Transcript

0:08:08I'd like to call to order this regular meeting of the Boulder Valley School District for Tuesday, March 24th, 2025. Board members may attend and participate in board meetings by electronic means in accordance with BBSD policy BMEA in state law. Laura, can you please call the role? >> Booker >> here. >> Chavez >> here. >> Medler >> here. >> Uh Quinn Linua. She's corresponding with me saying she's trying to get into the meeting. >> Raj Paul here. Teamading here >> anger >> here. >> Thank you. >> I'd like everyone to turn their attention to the screens for our land acknowledgement this morning. 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.

0:09:39We 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.

0:10:55I'd like to remind everybody that the mission of the Bowler 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 morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us here in person today on this Tuesday after spring break. And for those of you who are tuning in to watch our meeting remotely, we're glad to have you observe and participate in our meetings. At this time, is there a motion to approve today's agenda? Moved by Jason, seconded by Alex. Laura, can you please call the role? >> Booker, >> yes. >> Chavez, >> yes. >> Medler, >> yes. Quinn Linua, >> yes. >> Raj Paul, yes. Tamuading >> Anger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> We have a couple items on today's agenda, board members. The first of which is a work session taking an in-depth look at artificial intelligence. I will turn it over to Dr.

0:11:56Anderson to do the introductions this morning. >> Thank you, board president Rajpal, board members. Good to see everyone. Hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. Um excited uh to have our team present to you today uh where we are with artificial intelligence in BBSD. Uh board members, we gave uh the board and the public our first update on this topic about two years ago and things have changed in terms of AI. I think that uh as we think about how K12 school districts across the country are responding uh to artificial intelligence, I think that you what you'd see is um some confidence, some struggle, uh some benefits, some fears, and uh and something that's actually emerging right in front of us. Uh as soon as I think uh oftentimes you get a sense of where things are, things evolve at rates that probably um have never been seen before in terms of technology. And so, you know, we tried to take here in BVSD a measured approach, not being too far ahead of the curve. I think there's danger in that when there's you're in an emerging field. Um, but also being uh responsive both to the the needs of our educators, of our parents, and of our kids. And so, um, excited to share with you kind of the journey that we've had

0:13:13and excited to share this with our community as well. I think we've done a lot more than maybe has been um been been presented especially over the past two years and so um excited to turn the presentation over to Dr. Da Cruz who will do introductions and get us and get us started. >> Good morning, President Rash Pal, members of the board. We're glad to have a large team here today to facilitate a discussion as Dr. Anderson said about AI and BBSD. And as Dr. Anderson stated, "We are moving at a measured pace. We're intentionally not going full speed ahead or racing to get to the front of the line with AI. Um although AI is rapidly evolving, our intention is to take an approach that is mindful, that is planful and is well considered on all fronts which the team today will address and we look forward to the discussion.

0:14:07Since our measured approach um to AI is a cross team effort, we have several members of the team today. As I said, we have Frankie Elmore. Next to me, our CIO, Chris Bret, our director of strategic initiatives, Lynn Gershman, director of academic services, Dr. Nativity Miller, our chief academic officer, and Dr. Emma Herszog, our ed of academics. So glad to have everyone here. Our team is going to share today the foundational elements and progress of AI in BBSD through discussions about a measured approach, policy, safety and data protection, listening first and the growth of AI in BBSD, the current state of AI usage in BBSD and moving um toward intentional moving forward with intentional practice. So, we're aiming to ensure that we center educators and students throughout the progression of AI and BBSD. and you'll likely hear that today.

0:15:04Uh we know that AI is a really powerful tool. We also know that the human brain is a very powerful tool. And so individual creativity and critical thinking remain at the center in BBSD. So while today you'll hear about parameters and opportunities with AI in BBSD, we do remain committed to enhancing our work in many ways with AI as an opportunity for each person in BBSD to use it as a tool while still elevating critical thinking and intellectual growth. And as we likely know, AI carries both promise and peril, which necessitates the need to move forward mindfully. So you'll hear today a thoughtful approach that's not about racing to the front of the line as I said, but really developing guard rails and parameters for safe and productive use of AI. We have a team here today that I'm going to pass it over to. Uh next up, Chris is going to share how this work aligns with our strategic priorities and initiatives.

0:16:05>> Good morning, President Rajal, members of the board. Uh really quickly just want to highlight that although this is uh artificial intelligence is not a standalone initiative within BBSD we see it as advancing our priorities within the strategic plan. Uh and all while we are taking a measured approach and we um are being very strategic on how we implement different aspects of AI within our system I want to make sure that we highlight the fact that we see AI as a tool that is going to advance each of our strategic initiatives. We see it as a tool for good. Um, and we are constantly going to be looking for opportunities uh to embed artificial intelligence uh into our work in support of each of these uh key objectives. Whether that be through finding um unique ways that students can engage within grade level standards, supporting teachers in their planning to identify different ways to differentiate their instruction, uh the creative ways that it uh expands student opportunities for career exploration and work-based learning. Uh and then most importantly, how we ensure that in this modern tech world of things evolving so fast that it's really hard to keep up, uh that students continue to feel valued and included while they're within BBSD. Uh so all of those things we again can see

0:17:21artificial intelligence as a tool for good and advancing these strategic initiatives. And then really quickly too want to highlight that um I'm sorry the next one for uh where we are within some related board policy. Um and you'll see here that we've outlined some policies that we feel like u relate to this topic. But you will notice that in 2023 there were two policies JDC on student conduct and JS regulation student use of technology. Uh both of those policies incorporate some artificial intelligence language. Uh and then we also have uh some upcoming revisions due in terms of a student use of internet and electronic communications revisions due in 2028. Student use of technology revisions due in 2026 and an acceptable use of technology for staff. That's also due at 2026. Just a reminder that while these are along the timeline, any of these can be prioritized at the will of the board as as you feel necessary for us to be able to help guide this work appropriately.

0:18:27>> And with that, I will hand it over to Frankie to talk a little bit about timeline. >> Good morning, President Raj Paul, board members, Dr. Anderson. This timeline, as you can see, provides a view of how AI work has evolved in BBSD over the last few years. We began like most organizations in late 2022 when tools like chat GPT became widely available. At that point, our focus was on understanding the technology and its potential impact. In 2023, our IT team began evaluating generative AI while our instructional teams started engaging in a series of professional learning discussions to better understand classroom implications. As interest grew, we intentionally expanded opportunities for our staff to learn and collaborate and establish an AI teacher discussion group. And in early 2024, we moved into more structured implementation with the p purchase and launch of Magic School as an enterprise platform, providing a safer, more controlled environment for AI use.

0:19:42We also began formal communication with the board, providing our first AI update in June of 2024 and continued expanding communication through staff channels such as the Aidas section of the download newsletter. Over time, this work has continued to mature, including expanding our teacher discussion group and increasing the frequency of engagement and feedback. As part of our ongoing evaluation, we also made targeted adjustments as ne when needed. In early 2026, we restricted student access to the consumer version of chat GPT, which I'll discuss in more detail momentarily. And today, we continue to refine our approach, including this update to the board as we move forward with a more structured and governed AI strategy. Frank, if I could if I could just uh add a little context as well, Laura, if you can go back. Um, you know, this is kind of our timeline, but if you think just how what has been happening AC, you know, in our country and in the world with AI, I think that there have been these m moments of excitement and fear like almost simultaneously every time every time something evolves, if that makes sense.

0:21:04Uh, and so I do I do want to commend the team for, you know, having a steady hand as we've as we've really began to try to really understand the the benefits, how how this can be good for us, but also protecting our kids um and protecting uh their their data. Data privacy we know is a long-standing value of not just this board and this district, but our community. And so, uh, making sure that, um, that our students and our educators have had the opportunity to reap the advantages while also protecting, uh, the dangers I think that can come with AI. So, just a little bit more context on the timeline before you proceed. On the topic of chat GBT, I want to demonstrate a spec specific decision that reflects how we apply our approach in practice.

0:22:02In January this year, we made the decision to restrict student access to the consumer version of chat GPT on BVSSE networks and districtisssued devices. This was a targeted action based on content safety concerns, specifically related to chat room functionality and adult content features as well as age verification mechanisms that did not meet our standards for student use. It's important to note that this was not a broad shift towards blocking AI tools. Rather, it was a specific response to ensure alignment with our student safety and data protection expectations. From a technical standpoint, this restriction was implemented through our existing firewall and web filtering systems, consistent with how we manage other categories of online content. This is an example of our broader approach. Continuing to evaluate tools as they evolve, expanding access where appropriate, and intervening when safety thresholds are not met.

0:23:19Good morning, President Raj Paul and BBSD board. Um I'm excited to um provide some clarity this morning around how we're working with AI. Um and just to define some terms. Um generally speaking there are three types of AI that is used in education. Um we all know the reactive um type of AI. This is your basic Google search. uh when you ask Google Google a singular question, it responds with a bunch of choices that you can click on. Um predictive is where we're using some data sets to try to figure out what is um happening in a specific set of instances. So our example in education is any type of adaptive test. We use NWA as one of our um digital assessments for math uh across the district and it's adaptive. So, as a student gets an answer right, the assessment will ask a harder question, as the student gets the answer wrong, it will ask an easier question to try to figure out where that student's level is. So, it's a personalized experience, but that's it.

0:24:34The software is predicting where that student lies. What we're mostly talking about today is um the newest type of AI that we're seeing in education which is generative AI where the student is engaging with the software and new content is being created. Um that's really our emphasis today because that is the quote unquote innovation of a chat GPT or a large language model. Um the other two have been around for a long time in education. So we've had AI in education for quite some time. This is a new development in the type of AI that we're looking at. So that's why we're talking about it today. Now before we move into tools and implementation, it's important we understand the policy safety and data protection framework guiding our approach. Student data protection is our first filter. Any AI tool must pass contractual, legal, and technical review before it can be approved for use in the district.

0:25:41We require data data privacy agreements aligned with FURPA and Colorado student data law and our teams review vendor terms to ensure there is no unauthorized data sharing, no resale of data of student information and clear data retention practices. We also prioritize enterprise level platforms that allow district managed authentication, administrative oversight and audit capabilities. And because AI technologies are evolving so very rapidly, this review process is a continuous effort. And rather than leading with technology, we've started by listening, ensuring our implementation reflects the needs of our classroom and staff. Me again. Um so after we started um with our professional learning um series that was I think two years ago um there were several teachers who wanted to continue talking about what AI looks like and what it's going to look like in the classroom. Some were concerned about plagiarism. Some were concerned about uh not really concerned excited about the creative uses of AI as we were seeing it. Others wanted to continue talking about guidance from the district level.

0:27:12So there was a very small group of teachers that met uh monthly the very first year that we saw AI in our in our classrooms. The second year we met quarterly because we were all kind of just trying to survive um all the different things that were happening in the district. Um and now we have a larger group uh that meets monthly um that includes many teachers, some parents, um other stakeholders in the community, uh we have a few representatives from CU, um we have teacher librarians, uh we have folks from assist of technology, from our sped department, and we have some students who meet monthly to discuss topics surrounding AI. I um in our community, in our schools, um just innovations that we're seeing. Um it's been a pretty robust conversation each month. Um and uh really enjoyable for everyone um who's participating. Um and what you'll see in the next slide, these are some of the topics that we've been discussing. Um these are questions that we have. These are um areas that we're just trying to bring to the forefront uh as we're thinking and talking about AI.

0:28:35Lyn, can I just so that board members and our public is aware Lynn intentionally relate this is an interest group and I just want to make sure that we're all aware that we're used to seeing like a super excuse superintendent advisory committee or board or board advisory committees which we approve the membership of and ensure they are representative an interest group folks self- select into. We they do not provide recommendations to the board or the superintendent. It's a place for conversation, but they're structured very differently than our other advisory committees that you're familiar with. So, I just want to elevate some degree of distinction. And Dr. Anderson, I can see you wanting to chime in there as well. >> Absolutely. I I I really want to commend Lynn who has been at the forefront of of this really um and creating this space to to to help just talk about and think through something that's emerging and you know within this interest group and and I could let Lynn speak to this a little bit more. Um students provide value. We've got very well-informed community members who are on the cutting edge of some of these technologies that help provide value. our educators, you know, ground us in our experience around, you know, the, you know, what's possible. And so, you know, the idea of

0:29:54an interest group that has emerged and has been inclusive for folks that that are interested um is something that is that sits outside board policy. It sits outside something that I would I would um ask to be developed. I think it's just something that's emerged and I think that that's best practice. If we want to know and understand new and innovative and exciting things, you know, from time to time, we should create a space to listen and learn and think. And there are some ideas that will come out of, you know, both of our advisory groups, but even an interest group that would um allow us to begin to explore or understand uh topics that this board would be presented with and take action on. Um but I really just want to commend Lynn and her leadership uh and uh you know the the nimleness of this group I think has been its strength um to allow it to come together collect information um and uh and really stay on top of things that are happening. I mean you know I think the the challenge is is to try to figure out what's going to happen tomorrow when you're still trying to understand what's happening today.

0:31:05Right? and and these things are evolving, right? Like even just with chat GPT now a lot of districts have taken an approach where they just locked everything down immediately. no access even districts that that may tout that they are AI leaders and I've been early on I was I was on a couple it was in a couple of groups as this topic was emerging and I I found that um you know people's approaches vary and depending on what they're trying to do like for us that we see this as a tool we see this as a as something that that we can use but we also see our obligation and making sure that we protect uh data our students data um as a top priority. Um but as you see people talking about this, sometimes folks are talking about it, but you have to kind of see how is it being used? How is it improving uh the outcomes for kids? And as you all know, board members, our number one priority is is advancing the strategic priorities and initiatives within our strategic plan. So I really love the way that Chris framed that up for us. Um but just again, Lynn, thank you for your leadership on this and uh you know, it's not like she went into this group with

0:32:16all of these topics, these things emerged and um what a better way to really know and understand where a community is than being nimble, bringing folks together and letting the topics come to you. >> I know the next slide says questions and conversation, but I want to make sure you are wrapped up with this one before I just start. Okay, it was Alex and then Jason. Yeah, I really appreciate this and I'm excited for the board to have this deep dive into it and I do think we could use up three hours in this discussion pretty fruitfully. Um I guess my observation on this last slide if you go back um these if you had a list of pros and cons for AI all of these would be on the con side of the ledger. These are guard rails and restrictions and concerns not visions and hopes and uses and applications that make people do anything. So, as like a governing board or administrators of a big system, these are all the wet blankets of why you shouldn't and why you can't do this unless we make sure to control it for you. What would be in the slide if we were talking about what the people in the interest group think is cool and good.

0:33:27>> Um, I think that's that's a way to look at this. I think when we're talking about I was trying to give a window into the types of discussions we are having. So when we're talking about data privacy and security um the discussion centers around like how are we doing that? When we're talking about age restrictions the conversation is how do we make sure that teachers understand what the age restrictions are around some of these applications or uses. it it's not about um saying we need to shut things down but we are talking about how do we promote the idea of a bias check because some people at uh you know at a cursory level may not understand that there could be bias that's being presented using an AI tool. So how do we educate around that? That's really more of the discussions if that helps. Yeah, if I may, I guess I in the discussions I've been around, there is a balance of the guard rails we as system designers and governors are putting in place and the reasons why people are using it and the applications they're using it for and the things that raise these issues. So I think it's incumbent on us to also understand the utility, the perceived utility and the actual utility and the

0:34:49things that people are doing out there that we may or may not be able to protect all these important parameter. I'm in for protecting all these parameters. I totally get it. But I think we could easily fall into a policy discussion that becomes increasingly irrelevant. Like everything has AI in it now. And if we are thinking about the systems that we control and how to make them safeguard these parameters, we are missing what the, you know, 4,000 odd adults and what the 27,000 kids are doing with the stuff because it'll be outside our systems and the things we control. So, I'm I'm like, I don't want us to actually do worse at the guard rails because we're thinking in the parameters of the things we can control when so much of this we can't control.

0:35:33I >> I I really do appreciate your perspective on this, Alex, and I think that, you know, that this is the balance that that we're really striving to to to strike. like how can we see this as a tool for good? Um and then also um overcome some of the fear that that can dominate conversations when you pull groups together. And um I will say that at further along in the in the in our conversation um our our academics team will begin to think about um and present to you all around this idea of using AI as a competency, right? like because I really think that once we're able to think about our standards and embed how AI can be used as for our kids for to to along the lines of what you're thinking about what what does a kid who graduates high school in 2026 27 28 need to really know about AI before they leave us so they're prepared for a world that will be dominated by AI and so I don't want to lose that I think that that's a critical component of where we need to go to and evolve just double checking with Lynn there has not been any efforts by our state at this point or by the federal government or um through through No

0:36:43Child Left Behind, Every Student Succeeds Act or any of the accountability systems where AI is is being thought of as a competency, right? So um so again, it's emerging, right? We're thinking about it. uh you know and uh you don't want to get too far ahead of those folks who will then um but I think we're going to have to I you know and I think we have the opportunity to so but I do appreciate that perspective and this isn't uh you know protect everybody from AI but how do you leverage this as a competency so our educators are through professional learning our kids know and understand how to use that >> Jason and then Deian >> um yeah I just have some questions I appreciate Alex's perspective But questions kind of on this and maybe I don't know that there's an endgame here.

0:37:28It sounds like this is really just kind of a a really great forum for teachers to talk through questions. I would imagine all levels of expertise, people who feel very very competent and comfortable and people who are terrified and scared. Um, but I it seems like a really great forum and maybe this is further in the discussion to really put together some recommendations and some so I hope and I guess a question for you Lynn and others like will there be um takeaways and feedback from this group that can be turned into recommendations or guidance of some kind. Sounds like we may get to that discussion later, but I would hate to waste this, not waste like not use this opportunity where people are getting together to talk about, you know, how imagine how talk about how to use this in a productive way and kind of to Alex's point. Um, but then let those discussions just kind of like move on.

0:38:16I'd like to, you know, find ways to really take this because this is, I think, what we're at least what I'm hoping to get out today is like what are what are the things that we're going to tell the tell teachers? What are the things we're going to tell students and parents about how we're using AI, how we're integrating this? And again, not to jump ahead to what sounds like a future discussion, but this seems like the the great a great first place to start. >> I would say that um you know, this is work sessions, these dayong work sessions are designed to be interactive, right? And so to know and understand um and and to to partner with the board to provide direction for the system I think is is a critical piece of some of the of a work session like this. Um, and it could be if we want a group that we form if we want to formalize a group that advises the board or advises the superintendent, we'd want to take I think some other measures to make sure that it's representative of the perspectives within our community so that those recommendations um could we we would have those um asurances as a governance team. I think that that is something we could we could

0:39:20talk about. Um and and I think that as as the rest of the team will talk some of those questions will be answers and the ones that aren't I think that's why we're having this discussion and so this is not a information topic where we're reporting you all the things how we figured it all out it's emerging right and I think that you know trying to stay in tune not only with our community and where they are but this you know these advancing technologies and just all of the the the excitement and and challenge. So yeah, so I think that by the end of today, my hope would be that you all would be able to weigh in, have some clear direction on next steps on what this looks like. Um, and but but also with input from our team as well, right? You know, if there's things that you say, hey, you know, what about this idea? You know, I would I would encourage our team to provide the perspective to really make sure that we work together to to build some good recommendations.

0:40:14>> We're going to turn it over to Deian, but Lany, I want to let you know if you have anything to ask or to share. I'll have you up after Deian since I can't see you. >> Thanks. I'm good right now. >> I don't see this list the way you do. I like I see it as lesson plans. I see it as lesson plans for how to teach students as they reach 12th grade and are about to metriculate. They need to understand all of these issues before they go on to college. They need to understand that AI is going to present a bias. They need to understand how they've been impacted um by getting to use these tools over students in other places that don't have the technology that we have. They need to understand the ethics and the academic honesty that go into using one of these tools um to do their college work that could get them thrown out of college. um they need uh these are all critical thinking skills that they need in order to graduate and be successful adults. So I really see it not as negative just as a layered um approach of all of the things that we need to think about.

0:41:29>> Lenia and then Jorge and actually Laura did Anna join the meeting or is she No. Okay. So, Lolenia and then Jorge, >> can you hear me? Nicole, >> yes, I can. Good morning, Lenia. >> I do not have any questions at this time. I'm just listening. I'm good. Thanks. >> Thanks, Jay. >> Uh, thanks for sharing this. I I appreciate the timeline. I know you mentioned the learning series for professional development for teachers back to 2023 and that's I'm guessing that's continued since then. I'd like to get a sense of kind of what's that looked like and kind of issues that are popping up from that and um maybe I think there's some data usage later on but I just kind of get a sense of where we're at with the professional development. >> Sure. Thanks for that. Um the main way we are doing professional development with um AI is weekly we have the teacher newsletter the download um and we've invited any teacher who's using AI to submit how they're using it called a ideas get it um and uh so each week um we have a new idea from a classroom teacher so that another teacher could read that and adapt to what uh to to use in their own classroom. So, we've had a lot of

0:42:44different examples with there's a couple examples later on um in the the presentation. Um but uh you know specifically just off the top of my head um we do we have a high school anatomy teacher um who has created unit chat bots for um each of his units so that his students have access to him without having access to him 247. So every unit has a bot that the the kids can engage with and ask questions. Um, we've seen um other teachers who have created uh like book recommendation type situations for kids. So they can type in the last book that they read that they liked and get a suggestion for the next book. Um so we have all different types of uh teachers who are adding to that. Um, in addition, there was a there was a high school teacher who I really enjoyed her submission because she added a way to ask kids to site the use of AI in their writing in her class. So, she provided that form um for other teachers to adapt and use um to start to have those conversations around ethical use of AI. And there were different levels of how you can site your AI use from the prompt to your actual uh to the actual return um and how the kids were using it to

0:44:17edit their own work. So >> the Wednesday morning series you had a couple years ago. >> I think that Jorge, sorry I don't know your last name. Um >> Chavez, sorry. I think um board member Chavez do you were remembering those earlier? the six the series of six that we started with. >> Did you want more information about that series that professional learning series >> just in general? >> Oh, I'm sorry. I misunderstood. >> Where we're at today. >> Okay. I'm sorry. I misunderstood. So, when we first started um >> Yeah. Um Dr. Dea Cruz asked me to create a series of professional learning for Wednesday mornings that teachers could opt into so that they could get familiar with what AI actually is in the classroom. So this was before we um purchased Magic School. Uh the first one was just about what is AI? What do we know about it? What don't we know about it? Teachers could ask questions um about it. The second one was about prompt writing and we really just kind of messed around with uh ChachiPT. We were writing like silly haikus, not really even trying to get to education yet. Just what is this as humanity? what do we need to know as adults in the world? And then the third one was more

0:45:35about how could we use AI in the classroom. So what could you use it for? And that's when we started experimenting with lesson planning or differentiation or brainstorming ideas. And then we started talking to Magic School between the third and the fourth session. So then the fourth session was a a demo of Magic School and getting teacher reaction around it and then the fifth and the sixth sessions were actually doing some training around Magic School. Um, these were all voluntary and I would say we would do an elementary one in the first 45 minutes of late start and a secondary um for the second 45 minutes. And I was having 200 to 300 teachers attending each of the sessions. So, could be up to 600 teachers or more um during those sessions. It was a little nerve-wracking to to see all those people on there, but um really having those engaging times and engaging talking about what we're facing in our classrooms. As that's progressed, that's when some of the interest started peaking around I want to talk more about AI. What can we do? What can we organize? And that's how this kind of organic interest group emerged as teachers were asking me questions. I was starting to recognize some repetition there um of interest in it. And so I

0:47:11just thought it would be a good way to facilitate conversation around this. And then principles started sending me parents who were asking questions. I was engaging with those parents. And then I just thought this is like taking up so much of my time. I'm just gonna make it an hour a month and everyone can just come. And that's kind of how it's been. So, we average around 40 or 50 people um come into the the meeting each month. Um and we talk about all different things. I'm not really providing a ton of guidance. I'm more facilitating it because it's a forum for folks to to just talk about what they're thinking about. Um it's splintered into a book study. Um one of the teachers is leading a book study now. Um she told us what the book was. So then since my department um also manages libraries, we bought some digital copies of the book so that the teachers could read the book for the book study and not have to pay for it. You know those kinds of things.

0:48:15Oh, fine. >> Jason, then Alex, >> um, thanks. I'm glad Jorge asked that question because that's that's kind of what I'd really love to get from today is, you know, um, I mean, I love the idea of the a ideas and also the clever uh, name, but how do you have a sense of how widespread that is and how how much uptake there is on those things? I think my my biggest worry uh so I think about my my own experience. I was you know fifth grade teacher many years ago and we had two random apples with different color things dropped Apple computers dropped off into my classroom and I had no idea how to how to use it. Uh and it was just one of these they collected dust. It became kind of an incentive if you finished your work. And then I had a colleague who just with those same two laptops was able to kind of integrate into everything and the kids use it for all sorts of things. And that's, you know, obviously not a total parallel, but I think of AI in the same way. And that like you have teachers who are incredibly skilled and know how to do it. And then you have everyone else who's kind of scared of this stuff. And

0:49:17so I'm really curious about the the kind of uptake and you know how widespread you get a sense that these practices are. >> Um I could skip ahead and show you that. No, that's okay. I can skip ahead and show you um our adoption of like the there's a point here where we're going to talk about magic school because that is our approved enterprise product and I can show you the growth of adoption of that that's been pretty organic >> and I I didn't mean to jump ahead of topics but I think just on Jorge's point about kind of what's what's what are teachers getting and how much are how much are people using those. So if we are jumping ahead, I'm sorry, but uh that was I thought that was a natural jumping off point.

0:50:03>> We don't need to jump ahead yet. Dr. Anderson, Alex, I'll say something and then we will move on so we can get ahead. >> Jason, I love your question, right? And I think that this is you know to to the extent but but but to you know h how many teachers have embraced this and adopt this adopted this on their own, right? This has been this is we have really designed um our land our AI landscape in a way where folks it's an opt-in type of an environment right and as it's emerging now you we're going to trans at a certain point it goes in from optin to expectation right so uh I would say that you know once you get to that place then it's change management then it's really you know following all of the things that we know to do as we've implemented new curriculum and change instructional practices and improve those and change the ways we think about post-secary readiness like there's a whole system that has to evolve and emerge and change on that and so I would say that uh there has not been an expectation from any district staff to say this is how you use AI this is what it's going to be um I think the only restrictions we've

0:51:15probably have have made are when we think that data privacy is at risk and we've shut you know we shut chat GBT down um we we made the conscious decision to embrace an enterprise solution in magic school early on to give folks a safe place to begin to really build their skills here. Uh so um but I do think like after a session like this as we start to think and evolve like what you know how do we evolve from organic emerging to intentional uh moving forward and so I think that uh I would just I just would want to be clear like if a teacher has not used AI at all it's not because they've done anything that they're not doing what we've asked them to do. We haven't asked them to do that.

0:51:57>> Yeah. I I sort of have a question and also sort of a prompt for that. I mean I I deal with AI in my professional life in my personal life and I try to help other people use it in their work and all these responsibilities and obligations are part of all those discussions. So I'm I'm quite aware of the urgency to address all that, but I'm also aware of the divide to um Jason's point between the the current early adopters and the people who are really afraid and angry and the people who haven't explored it yet. And I think at some point it's incumbent on us. I really see like the taking away from students the cognitive development of learning how to do things, but I also see the application of how much more you can learn about stuff. And if you haven't used AI to learn more about something you're curious about, then you should go home and do that. Like I was I took a vacation in Spain uh last fall and I had my iPhone with me and if I ever had a question like is that an olive tree or something else? It could tell me and then I could say how much of southern Spain is olive orchards and when did that start? Um and if you're

0:53:05curious and you're using it, it's an amazing tool to deepen your understanding. I told both my kids in college, I challenge you after every lecture, go take 15 minutes and ask questions of chat GPT from the lecture and see if you don't learn twice as much as you would have. So I mean that's where I'm I'm I think it's not that we're shouldn't do these things and that we shouldn't anticipate the growth of it but if we are not understanding the power of it and and focusing on the concerns we're going to be totally blown away as more and more people realize the power of it and then the cognitive damage to the students development that will come with that because it'll be so much more powerful than our restrictions will be meaningful. like they're going to use it a lot to do lots of things and and other kids will be taking shortcuts on things we needed them to learn and we'll be talking about which platform to use and they'll go put it on their phone and their personal computer at home as will the teacher and they'll do the stuff that we've blocked somewhere else.

0:54:05So that's why I think we need to talk about the the power in learning and development and the threat to learning and development and not just institutional interests of liability and concern which is where this is a lot of this goes when it not just BBSD but that's where education institutions do it and we know from ever since Chris Whittle started you know tell station one that edtech underdelivers all the time right but I think this is a different thing and we're sort of treating it like we have to protect people from it which we do rather than understanding more deeply how it affects learning and knowledge. So I don't know what to do with that. But I as a person in a policy position or as in a designing PD for educators and system leaders, I'm really struck by the dichotomy between those who are concerned about it and those who are using it, right? And we need more people to use it enough to have a meaningful discussion so it's not just amplifying fears because that's going to lead. It's not that we shouldn't address the fears.

0:55:08It's that if that's all we do, we're going to be so overwhelmed by the wave of use and the wave of applications as people get into it and and we'll be way behind. So I if that's where we go to start, I'm afraid we'll be left behind. I appreciate that point because that's something I've been thinking a lot about is um what are we trying to amplify or not amplify and and and making sure it's not just people's personal opinions on this tool. I think change to Dr. Anderson's point around change management, the expectation of right well now it's opting in but there's not expectations around it having attended negotiations again yesterday. We're asking a lot of our staff right now and there is a lot of change and I would be hesitant to say at the end of this year the board is going to create a policy that says we have to educators have to do XYZ because we're still rolling out new curriculum and adopting new curriculum. And what was really cool last night also talking to a principal, secondary principal on curriculum we haven't ever purchased as a district, how some of her staff members are using AI to make sure what they have been teaching are meeting state standards and when they're not, how they can fill in

0:56:21the gaps. So there's really cool stuff that we can do and I think making it's that equity piece a little bit to what you're also speaking about because not everybody has cell phones or devices that they can plug that into and how are we making sure that everybody has access appropriate access folks with disabilities that need the accommodations that AI can provide. How are we looking at that? So I think this is a great landscape to start. I like the fact that I appreciate the fact that's anchored in our strategic plan and it's not like this one shiny object that we're trying to get media attention on. It's like how are we doing this with purpose in a way that's going to improve outcomes for our students and support our staff. I really appreciate that and thinking through what are the guardrails, the appropriate guard rails to help our staff, help our kiddos. And I think a lot of it for me this is about our old conversations around digital literacy like how can you consume information like teaching our kids how to do that and as any tool it's like when graphing calculators became popular or the internet became a thing. It's like I didn't have encyclopedia bratannica in my house growing up. So I got the last library book and my topic

0:57:25was always on whatever was available. But you know when internet was became more widely available, people are copying and pasting and using that as a as a tool. Now it's a little bit more efficient with chat GPT and other you know other um platforms. But how are we continuing to evolve? How are we adapting? what are the guardrails that are appropriate for our students and our staff are really where I am coming to this and I really appreciate the that that is the approach of our staff because it is changing every day and it's hard to think to our board members points like making a decision today it will be obsolete two months from now because it is evolving so quickly and so that measured approach I think feels right for now as we continue to evolve and keeping at the center what we really value in this district is going to help us navigate these waters 100%.

0:58:17And with that, oh >> I I just want to commend the board, you know, as I look at our team and the talents amongst the governance team and I think, you know, we have higher ed, national policy, teaching, policym, parents, community members. We have a really um we're positioned really well, I think, to to do some really cool things on this as a team. And so I really appreciate our team, the governance team's uh discussion and our staff's um um participation in that. So just wanted to kind of I was just looking around. I was like gosh, everybody here has this really great rich experience to bring to the table. So I just wanted to just commend everybody on that. As Dr. Dela Cruz had mentioned previously, our approach to AI is enablement with guardrails.

0:59:16We are not defaulting to blocking emerging technologies. We recognize the instruction instructional and operate operational potential AI offers. At the same time, we prioritize education ready enterpriseup supported platforms that provide stronger privacy protections and administrative oversight. For classroom reuse, we've approved a limited number of education focused platforms such as Magic School, Adobe Express, and Grammarly under structured conditions. These tools support instruction, creativity, and writing with district-managed environments. For operational productivity, we are currently conducting a limited pilot of Google Gemini within our Google Workspace for Education environment. This pilot allows us to evaluate potential productivity benefits while continuing to monitor privacy protections, governance controls, and practical use cases. While we have not formally adopted consumer grade AI platforms for student use, we have taken an approaches of evaluating rather than immediately blocking. However, as has already been discussed, when content safety concerns emerge within the consumer version of chat GPT, we restricted student access until we can ensure alignment with our safety standards.

1:00:48Ultimately, our goal is simple. Expand access where educational value exists and intervene when student safety thresholds have been crossed. We believe students should learn to navigate AI responsibly, not be shielded from it entirely, but that learning must occur in a protected environment. So, this gets to your question about how many teachers are using it and how they're using it. Um, if you look at this data set, um, I think I pulled this a week or two ago, we had um, a thousand teachers using it when we first started in the uh four or five months and we had just over 18,000 generations of um items. Um I've been in edtech a long time, probably a dozen years. Um I've never seen a tool um take off like this with as little guidance around it. Um, you know, we had a couple days, a couple sessions of recorded PD that teachers could take a look at, but for the most part, this was organic growth. Um, I've never seen anything like this.

1:02:35I also just want to point out um the graph shows that there's different types of tools in Magic School. Um, some are efficiency tools for teachers, some are creation tools for teachers. same with um same with students. Um but we really had um a variety of different types of tools being used. I know. I love it. Um we can go to the next slide. So, I thought it might be really interesting to take a deeper dive into some of the things that teachers are doing with Magic School that also um align to our strategic plan. Um if you go to the next slide, please. Thank you. Um so, when we're talking about no limits for our students, um here these are actual prompts that I pulled out of Magic School um that students wrote. So, the first one um was a middle school science class and the teacher had allowed the idea generator for students to help them brainstorm some ideas around a science fair project. And so, this is the prompt that the student used there. There two prompts there. um in high school um this would be um a study bot that a teacher created basically just linking the curriculum from unit one into a chatbot and then the students are asking for study questions.

1:04:25Um so here are some examples from next best step. Um, one of our teachers submitted this idea to to a ideas, the one on the left, for tiered prompts. Um, she you can see that she had uh ski level ski run signs for the different prompts. So, all the prompts were available to the kids, but they could choose their level of difficulty um according to the prompts in her math lesson. She submitted this to a ideas and I um I mean just incidentally some teachers have said how much they appreciated this. They like the ski run idea and they like the idea of creating the leveled pro prompts but that students can choose their own path. Um and then the other idea, this is from elementary school where the teacher was showing others how they can create leveled texts. Um because that's something that um in adoptions that's a big ask of our curriculum vendors to how do we level our texts for our students for differentiation? And now we don't have to ask our vendors to do that because um this tool can do it.

1:05:33>> Leveling texts making >> Oh, thank you. Y >> uh leveling text, making um text available at the particular reading level of the of the student. So whether they're at grade level, above or below, we want to be able to make the um access point um approachable for every kid. Um and then here you can see in define the destination, I've been working with the principal at Apex uh a lot with AI. Um, many of those teachers over there are not teachers by trade or by training, but they are teachers within their trades. So, showing them and teaching them how to use edtech is new for many of them. Um, but they're really interested in making sure that they're using AI because they know their industries are using AI. So, we want to make sure that we're keeping up with that with some of the new programming that's going to be happening at Apex next year, especially in computer science. Um, AI needs to be included.

1:06:32So, the course that we have slated is uh creative computing will be one of the courses offered at Apex, which could include um I mean I have my eye on an AI curriculum for developing AI code. uh it just depends on the the teacher who we end up hiring. So, it's entirely possible there will be an AI class, but we just don't know. Um, and then as we're talking about being valued and included, I wanted to point out that even if our teachers are not exactly sure how to do that, Magic School has a number of tools to help guide them and help brainstorm with teachers to make sure that all of their students are being valued and included. So, you'll see some of these on the side. Um, I'm really interested in the top two and the um common misconceptions tools um where a teacher can enter a prompt about what they're teaching at the grade level and then it will generate um a social story um and you can put in more items around the social story. So you can kind of give it context like we're in Boulder, Colorado.

1:07:51My classroom is made up of um these types of students. These are their interests and a story will be created to capture the kids based on their interests or based on the classroom makeup. So um it makes it ends up making things relevant which is another tool um where you can help where AI can help teachers brainstorm that kind of introduction or um personal connections with kids that they might not actually know about. Um I think it's really helpful um in that instance. And then the common misconceptions I think can point to um just some cultural blind spots that we sometimes have as classroom teachers. I think back to some of the lessons that I've taught and I it's a little cringey at times. Um but uh you know I think if I had had a tool like this and I could have thought through some of those items I would it would have just been more comfortable and I wouldn't be remembering them right now in this board meeting. Um so that's um some of the tools that are available in Magic School. They add new tools all the time. Um and it's just grown exponentially. It's really really cool what they're what they're doing with that. And then I wanted to put this in because this is from a seventh grade

1:09:12teacher. He's a real um AI champion. Um but he had all of his kids write songs using the songwriting generator. Um and then they uh talking about their seventh grade experience. So this was last spring. Um, and then, uh, it generated the songs and then the kids had to sing the songs as karaoke to each other about their memories from seventh grade. And, um, I just thought it was so charming, so funny. Um, so anyway, um, another aspect of Magic School that I think is really um, important for for the work we do is we can create tools. So, because I'm the administrator of Magic School, I can create enterprise tools for our district. So, for example, I I just want you to know I tried to make a board tool um for you uh yesterday and it turns out I have to um I have to download all of the board documents first. So, I just kind of ran out of time, but uh I can do that for you if you'd like. Um but um I've been able to make a couple of really useful tools that uh have been requested by schools or different departments. So for example, one of the new social studies standards that came out two years ago is um Holocaust and genocide studies. Um, every social

1:10:38studies course should, if it's appropriate, talk about uh, Holocaust or genocide. Um, that pertains to whatever the students are studying in that class. Um, and it was really easy for teachers to be like, "Yep, you got it. I do Anne Frank. I've got the Holocaust. I do World War II." And it's like, "Well, there's there's more." So, we want to make sure that our kids are getting a really well-rounded education according to state guidelines um for each grade level where social studies is taught. So, because CDE published a very specific guideline, um we're able to turn that into an AI tool. So, now a sixth grade teacher teacher can type in, I'm teaching, uh about China next week. what should I talk about in terms of Holocaust genocide? And it will bring up the lesson plans that are appropriate for sixth grade that are touched on in the guidance by the state and give that teacher um an idea of that what needs to be taught or a complete lesson plan if needed based on the guidelines from the state. Um, another example is, um, our sped department came to me telling me how much time it takes to review IEPs.

1:12:02Now, I just want to be really, really clear. I'm saying this into the microphone. We do not have AI writing IEPs. Those are written by people. They are written by our special educators. However, we want to make sure that they are accurate and they are meeting all of the requirements that we have in BBSD. That means a small group of people has to review every single IEP to make sure that all the elements are there and that takes them a very long time. They have a rubric though that they use to compare the IEPs. So I created a tool that compares an IEP that's been written to the rubric and gives um it just you know scans it for those elements and makes sure that all the elements are there. If not, it gives the suggestions for improvement and um right now the review team in the sped department is testing the tool. Once the tool has been thoroughly tested and vetted and we know that it's accurate, we'll make it public for the teachers so that when they are writing their IEPs, they can insert their IEP into the tool for review before they even turn it in to make sure it has all the elements that are required. So, it will help them be more accurate at from at the

1:13:24beginning. Um, a tool that I'm working on right now is for middle school science. We have a number of middle school science teachers using a program um out of CU called open sed. Um there are unit documents for all of those. Um and right now it just takes a long time for a teacher to go through download all the documents parse through everything to figure out what they need for teaching and learning. So, I'm going to create a tool for them to to use so that they can find all that information a lot more quickly and provide some guidance so I can I can match it to um grade level expectations from BVSSD also to our priority standards so that our teachers don't have to figure that out for themselves. that it just takes all of that information and creates that pathway for the teachers to use. Um, I'm really open to teachers asking for custom tools, uh, if they don't know how to make them themselves. Um, I'm happy to do that for any teacher or any group of students. Um, it's really it's a pretty cool way that I can uh, manipulate and personalize Magic School for our district.

1:14:42Lynn, I was wondering or staff >> um some of the people watching this meeting today or even serving on the board were not here in 2024 when we first did a d thorough dive into what is magic school. >> Sure. >> And so I was wondering if you could we could get a high level view of how um like magic school itself, how input, what kind of information is in there, how are we does that make sense in that system? So then it >> closed versus open just a higher level of what what information is inputed into Magic School and how does that happen to ensure we're having some of our checks and balances for our students. >> Sure. Do you mean like the data retention or do you mean um like how are using it content and like how how do you know like the standards and all the that stuff?

1:15:31>> Um do you want me to demo? Would that be helpful or no? I can just describe it. Okay. Um so Magic School uses um something that is like a an emerging acronym ZDR zero data retention meaning there they don't keep any of our data um our data is contained that's what the enterprise model does so something goes in the generation is created and it's created within our instance uh there's no one else can access what we do to be perfectly honest I think I'm the only person in the district who can access what's actually happening in every classroom um across the district. Pretty sure that's true. Uh so like I can see what kids are are writing. I can see what teachers are prompting. Um but I don't think anyone else can. It's it's a I'm drunk with power. Um but uh the basically a teacher can use any of the teacher tools at any time and create generations. They have a tile in their SSO. All of you on the board have the tile as well. You can go in there and type in whatever you want. Choose a tool and you add the grade level. You add your prompt. It can be two words, it can be one word or it can be very extensive instructions. Either way works. Um, and

1:16:57then something is generated for our students. They do not have a tile and they do not have direct access. The teacher goes into something called magic student which is the student side. They have a similar suite of tools um not all the same but a similar suite and the teacher can decide what tool should be used for that particular learning experience. So for say a writing um a writing lesson plan, the teacher might put in idea generator, sentence starter, and writing feedback. And those are the three tools that the kids are going to be allowed to use for that lesson. The teacher can then go over with the students, these are the three tools you're allowed. Here's why I'm allowing them. How might you use these? what do you think? You know, whatever kind of dialogue they want to have. And then the teacher creates a room and then a URL is generated. The the kids join the room. They can join it in a variety of ways through you don't need to know that part. Um and then they're in this room. That room is then moderated by the teacher. So if a kid is messing around and puts something inappropriate in, it's immediately flagged. The teacher gets notified and can have a conversation. Um, but the teacher can see all of the inputs that

1:18:26the teach that the students use and all of the outputs that are generated by Magic School. Um, when the class is over, they close the room, that lesson is done, the students don't have access anymore. A new thing since the last time I talked to you about this, um, one of the complaints about Magic School was, well, what if the kids are still working and we, you know, they don't have access anymore? class is over, the teacher can keep the room open now so that the kids can get back to their generations. They can get back to what they've created and they can continue to work. Um, but the teacher still has that insight. So, I've seen cases where students will use the writing feedback tool and then they will ask the prompt, how can I make my introduction more engaging or how could I reduce um the length of my third paragraph to be more concise.

1:19:24Um, it's not writing for them, it's helping them with their writing. The student knows what question to ask but might not know how to get there. And I think that that's pretty compelling. >> Um, thanks. I I know you presented on Magic School Vest, but it was helpful to get even though I was here to get kind of a like how it works. But I guess just a kind of practical question. How what would prevent or I guess maybe nothing a student from opening up a new tab and then opening up Claude, Anthropic, any other AI tool >> um in our district right now. Frank, would you >> to be honest, nothing? >> Okay. >> You know, we those LLMs remain available to students >> with the exception of now we're talking consumer grade consumer grade access to the other LLMs remain open.

1:20:22>> Okay. Is is it just as a followup, is it is our goal to kind of funnel all AI work to Magic School Bus? Is that like is that a best practice among districts or do we still is this just one are we considering this one of many tools that teachers and students can use because it sounds like you know we have so many more controls you have so many more you know ability to kind of structure how students use it while still being able to use to take advantage of it. Um so I guess yeah the question is what is what is considered best practice to funnel uh students and teachers into one particular platform or to just have better guardrails in place for the commercial versions? >> We can discuss that in just a minute.

1:21:07>> Thanks Frank. Uh Magic School um I just I I don't think it's realistic to to say you can only use Magic School. you'll never use anything else because you know to the access to personal devices, the access to the internet at home, phones, all of those things. I just don't think it's a realistic approach to say only use magic school. But I will what I will say what I I I like a few things um very much about magic school. you know, if if we can direct kids to the types of prompts and the types of ways to use that and have them practice and use that as opposed to just giving them a a blank kind of window and type in whatever you want with no direction. I actually think that kids are learning AI skills every time that that teachers help shape the AI experience for kids. And I think that that's important because if they know sentence starter is an appropriate use, right, of of AI versus write this p this paper for me, right, the sentence starter might get them past the pl the pace the place they really struggle with. So then they're happy and free to write. Um I I will say that from from our educator standpoint, magic school is the tool, right? And I also, you know,

1:22:25and to the extent that even if you were to lock things down deeper than we have, I don't think that you lock kids or their families out of these other tools. And these are are a reality. Uh, you know, Magic School is is a Boulder based company. Um, and Denver based, I think they have offices here in Boulder, uh, the largest program of its type in the from a use perspective in the country. Uh, and I I I do appreciate how they're continuing to evolve with the market. I think that, you know, I was at a recent conference and had a chance to talk to some folks at Magic School, and the question I asked is, "How are you going to keep up?" Like, "How you going to stay competitive?" And so, um, they they have really really good answers. They're working on some tools now on the operational side as well for school districts. But when we started in 2024 the we were we were on the path to build our own magic school but would have wouldn't have and and that's how we ended up with magic school. Is that right Lynn? Um where we were looking for enterprise solutions where we built our own Frank I think you called it our walled garden where our data wouldn't be

1:23:29able to come out and we'd be able to set some of the parameters and uh and and that's how we ended on magic uh magic school. But you know to the extent that um you know to Frank's uh you know the point you know we haven't locked our systems down entirely around these other tools but as a teacher when be because you it's it's through class link our SSO is our single sign on right so just an acronym kind of definition uh like teachers can know and measure and monitor what kids are using and what kids aren't using and how they're using it and so um to the extent a kid goes on clawed or something else and tries to do the same work that they should have done in magic school, the teacher theoretically would be able to see that they didn't do that. Uh but you know it, you know, one of the challenges is that, you know, keeping your arms in in control over these things can be really really tricky. You know, as a district, we could lock everything down, but we're not really locking it down. to Nicole's point earlier, like if your family has access and you have a personal computer that can access these things, when you lock it down, you just lock it down for

1:24:37the kids who don't have access to those programs outside of school. And so some of the equity work around, you know, um our onetoear program and making sure all kids have have technology, uh the more you lock things down, uh really can become an equity issue as well. Jason can wrap up and then Alex, >> this is more, you know, I kind of follow up on the chat GBT thing and locking down and I don't know if that's the right place here, but so do you, I guess Frankie and the team, um, do you have, you know, the decision was made on chat GPT that it was, you know, inappropriate for this network or for the internal network? Do you have confidence that the other platforms that kids have access to have the same protections that you were concerned about with chat DPT?

1:25:23Currently, uh I do believe that they are um working to limit the adult content on their sites, especially Claude in particular. Now, when we start talking about the difference between enterprisegrade versus consumer grade, this is kind of where we get into a conundrum. Um when we're consumer grade, it's you know it's the wild wild west. Okay. Within uh um within enterprisegrade uh um access to these tools is where where we could if we adopted a an enterprise platform provide more control. But these enterprise platforms are first firstly very expensive and second if you really dig into the terms and conditions of these platforms they tell you that these platforms actually shouldn't be used by a student under the age of 18. Their educational offerings are aimed squarely at higher education. Um, for instance, if we wanted to go directly to chat or open AI for an enterprise level uh of chat GPT, uh that platform is aimed squarely at higher ed, not K12. The ma the uh magic school by the way from the technical perspective is chat GPT on the back end with a fancy front end that contains all of our data and all the guardrails. So we're really in a bit of a a conundrum when it comes to K12 focused enterprise platforms. There's only just a few. Max

1:27:27School being one. Another is called School.ai and I believe there's another one. But by and large, there's only like three enterprisegrade platforms that is aimed at K12 and all of the um legal requirements staying in compliance with the various uh um federal and state laws and regulations. Um, so that we're we're really in kind of a a tight position there where Magic School is probably right now our best option for a K12 enterprise platform. >> May I? >> Yeah, Lynn can um add it in. Alex, >> thank you. Um, I think that it's I think that in in addition to what Frank just um said that what's important with Magic School is that the teacher is controlling the access for kids. So it gives us that opportunity to teach um AI skills, AI competencies and an ethical use of AI. Um, so when a teacher op uh chooses to use magic school that is just sort of embedded in the lesson which I which was something I was looking for when we were looking at different platforms. I wanted to make sure that when we started working with AI that there was an opportunity for that ethical education. At the same time, um we also have teachers who aren't using Magic School and so we do, you know, so

1:29:11there are kids out there who are using these different platforms um and learning those competencies hopefully on their own. Um the internet's a noisy place. So, um, if we can help kids focus, reduce some of that noise by giving them the guidance, especially in our younger grades, I really appreciate that part about Magic School. >> I I find this all really fascinating and I'm learning a lot. So, I'm grateful to the staff for uh curating our understanding of something so complex. So, I really appreciate that. Um I just uh I guess I have one I can continue to think about control and being humble about what we control. We control enterprise systems for sure and we control a lot of what happens within our doors but I can tell you personally uh best practice includes not vaping uh putting your cell phone away in high school not being on social media when you're 11. So there are all these endemic things in our society and in our schools that we do not control satisfactorily.

1:30:20And so if we think we are controlling it, we are actually um at more at risk than if we are humble about our inability to control it. And I will add when we think about the equity of access to machines, we give everybody a machine. And then when we were talking about the cell phone policy, I was educated that low-income families are more likely to have their kids have a smartphone earlier than middle class and more affluent families. So the idea that they're not accessing all the consumer grade stuff is total pipe dream and that that's something our educators and our system must be robust to not um you know creating a guard wall to assume we've fixed it. Uh we need just like we need to implement a cell phone policy in some of our high schools. It's ongoing work that we'll always be doing as far as I can tell. So I just want to put that out there that the appearance of control or the pursuit of control over understanding of the robustness of the environment could be counterproductive. And then another piece for me is that the like I work with edtech companies in my day job and a bunch of them have stopped using AI as a descriptor of what they do because it's not an optional thing. There is no

1:31:29edtech that doesn't use AI. Anybody who's got something they're trying to sell nationally has AI behind the scenes. Almost everybody that like magic school is doing a feature for education something they are sending their data to the big LLMs like like magic school like most of it is just a portal by which someone is telling you uh hopefully it's true about how they're using the LLM for you and then finally I just feel like the like in my work I'm getting people instead of thinking about which tool to purchase or which portal to purchase is training them how to create their own custom GPTs Right. So Lynn shouldn't be the one that has to do this when we have 4,000 adults working here. Right? So probably 3,000 of the 4,000 should know how to create a custom GPT pretty soon or the analog of it. And it gets easier and easier to do. So once again, I feel like we're kind of treating this as a procurement problem when in fact it is an ecosystem development. And so I'm I'm concerned that we would act as if we have some control over what people are doing for the 18 hours a day they're not in our schools or even for the six hours they are there. So that's where I'm like

1:32:41ah I'm so excited about the good stuff and I feel like our focus on our procurement is actually counterproductive to what will be happening in the next few years. Frank and then Jorge and then Elenia, I'm going to check on you to see if there's anything you want to chime in and add. >> Uh, board member Medler, I appreciate your comments because you're absolutely spot on. While we have to um make our best effort in controlling our environment, we make no mistake and uh our students will our students are very bright, very intelligent. Anything that we put on our devices that we think is going to block uh access to uh u a particular site or application, they will find a way around it. No doubt we fight this battle every day. Uh our security team is engaged in this fight on a daily basis. So you're absolutely spot on. Um why we have to make our best effort to be able to stay in compliance with with federal law. Um, it's a battle every day and our students are very bright and they will work around any any blocks that we may put forward.

1:34:20>> Thank you. Um, I I recognize that it's out there and students can access it and we can't control the do outside the classroom. that doesn't necessarily mean that we need to allow it or facilitate it with our Chromebooks and in the system and in schools. And so I'm I'm kind of torn about our ability. I recognize, you know, we can enforce everywhere at all times and catch everybody, but that doesn't mean we have to make it easy either. And I'm concerned about things like Claude and and and other um AI that have no guardrails being easily accessible and for students to just have the run of it. um with the Chromebooks that we're providing and with the access that we're allowing. Um yes, kids are on their cell phones, I can't even say when because they're always on the cell phone, right? But we still try to limit it in the classroom and in the school, right? And so I'm I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to try to have some of those limits within our Chromebooks in our schools for those external things so that we can use the tools that we provide to provide ethical guidelines and appropriate ways to use that. So that's one part of it. The other part is is um as as Alex kind

1:35:20mentioned and what my question earlier was about oh we started PD in 2023 and we've kind of kept going it's evolved to kind of uh whoever is interested but um have we moved towards more thinking about more PD opportunities to think about how it's not just informally you going to do this but hey if you're interested let's provide some in terms of how you create these um different tools for yourself how do you do this like you know do we see ourselves moving in that direction now is it already happening just is what what does that look like now in addition to who the kind of the groups that are um informally coming together. >> I'd say a few things. Um you know, t taking other LLMs and blocking them, right? So, you know, you would prevent um a good majority of students from them. There's going to be students that are going to figure out workarounds to Frank's point. Um I wouldn't say it's the majority of students. I would say there would be some students that would figure that out. I think that that's a choice that we have yet to make. But, you know, based on this conversation, we certainly could consider if you were to to take and limit those things. Alex's point is is right um to an extent. And I think

1:36:23your point's right, Jorge, to um it's one thing if a parent provides a device to their kid, I'd monitor what they were doing. And I would, you know, as a parent get involved and parents have the right to to to manage that any ways that that they feel is right. Uh but when we give somebody a tool, right, and say, "Hey, here's your tool from us." Now, I would say with GoG Guardian, parents do have the ability to go in through GoG Guardian and request certain sites to be blocked, right? And so, parents do have some controls over what the device is used for when they get home, right, through GoG Guardian, which is is our software that we use to kind of kind of control that. So the question would be, do you allow parents to do you empower parents to decide what their kids should and shouldn't access or do we say this is what we're going to allow access on our devices? I think um that is the decision that we have yet to make but it's the decision that we could make. Uh but to be clear for parents, anybody watching, if you're starting to, you know, I don't want my kid accessing these these types of things, right?

1:37:27There's a process. um they would call our IT help desk and uh and parents would we would be able to walk them through how to make sure that we locked locked locked those their devices at their homes out of the programs that they wouldn't want their kids to to to see. >> And can individual schools themselves just make some decisions on what's allowed at their site uh through GoGardian too? It doesn't have to just be the parents, but the schools can say as a school we're not going to allow XYZ. Um, yeah, they can. Um, individual teachers can make that call as well. Um, it's really up to the practitioner. Um, I would be really excited to um continue doing some PD series if um our uh PD time allows for that. Um, I would be very excited to to do more work with that um for those teachers who don't know how to create a chatbot in Magic School because there are some that absolutely do. I don't have to hold their hand which is great for me. Um but yeah I and I think that this um I think that the approach that we have taken has been really as I watch the the kind of changing landscape around AI. I think it's been really smart um where we are

1:38:46watching and learning from what other districts are doing and successes they've had and pitfalls they've fallen into. Hello LA. Um I you know I think that we are taking this kind of measured approach has been really smart for us and really only addressing blocking something when it is a danger to the students that we cannot manage. Um we just we cannot manage what chatbt is doing with their free accounts. So, or we couldn't and now we can because it's blocked on our network and our devices. If any of these other companies went in that direction, we would also I'm I mean, I'm not saying for sure, but we would probably block those as well. It's the fact that they're not doing those kind of endangerment type choices that makes it feel okay for now. Clearly, it's above my pay grade.

1:39:53>> And I think that makes sense. And and for me, and I think the cell phone is an interesting analogy, like we can never control. I mean, in this tech landscape, the idea that we have full control is not a reality. And yes, and it's how can we compel our students to make thoughtful decisions and compel them to use the tools that might be most reliable. It's like, you know, there are some great sources of reliable, unbiased information out there that person can access and there are some really terrible sources of information that are flawed, not fact-based. And so, like compelling the use of something like magic school, which we can align to the Colorado state standards, which we can put in factual information, which you know removes some of those concerns versus like trying to think we're preventing and controlling something else. And that's like with the cell phones, if we can compel them not to use them in the schools that have been successful with alternatives, you know, it's been generally more wellreceived than the than when we just try to kind of come down with a illusion of control.

1:40:57So like how can we compel appropriate use from our students, thoughtful use, so you are learning along the way is I think something that I continue to think about uh in this discussion. Lenia, is there anything that you wanted to add or ask? >> Um, well, as a technology lagard, I would appreciate um finding ways to have more education opportunities on this, maybe through parent engagement network or continued PD opportunities. um just because there are I'm I'm not alone in in feeling like a lagard on this particular issue. >> Thanks Elenia Deian and then Alex. >> Uh my question is a little bit off topic but um perhaps related also. I did a really quick search on our um our the curriculum that we offer and I didn't see um a class about AI except for pretty advanced computer science topics.

1:42:07Um is that in the works? Is someone someone coming up with a course? And I know a little bit about this because at my private school yesterday, we had a student who enrolled just for the last term so they could take our AI class and count that as their tech um credit. So I hope that's in the works as some general overview of what AI is, how to use the different tools and um just as an introduction class. Yeah. Um yeah, we are developing um a course right now with uh a computer science teacher at Fairview um um I'm working with him to develop that. There's also the opportunity at Apex um for development of AI, but if you're speaking more about learning about what AI is and how it works, um that's not something that we have as a standalone.

1:43:04Um but we're working with some of the middle school teachers. um around their design tech classes and their computer power classes to provide them some unit knowledge around how to teach about some of these ideas. >> So coming next year. >> Yeah, I uh I do appreciate the both the idea of specialized you know coursework but also the integration into the other courses just understand how to use the tools. Um I guess uh I would make one observation too about how we control things. I would say that the process from uh someone bringing a policy to us at the board or us bringing up an issue, discussing it, having the policy come back, redline it, approve it, uh the administration now starts implementing it. It's kind of like a 24-month timeline before someone in a school has to do something this board thinks they should do. Um and even then that's an iffy proposition appropriately. though.

1:44:05Um, so like 24 months ago when you were trying to do statistical analysis in Claude, you would ask it to create code in Python that you then had to plug into a software application to run it with the data that you had in a $1,500 piece of software somewhere else in order to generate the analysis. Now, you upload the data and you ask it to do the analysis and the product comes out right away. So like the the the practices of the AIS are developing much faster than our policy to on the ground change timelines which is another piece of my humility about this. So like we can be thinking oh we need to do this to control it when the stuff behind the scenes the infrastructure is just developing so much faster and so you don't need to know how to do Python coding anymore. you don't actually need to know how to do any coding anymore for a lot of what would have taken advanced degrees in coding three years ago.

1:45:01Right? So that's the kind of thing where sometimes I think we're playing catch-up with how we control. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. And the second part for me is on the the parental engagement because I totally agree that we need to empower our parents same way we empower our excellent teachers um and eventually empower the students, right? So, I just think that parental engagement is key, but also parental choice. So, we're going to have parents who want as little tech as possible touching their kid as long as possible. And we're going to have parents who want as much tech and empowering their kids to be smart users of tech to prepare them for the future. And this, you know, we have a third to 40% of our parents exercising choice just which school to attend. So at some degree I think we also need to accommodate parental variation on this the same way we accommodate uh teacher variation on this and understand that some parents are going to want much more or much less than others and that I mostly I hear we're always telling people they can use go guardian but I don't think many parents do and haven't yet. So I'm really curious to know what that those numbers actually are and what it would

1:46:06take for us to empower more to do it. And so I want to accommodate choice by the parents. I want to think about how our schools what could they can be different about and what they all need to be the same about and then I want us again to be humble about our timelines and how our speed of action is not keeping up with Silicon Valley. Lynn, could you talk a little bit about the parent use of GoG Guardian and how that works? >> Um sure. Uh so at this point every parent um has the opportunity to use GoG Guardian parent. Um, basically it works outside of school hours. Uh, it's an app on your phone. Um, the parent has the opportunity to type in different URLs that could be blocked for students um, outside of school. Um, they can do like I I'll make sure you have the directions. Um, um, but uh, they can uh, time out internet. So they could actually shut the internet off of the device um at a certain time. They could set a schedule for internet use outside of school. Um they can see different usage data. So, we have um the reason I I know about this is because I've been doing some talks at different middle schools, elementary schools, and so when

1:47:28when families are interested, uh they sometimes they fill out a form, sometimes they just contact me directly, but I just have a set of instructions that I send out to those families just to here's how you get the app, here's how you use it. It's not hard. Uh but everyone, every parent is aligned to their students. It's available for everyone is the is the point. Um, oh, >> and can you speak to what the numbers are for usage? >> Um, no, but I can pull it up if you'd like. >> Any parent will has access to GoG Guardian. All they have to do is contact our service desk. Um, our security team will reach out directly to any parent who's interested in GoG Guardian and we can walk them through the process. If I could follow up on that, um I think this is another area for uh Ry's excellent team to consider how we promote access to it uh via the website or other whatever our dissemination vehicles are. And I'm sure we already are, but I hear from more parents about well, they wish they could do something that they clearly can do if we could get them there. Yeah, I I I think it's an appropriate followup followup to this work session to create a communications

1:48:43plan to to inform our parents of the tools that they that we have purchased and that they have access to um to be able to make sure that that the the use the use of our our Chromebooks uh is governed by something that they have control over after hours. And so I I think that that's that's a definite takeaway from today. >> With that I Oh, do you have the numbers? Well, I wanted to talk about the the first um piece that you were talking about about the courses in embedding um AI and I think that that's where our value ad for teaching and learning really um comes to fruition. Um I know it's exciting to think about AI as something really special and unique um to be managed, to be feared, to be used, to be empowered.

1:49:36um in my mind as someone who you know studies this I mean I considered myself a an instructional technologist for a long time uh I see this as another tool a very powerful tool but it's not a pedigogy it's not the way we do school it's a value ad to school and so the teaching and learning around harnessing that powerful tool can and should be embedded in coursework work. Uh we do have a lot on our plates for our teachers here. We have a lot of new curriculum packages. Some of those curriculum packages have an AI component and we evaluate that every time to make sure it's an actual value ad and not just like a powerful search engine. So when we're talking about what we want our students to walk away from BBSD in terms of AI with what skills and competencies it's around being comfortable with tools like this because it will be in their professions. It's about creating intelligent and practical uh and new content. It's not about doing your homework for you. It's not about writing the essay for you. And so I I understand where you're coming from with talking about management and parameters, but the unfortunate truth of it is we have to have some talk about that. But I don't know that putting it as board purview

1:51:17um as policy is going to be the most efficient and effective way that we go about this. I think working with the academics team, I think working with um it I think working with instructional personnel, that's where we're going to be able to harness this a little bit more um and coming up with those classes. I'm interested in our teachers proposing courses. I can write courses all day about how I would teach this, but I'm not going to be the teacher. So, how do we inspire those teachers to come up with those courses? How do we ask kids to come up with what they want to learn about? That's where I think our board can really influence um our practice around this. >> I did say that was going to be the last question before we move on. I'm trying to keep a mind on the clock. So, if you can hold that last question or burning thought, Alex, to our final um final section on questions.

1:52:26Um, as you all know, we lead all the academic content curriculum that Lynn was just mentioning and student service programming inside a school. Um, and as Dr. Anderson mentioned our goal is in academics for the future is to leverage AI as a competency for student learning which Lynn just provided us an amazing um leadin and start bridging the work that Lynn has led with tech in connection to curricular resources and content. Um in our role as an academics department as you know we lead adoptions um curricular resources as well as support schools with implementation with tools with resources and the components of teaching and learning. So we need to start considering both our current opportunities to embed AI and future possible opportunities to reimagine the student experience not only with course offerings but also within the curriculum that we have. So in full transparency, we have not started that work. We have been very deep over the last few years with adopting curriculum and assessments and implementing those with fidelity and so have not worked with our directors yet on how do we integrate these tools into the the curricular resources that we have. Um so our academic considerations under curricular resources as I mentioned is to consider the amount of curriculum adoption. So, we're finishing up with elementary, but

1:53:49we'll be moving into our intermediates, right? And so, we need to think about timing. Um, uh, uh, President Rajpal was with us last night and has heard many stories around the overwhelm that our elementary teachers are feeling with curriculum implementation. And so, we just need to be mindful on that and think about the integration. Um, our team needs to evaluate what's available in our current resources as Lynn just mentioned and then what are the possibilities moving forward. Um, we need to learn uh the teaching and learning best practices. Um, so in order for us to expand that, we need to provide and exp provide student learning experiences that are engaging and meaningful with I AI. Um, Lynn gave some great examples. We've ema and I have started doing some of our own research as well. But things that you talked about um uh board member Medler around providing student experiences. So simulations of like a chemistry lab with chemicals that students may not be able to have in the classroom. Those are the types of things we need to think about within the curricular content that we have. Um and then as many of you have also mentioned we it is essential for our academics team to engage in learning of their own. Right? So we have not had

1:55:02an ask of our directors to have a proficient understanding of AI in order to make the connections to the curricular resources. They have been purely focused on being very well-versed in the adoptions that they are leading and they're supporting in the schools. So we need to spend some time which we're Emma and over here have taken notes on how we can do that and what that looks like for both of us as well as for our content directors. And then we need to find the opportunities for the professional learning. As you all know, with a very limited professional learning calendar, we are going to have to think about how we integrate that into the time slots that they already have learning the curricular resource. So that's where we are. Um we've we're starting to have conversations. We have some good models now that we're using with implementation um of new curriculum. like we have math leads in schools that are helping us with a team of two for 56 schools.

1:55:59That's not a lot of people to lead that type of thing. So, we have leveraged our teacher leaders to help us do that. And that's a model that has really worked for us with this math implementation. And so something we've started to just grapple with ourselves in moving forward with you know integration of AI to curricular resources and how do we take and partner with Lynn and some of the work that they've done so that we can start to get more more connected in schools but in connection to the resources that they have. And so with that I'm going to pass it over to Emma and she's going to talk about leveraging AI and opportunities for our teacher use. Um, and I'm going to try to not just say everything that's already been said by various people at this table, but maybe it'll be a nice summary. So, when we think about systematically embedding AI use in instruction, as Dr. Miller said, we're considering both current opportunities and future possible opportunities. So, in connection with what do uh Director Gershman and Dr.

1:56:56Miller shared and building on director Gershman's previous experiences and examples, we want to give some ways we're thinking about how we could use teacher AI use going forward in a more embedded connected way with our curriculum and instructional resources. So, first in talking about the strategic plan, we uh have some opportunities to be even more systematic in how we uh align instruction with our strategic plan initiatives using AI. So for example, webs do is a strategic initiative we've talked a lot about and who is doing the cognitive lift of the lesson as part of no limits. You can and as director Gersman shared some teachers already have use magic school or other platforms to plan for how to increase the cognitive lift with tasks, questions or unit planning overall um as long as it's used strategically. So really starting to think about where might we embed those in opportunities we already have with our professional learning.

1:57:50Second, and related, as director Gersman shared, we can use AI to design and differentiate instruction meaningfully for all students by using AI to help teachers plan for lessons and units that include certain components and have built-in adjusted tasks and questions. We know the school day is short. We know that in a classroom there's a variety of need and we know that the planning lift to do that well is tremendous. I would say particularly at elementary when you have 45 minutes of plan time and about six preps. So really getting clear on how you can use AI as a planning tool is a place we could go and it requires that our teachers deeply know and understand the standards and our resource to be able to use it well which is what Dr. Miller was talking about with just the various demands on time. Third AI can be used to enhance student feedback. There are ways to use Magic School so that it reviews student work similar to what director Gershman shared about IEPs and then provides suggested comments for feedback that a teacher could use, incorporate, or edit as a jumping off point either in general or based on a specific task or look for.

1:58:54And then fourth, teachers can use AI generated work like summaries of a topic as part of their instruction to ensure we're supporting students to be critical consumers of AI generated information in their environment. I think several people brought up like the smart usage of AI and so really leveraging it as a as a tool for instruction in a variety of ways. Um we know that these examples are already happening in pockets and as we've said uh what we just what we haven't done is embedding these sorts of examples strategically and systematically into our professional learning or require that they be used in a certain way. And as Dr. Miller shared this is for a reason. We have a lot of current initiatives and we're trying to be mindful of the pace and cadence and priorities so that when we do this the foundation is laid so that it's incorporated well. Um that being said as we look to next year and beyond we know we have work to do and we also need to make sure that we continue to prioritize that deep understanding of standards and our existing resources to build on. On both this slide and the last slide, as an academics team, uh we did mention that we have to think about both our current opportunities and future

2:00:00possible opportunities. And within those future possible opportunities, something we've been thinking about and talking about um and potentially need to be planning for are secondary courses where the course is d designed around AI as a core tenant, which would be reimagining our current instructional reality versus retrofitting AI features into the way we currently do business when it comes to instruction. So I think as Dr. Miller shared like some of it is also defining as an academic team as a district how and where do we want to use AI in which ways in which content areas with which grade brands and then that would inform how we lead our professional learning and provide that targeted support across our district. So AI as a core competency we we're thinking about that in myriad ways and what that might look like.

2:00:54So as we move forward, our work with AI will continue to evolve. One of our leading priorities is continuously evaluating emerging AI tools and capabilities. The technology landscape is changing very quickly and we want to ensure that we are identifying opportunities that meaningfully support the district's strategic goals. We also expect to expand responsible use cases in both instructional and operational areas. In the classroom, that means supporting teaching and learning while operationally it includes productivity tools that will help staff be more work more efficiently with increased efficacy. At the same time, governance and safety remain central to our approach. Any new tools or capabilities will continue to be evaluated through our governance framework, privacy protections, and security review process. We will also ensure any AI implementations remain fully aligned with federal and state student data protection requirements, including FURPA, COPA, SIPA, and Colorado student data privacy laws.

2:02:05And as the technology and regulatory landscape continues to evolve, we will update our guidance and district practices so our staff and students are supported in using these tools responsibly. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure BBSD students leave our schools prepared to use emerging technologies such as AI responsibly, ethically, and thoughtfully in the world they are entering. And with that, thank you very much and whatever other questions you may have. >> Thank you all for that very thorough presentation. I also want to highlight, I know we get a lot of feedback wonderings about staffing at the district level. The majority of our academics team is here with us today. So it is a small but mighty group of individuals who are tasked with not only thinking about how AI is integrated into our educational landscape but everything else related to academics. So um thank you for your department for representing tier uh here today. Board members final questions on this topic before we take a short comfort break and move on with our agenda. Dr. Anderson, I >> I want to thank the team for for doing a really good job, having a very honest um conversation in public where we are uh with AI. I think that our team was honest and uh this has been emerging and we're continuing to learn and I think

2:03:30that um th this conversation that we've had today I think will help shape um even further the next steps that that Frank had laid out. You know, the idea of communication I think is important. the um what Nativity and Emma talked about on how do we begin to know and understand uh intentionally where do we begin to implement AI competencies into our curriculum? When is a grade level appropriate? What does that look like? Um you know, continuing to evolve our tools and then continuing to to really wrestle with this question of less or more. Are we really in control even if we say we're in control? um how do we inform parents so they know and understand to Elenia's point what's actually happening what's possible what's not possible and so uh as follow-ups from this meeting I think our team will will convene and create kind of a roadmap that might move forward for us as a district that then we can bring back for the board to to to understand uh this could obviously be something that's embedded in my goals for the next calendar year as we think about moving into um the 262 27 school year as as as really beginning to move some of this work forward, understanding, you know, how do we redeploy resources that

2:04:49currently exist? Our declining enrollment reality does not mean it's going to mean less people at the central office, not more. And so, how do we reconfigure and redeploy resources to be able to find the bandwidth? Like Lynn can't be all AI for every person, every kid, every every employee in the district. um that she probably could, but I'd have to not the other things that she does that are really important, we'd have to find someone else to do. So, uh I think that there's a resource issue here as well. Um and in a time of declining resources, it's redeployment, not more. So, uh I think that this conversation for me was very helpful. I think it was very helpful for our team. Um but happy to answer any other questions that you might have if you feel like anything that I shared with you um you'd want it to encompass even more than that.

2:05:39>> Jason and then Alex. >> Um thanks Dr. Anderson. I uh yeah this was a really great conversation. Appreciate all the work that went into this. you know, as you put together this road map, I guess questions, comments, you know, I think Lynn, you summarize it really well with kind of what our what at least I think our vision should be of what do we want kids to walk away with, you know, as as they leave this district. And so maybe as we put together this road map, you know, that'll include some kind of vision. And then a question about, you know, I think Alex has touched on this. Are we do we have the right structure to be able to adapt to this to be nimble and to be re to provide recommendations? And so something I hope you know as we put this together we'll think about that as well.

2:06:21>> Yeah. I just want to reiterate how grateful I am for the very small team that we have to do such deep thinking and great work and I can't imagine how Lynn does her job. Um but that's true for many of the central people at Boulder and I know that it's like we deal with declining enrollment and basically a state fiscal crisis that that is not going to get better. And so I'm super sensitive to prioritization. This is yet one more thing where I think we need to act and at the same time job one is on the strategic plan on increasing students learning and addressing achievement gaps and help preparing all our kids and protecting them in this environment. So my priorities haven't changed. I just am an anxious about this one um derailing us at some level and at the same time failing to leverage it while we're being cautious. I will say one of the things when technology is moving this fast we should be comfortable leapfrogging stages of development like we don't have to track every stage because we can't change in four months what we're doing so we can sort of anticipate that a year from now it'll be significantly different and deal with that rather than trying to track everything every day. So

2:07:24I I'd encourage us to think um judiciously about when we when we want to leaprog and jump to where the technology is rather than trying to keep up with it the whole time. I also want to say uh we didn't really talk much about two things that I've always heard from professional educators and that is dealing with the plagiarism and dealing with the students cognitive development and lift. So pedagogically there are two really important things here that I'm sure our educators are dealing with every day and concerned about which is where um I do think this is an issue that is part of teacher professionalism and that we have wonderful teachers and they're they're representative collectively about what they need and we should hear a bit more from them. I know we do that through the team about their working with the teachers all the time, but I think collectively it might be helpful to hear what their day-to-day concerns are and what would be most helpful to them because ultimately with this small team it will be teachertoteer sort of support that leads to more change. Um, and I just want to make sure that we are providing the support that we can while still keeping our eye on our biggest priority. So I I feel for Dr. Anderson and his team and uh I

2:08:37apologize for suggesting things that are not doable. Um but I do want us to think about when we decide what to do that we're not constraining what we think is an option. And I am as afraid of the risky things as anybody. I just have been in a lot of professional discussions among professional educators and system leaders who lead with the fear. And I think that is alienating to the people who know how powerful it is. Uh and gives an excuse for professionals in our field not to sort of get up to speed with what the issues are. So that's why I say don't always lead with the fear. Um bring the fear and the power to the discussion while you're trying to empower people to manage it. Deion. Uh, I have spent most of my career dealing with um teaching educators about equity. And one of the points that I want to make is that the skills we're asking those teachers who are overloaded, those elementary school teachers that are trying to do all of that, the skills they can teach with anything. So, when you get your new social studies book, you can look at bias right there. You can look at whether um it's correct information. You can look at all of those skills uh not

2:09:57ever touching a computer. And those are the skills that'll help make them better when they're actually using a computer and will help to uh bring the curriculum to a richness that no matter how many packaged curriculums you buy is not there without a teacher uh implementing it. So I would just encourage us to look at all resources like we're looking at AI resources. Thank you again. Um seeing as there are no further questions, we will take a five minute comfort break before we resume with the end rest of our agenda. Thank you everybody. like to call this meeting back to order. We will now move on to action items. We have our first action item today is employee benefits package for 2026 2027. Is there a motion to approve? Moved by Jason. Is there a second?

2:24:04Seconded by Deian. Board members, any discussion on this benefits package? Just want to thank staff for putting this together. I know it takes a lot of time and year-over-year increases are a reality in a fiscally constrained environment. Um, but seeing as there is no further discussion, Laura, can you please call the vote on the motion? >> Booker. Yes, >> Chavez. >> Yes, >> Medler. >> Yes, >> Quinnland Aa. >> Yes, >> Rajpaul. >> Yes, Anger. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. Next action item is resolution 26 26-08 additional cash management through the state interest free loan program. Do I have a motion? Moved by Alex. Do I have a second? Seconded by Jorge. Bo member. Any discussion on this? As a reminder to our community, I would welcome Mr. Bill Sutter to explain why and we participate in this and why there might be deviations from our original anticipated amount amount.

2:25:13>> Uh thanks. As a reminder or information for the community, um in June of every year, uh the board passes a resolution to participate in the interest free loan program. It's been around uh I believe for decades um to provide cash flow uh and a a cash flow option to school districts um with a change in the fiscal year um to where property taxes are funding the current year uh in instead of the upcoming uh year. And so in June uh we make some estimates based on uh projected uh assessed values, budget cash flows and uh adopt uh the board adopts the borrowing limit um which was 100 million uh for this current year uh and this one is increasing it to 110 million. Uh the last time we did this was in 2024 uh in January of 24 uh where we increased it by 15 million from 90 million to 105 million. Uh so these are paid back in the current fiscal year. Uh it's not a long-term borrowing like uh debt is. Uh it's just for cash flow purposes.

2:26:42>> Thank you for that. I mean just good to understand why we participate in this program. This program is exceedingly helpful to us and our ability to pay it off year-over-year is outstanding. So, just freeing up a little bit more cash beyond what was originally anticipated. Any other questions or thoughts on this item? Board members, >> seeing as there are none, Laura, can you please call the role on the motion? >> Booker, >> yes. >> Chavez, >> yes. >> Medler, >> yes. >> Quinn Aea, >> yes. >> Raj Paul, >> yes. Anger, >> yes. Motion passes. Our final action item today is resolution 26-09. Read the authorization to sell general obligation debt. Do I have a motion? Moved by Jason, seconded by Jorge. Board members, any discussion on the selling of this next round of bond obligation?

2:27:39>> Jorge, more just a question of clarification in terms of what this actually authorizes. This is authorizing the potential to sell the next round, right, of some of this. Not all of it necessarily. So, the next round of bonds, right? So, it's the potential to sell not neessally all the remaining bonds, but the potential to do so. >> Uh, correct. This was um authorized by the voters in 2022. Uh we issued the first round in early uh spring of 23. Uh and we've spent most of that down. Uh and then this is the next round. Uh there's a little bit remaining uh from the authorization uh that can be issued at a future date. >> So it's not selling the totality of what remains, a portion of what remains. And when how does it determine when we are going to sell that bond obligation? I think is we're we're not necessarily selling it today, but how do we decide when we sell that that obligation? The bond.

2:28:38>> Correct. There's there's um a very set schedule for it. Um we uh the district uh performs a um competitive sale for uh general obligation debt. Uh we've done so for 25 years uh or more. Um and uh the notice of sale will go out on Friday. Uh and then the actual sale uh happens on April 7th. Um and it's uh it's an online platform that all the big banks have access to. Um and they'll put in a bid for uh buying our geo debt. So this authorizes us to put out that notice of sale and have the sale on April 7th. Any other questions, Jorge, before I go to Alex? >> Yeah. No, that's helpful. So then that is happening then April 7th, right? So, um I'm just thinking in terms of our bonds, right? So, um we're also discussing declining enrollment in that context, right? We may not necessarily need to sell all the bonds, correct?

2:29:58>> Correct. >> Down the line. And this still allows us that flexibility down the line >> because there's still some remaining. >> Correct. So that's what that's so that helps out. Thank you. >> Yep. The the authorization is good for a year. Uh and so um if the decision was made at the next board meeting, the board could authorize to sell that additional amount at the next board meeting. It's just u it's not felt to be necessary right now. >> All right. Thank you. >> And so I'm reading this right. We've got a basically 162 million left and we're selling 112 leaving $50 million authorization on the table >> that we could use at a later date. >> Yeah. >> And then we'll be continuing to spend the 112 as per our current >> plan master plan >> within the district and we'll start spending pretty much once those bonds sell we'll start the processes supported by that 112 million. Right.

2:30:57>> Correct. Thank you. And selling those bonds does not guarantee like that phase four. It doesn't mean we're committed to the phase four portion of our bonds. We're just bond construction work. It's just we're selling releasing those bonds. Yeah. Any other questions or further discussion? Board members, seeing as there are none, Laura, can you call the role on the motion? >> Booker, >> yes. >> Chavez, >> yes. >> Medler, >> yes. Quinn Linawa, >> yes. >> Raj Paul, >> yes. Anger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Next, we will move on as indicated on our agenda this morning. The board has matters to discuss in executive session. Do I have a motion? Alex? Um, I, Alex Medler, make a motion to convene into executive session pursuant to CRS section 24-6-42 PN4 PN lowercase EN for purposes of determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and instructing negotiators regarding agreements with the Boulder Valley Classified Employees Association, BBCA, regarding the community leaison pursuant to CRS section 24-6. 6-42 PN 4 PN E PN Roman numeral 3 for purposes of developing the strategy of the school district for negotiations related to collective bargaining with BBCA regarding the community liaison and pursuant to CRS section 24-6-42 PN4 PNB B for legal advice regarding the

2:32:38same Great. Board members, we will convene. Oh, is there a vote? Laura, can you call the vote on the motion? >> Booker, >> yes. >> Chavez, >> yes. >> Medler, >> yes. >> Quinn Linua, >> yes. >> Raj Paul, >> yes. >> Anger, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Board members, we will convene in Glacier. Please take your stuff and grab lunch if you would so like to take in there. The public portion of this meeting is now adjourned.