need. You know, are they able to transition between preferred to a non preferred activity? Are they able to do simple tasks? So really a lot of it is we do what's called a noticing grid.
You know, what are things that trigger the student? What are things that support that student in being able to calm and regulate. So we really are working on that in kind of phase one. Phase two is continuing to build those skills, and then that phase three is to get them back out into the community of the school, And so, really excited about the strategies. It's really positive behavior supports, so we're not we're really working with kids to build
their language around, you know, I'm having heavy emotions right now. I need this, you know, so that they can start communicating what they need, and we can support them in getting those needs met. A lot of replacement behavior is communication. You know, behavior is communication, so we really want them to use their voices and their ability to use their language to communicate what they need and help them identify what they need when they're struggling to regulate. So, really, like I said, excited.
It's it's very a it's a very positive. It's not punitive. So and I can sure get you more information if you'd like it. This is a response to our discussion last year where we had students whose behaviors were were causing some families to say, you know, my child doesn't feel safe in the classroom. And so this program has allowed us to do something other than suspend or expel, and allowed us to really help work with the family to change those behaviors so that child can successfully go back to class. And it's, yeah. Work with the family. Yeah. Work with the family. Oh, absolutely. Oh, yes. Family is an act yeah.
Family is an active part of this program. Absolutely. They are very much a part. Family is an active part. Because we know that when we do things at school and at home, progress is that much faster. So we really wanna make sure we're supporting. And really, like I said, it's skill development. It's not punitive. We're really looking at how do we develop those skills so that they can be able to regulate within a general classroom. In k through five specifically? We're really targeting those students. I think, I've seen historically, we're we've been having some kindergartners that are just struggling
getting into, you know, changing from preschool, play based to more, you know, teacher led. Sometimes that's hard for kids and they need to learn some skills on how to do that better. Or if, you know, who knows, things come up for students and you never know what that might be but we're going to we're we're really are focusing on that kindergarten through fifth and then consulting with middle school and high school. Yeah. We do have a BCBA that works for the district that our goal has has been that they work at the middle school and high school to support with behaviors.
Obviously, if we had a child who it was a matter of suspension or a setting, our goal would be to create a similar setting, but that's not been the case. So And we're already stuck talking about sustainability of this program and how do we bring in staff to be able to run this program. So, already looking at how we do that. So, that training is a real big part of that. Program is that running free? The campus? So if a student is at Singing Hills, we've actually migrated them over to Running
Creek if they need that level of support. Yeah. They're still enrolled at Singing Hills, and we wanna get them back as quickly as we can. But it but if it's a matter of just consultation, the staff will go to Singing Hills to support. Exactly. If that child's needs are so severe that they need the intensity of the program, then we are we are transporting them so that they can be a part of the program in the classroom and the and the supports that are really targeted at that classroom. Have you gotten any feedback from parents throughout the program then? We actually have met with two of the families, and they are thrilled, because as
we look at the levels of support in special education, kind of we're trying to avoid sending them out to, you know, day treatment programs and other app programs outside of the district. And, they're thrilled that they get to stay in the district and receive this level of support. So, yes, we have received amazing feedback from families. And the third family has just started. So Exactly. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. And was excited that there was an option because, you know, the students' behaviors were definitely becoming a challenge in the school setting, and parents did not want that either.
They didn't want their their his peers to to to to have that negative impression of him. And so so they they willingly allowed us to relocate. And I think it's critical what you said. It's partnership with family. Mhmm. And this is also helping them as well. Mhmm. To be told, it's helping them. Mhmm. So Yes.
He also support families to share the strategies that we're using and, help them develop their skills to support their child at home as well. Yeah. You bet. The next big thing that, we're working on this year is center programs. We have what's called effective needs programs and significant support needs classrooms in all of our schools. We have both of those programs in every building. Last year we actually invited the Colorado Department of Education into our programs to consult with us.
That was my predecessor brought them in. So they actually have developed what's called quality indicators for those programs. So we started that work and set some goals, and this year we're continuing that work that they started, and supporting staff to go to, CDE professional learning to continue that learning because, I think we just kind of touched the tip of the iceberg last year, so we're kind of diving in more this year. My goal, I'm hoping by the end of the year, we can make some shifts
in our center based programs, and really define clearly define the students that need to be in those programs and those that don't. Entrance and exit criteria, because, like, just like the happy medium collaborative, we want kids to be in those programs, gain the skills, and then be exited from that intense level of, support. And then, also define how we use our paraeducators to support our students. So, oops. I have support to support. It's really about support. It is about support. Yes.
It is. Thank you. So, and really looking at independence, get continuing to build independence in students so that they can be without an adult being there right there with them to prompt them through their day. Because guess what? When they graduate, they're not gonna have an adult to go with them on their job site. So we want them to be able to be independent, and that starts early on. It starts in elementary school on all the way up. So, really working on how do we continue to build those independent skills, so that
they can do them on their own. So engineers show up. Show up with their parents to their own. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. I was gonna say I was gonna say, I worked at CU for a while and parents would call about their their children's exams that they didn't do well on. So That is your genius. The other thing that we've really been focusing on, we extended our paraeducators calendar, this year so that they could be a part of all of our professional development days
and, additional time at the beginning of the year so we could get ready for students and get materials and classrooms all set up. So, as part of that, professional learning, they, did some training on Vector, which is an online platform, on how to be a a paraeducator and how to work with behavior challenges and how to work on communication. And so we had a set number that they had to do, and then they got to pick, like, three that they wanted to do. We also did a, an in service on October 20, and we're gonna continue that
January 5, March 23. I did a survey of the paraeducators to see what they felt like they needed, and we're tailoring the professional learning to their needs because, they are with our students a lot of the day, and so we want to make sure that they're as highly skilled as they can be. So very exciting. A program that we talked about for our students on the autism spectrum is what's called unstuck and on target. It's actually sometimes they can be a little rigid in their skills, and so how do we move them through that and continue to build their flexibility?
So that's a program that, it's it's specific for some students. Alright. Sorry. I've been talking a long time. No. You are mine. Yeah. But great questions and conversation. Did it I'll be back in a minute. Oh, well, yeah. Because I have health services at the end. Oh, okay. Fantastic. Well, I'm Jen Bruns, and I've been allotted five minutes. So if I go if I go pretty fast, I'm really sorry about that. And you can always reach out to me and or read the slides later, but I will do my best.
So I am I'm your cohort. Yes. I oversee the gifted and talented population, multilingual learners, as well as our highly mobile students. My area of expertise is really gifted and talented, and I'm I'm very proud of the work that we've done over the last couple years since I've been here. We have over see it in our slides. Hey. Yeah. Yeah. No. I I know. And, yes, they all have media releases, so we're good. We have over 200 identified gifted and talented students in our district.
We also have, some ELL students students now who have been identified, which is one of those barriers that that really gets in the way sometimes of recognizing our talent. Our gym visit that we had in the 2024, we were in full compliance that year, the year that I came in, and things have been moving along really well ever since. So The GEM review has been the Colorado Department of Education reviews gifted and talented programs.
Right. And that happens every five years. The five years before that, we were we were not in compliance. So yeah. Yeah. I went the wrong way. Alright. Just a little overview, GT by the numbers. Our numbers are right on track at 10% is usually around what you should see in a district, and you can see that we have 219 students, total identified. 61 at the high school, 60 at the middle school, and so on. We've been making some really great strides there.
I thought I had some more notes. Yeah. We're identifying our strengths earlier as well. So we do have universal screening, which is state funded by our grants in grades two and grade six. Some things that have been maybe overlooked in the past. We've had students on what we call talent pool, so not fully identified for many years. We've worked really hard to collect the data to make more solid decisions on their identification. So So it's sort of some sort of assessment that they Yes.
Yes. Brought forward by, I think, they need to take this test or how does how does that spell? So universal screening will happen in grades two and grade six. Some districts will do grades three and grades five. Just kinda depends. And and those are the things that that's a cognitive abilities test. So cognitive abilities test is something that's it's just gonna think, you know, it's gonna show you if they are a nonverbal type of thinker outside of the box type of thinker. Your achievement tests are the things like your I Ready scores, your MAP scores, your
CMAS scores, which means something for sure. But, and then there's teacher rating skills, and then there's things like, just outside work that they've done. Maybe they won the national spelling bee, you know, things like that that that can, all contribute to that body of evidence when we're identifying identifying kids. So yeah. So, obviously, we have our grants and reports that are done every year, our CPP, our our program plan, our UIP addendum, and our paperwork to make sure that we
get the funding from the state, which, our two big grants are the thirty one fifty and our 32, 28. One thing I'm I'm particularly proud about is our STEM club. This is an after school enrichment program, led by our teachers. Super engaging, fun. These kids love it, and same with our steam camp. We actually in this last summer, we had our biggest steam camp yet with over 60 kids. I know that most of these are media approved because on the far right there,
that's, like, all of my my own kids that came to the camp. Just really great, really great experiences for for these kids. We we did the iFly, you know, museum. We did the Space Center. We did Space Station. Yes. That's kinda cool. Yeah. Yeah. It it it really was cool. Things that you that that they're gonna remember and I'll remember Yes. For the rest of my life. So one thing, that we've started this year that I'm really proud about is professional learning series for teachers.
So this is an after school opt in type of opportunity where they can earn a point for, three hours of of doing these different, classes, and we've done already we've already done three. We've done GT one zero one. We've done, depth and depth and complexity series one and two. In the spring, I'm gonna be doing, two e, which is twice exceptional. So learning a little bit more about those learners. The high school, my liaison at the high school is awesome, and she's also offered
some great things for the high school. We'll we'll continue to do that as well. High school sometimes gets overlooked when it comes to specific GT type of things. Yeah. So pretty proud of that. Discovery days, these are the kids look forward to them. These are super popular. We went to Chatfield Farms this fall. We did a whole STEM challenge within the within the corn maze which I did get lost. I'm it is a thing.
Yeah. Yes. I mean, we've done, you know, the STEM day and course field. All of this is just one of those things that just really keeps those, those like minded learners together. It just for a little while. Right? It's beautiful. So I'm proud of that. Switching gears a little bit to our multilanguage learners. You can kinda see here, just based on the graphs. The colors are a little weird, but down there at the bottom, we have our FEP students, which means fully English proficient, that's the darkest color.
LEP, which is limited English proficient, and then NEP non English proficient, which could include some of our newcomers or or somebody who did not score well on the access test. But, so you can kinda see here, we've we've got our EHS, has probably our highest number. EMS has quite a few of our fully English proficient students. Just kinda talking about that a little bit well, we can come back to this.
But I'm I'm wondering last year, we we did pilot summit k twelve, at Singing Hills Elementary. And so summit k twelve is an online program that, you know, a twenty minute a day type of supplement that mimics as access, which is the test that they take. And, six out of nine of those students moved from either LEP or NEP to FEP. So we've implemented it district wide this year, which has been great.
We've also started, a full high school class, with one teacher co taught with a Spanish speaking teacher with a full curriculum, and those students are really thriving. The curriculum is great. The teacher is loving it. It's also one thing that we're proud of is the accounts as an English credit. So these students aren't feeling like, you know, they're missing out on an elective or or whatnot.
Also, midyear, depending on how they do on their midyear assessments, they might be able to, transfer out. So it's been it's been really good. Yeah. I'm proud of it. So every grade has one of these people is and will to teach. This is at the high school level. It's only at the high school level. Right now, that's kind of where we're at as far as, you know, funding and what we can what we can do. At the middle school level, I will say that, currently, we only have one student
that is not FEP. So it's not a huge huge speed. The high school was the biggest biggest bug. Yeah. What is those running pre flight? Our our goal this year was to actually hire an ELL teacher. Mhmm. And we posted and we interviewed, and and that became the challenge. And so our our goal will continue to be to identify, a bilingual teacher who can support our students at at elementary and middle. Our greatest concentration right now has been the high schools, and so that's where we're
able to, with an existing teacher there who has ELL background and experience. And then we've actually paired her with a bilingual teacher, one of our Spanish teachers, to really kinda build that community for students who are entering the high school. So it's been very successful. Yeah. You know, year of Spanish or something like that. Yeah. We have a lot of those in our in our teacher cadet program who are in our in our classrooms, and so I know we've had the conversations about our bilingual our bilingual students who are who are in our teacher cadet, program and trying
to to pair them. At the younger grades, students quickly develop flu quickly develop English language because it's an immersion situation. They're in a classroom, they're they're they're hearing English, there's a lot of supports. And so, certainly, research shows the earlier the child engages in in learning language, the the more, the more they're absorbing, the more they're actually developing their English language skills. High school students are where we've had the challenge as a student who has who has not been engaged in English, and now they're 16, 17, 18 years old.
That's been the greater challenge and why we we we made that our priority as far as the first step. But but we still want to do more. The funding for ELL is very limited, and so everything we've done has been committing district funds, which which we've been trying to be very careful and make sure we target, where we're gonna get the the greatest, benefit from. Yeah. Absolutely. I could use my children at one TV work. So No. I think I think that's a great idea, and and we've we've engaged high high school students in the past for initiatives like this.
That's definitely something that we can explore but but I think he's right in the fact that the younger they are, the more they're exposed, the quicker it picks up versus some of our 17 Yeah. Yeah. She has no idea what's going on. Yeah.
Yeah. Well, it was just shared with me that today, we had three high schoolers begin to do some translation at RCE, for for our bilingual students. So so That's beautiful. Just just found that out. Just this just in. I'm just making it. Yeah. And and I am I am very aware of the two students, the one at the middle school and the one at RCE who are newcomers that there's some struggle there. Yeah. And there's only so much that a program that you can do twenty minutes a day is going to do, when you don't have a full time staff member.
For sure. We do have we do have bilingual staff at both schools now, which is helpful. So so we have bilingual staff that can support that that teacher in doing some translation as needed. Obviously, they're not there all day. Yeah. But they certainly have that tech accessibility now. Is there any kind of technology, any translation technology? We actually She's using pens. Yeah. We're using translation pens. Yeah. So the girl at Running Creek, I've seen her use a pen. Mhmm. So she runs the pen over the words and then she has an earpiece. And translates it.
It translates it like that. For sure. Yeah. So That's amazing. It's amazing. Technology is definitely something to use. Far beyond what It's do these become the majority are Spanish speaking. Is the majority are Spanish speaking? We have a, two Russian and then one Chinese Mandarin. So yeah. Great question. Yeah. No. Absolutely. That's for that time. That yeah. Yeah. You can change language. So I can change the language.
Yeah. Yeah. So this okay. Yeah. We can we can go back to the the funding if you'd like, but I mean, everything for MLL students is is usually through title three funds, which is a federally mandated program. But, access testing, we've got that all in the back. Alright. That's in January. That's in January. That starts in January. And the next one is about, multicultural night. So this was a first for our district. It was fantastic. We had Fiesta Colorado come in.
It was right before Halloween or the day of the dead, and they did a a big presentation. We had high school students, our ELL students, making the food for for the night. It was it was great. The community was engaged. We had, you know, work samples from from students at different schools. So I think it'll continue to grow as time goes on. Alright. The purpose of that is allow multiculturalism to Yeah.
Allow multiculturalism to Yeah. I think it was it was an opportunity, Dave, to to really allow those families and to to share their culture. You know, we all have our culture from where our ancestors go back, and so it was really a chance to engage families and sharing their culture with others. It was by no means intended to be let's let's do this year round. It was an evening to really allow families to come together and and share their culture. And, honestly, it didn't just need to be ELL families that we put the the invite out far and wide, and anyone was invited to come.
I think we ended up with a lot of our ELL families, but, you know, just we all have a heritage, and so to to recognize that heritage, I don't think takes us down that road. Absolutely. Yeah. Almost synonymous with tribalism. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it can be. Absolutely. I understand. And, the funding, you know, there's a whole section of that funding about family engagement and community engagement. Yeah. So that's that's kinda what we're we're doing. To some degree, it's getting the families into the door because sometimes these families don't feel comfortable. They don't feel like they can connect.
And so this is a great opportunity to give them something that's enjoyable, something they're comfortable with, some Yes. A chance for them to share, and then to build that relationship with school administration so that they feel like, oh, I can actually come back and And so it's really that opportunity to get them engaged engaged in the school. So many of our our families who may not speak English really struggle with, do I do can I come to school? Can I, you know, can I communicate? And so I think that evening gives them that positive experience to hopefully open the door, so that we keep those moments kind of by Mhmm.
But were other cultures celebrated? Yeah. A few of it? Well, being that, you know, we have the the two Russian families and and the one Chinese and Mandarin. We are performer was Fiesta Colorado. But yes, we did have actual giveaways for Russian families and Chinese families. So that family engagement piece, we're able to provide some materials for take home. Right? And so to work with, you know, your child on learning English and that kind of thing and we did.
We did have all that available. Yeah. Yep. Yep. And my last piece is about our, unstable type of students who are either, unaccompanied minor or unaccompanied minors, yes, in the high school or, are facing homelessness. And so we have some of those families in our district, that we make sure that we have them immediately enrolled. They have support, basic needs, and we partner with, different community members to make sure
that they have the housing facilities, and food that they need. So Trying to remove those barriers Yes. For students who are earning. Some cases, it's families who are homeless. Yes. We actually have them living in a car. Be surprised. Living in a car and or, sometimes living, you know, in the trailer park type of situation and need, yeah, need need the heating, you know, help and that kind of thing. So Or they could be couch surfing. And we have four high schoolers who are currently in that situation.
So So Yeah. I already have the folks to participate in this new to our film or are they first to No. They've they've been, I don't think any of the families are new. I wanted to ask that. Just a follow-up question when you were talking about gifting and counting. Mhmm. And you that, the high school sometimes gets overlooked when it comes to just kind of the programs at the high school. Sure. I just wanted to ask, do you have plans to create opportunities? It would seem to me that high school would actually be a really great time
to Absolutely. Be good opportunities. So I'm guessing a lot of these gifted and talented kids would like to build something or do something that's gonna help them stand out for college education. So just do you have plans or visions for what we can do to make that high school experience for getting the 20 digits better? Absolutely. On top of our discovery days that are just focused directly for high school students, we do legislative day where we go down to the Colorado State Capitol and meet with all the, with everybody. Right? And they come with whatever issues that they want to present to the legislative board.
So that's one opportunity we've done, on December 1. We're gonna be taking them to the Tattered Cover in Downtown Denver, just to explore the bookshop and just do a whole a whole exploration thing for some of those kids who are more literacy based. Yeah. And we we definitely are looking into more of the college visits. That's what we're trying to to schedule. I know there was, something that was happening at CU for future, kids who are
interested in going into law, for instance, that we were gonna take them to that one year. So, lots of different just career exploration is really where we're going. We've been to, CSU, no, it's not CSU Denver. I'm drawing a blank right now, but it's one of the extension campuses of CSU. Up in, Northern Denver where we've taken them up there to to do the whole thing with the veterinary science. So that was that was a big deal.
So yeah. I think too in high school for gifted and talented, you're really looking at, you know, what are their areas of strength. You know, that's where high school, they can take those accelerated classes. Yes. You know, they can take college level classes in their area of strength to really, investigate that passion that they have. That's where we tend to see that expansion for current enrollment as well. Yeah. Yeah. I just wonder. And, something or do something with that talent that helps them, like, distinguish themselves on
college applications Yep. Over that four years. And and that's really what their advanced learning plan. So a gifted and talented student has an advanced learning plan that's revisited every year, and that's a great opportunity where students are identifying their passion and then working with counselors to think about what is their four years going to look like, how can we how can we make sure that four years is what they need to meet their desires and their passions? And so, so, yeah, I think at at the high school, it's far more than just gifted staff. It's it's taking advantage of career and technical education, pickings, ACC classes, and and really
find every just because they're gifted doesn't mean every gifted student wants the same thing. So an advanced learning plan is really a critical part that Jen's done a lot of work with our staff and really understanding that's an individualized plan. It's not just a cookie cutter. What does what do you, Dave, want, and what's your desire, and what's your passion? And then to continue to revisit that annually and make sure that we're getting you in the right classes, we're getting you the right opportunities in your schedule so that you can pursue those passions. And granted, passions change. So their ALP, their freshman year may be different than their ALP, their sophomore year.
Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And a lot of times, the freshmen and sophomore ALPs are a little bit more like they are traditionally k through six. Yeah. Right. A little bit more academic based, whereas we start moving more into that. Focus junior and senior year where mister Bodoin really comes to complain about mister Bodoin because obviously those internships are Yes. Are again customized for what's their passion, what are they interested in. Yes. So many students think they wanna go into field when you give them that experience and that apprenticeship, all of a sudden, that's not really what I thought it was.
So better find out now than after four years of college and investing in that. So Yes. So we we set them up for success in in a lot of ways and and expose them to a lot of different things. So we're gonna wrap up with health services. That's the other area. If you can see they're bright red on our shirts. And you see on the the slides, a lot of red. I think everybody is celebrating the new AEDs that we've gotten around the district, which is a huge celebration. We have a new diabetes training platform for all teachers to learn about diabetes.
And then, if they need more specific because they have a specific student in their class, there's more advanced, learning that they can do. Our health services team is to our ends, and we have a health clerk in every building. They've trained 80 staff in first aid, CPR, and AEDs, which is pretty amazing. They, and we got some new CPR mannequins for adults and for, infants so that we can work on, those skills to make sure anybody that goes on field trips, we always have to have a CPR trained staff, things like that.
So we wanna make sure that everybody has that. The other things that we're working on are well, Ashley, we have a coordinator, Ashley, and they've her and, Jamie have done emergency medical training with all transportation and all safety teams. So, we are prepared, which is really exciting. We are updating our concussion protocol in the district. Just so you know that, when a student has a concussion, we want them to return to learn as soon as possible. Gone are the days of sitting in a dark room for weeks and weeks and
weeks that actually prolongs recovery of a concussion. So we want them to come back to school as soon as they can. And then doctors support us in that return to play. So if they are in sports, we really need to work closely with the medical doctors, to make sure that they can are released to get back to, sports. We're working on our documentation for immunizations. Good change this year is we don't have to have doctor's signature. Our nurses can actually sign if we have, families that wanna opt out of immunizations.
So we're working on just gathering documentation, and getting that back. They can do immunizations or not. It's their choice, but we just need that paper back that says, are you exempting your child? Mhmm. So, that's something that our nurses are working on. We have completed over the last four weeks vision and hearing screenings for, about half of our grades, a lot of early grades, and then, some middle school and high school grades. They have done updates, health updates for individualized education plans, and, they are doing regular
department meetings, and we actually are celebrating. We actually have a sub health health tech and a sub, registered nurse. So if somebody is out, we have staff that can step right in. So very excited about that. So it's a great team that's working really hard. Any questions? Yep. That's different here. Yeah. So we have a trainer at the high school, that helps evaluate who's trained on how to evaluate concussions, at least initially to to know what are the next steps.
All of our coaches are trained as well at the middle school and high school. So And they also advise on any injuries, any Yeah. Twisted ankles, bone Yeah. Breaks, things like that. So, yeah. We're we're really fortunate. And we often have a surgeon or a doctor on the sideline, for our games as well. So we've got a great partnership with with our local medical community. Thanks to Ashley and Yeah. Her team. So Okay. Thank you very much. I will just say as these ladies walk away, we are very fortunate to have
this amazing team. Thank you. So thank you both. Appreciate it. Thank you. Alright. Lots of good stuff there. Okay. Next up, I'd like to welcome our interim principal, Patricia Kaiser. She's here to provide us with an update on the new mix. Yeah. Are you gonna connect through the Apple TV or She's having me to the Oh, you're doing that? Okay. Alright. No worries. Alright. Great. Join now. I saw the Mac. I thought you could connect if you want to. I will say as Patricia's getting ready, we'd really appreciate it. Patricia stepping up. As you know, Amber Amber parted in, August, and, obviously, that can that can be
pretty devastating to a school to all of a sudden lose your your school leader, and we know the situation that that, Amber was in and needed to step away. But, I just wanna thank Patricia for stepping up and keeping us moving forward, and so thank you very much. Happy to do it. Thank you guys for having me here today. Today, I wanted to focus mostly on how our school supports all different kinds of learners. So, we do lots of different things, but I just highlighted a just a few
throughout the building that we do, on a day to day basis or weekly basis. So, the first thing is with direct explicit instruction. So this is a newer initiative as a district. We did some training at the beginning of the year and then some continue training in the fall during our PD day. We've also had Zach Groeschel come in and train the principals as well on this. One thing that we felt as a school is really important was creating some school wide systems, and, that included a quiet signal that we can use with all students.
And so we call it our quiet coyote signal. So we have a little hand signal, and then we say quiet coyotes three two one. And the kids know that they can also do the signal. They need to be quiet after we count down, and it actually has worked wonders. I'm happy to say in the classroom, but also, like, in the cafeteria when we have, you know, three or four different grade levels eating lunch together, that can get pretty noisy. But they listen and, you know, get quiet. They know the what's the what the expectation is, and in assemblies with the whole
school. The first assembly we had, I used it, and I was like, jeez, that really worked. Okay. So that was really exciting to see. And, you know, it it was because teachers, taught this to their classes specifically at the beginning of the year and made sure that the kids were aware this is the signal we're using. And, special teachers specials teachers also have said that that's really helped them with their classroom management because all of the kids know that, and so they can use that in their classes as well. Another system is the voice level system.
So I have the poster up that we made this year. Again, across the board, kids are aware of what the different voice levels are around the building. So if we say, you know, we expect voice level two during, the lunch period, then they know, that they can have that table talk and, not to get louder than that. We can give them reminders on what level we're looking for, and then we can tie that into our lessons as well. So that's been helpful. And then Champs is a a training that kind of goes hand in hand with
direct explicit instruction. That's our behavior management system, And we, our dean of students, Emily Gentile, created a handout, you about the CHAMP system that we can give to substitute teachers as well so that they know our systems when they come into the building. And, just in case you're not just in case you don't know what CHAMP stands for, the c so we use this in our lessons. So the c stands for conversation. So talking to the kids about what is the conversation looking like during the lesson.
Are we having zero silent where it's independent work, or are you whispering or having table talk during the assignments? The h stands for help. So, like, how do you ask for help? Are you going to raise your hand? Do we have some other system in place? The act a stands for activity. So the learning objective or task that you're working on. M stands for movement. So are we moving around during this? Are you able to get out of your seat? Will it work somewhere else? Or are we, you know, staying in our seats? Participation is the next one.
So that is, you know, what does responsible engagement look like? How are you participating in the assignment? And then as a success, so the goal of meeting expectations and achieving learning success. So what does success look like at the end of this assignment or lesson? So our teachers are using that, and, again, it's just a common language that we can use across the building and with our substitute teachers so that, the kids know the expectation for each assignment. So that's been really helpful, and I've received a lot of positive feedback from our
teaching our teachers. And then just some going along with that, some individual, like, classroom systems or techniques that we that teachers are really picking up and using consistently. Cold calling on students, so not having them raise their hands, but making sure that we're because when kids raise their hand, you know, you're constantly calling on the same kids. So we wanna make sure we're reaching all of the students in the room. Choral response, when teachers are teaching, you know, their similar lessons, their, phonics lessons, they
can say the the sound and then have the class, like, do ever, you know, snap or have point at them, and then they can all say it back. And we've seen that, do wonders. Like, the kids are just quick, and it's really helping with, you know, management, engagement, and, keeping kids on track. And then expecting a 100% participation. So if kids are, using whiteboards in the classroom, for instance, we wanna make sure that all of them are participating.
Everyone is engaged. We don't want to lose the quiet kid in the back that, you know, maybe is not paying attention and sometimes, may have happened in the past when we weren't cold calling and things like that. So this is just, different things that we're doing in the classroom as well. And across the board, I, just to help kids be successful and make sure that everyone is engaged in in learning. We have our set intervention time. We started this last year with, setting a full forty five minutes for reading in
our schedule, and it's a set time so that all of our different, support systems can pull out at the same time. So we have reading support with missus Burton, so that's a reading intervention. She does a few different programs like build or spire, which are approved intervention reading interventions. We also have our take flight group, which is the dyslexia program, and with our counts and training. So our certified academic language therapists and training, we have two awesome therapists that kind
of job share. And, so that group pulls out during that time. We also have an extension. This is new this year. We have some instructional pairs that are able we kind of repurposed our lunch pairs, and staff is picking up the slack on lunch and recess. And then we repurposed those paras to be instructional paras so that we can provide extensions to support the kids that are advanced or need, you know, some, higher levels
of learning. And so during that intervention time, they're also pulling those kids out and doing extra things with them to improve their learning. And then, special education is pulling out for reading groups during that time. And then the classroom teachers also you know, the kids that aren't pulled in those other groups are staying with the classroom teachers, and they're providing supports for them as well. So it's really worked well, to target, you know, what kids truly need in giving those intervention supports. And then these are just some pictures, a take flight group and some of our
extension groups. The first one is a kindergarten group, the extension group, and then, the second one, I believe, is second or third grade. It's a little bit higher. And then for our, special education students, we do something called adaptive PE. And so every week, every Tuesday morning, the PE teacher plans different activities, for the special education students that are modified for their needs, just gives them an opportunity to
go and practice skills without their grade level peers, and they get more support. We have paras in there. We also have fifth grade helpers. So we, you know, choose some responsible fifth graders that are wanting to go in there and help support these kids, some of the younger kids, and, they get to do different activities. So that first picture, they had balloons and they were, practicing, you know, their hits like they would for volleyball that they had balloons instead.
And then, the second picture is just a group picture, but they also use, you know, scooters and things like that. It gives them a chance to have an extra, you know, safe physical activity as well. And, they also get their PE class with their general education classroom, but this just gives them that extra opportunity, to meet their needs, for kids with disabilities and have, you know, that accessible feature to benefit them. We also have some hallway supports. Our, paras are great.
They've put together some things for our significant support needs kiddos or SSN kids in the hallway. And so, I have some examples there, and they help support their prewriting skills, but they have the shapes with the arrows so kids can, you know, trace those. That helps with their prewriting skills. They have the hand prints so they can cross the midline and touch the different colors, work on colors, shapes, and also, like, sizes, vocabulary.
There's a size sort with the bears, you know, and then learning the stop and go. And so those are helping build individual skills for those students as well around the building. Library this year is part of our specials rotation because we are sharing art with Running Creek, and STEM, is doing fourth and fifth grade at Running Creek on Wednesday morning. So we had to get really creative with our special schedule, and we did add
library in, to take the spot of art on Thursday and Friday when our art teachers over at Reading Creek. But our librarian has done a great job just incorporating reading and, building kids' reading skills. So she is doing extra read alouds with kids when they're in there. She's exposing them to other books and authors that they may not otherwise pick. You know, a lot of kids might, pick one book series and kinda stick with that. So she's trying to, you know, show them other options and get them a chance
to look through the library. Our three five kids, they, are actually reading a novel together, and she's giving them a chance to have to read aloud, practice their oral fluency skills together, and again exposing them to just, authentic text, other literature. And so the kids are really enjoying it. And then at the end of class, the last part, they get to check out books, like you would expect in a normal library setting.
So I know teachers are liking that as well. That is just giving them another experience with literature, and those authentic texts, giving them a chance to choose what they wanna wanna read. And then the last piece I was gonna touch on was, some ways we're getting family involved in learning as well. So we are planning a game night in February, and it's around math in particular.
So each team is planning different games. It's gonna be hopefully more engaging kind of like a carnival in a way, where teams are creating these hands on games that, kids can come and play. Each team has a different domain specific. So, like, fourth grade might be around measurement and data, and fifth grade might be around geometry, just so that they're getting exposed to different kinds of math games. And we're gonna send families home with, you know, dice and cards and then some
game ideas that they can, you know, the idea is that when families come play the games with their kids, then hopefully they have that together and are more likely to then play at home together. So if they all know the rules and how to do it. We are also implementing a school wide reading initiative just to push on reading at home more, starting in January after winter break. We're still working on the fine details and, planning to roll this out so you get kind of the first look. But, we're creating a reading log system, and it's where kids, if they're, at home
and they read twenty minutes, and that could include reading homework that they get from their teacher. Like, you know, any reading work that they're doing or reading a book at home, then that's, they have a sheet that has, like, a bookshelf on it, and they can color in one of the books. And then once their full bookshelves filled in, then they get to color this paw print in the corner, and that goes on our school wide, chart that we're gonna have for primary and intermediate grades. And we're gonna track each class.
And it's kind of a competition to see which class gets the most reading minutes total. And so it's gonna go from January through, March, like, before spring break. And then, the two winning classes, k two and three five, will get a prize. So we're still, again, coming up with some of those fine details, but we do have a math committee and a, reading committee, and those are the committees that are working on these things. So it's the teachers that are, you know, coming up with these ideas and just
trying to get the community more involved and the families. I know a lot of families are asked about what they can do at home with their child, so we just wanna give them those ideas and support. So do you guys have any questions for me? I know it was kinda short and sweet, but just wanted to go over, you know, ways that we're supporting kids at our school. So with the specific instruction is helping you with the twelve year sentence.
Yeah. I think it is because it's keeping kids engaged. It's also helping them, you know, focus on what's important. We're taking out some of the, like, transition time between things and really, like, driving home. This is our instructional time, and we need to, you know, use it for instruction. So did I answer your question? Okay. As far as the and the and the tinctures down Oh, yeah.
Yeah. They they do. And I we're still, I mean, it's still a work in progress. We're still learning the different techniques, and it is, for some teachers, different than the way that they've been teaching. You know? So it's always hard to make that shift. I think they're all putting an effort to do that. Some teachers, it obviously comes more naturally than others. I know in January, January 5, we're gonna be doing more work. There's a training that we're doing where we're, gonna actually, like, get a lesson plan, and they're gonna, like, pick intentional moments, in adding that into their lesson plan.
So, I know that we're still working on that and we're working and as leadership team, we're also coaching teachers too on and giving them those steps on what to do next in their lessons, to add in more direct explicit instruction. But, I have received a lot of positive feedback, and I've also seen better, I guess, just more efficient lessons too. No. I do have faith that we're gonna, yeah, continue to grow. So yeah.
Yes. More than welcome to come. So I'm not gonna I'm not gonna play with you. I want them on my Yeah. Thank you, guys. Thank you. Well, I got to go read at, to a first grade classes last week and it was and I did that one time last year. It was very fun and the kids are just they are very engaged and it's really fun to move. I read Bug and Bear. And then I also wanted to mention that tomorrow. So I'm on the, Elizabeth Education Foundation as the board liaison.
And, we've got a fundraiser tomorrow at Fox's Pizza Dan. It's all day from eleven to 11AM to 8PM. And Pete Fox's Pizza will donate 20% of all proceeds from that day to Elizabeth Education Foundation. And what the Elizabeth Education Foundation does is it supports like we've just received, applications from various of the teachers for teacher for special things kind of outside of budgetary things. Like, I know one, submission, for example, is is on for our STEM program for
the kind of extra extraordinary kind of pieces of equipment and needs and stuff. And it's all for stuff that is, non consumable. So, you know, stuff that can then it belongs to the school and it doesn't belong to the teacher, but the teacher the teacher uses it and then, you know, it's it's there for the next year. So, anyway, so that's one of the things. And then we have two, senior scholarships that we give out every year. And then, the big event in April is the STARS Awards, which stands for students taking accountability and responsibility seriously.
That's a mouthful. My voice. I have to say it slowly. But, it's, it's, 50 students from age, grades five through 12. Not 30 from each one, but 50 in total are selected by teachers and recommended by teachers and for showing characteristics. It's it's a non academic award. It's all about characteristics of responsibility and and, just good citizenship. And, it's a really exciting night and it's a big deal. We students.
In fact, we have a couple of employees here who were stars recipients when they were here in school and they remember it. It's a big deal. It is a big deal and it's very fun. So, anyway, those are the things that we fund through these various fundraisers. So, if you have a hamper in for pizza or strong bow leaves or wings and they have good desserts too and sandwiches, just go to Fox's tomorrow. They're right near Safeway. Okay. So I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve for four more years and to serve to a few people And I just want to, Hello.
I'm Amber Perna. I'm not going to sit up here for a third time and ask you guys to do the right thing. Again, all I want to say is not only does the law support that those are our records as parents, but the community does as well. As a matter of fact, the majority of the people in this room who I have never met before are here to support us. They've shown up here today, people who I've not met, and I thank every one
of you guys. I really do. These community members and many more that I know are watching online have taken their time out of their evening to show support for our family. Doing the right thing also means being honest with the 32 other families whose children's private information was shared with us, making sure they are notified and they're protected. And since today is Veterans Day, happy Veterans Day, mister Fletcher, I also wanna thank, most importantly, my husband, who's a proud US marine, for his service.
And I want to remind you that we are fighting for what's right and with that same determination that the marines bring. My son's records belong to us, his parents. No. Yeah. Do you have my slides? Do you want it? Yeah. No. I think you guys received that summary page, right, of all the grants. Yeah. So, I'm not necessarily I wasn't planning on going through it all in detail. It was more giving you an opportunity to ask any questions you might have. Last year, I presented the summary to FAC.
I can't remember what time of year it was, you know, probably about this time. But since, we you've changed the board policy for that certain threshold to grants come brought before you for approval. We're bringing today one that we're planning, on applying for with the Nathan Yip Foundation. And since we're doing that anyways, we figured we might as well kind of bring the whole overview of what what's currently happening with France. Yeah. So you can kind of see what what we what kind of the, the formula
ones are that we receive and and the competitive ones, and then also what's what's kind of in the works, what's on the horizon. And then, obviously, as we go through the the kind of the busy grant season is really later in the year, and then early in the spring is when a lot of new things come up. And anything that goes over that 10,000, I guess we'll be back to to ask your approval. But, so is there anything you'd like to know more about of what we're currently doing?
Well, I guess just as a as a broad overview, are these, grants that we will be assigned for regularly or any Yes. So that in the in the first section so the the title funding is you know, that's the federal funding that every school district receives. The gifted mentality grants, there's they're similar. REDAC, ALPA, state library. So those are all like, that's been going on for years and years and years. And my role in those is just to do the finances, the reporting, the applications.
CDE moved to a new system about a year and a half ago where all of those grants live in one place. The one that doesn't live there yet is the special education one that, Linnea was talking about. They're talking about moving that in there as well, but it's been very nice to just kind of have one system for all of those. So that's been very helpful. Yeah. So all of those. And then when you go to the lower section, there is there's some there are some changes coming where you see the CDIP one. That is a program that's been phased out because the state's trying to go to
new funding for post workforce readiness. So instead of these different grants that they had and we have done really well as a district to take advantage of the grants. But a lot of school districts, did not really take advantage of those grants, so they didn't get any funding for it. So it felt very kind of lopsided where some rural districts did well with it and others got nothing. So now they're trying to go more to a formula based program for that as well. How that exactly will look, we don't know yet.
But so the CEDIP funding last year, we got over 200,000. It's down to just 31,000, and then that's going away altogether for next year. So this new program will kinda move up into the top part then. Exactly. That's what it that's what they make it sound like. There's still so many things up in the air, but that's kind of what what the state wants to do with that. And it's geared towards, you know, CTE and post four course preparedness. But there are still CTE there are still CTE funding that we have, started to take advantage of as a school district, the CTE funding and the Perkins.
Perkins was something that our district did many years ago, and then it kind of fell by the wayside. So we're we're now back. We we you know, I'm I'm doing all the reporting so that we qualify, and so it's it's all that's we can take advantage of that again. In fact, that amount will go towards, starting the welding program in our high school. So so that's gonna be nice to get that going. And then kind of the the newer things in that section are and and some of them are kind of a one time thing, like the firehouse subs grants that
we got for the AEDs. That's not gonna be something they're gonna give us every year. You know? But it it was great that we that we got that. The school council court grant still has two more years, so that's one we still have. The vaping has another year after this year as well, so that's great that we still have that, have Megan at the high school. And then school health services, the reason I put that on here, even though it's not necessary a grant per se, but they handle it like a grant. So we basically get get a percentage of what we're spending on Medicaid services for
students with IEPs and five zero fours and health plans. We get a percentage of that back. We have to come up as a as a they they recommend establishing a wellness committee. Well, we have one already, so we're gonna utilize that kind of as the as the engine behind it in conjunction with, special services to, build what's called the local services plan, which is basically like a grant writing out this is what we're gonna spend the money on. For the first year, we're looking at about 81,000. And, as we get really established in that program, it can that can go a
lot higher. So that was kind of an opportunity I came across last year that I learned about when, you know, a lot of federal funding has been cut. So a lot of grants that would have been available in the past are not there anymore. And this was one of the things that got brought up in a training where they said, well, there is money there. You just have to do all of this to access it. And as we looked at it, in one of the leadership meetings, it basically we were saying, well, it's it's worth the effort because it's money that's just there for us to to use.
Right. Question to do on that. So I know that I know director Pearson was talking about that Medicaid, as it relates to the PER programs. Is that is this different? Is this, like, all of the So the rest of the No. So it's so the funding gets it gets brought in through Medicaid for students that have IUPs, five zero fours, and health plans. But the funding that we receive that we can then use, that 81,000, gets used for all children, for all the students across as long as it services their health.
I mean, that can and it's a very I mean, there's almost more things you can use it on than more thing than the things you can't. So to use a reimbursement for services already delivered that then we create a plan about what was invested into that and the health of your students. So any basically, anything you can think of that would benefit the health of students can be in that plan. And as we, as we flesh out this plan with the wellness committee, you know, I'll make sure that Dan has the notes and can bring it back to you so you know, obviously, what what the what the committee is thinking of of of
doing. Yeah. We'll be asking you as well for those feedback. And and the wellness committee is one committee we didn't have on the list of liaisons. And so I don't know if there's Yes.
Is that an estimate, or do you know exactly how we That start in the So that that's an so the way but this is the estimate currently, but then they do a settlement at the end. So they kind of estimate as conservatively as they can because they wouldn't want you to be in a scenario where you have to then pay back something that they overpaid you. So the HCFAF, I mean, they really do a good job kind of they have us submit all, you know, who are the service providers we have because all those salaries go into that, you know, the counselors, the nurses, the speech language pathologists.
All of those salaries go into what we report that this is what we're spending on all these services. And then, at the very end so it kinda becomes a lot later, but then they go, okay. We've given you this much, but to make you whole, we still need to give you another, you know, 20,000 or whatever. So contingent of whom the VAEs agreeing to identify as Medicaid families or students No. So so the the pieces that go into it is, they the parents do have
to sign a consent form that that Medicare can share with HCPCS that their that that student is eligible. You know? The parent doesn't have to say yes, but, if they say no, we'll keep asking them every year just because it's, you know, it would be a benefit for us. And so far, the parents that have negative consequences. No. And the the parents that have called me so far is once I explained to them that all this does is free up money that's there for the school district, doesn't change anything about their benefits with Medicaid.
They get all the same services. Doesn't take anything away from what they are receiving. It just opens up that kind of that funding for us. All the families have been like, oh, yeah. I'm happy to sign it. There really hasn't been anybody that that, you know, was upset about it. But if they have a problem with it, they don't have to sign you know, they they can say no. So Yeah. In case there are a few doctors wondering, is it gonna affect my Exactly. No. It does not affect their benefits in any way, shape, or form. It just frees up that funding. And then, the service providers, they get what's called a random moment time study.
So they get a short like, a minute of a day. They get an email that says, you have to now report what you were doing during that minute of your day. And, that gets sent out to the entire state, to everybody that's in the you know, all the districts that participate in Medicaid. And there's a certain percentage that leads to that shows that this is the percentage that the staff provides health services to the students. And, the I think it's usually in the low 30% because it could be that you you know, that minute, maybe you were in the bathroom, maybe you were at
lunch, maybe you had the day off. So there's a lot of reasons why you maybe in that moment might have not been doing that. But it's a whole statistical way of making it. That's why it's called random moment. It's random. People don't know you know, they just received that email. They have to respond to it. But that's kind of the biggest piece for that is, as a district, we have to have at least an 85%, response rate to remain eligible. But I'm proud to say we're at a 100%. All our service providers have been great responding in time getting it in. There's there's even two people that have already gotten two.
Could be that you don't get even one through the whole year. So that's kind of the the other piece to the puzzle. And then the third piece is the financial reporting where, you know, as a quarterly report, where we report this is how much we paid in most of it is salaries, how much we paid in salaries, how much we paid in benefits. Supplies go into it to professional development, anything related to those services to those students. And all those pieces together then lead to this formula how how they determine this is how much funding we get. And this is brand new this year? Yes.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. These are services. If you think about it, the services we're reporting are services that if they weren't in school, a child on Medicaid who needed speech language, they would because that would
be something that benefits the health of all students. So yeah. So Well, I I mean, and I do wanna say, at least what I do appreciate what your leadership is that you do guys really try to find Yes. Good job confining with the. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. What are you doing? Yeah. I I can tell you a story offline of the, how much waste to put
it on. The the only other thing that I have, and I don't know if this is I think I don't know if in the funding details if that's a place to put that or something. But, the concern that I think I have is what are the strings attached to a particular brand. Phrases say if there's Yes.
Yeah. And, so just as we're applying for these, making sure that and Well, at anything I mean, anything over 10,000 has to come before you, anyways. Right. But it So But Yeah. That that would be my question Yes. When it comes to the board is what what what's the string attached to this? So what I'm fighting with most of the grants too is it's mostly the biggest ask and task is the reporting, the financial reporting and the program reporting. It's not so much how did you come up with what you were doing.
It's more we wanna see the data. So here's your starting point percentages, anything like that. And then here's the midyear report. Here's the end of your report. There's there's there's not that much of you have to do it this way. Yeah. There's a lot of suggestions. For example, for the health for the local service plan for this program, there is a suggested questionnaire you could send out to families to develop this local service plan. It was, like, 20 questions, very in-depth. It's not necessary. I mean, even in the training, they're telling us, you can use whatever you'd like.
So I'm gonna just put together a questionnaire. Ever shared it with Dan. I even don't know if you have had a chance to share it with with them, but I it's just gonna have two questions. There's no reason to go into such detail and depth. We don't have to. So that's what I'm finding mostly is that, yes, they they might give you guidelines that are very detailed, but that's just a suggestion. And when you really dig down in what the must do is, it's it's mostly comes down to the reporting. Yeah. If it fits our mission at vision, then we'll have to.
Alright? Now the one the one that I'm gonna invite Steve up now. They're coming up. Is this the one that your next This is the one you you you will need to, you know, vote on. Great. Is the Nathan Yip Foundation. And, Jamie, if you wanna go to the next slide. The so the Nathan Yip Foundation, I don't know. Have have you guys heard of it or okay. Okay. So they really focus on rural school districts. That's kind of always been their big thing, and they've come up with a new
grant program. They used to do it that teachers could just apply. They get, you know, between 2 or $5,000 for something in their class, and that's been going on for many years. But now they've come up with this new idea of making it a three year kind of a bigger impact, larger grant. And, Steve has come up with a an idea. What what they're looking for? They're looking for a teacher driven, superintendent supported kind of program. They don't want it to be something where an outside group goes, you know, this
is what we want to bring to your classroom. They want this to come from the classroom. So do you want to kind of give a quick Quick overview. Very quick overview. We looked at it and they had several categories and you had to say we're gonna do these. So we looked at him and we said the two we can really do our career exploration and workforce pathways, family and community partnerships because that's one thing we always talk about is we are not getting positives out in the community enough. So we looked at it and we said what we should create is a food
bank at Frontier. So using part of the building which brings a community thing that's open five days a week during the school day along with a what we're calling a student store which is really a room where kids can get clean clothing, shoes, school supplies, basic stuff for free. We said we create this. We have a number of students who can come over and organize it, run it, keep track of stuff, social media market it, etcetera.
So we're getting a lot of kids out doing those internships, helping to run the store, lets them go out and work with the community to go over to the Presbyterian Church and say, hey, your food bank is open three hours a week. Can we partner together? You come over and show us how you really make this happen. We help you do it. Now we provide more food more often. We consolidate some of those things hopefully to say, hey, we can work together with the community. So our thought is we get a lot of kids involved in it, different aspects of what might be happening there.
And then we also support our kids throughout all grades so your family can take it over there. It's not in your school. You can go over there. It's a little more private. Oh, we need we need school clothing. We need supplies. We can't afford them. We might be one of those homeless families that we talked about earlier and we can also the whole community can come and get food from there. So that was our plan and we thought we can make this really happen and working with the community after three years, it'll be sustainable because that's one of their questions. Can we sustain it into the future there?
It might even come from that Perkins grant. Exactly. The key the key And we already have, the American Legion food bank that's run
by some wonderful veterans. They they run it during the holidays, so they start in October and then it goes through Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they put boxes of food together. And they already utilize Frontier as their location for that activity. And I know, they, you know, they're getting older. They're having a harder time finding people to help with it. So this will be another great partnership. Opportunity for the kids to partner with them. Make that make that happen and continue that tradition. Yeah. Yeah. A hundred years at food, hundred years that drive's been going on.
So to move it to that next hundred years of participation. And what it would be so the maximum you can ask for is 75,000. It's what we'll we'll go for it for three years, and Per year or 70%? For for for three years total. Yeah. Yeah. For this. And they'll probably be we'll probably kind of budget heavier for the first year because some of that cost will go towards, you know, refinishing a room that you just need to paint and put carpet and whatever needs to be done to make it shelving and all of that.
So probably more cost in that first year. And then I do wanna draw your attention to one other thank you, Steve. Thank you. Yep. It was good. Thank you. Thank you. Stages Local Fund, we are fine. So this would be the older part of the building. The older part of the building. The stage historical fund? Yeah. Yeah. So the application, I think it was a early spring was gonna be kind of their decision time. So right now, they're reviewing all the applications. And then early spring, we should find out. Salesforce. Yes. Review. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I've I mean, one big thing with all of this is that I've discovered
there's definitely a lot of relationship building that has to happen. Like, the first time we applied for the Biel grant, we didn't get it, but then as next next time we got it. And, it was the same with Firehouse Subs. You know? Like, the first time I tried, didn't get in, and then the second time we did. So there's definitely that element. So this is the first time applying for the state historical fund. But what was cool in the process of the application, I found out that there was a a a submission to to the state historical fund for Frontier from 2008,
I think it was. Right? That historical document. So they had kind of done what you'd sort of wanna do building up to a bigger project back then. So whoever was I don't know who exactly did it, but it was the school district somehow, put together a historical assessment of the building. So I was able to make that a big part of the application. So hopefully that will help. We'll see. But, yeah. I don't know. No. Yes. Yes. Yes. Great. Thank you. Well, we had our first, DCRC meeting on, November 1, and it was a very
productive meeting. And, we talked about some of the things that we Patricia talked about earlier and,
just making sure that that is, being implemented well. And so that's kinda where that is. Become familiar with electronic tools all of the members to to kind of come back
to our next meeting, which is on the December or the third or something. I don't know. Somewhere in that December. And, and, just ask them to kind of bring back information so that we can kind of understand and then help us I asked I should ask them to help us to understand it better so that when we kind of that we as a board can work on a policy that has a little more Yeah.
And then the last one was, we talked about, you know, the CNAS results and and how we need to just kind of change the culture of people people's attitudes towards the, CMAST testing and that it's important and trying to encourage its use. We did have a couple of our members on on our, CRC board though that were ones who have opted you know, encourage it, but also not have it be
such a completely stressful thing. So, it's we just need to give it that. So, So I spoke with, Brian Miller, our attorney today.
He is working with the attorneys from, independent companies. We were hopeful that we have the It's just this is really covering the video
surveillance. It's all it captures is the video cameras where it's on the buses in our schools as we're capturing images and how those are handled, how So key key So
key key to clarification on this policy, and I think we sent this out, but just so we can be covered up about this. There was question about, you know, when images of students were captured on cameras, you know, the situations like that camera might be used to investigate a behavior situation. So our videos, our views, really for the same same concept as an eyewitness. You know, when you Right you can purchase to to say, this child, this child,
that child, do not work in most of our cameras because of the angle of the camera. So most of those require a head on version, because of the where we're back orders to to So let's say in in the example of two students getting into
a fight, but it's not clear or, you know, like, what the you know, one student says they started it. Everyone says they started it. Both parents and we have access If if during that thirty day period, there there appears to be this could be challenged because someone may wanna file a lawsuit over it. Yes. Then that video can be saved off on the drive.
But but again, we don't have the footnotes to it. Sure. And it's just So that's You have to catch it in And just one last
question on this. Is it I know I know it says it's not necessarily the home. Is it based on the decision of the school district where parents requested that, And and sometimes it is sometimes that Yeah.
So this policy came up. As you know, we had drug dog search in the middle school. This particular policy said that, you know, primarily, students could could, possess medications for self administration. And it said, for self administered self administered medications to treat the student's asthma, which makes sense. Food or other allergies. I'm allergic to peanuts. We didn't have something to counteract that. Anaphylaxis are related, life threatening conditions, and this is where the concern can have or
other conditions for which medication is prescribed. And so that that's a concern because a a a controlled substance of a student is carrying, well, they may be fully responsible when the students do sometimes access other backpacks and And so we're wanting to clean this up just to be very clear
that we're okay with soft administration, medications, or those life threatening conditions, control substance, So
this we had a community member indicate that they felt this policy was not accurate, that it didn't include everything that they're all required. So we brought it forward and said, okay. Updating it to say yes. We've reviewed it since 2010. It is current. It is appropriate. It meets the the law,