Good evening everyone.
Welcome to Superintendent's honor roll.
I'm Rob Anderson, proud superintendent
of the Boulder Valley School District.
Raise your hand if this is your first
ever superintendent's honor roll.
That makes me a round of applause for
everybody. Thanks so much for joining
us. We have so many folks that we're
excited to celebrate this evening. Uh
hopefully you're going to have a lot of
fun and join us in celebrating all of
the amazing award winners uh for this
evening. So before we get started, uh
just a little bit about superintendent's
honor role. We do this three times a
year to recognize the outstanding
achievements of our students, staff, and
community members. Uh before we begin
would love to recognize our BBSD Board
of Education members. And so when I
introduce you board members, if you
could stand up and wave. If you're
already standing, wave twice or just
wave once. That's fine. Um in the back,
our president, Nicole Rajpal,
vice president in the back on the other
side, Alex Medler.
Next to him is our treasurer, Jason.
Up front we have Dian Booker.
Jorge Chavez is somewhere in the
building. Uh Lenia Quinn Lenoa and Anna
Timu adding also in the back. Thank you
all school board members. Appreciate you
all. Did everybody enjoy the food this
evening? It's it's it's the highlight of
the superintendent's honor roll is the
food. Uh, and I'm really proud to
announce that tonight's food was
actually provided by our Apex culinary
students.
Isn't that amazing? So, uh, they did the
planning, the cooking, the delivery.
Parents, if you need a little help in
the kitchen, around the house, it's a
great program to send your kids to, uh,
Apex Culinary Program, which is right up
here, right up on the hill. And just a
wonderful, wonderful program. So, uh,
thanks to Apex, uh, culinary students
for providing our food and thank you all
for being here. Who's ready to get
started? Little bit of noise, right?
This is, uh, this is an exciting time to
celebrate. So, our first group is, well,
we have a few groups to recognize for,
um, some incredible performances in high
school swimming. So, everyone knows now,
now, just for those of you who haven't
been to one of these before, you'll see
you'll hear some dad jokes. Just laugh
along. those they're they're intended to
be dad jokes. Um, so everyone knows that
eagles know how to soar, but you know
that they also know how to swim, too.
Did you know that? There you go. That's
right. Thanks for playing along. Our
Broomfield High School certainly
provided proved it during the recent 4A
swimming and diving championships. Will
you help me welcome the 4A state
swimming and diving champs from
Broomfield High School? Come on up.
There we go.
And if we have any of our coaches or any
folks that came along, please join us up
here in the front.
So, last month's state championship meet
at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center
in Thornton was electric.
Eagles started the meet on the right
foot by winning the very first event,
the 200 medley relay. Congratulations to
Carly Chandra, Cameron Wymer, Whmer,
Avery Wheeling, Ridley Hagerman, come on
and step forward. Those of you that were
on the 200 medley relay,
so where's Riley?
Ridley.
Riley's not here. Ridley's here. Ridley,
this is you. So after that, Ridley then
won the 500 freestyle.
And then Ellie Folk. Ellie, where you
at?
Ellie won the 200 individual medley.
And that's the butterfly, backstroke,
breaststroke, and freestyle. That's all
of them. like that's all you could swim.
Congratulations, Ellie. And then with
the event coming to a close, Chassisa
said Broomfield already had the
championship in the bag, but perhaps the
best performance of the night was yet to
come. Ellie Ridley and sisters
Marbury and Meera Weary left their comp
competitors in their wake during the
400yard freestyle with an outstanding
time of 333.92,
won by 5.26. 26 seconds.
At the end, it wasn't even close.
Beating the closest teams, uh, China
Mountain and Golden. Not even close. And
coach Emily Austin was named the 4A
swimming coach of the year. Where's
Emily?
Ellie and Ridley, come over here. I've
got some questions.
They're easy. They're easy. They're
about swimming.
Okay.
So, you should be all right. Um,
so I know you've been working for this
for four, you're both seniors,
four years to achieve. How do you all
feel about finishing your senior year
with this accomplishment? And because
this is the first state championship for
swimming in Broomfield High School
history,
where is Ginger here?
Ginger, was this the last state
championship that Broomfield High had
ever like you've won them all, right? Is
swimming the last one you were waiting
on? No. still some more.
Talk to me about what this season has
meant.
Um, it was really Okay. It was really
nice to like win on a bang and finish
all four years. So, yeah, it was really
awesome to have the four years kind of
build up and finally we were able to
win. So, it just felt amazing and we
really deserved it.
Worked hard.
That's right. You represented your
school district really well. Coach Coach
Austin, come on over.
Congratulations.
What a what a big deal.
So, from what I hear from from people,
what they've told me that you had a
feeling that even before the meet
started, these ladies would win the
championship. Talk to me about what gave
you that feeling and what made you the
most proud about this this championship
uh season for your girls.
I don't even know where to start. Um I
knew before the season started that we
were going to win state. Um, mainly
because everyone came back pretty much.
We we lost some seniors who were crucial
to our team integrity, but we also kept
a ton of girls and so I just knew based
on that and who they are that we would
do it. So, there was never a doubt in my
mind.
Well, what a great accomplishment.
Everybody, one more round of applause.
Let's take a great picture. Do we have
Jay or Okay, Erin's gonna take the
picture. Before
you all leave, coach has one more thing
to say.
Well, it's actually it's kind of about
someone who's not here right now. Um,
Miata Santos is our diver and she did
something pretty extraordinary in that
she was on a state champion team for
Broomfield High School in two different
sports in the same school year. She was
also part of the gymnastics team that
won state and she did amazing at diving
and we couldn't have done all the things
we did all season without having
swimming and diving. And so, uh, I want
to acknowledge her and the second place
finishes that we had in our 200 free
relay. Um, Myra in the 100 freestyle.
Um, we did some great things. Thank you.
Another round of applause. What a great
way to start off. Superintendent's honor
roll. You all can grab a seat. Thank you
so much.
So, the Eagles weren't the only swimmers
from BBSD to impress during this meet.
If we could have Carly Pacio and
parents, staff, anybody here was here
with Carly come on up.
We are so proud of you. Are you kidding
me?
Coach, I'll be
you know I'm in charge, right? Doesn't
matter. I think I think I'm in charge.
I'm not in charge. Amber. Amber is
definitely a charge. Okay. So, Carly, I
know that you're both a Special Olympics
and now a state champion. You won the
50yard unified free.
How do you feel? Tell us tell us what it
was like.
So, I am so good on my strokes and I
know
it's like
to win. But when I finished the race, I
did so good. And I was like, you got
this and you will
hold this to
together like Mrs. Cathine says. And by
the time I touch the wall so hard hadn't
not stop I kept it I kept
I I kept
going and I did not give up at all. I am
a rock star. I I am famous.
Yeah.
This is so great. So, I also noticed
that you were recently featured in a
story in the Daily Camera's Boco Prep
section. That's a big deal. Another
round of applause for Carly. And
apparently, you say something when you
swim well. What is it that you say when
you swim well?
I did so good.
You definitely did so good. Um, so
someone saw that clip in the paper and
we've got pictures of you up there,
Carling, which is awesome, and was
inspired and wrote a song about you.
Let's listen to a clip.
Aquatic lights on a chlorine blue lane.
Mar coyote is howling her name. Cap low
goggles just right. Senior year dream
fluesing lights. Crowd don't hush when
the whistle blows. She dives on in hard
over toes. Might miss a turn. Might swim
her own way. But she climbs out grinning
saying I did so good. Yeah, she always
does. Hands in the air saying I did it
because it is in the clock and it is in
the place. It's the smile on her face at
the end of the race.
How good is that,
Carly? Again, congratulations. Let's
take a picture. So proud of you and all
the Monarch swimmers. So let's take a
picture.
That's not awkward at all. Um, so before
we leave this 4A meet, we do have one to
mention one more honor that was bestowed
upon a BBSD student. And I think we can
see that student up there. Brady Paddock
from Centurus. Come on up.
So Brady was named the 4A swimmer of the
year by the Colorado High School Coaches
Association.
That's another round of applause. That's
right. Nominated by her coach and was
chosen by a vote of all the 4 swimming
coaches, which really speaks highly of
the way she carries herself. Those of
you those that know her say that she's
one of the nicest, most humble people
you'll ever meet and that she's speedy
in the pool, earning placement in
Chass's 4A girls swimming second team.
But her real love isn't even swimming.
It's water polo. Told she's an Olympic
hopeful and has committed to Indiana
University to play on their team.
Amazing.
So Brady, you're a senior. heard you
thought about graduating early so you
could join your college water polo team,
but you decided to stay in part so you
could swim this season and come to the
superintendent's honor role.
Tell me a little bit about that.
Um,
yeah, I don't know.
I guess I wanted one more year of
swimming, so that's what I wanted.
And so I also hear that you are a big
help in Sanaus's I intensive learning
center. Talk a little bit about what
that means to you.
Um it's fun. It's very fun. It's like
the highlight of my day every day. So
it's very fun to be part of that.
Another round of applause.
Congratulations, Brady. Let's Is your
coach here or Carlin? You want to come
up? Or both? or Carl or everybody.
And our final swimming honores are from
Fair View High School. Knights, come on
up.
So, the Knights team is admittedly quote
small but mighty. according to its
coaches, but it certainly made an
impression at the recent 6A state
swimming and diving 5A. See, I'm already
trying to to make it bigger and better
feel. 5A state swimming and diving
championships also held at the Veterans
Memorial Aquatic Center in Thornton last
month. They came in second place against
Cherry Creek, bolstered by the state
championship winning team swim by Lexi
Burn in the 100redyard butterfly with a
time of 54.26
seconds.
This is also an automatic all-American
time. Another round of applause.
So, Lexi, this is your first individual
state title. Last year, you came in
third place, but this year you were able
to edge out reigning champ, the reigning
champ from Boulder High. Tell us a
little bit about what that felt like.
Yeah, it was really fun. And it was
great to see all of my hard work pay off
and I just had a lot of fun with my team
and it was a good experience.
I love that. So throughout the meet
Fairview kept Cherry Creek on its toes
and while the Knights couldn't pull out
the team championship, their efforts
were noticed. At the end of the meet,
coaches Stacy Toby, who's not here, and
Francois Bentley were honored as the 5A
swimming coaches of the year by the
Colorado High School Coaches
Association.
I'm free.
So, I know that Stacy wasn't able to
join us for Annie, but why don't you
tell us about what this meant for you
all as coaches?
Uh, we do wish the award could go to our
entire coaching staff. Uh, we have the
most wonderful uh coaching staff that
contributes and supports all of our
athletes. Um, in terms for Stacy and I,
we've been co-head coaches um, now since
right around COVID. And, uh, it was more
of an honor to the team than anything
else. Uh, because we're, you know, we're
here to just bolster up the kids
opportunities. Um, but it was really
meaningful because as all coaches know,
the amount of time and heart that you
put in to make this opportunity. Um, so
it was nice to be honored uh, for the
work that we do to help the kids.
Another big round of applause.
Congratulations. Let's take a picture.
So, I asked Lexi where she was going to
school and she said USC,
University of Southern California, which
I was like, I know that's a big deal.
Congratulations. Um,
how's everybody feeling?
Anybody need any food? Some snacks? We
got plenty of food by the Apex Apex
culinary students. Everybody good? Okay.
If you get hungry, feel free to sneak
back out or grab some food on the way
out. Uh, so let's turn our attention
from the pool to the mats. Tonight,
we're proud to welcome back uh no
stranger to the superintendent's honor
role and a back-to-back state champion
who recently defended her title, Shayla
Martinez.
Come on up.
That was so Shayla is a student at
Monarch High, but she competes on the
Broomfield High School team. She won her
second straight 5A girls 190lb wrestling
title. At the state tournament, she
pinned everyone, including Thornton's
Kada Hullen in the finals, winning the
match in under a minute and a half.
So Shayla, I understand that you have a
perfect record in your high school
career, finishing your junior year 40
and zero, registering 34 pins with 12 of
those coming in the first 30 seconds of
the match. Is that right?
And you're not the only wrestler in your
family. Your sister Bella is here.
Where's Bella?
Looking to fit to to possibly follow in
your footsteps. Talk to me a little bit
about what you do to prepare uh for the
season. And you know what goes through
your head when you're in these matches
because you're just being so dominant in
your performance.
Um, I just think that like I want to be
the best in like the world one day. And
if I want to be the best in the world, I
have to be the best in Colorado. So
going into the season, I just it sounds
I'm very humble, but I just walk around
with some confidence and like I know I'm
the best. So,
you know who else knows you're the best
is
if you notice like the small type bad
eyes. So, uh um Kada Hullen knows you're
the best cuz that's who you've been in a
finals. So, another round of applause
for Shayla. Let's take a picture.
So Shayla's a junior, so I think it's
safe to say I just gave her her
invitation for next March of
Superintendent's honor roll so we could
see her as a backto backto back state
champion. We're so proud of you.
Congratulations.
So folks, it's not just student athletes
that are are crowned state champions
here in BVSD. Recently, HOSA, the
Organization for Future Health
Professionals, gathered for their state
conference, and three BBSD students won
in their divisions. Let's have the
following Apex students come up. Bella
Barrett, who's a senior at Boulder High.
Alexander Barry Hill, a senior at
Monarch High. I'm not sure that
Alexander's here. And Sebastian Ramirez
Medina, a senior at Boulder High School.
So Bella won in pathofysiology
which is a study of functional and
structural changes in the body arising
from disease or industry.
Alexander one for clinical nursing which
aims to test knowledge and skills
required in the nursing field. and
Sebastian won in sports medicine testing
the knowledge and skills required for
patient care in the sports medicine
setting. Let's give them one more round
of applause.
Either of you have anything to share
about the experience? Why don't you tell
them what it's like to win a state
championship in in this uh or in this
experience that you had?
I think that this came with a lot of
preparation from our teachers at Apex.
So, shout out Apex and I just been you
work every day and then eventually the
moment comes and we were crown
champions.
Yeah.
Um I think it was also the part was the
craziest part was walking up on the
stage and not knowing whether or not
you're going to win or not. And so when
it was in front of like 5,000 people and
just seeing everyone just like your name
on the little screen in front, it was
wild. But I think the person that can
best describe it is actually Rick. I
think Rick needs to come up here and
give a LITTLE SPEECH. COME ON, RICK.
Come on, Rick.
That's awesome. There you go. That's
what I'm talking about.
Um, hi. Uh, I'm the MT teacher at Apex.
Um,
Dan,
um, I I would tell you the thing about
HOSA. It is phenomenal watching the
students prepare most of the year to
test. You kind of have the kids that you
think are going to do well and sometimes
they do and sometimes they don't. And
then it's the same thing for us as
teachers that all of a sudden you see
gold medal, silver medal, bronze medal
and you're like, "Holy smokes, we had a
piece of that." So, I'm really proud of
Apex. I'm really proud of the students
and what we do here. And Rick, we're
proud of you. Why don't we take a
picture, Rick? But you got to stay.
Ming, you're laughing too much. You need
to come up and take get in the picture,
too.
I've told you Apex is great, right? As
we have a little more evidence of that.
Again, the food delicious, amazing. I'm
glad Rick said he was the teacher
because if he came up and he wasn't the
teacher, just Rick, I don't know.
Thanks, Rick. Appreciate it.
So, as you all know, may know behind all
these amazing students, teams and
coaches are hardworking athletic and
activity directors that coordinate all
the practices, help schedule all the
activities, games, and meets, and
supervises it all. It truly is a labor
of love at each of our high schools and
our middle schools.
It is my honor to bring up Carl Buck,
assistant principal and AD at Centurus
High School.
Now, Carl didn't know he's here on short
notice. Friday, we were notified he was
selected by the Colorado Athletic
Directors Association as their 5A
athletic director of the year. So proud
of you, man. That is so good. Hey, we're
so proud of you, Dad.
The award recognized leadership
commitment to student athletes and
community impact. Something that we know
that Carl exemplifies.
Carl, I know just about every night of
the week we can find you either at a
game at Centurus or with a Warrior team
on the road. And I know it's a big
commitment. Talk to us about what keeps
you going and what it means to be able
to serve in this role as athletic
director.
Yeah. What what keeps me going, and I
think Carlin and all of our AD team
would would say the same thing, is our
kids. Um, every day on the drive-in, I
live in kind of northeast Denver, and
every every drive in, every drive home,
it's all about how did we make this
experience good for kids? because that's
what we're here for. Um, and we have
just such a wonderful team from Harry's
leadership here in the district to
Carllin, Austo, Jen, Andrea, and our AD
team and my team at home, you know, my
wife and my little my little girl right
here. It's just anyone in education
would tell you, um, it's a team effort.
You know, Randy in our athletic office
who helps me with with everything. You
know, he's like a co-athletic director.
Um, and I just I just feel so blessed to
be part of this team and and because we
are such part of a great team, we're
able to help provide for kids and and
that's that's what we're here for and
that's what what keeps me going.
Another round of applause for Carl, his
administrative team. I love the team at
home. Congratulations. What a great
honor. Carlin, come on.
I'd like to shift gears a little bit
here and take some time to celebrate
some of our amazing teacher librarians.
Let's have Sarah Kirby of Cole Creek and
Kelly Licky of Lewisville Elementary
come on up.
So Sarah Kelly and Carla Flanhoffer of
Peakto Peak who couldn't be here tonight
recently earned the highly effective
schools through libraries designation
for the libraries at their schools
program certifies outstanding library
programs and professionals and focused
on celebrating excellence in five key
areas planning instruction leadership
management and environment. Sarah Kelly,
tell us a little bit more about what
drives you to do this important work and
what makes your position so important at
our schools.
Um, well, I feel super lucky to have the
job that I have. Um, oftentimes we are
the actual central hub of our schools
and it feels that way too. Um, we are
more than just books. We provide a safe
space for our students to come. Uh, we
provide a space for our kids to be
curious, to be free of judgment. Um, and
it's just it is the greatest job. And I
know probably for Sarah too, this is
something that some of our librarians
have been working on with the fearless
leadership of Rey. Um, which she is here
somewhere tonight. Thank you, Ray, for
all you do. Um, and many of us have been
working towards this for several years.
I know this is four years of hard work
of showing the hard work we're doing in
our schools. So, I just feel really,
really, really lucky to have this job
and to have the colleagues that I do as
well.
Yes, I agree with many of the things
Kelly said. Um, when Rey came and
brought this to our plates, it was kind
of a no-brainer for me. Um, being with
the team that I have at Cole Creek and
the staff and the community that we
have, it's like I already collaborate
with many of the teachers and lesson
plan with them. And so with the all the
things that the Hessel brought, it's
like I'm already doing these things and
so why not just earn this accreditation
and bring it to Cole Creek? It was kind
of a no-brainer. And again, in the
library, we're doing books. We're doing
digital citizenship. Um, the kids are
learning so many things like research
skills and collaborating with the
teachers and we're constantly changing
the job with the new curriculum and it's
just it is it's the hub of the school
and I love my job so much and I love my
position at Cole Creek and my family.
So, thank you.
Another big round of applause. Taran and
Jeff, do you want to come on up and we
can all take a a a celebratory picture?
Jeff and Taran. So, I hear that you all
both won award as principles as well. Is
that right,
Jeff? You look like you're dying to talk
about it. I don't know. What do you
think? Here we go.
Well, I'm going to take credit for both
of them because I was previously the AP
at least. So, I'm the common denominator
and they earned this award in spite of
me. So, no, we I will give all the
credit, you know, with to both Sarah and
Kelly um because they are the ones that
do all the work. I signed some
paperwork. I collaborated with um Sarah
often, but she did all the work. So, all
the credit goes to her.
Another round of applause for Jeff
Taran.
So, as we re we we wrap up this evening,
I'm glad to have the opportunity to
recognize one more teacher who's really
made it part of his mission to create a
safe space for all students in his class
and the whole school. Ace Engelman from
Boulder High. Come on up.
Congratulations.
Ace is a thirdyear English teacher at
Boulder High and last week he was
recognized by the University of
Colorado's Boulder School of Education
with their best should teach K12 Gold
award. The award from the School of
Education and Center for Teaching and
Learning recognizes K12 teachers from
organizations that partner with CU and
whose teaching, mentorship, and impact
on their school communities has set a
standard of excellence. Congratulations,
Ace.
So, Ace, I understand that you serve as
the sponsor of the Gay Straight Alliance
of Boulder High, and through that club
and your daily student center actions,
all students, but especially our LGBTQ
plus students, really have come to view
you and your class as a safe space.
That's such an important role. Talk to
us a little bit about that.
Um, I cannot imagine a better place to
be every day than with my GSA students.
Um, once a week wasn't enough, so now we
have GSA every day. Um, and
these are the most amazing students you
can ever imagine. Um, and the way that
they show up in the world and in our
classrooms, um, is everything that we
need right now and in our future. Um,
and sometimes the world is a really
scary place for a lot of our kids. Um,
and it's our obligation um, to to show
up right for them. Um, and I'm I'm
grateful that I get to do that in just a
little bit. uh in a in a little way
every day.
Well, I think you do that in a real big
way and uh and this recognition proves
that. So, I hear you're an expert at
teaching freshmen.
What's that like?
Ninth graders are amazing. If you don't
spend time with 14-year-olds every day,
you're missing out. Um I don't mean that
as a joke. They're just the best humans.
Um,
there's nothing quite like the curiosity
of a ninth grader. Um, and I think we
underestimate so many of our kids and
especially our ninth graders. Um, what
they do in this in this world and in my
classroom. Um, it's it's really amazing
every day. And so I just get to get out
of their way.
Big round of applause for Ace.
Just
three years a
Thank
I will say that superintendent's honor
role um we do it three times a year.
Three of my favorite evenings uh in the
entire school year getting to just
recognize the amazing talent um and
effort um and purpose of of our
educators, our students, and our
community. So, thank you all so much for
joining us this evening. That concludes
What's that?
Hey, look over there.
All right, everybody hold on one second.
Close your eyes and count to 10.
Nothing like building suspense.
Kelsey, come on up here.
This is Kelsey, everyone. We're we're
very excited to be celebrating her this
evening. Um, and to do the honors is our
director of special education
extraordinaire, uh, Michelle Brener. So,
Michelle, why don't you tell us a little
bit about what we're celebrating?
Absolutely. This is the amazing Kelsey
Wales, our intensive learning center
teacher at Broomfield Heights Middle
School. And Kelsey has been working for
multiple years to earn the recognition
of model program for multi-intensive
program. I think they call it
significant support needs at the state
um for the state of Colorado and she
just received the program just received
that recognition. So congratulations.
This is not only a huge honor because it
says that they met all of the standards
for that the state of Colorado sets
forth for these programs, but as we
understand it, they're only the second
program in the entire state to have
received this honor. So, huge
recognition
and Kelsey knows better than anyone. So,
I'm going to let her talk maybe a little
bit about the the process or the honor.
Would you like to share?
Okay.
Thank you. I want to introduce to you.
This is Mark. He's a pair professional
in our program.
Um, working to become a model program as
a school was really important to me
because for any student to succeed and
especially students with multiple
disabilities, it's a whole team thing.
And our school has such a strong
community and everyone's really invested
in our students. So, I worked hard to to
lead the charge, but really our whole
school does an amazing job supporting
students from the time they get off the
bus to all the clubs they do and all of
their classes. Um, and there's 10
quality indicators to meet at the state
level to get this designation. And it's
really intense um in terms of looking at
lots and lots of things of how we're
serving our students, which is so
important for our students who have the
most people on their team. and the
highest level of need. So, it was really
an honor to be able to work towards
that. Um, and really cool to see
multiple former students that I know
were impacted by our program honored
tonight. So, that's like really cool. do
it.
Big round of applause for Casey Kelsey
and Broomfield Heights Middle.
Okay,
scan the room before say anything else.
Uh again, thanks so much everybody for
being here tonight to be able to help
celebrate with us. Thanks so much. We're
going to do this one more time this
year. We'll do it in May. Uh maybe I'll
see some of you all there.
Congratulations. Thanks for being here
everyone. Have a great evening.
I'd like to call to order this regular
meeting of the Boulder Valley School
District for Tuesday, March 10th, 2026.
Board members may attend and participate
in our board meetings remotely and in
person in accordance with board policy
BMEA and state law. Laura, can you
please call the role?
Booker
here.
Chavez
here.
Medler
here.
Gwin Lawa
here.
Raj Paul
here. Team
here. Anger
here.
Thank you.
I encourage everyone to turn their
attention to the screens for a land
acknowledgement this evening.
The Boulder Valley School District
resides and operates on land that is the
ancestral homeland and unjustly and
illegally taken territory of the Ute,
Pueblin, Arapjo, Cheyenne, Apache,
Navajo, and 48 other tribal nations
historically tied to this land who have
called this land home since time and
memorial.
We acknowledge the atrocities committed
here, including the painful history of
genocide, forced assimilation, and
efforts to alienate the indigenous
inhabitants from their homeland,
supported by the policies of the United
States government.
BBSD is aware of the many indigenous
peoples, past and present, and their
dignified nations and cultures, who care
for this land with strength and
resilience.
BBSD recognizes the histories of the
land in Colorado and the survival of
many nations that carried their oral
traditions into the present.
It is BBSD's responsibility to educate
ourselves, our community, and our
students so that we can embrace the
wisdom and knowledge of indigenous
peoples
and actively stand together to address
injustices.
In offering this land acknowledgement,
we affirm and honor the history, wisdom,
oral traditions, and resilience of
indigenous people, and recognize the
responsibility to care for and
appreciate this land together.
I'd like to remind everybody that the
mission of the Boulder Valley School
District is to create challenging,
meaningful, and engaging learning
opportunities so that all children
thrive and are prepared for successful,
civically engaged lives. Good evening
everyone. Thank you for joining us here
tonight in person. And for those of you
who are observing our meetings online,
we are glad to have you joining us. At
this time, is there a motion to approve
tonight's agenda? Moved by Jason,
seconded by Anna. Laura, can you please
call the role?
Booker,
yes.
Chavez,
yes.
Medler,
yes.
Quinn Linua,
yes.
Raj Paul,
yes.
Tamuading,
yes. Anger,
yes.
Motion passes. The next item on
tonight's agenda is a superintendent
report. Dr. Anderson, good evening.
Good evening, board president Raj Paul,
board members. Good to see everybody.
Um, thanks everybody who was able to
join us. uh for our superintendent's
honor role this evening which was always
really fun. Great to celebrate our
educators, our kids, our coaches, our
administrators. Uh really really a great
uh event this evening. Have a few
updates for the board and the public. Uh
first is the new Vista solar p solar
panels. Installation of those solar
panels at New Vista is underway.
Target is for the system to go live this
May. Once it's up and running, it's
expected to offset 99% of the building's
annual energy use. This project aligns
with BBSD's sustainability initiatives
and supports long-term cost savings by
reducing reliance on non-renewable
energy.
Electricity BSC is working toward a goal
of being net zero by 2050. And learn
more and the public can learn more about
BVSD's energy efficiency efforts at our
website www.bvsd.org/green.
org/greenbsd.
A couple weeks ago, Fairview High
School's auditorium served as an actual
courtroom in what was a really, really
cool experience.
School's freshman class heard oral
arguments to three judges from the
Colorado Court of Appeals and two
criminal cases as part of the Colorado
Judicial Branch Courts in the Community
Outreach Program. Courts in the
Community is an educational program that
gives high school students a firsthand
look at how the Colorado judicial system
operates and how disputes are resolved
in a democratic society. Students were
able to ask questions of the lawyers and
the judges and got to have lunch with
the judges after the event.
Additionally, we had a number of
representatives from the city of
Boulder, including Mayor Aaron Brockett,
council members Nicole Spear and Matt
Benjamin, Boulder Police Chief Steven
Redford, alongside members of our board
and leadership team. And at the same
time that was going on, the rest of the
board of educations was out in schools
getting to see some great learning in
action. We had great visits at Superior
Elementary, Nevin Plat Middle School,
and Whittier Elementary. As I've shared
before, moments like these highlight the
incredible work happening in classrooms
across our district every day and help
inform the work of the board.
Finally, tonight, quick update regarding
our engagement efforts around declining
enrollment. Board members, as you know,
as a team, we've been very busy. Our
team has had the opportunity to speak at
a couple of city council meetings, I
believe Superior and Lewisville, and we
are on the docket for um city of Boulder
here within the next month.
We've met with all of our elementary
school principles and are more than
halfway done with our roundts with
elementary teachers and we've been
meeting with all of our key advisory
groups, superintendent advisory, board
advisory groups. Here's some of the
feedback we've received from our teacher
roundts, which does reflect what we're
hearing from our parents as well. So, as
the more we listen, the more we're
starting to really hone in on on where
folks are in terms of declining
enrollment. We're hearing the folks love
their schools as they should. BBSD
schools are amazing and as board
members, as you well know, we've never
performed better as a system.
Schools are feeling the impact of
decline enrollment. They want us to
prioritize ensuring that supports are
available for our students and staff,
including full-time administrators, math
literary special, math and literacy
specialists, and counselors. Our staff
has emphasized that stable teams and
manageable conditions are essential to
student success
and they're asking that we ensure that
we are clear about the process,
transparent in our actions, and
equitable in our decisions and
implementation.
So, as we look forward, we're announcing
a series of live streams where we will
walk through the challenge caused by
declining enrollment, the impact it's
having on our schools, and the actions
that we're considering.
We're also hosting six engagement
sessions over a two-eek period. Monday,
April 13th, all of these are from 6:30
to 8:30 p.m. at New Vista High School.
Wednesday, April 15th, here at the Ed
Center from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Thursday, April 16th at Boulder High
School from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday,
April 18th, here at the Ed Center 9:30
to 11:30 a.m. Monday, April 20th at
Broomfield High from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
And Wednesday, April 22nd at Monarch
High from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. We're going
to be sharing those dates um and more
information with our families this week
in the latest edition of our declining
impacts newsletter. I want to take this
opportunity to thank our board members
who have been joining us on this
engagement. Want to thank our community
uh for continuing to stay involved and
most importantly thank our teachers who
have been giving us lots of time in
schools over lunch to share with us the
things that they're worried about the
things that that that we need to really
consider as we're as we're trying to
make sure that the teaching experience
in in Boulder Valley um school district
continues to to stay um as something
that really is is excellent for them to
be able to do their job. And then um
just really super grateful uh for
everybody for their engagement and
continued participation. That's all that
I have for superintendent remarks.
Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Board members,
do you have any questions?
Look forward to those community
engagement sessions to begin.
The next item on this evening's agenda
is public participation. The board
respects the rights of the public to
speak on matters concerning the
operation of our schools. The board does
not endorse any of the comments from
individual participants and remind all
those who speak that you're responsible
for ensuring your remarks are suitable
for an audience that includes
kindergarten through 12th graders.
Furthermore, it's the this is an
opportunity for the board to hear from
our constituents. It's not an time for
the board to engage with or react to
speaker remarks. Speakers will each have
two minutes to speak. You will see a
yellow card when you have 30 seconds
remaining and a red card, orange card
when you have 10 seconds remaining. If
you run out of time or would like to
share additional information, the board
always welcomes your emails.
With that, our first speaker this
evening is Josie Doyle.
Is Josie here.
And then Josie, if you just push the
button on the microphone, a green light
should turn on. Okay. Hi, my name is
Josie. I'm of the Arapjo tribe and I'm a
junior at Boulder High. I'm 17.
I'm here because of what's been
happening for decades outside home of
our schools and what this board has the
power to do about it. Oil and gas wells
were here before most of our schools
were built. The mistake was allowing
schools to be built anywhere near these
industrial sites. That decision was made
by adults long before any of us were
students in Boulder County. But we're
the ones living with the consequences.
The EPA recently repealed the
endangerment finding the scientific
scientific and legal foundation that
limited greenhouse gas emissions and
protects the air we breathe. Boulder
County communities already face the risk
of wildfire wildfires, flooding, and the
ozone pollution. That's why I'm asking
this board to act locally. I'm calling
on the Boulder Valley School District to
support Colorado Risings marginal well
campaign which encourages oil gas oil
and gas operators to plug and abandon
low producing well near wells near
schools. These wells are prone to leaks
and equipment failures. Methane,
benzene, and other volatile volatile
organic compounds VOCC's escape from
aging wellheads and deteriorating ga
gathering lines.
The data shows there are over 100 low
producing wells in Boulder County
operated by SM Energy which now owns
both Creststone Peak Resources and
Extraction Oil and Gas. Two of these
wells are within 2,000 ft of Peak to
Peak Charter Academy in Lafayette and
Redhawk Elementary in Erie. An
additional 34 low producing wells are
within one mile of Boulder County
schools. A solution already exists
through the ECMC's
Enterprise marginal well plugging
program. Operators are reimbured for the
cost of plugging and abandoning these
wells. There is no financial excuse for
leaving them in place. My fellow
students deserve to go to school without
an aging oil well next door. And I'm
asking this board to use its voice and
call on those operators to act. Our
future generations need leaders who are
on the right side of history. Thank you.
Thank you, Josie. Our next speaker this
evening, and I'm sorry, Alice Sernasan.
Is this thing already on?
Thanks. Good evening. I'm Alice Nvasan,
parent of two BBSD students and
president of Boulder Valley Gifted and
Talented or BBGT, a local nonprofit
working to educate our community,
support families, and advocate for the
needs of GT students. 19% of BBSD
students are identified GV be GT, the
largest subop.
You've heard, as we have, that there are
GT students in every school who are not
getting their academic and social
emotional needs met. We listened to your
December work session and agree that the
communication with GT families could be
improved. But this is not just a matter
of clearer communication. For years, the
supports available to GCG students have
been inconsistent between schools and
even between classrooms.
As enrollment shrinks, the inconsistency
is increasing, especially at at the
elementary level. As you've noted, this
is without a doubt contributing to our
declining enrollment and interest in
charter and focus schools. Regardless of
how BBSD decides to respond to declining
enrollment, every BBSD teacher should be
equipped to confidently meet the needs
meet the needs of every student in their
classroom, including all the gifted and
twice exceptional ones. We have met with
district staff and we applaud their
efforts to improve long range support
for GT students. But students who were
in kindergarten when those district
efforts began are now middle schoolers
and may be well into high school by the
time those um changes fully roll out.
Our students really need more support.
Now to that end, we ask that you, the
school board, require GT informed
professional development and
differentiation training for all BBSD
elementary teachers starting in the 2026
27 school year. perhaps as part of
policy IGA or IGR. In the coming weeks,
you'll be hearing from students,
families, and teachers about their
experiences and the needs to establish
these requirements. Now, BBGT welcomes
the chance to participate with you um to
partner with you in this process. Thank
you.
Thank you. Our next speaker this evening
is Crystal Chin.
Can you turn the mic on? Sorry.
Oh, okay. Good evening. My name is
Crystal Chin. I'm a BBSD parent. Over
the past several weeks, families and
educators from multiple BBSD schools
have raised concerns about how student
safety incidents and investigations are
being handled. Across schools, we are
seeing common themes. delays in
communication, inconsistencies between
verbal explanation and written reports,
prolonged instability affecting
classrooms, and students, including
students with disabilities, experiencing
academic disruption and preventable harm
when processes unfold. This is not about
any single case or individual.
It is about whether our district has
structural safeguards that ensure
investigations related to student safety
and harm are transparent, consistent,
and insulated from conflicts of
interest. When investigative systems
lack independent review, trust erodess,
and harm can continue without meaningful
accountability. We are asking the board
to commit to establishing independent
oversight of investigative and data
practices relating related to student
safety and harm with a clearly defined
scope, public reporting, and corrective
safeguards. We also believe families and
educators should have structured input
in defining the scope of any independent
review so that community concerns are
fully and accurately reflected. Families
and educators from multiple schools are
already engaging in this effort and con
and the concern continues to grow. To
allow broader community voices to be
heard, a community town hall will be
held on April 7th. Tonight, we are
simply asking for clarity. Will the
board commit to structurally independent
review or will families need to seek
external oversight to ensure these
safeguards exist?
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next speaker this evening
is Kirsty Maynard.
Good evening. My name is Kirsty Maynard.
I am a former BBSD parent and current
Boulder County resident. I am reading
this statement on behalf of a Monarch K
through8 family whose grandchild, a
student with a disability and an active
IEP, is no longer attending the school
due to unresolved safety concerns. Over
the course of this school year, the
family reported multiple incidents
involving physical injury, unsafe peer
interactions, and gaps in supervision
related to IEP supports. After a January
recess incident, an investigation
concluded that bullying was unfounded.
While also acknowledging that an unsafe
physical interaction had occurred, the
family experienced inconsistencies
between initial explanations and the
final written report, which left them
with ongoing concerns about transparency
and accountability.
As incidents accumulated, the student
experienced anxiety, regression, and
increasing school avoidance. This
statement is not about assigning blame.
It is about structure. When
investigative processes lack clarity,
when supervision gaps intersect with
disability protections, and when
families experience inconsistencies in
communication, trust erodess. Students
with disabilities are entitled not only
to services on paper, but to consistent
implementation in safe learning
environments.
Independent oversight would help ensure
that investigations are transparent. IEP
protections are consistently implemented
and families can trust the process when
harm is reported. No family should feel
that withdrawal is their only option.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next speaker this evening
is Techla.
Good evening. My name is Tuckla. I'm a
former BBSD parent. I'm reading a
statement on behalf of a BBSD teacher
who is asked to remain anonymous due to
fear of retaliation.
Dear members of the board of education,
I'm speaking anonymously because I fear
retaliation.
That fear is not abstract. It is
grounded in experience. I'm both a
teacher and a parent in this district. I
was accused of sexual harassment. The
allegation was false. The investigation
that allowed followed did not
consistently adhere to established
district procedures. Safeguards meant to
ensure neutrality, fairness, and due
process were not clearly applied.
An accusation of that magnitude demands
precision and strict procedural
compliance. When safeguards appear
inconsistent, the harm extends beyond
one individual. It weakens trust in the
entire system. What concerns me most is
that my experience is not isolated.
Across the district, educators and
families have raised concerns about
investigative processes, inconsistent
communication, and fear of speaking
openly.
Individually, situations may be
explained. Collectively, they point to
the need for structural review. This is
not about attacking individuals. It is
about governance. Accordingly, I am
requesting an independent external audit
of investigative procedures, a review of
anti-retaliation protections and how
they are enforced, public reporting of
aggregate investigation data, and clear
corrective mechanisms when procedural
inconsistencies occur.
Accountability strengthens institutions.
Independent review protects both
employees and families.
If this system is working, an audit will
confirm it. If it is not, our community
deserves to know. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next speaker this evening
is Juliana
RC.
Sorry, Juliana.
Julian's not here. Okay, we'll move on
to Mary Iraqi.
Good evening. My name is Mary Iraqi. I
am both a pair professional and the
community liaison at Emerald Elementary.
My liaison job doesn't provide enough
FTE for insurance, so I had added
professional hours. I've had these
positions for the last 15 years. I've
gotten to support families qualified as
McKenna Vento or homeless. I've helped
families get backpacks for school, find
vision resources, set up interpreters
for parent teacher conferences. During
COVID, most of our liaison were
delivering food to student homes. I've
assisted students outside the district
this year to go through the choice
enrollment process.
At most schools who host the families
and educators together meetings or FET,
um the community leaison are helping
plan, schedule, and recruit families to
attend. These FET meetings are where we
strive to hear families with two
cultures or two languages in the home,
typically the unheard voices. Anytime a
new teacher gets to attend, their eyes
sparkle when they get to see parents in
a neutral environment.
We are representing the un under
represented, but we remain unrepresented
ourselves. I also keep a list of
students currently at 60 for Emerald who
I send home snacks with because I'm
aware of family needs.
The the time I most feel I feel the
least valued is when I put in my for
time off. It's labeled NR as
non-represented, but in my head it
sounds like not real or like I'm a
pretend employee.
As has as will be reiterated here
sometimes, negotiations between both the
community liaison and the early
childhood education community liaison is
at a standoff.
Stand still. Sorry. I urge the board to
find a way past whatever is in the way
and return to BVCA negotiations.
All our liaison der deserve the basic
job rights offered all other employees.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next speaker this evening
is Sandra Salazar.
Good evening member of the wards. My
name is Sandra Salasar and I have
proudly served as a community lesson in
this district for the past nine years.
For nine years, I have worked as a
bridge between a school or schools and
our families, especially our most
vulnerable families. We connect
them to resources, guide them through
complex systems, translate information,
advocate for their children, and empower
them to engage in their education. We
are often the first call when the
families are in crisis.
We support them through housing
instability, food insecurity, mental
health challenges, and academic
barriers. We build trust and that trust
strengthens our schools. Tonight we are
not here asking for more money. We are
asking for equity. We are asking for
recognition. We are asking for the same
union rights the other classified
employees in this district already have
as our bus drivers, the paras, the
custodians.
We are employees of the district. We
serve this district. We protect and
uplift this district's families.
Yet our role has not been fully
recognized in the same way as other who
serve along us. Community lesson are
essential to a student success.
When family feel supported, a student
succeed. When families are empowered, a
schools thrive. We are simply asking to
be treated with the same dignity,
protection, and rights as our
colleagues. Thank you for your time and
for your commitment to all employees and
families of this district.
Thank you. Our next speaker this evening
is Antonio Molina.
Hello everyone. My name is Antonio
Molina. I'm the community leazison at
Manhattan Middle School. I've served uh
in BBSD uh in a number of different
roles since 2007.
Uh the work that I'm really passionate
about right now is creating a link
between our newcomer migrant families
and the school.
This is done in close work with our FET
program which is our family and
educators together
meeting once a month. Also being present
at extracurricular activities and school
events. This dream work has proven to be
invaluable to our schools and our
community. From a simple registration to
booking some interpreters to the
unforgettable Pada Navidida, this link
is absolutely unbreakable.
Unfortunately, we're at an impass
with the community lison
and our district. We are seeking the
same link that we create with our
families and schools to be the same link
in our amazing district. and your
support in doing this
and linking us to be part of the BVCA
agreements is needed.
Um, we want to continue working and we
want to appreciate all your efforts and
together we're making this difference
and this dream work be possible. Thank
you so much.
Thank you. Our next speaker this evening
is Disease McCoy.
Good evening. Oh,
okay. Um, good evening. My name is
Delise McCoy. After many years as an
early childhood special education
teacher, I found the perfect role that
allows me to support support our
youngest learners, their families, and
the teachers who work with them. I now
serve as an early childhood community
liaison. I have had this position in
BBSD for six years and it has been one
of the most rewarding roles of my
career. Sorry, I get nervous talking up
here. Okay, for those um who don't work
directly with preschool programs, you
may not um be clear on how important
community leaison are in preschool
classrooms and throughout the program. I
could read the job description from the
BBSD website to explain our role, but
instead I asked my teachers that I work
with every day to reflect on how
community le liaison support them and
the children they teach. RCL's use their
this is what they said. RCL's use their
expertise, patience, and care to help
connect families with BBSD preschool
programs. They are often the very first
point of contact for families exploring
preschool. Community liaison give
one-to-one tours. as they provide
information about schedules, curriculum,
school environments, and share their
genuine enthusiasm for the schools they
represent. At a time when enrollment is
declining, the CL's are actively
reaching out to families and helping
bring our youngest learners into the
district, offering a warm and welcoming
introduction to our schools. Um, CL's
serve in many roles. They help with
registration, coordinate transportation,
connect families with social services,
manage scheduling, and guide families
through the UPK process. To make to meet
families needs, they often adjust their
hours and schedules. They also keep a
close eye on the well-being of children
in the classrooms while supporting
preschool and enrichment teachers and
staff across multiple locations. It's uh
difficult to imagine how our program
would function without our community
liaison. They are truly an essential
part of our learning community. I hope
the perspectives shared by my teachers
that I work with um will help highlight
the important role community liaison
play. Because our negotiations are
currently at an impass, I'm asking that
CLS be allowed to participate in the
negotiations negotiations already in
place. We want the opportunity to be
part of the conversation that affects
our work and the families we serve.
Thanks.
Thank you. Our next speaker this evening
is Beth Stevens.
Good evening. My name is Beth Stevens
and I am the president of BBCA. That is
the Boulder Valley classified employees.
We represent the essential classified
staff who keep this district running
every day. We are bus drivers,
custodians, food service,
bus assistants, maintenance staff,
security, and now community liaison.
Community liaison recently voted to be
represented by BBCA, and we are proud to
stand with them. However, negotiations
between the district and community
liaison have reached an impass due to
shifting requirements and conflicting
interpretations of board policy HG. The
most recent position shared with us
would require BBCA to abandon our NO
negotiated agreement, a contract that
has been in place for more than 30 years
in order for community liaison to join
our union. We have also been told that
the district believes community liaison
have not yet earned their rights and
protections that the other unit C
employees currently have under the
agreement.
This creates an unacceptable choice.
Either every unit C employee must give
up the rights they have held for decades
or community liaison are denied
representation through BBCA.
We do not believe that essential workers
seeking union representation in BBSD
should be forced into that choice.
Community liaison are simply asking for
the same opportunity that every other
unit C employee has to bargain
collectively under one negotiated
agreement. Tonight we are asking the
board for leadership. Please instruct
your negotiators to work in good faith
and create a clear pathway for community
liaison to join BBCA under the existing
unit C agreement. These employees serve
the families of our community every day.
They deserve the same rights, respect,
and protection as every other classified
employee in this district. Thank you for
your time.
Thanks, Beth. Our next speaker this
evening is Carrie Westgard.
Hello, my name is Ki Wgcard and I've
been with BBSD since 2018. I've held
several roles in the district but have
served as an early childhood community
liaison since 2021. In my four years as
a community liaison, I've seen our
district navigate major challenges from
the Marshall fire to the implementation
of universal preschool in Colorado to
declining enrollment. Uh many of many
may not know what an ECE community
leaison does, but we play an essential
role in BBSD. We are often the very
first point of contact families have
with the district, helping them guide,
helping guide them through the preschool
enrollment process and welcoming
children as young as three into the
public school system. For many families,
this is the first time they've entrusted
their child to someone outside their
family. We support parents through that
transition while also helping families
who may have no or limited English, face
housing or food insecurities, or have
children with special needs that need
special support. But our work goes far
beyond enrollment. We personally meet
every child before their first day of
school through home visits, school
visits, and welcome days. And we assess
preschoolers to ensure they receive the
support they need to see succeed in
kindergarten and beyond. As of today, we
have already enrolled 900 families, 911
families for the 2627 school year,
surpassing our total enrollment from May
of last year, with months of enrollment
still ahead. And many of these families
come from outside of BBSD's district
boundaries. We also connect families
with scholarships, organize community
events, support teachers, and help
families during times of crisis. Our
work is often behind the scenes, but it
has a meaningful impact on BBSD students
and families. Like all BVSD employees,
community liaison play a vital role in
this district. As of today, our union
negotiations are currently at an impass.
And I'm here to ask you to allow
community liaison to be included in the
negotiations already taking place
because when you support community
liaison, you are supporting the very
first step in a child's educational
journey. Thank you.
Thank you.
Our final speaker this evening is Trent
Kerr.
Trent does not appear to be with us this
evening. So, with that, um, that
concludes today's public participation.
On behalf of the board, I'd like to
thank everyone who took the time to show
up, share your thoughts and experiences
with us tonight. Um, it does mean a lot
to hear from our community members.
With that, we will
move on to board communication.
board members.
I know we've all been exceedingly busy
in our roundt discussions at our
schools, so probably outside of that
haven't had a lot of free time to engage
in other board related activities, but
if there's something anybody'd like to
share,
Anna?
Yes, I have a couple things. Um, so next
in a couple weeks we're going to have a
discussion on uh AI and magic magic
school and that all of that coming to
our district. I did have the opportunity
to go to uh the AI summit hosted by St.
Vine Valley School District. Um, and I
had u a really great time, an
informative time. I use AI in my
business daytoday. So, a lot of the the
things that they were talking about were
things that you learn as as you're using
the technology. Um, some of the key
takeaways that I did take uh with me,
the golden nuggets were uh just the
parameters of of um setting the guard
rails on AI. Um different ways that
admin can use the tool um to really help
them work through um consistent patterns
that they're seeing come up to them. um
potentially different um uh actions that
they can take. Um for me, I I know that
when I'm in um like in a in um trying to
solve a problem, sometimes I have the
answer and it it's I just need like a
sounding board or someone to to kind of
bounce it off of. And that's um really
one of the the key ways that they were
able to to utilize it. And they do use
it um within their admin. Um, and I am
excited that uh we are going to get um,
uh, Magic School and all of that
integrated into our district. Um, and
even though I won't be here, uh, for the
24th, I am excited to really download
and have a deeper conversation uh, with
Lynn and and have make sure that all of
the things that I was able to to uh,
learn and gather, we will still be able
to to incorporate here in BBSD. Um, next
I was able to attend the FET meeting at
Coline Elementary School. Um, and we
really did talk about a lot of the the
protocols and the supports that the
district uh currently has and is
developing for immigrant families. And
it was very meaningful to me to um be
able to speak to the parents and the
community members uh in their own
language. It just brought a lot of
language justice within that room of
being able to to not just say we support
you, but for them to really understand
it and hear it from someone in their
native language. Um, so to me that was
really special. I did invite all of all
of them in their whole school community
uh to come and speak to us and share
with us during public comments some of
their their worries, their frustrations
or their excitements. Um, and same for
anybody that's listening uh online. uh
really just inviting you to to come come
here. You belong here. This is your
space. And so we really want you to be
here and and share some of those um
insights and and frustrations with us.
Um and finally, I do want to give just a
big thank you to the teachers and the
teacher round table. I've been able to
go to Uni Hill. Um, I went to Birch and
I went to uh Alicia Sanchez and I still
have uh Cole and Emerald to go through
this week. Uh, and I it's really truly
been the highlight of my day when we
have these teacher roundts. Um because
the teachers just come with such
awareness and ideas and they know that
we have tough decisions in front of us
and they they see the opportunities and
they don't want us to miss the
opportunities and they don't want us to
to miss the little the little pieces of
feedback that might make a huge impact
and a huge difference. Um so I I'm truly
appreciative of your of your willingness
to engage with us in this process. Um
and that's all I had.
Alex.
Yeah. Uh, thank you. Uh, I want to thank
all the speakers tonight for what they
shared with us. It was great to hear
from everybody. Um, and lots to think
about. Uh, I want to share that I was at
the DAC meeting last week and, uh, we
all received a memo from the DAC um, for
our IG policy discussion tonight and I
just want to give them kudos for a very
thoughtful discussion. I think our DAC
is functioning very highly and uh I was
impressed by their ability with a lot of
people not a lot of time to facilitate
pretty um substantive input and from
looking at the memorandum they shared
with us I think they captured it pretty
well. So uh I would encourage the board
members to take seriously the DAX's
input on policy discussion tonight and
look forward to them continuing to find
new ways to really um up their game for
how we can benefit from them. also
really enjoyed uh the round table I've
been able to go to. Not enough because
I've been a bit out of town. I did want
to share something both with the board
and the and the community um about our
declining enrollment. I think it's good
to know that when we go from schools
when we have schools with only you know
one and a half under two two courses and
we have schools with three the impacts
of a few kids on one school versus the
other are different. And so I have heard
from the sort of larger schools that
they feel like the smaller schools are
more likely to have their staffing
change. And part of that is just a
function of math. So when you have only
one course with 28 kids in it and you
add two kids to it, you'll go over the
thresholds we have in our collective
bargaining unit or agreement and you'll
have to change a class. When you add two
classes or two kids to a grade with two
classes, you don't. You just increase
the class size from 27 to 28. And so
that on the the optics of that are not
great. So a school like Mesa will have
not very many new kids added and get
have a new classroom because it only has
one and a half courses in the first
place in that grade. A larger school
with close to three would add more kids
and still not add a teacher. Now that
that's totally makes sense in terms of
our staffing patterns, but it does lead
to issues and when we're making hiring
decisions, how we can make hiring
decisions, the stability of the staffing
in a school, the long-term ability for
the people to plan around it and us to
integrate them and on board them. So,
it's the kind of thing which really for
me highlighted the reason we're having
some of this discussion about declining
enrollment and the need to take action
because our current imbalance of the
small schools makes it hard for the
adults to figure out how to manage the
staffing at the school. Makes it hard to
do create the community of learners that
we want and that's not fair uh to the
kids and teachers in any of the
settings. So, I really appreciate the
input we got on that uh the last round
table I was at. Um, I also want to um
give my hats off to all the staff who
really are reinforcing and Rob talked
about it tonight. The the issues of
equity that come up with uh as we
consider declining enrollment and how we
think about the impact um on two things
I'm not so excited about. Uh received an
email um from someone concerned about a
school that had basically counseledled a
parent of a kid with disabilities not to
enroll in their school. And uh the fact
that there's one of those is not like
earthshattering. I know that that
happens and people talk honestly about
whether or not a school is a good fit
for a kid, but there's good ways to talk
to parents about what their choices are
and how well a school can serve them.
And there are bad ways to do it. Um I'm
interested in the district adopting,
frankly, a mystery shopper program. It's
something that goes on in the charter
school authorizing movement around the
country. And it's like mystery shoppers
going to a store or anything else. uh
people contact a school as if they were
interested in enrolling their child in
that school and explain that their child
has a disability or some other protected
aspect of their child. And uh the
expectation is not that you would bust
schools for saying the wrong thing.
Actually, when charter school
authorizers do this around the country,
what they find is really quickly
everybody changes their behavior. And so
people stop counseling out parents of
kids with disabilities or parents with
special needs or other things that might
not be appropriate. So, I'd strongly
encourage BBSD to consider um a mystery
shopper campaign. We have so much public
school choice going on, so many
wonderful options, so many people trying
to figure out how to take care of kids.
And to be honest, the parents of kids
with disabilities or other challenges,
twice exceptional, you name it,
whatever's going on, they're quite often
the ones choosing the most. I was just
looking at data from Arizona and their
voucher program, the parents of kids
with autism participate in school choice
three times as often as other parents of
kids with disabilities. So the parents
of kids with disabilities are exercising
choice and they deserve to be respected
and honored and treated. And if we have
schools do the wrong thing, we need to
stop that. So I I think a mystery
shopper is a really easy thing to do.
And I honestly I don't expect it to lead
to a lot of gotchas. I expect it to lead
um a bit of changed behavior that would
be so welcomed by the parents of kids
with disabilities in this community. Um
and then finally uh I will say that I
continue to hear from my community. I
live in um southwest Boulder. my kids
went to Fair View and I'm concerned
about the degree of implementation
fidelity on our phone policy at a place
like Fairview and I don't know uh what
it is we do as a district to enhance the
fidelity but I'm committed as a board
member to pursuing that and I encourage
the other board members uh to join me in
revisiting how what the strategies are
that we can do to get uh greater um
implementation fidelity on that policy.
Thank you,
Jason.
Um, yeah, thanks to everyone for their
comments and, uh, I wanted to comment,
Dr. Anderson mentioned the the tours
that we took to Plat and Whittier, uh,
and Superior. And we've done a few of
these. This probably was my favorite
one. Uh, and I really appreciate
Nativity and Emma from the staff, uh,
for really providing really great
context connecting what we saw in these
schools to the work in the district. And
so that was great. Um, for those that
were there, we went to a seventh grade
science class in at Platt. Uh, and I
wish we all could have our kids do that
or every every seventh grade science
class be like that. There was a CSI
unit. Uh, and it was just fascinating to
see and I hope maybe they'll come back
uh when they have the results of their
investigation. It was a crime scene with
blood and fake blood. Uh, and the kids
were doing all sorts of incredible
things, just incredible engagement. Um,
that was the highlight. there were lots
of other things we saw that were really
fantastic. And so uh it's great for me
um you know former teacher but many
years ago to to be able to to connect
the work that we do here, the work
that's done in the district to actually
see that in practice. So I just wanted
to add those comments. Um I've been able
to go to as many roundts recently. Lany
and I were able to go to Douglas uh and
we talked about the challenges that
they've faced um a number of things uh
going from a three round school to a
two- round school. Um but we're grateful
for all the teachers as as my colleagues
have said uh that have taken time out of
their lunch uh not required of course um
but to share their thoughts um and even
you know their hopes for how this
process might end up um you know as
improving student experience and their
own experience as teachers. Um and then
Anna you didn't mention as a highlight
but we had the audit committee um which
uh I actually it really was a highlight
in all seriousness. I uh it was the
first meeting. It was very long. Uh but
I really appreciated our uh Bill
Sutter's expertise. Uh the folks who
have been on that um served on that
committee, the staff, uh you know, it's
a really great behind the-scenes look at
all the things all the financial um
decisions or many of the financial
decisions that are made to really put us
put this district in a good place uh for
all sorts of reasons, including the
declining enrollment conversation. We're
not having this conversation because
we're in uh bad financial shape. Uh
we're having it because we don't we have
a lot of small schools, but it's because
of the work of the people that do all
the numbers and behind the scenes. And
so I was really um it was a highlight of
my day that day. Uh but it was really
fascinating to see that um to learn
about the bond process and bond sales
and all the things that go into um you
know when we have a bond uh from
supported by the community all the
financial transactions and decisions
that that go behind the scenes um and
also just the expertise there to really
put us in a strong position um you know
whether it's a lower rate or a lower
payment or just being strategic about
those things. So, um I'm looking forward
to serving on that and uh and thanks
again to the team behind that that does
all that great work.
Jorge and then Deian,
thank you. Um I would also like to start
by kind of thanking all the committee
members who came and spoke today. I
think it's always good to get a sense
of, you know, what folks are seeing and
kind of how they're feeling to get that
sense of where people are at. I think
it's really important. Um, similarly,
I've really appreciated the chance to
visit various schools and talk to
teachers and get a sense of kind of, you
know, how they view their experiences,
the challenges of a of declining
enrollment, how it limits their ability
to support our students in the way best
ways possible and that this is a problem
that's here today, not five years away
because the effects are here now. Um, so
it's been really useful to, you know, we
saw the list of things that are popping
up and there's a lot of commonalities in
terms of what our teachers are telling
us. Um, so I really appreciate that
chance. So, thank you for welcoming us
into your schools and to sharing your
experiences. Um, I also had a chance to
attend my first long range advisory LRAK
committee meeting. Um, that was the
first group we tasked with with looking
at declining enrollment, you know, many
years ago now. Um, they've continued to
do that work and they've seen the work
evolve from the plan they proposed
initially to where we're at now in terms
of thinking this holist about this
holistically across our school district.
Um, they they remain committed to um,
uh, providing support to being a part of
the solution. um and to making sure that
we kind of do this right. Um I think
this process has been really important
right in terms of thinking about
transparency and thinking about
engagement and making sure that we're
we're we're communicating with um our
teachers, our staff, our students, our
parents, our community members to make
sure that we get all their input. So
this community engagement part is really
important. The dates were shared today.
Um and it's, you know, we're doing the
outreach to make sure we're talking to
all the folks that are going to be
affected by this because it's
communitywide. Whether you have kids or
not, it's really important. So, so thank
you for those of you that are engaged
with this and thank you to the LRAK for
the work that you're doing. Um, and and
and I'm really happy with the way this
process is working out. I appreciate the
work because I know it's been a lot. So,
so thank you all.
I've been to a lot of meetings in a
couple of months. Um, and I have some
good meeting buddies, which is nice that
we go everywhere together. But um I want
to particularly call out what's been
happening on the AI committee as they
are getting ready for a board
presentation in uh just a short time and
the work that they've been able to
accomplish um in just over a month that
they have grouped into different
categories of um interest groups and
produced documents and done some really
deep thinking about what AI is going to
mean to to us now and perhaps in the
future. So, I've only been impressed
with the community members who have
given their time to uh making u policy
suggestions for us. So, it's been
impressive. I also got to go to I'm not
going to remember the name of the
committee, the bond oversight committee.
Is that it? Okay. Too many too many
acronyms. Um and uh that group really
was talking about how the money from the
bonds is going to be spent. And uh once
again I came away completely impressed
with the long range planning that had
been done and the foresight that had
been put into the fact that we have
schools that are declining and it could
mean changes to how money is spent. And
uh those things were taken into
consideration in a really strategic way.
And uh my work has been um both
gratifying and um diverse in the last
month. I got to go to the city of
Lewisville
um city council and the city of superior
city council meetings um which uh were
sort of surprise meetings, but they uh
it was great to engage with the adults
who mostly it was adults who have
students in the schools and to hear
their concerns about what might happen
over the next year. And um the more they
talked, the more we found out that we
were really on the same page, that we
really want what's best for all
students. And uh that was really
helpful. So I thank everybody I've
gotten to work with and uh see their
work because it's really is
extraordinary. Thank you,
Lenia.
I also have attended quite a few roundts
and I appreciate how vulnerable our
teachers have been uh sharing with us
their fears and also sharing with us uh
their hopes for where this process takes
us. Um and I'm really looking forward to
our community engagements in April. I've
written all those dates down on my book.
Um, I will echo Alex on
how much I hear about how our cell phone
policy is not being implemented with
Fidelity.
And as I've said before, um, policy is
not optional and it has been the will of
this board
that we do the right thing on cell
phones. Um, and if we need to make
technology investment or whatever it is,
I I'm
I'm here to say that I support whatever
we need to do because this is a
commitment that we've made to our kids.
Um,
and you know, I I write things down as
it little nuggets like little north
stars for me. And I wrote down what the
gentleman from Boulder High said today,
Ace Engelman. He said it is our
obligation to show up in the right way
and showing up in the right way is
asking kids to not be doing Snapchat in
class and I know that is right. So um so
I will echo Alex's thoughts. Um it's
pretty frustrating to hear it over and
over and over from our students that the
policies are not being implemented. Uh,
I was also disturbed by the email from
the parent of a child with a disability
who was dissuaded from enrolling in a
particular school. I haven't heard of
this mystery shopper program. That
sounds very interesting. Um, and I am up
for whatever it is we need to do so that
all of our schools
show up for our students the way that
they need to show up. Once again, the
north star. So I and I wish that Ace
Engelman was still here
because I really appreciated what he
said tonight.
Thanks board members. Um I don't really
have much to add though I will to be
fair we do get emails about Boulder High
struggles with the cell phone policy. I
know Laney and I have kids at Fairview
and Alex is it's in his community. So
sometimes Fairview gets undue attention.
Um but our large our largest schools
have a lot are challenging in a variety
of ways. They have different struggles
in some of our smaller schools. Um but I
just wanted to
acknowledge it's not just Fairview.
And um it has really again tackle the
board members going to these schools
hearing from our teachers our teachers
feeling really v vulnerable. Uh it's it
really
it it brings life to this work. It's not
just happening in a vacuum. And I do
think the efforts that we have put in
that staff have put in going and
listening first is really going to pay
off dividends. Eventually we'll have to
make a hard decision that some people
are not going to like. Uh that's just
you know the nature of of this type of
work. But I think the efforts that we've
put in on the front end really are
they are we will reap the benefits of
those and and I I hear staff speak to
how much they appreciate this process
compared to the process that happened in
the as um where it was middle of the
night decisions no community engagement.
So thanks to everybody for all the
efforts in this declining enrollment
process. With that or members, we will
move on to information items. We have
one information item this evening. It's
a legislative update. Before I turn it
over to Dr. Anderson, I'll just say we
met with our lobbyists last week. Maybe
it was this week. No, it was last week.
And I just I said shared with them. I
said we met with our delegation
before the session started, the very
beginning of the session. We said,
"Please do not run bills that have
impacts on us at this point in time. the
school finance act is is already taking
it its toll. Please do not run
unnecessarily unnecessary bills. They
did not heed that warning. I expressed
my frustration to pass along to our
delegation. I mean the number of bills
that are being run in the education
sphere, some of which are from our own
members of our own delegation. Uh it's
it's disheartening and I just think like
there are so many things we're trying to
do and some of this stuff is well well
intended going to create more work for
us in a system that's already strained.
So I was frustrated. I shared that with
our lobbyists. Um, and with that, I will
turn it over to Dr. Anderson if there's
anything in particular you want to touch
base on.
Thank you, board president Raj Paul. Um,
you know, I do I do agree with you that
uh
there's a lot of bills that have been
introduced that probably don't have a
chance to pass that we're watching, not
really having to to take much action on.
Um, anything that has a fiscal note we
know is watching. I think that, you
know, we're look what the next real big
moment in time for us to pay attention
to is the March revenue forecast.
I'm not certain when that's coming. I
mean, March, right, at some point, but I
don't think it's out yet. And uh
just because from what we're hearing
that it's going to be a lot worse than
what was originally projected, which
means a bigger hole for the for the
legislature to fill as they balance the
budget. So, I think that that's a
concern. Uh, we do feel like we've made
some progress on the specific ownership
tax that that in it of itself for now,
right, looks as if that that will not
those dollars won't be equalized.
They'll continue to come to our
district. Uh, that's that's what we're
hearing. So, we have to keep an eye on
that. But just for the general public,
that's $6.5 million.
If that goes away or if something
similar in the form of some type of a
negative factor goes away, then we'll
have less money than we had to operate
this year.
So, those are the things we're keeping
an eye on and we're being diligent and
just like most sessions, they'll
probably come down to the wire.
Any questions on the bills making their
way through, not dying fast enough?
Okay, we'll move on then to action
items. Consent grouping. 8.1 Personnel
items. 8.2 Approval of minutes February
17, 2026. 8.3 Acceptance of donation
Broomfield High School. 8.4 acceptance
of donation operational services
department. 8.5 board adopted fees
amendment stamp fee. 8.6 Latin course
approval 8.7 grant federal programs
title 4 CDE 8.8 grant health services
school health professionals CDE. Are
there any items board members like to
pull?
Seeing as there are none, is there a
motion to approve items in the consent?
Moved by Alex, seconded by Anna. Board
members, is there any discussion on
these items? Lenia,
I just wanted to ask about our stamp
assessment and it going up from our fee
on it going from 50 up to 175 is that is
the price of the most expens expensive
assessment. Do we make sure that if
there is
financial hardship here that we can make
that happen?
Yes.
Yes, we do. Lynn Gershman is in the back
nodding her head.
Okay.
But I think this board's been very clear
on fee waivers and the expectation that
that economic it not be a barrier to a
test like this.
Thank you for reassuring me,
Alex.
Yeah, on on that front, I mean, I would
continue to like to know um the details
of our waiverss, uh the programs that
have them, the funds that get them, the
schools that have them, the students
that get them. Um uh it's good to know
that we have the policies in place that
this board acted on pretty intentionally
to make sure that we everybody knew as
many waiverss as possible was the goal,
not the problem. And so, I'd continue to
want to see how that's going.
Any
other discussion board members?
Laura, can you please call the vote on
the motion?
Booker,
yes.
Chavez,
yes.
Medler,
yes.
Quinn Linua,
yes.
Raj Paul,
yes.
Tamuading,
yes.
Anger,
yes.
Motion passes.
Next item on tonight's agenda are action
items. We have
one action item which is participation
in the social media lawsuit. Is it Do I
have a motion?
Ten,
I move that BBSD join the multidist
litigation against Meta and the social
media companies.
Is there a second? Seconded by Lenia.
Board members. Any discussion on this
topic?
This board has long um had strong
opinions on on social media. I know we
were doing being very careful in
observing the progression of this
lawsuit and I think yes I would agree
this this is a great time to for us to
join in with that board me or Laura can
you call the vote on the motion?
Booker
yes.
Chavez
yes.
Medler
yes. Quinn Linua,
yes.
Raj Paul,
yes.
Tamading,
yes.
Anger,
yes.
Motion passes.
Board members, we will now move on to
the bulk of tonight's agenda,
which policy, we have 37 tonight in one
portion of another, which might just be
a record. First policy action items,
consent grouping. 10.1 board policy BDFG
district audit committee. 10.2 two board
policy DIIE audits board policy 10.3
sorry 10.3 board policy DLA payroll
procedures and deductions 10.4 Board
policy DLC employee expense
reimbursements 10.5 board policy EA
student transportation services 10.6
board policy EA-R student transportation
services regulation
10.7 board policy EAA walkers and
writers 10.8 8 board policy EA student
transportation in private vehicles 10.9
retire board policy EA-E
student transportation in private
vehicles 10.10 10 board policy EAB
school bus scheduling and routing 10.11
board policy EAC school bus safety
program 10.12 board policy EAD special
use of school buses 10.13 board policy
EBA-R
schoolowned vehicles regulation 10.14
policy EAC
school conduct on school buses 10.15
board policy EA use of school buses by
community groups 10.16 board policy EA A
D A-R use of school buses by community
groups regulation 10.17 board policy E
AAA
controlled substances and alcohol
testing 10.18 board policy EBCB fire
drills. Are there any items board
members would like to pull from consent
grouping?
Seeing as there are none, we need a
motion to approve. Moved by Lenia,
seconded by Jason. Board members. Any
discussion on these policies?
Alex,
um I just want to comment on the volume
of them. Looking forward to voting yes
and and passing all these. But I I wanna
we we people have mentioned AI a little
bit. But I think if there's any topic in
central administration where AI would be
helpful, it would be in uh staff,
administrators, the public understanding
our policy with the help of good AI
because this is just as board member the
flow of how much is there is incredible.
uh trying to find something is not easy.
I know it's all on the web, but I'd
really encourage us to think about is
that the kind of thing that Magic School
has an app for or somebody else does in
terms of strategies to make sense of
what is somewhere over still over 400
policies. Are we under 400 yet?
We are.
We are under 400 and the board is very
close to having reviewed everything in
the current century. We're getting
close. Okay, that's great. Anyway, I I
do think this is a one of those things
that would would the use of it would be
a lot easier. This is the kind of thing
AI helps with today.
I just want to thank the the audit
committee was able to look at a couple
of the policies we had redlinined
earlier. They provided some additional
recommendations. So, thanks to the audit
committee for taking the time to do
that. I also just want to acknowledge
the number of people that are involved
in in these policies when we through red
lines through approval through getting
them updated on the website. I mean even
the fact that all of our charter schools
have to wave not wave what have you our
policies like there's implications that
are deep for for us having a more
manageable policy schedule. And I while
it's felt like a lot lately um with or
without AI, having fewer policies and
having policies that are more clearly
written will benefit everybody. So I
just want to thank everybody that's
involved in getting all these policies
teed up um and ready to go and out into
the universe. So thanks for that.
Seeing as there's no further discussion,
Laura, can you please call the vote?
Booker. Yes.
Chavez.
Yes.
Medler.
Yes.
Quinn Linua.
Yes.
Raj Paul.
Yes.
Tamuading.
Yes.
Anger.
Yes.
Motion passes.
Board members. We'll now move on to
policy study items. There are several
policies we are going to study this
evening. Um, and I will turn it over.
Kathleen and I didn't really talk about
this. Maybe we'll take them in chunks,
relevant chunks. So we will start with
board pol item 12.1 board policy IGA
basic instructional program and IGA-R
the regulation.
Thank you board president Raj Paul. Um
and thank you board. You just retired
nine and updated nine policies. So
congratulations.
I think it does make it a lot easier to
get through as we just narrow down the
number. So board policy IGA was
prioritized by this board for review
this semester.
Um our existing policy was last reviewed
in 1993.
I think it has some obvious um
concepts that are antiquated. It also is
not required by law. So, the red line
that's provided for the board's
discussion tonight is a composite that
has both some of the language from our
existing policy, though not a lot, and
then additional language drawn from
three CASBY samples, one on
standardsbased education, the CASBY
sample on educational objectives, and
the CASBY sample on academic
achievement.
So, as we are doing with a lot of the
policies here, um we're proposing to
integrate the regulation into the policy
itself just for purposes of ease and not
having as many policies to reference to
try and understand the concept. So,
that's what is shared tonight. Um I know
board president Rajal, you were very
helpful in getting this red line
provided. So there may be other areas
you want to highlight. Um we were able
to run this through our director of
academic services and make sure that it
also reflects our current practices. And
again, just try to make the language
clearer, consistent with your policy
style book, and able to withstand, I
think, what good policies do, which is
provide enough specificity to provide
guidance to your staff and enough um
thought in the language that it will
stand the test of time as we continue to
evolve.
And board members, just as a reminder,
and this might be helpful as folks are
contemplating the nine pages of um
feedback from the district
accountability committee, our first
priority is to follow federal law,
followed by federal law, state law, then
it's board policy, and then it's
anything in negotiated agreements. And
so there are several comments, I would
say, in the DAC memo that talk about the
readact. We don't we don't write polic
we don't write law into policy. we'll
often reference it, but um just to make
sure everybody's aware that some of that
we are mandated to follow law policy
comes after that and so some of those
recommendations from the DAC just know
that we are we have we are following
state law so there their inclusion is
something we don't typically do in board
policy outside of references
um
with that I guess I will open the floor
to conversation to questions to comments
on the red line that staff have put
together and we can just work through
this as we work workshop our policies in
general board members who would like to
begin
lolenia
much improved
much improved um I think I appreciated
did the calling out of a few specific
things. Um, health curriculum in middle
school. I appreciate that
we pulled that out. Um,
I also feel like
I like in the high school programming
that we talk about
that we are seeking to equip students
with the skills and resources to be
successful after high school. And we
talk about all the different ways we're
doing that. Um,
and
so I just think it's much improved. Um,
cleaned up.
So, thank you for your work. I This is
must have been a ton of work to get to
this
Jason.
Um, yeah, I agree with that. Um, and I
appreciate I think folks who mentioned
this earlier. I appreciate uh reading
through the DAC memo. There are a lot of
things um that I don't know that may be
relevant in this policy, but things I
support um such as some of the comments
they made on technology use and age age
appropriate and um but I don't think
that that belongs in this policy. One
thing I do think and in kind of the
spirit of Alex's ease of public kind of
consumption and viewing is I like the
way in the DACK memo that they bulleted
all the the required or all the subjects
by elementary, middle, and high school.
I think just visually that would be
something that would be easier to follow
here and so that would be just one
stylistic change I'd recommend. Um but
yeah, I agree with Lilenia's comments.
This is uh must have been a lot of work
and appreciate all that and um thanks
for the many people who provided input
uh to get to this place.
Jorge.
Um, yeah, I want to I want to echo the
thanks for the work in setting this up
because I remember reading the first go
through of the policy and I and I and I
was looking going
what is this policy trying to do was my
was my question, right? What are our
goals and and what's the point of it and
how could it how is it useful for
parents? And and I think we've made
significant strides in that direction by
noting specifics for each elementary,
middle, and high school at each level in
terms of what a minimum basic curriculum
looks like. Um what is equitable and
what prepares you for that next level. I
think calling that out I think is really
important in terms of here's what has to
be provided and what you have to do and
how it prepares you to go from
elementary to middle school, from middle
to high school. And so I think I so I
really appreciate that.
Alex.
Yeah. I'm also grateful for the
opportunity to update this and I think
uh the red line represents considerable
progress from where we're trying to get
to. I appreciate that the DAC has given
us a lot of information and some of it
is appropriate to consider here and some
isn't. I guess one of my big questions
is what is the suite of policies that do
speak to all these things and how do
they fit together? So, I want to know
how this fits in with grad requirements
and homework and um some other decisions
that we make that support our
instructional approach uh and other
aspects. So, I'm I kind of want a road
map of the scope of this one to know
what it's talking about that it
shouldn't or what it's not talking about
that it should because what was there
before is so hard to work from. I will
add as someone who moved to Boulder in
July of '92, I'm pretty sure this one
was written when the district adopted a
middle school program and transitioned
from junior high to middle schools. And
that's exactly what it reads like. Like
establishing middle schools 40 years ago
is what this is about. So, we clearly
need to update it, but I feel like I'm a
little um not sure about things that I'd
be tempted to put in here, but that
probably might go somewhere else. But if
they don't go somewhere else, I'm more
tempted to put them here. So I need
that. And then the second part is I
would be delighted to see the words
evidence or research base somewhere in
this policy.
Um there is none. And uh we have a lot
of experience as a district of you know
picking our curricular choices and not
always being evidence-based and I would
like that to be a priority going
forward.
So, I was very clear that we had to put
those words in our curriculum adoption
policy and the curriculum revision
because that was something that was
missing back then. And I hear you and I
um I spent some time going through all
the cross references to this policy.
That's where you'll find like what goes
where like parent feedback on requiring
recess in middle school. Well,
technically that's in ADF, the wellness
policy on nutrition and physical
activity. And that policy happens to say
it's required in elementary, it's
optional in middle. And so it is you
have like going through is a little
wonky. And the other thing I would say
is I don't know that all of our cross
reference policies are in there like the
co-curricular and extracurricular
activities we talk about in a line. It's
not in our cross reference. Uh and that
I think it's a little bit where DAC kind
of got all over the place in theirs as
well. we have a lot of policies that do
very discreet things and then we have
some of these policies that are just
more general in nature and making heads
or tails of that can be somewhat
challenging. Um so I appreciate uh I
appreciate that comment. I have some
very specific
um points of feedback. The first of
which is I I think it's getting so much
better but the opening section is still
a little clunky and I think can be
simplified a little bit more. And I also
think it's a little confusing to move
between standardsbased
and then talking about academic
standards. And so get just getting
consistent on how the phrases that we're
using I think can be helpful and like
whittling it down a little bit more to
to really be clear on what this policy
is and what it is not. So I think that
could be helpful. Um I also think just
in partly in light of all some of the
the comments from the DAC that final
sentence there's a sentence kind of deep
in that opening section that talks about
in all instances it's the second to the
last sentence in that opening par
opening section that all instructional
program shall meet the educational
requirements as required by Colorado and
federal law. If we just move that up to
the second sentence of this policy, I
think that will just make it really
really clear that of course we're
following law.
And then um
I would I have a couple questions
or suggestions in the middle school
section. There is
um
where is it? There is a sentence in the
first paragraph that talks about some of
the
I would say soft skills that students
need to develop and one of the last ones
is emotional regulation. That one feels
a little odd to have there. So I would
maybe consider striking it and ending it
at and study skills.
So that was one. Um, and I also think I
I think there's a clear connection
between in the the section on high
schools tying it to postsecary success
and I wonder if in the middle school
section we can talk about preparing
students for high school because that
really ultimately is our objective
there. So being a little bit clearer
there could be helpful.
And then
in the middle school section, it feels
some of it feels a little we go from
like core classes and then we talk about
some of the soft skills or developmental
skills and we kind of go back to core
classes. And I think it would be clear
if we went from core classes to
electives to some of those soft skills.
And then I'm just have a wondering
we call out electives. We call it the
electives of music, art, andor world
language specifically. And we don't call
out other electives. And I know right
now there is a great deal of consistency
on middle schools requiring some of
those electives feels like an oxymoron
because elective should truly be a
choice. That's my understanding of the
definition of what an elective course
is.
And so I'm wondering um
I'm just wondering about those three
areas and and are we should we might we
want to or do we not want to at all ask
our students to leave middle school with
an experience in one of those courses or
not? And is that why it's called out or
is it I just have a lot of questions on
outside of the core classes. Are there
other experiences we think our students
should have in middle school that might
help them be successful
in course selection or course in their
courses that they may take in high
school. And one thing I think about a
lot is in some of our high schools to
obtain the seal of biiteracy if you're
not a native speaker you have to take I
mean at Fairview you have to get through
Spanish five which means you have to
take Spanish in middle school and if
you're not a student in a household that
is fully aware of how to jump through
all the hoops that are necessary to get
to where you want to be. Not having that
language requirement somewhere like puts
folks at a disadvantage. And we've done
so much work to ensure that all of our
kids have access to equal opportunities.
Like if there are courses like that,
same thing I feel like with advanced
ELA, the number of kids that don't know
if they could they'd be a good fit in
high school because they didn't have the
opportunity to try it in middle school.
Like I just some of those things like
how can we how are we shaping those
experiences
to help kids make the best choice for
them?
Similar. So, I just wonder if board
members have like thoughts or if staff
have thoughts on I know physical space
is an issue for some of these classes. I
think particularly for art, physical
space can be a challenge at our middle
schools,
band and orchestra, most of our middle
schools have those physical spaces set
aside. So, I'm just wondering like
that's a wondering of mine.
How much latitude
versus how like how loose versus how
tight on the courses that we're
identifying as quote unquote electives?
Rob,
would it be helpful to know what's
happening right now
as as like a as a starting point of
where things are right now and then we
could see to the extent how much
practice would have to change to to
match policy.
I think that would be helpful. And then
also defining like if some schools are
requiring classes that other schools are
calling electives like so yes and what
does an elective mean and can they truly
be optional? So I think both of those
would be helpful
and then Alex
let's work on on getting that
information. I'm looking at Laura who um
we'll try to include that to for you
all.
I think that would be helpful. So, thank
you for raising that and I appreciate
you raising the point or reiterating the
point about that transition to high
school, right? And how middle school is
really geared towards setting that up
and that's a key kind of stepping stone.
And so, I think for me in ter from like
an equity perspective in terms of what's
available at our schools and how our
students are being prepared and who has
access to those opportunities is really
important. So, getting to know what's
going on now and then what's critical to
get that next step to be able to take
advantage of those opportunities which
isn't really which shouldn't be an
elective if if that's the path we want
to offer. It should be available to all
our students. So, so figuring that part
of it out, I think is important.
Uh, yeah, I think you raised a lot of
really good points, um, both of you. Uh,
I I'd like to speak to a couple of them,
but I again, I feel a little overwhelmed
by the amount of things we could talk
about here. Um, I do want to say that
the equity of access is pretty important
and that I don't believe now that we
have it. And so to the extent that we
have people who have demanded over time
that this elementary or this middle
school prepare for this high school or
that this high school do something
someone else can do or that our
concurrent enrollment is a function of
how many credentialed high school
teachers we have at different high
schools that can teach them. These are
all like deeply inshed structural things
in our human resources and our high
school schedule master schedules and
stuff. So there's not simple fixes to
them. So at the level of principles,
it's relatively easy to say, hey, we
should have equity of access to these
opportunities and we should um
standardize the expectations so that
people can all be prepared and then
you're like, okay, well, when will we
have the staff in place in all our
comprehensive high schools to do that
equitably, right? Um and in the
meantime, what is the fix we would do?
So I I would like the policy to lead to
that principle of the equity of
opportunity when we can. Um, another
issue I think when we get to what's
required, what's what's optional, what's
expected is to deal with the levels and
the types of schools that we have. And
so we have neighborhood schools, focus
schools, charter schools, um, and
different schools with different degrees
of um, mission specific stuff going on.
And I think as another policy that's not
particularly clear, like it's not
altogether clear what it means to be a
focus school versus a neighborhood focus
school. um and how would that interact
with this or if uh an just a single
elementary school or a mountain school
wants to do something different that's
unique to its mission. How do we think
about that? So at at the level we want
to have this equity of access and this
common thing that's preparing everybody.
We still have almost half the families
exercising choice of some port and
thinking schools do things differently
and picking the one they want. So what
makes them different? How do they know
about that? So if we don't know what the
options are, I don't think the parents
know what the options are when they're
choosing them or thinking about it. So
this interacts with which schools get
which flexibility and how, which is
another policy. And then I will say in
terms of the um this is something I care
about a lot on the board and that is the
equity of opportunity to enjoy fun
things and um and I think we're really
uh in our crisis of mental health and
engagement having kids enjoy being
students at BBSD is really important and
I think um uh to the extent that we pick
and choose
which cool thing is that's and of course
English and math should be great and
super exciting and engaging.
But sometimes it's drama and sometimes
it's something else. So I just want us
to have a lens and I don't know if we
going to be touchyfey enough to say in
fact that we hope our kids enjoy their
education through this at BBSD but I
would like it to do that so that we can
reinforce like what do parents and kids
want that would make it fun and like
engagement is a real thing and all the
way through our grades. So I don't think
we should just treat it as too soft. And
then when we deal with things like music
and art, like this district has a long
history of privileging music over the
other arts based on pretty lame research
that music is, you know, great for your
brain as opposed to all other forms of
art that are also great for the brain.
So I just we can make we can make
preferences put out there about some of
the fun things that like actually
foreclose fun for lots of kids. So I
just want us to be thoughtful about fun
and engagement and what the role is. And
then finally, I'd say if not this
document, somewhere we really want to
understand the combination of our
instructional infrastructure because
that is a huge priority for this
district of how we've made progress
towards having one, right? So what is
the interaction of this with that
infrastructure that will keep the
district moving in a direction to
continuing to support our educators by
clearly articulating what we do? And I
think for the parents that kind of turns
into what is the profile of a graduate?
what's the profile of a ninth grader,
right? And really understanding what a
kid is prepared to do. So again, I'm
overwhelmed by the number of places we
could go with this, but I want us to
think about fun. I want us to think
about types of schools. I want us to
think about the flexibility we have and
how it interacts with our ability to
hold up all our schools with support.
Um, and I do think the DAC raised
different things that need to be
inserted somewhere. So I don't want to
lose many of those things.
I appreciate your comment on the fun and
that's one of the things that I like
we should be encouraging our kiddos to
take these classes that maybe are not in
their
like not normally what they would take
uh at at a point in life where you you
could try something and it doesn't feel
catastrophic to a a letter grade on a
transcript or something down the road.
So I I appreciate um I appreciate that
element entirely
and I one other thought that I had
related to what Alex said and Dian I
realized I said you were supposed to go
after Alex so I'll come back to you was
we have made significant investments in
our curriculum
and it is paid off in dividends and our
curriculum is standards we're teaching
to the standards and that is creating
some consistency in our in our
instructional programming. across the
district which has been incredibly
beneficial for how our students are
growing and achieving and if there I
again I don't know if this is
necessarily the place but like the board
believes in
you providing those tools to meet to
teach the standards
so we can accomplish this. Um that's
just one I thought I had Deian
uh let's see I'm backing up a couple of
comments. I actually think that um for
middle schoolers having the words
emotional regulation in the policy is
very very important. Um and I would even
add words like community engagement
because a lot of what middle school is
is teaching kids to get along with each
other. So I don't see anything about
developing the community of the school
in that language um which should be part
of the learning. I do um get a little
bit uh rebuffed given that we had
parents talking here tonight about tag
students and then we have a sentence
that says we will provide advanced
learning in language arts and math.
How about we will provide opportunities
for advanced learning period because it
isn't just all about math or language
arts. That's not what being a TAG
student is about. So, we need to provide
those opportunities in a different way.
And um the sentence that says each
school shall determine which elective
courses, we've talked a lot about the
word elective, maybe that's not the
right word, courses to offer from the
school district's middle school course
catalog.
Um, and as someone who's who has taught
at a middle school and still teach at a
middle school, sometimes it's about what
teacher you have available. It's not
about what your choice is. You know, if
we don't have someone who can um teach a
class like we happen to see at Plat
Middle School, which was uh the students
were creating music compositions and
playing them for us, um then then you're
not going to offer that class. So, uh, I
don't know how to word that, but it gets
at that problem with equity also that we
we probably
we probably are providing programs that
people are actually picking their
schools based on which electives they
can have and also which advanced courses
they can have for sure. Um, when I get
dropped down to the senior high, oh, I
seniors crossed out the high school
program. Um
there is something about the second
section where we have a whole bunch of
different um quote elective kind of
programs that some of them are
capitalized and some of them are not.
That's just a really picky thing, but it
makes them look like they're more
important.
And I had the wondering
um is using the word industrial arts
like 1970s language? Maybe that is not
language we use anymore to describe what
we do with students at these incredible
programs that we've been able to build.
Um,
and I think that, you know, that's just
really being nitpicky, but just the
format there uh makes some things look
more important than others.
Dr. Anderson.
Yeah. I think the the essential question
here is how much ground are we trying to
cover in this policy?
I mean, you know, to the extent that
this policy has to reflect everything we
believe about and think about in terms
of our instructional program, um, as
opposed to, uh, you know, some of the
things that we believe in sit in
strategic plans, some sit in in policy,
some sit in other policies, some sit in
regulations, others sit in expectations.
I think that to to help kind of focus, I
do think we need to take um what Dak
said seriously and under consideration.
I do think that we need for you all to
see and understand the differences,
especially at the middle levels, what's
happening. Um I think the thing I think
about is how is declining enrollment
going to impact this? I mean, today we
were at Elorado K8 and their middle
schools, their K8 program is sixth grade
program is significantly different than
a Lewisville Middle. So, I don't want to
I want to pigeon hole our practices
where somebody could come to us and say,
"Well, you need to give me 4ft FTE at my
school because your policy says that we
should have this and we don't have this
here." Uh, and so I think that we that's
just what I'm thinking about like what
is, you know, this policy, how do we
make this policy meaningful? How do we
reflect the board's interests in what
you've talked about? if there are things
that you're bringing up that we feel
like could land somewhere else, how do
we do that? Um, I I do think, you know,
cottifying the work we're doing today
that's working, right? So, so at a at a
future point in time, different boards
or others would have to change their
policy away from what's actually we've
proven to work. I get that. Like, I'm
interested in that, too. Uh, how do we
do that? I think is what I'm thinking
about. So, um uh this just kind of my
two cents,
Alex.
Yeah, I um I really appreciate uh your
comments, Dr. Anderson. I think um we
both we want the policy to empower this
current administration to do the good
stuff you're doing and to support the
continued direction of things that are
helpful and effective.
I do think um that if we if we empower
the district to have policies that lead
to making change and empowering the
district to make change, that's a good
policy. It may be an inconvenient and a
hassle to implement. But if we actually
drive to uh making it possible to make
uh program access more equitable, then
that's strengthening the hand of
pursuing a value that we have even if it
is implies work or doing something that
might be hard later. So I don't think we
should shrink from reflecting our
principles and our values. Uh with that
in mind, I think there's two things that
we as a board have spoken to quite a bit
that we could incorporate somewhere in
here. And one goes to um we've talked
about tag, but I think we could just
deal with the concept of differentiation
and acceleration and other concepts like
that more broadly and the support for
them. Um like and not put that in too
small of a box. And I and I do think it
would be good to figure out some
statement of
uh you know all means all in terms of
all our students uh and really having
some inclusive language including our
neurodeiverse populations and other kids
out there um that see themselves in this
policy. I think there's opportunity to
put that in here too.
I agree. And in the muddiness of this,
we have like two policies on gifted
education that speak to some of it. And
I do like
as an umbrella, a directional umbrella.
It's like we have graduation requirement
policies. It's very clear. This just
there's some direction, some latitude.
It's how Yeah. How do we how do we piece
it all together in a way that's
meaningful? And I I do think you hear
over and over and Deian hit it spot on.
Sometimes people are making choices
because of the degrees of
inconsistencies. Not that they want to
go somewhere else or they love their
neighborhood school to have what feels
like a really like not necessarily
they'd like more consistency and they're
choosing based on based on the classes
that we provide. And sometimes it is
based on staffing and sometimes it's
based on will and sometimes it's based
on facilities and what have you.
And I'll continue to say like where a
kid for particularly for our core
subjects where a kid goes to school they
don't have private transportation should
not impact the quality of experiences
they receive. So I'll keep coming back
and back and back to that. Um so I
appreciate Dr. Anthony what you said. I
think finding that yes we can't codify
staff that we don't have the funds for.
I think that's what made me nervous a
lot about a lot of the DAC
recommendations is it was extremely
heavy on staff and resources that we do
not have. Um and so I I appreciate that
comment. I think we can find the right
balance based on board feedback tonight.
Dr.
I I think you I think you're going to
have to see this a couple times. So I
wouldn't expect this to come back on
action. Just study again. Is that Would
that be right, Kathleen?
Absolutely. So I we received the DAC
memo after the agenda was prepared,
which I understand because we didn't
share a red line with DAC. So it was
sort of chicken in the egg. I absolutely
agree, Dr. Anderson. I think we've got
some more staff conversations to have to
make sure that we're really capturing
current practice. And then I have pages
and pages of really great board uh
direction and suggestion to incorporate.
And because it has become more of a
common practice this year, it wasn't
necessarily a common practice in the DAC
memos in the past. This is a capturing
of individual ideas that were elevated
during the board meeting or the DAC
meeting. It was not um there was not
consensus or discourse to whittle it
down to what they they believed as a
body. It was capturing individual
comments that were shared. And so um I
just want to make folks aware that have
that that it used to be a different
process and so that we're all on the
same page of what um this memo
represents. Alex. Yeah, that's an
excellent point and I just want to say
um that I appreciate their ability to
turn around in a timely fashion and get
stuff to us and I recognize that's
different than taking a vote and working
out the detail of each thing but having
it be too late. So, um I really
appreciate that and the board uh having
been there for the discussion it really
was rich and they were quite inclusive
of one another's ideas and input but
they weren't arguing about this stuff.
They were like that's also good. Same
way we have added 15 things for Kathleen
to work with, they added 20 things for
us to work with.
Any other discussion on this policy
board members, before we move on?
I will turn it over to Kathleen to walk
us through 3J policies.
So for our next set and I and I will say
the board has asked us to make sure that
we take public input on policies. So, we
have put up the full set of policies
that the board's studying tonight on
your web page um available for feedback
and we'll make sure we post the red
lines there now um so that people can
give additional thought. So, looking at
the next set of policies, we have four
policies related to health and
medication. Um these were identified by
our staff as areas that needed updating.
The first two talking about 12.2 which
is board policy JLCD
administering medications to students
and the regulation 12.3.
This change is due to a change in state
law. It used to be that students were
only permitted to self-care asthma
anaphilaxis medications. there was a
change to the law to allow students to
carry any medication that is prescribed
by a provider other than medical
marijuana.
So we have updated the policy and we are
recommending keeping the regulation in
this case because it does have that more
traditional policy being more general
and then the regulation having the
additional detail. This is a place where
we need that detail for a couple of
reasons. One, if a student's going to
self-care, the law has some very
specific requirements that are captured
in the regulation about making sure that
the school and the family are in
communication. We know that the student
has a medication that they'll be
accessing. And it also includes language
that in the event that there's a problem
that a student carrying a medication
would be a danger to that student or
other students that the school principal
and the nurse have the ability to make
an individual decision about that
particular student. And again, we would
just propose relatively minor updates
recommend recommended by our health team
to make sure that we can uh facilitate
this right that's now recognized in
state law.
Thank you, Kathleen. Board members, any
questions or comments on these three
policies?
Jorge?
This might just be my reading of it, but
it starts off very positive in terms of
yes, a student can self-administer
medications and they can bring it to
school and they can carry it around.
A and you have to follow the regulation.
Then you go to the regulation, you
cannot do this unless you do a b cdef
all the way all the way through.
Is that potentially concerning if folks
see the policy like, "Oh, yeah, it's
it's easy to do," but then the
regulations like, "No, it's actually not
very easy at all to do, and it's
extremely rare that you'd be able to do
that on your own, and it's only for high
school students." So, I so I don't know
if there's a way for us to better
straddle that line.
I appreciate that comment. I noted that,
too. And I do think that some additional
language in the policy would be helpful
and cross references in the regulation
exactly to that point. Thank you.
I picked that up as well. And the other
thing because when you read the regula
when you read the policy, you're like,
oh, kid kids kids can do this. And the
regulation is also like, well, actually
just high schoolers. And so my
suggestion was also in the policy
itself, the self administering like
clarify in that title. Yeah. High
schoolers can because it's not middle
schoolers, it's just high schoolers. If
that really is the case.
Other thoughts, board members?
Seeing as there are none, we'll move on
to
two different e policies.
Yes. So, we have next 12.5 and 12.6.
Again, these are just while we were
bringing you some related policies. And
in light of the
measles, I'll just say the word. I
hesitate to say it with principal Ramsay
here, but um so we needed to just get
that language a little more current in
EBBA. So we're talking about prevention
of disease, infection transmission,
handle handling of bodily fluids. And
because these items had not been
addressed since 2019,
they didn't really reference pandemic
and things that we learned during that
process. They really focused on HIV in a
way that I think was reflective of a
pastime. And there was just some
additional language that we didn't need
and the funny little asterisks in the
regulation that are actually part of the
CASBY sample. Can't explain that. But we
do think it's time to just update the
language and make it a little more
formal by eliminating some of that
random language in the regulation.
With that, I was wondering why measles
wasn't particularly specifically called
out in the regulation. We have a lot of
different um infectious diseases called
out, but measles specifically is not.
And given the situation we're facing, I
wonder if that might be included in that
list.
And then I also thought in the
regulation like yeah, I appreciate it is
very HIV heavy in a way that doesn't
seem as relevant today
in there's like a list of five items in
it goes HIV, HIV, COVID, some COVID, and
then back to HIV. Just putting the HIV
ones together.
Board members, other thoughts on this
policy?
Lenia. Well, I I guess I question
the inclusion of measles if we don't
include then whooping cough. Like it. So
then is it that we're trying to be
and that's okay with me. But I if we're
going to include measles, then we should
look at the other outbreaks that we do
see in our community.
And I'm fine with that.
Alex.
Yeah, I'd be I'd be inclusive of all the
contagious things we're trying to help
with. I I don't see any reason to shrink
back and I don't believe uh we should
relax our attention to HIV for the ones
dealing with it. It's still a really
important thing to deal with. So, no
reason to take it out.
Seeing as there are no further
questions, we will move on to our G
policies.
Okay. And this is our final set of
policies to study tonight. And I did try
to organize them a little bit so that
you could see the umbrella policies that
are incorporating some of the others
that were retiring a little bit later.
So we really have two primary umbrella
pro policies here. The first one will be
GBA.
This is staff ethics conflicts of
interest. This is a policy that's
required by law. It had not been
reviewed by the board since 2017.
I think that this is an area frankly
where
while conflict of interest may be a
legal term or may have its origins in
statute there is a lot of confusion
in I think just the general population
about what an actual conflict is. So
what we are trying to do by elevating
these policies is just provide clearer,
more modern language that reflects our
current
um our current practices.
We had a number of policies the board
had uh prioritized for example GCQAB
which is a tutoring for pay policy which
is a very tiny paragraph
because of the way that the CASV sample
proceeds around this issue of conflicts
of interest. We've integrated conflicts
of interest around employment, both that
whole uh nepotism,
relative supervision that has been in
the headlines unfortunately for some
other districts recently. And then the
second section of this policy is on the
sale of goods and services by school
district employees. And this is where
we're really trying to bring in those
other policies that just had a paragraph
or two so that they could all be read in
one place.
This red line on GBA would also uh
incorporate the regulation. You will
note that the regulation has a little
bit of language around if there's a
change in circumstance that would result
in a violation of the nepotism elements
of the policy that there are some
specific protocols around transfer. This
is an incredibly rare thing to happen.
Um, but some of that language might be
helpful. So, I crossed out the language
that's already integrated, but I left
that in the regulation for the board's
discussion.
Do you want to There's an exhibit. Do or
is that for a G?
With your permission, I would love to
talk about the exhibit separately and
I'm happy to start there if it would be
helpful.
No,
no, that's okay. I just want to make
sure that that was the case. I saw
Lenia's hand up go up right away on the
first two and then Alex's.
So, can we go down to sale of goods and
services by school district employees?
So, we may have an employee
who may during summer break
want to tutor.
is that that is where this is being
addressed. Am I am I understanding that
right?
Yes. It was my intent to address all of
GCQAB in this section.
Okay. And so then I feel
confused about um
the $500
thing. If you were tutoring a student
over the summer or
several students a day,
you would be making more than $500. Or
is that unit cost thing supposed to tell
me something?
Because I certainly, you know, if if
there are people in our
um
employee, I you certainly want them to
be able to
spend their summer break earning money
if they would like to be. But I I I
guess maybe I'm not sure I'm reading it
right, Kathleen. When I read that
paragraph, I was like, well, maybe I
don't understand what's going on.
I think that that paragraph um you can
see that the red line I've moved
phrasing around and I think that the
moving it around and then trying to
incorporate the tutoring paragraph two
paragraphs later is just not
it's not consistent. I agree with you
that sort of lost the thread in that
paragraph.
But is there some piece that people
can't make in excess of $500 without the
prior approval of the board
superintendent?
Yes, that's in your existing policy.
Okay. Well, then I guess what I want to
say is I don't think that seems right.
Um, and I also think
I think it's super important to assure
that all students get reasonable
assistant without charge from their own
teachers. But I also know that a teacher
may tutor somebody in a summer after
they have them. Um, my concern might be
then what if that teacher is moved to
the next grade up
the following year?
I I just want to make it that our
teachers can do what they would like to
during the summer. Um, but I don't want
it to be a conflict of interest if they
happen then to get that child again.
Maybe it's saying hopefully we'll have
three rounds in every school so they can
be in a different class. But I do think
we need to be careful of that.
Um,
I appreciate uh some of the comments
we've gotten um from the public about
our investigate investigation process
and the procedures and the time that it
takes. And I also know from my
professional experience in policy and
politics that conflict of interest seems
like a big deal, but it's always super
complicated and you'd be surprised how
many very innane things need to got you
need to go talk to a lawyer and figure
it out, right? Um, and that can be
everybody engaged in appropriate best
interest, good faith practice. You still
got to talk to the lawyer and figure out
if there's a conflict and how to manage
it. So, in a spirit where we can't
communicate about investigations and
where people are frustrated by the time
it takes to get something straightened
out, I would love some sort of nod to
the fact that being involved in a
discussion of a conflict of interest
does not mean anybody did anything wrong
in this um charged political
environment. I mean, it can be something
very untored and inappropriate, but it
can also be someone just trying to
answer a very technical legal question
that a lay person wouldn't know and then
a staff person is like involved in a
conflict of interest when right that's a
very reasonable professional step to
take because they got put in it by
something going on in the school. So, I
don't know how to handle that, but I
would love for people not to feel like
they're being burned because they went
to the lawyer to talk through something
that got tricky because that just
happens all the time in professional
America.
I'll speak to the question that you
asked about the regulation. I don't know
if that is worth salvaging. I think
there is a sentence in GBEA
um first paragraph on page two where you
could just tweak that sentence a little
bit that if the circumstances change, an
employee becomes immediate family member
blah blah blah transfer change
employment. I I think that nuance isn't
to me I don't think that it's helpful. I
mean to our extent practicable also
there's bargaining groups that might be
involved for different things. So I I
think not having a regulation and just
beefing up that one sentence would be
adequate.
And I do appreciate these changes in
light of all the things that have been
going on. The more clear we can be, the
kinder we are to everybody involved.
Lolia,
so are you saying Okay. So, have we are
you saying GB EA- E
R those couple she salvage she like held
out a couple bullets and she had asked
specifically at the outset should we
keep those in the regulation or just
and I think we can just finesse them
into what we have and not keep but we
haven't we'll go to that exhibit next
that is exciting thank you
exciting let's move on to the exciting
exhibit
So, um I think this is a really
interesting exhibit. It is exactly the
Casby sample.
It is an exhibit that in the 17 years
that I've been practicing law in
Colorado, we have literally never
referenced, not once.
It is guidance. So there are two
components in state law around conflict
of interest. The elements we just
discussed that are established required
principles
and then these are referenced as ethical
principles for elected officials local
district local uh public employees.
And I think it really to be candid in my
opinion I think it's so confusing in the
context of these policies.
I do think that if you think about it
from a board member lens a board member
is much more likely to be able to take
an official action or to leave office.
This language in my opinion is really
written more for elected office is less
applicable to our employees who are
going to be looking to these policies
for specific guidance. And after polling
all of my uh job peers, none of us can
really identify any helpful contribution
of this language.
I couldn't even understand what it was
saying and I read it at least three
times. So I I'm sure it's not helpful
because most the lay person is not going
to understand what this is saying. If
there is some need to have it, we need
to change the language so that it's
digestible.
And I actually think I mean this is not
a required it's not it's not required
and most of the content in here we touch
in other policies in this G chapter. So
my thought before you even preface this
was A, it doesn't even align with what
we consider exhibits. So that's weird.
And B, let's just kill it because it's
not helpful in any way, shape, or form.
Board members, Dr. Anderson would like
to add,
here's a rule of thumb. If you have
something that people can't understand
and they violate it, how can you hold
them accountable to do it?
So I am I am for getting rid of anything
nobody can understand.
I'm seeing a lot of nodding and
agreement on that one.
We will now move on to sections of GB
EB.
So our next policy, it really got pulled
in because staff conduct does touch on
that conflict of interest and they sort
of occupy the same space which frankly
is how we went from having a relatively
reasonable meeting agenda to having 37
policies because they were sort of
velcroed to each other. Um this one very
much reflects the CASBY sample. It is
the quintessential sort of schoolboard
policy in my opinion in that it picks up
requirements of law that live in
different places in statute might be
hard to find and it puts them into one
one um policy.
We just updated most of those red lines
are to make sure that we're not using uh
gendered pronouns that just make it less
helpful to incorporate some of the
additional
um
additional expectations and hopes that
we would have for staff in terms of
attendance and diligence and care and
concern.
We incorporated, as you get to page
three, updates that we have had to the
law around unlawful behavior and staff
who have been charged or arrested with
certain offenses. These are new legal
requirements since you last reviewed
this policy in 2017.
And I do think that that specificity is
helpful for our public in terms of
understanding some of these really
difficult issues that uh that we do
sometimes navigate. So the updates are
really, as I said, consistent with that
CASBY sample and intended mainly to
modernize and incorporate new legal
requirements.
Lenia
on page three. Uh in addition, the
school district may require the employee
to submit a complete set of
fingerprints. That is something. Do we
always do that?
Page 3, second paragraph.
Every employee and volunteer who's going
to be having any level of independence
is always background check. So yes,
fingerprint. Could we use the word shall
rather than the word may?
Yes.
Any other discussion on this item board
members?
Seeing as there are none, we will move
on to GBE BC.
Thank you for reading all the all the
letter codes. They are in fact
consistent with the NSBA and CASBY
samples. I did hear you were President
Rajfall where it's helpful to use the
same codes so that people can find
things but it is a little alphabet soup.
Um so this policy is on staff gifts.
I think this is another place where the
law is just not very clear and helpful.
So we have put it all into one place
with the intent to retire the
regulation.
The first paragraph of this um policy is
intended to allow the value to float as
the state raises that gift limit level
just over the years. which is why the
language says um for purposes of this
policy substantial value is as set by
Colorado law and then identifies what
the current rate is because I do think
that that's helpful. Um
as I was reviewing this again today
candidly to talk to the board, I think
that we could use likely another
sentence. One of the things that we see
happen in our community now is wonderful
families care so much about their
dedicated educators that they like to do
gofundmes or other um sorts of
fundraising or gift giving which is
really lovely in its intent and really
not something that we can endorse in
board policy. So I think that maybe
under gifts from students or in that
section maybe it's gifts from students
and families that we need to I need to
add a line to talk about that particular
issue as we do in the next section of
gifts from staff members to staff
members specifically talks about that
sort of group fundraising for gifts.
Thank you for that overview
Laura. I had prioritizes policy and
agenda settings. So you can make sure
you strike that off of the list. Um just
as an FYI board members who wants to
begin discussion on this policy,
I appreciate the floating level. That's
why I people in the community were like,
have you really not changed that dollar
amount since 1970 whatever? Like yeah,
it's a good question. So thank you for
that. I have another question
related to this policy. Um, it is not
uncommon for our coaches, our contracted
coaches to receive gifts from
athletes and their families at the end
of a season. Often times
I'm some oftentimes it'll be like one
parent goes and buys a gift card or
whatnot and parents contribute. And my
wondering is in part because I feel bad
because our coaches are some of the
lowest paid in the front range and I
acknowledge that they put in a lot of
time and effort and people want their
coaches to stick around and are so are
coaches also included in this because I
think most people read this policy as
teachers not as like a coach who's an
extra duty not necessarily a full-time
employee of the district. Are coaches
also included? And if so, we might want
some clarity there. and my heart breaks
a little bit because these people work
really hard for very little if we're
going to include them. But I just think
there's a lot of misconceptions around
who this who this applies to and who it
does not. And so I'd love that to be
clarified.
Thank you for that point. I think that
will take some research and some
additional conversation
and I'm happy to bring that back,
Anna.
And just a clarifying question. Um, this
is the $53. Is it per
person per gift or is it
because I have the example and I'm just
thinking of my own self of like I like
to give gifts to the teachers at the end
of the year and my son has like four
people that he interacts with and so I
just want to know like am I really
blowing it when I give all of them this
amount or
it apply it applies to the gift
the ID. So if you're giving a teacher a
basket of stuff, candles and whatever it
might be, that's the gift and it would
have to be a total value of less than
$53.
But per teacher, per individual employee
and gift.
Jason then Jorge
But that I could give four different
gifts over the course of the year, each
$53, and that'd be okay.
If that's I'm just trying to set this,
right?
Oh, just
Yeah,
but less than 53,
right? Yes, we could put in a frequency
limitation. That is not anything that's
referenced. But I mean, would it benefit
from some language of, hey, the point of
this policy is so that this doesn't get
into be a competition and an and a way
to influence.
We just want to honor but not uh expose
people to inequity and improper
influence. So maybe some more. Okay.
Yeah.
Just along those lines on the gifts from
students, I don't know that the word
tokens like I don't know if that's the
right way to describe like
it sounds it sounds a little bit
demeaning. I think in light of this like
you know you want to appreciate that and
I don't I don't know what a better word
is. I looked at that and I was like that
sounds wrong. Um, you know, I I know you
can't say in appreciation because that
obviously could be taken, you know,
different ways, but if there's a better
way or more modern way to talk about
gifts to appreciate, you know, the year
or whatever it is that's within legal
bounds.
Um, I don't know what that is, but maybe
you can help find it.
I'll work on it.
Any other discussion on this policy
board members?
Thanks.
We'll move right along then.
All right. Well, not to uh blow the
punchline here, but this is actually the
last substantive policy that you have to
discuss because the remainings are
incorporated and proposed for
retirement.
So, um this final policy would replace a
few existing policies. So this is a
proposed new policy GCS
consulting research and intellectual
property. Um
our uh non-school employment consulting
activities policy that we are
incorporating had not been touched since
1978.
I know that that policy doesn't show up
to you as a strike through red line, but
it would be struck. So item 12.14
is actually incorporated into this
umbrella policy GCS. So it incorporates
consulting activities. It also
incorporates former GCQB on research and
publishing.
It was amazing to read that regulation
and realize that I'm the head of a
copyright committee and I was supposed
to be identifying stuff that we were out
there to copyright and and make money
off of. I've never seen that policy
before. So, we are not recommending.
It's pretty antiquated. Our friends in
St. brain have a policy that they call
intellectual property and I did capture
some of that to try and bring all of
these concepts together in one place.
And then it would also uh retire current
board policy IO on educational research
and IO-R.
So all of those elements are proposed
for incorporation into this new umbrella
policy.
board members Alex.
Yeah, as a researcher sometimes and
former person who's researched uh
Boulder Valley, um I feel strongly that
we need to strike the paragraph on the
first page that all research studies
carried out within the school district,
use of school data of any kind or staff
or students is subject must be improved
advanced by the superintendent or a
designate. Um, we have lots of public
data on BBSD and Colorado students and
it's in the public field. The district
has no business saying who does or does
not have the legitimate right to conduct
research. Um, and lots of people do it
in order to advocate for our kids. And
when people in our community do research
and find that we've dis discovered a
discrepancy in outcomes, we want to
welcome that, not put a future
administration in the position that I've
found this district in historically
where they're trying to prevent people
from doing research that leads to
advocacy that would encourage them to
change. Um, so I'm going to fight really
strongly that that paragraph not exist
the way it does now. I mean, I think we
need to protect students rights. We need
to protect data, the appropriate use of
that data. Um, but this is worded so
broadly that it's claiming that the
district has the right to approve
anybody's research of anything that
affects data related to our students.
Can I Oh, I can I because I read that
like it's our employees like it's not
governing people outside of our
district. It's a policy for our
employees because it's in the G chapter.
So, I would just actually love a
clarification on on what you're saying
versus what my
it in practice this uh was used to
prevent me from doing research with
public data as a uh research with
Colorado Children's Campaign when
working on uh graduation rates in the
state as an issue of policy and I was
lectured by the people in BBSD and the
data section here about how
inappropriate was for me outsiders who
don't really understand research or data
to dare to use talk about our district
and our school. So in practice, this has
been used exactly the way I'm
suggesting.
And I'm sorry, board member Medler, are
you talking about the last paragraph on
the first page of this, the one that has
both pink and green?
Yes.
Okay. Thank you.
Yeah.
And that paragraph did come from
existing IO, board policy IO. Your point
is well taken though, board president
Raj Paul, because I thought the same
thing. So, the language that we had in
the staff policy about research really
only applied to staff because it really
talks about not uh making sure that
you're still following appropriate
procedures working with your
administration.
But if the board retires IO, we would be
directing all research questions to this
section of policy. So if we retire IO
then there is not that freestanding
policy um that's in a different chapter.
Well if I may even if the other one were
to exist if someone were just
interpreting this paragraph on its own.
Yeah.
Uh all research studies carried out
within the school district use of school
data of any kind doesn't imply that the
second clause is a sub clause of the
first. It's two different clauses
separated by commas. So as a policy guy
for me that means those are two separate
things um and both would apply
independently.
Yeah, your point is well taken.
Jorge
I think to build on Alex's point right
our ability to limit folks use of
publicly available data that's out
there.
Yeah. this seems to say they can't use
it even though it's they can pull it
from our website.
So I think it gets tricky, right?
Um but I recognize a need for protection
of educational data and private data as
well, right? And so I think finding a
way to kind of provide some nuance in
terms of what this is referring to is
really important.
Well, and that's what I was thinking too
because there's data that staff members
are privileged to that the public is
not. And so how are we protecting that
and and
truly like it it's kind of to your point
everything is corable and if it's p if
it's public and corable like how do you
Dr.
Sorry, I stepped out for a moment. Um,
is this policy alluding to the fact that
we can control research of people who
are outside of our control or authority?
That we could stop research from
happening if there's publicly available
data. Is that what you're talking about?
So, this is
is that you can't I mean, how would we
how would you do that?
You should go back in time and talk to
your staff 18 years ago and find out.
Now there's also um uh requests for
information that involve a bit of
discretion in terms of what will be
gathered and what we're given or the
format that it's given in. I've seen
huge data sets given in PDF before
turning PDF into data sets was possible
as a like a frustrating strategy. I've
seen huge uh financial charges for
requests for information for data. Um,
so there's all sorts of things districts
have done in this state, including some
by BBSD that are just in order to
discourage research by independent third
parties of data that is arguably public
in nature and inappropriate to share. So
one of the big questions is what is
appropriate to share uh in terms of the
public data and uh certainly we in this
current environment are seeing public
institutions move more and more towards
using the excuse of potential data
shares to to not share stuff that um had
been in the public domain. So, I'm
concerned about maintaining access to
data because I think it's a really
powerful tool for public accountability
and for bringing evidence-based analysis
to public administration.
So, can we clarify that paragraph to
I think we're all saying the same thing.
We can't misuse private data. Public
data is a very different
Right. Dr. J and then I
I do think that we field
a large number of data requests around
dissertation topics and wanting us to
spend staff time collecting information
for somebody to to do those things. And
I do think that those are on a
case-byase basis to the extent that
someone's doing their dissertation. Um
that aligns with something we're
interested in. Um, obviously publicly
available data, you should make those
things available through core requests
or what have you. Um, but I would say
that everybody who wants to do a
dissertation study and wants to survey
folks or wants to access other
information, um, I could I could see
that being different than just, hey, you
know, this is the data. I know you have
it. Let me see it.
I I support that entirely. like the last
thing we want not is a million surveys
from people that are claiming access to
our our community that that shouldn't
have it. My experience is speaking to
the random application of like requests
for information procedures in order to
stop one researcher with one question
that's not acceptable to the district
while giving it to another and having
the district not apply equally standards
uh for core requests or information
requests based on the defensiveness of a
district. I've seen that a lot. So, I I
think we want to reference our other
policies about requests for information
and public transparency and not put
ourselves in an argument of judging when
an appropriate research question by an
appropriate researcher has been asked um
and otherwise supporting what you're
talking about. I've just honestly seen
this district behave very poorly with
regard to that historically. So, I want
to make sure that any future researcher
is not discriminated against because
they're asking a question that might be
embarrassing to the district at some
point,
but a long time ago. This was a long
long time ago, but it's real and people
are researching stuff today. And the
debates over access to public data are
as intense today as they ever were. And
we could easily have changings of
administrations that are again trying to
avoid public analysis of how things are
going. when I think analysis of how
things are going is one of the most
powerful things we can do to advocate
for equity or kids.
Anna and then Elenia.
Uh my comment might be a like um yeah of
course but I think once we get those
clarifications of where those guard
rails are at of the intellectual
property um this is going to be a very
clear guardrail for our upcoming AI
implementation of what gets uploaded,
what gets downloaded and what gets
shared out. Uh, so I just want to make
sure that we're flagging that.
Well, I'm glad everyone else got to go
first because I'm now all the more
confused. Um,
I I understand where Alex is going.
When I read this, the new paragraph in
green
above the paragraph that we've just been
discussing, I thought that that
paragraph was talking about research
organizations that we contract with
the way it was written. Is that true
that that's what that is written toward?
I I don't when I would so that language
comes straight from board policy IO so
that's in our existing language which is
from 76
I honestly think it was about like
doctoral research this is about requests
that come to us and how we manage those
requests but I think that the board's
talked about a lot of things I mean
obviously transparency strategic plan
metrics, the data dashboard, all of the
work that Dr. Anderson and staff have
done along with this board. I think it
it we need language at the beginning of
the research paragraph to explain who it
would apply to when we're talking about
outside research requests coming to us
versus requests that we're making. So,
and then public and private data.
Yes. And I because I read that as
somebody that we were well I I first off
I really hated the language in there.
While I do of course want to protect the
learning environment,
I felt like there was just a lot of
um physical, psychological, social,
educational, and other injury. I I felt
like I didn't know what kind of research
anybody was doing that was doing that.
But I I think it is important for us to
detail out as we work with folks in our
community. Um Renee Crown comes to mind
how what we want our rules of engagement
to be and what the board expects our
rules of engagement to be with
organizations like Renee Crown where we
already have a data sharing agreement.
So I that's just another take on it that
I think we have to sus out.
Deian,
I've had a couple of opportunities to
work with uh researchers in my classroom
and had them go through this process and
it seemed to me that the the the real
concern was always what happens to
personally identifiable information
and are students protected from their
their being released who they are and
what they said? And the last time I did
this, I was working with a a Google
researcher inside the classroom and they
just had to they went through the
superintendent and it was really uh
fine, but we had to make sure that
everybody was protected. And um since
I'm the long-term employee here, there
was a day where um people objected to
every survey that we gave because it did
psychological damage to their children.
So it it was truth to them and so keep
that in mind. There are people that just
don't want their children surveyed on
anything.
Jorge,
yeah, thanks for this discussion. I
think um going back to IO, I think
they're referencing research conducted
in schools versus the issue of data
public or private. So I think making
that distinction being really clear
would be helpful.
I have one comment. I just question and
then Alex, we'll go to you. Is director
of evaluation and guidance the title we
currently use
because the policy refers to that? I
think that's from the old language, but
is that the actual title?
I didn't think so either.
I've worked with Jessica Alen on the
policy, but she asked me to change the
title and I don't think I did.
Okay. So, she did help with the language
in general on this policy. And of
course, I'll work with her again to
respond to the board feedback. And then
should it say superintendent or
designate?
That might be the simplest. That's kind
of what we use as a standard because so
many as we every time we reorganize or
something we the title changes. I think
that would be probably the most aligned
with board policy. Alex.
Yeah. Um, let me be clear in my
comments. I've I've been harsh on
historical actions from BBSD from
personal experience where I've seen this
interpreted not the way the board's
discussing it today. So I think of that
while recognizing the value of
educational research paragraph doesn't
say anything about what research it's
about. So it could be used by anybody to
argue against any research that someone
might be trying to do where they're
trying to get information. So and since
some of these policies we're dealing
with one today that's 40 years old. the
idea that they will look back on our
discussion and to get legislative intent
seems seems optimistic. Um, and I've
also worked for years with BBSD when
they've been a great partner to research
and analysis um, with great partners
who've had great insight to what's going
on. But I was working on just for just
to be clear, I was working to get the
state to adopt cohort-based graduation
rates. So that instead of reporting the
number of 12th graders who come in in
September that graduate in May and
reporting a 97 grad rate, we would do
what the state did, which was adopt a
cohort model and measured the number of
nth graders come in and then count the
diplomas. And that data changed state
law. And now the state has reported
graduation rates accurately based on the
way people would think about it for 20
years. and the grad rates went from
about 82% to what we're up to now like
96%. BVSD h fought really hard against
that legislation. The research director
here fought really hard about sharing
data just on enrollment. And when we
used enrollment data to estimate how
many kids who graduated based on
enrollment in the nth grade and diplomas
four years later, we were, you know,
called to task how inappropriate was of
us to use the district's data and to
attack them so ruthlessly. Um, so that's
for me that's like that's an clear
example that this district has
historically manipulated language like
this to prevent good research that had
great intentions that eventually led to
much better outcomes for the kids in
this district. So I don't take it with a
grain of salt that people 30 years from
now would interpret this the way we want
them to and all be good about stuff
that's good for kids. This has been used
to protect the district against people
trying to do what was right for kids
because it was inconvenient to the
leadership at the time.
long time.
Long time ago. Board members, any other
discussion on this policy?
Seeing as there are none, we will,
as Kathleen said, the next chunk of
policies are red lines incorporated
retire and then
12.19 is just a recoding,
right? That's just a recoding. I didn't
even give you a red line. That was just
to make sure that we got that policy
back into alignment with the other CASBY
references.
Board members, any questions on all
those
recommended for retirement or
incorporation?
Seeing as there are none, we will move
on to our final topic this evening,
which is future agenda request. Board
members, are there any items you would
like to add to the board prioritization
list?
Seeing as there are none, tonight's
meeting is adjourned. Thanks everyone.