All members of the El Paso County Colorado School District 49 Board of Education were present at the regular board meeting in August.Before the meeting, the BOE held a ìFantastic 49î and honored the 2018-2019 D 49 Teachers of the Year (see sidebar).Board updateDave Cruson, secretary, reminded everyone of the D4.9K run/walk Sept. 14 at Falcon High School.Marie LaVere-Wright, president, said the SafeStop application is a great way for parents of students who ride the bus to monitor that busís progress through its route. The problems with the app from last year have been fixed, and parents and students can get notified when the appropriate bus is approaching, she said. It allows parents to keep track of their kids and the buses, LaVere-Wright said.Chief officersí updatePeter Hilts, chief education officer, said the opening of Inspiration View Elementary School went well.Brett Ridgway, chief business officer, said the district has switched to a new system that allows parents to pay student fees online, and responses have been positive.Pedro Almeida, chief operations officer, said the facilities team is working on the building trades facility construction at FHS and the space for the Head Start program at Falcon Elementary School of Technology. Wireless access points have been installed in all secondary schools across the district, as well as the Blue Point system; and new transportation routes have been created now that IVES (Inspiration View) is open, he said. ìI think these updates will set the district up for success in the future,î Almeida said.The operations department is working on a new IT vendor contract, which should be ready for the January 2020 meeting; the contract will be updated at the regular meeting in October.Open forumEllen Duckers, community member, asked if Aspen View Homes has transferred the title of the property, designated as a school site for D 49, near the Forest Meadows subdivision to the district. The answer was no as of the meeting date.Action itemsThe BOE unanimously approved the following:
- Appointment of John Graham, vice president, as the BOE representative for the Colorado Association of School Board 2019 delegate assembly
- A resolution to authorize an intergovernmental agreement between the district and the EPC Board of County Commissioners, the EPC Clerk and Recorder and the State of Colorado to participate in the Nov. 5, 2019, general election to elect new BOE members for director Districts 2, 3 and 4 at a cost of about $43,000
- Revisions to business office policies regarding continued financial stability and expense authorization reimbursement
- A regulation on the evaluation of chief officers
- Revisions to the board policy on vacation leaves and holidays
- The dean of career and college success job description
The BOE approved the revised 2019-2020 BOE meeting dates in a 4-1 vote, with Graham opposed. The revised list includes a special meeting on May 27, 2020, for imperative time-sensitive issues, if necessary.
Discussion itemsMatt Willhelm, project manager with Wember Inc., updated the board about the 3B mill levy override projects, and said all the Priority 2 summer projects are complete. About 90 percent of the Priority 2 funds have been spent, with about $1 million left to spend.Ridgway said the business office will get the final amounts of leftover funds from each schoolís 3B project, and then begin discussions with the BOE, administration and district accountability advisory committee to determine how to spend that money.Mary Perez, director of applied and advanced learning, updated the board about the progress of the newly created advanced and applied learning department, which is a reorganization of the career and technical education, work-based learning, concurrent enrollment, international baccalaureate and advanced placement programs into one department, as authorized by the board in May. She said the priorities for the upcoming school year include supporting all D 49 campuses and increasing and updating communication.Per Colorado Department of Education regulations, Perez said all districts within an economic region must work with businesses, business leaders, parents and students to create a needs assessment every two years. The goal is to make sure the districts are developing and supporting the right CTE pathways for the workforce in their region.ìWe already have the Pikes Peak Business and Education Alliance so we have been doing this for some time now,î Perez said.Andy Franko, iConnect zone leader, presented one new and two revised job descriptions for the boardís consideration: portfolio of schools coordinator; home-based education specialist; and general education para-educator and registrar, respectively.The board agreed to move all three descriptions forward for action at the September meeting.Graham recommended that the board argue for the following resolutions at the CASB delegate assembly:
- LR14, which requires the CDE to collaborate with district and charter school boards of education to develop a system for counting student enrollment that is more equitable than the current single-day ìOctober-countî model
- LR6, which urges the United States Congress to amend the Drug Free Schools and Communities Act to include an exception for the administration of non-psychoactive cannabinoid oils to students (under medical supervision) on school grounds
- LR13, which calls for the support of full federal funding and full funding of the state portion of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
Graham also recommended rewording the resolution on the allocation of revenue from marijuana retail sales to the district for special education. ìLast year, most of the districts wanted the freedom to determine where that money goes, rather than have it be designated for only one area,î he said.LaVere-Wright suggested the resolution includes the following: If districts allocate marijuana sales money to special education, the money in each districtís budget currently used on special education would be freed up to use in other ways.Hilts said D 49 needs to oppose a resolution that allows districts to have oversight and closure of multi-district online schools operating in their district, which would in essence abolish the MDOS. Colorado allows parents to choose any school to send their children to, regardless of the district; online students from one district can take classes via an online program run by another district. If the resolution passes, any district that has at least one student in an online program run by D 49 could ultimately have a say in how that program is run, or even close it if they do not think the education that student is receiving is good enough, Hilts said.Ridgway said the current legislation appears open to a resolution that would allow for ticketing drivers caught running through the school bus stop arm, based on video evidence. The board directed the administration to draft a resolution about this issue.The next regular meeting of the BOE is Thursday, Sept. 12, at 6:30 p.m. in the board room at the D 49 Education Services Center.
