The District 60 Board of Education scheduled for today, June 9th, 2026, at 2:00 PM is being called to order. It is now 2:00 PM, and we have notice of special school board meeting has been posted. And so, as I say, I'll call the meeting to order and ask that our secretary call the roll. Director Ferrell. Here. Director Ibarra. Here. Director Mays. Here. Director Panizio. Here. Director Tebeau. Here. With five presence, we have a quorum and can proceed. And at this time, next on the agenda is the board
is going to vote on a measure to enter into executive session. And so, I have a few statements that I would like to make. I want to clarify on the record that the Board of Education has issues to discuss in executive session as follows: To confer with the school district's attorney for the purpose of receiving legal advice pursuant to CRS Section 24-6-402 numerical foreign paren, small B in paren, on the following specific legal
questions. The procedures, standards of review, and the district's legal obligation under the Charter Schools Act, CRS Sections 22-30.5-101 through 121, State Board of Education rules and regulations concerning charter schools and District 60 charter school policies concerning the appeal filed with the State Board by Colorado Choice Schools, formerly known as Pueblo Choice Schools. Do I have a motion to go into executive session for the previously
stated purposes? And if so, I'll identify you on the record as the mover of that motion. So vote. Moved by Director Mays. Is there a second to the motion? Second. Second by Director Ferrell. Is there any discussion relative to the motion? Hearing no discussion or seeing no desire to have discussion, I'll ask our secretary to call the roll. Director Ferrell. Aye. Director Ibarra. Aye. Director Mays. Aye. Director Panizio. Aye. Director Tebeau. Aye. With five aye votes and no no votes, that motion carries and is declared adopted. And for the record, the motion to convene into executive
session required an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the quorum present. And I would like to announce that, in addition to all board members who are present and our superintendent, those who will be joining the board in executive session are Elliot Hood and Richard Bump, attorneys for District 60, and of course, along with our superintendent, as I say, Dr. Barbara Kimsey. So we'll now actually recess to convene in the conference room and take up matters as indicated on the motion relative to executive session.All
right. The District 60 Board of Education will now come back to order, and will proceed with our agenda, having concluded our executive session. It's now 2:36. And would you all please stand so that we can say the Pledge of Allegiance together? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you all very much for that. And now we're going to take up any corrections and modifications to the
agenda. Does any board member or our superintendent have any suggested corrections or modifications to the agenda at this time? Seeing none, hearing none, then we'll move on to 3.0, which is the adoption of the agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as it appears in our board materials on June 9, 2026? So moved. Moved by Director Mays. Is there a second? Second. Second by Director Ferrell. Is there any discussion with respect to the motion to adopt the agenda?
Hearing no discussion, seeing no discussion, we'll ask the secretary to call the roll. Director Ferrell. Aye. Director Ibarra. Aye. Director Mays. Aye. Director Panuzzo. Aye. Director Teboe. Aye. With five aye votes and no no votes, that motion passes and is declared adopted. We are now in the phase of having public hearings, and we have two public hearings today, and we'll take them in the order that they appear on our agenda. The first public hearing deals with the proposed charter school application for Swallows Charter
Academy, Pueblo Campus. But I do want to make a statement before we begin, so that everyone is clear on how the chair is going to handle the public testimony or hearing. This is a public hearing at a special meeting of the Board of Education. During this public hearing, as required by applicable law and policy, the chair will follow board policy BEDH and BEDH-R to the extent applicable regarding the proposed charter school application for Swallows Charter Academy, Pueblo Campus.
Because this is a public hearing, the chair has determined that those who intend on giving input on the proposed charter school application will adhere to the time limit set, which is three minutes for each individual or group in favor of the charter school application, and three minutes for each individual or group against the application. And having said that, I have two individuals- PCA Okay, the people that are signed up here are for a different public hearing. So is there anyone that has... There's no one signed up that I can
tell. Is there any voicemails relative to either for or against this application, Mr. Sprouse? We did not receive any recorded voicemails for this particular charter application. Okay. So for the record, I will open the hearing, and I will ask if there are any individuals who wish to sign up or wish to testify with respect to this charter application. Any individuals that wish to testify or comment? And since there are no individuals signed up and no one has expressed an interest in
testifying or making public comments and there are no voicemails, I will consider this matter and this public hearing closed. So now, um-We will move on to the next item on the agenda for the next public hearing, and that is a public hearing to be held with respect to the input on the proposed charter school application for Pueblo Classical Academy. Before opening that up to public hearing, I would like to read on the record the statement from the chair as to how we'll handle this.
This is a public hearing at a special meeting of the Board of Education. During this public hearing, as required by applicable law and policy, the chair will follow board policy BEDH and BEDH-R to the extent applicable regarding the proposed charter school application for Pueblo Classical Academy. Because this is a public hearing, the chair has determined that those who intend on giving input on the proposed charter school application will adhere to the time limit set, which is three minutes for each individual or group in favor of the charter school application,
and three minutes for each individual or group against the application. And so now I will open the public hearing for comments from individuals who wish to make comment, and we do have two individuals signed up, and the first individual that's signed up is Diego Villalpando. Is that correct? Mr. Villalpando, would you care to join us at the table? As you sit down, you'll see a microphone there and a time limit of three minutes. So whenever you're ready, please feel free to
make your comments. And do tell us whether you're in favor of the application or not in favor of the application in your comments. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. My name is Diego Villalpando. I am currently enrolled at PCA Online. I am in favor. I would like to thank my teachers and staff and district leaders for providing students like me with this opportunity to learn and grow and prepare for the real world. I am here today to share my online school has been such a positive experience for me and why I believe it is a valuable option for many students.
One of the greatest benefits of online learning, flexibility. It allows students to work on their own pace, stay focused in their goals, and receive support whether they need it. Whether through online messages, emails, phone calls, there is always someone willing to help. I have been an online student for more than four years. I started online during the fifth grade, during the COVID-19 pandemic. When schools reopened, I returned to a traditional classroom setting. However, I soon realized that I learn best in an online environment. I am
a very special person, and I found that online school helped me focus more on my education without the distractions that can sometimes come with a traditional classroom. Because of the flexibility online schools provide, I was able to accomplish goals that might have been much harder otherwise during my time as an online student. I completed two full years of cosmetology training, and I am now working towards earning my cosmetology license. I was also able to maintain a part-time job while completing both of my high school courses and cosmetology classes.
Today, I'm 17 years old, and I began my cosmetology career, while I'm also moving closer to completing my high school. Online school gave me the opportunity to balance my education career goals and personal responsibilities in a way that worked best for me. For these reasons, I believe online school is an excellent option for students who are motivated, focused, and looking for flexibility in their education. It has helped me achieve goals that I am proud of, and I am also grateful that this opportunity was available for me.
Thank you for your time and for continue to support students like me. Thank you very much, Mr. Villalpando. We appreciate your testimony and your comments. I think the chair will allow any board member, if you don't mind just staying there for a moment, I'm going to allow any board member to make any inquiry of you to clarify anything that you had to say if they wish. Any board member wish to do that? I guess you're off the hook. Great job, huh? Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Okay, we'll move on to the next individual who is signed up, and that is Jenny Spinato, I believe is how you pronounce that.
I hope I've done that right. Hi. This is an email from Jenny Spinato. Henry Spinato, a student of ours. Previous student. And can you just identify who you are? Yes. I'm Matthew Copley. I am one of the mentors at PCA. Okay. "To whom it may concern, I am writing in support of the program, high school, that my son Henry attended and graduated from, Pueblo Classical Academy. Henry has special needs and faces several disabilities that made a traditional school setting very challenging for him.
Finding this program was truly life-changing for our family. From the moment Henry enrolled, the staff and teachers demonstrated patience, understanding, and a genuine commitment to his success."They went above and beyond to meet Henry where he was, providing the support, flexibility, encouragement, and resources he needed to overcome obstacles and continue progressing towards graduation. They recognized his strengths, worked through his challenges, and never gave up on him. As a parent, I can honestly say that Henry would not have
graduated without this program and the dedicated people behind it. They provided not only an education, but also confidence, dignity, and hope for his future. The success of students like Henry demonstrates the tremendous value of this school. It serves students whose needs may not be fully met in traditional school settings and gives them an opportunity to achieve goals that might otherwise seem out of reach. Our family will always be grateful for the impact this program has had on Henry's life. I strongly encourage continued
support for this school and the important work it does for students and families in our community. Sincerely, Jenny Spinato, parent of Henry. Thank you very much for your comments. Thank you. As I did with the previous witness, if there's any dialogue that any board member wishes to have, I'll open it up to that. And I don't see any, so you are also off the hook, and we appreciate you being here. Thank you so much. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Now, Mr. Sprouse, are there any voicemails with respect to this particular hearing? Thank you, President Thibeau. We did receive six recorded messages, so I'd like to play those in consecutive order if that's okay with the board.
Yes. That's fine, yes. Okay. Grace, go ahead and start those now. Hello, my name is Kaylee Allen, and my email is kayleeallen17@gmail.com. My son, Cale, is currently a student at PCA, and I'm speaking in strong support of PCA receiving accreditation. As parents, my husband and I have spent a great deal of time researching educational options, including virtually every online school available in our area. We are very familiar with the alternatives, and I can say with complete confidence that if PCA were not
available to our family, we would not choose another online school. In fact, we would leave District 60 altogether and enroll in District 70. PCA has provided an educational experience that has exceeded our expectations. My son is a dedicated student-athlete who balances the demands of competitive athletics with his academic responsibilities, and thanks to the support, communication, and commitment of the PCA staff, he recently completed the school year with straight A's. What sets PCA apart is not simply the curriculum, it is the people.
The teachers and the staff genuinely care about student success. They are responsive, encouraging, and invested in helping students reach their full potential. They understand that every student learns differently, and they work hard to provide individualized support that allows students to thrive. As parents, there is nothing more important to me than knowing my child is receiving a quality education from educators who truly care. PCA has created an environment where my son feels supported, challenged, and motivated to succeed. The results speak for themselves. Thank you for listening. Goodbye.
Hello, my name is Hannah Vanderhyde, and I am a PCA high school student. I wanted to take a moment to thank PCA for all the opportunities it has given me. Through this program, I have been able to take college classes at PCC while still in high school, which has helped me get ahead in my education and work toward my goal of becoming a nurse. PCA has allowed me to challenge myself academically while also preparing for my future career. The support from the teachers, staff, and administrators has made
a big difference in my success and has helped me feel confident about continuing my education after high school. Being able to earn college credits while still in high school has saved me time and money and has given me valuable experiences in college environments. I am very grateful for the opportunity PCA has provided and for everyone who worked hard to make this program available for students like me. Thank you for your support, dedication, and commitment to helping students
achieve their goal. My name is Hannah Vanderhyde, and my email address is hannahvanderhyde2@gmail.com. Bye. Thank you. Hi, my name is Heidi Vanderhyde. I am the mother of Hannah Vanderhyde, who goes to Fusion. My email address is heidilove38@gmail.com. I just wanted to take a minute to say that I appreciate Fusion. It supports the concurrent remote enrollment and real-life responsibilities. Not every student gets to
learn in a traditional school setting, and this has helped Hannah to balance her college classes, work, family commitments, and preparing her for life after high school. Fusion gives her a lot of flexibility to be able to work full time plus go to college full time, and we're very excited to be a part of this program, and she has been able to really succeed and will be graduating soon. Hi, my name is Mark Villegas. My email is mark.villegas@comcast.net,
and I am leaving a message on behalf of the proposed charter school application for Pueblo Classical AcademyI'm an employee with them, and I just wanted to say a few words on their behalf. What we do is really about relationships. We believe that education isn't a one-size-fits-all, and that's why our PCA nine through 12 program is so successful. Many of our students would not thrive in a traditional high school environment, but they excel here because we're able to create an educational experience that is tailored for in each individual student.
For students who have been with us since middle school, we're already building their high school pathways during their eighth grade year. We get to know their strengths, challenges, goals, and interests, and then discuss a plan that fits them. That's one of the biggest reasons students and families stay with us. They don't want to leave a program where they feel known, supported, and successful. The constant communication, mentorship, and relationships we build with students and families make all the difference. We aren't just working with students for a semester. In many cases, we graduate students we've known for years. We celebrate their successes, support them through challenges, and
become trusted partners in their educational journey. At the end of the day, the only reason we're here is because of our students and families. They are the center of every decision we make, and that's how we approach our Fusion program through PCA. The commitment to personalization, connection, and student success is why the program continues to thrive. Thank you for your time. Cheryl Martinez, Cmartinez2@psas.ws. PSAS and PCA has allowed us to help our community tremendously by reaching students who struggle with traditional education of in-person learning.
With my 10 years of online experience, I've been lucky enough to see the start of my students' online journey until the time that they graduate. PCA and PSAS has given me the chance to connect within the community with families and students, as well as other resources for them. Being a mentor and an educational guide for students nine through 12 is the most vital. This is when students face other challenges in life, and online has been everything they've ever needed: resources, workforce, concurrent enrollment, in-person mentors and teachers available to them, one-on-one tutor times, flexible schedules
for students who have additional responsibilities, students who struggle with social anxiety and need space for themselves, whether it be at home or a private area at the site. Students alone that just struggle to make friends can come into the site at any time, have an ear to talk to, and have a conversation with their mentor or their teacher to encourage them. As a mentor, we build relationships with our students through their online education and pathway to success. PCA and PSAS is a second home to all of our students and families.
Hello, my name is Brittany Garrett. I am the mother of Landon Garrett, who is actually going through the online Fusion program. I just wanted to leave a comment to let you guys know how amazing this program is. It is working so great for us. The flexibility of the program really gives my son the opportunity to work, to do different things that he has going on, and it allows me the freedom, I guess, to know that he's getting his work done, and it's going so well. I get updates regularly,
pretty much every day of the week, on Monday through Thursday. Matthew has been amazing with keeping me updated on the progress of my son, and my son absolutely loves it. This program has worked so well for us. It has given us so many opportunities to do more, just as a family as well. So I really, really hope that this helps to continue keeping this program because it has done wonders for us. Also, I just wanted to let you know that, again, Matthew has been great with keeping me updated, getting my son the
information that he needs to get all his work done, and making sure that everything is done correctly. This program has been great, and we love it, so definitely something that we want to keep around. My name again is Brittany Garrett. My son is Landon Garrett, and my email address is garrettbrittany86@gmail.com. That's G-A-R-R-E-T-T-B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y86@gmail.com. Thank you so much for your time, and again, we love this program.
I think that was all that was on voicemail. Is that correct, Mr. Sprouse? That is correct. And we do appreciate those comments, and we'll definitely take them into consideration. Is there anyone else in the audience who wishes to make comments or testify in favor of this charter school application? Anyone in the audience that wishes to oppose the charter school application? Seeing none, I will declare this public hearing closed, and we'll move on now on our agenda to our work session. And, again, I just appreciate everybody taking time to come and
voice their comments with respect to the public hearings. So the work session item that we'll start off with is our 2026, 2027 proposed budget update, and I believe I'll turn this over to our superintendent so that she can introduce her team who will bring us up to date. Good afternoon, President Thibeau, board directors. Thank you so much, and it's my honor and pleasure to introduce our chief financial officer, Ms. Niehans, who is going to take you through the most recent version of our proposed budget.
Ms. Niehans Good afternoon, President Thibeault, Superintendent Kimsey, and members of the board. Are we excited now? Yes. Okay, we have a choice to make first. Would you like to go through the online presentation and then stop me if you have any additional comments about the book? Or would you like to go through the book first? I think what I'd prefer is whatever's comfortable for you so that you can let us know what's really going on here. Well, all right. Whatever you think. We're going to go to the PowerPoint then. Excellent. Thank you. That's quick. Okay, as you know, this is the first draft of our FY
26-27 proposed budget for Pueblo School District Number 60. It excludes all the appropriations and other information that you have in the original or the usual board document. And it says that if you go to the next page, that we are going to review changes to student fees. However, we have tabled this issue at the moment, and we will bring it back on June 23rd. Okay? Basically, our assumptions remain unchanged. We do have a salary increase, which is not public at this time,
built into the budget, as well as its effects on PERA and Medicare benefits, the health insurance. There's no additional contribution being made by the district at this time. Life insurance, there's no changes. Purchase services and supplies, we did try to hold the line, so there's no increases, for the most part, in the budget lines associated with purchase services. And supplies, mainly educational resources, have decreased in this budget, but it's not actually
affecting the classroom. Because as you remember, we were on the five-year plan when we purchased a new curriculum that started, oh, I guess 2021. And we're hitting the tail end of that now. So the new curriculum upgrades and additions to that are, at this point in time, a little cheaper. And so we do not have the budget that was necessary historically. So I just want to point that out because you'll see it in a couple of different places. Okay?
Consumer price index was set at 2.3 by the state of Colorado, and that's what's in this document. Okay? Fund 10, general operations. We began with $34 million in beginning reserves. Estimated revenues, you can see, is at $179 million. Pardon me. We have allocations to charter schools at $6.8 million and transfers to other funds, including athletics, of $14.5 million. That leaves us with reserves and estimated revenues and transfers and other allocations at $191 million.
Estimated expenditures, $165 million, leaving us an estimated ending reserve of $26 million. Yes, we are spending down. Basically, the spend down is related to the transfer to capital assets. Okay? So if we assume that we begin with $26 million for FY 26-27, we have estimated revenues at $177 million, allocations to charters at $6.1 million. Transfers and other allocations is $7.2 million. Yes, that is down. Okay? We made the choice to not transfer the entire
allocation to capital projects fund to wait until we see how everything shakes out for the amended budget. Excuse me. Sure. Would you kindly explain for everyone the budget item in here that includes allocations to charter schools? Can you tell us how that is derived? The allocation to charter school is based upon their October 1 count, just like our district is based on the October 1 count, and the PPR is shared based on that. Is that right? Would you explain PPR is shared? Per pupil revenue, that's from the state of Colorado.
In this document, it's, I think, $12,766 per child for FY 26-27. So you multiply that number by the number of students that they have enrolled on October 1st, and that becomes the transfer of the PPR to the charter school. Does the district retain any of that at all? No. It's a direct transfer. The district does, however, charge an administrative fee not to exceed 5%, and that's the only revenue that we receive, and it's
based on expenditures. Does that 5% come out of that allocation? No, it does not. It comes out of our bottom line. Okay? Any other- Any questions? Any other questions? On the estimated revenues, I'm assuming that the state share and the local share is in that figure somehow or another. Is that correct? Yes, it did. It still continues to include property taxesSo when we assess the mill levy last year in December, it's based on the assumed property tax assessment for Pueblo City. I can't speak.
And we also have the SOT taxes, which is the specific ownership tax. There was a lot of conversation about taking that away from us. It is still in this calculation. And then the remainder is what they consider the per-pupil state contribution. And so all of that together is our total program revenue, which you can't see in these documents, of course. We'd have to go to the details in the budget document. Okay, thank you. Any other questions? If not, we'll go on. Okay. Well, now that we don't know where we are, right?
I'm going to go back, and total estimated reserves, revenues, and transfers, and allocations of 190 million. That's how much we would have to spend. I'm estimating that we're going to spend 172 million. Leaves us an estimated ending reserves of 17.9 million. So we are spending it down. Yes, sir. I have just a quick question on that. Looking in the book, it looks like the board has a policy of a 9% reserve level that takes us to 10.9 reserve. Is that correct? 10.9%.
Yes. Yes, it does. You are correct. So still within, even though that's a lower number than I'm used to seeing, still within policy. It is within policy, and it is a balanced budget. We don't like to see a negative number in the unassigned, and hopefully, we can correct that as we work through the year, as we go forward. Thank you. Uh-huh. Any other questions on that? Nope. Go ahead. Nope. Okay. The next fund is the athletics fund. And you can see that we are once again beginning with 484,000. Estimated revenues at 672,000.
They're going to receive transfers in from Fund 10 of 2.6, so that leaves the amount that they can spend from a total reserves of estimated revenues and transfers of 3.7 million. Estimated expenditures of 3.4, leaving us ending reserves of 346,000. Okay? Assuming that we end up with 346,000, we move to the new year. Estimated revenues at 868,000. Once again, we have transfers in from Fund 10, which leaves us reserves estimated revenues and transfers of
We're estimating the expenditures at 3.6 million, leaving us ending reserves of 212,000. Questions? No questions. All right. We'll rock on, huh? Fund 18, this is where we pay all of our insurance from. As we have stated before, we start out with 2.0 million. We have estimated revenues of a whopping $53, and we have transfers from other funds, from Fund 10 of 2.1 million, and we have estimated expenditures of 2.2 million, leaving us about 1.9 million at the ending reserves.
Okay? And that's what we want, kind of an in-out and kind of hold that line. In case you needed to pay the insurance from your reserves, you have the ability to do that. Okie dokie. And we move on. As we begin with 1.9 million, I'm hopeful we have estimated revenues of 250,000, and usually, that is related to insurance claims that will be paid out of this fund at some point in time. So the revenue comes in from the insurance pool, and then we buy whatever
vehicles or whatever got damaged out of this fund. Transfers in from Fund 10 at 2.1, and then our estimated expenditures at 3.3 million, leaving us with 1,025,605, give or take. Okay? I don't think there's any questions on that. Nope. Moving on to Fund 21, Child Nutrition. We start out with 10.9 million. Estimated revenues of 8.8, and we have estimated expenditures of 10.2 million, leaving us with still a hefty fund balance of 9.6. For FY 26-27, we start with 9.6.
Estimated revenues of 9.5, expenditures of 12.8, leaving us with estimated ending reserves of 6.3 million. Dana is promising to spend her money. Wherever Dana's at. Any questions on that? Nope. No questions Okay. Fund 22 grants. I'd like to have Ms. Donna Crawford come and join us for this part of the discussion. We will start with the 25, 26 estimated revenues, which remember, we always start with zero, and we end with zero. So revenues equals expenditures.
And so now Donna is going to discuss the Title I allocations for FY 26/27. Thank you, President Tebo, Superintendent Kimsey, and members of the board. Thank you for letting me interrupt Lana and just to share a brief overview of the projected allocations and planned expenditures for our federal ESEA grants. The first one is Title I. This grant is designed to ensure that all children have a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, while closing achievement gaps by addressing the impacts of poverty.
For the 26, 27 school year, the allocation is projected to be 6.9 million, which is a 4.1 increase from the current year. Projected expenditures include 82.8% going directly to our 21 Title I schools, 3.4% for middle school mental health supports, 2.8% for McKinney-Vento services for students experiencing homelessness, 1% for parent and family engagement, 0.5% for equitable services to non-public schools, and
9.4% for administrative costs. Can you tell... Excuse me. If you don't mind. Excuse me. The non-public schools fund, can you tell us a little bit about that, please? Sure. So as part of the federal requirements for our ESA funds, we have to provide equitable services to non-public schools within our boundaries. So we do work with all of our non-public schools, and for next year, we will have four schools that will be participating. We do not give them direct money.
What we do is we provide services to their students that would attend a Title I school if they were attending their school of residency. So we're providing extra services, such as tutoring services or outside the normal school day, in order to give those students also an equitable chance of student achievement. Can you tell us which those four schools are? Sure. It's St. Therese, John Newman, McClellan... Sorry. I know I'm off the top of my head. So it's St. John Newman, McClellan, Park Hill Christian
Academy, and St. Therese are our four schools that will be participating. Any other questions on Title I? I have none. Oh, you're good? I was thinking that Title I funds would be decreasing this year. I don't know why I thought that. Well, because we all thought that. Mm-hmm. That has been the public consensus. What we have been hearing is that all these funding would be decreasing. So I was definitely pleasantly surprised when we saw that we were getting a 4.1% increase. Very good. Thank you. So moving along to Title II. So Title II, Part
A is the grant that focuses on increasing student achievement by improving the quality and effectiveness of educators. So for next year, our allocation is 967,000, which is a 16% increase from this year. Projected expenditures in this one, we're spending 28.9% for professional development supports, 23.7% for recruitment and retention, 35.8% for instructional coaching support directly to schools, 4.2% allocations to our charter schools, 2.4% for the equitable services for non-public schools, and
5.3% for indirect administrative costs. Any questions on Title II? All right, Title III. This is the grant that provides supplemental services for our English language learners to develop English proficiency and meet academic standards. It's a small allocation of 60,000, and this was a 0.73 decrease from this year. So pretty much stable. Planned expenditures include 59.9% for summer reading, 24.1% for instructional supports, 8.6% for family engagement, and the remaining for professional
development, equitable services in the non-public schools, and administrative costs. Any- And the last one- I'm sorry. Sorry. Go ahead. No, I want you to finish on Title III- Yep ... but I had a question. I didn't know you still had more- Okay, sorry. Go ahead. Go ahead. We're done with Title III. Oh, okay. Sorry. I'm interested in the summer reading program. I actually had one of my children participate in that many years ago, and it was sort of a launching point for that young man. He just came right out of whatever funk he was in with respect to reading. What does that look like now, the summer reading program? So the summer reading program is specific for our English language
learners, and basically what it is, is the teachers partner with the individual students, andBasically, it's almost like the old correspondence course because a lot of these students are not sticking around for the summer. There are some of them going back to home countries like Mexico. So basically, students are given books. They correspond with their teacher about the books that they're reading, and then upon completion of that book, they are sent another book. There is also worksheets and information that are given to the parents to help support that
student. So it's really to look at continuing that English development over the course of the summer and keeping those students involved and connected to their teachers and to the school. It has been very beneficial and helpful. Any other questions? We can move on then. All right. So Title IV. This grant supports student achievement through well-rounded education, safe learning environments, and effective use of technology. The allocation is 485,000, which is a 5% decrease from this year. Projected expenditures
include 62% for safe and healthy students, 27% for well-rounded education, and then smaller allocations for technology, charter schools, equitable services to non-public schools, and administration. And that is Title IV in a nutshell. Any questions on that one? Is that 485,000 an increase or- It's a decrease. Oh, a decrease. It's a small decrease. We went down 5%. But considering we originally heard it was going to be nothing. Correct. Yeah. Thank you. Sure. Any other questions? Dr. Kimsey. So I would like to share. We were told, even last summer,
I don't know if the board remembers, at one point, our title funding was held. We were told we may never get it. It was a little bit of a stressful July. We did eventually get our allocations, but we were told moving into this year it would be gone, especially they were talking about Title II, Title IV being completely gone. We are thankful that the feds decided to move in a different direction, and we do have our funding. But we know at any point that that
could change, so we're very careful. When it comes to Title III, I just want to shout out our CLDE teachers and our specialists, because our students historically have outperformed other students in the state, our English learners, so what we're doing really does work. So all of these funds directly support kids and schools. Thank you, Dr. Kimsey. Anything else? No, that's it. Thank you so much. I'll turn it back over to Lana. No, that was a great report. Thank you for-- I liked how that was set up.
Yeah. There is one question, though- Okay ... from Director Mays. Not a question, but an observation. First, I want to thank you very much for all the work you do, and I think what's really important to note as I was going through all of these graphs that you were presenting to us is, I firmly believe that public school education is the heart and soul of a free and democratic society. And without it, we'd be in a world of hurt. And what this indicates to me is how much the public school system plays in providing services to other non-public schools. That they would, I'm assuming, without that, would not be able to, unless a special
fund was set up someplace or another, would not be able to offer those services to those particular students. So we're not only meeting the needs of the students that we are charged with the responsibility of caring for, but we are also meeting the needs of students that go to other schools other than the public schools here in Pueblo. And I think that's really important for this community to understand what a great community partner D60 is with all the educational institutions here in Pueblo, and I thank you very much for the work you do in that area. Thank you for those kind words.
Any other comments? It's unusual to hear kind words from Director Mays, so I think we should all bask in that. Thank you very much, Director Mays. Well, thank you for that compliment. Yeah. So do we move on now back to Ms. Hanna? Sure. Okay. Back over here. All right. Thanks, Donna. Sure. We have jumped over Fund 22 because we know that beginning balances plus revenues less expenditures equals zero. So now we're going to go to Fund 23, which is student activities. Once again, our beginning fund balance is 2.6 million. We're looking at about 2.2 million in revenues generated
and expenditures of 1.8, leaving us with three-point something, something ending reserves in Fund 23. Yes, ma'am? If I might add, because we know that our local governments are also struggling at this time, and so we actually got a request a few months ago around Sun City Marching Band. It was being cut by the city completely. D60, thankfully, is able, through the hard work of Ms. Niehans and other folks, we're going to be able to support that program moving forward. So please know that every
penny Of student activities funds are for students, and we are very, very committed to making sure we take care of our kids, even in the summer. Summer musical, all those things. So just wanted to point that out. Thank you, Dr. Kimsey. Any questions on our current state of Fund 23? Okay. Whoops. Next year, it's a very similar pattern. We start out at 3 point million. Revenue's generated with 2.5. We can spend up to 5 million, that doesn't mean that they do, which leaves us an estimated ending reserves of
552,000. This allows the students to spend their money as they desire. They typically don't spend it all, but they could if they wanted to. Okay? Questions on that? Nope. No questions. Wait, hold on a second. Uh-oh. Director Ferrell has a question. Sorry. I'm looking at that number, knowing that we are spending 5 million potentially. Potentially. Potentially. Right. And only having revenues of 2.5. Does this put us in any kind of precarious position for this fund in the
following year? No, it does not. Okay. You have to think about it as if our beginning reserves is like your bank account. Yeah. So they started out with $3 million in the bank. They can add to it and spend it down. I've never seen them spend it all the way down. Okay. And the level that we have in ending reserves is actually district-held money. So the whole purpose is to give them enough budget to spend if they so choose, but they generally don't. They being the students and student activity. That's helpful. Thank you. Okay.
Education Foundation, Fund 27, started out with 232,000. We have estimated reserves of about 126,000, and looking to spend about 89,000. Leaving us 268,000 at the end of this year. And we roll that 268,000 into next year, estimating revenues of 97,000 and spending, if they wanted to, 352,000. That doesn't mean they will, and actually we will stop them, but it gives them the
ability to do that, should they so choose. Okay? All right. Fund 31, which is our debt service, started out with a $19 million beginning fund balance. We have property tax collections and specific ownership tax and interest of 16.2 million, estimated expenditures of 17.9, leaving us with an ending fund balance of 18.2 million. Same deal, we're going to flip that over to next year, looking at about the same amount of revenues and a similar expenditure number because that's our debt service and
it doesn't change a whole lot. So we end up with about $18.7 million in revenue-- I mean, ending reserves, pardon me. Fund 41, the bond fund, we began this year with 15 million, and we have estimated revenues of 469,000, and we're looking to spend about 8.3 million, give or take. Depends how a lot of things shake out. We've got our friend Ron Collie sitting there in this fund. So we're thinking about 7.5 million in ending reserves. Move that over to next year.
Estimated revenues are going to really drop, because our cash fund is starting to dwindle, and we're looking to spend almost another $5 million, leaving us about 2.3 in the bank for the next year. But we'll see if we can't figure out a way to spend it, because we need to spend this down. Okay? Capital projects, 31 million to begin with. Estimated revenues of 2.6. We did transfer in 9.8 million from Fund 10. And we have estimated expenditures of 7.7 million, leaving us an ending balance of 36 million.
So the reason it looks this way is we have some big projects that are right here at the end of June that probably will not close out. So they will have to roll into next year. So we start out with 36 million the beginning of FY 26/27. We have some estimated revenues, and we're only going to transfer in $2.4 million from Fund 10 in the beginning. We'll see how amended budget looks. And we have estimated expenditures of 21.7 million. So you can see there's a big spend down next year, leaving us estimated reserves of 19.4 million.
Okay? Any questions on that? No questions. No questions. Last but not least is Fund 64. Beginning reserves of 2.4, estimated revenues of 1.2. We're about to spend about two million, leaves us about 1.6 in the risk management. This is workers' comp, and we're self-funded for dental. So that's what comes out of this fund. Next year, if we begin with 1.6, estimated revenues of 1.3 and an estimated spend of 2.4, leaves
us about 516,000. That's a little skinny in my mind. So at amended budget, we need to probably have a conversation. Okay. It's entirely too much for you, isn't it, Judge Mays? What'd you say? Nothing. Any questions? Questions. So how can we, in the next two weeks, when we're presented with our budget to adopt for the next fiscal year, how much of a change from this draft proposed budget do you anticipate, and in what areas? It would seem to me that they're fairly insignificant if
there's any. Well, unfortunately, we received the ECEA, your SPED allocation, and we were supposed to receive a 3% increase. We did not get that. It was about a $36,000 change from last year to FY 26/27. So that unfortunately cost our Fund 10 $200,000. So it's things like that as these allocations come in, those are changes that we don't have much control over. In regards to expenditures, we're really not going to keep
running through all that. We're going to leave it as it is and see how things play out. So we'll be presented with a balanced budget. We'll have it open for public hearing. Board members can make amendments or discuss it. And then next year, we do the midterm adjustments based on how things have actually come in. Is that- Right ... that's how it works? Right. Okay. I think it's important for the citizens to know that general outline of how things develop. And this isn't something that you've just put together like I did my senior essay the night before.
I know that you work hard on this, and it's a year-round proposition. It's every month has something. There's always something. Yeah. Yeah. So I appreciate that, and I appreciate all the hard work you and your staff do. I know the board does. Oh, thank you. And under your leadership of Superintendent Kimsey. So these aren't easy things, especially in our economic times and all that's going on from the federal state, and local situation. I think we need to be proud of how we are operating this district with all of your leadership, and I think we should be proud, as Director Mays was saying, that we're community-minded.
We're actually helping. I'm excited to hear about the band this summer. Wow, that's a big deal to me. Very big deal. I'm not asking that we get credit for it, but I think leaders in this community should recognize that. When I was watching City Council a month or two ago, they were closing down the tennis, the rides at City Park and all. There's ways to get things done if you really have that will and desire. So I thank you all for that. I think that's very important. Any other comments from directors? We don't have any, so-
All right ... I guess that's it, but stand by. You never know. That's it. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, so now we're going to move on to another item in our work session, and that is our District 60 Right Serving Plan update, which is something we do every month, and Superintendent Kimsey, you're on to introduce your leadership team. Thank you, President Thibeau and board directors. My pleasure and honor as always. And I just have to put another plug in. I know we go through this very quickly every board meeting. I know you have more detailed information that I've shared
with you. This has been, as you know, a huge lift, and though they are going to make it sound so easy and smooth- ... I know this has been a tough lift for everyone on cabinet, every school, whether they're directly impacted or not, every teacher, every kid. It's hard on kids, it's hard on students, it's hard on families, and we're very aware of that. So with that said, this is going to be a brief update,
but please know, as a district, we are committed to acknowledging and continuing to support our families, students, and staff for coming years. We know that this is a years-long process. But I do want to acknowledge the really, really hard work of this team and the teams that support them that you don't necessarily see represented today, but they're there helping us get all this done. So with that said, assistant superintendents, take it away
I think it's my turn to go first this time. So, we remain very busy with our right serving plan. The preschool team has been meeting, working on getting enrollments going for our preschoolers next year, trying to think really creatively about where and when and how we might meet the parents and families with preschool-aged students to get them signed up for that. Our schools that are involved in the right serving process, those that are receiving students, and those that will be transitioning to different roles next year, are finalizing a lot of the
packing and moving. They've been busy with that for several days now. A lot of the transition of those materials and equipment will continue to take place over the summer with the great support and help of our facilities department, which has been a great partner in working through a lot of this work. We're continuing the work over at Hyde Park, getting that facility up to speed, ready to go. I think at this point, if you recall, it's opening with just sixth graders next year, and we have a little over 50 sixth graders already enrolled to start
there in the fall. I anticipate that number will probably go up a little bit as we get closer to the school year and people start thinking about what they're going to do with their children come late August and September. There's a family night that's currently planned to take place on the 29th of July at 5:30 PM over there. So that's an opportunity for families to learn and see a little bit about the school. And then on the community schools resource hubs that we're developing, we're excited to announce that the Boys & Girls Club is going to be an anchor agency over at our Bessemer site. And so we're looking at getting
them set up with housing their administrative offices over there and exploring the possibility of even providing some of the programming for students over there. We'll start to develop an MOU with them, and then they have plans to hopefully start getting into that space late August or September. So... Any questions or thoughts from the board? Thank you so much. That was great. And as far as staff goes, as we've said the last couple of months, the logistical pieces, as Dr. Kimsey said, the things that we're required to do have kind of been completed. However, we are still staffing our buildings, all of them, including the
ones that will be merged and affected through right serving. And that will continue, of course, throughout the entire summer. We have many jobs that are posted now, and we're working through the filling of those positions and working with principals to make sure that they have the staff that they need. As Mr. Johnson stated, we had an opportunity for teachers from the merging schools to work a little extra to kind of do some of those movements. Today was kind of the last day of that. They got two additional days paid extra if they wanted to take part in having a little extra time to move their things. And we're going to keep working with schools throughout the summer to get ready for the coming year. And as Dr. Kimsey stated, we'll be doing this in the fall as well
to make sure, and for many months to come, to make sure the transition is as smooth as it can be. Thank you for that. Any comments or questions? Thank you for that report, both of you. Dr. Kimsey, if you have something to add, feel free. Otherwise, we'll move on to the next item, which is your board brief. Yeah. So again, thank you to our assistant superintendents, all of cabinet, and all of staff, families, students. It takes all of us working together, and I have been so impressed with the work so far.
And Pueblo D60 has great things ahead of it. So with that said, a few celebrations. You do have my board brief in front of you. I will not read it to you. But I do want to point out some celebrations. We've had an amazing year in athletics. We've had an amazing year with academics. And this time, I really tried to showcase what's happening in our high schools. We had 1,408 students just this spring take concurrent enrollment
courses. That means 1,408 taking a college-level course for college credit in high school. That is a 57% increase from the year previous to this- Mm-hmm ... from just last year. And so yes that is huge. And that sets our kids up for success, and they're back there, both of our executive directors. They lead the work as far as our elementary, middle, and high schools. So both Ms. Cuda and Ms. Zimes,
and especially with our high school work, that was a huge lift, a lot of moving pieces. But our kids were able to attend tuition-free, book cost-free, fee-free, and it makes a difference. So, we're very excited about that. We currently have a little less than 10% of our high school students across the five high schools enrolled in AP and IB courses. We're working on increasing those numbers. We're adding some AP options for
kids, especially around business and stuff. There's a new partnership Ms. Zimes is exploring with the college board. You can read more about that. We also are excited moving into next year with IB, with that career development program because that's going to be more accessible to more students who want to pursue that certificate. And it's again, highly rigorous, but it's focused on real-world skills that goes hand in hand with our focus in D60 for project-based learning.
So-hands-on experiences, real-life skills that students can then take to the workforce. So we're very excited about that. Of course, so far, and I wrote in here so far because we have a summer graduation still coming, so far we have had 1,083 students graduate from a D60 high school with a diploma ready for college and career. And 284 members of the class of 2026 earned honors through our academic excellence, and
we are so proud of their hard work and the staff who stands behind them who help make that happen from pre-K all the way through 12th grade, because we know it doesn't start in high school, starts in pre-K. So, just wanted to point those things out. Again, if the board has further questions. There was one other quick thing I wanted to mention. We do tomorrow have our very first ever Summer Leadership Institute for our principals, assistant
principals, and deans. It'll be held over at East High School both days, because our professional learning center at Beulah Heights is not quite ready yet. So, we are excited about that. Mr. Johnson and his team have worked hard to make this a robust opportunity for our staff that is meaningful to them, and also allows principals to... They're tired right now. I know they're exhausted right now. We can get them some information right now, then they can go off for their summer. It can percolate. They can come back on their
first contract day, and instead of on a first contract day us standing up there and doing death by PowerPoint, they're able to have a burrito and go to their schools and enjoy their day knowing already the direction we're going in D60. So we're excited about that opportunity, too. Great. And with that, I am done with that. No, that's great. Thank you for your reports. We've had those over the last several months, and they're very helpful to the board- ... I'm sure. So now we're going to keep moving on, and
go to 10.0, the policy portion of our agenda. And the first item on that policy is new board policy JIBB, student representative to the Board of Education. And so last meeting, we had our first reading, so it is set for second reading. And we all have a copy of that, but I just wanted to be sure, Superintendent Kimsey, that before we do any motions and action on this, if you wish to make any statements,
please feel free to do that. Thank you, President Thibeau. I would like to bring to the board's attention there are a few minor red line changes to the policy. Basically, we had just some language problems where it said alternate or alternative. We changed that all to alternate. Also making sure that it's clear that that student advisory cabinet recommends to me, and then I present that to the board for approval. We just want to make sure that was very clear. Other than that, they're just minor changes to make
sure it was clear also around open meetings that the representative and alternate will only be in open meetings. They will never be in an executive session or any type of closed meeting. They will not have access to any confidential information at any time. So I think that captures it. Very good. So what I'll do now is- I have a question. Go ahead, Director Mays. Where are you going to sit this individual? That is a great question. Actually, and we were thinking, because we're a little squished up here,
we were thinking they could sit here, where we have our two assistant superintendents and our chief finance officer. We would have them next to them, if the board is agreeable to that. We may have to fight. I was going to offer my chair for them to sit here. You're late. Okay. Very good question. Thank you. So how the chair's going to proceed here is that I'm going to put the policy JIBB on the table, but I'm going to ask if any of the members of the board object to any of the red line or blue
line changes in that policy as explained by Superintendent Kimsey. Seeing and hearing no objection, I'm going to declare that that is unanimously approved and adopted. So now I'll put the whole policy on the table for action. Is there a motion to approve new board policy JIBB as it has been amended by red or blue line changes? Mr. President, I'd move that the Board of Education adopts the new board policy, JIBB, student representative to the Board of Education, on second and final reading as presented in
this afternoon's board materials. Okay. That motion is a proper motion. Is there any discussion or comments relative to that motion? Hearing none, is there a second? Second. Second. Is there any discussion after the second?All right. Hearing no discussion or seeing no discussion, we'll have the secretary call the roll. Director Ferrell. Aye. Director Ibarra. Aye. Director Mays. Aye. Director Panunzio. Aye. Director Tepe. Aye. So that motion passes unanimously, five ayes and no noes,
and is declared adopted. So now we'll move on to the next item on the agenda. That is board policy JICI, Possession and Use of Electronic Communication Devices report. I think, is Mr. Burns here, Superintendent Kimsey, or are you going to handle that? So Mr. Burns is delayed with a legal matter. Ms. Iams is here with us. I know that I don't want to put her completely on the spot, though. So we'll go through this presentation. She's here to answer questions.
She has helped co-chair the task force. If it's okay, Ms. Iams, I'll take us through the slides, and then as they have questions that maybe I'm not able to do, I can share. Sorry. Do you mind helping me? We do have some survey data that was not included in the presentation that we want to share with the board. Oh, thank you. And so Ms. Patron is passing that out at the time. But if you want to click through, and then we'll just quickly go through this. We know that no matter what we
do as a recommendation for a policy revision, it's never going to make everyone in the district happy. We know that from the outset. Our task force has worked hard to look at research, to look at best practice, to look at other districts, what's worked, what hasn't worked, to listen to the voices of everyone in our district, from students to families, to staff members, and even to some of our community members and our experts in the mental health and health-related fields.
We know how important this is to our community. And so this has been a year-long process. So, Ms. Iams, I don't want to take your thunder, so do you want to present or what's your preference? I'm fine either way. Whichever you prefer. I can go ahead and present, and then you can- Okay. Go ahead if you're ready. I just didn't want you stressed out- Sure ... because this was a literally as we were coming into the meeting, so I didn't want to stress her out. So if you're okay, go right ahead. All right. So, I'll just start by saying good afternoon,
Board President Tepe, Superintendent Dr. Kimsey, and members of the Board of Education. Today, we are bringing forward for the first reading a proposed revision to school board policy JICJ, and its accompanying regulation and exhibit, which governs student possession and use of electronic communication devices in Pueblo School District 60. The core purpose behind updating this policy centers on a few key priorities, including aligning closely with Colorado statutory requirements, establishing clear and
consistent expectations district-wide, protecting critical instruction time, and supporting an implementation process that is both equitable and developmentally appropriate for our students. Several... Oops, let me go back to this one. Several drivers informed this work. We are responding to increasing classroom instructional disruptions alongside growing concerns regarding student mental health and attention spans. There's a clear need to provide consistency across
schools, particularly as we navigate rapidly evolving technology like smartwatches, earbuds, and gaming devices that goes beyond the traditional cell phone usage. These revisions directly address those challenges while reflecting stakeholder feedback and our policy and legislative expectations as well. To support this effort, the district convened a dedicated broad-based committee representation of multiple stakeholder groups across District 60 and the Pueblo community. Their names are displayed here on the screen, and we would like
to publicly acknowledge all of those, and thank the committee for their time and their effort and their collaboration throughout the work throughout this entire process. And we'd like to specifically note that our student representatives provided highly insightful, candid feedback, and it was incredibly valuable to hear directly from them, especially to the rest of the committee. You go to GEMBA. If you had a question, you go straight to the student, and they were able to respond very insightfully about our questions and
information and how policy might impact them and their peers. The committee's work, we met through five formal meetings, began on October 15th of 2025 and concluded on May 6th of this year. Throughout this structured process, the committee examined policies from other districts, reviewed current research, and worked diligently to develop recommendations that could be implemented consistently while remaining developmentally appropriate for students.
In addition to the committee process, the district engaged stakeholders through multiple avenues to ensure broad community input. We conducted two different community-wide surveysThe October survey, as you see, had 1,790 responses, and in the spring, in April, it brought 3,348 responses. Feedback was also gathered through the superintendent's student advisory cabinet, the superintendent's cabinet review, community emails, and ongoing conversations with
staff, and students, and families throughout the year as the process was developed. As a result of that comprehensive feedback, the proposed revisions introduce several key changes. First, the policy updates and modernizes our technical definition of electronic communication devices to reflect current technology. Second, it clarifies expectations during both instructional and non-instructional time, differentiating rules for elementary
versus secondary students, and specifically permitting secondary students device access during designated non-instruction periods. And finally, the policy expands privacy and recording protections for students and staff, and establishes a clear framework for progressive discipline procedures outlined in regulations JICJR. To support our school, the district administration will provide staff training and implementation guidance, robust family communication and
outreach, and updates to our student handbooks. Individual buildings will establish local implementation procedures, and furthermore, we will actively monitor feedback during the rollout while intentionally promoting device-free times, and direct student engagement opportunities during the school day. I think this is a huge piece of this over the next year, is that we continue to gather feedback and continue to monitor how this policy is implemented and how it affects our student body as we move
forward. Following this afternoon's discussion and guidance from the board, the staff will make any necessary adjustments and bring policy JICJ and JICJR back to the board for a second reading. And at this time, I will turn the presentation back over to Dr. Kimsey. So you do have, like I said, you have some survey data that wasn't placed in the PowerPoint, but you do have some information there around... And it's even disaggregated by survey completely overall, as opposed to
parents who responded, this is the way they felt, students who responded, community members who responded. So you do have that information. Overwhelmingly, our community felt like-- So general impressions. And as you know, surveys, we really like an 85% response rate. That would be way more than 3,000 responses. But as it goes, 3,000 responses is a pretty robust response rate for District 60. So this survey generated a lot of interest.
Overwhelmingly, our community felt like it should be tailored and school appropriate, so different for elementary versus middle and high school. A lot of our community felt like students should have their device on them, even if it's not on or used, for varying reasons, and you can see that in the survey. We also, in the policy, in listening to teachers, because we have some teachers, I'll give an example. Walking through East High School in math classrooms,
I noticed that a lot of the math teachers at East High School have the little pockets or have a little thing on a cart where as students come in, they place their cell phone, and then that cell phone stays there until they're done with their instruction, and then the teacher allows them to get their cell phone back. So the way we worded the policy was that, first of all, during instruction, cell phones are off and away, period.
If a teacher chooses, they may follow a process like I just described. But we heard from both sides with staff, some staff love that, and that's been their process, and they want to keep that process. Some whole buildings adopted that after conversations with their staff and their principal. However, some don't, and they don't want that responsibility. And so we decided that we needed to have in policy where we support a teacher if they choose to do that, but we don't
require a teacher to do that if they don't want that additional responsibility, and they just want to address the student if and when that comes up during instruction. As I said, nothing we could do was going to make everyone in our community happy, but based on our survey results, we believe this policy really addresses those key pieces. The most important thing to know is during instruction, cell phones are off and away, period. And so
I'll just leave you with that. That's really where we went with the policy Okay. Thank you, Ms. Iams and Superintendent Kimsey for that introduction. Because our agenda has a policy JICJ separate from the other policies, JICJR and JICJE, we'll take up discussion on JICJ, possession and use of the electronic communication device, and we have a red line version that makes the various changes. And I'll just open it up to the board,
if the board has any questions of the superintendent or Ms. Iams, or comments that anyone wishes to make relative to JICJ. Director Ferrell. Thank you, President Thibeau. Thank you, Ms. Iams, for stepping in and presenting to us today. Thank you, Dr. Kimsey, for the information as well. Thank you to everyone who was involved in the task force and all of the responses to the survey. I put together most of my thoughts before seeing the survey data. It is interesting to see this laid out in this method.
As I mentioned a few board meetings ago, I've been kind of involved in discussions about mental health amongst kids and social media devices, and I know we've had some discussions about more analog experiences as well. We've heard that recently at the ribbon cutting for Central, which I think those are all very important to me. I appreciate the policy as presented, and its responsiveness
to the survey data, the discussions amongst the task force. I was hoping to see a bell-to-bell policy. I realize that this is instructional time, so I'm guessing that means devices are allowable in passing periods, lunch, before and after school. Yes. Devices are allowed at those times. I understand the push behind the quote, "bell to bell," which when they say bell to bell, they actually mean... Because having been secondary, bell to bell to me just means the-
Instructional ... instructional block. But what they're talking about in bell to bell is initial arrival at school to leaving school for the day. Right. Here is my thing with that, and I'm going to give you a little anecdote as a mom of two daughters who are now adults. As a single parent, once my youngest was in sixth grade, I was promoted that year to be a high school assistant principal. I gave that sixth-grade student, Cassie, my daughter, a cell phone. I told her, "If your phone comes out during the day and gets
taken up," because that school had a bell-to-bell policy, "your problems at school are the least of your worries if I find out you've had that phone out." My point being, if you noticed on the slides, I think we had one where it talked about the shared responsibility. A parent has responsibility over whether their child has a cellphone, whether their child takes a cellphone to school. And so, while yes, we need a consistent policy across our schools, we also need our parents to own
part of that responsibility, our students to own their responsibility to keep that phone put away, our teachers to own part of the responsibility to ensure consistent enforcement of the policy. If I'm teaching and I see the kid under the desk going like this, "I need your phone." Right? And so it's all of us, and no matter what policy we choose, having been a school administrator with the various versions of policies through my career, the key is in enforcement, in consistency,
and that communication piece. So I do want to share with parents, parents have the ultimate right to keep the phone home and to enforce with their child, "I expect you not to have this out in the school day, and if I find out you have, we've got a problem." I used to take my girl's phone at night, and it stayed by my bed so they couldn't scroll. So yes, I was that parent. But I just want to share, I understand the mental health concerns, and that's why we're going to work really hard on those analog experiences with a clear social emotional support and policy,
not policy, support and learning, moving into the new school year. We can't put the cellphone or the technology genie back in the bottle, though. And as a parent, my child had a cellphone because I needed to be able to reach her after school. I needed to know she got off that bus okay. I needed to know that if she needed me after school because nobody came to pick her up after band, that I could get in my car and go get her. And those, when you read the responses in the survey, those are the concerns our
parents have Thank you, Dr. Kimsey, for that. And I agree with much close to everything that you shared there. And thank you for the clarification on the bell to bell as well, because I had that thought too, that in high school, bell to bell means something different than in a different environment. And thank you for addressing the mental health piece, too, because that one is important to me. I'm excited for an increase in analog experiences of pro-social activities that help students not only engage in a healthy way with each other, but with trusted
adults in our schools as well. My biggest remaining concern is that this is still going to require a lot of effort from teachers, especially if a student is permitted to turn their phone back on in a passing period, which is a short amount of time, go back into the classroom. There's still going to be that time that is eaten in that enforcement piece. And I know there are things built into this policy. There's training, there's those type of things that are going to be with it to
help address that. That's my biggest concern, is it's still going to eat into instructional time as it does now. My second concern along with that is that there will still be some inconsistent enforcement from classroom to classroom, even with the supports and with the training, that some teachers may hold too often away and be watching for it as students are coming in the door, and others may not. So those are my main thoughts. I'm happy to hear from other board members as well, but...
Thank you, Director Farrell. Anyone else wish to-- Director Mays. I think I share a lot of what Mr. Farrell's mentioned, in terms of bell to bell. I think there are still going to be some circumstances where it's going to result in some problems. It's going to take away from instructional time. That having been said, I also am cognizant that we are free to modify a policy at any time. So in all likelihood, I'm going to
vote in favor of this. There was a lot of work put into it. I'm going to have some questions, quite frankly, when we get to the actual some of the other policies, because I think it dictates against consistency, quite frankly, with some of the language in it, and I will address that later. But I guess, having listened to Dr. Kimsey, this gives the entire School District 60 community, meaning us, children, the parents, and the caretakers, an opportunity to work together. So I think those that have been
listening to those comments, Dr. Kimsey, would take your words to heart and realize that that phone policy starts when those children leave the home in the morning until they get home in the evening. And in that regard, we as a community have to make a commitment to this particular policy in the spirit it's intended. And unfortunately, what I'm going to be suggesting is just one of the things we're talking about is, and that is that the people in the schools take notice
of all of the infractions. And at some point in time, and I would not be one, by the way, I'm willing to give something a fair shot, but I am not one that would, if I was told that within a very short period of time, two, three months, that this thing is not working, that I would be willing to say, "Okay, let's go back to the drawing board." I understand what everybody's concerns are and everything, but if we're not going to have the support of the community, then we have a responsibility as a school board to
make sure that our children are getting the best education they can without any kind of interference from outside sources. So I share in those concerns, but at least at the present time, I guess I'm willing to say, let's give it a shot, and see where we're going to go with it, and I'll address some of my other concerns when we get to the specific policy. Thank you. Any other comments? Director Pannunzio. Thank you, President Thibeau. I appreciate the comments that you just made, Judge Mays. I do appreciate that. I do agree with a lot of that.
And, Director Farrell, I absolutely agree with the concerns that you brought up. I came into this really wanting to see a bell to bell schedule. I know the work that's gone into this from the committee. I know the work that's been done with the surveys, all of that. But I still feel like, and I think it's very difficult once you put it out there one way, it's difficult to pull back and to tighten it up. I would rather see us come in with a much stronger approach right off the bat. There are studies done that even, research leaves no doubt about the need for this policy because the mere presence
of a phoneEven turned off and face down, reduces working memory and cognitive capacity, as shown in landmark studies from the University of Texas. I agree with all of that about the teachers. I know as a teacher, this would be a very difficult thing to have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. That the responsibility, the policing of this is on us, and I think there's just so much inconsistency with that. I think it'd be very difficult if you go to one class and a teacher allows the phones, they have them put them here, or they actually... I just can see confusion and inconsistency with that. I personally would like to see a
bell-to-bell schedule. I think coming in stronger is going to be better for kids. In those passing periods when kids are sometimes pulling them out or at their lockers or at lunchtime, I feel like this is the time when we're trying to promote kids communicating and socializing together, that kids are missing this. They're getting on their phones. They're not talking to each other. And more than ever, I believe this is what kids need today. And I think we're still going to see some of the bullying, those kinds of things going on when kids are getting those out in the hallway, that negative social media interactions are going to take place.
And I think we're trying to do away with all of that, and the greatest focus is their mental health and to improve academic performance of kids because their focus is on school. Because I know just right now, my smartwatch has buzzed many times during this time, and you can be easily distracted by it. I don't have my phone here, and I know these could be put away as well. I just know the distraction of it. So I'm really advocating for that in my opinion. But that does not mean that I don't appreciate the comments on the other side and the work that has gone behind this.
I'd like to see it stiffer and a little bit tighter. And I know there's ways... I feel like our teachers are trained to deal with safety. We go through such a process to prepare for that every single year. As far as what we do in emergencies, parents can get ahold of the school. There's a way to do that. There's another way to do that than just having kids have phones. So that's my position on it, bell to bell. Any other comments at this point on this particular policy? I have some questions, and I don't know if Ms. Imes or the superintendent would like to
help me with these questions. And maybe even Mr. Bump might have an idea or two. The first question I have is, during the 2025 legislative session, there was a bill passed that required school districts to adopt a cell phone policy by this June 2026. Right. And my first question is, we have a policy on the books. Does that policy meet that legislative... That was timed. Yeah. So I withdraw the question, and we'll- ... we'll move on to recess or something. That legislative declaration, aren't we in compliance with it on a
technical basis with the policy we have now? We are, unless you tell me we're not, Mr. Bump. We have a cell phone policy in place. It's outdated, but we have one. But we do have it, and that's kind of where I want to start, sort of at the base. I've reviewed it. I'm not especially thrilled with how it's phrased, but again, you have to remember that it's something that was done before the group met and so on and so forth. I also want to ask a question, if any of the membership in this committee that was formed
recommended what they call a bell-to-bell policy. I haven't got a chance to review some of the data, but I'm just interested in understanding if many of the members recommended a bell-to-bell policy. I'm getting a lot of emails, and I'm reading a lot of editorials from different groups about the advantage of that, but I'm not quite sure again what that really means. But let's assume it means when you walk into the school, you don't have your cell phone, and when you walk out,
you can pick it up at that point in time, I guess, is the way I would describe it. Was there any minority report or discussion based on that? Thank you for the question. There was a lot of discussion on various points, including that point. And yes, you had opinions from both sides. And so we had to come up with consensus when we make a policy, right? You kind of hash through all the details and develop a consensus, and can we live with the policy that are the recommendations for the policy that we put forward, and
that's exactly what we did. We met, we did a lot of the research, same research that you're quoting, and looked at all the research about bell to bell and the differentiated bell to bell for elementary versus secondary, and what that means and why we might have a differentiated policy. Sure. For the similar reasons that Dr. Kimsey is stating. We have several of our students in athletics and sports and various clubs and organizations. We have students who come in at various times throughout the day. Students in concurrent enrollment, as you know, we have 1,400 students in
concurrent enrollment, and if they need a ride to and from the college or there's issues with that, they need to have their phone on them. Sometimes they would, in between classes, might be able to check for texts that says class is canceled or so that they're not going out to the college and then class is canceled. There's lots of discussion around all of that that came to light when we were discussing the bell-to-bell policy. So when I read this JICJ, it says basically these communication
devices as defined have to be turned off and stored unless, and then there's three exceptions. One is, I think Dr. Kimsey mentioned this, the student is wearing an electronic device that is not used for communication, internet access, or entertainment during instructional periods. So they could just have it on them and that would be okay. Could it be in a back pocket, that type of thing? Off and away. Okay. And then the second exception was something that I think has some merit. The use of the device has been authorized by a school
administrator. Mm-hmm. There could be a reason for that. Correct. You may have a classroom, for example, a digital media classroom that may need to use a cell phone to take video for yearbook purposes or for media purposes for their classroom. Mm-hmm. So you may have something similar to that. May I add, when I met with my cabinet, those are students who are very focused, and they have teachers who have them use their phones, like in yearbook class and when they go to the pep
assembly to take pictures, all those kinds of things. We don't have a camera for every kid like back in my day. Mm-hmm. We don't do that anymore. So things-- In addition, the smart watches. So in my cabinet, I have two adult sponsors who are teachers in our district, one at East High School, one at Centennial High School, and they said getting to the point where we're going to tell kids, "Okay, I need your phone, I need your watch, I need your headphones, I need your Google glasses."
The sky's the limit. "I need your aura ring." All of those things are connected to the internet. Mm-hmm. Kids can text on their watch. I am not good at it, but kids can do it. Sure. And so it's a lot more complicated than just this device right here. And that's what we ran into. And so continuing on, aside from the two that I mentioned, exceptions, there's during an emergency, and I know I hear a lot from parents about, "I would like my child to have access to a phone in case of an emergency so they can
communicate with me so I know if they're okay, can I pick them up," et cetera. That seems to be an exception as well. It says, during an emergency, and that is defined as an actual or imminent threat to public health or safety that may result in loss of life, injury, or property damage. So those are the three exceptions that say, well, you're not supposed to have it during an instructional period, but if you fall within one of those, you're exempt. And I think Director Pannunzio raises a good point in that who enforces that? I hear a lot over
just general matters that the teachers do so much during the class day. They're more than just teachers. They're excellent teachers, but they're required to be far more than that in the classroom. And it just seems to me that somebody's going to be having to control this. Somebody's going to have to sort of monitor this. But I think the last phrase is of curiosity to me that middle and high school students are allowed to access their communication devices during non-instructional time. And I think Director Ferrell was kind of
mentioning this, you're able to do it, and then you're going back into class, and then how do you get order immediately, sort of the change. Did the group talk about that situation of dramatic change from, you can't use it unless you're part of one of the three exceptions. But then if you're a middle schooler or a high schooler, you go in the halls, you can use it, and then you come back into class, and there seems to be sort of another rule. How was that dealt with? I'm just really curious about that. So in the middle school and high school, yes, students have their phones.
Rarely, they will take it out and take a look at it and put it back, but their passing periods are short, very short passing periods. They really don't have time to sit there and have long conversations. During lunchtime, that's another longer period of time where they will have time to take out their phones. And a lot of times, believe it or not, our students are using their phones for research. Our students are using their phones to complete homework, to complete assignments. It's really difficult to then say, "Nope, you can't. You're not going to
be able to do that." But yes, we did have that discussion. And here's the other thing. It is all of our responsibility for enforcement, right? So, it starts with when they walk in the building, when they walk into the classroom, somebody's got to monitor it, and we can't be in every single classroom. So it does start with the classroom teacher. It starts at home, just as Dr. Kimsey said. Right. Yeah. It starts at home. If you don't want your student to have a phone, then you probably need to make a rule that says you leave your phone at the door, and you can get it when you return
home from school. Sort of a home-to-home policy- Yep ... instead of a bell-to-bell policy. Yep. So it is a big issue with enforcement, but it's not a one-person job. It's all of us responsible. Go ahead, Dr. Kimsey, please. And if I may, so having been in a lot of different places with a lot of variations of cell phone policies, the key is consistency. Mm-hmm. Right? No matter what we choose our policy to be, the key is consistency for all of us. And I can share, there are plenty of studies
that show, you know the little pouches? When that's implemented with fidelity, when it is done very consistently, the pouches work. When it's not, the pouches don't work. The kids put dummy devices in there. They put all kinds of things in there that aren't their... They put a throwaway phone, what do they call that? A- Burner phone. Yeah, burner phone. Thank you. I don't know all the words. They do all kinds of crazy things because guess what? They're kids, and that's what kids do. So, no matter what our policy, we will have to be
consistent. I hear the concerns with, "Well, but if we don't just take it away as soon as they walk in the door, and then don't give it back until the end of the day, then the teacher doesn't have to worry about it." Well, that's not true, because some kid is still going to have one in class. The teacher's still going to have to address it. That is life. As a teacher, I took phones up. My last year of teaching high school, I was still taking up phones. So I have taught during the
smartphone era. Kids texting under the table, all those kind of things, and I wouldn't even have to say anything. I just walk up. They know. But it's about that consistency. As a principal, I had to sit with my staff because cell phones were a real problem in my middle school. I sat with my staff, and I see a principal back there that's been working on this at her school. And I said, "You guys, we have a district policy." It was often away during the school day, kind of like what we've presented here. But I said, "You guys," there were
three of us administrators, there were 940 kids. Okay? There were two security officers. And I said, "There's only a limited number of us. It's going to take all of us, all the teachers, everybody, for this to work." Because what I was getting as a principal, so Ms. Iams might take up my phone if I go in her class, but then I'd go to lovely Mr. Johnson, who sits back and he's like, "Sure, you can charge your phone while you're in here, and I don't care if you play on your phone after you're done with my work."
And then when Ms. Iams takes up that phone, guess who's in my office right after school saying, "Well, this isn't fair, because my child, she can go in Mr. Johnson's room," sorry, Mr. Johnson, "and play on her phone, but Ms. Iams is all, like, taking up her phone and all this kind of stuff." And as a principal, that's hard to defend when my staff was doing multiple things. The answer is consistency. So, no matter what we choose to do, we have to be consistent, and that's why that professional development's
in there. I also want to point out a really big study that just came out right before we put this policy together. It found, and it was with the pouches, so it was the put it in the pouch, kids don't have their phones. They did see decreased phone usage. They did that through looking at the number of pings coming from the school. The number of pings reduced by two-thirds. Even with pouches, though, a third of the time there were pings. Interesting. So, it reduced the pings by two-thirds. Academic achievement did not change.
That's important to note. Academic achievement did not change. Mental wellbeing did improve for students. So students' mental wellbeing did improve, and this was a large study done across the United States. I forgot how many districts. It was like 40,000 something. It was big, and I can send it to the board. My point being, there are benefits to the phone being away, but we are all going to have to share in this because how many of us right now have our phones out? How many of us would be okay with, let me
give you my smartwatch and my phone? Because as a teacher, I prided myself on if I tell you you can't have anything but water in class, that's all I'm bringing to class because it's not fair for me to drink a big old Big Gulp in front of you if all you can have is a water bottle. As a secondary teacher, that's important. And so, are we going to tell teachers, "You can't be on your phone"? It's just something to consider because the kids will say that, having been a secondary teacher. "Well, Ms. Kimsey's on her phone all the time. How come I can't be?
Ms. Kimsey takes calls. Ms. Kimsey texts." Just a thought. Okay, so I'm going to wrap up my questions with sort of an overall question that probably nobody's expecting. But I do want to say that I do appreciate all the effort that's been undertaken in this regard, especially the task force, the leadership of the district, all the people that participated. It's not an easy subject. It drives me kind of crazy to watchEverybody that I see, even in our community, have a cellphone. When they're walking, they're
looking at a cellphone. When they're at a graduation party, my grandkids, I would like them to look at me and talk to me about what they're going to be doing after they enter college, and they're on their iPhone. It's just a big societal question. But what I wonder is if anybody along the way... And I respect research and data, but sometimes I think we've got to be careful how we place reliance on that. What I'm thinking about here, and I don't
know just whether it's really applicable or whether it is something that we should give credence to, is whether a student has a right, or the freedom, or the privilege to have a phone as they wish to have it, whether it's out of school or in school, and how that plays into the policy that the district is preparing. I don't know that I'm going to give a good analogy, but I'm a big believer in books. You go to the library, you pull a book out, maybe it hasn't been taken out of the
library for a long time. It's dusty, it smells. You open it up, but there's a book you can read. You can almost feel the beauty of the book. Everybody is kind of doing a lot of reading with their iPhone or their computer or whatever. It just seems to me that people have a right to choose how they want to read their book, is what I'm saying, even though I choose maybe my particular way. Is there any discussion? Has anybody thought about this? And I ask this to just anybody who's presenting about looking at this in some way that students have some type of a
right or a freedom or a privilege to have the kind of communication device that they want, either instructional time or any time. I don't know the answer to that, but I think it's something that's important for me to contemplate and maybe others, if they're interested to do as well. I'll just throw it out there like a softball. You can swing and miss or you can hit a home run. I just need help is all. That was not part of the discussion, to be honest. Yeah. I didn't think so. And it's something that may not really be as relevant as
I'm suggesting that it might be. Is there any other questions, Doctor-- Not Doctor Mays. You're a judge and also a director, but if- I have a PhD. Well, you are a doctor, so there you go. Director Mays. As I-- I'm waffling back and forth as I'm listening to all the really great statements that are being made by my colleagues and the people out in the audience and stuff. And then I realize here that maybe I'm operating with a different definition of what bell to bell means. And I'll get into some more things in just a second, but
the policy says students may possess electronic communication devices on school property, in school vehicles, and at school-sponsored activities. However, during the regular school day, electronic communication devices must be turned off and stored during instructional periods. And then we get into the three exceptions. And to me, bell to bell means if we're going to accept that we're going to have some vitality to this is, somebody shows up to school with a phone, they put it in their pocket until it's time to go home,
unless something else happens during the day. I don't like this passing period stuff and any of that thing. I think that just clouds the issue and stuff. And as I've been thinking about this, as we've been talking about it, of course, now we've made exceptions for middle school and high school students. And for those of us that have been involved in the law for a long period of time, we have what's called the hearsay rule. And over the course of the years, the exceptions to the hearsay rule have swallowed the hearsay rule.
So nobody really even understands, in my opinion, what the heck the hearsay rule is anymore. Well, what about exception J? So that's what we're doing here, it seems to me, and it seems like I'm going back on what I initially said because I guess maybe I'm being more contemplative about it. But let me go to another policy here, if I may, please. And that is board policy JICJR, which we will be considering. And I'm bringing it up,
President Thibeault, for a point. It's proper. Go ahead. Okay. So you go to that policy, and paragraph one says first offense, and it tells you what happens when an offense occursAnd then you go to two second offense, and here's where I think these problems start really showing up. A student who commits a second violation of policy JICJ may have the electronic communication device confiscated by school personnel for the remainder of the school day.
Not shall. It's not mandatory, it's may. So example, school A, second violation. Teacher or whomever imposes this sanction. School B, same exact violation, and you get a different result. That goes totally against consistency, in my opinion. And now you have exactly the argument you have is, "Well, if Dr. Kimsey can do it, why can't I do it?" Or, "If Joe can do it, why can't Sally do it?" So it's not going to be consistency, and I was going to have some concerns with that particular policy because of that language.
And then you go into a third offense. A student who commits a third violation may have the electronic communication device confiscated for remainder of school and may be required to participate in a conference, blah, blah, blah, blah. May, may, may. May have, may be required. Again, if you'll permit me, let me bring out my two examples again. School A and school B. Same offense, different result. That doesn't help anyone, in my opinion, because now you've got exactly what you didn't want.
If you go to this school, blah, blah, blah, or if you were in this teacher's class, blah, blah, blah. So it seems like as we continue this conversation, I start having more concerns about it, and I don't know whether anybody's willing to accept my definition of bell to bell, but my definition would be you come to school, you have a phone, you put it in your pocket or your truck or whatever you do, and you don't bring it out until the end of the school day, period. And if during that period of time something happens, you're in trouble. And it shouldn't be, I think if we're going to do these things, we may end up
having to discuss whether the word may, I'll refer to my old colleague and friend, Barb Clameny, with the wordsmithing. May probably should be shall. Either that or maybe you don't want to have may at all. I don't know. But I'm having more and more concerns about this. With regard, Mr. Tebow, with all due respect to your concern about whether or not this is a student's right or not, we all know that even First Amendment rights and those sorts of things can be tempered because someone's a student in a school, and you can have
different regulations and rules. So, and if somebody wants to take that issue up, I think that'd be fine. That's obviously their right. I don't think they'd succeed on it, quite frankly, to tell you the truth. But I've been reversed a bunch of times, by the way, so don't put a whole lot of faith in that. But the point being is I don't know that that's necessarily, I appreciate it, but I don't know if it's necessarily germane to our discussion here, because that's something that happens if and when someone has a reason to challenge the policies
that we have. So ask me again in 10 minutes how I feel, all right? After we hear some more, but right now, I suspect I'm feeling like bell to bell means bell to bell from morning to evening, and there's no exceptions in between. And I'm sorry if I misled anybody when I was previously talking about this, but maybe I should have been more succinct at that time. Those are my thoughts. I just think there are some built-in red flags. And Mr. Bump, we have to have a policy. We have a policy on board. So if we decide we want to go back and review all of this and come
back with another one, we're still in compliance with state law, right? We're not in violation of state law. So we have an opportunity if we want to wordsmith some of this at this present time. And Ms. Simpson, I would suggest, I don't think there's anybody at this table that just does not understand or respect the immense amount of time and thought that went into this. And it's always difficult to say, "Well, thank you for this, but here's the way I feel about it." I don't think that's an issue at all. But maybe it's time to go back to the drawing board
and say, "Okay, now that we've had these discussions and stuff like that, let's see. Is there some way of having consensus on this thing and meeting in a middle ground that may be satisfactory to everybody?" But so I don't know. I probably said too much, but thank you for the opportunity to be heard again, and those are the concerns I have as we've been going through this discussion. Thank you, Director Mays. Those are very good comments. Mr. Bump, I know he asked you a question and you wanted to respond.
If you still do, feel free to do that. I'm just going to point out there's a provision in the statute that says if you have a policy prior to August 31st of 2025, that you're exempt from making any changes at this time. And that's why I brought that up as sort of a base discussion because my interpretation is that our district is in compliance with the law, and that we're not on the clock to meet a June 30 deadline as a lot of districts are, in my opinion. We have something that's on the books. It may not be the best, but it meets the technical requirement of the
law. So if we do need more time, we don't have to rush into this. But at the same time, I think we're up against a situation where the board should really consider a decision in advance of the school year at some point so that everybody's clear on where we stand. And I know we don't meet in July, so that makes it a little difficult as well. But, I read in the Denver Post that DPS did a, I think, a bell-to-bell- They did ... policy, their board did unanimously. I don't really know what it entailed specifically, but
I think they were sort of under the gun, is what I wanted to say, to get something done by the end of the month. And I just wanted to make that statement, and of course, it's the board's decision as how quickly we want to move on this, but I just wanted to say that. Can I just keep going? Yes, go ahead. So just for clarity's sake, Mr. Bump, you indicated that if we had a policy prior to a certain date, we were given grace on that. And was it prior to that particular date then that we had the policy? I think the 25th of August, as indicated in the policy, it was adopted. And we had a policy before that? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay. I'm going to
turn to Superintendent Kimsey. You're not a director just yet, but I'll get my self in order. When that cell phone went off, it just confused me. So, Superintendent Kimsey. So, thank you. So, one thing, Judge, I agree with you on the may. That's why the policy is before you so that we can-- We insisted, in fact, I insisted, "Okay, if we're going to have this, our code of conduct isn't specific enough. We need to have first time this happens, second time this happens, so we can support our principals and our schools so that everybody's getting the same consequence." So I
agree with you that we need to do some wordsmithing with the mays and the shalls and the wills. We can certainly do that. I would also encourage the board. Our original policy was adopted in 2013, and it said kids couldn't even have a cell phone on a field trip. Things have changed. Then you guys did revise the policy back in August of '25, just saying that you would revisit, that we would do this work, and we would revisit. So I would encourage the board. Of course, it's the board's decision,
and we will do everything at the will of the board. And we will do it with fidelity and enthusiastically. So I need the board to hear that. At the same time, I would encourage the board to adopt whatever we're going to adopt in time for us, too, because part of this plan is for us to really saturate messaging throughout the summer. "Hey, by the way, moving into the next school year, this is what you're going to have to do with your phone." Like, being so clear with our
families, with our students, over and over at football games, everywhere, before school starts, so that everyone in our community, there isn't a soul who doesn't know this is going to be the new thing across District 60. It doesn't matter what school you go to. So I'd just encourage us to, if it's possible, to do something so we have that time in the summer, and as we do prep for the school year, we can really do some robust communications. Director Ferrell. Thank you, President Thibeau. I want to reemphasize Judge Mays's point that I don't
feel, especially me, but I don't think any of us are trying to undermine the work of the task force or the recommendation. We truly do appreciate all the work that went into that. We deal with complicated subjects all the time as a board of education, but I feel like this is one of the more complicated ones. And as technology advances, things only get more complicated. Even if we were to adopt this as presented now, next year, technology might be entirely different than what's even applicable
here. It's a challenge. The other point that I'd thought about earlier, and I recalled it as we were discussing, and I don't want it to seem like I'm arguing the other side now, but I think it's important to look at this holistically and from as many hypothetical situations as possible so to see how it plays out. And this language that I'm about to reference is in the current policy. This is something that has not been changed, is the exceptions. We mentioned the three exceptions earlier, but there's also the exceptions with a 504 plan
andfor monitoring and addressing medical conditions. And I was thinking specifically about insulin pumps are often tied to a cellphone or some sort of device at this time. Assistive hearing devices, hearing aids are often tied to a cellphone. And we talked about equity and the teacher example. If you're going to tell the student they have to put away their phone, why doesn't the teacher, hard argument to debate. And realizing that this is
delicate exceptions here, how do we address when a student says, "Well, student A gets to keep their phone because it's monitoring their insulin pump," and we have to make accommodations for that. Were those accommodations and those exceptions part of that discussion, and how were they addressed? Yes, they were part of that discussion. And if you read further down in the policy, there's a, "This policy does not prohibit a student from using the communication device if the use is necessary as an effective
communication." And then it goes on with American Disabilities, and so it kind of addresses what you're talking about, but what you do bring up, the point that we discussed in cabinet was student A has accommodation that would allow that student B, and now you have to address it with students out loud. The student has it because he's allowed to or she's allowed to. It gets sticky. Thank you. Well, Mr. Burns, you can get right in and start all over. Yeah. Thank you for addressing that, because that was something that stuck out to me, too, and that I think was a concern about
looking at equity, if one student has an exception and gets to use it, how that's addressed with the other students. I just also want to acknowledge that I think we're at a point with phones and technology that in many cases, not all, it's become an addiction. I personally struggle. I have both of my phones sitting here while I'm saying this, struggle with it, and try to self-police myself in putting my phone down on the kitchen counter and walking away at night rather
than having it in my hand and looking at two screens while I'm watching TV, because then I miss the whole movie. But I do it. I got a message during the budget discussion and was momentarily distracted and missed a number that I was interested in. I struggle with this, and I know how it can affect mental health personally. I hear the stories. At the film screening that I'd mentioned in a previous meeting, heard a story from a parent who had lost their child because of
things that were happening on their cellphone, and they didn't know that until after it happened, and suddenly those things became readily available to them. So I want to re-emphasize how appreciative that I am that the holistic version of this includes that mental health and emotional wellness piece. I hope that wherever the board lands, we continue to keep that in mind as well. I understand and appreciate a lot of
the discussion that's happened as far as a non-bell to bell, or being able to use a device during non-instructional time, and I know that students' lives are more complicated than they were 30 years ago. All of our lives are a little more complicated than they were 30 years ago. So it's such a complicated topic, and as Dr. Kimsey said, whatever the policy is, it's not going to satisfy every student, every parent, every teacher, every family. But my guiding star is always to do what's best by the
students. And I want them to be engaged in learning, obviously. I think we all do. I want them to have healthy relationships with each other in person, with trusted adults in person, and for all of us, the students and those of us here, to be aware of the mental health impacts and the social emotional concerns that are tied to cellphones. I got a little off track. Sorry about that. Thank you, President Thibeau. No, those are meaningful comments. Very important subject, and I think the board is taking it very
seriously, and I appreciate that. And welcome, Mr. Burns. We were afraid you were sentenced to jail or something during a legal matter, but we are happy you joined us. Technically, we're on policy JICJ, because it's number two in the policy section, but we've overlapped some of the relevancy of the dash R and dash E as well.And the board has had a variety of questions, and you can catch up on those things. But what I'd like to offer you at this time is a chance to, just in maybe a short summary fashion, give your
views about how you view the JICJ policy with respect to how it's being presented to the board today. Thank you, President Thibeau, and I appreciate everyone's grace in me coming late today. And I don't want to repeat anything that Dr. Kimsey or Executive Director Iams had mentioned, but this has been a process that Dr. Kimsey tasked Marcy and I with starting back last August. And so it's been not a quick shot-in-the-arm approach,
but I think a holistic approach that's looked at a variety of different factors. We had a rockstar group of about 15 individuals that met with us regularly from September through May of this year, looked at other policies, looked at outside literature. We had committee members that were sharing documents with us saying, "Hey, I want to share this with other committee members." So it wasn't Marcy and I leading the process, but it truly was an organic thought partner process to help better inform their recommendations for your consideration tonight as well.
So I just want to underscore the going slow to go fast approach to make sure that we're putting something in front of you that represents the literature, current documentation, and the interests and beliefs from the community. Two surveys out there with over 5,000 different responses. I don't know, aside from the right serving conversation, it's been great. That's, I think, the only time we've seen that level of response between right serving and this. So we're fortunate to have
a thoughtful community that wants to share their opinions on this matter. And so I think that was taken into consideration and the great work of the committee and some of that outside leadership as well, and then the superintendent's cabinet and the students as well. Having the advisory cabinet discuss this was really instrumental because we need to make sure that this works for our staff, for parents, and then for students as well. Dr. Kimsey really pushed Marcy and I and the committee on those full set of wraparound services, that it is addressing not only the policy, but that social and emotional wellbeing and trying to
have that critical detachment from our cell phones, as board member Farrell had mentioned. That how do we start to move forward with those analog experiences? And so it really is we've got policy, but we need to ensure consistency within our schools and our classrooms. We need to involve parents, that you have the opportunity to help us with this as well. When possible, tell your students to keep that cell phone at home, and we want parents to be a partner in
this process. And then ultimately, how do we ensure that we are focused and incorporating in our policy that emphasis on social and emotional wellbeing and those analog experiences? So I apologize if any of that is repetitive. You've added some very important points. Thank you. It's all related, but it was well done. Thank you. Does the board have any other comments or questions relative to the item number two under our work session dealing specifically with policy JICJ?
If not, we're going to move on to now incorporate policy JICJR and E. We've talked a little bit about that because it's overlapping, but does any of the board have questions or concerns other than what we've expressed previously on those particular policies? That's item three under our work session. Director Panunzio, I almost called you Dr. Panunzio. I've got this doctor on my mind here. But we'll call you Dr. Panunzio today. Okay. No, it's not a concern, President Thibeau.
When Director Mays was talking about JICR, I had all the exact same things written down, just a whole list of that. But then when it came to E, again, no matter where we land, I really liked the progressive discipline approach that no matter what kind of policy we have, we have to have consequences if students are not following the prescribed rules, and that it goes from minimal all the way down to severe, much more severe. So I really appreciate that, that there's a progressive approach to that. Okay. Thank you. Any other board member wish to make any comments? I would like to
suggest to the board that with respect to items two and three, they are on first reading. It is our normal practice during our business meeting in two weeks to take them up on final reading. And I would like to suggest that as the superintendent and I set the agenda for the next meeting, the business meeting on the 23rd, that we include these items on second reading. It is two weeks away, and I'm going to be persuaded that even though we're not under a legislative deadline, we are under a
practical deadline to get this out into the community as early as possible if we can. And I would suggest that membersthink about this and submit any amendments or ideas for a different approach to the superintendent at your earliest possible convenience. We meet next Monday, I think, and it would be wonderful if we had something by then, but if not, we'll just deal with it. But I just want the board to be able to
present their thoughts either through an amendment or through some fashion to buttress the group's recommendation that appears before us today, or to amend it in some ways, minor or significant, or change the whole policy direction. I think that's within the purview of the board, and I'm going to give greater thought to all that's been said here today. I think it's a good discussion. I'm proud to be part of a board that is being
thoughtful and considerate, and is struggling with something so important, because there's a lot of ways that we can look at this through our lenses. I'm usually real excited about amending things, but I would really prefer, as the president, the chair, to have others offer amendments before I jump in and start doing that, because I think there's some things that I think are important for us to consider as a board. Even if they're defeated, at least they're instructive and it's important to discuss them. So that's my suggestion as we leave these topics.
You, of course, can do as you wish, but when the superintendent and I meet to set our agenda, I'll bring that up with her in terms of whether we've received any ideas beyond what has been submitted. Does any board member have a comment or a suggestion other than that with regard to these two items? If not, I just want to extend appreciation to all concerned, for those who went through this process, and for all the individuals in our community that are very concerned about this. I hope they realize that our board is concerned as well.
Hearing nothing further on that, we'll move on to item four under our work session, and that is Policy KHC, which has to do with distributing and posting non-curricular materials, and this is a first reading. And Superintendent Kimsey, I'm not sure who's presenting on this. So President Thibeau, it's my honor and pleasure to introduce our Director of Communications, Mr. Sprouse, who will introduce to you, share with you some context regarding why this
one's before you at this time. Oh, that's great. Thank you. Mr. Sprouse. Thank you, Superintendent Kimsey, and good afternoon, members of the board. Policy KHC has been revised to simplify and clarify the district's procedures for requests to market or advertise on behalf of outside organizations. As the updated policy reflects, advances in technology and communication have eliminated the need for the district to serve as a distribution point for information for non-district entities.
Just so you know, my office regularly receives requests from outside organizations seeking for us to promote their programs, events, or services to our students and staff. By updating this policy, we're establishing a more streamlined and consistent process for our schools and our district to remain focused on matters that directly relate to teaching and learning, and the educational goals of Pueblo School District 60. This revision also helps ensure fairness and consistency in how these requests are
handled across the district. I want to thank you for your time, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have at this time. Thank you for that presentation. Any questions or comments by the board? Director Ferrell. Thank you, President Thibeau, and thank you, Mr. Sprouse, for presenting this policy. The policy specifies printed non-curricular materials. Am I not mistaken that the district has a mechanism for electronic flyers to be sent home with students for parents? And if that's the case, does this policy not apply to that or
address that? Yeah, I think that would be something we would want to address in this policy by saying electronic and/or printed, so that we're not creating an open forum fairly. Again, we're trying to be just fair across the board on this policy. Thank you for that. And I appreciate consistency as I think was made clear earlier, too. And then my second question is hopefully not going to complicate it. And it's very specific, which I appreciate the specificity in the policy as presented as far as what the--
Oh, and I didn't open the policy. What the district-connected group organizations are. Mm-hmm. And it does specify that parent-teacher organizations, advisory councils, PEA, school accountability councils... are considered district-connected groups. I just had the thought as I was reading that, that if we include PEA, we might want to use this more inclusive language of the other representative organizations- Okay ... if we're going to call it out that way. And this policy does not apply to student organizations that are governed by a separate board policy. So that's as defined in
there. As someone that's involved in various youth organizations throughout the district that is always looking for ways to promote programs to kids- Right ... in our community, my question is about groups that I might think are district connected, but aren't in this, especially as we grow resource hubs, community resource hubs, and we have Boys and Girls Club, we have Pueblo Health, some sort of health agency in one of these community hubs. Is this exclusive of those, or do they become
a district-connected group because of their relationship through community schools and resource hubs? Yeah, no. I'll ask the superintendent to help me with this. But some of those organizations that we currently have agreements with, Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, those would be I guess, exempt from this because we have something to justify why we're able to allow them to do that. But I'd ask the superintendent to add to that. Sure. So we have a written MOU, and as Mr. Johnson just shared, we're working on a new one with Boys and Girls Club around
even the community school model. So that would be a formal agreement that we have with that group. So correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Bump, but that's how we show that connection to the district. Whereas if it's... And we get this all the time. So for example, and they're all great organizations. Mm-hmm. Please don't get me wrong. So Department of Health maybe wants to send something out about their, I don't know what. We get those all the time, and our problem, we're not the marketing agency for all the other groups, and
we have found ourselves having to be. So that's why we're doing this to try to limit that, because we also know, and I am not the legal scholar, I will turn this to Mr. Bump, but I also know that if I start allowing one group access, then I have to allow everyone access. And we don't want to do that. Mr. Bump, do you have anything? There's the additional consideration that once we start introducing information about activities outside of school, then we have to be sure that they're vetted, that it's something that we want our students and
families to feel comfortable about, even though we aren't sponsoring them, which usually requires background checks and those kinds of things, which we're not really in a good position to do for outside activities that don't take place in our school properties. That's distinct from the Boys and Girls Club, where they're using our facilities. Makes it a little easier. Legente is another example. We have longstanding relationships that are usually around facility use agreements, and those have the imprimatur of the district. Thank you for that. And that absolutely makes sense.
I don't know if it would be necessary to clarify that necessarily in this language, but it did seem to not be addressed, and that's why I asked it. But thank you, all three of you, for the answer. Any other questions or comments? I have just maybe a couple questions and perhaps it's more of a comment, but I think it's clear that in the current policy, the director of school/community relations, DS/CR, is sort of the designated individual to deal with these
matters, and now it's going to the principal. And in the principal's jurisdiction, they will review the materials and may decline to distribute, et cetera, if it's in violation of any board policy or for any other lawful reason based on the best interest of the school. I'm just wondering if that language, other lawful reason based on the best interest of the school, could be maybe tightened up a little bit. That's a lot of discretion that may yield- Sure ... inconsistent application. We've talked about that earlier. And then on the
appeal side, it talks about there's an appeal process, and the burden is on the party that is trying to, by a preponderance of the evidence, trying to advocate for the materials to be distributed. But then there's this unacceptable as a defined end policy standard, and I'm not sure what policy defines that, but that might be something that we could just maybe reference wherever unacceptable is defined in policy so that we're clear on what
unacceptable means for sure. Apparently, there's a policy that defines unacceptable somewhere. Just a couple of thoughts that are intended to hopefully strengthen ... the ability of the policy itself, but- Yeah ... nothing major. These can operate the way they are, but I'm just suggesting that those are a couple things you might want to look at. Sure. Happy to look at that. And Superintendent Kimsey. And actually, as you discuss that, and I'll apologize because I missed that, putting it back down on the principal, I'm not sure. Mr. Sprouse can still be the person.
Okay. Yeah. Because that's a lot for a principal to have to deal with in trying to decide, does this meet policy or whatever. Mr. Sprouse has access to our legal counsel and can make that determination. Cool. Yeah, that makes sense as well. Thank you. Any other comments relative to this matter from the board? If not, that is our first reading, and we appreciate your comments, Mr. Sprouse. And now, unless there's other comments, we'll move on to our consent agenda.
And our consent agenda has actually, I guess, three items. Two, three, and four. Yeah. So, I will ask if there's any board member that wishes to remove any item on the consent agenda, item two, three, or four, for separate discussion and vote, or wishes to just make statements about it without removing it. And seeing no takers on that, we'll ask for a motion to approve the consent agenda. Mr. President, I'll move that the Board of Education approves the consent agenda items two through four as presented in the June 9th board
materials. Thank you, Director Farrell. Is there a second to that motion? Second. Second by Director Panunzio. Any discussion relative to the motion? Seeing, hearing none, then we'll ask our secretary to call the roll. Director Farrell? Aye. Director Ibarra? Aye. Director Mays? Aye. Director Panunzio? Aye. Director Teague? Aye. So with five aye votes and no no votes, that motion passes and is declared adoption. And now we're going on to 12.0 action items. We have two items. The first item is administrative leadership appointments and reassignments. Dr. Kimsey.
President Panunzio and board directors, it is my honor, we're now in this evening, to share with you recommendations for the following positions for your approval, and I see several of these individuals with us today. So first of all, Mr. Jeffrey Wilkerson will be promoted. We are recommending promotion from Dean of Students at South High School to Assistant Principal Athletic Director at South High School, effective August 3rd. We also have with us today, I see him back there with
his upcoming, hopefully, principal, Mr. Matthew Addington, going from being the Assistant Principal at Rye High School to the Assistant Principal at Central High School. Additionally, and I see some family members here, we have Ms. Janelle Redding, who is moving from being our math specialist, she's done a great job with that, moving up to become an Assistant Principal at Columbian Elementary School. We also have Ms... And is Carly here? Carly?
She's not here. I didn't think I saw her. Okay. We also have Carly Zabuckovic, who will be promoted upon your approval from TOSA for the STEM Grant Project Lead the Way, and she's been serving Bessemer and Highland Park Elementaries, promotion to Assistant Principal at Highland Park Elementary. And finally, welcome back to Mr. Robert Lawson. So he is coming back to us from Queen Creek, Arizona to become, once again, our
Executive Director of Facilities and Construction Management, Maintenance, and Operations. And that one would be effective on Monday. So, with all respect, I do ask that the board consider these recommendations for approval. Is there a motion to so approve? So moved. Moved by Director Mays. Is there a second? Second. Second by Director Ibarra. Any discussion? Director Mays. First, I'd like to thank all of you for your commitment to the finest school district in the United States,
and I know we're going to be just even better with you on board. On a personal note, and a little sentimental note, if I may, President Teague, it is with great pleasure that, and I say it's sentimental to see two individuals out in the audience that I'm delighted to see. One of them, Mr. Lawson, thank you for coming back. I am so delighted that you are going to be... Mr. HornerThank you for the work, and we'll work on you to make you permanent, Terry. But I say it as I appreciated all the others who were.
A special attachment of these folks for being involved in one of the most consequential efforts ever taken in School District 60, and that was the construction of five brand-new schools on time, under budget, and those two folks, in addition to many others, were primarily responsible for that. So it's great to see you back again. Don't start crying, Mr. Horner. Director Ferrell. Thank you. And along the lines of Director Mays' comments, I almost felt like I'd traveled through time looking at
that side of the room. So I just want to share congratulations to all of you. I also wanted to say I know all of you are going to need patience in your new roles. You already have patience in your current roles, I'm sure. But thank you for being here today and sitting through our lengthy discussions that are going to be relevant to you, but not why you are here today. So thank you for your patience with us. Thank you, Director Ferrell. So did we have a motion? We did. Yes. Yes, we did. We had a motion. Yes. Did we have a second? Yes. We were on discussion. And we were discussing. Okay. I've got to get my head on. And so while we're discussing,
I, too, want to just give my congratulations to all of you who are so integral and such a good part of our district. And that includes Mr. Horner and Mr. Lawson. I really... You started on the board when you two were instrumental in keeping the district afloat. And I know that many of you were involved in the district as well in some other capacity. So, thank you for what you do. And so, without further discussion, we'll have the secretary call the roll on that. Director Ferrell. Aye. Director Ibarra. Aye. Director Mays. Aye. Director Panunzio. Aye. Director Teague.
Aye. So with five aye votes and no no votes, the board unanimously adopts that motion, and it passes that motion, and it is declared adopted. Does anybody want to make a comment? You're more than welcome to do that if you'd like to, please. Thank you all for the opportunity, and I'm very grateful and excited to continue to serve this community and District 60 as well. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Yeah, thank you. Any comments, anybody else? Just turn your cell phones off if you want to make a comment. Okay. Thank you again. Now we're at the point in our agenda where,
let's see, we have a resolution approving the extension of the innovation plan for Franklin School of Innovation, Irving Elementary, Minnequa Elementary, Pueblo Academy of Arts, and Risley School of Exploration. Superintendent Kimsey, who will be presenting on that particular matter? President Teague, there's no presentation on that matter. In your board materials for today's meeting is information about those plans. Mr. Johnson's here in case you have questions, but otherwise, we are asking for approval of continuation of those.
Thank you. The board has the resolution before them. Does any board member wish to offer a motion to approve the extension of the innovation plan for the schools that I mentioned in my introductory remarks based on our board materials? So moved. It's moved by Director Mays. Director Panunzio, did you- I was going to do the second. Second. Okay. You're going to second, okay. That's great. So we have before us a motion that is seconded to approve the resolution that is in our board packet to accomplish what the
motion indicated. Is there any further discussion or comments relative to this particular resolution? Hearing no discussion or seeing no comments, we'll have the secretary call the roll on this resolution extending the innovation zone plan for five schools. Director Ferrell. Aye. Director Ibarra. Aye. Director Mays. Aye. Director Panunzio. Aye. Director Teague. Aye. So with five aye votes and no no votes, that motion carries and that resolution is declared adopted. We're now at the point of adjournment. Is there a motion to adjourn? Please, someone help.
So moved. Moved by Director Ferrell. Second? Second. Second by Director Ibarra. Any discussion? Hearing none, Secretary, please call the roll. Director Ferrell. Aye. Director Ibarra. Aye. Director Mays. Aye. Director Panunzio. Aye. Director Teague. Aye. That motion carries five to zero and is declared adopted. We are adjourned.