here. >> Oh yeah, first week after they were trying. Thank you for >> You should come home to some decent weather. I don't think they're talking
any weather. Right to call this meeting to order. Uh, roll call, please. >> Kimbell, >> she Oh, sorry. Kimber had something to say. Very good. >> You have something.
>> Uh, she has an excused absence. >> And here. >> Okay. Uh, you could please stand up and join me. Uh, Mr. Tim speaker. I don't know how many people were at the assembly yesterday, but he was given
this beautiful plaque and he was in his marine dress. We're very proud of you, Tim. If you could join, if you could lead us in the pledge of 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. The preamble to the constitution of the state in Colorado reads, "We the people of Colorado with profound reverence for
the sup supreme ruler of the universe in order to form a more independent and perfect government establish justice, ensure tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of
liberty to ourselves and our post posterity. do ordain and establish this constitution for the state of Colorado. If we could take a moment of silence now, please. Thank you. >> Okay, next item.
Approval of the agenda. Can I have a motion for approval of the agenda? So move. >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> Barkley. >> I Bates. >> Hi. >> Timberl. >> Hi. Very good.
Okay. Uh we've got some special guests tonight. Uh the Woodland Park Senior High School cross country team. Coach, you can stand up. Uh, I'm gonna turn it over to you to
and ask you to introduce introduce your athletes and share this season's highlights. >> Coach Kent Trail, thanks for having us here tonight for allowing us to be honored this way. Um, you know, I coached football here for forever since
Ro and um, so this is my first go coach cross country. Um, and I for me uh, these are probably some of the greatest athletes we got. Um, it's real honor to get to work with these kids and and see
what they've accomplished. I don't know if you guys know that, you know, Colorado is considered kind of the running mecca of the country. And um if you're a runner in Colorado, you're an elite runner, not just just an average runner. And I was always shocked all season long that I don't think realize
how big they are. Um because they're really the elite among the elite and it's fun that they're here running. Um give you a few highlights here. Um wanted to start by just talking about progress that was made. Uh Weston Cros,
I don't think he's here tonight. Uh Weston was new to us. Um his parents are in the community. Sandy who coach volleyball and um he made a 3 minute and 3 seconds almost a 3 minute and 4 second improvement in his PR course of the
season. Wow. And um kind of hard to quantify if you're not a runner, but uh but it's a huge huge improvement. >> Emil Guthrie is a a freshman. He's actually playing basketball now, so he's here tonight. So, Neil's not here tonight. Um, but he
was new to us. And he actually ran a PR of 17 minutes and 48 seconds in the 5K. Um, which is very fast. Um, he had a minute improvement over the season. That minute seemed like a lot. Whenever you're on 1748, a minute is a
lot. So, excellent job for him. He actually was uh in 3A, second fastest freshman in the 3A class. >> Wow. >> In our region. So um so incredible job for him. >> Ben Hardies was new to us. He actually came out and said he's in our summer
boot camp last year. Um he's a sophomore and he said, "I just want to I just want to get in shape and um stay in shape." So um Ben started off at 1856. Sorry, that's a meal. 2728 and finished at 2333.
>> Oh my PR. So he shaved almost four minutes off his uh his his 5K time which is incredible improvement. Jaden Kersner, you here? >> Oh, great. Raise your hand. J.
>> There you go. So Jaden um PR several times. He continue to progress all season long. He did great for the track season last year and he improved by a minute and 26 seconds and his fastest time
was 180705 in the 5K. So, great job for Jaden. Danic Lewis was new to us as well. He's a he's a kid that's just extremely gritty. Um he's one of those kids that like if you tell him to run through a wall, he's like, "Yes, coach
wall." Um, but he was brand new to us, uh, in cross country. He ran for us last year in track. Actually, he got caught our attention when he ran, I believe was the two-mile in some Chuck Taylor Allstars.
Um, but we got him in some proper shoes this year. So, um, he actually finished this year, uh, at 1950 in the 5K and he had a minute. John Walter. What's your name? John?
>> We love John. John's awesome. Um, had a minute and 23 second improvement and his best 5K time was 223404. Titus Swan is not here. He's a freshman and uh that kid's going to be a real star. Um, watch for him competing for
for it all before it's over with. Um he started in a 1719 and he his PR was 164407 in the 5K. So he only shaved 34 seconds off his time. But again, when you're running that fast, it's pretty hard to
make huge improvements in time. Tristan Tisdall. Tristan's a junior. Does incredible work, provides a lot of leadership for the team. He was one of our captains this year. Um, his PR was 175103
and he shaved 2 minutes and 15 seconds off of his time. So you improve there and then the Vanderhar you the Bonder. All right. So I don't have great stats on the but you need to know about him is
he got injured in week two and spent seven weeks aqua jogging. Uhhuh. missed most of the races. But what I'm impressed with the is um mostly would have quit. It's just not fun.
Um and he didn't he stayed with it and then he was able to run two races at the end races at the end and he's planning on joining our offseason training program and make next year a great year. So so proud of him. I don't have any stats for him though. >> Nice work. Never quit.
>> All right. On the girls side, Claire Biggley. And Claire started at 295105. She finished the season at 23595. >> She had a 5 minute and 51 second improvement.
>> That's great. >> And Claire's going to be going to be a scorer for us next year. We're very excited for her. And you're a freshman, right? Freshman. So Lucy Hitchcock isn't here. She's uh taking driving lessons tonight. That's good.
[Laughter] >> But uh Nancy really came on strong. Uh three of the last four meets she was our top female finisher and she finished the season at 1936 and she got a minute and 58 uh second
improvement on the season. She was one that uh needed to believe in herself. We saw it in her, but she didn't see it in herself. And uh and I think by the end of the season, she knew she was one of our top runners. Landry B. There she is. Landry, another one of our
top runners. It's It's tough because we've got four girls that kind of run it back. There was one race, right? They they came in one after another and such a strong team, a phenomenal team. She finished at 1947 29 as her PR starting
at 20 minutes and 59 seconds. So she had a minute and 11 second improvement. Um Nora, no one can pronounce her name. And she started at 2130. Her PR was 19309. So rough end of the season with a
bunch of illness that took her out of about almost two weeks of training. She actually probably would have finished even stronger, but she bounced back. didn't didn't didn't uh give up and she had a minute and 10 second improvement. We're expecting big things next year.
Um Olivia Star, Olivia's another one of those in that that top four that really pushed us forward as a team. Um her PR was 195409. She started at 2159. She had two a 2
minute 4se secondond improvement this season. And Danielle Taylor senior and going to be missed tremendously. This is one of your allstars in the classroom on the field. She was one of our team captains and uh there were several times that we ran for
her. So, um you were going to be missed like crazy kid. Um she started the season at 2133. Her PR was 20 minutes and 44 seconds and she saved 50 seconds off her PR. >> Wow. Wonderful. And then just a couple bigger highlights that I think are worth
mentioning. Um on the boys side at the boys league meet, Titus, our freshman, finished 23rd out of 99 and he was the number one freshman boy in that in that group. Um at regionals, the boys finished fifth
out of 11 teams. And I should should mention that the boys were kind of they were unranked and no one expected anything out. I truly they they assumed they would finish 10th or 11th, you know, in the regions, but then to finish fifth at regionals out of 11 teams. Um,
and really just a few points behind Lamar, we would have gone to state as a team for boys just shocked everybody. And so we have a huge class of of young boys coming up with the eighth grade and seventh grade and sixth grade coming up. So you should expect to see us over and
over again with boys dominating along as the girls have done this year. So they finished fifth out of 11 teams. Titus finished ninth and he was the number one freshman. Emil here finished 25th and he was the number two freshman.
So strong runners there. And finally at state Titus finished 48 out of 153. to try a new strategy which did not work for him but he was the third fastest freshman in the state in three days. Uh on the girls side at league um we had
some all league uh ladies Lucy Hitchcock not here um and Landry Paul. So they were all league. Um uh I believe me Olivia finished 19th. Sorry let me back up for a second. Lucy
finished 11th. Uh Landry finished 12th, Olivia finished 19th, and Danielle finished 21st. Uh in girls regional, we were number three out of 10 teams. Lucy finished sixth, Landry 10, Nora 13th, and
Danielle 28. That was out of 79 total runners. And at girls state, Nora finished 30th, Lucy 34th, Olivia 47th, and there's 48 to girls who ran >> and we're number four out of 20
>> and that was 32. >> 32 and 34. >> Get it right. >> Thank god she does keep me straight most of the time. So, um yeah, finished fourth out of 20 and just
a few points behind third. Um, and with Daniel our only score that's leaving this year, um, we expect to to get get potentially in the medals next year at state. So, we got a great team here. I probably already taken up too much time, but I just want to make sure to highlight the team and thank you for
having >> Hold on for there just for a second. If we could get you all to stand up so we can recognize you. We've got two runners amongst us. Mr. Rester Holtz and Mr. Curitar run like crazy. >> Kegan.
Yes. So, they really appreciate the times they're hearing. Thank you. And coach Cantrell, uh, I watched you coach football for many years and through your programs, you really made a lot of those
football players excel in in in big leaps and bounds and clearly you have brought that over to what you're doing now. So, uh, we really appreciate you as a coach, sir. >> Thank you. >> Trying to fly under the radar, but they started.
>> Yeah. Well, thank you all for coming. >> I would like to say that our favorite Pikes Peak Courier reporter right here, Pat Hill in the front, is a great runner and she still is running every day. And
uh I just applaud you guys. I ran cross country in high school and in college and at 66 I'm still running. So uh it's a lifelong sport, you know. Congratulations. Keep up the good work and never quit. So, you guys are gonna
do great. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thank you, David. All right. Thank you all. We appreciate you coming in. [Applause] Arizona, right? >> Thank you all. >> Thank you.
>> Well, that was that was wonderful. Uh that was >> Okay, moving along. Administrative reports. Board of Education reports. Do we have any? >> Well, I would just like to say for my last meeting, official meeting, uh it
has been an honor to serve. Of course, I wish that some things would have been done differently, but uh I've been honored to serve the school and the community. So, thank >> Egan. You can't say anything like that.
You're you're still you See, Cassie, did you have anything? >> Yeah. So, >> thank you. I would also like to add that I would like to welcome
and I hope you guys do a great job. >> I'm sure you will. And I would I would echo that as well. I've had a chance to speak to most of the new board members and congratulate you and we have high hopes for you. So,
uh, welcome aboard. you you'll be here sooner than sooner than you know. Okay, next item, superintendence report. Miss Smok. >> Yes. So, I'm going to start off talking about the each individual school. So, Coline
Elementary School hosted a Veterans Day breakfast um and everyone enjoyed homemade breakfast casserles and treats with their veterans and the students. And then Coline is also looking forward to their Thanksgiving feast on Tuesday.
That's a really big deal. Lots of families come in. I know when I was there, we had to adjust the schedule for lunches so we had more time for everyone to eat. So that's a lot of fun. I'm glad they're still doing that and welcoming the families to come in. Um, also the third graders that day are doing a
Thanksgiving Day parade of floats in the hallway to celebrate. So, I guess there's going to be more stuff happening in the hallway as well. Um, Coline is also excited to host their annual giving tree fundraiser this month and the K
kids food drive in December. And then Combine is also going to start having um pro I'm assuming mostly after school, but sometimes teachers do it before school as well, but tutoring for math and reading for some kids that need
to fill some gaps. And then Summit Elementary is grateful for that fabulous. Sorry, I'm reading this because Katie wrote it. So that's why I giggled. Katie is fabulous district Veterans Day assembly and a wonderful celebration at Summit. Um they also had
the um veterans come and visit their classrooms as well like they always do. They are looking forward to a 90s themed family fun night next Thursday. So that sounds like my generation go enough to be a themed night.
>> I I think it is. Yeah. >> Yes. Um and that is one of their family fun nights. It gives an opportunity for um the summit community to come together and also very proud of the ongoing work
of the teachers during PLC's which is professional learning communities. um their whole staff is dedicated to the success of every student and their learning leaning into their structures and processes to help all students be successful.
And then the junior senior high school um hosted a well attended Veterans Day ceremony and the turnout from the community members and vets was wonderful to see and we appreciated them being there and interacting with students from Summit Coline and our high school
students. and I'll speak a little bit more to that in the rest of my report. Um, the Woodland Park Junior Senior High School will also be presenting uh Little Women the Play on Thursday, November 13th, Friday, November 14th, Saturday
the 15th, and Sunday the 16th. So, the evening programs are at 700 p.m., and then the Sunday is at 1 p.m. And um, Mrs. Swarnex theater students will be hosting the 10-minute play festival on
November 20th in her classroom blackbox theater at 6 pm. Um they would love to have you come and see their wonderful theater students in action at either or both events. And then winter sports are also underway. The junior high school
boys basketball and high school hockey teams are currently in season. look at the schedules to catch up on games and come and cheer on the Panthers. So, that's what's happening in our schools and then a little bit more um happening at the district office level and in the
schools. I started um we started bringing back community connections because we know how important it is to bring our community into um this building and have those conversations of how could we start connecting with you and bring you back into our schools. And so, um, October
30th, I invited the the vet local vets to come in because I also wanted to hand them a a paper copy of the invitation to come to the Veterans Day assembly, um, that was yesterday. So, we had a really nice discussion. Um, it was a small group, but a very, uh, vocal group. We
talked quite a bit about how we could educate our students more about the different career pathways that could come from being in the military. And there are so many different careers nowadays that it really is a great
option for a lot of students um if they're interested in some of those career pathways. And so I do think there is some education that we could do for our students to just help them understand the different the variety of careers they could go into. We also
discussed different scholarships that our students could apply for um through the VA and the American Legion. So that's some information I need to connect some of our ELA teachers to some of the veterans. So those are some more connections I'd like to start working on
in the future. Um we are planning to schedule more community connections um coming up soon hopefully for first responders as I'm also hoping to get some more um connections with them as I'm working on updating our safety and
emergency response plans for the district. Um, we are also planning to host realators at one of the events because we know how important it is when we have families moving into town to have the realators have that important information about our schools to be able
to share with families because they often ask realtors. Um, and then other small business, uh, community leaders, you name it. We're going to try to get people back into the district office and collaborating with us. So, that is one of my goals that I've I've been working
on and I'm going to continue to work on. um with the new board as well. The Veterans Day assembly was I felt like really wonderful. Um I wanted to thank the teachers, the principles, the staff um and our students of course for doing
such an amazing job. I also want to do to say a special thanks to Lindsay Crawl because she brought back the slideshow um of all of our local veterans and family members that are veterans and it's just it was on when you walked in tonight. Um it's just a really lovely
slideshow and we're planning to continue that and to add to it in the future. And so moving on to listening tours. So, in a few minutes, I'm going to talk about the staff climate and culture
survey that I conducted earlier this year. I'm going to give you some highlights. What I'm doing this week now is I'm following up with each school in person and I'm sitting down um when teachers have basically their lunchtime. Um, and of course I'm bringing treats
because that helps. Um, but I'm just following up with them on on what what they feel is going really well and areas of growth and improvement and solutions. I know that was part of the survey, but sometimes it's really nice to just have a face-to-face conversation. So, that's
what I'm working on this week. Um, I was at Summit today. I will be at Coline tomorrow and then I'll be at the junior senior high school on Friday. And something else that actually Karen Hamlow is helping with is um I think it
was last week, but the weeks have kind of blurring together right now. Uh we had a full day of math vertical alignment with um fourth grade teachers all the way up through 12th grade teachers. And you're also going to see me present in a little bit about our
unified improvement plan. and math is one of those uh big improvement strategies that we're working on. So, it's really nice to have all those teachers here having conversations looking for gaps, looking for strengths so we can continue to improve and um
help our students improve. And last but not least, I have been attending some meetings um out at the Teller County Sheriff's Department. The Teller County um all the heads of departments in Ter
County have really gotten together to help our community during the government shutdown and to help with um people who've been losing their SNAP benefits. And so I've been attending those meetings when I can. we are working
together um to number one make sure that our students have what they need or our families do. So, we are going to um continue collaborating when we see needs. I'm going to ask they have forms to fill out and um they've been very
prompt on on helping us out. We are also doing food drives at all of our buildings. We can also give back. And um we're also giving space for overflow at Gateway right now because they did a food drive last Friday at Walmart. And
um it was really really impressive on how much food people gave. And so we're storing that some of that food at Gateway just to give them extra space at the food pantries in town. They're going to do another food drive. I believe it's at City Market this Friday. And so, um,
we're just going to continue to partner with the county and be there because it helps everyone, but we also have a lot of students who come to school and get, um, you know, they have free free breakfast and free lunches. And so, we're trying to help help out any way
that we can for our families as well. And that's all I have. >> I heard from one of the commissioners that were involved in this. They did the Walmart food drive and they said literally there were people that came out of there with a cart full of groceries, took the one
item out that they needed and gave the rest of the cart to them. So the community has come together very well and Ginger has been been very active in that. So thank you Ginger. You know, one of the things that I thought our community needed was to rebuild a
relationship between the school district and the the whole community. And what I've seen Ginger do in this short time that she has been in this position as superintendent is just amazing. in such
a short period of time, this outreach to different associations, to business, to local government, to being involved in the food drives. Uh I I am absolutely impressed. I can't believe that you have the time to do those things. And she
builds 50 hours into a you know, into a in such a short time in such a week. So, um I'm very very impressed that uh with with what you've done so far, the outreach, how you work to draw the
teachers and administration back together again. I think you're doing an amazing job. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Yeah, I'd say we have a more than fulltime superintendent. >> Absolutely. >> I know we do. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Miss Slo. Okay, Mr. Paris got facilities reports. >> All doing good? >> Y >> quick update on some projects that are ongoing. The summit boiler installation
is 100% complete. Past all inspections. That's awesome to kind of have that weight off our shoulders. if these things are going to take it through the winter. So, the uh rooftop unit here at the junior and senior high campus, that's an ongoing
project. That project has been delayed. So, if you remember, I believe in last month's report, I talked about we had a company design build that is close to an exact rep replica of the unit we have now to try to avoid structural engineer
cost. We have a weight discrepancy even though we're getting as close as we can and I decided that it wasn't safe to move forward without getting structural engineer to look at it partially because of the weight difference in uh when we pulled the building plans the unit
that's on the roof now was not installed in the exact position in that the asel plans that I have show it should been where all the additional structure was. So just to make sure we were safe, we had to bring in an instructional engineer and um that put about a 30-day
delay on that process. So that unit is going to be complete sometime towards the end of January installed hopefully first part of February. We still got a temporary unit running back there. It's doing great. So just an update on that. Um kind of just want to give you a
picture of what it's been like for my team over the last 40 45 days. Uh our awesome tech team that Mr. Parnell is a part of rolled out a new uh work order tracking system for us. Our old system
uh quick communicating with the the new Google security protocols. So they rolled us out one. They were able it's actually something they developed which is awesome. And that rolled out on September 16th. So since September 16th,
uh the maintenance department, this just maintenance is not it. They have their I don't know how many tickets they've got. Um Stephen can come talk if he wants to share those. But since September 16th, maintenance departments received 133 work orders. >> So that's pretty significant. We've
completed 80 of those. 53 of those are currently open. And probably, and I'm just shooting from the hip because I don't have numbers, but probably 75% of the total work we do is in a work order form. The other 25% would be emergency
repairs. Like we had an emergency repair today in the aux gym. I got a call from Mr. Kettler that somehow a recept receptacle got knocked completely out of the wall. We got live wires. We're not putting a work order in. We're just we're going to go take care of that. So
probably a fourth of what we do is stuff like that. So we've been real busy and I'm proud of my team for knocking out 80 work orders and around 40 45 working days because sometimes one may take 30 minutes and sometimes it may take two days. So
um far as facility needs are biggest need continues to be um HVAC control system upgrades. So um probably half of all of our work orders are HVAC related
and probably three4 of those are due to the fact that we need these control system upgrades. So for example um in the home back room at the junior senior high um we don't have control over the valve in there. The valve is frozen at
least it's frozen open for the heating coil. So in order to adjust the temperature in that room, we have to climb up in the ceiling and adjust an isolation. It's been that way since I've been here. So see you and there's numerous issues just like that across
the district. And so um that's our biggest need for my my team. Um I got good news though. Last month I told you we had four vacant positions to fill and we filled all four of those. Great people on the team. So, I'm excited.
>> We got a new building manager here at the junior senior high campus and he's doing awesome. Um, transportation, uh, our our in-house sped transportation routes have been extremely busy this year. I haven't overseen transportation
the whole time I've been with the district, but I think Candace could probably confirm with me it's the busiest that it's ever been in the last couple of years. Um, all we have three full-time route drivers and all three of those route vehicles have crossed the
100,000 mile mark. And so I'm currently in the process of researching some grants to be able to purchase some new sped route vehicles. I need those vehicles to be extremely reliable. They have to be four-wheel drive. And so in
order and they're, you know, I think the last time we bought those four-wheel drive chains at being zero between 60 and $70,000 a piece and they're going to be more than what we paid last time. So hopefully we can find some grand money. I'm trying to get ahead of that because
I think another school year on those vehicles and we need to start hopefully have a plan to replace them. >> I'm sorry. I don't know that you would necessarily have this information, but um do you have an idea on why the said
transportation has seen an uptick? I think maybe that's just a question into the ether. >> I think we have like from my perspective I think this year we've had you know a couple students that um Durham's not
able to accommodate. Um that's usually isn't that usually because of safety restraints that required for those students >> or routing >> routing like where they're located >> because a lot of our sped route that we transport they're way out. >> Yeah. Okay. And sometimes they're
traveling to different places to get the right services. >> So maybe just more kids getting the services they need and so more of them require transportation. >> That's all I have on my report. >> Well, good job. >> Okay, moving along. Uh financial report.
Mr. Curar, looks like you got the next three items. Yes. >> What's the first? >> The first one is uh financial report. All right. With that, um, a few things people have been really interested. I'll talk about
the audits. So, the forensic audit is nearing completion. I talked to Brandon at I Bailey. So, he is actually coming in town next week to do some interviews. And after that, he will finish up a
report. He hopes to come here in person and deliver that I think on the December 10th meeting. So that's the plan for that. Uh the annual recurring audit. So I talked to Chris at Holting and he is
planning to have his team here if we generate our trial balance on the week of December 8th. And so hopefully that can happen. They're still still moving data from the old system into the new one.
Things seem to work and fits and starts with this technology and hopefully that will get uh but I'm starting to sleep over it, but hopefully we'll know more in two weeks how we're sitting. The um
governor's budget came out uh today and part of that was our affecting education and I just wanted this board and the new board to know that, you know, we're in a three-year averaging. So, our dollars that we're getting awarded uh this year,
next year are not changing at all. And so, that's a little concerning for me. Uh as you know, we did not there were no raises given out this past year and with merit growing a bit, you know, we
could see some actual decline in the in the spendable dollars that the district will have. So, there could be some challenges coming up and I'll keep you let you know what those numbers as we start dialing them in will look like in
future board meetings, but that is definitely high on my radar right now. Cash on hand, uh, as we ended last month on October 31st, just a hair over 5.5 million in the bank, which sounds like a lot. Uh but it goes quickly this time of
year. Uh our burn rate from September and October, we actually our cash on hand was reduced by 1.3 million. And uh so currently as of yesterday, we're down at 4.5 million. So it's dropping pretty
quick. The big draw there obviously we don't have a sales tax which was covering that certificate of participation uh the cost of servicing that debt. So I just approved last week the AC payment uh to Zion's bank for that. The big
payment is due was due. So we made that payment of uh around 600 I think it's $598,000. So, >> how often do do those payments go out? >> Twice a year. The big one though is now. So, the one that we just paid was for
principal and interest. And then in the spring and May, I believe we'll pay an interest payment there. From memory, I think it's maybe 100 a quarter of interest. So, so that's a major cash flow expenditure. Keeping my eye on getting us through
until the property tax revenue comes in in in February. So, I'm obviously going to do everything humanly possible not to have to borrow funds, but we'll see. The team has done great, both Ginger and Karen's team as well as finance team
getting the uh grants from last year reimbursible grants. So, we submitted a lot. Today, I think we I'm pretty sure it was the CDE40 grant for transportation. It was nearly 200,000 that came in. So, we've got
title funds coming in. I don't know when. Hopefully, if the government reopens, they'll come sooner than if the government doesn't reopen. But there's some dollars expected. But I'll keep you posted on what was coming as
well. The ESER talking about audit last year, we had that finding, one of them was related to the ESRE uh three that we didn't close out. a year ago. The state has been
wonderful. Our team has worked collectively to get that filed and hopefully it's closed out. So, we've provided the state everything we believe that they need and just waiting to hear back from them if if they'll close out that grant. But, I think we're >> well to putting that one to bed. I know
there's a number of other findings that we're have been working to clear, but that's one bright spot uh in our finances. The Um it might be about it on the finance
side. I think that's >> while we're um still thinking about cash flow and and possible uh issues, right? Like hopefully not, but um wanting to think about that that
loan with the through the state treasur >> the drain. >> Yeah. That we had discussed in years past. I think we've just missed applying for it this year. Um, when is that due? Like if we wanted to make sure we were thinking about that for for next go
around. >> Uh, generally I think in May is when that would be applied for and we didn't make it in for the application, but I've been in contact um with them about the E train and there is a possibility that we
could get that loan if we needed it. Again, it has to be paid off in June to stay within taper. I'm hoping we won't need it in working with Betra Bank, who we do all of our banking with for bridge loan, kind of an interim one that is there.
So, I've got a couple different things I'm working on just to make sure we can keep the lights on, keep payable. >> Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Thank you. I know I would like to say
something about David. Um, of the chief financial officers that I've worked with, which have been way too many since I've been here, uh, you have been very thorough in looking through all the different aspects of the finances for
the district and and you have done a very good job and uh, we've had several conversations. you've been honest, forthright, and and very open about things, and I think you're you're doing a great job. >> Thank you. It's great to
>> Okay, that being said, we'll move to public comment. Uh public comment. Please be aware that any personnel or individual student matters are considered confidential under Colorado law and it is out of respect of the law
and our employees and students that we require those discussions take place privately in executive session. Individual comments are limited to three minutes or a total of 15 minutes for a particular topic. The intent of public
comment is to give the board of education the opportunity to hear your comments. However, the board will make no decisions or take no actions on public comment during the meeting. You can try the list.
I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank Keaton for having the tenacity and fortitude to stay on the board during these last two chaotic years. You not only stayed, but you demonstrated how to be a knowledgeable, professional, and
ethical adult at the table. Thank you, Pat Miller. Members of the board, my name is Pat Miller. I live in Park. You could probably call this my I have a dream speech.
I did neighborhood canvasing and I talked to a lot of people and it's my sincere belief that most of the members of this community have the same dream. What I have to say today, I need to be
heard not just by this board, but by the newly elected members, all of the people in this room, and to the extent that any of this gets out, the members of the board of Merit Academy and the community at large,
we have, and I hope you recognize this, a unique opportunity at this moment in time to heal the divide that has afflicted this community for at least the last four years. What needs to
happen is that the new board needs to get in a room with the members of the merit academy of board identify the issues that are major that affect them and hash them out.
This needs to be done in a spirit of cooperation and with the objective of standing up both the school district at large and Merit Academy to be on a path to succeed
both financially and academically and it needs to be done by the numbers. That is to say, within the scriptures of rules set by the board of education and Colorado state law,
public hearings following this should be held at which time the board can and both boards can can show the public the fruits of their labor and take feedback. Then everybody can get in a room with
their lawyers and let's formalize this, codify it, make it work. It's easy after an election like we've just had to have a lot of everybody to sink back in their own camps and
continue to vilify and denigrate the other side. Let's not do that. The work of this board going forward ought to be to putting the district on a path to succeed. What I want to see next year
sometime in the local weekly is a picture with the members of both boards shaking hands and heading a story that said they have an agreed upon plan to move this entire district forward. Let's
do it. Francis, >> sorry, just went to sleep. Okay, I'd like to start out saying Ginger Tory Michelle's not here. By no means is
this any reflection on you. My name is Karen Francis. I lived here in Woodland Park for multiple decades now. I've had children come and go through Woodland Park R2
since 1992 and I still have some people looking. I've seen some wood boards. I've seen some great boards and I've seen some piss poor boards.
I've seen amazing test scores and I've seen some that not so good. But never in my 33 years of my children's education have I seen a school board such as you cause such
intense division both within the district and in the community. Never have I seen a school board Rehensible that districts far and wide are using us
as the example of appalling and unethical behavior. The adversity, division, prejudice and narrowminded policies is not what this community stands for. It
has tarnished our reputation. the blatant disregard for students well-being and the parents opinions as well as the radical step for those
that you are supposed to serve has weakened the soul of our district and inner pride. You have decimated the spirit of Woodland Park schools. With the new board, I am looking forward
to seeing our district restored to its good name and to recognize the schools I enrolled my children in initially all those years ago. Not just for my family, but for every family in this community.
I've already seen a difference in the schools under our administrators. The air is more relaxed, lighter. Children were laughing and smiling together, united despite their
differences. The admins are more in tune with the parents and the gears of this great machine are finally moving forward again. Mr. If you had any selfrespect or any good for the greater good of our
schools, you'd walk out the door right now. And I also believe it's time to fire Brad Miller's law firm. They've cost us way too much money. Thank you.
>> Hey, thank you. Okay. Uh, moving on to the consent agenda. Uh, I am asking for a motion for approval of the consent agenda. >> So move. >> Second. >> Second.
>> Roll call. >> I, >> Bates. >> I, >> Kimrell. Hi. >> Thank you. Uh next next is discussion and information
information. As Miss Slo said earlier, she's going to talk about the the staff climate and culture survey results as well as the district unified improvement plan. Miss >> um yes. So, I'll give you a little
background information. As part of the district's ongoing commitment, and I'm going to say it's also my ongoing commitment to fostering a positive and supportive work environment, a climate and culture survey was distributed to all staff. The purpose of the survey
survey was to gather feedback on district leadership, communication, collaboration, and overall workplace satisfaction as well as to identify areas for continued growth and improvement. So if you if you want to look at some
pie charts, they're in here. >> Okay. So, I'm going to talk about the charts and then I'm going to flip back to the information. Um, so one of the important questions I want everyone to understand is I I didn't share the entire survey with everyone
because I'm trying to respect the rights of the teachers and the administration, but I am to share highlights. Um, I've already talked to principles about this and I can give you further documentation if you'd like it, but as of right now, I'm just going to go over the summary.
So, um, starting with the percentage of teachers and staff members at each building. So, 46.2% of staff at Park Junior Senior High School filled out the survey. 14% of the of the survey was from
district office staff. 22.6 6% of the survey was from Coline Elementary staff and 17.2% was from Summit Elementary. Did I say Col? Did I say Coline? Oh, sorry.
Coline was 22.6. Summit was 17.2%. >> Can I ask a question or did I Sure. How closely does that line up with the actual breakdown of like um >> Pretty close. Yeah, I would say pretty close.
>> Um Next chart shows you the all the overall perception of the district and how it's changed since the end of last year. So, this was really me trying to gather I I'm pretty sure I know how people felt at the end of last year and
I was trying to gauge where are people at right now so we can have some baseline data so we can keep improving. So, um the biggest um portion here 54.8% 8% of our staff say that they feel
better since the end of last year. 16.1% say they feel much better and then 20.4% say that they feel worse. So just keep that in mind because I think I'm going to get to some more of
that information in a minute. The next much I think I have some some things that I'll explain in the highlight reel. Um, how would you describe the overall morale among staff in your buildings?
So, 10.8% says very high, 28% says high, 29% is neutral, 26.9% is low, and then very low didn't have a percentage. although there was probably a few. And
then how the next question was, how supported do you feel by the current district leadership? And I put our names in it because I wanted to make sure people knew exactly um who we were talking about. So I put myself in there as interim superintendent, David Curar
as chief financial officer, Lindsey P for chief communications, and um her ham also. So 25.8% feel very supported. 38.7% feel supported.
22.6% are neutral and 9.7% say not very supported. And then a little tiny bit says not supported at all. So now I'm going to flip back to the
to the highlights. So after looking at this we had I can't remember how many people filled it out. I'm sorry I should have written that down but a lot. So um some of the highlights there was a very strong sense
of enthusiasm among staff because there were also sections where you could write comments um about the partnership between myself as superintendent and having Karen Hamllo back here directing um academics. So, lots of enthusiasm around our team.
There was significant praise for Katie Rexford's leadership at Summit. No surprises there. Um, reflecting strong confidence in her direction and support for her staff. Employees voiced appreciation for having an educator who resides in the community
leading the district. um noting the value of the local connection and understanding um of of living here. Staff demonstrated a constructive and solutionoriented approach to district initiatives. More than 20 um staff
members indicated an interest in participating on a district-wide climate and culture committee, which I'm hoping to start soon. And um so I just I have to have a little bit of time to get that started, but I'm I really like to have
the people who are living in the schools be part of the solution of how we improve. And so that's really important to me because even just today being at summit, so much valuable information you can get from having those conversations.
And then um so the primary concern in the survey and I'm going to back up a little bit because I know that everyone understands or knows this information but I I want people to understand how hard it was on the junior senior high
school last year. How many cuts had to be made because of the budgets and that really took a huge toll on that school. It took a huge toll on the way that they schedule classes and planning periods
and how many preps teachers have to teach. And so um the administration there is very aware um but everyone's trying to live within the means that we were given. And so that is really the
hardest part right now. That's where um probably the majority of junior senior high school staff that took that survey that was the concern and um it's true that it's really hard. There is a huge
burnout rate there. Um the teach I know that the admin team is working really hard to be solutionoriented any way that they can, but that really is truly the struggle in the district that I think needs our priority. Are my three minutes up today?
Um, so >> well, you have no time. >> Yeah. So, that really truly is that was the big concern on the survey that was highlighted by almost every teacher that filled it out there. And I know that they're, like I said, their admin team is aware. We're trying to be really
creative and solutionoriented, but that's the reality that they're living in and that they're teaching in there. So, I just wanted to point that out and also thank them because I know that they're working really hard and it's it's a struggle, but they're doing
they're doing it for the kids. So, I appreciate that very much. Any questions? >> Thank you. >> Y to the next unified improvement. So, our district unified improvement
plan um was due on October 15th. So, it just missed the last board meeting. Um we worked on this uh really started last year working on this at SAC meetings and DAC meetings and then when we got our
data this year it really confirmed what we were working towards. So I just want to talk a little bit. Sorry this is a little different than I'm used to. Okay. So, I want to explain a little bit about
how you write your unified improvement plan. So, first of all, you investigate critical performance areas and prioritize performance challenges. So, this is really looking at our data, having those conversations. From that, you identify root causes. So, what is causing the
performance challenges? And so, that's where you really dig deep and you look for what can you control and what can't you control. And then you identify evidence-based major improvement strategies to eliminate the root causes. You present a well-designed action plan.
And then what we are doing now is monitoring the impact and progress of that action plan. So the student performance priorities that we looked at were math achievement. I'm going to just go across the screen. And you guys can really see that well,
can't you? So that's all right. It's a little bit hard to see on the screen, too. So, our first um first category is math achievement. Root causes were included inconsistent instructional strategies using highquality instruction
materials and a lack of highquality intervention strategies and structures. And I will say as a teacher and as a principal throughout my years in education, we typically always focus on reading because reading is the key that
we have all the um intervention strategies where you know we get a lot of grants for reading and so math we've seen over the probably really since co math has not um improved at the rate that we needed it to. we didn't fill the
gaps the way that we needed to. And so there are still students um even in middle school that have gaps that probably came out of COVID when they were in elementary school. And so our first major improvement strategy is high quality tier one instruction in math. So
that is like our universal um curriculum that we teach all students and then providing strong tier 2 systems and structures. So, what are those um intervention materials that we're using? And then moving down to our second um
student performance priority um was really looking deeply at exceptional student plan development and interventions. And our root cause was writing clear and consistent plans and having strong tier 2 systems and structures. And to explain a little bit
more about that, the last year we had two audits. um one was for um gifted and talented and the other one was for special education. And so we really used those audits to our advantage and took those areas of growth and turned that
into our major our second major improvement strategy. So this just gives you a little bit more indepth knowledge about each major improvement strategy. So the first one is high quality tier one instruction in math. All schools will integrate high
quality instruction materials, researched proven instructional strategies, and student data to inform instructional decisions to create an environment where students increase academic achievement in math. And I will say uh we've already started on that. That's what the um math alignment
meeting was is part of this. That's part of the action plan and we're going to start having those um throughout the year. uh levers include through collaboration with the instructional staff, buildings will design sight specific strategies, incorporating increasing teacher
instructional strategies with high quality instruction and math, align curriculum to standards andor creating time for focused teacher collaboration based on student outcomes. And um something that we did different this
year is when we were working on our district improvement plan, we also brought the principles in and we aligned our schools to also be working on the same improvement strategy. So um I think for the first time since I've been here,
we're all in alignment and all working on the same goals, which I think is really a great strategy within itself. And then our second improvement strategy is strong tier 2 systems and structures to augment high quality tier one
instruction. All schools will build strong systems instructions to support exceptional learners in meeting grade level standards and beyond through differentiation differentiated interventions. Our lovers and our lovers sorry through
I've been talking way too much tonight. Um through collaboration with the instructional staff, buildings will design sight specific strategies to establish purposeful MTSS teams. So MTSS stands for multi multi-tered systems of support. So these are teams that come
together and work when students are have gaps to try to fill the gaps um before that child would get referred um for an special education plan. We would provide staff development in
the writing of precise plans to address specific disability gifted medical needs etc. Support and train teachers to build differentiated practices and general education classrooms and or create time in the school day for students to
utilize research proven intervention strategies. That is basically our school improvement strategy or our sorry unified improvement plan in a nutshell. And I know that the next thing we need the board to do is to approve that because
the state does ask for the board of education to approve that. Questions before I sit down? The only question I have, I didn't see it called out here specifically, um, would be on any potential grants
that we could go after to help bring in additional support. Obviously, our teachers, we've already mentioned, right, are spread pretty thin already. Um, and if additional support is one of the main levers we're looking to pull, um, is part of the plan, looking to go after grants so we can actually bring in
more bodies and help to >> Definitely. Um Karen Karen is working on looking at any grant that we can absolutely get. She also has Jennifer Lutrell working with her and we've been talking about if we have the ability
even to um hire anyone even if it's for a short time to help us write grants if it would if it's the right grant. Um when I've written the consolidated grant and Karen and I are kind of working on that together now as I pass that over to
her. um are when when you write the consolidated grant. So like title one when you're writing um how you're going to spend that money, you attach it to your unified improvement plan. So that debt's already paid for some of our interventionists.
>> Um and then if we want to buy specific like last year I purchased some interventions for math um we didn't get them until this year but but we purchased them through that grant um and attached it to those strategies. So
absolutely um we're looking Yeah. Is that something that we could um do like a community outreach to see if there are maybe grant writing experts who would like to volunteer their time to assist >> for sure?
>> No, that's not that is not an area of my expertise. Ginger, do you think do you think that could you tell me what portion of the math I was just discussing the math issue and improving math scores and
students understanding mathematics? Is it a money issue? Is it a strategy issue? Is it a teaching curriculum issue?
what where do you see the where the primary focus of change needs to be? >> So I will say the last several years we've seen a decline in students understanding their math facts. So I would say that's kind of a foundational piece. Even kids that
are in middle school now are lacking some of those multiplication and division skills that like I learned in fourth grade or you didn't get to go to recess like you had to pass the the multiplication >> in your multiplication. I know that they did a a really indepth conversation um
last week with Karen Hamllo, the fourth grade teachers through up through 12th grade. So I also think aligning our curriculum, finding the gaps and what are universal gaps and again I think from what I've heard and what I've seen in my career is the the math facts are
the number one but then because if you don't have those you can't do the multistep problems, you can't go further. I also think um we've had a struggle hiring math teachers recently
and so um like I will give an example when my daughter was in eighth grade. She's a junior now. She had three different math teachers that year um one I know was certified at the start of the year and then she had subs like twice a
week a different sub. So there are kids that are still recovering from some of that. I do think that um as we look at curriculum, we can't afford to buy any curriculum right now, but I started looking at that last year because I was
tasked to start that process and looking at like a curriculum that goes K8 or one that goes K12 um so that it's consistent as you're teaching the vocabulary strategies and the structures. So right
now we're trying to do the best we can with what we have and those curriculum alignment needs are really important to get everybody on the same page and also learn from each other. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh
do I have a motion to uh to approve the district unified improvement plan? >> Second. Second. >> Any further discussion? I think that we have the right person in place to tackle the problem, especially
with Ginger and Karen Hamllo. U I'm glad that they are absolutely the helm of this. >> Yes. >> Roll callley. >> Hi. >> Bes. Motion carries.
Okay. Uh, there being no other business, do I have a motion to adjurnn? So move. >> Second. >> Second. >> Roll call. >> I
>> Mr. Holtz. >> I. >> Motion carries. Thank you all for making the time tonight.