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All right, we will call to order. Thanks for letting us start a little bit later than expected. Thank you for joining the Board of Education this evening. Please mute your cell phones as we begin this meeting.
Today is Tuesday, March 24th, 2026, and this meeting is now called to order at 5:49 p.m. For those attending this meeting in person, live captions are available on a TV, in the boardroom and in the
lobby to access the live captions in a language other than English on your own device, please scan the QR code on the screen or on the table near the entrance and select the language of your choice. The
live stream of this meeting is also available in English and Spanish on YouTube. For links to these live streams, please visit the Board of Education page of the PSD website or PSD TV on demand on YouTube. Second,
we have approval of agenda. Would any board members like to make changes to our agenda? All right. Seeing none, we next
have our action items. Can we have. I get a motion for the resolution in support of transgender Day of Visibility. I move that the board approved
the resolution in support of Transgender Day of Visibility. March 31st, 2026. Thank you. Connor, can I get a second? Thank you very much, Andrew. And Brian, I believe you have some remarks. I do. Good
evening everybody. It's great to be with all of you in community this evening. Transgender Day of Visibility is a time to celebrate the strength, the resilience and contributions of transgender
and non-binary people. It is also a time to bring awareness to the discrimination and violence the community faces to protect the safety and well-being of this community.
We do not, unfortunately, have a student to speak in person for this resolution, but this does not minimize the importance of their voices. Tonight, we are honored to
share statements and thoughts from students who have this lived experience in our district and in our society. Our first student wrote. For me,
Trans Day of visibility means that I get to feel celebrated and seen for who I truly am. I get to know that people in my community see me and respect me.
Our second student shared, oftentimes trans people, especially trans youth, are invisible or under extreme scrutiny and experience harassment. It is important to
shine the light on trans people in a positive way, because we often don't get that opportunity. And that is why I find Trans Day of visibility so important. It has been communicated with our staff
that trans and non-binary students deeply value being recognized from the very beginning, through the consistent use of their names and pronouns at the start of the year and in each class
moving forward. They also appreciate it when teachers include clear notes for substitute teachers, emphasizing the importance of using correct names and pronouns, and treating all
students with respect. A third student named it feels really affirming and safe when when teachers speak up right away. If someone uses a slur, it
shows that they see us and respect us. At the Poudre School District, we are committed to providing ongoing gender inclusive practices.
Excuse me. In professional development, opportunities for staff and providing real world scenarios so educators feel prepared to recognize, interrupt and address bias and
harassment in the moment. Tonight, we celebrate the lives and contributions of transgender and non-binary people and recommit ourselves to building schools and
communities where every person can live openly, safely, and authentically. Let us remember that allyship is not a noun, but a verb. Please ask yourself
how that you can take meaningful action to support transgender and non-binary students, staff, and community members to help them feel safe,
seen, and valued every day in the Poudre School District. Members of the board. Members of the community. Thank you for allowing me to read that
resolution tonight. Thank you very much. Are there any commentary or notes? Okay. All right. We will call the. Oh,
yes. Please. I was waiting to see if anyone else had anything. I'd like to start by noting that we last had a discussion and passing the resolution.
That's before tonight, almost exactly a year ago to the day. For those of you who are not familiar with our board meetings, when we do resolutions, recognitions, reports, typically I'm looking
over at the podium that's empty. We typically have staff and or students usually present the award resolution, the recognition, and I'll speak for myself. They do a better job
and speak way more eloquently than the board can in resolutions. There's not as much for us to discuss last year and this year, conspicuously absent from the
Trans Day, the resolution supported trans visibility or any student voices or staff voices. And I'd love to think that that's a coincidence, but it's not. And so since they're
not here, you're left hearing from me for this evening. Those who know me in this role know that I believe in starting with the why. And a lot of times the why is usually inexorably
linked with numbers. So let's talk about numbers first. In 2024, the American Journal of Public Health published results of a ten year study of mental health issues affecting the
transgender community. It's entitled Temporal Trends and Mental Health in the United States by Gender Identity 2014 to 2021, and according to the study, which I'll make available to anyone upon
request. In 2014, 11.4% of cisgender adults reported frequent mental distress, compared with 18.9% of transgender adults by 2021.
14.6 of cisgender adults and 32.9% of transgender adults reported frequent mental mental distress. Now I'm going to give you SparkNotes. But the conclusions from this report, since those numbers were going
in the opposite directions, is what you would want to see that, quote. Policies are needed to address the worsening mental health of transgender and gender nonconforming people in the United States. And this is
from am J public Health 2024 114 five colon 523 to 526 seems simple, right? Have policies that at least try to alleviate
that. Now let's look at our own data. And I'm looking at the Healthy Kids of Colorado survey that we were actually presented on by Duane Schmitz, one of his recent D 1.0 presentations. If
we look at the most recent survey that we've got from the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, there's a section where we look at PSG numbers of certain
mental acuity issues, and then there's subsets of genderqueer, nonbinary, gay, lesbian, Hispanic, black, African American and Asian. So here are
some of the results I think are jump out the percentage of students who purposely hurt themselves without wanting to die in the past 12 months said
the response was 15.3% of those polled. Among the PhD students that identified as gender queer non-binary, 45.2% in 2023 felt
so sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row. During the last 12 months that they stopped doing some usual activities. PhD students,
25.2%, and our genderqueer non binary 24.1%. Oh excuse me, 47.5%. I misread the fonts getting small. Here's some
encouragement in that same report, the individuals. The students were asked if they have an adult to go to to help with a serious problem. Overwhelmingly, PhD students
responded 79.6% had someone they could go to in their schools. Of the students that identify as genderqueer, non-binary again, 79.9%, which
is very encouraging. So I guess my point is this. I think that anytime this topic has come up, and probably one of the reasons, if I had to surmise why we didn't have student voices or staff voices at tonight's
resolution is because I think that this view, this issue or this this resolution has been framed as a political one. And I disagree based on the numbers internally and nationally. I
view this as a student safety issue because this resolution, what it's doing and what Brian just read is it's acknowledging that these human beings exist in our schools, I don't think
has anything to do with indoctrination. I don't think it has anything to do with telling people how to think or what to think. It's acknowledging that students that are reporting a higher percentage of suicidal ideation
and self-harm are at least being acknowledged by this board and by this district for existing. And I think that's probably the least we could do. And I think there's some people in this room that would even call that a half measure. So
let me go on my soapbox one further and just say my personal views. These students, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, exist among us. They share classrooms with us, they
play sports with us. They may be your soccer teammate and maybe have been for many years. They practice in hot band rooms alongside us. Hopefully after tonight, which will be new equipment. They learn with us.
They suffer the loss of a loved one among us. They celebrate an older sibling getting accepted into college or getting a job. And they may do all of these things without your knowledge
that they are trans. In fact, your student likely does all these things with a friend or a classmate that they have no idea is trans. Imagine the weight of that student's reality to navigate all those daily activities like any other
student, and feeling like they have to hide who they are from everyone around them, and hoping, praying each night that they won't be found out or suffer the consequences to an unforgiving, unaccepting population that awaits them
every single day, day after day, hour after hour, and worrying about where they will. They will relieve themselves or where they're going to change their clothes so they're not going to be found out, and they
will continue to exist with or without your recognition of that basic fact. Despite my own personal opinions, I was elected to this board for, among other reasons, to maintain the safety and dignity
of all our students. And as the numbers above that I just discussed reveal, we are not doing everything we can to ensure the safety of some of our most vulnerable students. So I think this resolution speaks loudly. And for myself,
I'll be voting yay! Because it says to me, to our students directly that regardless of them being in the room or not. I see you and I accept you for who you are. All of you, not just the part of society is
making you feel ashamed of. I'm here to let you know that you do exist, and I hope I can be some small part of the forces of good in your life and save from this dais that you matter to me, and that you matter to
our district, and you are seen this. I believe that our system of public schools must expose our students to diversity. Diversity is skin color, socioeconomic status, backgrounds, sexual orientation,
gender, and of ideas. We are preparing our students to enter into a complex global system. We do not prepare them by shielding them from people or perspectives that are different from their own, or by denying
that differences exist. I believe differences should be celebrated. And so I think this is a this resolution is a start. It's a year later. Clearly we
have a lot more to do. I want to thank Brian for his remarks and for the opportunity to
speak. Thank you. Kevin, are there any other remarks at this time? I think you spoke well for. I'm going to say for at least me, but I would imagine
for all of us. All right. Can you please call the vote? Carla? I Conor Duffy I Kevin I Scott
schoenbaum. Hi, doctor. Andrew Spain I Jessica Zamora I doctor Corona I motion passes seven
zero. Thank you very much. All right. Next up we have our superintendent report. Superintendent Kingsley will now make remarks to the Board of Education and to the community. Thank you. So welcome back from spring break,
everyone. I hope everybody had a restful time away from school and community. I'm looking forward, just like you, to finishing our school year strong tonight. We have several action items that will be
brought before the board. You will note members of the community that this is a bit different format than what is typical for each of these items. The board in our community will hear a brief overview of the
planned purchase and the rationale for it. In tight budget times, we know it is imperative to be transparent in how funding is being spent. So we are calling attention to these purchases so that they we
are being very transparent about what they are and why they are needed right now, in this moment, later on. Discussion this evening will also include that the board and community to hear other information about the summer
construction projects that are planned across our schools. These projects address the district's maintenance needs and are being funded by the Debt Free Mill Levy Override. I want to reiterate a huge thanks
to the voters and also recognize the incredible Herculean effort efforts of our operations team for the incredible amount of work that they will be complete that will be completed in just about
eight short weeks. No pressure. Dave, we, we, we got this, we got this. We also want to hear an update later on on the state budget this evening. As I've shared with the community throughout the course of the
past couple of years, the state budget is challenging now more than ever, and we'll have a negative impact on the K-12 sector. Our budget Director and Chief finance officer will provide an update on what we
know now this evening. But as a note, we it's really important for us to realize that the budget will continue to be in flux, and this will be a series of presentations and
discussions that we'll have on this topic. As discussions in Denver continue to evolve. I want to conclude my remarks with a student Spotlight video at Bacon Elementary School.
This spotlight video is highlighting their elementary school's Makers Fair, which celebrates student entrepreneurial ism. And I think it's really cool. I hope
you like it as much as I do. Thank you again. The pink bow. Yeah. The pink bow behind us right now is maker's market. So this is an arrangement that was set up for fourth and fifth grade students. And they are
selling what they created during their enrichment time. Me and Tommy have fidgety fidgets. The quieter, more fidgets that don't interrupt teachers and they seem house
approved plus maps completely. Their ideas. They learn the basics of business modeling. So target audience, who are you selling to? What problem are you solving? And we were able
to get all this way to the kids, making and designing their own products and selling. It's awesome. I think it covers a ton of things, especially for the partnership. So working as
a team, making decisions together and just really kind of coming together as a cohesive unit to make what would be a successful business. I think so far the favorite
part has been honestly seeing where their imagination takes them, really kind of refining what they think as a problem to solve. And then seeing what they come up with has been
super cool. It's been really exciting. Thanks to our team, as well as the incredible staff at Bacon Elementary School who make those incredible experiences happen all the time for their students. Thank you
again for allowing me to address the community. I'm grateful. That's amazing. Thank you so much for sharing. All right. Next up on our agenda, we have our community comment.
This is this opportunity for public comment is for members of the community who registered to speak by the designated deadline. Those people will be called on to make remarks in the order that they signed up. Each speaker will be allowed
three minutes to address the board. Ready? Oh, no.
But I don't know. Where they go. Oh, there we go. Okay. All right.
First up, we have Julie Kramer. Welcome. There you go. Hello. I'm Julie Kramer. My family moved here from Texas last
summer with our gender expansive teenager. My husband addressed the board last fall, and I wanted to give you an update about how the school year is going so, so far. We're
happy we moved. It has not been perfect. What do you want? I always tell people that when within a few weeks of our arrival, we had to give our teenager a curfew. Our child
never went out. When we lived in Texas. Our kid made friends so quickly here, and she's living the life that every senior in high school should have. And it's really great to see our kid finally happy in
Texas. Our kid did not leave the house except for school because our kid identified as transgender. She was ostracized. She didn't want to go out alone without her parents because people, including adults, gave
her terrible looks that made her feel afraid. I want to be clear that our child was destined to be who she is. We did all the normal things and lived in a conservative community. These kids are who
they are and trying to change that only hurts them. A number of her friends back in Texas have attempted suicide. We couldn't believe with all the oppressive policies and laws
being passed in Texas, that our child would be treated with respect here. Her teachers are kind to her. They address her by her lived name and pronouns. She has done it well academically, and she's proud
of her work and she likes her school. However, our kid has told us that she is on high alert about the bathrooms. Certain parts of her high school have no gender neutral
bathroom. If she goes to the boys bathroom, she sometimes gets hostile comments and looks. She's afraid to go to the girl's restroom because they might give her looks, too. That has been her only complaint.
It's a big one that should be addressed. When we came here, we truly felt like we were on a different planet. My husband and I say almost daily how lucky we are to be here. I tear up sometimes because I'm so
grateful. Unfortunately, there are still those who want to take our safe space from us. After all that we've been through. My final message today is please keep Poudre ISD a
safe choice for LGBTQ students. It means the world to this mom. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Next, we have Emma Johnson. Welcome. Good evening. Board
superintendent. Audience. I have three things very quickly. There's apparently a 16 school list proposed for evaluation.
However, in this present situation, every school and office needs to be evaluating expenditures. Let's get all
hands on deck. Number two. Change often involves prioritizing values. In this case, it may be valuing
personnel versus community. A district wide reduction in workforce versus community schools. I would like for you to be aware that if a school
site is closed, that's forever and ever and ever. If personnel are rift that can be amended to
after this crisis has passed. Third, as many of you know, Flow Analytics generated multiple memos and they are
first class products. They're. March 15th, 2003 memo demographic analysis forecasts a 2% enrollment decline that we
are now addressing. And that is dismal. If you think of 2% for a long time. But there May the
16th, 2003 memo, student yield analysis forecast a significant gain from the 46 Fort Collins in Larimer County approved
housing developments accruing as many as 2038 new students in the near future. When is this going to happen? I don't know,
but often, maybe even frequently, when a young couple purchases a house, some magic happens and four years later we
have a four a kindergartner. When is it going to happen? I don't know, and the flow analytics didn't say so, but I
would like for you to please be aware that we do have two memos from this really first class company making forecasts for
our students. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next, we have Paige McGowan. Hello. My name
is Paige and I am here speaking on behalf of my husband, a music teacher in the district who works at Bacon Elementary. Like so many other PSD teachers, his contract FTE was reduced last year, forcing him to work
nights just to make ends meet. After a decade of serving his students and his community. So I'm here today to talk to you about school consolidation and how under the right leadership,
consolidation can be done responsibly and create new opportunities. In Pinellas County, Florida, where we are from, they are dealing with the same issues. We are rising housing costs, declining
enrollment and families being pushed out. They are projected to lose 5% of their students per year, even though they're remaining a densely populated area like us. They reached a
point where school closures became necessary. But what stands out is how they did it. They closed two elementary schools and consolidated others into K through eight models, saving them 15 million in
repairs and operating costs. At the same time, they made intentional decisions about what happens next. Instead of letting buildings sit empty or selling them off in ways that harm the district long term,
they partnered with community non-profits. One of the most impactful solutions was expanding a district run employee childcare program. They repurposed empty buildings to provide affordable childcare
for staff, helping employees stay in the community, creating jobs and making use of empty space at no cost to the district. The program is already fiscally self-sustaining and continuing
to grow. More important, they protected their teachers. Not a single teacher lost their job. Staff were reassigned to strengthen schools, reduce class sizes, and maintain arts
programs. They were able to do this when they, too, spent 85% of their budget on staffing. And they're not alone. Even districts cited as examples on Sd's own website, such as
Broward County and Atlanta Public Schools, did not lay off their teachers as a result of their school closures. These schools made it a clear priority for to create
stability for students, teachers and their families. Despite major budget cuts, they didn't just consolidate, they used the process to improve their district and reflect what their community wanted to see.
I understand every district is different, but this is a real example of how consolidation can be done in a way that actually prioritizes students, staff and the community. So my ask to the board and the
community is take time to study models like this, commit to transparency, protect teachers, and treat consolidation not as a last resort, but as an opportunity to invest in our
community, in our schools and in our students and use it as a chance to reflect what they want to see. Thank you. Thank
you very much. Next, we have Kristen Draper. Welcome. Thank you very much. It's a little different on this side. So I
want to start off first by saying to teachers and staff, thank you. Thank you for helping to raise caring, whole hearted little humans to the administration and cabinet.
Thank you for all the hours, the heart and the soul that you pour into this job and to the board. I want to say thank you for your commitment to our youth, our future, and for that
you're doing this all without pay. So I'm here tonight to speak on Trans Day of Visibility. Imagine if people in your own community felt you should not exist. Imagine if
you were only seen only visible once a year. All students and staff deserve to be seen for who they are every day, not just once a year. They deserve to be treated with dignity,
with kindness. They deserve to be able to learn, to teach, to make mistakes, to be successful no matter who they are or what their circumstances are. Thank
you for making this visibility a reality for your staff and for your students, and for our future. There's always more work to do and we can do it together. With love, with
kindness, with open hearts and open minds and open hearts and open minds. What that means is cynicism is not wisdom. Hope is
not naive. Cruelty is not strength. Compassion is not weakness, and joy is resistance.
So for those in the know, share your joy. Show your pride, embrace your true self. And above all, love yourself for
who you are. We do. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Casey Railing. Is it Riley? It's
Riley. I'm sorry. On September 28th, 2024, I attended a meeting about a new idea to bring to voters a mill levy that would bring more money into the school districts for
infrastructure, teacher pay and small school support. Also, a promise that the school consolidation decision would be delayed 3 to 5 years. I eagerly signed on to help on October 12th, along with many from our
Lopez Elementary community. We walked around our neighborhood, knocking on doors, passing out fliers, and speaking to neighbors about the mill levy. Only one door was slammed in our face as most everyone was
happy to support it. On October 17th, I went to Zvi Brewery to participate in a texting campaign to get the word out to voters. One in my group got reported as spam and lost texting ability on her phone
for a week. During the door knocking, I met a local realtor who was hosting a voter information night with neighbor to neighbor. My husband signed up to speak and brought the mill levy information to a group of younger voters who
asked great questions and had an overall positive opinion on it. Between September 28th and November 17th, I drove around town delivering for a yard signs to people who were
interested. On November 18th, with a margin of 57.2 to 42.8, Larimer County voters approved the $49 million mill levy. I was very proud in the part I played to help get that
initiative passed. It has been 16 months since Fort Collins passed that override, 16 months since the community was told that a promise made needed to be a promise kept, and that passing for a gave the district
time to make good on promises to take a deeper look in good faith. 16 months. Not 36. Not 48, not 60. Many of us worked
hard to campaign for for a. Much like some of you did, it is an affront to that effort that you are now failing to keep your word. We have now seen the Comprehensive Planning Committee's expedited timeline and progress. What it shows is
a return to the same place we were two years ago. Declining enrollment and school closures with little evidence of meaningful analysis in between. I stood before you almost two years ago as a voice for the
community. We were clear then that some outcomes might be unavoidable in including school consolidations or closures. We understood that reality. What we are asking for was transparency and accountability.
Where is the economic impact study showing what closing schools will actually save? Where is it shown that there is consensus with the city regarding the competing goals? Where is the documented analysis of alternative ways to
increase efficiency or reduce costs? Where are the transportation studies? We understand their obstacles and hard decisions ahead, and many of us are willing to work within the confines of this reality. But you cannot
continue to work within the confines of predetermined outcomes. That is what we asked for. That is what we were promised. That is what we fought for and voted for. And
that is what you are still not delivering. Please do better.
Thank you. Next we have Danny Lawrence. Welcome.
Did anyone else notice last month that during the meeting, no PSC staff showed up to advocate for their jobs? You all kind of strangely giggled about it. I sat at home appalled because as someone with open civil rights
complaints against the district, I know too well what retaliation looks like and why staff didn't feel like they could come here to fight for their jobs. Celebrating silence is odd for people who aren't receiving the truth. And then
over spring break, I saw a post from the Colorado Education Association on social media. It used the public comments given at a state Legislative Finance Committee meeting by a PSC kindergarten teacher who felt more comfortable telling a room
full of representatives strangers that she wasn't able to implement IEP services for six students, then coming here and asking for your help. Her voice shook. Her words were powerful and she spoke truth to
power. Last meeting, Doctor Ziegler asked a question about staff availability if the district were to identify more students in need of IEPs. And I don't think that you were given an adequate response. So I wanted to clarify, this isn't a
find the money, find the staff, and we'll see whether we can fulfill the need that is illegal. And that is the heart of the cultural problems here. There are no options. Ida doesn't say serve needs if you
can. The next time you ask Dave Montoya what it costs to educate special needs children and discuss the net value of that in public, which was totally gross, by the way, at least ask parents what they've paid to educate their children
in your public system. Because my total is 80,000 just in legal expenses, five attorneys and 11 years. And that doesn't touch the $200 an hour that I spend on Braille literacy and assistive technology
instruction. But also ask yourself, what is the cost of not educating 3000 students already facing a 75% unemployment rate on them, on society, on civil rights as we know it? Children are people,
not dollar signs, budget line items or jobs for adults. The sign outside doesn't say every child every day. We need you to see children as something other than a tool that you all press
on to seek more funding, while simultaneously not implementing student's existing IEPs, arguably committing fraud with the dollars that you do get while violating their dignity. Since school principals indicate in your long range
planning surveys that they can't implement IEPs right now in kindergartners, kindergarten teachers are driving to the capital to admit that they can't honor the civil rights of six year olds. Are we just going to be a district that
tolerates that we violate rights and that has become an acceptable part of what we do here? The social media clip and the video are in your email tonight, and I would like to remind you that this district
is currently under an IRS audit from CDE. And if you aren't going to audit the internal IEPs of those six children at Irish Elementary and get their teacher some needed help, then I will request CDs involvement to do so. Five years ago, I sat
here thinking that if I could prove that needs weren't being met, that maybe you would do something to act. But tonight I'm wiser and I'm leaving here. Assured that the futures of vulnerable children aren't enough to get you to recognize
your fiduciary responsibilities under federal law. That it's sicker than I imagined. That we are promoting a culture that uses the very kids that PSC sites to generate more money. Disability is a business and
this school district, and I'm ashamed that I ever exposed my son to it. Thank you. Thank you.
Next we have Kurt Kesting. Welcome. Good evening. My name
is Kurt Kasten. I'm a resident of Fort Collins, Southwest Fort Collins. Thanks for the opportunity to speak to you tonight. I'm actually speaking with regard to the Transgender Day of Visibility resolution you passed. I'm a little
surprised, actually, that my comments come after you've passed the resolution. I think you should reevaluate that as a governance issue. We should be able to talk before the board actually acts on the item
that's coming in the evening that it that it comes up. I'm going to read the first paragraph of the resolution you passed. Whereas Trans Day of Visibility is an internationally recognized
awareness day that occurs every March 31st to celebrate transgender, non-binary, non-binary people while bringing awareness to the discrimination and violence the
community faces. So while I agree that discrimination and violence are not to be tolerated, I don't agree with celebrating transgenderism as it pertains to minors. Your
role as the PSD Board of Directors is to act on behalf of the students of the school district, most of which are minors. I would like to offer an alternative resolution for you. This is a resolution
against gender transitions for minors, whereas, the Poudre School District Board of Directors is considering and has passed a resolution recognizing Transgender Day of
Visibility on March 31st. And whereas PSD is responsible for educating about 30,000 students, a vast majority of which are minors, and whereas gender transitioning for minors is
increasingly demonstrated to be harmful for the long term well-being of those who experience it. And whereas many and by some estimates, tens of thousands of individuals who
were transitioned as teenagers are now actively seeking to detransition and experiencing deep regret over changes that are now irreversible. And
whereas healthcare providers, medical associations, parent groups, local, state and federal governments are moving quickly and decisively toward protecting children by opposing
or legislating against gender transitions for minors. And Whereas, recommendations from the board of directors support or promoting irreversible physical changes to the bodies of the students entrusted to them will get positive
consideration from the student body, parents of students and the community at large. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Poudre School District Board of Education to state
that gender transitions for minors cannot be known to be beneficial and may quite likely come to be viewed by the affected individual as harmful and deeply regretted, and therefore recommends that
adults do not support or encourage children into undergoing gender transitions. Thank you. All right. Thank you.
That concludes our community comment for this evening. Next on our agenda is board topics and committee reports. This agenda item is an opportunity for board members to provide an update on committee work or
speak to board topics. Do any board members have something to report? Go ahead. Just a quick
update from the legislative committee. Andrew and I hosted a call again on Friday. We'll be doing the same this Friday. Andrew. You may have to host
that one for me just to let you know. Tonight we're going to be speaking about budgets. So I'm not really going to get into that one. That's what we predominantly spoke about. One
thing that will be happening in the next few weeks here is the long bill will be introduced, and hopefully that will be sooner rather than later, so
that they have ample time to discuss it. The other one that I wanted to bring up was Senate Bill 135. This is Tabor reform.
I don't like to read the tea leaves all the time. I do think this will be on our ballots. However, we had a good conversation pertaining to the effort that it's going to take
all of us here to get to not only get it on the ballot, but then also get it passed in November. That's the update. Thank you. Connor, does anyone
else have anything to share at the moment? All right, I'll go. So in recognition of our transgender Day of Visibility, we often share dates for our own events. So I wanted to take
an opportunity to share some events as well that are happening in the coming days. So first, there's an event for music and arts lovers at the Mishawaka, celebrating through music, visual arts and guest
speakers occurring on March 28th. For those wanting to get a deeper understanding of the parent perspective, PFLAG is offering an opportunity for a Parents of Trans Panels panel on March 30th at the Trails at
Timberline Welcome Center and last on my list, but surely not last in the opportunities our community provides is a showing of the heightened scrutiny at CSU Lory Student Center on
March 31st that showcases our civil rights activism for transgender rights at the intersection of courtrooms and media. So there's a lot more events. I'm sure these are just some highlights to give you a
sprinkling of options, but I'm I just want to reiterate Kevin's points. I'm very proud of our district for honoring our trans community. And I think there's a lot of really good learning opportunities and
celebration opportunities. So thank you very much. Does anyone else. Yeah, please. Since you kicked off some updates of things coming up to look forward to, I had the I don't know if anyone else had
this experience. After spring break, you have to start looking at your calendar in a very aggressive manner. And you look at April and May, which feels like it's going to be next week. So some good news. I
don't have it on my computer. I have on my work, but PSD celebrates is Monday, May 4th. Is that right at the Lincoln Center? I believe that's right. Yep. So that's something that's going to be incredible. Just
looking at it for my own calendar here, there's some other things I want to note in April. I've been asked to speak at a graduation of sorts for
Liberty Common High School. They're justice House is graduating, so I get to share some remarks to their student assembly on April 22nd, which is going to be really exciting. I'm going to take a play out of
Superintendent Kingsley's playbook, and I get to talk to the students before about what justice means to them, hopefully incorporate some of their their own thoughts into our remarks. There was
something else. I can't find it, but there's and, Lauren, this may be too premature. There are some more engagement sessions coming up, but I don't know if we want to. I don't know if those have been confirmed as
far as dates. We're in the process of confirming those. There'll be one about every week in April, and the community can expect an email sometime this week. As of right
now, we still have our April 16th one that we were going for. I have the one I am attending as at Bamford. Does anyone remember the other one or Lauren, if you could help us
out again since mine. What was it? Rice. Thank you. All right, so those start at 530 to 7. And again that's Bamford and Rice on April 16th. So those are just kind of the continuation
of our community engagement sessions that we've had thus far. And we'll be adding more with regard to consolidation, planning and what we're going to do in our future. So any other comments? Yes. You look
like you just make sure everyone knows that those aren't restricted just to the people who attend those schools either. Open to everybody in the who wants to come to any of those. Thank you for that as
well. Are there any other. Yeah, please. I just want to highlight, as director has mentioned, is April in May coming up. This is a wonderful time of the year where our
local high schools are doing their theater productions for the spring, and we have some excellent plays on deck. And so if you're looking for something to do in the evening, support
our schools and support our theater programs, and I can assure you you are going to have a fabulous time. All right. I love the celebration. Is
there anything else at this time? All right. And we will keep moving along with our agenda. Next on our agenda is our consent. Would any board members like to pull anything
from our consent agenda? Okay. Seeing none, can I get a motion? I move that the board approve and adopt the recommended actions for items on the
consent agenda. Thank you. Can I get a second? Thank you Kevin. And can you please call the vote? Leah. Carlosbiz. Hi.
Conor. Duffy. Hi, Kevin. Hi. Scott. Schoenbaum a doctor. Andrew Spain. Hi, Jessica Zamora. Hi, doctor Corona Ziegler, I motion passes seven
zero. Thank you very much. Moving on to our action items. As Superintendent Kingsley alluded to earlier, we are having more action items than usual. Many of these things historically would have showed
up on our consent agenda, but we wanted to make sure that we are talking about them as much as possible in public, and getting some really thorough knowledge for ourselves as well as our public on our especially our expenditures. Our first
item is our executive limitation policy. L 2.8 can I get a motion? I move that the board determined that the superintendent has reasonably interpreted Board of Education
policy. EL2 point eight in his internal monitoring report dated March 24th, 2026, and that the evidence presented supports the superintendent's
conclusions stated in the internal monitoring report. Thank you. Connor, can I get a second? Thank you. Carla, is
there any discussion on this item? All right, I see none. I figured, am I similar to how we did last time? I think it's
just important for our community to know that we're our eyes are not just glazing over when we do this. It's not perfunctory. So the internal monitoring report that we're considering is essentially. I'm going to paraphrase how the
superintendent keeps the board informed as to various things. I think the only thing I'd like to say to amplify there, you know, there's there's certain policies that he shall not and will not do certain things, but
he shall also do others. I think that the longer I'm in this job, I have a certain appreciation for the amount of information that our superintendent and the staff
have to curate and present to the board in a timely manner. It can be overwhelming to receive it. Quite frankly. A district of our size. We deal with things like power outages
with fallen trees on buildings, student safety concerns that some of our facilities that we need to be aware of, any kind of disciplinary action that may that may, you know, come across and anything that would invade
the public sector from a PR standpoint. So just the amount of information that the superintendent, his team have to curate, I do feel the longer I'm in this job, I have an appreciation for it. I'm getting more used to it, I
should say. But I I'm going to vote for this for because I think the evidence also supports that the this policy has been implemented, in my
view. Thank you for that. Is there any other comments before we take a vote? All right. Please call the vote. Carlos I.
Conor Duffy hi, Kevin. Gavalda. Hi. Scott. Schmidbauer. Hi, doctor. Andrew Spain. Hi. Jessica zamora. Hi, doctor Corona Ziegler I motion passes
seven zero. Thank you very much. All right, moving along. We have our McGraw boiler project. Can I get a motion? I move that the board approve expenditures
in excess of $250,000 and authorize staff to execute a contract for $267,970.95 with Reliant Mechanical Services to provide construction services. Thank you. Kevin, can I get a
second? Thank you Andrew. All right. And I believe we have a brief presentation. Yeah, it's nice hearing. We look forward to hearing about the McGraw boiler project from our CFO, Dave Montoya. Dave, welcome.
Thank you. So tonight we are asking the board to approve a boiler replacement at McGraw. This boiler was installed in 1992, so it's about 34 years old. It was identified in the
McKinstry Study Facility condition Assessment. That was done prior to the election. So it was already identified in that as well as confirmed by our own our own internal facility condition assessment
that the boiler needs to be replaced. What this does is it supplies reliable heating to maintain our to maintain a safe and comfortable environment for our students. The plan would be
to do this work over the summer of 26. And the question comes up is, if we don't do this, what happens? And so our schools are designed to have redundant systems in the boiler. So we typically have two boilers in the schools. If one
fails during the year we do have the redundant system, but that puts that redundant system under strain. It's not ideal to run it like that. And so we don't want to get in that situation because if we end up losing a redundant system
because we put it under strain during the school year, we would literally have to close the school because we wouldn't be able to heat it. So this was deferred maintenance that was identified in both of those studies. And and we're asking
the board to approve it. This is funded from the debt free. So I think always thanking our voters for the opportunity to maintain our buildings as much appreciated. Thank you very
much. Are there any questions or comments? Please? Can you real quick because I always I think language is important. So when you say redundant, are you
implying that's a backup system? Yeah, yeah, that's exactly what we're referring to. We actually have two boilers that operate independently. And the idea is if one goes down for whatever reason, the other one can
continue to heat that building. And so when one goes down, it puts the other one in a lot more strain. It can survive for a while. That's not an ideal condition. So we don't want to
get there. Can you? I should have asked this earlier, so I apologize. How long should a boiler work, first of all? And how old is the other boiler in
McGraw? I don't know if I know the answer to the second part of the question, and then how long a boiler lasts, I think is going to depend on what type of boiler it is. And so, for example, we were just reviewing
our systems in our facility condition update. And in that it's interesting to listen to the people that maintain these. They will talk about cast iron boilers as the best thing ever,
and that they're still serviceable and maintainable. This one that was installed in 1992 is not one of those. So it's reached about 30 years of age, I think, and that's probably about I'm kind of
looking over there 30 years seems about right. Great. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments at this time? Seeing none, can we
please call the vote? Carla Bays. Hi, Conor. Duffy. A. Kevin Scott Bauer, hi, doctor.
Andrew Spain. Hi. Jessica Zamora. Hi, doctor Ziegler. Hi. Motion passes seven zero. Thank you, thank you. Next, we have
8.3 for the purchase of musical instruments. Can I get a motion? I move that the board approve expenditures in excess of 250,000 and authorize staff to issue purchase orders to the vendors notated in the attachment to this item. Thank
you. Andrew, can I get a second? Carla? Thank you. All right. And I believe we have a presentation briefly for this one. Yes. Joining us this evening to present the purchase of musical instruments and equipment. Item is one of our
assistant superintendents, Doctor Olsen. Welcome in soon.
Good evening. I am super excited to bring forward to you our musical instrument and equipment request. This is very near and dear to my heart as I am a former competitive
classical pianist as well as an oboist and flutist or flutist, I guess, and I had the privilege of being part of a band from middle school all the
way through high school, and that my competitiveness started in as when I was four and finished when I was about 19. But really, truly about the
work that we're presenting in front of you, we're just super excited. As we know, music is near and dear to many people's
hearts and especially our children, but we are just super excited that we can bring this request in front of you. So our students are not just doom scrolling on their phones all
day long and hanging out, but we are super excited to provide an ongoing resource for instruments and equipment. Due to the community passing our
debt free mill levy. And so this is directly tied to our strategic plan with our literacy focus around high quality instructional materials.
When you think about music, it goes well beyond the music sheets that they look at and read from. It also includes the musical instruments. We are
well aware that our musical instruments across our system variety in age, in how often they're used, as well as which
instruments are used depending on what programs each school offers. And so this is our step into creating a standard
expectation around musical instruments and ensuring that specifically around the choir risers, which is highlighted example here as we just got to live through our elementary and
middle school combined district choirs, that risers are really important when you have kids coming on and off stage. And so we recognize that throughout our system there are some safety concerns. And so there
was a priority of replacement for the risers. Just to give you a context, a tuba, which is a very large musical instrument,
brand new for students, can range anywhere from $3700 to $7000 just for one tuba. And so asking schools to try to create
a maintenance cycle and ongoing. And as they flex and change, because just because we have eight trumpets this year does not mean we're going to have eight trumpets next year and all the variations that come
within there. And so equity and access is really important to us as we continue to distribute the resources that we are
asking you to consider today. This also allowed us to bid price, as you see in the documents attached, one that specifically breaks down by
each leveled area and exactly what each school is going to receive allowed us to bid and actually use less than the
allotted money given to us, which is a great place to be. In the first year of using our mill levy dollars. And so I'm super proud of our team and the work that they went through to
get us to a reasonable budget, though of course, we could always use more if we think about musical instruments and the competitiveness that we have in our district, and just
the love for music and our students being able to explore and find a place of belonging. And so we hope that we have presented enough information
for you and to show that there is distribution at every single site, and it is varied. And we are going to continue to look at enrollment as we look at
refurbishing these musical instruments in an ongoing cycle as we continue to move forward. But this is year one, and we wanted to give you an opportunity to let us know if
we're heading in the right direction. Thank you very much. Questions? Yes, please. Quick question and then a comment. So I looked at the list and it looked like each school
identified or I guess let me not get in front of my question. The schools have listed certain equipment with price tags. Alongside them. Are those is that all the schools need? Do they ask us they tell you what
they needed or is this just what they got this round? So we did a study a few years ago to look at requests and needs
across our system without any regards to budget per se. Just what is the request for music? What does that look like? What would we need to say to sustain high quality programing K-12?
What came out was a request for over $2 million, and we know that we can't afford that, sustain that or move that forward. And the list and
request that were gleaned from our schools this year, there was a request around that boundary, around that of what are the instruments, equipment, resources that you need that
you have not been able to replenish. Therefore, you can now provide better access for students. So you're not sharing a recorder amongst three kids or things like that. That's not
safe or appropriate or of all the reasons. Right? And so that's part of what we had to nuance. So is it enough? No. Is
it getting us closer to a level of expectation? Yes. Thank you. I noted that because I was curious because the total that's in our packets is $461,039. That sound right?
Better than 2 million. Yeah. My comment was, for those of you who don't know, I'm glad you brought this up. And we got to talk about it because it allows me to yet again say that Fossil
Ridge High School marching band captured the 2025 Colorado Class five, a state championship with a score of 89.55 at the US Air Force Academy on October 25th, securing their fourth
consecutive state title and eighth in 14 years. They swept all judge categories, finishing 1.1 points ahead of runner up Legacy High School. If this
helps them get their fifth consecutive, then so be it. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments, please? Yeah. Just like to echo Director Valdez points as well.
We have a robust and stellar music program throughout PSD at all levels. It's amazing my kids experienced it. I'd urge the rest of the board. I don't think there's any objections to
support this wholeheartedly. These music programs can be life changing. They're. I've seen it so many times, gives a student a chance to pursue their passion, to learn skills,
to practice those skills, and then see the fruits of their labor, which is a life lesson I think we all need for for so many reasons. So this is a long
overdue purchase, so I'm all for it. So thank you very much for putting that together. Thank you. Other questions or comments. All right. Seeing
none, I believe we're ready for a vote. Carla Baz I Conor Duffy. Hi, Kevin. Hi, Scott. Schoenberger. Hi, doctor.
Andrew Spain. Hi. Jessica Zamora, eye doctor Zigler. Hi. Motion passes seven zero. Thank you. Next we have our recommendation for external
audit services engagement. Can I get a motion? I move that the board approved the audit committee's recommendation to engage Clifton Larson, Allison
Allen, excuse me, LLP for $98,875 to conduct the fiscal year 2025 2026 annual external financial audit and single
audit. Great. Can I get a second? Thank you, Andrew, and I believe we have a brief presentation for this item. We have our chief Finance officer, Dave Montoya. Welcome back. Dave. Yep. So what we're asking
the board to do is approve our external audit for the year. This is something we need to do annually. We're required by law to do it. And you can see there's a lot citing on here that requires this independent
audit. And and it also requires a single audit, which is our federal awards audit. Also what require this is the the board policy or the executive
limitation 2.8 that requires the superintendent to bring forward manners where board action is required by law. That's why this is being brought in front of you. It does not meet the $250,000 threshold or above, but it is
required that the board approve it. The. The audit is intended to do an independent assessment of the financial statements to ensure accountability and transparency and strengthen public trust by demonstrating
sound, sound stewardship of public funds. And then finally, kind of rounding this out, there was a competitive selection process that was conducted to select Clifton
Larson. Allen. We are actually entering the third year of a five year potential engagement. The way we do this is you get the award for one year, and then we can do for awards after
that every five years, we do need to go back out and reissue another RFP to evaluate that. And so the that's kind of what we have in front of you, just to give you a little more
background into because a lot of this work is done with the Board of Education's audit committee. And so I thought it would be helpful just to describe the audit committee to you. So, you know, kind of the players there, we basically
have five community members and then two directors, director Spain and Director Duffy are make up the audit committee. We as staff support that. But the audit committee is actually
chaired by a community member. And so when we did this, this evaluation last time for the RFP to select Clifton Arsenal, and we actually involve our
community members as well. And these are community members that need to apply for that position. It's not just awarded. They have to have industry experience. And so that's exactly who we have. And they
help us with evaluating who we select and who we don't. And so that's how we brought this forward to you. I can take any questions at this point. Thank you Dave. Questions or comments?
Yes please. Yeah. Thank thank you. This is one of the ones that I had asked some questions about. AM I right to understand that Clifton Larson or c l A
has been our same auditor since 2009? Is that correct? That is that is correct. They have been our auditor since July 2009. I would I would say that the last
RFP round where we did the selection, it was a very robust conversation on whether we should change auditors or continue with the same in collaboration with our community members and those
involved in that evaluation process, it was determined that Clifton Larson Allen provided the most value. But it's something that we're very conscious of. To also add to a
little bit of the story. I think that, you know, this really comes back to the days of Enron. And, you know, when Enron collapsed, there was this audit concern. And and so there
was this quick reaction to require change in auditors. I think where the industry really settled is in large firms, you have multiple partners and there's partner rotation. That's important. And so that
is something that we are always looking for to make sure they're rotating partners so that we are getting fresh eyes. But I don't want to I don't want to say we we had a very robust conversation on whether
we should award Clifton Larson Allen or not. And we would have been okay if the decision was to go a different direction. But the will of the group was to engage them for another round. Yeah, and that kind of
goes back to my grad school experience. It probably was right around Enron. And, you know, good financial hygiene from what I learned was, was
changing those auditors getting a fresh set of eyes. I think when you get too cozy, it can lead to less scrutiny. And that's that's one thing that right now, especially as we're
under these, you know, serious discussions about budget, that's a concern I have. And I did reach out to some of my fellow board members who gave
me some good feedback about the process. And, and, you know, I think accelerating the RFP next year to do it next year rather
than two years from now might be something to consider, if that's possible. I just I'm concerned 17 years is a long time to have the same. Even
even with rotating partners, I get it. And as staff, we felt the same way to some extent. But we also understand that this is a collaboration with the audit committee and how we proceed forward with that. So I
would encourage the two board members that are on the audit committee to bring that conversation later to assess whether the audit committee would like to do that or to continue on. I really like them to have a conversation and then
maybe come back and decide where we're at. We can do that. Right? Other. Yeah, I think I'm on the same line. Scott. So
when would our relationship with this audit group in, in terms of the current. So we're on our third year. We're on our third year. So that's the
auditing the 25 year. So it would be two more years, potentially positive renewals. But we have to enter those. Those aren't automatic. We actually have to select to continue. But it would be for
the 27 fiscal year would be the conclusion of it. Awesome. Thank you. I think I agree too, like I understand it being a, I honor and respect the committee
and whatnot. Right? And I think ongoing improvement is beneficial all across the board. And so I would want to encourage the audit committee. What criteria are we using to select that? And how are we
balancing this long term relationship with seeking out a new audit partner? Because that does make a difference. That's an awful long amount of time to
have the same group working. And I understand how biz and all that different stuff works. And sometimes maybe we might need to forgo what our current criteria is for selecting
someone through an RFP for something different. In order for us to get those fresh eyes on what we are doing. Also, that different perspective might challenge us to think in new ways or to see things
differently, or they're going to ask different questions, right? Or alternatively, we could be familiar with the current practice, right? And so I just want to highlight and
affirm Director Schoenberg and Schoenberg and say that, that I suggest and highly support that decision as you all connect as a committee, how we shift that and bring more integrity through the process? Yeah, the
RFP, I appreciate that the RFP will have clear evaluation criteria. We did the last time. I don't recall exactly what it is at the podium tonight, but that's where we would really want to focus is what is the criteria by which we're
evaluating and make sure we get the right criteria. I want to just echo like and I said this before, but we as staff are not opposed to changing. It was a
collective decision. Thank you. Are there any other questions at this time? All right then I think we're ready to call the
vote, please. Carla. I Conor Duffy I Kevin I Scott Bauer
know doctor Andrew Speed I Jessica Zamora I doctor Karen Ziegler nay. Thank you. Motion
passes five zero. All right. Yes, please. For 8.5. I move that the board enter executive session is authorized by CRS section 24.640 24B for the
purpose of conferring with an attorney for the Board of Education to receive legal advice on the process and procedure related to the appeal of a decision to expel student B. Thank you. Can I get a
second? Thank you Andrew. All right. At this time we will go into executive session. I not sure what else I'm supposed to
say at this point. We'll resume after this and we'll have two informational sessions before another executive session, I think. Yes, I'm I'm hopeful this will take 30 ish minutes,
but I would, I would this is where I'm not sure exactly how to support people and how long, but I believe it will be relatively short. And then, and then it's and then it's sorry.
And then it's after that we'll still have action item 8.5, correct? Yep. All right. We'll see you all in executive session. But. Sorry. Thank you
very much. We do need to call the vote. Sorry. Carlosbiz. I. Conor Duffy. Hi, Kevin. Hi.
Scott. Schoenberger a doctor. Andrew Spain. Hi. Jessica
Zamora. Hi, doctor Ziegler. Hi. Motion passes seven zero.