##VIDEO ID:GecYqRmuwco## e e we have present directors titler defrates Ramirez after and myself meaning we have a quorum thank you to our interpreter Susanna would you please share the interpretation instructions with our participants and then we can turn on the interpretation function thank you the first business in order is the approval of the agenda directors are there any proposed changes to the agenda seeing none do I have a motion to approve the agenda as presented I move we approve the agenda as presented is there a second I second all in favor say I I all opposed say no motion passes our next agenda item is our opening celebrations and updates by our superintendent Dr Anna Cole good evening um welcome everyone thanks for being here or tuning in um a couple of celebrations this week want to extend a lot of gratitude to our finance and HR teams for the work around our 2324 audit we'll talk more about this tonight during the cfo's update but really want to thank the finance team for the work in completing the our piece of the audit a big thanks to Katherine Dave and Crystal for really leaning into um shifting practices around our quarterly and monthly reconciliations to be able to complete the quarterly reconciliations on a new schedule to really strengthen our work around transparency and accountability and a big thank you to Bonia plat Chief plat and the HR and payroll teams for working diligently to get the open enrollment information uh and entered into the system in time for payroll and all the work that's happened with this midyear open enrollment uh processes we've pivoted back to CBT so lots of um gratitude for our operational teams want to also thank members of our newly formed Safe Haven response team which is a group of uh volunteer teachers support staff administrators Family Resource Center members and staff who um typic most what brings this group together is that this is our staff our staff members who work most closely with newly immigrated students and families the purpose of this team is it's a dedicated group that will ensure that all students regardless of immigration status feel secure supported and valued within our school our schools the team will proactively prepare for and respond to potential immigration enforcement policies fostering a safe and welcoming environment for students and their families um and they'll do this work by reviewing and strengthening the implement ation of the board's Safe Haven policy and the team will safeguard student rights and promote trust within our school communities so really grateful for Kelly Medina director of student family services and for all the staff who stepped up um to be part of this work and I'm really grateful for our teams and our community that we have this group of folks um in in position and and getting organized to support students and families uh I want to also thank members of the certified classified and admin interest based bargaining group gr who've identified members to serve on the health insurance advisory committee uh as board members are familiar with uh this is related to our collaborative bargaining contract and this group is going to act as the negotiating team that is tasked in the contract to Al line on recommendations to the Board of Education regarding health insurance benefit plans for the 2526 school year so this team has the incredibly difficult task of trying to identify and recommend to you plan types within CBT contribution levels and other details related to the 2526 CBT Health Plans um in order to continually provide access to health insurance for employees while attempting to minimize the cost which is nearly impossible in the current Healthcare climate um given the current District Financial challenges so you'll hear more about that tonight but really want to thank this team the group met last night and aligned on process that we'll we'll make as it relates to decision-making the team clar or discussed efforts to gather additional in information about priorities from our employees around health insurance and aligned on next steps so really grateful for the additional time roing Fork School District staff are investing in trying to tackle this challenge um I also want to celebrate that it took us a while to get it rolling because of schedules and the Fall's really tricky um but we have now officially launched the superintendent student advisory council at every High School so we' we've gotten through that first round of first meetings and so I really want to thank the school leaders and staff um from our Deans and counselors and principes and APS who have supported and recruited students and help remind them of our lunch meetings I know sometimes that gets lost in busy life of high school students and they've done a phenomenal job recruiting students to participate in these advisory councils who truly reflect the socioeconomic linguistic racial cultural and gender diversity of their student populations it has been an absolute privilege to sit and um have lunch and listen to these students and I cannot wait for this work to continue on a monthly basis throughout the rest of the year a big thanks to Dr Park and our Ed of schools uh Joel Hathaway who've also participated in these meetings with me um thanks to Sandra Pon and the nutritional Services team which has made Logistics incredibly easy because they are developing menus to cater the lunches for the students um and administrators who were there at no cost to the district so that's been awesome and I know it's additional work for those teams and so grateful for that um and most importantly a ton of thanks to the students who are volunteering to serve on the superintendent student advisory Council they're giving up their lunch they are engaging thoughtfully critically constructively in the conversations they are sticking around after we meet to continue the conversation they're sending me emails of things they forgot to say that they wanted to follow up on um and they're enthusiastically committing as I I have definitely recruited some of them to serve on some of our district committees they've um enthusiastically committed to continuing to serve on our Equity advisory Council so that we have a more robust representation from across our district high schools so a ton of thanks and um big celebration to the students in that work to make that happen and lastly I just I really want to appreciate our Roaring Fork School District staff and especially our our folks who were working directly with students in our classrooms are our um our certified teachers and our support staff they're managing so much right now um education professionals have Monumental responsibilities and the scope of work is astounding in a normal year um what we ask teachers to do is is substantial and this is not a normal year and it's clear to me in the conversations that I'm having with teachers the Outreach that staff are sending emails and asking questions about the budget check challenges that we're facing these are significant and they're causing an impact on our staff from everything from mild concern to significant stress and worry about job security about salaries about housing um about providing for their families this is It's it it ranges everybody's interpreting the information and the situation differently but it's significant and yet still our staff are showing up they're volunteering to participate on advisory councils they're coming to meetings they're sending emails they're asking questions they're trying to understand the facts that are being presented they're asking thoughtful questions and leaning in and what's amazing is all of this is happening and I'm very aware of it we're very aware of it and yet when I met this week with like 15 glowood Springs High School students and we asked what's on your mind tell us about school what's working what's not working almost every student I mean one thing budget was not on their mind so it's really refreshing um the other thing was that every single student said something to the effect of I love my teachers the teachers at my school are incredible um and I have pages of notes um from and I have yet to actually share this feedback with glom Springs High School so um I I'm ruining spoiling the um gratitude but every single student mentioned how um how they feel seen and welcomed and cared for and that is a direct quote um from our students because of the relationships they have in the classroom they felt supported they felt like they had help when they needed it um and so I just want to name the immensity of things that our staff are carrying and yet they are showing up for students they are present they are keeping some of these concerns at the district level at the district level and they're doing the work for kids that needs to be done and making sure that our environments are stable and safe and rigorous and that kids are engaging and thriving and I have no doubt that they're going to continue to do this good work through the break and then I just hope that everyone really celebrates those two weeks of downtime so um just want to really send some gratitude to our staff and for all the things they're carrying right now and the astounding work they're doing to create amazing learning environments for kids even with this whirlwind going on um it is amazing to see the students Thrive that's all I thank you the next business in order is the superintendent report which will include a strategic Communications update from Dr Cole and an employee opportunity fund update from Chief plot right well let's jump into a couple of formal updates um first related to strategic Communications this is connected to components of our strategic plan around um operational excellence and Partnerships with families and as the board is aware this year we eliminated the public information officer responsibilities from the role of the senior project manager and board secretary positions um really the the reasons we did that was we wanted to make sure that the scope of work was doable um this this shift resulted in initial cost savings but not quite enough to hire a full-time public information officer um we determined that we would take this year to step back to assess needs and to provide other services that are needed that a Pio would support through contractors um and just as a context Point our current kind of Staffing around Communications is one we have one full-time bilingual Communications specialist who is responsible for managing the district website the community and staff newsletters and the implementation of the bilingual Communications toolkit which which really is a lot more work than it seems it really relates to certifying um folks that that then become official bilingual leads in our district that are official interpreters that can interpret for complex um meetings like individualized educational plan meetings um high-profile school meetings um and so you know there's there's a ton of work just to manage that plan so that's our current Staffing and Communications this isn't quite advancing okay so what we did to to address that that gap of not having a Pio was we issued an RFP this fall for strategic communication support it was pretty broad we we received three responses overall we interviewed with contractors and as this work was happening so was our the Optics and the clarity around some of the financial issues that we were encountering in the in as we've all been talking about for months so as a result of I think a lot to do with our own capacity to manage this work and due to concern around the costs we narrowed the scope of that that initial RFP and so we really continued to focus it for those reasons onto two specific things that we just want to update the board and the community about of how we're addressing this um so for our current scope right now we have two very targeted um I would say kind of uh support areas one is around strategic Finance um support and consultation and so we've contracted with WR Communications a PR firm to help us with that work over the next couple months and then we also were finalizing a contract and finalizing some some pieces with o Communications around really wanting to finish the Strategic plan components with the materials that we need to really share the the finalization of our 2024 2029 strategic plan with our community so those were two kind of chunks of work that we really wanted to make sure that um we were still driving forward and one of the things that we want to make sure that we highlight through this work and um this work around Communications is it's been clear to us as we've listened and heard from um especially our our latinx families that that the the pieces and a lot of the components that we worked really hard on in the Strategic plan that came from listening to kids and families and looking at our student data um that that the the components that are part of our strategic plan as it lies now in you know on the website where it's been in board presentations um is not resonating and folks aren't aren't um aren't seeing the components of the Strategic plan that speak to them and answer questions that say how does the district care about my kids what are you doing um and so in particular want to just lift up that some of the work that we'll be doing in partnership with contractors will be to develop materials that share with everyone the components of our strategic plan that support students well-being and achievement and and um specifically because our 2429 strategic plan centers the needs of latinx students and our emerging bilingual students um and because it reflects our commitment to addressing the achievement gap between latinx and white students we will be developing materials exclusively to address what how the plan is is tackling that need and so we will have materials that we'll be developing this winter that really articulate how we'll be advancing goals related to the rigorous education for all initiative um to address the achievement gap between student subgroups it'll also be highlighting how we're going to be strengthening parent Partnerships through student centered Partnerships and the work there and then finally it'll lift up the components of thriving team that are H that are really Shifting the way that we think about teacher and staff Recruitment and Retention with that goal of making sure that our faculty reflect um the diversity of our students because we know that that has direct impacts on student achievement and outcomes in particular for students of color and emerging bilingual students so just want to let the community know that you know this our commitment to making sure that these plans are in place and that we're being accountable and that we're also communicating the plans in ways that people feel are real and accessible and go further than just the website where they are right now um will be coming through this work with some of our contractors so timelines on that um we're finalizing the pieces on or the Strategic communication consultation right now is set up to really be a a very targeted supports from December through February and then those strategic plan materials um will'll have opportunities again to develop materials and have kind of iterative processes with our community did we get it right is this a story you need to hear from the plans we've developed that work will happen in January February and we're expecting to have materials when I say materials I'm talking about like the posters that used to sit in this room with the Strategic plan those kinds of things brochures um perhaps a refresh to the website Maybe videos to talk through um these components of the plan thank you I am bringing to you an update on the education opportunity fund we launched this program just last year so we are now at a year of its completition and we have had three application periods one early January we revised those applications in March one at the very end of the spring last year for those that were going to be taking curses over the summer and one over the summer that was a result of some pushes that we saw for some teachers enrolling into late classes for fall so over those three application periods we received a total of 64 applications uh I do have here a breakdown of the gender the ethnicity of those that have been um entering those applications in a for reference as well for these uh numbers we consider those are that are eligible who are employees that work full-time for us we consider full-time everything with an FTE of 75 or above current female demographic for the school district in that full-time population it is actually 75 to 24 so the applications received match very well our population ethnicity wise non- Hispanic or Latinos are 70% the population that is a full F uh fulltime and Hispanic is 30% so there is a little bit of a disparity there on the applications received and certified staff compromises 5 56% of the total of that population classified staff it's 40% admin is 3.76% and there's the breakdown of those applications received uh applications approved to date 40 of all of those received truly the most common denial reason is the lack of full information or vague information those that do not provide what are they going to be using the funds for those applications have been denied we get uh everything mostly the committee has been approving uh to date 18 requests had been paid that is 45% of the approved applications and we have reimbursed a total of 59,500 14 which represents 45% of the total originally requested and that's it on this portion thank you director Tyler we'll start with you each board member will have two minutes and we'll do five minutes of open discussion first of all I want to say thank you to the request from our last meeting to get translation into this room I very much appreciate that so thank you for getting that done I also I'm very happy that we're having this education opportunity fund I think that's great for teachers who can then go out and get grer learning and more learning and doesn't have to come out of their pocket I think that's a very positive move that we've done as a district so thank you for that my other comment regards our strategic plan and the implementation and I appreciate that hearing and the movement towards um the plan centering on the needs of latinx students and emerging bilinguals and I especially um want to talk about the goal number one of R rigorous education for all I think that's something that really we need to continue to have conversation on what is rigorous education for all if we have students who are in a classroom where as emerging bilinguals were their language level is at a limited English language level what is it that we're considering rigorous education and so by just upping the bar on saying we're expecting more sometimes isn't sufficient or enough in that situation and we need to look at what ways in which we are giving that educ the way we are um programming the way that we are disseminating information so that that is comprehensible to the students in a way through either academically or linguistically but one of those needing to be met at all times for those students and so as we're talking about rigorous education I'm look forward to the conversations contining where that is the theme of our conversation thank you thank you director after thanks yeah just a couple of questions um in regards to the update um on the communications process who is our PI going forward if someone need we don't have one so if so who do if the media wants to reach out to someone they previously would have reached out to the Pio who do they reach out to yeah when we decided not to stop that position we redirected all media requests to our communication specialist so right now they all go to Christina Vargas okay yeah um uh that was my only question or comment thanks DRZ thanks oh when is the team gonna take another opportunity to discuss if you guys do need a Pio or not great question you know I really think this year we're trying to figure out where our current capacity is um I think we've we've looked a lot at at areas where current staff want to grow in roles and looking at how we can support them to do that and then fill gaps in other places um you know always really interested in supporting our internal staff who want to grow into different positions to have Pathways for that I mean we're very conscious of the budget challenges and so I think my short answer would be I don't know but the goal is to have an answer by the end of this year in terms of communications I think what what this current work with contractors is allowing us to do is start to get a little more comfortable of what does it look like for us to have um more capacity in terms of communications through contractors this isn't a work I mean I know that the the board historically has done that but that we haven't as a as like a senior leadership team really leveraged support in that way and so I think we also see this work this year with contractors as kind of a trial and error while we're also doing that work assessing our own team's internal capacity um so what I'm hearing from you is June okay yeah so because I think that is something that this board has had in common that we have actually all felt that we need a Pio so I just want to make sure that the board has felt that it's necessary that it's something that we need we've expressed that to you and what I'm hearing from you is June we're going to reassess yeah I mean we're we're reassessing all the time I think we're you know trying to figure out how like I think you know my take would be that we need we need the work that often pios do covered yeah whether that looks like an actual human wearing that role I don't know yet um but I don't I absolutely agree and I think that's where we are right now of like those kinds of that kind of strategic communication support that ability to have both routine and responsive Communications coming out consistently on tone on brand um making sure that we are providing information that's accessible to all of our populations in formats that matter to them that are accessible um you know that work I think think is where we're currently sitting with like how much of that do we currently have Staffing for do we then what's left and is that a complete role is that a part-time something is that something that we can contract out what does that feel like for us um how does that kind of a relationship work for us are there cost savings there so I think we're grappling with all of that yeah and I think for me as a board member what matters is the consistency right when you have something that you can have consistent and the community stakeholders media can all have consistent I think that's the important piece so you know again I think the Pio is something that the board has all felt that was really important that we had I don't see that we're not going to need some sort of uh communication going out ever so I feel you know I just want to make sure that again I reiterate that um when it comes to the Strategic Communications and the plan materials you mentioned feedback opportunities for families can you can you explain a little bit more what that's going to look like yeah what I think that's going to look like is like opportunities to look at mock-ups opportunities to look at drafts um to you know to there's so much from an operational lens there is so much if on the Strategic plan I think where where we've really gotten stuck is what really matters to our stakeholders to kids and families in the community to pull out of that and so you know we can we can guess and this is we're actually getting help this is why we're having contractors help us at what's right but we need to do some drafts of materials and get them in front of people and say is this right are these the components of what what you were looking for um in in us being able to better tell that story so that's what I think we're looking at through January and February is the opportunity to look at look at mockups look at and talk about with with families and Community um you know what what what does this need to look like what do it is it a brochure is it a video is it a website what's most meaningful to you and what's the expectation on the responses you're going to receive before you make a decision for March launch I don't know we haven't totally designed that process yet so I'm not sure okay and then just when we're thinking on the Strategic communication so our contract right now is through February and then we're going to create a new contract and then we're g to kind of step back and say what did that work was that you know what was that lift like um for our internal teams what was the value ad for us as a district um and reassess you know what that needs to look like moving forward and I'm assume that that decision will be made before the March launch two separate things so the Strategic Communications are really the support around pretty much focused on kind of our financial challenges and helping us better communicate and articulate that then that March timeline is more for the Strategic plan materials okay yeah thank you so much thank you director Dees uh yeah again thanks um to both of you all for presenting and I have questions well first of all just I think it's great that we brought on contract rors to help especially with the challenges I've read your memo is the in good phrasing around the intensity was growing in this conversation and so we we narrowed the focus I think that that's critical um again maintaining transparency is a full-time job when it's this intense and I think a lot of times community members and um other staff even hears Pio or Communications Staffing and they think it's sort of extra if we can afford it but what that means is that those hours bleed onto your calendar and onto Bon and on to everybody else's to write draft revise and then just as director Ramirez was identifying it's not necessarily consistent Chief to Chief school to school with what we're saying so I I really applaud that move and I hope that we can continue again I'm just voicing support for director rir statement here um for identifying that having a full-time position there will help us um stand in the proactive realm of strategic coms more than the reactive and there was no way we could have known how much reacting we were going to have to do um so I also appreciate o Communications coming on for the messaging around strategic Communications um I do want to just emphasize I you mentioned it and I really support this the training and opportunity to grow inhouse especially Communications because when you have a skilled professional who understands the Nuance of a community who's done comms for a while growing that skill set adding the hard skills of strategic comms well not all hard but like offering clear training and a path forward there is really valuable um so would strongly encourage looking into that maybe using the employee opportunity fund I don't know if that's available but um I just wanted to voice the those statements so thanks thank you thanks um I wasn't going to talk about my support for hiring a full-time po but I wholeheartedly support the district in making that decision and making a hire for a full-time position I think the one thing that has been consistent since I've been on the board is there is consistently something that we need Communications management about um and so many tensions arise when there is not fully formed communication not consistent communication um and as director de Frei said it is a full-time job staying on top of it and I I think it was just in 2021 when we rolled the two positions together to make them one um and previously we had had a full-time Pio so I would 100% support the district going back in that direction and um I think that it it is a priority is said the the one consistent is that there's always something going on that needs to be addressed via Communications um my other questions are around the employment employee opportunity fund um if I'm remembering correctly the dollars for this came from the 2021 mil ly and What's the total amount that we have allocated annually for it originally it was allocated $280,000 okay and what what what we found you know so we we've lived through a year and we've of course been scrubbing budgets because of other concerns and it was really Illuminating to us to see what was requested in year one how much was awarded in year one and so we anticipate um having a conservative assessment moving forward of what we would allocate to this based on this year's allocations and so um and we want to continue to utilize this and leverage this support especially in alignment with what's coming for recruitment and retention planning um and we we also want to make sure that that we're using the money we allocate yeah and the money I'm trying to remember the language from the M Levy but it can be anything related to Recruitment and Retention right okay so it doesn't have to be not it's not a hard and fast number or like percentage but it's the purpose you got it got it okay um and then how many more rounds are we going to go through for this year or are we done for this year this calendar year we're done I'm starting another round January 1st and we'll go at least throughout the January and the March applications okay yeah so through this school year again yeah and have you found that I saw August numbers dipped but I'm assuming that's just from Summer and taking coursework might not be on everybody's mind at that time um but does it seem like there's more interest drumming up around it or you feel like it's pretty stagnant uh from time to time I do still receive a a request hey is there anything that could help me I'm interested in this judies and I always I keep forwarding the information often referring them referring them to and stay tuned the application window is coming up okay all right that's all I had so we'll have five minutes of open board discussion the only thing I would like to mention is once again with the idea of our commitment to addressing the achievement Gap coming up in our next board meeting we will be talking about policy on um language development and I just want to say thank you to the group of parents and community members that have continued to be coming to our meetings meeting after meeting and showing up and we hear you and see you and thank you for being here anything else I just want to make sure to mention that you know I think with the two the obviously the the Strategic Communications ending in February and the Strategic plan and the work um being done in January and February I think it'll be really important for us to get as much communication out as possible on that um I personally would like to have the team come up with a number that you guys want to hit um for that for you know we hit this number of families and therefore we feel that we can do our March launch I think that's important for you guys to set a goal but um I I think it's going to be important just to see how communication plays out in that process so just wanted to mention that anything else thank you both at this time we welcome members of the public who have signed up to address the board there are three speakers signed up tonight the board all Lots 45 minutes for public comment to respect of all who are present speakers are asked to limit their remarks to three minutes or less reminder to all public speakers to uphold our procedures for public comment we ask you to be thoughtful and constructive with your comments and thank you in advance for sharing your feedback members of the public who wish to share their views with the board may also always do so in writing at any time for this evening's public comment we received four written comments our speaker tonight is Genie Laken in this district and speak solely for yourself how much money does the district have or can count as having that is currently unallocated how much of that is mandated by federal and or state law to be held in reserve how much beyond that is current board policy to maintain because if there's need to drawn funds the district has when responding to the millions of dollars worth of budgetary shortfalls and a key buard is updating a policy for times such as these and isn't the real ground has been lost but I could not say it would be gained whether this is a job you wanted to take on after recently being elected for the first time to the board or you are continuing your service you are starting with very little trust in case you truly don't know why that is here is a start it is known that a certain someone previously hired for our district and their spouse collectively paid taxes on and therefore most likely owned three Residential Properties before moving here one property was sold for nearly a millionar while the other two were maintained and contined to have their taxes paid while that staff member worked here to not know that on your part at this seems like negligence or incompetence it isn't the staff member's fault for owning them or the fault of property tax records being public how you responded is can we do betterly don't know please prove me war in the best way possible thank you thank you our next speaker is Kia Gonzalez good [Music] evening okay uh good evening members of the board my name is Katya Gonzalez and I am the parent organizer for the roing pork School District foras I am proud of the RO Fork School District as I attended Lang Elementary School go Springs Middle School and going Springs High School um the color River and the mountains of our home have molded me into the person I am today the Roy for school district has consistently fallen short in supporting our Latino and Latino students how can it be acceptable that as a community and as a district we have H have allowed the students to face academic challenges for more than a decade schools are meant to uplift and Empower all children yet our students are struggling academically when will the district publicly address these ongoing issues how many more students need to be affected before action is taken the Gap in achievement between Latino and Latino students and white students is very present and has been present for decades these disparities Falls far short of providing a quality education for all we demand that the district develops three plans through representative input from Latino parents a plan to eliminate the academic Gap present in our schools a plan to transform and increase parental engagement and a plan for the district to to recruit hire and retain teachers Administration that accurately reflect the student population thank you thank you our next speaker is Rosal Bates sorry Fork for Z imp um roing Fork um graas the next business order is the approval of the consent agenda which includes routine Personnel minutes from our board meetings on 11:13 and 11:20 and policies kdb GBE GB EB jfab d j i c d d j i CDE jlc jic and repeals of policies EA and gbg directors are there any items that you would like to pull off the consent agenda for a separate discussion and voteing pleas again director Ramirez do you want to pull something sorry I'm just looking to make sure that we went through all these and policy committee for a second time I think I'm fine hearing none do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda I make a motion to approve the consent agenda do I have a second I second can you please call the vote hi director defrates hi director kolenberg hi director remire hi director Tyler I directors you've just approved the consent agenda the next business order is discussion on policies jfab and jic CB J kba regulation jfab b-r and exhibit jlc d-e each board member will have two minutes to share comments or ask questions we'll begin with director after thank you I just have a question on JCB which is graduation Reg AA which we talked in about in our pre-thanksgiving policy heavy meeting um I had a I think it's a really important policy and we're not voting on it tonight right this is second of third reads okay great so I think it's a really important policy and I uh for this board to pass and I do support its intention I I did really like the original language prior to us adding the phrase political affiliation into the text and I'm grateful to you Dr Cole and Jonathan for reaching out to Brent to get some insight into that um as I noted in the document over the weekend um I would still like us to consider striking that phrase from the policy and um I think that would the easiest solution here would be for us to stick to the language of the statute um page two of that is where the clear language uh is located and and again I think it's a really important policy I would like to support it to protect students rights and I think for us to keep that intention we should remove that phrase around political affiliation thank you director Ramirez um I don't know that I have any edits I feel like we had some questions that we went over like where's Anna I was looking over there sorry I I feel like we had some things we went over in policy committee and I don't know if Katherine you remember what we wanted to make sure we brought up during for discussion I feel like graduation regalia that was the biggest one that for me was a we need to we need to Circle back I thought there was another one we pulled okay [Music] then I guess I don't have any questions Dr defres yeah sorry I'm just looking at this I kind of lead towards director Afters uh concerns the last paragraph definition cultural means to recognize practice or tradition of a certain group Etc uh and includes only a protected class based on and then they list the protected classes I think that that covers it and I I still don't feel like the second sentence which says what it does not mean is necessary or helpful director titler I guess I'll take the other side of the coin um I do feel it is important to include political affiliation I think if we don't state that then we can have our gowns covered in speech on politics and I don't think politics has a place in our graduation ceremonies and so I think it is important to explicitly state that fact in that part so I would very much strongly hope to keep that in um and then the other question I had was on a separate [Music] um separate policy was on J kba and on the jkba oh that was in consent agenda no I don't think so I don't think so oh no jkb is it's yeah um the second to last paragraph where the superintendent is directed to establish procedures to implement this policy that so that removals from a classroom occur in a consistent manner throughout the district I want to know if we do move that way what is that going to look like how is that going to be done and it seems like there's a lot more work going towards that if we're going to try to consistently decide how those procedures Go versus having that being done at a school level on what that removal looks like and it seems like that would cause a lot of need to have schools get together and come up with that common language and I particularly would think that that can be a school decision within the whole idea of um having removals but how that school can have that individual choice on how that plays out yeah I mean I think that's a good point and if you've lived at or been in a school where they have different practices or cues um you know different schools use different strategies in terms of disciplinary removal from classroom and the the when and it is something that we are trying to normon consistently but there is a you're right that there's this um tension between us making sure that the policy is being implemented consistently although the way it might show up in a school might have different language for kids um in terms of what works and the strategies that they're using whether they're using like a zones of Regulation language where they're talking about colors or they're talking about different behaviors you know um so I I think there's ways that things are implemented slightly differently but yes the goal the goal of that and that what we have here in that language that was added is that you know yes this directs the superintendent to make sure that we have consistency on implementation but our typical approach has been to have some autonomy with schools so with the way is written do you feel like this allows for that autonomy I mean I think that the the the ways that um schools name these things or who they maybe would contact or what the process might be could have some variation from school to school but that the the general components of what we would consider um disciplinary removal from the classroom that is not moving into suspension um you know those those are pretty clear that this is this is a very shortterm removal kind of a cool down and anything longer really moves us into a different set of policies those are the kinds of lines that I would expect to be implemented extremely consistently okay I guess I read that a little bit different in that it seems like it's how it should happen in that school but because I see it as removal from the classroom versus the AXS that caused the removal I maybe say more because that I would say that the you know we we utilize and work for consistent so you're asking more about like what has happened before a student is being is removed to class and that I understand that we should have that consistent thing but like the way I'm reading this is it tells me so removals from a classroom occur and is it so it's not the removal part from the classroom that this is stating but it's the act that is causing the removal behavior that leads to the removal the behavior that leads to the removal versus like using a card system where you might have yellow red and green cards and that's how you're using for your removal from the system versus a another school who might use a different system to remove the students okay so yeah I I mean I would say that what we would be looking for is that by the time we're utilizing a strategy like removal that the behaviors that we're seeing are you know that what if we're both teachers in different schools with seventh graders uh if we're both making a choice to ask for support to remove a a student from class for 10 to 15 minutes that that whatever that has led to that determination would be aligned to that discipline Matrix that says that this is an appropriate strategy um so so that it's not okay for me who is extremely perhaps irritated by kids chewing gum wouldn't kick a kid out of class for that um whereas a student who's really having a trouble disregulated regulating and settling down and maybe needs to take a walk or get outside for a minute um that we're we're not um having the same you know that we're applying that strategy consistently for behaviors across schools I mean that's that would be my sense is like that's what this is trying to get to is that we're you know and where we mention that school leaders should consult the discipline Matrix which really helps have that predictable Progressive and uniform guide that's what we're looking for that that whether a school's using a card system to determine that it just be the end of that line being something like procedures to implement this policy so that um unwanted behavior is I think there like I could propose some language that shifts it it's not that the removals are consistent it's that the policy is implemented consistently so that removals occur consistently like it's not I understand what he's saying okay I think we could clean the language up because I think he's right okay I'm I think it's just like I think it's just would take some language like wordsmithing and tweaking if we can flag it and I can I can try to go in and sure okay because I I hear what you're saying makes sense um what want me I go okay yeah we'll go in the five um I have a couple of couple of comments I still have concerns about confidentiality with us sharing student information in jfab and jfab in jfab it's that we may coordinate with other districts local service agencies a agencies in alignment with JCB which I think helps and cleans it up because that's our that's our confidentiality policy in jfab it says the district will coordinate with other districts local child welfare agencies other child and family centered agencies or programs providing services to students and I just I guess I don't know I still have concerns about how broadly that's written um so just wanted to flag it I just think it's still very broad like any child and family centered [Music] agency I don't know I might yeah again be just flagging it just because I'm I mean I will name that like our our process is a um you know we don't we're we don't talk about kids or families with Partners without a release of information from the parents that say you can go talk to you Z about the work that we're doing with them and that's why I feel like I would be more comfortable if that was explicitly stated because even though it says in accordance with this policy I think that we need to make clear that we're not going to be sharing student information without a release like I appreciate naming the policy but I still think that it's to name that it could be misconstrued very easily by an administrator polling this and being like Oh we can share with all these places right without them digging and taking the next step to go to the next policy so I think it would behoove us to add a little bit more in there um and can you and just because I'm trying to track we're talking about having that more explicitly tight language in the students in foster care and homeless students and having consistent yeah and I would I would also want us to confirm because one says may and the other says will are we required to share in both instances the students experiencing homelessness says may students and Foster says will um so I would just clarify and make sure that we're aligned on those to okay um and then as for the graduation regalia I also disagree and I think that one I think it's important for us to include what cultural not include because that is in the statute that language that language is statutory other than the three Clauses that we added in I also think that the point of this statute um was to ensure that students were able to celebrate their cultural heritage it was not meant to give students or anyone else the ability to [Music] um I don't want to I don't know what the right word is here that I want to use but um I mean it's those things that it specifically says cultural cultural is not right like and I think it's important that we maintain that line especially in a time where politically people are tying their national origin to their politics they are tying their religion to their politics they are tying their gender identity or expression to their politics and I think making it clear that although cultural can mean mean those things it doesn't in this instance would be smart of us to head off any situations where that becomes an issue we've got five minutes of open discussion and I think director Ramirez remembered what she wanted to bring up thank you so on jkba and uh policy committee we had a conversation about um the team talking to leadership and clarifying their understanding on on this policy specifically and what removal was and was not I just want to check in I think it's important to follow up on if that conversation happened I will have to check with Dr Park on that I know this was on their radar and I'm pretty sure that this was addressed but I don't have the let me follow up okay in our next communication with the board and if not we'll remember to pull this from that not pop it in the third read yeah does that make sense yeah and I I would appreciate that to I do think part of the reason why we had that discussion again is in regards to that last sentence about parents being notified um and so you know I I think that we need to have Clarity on if a student is removed for 10 minutes 15 minutes up until what time then are we going into the discipline Matrix for suspension in school suspension and then therefore due to our process our parents would be notified right that's what we do now so I just think we need to have Clarity on this policy just to make sure that um Stacey goes back to the team make sure that there is a general understanding from leadership on what this policy is actually going to do okay I just want to make sure I get this right so we are going to P if either the board will be updated from me directly on whether we had this in front of leaders that they saw it and if I don't get to that update and before the January 1 meeting 15th we'll pull it from the consent so we can give that update during this moment does that sound okay okay that sounds F okay I think in terms of defining removal it would be smart for us to check in and see if there's a legal definition for removal I don't think we should just have our leaders Define it I think we should understand because I'm sure this has been litigated well no and I think the point was that I think even the team I don't know if you guys remember we had this discussion during our meeting even the team was confused on so I think I want to know is remember if there was Clarity established I think there's in the policy it says if it's more than one class period it constitutes in school suspension is that not sufficient for that definition yeah that entire section that um disciplinary you know the second paragraph disciplinary removals include the following it was all subsequent that all followed that discussion where we wanted the definition in here and wanted that clear so that is all new because of those comments where we defined it and those three three bullets so if that still feels insufficient we can do more I feel like that for me clarifies the timeline and scope if it's more than one class period that I'm not sure that um I mean I at the level of direct at policy governance I feel like establishing procedures is what we're asking you to do and and that's what that's clearly saying and then the length of time for removal as it's written here is is in my mind sufficient um and it even says consider a short break no longer than 10 15 minutes Etc Etc right no I I I think we all agreed on that I think what I'm asking is so are we saying that every parent if your kid is taken out for 15 minutes in accordance with established procedures that's what we didn't there wasn't Clarity on that our parents and Guardians being notified of the students removal from class because that's what it says on this policy right now the last line in the the very last line says that got it and often those removals are just to go down to the office and take a break calm down yeah I'll have to double check on where we are currently um it looks to me like that is new language from the board okay so it like that sounds to me like that hasn't been in the policy before so the expectation that that would be happening right now has not been made by the boards does that make sense so whether or not parents are being notified I'm not sure it hasn't been part of policy yet it could be happening but I'm not I'm not sure well I don't I don't think we added this I think this was in here and I just highlighted it because that was my question at our last meeting so I think it'd be grave is that Jonathan am I wrong on that I can't see I guess I wonder is that the this level of of granularity that we should have in this policy I feel as though established procedures yeah is covering it and then operationally it's up to the superintendent I don't know that well I think that's why we don't understand if the board put it in or stff put it in we want to take it out so I think we need to know where it came from it came from yeah okay and then jic de um we had a conversation about this and I remembered after after that we talked about data metric for buling and the plan I cannot remember Anna Katherine I don't know if we asked for something to be I'm trying to the survey what are other ways to measure current state number five wait where are you jic CD was on consent what ji CDE yeah that's really I thought that's the one that we just SP it's on our staff memo it's on the staff memo but it's on consent that's approved it okay can I one more thing about the regalia policy um just we had Brent way and I'm reading in the comments here our our Council and I think I just wanted to say again I I do think that the political affiliation is excluded by the definition of protected class and I don't feel like it serves us to add further definition of what that isn't and what he offers is the same perspective my only concern about the draft is that the Endeavor to Define what is not permitted or cultural may be a difficult maybe difficult and could give someone room to argue that what they have in mind is is permitted because it's not on that list I really do think we need to stick with the Positive statement of it is protected class only it does that does exclude by definition if you look at the federal level of that language is statutory I mean I just agree with them on this because that language is directly from the statute so they make that argument regardless we added the word political affiliation we added the three additional what it's not the argument that adding the list of what it's not opens the door for them to make arguments I I don't think it's valid because we didn't create the list of what it's not we added a few additional but just by saying saying that there is a list it opens the door to making those arguments I I just don't think that that's but we did add but just to clarify we added hate speech political affiliation and extreme disruption that is not what's in the statute right now no I agree but bren's position is that we shouldn't have a not list at all we shouldn't include a not list because that opens the door to people arguing that what they are wearing isn't included on the not the not list and gives them an opportunity to make that argument but brce what he's suggesting is an elegant potentially elegant solution to the moment we find ourselves in in this conversation I don't know about it's if you click on click on the title of the document the graduation regalia highlighted he gives a a pretty long description I mean I'll name from a from a staff point this is we have in practice as you all have seen at graduation been aligned to the intent of this and we have not ENC like I think we're future um writing here do you know what I mean and so I'm I'm ious of the like what do we what a staing here and it's you know I would say it's one of those things that we this we have been doing this in practice with all the intent of the state statute and the the policy um so I don't yeah I worry about where this goes um but I don't necessarily have Clarity on say more about your worry where this is I just I I do worry given the current context how this will be utilized to support um you know graduation regalia that's not aligned with the goals um and so I guess I guess mostly my takeaway is I'm not clear on what we need as as school leaders to continue to do what we've been doing which has been managed I think fairly well but I I do agree with the board that this is a different political climate um okay really quick just for the the team so on jic uh B the blue section during work for students may not are we taking that part out my recollection from the meeting was that that was added as something for the staff to I thought the staff was going to go back and look at the edits talk to Brent which has now happened and that was for consideration I think that was a suggestion if that's my if that's what how other folks remember that conversation okay so we were saying we were going to take the highlighter push it on the bottom out and then leave the blue part that was never agreed on I I would like to do that and or I would like to take out the additions that this team added but Kenny disagrees I also disagree I defer to the advice of council here but if we're talking about the advice that cancel then we're getting rid of that whole Clause if that were the case of the may not Clauses yeah in my mind which is not what the statute says I think if the point of the policy is to provide clear direction to our schools who are going to have to be enforcing this that we should be clear and I do believe if we're opening up the whole like we're open up the can of worms by saying we can do something that's outside just for cultural reasons I think we are going to be opening ourselves up to other things if we're not defining limits I think that's the reason that this the legislature defined the cultural because that can mean so many different things to so many different people and so the reason that the legislature determined that they needed to not just Define it but Define what it is not is because it can be so vague and because this is a new statute and there is no case law written on it and so I think that the more precise we can be in our language and our intent as a district within statutory limits I think that puts us in a better position if you want to be P okay I the the statute also says I've got it pulled up right now American no I'm not talking I mean it does talk about tribal stuff which we also struck um but it says um it the statute the section does not limit a school board or districts ability to prohibit an adornment that's likely to cause substantial disruption or interfere with graduation ceremony dot dot dot but uh that se that section must be based on evidence of disruption rather than relying on an undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance and I think if we add political affiliation because we're afraid of the disturbance then that goes against the statute I just want to say I like this policy because it is it's it's creating an opening for people to express themselves and so what I find problematic about the addition of political affiliation is that it's also closing that can I just ask um so during our last meeting when we reviewed this we made a recommendation to the team to reach out to um one of its creators which is Lis were you guys able to do that we were and they weren't able to provide us any feedback by tonight okay can we third read can we also reach back out to casby and ask for if they've got a sample policy yet or at least ask them to review our sample policy and have their legal give us input and I think I would like to reach out to representative VOS go to Just because she was one of the um sponsors on this bill just to see if there is a an opportunity for clarification with her team um I think that all of us have very valid questions and concerns and uh opinions on this and I I think the more that we can do as a team to be diligent the better especially if we're going to be the first school district to actually pass this policy um we want to be sure that that this is clear and aligned with the statute um I did have one sorry I don't mean to take us off to a different policy but I just can I ask another question about this policy before we leave then can somebody clarify for me what the procedure is for us then as a board so if we decide we want to keep it don't want to keep it then does it become a vote yes it'll be become a vote next thank you um jfab I did a deep dive in our policies and I know we briefly talked about and I see this question uh that Stacy put in here regarding the Family Resource Center that we updated the language the policy that has family resarch center right now is the equity the dii EDB policy um and then I think there was one other policy and I can't it's not top of mine right now what it was but I would feel much more comfortable leaving it at at Family Services and I'm fine leaving slam resource center team I just feel like Family Resource Center team doesn't do all of the family services that we might be including in that okay can you take me to where you are again j f a b RR yeah it's the second paragraph I feel like I would be much more comfortable if it said Family Services comma family research center team that's how it is in J faab it has a different AB yeah well it says family centered agencies so at least has that extra yeah agencies your I mean it's different meanings I yes does that make sense yeah thank you Anna I think so I mean reaming now that I'm looking at this we're naming that we want this person to be working with family services do we mean it's a are we talking about in The District is that a group in the district outside the district this is a required position that we have to have the Child Welfare education lays on will be responsible for working with the and then it lists all these people right so when we say family services are we talking about I would say Family Services providers or I mean I would actually start it with Family Resource Center team comma Family Services providers try because that just leaves the door open if there are any other providers then that is that would be the point person yeah so so I'm sorry I'm doing this not in edits um Family Service like this providers yeah sure because I think that encompasses what you're saying if there are any other offices or teams that are working to provide family services and that is a catch all did did that get right yes okay is that good everybody good about that yeah okay are we good on policy okay I'm going to move us forward thank you the next business and order is a CFO update from Chief Shakin each board member will have two minutes to share comments or ask questions and the board did have a work session on this topic ah had of time thank you guys um I'll just go through it um briefly and then we'll take questions afterwards if that makes sense yes oh thank you he told me twice and then I still I was like all focused on this um okay um there okay okay um the first thing I want to note is that um um this information continues to come more and more into Focus every minute actually um and what the whole focus of uh for me and Anna this year is really to make sure that we are providing the information to the public um to the board to all the stakeholders as soon as we know it and to be as transparent as we possibly can good better and different great news not so good news and that's the expectation of what we're looking to do for this year and that's kind of the tone we're setting um so with that the one thing um that I'm going to do with this presentation is I'm going to look at just the very high level summary for 2023 uh 24 audit and what the results are looking like for that but we're going to have the Auditors coming um next month to really dive into that one um what looks what um impacts we have for 2425 and then looking into 2025 26 and then an update also on the phase two of the health insurance um self insurance issue um how we're going to pay for that $5.7 million shortfall uh which was the onetime um situation that came up because of moving to Self insurance that we've been working on so okay for the pre-audit estimate um it really looks like the U available fund balance um that's the um unrestricted fund balance is going to be pretty close to what we estimated and that's not including any um self- inssurance losses or anything that we're trying to do to mitigate that issue so that's just separating those two things aside this is what it looks like um we're going to have a full audit report and I really um am looking forward to um also the board report that the Auditors are going to present as well um to give us some some ways that we can prove and then we can have um some more discussion on those items for 20242 um for the budget and estimated actual uh property tax uh obviously another one of the items for tonight is certification of the mevy so did a deep dive on what that looks like and this slide just really summarizes um everything that has changed between years um just for the board and and for everybody's uh information just a very condensed uh like slide uh so for the M ofy override uh we've got $830,000 under budget and there was two reasons for that um so it's $18 million budgeted and uh 17.17% to 1.4% actual and then we also had um an error in the budget where we um added the inflation for all M levies but we only have one mil Levy that floats that's the 2021 mil Levy so we just made sure that um that we caught that and move move forward correctly with our certification um the there's a positive uh news as well with the abatement Mill that actually increased from 100,000 budgeted to 524,000 because we're able to Mill a remill for the bond M Levy override and general fund Mills so that was good news um for the budget and then the other thing we're looking to do is just to get a little bit more conservative um for all of our funds as our fund Balan is is being used for the self- insurance issue that we're um increasing our buffer for the bond fund which is for the repayment of our um loans for our general obligation debt for that were approved by voters from 2% to three and a half% to help us weather a down normal downturn I'd like to get that that to 5% but it seems seem like over two years was a better time Horizon than just trying to do that for one year to try to mitigate any impact to the taxpayers because this is only one time to move that up to where it seems would be a reasonable level okay uh phase two uh so there's three phases on our health insurance issue with Self Insurance uh first one is to really stop the bleeding um meaning that what we were going to do um to get away from the self- insurance plan and we worked with the actuary and determined that it was best for us to move to CBT which I um want to just give a shout out to the payroll department and HR department I mean doing an extra open enrollment this year was very challenging um and they're doing that work right now to get through that for our December payroll which I sincerely appreciate so um so phase one is in essence done with that work um that that hard work the team is doing and a big thanks to Bonia as well um and her whole team um and now we're on phase two is how do we pay for this $5.7 to6 million loss that's estimated and uh so we've talked about a couple different things um trying to pull money from where we can find it um we have $1 and A5 million dollar because of the metalwood savings which is great that that project was very well managed and came in under budget by that amount um we had half a million dollars still available in Secure schools funding which is utiliz uh for um paying the additional premiums for employees a part of that 1.1 million um so that they didn't have a midyear increase um in their because they're already contracted for this year so that would have been really challenging to increase their employee contribution mure um then utilizing that abated tax savings the 400,000 um towards this issue um a two and a half million general fund balance to get down to minimum fund balance and then 800,000 um is to be determined and and these numbers are still pretty fungible but this is what it's looking like right now um and that is a consideration is potentially liquidating um a district asset to be able to pay for that at this point okay looking at the big picture for 2025 26 um we have estimated re Revenue changes um it says on the slide 1.2 million um in losses for revenues for this year compared to budget actually we got in um some more news where we think our at risk population went down 20% Which impacts our budget another 600,000 um as far as uh lowering our total program funding by 600,000 so that number is closer to 1.8 million at this point um and what this is comprised of is the governor's proposal for total program funding which is pretty small the 1 88% or $229 estimated student increase um is is pretty small but um comparatively to what we've been getting in the past U over the last couple of years but um but yeah at least we're getting some additional money uh the shortfalls come because we have a student count uh reduction compared to budget of 77 students so that is a challenge of 721 th000 to our budget this year and then we're going to also need to look at lowering our student count for the following year also so it's almost like a double whammy when that happens so we'll just have to make sure that we understand now we're declining enrollment district and um and move forward that way but but it's really tough to to move this around when when you've um over budgeted your student count um so that that is a double hit for for the next year it feels like it anyway and then the M Levy um part of that is going to continue to move forward um into the next year um so as as a um as a budget or as a reduction of Revenue excuse me okay um so then the estimated expense um increases is uh 4.6 million which includes um some budget um items that were not included in the budget of one and a half million um that we're still trying to solve for Anna and myself the senior leadership team um we're all really rallying around that and doing a lot of work around that and we hope to provide you um some more information around that um in the January board meting either the first or the second one so there's more to come on that but we're going to we're still working on that one to try to get that down um we are estimating $1 A5 million dollar in additional Insurance um costs uh for 2526 that's kind of phase three of the health insurance issue is now we have to pay those costs moving forward now now this is a problem that I personally see uh throughout the whole valley given just the state of health insurance in the area but um but it's hitting us specifically hard this year because we didn't increase our premiums for a couple years so um so we're kind of having a make up for it this year um this would also mean um well the health insurance committee is just working on this but um we're this is a low number this would mean that the employees would taking a lower plan design but that still is being in the process of being negotiated with IBB okay so then we've got the 1.3 million for the cost of a step and then we've got 300,000 um for uh half% increase in perah that is anticipated at this point we'll find out in January whether or not that'll happen um so that's what we know about to this point now when you look at the total current loss before cuts it was the 1 Point two plus the 4.6 million on this page um is 5.8 million but then you need to add that 600,000 I just told you about um for the at risk kids so then we're at 6.4 million right now okay um okay and that I pretty much already had talked through that slide so we'll just um go two questions thank you as I said the board spent an hour on this in the work session ahead of the public meeting but we'll start with director Ramirez with any additional questions first and foremost thank you um I know this has been an interesting first couple of months with us we appreciate all of your time and your dedication um hopefully you never get tired of hearing us say that I appreciate it I appreciate it I appreciate you guys too I mean it's a hard issue to go into for the board too I want to first uh clarify because I I think it's important and we sort of talked about this during our work session we're talking about 6 two what did you say 64 6.4 for our Budget moving forward for 2526 and we're talking about 5.6 with insurance that is subject to change obviously come well there are two different I mean there's like a couple different issues we're trying to solve for right there's there's the $5.7 million which is the onetime issue right right and then there's 2425 which we have some short Falls and losses we still have to discuss and then there's 2526 which is now this $6.4 million issue if that helps thank you I just wanted to make sure we clarified yes and I think what's important is you know so obviously and the board just got to be at casby so obviously a big uh elephant of in the room if you will was the financial state for education in the state of Colorado obviously across the country as well but um a lot of us are seeing declining enrollment I think that this is a conversation that a lot of us are having a lot of us are trying to problem solve for so I just wanted to make sure that we were as clear as possible on the problems that we at the RO Fork School District are solving for um you I I want to I don't necessarily have any questions but I do want to just make some basic comments that I think this board um and again just being a casby having the opportunity to talk to our auditor um and really dive into where we're at and what we're going to be seeing in our audit come January um I think it's really important especially in this moment in time to say that you know obviously there is a lot of accountability to go around in this process I'm so sorry I'm going to ask for two minutes um and you know I think we as a board have felt that this is really important for us to not only educate ourselves on but also be very diligent and intentional with what how we are sharing this information out with Community how our team is being proactive and sharing information with our stakeholders including our staff which is really important to us and so you know I I think in learning of um some of the the stress that is happening across the district right now I just I think it's important for us to stay as a board and for the health of our district moving forward that like we're going to problem solve this like yes this is going to be solved we there are other districts that have been in worse predicaments than we are and I am confident that our team is going to find solutions to this for not just the benefit of our students who is our most important stakeholder but also just for the benefit of everyone that our school district um supports which is really important to us so you know I wanted to start off there I think this board all of us have a lot to share um but I think that this is an important moment in time for us as we move forward on this conversation to just be very clear that we are all going to survive this yes can I note one thing with that too is just you know I don't know how I mean because I'm new to the district I'm kind of and unknown with some of you I mean and I'm getting to know people as I go and I'm really been fortunate to get to know all of you um as we've been moving forward but I have been through this before myself too and so you know that's just one thing that this isn't something that is is unusual for districts um I mean it happens um occasionally for any school district this is this is a um a challenge that we're going to get through so I agree with you thank you director defres sure um a lot of what director says is is dead on just identifying that we are dealing with two separate issues the one directly from health insurance and then the ongoing budgetary challenges which are being faced broadly across the state in districts for a variety of reasons um and as well as some lessons learned here at home can you just touch on briefly you mentioned um the atrisk population declining and how that impacted the 2526 budget could you just explain that a little bit more sure um we actually just received that news today so we received an email um from the state saying um hey you know your December estimates for your total program funding is out so I was anxious about that and just just went right into the spreadsheet and then lo and behold it was um it was less the number was less than what I had expected and had to go and I actually ended up contact ing the state and um so at the bottom the bottom line of the story is is that um when you're at risk population declines it affects the funding in the formula for your total program funding um so that's in essence what had happened at our district for maybe reasons that we're still looking into right now um and Diving deep into because this is obviously something that just came up today um but uh but in essence when you have that at risk situation where you have a decline in at risk kids which we kind of wonder whether or not that is that maybe the parents are not um because they're getting the lunches and breakfast anyway maybe they're not filling out the forms you know I mean we just have to really look and dive deep into that process but until we do that we have to presume that that loss is going to continue into the next year because that is part of our what's called recurring funding you know mean meaning that until you get additional funding it's going to be at that same number over year over year so that's why we need to dive deep as a team to try to solve that and hopefully we can gain back some of that funding for the next year by changing some of our process processes which is the hope we can do that but I can't promise that right now thank you yeah that's clarifying I think maybe the free and reduced lunch form needs a Rebrand just so yeah uh for all the efforts that went into that this year though are recognized um one other thing there's a financial issues website and I I had a question is that public or is that staff only that one staff only okay and it it's really a log of the internal weekly staff Communications and videos of our staff Q&A it's meant really for a resource guide for staff members okay U because it's a good resource for sta it was it's very nice and then we also are looking at more um out in the community events discussing these issues coming up absolutely you know this is to be at least in terms of as as Chief Shakin mentioned the the forecast for 25 25 26 this is really the first time publicly we've been able to wrap our heads around it and name what we see as our best guess at a deficit for 25 26 so you know we're working as hard as possible to narrow that Gap and once we feel like we get to a point of what we can manage without needing significant additional input from our community and from staff and from families um we're working to narrow that and once we get to that Gap and have a set of of harder more difficult choices we have to make yes then there'll be a lot of community consultation and just touching on the difficult choices too I know the the question that's definitely forward in everyone's mind that works for the district is how are you approaching this in regards to benefits and salaries and where does that play in as far as these solutions that we're considering so if you could just share some of what you talked about in the work session yes you know I would I would say our our first and we you know when we started this work a couple months ago and knew that there were going to be hard decisions ahead we compiled and this was informed by conversations with the board and our IBB leaders um a set of values and priorities around our decision- making and around how we would make decisions and um that document really starts and and ends in centers our students and so our number one goal is to minimize any sort of impact on the students that we serve um and so we are analyzing every decision with the question of how's that impact the day-to-day lives of our students um and then the next priority that we look at is you know our our number one I think organizational resource which is our people and so that next kind of scrub and priori is how can we really mitigate really limit the impacts to staff and their well-being their salaries their job security um we have very thoughtful school resource um Staffing ratios that have been worked on by uh instructional teams and have been negotiated uh with our certified IBB through our certified IBB process in the past um some components of those and so there's a lot of thought around our staffing um and so we want to be really thoughtful if we are making changes to that knowing that the people in front of our students the number um has an impact on their experience and so those are you know those are kind of the last kinds of decisions we want to make that are um impacting directly students or staff salaries job security um and benefits and so we're trying to do everything else possible um and as you've heard from Chief Shakin it's really a moving Target of where those deficits are where potential revenues are um but we're going to try to get as far as we can on naming that Gap before we come with the kind of that next round of Staffing decisions thanks yeah you're welcome director Tyler first of all again I'd like to start and saying thank you to yourself um Chief shakoy and your team for all the work and extra work that has had to happen over these last months so thank you I just want to reiterate the importance of us recognizing that we're talking about two different pots here about a state forecast that is making life difficult for us and an insurance problem that we ran into that is making life difficult for us and so that they're not a one combined thing but we're looking at things from several fronts I also would like to say that we need to keep in mind how through the insurance Fiasco that we've been involved in that for two years that we didn't raise those premiums and so as we're looking at premiums and what they're coming in for for next year and what that big jump looks like that's a big part of it of having missed a couple years of raises in premiums and also recognize that if we had stuck with our same insurance plan as we had always had we would have had paid about $2 million in extra premiums in those two years that we didn't raise premiums so as we look at a 5.7 million deficit sure there is from the insurance part that is true but if we had stayed with our own insurance a good a portion of that would have also been there from that and so I think it's just important as we move forward to say what can we do as a board as a district to yes not impact students but also look at what we can do financially and the last part on the recommendation for how to pay our losses is to consider liquidating assets and I do believe that's something as a board that we need to take on to lesson and to mitigate the losses for teachers and make sure that we're covering at least that side of it away from the state side and making sure that we're doing our part thank you director after great thank you um thanks so much for all the work and hours you've put into this really appreciate it and appreciate the previous work session on this um I just want to Echo what Kenny said at the end there on his bit I really feel like on the health insurance shortfall in particular I know that we as a board want to um on on that on that topic definitely stay as far away from any hits to students or staff at all and so with that in mind I know we're still waiting for some information but I would really like us as a board to have a conversation soon about raising revenue through the sale of underutilized District assets um sooner than later I feel like we need to be prepared for that even if we don't end up having to pull the trigger on it because we're able to to find the money elsewhere um so that's all I had to say about that thanks chrisy I'll Echo all the thanks very very much appreciative having you in this role and helping to get through all of these issues um I also want to Echo that these are separate issues the health insurance concern and the ongoing budgetary constraints that we're facing as a district due to declining enrollment and state funding and I think that's something important that we need to recognize because this isn't health health insurance issue is a one-time oneand done the future budgetary concerns aren't going away in a year or two years or three years or four years projections are that we will continue to to decline for at least the next decade in student enrollment and we are a per pupil Revenue based model as is every other public school um in the state and I think that that is something that we need to continue to talk about and be very clear with our community about because it's a tough pill to swallow understanding how much losing 50 students means to our district and to our bot bottom line um but it means a lot and I also agree with my colleagues that in terms of the health insurance onetime expenses that we need to figure out a way to cover those where we're not touching staff not touching students and I think selling District district assets um to cover the remainder is a smart way to go um and I appreciate the Forward Thinking guidance that you're providing for this board and for this organization and I think that it's something that is sorely needed and so thank you very much for that and for pushing us to thinking about what needs to be happening long term and bringing it down into into bites that we can understand um and I got all my other questions answered during the work session so I appreciated that time so we have five minutes of open discussion I do want to add some things um so in our conversation with the auditor think that it was it's really important to stress right now for the community uh for our stakeholders especially that the board has um already had conversations with our superintendent uh with our team and uh finance committee to really be clear that we as a board obviously also take accountability in what has transpired and we want to make sure that moving forward we do create some guard rails to make sure that there is as much of a safety now as possible and so some of those things are for our finance policy to one ensure that it says that we're going to have quarterly statements which is really important and we're going to make sure um that that is something that we um as a as a board as this board um care deeply about making sure that we Implement um obviously as you shared uh during our work session and as we've had conversations is the response to the audit letter that's a good practice that we hope hope will continue past this board and we hope that that um being set into policy will make will ensure that that process is followed moving forward and then um and then I think just for us in general as a board obviously being open to your recommendations and really us being able to lean in to what we as a board need to do to make sure that we are having as much transparency and communication with you with our superintendent with our auditor I think is really important I feel like this board has taken that to heart and uh we have appreciated the opportunity to have time to talk with our auditor beforehand and look forward to hosting him uh in January so that we can further discuss where we're at in this moment so I just really wanted to make sure I shared that as a board very good I appreciate you bringing that up because I think one of the things that has been hired throughout this process is this is ultimately on the board we approved the budget right and there were there were holes and there were things missing and part of the system that we're in is that we are a board of five lay people who are volunteers who are expected to approve this very large budget and we rely very heavily on staff in doing that and so I think understanding and knowing what guard rails we can put in place how we can change and update our policies to ensure that the things that we need presented are being presented past when we're sitting here I think those are the important steps that we need to take right now like I I don't have the knowledge or expertise to go over this budget with a fine tooth comb I can't do your job like I I recognize that but what can we do as board members to protect this district from this happening again in the future when we're not sitting at this table like when any of us are not in this room how can we impact policy and practice so that this doesn't happen again and those are really important points that we can't let slip as we go through this process and and sorry go ahead and in addition to looking at towards the future we still need to look towards the past and see what it is that we need to do to make things right and as part of that is the recommendations for how to pay for our losses it leaves it as $800,000 for assets I think we need to consider more than that and look at that for assets because that is just the bare minimum and there was all other money that we were taking that could have been tagged for other services and so I don't think we should be just looking at what that little minimum amount is that finally little the minimum amount that is that covers that last part but look at a bigger amount so that we can look and see in what ways can we come close to making a wash what that health insurance mistake did for our and yeah I agree and I will say for me too I include the the 2425 shortfalls when I'm thinking about about that like in my mind we have three separate issues we have the health insurance we have the 2425 shortfalls and Mis budgeted and misallocated funds and all the mistakes from the 2425 budget and then we have the Forward Thinking 2526 projected budget and how decreasing enrollment and state budgeting is impacting that and so when I'm thinking about what we as a board should be looking at covering and how we're covering that with sale of assets with other things I think one of the critical pieces of information which we know is coming is that document that was show us exactly what were like the punch list from 20 24 25 which we 23 24 right for the AO this year this this year yeah because having that list of we know some line items that we're missing we know some we know some of the mistakes that were made but we don't I don't have a full breath or like the only new there is that those mistakes are going to hit the budget on a recurring basis in the future so we can't like sell you know sell something for $100,000 cover one mistake and call it good understand the recurring ones from this presentation right you listed the recurring ones um the the one and a half million um were the budget misses those are the ones that you guys are referring to we have you I haven't given you a full list of those yet if that's so that's not the total amount of recurring oh well it's okay so let me think about what what your question is because the one and a half million is a part of what happened this year because then we also have the recurring Revenue shortfalls too that's what's tripping me up so so there's really a couple of things that are recurring into the next year's budget but for expenditures that's that big one is the one and a half million yeah I just want to add too that I I think it's important to also celebrate and Express gratitude um for the fact that we have a finance committee this year um I think it has been very helpful to the board yeah um I think the policy committee has also been very helpful to the board and those are things that we did not have in place prior to a couple years ago well literally my has been less than six months right but I think that those things are those committees are incredibly important for our success as a school District I don't know that we put those into policy or the handbook but I do think that they have helped us um at least as board members make sure that we were staying on top of the questions that needed to be asked being informed of what was coming up and I have found it incredibly important and useful um to us and to our team um and I also just want to say I hope that in this moment like as a board and as a school district um especially in working with our Communications and everything moving forward like I do hope that as much as possible we're able to work as a collective because the success of the district and the executive team and the board is the success of the district and so I really think it's important for us as much as possible um to work as a a a communal I don't know cohesive group of people who just want the good things for each other um and I and I just I think it's important especially in Reading Public comment uh written comment today that as much as possible we try not to create chaos in this moment of time um and you know there's a lot of mysteries and unknowns still in the future but I think in this moment I think it's important for us as a school district and as a board to be very clear that we're going to be okay so just want to make sure I reiterate that close with that thank you anything else on this topic before we move to the next Finance topic okay the next businesses action on an approval of the M Levy certification do I have a motion to approve the mil Levy certification I move that we approve the M Levy certification is there a second second we'll now move into discussion Chief Shakin did you want to do any presentation um the only thing I was going to say um just a really high level summary because we did have that board discussion before we just went through the high level um also in the prior um report um is just to say that our we had a very low increase in assess valuation I believe it was like 67% it was very small um this year um much different than it was in the past um and so look at um these mevy rates they're they're fairly um close to what they were in the past slightly more we have a 1.0 um Mill increase in the total program Mill and that's per state statute that's required and so that's that's the only large increase in our mvy um rates we had a small increase in our batement Mill which is a 0285 total abatement um so so that um mevy is is slightly higher than the prior year it was 055 it went to 0. 285 but the the botor approv mill ofy over override Mill was was very much the same very very close to the same um and a slight increase in the bond Redemption bond fund mil Levy fund just for um that additional one and a half% that we're setting aside and making sure that we have a cushion in case there is a downturn so that was the reason for that um and to make sure our cash balances are shed up for that fund um yeah and this is a really great um part of the slide U thank you for doing that um and this just shows the difference um on what a property tax would cost for a one and a half million um value home um and the difference is $131 for that or 3% increase so um that just shows the impact there um which compared to the prior year is is much smaller much different situation we had the the change very large change in assess valuation which really kind of mess with our state Loan program it messed with the cash flow and and the taxpayers it was a lot more of a tumultuous time around a property taxes than just to say it's fairly flat so um any questions around them we'll start with Dr defres this time questions I don't have any questions director Tyler I do not have any questions but just want to make a statement of people are listening just remembering that when property taxes raised unless they raise above 100% the fact that property taxes are more expensive does not change the amount of money that the school get we get the same amount and the state just backfills less and so as property taxes have gone up we don't have more money as a district director after I don't have any questions thank you again director Ramirez I did want to mention something so we talked about the baitman Mills um how are we as a team going to ensure that moving forward that in that practice in itself is established as routine for the district so right now the way that we set our mevy rate is through a spreadsheet um this is how this is all calculated and and put together and so I changed the spreadsheet to to reflect that so that those um additional abatements would be included in the future and I guess it's that um is there an accountability tool to make sure that if we have transition that there is knowledge from either the superintendent or someone within the team that that is practice or should be done I mean it's you know I I'll just I'm just going to State it overarching is that the CFO role for a school district is very complex and it's very hard um when you get a transition I I have the experience already I've already taken the hits and made the mistakes so you know I kind of know where it's at um but what I what I do is I do make sure um that anytime that I create a process that it is very easy to follow for the next person and that is that's the best I could do the only other recommendation I would make is if there was a transition with the CFO position that you would just make sure that there's some you know transition time for that just like what um Nathan had with Shannon that's I mean it's just challenging when you don't have don't know the spreadsheets and you're trying to learn it on the Fly and it's hard I I took the extra time and get somebody that really you know is is is is OCD so I'm just going to call it I'm OCD but um you know I was like I don't know what this why is this different than this and looking into the law when you're you really checking the boxes I mean it's it's part of the you know like just the personality of like a CFO you'd want to I guess it's a couple things I don't know if that helps but I think it leaves some conversation for finance committee thank you I don't have any other questions either okay you are there any intervening motions to amend seeing none can you please call the vote director after I director defres hi director kolenberg hi director Ramirez hi director titler I motion passes get you one more time Chief chaquin hey I'm here so show the next business is action on approval of the Colorado erans 2024 School District resolution do I have a motion to approve the Colorado erans 2024 School District resolution I move that the board approve the Colorado Eran 2024 School District resolution as presented is there a second a second we'll now move into discussion do you have anything you want to present on this one I think I'll just I'll just talk through it if that's okay um and you can pull the reso that that's fine too um what this is doing is our initial um board resolution was for $7.5 million um uh for the state Loan program which is the maximum that we would be able to borrow and that was the initial estimate and when when this was due um this was even past due when I got in and and I didn't really have a time to really look at it um we We believe We need more than that um is what we've discovered and and in talking to the state Loan program um they said well you know we'll increase this to 15 million but if you guys have to increase it again this is a big increase for one year and it really kind of goes in line almost in step with all the questions and conversations we've been having with the other budget issues is we've been utilizing this funding for self- insurance um issue for some of these other budget misses for those those losses and revenues that this is some of that impact but but the reason why we were able to borrow or needed to borrow in the first place is really and solely about property taxes because we collect those property taxes in March and June and then we have to allow that almost all of those property taxes in March and June and then we have to allow that to to continue the district throughout the the leaner months we don't get property tax so that's the whole reason why we're borrowing um but part of this um increas is because you know I'm new and that's the number we had when I first got here um and that the state Loan program is not wanting us to go over 15 million because they think that's a big increase in one year but we all know that there are some reasons some besides what we've been talking on Self insurance and those kind of things there are other reasons for this is because of what um director titler talked about earlier about the um increase in the percentage of property tax compared to the state um Equalization as the as additional um revenues a as a percentage of our budget is paid for by property tax we have more and more of this cash flow situation so I just want to note um there's just a couple of things going on here but um I'm going to watch this very carefully and um I will be sure and I know that um Anna and I will be sure to talk about that um frequently as well and watch this and if there's something else that we need to to have a conversation with you will know about it most likely in January so on this but but we're hopeful that this will cover us through um for this year and then we'll have continue to have some more conversation on it later excellent so director titler will'll begin with you with any questions on this I feel like I have got our questions answered but I think one part that maybe is missing about why we're having to asked for this big state loan too is we just put all this money into metalwood also that we had sitting in our general fund also that was able to cover this in the years past that's a good point thank you yeah you director Ramirez nothing thanks director Dees uh no just no questions just again expressing my frustration with the irony that as our Valley has become even more unlit unlivable for many people due to property the rise of property values it has once again complicated Our Lives as a school district because those property values diminish the state contribution and now we have these even larger gaps throughout the year waiting for those property taxes to come in just for the record so thanks um and yeah I would just just I think director Tyler you made a really important point that we spent down our reserves by 12 50% in order to fund Meadowwood and so this has been a year where a lot has hit all at once um so I I don't have any specific questions on this though I understand and I'm appreciative the state has a program to help us balance this out um so are there any intervening motions to amend seeing none can you please call the vote she said I um director defres hi director kolenberg hi director Ramirez hi director titler hi motion passes thank you Chief shaquin okay welcome the next business is action on approval of the proposed academic calendars for the next two school years 2526 and 2627 this is the second and final read do I have a motion to approve the proposed academic calendars for the next two school years 2526 and 26 27 Oh I make a motion I move that the board approve the proposed academic calendars for the next two school years 25 26 and 26 27 s second second we'll now have two minutes of discussion we'll begin with director after um yeah not much to say be Beyond on this beyond the um conversation that we had in our previous meeting since this is the second read I will just State for the record that uh as a member of this board I would prefer to see us be in school more often for more days and this academic calendar doesn't make any changes to the status quo in that regard so um i' would love to be part of conversations about that in the future I think kids need to be in school more and I recognize that the state of Colorado doesn't afford US the ability to do that very easily but I think it's a grave misstep on the part of our state director Ramirez I guess I'll just reiterate that I would hope that we would get into a Cadence where we are approving budgets in a larger year span um budget oral calendar budget hilarious clearly on your mind clearly on your mind clear clear never it's never not on my mind okay um calendars um because I think it's important for us to stay aligned with neighboring districts and to also set sort of the calendar for the valley so I you know again I just I think it's important to reiterate that and appreciate the time of everyone who gave their time to be able to create these two academic calendars so that's it Dr de just a thank you to all those who put in the time and effort to do the best we could with what we had this year and get a calendar that was um workable for everything it was not easy and and I appreciate the commitment Dr shler I do would like to say thank the calendar committee having sat on that I realize it's a very contentious at times committee um I also think from the survey that came out it's telling that no there's no more than 60% agreement on pretty much any question that was asked on the calendar and that causes for a lot of back and forth that is hard to Define where is the right place to land so I think that's good work that was done by the committee um I do have one question and that question is what was the decision behind why it's pretty much in April spring break one year and then the end of March as we have done in the past the other year and why the change from one year to the next that is such a good question and I remember the conversation slightly about this and where spring break landed there was consideration of testing Windows yeah and also I believe that uh Easter is at a different time that year um and then PSAT sat and Cass so it was a negot iation based on the uh R constrictions um because of that Easter holiday okay and then the other one that I guess is more of a question slash statement I don't know maybe you'll give me some answer Dr call um when the question the calendar committee during that time there was questions about a 4-day week and that was brought up and I saw maybe only a sentence or two that talked about this but it seems like that's a bigger conversation and is there any talk about how to continue this conversation or will there be this conversation or is that an IBB committee question and I appreciate personally that it was not done through calendar committee and that that was the non-start there because I don't think that that is the right group of people well I don't want to say it's not the right group of people but I don't think it's the large cons uency base that we need to make such a decision and it needs to be in a bigger setting than that and so is there any plans for having that discussion as it seemed like something that over a couple years has wanted to try to G grain gain some traction or at least have some conversation about it I think it's an it's an interesting question it does come up a lot knowing that um there are significant number of Rural small districts that have 4day school weeks that and the often the motivation around that is budgetary issues um and so the questions come up I mean it definitely came up in calendar committee and comes up during during um budget decisions and discussions I would I would say um unless I reive different direction from the board my current position on a 4-day school week is that when we are trying to Center students and we are trying to really Target the the service of our our emerging bilingual students our students of color and address the needs of that particular group of students I have not seen compelling evidence that states that moving to a 4-day school week would align with our strategic goals are there interesting benefits and compelling reasons maybe related to savings or um work life balance that that make that worth looking into sure but if we're we're going to start with our priorities around student achievement in particular students of color and emerging bilingual students um there's again there's not evidence to strong evidence to support that and I would say it would need to be incredibly strong because the impact of a 4day school week on our families is also profound um and so I currently do not think it is a high value of our staff for our community to spend time talking about a four-day school week um that's my position on that and so that's why I would say unless I heard different direction from the board on that um or I would say significant arguments that are aligned to our strategic goals around particularly student achievement thank you yeah I don't have any specific questions about the calendar I'm grateful for the work on the calendar committee and know that it is difficult um and just I would agree with you Dr Cole that as a board member unless I heard some compelling arguments or shown some compelling research showing that that is what's best for the students that were charged with educating that I would have a hard time making that shift to a 4-day work week um we have five minutes of open discussion if anyone has anything else on the calendar I would just re echo my colleagues on that as a board member yeah and echoing director after and more days in school more days would be good can we do six days a week after just said that in minut anybody who's still tuning in come out of her [Laughter] mouth all right can you please call the vot or wait are there under inter any any intervening motions to amend the calendar seeing none can you please please call the vote director after hi director defres hi director kenberg hi director Ramirez hi director titler hi motion passes next business in order is board updates and appreciations we'll begin with director Ramirez upes appreciation um I guess I'll just start with the update that the board got to go to casby which is really important um I think for us to not only be there be able to have our superintendent there but to also um be able to hit the different breakout sessions that um were important for us to be at you know whether it came to finance or just prepping for the future I think it was a really important opportunity so thank you to our team for making that possible um I also got to attend um the state's first Latin caucus Latino elected legislators meeting at at CU Denver um at the school of education and I was um really grateful to Senator Julie Gonzalez for the invitation um I think it is incredibly important and I shared this with the team for us to be in the ear of our state legislators and to be sharing our EXP experiences that often get drowned out um when a lot of the state conversations are happening in the Denver uh metro area um and and I think for us as a rural School District that is kind of in this Valley that um is a rural Resort town and is so dependent on each other and we have our housing issues and we have all of the issues that we're dealing with and I just think it's incredibly important for us to be able to be part of those conversations that are happening when it comes to how the state is budgeting when it comes to um how our legislators are advocating for us and so I appreciated the opportunity to be there to represent um the r Park School District and um the our Western Slope and um I look forward to hopefully hosting that group of elected here um in the coming future I think that it would be an amazing opportunity and I look forward to to having more conversations with our team to see if we can make that a possibility that's it and we have our committees check J to fredy's I did not get to go to casby was wearing my other hat in Vegas um but I hope to very much next year that's my other work had a conference in Vegas water Happ go to bed guys um I did get to go yesterday to the CMC trustees meeting good yeah it was wonderful they had great appetizers and some really wonderful cider um but mostly it was enjoyable I got to meet Matt Gan gesi the new president there uh he was really great and it was really nice to see them hiring someone who knows the district that they're that they run so well having been there for 10 years he had one Wonder F things to say about Dr Cole that she'd reached out right away to find out um how this relationship works and what we can do better as a district and um brought some interesting thoughts forward about more trade school opportunities and way to partner ways to partner in the valley to potentially even some kind of Hub of of that kind of training that we don't have a lot of so it's a great conversation and I enjoyed getting to go Dr Tyler first of all I would like to give a shout out and thank you to the principles of carbonell Middle School and the school for hosting a visit some time ago I don't think I ever got to say thank you for that it was right around the last time we met also want to say kudos to principal hensa at roing Fork High School last night I was able to go to one of her meetings and I just appreciate the way in which she is transparent is well-versed and was really opening to answering questions and not shying away from any difficult conversations and having an important schedule conversation and so thank you there and my Bose's role we're looking for our new executive director we've been working with the firm helping us come up with questions um getting ready to meet at the beginning of next month before our next board meeting to start solidifying what we're looking for and be ready to start interviews coming soon after that for the executive director um and then we're ALS and then also um as far as housing goes there's been a new home ownership opportunity that has been announced for Roaring Fork School District employees down in Glenwood we have staff priority for 10 units of studios and one-bedrooms that are available to staff so if that's something that people are interested in they should check the email that Chief bom Fox sent out about this opportunity to be part of the L3 building purchase in Glenwood through habitat for humanities and then it's just as far as um appreciations I guess in this time with all the turmoil that is roiling around for the uncertain future I just want to say thank you again to teachers who are there consistently much the same that Dr Cole said and her appreciations to start us off that I value the work that you do I appreciate you being there every day ready to go and are not letting the outside noise affect what is happening in the classrooms and also just on the same note just today I got a chance to spend time with about 10 high school seniors and just all the work that all the seniors have been putting in through scholarships and applications and so much writing and so many revisions in this last couple months great job to all those High School seniors you director after um thanks to the team here uh and Dr Cole um for going to Colorado Springs together last week it was great to spend time with everyone um I wanted to share and Jonathan thank you for making all that happen really appreciate that um I it's a good experience to talk to other Schoolboard members from across the state I'd say the probably the best session I went to was hosted by great educ greater education Colorado or great education Colorado a non advocacy group nonprofit um that I think we'll probably be hearing from so I wanted to give folks a little bit of a heads up on that they um have secured fund or so funding has been secured this is what they shared for um Colorado's first ever State commission School Finance adequacy studies which will provide research-based detail about the resources necessary to ensure the success of every Colorado student and so I think we'll probably be getting material and content pushed out to us um them looking for uh our support in their Campaign which is going to be called get it done a blueprint for Student Success so uh I think we'll be hearing from them quite a bit in the next year or so so that should be interesting as they try to increase funding from the state for uh education um so just heads up on that I missed the finance committee meeting on Monday so thank you um Christy and Anna for hosting one the before Thanksgiving since I knew i' would be out and I wanted to also thank my um employer because I was you know I'm able to take like three days of PTO to go to casby which I think is a good use of my time but maybe not so much for them um and then a shout out to my daughter's second grade teacher River Mr Salvador cenon who hosted parents today this morning um and it was really cool in particular because we got to hear the second graders read about um fossils and then there was a grandparent of one of the kids in the class who had spent her childhood um going around with her her dad who is a paleontologist and so she brought all these um these fossils for the kids to see and it was it was a really cool cool little experience and it was good to be in the classroom and so thanks to the Beloved Mr C at CS for making that happen colber before you go I just wanted to add a couple more comments real quick about appreciations appreciations I I wanted to appreciate the board for similar to what that's um director after said about not only did they get work off but you all takeen work off to take time to go do this also as a volunteer role and then also just The Importance of Being at casby of being able to connect with districts such as eagle and Summit who have so many of the same issues as we have and to have that time to connect and other people who are doing programming and facing large emerging bilingual populations and getting to have those discussions are really very very valuable so thank you um no I need to be home at 9 o' no um sorry updates thank you Dr tler for stepping in for the health insurance committee last night I was unable to make it due to child care and so Kenny was able to jump in and a pinch and be there um and so I don't have specific updates from that committee beyond what we've heard a few times throughout the evening um appreciations I wanted to give a few different appreciations S I was late coming today because of the winter strings in forance at Basalt Elementary so I wanted to give a specific thanks to our partner the Aspen music festival in school who pushes into I think all of our schools um and has strings programs for our kids from second grade on up along with guitar and choir and all of those wonderful opportunities for our kids it was the first strings performance is is great seeing the progression that they make year over-year is incredible um and so the time and dedication of of that staff their donors all of them is pretty amazing um and then along those lines really wanted to give a shout out to all of our music educators and teachers as we head into winter performances and recitals and all that extra work and effort that it takes to manage not just one class but the whole school when we're talking about these these holiday recital um and then when director after was giving hers it reminded me that since we didn't do appreciations the last one and I wanted to give a shout out to b elementary who hosted muffins and math in every grade and every classroom the week before Thanksgiving um where parents were invited in to have like breakfast and play math games with their kids and the teachers did a significant amount of extra work and sent home little math games for all of the kids um and it was just a great way to really build community and it it really had a lot of people they had a lot of people show up so it's a great way to get people in schools um and thanks to all of you for time at casby and time for being here and chief Shakin special thanks for all the hard work that you are putting in right now I'm sure it feels like it's never ending but there must be an end in sight I'm gonna end with that there is an end in sight will be um so if there's no further business no objection this meeting will be adjourned it is 8:42 p.m.