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 down down down down down down Heat. Heat. N. Heat.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Heat. Heat. N. Hey. Hey. Hey.
I'd like to officially call this virtual lunch and learn of November 7, 2025 to order. Welcome and thank you to everyone joining us today. I also want to extend our appreciation to the simultaneous Spanish interpreters who are supporting this session and to
Heat. Heat. MLAN Compass Monastery and Jeffco open School. In addition to the students presenting, the board will also hear from Tara Pena, chief of family and community partnerships who works in partnership with the group
of students. Um, so today the board will hear an update It's always wonderful to see you and um spending time in community with both you and our students is probably my favorite place to be on a Friday afternoon. So, thank you all for coming together. Um so
excited um for you to meet um some of our student leaders um this year. So, there will be some new faces and there's going to be some familiar faces. And so, just really grateful for the time this year, this afternoon. Grateful for the time this afternoon for you to talk with our
students this year. And we'll start with some introductions. So, I will call on some of our students and they'll be sharing their school they are representing and a fun fact about themselves. So, we'll go with Darby first.
Hi everyone, my name is Darby Coffee. I am a junior at Golden High School. I also go to Warren Tech. Um, and a fun fact about me is I raced for the mountain bike team here competitively um for the last three years. Gavin
Hello, I'm Gav Voli. I'm part of the JSLB and I represent Dakota Ridge. And a fun fact about me is I have been skiing since I was two. And my favorite part of skiing back then was actually the peanut butter jellies I got when I went up with my dad. >> Joanna. >> Um, hi. My name is Johanna Mononttoya. I
am a senior at Bear Creek and uh I do a lot of theater. It's something I do. Sarah. Um, my name is Sarah. I am a junior at Jeffco Virtual Academy. And a fun fact
about me is I have two cats. Chris. Um, Chris, Alexa. >> Um, hi everybody. I'm Alexa Himenez and I'm a senior at Wheatbridge High School. And I feel like a fun fact about me
would be that I'm really artsy. I'm like an art kid in my soul. >> Reagan. >> Hi, I'm Reagan. I'm a sophomore at Pomona and my favorite food is pickles. >> Ava.
>> Hi, I'm Ava. I'm a sophomore at Evergreen and a fun fact about me is I live on a yak ranch. >> That's a fun fact I didn't know. Victoria. >> Hi, my name is Zatia. >> Hi, I'm Zilia Gamrell and I'm a senior
at Arvvada High School. And one fun fact about me is that peanut butter, more peanut butter on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. And then we have one of our students, Chris, who is logging back into the call
right now. Chris, if you'd like to share a fun fact about yourself and where you go to school. >> Hi guys. Sorry about that. I don't know what's happening. I'm Chris Clark. I go to Chatfield Senior High School. And a fun fact about me is that I am a
technician for our theater company. And last night was our opening night for our show, As You Like It. And that is all of our students on the call today. Well, hi everyone. As a reminder, the ESLB exists to amplify the voices of
students, the district's mo most important stakeholders, and in shaping the future of education in JECO. Our board provides a platform where students can share their perspectives, influence district priorities, and help build policies and practices that truly
reflect what students need to thrive. Hi guys. So, the purple represents um all of our returning members of JSLB from previous years, and the blue represents all of our new members this year, including myself.
So, JSLB has three key objectives. amplifying student voice, promote collaborative communication between student, school and district leadership and foster student engagement and leadership. The objective that resonate resonates most with me is fostering
student engagement. When students are actively engaged, schools are stronger, classrooms feel more connected, teachers feel more supported, and the entire culture of a school is overall uplifted. Here are a few snapshots from our year. From organizing our winter initiative
and attending the youth celebrate diversity conference to visiting departments that keep DEFCO running like transportation and it we stayed booked and busy. And last year, beyond our winterawear initiative, we also supported the safe student summit at Wheatriidge High
School, represented JSLB at the youth celebrate diversity conference, joined the Elevate Education podcast, worked deeply within our studentled subcommittees, and participated in district tours where we were able to learn about Jeff Co's transportation dispatch and edtech departments. We also
shared student feedback with district teams throughout the year, ensuring that student voice was present in every conversation. So last year I served on the conference planning committee where we led the change the charge of our second annual student leadership conference our west
school on April 25th. We welcomed over 200 students from across the district for a full day of leadership connection and inspiration. Our theme was think globally act locally and our key speaker was Adam Baka, a Stanley Lake alum and
founder of a day without hate. We hosted 22 breakout sessions. One of my favorites was the college student Q&A panel hearing real stories and advice from students just ahead of us was both inspiring and grounding. We also coordinated 16 community resource
partners for resource fair. It was a huge success. I wasn't part of JSLB last year, but I attended the conference and honestly I can say that it was unforgettable. The energy, the conversations, the chance to connect with students from other
schools, it really opened my eyes to the power of leadership beyond my own campus. And that's what inspired me to actually join uh GSLB this year. I am now a part of the 2025 conference committee and I cannot wait for Friday 20 April 24th.
Get to host our third annual leadership conference. >> Uh and not only are we planning things, we've already done a lot of exciting things this year. One of the first things we did was our JSLB retreat on October 3rd where we got to team build, work with uh district partners to learn
about um the the theater counseling and how those public relations can help us become better leaders and also started in our committees planning our conference, our winner initiative and all these things. Uh we hosted our studentled board candidate forum. So we got to learn about the new candidates
and I wasn't able to attend but after we were able to reflect on all the implications and all the things we could do with endorsing a candidate taking more notes and restructuring so it was more effective meeting. Um we got to provide feedback on high school reimagined like designing the name the slogan and what the project will
actually entail and learning about how this can enhance the high school experience. We're participating in the virtual budget lab to get a snapshot of the difficult challenge of setting the $50 million off the budget and how we can do that and what methods, tools, and
effective ways we are able to meet our cut in budget. Um, and the final thing we are attended our youth celebrate diversity boot camp at the Denver University campus which helped us establish uh since we're a chapter of the youth celebrate diversity establish
participate in that. And while our service project, our winterawware initiative that we'll talk about in a little bit, isn't a service project for them, they're a great organization we work with. Um, and then looking ahead in the short term, next Friday,
we'll take part in the um future AI with the rhythm project. And then soon after winter break in the spring, we'll launch a winterware initiative. and we love the board and district support and promoting um and detailing what this event will entail.
>> We'll also continue serving as district cell phone policy adviserss where we're working alongside district leaders to make sure the student voice is centered in this important conversation. And of course, we're gearing up for our third annual student leadership conference and our cabinet for a day experience this spring where we'll spend a full day
learning directly from Jeffco's leadership team. As we we prepared for you today, our group reflected on what we believe in is the most pressing issue facing students right now. And we all agreed that this was mental health. Across Jeffco,
students are navigating so much from academic pressure to social expectations and resources available to us vary widely from school to school. Some of us have regular access to mental health support staff while others don't. And some schools have strong sources of
strength programs while others have none at all. >> We also believe the district can strengthen visibility and support for events like Colibines's day of service and day without hate. Both of which have deep meaning in students in our community. And as we me referenced earlier in our second annual conference,
we actually got to meet Adam Baka as our guest speaker and enlightening and actually redefining what our definition and administration of day without hate is as the leadership of Colorado's Day Without Hate has shifted in the past two years. So just reestablishing it as a defined event to help with mental
health, kindness, and spreading awareness about all of those issues. Okay, at this time we'd love to open it up for any questions or comments from the board. >> All right, board members, do you have a question or comment for the panel?
Director Reid. All right. Thank you guys for stepping up and and being members of a really, I think, important part of the leadership team. And it's great to hear that you're excited and that you're feeling enthusiastic about this because it's
it's really important. Um, I have a couple of things for you. The first is that um given the rough start to the school year, safety is very much top of mind. And I'm wondering how you feel in your schools. Do do you feel safe? And
are there things that you would like to see implemented to feel safer and and to create a safer environment in your school? Chris, want to go ahead? >> Um, thank you. So, I think a good first
step to making sure kids do feel safe is mental safety because a lot of physical acts of violence result in um lashing out because of mental struggles and needing that to be addressed first. Uh I mean, security guards of course they're
always going to help. metal detectors, random searches, those will provide the sense of safety, but for kids to actually feel safe, I think providing a better community um will help with that a lot.
>> Thank you. Um what are some things that you would like to see us do in in that regard to really do more to support students mental health? making it not so taboo I guess and making it more normal um for teachers to
address it as well because you know sometimes we don't feel like we have that connection with them >> and Gavin you had something to say >> um yeah so on the note of mental health that Chris was talking about um this is I know the schedules aren't standardized
but um at Dakota Ridge We have our seminar. So it's like a home room that we do and during those we do have like mental health. So we have our like a Chromebook digital readiness check all the surveys we do. But another thing we do is we regularly check on talking about mental health the resources we have talking about you can go to
counselors as a time to reset and do all that things. So I think maybe prioritizing and it doesn't have to be our specific model of seminar. While I think if we're trying to standardize schedules across schools is a different separate objective. I think it's a great useful time, but also whatever we can do to establish a set time for other
schools and all students in the district to be able to at least discuss the resources already available with counseling this, providing awareness of it. Um there's the um there's posters about this mental health helpline that Jeffco had set up or was Colorado kids. So, I know that those resources are out
there, but just making that visible and having a dedicated time to tell students about it because I feel a lot of times if they aren't explicitly told the resources that are there, they're not going to use them. And then result results to what Chris was saying of those mental struggles and then it lashes out to the physical tangible actions.
>> Great. Look at these hands up. Darby, >> hi. Yes. Um, this is a huge part for me. I am currently also involved in sources of strength at my school. I know that sources of strength here is at Golden is one of our really really strong clubs
and we produce a lot of positivity and we focus on mental health. But I can agree with what Gavin said, making sure having that designated time knowing that those resources are available because it is such it's just such a crucial part of
how I feel like based on safety in our schools and what we've talked about previously. Um, and I think that I think that kind of what's been said um adds to that. I also think that just the fact of implementing better um mental health
programs in schools like sources of strength was made by students for students so that they can get that help so that they can have that positive relationship with someone in a time of struggle and need and starting to kind of implement those programs and grow those programs in other schools I think
is a very very um effective way in able to enable to do that. You're muted. >> Oops. Thank you. Um uh Zelata, you have something to say. >> I feel like when people think of safety,
they think of um physical. But I also think again following off of them is that it's definitely about mental health and making sure that people know that there are those things out there. So instead of just taking a survey, um things like
Safe to Tell, like making sure that Safe to Tell follows up on those things and making sure that the people feel heard about what they're saying. >> Great. Um Michelle, do you want to comment on this topic or you have a new question? I I want to add a little bit,
but Gavin, if you want to add first, go ahead. I I have a follow-up question to this as well. >> Uh yeah, my comment was just about um talking about how the district did after um the rocky start to the school year and the Evergreen incident. I instantly
noticed after like our admin talking about meetings and talking about, hey, we're going to stand with Evergreen Strong. we did those events, but then also um just the the like congratul you've been very the district has been very effective at enforcing hey we're
going to do ID checks we're going to make sure people entering the building are safe and all of these things so I do like how those physical tangible things have been addressed but again we're talking about how the it strains from the mental health side of it and there's lots of other comments and ways that we can make that more available and
awareness but I did just want to comment on that Those physical effects I think are very effective and that we should keep maintaining to do that because I think that's important piece of safety is having the security guards, having those ID checks when you walk in the building, having just that presence of
safety is also so important. >> Michelle, did you want to jump in? >> I'll just I'll jump in really quick and see if you guys um change anything. I Mental Health is super important to me and I know it's super important to our board. Um, it's really helpful to
understand how you all think about mental health though because that is a massive topic, right? There's everything from student groups that I've heard to utilizing time built into your day to make sure we're intentionally addressing it.
>> Um, second step having in some of our younger grades even up to like preparing teachers for it. And so if there was something you could tell us like, "Hey, this avenue seems to be really effective. It might be worth putting more resources in one of these buckets."
Um, if you have ideas on that, that would be super helpful for us because I think we're really trying to figure out how do we take the resources we have and make it the most effective across the most buildings. >> And Reagan, if you had something to add that was not aligned with that, please say your thought because I know your
hand was up before I spoke. Yeah, I agree with what everybody says and just like the fact that the mental safety is the first start before you can have the physical safety. And I feel like if teachers would connect more with the students and like not just teachers
but like admin too, having more of a connection with the student may entice the student to come to them if they need help or if they're not feeling that safety already. But I feel like the connection with the teachers really
would help people and the students be able to address that their mental safety isn't where it needs to be, if that makes sense. >> Okay, the hands keep popping up and down, up and down. Um Chris, you are
number one now. Go ahead. Um, so to address your question, Miss Applegate, I think that what would be most effective is giving us more time. Um, we're in a really weird stage in our life where people are telling us, "Oh, you're still
kids. Enjoy your childhood." And at the same time are telling us, "Oh, you need to get a job. You need to be able to understand this and that and prepare for college and paying taxes." So trying to balance that school and job and fun activities,
we don't have as much time for um ourselves anymore because doing those fun activities can also add on to our stress um which I know has made a lot of myself and my peers uh mental health
really tank um especially with finals coming up. So maybe just giving like a day or something that is dedicated to kind of regrouping before finals. Um so we can kind of take that time for ourselves and do what we need to do and
regroup as a collective. >> Great Victoria. >> Yes. Um can you guys hear me fine? Yes. Okay. Great. So I agree with what everyone's saying completely. I think safety is like such an important deal, but when it comes to mental health, I think especially in high school right
now, the main thing is like the stress. I really emphasize with what Chris said because I think it's like such a common deal, sorry, deal. And like things are going in school where you feel stressed, overwhelmed, you don't have time for yourself, like you just have a
breakdown. I've seen it recently. I see it every day. Like realistically, I see it with every student with like, "Oh my god, I have so much work. I don't even have time to sleep. I don't have time for myself. So, I think like having allowing like a day maybe or something within the finals week or some fun
activity would be great for the mental health and safety of the students along with having teachers like really be supportive because sometimes they're like, "Oh, well, you know, it's a final and that's your final grade and if you don't pass it, then that's on you because you didn't study." people sometimes you don't even have the time
to do what they think you're supposed to do because they don't take in mind like some kids are taking seven classes and even extracurriculars clubs I'm part of like those kids and I can really relate to that so I think just having that comprehension from the um teachers and
staff and like providing that resource of like helping and just being there for the students would be really helpful >> I have to comment that you mentioning uh stress levels uh I'm impressed that you have stepped up to be part of the
leadership board and because you definitely have added on um whole new layer of activities. So thank you for doing that. Um let's see next we have Gavin. >> Um I really like what we're talking about of the tangible uh things we
actions we can take. So like Chris was saying just giving that time. So um I don't if if we just want to set up days and stuff that can happen here and there but I think this comes to if we want to have a dedicated time standardizing
schedules across the district and having dedicated times in home room or in seminar or in whatever it would be called I think would be very useful for it to be consistent things. So, yes, finals, making your final grade. I'm in full IB, A classes, all of the things.
Um, and doing my extended essay, all the stuff, just just piling on, but just also like unit tests and all the things that you're doing throughout the school day. It's very important to have time to reflect on that, balance yourself, center yourself. Why am I doing this? Why am I taking all these hard classes? Because it's preparing me because this
is the person I want to become. So, I think having that time to center yourself, to have that social emotional learning, and standardizing that. So um I also our seminar time a lot of times is just oh you're going to do the survey and then you kind of just study for homework. So I think we could more
effectively use it lessons that you were talking about social emotional learning elementary school that brought back a lot of times that I remembered that that was very useful to learn about how those affects just a very basic level. But if we adapt that to high school it's talking about how oh how do you personally do this? So it would be like
a presentation social emotional learning about how to balance all these things and what kind of strategies should you use for studying what resources are available. So maybe adapting that social emotional learning that I had every week, every other day in elementary
school and I I didn't have a lot of it in middle school. We had a couple meetings about it, but just adapting that to the high school level to standardize I think it's a very useful. Now I don't know how tangible that is in the near future. Is that a whole schedules thing? I don't know if the how the logistics work if it's actually
going to be standardized or the same, but just trying to give all students across the district a way or an avenue to be able to have that time, that access to center themselves and to understand the resources available >> Reagan. Yeah, I agree with that because um at my
school, I don't know about other schools, but at my school, depending on your GPA, you don't have an off hour or a study hall. I don't know like what the what the like credentials are for that or like why you don't have one, but
depending on your GPA, you don't have one. And I do have one, but because of that, I feel like the students in my peers that don't have one, that could be very stressful because I do know some of my peers that have the extracurriculars
and on top of that all seven classes and just not having the time and that does raise the stress levels. So like how teachers get their teacher work day and we get the day off of school. just making like focusing on that and like making sure
like the peers around us know that like to use this day or like have a day like that for us before like the finals week where it gets super stressful just to like get ready for our week so we won't
just be stressed so we are like organized for the week ahead if that makes sense. Chris, um, I'll make this brief, but I noticed we're talking a lot about the kids who are exceeding trying to reach for that
4.0 GPA doing AP classes and honors classes, which do provide a lot of stress. Um, I also have noticed that there's those kids who even in basic classes, they struggle. They they're putting their blood, sweat, and tears into the curriculum and it's still not
giving them what they need. So making help um more available and easier for them to access so that they can get what they need out of school and they don't end up hating it because I know a lot of u my peers feel that way especially in
simple classes and I mean simple by regular geometry. Michelle, you want to jump in? >> Yeah. I I want to say how much I appreciate this because I'll be honest, even as adults, you guys, we could benefit from some of this. Like, just
because we're sitting here as adults, doesn't mean we have this figured out. Um, and I I think um I think the idea of not like time, I hear time, and I I absolutely love that. I also really like the idea of how do we help you in that time, give you
resources and things that can be supportive because I could learn lessons. Um, and Gavin, I appreciate you mentioning I have elementary school kids right now and they are doing SEAL and they they get that regularly and it is, you know, something for us to follow up
on as to what does that look like where it's applicable and usable and helpful at a high school level and not kind of um just something else that's taking up your time, right? So, this is great feedback and I I think we have a lot to take back and think about and work with
Jason and and Tara on how we think maybe through this >> Gavin. Um, and then just an example on the academic side. So, um, this obviously because of our proximity to one of the Loheed Martin and just our connections
there, we have Loy Martin tutors that can come in during our seminar time. So that's just another academic resource there. So we can talk about all the resources and it's like what are the sources of the stress which can be just from not having time to do your extracurriculars, the homework and all
these things or just the stress of am I going to be able to succeed in this class, succeed in the curriculum. So I think um example of the lucky tutors being available um some of my friends on the IB program started a uh STEM study club. So to just to help other students get their community service hours for
NHS. So there can be studentled movements, but I think the district may be organizing more a tutor structure. Maybe it becomes part of like you would apply to do it and it like there's the teacher there's the teacher assistant or
who like does grading and stuff but if there was somebody who could just be like a tutor during X block and if people have an off block you can meet with that person in the library and it's like if that person is at the higher level so for example at our school if we have a normal chemistry class that person to study would have to have
passed honors chemistry or would have to be in IB chemistry because they would be concurrently studying and knowing that information and then they could apply and then they could be a student resource and be like, "Hey, here's what tricks work for me. Here's how I studied for this test." And also giving specific
help and that kind of stuff. So maybe just establishing a way across schools that you can have a time for also that academic way. Now I don't know how we can how these logistics work. I don't know, I no authority over that, but just an example of how can we make those
resources more available and tangibly apply them and get them for all students. >> Victoria, >> yes. So, it's something really quick. Um, I know I don't know the school um schedules for like each school. I know it's really different. Um, but I think
most of the schools have like a seminar time. In my school, we go over like social dynamics and like stability, health, and all of those things. But I think as Gavin mentioned before, um it could be that time can be used really
better because most of the time we're learning things that I feel like we learned maybe like in elementary, which is not bad, right? But they're not really like useful for students. Like we watch the lesson and then everyone goes back to studying perhaps because they're like so busy with their work. So I think
that specific time can be used really better specifically like focusing on high school students more to make it just better I guess. >> Thanks guys Michelle.
>> Yeah I also this is really helpful um really truly and I also want to echo that I do hear that some of the stress really just comes from kids who are trying to to get by academically and so it's it's not a one-sizefits-all. We do we do understand that and I really
appreciate the comments that have been made about how connection to teachers and administrators and leaders in the building really matters. And so that's also um I just want to I want to say that we definitely hear that and and appreciate that feedback too.
>> Gavin, >> sorry I don't want to take away from other people's speaking time. Um, so if like other people want to input, but um, one thing is I know so at Dakota we have talent time and at Coline and our representative Jaden, is she here today?
I don't think Jaden's here today. Um, but at they have pride time which just means you that's a designated time where you can either study or and it's during seminar. It's half of our seminar. You can go directly to teachers. You get a talent time pass and you can talk to the teacher directly about how you can
improve the class and that. So I was talking earlier about student resources, but there's also that teacher resource. So maybe allowing people just have that time to always see teachers and not be before and after school because with all the extracurriculars and things people can doing and people who are in music bands and they have band practice or
they have a concert they're actually playing or people have sports practice or we have our JSLB meetings. We can't always stay after school to do that. So having a time in school to maybe just have the option of seeing teachers that isn't like forced to go see your teacher, but it's like if you need to
make up a test, you can do it during that time. If you just have a question about this homework, you can have that time. So I think the combination of having student resources because students might be more approachable, but teacher resources because it's more applicable directly to the class and they might have more knowledge about it. I think there's a good balance there and
since if we give time there and then we inform about the resources, then people will be able to use them. So standardizing that time and just an example of another example of the resources there but making people aware of it and telling them how to use it effectively.
>> Great Salatia. >> Salatia, do you have something to say? >> Yeah. Um, sorry my mic was not unmuting. Uh just to add on to Gavin's point, yeah, it's about how we use our time and letting people have those offs to get a
chance to be able to catch up on their work, do the work that they want to do because you can't grow if you're stuck being stagnant because you don't know what to use your time with. So, if we're wasting time, because I know my school
has bulldog time, explaining things that we already learned in elementary school is not going to help us grow further in the future and prepare us for things like college or those jobs or how to pass the class. >> Great. Thanks, uh, Joanna.
>> Okay. Hi. Sorry. I hope you can't hear the people right outside the door because they are getting quite loud. Okay. Um, this is kind of adding on to what Gavin said unless I misunderstood it, but like everything that I've heard Dakota Ridge has sounds uh very beneficial. Um, I know Bear Creek
doesn't have that much. I mean, of course, we have counselors, but like individual actually like designated time aside from just classes, we are kind of very much lacking. And um my biggest
like additionally my biggest like thing that I advocate for when talking about mental health in schools is just a lot of I from what I've seen a lot of kids tend to go to their teachers more than their counselors and I know that teachers aren't like that's not necessarily in their job description to
like because it can be like a lot to take on. And so I just I think there should be some preparation for teachers in case that does happen where a student comes and like tells them a lot because I've seen that happen a lot in teachers. It's a lot for them and I don't want
them to be too overwhelmed. >> Um this is great. Um and I appreciate so much your your input and your really good suggestions. I'm wondering how do you find out from the students in your school what's important to them?
So, how do you um raise their voices up and bring it to the board? Uh let's see. We got Chris. Oh, everybody's there. I wonder who's number two now. Um well, let's actually the number two.
Gavin, you're um you're up. Oh, I'm sorry. Take that back. It is Chris. Are you there? Chris, you are muted. Okay. Well, this is new. These hands are changing numbers. Gavin, you went from
two to three. And now Sarah, you're a number one. Um so to get the opinion of like what our school I go to virtual so a lot of the kids they don't want to come in they don't really want to talk to each other don't talk to their teachers all that
much unless they are failing a class and need help. Um, so what we could do to get those opinions is anonymous forms. Yeah, that's a good idea. That's something the word talks about getting all the time, anonymous surveys to our
to our uh staff and students and families. So, that's a great idea. Um, let's see. Zylaceia, you're number two. Personally, what I do is I ask the most amount of
questions that you can. Like I'll walk around and be like, "Well, did you like this? How could we change this?" Okay. What's something that's really bothering you about our school right now? And then I'll go take that somewhere and then we'll talk about why this is happening
and try to figure out like the root cause. I do think that the surveys are a good idea. I think that it's a little bit questionable if the surveys are actually anonymous just because of a
situation that I had. So >> very interesting. Yeah. Um Gavin >> um so uh just a tangible thing that JLBB has attempt or we're starting to do this year with our PR relations team. So, uh,
we have developed a survey to just give feedback on general policies, general feelings, and if they actually knew that JSLB could advocate for them with their representative. So, uh, we've developed a a Google form and then like a poster QR code that we're going to post around
schools so people are able to, uh, just give feedback to us, understand what the JSOB actually does for them, how we can advocate and actually discuss with board members like you guys and what the tangible things we can try and attempt to do. So, we have developed that and they aren't in schools right now, but
we're finalizing the form. We'll get those approved and hopefully our representatives can get them around the schools before the end of the semester and continue that. And then I think we might develop more another thing that I think is effective is probing questions of how do you feel about this thing? So
I think if we made a form about the cell phone policy, um we could probe them to be what is your opinions on the cell phone policy or what is your opinions on our mental health, our social emotional lessons and just probing those questions so you can actually get a more
distinguished response because if it's so general of just how do you feel about it, we're not going to get tangible feedback we can work on. So, um, our initial form is pretty general, but it's just to say that their voices are heard, but I think, um, as JSLB and also just
general forms that you guys do like the panorama survey and stuff that we do there, if it's more specific probing questions and not just a scale of I agree or not disagree, you can get more specific responses that we can actually use to make tangible improvements.
>> Great. Um, we are getting close to the end of our time. Um, but I so I do want Chris to be able to comment there and then um have director Kenworthy make some comments before we have to say goodbye to you guys. So Chris, it's yours. >> Um, sorry about earlier. I don't know
what's happening technologically, but here we are. Um, one way that I've been able to hear these things from students is just being in all the different groups. I'm kind of a floater, so that really aids in being able to hear people's opinions and
thoughts and how they're doing. And like Gavin mentioned with the surveys, reaching out. Um, that's also been a big help in being able to understand how people are feeling about things and their takes and giving us a better
ability to represent our whole student body and not just our own personal experiences or wants or beliefs. Great. Thank you. And Director Kenworth that you want to bring us home here.
>> Oh, well I I will try I had um kind of a follow-up question to that and we're not going to get to answers is what it sounds like, but um I do wonder sometimes about um like the internal structure within the school, right? You become this liaison out here in the district and amongst your fellow Jeffco
students, right? when you all are together as JSLB. But I do wonder about, you know, how do we build access points for you within your school? Like do you have councils that you get together and meet with like or kitchen cabinet or a group of adviserss who sort of help you,
you know, have a communication web within your school. Um, and so Chris, what you were saying about being a floater, yeah, absolutely touching base with different groups. But I also wonder about how we encourage you as leaders to delegate and build your webs of support
within your school building. Um so that it's students but also maybe some staff and then parents and families like interacting with that way that way so that you can be a meaning maker in other spaces as well um with your you know bringing your student voice and your
expertise and your view of what's happening across the county um really into the school and also bringing the voice of the students from your school into the county you know kind of having the two-way option there. So, I um would love to see us find a way to, you know,
help you all make some more connection points within your school. Um because I think it'll give you a, you know, a touch point that is um predictable, right, that you'll have access to um and also
a a wide range of voices. Sorry I was late. Happy to be here. It's lovely to see you all and I always um like seeing your faces, but I always prefer being in person way more than being virtual. But I'm glad that you're all here today. So, I will stop there and just if anybody wants to tell me if you've got what you
have with working within your school. Go ahead. >> Yeah, we we um are a little bit over but um Gavin, did you just want to say something short or you want to >> uh Yes, very briefly. So I think part of the virtue of us being in JSLB is our
interview process of how we're able to connect, how those get those connections. So I think um a part of JSLB is part of like our student leadership, student council, student government, whatever those groups are. I am personally I think a lot of people are in lots of extracurriculars, lots of all these things, but also are able to
connect. So I think it's part of the interview process is why do you want to be here? Your intentionality of I want to advocate for these things because I'm part of this group, this group, this group, I do all of these things. So, it's not an example of I'm in the most clubs or groups, but I think a lot of part of the JSLB interview process is to
allow us to have those connections. So, yes, I think uh what Mrs. Keny was talking about of how can we further expand it? How can we motivate us to diversify that network more, but I think part of us, a lot of us are already in those positions. So, I think amplifying
that, hey, we have to connect with the electorate. It can't just be our own personal opinion. But I think part of us being in JSLB is in our interview process. That's part of the requirements, part of the suggested things. >> Um, thank you so much. And I feel
terrible about this, but I have been told that we need to get you guys back to your classes and I don't want to add to your stress by making you late. So, it is now 12:18 and that brings us to the close of this uh lunch and learn.
Um, I want to thank you so much to the uh students of JSLB and Miss Pena for this presentation on the most important work that you are doing on behalf of our Jeff Co students. The next meeting of the board will be a regular meeting on Thursday, November 13, 2025 at 5:00 pm
at the Ed Center. And thank you again um so much for your presentation. We are adjourned. Have a good day. >> Thank you all. Thank you to our students. Have a have a safe Friday and a wonderful weekend and our board. Thank you all so much. Thank you.
>> Bye.