Him on the twentieth, yes, twentieth of, March. If we can have a roll call, miss Medina. Missus Kutcher? Here. Mister Doc? Here. Mister Fisher? Here. Missus Walsh? Here. Missus West? Here. If we can all rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the Republic for which Thank you all for coming and joining us. First day of spring, Vernal Equinox, also n c two a tournament officially started. What else is the March 20? Spring break eve? Kinda. Kinda.
The eve of spring break eve. Yeah. Okay. So welcome. We have the consent agenda is our first item. Is there a motion to accept the consent agenda? I will make that motion. Thank you, mister Doc. Is there a second? Second. Thank you, miss Walsh. Is there any discussion that we need to have? Everybody's good? Okay. Miss Medina, can we have roll call on the boot? Missus Kutcher. Aye. Mister Doc. Aye. Mister Fisher. Aye. Missus Walsh. Aye. Missus West.
Aye. Thank you. Okay. Have we received, and acted on all correspondence? Yes, sir. You sure have. Okay. We get to move to miss Roden. Good evening. It is recommended that the Board of Education approve the appointment of Shane Scala as executive director of secondary student learning. Motion. Motion. Is there a motion? Motion. Sorry. I'll second that. Alright. Shane Scala. Shane Scala was born and raised in Colorado Springs. He attended Whitefield Elementary, Sproul Junior High School, and graduated from Whitefield High School.
After high school, he joined the United States Navy where he was eventually stationed in San Diego, California on board the USS Reed. From 1995 to 1998, his ship was responsible for enforcing the oil embargo in the Persian Gulf and also conducting drug operations in the South Pacific. During his navy career, he married Angie, his high school sweetheart, and they have two children, Dominique, currently 30, and Cameron, currently 26. After his time in the military, mister Scala attended the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs while also working as a procurement planner and buying for Sanmina SCI Corporation.
During this time, he pursued his lifelong dream of becoming a teacher. Eventually, he obtained a position as a social studies teacher at Whitefield High School where he taught and coached basketball. After receiving a master's of arts degree in curriculum and instruction and his principal license, he was hired as the assistant principal at Sproul Junior High and eventually as the assistant principal for Whitefield High School in 02/2011. He then served as the principal at Discovery High School and the Haven k twelve school for a total of five years. In his sixteenth year as a building and district administrator, he currently serves as the director of innovation and alternative education.
Outside of work, he appreciates spending time outdoors with his wife, Angie, and dog, Duke, playing golf, traveling to various destinations with lifelong friends, and enjoys every moment he is blessed to spend time with his kids along with his six year old granddaughter Riley and her three year old sister Sophia. It's my pleasure to recommend Shane Scala as the executive director of secondary student learning. Miss Medina, can we have roll call vote? Missus Kutcher. Aye. Mister Dock. Aye. Mister Fisher. Aye. Missus Walsh. Aye. Missus West. Aye. Woo. I'm sad that,
Riley and Sophia cannot be here tonight because if they were, you would know they're in here. So, they are awesome, though. When I have a tough week from work and I I get home on Fridays, they usually come over on Fridays, and if I have a frown, they turn it upside down. So, definitely blessed to to have them as part of our family. Listening to the bio, though, just makes me realize how, how fast time flies. I normally speak from the heart, but I kinda jotted down some some thank yous tonight just because being in the district so long, there's so many people that I I wanna thank for all the opportunities that I've had all throughout the years. Aaron, gotta thank you,
first of all, for trusting me in this with this position. Very blessed to, take on this role and and be able to support all of our secondary schools. Been a great mentor over the years, and, I'm proud to be here standing before you today. I wanna thank all of the board members. Without without the I vote, obviously, this wouldn't happen. So thanks for showing faith in me, and I I won't let you down. Next, I wanna thank our amazing leaders sitting on cabinet in front of me behind me. I have to tell you, sitting on instructional team this year and being able to work closer and closer with all of you, just such an amazing group of leaders, and and I'm very excited about,
sitting on cabinet next year and being part of more decisions and just, continuing to move our district forward. Tammy, I gotta thank you. I always do. You did such an amazing job keeping us in line. And, you and Sherry and, Lindsay and obviously, my my secretary Charlotte, thank you so much. Just your positive attitude and keeping us pumped up. And like I said, keeping us aligned, we couldn't do without you. So thank you. Wanna go way back and, start from the beginning. And very blessed to have this individual in the room, probably one of the most significant mentors of my life, Mr. Jim Felice. There he is right there.
Gave me a chance at Whitefield High School. Took a, took a chance on this Navy guy and, and, Kirsten Toye was also part of that decision. So I have to thank them for giving me opportunity to become a teacher in the first place. And then there's just a long list of of administrators who have either guided or mentored me throughout the years. And I'll just go through the list and I hope I'm not missing anyone, so I apologize out there if I am. Doctor. Mark Hatchell, Stan Richardson, Joe Royer, Scott Campbell, Joe Garrett, Connie Florell, Kevin Duran. And, it's been awesome, to to work closely with Stephanie this year.
You've set the standard for that position and some big shoes to fill for me coming in. So it's great, great to work with you. Last but not least, and I put it in big bold words because if I forget to thank my family, I'm in big trouble when I get home. But, I wanna thank my wife of twenty nine years, Angie. She's she's been there for me during, the challenging times, administration, you know, teaching, administration, whatever it is. We have good days, bad days, but she's been there all along the way and, just super glad she's a very patient person, so very patient. Also my son Cameron lives in Golden. He could not make it down tonight.
Super proud of both of my kids who are Whitefield graduates who both went on to, you know, finish their degrees and are doing amazing things. But I also want to thank, my daughter for being here, Dominique and Pat. Been a very challenging year for you guys and super proud of you. So, those are who, who are close to me know what I'm talking about. So, my commitments though, my commitments to everybody in Whitefield School District three is, student achievement is our priority And we want to make sure in all of our buildings that we're establishing a culture of learning for all students.
And I want to emphasize the, the word all. And so that is a priority not just of mine, but I know of our instructional team and all of our principals across our schools and, and I'm gonna make sure that I'm supporting our principals that would that work because at the end of the day, our kids have to leave high school with the reading skills, the writing skills, the oral and written communication skills, problem solving, critical thinking, all those things that they're gonna need not only in school but in life. So the next thing that's important to me and a priority, and we've got a little work to do in this area, is I wanna make sure that every kid after they walk across the stage at
graduation, they know what they're doing in life. They have, they've had some guidance. They've got a focus, whether it's college, whether it's career. We just want to make sure that they have a connection to something because a lot of times when those students walk across the stage and they, they, they leave us, sometimes they, they're leaving a lot of resources that they've had their entire, you know, time that they've been in school. And so hopefully with that diploma, in the other hand, they have a solid plan for what they can do in life. And lastly, it's always been a priority for me. I was kind of the person that helped create the positive action team in our district,
but I think that our students need to have a positive experience in school. And so I want to continue to work with all of our principals on just making sure that we have as as positive of a climate as we can in our schools where students feel feel safe and supported. And, that's that's that's three of my commitments. I know there'll be many more things that cross my desk that I will need to address, but, that's my commitment to all of you and everyone in the Whitefield School District three d community. So with that said, believe in Whitefield. Thank you. Alright. Alright. Next, it is recommended the Board of Education approve the appointment of Brooke Felice as principal
of Janetel Junior High School. Motion. And a second. Mister Duck? Second. Alright. Brooke Felice. Brooke is a native here in Whitefield. She attended Whitefield, Sunrise, and French Elementaries, thanks to new schools being built in the nineties and boundary changes. Sprolin Watson Junior Highs, and she graduated from Whitefield High School. Brooke earned her bachelor degree in elementary education from CSU Pueblo and her master's degree in special education from Regis University. She also has an educational specialist degree from UNC. Brooke is in her fourteenth year in the district.
She is currently the assistant principal at Whitefield High School. She taught at Venetucci, Janatel Junior High, and Whitefield High School. In addition to teaching, Brooke has also served as the district autism specialist. Brooke has three children. Jaylen is a graduate of Mesa Ridge High School and is now serving proudly in the US Army at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. Alexander is a junior at Wide Field High School, and Gabriel is a third grader at Webster Elementary. Brooke enjoys traveling with her family and being outdoors, hiking, running, and climbing fourteeners. It's my pleasure to recommend Brooke Felice as the principal at Janitell Junior High School.
Miss Medina. Missus Kutcher? Aye. Mister Doc? Aye. Mister Fisher? Aye. Missus Walsh? Aye. Missus West? Aye. Good evening. I would like to thank the Board of Education, Mr. Hoffman, Mrs. Howell, and district administration for allowing me this leadership opportunity in Whitefield School District three. Thank you to the Jamatel Junior High School selection committee and staff for believing in me and providing me an opportunity to be the principal of Janet. I am humbled and full of gratitude to be recommended by such an amazing staff that I have such respect for. I promise you all that I will work hard to lead our school and meet
your expectations. And to my colleagues across the district and beyond who have encouraged and rallied around me, thank you. Thank you to the Whitefield High School administrative team made up of doctor Bidding, mister Baldwin, mister Giovannoni, mister Clark, and Whitefield High School staff for having seen the potential in me and supporting my path to leadership with experience, honest feedback for growth, and encouragement along the way. I would not be standing here without you. I am forever grateful to my family for their endless support. To my sons, Jaylen, Alexander, and Gabriel, thank you for being my biggest fans and ever,
ever doubting my capability to do anything. I love you more than you will ever know. To everyone who has walked with me on my journey to get me to today and continue to do so. I plan to make you all very proud. Thank you. Alright. Next. It is recommended the board of education approve the appointment of mister Jared Torres as principal of Sunrise Elementary School. Is there a motion? There's a motion. A second? Second that. Okay. Alright. Jared Torres. Jared brings over two decades of experience in education. Born and raised in Los Animas,
Colorado, he attended the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, earning a degree in communication with an emphasis in elementary education. His career began twenty three years ago as a third grade teacher in Falcon School District forty nine, where he spent eighteen years working across various grade levels at Falcon Elementary. During this time, he also served as a project based learning coach and technology specialist. Jared then transitioned to Colorado Springs School District eleven, where he took on administration roles at West Elementary and West Middle School. Over five years, he served as the assistant principal for both elementary and middle school levels,
was the athletic director, and ultimately held the position of interim principal overseeing both schools. Jared's wife, Abby, is a third grade teacher in district eleven and together they have two sons, Kyson, a junior at Falcon High School and Lincoln, a second grader in district eleven. In his spare time, Jared enjoys golfing with his friends and family and exploring the diverse restaurant scene in Colorado Springs. I'm happy to to recommend Jared Torres as principal of Sunrise Elementary School. Miss Medina, vote. Missus Kutcher? Aye. Mister Doc? Aye.
Mister Fisher? Aye. Missus Walsh? Aye. Missus West? Aye. Alright. So I prepared some words, but I wanted to start with saying saying that, you know, first impressions are everything. And I can say, as an outsider coming into this school district, I have had nothing but, the most positive reactions and the most positive, welcome that I could possibly get. So it just makes me feel like I'm already home. Good evening, everyone. I'm deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the next principal for Sunrise Elementary. Sunrise has a strong tradition of excellence, and I'm excited to build upon that foundation. I look forward to working alongside the incredible team to create a positive student centered
culture where every child feels valued and empowered to succeed. I wanna express my six sincere appreciation to the Whitefield School Board, and superintendent Hoffman for their confidence in me and then giving me this position. A heartfelt thank you also goes to the interview committees, both of them, for the time and effort that you dedicated to this process. I truly praise appreciate the thoughtful conversations and opportunity to share my passion for education and leadership with you. I also wanna extend my gratitude to the human resources team, executive director Amy Roden, executive directors miss Tricia Bentley,
miss Stephanie Howell, and missus Rachel Lake, as well as assistant director missus Jennifer Bonds for their part in this. To all the teachers, administrators, and staff who've been part of my journey, I wanna thank you. Whether you've mentored me, challenged me, or simply supported me along the way, you've shaped the educator and leader that I am today. Lastly, I wanna acknowledge the time, sacrifice, and understanding my wife, Abby. My two sons, Kaisen and Lincoln, have provided the past few years as I've worked toward this goal. Once again, thank you for this incredible opportunity. I'm eager to get started, and I can't wait to see what we'll accomplish together.
Otters rise. Alright. Next, it is recommended the board of education approve the appointment of Christina Schubert as assistant principal of Watson Junior High School. Is there a motion? Motion. A second. Second it. Christina Schubert. Christina is a self proclaimed army brat, but is called Colorado Springs home since eighth grade. She has her bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Northern Colorado, her master's of reading from Regis University, and her principal licensure from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Christina's educational career has taken place right here in Whitefield School District three.
She taught fifth grade at Venetucci for two years and sixth grade at Watson Junior High School for thirteen years. She's also been the sixth grade literacy teacher, team lead, and avid coordinator. For the last year, she has served as dean of students at Watson Junior High. Christina and her husband, Luke, have two sons. Cooper is 13 and goes to Watson, and Oliver is 10 and goes to Talbot. They live on a horse boarding facility and currently own four horses and two dogs. For fun, Christina enjoys watching her boys' sporting events and riding her horse, Joey. I'm happy to recommend Christina Schubert as assistant principal at Watson Junior High School.
Miss Medina. Missus Kutcher. Hi. Mister Doc. Hi. Mister Fisher. Hi. Missus Walsh. Hi. Missus West. Hi. Coming up from the back. Yes. Good cut. Thank you. Hi. First of all, I wanna say thank you to the board. I appreciate your support and to our superintendent, our hiring committee Stephanie Howell as well as Shane Scala, in your second round. I've really enjoyed working with both of you. There is. I've learned a lot from you guys in my Dean role, at Watson. Of course thank you to Ross Micheler who's been my principal for a very long time, our hiring committee at Watson, some of whom are here as well.
Unfortunately my husband and my kids aren't here. They are off sporting coming up to high school and and very excited about that, but they are at home supporting. So thank you for the opportunity. Alright. It is recommended the board of education approve the appointment of Patrick Patrick Blumen as athletic director of Whitefield High School. Is there a motion? Motion. Miss Wolf? I'll second that. Thank you, ma'am. Alright. Pat Blumen. Pat hails from La Porte, Colorado near Fort Collins. He spent his childhood his childhood on a 35 acre ranch gaining hands on experience in bison ranching.
Pat's academic journey began at South Dakota School of Mines where he played quarterback on the football team and pursued a degree in geology. After multiple concussions forced his retirement from football, he transferred to UCCS, graduating in 02/2016 with a bachelor of arts degree in history and secondary education. Pat later earned a master's degree in history from Missouri State University in 2020 and completed his administrator's license from Western Colorado University in 2024. Coming from a family of educators with both his mother and grandmother as long time teachers, Pat began his educational career coaching in 2014.
He taught history and coached football and track at Rampart High School before becoming a head football coach and teaching ELA and video production at Canyon City High School. Pat's personal life is centered around his family. He has been married for seven years to his wife, Nikki, whom he met at Rampart, where she was the head volleyball coach, coincidentally winning a state title in 2021. They are the proud parents of two children, Kinsley, age four, and Theo, age two. His family is completed by two dogs, Aspen, a golden retriever, and Molly, a border collie corgi mix.
In his free time, Pat enjoys playing with his kids, engaging in anything sports related, coaching, playing, or watching, woodworking, and tackling various do it yourself projects. It's my pleasure to recommend Pat Blumen as athletic director at Whitefield High School. Miss Medina. Missus Kutcher. Aye. Mister Doc. Aye. Mister Fisher. Aye. Missus Walsh. Aye. Missus West. Aye. Awesome. First off, I'd like to thank the board, mister Hoffman, for this amazing opportunity, to echo mister Torres. As an outsider, every single experience that I've had with every person I've met at Whitefield so far has just been so warm and welcoming and very family oriented.
And as a family guy myself, that's something that that I take great pride in and excites me even more, about Whitefield. Just every interaction I've had, has been so positive. I'd like to also thank doctor Bidding, the committees at Whitefield High School and going through that process, getting to meet, I think it was over 20 people, during that time period and just walking around the school. Everybody has just been so warm and welcoming and excited about the future of Whitefield High School. I'd also like to thank every, influence I've ever had in my life. There's too many to really list. Some of the most influential people in my life have been my coaches and my
teachers, and I wanna kinda help help continue that tradition, to help the next future and the next generation into great leaders. That's gonna be kind of our goal at Whitefield High School is help our student athletes prepare for whatever future they wanna go into. When when they leave, Whitefield High School, they should be excited about their future, so they they should also have the skill set to go out and compete and become the great leaders that we have in our community as so many of them, continue to sit in this room and be able to give back to their own community as well. So super thankful for that, and I'm just unbelievably excited for this opportunity.
I can't wait to get started. So thank you all. I'm done. Are you sure? At I'm done. Are you sure? At least for tonight. Yeah. Sam. Alright. Good evening. Tonight, I'd like to start by recognizing an outstanding teacher who continues to be honored and celebrated for her work in speech and debate. I'd like to bring up Stephanie Owen. She is the Whitefield High School speech and debate coach and is the Colorado recipient of the outstanding speech and debate educator award. This award comes from the National Federation of State High School Associations. Stephanie has led students to state and national success,
fostering personal growth and resilience while also mentoring coaching, hosting tournaments, and serving on state committees. So I would love her to come and share more about her successes and, her her team and season. Thank you. As Sam said last month, I had the honor of being named the National Federation of High School Associations Outstanding Speech Educator of the State of Colorado. Each state is able to submit one candidate to the NFHS for consideration. The NFHS then reviews those submissions and chooses those who will be recognized. This year, only 23 speech educators were selected.
Individuals are chosen based on their organization and continuance of a speech program, significant and ongoing contributions to the field, years of curricular and co curricular service, and contributions to the profession both in and out of the state. I was nominated by my peers because I have coached speech and debate for eighteen years, and I have taught speech for twelve years. During that time, I have coached over 500 students, and I have taught over a thousand students. I have been on CHASA speech committees, led seminars at coaches conferences, and most recently, I am in the running to be the National Speech and Debate Association chair for
Southern Colorado. I will also be the chair for the four a state tournament next year, and I was recently certified to teach speech as a dual credit course for UCCS. In addition to these accomplishments, I take great pride in the fact that I get to help students develop into the people they want to become. When students participate in speech and debate, yes, they develop public speaking skills as evident by the 100 awards and accolades our team earned this year. But they also increase their critical thinking skills, research skills, communication skills, problem solving skills,
decision making skills, leadership skills, teamwork, collaboration, empathy, and understanding, their academics improve, and their confidence improves. In fact, it has been proven that on average, students experience an 87% increase in analytical skills after participating in speech and debate. They have an average 18% higher reading test score compared to honors students, and 90% of speech and debate students complete at least one graduate degree. Colleges have been very clear. Participating and excelling in speech and debate during high school is one of the best
things a student can do to differentiate themselves in the admissions process. And I know college is not the path for every student, but the top skills employers are looking for in potential candidates are critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, and leadership. And the top three skills lacking from employees are critical thinking, problem solving, and communication. These are all skills that are gained by participating in speech and debate. In a time when communication and public speaking are more important than ever, investing in speech and debate education is arguably the best thing families and schools can
do to ensure their students' future success. And though the decision has been made to no longer require a speech credit in order to graduate, I will continue to invest in our students through speech and debate because I see the impact it has on them, and in turn, the impact they can have on the world. Thank you. Thank you, Steph, and congratulations. Yes. All right. Next, I'd like to invite up Carlos Lopez and Terry Brungard from Technology and TLRS to give us a recap of another amazing coding in action. We've got some littles here, a team that's going to be talking here as well.
So I'll have them do the rest. We have props. Okay. Thank you. It gives me great pleasure to be here once again. We've had the opportunity to celebrate multiple teams throughout the course of this school year. As you know, Whitefield has a tremendous tradition of hosting coding and robotics events across all ages, whether it be elementary, middle school, or even into high school. Today, this is kind of our year end, story arc that concludes. As I spoke to you earlier in the year, we had our first Lego, challenge event back in the fall. We had explore back in the month of February,
and now we've closed out the year with our coding in action competition. Couple notes about the history of coding in action before I turn the microphone over to Terry Brungard, but, it's a very homegrown event here in Whitefield. While we host a number of events that are put on by, First Lego or whatever the case may be, coding in action represents Widefield's work to create something of value for students and our teams across the region. Back in 02/2016, Widefield High School, was was, the location where we first had it when our previous superintendent who was not super at the time well,
he was always super, wasn't he? But he just wasn't the superintendent at the time. Mister Kevin Duran, had this brainchild of creating a coding and action competition. And at the time, some other individuals of note were not only Terry Brungard, who's right behind me, but also Kelly Stone, who for a while also worked in, department of technology, and Jackie Crablin, who is still in district. But those individuals were among some of the more influential individuals that participated in our coding in action competition back in 02/2016 when it was a half day event, on a Friday at Whitefield High School,
and we really struggled to even find district coverage for the event because it was on on a school day. And remember at the time when it continued to grow, we thought, you know, maybe it's time to bring it onto a Saturday and make it a full day event. And ever since that time, it has been. So, it's grown tremendously. It's been great to see that as a source of continual improvement in our district. I have to say before turning the microphone to miss Brongart once again, as that story arc for this year kind of concludes with coding in action, I do have to say it's one of the things that sets apart sets us apart from other,
schools and districts in the region. We have the largest number of coding and robotics teams, in our district comp really compared to just about anyone. There's a reason why other districts choose to come to Whitefield to participate in these events. And so with that said, I'm gonna turn the microphone over to Terry, and she can talk to you more about this specific event. Thank you, Carlos. So this year's theme, was Wide Field Wonka in the Coding Factory because every year we have a different theme that's kid related and a lot of fun for us. But before I dive into the particulars,
I definitely want to talk about the fact that this is an event that we really owe a lot of thanks to a variety of people. We have a core team, Carlos, who is Widefield Wonka, of course. And, he he's amazing. He does an extraordinary job. I think I'm dinging. Hold on one moment. I even turned off my volume just in case. Hold on. Life happens. That's for sure. That is not it. Hold on. Other phone. Phone number 2. Okay. There we go. Okay. But it it really happens because it's a team effort.
These competitions really involve so much time that I have a dedicated team. As I said, Carlos, he's extraordinary. If you've ever been to any of these competitions, he's absolutely amazing. But we also have members of our core team, Daniel Higney, who's part of DTS, Audra Canale, who's new to my department, and Brenna Long. We owe a lot of this to their creativity and, their deep thought and dedication to making this an amazing event for kids. We've also had tremendous support from high school students.
We've started to incorporate the speech and debate team of all things. They've had a chance to help us with setup. I don't know if they're too happy about it, but they're very sweet about helping us get set up because it takes a lot of people to to get this implemented and And then we've had tremendous support from the Whitefield High School cheerleaders also and I think that they've really enjoyed these events. They've had a chance to act as judges and and really support us with volunteers. So I just wanted to acknowledge the tremendous support that we've had from a variety of people to make these events happen.
But, as Carlos indicated earlier, this is a homegrown event and we're it's very near and dear to our hearts, especially mine because it's always been focused on diversity. FLL, of course, is very structured. It's a fantastic program, but this is the diversity I think we were looking for and you'll see that as we go through. So we have Carlos' event, which is Arduino, which happens to be little programmable, microcomputers and so they students have a chance to actually do on the fly coding. They get a challenge and they do that during their time and get evaluated on
it. That's amazing for them to be able to do that in such a short period of time. We also have students that program Scratch, so they'll create stories or games or songs, and then they get a chance to present what they completed during the season. And that's always a great, great one that I absolutely am passionate about. This year, we decided to change things up and we had a section called Crack the Code, which was an escape room. And they had a chance to demonstrate their skills with binary coding, with typing and building a on the flight challenge and scratch coding.
So a lot of stuff happening during that session. We, of course, have drones, which is always fun, but they have a chance to demonstrate their skills, through a series of events that Brenna does a great job, completing and working up. Then we have Sphero, which is a little ball like robot that they can program and they had to work through a variety of boards to demonstrate their skills. So we had the Chocolate River, the Wonka Gumball Machine, and the Candy Button Bonanza. And so it was they were just so delightfully built and so kudos to Danielle
Higney on that. One thing that we added this year that I was so excited about and Aaron actually had a chance to, participate in this, we had a special guest speaker attend our event. He came in from Texas. His name was Preston Ward. He's part of the professional drones group called Sky Elements and he was able to not only present to the students during the day, but he did the big presentation at the end of the day. Just to give you a little bit of a sense of what he does,
he developed a group called Sky Elements and they are a professional drone group, so they really brought the world to our students to help them understand how these skills can carry them forward and I absolutely loved that. And what's amazing about him is they actually were part of America's Got Talent this last year and they took third place. And so we were just so fortunate because he came in, he did not charge us, he gave of his time, and so it was a tremendous opportunity for our students to really benefit from someone
with his skill set. And they've thrown as many as 6,000 drones at one time, which is just unfathomable. And to even just give you a better impression of what he's done, he actually, speaks with the FAA and he's helped them build policy and regulation around flying drones. And so it was a tremendous opportunity for our kids. I know Aaron spoke highly about the opportunity to get a chance to listen to him, but we were very excited about that. And that's what these competitions do. They they open up the outside world to them and provide them with skill sets
that will translate later on as they move up in their years here at Whitefield. We do focus on core values as we do in Lego League, but we have our own of innovation, inclusion, perseverance, teamwork and fun, which I think really embodies what Whitefield is about. And so this year, just to make it fun for the kids, we had some props, so, we three d printed little wonka bars for them, but then we wrapped them. Of course, the candy bar has wrapping.
But inside of two of these, we had a golden ticket and so the golden ticket winners won either a drone or a Sphero, from that. So it was just something fun for them. But it was a great way to bring in the value of the core values during that day. But I felt like it was a great success. And luckily, we have a great team here. We have Karen Lohman and Tamara Schomer. And Karen has been the coach for Webster for Coding in Action for at least
eight years. And Tamara Schomer has been, the other coach for at least four years. And they have brought with them the Coding Oompa Loompas, and they were our first place overall winners. They did a fantastic job. They took first place in Arduino and they took first place I wanna make sure crack the code. So they were just right on top and, of course, they did well in all of the other sections. But, we'd like to bring them up so you get a sense of what they thought
about their experiences with Wide Field Wonka and the coding factory. We're the we're the coding Oompa Loompas, and this is our team. We have Rowan, who actually was one of the creators of our name. We have Ollie, his best friend. We have Vermin, and then we have Peter, and we have me, Sofia. Our successes were mostly in crack the code and Arduino, as she said, and my team did a great job from my perspective, and I think that they really impressed me in my mind,
and it really amazed me on what coding is about, and it gave me a great idea of electronics. Awesome. Awesome. Woo hoo. Hello. As Sofia said, I'm Peter Jones. And I really like this year because, last year, I I was there with Furman as well. And, the theme was Super Mario Brothers, a game that personally, I really enjoy, and we won first place. So to see me win first place again, I'm really excited. And, this year, I'm just happy we just did new things.
We could have fun. We can win. And I think we made an amazing name for ourself that night. So I'm Fermin Zamora, and what we what what we struggled on on coding was how how, when we would mess up, we would have to sometimes delete it and restart again. Like, for Scratch, we we had an original product, but we had to restart on we had to restart and create a new one. And for Audrinos
and for the on the Audrino, we struggle we struggled a little too much because not a lot of people were paying attention. Like like hi. I'm Artifal McMeans. And, like Sofia said, so our struggles were spared because all of us were, like, really struggling and, like, getting mad at each other. And, for Fairly, for Janice, like Foreman Foreman said, we weren't, paying attention that much. So, when it was competition day, we found out it was very easy.
So that's why we got 100 points. And I'm what? Hello. I am Rowan Hannon, and, I'm just glad to be here with my team and, and a couple of our struggles. Oh, and our, teamwork was, like, just, like, working together to make sure everything was as good as it could be and to make sure that everything was perfect. That way, we could try to get the first place, and we ended up getting it.
So Yep. It's Yeah. And that was our team, the coding Oompa Loompas. Awesome. So, Terry, they're eleventh graders returning as twelfth graders? You would think so. They were very impressive. So, yeah, they did a great job. And all the kids did. They really did. It was very exciting for us this year. We had a great time. Yeah. Terry and and Carlos, thank you guys so much for your enthusiasm getting the kids going. I I missed this year, but last year for the Super Mario and the kids because that used to be one of my favorite games, but I did not understand the coding part of it that they were trying to
explain, so maybe next year. Yeah. They can explain it to me. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It didn't register. Well, thank you. And all of you are always welcome. We love having people coming to see all of the hard work that's been poured into it and all the heart and soul. So we love this competition. And thank you to our teachers too. There. Thank you for your support. Okay. Move on to the Board of Education reports. Miss Kucher, would you like to kick us off? Absolutely. Updates on Whitefield Park And Rec. First of all, we wanna say hi to everybody in TV land.
Thank you for signing in. And for all of you out there that come every week, thank you you very much. We really appreciate you being here. So with Park and Rec, we have a couple of things going on. All of the fitness equipment has been cleaned professionally, which is needs to be done. It's one of the things they do. Also, the fitness patio is now complete and under budget. Nice. Woo hoo. One of the things that Park and Rec does every year is they buy, thousands of dollars worth of t shirts specifically to give out to our community's children.
And it's very unique to our district, district, and it's something that I'm very proud of. So I definitely wanted to mention that they're ready to give out those hundreds of shirts again this summer. Nice. In addition, memberships continue to increase. If you've never been, you should try it out. It's an it's an amazing place. We also for the first time, we're offering men's and women's, that means over 18, basketball leagues. Wow. Okay? And they will have, actual referees that know basketball. So that's a guarantee right there.
One of the things I wanted to tell everybody that doesn't use your computer or our social media. When you go into Park And Rec, they always have a piece of paper there that tells you everything that they offer just so that nobody feels feels left out. In addition, I did wanna mention that the park and rec system loves to rehire students that they had last year or the year before. And so they're looking forward to some of you coming back and applying again for
this year. To follow-up, we have a an additional or our next meeting will be on April 10 at 06:00. And that's it for me. Okay. Alright. So, the DAC meeting took place on the March 3 at the warehouse in the Facilities Building, which houses many other essential services of the district. We had a presentation from Megan Houchens, on the process set forth by the state and state law to evaluate our licensed staff. And Stephanie Howell also, outlined the math assessment scores and all the steps being taken to improve those scores
as well as the, many resources we employ in that process. The district is currently working on a district wide essential standards that will start that we will start to implement in the fall of this coming year. So we're really excited about that. It'll do, wonders for getting those essential standards taught to our kids and raising those achievement scores. It was a very informative conversation that I recommend, if anyone wants to see that, that is on our website and you can always view that, in its entirety. Lots of great discussion and work being done to improve those achievement that math achievement
district wide. So we were, after all that, we were given a tour of the new facility's team rooms. They are converted garages that were renovated by our facilities teams to accommodate all the sporting events that take place in our stadium. This will help to alleviate the need for our teams to take that long trek to and from Bowers, during and after an event, and, they were they were spectacular. They were very nicely done. I'm sure the teams will appreciate that, the visiting teams and our, our all of our sports teams that use that stadium. The next meeting will be April 3 at six p.
M. At Talbot STEAM Innovation School. And as always, I'll do my little American history moment. So there were a couple of notable events in American history that took place on this day, March 20. In '9 excuse me, 1774, the British parliament passed the first of the Intolerable Acts, the Boston Port Act, which closed Boston Harbor until colonists paid for damages following the Boston Tea Party that took place on 12/16/1773. Also on this date,
in 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was published. So very notable events. Security Public Library. So we all know that coming up in spring break, they have a whole thing set up for teens and little kids, to participate in. They will have a teen makerspace intensive, from sick for sixth to twelfth graders only, but you have to sign up and it's on March 28. So please sign up for that. Also, for teens, they have have How to Train Your Dragon on the twenty eighth.
Also, not How to Train Your Dragon. Sorry, the movie, How to Train Your Dragon. Will be. Yes. So, I don't know but also, to let everybody know on the twenty eighth is the last day they would do the tax help. So, if you need help with your taxes, it will be from ten to two but please sign up for that. We know that they have the preschool that they will be doing on the twenty fourth and the thirty first. So, if you're interested in going in, finding out how to use the different machines that they have in there, please do. One more thing that they had this week.
Sorry. They're on Friday. Tomorrow, they will be doing a three d fidget toys printing at 03:00. Sorry. That's it from Security Public Library. Our next meeting will be April 10. Okay. Every month I get to meet with mister Dave Gish regarding operations and including facilities, activities, and events. And, I think one word that describes describes mister Gish is transparency because he will let me know anything and everything that's going on coming up, budget issues and and what's what's happening. And,
always appreciative of what the facilities folks are doing. You talk about literally behind the the scenes. I mean, if you go to if you go to Disneyland and you you somehow get to go in the in the back lot and, behind all the pretty stuff is all the stuff that's happening behind the scenes, literally supplies and all that. That's what happens with our facilities group. And, first, let me back up a second. We, mister Gish, I think, will be, presenting in just a moment regarding the capital projects list. I do wanna mention that,
in the fact that he goes around and discusses with every every school, every building, every principal, kind of their wish list of what what can we do with limited funds. And, they start out with a wish list that's pretty long, and then he, of of course, has to review that and coordinate and try to provide something in every every school building, every location so that we can continue to properly maintain. And, and it's a it's a lot of work, so I appreciate that. But, when I start talking about what's going on behind the the scenes,
he took me on a little tour right there behind his office over at the Facilities Building. We went through the, the whole area, which I had never quite gone through the entire building. And, pretty phenomenal to to see what's happening back there, with, just with all the equipment, all the things that our guys do, our our folks do over there. It was kind of, I think one special treat for me, and I never knew this existed. I don't know if you guys know about this. There's an area in our facilities building. It's a it's like a little closet. Not much bigger than a closet.
There's a guy that comes in and repairs band instruments. And anybody how many knew about that? I learned it. Yeah. We did. Yeah. Okay. And, I never knew about that until last week. So interesting that that we in fact, I I think I spoke to, Jack Selton, right, just earlier this week that, that's becoming more and more popular. We may be able to, have that that in individual, make it a money making project. I don't know. It had taken some outside business, but, band instruments that need repairs can be done right there. So a lot of that area,
was interesting to see, and I'll leave it at that. But, there's a lot that goes on. Next meeting, April 10, I meet with mister Gish, always one week before the regular board meeting. We usually get there at eight in the morning for an hour or so. And I think if anybody had an interest to come, you'd probably be welcome. At any time, I'm sure you would be welcome to sign up for some kind of tour of the facilities area, and I I thought it was pretty rewarding just to get to do that. So Thank you. Thank you, Dave. Okay. So, public comment. Any resident or employee of Whitefield School District three is welcome to address the the
Board of Education at this time on items pertaining to education and or operation of the district. Any person wishing to address the board is requested to come to the microphone and on being recognized give their name and comment. Public comments shall be directed to the board not members of the audience. Comments directed to members of the audience shall be considered out of order. Board members will not respond to individual statements or questions during public comment portion of the meeting. Questions relating to employees of the district will not be permitted. Such questions should be referred to the superintendent at another time.
Total time allowed for public comment will be thirty minutes. It's requested that each person limit their comments to no more than five minutes. This is a professional meeting in which district business is conducted. Board policy KFA, public conduct on school property prohibits profanity or verbally abusive language. Behavior in and outside of the boardroom and on all district property is a model for the students served in the Whitefield School District three. So we do have four folks who signed up. Was there another? I don't believe so. Okay. No. So the first is, Andy Alvarado. Good evening. My name is Andy Alvarado. I'm the drama teacher at Whitefield Elementary School of the Arts.
I'm here today during Theatre in our Schools Month to passionately advocate for the preservation of Whitefield High School's Theatre Department. Cutting this program would not only strip students of a vital creative outlet, but it would also route them of the invaluable life skills that go far beyond the stage. In my thirteen years working as a theater educator at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, I have seen the ways that theater teaches confidence, teamwork, and discipline. I have seen the way theater encourages students to think critically, express themselves openly, and collaborate in ways that prepare them for the challenges in the real world.
While I've heard that theater classes will be available to take at Mesa Ridge, I asked the district to consider what cutting these classes from a school directly next to an arts integration elementary school says to our students and our community. Studies show that students involved in the arts perform better academically and develop stronger problem solving abilities. In our rapidly changing world, it's essential that we equip students with both academic knowledge and the emotional intelligence to thrive. Theatre departments provide a space where young minds are nurtured, where they can discover their passions and where they learn the importance of perseverance and
creativity. Let's not take away a program that has the power to change lives. Instead, let's invest in our students, their future, and their potential. Thank you. Thank you. Delia Johnson. Hi. My name is Dillia Johnson, and I'm currently a senior at Whitefield High School. A few people in this room know that I started my career at Mesa Ridge High School, but then transferred over to Whitefield. And I oftentimes get asked, which school do you prefer? Well, in my honest opinion, both schools are amazing in their own way. But Wide Field is a school that can capture creativity and foster through the students. Wide Field is where you would send send that student who needed help to get
out of their shell and to just become a new person or that student that has a sparkle in them that needs to be shown to the whole world. So I'm here and I understand that our district is having budgets that need to be pushed out everywhere. I've been to the DAC meetings. I understand that our buildings are needing renovation. I walk the halls of these schools. And I'm not here to ask for the immediate revival of the theater and German program. However, I am here to ask a few questions that I have that I'm sure some of my peers would have as well. How long do you guys intend for these programs to be out of the school?
Is this going to be a thing that will be out for four years? Will class of 2029 be able to say that they never had the option in their own school to take the creative classes that some of their fellow alumni have had? Pardon? Pardon? Pardon? Oh, yeah. Okay. Sorry. My third question would would be what do you guys do or how are you guys planning to not have other programs cut out of the school, such as choir who is currently in Texas at a competition or orchestra who has officially made it to state or even our band who goes to many competitions and
even our marching band. And lastly I ask, have you guys considered the emotional effect that this will have on certain students? These classes have there are studies shown that drama can help people who have antisocial tendencies to help get them more out of their shell. It has been shown that art is a way to express for students to express themselves. And it's shown that language classes can help students and open them to new opportunities that they did not have before. I'm hearing that we need to believe in Whitefield, but I need Whitefield, the district, to believe in us. I need them to believe that we are more than numbers and statistics,
that we are the face of the future, and that we are Whitefield. Us students want to keep creativity in school. Please and thank you. Thank you. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. K. I'm just gonna say it. I loathe the theater club. Crazy. I know. Mhmm. But if the theater club were to disband and be completely unable to display the wonderful intricacies that are the plays like, you know, Legally Bond, I, myself as Caden Cooper, would have my inner being completely wiped out because I would be unable to witness
the pure masterpieces that that club manages to produce. And I, as your typical high school student, completely and faithfully represent the entirety of the student body. Now, moving away from my completely unbiased opinion, I believe that eliminating the theater club would be a disservice to students and staff as a whole. And I believe that instead of cutting it, the school board should instead recognize its value in developing well rounded, confident, and expressive students. Now, theater isn't just about performance.
It's also about the schools or keeping the school's prideful culture and traditions. And if you take away the club that we cherish, we would, well, have a pretty bad time. And also, in doing so, you would completely undermine the three values that this school up tries to uphold, which is pride, tradition, and innovation. So please, as your average student, I beg of you, keep the theater club. Goodbye. Thank you, Drew. Thank you. One second. Sorry. And Talina Dillard.
Hello. I'm Talena Dillard. I'm currently a senior at Whitefield High School, And I've been a part of our school's theater programs, our German programs, and art programs for the past four years. And I can honestly say that I would not be the same person that I am today without each and every single one of those programs. I've been the stage manager at our school for the past two years and the assistant stage manager for the past three. I know that theater can shape who you are as a person because it provides
you with skills that you can't actually find in an academic setting. You won't under speak stand how to, like, move on a set and improvise when you're doing a test or you're just studying a book. Theater is quite literally off script from everything that you could ever experience. German is the same way. It teaches you about a culture that you don't normally get to learn about. Because in America, Spanish is the second most common language. So we mostly focus on those programs,
but Widefield has always had German or French or something that is out of the norm. And I think that's what makes Widefield High School so great. It allows all of the students to have their freedom of expression in ways that not a lot of other schools have. I grew up in Nebraska and I transferred here and I can say that the school districts here are a lot more encompassing than those in Nebraska. And all of these creative programs help shape people into who they are.
German helped me get my grades up, and it taught me about an completely different side of a story that we're all only shown one side of in our normal history classes. Art allows you to take emotions and thoughts and put them on a paper to just show to the world. It doesn't have to mean anything, but it can also mean everything. I understand that we are experiencing budget cuts, and we have to cut at least three different departments, But it seems that we are cutting all of the expressive classes that allow people
to have creative outlets. As students, we are more than numbers. We are more than statistics. Not everybody is is cut out for college. Some are meant for the workforce, some are meant to go artistic roots, some are just trying to have a fun time and graduate. So when you talk about budget cuts and you talk about what you're cutting, I feel that we need to target the expressive classes less, and we need to focus on the students themselves and what is best for them. Academics are important, but if you are just focusing on academics,
you cannot focus on everything that makes a person a person. So if you're going to cut all of these courses, what are you going to do to help the people that need them? Because when, if you cut German, you cut German National Honor Society, you cut German club. If you cut theater, we lose the plays, we lose the musicals, we lose part of our community that has been here since the sixties. We have a wall in the theater department that is of every play and musical, and it's signed by every student that was a part of it.
It is quite literally engraved into Widefield's history, and I believe that all of these are integral parts of Widefield as a whole. So when you do cut programs, I implore you to think about the kids more than the statistics. Thank you. Thank you. Mister Fisher, may may I may I say a few words? Yes, sir. Good. Thank you. Guys, first and foremost, to everybody who came up and spoke, job well done. Very, very good job. I'd like to just provide just some clarity and I'm going to come talk to Whitefield. I'm gonna come to you each of you guys and talk with you,
and have a little bit more of a follow-up conversation, as well as Whitefield Elementary. I'd like to come, and have a conversation with you. But I just wanna, maybe provide some clarity. And it's my understanding at this point that, guys, as we start talking about the German program or the drama program, not necessarily talking about eliminating the programs, rather consolidating them for the time being with, with Mesa Ridge High School because of numbers, because of things that happened. So what I'd like to come talk with you about, it's my understanding and, guys, you talk about the, the the wall downstairs in the drama room. I was a I was a choir kid back in the day at Whitefield High
School when I graduated in 1988. I was in all three, when I graduated, all three of the musicals. It's absolutely was my thing when I was in high school. I've signed that wall. I know exactly what you're talking about. And and, guys, I I have to tell you that, every year, kids sign up for courses. They they go through the course approval, the the course request sheets. And as they go through and sign, sign up for classes, we fill classes based on the number of students that have signed up for the classes. And sometimes, we don't get enough students to fill classes. And so, I think that's one of the things that happened where I'd like to have more of a conversation with you about to make sure that my understanding and our understanding
is correct. One of the things that we, that we have a cool ability to do and opportunity to do is because of the, collaborative scheduling that we've done between Whitefield High School and Mesa, we have the opportunity. There are several classes that go on when Mesa Ridge doesn't have enough students to, enroll in a class. They go to Whitefield to take those classes. When Whitefield doesn't have enough students to, take a class at Whitefield, they go to Mesa Ridge to do that. We have a bus that goes back and forth between Whitefield and Mesa every class period, and so we have students that transfer back and forth.
My understanding is that the Whitefield students will still have every opportunity to take drama and be able to take all of those classes at Mesa Ridge High School. I know it's not the same as being at Whitefield High School, but the opportunity to do that, I I think, is still going to be there. The other opportunity that I think I've heard loud and clear, you talked about, the theater, club after school and the theater club. I don't think there's any intention of theater club going away. I think Whitefield High School is still intending to have a fall play and a spring musical. Those are absolutely things that are important to me personally as a superintendent,
and I think to our school district, as a school district. So I I just wanted you to know, guys, we're not removing you would ask some questions. We're not removing drama or German class, anything like that from the course description book. As more students sign up for that, we will offer those classes and we will continue to go through and do that. So, I'd love to talk a little bit more with you about what your understanding is and make sure that we're on the same page, because opportunities for students is absolutely what we're about. And so, I've got your information up here. I will spend some time coming to Whitefield and I'd love to visit with each
one of you, to talk with you a little bit more about that. But again, thank you so much for coming up and speaking so eloquently on behalf of, of your fellow students and yourselves as well. So thank you, guys. Appreciate you. And to keep with the music and choir and, the theme, if mister Sullenwright would come on up. Yes. Alright. Hello. My name is Jack Sullenwright. I'm the music coordinator. Here to give you a brief overview of what my department does and kind of what we do to support the district. So I am mister Jack Selenreid. We have it's a two person department. It is me and Raymundo Munoz.
He's our district music secretary. We, oversee about 31 music staff members, six of those being an additional six of them being, EA accompanist, which is super unique to our district. Approximately students that are involved in any sort of music program is about 6,200. That includes all of our littles. They all are guaranteed music, which is super cool. For our secondary students in music, we have about 2,200 and that fluctuates depending on where we're at, which is really cool. So, what we're really proud to say is that number keeps growing. It we'll talk about our projected growth going there.
So our purpose is we provide the opportunity for quality music education, results in the personal growth of all students, families, and the educational community. That that's really our purpose. We wanna make sure music is alive and well in our district, and I I can speak from experience that absolutely is. We're working hard. We're super supportive. We're super supported as well. Some of our goals is to provide quality music education to all of our students, foster excellent ensembles, and promote lifelong musicians, provide students with excellent performance opportunities. I think we've done a really good job for that. Opportunities. I think we've done a really good job with that. So a brief overview of kind of what we do. We coordinate a lot of the district events,
all the big events we do, honor choir, honor band, honor orchestra, the jazz fest which is coming up. We just did the honor orchestra and honor band last weekend. It was great. We had a 10 kids, best junior high students that we could put on. It was great. It was really, really fun. We really support our community with live music opportunities. We support the, tree lighting event, which is super awesome, and lots of other opportunities. We perform at, lots of the retirement homes in our community, which is super cool. It's really great to get out there, and perform there. This is a big one, and I think, you guys spoke of it a little bit more.
We we maintain, purchase, and repair all of the instruments and equipment for our music program. That's a big job. We started doing that in house, trying to save a couple bucks. And, Raymundo Munoz is the guy behind the scenes in that. He is the gentleman that scurries in and scurries out, fixing all of those things. He's a wonderful saxophone player, and he's gotten very good at it, which is very cool. We support music teachers as much as possible throughout monthly music meetings and trainings. Recently, we were able to send about eight people to Texas for the Texas Music Educators Association convention. Just wow. The conversations that would happen there,
we're able to do that because we support music and we have this department, and it's it's a really, really cool opportunity. We also coordinate, professional development opportunities through our mute monthly music meetings. We've had people come in from CU Boulder. We've had I think, Adam State has come in. We've had all those really big directors coming in, talking with our teachers about how to work with those students, how to make sure that we are elevating our ensembles to the highest possible quality. And we also support, the school administration with hiring and evaluations. That's I really enjoy doing that. It's something that we get to know know all of our music staff.
We get to support them music specifically and that doesn't happen everywhere. So, just to say that my position exists in this district is a huge, huge plus for our district and you can see the support there. Some notable accomplish accomplishments this year. We've had 11 students make all state choir, which is awesome. That's super cool. Last year, we had eight, so we're growing there. This number is wild. 30 students in junior high all state choir. That is the biggest it's ever been, and I just anticipate it growing. We had one student in all state orchestra. We had Whitefield High School make the,
American String Teachers Association state convention. Janata Junior High, they sang at the last they sang the national anthem at the twenty twenty four CASB convention, which was really awesome. They did a great job. We had our big event in December. We had over 300 kids. We definitely had a ton of people there, which was awesome. I think we're gonna have to split that event for elementary and junior high. I think just for fire type reasons. But it was so big. That was really, really awesome. And we are projected to grow by 9% in the next school year within music. I think that's something really cool to hold on to is that we're recruiting,
we're retaining, and it's thanks in part to all of our wonderful, music teachers and our support from our board and all of the upper administration. Music runs deep in wide Field, and so that's really big. A couple of things to look out for what's coming up. Right as we come back from spring break, we have the Chassel Large Group Fest, which is our big evaluation. We do that, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, the second through the fourth, all day at at Whitefield High School. If you have a moment to stop in and see any performance, all most of our groups are performing there, for our secondaries. It's very, very cool. We require that our secondary music people take at least one ensemble to this and
be evaluated. Whitefield High School performs on the March 11 at, Metropolitan State University up in Denver. They're gonna do great. They already got a superior rating. This is just bonus chocolate. So we're really excited about that. They're gonna do a great job. Job. I heard them perform, a couple days ago. Wow. They're just phenomenal. If you haven't had a chance to hear them, please do go hear them. May 9, if you like jazz, we're hosting our district jazz fest. Every secondary school has a jazz band. Come hear them. It'll be a great time. That's usually kind of a long concert, but worth every moment.
Thank you guys for everything you do to support music. We really appreciate it, and Whitefield is one of the special places where we can say music is a huge deal. So thank you guys for having me. Thanks, Jack. If I could just, expand on a minute, Jack. Thank you for he stopped in the other day, and we had a 15 conversation that was really good. It just reassured me of the efficiency that you and your department performs with regard to budget budgetable monies and how they're spent and how you're supporting our schools. I think Jack makes nearly every concert,
everyone that he can, and, I see him a lot. And, furthermore, I guess on behalf of marching band, because my granddaughter's in marching band over at Mesa Ridge, their numbers are down. And anybody who lives all night, promote marching band because we need to get junior high kids coming into high school, join the marching band because, their numbers have been down. So Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Doctor h. I thought it was in May. Good evening. I have a couple of items for you. In item four or sorry. Five a, it is recommended the board act on the textbook adoption for athletic training and advanced
athletic training as presented. Is there a motion? Motion. Oh, go ahead. Motion. Is there a second? I'll second that. Any questions, discussion? No. That looks like an exciting course. Awesome. That's a good course. Miss Medina? Adoption recommendation for AP Biology. Is there a motion? I'm with that motion. I'll second. It's okay. Any questions, discussions? Okay. Miss Medina. Missus Kutcher. Aye. Mister Doc. Aye. Mister Fisher. Aye. Missus Walsh? Aye. Missus West? Aye. Alright. In item five c, it is recommended that the board act on the textbook adoption recommendation excuse me,
recommendation for physics. Is there a motion? I'll make the motion. A second? Second. Miss Walsh. Miss Walsh? Yeah. Any discussions, questions? No. Okay. Miss Medina? Missus Kutcher? Aye. Mister Dock? Aye. Mister Fisher? Aye. Missus Walsh. Aye. Missus West. Aye. And in item five d, it is recommended that the board act on the textbook adoption recommendation for world history. Motion. Is it? Second. Second. K, mister Doug. Any questions, discussions? I've reviewed that, world history book and, yeah, and couple few of us did.
And, I I was impressed with how how thorough it was. Yeah. I mean, you can't possibly teach that entire book. But anyway Yeah. We we know how that goes. I'm convinced. But it was but, I'm happy. The teachers do a really solid job of reviewing their resources and their experts in their field. So thank you. Ms. Medina. Mrs. Kutcher. Hi. Mr. Dock. Hi. Mr. Fisher. Hi. Mrs. Walsh. Hi. Mrs. West. Hi. Excellent. And then in item five e, I'd like to bring up Hannah Williams who is our CAP facilitator for secondary social studies.
She has a receive item for you for our US History textbook. Hannah? Hello. Good day. I'm Hannah Williams. I'm the assistant principal at Superl Junior High and here to propose the adoption of The US history textbook. I'll go over some highlights of this text, and we are proposing to adopt the McGraw Hill US history text. Just some things to highlight around this. We had a team of teachers who are currently teaching from the high schools, look through many different options. You can see, on the proposal, they looked through quite a few to narrow it down.
We had them first, complete a needs assessment to just determine, what is lacking in the current curriculum and text and what they needed. And then through the text that they received when they had samples, they went through and kind of did an assessment on what were strengths and weaknesses based on what they needed. And that information is in the proposal as well. So just some highlights you can see, the text. There was a big just the technology integration in particular, really well integrated with Google Classroom and Schoology. As we mentioned in the other texts, a lot of them are starting to have good good,
integration there where they can assign things online and students, the grading will go directly through the grade book, which is really efficient. You can see some of the free materials they've listed. They even included, the professional learning for some of the staff members, which is usually pretty expensive and extra. So that was a highlight for this text in particular. And then I just wanna, highlight with the total cost to just, clarify. So you can see the at the bottom there, it's around $33,000 for the digital licenses, but, and then you can see the student additions underneath.
But that includes a bundle with the ongoing digital licenses. So that's why those are separated out in the cost that they bundle those out in addition to the student hard copies. So that's why the student or the total cost is around $81,000. Just shy of that. Any questions for me? Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I wanna thank Hannah. This was her first year, as a CAP facilitator, and we really put her through the wringer. She had a large number of adoptions. And so I'm very thankful for her leadership in putting together,
this wonderfully written adoption and, guiding the teachers through a lot of our social studies teachers or coaches. So trying to get them all in the same room to be able to see the representatives, was a challenge. And, Hannah handled it like a champ. So thank you, Hannah. This, copies of the teacher and the student edition are there for you, and they will be there and available for the community for the next thirty days. If you have any questions about the proposal, feel free to reach out to me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I do, but they reduced the shipping charges. So they've done a good mister Gish?
Sorry. Didn't wanna interrupt didn't wanna interrupt anything there. On, Tuesday, I had an opportunity to explain the importance of our capital improvement projects and present the proposed capital improvement project list, for the 2526 school year. And so it is recommended the school board, approve the capital improvement project list, proposed list for the 2526 school year as presented. Is there a motion? One second. Yep. Dave second? Yeah. She motioned. Okay. So we get the motion. Any questions, discussions? Just appreciate what you did on pulling that together and with the tight budget and
covering everything. We try. Yeah. Miss Medina. Missus Kutcher. Hi. Mister Doc. Hi. Mister Fisher. Hi. Missus Walsh. Hi. Missus West. Hi. Thank you for your support. We appreciate it. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. You and the whole team. Mhmm. Good evening. Good evening. I'm requesting approval for 12 students from Mesa Ridge to travel to the WGI World Championships in Dayton, Ohio, April First Through The Sixth. At the championships, students will compete against teams from all over The United States and internationally.
We have 12 students and five adults attending the color guard competition. The students and chaperones will fly to Ohio. They will stay at the Holiday Inn. They will then rent vans and, head to their competition. Fellow Levis director of bands and Shelby McNeil, the WinterGUARD coach, will be present at all times. Funding for the event has been covered through fundraising and parent contributions, and the group has completed all appropriate approvals to this point. Do you have any questions about their trip? K. Therefore, I am officially requesting your approval for them to attend the WGI World Championships.
Motion from Motion? Okay. Just do that. One second. And no questions, so we'll move on to both. Missus Kutcher? Aye. Mister Doc. Aye. Mister Fisher. Aye. Missus Walsh. Aye. Missus West. Aye. Thank you so much for your support. Miss Craft, I just wanted to say that, Shelby and, Phil do such a great job with that. Super proud of them. Thank you. You're having an amazing season. Yes. They really are. Good luck. We're really proud of them. Good luck. And I let me just add in. I know we hear about fundraising, fundraising, fundraising, and parents giving, and I went through it when my my kids were growing up.
And it's it's not always easy to dish out money for those things, and yet it's so crucial and and compliments to everybody who's involved in in so much fundraising that has to happen. Otherwise, these trips can't happen. So pass along our thanks to all the kids and parents who participate. Absolutely. Thank you. And you as well, doctor Bidding. It's not a thing, even though you haven't said it yet. Yep. Good evening. I am here to request permission for our three students from Whitefield High School to attend the national speech and debate tournament in Des Moines,
Iowa this summer from June. They will go with miss Stephanie Owen, who you saw earlier today, who's our speech and debate coach, and mister Brett Elhofer, who is our assistant coach. They will rent a van and drive from here to Des Moines. They will stay at a hotel adjacent to the tournament and share rooms as they are able with other schools to save some costs. That cost is covered through fundraising and parent contributions. They have received all approvals to this point. Do you have any questions? I do. If you can't pronounce it Desmoines, I cannot approve it. Desmoines? Okay. Please.
Yeah. Motion approved. Did you ask for us to approve it yet? I asked for questions. Yeah. Are there any other questions besides Desmoines? I was just looking at the time. I'm sorry. We're good. Okay. We request approval to attend. Miss Walsh, you Motion to approve. Motion. Is there a second? I will second that. Okay. There were no questions other than Des Moines. So if we can can vote. Missus Kutcher? Aye. Mister Dock? Aye. Mister Fisher? Aye. Missus Walsh? Aye. Missus West? Aye. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'd like to make a motion.
I'd like to make a motion Mhmm. To to accept Vincent Yarbrough as the new person on the school board for on the board for Security Public Library. Mhmm. Can we just think? Okay. Oh, let me no. You said second. Yeah. I need somebody to second. Oh, I'll second that. Okay. K. So first, second. Mhmm. There you go. Okay. Vincent Ybarro is a human factors engineer at MITRE, where he applies his expertise to enhance user centered design.
He grew up in Greeley, Colorado and earned a psychology degree from Colorado State University. Vincent, he likes to be called Vinny, later graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2021. With a passion for research, he has authored over 10 published papers on topics ranging from improving numeracy to enhancing communication. Outside of work, Vincent enjoys live music and is an active member of Security Whitefield Book Club, volunteers at the Humane Society, and he's eagerly anticipating the birth of his first child in June.
He is very excited to be part part of the library board. Miss Medina. Missus Kutcher. Aye. Mister Doc. Aye. Mister Fisher. Aye. Missus Walsh. Aye. Missus West. Aye. Nice. Okay. Miss Bentley. Good evening. Good evening. Alright. So at Tuesday's luncheon, we had three principals come and present their, highlights of their innovation schools, which I gotta tell you, I left there and it just felt so good that they're doing such wonderful things beyond academics that the experiences that those kids get. But anyway, outside of that,
if you don't have any questions, it is recommended that, you ratify the innovation plans for King Elementary School, Whitefield Elementary School of the Arts, and Talbot Steam Innovation School. Is there a motion? I'll make that motion. Mhmm. I'll second. Second. Was there any questions? Mhmm. Hearing none, seeing none. Miss Medina. Missus Kutcher. Aye. Hi. Mister Doc. Hi. Mister Fisher. Hi. Missus Walsh. Hi. Missus West. Hi. Okay. And also under five k, I have, received item for you, mister Skyla and myself. We,
talked to you and presented the contracts for Center for Success for both junior high and elementary schools for the 2526 school year. And if you could just take the next thirty days and look over those contracts. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to either Shane or myself. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mister Zateka, we're coming to the Apex. I was gonna say I have the last three agenda items, and if I can take the, items l and m together, that'd be great. Please do so. Alright. So bear with me here as we continue our our policy review.
Items five L and M include the following policy revisions: GBAA sexual harassment for employees, which is an update of discriminatory categories and inclusion of the CASB recommended language. GVC IDR professional staff development in service program guidelines and procedures for licensed personnel includes an update of current district practices. GBEB staff conduct is an update of an employee arrest information, addition of staff ethics and conflict of interest guidance, and inclusion of the CASB recommended language. GBEC is the drug and alcohol free workplace which includes the removal of content not
in alignment with current district practice GBEDR use of tobacco by employees includes the removal of dated content. GBGB is the staff personal security and safety which includes update of content to emphasize district intent. GDE and GDF non licensed staff recruiting hiring includes an update of discriminatory categories and an inclusion of CASB recommended language. DAC which is the Federal Fiscal Compliance Policy includes an update of designees in alignment with current district practice.
That's the same for DC, taxing and borrowing. DEA, the funds from local tax sources, includes removal of content and update of designees in alignment with our current district practice. DFADFAA is the investment policy. That's a rather long one I might add. Includes alterations to make the document current. That does get updated annually, but it doesn't get updated annually in policy. So we wanted to make that so that it represents current rather than old information.
DJDJA is the Purchasing Purchasing authority policy, which includes an update of designees in alignment with current district practice. EBBAR is procedures for handling bodily fluids in school. That was a fun one for Tammy. That one includes an update of content with current guidance and a little addition in the title from Tammy, which helps us out. Thank you, Tammy. EBCE is the unscheduled closing or dismissal of schools, which updates the content and alignment with district practice. EDC, loaning of school district equipment, is standardization of language, which is the same in EDCE,
which is the equipment loan form. EE, Operation of Transportation Program, is an update of content to emphasize district EEA is student transportation, which includes additional clarifying content in alignment with current practice. And the deletion of three policies: GBAA R, sexual harassment for employees procedure, GBAA one, which is the sexual harassment for employees procedure, and GBAA E2, sexual harassment for employees complaint form. The base policy will remain as revised in the G section.
That will be maintained, but the policy procedures and form are already covered in the A section and we discussed that the other day at the luncheon. These revisions are in addition to all the policies reviewed this month with no revisions recommended. Each of the aforementioned policy revisions are received items this month for your review. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. A lot of work and a lot of reading and, yeah. February and March are the small months. I'm just gonna give you you a little warning now. So now for the fun one, now for the fun one, I'll invite Heather to see us up. That way you guys don't have to listen to this. She's waited a long
I just. For the record, and she'll agree with me on this, I told her she could come late, but she can't really, anyway. Oh. So so I first of all, I wanna thank her in particular for for coming to, the luncheon on Tuesday to have more robust conversation and also sticking us sticking with us tonight. But I want to thank all the committee. We have representatives from all the different schools, departments, and such, licensed and non licensed, and it's it's a tremendous group. They get very creative with their with their thinking, which I encourage, and they always come up with good options and get lots of feedback.
They spend lots of time surveying and having conversations with staff and buildings and that really helps us get it right. So again, we made a change last year to work two years out so that we weren't always hustling and making last minute decisions for scheduling and all that. So we're working on the 2627 calendar. With that, I'll turn it over to to Evan. So we met, and we are looking at twenty twenty twenty six and 2027. We, sent out a survey with two different options. And once the survey came back,
it was 67% selected option b, which is returning one day earlier, but getting an extra long weekend in February to kinda help out a little bit in February with not having any breaks. Okay. And the semester's will be And the semesters will be basically the same. There are two extra days in the option b for second semester, but that will help with testing so that they won't actually lose instructional days. Well, and after winter break, you forget about those five days to start the year.
So Well, in the second semester, there's no really breaks, but spring break. So Overall, it's not a significant change to No. Calendar. It just keeps them, a little longer break mid February, but it's a great time to have a little longer. Exactly. So that's, that's a receive item this month for you guys' review. K. K. K. So round in the corner, future meetings. We will be having a, board of education budget work session on March 27 at 4PM here in the boardroom.
The next luncheon meeting will be April 15 at 12PM, and then the next regular board meeting will be April 17 at 6PM. All the meetings do take place here in the boardroom, 1820 Main Street, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80911. Mister Fisher, I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Please. Is there a second? Okay. Miss Medina. Okay. I'm here in a hurry. Let's see. Missus Krutcher? Aye. Mister Dock? Aye. Mister Fisher? Aye. Missus Walsh? Aye. Missus West? Aye. Oh, thank you. Meeting is adjourned.