March BOE meeting wrap-up

All members of the El Paso County School District 49 Board of Education were present at the March meeting, except for Kevin Butcher, treasurer, who was absent with prior notice. Athena Espiritu from Pikes Peak Early College and MyAvion Walker from Falcon High School were also present as members of the student board of representatives.Before the regular meeting, the BOE held a ìFantastic 49î event and recognized members of the transportation department and Falcon Elementary School of Technologyís staff for their contributions to the district.Jack Pietraallo, director of transportation, recognized Teri Begley, bus paraprofessional, and Deborah Murphy, bus driver, for their hard work and dedication to the students and the district.Michael Roth, principal at FESOT, recognized Cindy White, attendance secretary, and Aaron Esparsen, night custodian, for always putting kids first and going the extra mile for the students.Board updateJohn Graham, vice president, said he toured construction sites for the new schools in the district. He said there is ongoing discussion about safety and security, along with the proposed change to the districtís name.Chief officers’ updatePeter Hilts, chief education officer, said the Gateway to Technology program at Skyview Middle School was recognized as a distinguished program, the only one to achieve that designation in the state of Colorado. Gateway to Technology is the middle school version of the high school program, Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit organization that aims to teach students in-demand skills by exploring real-world challenges.Hilts said the district was officially released from a monitoring agreement it had with the United States Department of Justice on March 7 after eight years and 12 days. The agreement was put in place to monitor the districtís handling of harassment and discrimination incidents.Pedro Almeida, chief operations officer, said his department recognizes the heightened concerns of safety and security issues across the D 49 community. ìWe have really good protocols in place,î he said. ìThe work that was done in prior years and up to now is really solid, but we are not resting on that. Security requires constant vigil and review. We are looking into additional training and preparedness across the district.îAlmeida said the operations team is looking to develop a review process of how emergency situations are handled. The goal is to have groups to plan that process, get the communityís input and then implement it, he said.Student board of representatives updateEspiritu said PPEC is working on a school-wide ecology project.Open forumSamantha Romero, parent of a student at Vista Ridge High School, said the school advisory council, which includes about 12 community members, discussed the proposed name change and overwhelmingly agreed with the proposition. People new to the area who are thinking of buying a house often think D 49 is exclusively in unincorporated eastern EPC, she said.However, Romero said none of the SAC members liked the ìPikes Peakî portion of the proposed ìPikes Peak District 49î name. ìIt could create confusion with Pikes Peak Early College, and geographically we are not close to Pikes Peak,î she said.Ellen Duckers, a long-time D 49 community member, said her Falcon seniors group had lunch and discussed the name change proposal. She said they were all ìirateî about it and suggested putting that money toward safety improvements.Action itemsThe board unanimously approved the following:

• A new special education organizational structure with the hiring of three zone administrators, to be funded by each zoneís budget
• The personalized diploma pathway, which establishes an opportunity for students at Patriot High School to demonstrate mastery per the Colorado Department of Educationís graduation requirements, and to receive an early diploma and enter the workforce
• Revisions to the policy regarding funding proposals, grants and special projects
• Addition of the following courses at Skyview Middle School: The Magic of Electrons, a Gateway to Technology Course; a creative writing workshop; and a piano lab

Discussion itemsAlmeida presented an update on the status of the 3B mill levy override projects. He said the addition at FHS is coming along smoothly; the turf in the field house and the addition to the gymnasium at Sand Creek High School are complete; the addition at VRHS is on track; the bus loop at Woodmen Hills Elementary School will be constructed over spring break; and Bennett Ranch Elementary School is going to be a fantastic facility.David Nancarrow, director of communications, presented information about the progress of establishing a common and legal identity for D 49. He said the Voice of the Community survey the district conducted allowed community members to provide feedback on the proposed name change to Pikes Peak School District 49. Nancarrow presented information from the survey that both supported and opposed the change and gave examples of comments from each side.Marie LaVere-Wright, president, asked board members if they should gather additional feedback from other community groups.Dave Cruson, secretary, said there is no hidden agenda behind the name change proposal. ìI am not in any rush to do this (approve a name change), but it (the current name) is somewhat of a misnomer when it comes to our identity,î he said. ìIf we are going to continue to be called Falcon, how are those of us along the Powers corridor going to be better included?îGraham said the board and community need to keep in mind that D 49 is broken into zones, so the Falcon zone name would not change. ìWe do have two other zones to consider,î he said. ìI think we need additional input.îEspiritu said it is hard to connect with students from other schools because PPEC is part of Falcon D 49 but is not located in Falcon. ìPeople automatically think of Falcon High School,î she said.Hilts said the student board of representatives did not discuss this at their last meeting because school security was a higher priority.The board unanimously agreed to keep the proposal as a discussion item for the April 12 meeting.Ron Sprinz, finance group manager, presented a school finance scorecard, which is a visual representation of how each school is handling their respective finances and budgets. The scorecard also includes finance notes to help school officials plan for future actions. ìThe scorecard is not about getting anyone in trouble,î he said. ìIt is about working toward hitting a window of precise performance.îBrett Ridgway, chief business officer, presented information on the cultural and strategic planning process that began at the BOE retreat in January. He showed a visual representation of how that process would work and presented the 2018-2019 version, called the Annual Peak Plan Review.Hilts presented information from the February board meeting regarding mission innovations and said he wanted to continue that discussion. LaVere-Wright asked questions and provided comments about the presentations. After additional discussion about the five innovation ideas that were chosen as finalists, the BOE directed the creators of the Camp Innovation and Tech Camp ideas to build out more robust proposals and bring them back for discussion at the work session March 28.The next regular meeting of the BOE is April 12 at 6:30 p.m. in the boardroom at the D 49 Education Services Center.