Speaker 1: Meeting for Wednesday, October 8th, 2025 to order at 5 35. So we'll go ahead and start with the Pledge of Allegiance. If you would stand and please Speaker 2: Remove cover, remove, cover to me. Speaker 1: I pledge allegiance Speaker 2: To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Speaker 1: Thank you. If you would please remain standing for just a moment of silence. Okay, thank you. Speaker 2: Alright. Okay. Speaker 1: All right, so we'll go ahead and move on.
So we have got the approval of the October 8th, 2025 agenda. Are there any changes to the agenda? Speaker 3: We just have one item in the consent agenda that we would like to, to change the date regarding the letter of resignation for Estefani Vargas Flores changing it from October 9th to October 31st, 2025. Okay, so it is following along it's page 2, 1, 2, 3, 4, fifth bullet from the bottom. Okay. And so that's the 31st.
It's just a change in her ending date. Okay. This is a, a para and we just had a different, she was able to extend her end till till that date and so we're just able to keep her on a little bit longer. So she's moving on. So, okay. Speaker 4: I have another one on that. I know it's the consent agenda and this was just the agenda but Rich Hills at the bottom of that is spelled wrong. Speaker 1: Oh, it's missing an L. Speaker 4: Yes. Good catch. Speaker 2: Oh, good call right here. Speaker 1: Alright. So we will approve those changes once we get to the consent agenda, but as of right now, we will go ahead
and may I get a motion to approve the agenda for today's meeting? Speaker 4: I make a motion to approve the October 8th, 2025 agenda. Speaker 1: Great. May I get a second? I'll second. Thank you. Lisa, may I get roll call please? Speaker 2: Castell Speaker 4: Aye. Speaker 2: Kyle Aye. Jenkins. Aye. Jensen Speaker 1: Aye. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: And we'll go on and move to public audience. I will say just a few opening comments. The board's, the board's meeting time is dedicated
to its strategic mission and top priority focus areas. Public participation is an opportunity to present brief comments or pose questions to the board for consideration and follow up. Each person is asked to focus comments to three minutes. The boundaries are designed to keep the meeting focused and in no way should limit conversations beyond the board meeting. Please be aware that any individual, student or personal matters are considered confidential under Colorado law. It is out of respect for the individual students and staff that we ask for those conversations to be held in executive session. Insights are needed and welcomed
and the board encourages you to meet with the most appropriate person among the board's, many district leaders. Alright. All right. So up first we have got Jessica Schafer in person is what it says. Speaker 2: She's not here. Speaker 1: Okay. Will move her to the bottom and call on the next one. So let me Gonzalez. Okay. Speaker 2: She might not like and I, I hope Speaker 5: Maybe three minutes and 20 seconds might be okay. I timed it several times and I talked as fast as the micro machine man on the commercial Speaker 2: Day. Speaker 5: That was the best I could do. Speaker 1: Perfect. Speaker 5: Do I lean into this a little bit or
Speaker 1: I We can hear you. We can hear you. Brandon, are you good on rifle tv? Awesome. Okay. Speaker 5: All right. Okay. Thank you. Speaker 1: All right Mr. Miller, it's all yours. Speaker 5: Hey everyone. My name is Andy Miller. I taught at Graham Mesa Elementary School for the last three years, Riverside Middle School for two years before that and I've been an educator in schools for a total of 15 years. Today I'm here to talk about de los the Day of the Dead. A primary, primarily Mexican calendar, two day celebratory ritual spanning November 1st and second of which our school district has embraced
in common spaces. As for all of our kids to participate in for the purpose of inclusion, I know I look a little hillbilly. I'm not sure what gives that impression. Maybe some even think I'm a MAGA guy, maybe even a racist. I don't know. I'm none of those things. I've visited seven different countries outside the us. My best friend is Mexican and Rifle. I have gay friends and trans friends, many black and Somalian friends in inner cities where I grew up Native American friends from Standing Rock Indian Reservation in North Dakota and Cass
and Leach Lake reservations in Minnesota. I've sang and danced in Broadway musicals. I composed music for choirs all around the world, including China, South Africa and Germany. I defend women and children and I honor my wife above all. And over the last three years I was a huge advocate for having a strong ELA classroom and learned more Spanish than most of the faculty in the school. I have a master's degree. I love art literature and history. I read the Bible every day of my life and I don't hate anybody. What we need to know about Dia de Los MUTOs is that it's not just a cultural thing.
It started as a hybrid ritualistic celebration fusing indigenous South American spirituality with Spaniard Catholicism. The core spiritual belief is that by setting up an altar for the dead, we not only celebrate their life, we also invite their spirits back to commune with them for those two days. This is why on Renda altars, the deceased loved one's favorite foods and beverages are spread out to entice them back and give them a beacon of where to go. Has anyone seen the movie Cocoa? I figured for one, the Renda altar confuses children
as to the purpose and spiritual implications. While we all know what the ritual stands for and is intended for those pushing the idea to get it in public spaces and make it a school-wide activity, conceal the spiritual aspects and claim it's only for cultural inclusion and family celebration. And we can Google that and find the answers for two. It crosses the line of separation of church and state by the very right of it being called an altar. Altars are exclusively for the dead and always carry spiritual significance. Many behind the the the idea and the agenda renamed the A friend a tables
to bypass the scrutiny they'd get by calling it what it really is an altar. This would be the same as me setting up a crucifix on the week leading up to Easter and calling it a giant letter T. I am all for inclusion for our students, but I am equally an advocate that we do so appropriately and we don't force and sneak agendas through at the expense of other children's staffs and parents' comfort. Finally, these alters can trigger trauma responses. I had numerous students who lost a parent, some of them very graphic and some very recent while others lost siblings and other relatives just weeks before the atos.
Do you think for the 7-year-old girl who lost her dad last year to a hit and run on Railroad Avenue and rifle, that having to walk past and look at an altar every day for two weeks would be a therapeutic and healing experience? I love solutions and compromise where compromise is appropriate. So I propose this. Each school has an renda placed in the classroom of the ELA coordinator or some other agreed upon private space with admin approval, but strictly not in the public spaces. It can be announced in morning announcements and the entire student body can choose to participate
and celebrate at will. This way it won't allow imposition of private agendas into people's faith backgrounds and comfort levels. It won't cross legal boundaries, it won't permeate confusion among the students, especially the really young ones who believe everything they see in hear. And it will allow us all to live in harmony and embrace, embrace each other's differences. Speaker 2: Thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you Aaron. Thank you. Speaker 5: How do I go? Speaker 1: Yep. Oh, okay. Speaker 2: Let's go baby. Let's go Speaker 1: Aaron, just so we do like to follow up with our public audience, especially if there was questions or concerns and solutions given.
So I do appreciate solutions as well. But would you mind leaving your contact information email or however is best way to contact you? That would be great. So thank you very much. Next we have got Ms. Trish O'Grady. Speaker 6: Good evening. It's been a while since I've been to a school board meeting. I'm here for two reasons. I'm here to support everything Andy stands for. I know Andy Miller personally. We went to the same church for years. I've known him professionally and personally. What he says is what you get.
I love Andy's bear Hugs and I miss seeing him at church. He is a wonderful man and I support when he was at Graham Mac's a teacher we worship together in church and I'm just so proud that he came up and spoke today and I'm all for his solutions. It sounds appropriate to me. He's not asking for anything outta the ordinary and I learned a lot about what he said. I did not know what the day of the dead represented spiritually. So I'm glad to be informed of that. I'm also here to support Megan Hile in her position.
I've met with her personally. I'm getting to know her personally and I support what she stands for. I think it's really important that she comes into this job as a resource officer. It gives her a different perspective and one that a lot of us don't have. And so I appreciate that she's already stepped up to the plate. I have concerns with Steve running. I've seen how he has spoke to the board in the past, even though I haven't been here that many times, but I've kind of seen the attitude and I have concerns that he's aligning himself with Darlene.
I don't know anything about Darlene, but the fact that she's aligned herself with him in this campaign concerns me by association. And so I don't really know anything about her, but I've simply seen how Steve has presented himself in the board in the past. I don't really know his background or his personality by also seeing who he sits with during these meetings. And I have a concern about the activist agitator person named me Gray that he tends to associate with 'cause she's attacked me personally at public library board meetings.
Not so much at the school board meetings 'cause my focus is still the library board meetings. So that's all I really have to say other than there's also a position open in in the public library right now. Rifle has an opening if you know anybody that's looking to for that position too, along here with the school board. So I thank you for all you do. And I forgot to mention that I am a retired teacher from this school district and so I know some of the ins and outs of how the school district operated. I'm also a retired military person and a proud patriot
and I thank you for doing the Pledge of Allegiance, which the school board, which the public library still refuses to do. So thank you. Speaker 1: Thank you Trish. I'll go back up to the top of the list. Jessica Schafer. I haven't seen anybody else come in, so I will reach out to her. And just as a reminder, we are available via email. Everything is posted on our website, so please feel free to contact us if there is ever anything else that we can do. So moving right along. Let's see here. We've got our consent agenda.
So 5.1 is the approval of the September 24th, 2025 draft board minutes. May I get a motion? Speaker 7: Make a motion to approve the September 24th, 2025 draft board minutes as presented. Speaker 1: Thank you. May I get a second? I second. Thank you Lisa, may I get roll call please Speaker 2: As Speaker 1: Aye Speaker 2: A Speaker 1: Aye. Speaker 2: Jenkins? Aye Jen. Speaker 1: Aye. Okay. And then onto the consent agenda. There were those two changes made on the second page for the fifth bullet point up from the bottom as well as the last bullet point on the bottom of the second page.
May I get a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended? Speaker 6: I'll make a motion Speaker 1: To approve as amended. Thank you. May I get a second? I second. Thank you. May I get roll call please? Pass. Aye Kyle? Aye. Speaker 2: Jenkins? Aye. Speaker 1: Jensen? Aye. Okay. On advocacy, is there, do we have anything for advocacy? Speaker 8: I don't have anything to report today. Speaker 1: Aye, I do not either. So. Okay. On to governance discussion items. Jason, you're up. Speaker 8: This is when you're supposed to have popcorn.
It's great to be here. I've missed you. Speaker 1: I know it's been a while. It's been a while. Speaker 8: A while. I miss you guys too. I bet. Speaker 1: No you don't. Speaker 8: I think I met, I think fat. I think we met here. I think you thought I was a parent and asked if I was was speaking and I said no, they make me speak. Was that here before you were on the board? Maybe. Maybe. Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't know. Speaker 8: Well that's, that's my memory is that we met here and I'm glad to meet a new board member today. My name's Jason Lynch. I work with the finance department. I'm the director there. And today we're gonna give you guys the September economic forecast.
I figured people would vote for the door. There they go. Speaker 1: Three to four. Should we, here we go. Do I need to start bringing the popcorn back? Speaker 8: Do that. Speaker 7: It wouldn't be a finance report if anybody was here. Speaker 8: I thought we'd talk about the demographics report. Give you guys a yearly schedule that you can expect from finance and then give you a little exciting audit update as well. Speaker 1: Oh, exciting. I like it. Speaker 8: I think I saw three more people leave guys, if you wouldn't mind the next slide I gave you guys a copy of the economic forecast. I know that generally you don't like me to summarize it. You like me to read page for page word for word? Yeah, it's about 150 pages.
My favorite page, which I'll point out and my favorite sta stat. The last one, Speaker 1: Huh? Is the last page. Speaker 8: Well, you're the last, this year it's on page 1 0 6. It's our region. It's the specific economic forecast for our region. And my favorite stat is always the percent visits to national parks. And I'm excited to tell you they're up 21% this year in our region. It's been 0, 0, 0. And this year we actually had growth in the, in the national parks. So whatever Speaker 7: That, because that's important. So I'm just thinking what Speaker 8: I think it's the black canyon. So
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's the only one, right? Yeah. Speaker 8: Which is why that we have what, Speaker 7: What, what do they consider our area? Speaker 8: It's the whole western northern half. So it's really from us to the border. Yeah. And all the way up to the top. Yeah. So there's, there's six or seven regions they go through. But I like to look at ours. So let me give you the overall economic forecast. The legislative council is expecting Colorado's growth or the economy to grow at about 2%. They're expecting inflation to grow at 2.1%. So basically you're buying power, your growth power is, is losing money at that rate.
The revenues are projected for the, for this year and next year to stay stagnant. So the state is expecting in the general fund to get $17.2 billion both years. So usually you're gonna see growth there. Now they are anticipating growth the next year out, which would take us to about $18.4 billion. But I'm gonna show you why that matters and what the caps are on some of that with some of the graphs. Graphs are a little more exciting to look at. Chance, did you have a question? It looked like you're gonna ask why? Well, it's Speaker 7: Three.
I'm sorry. I think it asked nine to forecast forecast revenue three years out. Speaker 8: Well, that's true. Yeah. I mean, we, we always try to, I told you guys one time that when I get out to year three, it's Yeah, pretty much voodoo. Yeah. At that moment you've probably heard that the state has a $1.1 billion deficit that's basically structured over this year and next year it, we did have a deficit this year for forecast about $700 million. The special session closed that 700 million gap down to about 300 million. So we're still at about 300 million short, 300
to 350 million short. Next year, we'll start the year with an $800 million basically structural deficit. And I'll show you that on the chart as well. And so that's when you, when you hear that 1.1 billion thrown around, it's basically 300 this year, 800 next year is, is what they're, is what they're saying statewide school funding is expected to increase by 334 million on the state share. And I'll show you why that is too. As we move into the next few months, and we talk about the mills that we have to certify and, and our assessed values,
some things are happening all across the state that are affecting assessed values, which which also affects the amount of state of local share that the state collects. So we're seeing a shift 'cause of some of this economic news from the local to the state at a time when the state is running a deficit. So educational funding is shifting statewide at the same time the state is, is at a deficit. So it's gonna, there's gonna be a squeeze coming. Overall, the student population statewide has dipped about 8,000 students. So you can see it went from about 837,000 down about 8,000.
So think of that as roughly a percent. When you, when you put $10,000 or almost $11,000 of funding on 8,000 kids, you're talking about a significant amount of, of revenue in the state that's allocated to kids. So it, it's, it's a, it it's a substantial decline. You generally, you would think a state like Colorado, since I moved here five years ago, it felt like it was growing and growing and growing. And now we're, we're actually contracting at least as to student count. The suggestion would be as a school board,
my recommendation would be we, we've got to find a way to stabilize funding. I'm given a speech next week to CS and we're gonna show how, what a discrepancy there is per student in spending. Someone in the room will be mad at me about it. They'll ask me, why is this like this? And then I always have to remind them that I just moved here. And so, but that is, it's your second day. It's my second day on the job, right? But there is great discrepancy from district to district in, in how we're funded. And it's, it can be radically different. I sat with the guy from Aspen a week ago up in parachute,
and they're not funded by the state at all. They're their, their property taxes completely fund their school system, which is really, really different from us. So, but we, we've got, we've got to advocate for, for some fair and stable revenue sources for education in, in my opinion. Let me give you guys a, a chart 'cause these are more fun to look at. I told you I can't sit at it, it's a teacher for too long. If you can tell the funding that the revenue levels for these two years is level, I mean it's that, that's
what we just talked about two years with stagnant revenue growth. The difference is that little yellow bar. So if the state collects more than Tabor, which is the, which is represented by these yellow bars, that's when you get a refund. So if you go back a couple years, if the state had only brought in this much revenue, it's still fully funded. You think of that line as being fully funded. This is the first time we're underneath that line since I moved here for sure. And so where did that line come from? You guys probably know the history of Tabor better than I do as a, as a Texan implant.
But essentially that line was a cap on growth for revenue, which is inflation plus the population growth back here. They had to suspend that because they went into a recession and even if they came out then you were gonna have revenue growth problems. And so the voters agreed to rescind Tabor and start it back up under referendum fees. So that's why you see two lines. This was the old tabor and this is the new one that allowed for more growth
during those five years. So that revenue could, could work itself through, you can see that next year, the FY 27 bar, when we talked about that revenue growing up to that 18.4 billion line, the little yellow piece won't go to education will only go, the revenues only go up to that line. So the growth there that's represented is what's creating the structural deficit of $800 million. We cannot grow revenue to get out of a, a problem of spending and spending is increasing right now.
And I'll show you why in just a sec. At least in education. So this is causing concern. This is causing great concern. The school finance project came and spoke to us a couple weeks ago in parachute. And this, this is their sole focus is how are we going to resolve an $800 million problem next year? And when the legislature gets together in January, how are they going to solve a 300 million problem? It still remains. And so we could see some tightening coming. This is worrisome. The next graph, and I hate to jump too far ahead,
but in December we're gonna certify the mills and the amount of mills that we are going to certify for the local share is 10.7. Last year it was 9.7. It grows one mill every year. Those mills are based on the assessed value of our valley. When I moved here, assessed values were 900 million. The next year they went to 1.3 billion. The next year they went back to 950 million. And this, this year they're probably gonna be around 850 million. So we're losing about 10% in assessed value, which means the mills we collect will,
will gather 10% less money, therefore the state so that our total program can stay the same. Has to backfill that. And at our level, that's not a lot of money in in re two. But when you go statewide, I think last year I looked and it looked like assessed values across the state were dropping close to $1.9 billion. That's a lot of local revenue that's lost in the mill process that has to be backfilled by the state. And so when the state, when I say the state next year has a problem about a $335 million backfill that they have to do and they're butting up against revenue limits
and they have some other structural deficit problems, there could be a real squeeze on education in the next 12 months is what is what it looks like. So have I ever given an economic forecast that we went out and celebrated afterwards? Nope. Still wait. Thought about that today it seems it's always a little dark. It's not complete doom and glue. Not, it's not exactly the sea of blood. The good news is they said that the economic forecast says that a recession is possible, but we won't work it into the forecast. So that's Oh, okay. That's, that's nice. That's super.
So that's what's happening statewide, locally, which is far more interesting. You know, when you live here and walk around, I'd like to show you the demographics report as part of our facilities plan. John hires a demographer every five years, right? Five two, sorry. We get a pretty good demographics report. I gave you the full copy of that in your packet. It looks at our housing growth, employment data population changes. And the most important thing that we care about is student population,
which they project in there also across the state of Colorado. This is all gonna sound very shocking. Housing price is a limiting factor to people moving here. As someone who moved parachuted in from another state, I can tell you that housing prices are shocking. They're, they're, they're high birth rates of millennials and Gen Z are lower than when we were kids. There's just a cultural shift on having kids later, shrinking family sizes. And the result of all that is shrinking student populations, which we're seeing in that $8,000 reduc, 8,000 student shift. Garfield too is a little bit different than the state.
Our housing prices are not quite as oppressive as the rest of the state, although I bought one in April and so I don't worry housing prices will go down 'cause I bought housing's slightly less. We do have slightly larger family sizes than the rest of the state and a lot of families here commute, which you see traveling up and down I 70 to to work. The next chart is just the overall population of our district, of our school district. And you can see it's trending upward,
which is not the case everywhere in Colorado. And so I like to look, when I moved here in 2020, we're up a couple of thousand people. That's probably 700 or so houses you think across the three cities. That's what it feels like where I live, probably in a growth of about three to 400. The next chart is my favorite. This one always gets me in trouble. This is the number of people that fall into these age demographics. I fall into the senior category. I was just family aged a couple of years ago.
But you can see here what the demographer's saying is essentially this right here is your family age population. It's about 9,000 people that are in our school district that are, that are family aged, meaning can produce some students for us. If you look at the school age kids, it's about 6,000, which is pretty consistent when you look at the next couple slides I'm gonna show you. And when you look at preschool age kids and you know, we've gone hard after preschool. We've, we've spent a lot of resources putting up a, a great preschool program and you can see why it's 2100 kids in that age group
that are down there that we would love to eventually become kindergarten's first graders and second graders. This is a neat graphic. John and I were talking about this, this is where we think student populations will be at every school across the next five years. This is only an estimate. These could change obviously, but based on the age of students, the age of families, the growth rate in housing, all those things. 'cause I told John, I said these, these feel, it feels like it would be a little different to me. And then I realize I have absolutely no expertise
and no reason to question that. But if you look, I put the totals down here. The, the, the charts that the demographer does don't exactly line up, but he's predicting 4,700 to 47 35. It's very, very flat student population. If that were to hold true, we would be very blessed compared to the rest of the state. Speaker 7: We did ask for stable funding, Speaker 8: Yes. Speaker 7: Against us. Some stable budgeting numbers. Speaker 8: Thanks for pointing that out. This is an interesting stat. This is, this is over time the number
of students in our district who migrate out of our school district and who migrate into our school district. But when you looked at that chart and saw that there was about 6,000 student student age kids, 980 of of our population goes to other districts or online or homeschool or somewhere else. We have an influx of 90. So basically about a net 900 students out of the district. Anybody good with math? That's $9 million. 300 of those are, are on an online program. And you got to hear from Jacob a couple meetings ago about
how we're trying to lift that and that would be an opportunity to capture 300 of those students up to 300 or so back. That's a tough, tough program to build. I think we've started it beautifully and I think we have the right people putting that in place. But that would be, that would be a a, a wonderful solution to some of our stagnant growth and some of the funding problems at the state. So worth looking at. Speaker 7: I want, lemme pull up this thing in the full report, it breaks down total on is 3 25 and in total in person out of district is 655 students.
I think it's, I know this has been on Kurt's radar since his first day. It's been on our radar for a little about a year. Seven months. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I don't think we have a choice but to try to capture as much of that revenue as we possibly can. Whether we have to entice those kids back into our schools, those families. I, I, I just don't know what that looks like. Speaker 8: I think we sell a good product. Speaker 7: Yeah, Speaker 8: I think, and I think we need to promote it additionally earlier, one of the things that's kind of unique to to, to our, to re two is the number of families we have that that we,
that commute to work. And a lot of times when you commute to work, you take your kid with you to wherever you end up in that work. And so we're in a a, a spot where at least my neighborhood, everybody's up at four in the morning ready to drive south to do construction and other things. And, and a lot of times they take their kids with them that direction for work. And so it's a, it's, it's tough on families, but at the same time, I, I couldn't agree more. It's, it's one of the first things that Kirk talked to me about is how do we, how do we capture students in our district and,
and sell 'em the product that we have that we're proud of. Speaker 7: And when you look at that and you, and then compare it to the actual, the bar graph over the last 12 years, you know, it was staying relatively stable, I guess, you know, 30, 40 plus, you know, plus 40 a year. And then of course that dreaded year of 2019 comes and it just is outta sight from then. So I think there's, I think there's some great opportunities there to entice a lot of these kids back. Agreed.
Speaker 8: The next slide I had just so just shows the labor force unemployment rates in our county. I think they're interesting. You can see how many people and that we're actually at a lower unemployment rate than the rest of the state, which is what it feels like in my community. And that's the demographics report. So you got a full, the, the full copy in your packet. I I I've probably read that 10 times. I just find it fascinating every time I look at it. Speaker 7: I Go ahead. Yeah, sorry. Go for it. I thought it was really interesting. I was surprised that our housing costs were lower Yeah.
Considered to be lower than, than the state average. That did surprise me. It Speaker 8: Was too, Speaker 4: That was, yeah, Speaker 7: That was the first thing I went to and I was like, what? No, but then you look at, you look at, you know, persons in poverty were two, we're two points behind the state average, which is still too many, but still good. But we're, you know, we're 70,000 plus behind the median home home value that I, that doesn't, it doesn't feel like that. That doesn't feel like it. Hmm. And then I was looking at with disability under age 65
that we're actually a few points higher in state average. It's just really interesting data to sit here and just think about and Yeah, Speaker 4: You know what I thought about when I was looking at it was when the last time we had this report called, what did they project where we're at right now? Yes. Like was it, is it where they said we were gonna be? Or has anybody looked at the last report? I found that to be interesting to maybe look at those as comparable, lay 'em over on top of each other and say, oh, they were pretty right on.
Or, oh, that was way off Speaker 9: The two before this. We did one in 2019. We did another one in 22, I think 21, 22, and then this one. And he's hit the nail on the head every time because I could have sworn that certain parts of our district were gonna explode. He hit it on the, he hit. Speaker 7: I like how I, I do like how he goes into different housing developments in different communities and really breaks those out. You know, like that many home thing in silt that does not yield us any students and it's sold out.
But it, it's, it's just interesting to see all the teachers, all the different neighborhoods and what, you know, how that affects us as a district Speaker 1: Teachers. Speaker 8: Any other questions? I do my part. I sit on the back porch and I blast Barry White into the neighborhood. Speaker 1: That's great. That's great. And you think that's attracting people or repelling Speaker 8: People? I'm trying, I'm trying to speak to the family age Speaker 1: We got right now. Speaker 7: Trying to set the mood. Speaker 1: Set the tone. No, thank you.
Jason, were there any questions on the economic forecast or the demographic report? Speaker 7: No. Speaker 8: Well I was gonna give you our schedule for the year and the audit too, but any questions on that? Because that, that's the big stuff. That's the meat Speaker 1: And now the exciting forecast or exciting audit news. Speaker 8: Well, let me give you our, our annual schedule first. We've, we've got in December, we have to certify the mills before the end of the year. So you've got one December meeting that'll be a mill certification. I think mills are confusing. I think that they're always worth a refresher.
We were talking about some way to, to workshop that or, or get that background information so I don't walk up and hand you saying, y'all have to sign this by the end of the meeting or we don't get any money. And here it is. Like that's just not fair to y'all. So just know that's coming. We have quarterlies at the end of each quarter, which is September, December, and then March. We usually two, two meetings later. That second meeting of the month after the quarter's over present the quarterlies. Those are required by law. And so we'll give the quarterlies at the next meeting.
Then you'll have the mills then in January, any budget adjustments by law have to be made in January. So January will probably be the audit update. The auditors will come, it'll probably be a adjusted budgets based on what we've seen halfway through the year in March. We'll start budget prep as a finance group and personnel meetings so that we can give you guys a good solid budget in May, April will be the third quarter. And then June is budget approval. So it's the same cycle every year. And, and I just gave you this so you could expect when
to see us and, and what we'd be presenting. I give you an audit update. That's the final piece. We're well into the audit. The auditors will be here on the 20th. My mom flies into Colorado on the 20th. She did not care that the auditors were here. She said, I'm coming to see you. So I'll be seeing her probably after work this year. We began the audit process. The auditors contacted us earlier in August as opposed to September and said, can y'all, can y'all get your stuff together and can we go? I, I I hope last year, if you remember, they said we were pretty organized,
we were efficient, we had what they needed. We answered their questions, we were able to give them stuff quickly. I, I hope that moved us up in the list so that we could, they could trust us to be ready earlier. As of today, we, we met, I guess it was yesterday, Tuesday we met and we're, we're finished giving them the 75 or so requests that they made a request from them. Might be a box full of documents, but they had 75 things they needed. We've already presented those to 'em. We've run our data through their pipeline, through the state's pipeline. We're ready for the auditors. They'll be here somewhere in that week.
They block off the 20th through the 24th. They don't always come on Monday, but they'll be here on site. They ask us to pull stuff randomly that, that, you know, it was surprised to see if, if we're organized and then they leave and then they keep asking for stuff. They'll ask for stuff probably all the way through November. But it's gonna be McMahon and Associates again. It'll be Paul Bakis again. He usually comes and does the presentation. Mike Dooley is the lead or the auditor in charge this year. Again, you might remember he slept in a tent for a year up, up in Leadville.
I think a smart guy. But the deadline to have the audit certified is the 31st of December. We can ask for an extension. We don't want one, we, we don't like extension. We wanna have it done. And so the 31st we'll have that signed and I think the president has to sign that too that day. So we'll be chasing somebody down. But then they usually present in January. I think they've presented the first meeting in February a couple times 'cause scheduling or whatever. So that's the audit right now. Any questions about that?
It's kind of dominated my life for a while or, or any questions about our schedule or is that too much? I wanna see us less public audience probably does so Speaker 2: No. Great. Okay. Thanks for all you do. Thank you. Speaker 8: Well, you guys are wonderfully supportive. Appreciate it. Speaker 2: And I definitely Speaker 1: Like the light reading. Speaker 8: I knew you'd wanna read the whole thing. Casey, she asked Fathom why she's wearing Riverside gear. Why are you wearing Riverside gear? Speaker 1: So if anybody recalls from the last meeting, it was the week before the big rifle middle school,
Riverside Middle School Football Showdown. And I would just like to throw out here that seventh grade won rifle, run won, but Chance and I did have a friendly competition on how eighth grade would do chance's. Team eighth grade one, not only one, but pretty much blew us. Speaker 8: Well, yeah, yeah. We, we won. It's good. Yeah. Speaker 1: And so since Rifle lost I have to wear Riverside gear.
Speaker 8: Well it's amazing looking gear. It's awesome. I thought I have some other side gear myself. So Speaker 1: Yeah, so I, I, you know, I would like to definitely thank Karen Satter for the gear, for the hat and t-shirt from the last meeting. It was definitely, definitely came in handy. I was really hoping to have to, to bring a, I was really hoping to have to bring a gift bag of Rifle Cubs gear, but Rifle Cubs next year. Speaker 8: Love it. We can always hope. Love Speaker 1: It. Right. Speaker 8: Let me in on that bet. Yep. Okay. Thank you guys. Thank Speaker 1: You.
It's not a bet, it's just a friendly competition. Wait, it's a, in the competition Speaker 8: Because Speaker 1: There is no gambling. Speaker 8: It's Speaker 1: Jason. Alright, thank you Jason. Alright, UIP presentation, Speaker 8: Simone and Jacob, are you guys wanting Speaker 3: To present or would you like me to? Speaker 8: How about leaving your backup? Speaker 3: Okay, perfect. Alright, so in your packets, we presented the board with our executive summaries. This has been a process that we've highlighted over the last bunch of board meetings.
And so in your packet, you're seeing our executive summaries from both the district and from all 10 of your buildings. So what you're seeing in the orange is the performance. You're, you're the, our the performance challenges that we have both at the district and the school levels. You'll also see the root causes and the, the major improvement strategies that have been highlighted by your, your district teams with the supports of your building principals and then at the building levels by supports
of their instructional teams. All of these have been presented at the, the, at the district level, at the district accountability, at the school level, at their, their, their accountabilities. And these, what we're we will be asking for tonight is the support of the school board for, for us to submit these to the Department of Education so that we can submit them so that they will then be public on the public school view at the, which is a statewide website for where we're going.
As you all know, this is what you are when you do the shine, the light presentations, these are what your schools are working on and they will be highlighting and continuing to go deeper for each of your site visits that you see. But because these are due at the state, we are asking you to approve what they're putting forward in, in these components. Ms. Cassie, Speaker 4: CDE and Wamsley, they only have two steps. Speaker 3: Yes. Speaker 4: Not three. Speaker 3: Yep. And so we, we gave them flexibility on the schools depending on
what their teams identified. And so they, they had, they had by, by choice that ability to do that. And so they highlight that what they chose by their, their teams and their staff. So some of them have have more, some of them them have left, but they were reviewed by the district team and so we, we approved what it is. So that's why they, they have more or less, depending on what they're looking at, I think we feel very comfortable with all our schools and what they put forward. It's just dependent on what they're looking at. Some of them, the way they stated it, they actually, I think we feel very comfortable that they're,
they're going more in depth. So they may have stated it in a broader way and so that's why they only have two. But they're definitely all going into in depth work at it. So I don't think your curriculum team has any concerns that everybody is not doing the lift that they need to do to change their performance level. Is would you say that's a fair statement? A Speaker 10: Hundred percent on my end for elementary, yeah. Speaker 4: Okay. Thank you. One Speaker 10: Thing that doesn't show up on there is every elementary school also has to have a performance priority based around the we act.
So, and when you go into UIPs online, it will show you that, but it doesn't come up in the summary because it's standard for all elementary schools. Okay. Speaker 1: I definitely like this format and I think it's, I mean the first step in goal planning I think everybody knows is to keep it simple. So I think this definitely allows them to focus on where the main priorities are. And this is a living document, is it not? So they can, as things adjust, they can adjust their process at the building level. Speaker 3: Absolutely. And, and I think one of the things that would highlight to the board is that as you,
as you said, fathom, this is ongoing, these are a constant process. Our curriculum team is meeting with continuing to meet with the buildings on a monthly basis. And so part of our continuous improvement process is that these goals are constantly revisited. And so what you aren't seeing is, is that they were also asked to determine what are interim measures. So they also have yearly goals, smart goals that they're looking at, and then what are the interim measures to meet those smart goals. And so those are part of the process to say how are we meeting those goals as we go
through the years through the year. And so not only are we, we looking at what is your action plan, but also part of that is what are your measures to get to that end goal. And so that's part of the support that the district is giving to the schools. So the expectations of course is then how are you measuring that and what does that look like? And so in that interim time, if you're coming up short, that's okay, but then what does that mean and how are we going to support you? What changes are gonna take place and what is that gonna look like? So part of that analysis is that it's,
it's constantly going on because we expect that we all set a bar of where we wanna get. And you may get, you may get there and or you may not, but if you don't, that's okay. But what are you going to do to change your processes? What needs to change? Or is it this resource? Is it personnel? Is it strategies? Those are the kind of discussions that will be taking place in the building at a monthly level to do that. Another part that's been part of the district, and it's actually part how these align with the strategic plan is that part of the strategic plan for the district is really around district data reviews.
And so part of what we're moving into is not only what they're doing in improvement planning, but we have 30 day data cycles that are, are starting up in, in our buildings. And so part of that process is also moving these processes into looking at what those look like at around achievement for all our subgroups. So as you look at these, you'll notice if not all of them, a majority of them really focus on special ed and multi-language learners. And of course that's that. You'll see that in the district goals. And so that's part of our 30 day cycles is really focused on
some of those subgroups. And so those are, again, part of those continuous improvement cycles is to look at some of our disaggregated groups and make sure that we're having continuous cycle discussions around what's working and what's not working for those subgroups so that we have can have continuous improvements. So yes, the, the living document is constantly going on of what's working and what's not working. But because the balance that I've talked to you all about before is that we have a continuous improvement cycle. We also have a compliance with the state.
This is the compliance side of saying here's what we're doing, we approve it, but that doesn't where we stop as a system, our system's gonna continue to go on through it, but we meet the requirements of our state by doing this portion. But we, we continue with our cycle and what we're doing doing is using that compliance piece for our kickoff for continuous improvement in our discussions of what we do. We just use it as, as the leverage piece for all of our discussions. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 3: So anything else Simone, Jacob, that you'd like me to add or you'd like to add?
Speaker 11: Yeah, when you talk about the living document piece, the published version from CDEs website will be stagnant. Yes. Speaker 3: Good point. That has not changed. Good point. We go Speaker 11: Through internally, but you know, under our leadership one of the things that we are working on, we've created similar types of documents internally that will be constantly updating in those monthly meetings. That Mr. Speaker 3: Yeah. Thank you for that clarification Jacob. Great point. Speaker 12: I just, I'd like to say I appreciate Kirk bringing this, this to the forefront at the beginning of the year
and making it less about compliance and more about alignment from the beginning. It was a, it was an important action to take in the first, in the first month of school and the data dig as you saw the other board meetings when we hung the things, it was deep and the feedback from the schools about how their staff dug into it was really exciting. And that is something that's gonna move us the Speaker 1: Buy-in. Yeah. Yep. That's great. Yep. I mean and this is the third school we've been in
so far this this year and everybody knows their goals. It's, it wasn't just that compliance piece where we, you know, the admin team sat in an office, wrote out what they were gonna do, sent it off to the state and they were done. I mean this is something too that is definitely lived and breathed at the building level as well. So that's, it's exciting to see. So Speaker 13: Jenny, you mentioned that you were pleased that this was done at the beginning of the year. When are they normally done Speaker 12: Well Speaker 1: Or how, how Speaker 12: Is the process different this year? They're always due in mid-October,
however our practice has not been to work as collaboratively and as collectively on it all at one time with deadlines in a very important one to get those presented to the SAC committees. Speaker 1: Okay. Okay. Speaker 13: Do you foresee that this will continue? Speaker 12: Absolutely. This, Speaker 13: This process was, Speaker 12: I believe it will. Great. Speaker 1: Great. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Are there any other questions on the UIP? Okay, thank you. I mean I don't have any. Okay.
So with that we'll just go ahead and move right into the governance action items, which we need the approval of the district school's UIP. So may I get a motion to approve the UIP plan as presented? Speaker 7: I make a motion to approve the district UIP plan as present. Speaker 1: Thank you. May I get a second? I second. Thank you Lisa, may I get roll call please? Speaker 2: Haskell? Aye. Kyle? Aye. Jenkins. Aye. Speaker 1: Jensen. Aye. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: And then we've got our second reading
for policy J-R-A-J-R-C student records release and information on students. This, there was no changes in the last meeting? Nope. And these, the changes that were presented were really just Speaker 7: Grammatical. Yeah. Speaker 3: Correct. Speaker 2: May Speaker 7: I Thank you. I make a motion to approve policy jra slash jrc. Speaker 1: Thank you. May I get a second? A Speaker 2: Second. Thank Speaker 1: You. Lisa, may I get roll call please? Speaker 2: Aspel? Aye Kyle? Aye. Jenkin. Aye.
Speaker 1: Jensen. Aye. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: And then our second reading also policy. K-L-J-K-L-G-I did that last time too. Relations with state and federal agencies. Again, I don't think there were any changes from that we had suggested at the last meeting as well. So were there any questions or anything on this one? Anything else we wanted to bring up for discussion? Speaker 2: Okay, Speaker 1: May I get an approval to approve policy KLG Speaker 2: And make a motion to approve klg A LG.
Speaker 1: Thank you. May I get a second? Speaker 2: I second. Speaker 1: Thank you Lisa Speaker 2: Pascal. Aye. Aye. Jenkins Aye. Speaker 1: Jensen Aye. Speaker 2: Okay, Speaker 1: I was just adjusting my packet. I apologize. May. Alright, so now our policy focus. So we do have a first reading of a couple of different policies. The first one up is policy ij, which is instructional materials and library resources. Speaker 3: So this one is again, one that,
that the board passed in in 2018. And so these are clerical changes outside of a new citation for a new revised statute that has, was was added, Speaker 7: Which is CRS 22 dash one dash Speaker 1: 1 8 1 48. Speaker 3: Yep. Correct. It's down in the legal reference. Yep. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: Any questions or anything on that one? Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: Alright, policy, KEC, public concerns, complaints about instructional materials and library resources. This, this one was also a lot of shalls change to wills.
There is one section under section two where there was a lot of addition there. Kirk, did you have any insight on this one or did this Speaker 3: Was just, this was recommendation from from CASB. Speaker 1: Okay. And the stuff in two was also the recommendation from CASB, correct? Speaker 3: Yep. The, this, these were, this, this set, these were all recommendations and so we're taking, these are moving through the update, updated in those components. So yeah, I don't have any additional comments about them. Okay. Speaker 1: Anybody have any questions or anything?
I, I do have just one question and maybe it's so I I under, from what I understand too, that we a lot of times will use supplemental materials in the classrooms. Are those, where do those come from? Are they approved? Are they vetted? What, what is the process on that? Speaker 3: So if it, if, if it's a district-wide purchased supplemental, they are vetted through the, the curriculum department. There is one-off components that classroom teachers may use dependent on, on situations
and those may not be necessarily vetted through the, the curriculum department. We try anytime that it's used as a system component that it's, that all things are vetted. We're at, we ask that all things are vetted through our curriculum depart, but we don't, we don't necessarily control all items that go through if, if it's an instructional component that's recommended, it does go through the curriculum component. But some things slip through with 10 schools.
They go absolutely to teachers. We'll use things especially as, as teachable moments come through. Sometimes they, they do that. But if it is something that's recommended usage as our scope and sequence, all those are vetted through our curriculum department. Okay. That helps with that. Speaker 1: That does, yeah. Speaker 3: We allow our teachers to have academic freedom as of meeting state standards. But if it's something that's recommended, it does come through the district office. Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Okay. Speaker 1: Alright, is there any further discussion on that one?
Okay, so we'll go ahead and move on to the first reading also of policy KFA public conduct on school property. Again, this just looks like another, Speaker 3: Is there a difference in why Speaker 2: We Speaker 3: It's school property Speaker 13: Rather Speaker 2: As opposed to district property property? Speaker 3: I, you know, I do not know why, why? What I find a lot of times when, when they change it because of state statutes, it depends on the attorney that they have and this one, the language, it's like, well why was it ca you can see on this one is a good example. Yes. It's like why did one attorney believe it needed
to be capitalized and one made it small letter Did our one like shall Jason, can you explain why attorneys would tell us yes or no on that? Sure. Speaker 1: Money all too. Speaker 3: Okay. That was gonna be my answer. I think sometimes it is and some, sometimes they really do have a reason. Sometimes it might be the person who's drafting it. I think what's critical is the citations on, on the law when you guys see those. Yeah, that's what's really critically important. The clericals sometimes I think it just depends on which
attorneys are drafting it to, to do that. Speaker 13: So sometimes CRS differentiates between school and district property specifically because district property can sometimes mean either unbuilt upon acreage where there's no safety concerns. Like for, for instance there is not the same safety concerns in the district office as there is here in KKSE. Makes sense. There is a differentiation in CRS or bank Atlanta, district Atlanta owned property and school buildings. Thank
Speaker 3: You. That makes sense. Great point. Speaker 2: Yeah, Speaker 3: Appreciate that. Thanks. Speaker 1: Okay, any other discussion on this one or questions or concerns? Okay, so we'll go on to, this is the KKLG dash R. So this ties to the relations with federal immigration officials. This is the dash R. Yep. So this was, Speaker 3: Yep. So this is, this is the regulation that goes with the policy that you approved that we hadn't gotten drafted yet. And so you can see this is a brand new regulation, which is just the procedure that ties to that policy
that you, you passed. It's, it cites then the operational procedure that we'll do, this is our operating. This fits with the operating procedures that we do with collecting documents and holding them in, checking with our staff. It it, it aligns with what we currently do. There is there was some recommendations that differ across from D district to district in the state of Colorado. Some holding documents, some not holding documents within it.
So we went with our current operating procedures and so that's what this regulation now represents to do it. So, okay. Bringing this forward for you all to see, Speaker 7: The only thing I see is in three A and B, it lists your name as well as Ms. Mrs Spalding's name. Yes. Why, why don't we just use superintendent and human resources director? Speaker 3: Because that I, in the original draft, that's what I had and the legal recommendation was to have, 'cause I questioned that and they had, they wanted a name,
name and, 'cause I looked at it and said, why don't we cite a title so that we don't have to revise this policy? And I don't have an answer on why that was the legal recommendation for that, but that was what they recommended. What Speaker 7: Legal is it? Brent? Speaker 3: It Kids. Speaker 1: C-S-B-C-S B's. Legal. Speaker 3: So I don't, I don't have an answer for that. I can go back before and I would ask. Speaker 7: It's the same thing. I just think, rather than every time we changed Yeah. If something changed that Speaker 3: I, I have no concern. I just, if Speaker 4: We could run it by Bri maybe. Yep,
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Speaker 1: Remove it. And that's about Speaker 4: Just a department rather than a name? An individual name. Speaker 3: Yep. Absolutely. We can, it was, I Thank you. Yep. Happy to do that. Speaker 4: And then just like a down on, I, it looks like it was indented a little too much on the last page. Speaker 7: Oh yeah. Speaker 3: Oh yes. Thank you. Speaker 1: Since, Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: Okay. Speaker 7: Moving on. Speaker 1: Okay. Perfect. All right. Thank you Kirk. Yep. Speaker 3: Absolutely. Speaker 1: Alright. Future requests. Speaker 3: The, the only one that I have for you all on this
for next board meeting is Jason did bring it forward, is that we will request that at the next board meeting. We do quarterly reports be I had, I asked Jason to, to report on the information he had, but we hadn't finalized quarterlies yet. And so as you saw in his timeline, they will, they will have quarterlies. So at the 22nd we will also do a second finance, which will be your official quarterly reports on that. So, okay. It will be a second finance and we will start up the,
the finance committee will also be meeting prior to that as has been past operating procedures for you all. So I will work with, with you all on having that committee meets and, and do that prior to that meeting. Speaker 1: Okay. Okay. Speaker 4: Do we have to do a public meeting with the work session information that we gave you? Is that, I mean, I know we haven't reviewed that. You're still working on that, wanna honor that time. But I thought that Ken Al said we had
to do some sort of public meeting regarding Speaker 3: I will, yes. I will pre I will present that. Is that at that meeting or is that that a Yes. I will, I will present that in a board meeting and I'm planning on having that ready actually as part of my, my superintendent report. Oh, okay. Next board meeting. Okay. Speaker 4: So, yes. Okay. I didn't know if we'd needed like Speaker 3: A, we don't need a, a separate meeting. It'll, it'll be part of what we'll present and that, Speaker 4: That the only thing I could think of Yep. Speaker 3: Absolutely. Speaker 4: Was all in there. And then I was gonna look back here. Speaker 7: One request I have just a financial,
an infrastructure question. As we're seeing data centers across the country, psych siphon up more electricity, especially like in, in Virginia, Texas. It's driving utility prices some places up about, you know, 10 to 20%. I wanna see if you guys, if you have any record of that and kind of like what we're seeing in energy prices in the state of Colorado and what to expect. I know there's a couple data centers going out around front range. They are big draws on infrastructure.
So Virginia, the DC area has seen a 33% increase in electrical bills because of power consumption. And if it's just so, I mean we, we spend a considerable amount of money on electricity and anytime there's a 10 to 20% increase, that scares me. Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. I know with the JCI project that you all did, we've got a lot more data that we can do that and I can work with, with OP facilities and operations and we can keep an eye and, and report back if we're seeing changes in that. Absolutely.
Speaker 1: And just to the next board meetings at the DO is what I have on the 22nd. Speaker 4: Will we have a shine the light? Speaker 7: We do. I believe we Speaker 3: Do. But give just a second and we'll see who's faster. Is it Jenny or I be the question remember Speaker 1: On No, Speaker 3: It's transportation at the do. Speaker 7: Okay. Jenny, congratulations. Speaker 4: Do you want me to wear anybody's shirt? Speaker 1: Transportation? No kidding. Speaker 4: Can I request that the new, didn't we buy a new bus? 2 2 2. Can we have a new bus that we can look at, like on property or are they using it?
Speaker 7: Probably using it at four 30. Yeah. I would hope they're using the new bus at four 30. Speaker 4: I would hope so. But it would be really kind of cool to like see one of our buses that we like what, what's different from when we rode a bus we will Speaker 3: Talk to Speaker 7: Or anything. Nothing. And Speaker 3: See if that's Speaker 4: Us Speaker 3: Ball or not. Yeah. Speaker 7: A tier, a tier Speaker 4: Four. Do they still have the big heater on the floor where in the winter you always wanted to sit right by Speaker 7: And when it rattles just go. Speaker 4: So Speaker 1: Yes. That, that has not changed. No, I'm just, I don't know. Okay. Speaker 7: Tech was going to, they were, when was the last time we had, we saw Roger
and we discussed ai. I think Speaker 4: We mentioned that we're going to an AI conference in mid-November. Speaker 7: Yeah. November. Okay. Speaker 4: Probably ought to talk after Speaker 7: That. Yes, that was what it was. Speaker 1: Yep. So December or January. Yep. Yep. Since there's only one meeting in December Speaker 3: And you'll be certify mill. Speaker 1: So that, that one might be kind of, we'll, Speaker 3: We'll get, we'll make sure that we circle back. Speaker 1: We'll, we'll start the year with ai. Maybe Speaker 7: We'll see, Speaker 4: We'll have our first like family, community, family meeting by then too, I think. Right? The 23rd.
Speaker 7: Hmm. I dunno. Speaker 1: No, it'd be right after the meeting. If it's the 23rd, the meeting's, the 22nd. I, Speaker 4: I don't remember. Speaker 1: So Speaker 7: I would like to request a finance meeting for my yearly lesson around mills. Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. I was. Yeah. If we can schedule some two by twos or something just to Speaker 3: We will definitely do that. Speaker 1: Get clarification on that. Yep. Speaker 4: Do your homework. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: Well Speaker 4: We have a DAC update. We'll have a D update. Speaker 1: Yep. Speaker 7: Yep. When do we hear from CS between about anything? Is there any coming? Speaker 3: That'll be coming. Speaker 1: Not the next meeting
though. Probably not Speaker 4: Once, once we meet on the 17th. Speaker 3: Yes. Correct. Speaker 4: And she, our secretary, Sharon's not here, but CSB is coming Speaker 3: When, Speaker 4: Like it's always the first part of Speaker 3: December. So it's the 10th, 11th, 12th. It's, so it's it's week later than 10th 10. Speaker 4: 11th and 12th. Yep. Speaker 3: Okay. Let me double check. Wait, Speaker 4: I'm Speaker 1: Gonna double check too. Yes, it, yeah. Speaker 7: 10, 11, 12. Speaker 4: Yes. And we have all that. Speaker 3: It's all taken care of. So 11th, 12th, and 13th of December. Speaker 4: Oh. 11th. Speaker 3: And Sharon, Sharon is on top of that
and she's got, we, Speaker 1: She was probably on top of it when we got back from CS B last year. Yeah. Speaker 3: Probably she, she's frustrated about CS B'S room reservation process as she is every Speaker 7: Year. Speaker 3: Yes. But she has rooms for everybody and is arranged Speaker 7: Perfect. So Speaker 4: We will, I just wanted to make sure our team had that on their calendar. Yes. Because it comes fast. I feel like the next two months go by like really fast. Speaker 3: Absolutely. Yep. So that, yeah, because we do have a, a board meeting on the 10th. Yep. So then we'll turn around
and need to leave, leave for Casby this year. 'cause it it has been the Yeah, the fourth, fifth, sixth is when Casby normally was, but they moved it a week later. Speaker 4: Yeah. Okay. Speaker 3: Okay. Okay. We'll make all that happen. Okay. Speaker 1: Board report. Speaker 4: It's me. Speaker 1: Okay. I can also do, I can also, I will also do a board report. Yeah. You Speaker 3: Need, I mean you can do Speaker 7: It. You need to switch with Cassie. I Speaker 1: I'm gonna, I can do Speaker 4: The next week.
Speaker 1: She needs to. Yep. So, because my up Yep. My, my profile picture will temporarily be changed. Speaker 4: Oh yes. Okay. So I had the eighth. I can do the 22nd. Okay. And I'm gonna put you in. Okay, Speaker 1: Perfect. We gotta Speaker 4: Take Speaker 1: A picture. Yep. Speaker 4: I totally forgot. Speaker 1: Okay. You're enjoying this. Speaker 7: Are we in, ma are we in board debrief or meeting debrief yet? Speaker 1: Yes. Speaker 7: What was the, and Tara isn't here. She had the one teacher that was Speaker 12: A reading specialist. Speaker 7: Reading specialist. Yep. What is, that's what the title is. It's
Speaker 12: A, she it's a, it's a more special title. Yes. And it, it's a, Speaker 7: Anybody remember she, I have wrote down speech therapist. Simon. Speaker 12: You know what, it's with the, Speaker 7: I haven't wrote down speech therapist. That doesn't sound right. Speaker 1: I think she Speaker 12: Did readings, I don't know, reading special, the reading specialist teacher. But there was a word that was, was not something that you usually pair with it. Yeah. And I don't, I don't think it was analyst pathologist, Speaker 1: Maybe something Speaker 7: Like that. You might be onto something. Yep. Anybody, any way we can figure that out. Speaker 12: We can get it to you. Yeah, that'd be great. Okay.
Yes. Then we follow Speaker 7: Up. Yep. I guess I could, we don't, Speaker 12: We can Speaker 7: Get it. Did we film? Yeah, we Speaker 1: Film. Yeah. Yeah. We filmed. Yeah. Intervention. Speaker 12: Let me follow up and I'll get you Speaker 7: An answer. Okay. I'm gonna get something wrong. Yep, yep. Speaker 12: Lemme follow up. But now I'm curious. Yeah, Speaker 1: Yeah. No, and that was what, 700 hours that she had to Speaker 7: Do? Yeah. 700 hours. Speaker 1: Wow. Speaker 7: And six students are with her right now, so that's cool. Yep. I'll just go first. I, yep. I love seeing the elementary schools. I don't know, elementary schools have a special place.
Speaker 12: They so Speaker 7: Lively. They're just, yeah, they're so just you. I don't, I don't care. You could be having a bad day and walk into one of these and like, you can't have a bad day anymore. And that says something with the teachers, the environment, the teachers, the admins, they help cultivate. So that was, that's always fun. The, again, going back to the UIP process, I think it's awesome. I think it's great. I think anytime that you can identify the issues and we have great performing schools, but there's always issues, right?
And being honest about that and saying, okay, here's our priorities. Team gets behind it and they're off the running. So that, I think that's awesome. Continuous improvement cycle goes right with it. I love Jason's presentations. It's always fun. I'll, I'll go ahead and help. I'll advocate for stable, stable funding. I don't know who's gonna listen, but I'll send an email. I advocated again, I think it was a good meeting. We looked at a lot of policies, so that's always good to get those out of the way. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 12: Okay. Speaker 4: Cassie.
I love seeing the student council. I think that is like the coolest when we're building this future leaders here in our local schools, getting up and talking publicly, getting 'em to talk in front of adults. I think it's pretty amazing. I I love that part of these meetings. Thank you Jason. Not always the best news to share, but I was kind of prepared 'cause I've done my homework. But yeah, I think we have a target of that we could work towards
and I think Kirk came in focused on that, of this is where this is gonna help and we need to work on this aspect. And I wanted to say thank you to Jacob for all the work you've put in on the online school. I mean, we didn't really, I mean it got brought up, but again, thank you. Hopefully that's still going well and Speaker 11: Multitasking as we speak in that exact thing. Speaker 1: I think that happened the last and then the previous board meeting to that, Speaker 4: So that's Speaker 11: Very true. Speaker 4: So I, I appreciate your efforts in that and trying to launch that and getting it going
and trying to retain some more of those kiddos. And I always, you know, I, I think about what I hear in the community, parents or staff members talking about, and we do have a really good product and just getting it out there and saying what we have and just our growth and our, our test scores. I mean our, our school ratings and like full Ridge high school, like the number one high school, like it just is kind of mind blowing. It's right here in our district and I just want everybody to know.
Right. So I just, I'm excited for what's ahead. Thanks KSC for hosting us. Speaker 7: Thank you Mary, for feeding us. Speaker 13: I am really encouraged about all of the positive news. It's really exciting to see double digit growth and the hard work that is coming to fruition because as we know, it doesn't happen the year of, so it, it takes, it, it takes them forward thinking to be able to actually capitalize on some of that momentum. And I'm, I'm really appreciative of all
of the hard work that goes into that. We did not talk about it specifically, but the, the course program or the approval for the small ca scale construction lab, like that just makes my heart so stinking happy to see kids given opportunities to actually work with their hands. I love, love, love that, that we can cultivate education in a variety of different formats, specifically outside of the school by providing, you know, opportunities for that hands-on learning. So I I, I appreciate all of the work that's gone into that.
I'm super excited to see it and running and I would love when, when that gets up and going, I would love to tour the site. I wanna, I wanna be out there checking, checking angles and screws. Like I dig that stuff. I also appreciate the, the work on the UIPI think it's, it's hard sometimes a tough pill to swallow to see, to, to have to just make it an, an admission that there's areas that need improvement. But I appreciate the fact that everybody's on board because that's the only way we're gonna move forward.
So I like, I I, I don't think that we should be highlighting failure and I don't think that the UIP does that, but it reasonably encourages everybody to get on board and to keep trucking. So I really appreciate that. I think there was, oh, I appreciate the public comment. I really do. But I want you to know that from my heart, I didn't know that that was gonna happen. And no, it's not, it's not. People deserve an opportunity to speak, but that was not Mm, that was unprofessional. That is not from my heart.
And whether, regardless of who gets a board seat, the most important thing is that the five people that sit here are unified in moving forward for, for kids in this district, not personal agendas. So I I also will make an apology directly to Steve. That was inappropriate and I'm, I'm so sorry. Thank Speaker 10: You. I'm, I'm, I work with her so I, she doesn't remember me at all. So I guess I don't know what that Speaker 7: Yeah. Takeaway is, Speaker 10: But thank you. I appreciate that. Speaker 7: And on, on on with that. You guys are here and thank you.
We have three willing candidates that wanna throw their hand in the ring that are in it, I believe for the betterment of our district. This is a local election, right? We we're neighbors at the end of the day. We don't have to, you know, and, and that that I think that says a lot Megan. So thank you for doing that and thank you for you and Steve being here. Each time you guys are putting the work in, we're here for the kids. That's what it's about. So thank you that Speaker 10: I have an answer to chance's Speaker 7: Question. Yes. Yep. What do you got called Speaker 10: CALT Certified Academic Language Therapist.
Speaker 7: Thank you. The Tide. Theresa just sent it to me. Speaker 1: Certified language Language. Academic. Academic, academic language therapist. Speaker 7: Awesome. Well that is great that she's doing that. Speaker 1: I think that's definitely gonna help Her. Our district again. So I, I do wanna say too, I mean it's the, that double digit growth in ELA and then math. There was double digit growth for fourth grade and fifth grade, which I would also like to throw out
that it was also the first year of the implementation of our new math program. So I think the fact that we saw double digit growth was huge And, and also to see, I'm excited to see the CKLA and what that's gonna bring after this year to see how, how we're doing with that. Lots of policies moving through finance is always fun. It is. You bring the fun in finance I guess. So it's, yeah, for even, it is not all doom and gloom, but it is definitely needed.
Again, I'm excited for the two by twos for the mills and that was, it was a good meeting. So Speaker 7: One, one thing that Tara I think brought up, and it makes a good point and, and Simone, I never thought about it, but whenever we in initiate new programming like C-C-K-L-A, it always starts from it point of thinking. They, they already have a base level of an understanding in that programming. Right. So that it was a, when she brought that up,
it made sense. Are there ways to help mitigate that or is, I mean I'm, I'm sure you're probably looking at it, but is there ways, like is there things like your department looks at to help mitigate that? Speaker 10: Not necessarily because every program is so different. Sure. We were, we are lucky that we've taken on the practice of a year long pilot 'cause that absolutely helps mitigate it right away. And we launch in our first year of implementation already having a year under our belt knowing the strengths and weaknesses or the areas that kids are
or didn't struggle through the pilot. And that does help. Okay. Speaker 1: Also the UIP process, again, I think this is, this is good. I like it. It's again, keep it simple. People can follow it, they can remember it and the public can follow it and understand it. So, 'cause there are a lot of nuances to education also. I know parent Squared is new and I've heard some, I've heard a lot of, of compliments I have yet to hear. The only complaint I have gotten is when you have
multiple kids and multiple things at different schools, you sometimes feel like you get inundated. It can be a lot, it can be a lot. But I think overall I've heard nothing but good things about it. Theresa, have you, Speaker 14: We've had probably the biggest challenge has been around homeschool kids and making sure they get into the system and, and getting everybody connected. But beyond that it's been relatively, Speaker 15: Relatively smooth. Can Speaker 4: You, can Speaker 13: You explain that? Homeschool kids? Speaker 7: So for, for Speaker 1: Sports? Yeah. For sports. For Speaker 7: Sports or activities, sports Speaker 4: Or some classes, students,
Speaker 7: Some classes can Speaker 15: Take classes from Speaker 13: Time to time. That makes sense. I was like, wait a minute. Speaker 15: Well, because they're not in our PowerSchool system, we have to get them into the PowerSchool system so that they can get into parent square. Got it. I can talk about all the logistics. Another time Speaker 13: I'm tracking now. Speaker 7: It, it was the handiest way to communicate with families of, of in sports. It was amazing. Speaker 4: Cool. Do we have a good buy-in from parents? Like I know that there was a way we were gonna track like that they're reading their emails,
they're seeing the emails, they're seeing the app. Like it's all good. I don't know if it would be something that we would want a presentation on, but it just came to my mind, like the feedback we're getting and the data Speaker 7: From that was one of the big lists from last year. And it's good to see that it's going well. Well, Speaker 1: Yeah, we've got Speaker 7: Data. Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah. And the, the, the student squared attached to it, I think too is very helpful. Yeah. Instead of the Google classroom and then the, you know, all the different ways to connect with the student and the parent and Yeah. I think it's, it's funny to see 'cause I'll get an update from the coach
and then my son comes up and goes, Hey, did you know, like, yep. I, I got it too, buddy. So that's awesome. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. So. Okay. All anything else? We're good. Okay, perfect. With that we'll adjourn October, October 8th, 2025. Board meeting at 7 0 3.