be heych. All right. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. down. Down. Heat. Heat. behind me.
Down. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. I would like to call this meeting of November 13, 2025 to order. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. Miss Applelegate
>> here, Miss Kenworthy >> here, >> Miss Parker >> here, Miss Reed >> here, Dr. Varta >> here. >> Um, I would like to welcome everyone participating in tonight's meeting and especially the wonderful performance we just had from the Arbata West
theoretically funny. That was a wonderful way to start our our meeting tonight. Let's give them a round of applause. Uh whether you're in our live audience joining us virtually or serving as one of our valued presenters or participants, we're glad you're here. A special thank you to our live
simultaneous Spanish interpreters for joining us this evening as well. Please note that we are also live streaming this event. And uh note that we will take a 10-minute break at approximately 7:05 p.m. this evening after public comment. Please stand and join me uh in
the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
>> Is there a motion to approve today's meeting agenda as presented in board docs? >> 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 November 13, 2025 as presented in board docs. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. >> Miss Applelegate. >> Yes. >> Miss Kenworthy. >> Yes. >> Miss Parker. >> Yes. >> Miss Reed. >> Yes. >> Dr. Varta. >> Yes. >> And the agenda is approved. Every month, the board of education has
the pleasure of recognizing students, staff, schools, and community members for their achievements and contributions to our community. Now, we will move into honors and recognitions. For our first recognition of the evening, the board would like to recognize the Jeffco student leaders who
successfully advocated for the new sustainability end for Jeffco. Will these students please and their adviserss please make their way to the front of the boardroom? The students are Ayla Chang, Louise Legel, Claire Nalmer,
Ryder Gaines, Aziza Jabara, Charlie Bonham Fleming, Odin Contractor, Avery Fipps, Anukica Bergstrod, Kayn Bullard, Camille Richards,
Jack Dominguez, Amelia Carrington, Isaac Andrews, Naim Maloney, Maddie Turman, Sean Manderson, Emmy Whitney, Tate Borgman,
Benji Sanfalippo, and Gabe Poli. As stated in Jeffco Thrive strategic plan, all students Jeffco students have extraordinary student experiences that recognize their strengths, challenge them to improve, and support them to
succeed through their advocacy for sustainability measures and the adoption of a new end. These students have established a lasting legacy of improvement in Jeffco. Congratulations to these students and their adviserss, the Mountain Mamas, on this tremendous
achievement. board. Let's give them a round of applause and shake their hands. Is it in yours as well? >> I have so that was quite an amazing feat that they pulled off there. Um I'm so excited to
have been part of that whole effort. For our next recognition of the evening, the board would like to recognize Claire Nmer, a senior at Evergreen High School. Claire, please make your way to the front of the boardroom. The board is honored to recognize Claire Elmer as our learner, our future thrives
recognition recipient for November for receiving the future leader award from Jefferson County. Yeah. Claire, a senior at Evergreen High School, is an impactful student leader in Jefferson County. As a founding member of the Jeffco students and parents for climate action, she's participated in meetings with the board
of education, state legislators, and organized community events. Her advocacy contributed to major wins such as the hiring of a district sustainability manager, and a district application for electric school buses, which has since been awarded. As stated in Jeffco Thrive strategic plan, all students have an
extraordinary experience that recognizes their strengths, challenges them to improve, and support them to succeed. Claire has demonstrated her strength as a true leader in Jeffco, and we are thrilled to have the opp to see the opportunities ahead for her. Congratulations, Claire. Next, the board would like to recognize
Highland Electric Fleets and staff members Adam Blau and Jane Israel. While Adam and Jane, please join us at the front of the boardroom. Mary, you're supposed to The board is honored to recognize Highland Electric Fleets as an our as
our community, our legacy thrives recognition recipient for November for partnering with Jeffco public schools on the bus electrification pilot program. This pilot program introduced six electric buses to the Jeffco fleet,
resulting in immediate student health benefits and long-term cost savings to JECO schools. As stated in the Jefco Thrive strategic plan, our goal is to foster positive, mutually respectful, and trusting connections with Jeffco families and our community partners to
support student success. We are thrilled to partner with Highland Electric Fleets. This new and vital community partnership will be instrumental in supporting students success throughout JEFCO. We thank Highland Electric FE fleets for their commitment and eagerly
anticipate a long and productive partnership. For our next For our next recognition, the board would like to recognize Sonia Salak as the Colorado School Counselor Advocate of the Year by the Colorado School
Counselor Association, CSCA. Will Sonia please join us at the front of the boardroom? >> Okay. Um, the board is honored to recognize Sonia Salak as our people, our strength, thrives recognition recipient for November for being named the
Colorado School Counselor Advocate of the Year by the Colorado School Counselor Association. The Colorado School Counselor Association represents school counselors across all levels in Colorado, elementary, middle, high school, and post-secary, and works to
advance guidance and counseling statewide. These awards are among the highest honors in the field, celebrating those who exemplify CSCA's values through exceptional service and advocacy for students and colleagues alike. As stated in the Jeffco Thrive strategic
plan, our goal is to foster a collaborative, inclusive team culture with high expectations for staff and student performance, contributing to instructional excellence and extraordinary student experiences. Sonia consistently demonstrates fostering collaborative relationships and
inclusive team environments through her supportive efforts of our mental health staff throughout all of Jeffco. Congratulations to Sonia on this special recognition. For our next recognition, the board would like to recognize Leslie Mecca, a school counselor at Bear Creek K8, as a
middle school Colorado school counselor of the year by the Colorado School Counselor Association, CSCA. Okay. Will Lesie please join us at the front of the boardroom. >> The board is honored to recognize Lesie Mecca as an Our People, our strength
thrives recognition recipient for November for being named the Colorado School Counselor of the Year by the Colorado School Counselor Association. Lesie proudly serves as a middle school counselor at Bear Creek K8 and passionately works to serve all
students. Her efforts significantly contribute to the instructional excellence and extraordinary student experiences as established by the Jeffco Thrive strategic plan. Being named the Colorado School Counselor of the Year is among the highest honors in the field of
school counseling. Not only are the students of Bear Creek K8 incredibly fortunate to be cared for by such an incredible advocate, but all Jeffco benefits from her dedication, expertise, and example of excellence. Congratulations to Leslie on this
special recognition. For our final recognition of the evening, the board would like to recognize Julia Fliss for being named educator of the year from Jefferson County. >> Leslie, please join us at the front of the boardroom.
The board is honored to recognize Julia Fliss as our people, our strength. Thriv's recognition recipient for November for being named educator of the year from Jefferson County. Julia, a dedicated teacher at Evergreen Middle School, embodies our strategic goal of
fostering instructional excellence and extraordinary student experiences. She passionately advocates for both climate action and her students, empowering young change makers to lead at the school and district levels. Most recently, Julia guided students as they
successfully testified in support of a Jeffco school sustainability policy. Her inspiring leadership is guiding the next generation of advocates and contributing directly to our goal of high expectations for staff and student performance. We are incredibly proud to
have Julia as part of the Jeffco public schools community. Congratulations to Julia on this remarkable recognition. Um, we're going to take uh just a minute to see if anyone uh needs to leave at this moment before we get into the heart of our meeting.
Congratulations to all of you. She does every day. Okay, now turning to board proclamations. The board publicly recognizes special
events and significant issues by issuing pro proclamations. In the month of no November, we are commemorating Family and School Partnership in Education Month, which is November. National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, November 16 through
22nd. National School Psychology Week, November 3 through 7, National Education Support Professional Day, November 19, and National Substitute Educators Day, November 21st.
We encourage you to read the Jeff Co School Board's proclamations in board docs. Items 3.01 through 3.05 are presented in board docs as proposed proclamations for the month of November. Do I have a motion regarding the approval of the proclamations?
>> I move to approve items 3.01 through 3.05 on the action proclamation section as published in board docs. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? It has been moved and seconded to approve the November proclamations as
presented in board docs. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. >> Miss Applelegate. >> Yes. >> Miss Kenworthy. >> Yes. >> Miss Parker. Yes, >> Miss Reed. >> Yes, >> Dr. Varta. >> Yes. >> And the proclamations are approved. Next, we will move to public comment.
This evening, we have more than 20 members of the public signed up for public comment. Board policy GP17 provides that when we have 20 or more speakers signed up, the speaking time is reduced to two minutes per speaker and five minutes per group. As a board, we
feel it is important to allow the community to speak and share their concerns. Therefore, I'd like to propose a mo motion to wave that language in board policy GP17 and use the time limit set by policy for 1 to 19 speakers, which is 3 minutes per speaker and 10
minutes per group. Do I have a motion to wave the two-minut and five minute time limits under GP7 and allow each speaker 3 minutes and each group 10 minutes? >> I move to wave the public comment time limit in GP7 and allow each speaker three minutes and each group 10 minutes. >> Is there a second?
>> Second. Any discussion? It has been moved and seconded to approve waving board policy GP17 and allow each speaker three minutes and each group 10 minutes for public comment. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. >> Miss Applegate. >> Yes. >> Miss Kenworthy. >> Yes.
>> Miss Parker. >> Yes. >> Miss Reed? >> Yes. >> Dr. Va? >> Yes. >> That passes. Each speaker or group has been given a number. The board invites you to come up in that order. When the person before you completes their comments, you may step up to the podium.
We listen with respect and ask those who address the board to do the same. Will the guest with number one please make your way to the podium. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself and you have three minutes. >> Tom Coin, Lakewood.
As this is the last board meeting for some of you, I'm sure there are people here tonight who will sing your praises. I'm not one of them. I'm here to remind you and the public of all the times you looked away from critical issues facing Jeffco over the last four years. You looked away from
multiple financial scandals, including Jeff's $857 million capital program, the Arvvada pool, and the sale of closed schools like Emory. You looked away from Jeffco's sexual abuse scandals. For example, to the best of my knowledge, only one of the many
adults involved in the infamous Coline High School scandal has been fired. The rest still work for the district. Despite repeated warnings by Jeff Go CFO and the financial advisory committee, you looked away from the inevitable budget crisis you were creating when you
raised teacher pay by more than 50% over the last six years despite declining enrollment in revenues. You looked away as too many district classrooms became more focused on indoctrination rather than on teaching and learning. And Jeffco failed to
deliver on the very purpose of its existence to educate our children so they can proficiently read, write, and do math and science. And you looked away as the district spent millions on social emotional learning despite no rigorous evidence that it produced significant
improvements on any critical metric. So, who benefited from all your looking away and the destruction of public trust in Jeffco over the past four years? Not Jeff citizens who have watched Jeff Go School's painful 40-year decline from a national leader to a national
laughingstock. Not Jeffco parents who continue to fear sexual abuse and other threats to their children's safety in district schools. Not the district's 75,000 students who will pay a lifetime price for having received far less than the worldclass
education Jeffco promised them. And certainly not your reputation as effective directors of a $ 1.4 billion organization. No, only one group benefited from your board's dereliction of duty. The teachers union that backed and funded
your election. Everyone else lost. That's your legacy. >> Thank you. Number two. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself and you have three minutes. >> Good evening. My name is Lee Hester and I have the privilege of serving as the principal of Foster Dual Language PreK8.
I am honored to be here tonight to express my profound gratitude to Danielle Varda, Paula Reid, and Mary Parker for their extraordinary service over the past four years. It is truly difficult to capture the depth of what has been asked of you and the strength
with which you have continually stepped forward. You have led Jeff Crow through one of the most challenging periods in our district's history. In the wake of CO 19 when every aspect of our lives and schools had been disrupted, you chose to
take on the weight of leadership. You guided our students, families, staff, and schools through the uncertainty of rebuilding, restoring stability and hope when they were needed most. As our community began to heal, the challenges did not end. You
confronted significant budget realities with honesty and courage, making decisions none of us ever want to make, including the closure of schools that held decades of memories and meaning. You carried these responsibilities with
compassion and integrity, always centering on what was best for students. Throughout your service, you modeled leadership, grounded in courage, collaboration, and deep care for this community. You listened, you learned, you persevered even in the face of
criticism because you believe in what public public education is and what it can be. Your work has helped lay a foundation for the years ahead, shaping a future built on stability, thoughtful vision, and the resilience you had you
have helped to rebuild. I would like to extend a special thank you to Dr. Varta who represented Foster for two years of her term. your partnership with our school, meeting with and speaking to staff at the start of the year, speaking at our dual language Colorado
conference, and joining us multiple times as a judge in our beloved Tamalei throwdown has meant so much. Your support for Foster has been unmistakable, and we are grateful for the belief and encouragement you have consistently shown us. On behalf of the entire Jeffco
community, our students, families, teachers, and staff, thank you. Thank you for your time, your sacrifice, and your unwavering commitment to our schools. You have made a lasting and meaningful difference. Thank you. Number three.
Welcome. Please introduce yourselves. And I'm not sure if you're a group or individual. >> We're a group. >> Okay. Yes. >> Thank you. Then >> yes, >> attendance. My name is Annie Contractor and I'm here on behalf of Engaged Jeffco. >> My name is Caitlyn Fitzpatrick and I'm
also here on behalf of Engaged Jeffco. >> Thank you for giving us some time to speak tonight. We're here to thank our board members. But before that, I'd like to share a bit of input about budget and mental health as we're facing our budget reduction this year. I'm here on behalf of Engaged Jeffco to
comment on the district budget reduction. We want to thank our district leaders and our board members for making yourselves available through two in-person budget labs and ad hoc meetings when folks have reached out. This accessibility matters engaged
members have valuable perspectives on equitable budget reductions that protect our most vulnerable learners. Today I'm highlighting two critical priorities that have come up with engage Jeffco. Mental health resources must receive the same protection as the department of
school safety. Superintendent Dorland has stated that the department of school safety, including SRO's, cameras, radios, and incident response, will face no budget reductions. We appreciate the district's commitment to keeping schools safe. We also know from a strong
evidence base that violence prevention starts with belonging and belonging grows through consistent compassionate human connection. These connections are our most powerful violence prevention tools. Therefore, we expect equal protection for social emotional learning
specialists, mental health providers, and support services in each school. If the district can fully fund security infrastructure, it must fully fund the human connections that truly make schools safe. Second, the budget reduction blueprint must explicitly
prioritize equity as it moves forward. The blueprint's guiding values of fiscal sustainability and student experience lack explicit commitment to equity and protecting our most vulnerable students from disproportionate cuts. We applaud you recognizing the necessity of a
needs-based approach to setting school level reduction targets. We know that schools that serve the highest need students rely more heavily on central supports such as cells, our social emotional learning specialists, than other schools in the district and face
disproportionate cuts to a student body that needs these resources the most. We urge transparency now on how those targets are determined, which metrics define need, and how you will actively shield students with greatest needs from harm.
Yesterday, we learned that cell specialists at elementary schools are facing significant reductions because they are funded through the central office of student services budget, unlike middle and high school level specialists. With the $1.2 2 million
reduction target for the student success team. It appears that cells and cell coaches making up over 70% of the department budget are in for significant reductions. As a parent and foster parent, I have had two children rely
heavily on mental health supports at the elementary school level. And I know that without those supports, children don't just struggle academically. They don't make it. particularly in schools that are more heavily impacted by higher rates of
poverty. Engaged Jeffco is concerned that this is not reflective of community input. It's not reflective of the commitment to keep budget cuts away from our children and it's not taking the district in the right direction as we solve the critical need of financial sustainability. We urge you to rep
prioritize equity in the budget reduction process, starting with protections for our best safety tools, mental health resources, and following through with the transparency for how you will protect our most vulnerable learners. Thank you for your time, and I'll now turn things over to my
colleague Caitlyn Fitzpatrick. >> Good evening. Engaged Jeffco, a parent and caregiver group that has been advocating for equity and the defense of public education in our district for almost a year now, would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the outgoing, excuse me, outgoing board members,
President Parker, Director Reid, and Director Varta, who have each contributed countless hours to advancing the district's mission of educational excellence and equity, ensuring that every student is seen, valued, and supported. We especially appreciate their perspectives and working together
to build a stronger, more connected and more connected schools across JeepCo. We are so grateful for your courage, heart, and dedication. We'd also like to send a special thank you, our profound gratitude to Dr. Danielle Varda for her
unwavering support in in launching Engaged Jeffco. Throughout her tenure, Dr. Varta de demonstrated what true public service looks like. Leading with courage, integrity, and an unwavering belief that every student deserves to thrive. At times when competing voices
sought to divide or distract, Danielle stood firm in her commitment to equity, compassion, and community. She reminded us all that leadership is not about choosing the easy path, but about standing up for what is right, even when it's hard. Danielle's vision and strength helped create a space
meaningful a space for meaningful communic community participation in the district. Her steadfast belief that voices of families, educators, and community partners belong at the table has shaped a culture of inclusion and accountability that will outlast her
last term. Engaged Defco would not be where we are today without Danielle's leadership. From our earliest days, she believed in our mission, encouraged us to organize and help B build bridges across differences to focus on what truly matters, the success and well-being of
all Jefco students. And recently, this is just kind of an extra added thing. I've been thinking a lot about what schools what school leaders and the community are tasked with. They're monumental charges and we ask them of our district, all the
leaders. And I want to share a passage that a friend of mine and an educator sent to me. We ask schools to be a refuge, a steady place in a world that can feel unsteady for so many students. A place where a child can walk in at 7:15 a.m. and feel safe, welcomed, and seen. We ask them to feed children who
come to school hungry. To welcome every language and every family story. to support reading, math, science, and writing, and also social emotional learning, conflict resolution, digital citizenship, and the thousand other skills a child needs to thrive. We ask schools to notice when a student is
struggling, to distinguish misbehavior from trauma, and to respond with compassion, not punishment. We asked educators to be teachers, yes, but also counselors, nurses, mentors, translators, coaches, and even the most consistent, caring adult a child might
see every day. We ask classrooms to be both safe spaces and brave spaces, places that protect children from the world while also preparing them for it. And we ask schools to close the gaps they did not create, to heal wounds they did not cause, and to solve problems far
bigger than their four walls. Yet every morning, despite the challenges and the pressure, schools open their doors and try again. Teachers greet students with hope. Staff members show up with dedication. Community partners step in with support and children, resilient,
curious, extraordinarily amazing children, walk in ready to learn, to grow, and to be believed in. So tonight, let's recognize the incredible weight we place on our schools and the incredible work that they continue to do. Anyway, let's continue to partner with them, to
listen to them, support them, and honor them because when we vest when we invest in our schools, we invest in our children's futures and in the future of our entire community. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh number four
Welcome. Please introduce yourself and you have 10 minutes. >> Yes. Uh my name is Betty Boyd. I live in Lakewood and uh am a former board member of the Jeffco Action Center when it was the Jeff Co action center. um also a proud parent of two Green Mountain High
School graduates and a granddaughter who's there now. Um since 1968, the Action Center has been providing for the needs of countless members of our community. Um over the decades, they've
continued to innovate and adjusted services to meet the ongoing needs. Um, currently the action center sees 600 60,000 family visits each year and the need is growing. Uh, since 2019,
they've seen a 300% increase in requests for assistance. As a forburn board member, I was invited to tour the Emory facility uh a few months ago and the the plans that the action center has for
that facility are just wonderful. Uh it creates it will create an opportunity for people to receive multiple services that they can't receive right now at the action center um by co-housing other agencies with them. and it will be a it
will provide good community space as well for um for other uses for the the immediate community. So I strongly encourage um you to pass the resolution about the action center and make it available uh
make the Emory property available so that the city of Lakewood can purchase that. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Kelly O'Brien. I'm a citizen of Lakewood. I spent part of my career with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. In
ongoing research, one of the most important findings was that for inmates released with adequate support, social services, educational opportunities, counseling, their recidivism rate was significantly lower than the average.
Now, first of all, I want to stress that I know our discussion is not related to inmates or prison. I'm not trying to confuse the issue and I don't want to start any rumors. I say this to bring up a question that we should all be asking ourselves.
Why don't we offer this kind of support before people get in a desperate situation? Why don't we as a society find effective ways to help before the loss of jobs, the loss of income, the lack of support, and the feeling of not
being safe. That's what the action center would be doing at the Emory building. It's a center that's larger, so it has a greater variety of readily available services, accessible services, and such
a center could actually be preventative, considered a preventative measure. Families can stay together, are encouraged to stay together in their house or their apartment, but their their home with a sense of security and
safety. Groceries, electricity, heat, as well as counseling, direction, and job applications can be readily provided at a critical point in their lives. The expansion of the action center by
acquiring this wonderful, large, and currently unused building would be a benefit not only to the clients, but a benefit also to all the citizens of Jefferson County. Thank you. Members of the Jeffcore School Board of
Education, my name is Pauline Nunes and I reside in Lakewood, Colorado. I fully support the proposed sale of the Emery Elementary School site to the city of Lakewood to allow the action center to create a new community center. I learned about the action center's great service
to our community as a member of Lakewood United Church of Christ who has supported the action center since its inception. I also am a resident of the city of Lakewood Wart 3 where the action center has presented their plans for
using Emery Elementary to establish a collaborative system of care. I was thoroughly impressed with their vision. At a time where families are facing rising food and health costs in our community, this project will expand the number of people that can be helped. I
urge the board of education to approve this sale so the property can be repurposed into a cornerstone of community support. Thank you. >> Good evening. My name is Stephanie Huitt. I'm the director of community partnerships at Cross Purpose. cross
purpose is a workforce and community development program and for the last year we've been in conversation with the action center about the use of the Emory space. Our executive team is incredibly excited about the prospect of doing a
community workforce program within the Emory space and uh we have a saying at crosspurpose that no significant change can happen without a significant relationship. We know that the significant relationships that would be
established by offering multiple services from multiple partners would be a fantastic gift to our neighbors. But it is that joint effort that we are doing it all together as multiple community partner programs which I
believe will make us a a light among the US. So, I really urge you to vote for this sale. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Dave Ryan. I live in Lakewood and also have the privilege of serving on the Lakewood City Council, but I'm
here just on my personal capacity. Uh, I would be remiss, however, I having been on the DAS for a couple years now. Thank you very much for all that you do, all the arrows that you take and and uh all the work that you do to try and make our
Jeffco families and kids uh better. You know, the city council voted unanimously in favor of this and it wasn't uh very difficult why. I mean, my constituents came out overwhelmingly in favor of this. You know, when the school closed, it left a void in the community. There
was a community asset that was no longer available. And this fills that void. this void that um exists now is going to come back to life as a community asset. And this is a perfect collaboration of nonprofits, government, and businesses
coming together to develop something very cool that we would spend years and years to create if this didn't exist already. It's a collaboration that helps, as you already heard, uh Jeffco families, Jeffco kids. This is exactly who this is going to serve. the people
that you serve. That's who the action center serves. The guard rails are already in place. This is not going to be an overnight shelter. It can't be legally. And it also there's language in the contracts that says if this property
gets sold and it's no longer a community asset, nobody can profit from it. The money will go to Jeffco schools. You know, I think it's really important for that in this vote, you're thinking about the legacy that you've already
built. I think this will continue to build the legacy of helping kids and Jeffco families. Thank you. >> Good evening, uh, school board members and Superintendent Dorland. Wonderful to see you and thank you so much for your service. My name is Pam Brier and I'm a
Jeff Go resident and the CEO of the action center. I want to express my sincere gratitude for the action I believe you will take this evening to approve the sale of the Emory School to the city of Lakewood. Schools are more than buildings. They're cornerstones of trust, support, and community
connection. We deeply appreciate the district's commitment to ensuring that the sale and repurposing of these properties continue to honor the legacy of community impact. The action cent's collaborative campus will do just that. It will keep families strong by
providing critical supports, services, and enrichments, learning opportunities for the entire community. As you heard today, the action center is serving more than 300 households a day, over 60,000 annually. We offer free grocery, clothing, financial assistance, resource
navigation, family coaching, skills classes, workforce support, and more. Additionally, we operate a food hub that supplies healthy food to 11 partner pantries across Jeffco and across the region. Municipalities have supported affordable property acquisitions for
organizations like ours because these investments save taxpayer dollars and strengthen communities. As public resources shrink, our work becomes ever more critical. Without organizations like the action center and our partners,
families fall into crisis, costing cities and taxpayers taxpayers far more in the long run. Emory will not only house the action center. Our vision includes partnering with medical providers, behavioral health specialists, workforce, and other
enrichment services for all ages. This will be a true community asset, a collaborative space that delivers an exceptional return on investment. Your support demonstrates that the district values more than dollars. It prioritizes ensuring former schools continue to
serve Jeffco students and families in meaningful and critical ways. We cannot thank you enough for this logical, compassionate, and community centered decision. Our world needs more of this. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Do we have number five?
>> Welcome. Please introduce yourself and you have three minutes. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is P Royal. I'm from the city of Lakewood. The topic is Emory. I hear pros and cons about Emory. I would just like to give you another
thought and the thought is that our kids, we need to keep them safe. We need to keep staff safe. The recommendation or here's a thought for you. What if we were to go ahead and create an SRO, a
police uh county, the cities to bring them in to teach them the new technologies and the new things that are coming through our communities like drugs, um paraphernalia, uh and teach them what's coming through
and then also train them on uh the solutions and to keep our staff and our children safe. And I would recommend maybe take a very close look on creating an academy there to help us. And you'll
start seeing changes in about five years, four years. Uh the other thing that I wanted to mention along uh with this with the action center being there, we have a high school, Alama High School that is just literally about a block
away when we bring homeless and other other uh people coming in. They're going to intermix with our uh students and there's going to be some conflict coming in on both sides back and forth. But I
wanted to make sure and present that to you to to kind of let you know what's going on. But I would recommend very strongly to take a close look to see if we can get your staff, your SRO's to give them proper training and to bring
the police departments from different parts of the the county and the state and the federal government like the FBI, the DEA, the ATF to train us what's coming down the pike and to show us so
we can protect our kids and our staff. So I just wanted to present that to you another alternative. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Number six. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourselves.
And you have I don't know how many minutes. Three. Thank you. Hi, I'm Bellamy Va. >> I'm Marla Varta. And I'm Olivia Varta. And we are Daniel Varta's three amazing daughters.
Our mom shows us more love than we can ask for. She makes us feel like we can be whoever we want. She supports us in whatever we want to do. Whether that's waking up at 5:00 a.m. for my sister's horse riding, getting my other sister ready for dance for her dance
competitions or letting me do a million activities. She is ready to support us and every kid. She is nice, caring, loving, thoughtful, and so smart. She is always there for us in every way, shape, and form. No matter if she's busy, we can always count on
her that she'll make that she will be there. Our mom not only makes sure that our needs are met, but any kid. For example, she cooks breakfast for all of my friends and makes sure that they have rides to places like school. All of my friends love her and would consider her
a second mom. She always makes sure to see everything from both perspectives and ensures the best outcome. Even though I am a typical teenager and we fight sometimes, she does her best and always shows us so much love, even when
we don't entirely deserve it. For the past four years, we have watched our mom work close to 80our work weeks between running two small businesses and the school board. Yet, she has still been able to be an extremely important figure in our lives. She advocates. She
advocates for us whether at home or in school. If we're struggling with our homework or things that we can't necessarily control, she makes sure we have those decisions. She does that for every kid in this district, making sure they get the support and safety they
need in schools. Even though she endures harassment from countless people, she she still fights for these kids in this district. And we are extremely proud for making our not only our lives better but countless other kids in the district.
And we also know she will be an amazing house representative. Our mom has to be the best mom in the whole white universe. Thank you. Number seven. Okay, thank you. Seven and eight. I
don't know how many minutes that's going to add up to, but introduce yourself and get started. >> I'm Sarah Flint. I live in Littleton and we all represent Adam Brook Classical Academy. Um, good evening and thank you for allowing us this opportunity to speak
with you. This is our my family's sixth year at classical at Brook Classical Academy. I have four children ranging in ages from seven to 17, all attending Adam Brook. While I had never imagined having my children attend any school other than our assigned community
schools through a ciruitous route, we found ourselves at Adenbrook when my oldest was starting seventh grade. He is now a senior. There are so many things that we appreciate about Adenbrook. Just to name a few, the classical curriculum, the emphasis on the trivium, that is
grammar, logic, and rhetoric, high standards of behavior and dress, the study of classical literature, art, and music. The teaching of critical thinking skills, the purposeful focus on building character traits, the daily participation in music at all grade
levels, the limited use of technology, the uplifting field trips, including whole school field trips at the high school level, which is usually going to the symphony or a play that's based on a book that they've been reading. These are all unique, impactful, and meaningful parts of my children's
experiences as Adam Brookke. We have also appreciated the opportunity for our high schoolers to take concurrent enrollment classes and my senior has loved being able to attend both Adam Brook High School and Warren Tech. My children have been influenced and taught by caring teachers, staff
members, and administration who truly want the students to succeed in life and play a positive role in society. The people of Adam Brook's administration have so much passion in helping Adenbrook and its students succeed in all aspects. Since Adam Brook is a charter school, there's flexibility to
do things that Jeffco does, but in a different way, such as the sixth grade outdoor lab, the fourth and fifth grade battle of the books, and certain aspects of the concurrent enrollment program. My children have thrived from the way that Adam Brook has chosen to do these traditional activities. We love that Adam Brook is a smaller school, and it
has a great community feel to it. Adam Brook provides a purposeful quality education that includes academics plus a whole lot more in ways that are unique from the traditional Jeffco schools. They seek to build the next generation in partnership with the parents and families of the children that attend
this school. My children and our family have grown from going to Adambrook in ways that we wouldn't have had we not been there. Our family is grateful that Adambrook has been and continues to be a valuable school in the Jefferson County School District. Thank you.
Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. My name is Elizabeth Hopkins and I have two children who attend Aden Brook Classical Academy. I would like to speak today on behalf of the school and share how much Adenbrook means to me and my family. I was trying to come up with a single word that would summarize my feelings. I
found that I have three that immediately came to mind and I can't choose between them. So, you get all three. The three words are community, education, and family. Community can be defined as a group of people who share similar goals and interests. Adenbook strives for this exact definition. Our school wants to
make our students and family feel included. And guess what? We do. Examples of this involvement include the over a thousand people who just attended our fall festival, the fall fundraiser that surpassed our goal by over $10,000 given by the families of our students.
Time after time, our community goes above and beyond attending sporting events, concerts, art shows, parents group meetings, monthly assemblies. We all feel connected to the students, to the staff, to each other. We have developed a community that goes beyond Carline report cards and parent teacher
conferences. We're involved, engaged, and willing to make commitments that go beyond normal expectations because we share something in common. We want our children to succeed. Education. This one alone would be more than enough of a reason for me to choose Adenbrook for my children. I strongly
believe in the classical education approach and the curriculum that aligns. Education is a top priority at Adenbrook. I'm so thankful my children are challenged and expectations are placed on them. Expectations that I did not receive as a child. I was not pushed like they are. School was easy for me. I
graduated second in my class with above a 4.0 GPA. College was a rude awakening for me. My oldest has shared many things that she's learning to do right now. She's recently learned how to write a check, manage finances, even write a speech. These are life skills valuable
to learn even at a young age. Right now, she's diving deep into books that she will spend the next few months preparing for for a battle of the books. She's beyond excited. This enthusiasm, this is why we love Adenbrook. My children want to learn. Lastly, I want to talk about
family. When we moved to Colorado nine years ago, we did not know anyone. We have formed a family here that goes beyond blood. My best friends are parents at Adenbrook. The network of support stems beyond a school. Our piano teacher is a parent at Adenbrook. My
hair stylist is a parent at Adenbrook. One of my pastors at church is a parent at Adenbrook. This is my family. I want to thank you for listening to me today and for getting a very small glimpse into what Adenbrook means to me, my family, and the community of parents, families, and children who call
Adenbrook home. We consider ourselves lucky to have such a great school for our children. We hope you can see how important it is. Again, thank you for your time. >> Hi, I'm Chris Kdamire of Lakewood and my family has attended Adenbrook since the day about 11 years ago uh when the
elementary started. I've got four kids and uh one just graduated this year uh this last year. And uh speaking on what Adenbrook means to me, I think of stories of each one of my kids, the oldest of whom uh is a wonderful, bright
young man who couldn't find his way until the final thesis uh presentation his senior year. and through that has kind of transformed the way he's approached community college and has now been pulled aside by multiple professors asking him if they can work if he'll work with him on special projects
because uh through that uh last effort uh from the teachers he was able to reframe the way he thought about education my second daughter had a very tough time making friends and the teachers of Adenbrook came alongside her and showed her that she was cared for even when that wasn't easy for her
personally. Uh my third is incredibly bright but very shy and the teachers push her to mentor other students in Spanish and other things uh that really help her to grow personally and in her leadership. And my youngest struggles with unique uh special needs and
Adenbrook even though uh it's a charter school has been able to come alongside and help him grow in ways that are special for him. I also really appreciate the music program because my house sometimes I don't appreciate it is filled with singing and playing of instruments nearly all of the time. Uh
and I also am grateful that Adenbrook has such a wide variety of students from different uh uh uh backgrounds and from different economic uh situations. That's been a real blessing for my children. But mostly I'm grateful that it has
taught my children to think and then to speak those thoughts so that they can uh share what they're experiencing in life as well as uh communicate their own thoughts. Thank you very much. >> My name is Christina Lanzen. I'm here with my husband Scott and we are in
unincorporated Jefferson County. Um we have four children. Our oldest is a 2024 graduate of Adam Brook. We have a senior this year, a sixth grader, and a fourth grader. And right there, that's just spans our entire program. So to have all of my kids in one school and one um
program that has uh continuity has has made a huge difference. Um we chose to switch to Adenbrook when our oldest was going into fifth grade. She was struggling with undiagnosed at the time, dyslexia, uh test anxiety, and extreme
um excessive compulsive disorders. um her neighborhood school, a Jeffco school, was very supportive. Um but we just knew she needed something a little different. So we switched uh to Adam Brook. And what made it really nice was my then third grader was able to make the transition just very smoothly as
well. Um and over the years, it's just been the best fit for us. And we now have our graduate who is in college and thriving and she has expressed multiple multiple times how prepared she felt for college with her uh education through Eden Brook. Um most of that I will
credit towards our curriculum the trivia that has been mentioned the core knowledge curriculum that starts even as early as first or second grade and they get ancient civilizations and then four years later they come back to that same and they build on what they learned four years ago and then again in high school.
um just the building blocks have been tremendous for our kids. Um and then there we get go down all the way to my fourth grader who has been recently um tested as gifted and talented thankfully through Jeffco and the resources that
he's able to receive through them. And then my husband had just a couple seconds. >> Hi, my name is Scott Lansen. Um I'm grateful I'm grateful that we have school choice in Colorado. A lot of people I know, relatives don't have that and I know not every school is for every
person, but we've found the school that's for us and uh just love it. Um I'm also grateful that the school not only educates my kids, but it creates an environment where they are encouraged to serve their fellow students, their staff, and the community at large. I
didn't get that growing up in a big high school. And uh just love that my kids are getting that intentionality where they're at now. And then lastly, I truly believe that it takes a village. Um, and I know that at Adenbrook, we have a village, as people have already said, that builds a community that uh I can
trust and know that my kids being raised in a great environment. >> Not sure how we are on time. Yeah, I think you all had signed up indiv individually, so theoretically you had three minutes each, so I think you can keep going. >> Thank you. Okay, my name is Paul Smith.
Um, I'm from Highland Ranch. This is my wife, Shannon. >> Um, we have 12 kids. Um, the last six of which have gone to Adam Brook. Uh we have had our children go to private Catholic schools, Denver public schools,
and even homeschool. Um one thing that we love about Adam Brook is that it draws our our children out to be leaders and encourages them to step forward and um be more that they that
they can be. And a couple of examples. Um the teachers in the classical method listen to our children. Um they don't just understand that there's one way to do a problem to solve a problem. Uh they
actually encourage the kids to find new ways to solve problems and um ask them how did you come up with that? It's not always the same path for every child, right? Um so every kid has a different way of learning. Uh we have
our senior who has struggled educationally but at Brook has found love encouragement and they have drawn him out of his shell. Um and through Warren Techch he's now going to
be a firefighter. So, um, but everything that these people have said about Adam Brookke is absolutely true. Um, absolutely solid and is just an amazing school. Um, we live in Highlands Ranch for Douglas County, but we are so fortunate to be
able to send our children to Haden Brook. Thank you. >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Alex Arho and uh, my better half was not able to be here this evening. Uh her name is Samar Miho and we're in agreement um as a couple and with our um fellow parents
that are um have students attending Adenbrook and uh I specifically want to talk about one of my sons. I have two that are attending Adenbrook. Um James uh he is um he has an IEP and previously
we live in Denver and uh we had our neighborhood school that he was attending and early on in elementary school I noticed that there was something missing. Um I grew up in the Denver public school system and uh I didn't I didn't want that same thing for for my son. He he deserves we all want
better for our children and um when he was in elementary school, I noticed that there was something missing and he he wasn't excelling uh early on with his IEP at DPS and uh we had some friends that attended Adam Brook and they recommended it to us. So, we jumped ship and we went that way. Um and I'm glad we
did because throughout James' career, he's now in high school. Um with his IEP and everything, he's he's doing phenomenal. He's he's learning great. Um there's tweaks that that need to be made here and there so that he continues to to progress. Um he he's doing a great
job. Um everybody at Adam Brook does a great job. Everything that they've said as well, I agree. Um we are a community and there's a lot of support there. And uh my son Alexander, he's in third grade and um I look forward to having my son graduate from the high school as well.
Uh James is looking forward to um what what's to come after Adam Brookke due to the fact that he's had so much support. So he's looking forward to attending college or um uh Warren Tech. He wants he's been pushing really hard for Warren Tech. So uh we're talking a lot about
that one. Um so the support's been there. Communication at Aden Brook's phenomenal uh from the teachers themselves to the classes that they're attending um to the leadership. It's consistent and there's no breakdown at all. it seems like is just got a really really good, you know, handle on that.
Um, relationships between James and his teachers are genuine and thoughtful. Uh, they all have supported and pushed him, uh, to be the best at all times. Uh, sometimes it's a little bit harder because James is really hard on himself, but uh, the teachers, they'll communicate to his parents day, not
necessarily daily, but on those rough days, hey, James struggled in school today, but you can feel the love and the genuiness behind it. Just just them wanting my child to succeed. And that's something that I don't I never received in DPS, but I feel, you know, uh, having Adam Brook behind us is is definitely
allowed that. Um, and I'm truly grateful for that. And, um, yeah. So, thank you. I appreciate you. Let me have a moment. My name is Matt Ellis. Uh, I have, uh, had three sons at Adenbrook. We've been a part of Adenbrook family for 11 years.
Um, two of my sons have graduated and are now thriving in college, uh, a private, uh, university that has very high standards and, uh, Adbrook really prepared them, uh, to thrive there. Uh, we love the community that we found. Uh,
parents know and support each other. I love it when I walk in the local coffee shop and I see a group of moms that are Adam Brook moms that are encouraging each other, coaching each other. Um, I've been a part of a group of fathers that meets monthly that uh encourages each other in the same way um to be
fathers who are involved in the lives of our kids. Uh I think that's pretty unique to uh in a public school setting. Um this culture comes from the top. I love it when um we are out in the on the weekend and we run into teachers. And
when I was a high schooler, I would run from my teachers, but my kids, they want to greet their teachers. And uh this um is just such a cool uh community environment. Um, it was really, um, I was really impressed a few weeks ago
when we went to an Eagle Scout ceremony for one of the students and several of the school families were there, including Rick Netzer, our head of school off the clock, showed up just to show that he that he cares. Um, uh, we
appreciate that the staff uh, cares about character development and emphas emphasizes character development. I've spent a significant time on school campuses working for various nonprofits and uh sports programs and I've been
surprised at the disrespect that I see between students and teachers in other schools uh and parents as well. I don't see this at Adam Brookke and uh I think it's because they've done such a phenomenal job at developing uh character in the students. There is a
respect that I don't typically see on other schools. Um, we appreciate the classical approach. The Socratic method of teaching and learning has given my boys the critical thinking skills that they will need in a culture that has abandoned truth and critical thinking as
values. Uh, last year we were surprised when my 15-year-old son came home and was spending an in inordinate amount of time researching. Uh, he was looking for source documents about ancient Egypt. And we had never seen him study so much,
hours and hours every every night for about a week and a half. Uh we found out it was because his history teacher asked some challenging questions and his history teacher was coming um from a different um lens how he saw the world
and it really uh ruffled my son's feathers and my son wanted to prove him wrong. And we uh you know, maybe not the best motivation, but um the the idea of how uh you know, the method of asking questions and then sending the kids home
to find the answers um really turned my son, my um son that's hard to tame and hard to um focus turned him into a researcher. Uh so Adri has supported my entire family during a critical season of our lives. Re we've re received
support as parents. My boys have made lifelong friends. Each of my sons have been challenged athletically, academically, character development, and have become critical thinkers. My family will be forever grateful for the impact that Adam Brookke has had on our family
and to um our neighborhood, to the community, to the city, to the state, and hopefully someday I will send my grandkids there as well. >> Thank you all. So I think those were groups seven and eight. Do we have a number nine?
>> Welcome. Please introduce yourself and your >> My name is Lenor Herskovitz and I live in Lakewood and like I'd like to open by saying the action center is a wonderful organization and does provide wonderful community services. However, the action
center is not purchasing Emory. Um if they were, they would have to pay fair market value. So I have some questions for you. I'm wondering how and why it was decided that Emory should be sold to Lakewood
for $4 million. The county has assessed the property at 9 million. The chief of sustainability and community development in Lakewood has told me that the county assessment is usually low, which would mean that
the school and its surrounding land is worth even more than $9 million. How do you justify squandering this asset when the school district has a $6 million deficit? You
are contemplating a mill levy to raise funds. But why would property owners support this if you take this present action um regarding Emory which re to me anyway
reflects fiscal irresponsibility. I hope you will reconsider this. I have heard people talking here saying that the number of services that have been cut. Please value this asset properly. Um,
thank you. Thank you. Do we have number 10? >> We have number nine. >> Oh, I thought that was nine. >> Oh, that was eight. Okay, number nine. Thank you. Welcome. Please introduce yourselves and
you have I think 10 minutes. >> Good evening. My name is Monica Gro. I am a uh resident here in Golden and a member of the Golden Softball Association board. Thank you for allowing us to be here and thank you for what you do. Um this is my first school
board meeting and I would say this is extremely enlightening to hear all these different voices. what a special Jefferson County community we have. I this has really been eye openening. As we consider the budget cuts, we're here to talk on behalf of the importance of youth athletics. Um I'm also coach Coach
Monica and I would be remiss if I didn't recognize the girls and boys that are in the audience. If you can please stand, please. We've been here for a long evening. Um let's get our wiggles out a little bit. Raise our hands. Shake ourselves around
a little bit. Turn to your right and your left and give that person a high five, even if you don't know them. High fives. High fives. Listen, we love these kids. We absolutely love them. We're parents. Um we know the importance of keeping kids active. Um all the mental
health benefits of belonging and having leadership. I've been a coach for about 10 years now and and female sports is something that's extremely important to me to empower these girls to be leaders to use their bodies in strong purposes and not just sexual purposes. It's
extremely important that we keep youth athletics alive. So, thank you for letting me speak. I'm going to hand it over to Chrissy Norton who's also a board member. Thank you. >> I'm just going to introduce myself. Matt Arvin, but I'm the president of the uh
thing, but Chrissy is the the the brains of the operation. But if there's time left, I would uh I'll say a few words. >> Awesome. >> Thank you. My name is Chrissy Norton and I am here
as Monica spoke on to speak about on behalf of the Golden Softball Association and also the Golden High School um softball team as well on the topic of how guaranteeing activities and athletics matters for everyone. Um here
with us we have Golden Softball Association um board members, coaches, players, parents, families, um and GHS softball players, coaches, family members. Um
I'd like to start by sharing our understanding of the Jeff Co budget challenges as they pertain to this topic and um give us a little bit of uh forgiveness here. We're a little bit late to the party on what has been taking place over the last of the past
several months. And it came to our attention over the past two weeks that um the challenges that you face with the $60 million budget um imbalance and also the combination of additional revenue and spending that you that the
collective efforts are the collective efforts are taking place to um balance that budget. and doing so through that combination of additional revenue and and reduced spending. Um, one of these areas that we are most
concerned with is um the budget balancing discussions and decisions that are taking place in the athletics and activities departments across Jeffco now to be finalized and make decisions to present to you in proposals for the 2026
27 budget. Um, right now from information that we've pulled off of the Colorado uh the Colorado Department of Education financial transparency website, we understand that athletics and activities current spending is roughly 1.5% overall
of overall spending coming in at about $21 million roughly over which equates to about $281 per student. And like I said, forgive us if this information is incorrect. It's potentially unconfirmed on um a couple
of these numbers, but and correct us if if they are not correct, but um we understand that potentially $2 million of the $60 million budget balance share is expected to come from the athletics
and activities departments. That's a piece that is unconfirmed. We did hear that from um conversations that we've had with our school and the administration there. Um that equates to about 3.3% of the $60 million
expectation for the budget reduction by our calculations. We understand that all possibilities and creative solutions are being considered to avoid making cuts that impact student development and that nobody wants to make these difficult decisions.
We learned that um there are challenges in our conversations where we look at a situation with the Golden High School um softball team potentially being cut. We look at that and say, um, we've had discussions like what what will the
district gain by potentially cutting a small program like the Golden High School softball team? And is there potential to self-fund this organization to keep that program alive? We've learned in some of our conversations that the challenges to
that there are some with self-funding of individual programs and how they will um come come in inequitably across the district. Um we understand that no pro program is safe from consideration and that these difficult decisions must be
made. Um, we understand that you're utilizing budget or the results of the budget planning survey survey to guide priorities for additional revenue and reduced spending. We also understand based on looking at
the survey results that potentially 8,700 people um filled those out. Some of our concerns with this is that uh number one there's a potential discontinuation of established activities in athletics um specifically the Golden High School softball program
but then we expanded and our um concerns to include all programs across the Jeffco district and part of that being that these cuts, excuse me, have the potential to create
separation from shared shared key values of Jeffco core competencies such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making that
these programs provide. the student engagement and and accountability piece that um increases attendance, academic awareness and leadership roles, opportunities for social emotional learning um through personal growth and
well-being, mentorship, connection with peers, schools and communities and sense of belonging and just an overall celebration of our accomplishments along with physical health and fitness, lifelong lessons and for opportunities
for the atrisisk. populations of the district. Um we fear that uh cutting these programs any athletics and activities can cause irre irreversible damage and act two athletics and activity program cuts
of historically success successful programs that would be extremely difficult to restore. Additionally, uh, one of the things that was being considered is that there are programs being looked at because of small numbers
or, um, low participation. Um, this past season's lower numbers of the Golden High School uh, softball team, in our opinion, are not a reflection of declining community interest. We had the opportunity to present uh the opposite
of that to our coach and to our athletic director and principal that show their lingering effect after effect of the COVID era disruption that temporarily slowed our enrollment. Our most recent data shows that GSA Golden Softball Association player base is rebounding
significantly with record numbers now participating across nearly all age groups and strong retention rates year-over-year. This upward trend demonstrates that a sustainable and growing pipeline of athletes is in place to support demonstr
softball over the next several years and continue their historically successful program. We fear that cutting this program and others now would be shortsighted and risk undoing years of investment in developing girls
athletics and could and leadership opportunities within our community. Youth sports provide a healthy outlet for physical activity, keep students engaged and accountable in both academics and attendance, and promote positive social emotional
development in both through teamwork, structure, and mentorship. These are key values of Jeffco, ones that we share deeply and are critical as we work to reconnect young people to their schools and communities. We'd like to ask for a few things here
that um the board consider. Halting all budget decisions considering elimination of current activity and athletic programs and reject any such proposals. Keep budget cuts as far away from students as possible. Allow the Jeffco community time to engage and attempt to
provide funding for district activities and athletics through sponsorships until sustainable funding is secured. Allow time for potential programs on the chopping block to provide supporting arguments in keeping their program programs as we did at Golden High School for the softball team. Reduce the
athletics and activities portion of balancing the budget to match the percentage of current spending if unaligned. Currently showing 3.3%. Okay, thank you. Address logic. I'm going to skip that one. And then if
pro program cuts are inevitable, require them to be implemented in an equitable manner. For example, um if there are four volleyball teams, let's say at one school and the softball team's going to be cut instead of having four in one sport and none in another, maybe make
that decision to have two and two. Keep it equitable for everybody and give everybody the opportunities that they are working so hard in developing. >> Thank you. Thank you. Number 10.
Welcome. Please introduce yourself. You have three minutes. >> Good evening. My name is Karen Gorde and I'm a Lakewood resident and the topic is Emery Elementary. I agree with the previous speakers that the action center does great work. However, what's happening with El Emmery Elementary is
not just bad governance, it's a breach of public trust. Let's start with the obvious. The Lakewood City Manager, Kathy Hodkins, sits on Jeffco School's capital asset committee, the same committee overseeing this property sale. That is a textbook conflict of interest,
and everybody in this room knows it. The public deserves better than insiders man managing insider deals. And where is the appraisal? Not one public appraisal has been provided. Not for Emery, not for the other properties on the chopping block. You're selling public assets in
the dark while claiming transparency. Earlier this year, Jeff co-created a so-called municipal interest process, which, let's be honest, looks more like a way to circumvent state law than to comply with it. This board is responsible for educating students, not
running a shadow real estate operation. And what happens when the population increases due to all the high density building that every city seems to want to put in place when you need classroom space? Again, you're selling off finite assets like their disposable at fire
sale prices. So, let's talk numbers. The land and the building are worth approximately $12 million. Lakewood is buying them for $4 million and then there were $2 million in renovations were done right before closing the school and you're handing away taxpayer
funded property at a massive loss. Then there's uh Lakewood's ordinance 0-2025-35 which claims the school system will add a deed restriction prohibiting overnight shelter or camping. But the actual deed restriction in your own packet for
tonight says something completely different. It bans housing, private development, and any educational use. So, which is it? Because the document as written in your packet can't legally be signed. So, when you add this all up, this is a $8 million loss for Jeffco
taxpayers. But for Lakewood residents, it's a roughly $15 million do $15 million loss in value. At the exact same time, Jeffco schools is talking about a $60 million budget deficit and a mill levy override. You're asking taxpayers
for more money when show while showing you cannot manage the money you already have. This is not stewardship. This is not transparency. This is a failure of fidiciary responsibility and the public deserves accountability today, not after
the sale is rubber stamped. Thank you. >> Thank you. Do we have number 11, please? Welcome. Please introduce yourself. You have three minutes. My name is Jim Kenny. I've lived in Jefferson County for 75 years. I
graduated from South Lakewood Kraton and Lakewood in 1968. My mom and my son both had careers with the schools. Um, my my career was um 35 years with
the Department of Interior at the Denver Federal Center. So, I'm a bonafide stick in the mud. I I think it's been pretty clear this tonight isn't about anybody's not one is here to call down or put down the Jeffco
action center. That's not the purpose of this meeting. This this is about the Jeffco school board's legal fiduciary responsibility. I'm glad to say that some values shouldn't change.
I was taught in my home and school and career to be serious with money, mine, my families, and the government that I represented as an employee. I'm very disappointed to hear Jeffco has
remodeled Emory school for millions of dollars only to turn around immediately and close it and is now considering selling it in a good old boys and girls giveaway, losing millions of dollars that could be
spent and not thrown out. I can't believe these actions are your commitment to all of us. you tax and for our children, their children's future. It's never too late. We can all
do better. Thank you. Thank you. Number 12. Welcome. Please introduce yourself. You have three minutes. All right. Hi, how are you? My name is L KG. I live in Lakewood. I am requesting
the removal of cassette agenda 7.12 from the today's agenda. From the onset, the details regarding this property just property's disposition have not been transparent and negotiations have taken place privately. The only mention of
this property by Jeffco schools occurred in May 2024 when it was stated, quote, "The action center continues its interest in Emory." End of quote. Since that time, Jeffco has made no further
comments until now when vote is imminent to sell the property to Lakewood rather than to the action center. This raises questions about the legit the legitimacy of selling this property considering Lakewood previously sold it to the
action center. Therefore, it appears that Lakewood sold a property it did not own and now Jeffco schools is planning to sell the same property it owned to Lakewood. This is a con convoluted
transaction. What occurred with the property disposition steps that are supposed to happen when there is a municipal interest? There were none. It was unsuccessful in this case. Jeffco
schools are facing significant financial challenges with a deficit estimated exceeding 60 million. The district is selling property at a loss 8 to 12 million. The true value of this property remains unclear as the property
assessment has not been made public. Despite Kora requests, no information was provided. You have a fiduciary responsibility. You have an obligate you you are obligated to act in the best interest of the taxpayers, parents and
students in managing their resources. This obligation has not been met. As a result of these failures, the students will face the repercussions while the administrations typically continue to receive funding lending to budgets cuts
that disproportionately impact the students. Many residents in the area surrounding Emory were not part of the negotiations. They felt that the meetings they attended resembled public relation events rather than genuine discussions
as there was a lack of opportunity for questions and answers. The sentiment expressed was the outcomes presented were final decisions that they must accept. Having lived in Lakewood for many years, we recognize the service the
action center has provided to the community. If the original negotiation between the action center and Jeffin schools, what caused the change? There should be accountability and consideration should be given to compensate. Oh, I just have a couple
more seconds. May I? Thank you. Um, compensation, uh, any losses that taxpayers may incur from this transaction. It is important we do not experience financial losses that ultimately have to be covered by our
property taxes. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Number 13. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. Pull the mic down and you have three minutes. I need this to stand on it for up here.
Can we give these to the board members? >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Katherine Kentner. I'm a Lakewood resident, a parent of two recent Jeffco graduate graduates, and a Jeffco music teacher in the Lakewood area. I come to
before you tonight to express my deep concern over the proposed financial arrangement and the future ownership of Emory Elementary School Building. As we all know, our community is facing significant financial challenges. And in this context, it seems both imprudent
and legally legally questionable to sell this building below market value. The sale of public property, especially something as vital as a school building, must be approached with utmost care and in full alignment with our fiduciary responsibilities.
Under Colorado law, public property may be sold or transferred below market rate only when the ownership remains in the hands of a public entity. This principle exists to ensure that the public retains the long-term benefit of
the land and its value even when the property is no longer being used for its original purpose. So we must ask ask ourselves are we truly fulfilling our fiduciary fiduciary responsibilities by transferring this property under the
current terms. I urge you to reconsider the proposal and amend the arrangement to ensure that Emory building remains publicly owned. This could easily be done by amending the deed restriction and replacing the undefined words of of
community service facility and replacing it with a local government. To be clear, this is an issue of ownership, not use. The city of Lakewood can absolutely continue to use the building to house
the Jeffco action center and its other community partners that it wants to house there, but the property must re remain in public portfolio to comply with both the intent and the letter of the state law. Failing to uphold this
principle could expose the district to legal ramifications and risk further eroding the public trust. I respectfully ask that you take this into consideration and make the necessary adjustments to avoid future complications, legal, financial, or
reputational. Thank you for your time on this important matter tonight. >> Thank you. number 14. Welcome. Please give us your name and you have three minutes. >> Thank you. My name is Katherine Burn and I'm a resident of uh Lakewood. Uh the
topic for me tonight is my experience um living next to >> Can you get a little closer? Uh elementary school and across the road from Alama High School. Um I'm the owner of again uh Stockton Pet Hospital. It's a historic veterinary practice uh just
off Wadsworth. It's just north of the bike path that the Alama High School students use to go home and to go to um the link recreation which is right next door to Emory. And in the past 7 years,
um, we've had several issues, um, that have put at risk those children that use the path and as well as our senior clients and owners um, of our pets um, along that bike path. Um,
Emory is in a beautiful location. Again, it's right next to uh, the link recreation. and to say that the city will continue to press and the action center will press that the action center is the only option for Emory Elementary
School and that's just not true. Um what makes more sense is for that lake um the link recreation center to expand into Emory and have that entire campus uh be a resource for the neighbors and the community.
In the seven years that I've owned that practice, um we have seen a number of crimes occur uh just in the short 50 ft of space that our cameras pick up. Um
we've had um we've had vandalism. We've had um drug dealers uh using that bike path uh to do drugs. Uh we've had sale of drugs across fences along that
bike path when there is a homeless encampment right next to the high school. We've had drug deals going on across the fence uh from those members and residents of that homeless encampment. Um we've had weapons
discharge along that bike path. Um, we have served, the clinic itself has served as a refuge for a child that was assaulted on along that bike path. Um, we've protected our seniors. We protected the children that use that
bike path. Um, we also reach out to our community. We're not just um a business. We're not just a clinic. We take care of our seniors that come into the into the practice. We take care of our families. If those family members have a medical
emergency that they can't take care of that those pets, we bring those pets in and we don't charge them for that. And that's the kind of service that our neighborhood takes care of our neighbors. And to have
those neighbors put at risk by increasing the level of crime along that bike path. um it just doesn't make any sense when the link recreation could be expanded into Emory and avoid all of
that. So, I'd like for you to consider halting your decision to sell this practice or sell this um that property and reconsider all the options and get information and opinions from the neighbors. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you.
with number 15. >> Welcome. Please introduce yourself. You have three minutes. Good evening. My name is Anita Springsteen. I'm a civil rights attorney. I am also a
former Lakewood city counselor. Uh, so I know when things don't seem right and the sale of Emory does not seem right. People have been talking about a $60 million budget shortfall tonight. This
property could potentially make up for a third of that. I believe it's worth at least $20 million. But for some reason, this illegal sale of a property assessed by the county
assessor at 12 million is being considered at 4 million. You do not have the authority to misallocate funds earmarked for the education and safety of our children by engaging in corrupt transactions like
this, by selling valuable property. so far below market rate, you are violating your fiduciary duty. You cannot excuse that by claiming it's for a public good, for the action center, who by the way
brought a bunch of PR people with them tonight that were paid. Your mission is to provide a world-class education that prepares all Jeffco students for bright and successful
futures at as local and global citizens. As commendable as other good deeds might be, you are not allowed under the law to do that. If the chief of police reallocated the police budget for road
work, this would not be permitted. If this if if social security funds were taken and put into armaments, this would not be legal. You cannot rob from Peter to pay Paul. And we intend to
hold you accountable if you do that. You do not have the power to waste taxpayer dollars or to decide how to apply them for interests outside the mission. How can you justify this? Burning our tax dollars while claiming a budget
crisis. Asking for a mill levy. Not providing an SRO at Evergreen High School, putting our children in danger. Is this vote worth losing your mill levy
over? Because that is what we will ask for. We will not stand for this. We We will find out why you and Lakewood and JVCO schools are doing deals for buddies behind closed doors. We will ask for
oversight from the state auditor, the AG, the DOJ, the DOJ, the US attorney, and we will ask that each of you be individually investigated because something is not right here. I haven't
even gotten to the discrimination of the fact that you're doing this to the Alama High School students just because it's a Hispanic high school. You already closed down Emory, which was 90% Hispanic,
which my ward is is mostly Hispanic. >> Would you please >> We're going to look at the title six issues as well. Thanks. >> Thank you. Number 16. Welcome. Please tell us your name. And
you have three minutes. Good evening. My name is Regina. I'm a 40-year Lakewood resident and attended Jeffco public schools myself and have even been a substitute teacher for Jeffco public schools. I'm here because
the Emory Elementary deal has raised serious concerns about transparency, legality, and financial responsibility. Concerns that the public deserves clear answers to. Here's the situation as many of us understand it. The property was
valued at $12 million. Yet, the city council hopes to purchase it for only $4 million and then flip it to the action center for just 1 million. I want to be clear, this isn't about opposing the action center, or questioning the important work they do. What concerns me
is the lack of transparency, whose hands this money is passing through, why such huge discounts were given, and why the city is benefiting from an $8 million discount only to immediately flip the property to a private corporation. This
raises raises serious questions for taxpayers and the community. Taxpayers don't want creative accounting and PR spins. We want hard numbers, transparency, and accountability. All of this is happening at the exact same time
our schools are closing, budgets are being cut, and teachers are being asked to do more with less. Somehow, the city suddenly has millions to play with on property that is owned by Jeffco schools. And the community has no transparent accounting of where this
money is being shuffled or whose hands it's passing through and why. We also learned that Lakewood's unelected planning director, Travis Parker, testified in a court deal that he had no memory of who he negotiated with for two
years at Jeffco schools on this very deal. That's ser a serious red flag. And when council member Roger Low made a Freudian slip like when we get to vote on this, it created the impression that
the deals had already been made behind closed doors. Coupled with two executive sessions in 2024 that many believe violated open meeting laws, it's no wonder that the community feels misled and doesn't trust the city. And you
would be wise to be more scrupulous as well. I sincerely hope this board will not follow the same path we are seeing with the city Lakewood City Council, a body that has repeatedly pushed controversial projects forward with little regard for public input or public
trust. I hope you hold yourselves to a higher standard than Lakewood's corrupt city council did. This community expects transparency. We expect open meetings, open books, clear, transparent numbers, and an explanation of why Jeffo schools
is transferring land at a massive discount during the time of school closures and financial strain. Please do not let this become another backroom deal dressed up as public good. Protect the public's assets, follow the
law, and rebuild public trust. Our taxpayers deserve nothing less. Thank you. Number 17. Welcome. You have three minutes. Please give us your name. >> My name is Brian Reno. I'm from uh unincorporated Jefferson County and this
is about short about Emory. Buying a $4 million bill building and selling it for$1 million is not only a bad investment, it's also criminal. Is there a number 18? I think that might be everyone that signed up.
Anybody else that signed up and hasn't spoken? Nope. Thank you very much for the comments and we will take a 10-minute break now. Thank you. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. N. You
feel me? Heat. Heat. 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 down. Heat. Heat. Yeah, heat. down. Down.
Down. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Down down down down down down down down down down down down down
All right. behind you. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. All right. Down down down down down down. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Down
down down down down down down down. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. like to welcome everybody back for our first item of study this evening. The board will receive an update on the budget reduction blueprint by Brena Copelan, chief financial officer and our
superintendent. Um, and we also have Miss Parzio there. Um, we've allotted 40 minutes for this presentation. Please include time at the end of your presentation for questions from the board. Superintendent Doran, the time is now yours. >> Thank you, President Parker. I'll get us
started right away. Um, we are looking forward to uh continuing the board's study of the budget reduction blueprint. And so with that, I'm I'm hoping is Miss Copeland, are you uh thank you managing the presentation for us? Thank you very much. Welcome, Miss Copeland and Miss
Parzio. Thank you so much for being here this evening and sharing in this presentation with me. Um, so here's an agenda for our presentation this evening. We're going to recap the last meeting, preview our next meeting, report out about our stakeholder engagement processes and what we're
hearing, study the department reduction plans, study the school-based reduction ranges, and preview next steps for school-based budgeting. You'll see here November 13th is where we are and it is scheduled for the board
to study department reduction plans, study school-based reduction ranges as mentioned in the agenda. Here are the board's roles and responsibilities for this process. Um, and just want to highlight um that the the middle bullet is to observe the
staff's engagement processes and represent constituency in questions and commentary during public study sessions and regular meetings. And so as we engage in the conversation this evening, please share what you've been hearing. Uh we're open to hearing that as part of our dialogue and Q&A as after we get
through the presentation or as we go along here. Um, our role is to really manage the process, lead lead the development of the plan, support the impacted staff, which as you've noticed, Miss Parzio has been uh joining us the last couple of times because we are um
uh leaning into that work in a more detailed way than we did at the very beginning. And so excited for Miss Pzio to be able to share some more information about how we plan to support impacted staff through this process. So, here we are. Um you can see a photo there of us in the budget reduction
blueprint or the sorry the budget lab um at Arvvada High School. We had uh one at Arvvada High School and one atraton middle school. Um and so I'm going to share a little bit more tonight about what we heard and the analysis we've done and how it's impacted some of our thinking around where we're headed with
uh some of the reductions. Um here are the events that we've completed. We do have um upcoming opportunities more focused this winter as we round the corner from 2025 into 2026 and January on school level priorities and surveys
that will be coming from school leaders to their individual school communities about process for individual school reductions as well as school priorities uh as they go through that process. As you know, we've had a communitywide survey open as part of the online uh
budget lab and it was shared widely uh through multiple channels both uh from school channels as well as district channels and we did share preliminary results at the November 5th board of ed study session. Um and a full report will
be published on the budget reduction blueprint web page um in a little bit here over the next few weeks. Um, we have had 8,271 survey responses as of November 7th. So, there's probably more than that uh live on online and um everyone can go online
and see those survey responses live. Uh, we have received 3,320 comments and analyze them in an ongoing basis to support some of our upcoming decision-making. Here is some input that is shaping our
decisions um that we want to share and just highlight and summarize for our board and for our listening public. Uh our our community and the feedback that we've received through both the in-person experiences as well as the online survey is that um our community
really is asking us to preserve as many resources that directly support students as possible. And so you heard that in public comment tonight. Um and we have heard that loud and clear through the survey as well. Uh community would really really wants us to preserve
offerings and services as much as possible over um avoiding fees completely but they want us to balance that also with not over relying on the fees. Um and so in November and December
department leaders will explore a balanced package of fees based on this feedback. Uh we the we have been um encouraged to operate a lean general administration team and make larger reductions here um
in departments that whose work is furthest away from the classroom than in other parts of the budget. And so our general um administration budget will face the largest reduction out of any other program. And our leadership team also reduced the deputy superintendent
position which reduces the size of the district leadership team by nearly 11%. Uh community is asking us to preserve safety and security spending. There will be no reductions to the department of safety and security as I mentioned previously and uh the community wants us
to recognize the important roles that many central services departments play in providing school-based staff and services. I think one of the um best parts of educating our community that has come out of this process is that people realize our department
budgets often fund uh people and services in our schools. And so there there has been an awareness I believe that's been created around that and feedback that even within the department reductions please consider those items that are funded in department budgets
that are directly uh serving schools. And so um those targets for example special education uh CLLDE for uh supports for multil- language learners um will experience smaller reductions to pro protect service continuity as much
as possible. And so with this, I'm going to hand it over to Miss Copeland, and she's going to talk us through the methodology and structure for the department reduction plans and how we have strived to achieve um alignment with some of this feedback and making sure that the reductions are
largest as far away from the classroom as possible. Miss Copeland. Oh goodness. Thank you. All right. So, this is reggrounding and what we've shared in the past in case anyone is new to the conversation. Uh we are
recommending a minimum 45 million reduction in spending and seeking at least 15 million in new revenue to address the 60 million um uh issue or gap between revenue and expense that we originally identified um back in May and
June. So this is one illustration. I I believe we've shared this before although please forgive me I forget. um where you can see a range of values around our departmental reductions. And these percentages are a percentage of each
department's budget. So it's not a percentage of the total reduction. It's not a percentage of the district's budget. It's saying proportionally for each department and the program they're working in service of. How much are they being asked to cut? So we think that's a
really important clarification here. Um, so again, 2 to 4% for budgets that most directly serve students. And I think we've also talked about the fact that obviously school budgets most directly serve students, but there are these other budgets, ECE, um, special
education, athletics that most that also directly serve students. And so, it's really important to keep that in mind. Um, there's a middle range 4.1 to 7.9 and then an upper end of 8 to 11. And then there's um a few a few that are
higher than 11. So this is just grounding us in the overall district budget. So what when we talk about departments, what are we talking about? We're talking about 43% or 437 million of the district's total budget as adopted for the current year.
And so again, 43% that that obviously encompasses a fair amount of what we're doing as a district. This takes that same um amount inclusive of the transfers. I didn't speak to the transfers on this pie chart, so I'll just come back real quick. Transfers are
about 36 million. What do they go to? They primarily go to um food nutrition services, risk management. Um I'm forgetting something. Oh well, I don't have my phone of friends here. Um off the top of my head,
I've forgotten something. I apologize. Uh and but those are also performing functions but just in a different fund. Oh, capital reserve. >> Golly, I'm I apologize. Um capital reserve and we talk about that. Yep.
Okay. Um now back to departments. And so this unpacks the dollar figure from the prior slide. Now into programs. And one piece of feedback we've had from community is these programs aren't always intuitive. Um and so we've really
been trying to develop some new visuals, some new explanations. Um by no means is our work done on any of this. Um and so I'm hoping to roll out in perpetuity some clarity on the financial services website and our transparency website
that can live on and explain what's in some of these programs. Um but our primary programs and these are by the way defined largely by CDE. So all the guidelines for what goes in what place um is is their rules basically about
what goes in what place. General instruction, special ed instruction, instructional support. I've mentioned in a previous um presentation though we have a category called uh sped instruction, it's not fully inclusive of everything we do for our special
education students. And so, um, it is one of the things that frustrates me a little little, but we are following the right guidance about where to put things. Um, but some of our special education expenses also show up in instructional support or separately. Nothing shows up twice, but um, so
there's additional funding there. So, I think if you're trying to imagine how much do we spend on on supporting our students with disabilities, it is more than 97 million. Um, operations and maintenance is about 95. school administration. You're like, "Wait a second, we spend more than 1.3."
Yes, we do. Um, this is again just unpacking the department budgets. So, this is saying that departments spend 1.3 million on school administration. If we were looking at the full amount for the whole district, inclusive of schools, that number would obviously be
much bigger. And so what we're saying is um departments have a few employees um and some of you have interacted with these folks that get deployed to special projects or certain situations and some of them are school administrators right and so um that that's really what's
showing up there. Transportation uh sum total of around 34 million the bulk of which is of course salaries and then general administration. So, this is a broad program. I want to point out that um if you're kind of eyeballing
some of these numbers, you might notice um that approximately a third or slightly more than a third of general administration is not actually people. And so I just wanted to note that um this is a category where we buy all of
our software, our enterprise software and we do um other things in our service accounts that benefit the entire organization. And so when we think about if we're cutting general administration, what are we cutting? Well, only less than twothirds of general administration is
actually salaries um and benefits and the rest is other stuff. So that's a little bit different than some of the other places in the organization. So just bear that in mind. So our department's currently and you know plans are still tweaking, evolving
as I like to point out really it's not final until it's adopted in June. But we are very much trying to finalize plans consider all the feedback balance all the inputs outputs etc. Um but the the current working plan is approximately 26
to 27 million in reductions which is approximately 5 to six% reduction of departmental budgets as a whole. Right? So that's saying that former you know 437 are including of the transfers because really transfers are going to departments primarily. Um
that's that five or six%. The current plans include somewhere between 150 and 160 budgeted FTE and a variety of purchase services, supplies, and materials. Staff reductions as much as possible
will be managed through attrition, retirement, turnover, and any existing vacancies. This is starting to revisit a framework we originally put forward back in June in response to the board's request. The board asked what would it look like
um to make some reductions in the district and and we said here's one version of that which is an acrosstheboard reduction. Here's a different version of that where we vary the reduction based on proximity to um the classroom very quickly. that was the
preferred approach. And so once we established that, communicated that, that's what we've been aligning around this entire time. So this illustration in my mind confirms um that we have done our very best um to protect the services
closest to the classroom. So for both general instruction and special education instruction, you're seeing an overall proposed reduction of about 2%. And this is again just out of departments, not out of schools. So I just want to keep saying that um and
that within general instruction it's really 1% to salary and benefits whereas something like capital outlay were more substantially reducing. Right? Because the other component um we spoke to kind of early on in guiding principles was um
let's attempt to cut away from our staff, our people are our strength um as much as possible. And so you'll see that um as you walk down the account categories as well. Um operations and maintenance. Um I want
to point out that some folks um might be curious about the 4% there versus 9% in instructional support. Um I do want to point out that operations and maintenance is another area. I'm just going to go back for a quick sec to
here. um where you see almost a third of the budget in service accounts and that is a little bit higher proportion in this case. Those service accounts are utility accounts primarily and a handful of contracted things for certain types of per permits, licenses, inspections,
etc. or specific labor that we don't that we need um outside our staff. And so again, um those costs are particularly inflexible and it would be unrealistic um to to ask our schools um to make any
any budgetary reductions to a utilities account. Obviously, we're always striving for efficiency and we've made many investments in um efficiency, but that's not really an appropriate place to try and make a straightup reduction because it very much impacts the
classroom. So I just wanted to come back then um here and note and and that's why in this particular case you see that materials is a little bit lower than people. Again there's there's kind of
lots of logic based in here. Um school administration you're seeing a pretty large reduction in materials and supplies. I do want to remind folks this was only a $1.2 million component. Um, so most of school administration is funded through our school budgets,
transportation, um, you know, we've had lots of conversations. This was in the survey and we pressure tested some different, um, ideas about transportation and what emerged is, um, not much of an appetite
to cut service, um, a willingness to defer some investments in capital. So, you can see that right there. is pretty plainly clear, a minus 50% in capital outlay um and some interest in balanced fees. So again, this is an area where
our 8,200 respondents really helped shape the direction we're going um with the plans here, and that's certainly not the only area, but it was top of mind. Um and then lastly, general administration. So you see as a whole um this is cutting 15%.
Um among salaries and benefits the 11% reduction is the highest across all programs. Um service accounts is a negative 27%. Um that represents uh quite a few things that we're going to do less of. Um including you know
some software purchases and things like that um that we've identified as potential redundancies. There's there's more than one thing in that bucket, but that's a pretty stiff um reduction right there. And then uh negative9% in materials and supplies. That's actually
a relatively small budget anyway, but um that you know represents really trying to squeeze on things. Um there is no real capital outlay budget in general administration. That's not where we budget for that. And then finally in transfers, you can see a negative 7%
which amounts to about 2.4 million. Um just to be really clear and transparent um that is just looking at food nutrition services and risk management. We are not separately um reducing or deferring any aspect of the capital
transfer because that is a little bit of a separate item in our big scheme scheme that's not the right word but our our plan so to speak. So again, um you can see how these percentages in our departments then manifest in dollar amounts. Now, of course, this table sums
up to a very precise number. Um that's the world my folks have to live in. That does not mean that final number won't change a little bit. So in the prior slide where we had the range, it still is very much a range, but for illustration purposes, we have to have a single number.
So, um, before I hand it off to Amanda, I just want to double check for any questions on what, uh, what I just presented before we go on. >> Directors, any questions, comments this point.
>> Um, thank you. I know every time we talk about this, it gets a little bit more in depth, and so I appreciate you coming back each each month now with with more data. Um, I have a few questions in these buckets and I I know you've probably told me I'm just I need
clarification for my brain. Um, where where does it sit? Are they in that general administration IT people and devices? >> Yeah. So, it sits in general instruction, instructional support, a
little bit of ops and maintenance and a little bit of general admin. >> Okay. I was wrong. Um and then same I know um we have a lot of resources that are in schools that are provided. Are those also sprinkled
across multiple buckets? >> Uh say can you give me an example? >> Cells where where do our cells live? >> Okay. Um I wish I had my whiteboard in front of me because this has been an emerging question but I'm pretty sure they're in instructional support. Okay.
Okay. Um, and then I know you you touched on it very lightly. We have new sustainability initiatives and a new sustainability director and I know it's going to take some time for that. I know in January we have more coming in the out years. Are we able to see any kind of reduction in
utilities or is that just something we're going to have to wait and see? You know, one of the things that was really exciting for me when I started in the district um was I I saw that our utility costs had gone up and I was like, "Oh, no. This is the thing." And
so I asked around and asked for some analysis. Um and our operations team was able to show me a four-year history of basically energy consumption. >> And energy consumption had steadily dropped over the four years. However,
rates have gone up so much, which we all know, um, that costs have gone up a little. Now, we did have a leveling off on a year-over-year basis. So, I think what I want to say there is, um, though our sustainability manager position is semi-new or director,
>> um, this district has been very committed since the 2018 CIP to various different investments in sustainability and those have absolutely yielded fruit in terms of, uh, reduced energy consumption. Thank you.
>> Um, and I I know you the rates are going up significantly, so I I appreciate that. And I know and recognize that um our teams have done a really good job on our gas purchases to actually levels level those off. And so also good work being done. When we think about an FTE
reduction of 150 to 160 and I know we're going to manage that through attrition, retirement and turnover, does that leave us lean? Does that leave us rightsized? like are we going to have to bring I I guess what I'm trying to
understand is is are we is this a short-term fix and that we're going to have to come back from this or do we think we can run in this and maybe this is a question for Superintendent Dorland or do we think we can run at this level? Uh I think the short answer is we've got
to get to a place regardless of like the way I want to answer that question. We have to get to a place where we live within our means. And so we need to make these reductions. We need to get through them. We need to start living in the new reality with these reductions in place
and then focus on uh revenue generation. Um and I think as we shift from for example the partnership helping us think through the budget reductions into helping us think through a revenue measure. Um, I do think we will have to
take a look at some of these things over time to say, "Okay, maybe we did cut a little too much here or a little too much there." When you look back at slide um I have it zoomed in too high, so 15
um you'll just see in general administration that it's about 55 million. >> And as you know, we're a little over a billion dollar general fund. So we are running general administration which is what I would call like people like to call overhead right and everyone wants
us to cut the overhead and I don't disagree with that I think we should run with a lean overhead um we're really at 5% overhead for a very large district um which is lean already and then you can see you know on
slide 17 that the greatest reductions we're making are in overhead uh it's the right thing to do. It's responsive to the feedback we're getting. I support that direction and I think we're going to have to pay close attention to how how are we able to
operate with um this much of a reduced overhead. And so I don't have the just right answer because I think we're going to have to live within our means for a minute. And even with the 45 million we're producing, we're still not quite there. Right? it's that 15 million that we're trying to now raise to make that
cap reserve whole um and or just close the rest of our deficit spend. So, I don't have a great answer. I think it's a good question and it's one that we need to continue to ask and pay attention to as we begin to live within this new reality. Thank you.
>> Y thank you. >> I just wanted to um follow up on the seal question. I'm sorry because it sounds like it's something you're figuring out, but um if if it's in those categories um I feel like I should know this. Do we So do our do our principles
fund do our schools fund the positions or they they're funded at this departmental level in school. So, we've been getting um emails about this and then also um I think some people have heard like statements like um we're
losing all seals at every school. Um I'm imagining that this is just going to keep going until it happens. You know what I mean? People are going to guess what's happening until it >> happens, which is really hard about this. But um so I guess just on that
because that's the current thing that people are talking about can you talk can you talk about like are schools going to have are they is this one of those decisions that our principles are making about how many or what level of in the school or is that
part of this departmental conversation >> just so we can help people know at least who to direct their >> thoughts and questions to you know what I mean? >> Yeah. Yeah, and I'll speak from the financial lens and Amanda might chime in um as well from kind of the job lens um
for lack of a better way to put it. Um from a financial lens, we most of our cell staffing is covered in um uh the student success budget through allocations. Um
no allocations or staff allocations. So sometimes I talk about the fact that our our schools are actually a hybrid approach to budgeting. Some of the budget they get is allocated staff and some of the budget they get is allocated dollars. But this is one of those examples of where the departmental
budget actually allocates staff to the school site. Right. And um Mr. Polaro and his team have done a tremendous job of figuring out some um prudent reductions and they have a plan. Um, and
I I I can't quite assuage any particular group's concern because that sort of starts to be a little bit unfair to all the other groups. Um, but again, I want to emphasize we have done everything we possibly can to to keep the smallest
reductions over in the sort of school space and the largest reductions elsewhere. And so I do think if folks will bear with us just a tiny bit um I suspect that some of the rumors that are swirling um will become
evidently false and um we'll be able to move forward together. But anything you want to add Amanda? >> I mean the only thing I would add is that um for positions that are allocated by um FTE oftentimes we will also engage in pairing processes. So, for example,
if an elementary school was only allocated a 0.5 FTE for their sales position, um that particular individual who fills the FTE would likely be paired with another school. So, thus not resulting in you only get to work half-time for the district, but we have
two schools um that both have a.5 FTE that you would get to serve. So um with regard to staffing that's um pro those are processes that our um internal HR department runs in collaboration with our association and our um school leadership department to ensure that
those pairing processes whether they be for art music and PE teachers at small elementary schools or cells positions even our mental health positions and our learning specialist positions sometimes due to the size of the school and the number of students served um do require
or do result in a um lesser FTE than a 1.0. And so um that is oftentimes um what occurs and and may uh may occur a little bit more um this year. I I just want to also reiterate and make
it clear, I think Miss Copeland alluded to this, the that no decisions have been made yet. And I think people are one of the things that um our departments have been doing is engaging uh employees whose funding for their
position exists in these department budgets. They've been engaging them in feedback information and feedback sessions. Um, and we made that decision because we felt like it was really important before we make final decisions about reductions to hear from the employees who are doing this important
work. And so that session includes information sharing about the department's reduction target. It includes conversation around the importance of the work that we're doing, valuing of the employees. It also includes a survey that employees are taking related to their department's
work and the possible reductions. our cabinet team is actually studying the results of of that work that our departments have been doing next week. And so again, decisions are not final. And I know when sometimes when you go and you share with large groups of
people information um then they worry um and begin to think that things are moving in a certain direction. and we knew that was a risk, but we also felt like it was really important for us to be transparent with the employees and share information and get their feedback before we made final decisions. So,
that's the stage that we're in right now. And I just appreciate Mr. Polo has been leading a lot of that work. And I know he recently pulled together all of our cells to talk about this process. And I think that's where some of the um worry is coming from. And I think that worry is fair. Um and to to the points
that have just been made, when things are reduced, we do pair people. Um and uh we are making those reductions as far away from direct student impact as possible. That's our goal. >> Thank you. And I one thing, so someone
who wrote to us about this, I wrote back and I asked her um why do you think this? Like where where are you getting that um assumption from? and slide 13 seems to be it. Um, I haven't back and forth with her enough to confirm this. I
will, if she's listening, I will write you back. Um, I think people are self-identifying themselves in these buckets. And as you've explained, it's so hard to find figure out where we are in this. So, I think some people are seeing this and then they're they're
saying, "Oh, that's me in the far right bucket." And I I I'm not sure that was the so we're kind of like halfway through the discussion, but >> and so um that that struck me because I was thinking, oh gosh, if I was looking at this and I was an employee, I too
would be like where am I, you know, in this? And so just an observation that I think is happening. >> Thank you. >> Um >> that's helpful. >> And then my just last comment about um because we also now are getting um emails about the athletics and we heard a big public comment about it tonight.
My response to that those emails um about who makes those decisions I think is actually most of that happens at the school level >> I think is that correct? >> Most of it. Yeah. >> Yeah. So if if like even the suggestion if you have four volleyball teams and
one softball can you do three and and one instead of whatever and I'm thinking that's what the schools are going to have to decide. Um, I I don't know if I'm right or not, but again, it's one of those things where as board members, I think >> I would rather say this is where you
should go find that information than trying to figure it out myself. >> Um, just a quick note on athletics because this is one of those semi murky areas what starts out as a departmental
budget. Um so it's organized and scaled um by the departmental leadership. You know the athletics leadership in this building is three people. Um obviously that is a a tiny fraction of um our entire athletics leadership which many
of our athletic directors in schools then kind of receive a budget allocation not dissimilar to the way that a principal receives something. and then they real they have real budget authority and important oversight and and over that amount of money and how to
maximize it in service of schools. Um so it's really a both and in terms of the decision-making. I think that our our central folks um our executive director in this area um provides a really excellent amount of analysis and thought partnership. Um but there is a fair
amount of um site-based input and decision- making around some of that. So hopefully that helps. Um yeah, I know it's a little murky. um it will become more clear and
um I I really want to say again my we are absolutely committed to transparency. There will be a significant amount of time between when we share more details even still about these plans and the June time frame when a budget is
adopted. So even when you know the first round of decisions are made there's still right there's still time. So, I just I don't want folks to think we're trying to hold everything. No, we're we're going to release it as soon as we can. >> Um I director Applegate asked a bunch of
the questions that I had written down. Um but what I I'm going to mention two things. One is that um for the listening public, there are also statutory requirements and in all of these buckets about things that are required um and that we're going to have to navigate
that as well. Um and by no means are we interested in doing things that are, you know, in direct opposition to our the requirements that we have to supply by law. Um, and I I'm mentioning that because I I'm I'm feeling that some
people are embracing um and trying to already line up the justifications for why their piece of this should not get touched. Um, and using the statutory requirements as part of that and and I just want to mention it now like we know
that the statutory requirements are there and we are absolutely going to comply with all of the things that we have to comply with. Um, and for folks who are having anxiety about that, I just I wanted to acknowledge it. Um, I
would say we are in a high anxiety system and so being thoughtful about how we have these conversations with staff is going to be super important. Um, and also to validate that the anxiety is there and we we are aware of it.
you can continue. >> All right. Good evening and thank you again for having us. The three slides that I have to share this evening are really focused on um staff impacts. And so these slides are around departmental
funded staff impacts. And so please know that um school-based staff will also be supported. But right now in this phase that we are currently in, we're really focused on those who are funded through department-based budgets. So, um today, November 13th, um department reduction
plans, as you are hearing it, um live and as we uh live and breathe, a percentage of reductions of the total amount um are announced in our public um all of our departments have had uh departmental meetings to um hear this information from each chief who leads a
different department. Um, our staff is currently in the process of or has completed both a uh survey to provide us feedback into their priorities as a staff member that is funded from a central department. Um, as well as any ideas that they might have, um, thinking
around efficiencies, um, questions, things they want us to ensure that we keep doing, um, things that potentially they think we could be doing differently. And, um, also intent forms. So when we talk about wanting to ensure that we can uh take care of as many
reductions as possible through attrition and turnover, we do need to know as early as possible if people intend to uh retire or resign from the district or if they are interested in potentially reducing their FTE and working part-time. Um and so those are all
questions that they are currently grappling with as individual employees and sharing that information with us. And as Miss Dorland um indicated, cabinet will be reviewing those results next week to have a conversation on um what is it that our uh centrally funded
staff is telling us um is important to them. Um on December 12th, excuse me, on December 2nd, um we have a deadline for those uh forms and surveys to be complete. On December 12th, um or by December 12th, I should say, our survey
results will be uh shared back with our department funded staff. So no later than than that uh particular date, each cabinet member will hold another um meeting likely in person, some of them virtually because of course we have staff across the um the district
currently serving in different areas. Um we will share back the results so that they have a transparent understanding of what they and their colleagues um indicated were important to them. Um, December 15th through 17th, each of our human resources partners will work
alongside their chief or executive director or director to have individual one-on-one conversations with any employee who is in a position that will be impacted um essentially reduced um by June 30th of 2026. Um certainly those
conversations will come with a variety of supports which I will outline on the next couple of slides and then on December 18th we will publish and communicate those final reductions. Believe that is um in a board meeting that evening I believe and um certainly we will need to communicate with schools
the service level impact so that they too will have information in order to make budget decisions um at the local level. Um as typical in February, March and April, we will have internal hiring activities for the 2627 school year. This is a typical timeline. Um however,
there may be windows such as internal only um opportunities for our internal staff to apply and be considered prior to external staff being able to be um apply and be considered. And then of course as of June 30th 2026 the
reductions will be effective um to support the impacted staff. First of all um it's really important to us that we are aligning and um collaborating with our associations GCA and Jespa. Um all that we do will be in alignment with the negotiated agreements
and hopefully in partnership with um with them through ongoing conversations. We have included JCA and Jespa since the beginning of these conversations um monthly in providing updates around what it is that the board of education is going to hear, what are our departments
are going to hear, what is staff going to hear. Um, and this one is very important that our impacted employees regardless of whether they are JCEA, JESPA or JCAA in in one of those various bargaining units will be supported by our HR team as well as the Jeffco
Business and Workforce Center, which is one of our um external partners. And we will provide things for them like resource and interview workshops, um effective job search techniques, um how to use a job board, how to professionally network, um any kind of career coaching they might be looking
for as far as what other jobs might there they be qualified for um or interested in. Um what type of training and professional development might they need in order to become more qualified for those roles? Um again, we may hold an internal only hiring window for specific positions. Um it may start with
all positions. Oftentimes we do open our hardtofill positions um such as um special education teachers. Those are oftentimes hard to fill. Chemistry teachers, high level math teachers, very hard to fill positions. Um education support professionals career information
session. One of the things that our education support professionals or ESPs often um don't aren't aware of is the other type of positions available uh beyond their own position that they may also be qualified for and interested in. A paraprofessional may be qualified to
be a PAR educator, may be qualified to be a school secretary or even a financial secretary or a business manager. And we want to ensure that they are exposed to all of those different opportunities and have awareness of what they are. And then of course we will um provide ongoing and detailed information
about benefits, payroll, health insurance, uh COBRA insurance, unemployment, and then of course retirement planning with our PAR partners. And then um my final slide this evening is really to reiterate this goal that we have of managing reductions through
attrition and as uh Miss Copeland indicated several positions that are already open. Some of us have positions that we are holding uh through the hiring chill that we do not intend to refill, thus not having to impact another um actual human being. Um in
accordance with JCA and Jespa negotiated agreements, um we do encourage and will support our staff in applying for open role open roles across the district um as they become available. And certainly um at the end of the day if our employees are unable to secure the
position many will be offered placements into positions for which they are qualified. Um in below you can see some um data from last year. These are numbers of different positions. Um they're very general um buckets of
positions. So teachers, pair professionals, instructional support staff, office and administrators um and crafts, trades and services. This is the turnover or transfer data that we have experienced as a school district. Um this was for the 2425 school year
reported out actually in um December of 2024. And this demonstrates the number of employees in our district who have either transferred or um been hired. And so you can see we have a lot of movement of movement among our 14,000 employees
um across the district each year. Great. So I uh will now be talking about school reduction ranges. So, every January, our 145 or so principles receive their projected budget for the following year and collaborate with their school
accountability committee uh which includes staff and parents um to make decisions about how to best spend their resources. This year is no different uh in terms of that process and who's involved, though school's overall budgets may be smaller.
>> So, Um this is one way we're trying to start to um explain what are the full gamut of resources available to our schools. So on the left you have the studentbased budget um or sometimes just called the the SBB allocation to a
school. Um I'll talk just a minute about the factors, but I'm going to keep working to the right. Um there are some specific state reimbursements we receive and those flow into certain programs in certain schools. Uh for example, ECE is funded again through a department and
those um the funding we get from the state for preschool for all um is effectively a reimbursement. It's a little bit confusing, but nonetheless that that is flowing into schools. Title one dollars are flowing into schools. Um
we actually bundle that with their SBB allocation. So it's kind of all one big chunk. And then of course our central department allocations and that is not a financial one always although in certain exceptions it is. There's always an exception to the rule but usually that
allocation is a staff allocation. So those are all the different types of resources um largely from a program's lens. What you aren't seeing up there is some of the resources for operations, maintenance, etc. Right? So there's still things not captured here that um
are being deployed in service of school facilities and buildings and programs. And again I'm going to talk more about factors on a subsequent slide. So what will actually be different? Um so the way we're approaching uh the
school allocations is we're trying to focus any adjustment on just the base per pupil. Um and the dollar amount per pupil that a school receives is kind of broken into chunks. So the first chunk is that base per pupil and it's consistent across every school serving
that grade level of student. So, if you are serving a fifth grader here or here or here, you're a K8, you're a K5, you're a K6, whatever, you get the same amount per fifth grader. That's that base amount. Um, on top of that, there's
a size equity factor, and that's again a per pupil amount, and the amount is determined based on the size of the school. And what it does is it's a positive amount, and it's the largest positive amount for our very smallest schools. So imagine your base per pupil
was 7,000. Your size equity factor might be 1,200. Please don't quote those numbers. That's just illustrative. Um on top of the seven. So at that point for each student in your school, you're getting 8,200. That is not the correct figure, but it's illustrative. Um
whereas a very large school um might receive either zero as additive or there might be a sub a subtraction so to speak. So from base you might go from 7,000 down to 6,800. Um and all of that
calibration relates to some pretty complex modeling we do to make sure that every school in our system before you even think about at risk can fund um minimum required staffing. And so we re-calibrate size equity um to
try and make sure that's the case and pressure test each year. And in fact, we are having to reccalibrate for next year. We already know this. And so, um, there there will be a couple schools that actually don't have any reduction at all because of that calibration.
Um, the last part is the at risk. So, everything I've said up until this moment applies to every student in the school. The atrisisk allocation um only comes with our atrisisk students, but every atrisisk student in the district, regardless of whether they are served in
a title one school or not, receives an additional approximately $1,300. Um and so I mean the student doesn't, but the school receives that allocation. Um so let's imagine 50% of your students are at risk, then you're getting an
additional $1,300 for 50% of your students. Um and so in that manner the the actual per student allocation can look different at different schools but it's not because the base is different it's different because the size equity
is different the count of at risk is different etc and so I think that's one area of confusion at times but when it comes to budget reductions the point of all this um is we are adjusting the base we are not touching the at risk factor
um and if anything any adjustments we're making to size equity are to account for the fact that we're reducing the base a little to make sure that we still have size equity. We still have the appropriate amount of purchasing power
in our smallest schools. So some of that might be a tiny offset to any reduction in base. Okay. Um I'm going to keep going. So guiding principles, there's really two on the slide that are new. Two I've already
spoken to. The first one is sitebased decisions. I said at the beginning, we're going to keep our same process. School leaders receive an allocation. They work with their sack. That's absolutely true. Um that was feedback we received from the partnership, from our budget owners work group, from multiple
different um stakeholders. And so absolutely we're preserving that. And then the bottom bullet talks about differentiation. So hopefully what I've explained up until this point helps illustrate how we differentiate funding to really dial in to um the needs of
each student in the district and the school that they um are enrolled in so to speak. So um and that complicates things. It makes it hard to communicate um when each school is effectively receiving a slightly different
percentage. Right? So that's why this slide um is truly just sort of a range. Um and every decimal in here um is probably represented in some certain situation. Uh but on average with our
current modeling um schools will experience about a 2 and a half% average SVB reduction. Um and again if you think back to our departmental section um the overall departmental re uh reductions represent between five and
six percent um so as a percentage of their budget. So schools are cutting about half as much roughly. Um our smaller schools or schools with higher at risk where that that at risk allocation is not changing at all um
might be having a one and a half one% reduction. And again, I mentioned there's even a couple exceptions there um for no reduction. And then larger schools um may have up to 4.5. I think that's a little on the high end um for where we're actually landing, but
nonetheless um so that's the percentage. This is a slide to just remind us and um put on our problem solving hats on behalf of our school communities that um really that again this this per student
amount is just one part of the puzzle. The other part of the puzzle is how many students do you have? Um and our our schools are very much dealing with fluctuations. I think the approximate count is, you know, 70-ish schools experienced a decline and 70ish um
stayed the same or increased, you know, for our 145ish sites. Um so I think again, not everyone's in the same bucket. Um but enrollment is a really important factor as well. U we talked about population and the way that that
runs through the factors. Um we're gonna have a separate conversation about overall enrollment. So, I'm going to skip over some of those figures for the moment and then just talk about next steps and then we'll have a conversation about revenue. Um, so school communities are
going to talk to their or schools will be talking to their communities about the budget process, the timeline, etc. They've already started that really. Um, so November, December, etc. January, schools will communicate their projected allocations. And we we keep using the
word projected in part because that October count still matters. So, you know, we we will say here's your estimated enrollment and here's your allocation, but if you have more kids, you get more money, right? Like it's still the same system. So, that's why the word projected is on there. Um
January, February, March. Um if a school is needing to reduce a position um as is cons as as is true every year that is when that schoolfunded position would be notified. Again there are schoolbased positions that are funded in departments that would be
notified sooner. That's a really important distinction. Internal hiring activities um Amanda already spoke to that. And then June end by the end of June uh reductions are effective. I do want to what put a caveat out just in case anyone's thinking well wait a
second I get paid through July and part of August. Yes, you do. Um we are not you you have earned that money if you are working 10 months and paid 12 100% you will get it all. There's no change or reduction there. It's just your contract if you are contracted etc will
end by that date. Payments shall continue per terms. Terms always apply. Okay. Um, Superintendent Dorland. >> Um, President Parker, do you want to pause and allow questions for that section or do you want me to keep going?
>> Do we have questions on that last section? >> Keep going. >> Great. Okay, we'll keep going. So, let's shift now into once the reductions are made, the second part of the plan, which is to raise revenue um as early as 2026.
Uh again, just a reiteration that we've had a united voice through the partnership for fiscal sustainability. Um that uh there's unequivocal support in that group for pursuing new local revenue. And um we really are grounded
in this collective belief um and shared goal that protecting learning um opportunity and the extraordinary experiences that define Jeffco schools is really our priority. Um and part of that is not just reducing and living within our means but also increasing our
revenue. The next slide kind of shows I think um just the impact and what we have been struggling with in terms of keeping up with our neighbor neighboring districts. Um you'll see uh the number of students across the board and you'll
notice that Jeffco is the second largest district in the state. Um but the the rest of this uh the rest of this slide really shows how we fall behind several front-range districts. Um the total program funding allocation, the second line across is really the state formula
and what we get from the state. Um and so that's uh different in different districts because we serve different populations of students and different factors apply within that formula. The next two lines, additional voterapproved um generalpurpose MVI override and
additional voterapproved special Milwaukee override are the places where um other districts really begin to outpace us in terms of investment on a per pupil basis year-over-year. You can see our um general purpose Milwaukee
override collection is a little over $2,000 per student, but when you go across you'll see Denver's is 3,400, Cherry Creeks is a little over 3,000 and Boulder is as well. Um, in addition to the general purpose, other districts
have approved additional milly overrides. And you can see there that Denver's is around 1,200. Cherry Creeks is a little under a,000 per student and Boulders is about 16 to $1,700 per student. The next slide shows you, you
know, of the total program, what percent is the approved overrides? and we're at 19%, others are in, you know, 30% above 40 in Boulder. Um when you add together for example Denver's
approved uh general purpose and special purpose um really the gap is widening and that is because um year-over-year these other districts continue to increase and approve additional Milvie
overrides. And so um uh we are now about 4600 am I doing that math right? $4,600 less per pupil. Um, no, I'm not doing that math right. Well, while Denver has about $4,600
additional on top of g on top of the total program, we have 21 um and so we're just continually um battling that gap. And in particular, and we all know this because of the the um commitment of this board to take care
of our people, our strength related to compensation, um it is really putting a lot of pressure on us to keep pace with competitive salaries, wages, and benefits for our employees. And it's a real burden. Um in addition to the programming that we're able to offer
students and so um you'll see uh down below that Denver, Cherry Creek, and Boulder are all at total maximum allowable override. we are not um and it's just a real challenge that we need to begin talking about with our community um um much more than we have
to date. We did start in the next slide um in in April I would say the spring semester of 2024 uh we had more than 300 Jeffco friends, neighbors, teachers, community members uh and exploring uh what are our community priorities and how would a future milliev override
support uh our programming and our students and our staff. And you can see um the 2024 state of the district presentation that's linked there. It highlighted the opportunity we have to really maximize our local revenue in alignment with communitydriven
interests. Um and so the partnership has guided early work. They've shifted a little bit from how are we going to reduce our budget into how do we begin to discuss more broadly with our community the opportunities to increase revenue. and they've started right now
helping us think through who are all the stakeholders, who should be part of this conversation and really doing some intentional stakeholder mapping. So, thank you to the partnership for beginning that work with us and we look forward to continuing with them as we um head into January. Uh what what we have
found from the original alliance in the spring of 24 24 were these three uh areas of investment, safe and welcoming schools, career connected learning and modernized pathways that are related to career exploration for our high school
students in particular and competitive compensation for our outstanding educators. Uh and so um you know we are hopeful that we can begin to build on the work that was done in the spring of 24 and uh continue this work with the partnership.
And with that uh we will um end the presentation and allow the board members if you have questions to go ahead and ask questions or or not depending upon where you guys are uh with your understanding of the content and interest in dialogue. >> Any questions board members?
Um, and and we can do this offline, but I I think others might be public may have the same question. When I look at just the total funding program allocation on slide 31, so I'm looking at that second line. I get Denver, I kind of get Cherry Creek, but I'm surprised that Boulder, who has a
fraction of the number of students, has more total program funding allocation. Did I am I wrong? >> They look like they have about 500 less per student, maybe five. >> So Boulder gets um for total program,
Boulder gets 11,200. And so again, that's that's a straight up number that's not in millions. So the amount per pupil >> that they get per student is 11,200. So they do get approximately $245
more than we do per student. And that would have to do with their student population, their um number of English learners served, um at risk, etc. >> Got it. I was trying to do some weird division there and it wasn't making sense in my head. So, thank you for that. Um and then
I have just some general questions on the mill that we can wait till board reports unless we want to talk about it now. >> If you have a question, yeah, an answer. I think um it's maybe less a question, more I'm really interested in learning
more about how are we thinking about a campaign, you know, how are we thinking about getting a lot of this kind of I know we've we've talked about this before, but getting these activities going um and when we might start to discuss that more. >> Yeah. So, we've we've started with the
partnership in our last meeting talking about uh who all needs to be at the table. We are here. We are a small group that is interested in this conversation. We know that. But who else needs to be at the table? Lisa, do you want to talk a little bit more about the timeline that we're working toward in terms of
the the shift from reductions into revenue? >> Absolutely. So, and um I think right after Thanksgiving there will be a message that goes out bas basically laying out a series of next meetings uh and next a next phase for the uh the
partnership for f fiscal sustainability and we have invited all of the folks who joined us for the this in this semester and then have talked um with with organizations and we'll be opening it to up more widely to anyone who wants to
join And there will be about one meeting per month um with some potential other sub as potential um like as that those conversations progress there might be some additional smaller meetings in between. Um but ultimately uh we would
be having several meetings in the spring um and updating the board on those meetings as some um decisions are made about the the type of of investments that folks are interested in and um and what that looks like. And then um a
campaign though would be fully outside of the district's scope. So we don't run the district cannot legally run a campaign once the um once the board refers the initiative to the ballot a separate organization and typically
those those third party separate organizations start to form in about the summer um and um and then we we continue we would continue to do educational work like this you know continuing to talk about um to talk about this work We
also, just going backwards a little bit, there will be a state of the district in February as well where a lot of this will be highlighted and all the things that you would typically think about that we actually did in the spring of 24 when Superintendent Dorland went to u
different municipal meetings and board members might do the same sort of start talking about uh about this and what it might look like for Jeffco. So, we will have a full-fledged plan and we will be sharing that when the group meets um for the first time in January.
>> Thank you. Do you have any idea of a time frame of when it might be brought to the board? >> Typically uh for a November ballot, the board uh certifies the ballot measure in August. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> I have one question. Um ju just very very specific. Um, at the Evergreen Town Hall, uh, Superintendent Dorland, you mentioned that Evergreen won't be facing any cuts. I just wonder if that's still the case, and if so, I just want to make sure that we're really open about it and
explain why. >> Yeah, we are not providing a target reduction for Evergreen High School. It was a request of the administration as well as the school community. I think they feel um they there is declining
enrollment in in the area and so that's that's a challenge for them and we want to support them as much as possible with the resources they feel like they need um as they work through uh the tragedy and try as much as possible to get uh
back to normal. So that's the reason why um we felt like it was the right thing to do so that as they work on the healing process this year, they don't also have the challenge of an anxiety related to what type of uh reductions do
we have to make, which staff members might we lose. Um it's really in an effort to provide continuity and consistency for the school um as they w round out this school year and start the next school year. Any other questions, comments? Nope.
Thank you very much for the presentation. Next, the board will receive a brief presentation from Nancy Gideon, a demographer from the state demography office on population estimates and forecasts for Colorado's regions,
counties, and municipalities impacting JECO public schools. Is Miss Gideon here? >> President Parker? She is here. She's just waiting in the lobby. Okay. Mr. Lewis getting her. >> Okay. >> While we're waiting, President Parker, I
can just say thank you to Miss Gideon for being here this evening and coming to present to our board. And I just want to commend the board for having this presentation on an annual basis. This is um practice that the board uh uh requested the board who was present with
us during the closures uh and our uh regional opportunities for thriving schools process which as we all know was a very difficult and challenging situation for our entire community. And the board at the time said we need to pay attention to this more often at
least once a year when we talk about October count and enrollment. We also need to be understanding uh the context and situation of Jeffco in relation to the state and really getting some expert uh opinions about what's happening and expert advice. So, thank you to the board for continuing this practice. I
think it's really important and Miss Gideon, welcome. Uh Miss President Parker welcomed you while you were in the hallway, just so you know. Uh but thank you for being here. Yes. >> Thank you. And we have a lot of 25 minutes for this presentation. So, if you could leave some time for questions,
that'd be great. All right, I'm on. Good evening. So, I am Nancy Gideon. I am with the Colorado State Demography Office and our team puts together this information. Uh the state demographer is Kate Watkins. And
for this particular presentation, I'm relying on data from our projections demographer, Neil Marquez. And much of what we're going to look at tonight was presented last week at our annual meeting. And every year we produce new
numbers for our estimates which looks back one year. But the forecast, the projections going into the future, those also get revised each year. So even though I was here about a year ago and had data for you, those numbers are different now and
they're going to be lower. As for the projections, we've been reducing the total Colorado population. Actually, more like extending it out. Our projections now go out to the year 2060 instead of 2050.
But we are looking at slower growth. And statewide, what we're seeing is lower fertility rates, which means fewer births. But we're also aging. And so that's increasing the number of deaths, which again is totally natural, but that
creates slower population growth. But we do know through the history of Colorado over the past five decades that net migration is the key driver to population growth. And that's people moving in minus those moving out.
So when we're looking when my colleague Neil's looking at modeling fertility rates, we have to take into consideration a few things. They model age specific fertility. And we have seen reductions in the fertility rates for
the youngest mothers. So there's been a decline in teenage births and even births to women in their 20s, but an increase to births in for the older mothers for 30 and over. Fertility rates are also unique for each
county and that as time goes on they do kind of smooth out. So as and by as time goes on we're meaning out to 2050 2060. Um they are based though on the forecasted US rates. We use that as a base. But the assumptions for this new
projections is that fertility rates are expected to stabilize and different counties have different trajectories and there's no expectation for shocks. We're not going to try to plan for the next pandemic or recession or anything
like that. Um but to that point of it's different for every county that birth rates have been declining but even within that a local hospital I believe this was up in Loveland or Longmont did experience a small baby boom over the
past year and actually looking at some of the data between 2023 and 24 there was an increase in births but not an increase in the fertility rate. So, fertility rates do continue to fall.
And I think what sort of caught people off guard, and by people I mean demographers, um, and anybody who's looking at population, is just how fast the fertility rate did decline, not only in
Colorado, but in the United States as a whole. And looking at this chart, we're looking at total fertility rate. And the metric we use here is this idea of replacement rate. If every woman had 2.1
children, that would replace the existing population. The United States and Colorado have been far below that 2.1 since the mid 2000s, about 2005, 2006, 2007.
And this drop again has been occurring nationwide, but Colorado has actually gone a little bit lower than this nation as a whole. Um there was an increase in the '9s, but we have this big drop off and Colorado is getting a little bit lower than the
United States as a whole. So there's fertility, but then there's that net migration. For Colorado, it's the people moving to the state is what really will increase our population year-over-year. Natural increase, births minus deaths, has historically been a
smaller percentage of our annual population change. It's the people moving in. And the one thing we know or have observed over the past 40 or 50 years is that four or five years after a large wave of migration, we will see an
increase in births. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that Colorado has historically attracted young adults, people between the ages of 25 and 35, which at this period of time is the
prime age for reproduction. So looking at modeling that net migration going forward, well, a lot of it in our model is based on the economy. We use a method where we're looking at the future economic growth of the state
and then modeling well how many people do we need in the state to fill the jobs that the economy would create. And short-term for the past few years that has been relatively low and domestic migration, people moving from state to
state has actually been quite low. International migration though is more of a wild card and just in the past five years we have seen dramatic shifts. We saw some of the lowest numbers quantity of international migrants to Colorado in
2020 and 2021 pandemic years. Borders were closed for various reasons and then a very very sharp high increase in international migrants. This international migration is based on
federal policy which we in Colorado cannot control. But these dramatic shifts just over this short five-term period have been very different than what we have seen historically. And we can see this looking at this chart going back to 1990 to current forecast or
current estimates at 2024. We're looking at both that domestic and international migration. And historically over this time period, international migrants made up about 20% of our total population of net migrants. And it was
the domestic people moving from other states that was the bulk of our uh net migration. But in the past three or four years that has changed and we don't expect it to continue though at least for the international we
saw this sharp drop in domestic migration sort of starting and and again by sharp sharp drop we're looking at year-over-year it's still positive. We still have people moving from other states. We still have positive domestic
net migration. It's just a little bit less or in some cases a lot less than what we saw in the mid2010s. 2015 we saw a large peak. You can see that sharp blue line that mountain peak around 2015. But we've still had
positive domestic migration just less every year. But it is contrary to our past trends that we've had such low domestic migration for the past two or three years. And it's contrary to past trends to see that high
level of international migration. But given the um well even the news I heard this morning that we already know that the large waves of migration that Colorado and the United States saw in 2022, 23 and 24 that some of those
people are voluntarily or not voluntarily leaving the country. So going forward, it is a big unknown what the international migration picture will look like in the United States and in Colorado. All those things being said, our
projection in our vintage 24, meaning that we produced it in 2025, but vintage 24 is our most current and it now goes out to the year60. But we forecasted a decline in our net migration compared to
what we were forecasting just last year. Now long-term going out to the year 2040 5060 it's not that different. It's the short-term difference. So for the short term and by that I mean from 2025 to 2030 we've reduced the amount of net
migration we are expecting Colorado to receive. Now, we know that will impact then births because traditionally Colorado has attracted people between the ages of 25 and 35. But looking at how this will
change the population as a whole by age, what we will see is continued growth in our 65 and over population. Looking here, we're going from about 1990 through 2050. The dash line is
indicating 2024. So the most current data, but the colored bars are different age groups. And the orange is the 65 and over. And going back to the year 2000 or 1990, they were a relatively small percentage of our overall population.
But going forward, they are increasing more rapidly. The dark blue line, the base of this chart is the child population. It's 18 and under, and that's relatively stable. we are not going to see growth or at least compared
to the other age groups, we're not going to see large amounts of growth in the under 18 population. We'll see it primarily in the 65 and over. And if we do continue to attract migrants, people either domestically or internationally,
we will see increases in that 19 to 44 year old age group, that paler blue line there or band because that is who traditionally Colorado has attracted. And the way for that population to grow is through net migration.
Looking at this another way, just these growth rates again, the 65 and over in orange had a high peak of year-over-year population change around 2010, 2012, the beginning of last decade. They are still
going to continue to be the higher percentage change each year. The child population, that dark green, it's skimming around the bottom. And right now we're in a period of perhaps negative growth. The one thing that I always point out in many of the
presentations is that in Colorado the year 2007, yeah, 2007 was peak the peak peak birth year. There were more babies born in Colorado in 2007 than any year prior or
any year since. And so since 2007, there's been fewer babies born. In 2007 statewide, that was about 71,000 babies. Well, 2007 was now 18 years ago. Those kids just graduated. I went to graduation
parties for some of those kids born in 2007. I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I talk about this. They were the largest class if we were to average all of the state of Colorado." But it's different for Jefferson County. Jefferson County saw its peak closer to
the year 2000. So here looking at Colorado school age population, this is got ahead of myself. The dark blue line is where we are today and you can see this is the population 5
to 17 and we did see a peak around 2020 2021 kind of corresponding to when we saw those peak births the largest number of births. We are expected statewide to see declines in the child population or
rather the school-aged population and again this is driven by reductions in fertility rate but also changes in what we are anticipating for that net migration. Statewide we do expect a slight rebound but for the most part
kind of hovering around about 1 million children between the ages of five and 17. So what does this mean for Jefferson County? Well, let's start with that exact same chart, but now for Jefferson County, the 5 to 17 year old population.
Here we see again the peak for that age group in Jeffco was around the year 2000. Their peak births was, I think, closer to the 1980s. So, you saw the most number of
school-aged kids in Jeffco in the 2000s and it has been declining steadily since then. Going forward, our forecast for Jeffco is still continued gradual decline till about the year 2040. Then
it might level out and even grow a bit depending on the forecast, depending on what we see in terms of net migration. And again, these types of forecasts do change every year. And for the past five years that I've been on staff, every
year our forecast for the year 2050 has been a little bit lower. Colorado might still eventually get to I think it's 7.5 million, but now instead of maybe 2050, it may be60. But again, every county is different. And so if we just take a
quick look at the past 30 years of population change in Jefferson County, we do see declining natural increase. So the blue bars are showing how the population changed each year due to natural increase, births minus deaths.
And from 1994 through about 2019, it's been positive, but just less every year. And as the population has aged, as net migration has fluctuated, we have seen that decline in natural increase.
The orange bars indicating the net migration. So the 2000s, from about 2000 through almost 2009, we're seeing a little bit more net out migration from Jefferson County. But the 2010s, we saw
positive net migration. Again, the past five years with the pandemic and all sorts of changes in federal policy, several counties in metro Denver have seen population declines um including Boulder and Denver and Jefferson County.
I believe the last year overyear from 23 to 24 we did have a population increase of both natural increase, so essentially babies, but also that net migration. And so looking at the forecast,
come on. Well, if someone can advance my slide because I can't apparently do it. The next slide I can tell you is a combination of what we're seeing here where we're going to see births separate from deaths. So we can see the different
trajectories for those and then see where the forecast is for net migration for Jefferson County. that for the most. Let's see. Preview. Let's see. Can you manually advance the slide? Yes.
Okay, there we go. Okay. So, in this chart, again, we're going back to 1994. 2024 is current data. And anything in the dashed line is the forecast out to60. And the yellow line, we'll start with that. That's the net migration, people
moving in minus those moving out for Jefferson County alone. And we did see let's see the zero line there around the year 2010 through 2019 positive net migration but since 2020 lots of
fluctuations that have occurred not only in Jefferson County but in other metro Denver counties where we were seeing some out migration but the short-term forecast does expect a rebound that we are looking that by
2030 there would be more net in migration to Jefferson County. Now, looking at births, the blue line that in 1994 there were over 6,000 births, so 6,000 babies in the county per year. And it's been somewhat steady, but it's been
down to about 5,000. But the forecast out is somewhat stable. And we saw that when we were looking at the 5 to 17 year old population. It is going to continue to decline. And so births are then
the before five years before the child the school age population. So the zero to five year olds. But that it's relatively stable but it will be dependent on that net migration. So if our forecast for net migration is off, if we
do not see a rebound in net migration to Jefferson County, then we would probably expect to see a decrease in our forecasted number of births because at this point it is that net migration that will influence or be in bringing in the
people of childbearing age. So that's where we would expect to see the relatively stable number of births out to the year60. Again, these things are dependent on each other. That net migration often
then would lead to an increase or a stable number of births. Again, every county is different and because Jefferson County is older both in terms of its population. It does have a older or a
larger share of population 65 and over, but also in terms of its development, and we can often compare it to a place like Douglas County that started to see large amounts of housing growth in the 1990s. Jefferson County saw a lot of that in the 70s. And
so seeing that it had peak child more in or yeah peak school age child in the year 2000 whereas statewide we were seeing that more in 19 or in 2019 or 2020. So different trajectories for
different counties and this interplay between migration and the number of births but we are constantly evaluating these things and with the uncertainty around international migration I would say that as always that is the more
difficult one to forecast that we do know now that fertility rates have declined. Our forecast is expecting that to not continue to decline, but to sort of level off around maybe 1.2 or 1.4
compared to the 2.1 replacement rate, but we're not expecting a continued decline in that fertility rate. It will level off. So, I believe that is the final presented slide and I'd be happy to take any questions. >> Thank you. Questions? Yeah, Director
Kenworthy, >> thank you for coming. I remember um when you presented last year and I was virtual. Um but I just think the work that you do is fascinating and I really do appreciate the update um that you brought to us. On on slide six, um
yeah, go ahead and pull that up. Um I'm wondering about domestic the drop in domestic migration um like around 2020 and onward. Um, is it fair to say that that would correlate with the cost of living
increasing or the cost of housing? Is it more specific to housing or living or >> We could probably make that claim. When we're looking at the data, we're computing the actual numbers. We can make some
estimates or some guesses as to what would make Colorado less attractive. Typically, when Colorado has had a good economy, when our unemployment rate is low and when there's new jobs, we see people come
>> and that hasn't quite been holding up that relationship. And so, we think something else is going on. And cost of living, cost of housing definitely could play a role. We haven't done any independent research on that, but that correlation between jobs in the economy
and people coming has held for the past 40ome years. We don't know if we're at a juncture where that relationship is changing because of other factors. >> Um I I appreciate that and it's
something that I constantly wonder about. um just seeing myself represented here in the slides. Um it's it's really interesting to look at. On slide 12, um we said
we're looking at all of Jeffco together here. And I just wanted to maybe lift the point that we're a pretty large county geographically. And so even though this looks steady, it doesn't mean that articulation areas and school
boundaries are going to hold steady across the district because there will still be movement development in different areas and that number will shift. Um even though the total for the whole county looks like it's kind of stable, we will still see movement and
we could see more variety or variation based on municipalities and school articulation area boundaries. Yes, definitely that we are looking at county level data and we know from experience that
subcounty as we call it or municipal cities, towns, the unincorporated areas, school district boundaries, high school theater areas can be changed dramatically. And again, that idea of development when a neighborhood was built and if people age in place, maybe
they had their kids in the 90s or had their kids in the 2000s and they're aging in place and now they're turning 65 and there's fewer kids in the neighborhood for schools. I when I do talk to school planners, I often tell them I don't envy your position that knowing where new development is
occurring, knowing the age of development, knowing when different schools were built, when they were opened, when they were shut is a big component of knowing what's going on within the district. And from our perspective at the state, we can give you county level data, but it will
definitely vary by neighborhood to neighborhood. >> Yeah, I I appreciate that. And I think um we are starting to think about, you know, how we're tracking that information within the school district, but also partnering with our municipalities
um to compare compare data as we continue to look at sort of our facilities um and where our students are and what our students need across the county. So, uh thank you for coming. I really enjoy it every time that you were here. Appreciate you.
>> Thank you. I want to echo the thanks and thank you for coming late in the evening on a school night. Um, we appreciate you being here. Um, my question is just to make sure I have it right. When we talk fertility rates, that is number of kids per woman of childbearing age. Is that
right? there's slightly different definitions and so when we're looking at total fertility rate quite honestly I don't know how to calculate this and I rely on my colleague to do it but this idea it's more of a it's something that you can use globally and we know that
globally many of the countries in Europe in North America in the far east in uh South Korea Japan are well below that replacement rate that just having babies at the rate they are would not replace
the population and without migration their populations would decline. There's other ways of there's fertility rates. Yes. Um births per woman of childbearing age and then there's also the calculation of births per total population. But in terms of what we've
presented today, we do know that the rate, so births per per in a way, this total fertility rate is almost like births per couple that because two babies would replace both parents. Okay, that's that's incredibly helpful to
think about. Okay, thank you. >> Okay, thank you so much. That was very informative. Appreciate it. >> Okay, well, thank you. And do feel free to reach out to the state demography office. We are here to help and provide the data you need to make decisions. So, thank you.
>> Thanks. >> Okay. For our final item of study tonight, the board will receive a presentation on the district's preliminary and unodudited student enrollment count for the current school year and the estimated fiscal impacts of this enrollment. This presentation will
be offered by Brena Copelan, Chief Financial Officer, and Shenin Rosario, Executive Director of Finance Planning and Analysis. We have aotted 45 minutes for this presentation. Please reserve some time at the end for questions before I turn it over to the presenters.
Is there anything you'd like to add, Superintendent Doran? >> Uh, thank you, President Parker. I just want to say this last part of the conversation we just had with Miss Gideon uh queued up by director Kenworthy's question around when we look at this as a county it's in the
aggregate but there are different types of movement even across our 800 square miles different regions within Jeffco so I'm really thank you director Kenworthy for raising that question because I we are starting to think about that and how
do we make more sense you know and typically we've thought about things from like an articulation area perspective which makes sense just given that that's you know typically like general regions. Uh but um Miss Rosario and Miss Copeland have a new way of looking at some things uh that we're
really excited to share with the board tonight. Um thank you for being here. Excited to have you with us, Mr. Zario. Welcome back. And Miss Copeland, welcome back to the table for the second third second time tonight. Uh, and I'm gonna hand out while they start presenting,
um, I'm gonna hand out maps, uh, for you all to follow along because we have, uh, basically to sort of spoiler alert, divided the the county, the district into regions where we can look more closely and at a layer underneath what
was just presented by Miss Gideon at um, demographic shifts and so uh, in enrollment. And so I'm really excited for these guys to present. I'm gonna go ahead and pass these things out and hand it over to Miss Copeland. Great. So, we are gonna try to be as succinct
as possible and hopefully preserve plenty of time for questions. Just a note about enrollment forecasting and mapping. So, this um group did not used to be part of financial services. Uh but it did move over within the last uh year and a half or so. And um we've
established what we hope is a serviceoriented mission, vision, and why for this group and the work that they do. And so you can see up here um that we've been thinking about um Jeffco's evolving needs um in terms of financial
planning, enrollment decisions, boundaries, openings, closings, all those things. um and how do we produce the tools, data analytics, um and um reports and analysis that really informs our strategic priorities. And I think at
a moment in time, we've, you know, we had um an external consultant come do some of that for us. But I think our hope is this internal capacity um is the sustained way to supply the board and our community and our schools with the information they need to guide these
important decisions. So just uh what you'll hear tonight from us is not dissimilar to what you just heard. Um for the current year, so 2526 enrollment has declined more than expected. Our full enrollment is down by,281
students. That's a 1.7% decline. District managed schools reduced or decreased year-over-year by about 1,500. That's a 2.3% decline. And so I think you heard a very similar decrease figure um from the state demographer.
PreK actually increased by 127 students. Kindergarten enrollment is down. That is a statistic that we find particularly concerning um because a 4.4% decline in kinder um says a lot. Um enrollment
decreased in all but one articulation area. And again, we're going to talk more about regions than our ticks. And charter schools increased by about 91 students. The 10-year enrollment for us K12 has decreased um just under 12,000 students. Um that number is still a
little bit eyepopping for me. Births in 2024 increased compared to 23 by about 4.3%. That was a good thing. Uh but Mr. Rosario will show you how uh that's probably an anomaly. And then um uh district managed schools are capturing
um less bursts than 10 years ago. We want to be clear, we are not midwives. We're not sort of there capturing the births, but we'll explain that nomenclature um when we get to that section. And then lastly, the I just mentioned the kindergarten cohort. So
those are some of the key takeaways. And again, um, I'm really thrilled with the leadership that Shaine has brought to this team and this work and excited to Am I handing it off to you? I am. Yes. Hand it off. Thank you. Thanks for having me. All
right. So, Brena, thank you, Miss Copeland. Thank you. You covered a lot of the information I have on this ne next slide. This is uh looking at the information that we just discussed, but in a different way. So, this is graphically looking at the prior five years. The green bar at the bottom of
each of these columns represents our district managed K through2 schools in the enrollment year-over-year. The orange slice that's right at on top of that is our prek population. And then the gray chunk on the top is our charter schools population. So this is looking
at our total school enrollment and then breaking it out by those sections. We're looking at the year-over-year historical information. The second to last column is what we had forecasted. So where last year we were at 75,508
total student enrollment across Jeffco, we were projecting to go down to 74659. However, with our preliminary October count data, we're at 74227. So um that is preliminary data that we pulled. It's unudited. We're doing our
final submission to CDE right now to finalize those numbers, but it's only it's going to just change um up and down slightly. So one of the questions is why what happened and what maybe could have been unanticipated. We pulled this data um from our friends
that are um close with our new newcomer student enrollment. And if you look our new student enrollment last October was 879 students in the district. This year it's 400. So we've lost 55% uh not specifically the students from
last year but of the count that we have we have 55% less students this year than we did last year. This was unanticipated as part of our forecast. So we are attributing part of that difference between forecast and actual to this population.
This is looking at grade advancement for the last five years. So you can see each of the years as a column, each of the grades as a row. Um, and just looking because you think about a kindergarten class becomes a first grade class the next year. So, they're highlighted to kind of help you visualize how a cohort
stays together. We'll get into that a little bit more um in another slide pointing out, and Miss Copelan um highlighted this earlier in that top right cell, our kindergarten class this year is 4,92 students. That is the lowest uh kindergarten class that we've
had in Jeffco history. Then I put some circles on there. the circles are are really on those transition years. So we think about or those um entrance years. So not always do all kindergarteners start in Jeffco, but then we start in first grade. So just looking at what has it been in the last year compared to um
prior years. So kindergarten that was last year going to first grade this year we lost 61 students. Prior year we gained 31 students. Fifth grade to sixth grade. So transitioning into middle school this year we lost 15 students net
I should say this is net we it's not specifically 15 students we lost some we gained some but net 15 prior year between um fifth and sixth we had gained 43 students 8th grade last year to 9th grade so transitioning from middle school to 9th grade we always see an
increase in students um year-over-year a lot of that is because our charter schools don't offer the high school and so we get we capture many of those charter students students into our high schools and that shows the trend. Um 12th 12 12th grade this year is notice noticeably smaller than prior year. Most
of that decrease is really around changes in how we count our ascent students and turn them into the state as part of our CDE reporting. So it's not necessarily reflective of the complete 12th grade. Again, we alluded to this in our key takeaways is looking at um the trend
over the last 10 years. We can see the far left is 201617 school year up until this year. This is showing just by band not necessarily cohort that in 201617 the total students in elementary so that's going to be K through five was
32,496. Now this year it's 26,224. So that's a decrease of 19% of the count of students in K through five across the district. So you can read that band by band for elementary, middle, and high. The total is what we talked about
earlier, about 12,000 students less today in Jeffco than it was 10 years ago. Um, I don't think I need to speak too much to this slide. It's very similar to what Miss Gideon gave you, but the key takeaway is that we have seen um some changes in our population since 2010 to
2023, and many of the ones from 2020 to 23 are affecting our our school age population. So from here uh the EFM team then looks at metriculation rates which we talked about um and I'll talk about it in just the next slide and forecast that going
forward. So we look school by school, grade by grade and forecast the enrollment going forward. So those four last bars um on the right are what we're forecasting for um the next school years after after this. So 26 27 27 28 and going forward. So it's five years
projection. So you can see for each of the bands it matches with the first slide with the green being the district managed schools prek orange and charters on the top. Thinking through this a little bit more trying to um explain this a little bit more. Thinking um about metriculation
rates I we have this graphic to maybe help understand metriculation rates and how that forecast is calculated. So if you look in the top right, we have a kindergarten class of 20 students that was in this the school year of 23 24. As they moved into the 2425 school year
into first grade, there were four of those students that left the school, three that joined this the school and so now our first grade class is a size of 19 and it was 20 last year. So that makes a metriculation rate of 95%. Take that same class and move them into
25 26. We have two more students that leave the school, two students that join, so we're still at 19. So that's a metriculation rate of 100%. So the enrollment forecasting and mapping team calculates this over a 10-year period. This is how we're um starting with our
enrollment forecast. We go back over 10 years. We go to all schools. We calculate this uh metriculation. I say we, I mean that team. I do not do this. They have um they've built tools to do this for us to then say based on what kids are sitting in that second grade
class today. What is the metriculation rate to third grade in this specific school in this specific grade? And then they're going to calculate what they think is going to be the third grade class for next year. So it's that net change to include the new kids and the ones that leave and what represents. So
for a school where their metriculation rate is close to one, that means that year-over-year we basically have the same students in that school year-over-year. When we see a metriculation rate in a school go down to 95 or 90%, that's indicating that we
do have year-over-year more students leaving the school than are entering into the school. Another piece that the team considers as they're looking at that enrollment forecast is any of the large housing developments that we have emerging in Jeffco. So,
these ones are on our radar as uh new new developments within um the Jeffco stu school boundary showing us the total projected students over 7 to 10 years. So, all these students aren't going to arrive next year. All the houses don't get built within one year. They're
staggered as they're built. The families um move in staggeredly. And we've also seen typically that a lot of times we don't see them a a bump in the student enrollment until about five years after they move in, which coincidentally lines up very well with miss what Miss Gideon
said earlier about having people migrate and then when you have some of the student population show up. So that was wonderful how that worked out unplanned. I just hit all of this from a district perspective. I do want to remind you that we do have an FCB dashboard. It is
it was established in the s seep or the summer of 2022 and this is updated annually. It includes the school building specific data enrollment historical um current and projected. It gives you rates about choice in choice out capture rate and the educational
programs and community information with for those schools. It's a really good resource. So, if you're actually wanting to look at a specific school to find out the enrollment, the enrollment trend, and where it's projected, this is the best place to go. As we're finishing up our October counts, the the site that
maintains that will be updated with the October count data. And then in the spring, uh once we've gone through discussions with um school leadership and and budget and finalized enrollment forecast, then we update the enrollment forecast along with any other associated
building information on that website. So I encourage anybody that wants to dig into all of this from a deeper level to go to that dashboard. I will hand it over to Miss Copeland. Great. So our regions,
why do we do this? We did this because it's really difficult to discuss trends or even digest data across 17 data sets. It's a little bit easier um across five, both visually and just from a decision-making perspective. So grouping
our articulation areas into these region was part science part art. Um we tried to look for are there art ticks with similar patterns, similar demographics and um if a group of schools are experiencing something similar then that
suggests they might clump well together. Obviously adjacency matters. Um and so nonetheless you might say well why is that here versus there? um it really has to do with creating a bundle so to speak of our ticks that are experiencing
something somewhat similar so that it's a valid bundle um of sorts. So this is who's where and you have this map um to continue to refer to. So across our five regions uh we had the biggest drop in enrollment in the
northeast region. So that would have been the blue region and that was a 4.6 6% decline in enrollment um across K12 from 8250 to 7872.
Um the smallest drop so to speak also corresponds with our tallest and therefore um highest enrollment which is the Northwest region which went from 17,568 to 17,413. um those numbers are very similar, but
you can see um what's happening um in all of our regions and and how our regions are differently sized in terms of enrollment and also geography um year-over-year variance. This further
breaks out the regions by our ticks um and shows that within um certain areas we are experiencing some more significant decreases. I'm not going to read everything on the slide, but this is worth digesting subsequently um to
really understand um some of what's happening. Okay. So, one of the back to our purpose. Um, we're hoping this analysis helps guide decision- making going forward. That does not mean we're bringing any proposals there. There are no decisions
we're putting forward tonight. This is just information that we hope the district publishes regularly that can be used in a lot of different settings. So, one of the key um questions folks ask is how efficient are we? How are we utilizing our space? Um, and then so the
top green line here is our quote unquote permanent capacity. And the reason we use the word permanent is simply um it excludes our um temporary temporary. Thank you. I couldn't think of the word. Um then the
orange bar is our historic enrollment and the pink bar is our forecasted enrollment. So anywhere you see a gap between green and orange or green and pink um you know that represents how many kids do we have versus how many could we serve as a full district. Uh
and you see from 2223 to 23 24 and there's that orange arrow. Um that is where we closed the most schools so to speak and um and you can see that the two lines got closer together. So we um significantly improved our utilization
in in so doing. That said, uh based on what the demographer shared and our own analysis, you do see the lines starting to separate again. But again, this is not about proposing solutions. We're just um sharing the data and information
for um future. Drilling down a little bit just so we can better see among schools um impacted by our um regional opportunities for thriving schools or you know in short our school closures and consolidations.
Um the green line represents total capacity across both receiving schools or welcoming schools and our closed schools. Um and then the orange is our enrollment. And you can see a really um substantial
shrink in the gap there. And so we had talked some about this in the process. um you know in essence not only you know were we um closing schools we were strengthening schools by um boosting
utilization and creating more thriving programming across the board. So it it was a um positive impact for all those receiving schools and you can see that in this data. Uh so going back to our regions for just a moment and thinking about total
capacity across K12 um versus uh their current enrollment. So the gray is total capacity, the green is enrollment and that percentage represents okay what is the green bar as a percentage of the capacity meaning
what is their utilization rate. So the way to read this is uh within the central region the overall K12 utilization is about 71% um against a capacity of about 15,000 students. So you can get again an idea
for some variance in overall utilizations in these in these different regions we've created. And with that I hand it back. Okay. Well, we should just bring Miss Gideon back since you already got a lot of this, but so we'll we'll fly through these as best as possible. Keeping in
mind, and she said this, that the data that she showed you in her presentation was for Jefferson County as a whole. What I'm going to show you is for what's our boundary district data. So there is and and it also includes um information including um Broomfield, right? Because
part of Broomfield is part of our district area. So when I say Jeffco birth data, I'm talking about the kids that are born within our school boundary area. Um, and she did allude to this a little bit, but this is um, you know,
our birth trends back till 2007. So specific within our boundary area, um, our seniors that graduated in the spring, the births um, that we had five years pre prior or five we had 18 years ago, excuse me, is uh, 6,270. We can see
that since then we've not had any births as high as we did for the kids that just graduated as seniors. Um, our current seniors are the next column over that were born in 2008. And obviously this is approximate because this reflects the calendar year, school years, and all of that and when you decide to go ahead and
take the leap and go into preschool. So, um, and then I highlighted in the middle that we have looking at 2019 compared to 2020. You can see our first grade class compared to our kindergarten class. We did note at the beginning of the presentation that we did see a drop in
our kindergarteners. It could be indicated by we did um have a decrease in the bursts in 2020 which might are the kindergarteners this year. And then something that we're looking at a little bit more is is um and and we'll
get into this in more data. The orange line is looking at our kindergarten enrollment yearbyear. So, if you start on the left, a little over 5,000 students we had in kindergarten um in 2015. If I back that up by five years
and see um how many kids were born, it was like it was like 5,800. So that 91% which is the dot above there means 91% and it's not a onetoone ratio but if we apply math and and um forecasting at
that point we could say that 91% of bursts from five years ago were showing up as kindergarteners. As time has gone on those two lines again have gotten farther apart. And Miss Gideon alluded to some of this. So I I I feel
substantiated by some of this data um that it aligns with what she showed you. So when Brena and I talked about looking at this um and showing this presentation, we also said to um Miss Kenworthy, your point, why? And so I'm
going to skip this again. So what we lay we we have now layered in here is we also layered in here average home values during that same time frame. So I pulled the average home values from US Census Bureau from American Community Survey
and it shows that uh the average home value has increased 76% since 2015. So while we see that that we're converting less births into kindergartens and we're seeing a decrease in kindergartens, we are seeing the increase in home value. So you must have known that somehow.
Thank you. All right. So that summarizes our enrollment portion of this. Brena has another section after this, but really just talking about the benefit of this team and what we're trying to build with this team and giving information to the board and senior leadership here at Jeffco around um how financial planning
um informs the staffing models and it informs alignment of resources to support student success across the district. Um so we're here to continue to provide data and analysis. We're still continuing to build out tools um and ways to visualize data differently
to help drive decisions within Jeffco future. Great. So, we just have two more slides. Uh so, as advertised, um now we're going to switch gears a tiny bit and translate those numbers into um some revenue
impacts. whole lot of numbers not yet translated to dollars. Um but here you can see in the adopted budget what did we forecast for different things and so this slide picks right up off a slide we presented in May and June
that detailed out all these assumptions. You know every time we bring a budget forward we always detail our assumptions and then we always say we're going to come back to you and um say well what really happened? Well this is what really happened. Um we did have a
variance and and these are in thousands um right sorry all of a sudden yes hopefully >> yes um we did have a variance in terms of um the K12 membership and and really one of the things that's so important is
the funded count um when we're talking about revenue you can see that the membership variance is higher than the funded count variance and that has to do with the fact that we're still largely funded on fiveyear averaging um using the old formula. It's only the new formula that is using four-year
averaging and the new formula only kicks in about like a few million bucks. It's confusing but nonetheless um we have two funded counts. Um our at risk did decline more than we thought. So the 19.3 the 19,300ish kids we had
forecasted already represented a decline. Our count is in fact lower than that still. Um I think some folks felt like it wasn't going to decline that much as our forecast and in fact it declined more. Um ELLL count roughly the same and and
there's some noise in that number. You might be like well how is it we have um half as many newcomer students but our ELLL count is more stable. um lots of different reasons for that and um you
are counted in that figure based on um basically some scores on the access test among other things and um there's some stabilization there as well. So even after you get to a certain point you still count in that figure for a couple years etc. So it's confusing sped um
even for now and then prek as we noted earlier is up. So what's the net impact of all this? Um so the enrollment decline in and of itself
would have produced a negative 4 million and that's taking into account the five and fouryear averaging. However, there was kind of a one-time, it might be two time, I can't remember how many years, hold harmless provision
negotiated across a number of districts who stood to lose money based on the new formula. That hold harmless basically said you won't get fewer dollars almost regardless of count. You won't get fewer dollars than you did the prior year. Um,
so what we brought you for a budget, we said we're going to get about, you know, a million more or something in total program. And I remember there was quite a bit of um different estimates of what was going to happen to total program. Uh, some folks
said it was going to go up by quite a bit. The net is total program would have gone down by 3.9. Instead, it's going down by one. So the actual after all that forecasting that Brian and I did um we were off by a million and it's lower.
So there you go. That's it. Okay. Uh questions board members, >> when we look back at slide 24, which is our capture rate, um we are still I mean the births and and all of that make a lot of sense, but we are still seeing a declining percentage of how many
students we're capturing. Do we go ahead do we have any ideas of like what's funnling that or or reasons behind that? Yeah. So this is this is really important to discuss. Um it goes hand inand and I almost wish I could overlay the net migration numbers. So if
you go back to her slides, net migration was actually negative in several years right around there. So it's actually not about capture. So that's this this is not capture. This is taking one data point and saying how
does it convert to a different data point. Could be same kids, could be different kids. We might have net migration in that's bringing in kids. We might have net migration out that's taking out kids. This is not to say that of the kids born here, 80% of them
showed up in our schools. It's to say this figure five years ago was this number. So 6,000. And then five years later the total number of kinder we have is 4,800. And that's true largely due to
migration net migration out. If you go to the next slide because I skipped this because Gideon kind of covered it in the orange section in there which is just reemphasizing what Miss Copelan said.
In uh 2020 the population of under five years old was 29728. In 2023 it was 25901. So we in as a as a district and this is this is the this is Jefferson County. We
lost 12.8% of our under five year olds in three years. They're moving out. It's not that they're going to a charter school or a public school. They're moving out of Jefferson County. Does that help? It does. It might be the late hour and the fact that my brain's
quite tired. Um, that makes sense. But if I'm still looking at the numbers, we're still saying that of the births a certain number of people, a certain number of kids are going to school. And so it's not necess I'm trying to get there.
>> It's okay. >> Why? And what I think I hear you say is that the reason we're not still in the 90% and 80% or down in that 75 kind of consistently honestly for the last three years is because kids are moving away.
>> Yeah. So, let's let's go back to this for just a second and imagine that instead of metriculating through grades, you're metriculating through ages. And so, we're going to imagine that the big number is the zero. So, born 20 kids born. Okay. What's happening?
>> Well, by the time they're one, uh, four have left. Four have moved out of Jefferson County, but also some people moved in. And so the net migration, you could think of it as migration there was like a negative one
and so forth and so on. And so as there the point is when the overall count of 0 to 5 is decreasing on a four or five year horizon, we would never expect there to be as many kids in kinder as were born 5 years ago
because that that's mathematically impossible, right? And the point is they're moving in and out all the time. What's the net impact? the net migration impact is what's um manifesting in that kind of sharp decrease in our um count
of enrolled kiddos as compared to bursts. >> Okay. >> No, it didn't help. Oh well. >> No, it did. I I think I just need to study it a little bit more. Thank you. um
in the spirit of no recommendations and I don't know what this means. Um something that I think would be really helpful if we're going to look at it by these regions. Um if we look at the is the do we have the map up here? Yeah. Um
just an observation that I have from knowing this area in that little blue area up there which has the greatest is this a projection uh on slide 16 there's a decline rate so it has the largest decline rate of4.6 six
>> that same area >> also if we like when I think about how many kids so here's where I'm going this in we also have 18 charter schools in our county I believe eight of them are in that little blue area
>> eight so 40 and it's it's debatable because some of them have two campuses so like one north and one south so it's hard to um but but they're listed if you look at 18 they're just listed once. So I don't know how so between like 40 and
44% I think of all charter schools if you go back to that other map are in that little teeny tiny area of our district. So again I'm not no judgment or anything but the so the and 40% of our total count of charter kids which is
like hovering around 9200 is like 3600 kids. So the proportion of kids in the district are hovering up there. So all I'm saying is like if we're going to study this and tell the story of these areas, I mean the number of kids that
are up there in that blue area is a lot more than we're seeing on these slides because we're not counting the and and the home I don't even think the homeschool programs are included in here. Um, I know I was just visiting Jefferson Academy has 800 homeschool
kids and Woodedro Wilson I think has two to 300. So add those in on top of these other numbers. I don't think those I don't know where those are counted. >> They're in the 70 um >> 4,000. 74,000 includes all of the
thousandish combined um part-time students. I just didn't know are they in the green bar or the if they're a charter school home they're in the they're in the gray bar. >> That's right. The um so that 9300 is a headcount >> and the FTE count in our charter schools is more like 7,800.
>> Yeah. So I So like the number of available seats in that little blue area has a much different footprint than anywhere else in our whole district. So what we're looking at we the story we tell is like oh our VA high is declining and all these we have the so many small
schools up there. There's also many many more choices for the kids in these neighborhoods to go to other schools. So and all I'm suggesting is like that's really interesting to me and we have we have a pocket of kids up there. I don't
know how many of them live there in that area. That's another question. But they're choose they're making these choices to go to these different schools. And if we really truly want to study this, we have to ask why are they choosing these different schools and you know so it's not just that school these
schools are undesirable and people don't want to go to them but these kids have so many more choices of where they want to go to school. So I don't know that it's apples to apples to say like that little blue area is just declining in the same way that some of the other areas are where the choices are less
dense. So I and again I don't know what how to make sense of you know this but I've just I just think that's a really really important part of the story to that we have to think about in the study of this.
>> I agree. Thank you for that input. Um, it makes me think, and I don't exactly know how we'll represent it, but that in addition to showing the district enrollment in each region, we should show the charter enrollment, and we should also be talking about the year-over-year trends and charter
enrollment. Um, because, you know, we were talking about multiple things like point in time data that might guide decision-making. And then we're talking about trends. And so, is the district trend different than the charter trend is a really important question that I think you're raising. and how how many
students are choosing charters is an important question. So, thank you for that and we'll try and enhance this in the future. >> One thing because the way I was thinking about it is actually but region by region if you had a total number of seats available >> and included charters. >> Sure.
>> And then how many kids are going to which one? Yeah. >> Then then I don't think the uh decline would look so big. >> Okay. for for those those traditional schools because because the total number would be so much bigger okay in that area. So the rate the ratio would be
less. >> Thank you. >> So and that tells a very different story about like how we think of those schools in terms of their success at capturing students that looks better for them. Yeah.
>> Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that. Um, we don't have any other breaks scheduled in tonight, but we've got more to go. Does anyone want a quick one or not? Just barrel through. Barrel through. All right.
Okay. Um, uh, then next, the board has allotted 20 minutes to discuss and approve the 2025 written evaluation of the superintendent. Per policy BSR4, each October, the board of education conducts a formal summitative evaluation of the
superintendent focused on two things. Organizational accomplishment of the board's ends policies and organizational operation within the boundaries established in the board's executive limitation policies. Following that conversation in executive session, the
board prepares a sumitative memo based on data derived during the year. The board and superintendent Dorland met in executive session on October 24th, 2025 to complete the formal summitive evaluation. Following that meeting, the board completed actually I wrote the
written evaluation which we will uh vote on this evening. Is there a motion to approve the 2025 written evaluation summary as presented in board docs? >> Yes. I just have to get to the right page.
I move to approve the 2020 2025 written evaluation summary as presented in board docs. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> And now we have discussion. And I I would like to open the discussion and just um explain why I did uh choose to move this off the consent agenda.
Traditionally, it is just one of the consent agenda items that we vote on. Um, but I wanted to um bring this out in a spirit of uh transparency and um just make it more visible for people who
wanted to find it later on if they want to go look for it. Um, also I wanted to say that I did um make a great effort to listen to the um recording of our executive session from October 24th,
2025 to ensure that um I included all of the uh discussion items that we had during that um evaluation. And also I used some verbiage from other districts
evaluation summary um which explains the um requirements the limitations if you will of the format summitative formal evaluation. So, um we do have introductory paragraph um information
about it which kind of was alluded to here about the board ends and the board limitations. And then it also does address the um how we incorporate um information that comes in throughout the year um that is important for the board
to um uh take account of um and discuss with this superintendent, but it is not part of the goals that were set or the official measurements that um we had uh for this school year. So that's my
comments. Does anyone else have something you wanted to say about it? >> Um, I just wanted to point out so I have a little bit of a concern. Um, so there is this paragraph, sorry, I'm going to go back to it that I
think you're alluding to that it says the evaluation presented here includes various observations and requests directed toward the superintendent. However, these requests are not binding on the superintendent until they are formally incorporated into the board ends. Executive limitations or board
superintendent relationship policies um and that the board over time reserves a right under BSR4, accountability of the superintendent to revise existing policy, identify gaps, and make amendments. Um, so the concern I have is
that then down on page five, we have a statement that says right at the top, it's like the the first new paragraph, the board would like to see a new goal for the 2526 school year that measures employee perception of the district's climate and culture. This would most
likely be done so with a survey. Um for the third year in a row we have discussed in the evaluation a measurement around trust and for the previous two years when we got to the evaluation
it always came up that we couldn't evaluate our superintendent on that because it because of that paragraph up above that it's not become a formal goal. It's not one of those three things. So in our evaluation session, I I I remember bringing this up and saying
this year we need to make it a formal goal then because then we get to next year and we can't do the evaluation. And I I I didn't see this till it got posted in board doc. So this is we didn't have a chance to give feedback or were asked for any input. But I am
reluctant to vote yes on this because it feels unfinished. I remember asking in the evaluation how how does this process work? So, President Parker, maybe you can tell me. It says it's not binding until they are formally incorporated into board ends, executive limitations, or board
superintendent relationship policies. So, where does this go? This trust aspect that we want to formalize? How do we do that? So, there's and and at a minimum, I I don't believe the board should vote on this because it's unfinished. We do not have that in here.
So, if we vote yes on this, once again, we're going to get to we're we don't have it formalized. So, once again, it's not a goal to that allows us to to evaluate the superintendent on and there's no process that's telling us how
we're going to get there for the new board and they won't even know we had this discussion. Um, so it's just the third year in a row that this is about to happen. So, I will vote no on this because we aren't done. We haven't done
that part of it. And there's nothing in this that tells me how it's going to happen. And so, I worry that next year you all get to the evaluation and you hear once again, it's not formalized, so we can't evaluate on it. And I'm just
saying like I won't be here for that. But that's unfortunate because who's going to have who's going to remember that? who's going to keep bringing it up. Um, so that's I just have a really big concern that this is unfinished and we haven't formalized what the board
said was a priority um and a a a big change um that we don't have in here right now. I'd love to hear your comments on that um and how we plan to do that. Um there was I believe an additional
goal put in for next year around the culture and climate. I'm trying to find it in the um the goals for next year. It was a at the end of the superintendent's um uh self-evaluation. Do you remember what goal number it is? Yeah, I'm trying to find
>> Can you can we make sure that there's because we had one for culture and climate this we were talking about trust and that and when we had a long discussion about how to measure it and and superintendent Dorland said that um
Dr. Eaton would be working on that but this is two different things. How we measure it is is one thing we have to work on. We don't know how to do it. But having a goal for it is the process part. And there there is nothing in there as a formal goal.
I know that we talked about um the summary that um how we can measure that and I think it was going to be panorama with um some additional questions on it and I'm having trouble at this hour. I found it. >> Finding it. >> Um so page 25 in the superintendent
evaluation at the bottom there's a goal six and it's culture of continuous improvement and I'm I you're right on the trust. Um in the superintendence evaluation um in boards page 25 it reads um percentage of staff and
family members who have favorable perceptions of their engagement with the school or workplace overall will increase based on annual panorama surveys. favorable survey responses from previous years, um, employee and family engagement. And so, um,
we did have a lot of conversation about trust and how to add those goals. And I know part of or at least my understanding is part of that is there could be a policy adjustment. I mean, ends in the the board policy is where some of the sits in our relationship
with the superintendent. Um, but I would have to go back and look at my notes because that that's the goal in there, right? Yeah. Okay. So, that's the one I see in there. >> Sorry, what where is it? Which one? Goal. >> So, all the way at the bottom um in the
appendix. >> Yeah. Are you saying goal six? >> Yeah. >> So, we've had culture. We've had this one in there from previous years. This is we talked about like literally it doesn't say trust anywhere.
>> No, that's what I was saying. Trust is separate. You were you were right in calling them out as separate. Culture and trust are different. >> So there's no goal. So when we get to next when you get to next year once again we can say we can't evaluate the superintendent on something that is not written in here as a goal. And that's a
fair expectation. We can't evaluate someone if it's not stated as a goal. So and this is the third year where I thought we were making it a goal. And two years prior to this, I just missed it and we didn't do it, but we talked about it. So this year, I'm calling it
out because this will be the third year that we've talked about it, said it's something that we need to work on, that the superintendent needs to work on that is severely lacking um amongst our employee groups and our um our communities. And yet, it's still
not an official goal. So, I'm requesting that we do the work to make it a goal before approving the evaluation. I just want to ask a point of clarification to the president. Um this is an action item for this evening and
it's the it says as stated acceptance of the 2025 annual superintendent evaluation. So that refers only to the seven-page document which you created and not the 27page document that was created by Tracy in the district. Is
that accurate? >> Yes, that's accurate. So, Director Kenworthy is going where I'm going. Can we approve the superintendent's evaluation, which is the document for the previous year, and then continue to work
on an agreed upon set of goals. So if someone can also then talk about what does that look like and at what point do we pass the point of no return where we can't evaluate the superintendent because it's not a goal yet which I thought was right now. So if
we need three months to work on that can it be included in next year's evaluation? My understanding is no. But I don't know what I don't know who knows in the whole room what is the cut off point by which a goal has to be in the
stated formal documents so that you can evaluate the superintendent by it. I think we also need to be very cognizant that there are limitations and some stipulations within the superintendent's existing contract that we would have to take into consideration when we're
talking about formalization of of things that don't exist currently in the contract. Um, and if that language is not in the contract, then what it would mean is that we'd have to reopen a conversation about contractual language along with any policy revision that we do. Um, and I
>> we don't have these this language in her contract. >> I know, but I'm I'm wondering about the policy of changing how she gets evaluated and what impacts that has on contractual language. >> We already have that she gets evaluated
by these goals. So, it's this is separate. This is what are the goals. The contract just says evaluation by the goals or whatever. I don't know what the language. So then are you asking essentially are you asking for us to include the goals as listed and with one
addition from the superintendent's self evaluation and put those into our formal summit of evaluation. >> Right? But these this table of these goals is included as an appendix in our self-evaluation because it was it was put there. It could easily have been an
appendix which it should have been probably in our evaluation. And in that case then if we approve the evaluation with this as an appendix, it's missing. It's just nowhere. I just would love for the board to tell me how it's going to happen and and when and and are we going
to include it in the superintendent's evaluation? It's we all agreed in the midterm in the mid review and the evaluation that this is like the most important thing that's happening right now and it's just nowhere and I just think we need to fix that.
that. So that's that's all I'll say. I guess I don't know how else to say it, but that's why I'll say no on. >> I just I'll just say I'm happy to continue to work with Aaron and Michelle and the and the uh incoming board members on uh conversations around
measuring trust. I think um I think it's a very difficult thing to measure. I think we have had some conversation about trust and we've talked about co-accountability related to trust with board and superintendent and if we're going to
write a goal in my evaluation about something as ethereal as trust and as difficult to measure as trust, then I'm going to want to have a conversation around co-accountability around that goal. um including uh board reflection
on which is called for in your ends uh self-reflection for board um so that's going to be something I would like to talk about with if we if we go move in this direction um my takeaway from our last conversation was it related to
trust and culture um this culture goal right like how are we developing um a a a trusting culture a culture where employees can thrive where families feel like they're getting what they need from their school from the district. So that was the effort that we
put into the goals that are attached in the appendix of the self self-reflection. Um so I'm happy to continue this conversation. Um and that that would be I guess my contribution to where where the board is right now.
>> I want to um put two pieces into this conversation. Um I think that we need a more clearer tool for the um board to use on a regular interval. Um, and I would suggest that moving forward that
our board look at the um, CASBY has a tool that I've downloaded on my computer um, for superintendent evaluation specifically and it has seven seven areas and it's it's pretty straightforward tool that I would
encourage us to look at with the incoming board um, for this process um because it is it is clear and it does have language in it that that includes building a culture. Uh I'm not sure if trust is included in the tool, but um it
it's not um because it's because it's hard to measure. Um but I think what we are aiming at is talking about um our relationship with our community um which we will be able to gauge through the ways that they show up at public comment, the ways they engage
with us when we are out in the community. there's more than just a concrete um qualitative measurement or quantitative measurement of trust. Um it's and I think that it would be hard to put
into a specific separate goal. I can imagine adding the word trust into culture as a part of or a consideration, but I don't think it would need to be a separate a separate goal all on its own. Um, the other thing that I'm going to
mention now is that I do have the letter we received last May from our JCA members and I want to say that under collaborative leadership and transparency, several of the things that are listed in this letter have been addressed. um and discussed and so I
think that shows a movement towards good faith towards addressing community concerns um that we've seen and the trust has to follow. We have to do the work and then the trust follows. And I think we're doing the work and I don't know that I would want to
add a separate specific goal but if if we want to make any changes then adding the word trust in as as a part of a goal that is already existing to add the word trust could be possible.
Miss Tullison, is there again it's late in the evening and I apologize that my brain fog is quite real tonight. A lot of these are driven by our ends. Um, and I don't know, Director Kenny, if you have your magic book there. Um,
could you flip to ends two, please? I'm curious if the NS has in it I'm seeing headshakes. Miss Tolson, if we wanted to work with the superintendent to edit one of these
goals, what is the time frame by which we have to do that with her? >> Neither the contract nor the policy itself speaks to that. Um, so I mean it's designed to be sort of collaborative. My um instinct would be particularly with the three new board
members coming in to set that on an agenda pretty promptly and see if you can make an adjustment there. I mean, our process here has always been a little unlike what I'm familiar with, right? Because normally the fact that we're talking about setting goals in the same
context as voting on the summary of a summit of evaluation. Normally those would be two separate conversations, right? We evaluate now on last year's goals, then we set new ones. So, you're certainly not now that you're just approving last year's summit of evaluation. Um, I don't have any reason
to believe you're precluded from saying, "Okay, next month we're going to talk about, are we going to tweak an existing policy? Are we going to meet with the superintendent and talk about how we want to articulate this goal so we all know what we're shooting for and going to measure a year from now?"
Um, I'd also like to say that I watched the schoolboard meeting from uh Denver public schools and they um uh had also worked on BSRO4. So that in that policy um they incorporated new data that and that came
after they voted on the evaluation, the summitive evaluation. So it was something that the um school board did uh after the evaluation. So that's something that Jeff Co could do going forward. >> What was the Do you know the time
difference? >> Oh, it was actually the same night, but it was after Thank you. >> And they made some very substantial changes. Their BSR04 is much more verbose, I guess I would say, than ours.
So, and that is a possibility that we could make um adjustments to that. policy. >> I'm in favor of moving ahead with approving the review from last year. I know we're not voting yet. I'm just going to speak
my mind here a little bit. Um, and I do like the idea of having conversations with the superintendent and the new board around what we want to accomplish. And so if if you're comfortable with that, I'd like to say that's something that we should work with
um our our fearless supporters over there um to figure out how we can put that on an agenda quickly. That's that's my take. I haven't had a lot to say because um I'm not going to be doing this and so
I I feel like putting the weight of um I don't know putting the weight behind uh directors Applegate and Kenworthy because you're the ones that that will ultimately be accountable for it. Um and
I do think with the new with incoming board members. They're going to come in with their own set of of um things that they think are important and and hopefully they will have a chance to review tonight's discussion if that is
of use. Um, I'm just I am I'm very hesitant to set a very strict set of boundaries that
I'm not going to be the one enforcing. >> I do want to say I think the seven-page document that was prepared by President Parker is pretty fair and thorough. Um, and it does summarize the conversations that we had
both over the summer and this October. Um, so I feel confident and comfortable approving that document as is with um the promise to have discussions with the new board around policy changes if that needs to happen
in the future. >> Okay. Well, then with that, um, Yep. >> I'll just I'm gonna Robert's rules of order this. Can we call the question? There. >> Yes, I think so. Okay. Um, roll call,
please. Miss Harper. >> Miss Applegate? >> Yes. >> Miss Kenworthy? >> Yes. >> Miss Parker? >> Yes. >> Miss Reed? >> Yes. >> Dr. Va? >> No. >> Okay. And that passes. So we are moving
on to the consent agenda. Um items 7.01 through 7.14 are presented in board docs as a proposed consent agenda. As a reminder to our listening public, the board received a preview of these items at our November 3 study
session. Do I have a motion regarding the approval of the consent agenda as presented in board docs? I move to approve items 7.01 01 through 7.14 on the consent agenda as published in board docs. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Any discussion?
>> Director VA, >> can we can I discuss the Emory vote for a moment? Um I just wanted Do I have to pull it? Can we I just wanted to address some of the comments today to explain why um why I'm why I'm going to vote yes
on on this. Um but after um the break I was able to talk to some of the folks um who came to speak against it and I realized sharing some information with them was really helpful. So I'm going to just go through these really quick. Um
uh the questions that that folks asked me, they said like how are you okay approving this sale when it's so far from what one you know several of the appraisals um that they saw were. And we base a lot of this on other sales and we
haven't had other schools sale sell close to the appraised rate. So the market tells us in any real estate environment what you can sell something for. So um that that's why I and personally feel um comfortable with with
where we negotiated and we we did negotiate up up to that amount. Um uh I will say I was also asked if the other board members were going to approve it and I will say I don't know because our sunshine laws were say that I cannot discuss this with you. So I have no idea
how you guys are going to vote on this. So I wanted to share that. Um, someone asked about the municipal process and and I I shared that I will take responsibility for suggesting in our disposition process as we went through
at some point that we introduce a municipal process. Um, whether I can be blamed for it or credited for it, um, we as a board saw things going on and then we saw some of our um, cities interested in in properties and the board
I'll speak for myself. I was interested in municipalities having the first um opportunity to be interested in the schools because they are public government entities and so are we and the transfer of property amongst public
dollars to me makes a lot of sense um more so than selling it to developers to private sector. So, I felt like that was a responsible way for us to think about our public dollars. Um, and all and and all it did was was allow us to kind of
um make a way for that so that we could, you know, and some of these properties like have parks next to them that the city's already run. So, there's a lot of um conversations about like who uses these properties um and why the cities might be interested in them. Um sorry,
two more things. There was a mention that our document in board docs today on the deed did not prohibit a shelter. Um I actually followed up with with our with Mr. Gatlin on this and um that's not in our deed. Our deed indeed says
that they cannot reopen it as a school. The reason that those are in our our documents is because we don't want people to buy it and then open a school and compete with Jefferson County schools for our students. And so we if it's, you know, we we don't want them to reopen it as as something that we just
closed it as, but anything about the shelter or those kinds of things is a negotiation that Lakewood has with uh the action center. So that's why it's not in that document tonight. Um and last um thing um was where the money
went. And so, um, there was a lot of comments about our budget reduction process and how we should be putting this money into that. Um, this any sale like this, you I know you all know this, any sale like this goes is a capital
sale, which means the money that comes in goes into our capital reserve. So, none of this money puts a dent in our $60 million deficit. Unfortunately, none of our school sales do. There's different ways that, you know, those who follow really closely will say, "Yes,
but you can A, B, and C and move stuff." Um, but just one to one. Um, I don't think people understood that if we got $4 million from this sale that our reser that our deficit was going to go to 56 million. That doesn't actually happen.
And there was some mention of us being fiscally irresponsible, but I think it would be more irresponsible for us to take a one-time sale projected into our general reser or general budget recurring needs. Um, we don't we try we
try very hard not to do that. We can't use one-time money to budget for recurring expenses. So, I just so when I spoke to folks in the audience, they were like, "Oh, really? Oh, I didn't know that." And so I just wanted to share that the board we we're very
thoughtful about this and and I will say one last thing. I I don't want to speak for the whole board, but I have a real preference that our buildings to the extent possible um continue to serve families and kids. We I think I remember before you guys even came on, we talked
a lot about how that's really important to us and um we knew it was important to the community. the community kept asking us uh to to not build it into condos basically is is the message. So if we can um return kids into these buildings,
I think it makes us all really happy. So yes, we do prioritize those kinds of decisions over something else. But um anyway, so long list, but I just hope people will trust us that we are making the best decision um and that we did it
very transparently uh and and with lots of good logic and yeah and whatever you >> President Parker. Oh, go ahead. in terms of education. One more other piece that I think people don't understand is that if you are selling at
auction and and trying to go, you know, for the highest dollar amount above community use and all, you know, the sort of the value added pieces that that we have considered in all of this. Um, a building, a school building on a property actually devalues that property
because school buildings are very hard to use for anything else. As it happens, it was ideal for the action center. That is really unusual. What we've found is that getting top dollar means selling to a developer and a developer then scrapes
that building because it is of no use and they look at the cost for them to scrape that building and they deduct that from what it is that they're going to offer us. And then we almost always end up having to help mitigate asbestous.
So, um, so that's actually something that devalues the property. The the building is not actually worth a lot of money. Um, certainly not to a developer. >> Can I President Parker, may I add? Um, I appreciate both those comments and I think there is a lot of uncertainty
around this process and so I I want to add a few more. Um the capital part is really important because when we came into this budget we actually typically will transfer about 30 million a year to our capital fund and this year we decided to only transfer 15 which
creates deferred maintenance and in my opinion is not a great way for us to operate. I mean it's what we had to do and I believe that. But this does help go into that capital fund which will replenish. It certainly won't help the deficit, but it will definitely help in
our capital fund. Um, and we heard two appraisal numbers thrown out tonight, and I just want to clarify. So, there's an ASIS and there's a reszoned value. And so, that higher value that was being mentioned is a reszoned value, which means that the municipality actually has
to go in and say, "Yes, we agree to change the zoning to be condos, multif family homes." There's there's a whole I am no expert in this but there's a whole host of zoning and so the lower value is the asis to director Reed's point which is less. So we heard 9 million we heard
12 million and I will echo Dr. Varda's comments, what we have seen in our existing sales is that we don't even come close. And so, um, that's why I am supportive of this because we did negotiate. I feel like we got a good value and I believe it's the right thing
for the community. Oh, one more thing. There was a lot of meetings on this. I did have a question of, well, isn't this just hidden on a consent agenda? And this has been presented to the board in a number of study sessions and times. And so, um, I know it might feel transparent or might
feel like it's not with it being on a consent agenda for a big vote tonight, but this board has studied this over and over and over. And our the district staff has really provided us a ton of information that has been incredibly helpful in going through a very
challenging and complicated process. Okay. Um, if there are no more comments, um, Miss Harper, can you do the roll call, please? >> Miss Applegate? >> Yes. >> Miss Kenworthy? >> Yes. >> Miss Parker? >> Yes. >> Miss Reed?
>> Yes. >> Dr. Verda? >> Yes. >> And the consent agenda is approved. We will now move to leadership reports. First, the board will hear from Superintendent Dorland, followed by reports from the board. We've allotted up to 10 minutes for each report.
Superintendent Dorland, the time is now yours. >> I like your up to emphasis there, Miss Parker. Uh, good evening, President Parker, members of the board, and our Jeffco community. I want to begin tonight by offering my deep appreciation for our three departing board members,
President Parker, Director Reid, and Director Varta. Uh, as you conclude your four-year terms of service, thank you. Serving on a school board is one of the most meaningful acts of civic leadership. It is entirely volunteer,
often vis invisible, and always impactful. Over the past four years, this board has taken on some of the most complex and challenging work in public education. You have led through moments that required courage, clarity, and a steadfast focus on what is best for
Jeffco students uh and balanced family as we saw tonight in ways that made your family proud. Congratulations on that. By the way, on behalf of our district, our educators, our families, and especially our students, sincerely, thank you.
Your service has made a lasting difference. I also want to cong extend my congratulations to our three new board members who will be sworn in on December 3rd, Denine Echvaria in district 1, Peter Gibbons in district 2,
and Tina Moenian in district 5. Uh they will work alongside directors Applegate and Kenworthy as we navigate, as we all know, both challenges and opportunities in the months and years ahead. I look forward to working with each of them as we continue advancing
our shared commitment to Jeffco students and schools. This fall has provided meaningful opportunities to hear directly from our educators. By the way, um on October 29th, JCA graciously invited me to join their area representatives roundt. I know several
of you have also participated in a roundt. Um I want to share that it was a thoughtful and honest conversation. Uh, and I want to offer my sincere thanks to JCA for asking me to come and for hosting me. And I want to extend a special thanks to Richard Sanchez. Thank
you, Richard, for organizing the event and debriefing with me afterwards and planning some next steps for another opportunity um as we round the corner into January and February. Uh, listening to our educators and understanding their experiences is personally important to me and I look forward to joining another
round table early next year. Uh, this fall has also given me the opportunity to spend time in classrooms across our district, which we all know is the best part of of what we get to do in our various roles. Over the last 11 weeks, I have visited 45 classrooms across 15
schools and held 45 one-on-one conversations with teachers. These visits continue to be a huge highlight for me. Thank you to all the teachers who spent time with me um and and welcomed me into their classrooms. uh they the the sessions allow me to listen
closely, learn deeply, and see firsthand the extraordinary work happening in our classrooms every single day. Next week, I'll be hosting a lunchon for the teachers I met with this fall, which I'm really looking forward to uh to celebrate their work, share with them
the feedback that I heard uh through the conversations, and continue strengthening the relationships that will guide our direction. Uh before I close tonight, I want to lift up the incredible community effort we saw last week with Jeffco Feeds Jeffco. It was
truly inspiring to witness so many people, staff, families, parents, partners, and volunteers come together in service of one another and in our most needy families. As we head into Thanksgiving week, many of our schools are organizing meals to ensure students have what they need while they're away from school. I am deeply grateful for
the generosity, compassion, and commitment that our community continues to show. This is Jeffco at its very best. Another example of this, just by the way, is uh when I went to the Coline Veterans Lunchon this week. It was
hosted by the Col Coline Student Senate. I want to congratulate the student leaders at Coline for putting on such a thoughtful and meaningful um lunchon and opportunity to connect like crossgenerationally with our veterans. Um and I want to genuinely thank all
schools who hosted and celebrated the service of our veterans on November 11th. And just given that it is uh Veterans Day week, um as somebody who comes from a family of many who have served like many of us have, I want to um extend a heartfelt thank you to all
veterans for the service that they've provided um in um in defending our freedom and the amazing opportunities that we have in this great nation. Thank you, and I look forward to hearing your reports. >> Thank you, Superintendent Dorland. Uh
board members, who'd like to go next? Um, I'm just going to quickly list off a couple of things that I've done. Um, I've been to the DAC meeting, a partnership for fiscal sustainability, the Evergreen PTSA community forum, which was facilitated by our Jeffco PTSA. I want to thank them for that
beautiful facilitated dialogue with our Evergreen community. Um, I felt it was very meaningful. Um, I attended the superintendent's annual eval. I attended a budget lab at Carmid Middle, which was a fantastic evening of talking to people about budget um concerns. I've had
community coffees with multiple stakeholders. I did vote in the election. Um and I attended the Arvvada Wheatidge Service Ambassadors for Youth Breakfast, which also happened to be on Superintendent Jordan's birthday, so it was a double celebration early in the
morning. Uh we I also attended um a a community cafe at Dean Elementary which was a breakfast where they were pull together community partners to talk about ways the community is supporting that elementary school in particular and the staff and the students there which was
lovely. Um and I wanted to just extend my gratitude to all the folks who attended there. I got a chance to look at the volunteer and partnership platform that's being piloted right now across the district and I'm really excited to see how the pilot finishes out the year. Um, we attended a lunch
and learn with uh Jeffco student leadership board and then I attended an evergreen sack meeting on safety and security. There were multiple district employees there as well as some community partners from the National Mass Violence Center and um I I thought
the conversation that I got to witness was meaningful and supportive and thank you Mr. Pearson for sitting at the table um and answering questions um from our community. I've seen some really meaningful dialogue um occur between the district and the community in Evergreen
and I'm I'm really grateful for that for that dialogue. Um, we also had our legislative breakfast. Um, and then I've also had coffee and some chats with our incoming board members. Um, I want to say I'm looking
forward to celebrating tomorrow night with Jeffco students and parents for climate action on sustain action and sustainability celebration. That's tomorrow evening. Those were many of the students who were here tonight and received awards. Um, I think student leadership is a vital part of the fabric of Jefferson County and I'm so grateful
that we have that. um celebration tomorrow night. Um I also want to extend my gratitude to our student performers this evening. They did an a a game, I guess. Um it was called kick it up a notch. Um and during where they they
came up, you know, improvised a scenario and then two more students would come in and improvise the same scenario, but but just kick it up a notch. That's how the game went. Um and in thinking about our budget process and the conversations that we have with our community, I think
um we benefit from the repetition that we get here um from the presentations that we see in the very meth methodolog the very intentional um repetition of information and continuity from one from one
presentation to the next. Um, and it makes me think about kicking it up a notch with our community. Um, what's the first pass on the on a budget story that needs to get processed and then what is the second and a deep a deeper dive and then a broader dive and then connecting it to um other concepts. And so I really
appreciated that student performance um helping me process some of the other things that we were talking about tonight. Um I just want to take a moment to underscore the difference between accountability and attack. Um, I think there's a definite difference between those two things and I just I'm
reflecting on it for myself and I would invite our community to do the same. Um, parents and guardians and community partners, if you have any interest at all in budget cut impacts, I would say reach out to your local school and get in contact with the school accountability committee. That is where
so many of these conversations are going to occur. You don't have to be a parent or a guardian. you do need to talk with the administration um if you're going to engage uh and there there is space for community partners um to sit in that
discussion at a school level. Um but please reach out and communicate with the administration. Our school accountability committees are amazing. Uh they do incredible work. It's incredibly meaningful and they are often sparsely attended. Um and then my final comment for this
evening is just to express my deep gratitude to my fellow colleagues up here on the dis for their collaboration and support. There have been multiple moments that I've shared with each of you director Varta and director Reid and President Parker in these last two years
that will continue to inform and impact my own service in this position moving forward. I want to thank you for your willingness and for sharing your wisdom. Um there's there's a lot of things that we were all at. So um director Kenry did a
great job of of nailing those um and mentioned some I forgot. Um I got to attend an A West Sack meeting um which was it's really powerful and I I definitely and I feel that I felt it in the com the comments we got tonight.
It's really complicated and nuanced and every time I feel like I ask Miss Copeland the same question, I'm like, I feel like I should know the answer by now. But it is really complicated and nuanced and it is great to have these dialogues and I think it's super valuable. Um,
I also got to tour North Middle School and for those of you who haven't been there recently, they are doing some super cool things in North Arvada. Um it was so much fun to walk through the halls there and just see see really amazing things happening in
that school. So I just really want to lift that one up. Um that leadership team is doing a great job. Um they have houses now and there's like competitions between the houses. It's very cool. Um I also want to say I was uh super
pleasantly surprised to see Dr. Coleman in the drop off lane when I dropped my kids off in elementary school. I think he was equally surprised to see me. It was very fun. Um, but I just want to reiterate how important it is and how much we appreciate having the cabinet in our schools. It means so much to the
teachers. Um, and so thank you for that. I got to attend a fifth grade band performance. For those of you who don't know, um, a lot of our fifth graders joined band. Oh man, they crushed it. Um,
I have a percussionist, a budding percussionist at home, which is super fun. Um, he did a great job. I'm really proud of them. But a huge kudos to the instructor, Miss Rendan. Um, that woman is amazing. And how she commands a band full of fifth graders is just
phenomenal. So, well done. It was great to be there. Um, and to all the parents who are going through middle school information nights right now, I just want to lift up that I feel you. It is a hard time of year, but engaged Jeffco is coming December. Um, and I know there's a lot of anxiety around it, at least in
our parent community. And so, um, I just want to >> It is magical. I just want to lift it up. We're all going to be okay. We're all going to be okay. Um, also got to attend the JSLB discussion. I was so impressed with our students and I just want to lift up the message of mental
health resounded with me and I think we heard it again tonight in our public comment. So, thank you for that. There is a lot um nights like this when we have a lot of public comment. It's always I walk away grateful that people took the time to
come and talk to us. Um positive, negative, all of the above. It's really important. So, thank you for those who came out tonight. Thank you for those who have stayed late with us. Um but there are a lot of concerns and I think there is a lot of fear right now around this budget discussion and we're talking about it which is positive and we we
have to keep talking about it. So, I just want to continue to say reach out to your Sachs. I think that's a great advice to us. Um, I'm hearing a lot of support for mental health. I think I can speak. We all agree sports and activities play a critical role in our
schools. We know that. Um, and so I appreciate the students that have come talk to us about the importance of those things. Um, and I want to just end also with my note of gratitude.
Um, there is nothing like being on a school board. Nothing in my experience in life to date even comes close. Um, the countless hours that you all have spent Damn it, I'm going to cry. countless hours that y'all
have spent um in service of kids, the countless amount of um difficult decisions and criticism, often very very firm criticism. Um and yet here we are. Here you are and
have been for four years, month in and month out, like clockwork for our kids. So, thank you for being who you are. Thank you for being good role models. Um, and thank you for imparting your wisdom and thoughts every month.
Um, I'm I'm not even going to go through a list of of things I've done. All I'm going to say, though, is I have two kids in two middle schools, so I get double of all the performances. I've been to choir performances two nights in a row,
but um uh I I just want to say um I have learned so much by being on this board about myself, about other people, about you all. Um working with our superintendent and the board has has
been a great challenge at times and a great joy at other times as well. Um, but it really has been, I think, an honor of of a lifetime to be able to do this work. And I remember when, um, my predecessor, Brad Rupert, was leaving,
he said, um, this is probably, uh, the hardest thing that I've ever done and probably the most important also. And I I every time I see him, we we meet often. He's always been someone who's helped me through this. Um, I always say to him, I think you're right. That's
exactly how I feel about this. It's it's unlike anything I've done. one of the hardest things um for sure. Um but and and all all I want to end with is I I think you all are in great hands with Director Kenworthy and director Applegate and our our new board. Um I
look forward to seeing the hard work um and and how it turns out um in in good ways. We will I think well I'll just say I will always be here um supporting you and cheering you on. Um and um and and also just a big thank you to our cabinet
for all your support of us. Um Miss Harper for putting up with all of us and me in particular. Um and to our uh you know I think a lot all the time about our principles and teacher and staff and then the parents and communities and how
um they just welcome us into their homes. um the schools, their sack meetings, you know, and then all the community groups that have us come and speak. And this has been the highlight of my board service is getting to go into the community and talk to people and answer
the questions and connect with them. So um I do think over these next um this next year years. Uh I my ask for everyone is to just um shower these uh school communities with love and support because this is going to be such a hard
time um going through these budget reductions. And so people are going to really need the the community to to be there for for them. Um and I am hoping to go serve in the Colorado State House. So that's what I'm doing next. I don't
try to mention it at the board table, but it's my last meeting. And so I am very excited to take what I've learned here um to the state with me and and I hope that I can work and advocate on school finance um and I think knowing
what our districts are dealing with um will hopefully make me a supportive colleague in convincing folks that this is our number one priority. Um, so thank you for uh my my service here. Um, I um
wish directors Reed and Parker the very best and and look forward to to seeing what you do next as well. Um, I'm also going to agree that most of the summary that has been given is it has a lot of overlap and um, board
reports are often a reflection over the last month and I wrote mine as a reflection over the last four years. So, I didn't have a lot of time left to do the the month stuff. So, um, I'd like to begin by saying that it has been an honor and a privilege serving on the
Jeffco School Board of Directors. I have spent nearly my entire life, adult, uh, adult life, serving Jeffco students. And being allowed to do so, I'm going to cry. Um, being allowed to do so in this comp
capacity has been deeply meaningful. As a teacher and a board member, I have lived by the belief that adults in education serve students. There are a lot of adult voices in the room, admin, parents, colleagues, associations, and myriad others. And all of those voices
are important, but in the end, my job as a teacher and a board member has been to serve kids. Some may disagree about what exactly that means, but I hope that any disagreement aside, it has been plain that the kids have always been this board's priority.
In the last four years, Jeffco has accomplished a lot. It was painful, but closing our smallest schools has allowed us to concentrate our resources for the benefit of students. And I am proud of my current and past board colleagues for stepping up to do
this hard work. I know how important the action center is to our students and their families. It serves them too. And knowing that this painful process has resulted in strengthening this resource for them is very important to me. I very much look
forward to coming back and celebrating with Jeffco the opening of a brand new and desperately needed facility for our most vulnerable students at Fletcher Miller. This school has this school uh that particular school had is full of valued children and heroic staff who
have fought the limits of their campus for years. And I'm excited to see what they will do when they are freed of those incumbrances. The weird stuff you get emotional about when you're a teacher. But Jeffco's work toward high school reimagined has been
like the dream for me in terms of serving Jeffco students. For me, it really began with the district finally doing right by our teens and pushing start time so this group of kids is no longer trying to learn challenging new concepts while chronically sleepdeprived. I know this change hasn't
been easy. It has impacted families, schedules, sports, and kids jobs. But I am so pleased that we prioritized learning. Beyond that, adopting a comprehensive, coherent K12 curriculum that culminates in durable skills and career focused
outcomes has been a long time coming. We're not there yet, but in the last year alone, 6,743 students participated in CTE programs. 1,989 students earned at least one industry credential. 400 students earned
work-based learning credits and there was a 150% increase in work-based learning in our southbased in our south high schools pilots. So, I would say that we are well on our way. Budget work has been brutal. As a retired union member, it has been
extraordinarily difficult for me to not have the resources to do more for our employees, especially their healthcare. But I am proud of the fact that Jeffco has prioritized compensation over the past four years. That said, I fully own that I am leaving
directors Applegate and Kenworthy and my successors with a real challenge. Jeffco has a budget shortfall that we simply cannot cut our way out of without significantly impacting kids and all of the progress that we've made. I don't
think your challenge is to cut $60 million. Your challenge is to communicate communicate to our community that we owe it to our children to invest in them as neighboring districts have invested in their own kids. Jeffco kids do not deserve less than Boulder kids.
Our kids are worth every bit as much. The most devastating parts of my tenure have revolved around student safety. I wish we had some way to divine every possible threat, even when background and reference checks on potential employees shed no light on potential
problems. I wish no one hiring ever made mistakes or missed important steps. Nonetheless, I'm proud of our district leadership for investigating and dealing with swiftly and decisively threats that are exposed. Unfortunately, no system is perfect.
Every institution run by run by humans is subject to human error. I've appreciated our district's willingness to look at every incident and ask, "What can we learn? What can we do better?" When it comes to gun safety, I have not done this, but right now, I'm
going to indulge my own deep frustration. I have recently received a number of letters demanding to know how Jeffco schools is going to keep our kids safe from gun violence. We have implemented safe to tell, social emotional learning specialists, and
access to online professional mental health care. We have run drills and trained our educators who have remained cool under pressure and saved kids lives. Largely read led by Director Parker's passion around this. We have informed parents of gun laws designed to
help keep kids safe. With the help of executive director of school safety Jeff Pearson and his partners in municipal and county law enforcement, we have made gunlocks available for free to anyone who asks. Still, too many constituents have responded to me that JECO leadership is
abdicating its responsibility to solve the problem. That we have to stop putting the onus on the community. To that I say horse feathers and I'm only saying that just in case even at this late hour children might be listening. At some point the community has to get
involved. It is our society that has abdicated responsibility. As long as people refuse to keep guns out of the hands of children, children will be able to get into schools with guns. Not every kid who tries this will succeed. We've actually stopped a number of them. More than anyone listening
wants to know, but more than enough have succeeded because even one is more than enough. The notion that the notion that we should solve this problem by filling our halls with people paid or volunteer who have signed up to
kill some children in order to protect other children is appalling to me. And I have hesitated to say something this unsettling so and soon in the in so soon in the wake of Evergreen. But as a shooting survivor, I know that metal detectors wouldn't make me feel any safer safer. A shooter can simply shoot
people manning the detectors, walk through them, and carry out unimaginable destruction. It's been done. You know what would make me feel safer? Especially when my granddaughter starts kindergarten at Foothills Elementary in 2029. Every single gun owner locking up their
damned guns. Even if you don't have kids in your house. My son's handgun was stolen several years ago when his home was burglarized. Will that gun end up in a school building someday? Your guess is as good as mine. And I'm not comfortable with that. Is anyone?
But I don't want to spend my entire last board report preaching. So off my soap box. I want to conclude by saying how much I have loved the people I have met and worked with. I can't even begin to list them all here. Members of the cabinet and other district leaders as
well as the staff who work with them have put in incredible effort in their jobs and into monitoring reports to keep the board and community apprised of our progress toward meeting the ends that the board has set for the district. On top of that, they've always been
helpful and a pleasure to work with. It has also been a genuine joy to work with everyone on the account the equity accountability committee and the Jeep schools foundation. Still, I think the part that I will miss most is talking with principles, faculty, staff, and students that I've
met in so many school visits. Seeing the work that they all do is inspiring. My fellow board members, past and present, have always challenged my thinking and brought new perspectives to consider. Plus, I've enjoyed your company at sometimes fascinating,
sometimes not CASBY conferences. I wish directors Parker and Varta all good things as we move on. I wish directors Kenworthy and Applegate wisdom and grace in the next two years. I thank directors Skoolie and Miller for their
contributions to Jeffco schools and my own personal growth. I hate goodbyes. Finally, um, Superintendent Dorland, I have greatly appreciated your willingness to work with me in every way that I've asked you to to do right for our students.
I appreciate the fact that you've always answered my questions and share transparently your successes and your apprehensions. In the four years that I've known you, I have had absolute confidence in your desire to do right by our students. Not in your perfection any more than in
mine, but I know you to be someone who cares first and foremost for the health and well-being of our children. So, thank you. In less than three short weeks, three seats up here will be filled with three new faces. No one will be wishing them more success
than I. To them, I say, enjoy the school visits and graduations. Soak up everything you can at Casby, especially the first one. Brace yourself for the fact that you will not be able to please everyone,
even people you usually agree with. Embrace the challenges and the rewards. There will be plenty of both. So, thank you again to everyone who serves kids in Jefferson County. I hadn't planned on this being my last director's report. I'd hoped to serve
for another four years. And at this moment, I feel a little like Don Coyote having tilted at the windmill of big money in elections. At a time when most school districts in Colorado are struggling for funding, I think it's unconscionable that millions of dollars were spent on school board
elections in Colorado, much of it going to negative ads. I still believe that it's beneficial to a school district to have a board member serve more than one term, especially in challenging times like we're facing right now.
I've received some very nice letters of condolence for my loss, and I'd like to say that in lie of flowers, the Parker family is asking that you consider contributing to the Jeffco Schools Foundation. I'm very proud of the work that the district has done over the last four
years, such as standardizing ELA and math curricula, adjusting start and end times to better align with research on the adolescent brain, and equalizing the length of the school day across our schools, increasing average compensation for Jeffco employees by more than 30%.
creating the Jeffco student leadership board high school re-imagined in the magic of middle school. Aligning community superintendent with articulation areas, redrawing director districts to encompass complete articulation areas. Reorganizing central
services to better support our schools. Instituting the family response service team. Creating a mobile welcome center for new families. Addressing the drastic decline in student enrollment by closing 21 schools where enrollment was so low that the
students were not receiving the education their peers at better resource schools were receiving. Providing free gun locks at our high schools requiring parents to acknowledge that they're aware of Colorado's safe gun storage law and most importantly
creating a new sustainability end policy led by the students. Thank you to Superintendent Dorland, member of the cabinet, and district staff that I've worked with over the past four years. As I was preparing this final report, I reviewed my schoolboard
calendar for the past 48 months. Because I'm retired, I had a lot of time to devote to my schoolboard work. I was going to list the number of schoolboard meetings, school visits, graduations, groundbreaking, sack meetings, committee meetings, ribbon cutings, anniversary celebrations, special events, school bus
rides, etc. that I've attended. But there are literally thousands of them, and I got exhausted about halfway through. To be honest, seeing how many there were made me appreciate all the free time I will have going forward. Perhaps it's because I'm not feeling
well at this moment, but I'm not sure how effective or important my work has been. But there are two things that stand out as my most special experiences. My first graduation as a school board member was with Dakota Ridge High School
at Red Rocks. There's a tradition at Dakota Ridge that seniors choose their favorite elementary school teacher to attend their graduation. So, I got to share the stage with my daughter Kim, who teaches at Blue Heron. And at my
final school visit this year, a teacher told me that my daughter Megan, who has been a special ed teacher at Marshdale, was the one who successfully diagnosed her son's reading difficulties. So, I would say that my biggest contribution to the Jeffco School District is not my
service on the board, but rather it's the two amazing teachers that I've had a hand in producing. The last thing I want to do tonight is recognize the fact that our district is terribly divided. There's a lot of hard work that needs to be done to repair
broken relationships. For me, my relationship with Jespa and JCA broke down in the spring of 2024 when Jespa started a letterw writing campaign against me during negotiations. Then JCA joined with Jespa to stage a protest against me in the parking lot
during a schoolboard meeting. When I asked why they were doing this, I was told, "It's not personal." Well, to me, it was very personal. During negotiations this past year, JCA sent a letter of no confidence in the superintendent.
JCAA then wrote letters of support for the superintendent along with claims that JCA was targeting principles. These conflicts eventually, perhaps inevitably, led to divisions on the school board. Has had often been said,
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." Personally, I do not believe that I was as good a school board president as I wanted to be, and I definitely wasn't as effective as I could have been. I didn't know how a school board should respond
when faced with the investigation into our chief of schools and his subsequent suicide. I didn't know how to handle the letter of no confidence in the superintendent and I didn't know what role the school board should play after a school shooting. It's appropriate that
I be criticized for my actions or lack of action. But someone recently told me that I should never talk about my CASA work again because I'm a hypocrite who only claims to care about children and that in my heart I don't care about children
at all. Going forward, there are difficult challenges facing the district and repairing relationships is crucial. Disagreeing on solutions or criticizing words or actions is okay. But if you find yourself going after someone's
heart, you're going too far. So, I like to end with some advice from Dolly Parton because every time I drive from my house to the ET center, I pass the billboard with Dolly's picture on along with words I think will help in
repairing relationships. Find the good in everybody. Thank you. And this brings us to the end of today's agenda. I'd like to thank you to everyone who participated in this evening. Our next regularly scheduled
meeting of the board is a study session on December 3rd here at the Ed Center. And with that, we will stand adjourned. Good night. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Down down down
down down down. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Hey. Hey. Hey.