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this meeting of September 3rd, 2025 to order. I'd also like to note that due to a prior commitment, Dr. Varta is unable to join us this evening. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. Miss Applelegate, here. Miss Kworthy, here. Miss Parker, here. Miss Reed,
here. Dr. I would like to thank our live simultaneous Spanish interpreters for joining us today. We're also live streaming our meeting. Please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of
America and to the stands nationy andice for all. Is there a motion to approve today's meeting agenda? I move to approve today's meeting agenda as presented in board docs. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion?
It has been moved and seconded to approve the agenda for today's meeting of September 3rd, 2025 as presented. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. Miss Applegate. Yes. Miss Kenworthy. Yes. Miss Parker. Yes. Miss Reed. Yes. Dr. Varta.
The agenda is approved. On August 21st, 2025, the board held a study session that included the following topics. a report on alternative education landscape work, proposed library materials policy aligned to SB25-063,
and an update on the budget reduction blueprint. I encourage you to watch the recording of the study session to learn more about these topics. You can also visit our board page on the Jeffco public schools website where you'll find a host of information and links to both board docs and our live stream
platforms. With that, let's turn to our first agenda item this evening. Board action on the Jespa negotiation agreement. The district and the Jeffco Education Support Professionals Association or JESPA negotiating teams reached a
tenative agreement on compensation and benefits for the Education Support Professionals for the 202526, 2026 27, and 2027 28 school years. The terms of the tenative agreement are provided in the materials presented in
board docs. Is there a motion to approve the tenative agreement between the Jeffco Education Support Professionals Association and the district? I move to approve the tenative agreement as presented in board docs between the Jeffco Education Support Professionals Association and the district. Is there a second?
Second. Any discussion? It has been moved and seconded that the board will approve the tenative agreement as presented in board docs. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. Director Applegate. Yes. Director Kenworthy. Yes. Director Parker. Yes. Director Reid.
Yes. Dr. Barta. The motion is approved. We will now move to our first study uh first item of study. Tonight, the board of education will hear a presentation on the landscape of Jeffco's center-based programming. This presentation was
requested by the board to strengthen understanding of how center-based programming supports Jeffco's vision of ensuring every student thrives. Matt Polero, chief student success officer, will be leading this presentation. And seated at the table with Mr. Polo are
several co-presenters whom Mr. Polo will introduce. We've scheduled 40 minutes for this presentation. And Miss Harper will keep time for us on this topic. Before I turn this over to the presenters, is there anything you'd like to share? Superintendent Dorland.
Thank you, President Parker. I'd like to thank the team who's here this evening to present and have this discussion with our board of education. Um Matt and his team uh do incredible work to support um our students and center-based programs, many of whom are our most vulnerable
learners. And um and just really appreciate you all taking the time to be here. Thank you very much. I also want to extend a public uh gratitude to our school leaders and the educators and uh
support professionals who work every day with our students who qualify for center-based programs in Jeffco. I'm also grateful to the core of assistant principles who we've hired um specifically invested in for support to
the schools that um are homes for our centerbased program students and the incredible work that they've done to not only support the centerbased programs in their schools, but come together on a regular basis to learn um best practice
in relation to supporting a center-based program and how best to support the students and the type of students who whose needs they are serving every day. Um it's been amazing to hear about the journey for both these educators in terms of their learning and then taking that back into their building to support
the students. It's also I believe a really good practice for us to grow leaders and we talk in Jeffco about being leaders growing a community of leaders. This is a group of leaders that I have my eye on um as future principles who will not only be able to serve um
their schools in general based on the learning that they're getting from their um being just an AP in our system as well as learning from the principal they're serving with, but really then also steeped in specialed best practices for center-based programs. and having a a pipeline, a bench, so to speak, of
leaders who can do that work for us in the future is something I'm very committed to um and very appreciative of this team engaging in the learning with those folks and those leaders. So, there are a lot of people in our system who are doing incredible work with our center programs, the folks in front of
you included obviously as the leaders of that work. And so, thank you for being here and thank you to everybody in Jeffco who supports our students in these programs. Matt. All right. Okay. Thank you, Superintendent Dorland. Uh, good evening, President Parker, members of our board. For our audience listening, my name is Matt Polero, and I'm your
chief student success officer, and I'm incredibly grateful to be joined this evening on this presentation with my team, who I'll let introduce themselves. Good evening. I'm Alan Golden. I'm the director of gifted programming for Jeffrow, and I'm excited to be here to
share some things about gifted centers. I'm Sarah Brown. I'm an assistant director of special education. I'm Sarah Cookie, one of the directors of special education. I'm Jessica Goodken, the interim executive director for special education. Great. Um, and as you mentioned, we're
here this evening to um provide you with an overview of Jeff Co Center programming landscape, which includes both special education and gifted and talented centers. And our hope for this evening is that we can build some shared understanding about um the big picture
of our centers uh including enrollment and design uh celebrations and strengths and opportunities where we know we have some work to do in support of our students uh staff and family. Um you're also going to notice that at the beginning of this slide there are quite
a few quotes that represent the voices of some of our parents who have children in our center programs. I'm not going to read all of those quotes to you, but I do want to elevate some of the themes that emerged. Um, our parents talk about uh finally feeling a sense of belonging.
Um, feeling like their kids are getting the right supports and that those supports are contributing to their child's growth both uh socially, academically, behaviorally, emotionally, and in many cases developing essential life skills that will serve them um long
beyond their time with Jeffco. Um, I also think that these quotes just tell a powerful story in general about the impact um, our incredible staff at our schools are having in the lives of our students and also our central support staff who lean into this work to support those programs every single day. I do
want to read one quote to you if you don't mind. And the reason for that is because I think this quote um, as we talked it over really elevates the experience that we're trying to provide consistently across all of our centerbased programs here in Jeffco. This comes from one of our parents who
has um a a young child in one of our autism programs. So it says, "Our family is so grateful for the ASD center program. Our son is thriving. We've seen tremendous growth in academic and social skills after just one year in the program. He's also so
much happier at school, which is fantastic. We love the collaborative nature of the center program, the communication and partnership between home and school. We love the flexibility that a child can move between his center classroom and his traditional classroom as works best for him at that particular
moment in time. We love that he has the support he needs to thrive and that his teachers have the support they need to teach her child while also teaching all the other kids in class. And we love that the program helps her child identify what he needs and what works for him. Valuable skills he can use
later in school, in the workplace, and in life. So I think that's just a testament of the incredible work happening in this program that we desire to be happening in every program for every kid, for every staff member, and for every family that gets to experience and benefit from those supports. So to
begin our presentation this evening, we thought we would start off with what a center program is and what a center program is not. And then my team is going to get into some of the specifics around each type of program um special ed and gifted and talented. So beginning with what a center program is. So it's a
district- managed program within a neighborhood school. So essentially we provide support and resources um that neighborhood schools don't get in order to serve our kids who need more resources than their neighborhood school can provide. So we pull resources to um
a program so to speak. Um, our programs are designed for kids who have uh very diverse learning needs, very unique needs, um, which, uh, can benefit from this type of programming. Um, we provide specialized staff, curriculum, and or
resources match to those needs. And my team will talk a little bit about what some of those specialized supports actually look like and what some of those um, uh, unique training and skill sets that they get that neighborhood schools potentially don't get because they don't have a center program. Um and
then also we'll talk a little bit um more about some of the unique steps that we're taking this year in response to some of the uh needs that our staff have requested in our um centerbased programs. For example, Sarah's going to talk about the incredible work capping in our affective needs program and the
teachers that support those programs. Um and then also just noting that our students uh who are in our centerbased programs come from all over the district um to the centerbased program that is either um the right program or uh you know within their sort of uh
neighborhood so to speak um what a center program is not. So it's not for every student who has an IEP or every student who has an ALP and we'll talk a little bit about why that is in a little bit. um it's not something that's
decid decided solely by parent requests. So when my team gets into sort of the process for placement, you'll come to understand that the IEP team actually makes that decision and part of the decision making or a member of that IEP team are our parents. Um whereas there's
a little bit of differentiation within our gifted and talented centers that Allan will talk about. And then it's not always permanent, appropriate, or the least restrictive environment for students. So to think about sort of the the rigorous expectations of our GT centers, not every student with an ALP
will thrive in a GT center because of the rigor and expectation. Um whereas in special education, uh our goal is always to get a student to their least restrictive environment. So that you'll learn that some of our kids spend uh
less than 40% of their day in a regular general education classroom. Our goal is always to give them the support they need so they have more access to their general ed classroom or their peers without disabilities. So there's some nuances with that. Um but with that said, I'm going to hand off to Sarah
who's going to talk to you a little bit about special ed. All right. So this is an overview of kind of programming for special education. So our goal is to educate students with disabilities alongside their non-disabled peers as much as is appropriate for the child. And center
programs in this visual are that special classes box. Um, and it's only used when students needs cannot be met in a regular class, even with additional supports in place. In Colorado, districts must provide a full continuum of alternative placements to meet students educational needs. But this
placement decision is not a one-sizefits-all approach, right? It's highly individualized and truly based off of student need. So, the continuum services really is ranges from least restrictive to most restrictive options. So, our regular classes are going to be that least restrictive environment where
students are going to be with their non-disabled peers for the majority of their day. Special classes is going to be kind of the next restrictive option. That's where our center programs are going to fall. Those kiddos are going to be with their disabled with special education kids and with their non-disabled peers, kind of a mix throughout their day. Special schools
are going to be the next restrictive layer. That's like our um Sebasti or Fletcher Miller. Um, so those are going to be the student the places where kiddos don't really have a ton of access to general education peers. And then that home or hospital instruction is going to be that most restrictive option that we have in the
all right and center-based programming is one of the options on that continuum of services. Right. The decision about a center program is made by the IEP team and that includes the parents, the teachers, any individuals who have knowledge of that student. And the team is going to consider all the evaluation
data when they're looking at this placement decision and they're going to look at what the different placement options are for the kiddo so that we can ensure that the placement really truly is tailored to the student's unique needs and is in their best interest. When we look at that least restricted environment, there are multiple categories the student can can fall
into. 80% or more is going to be where students are going to be in their general educ education classes 80% or more of their day. 40 to 79 is in gen ed 40 to 79% of their day. uh less than 40 is going to be less than 40% of their day in their gened classes. And then that separate school setting is going to
be those kiddos who are not accessing general education classes. Go back one real quick. Uh in center programs, we can support students in any of those first three least restrictive environment categories. And students can transition into and out of those different categories along that
continuum while they receive the intensive supports that center programs provide. Those placement decisions are aligned with the idea and the LRE requirements that we provide students the support they need while keeping them in the setting that allows them to interact with their peers with this without disabilities as much as
possible. Perfect. Okay. So, currently our special education centers across Jeffco support roughly 1,000 students in 66 different schools across four center types that are all listed up there. This encompasses about 1% of Jeffco's total
enrollment and 9% of our special education population. Our effective need centers are really in place to support students who are working to develop emotional regulation and coping strategies while accessing general education standards and content. These
programs offer a high degree of structure and consistent individualized responses to those externalizing behaviors. Our autism centers are for students who have been identified as having autism or characteristics of autism. It provides an intense focus on
functional and social communication within a structured setting while still accessing general education content and standards. Our SSN centers are in place for students who have been identified as having a significant intellectual disability and who are accessing alternate educational standards through
EEOs, our extended evidence outcomes. We have a heavy emphasis on functional communication, foundational academics, life skills, and transition planning. Our DHH stu centers support students who are deaf or heart of hearing and require specific sport supports to access the
general education environment. All of our DHH centers, we currently have two, are located in one elementary school. We have two models of center support. One is a total communication approach and this is for a student who has a primary identification of deaf or heart of
hearing as well as an additional disability which can include an intellectual disability and just has more intense needs um and supports that they require to access general education and make progress. Our auditory oral program is in place for students with coclear
implants who have an amplifier or who are signers who are accessing content and curriculum and everyday language through American Sign Language. Um they are accessing general education for the majority of the day with supports from the center.
All of our center types offer a smaller student to staff ratio as well as buildingwide training related to the needs of the students that they serve. These trainings can include things like trauma-informed care and practices, deescalation training, crisis prevention, and it's crisis institute
non-intervention even though I want to say that. Um, and for our DHH centers, we provide the entire staff with a general understanding of basic sign language as well as increased technology to meet the needs of those students. We have interesting trends happening across our centers right now.
Specifically, our ASD and our A& populations are increasing while our SSN and DHH populations are decreasing. So, over the last four years, ASD has increased by 57%, a has increased by 26%
and then SSN has decreased by 11% and DHH has decreased by 41%. Can I add to that real quick, sir? Of course. And these are some general trends that we're seeing across our own state. So, I don't know if you saw in the news yesterday that Denver public schools is
actually expanding the number of ASD programs they have because of the number of students that have been identified with autism. There's also just uh lower incidence disabilities such as deaf and heart of hearing. There are just fewer deaf people in the population in that
community. Um, so it's somewhat to be expected, but it is an interesting data point that we're paying attention to because that will help drive future decisions around what kinds of programs we have and where and how many and all those pieces. And similar to Denver, we are Oh, sorry. Just a quick question. Do we think that
that's because of better diagnosis or do we have any idea why that is? I think a couple of things are happening. um we've had sort of changing changing standards and guidelines from the state just and then also a better
understanding of the supports that students need. So I think previously we had a number of students who were supported through a significant support needs program and what we found is that some of these students actually do need that level of support and others may have benefited from a different type of programming. Regarding DHH, we also just
have some some trends in what um the deaf community wants to access just education in general. So, how they're choosing to educate their kiddos. Um and that could be just within their neighborhood school. It could be accessing something like a choice
enrollment through Rocky Mountain Dev School. Um so there's there's a number of things that play into that. And then yes, we are increasing our ability to to identify students who have these needs. Um I I I think that that's common just across the nation.
Um and I think the only what was it? The only other thing I wanted to add is that um three years ago, this is our fourth year in the 22 23 school year, we did increase center offerings for at the secondary level. So we started offering ASD and A
centers at the secondary level. And then similar to what Matt was saying as like Denver, we have shifted supports where it makes sense. So increasing autism centers where we have a need or a centers or increasing the number of teachers and centers in response to the
needs of our students in our system. All right, I'll talk a little bit about the GT centers. So, Colorado law does require that districts identify and serve gifted students. That is done through an advanced learning plan. We call that the ALP. Services should be
differentiated, evidence-based, and aligned to students, strengths, and interest. And then specifically about centers, so gifted centers are always an optional placement in Jeffco. Parents uh apply
for GT center eligibility. Students must be formally identified as gifted, although uh in in first grade that's not always done quite yet, but it's usually part of the process. Parents then apply for the student to become GT center eligible. There's a review team that
determines whether that center placement is appropriate, again, based on the students demonstrated need for advanced services uh beyond what's typically available at their neighborhood school. Gifted centers are always housed within
a regular school setting and a lot of them look very similar uh to a a gened classroom across the hallway. But we do focus on providing educational experiences that are different. So that includes acceleration, enrichment, effective support and that includes
social and emotional services from GT counselors that are at all of the GT centers. Some numbers. So we have 671 students at the in our elementary GT centers. That's by far the the biggest number at
elementary the elementary level. The students really the focus is more advanced instruction. So there's a a huge emphasis on rigor acceleration compaction and enrichment opportunities are part of that too. Middle school we
have six different middle school centers. There's 451 students currently in those GT centers. Again, it focuses more on coursework with opportunities for acceleration and then there's also enrichment as part of that as well. At the high school level, there's only two
current GT centers and that looks a little different. It's just an elective course that students can opt into and it really focuses on future planning and SLE support. So, you can see the numbers up there. The total number of GT
students served by by GT centers is roughly uh about 18% of our GT population. If you look at it just from the elementary level though, it's about a third of our GT students are actually in a GT center setting.
So really the three tools we use primarily in GT centers, compaction, acceleration and enrichment. Uh, compaction is really trying to streamline and condense the curriculum um by eliminating material if a student already has mastered that and that
allows us more time for more advanced or more in-depth learning. A great a great example of compaction, the new illustrative math curriculum allows us to do three years of math in middle school in two years. So, that's a kind of a great built-in compaction opportunity.
We also have acceleration and that's moving students faster through a curriculum can also involve uh skipping either of content or we do whole grade acceleration as well in Jeffco and then enrichment is the last one. So that's in extending learning beyond the
standard curriculum through a variety of methods like deeper exploration, creative projects, passion projects or different opportunities that broaden knowledge and skills. So, we have some celebrations and strengths uh that are consistent
throughout both GT and SPED. So, I'll share the first couple of those and then we'll we'll chime in with uh some examples from both GT and SPED. But I think one of the great strengths of our GT centers and sped centers as well is
the specialized expertise. So we have staff uh which includes teachers, paras, mental health providers, GT specialists, etc. that have very specific and very targeted skills and those skills are matched with those students unique
academic and social, emotional and behavioral needs to try to provide the best possible educational experience for that student. Another great thing about centers is the professional collaboration that exists. So, we work really hard to pair
teachers, leaders, and providers with each other. Um, that can look a little different depending on the setting, but we have communities of practice. Uh, there's coaching, cohort structures. All of that really is focused on trying to again create that excellent learning
experience for those students and having an aligned format. This is not unique to our centers. Obviously, we have PLC's in all of our schools, but that collaboration level that we're we're building with those the staff at centers, I think, is is really something
that sets them apart. And then the last one um that I'll talk about real quick here is student belonging and achievement. Students often benefit from learning alongside peers with similar needs. Um, I've heard
a number of students and their parents say that they found their tribe, they found their group, they feel at home, they feel like they belong. And I think that that's a a great testament to the success of centers. I have to say something about this really quick, too. um you know sometimes
uh in the deaf community or in say a program where uh sort of communication skills and development is part of the emphasis and focus for instruction. If if you don't get to see and interact with other people who use the same
modality of communication as you do, you don't always feel like you belong. And sometimes what we hear from our families is, "Oh my gosh, it's so nice for my son or daughter to have another um device user uh or another person to sign with um to communicate in their way of
communicating." So I just want to point that out because that is kind of a unique attribute of our programs. Yeah, I can't I think I want to emphasize that one more time. Um Matt Allen and I recently had the opportunity
to sit down with the GT parent group which is um a strong group in our community and h and long lasting. It's been around for a long time. Um, and one of the things that they talked about was the power of the parents engaging
parents conference that was put on by this team last year and the leadership that they were able to um, exhibit, but also just being able to make connections with other families who have students with the same kind of needs um, was a really important way for them to build
community. And so I think that's another thing that throughout the year our center-based programs do is that they bring families together who have similar needs and and want the same types of supports and or different supports for their kids and allowing that sort of personal connection which I think is
really important for our families who um are supporting their students at home and finding places for their students to belong in a school. So thank you for highlighting that. Sarah, did you want to add? Okay. Did I take your
No, I'm the next person. You're good. All right. I'm going to talk about uh program demand and stability. So, we have strong family interest and consistent enrollment in our sped centers and center programs across the district. We frequently have families from both within Jeffco and outside of Jeffco that are reaching out wanting to
know more about center programs, how they get their students that support and what that looks like because they're hearing great things from the community about our center programs. Um, enrollment in center programs is consistent and increasing and we're starting to see stabilization of our center program staff due to the support and the structures that we're putting in
place for them. Looking at promising practices. Um, so the effective approaches that we're seeing within the center programs is a key strength for us. We're continually evaluating practices across the district and the different programs and we're monitoring student growth and outcomes to determine the effectiveness of these
practices. When we are able to find tools and strategies that are leading to positive student growth, we're then working to share these districtwide with center program staff. Um, in effective needs this year, we are rolling out a new system that is driven by this evaluation process and guided by some work from CDE. Our goal is to have
consistency and coherence across our effective needs center programs and we're really hoping to enhance student outcomes both in academic and social emotional skills through this process. The new program rollout is going to provide clarity for both school staff and students and families around what supports our A& programs offer as well
as fostering a collaborative learning environment. And then enhancing leadership support. Um as superintendent Dorland mentioned earlier, we have added assistant principles to our elementary schools um that have center programs. This change has allowed us to strengthen that instructional leadership in those
buildings. We've also been able to make sure those assistant principles are attending mentoring sessions and getting additional training so they can support both the staff and the families in some of that center specific work in those schools. Thank you. And while there are a lot of
great strengths that are happening, there are also some opportunities for us to address moving forward and some things that we've done already proactively to start that process. Um, it's important for us to increase instructional coherence and we've taken some steps to do that. We want to increase and strengthen the consistency
and expectations of curriculum use across the district and across our centers. Um, we are partnering with those assistant principles and the principal partner mentor just to ensure that they understand how to evaluate and support center-based teachers in their
schools. We've also partnered with them just to ensure an equitable opportunity for our center-based teachers to engage in role specific professional development on those PD days. So that partnership has has yielded some positive benefit. We do have a operating
procedure alignment that we are op rolling out this year. And then we partner with a number of departments across the district just to ensure that our center staff have access to the general education curriculum instruction and resources as well as an understanding of how to implement that
instruction within their centers. Staffing and capacity. So similar to the rest of the state and districts across the nations, we do have staffing shortages. Um it's it's it's one of our realities. We have done a number of things to address this headon.
We are currently we're currently working with talent acquisition just to increase the number of people coming in. We were we were really successful this summer recruiting people through the jamboree. That was a great effort. We've also started work working with the Aspire program. This is
our third year of having teachers come in and really just having a great deal of support throughout their first couple of years of teaching. We have 20 teachers annually enrolled in this program. We're excited about that. and they're staying. So, right, they feel
supported and they're staying. I was out at Fletcher Miller for the first day of school and uh Principal Osborne had shared that they um had uh 25 positions that they were hiring for and they hired almost every single p position through the job jamboree and this is the first time in 12 years that
they've been fully staffed. So, that's great. Can I add something? Yes. Um I just you know I really want to shout out HR and and talent and acquisition. Um these past couple years they've really taken our um urgency from
sta staff vacancies and really pushed. So this Aspire program has been huge. Um and then when we found out that Aspire wasn't working with our ECSEs, which we had a lot of vacancies with, um they helped work with CDE to do the Elevate program and then find um stipens for
them to help them pay for that. Um and now Aspire is actually doing that too. So, it's just this huge um partnership and collaborative effort to really ensure that we're um staffed and it's just been um it's a real celebration.
We'll tell Amanda when she gets back. And then additionally, we're just partnering with local institutions and universities to bring the word of JCO and and hiring and vacancies to them. Um we have mentors across a number of our different related providers. So, um,
we're we're working in as many ways as possible just to meet the needs of the system and then we're continuing to monitor what's happening across our system and adjust staffing as we can. Um, the final bullet is access. This there there's just a general what seems
to be sort of a lack of understanding of how students are placed into center programming and some of that comes from the fact that it is a small population. So, how do we work to increase parents understanding of what it looks like for a student who may be transitioning into that type of program? How do we build
their understanding of what different programs offer and can support? We have revamped our website to be more digestible for for parents and providers to understand. And then we're also working with principles to understand
what it looks like when students are transitioning in and out. So, just to help their understanding so they can support that at the building level. Additionally, we're supporting um teachers um learning specialists and all of our providers as they're working to make these decisions on a daily basis.
So, just ensuring that they have the training and the understanding that they need to make the decisions and then a number of supportive providers from SPE administration to help support that process. But, as always, um really just working to ensure that we're responsive to the needs of the system and our
students. One of those big shifts was increasing access to center programming for autism and effective needs at the secondary level. One of the other pieces that we really work with our centers is making sure that they have professional learning
that they need. So in the GT world, we have implemented some grade specific and content specific professional learning opportunities. We have some days coming up in September. So all of the second grade GT center teachers will meet
together and we'll do some very targeted professional learning with them uh in conjunction with curriculum and instruction. We also do a lot of twice exceptional focused training for our center teachers. Uh there definitely are a fair number of twice exceptional learners in our GT center. So we want to
make sure that they have the the learning they need to be successful with those students. And I know we have some other examples from sped as well. So I'll let them share those. Oh, thought you were gonna talk. Um, one of the things that we've been able to do for the past two years is offer a center
teacher conference um, ahead of their of center teachers first day back to school. This is a paid opportunity where they can engage in rosp specific training that they choose so it is aligned to meet their needs. We've partnered with a number of departments across the district, including
curriculum and instruction, student services, edtech, family and community partnerships. We also partnered with the Colorado Department of Education and Untapped Learning just to ensure a robust offering of trainings to meet their unique needs. It was received
positively both years and it's something we hope to continue moving forward just to ensure that they have that role specific training that they need to meet the needs of their students on day one. And just to tag on that uh with Allan too, um you know there was a 2E collaborative work group that was
created um where they did uh 2E uh training last year for teachers um that was really really successful especially since we're seeing an increase in 2e throughout the district. Um the other piece of this um is we had a program evaluation done for student success division. Um and one of the
things that came out of this was the need for to strengthen our um family and community partnerships and increase our stakeholder involvement. And so um that's part of our strategic plan as we move forward in these next three years. And so some of the things that happened are for JPE Jeff uh parents encouraging
parents. Um we're also relaunching the special education advisory committee this year with CDE and so that's taking place next week. Um we also do a resource fair every year um to incorporate with parents. And so that includes lots of different things for special education um and really trying
to create different um documents and trainings for families to help them understand the special education process. Um on one of my walks with Allen, he's talked about how they do office hours for GT parents. And so that's another thing that we're doing throughout the district. Um, as we're
looking through um, the program evaluation too, we are using data such as the PowerBI dashboards and enrollment trends in order to really guide our resource allocation throughout the entire year um, and ensure that um, our center programs are in locations where
we're meeting students needs. And I I think for the sake of time um, we've talked briefly about all of these bullets up here. I think one bullet that I want to point out that maybe we haven't talked about yet um is just the establishment of our um PBST. So you'll
remember in the spring when Terry and I presented monitoring report 3.1 3.3 we talked about the need to put into place a structure um where we can uh proactively address uh sort of social emotional behavioral type needs across the
district um earlier rather than being reactive um when those needs come to us. And so that project has fully launched. uh we've had two uh sort of um meetings where we've come together to talk about like what will this team do, how often
will they meet, but the first meeting will be held at the end of this month. So, we're really excited about that. And then the other thing I would just mention here that maybe we haven't talked about yet is just we're constantly reviewing our resource allocation model. Um, I think you know that this year we actually have um, uh,
anou in place with JCA to do some of that work through our special education collaborative committee. Um, so I know Jessica has already had their first meeting um, to really start building out what is that going to look like and what are some of the outcomes of that um, process going to be. And just
historically um, you know, we've made some changes over the last couple of years. I think you're aware that we had uh, changed our mental health model in partnership with our mental health team. The year prior to that was our speech and language pathologist group which we've done. Um so those are just a
couple of the things that um we haven't mentioned yet but I wanted to make sure that there was enough time for us to engage in a conversation. So with that do you have any questions? Um thank you for being here. Um, having just had my very first special ed
meeting for one of my own kiddos, um, I'm gonna be learning. Uh, I've not walked that path before, but so far it's been great. Um, one of the questions I have is related to um the numbers on
slide 17 um about gifted and talented elementary, middle, and high school. So we have 451 students in middle school and then 88 students in high school. What happens to our middle schoolers when they go to secondary or you know to high school um if we only have two
schools with programs for gifted and talented? Does does the support continue just individually rather than them being in the center program? Yeah, that's a great question. I I think in a lot of cases high schools have opportunities that middle schools don't
have. Um, and so at the high school level, it really does become primarily that social and emotional support through that elective. And sometimes that's great for students. Not all students find that as a need. So I think that that is one of the reasons why there's that drop.
Okay. Um, but yeah, there's definitely a significant drop there for sure. Cool. Uh the other thing I wanted to just lift up is I've talked to some principles who have GT centers in their schools and they have um lightly echoed
slash requested how supportive it is that um special education center programs have been supported with an additional administrative person and are asking for something similar because of the types of needs and um support that
they could have from that. So that would be for the board to know, but I think about 16 more AP positions for the for those programs if we were to ever consider that, which is a hard conversation right now given where we are with budget. Um, but I wanted to
lift up that there there has been a request. Uh, gentle, it's been gentle. Yes, we've we've received that gentle feedback as well. Um, well, yes, thank you. This is not easy work on any on any end of the spectrum. So, we appreciate the work
that you all put into this. And I'm I'm really struck by the trends, right? The the increase and we've heard it. I think we've seen it, but to hear the percentages is pretty it's pretty s like it just hits you kind of in the face. Are we keeping up?
I'm sure that the identification of kids who maybe aren't in a center program but maybe in a neighborhood school especially in like preschool, kindergarten, first grade, it's probably when we see thinking more sped GT also but probably more sped. Are we able to keep up with the request of our
neighborhood schools of like hey we have a kiddo who might need to be assessed or I mean are we staffed for that with these type of increases? I would say yes, we are keeping up. Um, number one, we're required to to keep up. We have to respond in a timely
manner. We pride ourselves on doing that and remaining compliant. Um, sorry, I didn't I didn't know I was quiet until today. Um, but yes, I I think that we are keeping up. We're we're meeting the needs of the students and we're also ensuring as as
Sarah was sharing that we're not jumping to something that's too restrictive. that we're working to ensure that students have a chance to thrive and succeed in their neighborhood school with the supports that they need. So, can we increase training that we're providing to that school or to a general
education team? That's that's one avenue that we have to support this. We also work with behavioral analysts across the district. So, we could bring someone in if there was a specific behavior need. If we have communication needs, we have um assist of technology committee who can come in and just sort of assess a
kiddos's individual needs and work to provide supports to ensure that they are successful. So, we're always going to strive to to keep kiddos in their neighborhood schools with the supports they need and ensure that they're making progress and then transition to something more restricted restrictive if
they aren't making the progress that we want to see. Uh something I would add here um you know we we've heard like some of the feedback we had received from different groups is that you know I spend a lot of time eval evaluating and then there's this other requirement that
I also have to teach right and so some intentional shifts that we've made over the last couple of years is establishing these central evaluation teams to pick up the initial evaluations for kids who are being newly identified to take sort of that burden off of those service
provers plates so so that they can focus on the needs that are in front of them that they're already aware of. Um it's not a perfect system. We still have challenges out there. Um but to sort of what Sarah was mentioning, like we do have an obligation, so we just have to find a way to make it work sometimes. Um
but there's that's probably another area where there's opportunity for growth. Um, and I think there's also some other opportunities for us externally to really push on some of the standards of practice that are being mandated um that our providers then have to sort of
adhere to that make some of this work really cumbersome. Um, you know, so that could be another conversation for another time. But there are a lot of expectations that are required by law um that can get challenging to keep up with. When you say providers, who who
are the providers? Yeah. So, currently we have a central evaluation team for motor, mental health, and uh speech. Okay. So, I assume there's a process if and I I would also assume that there are parents in these young kids that don't
even know they they might be special needs, you know. So, I assume there's a whole parent construct, too. Um but I assume we have kind of a process in place for if a parent reaches out or if a principal reaches out that we follow. Okay. And the other thing regarding just
our capacity to meet those needs, our allocation model allows for five well additional students at the elementary level. So we understand that schools are going to evaluate kiddos throughout the school year and potentially identify them for special education. So we built that into our allocation models.
So they could stay in the school. Yeah. assuming it's great for the kid and everyone else um until maybe the right time to make that move. We also have what we call a child find team and their sole responsibility is to
evaluate our youngest learners. And the idea is like early intervention, early identification is key. And so whenever a family uh suspects early on that their child might have special needs, uh there's a child find process where they can get referred to this team. the team
completes the evaluation, they go through the identification process, and then they're actually entering our school system with a plan if they're eligible. Um, and that helps catch our earliest learners, but I think where there's a challenge sometimes is for our older learners, right? So, um, some
disabilities are more visible than others, right? You can't necessarily see dyslexia walk through the door. And so those are sometimes uh needs that are identified later on and not as early as we'd like to. And I think that's where it gets sometimes challenging for us.
I do think to tag on to what Matt's saying, right, is is we have MTSS, right? And so we have a whole collaboration with general education too for that process, right? And so um that is part of our child find obligation is going through that MTSS process, right? So general education teachers are play a
big role in this in terms of helping to collect data to determine if a student is not you know beating benchmark and then to determine um if there's a gap and is the MTSS it's it's a little bit different school to school right or is there a consistent kind of
yeah I I would say that's accurate there's some variability in how our schools approach uh sort of their multi-tiered system of support and that's one of our sort of strategic focuses this year is really to get clear about what does tier 2 look like? Right? So, we've really uh focused on building
a strong foundation and core instruction over the last couple of years and we know that there's sort of this need to really ensure that there's some consistency and clarity in this other space too and that's work that we're tackling. Awesome. Yeah. Thank you. Last question, sorry. Um Aspire program, tell me more
about that. It's great. Um so, uh the Aspire program is run through UCD. Um and what they do is they provide mentorship for uh new teachers. They have to have a bachelor's
um and they help them get their lensure right and so it's a year-long program typically um they have to go through different individual modules and then they go through classes in person and online with teachers there. Um we've
tried to um also add a little bit more support through Jeffco too um just because it is a little bit different. Um and so we also offer uh monthly Aspire meetings and we offer those to any new teachers so that any new teacher um that
needs extra support or wants to learn more about different topics that are being provided more than welcome to come and attend. And so those trainings are done in collaboration with our special education instructional coordinator as well as our special education assistant directors and the teachers of Aspire.
Awesome. And then is that something teachers do during in their own time or is that something that we support them in doing? Um my understanding is they do it on their own time just like you're going through school, right? That's what it sounded like. Yeah. But they get their alternative lenture and so they get a lot of their
um it's hands-on, right? So, uh, the the stuff that they're learning, they're getting to do in schools, which is, you know, priceless. It's great. Awesome. Thank you very much. I appreciate you answering all my questions. Okay. Um, I'm going to bounce over to
the um the kids who have ALPS. And I know that a lot of our core materials for like math and reading have um elements built into them for advanced learners for teachers to use to help
accelerate and compact and and do all of those things. Um I know that students can be identified as gifted in a number of areas. It could be science, it could be music, it could be art. And so I'm wondering like when it comes to special
education teachers often have really good partners to work with in the sped teachers in their buildings. They don't always have that resource in in a in the schools for kids who have ALPS and are in the gened population. So I'm
wondering what we do to help teachers who maybe don't have builtin resources to help those kids re meet their full potential. Yeah, that's a great question. I think the the two big ways we really address that, we have a team of resource
teachers. So, they are spread pretty thin. They each have about nine or 10 schools, but they do support all of the teachers in those schools and with just what you're talking about. So, trying to meet the needs of those students in that school that have an AOP. So, that's neighborhood schools, that's charter
schools, that's all of our schools. um they do focus they typically spend about one day a week at a GT center to support those teachers but the rest of the time is spread out um with all of the other schools they're assigned to. So that's one thing we do. We also provide as a
department we provide a number of professional learning opportunities. So we offer online classes that that teachers can take at any time and they're all based on strategies just just to do what you're talking about right there. So, that's kind of the two approaches we we take to try to meet
that need. Um, also I'd like to add that, you know, this year with uh the arc of learning for our school leaders and our instructional coaches that are coming together once a month on Tuesdays, um, we're really focusing on sort of this notion of access and challenge. So, what
do you do for your students who are not yet meeting standards and what are you doing for your students who've already exceeded standards? And I think some of the learning that they'll get will be more tailored to some of the students who are on an advanced learning plan or our students who maybe maybe in the
talent pool who are not yet identified but to support with that differentiation because we know it's a need. Um thank you so much for this presentation. In the interest of time I'm not going to ask a question. I'm going to make two comments. One is um I have heard from um a special ed teacher
in a center program at middle school who um said she didn't feel she was getting enough PLC time at all. She didn't think there was any available yet. I heard from a special ed teacher in a high school who said they were excited for the new opportunity. So I I just two
anecdotal comments that two teachers had different understandings of what was available. Yeah. And if you want to connect offline and let us know who that was, we'll reach out to them. Okay, great. And then the other thing is to um I I am really interested in
special ed. And um I appreciate so much what we've done for those kiddos that that need extra support. But I just wanted to um raise up that we do hear from um uh the general classroom
situations of um a classroom that had to be evacuated, you know, because of a a kiddo acting out. And I think that um we need to also educate the gened parents of what we're doing and why we're doing it and how it is handled. So just for
the future, but thank you so much. This if you have a closing comment, I just want to thank you for taking the time to study this and let us be a part of the conversation. And just to respond, we're doing that work uh specific to some of the challenges that we know exist in our neighborhood schools um specifically on sort of the
general ed um side of the house. So appreciate that comment. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thank you guys. Okay. Our next study item this evening is to receive and discuss monitoring report 2.3 which states district
employees will use student data both formal and informal to drive decision-making. Leading this presentation is Jill Ibeck, chief information officer. In addition to Miss Ibeck, there are multiple co-presenters who are seated will be seated at the table with Miss Ibeck and she will
introduce them to us. We have scheduled 40 minutes for this presentation and Miss Harper will keep time for us on this topic. Before the presenters begin, Superintendent Dorland, is there anything you'd like to share? Thank you, President Parker. Um, very excited for the board to study this
topic. I um am it's probably one of the things I'm most proud of uh over over the last four plus years as superintendent and that is uh providing a platform where not only can our
practitioners access the data in one spot to help them prioritize actions that will really have impact for students but also support them in understanding how best to use the data and improve uh data literacy across the
board for our adults and really democratize the data. Um, Miss Ibeck will be proud of me for using that term because she and her team taught me that along with Carol's team. But but it is true that um in the 21st century, especially with all of the tools that
are at our fingertips now, not only is it critical in my opinion for us to teach our students how to be data literate, but we too have to make efforts to be data literate and to use data to drive our decision-m um like never before in my opinion. And so uh
it's a passion of mine. I am thrilled with the work that this team has done to provide um the the resource that we now have uh at to the fingertips of both our uh administrators, school leaders as well as teachers. And I'm also excited to
have a few practitioners here from our schools. Uh we'll let these guys introduce themselves, but to just share with you what the tool is allowing them to do different than than prior to having this tool in place. So, thank you sincerely to everybody who's been a part of the this incredible project and I'm
looking forward to the board receiving this update as this work continues to evolve and get better over time. All right. Good afternoon, Board of Education. Thank you for that wonderful introduction, Superintendent. Um, as mentioned, we have a amazing team assembled here today to present to you
highlights from board ends 2.3. We will get started with introductions. I am Jill Ibec, chief information officer. We're going to have to pass these around a little bit. So, hi, I'm Kevin Han. I'm the director of enterprise data services on Jill's team. Hi, I'm Mike Bunning, principal of Rston
Valley High School. Good evening, Brandon Hall, principal of the Deer Creek Middle School. Carol Eaton, executive director in assessment and research. And I'm Stacy Pollson, executive director, teaching and learning.
So I think I'm opening for us. Um just to review some of the board ends for 2.3. Um the interpretation of board ends 2.3 sets the expectation that Jeffco staff will use student data at all levels of decision-making. So at the classroom level, the school level and
the district level to support those extraordinary student experiences. The metrics used to uh measure the board ends include a data literacy plan, a data data camp trainings, data literacy competency frameworks and a robust data
in information data information technology infrastructure. I should have given that to my IT friends to say. Uh so um just setting the context of defining data literacy. Uh data literacy encompasses not only student academic
achievement and growth data, but also a wealth of other kinds of data, including perception surveys and discipline data that talks about the school culture. Um really to create that complete picture of what it looks like to improve student learning. Throughout the 2024 calendar year,
Jeffco trained over 500 school and district leaders and an extensive data camp experience. And this graph summarizes the feedback from those sessions. And you can see the consistently high ratings for the effectiveness and usefulness of the trainings from our participants.
And last spring, the student progress monitoring dashboard for teachers was launched as a companion tool to the school progress monitoring dashboard for leaders that was launched the prior year. Okay. So, I'm going to jump right into
the highlight of the evening, which is our principles. Um, so in order to better understand how schools have been focused on using data to improve student learning experience, we invited two secondary principles to provide a brief overview of their experiences leading data literacy. So, we're going to start
with the Deer Creek Middle School. Do mountaineers. Yes. Yes. Um so first I think um I cannot I have an immense amount of gratitude for this team for putting this these dashboards together. Um you know over the years we have to
jump into multiple multiple sites whether it's CD stores and rich um campus infinity campus to just grab data and put it together to complete to create complete pictures of students. Um and we don't have to do that anymore. So they saved us like weeks and weeks of
time and like trying to figure out Excel spreadsheets. And so just the gratitude I have for this team putting this together is immense. Um and so for us I think just diving right into it. So we use and and we're still figuring out the dashboards. We are diving into them um
to to and sometimes it just takes a little bit of time to figure this out and wrap your hands around it. Um and we are getting there. And so we're we are in the uh crawl, walk, run stage of things and we're kind of in between crawl and walk as we use this these
tools. Uh but specifically for us, you know, I use these tools when I do observation and coaching cycles with teachers specifically. And so just as an example, uh last week I had a conversation with a teacher. I was doing an observation in her class. we went back to debrief and we started talking
about one student in particular and I'll just call the student student A. Um, you know, as we talk about student A and how to truly support this student with and we're talking about being strategic and tactical with the student and what does that look like? we can go to the dashboard and we pulled it up and we started looking at everything that
encompasses the student from and the great thing about the dashboard is you have things like the 504, you have um IEP accommodations on this dash dashboard. You have behavior, you have map, you have CAMASS, um pretty much everything you need to be able to create a complete picture. And student A had um
high growth, high achievement on their scores from 2023. And then we looked at 2025 and it was low growth, low achievement. And then we started looking at all these other things. When did the discipline tick up? Did anything else happen? Did they move schools? Did anything happened to this
student in the last two years to where their their uh academic achievement and growth just kind of went off the deep end and we had just a phenomenal conversation on how to support this student. Um and that that wouldn't have happened without the dashboard. Um we're
starting to use this dashboard and our um our SST, our student support team meetings um as we talk about students because in these meetings we elevate students and again like just just holistically how do we support them using as much data as we possibly can.
The dean is starting to use this work or the the dashboards. The instructional coach is starting to use the dashboards. I as admin when I have because when I deal with student discipline support interventions I can pull up the dashboard as I'm having a conversation with students or before I have a
conversation so I can best support them not just looking at what happened in the moment but maybe what's looking like what looked what happened with the student um historically so yeah it's it's a it's a great tool and we love it.
Hi. Um, I echo your gratitude, Brandon. Um, we use at Rosson Valley. Um, I was asked to come and share how we collect, analyze, and respond to the data. So, the data dashboard we rely on heavily. Um, so I want to share with you two
examples of what we have done at Rston Valley that have made a significant impact using um, these tools provided to us. So the first one I want to share with you is our state PSAT and SAT assessments. So the first thing that we noticed is we have a giant data wall in
our um main conference room and we track our students from 9th grade to 10th grade growth, 10th grade to 11th grade growth. We know that our students are high achieving but we're really focused on that growth. And if you're looking at the congruent uh concordance tables that are no longer in place, but they have
been for years, um we know that from 9th to 10th grade it should be 30 points and from 10th to 11th grade 40 points. Well, what we found was when our PSAT 10 data came back for math specifically, our students had only showed nine point growth. And we were like, what what's
what's going on? So the more we dug into that and we started digging deeper into the data, we realized that it was our top 10 to 15% of students, our highest achieving math students that um were showing they were the highest achieving but showing the lowest growth. And we
were like, what what are we going to do about that? We dug in deeper with the data. And as we continued to look at the data, we realized that um these were all of our students that are sitting in our pre-calc and calculus classes. They're one to two years advanced. And as we started looking at it and digging in
deeper and looking at that assessment data provided to us from the dashboard um we identified that our students were really struggling in hearts of algebra. So basically those basic algebraic um concepts that they hadn't um
they they it had been a couple of years since they had revisited those. So what we knew is that we had to somehow go back and activate their background knowledge. And we started talking to students and we started asking them like what what's going on? How what does that look like? What does it sound like? And they were like we just the language it
was a barrier. We also know that Hadtie talks about one of the major academic barriers for success is academic language, right? So we knew that that was the first barrier. The second barrier was really about um those basic algebraic concepts. So what we did is we
worked with our entire math team and we used something called space retrieval. And space retrieval is where we went through and we asked all of our 9inth to 10th grade, our 9th through 11th grade math teachers to spend the first 10 to 15 minutes of class or actually 5 to 10
minutes of class activating that background knowledge around those basic math concepts like just reminding them what is that academic language. I mean these are kids that are sitting in C classes, right? But the impact on this was not only did it help those students, our high achieving students, it helped
every student 9 through 11 across the board. So these same students that grew from nine to nine points from 9th to 10th grade should have grown 40 points from 10th to 11th and ended up growing 56 points. So the impact was phenomenal
because we were able to really dig into the data and pinpoint and it wasn't just supporting one group of students, it helped all of our math students. So that's one um example of how we use the data that we're really proud of. Um the second example that I would like to share with you is and I want to take a
step back like data drives all our decisions at Rostston Valley. Um what is best for the whole child and we look at all of that data. So, when the Panorama data first came out, um, one of the things that showed was our engagement data was low. Our engagement data came
in at 19%. Which was concerning. What I mean, why why was that? And so, when I brought that information to my teachers, the very first thing they said was, "Well, what? They're they're doing great." I mean, what we find is there's a difference at Rosson Valley. Our students are very compliant, but there's
a difference between compliance and engagement. And what I started noticing the more people we talked to was there was a different definition for students on what they needed for engagement than for our teachers. So the teachers asked what does meaningful engagement look and feel like for our students? What is
their perspective on this? So I decided to ask. So we then pulled students aside and we had we held grade level panels and we've done this for the past couple of years and we asked our ninth graders, our 10th graders, our 11th graders what we we aligned our questions first with
the panorama questions, but then we also added additional questions like what does engagement look and sound like to you? What are some barriers to engagement that you might have? And you'd be surprised, kids will tell you, right? So I had somebody in there that was recording everything, all of their
responses. And we then took that data and I brought that data back to my academic leadership team, our ALT, and we shared and I said, "Here's what the students are saying." And we looked at all of that data and we identified two main areas. One with engagement. Um, but
we know that students are not going to be engaged if they don't feel that they are sitting in a classroom of community of learners, right? They needed to feel safe to take risk, to ask questions. They needed to know each other's names and hear each other's perspective. So what we did was when we looked at that
data, we identified three main areas. We identified the students that the students said they needed. One was productive struggle, one was academic discourse. They wanted to talk to each other more, not be talked at. And the third thing was relevancy and agency. Like we wanted to be relevant. We want
our learning to be relevant. But again, we knew that we could not get to this level of engagement if every classroom didn't have this community of learners. Really creating that academic sense of belonging in addition to relational sense of belonging, but that academic sense of belonging. So all of our
professional developments, we took that information and we that drove our professional development for the year. So we divided it up into three groups and our teachers, it was differentiated and our teachers got to choose what they wanted to learn about. So we would come together as a whole staff and we would
learn about um routines and structures about building community in the classroom and what does that look like and then the second half of the PD they were divided into they got to choose whether they wanted to do productive struggle academic discourse or relevancy and agency and so it was differentiated
for our teachers and so then our teachers were able to work with their teammates to really look at their units look at their lesson plans revise them and strengthen them based off of the professional development they just had um one of the things that came out of there was when we looked at our data at
the end of last year because I was anxious and I called and I said where are we at? Where were we at? Um we ended up growing a 4% had a 4% increase which is phenomenal. We were very excited about that and we're going to continue to work towards that and these are just two examples of how you know they always
talk about you can be data rich but information poor. Um, and that's true. When there is so much information, similar to what Brandon said, it just you really just need to narrow it down. And these tools really help us narrow it down and pinpoint what the exact needs
are of our students. And then asking them is just another layer because they'll tell you. So, those are just two examples how we use data um to drive our decisions at Roston Valley. Thanks. Well, that's going to be a tough act to follow. That was wonderful. Thanks for
sharing, guys. Again, I'm Kevin Holland, director of enterprise data services on uh Jill's team. Uh so, I'm really grateful to be here. I get to brag about my team. uh we we often uh we build a lot of the underpinnings and the infrastructure that supports a lot of
this and I get the opportunity to work with fantastic folks both on my team here in IT and also partners in the organization and folks in schools that get to do really cool stuff with the stuff that we get to build. So I am going to do my very best to keep this next section as interesting as I can but
this is the uh some of the underpinnings that help support that. Uh so data governance this is an area that we're particularly proud of. uh we want to make sure that our data is used in ethical ways, is used appropriately. Um and data governance is how organizations do that. So Jeffco's data governance program has been maturing rapidly. So in
the last year, we've wrapped up our uh engagement with a partner organization, plant Moran, that informed a lot of our decisioning and our uh progress in data governance to put that program together. We've published data our data governance framework and standards. Um we've put together um that the data governance
program is fully operational for the student data domain. We have several data domains here at Jeffco. The student data domain is our largest and data governance is operational for that domain of data. Uh we've also implemented program and committee level charters. So this guides what we do and how we do it for data governance to make
sure that we're gathering the right folks together at the right time to make decisions about how we use our data. A good example of that is uh the data that these guys are using in the PMD. I'm sure you guys participated in the principal audit last year that was driven out of data governance and also with help from uh Dr. Kim as well. So
that's an example of us using data governance to make sure that we're using our data appropriately and making sure that the right people have access to the right data. Uh we've also socialized uh our data governance program with our technology data privacy advisory committee. We call it TDPAC. It's kind of a mouthful even for me to say that.
We just call it TDPAC. Uh but it was received very well at TDPAC and that was a lot of fun to present to them what we're doing to help keep student data and district data safe. Um in the next category here, this is kind of where me and my team live. So
modernizing the data products. So we've we've done a lot of work in this category. The what the bullets you see on the slide here are kind of the cherry on top of the cake. We do a lot of work that supports this as well, but these are the most fun things to talk about. So this is what we decided to put in front of you guys. These are the
tangible dashboards that these guys get to use to do fun things. This is a very abbreviated list. We've got a list probably as long as my arm of things we've released recently including the student progress monitoring dashboard that's been the the headliner for quite some time. Uh we've also released the uh
um uh partner professional sorry we've partnered with the professional development on data camp and uh data dig support. So that's uh Stacy and her team helping us out to put on those data camps. It's been very successful to help folks learn how to use dashboards. Dashboards aren't any good if you don't know how to use them or if you don't
know how to make sense of the data. So, we like to say that if if my team here on it, if we build the aircraft and we put together all the gauges, um our partners like Stacy help people learn how to actually fly that aircraft and land the plane, so to speak. Uh we've also released the athletics and activities eligibility dashboard, uh the
district admin discipline dashboard, facilities dashboard, student engagement case management reports, and many, many, many more. I'm very proud to do that work with this team and to be supported by such excellent colleagues that help folks use the data. Um, the next chunk that I've got, and I'm sorry if I'm rushing here. I know
that we've got lots of folks wanting to go after me here. I was tasked with trying to tell a story about the efficiency of data warehousing. It's a bit of a dry topic. Um, so data warehousing in general, like why do organizations do this thing that is data warehousing. So the stories you guys just told um are a really great example
of what how things used to be when you have to go through this data cycle. And this data cycle, by the way, these um these steps you see on the screen, this is kind of the industry standard for anytime you engage with data, you're going to do these things. Whether you're using Excel or a more powerful tool like PowerBI or Tableau, you're going to go
through these steps. And in the stories that you just heard, these are the steps that folks were doing. Data is generated all day, every day, whether you realize it or not. But if you want to do a thing with data, you've got to go collect it. And then you've got to wrangle your data. You've got to do all the things that you heard these guys talk about. You've got to process your data. You got to find a place to put it. You've got to
do all these things that are errorprone. and they take a ton of time. Also, according to the Harvard School of Business, um somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 plus percent of the time in data projects is spent in those first five steps. So, why companies, organizations do this data warehousing
thing is once we do that work, if we put it in the data warehouse, if my team gets involved and if we help support that work, we allow whoever works on that data next time to sort of have a cheat code. They get to skip ahead. they get to skip those first steps and then they get to jump right into that fun
part of analysis doing the things that you spoke about and saying hey how do I help a kid how do I use data to do a thing instead of worrying about how do I wrangle data to think how I'm going to do the next step in doing a thing instead of doing the thing so data warehousing is how we skip ahead and we gain momentum with every project that we
tackle because we keep that data in our data warehouse and we keep the analysis and we keep the understanding we keep that IP that thought capital in place for others to use which allows us to scale up over time and gain momentum. All right. And I will pass it off to Jill Ibec to close us out.
Yes. Um so with any monitoring report, you're used to seeing what we have on track and what our challenges are. Um so we're going to talk a little bit uh through uh some of the things that we've had as challenges and things that um we feel are going really well alongside this entire program. So we will start with
Dr. Eaton. So um when we're talking about enhancing data literacy, the district successfully completed the second phase of our data literacy project last year and we've read new resources, dashboards and data camp trainings as we described earlier in the presentation
and as mentioned data governance is something that Kevin spoke about in in more detail. Uh one of the things that he mentioned is that we focused of course on the student domain being first that being our most important domain. Uh we look forward to instantiating more domains shortly. Employee domain in particular is something that we're
thinking about instantiating alongside the ERP project as we're getting that going. And so the same team that runs data governance that reports through Kevin's organization uh will be looking to work with other parts of the organization to set up those different domains. And so that's coming this year.
Uh modernizing data products is something that Kevin also touched on. um making sure that we have the infrastructure not only to uh make sure our principles for example can accelerate and get to the point in which they are consuming data that's fresh and being updated. So that's the structure
or the infrastructure below these dashboards. Uh but once again going back to the data products that Kevin already uh showed off a little bit that we're very proud of on the on the former slide um is something that we deem to be on track overall and we're going to ping pong back and forth between Dr. Ed and
I. Um so um I moving to challenges. Um we had very successful data camp sessions uh for 500 uh happy customers. Um and what we have to do now is um develop a less resource inensive way to sustain that work with leaders and then
expand it to our teachers um with alternative approaches since we can't bring them all into a room and have that training. So we're talking about asynchronous training, online resources, train the trainer models. And so that's our challenge that we have is sustaining and expanding that work. And then a second challenge um around the student
progress monitoring dashboard adoption. I think Kevin spoke to this earlier. It was a bit delayed in its um rollout because we had to make sure the permissions were correct. So we had that audit to make sure that the right people were accessing it. So it came late in spring and so that was a bit late in the
year to be rolling out a new product for our teachers. Um so we really need to work that data governance now is in place. that's not going to be an issue that hasn't been an issue this year and we are working now this year to build that and going from crawling to walking I think as Brandon had suggested. So
that's our challenges that we're facing. I would just add to the challenge that Dr. Eaton was speaking of with regard to new and modern technologies. Anytime we use something new, install something new, um there can be hiccups and and there were a few hiccups that did cause uh potentially caused a delay in that
adoption rate as well. And so uh with that infrastructure stabilizing once again on track for modernizing the data products we don't expect uh those type of delays to to happen going forward. So with that we will take questions. Hey Jill, can I just jump in on Absolutely.
maybe three things real quick Mary and then we'll go there. I want to highlight um uh something that Micah shared tonight was also part of our leadership learning launch where we had an entire afternoon
of peer-to-peer learning. Stacy, can you remind me what we called that? Yes, we had a section called Voices from the Field. I wrote it down peer-to-peer. Um would have been another good name, but voices from the field is much better. Uh, and I think like Micah said, you know, students wanted to talk and
engage with one another about their learning. Our principles are no different. And we got tremendous feedback when somebody like Micah and many of her other peers shared with their peers what they were doing, whether it's with the dashboard or whether it was with behavior supports
for students or professional learning communities with teachers. Um, there were a multitude of topics and our principles loved that. So they are not unlike our students in that way that they find that very engaging. Um so I just wanted to make that connection to our professional learning strategy. Um I
also wanted to highlight if you didn't notice it since we're we don't have Dr. Kim here tonight. She's on vacation. Uh the t-shirt that Dr. Kim was wearing. It was pretty dang awesome. Uh and so I just wanted to highlight that we had that t-shirt made especially for Dr. Kim. Shout out to Dr. Kim for her
efforts in this work as well. Um, and then I just had this aha as Kevin was talking about warehousing. Um, and this is how I've learned the IT side of things is to sort of make connections to my curriculum expertise. I want to say that I believe data warehousing or
warehousing is to data as curriculum is to instruction. So when we give teachers a tool, we talk about how they can um think about how to teach and not spend hours and hours figuring out what am I teaching? And I think when we give
leaders and teachers a tool where the data is in one place, they can jump to those higher levels of analysis and decision-m with the data instead of figuring out how to house the data, how to keep it relevant, how to keep it up to date. Um, and so there were a lot of
connections what Kevin shared for for me related to the work that I've done uh for many years in the curriculum space. So, thank you. I appreciate how you framed that. Um, and with that, um, we'll turn it over for questions. Okay. Thank you so much. I really
appreciated the the very specific examples of of what you've done with what you found. Um, I always I always wonder like, you know, exactly what does this mean for you? So, I really appreciated that. Um, I I had a question
here and I'm not sure if I'm understanding where we are on this because my question was like how are teachers buying in and are they using it? But it sounds like maybe we're not to the point where teachers are using it as much. It's still more of an administrator tool. Can you help me
understand what's going on there? So, one of the things that uh Dr. Y and I both spoke about is that we we would like our expectations for adoption rates for teachers, we would like to see higher. uh we do have some data on um how it's going so far. So we actually ironically have another dashboard to
monitor usage and adoption. Um so so there is adoption that that is going on out there. I think uh you know listening to Micah talk in particular. Um we're looking forward to it being applied to new use cases as you know we we walk and crawl and run. Did I say that correctly?
Um and so uh we do have some data. It's just lower than than what we had expected goals that we set for ourselves as a project team. Um Dr. Eaton, I don't know if you want to speak to any uh data points. Let me just say we have the the school progress monitoring dashboard which is expressly for leaders and then we
introduced the student progress monitoring dashboard which is for teachers. So on page eight of the report, we have some usage data in there and it wasn't what what we had hoped for, but again it was delayed in in getting it to teachers and at the end of the year, you know how busy it is for teachers and to learn a new tool while
they're trying to close out the school year was pretty challenging. So we're going to work that's that's our job this year is to really try to build that up and um help teachers know how to use it in their in their classrooms and the PLC's. Well, it certainly looks better than I mean when you know when I retired
in 2018, uh data was look at source, look at campus, look at this, look at that. And and there was no guidance. It was look at your data, look at your data, fix that, you know, and you're
just like, I don't even know what this means. So, um, you know, I I would have done anything to be able to do that shortcut and not have to dig through all that so that I could just get straight to it and figure out, you know, if you're looking for root cause, right?
Which is when you make that next step and you say, "What is going on here? Why is this happening?" Which actually leads me to my next question. I've asked this every step of the way as we have talked about this dashboard. I'm going to ask it one more time. When are we going to make this something that a student can
access their own data? Because I think it's really important for kids to learn how to access objective feedback on what they are doing and do their own h what's going on here? How why am I not getting
this? How can I what strategies can I employ? Do I need to talk to this teacher? Do I need to spend more time studying? What do I need to do? So I'm just wondering is that on the agenda and when do we think that might be? So I'll start here and then I'll once
again ask doc Dr. Eaton to um step in. So the sky's is the limit with what we can do now that we have these products and the infrastructure built. Um from a prioritization perspective and what we were able to to roll out, we focused on our school leaders and teachers. And so, um, it's something that, of course, we
we've heard asked, u multiple times and it's something that's been considered, uh, within our our level of prioritization that we've been working on with the products that we've been asked to consider. And so, um, Dr. Eden, well, we do have a tool called student insights that is available for families.
Um, so students can access their data that way. It's mostly district and uh, state data. uh and I guess the PSAT, SAT, and um I guess that would be the national data. So they can access that data. It doesn't necessarily give as much robust information as our our local
dashboards. U and I do know that schools also work and maybe you guys can speak to that of examples of goal setting, student goal setting around their data and how they would share it maybe not in a dashboard but in other ways. I don't know if you have anything to share about that student goal setting or students using data. I mean, we've we've done things
around MAP and so students take the math three times a year. So, at the middle school level, we talk about map scores. We have students set goals for maps. They're going to increase their rate by X amount of points. Um, I think this tool would be incredibly valuable for students. I think as sense makers and how we roll this out, it's going to be
really, really important. And what data do we want students to be able to see and access and then set goals from? Um, so I'd be, you know, we can we can use student insights. That's great. Uh, but as far as a dashboard goes, um, I' I'd love to see how it progresses and what's
next. Thank you. I would say also, um, one of the things that we're really looking forward to with using it with our teachers is for our PLC's because when you're looking at the four questions around PLC is the question number two is really looking at that student data and
digging into that data and that takes a lot of time for teachers. Um and so we're excited to use this tool and to roll out with our teachers this year specifically for that. One of the things we also did in previous years was um that we have not done in the last couple of years was their data was directly
linked to Khan Academy and so students would get individualized um help and support. It would either you know close those gaps or push their thinking around the areas um that they showed the greatest needs of within those state or the PSAT and the SAT. So that's
something we've used in the past. Thank you. Um well, again, thank you. This is awesome. Um I really get excited for this and I was also really um it warmed my heart to hear that it's we look at the data and
then we talk to the kids because they will tell you whether you like it or not um their opinions on things. So, I was I I think that's awesome that we're using this in concert with student voice, which I think ultimately makes us even stronger. Um, and I think you you might
have answered it. So, tell me if you did. The student insights, that's a world where students could see their own data and use it for themselves. Student insights really just shows reports. So, it's not a dashboard per se, but it would give them like their
CAMASS report or their Dibbles 8 report. So it it provides parents and families and students can access it to ways to see the reports of how they did on certain assessments. What it's missing is that dynamic graphing over time and being able to pick what you want to look
at. So that's that's a growth area for us that we would move into. Um so we do have some data available but not at the level of a dashboard. And then I heard you say parents also can see this data. Um so is that something that would feed through parent portal or would that be its own thing?
there's a link in the portal to it. So, yeah, we'd love to let you see that and look into it. That'd be great. My kids are cringing right now. I'm very excited for that. Um, and the numbers in the report of exception
or acceptance I I don't think are bad considering this is new. So, I want to lift that up. Like 20%, 61% those are good numbers. So, I think we should be proud of those. Um, because it is a new tool and it takes time to use. So, I was when you said that, I like searched for it. I was
like, "Oh, that's not it's not as bad as I was thinking it might have been." But, so it's it's exciting for me to see that we are starting to use it. I think it's a great tool. I really appreciate the the testimonial stories because it's it's really encouraging because this has been something we've heard a lot about and it's really exciting to see it
making a difference. So, thank you. Um, just for clar clarification and thank you all for being here. Uh, how long have administrators had access to the school level dashboard? Um, I'm going to look at Dr. Eaton for
this. I'm trying to remember when we rolled it out. Um, it was one of the first PMDs that we rolled out at the school level. Um, and do you guys remember when we rolled that out to you? I'm I'm so sorry. Two years ago. It was two year about two years ago and um as mentioned we
followed with the student PMD which took us about approximately nine nine more months to do that one. So I I want to lift up two years we're we're in between crawling and walking. Right. So for teachers who've just received this in April there's going to
there's a an arc of learning. We've talked about that with curriculum implementation and I imagine it's similar. It takes probably about three years, three to five years for this to become sort of operational where people pick pick it up and use it um with mastery, right? Um and so our
administrators are leading the way and then our principles, I mean our teachers are going to start to pick it up, but it will be slow because especially if they haven't had like a data camp experience like our administrators have um where they're getting really trained in figuring out
what capabilities the tool provides for them. Um, my hope is that maybe next year that we have some educators also sitting here at the table who are giving us additional examples. I think the examples that you both shared today were
really helpful, concrete examples. Um, and I'm looking forward for teachers and educators who have access to this information now to take it, run with it, and come back and tell us how they're using it. That's something I'm excited for. Um, as far as students having access to it, um,
that's a little less exciting to me just because I know they do have access to Insights. My son is on school insights every Friday at the end of the school day when I pick him up. Um, we he pulls it up on his uh phone and we look at stuff together. Um, so I'm unless it
would expand, you know, sort of the tracking over time. Um I don't know about prioritizing this. I would I think for roll out I'd be prioritizing getting the teachers completely trained and um comfortable using this because I can I
can think of a lot of ways that our teachers can really benefit as far as support for students um in their classes. Are they able to look at they can look at individual students can they look at whole classes aggre like together? They can. Okay. So they can
they can sort of expand and shrink over all of their students. That is also very cool. I like that. Um that's all I have. Thanks. Thank you so much for this. I really appreciate it. I love the examples that
you gave and I hope as we go forward in our priorities and our plans for our budget reductions that we keep in mind the time savings that that these dashboards have done. We've seeing it now for the administrators. If we can get it down to the teachers, too. If
they get freed up from that kind of work and they can spend more time on their lesson plan and their actual time with their kids, it's um it's invaluable. So, this has been great. Thank you. Okay, so moving along in our study. Next, the board will receive an update
on the budget reduction blueprint. Jeffco Public Schools is developing a budget reduction blueprint for the 202627 school year to proactively respond to the financial realities facing public education locally in Colorado and across the nation.
Declining enrollment, rising costs, and dwindling federal and state funding have intensified financial pressures in Jeffco. These challenges require decisive action to keep our schools strong and sustainable for the students who will rely on them now and in the future. This topic will be presented by
Superintendent Dorland and Brena Copeland, chief financial officer. We've scheduled 50 minutes for this presentation and Miss Harper will help keep us um apprised for the time and uh Superintendent Dorland, the time is now yours. You're well coordinated.
Oh, we're well we're well coordinated. I know. Yes, we are. Thank you. Uh good evening. I'm happy to be presenting and um supporting Miss Copeland with this overall presentation. I'm going to start us off and just talk
about where we are. Um during the June 4th board of education study session, you ex you all expressed as a board interest in us exploring visible cost-saving measures for the 2526 school year. And so we are ready to speak with
you about that this evening. And that's the first thing I'm going to jump into with you. Our first cost-saving measure for 2526 will include what we're calling a hiring chill for central services. This does not apply to schools and it is not a
complete freeze mostly because we may have positions that we just can't do without for various reasons. It's a oneoff position that only one individual holds and that it's just an essential duty. Um it may also be related to
issues um and work that is compliance oriented. So there may be positions we need to sort of let go and go ahead and hire, but we will begin uh or we have begun um as of the end of last month uh to put a process in place that will have
greater oversight and evaluation of hiring for vacant central service positions. So cabinet members will be reviewing any um department posting that is being sent to HR and signing off on that um as essential or
complianceoriented or they will be just saying to their team we really need to hold this position for a minute to see what's happening with um the budget reduction blueprint. Uh again I'm going to repeat this because principles care deeply about this. This does not apply to
school level hiring. We need our schools to be able to hire and spend their budgets on the important roles that they've planned for this year for students. In addition, um, beginning August 29th, we decided we we started exercising additional care and
consideration while also meeting our obligations for currently budgeted spending in the areas of external professional development, conferences, so to speak, consulting services, and meals. The board also I
want to highlight for our listening public. The board knows this. They have agreed to discontinue um the board's meal service for study sessions and regular meetings this year. We need to get through these budget reductions and there will be additional oversight on travel for outside professional learning
um and uh the thing the items that you see on the slide here consulting and meals. I do want to highlight because they are already planned and paid for mostly by outside um entities uh some planned
travel experiences that will continue this year. As I've mentioned before, while we're going through budget reductions, we have to hold two truths at the same time. One is being diligent with our resources and finding
efficiencies and savings through the budget reduction blueprint. We also have to make sure that the most important work we're doing continues and moves forward. So much of this is related to that. Number one, Workday Rising is a conference put on by our new partner,
Workday, who is our new ERP provider. Five Jeffco staff working on the district's ERP implementation will attend this conference this month in September. Miss Copeland will be one of them. Uh it is being held in San Francisco, California. Workday did
reduce its first and secondyear license cost to support us the district in attending the conference and we are using the existing project budget funds that are in our cap reserve to pay for these five individuals to go. We also
have a commitment from workday that the five individuals who were attending this conference will have opportunity to discuss workday implementation in public sector businesses. So they will they will have opportunities not only to talk about workday just across
sectors but mostly in public sector which we know will be helpful for us at making sure that we're um doing what we can to help this project be very large project be successful. Um and thank you to workday for reducing the cost for us. Uh we also have uh five Jeffco staff
members attending the National Career Academyy's Coalition Conference this October uh in Honolulu, Hawaii. I know it's far away, but this is where they were hosting it. Um and I want to highlight that this trip is fully funded
by the Gates Family Foundation. I want to thank the Gates Family Foundation for allowing this to happen. Um, it does it it'll provide us the opportunity to explore highquality career connected learning models that will help us meet our declining enrollment realities and
increase graduation rates. I want to remind the board and our listening public that we recently studied late last spring, early summer before the board broke for summer uh recess. Uh we recently studied some uh CTE concentrator data where we looked at
students disagregated by subgroup who had taken in high school at least three courses related to a career pathway. That's what we call CTE concentrators. When we disagregate that data by our students
who experience poverty, we see students, hundreds of students who are CTE concentrators and also experiencing poverty graduating at rates at 96%. That is above the district's graduation rate overall. And when we look at their
peers who are also experiencing poverty but not concentrating in a CTE pathway, we are close to around 73% graduation rate. I have not in my career seen a 30% gap closed like that ever in that amount of time. And so again, I'm going to
reiterate what I've been saying. We have to continue the work that we know is positively impacting our students even though we are also in the midst of budget reductions. We have to do those two things. We have to hold those things together at once. And again, I want to
reiterate, um, we probably would have reconsidered this trip if it was going to be a cost to the district. It is not a cost to the district. The Gates Family Foundation has already provided the funding in a grant, and we are thrilled to be able to send people to continue to learn about how to expand CTE career
pathways for our students. Um, High School Reimagined and Magic of Middle School retreat. We have also received full funding by the Marggo Foundation. Thank you to the Marggo Foundation. Um, this professional learning event with Jeff Co's uh, school leadership team of
high school principles and middle school principles will take place December 4th through 6th at Lone Rock Conference Conference Center in Bailey. It will be another time that we go up. We've already done this previous to to do the work around High School Reimagined and Magic of Middle School. Um this is
incredibly important work at keeping our high school and middle school leaders uh with us leading with us these efforts that on the ground are having a great impact for students. Um again related to our graduation rates, nth grade completion rates and career exploration
opportunities for our students and again it is fully funded by the Marggo Foundation. If not I think we would be having another consideration around going on this trip. Uh but it is funded. It is non-refundable. We also believe that this trip that if we decided not to
do it, we would owe money back and uh we don't have the funds to give back. Uh we want to take the gift that the Marggo Foundation has provided us and continue the work. So thank you to them. And then of course we have the color association of school board winner conference and we
are going to be continuing this. It is funded by the school district and I just want to be clear and transparent about that. Um, and we will have five board members and three staff members attending the annual CASBY convention December 11th through 13th. We're being diligent about the number of staff
members going uh but we need to have the staff there that support the board with its agenda. Um, and it is considered by the state essential professional learning for elected school boards. There is an important um conversation the board will be having just about the
transition plan. Of course, the board discussed that at their retreat a couple weeks ago. It's really important time for the board to come together and understand the governance model and work together to orient new board members. In addition, there is a critical CASBY-led
budget um session at this conference that we want all board members to go to as their board budget training. One of the most important things the board does is is uh maintain fiscal sustainability. We know that that's a challenge for us right now and it's important that our
new board members uh receive receive that training. So, I just want to tell you that those planned travel experiences are going to continue. All other travel experiences will need to be approved by a cabinet leader and there'll just be more oversight. Um
there may be some approval of some travel given the importance of the work related to our strategic plan, but we will be minimizing the number of people who go and do any outside travel as much as possible. and having some more oversight on that this year.
Okay, board study session. Um, September 3rd, that's today. Here's our agenda for this evening. Again, we're going to try to create a consistent routine in these agendas for the board and our public so you know what to expect. We're going to recap the last meeting and preview the
next meeting. We are going to answer questions from the last meeting. Then tonight the new topic is to study the overall district target. We're going to go through what you see here on the slide related to that and we
are going to um discuss the process and engagement calendar. So you'll see how folks will have an opportunity to engage in the conversation over time. So let's look at what we did last meeting and where we're headed next meeting. Last meeting we just discussed the budget
reduction blueprint as an overview. We talked about the guiding principles that would be related to the work we're doing moving ahead. We talked about the board's role, the study schedule and the timeline the board would be going through. We discussed this discussed the
staff's role including communication and stakeholder engagement. We talked about with Mary and Paula um the communication and stakeholder engagement planning and um the preparation for the impact that
the reductions will have on our staff and our system. Um, we also regroup reggrounded in the budget for this year and the multi-year projection looking forward, how we got here, where we're going, and some of the factors that
continue to drive uncertainty for us at the state and federal level. And finally, um, we did a deep dive into district resource allocations and how they compare to other districts. Going forward, we will um again look at
the routine content which we're doing right now and we will study reduction targets for district-wide cost avoidance measures, department level targets and school-based targets um by level. We will also share with you how we are
preparing for the staff impacts that will be in October. And so here are your questions from last uh the last presentation on the budget reduction blueprint. How will board members coordinate attendance at the partnership for fiscal sustainability
meetings? How should the board structure public comment for the budget reduction blueprint? And what are next steps for board engagement? And so Mary, I know these are mostly questions that the board really needs, I think, to discuss among them the board members themselves. So, I'm going to hand this back over to
you and let you lead a conversation about these questions. I think some of this is also already taken care of. Maybe you can provide that update. Yeah, thank you. Um, I do believe that as far as the board members coordinating attendance, um, in our weekly update, we
do get a list of, um, who's going where, what we're doing, and we have reminders that we just want no more than two board members at any one of those meetings. So, um, we have identified people who have changed the calendar or at least put in the their, um, attendance in the
calendar, but we will continue, I think, in our weekly update to, um, highlight it and, uh, make sure people sign up for the ones they want to go to and are aware of who's already there. And Mary, I think it actually split pretty or President Parker, it split pretty evenly. I think each of us are
attending, too. Yeah. So, I think it's it's it's good. And I know I enjoyed it. Paul and I were there um last night and uh that was very productive, very helpful. And I also will say that um since this is what I'll call an ad hoc committee or you know
short-term one, not one of our ongoing ones, um we don't have a board liaison to those meetings, but I've asked um if we can get the all the board members to get the minutes and the um schedule and whatever for that um uh partnership.
Um, anybody else have a comment on the first question? So, the next one about um public comment for the budget reduction blueprint. Um, we did discuss briefly the idea that we could have a special um, you know,
portion of public comment um, dedicated to it like we've done for negotiations. But then we did also discuss the fact that there will be an agenda item every meeting that's on the budget. So people are free to come and speak on that um
agenda item during public comment. So I want to hear if anyone has a feeling for whether we should identify a certain time slot or just let it be part of our comments. I have a question. Um so we've we've run into this we'd run into this before. Um we
currently have a policy that says that public comment can't take longer than an hour. what I I'm trying to remember, right? And and so we suspended it and we went over and I can I can speak to it if you'd like,
Lisa. Um so yes, so Erin and I have been reviewing the policies. Um Director Kenworthy and I have been reviewing the policies and so what our policy says currently, she's got her book. Um is if it's the first hour, we would then pause business and do the rest of the comment
at the end. But if it's over a certain number of people, that's when we would drop the time down for individual speakers and groups of 10 or groups of three or more. So, um, the hour is kind of separate from the number of speakers, but they kind of go hand in hand.
And are we okay sticking with that? When we brought the when we were going to do the policy review, um, which is not I'm not sure when that's on our schedule. It's coming up. um that was going to be something we debated and discussed because um when we went through that process, one of the things
I thought you raised that was really important is if we're going to wait but we shouldn't have the policy. Um and so we've got that flagged is when we need to revisit public comment um as a whole is one that we think is worth coming up with. The hour time frame regardless of the number of people is so that we can
continue with business. Um but then all of the people signed up to speak would be able to speak at the end. And director Kenworthy if you'd like to add please. I think one of the suggestions we're considering is or we don't even have a suggestion yet but it's up for
discussion is um the pooling of time for individuals to come together. Should that remain a 10-minute time slot or should that time be reduced as part of the conversation we're having? So currently that policy is still on our
books. Okay. I just I want to be clear about it and whatever it is, I want to stick to it. Um because I I just don't I don't think there's a need for a policy that you're not going to follow. And I do think that I know this is not popular
with everyone, but probably with some um I think that that we need to give consideration to the people who are signed up to speak to us and to not delay that three hours. You know, when they've been told a specific time to be here, when we ask Mr. Bowage to come and
present to us at a particular time, I I think we owe it to those people to be respectful of their time. So, and I also believe that we need to listen to our public. So, I want to make sure that we're trying to do all of those things.
I will also say that I know there was confusion about people who think they signed up first because it was Wednesday morning or whatever time we opened it up, but it we're really assigning them the order of when they show up. And so, I think that's an important thing to make sure that we um educate the public
on how it works. Um, and I'll say for myself too, since I am, um, the one that has the ability to cut it off or let it go, um, I agree we should stick to a policy, especially if that's our policy for now. So, I'm in support of that. I
just am anticipating when there's one lone person um that didn't make it into the first hour if we um want to uh have a process which I think we can do anytime in a board you know is is make a
an exception to the agenda at that in the beginning um I don't know we can have a discussion on it later so if we know in advance it looks like public comment is going to last uh 1 hour and one minute. Are we um okay with going
over one minute? So to to this question, um I don't I don't know that I personally have strong feelings so long as anyone that wants to come and speak on the budget can speak. So um it's a little different than
setting aside a time setting aside time for our bargaining groups. Um, so I think I mean I guess I'm supportive of of leaving it as it is. When they put the topic, they'll put budget. We'll know that's what they're coming to speak to us about.
I'm in agreement with that. So not having a special time for the public or the budget. So, so we will just go with the standard comment period and we will um figure out if it if there's one minute over what we do in that instance, but we'll stick to
one hour. The plan is to stick to our policy one hour and the rest are at the end. Okay. Um and then what are the next steps for board engagement? Um I don't know if anyone's had the time. President Parker, we have the next
slide where we thought maybe Okay, given that you and Director Reid have uh been thinking about this all summer with us and and talking about it with with staff that you might share some of what you're thinking uh to begin that that uh conversation
with the board and I know some of you have been sharing ideas u with Miss Harper, but um I'll let you uh manage that however you'd like, but I just wanted to alert you that we had this on a slide. for you if if you're interested in this process. Thank you. Um Director Reid, do you have
I'm just going to spring this on Miss Harper. Um and that is that Director Kenworthy and I just um were able to touch base on that we are interested in going to a Lakewood uh city council meeting together. So, if you could reach
out to them and just find out, I think they have uh two regular meetings a month and a study session um that are usually on Mondays. So, if you can reach out to them and see if we can get a a time slot in there um that would be
terrific and um so that's the first step for us anyway. Can I add Wheat Ridge and Arvvada to that list? Dr. Varta may want to attend Arvvada with me. Thank you. Yes, I'd like to say that Miss Harper
has been very um helpful at least for me and my area in district 5 because she has experience down there and knows a lot of the um the organizations. Um I will be reaching out to the uh county commissioners to see if we can get um
some time on their schedule. They did come to us when they had um something they wanted to inform us of. So I'll be doing that with them. and and if there's another board member who wants to participate in that since it's I'd love to. Okay. So, it's full full district. So, maybe Miss Harper, you can help figure
out if they've got time there. Also, from my district, um we've got some very active um organizations. The Kowanas I've mentioned before. They've been so helpful and in helping fund the the um schools in those articulation areas. So, I want to reach out to them and they're
always inviting schoolboard members to come. Um, also I know that we have a couple of um religious groups there. The um Mormon stake in um down in in uh district five has amazing um relationships with the the the high
schools um there the three high schools. So definitely want to reach out to them. But um I am working with Miss Harper to figure out how I can get out to those um community organizations and we'll get it done. So that's where we are now. Yeah.
We also have some legislative visits already planned um where we could be available to have conversations with our local electeds. And um so Miss Harper, I'll work with you to figure out how we want to keep a
schedule or awareness of um what's scheduled and what's happened. And then I think we can all benefit from how our individual meetings go if people are interested in some kind of a basic slide presentation or just a handout. I
personally like pie charts. We we talked about it. Things that you know just are um visual. Um, but it could be that we'll uh standardize some kind of a handout to give to whoever we go and visit. Okay, great. Thank you for that
discussion. I'm going to now move us into reviewing the material from your board meeting and then into some um conversation that Brena is going to lead us um Miss Copeland is going to lead us through related to an overall reduction
target. Great. Good evening board members. Uh again, Brena Copelan, chief financial officer here in the district. Good to see you. Uh so, as we signaled when we covered the agenda for tonight, as part of studying our overall reduction
target, we're going to start with a review of some June 4th materials. Um when we presented the FY26, so that's the current year. Um, when we presented the budget for adoption, staff noted that the district had an estimated $60
million rounded in recurring needs beyond recurring revenue. The component parts of that 60 million that we spoke of in June were were respectively 40 million in general fund expenditures beyond revenue. That figure is also
rounded. 5 million in general fund expenditures um that would be covered by non-recurring grants in the current year. Meaning uh those expenditures will continue into the future, but the grants will not. And therefore, um you can think of that as a plus five to future
year general fund just to keep doing what we're doing. Um and then 15 million in recurring capital contributions that have been deferred in the current year. And so the need is still there though um we are not currently funding them. So
these things add up to 60 million. Um yourself. Yes. Thank you. Um and so for our first pie chart of the evening uh which I also like. I also actually like pi itself just for the record. Um we presented
back in June um just as an illustration. This was not considered to be a plan, but it was an illustration of what might it look like if we cut each program that the district um endeavors activities towards by 6%.
And of course, since general instruction is our largest program, you see a dollar figure there. Um a 6% decrease to that program amounts to about 29 million and so forth. And so that goes around the pie chart just illustrating in dollar
terms if we proportionately reduce each program what would it look like? Now as a reminder um general instruction as a program and every program up there includes a mix of types of expenses meaning it includes salary and benefits.
It includes supplies and materials, purchase services, etc. um it is not just one thing but it is in service of one goal so to speak. Quick question um
you mentioned earlier when we were talking about kind of the phrases right that there are certain roles that are required for compliance and by law sped is one of those that always jumps out to me as just having a lot of legal barriers. I know there's a lot of stuff in there.
Can we cut six% out of sped and still be compliant? So, tonight we're not going to get to that level of specificity. Um, that's a great question. Um, and there's also a difference
between the special education bud budget and the student success budget. The student success budget is bigger than the special education budget. So when we do come back and talk about specific departmental reductions, uh we will answer that question.
Thank you. Illustration B is another way to think about 6% reduction. Now why 6%? 60 million of course is 6% of approximately our billion dollar general fund budget. So if we were just focused on
quantifying this in terms of how many FTE we employ, um these are our 2025 budgeted FTE counts by employee group. And again, this is just illustrative of if we said
approximately 6% of each group um would be reduced. This is what it would sum up to. Couple really important caveats here. This is not a dollar target. This is just an illustration for scale because we had gotten some questions
about what does 6% really look like in terms of people if it's people. Obviously, there's not a plan that will be brought forward that is solely people. That is not what we're trying to do, but I did want to um provide this illustration back in June at the board's
request and um review it this evening. And then we provided two different illustrations kind of the same ilk where we varied the reduction percentage and and we called it the variable expense
reductions. And um this slide is really focused on um the percentages reduced. The next slide has the dollars. And what you're seeing is a grid organized both by
expense type, the rows, salary account, employee benefits, service, materials and supplies, and transfers. Those are kind of categories, the what, and then you see the programs as columns. So, general instruction, instructional support, sped instruction, ops and
maintenance, school admin, general admin, transportation transfers, and then they're colorcoded to show um if we attempted to cut a higher percentage of a budget that we believe is proximally further from the classroom, what might it look like? And
I think this illustration um resonated a bit with the board and is part of where some of our guiding principles came from this summer. um this idea of cut less closer to the classroom and cut more further further from the classroom. And
so um I did want to remind folks this was a June slide. It was by no means a plan or a proposal. It was an illustration. These numbers are not the departmental targets. We will discuss departmental targets at our next meeting. This is a reiteration of an
illustration. Um, and this is that same set of reductions now stated as dollar amounts instead of percentages. Now, because of the way that pie chart breaks out and the quantity of dollars spent in certain areas, even if you have
a lower percentage um, reduction, you might produce a larger dollar amount just based on where we spend our money. So, that's really what this slide illustrated back in June. Now
um therein ends repetitive content and here is new content. So for this evening we would like to um recommend a minimum $45 million reduction target and a minimum $15 million increased revenue
target specific to capital spending. Now how did we arrive at these figures? the bar charts here. Um the bar chart on the left reclassifies our recurring needs by the three things I mentioned just a little bit earlier. The top part is the
deferral of contributions towards our capital needs and capital expenses. The middle part, which is $5 million, it's kind of a darker color, is the one-time funds that are being used towards recurring expenses in the current year.
and the bottom part is a rounded estimate of the current year use of reserves or sometimes we call that the deficit. So those are all items in the June presentation and you see shifting over in terms of recommended targets we
wrestled with lots of different approaches to the 60 million and landed on um attempting to reduce at least 45 million within two years. the majority of which um hopefully will take effect in 2627
and seeking at least 15 million in new annual revenue for capital uses within two years. Now a logical question would be well what if that doesn't happen? Great question. Um it means we will need to find a different solve which might
involve further reductions. So, by no means are these targets intended to presuppose what the public might or might not support. They're starting point for a plan um that gets us through 2627 that we'll of course need to
continue to modify and refine um in the coming years. Well, I want to just add a little bit here. Um, because one of the one of the things that I care about is doing, you know, I talk often about the
just right balance. Um, and oftentimes when I talk about that, it's just just right balance between like district level decisions versus school-based decisions. But I think it's a frame that also fits here. What I don't what I want us caution us against is
um making cuts to a level that throw our system, our community, our schools and our departments and the services that our departments provide to our schools like custodial services, food, nutrition services, transportation, all those import are important services that also
impact kids and families um and teachers and classrooms. I mean, so I don't want to throw us into a tail spin that um over um reduces services, over reduces programming and um people to serve kids.
Um, I also don't want us to do too little and I don't want us to pretend like there aren't options for revenue strategies, which we've been talking about now for o over a year and so a
year and a half. So, I I'd like I like this approach because it sets what I think is a reasonable target. Not easy, not too much, not too little, kind of just right. um a little goldilocksish.
Um I think the two years is also another component of the Goldilocks approach. Um hopefully we can hit 45 this year. Uh but if not or for fiscal year 27, but if not, maybe hopefully very close to it
because the majority would take effect for 2627. And then that also would guide um some sort of revenue increase in a local measure um at least at 15 the the year after or the year after. And so it gives
us some room to um ease into this over time and it also allows us to spend time together with our community exploring the idea of the revenue increase over time. So, um, I just wanted to add that I think this is a
Goldilocks kind of approach to a difficult problem. What I don't want to see us do is the sky is falling, cut 60, um, we cut services, we cut good people, and then all of a sudden we get new
revenue, and the pendulum swings the other way back. We have an hiring fair. You know what I mean? So, I'm just trying to find uh I think it was important and we've talked quite a bit about trying to find that just right balance of doing the hard work but not sending us into a tail spin only to then
increase revenue and and hopefully bring have new hiring things that you know. So, that's that's a little bit of context for you in terms of the rationale behind this from my perspective. Thank you.
Now, uh, when we come back in October, um, we're going to go back to this grid which sorts by program and by um, category of expenditure and provides some potential updates. Um, in
the meantime, we have this slide which speaks a little bit to some buckets that we anticipate which are not quite programs and not quite categories, but they are common terms that we use in the district that
resonate with folks um who work here and are in our schools. And so, um, district-wide cost avoidance measures, um, we hope that those will account for about 10 to 20% of the overall 45 million reduction. Now, what program
that might be in or what category that might be in, we're not really specifying at the moment. Um, departmental budget allocations, we hope those might produce about 50 to 60% of our total reductions. Now, many of our departmental dollars
are spent directly in student service and so we want to be cognizant of that. Um to uh director Applegate's question, the special education, the entire budget for learning specialists is a departmental budget. So I don't want this to suggest that we are somehow
attempting to disproportionately cut our special education services. We are not. Um, department just simply means who makes the decision about who how the dollars are spent, not necessarily where the service is delivered. But we do hope that departments account for about 50 to
60%. And then schools, school budgets um would account for about 20 to 30% of the total reductions across all areas. The the goal um consistent with our guiding principles is to preserve resources that
are closest to the classroom. So our reduction targets will be lower in budgets both departmental and school that provide direct classroom instruction. I want to emphasize something. This is
so we were talking about 60 million and 6% of a billion dollar budget. Now we've shifted to talking about 45 million or 4 a.5%. The percentages that you see next to districtwide department and school, the
10 to 20, 50 to 66, 20 to 33, those are percentages of the 4 and a.5% or the 45 million, not the overall budget amounts in those that fund those categories. So, that was just that was a point of clarification from last night that um we
had to make and I want to make sure that we make that both for our board and also our listening public. Correct. Thank you. So, as a reminder, uh we spoke last month and um have continued to talk with our public and our staff about some
evolving financial uncertainties. Uh a portion of our revenue is in fact determined by contributions from the state and the state's budgetary shortfall will likely impact Jeffco if not in the current year than next year.
This slide had to be produced and finalized before we had um full finalization of all the different plans from the special session. Nonetheless, um that session did meet from the 21st to the 26. They attempted to solve for
about 250 million. The reports vary. By increasing revenue, the governor presented on the 28th some one-time and recurring changes to solve for an estimated 500 million. and that presentation did not include current
year cuts to the state's share of K12 education. Um, the district should expect, and I use the word should, um, to revise down its revenue forecast for 2627 based on the evolving state
financial situation, but we will wait to do so until we have more information in the spring. So it would be premature to do that at this moment but we should at least expect that that is coming. If we don't have to, wonderful.
Okay. Mil levy override options. So since part of our target um is a minimum amount of money that we would suggest asking for in a new override, we wanted to revisit the overrides in general to
contextualize that part of the target. So, um, there are three primary types of mill levies or mill levy overrides that voters can approve that override the 27 base mills that are
required to be assessed in support of the total program. So again, we're overriding a a cap or a limit on the 27 mills and therefore um assessing additional mills to produce money specifically and only for Jeffco
public schools. Does not go into any other district, etc. A general purpose mill levy override for Jeffco um has virtually no restrictions. We can use it on anything. So, one question we sometimes get is could you actually use
a general purpose for capital? The answer is yes. That isn't necessarily um the what we are recommending this evening. So, I did want to clarify that. Um but really any use of K12 dollars is
acceptable for this mill levy so long as you tell people what you're going to do with it. Um there is a cap on how many of these mills we can collect um as a dollar amount slashp percentage of total program and this recurs into the future.
Now we can word it so that it automatically adjusts as our total program adjusts meaning if our enrollment continues to decline and our total program is declining we will only collect for the students we're still serving. So I think it's important for
voters to know that you know if Jeffco shrinks we will collect less money because our total program is going down. It's not a promise for a set dollar amount in infinity. Right? That being said, if total program adjusts by inflation and we say we're going to max
out our collection and inflation goes up, then this mill would go up to ensure that we're collecting an inflation adjusted amount of money um so that we can preserve purchasing power. Yes. I'm just thinking the verbiage that would go for a general purpose mill
override with what you're saying could be very extensive and um so just wondering is there an optimal explanation for mil levy overrides, you know, that um don't confuse voters so much that they decide
they don't understand it. I think there probably is, and I think it involves very few words from me and a lot more words from our comm's team. Um, and yes, there are tested messages and explanatory videos and ways to make this I think it's so so important to be both
transparent and honest and succinct and use fewer jargony words. Um, so yes, if we went this route, which as a reminder, this is not part of tonight's um recommended target. It's justformational. If we went this route, we would work
very hard um to be clear on language. The special purpose mill levy override that we are recommending um we consider for the future um this evening um is one of the special purpose ones permitted
under law the capital and technology specific override. This can be used for both capital which is broadly speaking any fixed asset with a useful life in excess of a minimum threshold and typically in excess of a minimum cost
threshold. Right? Those are our capital assets and technology falls into that. Right? Many of our technology assets be they a multi-year subscription to software that our students use that's considered a technology asset or um
actual hardware. Right? There's lots of different types of technology assets in an age where computing looks so different than it used to. So all those uses would be permissible under a capital and technology special purpose
override and um it is therefore restricted by law if you pass this special purpose one to those uses. There is no limit on what we can ask for. I think folks have asked me well how much can we ask for? Well, um, theoretically,
although it is not what we would recommend, you could ask for a billion dollars. Absolutely not what we would recommend, nor what we need. Um, but there is actually no limit and it is ongoing. And so, it's a way to direct fund on an annual basis, um, our
facilities, our students technology, all kinds of things that have annual needs in perpetuity. um and circumvent, if you will, um investment bankers. Not that I have anything against them. They're lovely. Yes. Can I add something that I think is important for us to remember is that
that would mean then that we wouldn't necessarily have to transfer money from the general fund into the capital fund. So, it it effectively frees up I'm using all the wrong words, but it it enables us to keep that money and use it for other purposes in the general fund. That's right. And often when districts
pass this um particular special purpose override, they lead with a phrase that says so that the district's general fund may spend money on blank instructional programming mental health supports.
Please approve this mill that will actually do blank. And then you list the capital and technology. It sounds a little funny and it's true, right? Because what we are um often trying to do there is um free up the general fund
towards those program um the instructional program, instructional support, special education, all those types of things um by creating a dedicated revenue that is specific just to to capital and technology and which is outside the cap on our general
purpose mill levy. Okay. And then lastly, I'll just remind us we could issue debt. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that option this evening, but it is up there for information. Back to you. Great. Thank you, Miss Copeland. I want to remind our board and
others listening that we have some staffled engagement structures that we are planning for and are approaching quickly. uh uh the first one in fact uh started last evening and we have uh come to agreement on a name for this group
which I'm very happy about. Thank you to our Jespa and JCA colleagues for their feedback and uh and their uh recommendations for some names. We are now the partnership for fiscal sustainability. Thank you to the uh
partnership group last night for deciding upon that name in short order. Uh and this is a group that will serve as advisor to superintendent and staff um on the plan for reductions as well as revenue increase and they will
co-present to our board as we get closer to November and um and possibly beyond. We also have association leader and committee touch points. So I meet monthly with our association leadership. I'll be having this um topic on as an
agenda item every month. Uh we will also be meeting with our executive leadership meeting group which is our principles, assistant principles, executive directors, directors and and talking with them monthly. Um we have a budget owner workg group which is a subgroup of
our executive leadership group uh that are also digging in a little deeper with us and providing some advice and guidance on some various ideas throughout the process. I'm very excited to um host budget labs which are intended to be open to the public,
staff, students, families, community members and the with the goal of building understanding and um gathering actionable input uh through an interactive community meeting. This is something new that we're trying. I am looking forward to getting feedback from
the first one. I think we'll try to iterate a little bit based on that feedback. But um the team has worked really hard to set up stations which I'll talk about in a minute. And the budget labs are really something I think are going to be interesting. School community conversations. Principles will be leading community conversations in
their local school community with their staff and their sac committees. and it will be to inform school-based budget priorities and just generally where we're at, why we're here, what we're doing, um, and where we're headed. We will be creating common materials for
our principles to use. They do not they're not going to have to figure this out on their own. And we are getting feedback from our budget owner workg group, which includes principles on what kinds of materials will be most helpful for for our principles. And then we'll be training them as we're going to be train the trainer model. and they'll be
trained on the materials so that they feel confident presenting it. Surveys are in uh in design right now and the first survey will be going out this month approximately I think the middle of the month and then we are co-hosting a summit thanks to Colorado Gibbs
Foundation with community partners. So, chambers of commerce, um, economic development council members, as well as other community leaders are going to be welcome to join us in this community partner convening. Superintendent Dorland, I just wanted to um mention for
the rest of the board um I have asked Miss Harper to reach out to all the schools in my district um to let them know as they plan their SAC meetings, so the um principalled staff meetings that um I'm available if they um have any
interest in me attending one. I know from a conversation there are some school leaders who are you know gurus in um in their budgeting and so forth and they could do it all themselves and there are others that may be new principles or something and just u make
myself available to be there. Is it possible to do I mean I guess Mary you've you've I appreciate President Parker you've put a lot of thought into this. Um you've kind of I'm listening to you draft almost like a playbook. Um is
it possible to kind of get the things that you're setting up so that we could also do the same without overloading Miss Harper because I know it's a lot. Um because I had been reaching out independently but if I could use Miss Harper that would be yeah phenomenal. Yeah I think that's good. we can all
write up our own actions, whatever whoever we've contacted and whatever we've planned and keep it updated, our own actions and and funnel it through Miss Harper so she doesn't have to put it together, but she's the clearing house for us. That'd be great. Thank you.
Yeah. And then we'll share it out with you so you guys you all can see what others are thinking. Um, and I appreciate that, President Parker. think the SAC committees always appreciate having board members visit occasionally and being a sensemaker for for folks who are on our sacks is is great. We've also
offered to our principles and are working with our community superintendents to better understand who might need additional support. So, one one of our team members can also go out and support a principal with the conversation um that they might be having and so that will be a support that's offered on our side too. So, but
thank you very much for that. Okay. So the partnership for fiscal sustainability as I mentioned um is going to help shape a fiscally sustainable and student- centered reduction plan for 2627 and we have also expressed interest from that group in
continuing the conversation and expanding it into a revenue generation conversation as well. What would a mill levy override look like for Jeffco public schools? And I really appreciate that um shared interest. And so here are the members. We have some um committee
members from the board committees. We have association representatives representatives from all of our um organizations and parents who are SAC members. We have staff who participate in their SACs, principles and department leaders and
community partners. Um we're really looking forward to hearing uh them as a sounding board and and them providing us feedback along the way. our budget owner work group. I've talked about a little bit bit of this. They are both um operational and school-based leaders who
are going to provide us insight into more specific ideas that are going to emerge from this process. And I think this group will also really help us understand the impact of the various ideas that are emerging from both departments as well as school-based targets
and the budget labs. So again, the participants in budget labs will learn about the district budget. They will try budget simulations to show what it's really like to um adjust a variable and see what the impact might be on a department or a school. We want folks
who attend the budget labs to share what matters most to them through surveys and conversations with our event staff and talk directly with board members and district leaders. Here is an overview of the budget lab station. So if if
anybody's listening, I strongly encourage you to come to a budget lab. Um I know that the topic is hard, but I do believe you will learn a lot and and more uh and understand better how and what uh the district is going through,
and we really do want your input along the way. So there'll be an orientation and a welcome station uh with some key resources. There will be an overview of the budget and why we need to make some reductions at this time. There'll be a budget breakdown as I mentioned with
interactive uh budget simulations. Um and there will be an ask a leader uh so we will have district leadership and board leadership where they can have one-on-one conversations. There will be uh supporting staff to learn how the district and its partners
will support staff through the if a staff member is impacted. And so the HR processes will be um something people can talk about. We also are, you know, as we're in the middle of a strategic uh master capital master plan, we are also
going to have our partners who are running that process with us there to inform the public about how we're planning for our future with capital investments. Uh we want to give a a whole section on sharing your voice. So there will be a place where you can take community
survey and also just provide us input and then we are going to have a station on state uh funding and advocacy. So, how do you speak to your local representatives about advocating for better state funding for K12? And so
people can also learn about our local funding and how we're we're um not as high in our local funding or generous in our local funding as our neighboring districts. But I'm really excited about the outreach to state representatives and and arming our community members
with ways that they can advocate for K12 funding at our state level. Here are the dates for the in-person budget labs which you can see. And then we are also hosting staff and
student specific budget labs. So if you're a staff member in Jeffco and you want to come to a budget lab during your work hours but not off work hours, there will be uh three held on September 19th, October 10th, and the 23rd of September.
um and available to students. So, our Jeffco student leadership board is having a retreat on October 3rd and we will have a student budget lab at that time. We are planning two communitywide surveys. The first again as I mentioned will be in September and it will focus
on departmental investments and trade-offs. The second is in December and it will focus on school level investments and trade-offs. The community survey that will be going out um this month will focus on options
for reduction and increased fees or funding in the following areas. Athletics and activities, IT, operations, transportation, and food nutrition services. Um again, it'll be available online for all in our our our
um parents and staff. It'll go through email. It will also be available at budget labs. So, if people want to take the survey while they're there engaging in the budget lab, they can. And the the results will be summarized and available in real time. And we're looking forward to using these results with both our budget owners work group and our
partnership for fiscal sustainability. Here is a summary of the engagement timeline um colorcoded by the type of meeting. So you'll see budget labs are purple, surveys are orange. Uh public comment for our board opportunities are in green, and the partnership meetings
are in blue. And that concludes our presentation for this evening. Great. Thank you. Uh board members, any questions? Yep. I just want to appreciate um that on October 3rd, there's a budget a student budget lab. I think student voice and
understanding of this conversation is really important. And that leads me to my question. H was there any consideration of including student voice on the um partnership for fiscal sustainability gathering um either from student leaders
or I'm just curious. That's a great question, Director Kenworthy. We did not consider that. um it is something we can um talk with Miss Pena about and discuss with her whether it's somebody from JSLB or a different student um receiving that
kind of option. We could maybe try to get a student voice to the next meeting. I think it's helpful and um great idea. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate this. It's always it's always a lot and it's always really helpful. So, and I know it's not easy to put these together. So, thank
you. Um, I have a a few quick questions. I am so happy to see that we are taking cost-saving measures now. I think that shows our public we're serious about this and we're not kind of messing around. So, thank you for doing that. Do we have a feel for how much we might be
able to save with those cost reduction measures yet? Okay. We don't. Um, it's hard to tell. That's okay. I that's what I expected the answer to be because it's just starting. Um
I know the Goldilocks version shows a revenue finding of 15 million in a in an MLO situation. Could that number be higher? Yes. Okay.
Um if we can go back to slide 16. I couldn't do the math fast enough and I didn't want to interrupt your your flow. So when we talk about 20 to 33% of the 45 million, what percentage of that would be from like today's budgets from the school?
It's 20% of 45 million. But what would that mean to like a stand like a one of our neighborhood schools? Sure. It's easier for me to divide 45 by three, which is the 33. So that's 15 million. and our school budgets run
about 520 million. So that represents 1 to 2%. Okay. Thank you. Um and then how are we advertising the budget labs outside of our school population? Because I think I know there's a
significant percentage of our general public that is not necessarily tied to one of our schools, but they will be voting. They have a role to play. So I don't know if we've given any thought to that. We have there's actually a full communications plan and we can um share that with you all in your in your board update this week.
That would be fantastic. Thank you. Um last one is a bit of a rumor. There is a rumor going around that I've heard that we are cutting the role forward for our schools. Can you put some light on that? We've heard that one too. I'm sure you have.
We've heard that rumor. Um we we did have to present to the board a multi-year. The multi-year was hypothetical. in the event that we made no budget reductions in that scenario um all of our reserves get overt taxed
basically um that is part of the reason we are trying to make these reductions is to preserve healthy reserves across all categories I also want to mention I did that math wrong in my head um 15 million is not 1 to 2% thank goodness
Dr. Kim's not here. Um, it's more like 3ish% 2 to 3%. Sorry. Quite all right. So, it's it's safe to say that at this point the roll forwards are continuing.
That's if we meet reduction targets. Yes. Okay. Thank you. And I just to give some context, I know our board members may be aware, but also for people who are listening, um the the carry forward that our um
schools have and use from year to year really does it almost allow them like the averaging does at the state level for us. It allows them to have a runway into new enrollment realities, especially when a school is declining.
um it kind of allows them a one to two-year runway to sort of level set their staffing and it is very beneficial and it works very well. So Brena and I are advocates for some type of school level carry forward because it gives each budget manager the opportunity to
work with their school community and make decisions on a year-to-year that don't swing programming or swing staffing in drastic ways back and forth. Um and so we're we're strong advocates for it. I do believe that there are there should be guardrails. I think there should be limits to it so that
people aren't just hoarding away money and not spending it this today's money on today's kids. I I also believe that there should be rational reasons for the use of it. Um and some guardrails there which we've done a lot of work around with our school principles. I I believe our school principles are using their
carry forward in very um responsible and strategic ways to support the students um yeartoear. So, I just want to highlight that um and and recognize it. Thank you for that. Um and Mr. Ru, this might be a question for you that we can
touch base afterwards. And I know it's been provided in the past, but I could not find it earlier this week, a summary of kind of what our outside services look like. So, if I could get some help finding that afterwards, I'd really appreciate it.
Thank you. Thank you guys. Okay. Thank you very much for that presentation. And if I hear it over and over, I will have it down pat and I will be hearing it over and over. So, it is now 712. So, we will take a break, a
10-minute break and um see you then. [Music]
Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Hi, I'm Mary Parker, a proud Jeffco school board member. Do you ever wonder what a school board does? We're a group
of elected volunteers who help set the direction for our district. From shaping policies to approving budgets, we ensure that every student in our community has access to a quality education. It's our job to listen to families, students, and
educators to make informed decisions that benefit everyone in our school community. For more information about the work of our board, including our meeting schedule on how to connect with us, please visit jeffcoubschools.org/ oorgg/board. [Music]
[Music] As members of your Jeffco school board, we help set the vision for our district's future. We work closely with Superintendent Dorland and her staff to ensure that our goals align with our
community values and the needs of our students. Whether it's improving academic achievement or enhancing school safety, we are committed to Jeco's mission of providing a world-class education that prepares all Jeco students for bright and successful futures as local and
global citizens. [Music]
[Music] One of the key responsibilities of the board of education is policymaking. We create and adopt policies that shape how our schools operate everything from curriculum decisions to policies that ensure every student feels a sense of belonging. Our policies help ensure
consistency, fairness, and excellence across all district schools. We work hard to ensure they reflect our community's values and serve students best interests while following state and federal laws. [Music]
As a school board, we're responsible for overseeing the district's budget. Every dollar matters when it comes to providing the best education possible. We carefully allocate funds to support teachers, maintain facilities, and improve student programs. It's our job to ensure financial transparency and
accountability while balancing the needs of students, staff, and taxpayers. [Music] [Music] [Music]
Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]
[Music] Heat. [Music]
Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Down. [Music] Hey. Hey.
[Music] [Music] Heat.
[Music] Heat.
[Music] [Music] Heat. [Music]
Heat. N. [Music] Down down down down down down down down
down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down Heat. Heat. N. [Music] Heat. Heat.
[Music] [Music]
Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] [Music]
Heat. Heat. [Music] You can't [Music] down [Music]
down. [Music] Here
[Music] an update on the student proposed end statement on sustainability.
This presentation provides a revised end statement for the board's consideration and discussion, incorporating both student input as well as staff and board feedback. This presentation also outlines the next steps in developing a district level sustainability policy. If
the board informally agrees this evening, we will vote to adopt the board policy ends for at the September 11, 2025 regular board meeting. Presenting this evening are Megan Tarden, sustainability program manager, and Jeff Gatlin, chief operating officer. We have
scheduled 30 minutes for this presentation. Um, Miss Harper will be keeping us on on track. And before the presenters begin, is there anything you'd like to add? Superintendent Dorland, I just want to thank um our team here
for doing an amazing job putting together at least a a draft for the board's consideration. And with that, I'll hand it over to Mr. Gatlin. Great. Thank you, Superintendent Doran. Uh board, we appreciate the time tonight to continue a conversation that we started at your retreat uh around two
weeks ago. Before we jump in though, I do want to I do want to express my appreciation to our students uh for their their passion and their advocacy as it relates to uh sustainability and for the board uh board's consideration of of that advocacy in the in the topic
and the conversation that we'll have tonight. I also want to express my appreciation to Miss Tea Garden. She is a mighty force of one leading sustainability efforts uh in an incredibly large organization and uh I just want to make sure that uh she knows how much I appreciate her efforts. And
with that, I am going to turn it over to Miss T. Garden who will talk through an update from the conversation that we started at the retreat and uh going through proposed revisions to an end statement that the board could ultimately adopt at the regular meeting next week. and a few other things
related to the development of policy um in the district. Thank you. Thank you for having me again. Excited to be here. Um so the purpose of this is to review the end statement that was proposed by the students. Um this was proposed at the
board meeting on April 10th. um and then provide some feedback from our discussion with the board um at the retreat on the end statement and how we can incorporate that into our existing ends and then provide an update on our district policy and next steps around
sustainability at the district. So to review this is the original draft student end statement that was proposed at the board meeting. Um I'm not going to read through everything, but I think the highlevel um notes on there were that Jeffco public schools is committed
to climate action and sustainability practices was their original statement which um went into detail around um what sustainability means, how they want sustainability incorporated into the district practices, curriculum and culture.
Um so at the um board retreat we got some good feedback from you all. So what I heard from that meeting originally was that the board would like to add a statement on sustainability and end statement. Um they were also impressed
with student initiative and civic engagement and bringing this to the board and its importance um to students. And um then I heard that there was a little bit of concern that the student's draft is more specific than our other end statement. So it gets into specific
details around um something that might be more appropriate for a district level policy. So how do we take the themes that we heard from the students and bring that to um a higher level so that we can have a theme of of sustainability at the district. And then the board also
recognized that while implementing environmental sustainability practices districtwide will take time, um they wanted to elevate the importance of environmental sustainability at the board level. So based on that discussion, um the board's ask to align
the ex the um student end statement to the existing end statement. So in order to do that, we looked at the themes from the student's vision um students version. So this was that the highest level students want the district to take
a commitment around have a commitment around sustainability um that this is something that's important that climate action is important and that this is something that they're going to have to to face as they um grow into the world and go out
into the world and trying to solve these problems. So it needs to be addressed within education as well. They also wanted to see um integration of sustain sustainability into decision-m um into policies and and procedures at the district.
They found that resource conservation and operational responsibility is important. So um I think that the district as I discussed at my previous um presentation is already doing a lot of those things but showing that the students that we are doing those things and what we're doing is important. So
they want to know how are we being responsible with resources. Um they also want more um student engagement around sustainability in curriculum. So how can we link the sustainability um things that they're seeing in their everyday life to the curriculum that they're
being taught within schools and so that they're ready to go out into the world. Um and then what I also heard but wasn't specifically specified in the ends that they proposed is that they want community collaboration. So I I saw that with them bringing the statement
forward. So um how do we engage with students with parents with the community um with the district around sustainability? So the next um slide here is the prop proposed revisions to the statement and this is where I would like to have a
discussion um from the board and um some edits or any sort of um changes you would like to see to this. So um at the highest level JECO public schools commits to environmental sustainability stewardship and preparing students to thrive in a changing world would be the
overall end statement. So um the environmental sustainability is the outcome that we aim for. So it identifies environmental because sustainability can be used in other contexts as well. And then um stewardship is the responsibility and
the actions that we will take within the district. So um those are that's why those two words were identified and then preparing students to thrive in a changing world is something that the ultimate goal that we want them to be successful um once they go out into the world. So in order to do this I've
outlined four bullets here. So the district will integrate environmental sustainability into operations curriculum and culture. The district will act as a responsible steward of natural resources to ensure long-term resilience. Every student will develop knowledge and
skills to understand and contribute to a sustainable future. And the district will partner with students, parents, guardians, and the community to promote environmental sustainability as a shared responsibility. So this took the um students end statements, the discussion
with the board and then aligned it with our existing end statement to make this ends for um within our our board and statements. So, I will pause there and see if anyone has any edits. Um, Mr. Gallon is able to take notes so that we
can make some changes and and um get your feedback. Thoughts, board members? I mean, at first glance, it looks looks really good. Um,
I'd love to absorb it for a little bit longer, but I don't have any edits right now. I think it looks really good. Thank you. I don't think I have any edits, but I do have just a follow-up question about the bullet points um and what metrics or
measure how we will measure uh like the second one um responsible steward of natural resources to ensure long-term resilience. like what how how do we report back like what does that look like in a monitoring report what kind of information will get shared so I think that's where um in the
original statement they wanted um goals and metrics around resource or around um electricity natural gas like greenhouse gas emissions reductions that's where that um piece will be tied to okay
um and and I after we have this discussion I also have the next steps around the district level policy and how the end statement fits into the overall policies and then um sustainability plan at the district as well. Excellent.
Thanks. Um my first reaction is this looks really good. I mean I really appreciate it. it does fit in with the the way we've identified our other ends and I am um assuming and believing that you have
given a lot of thought to the questions like um director Kenworthy said so that um you wouldn't have put one of these bullet points in if you didn't have an idea of how we would measure it and um what it would mean. So um my inclination
is you know look at it again we can bring it up for a vote um next week um I don't see any changes I would make but my question is if we are all looking at it for a week for the next week um how
would we handle anybody's observation like all of a sudden you notice something that you didn't um initially really think anything about Yeah. The way that um we've done that type of
thing in the past is for board members to send their feedback to Mary and Kristen. We can take the feedback, make some redline revisions, um, bring it based on the input from various board members, bring it back to the board and put the original as well
as the redline revised back in front of the board and you can have it you can we can either include it on the consent agenda um or we can h if there's a lot of revisions, we can make it its own agenda
item for discussion. Um, the other option would be that we could just put it on the agenda as is the consent agenda. When you call for the consent agenda, if somebody would like to pull it for discussion, they can do that. So, um, and we can make that decision next
week as we get closer to Friday. If there I would say if there are a lot of revisions or a lot of suggestions coming in, then I would recommend putting it as its own discussion item. If there are not, I would likely just put it on as consent agenda as is and then you can
when you call for discussion, uh, President Parker, people can say, "I'd like to pull item 1.04 from the consent agenda for discussion." Yeah. And I think that would only need to be pulled if we want to modify it in some reason, right? But if we just want to comment on it, we can always comment
um during, you know, after we have moved to um approve the consent agenda. there's comment period, we can bring it out. So, so, um, what I'm hearing right now, we we can just sort of give a a Yeah, we'd
like to see this next week and we would like to be able to vote on it and we will see what kind of feedback comes um before Friday and then um at this point we could put it on the consent agenda. Okay, great. If we feel like that should
change, we'll let you know, President Parker, and you can help us make a decision. Sounds good. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, I have a feeling we would get um emails with I with eyes on it. We've already received quite a lot of communication in
support of the students work. And so, um I encourage those folks to take a look and continue to send us emails if it's necessary. What one other thing I would say just for folks listening because I know we've had a lot of advocacy around this. If
people are feeling like this has been changed to a point of too high of an altitude, I want to reiterate what Miss Tarden had said, which is the board would like it to be in their ends, but to be aligned to the altitude of the other ends. And I want to make a
statement that my commitment to sustainability as superintendent is 150%. And the work is going to need to be started and then um uh advanced over time. But that being said, what what
this would cause the district to do is work with stakeholders to create a district level sustainability policy. This is the next slide that's not showing right now. Um and in that usually a district level policy is more
specified than a board ends. And as we monitor the board end for the um board on an annual basis, the specificity of the data, we would interpret the ends and we would put the specific data in there as well. So I just don't want
people to feel like we won't get more specific as this work continues. We definitely will. Um and we look forward to engaging folks um along the way in that work. and district level leadership is very committed to this work in addition to um the board's request for an end. So want
to make sure that that's clear. Yeah. So this um here outlines basically how do we take that high level commitment to sustainability and put that to action. So um the board ends as kind of the vision. Um so that defines
the district's long-term commitment to environmental sustainability and stewardship. Then having the district level um sustainability policy is the framework. So how do we go about um implementing sustainability within the district um establishes how it's integrated into operations and
curriculum and is supported through accountability and reporting. Um and then I would anticipate with that district level policy part of that accountability will be implementing a sustainability plan which is typically um a five to 10 year vision around how
um the specific goals um initiatives timelines and metrics um to guide the progress of sustainability within the district. So that's the road map um for how we're going to implement it. So um yes that's how taking the high level
vision and then putting that to action. Um so progress on the district level sustainability policy. So so far we have um committed to implementing a district level sustainability policy. Um this policy will align with this um proposed
end statement um and will outline the specific strategies and goals um and practices to bring these commitments to life. We have a target adoption of this policy of Q1 2026 um and we currently have an internal task force that's being um formed to
gather feedback on the policy so that we um know what we're committing to and then we can implement that um within the district as well. This is just a highle um draft district level policy components. So kind of outlines the types of things that would
be included within a policy. Um these aren't set in stone and they can change based on the task force input. But it includes um items around leadership and integration. So how is it going to be incorporated into strategic planning, budgeting and decision decision- making
facilities and operations. So that's where um we'll have um goals around energy and water efficiency, sustainable transportation, waste diversion um which is I know a topic that students are very passionate about um sustainable construction. So anytime we're doing um renovations and um new builds, we have
that considered in there. Um sustainable purchasing is another component. Um so making sure that we're environmentally responsible and that's a component that's considered when we're purchasing. um environmental literacy, educational opportunities for students and
partnerships with local resources. We have a lot of organizations out there that want to partner with schools. So, how do we bring those um resources to students within the schools? And then culture and engagement. So, um collaboration among students, staff and community. Um how do we bring this um
culture of sustainability throughout the entire district? And then accountability and reporting. So how do we um develop the plan around sustainability and then have metrics that are associated with them so that we can track our progress um with it.
So then this is just an outline of the um district sustainability task force. So this would be a temporary task force that works on um finalizing the sustainability policy and then developing the sustain sustainability plan. So these members um understand our
operations. the current challenges um current inefficiencies and opportunities for improvement. Um the task force will also seek input from students in the community on specific topics. So um typically the way this could be done is through um buildings or energy
efficiency might be a topic. Um water, waste, um transportation would be um topics we would seek input on. Um and the task force is is um almost nearly formed. We've got a couple um people we're looking to add, but that the area
representatives there with the operations and facilities, educational program areas, and um administrative and support are the types of people we're working with within the organization. So that is the presentation on
sustainability. Any other questions? Before I open up for the other board members, I am just so excited. I am thrilled. um that we're able to be so responsive to our students and the community because we've gotten lots of emails from community members as well
and the quickness, the speed with which you've you've put this together. I'm blown away. So, thank you so much for doing that. It's amazing. Yeah. Board members, any other comments, questions? I just want to say how much I appreciate how succinct you were given the statements and the intents that our
students brought to us. It is hard when creating an ends policy to be succinct um and clear in the purpose. And I think you did a fantastic job um taking the intent and the themes and pulling that together into something that was just um
succinct and does fit in well with our existing ends. Thank you so much. That's that is a huge task. even though it results in a small paragraph of language, the editing um and the word choice is important and I I just want to
say I see that and I'm very grateful for the effort and the work that you put into this. Thank you. Thank you. Think of that writer's thing of I was going to write a short story but I didn't have time so I wrote a novel. Yeah. Um, can I also just say pre President Parker and other board members, I feel
like the advocacy for this was large in volume. Um, but also like really respectful. And I all of those of you who are out there who were advocating for this, both the students as well as parents and other community members, I
just like to say thank you for the respectful advocacy that you sent to us. Um, that meant a lot. Um and I appreciated the the way that it was advocated for. Um so thank you. Yeah, agreed.
I do have one question on um slide eight when you talk about the district level sustainability policy and you mentioned the target adoption of Q1 2026. Exactly. Is that the FY26 we're in now
or next year? So yeah, I guess it would be um January through March of 2026. Yeah, it so it is um the calendar calendar year. Yes. Sorry. Got it. All right.
I think you know and and kind of the plan with this task force is to meet um monthly go over um the components of the the policy and get that squared away first before moving on into um a sustainability plan. um I don't want to
commit to like January of 26 because I want to give um some flexibility to the task force to be be able to provide input and develop that. Great. Thank you very very much. Thank you. And this is great. The next um
topic is right right on there like wow we're moving with light speed. Um, okay. So, uh, the board will now study a bus electrification pilot program in partnership with Excel Energy or Energy
and Highland Electric Fleets. Presenting this evening are Nathan Rhymer, I'm sorry if it's Reamer. It's Rhyr um, executive director of transportation, Megan T. Garden, sustainability program manager, and Jeff Gatlin, chief operating officer. We've scheduled 30
minutes for this presentation. Um, and Miss Harper is out there giving me the eye when we get too far off schedule and I've already told Director um, Applegate, she's got a time limit, too. Um, superintendent, would you like to share
any remarks before our presenters begin? We're just going to let the environmental sustainability energy roll on right through. Well, thank you again uh in keeping with the theme of uh sustainability uh and this is a great example of uh what
Superintendent Dorland mentioned around a commitment to these efforts uh even though uh maybe formalizing it uh feels like it's just beginning. A lot of efforts uh have been in motion and continue to be in motion. Um and this is a really good example of something we're excited about and I want to thank Mr.
Rhyr for uh his effort and and his openness to to doing something like this. Something like this means um uh a change in operations and uh you know that can be that can be viewed on different ways and his openness and willingness to uh think like this and to
be a good steward of the environment and uh and support sustainability is is much appreciated. And this has been another good example of something Miss Tegard has been involved in uh and uh is is has a lot of support uh across uh different
areas in the organization. So with that, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Rhymer who's going to talk through the uh a bus electrification pilot just to to give the high level. Uh we will be asking the board to approve it'll be a service contract. Uh and an early version of a
presentation had had the word lease and it is not a lease. It's a service contract. It's a 12-year contract and you'll we'll go through the specifics of that. But that would be the action item uh that the board would take uh next next week. The dollar amount the annual
dollar amount on the service contract averages about $120,000. So I mentioned in the in the memo that you know if it was that if it was standalone that amount this wouldn't be coming to the board but because it's uh over such a longterm period and the cumulative total is what it is we are
asking for uh board approval and support for this and there is some time sensitivity sensitivity to this with the uh with the elimination of potential rebates uh that our partners are have access to through the month of September. We are hoping to uh get board
approval next week so we can sign the contract and then make sure that we get those incentives with this. So with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Rhyr who can jump into this. Thank you all. Um we're here today hopefully to not just talk about buses, but about what it
means for Jeffco to be rooted to thrive. Um for us in transportation, that means living out the district's values of belonging, equity, and excellence while also holding safety and sustainability at the heart of everything we do. The pilot's about showing those values in action. It is about healthier starts
to school day, cleaner air in our communities, and smarter, more resilient system for our future. It's not just about the vehicles on the road. It's about shaping a future where our students, families, and staff can thrive. Um, I just love this quote by Jane Goodall. Um, you know, it's exactly what
the pilot's about to me. We're choosing to make a difference for our students, family, and community. Um the project overview, it's going to begin at Central Terminal. Um it was chosen for three key reasons. Uh the high need student population
there, poor air quality, and it location is a constrained uh constrained feeder, which is kind of a bottleneck for energy. And so it makes it an ideal investment for uh Excel Energy. But beyond the technical reasons, it's about the people. Central serve students who already face challenges whether
economic, educational, or health related. Um, poor air quality doesn't just show up in reports. It shows up when a student has to pull out an inhaler or when a medically fragile kid has to uh needs an extra layer of care on a ride to the bus. So, starting here
makes a statement that we're putting our very first investment in clean transportation exactly where it matters most. Uh, Central gets to become not just the site for this pilot, uh, but a model for how transportation can meet both operational needs and community needs together. It shows that belonging and equity are not just words but
commitments. Um why six buses? Uh it's a pilot and like all pilots we have to start small. We asked for more. Um Excel has decided that these six buses match the current infrastructure capacity and the scope for the program forum. Uh so the bigger
picture is that every transformation begins with that first step. Hopefully these six buses aren't the finish line, they're the starting line. uh it gives us a chance to prove that the model works to measure performance and to show our student staff and community what's
what's possible and if this succeeds it sets up a broader deployment across the district hopefully um it's I thinking of it as planning that first route for a system that can grow uh it's a way for us to learn and adapt and scale responsibly while staying true to our
commitment to uh be rooted to thrive um and what this means for Jessica's students and staff is that every decision we make in transportation touches touches students and staff a thousand times over a day. Um, from the moment a student steps onto the bus in
the morning until they get off, uh, transportation gets to set the tone for their day. And this project is about making that moment safer, healthier, and hopefully more hopeful. Cleaner air um, at the bus stop means a better start to the day.
A quieter, smoother ride means less stress for drivers and students. And for our kids, it's a visible sign that the district is uh paying attention to them and we're serious about the future of the planet that they get to inherit. Um and it doesn't just align with their values, it puts them in motion. It shows
that we're not just talking about equity and belonging, we're delivering them through the daily experience of our students. Um the immediate benefits, uh they get to start at day one. Benefits for students, staff, and families. they get to feel immediately. The cleaner air at
the bus stop on the ride to school hopefully gets to fewer asthma triggers, healthier mornings. A quieter, smoother ride isn't just going to make the ride nicer for the students, it makes it nicer for the driver and helps make it a little easier and more enjoyable.
Also, the financial model is designed for uh stability. There's going to be annual costs beginning in year three about $104,000 to start for the year. Um, but those costs are predictable and offset by savings in fuel and maintenance. So, it gives us a long-term
model uh that is both responsible and sustainable. Um, now I want to pause and pass it over to Megan who, as you know, has been a driving force behind this. And she's been leading efforts across the district to make sure we're not just talking about sustainability, but actually trying to build into the daily lives of students and staff. And she'll get to
talk about like why this matters to the health of our students and the district. So, I'm very excited about this project. Um, it is a amazing opportunity that I think the district has and um, you know,
uh, implementing, um, zero tailpipe emissions is hugely important to our students. So, that's something that, you know, they're breathing in that diesel every day. And we have an option here to have zero tailpipe permissions. Um,
these also are quieter rides. So, I don't I don't know if you've driven in a electric bus before, but they have the high high pitch sound, which is much nicer than um the diesel um engines. The other component that I think our students will really be um passionate
about is the fact that the um greenhouse gas emissions are about half of a diesel truck or a diesel um bus. And over 12 years, it's estimated to save about 1.6 6 million pounds of CO2 being emitted.
And um that's based on about a 70 mile average um trip for these buses. And then um if you go to the next slide, as um Excel has an energy or has a carbon-f free goal of 2050 and as um Excel
reaches that goal, we get these buses get cleaner and cleaner over time, whereas diesel um stays the same or is um worse as well. So um this is a very exciting um project from a sustainability perspective, from an emissions perspective and I hope that um
if we adopt this that we will see those emission savings reflected in our um our sustainability goals and metrics as well. It's a strategic decision for us. Um there's no upfront cost to the district. The benefits are immediate. improve student health, stronger community
infrastructure, greater operational resilience. Um, and because Excel and Highland are carrying the front-end cost, it's a rare chance for a school district to kind of enter into the future without that financial barrier that usually holds districts back. So, by the time we begin making the fixed
payments in year three, we're already realizing savings on fuel and maintenance that'll help offset those costs. And so, it's not just investment in buses, it's investment in kids, in trust, and in the future of Jeffco. And it's possible because of the partnerships that we're going to uh have
to make it successful. Um and the partnerships are there's three key players to this. US obviously uh we provide the land, take care of the operational role and uh we have fixed annual payments that begin in year three. Excel is funding this whole
thing. Uh they fund the infrastructure. They are covering the first two years of the costs and they're driving the grid expansion to help support the electrification to actually get to the uh terminal. And then Highland manages the installation of everything. Uh
they're purchasing the buses, they're getting the chargers, and then they're also handling the long-term uh maintenance and energy management of everything. Um, and so that this is what's going to make it financially and operationally viable for us is having the uh two partners to help offset everything for
us. Yeah, of course. I I do want to point out too that uh the the last bullet uh from Highland is they're providing full service warranty and ongoing support for vehicles. So when something happens to a vehicle, they're fixing it. And so this burden
isn't falling onto our staff. Uh it's it's all part of this program where from uh you know something breaking down that would prevent the bus from operating to tires to you name it. Uh they're going to be covering that through the service fee that we'll be paying them each year.
So just want to call that out. Um the funding structure itself is what makes it viable for us. Um, like we said, Excel's covering all the upfront costs and so we get to avoid the steep capital investment that comes with something like this. Highland gets to wrap everything into a single service
agreement and that covers the infrastructure, software to manage the chargers, the electricity, the maintenance and the warranty for for 12 years on the buses and the chargers themselves. Um, and so it gives us a super low barrier of entry and we get the benefit
of the cutting edge technology and the long-term sustainability without the shock, the financial shock that would uh come otherwise. So vehicle-to- grid technology is like the part that's super neat to me. Um, their buses are more than just vehicles. They're power sources. And so vehicleto
grid technology means that the energy gets to flow both ways. The buses when they're parked, they just get to charge. Um but when needed and when the grid needs support they get to send the energy back. One bus is about 160 kilowatt hours of stored energy. The
average home is uses about 30 kilowatt hours a week. Um so you get enough power to power multiple homes for hours or even better like critical facilities like a hospital operating room um when the power goes out or there's a storm or
something. So even if these technical details are kind of complex, the impact is simple, we get to have these buses become resilience tools for the community and not just for us. This is super cool. Uh so and that's part of that's part of uh the incentive
of this of of why um why this works is our our buses like Mr. Rhymer said, you know, are are able to provide energy back into the grid and Highland manages that. And so they'll pull energy when they need it. But part of our contract is they will ensure that when we need to
operate our bus, it has the amount of amount of battery charge that we need to operate uh that bus for that given route. So that's written into the contract uh to ensure that uh you know it works for us and it also provides a benefit to them. I just want to call
that out specifically that that that is part of the managed contract that uh that there's that there's very specific language in the contract around ensuring that we have what we need to run our route. Can I ask a quick question on that? President Parker, I've got a lot on this one. I'm sorry.
Um so is that why they're paying the electricity also because they're getting the benefit of the charging? Thank you. Um the big a big win for this is also infrastructure. As you might imagine, in infrastructure is easily the hardest part of the electrification process. The
chargers alone are over $80,000 each and we would need six of them. Um, through this Highland Excel get to cover those costs. They deliver a full upgrade to the terminal and that includes not just the chargers, but the electrical from the line and everything. And that'll
also give us room to grow for the future since we're going to be uh talking about adding more chargers for cars and such. they'll they'll be doing a lot of that infrastructure work that we get to tag uh piggyback on to. Um and while the infrastructure is also exciting, another
big win is what Jeff had already alluded to is that these uh vehicle to grid chargers are pretty new technology. Um normally if we took this on our own, we would be left responsible for repairing them when something happens. We don't
even know. They're I think they've been around for about four years. We don't know what they'll do in 12. And so what we're getting is a 12-year warranty and service coverage on not just the buses and the parts, but these $80,000 chargers. Um, and so it protects us from
costly surprises and ensures that that investment is going to deliver on its promise for the long term. Um, the EV versus diesel cost comparison, because of that 12-year warranty, because of the service coverage, our costs are stable and predictable with
these. Um, and so it gets to show up in the numbers over these 12 years. Uh, the EVs are going to cost about 1.2 million for all all six of them over 12 years. Uh, diesel would be about 1.76. So, it's a savings of over half a
million dollars. And the cost, like I said, they remain steady. So, we with reduced fuel needs and less maintenance, we know what we're we're getting. Whereas diesel, it's starts expensive and keeps climbing. It doesn't go down.
So this one is the uh EV versus diesel kind of one to one. It becomes even clearer when you look at it like this. Uh each electric bus is about savings of about 7,800 a year. So when you think about it with this cost model, it it's not just
sustainability, it's a sorry, it's a sustainability and stability model. Um, every bus we transition to electric strengthens our financial position and our service reliability, of course. And I do want to call one thing out on this slide. There there is a mistake on this slide where the the blue section of
the of the diesel uh cost should be the acquisition cost of the of the vehicle spread out over that 12-year term. Uh, it says um Oh, it says bus price. I I I am due for an eye exam. Uh, I thought it said bus parts. I thought it was
I was like as you're talking like so actually this slide is great. Uh there are no no edits that need to be made. I'm not going to mention that someone may have had a milestone birthday just a bit ago. Am I correct? It's coming up. Oh, it's coming up. Yes.
So, yes. Sorry about that. Um and this is uh kind of what we've been talking about in another clear way. Uh on the diesel side, they spike early and they only climb higher as fuel and maintenance increase year after year. The electric, the line steady, it's
predictable. Um so like looking at this for me side by side, the choice becomes pretty obvious. It's not just cleaner, it's financially spar uh smarter and more sta stable for us. So the project timeline, um this is obviously the moment where we need your support. uh board approval by the end of
September. Like Jess said, it's critical. That allows us to move forward with construction, installation, and training. As you might imagine, the mechanics need to learn how to work on these buses. Um so they can be ready for the start of the school year. Approval this month. It also secures the grant
funding like Jeff said, and that's that's the key for this. Um so with that approval, we get to keep the timeline on track and deliver cleaner air for healthier students. And this is our moment of opportunity. Um, I want to try and bring it back to what matters most. Uh, the project, it's
not about buses or chargers. It's about the kind of district we want to be. Uh, to me, Rooted the Thrive means we're making decisions today that protect the health of our students, strengthen our community, and build a sustainer sustainable future for Jeffco. Um, approval of the contract secures the grant funding we need to keep this on
track. And it shows our students and family that we are serious about leading with purpose. Uh, the path forward is clear and ready for action. It reflects the values that guide us. Putting students first, acting with integrity, and embracing innovation to shape a healthier, stronger tomorrow. Um, it's not just an investment in vehicles. This
investment in kids and trust and the future of the district. Thank you. Thanks. [Applause] [Laughter] I would way more nervous.
Thank you so much for that. Um, board members, comments, questions? I'll be really fast. First, thank you for your passion around this. Um, I teared up a few times during your guys's talk. I'm not going to be embarrassed to admit that it's really, really powerful when you lay out the benefit. And as
someone who worked in utilities for 20 years, it is no small feat that Excel is going to do like I'm going to I'm going to get teary. It is no small feat. That is a massive investment for our schools. Dang it. Um, you mentioned it a little bit. I was happy to hear that our
mechanics will be able to learn to work on these buses. Amazing. We're preparing them for the future. Um I think you answered most of my questions. And then can we come see the buses? Of course. Can we ride on them? I want to ride on.
Um and I really hope we celebrate this. This is a huge in a in a time of there's a lot of ick. This is a really really bright spot for us. So just thank you. Congratulations. And I am so excited to vote for this. I'm just going to second that. I never
thought I'd cry over buying buses, but I did. Um I want to Tracy, I want to thank you, Superintendent Dorland, for um stating your commitment to sustainability so strongly and then to have this action follow our conversation about the ends. I and to um Mr. Rhymer
to hear your grounding of this work in the why that it's not about the buses or you know the nuts and bolts. This is about making decisions and choices that will make our community better. Being grounded in that why um the health of
students and the experience of our staff. I can't think of a a better grounding for saying yes to something like this. And I want to thank you for your leadership and for your uh enthusiasm
um in presenting this to us this evening to all three of you. Really, I'm so grateful um that we do have this is a huge win in Jefferson County right now. I thank you so much for the work that you've done to come to us today. Um, I just want to say that, um, at a
lot of the CASBY, uh, conferences we go to, they've always got a electric school bus. And, um, I always thought, how can we have one of those? And, um, I know that they've periodically had drawings like you could go in a lottery and, you know, maybe win a school bus, you know,
electric school bus. And when I saw this, it's like six, there's six. And XL is going to do all this, you know, up front. we need to go with it. Everything we needed to go with it. I mean, I am blown away. I I feel like I
won the lottery, which I think is 1.4 billion tonight or whatever. It's like this is better than Well, maybe not better, but um anyway, it is it is such a huge win and I thank you so much. Um and I do have a question. Who makes these buses? What uh this these would be going through
international. Okay. Who are we going to have? Well, we we won't have the tariff problem. Nope. Uh, International is out of uh, I think the Carolinas or Oklahoma. Oh, I see what you're saying. International. Yeah, International Truck Company, I believe, is what they're called. I thought they were bringing them in from China or something. Um, and I I am
also I just want to give a shout out to Excel. I mean, um, uh, yeah, I I never expected this. So, again, thank you. I feel like I want to end the meeting right now on a high, but anyway, thank you so much for this. This is awesome.
Well done. Yes. All right. So, um, for the next item on our agenda this evening, the board will receive a preview of the September 11th consent agenda. As a reminder to the board and our listening public, Superintendent Doran will be providing a
preview of items for board action anticipated to appear as individual action items or on the consent agenda at our regular meeting next week. Super superintendent Dorland, the time is yours. Great. Thank you so much. So the I'm
just going to walk us through the um the attachment in board doc so you can see what's coming up for your consent agendas or for your consent agenda next week. Uh the first will be your minutes and then of course it's acceptance of the monitoring report 2.3 that you
studied this evening. We uh will also be studying 1.1 next week and asking you to consider approving it on the consent agenda in the same night. We don't typically do that. I do believe there
are two reasons why this one reason why we're doing it, another reason why I think it's actually not a bad idea. Number one, um we got the data um and the turnaround to your study session was really tight and so the team is still working on it. So that's number one.
That's just an honest like time structure uh challenge that we had. In addition, I think it's really important. This is the student achievement data. Um and not a bad thing for us to be presenting it in your regular meeting because I think you'll have a higher visibility in um viewership. uh if the
board studies it and then does not feel comfortable approving it in the same evening, it is totally okay for you to let us know that and we can move the approval of it to the next month. If there are things you want uh adjusted or time for further conversation, you just let us know that. But we are going to
ask for it to be placed on the consent agenda and then you can let us know after the study session. Um the environmental sustainability ends as we just discussed. Um the library uh use and reconsideration of library materials
policy revisions to align with new state statute will be there. You've studied this during uh your August meeting. Sure. I know that was out for public comment. Did will we get a a summary of
the comments? I know we've gotten some. Sure. We can make sure that happens. I don't know. I have not been updated on the comments for the revision, but we can take note and our legal team will make sure and include that in uh either this week's weekly update or just make
sure the board gets an update before the consideration of this policy on your consent agenda. Thank you. You're welcome. We have we did share it with our legislators per their request. The supplemental funds uh uh item is
from the Evergreen PTSA. There's a donation for bleachers at uh Evergreen High School. Uh we have some JCA appointments to DAC because that's part of our DAC membership. There's a couple of contract renewals.
One is for digital security software that we use to support and protect staff and student content and applications. Another is uh the a transportation contracted services uh with a company named Everdriven or all three companies
I guess are on here. Everdriven, Hops, Skip Drive, and Noah Cares. Again, this is the contract for students who we often need to use contracted services to meet their IEP requirements for transportation. Um it is uh honestly
something we continue to try to work on. Um Mr. Rhymer mentioned that we have uh he mentioned uh electric cars in his presentation this evening and just so you know we have tried to um use some
smaller fleets to bring this contract down. It's challenging as our special education needs rise in the district. Um our transportation for special education needs rises as well. Is there anything on this item you'd like to add, Mr. Gatlin? I Yes. Thank you.
Yeah, you're good. Uh so the this this contract amount requests uh represents a a request of a million dollars less than what we asked for last year. And last year was the first year where we the the amount that we spent went down with
contracted services. It was it was by about $95,000. You know, so but we're hoping that that was the peak of of and and we're into a new trajectory and a new trend. And so I I just want to point that out that to to what Superintendent Dorland mentioned around the impact of
our uh fleet diversification project. We we feel like we are starting to see those those the results of that and it's super exciting that we maybe have rounded the corner. Knock on wood. There are other variables uh and things that you know that could change that uh demand mostly uh but we are seeing a
good impact from those efforts. So yeah, just want to call that out. Do you believe Mr. Gatlin that there's also some implications from being um more fully staffed or does that not necessarily
right now? Right. Yes. And uh if we our our diversified fleet is full. So our our our drivers for our diversified fleet are is full. if we had uh more CDL driver. I mean, we we could actually put a CDL driver on a full-size bus and
still run uh a special education and it's still more economically sound to do that even though it seems incredibly inefficient uh from a dollars and cent standpoint, it makes sense. And that's where we're still running into issues with staff. Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. Um you
can see another uh contract approval for GPS and electronic inspection for district vehicles. This is the tracking and monitoring system we use on our fleet um through a company called Zonar Systems. Uh we have a contract approval
for electric school buses which we're all going to clap for and be very excited about. Mr. Gatlin, thank you for your efforts um in that. And thank you publicly to Excel Energies and what's the other partner's name?
Highland D uh Electrified Fleets. Yes, that's just an awesome partnership as the board has um acknowledged. Thank you. Um and then you'll see what happens in September. There are some things we're planning. There will there will also likely be additional contracts
added because sometimes we don't know exactly when they're going to be coming to you. Um but you'll have your Q4 financial report. Um monitoring report 1.1 plus assessment literacy um and leadership reports. So, these are
more what we're going to be doing in terms of studying, not necessarily the consent, if that makes sense. And I already mentioned the 1.1 will also be on the consent. Yep. And then we've highlighted some of your agendas going forward. I won't go through all those,
but I got through what we're going to be doing next week. Happy to take questions on the other things as well if you have them. I have one really quick question for the GPS electronic inspection. This is a new contract. So, did we have this stuff
before under a different vendor or is this because I see it's kind of tied to the app that we're rolling out for transportation too? Sorry, could you hear that question, Mr. Gatlin? Yeah, I believe it's the same contract, but the contract ended, so we're Yeah, it's not a formal renewal. It's a new
contract of the same the same services. Perfect. Thank you. And it looks like we did this on a non-compete soul source because our equipment that we have aligns with this company already. I think that's it. Thank you. Great. All
right. Then the um final item on the agenda is a board dialogue on current topics this evening. The board members have expressed interest in discussing healthy school meals for all. um that actually has to do um will encompass the
um ballot initiatives LL and MM that are coming up. So that's part of that topic um and staff morale in particular the relationships with bargaining units and how budget cuts are impacting teams and staff and then uh also initiative 81
which was sent in by um a student. And so um we have 30 minutes for this dialogue. Board members, time is ours. Anyone want to start? And let me also say um the healthy meals
one, we do have a statement that was put together for us. Um we have a liaison now with um uh comm's team and um please remind me, Joseph, what's his last name?
We wet Windsat. Thank you. Thank you, Joseph. So, um, Joseph has put together this statement in support of Colorado propositions LL and MM. It was also prompted by, um, Ed Bowich who told us that, um, there is great support for
this and, um, a lot of other school districts and organizations are on board and have um, issued statements in support of this. So, um it is definitely in I believe the school district's interest for us to be put on the record
and to be um upfront and even as individuals whenever we can supporting these two ballot initiatives. So, any other comments from board members? I just I have a question then. Um if we decided to support that, would we vote
on that at the next meeting? Yes. And would that also go on the consent agenda? Yes. And in fact, there's Yeah. So, it's possible a couple of these things, okay, would be added to the consent agenda. I would be fine with that. Okay. So, we will put that add that to
the consent agenda for next week. Um, let's talk about initiative 81 next, just because it's also got a um a potential resolution that we could um approve, could be approval next week as
well. And um I do feel like this is something that would go on the um ballot for next year for 2026 because it's um an initiative that needs to um get signatures from all over the state. It's going to be quite a an effort. Um, and
did everybody on the school board, did you do we all get the same thing? So, that's great. Um, very impressed with um this initiative. And as the student said to, she's going to have graduated already and not um uh get the benefit of
it. So it is um something in the alignment with what we've done in the school district, you know, especially with our agreements with Mines and we've got things going with um uh Red Rocks Community College and so forth. And this would um guarantee that um students
graduating I think it's the top 10% of graduates from every um Colorado school would be eligible for instate or excuse me for um uh approval admission into the state schools. So any comments on this
by anyone? Where it says guaranteed automatic admission that does not ensure financial support. Okay. And I'm I'm sure our state institutions would think about that. Um is this
similar to what other I know some other states have similar provisions. Yes. I think they have it in Texas. Yeah. Um I think it's great. Colorado has many
state schools that are excellent opportunities for our kids. And so I was excited to see that it was all state schools. I mean, you think about it, we've got, I don't know, seven, eight really awesome state schools. Um
yeah, when you talk about affordability, um you know, there's a there's a broad range there. There is. Um and when it comes to if you're talking about the top 10% of graduates, um for some of our our tier 2 and tier
three schools, that can come with 100% tuition coverage. So, um just because of where they are in their class. So yeah, it looks good to me. Are there, this is a stupid question probably, but and this is not for this
room. Are there any, have we heard anything from these institutions around what it could do to tuition if they're forced to accept higher or will it just mean they're just not going to accept as many out of state? Do we know what I don't want to call them unintended consequences, but
do we know how this would affect the schools, the colleges? It's great for our students. I'm just curious about the school impact. I mean, I'm obviously I'm just pulling this out of my pocket, but um I guess I would be surprised if it
actually impacted them all that much. They're probably taking a lot of the top 10% already. um where it's going to make the difference is for the kids whose test scores may not align with being in, you know,
in that top 10%. Um but I don't think that's going to be, you know, then you're talking about a percent of a percent there. Yeah. You know, it's it's it's not like we're asking them to take on an additional 10% beyond what they usually take. That's fair.
And it Yeah. It may also encourage students who might not have thought to apply to have access. Just curious. Yeah, I just turned on my mic to tell you I have not talked to anybody about that. It's a good question, but I don't I don't have a an answer. If that's something you want us to reach out to
higher ed partners and explore, we're happy to get you more information. I don't think so. It's just a a musing. So, I'm sure as this comes closer, we will hear from them. But I think it's great for our students. And I want to say I have one of my four daughters who
when she was looking for colleges, she was looking to see if anyone had such a a grid or a pro um policy and she just picked one. She says, "I can get in." You know, it was like she didn't want to apply to 10 different schools. She she liked that school and she said, "I can
get in." So she applied and got in. So and it was a Colorado school. Um all right. So, as it stands right now, we will put this on the consent agenda. And again, if anybody learns anything, uh, you know, in the inter room, we can
bring that up next week. All right. And then that, um, goes on to the next uh, t topic of staff morale. Um, anybody want to start the conversation on that? Sure, I will. Um, I suggested putting
this on our our discussion um this evening just as a point of check-in for those of us who are present here this evening. Um, we're on week three of the school year and um I know
we've all been out and around schools so I'm just curious about what are you hearing? I mean, it's interesting. I think I also put it on, but maybe for different reasons. Um, because what I'm hearing is, and I kind of mentioned it earlier,
the budget. People are hearing the budget is coming up and they're hearing it's a thing and um the teachers in my life are like, "What's going on?" I'm like, "Well, we're starting the process. Like, there's a template. There's guidelines. We're doing all these meetings. Like, we're starting to think about it. We're trying to think about it
really thoughtfully. But I I worry the rumors, as I asked earlier, are going to start to spin. And so, um, and I know not everybody finds it entertaining to stay up till 8:30 with us to listen to our study sessions when we're talking a lot about this. And I know we're the
Sachs and we're going to get out into the buildings more and I think that'll help a lot. Um, but it was just kind of front of mind as I've had a couple people be like, "Oh, I hear there's going to be budget cuts." And it's like, "Well, there are." and you're, you know, the letter went out which was an honest letter and I I think
people are starting to hear it which in one way I think is really good because people need to understand where we're at. Um and so I start my school visits officially tomorrow. So um I'm just it's something I'm aware of and trying to
kind of quell when I hear it. But it is something that I think we I mean to your point, Director Kenworthy, temperature check, right? Um what can we do when we're in those moments with people to calm the storm a little bit? Um but I I
think people are listening and I think people are starting to get worried. I think it's inevitable that people are going to be worried and um and some of that is just going to have to be trust the process. um and and trust the process and people are going to be
unhappy when all is said and done because nobody wants to make the cuts. I do think that there's something we heard this last night and um I think it's going to be really important. It's really important when we talk to the
public that we make it very clear that yes, a big chunk of what we spend is on salaries. Yes, we have made real progress in
pay in this district and that that is not the cause of the problem. That the teachers and our employees have not been greedy. They deserve what they're getting paid. That we are not being stingy or
dishonest about what we have done and and what we have. Um, one the leader of one of our associations last night said, "I just want to make it very clear that we are proud of the work that we've done to
make pay in this district more reasonable." Um, and so I think that's really important for us as we talk to the community that we are proud of the fact that we are paying our employees what they are worth or at least as close as we can with the resources that we
have. that we feel good about the fact that we have increased salaries, that that is not, you know, that the problem is that we underfund our schools in in Colorado, that Jeffco has not funded its
schools the way that other districts have funded its schools, and that we have a decline in enrollment, and that the problem is not our employees. Um, and I think that will go a long way toward helping those relationships stay
positive. I'd also like to give a shout out to JCA because they are instituting these roundts and I know three of um the board members so far have participated in them. I thought it was very gracious and and a sign of commitment to working
together for them to invite us. I personally appreciated it. Uh we got to hear from individuals. Um and I will say that the individuals who do speak have s serious concerns and and face uh real challenges and they were brave enough to
share them with us and and be um vulnerable out there. So I I appreciate that and I know they are planning to continue with that outreach to to the board and to um the superintendent, too. So, I thought that was great.
I think this is something I'd like to keep checking in on. Um, obviously we can't please everyone and that's really true. Um, but I think we have a platform where we can try to do our best to to bring those
points up. I think you're I think those points are well summarized and very succinct and good points. Um, I think we just know the next couple months could be difficult and we're kind of in it together and um committed to it
and this is a part of it. Yeah. Um, I've heard lots of good things happening in our schools already in the first three weeks and I've also had some teachers reflect to me that they're scared and so I want to I want to
acknowledge that as well. um and they have a variety of reasons that they're scared or concerned. Um but I want to hold that as part of our reality um moving forward um so that we are thoughtful in how we have conversation
and how we engage with our um study topics and staff um to be able to hold space for people to be uncomfortable or potentially feeling unsafe. um and also be able to come alongside
them as a non- anxious presence. Um I would encourage all of us on the board to try even when we feel anxious ourselves or concerned or scared to be in that um mindset of being a non- anxious presence. not
trying to heighten the fears and the concerns or feed the rumor mill or um speak towards division, but instead try to find um ways that you can hold space for folks without making promises that we can't follow through on um
individually. Um but also validating the concerns. Um and that's a it's a hard space to be in right now, but I wanted to acknowledge it. And I also wanted to acknowledge um that I do think we have some staff that are really scared and worried whether
it's budget cuts or it's other things specific to a school environment um that we need to be aware of as we sit here and talk about the 30,000 foot view. Um and that's why I put it on our
discussion list. Okay. I think that is um what we planned for this section and I am happy to say we made up some time. So um this does bring us to the end of today's agenda. Thank you to the presenters who pres participated in this study session. Our
next regularly scheduled meeting of the board is a regular meeting scheduled at 5 p.m. on September 11th at the Ed Center. We stand adjourn and good night. Heat. Heat. [Music]