All members of the El Paso County School District 49 Board of Education were present at the April meeting. No members of the student board of representatives attended.Before the regular meeting, the BOE held a ìFantastic 49î event and recognized Shayla Castel-Gonzalez and Meadow Cooper, fifth graders at Remington Elementary School, for contributing to the schoolís literacy night about fifth-grade writing styles.The BOE also recognized Lori Dion, physical education teacher; Cat Giadone, art teacher; and Katie Stafford, a music teacher from Ridgeview Elementary School, for supporting ìwhole childî education.The board recognized Anthony Guerra, a senior at Falcon High School, for winning the state-level PTA Reflections essay competition. His essay, ìWithin Reach,î will compete at the national level.The BOE recognized Katrina Smith, a senior from Sand Creek High School, for securing a spot as a finalist in the National Merit Scholarship selection process.Board updateMarie LaVere-Wright said D 49 is a recipient of the 2017 Rocky Mountain Performance Excellence award, the highest award possible at the state level through the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program.Chief officersí updateBrett Ridgway, chief business officer, said construction preparations have begun at the Vista del Pico elementary school site.Action itemsThe board unanimously approved the following:
- Revisions to the following job descriptions: attendance and substitute staffing specialist; human resources assistant; human resources reporting specialist; leave specialist; and staffing specialist
- A resolution recognizing the week of May 7-11 as National Teacher Appreciation Week
- Revisions to the following policies: students in foster care; evaluation of chief officers; federal fiscal compliance; staff ethics and conflict of interest; staff conduct and responsibilities; professional staff contracts and compensation; admission of non-immigrant foreign students; homeless students; and Title I parent and family engagement
- Addition of an American Sign Language III course and name change of Pre-AP to Honors Art at Vista Ridge High School
- District and school level unified improvement plans
- A site improvement plan for Banning Lewis Preparatory Academy to install an all-weather track around the existing athletic field; the track is funded by the Banning Lewis Ranch Academy Foundation
- Annual Alternative Education Campus applications for the 2018-2019 school year for Patriot High School and GOAL Academy
- Revisions to the following job descriptions: head coach, assistant coach and support coach
- A resolution designating the Vista del Pico elementary school site as part of the POWER zone
- Bank account changes as follows: opening of new accounts with JP Morgan Chase for the districtís main operation, payroll and purchase card transactions; closing of a bank account at Bank of New York that was used to repay bond payments; and closing of a bank account at Farmers State Bank, which was used to receive human resources fingerprinting fees
- The zone special education administrator job description
LaVere-Wright clarified a resolution for a waiver concerning substitute teacher licensure: ìWe are recognizing a severe shortage in the substitute teacher pool and there are many highly qualified community members without their teaching license who could help with that shortage. We will ensure they meet our quality standard by training them ourselves.îThe board unanimously approved this resolution.
Discussion itemsLou Fletcher, director of culture and services, presented information about the milestones reached with the action plan between the district and the Department of Justice monitoring agreement of 2014. The DOJ has released the district from the agreement.Matt Wilhelm, project manager with Wember Inc., updated the board on the districtís 3B project list, highlighting work that had been done over spring break.David Nancarrow, director of communications, provided an update on the data collected from the Voice of the Community Survey regarding a name change for the district. He said the survey was ìwell-takenî and a new one is available online for community members to provide feedback.Peter Hilts, chief education officer, said the district administration is actively seeking input from school groups like the student advisory councils regarding the name change, and will present that information as a discussion item at the May meeting.John Graham, vice president, said there is a breakdown of the costs associated with the name change, which is available directly at the D 49 website.Nikki Lester, career and technical education director, presented a list of the current CTE programs available across the district. ìOver 500 D 49 CTE students are earning college credit before they graduate,î she said. Additionally, 126 students received 38 certifications and four pre-apprentice statuses, earning the district $21,029 in reimbursements from the state of Colorado, Lester said.Bob Gemignani, the workplace learning manager who was hired last summer, discussed goals for his department. ìOur mission is to work with businesses in our community and carry that message to our schools to educate students so they can enter the workforce after high school or post-secondary education,î he said. ìWe expect to serve about 300 students and want to create a talent pipeline from D 49 to the workforce in our community.îHilts said D 49 is the only district in EPC to have a dedicated workplace learning manager, and it has already benefited the community.Lester said future plans include taking all D 49 eighth-grade students to SCHS in October to allow them to experience the CTE programs available.Pattie Vail, gifted education coordinator, showed data on gifted identification for all four zones and presented information on department activities and goals.Emily Leschisin, director of special education, presented data on three areas of focus for the special education department: effective instruction, recruit and retain, and collaborative communication.Rachel Duerr, health and wellness coordinator, highlighted key points from each schoolís School Health Improvement Plan. She said Stetson Elementary School is one of 47 schools statewide to earn a Healthy School Champion Award, presented by the Colorado Education Initiative.Duerr said the district will hold its second D ì4.9î walk/run event at FHS on Saturday, Sept. 29.The next regular meeting of the BOE is May 10 at 6:30 p.m. in the board room at the D 49 Education Services Center.
