##VIDEO ID:eI3y_ii30Es## [Music] [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] n [Music] he [Music] n [Music] n [Music] [Music] nah [Music] n [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] he a [Music] [Music] [Music] la [Music] a [Music] a [Music] [Music] [Music] n [Music] nah [Music] [Music] [Music] well good evening and welcome to the Board of Education meeting for gy EV school district 6 today is the 27th day of January 2025 this meeting will now come to order please stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance to our flag Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all Miss lemon we've called the role for us please director aari presid director Bentley pres director Campos spitzy present director Mash present director Matthews present director Norwood director Sullivan present six board members present thank you Miss lemon well again welcome whether you are joining us here in person or whether you are joining us online right now or at a later date we're glad that you are joining us we have a we have a lot to do in this meeting to tonight we have a lot to celebrate in this meeting tonight and so one of the things that we will be talking about and you will get a lot more information than I'm going to give you right now but but we will be talking about graduation rates and that our graduation rate jumped took a significant jump this year our graduation rate is up 10 percentage points in the last 10 years and as I said recently at another occasion that in real numbers that that's about 130 maybe 150 students every year who are walking across the stage with a diploma who did not who were not doing that 10 years ago and so to congratulations to everyone in this system to the people in the room our administrators who who chart the the vision and the direction for this District but also our building administrators and our teachers and and not just our high school teachers but our our elementary teachers and those that have been working so hard to to get that graduation rate to where it is and again you'll hear a lot more about it as we go forward but congratulations to everyone and involved in that uh also want to tell everyone uh to check out the Colorado Department Colorado Department of Education Facebook page district 6 took over the Facebook page today uh we are we are featured prominently in that and so if you just want to see what uh what the is going on in the district it's a really good place to look uh at the Colorado Department uh of Education Facebook page and so those are all the announcements I'm I'm going to take time to to read for you tonight tonight but we do have a full meeting tonight so um thank you for being here and next on our agenda is our superintendent honoral thank you president Matthews it is my honor tonight to recognize a mathematics instructor from Early College Academy Miss Sydney s Miss s I'd like to invite you to come up um while I talk about you if you would please you all may recognize Miss s Miss uh from the last time we recognized her in 2023 she was a Colorado finalist for the presidential award for excellence in Mathematics and Science teaching um in Colorado um Miss siice was the first finalist from grey um to be recognized and in in the state in each state you can only recognize three teachers for this honor and so in 2023 Miss s was one of those um honors as a finalist well in January on January 13th 2025 uh President Biden announced that miss is the recipient of the presidential award for excellence in Mathematics and Science teaching this is the highest recognition that any teacher kindergarten through 12th grade can receive for science technology engineering or math teaching really in the United States uh Miss is is a part of a very exclusive group of Educators who have earned this honor uh this year 106 Educators in the nation will be uh recognized with this out of all 50 states and Washington DC Puerto Rico the Department of Defense Education activity schools and our US Territory schools uh only 106 Educators receive this award and she is one of those 106 the presidential award honors the vital role that America's teachers and mentors play in shaping the next generation of technical leaders including scientists engineers explorers and innovators and nominees for the award complete a rigorous application process to demonstrate their deep content knowledge and their ability to adapt to a broad range of Learners and teaching environments a panel of very distinguished mathematicians and scientists and Educators at both the state and National levels assess the nominations before recommending the awardees to the White House um office of Science and Technology policy teachers are selected based on their distinction in the classroom and dedication to improving stem education presidential award honores receive a certificate signed by the president of the United States uh cityne will have a trip to Washington DC to attend a series of recognition events and professional development opportunities and a $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation congratulations Sydney um on receiving this well-deserved and prestigious award we're so proud of you and we're so grateful for you that you are here in district 6 and that you have impacted so many students um here in our in our school district and just really proud of you what a nice honor congratulations and I I would like uh to invite you to speak but I want to say one thing just to remind everybody that um there is a shortage of teachers in this country especially Math and Science teachers and so miss AR could choose to teach just about anywhere that she wanted to teach and she chooses to make district 6 her teaching home so thank you Sydney for for for that deep dedication and now I'm going to turn the microphone to you Dr pilch um I just wanted to say thank you for the recognition and I also just wanted to say that the recognition really shows that we're doing the right work here in district 6 um the curriculum we chose the professional developments that we are giving our teachers I took all of it and just ran with it and it got recognized at the national level so we are doing something right here so thank you guys for providing those resources appreciate [Applause] it thank you president Matthews and again uh congratulations to you Sydney and I want to recognize your former principal Kim Silva from Early College Academy and your current principal Bill Fern thanks for supporting this amazing educator thank you Dr pilin again congratulations Miss next on our agenda is the approval of the agenda and we'll need a motion I move that the Board of Education agre have school district 6 approves the agenda as presented second thank you both any discussion on the agenda I don't see any so miss lemon will you give us a vote please director aari I dor Bentley hi director campus spitzy hi director Mash hi director Matthews hi director Sullivan hi motion carries 60 thank you Miss lemon next on our agenda is our Council of student Representatives report so I'd like to invite our Council of student Representatives Representatives uh we don't have all of them here tonight but I do see some Central students I imagine are coming to the podium so I'd like to invite you guys to the podium now to give your report to us okay good evening my name is Amy zulaf and is my honor as principal to introduce the Council of student repr representatives from gy Central High School these wonderful students are going to give you insight into their experiences at the castle Dante is up first hello on behalf of the students of gy central I would like to thank you for this wonderful opportunity to let us speak to you it is greatly appreciated my name is Dante parin and I a senior at gy Central High School this is my second year being on the Council of student representatives and I'm so glad for the opportunity to represent my school and my peers in my four years I have truly gotten to know and experience almost everything Central has to offer it's inclusive community and diverse catalog catalog of activities make it a great place for outgoing students like myself and my fellow students who you will hear from after me to pursue their success from the Arts Magnet program to advanced placement classes and everything in between I know students can find and build strong relationships if they try in my four years I have always sought to explore everything I could and being at Central allowed me a lot of room to play I've been an avid member of the Arts Magnet program which I'm sure some of you may know as I've gotten the privilege to perform with some of your kids as well as taking AP classes serving on a wide range of clubs and even impulsively trying out for the cheer team one year some of my favorite memories of gy central are getting to perform on our stage in mainstage Productions such as Puffs and grease as well as all across our community for middle schools at her story events and many others after years of meeting new people I now can always find someone who I trust and who has the same Ambitions as I do which creates a Better Learning environment for me and for everyone however leaving Central this year I would like to inform you of Central's negative bathroom situation I know that myself and many other students refrain from using our bathrooms because they're outdated and aren't the most inviting place to be in the school we at Central would be very appreciative if the board would consider this issue for the future and I'm sure you will hear more perspectives later in tonight I would like to thank you for your time and and consideration and I hope you all have a great end of the school year thank you good afternoon board um my name is Milo Kyle and I'm a member of the Council of student Representatives for district six I just wanted to come and start by saying thank you for this opportunity uh to come before you and speak on behalf of my school I'd also like to thank you for the action you took last year when you fixed our parking lot as a self- driver myself I appreciate the repaving as it makes it so much easier to drive through our parking lot I thank you when I first started at Central I was afraid of to go after the things I enjoy in fear of being judged but a huge part of how I overcame that fear uh was the support for my upper classman I was ENT in the Arts Magnet program and in my Arts Magnet in my arts and culture class the upper classman presented us with their performances for that year and at the end we had a Q&A and a biggest thing I took away from that experience was the fact that they had encour they were encouraging all of us to join as many clubs as we could to make as most the to make the most time of we that we have at Central and I mean when I say that it has truly gone by in a blink of an eye and because of the senior encouragement my gosh I am now a part of not only CSR star but cat's cradles tesp and Troop 6x7 marching band jazz band Advanced band and as well as sources of strength in our last season of marching Ben I was low brass section leader and I had the the wonderful opportunity to be an officer and source of the strength Grey Central has truly changed me as person and I have grown a lot during my time here although there's another issue that I would also like to bring to your attention a very well-known fact about gy Central is the fact that it was the first High School in gy even once being called gy high due to the fact that we tried our best to preserve the history of our school um we do our best not to change the building too drastically something that does need attention would be that of our bathrooms I believe it would be beneficial to our school if we could get more updated bathrooms in our school I myself have avoided at every cost to use the bathrooms they become very humid and cause me to feel very overwhelmed when just by stepping into them it would also be beneficial if we could better have better um feminine product holders in our bathrooms I would also like to briefly touch on the topic of our soaps um I do believe that they don't last very long and could have better quality but I do understand the sense of a budget I do believe that there are better type of soaps that we can pref um have in our bathrooms again thank you for your time and consideration in behalf of everyone at Central we thank you for all that you have done to help our school hi everyone my name is Luca Wakefield it is such an honor to be here tonight I have had the pleasure to be at student at gy Central High for almost two years now which is crazy and I've enjoyed every second of it I chose to go there because of its Rich cultural history and diverse background along with the amazing people there personally the AP and Arts Magnet programs have kept me busy while driving me to success so far at Central I've taken five AP classes every single one of them has been an amazing experience with great teachers for people like me AP is perfect because it's at my difficulty level and it teaches me a lot as far as the Arts Magnet program goes I've had so many opportunities as well currently I'm in music history chamber choir Advanced band and Jazz Band to name a few on top of that there are many extracurricular things as well such as Java and Jazz and pit for the upcoming musical Central has really become part of my identity and I feel like I truly belong to the castle last year's parking lot remodel has done so much for our school it's crazy how much a repavement a simple repavement can do the parking lot beforeand was a crazy mess of bumps and cracks so thank you for that ever since I came to Central now the bathroom issue has captured our Central attention ever since I came to Central I noticed the bathrooms were kind of Stuffy and a little outdated but I expected as much for a castle specifically in the boys bathroom flooding is a frequent issue and bathrooms are often closed I know lots of people who leave during lunch and passing periods just to go to the bathroom elsewhere as members of CSR we would like for you to consider the bathroom issue in the future again thank you for all you do at the castle good evening board my name is Abigail toar and I am the current publicist for the C student representatives for district 6 thank you for having us here to speak about gly Central on behalf of the students every student who drives at our school is so thankful for the bond issue last year that fixed our unsafe parking lot the new parking lot makes us feel safer to drive to school in all weather conditions again thank you if it weren't for our school and culture I wouldn't be here today speaking to you all on behalf of the students at Central our school offers tons of clubs AP classes and sports when I was a freshman I realized there was so much I could do at Central the Juniors and seniors made me realize that it wasn't cool to be dumb but instead it was cool to have a Decked Out letterman jacket gly Central inspired me to be more than what I was in Middle School I'm in my junior year and I am currently involved in theater dance yearbook basketball cross country and I do a few AP courses and I hold leadership positions in soccer student council and National Honor Society gly Central helps shape students into who they truly are because of all the different things offered there is a place for everyone due to the fact that I am involved in a few clubs I am constantly hearing my peers opinions from different standpoints and we are all incredibly thankful for the bond issue last year that fixed our parking lots as it helps every student feel safe however throughout my years at Central I and many others have tried our best to avoid the bathrooms at all costs these seniors gave us tips as freshmen and they said to stay away from the bathrooms as much as we could our school is known for its Rich history and we love the castle but our student bathrooms on the castle side are not fully Ada accessible and have little ventilation which make them humid trapping air and overall place you don't want to be in it would be much more convenient for all of us if our bathrooms were updated like our gym Lobby we understand that this is a big project but we hope that continued Renovations for are considered for future Bond issues on behalf of CSR and the students at gley Central we want to thank you again for allowing us to speak about our school thank you well thank you all for being here tonight I don't know if we have any questions or comments from board members um but uh we do from our student representative uh Council of student reps uh Mr Timothy longaker so go ahead Mr longaker thank you very much Mr Matthews I just wanted to really quick comment on your performance tonight that was incredible stuff I know it's very nerve-wracking to First speak in front of a group of people so it was a really good performance from you for it was amazing so thank you so much for coming out tonight I was very happy I could come and see that okay I really appreciate you guys actually giving a good voice to your school and being able to represent what grp Central brings to the table for this District so thank you very much thank you Mr Longacre Miss Mash I would just also like to thank you for sharing um it's always good to hear our students perspective and um as a parent of gy central students I don't always know you know what are those what are those little things you'd like to to fix about your building so um the castle is so beautiful and so rich in history as you all mentioned thank you for sharing all the the positive things first um and we definitely know that we do need an additional bond issue to to address some of the things that remain in our building so yeah thank you very much have a great rest of your semester I think that's probably all the questions and comments that that we have for you guys I will just Echo that uh thanks for being here we know it we know I know uh several of you I know how busy you are and so thank you for taking time away from whatever test you should be her have to go back and study for or whatever paper you need to be writing and so thank you for being here tonight we'd greatly appreciate it next on our agenda is our Proclamation for Black History Month and this one is an action item that we'll need a motion I move that the Board of Education of gy Evans school district 6 approves the proclamation recognizing February 2025 as Black History Month as presented second thank you both before we go any further Miss Mash would you read that Proclamation for us honorary proclamation of the Board of Education of Weld County School District 6 Proclamation recognizing February 2025 as Black History Month whereas Black History Month recognizes and celebrates the significant contributions of Americans tracing their ancestry to Africa and whereas the observance of black history month has been proclaimed by every US president since 1976 6 and whereas 4.6 million Americans and more than 660 students in gy Evans school district 6 are of African descent making up more than 2.9% of the student body and whereas Black History Month is celebrated every February as an homage to the achievements of black Americans who have shaped American history from Buffalo Soldiers to the first black President and Vice President of the United States of America and whereas the evolving history of black residents of the United States is the history of our country and whereas district 6 is an institution of public education and it is imperative that our schools teach the history of Black Americans and their experience living in the United States and whereas in the district 6 strategic plan there is a strong commitment to cultural excellence and implicitly recognizing the accomplishments and contributions of black Americans in the past present and future and whereas the contributions of Americans who are of African descent in the fields of science politics medicine education art music writing public service and many other careers have greatly enhanced and advanced these fields improving the lives of all Americans and whereas the art food dance music and culture of black Americans is embedded in the colorful weave of in the fabric of American culture now therefore be it proclaimed that the Board of Education of gy Evans school district 6 recognizes and celebrates February 1st through February 28 2025 as Black History Month and encourages all employees students families and community members to honor our citizens of African descent and recognize their immense contributions to our communities our state our nation and our world given under the hand of and executive seal of w County School District 6 this 27th day of January 2025 thank you Miss Mash before we vote on this and before uh I invite Miss Marlene Rich to come forward and accept this are there any comments from board members um I think first we have Mr Longacre thank you again Mr Matthews now when it comes to this I definitely can just look at myself and it does you know come towards me especially so I wanted to thank the district for all the opportunities it's granted me I moved to Colorado from Montana in a state like that it's kind of strange I feel as strange in such a place when I lived there cuz it wasn't that was treated poorly it was just I definitely didn't fit in as well it was definitely very different culture from the one that I come from so coming to district 6 I definitely still see that black students are still a minority but we are still treated as equals to every other student around us and I really appreciate that it's not that we're even put ahead of anyone else it's not that we're put behind anyone else we're put on the same levels as a Hispanic or white or Asian student and I appreciate that equality I appreciate that people see me not for my skin color but for who I am behind it I appreciate that we can recognize the history behind my skin color and the many other skin colors that make up district 6 and I appreciate all the opportunities granted to me by my teachers and the staff members and the Board of Education here in district 6 because honestly I think anywhere else in this country it can be harder to find such a unified group of people regardless of what their culture background skin color regardless is district 6 is definitely a special place to be especially as a black student thank you thank you Mr long AER Dr Kempo spitzy sure um I just wanted to highlight um a book that I'm reading to my kids right now it's called shamberg um shamberg some people might say is the um the grandfather of black history uh when he was in fifth grade um one of his teachers told him that because he was black um there was no history that there were no Heroes that there were no accomplishments and from fifth grade he made it his life goal um to prove that teacher wrong and to show that that black people um did have Heroes and did had accomplished things and he created a library if you're ever in New York City um the New York Public Library has a branch in Harlem called the shamberg center for research in Black Culture um aruro Alonso shamberg lived from January 24th 1874 to June 19th 1938 and um what I think is really cool about him besides um so this is in Spanish it's called shamberg The Man Who uh created a library um he actually was born in Puerto Rico so he has um afro Latino Roots um he immigrated from Puerto Rico to New York City uh when he was 17 years old um and so a little bit of History if you haven't heard of aruro Alonso shamberg I encourage you to read his story thank you Dr campus spitzy any other comments from board members if not miss lemon will you give us a vote please director Zari I director Bentley I director Campo spitzy hi director Mash hi director Matthews hi director Sullivan hi motion carries six zero thank you Miss lemon and Miss rich or do you have any comments um in receiving this Proclamation and don't feel like you should I I don't mean to put you on the spot but I want to give you a chance to speak if you desire to I do I've been put on the spot here before so I knew to prepare um so good evening thank you Mr Matthews Dr pilch and the school board I stand today before you with gratitude and pride as we accept this Proclamation for Black History Month I too went to a school where my brother and I were the only black students and black history month was not recognized nor Martin Luther King day so I'm very proud to be here today this month is not just a celebration it's a vital reminder of the achievements struggles and resilience of black indiv indviduals and communities throughout history we want to acknowledge the extraordinary contributions of black leaders thinkers artists innovators who have paved the way for progress and change their stories Inspire us to continue to strive for equality Justice and understanding not only within our school but also within our community as we reflect on the past I hope that our district is committed to fostering an environment where diversity is celebrated and all voices are heard education plays a critical role in this endeavor so let us ensure that we teach and learn about the rich history and culture of black individuals empowering students to appreciate and respect the fullness of our Collective heritage together we can create a space where every student feels valued and understood learning from our history to build a brighter future let us honor the legacy of those who came before us and worked tirelessly to uplift voices and stories that have shaped our world thank you for this opportunity to affirm our commitment to equity and inclusivity as we celebrate Black History Month Let Us carry our this Spirit throughout the entire school year I just want to share a couple of ways that gy West is celebrating Black History Month each morning our students are greeted with music from artists from the past or current times during morning announcements members of our student council share information about a person or events from black history this year staff was was asked to nominate black students who exemplify excellence in the classroom on our athletic teams or in clubs or activities from those nominations each week we will honor and share four students stories with the rest of the school our creative writing class is working on a powerful speeches unit using Amanda Gorman's and inauguration speech the hill we climb as their Foundation other classes have projects readings assign and assignments highlighting people and events and other important contributions to American history once again I want to thank you for the opportunity of allowing me to accept this Proclamation I'm very grateful thank you thank you Miss rich thank thank you for representing our now thank you next on our agenda we have another Proclamation and it's a proclamation for National School counseling week and this too is an action item that will need a motion I move that the Board of Education of gy Evans school district 6 proclaims February 3rd through the 7th of 2025 as National School counseling week as presented second thank you both Miss Sullivan will you read this Proclamation for us of course Proclamation recognizing February 3rd through the 7th of 2025 as National School counseling week whereas school counselors are employed in schools to help students reach their full po full potential and whereas school counselors are actively committed to helping students explore their abilities strengths interests and talents as these traits relate to Career awareness and development and whereas school counselors help families focus on ways to further the educational personal and social growth for our children and whereas school counselors work with teachers and other Educators to help students explore their potential and set realistic goals for themselves and whereas school counselors seek to identify and utilize Community Resources that can enhance and complement comprehensive School counseling programs and help students become productive members of society and whereas comprehensive development School counseling programs are considered an integral part of the educational process that enables all students to achieve success in school now therefore be it proclaimed that the Board of Education gy Evans school district 6 recognizes and celebrates February 3rd through February 7th 2025 as National School counseling week given under my hand in the executive seal of the wel County School District 6 this 27th day of January 2025 thank you Miss Sullivan as we before we open this up or not before we open this up but um before our board members could could buzz in we have Miss sah Vegas who who wants to say something thank you Mr Matthews um I fully support the National School counseling week I believe it is so very important to recognize the amazing work that our counselors are doing in our school not only for us as students but also within our families they create such a wonderful and supportive and positive environment in order to help our students whether that's academically socially or academic or emotionally as well sorry um they definitely I know myself I connect with the counselors at my school very well I know they are there to guide me and to help me with anything I need in case I need any support or anything I'm struggling with I think it is so very important for students in our district to find that trusted adult and the counselors in our district definitely provide that Safety and Security that all of our students need so thank you to all of our counselors thank you m fangas other comments uh from board members questions Mr oari yeah I've said this before and I'll say it again as a former staff member in the schools uh the counselors uh were essential uh to my success as a teacher and um seeing them on the ground as I did for many many years they have what I call a 3D job they not only work with students but they work with the staff and families and are constantly committed to getting our kids to cross that graduation Finish Line so I really really appreciate all their hard work that they have done for our district thank you Mr rosari Miss Mes I just want to Echo what has already been said and I again I think hearing from the students is so so powerful um the ways that you're all making a difference but as a parent as well um I thank you so much for being that extra support um at school for our kids I know this um it's Mama Kesler Central so I just appreciate you all so much and wholeheartedly glad that we get to to recognize you in this way thank you Miss Mash I don't see any other comments from from board members I'll just add that our our counselors are the people who sometimes know our students the best uh when you get into middle school and high school they are they're the people who uh who know when uh when your girlfriend has has broken up with you they they know which scholarships you need to apply for they know and they are there we and we often in a district this big have some pretty traumatic moments uh we've had a couple of those this weekend um and and our counselors are the people who are there not just not just for our teachers or not just for our students but for our teachers as well and so we we're very very thankful for um that you are in our district and and what you provide for our district and um I'm I'm going to go ahead we we're going to have a vote and then I I'll let you guys uh uh receive this and so miss lemon will you give us a vote for this Proclamation please director aari I director Bentley hi director Campos spitzy hi I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan I motion carries 6 zero thank you Miss lemon and so I will I will give it over to to our counselors to to receive this thankful for our Board of Education and how supportive you are of our counselors um Dr pilch and our um District leadership team I want to especially thank um Tammy Brandon and her new position this year director of student staff support she has been um very supportive of our team um I should introduce myself too I'm Deb heck I'm the lead school counselor this is my 31st year in the district and um I get the best job of supporting our school counselors who you've already said how skilled they are and um I get to sit back and learn from them every day so I have some counselors from different buildings with me they're going to introduce themsel and how long they've been in the district and um what school they work at again thank you so much hi I'm Bethany Lee I have been a counselor at Northridge High School for 15 years hello I'm Claudia Kesler and I am a school counselor gly Central High School and I've been there for eight years hello again my name is Marlene Rich I'm a school counselor at gy West I've been with the district 13 years and I've been at gy West 12 hi I'm Jenna Ericson I'm the counselor at Dos Rios Elementary and this is my sixth year thank you I'm Javon Anderson I'm one of the school counselors at mcalli STEM Academy and this is my eighth year hi there my name is Nick Highland I'm at gy West this is my first year [Laughter] well again thank you for being here tonight we know you also have uh other things to do on a Monday evening and so thank you for being here to to represent and I'll bring this proclamation to you [Laughter] perfect perfect thank you thank you next on our agenda is our superintendent report so Dr pilch I'll give it over to you thank you president Matthews and you mentioned uh at the beginning of of the the meeting that district 6 has taken over Colorado Department of EDS social media today so I I want to just add a little bit to that uh we were invited to do this um our Communications team was the first team in the state asked to do this so the the comm's team at Colorado Department of Ed reached out to our chief of communications and said hey I want to try this thing where you you let school districts take over your website or your social media and um tell their stories through the day and so we were the first to do it I've heard that they've already said that gy set the bar so high they're not sure any other school districts are going to want to do it so uh big shout out to our Communications team thank you so much for all your work in making that happened today and if you have a chance like you said go look at the Colorado Department of Education Facebook page and Instagram and take a look at some of the things we're most proud of here in district 6 so thanks thanks to you Teresa and your team for all your work on that and then I um I I want to talk a little bit about Saturday's graduation for Gap and the next program we had 80 students walk the stage on Saturday who were getting their high school diploma or getting their equiv equivalency diploma from next um some of these students were in their fourth year some were in their fifth some were in their Sixth and some were in their seventh year of high school and um so proud of the number of graduates we had this is a record number of graduates for mid year um and as Dr Campo spitzy said during the work session uh it was a messy snowy morning and there were so many family members so excited to be there uh and the OD tournament gy West was packed uh completely full and I will just say there's something about students who have struggled so much and then then getting to that high school diploma that there's just so much joy in the room and the families aunts and uncles and cousins um and parents and brothers and sisters it was just really a lot of fun and uh really pleased that we we are able to run that that program the way we do and that it is a high quality program getting our students uh their last opportunity to be College in career ready and our principal at Gap is here tonight um Meredith thank you for your leadership thank you for your deep dedication and for all you do thank you president Matthews thank you Dr pilch next on our agenda is our Innovation 2030 update student learning and achievement goal one graduation rates I see Mr osmus standing up and coming coming to the podium and so I will simply welcome you Mr osmus thank you for for being here and for bringing this presentation to us ver the board Dr pilch and our Council of stud reps my name is Anthony osus I'm the assistant superintendent of secondary and K8 leadership and it's our pleasure to provide an update on the district 6 ontime graduation rate and the efforts in place for continual Improvement I have with me tonight Bethany Lee counselor at North Bridge High School Claudia Kessler counselor at Central High School and Meredith Allen are gy Evans Alternative Program administrator to share the different aspects of our Innovation 2030 ontime graduation work all of our work in district 6 is grounded in our mission where every student is engaged in a personalized well-rounded and excellent education preparing students to be career and college ready in our vision where district 6 empowers and inspires today's students in partnership with families and communities to succeed in tomorrow's world as you can see in the center of this diagram the class of 2024 graduation rate was 87.3% Which is 3.4% higher than a state average of 84.2% this is a celebration for our school district and our community and a testament to the focus and vision of our Board of Education and to the drive and leadership of our superintendent Dr pelch in the last 10 years we have increased the ontime graduation rate by over 10% under her leadership in 2015 the graduation rate was 76.9% for all students and today it is [Applause] 87.3% ontime graduation is found within our strategic in our student learning and achievement Focus area of the Strategic plan under goal number one to provide a personalized learning experience so all students graduate on time and are career in college ready we have two objectives under this goal to align our systems to meet grade level requirements and graduation competencies through personalized learning plans for all students and to increase student participation in career Pathways and respond to Industry business and Community needs we have three main actions steps in our strategic plan the first increase engagement through career Pathways this is going really well and currently we have over 1,000 students enrolled in concurrent enrollment classes this year and the number continues to rise including students of color and multilingual students additionally over 3,000 students are engaged in a pathway of their choice this year the second action step is create is create systematic support for each student this is done through monthly meetings of school and District leadership in addition to all the work done at the school level by counselors and principes and School staff this ensures that every single student in grades 9 through 12 has a personalized graduation plan and the third action step is the district's freshman transition and support program we continue to work on this action step to ensure freshmen have a strong start to their High School career and we will discuss this further um later in the presentation listed here are the ontime graduation graduation rates per school this is a celebration of the hard work and the dedication of each of the schools in district 6 as we look through these next data charts you'll see a red line that represents the state average and a blue line that represents District Six the takeaway over the next few slides is the steady growth that the district has achieved as you can see on this chart in 2017 the district and state had about the same ontime graduation percentage since then we have seen steady growth in our over overall on-time graduation rate for all students hitting our all-time high of 87.3% this graph depicts our on-time graduation rate for our economically disadvantaged students which make up 67% of our student body students achieved an all-time high 85.9% compared to the state at 76.4% this growth comes from the additional supports to students at schools such as in-class supports after school tutoring and the relationship created between teachers students and families just want to stamp that currently district 6 free and reduced rate is 87.2 or 67 sorry 67.2% the state average is 44.9% this graph depicts the on-time graduation rate for our students with disabilities which is now at 80.4% which is a 5% increase from last year in 2017 district 6 implemented a strong focus on inclusion so that all students regardless of ability or disability can be in the classroom with their peers and be held to the same high expectations as a result we have seen a steady increase since that time this data chart depicts our limited English proficient student data this data includes our non-english proficient or NEP students and our limited English proficient students um sometimes referred to as LEP the ontime graduation rate for these students is 78.8% compared to 70.7 around the state we are proud of these numbers since as a district we have over 80 languages spoken this graph demonstrates the on-time graduation rate for our Hispanic and Latino student group this student group improved almost 5% from last year and is well above the state average inside this data both the male and female students graduated at a higher percentage than last year school-based feedback on this category believe this jump is due to our work around family and student engagement increased incurrent increased concurrent enrollment and pathway work that prepares students to be College and Career ready another data point that we track is completion rates completion rates include students who graduate on time and their fifth year sixth year and seventh year our six year completion rate was 89 89.8% while our seveny year completion rate is over 90% at times students come back to us well after their graduation year to finish their journey and we welcome them every time the district District's dropout rate this year was 1.9% which is the same as last year however um we did see a decrease in the number of students two years ago we had 217 students that dropped out to last year's 214 which is down from three years ago from 233 we've been looking at when you think of Dropout rates we want to see a decrease in the percentage of students who dropped out and so far we are Turing in the right direction earlier in this presentation we discussed freshman support action planning because freshman the freshman year is very important school-based teams support and monitor students their freshman year to keep them on track we quantify on track in our district as earning six credits their freshman year and P passing both math and English I'd like to introduce Bethany Lee counselor at North rdge High School and Claudia Kesler councel at Central High School to share their respective freshman support work all right thank you so much for having us here tonight giving us the opportunity to celebrate the work we've already done done and the successes we've had um and to talk about the exciting work we are working on and the work to come um so for a number of years I've had the privilege of being part of the graduation initiative that um Dr asmus not dror yet not yet that Anthony mentioned um the graduation initiative team um we've been largely focused on Juniors and seniors um this is principal school counselors District coordinators and Sport support staff um and we've really been focused on how can we just get them to that Finish Line those Juniors and seniors we need to come up with a plan kind of last minute um we are so lucky to have Jefferson and GAP as options um but I think our Focus has stepped back and we're we're working with freshmen now and I believe if we can start freshman year we can bring our graduation rate even higher um I really think we could get to 90% on time if we can start um with our freshman so in summer of 2022 Claudia and I had a great opportunity to go to Chicago to learn more about freshman success and the work they're doing in the Chicago public schools to bring their graduation rate up one powerful statistic that stood out to us was students who finished 9th grade on track are three times more likely to graduate on time um being on track at the end of freshman year is a stronger predictor of ontime graduation than any other Factor um that's accounting for socioeconomic status disability status any of those kinds of things this was eye opening to us and when we returned home we were inspired to get started um so we've been gradually integrating what we learned in our um in Chicago into our schools so we're going to share some of those efforts with you and I'm going to start with Claudia with what they're doing at Central thank you bethony so I want to start by letting you guys know that we have um intensive supports for freshmen so we have uh cohorts and we also have meetings so this year at Central we started with ninth grade cohorts uh they are PL C sorry they are Pride classic dignity the reason for this approach is so our ninth grade students can keep the same four core teachers throughout the year this this will also be beneficial so we can track data by cohort and for our students to be able to build relationships with with other students in their cohort as well as their teachers who they will be with them all year long and then we also have meetings we have three types of meetings um one of the meetings is called the nth grade team meeting um all 9th grade teachers counselors and administrations meet together to review seminar plans which is a support period class assembly content and nth grade protocols this is considered tier one as it applies to all students cohort teams will have time to collaborate collaborate and process together during this time as well then we have our cohort mtss tier 2 cohort teachers meet together to identify interventions for students who are in tier 2 and need more support than just in class so reteaching the content um talking about attendance behavior and grades MTS mtss meetings with cohorted teachers have been very effective because teachers are able to share concerns regarding students they all share our class cohort is currently doing student of the month where they hang up a picture of a student they will vote for during these meetings and lastly we have the tier three support team this team includes administrators counselors and interventionists they identify supports for next steps for students who are in tier three this team meets weekly we are also implementing restorative justice Within and the entire freshman team um and all should be all of them should be trained this summer we also provide freshmen um with upper classmen as mentors so we have Link Link crew at gy Central um we have upper classmen who we identifi as Leaders to support our freshmen with academics and mentoring on how to adjust to their high school year um they are with our freshmen once a week for a whole period um we are getting feedback from both upper uh upper classmen and lower classmen to see what needs to improve um and then also lastly implementing summer transition support programs for incoming freshmen to Foster deeper relationships between teachers and students so we call it jump start we have talked about intentionally targeting middle school students for jump start um so students who need that extra relationship building one of our counselors will go to the feeder schools to build relationships and involve them in our summer programs now I'll turn it back to Bethany to see what they're doing at Northridge thank you thanks all right so one of my bigger takeaways from Chicago was the importance of explicitly teaching our freshman skills that they need to have to be successful in high school um for a long time I think we've said well you're in freshman now or you're in high school now you should just know these things um but the reality is they don't many of our freshmen are still transitioning from middle school and they need that structure and support too often we ask them to behave like seniors when in truth they're much closer to eighth graders in terms of their development so at Northridge we've addressed this through our advisory period This Time provides freshmen with a structured environment where they can develop essential skills under the guidance of a trusted adult who monitors their progress and addresses their needs this starts all the way back in in fourth grade with our Avid strategies and this is just continuing that into high school um so the advisory time is a time that we talk about time management and organization study habits goal setting and self- advocacy another key takeaway from Chicago is the importance of monitoring on track metrics which we talked about just a second ago um with the um graphic that Anthony showed um by reviewing this multiple this data multiple times throughout the year we can quickly identify students who are fallowing behind and intervene immediately rather than waiting until we find out that they're behind as a junior um to support this work we have also created a freshman support team made up of the teachers um administrators and counselors that support freshmen um we meet every other week and we're doing a book study as well to further our learning of how to support freshmen um we're also meeting um multiple times a week to discuss individual students who are struggling and to create Improvement plans it's been really amazing to see our nth grade team come together and do whatever it takes to support our students so moving forward um we're looking ahead and our goals include um sustaining and enhancing our existing programs that we've talked about continuing to cohort our freshmen um and using our mentoring programs we're also going to make sure that our freshman teams are meeting regularly at all of our high schools um reviewing data and implementing intervention in a timely manner we would also like to strengthen our eth to nth grade transition plans as Claudia mentioned having a counselor go down to the middle schools start to get to know those eighth graders um so that we can really support them and have plans in place when they come in in the fall um so by starting earlier and focusing um on our freshmen we believe we can make a profound difference in our students lives and further improve our graduation rates thank you you thank you ladies for sharing our work around um freshman support as you can see this is this is very systematic on how we're going about supporting our students starting earlier and earlier and so that we have more and more students graduating on time um when they get to their senior year when students fall behind in credits they're considered off track to graduate on time schools provide students with remediation and credit recovery options but there is a time when acceleration and additional support is needed to share some information about this work we have Meredith Allen our gy Evans Alternative Program Coordinator or administrator here to talk a little bit about how we get students back on track thank you first I would like to thank District Six Board of Education and Dr pilch for having me here today and thank you for supporting Gap at our graduation this weekend um it was amazing to see all the people who came out in the snow it was also really nice to see Wade and Anthony shoveling um for the ladies that were in their heels so as we know appap and next um or Gap next and Jefferson are known for taking students that are not on track to graduate and getting them graduated and these schools we've developed systems to allow students to accelerate through our curriculum to help them get back on track um and I do believe our schools and our staff um in these particular programs do so much more than just give the students the ability to accelerate through our high schools a common denominator for our students at Gap and Jefferson um are that they feel disconnected from their education so we do interviews when they come in and a lot of times they're sharing like I just I don't feel like school's for me um and most of them share that the last time they felt successful at school was in elementary and some say they've never felt successful so what what Gap has come to learn over the last decade plus is that with this group of students we know learning cannot occur until they feel like they until we rebuild their academic efficacy so in order for them to learn and complete classes they have to feel supported and they have to believe in themselves and that takes some time um our staff at Jefferson and GAP go above and beyond to make sure all of our students feel cared for heard and safe and once they feel safe that's when we get to um we get them the wins they need to feel like they're good at school against so they're they're you know we celebrate everything we celebrate finishing classes or that they came to school or that they came to a period or they finished assignments we just really try to build them up anything we can celebrate we do if we are having a hard time finding the wind then we go back to the drawing board and figure out what the students really need and sometimes it takes more time to build the students educational advocacy Gap focuses on ontime graduation um but there are times a student doesn't have the luxury of a four-year High School career they are working full-time or they're a caretake of a family member or they have their own family or they're dealing with a lot of stuff at home and so we so then we just text them daily we do voice visits we are flexible with their schedule we text them again some kids I've texted every week for 3 years um two of them just graduated on Saturday so that was awesome um and some disappear for 2 years but then because we meet them where they're at they always come back we are small so I know that this is something that is something that we are really grateful for because we wouldn't be able to to help the amount of kids we do if we were a big big school um we get to go after each individual student we get to hold their hand through 25 class completions and we get to get them graduated and so while we have a lot of students off track so Sometimes They Come to Us with zero credit Sometimes They Come to Us with 22 but sometimes those ones with 22 takes three years to get them through and sometimes with the 0. five it takes them two years so um it's just really incredible what our staff can do um with the systems in place and then just that they know that it's so important thank you so as you can see our growth of graduation rates are just not by chance strong systems are in place we do have some next steps we're not quite there yet we will continue to implement our freshman support program to reduce our freshman failure rate to 10% or less we're currently at about 20% that's it is just too high we want to make sure that we're tracking those numbers and seeing and uh just see how we can meet that goal um that we've set for ourselves enhance our monthly meetings to identify support for each student so every single student in this district has a plan to graduate on time refined Credit Recovery systems um on site so students can get get support in a timely manner you heard about the data teams that talk about the the support for students and when a student gets off track how do we meet them right now and not let um wait until there's a larger Gap and then just continue with our own um theme of every student matters and thank you and we'd be happy to answer any questions thank you Mr osus G to bet that you've got a few coming so uh we'll start with Mr Bentley yeah I just more just want to comment and uh kudos you guys in the district is a whole um I remember when I when I was in school we we had a uh it was our version of the castle but that was our Alternative High School and that's where you know the team moms and the the trouble kids went to and it was so taboo to be in the the the Alternative High School that when I got here and I started to learn more about all of the programs that gy has it's not taboo and it's actually very exciting and I I say this over and over again but we're casting the net as wide as possible to catch as many many kids as possible and I really think under Dr pure's leadership we've really widened that net and it's and it's all and it's obvious in the numbers and the graduation rates and just the overall success of the district um the the the focus on College and Career Readiness um in my opinion from the top to bottom we're doing an excellent job I know there's still work to do but being able to take those kids who really are going after a college education and sending them to somewhere like the uh Early College Academy Academy down to Jefferson in the CTE Center and and just hitting all those kids who either excel in school or don't excel in school because they there's such a broad range um in in my business I always joke with the people and tell them that it's like uh playing people chess I got to figure out who can do what some of them can go up two and over three some can only go diagonal some can only go one step at a time and it's the same way in the schools and you guys are just doing a really good job of placing them where they're good and where they're going to uh accelerate and um be successful and so I just I just really want to say from a newcomer to gy and to public education in general um you I know I'm in my senior year on the board but um it's been a it's been a long time of me just getting to to learn your systems and what's going on and and it is it's truly amazing what what you guys are doing here so thank you guys thank you Mr Bentley Dr Kampus spitzy so um I know your last slide says thank you to us but I want to give a big thank you to all of you um we were celebrating the graduation rate earlier at the at the uh work session and we talked about how this it it doesn't happen by accident it happens with strategy with dedication on the ground um but also strategy so this freshman support system is really exciting I love that it was just one bullet point that said intense support and then it was thank you for specifying what that meant because I was like oh that is intense um so thank you for being champions for our kids for our district um I'm I'm just so proud other comments from board members questions um I'll just add I I think it's it's pretty amazing what what we have been able to accomplish as a district when not just 10 percentage points in in 10 years but when you look at the different groups that are are achieving so much uh at such a higher level than than the state average to know that our dis economically disadvantaged students are are 10 percentage points higher than the state and as you pointed out Mr osus I mean we're almost 70% almost 70% of our students are economically disadvantaged um and so those are the groups that that had to move and and I I do remember um as when I was on daak that was before 2017 when I was on deck and we would look at these numbers and one of the one of the groups that that stood out even even then to me was uh our special education students and and where they were compared to the state average and I don't know if you can go back and I don't think you need to go back Mr osus to that slide but but it's a 30o jump yeah I mean that that is amazing um and so I I know we we have thanked you but but and I know it's it's far bigger than than the four of you certainly want to thank our our superintendent and the leadership U that she has she has brought but uh I also want to thank our Community because this does does not happen uh apart I think it's important that or it was interesting to me that we started uh in 2017 when we started tracking th those years because that's the year that the mllo passed and and yes it it took incredible leadership and it took dedication from a lot of the people in this room but there's no way that we could do this without the investment our community has made in the school school system and when we talk about uh College and Career Readiness and Pathways that that is that is MLL money when we talk about the achievements that our Jefferson students have made 10 percentage points this this year I think roughly maybe it was eight uh but they went up eight eight percentage points uh I I have to believe some of that is due to to the fact that uh these students who who have struggled in our traditional high schools go to to a an incredible facility uh brand new facility that that is thanks to to this community and so I just want to make sure when when people ask what what do we get for this MLL what do we get for for these uh this is what we get this is what it takes for for these different groups of students and so thank you uh thank you to you guys thank you to Dr pilch but but thank you to gy and Evans uh for this this is a this is an amazing win for this community and Mr Longacre thank you again president Matthews um just wanted to add in a student perspective to this if it wasn't for the work you all do for us as students personally I don't think I would be anywhere near where I am today when I was coming out of Middle School I've said it plenty of times in these board meetings I was a student that came from not a great background I got suspended plenty of times Middle School even almost expelled at a point and I just wasn't at a point where I was confident in how I was performing as a student I had no idea of what I wanted to do with my future the Rec andiz step foot in Northridge I just felt this confidence because of the way my counselors treat me and my teachers they treated me as if I were successful I I had never joined any sports I had never earned any awards I'd never done anything that was really successful but they just treated me as such and they cared about my success and because of that I've been able to excel as a leader get to places like where I am now to be able to help people around me and interact with amazing students such as the students in the CSR and even today being able to get a senator's nomination for the Naval Academy that's none of that would have ever happened if it wasn't for the amazing counselors and just support that comes from district 6 so thank you so much thank you Mr longer any other questions comments from board members I don't see any so I'll say thank you for being here uh thank you for for the presentation and and to our district thank you for all the hard work next on our agenda is our public participation but we do not have anyone that uh signed up for public participation tonight we do always have the opportunity for for anyone who lives in our school district anyone who uh Works in our school district to come and and speak to us and so just make sure that you sign up there's a form online but make sure you sign up by 12:00 the day of the board meeting next on our agenda is the consent agenda and this one will need an uh this is an action item so we'll need a motion I move that the Board of Education of gy Evan school district 6 approves items as presented on the consent agenda and authorizes the officers to sign any and all contracts second thank you both any discussion on the consent agenda seeing none Miss lemon will you give us a vote please director Zari I director Bentley I director Campo spy I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan I motion carry 60 thank you Miss lemon next on our agenda is a resolution supporting students and families and this to will need a motion I move that the Board of Education of Well County School District 6 approves the resolution supporting students I don't have the rest of it oh sorry and families as presented second thank you both before we uh open this up for discussion Mr aari will you first read this resolution to us in in English and Dr Campos spitzy will you read this resolution to us in Spanish resolution supporting students and families whereas the board of education is committed to ensuring that all students who attend its schools regardless of immigration status can safely access a free public education and whereas since the US Supreme Court's 1982 decision in pler versus doe federal law has recognize the right of all children regardless of immigration status to enroll in public school and whereas in order to learn and Thrive children must know that the school district will support their safety and emotional well-being regardless of their disability race Creed color sex sexual orientation gender identity gender expression marital status national origin religion status ancestry immigration status or need for special education services and whereas the board adopted The Innovation 2030 strategic plan which values and prioritizes family and Community Partnerships with the understanding that our students need their parents Guardians and other adults in their lives for their well-being and to fully realize educational success and whereas the board adopted policies and practices that support education ation opportunities for all students and represents the diverse families in our communities so that students can access their education is guaranteed by the Colorado Constitution and both Colorado and federal law and whereas the federal government has announced plans for Nationwide immigration enforcement actions and whereas these announcements have created confusion and anxiety in the school Community resulting in some of the district's famili students and staff to feel in secure and unsafe particularly surrounding their right to continue to access a free public education through district schools and programs and whereas educational Personnel are often the primary sources of support resources and information to assist and support students and student learning which includes their emotional health now therefore be it resolved the school district shall follow all state and federal laws to protect our students and Families regardless of immigration status including but not limited to the following actions the school district will continue its practices to not collect or maintain any information about our students or families or Guardians immigration status under federal law gy Evans school district 6 will continue its enrollment and registration practices which does not collect any information about students migration documentation the school district District shall assist families in keeping emergency contacts up to date and otherwise support families in finding resources to make emergency plan should families feel a need to do so and shall Provide support to students who may feel that they and their families are at risk schools shall forward to the school district's office of legal counsel any request by federal immigration officials for entry into any school district school or other school district property to communicate with any student while that student is under the supervision of the school district during any school activity or while using School District transportation or for any information about our students or families be it further resolved that the Board of Education restates its commitment to creating safe and secure School conditions through its policies prohibiting bullying discrimination and harassment be it further resolved that the school district broadly communicate the commitments of this resolution adopted by the gy Evans School District export of education on this 27th day of January 2025 Michael Matthews president Board of Education and now Dr compos Fitzy will read this resolution in its entirety in Spanish thank you director aari m Oran ad m an for EV IM Comm thank you Dr Campo spitzy and Mr aari appreciate you both that was a long resolution to read uh we'll now open this up for questions and comments from board members Miss mesh um I am thankful for the opportunity to just restate the commitments that our district has to um not only providing an excellent education to all of our students um but in a manner that um keeps them safe and um feeling comfortable um if there hope hopefully this um just can can add some um again just comfort and um um our restatement of our commitment I don't know how else to say it thank you Miss Mash Miss Vegas Miss Vegas thank you um Mr Matthews I just like to Echo what Miss Mash said as a a young woman that comes from a Latin um Community it is definitely causes that anxiety just knowing um what's going on in the world around us therefore of course these students are going to have the anxiety they're going to be nervous they're going to be worried about their family members being separated or maybe taken away from them as well which can definitely um affect their education their right of mind their state of mind so I think it's very important that they know their district is supporting them and their district is going to do everything possible possible in order to support them in anything and everything they need and just provide that comfort for them in these um difficult times for that Latin and Hispanic Community thank you and I greatly appreciate it as a member of the Latin Community thank you Miss FAS any other questions or comments from board members what just before the board meeting I was listening to a book and uh in that book there was a chapter on regret and in that chapter uh there was a quote from George Saunders who in a gra thir 2013 graduation speech said this said what I regret most in my life are failures of kindness those moments when another human being was there in front of me suffering and I responded sensibly reservedly and mildly and so uh I would hope and I don't want this this board or this school district to to ever have to regret not being kind in this moment and uh in any way that we can Empower as a board Empower our teachers our Educators our our administrators and and all of our support staff to to show kindness I want us to do that this is a moment where so many of our families are are afraid um and whatever we can do to alleviate those fears whatever commitments we can make that are within our power to make there are many that that we cannot make there promises we cannot make but I want us to uh where we can as a district show kindness to to our neighbors and those in our community who are afraid and so miss lemon will we give us a vote please director Zari I director Bentley I director Campos spitzy I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan hi motion carries 60 thank you Miss lemon next on our agenda are revisions to J student policies when this is an action item I move that the Board of Education of Well County School District 6 approve the revisions to the J student policies as presented second thank you both Dr pilch is there anything you need to say on on policies before uh before we open this up for board members it's pretty straightforward I'll I'm happy to take questions if you have any okay thank you any questions or comments from board members on these policy changes seeing none Miss lemon will you give us a vote please director Zari I director Bentley I director Campos spitzy I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan I motion carries 60 thank you Miss lemon next on our agenda is the first read of 20 the 2025 2026 and 2026 2027 school year calendars and this to is an action item oh it's not an action item because it's first read I'm sorry uh but I do see Miss Anette Overton coming to the podium so um there's no action for us to take but uh not this board meeting but we will at our next board meeting and so miss Overton will you uh will you explain what what's going to happen with our calendars and I would invite um Christina crane who's here and Ain Snyder to come up both were the co are the co-chairs of this calendar and um I would just say uh we're excited tonight to bring you two calendars this evening the 2025 26 revised um one that's updated and then also um the calendar for 26 and 27 and this calendar committee is an exclusive group um exclusive group that involves multiple perspectives and helps us to see um how we consider each potential change to the calendar each year and how it will impact our our full community the team includes parents with students of all ages Elementary and secondary teachers and administrators and instructional and operational District leaders this diverse team ensures that we consider a broad ranging impacts as we create proposals things like family activities and travel plans parents work schedules classroom instruction and lesson planning assessments collaboration professional development and employee pay and schedules the student count window nutrition services chassa schedules school activities and most importantly student achievement board policy IC and ICA CH charges the committee with creating a calendar that meets or exceeds the requirements of state law and includes sufficient number of days um to allow the superintendent flexibility to support the district's educational objectives as outlined in Innovation 2030 the process for developing the school year calendar is Guided by board policy by research by committee work and by feedback from a variety of stakeholders our team very successfully utilized the consensus shared decision-making process to create these calendars the calendar committee began meeting in November to create calendar proposals and to gather feedback we finalized the calendars and we're we are presenting to you here in j this January and this year the committee is proposing a calendar for the 2627 school year in addition to the updated version that for 25 and 26 uh the committee hopes that the community will benefit from having information a year in advance and right now I'd like to turn it over to Christina Crane and to Erin Snyder for the presentation of the calendars thank you Miss Overton uh before we view the full calendars I want to give you a breakdown of the similarities and differences between the proposed calendars and the current Year's calendar U many aspects of both calendars closely mirror the 2425 calendar which really does provide consistency for parents students and staff um our proposal continues the Monday late start schedule uh it minimizes short weeks and it maintains professional development and uh work time for staff the start and end dates are very similar to the last couple years based on the positive feedback we received from staff and students the committee maintained the mid-semester vacations in both October and April uh and similar to this year winter break does fall during the last week of December and the first partial week of January on both calendars uh rather than the last full two weeks in December uh this alignment alignment allows for a full two-e break with weekends at the beginning middle and end of winter break so here are some of the highlights that impact students you can see uh start dates there the the breaks throughout the year including the mid semester breaks this is for the upcoming 25 26 Calendar the staff highlights uh show the new teachers or the new professionals Academy that begins of the first four days before our returning staff in August so they will actually be returning in July again this coming year uh and it does continue the late start Mondays for Preparation and planning meetings professional development uh and allows some time to free up meetings for other times during the week uh and there are balanced semesters again this year it is important that those numbers uh stay very similar to how they are here uh for uh instruction to be balanced between semesters and allow for State Testing in second semester so that's why there are a few extra days is there in second semester that also allows for students to get some extra support our time to complete courses prior to graduation or promotion into the next grade I know this is hard to see on the slides here but you did also receive a full page version of this in your handouts so you can see how the school year uh lays out for 2526 it is very very similar to what you have seen this past year year uh and then we'll show you again 2627 which again very closely mirrors these same dates these are the same student calendar highlights just shifted by one day for the next school year including the breaks and the staff highlights are the same as well as I said the two calendars very closely mirror each other uh the semesters are very slightly more balanced in this uh in this school year the 26 27 they're just one day closer to each other here is the 26 27 calendar at a glance it should look very familiar and if you do have any comments or questions we're happy to take them at this time thank you thank you for being here and Mr Bentley has a question or just a comment um I probably get more questions about the calendar as a a board of education member than anything that has brought to me you know just in passing everybody's like why did you start school so early what you know what's up with the braks and uh I'm really glad to be looking at two years of calendars and I'm if I'm reelected I'm going to be more glad to not hopefully do this again next year and and if I give it a break but um I know it's a ton of work and you guys take everything into consideration um from from multiple angles and so I just wanted to say thanks for all you guys' hard work as a committee going through this you know it's it's not a fun process I'm sure as much as we love to hear about it I bet it's it's just equally as fun for you guys so appreciate your hard work thank you it's a great team any other questions or comments I was ready to tell him no well I don't I don't see any and so I will just say again thank you thank you for all the hard work again we know this is a lot of lot of hours even though there's not a lot of change in in this calendar we do know that there's a lot of um a lot of work that goes into it and so we appreciate it uh please thank your team for us and we'll perhaps see you again in a couple of weeks uh when we when we pass this calendar so thank you finally tonight we have our 2024 2025 budget year revisions and this is an action item so we'll need a motion I move that the Board of Education of Well County School District 6 approves the 2024 to 2025 revised budget this includes a total appropriation of $488 mil 32,9 25 the transfer of funds from the general fund and the use of beginning fund balance where required as presented in the revised budget document second thank you both I see that Miss Megan sponsor has has joined us at the podium to to make this presentation so welcome Miss sponsor thank you for being here thank you president Matthews good evening members of the board um it is January so that means that we have six months of our financial operations behind us so this is the opportunity we have um provided by state law to revise the budget for our current fiscal year a couple things that have changed since we uh initially adopted the budget last spring we actually have student count numbers so we know how many students we got funding for we have our actual per pupil funding amount so we have those two factors that drive most of the budget um in place now interestingly our student count actually increased quite a bit from our projections so that's always positive on the downward side though our perp funding decreased from what we had projected so by the time you kind of work all the calculations through the school finan formula uh we ended up with about $60 less per student than what we had budgeted so in total we still have a positive uh increase in our funding from the state but not as much as we had hoped for um based on our student count numbers um another kind of surprise that we had was our um assessed valuation when we got that from the county that had dropped pretty significant ly and I don't know if you recall seeing articles about um the county and the city budgets but their budgets are also impacted by that assessed valuation and so where that really comes into play for us is with our M ly override and so we will be collecting about 5 million well 5.7 million less than what we had budgeted we were able to kind of trim things back where we could but this budget revision does ask you to use some money from our fund balance from our rainy day savings account uh to continue some of those mil ofy override projects that we have already committed to I will say that we have a very healthy fund balance both for our mlo and for our general fund so I'm really not concerned to be bringing to you this request to spend into our fund balance um but I will you know if you have questions or concerns about that and be happy to answer any of those um I think that are that's all my notes for today but if you have questions please let me know thank you Miss sponsor we will give board members just a second to to see if there are questions but I I have one uh since I mentioned the mllo just a little bit ago can you tell us I know it's around 30 million but I mean does that mean we took in around 25 million this year so we had projected right about 30 million and we will be collecting about 24 million about 24 million okay yeah and that's because of the property valuations the window and that is primarily due to oil and gas valuations um those are valued differently than your traditional property and so that came in pretty low this year okay thank you thank you for answering that question and we certainly I'm not seeing any questions or comments but I will just say we certainly appreciate uh your ability to budget and that we always have a healthy reserve and and fund balance and feel very confident in your recommendations to us when we need to spend into that so thank you very much Miss sponsor for being here and Miss lemon I think we're ready for a vote director Zari I director Bentley I director Campo spitzy I director Mash I director Matthews I director Sullivan I motion carry 60 thank you Miss lemon that is all the business that we have tonight uh thank you all for being here this meeting is adjourned [Music] [Music] n [Music] [Music] la e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e --------- ##VIDEO ID:dgaiJHBpenI## n [Music] a [Music] [Music] a [Music] n for [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] for [Music] [Music] the I [Music] a [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] nah [Music] [Applause] n [Music] [Music] well good afternoon welcome to the work session for gy Evans school district 6 Board of Education we'll call the work session to order and Miss lemon will you call the role for us please director aari present director Bentley director Campo spitzy present director Mash pres director Matthews present director Norwood director Sullivan present five five board members present excuse me thank you Miss lemon all right right first on our agenda is calendar review and Community engagement and so everybody take a look we have a big big event on Thursday Thursday night or really evening beginning at 4:30 success in six Awards and it's at ases this year as it was I guess the last two years this is third year maybe we've done it at ases um casby day at the couple on the six and we're to our next board meeting uh student day at the capital casby student day on the 13th uh gy chamber annual dinner and that's that's always an important one for us to go to uh if we if we at all can so I would we need to know right away on that one you guys um they only have about 100 seats left so if you're going and we need we may need to get another table so feel just make sure your calendar inv has been RVP too appreciate it thank you yeah well and yeah and then School visit for James Madison that got rescheduled for the 21st our second board meeting in February and then finishing out February we have the my story cultural assembly at gy Central and gy Evans uh Elementary Coral Festival on the 25th president Matthews with the coral Festival if we could um have everybody let me know as soon as possible so they can um save tickets they do sell out on that one I believe yeah that they pretty much fill the u c i I'm told so yeah um all right that pretty much finishes out February um any anything that needs to be on there that we did not go over and obviously we have some big events in March but just one school visit looks like and a couple of um couple of several big nighttime events for us we would love everybody to try to attend starting this Thursday all right well if there's nothing else then we will go on to board member comments and reports and Miss suan will start with you tonight um well the the thing that I've been working on is um looking at um literacy with our school trying to get the financial literacy as a component and so I met with uh Mr asmus and Dr pilch and walked through um why I am passionate about this and um also have been working with the Ramsey Solutions and I've gotten a textbook for everybody to take home to look at um once I meet with um the president the board then I will um send out um a link and everybody can go look at this website as well and you'll have access to go into to look at the curriculum but um it's amazing curriculum um firsthand knowledge is I've actually walked through this process um the student version I have a student that took the class but then I took it as well as an adult and as of uh the 23rd my husband and I are officially debt-free and we just got the phone call from Ramsey and week and we get to be on the radio show when we go out there next month so we get to do our debt free scream so I'm super stoked and I just cannot uh show how much passion and desire I have that we incorporate this in and I think that this would be a course that would be doing our kids right and um whether we use this curriculum or not um this is going to be the hill that I die on hopefully that I can uh really push through to get in um into our um education so I'm going to pass the books and you guys can we just take one and then I'll just leave one out um should I just said oh K's here leave one there and then we can get it to Rob next time well congratulations that's a um it's amazing that's a big accomplishment it is I one okay Dr Camp spitzy yeah so I know we're going to go over our graduation initiatives today at the work session and the business meeting so I'm going to try not to steal Thunder um but I did want to say how extremely proud I am um that our district has exceeded the state average graduation rate um I'm especially proud of the fact that unlike other districts we were able to increase graduation rates for nearly all student groups including students living in poverty students receiving special education and Hispanic and latines students um and we're exceeding the state average by a lot um our district was nearly 10 percentage points higher in graduating Latina students and students living in poverty as compared to the state average um and as we know this is in a district where a majority of our students live in poverty and where about half of our students have non-english speaking parents um so I texted dearra very proudly earlier this week when on my drive home um gy Evans district 6 got a shout out on Colorado Public Radio so really proud moment um also the nearly 12% increas in graduates from Jefferson High and the gy Evans Alternative Program um was palpable at the Gap and next graduation ceremony that um I got to attend this weekend and despite unplowed roads on Saturday morning um the gy West High School was full to capacity the auditorium um it was standing room only basically with people standing in the side aisles to watch almost 80 graduates cross that stage um and I was reminded let's Anthony here I was REM reminded by Anthony um our assistant superintendent of secondary education that every one of those students who received a diploma on Saturday has a story um as we know these are the kids who were not thriving in Traditional High Schools um yet because of uh their school's dedication our District's dedication their teachers dedication we were able to still get them a high school diploma um the keynote speaker at the graduation was Carla Gutierrez um she spoke about the importance of believing in yourself um I think this is what makes District district 6 great we believe that we're able to achieve great things as a district even when 70% of our kids live in poverty our principles and assistant principles believe in our schools our teachers and support staff believe in our students and it translates to our students believing in themselves I know these amazing numbers don't come without strategy in planning and great leadership from the top and so I want to extend the congratulations to our D6 leader ership in the room for a huge win and if you haven't already seen our social media takeover the CDE the col Department of Education let us take over their Facebook and Instagram accounts and so all day today um there have been videos and pictures highlighting and showcasing um the amazing things happening in D6 so encourage everyone to check that out um and lastly just wanted to thank the success foundation for um a great fundraising event bowling with the buroughs um it was the first time I took my kids bowling ever and we all had a blast uh Mr Bentley I actually did absolutely nothing school district-wise last two weeks I think that might be the first time I've ever missed everything that went on um life's just been busy with uh the wrestling season full swing um I'm assistant coaching so I have been in the schools I just have not been to any official events so I was very sad to miss D your celebration um it was a a great event I heard and lots of lots of people reached out cuz they're pretty shocked he wasn't there and I felt bad every text I got like five text yeah so sorry about that and then Gap graduation is always one of my highlights of the year um it is a special thing and I missed that also on Saturday but uh just to see the the proud the pride and the uh excitement that those families have for their students you know a lot of those they didn't think were going to graduate and they found an alternative motive I'm an alternative pathway and and kept going and it's it's really inspiring to hear some of their stories so um congrats to everything has been going on lots of good news and uh oh I I think maybe I did do the Centennial Bose meeting so I did do one thing um that that's pretty pretty lowkey on my end um they uh are Coalition of school boards and I check in and give them an update and um honestly it just makes me feel proud to be part of D6 when I listened to their problems because uh I think it was uh Gil Chris I can't remember the district but they their gymnasium floor has a hole in it and they don't know how they're going to repair it and and I just think if problems like that don't really happen around here because we're in a a lot better position so you know if we have a hole in our gymnasium floor I think we we get it fixed and we have the budget to do that and there's a lot of districts in Colorado that don't so it just kind of brings a an awareness to some of the issues that are still facing public education Statewide that we don't have to deal with even though we have our fair share of of issues so thank you Mr Benton Mr aari so I just have a a few things to report out on the first is that as as the board rep to the student wellness team they had a meeting on January 22nd and I went to that and they start those meetings with uh positive uh feedback on the school district I think it's a good way to start the meeting and I'll just share a few with you view uh our schools are getting smoothie bikes and I know that some of you are familiar with those those are the bikes you ride to get exorcise and at the same time make a fruit smoothie along the way and those are a hit in the schools and the schools are using those not just to get kids to exercise but to form connections with students and families especially at schoolwide events like conferences and concerts where people gather around so it's a those are great uh they also commented about after school sports programs they are also a hit at the elementary schools with many many students participating I think this season they've included volleyball basketball and cheerleading and again a lot of students come out for that D6 offers a culinary classroom which again some of you may be aware of it's geared to k through eight students and it provides our students with 15 to 20 minute lessons with an additional 25 to 30 minutes of Hands-On cooking and that has also been very rewarding fun and engaging and Joanna Bishop is the one who coordinates that 5210 plus month is this February it's coming up that's where our kids commit to eating five servings a day of fruits and vegetables spending two hours or less of screen time 1 hour or more of physical activity no sugary drinks and nine or more hours of sleep like I've said before in the past there probably be beneficial to me as well and they also wanted to make sure that we know that National Bike and roll to school day will be on May 7th this year finally along with Brenda I also attended the Gap and next graduation where I was honored to accept the class and I'd like to again congratulate the students uh for their accomplishment and thank our school staff for their dedication and commitment of getting our students across that graduation Finish Line and I know that it's all part of this school district's continued efforts toward raising graduation rates and uh I think we'll be given more information about that tonight at our board meeting so and again uh thanks uh to the success Foundation as Brenda pointed out for the bowling with the buroughs that was a very good event so that's all I've got Mr President thank you Mr Rari this MH um yes the celebration to celebrate Dr pilch was a lot of fun it was great to see so many community members and leaders and staff there um I brought my daughter as my plus one and she really enjoyed getting to reconnect with some of her her teachers and things like that but also um just to have pride in and you as well Dr fch um the Takeover is really fun Teresa and it was fun to see the students that um gave us the tour at Centennial all the little um student council kiddos and I was like I remember that little girl so that yeah it's very fun to see the the highlights um and then I did attend the West Central basketball game it happened last week um and that that's just always a fun rivalry game um I'm always impressed with the you know the intense school spirit um but then as soon as the game is over everybody goes and you know says hello to their friends um I took a great picture of Mr Cranson and Mrs zulaf with the exact same stance s you next to their student sections watching the game that's kind of funny um but yeah that was a good time and it was a very close game so uh gy Central won all three all three matches I believe the the freshman team and J thought was boys and girls I don't know I think sometimes they play twice but I don't think they're playing twice this season I don't anyway that's all I have thank you vice president mash um yeah just a few things that that I got to attend one was the superintendent of the Year celebration and I'm so so thankful that the success foundation and I'm not sure who all in the district uh know Amy lion had a big part in that but I think it was very appropriate for the community to get to celebrate that because this District makes such a difference to this community that it's not just the lives of our 23,00 th000 students in our 2500 or so employees that that are impacted it it really is the entire Community that's impacted by the success of this school district and so congratulations again Dr pilch and and thank you to everyone success foundation and um Amy and who whoever else on on our our side put that together because it was it was well done and a great celebration and um West Central basketball game yeah went to that as well always and that just is fun and it is great to see how the kids they and I think partly because of of so much open enrollment in our in our district that they get to see kids that they they used to go to school with but don't go to school with anymore and I know that uh sometimes when you think about cross down rivalries people worry about um yeah just the the hatred between schools but I just never see any of that in our in our schools they uh they all seem to love getting to be together again um I saw a group of of chapelo students that I know half of them went to to gy Central and half of them went to gly West and um it's always good to see that also went to the buroughs benefit concert like um Dr Campos spy and thank you to to miss Zari and to the success Foundation again for putting putting that on that was that was a lot of a lot of fun hopefully I didn't here hopefully we raised a lot of money for for instruments uh Mr Zari did you did you say that I can't I probably shouldn't quote a number because I'd probably be inaccurate but yes the turnout was fantastic and and uh they did raise a significant amount although I don't know how much it was it was a lot of fun and hope again hopefully we raised some money for for instruments so that's that's all I've I've got I do I will say I hate like Mr Bentley hated to miss the graduate the Gap graduation on on Saturday that that is always uh both Jefferson and gra and GAP are are great events uh so moving to see those those students walk across the stage as you said Dr kampos spitzy those are the students that weren't thriving uh in in traditional high schools that maybe had some additional challenges and uh to see them make it across as always always a moving experience and hated to miss it so moving right along can I add one thing on the calendar sorry oh sure if anybody wants um it's the All City band um this Wednesday night at gy West and middle school starts at 6 and the high school I think goes on at 7:00 but it's kids that have been selected that had to try out from all the area schools and they've been practicing for about two or three weeks in the evenings and then they uh will be performing Wednesday night Wednesday night gy West West and what time again starts at 600 for middle school and 7 for high school 6 for for Middle 7 yeah probably probably need to be there at 600 I'm not I'm not sure how they in my experience you there's not a there's not a hard break there so probably want probably want to be there at 6 if you're if you're trying to see a high school student um but anyway um moving right along diligent Community tutorial we're changing our software so thank you for being here miss lemon and guiding us through you're welcome um so as you know this is our last meeting of board dos board dos is what um hosts our board agendas and our policies and um moving forward we will be using diligent Community diligent is the parent company of board dos and so it's been a relatively seamless transition um but diligent Community is different so we wanted to do a tutorial with you tonight um the first step is to um log in and let me show you where will we go though I mean we all went from the link you gave us where will we go when we're not in that link you gave us or do we for the test um so the same place so this is this is just a um this is all live okay um so the website is green schools. common.com can you go back oh it's it's up there it's okay I can see it it's I'll do a quick overview of the first and it is a little bit slow to get to the website sa so this is what our what our new make sure this is important yeah so we won't go on can't back so is this the um is this the address that I'd save is the K shortcut yes okay this is what this is what you can save this is also our public site so this is what everybody um can and will save everybody have the link so this is what everybody can see like I said this is what the public can see um and along the side here you'll see um we have any meetings we have one today any upcoming meetings and R meetings you'll see that our um December meeting is on because we pulled all of the data before that so we'll get an update that anything so don't don't panic when things are missing it's still under construction a little bit um we have a new feature that I'm excited about is a Subscribe Feature anybody from this community can subscribe to our notified a for people to know notification POS something so I'm excited about that um and then we'll also have um we'll have our policies on here they haven't been fully updated yet but they will be you'll see the calendar or anything that's been posted will come up on the calendar to me it's pretty it's pretty for you all to sign in on the top right hand corner click sign in and then if you haven't activated your account now is the time to go into your email and find an email from diligent one platform so you can either search for diligent one Platform One is spelled out or you can search for an email from notifications bond.com and you'll need to activate your account from this email and I just resent it to you a few minutes ago so it should be toward the top of your top of your emails thank you to those of you who who were able to do this before but shouldn't take long as we get in there you get to choose your password so am we don't have to sign in again you may not have to if you're y I didn't have to I went out and went back can did everybody find the email did you say it's from diligent from diligent one platform it may have gone to your span put the top of mine at the top of your spam it's at the top of my spam oh really I kept s there was one cent at 4:00 today that makes me feel better that I didn't just not do it well there was probably one cent earlier no no none of them came up well I mean it might be in this spam but oh am I supposed to go continue with s it's SSO okay get email so I clicked on activate my account but then I try to sign in and it says your password doesn't exist do I do the SSO yeah we're getting the same if not you can do reset password yeah let's try the password where is Mountain where's the well that will show the parents won't it just gave me another activate account when I did the reset my password yeah totally maybe maybe we're in different spaces sure maybe should I go to test business well but she's not to get to eventually so I think we should do it during I think you're in the right one mine right well I yours matches hers I it so I think it's so I tried you over here for a second well they didn't I I mean I have was like one of those Tes things I think yeah I kept sending it up but that hours ago that's okay yeah y that's okay I'll show you okay it's the most recent one yeah there's one that says activate forgot yeah so then I said send the instructions and then nothing happens so maybe Natalie can just look on with Michael yeah well and then during dinner you can call and try and fix it yeah yeah there are a couple places where I got stuck in a Lo and they need do something I motorcy apparently I know what motorcyle is it's dead I can't handle this oh you have a you don't have a district laptop yeah it's yeah I'll text if not yeah I just hav't waited for the email it's pretty mobile those are the same three I think I that's one I did yeah because all sorry that's okay I look different I sorry Natalie no worries thank you okay so there are two screens that you might see um one screen looks like this the other screen this so if you ever end up on this screen this is the platform homepage so not our homepage but like the main platform homeage Community is where we want to be Community if you want to learn more about um about communi you want do a deeper guide Academy and it has L of videos but we'll go over tonight Basics to know okay so this is the this is the main page where you will see meetings you'll see our upcoming ones or the ones today for any previous meetings that you want to go back to so click on the click on the meeting and your page should page should look similar to this so on the left outline so this looks kind of similar to what what we have in BO and then as you scroll down here you'll see the you'll see the rest of the meeting any time you click any somewhere in your outline it'll take you there one of the ne things about this I think some other other people use in board you can highlight and you can um underline and you can make notes and these are only for you to see nobody else sees these these are just your personal notes um so I can click on this button right here to highlight I can CLI on the next button to underline next button to fre hand anytime you don't like what you did you can delete it just tap on it and delete you can also see everything that you've written in here hope you can do those too I don't have and then I'll just leave a little blue box over here it won't be like a text a text box here so kind you can make them go away you can make them all come up and you can scroll them see where where all of your notes are in here so I made some notes earlier today and they're still any questions about about that piece it's pretty easy I like the way it looks it looks a little bit different um but it's it's pretty clean and I think it'll be will past meetings be forwarded into here or to look at past um do we go into the old system well okay yes they're PF so they a little different one of the reasons we switch to D for the accessibility law is helping um these your toolbars up here and these are just to help you um visualize things you don't like that there there or you want it's missing come back you have your some other viewing options here here um the other thing is if you want to just use your your cursor to instead of doing it over here then you want to use that hand whatever your any questions about well I can't I'm I'm different because I'm a publisher so you can have so we still don't know okay correct I published the agenda and then I published it just to see what happened yeah but I'm not able maybe if I go into edit I is that what I did to see the agenda um is that how I did it yeah I think it we need to I need to learn about for people with with your level of access yeah that got me to it when I did that yeah was actually changing theenda I'm sure it's possible yeah I think I'm sure it is too I just we just need to find out on the left hand side here um on this bar it's another one that you can expand um to me these aren't as intuitive as I'd like them to be so I still need the words to remember what they are this is not the back button per se to go back to our first screen where we had the upcoming events from the previous events this one is going to all the way back to the red and white screen but if you do that all you have to do is go back into community that bring back that you do it one your meetings goals have list at our Focus areas and this goes to our public site that's the first site that we look at okay so now up here you can see that you're logged in before it said log in and now it said now it shows that that you're in um you can go back to my meetings and I'll take us back to this back to your page here also over here have a document Library um and so this is where we see um we have posted to the public our meeting dates and our district accountability committee meeting dates where we have our policies so they're they're all in here now um you you can come look here I just have not audited to make sure that everything's F open properly so in the next few weeks it will board do um and Boards will still be live in ours um for a while until we make sure that everything is properly pulled over um but we'll we'll start using this and even the old stuff will be searchable yes yeah yes yeah and so these really these really look nice in here and great to you can also change a few of your settings um you may see if your request to speak I'm that Lindsay's access was a little bit different from yours um so that's a feature that we're not currently using um that's how the public can sign up to speak it just doesn't meet the requirements that we need right now we request and hopefully they'll make that accessible for us and that would be another it's very slow they need that feedback again it's terribly slow everything you do like when you go over to go to the policies it's very slow yes we give them that feedback again and then inv see look how slow it is take you're going to go to I'll send you the links to our to the site we'll also have a post on our on our district sixs oh there it is when you want to show you said we switched over for what accessibility for who I guess online accessibility that for the public Y and so by July 1 so we all that we do so one of those once so how do you share a policy like you know we could link a policy in the old one like I could nothing happens when I hit policies nothing's happening when policies okay so it's not live yeah I think it's not live cuz the other stuff works e week Works everything works for me but I have but I have yeah I can see e we but I can't see the policy that oh mine look different than that I think that looks I should different pretty uhhuh did yours are different yours is different okay at the moment wow okay there is document Library so we don't need board dogs at all now it's everything everything will be yeah on this once it gets migrated over though yes it's like a new app thank you oh my goodness good it's good I'm very slow at this stuff so to Amy quick question if if I go into the agenda say on Sunday night and I make a lot of notes and we change something on the agenda on Monday morning yes uh will my notes still be there yes okay sort of of okay got worse she yes no maybe kind of so your notes will still be on there um if they're in an area that has not been updated um so when you probably didn't notice when I first logged in um CU I took pass it pretty quickly it said you're you've made annotations but the agenda has been updated do you want to keep your annotations I said yes okay um so I played with it earlier today um in a highlighted section and part of the Highlight was there and it wasn't in a place where I had left it um so you'll know if something has changed it'll give you a warning to say you want to keep all of these and um some of the things were where they were at but that little highlighted piece I noticed was we do our best not to make those updates no I I I know but I just wanted to wanted to check yes um I do Suspect with the the comments um I suspect that those have higher of stain than the Android notes or the highlights are underline so if you add comments here I suspect that all of that will stay so here you can see I had a I highlighted this whole line here and it transitioned it just kept that I actually highlighted this down here so kind of that your comments are always close yeah you just move them gotcha okay know if you learned anything you should go let me know okay cuz your your side looks different from mine this is very different from what I do um so there are things that I just don't I just don't know because do it so when will everything be set in place like policies will be on and all that when so policies within the next month and hopefully sooner um but that was when we get the board U meetings set first okay um and we'll have all of the agendas migrated by the next meeting but until then board doc still we can still access that for all the policies yes okay yes El let me know when you have questions please or if you have trouble locking in um we have 247 support they've been very responsive so far um with them it'll be a change be different be okay thank you for your optimism positivity is one of my top five thank you Amy any other questions guys or we'll keep moving along on our agenda next will they need to be in this in this for the next school board meeting for the next one in February and you can actually be in it tonight if you want so this is the one in community is identical to the one in board Bo so if you want to follow thank you Amy next on our agenda is our grad initiatives and so I can't do anything not sure who's doing grad initiatives for us is Mr Mr osus is Mr awesome osus is going to come talk about have a conversation with you about graduation we're excited to hear it great well um president Matthews members of the board Dr fch it is it is with great excitement that we can share our graduation rate with you all um this year and all the things that we're doing um around graduation I see I get this button no always wrong so I want to spend just a little bit of time in in in this um diagram this has been updated and so um just a little bit about who we are right so this year we're at over 23,000 students in this district and so we are still growing and so that's um pretty amazing and pretty exciting that we that we have that problem it's a great problem to have um that makes us the 13th largest again and so we're we're growing in size um across the state and we have over 3,000 employees in our district um going working around this we have um 130 students that earned the prestigious scholar award last year from AP and so that's a great number and we still have the 29 curent Pathways we talk a little bit about the 1,000 more than 1,000 students taking concur enrollment it's actually probably closer to 1300 and we'll have that presentation a little bit later in this year and so that's a a very that's a great increase from last year a big increase from last year we about 800 last year and 1,300 for this year which is very exciting and then I wanted to just make one correction because it's not 50 plus we just learned um some from new data it's actually we'll change that um on there to 80 plus oh my in our district and so we'll make that change on future presentations but um just some very exciting data to share with you on who we are as um and then even with all of that like all those great things we celebrate our graduation rate this year which is 87.3 we can publicly say it now it's not embargoed but 87.3 um compared to the state average this year of 84.2 and I just want to say um that is just a testament to you as a board for staying super focused on achievement and graduation and the things that um make our kids successful and also um really to our drive and Leadership of Dr pelch um I just want to remind you all that when she came here in 2015 the graduation rate was 76.9% for all students in 2015 uh where we are today 87.3 so it's just a a great Tate to her leadership and the things that we're doing is dist work that we um that we find important we'll go this is really a condensed version of the presentation for tonight and so when you get to something that you want to talk about just feel free to ask questions and let's talk about it while we're in while we're in here and so this work we'll talk about where it lives um in our Focus area under student learning and achievement um under goal one and then let's talk a little bit about objectives and how we are aligning our system to meet these grade level requirements and graduation competencies through that personalized learning plan and then to increase student participate participation in career Pathways um work around our district want to talk a little bit about our action steps we have three main action steps under this work the first one is to increase engagement in career Pathways and just excited to announce that this is going really well there are more than a th students closer to 1300 students um that are taking current out of how many high school students what what is our high school population is that about 5,000 stud if you think about probably 1,500 per class right now on average but it's growing and so it's um think about closer to 6,000 students but it's but it is it's growing every year gets a little bit bigger but essentially half are in a pathway so um half those students are when you think about 3,000 students that are in a pathway of some sort it's just amazing work and we cannot do that without our MLL um to be able to to push out our Pathways and get our students involved in things engagement is very important when you're at the high school level when you think about trying to stay focused and and connected to the work and so we we work hard at getting students inside of that the second action step is to create the systematic support for each student that's where you'll see our work on Grant initiative coming together as um school and District leaders once a month um in addition to the work that each of the buildings do at their own level and this ensures that all of our students have a graduation plan a personalized graduation plan and if they do get off track then we have a plan to get them back on track and then the third action step that we'll talk about tonight um is the district's freshman support freshman transition and support system and we'll um have a presentation later tonight that you won't see here today but you'll see that later tonight in the in the board meeting this is a slide that shows all of the schools in their graduation rate this year and so very proud of all of our schools our high schools all had growth this year um and then as you would expect Jefferson High School and gy uh and the gy alternative program are just a little bit lower as you because as you know the students who are off track at all of the schools including Charter Schools um and they can't make that up they um they do attend either Jefferson High School or Gap to try to get back on track and and graduate on time we going to go through some data here as we look through these next data charts you'll see the red line that represents the state and the blue line that represents district 6 and the big takeaway here is over the next few slides is that we have this the steady growth that the district has achieved so as you can see at this chart in 2017 the state the district and the state average were about the same um but since then we've seen steady growth with our overall ontime graduation rate for all students hitting our all-time high this year of 87.3% this graph depicts our on-time graduation rates for our economically disadvantage students which makes up 67% of our student body students achieved an all-time high at 85.9% compared to the state which is at 76.9% so this growth really comes from the additional supports that we provide our students at the school um we have MLL provided after school tutoring that we could can provide and then just the relationships that we've created between teachers and students and families want to call out that currently um The District's X fre and rce rate is 67.2% and the state average is 44.9% this graph uh shows the on-time graduation rate for our students with disabilities which is now at 80.4% which is a 5% increase from last year at this time in 2017 district 6 implemented a strong focus on inclusion so that all students regardless of ability or disability can be in the classroom with their peers as a result we've seen a steady increase um since that time almost 30% yeah that amazing this data chart depicts our limited English proficient student data um which is and included in this data are I'm going to I'm going to sort of stick with me here I'll try to explain how this works so which includes our non-english proficient students our neps and our limited English proficient students which is our leps and so when you enter High School your freshman year if you are a NEP or a LEP So non-english speaking or limited English speaking you are included in that cohort so this tracks those group groups of students for four years and the on time rate for these students is 78.8% compared to 70% around the state for students that that are learning English language um along alongside of all this data now additionally U there's another category called f it's the fluent English speakers and these are students who were at one point LEP or NEP but they have become very fluent um in their English language and so they are already F before they get to high school so they're not included here but when you when our students get to fep status 90% of those students are graduating on time which which is what drives our work in our system to help our students learn the language it's very important that we learn the language and try to get to that depth status um as quickly as we can so we're proud it we're definitely proud of these numbers since we have over 80 languages spoken in our district so the work that we have that we put together to try to get them to learn their language to learn English regardless of the language that they're currently speaking Mr do data think there's some did we do something different uh 2022 to see that steep jump from 22 to 24 um when we start looking at at this data um inside of here it's it's um I don't know if I really put my finger on it other than we just keeping track of every single student and helping them and helping them grow and so um inside of our classrooms I would say um we have lots of systems go teaching and we have um supports before and after scho programming but I if I really put that on Dr PS what would you what would you add to that well I think um around that time I I really think it's really seeing the full benefit of the co- teing model so we've been in Co real co- teing at the secondary level in particular um oh golly only really only like we started probably in 19 but then we went into Co and so we didn't have co-teachers as much during that whole year we cohorted with Co so then you come back out of that um and and I I think you know you're seeing last year and this year or the previous two years where we just are really realizing that model and where teachers were honing their craft I mean it it takes a while to to do that the other thing I will say is that um we you know we used to shelter students and so um by pulling them out and putting them into another classroom so when I got here in 15 our English language Learners often were not in on grade level content so one of the things that that we began to do pretty quickly and we were under a review with English language learner when I got here and so we had just gotten a report from CDE like in my first few months and they said um to us yeah you're in really big trouble and and we don't and they really didn't know how to fix it um with our all of our achievement around English language Learners and so we brought in westad at the time to do a a full audit of our English language learner program so that happened in like s 1617 yeah 17 yeah and so then we we then we began to roll out what they recommended we brought in Richard Villa to help train teachers um and so it's really just it's been a whole it's really been a whole system change around the teaching of English language Learners and and including English language Learners in Ong grade level content that is a big deal if kids are not in Ong grade level cont content they're never they're not going to they're not going to advance they're just not they're going to stay remedial from their peers and you saw an increase um from that work we saw an increase until 2020 and then we were flat for a couple years during Co and then coming out of Co it just seemed like this the systems were just we just working and you may remember that even when we were cohorted at the high school level um during Co that we brought our English language Learners in um every day to try to to you know to try to keep them on track with their language development um but this is I mean we're especially proud of this data it is it is the graduation work of really knowing I mean really looking at student by student who's on track and what do they need to get back on track uh but it's also a change in our instructional approach really K through 12 and how we work with our English language Learners question then this graph demonstrates the ontime graduation rate for our Hispanic or Latino student group so this student group improved almost 5% from last year and as well about this state average so inside this data um both the male and female students graduated at a higher percentage than they did last year so both are making significant growth inside of um this data and school-based feedback when we're asking and working with high schools believe that this jump is due while I work around family and student engagement um increasing current enrollment in the the parent and family meetings um that we're having around that um to to get students in and supporting that work and also preparing students to be College U and career ready through our career path work very proud of this this um set of data as well another data point that we track is completion rates and so completion rates include our students who graduate on time fifth year sixth year and even seventh year seniors our sixth grade our sixth year completion rate is 89.8 so it's just continues to grow and our seventh year seveny year completion rate is over 90% And so we know at times student come the students come back to us like they just realize I should have got my high school diploma and so they they come back to us at some point and we always welcome them um back into our system and we enroll them and we put them back to work and they and they do they do complete some you know their sixth year or their seventh year year and you can just see that every year the their completion rate just increases is there a year or an age where they can't 21 yeah so that's our so the year of their the semester of their 21st birthday yep so if they turn 21 you know in February of this semester they can finish this semester okay and we spend time going after students so they're still in our cohort we're still tracking them we're still trying to um track them down and get them to come back and and sometimes they do and then the dropout rate this year was 1.9% which was the same as last year um however we did have fewer students in that cohort and so it looks like it's the same but um two years ago we had 217 students that dropped out and last year we had 214 students that dropped out we just had a larger in so it so it doesn't show up in there um which is down from 233 students 3 years ago when they dropping out do you guys inquire why and is there like a main reason why they're leaving um a lot of times work um and language and so um our highest well I'll just tell you so our highest is our limited English proficiency group and so when students are coming to us and and um they they don't know the language and we don't have the right supports in place sometimes they feel like they um that they that they just can't work although I although I that's true I would say and I would say a lot of times students come to us brand new and they and they um and they come to us to learn English and so they even just tell us um I came we enrolled them I just want to learn English and then I want to go to work so students who come to us who are um very old for high school age 17 18 19 who and it's their first time to come to um school in the United States those students come typically with very little English language if any and so they you know to get the to do the content and the English is is a big yeah we work really hard with next uh to try and and move students into the next program and hopefully get them into the completer program there and then starting maybe with an ESL class at ases while they're in the next program so they're starting to access some Community College work um but that's that's an area where it's really tricky when kids come and they're very old and very undereducated um which cor because they still if they come in as a a junior and they're 17 their their ontime graduation rate is the very next year now we but we have until they're 21 so they won't you know they'll count against the on-time graduation rate but if if we can keep them and keep them from from dropping out then they will count toward um you know that they won't be considered a Dropout if we can get them graduated before their the end of their 21st birthday semester yeah and I'll just finish this one and then our migrant students um have a hire at 4.9% and those are the students that are coming to us and just new the country and and they they come to school sometimes long enough to learn English and then they and then they get a job and they and they move on and then homeless um is four is 4% and so um students so are still working on supporting um those student groups but to your question about do we ask them why yeah so we part of the zero Dropout work and the work with with next is to actually go and find the dropouts and try and get them re-enrolled into school um and get them back in and and get them into a diploma program so that's that's part of the work they do uh you know Steve Doo and I started doing uh focus groups golly almost two decades ago now looking bringing in students who had dropped out and asking them why do you drop out and it's interesting that hasn't changed primarily it's males and it's primarily to graduate or females who've had a baby um but P not to graduate males to go to work um or and just you know not much of our instruction is verbal and oral and um male students typically are more kinesthetic Learners than verbal and oral Learners and so um as as we're able to get more of our students into current technical education programs into more programs that are Hands-On into those career Pathways that's going to help us to have an impact as well and our Hispanic meals have dropped in the last three years from 2.6% to 2.2% which is a big number so um doing a better job of keeping our Hispanic was engaged going back to slide yes so I'm going to look at the 2001 where you have the graduation rate so at so the students that are at hitting 21 so that we're looking at just the the 200 kids that have dropped out right and out of that 200 kids 87% of them graduated what's the difference between graduation and completion am I not understanding this right yeah so graduation rate is the time rate um is the fouryear rate so they started nth grade and four years later they actually graduated with a diploma um the fiveyear rate is it took them a fifth year to get that diploma a sixth year or a seventh year the completion rate is students who actually completed their their uh equivalency diploma so a GED a GED yeah so that's why our completion rate is higher than our graduation rate okay um and you can see that that by the time you know when get to that seven-year seven some kids have taken that long but getting to a 90% completion rate um we're proud of that Y and we feel comfortable that they do come back to us at some point and and complete so those numbers are combined that completion and graduation you're that number is combined in there thank you MH we don't have 90% of our students as a completer that that 90% is what you get when you add completers to the the graduation rate does that make sense and then also tonight at the board meeting we'll talk a little bit about the Freshman support program that we're working on and um a little a little bit on how we um support students on our off track and so um I'll stop there for now and take any questions that you might have but you also have questions all the way through the presentation yeah no it's that's what it was designed for just be interactive my only question is you must be tracking I'm sure our district is tracking data on uh the longitudinal uh part of this kids the middle school for instance and what we're doing to the middle school and how that's impacting graduation rates as they make it into high school I know you're going to address some of this with the freshman orientation sort of program but it's but as you said it's a K12 is it really is system so tracking classes as they come through to see what has worked over time M it would be very interesting I know take a lot of time and data crunching yeah it does and and and a lot of interviews and a lot of speaking and and most recently uh talking to our middle school and Elementary counterparts organization comes up often and so partnering with Avid around the organization so putting together a plan fourth grade through 10th grade with very consistent um organizational tools and systems so we're speaking the same language all the way fourth grade schools can decide to go earlier than fourth grade but we're thinking fourth grade through 10th grade and be very consistent on our expectations and our practices and how we how we get ourselves organized and how we put school first and that I would just presume has had has contributed to the positive graduation rats that we've been doing that oh yeah for some time now yep okay well the transition programs that that exist from uh you know from even from kinder to first grade from fifth to sixth grade and then from 8th to nth grade um this is uh related but off topic from graduation rates but I'd be curious at least um from our two closest college and university if we are able to get numbers of um let's say for fall 2024 how many of our D6 kids ended up at as and then I I actually know the number of how many fall of 20 24 ended up at UNC um was 150 um and just told me that today yeah I asked to figure it out but um yeah so I know a lot of our kids are doing aims to UNCC or that sort but I would think those are the two in the two main institutions our kids are going um and I know the other like tracking what you know how many other kids go to other universities is a little bit harder maybe but for our local institutions I think that'd be a cool number to hear we can get that and we're also working um and I can put this in e week again we're also working with am and UNC to do some Auto admission and so sharing data with them and so when they qualify um without going through all of the admission process when they qualify for UNC they can get an invite and then every student um most likely will have an invite from Ames this year um as a senior and so it's trying to increase trying to increase uh the number of students in District Six that are going to our local institutions really at no cost you do tuition promise yeah at as yeah mhm yep so you'll you'll hear more about that as we as we finalize that too but we're super excited about the partnership that we have with those two institutions how many does that tuition promise open for students then if we're just now going to be sending out the invites to our seniors as it pass it's still no it's right we're right in the window so it's perfect it's perfect timing right now this whole spring there's a there's a deadline May June it's late but we're but we've got the whole year to work with students and getting um and getting them the acceptance letter and then we have said we'll get the acceptance letter we'll work through fasta if we'll need it we'll provide those opportunities and then if they require a backend application we'll help families with that as well so we're ready we're ready to provide the the family experience to to support all the families to get themselves ready any other questions from Mr a all right thank you thank you that is more than exciting are you going to talk about the ninth grade transition program and theight that later Bethy and Claudia from Central and nor that's great thank you I thought so I just didn't know yep they will come tonight got something to leave for the something well we are to brief debrief the work session um so started with with Taylor start with you dor a lot of exciting uh information for the school district I think it's just great uh the graduation that and I know that a lot of folks have put a lot of hard work into making this happen so kudos to everybody involved uh so thank you Anthony for your presentation and your willingness to answer questions some of these things are really hard to track as to why but I have a feeling that it's systemic that there's commitment in our in our district to reach these levels of Excellence so I do appreciate it and thank you Amy for your work on setting us up on this new platform all these technological changes especially for someone like me can be very confusing and hard to understand so I appreciate your time on that as well and I believe that's it uh uh I will take a look at the foundations um uh book here that you brought in director solivan so thank you thank you Mr oari Mr Bentley yeah um one to same I'm excited about the new platform board docs has been pretty simple and outdated for a bit so it's nice to get one that has some tools um make review in the agenda and everything on that end a little bit easier for at least for me um and then just excited about the graduation rates and all that data um we've been hearing rumors about it and to see it published and and in front of us is exciting so just kudos to the entire district for all you guys' hard work that doesn't come easily it's been been a long road to get from where we were to where we are so appreciate you all thank you Dr kampo spitzy yeah same um thank you for best new platform I I do like the new one um so uh I know change can be a little difficult but yes so excited that the embargo is finally gone and we got to celebrate these amazing numbers and um just couldn't be prouder of of everyone and I know we always talk about it takes a village and and so so proud of the village who um helped Inspire our kids to cross that finish line going last there's never much more to add everybody's already said it all so thank you all is Hardo last Natalie yeah I was just thinking it's it's so nice to be able to be on the well on the other side of Co there's so much talk during all that time of like well we didn't have this and we didn't have that and so it's just great to see the fruits of the labor that that the things we have in place are making I mean not just like one or two% 5% in the number of categories that's amazing yeah it's big big jump yeah it is it is incredible to see so super proud um glad that we get to hear that again and our public gets to hear that again in our business meeting and just great job to to everyone in this district for making that happen um thank you guys for for your comments and questions tonight and I think that's I think that's it um the work session is adjourned and we'll see everyone back at 6 for business meeting [Music]