Note: The following is the output of transcribing from a video recording. Although the transcription, which was done with software, is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or [software] transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the meeting, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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Unknown Speaker 0:01
Good evening and welcome to the St. Vrain Valley Schools Board of Education Meeting. Please join us in standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Unknown Speaker 0:30
Good evening, everyone.
Unknown Speaker 0:32
Christy, can you please call the roll this evening? Mr. Aaron’s present Mr. Berthold Present. Mr. Garcia absent Dr. Martyr present. Miss Pierce here. Mrs. Raglan here. Mrs. Siegrist. Here. Thank you, Christy. And were there any addendums or changes to the agenda this evening? No, thank you.
Unknown Speaker 0:56
All right. Agenda Item 6.1. This evening is the lions middle Senior High School Student Advisory Council feeder report. With the board’s agreement, I would like to move that agenda item up. And go ahead and have them present now so that they can get home and start some homework. Any opposition from the board?
Unknown Speaker 1:17
Great. Thank you. Then Brian, if you’d like to introduce the lions middle senior Advisory Board, great Report. Welcome. Thanks.
Unknown Speaker 1:33
Thank you very much, Madam President, Board of Education. Dr. Haddad, thank you for your time this evening. And thank you for the opportunity to highlight the lions feeder system. I’d like to introduce the administrative team as they come in here. On my far right or far left is David Glover, the Dean of Students, Colleen Ford, the assistant principal athletic director. And then on the other side here, Mr. Andrew Moore, the principal of Lyons Elementary School. And then Dr. Andrea Smith, principal of Lyons, middle senior. This administrative team is one of the most creative, hardworking, and dedicated teams I’ve had the privilege of working with in my career. They are passionate not only about the students in schools, in Lyons, but the Lyons community itself. Andre and Andrew are a great team. And they work hard to make the experience for students from pre K all the way through post secondary a great one. And I’m proud to chance to have the chance to work with this team. I’m going to turn it over to Dr. Smith. And Mr. Moore at this time.
Unknown Speaker 2:42
Hello, hi, welcome. I’m gonna plug this in and have that moment of panic where technology might not work. It will work perfectly. I’m certainly. And I appreciate I have a lot of homework tonight. So thank you for bumping us up. You do have homework.
Unknown Speaker 2:57
All right. Want to make sure it’s ready, we have a green up. There we go. Perfect. All right. Hello. It’s so great to be here in person. It’s been a it’s been a while since we’ve been able to see you in person. And I just want to start by just saying thank you. I love that our district highlights different feeders and gives us the opportunity to come talk about all the great things going on in our feeder. Thank you to Dr. Haddad, with your great leadership through the last couple years. It that strong leadership and that strong vision that you have for our district is fantastic. So thank you. And also I want to say thank you and farewell to Apollo and John.
Unknown Speaker 3:34
I don’t know same brain without you on the board. I’ve been in this district for seven years. And so it’s definitely going to be different to see new board member faces up there. But I appreciate all of your service. So thank you. All right. And then finally, I want to thank Brian.
Unknown Speaker 3:49
Brian is our steadfast leader of our area. And he is one that lets us be as creative as we want to be. But also sometimes rains us in and says hold on, let’s have a conversation. So Brian, thank you so much. We appreciate you.
Unknown Speaker 4:04
And you know, I’m I always say whenever I get in front of the board, I’m honored to be a principal in St. Vrain. It’s really a special place and I’m even more honored to be in the lions feeder. The Lions community is so unique and so amazing. And every day we sort of pinch ourselves and say do we really get to be school leaders in this amazing and small community. We designed our presentation tonight to really hear the authenticity of the student voice. We know that our students haven’t been able to present to the board in a while so we want their voices to shine through. Andrew and I are going to do a quick intro, give you some highlights of what’s going on in our buildings and then we’ll hand it over to the students.
Unknown Speaker 4:42
All right, so you see this hashtag if you’re on Twitter, small and mighty, it’s really important to what we do. Anytime I get a group of people in a room I say it over and over the and is all capitalized because we’re mighty because of our small size. It’s not in spite of our small size and what’s so great about lions
Unknown Speaker 5:00
We have this small school community and a small school field. But we have all the resources and the amazing support of a large district. And that includes things like technology and access to technology, and includes things like an amazing counseling team that’s supported by our district leadership. And it also includes amazing things like this auditorium, get excited. That was my best game show voice.
Unknown Speaker 5:26
We this is the biggest thing going on in our, in our building right now because it’s right on the edge of being open. And we are so so excited. We’re so thankful to the same brain community for for voting for education, and basically saying, we want to support you. This auditorium is going to be beautiful. I want to thank Brian lamer. He came to a design advisory group meeting about halfway into the design. And he challenged us he said, How are you going to make the lion’s auditorium a place of innovation? And I was like, how do you make an auditorium innovative, I don’t know. And we did. So I’m not going to show you pictures, because it’s not quite done. And I want you to see it, when it’s all done. And we do our ribbon cutting. But we have windows that face the Mountain View as a part of the auditorium with rolling shades, so that we can have that mountain view that’s so so characteristic of Lyons. And then also, all of the the auditorium seats are closer than a normal auditorium to the front. And it’s a wider stage. So it gives you that intimate feel that’s so characteristic of our community and our connectedness. So we’re really proud of that space. And the other thing I want you to know, and then I’ll stop talking, I promise you, Andrew. The other thing I want you to know is we switched to a block schedule this year for our high school. So we are now on an alternating block that aligns with our entire system. And we’re really proud of that work. Immediately this the number of students engaging in innovation center, CTC and P teach programs increased, we went from two and a half percent to 16%. From May of one year to August of the next year, she’s excited about it, right. And we’re really excited about that. The other thing it allows us to do is have that that depth with our students and that that really, we really dig in with students now that we have them for 90 to 95 minutes in each class period. And we’re incredibly proud of that organizational change. That was a big move for our school. And the pandemic allowed us to do it, it allowed us to lean in and say what’s really going to be best to be connected to our students. And then finally, we had our open house on Monday, we had a packed house, we try we worked really hard to be COVID safe, we had lots of breakout rooms. But it was incredible to see our community come out Andrew was there with a future ninth grader. So get excited about that. I don’t know how that happened. And it was a really wonderful night for our community. So without further ado, all that Andrew talked a little bit about the elementary. Thank you, Dr. Smith, and thank you to the entire board and leadership team. It is a pleasure to serve in this district. This is my ninth year as a principal ions Elementary School. And I’m so proud of these students who are about to speak, I had the distinct privilege of being their principal for a number of years, and they’ve just continued to blossom and grow and just make me so proud. I just a little bit tickled. So and it’s been wonderful to work with you for these past years to Dr. Smith. It’s it’s a joy, for sure. You know, one of the things that I want to add to the level of appreciation is to some of our folks from curriculum and development back there, we’ve been lucky to be a part of a dyslexia accelerator program for the past number of years. And we have relentlessly pursued a deeper understanding of the science of learning. Our teachers have spent so much time not just studying but implementing, we’ve had a lot of walkthroughs observations to really craft a program that gets all kids proficient by third grade. And we believe it’s in sight. And we are so proud of that work. We’ve just learned so much with the district team. And they continue to astound me in terms of their level of support, engagement, intelligence, and follow through. So it’s been a real joy, professionally, to learn and grow so much as a leader. And I’m happy to say that we’re a part of a math a math task force which is emerging, we’re going to do the same level of deep and persistent work to transform our understanding of how students learn math, and then promote really strong conceptual understanding procedural fluency and application over the next couple of years. Our teachers are so rock solid on reading now. And we’re excited to advance our practice in mathematics. It’s, again a professional privilege to work in this district. And our students are really reaping the benefits as well as our teaching staff. Beyond that kind of super disciplined approach to understanding and promoting academic excellence. We’re so proud of the Science and Leadership program we’ve developed. I mean, we have 20% Just about a high school students who participate in this. And what this program is, is every grade level has a standards based project that they work on throughout the course of the school year, that ends in a demonstration of learning at the
Unknown Speaker 10:00
end of the year, where students get to speak about, understand and present to the community topics that they’ve been pursuing through inquiry work in the community. So for example,
Unknown Speaker 10:11
in second grade students are asking right now, how can we grow enough food to feed the school a salad for a day? Or in fifth grade? How do we understand, communicate, synthesize data around the health of our river systems, all this work is authentic, and it’s community based, which increases engagement exponentially. The minute you give a kid an opportunity to make a difference in their local environment, their level of buy in, accelerates, and they see their high school mentors support that work through planning, development and execution, on a monthly basis, really, mobilizes the entire community towards these common goals. And it’s been so joyful to watch this program flourish, and to have the support of the high school students. I’m just telling you, I’m tickled. And it’s, it’s something I’m proud of. And it’s something I think our students will speak about, really clearly and
Unknown Speaker 11:03
we’d like to turn it over to them I think.
Unknown Speaker 11:06
Alright, so we split the presentation into two with the students so my so Rooney, Casey Knapp and Cassidy batts will come up and talk about science and leadership. And then at Cambria, Burton, and Cole Thomas will come up and talk about academic excellence and student engagement. So Maya, Casey and Cassidy, come on up.
Unknown Speaker 11:27
Hi, everyone. I’m Casey Knapp. I’m a senior this year. And I’ve been in the lions feeder systems since first grade. First of all, I just like to say thank you guys so much for having this opportunity. I know I speak for all of us when I say this is something pretty new to us. But it is very exciting. And we are really appreciative that we get to come here and talk to you guys. To talk a little bit more about science and leadership. It is an interactive and hands on
Unknown Speaker 11:56
opportunity where we get to teach elementary schoolers about science and build their leadership skills. We go every late start. And we have meetings every Monday. And there is about 36 high school students ages nine through RSI, grades nine through 12, to teacher advisors, and our very own Miss Ford.
Unknown Speaker 12:20
Each grade level is you has to science leaders and to
Unknown Speaker 12:30
leadership leaders, as well as a social and emotional leader that helps any kids who might be struggling and just kind of eases that divide.
Unknown Speaker 12:41
At the very end of the year in May, there is going to be a presentation that encapsulates
Unknown Speaker 12:47
all the work that the grade has done. I think Mr. Moore talked about it a little bit. And that will be in our brand new auditorium, in collaboration with the ecology board, RiverWatch, and all fifth grade leaders, which is really exciting and something really new. Yeah, I’d like to give it to Maya to talk a little bit more about that.
Unknown Speaker 13:08
Hello, my name is Maya Rooney, I am in a 12th grade. So I’m a senior as well. I’ve been in the lions feeder system since I was in first grade. And I think something that makes the Science and Leadership Program so very unique is our cycle of leadership that we build. So it starts in first grade, or just the elementary school in general, where as the elementary school grows, and they go to different grade levels, so do the leaders. So for example, last year, I helped the fourth grade students, and now I’m helping the fifth grade students. So I stay within those same students and that same community. And this way, we, as leaders really get to see how these kids are passionate how they learn best, what their little quirks are. And we get to form not only just a mentor and student relationship, but a relationship that is much closer and much more representative of what our community is. And then if those students decide decide to stay within the feeder system, in freshman year, they can then become leaders at the Science and Leadership level within the high school club. They can become leaders and go back to the elementary school and really get to see both sides of that same coin and get to see the impact of their work. Because now they don’t only see it as leaders as we have during the beginning of this program, but they get to see what it means to be taught under this program and then become a leader in this program. And it really shows the impact of what they are doing. And we don’t get to see that as much. But in the past several years, we’ve been seeing that start a cycle of leadership, which is very unique. I’m gonna hand it off to Cassidy.
Unknown Speaker 14:33
Hi, my name is Cassidy bats. I’m a senior at lions High School. I’ve been in the feeder program like PCMI for a very long time since preschool, Science Leadership, you know it, it gives you so many skills for the future in your life. And I think I mean, overall we’ve become better leaders through our everyday life because of this program. It’s given us skills that we will continue to use not only in our professional future but our everyday lives.
Unknown Speaker 15:00
We’ve developed problem solving skills that help support students in activities that we lead as well as communication skills that allow us to ensure all students are taught in the best way possible. I’m going to go ahead and pass it off to Cole and Cambria and they’re going to talk about academic excellence and student engagement. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 15:26
Everyone, how’s it going?
Unknown Speaker 15:29
Good. Good. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 15:33
Well, I’m cool Thomas, I am a junior and I have been in the feeder program since preschool. So 13 years.
Unknown Speaker 15:42
A big part of academic and excellence in our feeder program is concurrent enrollment, online classes and the CTC slash IC.
Unknown Speaker 15:51
So all of these allow for flexibility in your schedule, and lots of counselor support, which is very useful if you have a busy schedule like me.
Unknown Speaker 16:04
It allows us to take electives, we prefer our getting advanced classes too. So
Unknown Speaker 16:12
I actually took online Spanish through the FL vs. Virtual Schools
Unknown Speaker 16:18
last year. And it was very nice because I was able to work out work at my own pace. And I didn’t really have to, you know, sit in a classroom, I could just kind of sit at home at my desk and just work on my Spanish, you know.
Unknown Speaker 16:38
Another important thing and academics and excellence is having opportunities to make a difference in the local community. A great example of this is the lions Leo Club, which I’m a part of, although this isn’t
Unknown Speaker 16:53
school sponsored a lot of people from lions high school,
Unknown Speaker 16:57
go to go to Leo Club, and it’s very available for them to go there.
Unknown Speaker 17:03
We do all sorts of volunteering in Leo Club like a couple of weeks ago, we cleaned up Highway seven, we’ve planted trees in the local cemetery.
Unknown Speaker 17:14
We’ve helped knit blankets for people in need and give them gift baskets. And it’s just a great way to get involved in the community.
Unknown Speaker 17:25
There are a lot of connections between elementary and middle schools. And of course,
Unknown Speaker 17:33
these of course include Science and Leadership which they talked about.
Unknown Speaker 17:39
The cheer squad went to the went to the elementary schools monster mash and just danced at the Monster Mash.
Unknown Speaker 17:48
There’s athletic and activity camps,
Unknown Speaker 17:52
which include of course, like cheer for, you know, young elementary schoolers who want to get into cheer.
Unknown Speaker 18:01
There are bands and choirs performing together. So there are four bands. In minds. Middle Senior High School, there’s the middle school beginning band, the middle school, advanced band, the high school band and the high school jazz band. And regularly they all perform together. And it’s a great way for
Unknown Speaker 18:26
us older students to help out with
Unknown Speaker 18:31
the younger, our young, our younger bandmates, like I’ve seen a bunch of our percussionist fill in for the younger bands because they don’t have enough people.
Unknown Speaker 18:41
They’re in robotics and computer science. Our high school teacher who teaches both of those works together with middle and high schools, parents to get that going and to keep students engaged. And with that, I will pass it on to Cambria.
Unknown Speaker 19:02
Hi, I’m Cambria Burton, I’m a junior at lions. I’ve been the same theatre for quite a while.
Unknown Speaker 19:09
Go down.
Unknown Speaker 19:11
Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 19:13
I’m here to talk about the academic excellence in student engagement that comes with a small school community.
Unknown Speaker 19:19
So we have a very small community which helps people be accountable because everyone knows everyone pushes them to be the best they can be.
Unknown Speaker 19:29
Everyone is seen, like I feel like students don’t fall through the cracks so you can get what you need, because people can see you.
Unknown Speaker 19:38
At Lyons Elementary, every day all the students have an I block period, which is a carved out time where students get individualized support and their learning and development, which I think is really cool and interesting.
Unknown Speaker 19:51
What’s great about small schools is students have the opportunity to be a part of sports musics and clubs. Yeah, like all these wonderful opportunities
Unknown Speaker 20:00
sponsors and coaches work together and support students goals. If they want to be in multiple things, they usually figure out how to best do that. We are small and mighty, thank you.
Unknown Speaker 20:14
Board members, do you have any questions for our student advisory members?
Unknown Speaker 20:18
Thank you. You guys did a great job. Thank you so much. I do board members have any questions or comments?
Unknown Speaker 20:25
Would you like to John, thank you very much.
Unknown Speaker 20:30
Your community is completely united. I had the opportunity to get up there last week, and thank you for your time I was on Science Day, in fact, and so you guys were outside the elementary schools. I think Andrew was coming off the brook, just after I arrived, which was neat to see.
Unknown Speaker 20:49
What really excited me today was your engagement. And you know, following the st. Brainstorm, I think you really had a perfect storm with the block scheduling, to hear you’re increasing your personalized schedules for the CDC. And the Innovation Center is remarkable. And so that I learned today, and I thank you for sharing that. As far as you students.
Unknown Speaker 21:16
You’ve got some big worlds ahead of you. And you know, you have shown that you’re ready to take it on. And so I’m, I’m honored to hear you and thank you very much for coming.
Unknown Speaker 21:26
Thank you. Yeah, of course, call I have full transparency. When you you first introduced yourself. I was very distracted by the sunset in the picture.
Unknown Speaker 21:38
You guys have the best view up there at Lyons. We have amazing views for many, many, many schools. But with you all being up in the foothills, so my apologies for that. So I think you guys did you guys did an incredible job of capturing. You know, I try not to bring my personal experiences up here to the Dyess but in this case, I am going to break that rule because my daughter is a recent graduate of Lyons, middle senior, she was open enrolled there. And you guys absolutely captured the essence of her experience perfectly. You know, I was taking notes. You know, Cassidy, Maya and Casey, you all talked about science and leadership. I love how you said that. We’re all leaders and every day we have an opportunity to lead. So so true. You also talked, you know about the strength of small and mighty? Absolutely. And then coal and Cambria, you talked about connections, academic excellence and student engagement. And there is absolutely an opportunity for every student to engage at Lyons middle Sr, you guys captured the heart of it beautifully. I wonder. Do you have any any parents or family members here they that you might like to introduce that I’m positive must be very proud parents or loved ones or friends?
Unknown Speaker 23:00
Well, my dad’s here
Unknown Speaker 23:02
are sad. Hi, dad.
Unknown Speaker 23:05
Yes. Great. And oh, Cole. Do you have somebody here? Oh, no. Oh, okay. I thought you’re stepping up to introduce somebody. My apologies. And then we have some seniors. Do you guys have an interest in talking about what you think you might want to do next year and no pressure? If you don’t?
Unknown Speaker 23:24
Yeah, of course. So oh, gosh, let me lower this. Coal is much taller than me. I intend to attend a four year college, hopefully majoring in Film and Media Studies, classic Classical Studies or theater. Fun. And very similarly, I also hope to attend a four year college, either majoring in theater, or something STEM based, I haven’t decided yet.
Unknown Speaker 23:49
I also hope to pursue a four year college studying wildlife biology. That’s great. You know, it is a little unfair of me to ask that at this point in the game, right? It’s only it’s only is it? It’s November. Is it November? Oh, my goodness. Yes. So thank you so much, all of you, Andrea. And Andrew, thank you so much for your leadership and lions. We’re grateful and we’ll look forward to seeing you in the very near future for the grand opening of the auditorium. Yes, thank you to all of you enjoy your evening.
Unknown Speaker 24:31
Right, that brings us back to Agenda Item three, which is our visitors and specifically 3.1 Don, which is a superintendents Excellence in Education Award.
Unknown Speaker 24:42
Hi, and Axl, do you want to come on up and bring everybody with you?
Unknown Speaker 25:07
Just want to point out it’s a tough gig following the lions group. So that was really wonderful to hear. And it’s wonderful to hear what they’re doing because they’re one of the partners in the work that we did.
Unknown Speaker 25:18
Thank you very much, Dr. Her dad for
Unknown Speaker 25:22
having us here tonight to recognize this special project that we’ve been working on for several years. Thank you to the board and all the district leadership as well. Not only for your interest tonight, but the ongoing support that we’ve had for years to do this kind of work. Want to echo what Andrea said about Paula and John, known both of you for many years, I really admire your commitment to our community by serving on the board. We’ll miss your presence on the board, but we know you’ll still be actively involved with the district with our community so wish you the best and look forward to future conversations.
Unknown Speaker 25:55
The northern Red Belly days Recovery Project exemplifies our district’s vision of providing students with both a strong educational foundation as well as meaningful opportunities for innovation. It also illustrates the value of having a compelling vision powered by thoughtful planning, hard work, and the collaboration of like minded partners. The vision which resulted in this summer’s culminating event, which was the release of over 800 phishing links raised during the summer, had it start in a conversation over three years ago, between Dr. Mickey McComb, kobza, Mac kobza, and myself.
Unknown Speaker 26:30
After some prior collaborations, we were musing about how we might bring truly transformative opportunities to sea and brain students. After reflecting on the popular Trout in the Classroom program, which incidentally is done at Lyons Elementary and was an inspiration for this project.
Unknown Speaker 26:46
And this project is where students raise and release trout fish Lynx into the river, we decided to take things to another level by focusing on a local species the northern red bellied days, the nerds, as we call them, and this is the nerd nerds over here
Unknown Speaker 27:02
are indigenous to the portion of the San Fran which runs through Longmont and are listed by the state of Colorado as an endangered species. They were particularly impacted by the floods of 2013. Successfully raising them in captivity in St. Vrain. Valley schools would be both challenging as well very meaningful for our community. So once we set this vision, a lot of planning and hard work was put into motion, including a trip down to Colorado Parks and Wildlife State Fish Hatchery, applying for grants purchasing equipment.
Unknown Speaker 27:35
The most difficult part of this experience by far was responding to the closure of our schools due to COVID. The dolt fish literally arrived from the hatchery a days before the closure. And you can imagine how difficult it was for us to decide what to do and how to care for these fish. But we had no idea if we could even be in the buildings. Little Mack and Mickey know that they’re going to become proud foster parents of over 40 fish by taking two tanks into their basement. And over the course of that summer, those two tanks became six and then eight plus a horse trough and the result while they raised over 1000 Baby Fish in their basement. Who says this is a tankless task.
Unknown Speaker 28:19
Look at the
Unknown Speaker 28:21
collaboration grew to include the Rooney family from Lyons, Colorado, who provided a pond on their property for us to release the first batch of fish into as Webster pond where they currently are latest latest release was done was not available. We had multiple student project teams from the Innovation Center and from lions middle Senior High School. We had graduate students from the University of Colorado, and most recently, the Denver Zoo in the left hand watershed Center are joining our team. This has been a very rewarding experience for all of us. We’re very grateful for the recognition tonight. I’d like to introduce the partners and have the recognition.
Unknown Speaker 28:57
Our first partner is ocean first Institute represented by Dr. Mickey McComb. kobza.
Unknown Speaker 29:05
Oh, thank you, this has definitely been a labor of love. And I do feel like a fish mama after having them in my basement. It’s a it’s a you know, conservation really is something that requires us to do something bigger than ourselves, and to look towards the future. And that’s exactly what this project has become. And the future is the students. And to see the students that have been involved in this project to learn how to care for these fish and to care for species that are imperiled has been just really incredible. And I’m excited to see where the project goes as it grows. And I’m really excited that St. Brain had the leadership and the vision to allow the doors to open to this project because it’s not really typical. And I think it’s really been a success and so I’m really grateful. Thank you
Unknown Speaker 29:57
Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 29:59
Okay, thanks
Unknown Speaker 30:00
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I just want to mention this is one of multiple collaborations with Dr. Miki and oceanfirst. Institute, they are, and she is really a treasure and a resource for our community. So thank you, thank you for everything you do for our students. Our second partner is Boulder, county parks and open space represented by Mack kobza.
Unknown Speaker 30:29
Well, I will be succinct. I’m just been thinking of all the the relationships and opportunities and achievements we’ve already had on this project and it continues to grow. I just want to say, I think one of the one of the main things we’re trying to do with this project was to create meaningful ways for students to engage in environmental conservation, and create perhaps pathways for further opportunity and ladders of success for students in the sciences, especially in resource conservation, wildlife biology being one of them. And also at the same time, there’s a, we have a strong mission at parks and open space to recover species of special concern. Fisher among them, you don’t see them, they’re under the water. They’re not like elk. They’re not charismatic, especially the small native fish. So
Unknown Speaker 31:22
I think this project highlights a unique fauna that we have in Colorado, these are endemic native species, just like an elk or a bighorn sheep. And students are having a meaningful impact reintroduce them into the wild. And this cannot happen without community collaboration and citizen science at this scale. So I’m really excited to see this grow, continue, perhaps the whatever comes beyond the redbelly day, so I’m excited about but let’s work with the database and see them return to the wild and a natural reproducing population in the same brain Creek. And we can say our students in our local community did this together. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 32:07
Max Mac didn’t mention the next species we’re thinking about that includes frogs, toads, dragon flies for them. And I will never forget, you all know, Patty, of course. And when I first introduced the idea of Patty bringing another fish tank into our robotics classroom, and she’s she’s pretty flexible that even her eyes got kind of big.
Unknown Speaker 32:28
A third partner is Colorado Parks and Wildlife represented by Boyd right and his partner, Ben squiggle, but is not able to be here tonight. All right. Thank you, Boyd.
Unknown Speaker 32:38
Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 32:43
Yes, so fancy. So I’m the the regional native aquatic species conservation biologist for the state for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. And one of the really challenging yet Paramount pieces to conservation of our native species really involves this education and outreach and community engagement component. But as an aquatic biologist, that’s really difficult for me to do. So I’m really here today just to express gratitude. These really fine people, they work really hard. They had an incredible vision that was seemed almost impossible to me when I first heard about it. Yet, it’s been really impressive to see how they brought that vision to light and implemented it. So a huge thank you to them. Really appreciate all your hard work.
Unknown Speaker 33:44
Our next partner is lions middle Senior High School represented by Colleen Ford, who will also introduce some of the lions students involved.
Unknown Speaker 33:54
Thank you, Axl, wait for us. Thank you, Axl, and thanks for having us today. I think what has been so instrumental for me in this project is that St. Vrain Valley schools bring communities together. And what I mean by a community you just heard from Lyons, middle Senior High School and how our community is so very close. But looking at all these different people back here and their dedication to our community, as a greater whole, has been inspirational for me, and for all the students involved. And I am honored to be a part of it and honored to give the students an opportunity to understand what conservation is. And at the fish release, make he said something Dr. McKee said. Conservation is love. And it’s a love for your community. It’s a love for your home. And that’s that’s what we’ve we’ve learned. So I want to introduce Cassidy batts, who you already heard from but she also was a part of this project.
Unknown Speaker 34:57
Thank you Miss for it. Like I said before, my name is
Unknown Speaker 35:00
Cassie bats. I’m a senior at lions High School. I’ve been a part of the Northern redbelly dace program since the beginning, which is really exciting. I’ve got to watch it grow and succeed. I hope to pursue wildlife biology in the future. So this program has not only given me the opportunity to learn more on that topic, but also have the opportunity to work in the field and learn in the non traditional environment. I have been so honored to be a part of this program, and I hope to see it continue to thrive. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 35:35
Cassie, I appreciate you sharing your future plans. One of our next step goals for this is to develop that talent, pipeline and workforce readiness, career readiness for students who have a passion like yours, providing internships, other work based learning opportunities, connections with universities and things too. So best of luck in your studies. And come back and visit us.
Unknown Speaker 35:56
Our final partner is the Innovation Center represented by Jamie Snyder, and she will also introduce a student, some students and a staff member.
Unknown Speaker 36:09
Thank you so much. common theme tonight is definitely that idea of giving back to the community. And that’s what this is all about is how can we be impactful and be helpful and beneficial for our community. And so this project has taken these students outside of their comfort zone. I started with a team that really liked electronics, and robotics. And they thought that they were just going to be building sensors to collect water quality data. And instead I was like, Oh no, all the data is also out in the field. So in addition to these fish tanks, which we now how is it the Innovation Center, and they have helped breed throughout COVID. And throughout the summer program.
Unknown Speaker 36:47
They’ve also been out in the field at Moonee ponds. So you did beat Maya Rooney, her parents were very helpful with letting us on their property, as well as being at Webster pond, which Boulder County Parks and Open Space has said is this idea of a living laboratory, where students can get outside and realize that there’s so much more to learn outside of the classroom walls. And there’s so much data to collect, and so much to learn. And they even see just having people in our community walking by enjoying the open space. And we have these very bright vest that actually was so nice to buy for us. So everyone sees us and they stop and ask us questions, and what are we doing? And the students are about to tell you what they do. So I’m going to introduce Matteo has recently joined the project. And then Jana Watson, who has been with us since the start.
Unknown Speaker 37:45
I, Hello,
Unknown Speaker 37:48
my name is Matteo. I’ve only been I recently joined this project.
Unknown Speaker 37:55
And I’m a senior at nyuad High School. I I’m not great at talking. So please forgive me for anyways, the I really just want to talk about how, what an overwhelmingly positive experience it’s been for me so far. In this group. I mean, I’ve I’ve met new people, I’ve made new friends. And from the very start, I was struck with how well organized it was and how nice everybody was. And I’ve learned so many new things, too, that I never would have been able to in any other school district turbidity I can measure turbidity now.
Unknown Speaker 38:39
It’s important.
Unknown Speaker 38:41
Well, I’ll pass it on to you. Now, as he said turbidity. That’s if you don’t know what turbidity is, it’s how clear the water is. It’s one of the data, it’s one of the many fields of data that we collect. We also collect things like conductivity. So how conductive the water is, as well as ph which is the like levels of water, it also tells us how healthy that ecosystem and the water is, in order for us to know what we need to do in order to help this ecosystem in order to have these fish actually thrive in the water that we are trying to reintroduce them to. And another as He said, the community that we have, it’s very friendly we I have fallen into the water twice. I will say I’m not going to make this up. I fell into the water mud Quick mode is not fun.
Unknown Speaker 39:32
But we are all techie nerds and geeks and stuff and we were pushed into this wildlife where we have to trek through mud and take data samples and it’s just an amazing experience and I’m very thankful to be a part of it
Unknown Speaker 39:55
I noticed that there’s only one left so
Unknown Speaker 40:02
And I do have to point out, both of their parents are here tonight, I have to thank their parents because they do drive them all over the place. They do have home high schools. And then they’re asked to come to the Innovation Center, sometimes out to Webster pond, sometimes out to Lyons to Rooney pond. So it’s all over the place. And so it definitely takes a team effort. And I do also want to introduce one of my co workers, another staff member at the Innovation Center, Nate Wilcox, he is part of the robotics group, which we also work with. So tons of collaboration is going on here, as you can see.
Unknown Speaker 40:38
Don’t get the automated thing.
Unknown Speaker 40:40
That’s okay. That’s okay.
Unknown Speaker 40:43
Thank you so much. I just wanted to thank you guys so much, on behalf the Innovation Center for supporting our program, and many projects just like this, not just because of what they do for the students, but I can speak for every teacher that I’ve worked with, it’s an amazing experience for us as well. It’s enriching to our lives, it makes coming to work. So exciting every day, we have genuinely come to work and have no idea what types of challenges we might face and what types of exciting solutions we might find. So it’s just really awesome. From my perspective, we’re, this these types of projects are ongoing, because we can’t stop here. Right progress is great. We want to continue to progress and so some of the things that we’ve been working on in my classroom involve responsive automated solutions, or systems like overflow alarms and leak sensors, as well as
Unknown Speaker 41:39
doing some research and development around winter breeding so that we can try and align the breeding cycle of this fish with the school year so that we could get more students involved and get more schools involved. That’s something that’s super important to us and thank you again for having us really appreciate it
Unknown Speaker 42:03
one other acknowledgement would be to acknowledge Patty Communis as you know she is our assistant superintendent of innovation not here tonight she I think is watching and without Patty none of this really would have been there she as you know is that visionary
Unknown Speaker 42:19
perspective and really because the support when people have a passion like this group has had a passion and I know that is reflective of our leadership across the district and the community so again, thank you so much for allowing us to be here tonight to share and thank you for the recognition Dr Haddad.
Unknown Speaker 43:23
Thank you
Unknown Speaker 43:35
guys
Unknown Speaker 43:53
Thank you, Don.
Unknown Speaker 43:59
That brings us to Agenda Item four, which is audience participation. Are there any audience members here this evening who’s signed up to speak on the agenda item?
Unknown Speaker 44:13
All right. And then I think you just have non agenda items on on the signup sheet. Is that correct?
Unknown Speaker 44:20
Is there anybody here to speak this evening? That hasn’t signed up?
Unknown Speaker 44:25
All right, thank you deck.
Unknown Speaker 44:42
The Board of Education values community perspectives and feedback from our parents, teachers, staff and community. During board of education meetings the board will hear up to 30 minutes of public comment on non agenda items and 30 minutes of public comment on agenda specific items to allow for the greatest
Unknown Speaker 45:00
Two Minutes of public comment on agenda specific pardon me to allow for the greatest number of community members to participate. Each person will be limited to three minutes of public comments. At the end of three minutes, I will thank you and move on to the next speaker or the next agenda item.
Unknown Speaker 45:18
If you’re speaking this evening on a non agenda item, please limit your comments to matters of public concern about the district. If you have a concern about a specific individual or personnel matter, please reach out directly to a board member, Dr. Haddad or the HR department, and we will assist you with next steps. It has been the long standing practice of the board to not address or respond to public comments, the public comments section of the agenda. But please know that we are listening and we greatly appreciate and value the perspectives of our community. This evening, we have one speaker.
Unknown Speaker 45:52
Steven, are you here. And Hi, Steven. I’m sorry, I don’t know how to start your Can you help me with your last name? Hallisey. Great. So Steven, if you would like to please come up to the podium, if you could state your name and your address. And then we’ll start timing your comment after you’ve done that. And you’ll have three minutes. And thank you for joining us this evening.
Unknown Speaker 46:15
So my name is Steven Halsey.
Unknown Speaker 46:17
I live in Firestone.
Unknown Speaker 46:20
So, I’d like to start out by first saying that I appreciate Dr. Dad, hearing my concerns along with the principal of coal Ridge Middle School where my daughter attends sixth grade.
Unknown Speaker 46:32
Liza Nybo.
Unknown Speaker 46:35
They’re very responsive. And, you know, they shared my concerns about the inappropriate nature of the lesson that my daughter was given
Unknown Speaker 46:43
by her language arts teacher.
Unknown Speaker 46:46
I’d like to read part of that assignment today. And I printed out some copies of it. If you go if you all would like to take a look. But they’re particularly there’s a portion of it that I’d like to read, which was given as context of a video that was also attached to the slide. So
Unknown Speaker 47:04
there’s a definition in the slide,
Unknown Speaker 47:07
entitled white privilege.
Unknown Speaker 47:09
And the definition was given that by the teacher as the question and honor instead of advantages, entitlements, benefits and choices bestowed upon people solely because there are white, generally white people who experienced such privilege, do so without being conscious of it. And then it continues with a note. White Privilege doesn’t mean that white people don’t experience hardship, or that they are spoiled. It simply means that the difficulties and disadvantages they do experience are not because of their color of their skin. I’d like to repeat that last part,
Unknown Speaker 47:41
that the difficulties and disadvantages that they do experience are not because of the color of their skin. I it’s not it’s impossible for that to happen.
Unknown Speaker 47:52
And so I’d like to ask you, rhetorically, obviously, was the lesson being taught here. And what do you think the children are taking from that lesson?
Unknown Speaker 48:01
From my viewpoint, my daughter is being taught that because she is perceived to be white, that it’s impossible for her to be discriminated against, based on the color of her skin, which we all know is not correct.
Unknown Speaker 48:12
She’s also taught
Unknown Speaker 48:15
that white people alone are being singled out and separated from the group as the only people who cannot experience discrimination. And I’d also like to pose to you, what do we normally call it when we single out groups of people and make judgments of them based on the color of their skin.
Unknown Speaker 48:32
So over the over the course of the last several months, parents have moved throughout the country to have their voices heard.
Unknown Speaker 48:37
And to say that they will not stand for their children being taught biased, subversive and racist lessons in their schools. SPVs D, has recently added a banner on the Board of Education page specifically stating that our students curriculum does not include critical race theory. And while that may be true, the school district still has teachers within it, at least in this case, that are teaching portions of that framework.
Unknown Speaker 49:05
That makeups here, CRT, whether whether or not it’s approved, they’re obviously doing it.
Unknown Speaker 49:12
For it to be claimed that that it isn’t being taught, I’d say is disingenuous at best.
Unknown Speaker 49:18
I believe that parents should be in charge of giving their children’s social licence, not schools and parents are responsible.
Unknown Speaker 49:29
Yes, please.
Unknown Speaker 49:31
Thanks, Brian.
Unknown Speaker 49:40
Agenda Item five this evening is the superintendence report. Don.
Unknown Speaker 49:49
Okay, thank you.
Unknown Speaker 49:53
All right. I have a few things that I’ll just try to run through relatively quickly. You know, one of the things we’re very proud of
Unknown Speaker 50:00
In our grant writer, Hilary Sontag, she has written grants to the tune of about going on $24 million now in the last several years, and she recently acquired another $100,000 grant to put towards stem, and then
Unknown Speaker 50:20
a couple of other grants to support our nutrition services program, as well as our operations and maintenance and airflow programs. So that’s, uh, you know, it’s almost hard to keep up with her. She is so talented in the work that she does. And the number of corporations and businesses that we are working with continues to grow at a very fast pace. And so we’re very excited about that we’re well over 95 right now and continuing to climb and that includes internships and mentoring programs, and apprenticeships and things along those lines. I’m also very proud of a lot of our students who were selected for the Colorado all state choir. It’s a it’s just it’s really incredible to see how many kids we have involved in the co curricular arena with music and athletics and the arts and things. But St rain will be very, very well represented with a large number of all state choir students.
Unknown Speaker 51:16
The Frederick logo, the you know that the name by per state law, we were required by law to change the mascot at Frederick High School. And I will pass around this logo of the golden eagle that Carrie McDermott and her team, it’s the one that’s circled. And you can take a look at that I
Unknown Speaker 51:40
also want to read to you a few with new Meridian High School with the new principal. They’re just a number of incredible accomplishments. They have their largest Advanced Placement psychology class running and students are engaged in the on site P Teach program, with many concurrently enrolled with CU Denver. And that’s our Grow Your Own teacher program that we have. We also have one of two school districts in the entire state that were selected by Toyota and Lexus for the elite program getting off the ground with the automotive department, I went to their presentation, and it will bring in hundreds of 1000s of dollars. And it will create a pipeline for our kids in automotive, to go directly to college and then graduate and go right into jobs making 5060 $70,000 a year through Toyota and that program. So very excited about that.
Unknown Speaker 52:33
We have one of our teachers, Andres Garcia, he’s a welding instructor is running for national welding Teacher Award. And he was selected as a December recipient for stappen inspires. I did mention to you the launch of the pre law program there. And then our Front Range Community College partnership continues to strengthen with more opportunities for our students, and the work going on with the Ag Science Program and the drone technology programs that we’re working on. And the Advanced Manufacturing Academy continues to thrive with many industry partners. So just a lot of exciting things happening at New Meridian and the Career Development Center. All of those programs.
Unknown Speaker 53:16
Many of you were at the Education Foundation Gala, it was a great event, we had about 350 people there in person and another 100 or so virtually. And couple outstanding students spoke which was really powerful. We had the music group from Silver Creek High School there, and just an incredible support from the community. So I was very grateful. And thank you all for for attending. And thanks to the Education Foundation for their great work.
Unknown Speaker 53:47
Veterans Day is tomorrow, I will be at long speak. One of the reasons that we’re excited about having school is we get to have so many celebrations across the entire system. All of our school, a lot of our schools are doing really powerful presentations, putting up billboards, having veterans into the schools, large assemblies where the students come in and recognize the great sacrifices that our veterans have made. And it’s it’s a great source of pride and St. Brain. If any of you have the opportunity. I know that oftentimes you do, almost always. But I’ll see you at the one that’s going to go to Long’s peak tomorrow. There are several throughout the district, but that should be an exciting time. Leadership St. Brain, we have that meeting coming up on Friday, we have about 150 parents engaged and it’s we’re going through all types of topics we covered finance. We’ll be covering legislative agenda items this time around and very appreciative of all the parents and the community coming together. And then the next thing with our triple A program. We have about 1300 Students participating after school, with our teachers focusing on literacy
Unknown Speaker 55:00
Math and really advancing their academics. And we are just really excited about the turnout. And these are after school optional opportunities, but kids are flooding into them. And our teachers have been great in terms of the work that they’re doing. We’re also launching our telecommunications for classes, to start our pilot. And that will provide the opportunity for our students to be able to take classes at other schools, while they’re still in their existing school and not have to drive there. So if we only have, let’s say, One
Unknown Speaker 55:36
World Language offered at a school,
Unknown Speaker 55:39
kids from all the high schools can take it, and they can log in virtually and get the credit. And it’s a great experience. And so Michelle, Bolduan and kale Charles have worked very hard on that. And that’s one of the things that really will advance our system, because it provides opportunities for kids to take just about any class they want to take in the district. And, you know, we’re a unique district in that we allow kids to take eight classes. And a lot of districts have reduced that because of their finances, and other reasons. But, in fact, a lot of districts only have school four days a week. And that’s something that, you know, I’ve oftentimes believe kids need to be in school for even more than five days and more time in the summer. But I know that’s not always the most popular thing. But I’ll tell you the way school is going now our summers are packed with students over the breaks that we have, we have lots of reading challenges, and lots of students participating in robotics, and just a whole host of other things. So it’s great work. And it’s great to see our kids involved. And our enrollment continues to climb, we finished the October count, but we are we are busting out at the seams and our open houses have been more crowded than ever before. We have more parents coming into our open house meetings at all of our schools than we have ever seen, at least in my time over the past 14 years. It’s just an enormous rush of people. And our we’re just added another two preschool classes and continue to add staff for more and more students coming in. We will be planning this summer, starting to plan for a future bond initiative. Probably two years out still, one of the nice things about the way in which our money and our finances have been managed is we will be able to go for for a bond for well over $300 million without having to raise anybody’s taxes. And so that’s a that’s a really good deal. And it’s a tribute to the great work that our community has done. So very excited about that and more to come. It’s still a long ways out. But we always start the planning
Unknown Speaker 57:47
early on, and with the number of kids we have coming to schools. It’s it’s going to be very well.
Unknown Speaker 57:54
Well needed. So anyways, thank you. Thanks, Don. Appreciate it. And I’ll see you tomorrow morning at Long’s peak. That’d be great. And then Paula will actually be talking about board governance at leadership St. Brian on Friday as well. Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. All right. So that brings us to our consent items this evening. And Todd, I would like to give you an opportunity to come to the podium. Very excited this evening. You will be introducing older Olga Cordero. And then Alvin Brown as well. I will thank you thank you and good evening presidency grits members of the board and Dr. Her dad. I’m proud to introduce
Unknown Speaker 58:36
Miss Olga Cordero and I’m gonna have Johnny trill, her supervisor, Assistant Superintendent Johnny Terrell joining us. Joining Olga is her husband Victor and daughter Janelle. Sisters, Natalia, Margarita, Leticia, and Irma, and then most importantly, her mother Bertola. So welcome, and stuff like that.
Unknown Speaker 59:01
So I’d like to introduce Miss Origo Olga Cordero as the executive director of equity and community engagement. Miss Cordell graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She continued her education at the University of Colorado Denver, where received where she received her master’s degree in counseling education. For the past three years, Miss corredera has served as the director of equity and community engagement for st Grand Valley Schools, where she has been responsible for leading and providing guidance and direction and monitoring budgets and support students, staff and community stakeholders in the district from 2015 to 2018. Miss Cordero, was a counselor at Rocky Mountain elementary school and prior to that she served as a counselor at Skyline High School from 2007 to 2015. So like to introduce Miss Cordero, and you can say a few words. All right. What he failed to say is that I was actually a kindergarten student at Rocky Rocky Mountain elementary back in the 1900s. So
Unknown Speaker 1:00:00
I’m rarely at a loss for words, you can ask my village back here. But tonight I am, I am incredibly grateful to the board members, Dr. had Dr. Capetian. And many of the people who have served as my mentors in this district, it’s very personal work. Because when we talk about each and every student, I am talking about the entire spectrum of students in this work is deeply, deeply important, because this is where I raised my own children. So thank you for that this opportunity. We’ve worked with many departments we have. Just recently this morning, you and I were on a phone call Brian. And so this work, embeds in many, many departments, which is really exciting. Lots of community groups that we meet with, which is
Unknown Speaker 1:00:47
very rewarding. Leadership, think rain, you mentioned that, that we have a group of very committed parents. And those conversations are very deep, and and very meaningful. So we’re here to support students. And I do believe that our work is only as strong as our team. And here in St. Vrain. We have an incredible team of people committed and and really, really determined to make excellence and education a priority for our students.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:18
The last thing I want to say is that in Spanish, there’s a word, and it’s called familia. And here is my familia outside of my my job. And you all are my familia here. So being able to bridge that is really important to me. And being able to bridge our students and our parents, to our education system is just as important. So thank you for this opportunity. And of course, Johnny Terrell who come up here Johnny, please
Unknown Speaker 1:01:50
talk about familia This is it takes a big level of trust and integrity when you do work. And this man has done that. And he he people call him coach t. And now I know why. Now I know why. So it’s a privilege. Thank you so much. Thank you, Olga.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:09
Olga, I did want to Don, did you want to say a few words? I did. But um, after you Sure. Oh, good. Chico was not able to be at the meeting this evening. But he did ask that I would pass along to you that he wants to acknowledge the great work that you have done, up until this point and moving forward the great work, he knows you’ll continue to do. And Don Chico also wanted me to acknowledge you for your commitment to equity and community engagement as well. Olga, congratulations. And there’s not that often that we have a mom in the crowd. And so Olga’s Mom, just want to say thank you. And certainly you must be very proud of of your daughter.
Unknown Speaker 1:02:51
Thank you. All right, I just want to say, you know, I have known you for years. I mean, well over a decade and the work that you’ve been doing for many years in this district. Students always come back to see you. They talk about you in ways that you’ve impacted their lives. I have watched you work tirelessly to support students all the way up through our system and to support our teachers and our staff and our community. And you are just an outstanding educator and a wonderful person. And I really, I have enjoyed working with you for many, many, many years. So likewise, Dr. Haddad, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And also, my dad is not here, but I’m sure he is. So I’m certain he’s very proud right now. Yes, 50 years old. And still, it’s just it’s amazing to do this work. So thank you. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you. Yes.
Unknown Speaker 1:03:51
I’m also pleased to introduce Mr. Alvin Brown as the Executive Director of Human Resources. Mr. Brown graduated from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He continued his education at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he received his Juris Doctor degree. For the past nine years, Mr. Brown has served as the director of equal opportunity programs and arms bud services for Colorado Springs school district 11, where he oversaw the equity Equal Opportunity Program for the entire district, including approximately 3800 staff members, both 2008 to 2012. Mr. Brown was an attorney at the law office of Alvin Brown. Prior to that he was a deputy district attorney at the fourth judicial district in the
Unknown Speaker 1:04:39
attorney’s office and the 10th Judicial District Attorney’s office from 2005 to 2008, and 2004 to 2005, respectively. So I’d like to introduce to Mr. Alan Brown. Want to say P word. Hello, welcome, welcome.
Unknown Speaker 1:04:57
I really want to take the opportunity
Unknown Speaker 1:05:00
To thank you and thank the board, thank the st. Brain leadership team for giving me the opportunity to bring my skills to such an amazing school district. As I was looking to further my education career, I was really looking for a district that was committed to student success, and for all students. And when I studied St. Vrain, it was clear to me that you will have a commitment to making sure all your students are prepared for the future. And from my own personal experiences, I put a high value on education. And I want to do what I can to make sure that every student is able to get those same opportunities that were afforded me. And so I look forward to continuing my work here. So far, everyone’s been great. And thank you very much.
Unknown Speaker 1:05:55
Thank you, and welcome, Dan.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:06
That’s
Unknown Speaker 1:06:08
very, very highly recommended from so many people that know you and worked with you for for many, many years. And you bring a variety of great skills. So welcome to st frame.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:25
Just a brief comment.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:29
We attained brain aspire to be the kind of organization that attracts the very best of educators and administrators, not only from throughout our state, but throughout the country. I do know some of the people who worked with you and
Unknown Speaker 1:06:46
MD 11. And when I heard that you were coming to work for us in St. Brain.
Unknown Speaker 1:06:55
I
Unknown Speaker 1:06:57
I guess I had a little hurray moment in that. Your choice to come to St. Frane affirms that we’re becoming the kind of organization we aspire to be that organization at the very forefront of moving public education and caring for our students forward. So welcome to our team. Thank you. Congratulations, seven. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 1:07:27
All right. We’ll make it official now.
Unknown Speaker 1:07:31
Would board members like to pull any of the consent items this evening?
Unknown Speaker 1:07:36
Yes. 7.6 7.6. All right. Thanks. Stick anyone else? All right, then I would entertain a motion for approval please. of agenda items 7.1 staff termination and leaves 7.2 staff appointments 7.3. approval of minutes for the October 13 2021. regular meeting. October 2020 21 study session, October 27 2021 study session and October 27 2021. regular meeting 7.4 approval of recommendation to hire executive director of equity and community engagement 7.5 approval of recommendation to hire Executive Director of Human Resources 7.7 approval of change order five to lions middle Senior High School Auditorium rid of and renovation project. So moved by Jim second and John.
Unknown Speaker 1:08:30
Mr. Arens? Yes, Mr. Berthold? Yes. Mr. Garcia, absent Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce. Hi, Mrs. raglan. I miss Siegrist. I.
Unknown Speaker 1:08:42
Alright, deck, you pulled 7.6, which is approval of purchase of vehicles. If you don’t mind asking for that clarification, and then making a motion for approval when you’re done. That would be great. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 1:08:53
Yes, this is not in any way. reluctance to approve this. But I would like
Unknown Speaker 1:09:02
a reminder of the work that this is part of in terms of refreshing our bus fleet, our vehicle fleet, and the longer term plans that you are implementing in terms of bringing down the average age of our bus fleet and how that’s progressing. Yeah, so not not the specific numbers necessarily, but just a sense of the progress. We’re making that multiple year plan, right?
Unknown Speaker 1:09:30
Well, we have 140 buses in our fleet. And presently there are 20 that are entering into that stage where we need to replace them. So over the next couple of years, we’ll be replacing a total of 20 buses. This this is for eight buses. I believe it’s five Gen Ed and then three wheelchair buses
Unknown Speaker 1:09:54
are present. Average life is 10.5. I remember stepping in here
Unknown Speaker 1:10:00
The average life, I must say it was around 14, it was 15. It’s our calls it really, it was high. And and our goal truthfully was, was to bring that down. We were, we were, well, actually, I’m still hoping to get it down just below 10. And we think that’s a pretty good place to be. Now, interestingly enough, this this set of buses is gasoline, not diesel. And diesel is turning into a bit of a problem in regards to the air quality, and all of the regulations tied to it. So. So these are our gasoline buses. So that’s a new one force. Yeah.
Unknown Speaker 1:10:41
Well, thank you. And so
Unknown Speaker 1:10:45
in your mind, we’re implementing the plan at a pace that is both sustainable and make sense. Absolutely, yes. Wonderful. Juice there. Some of our next steps, some of the interesting stuff we’re looking at, of course, is
Unknown Speaker 1:11:00
electric buses.
Unknown Speaker 1:11:03
And there’s still some issues to work through there. But we’ve got some some good ideas tied to that. And I don’t know, we’ll see how that comes together. There’s a difficulty of heating an electric bus in the middle of winter. But nonetheless, we’re looking at that, of course, propane, we do have propane buses, which is certainly a benefit. And,
Unknown Speaker 1:11:27
and like I said, we’re kind of moving away from diesel, even though most of our buses are diesel.
Unknown Speaker 1:11:33
Well, thank you. I just wanted to acknowledge the progress that Brian and his team are making your transportation team.
Unknown Speaker 1:11:41
The sustained effort isn’t enabling us to,
Unknown Speaker 1:11:46
you know, make sure that we continue to provide both
Unknown Speaker 1:11:51
economical and safe vehicles as we move to
Unknown Speaker 1:11:56
reduce our emissions. So I’m,
Unknown Speaker 1:11:59
in these moments when we have these snapshots, it’s sometimes Well, I appreciate being able to tie it to the progress overall to be made in the direction that we’re headed. So thank you very much, Brian. Thank you. I would add to that listing that’s of transporting more and more students each year as well. Absolutely. And if I may, I would move adoption of this resolution 7.6. Second.
Unknown Speaker 1:12:28
Mr. Arens? Yes, Mr. Berthold? Yes. Mr. Garcia, absent Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce. Aye. Mrs. Raglan, I miss Seacrest. I
Unknown Speaker 1:12:40
thanks, Tech. Thank you, Brian. Hi, Greg, you’re, you’re up next for action items, actually. 8.1 is a recommendation for the acceptance of the 2021 fiscal year annual comprehensive financial reports. And we did discuss this at length with the auditor at a study session.
Unknown Speaker 1:13:00
I knew I thought it was October earlier. So anyway, at a lot of recent meeting, as well as at a regular meeting. I know that you’ve talked about the Finance and Audit Committee meeting as well. Yes. So we, Paul, neater. Mueller was here from CLA back on October 27, to present to the board in a study session before the regular meeting. And then we talked about it a little bit in that meeting. But we also have
Unknown Speaker 1:13:27
been through it in depth with the Finance and Audit Committee. So we’re asking you to accept this report tonight. It shows that the district is in a strong financial position.
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I would like to thank Jane Frederick and the staff in the Financial Services Department and other departments because we do have to interact with other departments as we’re going through the audit, and they’re doing testing and some of those things.
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They did provide us with an unmodified opinion, which is a clean opinion. So there were no material weaknesses, no significant deficiencies.
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Just want to remind the board again that this is an audit of our financial statements only, we will have to go through another audit that single audit related to federal funding once that compliance is released. But based off of when they project those that compliance to be released. We asked
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the board to request an extension that’s been requested and we have received an extension to march 31 for that.
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And then we will put this annual comprehensive financial report on the website within the next couple of days. I know a little late getting to you
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this year, but it’s been one of those years. It’s a COVID year and we’ve been working hard and trying to get some of our charters to, to come in online into into line. But we are done and you receive that and
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I’d be happy to answer any questions you have. Thank you, Greg. Any questions or comments?
Unknown Speaker 1:15:07
No. All right, Greg, please pass along our appreciation as well. And certainly pass along to the community that that document
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will be available in a couple days on the district website. And if there are any questions, they can reach out to the finance department. Absolutely. Great. Thank you. Appreciate it. I hope that you feel a little bit of
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you have a little, a little bit of a sigh inside of you now that this has made it to the board for approval. Yes, I know Jane has and then we just found out that we have gear slash rise monitoring questions from an auditing firm from the state. That is due next Tuesday. So step right into the next thing, right, step right into the next project. No shortage of things. Well, thank you. We appreciate you. With that, I would entertain a motion please. For Approval of action item 8.1. So moved by Jim and Paula.
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Mr. Arens? Yes, Mr. Berthold? Yes. Mr. Garcia absent. Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce. Aye. Mrs. Raglan I miss Seacrest. I, Greg on the heels of that. 8.2 is something that that comes next. And that’s a recommendation for the acceptance of the district’s charter schools 2021 fiscal year assurances for financial accreditation? Yes, so called the Department of Education must determine annually if substantial in good faith compliance was achieved with relevant provisions of state law and generally accepted accounting principles. It’s required by statute. You are only accepting tonight. The individual charter boards would do the approval. So the next thing on the agenda would be you approving our assurances, but this is just you accepting it. But again, that, you know, they the state looks at financial data pipeline submissions, audited financial statements and responses from management inquiries as they develop this, but each charter school has to fill this form out individually, and get it approved by their board. Right. Thank you. District district board member questions or comments? Sorry, Dick.
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Thank you, Madam President. Just a question. I’ve read the certifications carefully, as I know you have. And I just am wondering whether in your review of the various submissions, that any questions or concerns arose that were not answered to your satisfaction, yet? No, there were none. With there were none. What I would say is the form is designed for Yes, responses. And if you have a no response, then you have to provide justification for that. And we had two charters, we each had one exception. One was that there was no resolution to the beginning to use the beginning fund balance. And the other one was, they didn’t provide a uniform budget summary and it’s to it to different charter schools. So one for each of these two charter schools. They and that was because they were in the process of splitting out funds. They had maintained everything in one fund. And this year, they move to splitting it out into three funds, but they didn’t get the uniform budget summary broken out that way. So it should be good moving both. Both of these should be good moving forward. So their explanations were satisfactory. Yes. Thank you.
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There are no other questions. I would entertain a motion please. For Approval of action item 8.2. So moved. Karen and John. Mr. Arens? Mr. Berthold? Yes. Mr. Garcia, absent. Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce. Aye. Mrs. raglan. I miss Seacrest. I
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actually am 8.3 is a recommendation for approval of the district’s 2021 Financial pardon me fiscal year assurances for financial accreditation. Yes. And very similar to what we what you just accepted. This is your approval of the district’s assurances for financial accreditation. We did also have a no on ours. And the reason for that was delayed payment in nutrition services. So working back and forth with CDE. Their their timing has expanded in terms of when we get funding. And so what happened with us was we had to
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our nutrition services was borrowing cash from our general fund as of June 30. And even though we’ve received those, those claims that we put in, that would put us into a positive we also have expenses
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CES this year. And so we we have claims out there we have we have requested claims back from CDE. That would put us where we’re not borrowing cash from the general fund. We just haven’t received those claim reimbursement yet.
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All right, any questions from the board?
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Alright, with that I would entertain a motion please for action item 8.3.
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Karen, second, and Jim.
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Mr. Arens? Mr. Berthold? Yes. Mr. Garcia absent Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce I Mrs. raglan. I miss Siegrist. Hi. Thanks, Christy. Actually, I’m 8.4 as a recommendation for adoption of Resolution proclaiming American Education Week, November 15. Through 1920 21. Hello, Diane. Hello, Madam President. Thank you so much for
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today. Oh, great.
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I don’t know all those presentations were awesome from the students into our new hires. I’m just kind of speechless, too. And it’s so fun to have the kids here, the students. It really is. It’s such a great reminder of why we all why we all do this work and why we’re all here this evening. Yes. Well, and with all that, celebrating American Education Week, it’s very fitting. And so we have this resolution. And I know in the past Pollo, you have been able to read it. I didn’t know if you wanted to approve it and read it, but I bring it forward to you. Great. We actually are I had asked Jim if he could read the resolution. So we’re going to shake things up a little bit.
Unknown Speaker 1:21:37
Yes, we’re gonna spread the resolution reading around. Jim. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 1:21:43
Ready.
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So resolution American Education Week, November 15, to 19th 2021. Whereas public schools are the backbone of our democracy, providing young people with the tools they need to maintain our nation’s precious values and freedom, civility and equity. And whereas, by equity, young Americans with both practice skills and
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equipping young Americans both practice skills and border, broader intellectual abilities, schools give them hope for an access to a productive future. And whereas education employees, be the custodians or teachers, bus drivers or librarians work tirelessly to serve our children, and communities with care and professionalism. And whereas schools our community linchpins bringing together adults and children, educators and volunteers, business leaders and elected officials in a common enterprise, and whereas our nation is celebrating the week of November 15, through the 19th 2021, as American Education Education Week, in the st. Frame valley schools, we encourage community members to support our local schools by participating in school sponsored activities and by volunteering to help with those activities.
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In the Board of Education afternoon,
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I think it’s fine. Great. Thank you, Jim. Appreciate it.
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Diane, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to read that in with that. I would entertain a motion for approval for action item 8.4. Please.
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John.
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Paula.
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Mr. Arens? Mr. Berthold? Yes. Mr. Garcia, absent. Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce. Aye. Mrs. raglan. I miss Siegrist i
Unknown Speaker 1:23:36
Hi, Brandon. We have actually done 8.5 Next, which is recommendation for approval of first reading and adoption of board policy, Bg school board policy process.
Unknown Speaker 1:23:48
Thank you, Madam President. Bring before you action item 8.5 which updates board policy BG school board policy process. Board Policy BG has been revised to provide greater flexibility to make ministerial changes to the policies to keep them current. Non substantive technical items such as titles of specific ledger administrators, website addresses statutory references revision history, typographical errors may be corrected by the superintendent or designee as necessary to keep the policies up to date.
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Thank you, Brandon. Very logical in my mind, and everybody’s nodding their head very. Alright. With that, anything else you’d like to add? I think we’re ready for approval. Just one thing. We’ve done quite a few policies the last several months we have Yeah, and kind of the unsung hero of this work is Christy Jonasson. And Diane harg. Ash, they work very hard, kind of updating everything manually in the sister physically in the system, but also dating the agendas and and that sort of thing and putting up with me, so I just wanted to say thank you both.
Unknown Speaker 1:25:01
Great, thank you. And Christy, thank you to you and Diane as well. Appreciate it. It’s no easy task, you know, how many policies do we have? Now? You don’t have to answer that. One before we did the policy overhaul, I think it was just over 500. And we pared it down to just over 300. I believe. I don’t know the total number that we have that I know over the course of several months, we’ve updated approximately 20 policies 20, which is a lot of work each of those to make sure they’re compliance in best practice. And so Christy, thank you again, to you and Diane and Brandon, thank you, for you for your work as well. Appreciate it.
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With that, I would entertain a motion please for approval of action item 8.5.
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Paula, second, and Karen.
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Mr. Arens? Hi, Mr. Berthold. Yes, Mr. Garcia absent. Dr. martyr? Yes. Miss Pierce. Aye. Mrs. Ragland. I miss Seacrest by actually I’m 8.6 is a recommendation for approval to request an exception to board policy GBA staff ethics, conflict of interest for Nancy Kelly Heslop.
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Hi, Greg. Thank you. Yeah, so board policies, states that no school district employee or firm owned by a school district employee shall be allowed to sell to the school district or its schools or staff goods or services of any kind without the express written consent of the Board of Education. So Nancy Kelly Hislop, owns a screen printing shop where she provides shirts. And she has her husband is Steven Heslop. Who, who is the driver for nutrition services.
Unknown Speaker 1:26:42
Again, we’re asking for an exception to this she she does not sell directly to students, she would sell to the student to the school who would you know, through fundraisers or team events or whatever? And if she she does not plan to exceed $5,000, for this school year? If she does, we would require her to come back. And we would get additional Board approval.
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Thank you. Thank you, Greg. Any comments or questions from any board members?
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Just a quick comment, I want to say that I do appreciate the diligence that the
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our finance department and the district takes and ensuring that there is there are no substantive conflicts of interest in our financial dealings. And I appreciate the work of you and your staff, Greg to ensure that those things remain true each and every time. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Greg. I would entertain a motion for approval of action item 8.3. So moved by Dick second in a second by Jim. Mr. Arens Hi, Mr. Berthold. Yes, Mr. Garcia absent Dr. Martyr, Miss Pierce. Hi, Mrs. Ragland. I miss Seacrest. I thank you, Christy.
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We don’t have any discussion items this evening. So that does bring us to Agenda Item 10, which is adjournment. The board will reconvene again on Wednesday, November 17, from six to 8pm at a study session, and then Paul and John, this is your last regular meeting. And so we look forward to recognizing you on December 1 at 5pm at a reception to express our appreciation and gratitude and thank you for your eight years of service and at that time, we’ll also look forward to welcoming our two newest Board of Education members as well. With that, wish everybody feel like I’m forgetting something a fantastic evening and ask for a motion for adjournment please.
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by Karen, and a second by John. All in favor, aye. Thank you everyone.
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Yeah,
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I wanted I’m not going to