Read along below, or follow along here: https://otter.ai/u/3MVlFjdfMDoDQUDmeX_8AuLt9HQ
Unknown Speaker 0:00
stand and join us in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to
Unknown Speaker 0:09
the republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
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justice for all.
Unknown Speaker 0:23
Hi, Barb, can you please call the roll?
Unknown Speaker 0:26
Certainly.
Unknown Speaker 0:27
Mr. Aaron’s absent.
Unknown Speaker 0:29
Mr. Berthold here.
Unknown Speaker 0:31
Mr. Garcia
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here after martyr present.
Unknown Speaker 0:36
Miss Pierce here. Mrs. Raglan here. I’m Miss siegrist here. And Barb, have there been any addendums or changes to the agenda? There have not. Great, thanks. That brings us to agenda item three, which is audience participation. And we do have two individuals this evening who have signed up to speak. Richard, I have Mr. Steve Joseph first. Hello, Mr. Joseph. I’m Joey. It’s nice to meet you. Yes, welcome. And thank you for attending the meeting for public participation. If you could please state your name and address for the record. And then you’ll at that point will begin timing and you’ll have three minutes for comments. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 1:20
My name is Steven Joseph. I’m at 1737 Preston drive Longmont, Colorado. 80504.
Unknown Speaker 1:28
All right. Well, thank you for having me guys today. Like I said, my name is Steven Joseph. I have a daughter that wrestles for the st. Green Valley School District team. I’m here to discuss the issue of student athletes being able to participate in in person learning. We have all heard of the problems facing students in online learning. The vast majority of the students that I’ve spoken with are struggling with the online learning in the classrooms. My daughter is one of them. Though she pushes through and is passing all of her classes, she is definitely not the student that she was one year ago. For some of these kids, their academics are a springboard to a better life. academic scholarships can mean the difference between an education and a great education. And I want you guys to really take hold of that. On top of that the emotional toll of some of these kids that are that they’re paying is unfair to say the least. There are numerous sightings and literature in the news pointing to an increase in anxiety, depression, and in the most costly cases, teen suicide. What I’m here today to talk about is to get the wrestlers of the same brain Valley School District back into school. How is it that basketball players can go back there is at any given point in a basketball game 10 students and two referees on the court at any time, pushing boxing out yelling for the ball fighting for rebounds in touching the same ball. This happens for 40 minutes a game. Basketball is very much a contact sport. wrestlers in contrast, wrestle one person for a maximum of six minutes. And yet basketball players are in school and wrestlers are told they can’t go back until two weeks until after the season is over. Can any of you truly defend this rule? The science doesn’t support this discrimination and neither should you. I say discrimination because one group of athletes can do something that another group of athletes are not allowed to do. And for no good reason. Maybe it is that the people that are making these rules are unaware of the nature of wrestling. Did you know that wrestling is one of the cleanest sports in high school forever the athletes have been taught that about cleanliness, they wipe down the mats after every practice and match with sanitizer. They are taught to go home immediately and hit the showers. I noticed because my daughter barely says hello to us before running upstairs to shower. They have a special sanitizing towel that wipe down at with every match. I never see basketball players doing this. In fact, if you take a look at the times call article just a week or so ago, you’ll see a picture of high school basketball game where their participants are wearing their masks below their nose. I’m not here to bad talk basketball, but to hopefully open your eyes to the fact that wrestling is no riskier than they are. I realized that they are acting on recommendations of the Boulder County Health Department. You are an independent body. You can act on your own accord. I asked you please to reconsider this give our kids the best chance to succeed. I’m asking for a vote to allow wrestlers to go back to school.
Unknown Speaker 4:31
Thank you very much. We appreciate you being here this evening. All right, Richard. Our second speaker this evening is Mr. James McKee. Hello, Mr. McKee.
Unknown Speaker 4:48
Hi,
Unknown Speaker 4:49
welcome. I’m Joey. It’s nice to meet you. Thank you. If you could please state your name and your address for the record. And then begin speaking and you’d Do you have three minutes to share your public comments? Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 5:04
I spent a whole day trying I’m sorry. My name is James McKee. 505 St. Andrews drive in Longmont. Thank you. It’s been a whole day trying to prepare a speech to knock down to three minutes and of course, end up with 16 pages. So no, I got it down to two. So I’m here, not as an attorney, but I’m a constitutional law scholar. And I’ve been studying law for about seven years now. And I’m here to inform you that a local man acting as a public official, created mandates and orders to segregate quarantine and isolate and effectively banned students from in person learning because they chose to represent their school in certain athletic sports, essentially discriminating against them, while most certainly violating their civil rights and guarantees of equal protection under the law, when so many other athletes can participate without restriction in a similar close contact sport. And he did this unconstitutionally and without authority, and that this district and others in Boulder County are following those orders that have no force or effect in law, directly and negatively affecting hundreds of students and their families in this county, in their education and well being Boulder County public. Health Department executive director, Jeffrey zrh is such a man. He is accused of being an imposter impersonating a public official, because he has avoided taking the two required oaths of office to serve in his capacity, meaning that every action he has taken is unauthorized, Nolan void on its face, including the mandate that scared businesses and people into compliance to wear this. I verified zouch has avoided taking his promissory oath of office through Colorado FOIA requests and have served notice on z arch as well as filed criminal complaints with the United States Attorney, United States Marshal Boulder County Sheriff and Boulder County District Attorney, and I will not stop until this man answers for his actions. Let’s give Mr. z the benefit of the doubt, to see least took one of the two required oaths of office under Article two of the Colorado constitution and four USC 101 that satisfies the article six of the United States Constitution. Let’s say he did take this oath. There is no oath of office anywhere on record that says I do solemnly swear and affirm that I will protect the safety and the health of the people. There is not a singular oath of office to that when you read the bill of rights in the Colorado constitution, there will not be a delegation of power to our legislators, to the executives that say constitutionally, we want the government to protect our health and safety. Nope, it’s certainly not over our right. Mr. z was not elected by the people to decide the matters of the school districts of Boulder County. And as a matter of fact, he wasn’t elected at all, he was just hired or appointed. There’s no science or data that proves that his orders or mandates do anything to protect anyone other than harm them is detrimental to large number of students and their families. And in the community. It is now becoming commonplace worldwide, that the rights of the people this planet are being lost to a few dictators and tyrants. Please help these kids back in, give them a normal life, restore their well being. Thank you so much.
Unknown Speaker 8:24
Thank you, Mr. McKee. Enjoy your evening. Thanks for being here.
Unknown Speaker 8:28
Thank you. Thank you for your service.
Unknown Speaker 8:30
Thank you. Appreciate it. Agenda item for his visitors. And we do not have any scheduled visitors this evening. So Don, that brings us to item five, which is your Superintendent report.
Unknown Speaker 8:44
Okay. All right, thank you a few things. One, we’re in the process of working on some renovations at old Columbine and CDC and looking at creating a campus there. And so we’ll be bringing forward some names for a new name for old Columbine. And we’ll also be bringing a new name for the Career Development Center, and then a new name for swag up. And then we’ll wrap all three of those into one campus name. And then Brian lamer. And his team, along with our Learning Services team have put together a plan to create facility updates there. And we’re anticipating that we’ll receive somewhere around $3.8 million if it comes to fruition in supplemental money, where the state may not retract money based on the loss of enrollment across the state. And so if that comes to fruition, we would receive somewhere between three and 4 million at least as we understand it today. It could change as it goes through the legislative process. So we would look to take some of that one time money and do some pretty Significant facility renovations at that campus. And then we would also be looking to replace the track at Meade High School, and also the astroturf at Meade High School’s stadium. And then the next wave, we would look to replace the tennis courts at Silver Creek, which we’ve done it several other schools. So that’s kind of what we’re thinking about with, with those dollars being transferred into capital reserve. And Brian will bring forward some specifics, I’ve seen a draft of what they’re looking at, it looks exceptional. So I think there’ll be a lot of excitement and energy around this project. So the other thing I was gonna do is give you a brief update with COVID. And currently, and this changes, we check this every day, I have a link that I get into and I can check the positivity rate, and they’ve moved it now to a one week incidence rate. And then also the hospitalization rates. And those are the three primary things that we look at. We also pay attention to our ability to contact trace in partnership with the health department’s. But nonetheless, what we see right now is yesterday, it was at 3.1 in Boulder Valley, or Boulder County today is a 3.2, which puts us in the Blue Zone. And then the one week cumulative incidence rate is at 130 6.3, which is yellow. And we’ve seen nine days of declining or stable hospitalizations.
Unknown Speaker 11:31
And at fluctuated between nine and 10 days, the positivity rate in weld county is at 5.7, which is yellow. And the one week cumulative incidence rate is at 150 4.7. These are much lower than we were seeing not too long ago, and then they’ve had 10 days of declining or stable hospitalizations. As far as active positive cases, we have 23 students and six staff members. And then as far as quarantines, we have 246 students and 26 staff. And we update the positive cases every day on our website. And then we update the quarantining cases every Friday. So that process has not changed, and people can still follow along with that. Right now, the numbers are much better, much more favorable than they were. But we will continue to watch them as cu is coming back in, in person. And we’ll just see what the trends look like. We also finalized some of the parameters around athletics for this season sports, they adjusted it to instead of being 50 feet off of the floor, it’s 25 feet. And so we are in it allowed now to bring in some spectators and we’ll continue to socially distance them. And we’ve created some guidelines in partnership with Chase McBride, our athletic director for the district and also the county health department’s as to how we can safely bring in some spectators to these sports. And currently we have wrestling, girls basketball, boys basketball, and then also girls swimming. So that was a positive development because it’s really something you know, as a parent, parents love to watch their children. And as did I and so I think it’s great that we can invite some parents in to watch their children as they compete. So that’ll be a good thing. As far as vaccinations go, we, as you know, we had partnered with UC health, who has done a remarkable job and we’ve had a longtime partnership with them. As you may recall, they helped fund and sponsor our mobile lab, and we’ve done some educational projects with them. And really, I cannot say enough about the great support that they’ve provided. And we’ve also received some good support from Safeway pharmacy early on in the vaccination process, and then most recently from nextera. So we’re getting assistance from a variety of places we had eligible right now to get vaccinated. 3934 employees and nextera had invited 550. And so those employees are getting vaccinated, can get vaccinated now and many of them have UC health has invited 923 and many of them have been vaccinated the first round and when they go for their when they make their appointment for their first round. They also get their appointment made for their second round. We had 701 that we completed above the line in one B so that was early on. And then we have about 314 that have indicated that they will not necessarily be needing or wanting a vaccination. So from the 3934, eligible, we are down to now 1446 left. So we have impacted now 63% of our eligible employees that have either been vaccinated or have been invited to be vaccinated, and we’ll be doing so in the very near future. That’s considerably way ahead of schedule, because there was a time when we didn’t think that we would even begin this process until March. And so we’re moving through very quickly, Jackie will share a few of the things we’ve heard from UC health and some of the feedback that we received. I have met with our teachers on several occasions with our teacher association president as recently as today. And we’re hearing a lot of positive feedback. People are getting contacted, they’ve done a great job of getting registered. I talked again, today with the president of UC health is an exceptional, exceptional support as, as his staff as well, so could not be more grateful to them. And Jackie, you might want to share a little bit about what you and your team have been doing, Jackie and Todd fukai, who’s the Assistant Superintendent of human resources, and Johnny terell, as the Executive Director of Student Services, and Carrie McDermott, who is our chief global impact officer, they’ve been working extremely hard around the clock, putting out communications coordinating efforts, making sure that our system is functioning at a really high level for UC health to be able to execute the vaccinations and nextera and others. So thank you.
Unknown Speaker 16:38
So we started about three weeks ago, and we knew that vaccinations were coming at the end of February or early March, we began by identifying employee groups that met the definition of that category one, B two, which used to be one B below the line. And we worked on a prioritized list from st brain of the number of employees that would be eligible in that group. We then with Dawn’s help secured a provider, a very strong provider, to be able to deliver the vaccinations, one where we had a lot of confidence. We had already had a strong partnership with UC health, they have done some work with our innovation center in the past, Don worked closely with their CEO, and they believed that they could secure those vaccines for us in a timely manner. So last week, we handed over our employee contact information. And they and we began to have our employees registering on their website to set up an account worked through a few logistical errors that we had with some of our employees, for for various reasons. We set up a system in our HR department to make sure that every employee that had difficulty getting on to the UC website and getting a an account set up had our support, and we reached out to to all of them. In the meantime, Kerry McDermott has been prepping communication and giving a lot of very clear direction to our employees about how to sign up for their vaccination. What the timeframe is for doing so so that they don’t, their appointment doesn’t get cancelled, it’s very, very important that within 48 hours, if you receive an invitation that you respond to that invitation, or you go to the bottom of the one B two queue, and we don’t want folks to have that happen to them. And then we on Monday started hearing from our employees that both nextera. And you see health had sent links out. And as of today, you heard what the numbers were from Dr. Had add, we also heard this morning on a call with UC health that of the 2200 employees that have now set up an account with you see how that 44% of them have received a link and that that was the highest of all the metro area districts that you see health is working with, which tells us that our communication systems and our system with UC health is working and that the flow of communication and the the ways in which we are asking employees to respond is is working. And that is always a big relief when you have to set up a system of this size with an external partner is to make sure that your directions you know to the masses are clear and that the procedures are easy enough for for folks to to follow along and so we were just really glad to hear that I think again, it speaks to the power of the team and st brain and the urgency with which we operate and get ahead of things. And I also think it speaks very symbolically to the way that we care about our employees and put their, their health care needs, front and center in this pandemic. Great.
Unknown Speaker 20:26
Thanks, Jackie. I really appreciate that. The other thing I’ll share with you, as I let you know that we had earned that $1.3 million grant in partnership with the city of Longmont, and so that will be moving forward to further provide Internet access for students of low income families. And so we feel like we’ve got a good handle on students across the district at this point, having internet access along with the devices that they need. And that’s a incredibly important thing for us. We also just received $160,000, from otter cares that will go into the renovation and development of CDC along with, you know, programming consistent with what I was just talking about with with Brian’s team. And then we just submitted another grant for $150,000, with United Way for preschool programming. And, as I shared with you last time, over the last two to three years, we’ve acquired about $16.4 million in grants, which enables us to do quite a bit of really positive work, in addition to the work we’re doing with our general fund dollars. So also been working with the Colorado Business Roundtable. And Ray Johnson, who’s IBM executive, we’re going to be doing a kind of a podcast presentation with them in March, that will talk about the importance of public education as a pipeline to the workforce. And as states try to recover economically, how it will be important to look to public school systems to continue those pipelines functioning at a very high level. so grateful for our partnership with the Colorado Business Roundtable. We’ve done other work with them. But it really is a way to communicate with a lot of businesses and corporations across the state. We also will be sending our mobile lab out again, to do some work. And Jackie has been coordinating that effort along with some others if you want to share a little bit about that. But the mobile lab is really one of those things that continues to be a great source of communication and contact and inspiration for for our students in a variety of different ways.
Unknown Speaker 22:34
So I can take no credit for this. Actually, our team at the Innovation Center is constantly thinking about ways that we can engage students, especially on days when they are not physically in our schools. And so on Fridays, between February 19. And the beginning of May, we will have the mobile app out in 13 different locations. And actually, it’ll there will be an opportunity for all 26 elementary schools because there will be an am slot in a pm slot during those different days. And they’re going to Kristen Brom and Collin Rickman who just do incredible work in our STEM areas, I have designed an experience where there will be four to six different stations outside at the mobile lab on those Fridays, that are a synchronous Fridays for our students, and parents or students can come over to the mobile lab and work through those different stations that will be safely delivered, again, physically distanced, and it’ll be a lot of use of iPads, QR codes and links so that there’s not a lot of touch from the facilitators who are helping with that. It’s really going to be a design guild for students, and they will interact with STEM activities around different thematic topics. And students will then be able to take home some prototyping materials. And after they’ve learned the design thinking process, they can use those materials at home. And so it’s just another way that we’re reaching out to families and being seen in neighborhoods and staying connected and keeping our students engaged in the learning process. And my hunch is that team is probably thinking about what’s going to happen this summer as well. And so we’ll probably have some some more updates for you as we get closer to the summer.
Unknown Speaker 24:33
Thanks, appreciate the great work. The other thing that I would share with you is Ben continuing to do a number of public presentations, albeit through zoom. And so I had an opportunity to provide that same data achievement report to several 100 of the city of Longmont employees to all of the city employees and then the city manager and assistant city manager and walk them through everything We’re doing I did another presentation yesterday with the rotary local Rotary Club and walk them through all of the things that we have prioritized and that we’re doing with these types of achievement. Yesterday, I also met with our parent update group, where we have parents similar to what we were doing with leadership, st reign and how to, I thought I was very positive and productive meeting that we had with them as well. Then tomorrow, I’ll be circling around to the teacher Advisory Council. And then next week again, meeting with the association representatives, we’ve also got a meeting with the Longmont chamber. And we’re going to continue to push out all of the information that we’re doing with all of our stakeholders so that they understand clearly the direction that we’re headed and the support that they’ve provided. And, you know, it’s also a way to say thank you to everybody in the community for continuing to support us in the ways in which they have elements elementary 28, you’ll hear a little bit tonight about some of the naming options, and also the colors and the mascots. And so that’s always a fun process. And Brian Kraus will walk you through some of that information. Also, we have submitted, we’ll be submitting our three bills, one around accreditation, and one around safe to tell and then one around internet access. And as you know, st reign has been a leader in the legislative process initiating quite a bit of legislation over the past several years, and we have a pretty good track record. So we’ve got some people in the legislature had that have agreed to sponsor these bills and and they’re moving forward. So we feel very good about about all of that. Other than that, I mean, there’s a lot more always but not gonna take any more time because there’s some other exciting things on the agenda. So that will be that will be it.
Unknown Speaker 26:50
Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 26:51
Thanks, john. Appreciate it. We don’t have any reports this evening. So that brings us directly to agenda item seven, which is our consent items and just want to confirm with board members that they do not want to pull any consent items this evening. Thank you. Then I would entertain a motion for approval of agenda item 7.1 staff terminations and leaves 7.2 staff appointments 7.3 approval of minutes for the January 13 2021 regular meeting, the January 20 2021 study session and the January 27 2021 regular meeting 7.4 approval of amendment to construction manager general contractors cmgc contract for Centennial elementary school renovation project 7.5 approval of contract award for metal roof and skylight replace skylight replacement at Sanborn elementary school 7.6 approval of change order eight to cmgc contract for nyuad High School renovation project 7.7 approval of purchase and trade in of network products. so moved by Karen Barb and a second. Second by Jim. Okay, Mr. Aaron’s
Unknown Speaker 28:11
absent Mr. Bercow?
Unknown Speaker 28:13
Yes. Mr. Garcia?
Unknown Speaker 28:15
Yes.
Unknown Speaker 28:17
Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce. Aye.
Unknown Speaker 28:21
Mrs. Raglan. I am Miss Seacrest. I thanks, BB. Agenda Item 8.1 is an action item and it is the recommendation of approval of school name mascot and school colors for elementary 28. Brian Krauss, I have your name written next to this agenda item if you are ready to roll.
Unknown Speaker 28:50
I am
Unknown Speaker 28:51
great. It’s nice. Nice to have you at the meeting this evening. Welcome.
Unknown Speaker 28:56
Thank you very much, Madam President, school board members and Dr. adad. Thank you for your time and just want to double check the volume. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 29:03
It sounds great. Yes, thank you.
Unknown Speaker 29:05
Thanks. I’ll try not to speak too loudly. appreciate everybody’s time this evening. And I do want to say a special thanks to the Erie community. We’ve had the opportunity over the last month or so to get some feedback on the naming the school mascot and the school colors for elementary 28 and it’s been a very fun project for not only school leadership, but also communications and, and all of the leadership in st brain. So we’re very excited tonight. To present those to you. We had the opportunity to get hundreds of suggestions from the community. For each of those the name the mascots and the colors. From there we we followed board policy and narrowed down the names that fit the vision and mission of the school district and the school and we were able to discuss those names at leadership cabinet and create a survey for the community. After we called those down, we were very excited to get 899 responses to the final names from students from parents, staff and community members. We close the voting on February 9, and we’re able to receive feedback again from leadership cabinet. So without further ado, I’d like to present the following names, mascots and school colors for your consideration this evening. The first is Highlands Elementary. And the mascot would be the Hawks and Highlands was chosen because that is the name of the neighborhood that this elementary 28 is in. And the Hawks fit. Not only it was alliteration, but it was also a name that was suggested for high achievement and high flying students. That one was was pretty amazing and received 502 votes, which represents 56% of the votes that were cast or per Highlands Elementary. So that one was by far and away the most popular. The second name we considered and put forth on the survey was overland elementary Panthers, overland paying tribute to the mining community that was eerie at its inception. And the Panthers being a strong mascot. That, that we felt fit well with the overland lane. That particular one received 258 votes, or 29%. So it was a kind of a distant second. And then the last one was Eagle hills Elementary, and the mascot would be the Eagles. And that was suggested by community members because from what I understand there’s a lot of Eagles that are sited in that neighborhood. And so that was something that they felt strongly about that particular name received 139 votes or 15%. So overall, those were the votes. In addition to that we asked we asked parents to suggest colors. And then we narrowed those down to three that matched the interior decoration that will take place at elementary 28. And the three that were put forth were burnt orange and silver or gray, forest green, and silver or gray and navy blue, and silver or gray. And the the color that the leadership team from the school as well as Mr. Ball felt would match best would be burnt orange, and silver or gray in in addition to that that would match the orange. That is the Erie feeder color. So that was burnt orange was first. Then forest green was the second choice and navy blue was the third. So I think hopefully that’s enough background. And I’d be happy to answer any questions anybody has.
Unknown Speaker 33:21
Thanks, Brian. Appreciate it. Do board members have any any questions or concerns? I just want to make sure Brian that I heard this accurately. That the top the most popular I guess the the name receiving 56% of the votes in support was the highlands elementary school hawks, correct?
Unknown Speaker 33:43
That is correct.
Unknown Speaker 33:44
Okay. And then in an effort to, you know, meet various requirements, aesthetically, Burt orange and silver gray, silver anchor
Unknown Speaker 33:55
clever work.
Unknown Speaker 33:58
It’s silver or I misspoke. Yeah. Thanks, Don. Yeah, so burnt orange and silver or gray. Correct. That is correct. Okay, great. Thanks. Any comments or questions from from board members? Pretty straightforward. I mean, yeah, I like the name. Highland Hawks. And actually john Aaron’s he’s not able to join us this evening, but he did send an email in his preference independently was also Highlands elementary school Hawks. So I thought I would put that out there. Alright, that’s a pretty cut and dry I’ll entertain a motion for approval then of the school name mascot and school colors for elementary 28
Unknown Speaker 34:45
which colors are we voting on?
Unknown Speaker 34:48
burnt orange and silver gray.
Unknown Speaker 34:50
So I can make a motion. Yeah, go for it. I’ll move to for the name and mascot of new elementary 28 to be Highlands elementary school Huck’s with the colors being burnt orange and silver or gray.
Unknown Speaker 35:07
Second. All right, Barb, that was a motion by Paula and a second by Karen.
Unknown Speaker 35:13
Okay,
Unknown Speaker 35:13
thank you. Mr. Aaron’s
Unknown Speaker 35:15
absent Mr. Berthold? Yes. Mr. Garcia?
Unknown Speaker 35:19
Yes.
Unknown Speaker 35:21
Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce.
Unknown Speaker 35:24
Hi, Mrs. Raglan. Hi. I’m Miss secrets. Hi. All right. Well, isn’t that nice? We don’t have to call it elementary 28. any longer. We can call it Hyde Highlands Elementary. Thanks, everyone. action item 8.1. Is or Pardon me. 8.2. Is the recommendation for adoption of boundaries for elementary 2018. Scott, I’ll give you a second. Scott to get to get rolling. It sounds like we can hear you. Hi. It’s nice to see you again. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 36:00
Great. Good to see all of you good evening board members. I’ll try to call it Highland. But it’s likely to come out of my mouth is elementary 28. But
Unknown Speaker 36:11
that’s gonna take it’s been elements. That’s it might take you a while it’s been elementary to me eight for quite some time.
Unknown Speaker 36:18
Right. I want to walk you through the boundary proposal again, try not to rehash too much since we talked about it at their previous meeting. But as you recall, September of 2019, you approved this site location, based on a number of factors, including all the constraints that that we’re working with in Erie from undermining to soil, oil wells, all kinds of things that are impacting site selection these days. I’m going to walk you through a little bit of a PowerPoint, some of the the slides are similar to what you saw before. Let’s see if I can pull it up. Okay, do you have my PowerPoint?
Unknown Speaker 37:21
We do? Yes.
Unknown Speaker 37:23
Okay. I guess I better started from the beginning here. Okay, so the first slide just reflects some of the constraints that we’re dealing with. You’ll see a circle and elementary 28 identifying the location of the new Highlands Elementary. Fortunately, we were able to find a parcel that was not in the severe undermining or soil shrinks, swell area where oil wells. So that’s why weren’t the site really rose to the top. Harry’s had quite a history of of growth over the last few years. But you can see the first area elementary was built in 1926. And so it was 42, laters, 42 years later, before we had another Elementary School in BlackRock in 2008. And then you can see red Hawk in 2011 Grandview which is in the Erie high feeder area 2018, along with soaring heights, and elementary 28 here in 2021, of the last 10 schools that the district has built, six of them have been in history going back to the airy, high construction in 2005. So it’s been pretty much the strongest area of growth, the most change we’ve seen. One of the interesting things about the development pattern there. And in fact, kind of similar in other weld communities is it hasn’t really gone concentrically around a center. So you know, we had a large development in VISTA Ridge occur on the south end of the Erie area about six miles five to six miles from the kind of the center of Erie. And that took off. And so we built a school to meet that need. But now as you can see, we have developments kind of coming back to the center, which is where we build sorry, hi Terry. Hi, red Hawk, and now elementary 28. So it’s kind of a Maybe not an ideal development pattern for building concentrically further out schools, but as you know, the school district doesn’t really control growth or the location. We’re just tasked with responding to it and providing capacity to where it’s needed. So our next area of need is the elementary 28 area. You can see on this slide the boundaries of all the elementary schools. That area to the west of the Erie red Hawk and BlackRock areas is boulder Valley. And so there’s a portion of airy, that’s in the boulder Valley School District. Again, this map shows that yellow subdivision areas are nearing completion are underway. Green, its future development. Red is under construction. So there’s a lot happening, Gary. And we’re just glad that we can be able to meet the needs for capacity there. You have these maps again, in in the boardroom there. The one on the left is the dot map of where students are located currently. You can also see a shaded area in the elementary 28 area and that’s the walk zone that’s been identified by our transportation department. So Grandview and Erie Highlands, will be able to walk to their school course that meets one of our goals of trying to create walkable schools. So this area won’t need to be bused across or these elementary students would have wouldn’t have to walk to sorry heights or get bused. Now they can walk to their neighborhood school and have a few more comments about busing here at the end. But the location and site selection really lent to a to an ideal boundary
Unknown Speaker 42:13
using an arterial Street, where we could limit elementary students from crossing that with and if we do need to bus you know, we will bus across that arterial, you know, in particular, the six through eight. The map on the right is the six through eight boundary. So, that remains unchanged. One of the goals of the board has always been to try to limit the number of schools impacted. So, this is a boundary that essentially divide spring heights in half and does not impact any other areas school or other departments are reviewed this from transportation to operations felt this provided the best and safest most efficient boundary for for the district with cost savings for Boston as well. Based on in total student population, the K five population on the north side of every parkways 412, the elementary population South is 463. This includes all students will no matter where they attend currently. And then the six eight population on the North is 196 students. And on the south side, it’s 258. So the middle school students, south of Erie Parkway would be continued to be bused to soaring heights overall build out. As you can see, soaring heights shows that 21% built out. So there will be future schools. However, none are funded or planned at this point. So in terms of new school construction and our boundary changes, we’re going to kind of enter a period of a little more stability. As you know, we’ve provided capacity. So it could be a number of years before we’re building schools and changing boundaries. I’ve also attached comments there about 13 or 14 comments that came in online and a lot of them were from the VISTA point subdivision. Expressing desire from from continued bussing into Sorry, heights, what kind of options there are for that concern over changes to their area. I guess I should note that when we built red Hawk, they weren’t moved in and out of BlackRock at that time. So there changed heard first into soaring heights. But each of the elementary areas have continued growth. Potentially, BlackRock is the closest to being a stable population, but they to also have additional growth on the way. So I think that’s the end of the slides that I have. And if you have any questions, I guess the other thing I wanted to add is the amount of choice options that we’ll have, we can have options for space availability. And I think Brian maybe can speak a little bit more about that he’s he’s talked with Lance or our transportation director, about some options for people opting back into soaring heights. Open enrollment is available to all families. So if they want to stay at soaring heights, they can. If they want to attend the new Elementary, they also can open enroll into that school, as well as any other Elementary in the in the Harry feeder. So I think that concludes what I wanted to add from the from the last meeting you have that the boundary description, boundary maps. And I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Unknown Speaker 47:01
Appreciate it. Thanks, Scott. Do board members have any questions? Or do we want to hear a little bit more about the flexibility options is my guess? Yeah. Scott, I think that board members would like to hear what those options are on the table as far as busing and whatnot. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 47:22
Brian, you can be entered anytime. But I know I’ve talked to Lance. And there, there is a process for space availability. We will have buses in that area that are taking middle school students. So there would be some space available, they would just work with our transportation department and fill out their form and paperwork for that option. Brian, did you have anything else on that?
Unknown Speaker 47:58
I,
Unknown Speaker 47:59
you know,
Unknown Speaker 48:00
I guess
Unknown Speaker 48:01
right now, that’s where we stand is. It’s a space available situation. We haven’t developed any of the plans. beyond that. It’s a space available situation. We do have three buses that move through that area that take kids at the middle school level to soaring heights. And that’s our plan.
Unknown Speaker 48:23
Now, Brian, we had talked about fifth graders getting to stay and getting busing on Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 48:28
do you want to do that?
Unknown Speaker 48:29
Yeah. We talked about fifth graders being able to be bused and right on the middle school with the middle school kids for one year. So that they could stay at soaring heights in that fifth grade, and then not go to this middle school and then come back to soaring heights for or go to this elementary school and then have to come back to soaring heights for middle school. And then the remainder of the students at soaring heights. If they wanted to get busing, it would be on a space available basis.
Unknown Speaker 48:59
Yeah, so and so just to clarify that and thank you done. So of the buses that move through the elementary 28 area, they’ll be picking up right now they’re picking they will pick up six eight students. So our plan then is to allow fifth graders next year to ride on those buses. And basically make them have five eight type of transportation process. The intent there is to ease as john mentioned, to ease the transition period for those students and so that was our goal there is to make that happen. And then other students if they want to
Unknown Speaker 49:45
register
Unknown Speaker 49:46
on the buses for a space available, we should have 20 or so seats available on those buses and we can fit those kids in and and move them over. So That is our plan. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 50:04
Thank you. BOARD MEMBER questions or comments, Chico?
Unknown Speaker 50:10
Thanks for that clarification. And, Scott, thanks for all your work on this as well. My question is about, again, also about the VISTA point neighborhood. And not so much as far as
Unknown Speaker 50:24
what
Unknown Speaker 50:25
was just being spoken about, about the families who are currently in transition, but I’m just wondering about down the road long term. And that neighborhood, so close to BlackRock, and if that, you know, if that would make sense, you know, in the long run for that, for that neighborhood, it might not even might not even have to provide busing. You know, for those kids if, if they were in BlackRock, and just wondering if that was considered and discussed.
Unknown Speaker 51:00
Yeah, that that’s an area that was discussed. The last time we did a boundary change about whether it could stay in fit. And so part of it was a capacity related thing for for assisting BlackRock, they do have additional growth potential as well. And so there’s a good number in that VISTA point. area. You know, as you mentioned, long term, there’s not really an elementary, that would come again in between elementary 20 at this point, so this is probably a much longer solution for them. We do have an elementary site, that in the future that’s down in the Broomfield section, palisade, and that area is east of BlackRock. So, you know, at some point when we build that, this point wouldn’t be probably impacted by that. That location. So it’s a longer term solution that is beneficial to elementary 28. And BlackRock. I don’t know. Hope that helps. It does. I
Unknown Speaker 52:23
think what you’re saying is in the current boundaries, Blackhawk sorry, BlackRock already has potential growth, it’ll continue to continue. And it’s already at 84%, I think, at this rate, so Okay, thank you.
Unknown Speaker 52:38
Yep. Clarify.
Unknown Speaker 52:44
Scott mentioned another elementary site down in this area. And then there’s another elementary site. area. Okay,
Unknown Speaker 52:55
sorry. At that visitor point. Sorry, I got mixed up in the neighborhoods there. I think I was thinking the one down at the bottom. Bottom Right.
Unknown Speaker 53:08
The bottom right, yeah, that’s palisade. Okay. That’s, that’s,
Unknown Speaker 53:14
that’s it. Sorry.
Unknown Speaker 53:18
Yeah, that’s palisade and there’s some other little subdivisions. That’s got a fair bit of growth potential in that, and that’s in the Broomfield area. We’re, we’re working with Broomfield on acquiring an elementary site in that area. So.
Unknown Speaker 53:40
Okay, yeah, that helps. I was mixed up on neighborhoods. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 53:43
Oh, okay. Maybe I can jump in here. I didn’t see.
Unknown Speaker 53:55
Right. So they don’t necessarily go to Black Rock. So yeah. So hence the boundary captures palisade. We’ll move them into this school. And then Sunday. We’ll have the school. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 54:16
Thanks. Thanks, Chico, Paula.
Unknown Speaker 54:20
Thanks, Scott and Brian for the report. So I think as far as the boundaries themselves, I think it’s pretty neat. I mean, you’ve you’ve pointed out using area highway is the boundary is the arterial and that’s a pretty clean break. Kids don’t have to walk across that anymore or when they never did, but we don’t have to transport the elementary kids across that to soaring heights and then in the north, the issue seems to be around the change. And it’s it’s always an issue when when we’re talking about re organizing school boundaries. And, like, I appreciate your comments around how we do this selection process because I understand that it can be disruptive for families, particularly when we’re are doing this just quickly, like within three years, but a lot of it, we’re just being responsive to the reality on the ground, which is Erie is growing tremendously fast. And VISTA point in particular happens to be in a location, sort of a central location of where all that growth is happening. So I think we’ve really done our best to try to keep that, of course, keep that neighborhood together, while allowing each of the five elementary schools in Erie to still have some room some capacity. So everyone has has those choices available to them in Erie. And I think some of the unfortunate part of this is, is the conductivity in area, the fact that that neighborhood on the Palisades neighborhood, I’m looking at a map in case you can see me they have to drive around to get there. And that’s kind of out of our control, like we can’t, you know, build roads through those properties to make it a straighter path directly into our schools. But again, that’s sort of the reality of how the area is is developing. And when you know, those are distant distance metrics are exceeded, then we’re going to provide a bus and we do provide bus buses to keep the kids safe and to get him to school. So I just I was a couple of us were here, when we when we did the change when soaring heights opened. And again, it was a transition issue there it is important to consider the kids that are going to be grandfathered, because they’re heading into middle school shortly. So I appreciate that, too grandfather, the fifth graders and get them bused to their elementary school for their last their last year. And then also providing enough space because they could have younger siblings, it makes sense to keep families together. We understand all of those different scenarios, but being as flexible as we can, for those families to make the transition. But I also think that when we did open soaring heights, it was very, very successful to the extent that it was full if and correct me if I’m wrong, but we were almost at full capacity when it opened. And that’s almost unheard of. So I I have every confidence that the same thing will happen now that we will offer a high quality school. We are giving people more choice in Erie, and we’re doing everything we can to accommodate the growth out there. So yes, there’s going to be change. And this this, the point is to be in the bullseye of it a little bit. But we recognize that and I think we’re doing everything we can to make it as palatable, palatable as possible. So I appreciate you doing all the work. And because it’s quite a bit of a day to dig to figure all that out and sorted out, and what are the density patterns? And what is the route? Where are the roads? And, you know, what is the day to day pattern look like? So thank you. Thank you all for doing that.
Unknown Speaker 58:08
Thanks, Paul. Appreciate it. Dec, you had a few questions or comments, I think.
Unknown Speaker 58:13
Thank you joy. Scott, and Brian, I want to express my appreciation for the the clear thoughtfulness that has gone into not only, of course, the construction, but the consideration now of the boundaries. And I try to remember very well, the struggles we went through the last one, we created our built out swing heights and our our intent to draw the boundaries at that time. So we had minimum disruptions moving forward. During that time, and I shared, I shared cheek or do share had shared Chico’s. Or I have the same confusion that Chico had about word disappointing and policies were so that clarification is helpful. I guess. I’m having read the comments and concerns that all we’ve received, the board is received. I think the current boundaries is proposed. make the most sense for the long term from the perspective and then I’m encouraged specifically about the short term accommodations that we’re planning to make for fifth grade students who would continue to have an opportunity to be bused regardless of where they live to up within the New Jersey area, to Swan heights. And then I guess my question and then the opportunity For other students to be bused to their school of choice on a space available basis. And so hence, a fairly lengthy introduction. But I guess my question is, have we looked at what we anticipate the the degree to which we’ll be able to accommodate the families that want to have their children bused to stay at the same school? Or is that something that kind of we don’t know yet? We do have space. And we’ll be moving forward. I guess, Brian, that’s a question for you.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:35
Yeah, that’s fair enough. And
Unknown Speaker 1:00:39
yeah,
Unknown Speaker 1:00:40
we never know, with Everly until school starts up that what to expect. However, based on the data today, and the ridership that we have today, we believe we can transport about 20 to 30 additional students beyond fifth grade in those buses that we have moving through those areas. So So of the people that have opened on roll into soaring heights, we believe we can cover all of that, actually. However, we also know that will change literally tomorrow. So I can’t guarantee that. But yes, we did look at it. Absolutely. And just tried to make our best guess. And
Unknown Speaker 1:01:29
one of the things that’s hard with this as if you recall with BlackRock we had a large number of people indicate they wanted to stay at BlackRock. And so we adjusted our plans to accommodate that. And then the overwhelming majority decided to go to soaring heights. And so that also happened when we did the mead transition with Frederick High School. And then also it happened with coal Ridge over to Thunder Valley. And it seems to be a pattern that I think early on, people are concerned about leaving their existing facility, which is a good thing, because it means they’re really happy there. And then there generates a lot of energy around the new school and all of a sudden, and so we have to be very flexible in our planning to adjust the changing of minds, which happens quite often.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:17
Thank you, I think that flexibility in response to those changing conditions is really critical. And one that Don, you and your staff have done a excellent job anticipating. So thank you.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:31
Thanks, stick. Anyone else? Quickly, Karen.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:35
I just wanted to acknowledge the feedback that was provided by many families in the areas that that are affected, and and it can be anxiety provoking, and I think we all recognize that. And as Paul said, it’s more or less what we need to do because of the growth. But I’m very confident in that in the offerings that we’re providing, as a district with transportation and open enrollment. And I just think that the longer term solution that we’re offering, is, is ideal. Thanks, Karen.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:13
Appreciate it. You know, Scott, I don’t have anything additional to add, I was I was taking notes as you were talking. And as board members have commented, they’ve they’ve hit on all of the points that I wanted to note, actually. So I do want to at least thank you for your time and your care and your consideration. And I know that that you are looking at long term also when you’re making projections. And the reality is when we you know we spent a great deal of time on the soaring heights boundaries. And when those were approved, we knew that we would back be back here in a few short years creating different boundaries, or creating more boundary changes. And and that that comes along like Karen just said that comes along with the growth. I do appreciate all of the comments. board members have read each of the concerns that you provided to us. And I appreciate your flexibility. Brian and Dawn Scott, please thank Lance for us in providing transportation for those fifth graders, next year’s fifth graders so that they can finish out at at soaring heights. And then there is flexibility for other people to ride the bus and we’ll move forward and sounds like there won’t be any new schools in the near future. We don’t have have anything coming so these boundaries will stay in place for a while. Alright. Thanks, Scott. Proceed it.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:42
Welcome.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:43
Yes, I would entertain a motion for approval then of action item 8.1 which is the adoption of boundaries for elementary 28 by Chico and a second. Second, by Jim Mr.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:59
Aaron says Absent Mr. Berthold. Yes. Mr. Garcia?
Unknown Speaker 1:05:03
Yes. Dr. martyr? Yes.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:06
Miss Pierce. Aye. Mrs. Raglan.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:09
Hi,
Unknown Speaker 1:05:10
I’m Miss seegers. I
Unknown Speaker 1:05:14
we have one discussion item this evening, which is 9.1 and is an opportunity for the board to discuss a letter in support of the suspension of our state assessments. Did we skip some? Oh, Greg, I skipped the single audit. If I didn’t have my fellow board members here, we would all be going home very shortly. All right, Greg, I’m pologize. That was not intentional. I have to make some form of a mistake up here at some point every meeting. So I corrected myself. 8.3 is our next agenda item. And that is the acceptance of the 2020 single audit report. Thanks, everybody, for keeping me on track.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:01
Thanks, Joey. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the board. I Tonight, we would like to ask you to accept the fiscal year 20 single audit report. If you remember back when we when you accepted our consolidated annual financial report in the late October early November timeframe. One of the things that we couldn’t include in it that we normally do is the single audit report. The single audit report is a review of major programs, major federal revenue programs that the district is involved with. And in this case, it was the Coronavirus relief funds and title one. And so what they did was there was no compliance standard out there for the for the Coronavirus relief funds. And so they couldn’t, they couldn’t do any type of single on and on us because they couldn’t audit that section for compliance. So once that compliance document came out, then they completed it, they finished it January 25. There were no findings or questioned costs. And if I could ask you to go to page 34 of the board packet.
Unknown Speaker 1:07:30
This is the schedule of findings in question costs for the fiscal year ending June 30 of 2020. As you can see, there were no material weaknesses identified there were no significant deficiencies identified. No non compliance material, internal control, there were no material weaknesses or significant deficiencies there. And so as you can see, it’s an unmodified, which used to mean clean, which means there are no issues. And so just pointing that out to you we continue to be a low risk oddity. And at this point, we would I would like to answer any questions you have or have you accepted.
Unknown Speaker 1:08:13
Thanks. Great. Questions, comments? Just a comment, Karen. Thank you for another very boring audit.
Unknown Speaker 1:08:22
I don’t know that it was that boring for us. But I’m glad you like that. It’s boring.
Unknown Speaker 1:08:28
Great. Thanks, Greg. All right. If there are no other questions or comments, then I would entertain a motion for approval of action item 8.3. by Karen and a second. By Paula. Mr. Aaron’s absent Mr. Berthold? Yes. Mr. Garcia?
Unknown Speaker 1:08:46
Yes. Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce. I
Unknown Speaker 1:08:52
Mrs. Raglan. I am Miss siegrist. i. Thanks, Barb. All right. Now we’re moving on to our discussion item, agenda item 9.1, which as I said a few minutes ago is a discussion of the Board of Education and Dr. Had ad signing a letter that would be sent to the State Board of Education and copy to Colorado Department of Education, supporting the suspension of state assessments. Dec. I’ll let you jump in here. Please.
Unknown Speaker 1:09:24
Thank you very much as those of us on the board know, I’m have served on the board of directors of the Colorado Association of School Boards for the last four years. I’m currently their president elect. And in that capacity, we work on issues of statewide concern to school districts, of course throughout the state, plus you and one of the issues that has been a chief concern to us is The implementation of the Colorado measures of academic success or C math test this spring. And the concern is that a number of districts have raised the concern that we need every moment for a student instruction rather than to pause instruction, implement the test, and, and then resume it. There are logistical concerns that the districts in our district in particular has identified. And so the color associated school boards has taken a position of urging the assuming the we get a waiver of federal waiver from the US Department of Education that Colorado apply for and implement a waiver for the statewide assessment the spring. You know, it’s important, certainly for students and teachers and parents to have reliable and current information about the progress of their students. And we do, we have the formative assessments and summative assessments that our teachers use, and can keep up to vary their instruction based on the results of those tests and keep parents and students informed and connected. Whether or not the CMS test is is really not doesn’t function in the way of in terms of informing either the students teachers or or parents about the current achievement of their students rather, it is a deferred assessment, putting setting aside whether the the significant question about whether CMS measures those academic skills and abilities that are necessary for future student success, the last 11 months have seen unprecedented disruptions for our students, teachers in s bvsd. And throughout the country. And so, although our students and teachers have been and staff certainly have been amazingly resilient, our education system is still in the midst of this pandemic induced storm. And given this reality, I believe that the draft letter that you president, see Chris and Don and his staff have drafted for us that has been circulated to the board in advance of this meeting, calling for a timeout from the CMS testing this spring deserves the formal support of this board. And our district. It provides having, if, as we if we are able to pause the testing, it will provide additional instruction time. I think a key item to it will reduce the emotional stress on our students and staff that this disruption occurs in a performance stress a company that And finally, it allows as a district to continue our focus on providing a safe, supportive learning environment for students as they navigate the spring semester and beyond. So I commend this letter to you. I am I think that it’s an important step for st reign to be a voice at the table and voice before the State Board of Education. Thanks.
Unknown Speaker 1:14:07
Appreciate that. Did board members have any any questions or concerns about about the letter and you have text comments? Paul?
Unknown Speaker 1:14:16
Just a few comments. Thanks stick for that summary. I think it’s spot on. And I think I will support the letter because if I understand the landscape correctly, the the reason to conduct the CMS tests is to measure learning regression that potentially happened during the COVID year soon to, you know, seem to be 1.5 years that we’ve been working through. And I’m not saying that’s not necessary that you don’t need to assess all of our students and see where they are now and where they were a year ago. And then layer the COVID in Packed on top of that, whether there is regression or not. But I think the answer to that question is going to be very granulated. And it’s going to be very specific student to student. And I think the best way to answer that question is not by a state level standardized assessment, I just don’t think it’s going to meet the stated goal of looking at each of our students, and assessing where they are and keeping them moving forward at the pace that is right for them. I think we’re much more capable of doing that locally. By all the means. We’ve already talked about by all of our own formative instruction. So I guess I, I understand the goal. But I just don’t think administering the CMS test is going to reach that goal, plus all of the process, and resource and time issues that you lay on top of it. So I will support the letter. And I appreciate your work kind of doing this sort of representation statewide. And you as well done. I know you’ve been talking to other superintendents about it. So that’s, that’s where I stand on the issue.
Unknown Speaker 1:16:06
Right. Thanks, Paula. One other thing I do want to bring up, it sounds like dick that the board is all and Don, we’re all going to sign the letter. One thing I do want to bring up is that Paula did make the sixth suggestion, we’re going to copy it, of course to Katie anthesis at CDE, but also sending a copy to all of our legislators, our local legislators as well. So I’ll ask Barb to do that. That also. Alright, Dick, thanks for bringing this forward. Appreciate it. And we’ll I’ll look forward to signing the letter. We can do that as as as the meeting wraps up.
Unknown Speaker 1:16:45
Thanks for the opportunity.
Unknown Speaker 1:16:46
Great, thank you. All right. We will be reconvening again on February 17. That’s next Wednesday, from six to 8pm. It is a study session and we will be at lions middle senior high school. And then we’ll be back in the boardroom on February 24th. For another regular meeting with our financials beginning at 5:30pm. I’m looking forward to making it up to two lions next week, the home of the lions. And with that, thanks everyone for a great meeting and I would entertain a motion for adjournment. so moved by Karen and a second. Second by Chico All in favor. Aye. Aye. Good night, everyone.
Unknown Speaker 1:17:34
Thank you, Richard. Thank
Unknown Speaker 1:17:51
you.
Unknown Speaker 1:17:52
Here’s a pen. Just wash
Unknown Speaker 1:17:55
your hands.
Unknown Speaker 1:18:06
Now we’re just
Unknown Speaker 1:18:17
reading Okay. Thanks.