All members were present at the Falcon School District 49 Board of Education meeting in June. Before the meeting, the BOE held a ìFantastic 49î event and recognized the districtís selections for Teacher of the Year from each school.Peter Hilts, chief education officer, introduced Sue Holmes, the new leader for the Falcon Zone.Open forumSeveral members of the D 49 community spoke about their concern with the decision to move the Falcon Homeschool Enrichment Program from its current location off Mohawk Road. Concerns included the following: a decision was made with no input from the FHEP families; younger FHEP students could be bullied; the new location might not have a playground for the students; and distress at leaving a familiar facility.Hilts apologized to the FHEP students and families for not doing a better job of communicating the relocation plan and getting input prior to making the decision. ìI underestimated the level of attachment to this building,î he said. ìThere is more demand to use the homeschool facility than what we can accommodate, and the other facility allows for that.îJohn Graham, board director, said the district needs to work harder at having communications with the community when students and parents are affected.Hilts said he will take the comments under advisement and bring back additional information and recommendationsAction itemsThe board unanimously approved
- The nomination of Graham for board vice president
- The name change of the current advisory class period at Vista Ridge High School to pathway exploration/designs/mastery and the associated credit for completion of the course
- Revisions to these policies: board powers and responsibilities; and recruitment of chief officers
- The reauthorization of the contract between the district and the Community Partnership for
- Child Development-Head Start
- Revisions of the special education data technician job description to special education program specialist
- The revised teacherís salary schedule to overcome some limitations presented by the previous salary schedule
Discussion itemsBrett Ridgway, chief business officer, presented information about meetings between district administration and the teacher compensation task forced related to funds from the 3B ballot measure approval. He said they decided to remit a one-time payment of about $283 with the next paycheck for each teacher.Amy Attwood, district lobbyist, provided an update on the events from the previous legislative sessions, including the amended senate bill that would distribute mill levy override funds to charter schools. The bill died but was brought back as House Bill 17-1375, which passed. It is intended to increase transparent equity of funds distribution across districts for both traditional and charter schools.Attwood said another bill that passed, HB 17-1340, creates a legislative interim committee on school finance that will meet for the next two years to assess the true cost of educating a child in Colorado. ìD 49 was really a leader in developing that bill,î she said.The state budget for the 2017-2018 school year will see a per-pupil rate increase to account for inflation, but the negative factor still comes into play, making budgets tight around the state, she said.Jack Pietraallo, interim transportation director, presented information on the fee for service busing program and said the current system is not accurately tracking studentsí rides, making it difficult to invoice parents for payment. He presented a new fee structure for the program that emphasizes upfront payment by offering savings in multiple ways. ìThe new structure creates increased efficiency in our department,î Pietraallo said.Graham said he was not comfortable moving the new fee structure forward as an action item if there was no stakeholder engagement.Matt Meister, director of communications, said his team can research various options like a virtual town hall meeting to engage the stakeholders.Marie LaVere-Wright, president, said the communications team should send an email notification about the fee structure and then the board can discuss and vote on this item on June 28, which was changed to a special meeting rather than a work session.Jack Bay, chief operations officer, said the Priority 2 projects from the 3B ballot measure are in full swing and his team is working on installing permanent signs to thank the community for their support. He said he has also developed a timeline of the scheduled construction projects taking place over the summer.David Rex, president of the district accountability advisory committee, presented the list of requests/priorities from each school that submitted one for consideration in the 2017-2018 budget.The board moved the proposed budget forward as an action item at the June 28 special meeting.Mike Pickering, POWER zone leader, presented information requesting a change to the calendar for Ridgeview Elementary School for the upcoming year. Pickering said he wanted to designate Aug. 31 as a non-contact student day for teachers to attend a two-day training program through Capturing Kids Hearts.Pickering also presented information on a new proposed job description for a teacher on special assignment for zone data design. His zone has found value in data analysis and design, and creating a TOSA position will allow the current teacher to do this same work but remain a teacher of record, he said.The board moved both of Pickeringís items forward as action items for the special meeting.Sean Dorsey, Sand Creek zone leader, presented information on a new proposed job description for a dean of workplace learning. ìWe really need a person to support students as they demonstrate skill mastery in different ways,î he said. The proposal would shift roles and responsibilities within the zone and any incurred cost would be at the zone level, Dorsey said.The board will address this as an action item at the special meeting.Bruce Grose, principal at VRHS, presented a request to modify the job description of the dean of concurrent enrollment to better fit the position.The board will present this as an action item at the special meeting.LaVere-Wright conducted the second read-through of a policy regarding instructional staff contracts/compensation/salary schedule, which was approved on an emergency basis in May. The emergency approval allowed the district to use the new salary schedule during the hiring process for the 2017-2018 school year.The policy will be submitted for final approval at the special meeting.Hilts presented information regarding a new software system that the chief officers will use to complete their team performance reviews.Bay said he wants to develop an apprenticeship program for HVAC and is working with Hilts to secure certification for students.The next regular meeting of the BOE is July 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the board room at the D 49 Education Services Center.
