[0:00] With students and families in new ways and in some cases have opened up new and deeper relationships.

[0:07] We have seen state agencies work together in completely new collaborative relationships to support the state of Colorado anyway we can.

[0:16] And we've seen policy makers, you, the state boards, the governor, move to adjust policies and meet the times.

[0:24] And we can take all of these warnings to the bank and we can draw on them later as we move through this situation.

[0:34] And we still have so much more to do.

[0:37] I don't want to say that all of these opportunities have not been without the other side of it,

[0:44] which is, you know, connections we have lost and things we need to do better.

[0:49] It is incumbent on us as leaders that we must be able to double down on how we support students during this time.

[0:59] We need to pay a special attention and focus and prioritize our students and families who have suffered the most during this time.

[1:09] Those that are in the digital divide, those that are helping their families with work, those that do not have the access to families who can support their learning at home.

[1:19] Our English language learn our students, our special education students that really struggle with any type of remote learning.

[1:28] And especially those students that we can't find right now.

[1:32] We really need to keep being creative, innovative, and keep finding the energy to support these students and families.

[1:41] I fear that the COVID slide is real, and by COVID slide I mean the achievement, slide as well as the opportunity slide.

[1:53] And so it's going to take every one of us and all of the panelists on this call and all of the educators across the state to address this with new ideas approaches priorities and focus.

[2:05] And so I know we're up to the challenge.

[2:08] I know that we can do it better if we work together.

[2:12] And with that, I'm going to start moving into the slide.

[2:16] So thank you for providing me a little opportunity

[2:19] to provide my experience in my context before we move through this.

[2:25] I'd like to interrupt for just a second.

[2:27] People cannot loop.

[2:28] There you go.

[2:28] People will not be able to see these slides,

[2:30] but they will be online afterwards.

[2:32] So, you know, that's how this technology has to work, but you will have an access to the

[2:37] leaders.

[2:38] Thanks.

[2:39] Great.

[2:39] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[2:42] Okay.

[2:42] So, I'm just going to go through a couple snapshots about what CDE's role has been during

[2:47] this time.

[2:48] And I know all of our many other panelists will be providing their perspective in their role

[2:53] as we move through.

[2:55] But CDE's role during this time has really been largely about communication.

[3:00] I think you could hear or ask any one of the superintendents you're going to talk to later.

[3:06] They probably hear from us too often.

[3:09] I've been on multiple calls and focus groups of superintendents in the last two days.

[3:14] We talk weekly, daily.

[3:17] We have multiple newsletters that go out and CBE updates, but go out to give all of the new updated guidance and keep communication channels open.

[3:27] We've been assessing the needs of districts throughout this time.

[3:31] We've been adjusting numerous policies and processes and regulations as appropriate.

[3:39] So, you know, there's been many, many challenging things as we've had to provide more flexibility.

[3:46] Adjust policies that make sense, provide waivers where it makes sense,

[3:51] and provide new processes where we need to.

[3:55] We've been distributing the CARES Act funding and that has been a heavy list and I

[4:01] continue to change and more with as requirements and regulations from the federal

[4:09] government become clearer.

[4:11] We've been providing technical assistance to the field and other stakeholders during this

[4:16] time.

[4:17] And we spend a lot of our time coordinating with other agencies, specifically the Colorado Department

[4:22] public health and environment and the governor's office on health guidance and other guidance.

[4:30] And we've been one thing that wasn't on this list is we've been supporting emergency

[4:35] feeding throughout the state of Colorado. So as schools shut down, we still figured out ways to

[4:41] support our districts to be able to provide school breakfast and lunches to families in need.

[4:48] And we've been coordinating per year legislation last year.

[4:55] We've just started coordinating a stakeholder group to talk about the impacts of policies.

[5:02] The impacts of COVID on critical policies such as educator evaluations, assessments, and

[5:10] accountability.

[5:11] That work has just started and it will be completed around December.

[5:18] Next slide. Thank you.

[5:26] Some of the highlights of what we've accomplished thus far. This is a very short list compared to what we could write.

[5:34] But we have worked very hard in partnership with the Attorney General's Office, the Governor's Office, the OIT Office and CDE to increase broadband access or Wi-Fi access across the state.

[5:47] As I said, taking a chance out of a digital divide, it's by no means completely solving the problem, but it is helping.

[5:56] We've been adapting to new daily realities and helping our districts do the same throughout our communication tools.

[6:03] We host SEDE regular focus groups advisory groups, stakeholder groups to make sure that we have a finger on the pulse of what is going on and what is needed.

[6:16] and what supports our field needs.

[6:20] We developed a comprehensive tool kit with health guidance,

[6:25] with CDPHE, so that tool kit includes everything

[6:29] from learning modes, to health screening,

[6:34] to different ways to think about remote learning,

[6:36] even if you don't have Wi-Fi access.

[6:41] We're planning for our 12-hour count.

[6:43] I know this was a big issue.

[6:46] something our districts are worried about is something we're all concerned about around how do we

[6:52] account for students? How do we know who's engaged and what does that mean for our enrollment?

[6:58] We've distributed all of the federal relief funds

[7:02] that we are in that process of applications and distributing those relief funds.

[7:08] And just recently, I'm happy to announce we secured a $16 million federal comprehensive literacy grant

[7:14] that we'll be able to use over the next several years.

[7:18] Couple other things, just to mention,

[7:23] we've worked with the Governor's Office on several initiatives

[7:28] that innovative grant program called Rise,

[7:32] the Colorado Empowered Learning Program to increase access to online learning

[7:38] and AmeriCorps to support engagement and tutoring

[7:42] of some of our students who we need to find. We need to reengage. We've also worked with a number

[7:50] of entities. It's far too many to note here, but on a public broadcasting partnership,

[7:57] to broadcast lessons on TV for students and families. This is also another way to close

[8:05] of digital divide, if families do have TVs.

[8:10] And we just launched a press,

[8:13] our public relations campaign on the importance

[8:17] and critical nature of reading at home.

[8:21] We think this is more important now than ever,

[8:25] you know, as families tend to be,

[8:28] you know, some of the core teachers of our students.

[8:32] Next slide.

[8:34] One of the things we did early on when the pandemic kit is we worked in partnership with the Colorado Education Initiative to conduct a needs inventory.

[8:47] And this was to get a broad brush lay of the land of what our districts need in this time of a pandemic.

[8:55] At this time, it was very new to everybody.

[8:59] So this data is a little bit data now.

[9:01] We are thinking of doing another of needs inventory

[9:05] to see how the needs have changed.

[9:08] But we broadly assess needs.

[9:11] We have been asserted in late March to early April.

[9:15] In the state, when I taught priorities that came across,

[9:19] we're student emotional support, technical support

[9:22] for delivering remote learning.

[9:24] online and structural support for our teachers and family engagement practices.

[9:31] So that's the bottom bullet is that we found approximately 6% of our students,

[9:36] which is about 53,000, did not have access to a Wi-Fi enabled device,

[9:43] and approximately 8% of our students 65 to 66,000 of students did not have access to the internet at home.

[9:54] So

[9:57] this is another way to look at the needs that we saw in that needs inventory, you'll see the top four that I already mentioned, students emotional support, technical supports for remote learning, online instructional support for teachers and family engagements, but you'll see a variety of other things, like supports for human resources practices for this year.

[10:22] helping to draft communications for families,

[10:27] helping to think about instructional time during this pandemic.

[10:33] And support for learning management system.

[10:37] You just stay on that slide for a minute, Melissa.

[10:39] Thank you.

[10:42] So we look to these needs,

[10:46] and we knew that we needed to focus here first.

[10:48] So, this is where, you know, we started to partner with the Office of Information Technology with the Attorney General's Office and the Governor's Office to say how do we start to close these device device and the Wi-Fi device and I think many of you saw that we made an announcement a couple weeks ago to provide at least 35,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and hopefully more with different partners across the state.

[11:18] and we're providing some of our effort, care,

[11:21] spending to supplement that and to close those

[11:24] digital divides.

[11:27] We've also worked with the Card on

[11:29] Town and Powered Learning Center,

[11:32] which is the statewide really digital learning platform.

[11:38] And again, that has helped to support

[11:42] learning platform across the state,

[11:44] but it has no means by no means solved to the problem.

[11:47] So, a lot of these things are getting us closer,

[11:50] but there's still a lot of work to do.

[11:53] And now, you know, that we're several months in,

[11:57] I would say I've heard needs that have changed to,

[12:01] you know, more related to time, resources, and support

[12:06] to catch students up.

[12:08] More physical building upgrades, like ventilation systems,

[12:12] More staffing support to support our teachers and staff and parents and bus drivers.

[12:20] And yes, more access to learning management systems, online learning management systems, and teachers who are experienced in remote learning.

[12:30] Next slide.

[12:34] So let me know right now about the school year.

[12:37] Today, we, CDE staff are tracking different plans around how what school settings they're using right now.

[12:48] You know, it's been important to the governor and to us.

[12:52] To still have a local control atmosphere where the virus looks different in different communities and so continuing to give those decisions to local communities based on

[13:07] the health data in their area.

[13:10] So we're tracking those plans.

[13:13] Those districts plans have and continue to change quickly.

[13:17] They've done local conditions and outbreaks.

[13:21] So if there's never a static data collection,

[13:25] it's always adjusting and changing as schools

[13:28] have had to make decisions to quarantine or shut down

[13:33] or come back online, or sorry, come back in person

[13:37] because their numbers have gone down.

[13:40] So I'm on daily calls with superintendents,

[13:43] district staff, our rural communities,

[13:46] to assess the changing needs.

[13:50] And we also, you know, do our regular yearly collection

[13:56] and analysis of data that we have,

[13:59] including student dropout rates, grad rates,

[14:02] you know, truncy rates, those sorts of things.

[14:05] But those are only on a yearly basis.

[14:08] And we continue to engage with stakeholders,

[14:10] including you all, starting this conversation,

[14:15] to assess if any additional or adjusted data

[14:17] should be collected in response to the current crisis.

[14:29] As I mentioned, we've reviewed the public information

[14:32] for about 173 of the 185 districts and those fees.

[14:36] The reason you see that number at 185 is we're including the doses in that, so that represents about 98% of students across the stage.

[14:47] And also districts that we've reviewed, we found the large majority of districts about 73% are offering an in-person learning option.

[14:58] So many of those districts are small.

[15:00] All in rural districts. I think they have a little bit easier time getting, well, I won't say easy. There's no such thing as easy right now. But they have been able to be a bit nimble and flexible and get back into in-person learning.

[15:15] And if you think about the number of students, we estimate that about 37% of students

[15:24] statewide have access to insert some learning, but this was, you know, about a week or so

[15:29] ago, and plan for changing quickly.

[15:32] We already know some districts who are trying to accelerate their plans to get back to in-person

[15:37] learning, or maybe accelerate their plans for their younger students, or their more at-risk

[15:44] students to get back to in-person learning, so they're being flexible and changing their plans as the

[15:51] situation warrants. So as I noted, district with most multiple options, the elementary schools are

[15:59] more likely to be in person than middle schools and high schools, and that largely follows some of

[16:05] health data, but says younger students are left likely to transmit and have lower rates of

[16:18] this disease.

[16:21] There are many districts that offer in-person or hybrid inspections that also have an online option

[16:28] for family, so even if they're in-person, they're offering to online options, so they're essentially

[16:33] doing two types of schooling, which can also be a staffing challenge, so that families can select

[16:40] if they're not comfortable returning to school in person. And so some of our district leaders

[16:46] have estimated that as many as 25% of their families are choosing remote learning options.

[16:54] Even if there is an in-person or a hybrid option available.

[17:04] So for the school year, what don't we know, and what should we know?

[17:10] At the statewide level, including the state board and CDE, there is significant interest

[17:16] and better understanding all of these different learning formats, and how well students are being served

[17:22] in them. I know that our district superintendents are also very interested in that.

[17:27] So, we really are desire there is really student focus.

[17:33] It's, you know, even though this is a challenging time, how can the adults learn from this very quickly?

[17:39] And pivot and adjust our support as we can within the health situation.

[17:47] Traditionally and under existing statute, you know, we don't monitor or collect data from districts in kind of real time.

[17:55] And we usually do a one year collection on attendance.

[18:01] And we haven't really measured student engagement

[18:04] or any specific learning formats in the past.

[18:08] That has really been the purview of the district.

[18:14] So the question is sort of what data are needed

[18:16] at the state level in order to best support our student

[18:19] school year?

[18:20] How do we balance the needs for districts to focus

[18:24] on all of those things I talked about that they're grappling with, with data recording requirements.

[18:32] And then if we do need any more data or support, we should talk about the why,

[18:39] there's our data collection and the what of that data collection, meaning how will we use that information?

[18:45] How will we make that information actionable so that we support students?

[18:51] So those are some of the, you know, important questions we've been asking ourselves as folks have asked us, you know, what are you collecting? How are you, how are you keeping your finger on the pulse of what's going on?

[19:04] So those are all very valid and important questions. And we're really trying to earnestly find a balance there.

[19:13] So with that, I believe that concludes my presentation, and I hope that that gives you a sense of, you know, what's going on in the state.

[19:27] And we try to address the specific questions you asked us. But we're happy, as I said, or as the chair said,

[19:34] City staff will need help throughout the day to answer questions as well.

[19:42] Okay, thank you so much.

[19:44] We're going to have about five minutes for questions.

[19:48] So don't forget to raise your hand and we can get that done.

[19:53] And I'm going to settle a little time on because that's what I like to do.

[19:58] All right.

[19:59] Let me see if I can't take everybody from here.

[20:02] So let me get on to this guy.

[20:05] No.

[20:10] This is not as much of a thing.

[20:12] I got everybody.

[20:13] All right.

[20:14] So there's a few questions.

[20:15] Let me show you basically.

[20:18] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[20:20] So can you all on slide six?

[20:24] The number one request in the London,

[20:27] understanding that there's these are requests from schools and school districts.

[20:34] Number one request there will be most most support for students.

[20:36] can you don't understand what that is?

[20:39] That seems like an inappropriate involvement by government in families, and so I'm trying

[20:46] to understand why would we be taking parents to places like to me.

[20:51] I was like, the government's going to take the place of the parent, the emotional support,

[20:56] and how do we, how do we reflect parents, what would be my concern as a parent, as saying,

[21:03] How is the government providing emotional support to my child, affecting my families and churches, values, and such things?

[21:13] So if you can help me understand what I will be.

[21:18] Dr.

[21:19] Thank you, Madam Chair, representative Bayesley.

[21:21] I appreciate the question.

[21:23] This was more of an input survey for this information day-day boss.

[21:28] We, you know, so I don't know that we have come up with a specific role around this, as I mentioned.

[21:37] We look at this list and we say, what areas should we participate in?

[21:41] This is merely them stating what their needs are.

[21:45] I do think that in addition to families, you know, teachers do play a role in supporting our students and helping them through challenging times.

[21:56] And so I think they have asked for support and resources and tools and they have, you know, many of our partner organizations have done that work.

[22:09] So I wouldn't say that it's been a strong role of the Colorado Department of Education, but we do have some tools and resources relating to how educators can support their students.

[22:21] Okay, thank you. I have a whole network of churches that can partner as well by the way.

[22:25] That's great.

[22:27] Yeah.

[22:28] Representative McCluskey.

[22:34] Chair.

[22:35] And I want to start by thanking you, Dr. Antis, for a great overview.

[22:41] It is literally impossible to represent every school district experience, every educator,

[22:47] student experience, and parent experience at this time.

[22:50] And I think you did a great job of just highlighting where we are and what is going on.

[22:56] I also want to give voice to the end of your presentation and talking about data.

[23:02] I really appreciate that there are a lot of good questions that we are trying to ask and answer right now.

[23:09] And I respect that in the midst of just taking care of our kids, which is our highest priority, making sure they're on tracks to learn and stay safe.

[23:20] But we're also being, we also want to know specifically where kids are, what is happening

[23:28] with attendance. That's student engagement question. Can you speak a little bit to

[23:36] while we're very aware that the collective data is challenging, how we can do it in a really

[23:42] thoughtful way. And to the data that we need most at this moment, given how stressed we are on so many other priorities.

[23:55] Madam Chair, thank you for the question.

[23:59] You know, I'm going to be honest, I think I'm grappling with that around how we can do it.

[24:07] most effectively and efficiently, to be honest, I think that is why CDE did some collection

[24:14] on our own by going to public websites by finding the communications that district have been

[24:21] doing to their families because I do believe they have a lot on their place right now.

[24:27] But I also totally recognize that it is an absolutely valid and important question to know

[24:33] you know, how is this working like where, how, how many of our students can't we find and how might, how might we be able to support them?

[24:42] I think we really, we do need to think about what is the state role in that.

[24:47] We, we provide a lot of technical assistance from like our dropout prevention team and our coordinated support team that have, and our field services team that have personal relationships with districts across the state.

[25:03] and they're working with districts on a one-on-one basis to help support them.

[25:09] But I would also say that our districts are struggling with this too.

[25:12] I've seen several school leaders that actually get emotional

[25:17] about how hard they are trying to find all of their students in some cases

[25:22] that we can't find five students.

[25:24] We haven't been able no matter how much we've called.

[25:28] We've reached out.

[25:29] We've checked their churches.

[25:30] We've checked their food banks.

[25:32] You know, we can't find them and then I've had other major districts so we can't find a much larger number.

[25:40] And so I think they too are grappling with how to really find those families and support them.

[25:47] We just launched the Governor's Office just launched an initiative with AmeriCorps to help support.

[25:54] Some of that student engagement and finding students so we're hopeful that that will help.

[25:59] But I think that is the question when the information changes so quickly, the data collection is a challenge.

[26:09] And so I'm definitely open to those conversations and ideas and then what do we do with that data to help support them?

[26:19] Okay, thank you so much.

[26:21] We're not going to be heading on.

[26:23] We're going to hear from stakeholders.

[26:24] different stakeholders now on a state level guidance and district plans for reopening schools.

[26:31] Each presenter will have five minutes. We're going to hear from a panel with three members at

[26:36] a time, and then follow each panel with about another five minutes of questions. So presenters,

[26:43] just continue sharing your screens once you are done with your presentation. And it's when

[26:47] you're trying to speak, please select share screen and begin that presentation. So first we welcome back,

[26:54] Dr. Anthony's. We didn't get enough of it for the first time, so we're having more.

[26:58] We will also welcome Dr. Ronda Hannaford, who's the Associate Commissioner of School

[27:03] Quality and Support for the CDE and Dr. Brian Early, who's the Medical Epidemiologist,

[27:12] Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. So please welcome them all and we thank you

[27:17] all ahead of time for all the work we're doing for us. Thank you.

[27:24] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[27:25] I am going to share my screen, I think Justin has made me a post, give this a try.

[27:41] We let up technology.

[27:44] Now, I'm a presenter.

[27:46] Let's try that again.

[28:18] Justin, can you just come from that you can see the presentation, OK?

[28:24] This one.

[28:25] Thank you very much.

[28:30] So it is definitely my pleasure to join you all today,

[28:33] and to share a view of the state level guidance.

[28:35] And the reopening plans for K-12 schools

[28:42] may 26 CDC issued the 2020-2021 planning framework

[28:46] in toolkit and in August the color department of public health and environment issues

[28:51] outbreak guidance that is also included in the B.C.D.E.Tool Kit.

[28:57] At C.D.E.E. developed the planning framework in toolkit guidance,

[29:00] we did so in alignment to the state public health orders on C.D.P.E.T.E. and the governor's executive

[29:05] orders. About local public health agencies could support their county school and district

[29:10] reopening plans. The goal of toolkit is to assist with safely reopening schools, relative

[29:16] to community status of COVID-19 impact, and it is definitely not a one-size-fits-all framework.

[29:23] The toolkit continues to evolve with new executive orders and state public health orders,

[29:29] and we continue to receive feedback from the advisory committee and many existing stakeholder

[29:33] channels. There's feedback because there's been very helpful in the development of the guidance.

[29:39] We also have a feedback forum on the toolkit for anyone who would like to share

[29:42] confirmed ideas with us, and we created a new feature to explain my asked question section.

[29:48] a question button that anyone could ask question directly to the Department of Education.

[30:00] That includes five sections. There is a health and safety section, continuity of morning, conditions for learning, planning and communication and policy and funding. Our partners at DDPHU have come alongside us in developing the health and safety section.

[30:18] Publicity of learning largely focuses on the different returns of school models, which could be in-person, hybrid, or remote learning models, conditions for learning purposes, well-being and connectedness and planning and communication.

[30:33] It's connected to just that, planning on what the possible start-up focus look like as well as communication to families and the community as needed.

[30:42] And then, any policy and funding impacts, some other types of districts,

[30:53] we received feedback

[30:54] that it would be helpful to identify what in the toolkit is required, guidance, or a

[31:01] consideration.

[31:02] So with public health orders changing often, we have continued to work to update what is identified

[31:08] as required guidance or considerations in the toolkit.

[31:12] So, if an item is labeled as required, this was in a current state public health order or executive

[31:18] order for T12 education. If the item is identified as guidance, this is a recommendation for

[31:25] how to implement a statute rule. Guidance is based on best practice and provides direction

[31:31] for how to operationalize the requirement set forth in various orders. All effort should be

[31:37] made to follow the recommendations and feasible. And last, if an item is identified as a consideration,

[31:43] This is an idea to think about our districts make their own decisions.

[31:53] The guidance goes by grade level and phases, and it varies across age groups based on the size of COVID transmission patterns,

[32:00] among those children and adults.

[32:03] It includes guidance for physical distancing, face covering, cohorting, and class sizes.

[32:09] In addition, the guidance includes school environment guidance, connected to cleaning and disinfecting,

[32:13] in relation and HFAC systems, as well as guidance for best transportation and many, many other areas.

[32:21] So, as this has now, I get to introduce Dr. Brian Burley from BEPG to share with you

[32:26] up the health guidance. Thank you.

[32:31] Thank you, Ron. I'm Brian Burley. I'm a medical epidemiologist at CDPHG. And we are involved in creating guidance

[32:39] but if you control what a God rated industry is, institutions in different contexts,

[32:44] and schools are generally one of the most critical ones, and it was really grateful to

[32:47] the Naval Partner with CDE and every step of this process, organizations bring very different

[32:52] strengths to the table, and we're grateful for the level of collaboration and all part of this

[32:59] process. One of our most important jobs in Korea school gardens is helping schools and parents

[33:06] make choices about who should be in class and what to do with someone feel sick or has a positive COVID test or in exposure.

[33:13] And this is really a difficult balance.

[33:15] This is one of the make sure schools are safe and places possible for students and teachers.

[33:19] And we also wanted to support and ensure all the benefits of person learning that we can, including the social, emotional, physical, and personal.

[33:27] All the other things that schools do for our students, these are besides just writing,

[33:35] So, we've created really what is a suite of guidance that is designed to help students in the parents, teachers, schools, district planners understand what to do with someone's field sick, how the screen and what the next step should be.

[33:54] Preparing to feel like a simple system screen that can be completed every day.

[34:01] And if someone is out of school, we have actually a pair of flow sheets depending on

[34:07] the emphasis of COVID in the region.

[34:10] To help them understand, when is it appropriate for them to come back to school?

[34:15] If there's been to get better quickly, can they come back right away?

[34:18] Or do they need a positive or a native COVID set to come back?

[34:21] Or should they plan on waiting the entire isolation period?

[34:24] And it sort of walks parents with schools through that process.

[34:29] And then there's also the very fiscal question of what happens to this close context

[34:34] of somebody who's doing sick or may have a positive COVID test.

[34:38] How do you identify this close context?

[34:40] It's a people who are in the same class, in the same sports team, people who set near them.

[34:45] We have some guidance around that and we're always developing more and we're finding it.

[34:50] And we really think of our guidance as living documents.

[34:55] We try to make major changes that have been announced in February, finding from terminology

[34:59] and rewarding as the on-posted confusion.

[35:03] We're actually undergoing a first major round of revisions right now with the goal of really

[35:07] team by a midway up to over.

[35:11] It would continue to gain feedback from our local public health partners, school administrators,

[35:15] teachers, parents, clinicians, which all help guide our process. And we're taking some of those major themes and taking the existing stakeholder sessions over the past few weeks.

[35:25] To talk about ways that we may be able to address the most important issues that we hear at time and again, and it's a little bit new perspective to be back.

[35:33] I think Katie Anfield spoke to us earlier, but we're also very, very data-centric data-hungry

[35:39] organizations, and also in the beginning of the school year we established some new ways

[35:44] to collect data about the experience of schools, including a weekly survey to school, and

[35:49] a hand data collection specifically for outbreak in schools, and also partnerships with researchers

[35:54] at Children's Hospital and Colorado University to understand more effective disease control

[35:59] in school, in other contexts as well.

[36:02] We're also actively seeking success stories to think that it's done well.

[36:05] School has done a great job of disease control without disrupting

[36:07] in-person education and talking to schools that have had a lot of

[36:10] challenges for that.

[36:11] School that have found difficult to be in-person,

[36:14] schools that have had to open and close because of cases.

[36:19] And working to craft our guidance and in a way that makes it possible

[36:24] for more schools to be in-person more often.

[36:27] with that in with that, I'll pass it back to Rhonda and thank you all for this.

[36:35] Thank you Dr. Early.

[36:37] As Dr. Early shared, the guidance is continuing to evolve.

[36:42] And this is just a look of a few of those examples within the last few weeks.

[36:46] Additional guidance has been developed and has a part of the toolkit guidance.

[36:50] Both the dial metric guidance and paper at home and the ventilation H-axis guidance

[36:55] guidance was released from the D.P.T.E.

[36:58] In addition, guidance for learning pods was jointly released from the D.E.E. and the Department

[37:03] of Human Services and my D.E.E. included guidance for performing arts and we continue

[37:09] to update the toolkit with new executive orders as they are made public most recently

[37:16] with the extension of the state mask order.

[37:20] So this concludes our presentation and thank you Madam Chair for the opportunity.

[37:26] Thank you both.

[37:27] I appreciate this.

[37:29] Good information.

[37:31] Five minutes now for questions.

[37:34] So let me get back on to the people that I can serve.

[37:37] Your handbell.

[37:40] I'm quite serious part out yet.

[37:47] Sorry.

[37:48] There's something.

[37:53] I'm sorry.

[37:55] I haven't quite figured out.

[37:57] There we are.

[37:58] All right. Now, let's have your hands.

[38:02] You can raise it.

[38:03] We have five minutes for questions.

[38:05] What kind of questions?

[38:06] After our panelists today.

[38:12] You guys were so good.

[38:13] You covered it all with no questions.

[38:16] And it's early in the morning.

[38:17] So have lots of time.

[38:19] So I want to thank you both.

[38:21] Very, very much for your time.

[38:22] And all the work that you put into this.

[38:24] Oh, and there is representative gotten her down there.

[38:27] Sorry.

[38:27] Here's the bottom of my screen down there.

[38:33] Thank you, Madam Chair, and just for whoever wants to tackle this, and maybe just for everyone to tackle it.

[38:41] I'll cover her, you personally, the students in the remote settings are receiving a quality education.

[38:47] And I'll let anybody kind of tackle that.

[38:48] And we've discussed quite a few things there, but it may be this is better for the initial presentation, but just trying to get that to yourself that I have, and I'd like to hear some perspectives.

[39:09] I think the reality is that it does vary and you'll talk to Superintendents and they'll be honest

[39:16] with you about, you know, districts that didn't have the foundation and haven't, you

[39:28] One Wi-Fi and devices, you know, a test and a challenge.

[39:35] So there certainly are struggles.

[39:37] We hear from parents and families that do struggle remotely.

[39:42] And just like everything, I would say that there is a variety of, you know,

[39:48] a quality out there and that our districts are working very hard to improve.

[39:51] The quality is quickly as they can, but there's a continuum for sure.

[40:02] Yeah, thank you. Thank you for that everybody. Are there any more questions?

[40:09] Okay. Thank you, all three doctors for all of your incredibly hard work for all of us, so we appreciate it. Thank you.

[40:19] We're zipping a lot on here.

[40:21] We now have, let's see.

[40:25] We have our next group of presenters. We have Heidi Baskfield. She's a vice president of population health and advocacy for children's hospital in Colorado.

[40:35] Dr. Dan Kheimen, who is the chief medical officer for Children's Hospital, and Roberta Gilles,

[40:42] who is the clinical manager and school nurse at Children's Hospital in Colorado.

[40:47] I'd like to welcome you all for taking on a lot more than you normally do, I'm suspect during

[40:54] this time period, and we want to thank you.

[40:57] So welcome, and then just introduce yourself to us who you are, and then when we can go on

[41:02] from there.

[41:03] Thank you.

[41:03] Madam Chair, members, thank you so much for allowing us to participate today. I'm hiding back, Bill.

[41:10] Vice President, population health and advocacy here at Children's Hospital.

[41:14] Still nice to see all of you.

[41:16] And as Madam Chair explained, we have Dan Hyman, our chief medical officer,

[41:22] and Bobby Gillis, who oversees our school nurse team here as well.

[41:26] We don't have slides, so we'll minimize your technical need to toggle back and forth.

[41:31] We'll keep this at the conversational level.

[41:34] We're going to share today how we've been partnering with schools.

[41:38] We're going to talk briefly about what's been working

[41:40] and some of our opportunities at the first excited

[41:43] to take any questions.

[41:45] Not everyone understands or knows

[41:47] that children also actually oversees a team of school nurses

[41:52] that supports a large number of schools

[41:55] and students throughout the state of Colorado.

[41:58] So I'm going to be in the middle of the first

[42:00] So Bobbi, to talk about this program to give everyone a little more insight into how that program works.

[42:07] Bobbi.

[42:08] Good morning, everybody.

[42:09] Thank you.

[42:10] So our team of 34 school nurses contract with the school district.

[42:17] Charter schools, private schools, and child care.

[42:20] We provide services to 347 sites.

[42:24] And we touch about 78 children's lives.

[42:27] In the model that we provide services in a concentrated model that might be a little bit

[42:33] different than some other school districts, and that they have an on-site nurse providing

[42:38] services all the entire school day, our Comfort Pages model that we practice under is

[42:46] a really specialised type of school nursing.

[42:49] We consult with the school's on policy development.

[42:52] Really, our practice is grounded in public health focus that health promotion and disease prevention.

[42:59] We are partners with CDD, CDPH, and our local health department.

[43:05] We coordinate student health care facilities that have significant chronic health conditions, as well as acute situations.

[43:12] And we work very closely with our parents, and families, students, and school staff so that we can be an integral part of that team.

[43:23] A little bit different in our role is that we delegate healthcare task to unlicing the VISTA personnel in the school setting.

[43:31] So I'll be doing a lot of trades and supervision.

[43:37] Thank you, Bobby.

[43:38] Madam Chair, if I may continue.

[43:42] Thank you.

[43:42] So, let's just talk about numbers that you need to know what we've been up to in the

[43:47] state of COVID.

[43:48] As soon as the pandemic kicked off, we heard very quickly from our school partners that

[43:53] they've been presented from having as close to real-time access to our infectious disease

[43:58] team members and experts to provide guidance on how to operate safely amidst the pandemic.

[44:05] So every other Thursday, a week old town hall with all of our school partners and other stakeholder groups involved with the Colorado Alliance for School Health.

[44:17] And in those school town halls, we provide up-to-date information that is developed in partnership with our friends at TDPHEE, like with Dr. Early and our friends at CTE, where we provide as much information as we can to give schools the information they need on how to keep their environments safe.

[44:35] How to manage COVID as it shows up in their environment and also how to deal with other implications from the pandemic.

[44:42] So for example, we have a town hall scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and we'll be talking about mental health, which I know for everyone is a billing concern about how do we adequately support the medical needs of our kids, our families, and our staff during this very time.

[44:59] Additionally,

[45:00] We provided materials that will be sent around all of you in a link, also located on our website, that provides a two-ordered

[45:08] approach to managing COVID in the environment and a resource to how to deal with a wide variety of

[45:16] systems and sort of on the ground information of how to deal with sickness illness in the COVID

[45:22] pandemic in the schools. Finally, we also developed a script pad for schools to be able to use

[45:32] that allows essentially a daily interaction with families and staff, but they can turn in

[45:38] whether or not they're symptom free when they arrive on school sites to be able to provide

[45:44] the school to information they need to safely manage their kids and their staff help.

[45:51] One of the things we wanted to share with everyone that continues to work very well is the partnership

[45:57] that we have both with the state agencies and CDGG and CDE as well as our part of the

[46:03] local public health and so we will tell you that even though everyone is building this as we

[46:09] go and figuring this out that the strength of the partnership between all of us remains very strong

[46:15] to be able to say foundational in the success that we have continued to see.

[46:20] There are opportunities that I would tell you that we continue to see as well.

[46:24] And that has to do a lot with the fact that with more and more children coming back to

[46:29] in person learning, there are resource challenges.

[46:32] And those tend to exist in both the school and the local public health settings with respect

[46:37] to having enough resources to adequately manage the sheer amount of work that has to be done

[46:42] to effectively respond to questions, answers, and engage in contact tracing.

[46:48] And while everyone is putting extra hours in every day, seven days a week,

[46:53] that continues to be a challenge experienced by all of us and our partners.

[46:59] And I want to hand the floor back if I may, Madam Chair,

[47:02] to the body to give a specific example of what we've seen sort of embodies,

[47:08] those are things that are working in some of our ongoing opportunities.

[47:10] Thank you very much.

[47:15] Thank you.

[47:17] Well, I just give a quick example.

[47:20] So a parent calls the school reports that a child has a positive COVID test.

[47:25] The school leader then notices school nurse.

[47:28] It's Friday afternoon.

[47:29] The school nurse then contact the local public health department to report

[47:33] get further instruction about contact tracing.

[47:36] And then there happens to be in the particular instance where there isn't a call back

[47:42] timing.

[47:43] So the school site principle is sort of wondering now what can we tell the parents?

[47:47] How do we connect with them?

[47:48] They're from Monday, Monday, Monday, and the communication is finally connected to the Zavada.

[47:54] As a unit by Monday morning, the parents wasn't on their email so brought the child's

[48:00] school.

[48:01] So we have some challenges, some opportunities with communication.

[48:06] And I think most of that has to do with this is when to all of us.

[48:11] We are trying very hard to work with the guys on that we have from the state and think

[48:17] goodness from the CDC and we are understandably focused on having children to be in school

[48:26] and ready to learn because that is our focus as a school nurses.

[48:29] We understand parents are frustrated.

[48:33] There is probably a need for more education for parents

[48:38] that they know wider.

[48:40] Child is the quarantine for someone else's positive COVID.

[48:44] If they're going to cohort where they need to quarantine.

[48:47] And we also understand that our local public health departments

[48:51] are under the source.

[48:53] And our wonderful partners with us.

[48:55] So we are strapped to provide the best services we can in this pandemic, these are really, we have more of an opportunity for a better work.

[49:11] I think if this

[49:14] can.

[49:15] Can that have to be shared if I may include any other time here?

[49:20] I want to.

[49:20] So let the committee members know that in addition to the other resources that childrens have made,

[49:27] and we'll continue to make available to our school partners.

[49:30] We partnered uniquely and closely with more public schools

[49:36] in the distribution of over 2,000 times

[49:39] of healthy and fresh food and continues to partner with you.

[49:43] So not only feed families and give them access to these healthy foods,

[49:47] but also the continuation of information about COVID

[49:51] and how to gain access to help as they need it, and in that we will conclude and be happy to entertain

[50:01] in the question.

[50:02] Thank you so much again for having us.

[50:04] Okay.

[50:05] You're going to happy to explain this today, and thank you, thank you, and you're doing a wonderful

[50:10] job.

[50:11] I think in the past we always thought there was a school nurse on site, and that's not the

[50:19] So I really appreciate you jumping in and doing extraordinary work.

[50:25] Dr. Hyman, did you want to contribute something before we get on to questions?

[50:30] Questions?

[50:31] Heidi and Bobby presented the information that we were looking forward.

[50:34] Thanks, Madam Chairwoman.

[50:35] You guys are good.

[50:37] Just do it all.

[50:38] Okay.

[50:39] So what questions do we have for any of our speakers today?

[50:45] And if your picture is not up in your raising your hand,

[50:47] cannot see you.

[50:48] Oh, there it goes.

[50:49] representative kind you?

[50:54] I think for that presentation you guys certainly have your

[50:57] against full. I was just I was just wondering in a scenario that was kind of depicted

[51:02] and whether that was just kind of a enromeration of multiple issues or certainly a scenario that

[51:08] could play out. How many students that would kind of fall into that scenario have actually

[51:14] found themselves and I hope the answer is not, but certainly how many students have found themselves

[51:21] hospitalized, and that's sort of the thing.

[51:23] I'm just trying to get a gauge on the impact

[51:25] that we're seeing there in terms of hospitals,

[51:28] and the scenario where we have students

[51:29] that have to be quarantined

[51:30] that once they are identified as COVID-positive,

[51:34] parents and that sort of everything,

[51:34] coming to hospitalization of the students and both of

[51:40] those.

[51:41] Suffer than it is, I'm excited.

[51:43] And then you can talk about what that situation

[51:46] will work with.

[51:54] You're muted, Dan.

[51:58] Come on, so I would know how to do this.

[52:00] All of us, thanks for the question, representative, that nurse.

[52:02] Um, you know, fortunately, we have not had a huge number of children hospitalized in the state.

[52:10] I'm really under any circumstance and, you know, her children's, we've had a couple hundred kids who had

[52:14] hospitalizations and extended ED observation, but there's a, I mean, a particular scenario that

[52:20] probably was talking about, I'm not sure what actually happened, but the general risk to kids has

[52:27] And fortunately, not been what we've seen with adults here in Colorado or I'm a country

[52:33] or the world for that matter.

[52:35] We don't yet exactly know why it is that children are more protective from significant

[52:40] illness.

[52:41] It's something that I hope we will learn soon and be able to use that information to help

[52:46] with future therapeutics and just our management of this novel virus.

[52:52] But the issues with exposure have mostly resulted in isolation and quarantine and

[53:00] meet-up potentially then risks to others in the homes of those kids who are exposed.

[53:05] But it certainly is not resulting in significant hospitalizations.

[53:13] It's good to hear. Yeah. I'm glad about that.

[53:16] Did anybody else have a question for our esteemed panel here?

[53:22] How often do you get children's hospital treatment here without you having to go there?

[53:25] Representative Bethner. Thank you. I'm in Aurora. I'm the State Route for Aurora. We'll be the Senate

[53:34] Tour for Parts of Aurora, where children hospital is located. So I really have that advantage.

[53:41] I just want to thank them for their partnership with Aurora with food and medical information.

[53:49] and it's been invaluable.

[53:51] So I just want to say thank you.

[53:56] Thank you very much.

[53:59] Well, we really appreciate your time today.

[54:01] So thank you, thank you.

[54:03] And then we hope to keep in touch with you.

[54:06] Thanks.

[54:09] I will tell you that people have been wondering

[54:11] if they can be seeing the slides that are being presented.

[54:15] And if you get on to the Senate Education web page

[54:18] on the alleged Colorado.gov website,

[54:23] you will be able to see all of the slides

[54:26] that are being presented today,

[54:27] because I know it's hard to be at home,

[54:29] and you can't see who's talking,

[54:30] and you can't see what they're talking about.

[54:33] So this should be able, this should help everybody,

[54:35] a little bit there.

[54:37] Okay, our next panel, we will have, let's see,

[54:43] Brett Miles, who is the executive director

[54:46] of the Colorado Association of School Executives, Cherry Rinch, Executive Director of the Colorado

[54:53] Association of School Boards, and Amy Bakker-Other, who is the president of the Colorado

[54:58] Education Association. We'd like to welcome you all to our technology wonderland here.

[55:07] So I will have you go and just introduce yourself to the people who can't see you,

[55:16] Thank you for the invitation, I'm Brett Miles Executive Director of Case, the Colorado Association of School Executives.

[55:27] I have known many of our Colorado superintendents for a great number of years and never have I been more impressed with their leadership than I am right now.

[55:36] We've seen the best examples of perseverance, leading with moral purpose, increased communication and collaboration with each other, with state agencies, with their communities, all the while adjusting to the changing rules, declining resources and limited personnel.

[55:52] as kids are rising to the occasion and leading with the best interest of kids in mind at a time when there's no playbook.

[55:59] No past president to draw on.

[56:01] Like you, I'm sure.

[56:02] I'm so proud to have these fine leaders in charge of our districts and schools during this most unusual and stressful time.

[56:10] As Dr. Anthony stated in her opening,

[56:12] every administrator I know has been working at breakneck speed to analyze ever changing guidance to determine how to best integrate that into their plans.

[56:20] Don't give me wrong, ever changing guidance is not a complaint, nor a criticism, everyone, including our partners at CDE and CDPHG has been working so hard to keep up with the latest information and communicating it out as soon as they could.

[56:36] The problem of good communication is that it needs to evolve constantly to be relevant, accurate and helpful.

[56:42] As Dr. Hannahford said earlier, CDE first put out guidance on May 26, CDPHG, but out there

[56:50] first guidance on cases about breaks and schools on July 20th.

[56:55] Most school leaders had already been going with their plans, and then we got a revised

[57:01] diversion of that on July 30th, and then again on August 13th, when some of the schools

[57:07] already planning on opening as soon as the 7th. But all of this was okay and it was needed so

[57:14] that we had the best information. It just added to the stressfulness as we went through this. So

[57:19] our district is faced in unseasing barrage of information and guidance. And all of it needed to make

[57:26] these high stakes decisions about reopening. I say all of this to help provide context for an incredibly

[57:32] chaotic world, our public leaders have been living since March, trying to reopen schools

[57:37] with rules changing what's what seems like daily.

[57:41] So, with rules changing, resources limited, they have a unique context in each one of our districts

[57:48] that probably comes as no surprise to you whatsoever.

[57:51] The one case asked superintendents to share the restart plans.

[57:56] We found there are almost as many approaches as we have districts.

[58:01] A district that prepares for the New Year, a case to have superintendents to share their

[58:05] restart plans, and despite this overwhelming sense that they have to do their daily job,

[58:12] we have a 90% of our superintendents respond.

[58:15] There are no hard and fast rules to apply in these districts, and everyone made their own choices

[58:20] for reopening.

[58:22] School districts are varying sizes, it took very similar approaches.

[58:26] School districts that look identical right next door to each other, took very different approaches.

[58:32] We have in school district that 55 students that show a vibrant model, just like a district that 25,000 students.

[58:40] We had 31,000 students district open virtually, so did a school district of 150 students.

[58:46] We have districts offering in person learning, ranging in all sizes up to 22,000 students.

[58:52] Matter of fact 80 of the 85 districts under a thousand are opening in person.

[59:01] At the end of the day, it's by each plan, each school district shows there are a couple

[59:06] things that were true in every circumstance.

[59:08] Everyone wanted school just like it was last fall.

[59:12] It was the preferred option of everybody.

[59:15] Even though the rules, the guidance, the technology, the bus routes, the cohorts, the

[59:22] personal leave of employees, the contact tracing, the PPE, ordering new supplies, finding

[59:29] that you can't get to supplies, countless communication with parents and students. Above all,

[59:36] else we had to be ready to welcome back students who suffered trauma, who suffered isolation,

[59:43] who needed the care and connection. And that's what's on every leader's mind in this state as we

[59:49] start. Our students have their worlds upended last March. When all of a sudden they no longer

[59:54] saw their friends, their teachers every day, their activities were canceled, everything seemed

[1:00:00] And steady and unfamiliar. They will take time to build back stability for our kids that they need so badly. And our educators are mindful, and will need long-term plans to ensure the students have this extra support.

[1:00:13] I can't speak strongly enough about the countless new considerations our educators and leaders have related to keeping students and staff safe.

[1:00:24] The fact that no matter what plan a district opened with, they first have to ensure that we have safe and staff in students.

[1:00:35] For example, our district's offering in person learning, know that they also need to be ready for

[1:00:42] resurgence in COVID-19, and they could be supposed to close again and pivot in the moment's

[1:00:47] notice.

[1:00:49] The last thing I'd like to share with you today is that public school administrators are working

[1:00:53] harder than ever to serve their communities.

[1:00:56] Loft and are in very different places in relation to this pandemic.

[1:01:00] Some families are angry that their students are required to wear masks.

[1:01:06] And other families are scared.

[1:01:09] The masks aren't enough.

[1:01:11] There are teachers who are afraid to go back to the classroom because of their own health,

[1:01:15] vulnerabilities, or those who live in their house.

[1:01:18] But they are desperate to go serve children.

[1:01:21] And they are desperate to make a living.

[1:01:23] I say all of this underscore the point that the heightened emotions and stress of all of us

[1:01:30] have to come to some degree about COVID-19.

[1:01:33] They're playing out in a large-scale, amplified ways in each school district.

[1:01:40] We are all trying to balance the Austin conflicting views and beliefs within our own communities

[1:01:46] with a commitment above all else to serve and keep the staff and student states.

[1:01:53] Thank you for letting me share a perspective of school administrators and the

[1:01:58] have you answered any questions at that time?

[1:02:04] You covered a lot of a lot of people in those statements,

[1:02:08] so I appreciate getting so many so much input from you.

[1:02:12] So thank you.

[1:02:13] Who would like to go next at a vet group?

[1:02:17] Sherry Rinsch, Mr. Rinsch.

[1:02:18] Yes, welcome.

[1:02:20] Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the House

[1:02:22] and Senate Education Committee.

[1:02:24] My name is Sherry Rinsch and I'm the Executive Director

[1:02:26] of the Colorado Association School of Arts.

[1:02:28] It's an honor to represent all of our locally elected

[1:02:31] board members who just like you have taken a sworn oath to uphold the Constitution and to fill

[1:02:36] the duties of their office. Today's a valuable opportunity to share with you what's happening

[1:02:42] in school districts across the state during one of the most complicated back to school times in

[1:02:47] history. And if our hope but by the end of the day you'll have a better understanding is what is happening

[1:02:52] and we want to be able to build those relationships with you so that we can better serve you

[1:02:58] and you can better serve our constituents

[1:03:00] and our students across the great state.

[1:03:04] Since mid-Marchs when COVID hit our state

[1:03:06] can have these health dozens of virtual meetings

[1:03:08] with over a thousand attendees and total.

[1:03:11] Giving us feedback on what's happening.

[1:03:13] We're trying to learn what is unique and different

[1:03:16] across the state, and there are so many common themes

[1:03:18] that we're hearing.

[1:03:20] So it's an honor to share a few of those with you today.

[1:03:23] First of all, as you've heard already,

[1:03:25] we are in the middle of a storm, unlike any other.

[1:03:28] Our school districts each have their own story to tell. Each district is unique when it comes to their local context regarding COVID.

[1:03:36] From the age and infrastructure of their buildings and their ventilation systems,

[1:03:40] to broadband access, to outbreak statistics, to teach your shortages, to class sizes, each district in community is unique.

[1:03:47] Schools are literally building a plane while trying to fly it, and this new evolving guidance

[1:03:53] is being developed in real time means that schools have to communicate and act quickly.

[1:03:59] They also have to make decisions quickly.

[1:04:01] And this continues to be complicated as the information about the virus evolves and as we learn more.

[1:04:08] School districts are trying to navigate cohorting, isolating, warranty and re-entry, just like

[1:04:14] you heard earlier from our other constituents here.

[1:04:18] Schools are now out to be experts, and this is really creating challenges for communication

[1:04:22] because one thing that can communicate could change and be different within the next 24 to 72 hours.

[1:04:29] School board members have said they've had many leadership challenges.

[1:04:32] Some of those include the dividing and disagreement in their communities.

[1:04:39] As Brent mentioned, people have different feelings around math, social distancing.

[1:04:45] There's not always consensus on what type of educational model should be in place.

[1:04:50] School board members are receiving hundreds if not thousands of emails and phone calls daily.

[1:04:55] They're having to work quickly with their superintendents to meet regularly as this guiding guidance

[1:05:02] and continues to change on almost a daily basis.

[1:05:06] Some of their other major concerns and sleepless nights

[1:05:09] are about how do they reopen with the safety

[1:05:12] of staff and students in mind.

[1:05:15] Everyone is trying their best to navigate this crisis,

[1:05:18] and I believe TD Ansus said it really well

[1:05:20] when she talked about her mantra being around race.

[1:05:24] We also know that some of the challenges

[1:05:27] that school districts are facing aren't new.

[1:05:29] They've been existed before,

[1:05:30] What's happened now is they are now spotlighted and exacerbated by COVID.

[1:05:36] So many inequities are developing at a breakneck pace that we can't even communicate them all to you today, but we will try our best.

[1:05:46] Our schools are typically our largest employers in our communities.

[1:05:49] As you've heard, they've been working to feed families, provide mental health support, childcare, and more to their vital safety net for our communities.

[1:05:59] They always have been throughout the spring and summer, we see numerous stories about the

[1:06:05] life line that schools represent to their communities.

[1:06:09] Schools have literally tried to move mountains to acquire enough technology, devices,

[1:06:14] hotspots, and everything they need to serve their students with online curriculum.

[1:06:18] But as you've heard, distribution and society channels are often delayed.

[1:06:22] Families are having to share multiple people using one computer or device.

[1:06:27] And then there are literally mountains in our state that have prevented us having by that access that is good infrastructure where kids can actually be offline.

[1:06:38] Many of these challenges and successes are things that you've heard before around teacher shortages.

[1:06:44] Teacher pay in Colorado has been the least competitive in the nation before the pandemic and it continues to be.

[1:06:51] for state and mental health, Colorado ranked six as the worst state for teen suicides before the pandemic.

[1:06:59] We have, as we said earlier, talking about numerous inequities growing, our achievement in

[1:07:04] opportunity gaps in Colorado are among the largest in the United States.

[1:07:08] 60% of districts have transitioned to one or more of their schools to a four-day week,

[1:07:13] and that was before the pandemic hit. As we all know, we'll talk a little bit later today about funding.

[1:07:20] We've heard from districts across the state that many examples of shortages, whether it's

[1:07:26] teacher shortages, lapses, substitutes, other staffing shortages such as bus drivers, that

[1:07:32] are really quickly in the efforts to give students access to an equitable education.

[1:07:37] That's eight feet, probably so.

[1:07:40] The Anthropocene and Alamos not authored in off-ed.

[1:07:43] And she talked about how six of their 13 bus drivers have either retired or left the position.

[1:07:48] These stories are prevalent across Colorado, and these continue to exacerbate the inequities

[1:07:55] that exist.

[1:07:56] So, I want to thank you for the invitation to spend this time with you sharing, learning,

[1:08:01] and growing together in order to best serve the 900,000 students in our Colorado Public

[1:08:06] School.

[1:08:08] Your interest in desire to provide the necessary investment in our schools is an investment

[1:08:12] in our infrastructure.

[1:08:13] We've always known that strong public schools serve as catalysts for our communities, and strong public schools provide the bedrock to our economy and our democracy.

[1:08:23] The pandemic is only making this reality more clear.

[1:08:26] I would forward to addressing your comments and questions throughout the day.

[1:08:29] And again, thank you for this opportunity to highlight the amazing works that our districts are doing every day.

[1:08:36] Thank you, Director Rich.

[1:08:39] Who was like, oh, baby, Bob Ollert.

[1:08:41] Are you, you can't come on photo-wise.

[1:08:43] Is this correct?

[1:08:45] All right.

[1:08:46] So that's a baby box there.

[1:08:48] That's her.

[1:08:50] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[1:08:52] And thank you, officers, for the time today.

[1:08:55] I will, I'll see if I can turn my video on for a second.

[1:08:58] I'll see if it works to wave and say hi.

[1:09:01] I am the president of the Colorado Education Association, I am a high school counselor, but I am also a mom.

[1:09:12] And I have three kids at home who are doing remote learning.

[1:09:17] We are all doing it together. My husband is also a middle school assistant principal.

[1:09:22] So there are times when five of us are trying to access our broadband, our internet,

[1:09:28] and it does not always go well.

[1:09:31] So one of the things is a mom that I have learned

[1:09:33] to avoid some of the tears of kids getting kicked off

[1:09:38] and getting disconnected from their remote learning

[1:09:41] is to keep my video off so that it doesn't impact their access.

[1:09:47] So I apologize for not being on video,

[1:09:51] but I do appreciate the time to be here with you all today

[1:09:54] to share the perspective of the over 39,000 educators

[1:09:59] that the Colorado Education Association represents.

[1:10:03] The CEA represents our classroom teachers,

[1:10:06] our school social worker, school nurses,

[1:10:09] school counselors, health aid, food service workers,

[1:10:13] bus drivers, mechanics, all of the wonderful people

[1:10:17] who serve the students of Colorado every single day.

[1:10:22] As has been stated, and I will not take time to reiterate any of the things that others have said,

[1:10:32] but I will tinker that this is, hopefully, the most challenging opening to schools that any of us will face.

[1:10:43] It is my greatest hope that we will all see our way to the other side of this,

[1:10:49] and not have to experience an opening of school like this again.

[1:10:55] Nor like this brain that we all live through as this began.

[1:10:59] We are now at around seven months of being in this time of experiencing a global pandemic

[1:11:06] and working as hard as possible to ensure that the needs of our students and families are met.

[1:11:14] As others have stated, we at the CEA just as our amazing educators and some instances literally shifted their entire method and mode of teaching and learning in a 24 hour period.

[1:11:29] We at the CEA did the same to ensure that we were connecting with our members and our members are those that educate the use of Colorado.

[1:11:38] We have done numerous surveys since March to connect and engage and here from our 39,000 members across the state.

[1:11:50] We have at times a share the results of those surveys with you all as legislators.

[1:11:56] And if you don't have any of those, we are happy to email those to you post today's hearing.

[1:12:04] So if you would like any of that information and you did not receive it, please reach out and we would be happy to share that with you.

[1:12:11] As this panel is talking about the return to school, I would like to talk with you about where our educators were and are with the return to in-person learning.

[1:12:24] One thing that I would note is that our schools did not close.

[1:12:29] Our educators never stop teaching their students.

[1:12:36] They continued to unbelievable circumstances to show up every single day to provide teaching and learning to students.

[1:12:48] They continued to do so to this day.

[1:12:52] Many are afraid for their own life.

[1:12:55] They are afraid for the lives of those in their homes whom they love.

[1:12:59] Whether it be their own child,

[1:13:04] who has enemy and compromised system,

[1:13:08] or a parent who they are working hard

[1:13:10] to support and take care of.

[1:13:16] They continue to show up to serve the students

[1:13:20] that they love.

[1:13:22] Many are worried about their students.

[1:13:26] I saw their answers pointed out

[1:13:27] From do not know where their students are.

[1:13:31] They try every single day to connect with them,

[1:13:35] but find out how they may be, or where they may be.

[1:13:39] But they continue to show up whether it be in a building,

[1:13:43] wearing a mask,

[1:13:47] or via a computer screen,

[1:13:49] so that they can provide learning to their students.

[1:13:52] I know the question with us about the quality of remote learning,

[1:13:57] And I can share with you as a parent and as the president of the Colorado Education Association

[1:14:03] representing 39,000 educators, if there is not one educator that I know who is not giving

[1:14:10] every single ounce of their being to ensure that quality learning, teaching and learning

[1:14:17] is happening.

[1:14:18] Well, it is not a perfect system.

[1:14:21] It is a system where everyone is giving their all to ensure that they are meeting the needs

[1:14:26] students. We learned many things from the spring about how to provide remote learning and many changes

[1:14:34] districts along with their teachers and educators worked overtime to learn new methods and ways

[1:14:43] of providing remote learning of shifting from remote learning to hybrid to in-person, etc.

[1:14:50] As Dr. Antis said, we need to meet one another with grace, but I can assure you that everyone is working hard.

[1:15:00] Provide the best learning possible in this environment. As we survey our members about the safe return

[1:15:08] to in-person learning, it was clear that there were four things that educators asked to be met

[1:15:15] in order to assure a safe return to in-person learning. One, being employee voice, who knows better

[1:15:23] than the impacts of what the decisions would be than those who are actually doing the job

[1:15:28] every single day. So our educators ask to work collaboratively with their district leadership,

[1:15:35] around things such as making the plans to return to school. An example is, you know,

[1:15:41] there were as the guidelines were coming out. There were things that were suggested such

[1:15:46] as only half of the students can be on a bus. So who better to talk about what the implications

[1:15:52] of that would be than the actual bus driver who drives those routes every single day. So

[1:15:57] employee including employee voice with one of the top expectations.

[1:16:01] Also that safety protections must be provided.

[1:16:05] That included PPE as well as establishing

[1:16:08] and clearly articulating the health and safety protocols

[1:16:11] that would be in place for students and staff.

[1:16:15] We also asked for community transparency that data must be

[1:16:19] made available to all family staff and community members

[1:16:23] around what is driving the decision.

[1:16:25] And of course, a top priority was ensuring equity for all for students, staff and families to be provided with equitable access to education.

[1:16:37] No matter where the learning is occurring.

[1:16:40] As has been stated before, there have been many barriers to learning for certain families and students and I would point out as well as for our educators.

[1:16:49] Just that we saw that we have students who are sitting in parking lots to try to access

[1:16:54] Wi-Fi.

[1:16:56] Many of our teachers were doing the same, sitting in a hot car, in a parking lot to have access

[1:17:03] to Wi-Fi so that they could provide a lesson to their students.

[1:17:09] We have worked very collaboratively with K. Cassie, the governor's office, the Colorado Department

[1:17:16] education to ensure that our students and educators are safe to return to

[1:17:25] in-person learning. There's a lot of work that is love to do. Even though as I

[1:17:32] said before we are seven months in to this experience we know that we are not

[1:17:38] out of the woods yet and that we must all come together and that same collaborative

[1:17:44] spirit to work, to ensure the safety of our students and our educators.

[1:17:52] I will close by saying that the top concern, one of the top concerns that I have as the

[1:17:58] president of the CEA, and I think many of you know my background is as a school counselor,

[1:18:04] is for the mental health of our educators.

[1:18:08] I have never seen the stress and anxiety that our educators are experiencing at the level

[1:18:15] that it is right now. In fact, I myself personally have had to refer for people for educators

[1:18:23] to the suicide hotline. There is stress and anxiety that our educators are feeling right now,

[1:18:32] whether it be because they are under tremendous pressure to learn a new message in mode of delivering teaching and learning.

[1:18:40] Whether it be because they are worried about their students and their home circumstances,

[1:18:46] whether it be because they feel like they cannot meet their students' needs in the best way that they know how in a virtual environment.

[1:18:56] But our educators are feeling tremendous stress and pressure.

[1:19:03] And my best hope is that we can remember that our educators

[1:19:07] to deserve the respect and attention from all of us

[1:19:13] to ensure that their mental health and well-being

[1:19:15] as they work to serve the students of Colorado is top of mind.

[1:19:20] I look forward to working with you all as we

[1:19:22] Problem solved together, how to resolve these problems that we are facing right now with solutions that speak to all of our students and educators.

[1:19:33] I thank you for your time today for your work that you are putting in.

[1:19:37] As we navigate all of this together and then happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you so much.

[1:19:46] Okay, we have about five minutes for questions.

[1:19:49] And it looks like Senator Story,

[1:19:57] please.

[1:19:57] It's important, everyone.

[1:19:59] It's a pleasure to be online with all of you.

[1:20:05] It's unfortunate, of course.

[1:20:06] I think many of us feel this that we are not in person

[1:20:11] and have them, you know, don't have all those added benefits.

[1:20:15] But still, I think this is an important meeting,

[1:20:17] and I'm really grateful to those who work so hard to pull it together

[1:20:22] representative McLaughlin, a senator taught, and staff, and everyone else that was all the stakeholders that were involved to put this together.

[1:20:33] And I also just want to share some appreciation for all of the folks that are working so hard in the education realm.

[1:20:45] The payrolls that just folks, the EA, Cass BKs, those that are yet to come, CVE, also CDPNT for

[1:20:57] all the entities that work every day to provide education for our kids.

[1:21:04] I don't think there's anybody in the room that can argue that in-person learning is absolutely

[1:21:09] the best option, best practice, the thing that we all want to most for our kids, but certainly

[1:21:17] given to health circumstances that we are in the midst of and have been for the last seven

[1:21:22] months, it just clearly isn't possible for everyone to be able to meet that practice that we

[1:21:29] all appreciate so much. And I certainly look forward to those things ahead where we will have

[1:21:36] opportunity again and we will pull back together. Our kids will get back up to speed. Our teachers

[1:21:44] will get in a better place where they're more comfortable with the teaching that's going on,

[1:21:49] then what they're surviving through right now. I also just want to reiterate what Amy was just saying

[1:21:58] if you minutes ago about teachers that are challenged by what they're facing, relative to

[1:22:08] and worried, no matter where they are, whether it's in-person learning or remote learning,

[1:22:13] there are plenty of educators who are doing those two things simultaneously. At the same time,

[1:22:21] they are teaching remotely while they are teaching in-person and building. And I just can't even

[1:22:27] imagine the stress of that scenario as well.

[1:22:32] So, thank you very much.

[1:22:34] My hats off to all of you for the immense work that you are doing.

[1:22:38] And we will get through this.

[1:22:40] And it will get better.

[1:22:41] Can I look forward to those dates as well.

[1:22:48] Thank you.

[1:22:49] Senator Todd, did you have a question?

[1:22:52] Much.

[1:22:53] And Brad and Sherry and Amy.

[1:22:56] I'd like for you to just kind of share a little bit.

[1:22:58] I know that we're hearing from school perspective and oftentimes the parent voice is the voice that we might not be hearing from right now.

[1:23:11] But I want to ask you to share a little bit about how you make sure that you are allowing that parent voice to be engaged and involved.

[1:23:20] And maybe just give an example of some different things, I know that different different tendons

[1:23:28] maybe are reaching out to the community, maybe having sort of students and parents involved

[1:23:35] community meetings and that kind of thing.

[1:23:39] But I do want to make sure that to all of us that we are really cognizant of what that

[1:23:50] and how in addition to trying to meet the needs of everybody, how that is being approached

[1:23:56] in different districts.

[1:23:57] And again, you don't need to go into great depth, but just give some examples of what

[1:24:02] that outreach may be looked like to make sure that that's heard.

[1:24:10] Todd, I have a jump in from Calzvi.

[1:24:14] I know as we've been talking to our school board members across the state, they are talking

[1:24:19] about that the move to virtual meetings has really increased participation at the community level.

[1:24:27] But many are also superintendents and teams are doing Facebook Live before meetings during

[1:24:33] meetings after meetings and they're starting to see that really demand for communication.

[1:24:39] They also know that not every family member or parent is able to access Facebook Live or whatever

[1:24:46] mode of communications that they're using to their social media channels.

[1:24:50] And so they're looking at multiple ways to communicate messages.

[1:24:54] I think our school board members, as I mentioned earlier, are being inspected with

[1:24:58] human health and complexity, and complexity.

[1:25:06] Some parents, and statistics, mean first.

[1:25:09] One moment, represent a world's people yourself on these things.

[1:25:16] Madam Chair, I want to do my video is not working, so you can't see me reach my hand, so that's why I wanted to do me in there, so I do have a question when we get up.

[1:25:29] And then when we come on, can you tell me something?

[1:25:40] I've never thought, this is about the Galaxy case.

[1:25:44] This last week, we had the good forces

[1:25:47] to have about 50 superintendents together.

[1:25:51] And one of the topics was the positive things

[1:25:54] that are going to keep on this learning experience.

[1:25:57] I'm just complaining about what the struggles

[1:26:00] and many of those sort of communication topics.

[1:26:04] The quick little week we have an email video chat the last two minutes to let parents know

[1:26:10] what's up to date or up to speed. Hearing from that more people are zooming in to the

[1:26:18] school board meetings that were never available to be zoomed in before. So that was a scene

[1:26:23] that came out of our superintendent conference last week was that the additional communications

[1:26:30] in place, start going away.

[1:26:37] Is there anything any fellow that Senator Todd?

[1:26:40] You can.

[1:26:44] Thank you.

[1:26:44] I think it's important that, you know, what we wanted to do today would make sure that we

[1:26:50] were getting an overview and not individual stories.

[1:26:54] And so this was not enough to have, you know, parent, parent come to us.

[1:27:01] But we want to make sure that there's always has been heard and we appreciate very much

[1:27:05] your representation and giving a clear explanation as to how that voice is

[1:27:11] are being heard at the at the local level, which is the most important level.

[1:27:16] So thank you very much, appreciate it.

[1:27:19] Thank you.

[1:27:20] Representative Gatner.

[1:27:25] Thank you.

[1:27:27] Thank you.

[1:27:27] My question for Amy.

[1:27:28] Thank you for being here today.

[1:27:30] But I hope there's a lot of us that are

[1:27:32] that click into more in this survey of dimensions and get to the details, get things around

[1:27:40] that.

[1:27:44] This is quite important for us to understand, just brief kind of general questions about the survey.

[1:27:51] In the sense of, what was the makeup of the survey?

[1:27:54] How many and what percentage of respondents in the survey were active classroom teachers?

[1:28:00] And then finally, what was the geographic distribution of the server?

[1:28:04] Because I think that there's a lot, those three questions are pretty important.

[1:28:07] We look at surveys to really understand the impact of those responses and what that really

[1:28:13] means for teachers across the state of Colorado and those that are members of your organization.

[1:28:20] Yes, sir.

[1:28:20] And I, hopefully, I, at the Excuse me, sorry, Madam Chair, may I respond?

[1:28:29] Sorry.

[1:28:30] Sorry.

[1:28:32] Sorry, I just didn't want to overstep.

[1:28:35] Thank you.

[1:28:35] And thank you for the question, Representative Geitner.

[1:28:40] And like I said, we will be happy to send this out to you.

[1:28:43] But just we've done multiple surveys.

[1:28:46] Like I said since March, the one I was specifically referring to as a survey that we did in early July

[1:28:53] as this kind of the return to in-person learning conversation started getting to a heightened level.

[1:29:00] So, at this particular survey, we surveyed 9,800 educators across Colorado, the respondents

[1:29:08] were from 122 school districts in Colorado, and so I'd be happy to break that down

[1:29:16] for you further.

[1:29:18] As I said, we do represent all educators certified as well as what is sometimes referred

[1:29:25] to its classified staff, we refer to them as ESC Educational Support staff, but that is

[1:29:32] those support staff, our paraprofessionals, bus drivers, food service workers, etc.

[1:29:39] The majority of our CA membership is in the certified staff category, but we do have a portion

[1:29:47] of our membership that is representative of the classified or the support staff.

[1:29:52] So when we have respondents to our survey, obviously it's going to match that demographics

[1:29:57] where the majority

[1:30:00] The respondents are going to be in the certified categories.

[1:30:05] But as I said, for this particular survey, it was 9,800 respondents, which is a large representative sample of our 39,000 educators,

[1:30:15] and that represented respondents from 122 school districts.

[1:30:20] And so we were serving them around, and this particular survey, their sentiments on how we should

[1:30:27] return to, for schools should it be 100% remote, hybrid, in person, what their concerns

[1:30:36] and worries were their students, were what their concerns and worries were for themselves,

[1:30:41] with educators.

[1:30:43] So we will happily email this out to you all, and I'm happy to, at any time, if you

[1:30:49] I would like to set up a further more extensive conversation with me to talk through that I'm more

[1:30:56] than happy to do that as well.

[1:31:10] Representative Geiger was at any follow-up on that year, okay, okay.

[1:31:15] So, no.

[1:31:16] Okay, Representative McClusky.

[1:31:18] Thanks.

[1:31:19] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[1:31:21] I really want to thank our three panelists appreciate this focus on local control and customization

[1:31:28] being flexible and nimble in our communities that range from very small rural communities to large urban centers.

[1:31:37] My question about three of you, and maybe start with Amy first, sorry, Ms. Baka Ollert.

[1:31:45] Quickly, what more can we do to safely support reopening from your perspectives?

[1:31:54] what can the state do right now to help, you know, give educators confidence that, you know,

[1:32:01] their safe, their classrooms are safe, what can we do for our superintendents and executives

[1:32:06] and certainly our school boards as well?

[1:32:13] Yeah, you may just jump in. Thanks. Thank you so much.

[1:32:17] And thank you, Representative McCarthy, for the question. You know, I think that the best thing

[1:32:23] that we can continue to do is to work collaboratively together.

[1:32:28] I think we have been calling from the CEA for clear and consistent guidance, clear and consistent guidance from the state.

[1:32:39] And as you heard in earlier presentations from CDPHE, we now have that outbreak and school closure guidance, which is very informative.

[1:32:51] We do need to continue to work together to ensure that that is being followed and implemented across the state.

[1:33:00] And we do need to work together to educate our families and our communities about that guidance and how it works.

[1:33:08] It was put together for a reason and that reason is to ensure the utmost help and safety of our students and educators as we return to in person learning.

[1:33:22] So I think we need to continue to monitor the situation and ensure that the guidance is being followed.

[1:33:30] Some of the things that we are addressing is we do have some places, for example, where the state-wide mask mandate is not being enforced.

[1:33:41] And so we're continuing to work with the local health department as well as the CDPHE to work on those things, but we all need to work in the spirit of collaboration to ensure the things that we know like wearing masks will help.

[1:33:59] And I mean, of course, the other thing is we need to continue to advocate for funding.

[1:34:06] We, at the CEA, are working extremely diligently to push on the federal level to get

[1:34:15] more funds to Colorado for resources.

[1:34:18] One of the things that has been extremely important is the ability for districts to do testing,

[1:34:26] COVID testing, not academic testing, but COVID testing of employees, and that is a very expensive

[1:34:36] endeavor for districts.

[1:34:38] Some are partnering with the community partner that has made that helpful.

[1:34:44] Less than that cost, but it is still an extreme cost.

[1:34:47] One of the Metro Districts, for example, is paying $760,000 for six months to provide testing for its employees.

[1:35:00] So that funding, the ability to have the things that we know are needed like PPE, disinfectants, cleaning supplies, as well as testing, that all requires resources.

[1:35:12] and so we have got to work to ensure that our districts and our schools have the financial resources necessary to meet those safety standards.

[1:35:21] Thank you.

[1:35:26] Thank you.

[1:35:27] Representative, welcome back.

[1:35:37] Thank you.

[1:35:38] Okay.

[1:35:43] Here we go.

[1:35:44] Madam Chair, my back.

[1:35:51] And my back with you, Madam Chair.

[1:35:54] But yes, you are.

[1:35:55] We can hear your best spirit.

[1:35:56] Thank you.

[1:35:58] Perfect.

[1:35:58] It's loud and clear as a challenge here in the Sun and the Latin communities.

[1:36:02] My question is for the entire panel and the long term effects of this, but I covered

[1:36:08] even a district of distinction about a four or one out of five of our students from

[1:36:12] our profession.

[1:36:14] And the managers, you know, I get brain and they all look 58% of third day are not being

[1:36:19] proficient in reading and it's hard to teach reading remotely.

[1:36:23] So the two-part question, the volume pack will just have on achievement, do you believe?

[1:36:28] And the second part of that was the how many years will COVID be used as a reason for our test scores not improving.

[1:36:46] So today there will soon.

[1:36:50] There's no question that every one of our educators want to see the students meeting all of the standards.

[1:36:57] That's what we strive for each time as a school leader yourself.

[1:37:01] know the all of the different inputs to go into that and certainly COVID may be one short-term input,

[1:37:09] but certainly it is not the long-term input. Long-term input is getting high quality educators

[1:37:16] so want to be in this field and to have the resources that we need to keep them, to have people rallying

[1:37:25] behind these educators and letting them know that they're doing a good job in keeping that going.

[1:37:30] I'm not worried about there being a COVID excuse, I am worried about any of the distractions

[1:37:37] that we can have to keep people from getting back to first instruction to good high-quality

[1:37:42] grade level instructions.

[1:37:43] We've got to use every minute that we have this year to make sure that we're focused

[1:37:47] on first instruction.

[1:37:51] And that'll help us make sure that this double-long summer slide that we usually, you know,

[1:37:57] we usually have the summer slide, you know, that well.

[1:37:58] The double-long summer slide, we're going to be able to do this if we can stay focused on

[1:38:06] instruction in schools as long as we can, using all of our time, hopefully just for teaching

[1:38:12] and out for anything else.

[1:38:22] Thank you.

[1:38:22] This is Amy.

[1:38:22] I'll just quickly add in.

[1:38:24] I mean, I also think that we need to acknowledge the bare things that our students have learned

[1:38:30] during this time that a test camp measure or that, you know, but that will serve them well

[1:38:38] in life.

[1:38:38] I know speaking of the parent, my students have learned a lot about resiliency.

[1:38:44] They have also, they now are like my IT tech support at home because they have learned so

[1:38:50] much about technology and about, but they are also learning about, you know, how to adapt,

[1:38:57] how to face challenging experiences.

[1:38:59] So there are things that our students are learning, aside from the academic side, but I would

[1:39:07] absolutely agree with Mr. Miles around that we and I believe our educators are doing this right now.

[1:39:15] It's been in every second ensuring that we are providing those resources, those interventions,

[1:39:23] those supports for students need right now to catch up.

[1:39:27] Well, being mindful of where our students are from,

[1:39:30] a social, a group social, a national land as well.

[1:39:33] As I believe it was breath that pointed out,

[1:39:36] we have many students who are coming back into our school settings

[1:39:40] after experiencing a lot of trauma.

[1:39:43] And so we have to be cognizant of that as well

[1:39:46] and need those needs so that students can get back to a path of learning.

[1:39:53] I represent Wilson. I would concur with everything that Pat and Amy have said. I think the other thing that you'll want to keep an eye on is we are all part of the COVID task force that Commissioner Anx was talked about this morning that will be making some recommendations later this year.

[1:40:14] So that's one area I would I would point to I think that collaborating with your locally elected school board members would be really critical to understand what's happening locally and in your school districts and really I think we said it that we said we have to minimize distractions and prioritize instructional time.

[1:40:34] We know that students are going to lose ground and so we need to get back to the instructional core, prior to prioritizing that time and accelerate learning.

[1:40:45] Really, those are those priorities that we want to happen in those local control decision making towers.

[1:40:55] Okay. Thank you all. Senator Bridges.

[1:41:02] I think that Representative Wilson really said this question up for me really well.

[1:41:06] And for us, I want to say thank you to the teachers who are all ready before the staff could do.

[1:41:14] Whether it was appropriate to do and that have been asked to do more.

[1:41:18] And one of the things I don't think that should be on the teacher's plate is making sure that every kid is in class.

[1:41:25] And so I know that we've had a lot of questions about where is the parent voice,

[1:41:36] you know,

[1:41:36] around it for those parents who probably wouldn't have been able to show up today.

[1:41:42] We have, especially in my district, a huge number of kids who are homeless.

[1:41:48] And I want to know what we're doing to make sure that those kids who are part

[1:41:55] of those

[1:41:55] kids who aren't in classrooms right now, what are districts doing to reach out to those parents

[1:42:01] to make sure that they have the resources they need to make sure those kids are in school.

[1:42:06] Representative Wilson mentioned that the 58% of third graders are on grade level for reading.

[1:42:13] There's going to be a whole lot more of those if there's a bunch of kids that aren't even in school.

[1:42:19] And it's not ideal circumstances, certainly, right now, but whatever kind of school we can get kids into,

[1:42:26] we need to make sure that they're there.

[1:42:28] So what are districts doing to reach out to those parents, reach out to those kids?

[1:42:32] And especially as we look at something like, you know, Jim mentioned that it's tough to be loud and clear in these mountain communities.

[1:42:39] So, you know, we've got broadband as an issue. You can't, it's tough to get online if you don't have a cable.

[1:42:44] It's tough to have a cable come into your home if you're living out of a car.

[1:42:47] So what are we doing to get internet for those low-income kids?

[1:42:52] Madam Chair, Senator Bridges, a great time we question and just learned about this last

[1:43:00] week as an example.

[1:43:03] The down and free month school district superintendent Brenda Craig was just telling a group

[1:43:08] of her colleagues this last week about their effort that they're calling rescue and recovery

[1:43:14] initiative and that's exactly what they're doing.

[1:43:17] and they have allocated different staff members

[1:43:20] time just to make sure that we're finding all of the kids

[1:43:23] that went off the grid right now.

[1:43:27] And some of that is Aaron Choice.

[1:43:31] And some of that is just circumstances beyond people's control.

[1:43:35] I heard the same thing happening in several other districts.

[1:43:38] They talked about it in communities where you don't think

[1:43:41] about that first.

[1:43:42] Like in Lillton, they're talking about that.

[1:43:43] I know that big numbers up being Greeley there's a pill superintendent up in Greeley is also doing the same thing really concerned about finding the kids.

[1:43:55] So I just thought that everyone was reacted to Dr. Craig's initiative when she shared it last week at our superintendent conference.

[1:44:04] And then many people chimed in with those similar efforts.

[1:44:07] I can tell you, it is first and foremost on people's mind.

[1:44:11] We're worried about them.

[1:44:12] The four of you first started when we were trying to figure out how to get connected

[1:44:16] for meals, back in March, in the middle of the instant shutdown, and it continues in that same

[1:44:21] effort right now.

[1:44:23] But I just thought I'd share that quick rescue and recovery initiative down a free month as

[1:44:27] an example of what you're asking.

[1:44:31] And Madam Chair, I'll be jumping on that question as well.

[1:44:34] I mean, one of the things that, and this goes back to Representative McClusky's question

[1:44:39] that could be a helpful role of the state, and CDE, is working to put some of this out,

[1:44:46] but putting information out about the requirements to attend school and to be president

[1:44:52] school, one of the things that we're hearing from some of our districts is that as

[1:45:00] They're making these calls to figure out where families are. They're hearing some things like, well, you know, I just, I've decided I'm not going to send my, my student to school this year. I'm not sure it's safe. And so CDE is recently just put out a document around learning pods. And some of the, you know, requirements with that, that has been very helpful. But I also think that, you know, whatever the state could do to put information out to just help them.

[1:45:30] understand that it's not optional to be in school and that schools, you know, as we've

[1:45:38] all shared today are working very hard to ensure safety. I'm pretty, I'm not aware of

[1:45:43] one district, I'm fairly confident and Brett or Sherry or Michelle could correct me on this,

[1:45:51] but I'm pretty sure almost every single district is offering a full remote option to those families

[1:45:57] to want that. But it is super important that families understand that this is not a year off

[1:46:02] that we're not, it's not just kind of an optional here where if you want to attend, you can,

[1:46:07] if you don't, you don't have to. So anything that the state could do to help push that information

[1:46:13] out again to help educate families around that to be, would be extremely helpful.

[1:46:19] And, Amy, if that on, you might be at school with the governor in superintendent, that was

[1:46:24] direct request during that phone call about anything that can be done with PSA to make sure that

[1:46:30] people are hearing the importance and the legal requirement to have students in school.

[1:46:39] Madam Chair, if I could just jump in, I know a lot of our school districts are the student voices

[1:46:44] of priority and they're really what we've heard across from our regional meetings recently is

[1:46:50] They may be playing counselor, social workers, or other support staff to really specifically focus

[1:46:57] on finding kids.

[1:46:59] I know when we were talking, I heard district 49 down in PICS, PICS, the entire PICS

[1:47:05] region is looking for 4,000 students right now and so they're all pulling out all the

[1:47:10] staffs trying to find kids because they know it's very important.

[1:47:14] We've heard from other districts that they may only have 10 or 20 students that they need

[1:47:19] find, but when they talk to parents, when they do find them, they're doing what Amy was talking

[1:47:25] a little bit about is they're just opting out of school so they're calling at home school

[1:47:29] but they may not be following the regulations and the instructional priorities that need to happen

[1:47:34] for home schooling. And so those are really important messages. I'll just reiterate again that

[1:47:40] any help that you can help get that out in your communities would be really valuable.

[1:47:46] That's great. Thank you. If I may Madam Chair as a follow-up, what it sounds like I'm hearing is that it would be helpful to have some best practices maybe shared amongst superintendents and perhaps collected by CDE and then shared it back out.

[1:48:01] And then it sounds like it may also be helpful if CDE were to inquire about what those numbers are and what the popular things that we're looking at are,

[1:48:11] not coming into terms. And to Amy's great point about parents need to make sure they know that kids

[1:48:16] have to be in. There's a lot of barriers that I think are a lot of parents feel right now,

[1:48:23] a lot of challenges that maybe just know what the resources are. So for instance, if you're

[1:48:28] putting in a car or in a hotel room, you don't have access to broadband or you don't have a device

[1:48:33] that can get online. What are the resources that those parents can go to to help them make

[1:48:40] plan. How can we help parents make a plan on how to get their kids the education that we all are

[1:48:47] here dedicated to making sure they get? So some parental support, some communication to parents,

[1:48:54] and then some connecting of parents with resources, and then maybe some overall CDE best practices.

[1:49:00] That sounds right. Am I reflecting back accurately?

[1:49:05] I say yes.

[1:49:09] No, I think this is a really important, this is one of those things that has been revealed

[1:49:14] through COVID-19 about the housing that has not, and people may have broadband access, but

[1:49:21] they have five kids in the house, and they have no computer.

[1:49:24] So great, what do we do with them, and how do we get in touch with them?

[1:49:28] And it is a lot easier if your parents are both working at jobs that you don't get to do from

[1:49:34] Nobody make sure that they're going to school and I think we as a state need to all work on that and make sure that every child is educated and educated properly.

[1:49:44] So thank you for bringing that up Senator Bridges because I think that's a really important aspect of what we should be looking at.

[1:49:52] Thanks.

[1:49:53] There are any more questions?

[1:49:55] Raise your hand?

[1:49:57] No hands being raised.

[1:49:58] I cannot thank all of you enough for joining us today.

[1:50:02] The information was very, very useful and we're deeply appreciative of that.

[1:50:06] So thank you for all your work and we know where to find you if we have more questions.

[1:50:12] So thank you.

[1:50:16] Okay, our next group is Michelle Murphy.

[1:50:20] I've seen her waiting here.

[1:50:22] She's the Executive Director of the Rural Schools Alliance.

[1:50:25] Then I think it's Shalor.

[1:50:27] Is that pronounced?

[1:50:28] Is that Shalor?

[1:50:29] Shalor?

[1:50:29] You'll hear me. President of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, and Terry Crowe Lewis, who is the executive director of the Colorado Charter School in particular.

[1:50:39] So I'd like to welcome you all. Dan, I've never said your name out loud.

[1:50:44] You don't.

[1:50:45] Yes. For the wind. Okay. Thank you very much. I'd like to welcome all of you today. Thanks.

[1:50:56] I will go. If that's okay, Madam Chair.

[1:50:59] It is indeed. Yes. Thank you.

[1:51:01] Thank you. And thank you all.

[1:51:02] really heartfelt thanks to all of you legislators for making the time to listen and better

[1:51:08] understand to get a clearer picture of what's happening in our schools and communities.

[1:51:13] I think that most of Katie, that's the rent that's talked about a lot, if not most of our

[1:51:18] rural schools are back in person learning and I think there's a perception sometimes what that

[1:51:23] means business is usual and that certainly is not the case and I think cherry Amy and Brett

[1:51:29] a great job of kind of highlighting from the state perspective what's happening in our schools

[1:51:34] and communities. I also want to thank Dr. Antha and Dr. Early. We at the rural Alliance as soon

[1:51:42] as COVID hit, started initiating weekly Zoom calls for our members on Wednesday morning and Dr.

[1:51:47] Antha showed up at the first meeting as good Jennifer Oaks and any of her staff to answer

[1:51:53] specific questions from districts about what the heck is going on, where are the resources and

[1:51:58] can they do? And Katie got their answers on her staff showed up every week since then without

[1:52:05] exception. Dr. Early joined us once a guidance started to come out and so let you all

[1:52:09] give you a sense. I think those of you who are a world know the opportunity to have an audience

[1:52:14] with the state to give immediate reaction and then to see changes. Sometimes, not as quickly as

[1:52:20] we'd like to see them to see changes in the guidance to reflect rural circumstances has been

[1:52:25] greatly appreciated, and I'm here today, I will try to be brief, so it's not my strong suit to and highlight what are our rules, what are our rules and circumstances.

[1:52:38] I think it's really, really, really important that we understand first that the disease looks very different in most of our rural communities.

[1:52:45] We have lower transmission rates, we have a great deal of controversy around politics and the

[1:52:53] mass requirement, which mind you didn't come in until July 15th.

[1:52:57] So we were still having to make decision as we knew we wanted to be back in school, but

[1:53:01] in most part it wasn't an option, first of all, obviously it's the greatest learning opportunity

[1:53:05] for our kids.

[1:53:06] Or else schools didn't, we couldn't run bus routes in a staggered manner to support a hybrid

[1:53:12] approach. We just, that wouldn't work because our bus drivers either, we didn't have enough buses,

[1:53:17] our bus drivers teach our schools. So they had it couldn't run several routes in the morning

[1:53:21] or throughout the day. So we had to get them back. Also, and we talked about it, broadband.

[1:53:27] We have schools. I think more than a handful of schools that have, you know, up to 50% of their

[1:53:32] kids who don't have salad access, a manning, imagine learning online with the connection that

[1:53:37] representative Wilson has, and that's kind of a strong connection that compared to some

[1:53:42] who have none or the satellite seeds, which are really breakdown, so the option of going remote

[1:53:50] and or hybrid while some are doing that just wasn't real for our rural schools. And what they

[1:53:55] had to navigate and maneuver in order to figure out how to do that safely, could they do that safely,

[1:54:02] Again, oftentimes in communities where the disease didn't feel real, because they're when the

[1:54:08] outbreaks were really small, the impact on the hospitals were when we saw here in the

[1:54:12] print range.

[1:54:13] So, just an incredible stress, in order to sort of what I call the COVID marathon that our educators

[1:54:19] at all levels of the systems and our parents and our students have been navigating.

[1:54:24] So, highlighting that a couple of other things to highlight is the huge strain that that stress

[1:54:31] is putting on our already maxed out rural systems.

[1:54:35] In particular, our health care systems, local public health, and forgive me.

[1:54:39] I'm jumping all over the place, but I'm sort of how I roll.

[1:54:42] Our local public health, a serious, serious, no judgment in the state-major factual capacity

[1:54:49] concerns.

[1:54:50] And I was part of the Children's Law Alliance, as part of the Children's Hospital's

[1:54:55] Coalition in that cash group.

[1:54:56] And I remember sitting in a presentation by Try County Health Department with the Department

[1:55:01] they had set up to support schools and the resources and the feedback that they were able to provide

[1:55:08] and thinking, oh gosh, that would make a difficult job, you know, still difficult but easier.

[1:55:13] In our community, sometimes we don't have folks in the public health position. People have left

[1:55:19] that position. They haven't been rebuilt. Some of our public health don't really see their role.

[1:55:24] They leave it all up to the state and the problem is that up until now and we make steps

[1:55:29] Every day every week every month, the guidance is created for bigger systems and bigger schools and bigger communities without, again, it was guidance, but no real clear flexibility or direction to local public health about how they might grant more flexibility around some of the safety measures in the rural environment.

[1:55:51] So it's a great, great, excuse me, it's a place where we've seen great change and great growth and great responsiveness, but there's still a lot of confusion on the ground.

[1:56:02] I learned earlier this week that in one of our counties students are direct students that are enrolled in concurrent enrollment classes where they go to the community college or being prohibited from coming back to campus because of the cohort concerns.

[1:56:18] So we have juniors, in one district, very small district, 22 juniors and seniors who cannot come to campus

[1:56:25] because they're taking concurrent enrollment.

[1:56:28] That's a real challenge and not surprisingly, in some of their neighboring districts where they're

[1:56:33] not implementing that requirement or that recommendation, those districts that are following local

[1:56:38] guidance are losing, and we'll talk about this more on the student count conversation,

[1:56:44] are losing students to their neighboring districts.

[1:56:47] So just a ton of confusion, sort of, that one-size-fits-all approach I say at all the time

[1:56:53] that really, really brings true in this context.

[1:56:58] Talk about broadband, want to highlight, we are grateful and optimistic about the $2 million

[1:57:03] coming from a CDE and that grant program, but also very clear that that's not even going

[1:57:11] to, you know, it's not going to fill the gap, I'm not sure we know what the answers are,

[1:57:16] but it's going to take a far better, bigger commitment from the state and from our federal

[1:57:20] government to really move things and change that digital divide in our rural communities.

[1:57:30] Real critical, again, my way of things that we're happening before the pandemic and are now

[1:57:36] exacerbated as our educator shortages, critical, critical shortages of nurses, a mental

[1:57:42] health providers, counselors, not only within our schools, but within our communities.

[1:57:46] Our healthcare providers, in rural communities, just sometimes don't have the capacity to,

[1:57:51] especially now that we're reopen and all the referrals when kids show up with the sniffles

[1:57:56] or a cough or a fever and how to manage that, absence of testing and our quick responses

[1:58:02] on testing opportunities around telehealth, but I don't think we've really seen that get a

[1:58:09] attraction just yet in the rural communities sort of the list goes on and the examples I

[1:58:15] could give are endless and I think you all know me know well enough to know that I will go

[1:58:19] on endlessly so I won't. I'll stop there and then happy to answer any questions at the end with

[1:58:26] the rest of the panel and thank you again. Thank you so much for being here today. Who would like to

[1:58:32] go next? Yes thank you Madam Chair, I'm happy to jump in and go next and I do have just the guide

[1:58:39] comments and give them most accurate information possible. I do have a few slides real quickly

[1:58:43] that I will tee up here.

[1:58:55] Second.

[1:59:00] Looks like a snowstorm.

[1:59:04] Yeah, so as it looks like it actually

[1:59:07] seems that I'm having difficulty finding. So I'll speak through it now which is totally fine

[1:59:14] And I'll close up.

[1:59:17] So just me, I just made you a presenter, sir.

[1:59:20] Oh, OK, great.

[1:59:21] So here we go.

[1:59:23] You got to see that now?

[1:59:27] Great.

[1:59:28] So just by way of real quick background,

[1:59:31] as Representative McLaughlin said, my name is Dan Scheller.

[1:59:33] I'm the president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools.

[1:59:37] And I just wanted to give a quick background

[1:59:39] on who the league is.

[1:59:40] And the Charter School landscape is in Colorado right now.

[1:59:43] We are a nonprofit membership organization

[1:59:45] for the state 251 charter schools, about 90% of which are our members in our organization.

[1:59:52] We provide a number of different services ranging from operations, support, to professional

[1:59:56] development, to policy and advocacy.

[2:00:00] And we're proud to note that we have one of the strongest charter school laws in the country.

[2:00:06] And by way of landscape, we have charter schools all over the state.

[2:00:12] 261 schools across 70 different cities and towns ranging from rural communities to suburban communities to urban communities.

[2:00:19] And collectively those schools serve 128,000 students, which is about 14% of the state's public school population.

[2:00:27] It's always worth reiterating that all charter schools on their law are organized as non-profit entities.

[2:00:33] There is no such thing as a private charter school or something that sometimes gets confused.

[2:00:38] And charter schools collectively are serving higher percentages of students of color and English language learners across the state.

[2:00:45] So, purposes of some survey information that we've put out at a field just so that we

[2:00:52] have the most up to this information.

[2:00:55] I'm going to grab that if you're a high school.

[2:00:59] So sorry.

[2:01:02] Here's kind of the current, most recent snapshot of where our schools are at.

[2:01:06] We surveyed the field about 45% of our schools indicated that they are in a back

[2:01:12] 100% in person with remote option, there's an additional 7% that are 100% in person, but

[2:01:19] 18% indicated that they're currently operating in 100% remote environment and then the remainder

[2:01:26] in a combo of in person remote hybrid.

[2:01:29] Also wanted to get a sense from our schools of where they see this or how they see this

[2:01:33] impact enrollment. And while we're in a place right now where we don't know 100% where enrollment

[2:01:39] is going to land for a number of places. We did see kind of a split here, 42% of our schools

[2:01:45] indicating anticipating a decrease, 42% anticipating an increase and about 17% predicting

[2:01:53] no change.

[2:01:56] Our schools have been very much into with their communities as they have been

[2:02:01] making their restart to see it. So we surveyed and asked our schools what have been the major

[2:02:07] criteria and factors you've been utilizing and they overwhelmingly indicated that they've been

[2:02:14] coordinating with their parents and their teachers as well as public health officials to figure

[2:02:19] out what is the best way to restart school for their individual community.

[2:02:26] One question we often get is how are charter schools what is with dynamic like with their

[2:02:32] districts and with their authorizers and we have found from 90% of our schools that they're

[2:02:37] characterizing the nature of their relationship as their authorizer with their authorizer as being in a good place and being positive.

[2:02:45] I should note that about 85% of the 260 charter schools in the state are authorized by local school districts,

[2:02:51] the remaining 50% 15% by the charter school institute, which Terry will speak to momentarily.

[2:02:58] And then just two quick questions. We asked about primary challenges and the thing that our schools are most proud of in the midst of all of this turmoil.

[2:03:06] Primary challenges, somewhat reflective of what others have already said today, but a lot

[2:03:12] of the change in guidance has been one of the biggest obstacles to figure this out.

[2:03:18] It's been changing so regularly that has created a lot of difficult dynamics to manage

[2:03:24] for our schools.

[2:03:26] Technology, particularly in the remote environment and making sure all of our students have access

[2:03:31] to broadband and to the internet and has been key along with a few other items listed there.

[2:03:41] And then the thing that consistently came across that schools are most proud of is the

[2:03:45] way that they have been able to adapt and the ways that their staff have adapted in the current

[2:03:51] environment.

[2:03:53] The charter mechanism, one of its upsides, is that it creates a lot of opportunity for

[2:03:59] this and in this environment in particular that has enabled the school schools to really change

[2:04:06] and adapt as the conditions have changed on the ground. So have an answer any particular questions

[2:04:14] as we go forward but hopefully that provides you a snapshot at least of where the charter school

[2:04:19] landscape is as we would have covered right now. Thank you.

[2:04:25] Thanks for sharing that with us.

[2:04:29] Next,

[2:04:36] this is Terry Krilewitt's, I have two slides and I'm wondering if I should share them

[2:04:43] or Justin, are you going to put them up?

[2:05:07] I'm not sure if I'm presenting those because they're not coming up.

[2:05:10] So I can just speak to them as well.

[2:05:13] If you're a presenter, you may want to try to reconnect your screen again

[2:05:18] because it's showing your whiteboard.

[2:05:21] Okay.

[2:05:22] We don't want that.

[2:05:33] We can skip that.

[2:05:35] Because I'm going to be showing you things that probably shouldn't show you.

[2:05:39] So, I'll go on.

[2:05:42] I'll just go ahead and I'll just talk to them.

[2:05:45] If you've definitely had to find it anyway.

[2:05:47] So thank you, Madam Chair.

[2:05:49] Thank you to the entire,

[2:05:52] Oh, thank you, Madam Chair.

[2:05:53] I need to get this out of this.

[2:05:57] The entire committee for listening to us and sharing all the different thoughts from around the state and all the different organizations about what everyone is experiencing.

[2:06:10] You will find that our charter schools are going through the same thing.

[2:06:15] They are in the same situation as all the other schools in terms of how hard it is to do this work.

[2:06:24] and how challenging it is to meet the needs of students.

[2:06:30] So, charter school institutes,

[2:06:31] let me give you a little bit, and do I need to get to this at whatever one of these is my wife board?

[2:06:40] Yeah, there we go.

[2:06:42] So, our schools, we have 42 schools, one of these give you a little context.

[2:06:48] We're in 23 different towns and cities throughout the state.

[2:06:52] Eight of our schools are in rural.

[2:06:53] So, you know, Michelle talking about the challenges of rural schools are real and what rural districts are feeling, our schools are right there as well.

[2:07:03] We have 15 different school models and we're serving about 18,000 students throughout the state.

[2:07:08] In terms of our demographics, if you look at statewide averages or students, we have a higher percentage of minority students, a higher percentage of students that are

[2:07:23] of 504. We see our fed populations continue to take up for a variety of reasons. We are looking

[2:07:32] at what do we, and how do we focus our work in the midst of COVID and go forward with how

[2:07:39] the best-educated students, as an authorizer, we continue to focus on ensuring that all students

[2:07:45] have access, and then we continue to push equity issues. And we do that in a variety of ways.

[2:07:51] We are expanding our support around school school governance because we're all in this together in school board.

[2:07:57] School charter boards need to be engaged in this work to make sure we're meeting the needs of communities.

[2:08:03] And we continue to advocate for the access to resources for our schools.

[2:08:09] We're a small subset of schools, as Dan said, our 21 schools in the charter schools in the state, we have 42.

[2:08:18] Small subset, 15% of the charter schools we authorized.

[2:08:24] And so how do we ensure that our schools have access to resources?

[2:08:28] Well, what are we learning as we go through this process?

[2:08:32] We know that we have to work incredibly close with our schools more closely than we ever have before.

[2:08:41] As Commissioner Hampice said earlier, you know, their work has shifted our work has shifted, we're having more communication, more interaction.

[2:08:49] They are with districts we are with our schools. What do we see in terms of learning plans?

[2:08:54] We see about 40% of our schools are doing in person primarily in person although offering

[2:09:00] all kinds of different options and 40% are primarily in remote and then we have the

[2:09:07] hybrids.

[2:09:09] We see more to like different schools moving quickly to an in-person environment, our

[2:09:14] world schools have primarily been in person from the beginning of school.

[2:09:19] We see up and down the front range more of our schools moving to an in-person option.

[2:09:26] We have been tracking, we tracked them by talking to them weekly.

[2:09:31] We have peace managers that work with our schools on a weekly basis.

[2:09:34] And what we see is we've had a few schools, have to quarantine, we've had a few cohorts

[2:09:40] needing to quarantine, we've only had one school, have to shut down or do go completely

[2:09:45] remote for a certain period of time.

[2:09:48] And what we're seeing now is that no case to case, no student student transmission of this disease.

[2:09:57] No, we haven't seen that.

[2:09:58] We've seen teachers coming down with, of course, you know, unfortunately having COVID,

[2:10:04] but we don't see students as students, which is really interesting and helpful

[2:10:09] that we are our schools are addressing the needs really well of all our students.

[2:10:14] What else are we seeing?

[2:10:16] Can I not have to take up too much time?

[2:10:19] We see that our communication in our supports

[2:10:22] are helpful to our school leaders,

[2:10:24] that we are doing surveys,

[2:10:26] we're doing weekly communications,

[2:10:28] and we're doing a weekly all-school leader meeting

[2:10:30] on top of the weekly individual calls.

[2:10:33] We also see that things like cohorting is working,

[2:10:39] but like everyone else has said,

[2:10:44] I've never, in all my years and I've been in education for a long time, like many of you,

[2:10:50] have seen this kind of stress and this kind of anxiety and can just warn out their exhausted.

[2:11:00] And that's what we see from our parents and that's what we see from our students, our tire.

[2:11:06] You know, we know when they're working remotely and I have a child who's upstairs right now working remotely

[2:11:12] and buy new the headaches come on, staring at a computer, many of you might be suffering

[2:11:18] from that now since you've been on this and this early this morning.

[2:11:22] So the physical, the emotional stress on everything from students to teachers to school leaders

[2:11:30] to parents and to districts and CDE to try to figure out how do we meet the needs.

[2:11:36] We also care over and over from our schools because that we have to prioritize safety and well-being,

[2:11:45] and that that is what is the number one issue.

[2:11:49] We want, of course, and we will ensure that students are learning.

[2:11:53] Students can't learn if they're not doing safe, and if they're not taking care of them themselves,

[2:11:58] or if they're not, they're not taking care of them.

[2:12:00] We, as an authorizer, have shifted our work just like all of you, everyone in the world

[2:12:07] that was as working here and everyone is on this call, has shifted their work.

[2:12:11] And how we shifted our work, we've wanted to be more responsive to the community that we

[2:12:17] are serving.

[2:12:18] So we talked to our schools about being community responsive and we expect that we will be

[2:12:23] as well.

[2:12:24] And so we do that by ensuring that our schools are providing access to all students that they are finding every student,

[2:12:32] that they are providing a way for that student to access the education.

[2:12:37] We ensure that our schools are still held accountable.

[2:12:41] And so by that, we're still going through a renewal process.

[2:12:44] And I talked to all the advisors around the country, and many have foregone that they're like,

[2:12:48] we're not going to do a renewal process this year.

[2:12:50] We'll just get to it next year.

[2:12:52] We'll extend their contract.

[2:12:53] But we're still working with our schools through that process.

[2:12:57] We might have to revise things.

[2:12:59] We might not be doing in-person sight visits,

[2:13:01] but we are working with our schools around that process.

[2:13:05] And then we also want to ensure that our schools are doing our agile

[2:13:10] that they are, that we are advocating for them,

[2:13:14] and that they have the autonomy they need,

[2:13:16] but autonomy is different these days.

[2:13:19] They have less autonomy in some ways and more autonomy in others.

[2:13:23] And I'd say the burden of autonomy is real.

[2:13:27] To have to make these decisions about should they have an in-person learning environment,

[2:13:32] should they quarantine a cohort?

[2:13:34] Do they work with the local public health officials?

[2:13:36] And how do they do that?

[2:13:38] And making those decisions the weight of those decisions is real?

[2:13:42] And I want to talk about all the innovation and the creativity that we see in educators.

[2:13:48] can we do? Well, we cannot ignore that the stress that they feel as they're trying to do with

[2:13:54] that. And our students are the ones that feel it the most acutely. Our students are the ones that

[2:14:00] are trying to figure out this. As they all turn to the parents and the adults and say,

[2:14:05] how do we get through this? And I say to my 15-year-old, I've never experienced this. So we are all

[2:14:11] in trying to figure out how to help our students because the end of the day we have to make sure

[2:14:16] that they're learning and we have to figure out how to do that.

[2:14:18] So enough of my soapbox, but thank you for listening to me about what the work that our

[2:14:23] schools are doing and how they're serving the students.

[2:14:28] Great.

[2:14:28] Thank you.

[2:14:28] And I think what you just said is that we all want the same thing.

[2:14:32] We might be going about it differently, but we all want our students to be learning and challenged.

[2:14:38] We want our educators to live through this.

[2:14:42] You know, we want to support everybody who's involved in here, so thank you for that.

[2:14:46] I will have five minutes for questions. Is there anybody who would like to go? I can see your hand.

[2:14:54] Representative, oh, thank you, Representative Wilson.

[2:14:57] I would have been so disappointed if you hadn't.

[2:15:02] Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm enough, but this supports you. This question is probably the best

[2:15:07] standard by Michelle, because of the rural alliance group. Is there any guesstimates on the percentage

[2:15:14] of loss of traditional gate crossings to the online homeschool piece of this, as we look

[2:15:21] forward, getting through COVID? The impact on school budget is obviously with the pretty significant

[2:15:27] and obviously give it real areas.

[2:15:29] So there's any guests in the,

[2:15:31] there's any conversation taking place over the law

[2:15:33] of students that may not return to the traditional

[2:15:35] cultural system.

[2:15:40] Yes, thank you, Red Bull.

[2:15:41] And I'll just roll in to the answer.

[2:15:44] I think most of it's anecdotal data

[2:15:46] has reported to me by the circumstances

[2:15:49] that the students and I will just talk about it more.

[2:15:52] During the finance section,

[2:15:54] but it's anywhere between two.

[2:15:56] And you know, upwards of 10% of a drop in enrollment.

[2:15:59] This year, due to a myriad of reasons, including losing students to the online outside of district online piece.

[2:16:07] There's also in district online opportunities, neither of which though really changed staffing requirements in the buildings, right?

[2:16:14] So there's not enough kids moving from one place to the other, and I think a pretty strong belief that a lot of the kids were already starting to see kids come back.

[2:16:23] From those online programs, their parents are realizing that it's not a great fit for a lot of kids.

[2:16:28] And we're expecting to see more and more students come back.

[2:16:34] One of the problems is after the October 1 deadline

[2:16:36] and what student count deadline and what that looked like.

[2:16:38] But again, we can cover that later this afternoon.

[2:16:47] Yeah, I represent nine rural school districts in just 69.

[2:16:52] And I would say most of them, they started off at home or in school.

[2:16:57] And almost every student can't wait to come back to school.

[2:16:59] there have changed their online.

[2:17:02] They can't wait to see their friends again and come back in.

[2:17:05] And these are very, very different districts

[2:17:08] that I represent.

[2:17:09] And that's kind of been what they're all telling me.

[2:17:13] So they're not necessarily losing them to anything

[2:17:15] but they can't wait to be with their friends again.

[2:17:20] So are there any other questions?

[2:17:23] Well, thank you all so much.

[2:17:25] We appreciate and understand all the hard work

[2:17:28] doing to make this happen into address the needs of our students in Colorado.

[2:17:34] So thank you.

[2:17:35] Thank you.

[2:17:35] Much appreciated.

[2:17:38] Thank you.

[2:17:40] Okay.

[2:17:41] Our last.

[2:17:42] Pamela presenters.

[2:17:45] It's Cali.

[2:17:45] I think it's LeBuck.

[2:17:47] President of the American Federation of Teachers and Senator E.V.

[2:17:51] Houdak, who's the Public Policy Director for Colorado Parent Teacher Association.

[2:17:56] And I know she will tell us how many parents or how many people she represents because that's

[2:18:01] she always starts and I can never remember the number.

[2:18:04] So I'd like to welcome you both here today.

[2:18:06] Thank you.

[2:18:09] Hi.

[2:18:09] Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

[2:18:12] I really appreciate the opportunity to speak to you all and I'm very grateful to be presenting

[2:18:18] alongside with Senator Fudac, because teachers and parents want this in thing.

[2:18:26] And I think that that's what we'll find.

[2:18:29] I know that the AFT have been collaborating with parents to find out what they want.

[2:18:35] We've also done national surveys, including parents, and we know that the vast majority of parents

[2:18:42] and teachers, both want kids to be back in school 100%.

[2:18:47] And also want health and safety to be the deciding factor about going back into school.

[2:18:54] So, my name is Kelly Leaba, I am the president of AFT Colorado.

[2:19:00] We represent higher ad as well as public service employees, but also teachers, care professionals,

[2:19:07] student nutrition workers, and other support professionals in a couple larger districts in Colorado,

[2:19:14] and then some very small districts.

[2:19:16] There are also rural.

[2:19:18] So, the reopening plan for districts across Colorado, as you know, very greatly with the beauty and somewhat the curse of local control.

[2:19:29] I think it's great for our role districts. I think it's put some pressure on our Metro districts where we have school boards faced with some impossible decisions.

[2:19:39] If they were to truly follow the health guidelines that we're getting from the CDC and the World Health Organization,

[2:19:46] I'm not sure anyone would be in school, but that's not really an option that anyone wants right now.

[2:19:53] So we're all just doing our best working with what we have including some quarantines.

[2:19:59] I believe Doug was kind of school district currently has two schools that have switched to full remote for two weeks

[2:20:05] because we simply just have too many teachers who are on quarantine.

[2:20:10] I do think that masks are working and our procedures are working and we're not having

[2:20:14] a lot of in-school transmission, which is obviously the best news, but the quarantineing

[2:20:23] is pretty restrictive and we do end up putting a lot of people out and we are starting to

[2:20:31] issues with not enough teachers in the building.

[2:20:35] And even if you can get substitutes in a classroom and have a teacher video casting

[2:20:41] into the classroom, I know one of the leaders in Douglas County School District was telling

[2:20:47] me yesterday, they end up with concerns that they don't have enough employees in the building.

[2:20:52] When we've got subs in the building, we have to then be concerned about this safety of our students

[2:20:56] in case of emergency.

[2:20:57] We don't have people in the buildings who are familiar with the procedures in case of emergency.

[2:21:06] I want to echo what Amy Doc Ollert talked about with the emotional concerns that we have with our students, teachers and staff.

[2:21:17] Certainly our students are coming to us with, this is a traumatic experience and we know from

[2:21:24] Mavela's hierarchy of needs that kids don't learn when we haven't addressed their trauma

[2:21:30] and their emotional needs. So we have to, we have to, we have to be honest about that and meet

[2:21:37] our kids where we're at and I know that a lot of districts are really focusing on the social

[2:21:41] emotional learning and doing a really good job focusing on that.

[2:21:45] I too am concerned about the mental health of our teachers and support professionals

[2:21:50] who are doing their best to work in three different modalities.

[2:21:55] A lot of teachers as I believe you said that I'm sicker are teaching hybrid so kids in their

[2:22:05] class kids were at home who will be in the class tomorrow at the same time as they're working

[2:22:10] with those e- Learners. And that's a pressure that's putting on teachers, the pressure

[2:22:16] that they put on themselves to do that really, really well is wearing on them. And we have

[2:22:22] two members this year who are people that I was instantly blown away and pressed with. These

[2:22:29] people new to the profession, young, full of innovation and creativity, bringing this energy

[2:22:38] and light to our profession, but I'm so grateful for and they built up resigned, because

[2:22:44] this has just become too much for them, fortunate not to have encountered any one who I needed

[2:22:50] to refer to the suicide hotline yet, but that moved me to share Amy talk about that.

[2:22:58] I know that Sherry Ranch also talked about what are school board members of faith things and what our district leaders are faith things because they really are in an impossible decision or position.

[2:23:12] We don't have a lot of specific and consistent guidance at the federal level and our state is doing our best to get us that guidance, although some of it has come only a week before we are to return to school.

[2:23:26] And then you've got that parent input, and our districts are doing a great job at accepting that parent input, doing surveys, having tax for tax force, focus groups, open to receiving emails, and then presentations at school board meetings or public comment at school board meetings, but not all of it have been, been kind or understanding or empathetic and one of, one of the acting superintendents in Douglas County last week.

[2:23:56] really displayed a model of empathy that I think we all could learn from and understanding that

[2:24:05] everybody is in a tough position right now. Students are in a tough position, parents are struggling,

[2:24:11] teachers school staff are struggling, administrators, and school board members, and then

[2:24:17] our leaders like you all are struggling. We're all doing our best. We all want to be in school

[2:24:24] 100% we all agree that that's what's best for kids, but we also don't want to put the

[2:24:29] health and safety of anyone at risk. So I think that we need to approach each other with

[2:24:37] a lot of understanding and find what we had in common and then really focus on what we can

[2:24:44] do to make this safe for our kids. And I am looking forward to the budget discussion at the end

[2:24:49] the day because I think that ultimately the resources that our schools need are the key to

[2:24:57] not only bringing us all back to 100% in personal learning but keeping us there. Unfortunately,

[2:25:02] our numbers right now this week are starting to see that Labor Day spike. So I have real concerns

[2:25:09] as districts are headed back to Seoul in person learning. And I have definite concerns about second

[2:25:19] semester, and the lack of federal funding to help us navigate all the different challenges

[2:25:29] we have with the e-learning and the staffing as I think Michelle talked about when you've

[2:25:35] got some kids on e-learning and some in person that doesn't change your staffing needs.

[2:25:40] It's not like it really works out that we can take a teacher out of a school and put them

[2:25:45] find them to e-learning because the numbers

[2:25:47] never shake out like that.

[2:25:49] So as we look at bringing kids back to 100%.

[2:25:53] I have real concerns about the hiring

[2:25:57] that we may need to do in different districts

[2:26:00] to be able to support all that, especially

[2:26:02] because we've don't run over crowded classrooms

[2:26:04] at this time.

[2:26:06] We never run over crowded classrooms,

[2:26:08] but I do think there are some real benefits

[2:26:10] that we are seeing from our hybrid learning.

[2:26:14] And from e-learning, that's allowing greater opportunity for assessments, social emotional

[2:26:23] connections with our kids because our teachers are reporting when they've got 12 kids

[2:26:28] in a room.

[2:26:29] It's an actual move a lot faster on building those relationships, which are so important

[2:26:34] to then move forward with the academics.

[2:26:37] I think our kids have stepped up and are really being incredible A-Learners, and even the youngest

[2:26:45] kids are finding success with that, and I know we will have one of our E-Learning teachers

[2:26:51] will be on later this afternoon, and she can talk about the relationships that she's been

[2:26:58] able to develop supporting E-Learners.

[2:27:01] So I don't think that this is all doom and gloom.

[2:27:08] I think that I'm not here to bring this cord to the conversation.

[2:27:14] I'm here to say we have some real challenges with some real needs.

[2:27:18] But we also are finding a lot of innovations

[2:27:21] and some real positive outcomes from our forced situation here.

[2:27:27] So I will hand it off to Senator Houdak now.

[2:27:32] Thank you so much. We appreciate what you have to share with us. So Senator Houdak, I don't, oh, be aware. How are you? Welcome.

[2:27:48] Senator Houdak, you're still muted.

[2:27:52] If you don't have one screen, assume you're just not paying attention.

[2:27:55] All right. Okay.

[2:27:57] So I know I'm the only thing between everyone and lunch. So I'll try to keep this short.

[2:28:02] I do have a PowerPoint that they're putting up on the screen.

[2:28:11] Thank you Rachel for doing that.

[2:28:19] We

[2:28:24] should play the Japanese call on this.

[2:28:26] I know, right?

[2:28:27] Well, I really appreciate the opportunity.

[2:28:31] On behalf of PTA for the parent voice,

[2:28:35] I know Senator Todd asked about it,

[2:28:38] and some of the other speakers have mentioned it.

[2:28:41] Here we go, okay, so a PTA in parent, so just to review that of the mission and one of the main purposes of PTA is to make every child's potential a reality by engaging in empowering families and communities to advocate for all children and you mostly see PTA because we advocate for laws that improve children's

[2:29:10] health education and well-being in various ways.

[2:29:14] Next slide.

[2:29:20] And we are, oops, you went too far, but back there.

[2:29:24] We're a national and state network of parents and families.

[2:29:29] And we work with educators, schools, businesses, and communities to help accomplish our mission.

[2:29:36] And as Representative McLaughlin mentioned,

[2:29:40] I usually share that we have about 20,000 members

[2:29:43] Most of whom are parents of children in public schools, but anyone who supports our mission can join BTA.

[2:29:51] Next slide.

[2:29:53] So, PTA came out with a position statement and this is going to be several different slides so that I can cover it.

[2:30:00] Because we advocate for healthy learning environments for students and staff, and we believe we believe that all school, health, well-less and safety plans should be based on science and factual evidence, and should change as new scientifically acquired information becomes available.

[2:30:20] This approach is why our position is that schools should reopen only in accordance with the guidelines outlined by the CDC, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and their local departments of health for whatever county the school is in.

[2:30:40] We support federal and state programs that provide additional funding for schools to enhance

[2:30:47] building safety, including ventilation systems, structural improvements that allow appropriate

[2:30:54] physical distancing, student isolation as infection is suspected or documented.

[2:31:00] effective personal equipment for all students and staff, actionable testing for students and staff,

[2:31:14] hardware and technological access to support students through digital learning and additional

[2:31:19] staff to help facilitate small groups and physical distancing.

[2:31:23] And we urge both Congress and the State of Colorado to ensure that all students have access

[2:31:30] to reliable, broad, and Internet access.

[2:31:36] Next slide.

[2:31:37] When in-person learning cannot be achieved safely, schools and districts should provide high-quality

[2:31:43] remote learning options that are equitably accessible to all students and families.

[2:31:49] We believe that family and student supports must be maintained, both while schools are in person and while they're using remote learning, including food and nutrition services, mental health support, special education services and English language learning support.

[2:32:09] Next,

[2:32:16] and finally, the conclusion of our very long position statement, PTA urges all school districts legislators and the Department of Education to include parents, educators and students in all decision making relating to reopening school plans, and to provide clear communication avenues to address concerns before, during and after plans are developed.

[2:32:46] We had a forum on reopening schools on August 19th, and we did a little polling during that time.

[2:32:55] And we asked, first, do you feel like your opinion, this is parents?

[2:33:01] Do you feel like your opinion has been solicited by your school district regarding reopening and remote learning?

[2:33:07] And while 67% 2 third said yes, it is troubling that one third said no.

[2:33:17] And our other question was, is there a system established with your school district to provide feedback during the reopening or remote learning?

[2:33:26] And you will see while it is about half and half, a little more than half, 54% said no.

[2:33:33] So, this is the parent point of view, I know we heard from the districts, and they are doing

[2:33:40] a great job of school boards and the school administration are doing a great job to try

[2:33:46] to react, reach out, but it's still the case that some a third of parents do not feel

[2:33:57] like their opinion was solicited.

[2:33:59] That's different from them calling and, you know, making statements or showing up at a school board meeting via Zoom or whatever.

[2:34:10] They don't feel like their opinion has been solicited.

[2:34:13] And I've got to say that in some ways, PTA feels like we were not reached out to be equitably on committees that are looking into this.

[2:34:26] And when CDE looks for parents, they should be looking to PTA first because we are the largest

[2:34:34] child advocacy organization representing parents.

[2:34:40] Last slide, education week recently took parents feedback in a national survey and they

[2:34:51] asked what level of trust do parents have that their schools will keep their children healthy

[2:34:56] for in-person instruction. And while half said, somewhat to very high trust, 21%

[2:35:06] about a fifth were on the fence, and 30% said they have low to non-existent trust that their

[2:35:16] school will keep their children healthy and in-person instruction. And they delved deeper into

[2:35:23] who were the ones who said, loaden on existence, and they found that 39% of them were black

[2:35:33] parents, 33% were Latino parents, and 26% were white parents.

[2:35:39] And they also did find that of those with loaden on existence in trust, 37% were parents who

[2:35:47] said they planned to vote for Joe Biden.

[2:35:49] just a little political information inserted there.

[2:35:55] So that's our presentation.

[2:35:58] And I'd be glad to answer questions

[2:36:00] although I know we're over the time

[2:36:03] for this morning meeting and we're into lunch now.

[2:36:14] Can't hear you Barbara?

[2:36:16] First, because I typically do.

[2:36:19] Okay, so I'd like to touch you

[2:36:20] and represent it look off as far as the question is okay.

[2:36:22] What questions do you have for our speakers?

[2:36:27] Yes, Representative Wilson.

[2:36:30] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[2:36:32] So I have to ask, Senator, it's 37% said they're going to vote for Joe Biden.

[2:36:38] Is that mean 60% of our vote for President Trump?

[2:36:46] I actually do not know that maybe of those with lower non-existent trust that was just those.

[2:36:55] So it could be.

[2:37:00] And actually, you have it backwards, I think, it's said that of those with lower non-existing

[2:37:08] trust, so maybe you're right, those who don't trust schools, maybe the two thirds of them

[2:37:16] do plan the vote for President Trump.

[2:37:23] Okay, and we are now taking all politics out of this

[2:37:26] discussion, because this is all of that listening. So thank you, everybody. So what I'd

[2:37:34] I saw a question somewhere that I didn't know was in the Q&A, I didn't know we had a Q&A

[2:37:39] out here.

[2:37:40] It was working.

[2:37:41] That someone asked, and it was a while ago, which schools do and they have staff in quarantine

[2:37:46] and not enough subs or staff to cover those classes.

[2:37:54] And Kelly, maybe that's something you've run into.

[2:37:57] Yes.

[2:37:58] Yeah.

[2:37:58] Thank you.

[2:37:59] I appreciate that.

[2:38:00] We have two schools on full remote learning right now because of that.

[2:38:04] we just kept any staff on quarantine.

[2:38:07] They're not sick, they're not in isolation

[2:38:10] because they've tested positive for COVID.

[2:38:13] And as I'm sure many of you are aware,

[2:38:16] we have had a crisis of substitute teachers for the years.

[2:38:20] So currently what we're facing as well

[2:38:23] is teachers being asked to cover their colleagues' classes

[2:38:26] during planning time.

[2:38:28] They don't necessarily have to teach,

[2:38:30] but we have to have an adult in that room managing the classroom

[2:38:34] while the teacher who's on quarantine is at home zooming in to the classroom or Google meeting

[2:38:41] into the classroom. But this is at a time when we're telling you that teachers have never

[2:38:46] worked harder and never been more stressed and then also are facing the personal trauma of

[2:38:53] fear of becoming ill or bringing home that illness to a family member and their planning times are

[2:39:00] and for that. We also have, we know that district's level employees are being asked to go back

[2:39:07] into the classroom so that's going to stress on our upper administration because they can't

[2:39:12] get their job done because instead they're being asked to show up in classrooms as our building

[2:39:17] administrators, counselors, special service providers who are unable to do their jobs because

[2:39:23] they're showing up in the classroom. So the system just isn't really set up with the capacity

[2:39:29] to can't go much more of this and I think that what we all can do is watch our behavior

[2:39:38] outside of school, wear those masks, don't join in large gatherings through everything

[2:39:45] we can to keep our community transmission down, because we really aren't transmitting in

[2:39:49] our school, but what happens in the community is greatly affecting what's happening in

[2:39:54] schools in our ability to stay open.

[2:39:57] Okay, thank you.

[2:39:59] Any other questions for what parents are thinking from Senator Houdak or anybody else?

[2:40:05] Yes, Senator Todd.

[2:40:08] Evie, I really appreciate you.

[2:40:11] You bringing that parent voice.

[2:40:12] You've done such a great job of advocating for PTA and really broadening that and recognizing

[2:40:20] I think how important it is, and I think there was concern that maybe there wasn't a parent

[2:40:26] per se that was on the on this, I keep wanting to say Zoom call, but this call, and so I

[2:40:36] really appreciate you bringing that forward.

[2:40:38] I guess the question I would ask of you is how do we engage, how do districts engage parents

[2:40:47] more. Right now, I know our superintendents and school boards are just absolutely

[2:40:56] inundated with individual emails, calls, trying to set up meetings, trying to set up different

[2:41:04] kinds of venues, but obviously there are still groups of people that are feeling left out, feeling

[2:41:10] like their voice is not heard, is it at individual school level? Is it district level? How would

[2:41:19] you envision and perhaps from PTA's perspective? How would you see that being the most

[2:41:25] effective? Because it is. As we said, local control district by district school based by school

[2:41:32] based. So if you would respond to that, I'd appreciate it.

[2:41:39] Okay, well, obviously it is very different in different areas.

[2:41:44] I've had representative Wilson tell me numerous times that in rural areas, the district people

[2:41:51] know all the families because there aren't that many, whereas in the school district where

[2:41:58] my child went to Jefferson County, we'd have like, I don't know, at least 85,000 students,

[2:42:05] But it has to be on a school-by-school basis, and PTA is a good organization to utilize,

[2:42:14] to create those kinds of communication techniques.

[2:42:19] Also, there are school accountability committees, which are required by law,

[2:42:24] and they're supposed to have representative parents on their committees.

[2:42:29] And I think that anytime a parent reaches out in any way to the school, that can be a parent who potentially could be asked to be representative.

[2:42:44] I mean, what we usually do is we say, if anybody complains, then that's the first person you go to, to ask to be on a committee.

[2:42:56] And we've had some success with that on accountability committees if they complain about what's going on you ask them to help to be a decision maker.

[2:43:09] And we've done it in PTA and on our PTA legislative committee as well.

[2:43:15] If they care to reach out, now with our most vulnerable populations, this is a problem because we're not even sure we're reaching out.

[2:43:26] students. But we can ask students to share with their parents and then of course we probably

[2:43:38] need a lot of language translation for some of our most vulnerable populations.

[2:43:47] Thank you.

[2:43:48] We need a translator as well as what I'm trying to say.

[2:43:50] And I just kind of wanted to point out that we heard early on that there was a seem to be

[2:44:03] a lack of parental involvement in this discussion, and I think families are experiencing

[2:44:08] the brunt of the impact.

[2:44:09] Not to say the teachers aren't, of course, I know that they are having not come to doors.

[2:44:14] I think as many of us are doing right now during this election cycle, if not uncommon, each time

[2:44:19] I run into a, I run into, not just currently a teacher as well, and that they express their concerns and everything.

[2:44:26] And I think it's, it's helpful that PTAs here.

[2:44:31] If I understand correctly, there's about 20,000 members that make up PTA.

[2:44:35] But we look at our student population, and that's, you know, close to a million.

[2:44:40] And so we're only really looking at maybe hearing.

[2:44:43] And this is probably a conservative number two percent

[2:44:47] of our parents across Colorado through PGA.

[2:44:51] And so before we go down the path,

[2:44:53] I think it's saying that we have parental involvement

[2:44:54] through PGA, I think it would be a little disingenuous

[2:44:57] if we really drove that point to Colorado.

[2:45:00] I think we would have learned a lot more perhaps positions ourselves that are truly understanding

[2:45:06] the impact on families. How do we open this up to parents, families, you know, students

[2:45:12] to give that perspective? I just wanted to offer that.

[2:45:20] Yeah, okay. I wanted to say a couple of things.

[2:45:25] And this statistics and thank you all for this conversation with statistics about the parents who don't have trust is pretty much generational historical it's what I have always seen from the people of color about the trust in the system so I think that that's something that we need to deal with

[2:45:53] Equity issues have been exacerbated because of the pandemic, so we just need to keep this in mind.

[2:45:59] So this is just a statement.

[2:46:00] So thank you, Senator Houd after showing that slide, but it is something we need to address.

[2:46:07] Regarding parents, we are all into what our parents and my health district, my parents are constantly reaching out to me.

[2:46:17] And more than that, they're reaching out to their school board and the superintendent of schools.

[2:46:25] And since I think we all agree with local control, I think it's really good that the parents are reaching out more than ever to their schools, to their school boards, and to me as a legislator.

[2:46:38] Not saying that there's not more work we can do to make sure that we hear those parent voices,

[2:46:45] but in this really surreal time, I'm not hearing that parents are not being able to voice their opinions.

[2:46:58] Thank you.

[2:46:59] Are there any other questions today?

[2:47:03] Okay.

[2:47:03] Thank you both very, very much.

[2:47:06] For joining us today, we really appreciate your voice and the hard work that you're doing.

[2:47:10] and so much appreciated.

[2:47:14] And I'm now with my giant hand sanitizer here.

[2:47:19] I'm going to say that we have, how is that?

[2:47:21] We have a, I just leave it at lunch break.

[2:47:25] I'm sure that you all arranged that something

[2:47:27] would be delivered to you in the next 20 minutes,

[2:47:29] but I'm not getting anything at my house.

[2:47:31] I will tell you that.

[2:47:33] But anyway, I will see you back here at 1235.

[2:47:38] Has that?

[2:47:44] There you go.

[2:47:45] we might just use that instead of a gal it's much safer so so welcome back everybody we're very happy to

[2:47:52] help you enjoy the lunch that I sent out all of those of you who signed up and I'm sorry he didn't

[2:47:58] sign up because we're not delivering any more of this long trip from Durango to wherever you are so

[2:48:04] We're not doing that.

[2:48:06] So, we are now on

[2:48:10] Section, let's say we're doing

[2:48:12] addressing barriers to remote and in-person learning right now.

[2:48:17] So this is part two kind of part three of our

[2:48:21] discussion today and we're very excited to have our guest speakers.

[2:48:26] We're going here from stakeholders on strategies, districts and schools

[2:48:29] are taking to address the barriers to remote and in-person learning

[2:48:33] of which there are many and they change every single day, I believe, so we're excited to hear

[2:48:39] what you have to say on this.

[2:48:41] So we have, let's see, and I'm thinking, okay, we have some people who are going to be online,

[2:48:52] ready for questions if you have them.

[2:48:54] They won't be the panelists on the next one, but if you have questions, they'll be available.

[2:48:58] And that would be Annie Bocke-Ollert from C.E.A. questions only, Brett Miles from CASE for questions

[2:49:06] only, Sherry Rinch from Caspi questions only, Michelle Murphy from Rural Schools Alliance questions

[2:49:14] only, and Dan Schaller from Colorado League of Charter Schools questions only.

[2:49:20] So if you have some of those, they will jump on and help you out.

[2:49:25] Okay, so now we have Dr. Melissa Colman.

[2:49:30] No wait.

[2:49:33] Any, I'm not sure if I have the right one on here.

[2:49:35] I have the second panel.

[2:49:36] The first panel.

[2:49:44] Please, please enter.

[2:49:47] Yes.

[2:49:47] Okay.

[2:49:48] Dr. Colman.

[2:49:51] Are you good?

[2:49:52] Are you good?

[2:49:53] Are you good?

[2:49:54] Okay.

[2:49:55] Welcome Dr. Colman.

[2:49:57] Thank you.

[2:49:58] I'm all the way to Capitol today.

[2:49:59] So, thank you.

[2:50:02] Well, thank you.

[2:50:05] Now, let's get our members of the Joint Education Committee.

[2:50:07] I am Melissa Colton Associate Commissioner for a student learning at the Colorado Department of Education.

[2:50:12] I'm actually in my office today.

[2:50:15] And so right up my window is I look at over the capital and coal taxes right here.

[2:50:20] So hopefully we won't have any emergency vehicles going by, but those of you who recall what is going to be at the capital building,

[2:50:28] but that's always the possibility.

[2:50:29] It's my pleasure to start the business up to the presentations regarding the state and districts

[2:50:36] are addressing barriers to remote and personal learning.

[2:50:40] When no did I make before beginning is that presenting some information from my colleagues

[2:50:44] from a class CBE that may require me to address questions that you have following today's

[2:50:50] presentation should be unable to answer them in the moment.

[2:50:53] And knowing that there is important information for you to hear from Colorado's education leaders

[2:50:58] to my district's an organization.

[2:51:00] I will keep my portion brief.

[2:51:05] So as you know, the COVID-19 pandemic has

[2:51:08] presented both challenges and opportunities

[2:51:10] and meeting the needs of all students across the state.

[2:51:14] CDE, we have enormous respect and appreciation

[2:51:16] for great work, our district, school leaders,

[2:51:19] educators are doing to address these needs during this time.

[2:51:23] Because not to mention all of the support parents

[2:51:25] are providing their children during this unprecedented time.

[2:51:29] A provider group will review some of the work CDs involved with on that issue.

[2:51:35] First, we know that emergency seating continues to be in during this health crisis.

[2:51:41] Last spring, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued waivers to allow the summer food service program to operate in schools closed in person learning.

[2:51:51] These waivers were recently extended to allow sponsors to operate the program through December 31, 2020.

[2:51:57] This allows sponsors to provide free and nutritious meals to students and involve in remote

[2:52:02] and or in-person learning.

[2:52:05] During this time, sponsors have tested out new ways to attract customers to various meal

[2:52:09] service models and increase market efforts.

[2:52:13] meal service examples included dried up grab and go, home delivery, and mobile meal

[2:52:18] sites.

[2:52:19] The sponsors have also explored partnerships, for example, partnering with their district's

[2:52:24] education, or mobile food delivery, and also local organizations school boards with administration, community members, and even local restaurants to feed staff to boost morale.

[2:52:39] Another need that is a reason is how to manage remote learning.

[2:52:42] So we've seen an emerging trend in some communities where parents are forming small groups learning groups for their children.

[2:52:51] These have been termed learning pods.

[2:52:54] With this emerging questions regarding state responsibilities have come up.

[2:52:58] So we've looked into this issue and it worked as a governor's office and CDHS to create a parent guide to provide information related to safe operation of learning pods.

[2:53:08] The guide covers health, safety, and educational considerations for parents, as they seek to support their children.

[2:53:17] Another clear need during this time relates to connectivity, to something that has come up during many of the previous discussions.

[2:53:23] So the State of Colorado was created a public private partnership with the Governor's

[2:53:28] Office, Attorney General and C.E.

[2:53:32] The information with Internet Service providers and other community-focused organizations

[2:53:36] to provide blogs and access to students with remote learning needs for this school year.

[2:53:42] Two major programs that participating in this effort, one is Project 10 million, which will

[2:53:48] provide up to 34,000 low income student households in Colorado with free Wi-Fi hotspots and

[2:53:56] 100 gigabit data for this year. The other is the Connecting Colorado Student's Grant Program,

[2:54:02] which will provide $2 million in grant funding from CDE's CARES Act Fund to support school districts

[2:54:09] and providing broadband access to low-income families and school staff. This effort is made possible due

[2:54:15] strong support of multiple partner organizations and bills on the survey information that was

[2:54:21] in focus previously in the partnership between CDE and the Colorado Education Initiative and April.

[2:54:28] I sure that approximately 66,000 students lack internet access needed.

[2:54:35] And as you've heard from our presentations earlier today, that we are hearing from schools and

[2:54:41] So educators are working very hard to connect with their students and schools across the state.

[2:54:47] Because this topic was covered, I think, pretty extensively.

[2:54:51] Earlier today, I'll just note that we have been working hard to learn from what practices

[2:54:57] are being enacted across districts to engage students, which focus primarily on making sure that there is

[2:55:04] that can be seen in connection so that kids can connect with that to their schools so that

[2:55:12] they can re-engage with learning, especially our students who have had the most significant

[2:55:18] challenges.

[2:55:22] It's also clear during this time that English learner space unique challenges and that teachers

[2:55:27] and school and district leaders are working hard to meet these.

[2:55:30] It's important to note that despite the challenges, English language development is part of

[2:55:35] universal instruction, and that grade level content needs to be provided with adequate

[2:55:40] scapled and supports that English learners need to access grade level content being

[2:55:46] provided even in remote learning situation.

[2:55:50] The CDE has worked to support districts through the development of adjusted guidance for

[2:55:57] many of the practices that are required for students who are English learners such as identification

[2:56:04] as well as providing resources and supports for distance learning.

[2:56:10] We're also keeping a close eye in any relevant, federal flexibility that is issued

[2:56:14] as well as resources and supports from across the country so that we can thus support

[2:56:18] our students and educators.

[2:56:22] Finally, we recognize that students and disabilities are facing unique challenges

[2:56:26] which I'll discuss a little bit of mind up on the next slide.

[2:56:29] Those of you who are have printed out, these slides will notice that as made a game day decision and switch order of these last two slides, I hope I haven't confused any of them.

[2:56:42] We know that our school districts are working hard to meet the needs of students with disabilities to create them viable solutions.

[2:56:48] The CDE is made every effort to support our schools.

[2:56:50] However, I believe that you'll hear this from our panelists later on following my presentation

[2:56:56] and our feedback from districts. We recognize that districts continue to face significant challenges.

[2:57:03] As we implement the requirements of the Individual Disabilities Education Act, here are a few that we've noted.

[2:57:10] For a meaningful implementation of individual education programs or ITPs in remote and hybrid settings,

[2:57:17] In some situations, it's very difficult to deliver the specially designed instruction, called for anesthesia by EEP with the frequency and intensity needed to make progress for student disability.

[2:57:31] And the potential budget impact of modifying and delivering services to students and remote or hybrid services that require to make under IDEA is a significant concern to districts.

[2:57:44] Staffing shortages that have been ongoing and issue in special education for a number of years

[2:57:52] is exacerbated during this time and is stretching the Henry sources of our district.

[2:58:01] And finally, accessibility to online instructional options is very limited,

[2:58:06] or non-existent for some families, making it difficult for school to access and support students.

[2:58:11] With those significant changes, our deafness, the federal law, our guidance, our staff is working hard for districts of these challenges, by developing resources and guidance,

[2:58:22] specific to the unique issues and questions generated by this health crisis.

[2:58:27] These are all available on our website as well as through our technical assistance.

[2:58:32] And then finally, I'll highlight one portion of the tool kit that my colleague Dr. Hannah

[2:58:41] Ferb referenced earlier today regarding some of the reopening guidance and this is

[2:58:46] looking at some of the available resources for a well-being and connectedness and addressing

[2:58:54] some of the unique needs of students.

[2:58:56] So we'll see if by clicking on this link, we'll actually see the links that I have drawn to on our website.

[2:59:08] So within the toolkit, there are resources for well-being and connectedness, providing teachers with support for students,

[2:59:16] Connecting us in belonging and responding to community me, our team has worked very hard to provide these additional supports and considerations for our districts and schools as they are working to support kids during this time.

[2:59:36] And we have also provided some resources, specific discussions with learning gaps, students

[2:59:43] have dropped out in English learners and students experiencing homelessness.

[2:59:48] So that's, they're the ones that shop for educators to go to as we think about our topic

[2:59:55] at hand, which is barriers presented by remote.

[3:00:00] First and learning. So I'll stop sharing now recognizing that we have a number of other panelists who are here to present, but I'm happy to answer questions.

[3:00:15] I agree with that. If you'd like to share today, I don't see many people with faces on right now. So if you have questions, need to ask.

[3:00:30] Okay, Dr. Colson, thank you so much for sharing all this with us today and for all your hard work behind the scenes.

[3:00:36] I know a lot that's done when we're not looking so thank you.

[3:00:41] Thank you.

[3:00:43] Okay, we now have our next panel, which has a few people on it.

[3:00:48] Dr. Rob Anderson, who is the superintendent of Boulder Valley School District.

[3:00:53] Kathy Gebhardt, who was a board member with Boulder Valley School District.

[3:00:59] Chris Kadosky, he is a superintendent of Adam's 12-5-star school.

[3:01:05] Kathy Plomer, who is the board president of Adam's 12-5-star school.

[3:01:10] And DCTA President Dave Lockley.

[3:01:13] So I'd like to welcome you all on today.

[3:01:15] Thank you so much for your time and energy and hard work that goes into this presentation today.

[3:01:22] You want to play nose goes you may, but whoever wants to go first, please do.

[3:01:35] Kathy, are you about it?

[3:01:37] You want to go alphabetical?

[3:01:38] You guys go first.

[3:01:39] That's the folder to take the lead if you're right.

[3:01:42] I thought we were going alphabetical, but I'm ready to go.

[3:01:44] Would you like me to go?

[3:01:45] Go first.

[3:01:46] All righty.

[3:01:49] And we do nose goes, and I have full of all the time that we're talking about.

[3:01:55] Mostly for clearing the table and feeding the test.

[3:02:00] Madam chairs and members of the Education Committee.

[3:02:03] This is a great honor to be able to present to you.

[3:02:05] And thank you for your time today.

[3:02:07] And for your dedication and devotion to public education.

[3:02:11] I'm Kathy Gebhardt.

[3:02:12] I am the Vice President of the Boulder Valley School District Board,

[3:02:16] the immediate test president of the College of Association of School boards,

[3:02:19] and the Western Regional Representative for Colorado

[3:02:22] for the National Association of School boards.

[3:02:24] But I'm here today to share with you some of the stories from my own

[3:02:28] Buddhist strict, Boulder Valley School.

[3:02:31] I'll tell you all we know from the presentations today and over the last six months,

[3:02:36] if these are extremely challenging times,

[3:02:38] but we welcome the opportunity to come together to address not only our challenges,

[3:02:42] but our successes.

[3:02:44] In Boulder, as in communities across the state and country,

[3:02:47] the pandemic has not impacted all our communities in the same way.

[3:02:51] We have seen schools across the state and the country come together to support our students and their families.

[3:02:57] As you will hear from our neighboring districts, our schools are in a central part of the safety net for our communities.

[3:03:03] We provided food assistance throughout the spring and summer.

[3:03:06] Distributed laptops and families who needed them provided the important social networks that we needed to keep our families together through very trying times.

[3:03:14] In Boulder, our focus on equity doesn't relate to the structure of our schools, but rather

[3:03:20] is guided by our commitment to our struggling learners. Our focus is on our students and

[3:03:25] we want our students to be back in school as soon as they can be safely. Expanding supports

[3:03:31] for these populations is challenged by the untenable financial situation we all face. Communities

[3:03:37] with high medical exemptions such as ours face additional financial challenges. So I thought

[3:03:43] I would talk a little about what we've done for parent engagement because I've heard some concerns about parent engagement in some of the comments this morning.

[3:03:52] So parent engagement is an important role to us as a board and to us as a community and a school district.

[3:03:58] In addition to our more regular methods of communicating, including participating in board meetings and emails.

[3:04:04] And I'll tell you we had our first hybrid board meeting last night and it went seamlessly thanks to the efforts of our staff.

[3:04:10] Our community has been able to participate with us and to communicate with us during board meetings throughout the pandemic through emails and through Zoom meetings.

[3:04:19] We've also meet regularly with our district parent council, our district accountability council, and our Latino parent council.

[3:04:27] In addition, our district accountability committee met through the summer to continue to give us guidance through the summer as we were navigating all of the challenges of COVID.

[3:04:35] We also established a working group to guide us with what we're calling our back together

[3:04:41] plan.

[3:04:42] And parents in that group work directly as voting members in the group.

[3:04:46] We have sent out surveys that were sensitive to the fact that many of us are over-servated

[3:04:50] and may not respond to them quite as much as we might have been in the past.

[3:04:54] In addition, we host a weekly live interaction program with parents in the broader community

[3:05:00] called let's talk EDSD and we get on average of 500 to 1,000 participants every week from

[3:05:06] that.

[3:05:07] And our school board meetings has always been live and we have a very robust participation

[3:05:11] in our community in watching our live board meetings.

[3:05:15] So I think that gives you at least a sense of how important our community engagement is.

[3:05:21] And our superintendent, Dr. Anderson, will also talk about the efforts that he takes.

[3:05:25] We take our emails, we respond to every email, our board president, and our superintendent

[3:05:30] And then so they don't just fall on deaf ears,

[3:05:32] although it makes you like that to some of our community.

[3:05:35] I'd also like to talk about what we do as a board member.

[3:05:39] Our general responsibilities have continued through the pandemic

[3:05:43] to continue to listen to our community

[3:05:45] to oversee budget prioritizations, to modify policies,

[3:05:49] and that last night we were modifying our policy

[3:05:51] and visitors to our schools.

[3:05:53] We had to modify our policies to address attendance issues.

[3:05:57] And we understand how struggling populations

[3:05:59] are impacted and thus modify and further prioritize our budgets to meet those needs.

[3:06:06] In addition, one of our primary responsibilities, I believe is also what we're doing today,

[3:06:11] which is to work with our other elected officials to let you know what our challenges and our successes

[3:06:16] are so that we can meet them together.

[3:06:19] Our common values of a strong education system of opportunity for each and every student,

[3:06:24] and I believe that a strong economy requires a quality public education as it develops a quality

[3:06:30] workforce that will drive a vibrant call that economy as we work to come out of this economic

[3:06:35] impact of COVID. So a little about our district, our board decided to vote on an overall plan

[3:06:41] for learning back in June, given how he knew back then, guess what it's changed. We had a five step

[3:06:47] plan that seemed perfectly reasonable back then. We are now looking at a plan two plus, which was

[3:06:54] not on our radar screen back then. But we did provide our families with three options, which may

[3:06:59] a little different than what other school districts have done. One is common. We have completely

[3:07:05] online to Boulder Universal. We have online learning to school and then we have in-school

[3:07:11] and able to return. We had over a thousand families if I have my numbers right and Rob will correct

[3:07:16] me if I'm long that signed up for Boulder Universal. But we found most of our families love their

[3:07:21] school, not surprisingly, and wanted to be able to come back when we could. So our new plan

[3:07:26] are too plus, which was developed with our working group,

[3:07:30] as our K-True 2 and Intensis Special Education students

[3:07:33] coming back next Monday, with a phase for bringing in our 3-2-5

[3:07:38] to a phase in plan and a hybrid approach

[3:07:40] for our middle and high school students.

[3:07:42] With our hope that all of our students

[3:07:44] will be back in some portion of in-person learning

[3:07:47] by the middle of November.

[3:07:49] Please keep in mind that Boulder is the little unique

[3:07:52] in that we share our community with the University

[3:07:54] of Colorado.

[3:07:55] And as many of you may have read, our numbers two and a half weeks ago, we're looking

[3:07:59] just fine, and now I think us and another few counties may be the state in increasing

[3:08:04] numbers of COVID.

[3:08:05] So we're always having to adapt to that.

[3:08:08] I'd also like to talk a little bit about the CARES dollars in the Esther Financial Support,

[3:08:12] because we are very appreciative of that coming from the federal government and from the

[3:08:17] state.

[3:08:18] In bolder, we received about $14.3 million dollars, and that our targets received approximately

[3:08:24] a million dollars. These resources we use to support employee,

[3:08:28] personnel protection equipment,

[3:08:31] teacher Chromebooks, and a system to allow remote teaching,

[3:08:34] as well as the increase in instructional time from the spring.

[3:08:38] We're also like you've heard this running experience

[3:08:40] and they could decline in enrollment as on many districts.

[3:08:43] Our current projection is that we've lost around 1100 students.

[3:08:48] So enrollment averaging is helpful, but not sufficient.

[3:08:51] But we would like to partner with the state is defined a way to have enrollment stabilization,

[3:08:57] which would be very beneficial.

[3:08:59] A commitment as soon as possible to that will allow us to stabilize our communities,

[3:09:04] stabilize unemployment, reduce uncertainty about school options next spring and fall,

[3:09:09] and help our struggling learners as soon as possible.

[3:09:13] With enrollment comes in under-projections, we ask the appropriation remaining constant

[3:09:17] And it's used to reduce the debt owed to K-12, which, as you all know, is over a billion dollars.

[3:09:24] And as I close, I would like to remind all of us that, as board members and as elected on the officials,

[3:09:31] we need to keep in mind the collective.

[3:09:33] And this quote was just sent to me by our brilliant communications director of CASB season

[3:09:38] and make, and I just want to share it really quickly at short-eye promise.

[3:09:41] The brilliance of the human species lies in our ability to put collected interest ahead of our own.

[3:09:46] We have the opportunity every day that contributes collective efforts and others was.

[3:09:51] These contributions will live on well beyond our brief lifespan on here on earth.

[3:09:55] Thank you, and I remain open for questions.

[3:10:01] Okay, thank you very much, Kathy, for your hard work.

[3:10:04] Who would like to go next?

[3:10:07] You had a Kathy.

[3:10:08] We'll just start with the Kathy's today.

[3:10:11] Thanks, we got Matt and Chair.

[3:10:12] I think that I'm going to be speaking next, can everyone hear me okay?

[3:10:17] Yep.

[3:10:17] We're good.

[3:10:20] Thank you for having me, Rob Anderson, and the crowd superintendent of the Boulder Valley School District here in Boulder, Colorado.

[3:10:28] Certainly have learned a ton over the past seven months.

[3:10:32] And when I think about one of the things that I think that has learned the most is that our public education system is really built upon predictability.

[3:10:40] The ability to predict staffing, student enrollment, funding, being able to procure and understand

[3:10:48] a supply chain so we can get what we need for our kids and be able to predict safety.

[3:10:53] And I'll tell you, community members, that we are operating and incredibly unpredictable

[3:10:58] environment and each and every one of those areas.

[3:11:01] I would say that there's really two big challenges I'd like to speak to you all today

[3:11:05] that hard you haven't been shared and some of them actually have.

[3:11:09] And that is the reliability of information

[3:11:12] and the logistical challenge that this pandemic creates.

[3:11:16] That not everybody may understand or see

[3:11:18] those especially working outside of school districts.

[3:11:23] The reality that we're dealing with is the fact

[3:11:25] during a pandemic have an incredibly short shelf life.

[3:11:29] And where we're talking about expert guidance,

[3:11:31] local health situation as Kathy just referred to.

[3:11:35] Here in Boulder, which has changed drastically over the past three weeks, the logistical

[3:11:40] challenge that we are all running into and trying to make everything work.

[3:11:44] I've been referring to those as running into invisible brick walls.

[3:11:49] Information and all these things are shifting rapidly.

[3:11:52] Rapidly, if we're lucky, something stays true for two weeks, and if stakeholders don't

[3:11:58] stay engaged constantly, they're misinformed.

[3:12:01] I think that creates a communication issue.

[3:12:03] and Boulevard School District, so we've gone in great lengths to constantly communicate and update our parents and provide them opportunities to share their concerns and engage with our staff regarding their questions.

[3:12:14] In regards to the judicial challenge in regards to staffing that several folks have spoken to earlier,

[3:12:22] there's a big challenge in regards to in person versus online requests from parents and regards to options that they're looking for for their kids to best serve their needs.

[3:12:33] versus the online ability of staff.

[3:12:36] And I would say that every school district,

[3:12:37] school charter school private school,

[3:12:40] any school would have you had this formula

[3:12:42] that they're wrestling with.

[3:12:43] In our district, we had about 4% of our parents

[3:12:46] who wanted to sign up for online.

[3:12:48] And we had about 20% of our teachers

[3:12:50] who qualified for medical exemptions.

[3:12:54] All of the medical documentation

[3:12:55] that we collected was from licensed physicians,

[3:12:58] followed CDC guidance and the governor's executive orders.

[3:13:01] So the end result for us is limited staffing for in-person learning, even when our health partners

[3:13:06] theme it says.

[3:13:08] And so that's one of the many challenges that we're wrestling with.

[3:13:11] I will tell you that there's been some great successes and I think that our greatest success

[3:13:16] and Kathy alluded to this is that in this really difficult time where there's the potential

[3:13:23] to be split apart as the community we're working incredibly hard to come together, we've

[3:13:31] administrators parents to help us work through some of the logistical challenges and understand

[3:13:37] everything that it is that we're dealing with. I think that every interest group or or state

[3:13:43] holder has a set of blind spots as we're navigating this and so by working together we're able to

[3:13:48] share those blind spots and come up with solutions that we feel like that are working. I would also

[3:13:54] be remiss if I didn't share with you a success or incredible partnership with Boulder County

[3:13:58] public health and group group public health who have guided and directed us in regards to the health and safety.

[3:14:04] We've also had I think significant successes in regards to technology.

[3:14:10] We have developed a public private partnership with live wire, which is an arrangement in which we give them real estate for their transmitters and receivers.

[3:14:19] And access to our dark fiber and our buildings.

[3:14:21] and then they allow us to get free internet

[3:14:23] for qualifying students and also share

[3:14:25] in some of the revenue.

[3:14:27] We have five schools serving students

[3:14:29] right now, three schools underway

[3:14:31] and hope that will fold three in the next three

[3:14:34] or is a full district rollout.

[3:14:37] And I would end similar to some of the things

[3:14:40] that Kathy shared in an environment

[3:14:42] with increased unpredictability.

[3:14:45] With all of the things that I mentioned,

[3:14:47] I think the one thing that we can make predictability

[3:14:49] funding. And so to make sure that we're properly funding our schools with the understanding

[3:14:55] that working within a pandemic our expenses are going up they're not going

[3:15:00] Now, certainly, there are some savings, but we're finding expenses going up. And that if funding is another challenge and variable that we have to deal with it, certainly, it creates increased complexity in what is one of the most complex problems I think public education has ever had to solve.

[3:15:16] So, again, appreciate the opportunity to speak with you all today. And I'll pause, I don't think that I'm sure I'll be next, and then happy to respond to any questions you may have.

[3:15:26] Great, great. Thank you so much for all this.

[3:15:29] There's a lot, so thank you.

[3:15:33] Okay, Adam's 12, you can do a nose goes between you here.

[3:15:37] Sorry, decided that early on.

[3:15:39] Good.

[3:15:40] Adam's here, I'm very honored to be here today

[3:15:42] to really share our experiences

[3:15:44] in Adam's 12th, the Honcing Public Health and Safety

[3:15:47] with our commitment to educating all students

[3:15:50] in a crazy time of COVID.

[3:15:53] We recognize that the impacts of the pandemic

[3:15:56] are everywhere in our greater for some than others, and our commitment is to not let anyone

[3:16:01] fall behind. I want to start by sharing how Adam's 12 and I know many other districts

[3:16:06] really stepped up to serve our families and students the spring and summer that's a huge

[3:16:11] important part of the store because we really are about educating our kids but caring for them as

[3:16:17] of individuals and families too.

[3:16:20] So staff members, this summer, we served 890,000 and 87 meals.

[3:16:27] We've distributed 24,642 comb books to try and bridge that digital divide

[3:16:34] and have provided 261 hotspots.

[3:16:38] Over the summer while school was technically closed,

[3:16:41] we have staff members supporting mobile food and resource distribution efforts,

[3:16:45] And they also staff 20 days of resource sharing at two of our high schools.

[3:16:52] This took a great deal of community partnership.

[3:16:55] Donations were coordinated and collected from 15 community organizations.

[3:17:00] And I would say partnership has been one of the key successes in how we've dealt with COVID

[3:17:05] with our counties, our cities, and our local agencies.

[3:17:08] In addition, 251 referrals were processed for things like housing, rental assistance and

[3:17:16] utilities.

[3:17:20] We heard a lot this morning about stress and it's, you know, out of 12 has worked to complete

[3:17:29] three district-wide learning and operational transformations since March.

[3:17:34] So, the first one was the remote learning in March that we all experienced.

[3:17:39] Our second was when we decided as a district that we would start this fall with remote learning,

[3:17:44] and now we are transitioning to a new state of being by October 1,

[3:17:49] to in-person options, K-5 will go K, will go 5 days or 6 through 12th grade will be in a hybrid.

[3:17:58] Parents can also select to remain remote.

[3:18:03] It's been important for us to hear from our community and teachers, we have conducted numerous

[3:18:08] staff and family surveys along the way during our decision making process.

[3:18:14] We try and provide regular weekly communications with staff and families, videos, newsletters.

[3:18:20] Of course, our board emails are open and have been utilized extensively during the process.

[3:18:27] We've also done focus groups with teachers and have groups that are now working on real

[3:18:32] hammering out all those on the ground details of how class is going to look in these new models.

[3:18:38] So in a regular year, decisions on learning how to go to your complex in a COVID year, they're almost dizzying.

[3:18:46] Whether you're looking at teaching in person, remote or a combination, so that's been a huge challenge.

[3:18:53] I'll mention a little bit more about safety.

[3:18:56] That's been a huge priority as I know it is for older valiant others with what's very hard and close with our two public health agencies to look at trends.

[3:19:07] Each district is making decisions based on what's happening with COVID data in their area.

[3:19:12] And we have strong, safety measures in place in schools, including masking, ventilation, cohorting social distancing and those kind of things.

[3:19:22] And that really causes our staff to look at each space and a building, and basically reconfigure

[3:19:28] how we can use it based on public health guidance.

[3:19:31] Now we're adding sports and special events on top of it and it's really the picture of complexity

[3:19:38] couldn't be more complete.

[3:19:41] I will just add the four paths of Mike over to Chris, how much we appreciate our staff,

[3:19:47] administrators, teachers have stepped forward and really gone above and beyond what

[3:19:52] are normally demanding jobs require and some of them have two fears as we look to this

[3:19:59] transition about going back to in learning classroom in the classroom and exposure.

[3:20:04] And we're doing our very best to make everyone feel safe and secure as they go back to learning.

[3:20:10] So thank you for your time and I'll be around for questions.

[3:20:13] I'll turn it over to our kids for intended.

[3:20:17] Madam Chair committee members, that's a privilege to join you this afternoon.

[3:20:20] I'm Chris Getowski, Superintendent with Addams 12.

[3:20:24] I understand the committee might have some interest in morning more about our learning

[3:20:26] pod implementation and addams 12, so I'll start there and then transition into a few other

[3:20:31] key challenges and barriers that we've been working through.

[3:20:36] Learning pods are born out in necessity for us.

[3:20:38] Addams 12 found itself along with most of Addams County back in late July with a really high rate of

[3:20:44] transmission in the virus.

[3:20:46] We have levels that under new CDPHE guidance made us high risk, under the safer at home,

[3:20:54] dial and recommended that remote learning, the implemented instead of in person.

[3:21:00] And so what we're in pods that we saw as an opportunity, especially at the elementary and

[3:21:03] middle school levels, that have smaller groups of students up to 12, come to a classroom

[3:21:09] be more distance six feet or more as possible with small group systems, and we've be able to

[3:21:17] have smart groups that kids potentially be quarantined if that was necessary. We've found that

[3:21:22] over 4,000 students were able to access plumbing prizes. We implemented them. Our demand was

[3:21:27] greater than that. We weren't able to staff all of the demand that was out there. It allowed us to

[3:21:33] deal with some of the barriers that come with remote learning. One is internet connectivity,

[3:21:37] And so students who had internet connectivity challenges at home were prioritized in terms of one-in-put access.

[3:21:44] Some students because of language barriers or because of technology, technology being unfamiliar to parents,

[3:21:52] being supported adequately at home would be challenging and so we hope to have staff members and some tech training that could help students get back online

[3:22:00] or bigger than 1,000 in online curriculum, and so that was a second need that we were able to address.

[3:22:05] Being kids together in the setting allowed students to have their social emotional learning needs better mat

[3:22:10] and to build community and connections with one another more readily than a truly online setting.

[3:22:18] And then on the parent side it allowed those who have what responsibility to have their kids safely taking care of and supervise and supported

[3:22:26] While they had to get off to work, it also allowed us to support first responders and medical providers and our communities so they could take on those important duties and serving the community.

[3:22:37] And then finally, the third leg of this stool that was helpful to support our support staff, our classified staff.

[3:22:44] They were the ones who came in and supervised these morning pods.

[3:22:48] The previous jobs have been bus driver, care professional, food service employee, before

[3:22:56] an after school care employees and a number of roles beyond that, and we're able to

[3:23:01] transition them into the space.

[3:23:04] They were comfortable with kids, they worked with kids in the prior roles, they'd have to

[3:23:08] do quite a bit of learning around technology and classroom management, no doubt about that.

[3:23:12] But it was a great way for them to continue on with the support with they always do in supporting student learning and also be in a spot where they could continue to earn a full-time paycheck if that was their interest.

[3:23:25] And it worked really, really well for us in terms of managing all of those interests that I've described.

[3:23:30] Today as our last day with learning pods not because they've not met expectations but because the virus rates have improved.

[3:23:37] in a significant way in Adams County since late July, and we feel like we can safely

[3:23:41] quickly transition into some in-person learning next week as Kathy had mentioned.

[3:23:47] So, while there's some pieces of brown learning positive, I'd be happy to answer more questions about.

[3:23:52] In terms of barriers, I've heard others speaking about these same issues of funding and staffing,

[3:23:58] and I'm going to reiterate those same things with some different data points.

[3:24:03] So, one of the data points I think is helpful to know is that there's tremendous scarcity

[3:24:06] in terms of finding staffing right now to do the work.

[3:24:10] A lot of talk about some of the challenges that can exist

[3:24:13] and having sufficient teaching staff

[3:24:16] depending on medical conditions they may have.

[3:24:19] For us, an Adams 12.

[3:24:21] On the bus driver's side of things, we have over 30 bus drivers

[3:24:24] that are currently out on reasons of absence

[3:24:26] or are resigned or required

[3:24:29] because of their unwillingness to work

[3:24:31] in an in-person setting in these circumstances.

[3:24:33] is that's about 25% of our staff in our transportation group.

[3:24:39] And so, puts districts in a position where oftentimes you're forced to make difficult decisions,

[3:24:44] like no longer providing transportation as soon as the high school level.

[3:24:48] We're not there yet in ABAM's 12, but we are razor thin, in terms of having sufficient staffing

[3:24:53] in transportation to do that work well.

[3:24:56] Likewise, we find ourselves like other districts very short on substitute teachers, typically

[3:25:02] have a pool of about 600 substitute teachers and even what that large pool, many of them say

[3:25:08] I can't work today or I can't work in that assignment and we struggled even with 600

[3:25:14] in our traditional pool that has sufficient class coverage a hundred percent of the time.

[3:25:19] We are off on we are at 85 to 90 percent of our sub and they can see we have been filled and

[3:25:25] instead we usually have administrators and teachers covering classes. Right now we will have

[3:25:30] 288 subs in our pool, so about a third of what we typically have, and so that creates challenges

[3:25:36] in terms of coverage.

[3:25:38] A lot of requires is that you have an all hands-on deck approach where you take folks who

[3:25:42] have other valuable roles like instructional coaches who help educators implement curriculum

[3:25:48] well.

[3:25:49] Look at data about how students are progressing, adjust instruction, depending on what data

[3:25:55] shows, differentiate their instruction to meet the needs of diverse kids in their classroom.

[3:26:00] And we need to have coaches come in and feel classroom spots.

[3:26:04] And you have social, emotional learning specialists doing that and visual literacy professionals

[3:26:09] doing that same work.

[3:26:11] There are gaps out there in terms of the other work that they do that's tremendously valuable.

[3:26:15] But I think it's going to have some adverse impacts in terms of student learning and growth this year.

[3:26:21] At the other point that I would highlight around funding and need in the COVID era is we

[3:26:27] want a little bit backward in our funding, given the BS factor, negative factor, increased

[3:26:34] this year.

[3:26:35] That was largely offset but not all the way with federal funding.

[3:26:38] We still were net $3.2 million to the negative and add them as well as you blend those things

[3:26:44] together.

[3:26:46] And so often folks talk about some of the obvious needs that come in serving kids in a remote setting or dealing with COVID, whether it's online curriculum,

[3:26:56] more computers, finding ways to get kids connected to internet, buying PPE, testing staff and students for COVID,

[3:27:04] what's really talked about is class size.

[3:27:06] And I think many of us find ourselves in the spot of either needing the higher and more staff to provide appropriate class sizes,

[3:27:13] or super-sizing remote online learning class sizes because that's the way to balance out the equation.

[3:27:22] So in Adam's 12, what we find is our classrooms will accommodate no more than 24 students with rare exception

[3:27:28] and in-person settings at the elementary level.

[3:27:33] And our typical model calls for us to have up to 29 students and many of our elementary classrooms, especially in grade 3 through 5.

[3:27:40] And then that deficit that we find ourselves in, as we accommodate those constraints, so we have students into a physically safe environment, as we need 50 more teachers to either maintain 24 students in a class and an in person setting.

[3:27:57] And the key of reasonable class sizes in the online setting, if we weren't to have another 50 teachers that we either hire or that we staff by having instructional coaches and social motion running specialist and digital literacy specialist to go in, our class sizes in remote would be 40 to 50 plus an elementary that is just not going to work in terms of helping to navigate through build relationships get their questions answered.

[3:28:26] So I believe not only short-term but long-term one of the very profound challenges facing

[3:28:31] us is to have smaller class sizes than we traditionally do and funding some of the

[3:28:37] essential for us to be able to make that work well.

[3:28:40] The final thing I would talk about in terms of barriers and challenges relates to quarantine

[3:28:44] and there have been some references that I've heard to that today.

[3:28:49] I know that public health officials are talking actively now about whether there can be modifications

[3:28:54] to quarantine, both in terms of duration of quarantine and scope.

[3:28:59] And so I would just share with the committee some of what I've heard in those conversations.

[3:29:03] We want to some discussion about whether 14 days is the appropriate length of time to quarantine individuals.

[3:29:10] I've heard public health officials share with me that 95% of the transmission that happens following exposure to someone who is positive occurs within the first 5.1 days following that exposure.

[3:29:22] And so I've heard a number of public health officials questioning whether a 14 day quarantine is necessary given the only 5% of what they're seeing in terms of document transmission occurs during the final nine days of quarantine.

[3:29:37] That's an important factor for us to consider.

[3:29:40] is something that limits our ability to have a productive learning and in-person settings when we're

[3:29:47] having a certain staff and students out for 14 days, as it proves to be necessary

[3:29:51] improving from a public health lens, we completely supported on the staff side announced for all

[3:29:58] I just, um, in hearing something.

[3:30:00] Questioning whether that is the right duration to use. And then the second related issue is how big should the scope be in quarantine.

[3:30:09] There's been a conflict that we've seen for quite a while at school administrators about quarantining those based upon exposure versus quarantining staff and students based upon their membership in a cohort.

[3:30:21] On exposure at so much more limited targeted quarantine approach and that you only placed students in quarantine who've been within six feet of one another for 15 minutes or longer.

[3:30:33] And as an expose to someone at the virus, in a cohort situation, you might be placing 200 students within a group of classes at the high school model who've been around each other over their six to eight course day over the prior to school days.

[3:30:50] And so, obviously, the number of students and staff that you're touching can

[3:30:54] different dramatically depending on what you use the cohort basis for quarantine or

[3:30:59] the more targeted approach based upon exposure, I'm welcoming the dialogue I hear going on with

[3:31:06] public health about that piece because it has huge implications about whether in person, whether

[3:31:10] it's every day or a two-day per week hybrid, which we're doing at the secondary, it has huge

[3:31:16] applications about whether that can really work

[3:31:18] and a productive and consistent way for students and families.

[3:31:22] Thanks very much for letting me share it today.

[3:31:26] Well, thank you, Superintendent, for really showing us how

[3:31:29] difficult public education is in these conditions.

[3:31:34] So it's not just an easy, yes or no, do it this way or that way.

[3:31:39] So I'm very much appreciate your contribution today.

[3:31:43] So Dave Lockley, please, and welcome

[3:31:45] Yeah, I'm introduced yourself and carry on, please.

[3:31:51] Members of the Education Committee, my name is Dave Lockley.

[3:31:54] I am the president of the District 12 Educators Association,

[3:31:58] not DCCA, I'm like you said previously.

[3:32:02] I won't take up any no problem.

[3:32:03] Representative McLaughlin,

[3:32:08] here to represent the employees of Adam Swell.

[3:32:11] My colleague, Paul Williams, who's originally going to be here today.

[3:32:16] to be emergency room and was unable to join us today.

[3:32:22] So, I do have some notes here for him, so I'll be able to share a little bit of their perspective as well.

[3:32:33] One of the things I just wanted to take to point out about what I think is the most important thing that's happened in Adam's 12 throughout this entire process.

[3:32:42] And there's really one of the foundations of what I think makes that unswell, successful, is the collaboration that exists between our two employee associations and the superintendents and school board.

[3:32:55] We have made sure that as a system that employees had a voice and a say and were respected throughout this entire entire process.

[3:33:05] That has been the case. From day one, we were sitting in the warm room waiting to figure out what we were going to do when COVID-19 first started hitting all the way up to today and yesterday and all of this week as we're trying to solve many of the problems that super intended about to be with able to highlight and I think that's one of the things that's going to make us successful and continue to make it successful throughout this entire

[3:33:34] mixture and mentioned some of the employee perspective of a box around the pods.

[3:33:41] that Adam Swag was able to,

[3:33:47] I think overall employees sounded to be successful as an opportunity to one provide,

[3:33:53] I

[3:33:58] had employees who might otherwise have been able to not be able to receive the same kind of hours.

[3:34:05] And many of them have, in fact, been able to increase their hours from doing, you know, a two or three hour employee to being a full time employee during this time.

[3:34:17] There's also been employees in the classified realm.

[3:34:20] That's my daughter's kind of a nice little arm-to-meeting unit.

[3:34:23] Okay, I'll give that to you by the side about that.

[3:34:26] One of the joys of working at home on these days,

[3:34:33] many of these employees have been able to find a new interest

[3:34:36] in working with our students that maybe didn't have the opportunity

[3:34:41] and are now looking at new opportunities,

[3:34:43] whether that's becoming a classroom pair and they work before

[3:34:46] or maybe going into teaching or somehow getting more

[3:34:49] involved with our students. So it's been a stream success. I've been an employee at parents

[3:34:56] and I'd graduate at about 12, basically my entire life. I've lived here at a whole time and I

[3:35:03] have never been a router of our community, of our staff and everyone that we've done and tried

[3:35:11] to take all of these challenges ahead on. At the same time, there's a lot of here.

[3:35:18] and concerns in our whole community.

[3:35:21] You know, the parents I watched are teachers

[3:35:24] work tirelessly for my daughter,

[3:35:27] but you just saw her a few her little cameo

[3:35:29] and my son.

[3:35:30] But knowing that they're, they're five or fours

[3:35:33] and they're ALPs, they're advanced running clients.

[3:35:36] And as my son, they can get the parents

[3:35:37] for the herding name.

[3:35:43] Joy of the being a home.

[3:35:46] They ran into each other for my apologies,

[3:35:48] representatives and senators.

[3:35:52] is that they weren't, they're not, their educational needs are not being met in this

[3:35:57] current environment. Not because our teachers aren't struggling, that's hard as they can

[3:36:01] be able to meet it, but just the limitations of being online. And even when we move into

[3:36:06] persons, the limitations of not being able to have individualized curriculum that needs one of them truly

[3:36:12] needs. The differentiation is going to be a challenge and a struggle that each of our educators are going to work tirelessly

[3:36:19] to be able to accomplish, but at the end of the day there is going to be loaning gaps, and that is the biggest shame and the biggest heartbreak I have, it's actually what keeps me up at night.

[3:36:29] It's the fact that my students and all of the students about them 12 are not going to get everything they need this year.

[3:36:37] And that's, you know, not because the superintendent and our associations and our teachers aren't doing everything they can.

[3:36:44] It's just that we don't have the resources to be able to do that.

[3:36:48] She's pretending to get out, she's talked about online classes for those families that are at risk,

[3:36:53] or fearful of returning to in person at 38, 35, that is just a size and number that is just

[3:37:01] unable to meet those needs in an online environment. It's just impossible to make it happen.

[3:37:08] Our staff had fears about returning about what it's going to look like as we pivot from online

[3:37:13] instruction to in-person instruction. These fears are real and are going to be something that we're

[3:37:19] all going to have to live with as we try to adjust into these fears every single day

[3:37:25] are going to be a challenge and a struggle because instead of focusing on what the students need

[3:37:31] and interacting with those students, they're going to be the momentary hesitation of MI2 close to

[3:37:37] students. Am I putting this student or myself at risk? Instead of being able to feel like they

[3:37:45] can openly participate in activity, whether it's before or after school or students, there's

[3:37:49] this fear of what's going to happen. Am I putting my own family at risk? Right now we have a deadline

[3:37:55] for our educators about making a decision about whether or not they're going to return. And I

[3:38:00] have been fielding and my colleague Paula's well, hundreds at this point probably thousands of phone calls and emails and text messages and I think a carrier pigeon or two of just peers and concerns about what are they going to do.

[3:38:15] How can we help them and I don't have an answer for that.

[3:38:19] I don't think any of us on this call have an answer for that.

[3:38:22] Our educators are at a breaking point and our system is at a breaking.

[3:38:28] more support. We need more support from the state. We need more support from the federal government. Our

[3:38:33] district has done everything possible. Everything within their power, they have done over backwards.

[3:38:40] They have done everything they can, but we have run out of cars. We run out of trips. We have nothing

[3:38:47] left. And our students don't have until next year. They don't have until next week. They need help from

[3:38:55] the federal government in the state government's day.

[3:38:59] As I've been in this district,

[3:39:01] I have seen the highs of the best funding we've ever had

[3:39:04] as a system, and I have done nothing

[3:39:07] but watched that change,

[3:39:09] and the support from the federal government

[3:39:10] in the state change to the point now

[3:39:13] where I have to tell my son that we can't have the class

[3:39:19] by the beginning.

[3:39:20] He doesn't get the interventionist time that he needs.

[3:39:23] And that breaks my heart.

[3:39:24] As an educator and as a parent, I had to get my son on a 504 for his learning disability and it took me too long because before all of this was happening we didn't have enough resources.

[3:39:38] Now, we are nowhere close to enough resources to be able to meet our students and the shame that I am watching and there's like kind of like watching a train wreck happen is that we are going to have more deaths.

[3:39:54] We are going to have more struggles.

[3:39:56] Our students are going to fall further behind, not because every one of our educators and I just

[3:40:00] are going to do every single thing possible, but because we have nothing left to give.

[3:40:09] Thank you, representatives and senators for your time today and allowing me to speak.

[3:40:15] I would just like to also thank Superintendent Debussy and Board President Cuomo for their

[3:40:19] ongoing partnership and collaboration with myself and Paul Williams.

[3:40:23] I wanted to begin and end in that way because that is going to be the key that we'll get all

[3:40:28] districts through that just they can work together at the community.

[3:40:33] Thank you.

[3:40:33] I will be available if you have any questions or comments from the afterwards.

[3:40:40] Okay.

[3:40:40] Thank you so much.

[3:40:41] I think all of you kind of brought to life in the nitty gritty of what's going on in the schools,

[3:40:47] which I think most people don't.

[3:40:49] It's not.

[3:40:49] You can't always take that overall view to look.

[3:40:51] I do want to tell you before we get started with our five-minute minutes of questions that you

[3:40:58] representative Michael Finjene could not be here today for this moment, but she wanted to

[3:41:03] say that she's hearing you and she's on your side on this, okay? So just thought I'd throw that

[3:41:09] in for you. So let's start with five minutes of questions and Senator Bridges, you had one.

[3:41:17] Madam Chair. Yeah, I first of all, it's unbelievable what it is that you all are doing.

[3:41:24] What you, what you've been asked to do and how much you've been able to do with, frankly, the

[3:41:29] underfunding of education that we've had in this state is just a chronic challenge since the

[3:41:34] invention of the negative factor, which I call the unconstitutional factor, since I think that,

[3:41:39] you know, there's a, there's a duty that we have under the constitution to fund and we're not

[3:41:43] But somehow the court said it was okay, so that's my general attitude about the negative factor.

[3:41:51] But I've heard of you today say that there should be a whole harmless immediately.

[3:41:55] We should just state that immediately.

[3:41:57] And then it goes back to my comments earlier in today's session about the kids that aren't there right now.

[3:42:04] And the parents that wouldn't even be able to be here today, if there was some opportunity for them because they're just underwater.

[3:42:12] they're just overwhelmed. And I am deeply concerned about the fact that, first of all, we don't

[3:42:17] really have any good numbers on what attendance looks like. In districts, we don't have insight

[3:42:23] into why some of those kids have sort of disappeared. And without being really assured that every

[3:42:31] district is using every means necessary, every means available to try and get those kids in the classrooms,

[3:42:37] that we would have a whole harmless for those districts, especially when some districts really

[3:42:43] are doing everything they can to get those kids in the classroom, if other districts

[3:42:48] that are just like, well, we'll get them on anyway, there's no incentive for them to go out

[3:42:52] and find those kids.

[3:42:53] And as the last speaker put it, our students don't have until next year.

[3:42:59] We need to do everything we can to make sure that these students are in classes this year,

[3:43:04] even with the challenges of educating someone this year we need to make sure those kids are

[3:43:09] classrooms. And so I'm deeply in comfort with the idea of a whole harmless announced now before

[3:43:17] we even know what the data is here in our Colorado School District. I'd love to hear some thoughts on that.

[3:43:28] Would anyone like to join in? Yes, I'm super kidding. Good asky.

[3:43:34] So, Senator Bridges, I'll just share some data that may or may not be helpful in terms of the issue you've presented.

[3:43:40] And Adam's 12 is the figure today, we're down 718 students district wide, 732 of them are elementary.

[3:43:48] So, actually, slightly up at middle and high schoolers were sitting here today.

[3:43:53] Probably, more than 60% of those students at elementary are from kindergarten first grade.

[3:43:59] What I often hear is that parents aren't sitting in their kids because of the lack of effort,

[3:44:05] or lack of desire on our part to serve them.

[3:44:08] Many of them are registering their kindergarteners, so that they can have a more typical experience

[3:44:13] a year from now, or at least that's a whole group of parents.

[3:44:16] Others just have such great concerns about the virus that they're not willing to send their kids

[3:44:21] who came in person setting, and because we've had some more structured remote learning in

[3:44:27] Adam's 12, and I think a number of districts have done that, less asynchronous like

[3:44:31] we have in the spring, a more structured synchronous instruction where the educators working

[3:44:36] with students from literacy from 9 to 930 and math from 10 to 1030, that more structured

[3:44:42] approach for some doesn't work as well.

[3:44:44] They want greater freedom just to do learning at home to meet their needs, and there becomes

[3:44:49] certain point where you just can't have enough models to meet all the needs and do

[3:44:54] any of it well. So that's a piece of it. The other thing that would

[3:44:57] sum it out there is this class.

[3:45:00] Besides peace that I mentioned before, number one, I think we're making earnest efforts to have a lot of different models to meet the needs of kids, so we're making the right shared decisions and other factors that are driving them not annoying their kids.

[3:45:14] But we'll also need to serve kids in smaller environments than we have before.

[3:45:19] And so one of the benefits I see is that most of the kids who aren't coming right now and annoying are elementary, and that's where we need to have a much smaller class sizes.

[3:45:28] So whether you're doing in-person or remote, you can manage it appropriately, and keeping hold

[3:45:33] harmless around student enrollment count would allow us to do that.

[3:45:39] That's great.

[3:45:40] It sounds like you have, you have, you have insight into exactly which kids are missing

[3:45:45] and why they're not there.

[3:45:47] And what I would hate to see is other districts that haven't invested the time and energy

[3:45:51] and resources and finding out that information, still get rewarded the same as you, given

[3:45:57] all the work that you've done.

[3:45:58] So I'd love, is there that kind of insight in every district in the state and is there

[3:46:05] some way that we can get, we can make sure that that's compiled at a statewide level?

[3:46:15] Do miles, would you like to go?

[3:46:18] Just with like dad, kind of registered, it's really right now that number is hard to find

[3:46:24] because of this October count window, so that won't get solved by districts, they won't submit

[3:46:31] that until almost the end of November.

[3:46:34] So I feel very confident that each school district

[3:46:37] is going to be able to tell the story of why those students

[3:46:40] aren't there.

[3:46:42] It's just right now everyone is compiling that in total

[3:46:45] because we're just opening up that window

[3:46:48] and starting that process.

[3:46:49] It's already a cumbersome event in a lot of our school

[3:46:54] districts anyway.

[3:46:55] And so going through those normal channels, people who

[3:46:58] are normally in charge of looking at October

[3:47:00] count stuff are contact tracing, taking temperatures, doing some other things right now too.

[3:47:06] But I feel very confident we'll have that at the end of that count window.

[3:47:10] The one thing that we've just asked everyone to consider is that we superintendents before

[3:47:15] you today and all the others across the state entered into all of those contracts with their employees

[3:47:22] in May and June.

[3:47:23] And so there's our other this contracts right now and then then we find out now who's coming in and who's not coming in.

[3:47:33] So those contacts are going to make up anywhere between 75 to 90% of the total budget of some of these school districts.

[3:47:41] So lots of understanding and grace will be needed and as far as the idea of an incentive.

[3:47:48] I wholeheartedly believe the incentive is among the educators that just want their kids in the building not a budget incentive.

[3:48:02] Thank you Senator Bridges.

[3:48:04] I would say the one challenge that we have is, and I shared with us earlier, is that all of our systems aren't built for what we're dealing with.

[3:48:12] Right, I think our district Adams 12 as Brett's head districts across the state of Colorado are doing everything we can

[3:48:19] to make sure that the kids that haven't shown up will figure out where they are.

[3:48:23] Because when they come back, we're going to have to serve them.

[3:48:26] We have an obligation to serve all of the kids within our community.

[3:48:29] We take that obligation very seriously.

[3:48:32] I don't know that you can change the funding system to meet the needs of where we are.

[3:48:37] So the idea that you would hold funding harmless or create different systems to account for

[3:48:45] where we are today, I think is going to be critical for us to continue to serve the communities

[3:48:50] that we're having to serve.

[3:48:55] Representative Geitner, let's get with you in a minute.

[3:49:01] If

[3:49:05] you're talking to me or if you're talking to me or if you're talking to Representative

[3:49:14] I'm sorry, not the online in person, learning will be beginning soon or maybe that decision

[3:49:19] is yet to be made, but in light of the online learning that has been happening, I saw

[3:49:24] the Boulder Valley School District Community Schools Child Care Program for the fall 2020

[3:49:30] COVID-19 Justice Child Care rates, let's take it and revise at 10 or 11.

[3:49:34] And it speaks to or addresses the, it's called the school age care, so that obviously school age students that could take place in K through five and K through eight schools.

[3:49:49] And it looks like it's $740 a month and so my question is that it seems like there are parents that can afford to probably pay to have the in person option.

[3:49:59] But it seems that they're effectively paying twice.

[3:50:03] And so when I look at the COVID crisis,

[3:50:05] I'm just, I guess the question I have had to do

[3:50:07] at how equitable is that,

[3:50:09] where you have this type of a scenario going on.

[3:50:11] If you could address that question, I would appreciate it.

[3:50:16] Absolutely, Representative Gardner,

[3:50:18] so thank you so much for that question.

[3:50:20] I would say that as we, as we began to open,

[3:50:23] as we ran to some of the logistical challenges

[3:50:26] that I referred to earlier,

[3:50:27] we knew that we would have to stand up

[3:50:30] some type of care for our community and for our families.

[3:50:34] We were very clear with our community that for those that we're in need and weren't able to afford.

[3:50:39] The rates which were at a discounted rate are roughly $40 a day that we were going to work with those folks.

[3:50:45] We subsidized those programs as well.

[3:50:48] As we ran into these challenges of not being able to open schools in our hybrid plan,

[3:50:53] which we had planned to because of staffing issues that we dealt with.

[3:50:56] We felt an obligation to our community to stand that up.

[3:50:59] We had hundreds of students participating in that, and again, those that had need, we were able to reach out.

[3:51:06] We were able to work with those families.

[3:51:14] Representative McCloskey.

[3:51:19] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[3:51:22] I just want to offer a couple of things in this conversation.

[3:51:26] I know our school district certainly starts there in Roman, there October 1st in Roman count process.

[3:51:33] The minute school begins.

[3:51:34] And I want to remind everyone that we are early, early in the school year.

[3:51:40] I think these are really good questions.

[3:51:42] Jeff, sorry Senator Bridges, I believe you've raised an important issue finding our

[3:51:47] kids.

[3:51:48] I believe by the end of October that we really will have accounted for the kids that we're

[3:51:54] struggling to capture right now.

[3:51:56] It is tough to think that any district doesn't care where the kids are.

[3:52:00] Thank you, Brett, for your comments that, you know, every educator is most concerned about the

[3:52:06] student and the student learning.

[3:52:08] I wish the funding piece wasn't connected in the way it is at this moment because I think

[3:52:14] that tends to distract us from what the real priority is and that's knowing where our kids

[3:52:19] are and how they're learning.

[3:52:20] I thought, here from this panel in particular, just your perspective on, you know, where things were, say, even a month ago for they are today, my hope is we're starting to settle into some routines and that you're beginning to feel a little more comfortable in these, that may not be exactly like comfortable with these challenges, but you're beginning to find your way.

[3:52:48] You know, I do remain concerned that we just need that bolster of confidence right now that we really can do this.

[3:52:57] And I'd love to know and hear that you're having some success. So if you can speak to just what you're seeing right now that really is positive and working well, I'd love to hear that.

[3:53:16] Thank you for that question.

[3:53:17] We're at McLaughlin or Reck McClowsky because they do think that, you know, when you feel

[3:53:22] the repulled out from underneath you it's hard to figure out where it is when it's being

[3:53:26] put back and if you can trust it. But we're just starting next week but I have to say that

[3:53:30] the hope is and we are feeling very comfortable in our plan because we had so much engagement

[3:53:35] with our community and putting it together. Teachers, as Rob said, and parents, and administrators

[3:53:40] and so what I'm starting to see is some hope that that'll work and some acknowledgement that

[3:53:46] in the way of that plan of place that it could change that we get at the quarantine that things

[3:53:50] are going to change and I think people are getting used to that as kind of the new normal

[3:53:54] and just needing to know that they have a structure that could change and then go back I think

[3:53:58] is giving us some comfort. Does that help? Because I don't think we can make the promise that

[3:54:03] you know this is the way it's going to be, but we have a plan, we have a plan for what happens when

[3:54:08] things fall apart and then we have a plan to put it back together. And so I think that's really

[3:54:12] comforting and helpful for our community.

[3:54:16] Thank you, Superintendent Grasky.

[3:54:19] I love that to share that we're in a place of just adapting and hitting our

[3:54:24] scribe with where we're at the answer is that because of these multiple transitions and

[3:54:29] models that we're president home and mentioned before, we're in another place of transition

[3:54:34] right now.

[3:54:36] And so that's creating a lot of stress and uncertainty in our system.

[3:54:39] One of the bioproducts of our approach, too, is that a number of our students will have

[3:54:43] different educators who are working with them, depending on what choices they've made for

[3:54:48] online versus in-person learning as we make the transition.

[3:54:52] So there's a lot of transition and a people that we go through, a number of folks at the

[3:54:57] central office have become more adapted, managing cases of presumed positive cases or

[3:55:03] confirmed positive cases and implementing quarantines and doing it in a way that causes

[3:55:08] a lot of stress and fear than it did through the summer, but just still to be candid, a lot

[3:55:15] of a lot of stress for our families, students, and educators, because of these transitions

[3:55:20] and trying something new.

[3:55:25] Thank you.

[3:55:26] Yes.

[3:55:27] Mr. Lockley.

[3:55:36] I go much of what Superintendent Gadowski said around successes around learning the tools and being

[3:55:42] a little bit more flexible in these spaces.

[3:55:46] But I would say that it's flexible as we are

[3:55:49] and as many tools as that we are learning.

[3:55:52] Every one of these transitions that we make

[3:55:55] loses precious learning time for each one of our students.

[3:55:59] It takes, you know, on the best case,

[3:56:02] when you're at 100% capacity and flexibility,

[3:56:05] it takes time, day, sometimes weeks for our students

[3:56:08] to get used to a new learning method

[3:56:10] if they are not, they are not used to.

[3:56:12] And so, you know, I watched that with my own students, and I watched that with educators,

[3:56:17] where you met at the beginning of the school year, even though we started last year,

[3:56:20] or ended last year, we in online learning, they still took them a week and a half or so

[3:56:25] to get used to online learning.

[3:56:27] It's going to take them a week and a half or more to get used to in person learning again.

[3:56:31] And each transition kind of create that ripple effect that will happen.

[3:56:37] So although we are becoming much more flexible in our ability to provide

[3:56:41] and

[3:56:45] they're still going to be a

[3:56:53] chance.

[3:56:53] Thank you.

[3:56:55] Thank you.

[3:56:57] I just feel like it's important with all the conversation about lack of resources and

[3:57:03] and they appreciate your comments from Adam's county.

[3:57:06] The challenge is you're facing and being stressed to the limit and having to

[3:57:11] compensate and compromise and and and and be

[3:57:19] you need to get done. That's the domino piece right behind the economy where the folks,

[3:57:27] the citizens who ultimately pay for all this, that they're in the position of suffering now.

[3:57:34] So, you know, the education does not directly generate revenue, it consumes the revenue,

[3:57:41] but it comes from a an economy that is able to support it. And that economy has been not

[3:57:49] hard and so as we have this perpetual emergency order in place that does not allow our natural

[3:57:55] economy to go forward then it's not going to get better and I just need to understand we don't

[3:58:03] have sufficient money now and we'll have less next year the economy is prevented from generating

[3:58:09] the revenue that you guys need so we need to let off on this on the knocking down the oppression

[3:58:17] of the economy through this perpetual emergency order so that we can get back to an economy

[3:58:24] that's cooking again so that we can then afford to fund education like it ought to be funded.

[3:58:31] But right now it's reflective of the community around you and it's real important that

[3:58:37] education be connected to the community around and understand that all of those parents are

[3:58:42] suffering in their households first and then they're suffering through the money that they are not able to pay through taxation to support the education of their kids after that.

[3:58:53] But it starts from the top and we're going to suffer for a while.

[3:58:58] So just to be honest and open with y'all, the money is not there now.

[3:59:04] We'll not be there next year as well.

[3:59:06] It'll be even less next year because there's because the economy is shut down for some time.

[3:59:11] So hopefully we'll get picked back up in another year or two, but it's going to be a long right.

[3:59:19] Thank you. We have a one question from Representative Geitner and one from Senator Sireen and we'll

[3:59:24] have kind of off here. Okay. Thank you. Representative Geitner.

[3:59:27] Thank you, Madam Chair. I just a follow-up on the question that I had asked earlier.

[3:59:31] I guess my question, what I'm trying to reconcile is when it comes to the child care aspect and

[3:59:38] asking parents to pay for that, and realizing, of course, that they're also there for education

[3:59:43] through their tax dollars and that sort of thing, so they're essentially paying twice.

[3:59:48] Is there a component of risk that I'm not aware of that is only available in the classroom environment

[3:59:54] that is somehow not available in the childcare environment?

[3:59:57] I guess I'm having a hard time looking forward to that.

[4:00:01] Highly, how these risk under one form, I guess, of in-person, but not risk and other. And certainly, I guess we could talk about how it's maybe just smaller group or that sort of thing.

[4:00:13] But at the end of the day, these parents are paying twice, and they're not even, you know, I would argue probably getting what they originally thought that they would be paying for the first time. So I just put that out there and hopefully I get some clarification.

[4:00:28] I absolutely represent a guy there and as I shared in our presentation, and I think this is a

[4:00:34] certainly confusing for lots of folks in our community, the staffing issues that we ran into

[4:00:42] was a major aspect of us not being able to open and hybrid.

[4:00:47] So when you only have 4% of your parents who want to go online and you have 20% that all five

[4:00:53] for medical exemptions under Governor's executive order.

[4:00:57] We had to take some space and time to figure out the logistics.

[4:01:00] We brought our community together to do that.

[4:01:02] We're looking forward to begin to moving into K-2 in person,

[4:01:07] starting on the 29th,

[4:01:08] our working group prioritize that group above others,

[4:01:11] because we certainly know and understand the child care aspects.

[4:01:14] And certainly, we understand the economic impacts

[4:01:18] and our responsibility to provide custodial care.

[4:01:24] We tried to create a rate that was lower than anywhere else,

[4:01:27] privately being offered in the community,

[4:01:29] and again, subsidized that rate for those families

[4:01:31] that were in need, certainly through different avenues

[4:01:33] and folks were able to reach out with those in regard.

[4:01:37] And so, not just to help issue,

[4:01:40] but in regards to why we opened up child care,

[4:01:43] but the logistical challenges that sometimes are difficult

[4:01:46] for folks understand.

[4:01:48] Mr. Lockley.

[4:01:52] Thank you so much once again.

[4:01:54] I answer the representative's question.

[4:01:56] I think that's one reason why Adam's 12 went with the pod approach so that we could provide the best healthcare.

[4:02:03] I'm sorry, the safest environment with the best educators that we could at no cost.

[4:02:09] Those pods were opened up at no cost.

[4:02:11] There was limited safety, but we maximized as many staff members and flexed as many opportunities as we could to provide as much and needed much as they need as possible.

[4:02:23] You know, I think none of the people on this call are epidemiologists or experts in diseases or that kind of stuff.

[4:02:30] I think on this particular panel, so I can't speak to one being more healthy or not being healthy.

[4:02:35] I do want to respond and I apologize that was going to jump in before switching to this question around the funding issue and that trying to catch my to the economy.

[4:02:45] You know, my own household, my wife has gone through furloughs.

[4:02:49] We're losing money every day.

[4:02:52] As we're trying to, you know, go through this pandemic.

[4:02:55] So I definitely understand, I live in my community.

[4:02:57] I see my neighbors who have lost jobs and others.

[4:03:01] But the thing I would just remind this committee and everyone that's called, I hope we don't have to remind them,

[4:03:08] is that education is not a thing thing as a road or a baseball stadium or those kind of things that are impacting people today.

[4:03:19] Education is an investment in the economy of tomorrow, not the economy of today.

[4:03:23] So if we stop funding education today, we'll make excuses about funding education today.

[4:03:29] Then what we're doing is sacrificing the economy tomorrow.

[4:03:32] We won't have a workforce that companies are going to want to invest in.

[4:03:37] We're not going to have a workforce that will generate the revenues that the

[4:03:40] representatives was referring to.

[4:03:42] Education is not something we can put up for a year to build this road next year or the following year.

[4:03:49] Or pick the possible in my neighborhood that's bothering me for a while that I've been bothering

[4:03:53] my city about for a while.

[4:03:54] We can't put that off for students.

[4:03:57] Kids get one chance at kindergarten.

[4:04:01] They get one chance at an education.

[4:04:04] We don't have time to put them off.

[4:04:06] My son and every other kid in Adam's 12 and across the state,

[4:04:10] only get the learns to read right once.

[4:04:14] And so we don't have the luxury of time in this space.

[4:04:20] Thank you, Senator Story.

[4:04:25] Thank you, Representative McLaughlin.

[4:04:27] I appreciate your comments, Mr. Lockley, and I feel we're having many expressions about

[4:04:38] the daily tragedy that is unfolding before us within public education, not due to lack

[4:04:45] of work and effort and collaboration that's going on amongst educators and staff across the

[4:04:54] I really appreciate all of that, but we were underfunded in public education before COVID happened,

[4:05:02] and it was wrong then, and it's even worse now, and it's true.

[4:05:09] There's going to be less funding next year as well.

[4:05:13] So we have a long road ahead of us, but we need to improve our funding to become,

[4:05:19] as was stated more predictable, more stable, to address our current needs relative to COVID

[4:05:25] while we're working through public education and the instruction of students.

[4:05:30] But we also have to have ultimately a long-term, predictable, stable, adequate funding mechanism

[4:05:38] to rebuild public education and put it back in a place where it really needs to be.

[4:05:44] So one question that I have for the panel relative to the CARES dollars that came, you know,

[4:05:52] while that was a significant chunk of money over $500 million dollars that was spread across the

[4:05:59] state. And some people will say, you know, that it was offset by the reductions in revenue and the

[4:06:12] Equal, right? The COVID dollars, the CARES Act dollars, had to be spent on COVID-related expenses.

[4:06:18] And what I want to know, now that school is just getting underway and there's a little more

[4:06:26] opportunity to address, you know, more existing needs relative to COVID, how has that funding been that the CARES

[4:06:37] are you seeing additional gaps now where you wish you had more?

[4:06:43] Cares dollars or has it an adequate,

[4:06:46] like what other additional needs do you see that could have

[4:06:52] or could be covered by dollars that are COVID-related

[4:06:56] because of changes that you've had to make.

[4:06:59] Say Senator Story, we are discussing that in great detail

[4:07:02] in our last segment of this. So, I don't want to have another repeat of it. So, I

[4:07:08] think these people will be around. So, let's put that question off. And that's all we

[4:07:14] will talk about is COVID, because we wanted to end our day on a cheering note. Okay, so that's

[4:07:20] okay with you. Yeah, thank you. I just want to say thank you to all of you for joining us today.

[4:07:28] You know, you're, you're kind of working every day and it changes every day. So, all the work

[4:07:31] did yesterday have to kind of redo and rethink the next day. So I really appreciate everything

[4:07:37] you're putting into helping our schools and our educators and our children and our future.

[4:07:44] If you want to put it that way too, Dave Lockley I think that was a good one. So thank you very much

[4:07:50] and we look forward to hearing from you again. If we have questions and you feel like you need to

[4:07:55] up in, please do. Okay? Thank you so much.

[4:08:03] Okay, we have our next list of presenters. We

[4:08:08] have Brandon Lachan, who's Executive Director of North Rout County Community Charter

[4:08:13] School, Chad Miller, CEO from Pinnacle Charter School, and George Welch, who's a superintendent

[4:08:20] of Fremont R. E. One in Canyon City. So please welcome them aboard and thank you for joining

[4:08:26] us today. There's one. There's another

[4:08:39] kind of everybody here. Um, I will get, um, which one

[4:08:43] of you would like to start off today?

[4:08:49] And the chance that looks like I had George and fun to me, but I'd be more than happy

[4:08:52] to step up and speak up.

[4:08:54] All right. Please do. Do you have a photo of you on here?

[4:08:57] Oh, it's over. Go.

[4:08:59] There he is. Oh, thank you.

[4:09:01] Well, once we'll find a real quick one of our hardships in our school, if we have very limited

[4:09:05] with internet in our community as well.

[4:09:07] So Madam Chair, members of the educational committee

[4:09:09] and fellow educators, my name is Brenna LeChance,

[4:09:12] and the executive director of North Rock Community

[4:09:15] charter school, and that's that little beautiful school

[4:09:17] that some of you may have passed

[4:09:19] when you're driving north of Steamboat Springs,

[4:09:21] a lot of people wonder what and what that little beautiful

[4:09:23] building happens in the middle of the mountain,

[4:09:25] but that's how a wonderful school.

[4:09:27] If you were to ask me if I could imagine a school

[4:09:29] you're starting out with a pandemic,

[4:09:31] and then along with not being able to go outside

[4:09:33] due to a wildfire, 10 miles away from our school.

[4:09:36] I probably would say that would be the perfect storm for any educator.

[4:09:40] And thank you for allowing me time today to share with you how we kind of handled these

[4:09:43] adversities as a small, rural public charter school.

[4:09:48] I think when I hear a lot of discussions talking about front lanes in the differences of,

[4:09:52] maybe large urban schools versus rural schools, what I feel in what I hear is that I feel

[4:09:58] little of being blessed. Being a small rural school really does allow us a level of flexibility

[4:10:04] and innovation because our student count is 110 kids, creating a plan for safety and best practices

[4:10:12] for students. It's pretty, it's much, I would say, easier than maybe some of the individuals

[4:10:18] talking about 6,000 students. We are a school that we took a coach of we have a schoolhouse approach,

[4:10:23] We are K-8 school along with the preschool next door, and what we kind of created as we

[4:10:29] have created nine separate school houses with nine separate locations, and there's very

[4:10:33] limited interaction between our grid level cohort, so obviously we do that for many purposes

[4:10:38] many reasons.

[4:10:39] Our school is currently operating at five days a week, full day, 90% of our students are in

[4:10:44] attendance, with about 10% of the students doing a synchronous living with our school in

[4:10:50] classroom. A big huge part I would say is having very specific protocols, specific safety protocols,

[4:10:56] and other part being small career of a 24-7 illness reporting system. So a parent has an individual

[4:11:01] that they can call at any time of the night to be able to walk through the process of what could

[4:11:06] be potentially COVID or what could be potentially wildfire related and or allergies are called.

[4:11:11] You can imagine the difficulty of a school nurse or myself trying to juggle what that decision is based

[4:11:17] on some of the symptoms that are happening with kids.

[4:11:21] One thing that we did do this year, we invested,

[4:11:24] we invested in purchasing or utilizing additional staff,

[4:11:29] we needed three additional teachers

[4:11:30] to create a plan and play.

[4:11:32] So we as a small school kind of went to the piggy bank

[4:11:35] and made a decision that we're gonna utilize

[4:11:36] some of the resources that we have saved up over years

[4:11:39] to be able to offset some of our difficulties

[4:11:42] that we're managing today.

[4:11:44] And included that is the sense of recovery.

[4:11:47] I'm really glad to hear that a lot of people are talking about the desire and the need for

[4:11:51] special education.

[4:11:53] And we're excited to hear because we actually increased our service time for all kiddos,

[4:11:56] giving more time for those kiddos that maybe had a larger recovery process from the spring.

[4:12:02] And I'd like to say one of my co-leaders, Chad Miller, he had a wonderful idea of calling this a return to learn plan

[4:12:07] because I think there could be so much focuses around COVID.

[4:12:10] And I understand the importance of that.

[4:12:12] But we also got to remember that our kids need to get back a school and focus on the social

[4:12:16] and emotional wellness and the academic wellness of our kids.

[4:12:20] So when you think about that as a whole, we did develop our plan and it was heavily involved

[4:12:24] with leadership staff, parents, community members and it really was to make sure that if we were

[4:12:30] going to put our front foot forward, it was ensuring that all members run the same page.

[4:12:35] And I think that this really paid dividends for us today.

[4:12:39] So I would like to echo along with everybody else, increase and in need and decrease in revenue.

[4:12:46] Obviously is another perfect storm financially.

[4:12:49] And that's difficult for any school.

[4:12:51] A small rural school like herself or a large urban school.

[4:12:55] A one very difficult aspect and hurdle that we've been handling for a while is our community does not have internet.

[4:13:01] We don't have any source of broadband and actually we're a very poor cell phone service as well.

[4:13:06] So this morning is not an option for our community.

[4:13:10] When we did go to different learning in the spring,

[4:13:12] it wasn't even that tent to get kids hot spots,

[4:13:15] because hot spots don't work when you don't have cell phone coverage.

[4:13:18] So our school became the outdoor classroom,

[4:13:21] and we had campers and new halls

[4:13:23] and large vehicles that kids were able to access,

[4:13:26] so they could simply get the internet

[4:13:27] to access the learning that was happening from the teacher.

[4:13:31] And I said that with you, because I would say,

[4:13:33] that's one of our major hardships.

[4:13:34] small and rural, there's some blessings to it, but at the same time when our society goes to

[4:13:39] different learning, things change quite a bit, and it became very big hurdle to jump through.

[4:13:45] Another part that I would say, just to echo there, is I understand the component of accountability

[4:13:50] and regulatory aspects, but what I find myself struggling quite a bit, or at most school,

[4:13:56] I have to do the same reports that a school of 5,000 students have to do, which has been

[4:14:01] difficult for, I would say, our administration is just trying to handle the audits that are

[4:14:05] still coming our way. The change of UIP documentation, I just think that the continuation

[4:14:10] of those regulations on top of just trying to create a safe school, at times is a lot to

[4:14:15] juggle. And I think maybe this is what I'm speaking from the heart, and to my fellow administrators

[4:14:21] and teachers and educators, and that's that one AM thought, you know, I think that this time,

[4:14:27] You lay up and bet any wonder with so much stress and so much on the shoulders that you made the right determination that we are people.

[4:14:38] And I think the humanistic side versus the administration side sometimes we don't really play the administrative hat.

[4:14:45] And I often find myself going to clock in the morning with a heavy heart and a full mind and not sharing it the next day and what's going to come this day.

[4:14:53] And I sure that's who you all because as we're educators we're also people and we're also parents and the important thing we all

[4:15:00] Just kind of understand that as a whole. And then I've heard a few questions here in regards to the use of prayer funds. And I think it's important to speak to our small rural community, utilize care funds.

[4:15:10] As I mentioned, we did increase our staffing quite a bit, so I'd say the majority of our care funds will drive through increasing staffing. So we could get to our small cohorts.

[4:15:18] So we could go to a five day in person plan, but also the obviously with PPE, you know, increase in cleaning and purchasing more student states of devices.

[4:15:27] And most importantly, as a small individual school, and I think, you know, Representative Wilson could articulate this, as I'm done with this, I am the school cleaner as well.

[4:15:39] So it's a lot of people wearing different hats right now.

[4:15:41] As a small rule environment, we did not have a, you know, a cleaner per se to the level that we need.

[4:15:48] We didn't have specific technology needs that we did then that we do now.

[4:15:52] So I find myself at my staff and myself

[4:15:54] or I'm wearing a lot of different hats.

[4:15:57] So in ending, for those who have never been to our school

[4:16:00] or Northrop County, I like to welcome you all

[4:16:03] and reach out to me if you want to come

[4:16:04] to a nice beautiful location

[4:16:05] and learn about a small rural public charter school does,

[4:16:09] I would be happy to share.

[4:16:12] Well, I might take you up on that.

[4:16:13] So beware.

[4:16:15] What is it?

[4:16:16] So yeah, let's have a look.

[4:16:18] I'd like to go next.

[4:16:20] I would love to. Thank you, Madam Chair. The committee, I just wanted to thank you guys for the opportunity to speak to you today and represent my community.

[4:16:30] And give you just a little bit of an insight of what we're dealing with.

[4:16:33] We're kind of that school that's in between the big school and the little school.

[4:16:37] We serve the Westminster Federal Heights

[4:16:42] Thornton, unincorporated Adams County area.

[4:16:45] And so we have a rather large footprint in this area.

[4:16:50] We have about 2,100 students

[4:16:52] K through 12 in our school and enrollment is up for us.

[4:16:58] In fact, we're full.

[4:17:00] We can't take physically in our building anymore kids,

[4:17:03] obviously with the regulations.

[4:17:04] and online, about 35% of our kids are on our online platform strictly right now.

[4:17:12] It's a challenge, but again, we're full.

[4:17:14] Kids are coming here.

[4:17:15] I believe just because of the platform we have.

[4:17:18] Being a public charter school, we are able to be just a little bit probably more nimble

[4:17:24] than some of our other leaders at the larger district schools.

[4:17:28] You know, when it was last April and May,

[4:17:30] And obviously our job is to predict the future.

[4:17:34] I started looking ahead and I realized really quickly what we were doing to adapt to the quick shutdown that we had.

[4:17:43] Probably wasn't the most effective and we needed to do something different.

[4:17:46] So by the first of May we had already started developing our own platform.

[4:17:50] So no matter if a child is in class or at home,

[4:17:54] they're still working off the same platform, the links are all the same.

[4:17:57] And we wanted that continuity knowing that we were probably looking to go into another year

[4:18:02] where we could be going back and forth.

[4:18:05] So, we started developing that platform.

[4:18:07] We had a summer school in June in which we had a full four weeks to test the platform, work out some of the bugs so that we would be ready to roll that platform out going into the school year.

[4:18:19] As you guys can imagine, any time you're a new curriculum, new platform, new technology,

[4:18:24] there's hiccups, but we're working through those, and it seems to be working really

[4:18:27] well in the environment that we're in.

[4:18:29] And in fact, it's working so well now that we plan to use it, even if things go back to normal,

[4:18:35] this will be the new normal for us.

[4:18:38] Just to give you an idea, if you want to know about our school, you have to understand the students

[4:18:43] that we serve.

[4:18:44] About 87% of our students are minority.

[4:18:48] 45% of our students here in the school are English language learners.

[4:18:53] We are pretty much the epitome of a title one school about 80% of our kids around

[4:18:59] free and reduced lunch as well.

[4:19:02] We're serving a high risk community and this is a community that brought some challenges

[4:19:06] to us, especially going into the year, not knowing what enrollment might look like.

[4:19:11] We're families moving away, jobs were lost, are they moving out of state?

[4:19:15] what's happening with our families.

[4:19:17] So we had to stay in very close contact with them over the summer,

[4:19:20] just to find out what was happening and can continue to support them.

[4:19:24] You know, as it's interesting hearing from all the other school leaders,

[4:19:28] we have such different schools and we're in such different areas,

[4:19:31] but really the challenges we're all facing are relatively the same.

[4:19:35] You know, our job is really to determine probabilities and risk appetite.

[4:19:41] You know, what is the probability of something happening and trying to predict the future?

[4:19:44] And then using surveys with our staff and our community and our parents and our students to let them tell us what our risk appetite needs to be.

[4:19:52] You know, we combine those two and that really drives a lot of the decisions that we make moving forward.

[4:19:58] Our particular school, we started a little over a month ago, believe you're not in a hybrid format.

[4:20:04] We've had our challenges but for the most part things have done really well.

[4:20:07] And in fact, we're starting to get it ready to roll out phase two, which will start next week in which all of our K5 will be in four days a week.

[4:20:17] Again, we are in a hybrid model where we are online on Wednesday so that we can sanitize the buildings and keep our cohorts very separate.

[4:20:25] We've continued to bring K1 in four days a week, and we've encouraged all of our sped students as well as our English language learner students to come in four days a week as well.

[4:20:35] And that seems to be working.

[4:20:38] But a lot of the challenges we face have been logistical.

[4:20:42] We have transportation over half of our kids.

[4:20:45] We bus into our school every day and bus home every day.

[4:20:49] With nutrition services, making sure that when our kids are online,

[4:20:54] how are they getting fed?

[4:20:55] And so we're making sure our buses are out there delivering food.

[4:20:58] And we have drive up food service here.

[4:21:01] And we're making sure that we're touching

[4:21:05] Making sure we're giving those basic needs.

[4:21:09] You know, somewhat of this pandemic,

[4:21:11] especially here in Adams County,

[4:21:13] there's a socioeconomic piece to this.

[4:21:18] A lot of our families have had to continue to work.

[4:21:21] And so because of that,

[4:21:22] we have a higher case load here in Adams County.

[4:21:25] And so we as a school had to take that into consideration

[4:21:28] and make sure that we're protecting our kids.

[4:21:30] We are not seeing spread within the school.

[4:21:32] anything that we've seen has come in from the outside. The big challenge that we're having is

[4:21:37] with staffing more than it is with students. If we are having to to quarantine staff,

[4:21:44] when we get to say our high school, for example, we get to five or six staff that might have to be

[4:21:48] quarantined. That's when we're looking to probably have to transition online. The COVID piece doesn't

[4:21:53] scare me as much as the quarantining and the lack of staff piece. There are also substitutes out there.

[4:21:58] In fact, we are, our administrators, other staff in the building, we are the substitutes.

[4:22:04] And there's only so much of us that goes around.

[4:22:07] So those are some of the pieces that we're having, but there's been a lot of innovation in this as well.

[4:22:12] And again, I think some of the changes we've made, we will continue to move forward with even after the pandemic.

[4:22:19] You know, we have one of the big logistical issues, and I know some of our larger superintendents are having the same issue.

[4:22:24] Is getting kids in the building in the morning? How do you screen? How do you purchase screen? How do you make that decision?

[4:22:30] How do you break those kids up in the house and back in the cars at the end of the day?

[4:22:35] You know, we've put a lot of things in the place like thermal temperature scanners and a lot of those types of things

[4:22:39] So we're very efficient with that on getting those kids in keep in safe while we're here and we're catching some of the kids who are running temperatures

[4:22:46] I know a lot of asymptomatic

[4:22:48] But at least we're catching some of them and it's creating that community where they know if I'm running a temperature

[4:22:54] I'm not going in today, mom, because they're going to say, I'm running a temperature, and they're going to call you that, right?

[4:22:59] And so it's putting a lot of those things in place.

[4:23:03] Just to finish, I want to talk about some of the things that we're really thinking about as school leaders right now over the next three to four months.

[4:23:11] The first one is budget concerns. Obviously, October, Councilor, I'm the corner. We're up in enrollment, but we didn't know that we didn't know where we would be coming into this school year.

[4:23:19] And I know there's a lot of schools that are down in a moment, and that's a challenge.

[4:23:24] We're also looking at the budget and will there be a decision.

[4:23:27] Financially, we have all hunkered down.

[4:23:30] We've taken some cuts for doing the best we can.

[4:23:32] But we're also trying to save as much money to get through this potential

[4:23:36] decision that's coming up as well as the budget cuts that we know are probably coming next year.

[4:23:42] We're really hunkering down to make sure that we're taking a conservative financial approach.

[4:23:46] So we're ready for these things.

[4:23:48] Another big challenge is this upcoming cold and flu season.

[4:23:52] Here at Adams County, we're starting to see cases spike again,

[4:23:55] and we know cold and flu seasons coming,

[4:23:57] and the symptoms are all the same.

[4:23:59] So when staff starts calling in saying, I've got a cough.

[4:24:04] I've got to runny nose, I've got a fever.

[4:24:06] We know that's going to hit us hard,

[4:24:07] and with no substitutes, we have to be ready to shift on a dime,

[4:24:11] back to our online platform,

[4:24:13] for however long it takes us to get our staff back in the building.

[4:24:16] So we know it's going to be choppy these next few months and but we're we think we have the system in place

[4:24:22] We're prepared for that so our kids continue to learn so they're still rigor in that education and

[4:24:28] We try to keep as much continuity in consistency within that platform as we can

[4:24:33] The other big piece is when it comes to staffing

[4:24:37] We've had to shift a lot of staff to meet the model that we're running today

[4:24:41] We're also having to hire additional staff to meet the needs of the numbers and meet the needs of the students

[4:24:46] we have. What that's going to look like in a year from now isn't what it looks like today,

[4:24:51] and so we're going to have to shift staff and move them back to a different model than what

[4:24:54] we're running today. So it's a challenge on staff just in that regard. Staff is pretty stressed

[4:25:00] out right now, and we're doing our best to maintain culture. It's really interesting how this

[4:25:05] pandemic has really exposed culture in a lot of organizations, not just schools across the board.

[4:25:11] And I feel like we have a strong culture here and that's really what's helped us drive to where we are today.

[4:25:18] We have a lot of challenges coming up, but it's kind of, I hate to say,

[4:25:21] it's been kind of a fun process to be a part of that and change and adapt and see things work in a positive direction now.

[4:25:30] So again, I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to give you a little insight into our window here at our school.

[4:25:36] And should there be any questions and certainly willing to answer any of that.

[4:25:39] Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. We're getting a little short on time. I'm going to add two people to this panel here.

[4:25:50] And then I will let you go next Miss Uelsha. Okay, so I'm not putting them ahead of you. Don't worry.

[4:25:55] the Chris Self from Meaker and Sherry Wright for Montezuma Cortez. So if you guys could come up

[4:26:02] and join us, I know we were running a little late and you were promised that you'd get to go

[4:26:06] earlier than this, but this is too interesting for us, I'm afraid. Okay, Mr. Wells, now it's your turn.

[4:26:16] For your patients and time waiting to hear from us, you're putting in a lot of work today

[4:26:24] and I appreciate the effort you're making to lessons.

[4:26:27] So my name's George Welch.

[4:26:29] I'm in my 24th year as a superintendent of schools

[4:26:31] in Colorado, all 24 in Colorado,

[4:26:35] last six have been in Canyon City,

[4:26:37] I'm in my six in Canyon City.

[4:26:40] I did provide some slides,

[4:26:42] but there were really more for me than for you.

[4:26:44] So I'm just gonna refer to the Bob Bile and Spain.

[4:26:48] But what I wanted to know about Canyon City schools,

[4:26:51] We're in a rural setting, free-mont county, south, and west of Colorado Springs, directly west of

[4:26:58] Pueblo.

[4:26:59] About 3,600 kids, about 500 staff, about a 60% free reduced lunch population, and another thing

[4:27:08] about us is we hover around 18% special education population, which depending on the year

[4:27:15] be the highest percentage of special education population in a district in Colorado.

[4:27:22] So that's a major challenge that we deal with.

[4:27:25] How did we open and actually our timeline as this is we've actually had our doors,

[4:27:31] all our doors open since August 10th and all students welcome to come to school since August 17th.

[4:27:38] And miraculously so far no positive cases.

[4:27:41] Yeah, because we take very serious all the advice about mitigation that we've come from the CDPHG.

[4:27:50] We have a K-5 in person all student every day plan that we're doing and we're doing the cohorts and limiting the number of adults exposed to those kids as everything recommended by CDPHG.

[4:28:03] Six through eight is in person, but our teachers are also doing synchronous digital with that.

[4:28:11] Any child in grade six through eight since we never had an online sixth grade program can do so,

[4:28:19] by in essence coming in and participating digitally in a video format very much like this.

[4:28:26] 9 through 12 is a hybrid where we're going alternating days.

[4:28:29] This is a typical thing.

[4:28:31] A lot of high schools are doing because of large populations and the difficulty to cohort.

[4:28:37] I have a daughter, in fact, it's her senior year and what's today Wednesday, so she's

[4:28:43] not in school.

[4:28:44] She's doing it synchronous.

[4:28:46] We're doing it synchronous and blended and as some folks who have the teacher voice

[4:28:52] or speaking about our teachers who are doing more than you can possibly imagine what

[4:28:58] possibly expected. We do have a full digital option for K through 12, most of it's happening,

[4:29:06] sort of parallel to what's going on, 6 to 8, but we felt we needed to create an actual digital

[4:29:12] K through 5 program, which we've done and we kind of hang that all on edge, do it and have hired

[4:29:20] some staff to run that. As everyone else has said, that's helped us to limit the size of

[4:29:29] classes in those cohorts, so that's been pretty big, and there was some discussion early

[4:29:35] on about the focus on social emotional supports for students. And since we basically, we were

[4:29:43] hard during the fourth quarter, but we recognized that kids being away for so long, we were worried

[4:29:48] that there may be some need for them to readjust to in person school, and we had a sort of a two-week

[4:29:54] planned process by which to reintroduce them to school and we feel like it's been

[4:30:00] Very successful because what we found most important

[4:30:05] when regular learning as much as possible.

[4:30:13] 90 percent of the kids who are currently participating in instruction on our district are involved in in person learning.

[4:30:21] And we've heard some numbers trying

[4:30:29] to do it and put our heart are dealing with those kind of levels of potential challenges.

[4:30:36] keep it within the CDPAG guidelines, the size of cohorts, number of adult contacts per day,

[4:30:43] and I'm not saying we can do it all the time. Sometimes the rules we're trying to apply

[4:30:48] our local circumstances to

[4:30:54] a district's dealt with. I'm sure is we had some late smart people,

[4:31:00] I would say, jumping off the ship. I'm going into retirement or going to do something else

[4:31:06] because they saw the challenges ahead of them and filling those positions have been very difficult

[4:31:12] and in addition to that, I don't think you will hear any school district in a state of

[4:31:17] Colorado. I don't think any of them before this had the whole problem of providing

[4:31:21] substitutes when they were lacking teachers with as far as handling that situation.

[4:31:28] We're really struggling now, most of our students are saying thanks, but no thanks. There's not enough

[4:31:34] money for me to go in and expose myself to that, so we're having to find ways to do to deal with that.

[4:31:46] Some of the other big challenges I've been dealing with technology platform, which is Google has been a problem at times,

[4:31:54] School of degrees, then a problem at times, some of our online textbook and curriculum platforms

[4:32:02] have been a problem at times, and I think it's because everyone on the country is doing exactly

[4:32:06] what we're doing, and no one was really fully ready for it.

[4:32:11] And I would echo the Gdowski's measure of when we're losing kids, where we're losing them

[4:32:19] we're generally losing them to all in school and at the very youngest ages and I really appreciate that term

[4:32:26] Chris that you got some kindergarten's red shirt and that may be exactly what's going on in those early, early,

[4:32:34] great else. So we are doing some pretty innovative things I think and that is put yourself in the

[4:32:43] of a high school teacher who has to have their kids in person half their kids online and some

[4:32:50] of their kids are just pure digital and doing sort of a blended model and the workload for that

[4:32:58] and the change of work called for that just tremendous.

[4:33:03] What we've done to solve our substitute problem may not be a long term solution but we're paying for substitute

[4:33:09] for dentists for every classified staff member who is able and that means that we can

[4:33:16] within a building within a cohort, places a classified staff member in front of a class

[4:33:22] unfortunately pulled them out of their regular job for a day but pay them more to do that

[4:33:28] because we feel like the first thing we've got to do is put a capable person in the town

[4:33:33] the class each day and we've been doing that. We've been identifying and addressing the impacts

[4:33:41] of what we would call an extended summer slide. I heard some people talk about folks trying

[4:33:46] to identify that. We've identified it and we've identified that it's not so bad. It grades

[4:33:52] three to five where a lot of the kids have solidified their reading skills. We have identified

[4:33:59] that it's horrific that great state you do, where we were in the developmental stages of that,

[4:34:04] and so we've addressed that to a great stem all extended already by expanding some summer

[4:34:09] interventions and expanding school year interventions with our students in regard to reading.

[4:34:17] With an 18% special education population, we find and I think everyone tells you that the

[4:34:27] especially if every system is in person, face to face.

[4:34:31] And when we're able to do that, we're doing it well,

[4:34:35] but we feel we have to offer that choice to our parents.

[4:34:39] And some of the parents are choosing to try to do it digitally.

[4:34:41] And what we're doing is when evidence is showing

[4:34:44] it's not working, we're intervening.

[4:34:46] I'm saying, you gotta get your kid here at school

[4:34:48] because it's gonna be most successful for them.

[4:34:55] We've been doing a lot of engagement.

[4:34:56] And then, it's tracking, of course, we find that it's easiest to do when it gets yours up in schools a little bit trickier to do when it gets fully digital and we're trying to do our best to tracking engagement through a student work completion as opposed to see time.

[4:35:13] How we're spending our COVID dollars, we received a little over $2 million in cash, $100,000 in

[4:35:20] S.R. and I'd be lying to you if I didn't say the bulk was going to replacing what you guys

[4:35:27] took away because of what to have to take away because of current economic systems. So most of

[4:35:31] it backfields that keep the current staff that we have. However, we've also used the dollars to set

[4:35:38] parallel online options, address health and safety, needs, masks,

[4:35:44] thermometers, everything we're doing with that, accessing technology for all kids.

[4:35:48] When the pandemic hit, we didn't have a device in the hands of every kindergarten

[4:35:53] administrator now we do. And we've spent dollars catching kids up with things like additional

[4:36:00] interventions and summer academies. And I like to close out my really talking about the stressors

[4:36:06] that you're seeing with the system.

[4:36:09] Instructional staff, for lots of good reason,

[4:36:13] and then some just because, you know,

[4:36:15] when people, well, I guess when they consume

[4:36:18] most of their information on social media,

[4:36:20] things thin at a control, very worried about their health

[4:36:24] for sure, but I think what's being exacerbated

[4:36:27] for folks is the unknown about what next spring is.

[4:36:31] And once again, I understand you guys don't have

[4:36:33] tools to provide more dollars for us. But if there's anything we can do to guarantee people

[4:36:42] that should we have kids who need to be served, we'll still need them. That would go I think

[4:36:49] a long way as well. And I want to echo Mr. LaChance to comment about the regular before

[4:36:57] We've talked about this as CDE did reach out to him this morning and Dr. Antis, thank you so much for recognizing everything everyone's doing around the state.

[4:37:09] And thank you so much for talking about the principle of collecting data right now to inform our decisions.

[4:37:15] However, big part of what CDE does as well is regulatory in terms of conducting audits.

[4:37:20] And I just want to tell you one school district story and happens to be my former school district.

[4:37:26] They're trying to open their doors with 700 kids in a community where I think three people have already died from COVID.

[4:37:34] No more than 2,400 people in that community.

[4:37:38] And they have about 35% of their students because of those local fears participating in an online only as opposed to a person.

[4:37:47] And they get knocked on their door and they're dealing with a parrot audit, a Colorado Bureau of Investigation

[4:37:53] audit, and then the Colorado Department of Education recently called and said, hey, we're

[4:37:58] going to audit your redact process.

[4:38:02] And for crying out loud, if you guys can do anything, can you tell people to get off people's

[4:38:08] back right now, so they can focus on the kids and provide the kids what they need and support

[4:38:12] their staff instead of checking boxes and doing that, because it'll be time for that later.

[4:38:17] And I know it needs to be done, but I think it's ridiculous to do that right now.

[4:38:21] So I'll be available for questions for a while, and then I'll step off.

[4:38:27] Okay, heard.

[4:38:29] Have that crystal.

[4:38:33] I see a little box there with a CS series.

[4:38:37] I'm Chris Kelly. I'm the superintendent of the school's in Meeker, Colorado.

[4:38:41] Sorry, it's proud to name.

[4:38:43] Sorry, I'm a school administrator. I've been called much worse.

[4:38:45] That's okay.

[4:38:47] Small School District Northwest Colorado, we have about 700 students.

[4:38:51] We are currently 100% in person, save for a kid or two that has to be quarantined

[4:38:59] for a few days, or a small percentage of our students having engaged in a district online option.

[4:39:06] I think you're going to hear from me a number of the same themes that have already been shared

[4:39:10] over the last couple of hours or so.

[4:39:14] One of the first ones I want to share with you is that our staff is really at capacity.

[4:39:19] Not only have we changed how we deliver instruction even though we're in person.

[4:39:23] There's certainly a number of differences in how that happens on a day-to-day basis with COVID precautions.

[4:39:29] We've placed upon our teachers' expectations to prepare for distance learning in the scenario that we have kids who are quarantined.

[4:39:36] We have to move into our hybrid or our distance learning models that we have ready to go with the virus conditions.

[4:39:43] change. And then on top of that, they have to teach reading in math and science and those

[4:39:49] things we are engaged in a very intensive, early literacy grant that is needed in our school

[4:39:56] district, but it requires a ton of work for teachers. We are looking at new science curriculum

[4:40:02] that we're implementing this year, we're in the middle of a major, major building project

[4:40:06] for our community, and so those are things on top of COVID that our teachers are dealing with.

[4:40:13] In addition to the fact that teaching is a hard job anyway, and it's underpaid and undervalued

[4:40:19] in our current culture, and so somewhat to echo what George has said, if anything that

[4:40:24] the legislature can do to help remove some of those burdens or expectations on our staff,

[4:40:30] It's greatly appreciated certainly at the very least these don't add in the additional expectations to staff right now.

[4:40:37] There are some good things and some bad things that have come for artists for doubt of the pandemic.

[4:40:42] Certainly we've made some advances in our use of technology.

[4:40:45] We have some staff members who had to be kind of pushed into that and it turned out to be a good thing because they brought into their skill set.

[4:40:52] Probably the greatest thing that's happened is the realization of the value of what happens in our classrooms.

[4:40:57] There is no environment.

[4:40:59] There's no environment in our culture that replicates the learning that occurs in the classroom.

[4:41:04] And that's the main reason that we've pushed so hard to be 100% in person learning.

[4:41:09] Certainly we can engage in a learning process through online forums and that's a way to supplement what we do.

[4:41:15] It does not.

[4:41:16] It does not replicate what happens in the classroom.

[4:41:19] We're dealing some of the negatives we're dealing with just like everybody else.

[4:41:22] We have some staff members who we've lost.

[4:41:26] A lot of times we joke about rural school districts that, oh, hey, the superintendent's the bus driver as well, I have driven a bus route the last couple of days because we don't have qualified bus drivers, so that's not really a joke. It's a real thing that actually does happen.

[4:41:42] We have lost some students as well to either homeschool or private or profit online programs.

[4:41:49] There is a concern around how it's going to impact us financially.

[4:41:52] I think my career concern is the learning that we're using to that.

[4:41:55] I had a conversation with a parent who said, hey, I'm going to take my kid to an online program.

[4:42:00] And then we have engaged with every single one of those parents in our school that should have made that choice to find out exactly why they're doing that.

[4:42:08] So, to the question of, do we really know what these kids are doing and where they're going,

[4:42:11] I can tell you every single family I know why they have made that choice.

[4:42:16] At any rate, talking with this parent is, well, hey, this school district has recently decided

[4:42:19] we decided in late and late in the game really August that we were going to offer it on my

[4:42:24] program.

[4:42:24] So I tell this parent, we're going to go ahead and offer this online program for students.

[4:42:29] Are you interested in that?

[4:42:30] And her response is, well, I'm not really, I don't, I really don't want to be bound to

[4:42:34] schedule. So if I, you know, let's take like gives the grand juncture and the win with for the

[4:42:37] day, I can do that. What kind of priority is that parent have on the learning that's going

[4:42:42] to occur? We're going to get that kid back at some point. It might be October 2nd, might be after

[4:42:47] Christmas, it might be next year, and there has not been a priority on learning in that household.

[4:42:52] That's not true of all of our household. It's probably true of the majority of them,

[4:42:55] if you go back to my original statement around learning that a person in the classroom,

[4:42:59] that can't be replicated. So we're going to get those kids back and we're going to be responsible

[4:43:03] to ensure that they've learned what they're supposed to learn, but then we have a loss of time

[4:43:07] with them, we have a loss of resources as well too. I think you know, part goal for this school year

[4:43:13] has been to get kids in classroom and keep them in classrooms and they're really isn't any

[4:43:17] other focus beyond that right now. We know that that addresses their social emotional well-being

[4:43:21] to be in a classroom around professional educators and adults that are invested in them.

[4:43:27] We know that that benefits them from the learning standpoint as well too, but that requires

[4:43:30] It's a ton of focus on the changing environment that we'll add in per vaccine several times.

[4:43:38] It's almost like the old cartoon where you have the dam that's leaking water in the cartoon character.

[4:43:43] Stick to the finger in the dam here and then it leaks over here and then it starts to leak.

[4:43:47] The minute you think you got things figured out, there's another problem that comes up.

[4:43:51] And some of that self-inflicted because we have different guidance from federal and state and local levels.

[4:43:57] And some of that's because conditions are changing and it can't really control the fact remains

[4:44:02] though that the path is unclear for us in terms of how we're going to be able to get kids and

[4:44:07] questions and keep the main classrooms.

[4:44:10] I'll echo George comments on, George's comments on the use of our COVID dollars, much of

[4:44:14] that was going to backfill the reduction and funding that we saw.

[4:44:18] And the number one thing in all of our budgets is personnel, but salaries and benefits.

[4:44:22] And so to be able to employ the adults that we need to help kids learn and help support the learning,

[4:44:28] it goes along with that as primarily what we use those dollars for certainly we were able to buy some cleaning supplies.

[4:44:34] I was spent a thousand dollars on devices for students.

[4:44:39] Yeah, I'd be able to buy face masks and face shields and thermometers like everybody else did as well too.

[4:44:43] And what's so we're able to use those dollars to make those purchases that the primary use of those COVID dollars was to keep people employed.

[4:44:52] that are making a difference in the lives of children.

[4:44:55] I am concerned greatly just like everybody else is around the finance picture.

[4:45:00] I think it's important for our legislature to understand it in a small rural district when there are reductions in funding that requires a reduction in personnel, because that's the biggest piece of our budget.

[4:45:13] And when we reduce personnel in a small rural school district, we are either completely cutting educational programs altogether.

[4:45:21] Or we're increasing class sizes by 52 100%,

[4:45:25] because we only have two or three sections for a grade level,

[4:45:27] or content area to start with anyway.

[4:45:30] And so we can't use that a common state.

[4:45:32] I don't kind of would use the students to teach a ratio

[4:45:35] or to maybe programs on pause,

[4:45:38] where we are eliminating opportunities,

[4:45:40] help them out of the students.

[4:45:41] I think I'm very grateful to be in New York, Colorado.

[4:45:44] I know we have a staff that's committed ed team.

[4:45:47] Children and they're going to continue to do that

[4:45:48] and they are working as hard as I have ever seen a staff work.

[4:45:53] This is my 11th year as a superintendent,

[4:45:55] my six-year in Meeker,

[4:45:57] and so not as much experience as some,

[4:45:59] but more than others, but I think every superintendent

[4:46:02] across the state will tell you at this point

[4:46:04] and they have never seen a greater commitment to education,

[4:46:07] then what they're seeing from our staff right now.

[4:46:11] So certainly, we are grateful to be involved

[4:46:12] in that even in a very, very important very time.

[4:46:15] I'll be around for questions as well to begin.

[4:46:19] Thank you, thank you, and finally, Sherry Wright, who just happens to be from my part of the state.

[4:46:25] Thank you for joining us today, Sherry.

[4:46:28] It's nice to see you.

[4:46:30] Thank you, thank you for having us.

[4:46:32] And I am from the young only 45 miles away.

[4:46:39] Can you hear me?

[4:46:40] I have a mute button up.

[4:46:48] I just want to let you know, I am from a very small area.

[4:46:52] And you get the notice that my broadband and is speeding.

[4:46:57] So, of course, I am not interrupting those cameras, but I want to tell you there, I'm sure, you're going in and out, you might have to turn off the video, sometimes that's all it takes to get away from it.

[4:47:12] Everybody memorized what she looks like.

[4:47:17] All right, great.

[4:47:20] I just want to start with, we started planning on what we were going to do for the opening school year back in July.

[4:47:26] We formed a committee with our parents, our administration, teachers, and board members and tried

[4:47:34] to determine what we were going to reopen our school.

[4:47:38] That being said, it changed.

[4:47:41] The only thing that we have learned to count on is that it's going to change.

[4:47:47] Our teachers have decided that they really wanted to have in-person if at all possible, because

[4:47:54] kids need the social, emotional aspects, and also they need it to be educated. They feel like

[4:48:01] they could do a best person in person. So we did a survey, and requested parents to

[4:48:08] survey monkey and asked parents to respond, and the majority of them said that they did

[4:48:14] want a person to person. And we are carrying out the survey now to make sure that we are

[4:48:24] We decided that we were going to start school on August 17th,

[4:48:29] however, the week before our teacher said,

[4:48:32] we're hitting overload.

[4:48:33] We cannot do it.

[4:48:34] We will not be prepared.

[4:48:36] So we moved back, which was a little hard,

[4:48:41] but we moved it back to August 24th.

[4:48:44] At this time, we have approximately 1,573 students meeting in person.

[4:48:52] We have 770 students online, three of them are elementary, 300 are elementary and 430 are secondary.

[4:49:05] And approximately 100 youth mountain tribes are also online.

[4:49:12] The reason that the parents chose online is not mostly because they were scared.

[4:49:19] They did not want their kids to expose anything.

[4:49:22] But another reason was they did not want their children wearing masks.

[4:49:29] So our homeschooling has grown a lot because they are just not trusting anybody at this point.

[4:49:36] and they feel like they can educate their kids best.

[4:49:40] Media has not helped us must on that aspect.

[4:49:45] We are so district is currently working with the community

[4:49:49] to enlarge better structures or setting up hotspots,

[4:49:55] working with Wi-Fi companies and trying to get everything going.

[4:49:58] So that the kids online will have access to it.

[4:50:03] We are very small and we are agriculture, so there is very little online infrastructure for our schools.

[4:50:14] Our district realized that when deciding to reopen our schools that we needed some advice from medical experts.

[4:50:22] So, the district, our administration, decided to form a health safety committee and

[4:50:30] to which involves our head school nurse, our county health department, and our local

[4:50:35] hospital, a doctor, and two board members.

[4:50:38] And with that, we determined how we were going to open the school's best, what needed to

[4:50:44] be done, and what we would do if we ever had a COVID breakdown.

[4:50:51] So, I did do some, we have a ready pre-grass here, and I did send them in, but I don't know if I

[4:50:59] made it on time, but it is so self-explanatory.

[4:51:04] I did not want to take time to go over something that you can reach yourself.

[4:51:07] It's very colorful.

[4:51:09] It is very in depth.

[4:51:12] So, you need to read that and see how we're going to be handling all of, if we do, when we do, have our

[4:51:19] break. We meet by weekly now. We start off meeting weekly and now we meet by weekly or as needed.

[4:51:29] The local school next door to us had an outbreak of one COVID person and they had to shut down their school.

[4:51:39] So that caused us to meet one more time just to make sure that we were ready for if it's given in our community.

[4:51:47] We've used our care funding with installing sexy glass and our different offices so that we can protect the personnel, cleaning supplies.

[4:51:58] Oh my goodness, that is amazing.

[4:52:01] We have spent up to $45,000 just on cleaning supplies, which is our kids are safe, but to go along with all the cleaning supplies that we have.

[4:52:15] We had to hire six additional custodians to utilize the supplies.

[4:52:20] We clean our schools before school after school in between classes.

[4:52:25] We are very careful to make sure that we keep everything going.

[4:52:30] We have purchased 132 Chromebooks, which gives us Chromebooks for each student so that when

[4:52:37] we go, when we have to move online, every student will have a Chromebook and can do the online

[4:52:44] classes. We have hired, let's see, we have hired two online coordinators,

[4:52:56] because

[4:52:56] when we get, we've paired with CDFL for online learning and they were overwhelmed. So we

[4:53:05] have two online coordinators that check in with our kids, make sure that everything is running smoothly.

[4:53:10] We have donated eight elementary teachers to keep track of our elementary students.

[4:53:16] Make sure they're up the speed and they're doing their work and we have two middle school

[4:53:23] core teachers and two middle school elective teachers to keep track of them.

[4:53:29] And in our high school teachers, we have designated one hour for them so that they go online

[4:53:34] and they are available to answer any questions or help students that are having issues with

[4:53:39] online classes.

[4:53:43] We have changed our transportation and to a

[4:53:47] consolidation that stops which has caused some angst amongst our parents,

[4:53:54] but we did have to start being a little more

[4:53:57] conservative on our money and so four best drivers have retired.

[4:54:03] We bought 10 tents so that we can hold outside classrooms.

[4:54:08] We have buy that the elementary schools, two at the middle school, and two at the high school.

[4:54:15] So that they can go outside and work out there.

[4:54:21] We are sure approximately 172 students this year that have gone home schooling, charter school, private school, home school.

[4:54:33] And so that's going to be hurting us quite substantially.

[4:54:47] You're Mountain Tribe.

[4:54:49] We have been working closely with them to keep them in the loop.

[4:54:53] We will be held in a meeting October 20th with them to make sure that we are doing things

[4:54:59] that the way they perceive want us to do it and that we can make their needs.

[4:55:04] We have donated one elementary teacher to go out there and work with their online students

[4:55:08] and two secondary teachers to work with them.

[4:55:13] So we're trying to keep in post-contact and working

[4:55:15] with their education department very carefully,

[4:55:18] and closely to make sure that all needs

[4:55:20] are being met with them.

[4:55:25] We are.

[4:55:30] I guess this comes to the part that I really don't

[4:55:33] think that you guys want to hear.

[4:55:37] But we appreciate the money that you gave us.

[4:55:42] But we lost $300 per student this year, which was substantially considered that we have 27,700 students.

[4:55:53] So that really hurt us in our general budget.

[4:55:58] The care money does not go in the general budget.

[4:56:01] We've had to, it's designated spending, which was used and we appreciate.

[4:56:05] But at this point, we're looking at $2.8 million of the shortfall for next year.

[4:56:10] And we're going to what are we going to do?

[4:56:13] Is it going to be attrition?

[4:56:16] Are we going to program?

[4:56:18] Are we going to have larger classes?

[4:56:22] It's really stressful right now.

[4:56:26] So for the end on Apologies note, last year, the school board voted to put an H-back system in all of the schools.

[4:56:33] And that we use that with our one time funding.

[4:56:36] It is still because of COVID.

[4:56:38] It is slowed down.

[4:56:39] So we still have two schools for it to go into, and we did buy the special filters to keep the air circulated, the way it needs to be, so that we can keep our kids safe.

[4:56:51] At this point, I'd like to tell you, thank you. And if you have any questions, please let me know.

[4:56:59] Thank you very much, Sherry.

[4:57:01] These are, I wish we could share these stories with everyone.

[4:57:06] You know, this is much too small of a group.

[4:57:09] I think for the stories that we're hearing about what's really going on in schools.

[4:57:13] And so I appreciate it and you need to know that we hear you.

[4:57:18] I will give some time for questions.

[4:57:20] Is there anybody who has a question for this group?

[4:57:23] Representative Wilson.

[4:57:26] A real super.

[4:57:29] Thank you madam chair and just to let you know my computer been shutting down in the

[4:57:33] once in a while.

[4:57:33] So when I disappear it's become my computer shut down just to protect you for our Senate

[4:57:40] and House Education Committee members Superintendent Welch was talking about the rule community

[4:57:45] and so forth.

[4:57:46] I want you to know that for my full county area that's the Urban Center so all the other

[4:57:51] districts are much smaller so just protect perspective and you'd like well you know that's just

[4:57:57] That's actually an urban state for my district, but I think it's been a lot of something I think's critical for us to hear, but he said the K2 slide was for Linda's.

[4:58:07] And I'd like to clarify what you mean by horrendous and what they are doing to help offset that slide of all their future extension.

[4:58:18] And what the date on talking about is we did the beginning of your civil testing and for folks who were close enough to education.

[4:58:29] Oh, especially through the Reed Act, you've been practicing multiple times during the year.

[4:58:35] And with the shutdown and the move to digital, we weren't able to actually do an end of year.

[4:58:45] levels assessment of all our students because we didn't have face-to-face and so we were faced with how do you

[4:58:52] Do some sort of apples to apples data and what we decided to do is do a last four years of analysis of what mid-year

[4:58:59] December January data compared to following year beginning year data looks like

[4:59:06] And we were able to

[4:59:15] Interact?

[4:59:16] Thank

[4:59:18] you.

[4:59:19] I understand.

[4:59:21] And so what we did is a multi-year comparison, mid-year data, to begin a year following

[4:59:26] year of students.

[4:59:28] And so you couldn't do incoming indicators because that wouldn't make sense.

[4:59:32] But what we saw, as I said, is for grades three, four, and five, of really a typical

[4:59:37] summer's line.

[4:59:38] As if it were normal in 12 weeks, summer.

[4:59:41] What we saw for our kids from kindergarten first, first, the second, second, the third

[4:59:46] was I would say at least double the academic loss in reading ability as measured by the

[4:59:53] civil's metric from mid-year, the prior year, to beginning of year.

[5:00:02] We did, however, when given an opportunity to have a four week reading a academy with some of those students during the summer, we saw a quick regain.

[5:00:14] And so I think there, you know, if you have some good techniques in the hand for intervening

[5:00:21] and you have the resources to be able to do it, I think it's very possible over time to catch some kids up.

[5:00:28] But we were all mortified.

[5:00:31] We were all thrilled that what it looked like, grade 3 through 5, we were all mortified, and those younger

[5:00:35] grade levels.

[5:00:36] I hope that makes it more cool.

[5:00:42] Yes, you're presented to Dave Lee.

[5:00:44] Thank you, Madam Chair, and just real quick, I want to thank everyone, I appreciate all of you

[5:00:52] educators for all that you do. Mr. Lachanson, particular, I just want to thank you for

[5:00:58] your resourcefulness, for just the can do. Let's figure it out attitude that you're grabbing

[5:01:05] the mop bucket as soon as everyone's gone home. I bless you for all that work. I know you're all

[5:01:10] work in real hard. So thank all of you for that. But boy, Missile chance, you just

[5:01:15] pitomized what we look for in fellow government employees, trying to treat the taxpayer

[5:01:23] as the customers they deserve to be treated and take the care of those kids. Thank you

[5:01:28] for your heart. You know, I also want to appreciate Missile chances. Suggestion is within

[5:01:37] the authority or at least the capability of the legislature and that is to try to reduce burden of administrative requirements.

[5:01:48] So I think that is a very reasonable request that we ought to pursue.

[5:01:52] So let's talk about that. We can't do much at all when it comes to getting more funding.

[5:02:00] But I think that we could pursue some special effort

[5:02:05] to try to reduce the burden of government

[5:02:08] state government requirements.

[5:02:09] So thank you for the suggestion.

[5:02:12] Thank you.

[5:02:13] Senator Starty

[5:02:20] always takes a second.

[5:02:22] Find that unmute button.

[5:02:25] Thanks, Rep. McGlockling.

[5:02:27] For those of you that have mentioned,

[5:02:29] the use of CARES Act dollars is part of your innovative effort

[5:02:34] going forward. One of the basic things was PPE for those of you that are bringing students back

[5:02:41] to school in person and can you share with us where the if it cares dollars were used for

[5:02:54] purchase of PPE and if districts and schools were having to find their own forces for our PPE or how that was working

[5:03:09] in me care again.

[5:03:12] Representative Mozacan and the members of this committee I appreciate the time to take into account.

[5:03:15] I did in thank you when I spoke earlier and that was a poor fall on my part, so I apologize for the thank you for that.

[5:03:21] We bought a lot of stuff off of Amazon that's, you know, really where we got a lot of our items, there wasn't a ton of help.

[5:03:30] We got about, we got $430,000 cash and then $76,000 an extra money. So that's a lot of face masks that you can buy for, you know, $500,000, which is why we allocated some, you know, greater portion of this on the elsewhere.

[5:03:43] but as far as the PPE in our district, we would pretty

[5:03:52] much agree.

[5:03:52] The PPE of George Welch and Kenyan City is with masks requirements to require kids to bring them.

[5:04:01] And I don't know if you ever taught a milk school kid, but sometimes I'm bringing down a pencil over it.

[5:04:06] And so a key to being able to function is we've felt that we've had to have disposable masks available to every kid who needs to wear masks should that situation arise.

[5:04:17] because we're doing things with disciplinary actions

[5:04:21] to try to make sure they bring the darn things.

[5:04:24] But it's a help.

[5:04:26] And the other help is, is we're doing complete

[5:04:30] symptoms to get some kids in the door every day twice

[5:04:35] of the high school, because we have an help

[5:04:36] at us, and so being able to purchase those

[5:04:39] thermometers has been a gigantic help as well.

[5:04:45] Yeah, so many unexpected expenses, you know,

[5:04:47] I mean, when you had to buy tents and thermometers

[5:04:50] some things that we want to pay our teachers and educators and that's not all where that money

[5:04:56] is going, saves their lives, but it's not, you know, they're not getting any paycheck for it.

[5:05:03] So, why really appreciate all the work you do.

[5:05:05] You know, I represent rural districts, and I know that it isn't easy no matter what size it is

[5:05:10] in no matter how near you are to another city, small school districts have special concerns.

[5:05:16] And a thousand dollars for you is huge.

[5:05:19] A thousand dollars for mother districts may not be as big, but when we cut your budget by even 5% I know that it's very painful for you.

[5:05:29] So we understand what you're going to and I really, really appreciate your time and all the work you're putting in to helping your kids and teachers be successful.

[5:05:39] So thank you. I really appreciate it.

[5:05:41] So, so thank you very much everybody for joining us today on this one and then we'll go on to the next the next phase.

[5:05:49] Thank you.

[5:05:50] Thank you.

[5:05:54] Okay, we now have John Paul Burton and Tammy Johnson.

[5:06:00] John Paul's from well school district and Tammy Johnson is from Boses.

[5:06:06] Welcome.

[5:06:08] Thank you.

[5:06:09] There they are.

[5:06:10] All right.

[5:06:11] Do you want to just jump in?

[5:06:18] I'll let Tammy introduce herself and then I will proceed with our own thing.

[5:06:24] I am Tammy Thompson.

[5:06:25] I'm the director executive director and special director of the Uncompatible

[5:06:28] Bocees located in Ridgeway, Colorado.

[5:06:32] We serve five school districts clear to the Utah border.

[5:06:35] I am also the president of the Colorado Bocees Association.

[5:06:40] And I'm John Paul Verdon director of exceptional student services in the well-darky, poor school district here in Windsor, Severance, and West Greenlead.

[5:06:50] And just one of what you all know, we are representing the consortium of special education directors,

[5:06:55] which doesn't represent 100% of administrative units and districts in Colorado.

[5:07:01] We've got some examples for you from across the state of both creative and adaptive solutions to remote and interpersonal learning,

[5:07:08] As well as common and unique barriers for providing students and supports for students with disabilities during these challenging times.

[5:07:15] But before we jump into those, I just want to indicate that we absolutely or I do absolutely agree with many of the challenges, especially Dr. Colesman Chair from CDD that we've been facing in all the other superintendents and school personnel.

[5:07:33] It's really interesting time and one of the things we've often said is we're reinventing our entire industry

[5:07:39] in a matter of months and it's, it is in the adaptive challenge, we just want to echo all of the

[5:07:45] agreement with all the things that have already been said.

[5:07:47] So with that I think Tammy's going to kind of share with some of these some of the things that we've been dealing with.

[5:07:54] Great.

[5:07:55] So just to start, I'd like to provide a little, a little grounding for you.

[5:07:59] By federal and state law, all students with disabilities have an individualized education plan and that's designed to meet their unique learning needs.

[5:08:09] A big challenge for all of us across the state is that the federal government did not grant us any waivers for serving those students with disabilities during the pandemic.

[5:08:21] What that means to us is that the IEP that was designed for in-person, normalized learning during a typical school that needs to be adapted to these new learning environments.

[5:08:35] And those environments vary across students and across districts.

[5:08:40] And also that will vary throughout the school year depending on its cohorts of quarantine and that kind of thing.

[5:08:49] We can assure you that the school districts across the state are doing their best to meet the challenges for our students with creative and adaptive solutions.

[5:08:59] I've represented the best-spoken of all of our colleagues across the state.

[5:09:03] And we're looking at these creative problem-solvings and partnerships with the parents.

[5:09:09] And lastly, our focus continues to be the health and safety of students and staff while we're also trying to provide individualized educational support.

[5:09:19] all of our students. And so we're going to kind of tag team here some some challenges and

[5:09:25] and some of our responses. Thanks, Tammy. Some of our challenges include access online learning

[5:09:32] which many people have already talked about, but some of you need to challenges included for students

[5:09:38] with disabilities might be physical and motor. So for instance, many districts are providing

[5:09:44] Chromebook updates, this forward learning, we have some students, and I'm sure many others do.

[5:09:50] Who typically aren't able to run a mouse or run a track pad, so we might have to provide them a touch screen.

[5:09:55] A different little bit different technology with an iPad or something like that.

[5:09:59] So making sure that what is available to everyone is also accessible to students with disabilities.

[5:10:05] per educator support.

[5:10:07] That was not the same as existing learning.

[5:10:10] Being able to use our classified personnel to reach out and work with students when they are in home, remote learning situations,

[5:10:17] and helping them navigate both the general education online offerings as well as targeted special education instruction.

[5:10:27] So different strategies, the different different districts of views is a variety of recording classes.

[5:10:34] So students can go back and watch over and over what the instruction was rather than being just hearing a plot.

[5:10:40] So for those students who need repetition live streaming some classes.

[5:10:44] So a remote in student may be at home with their connecting to their live class via Chromebook or 360 degree camera, things like that.

[5:10:51] I would say one of the challenges with that has been some of the world wide supply chain issues.

[5:10:59] You know, they're getting some of that technology that's definitely been in impact both in many districts.

[5:11:04] And I think it's even been in the mainstream news as far as APS having difficulty getting thousands of Chromebooks things like that.

[5:11:13] Using lots of different options like accessing Colorado digital learning and other online platforms.

[5:11:18] We've heard other superintendents talk about the common platforms, so the parents and students aren't

[5:11:23] happening to move between different learning management systems and all of the states and

[5:11:28] one thing and then making sure that one thing is accessible and advocating for students with disabilities

[5:11:34] to come into building during A and B cohorts for at least some level, some in-person instruction

[5:11:40] and I know many districts have discussed that if or when they do go to full remote that as long as

[5:11:45] You know, local health and state county health departments and governor or Governor Tory orders allow for some in person learning that that would be a priority for students with disabilities, but they would be able to come in at least for some in person learning even if everyone else is remote.

[5:12:01] And in special education staff provides courses to students, actually, on remote days, so we've been on the days that other students without disabilities may be

[5:12:09] asynchronously learning at home, reaching out to those students with disabilities to provide a little extra support and help them access that material.

[5:12:18] Some other unique challenges has been around students who require sign language interpretation, and having virtual sign language interpretation synonymously with their synchronous learning with their classrooms.

[5:12:30] and there are some lectures, and even if it's a recorded lesson, if they can't hear it,

[5:12:36] I've been to have that virtual assignment with interpretation.

[5:12:38] So that's been an interesting one that I know many of us have worked with.

[5:12:44] And we've adapted and we've gotten there, but it definitely has provide some interesting challenges.

[5:12:48] Other sensory disabilities, or any student with the sensory disabilities such as vision or hearing,

[5:12:54] how do you need challenges because of the online environment?

[5:12:57] So we may have to provide amplification headphones,

[5:13:01] Braille materials through mail drop-off or home drop-off,

[5:13:05] where the online context simply not accessible with your umbrella or their.

[5:13:10] Significant students with significant cognitive physical disabilities may have some access,

[5:13:14] limited access online.

[5:13:16] And we talked about, you know, not being able to run a mouse or

[5:13:20] understand the content that's being provided through the general learning management system.

[5:13:24] And so, a lot of that application occurring to bring that to a level that they can access

[5:13:29] it and be successful.

[5:13:32] Students just with reading, our largest group of students with disability and the state,

[5:13:36] those with learning disabilities, with reading difficulties.

[5:13:40] Online presents a ton of challenges with so much tech and happened to do that.

[5:13:47] So, making sure that we have add-ons into Chrome or other browsers that allow them to get text to speech

[5:13:53] And listen to the content and not get so much reading to see, especially for students who are that's their primary disability.

[5:13:59] So just making sure we have this accessibility tools turned on.

[5:14:05] And then some of the other challenges we've also struggled with is some parents not wanting to send their students with disability to school.

[5:14:15] And not necessarily having a medical reason to do so.

[5:14:18] Therefore, homebound isn't necessarily an option of medical homebound, but working with

[5:14:24] families to try to ensure that, you know, we're following the scientific safety guidelines

[5:14:30] set forth by the state and county health departments, and that it's as safe as we can possibly

[5:14:35] make it.

[5:14:36] And I think that comes back to relationship and working with families, but as many of the

[5:14:40] superintendents have already, you know, we have had some students and different districts

[5:14:44] reported that parents have just opted to stay home and homeschool and for now.

[5:14:50] It's not a year off, they are signing homeschool people work and taking on that responsibility.

[5:14:57] But I know for our special directors and staff.

[5:15:00] It's really hard to watch when we're not able to get those staff system, the kids, the student, or the school, and provide them with the support we know they need.

[5:15:10] And then staff do the very best they can with serving students virtually, but they're just not the same, especially when a lot of cues for attention, you know, in a face to face setting a teacher might be able to just do a non-verbal cue by touching a student on the shoulder of the arm to get their attention and to refocus.

[5:15:29] And when we're learning disconnected via the internet,

[5:15:34] I can't reach out and do that right now.

[5:15:35] So everything becomes verbal and it becomes obvious to everyone else.

[5:15:39] And so there's just some challenges like that

[5:15:42] that people are doing the very best they can

[5:15:44] and trying to find strategies around those things.

[5:15:48] And Tammy, you want to take it from there?

[5:15:52] One of the other things that is gravely exacerbated

[5:15:56] to buy the pandemic at this time,

[5:15:59] but it's not a new problem for us

[5:16:01] in the field of special education

[5:16:03] and Brett Meillm, and Melissa Coltman,

[5:16:05] both addressed this earlier,

[5:16:07] is shortage of qualified special education staff and providers.

[5:16:13] We've been struggling with this issue for years,

[5:16:16] and we continue to struggle with it.

[5:16:18] And this pandemic has greatly hindered our ability

[5:16:23] to try to meet the needs of our students.

[5:16:25] Some of the solutions and responses across the state are hiring available private providers.

[5:16:32] However, the cost of these providers are well beyond what the school district pay providers,

[5:16:36] if we were to hire them ourselves.

[5:16:39] And that's the cost of writing in their exceeding our budgets that we have in some areas in order for

[5:16:44] us to continue to meet the requirements of our special ed students across the state.

[5:16:49] special education staff, or with people with multiple licensure areas, such as myself,

[5:16:57] we're wearing multiple hats and we're doing different jobs just to meet the needs.

[5:17:02] So, an example is a rural special education director who is also providing speech and language

[5:17:07] services on top of where they're full-time director job, just because they hold that license.

[5:17:15] Our director group is across the state where we're really good at coordinating with each other.

[5:17:21] And especially directors in our regions, we have regional directors of special education that meet frequently.

[5:17:28] And we work really closely with the other directors in our region to share and to co-op services whenever possible.

[5:17:36] So we can share that, that qualified, how do the qualified certified licensed staff.

[5:17:45] And hiring retired specialized teachers and retired specialized providers used to be one of our go to.

[5:17:53] We are not able to do that as much anymore, because a lot of those teachers or staff are just not willing to risk their own health to come back and work with our anidious population.

[5:18:05] And that has been a really good hiring pull for us that is just not accessible for us at its time.

[5:18:14] Thanks, Tammy.

[5:18:15] A couple of the other challenges that we've been working on is, and I think it's one that we've

[5:18:20] heavy on all of our hearts for our teachers and our special directors is that the concept of least

[5:18:25] restrictive environment is impacted for those students in a virtual learning situation.

[5:18:30] And then their access to non-disabled fears is although it's equitable because that's

[5:18:35] everybody else is doing when they're learning at home. It's not the same when building those social

[5:18:39] skills and for those kids that have social skills goals and we're working on communication

[5:18:44] and building friendships and things like that. That is an area where the concept of LRE or

[5:18:51] these restrictive environment is really challenged because it's typically been the number of

[5:18:56] students without disabilities and the number of students with disabilities in the same space at

[5:19:00] time, and it's how that's calculated in. And now it just makes us think differently about how we

[5:19:06] are going to work on those and how we might have to set up small loops virtually, rather than in

[5:19:12] person in the, you know, with a Google counselor or something like that. So definitely that's

[5:19:18] challenges, they're going to mean they're not addressed to different. One of the other challenges

[5:19:22] definitely been around conducting questions evaluation, remembering that the federal government,

[5:19:28] IDER, OSF gave no waivers around meeting our 60-day timelines for initial evaluations.

[5:19:34] And so we've been working on trying to do as many as we can virtually.

[5:19:39] I know many districts have been doing, especially with early childhood, where parents will

[5:19:44] send in videos of what they're seeing as far as challenges and what we're working as much

[5:19:49] as we can with that.

[5:19:50] Being able to be in person some of the time for most of our students have definitely helped,

[5:19:54] But we do have situations where we're just about ready to, you know, we're scheduling a time to do a achievement assessment with the student and next Tuesday and we find out this Friday that they're in quarantine for two weeks.

[5:20:09] And so it just sets back to the timelines and making sure that, you know, those quarantines come to the most in the afternoon time.

[5:20:14] feels like. And so just knowing that that compounds and takes two weeks out of our 60-day

[5:20:19] timeline, you get that work done. And then that means it's going to be maybe more impactful

[5:20:25] to that student when they do return, because that may be time that they are missing other

[5:20:29] instruction to get that assessment. So it's just balancing those challenges and meeting those

[5:20:35] timelines. We are working on things like encouraging our providers to get their assessment done

[5:20:39] as early as they can, just knowing that the penny may drop at a minute and then may lose access to those students.

[5:20:47] So the lack of relief from the federal government to provide even, you know, some kind of

[5:20:53] written agreement that we're going to do this, extend this for two weeks because of code,

[5:20:58] because of a situation where somebody's out for two weeks is definitely compounding the issue.

[5:21:05] And then adapting our IEP is immediately the requirement, our IEP meeting.

[5:21:10] In fact, we were already that Tammy might not make this time with us today because she was in a virtual IEP meeting.

[5:21:17] This is one of those that's both a kind of a blessing and a curse that this is taught us in the past.

[5:21:24] It was kind of the last resort that we have on IEP meeting when people in the video are calling and now it's really become a norm.

[5:21:32] And I think for the most part, many of us

[5:21:33] have found it to be very effective.

[5:21:36] It's definitely, I think, an area where

[5:21:39] by having an IEP meeting like world doing right now,

[5:21:42] parents don't have to leave work as early or, you know,

[5:21:46] they may not have to leave a half-day of work

[5:21:48] to do one hour meeting.

[5:21:50] They might be able to go sit in their car

[5:21:51] on their lunch hour and get that meeting done.

[5:21:53] And so I think it's honoring people's time, a great deal.

[5:21:57] But it definitely does create some issues,

[5:22:00] especially if parents are wanting to switch back and forth from in-person learning to remote learning

[5:22:05] and different things like that. Or if they want to go online because one of the requirements

[5:22:09] of the IDEA and the ECEA Colorado exceptional children's education act is that we do have to have

[5:22:17] a reevaluation whenever a student motion brick and mortar to online. And so that compound with

[5:22:22] a number of meetings that we have to have in any year.

[5:22:28] You know, the online virtual ITs are good.

[5:22:31] When they're working, when people have access to technology,

[5:22:35] but we know we have many families who are participating

[5:22:37] by phone because they don't have a laptop with a camera

[5:22:40] that they can do this.

[5:22:41] And so there's called an option.

[5:22:43] So it's not perfect.

[5:22:44] Definitely definitely everybody's need.

[5:22:47] But there are some variables in there that we're working on

[5:22:49] to try to make it as accessible as possible all the time.

[5:22:52] And then making sure one of the things that the color of department of education is provided

[5:22:58] as guidance on is writing contingency plans for when learning modalities change in a school

[5:23:04] district.

[5:23:05] So if we go from, you know, our elementary right now is full-time brick and mortar, but if we move

[5:23:09] to a hybrid, having the process in the IEP that articulates the parents with their input

[5:23:16] with those services look like in a, if we're only able to attend in a hybrid model.

[5:23:20] So we're working on those so like a whole new layer of requirements in the IEP process and I've actually just been refining what that process is looking like in our district and it is a lot as a whole other probably half hour discussion in an IEP me so just out layers of adding to that and then just again I want to echo all the concern and methods that we've been working to communicate with parents.

[5:23:51] Making sure that they have voice and choice as much as we can possibly reasonably accommodate

[5:23:57] in their IP plans and their school days, whether it's full remote, whether it's online, whether

[5:24:02] it's hybrid, and just trying to get their input as far as their students planning and what's working for them

[5:24:08] and what's not.

[5:24:10] Those are just things that have definitely changed our industry and the conversations we're having with parents.

[5:24:16] One of the areas that is a huge issue, especially across both these, which are multi-school district administrative units,

[5:24:27] is that a lot of those both these are in different counties.

[5:24:32] So, an example is, my both these have five school districts, and we have three county health departments that we are working with.

[5:24:40] It's very hard for me to come up with and other directors of both these across the state and even single district administrative units.

[5:24:48] I know that there are a few districts on the eastern slope that encompass several counties.

[5:24:55] What we have problems with is that the virtual flood of information that comes in every day from all these county health departments trying to distill that down for each district.

[5:25:05] And then trying to disperse that information is, it is very hard to get that information

[5:25:13] out to our providers.

[5:25:15] And one of the issues with that is that we have identified service providers that cover

[5:25:19] in these multi-districted administrative units that they cover every single school districts.

[5:25:25] So one, both of these might have a physical therapist that covers all five of their school districts

[5:25:30] And have to go into all five of those districts, which means they could be a 20 school bit a week or every other week.

[5:25:38] And so while we are trying to meet all of the required guidelines from all the county health departments, sometimes we can't meet both cohorting requirements and that kind of thing.

[5:25:57] At this point in time, special education and general education teachers and principals and our related service providers are feeling overwhelmed and they're feeling exhausted with managing the changes and the community expectations along with struggling their own families needs and then the day-to-day challenges that can make all of these changes that happen so frequently in the work.

[5:26:23] The one thing that I can tell you is that special education directors all over the state,

[5:26:29] they're focusing on providing needed services for all of our students, and we're focusing

[5:26:34] on that rather than focusing on all of these barriers that are placed in some of us at this time.

[5:26:40] And, you know, an example of that, we were asked to share a little story.

[5:26:44] An example of that is, at this time, across the state, there are very many

[5:26:49] If at all any opportunities for remote learning for preschool students yet some of these

[5:26:56] preschool students are most needy children and so we come up with some unique ways to serve

[5:27:03] those kids and across from the bar are both these we've actually about those students

[5:27:08] to go on to homebound services even though they don't qualify for homebound services just

[5:27:13] so we can meet their needs for occupational therapy and speech therapy and the end of those

[5:27:18] education classes, so we continue to work hard across the state as directors of special

[5:27:23] education to meet the needs of all of our students.

[5:27:27] John Paul and Tammy, thank you so so much for your contribution to a very special

[5:27:32] population of students.

[5:27:34] I do appreciate that and they're all over the state and we couldn't do it without people

[5:27:38] like you advocating for them all the time.

[5:27:42] It's not just a state home and you know, do your work at home kind of thing if parents don't

[5:27:46] know what they can do or, you know, without their teachers, they're very lost up there.

[5:27:53] So I don't see any questions, but I would just like to say thank you very, very much

[5:27:57] for all of your hard work and we hope to keep in contact with you over the next however

[5:28:05] long.

[5:28:07] Okay.

[5:28:07] Thank you for joining us today.

[5:28:09] I really appreciate it and you wait a long time.

[5:28:10] Thank you.

[5:28:11] My pleasure.

[5:28:12] Thank you.

[5:28:16] Okay.

[5:28:16] We have one speaker left.

[5:28:18] We have Kathy Dorman, who's going to join us.

[5:28:22] The others, they've luckily, has already participated,

[5:28:26] and the podiums had an emergency.

[5:28:29] So we have Kathy.

[5:28:31] Kathy, you ready?

[5:28:32] OK, I knew pictures.

[5:28:36] OK, Kathy, welcome.

[5:28:37] How are you?

[5:28:38] I am well.

[5:28:40] And I hope everybody is hanging in there.

[5:28:43] this has been a quite a marathon session. I want to introduce myself to you. My name is

[5:28:51] Kathy Dorman and I am a science teacher in the Douglas County School District. This is my 37th

[5:28:57] year. Didn't know that your 37th was going to be, yeah, this exciting. I am 100% teaching

[5:29:06] learning. I have an ADA accommodation. Our district went to a hybrid model but we have 10%

[5:29:13] of our students that chose to do e-learning. So I am teaching a group of kids from Ponderosa

[5:29:18] High School and I'm also on the executive board with AFT Colorado. So I thought I'd start off

[5:29:26] I just telling you a little bit about my experience in the last month and kind of what I do and

[5:29:35] My day today started about 715. It was a little unusual because I had to do more multi-tasking today's

[5:29:42] and normal. So I've got a couple of computers set up. Today I had 14 meetings scheduled with

[5:29:48] individual students who would come for 15 minutes to visit with me and I can check in on them.

[5:29:54] I make sure that they're doing okay. Check their welfare. See if they have questions.

[5:30:00] And make those connections with them that are so important. And while that's happening, and also trying to grade work, our school district decided to use a genuity as the platform, not the platform, but the system for doing this 100% e-learning. And so what I'm doing is managing 44 kids, night through 12th graders, and all the classes that they're taking. So I am not teaching them science per se,

[5:30:29] I'm helping them with their science, but I'm helping manage all of their coursework and I'm also

[5:30:35] grading their work as well and giving them suggestions and feedback and it's a pretty busy day when I'm doing all of that.

[5:30:43] There's the last to the spoke I understand exactly what they're saying.

[5:30:48] I have a number of kids who are on IEPs and 504s and work I'm trying to adjust the content for them and the expectations for them.

[5:30:58] so that their plans can be met.

[5:31:02] And so all of this is kind of a constant juggle.

[5:31:05] I am learning so much myself.

[5:31:08] I hope we have a stop learning

[5:31:10] and so one benefit coming out of this

[5:31:13] is that it forced me into this environment

[5:31:16] that I wouldn't have done in and caused me to grow as a teacher

[5:31:21] and as a tech savvy adult.

[5:31:26] One thing I do want to point out since we're talking about barriers, I feel like some of the

[5:31:33] the angst that I hear from my students and concerns that they have are the unknowns, the

[5:31:41] uncertainties with the system.

[5:31:44] And when I see districts talking about moving from saying a hybrid model to 100% in person

[5:31:52] are now going to go back to 100% online, that when you make those shifts for kids, it's really

[5:32:00] very difficult for them. I think it's difficult for adults, but kids really want consistency

[5:32:07] and structure. And so in my opinion, as a teacher for this long, I think we may be better

[5:32:16] sticking with a plan until there is some kind of a natural break like

[5:32:21] sad semester. That's my personal opinion because I see on the anxiety that

[5:32:26] it's creating for kids who I talk to. They're worried about things like

[5:32:33] you know, good-mines and grades and the things that kids always worry about. The

[5:32:37] other thing I want to talk about is the students that I have and you know, I said

[5:32:42] I had an ADA accommodation.

[5:32:45] Well, many of my students, it's a family member.

[5:32:49] It's their mother.

[5:32:51] I have three students who their mother

[5:32:53] is just entered hospice.

[5:32:56] And so they can't risk being in that hybrid model

[5:33:00] or going to school in person.

[5:33:02] And that's a whole other set of concerns.

[5:33:07] But here we are in Douglas County.

[5:33:09] and you wouldn't think that this would be an issue, I have students that have to go to work.

[5:33:15] They're doing e-learning because they're fast food jobs that is going on during the day

[5:33:22] is their families income because in this economy, their parents have lost their jobs.

[5:33:29] And so, you know, they don't have too many options and so they're grateful for the opportunity

[5:33:37] It's still being school, even if it's at 10 o'clock at night.

[5:33:42] So it's kind of interesting, there's so many things that it's really hard to understand

[5:33:48] unless you are a practitioner actually doing this.

[5:33:52] And so what comes, I want to make, is that it's so important that every worker of these concerns

[5:33:59] and issues, and you're doing it right now, that there's collaborations, but we, you know,

[5:34:05] super important that the actual teachers and the staff and in the school, the people that are

[5:34:12] boots on the ground have some input and some decision-making in the things that are happening

[5:34:20] as these districts move through this very, very stressful situation. We see things maybe that

[5:34:30] You wouldn't see if you were sitting at a desk trying to make the decisions, but actually talking to kids working with kids or going to school and being in that situation, it gives us insight and I think sometimes that is not honored.

[5:34:49] So I am concerned about that.

[5:34:52] You've heard it over and over again.

[5:34:54] My colleagues are so stressed out.

[5:34:58] My colleagues were doing hybrid teaching because they're teaching kids in person at their school.

[5:35:05] But they also have kids who are streaming into their classroom.

[5:35:09] And this is two jobs, not one job.

[5:35:13] And they're worried about their health and well-being.

[5:35:16] I'm lucky. I'm safely in my home and I was lucky that I was able to get this e-learning

[5:35:24] position. So my stress is not the same stress that they have and I really, really worry

[5:35:30] about my colleagues. I had close friends tell me that they're at the breaking point. It's September.

[5:35:39] We don't get to the breaking point as teachers in September. So, you know, in the system depends

[5:35:45] on the staff and on the teachers because, you know, they have to be healthy for the kids

[5:35:52] and they have to be able to do this work.

[5:35:55] So I'm very concerned when I think and I hear some of the conversations about funding

[5:36:02] and I know you have a whole other section on it but we've been talking about it all day

[5:36:07] because you can't talk about barriers unless you talk about money.

[5:36:10] But, you know, the educational system is the foundation for a society.

[5:36:16] This is not the thing to underfund.

[5:36:21] I'm worried that there isn't going to be money to continue learning in January.

[5:36:28] We don't know if there is, and these kids whose mom is in hospice, you know, is that seeing

[5:36:34] I'm going to comment, all of a sudden, we're mirror-appest, so we're going to be back 100%.

[5:36:39] It doesn't look like that.

[5:36:41] So I'm discouraged when I see what I see and experience what I experience.

[5:36:48] And we're talking about the system that's going to be underfunded for years.

[5:36:53] I don't know.

[5:36:55] I just think that we need to get our priorities a little bit different.

[5:37:02] The other thing I just want to mention, because I've been doing this online teaching, please don't think that you need less teachers because you can have bigger class sizes when you're online.

[5:37:16] it doesn't work that way. I'm teaching a goal for now too so when I'm done here, I'm

[5:37:23] going to be going to a class where I'm an instructor for about 30 teachers in our district

[5:37:30] to get into a relationship for ELL to put on their license. And this is a very big group.

[5:37:38] There's four of us teaching the class for 30 teachers so that we can go and break out rooms

[5:37:44] have individual conversations. So to think that maybe we could cut budgets, cut people

[5:37:51] because we can go to this e-learning thing and put, you know, 45 kids in a class that would

[5:37:59] be very, very poor instruction. It would not be helpful.

[5:38:07] So I want to just finish by saying

[5:38:10] there's some positive. I really truly believe kids are very resilient. I think we're all going to be okay. I have to because I've made it through 37 years, you know, and we are okay. We've never had this kind of a crisis, but we're going to be okay. We just have to make sure, you know, we keep supporting people where they need support.

[5:38:34] And there is a positive that's coming out of this when I have virtual meetings with kids that 15-minute virtual meetings.

[5:38:43] I don't get to do that at school very often.

[5:38:47] I have 25-30 kids in a classroom, but to talk on a computer face-to-face, one-on-one with a kid,

[5:38:54] I'm learning so much about them.

[5:38:57] And so that's a positive and then the left positive is I never would have come to this committee meeting because I would have been teaching all day at school.

[5:39:08] And so I really do think this model you will include more public members to your committees, to your when you're in sessions.

[5:39:18] More people would be able to be participants, and that's what our society is built on.

[5:39:25] We're a society of people that are participating in their government.

[5:39:29] So, that is what I had to say.

[5:39:32] And thank you very much for allowing me the opportunity.

[5:39:35] Well, thank you, Kathy, and I think you're absolutely right.

[5:39:38] I appreciate that that is a great positive that you get to know each student individually better.

[5:39:45] And it's a gift that we didn't know

[5:39:48] we were going to get out of this, so that's good.

[5:39:51] It's good for them and good for you as well.

[5:39:54] So any questions for Kathy today?

[5:39:57] Yes, representative Geitner.

[5:40:02] So that was interesting, and I appreciate that perspective.

[5:40:05] I guess I have a question in light of some of the concerns

[5:40:07] that were brought up, and I think a previous speaker

[5:40:11] kind of touched on some of the concerns,

[5:40:12] and that was, you know, a waiver process

[5:40:15] for the evaluations that are federally required

[5:40:17] and these sorts of things.

[5:40:18] Then saying, hey, we may not be able to afford e-learning going into the future, cost

[5:40:23] around hiring stead teachers on a private basis, which is more expensive in these sorts

[5:40:31] of things.

[5:40:32] So it brings to mind the $1.6 billion in the state of Colorado receives that was allocated

[5:40:38] by Governor Polis.

[5:40:40] When in fact, maybe we should have exercised and paused there, heard these concerns, and then

[5:40:46] legislature could have certainly acted to allocate those dollars to address some of these

[5:40:50] reasons.

[5:40:51] I think that's the point that maybe is, I know certainly I hadn't necessarily considered

[5:40:56] in hindsight, it's certainly always 2020, but I think it's important that we are mindful

[5:41:00] of, you know, Colorado did get one point six billion dollars from the federal government and

[5:41:05] it would have been, I think, appropriate, giving some of the issues that we're facing now

[5:41:10] that are coming to light now as it was also six months down the road that that money could

[5:41:15] otherwise better than spent in terms of these types of concerns that we're hearing today.

[5:41:21] So I would just offer that kind of a summoning, you know, in the future, certainly,

[5:41:24] hopefully we'll never find ourselves on this position again, but we're a little bit more

[5:41:27] mindful of exercising some caution and talking to something down a little bit to say,

[5:41:32] hey, but we don't know what the future might hold. Let's look at the issues that we're certainly

[5:41:36] to face as we progress forward. So $1.6 billion could go a long way,

[5:41:41] I believe in solving some of the issues that we were hearing about.

[5:41:46] Well, I don't appreciate that, and I don't know, I mean, we did have march through

[5:41:50] nice to learn some of the problems that we were going to face, but maybe, you know, where

[5:41:58] the ball was dropped, is this point I made, is that did teachers and people who were actually

[5:42:05] on the ground, come in and give advice, they asked, yeah, and you know, it is hindsight, it's hindsight.

[5:42:12] So in the future, you know, I'm here. I'd be happy to just give advice.

[5:42:21] Okay. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate that contribution representative

[5:42:25] Geithner and thank you Kathy for joining us today. We're very appreciative. Thank you.

[5:42:30] Yeah, I don't know if I've ever been in a room like this before. Very, very powerful. So cool. Thank you,

[5:42:40] We are going to take a 10 minute break and then we will be back to have a joyful discussion.

[5:42:47] What we're going to do with the budget is we're not going to talk about student count.

[5:42:52] I'm here that will be another discussion because it happens later and all the details are not worked out.

[5:42:58] We'll do kind of a big overall.

[5:43:00] but we would really like to know from people what they did with their care's money and how it affected things

[5:43:07] they share, how it affected spending just for this year. So pretty narrow topic about cares and what we did with that money.

[5:43:15] Okay, so that's it and we will see you in 10 minutes. Thank you. All right, here we go.

[5:43:24] We are now on the last leg, the last bottle of hand sanitizer leg for our education committee

[5:43:34] here.

[5:43:35] This part will be about the budget, and although we could probably go on for days about

[5:43:40] the budget, what we've decided in this part, and Wilson, we may do it before you aren't

[5:43:47] retired for this job, but what I'd like to do today is see what is going on.

[5:43:53] going on with the CARES Act money that came in that can only be used for COVID-related experiences

[5:43:59] and COVID-related expenses.

[5:44:03] So that's kind of what I want to hear today from everybody.

[5:44:06] We are going to keep it to five minutes per speaker.

[5:44:09] The last one there were so many really great stories that kind of let everybody go on this,

[5:44:15] but I'm an English teacher.

[5:44:16] Having a great sort about the budget is a pressure on me, and this is going on.

[5:44:20] So we will keep it to a five minute time period and five minutes for questions and we're

[5:44:27] hoping we can do a very broad view of the budget and what's happening with schools and

[5:44:33] we just kind of want to know so far this year before any count money comes in because that

[5:44:41] will be a whole other discussion and we're going to have with CE.

[5:44:45] We want to make sure that what have you done so far this year not in the future.

[5:44:50] So we're just asking kind of a snapshot of what's been happening so far.

[5:44:55] All right, have that good with everybody?

[5:44:58] Okay, so our first...

[5:45:00] We have lots of people who can answer questions. We have a Sherry Wright from Cortez, Kathy Scholar from Adams 12, Kathy Gibhardt from Boulder Valley.

[5:45:12] And the first person we have on deck is Jennifer Oaks, the Chief Operated Officer for CDE, and I bet she's excited to join us today.

[5:45:21] So, she ran, no, no, we won.

[5:45:26] Jennifer, hear me?

[5:45:27] Oh, we can.

[5:45:28] Oh, how are you?

[5:45:30] Great.

[5:45:33] So, I know that you all had, you know,

[5:45:39] briefly mentioned that the October counten as district

[5:45:42] had mentioned earlier, you know, as a process that started

[5:45:45] the first day in school, and we'll go through October 31st and then.

[5:45:49] And so it's a big process that's underway now and that there is that averaging that can

[5:45:58] cater and we'll talk more at a later time about this do not cover counts.

[5:46:03] So in today's, I just had a couple of slides that I wanted to share to give an overview.

[5:46:13] And let's see, is it working?

[5:46:17] I'm not there.

[5:46:19] And by sharing my overview of the CARE VAT, hopefully, the CARE VAT has a number of different parts.

[5:46:28] So one of the first biggest pieces is the ESR funds, the education stabilization funds.

[5:46:36] And so Colorado received about 121 million of that.

[5:46:41] And so initially, then first 90 million of that went to district space upon their Title I,

[5:46:48] allocation methodology, and there was about 12 million that is set aside for state funds that

[5:46:55] can be used. There's also the gear funds through the Governor's Office about 44 million

[5:47:02] there for both higher ed and K-12, and then the Coronavirus relief funds that 510 million that

[5:47:11] to districts. So with the S3, 109 million that 90 million or 90 percent went to districts based

[5:47:19] on the Title 1, this can be sent through September 30th of 2022, so there's a little bit

[5:47:27] more time with those funds. It is related to anything in response to the COVID response.

[5:47:35] That's five hundred and ten million that went out to districts, CSI, and also facility schools in the BOSI.

[5:47:44] Those needs to be spent sooner by December 30th of this year, and again, they're related to COVID relief type funds.

[5:47:52] With that ten percent that was the state reserve, we have allocated 4.6 million of that.

[5:48:00] That was really to school districts,

[5:48:04] post-season tribes that did not have as much relief

[5:48:08] from that first 90% distribution.

[5:48:11] So on the 4.6 million, 750 will go to Bocis to address

[5:48:18] special education funding needs,

[5:48:21] and also the Bocis schools that are brick and mortar schools

[5:48:24] to help them transition over to potentially the hybrid

[5:48:29] or remote learning. 70,000 is going to the two tribes in Colorado to help their students.

[5:48:39] And then 320,000 is going to support 11 districts based upon the title 6 funding, again,

[5:48:46] to support the educational needs of our Native American students. And that about 1.5 million

[5:48:53] went to districts to supplement the money that they received in that 90%

[5:48:58] the districts that really got a smaller allocation in that. And again, we tried to focus on the

[5:49:04] needs with the highest needs students. There's also 2 million that is going to support broadband

[5:49:11] activity. And then there's about 6.9 million that's been set aside. So we learn more about what the needs

[5:49:18] and that that 6.9 can be used to address those leads as they come up and identify later this fall.

[5:49:28] After the student October count is when we know more about the needs of districts.

[5:49:32] So that gives you a very, very high overview, but I think hopefully it's a little set up for the next presenters and I will be here for additional questions.

[5:49:48] That was really great. Thank you. We got the slides a little late, so I did like to digest quickly, so I will look for those on.

[5:49:59] But thank you very much.

[5:50:01] So I can't see everybody yet. I'm not sure how to get. I never know how to get back on to everybody.

[5:50:07] There we are. All right.

[5:50:10] Okay. Does anybody have questions?

[5:50:16] see any day you go I keep thinking you're waving your hands. Okay well I can't thank you enough for doing this. I know that

[5:50:25] this has been a stressful part of your life to be doing all this so I'm very very appreciated. Thank you very much Jennifer.

[5:50:33] Yeah. Thank you.

[5:50:37] Okay next we have is going to be four people on this panel. There will be Brett Miles from case Amy Baka older from C.A.

[5:50:48] Let's see, Michelle Murphy from rural schools,

[5:50:51] Lions, Sherry Ranch, from school boards,

[5:50:56] and Calileba from AFT.

[5:50:59] So if you could join us on here,

[5:51:01] and you will each have your five minutes to talk.

[5:51:10] You want to go back?

[5:51:11] Do you want to go first?

[5:51:12] Thank you.

[5:51:13] Madam Chair members of the committee.

[5:51:15] Thank you so much for all of us in today.

[5:51:17] and I'm sure you just like us extremely impressed with all of the real stories from our teachers

[5:51:23] and board members and superintendents.

[5:51:26] Everyone in this room, the virtual room, is very well aware of how this app legislative

[5:51:30] session ended with a $1.17 billion budget stabilization factor.

[5:51:36] I remember when it was all past we heard from many of you right on this call, how devastating

[5:51:42] it was for you to pass that budget because you understood the impact so it's going to have

[5:51:46] Colorado schools. And we look forward to working with you to reverse the damage done and

[5:51:51] restore back to our constitutional level for starters, you know, and then of course for

[5:51:55] that aspirational level where we can lead the nation in equitable funding. School leaders across

[5:52:02] the state, I can tell you, are appreciative that the public schools for the target of a large portion

[5:52:06] of that care dollars for Governor's Corona, my risk relief fund. We understand that there were

[5:52:13] many, maybe in deserving places where that money could go, but to be clear, but not to care

[5:52:18] dollars, it would have been catastrophic for our schools this last year.

[5:52:22] School districts are concerned that the increase in the BS factor will still be here

[5:52:27] along after the December 30th deadline of spending these coronavirus relief funds.

[5:52:32] So we need to work together to address this looming impact on schools early on in the

[5:52:36] legislative session, and all of us are ready to join in on those conversations.

[5:52:41] While the CARES dollars provided an immediate question, to the blow from our budgets, it

[5:52:46] will last.

[5:52:48] And it came with its own set of restrictions and limitations and owners reporting that

[5:52:52] we're starting to get into now, something that is particularly felt by our smallest districts

[5:52:58] who have no capacity for extra reports and data submissions.

[5:53:02] These CARES dollars were spent on PPE on laptops, interesting story, there were a lot of

[5:53:09] spent on Chromebooks and laptops, but we're not even sure it can get delivered here by December

[5:53:14] 30th and be invoiced in time to be able to submit those CRF funds for reimbursement.

[5:53:22] These dollars were spent on training days, they were spent on taking furlough days, back

[5:53:26] out of the calendar that we were put in early on, days without pay, they've spent on stuff.

[5:53:34] I know districts are using this sub 20 full time subs in because you have to have that full time sub in the cohort group.

[5:53:41] You can't have a sub bouncing around from cohort to cohort, or the whole school shutdown when you get your outbreak.

[5:53:49] So, navigating these grant requirements was a very stressful this last summer,

[5:53:54] or especially for our superintendents and CFOs.

[5:53:58] I'm trying to make sure that we have the appropriate use for all of these funds.

[5:54:01] I'm appreciative how well CD works with us to give us input on the big list and test out some ideas that we have.

[5:54:08] But nonetheless, they were restricted and they were, and they have a timeline.

[5:54:16] The fact of the matter is that it costs more to start school this year than it did last year.

[5:54:20] So, the CARES money were intended to offset the BS actor. It did help, no doubt.

[5:54:26] But it didn't cover all of those new and unavoidable expenses for reopening this year.

[5:54:31] So school's use care dollars for online programming, extra custodial time, nursing services,

[5:54:41] temperature checkers at the door.

[5:54:43] So all critical that keeping schools open and keeping safe as we're through this.

[5:54:50] So I think let's just take a second before we wrap up on funding to just please remember

[5:54:55] As students and staff return to our schools, virtually or physically, all of our associations

[5:55:01] here are keenly aware that having students return to a safe place, having staff return

[5:55:07] into safe environment, all focused on high-quality, grade level instruction is the top priority.

[5:55:14] Neither the students nor the staff in person or in line are walking into the school with any

[5:55:20] healing of normal seeds, paying attention to the trauma is for most of our minds and the

[5:55:26] attention of the mental health of the staff and students must be in place before the

[5:55:31] learning can happen. We're all ready to get into teaching. Every single one of us want to

[5:55:36] get into teaching and we know that we have to take care of this trauma in order for that

[5:55:41] to happen. This is happening every day in every one of our schools. You know, there's no

[5:55:47] and all comes down to resources and prior to COVID, we already had gaps in broadband across our state.

[5:55:54] We already had a teacher's shortage, pain worse nationally.

[5:55:58] We already had them in devices and students hands.

[5:56:01] We already couldn't find bus drivers.

[5:56:03] We couldn't find substitute teachers.

[5:56:05] We were already spending reserves to fix risk and willers.

[5:56:09] All of the stressors schools have been feeling this fall

[5:56:12] have been with us for years.

[5:56:14] So, if there is a silver lining, then it's that the stress and chaos of this pandemic is that the fragile state of the educational system was masked by talented educators and is now fully exposed.

[5:56:28] And we must increase our urgency to address public education funding for our students now in the future.

[5:56:36] Thank you.

[5:56:37] I appreciate that very, very much.

[5:56:41] The shared wrench.

[5:56:42] You're next.

[5:56:44] Thank you Madam Chair and members of the committee.

[5:56:47] I don't want to give you this too much.

[5:56:49] I think Brett really hit the nail on the head when he spoke on all the highlights there.

[5:56:55] I think just to reiterate that school districts and school boards are really trying to figure out what they're going to do after December 30th.

[5:57:03] deadline when all the care money is to be spent by is really looming before them. What

[5:57:09] we know is that fibreds, learning, remote learning, and even in-person learning costs so much

[5:57:17] more now than it did before. There's a amount of restrictions that are in place, the smaller

[5:57:22] class sizes and smaller groups that we have to have more teachers, more staff. You heard new

[5:57:27] For example, today of what that's going to look like, whether they're in-person, remotely or in a hybrid model.

[5:57:35] We know that at the same time, Brett mentioned that we as many of these costs were already burdensome on our districts.

[5:57:44] We have mental health issues that aren't going to go away. They're going to be exacerbated by the trauma that Brett was talking about.

[5:57:50] Those teens through the side rates don't just disappear with the amount of isolation that's happened, that is a real fear, but those rates could increase.

[5:58:00] Teacher Pay has historically been low for Colorado.

[5:58:03] It's at the lowest nation right now, and we are not doing justice by our teachers and all of our staff that are working so hard these days.

[5:58:13] There are, you heard examples of, for a day's happening across the state, there are cuts all over the place.

[5:58:23] People are worried about how to maintain staff after December 30th, especially the number of staff that are going to have to put them in these restrictions in safety precautions in place.

[5:58:34] We've heard about the digital divide, we've heard that we have so many of our districts,

[5:58:40] 60 percent that are only four days a week.

[5:58:43] So what that looks like as we go forward with the massive budget consolidation factor

[5:58:48] is before us?

[5:58:51] We are going to have to, I think George will set it best around the K2 reading.

[5:58:57] We are going to have to accelerate learning and touch,

[5:59:01] that takes more money, resources need to be invested, smaller groups of kids need to be working with specialized reading teachers to help make that happen.

[5:59:12] And of course the safety costs are in numerous.

[5:59:16] We've known for years and we haven't been able to make up the difference with budget stabilization factor.

[5:59:24] It's been over $8 billion since the last recession and we have lost a generation of kids to have fully funded education.

[5:59:35] We know that money won't solve all of our problems, but we need at least foundational adequate and equitable funding to make sure that we have predictability as one of our superintendents said for the future.

[5:59:50] We need stability within our education system to ensure that we have workforce development

[5:59:56] capacity for the future.

[5:59:58] We want our economy back.

[6:00:00] We want it to be one of the strongest in the nation, just like it was before COVID. But if we are not able to educate the future, the future workforce, we will not be able to be one of the strongest economies.

[6:00:14] It's really important that you remember, again, all of this short amount of federal funding is not going to make up the difference, so the success that we're seeing at the state level.

[6:00:25] We are also advocating with Congress and at the national level for what needs to go into a federal package.

[6:00:32] It still won't be enough.

[6:00:34] And so we implore you to think about that and understand you very difficult decisions of head.

[6:00:40] And we appreciate your willingness to work with us and how to solve those problems that lie ahead.

[6:00:47] And with that, I don't want to take too much more time.

[6:00:49] Thank you very much for your willingness to listen today and I know it's been a long day.

[6:00:55] So thank you.

[6:00:56] Thank you, Director Grinch.

[6:00:59] How about Amy?

[6:01:04] I'm sure.

[6:01:05] And I apologize.

[6:01:06] I do have to hop off right after this to get on to another meeting.

[6:01:10] But I appreciate the time and commitment you all have put in today.

[6:01:15] to listen to everyone and appreciate your questions and your responsiveness and

[6:01:22] Fred said look forward to continuing the conversation.

[6:01:26] I will just add a few quick points regarding the funding situation and the

[6:01:31] CARES Act dollars specifically.

[6:01:34] As was pointed out, the CARES dollars do have to be spent by December 30.

[6:01:40] There are certain things that those CARES dollars could be spent on.

[6:01:43] We know, as I was pointed out, we had, she's significant needs prior to COVID-19 impacting

[6:01:52] our schools and our districts.

[6:01:55] For far too long, we have been putting band-aids on gushing wounds and expecting that those wounds

[6:02:01] will just close up with a band-aid.

[6:02:04] We need sustainable long-term solutions.

[6:02:07] The CARES Act dollars were another band-aid that was much needed, but it is not going

[6:02:12] to solve our problems.

[6:02:14] One of the biggest worries that we have right now

[6:02:16] with the CARES Act Dollars are some of those things

[6:02:19] that I mentioned earlier,

[6:02:21] that districts are using those dollars for.

[6:02:24] Those needs are not going to go away.

[6:02:26] So the districts, for example,

[6:02:28] that are using CARES Act Dollars to provide COVID testing

[6:02:31] to their employees come December.

[6:02:35] We are sure that the need for testing

[6:02:38] is not going to go away.

[6:02:40] Those districts that are using CARES Act Dollars

[6:02:42] to provide those technology needs to provide those health and safety sanitation needs like

[6:02:50] hand sanitizer. So deep disinfectant, et cetera, those needs are not going to go away.

[6:02:56] So we absolutely look forward to partnering with you all to figure out how we come to a sustainable

[6:03:03] solution. We had way too many statistics prior to COVID-19 that we as a state should not be

[6:03:10] and they're just getting worse.

[6:03:12] I've already mentioned on this call, Colorado now ranks worse in the country for teacher pay.

[6:03:21] We should not be proud of that.

[6:03:22] We have an educator shortage that existed prior to COVID-19.

[6:03:27] And as we've heard today, that is just probably going to get worse.

[6:03:32] As we see the number of people resigning, retiring, leaving the profession.

[6:03:38] So, yes, while the CARES Act dollars provided a buffer, we must need a buffer and a desperate

[6:03:45] time.

[6:03:46] We are not seeing our way out of that desperate time by a date on the calendar, by December

[6:03:51] 30.

[6:03:52] So, we must come together collectively to find the solutions to ensure that a child no matter

[6:03:59] there's a code, no matter where they live in Colorado or attend our public schools, if

[6:04:04] have access to a high quality public education system that gives them the resources and supports

[6:04:12] that they need. Our current 11th grader in Colorado has never experienced a fully funded

[6:04:18] public education system and we must do better than that. So again, I truly appreciate the time

[6:04:25] today. This conversation, I look forward to the future conversations. As I said, my best hope

[6:04:32] is that we are all willing to work collaboratively

[6:04:36] and together on solutions to ensure

[6:04:39] that our public schools are serving

[6:04:41] and meeting the needs of our students and our educators.

[6:04:45] And thank you all for the work

[6:04:46] that you are doing during these very challenging times.

[6:04:51] Thank you.

[6:04:52] And this thank you Ms. Boko Older

[6:04:54] and she has to leave right now for another meeting.

[6:04:56] So she's very excited to continue her meetings today.

[6:04:59] So thank you for joining us today.

[6:05:02] Ms. Murphy,

[6:05:05] you're now, you, you, you, you, you, you, I actually don't have much to add.

[6:05:13] I think that Brett and Sherry and Amy covered just about everything.

[6:05:18] I want to reiterate Superintendent Chris Sally's point about the impact of cuts on rural

[6:05:24] and particularly smaller rural systems who have less space to trim and don't have economies

[6:05:29] of scale.

[6:05:30] What are my superintendents said on our Wednesday morning call, which is going to cut ourselves

[6:05:33] right out of business.

[6:05:34] So, I'm going to get weepy and I'm going to turn to every single one of you and Senator

[6:05:39] Todd and rep Wilson.

[6:05:40] We're going to miss you desperately in this regard, especially, but we're going to need

[6:05:44] help figuring out what to do with our rural schools.

[6:05:49] Also, I want to say to you, without whatever you can do, to help move a federal stimulus package

[6:05:56] a second package without that to everybody else's point, comes to 730, a lot of our districts

[6:06:01] are not going to have the money, you are not going to know where they are, how they are going

[6:06:06] to allocate those dollars to the council additional counselors, the nurses, the online

[6:06:12] funding, all of these pieces.

[6:06:14] So, we've had senators spend it and gardener on our Wednesday morning calls.

[6:06:19] I would love to extend an invitation to any or all of you to join us where everyone is morning

[6:06:24] at eight.

[6:06:24] We have upwards of 120 swirls, superintendents, Sherry and Brett are with us and it's a great

[6:06:30] time to hear from them because I don't know if you guys disagree but the most impactful testimony

[6:06:34] today came from our district leaders so no offense to my colleagues but so please do join

[6:06:39] us in here from the directly and lastly I would say the school finance project today survey

[6:06:45] of all of the districts I don't think they all responded but they've got some resources

[6:06:48] on their website about where specific cuts were being made where they'll have to be made

[6:06:53] and we just can't be having conversations about more cuts or we can't be having them in any

[6:06:58] kind of light-hearted way without knowing the consequences for all of our kids.

[6:07:04] And thank you all for the time today greatly appreciate it.

[6:07:08] Thank you very much for being very, as a role educator, I appreciate it.

[6:07:14] I always appreciate your words.

[6:07:16] So thank you.

[6:07:16] Thank you.

[6:07:17] We're upon you.

[6:07:18] You said that sometimes.

[6:07:22] Cali.

[6:07:23] Cali, leave off, please.

[6:07:25] All right.

[6:07:25] I can't believe that.

[6:07:28] It's definitely.

[6:07:29] If T. Colorado president and yes,

[6:07:32] take Michelle said everyone's a for me.

[6:07:36] We're all on the same page.

[6:07:38] Here we are.

[6:07:40] The fact here that the cuts that that had to be made.

[6:07:46] The CARES Act funding and the CRF.

[6:07:52] We also had all the additional costs of trying to run our schools in the middle of this pandemic and so they didn't.

[6:08:02] We're still behind and we're all pretty darn terrified about what's going to happen in January, honestly.

[6:08:10] So to give you some specifics, you know, Kathy Dorman spoke as one of our e-learning teachers.

[6:08:16] Many Douglass County hired many e-learning teachers on one semester contracts and or they

[6:08:24] have teachers from a school come into becoming an e-learning teacher and so they've placed

[6:08:31] another teacher in the building who's on a one semester contract.

[6:08:35] So at the end of December those teachers will no longer be employed by our district and

[6:08:41] and Douglas County in particular, we will no longer have access to

[6:08:45] edgenuity, which is the system that our district chose to use.

[6:08:50] So, e-mourning cannot continue forward.

[6:08:53] And we can't tell students who are at a high risk of

[6:08:59] deaths from COVID or live with family members who might be at a higher risk

[6:09:04] that the school needs just not an option and you'll have to come to school.

[6:09:08] We also have increased costs for substitute teachers.

[6:09:12] You've got a lot about that today.

[6:09:14] There's a real lack of subs out there.

[6:09:18] A lot of our subs have been our retirees who cannot come in and sub now.

[6:09:22] So we're having to pay more for subs.

[6:09:24] And we won't be able to do that after January.

[6:09:28] We keep these not going to go away.

[6:09:29] We're going to need that.

[6:09:30] A lot of schools have resorted to getting giant tents.

[6:09:33] called Vocal or Instrumental Music in and that's been great, but we're going to still have

[6:09:41] to rent those kids and then need the money for them.

[6:09:44] We still need all those cleaning supplies and the COVID testing, like Amy talked about,

[6:09:49] and staff dedicated to tracking down those kids that aren't showing up.

[6:09:55] So all those additional costs are needed and like everyone else here, AFT is working really

[6:10:00] with our federal government to secure funding from the federal government, so any help that you all

[6:10:06] can do with that as well, reaching out to our Senators and Senatives is appreciated and

[6:10:14] like everyone else.

[6:10:15] Thank you so much for your time today for listening to all of us and being open to these

[6:10:20] conversations that are not easy to have, but are very, very important to have.

[6:10:24] And so I look forward to our future conversations about the count.

[6:10:30] Okay. Thank you so much. All of you. We now have five minutes of questions. If people have questions for this wonderful group of people, please let's hear it.

[6:10:42] Yes, represent it basically.

[6:10:45] Sure. So we've heard for all day now all the appealing to this group to the legislators at the state level for sufficient funding.

[6:10:58] And it's a preaching to the prior kind of a thing

[6:11:02] in that we're with you on this.

[6:11:03] We'd like to, we're dealing with the reduction in

[6:11:09] all the funds, and of course needing to balance that

[6:11:12] with the healthcare mental health and all the other agencies

[6:11:15] that are making similar pitches and so on,

[6:11:17] but we're just, the pot has got a lot smaller.

[6:11:21] Well, I wonder especially Ms. Murphy,

[6:11:24] as you talked about having had conversations

[6:11:26] with several government personnel at the official and so on.

[6:11:31] I never heard Governor Paul's name mentioned all day long, not a single time.

[6:11:37] I wonder if any of you have appealed to him that he's the one person who was holding up the

[6:11:42] economy. He's the one person who could open the state economy and let the revenues start to get

[6:11:56] Anything that's appealing to him to get us

[6:11:59] full off the break and let the people start paying for their houses

[6:12:04] and stop sending their kids to go make house payments by work

[6:12:09] and a part time off to this.

[6:12:10] It's those families that were talked about earlier

[6:12:13] of a family that is sending kids to go work a fast food.

[6:12:19] Those are the ones that the schools are dependent on

[6:12:22] to generate the revenue to pay for the education,

[6:12:25] pay for the schools. It's we've got to let this economy take off and there's just one

[6:12:32] person that is in that critical path. And so that's my question. Is anyone asking Governor

[6:12:41] Polis to let the economy go?

[6:12:52] I guess not. Okay, there's a problem. I'll speak up to that.

[6:12:57] This Senator Todd and I think part of what we're seeing from the governor as we have seen from

[6:13:05] a couple of decisions that have had to be made just this week with CU, sending students home,

[6:13:12] compliance, compliance. The governor has said, wear a mask, social distance.

[6:13:18] And as people have done that, restaurants have reopened, business has reopened.

[6:13:23] and it has moving forward in a very positive line.

[6:13:26] I think we're seeing that all over.

[6:13:28] I know we've been to the mountains.

[6:13:32] Summit County, we've been to Aurora and Denver metro area

[6:13:39] and seeing when people come play,

[6:13:42] then I think that businesses will continue to open.

[6:13:46] And I think that's what the governor is saying.

[6:13:49] So when you say it's up to one person,

[6:13:52] I think the governor's heard from many of us, I'm quite sure he's heard from, I know he's heard from me in terms of what is the plan and what are we looking at.

[6:14:05] And again, the more people comply, the less incidents and as we kind of look at what is happening with the number of people I think we're still around 140 times that are in the hospital.

[6:14:19] But in terms of overall what we're seeing is that when people comply, the numbers go down in businesses and restaurants can open and I know I talk with my restaurant here and owners and and they are thrilled to be able to see the progress that's going because people are complying.

[6:14:42] So I guess I would, that would be my response in terms of I'm not going to be silent on that one

[6:14:48] Reptitive basically because I do think the governor is listening. I think he is and I don't agree with him on everything

[6:14:55] So please don't think that this is just a blanket a grief

[6:15:00] But it is a matter of saying, if we, as the state, can keep things under control, we can continue moving forward.

[6:15:08] And so that's my response to it and I think that's what we're seeing, even with our schools and being able to see that that's where the success is.

[6:15:20] It takes some compliance during these tough times.

[6:15:23] Thank you, Senator, for that response, but I will not be silent either.

[6:15:28] It is not his job to force compliance.

[6:15:32] It is his job to enforce the people and let them act in their own self-interest, which is

[6:15:38] to behave in a way that keeps everyone safe.

[6:15:42] But instead, he does demand compliance with the threat of jail time.

[6:15:48] My constituents are not thrilled with it.

[6:15:51] They're ready to run him out of the state on a rail.

[6:15:53] They're furious.

[6:15:55] I've got a lot of constituents coming to be saying,

[6:15:58] my business is in threat of having its license pulled.

[6:16:02] They're overregulating us.

[6:16:04] I have people coming to me saying,

[6:16:06] I have lost my house because of this.

[6:16:09] It's desperate for a lot of people.

[6:16:12] And it's desperate for people are not allowed to make the balance choice

[6:16:17] in their own self-interest, but rather because they're being demanded to be compliant by

[6:16:23] someone who's behaving in a dictatorial fashion instead of as a governor.

[6:16:27] He's wholly inappropriate.

[6:16:29] He is the one, educators hear me.

[6:16:32] He is the one preventing you from getting the funding that you need.

[6:16:37] We're ready to give those to allocate the funds accordingly, but he is stopping the economy

[6:16:44] going by unnaturally and perpetually having an emergency order condition, which the law allows

[6:16:53] him to do for 30 days and he continuously extends it and has displaced our economy.

[6:17:00] Okay, thank you for that.

[6:17:02] And there's a pin.

[6:17:03] We're moving on.

[6:17:04] Thank you very much.

[6:17:05] Okay, thank you.

[6:17:06] We're moving on our five-minute trip, so thank you both for contributing and we'll

[6:17:11] we'll go to our next panel.

[6:17:12] So, it's a short one, it's just a little one, so thank you all very much for joining us

[6:17:17] in the last half of the week, really appreciate it, thank you.

[6:17:22] Okay, we have Terry Crowe Lewis and John Paul Burns, you're back again, so we're not gonna

[6:17:30] see you.

[6:17:35] I'm happy to like you come first.

[6:17:38] Thank you, thanks, my hon. Chair, and thank you to the committee members.

[6:17:41] I know today, it's been long and you have, um,

[6:17:44] it's really been so attentive to all of us as we talk about our needs and, um,

[6:17:49] what's going on in the field.

[6:17:51] I'm going to try to keep it short and, and I'll have to step off and so I'm going to

[6:17:55] speak a little bit for all tarders, um, in the state to 261, but has a reminder

[6:18:01] on the tertiary School Institute and we have 42 schools that we authorized.

[6:18:05] Our school is using it similar to what everyone else is doing.

[6:18:10] We are purchasing PPE, we're purchasing technology.

[6:18:15] We have a very small staff.

[6:18:17] Our staff is about 25 on which we operate not so much like a district, but sometimes we have

[6:18:24] to.

[6:18:24] In this case, we have had to help our schools get PPE, the supply chain is challenging, we've

[6:18:31] delivered it, we've purchased it, we've driven through the schools to deliver it.

[6:18:35] And so, PPE is tough for all our schools, especially our small school schools to get that.

[6:18:41] What else we're doing?

[6:18:42] We're using it some for staffing, but really it's about equipment.

[6:18:46] And the other thing I'd like to really stress is we push our efforts funds and COVID dollars

[6:18:51] out to our schools, but unfortunately that's not been the case for all schools.

[6:18:57] It's about equity and we talk about ensuring that there's many inequities for all

[6:19:03] And what we have seen throughout the state is a recent survey in the last week that the lead did with all their members on how they are receiving and if they're receiving COVID dollars, half of those respondents said they have not received $.

[6:19:21] So, we have to ensure that the money that is available, and there's not enough, we all agree.

[6:19:29] Everything that we've heard before, we agree, we're finding the same challenges.

[6:19:34] But at least the dollars that are available, we need to ensure that they are shared equably or equity.

[6:19:40] There needs to be equity and shared with all our schools.

[6:19:44] Because the other public school students, and the rural schools, the challenges that I can

[6:19:50] so identify with, um, the needs that they have, and when I break them and I met with a

[6:19:56] school in crisis last Friday, and they talked about their financial crisis, they said,

[6:20:01] we're $660,000 in $60,000 short, where they're serving 230 students, what will we do?

[6:20:07] Like, you use your reserves, they said, there's not enough, I think you'll close your doors.

[6:20:12] Yes, that's your reality.

[6:20:13] We don't have money to give you. If you cannot make it work, you'll have to close your doors.

[6:20:19] And every one of those families will be impacted.

[6:20:22] So we understand when the margins are thin and very slim, like you're going to see in all the rural schools

[6:20:29] and the rural districts what they're struggling with.

[6:20:32] Same thing with our schools. We don't have a cushion for them.

[6:20:35] We don't have money we can give them. They're going to have to make those hard decisions.

[6:20:39] So I guess my plea to you today is the dollars that are available, the dollars that we do have,

[6:20:45] just make sure that all our schools have access to those.

[6:20:48] So, thank you.

[6:20:54] We have one of your schools in Durango, and now it's two of them.

[6:20:59] We have a middle school of high school and out in middle and animus.

[6:21:02] Thank you very much.

[6:21:04] We support them.

[6:21:05] Very much so.

[6:21:06] Okay.

[6:21:07] There you go.

[6:21:08] Okay.

[6:21:09] Where are you?

[6:21:09] Oh, there you is.

[6:21:10] John Paul.

[6:21:11] You're in my corner, so I don't know what you do in the corner here, but please join us.

[6:21:16] Thank you, Madam Chair.

[6:21:17] Thanks, everybody, for hanging in there.

[6:21:18] I know it's been a long day, and I'll try to keep this brief.

[6:21:22] Just want to also think our partners as a part of the Department of Education for providing this information.

[6:21:27] I do have a handout.

[6:21:29] I believe it's in your package.

[6:21:30] It's got some purple and green ink on it.

[6:21:33] It's as a consortium of Director, Special Lab, overview of possible Special Lab funding.

[6:21:37] I'm going to try to share that file really quick, but we will see if I am able to real quick.

[6:21:48] So let me open that.

[6:21:50] So hopefully you can reference it from your packet.

[6:21:53] Oh, yeah, here we go.

[6:21:54] Now it's coming up.

[6:21:58] So I'm glad to be participating again on behalf of the Consortium of Social Education Directors.

[6:22:03] As I mentioned earlier, our membership is 100% of director's special education in all public schools in Colorado.

[6:22:09] So as a consortium member, I also chair the special education fiscal advisory committee or C-FAC, which issues manual report to the legislature regarding special education funding in Colorado.

[6:22:22] The chart you have today is one that consortium develops annually.

[6:22:25] My purpose here is to give you information about special education funding and as impact on schools, local school districts and administrative unit budgets.

[6:22:33] It is not specific to COVID-19 but consider this data compounded by the impacts of COVID-19 and all of the things we've already discussed today in the challenges.

[6:22:47] The data that you'll be looking at was compiled from the 2018-19 school year.

[6:22:52] The 1920 school year data is not yet yet, obviously.

[6:22:57] So, a couple of basic points you may already know them, but they're worth a quick review.

[6:23:03] The current model for special education funding was developed by the legislature in 2006,

[6:23:08] in essentially three tiers.

[6:23:10] Each with a set full funding formula to your A to your B and the high-cost school.

[6:23:16] If you look at the top of your chart, all students with disabilities included in the

[6:23:20] pupil counts that result in TRA funding.

[6:23:23] And the funding is based on the previous year's December count.

[6:23:26] So for example, this year's funding is based on 2019.

[6:23:29] So it's always a one-year late reimbursement,

[6:23:33] not representative of our current needs.

[6:23:36] Chair V is comprised of those students with more significant disabilities

[6:23:40] who generate additional funding on top of Tier A.

[6:23:42] At the time of the funding model was developed,

[6:23:45] again, in 2006, the $1,250 per Tier A plus a 6,000 up to statutory limit

[6:23:53] was considered to be the average cost to serve a student in the Tier B category.

[6:23:59] And so the commitment to the gradually increased funding to the full 6,000 was supported in the field.

[6:24:04] We've never seen 100% or 6,000 funding on that.

[6:24:08] In fact, last year was the highest at 47% of that.

[6:24:12] Exit some additional funding we received in the 18,000 school year.

[6:24:16] Looking at the chart, you'll see that in 2019 there's total of 108,481 students

[6:24:22] in Colorado with disabilities, which is an increase of 4,030.

[6:24:26] We heard from people today indicating that there's been uptics in the number of students

[6:24:30] with disabilities in their districts, up 430 from the private previous year, that constitutes

[6:24:36] each one of those is funded at $1250.

[6:24:40] The total of $24,266 in Tier V is an increase of 123 students over 2018 count.

[6:24:48] You can see that the students in tier B are funded this year at $26,629.99 and 93 cents

[6:24:56] to be specific.

[6:24:58] Her student, this is actually a decrease from last year's funding because of the overall

[6:25:02] increase of the students with disabilities in first, must be funded in tier A.

[6:25:08] So essentially, what is left over is what's funding in tier B. This year tier B is currently

[6:25:14] We have 43.8% of them statutory maximum of 6,000.

[6:25:20] We have two new charts at the bottom of page three that you will, as I can take a look at,

[6:25:25] that we believe are critical to a fuller understanding of the actual cost of serving students

[6:25:30] as disability and Colorado.

[6:25:32] Mr. Barry, we're going to have one next.

[6:25:34] Okay, thanks.

[6:25:38] The top chart is ultimately representation of the portion of special education

[6:25:45] that falls to school districts, general fund, to support the uncovered costs of special

[6:25:51] education.

[6:25:52] You can see 65% of those costs come out of the general fund.

[6:25:56] And again, this is excess costs for special ledges, or all of the costs that are separate

[6:26:01] and not general led, parts of the covering the regular day.

[6:26:05] And then the last chart is ultimately, if the whole point of that chart is just to show

[6:26:12] But even if we were at a hundred percent tier B funded $6,000, that only take the seven percent cut into the general fund impact that we're looking at.

[6:26:26] And so a lot of times we look at, well, we fully funded tier B, we'd be there.

[6:26:31] And as you can see from these pie charts, that's clearly not the end to the answer.

[6:26:35] So, I mean, it is a great help and we would all very much appreciate it, but there's a lot more of that share that would be left.

[6:26:42] So ultimately, I want to leave time if there is any questions that the pandemic has definitely

[6:26:49] driven up the cost of special education from technology, PPE, a lot of our students have

[6:26:55] medical, fragile, medical, fragile needs, and so there's additional PPE, medical needs that

[6:27:02] come on top of that. Again, these are 18, 90 numbers. It'll be really interesting to see what these

[6:27:07] was like eight years from now after we've calculated not only last spring but then further

[6:27:12] more than 2021 school year.

[6:27:17] I would take questions at this time.

[6:27:21] Thank you so much.

[6:27:22] I've been kind of putting everybody on the five minute break on the side.

[6:27:26] So, so what kind of questions do

[6:27:35] you have?

[6:27:42] Mr. Braden, would you come over here for a

[6:27:55] minute?

[6:28:03] Something going with the phone.

[6:28:07] Can you hear me?

[6:28:11] I don't know. It's coming from you.

[6:28:12] I don't know.

[6:28:23] She's asking if anyone has any questions.

[6:28:27] For the last presenter?

[6:28:32] Step right up.

[6:28:34] Raise your hand.

[6:28:36] I dare not.

[6:28:38] Good plan.

[6:28:42] Anybody else with a hand?

[6:28:46] Anybody?

[6:28:48] Hands up.

[6:28:53] Closing remarks, Rep.

[6:28:54] McLaughlin, that you can mouse or sign.

[6:28:57] Oh, look.

[6:28:58] Rep.

[6:28:59] Buckner.

[6:29:00] You have to do that.

[6:29:01] Well, I don't have a question for the last person that I am just so appreciative of everyone

[6:29:06] who participated today.

[6:29:09] You know, this will be like a listening tour.

[6:29:12] And with our opportunity to learn from those who have their boots on,

[6:29:16] ground and we've been on this call since nine o'clock and I don't regret one minute of

[6:29:24] how many hours we've been on this call because I think it was so important to hear

[6:29:28] from everyone, you know, this is uncharted territory, I mean we're all still in trauma

[6:29:38] over this pandemic and in this uncharted territory you know we just have to keep having

[6:29:46] understanding and knowing that everybody doing their best doing the best they can

[6:29:54] under unsurmountable almost circumstances.

[6:30:00] If there is so much from the rural school today, I grew up in a rural area, so I know what that's right. I was a special education teacher. I know some of the obstacles that they're having to climb and get over. So I'm just appreciative of everybody's honesty and honestly, law comments about what's going on.

[6:30:22] I also want to say that, you know, I talked to the governor, we don't agree on everything,

[6:30:33] but we have conversations and every one of us should have conversations with our governor.

[6:30:40] But to say he's a dictator, I think that's a little bit much because we all are in uncharted territory.

[6:30:49] We all have to do our part to make this situation as good as we can make it.

[6:30:57] We all need to talk to the governor telling how we feel because he needs to know how we feel.

[6:31:05] But you know, let's have some understanding and know that everyone, including the governor,

[6:31:12] including everyone in the national level, we're doing the best we can with what we have.

[6:31:21] And some people are doing a better job with what they have and others.

[6:31:26] But people, let's keep working together.

[6:31:30] And what's the people working together?

[6:31:34] Because if we work together, we're going to get through this.

[6:31:38] If we don't,

[6:31:42] it's not a lot of benefit.

[6:31:44] let's not work against our own best interest. Let's work together and I guess I thought

[6:31:52] all I want to say is I'm like a bee and cooped up in my house too.

[6:32:00] I'll jump in, this is Senator Todd. Until we get Representative Block 1 here, I think we

[6:32:07] I have one final panel and my correct, Annie, is that right?

[6:32:16] And, oh, we can hear you now, great.

[6:32:19] Yeah, that's it, Nancy.

[6:32:21] We're done.

[6:32:23] Go ahead.

[6:32:24] I'll set that up.

[6:32:25] You're going ahead.

[6:32:26] I'm just saying that that was the last panel.

[6:32:28] So, you can talk that.

[6:32:29] Okay, all right, great.

[6:32:32] I know we've all had all kinds of, I know my video went off and all kinds of different things.

[6:32:37] And so it's been a long day, but a very beneficial day.

[6:32:42] And I would agree with what Representative Buckner just said

[6:32:46] in terms of it is a matter of everybody working together.

[6:32:51] We've got to listen.

[6:32:52] We've got to work in a collaborative manner.

[6:32:56] And it is, it's very, very beneficial to share the harder

[6:33:01] facts and the hard stories. And recognizing that we are all witnessed together, we are to

[6:33:09] a point where the financial constraints are real and the economic situation that we are all

[6:33:18] in in Colorado and nationwide is certainly a challenge, but at the same point recognizing the

[6:33:26] reality, the people that are online every day and making sure that we are giving them the

[6:33:34] kind of support that makes their jobs not easier because it is teaching and working with

[6:33:41] students is, I believe, a very high calling in it's one of the most demanding and difficult

[6:33:48] jobs ever do and so I'm so appreciative of the input and the leadership that we have heard

[6:33:56] today, a wide spectrum of leaders across the state.

[6:34:01] So I just personally want to say thank you.

[6:34:04] And I don't know if we will maybe have another problem,

[6:34:07] but if not, I just want to say thank you for letting me be

[6:34:10] a part of public education and the solutions for Colorado.

[6:34:15] Thank you.

[6:34:21] I just want to say thank you to everybody

[6:34:23] because it was a long day, but I love so much.

[6:34:34] But I just learned a lot from everybody today. And it was a really good listening. There's a lot of experts in the field out there. And you know so much more than I will ever know. So I really appreciate that you shared it with us.

[6:34:48] I wasn't crazy either. I represented basically that Colle and our Governor of Dictator

[6:34:54] because you disagree with him. Dictator is a pretty awful connotation. And I'm not sure

[6:35:01] we should applaud this to, um, obviously we elected in Colorado. So I think we need to be careful

[6:35:07] about our word choice. That's on there. But for the rest of you, thank you so much. And thank

[6:35:14] you two representatives and I'm not saying thank you that time. I just appreciate that you

[6:35:18] joined us today. We will be having a meeting at some time to talk more into the budget and to

[6:35:25] the school count. But too many people didn't feel like we were ready to go there yet. We didn't

[6:35:31] know what we didn't know about it. So we will be doing another one. So so the day we don't know what

[6:35:36] that is. But we will share that with all of you and that you know. Okay.

[6:35:42] But I think, basically, I don't feel like you.

[6:35:45] I love you all too, and especially you, Janet Buckner.

[6:35:49] You know, I'm a little exercised for the sake of my constituents, and that's why I'm so exercised here.

[6:35:55] But you, and I've said, I don't want to throw any more gas on it.

[6:35:58] Thank you, I appreciate you so much, Janet.

[6:36:00] Hugs to you.

[6:36:04] I love you.

[6:36:05] And I just want to thank everyone too.

[6:36:07] It was a great day, and a wealth of information.

[6:36:11] and really appreciate the deep thoughts and deep concerns shared by so many who represent

[6:36:19] the best of public education from our students, to our parents, to our educators, our executives

[6:36:26] and superintendents as well as our school boards, they all play a very critical role to

[6:36:33] the process of public education and we have a lot of work to do. We had a lot of work to do before

[6:36:39] COVID and now the fires are raging and we need to work on putting those fires out and then we need to work on rebuilding because there's a lot to be done and I think we have the capacity to do it.

[6:36:51] We just need to set to work at it.

[6:36:54] So thank you for everybody's input.

[6:37:05] We see you at another time.

[6:37:07] Don't you wish you could always move me?

[6:37:08] No, I mute myself and you want me to turn it back on.

[6:37:10] I don't understand this.

[6:37:12] So anyway, so we will see you at another time for a budget meeting.

[6:37:15] Thank you for all your wisdom that you shared with us today.

[6:37:18] Very appreciated.

[6:37:20] Thank you.

[6:37:21] Thank you everybody.

[6:37:22] Be safe and stay healthy.

[6:37:24] Thank you very much.

Joint Education- Virtual Online Only - Sep 23rd, 2020

Agenda

Transcript