September 15, 2026 Working Session
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK1IgiOakvk
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Retrieved: 2026-09-16T11:35:22.128703+00:00
YouTube auto-generated captions, not a BVSD-edited transcript. Text and timing preserved as returned; no spelling corrections or speaker attribution added.
[00:15:18] I'd like to call to order this regular

[00:15:19] meeting of the Bowler Valley School

[00:15:20] District for Tuesday, September 15th,

[00:15:22] 2026. Board members may attend and

[00:15:24] participate in board meetings by

[00:15:25] electronic means in accordance with

[00:15:27] board policy, BMEA, and state law.

[00:15:29] Laura, can you please call the role?

[00:15:32] >> Booker,

[00:15:33] >> here.

[00:15:36] >> Chavez,

[00:15:37] >> here. Medler

[00:15:39] >> here.

[00:15:40] >> Quinn Linua

[00:15:41] >> here.

[00:15:43] >> Raj Paul

[00:15:44] >> here. Tamu Aing

[00:15:46] >> here.

[00:15:47] >> Anger

[00:15:48] >> here.

[00:15:48] >> Thank you. Like to encourage everyone to

[00:15:50] turn their attention to the screens for

[00:15:52] our land acknowledgement this morning.

[00:16:04] The Boulder Valley School District

[00:16:06] resides and operates on land that is the

[00:16:08] ancestral homeland and unjustly and

[00:16:10] illegally taken territory of the Ude,

[00:16:13] Pueblin, Arapjo, Cheyenne, Apache,

[00:16:16] Navajo, and 48 other tribal nations

[00:16:19] historically tied to this land who have

[00:16:21] called this land home since time and

[00:16:24] memorial.

[00:16:34] We acknowledge the atrocities committed

[00:16:36] here, including the painful history of

[00:16:38] genocide, forced assimilation, and

[00:16:40] efforts to alienate the indigenous

[00:16:42] inhabitants from their homeland,

[00:16:44] supported by the policies of the United

[00:16:46] States government.

[00:16:53] BBSD is aware of the many indigenous

[00:16:55] peoples, past and present, and their

[00:16:58] dignified nations and cultures, who care

[00:17:00] for this land with strength and

[00:17:01] resilience.

[00:17:03] BBD recognizes the histories of the land

[00:17:05] in Colorado and the survival of many

[00:17:07] nations that carried their oral

[00:17:09] traditions into the present.

[00:17:13] It is BBSD's responsibility to educate

[00:17:15] ourselves, our community, and our

[00:17:17] students so that we can embrace the

[00:17:19] wisdom and knowledge of indigenous

[00:17:21] peoples

[00:17:22] and actively stand together to address

[00:17:25] injustices.

[00:17:32] In offering this land acknowledgement,

[00:17:34] we affirm and honor the history, wisdom,

[00:17:37] oral traditions, and resilience of

[00:17:40] indigenous people, and recognize the

[00:17:42] responsibility to care for and

[00:17:44] appreciate this land together.

[00:17:50] I'd like to remind everyone that the

[00:17:52] mission of the Boulder Valley School

[00:17:53] District is to create challenging,

[00:17:54] meaningful, and engaging learning

[00:17:56] opportunities environments so that all

[00:17:58] children thrive and are prepared for

[00:17:59] successful civically engaged lives. Good

[00:18:02] morning everyone. Thanks for joining us

[00:18:03] here in person and for those of you who

[00:18:04] are watching this meeting remotely.

[00:18:06] We're always glad to have you observe

[00:18:07] and participate in our meetings. At this

[00:18:10] time, is there a motion to approve

[00:18:11] today's agenda? Moved by Deian, seconded

[00:18:14] by Jorge. Uh Laura, can you please call

[00:18:17] the role?

[00:18:19] >> Booker,

[00:18:20] >> yes.

[00:18:21] >> Chavez,

[00:18:22] >> yes.

[00:18:23] >> Medler,

[00:18:24] >> yes.

[00:18:25] >> Quinn Linua,

[00:18:27] >> yes.

[00:18:28] >> Raj Paul,

[00:18:29] >> yes.

[00:18:29] >> Teamu adding,

[00:18:30] >> yes.

[00:18:32] Anger.

[00:18:33] >> Yes.

[00:18:34] >> Motion passes.

[00:18:37] >> Board members, as you know, today we

[00:18:39] have a work session, a study opportunity

[00:18:42] for one item. This meeting was

[00:18:44] originally planned to discuss our

[00:18:46] strategic plan update. Um, and given the

[00:18:49] extent of community feedback that we

[00:18:51] received last meeting, we have decided

[00:18:54] to replace that topic with another study

[00:18:56] of the resilient schools framework. and

[00:18:59] the draft resolution number 26-27

[00:19:04] when we were discussing making that

[00:19:06] shift. One thing that I just really came

[00:19:08] to me is

[00:19:10] when we started our work with the

[00:19:12] strategic plan, there were a lot of

[00:19:14] significant changes that were really

[00:19:15] hard hard for our staff to incorporate,

[00:19:18] hard for the system to incorporate. And

[00:19:21] through that work,

[00:19:23] um, we have made some outstanding

[00:19:25] improvements for our schools. Being

[00:19:27] credited with distinction for three

[00:19:28] years in a row was not without great

[00:19:30] effort, um, and faith, trust that we

[00:19:34] would do what's best for students. And

[00:19:36] so, um, while I am saddened that we

[00:19:39] couldn't get an update on that because

[00:19:41] it has been a lot of hard work and it's

[00:19:42] something we're celebrating, I do think

[00:19:44] it's really important to give a little

[00:19:45] bit more time to our community um to go

[00:19:48] through some of the questions that came

[00:19:50] up during our last board meeting on this

[00:19:53] resil resilient school proposal. And

[00:19:55] with that, I will hand this meeting over

[00:19:57] to Dr. Anderson.

[00:19:58] >> Thank you, board president Raj Paul,

[00:20:00] board members. Um, I want to start by by

[00:20:02] thanking the folks that are here with us

[00:20:03] today, folks that are watching online.

[00:20:06] um and really appreciate our board

[00:20:08] listening to our community and making

[00:20:10] this adjustment. So, we had an

[00:20:12] opportunity to get in a little more

[00:20:13] detail in terms of some of the community

[00:20:16] questions that we've received through

[00:20:17] our forums, through email

[00:20:19] communications, both to the board and

[00:20:21] individual board members, um and through

[00:20:24] the uh five plus hours of public comment

[00:20:26] that we uh heard last Tuesday.

[00:20:35] So board members, as you can see, um

[00:20:37] today we will we'll go we'll do a bit of

[00:20:39] a deeper dive in some of the proposals

[00:20:41] answering questions. Encourage board

[00:20:43] members ask questions that you have

[00:20:44] today. Um based on those questions, then

[00:20:48] the proposal will go to uh to to the

[00:20:51] board for action at our meeting

[00:20:54] scheduled for September 22nd. And so

[00:20:56] this is an additional um session based

[00:20:59] on community feedback and board

[00:21:01] direction to provide more detail into

[00:21:03] some of the outstanding questions and

[00:21:05] hope to be able to clarify that for for

[00:21:06] many of the members of our community

[00:21:11] and this is what I just shared. Um

[00:21:13] before I I uh move forward uh board

[00:21:16] members and community members we have uh

[00:21:19] most of our senior team here at the dis

[00:21:22] in our work session today. Uh Rob Price,

[00:21:25] assistant superintendent of operations,

[00:21:27] Glenn Sigru, our senior planner. Neil

[00:21:29] Anderson, assistant superintendent of

[00:21:30] schools. Emma Herszog, chief academic

[00:21:32] officer. Uh Nativity Miller, deputy

[00:21:34] superintendent, Bill Sutter, CFO, Randy

[00:21:36] Barber, chief communications officer,

[00:21:38] and Jessica Azine, our executive

[00:21:39] director of accountability evaluation.

[00:21:42] And as we present, uh today, uh board

[00:21:45] members, we'll be bringing up additional

[00:21:46] members of our team uh to provide the

[00:21:48] expertise that you'll need to be able to

[00:21:50] ask the questions that you have around

[00:21:52] other topics as well. uh to make sure

[00:21:54] that um that that your questions are

[00:21:56] answered as you consider this proposal.

[00:21:58] Um I'll close this introduction with

[00:22:00] knowing and understanding that um and

[00:22:03] and and the appreciation for the level

[00:22:05] of engagement of our community on this

[00:22:07] proposal, the level of questions, the

[00:22:09] level of detail in those questions. And

[00:22:10] so we look forward to today to be able

[00:22:12] to to begin to bring some clarification,

[00:22:15] bring bring some things to light that

[00:22:16] folks may maybe not have realized as

[00:22:18] they were trying to analyze what it is

[00:22:20] we presented on the 25th. um and make

[00:22:22] sure that the board has your questions

[00:22:24] answered in what I know is a really

[00:22:26] really difficult decision uh for the

[00:22:28] board to take uh next Tuesday. So with

[00:22:31] that, I'm turning the presentation over

[00:22:33] to assistant superintendent of

[00:22:35] operations Rob Price.

[00:22:36] >> Rob, one quick thing. Board members,

[00:22:38] there are a lot of slides and I'm just

[00:22:40] trying to kind of think through how to

[00:22:41] like logical places for pausing and

[00:22:43] asking questions. We want all those

[00:22:44] questions to be answered. My thinking is

[00:22:47] if we can get through the methodology,

[00:22:50] pause for questions, look at the data,

[00:22:52] pause for questions, and so because this

[00:22:54] first section is pretty is quite long

[00:22:56] before we get to a discussion slide. So

[00:22:57] after the methodology slides, we'll ask

[00:23:00] questions and then if that's okay and if

[00:23:03] it's not, let me know. Thanks.

[00:23:06] >> Sounds good. Thank you, Dr. Anderson.

[00:23:08] Good morning, President Rashall, members

[00:23:10] of the board. Uh we're just going to

[00:23:12] spend a little time this morning

[00:23:14] revisiting how we made our decisions.

[00:23:17] And as uh the proposal that we presented

[00:23:20] to you on August 25th did not begin with

[00:23:23] a list of schools and we've continued to

[00:23:25] see that around the country. This work

[00:23:28] has really grown out of several years of

[00:23:31] board direction um analysis by our long

[00:23:35] range advisory committee. Uh we've

[00:23:38] monitored, we've analyzed enrollment,

[00:23:40] we've engaged the community, and we've

[00:23:42] considered multiple options, all

[00:23:44] presented to you on August 25th.

[00:23:47] Throughout all of this work, uh we have

[00:23:49] kept our focus centered on the student

[00:23:52] experience and providing a high quality

[00:23:55] and equitable learning experience to all

[00:23:57] students and to manage district district

[00:23:59] resources in a fiscally responsible uh

[00:24:02] manner.

[00:24:05] The long range advisory committee began

[00:24:07] its work in 2022 following the board

[00:24:10] prioritizing this work understanding the

[00:24:13] challenges that declining enrollment was

[00:24:15] presenting to the district and from the

[00:24:17] beginning and as I just mentioned we've

[00:24:19] been centered on the student experience

[00:24:21] the most important metric that we have

[00:24:23] followed is the number of or the average

[00:24:26] number of classes per grade level and

[00:24:28] for planning purposes you can see it

[00:24:30] here at the bottom of the slide one

[00:24:32] round is 25 students students in each

[00:24:34] grade or about 150 students across a K5

[00:24:38] school. That has come up on a number of

[00:24:40] occasions. So, we want to make sure that

[00:24:42] is understood by our community. Uh the

[00:24:46] committee then determined that when

[00:24:48] enrollment is equal to or less than two

[00:24:51] classes per grade level, schools feel

[00:24:53] the impacts of declining enrollment. LRA

[00:24:56] also considered utilization. Uh classes

[00:24:59] per grade level really helped us

[00:25:00] understand the student experience.

[00:25:03] utilization helped us understand uh

[00:25:05] operational efficiencies and that

[00:25:07] utilization accounts for different size

[00:25:09] of school buildings. Um the metrics uh

[00:25:13] as we have presented to the board on a

[00:25:16] number of occasions really was just an

[00:25:17] early warning system. Uh LRA um also if

[00:25:21] you remember emphasized the need for

[00:25:24] geographic uh consideration. So looking

[00:25:27] at regions, we're looking at multiple

[00:25:29] schools at once uh within the same

[00:25:32] communities. Um the timeline over on the

[00:25:35] right side shows the steps we've taken

[00:25:37] to study enrollment policies, attendance

[00:25:39] boundaries. We looked at a number of

[00:25:42] ways to increase enrollment to avoid

[00:25:44] this difficult conversation. And like

[00:25:47] many districts, we have not been able to

[00:25:50] change the enrollment patterns just due

[00:25:51] to the underlying demographic uh trends

[00:25:54] that we have been seeing here in Boulder

[00:25:56] Valley School District.

[00:26:00] By the fall of 20ou 2025, enrollment

[00:26:04] showed that by 2030, more than half of

[00:26:06] our elementary school schools in

[00:26:08] Boulder, Lewisville, and Spirior, and

[00:26:09] Broomfield were all projected to operate

[00:26:12] at or below two classes per grade level.

[00:26:15] And at the same time, school leaders,

[00:26:17] teachers, families, uh, were all

[00:26:20] reporting the effects of declining

[00:26:22] enrollment. And I remember that

[00:26:23] conversation coming up many times at

[00:26:25] this board DAS about the challenges that

[00:26:28] we were faced with in some of our

[00:26:29] smaller schools. And for years, we

[00:26:32] figured out how to make it work. And Dr.

[00:26:34] Anderson has talked about this. We have

[00:26:36] pushed in resources.

[00:26:38] And that was workable when we had a few

[00:26:41] small schools. It is not sustainable

[00:26:44] when the majority of your schools are

[00:26:45] small. We're not funded like that. We're

[00:26:48] funded on a per pupil basis. And based

[00:26:50] on those underlying challenges, it was

[00:26:53] during the October 2025 work session.

[00:26:56] The board directed us to change course.

[00:26:59] Uh that is when you had said let's not

[00:27:02] address this on a school by school

[00:27:04] basis. We need to address this on a

[00:27:05] regional approach with multiple schools

[00:27:07] to look at. So that direction led then

[00:27:11] to the development of the community

[00:27:12] engagement plan that we presented to you

[00:27:14] in January. We then started engaging our

[00:27:17] staff immediately. Dr. Anderson, Dr. De

[00:27:20] La Cruz went out, met with all of our

[00:27:22] teachers during roundt meetings. Uh we

[00:27:24] then had at six community engagement

[00:27:26] sessions and then at seventh I guess at

[00:27:28] the Coline community engagement session

[00:27:30] and then as we had stated we met as a

[00:27:33] staff over the summer to develop options

[00:27:36] and then based on those options we

[00:27:38] brought our proposal back to you uh on

[00:27:40] August 25th um as stated in the timeline

[00:27:44] that we originally presented to you back

[00:27:46] in the fall.

[00:27:49] I'm going to present this slide one more

[00:27:51] time. I bet I have presented this slide

[00:27:54] 30 or 40 times

[00:27:56] um since October, right?

[00:28:01] I've presented this during our community

[00:28:02] engagement sessions. I've presented this

[00:28:04] at least three different board meetings.

[00:28:06] I've presented this at every municip

[00:28:08] every every presentation municipalities

[00:28:12] uh district advisory committees. I think

[00:28:14] we had 14 of those and in a number of

[00:28:17] written communications that have went

[00:28:18] out to the community. So, I'm a bit

[00:28:21] surprised why everybody is surprised

[00:28:23] with the uh option or the proposal that

[00:28:26] we brought forward to you. The proposal

[00:28:28] is within alignment with all of the

[00:28:31] options that we told the board we would

[00:28:33] consider. So, uh what we um consistently

[00:28:37] communicated was this full range of

[00:28:39] tools that districts use throughout the

[00:28:42] country when they're dealing with

[00:28:44] declining enrollment. As I talked about,

[00:28:46] districts go through the same thing.

[00:28:47] They find out how how to make it work.

[00:28:49] They push in resources. Then they shift

[00:28:52] to let's figure out how we can increase

[00:28:54] enrollment. We did that. We had the BBSD

[00:28:57] this place to be showcased. We tried to

[00:28:59] generate additional enrollment. We have

[00:29:00] a commuter preference that we no longer

[00:29:02] had. We slowed declining enrollment for

[00:29:05] a bit, but again, there is no way to

[00:29:08] address the underlying demographic

[00:29:09] trends. The housing prices that we're

[00:29:12] seeing in Boulder Valley School

[00:29:14] District. Young families can no longer

[00:29:16] afford to live here, right? and that's

[00:29:18] why we're seeing what we're seeing. So

[00:29:21] again, just for clarification, the

[00:29:22] resilient schools proposal that we

[00:29:24] presented to you on August 25th utilized

[00:29:27] the options on this slide. And again, a

[00:29:30] lot of these options were prioritized by

[00:29:32] our community during the community

[00:29:33] engagement sessions and during some of

[00:29:36] the surveying and polling that we did.

[00:29:39] Um, and with that, I'll turn it over to

[00:29:40] Randy Barber.

[00:29:42] So, following the board's direction, as

[00:29:43] as Rob mentioned, as well as the plan

[00:29:45] that we uh brought to you in January of

[00:29:48] 2026, uh we hit the road. Um our

[00:29:51] philosophy has been listening before

[00:29:53] leading. Uh we wanted to first connect

[00:29:56] with our elementary school staff, so our

[00:29:58] principles, our teachers, and staff at

[00:30:01] those schools through roundts. Um you've

[00:30:03] seen the slide before, but now with a

[00:30:05] little bit more uh imagery, just again,

[00:30:07] we were out there, we've got uh we've

[00:30:09] got photographic proof of that.

[00:30:11] um 14 presentations, advisory groups, a

[00:30:14] lot of the places that that Rob was

[00:30:15] talking about where we presented this

[00:30:17] the plan, talked through the different

[00:30:19] options that we had for folks. Uh we did

[00:30:21] the same at the seven engagement

[00:30:22] sessions that he mentioned and we went

[00:30:24] to our city councils. We really wanted

[00:30:25] to make sure that our m municipalities

[00:30:27] were aware uh really be being following

[00:30:30] along with what's going on here.

[00:30:31] Obviously, these things are going to

[00:30:33] impact our cities and we wanted to make

[00:30:34] sure that they had an opportunity to

[00:30:35] hear what our our game plan was and in

[00:30:37] some cases they provided some feedback

[00:30:39] to us in in regards to their thoughts on

[00:30:41] it.

[00:30:43] Next slide. Oh, and then we also had a

[00:30:46] survey that we'll talk about as well.

[00:30:48] Uh, a big part of this was

[00:30:49] communication. So, since the beginning

[00:30:50] of the the process with LLR, uh, I think

[00:30:53] we've got something like 30 stories that

[00:30:55] we've done on the district side of

[00:30:56] things in regards to this process. every

[00:30:58] time that we had an update, we were

[00:31:00] coming back to the community and letting

[00:31:01] them know where we were at. As we went

[00:31:02] through the attendance boundaries, we

[00:31:04] were doing stories upon that. And then,

[00:31:06] of course, things really ramped up after

[00:31:08] that January plan came out right in

[00:31:10] February. Uh and since then, uh we have

[00:31:13] been uh doing uh updates uh to the

[00:31:16] community through a newsletter uh seven

[00:31:18] of those uh throughout throughout time.

[00:31:21] uh those were really action-packed with

[00:31:22] with all the information that we're

[00:31:24] talking about the plan uh opportunities

[00:31:26] for engagement, really encouraging

[00:31:28] people to participate. We were really

[00:31:29] reaching out to folks, letting them know

[00:31:31] about the regional approach to it,

[00:31:33] letting folks know again about the

[00:31:34] options that we had on the table here.

[00:31:37] Uh we also had a good amount of uh

[00:31:38] earned media coverage. Um you know,

[00:31:41] throughout uh our all of our media

[00:31:43] outlets in the the Metro Denver area,

[00:31:44] they've covered it. uh but most

[00:31:46] specifically our local paper of course

[00:31:47] would be the heaviest uh with seven

[00:31:49] stories uh covering both the regional

[00:31:51] and the options that we had on the

[00:31:53] table. So uh that has been out there in

[00:31:55] the community uh as we've been talking

[00:31:57] through it. I do want to just mention

[00:31:59] that this this work for my team uh while

[00:32:02] we've done a lot of things uh that are

[00:32:04] that are tough. Uh we obviously had the

[00:32:05] Marshall fire that was uh you know

[00:32:07] incredibly hard in terms of crisis

[00:32:09] communication. Uh we went through the

[00:32:11] pandemic and that communication was

[00:32:13] incredibly hard. Um this was a whole new

[00:32:16] area of uh of learning for us. Uh you

[00:32:18] know we had never uh gone through a

[00:32:20] closure uh like this and so with the

[00:32:22] board's suggestion um we were able to um

[00:32:27] bring in a couple consultants to give us

[00:32:28] a hand with this. Uh Planfully is a is a

[00:32:31] a couple ladies that have gone through

[00:32:33] this at Jeffco uh through Jeffco public

[00:32:35] schools uh had really lived through the

[00:32:37] process and they're communication focus.

[00:32:40] So, you know, they were able to give us

[00:32:42] some real insights into how to best

[00:32:44] approach community relations in this

[00:32:46] instance, uh the kinds of communications

[00:32:48] that would be needed uh through this.

[00:32:50] And then um on the back end, uh uh once

[00:32:53] the decision was made, we brought them

[00:32:54] back in to be able to have some

[00:32:56] conversations and actually give us a an

[00:32:58] extra pair of hands in drafting some of

[00:33:00] the communications that we used. uh as

[00:33:02] you can imagine there's quite a bit of

[00:33:04] things that we had to prepare and so

[00:33:06] having some extra uh communication folks

[00:33:09] um you know at our ready was really

[00:33:10] helpful to my to my team. Additionally

[00:33:13] and I I know everybody in the community

[00:33:14] that came out to our engagement sessions

[00:33:16] saw the work of ERS but I want to really

[00:33:18] uh highlight uh what their what their

[00:33:20] role was in this. As we went into those

[00:33:22] engagement sessions our team was really

[00:33:24] thinking about you know we didn't want

[00:33:26] this to be the normal uh feedback

[00:33:28] sessions that we had 20 years ago. We

[00:33:30] didn't want this to be what we see

[00:33:31] around the country. We wanted to do

[00:33:33] something different. And so again, with

[00:33:34] that idea of listening before leading,

[00:33:36] we our philosophy was a how do we

[00:33:39] introduce folks to the information that

[00:33:40] we're talking about? Uh give them a

[00:33:43] sense of what it's like to be in these

[00:33:44] schools when you've got uh students and

[00:33:46] staff that are being impacted by

[00:33:48] declining enrollment. That's, you know,

[00:33:50] tough. I mean, we could showed a video.

[00:33:51] We could have done a number of things,

[00:33:52] but by giving uh them exercises in order

[00:33:55] to see what that feels like, uh it was

[00:33:57] really helpful. a whole lot of parents,

[00:33:58] you know, could kind of really then

[00:34:00] understand uh kind of visualize what

[00:34:02] that experience was like. And then we

[00:34:04] really put them in the driver's seat and

[00:34:06] thinking about these different options

[00:34:08] and having uh throughout the process

[00:34:10] we've said that one of the big things

[00:34:11] that we really wanted to hear and

[00:34:12] something that uh Jessica is going to

[00:34:14] talk about in a minute is really, you

[00:34:15] know, we wanted to be able to hear from

[00:34:17] folks what their priorities, their

[00:34:18] values, you know, how they were looking

[00:34:20] at these things, the things that really

[00:34:22] were most important to them. And so at

[00:34:23] these tables and it was I I find amazing

[00:34:26] to watch the engagement that happened

[00:34:27] here. Uh parents uh some students we had

[00:34:31] a a small number of students come out.

[00:34:33] Um they were really debating and

[00:34:35] weighing these different things and I

[00:34:37] think everybody that came to these

[00:34:38] sessions said you know there was it's

[00:34:40] difficult work. I mean we'd like to

[00:34:42] prioritize all the things that we're

[00:34:43] thinking about here. And I think that's

[00:34:45] the difficulty that we as a as a

[00:34:46] district have. And so these cards that

[00:34:48] they created, the tabletop exercises

[00:34:50] really help people to be able to have

[00:34:52] that experience of of being part of the

[00:34:54] process, thinking through these things.

[00:34:56] And then part of this was actually

[00:34:58] trying to encapsulate trying to

[00:34:59] understand and document that feedback.

[00:35:01] And so of course we had our principles

[00:35:03] at the tables. And so they were

[00:35:04] facilitating this and writing down what

[00:35:06] they were hearing. And then each of the

[00:35:08] participants was able to in a packet be

[00:35:10] able to write down their feedback as

[00:35:11] well. And so all that was captured and

[00:35:13] then ERS took that data, compilated it,

[00:35:16] tabulated it, and then was able to hand

[00:35:18] it off to us. Uh before I hand it off to

[00:35:20] uh Jessica Aine, our executive director

[00:35:23] of accountability and evaluation to talk

[00:35:25] more about how that process worked once

[00:35:27] the data was handed off, I do want to

[00:35:29] just make a really important point,

[00:35:30] especially based on some of the feedback

[00:35:31] that we've heard in the community, that

[00:35:33] neither of these two consultants, truly

[00:35:35] no consultants were in the room when we

[00:35:37] were making these decisions as

[00:35:39] leadership team. uh we came together um

[00:35:42] you know that work had already been done

[00:35:44] in regards to the engagement and uh in

[00:35:46] those rooms it was district leadership

[00:35:47] that was really weighing considering the

[00:35:49] data and then making those decisions. So

[00:35:51] the the consultants were not part of

[00:35:52] that.

[00:35:54] Just one other point, board members. Um,

[00:35:57] and thank you, Randy, and thank you,

[00:35:58] Rob, um, for sharing. You know, in my

[00:36:02] nine years here as superintendent, I

[00:36:04] don't know that there's been any topic

[00:36:05] or any moment in time where our

[00:36:07] community has had more opportunities for

[00:36:09] engagement and communication from the

[00:36:11] district than the process that we just

[00:36:13] went through. Um, uh, Dr. Dr. Alzine

[00:36:16] will will talk you through the the the

[00:36:19] statistical analyses that we we were

[00:36:22] able to recover as a result of that. But

[00:36:24] board members, we anyone and everyone

[00:36:27] who wanted to participate in um in these

[00:36:30] processes in these work sessions, we

[00:36:32] accommodated uh we shifted venues just

[00:36:34] like we did last week when we knew that

[00:36:36] we had more folks that wanted to talk to

[00:36:38] us than we potentially had room to be

[00:36:41] able to to accommodate in a way that was

[00:36:43] respectful and meaningful. Um, we

[00:36:47] originally planned having these sessions

[00:36:49] in libraries, then we moved them to

[00:36:51] gymnasiums. And I just want to thank our

[00:36:54] team for all of the things that they did

[00:36:56] to make those um those opportunities a

[00:36:59] reality. But it gave us really clarity

[00:37:02] on our community as a whole, what

[00:37:04] they're looking for from their

[00:37:06] elementary school student experience.

[00:37:09] uh the the data and you'll see as we

[00:37:11] talk about the survey data and we talk

[00:37:13] about the community polling data and we

[00:37:14] talk about the teacher data that we

[00:37:16] collected uh triangulated in a way that

[00:37:20] gave us a really clear picture on what

[00:37:23] it is we were trying to do as we began

[00:37:25] to develop this proposal. Uh so I I I'll

[00:37:29] share that I'm very proud of the process

[00:37:31] that we used. I will share that I'm

[00:37:33] proud of the ways that we tried to

[00:37:34] communicate and I think the trick with

[00:37:37] communications is and even engagement is

[00:37:40] to the extent that you can put forth the

[00:37:42] best effort, it doesn't mean that it's

[00:37:44] 100% guarantee that that everybody is

[00:37:46] able to participate or is is able to

[00:37:49] engage in that. And that's just human

[00:37:50] nature and that's just kind of I think

[00:37:52] the reality in any big decision that

[00:37:55] that school districts make is that you

[00:37:57] know we're going to put for our best

[00:37:58] foot forward and really try to do what

[00:38:00] we can. But I will say that uh the ways

[00:38:03] in which we engaged the process that we

[00:38:05] used uh I think was was really a a great

[00:38:09] opportunity for lots in our community to

[00:38:12] learn about our challenges. That's one

[00:38:14] thing to say watch board meetings. It's

[00:38:15] another thing to come and sit for three

[00:38:17] three and a half hours with a

[00:38:18] facilitator know and understand the

[00:38:20] experiences that are happening across

[00:38:22] the district that might not be your own

[00:38:23] experience. Right? that that that you

[00:38:26] know as as we solve for these things we

[00:38:28] have individual experiences and then we

[00:38:30] have the collective experiences that

[00:38:31] we're trying to provide. So um I will

[00:38:34] say that that the feedback that we

[00:38:35] received at the end of those of of these

[00:38:38] um these sessions was incredibly

[00:38:40] positive board members. You were there

[00:38:41] you heard what I heard. folks were

[00:38:43] really appreciative that we listened and

[00:38:44] heard and so um just as establishing

[00:38:47] that that those that that engagement

[00:38:50] that data that feedback very very

[00:38:52] important as we developed our proposal.

[00:38:55] So

[00:38:56] >> before we turn it over to Dr. Elian I

[00:38:57] wanted to see if board members had any

[00:38:59] questions on the timeline u methodology

[00:39:02] up until this point of the presentation.

[00:39:07] Elena,

[00:39:11] >> first I appreciate the clarification on

[00:39:14] consultants. I've had a lot of questions

[00:39:16] on that. Um, so thank you for sharing

[00:39:20] that. Um, and I'm curious on

[00:39:25] the timeline. Did we ever change the

[00:39:30] timeline for voting on this? Did we ever

[00:39:33] move it up?

[00:39:39] I I I just I can't remember and I and I

[00:39:42] didn't know if there was the answer to

[00:39:43] that is yes. the answer to that. Can you

[00:39:45] just explain to me? I thought maybe it

[00:39:47] was an open enrollment thing, but I

[00:39:49] >> No, we we had originally um shared I

[00:39:52] think it was October 8th for the vote

[00:39:54] and in board discussion. I think some

[00:39:56] really valid points were brought up on

[00:39:59] um the potentially negative impact that

[00:40:01] could have on individual families as

[00:40:02] they were trying to access our open

[00:40:04] enrollment process that that window

[00:40:06] would be too tight. And as a result, to

[00:40:08] make sure that we're supporting

[00:40:09] families, given, you know, the the

[00:40:11] magnitude of this decision, the board

[00:40:13] elected to move that back to the 22nd.

[00:40:16] And I believe that was at the June 9th

[00:40:17] board meeting.

[00:40:19] >> Yeah, it was during the board work

[00:40:20] session, our prioritization meeting.

[00:40:22] >> And I'm certain I was at that session,

[00:40:24] but I did not remember that when someone

[00:40:26] asked me that. Um, though I assumed it

[00:40:29] was about open enrollment and and that

[00:40:32] window there. Okay. Thank you,

[00:40:35] >> Deian.

[00:40:38] because I'm a relative newcomer on the

[00:40:41] board, I uh kind of walked in and some

[00:40:44] of these decisions were sort of in

[00:40:46] progress. And so if I'm asking questions

[00:40:49] that are just um history that happened

[00:40:53] right before December last year, please

[00:40:56] uh help me fill in the blanks. Um when

[00:40:59] the decision was made to go to a

[00:41:02] regional approach

[00:41:04] um

[00:41:06] how were those regions defined and who

[00:41:10] defined them?

[00:41:13] Well, the regions were well one of the

[00:41:16] outcomes from the October meeting was

[00:41:18] the board had told us that allowing

[00:41:21] schools to stay small is no longer an

[00:41:23] option. And by that time long range

[00:41:26] advisory committee had uh presented two

[00:41:28] different metrics and those are the

[00:41:30] metrics are average classes per grade

[00:41:32] level and then the utilization. So

[00:41:35] average classes per grade level we knew

[00:41:37] that uh the student experience was being

[00:41:40] impacted when they got less than two

[00:41:41] rounds. So that defined what a small

[00:41:43] school was is anything equal to or less

[00:41:45] than two classes per grade level. So we

[00:41:48] knew that allowing schools to stay small

[00:41:50] was no longer an option. So then we

[00:41:51] looked at the different regions and in

[00:41:54] those regions, Boulder, Lewisville,

[00:41:55] Spear, and Broomfield, at least half or

[00:41:58] the majority of the schools in those

[00:41:59] regions are at or below two classes per

[00:42:02] grade level. So that's what defined it.

[00:42:04] We saw some growth in Erie. We saw some

[00:42:06] growth in Lafayette. And then the

[00:42:09] mountain schools were not included just

[00:42:11] due to their unique geographic

[00:42:13] locations. So,

[00:42:16] >> uh follow-up question would be um so the

[00:42:20] regions were um

[00:42:24] uh were set really by geography

[00:42:27] >> and yet it appears that there a region

[00:42:31] that would have included all the

[00:42:34] students that are all of the schools

[00:42:36] that are trying to do second language

[00:42:38] instruction that they were sort of not

[00:42:40] in a region because they're separate.

[00:42:47] We're going to speak um in more detail

[00:42:49] on on the recommendation to study this

[00:42:51] the schools that are in dual language.

[00:42:53] Uh you when we did not identify

[00:42:55] Lafayette, you'd be correct that we

[00:42:57] would then not have been able to

[00:42:59] consider Pioneer or Anjivine Middle

[00:43:02] School. We also limited this to the K8

[00:43:04] uh schools in um in Lewisville Superior

[00:43:08] and elementary schools. And so Casey

[00:43:10] Middle School, Manhattan Middle School

[00:43:11] also wouldn't be part of of this

[00:43:14] analysis. And so uh challenging because

[00:43:17] certainly um two of our dual language

[00:43:20] elementary schools are are in the middle

[00:43:21] of Boulder. Um but we will speak to kind

[00:43:24] of more detail on in regards of why we

[00:43:27] we recommended to take a year to study

[00:43:29] that. um really studying that as a K8

[00:43:32] continuum, not just elementary schools.

[00:43:35] And really thinking about systemically

[00:43:37] the experience, the student experience

[00:43:39] that we want our students who are

[00:43:42] studying or participating in dual

[00:43:44] language program schools to have. And

[00:43:46] through the engagement process we had,

[00:43:49] uh there wasn't specificity around dual

[00:43:51] language schools and programs. uh and

[00:43:54] their instruction and their experience

[00:43:56] is vastly different from students that

[00:43:58] are in our monolingual schools that just

[00:44:00] teach in English.

[00:44:06] >> Anna,

[00:44:08] thank you. And for a timeline, one of

[00:44:11] the biggest pieces of feedback that I've

[00:44:12] received is um folks did see the uh LRAK

[00:44:17] recommendations that uh kept coming out

[00:44:20] on um school consolidations and where we

[00:44:23] were at in elementary schools. And I

[00:44:25] think that some of the the community

[00:44:27] members um that really showed up to our

[00:44:31] community engagement sessions were of

[00:44:34] the schools that were in the red that

[00:44:36] had some of that notice put into some of

[00:44:39] those plans. Um

[00:44:42] and now that we have announced the the

[00:44:45] consolidations that we are looking into,

[00:44:48] I wonder uh my my biggest question is

[00:44:51] where that shift happened of um looking

[00:44:55] at the recommendations of ELRACK um and

[00:44:58] then switching to what we have now um

[00:45:01] within that timeline for community

[00:45:03] engagement. Um just getting a clearer

[00:45:06] sense of what when that shift happened.

[00:45:09] Um, and I know that right uh right now

[00:45:11] is that that moment of uh where our

[00:45:15] community members are able to give um

[00:45:17] that feedback on our proposal. Um, but I

[00:45:21] also just want to go back to acknowledge

[00:45:24] um just the fact that some of these

[00:45:27] parents um and community members,

[00:45:29] families um hadn't engaged as much

[00:45:34] because they weren't um considering that

[00:45:38] they were going to be uh put in this

[00:45:42] proposal for a consolidation or a

[00:45:44] closure.

[00:45:47] >> Uh thank you for those questions. A

[00:45:49] couple clarifying points. Um,

[00:45:52] we had broad community participation at

[00:45:55] Broomfield High School, at Boulder High

[00:45:58] School, here at the Ed Center. Um, we

[00:46:03] Monarch High School, uh, gymnasiums

[00:46:05] filled with individuals and they were

[00:46:06] not limited to the schools that were

[00:46:08] identified in the in the engagement

[00:46:11] phase. um in the LRAK metrics that we

[00:46:14] released as part of the annual report um

[00:46:18] on LRAK declining enrollment annual

[00:46:20] trends report that is per board policy

[00:46:22] that we presented every February. And so

[00:46:26] um because we would only have had two uh

[00:46:29] small elementary schools participating

[00:46:31] if that would have been the case. And so

[00:46:33] um I do understand that that there are

[00:46:35] some folks who didn't participate in

[00:46:37] that opportunity or maybe didn't

[00:46:38] participate in our surveys um that um

[00:46:43] that at this point uh maybe didn't

[00:46:45] realize the u the magnitude of that of

[00:46:48] that opportunity. And uh this is why we

[00:46:51] went through what what Randy shared

[00:46:53] which is uh you know we we were we're

[00:46:55] sending monthly updates to all of our

[00:46:57] families in communications. We weren't

[00:46:59] we weren't hiding the fact that this was

[00:47:01] a regional approach. It was very much

[00:47:03] front and center on why we were actually

[00:47:04] doing the engagement process. Uh and in

[00:47:08] any engagement session uh not every

[00:47:10] parent participated, right? We had we

[00:47:12] had a pretty good showing thousands you

[00:47:14] know thousand people. I mean I think

[00:47:15] that you know when Jessica will speak

[00:47:17] you know when you look at all the

[00:47:18] individual data points 76,000 data

[00:47:21] points which we feel is a a really

[00:47:24] strong sample and we'll talk about that.

[00:47:26] Uh so uh so so there are people who

[00:47:29] didn't participate in that right but if

[00:47:32] they were to have participated without

[00:47:34] knowing their school is named would they

[00:47:35] have said anything differently than the

[00:47:38] sample size that we collected from all

[00:47:39] of these communities. The data we've

[00:47:42] suggested is is incredibly triangulated

[00:47:44] and clear. It's not really fuzzy at all.

[00:47:47] Uh so that process wasn't about

[00:47:50] individual schools and it wasn't an

[00:47:52] engagement process per LRACK. that was a

[00:47:54] community engagement process on the

[00:47:56] student experience and I think that we

[00:47:58] were incredibly clear about that. So um

[00:48:03] and and as Rob shared, you know, we've

[00:48:05] really tried to engage in ways that are

[00:48:07] very honest and transparent in terms of

[00:48:11] the of of what the board shared, what

[00:48:15] your direction was, and how we

[00:48:16] communicated that to our community and

[00:48:18] the staff. And you know when it when

[00:48:20] when when you all shared in October 2025

[00:48:23] we need to move to a regional approach.

[00:48:26] As superintendent I asked you for

[00:48:28] several months to think through what a

[00:48:30] strong process would be. How do we

[00:48:33] create a worldclass process that listens

[00:48:35] to people before we just behind closed

[00:48:38] doors pick a list of schools and roll it

[00:48:40] out to the community and ask them if

[00:48:41] they like it or not? or even worse, when

[00:48:44] we did this in 20 or 2003,

[00:48:47] put out competing proposals and then ask

[00:48:50] communities to come and give feedback on

[00:48:52] whether or not we should close this

[00:48:54] school or that school. Proposals that

[00:48:55] competed directly with who was going to

[00:48:58] be closed. And I've talked to board

[00:49:00] members from that era. I've talked to

[00:49:01] staff members. I was in a meeting

[00:49:02] yesterday with a teacher who was part of

[00:49:04] that. Uh it was horrible. Not that this

[00:49:08] is easy. I'm not saying this is easy.

[00:49:10] And I'm not saying that this um isn't

[00:49:12] hard. Uh however, I think we were really

[00:49:16] clear on what our task was. We engaged

[00:49:19] thoroughly. Um we, you know, as as part

[00:49:23] of of doing this, I've had a lot of

[00:49:25] conversations with a lot of districts

[00:49:26] across the country and I've asked them

[00:49:28] what's their process.

[00:49:31] Our process stands out as one that is

[00:49:33] more inclusive and more engaging than

[00:49:36] other districts. And you could compare

[00:49:38] what we've done and our our um

[00:49:41] engagement to any other district in

[00:49:43] Colorado. I tell you, we I I promise you

[00:49:46] our engagement has been the deepest. Our

[00:49:48] outreach has been the most proactive. Um

[00:49:52] so I do understand at you know folks who

[00:49:54] are engaging at this point may have some

[00:49:56] questions about the process. I stand

[00:49:59] behind the process and our team who

[00:50:00] built the process. I think it is not um

[00:50:03] just an effective process for your

[00:50:05] decision, but it is something um that

[00:50:07] that should be stood up as a model

[00:50:09] across other districts going through

[00:50:11] something that is incredibly incredibly

[00:50:13] difficult.

[00:50:15] >> Alex,

[00:50:16] >> yeah, I guess I have a comment and then

[00:50:17] a question. Um I would just say actually

[00:50:21] in partial response to my colleagues on

[00:50:22] the board, uh I campaigned and um came

[00:50:26] into the board very interested in moving

[00:50:28] to a regional approach. Uh I live and my

[00:50:31] kids attend schools in the Table Mesa

[00:50:32] neighborhood and the LRAK approach would

[00:50:35] treat Mesa Elementary as a totally

[00:50:37] different thing than Bear Creek than

[00:50:38] Community Monastery and Creekide. And

[00:50:40] the parents in that community treat it

[00:50:42] as the offerings that are within walking

[00:50:43] and biking distance of their houses. And

[00:50:46] so if you just looked at the LRAK thing,

[00:50:48] you'd be we were parsing out differences

[00:50:50] between uh small differences in

[00:50:53] enrollment when to our later point most

[00:50:56] of them were underenrolled. So, we

[00:50:58] needed to act more and we're acting as

[00:51:00] if one school because Heatherwood was a

[00:51:02] little smaller than the next school that

[00:51:04] Heatherwood's obviously the one that

[00:51:05] should change and it's all on them and

[00:51:07] we'd put all our resources into solving

[00:51:08] Heatherwood. So, we give spend a quarter

[00:51:10] million and what do you know? It adds

[00:51:12] six kids in enrollment to the school.

[00:51:14] So, it just doesn't really work and it

[00:51:16] doesn't serve the community. So, uh, my

[00:51:18] memory from when the board suggested

[00:51:20] moving from the LRAK to, uh, more bold

[00:51:23] action in part was because we knew we

[00:51:25] needed to act substantially and that we

[00:51:27] shouldn't act on schools in isolation.

[00:51:30] Uh, we didn't want to go back to 2003

[00:51:33] or whatever and pit one school against

[00:51:35] another. We wanted communities to talk

[00:51:38] about how best to serve the all the

[00:51:39] schools in their in their communities.

[00:51:42] And we're not just Boulder, like we're I

[00:51:43] forget how many geographies we serve,

[00:51:45] but it's a lot of government

[00:51:46] institutions and counties and stuff. And

[00:51:48] people do sort of work within their

[00:51:50] community. Some will commute a half

[00:51:52] hour, 40 minutes to a school, but not

[00:51:54] many. Most people want to make it

[00:51:56] practical. And so I am a strong believer

[00:51:58] that the move from the individual school

[00:52:00] parsing out small differences to having

[00:52:02] a regional approach was something the

[00:52:04] board uh I'm argued for it. I found that

[00:52:07] the rest of the board u many of the new

[00:52:09] people were agreeing with that approach

[00:52:11] and that it is more holistic and

[00:52:13] comprehensive and from the feedback that

[00:52:15] we get I think we we see that that's

[00:52:18] probably necessary and it leads to a lot

[00:52:19] of transition planning. Um the other

[00:52:22] thing I would just say is that the the

[00:52:24] LRA the the issues we were dealing with

[00:52:27] collectively with all 27,000 kids were

[00:52:29] before us all the time and that the

[00:52:31] shortcomings were not hypothetical or in

[00:52:33] the future. they were kid families

[00:52:35] leaving the district now for private

[00:52:36] schools or homeschooling because uh they

[00:52:39] couldn't get the services they needed uh

[00:52:41] for their neurodeiverse kid in the place

[00:52:42] where they were or that there was no

[00:52:44] acceleration available because they had

[00:52:46] to do advanced courses uh online rather

[00:52:49] than in person and their kid couldn't

[00:52:50] learn that modality. So like the

[00:52:52] shortcomings were real. the school

[00:52:54] by-school approach was really a short

[00:52:56] service to our community and I for one

[00:52:59] on the board didn't not want to wait

[00:53:01] four or five more years of waiting for

[00:53:03] those numbers to creep even lower. So I

[00:53:06] I think the red and orange stuff is

[00:53:08] helpful, but there was no green there.

[00:53:11] Like all those schools, so many of those

[00:53:12] schools are under enroll to the point

[00:53:13] where they were harming kids. And I

[00:53:15] think that's where the board I've heard

[00:53:17] feedback from the community about, you

[00:53:18] know, the transition from the LRAC as if

[00:53:20] they were the policymaking body. This is

[00:53:22] the policymaking body. We're the

[00:53:23] decision makers directing where we go.

[00:53:26] and we directed the district to move in

[00:53:28] a more regional comprehensive holistic

[00:53:30] approach and to accelerate the action so

[00:53:32] that we wouldn't be waiting four or five

[00:53:34] more years to pull the trigger and just

[00:53:35] punt it off to some future board when

[00:53:37] kids are suffering today. So I just

[00:53:39] wanted to explain the regionalism for me

[00:53:42] from for new members on the board who

[00:53:44] weren't there during some of those

[00:53:45] discussions. That's that's where I was

[00:53:47] coming from and that's how I remember

[00:53:48] those discussions. And one more thing on

[00:53:51] the uh there's been the discussion about

[00:53:53] the engagement. Um, I think it's wrong

[00:53:56] to frame what we're doing now as like a

[00:54:00] short version of engagement versus this

[00:54:02] other stuff. The other stuff we did is

[00:54:04] in addition to what districts normally

[00:54:06] do. Most of the districts would do a

[00:54:08] short version of what we've done in the

[00:54:09] last 8 weeks. That's what community

[00:54:11] engagement is at the best case in our

[00:54:13] surrounding districts. In St. Green, I

[00:54:15] think they had like two weeks notice

[00:54:17] before they closed an elementary school.

[00:54:18] Jeffco had their LRAK thing and they

[00:54:20] went to just quick action and proposed

[00:54:22] closing you know 11. Um so I think our

[00:54:26] large engagement process which I look

[00:54:28] forward to having described in more

[00:54:30] detail now is in addition to what is

[00:54:33] actually a normal district engagement

[00:54:34] process with a fairly normal district

[00:54:37] timeline that we've been engaged in in

[00:54:39] over the last 10 weeks. That's the way I

[00:54:40] see it. And I never expected the the

[00:54:43] deep community engagement which I found

[00:54:45] also great greatly gratifying to see the

[00:54:47] sophistication and the engagement and

[00:54:49] the deep dive of our families and our

[00:54:51] educators. Um but that was not to avoid

[00:54:54] having the discussion we've had over the

[00:54:56] last two months. That was to inform the

[00:54:57] discussion for the whole community that

[00:54:59] we're now engaged in. So it's not an

[00:55:01] either or or the right or the wrong way.

[00:55:03] I think we did an additional step that

[00:55:04] was very necessary and appropriate.

[00:55:08] Before we move on, I just want to again

[00:55:11] provide context to this timeline. I have

[00:55:14] been on the board for five years and

[00:55:17] we've been talking about declining

[00:55:18] enrollment since I was elected in

[00:55:20] November of 2021.

[00:55:23] Before that, I was on the district

[00:55:25] accountability committee and we were

[00:55:26] talking about the impacts of declining

[00:55:28] enrollment on student learning

[00:55:29] experiences and student data. So, it has

[00:55:33] been a long time coming and I understand

[00:55:36] particularly for parents of

[00:55:37] kindergarteners or elementary school

[00:55:39] student or first graders who haven't

[00:55:41] kind of been along for the ride with us

[00:55:44] in the same way or haven't watched the

[00:55:46] experiences at their individual schools

[00:55:49] deteriorate over time because there are

[00:55:52] fewer and fewer students. Um, I

[00:55:54] understand that this feels like a

[00:55:56] surprise and I just really hope

[00:55:59] everybody hears how long me personally

[00:56:02] on this board and representing on school

[00:56:04] accountability committees and district

[00:56:06] accountability committee before that

[00:56:08] have been considering declining

[00:56:09] enrollment relying on Glenn's data. I

[00:56:12] mean, I first looked at your enrollment

[00:56:14] matrices when my senior was in first

[00:56:17] grade. It's been a long time coming. Um

[00:56:21] so I I just want to share that and also

[00:56:24] share

[00:56:26] re-emphasize that the board which does

[00:56:29] change every two years roughly on the

[00:56:32] composition we directed we told staff

[00:56:36] schools could not stay small. We asked

[00:56:40] staff to come up with a plan. It wasn't

[00:56:43] consultants or something else that said

[00:56:46] we're going to close schools. You should

[00:56:47] close these schools. We said schools

[00:56:50] cannot remain small. Present us with

[00:56:52] options that meet the needs of our this

[00:56:55] entire school district. 500 square

[00:56:57] miles, 27,000 students, and 4,000

[00:56:59] employees.

[00:57:01] That was the cadence

[00:57:03] we directed. That was the cadence that

[00:57:05] was taken. Um, so I just wanted to

[00:57:08] clarify that as well. And then I'll turn

[00:57:09] it over to Dr. Aline or Dr. Anderson.

[00:57:12] >> Just one point of of clarification

[00:57:14] because I think that there's uh, you

[00:57:15] know, words really matter here. um when

[00:57:18] you state options, options for each

[00:57:21] region, not multiple options for each

[00:57:24] region to be considered. And so, uh the

[00:57:28] direction was clear that that wasn't

[00:57:30] specified on October 20 25th or January

[00:57:33] or in any any point in time during this

[00:57:36] process that the board directed staff to

[00:57:38] come up with multiple options for

[00:57:39] consideration. I just want to be really

[00:57:41] clear about that. um that it was to look

[00:57:44] at each region and options for each

[00:57:45] region, it would come forward in one

[00:57:47] proposal. So, just wanted to make sure

[00:57:49] that I clarify that uh board president

[00:57:52] Rajbo. And with that, Dr. Azine, uh

[00:57:54] we'll turn it over to you uh to um get

[00:57:57] into our data sources and some of the

[00:58:00] analysis that we did.

[00:58:04] >> Okay. Uh so when we talk about all of

[00:58:07] those opportunities for our stakeholders

[00:58:10] to provide feedback, you can imagine

[00:58:11] that we amassed a pretty robust u and

[00:58:14] varied data corpus of data. And so this

[00:58:16] table summarizes what we had to work

[00:58:18] with. We had the feedback from the

[00:58:20] teachers at those elementary roundts. We

[00:58:23] had community engagement feedback

[00:58:25] packets. These were packets that

[00:58:26] individuals who attended those sessions

[00:58:28] filled out during the evening and

[00:58:30] submitted at the end. There was also a

[00:58:32] follow-up survey that was offered to

[00:58:34] attendees via QR code as they were

[00:58:36] leaving that evening. And then we had

[00:58:37] our resilient school survey that we

[00:58:39] offered to the full census of every

[00:58:41] staff member and every family currently

[00:58:43] affiliated with BBSD. And it was also

[00:58:46] offered to a random sample of community

[00:58:48] members not currently affiliated with

[00:58:50] the district but residing within

[00:58:51] district boundaries. So as Dr. Anderson

[00:58:55] stated this we had the 63,000 responses

[00:58:58] ultimately 76,000 bits of data and

[00:59:01] before I walk through this findings I

[00:59:03] want to ground us in the scope of this

[00:59:05] data and kind of give a little bit more

[00:59:06] background on the methods that we use to

[00:59:08] turn this table into the information

[00:59:11] that was used to help support and inform

[00:59:13] the proposal.

[00:59:16] So we uh conducted several sensitivity

[00:59:18] analysis and checks uh with this data

[00:59:21] just to make sure that we felt confident

[00:59:22] that this was a round representation of

[00:59:26] what the community wanted and what they

[00:59:27] valued and what they prioritized. So

[00:59:29] first of all um as Dr. Anderson said

[00:59:32] these were open to everyone. We didn't

[00:59:34] turn people away and that extended all

[00:59:35] the way to the resilient school survey.

[00:59:38] uh rather than sending that to a random

[00:59:40] sample of individuals that would have

[00:59:42] guaranteed or at least better protected

[00:59:45] against unresponse bias, we wanted to

[00:59:47] make sure that everyone had the

[00:59:48] opportunity to provide feedback via the

[00:59:50] survey in particular, well across all of

[00:59:52] these. So, uh I want to talk to this 9%

[00:59:56] response rate from families and make

[00:59:57] sure that we uh know that there were

[00:59:59] some sensitivity checks done to to check

[01:00:01] in on the validity of that being

[01:00:03] representative of what our community

[01:00:04] wanted. So first we looked at the

[01:00:06] response rates across regions. So that

[01:00:08] 9% of families overall worked out to

[01:00:11] about 7 to 11% by region. So that means

[01:00:14] that no single region is driving the

[01:00:16] results from the survey from the family

[01:00:17] viewpoint. We also looked at we'll talk

[01:00:20] in a minute one of the items or or

[01:00:22] sections of the survey was where

[01:00:23] individuals identified their top three

[01:00:25] musthaves. We looked at that list by

[01:00:28] role as well as by region to see if

[01:00:30] there was great variability there. there

[01:00:32] was some limited variability and all of

[01:00:34] those results were presented to the

[01:00:36] board in June as well as what was used

[01:00:38] to inform the proposal. And then

[01:00:40] finally, just to talk a little bit more

[01:00:42] about this community survey that

[01:00:44] occurred, we uh contracted out with

[01:00:46] Mellan Strategies. It's a local polling

[01:00:48] firm. So they are who ran that was a

[01:00:51] stratified random sample in the

[01:00:53] community to ensure that it had

[01:00:54] representation across the district. Uh

[01:00:57] and they ran analysis separate from the

[01:01:00] analysis that we ran internally. and we

[01:01:02] looked at their results compared to what

[01:01:03] we saw within the district. Again, a

[01:01:06] little bit of variability, not nothing

[01:01:08] that was extreme. And all of that was

[01:01:10] used to inform the proposal, to inform

[01:01:12] the information that was used to inform

[01:01:14] the proposal.

[01:01:16] So, that's just adding to the validity

[01:01:18] of some external validity to what our

[01:01:21] internal results showed through that

[01:01:22] survey analysis. And then as was said,

[01:01:25] we triangulated across all of these

[01:01:27] different data sources to make sure that

[01:01:28] we were again trying to provide the most

[01:01:30] full picture of what we heard from

[01:01:33] individuals across roles, across

[01:01:35] regions, across these opportunities for

[01:01:37] engagement.

[01:01:43] Okay, so talking about the survey, the

[01:01:45] resilient schools community survey had

[01:01:47] two primary sections. The first section

[01:01:50] was this what's referred to as max diff.

[01:01:53] This is where there was a predetermined

[01:01:55] set of 12 priorities under consideration

[01:01:58] when thinking about schools experiencing

[01:02:00] declining enrollment. Individuals had

[01:02:02] nine items where they saw four random

[01:02:04] priorities and they had to identify what

[01:02:06] was the most and least important from

[01:02:08] those four. They repeated that nine

[01:02:10] times. We heard from the community that

[01:02:12] this this felt really frustrating that

[01:02:13] we they were being asked to identify

[01:02:15] most and least important from a list

[01:02:17] where everything was important and that

[01:02:20] we recognized that and we named that.

[01:02:21] That was by design because that is where

[01:02:23] we find ourselves needing to move

[01:02:25] forward and make some decisions. We

[01:02:26] needed to know from our community given

[01:02:28] limited resources what is the relative

[01:02:31] ranking of these priorities and that's

[01:02:33] what this form of survey design allows

[01:02:35] us to do. So head and shoulders above

[01:02:38] the rest within our community, small

[01:02:39] class sizes was the number one priority,

[01:02:41] but these six are the ones that rose to

[01:02:43] the top from the fullest of 12 as being

[01:02:46] the most likely to be chosen as most

[01:02:49] important across all survey respondents.

[01:02:52] When we go to the second part of that

[01:02:54] survey, that next part was after they

[01:02:56] had those random sample of items, they

[01:02:58] saw the full list of 12 and individuals

[01:03:00] could select up to three as their top

[01:03:03] three musthaves. And these were the top

[01:03:05] three that were pro uh identified across

[01:03:07] the sample.

[01:03:10] Oh, sorry.

[01:03:12] Next, at the community engagement

[01:03:14] sessions, one of the activities that

[01:03:16] people were invited to participate in

[01:03:17] was that collaboratively at their

[01:03:19] tables, they learned about challenges

[01:03:21] that schools experience uh when they

[01:03:24] have under enrollment. and the tables

[01:03:26] worked together to collaboratively

[01:03:28] identify those difficulties that they

[01:03:31] wanted the district to prioritize to

[01:03:33] solve when the proposal came forward.

[01:03:35] And these are the top five of those

[01:03:37] cards that were identified as the

[01:03:38] problems that the community wanted to

[01:03:40] see solved. And then lastly, doing some

[01:03:42] qualitative analysis through the roundt

[01:03:44] discussions. Uh the top two themes that

[01:03:47] came up most often in those

[01:03:48] conversations with staff were problems

[01:03:51] related to small class sizes as well as

[01:03:53] uh challenges related to part-time

[01:03:55] staff. So when we look across these

[01:03:57] data, we kind of quickly see some themes

[01:04:00] show up. Uh small class sizes as well as

[01:04:03] challenges related to variable class

[01:04:06] size or small class sizes came across as

[01:04:09] the top priority across all of these

[01:04:10] data sources.

[01:04:12] Next, we saw some emphasis for

[01:04:14] challenges related to part-time staff.

[01:04:17] So, our our uh stakeholders really

[01:04:19] emphasized they wanted to see full-time

[01:04:21] comprehensive staff in every building.

[01:04:23] And then finally, uh equitable funding

[01:04:25] and neighborhood proximity were also the

[01:04:28] most likely to be chosen as uh top

[01:04:30] priorities from the community.

[01:04:35] And then lastly, at the community

[01:04:37] engagement sessions, one of the

[01:04:38] activities in the packets as well as

[01:04:40] conversations that happened at the

[01:04:42] roundts was when given a list of options

[01:04:45] that the school district could take to

[01:04:48] solve these problems. Uh what would be

[01:04:50] the highest priority? What would be the

[01:04:52] first choice? uh or specifically I

[01:04:54] believe this action is a move in the

[01:04:55] right direction to solve the challenges

[01:04:57] of underenrolled schools is how

[01:04:59] individuals responded from both the

[01:05:01] community engagement sessions and the

[01:05:02] roundts consolidating schools was the uh

[01:05:06] most chosen top priority in those shifts

[01:05:09] there at the community engagement

[01:05:11] sessions the second one was to

[01:05:13] reconfigure PK8 schools

[01:05:18] >> Dr. Charlesine, can you go through all

[01:05:20] of those the um how all of the the uh

[01:05:24] the options that folks considered? You

[01:05:26] you gave the top two. Can you just kind

[01:05:28] of run through the rest of those? I

[01:05:29] don't know that that's on the slide, but

[01:05:30] I'd want that to be on the record.

[01:05:32] >> Yes. Uh so the top was um consolidating

[01:05:36] schools, second being the PK8 split,

[01:05:38] third was close and redistribute

[01:05:40] students, fourth was relocating for

[01:05:43] focus programs, fifth was to reconfigure

[01:05:46] or split K5 schools. And then uh final

[01:05:49] was introducing new focus programs.

[01:05:56] >> All right, the next part Glenn Sigru,

[01:05:58] our senior planner, is going to be

[01:06:00] presenting some of our methodology on

[01:06:02] how we determine projections. Uh all of

[01:06:04] you around this table know Glenn, but a

[01:06:06] lot of people in our community don't.

[01:06:08] Glenn has been doing this work for this

[01:06:10] district for 19 years. Uh, and if you

[01:06:13] have followed any of our enrollment

[01:06:14] work, it has been extremely accurate

[01:06:17] over those 19 years. And I would say it

[01:06:20] took something like a uh, global

[01:06:22] pandemic

[01:06:24] to throw those projections off. And

[01:06:26] that's about the only time that Glenn

[01:06:28] has been off. We have a lot of people in

[01:06:30] this community, extremely intelligent,

[01:06:32] that are looking at numbers. There's a

[01:06:33] lot that goes into projections. And

[01:06:35] Glenn's going to get into that a little

[01:06:36] bit. Uh, I'll jump in if need to, but

[01:06:39] um, and I've got a tremendous amount of

[01:06:42] confidence in Glenn's numbers, and it's

[01:06:44] not about me. We can go back year over

[01:06:47] year over year and look at our, uh, uh,

[01:06:50] enrollment projections to see where

[01:06:53] Glenn projected and where we actually

[01:06:54] landed, and you would see that for

[01:06:56] yourself. So, with that, I will turn it

[01:06:58] over to Glenn to present our

[01:06:59] methodology.

[01:07:02] >> Thank you, Rob. Um,

[01:07:05] let's get the right slide.

[01:07:09] So our methodology uh these are the main

[01:07:12] data sources used in most current

[01:07:14] planning projects and the resilient

[01:07:16] schools initiative. Uh the student

[01:07:18] records are the primary source for trend

[01:07:21] analysis and projections. These records

[01:07:23] are universal meaning they are pulling

[01:07:25] data from actual records not estimates

[01:07:28] or extrapolations from outside sources.

[01:07:31] Also, these records are by address and

[01:07:33] can be aggregated in multiple ways,

[01:07:35] usually by attendance area, but other

[01:07:37] ways are possible as well. This is

[01:07:39] important for school districts because

[01:07:41] most outside data sources aggregate at

[01:07:43] the county or municipal levels, uh,

[01:07:46] which do not align with BBSD's

[01:07:47] boundaries.

[01:07:50] The next category there, the Colorado

[01:07:52] Department of Health and Environment,

[01:07:56] you need to go

[01:07:59] one more. All right, there we go.

[01:08:02] >> This one. Okay,

[01:08:04] >> data sources. Yes,

[01:08:05] >> our methodology.

[01:08:07] >> Data sources here.

[01:08:09] >> Methodology. Okay,

[01:08:13] >> apologize.

[01:08:14] >> Okay,

[01:08:15] so uh every student is guaranteed a seat

[01:08:18] in the neighborhood school. Um so this

[01:08:20] is based on our resident populations as

[01:08:22] the starting point for our projections.

[01:08:24] Colorado law allows parents to apply to

[01:08:27] attend another school only if there is

[01:08:29] available space and programmat

[01:08:31] programmatic capacity. Resident student

[01:08:34] population and housing stock data is

[01:08:37] less variable and more predictable than

[01:08:39] parent choice uh which is a large

[01:08:42] component of open enrollment. Open

[01:08:44] enrollment is the valve that we can use

[01:08:47] at times to fill space in neighborhood

[01:08:49] schools once we account for all of the

[01:08:51] residential students. Okay.

[01:08:56] So, moving on to our data sources. I did

[01:08:58] discuss

[01:09:00] uh uh the BBSD student records is one of

[01:09:03] the is the primary source that we start

[01:09:04] from. We also use department u of health

[01:09:07] and environment uh data birth data which

[01:09:10] is primary to establishing kindergarten

[01:09:12] class estimates uh and also just general

[01:09:16] tren trend analysis as well. Parcel

[01:09:19] records and development referrals from

[01:09:21] local governments form the basis of

[01:09:23] housing estimates uh estimates found in

[01:09:26] projections and student generation

[01:09:28] rates. These are also fieldverified with

[01:09:31] periodic site uh visits to to make sure

[01:09:34] that uh the the the data is accurate and

[01:09:38] that it's timely because sometimes

[01:09:39] there's quite a bit of a lag time

[01:09:40] between some of the data we get from

[01:09:42] parcel records for example uh and when

[01:09:44] we actually need it.

[01:09:47] Other outside data sources are useful

[01:09:49] references and can be valuable for some

[01:09:51] uh projects especially redistricting

[01:09:53] data uses a lot of census data and state

[01:09:56] demography data but otherwise these

[01:09:59] sources uh can be tricky to use since

[01:10:00] they don't align with our boundaries as

[01:10:02] I mentioned earlier and are frequently

[01:10:04] frequently not timely enough for

[01:10:06] district use.

[01:10:10] So moving on to

[01:10:14] the enrollment projections themselves.

[01:10:16] Uh the district uses a cohort survival

[01:10:19] uh method which is the principal

[01:10:20] technique. Uh it looks at seven years of

[01:10:23] historical data resident student data by

[01:10:26] grade for a given school. It then

[01:10:29] calculates ratios for each class as it

[01:10:31] progresses from one year to the next. So

[01:10:33] in the illustration you can see past

[01:10:35] year data. Uh this one shows 2017

[01:10:38] through 2023. uh you take that first

[01:10:41] kindergarten class and look at how it

[01:10:43] compares the next year and turns into a

[01:10:45] first grade class and that makes a ratio

[01:10:48] and that's the red circle on the bottom.

[01:10:50] You can calculate that for all of the

[01:10:52] classes uh in all of the years and use

[01:10:55] those uh those averaged ratios and apply

[01:10:59] them to your current kindergarten class

[01:11:00] and first grade and so forth and then

[01:11:03] project those out in the future. That's

[01:11:04] the core principle and using that with

[01:11:06] resident students.

[01:11:09] In doing so, BBSD can estimate how

[01:11:11] future classes uh will grow or decline

[01:11:14] based on uh these past ratios. It also

[01:11:18] effectively accounts for large or small

[01:11:20] classes in the system as they progress

[01:11:22] through the grades. Basically, if

[01:11:25] entering kindergarten classes are small,

[01:11:27] the the model will typically project a

[01:11:29] decline in the coming years as those

[01:11:32] classes progress to higher and higher uh

[01:11:34] grade levels. In fact, this is what the

[01:11:37] district has been seeing in the years

[01:11:38] preceding the pandemic and we continue

[01:11:40] to see today.

[01:11:43] Cohorts based on residential students

[01:11:45] have distinct advantages over some

[01:11:47] districts use enrollment basis, but we

[01:11:49] use resident uh here for these reasons.

[01:11:52] Resident patterns tend to move more

[01:11:54] slowly and stably than open enrollment

[01:11:57] patterns which are constantly evolving

[01:11:59] year after year. This method better

[01:12:02] isolates the underlying population in a

[01:12:04] neighborhood and separate it separates

[01:12:06] it from open enrollment impacts uh at

[01:12:09] the school. For example, in the past,

[01:12:11] we've seen uh schools where we may see

[01:12:14] enrollment growth at that school while

[01:12:16] at the same time the neighborhood

[01:12:17] population is declining. So the open

[01:12:20] enrollment rate in that school is what's

[01:12:23] really driving that growth when in fact

[01:12:25] the underlying neighborhood population

[01:12:27] can be declining. So it's important to

[01:12:28] make those distinctions.

[01:12:35] Resident students form the foundation

[01:12:37] for many of the analysis going forward

[01:12:39] into the resilient schools. Using

[01:12:41] resident student location, we can

[01:12:43] determine how many students are in close

[01:12:45] proximity to school buildings. Here a

[01:12:48] heat map of resident students in the

[01:12:50] Douglas attendance area. The right, the

[01:12:52] light yellow represents clusters of one

[01:12:54] to five u students with darker colors

[01:12:57] representing increasing densities of

[01:12:59] students.

[01:13:01] Also shown in this table uh is also

[01:13:04] shown on this is a table of students and

[01:13:07] housing units within one mile of the

[01:13:09] school. again and we see far fewer

[01:13:11] students and housing units close to the

[01:13:14] school compared to other district

[01:13:16] neighborhood schools.

[01:13:18] Uh we did do have to note that we use

[01:13:21] single family detached here as the

[01:13:23] measure. Um there are other housing

[01:13:25] types that we do use in our projections

[01:13:27] in our estimates. Uh but they can

[01:13:30] complicate things with CU apartments and

[01:13:32] things like that. For the purposes of

[01:13:34] here of illustration, we just use single

[01:13:35] family detached.

[01:13:38] We consider proximity to neighborhood

[01:13:40] schools an important measure since

[01:13:41] almost twothirds of of BBSD students or

[01:13:44] about 63% attend their neighborhood

[01:13:47] school rather than an open enrollment

[01:13:49] rather than opening rolling to a

[01:13:50] different neighborhood focus or charter

[01:13:53] school. In fact, recent public out uh

[01:13:56] outreach listed walkability or proximity

[01:13:58] for that matter as a value our school of

[01:14:00] our school communities.

[01:14:07] We can see here that the resident

[01:14:08] students in BBSD schools vary widely

[01:14:11] with many schools having insufficient

[01:14:13] resident students to meet a two classes

[01:14:15] per grade standard or about 300 student

[01:14:18] school. As of 2025, nine schools in the

[01:14:22] initiative were operating with resident

[01:14:24] populations below 300 and another four

[01:14:26] only slightly above that level.

[01:14:30] Uh this slide also shows the number of

[01:14:32] students that have that leave

[01:14:34] neighborhood schools shown here in green

[01:14:37] as opposed to those that attend their

[01:14:38] neighborhood school shown in blue. The

[01:14:41] district average for students attending

[01:14:43] their neighborhood school is about 67%.

[01:14:46] But that number ranges widely from some

[01:14:48] schools being below 50% to some schools

[01:14:51] being as high as around 85%. But that's

[01:14:54] only a very small handful of schools.

[01:14:57] We can see here that open enrollment out

[01:14:59] of the of the school has a significant

[01:15:02] impact on many schools ability to

[01:15:03] populate a two- round school with

[01:15:05] neighborhood students alone, making

[01:15:07] those schools very reliant on attracting

[01:15:10] open enrollment. In the past, open

[01:15:13] enrollment has functioned as a somewhat

[01:15:14] of a relief valve for crowding in the

[01:15:16] district, allowing some leveling between

[01:15:18] schools with varying resident

[01:15:20] populations.

[01:15:22] However, the current situation is very

[01:15:24] different. Few schools are in need of

[01:15:27] such a relief valve. While the overall

[01:15:30] uh u resident population of our schools

[01:15:33] has been declining dramatically in in

[01:15:35] recent years,

[01:15:38] the focus on residenta populations pro

[01:15:40] prompted the board to recommend a review

[01:15:43] process for attendance boundaries every

[01:15:45] 5 years uh uh including the one that we

[01:15:48] just undertook this last fall. In turn,

[01:15:51] the boundary exercise also revealed that

[01:15:54] the district has too few students to

[01:15:55] balance populations through boundary

[01:15:57] changes alone. The resilient schools

[01:16:00] initiative, as proposed, redistributes

[01:16:02] resident students to better bolster

[01:16:04] populations in surrounding schools.

[01:16:10] This slide shows schools from the

[01:16:12] perspective en of enrollment composition

[01:16:15] rather than resident population. When

[01:16:17] looking at enrollment, 15 out of the

[01:16:19] schools do not meet the threshold of two

[01:16:21] classes per grade level or 300 students

[01:16:24] overall. Another two are only slightly

[01:16:26] above that threshold. It's important to

[01:16:28] note that enrollment is only part partly

[01:16:30] composed of resident students again

[01:16:32] shown here in blue. The yellow and

[01:16:35] orange are the open open enroll in

[01:16:37] components of enrollment.

[01:16:40] Open enrollment is based on choice

[01:16:42] rather than core de demographic

[01:16:44] characteristics of resident populations

[01:16:46] which evolve much more slowly over time.

[01:16:49] Rather choice uh open enrollment

[01:16:52] components can fluctuate widely and are

[01:16:54] more difficult to predict especially at

[01:16:56] the school level. This is especially

[01:16:58] true when we start to combine schools.

[01:17:01] Combining schools inevitably changes

[01:17:03] open enrollment behavior both for

[01:17:05] parents and for the district. Open

[01:17:07] enrolled parents may not want to attend

[01:17:09] the receiving schools and the district

[01:17:11] may elect to manage new open enrollment

[01:17:14] uh in order to accept increased

[01:17:16] neighborhood uh an increased

[01:17:18] neighborhood load. A good example of

[01:17:20] that is Aspen Creek and uh Dylan Point

[01:17:24] uh subdivision, which is something that

[01:17:25] was brought up in the the last public

[01:17:27] hearing. Um you can see on the bottom

[01:17:30] there is Aspen Creek. Half of that

[01:17:32] school is filled with open enrollment.

[01:17:34] So, as we get new neighborhood kids from

[01:17:36] Dylan Point or other new subdivisions,

[01:17:39] uh, we can accept those those students

[01:17:41] merely by just managing open enrollment

[01:17:43] a little bit. That's a very different

[01:17:45] situation than if we if Aspen Creek was

[01:17:47] filled with neighborhood kids and we

[01:17:49] would have to change a boundary or

[01:17:51] something to accommodate those students.

[01:17:55] Uh, in fact, we did hear some of the

[01:17:57] concern from the public that the

[01:17:58] projected enrollment at some schools was

[01:18:01] less than the sum of the contributing

[01:18:02] schools. uh the the two contri two or

[01:18:05] three contributing uh schools

[01:18:07] enrollments combined.

[01:18:09] This is because the combined school

[01:18:11] projection was modeled with open

[01:18:13] enrollment adjustments for the

[01:18:15] contributing schools.

[01:18:18] >> Glenn, before we go on to how you

[01:18:22] applied this data,

[01:18:25] >> I wondered if board members had

[01:18:26] questions about how the data was

[01:18:29] collected in itself.

[01:18:32] Alex.

[01:18:33] >> Yeah, thank you. Um,

[01:18:36] uh, one question for you, Glenn. Thank

[01:18:39] you very much for the analysis. Um, uh,

[01:18:41] I've appreciated the depth of the

[01:18:43] analysis all along the way and the

[01:18:46] support you provided to the LRAK as

[01:18:48] well. Um, I guess I have a first

[01:18:50] question like you've been doing this for

[01:18:52] almost 20 years. Um, when did you start

[01:18:56] telling us as a district that we were

[01:18:58] facing future enrollment declines?

[01:19:01] uh you know where we casually started

[01:19:03] noticing really small kindergarten

[01:19:05] classes is early 2012. So this is

[01:19:07] something that's been building over a

[01:19:08] long time but you don't really know if

[01:19:11] that's going to continue but after by by

[01:19:13] 2017 or so we can see a trend patterning

[01:19:15] because those small classes started

[01:19:17] filtering up through the system first

[01:19:19] bringing down elementary enrollment then

[01:19:21] those classes progress and and moving on

[01:19:24] to middle school and now we're seeing it

[01:19:25] in high school. And and when do you

[01:19:27] think you first started briefing the

[01:19:28] board of BBSD about that decline?

[01:19:31] >> Well, we do do our annual report. Uh and

[01:19:34] I do mention it in those reports.

[01:19:36] >> Okay. And then uh I know we've had

[01:19:38] discussions, you know, about like the

[01:19:41] developments in Erie on an individual

[01:19:43] development process. How well are we

[01:19:47] able to get updated data on pending

[01:19:49] housing development by the developers

[01:19:51] and all the geographies we work in and

[01:19:53] how do you do that? So that is from the

[01:19:55] development referrals that we get from

[01:19:57] local governments um mostly cities

[01:19:59] sometimes county uh and they tell us

[01:20:02] right from concept plan which is you

[01:20:05] know just sketches and things of what

[01:20:06] generally might happen or even

[01:20:08] annexation would be before that uh that

[01:20:10] developments you know that process takes

[01:20:12] you know two to sometimes 10 years.

[01:20:14] We've seen projects take 10 years. So,

[01:20:16] we're constantly getting those new

[01:20:18] applications from local governments,

[01:20:20] giving them responses to those about

[01:20:22] what the student impact is so they can

[01:20:24] make informed decisions uh and getting

[01:20:26] that into our data sets. Uh once it is a

[01:20:30] bit tricky on timing with those because

[01:20:32] everybody, you know, developers are very

[01:20:34] optimistic bunch and they'll they'll say

[01:20:36] it'll start in the next two or three

[01:20:37] years. Like I said, some for a lot of

[01:20:40] reasons can can take 10 years to

[01:20:42] develop. So, you really have to have a

[01:20:44] pulse on what's going on and how soon

[01:20:47] you need to start putting those into

[01:20:49] future projections.

[01:20:51] >> And do you have a good um with that

[01:20:54] experience in collaborating with the

[01:20:56] cities, how confident are you that uh

[01:20:58] you have a good like confidence band of

[01:21:01] your projections based on future

[01:21:03] development?

[01:21:04] >> Based on future development, it's

[01:21:05] actually pretty easy right now because

[01:21:07] we just really don't have a lot. I mean,

[01:21:09] I know some subdivisions look big for

[01:21:11] 100 units or something like that, but

[01:21:13] that's pretty small in the scale of

[01:21:15] things considering you're getting 20,

[01:21:16] maybe 25 elementary kids out of that.

[01:21:19] Um, you know, a lot of our larger

[01:21:21] development has uh has been built out in

[01:21:24] the district. We only have a very few

[01:21:26] really large new lots that can handle

[01:21:28] that kind of load. Mostly what we're

[01:21:30] dealing with now is infill. Infill tends

[01:21:33] to be higher densities, not always. Um,

[01:21:36] and they come in much smaller little

[01:21:38] packets. Um,

[01:21:39] >> yeah. When when do you think uh I'm I'm

[01:21:43] curious about the collaboration and

[01:21:45] coordination with like the city of

[01:21:47] Boulder and the county and city of

[01:21:50] Broomfield. So like I live in South

[01:21:52] Boulder and CU South's been a big thing

[01:21:54] for a long time. Uh people of the

[01:21:57] university side probably wished it was

[01:21:59] already constructed whereas it's been

[01:22:01] litigated non-stop ever since the

[01:22:03] proposals were out there. as an example,

[01:22:05] how did you model or predict when and

[01:22:07] how and how many students might come out

[01:22:09] of CU South and when might we expect

[01:22:11] them?

[01:22:12] >> Uh, so when we might expect, I don't

[01:22:14] know. I I mean, I've seen CU change

[01:22:17] quite frequently. The Boulder uh Boulder

[01:22:20] High area, CU of CU properties around

[01:22:22] there has gone through several different

[01:22:24] projects. I think none have really

[01:22:26] really changed much except for now

[01:22:28] there's a little bit of of scrape off

[01:22:30] and rebuild in the area but not some of

[01:22:32] these elaborate ones. Uh for CU South I

[01:22:35] have worked with the city and CU a

[01:22:38] little bit. I've modeled in the past

[01:22:39] some scenarios and they've used those

[01:22:42] bringing forward. I haven't heard much

[01:22:44] in a while. Uh but I I certainly and I

[01:22:46] talked with CU I think uh this last

[01:22:48] spring about this topic and there's

[01:22:50] certainly nothing right now that is

[01:22:51] immediately imminent from what I can

[01:22:53] tell uh with CU South, but we do keep uh

[01:22:56] keep those students in mind and what the

[01:22:59] potential generations that we've been

[01:23:01] told of um will will come come will

[01:23:04] ultimately come to be.

[01:23:06] >> And how do you uh another follow-up

[01:23:08] question on that is when you're dealing

[01:23:10] with something like you know a new

[01:23:11] housing infill development in Boulder. I

[01:23:13] mean, I've been frustrated honestly as

[01:23:15] an advocate for children and families in

[01:23:17] this district that we like, yes, we want

[01:23:20] housing, but we tend to build one in

[01:23:22] bedrooms and studios and fireside is

[01:23:24] building three and fourbedroom homes.

[01:23:26] So, how do you uh estimate based on like

[01:23:30] the usual development patterns in a

[01:23:32] place like Boulder for how many kids the

[01:23:34] units will generate?

[01:23:35] >> Uh, we do periodic reviews of we call

[01:23:38] them student yield, some places call

[01:23:39] them student generation. So that's the

[01:23:41] average number of students per house. Uh

[01:23:43] and I use those parcel records and I've

[01:23:46] modified them with site inspections and

[01:23:48] stuff like I mentioned so that we know

[01:23:50] exactly what's on the ground. Uh and we

[01:23:52] can lay our students plot our students

[01:23:55] on top of that and get a very accurate

[01:23:57] calculation not only of how many house

[01:24:00] units per um household but even by year.

[01:24:03] So we can see that newer development

[01:24:05] tends to generate the most kids. Um, you

[01:24:09] know, sometimes there's a shadow bump

[01:24:10] later on, but new development usually

[01:24:12] has the most and we can see that very

[01:24:15] clearly and definitely the most are the

[01:24:17] single family detached housing

[01:24:19] consistently uh show more students than

[01:24:22] any other kind of housing type. Um, uh,

[01:24:26] generally speaking, the more dense you

[01:24:28] get, the fewer kids we've been seeing.

[01:24:30] Um, sometimes some apartment complexes,

[01:24:32] especially affordable ones, might

[01:24:34] produce some kids, but generally what

[01:24:36] we've been seeing in the last really 15,

[01:24:38] 20 years, has been units for young

[01:24:41] professionals and and uh um empty

[01:24:44] nesters. And yeah,

[01:24:46] >> I want to not lose that point. So in a

[01:24:48] place like Boulder where we see lots of

[01:24:50] construction and I actually am shocked

[01:24:52] by when people talk about not building I

[01:24:54] look at how many new units there are for

[01:24:55] CU students that affects our market and

[01:24:57] then I look at the big developments that

[01:24:59] exist. I'm I am struck by how few of

[01:25:03] them are attractive to American

[01:25:04] families.

[01:25:06] >> Um so you're saying that when we do more

[01:25:08] dense housing in a place like Boulder,

[01:25:10] we're actually generating fewer students

[01:25:12] per unit than we would with other

[01:25:14] housing types.

[01:25:16] >> Absolutely. And so and Boulder's choices

[01:25:18] of what kind of housing to develop in

[01:25:19] its infill is now driven sort of by

[01:25:22] maximizing affordability and numbers,

[01:25:24] not by maximizing children. Is that

[01:25:26] fair?

[01:25:27] >> That's that they say that's fair.

[01:25:28] >> So when people in the city complain

[01:25:30] about whether or not we've taken into

[01:25:32] account Boulder's uh 30-year plan, have

[01:25:35] we taken into account Boulder's 30-year

[01:25:37] plan? And do we believe it might

[01:25:38] generate many students? And how many

[01:25:40] students might it generate in your

[01:25:41] estimation?

[01:25:43] I couldn't tell you how many students

[01:25:45] it'll generate in our estimation. You

[01:25:47] know, these are very generalized

[01:25:48] categories. We're talking about the

[01:25:49] comprehensive plan. Um, we really need

[01:25:52] to start seeing applications on the

[01:25:54] ground because, like I said, there's

[01:25:55] that leeway where we do five-year

[01:25:57] projections. So, until we actually have

[01:25:59] applications for new development, uh,

[01:26:01] it's difficult to put put a number on on

[01:26:04] what we're actually going to get out of

[01:26:06] out of uh out of those city plans. And

[01:26:09] if I may ask, how how many years out

[01:26:12] into the future in our different

[01:26:13] geographies do you think you can plan

[01:26:15] for realistically? Uh not knowing what

[01:26:18] an interest rate's going to be, a

[01:26:19] recession, a development, uh land use

[01:26:21] planning changes, like how how far out

[01:26:24] based on the last 20 years, do you think

[01:26:26] you can plan into the future to predict

[01:26:28] our students?

[01:26:29] >> Well, it depends how accurate you want

[01:26:30] to be. Um so I can go out a hundred

[01:26:33] years if if that doesn't matter. Um, you

[01:26:35] know, we really have based five years is

[01:26:38] the one I really like to stick to

[01:26:40] because we can base that, we can

[01:26:43] rationally base our kindergarten classes

[01:26:45] on those births. So, you know, we have

[01:26:47] births today. We're not going to see

[01:26:48] those kids in our system for 5 years.

[01:26:50] So, we've got a kind of a 5year window

[01:26:52] where we can get those kindergarteners

[01:26:54] in through the system. When we start

[01:26:56] getting out out beyond that, we're

[01:26:58] flying blind about what's feeding the

[01:27:00] system that way. And then I'm sorry for

[01:27:02] having so many questions, but I find

[01:27:04] this very helpful and it's been very

[01:27:05] informative for me over the last three

[01:27:07] years. Um, and I think it's useful to

[01:27:09] our community as well. Uh, what is when

[01:27:13] you look at the patterns of enrollment

[01:27:14] year-over-year in your cohort model,

[01:27:16] like I we have a bump from like

[01:27:19] kindergarten to first grade, right?

[01:27:20] Where people really want to get into the

[01:27:22] elementary schools by first grade if

[01:27:23] they didn't end kindergarten. Is that

[01:27:25] right?

[01:27:25] >> Yeah, we have we've it's historically

[01:27:27] had a little bit of a bump. There's also

[01:27:28] some private kindergarten programs that

[01:27:31] people attend um that they so they don't

[01:27:33] come in till first grade.

[01:27:35] >> All right. And how do you have very good

[01:27:36] data on

[01:27:38] uh the enrollment in the private schools

[01:27:40] that are in the area and the degree of

[01:27:41] homeschooling?

[01:27:42] >> That's a tough one. Um you know, we have

[01:27:46] we have tried to do a spreadsheet

[01:27:48] modeling how many private schools we

[01:27:51] have in the district and what their

[01:27:53] populations are. They don't always

[01:27:55] advertise how many students they have.

[01:27:57] There's also CDE uh information that

[01:28:00] tracks that. Most of that is

[01:28:02] self-reported. Uh we can see schools on

[01:28:05] those lists that haven't worked in year

[01:28:07] haven't been functioning in years. We

[01:28:09] see new schools that aren't on the list.

[01:28:11] So given it's self-reported, especially

[01:28:13] from the homeschool angle, um we have

[01:28:15] data, but it is is I wouldn't consider

[01:28:18] it very high quality.

[01:28:19] >> Great. It's Yeah. And have you seen the

[01:28:21] recent data from CDE on online

[01:28:23] enrollment and homeschool enrichment

[01:28:25] enrollment? And does that come into our

[01:28:27] calculations as well?

[01:28:29] >> Um

[01:28:32] so online enrollment in terms of within

[01:28:34] the school district or

[01:28:36] >> both in the district and out like

[01:28:37] students we lose out to online

[01:28:39] enrollment. uh it's a little bit of the

[01:28:41] same principle where it's difficult to

[01:28:43] get the quality control on those

[01:28:45] especially you're talking online

[01:28:46] programs that are are private or or

[01:28:49] charter or things like that.

[01:28:50] >> All right.

[01:28:51] >> And then process-wise for us getting to

[01:28:53] the proposal you've given us. Can you

[01:28:55] tell me anything about uh like I like to

[01:28:58] see the analysis of the 47 people living

[01:29:00] within a mile of Douglas as opposed to

[01:29:02] 466 at a place like Cole Creek. Can you

[01:29:06] tell us how much analysis you did of the

[01:29:08] other regional proposals based on the

[01:29:10] ability to maintain uh neighborhood

[01:29:12] schools that are walkable and walkable

[01:29:14] distances to our schools?

[01:29:16] >> Uh we we have run those numbers uh on

[01:29:18] occasion uh to help help inform some of

[01:29:20] our decisions and our process. Um we

[01:29:23] don't have anything I think as specific

[01:29:25] as what we show there um uh for every

[01:29:28] school.

[01:29:28] >> Yeah. And then in a in a region like um

[01:29:31] Broomfield for example uh how much of

[01:29:35] the decision-m is based on those

[01:29:37] neighborhoods versus the what's in the

[01:29:39] res I mean I guess we'll get to that

[01:29:41] later so I I should be sticking to the

[01:29:42] methodology questions but um we're able

[01:29:45] to take into account the walkability of

[01:29:48] the neighborhoods the streets that need

[01:29:50] to be crossed the transportation that

[01:29:52] happens. Uh, we've been briefed as I

[01:29:55] don't know if the new board members

[01:29:56] have, but we've been briefed on like our

[01:29:57] bicycling programs and our walkable

[01:30:00] programs to the schools. Um, I I value

[01:30:04] greatly both the choice and the

[01:30:05] neighborhood schools, and I'd love to

[01:30:07] see everybody walk in and the ebikes

[01:30:08] with their kids going to school. Um, do

[01:30:11] we have very good data um on how many of

[01:30:13] our kids walk to their elementary

[01:30:16] schools versus ride or get dropped off

[01:30:18] or ride a bus? I do know the

[01:30:20] transportation tracks some of that um

[01:30:23] mostly through the programs they run. Um

[01:30:26] but you know outside of those programs

[01:30:28] I'm not sure there's a lot of numbers

[01:30:30] out there that we can go from. Rob might

[01:30:32] have some more to add.

[01:30:33] >> Yeah. The annual survey that parents

[01:30:36] complete and we now have very accurate

[01:30:38] data on how families get to school, how

[01:30:40] students get to school. Can Rob, could

[01:30:42] you give me just a brief synopsis of how

[01:30:46] many of our current elementary kids like

[01:30:48] walk to school versus how many don't

[01:30:50] walk?

[01:30:51] >> Give me, if you can give me until the

[01:30:52] end of the work session, I'll have that

[01:30:53] for you. I can say we are double uh the

[01:30:57] um state average, double the national

[01:30:59] average on how many kids walk and bike

[01:31:01] to school. But I will get that for you.

[01:31:02] >> But it's not something everybody can do

[01:31:04] and there's no way how would we be able

[01:31:06] to arrange that without closing schools.

[01:31:08] I mean, we've got a lot of geographies

[01:31:10] where walking is currently not possible,

[01:31:12] right?

[01:31:13] >> That is true.

[01:31:14] >> Yes.

[01:31:14] >> And do our schools vary dramatically in

[01:31:16] terms of how many kids can walk to them

[01:31:18] versus not?

[01:31:19] >> You know, it depends on the region where

[01:31:21] they're at. Um, all of our

[01:31:23] municipalities when you think about the

[01:31:25] infrastructure that Boulder has put in,

[01:31:26] the infrastructure Lewisville Superior

[01:31:29] has put in, uh, even Broomfield in many

[01:31:32] cases, uh, support walking and biking to

[01:31:36] schools, right? So, I mean that shows in

[01:31:38] the the amount of work that

[01:31:40] municipalities have put into that and

[01:31:42] that has been a board priority that has

[01:31:45] as uh Dr. Alzine uh communicated that

[01:31:48] was a community priority as we're

[01:31:50] looking at this. So, yes, we did look at

[01:31:51] how many students live within a mile of

[01:31:53] the school knowing that's a priority.

[01:31:55] And let me just add also for my new

[01:31:57] board members, one of the big calculus

[01:31:59] for me and well just supporting it's

[01:32:01] great that kids can bike and walk to

[01:32:03] school, but it also contributes to

[01:32:05] greater likelihood that they're going to

[01:32:07] attend their neighborhood school. And so

[01:32:09] if parents have to get in a car to get

[01:32:10] their kid to their neighborhood school,

[01:32:12] then they're like, "Oh, as long as I'm

[01:32:13] in a car, what are the other ones within

[01:32:14] 15 miles?" So the more we can make our

[01:32:16] schools be designed around walkability

[01:32:19] and access by bike and foot or parents

[01:32:22] walking their kids, the more we can

[01:32:25] support enrollment in our neighborhood

[01:32:26] schools was part of my point.

[01:32:30] >> Yes, shout out to our safe routes to

[01:32:32] school team and all the work they do

[01:32:34] with our municipalities to make that

[01:32:35] happen. Um moving on to Anna and then

[01:32:38] Dion.

[01:32:39] um the regional approach of um the

[01:32:43] proposal. I also want to get clarity on

[01:32:46] um the methodology on data that was used

[01:32:50] and the projections for enrollment. Um,

[01:32:54] primarily I ask because the uh,

[01:32:57] enrollment decline isn't as steep in

[01:33:00] Broomfield as it is in Boulder and I

[01:33:03] want to know what those numbers and if

[01:33:05] that model was used separately for

[01:33:07] Broomfield versus within Boulder proper.

[01:33:11] >> Well, will we calculate projections for

[01:33:12] each individual school? So, yes, we we

[01:33:16] can sum up the schools in Broomfield um

[01:33:18] those those school projections that

[01:33:20] would be unique to Broomfield. They're

[01:33:22] not averaged with Boulder or anything

[01:33:23] like that if that answers your question.

[01:33:26] >> Yeah. And what did that what did that

[01:33:28] look like for um the Boulder or the

[01:33:31] sorry the Broomfield area of um the

[01:33:35] declining enrollment and its projections

[01:33:37] within the next 5 years. So with

[01:33:39] Broomfield's has been a little different

[01:33:41] than the other parts of the district

[01:33:43] where Boulder and Lewisville and

[01:33:46] Lafayette grew quite a bit through the

[01:33:48] 2000s and 2010s um until this recent

[01:33:52] trend. Uh Broomfield has been on a long

[01:33:54] just very slow decline for pretty much

[01:33:57] that whole time for years and years and

[01:33:58] years. So we've kind of uh projected a

[01:34:01] similar pattern going into the future.

[01:34:03] Now the caveat to that always is open

[01:34:05] enrollment. Broomfield is located so

[01:34:07] that they can pull in lots of open

[01:34:08] enrollment and we can see that best

[01:34:11] illustrated on that chart right there

[01:34:13] from Aspen Creek which is half open

[01:34:15] enrollment. So that does skew things a

[01:34:18] little bit but the resident population

[01:34:19] the underlying population has been on a

[01:34:21] long slow decline for quite some time.

[01:34:24] >> Yeah. And in that uh methodology because

[01:34:27] we do have um Broomfield again is

[01:34:30] different than uh within Boulder County

[01:34:33] that we do have um space for growth and

[01:34:37] we do have um multifamily single family

[01:34:42] housing being actively built right now.

[01:34:45] primarily Dylan Point that has over 300

[01:34:48] uh houses being built that would be um

[01:34:51] districted into the Aspen Creek um

[01:34:53] neighborhood into the Aspen Creek

[01:34:55] schools. And so I also wondering what

[01:34:58] the models look like and the projections

[01:35:00] look like in that included active

[01:35:04] housing developments in Brimfield.

[01:35:06] >> So with active housing developments, the

[01:35:08] the Dylan point is a is a great example.

[01:35:10] I don't really expect that to increase

[01:35:12] enrollments because as we as we showed

[01:35:15] in the previous slides, we can manage

[01:35:17] open enrollment uh because Aspen Creek's

[01:35:19] full, but we can just manage open

[01:35:21] enrollment that that side of the

[01:35:22] equation to allow more of those

[01:35:23] neighborhood kids into that school. Um

[01:35:26] other active developments um I know

[01:35:29] there's a few concept plans out there

[01:35:30] and possibly an apartment kind of in

[01:35:34] Emerald's area, a couple of apartment

[01:35:35] complexes. um those uh apartment

[01:35:39] complexes in Emerald area have not

[01:35:40] generated many students at all. Um I

[01:35:43] mean there's some with um you know close

[01:35:45] to eight or 900 units that are have

[01:35:48] maybe a dozen kids or something in them.

[01:35:50] >> Okay. And uh

[01:35:53] I guess my other uh just my biggest

[01:35:56] worry is that we're uh Broomfield is

[01:35:59] growing and they do have more plans on

[01:36:02] creating more housing developments

[01:36:04] within Broomfield. um that we're not

[01:36:06] leaving enough space for growth um for

[01:36:09] the ability to have room for our

[01:36:11] students within Cole or Aspen Creek or

[01:36:13] at Emerald. Um, and I just want to

[01:36:17] because the landscape since this

[01:36:18] proposal came out, the educational

[01:36:20] landscape has changed um, with Adams

[01:36:23] County and I understand that it's not

[01:36:25] feasible to bank on open enrollment,

[01:36:28] especially when you're in places like

[01:36:29] Broomfield proper where it's maybe like

[01:36:31] 10 15 kids, but you did just say that in

[01:36:34] Broomfield it is different because we do

[01:36:36] have half open enrollment in Aspen Creek

[01:36:38] and with the Adams County closing

[01:36:41] schools within Broomfield that the

[01:36:44] educational landscape um in that city uh

[01:36:49] has changed since the the development of

[01:36:51] this proposal. And I want to know if

[01:36:54] there has been any reconsideration on

[01:36:56] the data on enrollment. Not necessarily

[01:36:59] that we're banking on open enrollment

[01:37:01] and that we're using any of those

[01:37:03] numbers for our projections, but what

[01:37:05] does that look like in terms of

[01:37:08] projected and um calculated capacity

[01:37:12] within the next 5 to 10 years in our

[01:37:14] schools in Broomfield?

[01:37:18] >> Thank you for those questions and I

[01:37:19] appreciate that. I know these are

[01:37:20] questions that that folks in our

[01:37:22] community are asking as well. Um, you

[01:37:24] know, a couple things and I'll let Rob

[01:37:26] or Glenn jump in. Uh, so Adams 12 hasn't

[01:37:29] voted on their proposal yet, right? So

[01:37:31] they have a proposal out there to the

[01:37:33] extent that that will be voted on or

[01:37:35] not. I I think that it's really

[01:37:38] I mean the issues in Broomfield are

[01:37:40] being magnified that multiple school

[01:37:42] districts are all closing schools,

[01:37:46] consolidating schools, reconfiguring

[01:37:48] schools. Um, so it would be impossible

[01:37:52] a to know what Adams 12 board is going

[01:37:55] to do. that's that's outside of our our

[01:37:57] control. Um it's really if but if

[01:38:00] they're closing because they don't have

[01:38:02] enough kids to fill their schools, the

[01:38:04] idea that they'd have enough kids to

[01:38:06] fill our schools in a decline in

[01:38:10] England. Maybe you want to talk about

[01:38:12] the significant decline at Birch over

[01:38:14] the ne the course of the next five

[01:38:16] years, one of the steepest declines that

[01:38:17] we have projected in our entire school

[01:38:19] district. Um, and then talk a little bit

[01:38:22] about this idea of of and and just

[01:38:25] reiterate this fact around resident

[01:38:27] student population and open enrollment,

[01:38:29] the variability in open enrollment in PL

[01:38:31] in and things that were that are really

[01:38:34] very much outside of our control. So,

[01:38:36] I'll turn it over to Robert Glenn to

[01:38:37] kind of talk that, but I would just want

[01:38:39] to make sure that um we don't know what

[01:38:41] Adams 12 will do and when is there when

[01:38:43] are they voting?

[01:38:44] >> Yeah, it's after us.

[01:38:45] >> So, their vote would be after us. So we

[01:38:47] couldn't consider that

[01:38:49] >> next few weeks I would imagine. Um I

[01:38:53] want to bring to our attention this

[01:38:55] slide. Right. So uh back in October

[01:38:59] allowing schools to stay small is no

[01:39:01] longer an option. So when we look at

[01:39:04] Birch's enrollment for example you can

[01:39:07] see that in the next five years we're

[01:39:09] just barely over 200 students 208

[01:39:13] Cole Elementary in the next five years.

[01:39:16] uh what around 220

[01:39:20] give me one second

[01:39:23] uh 266 sick students based on our

[01:39:26] projections and then when you look at

[01:39:28] Aspen Creek at the very bottom of the

[01:39:30] slide I think that is an important and

[01:39:32] we're going to get into this later in

[01:39:33] this presentation but half of Aspen

[01:39:36] Creek's enrollment right now is based on

[01:39:38] open enrollment from either inside or

[01:39:40] outside the district. So if resident

[01:39:43] student population increases, we use the

[01:39:45] levers of open enrollment to drive

[01:39:48] additional capacity within that school.

[01:39:50] And again, uh Dr. Neil Anderson's going

[01:39:53] to be speaking to this on how we use

[01:39:55] those levers. Those students will

[01:39:56] metriculate out of the system. We are

[01:39:59] slowing open enrollment down into Aspen

[01:40:01] Creek right now to allow that to happen.

[01:40:03] So we have plenty of capacity within the

[01:40:06] Broomfield schools based on the

[01:40:08] development that we are seeing with the

[01:40:11] three schools not counting the fourth

[01:40:13] school in Broomfield

[01:40:15] utilizing the le levers that that we

[01:40:18] have. I would say from a planning and

[01:40:20] operational standpoint it is our

[01:40:21] responsibility to plan for the number of

[01:40:24] resident students we have in an area.

[01:40:26] Right? That's as Glenn started there.

[01:40:27] That's the foundation of our system is

[01:40:30] to plan for that. If we can allow

[01:40:32] additional students from inside the

[01:40:34] district or outside the district to

[01:40:36] attend schools, that's great. And and

[01:40:38] thinking back in just 10 years ago, you

[01:40:41] know, the number of students that

[01:40:42] attended their uh their neighborhood

[01:40:44] school was 70%. Today it's 63% because

[01:40:47] we have space available, right? The

[01:40:49] number was even higher when we were even

[01:40:51] fuller in this district. So I would just

[01:40:54] say that we we have a number of

[01:40:56] mechanisms. Open enrollment being the

[01:40:58] primary one. uh if we had to create

[01:41:01] additional capacity within a building,

[01:41:03] we could also do that. We're going to

[01:41:04] talk a little bit about that a little

[01:41:06] later in the presentation.

[01:41:08] But we feel comfortable based on the

[01:41:11] developments we know about the five-year

[01:41:13] projections

[01:41:15] by having three schools in Broomfield

[01:41:17] without the fourth. Based on our

[01:41:19] projections, that's a three round school

[01:41:21] about 470 empty seats in Broomfield if

[01:41:24] we do nothing. So that's how I guess I

[01:41:27] would answer that is again it when we

[01:41:30] think about this we're really grounding

[01:41:32] ourselves in the number of resident

[01:41:33] students that live in the area and we

[01:41:35] see that declining.

[01:41:38] And just one followup on to that, the

[01:41:42] within this data of enrollment um

[01:41:45] specifically for Birch going into Cole

[01:41:47] um were any of the uh walkability and

[01:41:52] traffic pollution into on Midway and

[01:41:55] 10th considered of how much that would

[01:41:58] congest um cuz it goes right by the high

[01:42:01] school and it goes right by the middle

[01:42:02] school. And for that neighborhood, those

[01:42:05] are really the only two roads that would

[01:42:07] be able to get us to Cole. Um what what

[01:42:12] were the um

[01:42:15] the transportation calculations used

[01:42:17] within this part of the methodology?

[01:42:20] >> Great question and something we

[01:42:21] analyzed. Uh as a reminder, elementary

[01:42:24] schools in that area start at 7:50.

[01:42:26] Aspen Creek's a little bit later. High

[01:42:28] school starts at 8:35. I believe the

[01:42:30] middle school starts at 8:45. So, we

[01:42:32] feel very conf confident that we can uh

[01:42:36] the roads, etc. around there can handle

[01:42:38] the additional traffic over to Cole.

[01:42:40] Cole lends itself. It has a really nice

[01:42:43] site. A lot of queuing all the way

[01:42:44] around Cole Elementary, something that

[01:42:46] Birch has lacks, something that we've

[01:42:48] actually struggled with for many years.

[01:42:50] Um, so yes, a lot of thought has been in

[01:42:52] that, but the bell time separation

[01:42:54] provides for uh good traffic in and out

[01:42:56] of all the schools in that area.

[01:43:00] I'm going to go um Jason and then Deian

[01:43:04] and board members. I had thought about a

[01:43:06] comfort break at slide 24, but that

[01:43:09] really depends on how many more

[01:43:10] questions we have until we get there.

[01:43:12] So, um

[01:43:15] stay tuned and if someone needs a break

[01:43:17] before 24, you just let me know.

[01:43:23] >> Okay. Um yeah, thanks. I also want to

[01:43:26] move on to the next topic, but I I

[01:43:28] wanted to, you know, we've talked a lot

[01:43:29] about this October 2025 date and the

[01:43:32] shift. Um, you know, I've been on the

[01:43:34] board three years. It was probably the

[01:43:36] biggest issue when many of us were

[01:43:38] campaigning. It was an issue when we got

[01:43:40] on the board. Um, you know, Glenn, you

[01:43:42] talked about this since 2012. Nicole has

[01:43:44] talked about how long this has been an

[01:43:46] issue and Alex as well. But something

[01:43:48] did shift in the last few years that

[01:43:50] caused us as a board to move from LRACK,

[01:43:53] which as others have said is really just

[01:43:55] an advisory committee and not dictating

[01:43:58] direction, uh to this regional approach.

[01:44:01] And so I really I think it's important

[01:44:02] that we make this connection between the

[01:44:04] projections, the enrollment numbers over

[01:44:06] the last two or three years, which have

[01:44:08] from what I remember really did change

[01:44:10] and even though historically very

[01:44:12] accurate, Glenn, I think have come in

[01:44:13] lower than projected in the last two

[01:44:16] years. uh and make that connection

[01:44:18] between that data, the the actual

[01:44:20] enrollment and why we had to move and

[01:44:22] make this shift in October of last year.

[01:44:27] >> Just real quick because I want to honor

[01:44:29] the work that our long range advisory

[01:44:31] committee has done

[01:44:33] >> and I didn't mean to be

[01:44:34] >> No, no, no, no. I for everyone I've you

[01:44:38] know I think people have looked at this

[01:44:40] like this these were metrics individual

[01:44:41] schools

[01:44:42] >> the metrics were always established as

[01:44:44] an early warning system. We have said

[01:44:46] that at many many meetings when

[01:44:48] long-range advisory committee gave an

[01:44:49] update. Long-range advisory committee

[01:44:52] and these were uh uh the recommendations

[01:44:55] the metrics that were presented to the

[01:44:57] board back in June of 23 always stated

[01:45:01] that decision-m should be in the context

[01:45:03] looking at geographic areas or multiple

[01:45:05] schools at the same time. Right? So they

[01:45:08] even recommended this. So we had to have

[01:45:12] a metric that told us where schools were

[01:45:14] at and we centered that around the

[01:45:16] student experience. That's how we came

[01:45:17] to the two classes per grade level. We

[01:45:20] tied the finances or the operational

[01:45:22] efficiency within the utilization of the

[01:45:24] building. So way back when we had said

[01:45:28] this, we started Heatherwood's

[01:45:30] engagement process out of the gate and I

[01:45:32] think that's where people are like oh

[01:45:33] they're looking at this as a school by

[01:45:35] school uh basis. We did that because

[01:45:37] Heatherwood was four miles or six miles

[01:45:40] away from Crest View, four and a half or

[01:45:42] so miles away from Douglas Elementary

[01:45:44] School. It sat in a unique geographic

[01:45:46] area. It was one of the very first

[01:45:48] schools out of the gate. So, we started

[01:45:51] that engagement process on a singular

[01:45:53] school. And then it was the board that

[01:45:55] said, "Hold on, looking at this

[01:45:58] school by school isn't acceptable."

[01:45:59] That's when we really had to go to a

[01:46:02] regional approach because declining

[01:46:03] enrollment was being felt throughout the

[01:46:05] district. This is where we really

[01:46:07] created some equitable experiences,

[01:46:09] inequitable experiences across their

[01:46:11] district where you go to a three- round

[01:46:13] school and they have a full-time

[01:46:14] counselor, art, music, and PE, and you

[01:46:16] go to a school that's got 150 students,

[01:46:18] and they don't have near that. And I

[01:46:20] think you as board members said, "This

[01:46:22] is not acceptable. We've created this

[01:46:25] with declining enrollment, and there's

[01:46:27] something that we have to do about it."

[01:46:28] So, I I'm speaking a little bit for the

[01:46:30] board. That's the direction that I felt

[01:46:32] like we received. Um, but I will say

[01:46:35] that when the majority of our schools

[01:46:38] got below two classes per grade level in

[01:46:40] these areas, again was when the board

[01:46:42] said we have to take a regional approach

[01:46:44] to this

[01:46:46] and that that was again determined off

[01:46:49] of the metrics that were established by

[01:46:51] LRAK to be able to again give you an

[01:46:53] early warning system that we've got

[01:46:55] challenges at these lower enrolled

[01:46:57] schools. They don't have the resources

[01:46:58] that some of our other schools have. So,

[01:47:01] you have anything to add to that?

[01:47:07] >> Then depart and then Alex,

[01:47:09] >> it sounds like some of my questions can

[01:47:11] be deferred because someone's going to

[01:47:13] talk about these mysterious levers of

[01:47:16] open enrollment at some point that

[01:47:19] >> it's actually the next two slides. Okay,

[01:47:20] good.

[01:47:21] >> Not not mysterious at all. That we'll be

[01:47:23] able to explain those explicitly.

[01:47:27] It's one of those words that you don't

[01:47:28] really know what it means, right? Um,

[01:47:32] but I do want to also say I'm guessing

[01:47:35] that a biking, walking

[01:47:39] um projection to schools does not uh

[01:47:44] make any sense in the mountain schools.

[01:47:49] >> I would say it would not make any sense

[01:47:51] in the mountain schools. Those kids

[01:47:52] already get or our students already get

[01:47:54] transportation in the mountain areas.

[01:47:56] Yep.

[01:47:57] >> Was there any consideration to put

[01:47:58] Douglas as a rural place instead of an

[01:48:02] urban place?

[01:48:04] >> No, there was not.

[01:48:08] >> Jorge and then Alex.

[01:48:13] >> Thank you. Um I appreciate the

[01:48:15] discussion just understanding kind of

[01:48:17] what do the numbers represent, where do

[01:48:19] our estimates come from, kind of how

[01:48:20] complex it is. So I want to go back to

[01:48:22] the methodology part. I know you've

[01:48:23] mentioned um yields from developments

[01:48:25] and how tricky that is moving forward.

[01:48:28] But um based on the estimates for yields

[01:48:30] for the existing developments that

[01:48:31] already in place, are we seeing what

[01:48:33] they expected or how has that outlook

[01:48:36] changed um in the last couple years?

[01:48:38] >> Well, so we do that analysis every few

[01:48:41] years. It's been I think 2023 since

[01:48:44] we've done that. We're due for another

[01:48:46] um update of the bigger document. I do a

[01:48:49] lot of spot checking. Um, and not so

[01:48:51] much on existing housing, but new

[01:48:53] housing. Um, in conversations with

[01:48:55] surrounding districts, everybody's

[01:48:57] saying how few students we're seeing in

[01:48:59] new housing. Uh, and we're seeing the

[01:49:01] same. Actually, the yields I've

[01:49:02] established for new housing are have

[01:49:05] been coming in about half of what they

[01:49:08] typically are. Um, so there's a lot of

[01:49:11] housing dynamic stuff I've heard that

[01:49:13] may explain some of that, but yields are

[01:49:15] coming in considerably lower just in

[01:49:17] these last year or two.

[01:49:20] >> Give you a very specific example what

[01:49:22] we're seeing at Parkdale. For example,

[01:49:24] we assume that we would see one

[01:49:25] elementary student for every uh four

[01:49:28] rooftops. And right now, we're seeing

[01:49:30] one elementary student for about every

[01:49:32] eight rooftops out there. So, as Glenn

[01:49:34] talks about half, just to put some

[01:49:36] numbers to it, that's one singular

[01:49:38] development, but it is what we are

[01:49:40] seeing across the district with a lot of

[01:49:42] these developments.

[01:49:44] >> Thank you. I appreciate that context. I

[01:49:45] think it's an important part of the

[01:49:46] larger trend that we're seeing with uh

[01:49:48] enrollment pattern. Thank you.

[01:49:52] Um, I know we're going to talk about

[01:49:54] open enrollment, but uh, like I look at

[01:49:56] the like the Broomfield schools and I

[01:49:59] see something like 280 out of district

[01:50:02] kids enrolled in the Broomfield area.

[01:50:04] How long does it take to like transition

[01:50:07] with our enrollment preferences if we

[01:50:09] wanted to replace that with in district

[01:50:11] choice or with newly assigned folks

[01:50:13] within the district? And we do that by

[01:50:17] following our enrollment preferences,

[01:50:19] right? and saying, "Hey, we're going to

[01:50:20] preference kids within the district

[01:50:22] ahead of the kids from out of the

[01:50:23] district," which over time replaces the

[01:50:26] out of district kids with kids in the

[01:50:28] district. Am I understanding that

[01:50:29] correctly?

[01:50:30] >> Yes, I'd say that's exactly correct.

[01:50:32] >> All right. And so, how long does it I

[01:50:34] know we have sibling preferences for the

[01:50:36] kids that are already there, but how

[01:50:37] long does it kind of take for if we you

[01:50:40] know, if we switched the the switch on a

[01:50:42] school and said, "Hey, we want to spend

[01:50:44] more time. we're gonna have more kids

[01:50:46] from within district trying to open

[01:50:48] enroll into this. Um I know that it's

[01:50:50] sort of a function of which grades

[01:50:51] they're coming from, right? So, uh how

[01:50:56] often how long does it take before like

[01:50:59] a new equilibrium would be achieved in

[01:51:01] which the indistrict people would be

[01:51:02] able to choose what they want and still

[01:51:04] have the space once we've sort of

[01:51:06] flushed through out of district kids.

[01:51:08] Like we're not filling things with out

[01:51:10] of district kids at the expense of kids

[01:51:12] within the district, right? Can I wonder

[01:51:15] if we want to pause on that until we

[01:51:17] talk about that because I think that's

[01:51:18] going to generate and relate to some of

[01:51:20] the questions that Deianne had on how

[01:51:22] like the levers of open enrollment work

[01:51:24] if that's okay and um if any board

[01:51:27] members I have two I mean I get you guys

[01:51:30] all get to ask your questions first

[01:51:32] Helenia. So if I can ask two questions

[01:51:34] and then we'll take a comfort break. Is

[01:51:36] that okay Lena?

[01:51:37] >> Thank you. Um,

[01:51:41] in all the years you've been doing this

[01:51:42] modeling, has res resident student

[01:51:44] population always been the number that

[01:51:45] you've used? Has it been the primary

[01:51:47] driver in um, in your calculations?

[01:51:53] >> Not since the beginning. It's something

[01:51:54] that had to be developed over a number

[01:51:56] of years because there aren't a lot of

[01:51:57] other models out there that do it

[01:51:59] exactly like that. Uh, but certainly for

[01:52:01] the last 5 years or so, that's been um,

[01:52:04] been the primary way of doing it. Um and

[01:52:07] before and going back further for

[01:52:08] schools with a lot of de development

[01:52:11] potential. That was really where the

[01:52:12] model kind of came from where you have

[01:52:14] these schools with lots of development

[01:52:15] potential. Um and the enrollment system

[01:52:19] kind of breaks down. So that probably

[01:52:21] goes back more like 10 years.

[01:52:24] >> Thank you. Um and then I just wanted to

[01:52:26] highlight what you said about

[01:52:27] projections. really five years is where

[01:52:28] we feel confident and I know we talked a

[01:52:30] lot about that board members when we

[01:52:32] were updating board policy JC on looking

[01:52:35] at attendance boundaries and that was

[01:52:36] really the rationale for why five years

[01:52:39] was the decide what we decided in um and

[01:52:43] re-evaluating those attendance policies

[01:52:44] and so I I just want to elevate again

[01:52:48] for a while we've been talking about

[01:52:49] five-year confidences um that's not

[01:52:51] entirely new and then last but not least

[01:52:54] I just

[01:52:57] wondered I kind of elevating back to the

[01:53:01] data that Dr. Alzine presented on

[01:53:03] parental and staff desires around

[01:53:06] consolidation versus closure versus

[01:53:10] reconfiguration

[01:53:12] back in the June meeting. I I

[01:53:14] acknowledge that the primary the biggest

[01:53:16] preference was consolidation and that

[01:53:20] because our obligation to ensure that

[01:53:22] every student with

[01:53:24] with a resident student has to have the

[01:53:27] ability to have a seat, it may not be

[01:53:29] possible in all solutions. And so can

[01:53:31] you in all state situations? And so I

[01:53:33] just wonder if you can talk a little bit

[01:53:35] about the pressures of us and our

[01:53:37] responsibility to provide resident

[01:53:39] students access to their neighborhood

[01:53:41] school should they choose it and the way

[01:53:42] in which that may have impacted

[01:53:44] decisions around which schools could be

[01:53:47] easily consolidated versus which ones

[01:53:49] had to be um you know divided amongst a

[01:53:52] couple different schools.

[01:53:55] >> Well really starting with the resident

[01:53:57] population is the key to that. So we

[01:53:59] want to look can the school accommodate

[01:54:01] the resident population you know with

[01:54:03] the new combination. Um so we looked at

[01:54:06] that closely and and I I pointed out one

[01:54:08] slide earlier too that it you know the

[01:54:10] resident population can be a little bit

[01:54:12] bigger than the capacity um because of

[01:54:14] that because of open enrollment. Not all

[01:54:16] kids will go there.

[01:54:17] >> You go to the next slide real quick and

[01:54:19] continue your thoughts. Oh, if it has to

[01:54:22] do with your next slide, you can hold it

[01:54:23] because I do know my board members want

[01:54:25] a come for a break. The

[01:54:26] >> next slide though.

[01:54:27] >> Okay. Okay.

[01:54:29] >> Thanks. We will take a fivem minute

[01:54:31] comfort break and we'll resume on

[01:54:33] discussing levers for of open

[01:54:35] enrollment.

[02:01:16] like to call this meeting back to order

[02:01:19] and turn it back over to staff to

[02:01:22] discuss

[02:01:24] enrollment utilization.

[02:01:33] So here we can see uh Bear Creek and

[02:01:34] Mesa combination as an example of uh

[02:01:37] what it looks like when we combine two

[02:01:38] schools and how we project that

[02:01:40] situation. Uh we can see on the left

[02:01:43] side we have Bear Creek. Uh it's 25 26

[02:01:46] enroll resident students and enrollment

[02:01:48] utilization. Uh and the same for Mesa.

[02:01:51] Uh on the on the right side we see the

[02:01:54] projected consolidated schools for 27 28

[02:01:58] which would be the first year that

[02:01:59] school would would function as a

[02:02:01] consolidated school. Uh and also a

[02:02:03] further projection in 2030 and 31. Um

[02:02:08] going down the list we have uh the

[02:02:10] resident students in 27 in the combined

[02:02:12] school. Uh now that number are the

[02:02:15] number of students that live in the the

[02:02:18] really kind of three um enrollment

[02:02:20] areas, right? You've got Bear Creek

[02:02:22] enrollment area, you've got Mesa's

[02:02:24] enrollment area, but you've got the dual

[02:02:25] area too, which almost functions as a

[02:02:28] third enrollment uh area in that in that

[02:02:31] uh part of the of the city. Um and then

[02:02:34] going further into the future, that

[02:02:36] number does go up to 522, which is more

[02:02:38] than the capacity of 492. However, um

[02:02:42] you know, again, even using 85% which is

[02:02:45] the highest end of that we see of

[02:02:48] resident students attending their

[02:02:49] neighborhood school, that still puts the

[02:02:51] population at 455. Now, that's without

[02:02:54] open enrollment or anything like that,

[02:02:55] though. And that gets to be the tricky

[02:02:57] part. Uh in the enrollment part in the

[02:02:59] bottom, we have uh we did a range um

[02:03:03] based on how many students from Mesa,

[02:03:05] resident students from Mesa will carry

[02:03:07] over. Uh and then that part also does

[02:03:10] not include the portion of Mesa uh

[02:03:14] students that are open enrolled into

[02:03:15] Mesa. Um and it also includes part of

[02:03:19] students that uh in Bear Creek. uh we

[02:03:23] would probably manage enrollment that

[02:03:25] first year for all new uh uh open

[02:03:27] enrolled kids in the Mesa rather than um

[02:03:31] you know we wouldn't touch the kids that

[02:03:32] are already in the building but for the

[02:03:34] new open enrollment would probably have

[02:03:35] to be managed uh in order to make sure

[02:03:37] we get everybody in.

[02:03:41] Yeah, I think uh board members this is

[02:03:43] an important point. Um and Glenn, if you

[02:03:46] can speak to uh you know when we look at

[02:03:50] resident students, right, we have uh

[02:03:53] decades of enrollment trend data that

[02:03:54] tell us what percentage of any resident

[02:03:58] group of students attends their

[02:04:00] neighborhood school. And uh that is that

[02:04:03] is some of the data that Glenn leaned

[02:04:05] on. Um you know, because you could look

[02:04:07] at this and say, gosh, you've got more

[02:04:08] resident students than you have

[02:04:10] capacity.

[02:04:11] Right. And I think that some of our

[02:04:13] folks in our community, you know, gave

[02:04:14] us some pretty straightforward feedback

[02:04:16] at our last meeting. Wait a minute, you

[02:04:18] have 522 resident students and you have

[02:04:20] capacity of 492. Uh again, um not every

[02:04:25] resident student goes to their

[02:04:27] neighborhood school. As a matter of

[02:04:29] fact, as we've shared, you know, it's

[02:04:30] between somewhere between 60 and 70

[02:04:32] depend depending 70% depending on the

[02:04:34] availability that you have. So, three

[02:04:37] out of every 10 schools that are a

[02:04:38] resident student um don't go to their uh

[02:04:42] their neighborhood schools. And as we

[02:04:44] shared a few slides previously where we

[02:04:47] could talk to you specifically, maybe go

[02:04:49] back to that, Glenn, to just kind of

[02:04:50] highlight this point. Um now, just kind

[02:04:53] of the all of the the folks on the green

[02:04:56] bars do not attend their resident

[02:04:59] school. And so uh you know you can see

[02:05:03] uh those are significant amounts um and

[02:05:06] significant amounts in our smallest

[02:05:07] schools. Uh um so I think that when

[02:05:11] folks are trying to um fully understand

[02:05:15] the methodology that we use there just

[02:05:17] be there's some pieces of information

[02:05:19] that are missing uh that we use to and

[02:05:22] this is how Glenn gets really accurate

[02:05:24] with his projections within 1% 19 out of

[02:05:28] 20 years or something like that is when

[02:05:29] we were thinking about it. Um so uh I

[02:05:32] just wanted to highlight that point. You

[02:05:33] can go back Glenn to to where we're we

[02:05:36] where we're at. Um and then the other

[02:05:38] this other idea around open enrollment

[02:05:40] as a lever I think we're going to get

[02:05:42] into here a little bit but again

[02:05:43] remember board members resident students

[02:05:46] and then open enrollment right so in in

[02:05:49] future years in a consolidated Bear

[02:05:52] Creek and Mesa right we're not going to

[02:05:55] have the open enrollment ability that we

[02:05:58] have today

[02:06:00] right as school just like we don't have

[02:06:03] the open enrollment ability at other

[02:06:05] schools that are filled

[02:06:07] Right. The open enrollment process

[02:06:09] accounts for that and it ensures that we

[02:06:12] don't open enroll in ways that overcrowd

[02:06:15] schools or overcrowd classrooms. And I

[02:06:18] think that those were really big

[02:06:20] concerns because if you start looking at

[02:06:22] more students than you have capacity,

[02:06:24] then the only way that if you didn't

[02:06:26] have these other data points, these

[02:06:28] other methodologies that we're speaking

[02:06:29] to, you you'd have to put them in really

[02:06:31] big classes. And we're going to get to

[02:06:34] this board members, but again, our

[02:06:35] community spoke loud and clear, right?

[02:06:38] They don't want really large class

[02:06:39] sizes,

[02:06:41] right? Very very evident. And so to the

[02:06:44] extent that we are going to begin to be

[02:06:46] able to drop those class sizes is is a

[02:06:50] big um I think um anchor of the plan and

[02:06:55] the proposal that that that we've shared

[02:06:57] with you all. So Rob, I didn't know if

[02:06:58] you wanted to add anything else there.

[02:07:00] Um or if Glenn if you wanted anything

[02:07:02] else. I just think that I just wanted to

[02:07:04] to pause and highlight I think a valid

[02:07:06] question for folks who wouldn't have

[02:07:08] understood what what Glenn shared with

[02:07:09] you all in terms of uh you know you

[02:07:13] you're know it looks like you're going

[02:07:15] to overcrowd the schools to make this

[02:07:16] plan work. That's not the case.

[02:07:23] >> Do you have a question on this slide? I

[02:07:26] I do just while we're on the topic of

[02:07:28] Bear Creek Mesa if if that's soon we can

[02:07:30] I can wait

[02:07:33] I mean if we if we have a few more

[02:07:34] slides to cover but I think this there's

[02:07:35] a few questions that I'd like to ask

[02:07:37] around this specific thing.

[02:07:39] >> So there are three slides on this levers

[02:07:42] that relate to class size and consult

[02:07:44] and

[02:07:47] so it's your your call.

[02:07:48] >> Okay. Thanks. I'm I'm gonna take the

[02:07:50] opportunity to ask that question. Uh

[02:07:52] we've I've we've all heard from a lot of

[02:07:54] folks uh particularly parents and

[02:07:56] families at Mesa concerned about exactly

[02:07:58] what Dr. Anderson talked about. Can you

[02:08:01] you know I think this is relevant here

[02:08:02] but can you talk about you know where

[02:08:03] the rise kids fits it fit into this if

[02:08:06] that's part of the numbers you're

[02:08:07] talking about and then I think Glenn you

[02:08:08] mentioned kids that are currently open

[02:08:10] enrolled to Mesa now like what does this

[02:08:12] mean for them next year and is that

[02:08:14] factored into this calculation here?

[02:08:19] So the RISE students are included and we

[02:08:21] brought brought that program over uh so

[02:08:24] that is included uh in in the

[02:08:26] projection. Um and as far as the Mesa

[02:08:28] students, we the the Mesa uh students

[02:08:31] that are currently attending um um Mesa

[02:08:36] it assumes all of those students coming

[02:08:38] over. Uh and the high there's a range in

[02:08:40] that one. So that's the high range that

[02:08:42] all of those kids come over. Uh the low

[02:08:44] range is just a lower percentage of

[02:08:46] those come over. And then the students

[02:08:48] that are open enrolled uh into Mesa

[02:08:51] currently that is going to be dealt with

[02:08:53] through the open enrollment process and

[02:08:55] the preferences that we established. Um

[02:08:58] and then I guess related if I can uh you

[02:09:01] know Rob you know all these facilities

[02:09:02] really well. I think a lot of people

[02:09:04] have raised concerns you know you have a

[02:09:05] school even if it's middle of that range

[02:09:08] you know I I actually I don't know the

[02:09:10] the layout exactly at Bear Creek but I a

[02:09:13] lot of open open concept classrooms. Are

[02:09:16] you could you talk about you know the

[02:09:18] ability of that building to be able to

[02:09:19] absorb at the high range high end of

[02:09:22] this range the kids the new programmatic

[02:09:24] things that are moving over and just

[02:09:27] addressing concerns that Dr. Anderson

[02:09:28] did about you know overcrowded room

[02:09:31] classrooms. I think just there's a lot

[02:09:33] of concern uh I think understandably so

[02:09:35] about um even if these were on the lower

[02:09:38] end the ability of this building to be

[02:09:40] able to successfully kind of incorporate

[02:09:43] that many kids. Yeah, we've uh spent a

[02:09:47] lot of time this summer walking

[02:09:48] buildings, looking at buildings, know

[02:09:50] this building really well. The um as a

[02:09:54] reminder, it wasn't long ago when these

[02:09:56] buildings were at this size. I mean, I

[02:09:58] think we can look back to 2016 2017

[02:10:01] numbers and a lot of these schools were

[02:10:04] over 400 students. Um the what I do want

[02:10:08] to recognize though, as schools have

[02:10:10] gotten smaller, they've expanded into

[02:10:13] different spaces, right? right? They've

[02:10:15] used it as a swing space, a reading

[02:10:17] room, um additional staff lounges, etc.

[02:10:21] And that's change management and that's

[02:10:23] going to take some time and we'll have

[02:10:24] to work with the building leaders, work

[02:10:26] with staffs, etc. because a lot of that

[02:10:29] space that they've expanded to will now

[02:10:31] have to be classroom space. It was

[02:10:33] intended to be classroom space when the

[02:10:35] building was first built. Uh so when we

[02:10:37] look at capacity we look at it of uh

[02:10:41] classrooms that are what bigger than 600

[02:10:44] 600 square f feet. We have a multiplier

[02:10:47] of 25 students. So in the case of Bear

[02:10:50] Creek we have 20 classrooms out there.

[02:10:53] Um we have uh multiply that times 25 and

[02:10:56] that's how you get to 492

[02:10:59] um as a capacity. So little over a three

[02:11:02] round school out there. Um again, you

[02:11:05] know, the learning environment, uh do

[02:11:08] have some spaces that are that open

[02:11:10] concept similar to Heatherwood,

[02:11:11] Eisenhower, uh Mesa has some of that

[02:11:14] right now. Um and again, we'll be

[02:11:17] working with staffs to figure out how we

[02:11:19] can mitigate a lot of that. But, uh I

[02:11:21] just want to remind us it wasn't long

[02:11:22] ago when these schools were this full.

[02:11:24] Um and they were, uh very successful at

[02:11:28] that time. Okay, couple things for folks

[02:11:31] who are watching at home. Uh 25 time 20

[02:11:34] doesn't equal 492.

[02:11:37] >> I'm sorry. You're right.

[02:11:38] >> Our class size is 24

[02:11:41] >> 20.

[02:11:41] >> Yes. 24.58

[02:11:43] is our multip. So So you're right.

[02:11:46] >> So sorry about that, Rob, but I just

[02:11:48] want to be very accurate with folks. Um

[02:11:50] and you know, I appreciate the level of

[02:11:52] precision that our our community is

[02:11:53] seeking. Um

[02:11:55] >> I will say that board members, as we

[02:11:58] think about this and we think about

[02:11:59] class sizes, right? So, our capacity,

[02:12:01] we're building on a ca a capacity of a

[02:12:04] of an average K12 general ed class size

[02:12:08] of 24.58 to1. Right now, you may be

[02:12:12] asking, you know, why don't we have

[02:12:14] class sizes of 24.58 to1? Part of this

[02:12:18] consolidation effort shrinks the range

[02:12:22] of class sizes that we see. And we're

[02:12:25] going to get into this a little bit, but

[02:12:26] I think it's worth taking a moment to

[02:12:27] speak to here. Um because if you have an

[02:12:30] average of 25 board members, if you have

[02:12:33] a class of 17, what does that mean? You

[02:12:34] need to have on the other end to average

[02:12:36] to 25,

[02:12:38] right? Like so if so by consolidating so

[02:12:41] our community understands how we're

[02:12:43] going to use this to shrink class size,

[02:12:45] you shrink the range by having more

[02:12:48] rounds per school, right? Because if you

[02:12:50] get 34 kids in a grade at a two round or

[02:12:54] at a one round school, then you have two

[02:12:56] classes of 17, right? But if you get a

[02:13:00] couple kids and you have three classes

[02:13:02] of 25 26, you don't get to the place

[02:13:04] where you're adding a teacher um and

[02:13:07] you're expanding your range on the low

[02:13:09] end and then on the high end to get to

[02:13:11] that average, right? And then the

[02:13:13] efficiencies, and we're going to talk a

[02:13:14] little bit about this when Bill speaks,

[02:13:16] creates new resources that we can then

[02:13:19] redeploy into schools to even bring that

[02:13:22] average down lower and shrink that range

[02:13:25] so there's a more consistent class size

[02:13:29] K through five. So, um, I just wanted,

[02:13:31] sorry, Rob, to I'm going to keep an eye

[02:13:34] on the math to make sure that that that

[02:13:36] folks, um, you know, understand, you

[02:13:38] know, that we're talking and how it adds

[02:13:39] up, but I'm also really trying to

[02:13:41] describe more in detail how all this

[02:13:44] works together.

[02:13:49] All right. So, um, thank you very much.

[02:13:52] I'm going to be continuing to talk about

[02:13:54] those two levers. a lot of the

[02:13:55] discussion has already kind of taken

[02:13:58] some of the points that I had to make

[02:14:00] and it's been wonderful in that space.

[02:14:02] So either I'll be adding some new

[02:14:04] information, I'll be layering some

[02:14:06] consistent information about what was

[02:14:08] said and I hope what uh the next couple

[02:14:11] slides lay out for you is um a little

[02:14:14] more clarity around those two levers

[02:14:16] that Mr. Price and Mr. Shagru and Dr.

[02:14:19] Anderson talked about. So those two

[02:14:21] levers levers are managing school choice

[02:14:25] enrollment process and I'll use the

[02:14:27] terminology choice enrollment versus

[02:14:29] open enrollment. They are

[02:14:30] interchangeable. They mean the same

[02:14:31] thing but um and then the other one

[02:14:34] being maximizing designated classroom

[02:14:36] usage which Mr. Price just spoke about.

[02:14:39] >> Can you advance this? Perfect.

[02:14:41] >> Yeah. So um the first one levers to

[02:14:45] manage enrollment specifically through

[02:14:46] choice enrollment. Um the ability for us

[02:14:50] to clearly identify overall student

[02:14:52] enrollment availability by school and by

[02:14:54] grade level during the choice enrollment

[02:14:56] window is going to be very important.

[02:14:58] We've already emphasized that we will

[02:15:00] maintain our choice enrollment process.

[02:15:02] That's important. It's a value within

[02:15:04] the state of Colorado and BBSD to have

[02:15:05] choice enrollment. But our first

[02:15:07] priority will be our currently enrolled

[02:15:09] and resident students. We just spoke

[02:15:11] about that. Followed by students and

[02:15:14] families that have elected to choice

[02:15:15] enroll.

[02:15:17] Choice enrollment is exactly that. It's

[02:15:19] a family choice. Each year, families

[02:15:20] choose to attend a school other than

[02:15:22] their neighborhood school. That's across

[02:15:24] our system, K12. For example, current

[02:15:27] Mesa families may choose to uh choose a

[02:15:30] school other than Bear Creek.

[02:15:33] This is a normal process of choice

[02:15:35] enrollment. Likewise, each year families

[02:15:38] choose to leave their neighborhood

[02:15:39] school to attend a different school. And

[02:15:40] that's kind of some of the details Mr.

[02:15:42] Shaggru spoke about. If there is room at

[02:15:44] a school after the um currently enrolled

[02:15:48] and resident students, we will be

[02:15:50] offering seats to a to a degree. Our

[02:15:54] commitment is that we are not going to

[02:15:55] be overfilling our classrooms as Dr.

[02:15:58] Anderson just spoke about, nor our

[02:16:00] schools when it comes to the defined of

[02:16:03] capacity based on the available

[02:16:05] classroom spaces. During the process,

[02:16:08] it's important to note a couple things.

[02:16:09] First, choice enrollment in Colorado

[02:16:11] does not guarantee enrollment in a

[02:16:13] school. However, we also understand

[02:16:14] choice enrollment is a value of BBSD. As

[02:16:17] previously mentioned, currently 63% of

[02:16:19] our students attend their identified

[02:16:21] schools. Sometimes that ranges to be

[02:16:23] more. Um, and our plan underscores this

[02:16:27] resident student population. To ensure

[02:16:29] our efficiencies as we move forward

[02:16:31] towards the 2728 school year, our

[02:16:34] proposal reflects a change in how we

[02:16:36] identify the number of choice enrollment

[02:16:38] space available at each school and also

[02:16:41] changes the window of choice enrollment

[02:16:44] to November 1st to December 18th. That's

[02:16:46] going to help us be better defined and

[02:16:49] be more purposeful with ensuring our

[02:16:51] numbers are accurate. And therefore by

[02:16:53] rethinking how we identify our class

[02:16:55] sizes and space available, we'll better

[02:16:57] be better able to create more

[02:16:59] predictable access to instruction and

[02:17:02] the in learning environments that we

[02:17:04] want for each and every single student

[02:17:05] in BBSD.

[02:17:07] So let's talk about how this happens.

[02:17:10] The other second lever and this is what

[02:17:12] Mr. Price was talking about. So this is

[02:17:14] kind of like what we would say a school

[02:17:16] was originally designed for. Each one of

[02:17:18] those boxes just to orient ourselves is

[02:17:21] a classroom. the little people in the

[02:17:23] classroom is not accurate, right? So

[02:17:24] there's we have more than 12 students in

[02:17:26] the class, but just to orient ourselves

[02:17:29] to that. So it's important to talk about

[02:17:31] how class size is determined. Um first,

[02:17:34] it's determined by our identified

[02:17:36] recommended class size guidelines, which

[02:17:38] is found within our negotiated

[02:17:39] agreement.

[02:17:41] However, our elementary school class

[02:17:43] sizes range from the mid- teens to 30,

[02:17:46] 31, and 32. Therefore, what is often

[02:17:50] thought of as capacity is based on feel

[02:17:52] found in the classroom instead of the

[02:17:53] number of students. And we face this

[02:17:54] every single year. As our student as our

[02:17:57] schools have gotten smaller, our schools

[02:17:59] have thoughtfully and honestly

[02:18:00] transformed previously identified

[02:18:01] classroom spaces into non-classroom

[02:18:04] spaces. For example, across BBSD,

[02:18:07] schools have transformed previously

[02:18:09] identified classrooms

[02:18:11] into other spaces such as I've seen

[02:18:14] staff lounges, reading areas, maker

[02:18:16] spaces, open collaboration spaces,

[02:18:19] student dens, conference rooms, parent

[02:18:22] volunteer rooms, make the list, but and

[02:18:24] they've done that thoughtfully and with

[02:18:26] intention

[02:18:28] um because they've had the space.

[02:18:30] Likewise, we've have some schools that

[02:18:32] have movable walls and some teachers

[02:18:35] have opened up the wall to create one

[02:18:37] really big classroom instead of two

[02:18:40] classrooms. So, we have to go back and

[02:18:42] think about what our classroom

[02:18:44] designations actually originally were

[02:18:46] based on the information square footage

[02:18:49] and the like that has been shared. So

[02:18:52] because of those conversions, our

[02:18:54] community and sometimes our own staff

[02:18:57] see that there's not as much space

[02:18:59] available within the school because they

[02:19:01] don't go back to think about what that

[02:19:03] space might have originally been

[02:19:04] designed for. And therefore, it looks

[02:19:06] like there's less capacity than

[02:19:09] otherwise would be. Therefore, by

[02:19:11] rethinking our capacity and ensuring

[02:19:12] that we are using classrooms as pre

[02:19:14] previously designed, going back to the

[02:19:16] classroom model, we are actually better

[02:19:19] able to ensure the goal of not

[02:19:20] overfilling our classrooms and our

[02:19:22] schools beyond their capacity. Though

[02:19:24] there may be some outliers to this, we

[02:19:26] intend to smooth out as many currently

[02:19:28] large classes to better align with our

[02:19:30] overarching goals of of our class sizes

[02:19:33] while maintaining the negotiated

[02:19:34] contract language around class size

[02:19:37] maximums at a minimum. Ultimately, our

[02:19:40] space availabilities in relation to

[02:19:42] school capacity is managed solely

[02:19:44] through the identification, usage of,

[02:19:46] and designated classroom spaces. By

[02:19:48] ensuring we're utilizing every single

[02:19:50] one of those, uh we can maximize our

[02:19:53] school capacity while simultaneously

[02:19:55] ensuring that we are not overfilling our

[02:19:57] classrooms by managing the choice

[02:19:58] enrollment process by denying the

[02:20:01] opportunity to accept a seat um in that

[02:20:04] space. And so that's kind of what I had.

[02:20:08] I can certainly talk about open

[02:20:10] enrollment and how we're going to manage

[02:20:11] those seats if you would like.

[02:20:18] We'll just wrap up this portion before

[02:20:20] we get to a discussion slide. I'm not

[02:20:22] going to spend much time on it. These

[02:20:23] are the three main points that really

[02:20:25] summarize the methodology we use to

[02:20:27] build our proposal. Uh main point is we

[02:20:31] uh centered ourselves on student

[02:20:33] learning experience and we've done that

[02:20:35] since we started this process. We

[02:20:37] engaged the community. We listened

[02:20:39] first. We used their feedback to develop

[02:20:41] the proposal. And then everything we

[02:20:43] talked about today is what went into

[02:20:46] developing that proposal that we

[02:20:47] presented to you on August 25th. And

[02:20:49] I'll just reemphasize because it

[02:20:51] continues to be uh asked is there was no

[02:20:54] single data point that we used uh

[02:20:57] determine these recommendations. It was

[02:20:59] all of this and we've presented this a

[02:21:01] number of times. You can see how much

[02:21:03] went into this presentation. So with

[02:21:06] that we will open this section for

[02:21:08] discussion.

[02:21:13] >> I do have a question on um when we're

[02:21:18] thinking of the class sizes that uh we

[02:21:20] are going to have with the

[02:21:22] consolidations. Um what were also the

[02:21:24] considerations when you took into

[02:21:26] account the programs that you would be

[02:21:27] bringing into the schools? I'm really

[02:21:30] particularly thinking um around um coal

[02:21:34] that would feature an ILC program with

[02:21:36] an IAN program and um what that

[02:21:39] consideration was when we were thinking

[02:21:40] about class sizes because when we were

[02:21:43] talking to principles and teachers, one

[02:21:46] of their um biggest points of feedback

[02:21:49] was the the high needs of our students

[02:21:51] that are coming in and how a classroom

[02:21:54] of 18 can feel like a classroom of 30

[02:21:58] because of the needs of our students.

[02:21:59] And so I want to know what um those

[02:22:01] considerations were. And if you're going

[02:22:03] to talk about it later, that's also

[02:22:04] okay.

[02:22:06] >> We are going to talk about it later. And

[02:22:08] I think it's an important point to to to

[02:22:10] to bring up. Um, and we will have uh

[02:22:14] Michelle Brener um to come up and speak

[02:22:17] to this the the specifics around not

[02:22:20] just what we're hearing from our

[02:22:21] families that are actually in these

[02:22:23] programs who we've talked to a vast

[02:22:25] majority of them uh but also some of the

[02:22:28] issues and challenges that actually

[02:22:31] multiple programs can actually having

[02:22:33] him in the same place can actually

[02:22:35] support those students and other other

[02:22:37] teachers as well. So more to come on

[02:22:40] that. Thank you for asking that

[02:22:41] question.

[02:22:44] >> And then I'll just add a little bit. Um,

[02:22:46] and again, executive director Michelle

[02:22:47] Brener will join us for the student

[02:22:48] experience portion. But one of the

[02:22:50] things that I will say that our special

[02:22:52] education team does is that we we build

[02:22:54] programs almost every single year. And

[02:22:57] so that team works very closely with Rob

[02:22:59] Price depending on where the need is at

[02:23:02] the school. Always reviewing the spaces,

[02:23:05] looking for sensory spaces. They have

[02:23:07] they are everything and precise. um

[02:23:09] through a checklist of what's needed for

[02:23:12] the spaces from deescalation spaces to

[02:23:14] sensory spaces um you know to all the

[02:23:17] areas that we need and so that is a that

[02:23:20] is something we do on a regular basis

[02:23:23] and so Michelle has been a part of this

[02:23:25] process from the onset and in all

[02:23:28] proposals looking at giving us feedback

[02:23:30] on where can we do it where can we not

[02:23:32] do it um those types of things and so I

[02:23:35] think they're they're they're pretty

[02:23:37] wellversed in building new programs and

[02:23:39] looking at spaces in collaboration with

[02:23:41] operations.

[02:23:44] >> Alex.

[02:23:45] >> Yeah. Um, thank you very much. Uh, I I

[02:23:48] think this the stuff you've presented in

[02:23:50] terms of the the influence of these

[02:23:52] levers is really important and I think

[02:23:54] really helpful for the public to

[02:23:55] understand. I mean, one of the things

[02:23:57] I've always mined for insight are the

[02:23:59] enrollment matrices in Glenn's website

[02:24:02] that are up there for every year for

[02:24:04] elementary, middle, and if people

[02:24:05] haven't looked at them, there's data on

[02:24:07] the c the neighborhood school that

[02:24:09] someone's coming from and the school

[02:24:10] they're attending and those from where

[02:24:12] they're outgoing, how much in district

[02:24:14] and out of district enrollment there is,

[02:24:16] you know, into all these schools. And

[02:24:17] it's it's illustrative to me. So, like

[02:24:20] for example, I live across the street

[02:24:21] from Community Monasuri, which will be

[02:24:23] relocated under this plan. And so one of

[02:24:26] my thoughts was okay well how many of

[02:24:28] those kids uh will not go with community

[02:24:30] monastery will want to return to their

[02:24:33] neighborhoods. They might be in the Bear

[02:24:34] Creek Mesa catchment zones. Turns out

[02:24:37] it's 23. So like uh some of them will go

[02:24:40] to the BCSIS campus because it's not

[02:24:42] that far but some will probably elect to

[02:24:44] stay but we don't know. So I'm think

[02:24:46] okay there's a universe of 23 kids who

[02:24:48] are going to impact who should have a

[02:24:51] right to enroll in their neighborhood

[02:24:52] school which will now bear creek who'd

[02:24:54] been in the Mason Bear Creek collective

[02:24:57] catchment zones when you do the planning

[02:24:59] for like expecting capacity uh in the

[02:25:02] region which is one of the reasons why

[02:25:04] we need to do this regionally not school

[02:25:05] by school. Um do do you take into

[02:25:08] account like all the schools that might

[02:25:11] be affected? So another school is

[02:25:13] closing at Flat Irons and Community

[02:25:15] Monastery is moving and Mesa is closing.

[02:25:17] So from where I live, there's two

[02:25:19] buildings that will not have schools in

[02:25:21] them in the future and we got to figure

[02:25:22] out where all those kids would go. And

[02:25:24] then how do you predict where a Mesa

[02:25:27] family like we can assume we'll probably

[02:25:29] have 30 40% not go where they're

[02:25:31] assigned because that's always the case.

[02:25:33] But do we have any more insight to think

[02:25:35] about other than those big ratios of

[02:25:37] likely choosing out?

[02:25:40] >> Yeah. predict that the behavioral piece

[02:25:42] with open enrollment is really tough.

[02:25:43] There isn't much information that can

[02:25:45] guide us how all of those interactions

[02:25:48] will play out, especially when you

[02:25:49] change things because all of the base

[02:25:51] assumptions are gone. Uh that's why we

[02:25:53] do try to anchor ourselves in that

[02:25:54] resident population. So, can the

[02:25:57] resident population, for example, of

[02:25:58] Mesa, Bear Creek, um in the dual area,

[02:26:02] all of those students fit in into the

[02:26:04] school? And the answer that we've shown

[02:26:06] is yes. So that's probably the best way

[02:26:08] to deal with that than trying to track

[02:26:10] every single possible, you know,

[02:26:12] scenario out there.

[02:26:14] >> If I may follow up on that, one of the

[02:26:15] things I've been advocating for since

[02:26:18] actually for two decades in this

[02:26:19] district, when we have so much choice, I

[02:26:22] believe I support neighborhood schools

[02:26:23] and I don't want people to enroll in

[02:26:25] private schools when we don't let them

[02:26:27] back into their neighborhood school. So

[02:26:29] I'm going to be proposing and I'd like

[02:26:31] your reaction to the idea that if

[02:26:33] someone's in a choice school, a focus

[02:26:36] school, let's say particularly high

[02:26:38] peaks or community monastery and they

[02:26:40] don't want to go to the relocated

[02:26:42] version, I don't think they should have

[02:26:43] an enrollment preference. I think they

[02:26:45] should have an enrollment right like any

[02:26:47] other resident to enroll the next school

[02:26:49] year in that school. what would be the

[02:26:51] implications of making a change to the

[02:26:53] proposal to

[02:26:55] uh do what I think is in best interest

[02:26:57] of our long-term enrollment which is to

[02:26:59] give people the right of return the

[02:27:02] following school year to their

[02:27:03] neighborhood school and so I look at

[02:27:06] those numbers from community monastery

[02:27:07] within the Bear Creek Mesa and duel Bear

[02:27:10] Creek Mesa enrollment place that's 23

[02:27:12] kids if those 23 kids don't want to go

[02:27:15] to the Aurora 7 campus I want them to

[02:27:19] have a right to stay in their

[02:27:20] neighborhood and not go behind, frankly,

[02:27:22] someone who's been enrolled in a private

[02:27:24] school or homeschooling ahead of them uh

[02:27:26] into what could be a more crowded

[02:27:27] school. Have you taken thought about

[02:27:29] that? And what would be the implications

[02:27:31] of providing that? Right.

[02:27:34] >> Thank you, board member Medler, and and

[02:27:37] um and appreciate this is as as a

[02:27:39] long-standing passion of yours that that

[02:27:41] you have have brought forward on

[02:27:43] multiple occasions, and so do appreciate

[02:27:45] that. Uh it just I think there there's a

[02:27:48] couple of factors. It depends on timing,

[02:27:51] right? Like, so are you saying that they

[02:27:53] would because

[02:27:55] if you're proposing that they would have

[02:27:57] to declare before open enrollment

[02:27:59] starts,

[02:28:02] right? Because if you don't know where

[02:28:03] they're going to go, then you don't know

[02:28:04] what seats you can open part of as part

[02:28:06] of open enrollment. And I think the hard

[02:28:09] thing about managing something like

[02:28:11] this, not impossible, we're not talking

[02:28:12] about lots of kids, right? This is a

[02:28:14] small group of kids is do you hold open

[02:28:17] seats during a process that takes

[02:28:20] opportunity away from others to hold it

[02:28:22] for some? So if you've chosen to go to

[02:28:25] high peaks or say say you've chosen to

[02:28:28] go to community monastery

[02:28:30] um and uh then you decide

[02:28:35] before open enrollment window closes or

[02:28:38] before we start the process of of

[02:28:40] placing students. Um

[02:28:45] if you would have to do it ahead of that

[02:28:47] to not have to to be able to have that

[02:28:49] seat reserved for that for that student

[02:28:51] to come back. Um, so timing is one and

[02:28:55] if it's if it's at any time at any point

[02:28:58] I think what could potentially be

[02:29:00] impacted is um you know again we're

[02:29:02] talking about small groups of students

[02:29:04] uh would it ever be that one student

[02:29:07] that would tip you over a class size to

[02:29:09] add another section and in that instance

[02:29:11] do you have a classroom to put that

[02:29:13] section in?

[02:29:15] I mean I think those are the

[02:29:16] considerations like so for the worst

[02:29:19] case like like the worst possible

[02:29:20] scenario I'm describing for you which I

[02:29:22] the the likelihood I I don't think is is

[02:29:24] is really high is you have a student uh

[02:29:29] who at some point um if they don't tell

[02:29:32] you ahead of time

[02:29:34] then then you would have to keep a seat

[02:29:36] open for the potential for that kid to

[02:29:38] to come over so they wouldn't tip you

[02:29:40] over a class-siz trigger that would add

[02:29:42] another section but again very small um

[02:29:46] in the consideration I think we're

[02:29:48] talking about small numbers of students

[02:29:50] and I'll look to the team to to to to to

[02:29:52] add any more context before for before

[02:29:55] board member Medler's follow-up?

[02:29:57] >> No. And I I we would have to analyze it.

[02:29:59] Uh board member Medler, I um I don't

[02:30:02] know if I can sit here today and answer

[02:30:03] that question. What does it mean for our

[02:30:05] projections, etc. I think it's something

[02:30:07] we would have to analyze school by

[02:30:08] school. It's not just one building. If

[02:30:10] you do it, you're going to do it for

[02:30:11] all. So, we'd have to see what that

[02:30:13] impact is across the district.

[02:30:16] >> I've actually asked you to do that a few

[02:30:18] times. So, I would love to see the

[02:30:19] analysis. I I'd also also suggest that

[02:30:23] the numbers we're talking about are not

[02:30:24] 100% of those people who would want to

[02:30:26] exercise that. They didn't choose their

[02:30:28] neighborhood school for a reason. So

[02:30:29] there's quite likely a reason why they

[02:30:31] would choose a different neighborhood

[02:30:32] school afterwards. So I think the

[02:30:34] numbers get even smaller. And for the

[02:30:36] last two years, I have said I'd be

[02:30:37] delighted to have it be happen before.

[02:30:40] So I think the sort of timing is

[02:30:41] something that that's fair. Um, but I

[02:30:44] will add the reason I've been advocating

[02:30:45] for this ye for years in a declining

[02:30:47] enrollment thing is first it's good for

[02:30:49] kids because people have exercised a

[02:30:51] choice and maybe they found the choice

[02:30:53] was bad and they just even if they're

[02:30:54] not closing they should return to their

[02:30:56] school because it's where they want

[02:30:57] their kid to be. Secondly, we are losing

[02:30:59] somewhere around and Glenn can correct

[02:31:01] me. I might estimate you know 2,2200

[02:31:04] kids to private schools, homeschool

[02:31:07] enrollment or we know we're losing,00

[02:31:09] kids to out of district enrollment. So,

[02:31:11] these are people who didn't chose their

[02:31:13] neighborhood school, chose something

[02:31:14] else, uh, can't even get back to their

[02:31:16] neighborhood school. So, I think they're

[02:31:19] highly likely to be the people who will

[02:31:20] homeschool uh, open enroll of the

[02:31:23] district or private school their

[02:31:24] student. So, when we're trying to save

[02:31:26] every kid we can, I think a right of

[02:31:29] return is actually the moral thing to

[02:31:31] do, the educational thing to do, and the

[02:31:33] long-term financial thing to do. That's

[02:31:35] those are all the reasons why I

[02:31:36] advocate. And then I asked for in a

[02:31:39] request for information earlier this

[02:31:40] year that took a long time to get

[02:31:42] fulfilled, I might add. And the numbers

[02:31:44] are really small. So that's why I mean,

[02:31:46] you can look back at the RFI put in that

[02:31:48] you submitted to me, and you'll see that

[02:31:50] these numbers are small. So, I'm going

[02:31:51] to be pushing I will I will propose an

[02:31:54] amendment to the resolution that will

[02:31:57] say that I believe students in uh

[02:32:00] schools that are uh focused schools,

[02:32:03] choice only schools that are being

[02:32:05] relocated should have not an open

[02:32:07] enrollment preference but a right of

[02:32:08] return to their school if they designate

[02:32:10] that that's what they want to do during

[02:32:12] the open enrollment period. So, um I'd

[02:32:14] like more data on that. I think the

[02:32:16] numbers are small. I think there's three

[02:32:18] or four different domains in which it's

[02:32:19] the right thing for the district and for

[02:32:21] our kids.

[02:32:23] >> Thank you, board member Medler. I do

[02:32:25] appreciate your advocacy on this point.

[02:32:26] I will say that um the way that we've

[02:32:29] structured this in this priority

[02:32:31] enrollment choice preference does move

[02:32:35] anyone who is impacted both at focus

[02:32:38] schools and um schools that are being um

[02:32:42] closed or consolidated somewhere else.

[02:32:44] um the very first uh preference. Um and

[02:32:50] again, vast majority of our schools are

[02:32:53] going to have room. Some schools, Bear

[02:32:56] Creek Mesa, Superior Elementary, these

[02:32:58] are schools that we've been transparent

[02:33:00] with the community on. Those numbers

[02:33:02] will be tight. And if there's a proposal

[02:33:05] that that the board would like to

[02:33:07] consider around this, I think the thing

[02:33:09] to think about is this even part of open

[02:33:11] enrollment or do you just reach out to

[02:33:14] the folks in the focus schools and ask

[02:33:15] them if they'd want to go back to their

[02:33:16] neighborhood schools prior to that that

[02:33:18] that open enrollment window. I know that

[02:33:20] the board has considered this and not

[02:33:21] taken action on this previously and I

[02:33:23] know this is board member Medler's um he

[02:33:25] he's bringing this up at this moment

[02:33:27] which I which I honor. Um, but I would

[02:33:29] say that that would probably the me be

[02:33:31] the mechanism that you would have to do

[02:33:34] um to be able to make that insured

[02:33:36] guarantee. I think the trick is based on

[02:33:39] what what I've heard you say, board

[02:33:41] member Medler, that you'd have to know

[02:33:43] right away you didn't like your choice.

[02:33:44] And if the choice, you know, midyear,

[02:33:46] you know, you know, you'd have to you'd

[02:33:47] have to know theoretically before um

[02:33:51] before December 16th, I think would be

[02:33:53] the last because that's when we close

[02:33:55] the window and that's when we'd process

[02:33:57] the seats and things of that nature. So

[02:33:59] I I would say that those would be the

[02:34:01] things for the board to consider if

[02:34:02] that's something that you wanted to to

[02:34:04] to entertain.

[02:34:07] Deian,

[02:34:10] >> uh, my question about these the

[02:34:12] management of, um, open enrollment is,

[02:34:17] uh, pretty particular, so I'll just be

[02:34:19] specific about it. Will, um, managing

[02:34:23] the open enrollment at High Peaks bring

[02:34:27] that school to capacity, so we'll open

[02:34:29] it up for

[02:34:32] a hundred children to come.

[02:34:36] I believe yes. The answer is is that as

[02:34:39] as when we looked at at High Peaks and

[02:34:41] we looked at all of our our our um our

[02:34:44] focus programs, uh we have a a standing

[02:34:47] weight list at High Peaks. Um that has

[02:34:49] been limited traditionally by by two

[02:34:51] rounds. Um by move by moving that school

[02:34:54] into um its new location, you'd be able

[02:34:57] to expand that to three rounds, which

[02:34:59] would then expand opportunities for

[02:35:01] anyone who who would be interested. But

[02:35:03] again, anybody who's impacted would have

[02:35:05] that priority enrollment preference uh

[02:35:08] to be able to to apply apply for those

[02:35:11] new opportunities.

[02:35:13] >> Does does the priority

[02:35:16] um

[02:35:18] the priority enrollment of people who

[02:35:20] are impacted

[02:35:22] um override the longstanding weight

[02:35:26] list?

[02:35:30] Yeah, thanks Deian or board member

[02:35:33] Booker. Sorry about that. um uh the

[02:35:36] priority improvement is meant for that

[02:35:38] and you have to each year open

[02:35:41] enrollment re redo itself and so a

[02:35:45] family would have to recommmit to

[02:35:47] wanting to open enroll to say High Peaks

[02:35:50] and at that point the or out of that the

[02:35:54] school to go to another school and

[02:35:56] therefore if they're an impacted family

[02:35:58] that priority component would be a

[02:36:00] factor that would um supersede a general

[02:36:04] all open enrollment um request through

[02:36:07] our normal process. But every year a

[02:36:10] family has to re-up their open

[02:36:12] enrollment requests um regardless of

[02:36:14] level and regardless of where they

[02:36:16] currently attend unless they've been

[02:36:18] accepted in a school. Then it's assuming

[02:36:20] that they're going to carry forward

[02:36:21] unless they choose to open enroll or

[02:36:24] choice and roll out.

[02:36:30] I just needed to clarify the weight list

[02:36:33] piece also and so thank you.

[02:36:38] So going back to the question I asked

[02:36:39] before the recess

[02:36:42] given the number of where we could

[02:36:46] completely consolidate we did in

[02:36:48] instances where consolid consolidation

[02:36:51] was not possible because of the number

[02:36:53] of resident students where the numbers

[02:36:55] of students in those facilities did not

[02:36:57] work out we then chose to um I know

[02:37:02] we're using the word closure and

[02:37:04] reallocate those to either one between

[02:37:07] two schools or between three schools

[02:37:08] depending on those resident students and

[02:37:12] depending on in some cases I mean

[02:37:15] logistics

[02:37:17] I would say like where those families

[02:37:19] lived in proximity to other facilities

[02:37:24] is that the case

[02:37:26] >> yeah you framed it well and that is

[02:37:27] correct yes

[02:37:29] >> thank you Lany Lana and I think for

[02:37:33] clarity for the community Um,

[02:37:38] if you were to be reszoned to a

[02:37:43] different elementary school, you would

[02:37:46] always have a bus to that. Correct. I'm

[02:37:49] not talking about focus schools. I'm

[02:37:50] talking about if you were um

[02:37:54] at

[02:37:55] Flat Irons, you would have a bus to

[02:37:58] either Whittier or Foothill. If you were

[02:38:01] at Douglas, you'd have a bus to one of

[02:38:03] the three particular schools. There

[02:38:06] would never be a time you wouldn't have

[02:38:07] a bus.

[02:38:08] >> No, that that would not be a correct

[02:38:10] statement, but we will get into the

[02:38:12] transportation.

[02:38:13] >> Okay. Thanks.

[02:38:14] >> The slide deck will address that when we

[02:38:16] get there.

[02:38:17] >> Okay. I just want to make sure that we

[02:38:18] really help people to understand how how

[02:38:22] we're navigating that.

[02:38:25] >> Anna and then Alex.

[02:38:26] >> Thank you. And I do want to make sure

[02:38:27] that as we're going into the

[02:38:29] conversation of resources um that again

[02:38:32] we are considering that in Broomfield um

[02:38:36] we did have a consistent um

[02:38:40] uh open enrollment uh cohort of students

[02:38:44] coming into our schools. Um that did

[02:38:47] give us an average of around 230

[02:38:49] students every single year. um and

[02:38:53] really taking into account that that is

[02:38:55] just a significant amount of students

[02:38:57] within coming into our district that are

[02:38:59] out of district. That would be a

[02:39:01] significant amount of money uh on top of

[02:39:03] the money that we're trying to um uh

[02:39:07] really save and sustain to ensure that

[02:39:09] we have those resources in our schools.

[02:39:11] And so I want to just not lose the point

[02:39:14] of making sure that I understand the

[02:39:18] banking on an open enrollment uh out of

[02:39:21] district student um when we're creating

[02:39:24] our budgets is irresponsible. But I do

[02:39:26] want to also highlight that this has

[02:39:29] been a consistent group coming into this

[02:39:31] coming into the district from from out

[02:39:34] of district students. And so really

[02:39:37] reconsidering uh like the rebalance

[02:39:39] within Broomfield knowing that we

[02:39:41] already have of our four elementary

[02:39:44] schools, two of those are already at or

[02:39:47] over capacity already. Um and so just

[02:39:50] making sure as we're going into the

[02:39:51] resource conversation that we're not

[02:39:53] losing track of of the

[02:39:56] students that we have coming in out of

[02:39:58] district that provide a significant

[02:40:00] amount of dollars that come into the

[02:40:02] district as well.

[02:40:05] >> Thank you. Thank you for that question.

[02:40:06] I I will say that uh can you go back to

[02:40:10] slide uh 19

[02:40:21] as we think about the students that have

[02:40:23] o openen enrolled into Birch Elementary

[02:40:27] School from outside the district. Um, as

[02:40:29] a reminder, board members, in the

[02:40:31] proposal that those students, even

[02:40:34] though they're out of district, would

[02:40:35] get a priority enrollment preference.

[02:40:38] And if you could look at the enrollment

[02:40:40] of of Cole, uh, it's one of our largest

[02:40:44] elementary schools.

[02:40:46] So, so there there will be space for

[02:40:49] open enrollment at Cole Elementary

[02:40:51] School from out of district students. Um

[02:40:54] and again when we speak to managing

[02:40:57] resident student population versus open

[02:40:59] enrollment population, you know, we're

[02:41:01] not closing the district to open

[02:41:03] enrollment population from outside of

[02:41:05] the district. I think that when our

[02:41:07] resident student populations in our new

[02:41:10] reconfigured schools reaches close to

[02:41:13] capacity, that's when you would turn

[02:41:16] that off. folks could still apply uh but

[02:41:19] because of the preferences and because

[02:41:21] of the amount of seats by the time that

[02:41:22] their preference came in those

[02:41:24] preferences would be given to resident

[02:41:26] students. And so uh you know for folks

[02:41:28] who are thinking we're closing open

[02:41:30] enrollment at Birch, we're going to lose

[02:41:32] all these dollars uh and and the the

[02:41:35] dollars that we're going to lose doesn't

[02:41:37] support what it is that we're trying to

[02:41:38] do. I don't believe that to be the case.

[02:41:40] Uh that Cole will have lots of lots of

[02:41:42] space. Cole is less than a mile away

[02:41:44] from Birch Elementary School. This is

[02:41:46] not a school that's really really um

[02:41:48] further located. And as as Rob Price

[02:41:51] shared, we actually have better capacity

[02:41:54] and better space at Cole Elementary

[02:41:56] School to accommodate folks coming in

[02:41:58] from out of the district with the

[02:41:59] queuing spaces in in those areas. And so

[02:42:01] do appreciate the question. I appreciate

[02:42:03] the the detail of the question. Um and

[02:42:06] I'd let Rob and Glenn, you know, fact

[02:42:08] check me if there's anything I said

[02:42:09] that's inaccurate um in in in my

[02:42:11] response to that. Um, but I do think

[02:42:13] it's a good question that I think we

[02:42:15] should be answering in public. So,

[02:42:17] >> no. And I I think you are right. One of

[02:42:19] the things I wanted to pull up, I think

[02:42:21] that gets missed sometimes, and I want

[02:42:23] to prove this out, but we continue to

[02:42:25] graduate out these really large classes,

[02:42:28] right? And we're bringing in smaller,

[02:42:31] much smaller than we historically have

[02:42:33] seen kindergarten classes. So, we've got

[02:42:34] these large cohorts that are leaving the

[02:42:37] system, smaller cohorts that are coming,

[02:42:39] and that's really what we're starting to

[02:42:40] see. And that's kind of the same

[02:42:43] throughout the system. So we we're

[02:42:44] losing these larger which frees up space

[02:42:46] within our buildings if if that if

[02:42:49] you're following me on that. So that's

[02:42:50] also what we're trying to plan for is we

[02:42:53] just got smaller class sizes that are

[02:42:55] coming into the system. So but I think

[02:42:57] Dr. Anderson summarized it well. But uh

[02:43:00] there just is a lot of nuances as we

[02:43:02] think about this available space and

[02:43:04] then the levers that we have as as

[02:43:06] students apply uh apply through open

[02:43:08] enrollment or choice enrollment um

[02:43:12] through the priority preference they

[02:43:14] will have that first priority if they're

[02:43:16] in a closed school and then schools

[02:43:18] students that are out of district would

[02:43:20] fall in the typical open enrollment

[02:43:22] process that they would go through

[02:43:23] normally.

[02:43:24] >> Thank you. And I think again my question

[02:43:28] falls on the numbers of the projections

[02:43:30] were that the the kindergarten classes

[02:43:33] were coming in at around uh 36 each year

[02:43:36] but the lived experience at Birch has

[02:43:39] been that they are having students

[02:43:41] coming in at 45 kindergarteners each

[02:43:44] year. And so just making sure that we

[02:43:46] are taking that into account of it's not

[02:43:49] the it's not the steep decline that

[02:43:51] we're seeing in Bold within Boulder.

[02:43:58] >> Alex.

[02:43:59] >> Yeah. Um I think uh I'd be curious and I

[02:44:04] wouldn't put you on the spot for being

[02:44:05] able to answer this now, but I'm

[02:44:07] intrigued um visually when I look at

[02:44:10] like slides 18 and 19. I think we're

[02:44:14] kind of burying the lead. If you could

[02:44:16] pull one of, let's say, slide 18 up or

[02:44:18] 19. Um,

[02:44:21] yeah. So, for me, the whole cause of

[02:44:25] this problem is the hard to estimate

[02:44:28] white space between the green circle and

[02:44:31] the red triangle. And I wish that was a

[02:44:34] red bar because then we would see the

[02:44:37] unused capacity that we don't have in

[02:44:39] the schools. And a lot of these

[02:44:41] questions about like well how much space

[02:44:42] will there be are if we talked about

[02:44:45] them in a percent of capacity of the

[02:44:47] building we'd be like yeah this is a

[02:44:49] manageable thing that we need to move

[02:44:51] forward and manage carefully and do with

[02:44:53] equity and students best interest in

[02:44:55] mind but the whole reason we're doing

[02:44:57] this is because we have so much open

[02:44:59] space between the red triangle and the

[02:45:01] green circle and um so it's and we've

[02:45:06] sort of got the red line as sort of a

[02:45:07] self-inflicted piece about you know

[02:45:10] what's efficient for two grades before

[02:45:12] we start having uh you know much more

[02:45:15] expensive activity but we have this

[02:45:17] building capacity that is the cause of

[02:45:20] our problem and part of our asset in the

[02:45:23] places that remain when we're moving

[02:45:24] forward so and then we have to do that

[02:45:27] with the estimation of a smaller number

[02:45:28] of people moving forward because

[02:45:30] enrollment's declining it's getting

[02:45:31] worse so I would just bring that to I

[02:45:34] guess people's attention that this

[02:45:36] graphics that we've used have really

[02:45:39] sort

[02:45:40] visually understated the cause of the

[02:45:42] problem and you know one of the assets

[02:45:44] we have to solve it. Um and so I that's

[02:45:48] one thing I'm just like I think we have

[02:45:50] a lot to manage and choice and we always

[02:45:52] have a lot to manage and choice. Um uh

[02:45:55] but I just I just wanted to highlight

[02:45:56] that for people.

[02:46:01] >> Okay, turn it over to

[02:46:04] Mr. Sutter.

[02:46:16] Okay, moving into the uh reinvesting

[02:46:19] into the student experience. Uh as was

[02:46:23] noted at the August 25th uh board work

[02:46:25] session on this topic, we estimate the

[02:46:27] savings uh that could be created uh

[02:46:30] between three and a half to $4 million.

[02:46:33] Uh these are recurring uh annual

[02:46:35] savings, so not one-time uh savings that

[02:46:39] we've identified. Um we will direct

[02:46:43] these uh resources toward the priorities

[02:46:45] our community identified uh particularly

[02:46:48] the smaller and more uniform elementary

[02:46:51] class sizes

[02:46:53] uh and increased access to those

[02:46:55] critical staff of the elementary

[02:46:59] specials and counselors and uh library

[02:47:02] staff.

[02:47:04] Uh recurring uh savings really matter

[02:47:07] because they allow us to support the

[02:47:10] student experience year after year as

[02:47:12] opposed to uh one-time resources that

[02:47:15] may get bu um put into a building uh to

[02:47:18] support uh the um a smaller class size

[02:47:24] uh for one year at a time.

[02:47:28] Moving into the uh summary of the

[02:47:30] estimated savings.

[02:47:33] So the methodology we used on this um

[02:47:37] was taking the kindergarten through

[02:47:40] fifth grade classes uh or 8th grade and

[02:47:43] the 2K8s that are impacted. Uh the

[02:47:46] projected student counts for this

[02:47:48] current year. Uh recalculating the

[02:47:51] staffing with the projected number of

[02:47:54] resident students postclosure or

[02:47:56] consolidation of those impacted schools.

[02:47:59] and then uh using the staffing formulas

[02:48:03] uh that exist for this current year at

[02:48:06] those uh class size maximums.

[02:48:10] Uh so just rerunning the existing state.

[02:48:15] The jobs that were included in this

[02:48:17] analysis uh fall into two general

[02:48:20] categories. the fixed operational

[02:48:23] support. Uh those are building

[02:48:25] administrators, clerical support, food

[02:48:27] service and custodial. Uh those are the

[02:48:31] kind of positions that uh move in less

[02:48:36] of a straight line we'll say uh than the

[02:48:40] variable classroom supports uh teachers,

[02:48:43] librarians, counselors, par educators.

[02:48:45] Uh so these fixed operational supports

[02:48:48] are identified um per building. Uh you

[02:48:53] know we have one principle per building.

[02:48:56] Uh

[02:48:59] the process uh is very similar to the

[02:49:02] calculation that was used in 2003 and

[02:49:05] 2004 that I did because I was here in

[02:49:09] 2003 and 4 uh when we went through this.

[02:49:13] uh it is documented on page 20 of the

[02:49:16] 20034 revised budget. So we did present

[02:49:20] this information. Uh there have been

[02:49:22] claims that you know we had no idea of

[02:49:25] what happened back then. It actually was

[02:49:27] printed in the book and you can find it

[02:49:29] uh online.

[02:49:32] Back then there were three schools uh

[02:49:34] and 19 FTE uh that were impacted uh

[02:49:38] obviously a lower dollar amount two

[02:49:40] decades prior uh to now uh but is that

[02:49:45] is very similar to the six schools and

[02:49:47] 38 FTE uh that are referenced here. So

[02:49:50] very similar in the movement of uh these

[02:49:55] fixed costs and these uh classroom

[02:49:58] costs.

[02:50:00] An assumption is being made uh that

[02:50:02] preschool and special education students

[02:50:05] the the movement of those programs will

[02:50:08] result in all students and staff moving

[02:50:11] together uh resulting in no savings. Uh

[02:50:14] however, as student enrollment is

[02:50:17] determined uh through the spring, the

[02:50:19] actual staffing results may change with

[02:50:22] special education itinerants uh or

[02:50:24] potentially other positions such as uh

[02:50:27] English language acquisition uh and will

[02:50:30] all depend on the student demographics

[02:50:32] and staff case loads. uh and obviously

[02:50:36] the final results will be dependent on

[02:50:38] the resident students uh who attend

[02:50:41] their neighborhood schools and uh go

[02:50:43] through that choice enrollment process.

[02:50:49] So there were also some comments made

[02:50:51] about uh you know these savings are less

[02:50:54] than 1% of the operating budget or even

[02:50:59] uh a rounding error in the overall

[02:51:01] budget. Um the operating budget is

[02:51:04] roughly $400 million for the district.

[02:51:08] Um these are just some other examples of

[02:51:11] programs, services, supports, and

[02:51:13] educational experiences that fall into

[02:51:16] the general amount being discussed. Um

[02:51:19] the entire Apex Career and Technical

[02:51:22] Education Center is $3.3 million. So,

[02:51:27] uh, that also would be a rounding error

[02:51:31] in the district's budget. Uh, the the

[02:51:33] school board has invested heavily in

[02:51:36] that program, uh, for all the right

[02:51:38] reasons. Uh, high school interscolastic

[02:51:41] athletics, uh, 2.9 million. Uh, all the

[02:51:45] elementary counselors, 3.8 million. All

[02:51:48] the elementary librarians, 3 million. So

[02:51:51] like

[02:51:53] three and a half to4 million dollars is

[02:51:55] real money uh and will be invested in

[02:51:59] reducing that uh variability and range

[02:52:02] of uh class sizes.

[02:52:05] I think that's the last slide on that.

[02:52:08] If there's any questions

[02:52:11] I'll go through a few more slides and

[02:52:13] then we'll open up for questions. This

[02:52:15] is the same slide you saw on August

[02:52:17] 25th. We're estimating facility

[02:52:19] modifications. somewhere in the 7.5 to

[02:52:22] $10 million range. Uh this cost will be

[02:52:25] slightly offset by about 3 million in

[02:52:27] savings from not investing in the closed

[02:52:29] schools if the resolution is approved.

[02:52:34] This is a breakdown of the I'm going to

[02:52:36] emphasize this preliminary estimates for

[02:52:39] the facility modifications. These are

[02:52:41] amounts are attended intended just to

[02:52:44] establish at a reasonable range. only

[02:52:47] final cost and scope would be dependent

[02:52:49] on uh final design uh building

[02:52:52] conditions, program requirements,

[02:52:54] getting contractor bids, etc. So, you

[02:52:57] can see here the largest invest in

[02:52:58] investment is the conversion of Monarch

[02:53:00] PK8 into a dedicated middle school

[02:53:03] estimated somewhere between 3 and 3.5

[02:53:05] million. Cole Whittier or Bear Creek

[02:53:07] improvements would support special

[02:53:09] education programs. Uh Bear Creek, we

[02:53:12] have some additional money in there for

[02:53:13] some facility improvements to uh

[02:53:15] accommodate the combined school

[02:53:16] community. At Community Monasuri's new

[02:53:19] location, we're estimating approximately

[02:53:22] 1 and a half to 2.45 million needed to

[02:53:25] create the preschool kindergarten spaces

[02:53:28] uh and a uh preschool kindergarten or a

[02:53:30] preschool playground. Um, we've also

[02:53:33] included some money in for improvements

[02:53:34] at Superior and potential costs for

[02:53:36] preschool at uh Birch if the location is

[02:53:40] ultimately needed. And again, we haven't

[02:53:42] finalized uh preschool locations yet.

[02:53:45] That will be known on October 1st, but

[02:53:47] we have included some funds there. I do

[02:53:50] want to note um because there's been a

[02:53:52] lot of uh comment about spending upwards

[02:53:55] of $10 million, but we need to think

[02:53:58] about our long-term investments. And as

[02:54:00] we look at our capital needs over the

[02:54:02] next 10 years, the district could avoid

[02:54:04] approximately $44.8 million and

[02:54:07] anticipated capital expenditures by no

[02:54:10] longer investing in these buildings in

[02:54:12] the future. And I just want to make sure

[02:54:13] that is known um as we continue to get

[02:54:17] stuck on some of these smaller numbers.

[02:54:19] There is some big decisions to be made

[02:54:22] as we uh bring back if the board

[02:54:25] approves the resolution on the future of

[02:54:27] these buildings and what happens with

[02:54:29] that and that will guide some of those

[02:54:31] expenditures.

[02:54:34] Um we have also budgeted the $5 million

[02:54:37] to provide school transition support

[02:54:40] knowing that we would have expenses.

[02:54:42] This was money that we set aside in

[02:54:43] January to help cover some of the cost

[02:54:46] of moving that transitional support. Um,

[02:54:49] a lot of this is informed by previous

[02:54:51] experiences in the bond projects, etc.

[02:54:53] And there's not a specified plan on how

[02:54:55] these dollars will be spent. They could

[02:54:57] be used for facility modifications. They

[02:54:59] could be used for moving expenses, uh,

[02:55:02] helping fund some of the transitional

[02:55:04] costs. Any funds that are not spent will

[02:55:07] be returned to the general fund.

[02:55:10] So, with that, we'll open it up for

[02:55:12] questions.

[02:55:13] >> Thanks, Rob. Anna, I do have a question

[02:55:16] regarding the um preschool at Birch. If

[02:55:20] you could talk about a little bit more

[02:55:22] about um how many students we would need

[02:55:25] in order to keep that going? And would

[02:55:27] that at all be uh a data point that we

[02:55:30] should be considering for the the demand

[02:55:35] for um keeping Burge open?

[02:55:40] Do you want to speak to preschool and

[02:55:42] data? How do you incorporate that in?

[02:55:46] >> Well, preschool is is a separate

[02:55:48] program. Uh, so it's really a matter of

[02:55:50] of providing the space initially with

[02:55:53] with um within the building and then um

[02:55:57] um and that's managed by the preschool

[02:56:00] um by you know by our preschool people.

[02:56:03] in terms of acceptances into the program

[02:56:05] and uh through the state, you know, the

[02:56:07] state lottery and things like that. Uh

[02:56:10] you know, that's almost like an all open

[02:56:12] enrollment model. It's not like we have

[02:56:14] to take all of the preschool kids in. Uh

[02:56:16] it's it's really a matter of providing

[02:56:18] that space.

[02:56:19] I would just add to that that as we're

[02:56:21] thinking about preschool in that in that

[02:56:23] area of Broomfield, we're thinking about

[02:56:25] what we currently have, how filled those

[02:56:27] classrooms are, and then we have

[02:56:28] preschool community liaison who are

[02:56:30] embedded in each area of our community

[02:56:33] who really have a sense of more

[02:56:34] qualitatively like what needs of

[02:56:36] families are and so we're planning

[02:56:38] accordingly.

[02:56:40] And just for the facilities, um could

[02:56:42] you also talk about some of the changes

[02:56:44] that you will need to make um that you

[02:56:47] have made at Birch that will need to be

[02:56:49] made at Cole, particularly around

[02:56:52] asbestous mitigation um mitigation?

[02:56:55] >> Yeah, we'll if you don't mind, we'll

[02:56:57] talk about asbestous later in the

[02:56:59] presentation. So, anytime we do building

[02:57:01] renovations, etc., we have to plan

[02:57:03] around asbestous. We have a Hera plan

[02:57:05] that allows us that, but I'll talk more

[02:57:07] about that when we get there,

[02:57:09] >> Jason. and then Anna. I'm sorry, Deian.

[02:57:13] >> Yeah, thanks. Um Michelle, I'm glad

[02:57:14] you're able to join. I had a few

[02:57:15] questions related to special ed. Um and

[02:57:18] I'm, you know, it looks like there's

[02:57:20] three programs we're moving that will

[02:57:21] require new facility modifications or

[02:57:24] special needs programs. Um I I'd really

[02:57:28] like to understand uh you know, there's

[02:57:30] a lot of concern folks have raised about

[02:57:32] the current facilities and being you

[02:57:34] know, those are kind of ideal and better

[02:57:36] and smaller for uh special needs

[02:57:38] students. And so I'd love to be able to

[02:57:40] kind of translate those dollar amounts

[02:57:42] to what this is going to look like at a

[02:57:43] school like if we're talking about

[02:57:44] building a new special needs program. Uh

[02:57:47] what is what is involved? Are you

[02:57:50] confident that these new facilities are

[02:57:53] able to be able to serve the kids in the

[02:57:56] same way that uh there won't be you know

[02:57:58] we we talked about kind of larger

[02:58:00] schools but I think there's real concern

[02:58:02] and maybe understandably so about the

[02:58:05] ability of the new schools to be able to

[02:58:06] serve these kids. So, I really want to

[02:58:08] get a sense of, you know, not just

[02:58:09] dollar amounts, but what this looks like

[02:58:11] in terms of um, you know, what needs to

[02:58:13] be done, what kind of I think maybe

[02:58:15] Glenn or someone mentioned a few of

[02:58:16] these things, but I'd really like to

[02:58:18] talk about that transition if possible.

[02:58:21] >> Um, we do have like slide 37 for that.

[02:58:24] So, I don't want to get too far ahead of

[02:58:26] the presentation.

[02:58:28] um maybe the facility budget spec or the

[02:58:31] budget specific component of that but

[02:58:33] then the the impact to student

[02:58:35] experience I think we are talking about

[02:58:37] coming up so I'm just trying to be

[02:58:38] mindful of

[02:58:39] >> I can wait yeah whatever I just wanted

[02:58:40] to um pan that

[02:58:42] >> and I yeah just also trying to be

[02:58:43] mindful of we've got 60some slides um uh

[02:58:47] so I know it's taking a while to get to

[02:58:49] all of our best questions um so let's

[02:58:52] hold on that one Deian and then Alex,

[02:58:57] >> let's see. I think that um the the slide

[02:59:00] that's called facility modifications

[02:59:03] number 30

[02:59:06] doesn't include any improvements

[02:59:10] for Cole Creek.

[02:59:12] It doesn't um have improvements for

[02:59:17] um Heatherwood.

[02:59:21] So the receiving schools of the Douglas

[02:59:23] students are not getting improvements

[02:59:25] according to that chart.

[02:59:26] >> Yeah.

[02:59:27] >> Hey, I need to ask the audience to kind

[02:59:28] of quiet down. It's impacting the

[02:59:30] ability of our board members to hear and

[02:59:32] because we will be the one making the

[02:59:33] decision on this next week. It really is

[02:59:35] important for us to understand the

[02:59:36] answers to the questions that are being

[02:59:38] asked and the questions that are being

[02:59:39] asked themselves. So please um quiet

[02:59:42] down in the audience.

[02:59:44] >> So uh Cole Creek, we don't have any

[02:59:47] improvements slated at Cole Creek. We

[02:59:49] don't believe there are any needed. Um,

[02:59:51] and then at Heatherwood, as a reminder,

[02:59:53] Heatherwood is a phase four project and

[02:59:55] already had work planned at Heatherwood.

[02:59:57] So, we'll be able to accommodate some of

[02:59:59] the special education modifications

[03:00:00] within the phase 4 work that's already

[03:00:02] planned out there.

[03:00:05] >> Is there any thought about making

[03:00:07] Heatherwood not such an open plan

[03:00:10] school? Uh there has been thoughts for

[03:00:13] years on uh changing the layout of some

[03:00:17] of these buildings and um due to fire

[03:00:20] ratings of the building uh and other

[03:00:22] things it really is not possible or

[03:00:24] feasible to turn that into a typical

[03:00:28] classroom setting. So we have I would

[03:00:30] say the district has studied that since

[03:00:32] the early 2000s at a lot of these places

[03:00:35] um and fire ratings etc. of wall

[03:00:38] assemblies, roof assemblies, etc. come

[03:00:40] into play. I

[03:00:41] >> I would say that I've spent some time at

[03:00:44] Eisenhower, at Heatherwood, um and and

[03:00:47] the district um has taken some measures

[03:00:50] to ensure that it's less than the open

[03:00:53] concept that was 80s prevalent. And I do

[03:00:56] think that there's lessons to be learned

[03:00:58] as a district when you when you build

[03:01:01] facilities around a certain type of

[03:01:03] philosophy, right? then and these are 50

[03:01:07] to 75 year assets and the philosophy

[03:01:09] changes I think that it can propose some

[03:01:12] challenge. Um uh that being said uh you

[03:01:15] know as we even think about Heather what

[03:01:17] do we think about Eisenhower um uh you

[03:01:20] know these these are not um if we if we

[03:01:23] project what the amount of students will

[03:01:26] be in those schools they're not going to

[03:01:27] be at full capacity still have lots of

[03:01:29] capacity and they'll have lots of space

[03:01:31] in those buildings uh for growth um you

[03:01:35] know any you know that that would be a

[03:01:37] consideration for the board in a future

[03:01:39] bond if if it was the desire of of the

[03:01:42] board to say, "Okay, these we really

[03:01:44] want to rectify these schools that um

[03:01:46] that that have this open um concept." Uh

[03:01:50] because I think that the investments,

[03:01:52] Rob, to your point, uh it's not where

[03:01:54] it's it's there's a cost associated that

[03:01:58] certain point it may it makes sense to

[03:01:59] tear it down and build new. Is is that

[03:02:02] that's that's correct? Right.

[03:02:03] >> That is a correct statement. Yes.

[03:02:06] I'm worried because I heard uh from some

[03:02:09] of the parents who have um students that

[03:02:13] need intensive learning and they are

[03:02:16] will refuse to go to Heatherwood because

[03:02:18] the kids it's too open and it's going to

[03:02:21] be too confusing for their particular

[03:02:23] learner. So I feel like the move to

[03:02:26] Heatherwood is going to cause um

[03:02:29] inequality for our special ed students.

[03:02:32] >> I we look forward to answering that

[03:02:34] question. We do not believe that to be

[03:02:36] the case.

[03:02:38] >> Alex,

[03:02:40] >> thank you. Um,

[03:02:42] uh, for the 7.5 or $10 million of the

[03:02:46] modifications, what would the time frame

[03:02:48] be for, uh, getting those done? That

[03:02:52] work would be completed this summer. So,

[03:02:54] if the board approves the resolution, we

[03:02:56] would begin immediately with design,

[03:02:58] getting architects, contractors on

[03:03:00] board, uh, getting design underway,

[03:03:03] permitting, etc. to be ready uh through

[03:03:05] the summer uh for the start of the 2728

[03:03:08] school year.

[03:03:08] >> Great. So they wouldn't be these when

[03:03:12] when they have their new enrollments,

[03:03:14] these would be in place.

[03:03:15] >> That's right.

[03:03:16] >> Okay.

[03:03:19] >> Piggyback on that. I mean all of our

[03:03:21] bomb projects have a a specific kind of

[03:03:23] cadence that they go through including

[03:03:26] seabach oversight, board approval. My

[03:03:29] expectation is I I mean these are as you

[03:03:31] noted these are estimates there are

[03:03:34] projections based on you know the

[03:03:37] potential for this for the resilient

[03:03:39] schools proposal to be approved. Um can

[03:03:42] you speak a little bit to what that

[03:03:46] looks like that process between like my

[03:03:49] assumption is this isn't just a

[03:03:50] guarantee there is sort of those checks

[03:03:52] and balances and if you could explain

[03:03:54] that as to the board members and our

[03:03:55] community as well. No, we I mean we have

[03:03:58] to engage architects in a lot of these

[03:04:00] uh some of these projects are phase four

[03:04:01] projects. So we already have architects

[03:04:03] on board when we delayed some of these

[03:04:05] projects. So going through a design

[03:04:08] advisory team meetings etc to figure out

[03:04:10] what work needs to be done. There's

[03:04:12] different levels of design, there's

[03:04:13] design development, there's uh uh

[03:04:16] construction drawings that have to be

[03:04:18] completed and a certain point at design

[03:04:20] development, we get bids from our

[03:04:22] contractors that tells us where we're

[03:04:24] at. Usually at that time is when we are

[03:04:26] bringing budgets to not only Seabach for

[03:04:30] review and then if if SEO supports it

[03:04:32] then we would bring it to the board for

[03:04:34] approval. So we go through that process

[03:04:37] with design at uh construction drawings

[03:04:39] we get something we call the guaranteed

[03:04:41] maximum price. Guaranteed maximum price

[03:04:44] comes to the board. If it's over a

[03:04:45] certain threshold, the board would

[03:04:46] approve that contract after the after

[03:04:49] which you've already approved the

[03:04:51] funding for that and then we go through

[03:04:53] procurement getting materials uh

[03:04:55] equipment etc for whatever is needed for

[03:04:57] the project. Uh the the big lag here in

[03:05:00] the um reason for the expedited timeline

[03:05:04] for some of this is is permitting can

[03:05:07] take up to 12 to to 14 weeks in some

[03:05:10] occasions with CDPHE and the state. Um,

[03:05:14] so that is important for us to

[03:05:16] understand and to plan around. So we've

[03:05:19] got to get through that design process,

[03:05:21] get a guaranteed maximum price, get

[03:05:22] drawing submitted for permitting to

[03:05:25] allow us to be successful over the

[03:05:26] summer months. And again, we have a

[03:05:28] proven track record to be able to do

[03:05:29] this work over the summer. I think last

[03:05:31] summer, uh, I don't remember quite the

[03:05:33] numbers, but somewhere around that $60

[03:05:35] million, I believe, uh, over 11week time

[03:05:38] frame. Um, and we have been very

[03:05:41] successful over the 2014 bond, the 2022

[03:05:44] bond and proving that success. So, um, I

[03:05:47] don't know if that answers your

[03:05:48] question, but I just wanted to give you

[03:05:50] a level of detail there that we do

[03:05:52] understand the commitment it takes in

[03:05:54] order to hit the 2728 school year.

[03:05:57] >> And then I have a follow-up question um,

[03:05:59] a little bit to a point that board

[03:06:03] member Tamu Auding brought up earlier.

[03:06:05] you know, this BBSD taxpayers have been

[03:06:08] exceedingly generous over the years in

[03:06:09] passing bonds and in passing mills and

[03:06:12] um it helps us provide the type of

[03:06:14] educational experiences our students

[03:06:16] deserve.

[03:06:18] Uh and there has been a strong community

[03:06:20] sensitivity to, you know, who is

[03:06:22] benefiting from those tax dollars. And I

[03:06:24] would say that even when this board

[03:06:26] approved the the um commuter preference,

[03:06:29] there was some push back saying, well,

[03:06:31] oh, out of district students have always

[03:06:33] received the lowest priority because

[03:06:36] they do not pay taxes within the bounds

[03:06:38] of with the same tax rates as other

[03:06:42] people that live within the boundaries

[03:06:43] of BBSD do. And so there was some push

[03:06:45] back here. And so I wonder if Bill could

[03:06:48] speak to

[03:06:51] the per pupil

[03:06:53] the um Anna had asked the question, do

[03:06:57] we receive the same amount of money per

[03:06:59] pupil from a student that's enrolling

[03:07:01] from Adams or St. Vin or Jeffco to BVSD

[03:07:05] that we receive from BVSD? And is there

[03:07:08] a difference there?

[03:07:15] The uh school finance act um calculates

[03:07:20] uh or is uh agnostic to where the

[03:07:23] student lives. Uh it is based on the

[03:07:28] district uh enrollment

[03:07:31] um geographic um the student

[03:07:34] demographics. So it's it's not the

[03:07:37] location where the student lives if

[03:07:39] they're moving between districts. Um

[03:07:43] the source of the funding

[03:07:47] uh depends on where you live. So in

[03:07:53] Boulder, we're

[03:07:57] 85ish%

[03:07:58] locally funded. So, uh those local

[03:08:02] property taxes from uh residential and

[03:08:06] non-residential uh properties uh are

[03:08:09] supporting the majority of the cost. Um

[03:08:14] the the marginal change for one student

[03:08:17] up or one student down is not going to

[03:08:22] affect anybody's local property tax. Um

[03:08:26] we would uh that that difference between

[03:08:30] being uh fully locally funded and uh um

[03:08:35] the split that we have now um is that

[03:08:38] sort of margin of error where the the

[03:08:44] property taxpayers in Boulder Valley uh

[03:08:48] could experience higher property taxes

[03:08:51] uh with declining student enrollment

[03:08:54] just be as that percentage of local

[03:08:58] share changes. So, no, the amount that

[03:09:01] the school finance act provides per

[03:09:04] pupil uh is not different based on where

[03:09:07] you live uh in u

[03:09:10] it's a little different if you're like

[03:09:12] in a really small district. Um but

[03:09:15] generally speaking in the front range um

[03:09:18] it's the really the mix of of uh local

[03:09:21] and state share for that school finance

[03:09:24] act which won't move uh the the needle

[03:09:29] on the handful of students that we have.

[03:09:34] Bill, talk about mill levy overrides and

[03:09:36] and that impact because I think that was

[03:09:40] >> Can I ask that the slide about local

[03:09:42] versus state share is up there? It's in

[03:09:45] the appendix and I asked specifically

[03:09:47] for it to be included because I get it,

[03:09:51] but only because you've only told me 70

[03:09:53] times how it works, right? And and

[03:09:58] >> Jason's starting to get it because he

[03:10:00] sits on a committee, right? like we're

[03:10:02] we we're we get it. But I think it's a

[03:10:05] really really important piece here. Um

[03:10:09] and when I submitted my questions ahead

[03:10:11] of time to staff, I asked that this be

[03:10:13] included because there it is, Bill. It's

[03:10:16] our great slide with the the buckets.

[03:10:19] Um, I think that this is important

[03:10:22] because I've had questions from the

[03:10:23] community about property taxes and

[03:10:27] um why we aren't more wellunded and why

[03:10:30] we haven't done enough and this is what

[03:10:34] explains it.

[03:10:37] >> Primer, can you give us a primer, Bill,

[03:10:40] and then come back to mill levy

[03:10:42] overrides because there is some

[03:10:43] difference there.

[03:10:44] >> Yes. Um

[03:10:47] so

[03:10:49] this graphic uh is intended to uh

[03:10:54] illustrate

[03:10:56] how

[03:10:59] the state's

[03:11:01] interaction

[03:11:02] with the school finance act and state

[03:11:06] budgets

[03:11:08] uh uh work. So total program funding

[03:11:13] which is the bucket um is made up of the

[03:11:18] local share and the state um

[03:11:21] equalization

[03:11:23] with the intent being the school finance

[03:11:27] act identifies the amount per pupil that

[03:11:32] uh a district receives and the mix of

[03:11:36] local property tax versus uh the state

[03:11:40] share.

[03:11:41] uh is different uh all over the state.

[03:11:44] Uh down in the St. Louis Valley with

[03:11:46] very low property values, uh that looks

[03:11:51] a lot different than in Boulder Valley

[03:11:54] or, uh Aspen that's 100% locally funded.

[03:12:00] So, uh, as property values increase,

[03:12:05] that blue portion of the total program

[03:12:08] budget grows,

[03:12:10] even as enrollments decline statewide,

[03:12:14] right? So, enrollments declining

[03:12:16] statewide. Uh so the portion proportion

[03:12:21] of the total program funding is funded

[03:12:26] greater from uh local property taxes. Uh

[03:12:30] that is partially how the state was able

[03:12:33] to um uh backfill the negative factor.

[03:12:38] That is partially how uh the new school

[03:12:41] finance act is being implemented uh is

[03:12:44] through that growth of uh property

[03:12:48] values uh that uh everybody has

[03:12:50] experienced.

[03:12:55] So we'll come back to the if that gets

[03:12:58] there.

[03:12:59] >> No, I I get it. I just um I think that

[03:13:04] I continue to get questions on this um

[03:13:10] and why can't we just find more money

[03:13:13] and it's

[03:13:16] what we have to come to terms with

[03:13:20] whether we like it or not is our high

[03:13:22] property tax does help people in

[03:13:26] different parts of our state.

[03:13:29] Um, and we have strong advocacy at state

[03:13:36] legislative levels on trying to do the

[03:13:38] very best for our district. It's not

[03:13:40] that we've been um unaware,

[03:13:45] but Senate Bill 1448

[03:13:47] has an impact and we spent a lot of time

[03:13:51] working through that and we will

[03:13:53] continue to feel impacts. And I don't

[03:13:55] want to bring up averaging because that

[03:13:56] will make everybody's head explode,

[03:13:59] right? But I just I in a in a lot of

[03:14:05] ways I would like to lay to rest that

[03:14:07] somehow we are not trying everything we

[03:14:10] can to get as much funding as we can.

[03:14:16] >> Yeah. the only uh

[03:14:19] uh local uh funding that benefits the

[03:14:25] district. Uh

[03:14:28] not the only um the local property tax

[03:14:32] funding that uh is an increase in

[03:14:36] funding are those local mill levy

[03:14:38] overrides. Uh those are for operating uh

[03:14:43] costs and uh as opposed to um uh general

[03:14:48] obligation bonds and uh those capital

[03:14:52] construction those are a separate mill

[03:14:54] levy. Um but those mill levy overrides

[03:14:58] which are uh capped at 25% of the total

[03:15:01] program we are at the cap we are at the

[03:15:04] maximum. Uh so that

[03:15:09] uh amount of dollars isn't growing uh

[03:15:12] really um in any significant way.

[03:15:18] So that outofd district student is being

[03:15:22] funded at the school finance act per

[03:15:25] pupil amount plus the 25%

[03:15:30] local mill levy override

[03:15:32] uh which is uh borne by the local

[03:15:36] property taxpayers. Um so that benefits

[03:15:41] the whole system. Um you there's

[03:15:45] certainly a debate on whether that

[03:15:48] should be done. It is a structure of the

[03:15:51] the um choice enrollment uh being able

[03:15:55] to go between districts. Um so it's a

[03:15:59] it's a nature of the structure. Um but

[03:16:03] it does come from the local property

[03:16:05] taxpayers when a student comes from out

[03:16:07] of this side of the district.

[03:16:10] >> Thank you.

[03:16:14] Alex.

[03:16:15] >> Yeah, thank you. Um,

[03:16:17] uh, I have both some micro and some

[03:16:18] macroeconomic questions about it. Um, I

[03:16:21] guess one thing, we'll move to a little

[03:16:24] bit more on the MLOS's, but if we're at

[03:16:27] the cap now, um, how much flexibility,

[03:16:30] if any, do we have to change what we

[03:16:32] spend an MLO or a bond on after we've

[03:16:35] had it passed by the voters in Colorado?

[03:16:40] So, uh, bond questions are usually

[03:16:43] fairly specific. Um

[03:16:45] uh there is uh generally some um uh

[03:16:51] language in there that allows some

[03:16:54] flexibility, but for example, the last

[03:16:56] um bond question uh specifically said a

[03:17:00] new school in Erie, which is why we did

[03:17:03] not issue that debt uh in the last round

[03:17:07] because the decision was made to pause

[03:17:10] on building that school in Erie because

[03:17:12] the students weren't showing up.

[03:17:14] Uh

[03:17:16] so um there's a little flexibility but

[03:17:19] not very much. Um you have to go back to

[03:17:22] the voters to say uh can we use those

[03:17:25] dollars to do something different uh if

[03:17:28] you're going to radically uh change the

[03:17:30] direction of it. Um school improvements

[03:17:35] are sort of generic across schools. So

[03:17:38] to the extent that the question doesn't

[03:17:40] say this school gets this modification

[03:17:44] which it the question never does uh this

[03:17:47] school could become some other school uh

[03:17:50] well within the the confines of the

[03:17:52] question.

[03:17:54] And then the second question was

[03:17:57] >> uh I guess with the bonds do we have any

[03:17:59] flexibility with the bonds for like

[03:18:02] reallocating it to operations or could

[03:18:04] we do some shell game so that we use the

[03:18:06] bond money to do for something for

[03:18:07] facilities that was being paid for with

[03:18:09] other money for the same facilities. How

[03:18:11] does that work for supplanting or

[03:18:13] >> Right. So you cannot use um any general

[03:18:17] obligation uh debt for operating costs.

[03:18:20] they're very specific to the capital

[03:18:22] construction plan. Um, so there's that.

[03:18:27] >> And then I I guess another sort of macro

[03:18:30] question. So we have like 2400 kids come

[03:18:33] in through open enrollment and like,00

[03:18:35] go out. So we might get the revenue for

[03:18:38] the 2400 at PO and do the math and

[03:18:41] hopefully the incremental extra cost of

[03:18:43] educating those students is less and we

[03:18:45] that's how we might actually subsidize

[03:18:48] our residents by incoming. What's the

[03:18:51] impact of the 1100 kids that leave or

[03:18:54] does the state sort of tally it up and

[03:18:55] say okay you're net400 here's the money?

[03:19:00] Uh yes, it's a net. The the the

[03:19:04] count is not by

[03:19:08] uh um

[03:19:10] a a plus and minus. It's just the bottom

[03:19:12] line number of whatever your student

[03:19:14] count is.

[03:19:15] >> And then to follow up on that, so uh I

[03:19:18] guess one of the things I remain

[03:19:20] concerned about is always, you know,

[03:19:22] losing enrollment out of district or to

[03:19:24] private schools and stuff. How does a

[03:19:27] decrease in our enrollment affect our

[03:19:31] total bottom line budget? So I know that

[03:19:34] we sort of get you know we have our 85%

[03:19:37] obligation into the finance formula but

[03:19:39] for like what's the mechanism by which

[03:19:42] losing another thousand kids loses us

[03:19:45] money in the finance system.

[03:19:48] >> Uh so it's it's the the school finance

[03:19:51] act. How many pupils do you have? you

[03:19:54] run them through the formula on the per

[03:19:55] pupil funding and it's the dollar

[03:19:57] amount. Uh since 2019, we're down 3700

[03:20:04] uh FTE of student count. That's $44.5

[03:20:07] million. Uh that we

[03:20:11] if all of the students were still here

[03:20:13] that were here in uh 2019, we would have

[03:20:16] $44.5 million more. We'd have more

[03:20:19] teachers. we'd have uh we also still

[03:20:22] have the same number of schools that we

[03:20:24] did in 2019 uh when we had those 3,700

[03:20:28] more students.

[03:20:28] >> Yeah. And then um like I'm struck by uh

[03:20:33] and I I know our community cares greatly

[03:20:35] about equity issues and our ability to

[03:20:38] support all our kids and dedicate at

[03:20:40] least similar resources. Um when our

[03:20:43] schools get small, you know, what

[03:20:45] happens to our unit cost? I look at the

[03:20:47] state, you know, school transparency

[03:20:49] data and I see that flat irons comes in

[03:20:51] at about $26,000 per kid and uh Lewis or

[03:20:56] Lafayette Elementary School comes in at,

[03:20:57] you know, 20. So, as we adjust this our

[03:21:03] plan, how will we be improving the

[03:21:05] equity of the money we spend per kid in

[03:21:08] our elementary school? So, it's not so

[03:21:09] much a function of your zip code for how

[03:21:11] much we might spend on your student.

[03:21:19] I mean the short answer is on a pure

[03:21:21] dollar basis um probably right um the

[03:21:28] the that state um transparency is purely

[03:21:34] dollar-based right it is not referencing

[03:21:37] uh the student needs the programs that

[03:21:39] are there um this I mean it's a

[03:21:43] structure of the size of the school on

[03:21:46] the cost per pupil generally. Um

[03:21:50] but certainly if you're not having to

[03:21:53] put the three and a half to$4 million

[03:21:56] into

[03:21:58] maintaining smaller schools,

[03:22:00] I think it's roughly twothirds of that

[03:22:03] cost is from those sort of fixed

[03:22:05] operational things. You have those

[03:22:07] dollars to reinvest uh elsewhere uh for

[03:22:11] a higher and better use purpose. Um

[03:22:16] the the reason that our uh

[03:22:20] um variable classroom costs are uh only

[03:22:25] a small portion of that, a third of the

[03:22:27] savings is every year during the budget

[03:22:31] cycle we readjust for the students that

[03:22:34] we have. Uh not everywhere does that,

[03:22:37] right? Not every uh district uh will

[03:22:40] adjust

[03:22:42] the teachers in a building down for the

[03:22:45] number of student or up. Um that is um

[03:22:50] it's challenging uh that uh um when we

[03:22:55] hear about it, the board hears about it

[03:22:56] uh every year with you know why are we

[03:22:58] losing uh Miss Smith because she's a

[03:23:02] great teacher but there's fewer

[03:23:03] students. So uh during our budget

[03:23:06] process we uh always adjust down for the

[03:23:11] number of students as we're experiencing

[03:23:13] declining enrollment. We adjust up if

[03:23:15] there are uh a growth in students. Um so

[03:23:19] by doing that we have uh been as

[03:23:23] efficient as possible

[03:23:25] but there's a a point at which you just

[03:23:28] can't be more efficient when you have

[03:23:31] only one class and there's only 15 or 18

[03:23:35] students in that class. You just can't

[03:23:37] be any more efficient.

[03:23:40] >> And one last question. When I look

[03:23:42] around the front range and again I see

[03:23:44] uh I believe we've had a long range

[03:23:47] planning process and we have been acting

[03:23:49] prudently and I as former treasurer I

[03:23:52] believe uh that we're uh we're

[03:23:54] exercising good stewardship of our funds

[03:23:56] and quite responsible from year to year.

[03:23:58] I see districts around Colorado that are

[03:24:00] spending down reserves and not making

[03:24:02] the changes that are necessary. Um, have

[03:24:05] we had to do that or are we avoiding

[03:24:07] that kind of short-term

[03:24:10] uh, you know, put off the pain for later

[03:24:11] stuff very much in the way we run our

[03:24:13] budget? It looks to me from my

[03:24:15] understanding that we've been fairly

[03:24:16] responsible and are not like, you know,

[03:24:19] spending reserves in order to get by and

[03:24:21] punt this down further.

[03:24:23] The um the analogy that I've used u

[03:24:27] multiple times over my 30 years in

[03:24:30] Boulder Valley uh is

[03:24:33] um shock absorbers, right? Are sort of

[03:24:36] the variability in revenues and

[03:24:39] expenditures from year to year. We're

[03:24:42] going to be hopefully

[03:24:44] uh 101

[03:24:47] or two or 3% of revenues and hopefully

[03:24:51] 97 98 99% of expenditures because that

[03:24:56] can flip. We have uh shortfalls in

[03:24:59] revenues. Property taxes don't come in.

[03:25:01] We're projecting these, you know, a year

[03:25:03] out. Um, so that's the shock absorber

[03:25:07] that we can uh take a little bit of uh

[03:25:12] hotter weather, drier weather, colder

[03:25:14] weather, snowier weather, like and and

[03:25:16] adjust uh within the year. The reserves

[03:25:21] are those barrels full of water before

[03:25:23] you hit the wall when you're driving

[03:25:25] down the highway. You really don't want

[03:25:27] to run into them. Those are there for

[03:25:29] emergencies. Those are there for crisis

[03:25:32] situations. uh we didn't dip into

[03:25:34] reserves during uh the pandemic largely

[03:25:38] because there was a lot of federal

[03:25:39] resources, but like the reserves are

[03:25:42] there for truly emergency situations

[03:25:46] um that you want to hopefully plan

[03:25:49] around uh the um unknown unknowns or the

[03:25:53] known unknowns I think if we quote

[03:25:56] Donald Rumsfeld. Um, so, uh, reserves,

[03:26:00] you really don't want to spend down. Uh,

[03:26:03] reserves are part of the calculation for

[03:26:05] a district's credit rating, which is

[03:26:07] what you pay, uh, the interest rate on

[03:26:10] your debt. Uh, so if you have uh poor

[03:26:14] reserves uh or um uh not good financial

[03:26:19] stewardship, you'll have a a lower

[03:26:22] credit rating, so you'll pay more on

[03:26:24] your debt. Uh and uh we actually have a

[03:26:28] better credit rating than the state of

[03:26:30] Colorado. Uh so like all of those things

[03:26:35] uh um benefit the taxpayers in the

[03:26:39] district and the district overall from a

[03:26:41] consistency standpoint.

[03:26:45] >> Okay. Board members. Um student exp I

[03:26:48] was anticipating getting through slide

[03:26:50] 40 and then asking questions on the

[03:26:52] student experience. I wondered about do

[03:26:55] we need a comfort break before then or

[03:26:56] can we get to the everything before

[03:26:59] transportation discussion before we take

[03:27:02] a comfort break.

[03:27:05] We're going to keep going. So, we're

[03:27:07] going to segue into the student

[03:27:08] experience. There's a few different

[03:27:10] programs we'll discuss. We'll hold off

[03:27:12] questions until right before

[03:27:14] transportation and then ask all those

[03:27:15] questions about school age care and um

[03:27:17] learning environments, preschool, etc. I

[03:27:20] will turn it over to

[03:27:23] Dr. Neil Anderson.

[03:27:25] >> Thank you, President Raj Paul. So

[03:27:28] throughout our approach to the proposal

[03:27:31] we've presented to you, it was built

[03:27:33] around ensuring a student learning

[03:27:35] experience and that was our foundational

[03:27:37] component.

[03:27:39] We've utilized this slide as an anchor

[03:27:42] to the learning experience challenges

[03:27:44] that many of our schools currently face,

[03:27:46] particularly when they operate less than

[03:27:47] 200 students. And it's probably the

[03:27:49] second most used slide. If Mr. Price has

[03:27:52] the first most used slide, this is the

[03:27:54] one we have utilized a lot. I'm bringing

[03:27:57] it back because it does provide an

[03:27:59] important anchor for us and it allows to

[03:28:02] kind of talk about some of the

[03:28:04] components that were previously discuss

[03:28:06] discussed as well particularly around

[03:28:08] class size number as it's defined in one

[03:28:11] two three or more rounds and we've

[03:28:14] defined that round at 25 students as

[03:28:16] described before. Um, as we've stated,

[03:28:20] the majority of our schools in BVSD

[03:28:22] operate at two rounds or less. And that

[03:28:25] number of two rounds is set by the BVSD

[03:28:28] negotiated agreement with BVEA. I'll get

[03:28:31] into those numbers. Um, again, you can

[03:28:33] see them on the screen uh above you.

[03:28:36] Throughout my experience as a principal

[03:28:39] here in BBSD and in another school

[03:28:41] district, a network executive director

[03:28:43] here in BBSD, and now in this role, I've

[03:28:45] experienced efficiencies and

[03:28:46] inefficiencies around class sizes and

[03:28:49] the overall perception of capacity. What

[03:28:52] I know to be true is this. One round in

[03:28:54] multi-grade, though incredibly

[03:28:56] efficient, is incredibly hard. Um, it's

[03:28:59] hard on teachers, it's hard on parents.

[03:29:01] Even small two and three round schools

[03:29:04] create challenges for our overarching

[03:29:06] system because of budgetary

[03:29:08] inefficiencies or part-time staff.

[03:29:10] Though they feel and look good from the

[03:29:12] outside and if you're a parent in a

[03:29:15] small class um because um it's a two-

[03:29:18] round school maybe mid- teens low 20s

[03:29:21] that feels great but there are other

[03:29:23] challenges that come with that.

[03:29:25] Additionally, two round schools does not

[03:29:28] necessarily mean that they are the ideal

[03:29:30] number of students based on the

[03:29:31] recommended class size. So, our current

[03:29:33] classroom size maximums per negotiated

[03:29:35] agreement, as you can see in the blue

[03:29:36] box up there, are K126,

[03:29:38] 23 29, and 4531 students. However, these

[03:29:44] are ideal numbers in an ideal world. We

[03:29:47] have schools that are mathematically at

[03:29:49] 1.8 rounds, 2.9 rounds, and everything

[03:29:51] in between.

[03:29:53] We've had 1.5 round schools. That's

[03:29:56] considered a multi-grade environment.

[03:29:59] And in fact, this year we had identified

[03:30:01] 14 multi-grade classrooms across seven

[03:30:04] schools. And if we do not act, it is

[03:30:06] projected that we'd again have at least

[03:30:08] 14 multi-grade classrooms and the

[03:30:12] potential of up to 16 or more with the

[03:30:14] other additional potential that some

[03:30:16] schools might experience a couple

[03:30:18] multi-grade classrooms as well depending

[03:30:21] on the how their numbers translate over

[03:30:23] from year to year. The fact is the trend

[03:30:25] for the need for more multi-grade

[03:30:28] classrooms is continue to expand. While

[03:30:30] our proposal would eliminate the need

[03:30:31] for multi-grade classrooms, we have very

[03:30:34] few schools that are currently operating

[03:30:35] at the suggested classroom round

[03:30:37] structure. Most of our schools um see

[03:30:39] classroom sizes ranging from well below

[03:30:42] the suggested class sizes to above and

[03:30:44] that can even vary between schools and

[03:30:47] within the same schools. For example, if

[03:30:50] we currently have a grade level class of

[03:30:52] 35, we say that that's too many students

[03:30:54] for one class. And so we break that into

[03:30:56] two sections. So it's seen as two

[03:30:58] teachers. Oh, two rounds, but that's

[03:31:00] actually 17 and 18 students. Likewise,

[03:31:03] we have a class size of 30 or 31. Um, we

[03:31:08] might say that is not too big and so

[03:31:11] we're going to have that to be one class

[03:31:13] um instead of two. This creates some

[03:31:16] significant challenges because our

[03:31:19] parents might be used to well previous

[03:31:21] year I had only 20 students in my class

[03:31:23] and now I have 31 kids in my class or a

[03:31:26] colleague across our network might have

[03:31:28] a friend that um is teaching a class of

[03:31:31] 21 but they have 28 or 29 or 30 in their

[03:31:34] class. And so there's that constant

[03:31:36] comparison that happens. And those

[03:31:38] examples illustrate the breadth of

[03:31:40] difference that's found within our

[03:31:41] schools and within sometimes and often

[03:31:44] within the same school itself. In

[03:31:47] summary, our community interprets two

[03:31:49] rounds as two interprets two teachers as

[03:31:53] two full rounds, but our interpretation

[03:31:55] is that two full classes equals two

[03:31:58] rounds. And that's a really important

[03:32:00] distinction. When our class sizes range

[03:32:03] between the mid- teens and low30s, often

[03:32:05] within the same school, we create a

[03:32:07] system that's inefficient due to small

[03:32:09] class sizes while other classes feel

[03:32:12] really full and teachers and parents ask

[03:32:13] for additional teacher, additional FTE,

[03:32:16] additional supports, thus upping our

[03:32:18] overall budgetary components and costs.

[03:32:20] And without predictive and consistent

[03:32:22] class size ranges, we have a system that

[03:32:24] results in budgetary impacts, learning

[03:32:26] impacts, and teacher impacts. This

[03:32:29] proposal, as presented, eliminates the

[03:32:32] one- rounded multi-grade classrooms

[03:32:34] while strengthening our two, three, and

[03:32:36] potentially four round schools. It

[03:32:37] establishes consistent experiences for

[03:32:40] our student, staff, and communities

[03:32:41] across BBSD. Though there might be still

[03:32:44] some variability as students move

[03:32:46] through our system. Our goal is to

[03:32:48] decrease the variability and through the

[03:32:50] reduction of variability in our learning

[03:32:52] environments while establishing a better

[03:32:54] range of predictable class sizes. By

[03:32:56] doing this, we'll provide consistent

[03:32:58] learning environments. I'm going to pass

[03:32:59] it over now to our chief academic

[03:33:02] officer, Dr. Emma Herszog, that will

[03:33:04] talk about the impacts that have

[03:33:06] happened within these unpredictable

[03:33:09] classes and the impact of these sizes

[03:33:12] and rounds within our schools. Thank

[03:33:14] you.

[03:33:17] >> Thank you, Dr. Neil Anderson. Um, the

[03:33:20] number of rounds per grade also impacts

[03:33:23] how we assign art, music, and PE

[03:33:25] teachers, otherwise known as what we

[03:33:27] call our specials teachers at

[03:33:28] elementary. When schools have smaller

[03:33:31] numbers of rounds, there are not enough

[03:33:33] total rounds in the building for a

[03:33:34] special teacher to be full-time in that

[03:33:36] building, and that specials teacher then

[03:33:39] needs to teach in multiple buildings to

[03:33:40] reach their full FTE. The graph on this

[03:33:43] slide paints a picture of the reality of

[03:33:46] travel for our specials teachers. And

[03:33:48] the headings on the graph are defined as

[03:33:49] follows. Traveling teachers are specials

[03:33:53] teachers who work at multiple schools to

[03:33:55] fulfill their assignment.

[03:33:57] Schools with traveling teachers are

[03:33:59] schools that have at least one traveling

[03:34:01] teacher, which impacts scheduling

[03:34:03] flexibility for the whole school.

[03:34:06] Split positions with no home teacher

[03:34:08] means that the that particular specials

[03:34:10] position is filled by multiple traveling

[03:34:12] teachers where none of them spend the

[03:34:14] majority of their time at that school.

[03:34:16] And so for key events like an art show

[03:34:19] or a musical production, there's no main

[03:34:21] or primary specials teacher in that

[03:34:23] building to lead and coordinate the

[03:34:25] event. So you can see the trajectory

[03:34:28] that we're on and where we will continue

[03:34:30] to go if we do nothing versus our

[03:34:31] projection should the resilient schools

[03:34:33] proposal pass. Should we continue on our

[03:34:36] current trajectory, we estimate that we

[03:34:38] will have 40 traveling teachers next

[03:34:40] year versus 18 with the resilient

[03:34:42] schools proposal. Should we continue as

[03:34:45] is, we estimate we will have 29 schools

[03:34:47] with traveling teachers versus 14 with

[03:34:50] resilient schools. And without any

[03:34:52] changes, we anticipate 12 split teacher

[03:34:55] positions for the coming school year

[03:34:57] versus zero with the resilient schools

[03:34:59] proposal. The reality is we are

[03:35:02] increasingly paying our teachers to

[03:35:04] drive and coordinate between buildings,

[03:35:06] not to teach and lead enriching

[03:35:07] experiences for students. And there are

[03:35:09] lots of missed opportunities for

[03:35:11] students that come with that.

[03:35:15] When our specialist teachers are

[03:35:16] assigned to multiple buildings, it makes

[03:35:18] a significant impact. First, it impacts

[03:35:20] efficiency. more of their day is spent

[03:35:23] traveling, setting up and cleaning up

[03:35:25] and navigating administrative tasks like

[03:35:27] emails, schedulings and scheduling and

[03:35:29] procedures at multiple buildings. This

[03:35:31] means that less of their time is spent

[03:35:33] teaching and connecting with kids.

[03:35:36] Second, it impacts continuity. One of

[03:35:38] the amazing things about specials is

[03:35:40] that teachers have the opportunity to

[03:35:42] follow kids for six years throughout

[03:35:44] elementary school and build traditions

[03:35:46] and deeper longitudinal relationships.

[03:35:48] With a lot of traveling teachers,

[03:35:50] students have a different teacher each

[03:35:52] year, and those deep community

[03:35:53] connections and school-based traditions

[03:35:55] are harder to form.

[03:35:58] Third, it impacts flexibility.

[03:36:00] Currently, buildings often plan their

[03:36:02] schedules based on when staff members

[03:36:04] are available rather than what would

[03:36:06] truly work best for the school. This

[03:36:08] impacts master scheduling, but also has

[03:36:11] day-to-day impacts. If there's an

[03:36:12] assembly, a field trip, some type of

[03:36:15] testing, or a delayed start, there's

[03:36:17] just no room to adjust and students lose

[03:36:19] out as a result. Fourth, it impacts

[03:36:22] collaboration. Often, traveling teachers

[03:36:25] do not have any shared planning time

[03:36:27] with either the building staff or others

[03:36:29] who teach the same content at that same

[03:36:31] school. The lack of teacher

[03:36:32] collaboration often leads to disjointed

[03:36:35] student experiences.

[03:36:37] And fifth, it impacts student

[03:36:38] experiences beyond the actual art,

[03:36:40] music, and PE classes. It's much more

[03:36:43] challenging to provide special

[03:36:44] experiences like field trips, concerts,

[03:36:47] intramurals, art shows, field days, or

[03:36:49] clubs. As one example, we have an

[03:36:52] elementary school that used to have an

[03:36:53] afterchool choir, but when the music

[03:36:55] teacher began traveling, she was unable

[03:36:57] to keep that up and so it went away.

[03:36:59] Those types of examples are all over our

[03:37:01] district.

[03:37:03] The question becomes really what are we

[03:37:05] willing to fund and to what degree of

[03:37:07] benefit. We can keep patching things

[03:37:09] together for the next few years. But as

[03:37:11] you can see from the previous slide,

[03:37:13] eventually this will break and our

[03:37:15] system will become similar to having

[03:37:17] adjunct special teachers popping in to

[03:37:18] teach their class versus building a

[03:37:20] longitudinal specials program that fully

[03:37:22] enriches the student experience in all

[03:37:24] the ways we value and have come to

[03:37:27] expect. I'm going to pass it over to our

[03:37:29] executive director of special education,

[03:37:31] Michelle Brener, who will explain some

[03:37:32] of the benefits of the resilient schools

[03:37:34] proposal from the special education

[03:37:36] lens.

[03:37:37] >> Thank Thank you, Dr. Harzog.

[03:37:40] Additionally, our students with IEPs

[03:37:42] will benefit from larger right-sized

[03:37:44] schools in a variety of ways across the

[03:37:46] continuum of services. We anticipate

[03:37:49] benefits both to inclusionary practices

[03:37:51] and for students benefiting from our

[03:37:53] intensive learning centers. Schools with

[03:37:56] larger numbers provide a benefit to

[03:37:58] staffing with increased frequency of

[03:38:00] service providers and resource teachers

[03:38:02] at a building. For example, an

[03:38:05] occupational therapist for a smaller

[03:38:07] school might only be assigned one day a

[03:38:09] week and assigned to multiple buildings.

[03:38:12] They are able to provide the necessary

[03:38:14] services for a student's IEP. However,

[03:38:16] they do not have an opportunity to be

[03:38:18] part of the school culture, collaborate

[03:38:21] with any real frequency, or have

[03:38:24] flexibility to reschedule if a student

[03:38:25] is absent that one day a week. In

[03:38:28] another example, most of the schools

[03:38:30] considered for closure and consolidation

[03:38:32] have only one full-time resource teacher

[03:38:35] and sometimes even just a half-time

[03:38:37] resource teacher to serve the mild

[03:38:39] moderate needs students uh K8.

[03:38:42] Once again, we always ensure that all

[03:38:44] IEP services are met. However, the

[03:38:46] ability to collaborate with colleagues

[03:38:48] and parents, flexibly group students,

[03:38:51] and overall support inclusionary

[03:38:52] practices has its limitations with this

[03:38:55] limited staffing. In a larger, more

[03:38:58] right-sized school, I noted that peer

[03:39:00] groupings for students is also a

[03:39:02] benefit. With more students with IEPs

[03:39:04] and more staff on site, we have a better

[03:39:07] ability to group students with peers who

[03:39:09] have similar needs, allowing for more

[03:39:11] tailored instructional groups for

[03:39:13] services provided both inside and

[03:39:15] outside of the general education

[03:39:16] classroom.

[03:39:18] For staff, increases in staff also

[03:39:21] provides more opportunities for

[03:39:22] collaboration. When you have two

[03:39:24] intensive programs at one site, you now

[03:39:26] have two specialized staff who can share

[03:39:28] expertise. We have heard for some time

[03:39:31] now how isolating it can be for that

[03:39:33] intensive teacher when there is only one

[03:39:35] intensive program at an elementary

[03:39:37] school without another intensive program

[03:39:39] teacher to collaborate with. Two

[03:39:41] specialized programs can also mean

[03:39:43] flexibility for PAR educators to

[03:39:45] collaborate between program needs and

[03:39:48] for professional learning opportunities.

[03:39:50] More collaboration between special

[03:39:52] education staff and general education

[03:39:54] staff benefits our students experience.

[03:39:58] Lastly, increased on-site staff means

[03:40:00] increased on-site support when needs

[03:40:02] arise. For example, at a smaller school,

[03:40:04] when a student elopes out of the

[03:40:06] classroom or building, there is limited

[03:40:08] staff for implementing a behavior

[03:40:10] response protocol. When you have a

[03:40:12] psychologist who is often the behavioral

[03:40:14] expert for a building for only one or

[03:40:17] two days a week or even just one

[03:40:19] resource teacher to implement such

[03:40:21] response plans, then resources become

[03:40:23] more stretched when behaviors arise.

[03:40:26] Similarly, with limited staff on site

[03:40:28] each day, smaller schools tend to wait

[03:40:30] for district specialists to come provide

[03:40:32] guidance and specialty support rather

[03:40:35] than having that guidance available and

[03:40:37] on hand each day. Increased special

[03:40:39] education staff available means

[03:40:41] increased on-site support and quicker

[03:40:43] response time when these and other needs

[03:40:45] arise. And I'm going to pass this along

[03:40:47] to talk about school age care.

[03:40:53] >> No, two slides. Um so

[03:40:59] priority of the board uh to at a minimum

[03:41:02] maintain uh and where practical expand

[03:41:07] uh our family support with our school

[03:41:09] age care program. Uh

[03:41:12] this is you know uh accomplished by uh

[03:41:16] increasing the capacity which is the

[03:41:18] licensed spaces uh increasing the number

[03:41:21] of qualified uh child care staff and

[03:41:25] also setting expectations on school

[03:41:27] facility use uh and the interaction with

[03:41:30] child care.

[03:41:32] Uh state licensing for child care spaces

[03:41:36] is very specific and very particular.

[03:41:39] Um, room contents cannot shift. Um, I

[03:41:43] mean this is down to the level of

[03:41:46] scissors can't be left out on a table or

[03:41:49] uh hand sanitizer can't be left out uh

[03:41:52] if the space is to be used for child

[03:41:54] care. Uh last minute changes uh cannot

[03:41:58] occur because the spaces are licensed uh

[03:42:01] not the whole building. Um typical

[03:42:04] hiring for our SAC employees uh over the

[03:42:08] summer uh just to maintain existing

[03:42:11] seats is about 15 uh staff members uh

[03:42:14] due to just annual turnover. U the

[03:42:18] expansion of of the program will require

[03:42:22] hiring two to three times as many staff

[03:42:25] uh to uh sort of maximize uh what we

[03:42:28] have. Uh this will be challenging

[03:42:31] certainly but uh efforts are currently

[03:42:33] underway. Uh we're hiring in a pool

[03:42:36] situation. So instead of for specific

[03:42:39] locations uh it's uh becoming a district

[03:42:43] sack employee that will get assigned. Um

[03:42:46] and as we reduce uh available spaces uh

[03:42:50] with the number of buildings uh the

[03:42:52] programming, the planning and the

[03:42:54] scheduling will be critical to a

[03:42:56] successful expansion. uh of our school

[03:43:00] age care child care program.

[03:43:04] So um this slide is uh intended to sort

[03:43:09] of illustrate um the specificity that I

[03:43:12] mentioned uh regarding the child care

[03:43:15] licensing. Um the space is literally

[03:43:19] measured. Um there are strict student

[03:43:22] staff ratios. So these are not things

[03:43:25] that the district gets to set as a 1:15

[03:43:28] uh staffto student ratio.

[03:43:31] Um there's defined separate spaces. So

[03:43:34] these uh concepts of pods uh are are set

[03:43:39] and you have to identify in a space in

[03:43:43] the cafeteria which pod is in which area

[03:43:46] of the cafeteria. Uh and the students

[03:43:49] cannot intermingle. Um it's it's kind of

[03:43:52] bizarre. um when you think these

[03:43:54] students are doing all day and then go

[03:43:58] into child care uh and that have these

[03:44:01] ridiculous rules in place. Um

[03:44:05] so uh this this expansion of the

[03:44:07] capacity will be specific and thoughtful

[03:44:10] u and is currently u

[03:44:14] underway

[03:44:18] following the threat of child care

[03:44:20] licensing. Just a little more

[03:44:21] information about preschool. Um, as we

[03:44:23] shared previously, all preschool

[03:44:25] locations for the 2728 school year will

[03:44:28] be announced on October 1st. And

[03:44:30] adjusting preschool locations has

[03:44:32] additional complexities that require

[03:44:33] more time. Every year we make some

[03:44:36] adjustments to our preschool locations

[03:44:38] based on demand. Moving locations is not

[03:44:40] new. However, every time we move a

[03:44:42] preschool location, there are variety of

[03:44:44] factors that we need to consider for

[03:44:46] each individual adjustment. space

[03:44:48] available, licensing of indoor spaces,

[03:44:50] licensing of outdoor spaces, feedback

[03:44:52] from building principles, and then

[03:44:54] matching all of that with the needs of

[03:44:55] the local community. Thanks to our

[03:44:58] preschool liaison who work in every area

[03:45:00] of our district, we're connected with

[03:45:01] family needs at the individual and group

[03:45:04] level by each region. Because our

[03:45:06] resilient schools proposal was not

[03:45:08] predetermined once the recommendation

[03:45:10] was finalized, we needed more time to

[03:45:12] take all needed preschool and licensing

[03:45:14] appropriate next steps to ensure we

[03:45:16] proceed in the best way possible for

[03:45:18] families. Maintaining preschool in each

[03:45:21] region is a priority and our preschool

[03:45:23] community liaison will work directly

[03:45:25] with individual returning preschool

[03:45:26] families who are impacted to support

[03:45:28] with their next steps. I'm going to pass

[03:45:30] it to Well, we'll pause for questions

[03:45:33] and I will pause for questions.

[03:45:34] >> Just to jump in, we have separate

[03:45:37] licenses for child care and preschool in

[03:45:40] the same building.

[03:45:43] So, that's how complex it is.

[03:45:45] >> And there were some there were a few

[03:45:47] bills last year that we supported to try

[03:45:49] to make that um delineation

[03:45:53] easier for us and our families. Dr. Did

[03:45:57] you want to say something before I

[03:45:58] >> ju just just to reiterate the point? Um

[03:46:01] you know it's it's hard right because

[03:46:03] we're community facing and we want to be

[03:46:06] accommodating to the extent that we can

[03:46:08] especially around school age care. We

[03:46:09] know how many two you know um families

[03:46:12] with two parents that are working and

[03:46:14] and their needs around school age care.

[03:46:16] We understand that and we understand the

[03:46:18] needs for preschool. um you know uh and

[03:46:21] board members I will remind you I pushed

[03:46:24] back against the both of these things um

[03:46:27] in addition to 1448 as as an advocate

[03:46:30] for the school district. Uh but it can

[03:46:32] be tricky because as a parent you'd

[03:46:35] think, oh just one more kid or two more

[03:46:37] kids and then the the consequences of

[03:46:40] the spot site visits, right? Um become

[03:46:44] very significant. Board members, for

[03:46:46] those of you that were paying attention,

[03:46:48] I think it was back in 2019 2020 when we

[03:46:51] had to take all of this in house. we

[03:46:53] were partnering with the YMCA at that

[03:46:54] point that was providing services in our

[03:46:56] schools and the constant citations and

[03:46:59] violations and issues there. Um, and so

[03:47:02] I think we've done a good job of

[03:47:04] stabilizing the program. Um, but

[03:47:06] licensing the spaces, hiring the people,

[03:47:10] it's just a a complexity. Uh, we're up

[03:47:12] for the task, but uh we can't grow to

[03:47:15] the needs of our community. We are

[03:47:16] limited to the spaces that we have to

[03:47:18] grow these programs.

[03:47:21] >> Thank you, Dr. Rob. Anderson. Uh board

[03:47:24] members, who would like to begin? I

[03:47:25] know, um Jason and Deianne both had a

[03:47:28] question earlier that I asked you to

[03:47:29] hold on to until we got to this point in

[03:47:31] the presentation. So maybe I will start

[03:47:32] with the two of you and then move on to

[03:47:34] other board members that may have

[03:47:35] questions.

[03:47:40] >> Um yeah, my question and thanks to that

[03:47:42] really appreciate uh all that

[03:47:44] information. Um, I have some additional

[03:47:46] questions that came up, but I'll start

[03:47:48] with the special education question that

[03:47:49] we talked about. Just, you know, I think

[03:47:51] we've talked about it previously in the

[03:47:53] budget section and what it means

[03:47:54] dollar-wise. I just want to get a sense

[03:47:56] and obviously you talked about all the

[03:47:57] high all the benefits of, you know,

[03:47:59] combined programs and additional

[03:48:01] staffing and just larger schools. Um,

[03:48:03] but what what are we talking about when

[03:48:05] in terms like when we're talking about

[03:48:06] a, you know, standing up a new site at a

[03:48:09] new location that didn't previously have

[03:48:10] it? you know, you know, Rob went into

[03:48:12] kind of the logistics of construction,

[03:48:14] but what does that look like? Do you

[03:48:16] have any major concerns about some of

[03:48:18] these uh potentially new locations? Um,

[03:48:22] I think just what what is the what will

[03:48:24] like students kind of exp will their

[03:48:26] experience be different? Will it um

[03:48:31] hopefully not um decrease, but like you

[03:48:34] know what what are we what are we

[03:48:35] looking at when it comes to this

[03:48:36] transition?

[03:48:38] >> Thank you. And thank you for waiting.

[03:48:41] Um so standing up new sites is not new.

[03:48:45] This is my 16th year here and we have

[03:48:48] opened new programs. We've moved new

[03:48:51] programs. We have learned a lot um often

[03:48:54] by doing that well and sometimes by

[03:48:57] doing it not well unfortunately. Um so

[03:49:00] we are working from um as Dr. Miller had

[03:49:03] had shared earlier, you know, checklist

[03:49:05] of things that work well that we've

[03:49:07] learned over time from from doing this.

[03:49:10] Um, I'm really honored that our

[03:49:12] community has come out and said we love

[03:49:14] our programs at the schools that are

[03:49:16] there. I think I take that as a real

[03:49:18] positive. Um, we we want to work with

[03:49:21] our communities at each of these

[03:49:23] schools. And so I want to start by

[03:49:25] saying one of the things that we've done

[03:49:28] um the day after the proposals was the

[03:49:31] proposal was announced is um we did a

[03:49:34] couple of things. My department the

[03:49:36] directors of my department and I called

[03:49:38] parents of uh students in the intensive

[03:49:42] learning center programs the ICANS

[03:49:44] autism programs who would be potentially

[03:49:46] impacted. We called each of those

[03:49:48] parents um between 70 and 80 parents. We

[03:49:52] had a just a couple we didn't get in

[03:49:54] touch with. Um so that's why I say

[03:49:56] between 70 and 80 and we spoke with them

[03:49:58] directly. We said did you hear the board

[03:50:00] meeting? You know did what did you

[03:50:02] understand from the proposal? We wanted

[03:50:03] to talk with them and make sure they

[03:50:05] understood directly from us what the

[03:50:08] proposal meant for their child. Answer

[03:50:10] their questions. Um hear from them

[03:50:13] directly. um and and um make sure they

[03:50:17] knew that we would call them back

[03:50:19] directly so that they knew what when the

[03:50:23] decisions were made, what that would

[03:50:24] mean for their child, if they had a

[03:50:27] direct concern about a particular

[03:50:28] location, what the options might be for

[03:50:31] their child. Um because with any

[03:50:34] location decision for a child, um at

[03:50:37] times we can honor some differences for

[03:50:39] that family and that child. Um, so most

[03:50:42] of our families um are ready to work

[03:50:45] with us on that decision. They

[03:50:47] understand the decision if that's what's

[03:50:49] made. Um, and and they gave us some

[03:50:52] feedback. So, we have a couple of

[03:50:53] schools that those parents said, "Hey,

[03:50:56] for this school and this community, we

[03:50:58] we are interested in how we can develop

[03:51:01] that culture from this school to this

[03:51:02] school. Can we have a parent steering

[03:51:04] committee?" Yes, let's do that. So, we

[03:51:07] took a lot of their feedback and we're

[03:51:08] working with them um not only on that

[03:51:11] checklist of things that we usually do

[03:51:13] like school tours with the families and

[03:51:15] meet and greets like the things that we

[03:51:17] know that work over time as we move in

[03:51:19] open programs. Um but what are the

[03:51:21] things for the unique individual

[03:51:24] programs at that school as we move it

[03:51:27] the communities um and what those

[03:51:29] families and ultimately as we start to

[03:51:31] talk to students what will the students

[03:51:33] want us to do because their input is

[03:51:35] important important their voice is

[03:51:38] important we haven't gotten to that yet

[03:51:40] because I think it's important that

[03:51:41] those decisions are made before we speak

[03:51:42] to the students but we heard that from

[03:51:45] the parents um we're talking to them and

[03:51:47] we said we will call you back we want to

[03:51:49] talk to you directly

[03:51:51] The other thing we did that next morning

[03:51:53] um before we talked to the parents was

[03:51:55] we offered a meeting directly with the

[03:51:58] intensive learning center teachers

[03:52:01] um and it was optional. It was during a

[03:52:03] late start. We didn't say you have to be

[03:52:05] here but we offered to speak with them

[03:52:07] before we called the parents so that

[03:52:09] they understood the proposal. They

[03:52:11] understood the potential impact and and

[03:52:14] they came with all levels of questions

[03:52:16] and all levels of emotions but they were

[03:52:19] really grateful. So, I want to say that

[03:52:21] that was that was the thing we heard the

[03:52:24] most both from the parents and the

[03:52:26] teachers was just being grateful that

[03:52:29] they got to have that direct

[03:52:30] communication and that they could ask

[03:52:33] direct questions and understand directly

[03:52:36] from our department. Um, uh, and also

[03:52:39] grateful for the feedback, the time to

[03:52:41] give direct feedback with us.

[03:52:44] That wasn't a direct response to your

[03:52:46] question, but I feel like it was

[03:52:47] important to put out in the space right

[03:52:48] away. Um, so the things that we do to

[03:52:52] stand up a new site, we have that sort

[03:52:54] of checklist of things that work. Again,

[03:52:56] walkthroughs with families, invite you

[03:52:58] to a tour, walkthroughs with the

[03:53:00] principal. So, we're already thinking

[03:53:02] about dates that those could happen,

[03:53:05] looking at the space of the site. Um we

[03:53:08] have um back to the thinking about the

[03:53:12] spaces and the dollars set aside for uh

[03:53:16] facilities, right? We have standard

[03:53:18] procedures um specifications for each

[03:53:21] program. We know an IAN program needs to

[03:53:24] have a calming space. We know um every

[03:53:28] program needs to have a sensory space.

[03:53:31] We know each program has to have a

[03:53:33] classroom with a certain amount of space

[03:53:35] for the students. Each of those

[03:53:37] specifications are already being thought

[03:53:38] about for each buildings. So that's part

[03:53:40] of standing up a new site. The list goes

[03:53:42] on. I won't go through every little

[03:53:44] detail. And then for each of these, then

[03:53:46] again, we're talking with families.

[03:53:48] We're talking with teachers. What are

[03:53:50] the things in addition to the standard

[03:53:51] kinds of things that are unique to your

[03:53:55] school and your school culture and your

[03:53:58] community? Because what we know we want

[03:54:00] to do is lift up that program. and

[03:54:03] what's special about that program and

[03:54:06] move it with the school in the program.

[03:54:09] I'm working right now with our human

[03:54:11] resources on also how quickly and how

[03:54:14] much can we commit to moving this staff.

[03:54:17] Um, and I think we can make some real

[03:54:19] quick commitments to that because um,

[03:54:22] and I say that because I'm speaking with

[03:54:24] human resources about it. Um, because

[03:54:27] that is the plan to move the program and

[03:54:30] as much of the staff as possible because

[03:54:32] that that that's what's going to make

[03:54:34] this transition work for our students in

[03:54:36] these programs. having the culture,

[03:54:40] having the staff as much as possible

[03:54:42] move with them. Um because the

[03:54:46] consistency, the culture, not just the

[03:54:49] space, right? Not just the name of the

[03:54:51] program. So those are some of the things

[03:54:53] that standing up a new site means. And

[03:54:56] because of those things, I don't have

[03:54:58] the concerns with the new new locations.

[03:55:01] We also have had a lot of opportunity to

[03:55:03] talk in pre-planning about the specific

[03:55:06] locations that were selected to make

[03:55:08] sure they're very inclusive, that they

[03:55:10] have strong leaders, like all the things

[03:55:12] that you would desire in those new

[03:55:14] locations, not again, not just the

[03:55:16] space.

[03:55:18] Um, and to ensure that the student

[03:55:19] experience is is going to be strong.

[03:55:23] >> Yeah, thanks very much, Michelle.

[03:55:30] Um, what about two I have two questions.

[03:55:32] One is uh the 10 families that you

[03:55:35] talked about that you haven't reached.

[03:55:38] Should they reach out to you if they're

[03:55:39] listening to this?

[03:55:41] >> I would love for any family to reach out

[03:55:44] um please. Um we one of the things that

[03:55:47] we also uh did in our things that we've

[03:55:50] already done is we have on on the

[03:55:52] website there's a spot that says for um

[03:55:55] I'm not going to quote it exactly. I'm

[03:55:56] going to paraphrase for students with

[03:55:58] special needs. There's a little spot on

[03:55:59] the website. Um, you know, there's click

[03:56:02] here and there's a drop down. We also

[03:56:03] have a parent liaison that any family

[03:56:06] can reach out to. She's been taking

[03:56:07] phone calls. Her name is Elizabeth

[03:56:09] Likenstein. Um, she's available. Give

[03:56:11] her a call. She can answer questions

[03:56:13] probably faster than I can. Um, so

[03:56:16] please give her a call. Send her an

[03:56:17] email. She'll call you back. Um, but any

[03:56:20] parent, please call her. Um, and and

[03:56:23] then also reach out to me. the parents

[03:56:25] we didn't reach, we have tried them

[03:56:27] multiple times and some of those

[03:56:29] families have reached out um in the

[03:56:30] interim both to me and to Elizabeth.

[03:56:34] >> Um my question is really about um maybe

[03:56:38] harder to reach families. How about all

[03:56:41] of our students who are on who have 504s

[03:56:45] and um the building that they're being

[03:56:48] moved to is is maybe not appropriate for

[03:56:51] them to deal with if they have ADHD or

[03:56:54] something?

[03:56:55] >> Is that something that you can help

[03:56:58] families with?

[03:57:00] >> Sure. Um well, I work closely with

[03:57:02] Shannon Numeare, who's our 504 uh

[03:57:04] coordinator, I think is her title. Um

[03:57:07] sorry Shannon if I got it wrong.

[03:57:09] Um so that's part of the facilities I

[03:57:12] think dollars that we were talking about

[03:57:13] on the earlier slide is um once

[03:57:16] decisions are made um already sort of

[03:57:19] planning time I think we've held time on

[03:57:21] the calendars just in case as quickly as

[03:57:24] possible after decisions are made to

[03:57:25] walk all the buildings um and say what

[03:57:29] are those things from a um adaptability

[03:57:31] standpoint because we know some of that

[03:57:33] will need to be done that's why dollars

[03:57:34] are earmarked um we know what the ADA

[03:57:37] rules are ADA a rules don't go far

[03:57:40] enough in many cases. So, what well, our

[03:57:44] buildings meet the ADA rules. So, what

[03:57:46] beyond that do we need to be thinking

[03:57:48] about? Um, and again, we would invite

[03:57:51] families to reach out that have concerns

[03:57:52] and let's talk to them about the

[03:57:54] concerns that they have so that we can

[03:57:56] we have time to problem solve those

[03:57:57] things that they have questions and

[03:57:58] concerns about.

[03:58:00] >> I'm gonna let Dr. Anderson jump in here.

[03:58:02] Michelle, to clarify, um,

[03:58:06] within within parents and students who

[03:58:08] have 504 plans, do we have 504 plans

[03:58:11] that have building limitations, building

[03:58:14] design limitations within the language

[03:58:16] of a 504 plan where it wouldn't allow a

[03:58:19] student to go to their neighborhood

[03:58:20] school?

[03:58:21] >> No. No. Um, in a 504 plan, you would

[03:58:24] have accommodations, right? So, it

[03:58:26] wouldn't have a building limitation,

[03:58:28] right? But it might have things like

[03:58:30] that they need to access like the an

[03:58:32] elevator, right? So to speak. Um it it

[03:58:36] would be those kinds of accommodations.

[03:58:37] >> Okay. Just wanted to clarify. Thanks.

[03:58:42] >> Jason and then Alex.

[03:58:45] >> Um thanks. Uh I have a question, Bill,

[03:58:48] about sack. Um, I appreciate uh the

[03:58:50] complexity of the permitting and just

[03:58:52] uncertainty of it all, but particularly

[03:58:55] for the families that are in the

[03:58:56] proposed consolidations. You know,

[03:58:58] they've been there's questions. Are we

[03:58:59] going to be able to, you know, if

[03:59:00] there's 30 spots at one school and 30 at

[03:59:02] the next, can we guarantee 60 new spots?

[03:59:05] I know we sounds like we cannot do that

[03:59:07] at this point but what is there a point

[03:59:10] where we should be able to know more

[03:59:11] where we'll be able to provide some kind

[03:59:13] of um guarantee information commitment

[03:59:17] to families that you know we will have x

[03:59:19] number of spots or we should expect this

[03:59:21] I think that's you know obviously Dr.

[03:59:23] parents who talked about um you know for

[03:59:25] for families with two working parents

[03:59:27] this is a big consideration something

[03:59:30] you know we're providing information

[03:59:31] about preschools on October 1st. It

[03:59:33] would be great if there's a a set date

[03:59:35] or something we can put on the calendar

[03:59:37] to let families know you will know or

[03:59:40] have a a better sense uh of what to

[03:59:42] expect than we have right now.

[03:59:46] Uh guarantee is a strong word um to be

[03:59:52] able to say that we can guarantee

[03:59:55] something um because a lot of it will

[03:59:59] rely on that uh result of combining and

[04:00:04] open enrollment uh and the spaces

[04:00:07] available. Um

[04:00:11] we are working starting to work with uh

[04:00:16] the u licensing staff to

[04:00:21] uh relook at the spaces, reme-measure

[04:00:25] uh um uh look at new spaces that haven't

[04:00:29] been used. Uh and this is where some of

[04:00:31] the challenge with uh resetting

[04:00:34] expectations with uh building staff um

[04:00:37] and the community of what some spaces

[04:00:42] have been used for. Uh and if we're

[04:00:44] going to uh identify them as licensed

[04:00:47] child care spaces, uh they won't be able

[04:00:50] to be used for what they may have been

[04:00:52] in the past. Um

[04:00:55] we run our lottery uh after open

[04:00:59] enrollment. Uh so that will help uh to

[04:01:02] some extent um identify you know where

[04:01:06] uh the uh resulting

[04:01:10] effects of of choice enrollment uh fall

[04:01:13] out. Um

[04:01:16] the hiring will be the greatest

[04:01:20] challenge. Uh these are all part-time

[04:01:23] jobs. Uh they are um highly qualified.

[04:01:28] they have to have specific um

[04:01:32] qualifications and lenture. Um and uh

[04:01:37] while we do have that uh annual turnover

[04:01:41] uh we um

[04:01:44] have to really work hard at maintaining

[04:01:47] that. So to the extent that a uh two

[04:01:51] buildings are merging and the two

[04:01:55] buildings have uh sack programs in them,

[04:01:59] there are staff available uh to be able

[04:02:02] to move over. So that uh uh helps uh in

[04:02:05] a significant way. Um to be able to

[04:02:09] expand beyond that and clear weight

[04:02:12] lists is where some of the challenge uh

[04:02:15] comes. uh we are um putting a priority

[04:02:20] in place or um and we used this uh when

[04:02:25] the boundary changes were implemented a

[04:02:29] year ago um to give reszoned families

[04:02:34] the that are in the program that

[04:02:37] returning uh status. So, um that's a

[04:02:41] like if you're in the two schools and

[04:02:44] you're coming together, it's like you uh

[04:02:47] had been in those two schools um

[04:02:49] previously. Um, so in the spring when we

[04:02:54] get towards that uh uh lottery process

[04:02:58] for uh sack, we will have better answers

[04:03:02] uh than we do right now because again,

[04:03:04] you know, we can only start so much um

[04:03:07] before the decision has been made.

[04:03:10] >> Dr. Anderson,

[04:03:12] >> you know, board members, this is an

[04:03:13] example of why timing matters, right?

[04:03:16] the the um once you have your questions

[04:03:19] answered, once you um have heard from

[04:03:22] from our team, uh the answers to

[04:03:25] community questions, uh the faster uh

[04:03:28] and and and the the timeline just

[04:03:30] matters, right? Licensing is something

[04:03:32] outside of our control. Hiring processes

[04:03:34] take time. Um, so, uh, I just wanted to

[04:03:38] highlight, um, you know, why why does

[04:03:41] timing matter? In addition to the open

[04:03:43] enrollment timeline that you all are

[04:03:45] well aware of, which is why you moved

[04:03:46] this decision to the 22nd, that's not

[04:03:49] the only thing that's hanging on. The

[04:03:52] more time we have, the higher the

[04:03:54] likelihood we'll be able to deliver on

[04:03:56] things that folks really are counting on

[04:03:58] from the school district.

[04:04:03] >> Thank you. Uh if I could I'd um go back

[04:04:07] to slide 35.

[04:04:09] Uh we've heard from the community that

[04:04:11] they are interested in various

[04:04:13] guarantees and I agree that with Bill

[04:04:15] that guarantees are really I I would

[04:04:18] never saddle future boards uh with

[04:04:21] guarantees of things that we can't

[04:04:22] deliver on and so if we did it'd be like

[04:04:24] oh I'm imagining I know what the budget

[04:04:26] from the state's going to be and I can

[04:04:28] imagine you know all these things that

[04:04:29] we can't control. So I think that's

[04:04:31] guarantees are basically dishonest. Um

[04:04:34] but I believe transparency is a

[04:04:36] commitment we can fulfill and so uh

[04:04:40] we've talked and our community has

[04:04:42] talked a lot about the things they value

[04:04:44] through that engagement process. So I'm

[04:04:46] glad to see like slide 35 and I I really

[04:04:50] uh I think it's incumbent on us as a

[04:04:52] district to develop a sophisticated

[04:04:55] system to track the implementation of

[04:04:57] the things that we're doing this for.

[04:04:59] And so I want to make sure that as we

[04:05:01] move forward over the next five or ten

[04:05:02] years that we keep track of the specials

[04:05:05] that are traveling to teachers in the

[04:05:07] split positions that people have really

[04:05:10] transparent data on class size and not

[04:05:12] just class size but also I mean I would

[04:05:15] make two comments on the class size

[04:05:16] stuff. It's teacher salaries and class

[04:05:20] size are part of the same thing. Like if

[04:05:22] you only have a million dollars to pay

[04:05:23] for teacher compensation, you can pay

[04:05:25] teachers more if you have bigger class

[04:05:28] sizes and fewer teachers. And you can

[04:05:29] have bigger smaller class size if

[04:05:31] there's more teachers. And if the

[04:05:32] money's fixed, you have to pay them

[04:05:33] less. So like we we know we will want to

[04:05:37] have the smallest class size for the

[04:05:39] students benefits possible. We also have

[04:05:41] committed to honoring our professional

[04:05:44] educators uh in all those positions and

[04:05:46] so our ratios can be higher and those

[04:05:49] are trade-offs. But I do want to have

[04:05:51] the data that's transparent and I do

[04:05:54] think we should make a commitment to you

[04:05:55] know being able to report on class size

[04:05:58] on this part on traveling teachers and

[04:06:00] split positions and stuff and uh also on

[04:06:04] um like I I do want to see like I'm

[04:06:06] interested in making these changes so

[04:06:08] that we lose fewer students. So I'd

[04:06:10] really like to know about sort of you

[04:06:11] know the the metriculation patterns of

[04:06:14] how many students we're losing and if

[04:06:15] that goes up or down you know for making

[04:06:17] the experience better. Can you speak to

[04:06:19] that, Emma, or

[04:06:21] anybody?

[04:06:21] >> I would say the specials part uh falls

[04:06:24] under academics and I can pass it over

[04:06:25] to Neil if he has anything to add um for

[04:06:28] for some of the class size um

[04:06:30] particulars. All of this work is the

[04:06:32] work of Aubrey Yay and I'm going to mess

[04:06:34] up her title, but she is specials fine

[04:06:36] performing arts PE extraordinaire and

[04:06:39] she's been tracking this data for a long

[04:06:41] time. Um and so continuing to track it

[04:06:44] in a transparent way won't won't be new

[04:06:46] for her at all. Um and we will just we

[04:06:49] will just continue to do that.

[04:06:52] >> I would just say board members when when

[04:06:54] it comes to transparency that has been a

[04:06:56] value of this board and previous boards.

[04:06:59] It's the reason we have such clear

[04:07:02] dashboards and data on declining

[04:07:05] enrollment on on open enrollment. Um we

[04:07:09] have created and built out at the

[04:07:11] direction of the board I believe one of

[04:07:14] the most transparent systems in the

[04:07:16] entire country in terms of how our

[04:07:19] enrollment looks where it is month by

[04:07:21] month how many kids are coming in how

[04:07:23] many kids are leaving and board members

[04:07:25] you reviewed and approved that and so um

[04:07:28] anything that has to do with

[04:07:29] transparency would be in alignment um

[04:07:32] Alex with the values of this board and

[04:07:34] this this senior team uh and I do think

[04:07:38] that some some visibility into this

[04:07:40] class size and the variability and the

[04:07:43] consistency and the range. Um I think

[04:07:45] that that could be super helpful for

[04:07:48] sure. Um and to the extent that we can

[04:07:51] make that transparent and make that

[04:07:53] clear so the data is not confusing. You

[04:07:55] know sometimes because all of our data

[04:07:57] is dynamic and I think we've run into

[04:07:59] this over the course of the past week.

[04:08:00] you know, where you might somebody might

[04:08:02] by looking at because we're so

[04:08:04] transparent the enrollment numbers for

[04:08:07] last week and we may be using last

[04:08:09] year's October count because that's

[04:08:12] because we know and understand that

[04:08:13] there's a trend in data where the kids

[04:08:15] that are here today, we're going to have

[04:08:16] less kids in October and the ins and

[04:08:19] outs. So I think that we can be clear on

[04:08:21] the data points that we use, our sources

[04:08:23] and systems and um I will always support

[04:08:26] opportunities to be more transparent to

[04:08:28] build the trust in our community that I

[04:08:30] think is really really important.

[04:08:34] >> Yeah.

[04:08:35] >> Yeah. I wanted to turn to special

[04:08:36] education. Um uh I guess um I hear from

[04:08:42] parents of students with disabilities

[04:08:44] who are not always satisfied with our

[04:08:46] district's delivery or that do not

[04:08:48] always find that all the elements of

[04:08:50] their IEP have have been met. So um I I

[04:08:55] do believe that there's when we think

[04:08:58] about the work that starts after

[04:09:00] whatever decision we make, one of the

[04:09:02] big challenges for me is thinking

[04:09:04] through the quality of special education

[04:09:06] programming. I know from previous

[04:09:09] presentations that the placement of our

[04:09:11] ILC's and the balance of the I all the

[04:09:13] different types of ILC's has been taken

[04:09:15] into consideration. Um I do think uh

[04:09:19] that

[04:09:21] um our special education programs need

[04:09:23] to our schools need to be inclusive and

[04:09:25] welcoming and all the students are

[04:09:27] valued and there's a lot of tier one

[04:09:28] work that's not in our ILC's and I think

[04:09:31] we need to do intense transition

[04:09:33] planning and I would like to and I know

[04:09:36] you're going to speak to that later but

[04:09:37] I I think there are circumstances where

[04:09:39] the transition planning around students

[04:09:41] with disabilities is really key and it's

[04:09:43] not just about the ILC. So for like the

[04:09:46] Mesa parents I know who have celebrated

[04:09:49] the inclusive nature for narrow

[04:09:51] affirming care that they believe they're

[04:09:53] getting from Mesa, they think Bear Creek

[04:09:55] is not as good at that. Like the choice

[04:09:57] that they've made to be there instead of

[04:09:59] Bear Creek is based on the judgment,

[04:10:01] right? So I think to the extent Bear

[04:10:03] Creek is absorbing a lot of Mesa parents

[04:10:06] that includes a number of parents of

[04:10:07] kids who are neurodeiverse and have

[04:10:09] special needs and I want to make sure

[04:10:12] that the transition planning of Bear

[04:10:14] Creek is focusing on that challenge and

[04:10:17] I also think that that's an opportunity

[04:10:19] for the community to be engaged like I

[04:10:21] think the sack at uh Bear Creek I would

[04:10:24] challenge them to figure out you know

[04:10:26] what are they going to track in a

[04:10:28] school's UIP over the next 5 years to

[04:10:31] make sure that the school is fulfilling

[04:10:32] a transition to a a pretty universal and

[04:10:35] inclusive approach as well as what

[04:10:36] they're doing with their ILC's.

[04:10:38] Similarly for high peaks I mean I note

[04:10:41] that their rate of students with IEPs uh

[04:10:43] it's within our range but it's lower

[04:10:45] than uh average so like around 10%. So

[04:10:49] and we're around 14%. So as they are

[04:10:52] expanding to a new location, I would

[04:10:55] love to see them be challenged and to do

[04:10:58] program planning and transition planning

[04:11:00] that is designed around pursuing uh

[04:11:03] parody in their enrollment and that

[04:11:05] maybe that would be with an an ILC

[04:11:08] placed there. Um, but to the extent that

[04:11:10] they're going to grow and take a bigger

[04:11:12] responsibility in our district in a

[04:11:14] bigger building with an opportunity to

[04:11:16] grow, I want to make sure that that

[04:11:17] opportunity to grow is for all students,

[04:11:19] including the students with

[04:11:20] disabilities. Likewise, I know that when

[04:11:23] our students um with disabilities open

[04:11:25] enroll in this district, uh they don't

[04:11:27] get equal access to their choices um

[04:11:30] after enrollment in some circumstances

[04:11:32] because of the nature of their kids'

[04:11:33] disability and the way we administer

[04:11:35] that. So I'm I'm advocating that as we

[04:11:39] manage not just the transition planning

[04:11:42] the placement of the ILC's but also uh

[04:11:45] the work that we would do with

[04:11:47] principles and staff on sachs on UIPs

[04:11:51] and stuff that we are cognizant of how

[04:11:54] we're serving all kids and that as we

[04:11:56] create a new equilibrium of open

[04:11:58] enrollment amongst all these changes

[04:12:00] that we are providing to the maximum

[04:12:02] extent possible full access to our kids

[04:12:05] with disabilities. ities or other

[04:12:06] special needs or vulnerable populations

[04:12:09] and not having artifacts of what we do

[04:12:11] that lead to lack of par and access. And

[04:12:14] I think that that's organizational, but

[04:12:16] I also think it's instructional and

[04:12:18] leadership and school-based stuff. So,

[04:12:20] I'd be curious to hear what we can do um

[04:12:25] if this plan were to move forward as

[04:12:27] constructed to try to build to like

[04:12:29] greater parody it uh the new High Peaks

[04:12:31] and to reassure the parents going into

[04:12:33] Bear Creek that this is planned with on

[04:12:37] their behalf of the students who have

[04:12:38] different needs.

[04:12:42] You

[04:12:42] >> shared a lot of things in there, so I'll

[04:12:43] try to touch on as many as I can. Um, I

[04:12:47] do think, um, first I want to say I I

[04:12:50] don't want to minimize the parents who

[04:12:52] have expressed concerns. I think there

[04:12:54] are real concerns and I I certainly know

[04:12:56] that not all of our families are pleased

[04:12:58] with the services their children are

[04:12:59] getting. I hear that all the time. I I

[04:13:01] know that that is true. I'm just also

[04:13:03] honored that parents have come out and

[04:13:05] said that they, you know, really do

[04:13:07] appreciate their programs and that

[04:13:08] they've come out and shared that in this

[04:13:10] process. Um so for some of the things

[04:13:13] that you have said I think we have

[04:13:14] prioritized the con the the needs for

[04:13:18] the students um with those intensive

[04:13:20] learning centers because I think as

[04:13:22] we've sort of analyzed um who is mostly

[04:13:25] impacted I think that's sort of the the

[04:13:27] acute need right on the the forefront of

[04:13:30] this um I think one of the values that

[04:13:33] we've had in this has been that if a

[04:13:35] school is going to to move or be

[04:13:38] consolidated or closed right that our

[04:13:40] students with disab disabilities are a

[04:13:41] part of that process, right? That they

[04:13:44] belong, that they're a part of that

[04:13:46] community and we're thinking of them as

[04:13:47] general ed students first. And so when

[04:13:50] you talk about that um that community

[04:13:52] again, we've been prioritizing the

[04:13:54] intensive learning center because I

[04:13:56] think sometimes they're um not just

[04:14:00] sometimes, I think in a lot of the

[04:14:01] conversations in a lot of other

[04:14:02] districts, it's been okay, the school's

[04:14:04] moving over here, the intensive learning

[04:14:06] center program is moving over here. So,

[04:14:08] a lot of our conversation has focused

[04:14:10] there and you you're asking a good

[04:14:11] question about but how are we also

[04:14:13] thinking about um maybe our students

[04:14:15] with mild and moderate needs. Um so I

[04:14:19] think that work is is absolutely a part

[04:14:22] of this. It needs to come and it hasn't

[04:14:24] been a lot of the work we've done yet. I

[04:14:26] think the things that we would be

[04:14:27] thinking about are just some of the

[04:14:28] things that you've said. How are we

[04:14:29] engaging sex? How are we engaging

[04:14:31] principles? How are we engaging

[04:14:32] students? I think student voice is

[04:14:34] important in this. um we haven't sort of

[04:14:37] laid out those plans. We haven't um

[04:14:40] thought as much about that. Um but I

[04:14:43] think that is important in this process

[04:14:44] for our sort of mild moderate resource

[04:14:46] level students. Um in terms of high

[04:14:50] peaks because you mentioned that

[04:14:51] specifically um their numbers are going

[04:14:54] to grow, right? And as we talked about

[04:14:56] today, I think that's what we anticipate

[04:14:58] with um this proposal. And so, um, by by

[04:15:04] that in and of itself, we have to be

[04:15:06] talking about what that looks like.

[04:15:08] Right now, they're a school who has very

[04:15:10] little special ed services because their

[04:15:12] numbers are small. So, part of the the

[04:15:15] plan for next steps. If we're planning

[04:15:17] for their numbers to grow as a school,

[04:15:19] we need to be planning for then what are

[04:15:21] the increases in services? What does

[04:15:23] that look like for students with

[04:15:24] disabilities? if you're increasing

[04:15:28] um the number of students with special

[04:15:29] needs, you need to have a plan for that.

[04:15:31] So, that has been in in the forefront of

[04:15:34] my mind if this is um the plan that goes

[04:15:37] through. Right now, they have a

[04:15:39] half-time specialed teacher. They need

[04:15:41] to have more special ed services with

[04:15:43] more students. Um so, there's a lot of

[04:15:45] discussion and thinking about what that

[04:15:46] looks like. They're going to then need

[04:15:48] to plan for more students with intensive

[04:15:50] needs. that is just as much work um as

[04:15:53] any other part of the plan that I think

[04:15:55] we're proposing. So I think that gets to

[04:15:57] the parody that you're thinking of. Um

[04:16:00] maybe not all the way there, but it's a

[04:16:02] part of the plan and process that we

[04:16:03] need to be thinking about. Um and and

[04:16:07] this is more district-wide. It's not

[04:16:08] necessarily part of the resilient

[04:16:10] schools, but I I think a lot about the

[04:16:11] parody of access and the work the

[04:16:13] board's been doing around um charter

[04:16:15] school agreements and things like that.

[04:16:16] So I think that is a part of the

[04:16:18] holistic work that we need to be

[04:16:19] thinking about as a district.

[04:16:22] Um I also just want to comment back to

[04:16:24] the the um sort of 504 thing we were

[04:16:28] talking about because I I think I missed

[04:16:29] the mark a little bit on the comments

[04:16:30] that I made and I just want to say

[04:16:32] because I think it relates to this um

[04:16:35] the I think what some of the families

[04:16:38] are maybe worried about is the open

[04:16:40] school concept for some of the the

[04:16:43] buildings that we're talking about. Um,

[04:16:46] so there is a piece of walking the

[04:16:48] buildings. There is a piece about

[04:16:49] thinking about access and what we need

[04:16:52] to do as we're designing space. Um,

[04:16:55] there is a piece about implementing

[04:16:57] students accommodations. Um, I think

[04:16:59] there is a piece about communicating to

[04:17:01] families that haven't been in those

[04:17:03] schools before because we've had

[04:17:05] programs in those schools. We've had

[04:17:07] autism programs with students with very

[04:17:08] intensive needs and they've been

[04:17:10] incredibly successful in open schools

[04:17:12] before. Um, and it's I think it's um I

[04:17:16] think families are right to worry if

[04:17:18] they haven't been in those schools

[04:17:19] before and we have lots of students

[04:17:22] who've been incredibly successful there.

[04:17:24] So, I'd love to talk with those

[04:17:25] families. We also have um options for

[04:17:28] school choice for families that don't

[04:17:30] feel like that's going to be the right

[04:17:31] fit. So, I think the conversations, the

[04:17:33] walkthroughs, the looking at what

[04:17:35] students are what are in the students

[04:17:37] plans to make sure that they are

[04:17:39] designed and appropriately fit. Um, and

[04:17:41] then also talking with families about

[04:17:43] what the choices are if they feel like

[04:17:44] that's not going to be the right fit

[04:17:46] because it's those things with sensory

[04:17:48] um, how how their sounds and sensory

[04:17:51] things work in those open concept

[04:17:53] schools that I imagine are the concerns.

[04:17:55] We know that works for many students and

[04:17:58] I can see those questions and how

[04:17:59] they're coming up.

[04:18:02] >> Thank you, Michelle.

[04:18:04] >> Okay, board members, it is time for a

[04:18:07] comfort break. Lunch has also been

[04:18:09] served. Should you want to um grab a

[04:18:11] bite to eat, let's say 15 minutes. Does

[04:18:14] that sound 10 to 15 minutes to come back

[04:18:17] here? You're welcome to bring food.

[04:18:18] Staff likewise. If you would like to

[04:18:19] bring food back out, you um definitely

[04:18:21] can do that. So, we will um reconvene at

[04:18:25] roughly quarter after. Um but

[04:18:29] stay tuned.

[04:38:42] Welcome back everyone. Just as a

[04:38:44] reminder to the folks in the audience,

[04:38:46] try to keep conversations at a minimum

[04:38:48] and if you can't, please move yourself

[04:38:51] to the back of the audience so we can

[04:38:53] hear up here.

[04:38:55] With that, we will resume our

[04:38:57] conversations. Um, starting with

[04:38:59] transportation. I will turn it over to

[04:39:00] Rob Price.

[04:39:01] >> Perfect. Thank you, President Rushball.

[04:39:04] We still have 19 slides to go, so some

[04:39:06] of these uh I'll do a quick hitter on,

[04:39:09] but uh to answer board member Medler's

[04:39:12] question from earlier this morning, uh

[04:39:14] transportation survey results done in

[04:39:16] December of 25, we had 14,700

[04:39:20] respondents. 23% walk and bike to

[04:39:23] school. Uh 23% walk and bike to school.

[04:39:28] 18% ride the school bus. 50% take the

[04:39:31] family car, 3% car pool, 4% RTD. I just

[04:39:36] want to say our 23% walk and bike is

[04:39:38] double the national average. That was a

[04:39:41] community priority. We heard through

[04:39:42] community engagement sessions and a

[04:39:44] priority of the board as we were

[04:39:45] developing our proposal. All right. So,

[04:39:48] I'm going to get into transportation.

[04:39:49] I'm going to ground us in board policy.

[04:39:51] Eligible students will receive

[04:39:53] transportation to the assigned

[04:39:54] neighborhood school. The eligibility

[04:39:56] criteria is elementary 1 and a half

[04:40:00] miles, middle school uh two plus miles,

[04:40:03] and high school 2 and a half miles.

[04:40:05] There were some comments at public uh at

[04:40:07] the September 8th meeting, how is that

[04:40:10] measured? There's language on this slide

[04:40:12] also in board policy how that's

[04:40:14] measured. And then when we're going

[04:40:17] through some of these different

[04:40:18] attendance boundary adjustments, we'll

[04:40:20] talk about when there's a hazard, how is

[04:40:23] that applied and when does

[04:40:25] transportation become applicable. So, as

[04:40:28] we go to the next slide, I have included

[04:40:31] attachments for all of the attendance

[04:40:33] boundary adjustments. This first one

[04:40:35] being Cole. Again, I'm not going to get

[04:40:37] into the specifics of every single one

[04:40:39] unless you want me to. So, but I'm happy

[04:40:42] to if you need me to. Cole Elementary.

[04:40:45] This is showing Cole and Burch's

[04:40:47] attendance area combined. Students east

[04:40:50] of Main Street will receive

[04:40:52] transportation in this scenario. We

[04:40:54] considered Main Street a hazardous

[04:40:56] street. Even though we do have several

[04:40:59] biking, walking assets across there. You

[04:41:02] can see we have a traffic light with

[04:41:03] signals at Maine and Engle. Uh Maine and

[04:41:06] 136. We have a new light at Maine and

[04:41:08] Marramont. We have a crosswalk at Maine

[04:41:10] and 14th. However, we are still uh

[04:41:13] providing transportation anyone that

[04:41:15] lives east of Main Street and attends

[04:41:18] Cole Elementary School.

[04:41:22] As we look at Elorado, this is the

[04:41:25] second uh proposed attendance boundary

[04:41:27] adjustments. Um as it pertains to Eldo,

[04:41:30] students north of Colton Road will

[04:41:32] receive transportation. And then as

[04:41:34] shown below, you can see all of the

[04:41:36] different walking and biking assets that

[04:41:38] would allow students to walk and bike to

[04:41:41] El Dorado. Again, I'm not going to go

[04:41:44] through each one of these, but again, uh

[04:41:46] here is another one for Superior.

[04:41:48] Students north of Vista Corridor Trail

[04:41:50] will receive a transportation.

[04:41:53] If you live in this area, you know where

[04:41:55] that exists. That is not shown on this

[04:41:56] map. And then again, all of the

[04:41:59] different walking and biking assets to

[04:42:01] Superior that would allow students to

[04:42:04] walk and bike safely uh to Superior

[04:42:06] Elementary. I'm going to stop there, but

[04:42:09] you can see we have included these for

[04:42:12] each one of the attendance boundary

[04:42:14] adjustments with specific language on

[04:42:17] the right hand side.

[04:42:20] I'm happy to address any questions, but

[04:42:23] I do believe this answers the board's

[04:42:26] comments at our August 25th meeting and

[04:42:29] then some of the community feedback that

[04:42:31] we re we have received since then.

[04:42:36] >> Anna

[04:42:37] on and you spoke to this earlier on the

[04:42:41] congestion um from for the families

[04:42:45] driving from Birch to Cole. Um, and I

[04:42:47] know that you've spoken to um,

[04:42:50] Broomfield City Council and the city

[04:42:51] manager. Has there been, did they raise

[04:42:54] any um, sort of um, traffic congestion

[04:42:57] concerns? And can you also talk us

[04:43:01] through start times one more time?

[04:43:03] >> Yep. Um, no, no one has mentioned uh,

[04:43:07] concerns with traffic congestion. We

[04:43:09] haven't got into that level of detail

[04:43:11] though with either the city manager or

[04:43:13] uh, the city and county of Broomfield.

[04:43:16] Um, looking at start times, elementary

[04:43:18] start times are at 7:50 in the morning.

[04:43:21] The high school starts at 8:35 and I

[04:43:24] believe Broomfield Heights Middle School

[04:43:26] starts at 8:45. I need to confirm

[04:43:28] Broomfield Heights Middle School, but we

[04:43:30] have enough separation between those

[04:43:32] bell times that will allow traffic to

[04:43:34] cue, leave, high school traffic to come

[04:43:37] in, etc.

[04:43:42] I appreciate the detail or the attention

[04:43:44] to detail on this and just like an

[04:43:47] emphasis for the community whenever

[04:43:49] there are hazards like safe routes to

[04:43:51] school has been around for a long time

[04:43:54] working with localities as different

[04:43:56] areas become more busy due to

[04:43:59] development or what have you trying to

[04:44:01] find safe passages for students and then

[04:44:03] when this district cannot if they cannot

[04:44:07] we do provide busing I think Broadway is

[04:44:09] a really great example We don't ask our

[04:44:11] youngest students to cross Broadway

[04:44:14] because it can be hazardous. Some places

[04:44:16] underpasses have been put in, some

[04:44:17] places underpasses have not been able to

[04:44:19] be put in. So like safe routes to school

[04:44:21] does a really great job working with

[04:44:23] family concerns, working with our

[04:44:26] transportation department, localities,

[04:44:27] and I would expect with this change, I

[04:44:30] mean like it's a wellestablished process

[04:44:32] to make sure our kids are getting to

[04:44:34] school safely.

[04:44:38] Millennium,

[04:44:44] >> thank you. Um, I

[04:44:47] appreciate slide number 47 where we

[04:44:51] address the students in Paul no

[04:44:54] neighborhood.

[04:44:56] um because they were

[04:45:01] within the walk zone for Douglas and I

[04:45:04] think they might have been having some

[04:45:06] challenges with bus service in that

[04:45:07] neighborhood generally and I don't I

[04:45:10] don't know the particulars of that but

[04:45:12] I'm happy to see it called out here that

[04:45:14] there will be bus service.

[04:45:21] Jason,

[04:45:23] >> this is not so much of a transportation

[04:45:24] question, but because we have the maps

[04:45:26] and the um the new zones, I'm wondering

[04:45:29] if you could answer a question about,

[04:45:30] you know, a lot of families that are

[04:45:32] currently at Flat Irons have talked a

[04:45:34] lot about this this splits their kids u

[04:45:38] and there is a split. You know, some go

[04:45:39] to Foothill and some go, you know, the

[04:45:42] majority, I would imagine, go to

[04:45:43] Whittier. Um, but as I see this, I it

[04:45:46] looks like it's really the impact is

[04:45:48] really on uh students that are currently

[04:45:50] or students that live at the mountain

[04:45:52] communities. Do you have a kind of sense

[04:45:55] of percentage- wise like what number of

[04:45:57] kids would be zoned that are currently

[04:45:59] at Flat Irons would be zoned to go to

[04:46:01] Woodier versus Foothill? It it just from

[04:46:05] looking at the maps it would seem like a

[04:46:06] vast majority arena up at Woodier. So

[04:46:08] the the concern that the kids are split

[04:46:11] in half I think is are not accurate but

[04:46:14] if you

[04:46:16] >> the sorry about that didn't

[04:46:18] >> I know this transportation but it's

[04:46:19] first you know time

[04:46:21] >> I will we'll have to go back to the

[04:46:23] original slide deck we presented to you

[04:46:25] on uh August 25th but you can see here

[04:46:29] the majority of our students that are

[04:46:31] living central into Boulder are feeding

[04:46:34] in to Whittier. It's our mountain

[04:46:36] communities that have split that are now

[04:46:39] some of those mountain community

[04:46:40] students are going to Foothill and

[04:46:42] others are going to Whittier. So that

[04:46:45] that's the answer, but I'd have to look

[04:46:47] at individual numbers uh that were

[04:46:48] provided in our August 25th

[04:46:50] presentation.

[04:46:56] Any other questions on this before I

[04:46:58] move on?

[04:47:01] >> Alex.

[04:47:02] >> Yeah. um uh Netherlands in my district

[04:47:05] and uh people have talked about the

[04:47:08] transportation being similar to the

[04:47:09] mountains, but I look up at Netherland

[04:47:11] and I'm like, okay, well, how how far is

[04:47:14] the next school from Netherland

[04:47:16] Elementary for someone who's choosing as

[04:47:18] opposed to some of our other schools?

[04:47:21] Like it's like 20 miles, right? Yes,

[04:47:23] >> if they're not going if they're not

[04:47:25] going to Ned, they're going up and down

[04:47:26] a mountain canyon

[04:47:28] >> uh where winter happens um more than 20

[04:47:31] miles, right? So, I just I just think

[04:47:34] that is not similar to our more

[04:47:37] desperate uh less dense parts on the

[04:47:40] flats.

[04:47:42] True statement.

[04:47:48] Okay.

[04:47:51] All right. Just addressing some of the

[04:47:53] other questions that have came up

[04:47:55] through community engagement, emails,

[04:47:57] core requests, etc. A few people have

[04:47:59] brought up asbestous in our buildings.

[04:48:01] Um, I am not the first one to tell you

[04:48:03] asbests containing materials exists in

[04:48:06] our schools, in several of our schools

[04:48:08] and mainly in our older buildings. Uh,

[04:48:10] their presence does not mean that a

[04:48:12] school is unsafe.

[04:48:14] uh their presence is really about us

[04:48:17] making sure they remain and they are

[04:48:19] intact and they are safely managed in

[04:48:21] place. So each school has a uh asbestous

[04:48:24] management plan identifying all known

[04:48:27] asbesus containing materials. Our

[04:48:30] environmental team conducts uh

[04:48:32] surveillance inspections every six

[04:48:34] months and then a more comprehensive re

[04:48:37] reinspection every 3 years using

[04:48:40] qualified certified staff. And that is

[04:48:43] really a big difference uh between what

[04:48:45] we do and some others and how other

[04:48:47] districts handle this. Those

[04:48:49] reinspections can happen with custodial

[04:48:52] staff, other staff. We have two people

[04:48:54] on our environmental team that do all of

[04:48:56] our uh six-month inspections and our

[04:48:59] three-year inspections. They are

[04:49:00] qualified. Again, they are certified to

[04:49:02] do this work. Um, I would just emphasize

[04:49:05] and I'm going to say this a couple

[04:49:06] times. We have no known

[04:49:09] asbesus related safety concerns in any

[04:49:11] of our schools. We have no known asbesus

[04:49:15] related safety concerns in any of our

[04:49:17] schools. We would not have kids in our

[04:49:19] buildings if we had known safety

[04:49:21] concerns. I just there's a message out

[04:49:24] there. Um, in no way would we ever do

[04:49:27] that. So, I can't emphasize that enough.

[04:49:30] Uh we're responding to Colorado open

[04:49:32] records request ask as quickly as we can

[04:49:35] and we will ensure transparency with our

[04:49:38] community as we respond to those. Um but

[04:49:40] I will uh continue to emphasize that and

[04:49:44] uh we take a lot of pride on our

[04:49:47] buildings being safe, being healthy. Um

[04:49:50] and we have spent years in doing that.

[04:49:52] So that's a false statement that is out

[04:49:54] there. Um, as we look at the Boulder

[04:49:59] comprehensive

[04:50:00] uh plan, I think we've talked about this

[04:50:02] in depth. I don't know if we need to go

[04:50:04] into any more detail on this. We have

[04:50:06] had conversations with uh the city of

[04:50:08] Boulder on their comp plan. Um, it's

[04:50:12] great. Uh, Superiors went through

[04:50:14] something similar. Lewisville has went

[04:50:16] through something similar. Uh, Boulder

[04:50:18] has done this. Boulder County. We hope

[04:50:20] that it makes a meaningful long-term

[04:50:22] difference for our communities, that we

[04:50:24] have more affordable housing, that we

[04:50:25] see uh more uh children in our

[04:50:28] community. That is all we hope for.

[04:50:30] However, we don't feel like this is

[04:50:32] going to fix declining enrollment in the

[04:50:34] near future. So, I'll just say that uh

[04:50:36] there is something in the comp plan that

[04:50:38] talks about a 15 minute 15minute

[04:50:41] neighborhood. We do meet that

[04:50:43] expectation. So, just want to emphasize

[04:50:48] um that work.

[04:50:50] That really concludes uh today's

[04:50:53] presentation. I believe we do have the

[04:50:55] resolution that has been presented to

[04:50:58] the board. It has two red lines. Uh

[04:51:00] there was a comment at the last board

[04:51:03] meeting to affirm the community's desire

[04:51:06] to maintain a variety of educational

[04:51:08] models through BBSD focused schools.

[04:51:10] That language has been added. And then

[04:51:12] there was another statement about school

[04:51:14] age care and that statement has been

[04:51:16] added in both our red lines and the

[04:51:18] resolution. Um with that I would open it

[04:51:20] up for conversation. No

[04:51:22] >> I just wanted to because we talked a

[04:51:24] little bit about school age care and we

[04:51:25] have heard some desires for language

[04:51:28] around guarantees. Uh I think we

[04:51:30] discussed a little bit why can't really

[04:51:33] guarantee things in a lottery which is

[04:51:35] by definition a system of chance. Um, so

[04:51:38] I just wanted to double check with staff

[04:51:40] since that language that I proposed was

[04:51:41] before the school age care programming

[04:51:44] discussion discussion we had today that

[04:51:46] that um that language is not in conflict

[04:51:49] with our ability to provide care given

[04:51:53] the restraints that the state imposes

[04:51:56] upon us.

[04:52:01] I think this works.

[04:52:06] >> Deian,

[04:52:08] uh, my computer has died now. So, uh,

[04:52:11] the meeting was too long. Can we go back

[04:52:13] to the, um, the toggling switches of

[04:52:17] open enrollment for a minute? Can we go

[04:52:20] back to all the way back there?

[04:52:23] >> Oh, no. I have no idea. those that

[04:52:27] are.

[04:52:28] >> Yeah, probably close. Thank you.

[04:52:30] >> Slide 2122.

[04:52:37] >> Thank you.

[04:52:46] >> So close.

[04:52:49] >> There it is. Okay. Um

[04:52:55] let's see. So uh let's take for an

[04:52:58] example where we haven't really talked

[04:53:00] about this school change and it's kind

[04:53:02] of a big one and that is that um the

[04:53:07] students at quote Monarch Elementary

[04:53:10] will now go to El Dorado Elementary.

[04:53:15] What if a a family has openen enrolled

[04:53:19] from another place in U Lafayette and

[04:53:24] they they go to Lewisville

[04:53:28] um I can't call it that Monarch K8

[04:53:33] and they're a fourth grader will they be

[04:53:36] able to stay with their with their um

[04:53:41] cohort or will they be ousted because

[04:53:44] they're not

[04:53:46] you're not a

[04:53:48] >> so nobody would be ousted. Um I will say

[04:53:52] that the Monarch K8 elementary students

[04:53:55] will be relocating to three different

[04:53:57] schools. Um so some students Bell's Flat

[04:54:01] Irons will be will will go to El Dorado.

[04:54:04] Um some schools will go to Fire students

[04:54:06] will go to Fireside. Um and other

[04:54:09] students will go to

[04:54:11] >> Superior.

[04:54:11] >> Superior.

[04:54:12] >> South of 36.

[04:54:14] 36. And so, um, it it's because of this

[04:54:18] that that we've designed,

[04:54:21] uh, this priority choice enrollment in a

[04:54:24] way that empowers families to make a

[04:54:28] choice as opposed to saying if you don't

[04:54:30] live in the zone, I can't, you know,

[04:54:31] which of the three schools would we

[04:54:33] decide somebody goes to versus where

[04:54:34] would the family be empowered to use

[04:54:36] that priority enrollment to enroll? And

[04:54:39] so all of the students at Monarch K5

[04:54:41] would have this priority choice. Open

[04:54:43] enrollment was the very first priority.

[04:54:46] Um and then they would have a decision

[04:54:48] to make. Uh would they want to go back

[04:54:49] to their neighborhood school where they

[04:54:51] came from or would they want to be able

[04:54:53] to choose any of those schools or other

[04:54:55] schools within the district? You know,

[04:54:57] it's tricky because we wanted to create

[04:54:59] a system and we're very thoughtful about

[04:55:02] tried to be thoughtful about this

[04:55:04] priority choice enrollment preference

[04:55:06] which board members I know we've se re

[04:55:08] received a lot of feedback from a lot of

[04:55:10] people. I have not received one piece of

[04:55:12] feedback to say that's not a good idea

[04:55:14] that that this is actually you have to

[04:55:16] empower families to make choices in a

[04:55:18] new system. So in that system they would

[04:55:20] have if they wanted to open enroll in

[04:55:22] fireside or in Superior or in um El

[04:55:26] Dorado uh what they would have to

[04:55:28] consider in that process is the

[04:55:29] available capacity in those in those

[04:55:31] buildings. Um but then they would be

[04:55:33] able to uh to to be able to use that

[04:55:35] choice to enter their preferences

[04:55:38] through open enrollment.

[04:55:41] >> Thank you. I do just also want to

[04:55:43] comment maybe for the community to know

[04:55:45] that um as soon as we opened Monarch

[04:55:48] High School that there was some of the

[04:55:51] writing was on the wall about what was

[04:55:54] going to happen um because

[04:55:58] of the the opportunity for choice that

[04:56:01] also existed at the same time. So

[04:56:03] immediately when El Dorado opened,

[04:56:06] people chose to go elsewhere. And um

[04:56:09] even though we had the beautiful Monarch

[04:56:11] High School just down the street, um

[04:56:14] they weren't necessarily coming. They

[04:56:16] were going to Boulder through Marshall

[04:56:17] Mesa and that was closer for them in

[04:56:21] their perception. So it doesn't surprise

[04:56:24] me. Um, and but it's really sad because

[04:56:27] it is a community that I've cared for

[04:56:30] and helped build for uh many years. And

[04:56:34] um I'm sorry that it came to a point

[04:56:36] where we had to make a really difficult

[04:56:40] decision about u what's going to happen

[04:56:43] to those schools. and we're giving up

[04:56:46] our PK through 8 or PK through 12 model

[04:56:52] which my daughter got to do everything

[04:56:54] but the K. Um so it was uh it was a

[04:56:58] tremendous experience and I'm sorry that

[04:57:00] that won't be in existence anymore.

[04:57:05] >> Anna and Lolia,

[04:57:08] >> thank you. And

[04:57:12] Rob and Rob, you've answered this um

[04:57:14] throughout the the session and I just

[04:57:16] want to and or answered parts of um my

[04:57:20] question throughout the session. Um but

[04:57:22] I it is my understanding that the last

[04:57:25] time that we um redid boundaries for the

[04:57:29] schools um the Broomfield elementary

[04:57:32] schools were not a part of that

[04:57:34] redistricting. And so I want to know um

[04:57:38] what and if that was a consideration

[04:57:42] that was um brought up within leadership

[04:57:45] and what was the conversation around um

[04:57:49] what that redistricting would look like

[04:57:51] um and what are the plans with the Birch

[04:57:55] building um following uh the the

[04:57:57] closure?

[04:57:59] >> Yeah, I'm happy to take this. Um great

[04:58:02] questions. There simply aren't enough

[04:58:05] students

[04:58:07] that live in Broomfield to change the

[04:58:09] attendance boundaries. And I think this

[04:58:12] chart here shows the issues that we're

[04:58:15] dealing with again when we're the board

[04:58:17] made it a priority that we can no longer

[04:58:19] have small schools. So when we look at

[04:58:22] how many kids live in Birch's attendance

[04:58:25] area, well below the two classes per

[04:58:28] grade level benchmark, that was a that's

[04:58:30] a minimum that we set. Uh when we look

[04:58:33] at um Cole, well below, Aspen Creek

[04:58:38] barely above

[04:58:40] um and then uh Emerald

[04:58:43] um barely above that 300 mark. There's

[04:58:48] no kids to shuffle or to move around to

[04:58:52] create four uh sustainable two round

[04:58:56] schools. There's just not simply enough

[04:58:58] kids. That's the challenge. We looked at

[04:59:01] it. We looked at attendance boundaries

[04:59:03] across this entire district. And this is

[04:59:04] what we continue to run into is if

[04:59:07] resident students are the foundation, we

[04:59:10] don't have enough resident students to

[04:59:12] support four schools in Broomfield. That

[04:59:14] that's the challenge. Yeah,

[04:59:16] >> definitely looked at them.

[04:59:17] >> And I think what's hard for for the

[04:59:19] Broomfield community is understanding

[04:59:22] that we have two schools that are nearly

[04:59:25] at capacity, two other schools that

[04:59:27] aren't, but that we have a consistent um

[04:59:30] year-over-year amount of open enrollment

[04:59:33] students that come into the district. um

[04:59:36] that parents and families and community

[04:59:38] members feel like that should be in

[04:59:41] consideration because of how close we

[04:59:44] get to at capacity at Aspen and at

[04:59:47] Emerald. And then again, I know that

[04:59:50] Adams hasn't taken a vote, but the the

[04:59:52] educational landscape of that area

[04:59:55] within that area of Broomfield

[04:59:58] is proposed to change drastically. And

[05:00:01] so I I do want to know like what are the

[05:00:06] if the resilient proposal passes, what

[05:00:09] is the short-term plan for the Birch um

[05:00:12] school? And then when we get if if we

[05:00:15] get to at capacity at the three

[05:00:17] elementary schools, what are the plans

[05:00:19] then?

[05:00:21] >> Thank you. Thank you for that question.

[05:00:24] Um, we have been really clear that we

[05:00:27] have not designated any other uses for

[05:00:30] any school buildings that currently

[05:00:32] house students and we would not

[05:00:34] undertake those conversations until the

[05:00:37] board has taken action on the proposal.

[05:00:40] So, I cannot answer what will happen to

[05:00:41] the Birch School building. And and for

[05:00:44] those who say that we have a consistent

[05:00:46] amount of open enrolled students that

[05:00:49] fills up the school, that's not true. If

[05:00:52] that were the case, we would have two,

[05:00:54] three round schools at Burge, at Cole,

[05:00:56] and we don't. Um, we do have now open

[05:01:00] enrollment in Aspen Creek, but as Glenn

[05:01:02] had shared with you, that is a new that

[05:01:05] within the past four years, that is that

[05:01:07] was that's a kind of a new thing

[05:01:09] happening. If you to go back four years

[05:01:11] ago, folks were open and rolling out of

[05:01:13] Aspen Creek. And this is this and I

[05:01:16] think that this is the best example of

[05:01:18] the volatility of open enrollment when

[05:01:20] you're asking us to create sustainable

[05:01:22] long range planning that you cannot rely

[05:01:25] on open enrollment especially from a

[05:01:27] community that is also declining. The

[05:01:29] num the pool of students that could open

[05:01:31] enroll into our district is declining

[05:01:33] from Adams 12 which is why Adams 12 is

[05:01:36] also going through the painstaking

[05:01:38] process of closing schools. So, um, for

[05:01:41] those who would say that that Birch and

[05:01:43] Cole, neither of those schools are meet

[05:01:47] our 300

[05:01:49] 300, which is just two full rounds, not

[05:01:52] full 25 students per class, right? So,

[05:01:55] we have underfilled two round schools at

[05:01:57] Cole. We have underfilled two round

[05:01:59] schools at Bir. And Birch's de

[05:02:02] neighborhood enrollment continues to

[05:02:04] decline. And we know and understand that

[05:02:07] the neighborhoods in Birch and Cole can

[05:02:09] fit into the Colt building um uh moving

[05:02:12] forward. Again, uh to your point, what

[05:02:15] happens if we get this massive influx of

[05:02:17] resident students? We don't have the

[05:02:20] information that would lead us to

[05:02:21] believe that there is something coming

[05:02:23] down the down the plan from the planning

[05:02:26] from the city of Broomfield. As as a

[05:02:29] reminder, board members, we talked to

[05:02:31] every municipality. We went and spoke

[05:02:34] directly to Boulder City Council, to

[05:02:38] Broomfield City Council, to Superior

[05:02:41] Town Council, to Lewisville

[05:02:43] Town Council, right? We shared with them

[05:02:46] the data that we shared with you. We

[05:02:48] shared with them that we are no longer

[05:02:50] going to allow small schools. And at

[05:02:52] those meetings, all of those meetings

[05:02:54] which are public and recorded and our

[05:02:56] and our public is free to watch those

[05:02:58] meetings, there was no mention of

[05:03:02] comprehensive plan. We actually think

[05:03:04] that um we're going to have a bunch of

[05:03:06] new students. You shouldn't do any of

[05:03:07] these things. As a matter of fact, the

[05:03:10] opposite was true. An acknowledgment of

[05:03:13] the lack of affordability. As a matter

[05:03:15] of fact, and and I think Rob, it was

[05:03:18] when you were in is it uh city city or

[05:03:20] town of Lewisville?

[05:03:23] >> City of Lewisville.

[05:03:24] >> Their quote is we caused this.

[05:03:27] This is our fault.

[05:03:30] >> We

[05:03:32] >> as I I'll let Rob tell the story. I

[05:03:34] wasn't there. Uh but but but because of

[05:03:37] the of the decisions that that council

[05:03:40] had made and and

[05:03:43] just just the the the the issue that

[05:03:46] we're dealing with. I'll let I'll let

[05:03:48] you I'll I'll let you share.

[05:03:49] >> No. And that is correct. And since that

[05:03:52] time, the city of Lewisville has adopted

[05:03:54] a new uh comp plan. And with that, it's

[05:03:58] just going to take time for that to

[05:03:59] build out. It doesn't, you know, it's

[05:04:01] not going to solve anything today. It's

[05:04:04] not going to solve anything 5 years from

[05:04:05] now. Our best hope is that we start

[05:04:07] seeing some solutions 10 years out,

[05:04:10] right? But it's not going to happen

[05:04:12] immediately. And I think we all have to

[05:04:14] understand that. Cities understand that,

[05:04:15] towns understand that. But it is a move

[05:04:18] in the right direction. But they also

[05:04:19] understand that we, you know, it's all

[05:04:22] of us collectively that have contributed

[05:04:24] to what we're seeing right now, high

[05:04:26] cost of living, etc. Um, you know, when

[05:04:30] we talk about flat irons, and I I hate

[05:04:32] to keep coming back to this, and we

[05:04:33] wonder why we have declining enrollment.

[05:04:36] Look at the houses around Flat Irons. I

[05:04:38] mean, pull it up. It's they're $2

[05:04:40] million plus homes. I mean, we got

[05:04:42] declining birth rates of one, but I

[05:04:44] mean, who can argue with high home

[05:04:47] prices and young families moving in and

[05:04:50] working two jobs and having kids? I

[05:04:51] mean, it's not sustainable for us. So,

[05:04:54] um,

[05:04:56] all of the I I don't want to make any of

[05:04:58] our municipalities look bad. That's not

[05:05:00] the intent. They're all good partners.

[05:05:02] They all have skin in the game, if

[05:05:04] that's the way to say it. They're all

[05:05:06] making the right moves. It's just going

[05:05:08] to take time, right? We need affordable

[05:05:11] housing. It's affordable housing crisis

[05:05:13] that we're all faced with.

[05:05:16] >> Yeah. And the infill sometimes is as

[05:05:18] Glenn showed infill is not going to

[05:05:20] solve it because our families continue

[05:05:22] to sh like live in a certain type of

[05:05:25] housing stock. Um thank you for that. I

[05:05:29] it was Lenia and then Jason and then

[05:05:32] Alex.

[05:05:35] I uh

[05:05:37] want to come back to this is not on

[05:05:39] today's slide presentation but this this

[05:05:42] will help us I'm sure. Um

[05:05:45] we've talked about decreasing excess

[05:05:47] capacity and in particular

[05:05:50] the um Boulder area doesn't decrease

[05:05:54] capacity as much as I would hope. Um,

[05:06:00] and I also,

[05:06:02] and I think it's just important to have

[05:06:04] that discussion that

[05:06:08] we have a slide that says we have 16

[05:06:12] elementary schools and we have students

[05:06:14] for 10.

[05:06:16] And so I to me it's important that we

[05:06:19] just have this discussion very publicly

[05:06:21] about how we plan to get where we need

[05:06:25] to go

[05:06:27] because I I will just and I am only

[05:06:31] speaking for myself. This is not board

[05:06:33] voice. I want to see that decreased

[05:06:36] excess capacity taken. I mean I I want

[05:06:39] to see that decrease.

[05:06:43] I I'll let Thank you Lillian for that

[05:06:45] question and because I don't think

[05:06:46] you're alone in asking that question. I

[05:06:48] think there's folks in the community

[05:06:50] have they've asked the question. Uh our

[05:06:53] proposal is for five years out. We have

[05:06:56] five-year projections. We created our

[05:06:58] proposal. We feel like in five years

[05:07:00] those projections hold. We return the

[05:07:02] resources to improve the student

[05:07:03] experience. Um I think that as you've

[05:07:08] seen through this closure consolidation

[05:07:11] right we don't have the the schools and

[05:07:13] students are coming aren't coming in

[05:07:15] neat buckets right you just can't do you

[05:07:19] know the the schools don't all the both

[05:07:20] two two schools in close proximity don't

[05:07:23] come to 50% and you merge them together

[05:07:26] then they fit uh you know so you have

[05:07:28] building capacity that's a limiting

[05:07:30] factor you have um you know some of the

[05:07:33] other things that our communities has

[05:07:34] has has has really prioritized around

[05:07:36] walkability and and those preferences

[05:07:38] that are a limiting factor. Um and uh

[05:07:42] you have um a a significant amount of of

[05:07:46] proposed changes here for you all to

[05:07:48] consider. You know, if you were to

[05:07:49] compare the number of schools to the

[05:07:51] number of schools other schools in

[05:07:53] districts and see how much action we're

[05:07:55] taking versus how the action that other

[05:07:57] school districts have taken. I think in

[05:08:00] uh if you were if you were to look at

[05:08:01] that we're very much on par um with with

[05:08:05] other districts that have three times

[05:08:06] the schools we have closing maybe 11 and

[05:08:09] we're here at six. So I do think that it

[05:08:12] is something that um that the board is

[05:08:15] free to direct staff to continue to

[05:08:18] monitor. I think we have we have taken

[05:08:21] your direction and have said in five we

[05:08:23] think this holds in five years out to

[05:08:25] 2030. Um and then we have to look and

[05:08:27] see how how enrollment patterns how

[05:08:32] neighborhood patterns are there any

[05:08:34] shifts in that data. Do we are some some

[05:08:37] neighborhoods declining faster? Are some

[05:08:39] neighborhoods growing faster? You know

[05:08:41] Glenn shared you with you his

[05:08:42] methodology. He shared with our

[05:08:44] community at large the methodology. That

[05:08:46] won't be a surprise for folks as we

[05:08:48] continue to measure and monitor this.

[05:08:50] And so, uh, the things that come into

[05:08:53] place where schools are located,

[05:08:55] residents, students, and projected

[05:08:57] enrollment. Uh, and we will continue to

[05:08:59] monitor those. Board members, you will

[05:09:00] get an annual report every year on

[05:09:03] enrollment projections. Um,

[05:09:06] as as as we've done every year for the

[05:09:08] for the the nine years that I've been

[05:09:10] here. Um, and this can continue to be a

[05:09:13] conversation that we have. Um, and

[05:09:17] you'll see the budgets. I mean the the

[05:09:19] you know Bill talked about the budget

[05:09:21] but when you have declining enrollment

[05:09:23] and rising costs and the revenues that

[05:09:27] you get are decreased because the

[05:09:28] decline in students that don't match the

[05:09:30] cost of living and then you have an

[05:09:33] employee base 90% of our money is people

[05:09:35] in our budget uh trying to keep the

[05:09:37] money trying to keep up with the

[05:09:38] pressures of the cost of living um to be

[05:09:41] able to give folks adequate steps um and

[05:09:43] cost of living adjustments and the and

[05:09:45] your your your your dollars declined.

[05:09:48] signing because you have less and less

[05:09:50] students. This will be an annual

[05:09:52] conversation in regards to where are we.

[05:09:54] I think it's a very significant move for

[05:09:57] a board and a school district to go

[05:09:59] through what we're going through and I

[05:10:01] wouldn't recommend this to be an annual

[05:10:03] conversation. I think that that's

[05:10:05] chaotic and unfair. I think that our

[05:10:08] projections are are based on on where we

[05:10:10] think things will be in five years,

[05:10:12] right? I think in four years, in 5

[05:10:15] years, we could look at that and the

[05:10:17] board at that point in time um could

[05:10:19] take this and I do think that we have a

[05:10:21] roadmap for a process now that would

[05:10:24] validate what do folks want? Let's

[05:10:26] listen to folks. Let's see where the

[05:10:27] capacity is and the next time maybe it's

[05:10:29] only maybe we've we've cleaned up um the

[05:10:33] um the the o open seats in Broomfield.

[05:10:37] Maybe Broomfield doesn't have to go

[05:10:38] through this again. Maybe Boulder does

[05:10:39] have to go through this again. Maybe

[05:10:41] maybe maybe Lewisville and Superior in 5

[05:10:43] years something different has changed.

[05:10:46] Uh so um I hope that answers your

[05:10:49] question. I think it's something that we

[05:10:50] have to measure. Um the that the and we

[05:10:54] have to continue to keep an eye on but

[05:10:55] we made this plan based on a five-year

[05:10:57] out projection. Um all the projections,

[05:11:00] all the data is out to five years,

[05:11:02] right? And if you go beyond five years,

[05:11:04] as Glenn said, you're kind of flying in

[05:11:06] the dark. We don't understand what's

[05:11:08] going to happen with birth rates. At

[05:11:09] what point will birth rates take an

[05:11:10] uptick? Will that happen? Um, we

[05:11:13] understand um housing prices. We

[05:11:15] understand high interest rates. We

[05:11:17] understand folks in our community

[05:11:19] wanting to age in place because this is

[05:11:21] a beautiful place to live. And we also

[05:11:23] understand that the school district is

[05:11:25] absolutely doing its job with backto

[05:11:27] backto back years of the highest

[05:11:29] performance in the Denver metro area. No

[05:11:32] district in the metro is even close to

[05:11:34] the levels we're performing at. So, this

[05:11:36] is a desirable place for folks who would

[05:11:39] want to come and raise their families

[05:11:40] and raise their kids. Uh, to Rob's

[05:11:42] point, and I hope my comment uh that I

[05:11:44] made in terms of the meeting that you

[05:11:46] were at was was not looked at, and I

[05:11:48] certainly understand um all of our

[05:11:50] municipalities are doing what they can,

[05:11:52] and not to suggest that Lewisville or

[05:11:54] any municipality has done anything um

[05:11:57] wrong. I just think that there's this

[05:12:00] convergence of realities that are that

[05:12:02] are happening in our community uh that

[05:12:05] are making it very very complicated.

[05:12:10] >> Helenia, then Jason, then Alex,

[05:12:12] >> I'm only slightly satisfied with that

[05:12:16] explanation. Um and I will continue to

[05:12:20] encourage

[05:12:22] reducing excess capacity.

[05:12:26] Um, I think it is in the best interest

[05:12:28] of our students

[05:12:31] and

[05:12:34] I feel that's my job is to look out for

[05:12:37] our students and I feel like there is

[05:12:40] too much excess capacity and several

[05:12:43] schools that are going to still be too

[05:12:45] small. So that being said, um

[05:12:50] I also would like to talk about um how

[05:12:59] I think that Okay, actually I'm going to

[05:13:02] take a minute to get my mind around it

[05:13:05] because I have a little bit of

[05:13:06] frustration. That's okay. Um let me take

[05:13:09] a minute, please. Jason, then Alex.

[05:13:13] >> Um yeah. Uh I'm not sure who this

[05:13:16] question is for. It's maybe kind of a

[05:13:18] bigger picture question. Um you know,

[05:13:20] Alex, when this first was proposed a few

[05:13:22] weeks ago, Alex uh talked a lot about,

[05:13:25] you know, making this transition should

[05:13:26] something should this pass um you know,

[05:13:30] making this as easy as possible for kids

[05:13:32] and families and what can we do to make

[05:13:34] it um you know, as seamless as possible.

[05:13:37] And that really has stuck with me the

[05:13:39] way he described it. Uh and I know

[05:13:41] there's a lot of planning, you know, for

[05:13:43] every aspect of this and that's clear

[05:13:45] from uh today whether you agree with it

[05:13:47] or not. You can't argue that this has

[05:13:48] not been thought out well and there's

[05:13:50] not contingency in planning for every

[05:13:52] aspect of this. But I'd love to talk a

[05:13:54] little bit about kind of that point of

[05:13:56] like what what thought has been put into

[05:13:58] I'm sure a lot um into these kinds of

[05:14:01] transitions for kids, for families. Um,

[05:14:04] you know, I I think Alex, not to quote

[05:14:06] you, but talked about, you know,

[05:14:08] inviting families over and uh, you know,

[05:14:11] merging sachs and talking about um, and

[05:14:14] this some of this is obviously

[05:14:15] premature, but I just want to I think

[05:14:17] that's important because so much of this

[05:14:19] is um, you know, should this pass is it

[05:14:22] will be difficult for families and I

[05:14:24] think we've thought about so many things

[05:14:26] uh, except maybe we haven't talked

[05:14:28] enough about this and what this means

[05:14:30] for uh, kids and families and

[05:14:32] communities. And so I'd love to just

[05:14:34] spend a little time uh maybe as we're

[05:14:36] closing here on like how we've thought

[05:14:39] about this transition.

[05:14:41] >> Yeah, great question board member.

[05:14:45] We've really spent a lot of time, as

[05:14:48] much time as possible to be as proactive

[05:14:51] around how does that baton pass? Um, why

[05:14:55] I say it that way is we know the baton

[05:14:57] between fifth grade and sixth grade and

[05:14:59] eighth grade and nth grade are some of

[05:15:01] the most important p transitions in a

[05:15:04] K12 students experience of learning

[05:15:08] community and you know seal component

[05:15:11] social emotional components.

[05:15:14] This probably surpasses all that in the

[05:15:17] spaces of where schools are uh closing

[05:15:21] and or consolidating. And so we've stood

[05:15:24] up a team that is really geared to

[05:15:29] support our school leaders, teachers,

[05:15:35] front office staff, and other educators

[05:15:38] along with school communities in a

[05:15:40] really thoughtful, proactive way. Board

[05:15:42] member Medler talked about developing

[05:15:45] transition plans. And so we have um

[05:15:48] identified means that we can support the

[05:15:51] schools to be really proactive and

[05:15:52] thoughtful. What each one of them needs

[05:15:56] might be a little different based upon

[05:15:57] the community. And so we need to learn

[05:16:00] first from our community and our school

[05:16:02] leaders about the uniqueness of their

[05:16:05] schools. And so we've already started

[05:16:06] meeting with our principles because we

[05:16:08] want to get as proactive as possible

[05:16:11] knowing that the proposal is yet to be

[05:16:13] finalized and voted on. But we can't

[05:16:15] wait for some of these conversations to

[05:16:17] happen. So um just on Monday we brought

[05:16:21] in Dr. Cooney who is a professor at

[05:16:23] University of Northern Colorado. He

[05:16:24] might be one of the only individuals

[05:16:26] that has done a study uh researchbased

[05:16:29] study that's been published around

[05:16:32] consolidation closure and what schools

[05:16:35] need to be thinking about um in this

[05:16:37] space. That was a really great

[05:16:39] discussion. Uh just happened yesterday

[05:16:41] actually because today is Tuesday. Um

[05:16:44] and that led our ability for our leaders

[05:16:47] to work in um collaboration between the

[05:16:53] schools that were going to be

[05:16:54] consolidating into another as well as

[05:16:57] leaders sitting and talking about where

[05:16:59] they're at with their schools. What are

[05:17:00] they thinking about if they are like

[05:17:02] similar schools? So the schools that

[05:17:04] have um that are going to be closed or

[05:17:08] consolidated in other school those

[05:17:10] principles. So let's say flat irons um

[05:17:15] uh Mesa so on so forth came together and

[05:17:17] sat and talked about what some of their

[05:17:19] ideas what are they feeling. So we built

[05:17:21] this collaboration um cohesion component

[05:17:24] with our leaders and then our next move

[05:17:26] is going to be thinking through a

[05:17:28] transition plan specifically for that

[05:17:29] area and ways that we can do things um

[05:17:35] out publicly. Well, we've talked about

[05:17:37] like we've talked about for open

[05:17:38] enrollment, meaning the showcase um

[05:17:40] having a special time for choice uh at

[05:17:44] our show, BBSD is the place to be

[05:17:46] specifically for them, but also what are

[05:17:48] the micro components and I think this is

[05:17:50] where you're getting at that we do

[05:17:52] internally within the schools to bring

[05:17:54] um PTO's together, to bring SAC members

[05:17:58] members together, to bring students

[05:17:59] together and that is going to be

[05:18:02] something that's built throughout the

[05:18:03] course of this year. And we also have to

[05:18:04] remember that this is not just a this

[05:18:06] year thing. It's also going to be a next

[05:18:08] year when it actually comes to be and

[05:18:10] comes to fruition if it passes and you

[05:18:13] vote to approve the proposal. We also

[05:18:15] have to think about what this transition

[05:18:17] is going to be like and how we support

[05:18:19] the um actions from day one of the

[05:18:23] following year. Dr. Anderson, anything

[05:18:25] to add?

[05:18:27] No, I I think that you've done a really

[05:18:29] good job just being mindful and as a

[05:18:31] reminder board, we have set aside

[05:18:33] resources

[05:18:35] um for things like if teachers need

[05:18:38] extra time and pre-planning and we've

[05:18:39] had some of these conversations with

[05:18:41] teacher advisory council and and cabinet

[05:18:43] meetings um if we need uh t you know

[05:18:47] time and dollars for these events to

[05:18:49] bring folks together. I do think that

[05:18:51] that we have to have a a final decision

[05:18:55] from from the board to be able to to to

[05:18:57] to start to do s significant planning.

[05:19:00] Um and then we've really started to lay

[05:19:03] the groundwork, the leadership

[05:19:04] groundwork on if this if this is

[05:19:06] approved by the board, what is that

[05:19:08] going to take from our leaders coming

[05:19:10] together? And one of the ideas that um

[05:19:13] that that I think that we've shared and

[05:19:15] I'm not sure if we shared this on the

[05:19:17] 25th is is is utilizing, you know, some

[05:19:20] transitional specialists between schools

[05:19:23] uh that can that that really can help um

[05:19:26] help with some of this because you're

[05:19:27] going to have to support families,

[05:19:28] you're going to have to per support

[05:19:29] kids, you're going to have to support

[05:19:30] our educators as well. Uh so really

[05:19:33] really thoughtful and bringing folks

[05:19:35] together as one community. And I would

[05:19:38] say that the approach we've taken um

[05:19:41] will make that a lot easier than had we

[05:19:43] taken the old approach where we pitted

[05:19:44] communities against each other. There

[05:19:46] was a winner and a loser and the loser

[05:19:47] had to um

[05:19:50] had to merge with the like like like we

[05:19:52] haven't done that in a way where folks

[05:19:54] are fighting with one another. So um I

[05:19:56] do think that that that will help us as

[05:19:58] we transition. Not that it'll be easy um

[05:20:01] but I do think that helps.

[05:20:04] >> Alex and then Jorge. Yeah, I guess um as

[05:20:08] long as we're sort of doing the wrap-up

[05:20:10] issues, I there's a few things I think

[05:20:11] that I've heard in uh in the community

[05:20:14] that I'd like to address headon. Um let

[05:20:18] me just say that at at some level the

[05:20:20] public discourse like everything in

[05:20:21] America is sort of a jumps to conspiracy

[05:20:24] theater and an assumption of malevolence

[05:20:26] of somebody who disagrees with you. And

[05:20:28] I just I just believe that we have been

[05:20:31] transparent. We have been talking from

[05:20:32] the dis. We have been being briefed for

[05:20:34] three years. previous board was briefed

[05:20:36] for three more years. Um, and this the

[05:20:39] ELRACK met monthly, you know, for all

[05:20:41] their time in public. And so this has

[05:20:43] been all done up above board. And and I

[05:20:46] think some people are being maligned

[05:20:47] inappropriately. For like one thing,

[05:20:49] people are talking about the focus

[05:20:50] schools are being relocated as if they

[05:20:52] bid for their new location and they're

[05:20:54] taking this building because they wanted

[05:20:55] it. Um, question. Did any of our focus

[05:20:58] schools request their new building or

[05:21:00] lobby you to get a new building?

[05:21:02] >> No.

[05:21:03] >> All right. Secondly, um when we look at

[05:21:09] uh delay and the fact that delay is

[05:21:12] perceived by some people as costless,

[05:21:16] um like do you have any estimate of how

[05:21:18] much staff time has gone into the last

[05:21:21] since the board said we're impatient

[05:21:23] with LROCK, let's make a bold change. Um

[05:21:27] like that is an opportunity cost of all

[05:21:30] the other priorities we have as a

[05:21:31] community and a board. And the idea that

[05:21:33] we would go through another year or two

[05:21:35] of that and just put all the other

[05:21:37] things that you guys have had to and

[05:21:39] gals have had to put into your life over

[05:21:42] the last 6 months and put it on a shelf

[05:21:43] and wait another year. Anybody got a

[05:21:45] take on how much what the cost of delay

[05:21:48] actually is?

[05:21:50] I I put it in, you know, two or three

[05:21:52] other priorities that we want to make

[05:21:54] change on. Whether it's implementing a

[05:21:56] strong uh uh anti-discrimination, anti-

[05:22:01] uh semitism policy, whether it's working

[05:22:04] with schools in middle schools and high

[05:22:06] schools, which aren't affected by this,

[05:22:08] on what they're doing for improvement,

[05:22:09] and Neil's staff are all sucked into

[05:22:11] this. Anybody want to estimate what the

[05:22:13] cost of delay might be?

[05:22:16] Board member Medler, I would just

[05:22:17] encourage you to look at who's at this

[05:22:18] table and look who's in the audience and

[05:22:20] who's been here all day long to be able

[05:22:22] to answer your question and the

[05:22:23] community's question. That's one day of

[05:22:25] a 261day

[05:22:27] work calendar for most senior staff. Uh

[05:22:31] it is emotional. It is tiring. It is uh

[05:22:37] challenging and uh it is uh very very

[05:22:42] difficult to meet the other goals that

[05:22:45] our community and district have and

[05:22:48] continue to to to keep up the level of

[05:22:52] of effort and focus um on on on this

[05:22:56] topic. Um I don't know that it would be

[05:22:58] sustainable uh to to to delay this uh

[05:23:03] and wi-i with the idea that you know

[05:23:06] board members you've asked us

[05:23:09] you've told us small schools right

[05:23:13] schools can't stand can't stay small. Uh

[05:23:16] if you look at the list we're addressing

[05:23:18] all the smallest schools

[05:23:21] in the district.

[05:23:23] So, uh, if you were to ask to delay and

[05:23:27] continue to to move forward, right,

[05:23:30] you're you're still, you know, the where

[05:23:32] people live is where they live. Where

[05:23:33] the schools are are where they are.

[05:23:34] Those those factors don't change. The

[05:23:36] projections are the projections, right?

[05:23:39] And I know that this is hard, right? But

[05:23:42] delaying it doesn't make it easier.

[05:23:44] >> Thank you. Another one I've heard

[05:23:46] regularly from the field is, and this

[05:23:48] one kind of wrankles me a bit to be

[05:23:50] honest, that like my questions about

[05:23:52] transition are taking in evidence that

[05:23:54] some decisions already been made or the

[05:23:56] fact that we hire consultants to help us

[05:23:58] engage the public means that we've

[05:23:59] already made our decisions. Um, I for

[05:24:02] one, I guess this is just a statement,

[05:24:04] believe that asking hard questions and

[05:24:06] planning for transitions when the board

[05:24:09] has said we're going to make these

[05:24:10] changes is the responsible thing to do,

[05:24:12] not the irresponsible or somehow

[05:24:14] conspiratorial thing to do. And so, I

[05:24:16] totally defend my questions and asks for

[05:24:19] us to plan as if we're closing schools

[05:24:21] because I think we will. And if we were

[05:24:23] to wait to have discussions about what

[05:24:25] the postclosure plannings are and

[05:24:27] somehow to prove that no decisions were

[05:24:29] made, we'd be doing performing

[05:24:31] malpractice to our community and our

[05:24:33] kids. And so I just I just uh want to

[05:24:36] give uh I want to push back on the

[05:24:39] concept that like all the research that

[05:24:41] you did, all the planning that you've

[05:24:43] done, all the work on, you know,

[05:24:46] transitions that we're prepping for so

[05:24:47] that when we when we do vote uh soon

[05:24:51] that that all the next work can happen.

[05:24:53] So I if you could speak to the

[05:24:55] importance of like doing our homework

[05:24:57] before so that we can plan to do work

[05:25:00] when we know we're going to have to do

[05:25:01] it.

[05:25:02] Thank you, board member Medler. I I do

[05:25:04] appreciate uh those comments and this

[05:25:06] question. Uh

[05:25:11] it is um

[05:25:16] I I do think that you know um

[05:25:20] to do something well, you always have to

[05:25:23] not only look in front of you, but you

[05:25:25] have your eyes on the horizon on what's

[05:25:26] coming and what you need to do to be

[05:25:28] ready. Uh, and so to the extent that

[05:25:31] there have been efforts to think about

[05:25:33] what this looks like on the other side,

[05:25:34] if the board bo the board would vote

[05:25:37] yes, I would be a bad superintendent.

[05:25:39] Um, and I would be failing our

[05:25:41] organization and our community and our

[05:25:42] families if I wasn't doing some of that.

[05:25:45] Uh, because there's time is a limiting

[05:25:48] factor and taking enough time to

[05:25:51] deliberate and engage. Um, I think we've

[05:25:54] we've thought through all of this for uh

[05:25:57] since last October, since you charged

[05:26:00] the the the staff with doing this.

[05:26:04] I also want to be empathetic to our

[05:26:06] families who are um who love their

[05:26:08] schools, who love their teachers, whose

[05:26:10] kids are happy. I'm a parent and uh um I

[05:26:15] understand what that means when your

[05:26:17] kids are doing well and if if there's

[05:26:19] change that there's even a slight chance

[05:26:22] that that um that changes.

[05:26:26] And uh you know, we had a always a

[05:26:27] saying in in in my house, you know,

[05:26:29] we're always as happy as our least happy

[05:26:31] kid. And um I think that holds true to

[05:26:34] families who care about and love their

[05:26:37] kids. And uh I know that there's been

[05:26:41] lots of community feedback on our plans,

[05:26:44] questions, um concerns, and I actually

[05:26:47] think that that's right. I think that

[05:26:49] that a smart, educated,

[05:26:52] responsible community should do that.

[05:26:55] And I also understand everybody loves

[05:26:57] their kids and would do about anything

[05:26:58] they could in their power to protect

[05:27:00] their kids because that's what I would

[05:27:01] do as a dad, too. So, um I understand I

[05:27:06] don't take personally um the questioning

[05:27:09] the the the the pushing back. I think

[05:27:12] that that is is actually okay. It is my

[05:27:15] job as superintendent. It is our job as

[05:27:17] staff to come back and answer the

[05:27:20] questions which I believe we've done

[05:27:21] today uh to valid to to to share with

[05:27:25] folks. Here are the numbers, here are

[05:27:26] the sources, here's where some of that

[05:27:28] maybe there is a disconnect. Um, I do

[05:27:32] know this that that um that families

[05:27:35] love their teachers. We love their

[05:27:37] teachers. They love their schools. We

[05:27:38] love their schools. And it'll be my job

[05:27:41] and the job of everybody at this table

[05:27:43] and everybody down this row over here to

[05:27:46] make sure that we if this plan is

[05:27:48] approved that we take care of all of our

[05:27:50] families and all of our kids just like

[05:27:52] we're doing right now.

[05:27:57] >> One last piece, one last point on this.

[05:27:59] I just I I couldn't agree more. Um I've

[05:28:02] worked in policy for uh close to 37

[05:28:06] years and early learned that whenever I

[05:28:08] felt the strongest that I was absolutely

[05:28:10] right and the other people were

[05:28:11] absolutely wrong that that was

[05:28:13] absolutely an indication that I was

[05:28:14] wrong about both. Um and so I I am

[05:28:18] grateful for the input that we've got

[05:28:20] during the engagement process when about

[05:28:21] 800 people gave us 7,000 pieces of data.

[05:28:24] And I am grateful for the 600 plus

[05:28:26] emails that I have received and the 200

[05:28:28] people that testified. And I still

[05:28:31] remain like many of us on the board

[05:28:33] committed to doing what's right for kids

[05:28:34] and right sizing it so that we can be

[05:28:37] focused on kids. But I really believe

[05:28:39] that the things that we have been

[05:28:41] talking about over the last few weeks

[05:28:42] and that we'll continue to talk about as

[05:28:44] a community, they raise challenges for

[05:28:47] us in implementation. They raise

[05:28:49] challenges us for the final decision-

[05:28:50] making and how how we shape it and that

[05:28:53] we can do that as a board in a way that

[05:28:55] is very kid focused and that can honor

[05:28:58] all the fantastic observations and

[05:29:00] points that our community have made in

[05:29:02] those uh you know 1600 hours of input

[05:29:05] we've got. So, I I'm grateful for it,

[05:29:07] too. And I and I recognize my original

[05:29:10] assumptions are challenged regularly by

[05:29:12] that. And I've learned a lot from the

[05:29:14] input myself that I've received. And I

[05:29:16] really appreciate the your team's uh

[05:29:19] ability to like dive in with us deeply

[05:29:21] into those questions uh today and

[05:29:23] before. So, I really appreciate that.

[05:29:26] >> Jorge then Melania,

[05:29:29] >> thank you. I want to start by thanking

[05:29:32] um all the parents who came to raise

[05:29:34] questions and share their thoughts. at

[05:29:36] our last meeting. Um the ones who are

[05:29:38] here today, um I think it's, you know,

[05:29:40] they're doing their job. They're

[05:29:41] advocating for their kids. They're

[05:29:42] advocating for their teachers, their

[05:29:44] community. They're raising important

[05:29:45] questions um that we need to answer. Um

[05:29:48] that's our role. And so I want to thank

[05:29:50] the staff for being here today and for

[05:29:51] systematically going through and

[05:29:52] addressing all those questions and being

[05:29:55] transparent and trying to share

[05:29:56] information, as much information as

[05:29:57] possible. Um so I think it's really

[05:29:59] important. I don't know when this video

[05:30:00] will be available, but I hope that will

[05:30:02] be soon and that will be publicly shared

[05:30:04] because I think a lot of questions were

[05:30:05] answered today. So, I really appreciate

[05:30:07] that. Um, a couple uh random, not

[05:30:09] random, but multi-topic questions. Um, I

[05:30:12] I want to reinforce uh the point of the

[05:30:14] transition to the degree possible. Um to

[05:30:17] Alex's earlier point, you know, if we

[05:30:19] could allow students to return to their

[05:30:23] their neighborhood school and facilitate

[05:30:26] as much as possible, then that should be

[05:30:28] a part of the process for these students

[05:30:30] um to facilitate that. It won't be easy,

[05:30:32] right? Any change, but to the degree

[05:30:34] that we can, I I think that's really

[05:30:36] important. Um our estimates

[05:30:40] show savings of three and a half to$4

[05:30:43] million that will be reinvested in

[05:30:45] students. This is a really student-

[05:30:46] centered program or change across the

[05:30:48] district. I think that's really

[05:30:49] important. But I seem to recall there

[05:30:50] was also an additional million in

[05:30:52] savings from administration um changes,

[05:30:56] central administration changes from last

[05:30:58] May or June that I think weren't

[05:30:59] addressed here. I'd like to hear more

[05:31:00] about that and how that fits in this big

[05:31:02] picture. Um but before that, I I also

[05:31:05] want to say um this is really a

[05:31:08] district-wide student centered program.

[05:31:10] since I joined the board and before that

[05:31:12] on the district accountability committee

[05:31:13] um you know going back eight years now

[05:31:15] uh we were discussing about the problem

[05:31:17] of declining enrollment and what it

[05:31:18] meant for the quality of our ability to

[05:31:20] serve our students right and so I was

[05:31:22] hearing from parents who were concerned

[05:31:24] about resources for special education

[05:31:26] access to advanced and gifted

[05:31:28] programming um the ability to have

[05:31:30] specials a librarian in your school

[05:31:31] because books matter so much in the

[05:31:33] lives of our kids um and that we weren't

[05:31:35] able to do that for many schools or that

[05:31:37] there's increased mental health needs

[05:31:38] for our students at at the elementary

[05:31:40] level. We don't have counselors in our

[05:31:41] schools or school psychologists and that

[05:31:42] as our schools get smaller, we can't

[05:31:44] serve those things. And this plan

[05:31:46] proposes to reinvest those and make

[05:31:49] those more equitable and more accessible

[05:31:50] across the school. At the core of why

[05:31:52] I'm here is our strategic plan, right?

[05:31:56] We look great. We're doing great. We can

[05:31:58] do better. We're missing kids. We need

[05:32:00] to have the ability to differentiate to

[05:32:02] serve our kids across our school and to

[05:32:04] make that equitable so it's doesn't

[05:32:05] matter where you go to school that

[05:32:06] you're able to get those resources. So,

[05:32:07] I really appreciate that focus on this

[05:32:09] plan. It's it's a difficult change. It's

[05:32:11] a necessary change. At times, I'm

[05:32:13] thinking, are we doing enough in terms

[05:32:15] of that change, but this is a measured

[05:32:17] response and I think we're going in the

[05:32:19] right direction. And so, I appreciate

[05:32:20] the the opportunity today to kind of go

[05:32:23] through these data and really understand

[05:32:25] kind of what our decision-m processes

[05:32:27] look like and where the information is

[05:32:29] coming from. Thank you.

[05:32:32] >> Thank you, board member Chavez. I

[05:32:34] appreciate that perspective. I would say

[05:32:35] that the million dollars you're

[05:32:37] referencing is a million dollars that I

[05:32:39] allocated at the end of the budget

[05:32:42] process last year um through reductions,

[05:32:45] central office reductions to ensure that

[05:32:48] this year and moving forward we had have

[05:32:50] those resources to ensure that students

[05:32:53] weren't in multi-age classes in programs

[05:32:56] that aren't designed to be multi-age. Uh

[05:32:58] and so those but you know through

[05:33:00] through this plan as as the other Dr.

[05:33:03] Anderson shared, maybe I'll be the other

[05:33:05] Dr. Anderson, Dr. Neil Anderson shared

[05:33:08] um that that this plan eliminates the

[05:33:10] need for those additional resources. So

[05:33:12] that that pool of three and a half to$4

[05:33:15] million is a pool of four and a half

[05:33:17] to$5 million recurring. And that's

[05:33:21] important because uh as as as Bill has

[05:33:24] shared, that is something that when you

[05:33:26] invest, it's not a one-year fix. It's

[05:33:28] it's dollars that we can reinvest year

[05:33:31] in and year out. And the dollars are

[05:33:33] flexible to make sure that we're doing

[05:33:35] as much as we can to lower the overall

[05:33:38] class size average, eliminate some of

[05:33:40] the the class sizes that were on the

[05:33:42] higher end, um, and reduce that range

[05:33:45] from low to high to ensure that we're

[05:33:47] getting a more unified and better

[05:33:49] experience. board members, you know that

[05:33:52] during the course of the of the first

[05:33:54] month of school and the and the summer

[05:33:56] leading up, the most feedback that we'll

[05:33:59] get from our community is typically from

[05:34:00] elementary school parents worrying about

[05:34:02] class size. Parents start worrying about

[05:34:04] class size for the next year in January

[05:34:06] of the previous year and start advocacy

[05:34:09] efforts that are well known in our

[05:34:11] community. Start emailing folks because

[05:34:13] we need to be able to try to get this,

[05:34:15] you know, we're two students away, we're

[05:34:17] three students away. those are that's

[05:34:19] that's that's an effect of small schools

[05:34:22] um and lacks lack of ongoing resources

[05:34:25] to be able to address those things. So

[05:34:28] um I'll say that that that those dollars

[05:34:30] are recurring and those dollars will be

[05:34:32] repurposed for what it is our community

[05:34:34] very clearly told us that they've

[05:34:36] prioritized.

[05:34:39] Elenia

[05:34:42] and given our last conversation, we'll

[05:34:44] make sure that's transparent that we're

[05:34:46] doing that, right? And and Alex brought

[05:34:48] that up and I think that's super

[05:34:50] important. I've had several people say,

[05:34:52] well, you can say you're going to do

[05:34:53] that and not do it. And I said to them,

[05:34:56] I'm going to say, Rob, you're going to

[05:34:57] do it and you're going to go, yeah, I am

[05:34:59] right. That that's our job as a board.

[05:35:02] Um I didn't mean just me. I meant as a

[05:35:04] board, sir. Um,

[05:35:08] I think there's another cost to waiting

[05:35:11] that um is additional to what Alex

[05:35:14] brought up and that is a cost to

[05:35:17] students who are not getting their needs

[05:35:18] met because the resources aren't at

[05:35:20] their school. And

[05:35:24] these are people that I've heard from

[05:35:26] year in year out before this.

[05:35:29] um

[05:35:30] my kid cannot take advanced math because

[05:35:33] we don't have advanced math because we

[05:35:36] don't have three rounds or my kid needs

[05:35:38] more literacy intervention but the

[05:35:40] literacy interventionist is only there

[05:35:42] two days a week. So those there is an

[05:35:46] opportunity cost or a cost to our

[05:35:49] students to do nothing. And while I'll

[05:35:54] echo Jorge, and Jorge was echoing me,

[05:35:57] that I wish the cuts were deeper, I'm

[05:36:01] not going to say that they're not doing

[05:36:03] what they're intended to do. Um, because

[05:36:07] I've heard from a lot of parents who

[05:36:10] their kid is doing wonderful, and I am

[05:36:13] so happy to hear from them. I will

[05:36:15] continue to talk to any parents who want

[05:36:17] to speak with me. I I love when kids are

[05:36:21] doing wonderful, when they're operating

[05:36:22] at grade level on the middle of the bell

[05:36:24] curve,

[05:36:25] but my job is that when that child has a

[05:36:31] need at either end of the bell curve or

[05:36:34] they have a tragedy in their life and

[05:36:35] they need counseling support in their

[05:36:38] school, whatever it may be, my job is to

[05:36:41] make sure that resource is there.

[05:36:45] So,

[05:36:47] while I will continue to say to every

[05:36:49] parent, I'm glad your kid's doing well.

[05:36:51] My job is the moment your kid's not

[05:36:53] doing well, the resource better darn

[05:36:55] well be there in their elementary

[05:36:56] school. So, I I'm signaling my support

[05:37:00] for this. Um, I'm very clear on it. I'll

[05:37:04] continue to talk to anybody who wants to

[05:37:06] talk about it up until the vote, but I

[05:37:08] am signaling strongly my support because

[05:37:11] that is my job to make sure those

[05:37:13] resources are there.

[05:37:18] Anna,

[05:37:22] thank you. I uh do want to thank um

[05:37:25] everyone here for the time that you've

[05:37:27] taken to answer all of the questions

[05:37:29] that uh we've had. Um,

[05:37:33] I recently had a conversation with a

[05:37:36] friend uh who lives in a neighboring

[05:37:38] school district and uh their children

[05:37:41] are just about to enter uh into

[05:37:44] kindergarten and they did research over

[05:37:47] five different schools of which one was

[05:37:49] going to be the best for their their

[05:37:51] kiddos. And um they asked me, "Well,

[05:37:54] well, how many schools did you look

[05:37:56] into? Did you research?" And it was a

[05:37:59] very uh very big moment of pride for me

[05:38:02] to say, well, I live within BBSD and I

[05:38:05] want to make sure that we are able to

[05:38:08] continue that promise of ensuring that

[05:38:11] the the quality of education um within

[05:38:15] our school district is there. And as a

[05:38:18] BVSD alumni, I um there is a a very big

[05:38:24] group of students and of community

[05:38:26] members that are not here. Uh we have a

[05:38:29] very huge privilege of being able to be

[05:38:32] civically engaged and advocate and ask

[05:38:35] the questions and want to have the

[05:38:37] amount of detail and specificity of

[05:38:40] really understanding and knowing what a

[05:38:43] budget what um classroom capacities is

[05:38:46] like. And I as a first generation

[05:38:49] citizen having immigrant parents, I know

[05:38:53] what I remember the moment where my mom

[05:38:57] could no longer relate to my own

[05:38:59] educational experience because it wasn't

[05:39:02] something she went through. And I know

[05:39:04] that as a first generation citizen, we

[05:39:07] have that responsibility to all of the

[05:39:09] kids that are immigrants in our district

[05:39:12] that are first generation, second

[05:39:13] generation that don't have someone that

[05:39:17] has been through a K through 12, has

[05:39:20] gone through to higher ed. We have that

[05:39:22] responsibility to make sure that we give

[05:39:25] them those resources within this

[05:39:27] district because for a lot of the uh a

[05:39:30] lot of those kids, they're they're

[05:39:32] fleeing. They're going out of traumatic

[05:39:34] places and we have that responsibility

[05:39:37] as a district because this is where they

[05:39:39] call home and they are our neighbors.

[05:39:41] They are our students. Um and so to me I

[05:39:44] am taking that that responsibility um

[05:39:47] very heavily and I know that the next

[05:39:49] step in this is looking at dual language

[05:39:52] and I want to make sure that we are as

[05:39:55] intentional as thoughtful and as engaged

[05:39:58] when we are talking about this other um

[05:40:02] subset of programs that we have within

[05:40:04] our district um because I do want a dual

[05:40:07] language to come to Broomfield. We do

[05:40:09] have a changing landscape uh in that

[05:40:12] area of our district and I want to make

[05:40:14] sure that we are being as thoughtful and

[05:40:17] as engaging and also as considerate as

[05:40:20] we can for the folks that aren't here

[05:40:23] that can't speak for themselves that

[05:40:24] don't know how to maneuver how to email

[05:40:27] the whole board all at once. Um so I am

[05:40:31] very grateful for everyone all the

[05:40:33] answers that you gave the questions that

[05:40:35] you took today. Um, and I am just still

[05:40:38] really thinking through and grounding

[05:40:39] myself in who I was as a BBSD student.

[05:40:43] Um, again to immigrant parents, as a

[05:40:46] first generation citizen that in high

[05:40:49] school I had to navigate on my own

[05:40:51] applying to colleges. Um, looking for

[05:40:54] scholarships. um really a lot of all of

[05:40:57] the other programs that that students

[05:40:59] have to navigate through that a lot of

[05:41:01] our students uh our immigrant students,

[05:41:03] our dual language students sometimes

[05:41:05] have to do it on their own. And I want

[05:41:07] to make sure that we as BVSD are able to

[05:41:10] grow those resources um so that a lot of

[05:41:13] the maybe negative or not best

[05:41:15] experiences that I had as a BVSD alumni,

[05:41:18] we're not passing that on to the next

[05:41:21] generation. And so I I'm just grateful

[05:41:23] that we are being as intentional here.

[05:41:27] Um because the end goal is for me to,

[05:41:30] you know, later on see another Anna that

[05:41:33] graduated BVSSD and then goes and sits

[05:41:36] on the board. Like that is my goal, my

[05:41:39] dream of making sure that we are passing

[05:41:41] along an excellent education uh to our

[05:41:44] students and to our community members.

[05:41:51] Thanks board members. One awkward thing

[05:41:53] sometimes about getting to ask my

[05:41:56] questions last is that it seems kind of

[05:41:58] tonedeaf because you were all giving

[05:42:00] your closing remarks. And I have

[05:42:02] actually a practical question

[05:42:06] that is short and I apologize for that.

[05:42:10] Um but sometimes this is how it shakes

[05:42:12] out. So, on your slide, you did

[05:42:14] reference a 15-minute neighborhood. And

[05:42:16] this has come up a lot, and I've asked

[05:42:18] different Boulder City Council members

[05:42:20] what they think a 15-minute neighborhood

[05:42:22] is, and it turns out that they don't all

[05:42:24] agree. Some think it re it is walking,

[05:42:27] and some think it might include bikes,

[05:42:29] and some think it includes vehicles. And

[05:42:32] so, I'm curious when you um what is a

[05:42:34] 15-minute neighborhood to you? Because

[05:42:37] you say we do meet that.

[05:42:39] >> All of the above.

[05:42:41] >> Yeah. Yes, but I mean that's the way we

[05:42:44] understood when we read their comp plan

[05:42:46] that

[05:42:47] >> a school within 15 minutes.

[05:42:49] >> So yes, we feel like we have provided

[05:42:51] that.

[05:42:52] >> Thank you. Because we can get to our

[05:42:54] places 15 minutes on a bus if we need

[05:42:56] to. It doesn't doesn't mean we have to

[05:42:58] be able to walk somewhere because you

[05:43:00] can't really walk an elementary schooler

[05:43:02] cannot walk a mile and a half in 15

[05:43:04] minutes as it stands. And that is our

[05:43:05] walk radius. Thank you for clarifying

[05:43:08] that. Um,

[05:43:10] thank you staff for answering these

[05:43:13] questions. Thank you board members for

[05:43:14] bringing really thoughtful questions

[05:43:15] forward. Um, and to DA allowing the

[05:43:19] delay in process or our our schedule of

[05:43:22] regular board meetings to help this

[05:43:23] happen be

[05:43:26] you no I see you.

[05:43:27] >> Are you sure the I want to make sure

[05:43:30] that we are on the same page on the

[05:43:32] resolution before we do anything else.

[05:43:34] So, I want to make sure we've addressed

[05:43:36] the board member Medler's remarks from

[05:43:38] earlier.

[05:43:40] >> Sorry about that. I felt like closing

[05:43:41] remarks. Yeah, I don't know what the

[05:43:43] right time is to do it, but I would

[05:43:46] propose to add to the resolution

[05:43:48] language that Jorge just reiterated for

[05:43:51] me, which is facilitating the right of

[05:43:53] return for families who've been enrolled

[05:43:56] in one of our focus choice schools

[05:43:58] through this process when the focus

[05:43:59] choice school moves that they don't have

[05:44:01] to open enroll, but that if they let us

[05:44:03] know during the open enrollment period

[05:44:05] that they be reenrolled in their

[05:44:06] neighborhood school uh as a a right

[05:44:09] rather than a part of the open

[05:44:11] enrollment process. us and I'd like to

[05:44:13] see that incorporated into the

[05:44:14] resolution and I'm curious to know what

[05:44:16] the rest of my board members uh feel

[05:44:18] about that. Uh I think it's the right

[05:44:20] thing to do and it will help us fight

[05:44:23] declining enrollment and I don't know

[05:44:25] whether to you know pursue that

[05:44:27] discussion now or make a formal motion

[05:44:29] on the 22nd.

[05:44:31] So, I'm going to jump in here because I

[05:44:34] know we've had this conversation several

[05:44:35] times, particularly most and most

[05:44:37] recently when we updated board policy

[05:44:39] JCC and JCC-R.

[05:44:42] I really do struggle with this proposal

[05:44:44] because it kind of gets into the nuance

[05:44:46] um and my challenge with using guarantee

[05:44:49] when we talk about guaranteeing open

[05:44:51] enrollment spots and we guarantee

[05:44:52] opening having sack spots and we

[05:44:55] guarantee having preschool spots in

[05:44:57] which I mean we can never guarantee

[05:44:59] those things and and because I recall

[05:45:04] what it was like to have students

[05:45:08] in elementary school when all the vast

[05:45:10] majority of our schools were at capacity

[05:45:13] and open enrolling and guaranteeing out

[05:45:16] and guaranteeing them a spot to return

[05:45:18] whenever they wanted would have pushed

[05:45:20] classrooms over thresholds and would

[05:45:22] have created conditions in which we

[05:45:24] couldn't try to we couldn't always do

[05:45:26] what we're trying to accomplish now

[05:45:28] which is having manageable class sizes

[05:45:30] and not going over in rounds. And so I

[05:45:32] do struggle a little bit and um with

[05:45:36] that idea and I know what you're what

[05:45:38] you really want, Alex, is for that to be

[05:45:40] a permanent solution, not part of a

[05:45:42] one-time resolution. And so I also would

[05:45:44] question the utility of putting it in a

[05:45:46] one-time resolution versus making a

[05:45:48] change to a policy because this policy,

[05:45:51] the resolution does not change any of

[05:45:53] the policy language included with it. It

[05:45:55] is just addressing the changes for next

[05:45:58] year alone. And so I think you're trying

[05:46:00] to accomplish two different things

[05:46:01] because I know you've asked before for

[05:46:03] this to be a permanent change. The

[05:46:05] resolution is between now and next year.

[05:46:08] It is a one-year only. It is not a

[05:46:10] permanent maneuver.

[05:46:13] So those are my two comments on that and

[05:46:15] then I'll entertain. I saw Lenius Hankup

[05:46:18] and other members of the board.

[05:46:22] Uh, I would be in favor of doing it the

[05:46:24] one year only and then bringing it

[05:46:26] forward to the board for discussion if

[05:46:29] we're going to do a policy change. I

[05:46:31] understand your point of doing it in

[05:46:34] this particular case. Um, and I would

[05:46:37] never want to just say, okay, we're

[05:46:39] going to change the policy without

[05:46:42] having the standard debate that we would

[05:46:44] need to have.

[05:46:48] Alex.

[05:46:49] >> Yeah, I really appreciate that point and

[05:46:51] I appreciate the previous deliberations

[05:46:53] the board, this board and the previous

[05:46:54] one have had on this topic. I will add

[05:46:56] that in this circumstance, we're talking

[05:46:58] about choice schools that are moving and

[05:47:00] so people enrolled in a school that was

[05:47:02] one place uh and now one of them is

[05:47:04] actually moving pretty far. And so um

[05:47:07] and it's not very many students that

[05:47:09] we're affecting and I'm not suggesting

[05:47:11] that they have a right that someone else

[05:47:13] doesn't have. If you move into our

[05:47:15] neighborhood in July, you get to go

[05:47:16] there in August. If you move in, if you

[05:47:18] return from private education after open

[05:47:21] enrollment period and say, "I'm here

[05:47:22] now. I live in this neighborhood and you

[05:47:24] show up, you have a right to go there."

[05:47:26] I'm suggesting that the parents who've

[05:47:27] enrolled in a private school that's now

[05:47:29] being relocated 6 miles away from where

[05:47:30] it was when they chose it should have

[05:47:32] the same right as someone who just moved

[05:47:34] in from California to go to their

[05:47:36] neighborhood school and should have the

[05:47:38] same right as someone who was enrolled

[05:47:40] in a private school. So, the idea that

[05:47:42] we're giving an enrollment preference to

[05:47:44] people who are homeschooling and private

[05:47:46] schooling over people who live in that

[05:47:48] neighborhood and who've been enrolled in

[05:47:49] a BBSD school, that's that's upside down

[05:47:52] for me. And and I feel strongly that

[05:47:55] we're trying to we're trying to reduce

[05:47:57] people leaving the system. So, the fact

[05:48:00] that they would have to give notice

[05:48:02] actually, you know, 5 months earlier

[05:48:04] than the people who move in or those

[05:48:06] that return from private education is

[05:48:08] also worth taking into consideration.

[05:48:10] So, it's not a special privilege. It's

[05:48:11] actually a delayed access to something

[05:48:13] that other people we privilege ahead of

[05:48:15] them. And by doing that, we reduce the

[05:48:17] number of people who feel compelled to

[05:48:19] leave our district. Um, they've already

[05:48:22] exercised choice because they didn't

[05:48:23] want to be somewhere. And we have a lot

[05:48:25] of people with the ability to, you know,

[05:48:27] to leave. So, I I think this is a great

[05:48:30] time to do it. It's different than

[05:48:31] normal. I love the opportunity to

[05:48:34] discuss it as a broader policy change

[05:48:36] because I just think it's the right

[05:48:36] thing to do for kids in our community.

[05:48:38] But um I don't apologize for bringing it

[05:48:40] up through this vehicle because I feel

[05:48:42] like the the relocation of those focus

[05:48:44] schools makes it even more compelling to

[05:48:46] me that we should do it at least in this

[05:48:48] case.

[05:48:49] >> So are you saying that it would only

[05:48:50] apply to students that are currently

[05:48:52] enrolled in community monastery in high

[05:48:55] peaks

[05:48:57] because that's very different than

[05:48:58] saying like any student that open

[05:49:00] enrolled to a different school and now

[05:49:02] wants to go back. Let's say I open

[05:49:05] enrolled into Uni Hill and I have

[05:49:07] questions about what's going to happen

[05:49:08] and so now I want to go back to Foothill

[05:49:11] or go back to somewhere else where there

[05:49:13] might already be at capacity challenges

[05:49:15] like that's my wondering like who who

[05:49:18] does this apply to

[05:49:18] >> so thank you that's let me clarify I do

[05:49:21] believe in this case it is basically the

[05:49:24] people who have open enrolled in a

[05:49:25] community monastery in high peaks um the

[05:49:28] people who have are enrolled in our

[05:49:30] other affected schools are being

[05:49:32] assigned to their catchment zone and

[05:49:34] have an enrollment right to enroll in

[05:49:35] the place we're assigning them. No one

[05:49:37] who's being assigned to a catchment zone

[05:49:39] has to go through open enrollment to go

[05:49:41] to that school uh a year from now. The

[05:49:44] ones who've been o that are being

[05:49:46] relocated because they've chosen a focus

[05:49:48] school that was in a location and

[05:49:50] location is a big part of why I chose

[05:49:51] community monastery when I sent my kids

[05:49:53] there. The they uh deserve to have the

[05:49:56] same right as anybody who is at Douglas

[05:49:59] that wants to go to the school that

[05:50:01] they're assigned to. Right? So they're

[05:50:02] assigned to a school but they don't have

[05:50:05] a right to go to it because they made a

[05:50:07] choice and they made a choice of

[05:50:08] something that we offered them somewhere

[05:50:10] else. So yeah, community monastery high

[05:50:13] peaks parents who would like to return

[05:50:15] to their school of residents who notify

[05:50:17] us within the open enrollment period. I

[05:50:19] say we enroll them and treat them like

[05:50:21] somebody who moved into that

[05:50:22] neighborhood uh before the open

[05:50:24] enrollment period. Can we put the

[05:50:26] resolution language on there because I

[05:50:28] want to um this gets to the be it

[05:50:31] further resolved implementation of JCCR

[05:50:34] the second bullet under there

[05:50:43] >> as you're pulling that up board members

[05:50:45] and thinking about preparing for next

[05:50:47] week I think um you know the question

[05:50:52] that I think we have to answer if this

[05:50:54] is something that the board would would

[05:50:56] want to take action on. We can bring two

[05:50:58] resolutions. The resolution resolution

[05:51:00] as it stands with the adjustments here

[05:51:02] and then a res resolution that adds this

[05:51:04] language. Uh the question just to

[05:51:09] clarify, are we talking that these

[05:51:11] students would have to notify us prior

[05:51:13] to the open enrollment window closing?

[05:51:17] If you were to do that, then what you

[05:51:20] would do is it would clarify you would

[05:51:22] um you would allow us to know and

[05:51:26] understand more accurately what seats

[05:51:28] are open and open enrollment and then we

[05:51:30] would not like take those opportunities

[05:51:33] away from other folks holding it back

[05:51:34] because we didn't know. Um and so and so

[05:51:38] that would be like above your priority

[05:51:40] preference. It wouldn't necessarily be

[05:51:42] part of of open enrollment. It would be,

[05:51:45] listen, if you tell us by this date you

[05:51:47] want to go back to your neighborhood

[05:51:49] school, we're going to treat you like a

[05:51:50] resident student. And uh and we could

[05:51:53] write language that that would that

[05:51:56] would would allow that to happen. Um we

[05:51:59] could communicate to those families

[05:52:01] directly. I'm looking at the team um to

[05:52:05] say this is your option or your choice

[05:52:07] by this close of business, this date.

[05:52:09] You need to let us know um if that's

[05:52:11] what you're going to be doing. and then

[05:52:14] those families would make that choice.

[05:52:16] But what they wouldn't be able to do is

[05:52:19] try to go into uh use their priority

[05:52:22] enrollment preference and open

[05:52:24] enrollment

[05:52:25] uh and then if they didn't get what they

[05:52:27] want say I want to go back to my

[05:52:28] neighborhood school. It would it would

[05:52:30] it would have to be prior to that. I

[05:52:32] mean I'm I'm just thinking out loud as

[05:52:34] is making sure I'm hearing what it is

[05:52:35] you're asking.

[05:52:36] >> But wouldn't then we give that right to

[05:52:38] guarantee before open enrollment to any

[05:52:46] So they're already going to have the

[05:52:48] opportunity. They're already everybody

[05:52:50] who's impacted community monatory um

[05:52:53] families, high peaks families are going

[05:52:54] to have this priority choice preference.

[05:52:57] They're already going to have that,

[05:52:59] right? What I'm hearing board member

[05:53:01] Medler say is if they want to go back to

[05:53:03] their neighborhood school, right, then

[05:53:06] we should treat them like anybody who

[05:53:08] would come from some other choice

[05:53:10] besides BVSD, home school, private

[05:53:12] school, online school, whatever, where

[05:53:14] we give them that opportunity. The trick

[05:53:17] is is if you give them the opportunity

[05:53:19] and the preference,

[05:53:21] right, they don't have to use their

[05:53:22] preference on their home school. They

[05:53:24] would use the preference on something

[05:53:25] and then if it was filled then they

[05:53:26] could use the home school. So, so I'm

[05:53:28] just trying to understand if it's to get

[05:53:30] back to your neighborhood school, I

[05:53:31] think you would do that prior to the

[05:53:33] process, which makes the most sense to

[05:53:35] me, but then when you do that, you give

[05:53:37] up your priority choice open enrollment.

[05:53:41] >> Yeah, you'd wave that.

[05:53:43] >> I I agree that the way you characterized

[05:53:45] it. And just let me be clear, if you're

[05:53:47] in any of other our other affected

[05:53:49] schools, you are guaranteed enrollment

[05:53:52] in the place where you're assigned. The

[05:53:54] only people who are not guaranteed

[05:53:55] enrollment

[05:53:57] uh in the place where they are assigned

[05:53:59] by residents are the people uh who chose

[05:54:02] community monastery and high peaks. So

[05:54:04] this is giving them the same right of

[05:54:07] everybody else to attend the school that

[05:54:10] they're assigned to after we've made all

[05:54:11] these changes.

[05:54:21] >> Yes. and it puts them above the priority

[05:54:23] for anybody else that's been disrupted

[05:54:25] in this process and that's like the the

[05:54:27] lottery.

[05:54:32] So, can you um can you draft

[05:54:38] language that the staff could then

[05:54:40] incorporate like what because we cannot

[05:54:43] if you have pro per if you have if we

[05:54:46] follow Dr. Anderson's plan of bringing

[05:54:48] forth two resolutions and this is just a

[05:54:50] cumbersome exercise on like we have to

[05:54:53] approve one or not but we might have to

[05:54:55] vote on two. Um I would need language

[05:54:57] that we can understand today to be able

[05:55:00] to bring that forward on a day where we

[05:55:01] are f acting as final decision makers. I

[05:55:04] don't want to deliberate over words on a

[05:55:07] day where we have to make final action.

[05:55:09] So, can you put forth a pro um proposed

[05:55:12] language to accomplish what you are um

[05:55:15] trying to accomplish

[05:55:18] >> uh right now? You want me to?

[05:55:20] >> I do want that right now.

[05:55:21] >> Give me two minutes.

[05:56:31] adding the new one that's no longer the

[05:56:33] final clause.

[05:56:38] All right. If I may, um, what I'm

[05:56:40] proposing is a motion that says that

[05:56:43] students enrolled in High Peaks or

[05:56:45] Community Monastery, uh, sorry, families

[05:56:48] of students enrolled in High Peaks or

[05:56:50] Community Monastery that prefer to

[05:56:51] enroll in their assigned neighborhood

[05:56:53] school rather than attend their focus

[05:56:56] school in its new location and who

[05:56:58] notify the district of that decision

[05:56:59] prior to the open enrollment. uh end

[05:57:03] deadline or we can insert the date will

[05:57:05] be enrolled directly in their assigned

[05:57:07] neighborhood school according to their

[05:57:09] residents. These families will not have

[05:57:11] the priority preference to apply to

[05:57:13] another school through the open

[05:57:14] enrollment process afterwards for the

[05:57:17] for the year the 202728 school year.

[05:57:24] Do we know

[05:57:27] is that possible for us to manage in

[05:57:30] school mint? Like does can school mint

[05:57:34] wave for flag anybody that has said they

[05:57:37] wanted to wave their right and then

[05:57:38] decided to try to open a role again?

[05:57:40] Like does the system allow for that to

[05:57:42] happen?

[05:57:47] >> Check on that specifically. Um but I

[05:57:53] believe there It would be helpful if

[05:57:55] there was a little space in between the

[05:57:58] notification and the end. Um, December

[05:58:02] 10th, whatever something um that that

[05:58:06] would give us the opportunity to

[05:58:11] identify.

[05:58:12] >> Oh, microphone. I take as a friendly

[05:58:14] amendment any prior deadline before that

[05:58:17] that uh would give us enough time to

[05:58:20] implement the open enrollment system and

[05:58:23] code these families appropriately.

[05:58:25] Again, for my colleagues on the board,

[05:58:26] this is not a large number of families

[05:58:28] that we're talking about that I

[05:58:29] anticipate. Um I don't know how many

[05:58:31] from high peaks, but for community

[05:58:33] monosuri, I don't think it'll be that

[05:58:34] many. But uh I I I think it it probably

[05:58:37] wouldn't be that administratively

[05:58:39] burdensome if we have a few days to

[05:58:41] figure out how to code people. We've we

[05:58:43] code them for lots of other things

[05:58:44] previously like everybody who came from

[05:58:46] a charter school with a legacy admission

[05:58:47] got coded separately as coming from

[05:58:49] there and had separate enrollment

[05:58:50] preferences applied. So I'm assuming our

[05:58:53] system is robust to this kind of change.

[05:59:02] Alec, I will leave it to staff to double

[05:59:04] check like making making sure that any

[05:59:06] proposed language is accomplishable and

[05:59:10] um

[05:59:11] sort of like between the last proposal

[05:59:13] and today that like you're

[05:59:14] double-checking to make sure you can

[05:59:16] accomplish it and that we're not putting

[05:59:18] something forth that we can not manage

[05:59:21] effectively or that creates undue

[05:59:26] I mean challenges to what the team has

[05:59:29] laid out or the system itself.

[05:59:34] I would like to see the resolution

[05:59:36] brought forward. I think everything

[05:59:38] we're talking about creates undue burden

[05:59:41] on tons of people. So, I wouldn't apply

[05:59:43] a different standard to this proposal.

[05:59:51] >> I'm just checking with our team. Do we

[05:59:52] have the the proposed language that

[05:59:54] board member Medler shared?

[05:59:58] >> Okay. If we can get that, then we'll

[06:00:00] verify that we can make sure that that

[06:00:02] happens. We'll confer with staff on what

[06:00:03] the date would be um in terms of when

[06:00:07] folks would have to make that decision

[06:00:09] decision prior to open enrollment. So

[06:00:11] then we could code those folks as

[06:00:12] resident as you know resident students

[06:00:15] and then um and then move forward.

[06:00:19] Then board members will have two

[06:00:20] proposals for you to ready for your um

[06:00:24] deliberation and um and and vote on the

[06:00:28] 22nd.

[06:00:31] >> Rob Price, just you added the semicolon

[06:00:33] and comma. You just got to make sure you

[06:00:34] delete it from the one above it.

[06:00:36] >> Thank you, Lolia.

[06:00:40] >> Slightly confused about if we have two

[06:00:42] proposals coming forward. Um, so then

[06:00:46] one would have this resolution, the

[06:00:48] other wouldn't.

[06:00:50] >> One would have that bullet. Okay.

[06:00:53] >> The whereas or it's a bullet here.

[06:00:56] >> Sorry, I can't.

[06:00:56] >> And one wouldn't. It's kind of like

[06:00:58] Lenia when we voted on attendance

[06:01:02] boundary changes and there were there

[06:01:03] was a motion put forward for one then

[06:01:06] there was a vote

[06:01:08] that first one happened at that time to

[06:01:10] not pass. Then we moved on to approve

[06:01:12] the motion for the second one. That one

[06:01:14] passed. Inverse could happen here, but

[06:01:17] you have to kind of go through whoever

[06:01:18] makes the motion on the first one.

[06:01:20] There's discussion on the first one that

[06:01:22] gets voted on. If it does not pass, then

[06:01:25] you go on to the second one. So, it's

[06:01:27] just like a operational thing for for

[06:01:33] Does that make sense?

[06:01:35] >> Yeah.

[06:01:38] Any other discussions board members?

[06:01:41] Dian,

[06:01:43] >> as a final comment, I just want to say

[06:01:45] that um that uh I wasn't part of the the

[06:01:51] board decision that said we're going to

[06:01:54] move focused schools outside of the

[06:01:58] central Boulder. Um that was something a

[06:02:00] decision you made before. Um, and I take

[06:02:03] issue with the fact that we are taking

[06:02:06] people out of a school and putting a

[06:02:09] focused school in. Um, I don't think

[06:02:12] that that is the focus of what BVSD is.

[06:02:18] I don't think core knowledge should be

[06:02:20] the focus of what BVSD is. And I think

[06:02:23] that decision will be damaging to the

[06:02:26] students at um Douglas who are going to

[06:02:30] get the message that those kids are more

[06:02:33] important than you. And so I take it I

[06:02:36] take um I take that as uh my truth. And

[06:02:42] um Alex and I had a funny discussion on

[06:02:45] the phone the other day where we were we

[06:02:47] were trying to argue about whose

[06:02:48] district was impacted the most.

[06:02:52] Not that it mattered at all, but um my

[06:02:55] district was and the borderlands between

[06:02:59] Boulder and Lewisville um impacted

[06:03:03] pretty hard and uh the students are

[06:03:06] going to have to adjust and I'll be

[06:03:08] looking forward to what kind of um what

[06:03:11] kind of help we can provide in order to

[06:03:14] maintain the communities

[06:03:17] that are more important than the school.

[06:03:21] itself. So I I hope that we can identify

[06:03:25] ways to keep the communities together

[06:03:29] even if the schools are um split. So

[06:03:35] that's all.

[06:03:40] >> Well, board members, it is approaching

[06:03:41] 3:00, the end of the school day for some

[06:03:45] of our elementary school students. Looks

[06:03:48] like we have no

[06:03:51] way to pick up. I know. Um, thank you

[06:03:55] team. Thank you board members. I look

[06:03:58] forward to seeing you all in a week.

[06:04:00] With that, today's meeting is adjourned.