Transcript

0:00:14I would like to call to order this regular meeting of the Boulder Valley School District for Tuesday, November 18th, 2025, where members may attend and participate in board meetings by electronic means in accordance with policy BMEA and state law. Laura, can you please call the role? >> apologies to anybody watching. I started the meeting without the board secretary present. It was my fault. >> Chavez >> here. >> Medler >> here. >> Nisnik >> here. >> Quinoa >> here. Raj Paul >> here. >> Sergeant >> here. >> Hunger >> here. >> Dr. was very eager to do that. And these mics are really loud today. So kudos team. I can really hear the mics. Um at this time, could everybody turn their attention to the screen for a land acknowledgement this evening? respons PBSDO. I'd like to remind everybody that the mission of the Boulder Valley School District is to create challenging, meaningful, 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 in person and remotely. We're glad to have you observe and participate in our meetings. Board members, at this time I'd like to make a motion for um to amend our agenda for this evening, moving our executive session after some of the introductory items. So, moving

0:03:51executive session, which is item number 3.1 down in between after our first information item and before action items, consent grouping. Is there a second? I can move it. >> Seconded by Beth. Laura, any discussion on that? >> Laura, can you call the role? >> Chavez, >> yes. >> Medler, >> yes. >> Nisnik, >> yes. >> Quinn Linua, >> yes. >> Rajpaul, >> yes. >> Sergeant, >> yes. >> Anger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. Next, I'd like to turn the meeting over to Dr. Anderson, who's going to introduce our student guests for this evening. >> Thank you, Board President Rajpal. Board members, great to see you all tonight. Um, we're excited to have Isaac and Max uh this evening who made their way down Boulder Canyon uh to join us uh both from Shinook West. and Isaac saw an opportunity to support younger students in the community through unique partnership coordinated through the Mountain Coalition for Youth and Youth Leadership Academy. He and his classmates helped build a mentorship program with elementary students to ease their transition into Netherland Middle Senior High School. And Max Marhousen with Teens Inc. will help finish the introduction. Max, I'll turn it over to you.

0:05:13>> Thanks, Rob. I appreciate it. Uh, thank you for having us first and foremost. My name is Max Marshausen. I work over at Teens Inc. as the community mobilizer over there. So I oversee the communities that care grant uh which is our Mount Coalition for youth and our youth leadership academy. I started back in 2022 and the first order of business when I started there was this mentorship program that this idea was really birthed by the youth um and they weren't quite sure how to get things moving. So um we sat down with them. We really ironed everything out and over that summer we had several meetings with Caleb, Sean, and Stephen to all talk how could we come together and make this program happen. Um, and then in January of 2023, we officially got the ball rolling. At that point, we had started with 12 mentors and the fourth grade class, which I believe was right around 26 students. Uh, so we were looking at right around 38 kids. We are now in our fourth year of the program and we have our largest group yet. We have 22 mentors and there are 32 fourth graders.

0:06:14So we have 54 kids in the one KO space all at once. It's chaotic, it's fun, it's exciting, um, and a lot of laughter and energy can be found in that space. Um, the belief was that if elementary schoolers could connect with a high schooler, it would help to diminish nerves in transitioning to the middle and high school and provided an additional protective factor in our community, which is those peer-to-peer relationships. Um, so myself and Youth Leadership Academy worked really hard over that summer, uh, got things off the ground and we got funding from both PTAs and Teens, Inc. to help make this a possibility. And year after year, uh, with resounding yeses, we've just had a lot of support from the community to help keep this program going. And there's a extra level of sustainability because this program was built by youth and for youth. Uh so a lot of the decisions and how the program plays out, the activities that the little zoo, our fourth graders, uh is created by our high schoolers. Um we kind of get the ball rolling with them really slowly. Uh there's four trainings they go through throughout the year and then by mid year they're planning their own activities and facilitating activities with their littles. At most, our high schoolers have two mentors. I'm sorry, two mentees

0:07:22that they work with. Um, and then most of the time it is a one-on-one format. The hope is that we can continue to grow this program, especially as our fourth graders grow into high school. Right now, that first class is in seventh grade, so in about two years, they'll be freshman, and we'll be really eager to see um what the recruitment looks like then and how many mentors we have come up from there. Uh, but before I take too much time up here, I'd like to hand it off to Isaac, who's one of our most senior mentors. He's been with the program from from the start and he'd love to share a little bit more about his experience. Hello, I'm Isaac. Um, the first thing I want to do is compliment this wall over here. Um, it's actually a really cool wall. I know it's kind of weird complimenting a wall, but I like the I like the basketball court and everything. So, yeah. Um, one thing I um I really like about mentorship and this what I've experienced so far is been so um so um so beautiful. I feel like just like hanging out with little kids I feel like is so good for the soul and just uh meeting with these fourth graders is um so beautiful and like I'm a spiritual

0:08:32person so I love just hanging out with them and just like just vibing you know and just um h like finding out what they um like to do during the day and finding out more about them is like so so amazing you know um here here's me talking to these fourth graders I have pretty good posture. I would say so myself. Actually, no. I'm a little slouching, but yeah. But yeah, I've uh I've got to like talk to these fourth graders a lot and just get to know them. I've done this for like four years and it's been like the coolest experience so far. It's just I've met I think I've met with like six mentees so far. I've had six mentees and it's it's been a quite a good time, you know, like um either from one kid only talking about basketball, that's all he'll say. I have a menty that only talks about basketball and or another kid who's like talking about God. I'm like, how how is this like these two kids so different, you know? I feel like it's so uh productive to have like these kids just having something to look forward to. Just like seeing these older kids looking up to them is so is so cool. And just like for me is I'm I

0:09:44kind of look up to these kids because it brings out a part of me that I feel like a lot of people lose, you know, just like the creative aspect of their life, you know? A lot of people just like lose that uh throughout their life of just like being just fun and not caring about a lot of things, just like talking about Minecraft or video games. I feel like that's so important for like um adults and teenagers to um to like still have in their lives. So, not only is it important for the kids cuz they get to like see these uh mentors and look up to these mentors and know how to act and know how to talk, but it's important for us as well to like vice versa to do the same like act like the kids in a way, you know? But even though like sometimes you want to be like not act like them all the time, they're like punching another kid. You're like, "Oh, hold up, man. Hold up, man. Let's not do that."

0:10:37But yeah, that's all I got to say. It was a It's been a really good time and I'm graduating soon so I'm going to be very sad to leave these kids. And yeah, one thing I want to add is like how emotional it is to leave the kids once once the year is over and you know you got to move on. That like emotional impact it has on you is emotional for me and the kids. You know, they're so sad to see these men mentors go and I'm so sad to see the men's go. So yeah, I feel like this is a really good thing. Look at everybody's happy on these pictures smiling. But yeah, that's all I got to say. But yeah, thank you. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Anderson. >> So, Max, thank you for um for helping to facilitate this program. And Isaac, you sound like you're going to be a teacher.

0:11:31>> Me over here. Got you right here. >> Uh it sounds like you're going to be a teacher. Oh, maybe that's what people say. >> Well, it sounds like you'd be a great one. I I love what you're doing. Thank you for your commitment to your mentees and for uh putting your heart and soul into it. You can tell and uh just wanted to thank you both. And I'll turn it back over to you, Nicole. >> Board members, any questions for our student this evening? >> How do you decide what activities to do with the fourth graders or with the men mentees? >> That's a good question. Um beginning of year, we really start with a lot of rapport building. So, it's a lot of games, interactive activities that um can help cut through some of the awkward silence that's just inevitable when you're getting to meet somebody. Um so, it's we did in one of those photos that was up there uh and that was our most recent day of mentorship, which really were tomorrow is day four. So, um we're early on. We do that was uh marshmallows and toothpicks building towers. Um so, it's a lot of how can you problem solve with your mentor and learn about each other along the way. the first 10 to 15

0:12:28minutes while they eat lunch is we have a list of questions that we give our mentors that they can ask their littles to help go deeper and learn more about each other. Um and then by and we do they have a training before mentorship even begins so we can talk about how you build rapport and effective rapport building strategies. Um and then by halfway through the year is kind of when we let them loose to plan their own activities and we have a whole training about how you coordinate activities to do that as well. >> Thanks for all your work and thanks for being here tonight to share that with us. >> Absolutely. Thank you all for having us. >> The next item on this evening's agenda is a superintendent report. Dr. Anderson, good evening.

0:13:27Thank you board president Raj Paul board members. Uh good evening everyone. Uh so today I'm really appreciative uh to all of our board members who are able to participate in our school visits today. Uh we um for the for the public for the general public uh we have been scheduling school visits during our daytime work sessions several times this semester. Uh today we took the electric bus and visited Foothill Mesa and Douglas elementary schools. uh you know based on our conversations around declining enrollment as a governance team we wanted to get a sense of the differences between three round school which was Foothill and those with one and a half to two rounds which were Mesa and Douglas. Um really appreciate all the teachers who let us visit their classrooms all of our principles at our schools. Uh it was uh really great to see the schools, what was happening, the differences um as we continue our conversations around what to do with schools that are heavily impacted by declining enrollment. And so we want to just say thank the board and thank our schools for allowing us to do that. Last Friday, a number of our schools participated in Ruby Bridg's Walk to School Day, honoring the living leg legacy of the civil rights activists who on November 14th, 1960 courageously

0:14:44walked into her new elementary school. She was the first black student to attend a previously all-white elementary school in New Orleans following a federal des segregation order. BBS was proud to join the NA nationwide commemoration which happens every November 14th helping students to connect with Ruby's inspiring story as well as values of courage, equity, and community. Students and staff at Douglas, Lafayette, Mesa, and Whittier Elementary Schools wore purple, her favorite color, organized group walks, and learned about her story. And you can see those pictures up on the screen. So, we have a quick update regarding the BBSD student who we honored during last June's honor role after he won the Colorado Civics B. If you remember, Cameron Parker is a freshman at Centaurus High School, traveled to Washington DC to compete at the National Civic B Championship. He finished in the top 10 and had the opportunity to present his innovative idea for a disaster management app to a large audience during the event. Great job, Cameron. Hopefully, we'll get to recognize you again at the next superintendent's honor roll.

0:15:50We're also proud of uh some recent efforts of our Apex students, board members, and community. You'll know that Apex is the new name for the old Boulder Tech. We're now referring to that as Apex. Uh so, students stepped up in a big way to support families who've been struggling to keep food on the table with the SNAP benefits, freeze, federal layoffs, you name it. A lot of families we know are struggling right now. The Culinary Arts and Teacher Academy students in the program's Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America Club coordinated and then prepared hot homemade meals for neighbors in need. This was much needed help just in time for Thanksgiving. Want to be sure to thank our school food project and impact on education for their support in making this event possible and just a really heartfelt and and wonderful thing for our students to lead and do. So, congratulations.

0:16:43So board members, the first uh modular home units built by our Apex students at Boulder Mod landed very gently at Ponderosa community this month. Homes were constructed again by our Apex Construction Trades students at the innovative NetZero modular construction facility created in partnership with Flat Irons Habitat for Humanity, the city of Boulder, Colorado government, and the Boulder Valley School District. Best part is that the units are continuing to roll through the assemblines assembly line. This will become a regular site in North Boulder in the coming months providing affordable housing and a brighter future for our students and community in our Ponderosa neighborhood which is in North Boulder. And as you could see the videos here, uh just uh a lot of um community pride that this partnership has come together and it's making a difference for those families and just for affordable housing in our community.

0:17:36And finally, uh, board members, we officially marked the completion of New Vista High School's building recently. Now that the old New Vista Baseline Middle School building has been demolished and the grounds have been beautifully landscaped, we thought it was time to celebrate the new facility with a ribbon cutting. Let's do this together. One, two, THREE. want to thank folks that were able to attend that event with us. I know many of our board members and community have had uh multiple tours of the facility. Um it's it's truly beautiful. Um finally, the innovative New Vista High School has a building that matches the programming it's been providing for students in our community for 30 years. Want to thank our voters once again who made the building possible with their approval of the 2022 bond. Board members, that's all for my remarks this evening.

0:18:33>> Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Board members, any questions? Seeing as there are none, we'll move right along to public participation. The board respects the rights of the public to speak on matters concerning the operation of its schools. The board does not endorse the comments of any speaker and remind all those who speak that you are responsible for your own speech. Speakers will each have two minutes to speak. You'll see a yellow card when you have 30 seconds remaining and an orange card when you have 10 seconds remaining. If you run out of time or would like to share additional information, you may always email the board. Board members, we have two part people participating in public comment this evening. First of which is Richard Garcia. Can you hear me? Wow. This is the first time I've been behind this this podium here. I'm usually over there. Uh good evening, uh Madame President, uh members of the school board, Dr. Anderson.

0:19:55Uh my purpose here this evening is to ask to do a simple ask to make a simple ask. Um you know that in Colorado we have Senate Bill 25276 which is the Colorado Colorado families belong together that strengthens constitutional rights and reinforces privacy protects protections for everyone in the state of Colorado. There are a number of key provisions in Senate Bill 25276. I think I gave uh I gave uh Laura some handouts that you can have later so you can read it. Uh but I want to focus on the provision that ensures transparency and constitutional protections at public institutions which includes school districts. You have protocols that require ICE to show uh a judicial warrant to access non-public areas of public schools and requires these public entities to establish policies for immigration enforcement and share with those uh accessing the facilities. My ask uh of the school district especially now that ICE is so bold to commit the atrocities that are that we're all aware of that are happening across the the nation um and they're in public display in Washington DC, Chicago, and now in Charlotte, North Carolina.

0:21:24I would like to urge the school district to work with the community and create what I'm calling a protect our immigrant students and families task force. In speaking with teachers and parents, many ideas have been floated on how to be proactive and stay ahead of the curve in the event that we do have some of these atrocities occurring in our school, in our district, and our community. Um, the task force should include parents, community members, law enforcement, school officials, DA staff, schoolboard members, etc. BBSD has been a mover in protecting student privacy in our LGBTQ community. BBSD has the most effective policy protecting our trans students. It has been used as a model for other districts. I would like to see BBSD take the lead in creating this task force and I am willing to participate and and assist in this effort if you all desire to do this soon.

0:22:33>> Thank you, Richard. Our next speaker this evening is Terry Garcia. Can you push the little button with Can you push the button with a person on it so we turn your mic on? >> Does that work? >> Oh, okay. So, anyway, let's start again. Hi, good evening. My name is Teresa Garcia and I am a former University Hill bilingual teacher. And as a bilingual teacher, I am here strongly urging the school district to develop a strategic plan that safeguards its immigrant students and effectively communicate this plan to their families. The district has support from allies such as the police department, the University of Colorado, and many organizations in Boulder County community. Let's all be informed of the plan and be ready. I heard that there is a protocol and that the principles are informed about it.

0:24:03I I'm sorry, but protocol that's not enough. We can all make sure that our students continue their learning without interruptions, that teachers can concentrate on their teaching without being concerned about their students safety. The students need to know that the district is set and ready to protect every kiddo, every middle schooler, every high schooler. The students need to know that there is a plan to protect them. I want to know that there is a plan to protect them. They need to know that each of you, that the teachers, their principles have a plan to make sure they can go to school and home safely. As you have seen on TV, everyone is in danger once those people arrive in front of our schools. Please don't wait until Ice is grabbing one of our kiddos or one of our teachers. Thank you.

0:25:20Thank you. This concludes part public participation for today. On behalf of the board, thank you very much for sharing taking the time to share your comments and experiences with us. The next order um order of business on tonight's agenda is board communication for members. Who would like to begin? Beth. >> Well, uh, tonight's my last board meeting, so I'm going to save any official goodbyes for December 2nd, but I did just want to kind of mark the occasion. And Richard, I'm so glad you're here tonight. It was both of you. Thank you so much for coming in and sharing with the public your remarks um and us tonight. Um, it leads in nicely to my to my uh what I wanted to share tonight. I was able to join LLR um as a community member, but I'm hoping to join as a committee member in the future.

0:26:10I'll have to be approved by you all. Um we were joking that it might be where board members go when we retire because there are other former board members uh on LLR. Um so what I did want to share and Kitty can join in as well. Um, Eloc had a had an opportunity to really talk about our conversation that we had on the 21st of October and they too were really wrestling with how to engage the public as this board moves forward with the path of responding to declining enrollment. I think there were some really great ideas and I felt like it was very consistent to some of the length conversations we've had here. Just wanted to make sure I shared that. And that's all for me tonight. Um, I look forward to uh our next meeting where we can talk more about Beth and Kitty and their great service.

0:27:07Um, I did want to ask if this was an appropriate time to share reflections on today's school visits and the impact of, you know, what our declining enrollment looks like in the schools. Um, if that makes sense, I would just say it was great to see the variety of schools, the wonderful teachers and all the schools doing great work, the thought that goes into how to run them. And I guess one of my takeaways would be I don't I think it may not be visible to the parents how much the leadership and staff in our schools with one and a half or two uh classrooms per grade, how much they're working behind the scenes to make it all work. and that that uh to make it seem like it all is working requires just such a commitment from all the adults in the school. And I I don't know if the parents are aware of how hard that work is. And um that it makes some of the things that they could be doing with more energy harder to do because they're solving for the small size. Um and at the same time, it's impressive to see how they do that. So that's just one of my takeaways today.

0:28:20Kitty, you're up. >> Thank you. Um, first, thank you so much for the folks from Teen Inc. I loved hearing Isaac. I know y'all are not here, but you loved hearing Isaac talk about his experiences being a mentor. It's such a great thing to hear and we really see the positive impact on the mentor as well as the mentee. So that was wonderful and thank you Richard and Terry for coming and sharing with us. It's great to see you Richard. It's good to see you too Terry but I didn't serve six years with you on the board. Um and I also want to thank our voters for approving the lunch program. That means so much to our students. So, thank you very much. This next part, I am going to try very hard not to lose my composure, but please bear with me.

0:29:23I want to tell you about my friend and sorority sister, Donna Casey. I was really hoping that I would give this tribute as part of public comment some years after leaving the board, but I am doing it today at my last business meeting. Donna loved teaching children and dedicated her life to it. She taught in California and Norwood, Colorado, a tiny town on the western slope, but most of her career was spent at Crest View Elementary. Donna was much loved by her students and well respected by parents and colleagues. Donna didn't have children and as far as I know, she didn't really want them. She just devoted her life to the children she taught. Starting in 1995, I scrolled down too far. Hang on. Yeah. Starting in 1995 and each year until her retirement in 2011, Donna produced a Shakespeare play which she adapted with her student and which her students performed. Her plays had elaborate costumes and sets and the students learned the dialogue and although she had adapted it, she did not change the language of the dialogue.

0:30:44By doing this, she instilled a love of Shakespeare in hundreds of students. Donna and I attended the act hang on the Shakes the Colorado Shakespeare Festival together every year and frequently she would run into former students and their families at the plays. Occasionally, one of her students would be in a play. They were always so excited to run into Ms. Casey and Donna was delighted to see them and got such joy seeing them enjoy enjoying Shakespeare. In 19 in 1997, Donna received the Amjet Award for Teaching Excellence, a $10,000 prize which she used to travel to England and study Shakespeare. Donna was very involved with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival and was instrumental in founding the Willpower Festival. The Willpower Festival takes Shakespeare to five different fourth and fifth grade programs at public and private schools engaging some 200 students each year.

0:32:01Each school gets a different act of the play and they don't meet until the day of the performance. Sorry, I'm having scrolling problems. Okay. Oh, shoot. There was so much more to Donna than what I just shared, but I want to focus on her impact on our students. by now thousands of BBSD and other Boulder area students have developed the love and appreciation of Shakespeare because of a woman I am honored to have called my friend. I am so glad her legacy will continue to live on. In June of 2024, Donna was diagnosed with a glyobblastoma, cancer of the brain. She pursued treatment here and in Germany, and despite high hopes that she would overcome it, on October 25th, Donna died. BB is, excuse me, BBSD is lucky to have had her. And if there's ever opportunity to rename a school or name a new school and you want to honor a teacher, you could find no one better than Donna Casey.

0:33:44Thank you, Kitty. We will now move on to our information item this evening. Tonight, we just have one information item and it's the legislative update. I will turn it over to Dr. Anderson. Thank you board president Raj Paul. Um legislative update. I think that uh you know we are are gearing towards uh session. Uh one item in particular in reflecting on uh or two items in particular in reflecting on our elections uh first and foremost LL and MM passing uh wonderfully within our community and across the state of Colorado. Uh and so you know, so we're very very uh excited about that. And also, uh Boulder County voters supported the Boulder County mental health and wellness tax. Uh we will be sending a letter over to the Boulder County Commissioners. Um hoping to being able to engage with them on our be well action plan that we presented to the board in October. We feel like that we have done a really good job of of really thinking about mental health and wellness for our students and have uh plugandplay investments that would be great to have some dollars from our Boulder County um commissioners uh as they begin to collect this tax and distribute that throughout our community. We know there's lots of folks that do incredible work in our community

0:35:11um but feel like that those dollars uh would make a big difference for the kids that we serve here in BBSD. And so uh we'll Nicole and I will be sending over a letter uh this week and hopefully we'll be able to engage with them and hopefully they'll be able to uh send some of those uh those dollars our way to make a difference for our students. >> Thank you for that. Board members, any questions? I'll also add that we are working to schedule our leg legislative breakfast in January um as normal cadence. So, look forward to doing that after the winter break. As indicated on this evening's agenda, the board has issues to discuss in executive session. Is there a motion? Lenia? I, Lenia Quinland Awea, make a motion pursuant to CRS 24-6-424B to convene into executive session to receive legal advice on litigation related to the Marshall fire and to board policies related to negotiations.

0:36:33can you call the role? Chavez, >> yes. >> Medler, >> yes. >> Nisnik, >> yes. >> Quinn Linua, >> yes. >> Rajpole, >> yes. >> Sergeant, >> yes. >> Anger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Board members, we will convene in the glacier room. I'd like to call this meeting back to order. The next item on tonight's agenda, action items, consent grouping. 8.1 Personnel items. 8.2 Approval of minutes October 28th, 2025. 8.3 Acceptance of donation Lewisville Elementary. 8.4 Acceptance of donation Southern Hills Middle School. 8.5 Amendment to the contract for Aspen Creek PK8. 8.6 6 amendment for the contract for BCSIS High Peaks Elementary School. 8.7 Amendment to the contract for Centennial Middle School. 8.8 Amendment to the contract for Cresby Elementary School. 8.9 amendment to the contract for Fairview High School. 8.10 Amendment to the contract for Manhattan High School Middle School.

0:37:408.11 Amendment to the contract for Plat Middle School. 8.12 Amendment to the contract for Southern Hills Middle School. 8.13 Marshall Fire litigate litigation settlement. 8.14 purchase approval for IT network refresh. 8.15 purchase of school buses. 8.16 grant assistant superintendent of schools EASI CDE 8.17 grant sustainability large building decarbonization Colorado energy office are there any items board members like to pull from consent grouping seeing as there are none Laura can you call the role oh we need a motion to approve sorry >> seconded by Kitty moved by Lilania any discussion on consent grouping Laura, can you please now call the role? >> Chavez, >> yes. >> Medler, >> yes. >> Nisnik, >> yes. >> Quinn Linua, >> yes. >> Raj Paul, >> yes. >> Sergeant, >> yes. >> Anger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> The next item on this evening's agenda is policy action items. Consent grouping.

0:38:4710.1 board policy H negotiations. 10.2 2, Board Policy HA, Negotiations, Guiding Principles, Guiding Negotiation Procedures. 10.3, Board Policy HC, Scope of Negotiations. 10.4, Board Policy HD, Schoolboard Negotiating Powers and Duties. 10.5, Board Policy H, Board Negotiations, Negotiating agents. 10.6, Word Policy HG, Method of Determining Staff Negotiating Organizations. 10.7 Board Policy HJ, Negotiations, Meeting Procedures. 10.8, 8 board policy HLHM preliminary dis disposition announcement for final negotiated agreement 10.9 board policy HN impass procedures 10.10 Attend board policy ICA IC ICA and IC IC-R school calendars school year school calendar 10.11 board policy IGAC religion in schools 10.12 board policy I J instructional material selection and adoption 10.13 board policy IKA assessment and grading systems and IKA-R 10.14 policy IKB homework and IKB-R 10.15 Board policy KEC and KEC-R complaints about curriculum activities and materials. 10.16 board policy KHB sponsorships.

0:40:07That was a lot. Are there any items board members would like to pull from consent grouping? Lenia 1010 and 101. So we need a motion to approve all the items on consent with the exception of 10.10 10 and 10.11 moved by Kitty. Oh >> no, I just have a couple of questions and comments on the rest of it. >> Yep. We need a motion to approve and then we can discuss. >> Okay. So moved. Sorry. >> That's okay. Moved by Beth, seconded by Alex. Board members discussions. >> Oh, I'm sorry. I thought that was previous. >> There's a lot on consent tonight. So board members, any discussion on policy consent groupings? The ones that have been pulled? we'll talk about next, but the rest on consent. Kitty, >> so I just have a couple of comments. One that I made in exec session that I want to make here is that I'm not suggesting we change anything today, but I would like to see any election for a group to represent employees to be elected by an absolute majority rather than a simple majority.

0:41:19Um, then I have a question on KAC having to do with groups not being able to participate in officially in religious events. >> We can't talk. >> We're gonna we'll talk about that one because that was pulled from >> Oh, that was one. I'm sorry. I didn't remember that. That was because you said it by number, not by >> 10. 10.11. >> Right. Okay. Then IKA and you didn't did you >> uh IC and I G A. >> Okay. So you didn't pull IKA and IKA. Okay. So I just had a question on IKA and IKB also is that talks about schools should encourage consistency and this is in grading I believe. Yep. And I'm wondering why it's should. It's only should is why I'm is what I'm wondering. I'm just pulling up the red line board member. Sergeant I'm sorry. Did you say grading or homework?

0:42:55>> Sorry, the note I made, I just pulled the quote should encourage consistency, but it it shows up in IKA and I k I mean sorry, IKB, sorry. So, it's grading and it's homework. >> I believe that that was existing language that we have moved around. Um, and I I know that this is a little bit of a different approach to policy than the board has taken previously in that these are two substantive topics that hit every single school. They touch across schools at the board's because of the board's prioritization of those policies. What we are attempting to do is to clean up the language that we know is not consistent with practice and may really be a barrier to understanding the policies. And then we will be going out and working with our schools and collecting more feedback also from DAC.

0:44:05The district accountability committee had given some preliminaries. So at this point in the policy process, I didn't take those words that we will look at more carefully to make them mandatory because I do think it's important that we hear from our schools before we make that sort of revision. >> That makes sense. Thank you. And I appreciate the reminder to the public and to the board members that we're going to come back to those because those two policies I would agree are not quite where we want them. They're more reflective of current practice which I think is helpful. Uh and some of the I know Jack did give feedback on the homework policy that was shared with the board. Kathleen made two bullet point inclusions that I'm still really wrestling with about how appropriate are they? How much more mess do they create about for our staff and in those two new inclusions in this red line. So, I think they're not perfect yet, but I appreciate the fact that at least they're more aligned with current practice, and I think it will help our community give better feedback because the other policies were just unnecessarily long, confusing, and not really aligned with what we're doing or with law. So, I think they are a step in the right direction.

0:45:26Board members, any discussion on any of the other policies that I >> You guys might have discussed this one. I missed the last meeting, but I do appreciate the DACK uh and their care and getting us the memo in a way that really can inform what we're doing. So, we appreciate that. Seeing as there's no further discussion on those items, Laura, can you please call the vote? >> Chavez, >> yes. >> Medler, >> yes. >> Nik, >> yes. >> Quinn Linua, >> yes. >> Raj Paul, >> yes. >> Sergeant, >> yes. >> Hunger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. We'll now move on to policy action items. The first action item will be item 10.10 10 that was pulled from the consent agenda. ICA school year school calendar board member aa since you pulled that one did would you like to begin discussion and the rush for polling?

0:46:32>> Sure. Um under development process I'm on uh rather than R. Um in the second paragraph under development process, we've added honor the public engagement in development process. Um where we always um have welcomed that previous piece when the calendar is brought to us from district staff, students, and parents. I'm not sure about why we're sticking that in there. Um, and I wonder if the word consider the public engagement in the development process might be more appropriate. And I also wonder why we're putting it in policy. So in that paragraph and I the word honor is new. So that was that was um maybe not the best choice of words by me. What I was attempting to do in that paragraph, we have language that talks about making sure that in the negotiated agreement also making sure that we share that the draft calendar publicly and that if there are revisions then get made that the board allows that month for additional input if there are revisions.

0:48:12But I don't think that that language means that every time there's a tweak to the calendar, then there's an additional month. It's a protection of once the board is talking about the calendar and they're thinking about revisions to what was proposed. We want to make sure that we've got time to hear. We've got that month and we've got an opportunity for input, but that it didn't look like a series of one month delays that would create a barrier to actually adopting the calendar. So, I was trying honestly to just break up those thoughts so that I could separate out the month waiting period. But in doing so, it sounds like I may have created a different issue. Uh, I would love to be able to move this forward to a vote. Um, and I understand what you're saying that that 30-month period is an important period to continue to get additional feedback. Um, I think that we could say the board shall consider additional public feedback in the 30-day period and be specific about it. Um, it was kind of nebulous what we were trying to get to.

0:49:34So, if we could hammer out some verbiage, I am glad to make it a friendly amendment. >> Alex, thanks. I appreciate that. And I I feel like the sort of ambiguous thing is something I'd want to put is implied in every policy we ever do that we would honor public engagement. But I think what you're speaking about is honoring contractual agreements that we might have and at the same time aligning with our policies. So, I like uh Lennenia's suggestion of consider and I might say something like in alignment with our with our um uh engagement process rather than have it be honor about it. So, as a point of process, somebody's going to have to make a motion to amend with exact language that we can all agree on. I just want to make sure board members are aware of that.

0:50:40>> May I ask Kathleen for her input on the exact language that would be appropriate? Uh the since there is no motion pending then the motion could be I move to adopt the policy as presented replacing the word honor with consider. That would be the motion. So consider you move honor the and consider public engagement in would be the motion. So consider the public. >> I guess my question and this could be to Kathleen or my fellow board members is that making clear that we are considering the public engagement in the development process for that next 30 days because we kind of talk about that afterward. It's in the next sentence or you know later in the sentence or the next sentence I guess. Yeah. Then it says the board shall make the revised calendar available for at least one month prior to adoption to allow additional input.

0:52:02So I think that the sentence should be considered but it should be after the next sentence. So there's an opening clause to that sentence. If the board revises the tenative calendar, so if the board revises what is presented, the board shall consider the public's engagement. Yeah. Well, do you need that sentence at all? Alex, >> I I don't think it adds anything in meaning to have it at all myself. And I don't mean to say that that's in any way undermining the public engagement or the process. I just don't think it makes it any different to have it or not have it. >> And I think it makes it a little more ambiguous to have it. >> Jason, >> yeah, I was going to suggest the same thing. I think it's unnecessary and then I think Alex said, you know, it's implied throughout that there's there is the engagement process. So I would recommend that we take that since take that sentence out.

0:53:17>> I'm happy to make a motion. I I move that we take out the sentence uh that reads sorry I have one contact lens in so I can't read it very well. >> Starting with the board shall >> the board No, I think it's the whole sentence. Um, if the board revises the tenative calendar, the board shall honor the public engagement in the development process. Period. >> But you have to move that >> and move that we adopt the policy without that sentence. >> It may I ask a point of clarification. Board member, I think you're trying to strike the green the new text. So the motion would be to >> are we are we striking the entire sentence? Now >> if you strike the new if you strike the proposed new language in that paragraph, then we would preserve the language that said if the board revises the tenative calendar, the board shall make the revised calendar available for at least one month prior to adoption.

0:54:20>> That is not the whole sentence then. >> So it's only that green language. So the motion would be to adopt the policy as presented striking the green language in the third paragraph >> myself >> Jorge I I think it's the whole sentence because in the previous sentence it says um the board shall formally adopt the proposed school calendars or set a specific date for adoption for any revised calendar and then you can just say the board shall make the revised calendar available for at least one month or is that >> and we already have engagement and input in the first paragraph of that section. We do >> as long as it doesn't prop doesn't result in a perpetual every 30 days we get >> feedback. >> And I know that's was the intention of adding that clause was to guarantee that if then if then there is another revision then there's not another 30-day cycle.

0:55:29So, could we say if there are any revisions, then it starts the 30-day clock one time for prompt adoption of the calendar or something. So, because this is not the first time the board has seen this policy, the language at the end of that paragraph, the final sentence at the end of that paragraph is new language since the last policy was adopted. So, that will be clear um regardless because that language wasn't redebated in between. So what is green is only what is new since the last time you saw the policy. So there is language to address the sequential issue. So the motion board members on the table is to strike the entire I'm I'm losing track of the proposed and partly because I'm doing a bad job of not voting these and amending them. Um I think we can just >> Is it the removing the green words or removing the entire sentence is where I'm trying to >> because I've heard both I've heard both proposed.

0:56:53>> We haven't seconded any of the motions. So technically >> correct. There's no motion pending because nothing's been >> Nothing's been seconded. So that's I'm like I just need to land I need we need to land something. Kitty. >> So, I'm I like that honor the public engagement in the development process is in this and I will be a no if we take it out, but it will pass without my vote. So, doesn't matter. >> And I really want to be done with this policy, but we still need a motion, board members, and then a second so we can move move beyond this policy. Alex, >> I move that we pass this revised policy after striking the green inserted language that says um honor the public engagement in the development process. Period. The board shall >> second.

0:57:43>> Seconded by Beth board members, any additional discussion on that? Seeing as there are none, Laura, can you please call the role? >> Chavez. >> Yes. Medler, >> yes. >> Nisnik, >> yes. >> Quinn Linua, >> yes. >> Raj Paul, >> yes. >> Sergeant, >> no. >> Anger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Next item for study board members is item 10.11, IGAC, religion and schools. Lolina Quininoa will share why she pulled this item from consent. Uh if we go all the way to the bottom of IGAC subheading E. Uh I am wondering Kathleen if it is possible to pull out the second half of the last sentence of that first paragraph and shall not include religious invocations. benedictions or formal prayer at school sponsored events. Meaning we would obviously have to once again say the school district shall not and put this under a new subheading um either F and move F down to G or a new G.

0:59:19I would be so glad to say it again. We are on E and we're on the first paragraph. The last sentence, second half of that sentence. I would like to have the second half of that sentence have its own subheading reading, the school district shall not include religious invocations, benedictions, or formal prayer at school sponsored events. I would like it to be either G at the end or if it's more appropriate F and moving F to G. Can I ask a question? If you're not changing the sentence, you're just moving it. What is What are we accomplish? What is the justification for what you're trying to accomp like? What are you trying to accomplish? I feel it's it's couched in graduation and I need to um I think that there are other places where we need to be clear that we're not having invocations, benedictions or formal prayers at school events that are not associated with graduations. And I think our policy would be more clear if it had its own subheading.

1:00:39Alex, >> clarifying question then. Um, is it the if we or would we be trying to recreate this first paragraph without the word like balorate in it? Is that what you're thinking, Lilia? No, I think you can just leave that one that uh second sentence there in the first paragraph and end it after the word nature leaving then e as is with the removal of and shall not include religious invocations, benedictions or formal prayer at school sponsored events. moving that to its own subheading so that it is not associated just with graduations. That's what I'm trying to do. I need it to be associated with a with all school sponsored events, not just graduations. And I find it confusing that it's under graduations. It could be there. Additionally, Jason Um, I see what you're trying I understand. I think I understand what you're trying to do. Would it make sense then to take out the word Baloria from the subheading title and then also in that first paragraph and then it really refers to all religious activities in all the school district activities.

1:02:03>> You could do it that way. Um though I do think that there are some religious graduation things that have occurred not associated with the school district and we're not trying to prohibit those. We're trying to um have the school district not do those. So yes, you could do it that way. That's an alternate way. Kitty. >> So on that is there any particular reason this is for Kathleen that we need to include the language about balorate services, invocations and benedictions. I mean >> well but it could be I mean >> uh there that language was existing in policy board member Sergeant. I do think that if you look at the case law in this area, certainly graduation ceremonies, um, historically did have elements of religious worship. And so I think that that language was in the policy because that had been a concern of prior boards based not necessarily just on Boulder, but based on national uh, practices.

1:03:23Alex, >> if I can make a proposed amendment from the department of redundancy department, uh I might suggest that we add a new G that is not about the balorate services, invocations or benedictions, but is pretty straightforward and and is about school sponsored events. G school sponsored events and then says something pretty similar to neither the school district nor any school or district or nor any school of the district sponsors or conducts religious services. The school district shall not conduct or sanction any service that is religious in nature and shall not include religious invocations, benedictions or formal prayer at school sponsored events. And so we then handle it explicitly about graduation related things that do historically happen. and we have a straightforward clear comment that covers everything else in addition to the first one. So it sort of makes this I see where it makes the second one perhaps redundant but I think because of the historical nature of those practices and we want to clarify that those things are perfectly fine to do outside our events that having both is is appropriate.

1:04:26>> I'm still going back to I don't love redundant language in our policies and we're working really hard to remove that. So, can we just amend the title and then I'm back to I think board member Anger's original point, amending the title and some of like adding school sponsored events or rather than repeating two paragraphs without the word balorate like is there a way to broaden the title and add like an extra word in the body to so it's not so narrow in scope but it also like school sponsored events in there? Kathleen, >> um I wonder if it might make sense to add that sentence to the neutrality section at the beginning of the policy instead of creating an additional sort of event subheading. We could add after the first sentence of the neutrality paragraph.

1:05:17Um or maybe actually after the second sentence. Uh as board member Quinnland Aea read it, the school dis this means thus we the school district shall not include religious invocations or formal prayer at any school sponsored event. So, we need a motion and a second on that. Alex, >> I guess uh with one um friendly amendment I would make to that is the language that's now in E that I think is a little more inclusive is the part of the second sentence that ends in um service that is religious in nature. So if we have something that is arguably not a prayer or something else but is religious in nature then someone would be able to know that we shouldn't do that. So something more closely tracking the language in E which makes it redundant again I'm uh realizing but that um still says clearly that we're not having school or school employee sponsored activities that are religious in nature.

1:06:37So, Alex, are you saying that the second, if I go down to E, the second minus the word bloria. Take that sentence and put it above. not remove it from e, but putting that sentence above in the neutrality minus that word. Is that correct? Because I'll I'll move that and say that if that's what you're saying. second sentence. And I'm going to read this sentence. And then we're going to take the sentence that I read and put it up in neutrality. We're not removing it for me. >> Yes. I'm going to do it. Okay. And I'm going to go really slow and then Nicole's gonna punch me for violence. >> Okay. Um, I would like to add I would like to adopt this policy with the addition of the following sentence to be placed under a neutrality after the first sentence.

1:08:04The sentence shall read, "The school district shall not conduct or sanction any service that is religious in nature and shall not include religious invocations or formal prayer at school sponsored events. Do we have a second?" Seconded by Kitty board members, any discussion? Seeing as there Kitty, >> I don't have a discussion on that, but it was on the other thing I was going to bring up about this and I'm trying to find it in here and I can't, but it says something about school groups cannot perform at a religious ceremony. And the one thing that occurred to me is let's say you have a choir and somebody in the choir was killed and they were asked to sing at the funeral. Would they not be allowed to or could they do it without their choir director?

1:09:17I mean, I I would hate to see I mean, I hope this never happens, but I would hate to see something like that where it would be so meaningful for the family to not be able to do it, but I understand that it cannot be something official from the district. So, I is there a way to accommodate that? Um, I think that the way that we would typically accommodate that in policy is to say unless special permission is granted or something of that nature. >> And would that open a can of worms? >> Boy, if I had a crystal ball, I'd make a lot more money. No, I'm teasing. um that language has been in policy that I know for sure is not new. It's been in the it's in the board's existing policy. Um but and I do think board member Sergeant what you explained it's not an official school group performance if they're not taking every member and making it a school event and that kind of thing. It does say official public school groups.

1:10:34Um, so for example, the choir from the high school could well of course they would I mean anybody could attend the funeral but could sing as long as I mean what would have to happen for it not to be official. >> It wouldn't be a required event that students who might not >> So it would be anybody who wants to do this then would be allowed to Okay. I just don't want to keep that from being able to happen if it's necess I mean if it's wanted. >> Alex, I guess uh that that scenario is very compelling. But if we're dealing with the same compelling the the thing that I find problematic is when an employee of the district is um having something that's expected of students or an official group. And so then that's very othering of the people who will not join in a Christian prayer because of their faith or lack therein. Um so that's the kind of problematic behavior that we're trying to get right at. So it's the it is the staff who are in a in a power position visav those students uh trying to facilitate it that leave open to the kids other kids the question of like well am I not going to still be on the team? Am I not still going to be

1:11:56welcome in the choir? or am I somehow not a good choir member if I don't go into a Christian church because it's against my faith? So that's that's the problematic aspect of that scenario in a different view. So I don't know how to deal with that. >> Would it be possible? I'm I guess the other question is under policy the way it's written now, would it be permissible for a choir but not officially to go sing at a funeral if they were asked to. I think potentially with a whole lot of specific factual consideration there might be a scenario under which that would not be a policy violation. >> Okay. Yeah. Okay. Because I completely agree with what Alex said about the the power structure. I mean we certainly saw that in prayers for football teams and I would definitely not want to see that. Um, there's a difference between we're doing a prayer on the field as opposed to anybody who wants to sing in a funeral can go to this other place and do it.

1:13:06But I do take your point. >> Any further discussion on this policy before we move to vote on the amendment? Seeing as there is none, Laura, can you please call the vote? >> Chavez. >> Yes. Medler, >> yes. >> Nisnik, >> yes. >> Quinnland Aea, >> yes. >> Raj Paul, >> yes. >> Sergeant, >> yes. >> Hunger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> But members, we have one policy to study this evening, which is our educational goals policy. And I will turn it over to Kathleen to present. Thank you, board member Rajpal. So the board had identified a couple of policies uh to look at. There are two it is board policy ADA educational philosophy that was last revised by the board in 2018. Um this sits in the board's a chapter which is where you placed your neurodeiversity policy and where is where most of the philosophical or um aspirational policies of the board sit.

1:14:26Interestingly we also have a board policy I called instructional goals. This policy has not been revised since 1979. It is not a policy that even has a CASBY sample. Um, the third item that I included for the board in this agenda item is the CASBY sample for the ADA policy on educational objectives. Um, since the board had not talked about either of these policies, I hesitated to create a red line. So, um, we've provided the two current policies for the board's consideration and then the CASBY sample with the hope that the board can discuss those elements that may or may not be helpful and we can bring a red line back. Kathleen, can you share the degree to which either of these policies are required and also they're somewhat related to a policy we have coming up later on the calendar, the IGA is our basic instructional program. And I did originally I think during prioritization as I was thinking through the policy work after that I really thought all of those policies went together and when I started drilling into them IGA includes a lot more content that actually does relate to some of the instruction. So I think that it's going to require um a more indepth review these two policies. So ADA and IIA neither are

1:16:18required by law. You can see the CASBY sample is pretty straightforward. Um it includes five items as objectives. the board's current policy. I'm guessing if the board hasn't reviewed it since 1979, there are probably nobody else that's reviewed it since that time either because it just doesn't have the sort of directional content that we go to policies to find. I know the 2018 language is more current. I will say it's um it reads pretty differently than the CASBY sample policy does. Um, if you're not looking at it or you're watching this meeting online, for example, the f the first sentence says, "Aware of the great excitement in humankind's classic quest for knowledge, cognizant of the stimulation given this adventure of the mind by new discoveries in a changing world. and convinced that young people must be challenged to accept the responsibility for productive learning that is co-committant with the privilege of education.

1:17:34That's just the opening clause. The BBS Yeah. >> Yeah. >> That made the point. I guess >> we do really encourage and teach our skills, our students how to annotate and discover meaning in text. I don't feel like our policies should require highlighters and pencils and flags to understand what they're trying to convey. And these policies to me, that's exactly what they require. As a result, I mean, I brought these policies forward because I'm not sure the benefit that they provide. I don't they're not required. I think the CASBY example is great and I think the meat comes in IGA and I would be very happy to say neither of these are useful. We can scrap them or use CASBY example as a guiding light but we should not continue with language that requires folks to find meaning in the language. Dr.

1:18:29Anderson >> I I appreciate that perspective. I I think that uh it takes a lot of work to review, bring policies forward. They have to, you know, the lens that I look at policy for is what does it tell us to do? What does it tell us not to do? Um we have a strategic plan. We we we know what we're doing. We have a vision. We have a mission. Um I think that any policies that we can take off the docket and and where you don't lose anything is a win for this school district. I am seeing a lot of thumbs up from my fellow board members and I think as a result the direction would be to bring back red lines that eliminate both of these policies and we can spend our time digging into those that create meaning and define our purpose more clearly.

1:19:25And I do appreciate you starting to read that because it's like oh >> it's an interesting one. Any further lenia? >> Could I just ask when I is coming up? I when is that on our do we know? >> We don't have a specific time frame on it. >> Any further discussion on these? on the study items for members. Seeing as there are none, we will move on to future agenda requests. Board members, this is the time when we bring up items that we'd like to include in our next board priorization. Kitty and Beth, I'll let you sit this one out since you will not be joining us at the next board priorization meeting in January. Um, board members, is there anything you would like to add? I would like to say I know board members we looked at K policy KH at our last board meeting. We received again a degree of public feedback on that on that policy. Every time we think we're going to entertain it. We get a lot of feedback I think because the policies is is bad. The policy is confusing. the policy. It's not clear what it's trying to do or not do and it creates challenging conditions. I think we've done a lot of work this year. We approved sponsorships tonight and advertising sponsorships and

1:20:51advertising policy tonight. We've previously earlier this year we worked through a lot of board policies related to boosters and fundraising that students can do. So we have a foundation that helps us with fundraising. I actually I think if we ever get take KH back it will have to be for from a full in-depth lens maybe starting from square one and I would also like to put out there that maybe as a district we take a thoughtful look at all of the different ways in which we do generate and raise outside sources of revenue and what is our overarching goal and plan for that. So as we're thinking through sponsorships and advertising, how is that aligned to what sites are doing? So what is our district level plan? What is our partner or partner level plan with the impact? What are we doing with differentiated like all the different things and what are we actually trying to accomplish and be really thoughtful and strategic around outside sources of revenue to make sure we're meeting the needs of our students in our schools in the most significant way. So I would just before we even bring KH back, I would actually com encourage the district to do some thinking around outside sources of revenue and plan for how to do that in ways that meet the

1:22:13changing conditions of which we're operating under in a really thoughtful and responsive way. So I just wanted to elevate that. Jason, >> thanks Nicole. Um, I just wanted to, it's already on our list, but I wanted to kind of expand the scope. It looks like Nicole, Alex, and I both had um suggested kind of technology policy, and I know that was like the next the kind of um beyond cell phones. Um, you know, there was an article in the New York Times on laptop use. We got that as an email to the board. I don't I don't necessarily agree with all the points that were sent to us, but I do think um it's important that we include Chromebook use in that technology review and how often students are using Chromebooks and maybe, you know, are they using it where it's not necessarily necessary. Um and so I just want to make sure to kind of add on to that um list a specific item which is, you know, laptop Chromebook use in the classroom.

1:23:21Thanks for that, Jason. Alex, >> I just make a friendly amendment to that and say not only in the classroom but in the home. So, one of the things parents are complaining about is more screen time and another device to manage at home. Mellennia. >> Um, my thanks to the Garcia for coming in tonight and I would like to put on our agenda setting uh discussion of SB7, sorry, 276, um, and how we take the best care of our immigrant population that we can. Seeing as there are no additional items, this meeting is adjourned.