[0:34] I'd like to call to order this regular
[0:37] meeting of the Board of Education here
[0:39] at Westminster Public Schools the time
[0:41] is 633 Veronica can you please call roll
[0:46] mr. Treacher yes
[0:48] mr. David deck here mr. math here mr.
[0:51] McCoy
[0:52] present mr. Valenti present all righty
[0:55] at this time we will do the Pledge of
[0:57] Allegiance and I believe we have
[0:58] students from Sunset Elementary Sunset
[1:01] Ridge Elementary and fm day maybe just
[1:04] one student I'll stand with you
[1:23] [Music]
[1:37] [Applause]
[1:45] very nice Thank You grant alright moving
[1:53] on we have the agenda approval motion
[1:58] mr. president I moved the Board of
[2:01] Education approved the proposed agenda
[2:02] for the regular meeting dated November
[2:04] 27 2018 second we have a motion in
[2:08] second any comments no comments or
[2:11] questions Veronica please pull the board
[2:13] mr. chancho yes mr. david icke
[2:16] hi mr. math aye mr. McCoy aye mr.
[2:20] Valenti aye
[2:21] fantastic we have some outstanding
[2:23] minutes mr. president I move the Board
[2:28] of Education approved the regular board
[2:29] meeting minutes dated October 16 second
[2:33] we have a motion and second any comments
[2:36] questions none Veronica please pull the
[2:40] board mr. Treacher yes mr. David deck hi
[2:43] mr. math all right mr. McCoy mr. Valenti
[2:47] aye
[2:47] all right we have one more set of
[2:49] minutes mr. president they moved the
[2:51] Board of Education approved the
[2:53] executive session and study session
[2:55] meeting minutes dated October 16 2018
[2:58] second we have a motion a second any
[3:01] comments no comments Veronica please
[3:03] pull the board mr. Tonko
[3:06] yes mr. David deck hi mr. math all right
[3:09] mr. McCoy
[3:10] aye mr. Valenti I antastic we're moving
[3:14] dr. pamela swanson we have your
[3:16] superintendent report okay good evening
[3:19] mr. president members of the board I
[3:22] hope you and everyone else in the
[3:25] community had a nice Thanksgiving and
[3:26] whether you stayed at home and family
[3:28] and friends came to you or you traveled
[3:30] somewhere else I think it's so important
[3:33] to get some time to reflect on what is
[3:34] important and appreciate what we have to
[3:37] be thankful for in our lives one thing
[3:39] this community has to be grateful for is
[3:42] a Board of Education who works
[3:45] tirelessly to help its community and in
[3:47] particular the children of Westminster
[3:50] public
[3:51] and I'm proud to announce we have known
[3:53] for a little while but now people across
[3:56] the state will know it as well that the
[3:58] Colorado Association of School Boards
[4:00] has named our Board of Education
[4:03] basically the board of the year the
[4:05] Allstate Awards so here here
[4:08] [Applause]
[4:32] and we've known that you've been air
[4:37] bored of the year for many years with
[4:39] courageous leadership but basically what
[4:41] this award stands for is really
[4:44] exercising the best principles of
[4:47] governance and leadership while
[4:49] promoting excellence in public education
[4:51] I have a side note an anecdote the Cosby
[4:55] board and Ryan I know you're on The
[4:56] Cosby Board it's a pretty big board and
[4:58] usually there's just a whole lot of
[5:02] nominations and people saying well this
[5:05] board should really get it for this
[5:06] reason or this for this reason but we've
[5:08] been told hands-down across the board
[5:10] and all the committee's that this was
[5:12] vetted through that there was no
[5:14] question it was Westminster Public
[5:15] Schools Board of Education so you should
[5:17] be really proud of that because that's
[5:20] just an extra feather in your cap and I
[5:22] know next week in Colorado Springs you
[5:25] will receive the official award but
[5:27] tonight at the end of the business
[5:29] meeting before we head into study
[5:30] session we do have some cake and punch
[5:33] that will be in the hallway and I hope
[5:34] everybody in the room can can
[5:36] congratulate our board and have a slice
[5:39] of cake on your way out the door tonight
[5:40] if you're if you're able to stay with us
[5:43] as I said about the award what it was
[5:47] for the one thing I didn't mention is
[5:49] that it also comes with a $2,500 award
[5:53] to the Board of Education to go to a
[5:55] program of your choice or programs of
[5:58] your choice and so just to know with all
[6:00] these people in the audience tonight
[6:02] don't be surprised at the cake table if
[6:04] you get lobbied okay because I see a lot
[6:06] of principals up there so they're all
[6:08] gonna be telling you what you need to be
[6:09] spending that money on all right it was
[6:12] three weeks ago tonight moving on that
[6:15] the voters of Westminster public school
[6:17] gave their support to YES on 4a
[6:19] approving our nine point nine million
[6:21] dollar mill levy override the initial
[6:24] returns showed a very close vote kind of
[6:27] a nail-biter but by the time all the
[6:29] votes were counted YES on for a won by a
[6:32] margin of more than 1400 votes it was
[6:35] about 53% to 47% and the county will be
[6:39] conducting the canvass
[6:41] to finalize votes and we will have
[6:43] official numbers signed by the County
[6:46] elections canvas board at our next
[6:48] meeting and we also want to recognize
[6:50] some special people I know a couple are
[6:52] in the audience tonight but we want to
[6:54] do it right at the December meeting and
[6:57] thank people who really carried carried
[7:00] a lot of leadership during that election
[7:01] season so I'd like to thank the voters
[7:04] of our community for placing their trust
[7:06] in us to use resources wisely and
[7:09] acknowledge the people who made the
[7:10] phone calls knocked on the doors donated
[7:13] money to the campaign and talk to their
[7:15] neighbors this was a very important
[7:17] result for the district and will allow
[7:19] the school district to move forward with
[7:22] many priority projects and as you know
[7:26] statewide the voters rejected the
[7:28] statewide ballot initiative amendment 73
[7:32] so we're very very happy that once again
[7:35] Westminster is a self-reliant community
[7:38] and takes care of its own and it is
[7:41] expected this year that lawmakers will
[7:43] once again try to fix the school finance
[7:45] act and we're going to continue to be
[7:47] strong advocates for more equity in the
[7:49] distribution of money and I'll keep you
[7:51] posted on that
[7:52] and finally speaking of government I'm
[7:58] proud to say that the Colorado State
[8:00] Board of Education agreed to hold off on
[8:02] any changes to the calculations used in
[8:05] setting school and district performance
[8:07] frameworks for the 2019 year the
[8:10] Colorado Department of Education had
[8:12] proposed changes earlier in October at
[8:15] their meeting with very little input
[8:17] from educators across the state and we
[8:20] believe that that would have had it
[8:22] would have resulted in unintended
[8:23] negative consequences so our district
[8:26] was the first to really grasp the
[8:28] implications of these changes and in the
[8:30] end we rallied significant opposition to
[8:33] the proposal and most of the state
[8:35] superintendents yours truly included
[8:38] signed a letter about our position and I
[8:42] believe that helped carry the day so at
[8:44] the meeting where we were a couple of
[8:46] weeks ago the the recommendation from
[8:50] CDE had changed to keep things stable
[8:53] for
[8:54] this coming year and so I think that's a
[8:56] real win for all of us across the state
[9:00] all districts but certainly Westminster
[9:02] public schools and I think we carried a
[9:04] lot of credibility in that argument
[9:06] because even with the obstacles of the
[9:09] accountability system in Colorado we had
[9:12] exited the clock earlier this year and
[9:15] finally because this is the season of
[9:18] gratitude and giving we have invited the
[9:22] press to an event tomorrow and I see
[9:25] Heather up there to Tennison Knowles
[9:27] where students are making posters of
[9:29] support and solidarity for kids who lost
[9:33] their school in the Paradise fire in
[9:35] California and tennyson's principal
[9:38] Heather is a good friend I believe of a
[9:41] teacher right at the school and I think
[9:43] the teacher lost her home too is that
[9:44] correct yeah as well and I just think
[9:47] that's a lot of love and support to to
[9:50] teach our kids early on about the power
[9:52] and giving back and caring about
[9:54] something bigger than themselves and so
[9:56] congratulations to tennis and those and
[9:58] we look forward to some good press
[9:59] tomorrow and that concludes my report
[10:02] thank you dr. Swanson any questions or
[10:06] comments for dr. Swanson one comment
[10:11] she's being rather humble she led the
[10:14] charge with the state superintendents to
[10:18] tell the state that they needed to keep
[10:22] things as is and with the help of dr.
[10:26] Granum and getting very close to being
[10:29] dr. Jenna gotto those three led the
[10:32] charge along with the rest of their team
[10:35] and rallied the superintendent's
[10:37] otherwise this is something the state
[10:39] would have let fly under the radar and
[10:43] everybody would have felt the very
[10:45] adverse consequences from from a
[10:48] preschooler all the way up to high
[10:50] schooler and every every teacher and
[10:52] staff member in the state of Colorado so
[10:55] a big debt of gratitude goes to the rep
[10:57] for that thank you for that
[11:04] yes I remember getting that phone call
[11:06] and saying Ryan you need to go talk to
[11:07] Cosby right now that was good can we
[11:11] address the the the gift or whatever
[11:14] this that's blocking Max's face from the
[11:16] rest of the audience before we get to
[11:18] board comments because it's a it's it's
[11:21] bothering me a little bit do you know
[11:27] you that's a no I do I would and I defer
[11:30] to my senior board member all right it's
[11:35] addressed to the Board of Education and
[11:38] it says learn how to open envelopes and
[11:46] no I'm not going to do a Kanye West
[11:49] Minster Board of Education I knew you'd
[11:52] get it done congratulations Anita for
[11:55] those of you who don't know that's Anita
[11:57] now banning formally Roberts who is a
[12:00] retired teacher from our district and
[12:02] when she saw the news
[12:04] that the district was off the clock she
[12:08] was just elated while going through some
[12:10] of her own personal issues keep her in
[12:14] your prayers and stepson who lost a home
[12:17] in that fire in paradise she said do you
[12:20] know order a nice flower arrangement and
[12:23] send it to the board and send me the
[12:25] bills and just
[12:33] [Music]
[12:37] and she's been a great supporter a good
[12:41] friend of yours Dena long time found the
[12:46] foundation - prior to her leaving who's
[12:48] the vice president yeah she her heart is
[12:52] always didn't even though a marriage
[12:56] last year - an old high-school flame
[12:59] took her to Washington she still stays
[13:04] up with everything around awesome nice I
[13:07] was very kind of her alright moving on
[13:09] to board discussion board reports board
[13:15] do you have anything to add it seems
[13:18] like we've met in like summer break that
[13:23] we had the whole we've had the whole
[13:24] month off I think but we haven't just a
[13:28] couple of things the Veterans Day
[13:31] celebration that I attended it at Flynn
[13:34] it's always a wonderful event in it it
[13:37] was again done very very well and one of
[13:41] my one of my favorites so hats off to
[13:46] the folks at blend for a really nice day
[13:52] congratulations to to the team who
[13:55] helped pass our our bond and excuse me
[13:59] our mill levy that was really a as we
[14:03] said many many times it was the best run
[14:07] campaign since the early 90s
[14:09] and really from finally the board took a
[14:14] step back and that dedicated parents and
[14:17] Friends of the district run things and
[14:19] they did a spectacular job so thank you
[14:22] very much for that
[14:23] Christine Nick Amanda Fran Rosie Matt
[14:27] Duran I'm sure I'm leaving out a whole
[14:30] bunch but it was just a job well done
[14:34] and maxed to your point and you started
[14:38] saying this back in I think May I
[14:40] thought I remember it during graduation
[14:43] that if not sooner
[14:46] how
[14:46] you notice just a change in the district
[14:49] from staff and teachers and parents and
[14:53] neighbors that you talk to and and you
[14:56] started talking about that in in May and
[14:58] sure enough you you had it pegged from the get-go so thanks for the
[15:04] positive vibe you you were one of the
[15:06] early early on who said let's let's do
[15:09] this
[15:10] so thank you and and Ryan - thanks for
[15:12] your leadership it it was really a job
[15:15] well done
[15:16] I think what I want to add and we talk
[15:20] about this all the time is it's it's the
[15:22] people who grew up in this district I
[15:24] was excited to see and Graaf there you
[15:28] know I grew up in Ann's neighborhood but
[15:30] it was also great to see Christine's
[15:32] parents who for many many years were in
[15:35] the district Christine went through this
[15:37] district her husband did too and it's
[15:39] for us it's important to get these
[15:41] people back here and helping us in our
[15:43] district because when we go out and in
[15:46] to our community and do that and people
[15:48] see and you have somebody walk up and
[15:50] says I graduated from the school and my
[15:52] kids go to the school now and I'm I'm
[15:54] indebted in to this district to work and
[15:56] help this district I think that goes a
[15:58] long way in getting these votes and I
[16:00] don't know was this one of the better
[16:03] elections we've had well we have it
[16:06] passed the mill levy since 2002 so this
[16:09] was a long time coming and also to win
[16:13] by almost 1500 votes is quite a
[16:16] statement of confidence I believe it try
[16:18] to imagine we did not pass any state tax
[16:21] or any increase in anything so the
[16:23] people basically talked and said we
[16:26] don't want any tax state tax to pass but
[16:28] we want all the local ones most of our
[16:30] local taxes passed so that's telling a
[16:33] lot about our community saying we want
[16:34] to keep it local we want to make sure
[16:36] that we work with our schools in our
[16:38] special districts fire districts and
[16:40] everything so great and my hats off
[16:43] Christine to everybody who helped you
[16:46] know like Ken said who helped in this
[16:48] and it it again reassures us that we
[16:50] have a great community that we we live
[16:53] in we work in and we have our school
[16:56] district here so thank you and one thing
[16:58] I had
[17:00] there was a lot of talk before the
[17:02] election that amendment that was have
[17:06] helped education on the state level was
[17:07] actually interfering with passage of our
[17:09] local mill levy increase and as you saw
[17:12] that went down in flames by about 20
[17:14] percent so it was really nice to again
[17:17] the people that were working on this -
[17:19] drove at home that this was about our
[17:20] community and our people so thanks again
[17:23] to all of you who did that
[17:25] my other mention again like since we've
[17:27] been off for a month it's hard to
[17:28] remember but the fall play that was held
[17:31] here at the high school was a great
[17:32] production I got to see the actually the
[17:35] middle school matinee cuz I was out of
[17:37] town for the rest of it but it was none
[17:39] of the black box
[17:40] terrific job can't wait to see what what
[17:42] they're doing in the spring so I just
[17:44] wanted to give kudos to that yeah I went
[17:48] one night also and I really well-done I
[17:51] enjoyed it very much
[17:53] do you know anything just to echo really
[17:57] a lot of what max said this was an
[17:59] election about people saying they want
[18:02] their money to stay in their communities
[18:03] where the decisions are made not the
[18:06] state I did not support amendment 73
[18:11] personally because it was a very bad
[18:14] amendment it wasn't about money for
[18:16] education there were so many poison
[18:19] pills in it that it actually was
[18:22] probably going to wind up costing
[18:23] districts money and I think the voters
[18:25] saw through that you know maybe you get
[18:29] another million and a half dollars the
[18:30] problem is they're gonna tell you where
[18:32] you have to spend two million and that's
[18:35] not right so this was a great it was a
[18:40] great victory for local control the
[18:43] election certainly brought a referendum
[18:45] against Washington particularly 1600
[18:50] Pennsylvania Avenue we'll see what
[18:52] happens next I hope the two sides can
[18:55] figure out how to get along because
[18:57] there's about four and I too meant saw
[19:03] the play and I tend not to like to be in
[19:06] the de box I have issues being in
[19:09] enclosed spaces but the kids were more
[19:12] a bowl it was very different it was 16
[19:14] and 10 I believe was the I love it there
[19:17] was a series of vignettes of really high
[19:20] school life and it was very hard acting
[19:25] because of what they had to do
[19:27] particularly the young lady who was
[19:30] having a conversation with her dog and
[19:34] there was no actual dog she was kind of
[19:37] miming it and she did a fantastic job
[19:39] our new theater director did a fantastic
[19:41] job and it was not one that had the
[19:45] biggest marquee billing but it had good
[19:48] attendance they tried some different
[19:50] things with different times and that
[19:51] brought in middle schoolers and it was
[19:53] really it was really a very positive event yesterday we had our
[20:00] monthly Education Foundation meeting and
[20:04] things are going alright
[20:06] all organizations in the u.s. right now
[20:08] are watching their portfolios very
[20:11] quickly or very closely excuse me
[20:14] because stocks bonds everything is in a
[20:18] bit of flux so we have good counsel and
[20:23] you know we're well positioned it was
[20:26] nice to walk into the room and give the
[20:27] report and say you know we had a good
[20:29] month in the district so thank you to
[20:35] everybody and we also part of why you
[20:38] haven't seen us for a while as we
[20:40] attended the annual ina call conference
[20:42] in Nashville and a lot of great
[20:47] collaboration from people all over the
[20:49] United States and Canada and a couple
[20:51] other parts of Europe I believe this is
[20:54] the largest organization where they
[20:57] discussed blended learning we had a team
[21:01] that was presenting Jenny Jenny got Oh
[21:03] dr. grant um a couple of our principals
[21:06] and honestly of all the sessions I
[21:10] attended I attended about a dozen I
[21:12] think it was the hottest room everybody
[21:15] was very very active very inquisitive
[21:19] and even after the session many people
[21:22] stayed
[21:23] and we're asking our team more and more
[21:25] questions but it's very clear that
[21:28] competency-based style of education is
[21:32] the future of Education and we're well
[21:35] ahead of that curve and the biggest
[21:37] takeaway I had was one of the the
[21:41] morning longer sessions it was actually
[21:45] somebody who was not an educator but she
[21:47] came from the medical industry and now
[21:49] works in education the number one thing
[21:54] in education is growth and we need to
[21:57] continue to hammer that with the state
[21:59] especially when you're dealing with
[22:03] persons who have any sort of challenges
[22:06] be they poverty language barriers social
[22:10] issues other trauma all of that it's
[22:13] growth if you try to measure somebody by
[22:18] what they can achieve at a set point in
[22:21] time as opposed to when they're ready to
[22:23] achieve it you'll absolutely achieve
[22:25] failure and that's not acceptable
[22:27] and that's why we are very big
[22:29] proponents of growth in this district
[22:31] and will continue to push the state we
[22:34] just have to educate them there they're
[22:35] a little behind where we're at but we'll
[22:37] get them there so that's all I have
[22:39] thank you I think it'd be remiss for us
[22:42] not to acknowledge that
[22:43] chancho restaurant for all the
[22:46] volunteers for who supported the mill
[22:48] and who are out there even when we told
[22:50] Don and Donna not to give us any food
[22:52] that hey we'll get through this meeting
[22:54] without anything they they would show up
[22:56] with food and feeding the hungry
[22:57] volunteers and we appreciate that and
[23:01] everyone this is where I will I will
[23:04] plug them visit their restaurant because
[23:05] they didn't have to support us that way
[23:07] and they didn't have to support the
[23:09] volunteers and continue to move that
[23:10] down the line so it's nice to have a
[23:12] family a community restaurant that
[23:15] supports local issues and so that I
[23:17] appreciate that greatly I do want to
[23:21] acknowledge the board in regards to the award we're receiving I say we're
[23:26] receiving that because it's a it's a
[23:27] district award I think we all agree with
[23:29] that it's a community award even though
[23:31] the five of us get to stand up on stage
[23:33] and hold that it's because of our
[23:34] teachers
[23:35] our staff our administration who make us
[23:38] look good and you've done a lot of work
[23:41] and that doesn't go unrecognized and
[23:42] this board appreciates everything that
[23:45] all of you have done III think that's
[23:47] there's one of the reasons why we were
[23:48] able to pass this mill as well there was
[23:51] a lot of great energy in the community
[23:54] people want to support education in our
[23:58] community and that was that was clear when we were knocking on
[24:02] doors and talking to community members
[24:03] and you know you're always gonna get
[24:05] those individuals who said you know a
[24:07] number of them who didn't want to
[24:08] support any tax increases ever and
[24:10] that's okay but they know that we're
[24:12] doing good things in this district and I
[24:14] think all of you for that
[24:15] I would like to also acknowledge and I
[24:17] know we're doing it in December but
[24:18] praise in public the Martinez family for
[24:22] all your support
[24:23] grant especially you I saw you draw on a
[24:26] lot of those postcards man they look
[24:28] good I think I got yours I was looking
[24:31] for a zombie eatin the for a but but I
[24:34] got something else I'm not sure what it
[24:35] was but I'll talk to your principal
[24:37] about your art program the also again
[24:42] the chancho family again all of you were
[24:44] there in full force really appreciate
[24:46] that and and seeing you in every every
[24:48] meeting and walking that was great also
[24:51] the case bolts case bolts their
[24:54] daughters about to graduate and move on
[24:56] and as far as a family member of theirs
[25:00] seeing the impact of this funding that
[25:03] will not happen with them and so the
[25:05] fact that they were there knowing that
[25:06] both of their children are out of the
[25:07] district and was still championing this
[25:09] district that's something that was
[25:11] pretty amazing and and they wanted to
[25:12] make sure that they were part of that so
[25:14] that's that's something that was that
[25:15] was exciting I'd also like to
[25:17] acknowledge my brother Nick McCoy he's a
[25:20] little bit less better-looking than I am
[25:22] but that's all right that's all
[25:23] subjective no but Nick and Nick was
[25:27] voluntold bike in that he was going to
[25:29] be one of the co-chairs of this
[25:30] committee and Nick if you know him has a
[25:33] really hard time telling anyone no and
[25:35] he took it and he he led with such
[25:38] compassion and and grace and I say grace
[25:41] because there were times where I knew he
[25:43] wanted to reach across and strangle his
[25:45] little brother for ideas or a different
[25:46] insight that we wanted to move forward with but but the reality
[25:50] is you know Nick saw the bigger picture
[25:52] of what this was going to accomplish for the kids of the district and so
[25:55] thank all of you for that and thank you
[25:58] district this is going to be a fun a few
[26:01] years to come and it'll be a lot more
[26:03] work on the board and future boards
[26:05] plate of looking at how these funds are
[26:08] disbursed and mr. per bone
[26:10] he asked for a document the sheath that
[26:13] we were passing out that does the
[26:14] breakdown of how we're spending the
[26:15] funds and that is available online but
[26:18] I'll make sure that we get that out
[26:19] there because we do want it's the
[26:20] community needs to be involved in every
[26:22] aspect of education and that means they
[26:26] need to see how we spend our money that
[26:27] means that they need to take a moment
[26:29] and hold us accountable as a board as
[26:31] well and I think that's important and we
[26:33] expect that and we respect that and so I
[26:35] want to make sure that that that's
[26:37] communicated as well because as elected
[26:39] officials you got to crack the whip on
[26:41] us if we get out of line so make sure
[26:43] you do that so thank you all right
[26:47] audience comments Veronica we don't have
[26:51] any comments no comments all right
[26:53] moving on to my favorite part of every
[26:55] board meeting is the educational reports
[26:58] we have Sunset Ridge elementary with dr.
[27:01] Oliver Grinham please introduce our
[27:04] speaker mr. president members of the
[27:07] board and dr. Swanson tonight represents
[27:10] the fifth round of school presentations
[27:12] regarding achievement results
[27:13] improvement efforts and goal commitments
[27:15] for the 2018-19 school year and by the
[27:18] way next week marks the beginning of our
[27:21] scantron testing were by the beginning
[27:24] of January we will have a progress check
[27:26] in terms of year two in our management
[27:27] pathway plan in preparation for
[27:30] tonight's presentations you've already
[27:31] received in your board packet an
[27:33] executive summary about each school that
[27:34] describes its progress and improvement
[27:36] to date as well as data regarding
[27:38] student and staff demographics along
[27:40] with achievement data now we will hear
[27:42] from Sunset Ridge elementary school led
[27:44] by principal Roger Verdean who is
[27:46] current in his fourteenth year as
[27:48] principal principal 15 even better
[27:52] principal Dean has been at Sunset Ridge
[27:55] that entire time which is a record for
[27:58] us in this millennium
[28:01] are deserving and WPS silvadene was an
[28:06] elementary school assistant principal
[28:07] for three years and an elementary
[28:09] classroom teacher for nine years in
[28:10] Aurora Public Schools one thing you may
[28:13] not know about principal Verdean is that
[28:15] he served as a volunteer in the Peace
[28:16] Corps for three years as a community
[28:18] developer and an agricultural extension
[28:20] agent in Cape Verde West Africa and I
[28:24] know he's looking forward to sharing his
[28:26] school's achievements story tonight
[28:27] principal Verdean please tell your story
[28:37] mr. president members of the board and
[28:40] dr. Swanson thank you for giving me the
[28:43] opportunity to share with you our story
[28:45] at Sunset Ridge a year ago I presented
[28:50] to the Board of Education and I shared a
[28:53] video with you highlighting the
[28:54] commitments our school staff had made to
[28:57] each other to our students into our
[28:58] community before I shared the result of
[29:01] our work last year I want to review some
[29:03] of those commitments and assure you that
[29:06] those are ongoing commitments and they
[29:09] guide our work this school year we
[29:11] continue to work hard to deepen our
[29:13] understandings of CMOS English language
[29:15] arts and math tests we have aligned our
[29:18] expectations with CMOS rubrics and
[29:21] lessons are created using the CMOS
[29:24] performance descriptors we routinely
[29:26] consider the depth of knowledge when
[29:29] constructing tasks and questions to
[29:31] challenge our students thinking we
[29:33] strategically provide intervention
[29:35] support for our students based on data
[29:39] students are regrouped to ensure
[29:41] individual learning needs are met
[29:44] goal-setting and action planning are
[29:47] routine processes at Sunset Ridge along
[29:50] the way we look for ways to recognize
[29:53] and celebrate our successes every day we
[30:00] look for intriguing ways to engage our
[30:02] students in their own learning we have
[30:05] had great feedback from our kagan
[30:07] trainings and Keg instructions are
[30:09] routinely observed in our classrooms we
[30:12] definitely have high student engagement
[30:14] since orig our staff does a great job of
[30:17] working together and prefers
[30:19] professional learning communities staff
[30:21] members meet regularly to plan lessons
[30:24] and share ideas every month professional
[30:27] learning teams shared data with me
[30:29] highlighting how our students are
[30:31] performing in reading writing and math
[30:34] in order to learn from each other
[30:36] staff members take advantage of
[30:38] opportunities to visit each other's
[30:40] classrooms one key to our success is
[30:46] that Sunset Ridge parents are shown ways
[30:48] to help their children at home every
[30:51] student has a home reading goal and a
[30:53] home math goal our parents are invited
[30:56] and encouraged to attend parent
[30:58] engagement events events like our Summer
[31:00] Bridge challenge and math game night are
[31:03] very popular with our families
[31:05] we also encourage our parents to use
[31:08] empower to monitor the progress of their
[31:11] children I am happy to report that
[31:17] Sunset Ridge moved back into the
[31:19] performance category for the 2018 2019
[31:22] school year we earned a total of 54
[31:25] point 3 out of a possible 100 points for
[31:28] academic achievement we earned the
[31:31] approaching expectations rating for
[31:34] academic growth we earned the meets
[31:36] expectation rating we tested all of our
[31:39] 3rd through 5th grade students and we
[31:41] met expectation for accountability
[31:44] participation in the fall of 2017 dr.
[31:49] Swanson set a performance challenge for
[31:51] all schools Sunset Ridge performance
[31:53] challenge goals for ela and math were
[31:56] set at 725 Scale score points this fall
[32:00] our staff was very excited to celebrate
[32:02] our school results in math we achieved
[32:05] 725 point 8 points and in ela we scored
[32:10] 729 point to point I am very happy to
[32:15] report that Sunset Ridge met the 2018
[32:18] performance challenge for ela and math
[32:21] achievement on this slide you can see
[32:26] the data trend for cents
[32:28] Ridge for the past four years these are
[32:31] the four years of park and sea mass
[32:33] testing on the English Language Arts
[32:35] this year we had an eight-point increase
[32:38] for students meeting or exceeding
[32:40] expectations we also posted our highest
[32:43] growth percentile for math the 52nd
[32:46] percentile this represents a 10
[32:48] percentage point increase from 2017 we
[32:54] are very proud of all of our students
[32:56] here you can see how some of our student
[32:59] groups perform last year on see mass
[33:01] compared to performance in 2017 growth
[33:05] in math from each one of our
[33:07] disaggregated groups equalled or
[33:09] exceeded the state average for all
[33:11] students I am very proud of the history
[33:17] of performance at Center Ridge I give
[33:20] all credit for our success to our
[33:22] teachers staff members students and
[33:25] community some of the sunset ridge staff
[33:28] members are here tonight on this slide I
[33:34] am sharing the 7 year history of state
[33:36] accreditation ratings for Sunset Ridge I
[33:41] am also sharing the accountability
[33:43] ratings for two Adams 12 schools that
[33:46] are located within a mile radius of
[33:49] Sunset Ridge we share a northern border
[33:56] with Rocky Mountain elementary school
[33:59] and we share an eastern border with
[34:04] federal Heights Elementary School as you
[34:08] can see Sunset Ridge has a distinguished
[34:11] reputation for producing very positive
[34:14] outcomes for students over many years we
[34:19] have set Simas goals for the 2018-2019
[34:23] school year for math we set a goal for
[34:27] 728 scaled score points with a growth
[34:30] percentile in the 50 at the 55th
[34:33] percentile and for ela 731 is our goal
[34:38] for achievement in ela with a growth
[34:41] percent
[34:42] gholem in the 55th percentile and for
[34:44] science we've set a goal of 532 scaled
[34:48] score points as part of our unified
[34:52] improvement plan we have identified a pathway to support our
[34:57] continued success in writing our focus
[35:00] for primary grades is guided by right
[35:03] from the beginning and beyond and our
[35:05] focus for intermediate grades is driven
[35:06] by the seem a scoring guides for writing
[35:09] in reading our focus for primary is
[35:12] dibbles early learners literacy skill
[35:14] attainment in our intermediate grades we
[35:17] are using the Marzano assessment items
[35:19] for English language arts to confirm our
[35:22] students mastery of reading skills in
[35:24] math we have been learning about seven
[35:27] high yield maths routines to strengthen
[35:31] our students number sense our wrote our
[35:34] works with our staff to promote
[35:35] problem-solving strategies and math
[35:38] critical thinking we have 42 students
[35:41] involved in after-school tutoring four
[35:43] days a week in reading and math we have
[35:49] also identified other specific actions
[35:52] that are aligned to our unified
[35:53] improvement plan goals I will let you
[35:56] read the highlights I would like to
[36:03] conclude my report with a few comments
[36:05] on our new social skills initiative
[36:07] random acts of kindness at Sunset Ridge
[36:14] we are all about showing kindness to
[36:17] each other using resources from the
[36:20] random acts of kindness foundation our
[36:22] teachers explicitly teach students how
[36:25] to be kind to each other and the
[36:27] importance of showing kindness to
[36:29] everyone
[36:31] kindness is one of those happiness
[36:34] paradoxes meaning we become happier by
[36:37] showing other people and making other
[36:40] people happy showing and receiving
[36:42] kindness has a positive effect upon
[36:45] personal relationships leads to better
[36:48] health and research shows boosts
[36:51] performance through a series of levelled
[36:54] lessons
[36:55] rich students are learning 12 kindness
[36:58] concepts we give our students many
[37:00] opportunities to apply these kindness
[37:02] concepts and we celebrate with our
[37:04] students when we notice expressions of
[37:07] kindness an example of our school-wide
[37:12] random acts of kindness project is our
[37:15] Cubs program cub stands for children
[37:18] understanding buddy strength every
[37:21] primary classroom at Sunset Ridge is
[37:23] buddied with an intermediate classroom
[37:25] through Cubs our students get the
[37:28] opportunity to share kindness with each
[37:30] other while working together to form
[37:33] positive relationships teachers and
[37:37] students are doing a great job sharing
[37:40] kindness across our school I am
[37:43] confident that this work will have
[37:45] lasting effects on all of us thank you
[37:50] again for the opportunity to share with
[37:53] you and this concludes my report thank
[37:57] you
[38:08] [Laughter]
[38:14] I have so many recorder Roger we got so
[38:21] many sink-or-swim questions for you
[38:23] right now yeah okay that was all in love
[38:30] yeah that was our that was our support
[38:33] for you you know I will tell you you're
[38:36] the you're the one school ongoing and I
[38:38] even knew this before I joined the board
[38:40] through your leadership and your staff
[38:42] there that I've never really had to
[38:44] worry about sunset I've always thought
[38:46] so you guys as a as a pillar of
[38:48] excellence and which is why we can have
[38:51] fun with you I think you have a long
[38:53] enough relationship with the McCoy
[38:55] family you can take a jab but but we
[39:01] have a number of questions for you are
[39:02] you ready for this you did tell me in
[39:04] Nashville that that you said Dino and
[39:06] Ryan asked really tough questions all
[39:08] the time so I hope you're ready for this
[39:11] okay Joe Kinney
[39:13] I wonder Max you want to start well
[39:16] first of all I want to say that you're
[39:19] just getting along swimmingly with your
[39:21] staff and students and your scores are
[39:25] really off the deep end this year you
[39:29] know just just keep swimming I
[39:32] appreciate that and say thank you Joe
[39:39] you guys have any question I do have a
[39:41] question so I didn't say you've been
[39:42] there long enough I don't think you're
[39:43] wet-behind-the-ears anymore so so I do
[39:51] have a serious question okay so I'll
[39:52] start there okay when you were talking
[39:55] about parent engagement I've always I
[39:56] mean I've seen the parent engagement and
[39:58] sunset for a long time and you talked
[40:01] about the reading goals that you set
[40:04] with the parents and the students yep
[40:06] as well as the math goals can you go a
[40:07] little bit more in depth sure that for
[40:09] me so all of our students have a reading
[40:12] goal based on if in their classroom and
[40:14] those are based on levels so it could be
[40:16] numbers of minutes to read at home it
[40:18] could be a number of books to read and
[40:21] they need to complete the reading and
[40:24] fill out for whatever the teacher needs
[40:26] in terms of accountability it could
[40:28] the parent signs off or maybe they're
[40:30] filling out a reflection form so each
[40:34] teacher sets their own goal and then we
[40:36] recognize kids at the end of the
[40:38] semester we have it a semester awards
[40:40] assembly and we give out awards for the
[40:42] kids that have met that reading goal and
[40:44] then all classrooms also have a math
[40:46] goal and those math goals are usually
[40:48] based on a math fact fluency goal in
[40:51] terms of being able to memorize and
[40:54] learn their their math facts and every
[40:58] kid will will have one and we have a kid
[41:01] back here grant he can probably even
[41:02] come up here and and hopefully tell you
[41:04] his what his goal is and hopefully he's
[41:06] on his way to meeting that goal because
[41:08] they only have about three weeks left
[41:09] what he was coming down perfect see I
[41:16] have more students like that meeting the
[41:19] goal than we have kids who don't which
[41:21] is awesome so how do you how do you keep
[41:25] this your staff motivated I mean you're
[41:28] in you're out you guys are you guys are
[41:30] moving it forward you're producing it
[41:32] and you know what do you guys do to
[41:33] rally your team um
[41:35] yeah good question you know I think that
[41:38] the the magic had sensibly you know
[41:40] lives within the community that we've
[41:42] built
[41:42] um a lot of a lot of us have been there
[41:45] a long time you know I'm not the only
[41:47] one who's been there you know 15 years
[41:49] there were a number of people that were
[41:51] there when I came and have stayed you
[41:55] know all those 15 years that I've been
[41:56] there and others you know that I heard
[41:58] in my first couple of years that have
[41:59] you know have stayed with us you know
[42:01] and we've stayed together as a team and
[42:03] it it really does you know success
[42:05] breeds success and when you do have a
[42:07] team that that likes to work together
[42:08] and that enjoys you know coming to work
[42:10] together it's easy to stay we don't have
[42:13] a lot of turnover on most the times when
[42:15] I do have turnover you know I have
[42:17] student teachers that we have just
[42:18] either had in the fall or the spring and
[42:21] you know with help of HR you know we're
[42:24] getting them letters of letters of
[42:27] intent Thank You mr. ledee you know very
[42:29] quickly you know we would put a letter
[42:31] of intent on with the teacher in
[42:33] February of last year who's now a first
[42:37] year teacher at Sunset Ridge
[42:39] so Roger you talked about
[42:42] working with the parents to use in power
[42:44] so tell me some obstacles you've met
[42:46] with that is it is it been an an easy
[42:49] challenge or has it been real tough to
[42:50] get the parents to work with it yeah you
[42:53] know it's it's not easy to get our
[42:56] parents always to look at empower our
[42:58] best communicators foreign power or our
[43:01] kids right and if you look at a an
[43:04] empower report that might say how many
[43:06] parents have actually looked at in power
[43:08] it might be pretty small but I can
[43:10] guarantee you that our parents were a
[43:12] lot of times we'll be looking at empower
[43:13] through their kids account because
[43:15] they'll say hey you know what show me
[43:17] what's going on so the kid will lock in
[43:19] login under their account and they can
[43:21] then see what are what they're doing so
[43:24] a lot of our kids share with their
[43:25] students or with their parents you know
[43:27] what they're doing in empower in three
[43:29] four five we have empower screens up a
[43:31] lot you know we have all interactive TVs
[43:34] you know I go into classroom and I see
[43:35] and power up because you know we're
[43:37] looking at it we're entering things in real time so kids do know what's
[43:42] there especially in three four or five
[43:44] that's it's a k-12 it's more of a you
[43:48] know it's more of an uphill challenge
[43:49] but we're working we continually work on
[43:51] you know having our kids take ownership
[43:53] set goals based on things that they need
[43:55] to learn to go to the next higher level
[44:00] any other questions comments yes
[44:05] dibbles what does it stay indicator of
[44:16] basic early literacy skills I can't
[44:24] believe I got that question
[44:26] would you like a more complex no that
[44:29] was as hard as they should could get
[44:30] okay so my whole time really the two
[44:36] there have been two or three constants
[44:38] in the district you Cindy and Shannon
[44:43] and you're just kind of you've stayed
[44:48] put there thank you
[44:52] I surely believe that
[44:55] part of the success comes from having
[44:57] stability and leadership and we're
[45:00] seeing it grow in many of our other
[45:01] schools over time which is really good I
[45:05] think you have a really good cadre of
[45:07] principals in our district right now but
[45:11] you're often called upon to mentor new
[45:15] and incoming principals what are some of
[45:20] the lessons you have for them and what
[45:22] are some of the things you're learning
[45:23] from them so you know when you're when
[45:26] you're a new principal you you're your
[45:29] eyes are wide open and you're looking at
[45:30] what everybody else is doing and it's
[45:32] really easily to get yourself bogged
[45:35] down by saying well I got to do that and
[45:37] I need to do that and I see what they're
[45:38] doing I need to do that and as I was
[45:40] talking to one of my principal
[45:41] colleagues actually the just at the
[45:43] beginning of this meeting I said you got
[45:45] to pick a finite set of things that
[45:46] you're going to do well doing everything
[45:48] at this level you know this thin level
[45:50] is not going to get you anywhere and you
[45:52] just have to know even people like
[45:53] myself who've been doing this for a long
[45:55] time I look at what other people are
[45:57] doing and I say wow I can't believe
[45:58] they're doing this at this level and how
[46:01] well they're doing this over there but I
[46:03] know in my heart and I know what a sense
[46:05] that Ridge you know we're doing these
[46:06] things and we're doing these things
[46:08] really well and you just have to tell
[46:11] yourself and remind yourself that you
[46:12] pick the things that you believe are
[46:14] gonna be the best things for your kids
[46:16] and stick to those guns regardless of
[46:19] what's you know comes this way these
[46:20] things are your constants and the other
[46:23] things if you get to them that's great
[46:25] but don't water stuff down to to do
[46:28] everything no pun intended opponent into
[46:35] it I know that good so so so so other
[46:43] than luxuriating in a body of water what
[46:46] are you doing well I appreciate that
[46:48] thank you no I said what are we doing
[46:57] well you know my staff is behind me here
[47:00] so you know they they know that I'm
[47:02] about data if you saw the first
[47:06] reiteration of this this presentation
[47:08] there wasn't a picture in it right it
[47:10] was all data the whole thing was you
[47:12] know charts and things that I was going
[47:14] to talk about dated because that's what
[47:15] I'm about my staff will know that do
[47:17] they meet with me a lot they share a lot
[47:19] of data with me
[47:20] I believe you know we make data informed
[47:23] decisions you know we look at our data
[47:24] we make changes based on you know how
[47:27] our kids are doing we make changes based
[47:29] on things that we're learning from our
[47:31] data so I think that's one thing that we
[47:33] do well and then we trance we transfer
[47:35] what what I asked my teachers to do to
[47:39] the kids so if I ask our teachers to set
[47:41] goals they're asking our kids to set
[47:43] goals if I'm asking our teachers to do
[47:45] action plans and share data they're
[47:47] doing the same thing so we model I model
[47:49] for them what I expect them to do and
[47:51] model with our kids is that what you
[47:56] were doing in the fool modeling that's
[47:57] what I'm clearly not but then how my
[48:01] picture got taken that's all right any
[48:06] other Roger we appreciate it
[48:08] sunset always a pleasure to hear your
[48:10] report all right great your time thanks
[48:12] for your smiling being a good sport
[48:20] Thank You principal Verdean for being
[48:22] such a good sport and now we will hear
[48:25] from principal and Dibble Dibble Doc's
[48:27] who joined Westminster Public Schools in
[48:29] July of 2015 this is her first year as
[48:32] principal at FM day Elementary School
[48:34] and indeed it is her first year as
[48:36] principal however prior to this school
[48:38] year she served admirably for three
[48:40] years as a culturally and linguistically
[48:42] diverse education coordinator across
[48:44] this district
[48:45] before coming to Westminster Public
[48:47] Schools principal Dibble docks served in
[48:49] Denver Public Schools as an elementary
[48:51] assistant principal an instructional
[48:53] coach and as a classroom teacher
[48:55] principal Dibble Docs has several
[48:57] degrees endorsements and qualifications
[48:59] focused on language learning but an
[49:01] interesting point to note is that
[49:02] principal Dibble Docs is multilingual in
[49:05] english spanish and german and even a
[49:07] bit of japanese thrown in principal
[49:09] Dibble docks please come forward and
[49:11] share FM day's achievement story
[49:19] good evening mr. president members of
[49:22] the board in dr. Swanson someone once
[49:25] said that there's a difference between
[49:27] interest and commitment when you're
[49:29] interested in doing something you do it
[49:32] only when it's convenient but when
[49:34] you're committed to something you accept
[49:37] no excuses and only results as you can
[49:43] see from this picture I committed to
[49:45] teaching even before I could really and
[49:49] every day when I step into fm day I felt
[49:53] honored to work alongside a staff that
[49:55] is dedicated if things get hard
[49:59] I have 355 little faces that remind me
[50:03] the importance and joy of this calling
[50:07] in our school performance framework we
[50:11] rated us improvement but 52.7% we were
[50:16] only 0.3% from being a performance
[50:20] school most of the score came from our
[50:24] growth seventy one point two and the
[50:27] rest 25% came from our from our
[50:29] achievement as you can see FM they
[50:34] experienced exceptional growth this
[50:36] exceeded not only the district's already
[50:39] impressive growth but also the states if
[50:43] you look at our literacy scores you can
[50:45] see there our students grew 60% our
[50:48] English language learners who compose
[50:50] more than half our population scored
[50:55] five percent higher than the district's
[50:57] average and 13 percent higher than the
[51:00] state's average in math we saw some of
[51:04] our biggest growth from the previous
[51:06] year as you can see in 2017 our overall
[51:10] growth was 30% and in 2018 it was fifty
[51:15] five point five that is a 25 point five
[51:19] percentage point gain in just one year
[51:21] in addition our English language
[51:24] learners went from 29 to 57 percent in
[51:28] the same time frame
[51:32] FM Dae has been on an upward Spath in
[51:35] the last three years going from 35.4 in
[51:39] 2016 to 52.7 in 2018 this year were
[51:45] working hard to exceed our performance
[51:47] from previous years even though we don't
[51:51] want to lose momentum and literacy when
[51:54] we analyze her data we saw that math was
[51:57] our biggest challenge we have set our
[51:59] growth goal at 55% to continue that
[52:03] growth across the content areas and
[52:06] we're aiming at increasing our points by
[52:09] 5 so that we can jump into the
[52:11] performance category so how are we doing
[52:14] this we're doing it by embodying the
[52:18] districts learning model at F&A we
[52:24] continue to emphasize kagan strategies
[52:27] and to Marzano and the culturally and
[52:29] linguistically diverse professional
[52:31] development we are focusing on writing
[52:33] clear and concise learning objectives
[52:36] and lessons we have also restructured
[52:40] our response to intervention team which
[52:42] allows us to target supports to students
[52:46] in a more effective manner
[52:49] what CBS any student that is new to our
[52:53] school has his or her records evaluated
[52:56] by our blended team we also continually
[52:59] assess and monitor students not only in
[53:01] English but also in Spanish to ensure
[53:04] correct placement in progress in terms
[53:09] of leadership at FM de we take a shared
[53:12] leadership approach so teachers often
[53:14] facilitate professional development they
[53:17] also mentor their peers they co teach to
[53:20] meet the needs of all our students and
[53:23] with springboard tutoring math wizards
[53:26] and Volunteers of America we give
[53:28] students a more individualized attention
[53:31] partnerships like the one that we have
[53:33] with Denver University allow us to
[53:35] collaborate and share ideas with other
[53:38] schools across the metro area
[53:42] leadership also includes a partnership
[53:44] with our incredible community this
[53:48] featuring oh it's dark was taken at 11
[53:50] o'clock at night in the parking lot of
[53:52] our school as parents were finishing
[53:56] their float for our first ever
[53:57] participation in the homecoming parade
[54:00] and that's the finished product parents
[54:05] also took turns volunteering their time
[54:08] for our book fair for a week
[54:11] they also bet our teachers every day
[54:13] during parent-teacher conferences and
[54:16] also helped provide safe activities for
[54:19] our students during Friday night our
[54:22] community liaison has worked hard at
[54:24] improving continuing education for
[54:26] parents and has also brought enrichment
[54:28] activities for our students our
[54:34] bilingual program is what makes us
[54:37] unique and that's why I love the school
[54:39] in a society that it's becoming
[54:42] increasingly global I've on lingual
[54:44] students are ahead of the game because
[54:46] they can communicate with over 435
[54:49] million people that speak Spanish across
[54:52] the world knowing a second language
[54:56] expands our students horizons it also
[54:59] improves their cognitive abilities as a
[55:03] second language learner myself I know
[55:05] the power and influence of a school that
[55:07] sees cultural differences in knowing a
[55:10] second language as an asset rather than
[55:12] a deficit una persona B lingua Valley
[55:17] por dos loosely translated it means that
[55:20] as a person that knows two languages has
[55:23] two souls to support our students we
[55:26] have bilingual licensed teachers in
[55:29] grades pre-k through 4th grade and we
[55:32] also have a spanish title one
[55:33] interventionist we recently partnered
[55:37] with the global ambassadors program to
[55:39] recruit native speakers speaking Spanish
[55:42] teachers for our school this summer we
[55:46] also train our teachers in no-nonsense
[55:47] nurturing which has happened has cut
[55:50] suspension rates by more than half this
[55:53] year already
[55:55] we also participated in a workshop
[55:57] called trauma-informed practices to
[56:00] provide the emotional support that our
[56:02] students need instead of in terms of
[56:08] learner centered classrooms this year we
[56:10] have we had student-led conferences
[56:12] where students discuss their data
[56:14] notebooks and progress with parents our
[56:17] special-needs students also spend more
[56:19] time in mainstream classrooms and once a
[56:22] month students participate in Friday
[56:24] roundup which showcases students
[56:27] achievement effort in attendance none of
[56:33] us can do great things alone but
[56:35] together we can do wonderful things
[56:37] therefore I would be remiss if I didn't
[56:40] think the learning services director my
[56:43] fellow principals that have offered
[56:45] continuous support the incredible staff
[56:49] that I have and the FMV community for
[56:54] their support thank you thank you
[56:57] questions we'd add your own photo there
[57:02] at the end all right board yep board
[57:06] questions comments a lot of notes being
[57:13] just curious
[57:17] coming into a school that's been through
[57:20] four or five principles in the last ten
[57:23] years and I know there's a couple of big
[57:30] sets of shoes though to fill as well
[57:31] along the way with an upward trend in
[57:39] some volatility also over the years how are you talk to me about picking up
[57:45] or mr. Boucher left off and continuing
[57:49] while also charting your own course and
[57:51] keeping your teachers and families and
[57:54] everybody focused on the bigger picture
[57:56] I think a lot of the credit for that
[57:59] growth is due to the staff because
[58:01] despite the changes in leadership they
[58:04] still manage to be a close-knit
[58:05] community it really feels like a family
[58:08] and I wanted to make sure that when I
[58:10] came into the building I honored their
[58:12] work I also take the leadership the
[58:15] shared leadership approach quite
[58:16] seriously because they are wonderful
[58:19] resources for our students they know our
[58:22] families really well they know what has
[58:24] worked well in the past so just allowing
[58:27] them a platform to share those ideas and
[58:30] discuss them because it's not just a me
[58:33] show we always have to do everything and
[58:35] keep every single decision and we always
[58:38] ask ourselves if that's what's best for
[58:40] students I think what has helped too is
[58:43] that being a second language learner
[58:45] just having that connection with the
[58:48] community has been very helpful because
[58:51] it provides them a voice I have similar
[58:55] backgrounds so that also allows them to
[58:57] come I have a lot of parents that come
[58:59] and just sometimes just want to vent
[59:01] about their personal lives or just
[59:03] things because they can do it in their
[59:05] language and that's something wonderful
[59:06] because it's intimidating to come to a
[59:09] school and not speak the language and
[59:10] talk about the concerns that you have
[59:12] for your child so honoring the strengths
[59:16] that parents bring and knowing what
[59:18] they're capable in making sure that they
[59:20] feel that just like the staff feels like
[59:22] a home that that is also their home
[59:26] I like that comment honoring the
[59:29] strengths that the parents bring like
[59:33] you've been doing this for a long time
[59:35] that was a good comment the like you
[59:39] didn't miss a beat at all no no
[59:43] can you talk you talked about when
[59:46] you're reviewing the results you have
[59:47] blended teams that review the results
[59:51] I'm assuming the data the student data
[59:53] yes and the blended team has been very
[59:55] active not only the blended team the
[59:58] building leadership team and every
[1:00:00] single teacher has taken a leadership
[1:00:02] with ideas so one of the things that
[1:00:05] it's important that when you come in
[1:00:07] into a school as a second language
[1:00:09] learner you already come with something
[1:00:12] you have to look at the student from
[1:00:14] what they already bring in that what
[1:00:16] they're lacking so our blended services
[1:00:18] team we have a psychologist that it's
[1:00:21] is bilingual our speech therapist is
[1:00:23] also bilingual and some of our teacher
[1:00:25] representatives are there so we look at
[1:00:27] their records that they bring either
[1:00:29] from Mexico or Central America to make
[1:00:32] sure that we're not missing anything
[1:00:34] because sometimes the language might not
[1:00:36] be there but the content knowledge is
[1:00:38] there so we take a look at carefully of
[1:00:41] those records we also have interviewed
[1:00:43] parents because parents are our first
[1:00:45] source of knowledge and what has gone
[1:00:48] when students have interrupted schooling
[1:00:51] so we also do that
[1:00:52] our CLD teachers have been incredible
[1:00:55] because they have come through many
[1:00:57] years of records to clean them up to
[1:00:59] make sure that we've had home language
[1:01:02] is correct that we've placing students
[1:01:05] correct that we're taking all tests into
[1:01:08] account you also mentioned there's
[1:01:13] co-teaching transpiring can just give me
[1:01:16] an example of CLD teachers is a great
[1:01:19] example because we 90 95 percent of our
[1:01:24] students are Hispanic and more than half
[1:01:26] close to 60% of our students are second
[1:01:28] language learners so to reach not only
[1:01:30] the students that meet language but we
[1:01:32] also have to monitor the students that
[1:01:34] have been exited out of the program the
[1:01:36] best way to reach them is when they go
[1:01:38] in and participate in plan and co-teach
[1:01:42] with our mainstream classroom teachers
[1:01:45] so that also allows the mainstream
[1:01:47] classroom teachers to build their
[1:01:48] capacity because we have to build that
[1:01:50] capacity and experience what second
[1:01:52] language learners so working as a team
[1:01:54] in approaching every single student not
[1:01:57] only from the language which many of our
[1:01:59] students even though they're English
[1:02:01] speakers need that language but also
[1:02:04] from the content so they do do that in
[1:02:09] our coaches and our title teachers also
[1:02:11] push in into the classrooms instead of
[1:02:14] pulling students out are you still doing
[1:02:20] the immersion program at FM day yes and
[1:02:24] it's a transition on native language
[1:02:26] instruction in the the way it works for
[1:02:30] it to be a true bilingual program we
[1:02:32] would have to also sustain an English
[1:02:34] tract right now we don't have the
[1:02:36] population to do that so we're trying to
[1:02:38] ensure that our transitional native
[1:02:41] language program is solid so that it's
[1:02:44] why we have Spanish speakers in all
[1:02:47] grades all the way through fourth grade
[1:02:48] so with that said we can maybe in the
[1:02:52] future look at really making it up
[1:02:54] bilingual tract but we need for that we
[1:02:56] also need the same amount of students
[1:02:59] that are just English speakers so that
[1:03:02] they can also learn Spanish and our
[1:03:07] students in this transitional native
[1:03:09] language instruction program are exited
[1:03:11] around second grade but we still provide
[1:03:14] support in Spanish when they need it in
[1:03:17] our Title one interventionist can't
[1:03:20] provide also additional reading support
[1:03:22] in Spanish for those students and fourth
[1:03:24] and fifth grade and you said you have a
[1:03:27] parent enrichment programs that's the
[1:03:29] school Canadian we have a wonderful
[1:03:31] community liaison this year and she
[1:03:34] provides nutrition classes she's
[1:03:37] starting at the dance class too
[1:03:38] she provides English classes for our
[1:03:41] parents and that's a great resource
[1:03:44] because I can they meet at the school in
[1:03:46] the morning so I can also talk to
[1:03:48] parents about some of their concerns or
[1:03:49] with coffee with the principal or during
[1:03:52] PTAs so they also expressed some
[1:03:54] interest in for instance things like
[1:03:56] discipline so we'll bring some workshops
[1:03:58] about how to establish good routine set
[1:04:02] at home how to discipline your child how
[1:04:04] to look beyond elementary and into
[1:04:07] college that's great any other questions
[1:04:11] or comments I've one for dr. cranum
[1:04:17] being the oldest member of the board in
[1:04:20] terms of service but certainly not
[1:04:23] nearly as old as mr. Verdean as I recall
[1:04:29] when I was coming in FM de was receiving
[1:04:32] federal pig money were they one of the
[1:04:35] schools or and/or tea dip they were one
[1:04:37] of the five elementary schools that were
[1:04:39] identified in 2010 so they were one of
[1:04:42] those schools yes okay and are there any
[1:04:45] of those monies still
[1:04:47] lingering within those funds were
[1:04:50] expended in the time period allotted for
[1:04:51] that particular grant and it looks like
[1:04:54] well yes sigh I will say from mr.
[1:04:58] Anderson's leadership although to miss
[1:05:01] double docks and through an amazing
[1:05:02] staff has weathered a lot of storms my
[1:05:07] hats off to all of you
[1:05:10] truly truly yes applaud them there they
[1:05:13] deserve it
[1:05:14] I mean there there was a time we
[1:05:20] destabilized that school with the notion
[1:05:23] of a k-8 partnership with Scott that
[1:05:28] didn't quite work out so well and it's
[1:05:32] nice to see that that money has gone to
[1:05:35] good use and it's nice to see the the
[1:05:38] scores and the achievement and the
[1:05:40] growth doing what it's doing because as
[1:05:43] I recall and I started they were in the
[1:05:45] red otherwise they wouldn't have
[1:05:48] received that money but a lot of other
[1:05:50] schools outside of our district who have
[1:05:54] received similar monies are still in the
[1:05:57] red that is so you are all a model for
[1:06:02] what my eighth grade science teacher
[1:06:06] called stick to activity so keep it up
[1:06:11] all right we look forward to watching
[1:06:13] you grow in that role it was great to
[1:06:16] watch you on the I think it was your
[1:06:18] first day bring in the community in and
[1:06:19] I try to talk to you but every parent
[1:06:21] wanted your ear and you provided that so
[1:06:24] I look forward to seeing you continue to
[1:06:27] move let's go forward mr. president I
[1:06:30] just like to comment that you know I
[1:06:32] tell the staff a lot that there are
[1:06:35] great teachers and then there are
[1:06:36] Westminster Public Schools teachers
[1:06:38] there are great principals and then
[1:06:40] there Westminster Public Schools
[1:06:42] principals and Elaine has definitely in
[1:06:45] her in her tenure here in the district
[1:06:48] shown that she's a Westminster Public
[1:06:50] Schools leader but she also has a sense
[1:06:51] of humor so at the back-to-school
[1:06:53] barbecue there was a little dance
[1:06:56] activity line dancing going on and then
[1:06:59] at the
[1:06:59] case the other night I just couldn't
[1:07:01] even hold a straight face so you saw a
[1:07:03] little bit of that sense of humor in
[1:07:05] here but she's she's not all
[1:07:07] businesslike you just heard thank you all right moving on to our
[1:07:25] business items of the evening mr.
[1:07:28] Kirkland a with personnel matters and if
[1:07:32] you've noticed no one is leaving at this
[1:07:34] particular point usually you clear the
[1:07:37] crowd and through the house take a photo
[1:07:44] the president members of the board and
[1:07:47] dr. Swanson I've prepared for you a
[1:07:48] personnel report containing items 1.0
[1:07:51] 3.0 and 5.0 for your consideration and
[1:07:55] approval thank you
[1:07:59] board do we have a motion mr. president
[1:08:07] I move the Board of Education approved
[1:08:08] personal matters as presented on items
[1:08:10] 1.0 3.0 and 5.0 we get a motion in a
[1:08:15] second any comments no comments or
[1:08:18] annika please pull the board mr. john
[1:08:20] cho yes
[1:08:21] mr. David okay mr. math I'm abstaining
[1:08:24] because I have a nephew that's on this
[1:08:28] list and again it comes back to a kid
[1:08:33] who's coming back to his community where
[1:08:35] his mother graduated from so I'm proud
[1:08:37] to have him here so what you're saying
[1:08:39] is being hired in spite of you and mr.
[1:08:47] Valenti
[1:08:48] I'm sorry mr. McCoy I mr. Valenti I all
[1:08:53] right thank you all right moving on to
[1:08:56] miss sandy knees for the audit and I
[1:09:01] believe we're just receiving it not
[1:09:03] hearing about it just yet until no not
[1:09:06] yet the auditors are here yeah
[1:09:09] good evening mr. president members of
[1:09:11] the board dr. Swanson tonight you had
[1:09:13] before you the district's fiscal audit
[1:09:15] report also known as the comprehensive
[1:09:18] annual financial report Colorado state
[1:09:21] statute requires that the annual audit
[1:09:23] be conducted of all funds by an
[1:09:24] independent auditor each fiscal year
[1:09:26] Edie and Bailey is the current
[1:09:29] district's auditing firm to assist the
[1:09:31] district in completing this report
[1:09:32] accompanying the report is a management
[1:09:35] letter in which the auditing firm
[1:09:38] provides suggestions and procedural or
[1:09:41] process improvements if needed the goal
[1:09:44] of the district of an independent
[1:09:45] auditor is to provide reasonable
[1:09:47] assurance that the financial statements
[1:09:49] of the district are free of material
[1:09:51] misstatements the district's audit
[1:09:54] provides an overview and analysis of
[1:09:56] financial activities for the year ending
[1:09:58] June 30th 2018 at this time the school
[1:10:02] district is in good financial standing
[1:10:04] it is recommended by administration that
[1:10:07] the Board of Education accept the annual
[1:10:09] audit report and management letter for
[1:10:11] the June 30th 2018 audit as presented we
[1:10:17] have a motion mr. president I move that
[1:10:20] the Board of Education received the
[1:10:21] annual audit report and management
[1:10:24] letter for the June 30th 2018 audit
[1:10:28] second we have a motion and second any
[1:10:31] comments just one in Sandy everyone I
[1:10:34] want everybody know what it really takes
[1:10:37] to get a nod at that and how hard your
[1:10:41] group has to work to make sure we get no
[1:10:42] findings in an audit and that we come
[1:10:44] out of that clean so I want to tell you
[1:10:46] thank you to you and your group for
[1:10:49] doing this because it's huge to get this
[1:10:52] to get a good audit that comes out
[1:10:54] because it's part of us being
[1:10:55] transparent and putting our our budgets
[1:11:00] in our and how we spend our money out
[1:11:01] there so thank you to everyone it worked
[1:11:05] Veronica please pull the board mr.
[1:11:08] chancho
[1:11:09] yes mr. David deck all right mr. math
[1:11:11] all right mr. McCoy
[1:11:13] aye mr. Valenti aye all right ladies and
[1:11:16] gentlemen the next regular meeting of
[1:11:17] the Board of Education Westminster Public Schools in advance at
[1:11:21] a credit
[1:11:22] zatia will be Tuesday December 11th 2018
[1:11:25] at 7:30 p.m. the regular meeting will be
[1:11:28] held in the lecture hall of Westminster
[1:11:30] high school notices of meetings are
[1:11:31] posted in the window of the main
[1:11:33] entrance of Westminster high school and
[1:11:34] on board docks 24 hours prior to each
[1:11:37] meeting Veronica the time is now 744 and
[1:11:44] we are adjourned
[1:11:45] as mentioned please join us for cake
[1:11:48] [Music]