This meeting is now
called to order.
Roll call, please.
Mrs. Johnson.
Here.
Mr. LaValley.
Here.
Mr. Lundberg.
Here.
Mrs. Reynolds.
Here.
Mr. Strebe.
Here.
We need a motion to move
to executive session,
pursuant to CRS-24-6-402(4)(g),
Review of Superintendent
Applications and Candidates.
So moved.
Second.
Invited to this
executive session
are the Board of
Education, Colonel Harting,
who will be trying to
get here, and Mr. Cohn.
Roll call, please.
Mrs. Johnson.
Aye.
Mr. LaValley.
Aye.
Mr. Lundberg.
Aye.
Mrs. Reynolds.
Aye.
Mr. Strebe.
Aye.
We will now move to the
[? Quandary ?] conference
room to conduct the
executive session.
Good evening.
That was a gentle tap.
Because, in fact, we are
reconvening this meeting,
which was originally called to
order at 3:15 this afternoon,
followed by an
executive session,
pursuant to CRS-24-6-402(4)(g),
Review of Superintendent
Applications and Candidates.
So here we are now
at 6:00 PM, and we
are going to begin with
the Pledge of Allegiance.
And this evening we
are fortunate to have
two scouts with us.
They are Nate Fisher and Jordan
Bennett, both from Troop 17,
both from DCC Middle School
and in the 7th grade.
Gentlemen, would you
please come forward
and lead us in the
Pledge of Allegiance?
Good job.
Thank you both.
Ms. [? Addad, ?] are there
any updates to the agenda?
There were updates
to the agenda.
The board was notified of these.
Thank you.
Members of the board,
are there any items
you wish to move from
the consent agenda?
Are there any items to
be added to the agenda?
Hearing none from
the board, I would
like to request that
we consider moving
the following two items prior
to 10A, Ends 1.2 Character.
The item 13A, Superintendent
Search Update,
and item 12A, Report of
the Citizens Bond Oversight
Committee.
Any objection?
Thank you.
May we have a motion to
approve the agenda, please?
So moved.
Second.
Roll call, please.
Mrs. Johnson.
Aye.
Mr. LaValley.
Aye.
Mr. Lundberg.
Aye.
Mrs. Reynolds.
Aye.
Mr. Strebe.
Aye.
We always have a board
quote to begin each meeting.
And tonight's is,
"You don't learn
to walk by following rules.
You learn by doing
and by falling over."
That quote is from Richard
Branson, who most of us
probably know as the
founder of Virgin
Industries and many other
far-flung corporations.
Public Comments now.
Mrs. Cortez, do we have anyone
signed up to speak to the board
this evening?
There is no one signed
up this evening.
Oh.
Well, thank you very much.
Board comments, then.
I begin with Colonel Harting.
No surprise.
It happens every time.
And no surprise, I
have nothing to add.
Thank you for the opportunity.
Thank you, Colonel Harting.
Mrs. Reynolds?
Yes, just a couple things.
First, I wanted to say
that it was a great visit
to NASBE again this year.
I particularly liked the
federal legislative updates
and the school law conference
pieces that I went to.
It was enlightening.
And Mrs. Thompson, thank you for
bringing those to us as well.
They align nicely,
but yeah, there's
some big stuff out there.
So thank you for that.
And I just want to
say, tonight's event
was done very well, Miss
Cortez and your team.
And so I went to
Mr. [? Macaskill ?]
and I said, I've never
met you, but I know of you
and I've heard of you
for the last 15 years
because when I came
to District 20,
nobody ever stopped
talking about you.
And he said, I don't
know you either,
but you might know this guy.
And he pointed
out his son to me.
And his son is Andrew
[? macaskill, ?]
and he reminded me that I was
his sophomore English teacher.
Yeah.
And then he said, and you
don't know how fast time goes.
My daughter has graduated,
and my son is about to.
And I went, yeah, I do
know how fast time goes.
It was a fun reunion.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Cortez.
Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds.
Mr. LaValley.
Yes, that was a great ceremony.
And it's great to be part of
something bigger than yourself.
And I think that ceremony
typified that, the induction
ceremony.
So hats off to
everybody involved.
It was a great,
great, great show.
Yes, I also attended--
it's NASBE, it's NSBA.
It's not N-A-S-B-- whatever.
But it's the National
School Board Association,
as opposed to the National
Association of School Boards.
I looked at that carefully.
But be that as it may, it was an
enjoyable three and a half days
for me, four days for you all.
I didn't get the bonding
time that you all
had Monday morning, Monday
afternoon, Monday evening,
when your flight was stuck.
But it was still--
it was a good time
there in Philadelphia.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. LaValley.
And thanks to Mr.
LaValley, I think
we all learned that there are,
in fact, two organizations.
There is the National
School Board Association,
whose annual conference
this board, the D20 board,
has traditionally
always attended.
And then we learned
from Mr. LaValley
that there's also a
National Association
of School Boards, which no one
was familiar with before he
looked up.
So that's why you never
stop learning, right?
OK.
Mr. Lundberg.
I'd also like to thank
Alison for the festivities
this afternoon.
And similar to
Karen, in some ways,
I knew Ross, but I had
an old student walk up
to me just a while ago--
My student wasn't old
yet, though, Mr. Lundberg.
Just kidding.
And she says-- she says to
me, you might not remember me
but I had you in
1978 in biology.
I did remember her name.
I didn't remember her face,
but I remembered the name.
So it was very good.
And in the light of--
It might have changed.
She did, just a little bit.
In the light of recognizing
excellence and things
in the past, I'd
like to just read
a little portion of something
about Mr. Russ Wolf.
Now, Russ Wolf is on the Hall of
Excellence, in the '50s, '60s--
in the '50s, '60s
area like that.
He died just recently.
And this says, Russ was one
of three original visionaries
and founding board members
for school district 20,
serving on the
Board of Education
for 23 consecutive years.
He was the board
president for 11 years.
And I knew Russ.
He didn't know me,
but I knew him.
And he was a good founding
father for district 20.
So I just want to say, rest in
peace, and thank you so much.
Oh, well said, Lundberg.
Thank you for sharing that.
Mr. Strebe.
Like other comments regarding
the ceremony tonight,
that's absolutely fantastic.
It's always a pleasure
to be a part of that.
Thank you for including us.
For those in the
audience, anybody
who wants to know anything
about the Philadelphia Airport,
I am now the foremost
expert in the United States,
having spent from 11:00 AM
until approximately 8:00
PM in that airport on Monday.
I got to see basically every
wing or every terminal,
all the restaurants.
Yeah, I got to spend
a lot of time in that.
And we did have a
bonding experience,
except Mr. LaValley, who--
all I remember him saying
is, I'm flying to Houston.
And then he was gone.
Poof, he was gone.
Then you had to work.
But I enjoyed the National
School Boards Association,
and I appreciate the
time that I get to spend
with my fellow board members.
That will be our--
for a couple of us,
that's our last NSBA.
Yes.
And it's great to be here.
A lot of people in the
room, and I don't know why.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Strebe.
Truly, it was quite memorable.
And I want to include Dr.
Hatchell in the gratitude being
expressed for tonight's event.
After all, as Mrs.
Cortez shared with us,
it was Dr. Hatchell's
idea to honor
those who had
long, long preceded
this board and many others
in establishing setting
the tone, the standard, the high
expectations, and the tradition
of excellence that still
prevails here in the district.
And it's important
to honor those.
And so great job
providing that spark.
And great job, Mrs. Cortez,
bringing it to light.
So gosh, in
addition, yeah, I was
hanging with this
group over the weekend.
And it was fabulous
to be in Philadelphia,
a city I wasn't
that familiar with,
hadn't visited since 8th grade.
But in addition to
lots of great sessions
on topical matters in
education and facing school
boards across the country--
and there's many that are
common, social-emotional,
teacher shortage, strategic
planning seems to be a very
important consideration
across the nation--
it was also within
walking distance
of Independence Hall
and the Liberty Bell,
so I definitely took advantage
of that on the one good weather
day.
The others days weren't bad.
But in addition to
learning and spending
some professional
developed development
time with people I greatly
respect and appreciate,
including Dr. Hatchell--
I didn't want to leave him out,
right, he was there as well--
I had occasion in
the past couple
of weeks to tend to
my other board duties,
the one relevant to
the [? CHASSA ?] Budget
Committee, for which I
serve, and on which I serve,
and the CASB Bylaws Committee.
And because I was in Denver
for the [? CHASSA ?] event,
I also had occasion to speak
as a member of the CASB--
or as regions 6 representative
for the Colorado Association
of School Boards
Board of Directors
to the House Education Committee
in regard to house bill 149,
which would--
it would put significant
hurdles before school districts.
It really wasn't well aligned
to those school districts that
did not have a
collective bargaining
agreement or other
unions in their midst,
and also would have caused a
complete upheaval of governance
structures.
It wouldn't have conformed--
its requirements were completely
counter to policy governance,
which is the governance
style or philosophy
and work here in district 20.
And it was a successful
effort to the extent
that the bill was tabled
to seek further input.
And so hopefully it will be more
reflective of the more common
reality across the state.
And then I've also, as has this
board, been diligently engaged,
as we have since October 2018,
in the superintendent search.
And that has encompassed
most of our time.
And I certainly
am honored to have
embarked on that journey
with each of you.
So thank you very much.
And that's all I have.
Dr. Hatchell.
Thank you much.
And I also want to thank Allison
and her crew for all their work
on the Hall of
Excellence Ceremony.
I think it's a great
one, and has really
become a great tradition
of the school district.
I probably share things
like this too often,
but I have known [? Ross ?]
Macaskell for a long time.
And he and my dad were
middle school administrators
in Colorado Springs
during the same time.
So I knew him through
my dad for a long time.
He's a great guy.
Mr. Gregory.
No, thank you.
Dr. Smith.
No, thank you.
Dr. [? Peak. ?]
No, thank you.
Mr. Cone.
Ms. Thompson.
Miss Cortez.
Miss Kooser.
Mr. Grady.
I do have a few items.
The [? Betcher ?] Foundation
recognized six Academy District
20 teachers for their
outstanding impact
and dedication to students.
Congratulations to Jeremy
[? Becky ?] from DCC High
School, Nan [? Gafra ?]
from Pine Creek High School,
[? Valerie ?] Babbitt from
Pine Creek High School,
and Allison [? Ernsatt ?] and
Gregory Anderson from Rampart
High School.
Also Richard
Castle, Dick Castle,
from Pine Creek High School.
Can't believe he got it.
I just have to say, we were the
starting guards at Whitefield
High School basketball
team in the late 1970s,
and we're very good friends.
I've known him for a long time.
Congratulations to Dick
and all those others.
Each teacher will receive a
$500 grant for their classroom.
The Air Academy Federal
Credit Union's art show
concluded last week.
Congratulations to our
top two artists, Kayla
[? Holling ?] from Pine
Creek High School and Gavin
McCoy from Liberty High School.
They were awarded Air Academy
Federal Credit Union's highest
scholarship of $500.
So congratulations to them.
On Thursday, Chinook
Trail Middle school
unveiled their new logo
to more than 100 parents
and future students.
No, not that one.
The school's planning
team worked closely
with local branding
professionals
to develop the logo shown--
maybe sometime soon.
The elements of the
logo are tied closely
to the school's
vision and mission.
For example, the angular
lines represent students
blazing their own trail.
The facets around the middle
represent different aspects
of students' personality,
and different color panels
represent the
importance of diversity,
community, and varying
points of view.
So not sure if we're going
to get that up there,
but I want to thank them.
Is it coming?
No?
There.
No.
All right, well, that picture--
you can leave that one up.
So I took the Parent Sounding
Board and Student Advisory
Committee on tours of
Chinook Trail Middle
School and the new School
in the Woods, this week.
I think that's a picture--
OK, so that's Parent
Sounding Board
in front of Chinook
Trail Middle School.
So they had their hardhats on
and vests and got a great tour.
And Student Advisory Committee--
there we are.
And that's in the new gym at
Chinook Trail Middle School.
Very exciting, huge footprint.
First students to
go through there,
so we were excited about that.
They are on schedule,
and I think it's
going to be a great building.
We're also out at
School in the Woods.
And I see Mr. [? Worth ?] there.
And my apologies.
So he was coming to
speak to the group,
and I was coming to
speak to the group,
but Heather, our chairman,
said no, time's up.
Time to head back
to the [? EAC. ?]
So you have good company.
We both got cut from
the presentation.
But School in the Woods,
I just have to say--
and I know Mr. [? Worth's ?]
had a big hand in it--
what a great looking building.
It fits into the forest.
And so great job, really
good looking place,
collaborative area.
And so it was a fun
week, fun week of tours
of those new
buildings, and as we
continue to try to
wrap these things up so
we can get students
in there next year.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Dr. Hatchell.
We now need a motion, please,
to approve the following
resolutions.
118-19, Approval of Matters
Relating to Administrative
Staff, Licensed; 119-19,
Approval of Matters Relating
to Administrative
Staff, Classified;
120-19, Approval
of Matters Relating
to Staff Specialist,
Staff; 121-19, Approval
of Matters Relating to
Licensed Staff, Teachers;
122-19 and 123-19,
Approval of Resolution
for Non-Renewal of Contract
of Probationary Teacher;
124-19, Approval of Matters
Relating to Licensed Staff,
Licensed Support/Specialized
Service Provider; 125-19,
Approval of Matters Relating
to Classified Staff;
and Approval of Board of
Education Regular Meeting
Minutes from March 21, 2019.
So moved.
Second.
Roll call, please.
Mrs. Johnson.
Aye.
Mr. LaValley.
Aye.
Mr. Lundberg.
Aye.
Mrs. Reynolds.
Aye.
Mr. Strebe.
Aye.
Very good.
Now we will turn to
our item 13A that
has moved to above
item 10A, which
is the long anticipated
announcement regarding
our superintendent
search update.
So I would like to begin
that by making a resolution,
or offering a resolution.
Resolved that the Board of
Education for Academy District
20 place the name
of Dr. Kimberly
Hough under
consideration as finalist
for the position of
Superintendent of Schools
for Academy District 20.
pending contract negotiations,
Dr. Kimberly Hough's name
shall be brought
forward for appointment
at the board's next regularly
scheduled meeting on April 18,
2019.
So moved.
Second.
Thank you.
Now we'll have some discussion.
And I'll begin by telling you
a little bit about Dr. Hough.
And we will go
down-- we will all
be speaking to Dr. Hough's
accomplishments and attributes
and hope to help you
learn exactly what it was
that led her to come to
the top of a very, very
impressive slate of candidates,
which we will be detailing.
There is a picture of Dr. Hough.
So let me begin.
After working closely with our
consultants, Hazard, Young,
Attea, and after reviewing
the paperwork of 26 applicants
from across the nation
who wish to serve
as the leaders of District 20,
and after extensive interviews
with five very fine
and capable candidates,
and after more interviews
and tours with three
of those candidates, and
after site visits with two
of the candidates who are
highly honored and respected
by their communities, we
are so pleased to announce
Dr. Kimberly Hough
as our finalist
to be the next superintendent
of Academy District 20.
Tonight we hope to share
a brief summary of who
Dr. Hough is as a professional.
We believe that
her qualifications
and her character embody
the leadership profile that
was developed with the input of
over 1,900 of our stakeholders
as we reviewed it many times
during this search process.
In short, we believe that
our cabinet, principals,
administrators, teachers,
staff, students,
and parents across the
district will be served well
by Dr. Hough's leadership.
We know that together
our district will
continue to grow and prosper.
I'd like to share a bit about
Dr. Hough's career background.
She has spent most
of her 24 years
in education in two
growing school districts
and, as she shared, she
recognizes the challenges
of meeting financial needs
while continuously improving
and striving for excellence.
Dr. Kimberly Hough has served
as the Assistant Superintendent
for Human Resources and Talent
Development in the Loudoun
County School District
in Ashburn, Virginia,
in the Washington, DC area for
the past six and a half years.
The Loudoun County
School District
has a population of
approximately 83,000 students,
over 12,000 employees,
and an operating budget
of 1.2 billion, similar to
Academy District 20 in student
achievement, rapid growth,
and a supportive community
with high expectations.
Loudoun County is one of the
largest, highest performing,
and fastest growing school
districts in the country.
Dr. Hough's team has planned
and staffed 12 new schools
during her tenure, has hired
approximately 854 teachers
and 2,900 full time, part time,
hourly, and substitute staff
during a single year, and has
proposed many reallocations
to use budget
funding innovatively
to increase services
in cost effective ways.
She has worked
closely with a variety
of school administrators
while offering leadership,
development services, staffing
services, and employee
relations support
for 92 schools.
Specifically, Dr.
Hough and her team
have offered professional
learning for principal mentors,
developed cohort programs for
both new, first, and second
year, and aspiring principals,
developed programming
to support new assistant
principals and new deans,
formed partnerships with
university leadership programs,
offered programming for teachers
interested in leadership roles,
and created a leadership cohort,
training for support services
leaders.
These programs have involved
supporting principals
in building
instructional leadership,
building their leadership
teams, and building
their operational leadership.
Finally, Dr. Hough has developed
specialized recruiting programs
to serve higher poverty schools
within an affluent district
and increase diversity and
new hires by 23% in 2018-2019
in what has become
a majority minority
district during her tenure.
Prior to her work in Loudoun
County School District,
Dr. Hough served West Virginia's
Berkeley County schools
for 10 and 1/2 years.
As the assistant superintendent
of this school district
of 19,000 students,
she led the areas
of human resources, people
services, federal programs,
and research and technology.
She was integral to the planning
of the largest floor plan
high school in the
state of West Virginia,
as she supported the media
and technology resource needs.
She designed a summer
leadership development program
for principals and
other administrators
that incorporated
learning opportunities
with national, regional,
state, and local expert.
In addition, her
leadership resulted
in an increase of highly
qualified teachers, a reduction
in the need for
long-term substitutes,
and a 600% increase in
the diversity of staff.
Prior to being named the
Assistant Superintendent
of Berkeley County
Schools, Dr. Hough
served in a number of
administrative roles
within the school district.
As the Assistant Director of
Special Education, during which
she worked with
special education
programs from preschool
through high school,
under her leadership
the district
saw an increase in
highly qualified speech
pathologist
subsequent assessment.
During her tenure in
Berkeley, Dr. Hough
also served as a senior
advisor in the Department
of Instruction,
where she facilitated
inclusive and regular
education programs, conducted
a wide variety of
professional development,
facilitated remedial reading
programs in secondary schools,
facilitated the development of
the district's strategic plan,
developed a mentoring
and coaching
program for early
career teachers,
developed an
anti-bullying program,
initiated training for
general education teachers
to better serve ESL students,
and increased support services
at high ESL population
schools, resulting
in an increase in
parent involvement.
In addition, she implemented
a universal pre-K program
for which she served as
the school administrator
to hire, [? curve, ?]
evaluate, and mentor teachers,
and to work in
partnership with parents.
During her tenure with
Berkeley School District,
Dr. Hough and her team expanded
access from 40 students
to over 900 pre-K students
by negotiating partnerships
with public and private entity.
Finally, as director
of federal programs,
in an effort to
increase equity, funding
for district-wide
professional development
was redirected, [INAUDIBLE]
reporting groups with lower
levels of achievement.
Programming was specific to
cultural competencies, language
diversity, and
socioeconomic challenges.
In addition, she wrote
and secured a $1.4 million
competitive school
improvement grant
which resulted in enhanced
and aligned curriculum,
an assessment of primary and
intermediate programming,
and school improvement
as measured
by student achievement.
Finally, Dr. Hough began her
educational and career teaching
secondary English
and social studies
in West Virginia School, in
which 79% of the students
receive free or
reduced price meals.
Later, she served
as an administrator
at the West Virginia
Department of Education,
where she supervised teacher
certification and licensure
and testified before
legislative committees,
writing background
check legislation,
and editing other
legislation drafts,
and answering lawmakers'
questions on a variety
of issues, including supply
and demand of teachers
and administrators, teacher
background checks, and tuition
reimbursement.
She also wrote and
revised policies
for the State
Board of Education.
As such, she's worked
closely with legal counsel
and with colleagues
around the state.
Dr. Hough holds bacelor of
arts degrees and teaching
licenses in secondary
English and social studies
from West Virginia
State University.
In addition, she
holds a master of arts
in educational administration
from Marshall University,
as well as administrative
licenses and endorsements.
Finally, she earned
her doctorate
from the George Washington
University in 2011,
and she has been published
in the American School Board
Journal, the Journal
of School Leadership,
and School Administrator.
Her published works are
entitled, quote, "The Humility
Factor," another one, quote,
"Internal Accountability
and District Achievement: How
Superintendents Affect Student
Learning," and
"Superintendent's Humility."
In addition, she has
presented on similar topics
at the University Council for
Educational Administrators,
the American Association
of School Administrators,
the National Council of
Professors of Education
Administration, and others.
We also had the
opportunity to visit
with more than 30 individuals
at Dr. Hough's site,
in addition to
speaking with others
with whom she has worked.
In addition, we received
letters of recommendation
with an eye on our
leadership profile feedback.
Included in these
conversations were
superintendents, school
board members, principals,
direct reports,
peers on cabinet,
and her leadership team members.
As a result of the focus
groups and survey feedback
from our community Tracy
mentioned earlier, during which
over 1,900 individuals
shared their hopes
for our next leader,
during our site visit
we sought to ascertain
if the desired
superintendent characteristics
that our community surfaced
in the leadership profile
aligned with Dr. Hough, even
beyond her experiences
and career markers
that we have just shared.
We share herer direct quotes
that represent the biggest
themes that we heard from the
many with whom we visited.
When considering the
most important trait
that our community shared--
and HYA shared that as well--
that of fostering a positive
climate of mutual trust
and respect, we heard the
following of Dr. Hough.
She is the most
consistent professional
I've ever worked with.
She is communicative,
transparent,
and respectful of all.
She's collaborative
and dedicated,
and she has an incredible
relentless work ethic.
She's responsive and proactive,
she's a listener, she's humble,
she's empowering, supportive,
and forward thinking,
she is self-aware,
she has no pretense,
and she's intentional
about engaging all.
She builds relationships and
she celebrates with others.
In addition, her
community shared that--
again, all direct quotes--
she takes what we say to heart.
She takes time to
check in and listen.
And she anticipates needs.
Another-- everyone is
an important element
of her organization.
She builds trust and empowers.
She has a calm strength.
And finally, regarding
this characteristic,
students are at the
forefront of all decisions.
She has a heart for students
and a strong moral compass.
She doesn't turn
away from wrong.
Secondly, regarding
our community's hope
that our new leader will be able
to recruit, employ, and retain
effective staff, her
community said the following.
She has a vision that people
are valuable resources,
so it's a resource that needs
to be developed and nurtured.
She recognizes talent.
She is the most personal ever.
She makes people feel
human and cared for.
She is genuine,
charming, and present.
She takes in gathering.
She effectively builds
the capacity of others
to accomplish district goals.
School boards across
the nation share
the challenge of
ensuring every classroom
has a talented teacher
to lead the learning.
Dr. Hough has worked tirelessly
to align district efforts
toward a shared vision
of early hiring.
She molded the department
to be proud [? of-- ?]
in response to stakeholders, and
it continues to be responsive.
Dr. Hough's leadership
and supervision
of employee relations
and evaluation matters
throughout the
organization contribute
to her development of a
thorough understanding
of operational matters.
Employee relations
and evaluation matters
just don't involve employees
focused on instruction,
but rather all types
of employees, including
bus drivers, mechanics,
custodians, secretaries,
and cafeteria workers.
Dr. Hough's work with this
wide variety of employees
provides her a perspective
that positions her well
for her work as superintendent.
While fulfilling her
responsibilities,
she maintains a laser focus
on what is good for students.
Rather than just work
to fill vacancies,
she has engaged in a
successful multi-year effort
to collaborate persistently with
other assistant superintendents
in order to fill teacher
vacancies earlier in order
to hire higher
quality candidates.
Institutional silos
do not deter Dr. Hough
from making the steps
needed to support
high-quality instruction.
In short, quote, "Dr. Hough has
transformed the HR department
to deliver enhanced
mentoring and coaching
support for teachers,
varied professional learning
for principals, and focus
diversity recruitment efforts.
Moreover, Dr. Hough has
implemented the port
to build upon internal
teacher pipelines
and has developed leadership
academies for teachers
and aspiring principals."
Third, our community
wants to assure
that our next leader can
and will plan and manage
financial health.
For some reason, I don't
know why I got this section.
Her community shared
the following,
and these are all quotes.
She observes and
identifies critical needs
while being fiscally
responsible.
She will do what
needs to be done.
Hough's analytical skills,
detail-oriented nature,
and her reliance on data to
guide planning and decision
making support, her ability to
provide leadership on budget
and financial matters.
In creating her annual
budget proposal,
she never assumes that we should
just continue past practices.
She evaluates
current expenditures
and reallocate funds from
some purposes to others
in order to provide greater
benefits for our students.
Throughout the year,
she meets periodically
with her team members who
monitor spending in order
to maximize results.
And then finally, she only
seeks funds that are needed,
and she prudently
spends the funds
for which [? responsible. ?]
And I should say, those of
you that are googling her,
her last name-- and perhaps it's
already been said, H-O-U-G-H.
Fourth, our community desires
a leader who can establish
a culture of high expectations.
We were told that Dr. Hough--
these are all quotes--
is a warm person who doesn't
tolerate low efficacy
for herself or others.
She doesn't settle for mediocre.
She pushes us to grow.
She stretches my thinking.
She developed my leadership and
provided opportunities for me
to grow, Models system
thinking in areas of policy,
building capacity,
school improvement,
and decision making,
creates empowerment
that causes pride in work.
She provides opportunities
to do meaningful work,
and she supports
individual growth,
provides a safe
space to build ideas
and a great innovative team.
She asks good questions,
but she doesn't judge.
Believed in me, and was
sure about what I could do,
while I wasn't as sure.
She was right.
Champions good ideas and
advocates for schools.
Employs intentional processes,
uses data to show need,
recognizes strengths,
and ensures
that we have the
skill set needed
to get to the next level.
And finally, the
District 20 desires
a leader who understands
educational research and best
practice.
This is true for the communities
that she's served as well.
And we have heard the following.
She is a consummate
professional,
forward thinking, collaborative,
knowledgeable, research driven,
inclusive of others,
a great role model.
She is a mentor for
instructional needs,
and she prepares me.
She understands the need to
meet the needs of our buildings
and our communities.
She backs up all decisions
with purpose and data.
She stands by our side.
She has an amazing ability
to be five steps ahead.
She learns when she listens.
She knows when to
provide resources,
when to play devil's advocate,
and when to give advice.
She models lifelong learning.
She broadened the
lens on equity.
She has a breadth of
knowledge about production
and operational issues.
She would bring experience,
decisiveness, and transparency.
She is intentional, purposeful,
collaborative, warm, kind.
Growth is in her wheelhouse.
She is smart, thinks ahead,
keeps things on her radar.
She doesn't forget anything.
She has a hunger to know.
She embodies a growth mindset.
She has a phenomenal memory.
She is smart.
She will have all policies
and procedures memorized
when she arrives, and then
she will focus on the people
and build relationships.
She will gather
perspectives and assess.
One person shared
what we heard so often
throughout this process.
Kim is a proven
leader in Loudon,
excellent in this fast paced,
high achieving organization,
just as is yours.
She has the demeanor, the
drive, and the passion.
She is capable of being
your next superintendent.
Kim shared the
following about why
she wishes to be the next
superintendent of Academy
District 20.
I believe-- this is a quote.
"I believe it is an
opportunity to contribute
to making a difference
in education
for an entire community.
I enjoy engaging in
complex challenges,
building relationships, and
seeking continuous improvement.
District 20 is of
interest to me because I
value student-centered
decision making, equity,
fiscal responsibility,
and high standards.
I think this opportunity matches
well with my experiences."
"I currently work in a large
suburban district with very
high student achievement,
and I have had experience
in a mid-sized
division--" "division"
is what Virginia refers
to instead of district,
they use the term "division"--
"in a mid-sized division which
called for more hands on work.
I began my career
teaching in a district
with about 28,000 students.
An attractive advantage
of being a superintendent
in a district of this size
is that it is small enough
to be able to stay connected
to individual schools,
build relationships,
build teams, and see
the results of teamwork,
but large enough
to attract diverse staff with
diverse talents and ideas."
"Building teams, building
professional relationships,
and seeing the results of
hard work and sustained effort
are very meaningful to me.
Academy District 20 is a
quality school district
with many strengths
and high expectations.
There are some parallels
between my current district
and the instructional
focus of District 20.
There is a focus on
inquiry-based learning in D20,
and my current school district
is the 2018 Buck Institute
for Education PBL
Champion District."
PBL stands for Project
Based Learning.
"Additionally, Academy District
20 has a focus on coding,
and my current school
district launched
some of the first
computer science immersion
schools in Virginia with
plans for expansion.
Finally, many members
of my current community
are current or former
members of the military who
continue their service or
work in government contracting
upon retirement from service.
Academy School District 20
serves many military families."
"I very much enjoy
Colorado and the outdoors
and have unique experiences
that relate directly
to growing diversity,
high expectations, some
of the instructional initiatives
in Academy School District 20,
and managing finances.
I share the D20
community's values
of continuous improvement
and a positive climate
of mutual trust in
which to learn and work.
I am interested in serving
Academy District 20
because of the professional
challenges it offers
and because it would be a
great place to call home."
So that's the facts
about Dr. Hough.
And from those quotes
from people who have
loved and worked with her--
I say "love," that's just me.
I use that term too much, but
lived and worked with her.
And so now just a
few more-- we're
going to add a few more just
personal thoughts from each
of the board members
and Colonel Harting
from their own viewpoints,
and then we'll wrap this up.
But before they begin, I
want to invite everyone to--
there's going to be an open
house here at the Atrium
on April 19 at 3:30--
3:30 to 5:30 PM, in which
Dr. Hough and her husband,
who's also Dr.
Hough, will be here,
and for everyone to meet them.
So Colonel Harting,
since you saved up,
you didn't use your
board comment time,
why don't you begin us?
Well, I'll say in my capacity
at the Air Force Academy,
having been involved
in dozens of hires
as the hiring authority,
never before have
I seen such a thorough
and complete process
and such thorough and
dedicated commitment from board
members who were involved.
It was an exhaustive search,
and with all the effort,
I feel very confident you made
a great choice and I'm confident
that [? we're in ?] great hands.
Dr. Hough, obviously
highly intelligent, very
quick to think
but slow to speak.
Her work ethic is unparalleled,
and she carries all this
with a warmth and charm
that's very disarming and very
confident [INAUDIBLE]
district under her control.
Mrs. Reynolds.
So I wrote mine down, because
this is a difficult process.
As you know, I know
this district very well,
and it's emotional because
we've had a great leader,
and we need to move
into the next phase.
And so I wrote it down
so I wouldn't mess it up.
In short, I'm really
pleased with our process
and our finalist.
We've had some very
fine professionals
who expressed a desire to
lead Academy District 20 going
forward.
That speaks to this
community, focused on serving
our children very well.
As we all know, public education
continues to face challenges.
But I have no doubt that we
will embrace the challenges,
as we have under Dr. Hatchell's
leadership, with what
is most important--
an optimistic mindset
about serving our
students and one
another with an expectation of
excellence respecting growth.
I am confident that
Dr. Hough will continue
this tradition of
excellence, as she
will bring new ideas, a focus
on continuous improvement,
an excellent character,
and a wealth of knowledge
to her leadership
in District 20.
Perhaps most importantly
to me, though--
and she expressed
it many times--
she values being respectful
and honoring the truth.
And that coupled with
all that we have shared
will support the teachers
and leadership in District 20
to do what needs to be
done to serve our children.
Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds.
Mr. LaValley.
I didn't write my
comments down, so I just
wanted to share briefly
about the process.
We had to spend some money.
And I take that--
we all take it very seriously.
It was money
extremely well spent.
I'm so thankful for HYA.
That was the search
firm that we hired.
I don't think we could have
really done it without an--
and they did a superb job.
And it cost a little more
than I think we had budgeted.
Maybe we were on the high end.
I forget.
I think we budgeted enough.
Yeah, I think we did.
But we had asked them to come
back a couple extra times
because it's like,
man, you know,
that's what they
do for a living.
And they were a
great help to us.
I saw no bias of any of us.
None of us went in saying,
I don't want this candidate,
or I want this candidate.
And I really appreciate
that from all of us.
We really-- and we get it.
This is a heavy, heavy decision.
I think about Dr. Hatchell.
He's been here for 12 years.
I think about the
induction ceremony
of the legacy of District
20 and how proud we
are of being a part of that.
I'm a relatively new part of it.
I've been on the board
a little over a year.
It is a heavy
decision, and we all
took it very, very seriously.
We looked at that
leadership profile.
That leadership profile was
created by HYA from your input,
from inputs from teachers, from
staff, from community members,
from pastors, and from
the entire community.
We looked at that.
We used that to say,
does this individual
meet what the community is
expecting and looking for?
I was very pleased with
the process, fascinating.
It truly was.
When I think about how we went
about it, it was not easy.
It was difficult. We
were very careful.
We were very cautious.
And I fully support Dr. Hough.
I'm excited to have
you all meet her.
I think she's going to be
a dynamo in this district.
And I'm just very
excited, very pleased.
She has my full support, and
looking forward to the future.
Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. LaValley.
Mr. Lundberg.
Well, I have a lot of
history in this district.
And I gotta tell you that
we had some fantastic people
interview for this job,
very impressive folk.
And this team worked very
hard on selecting Dr. Hough.
She is by far the
best of the best,
and I'm very impressed with it.
I'm peculiarly impressed
too, and I have to tell you,
with the professionalism
all six of us on the board
here showed and worked on.
We worked very hard.
We worked appropriately.
We made sure that
all the comments
that we gathered from
everyone were always
reviewed every single day.
We made sure that we were doing
the right thing for our kids,
and I support our decision 100%.
Dr. Hough will be a
great superintendent.
Thank you.
Thanks, Mr. Lundberg.
Mr. Strebe.
The downside of going
second-to-last is that everyone
has already said--
I think you took
all of the comments
that I was going to say.
And from my perspective,
I have a great opportunity
in my day-to-day work
that I get to work
with a lot of executives.
And because of my
day-to-day work--
which recently has been my
part-time job, it seems.
My full-time job has
become my part-time job.
This has become
my full-time job.
I've known a lot
of superintendents
around the state, and I am
so excited to have Dr. Hough
as part of Academy District 20.
She will be outstanding.
She is an outstanding person.
In fact, her dog's
name is Denver.
And I think that's a good thing.
But she has a
passion for Colorado.
She has a passion,
absolute passion for kids.
She has a passion for
this school district,
an incredible amount of
research that she did,
very well prepared
in everything.
And my only disappointment
is that I am not
going to be able to serve
with her beyond November.
I will still get the
opportunity to work
with her in various
capacities, but the fact
is is I'm not going to be
on this board in November.
And I would have
loved the opportunity
to be a part of what she's going
to create in this district.
And she's outstanding,
and I'm very
excited to be able to work
with her for a few months.
And she has my complete support.
And it's fantastic.
She's absolutely fantastic, and
top of the charts, if you will,
when I look at probably
the 60 superintendents
that I know in
various capacities.
Thank you, Mr. Strebe.
I think you can all tell from
the comments of my fellow board
colleagues the heart of this
board and why it is such--
I didn't write this down--
why it is such a joy to
lead them as president,
and also why it has been
such a heavy responsibility--
I apologize-- to try to find
someone to follow Dr. Hatchell.
And I think it is because of
the tremendous involvement
of our community, our
stakeholders, those 1,900
people that contributed--
you know, it was funny, HYA,
when they first came on,
they were like, well, you've
got to prepare this leadership
profile.
And typically that's-- well,
you know, we do max 30 session.
Well, District 20, in our
typical overachieving fashion,
we had 46.
And they were like, wow.
But that's because we wanted
to hear from everyone.
And then we took that document,
that leadership profile,
and it was our
bible, relied on it.
And for me, it was
the realization--
I would go back and cross-check
after each interview--
the leadership profile based
on notes and the application
of candidates.
And Dr. Hough seamlessly--
it wasn't even like
we were aware of it.
It wasn't until I
went back and looked,
but she touched on
every single point,
throughout the questions,
throughout the interview.
She had no idea what
we were going to ask,
but it was just seamlessly
interwoven, but directly
on point, presented
with humility, and truly
it's this aspect
of her that I found
most impressive and
most appropriate
to our school district.
So I am, as are my fellow board
members, very pleased and proud
to present Dr. Hough to you as
our superintendent finalist.
And now we have roll call.
Mrs. Johnson.
Aye.
Mr. LaValley.
Aye.
Mr. Lundberg.
Aye.
Mrs. Reynolds.
Aye.
Mr. Strebe.
Aye.
Well, thank you.
So onto the next thing,
which fortunately-- gosh,
Miss Cloninger, I
would like to invite
you to present the Report of
the Citizens' Bond Oversight
Committee.
Yes.
I don't ever want to
overstep my position as being
the co-chair of this committee.
But I do want to say
as one of the 1,900
that I appreciate the
efforts that went into that.
And I can appreciate
the exhaustive efforts
that you all took.
And I'll leave it there for now.
The expenditures
and the encumbrances
increased since February
by approximately 719,000.
Interest earnings for the month
of February were about 176,000,
and of course were transferred
into the Board of Education
contingency.
There were changes in the
encumbrances and expenditures
for facility audit
projects which
included an intercom system
at Doug Valley for a little
over 21,000.
In fairness formula
projects, we saw an increase
of a little over
33,000, primarily
due to cabinetry
work in the reception
area of Woodmen-Roberts, sound
system enhancements at DCC,
elementary and tech boards
for the classroom remodel
at Doug Valley.
TCA has increased 1,247 for
some mobile work benches,
and that school
is still expected
to spend 100% of their funding.
And in response to
a question, Henry
was explaining
that the funds are
to be held as retainage for
none and will be zeroed out
once all of the required
advertising and other close
out items have been completed.
There are technology
infrastructure projects
increasing by 53,000,
a little over,
to include some custom report
developments for the ERP
project.
And new construction saw
an increase of over 356,000
due to additional furniture at
Legacy Peak, wireless network
and switching equipment
at Chinook Trail Middle.
Remodel and renovation projects
increased 136, a little over,
and that was attributable to
wireless network switching
equipment in School in
the Woods and Rockrimmon,
and then internal
connections in the Building B
at Air Academy High School.
Soil report for the lunchroom--
this is the part that I find
interesting because I feel
like I'm getting into some
of the little basics that
used to be giant grand
big buildings going up,
and now we're talking
about soil reports--
which of course have
happened all throughout,
but that's where I'm going to
get my construction management
degree.
Soil reports for the lunchroom
addition at Aspen Valley
was a little over
2,000, and phones
for the classroom addition
at DCC High School,
also a little over 2,000.
Commissioning services
for classroom additions
at Liberty, 39,000,
and wireless network
and switching equipment for
addition at Pine Creek, 19,000.
And security cameras,
also 19,000 at Pine Creek.
We're going to have a little bit
new format with Miss Hemmer's
reporting.
And I like the
idea of how it will
be comparing the last month.
It just breaks it down for those
of us who don't speak numbers,
like I often talk
about today, and it
will be comparing what we
saw in the previous month
to what has happened, not just
kind of throughout the stuff
that we do.
But her document
will read, I think,
a little bit more clearly.
Henry then shared pictures
of completed recent work
at various schools throughout
the district, which highlights
included discussion about
the new building of School
in the Woods.
The fire department has passed--
we passed the inspection
there and have
been provided a temporary
certificate of occupancy.
However, as we know,
April is testing month.
And so those students will
stay in the original buildings
for the first half of
April while completing
their standardized
tests and will move,
I think, on a nice day
of Earth Day on April 22,
on that Monday.
The Facilities
Department allowed
the use of some of
their aluminum ramps
to provide temporary
access to the building,
and the design deck will be
constructed later in the summer
when the warmer weather is here.
A ribbon cutting will be
held at the end of April,
and the existing
modular buildings
were constructed prior to 1986.
So they will be removed and
not used again, thank goodness.
Still being due diligent
about our budget,
but we don't need to have that.
At Pine Creek High
School, the work
is ahead of schedule
and below budget.
I'm talking to you, Tom, because
I know that question is coming.
Some of the work done
over spring break
included repair to
existing steel lintel--
is that what it's called?
I didn't know what a lintel was,
but it's the little structure
above the window.
I'm learning all
kinds of things.
And there had been some--
sorry, there was
existing steel lintel
above some of the
existing windows.
And one of the masonry walls
started showing some failure.
So the structural
engineer working
on the classroom
addition at the school
was hired to design new lintels.
We're getting into the
minutia on the details,
but that's what
Henry is good at.
As long as there's no
soil in the lintel.
Right, right.
And it is not soup.
It's not lentils.
It's a whole thing.
Chinook Trail Middle
School, the concrete
is being poured for the
sidewalks in the front entry
plaza, and bleachers for the
track and field are in place.
We were asking about
the recent bomb cyclone
and how much damage, if any,
was causing issues at the sites.
At that site, temporary plastic
covering for the windows
and door openings at the
school were blown in,
but the site was
cleaned up quickly
and the work is progressing.
The project is scheduled
to be completed
on time and below budget--
I'm just going to
keep pointing that out
through my whole report--
and the electrical connections
are being hooked up,
and the contractor will switch
the site to permanent power
next week.
There are usually 150
or so people there
at any given day
working on that site.
At Liberty, up to
three feet of snow
was blown inside some of
the areas due to the storm
because the building was
not up to where Chinook is,
but has been since cleaned up.
A second crane had
to be brought in
to help catch up the
steel erection schedule,
and the contractor had to
spend some of its contingency
to run a second shift of
workers to get back on schedule.
But they did it, and
they are doing that well.
The masonry is
about 90% complete,
and the CTE classroom
addition will
be open for the fall semester.
The auditorium may be a little
bit closer to September,
but with Alan Thimmig on
the committee with us,
he likes to think that there
is some hopeful maybe earlier
time that that could be opened.
But it's going to be exciting.
And he said that it's exciting
to see the progress there
and that there's usually
over 100 people working there
as well at any given time.
DCC High School,
there were no problems
apart from a little
moisture on one
of the temporary
construction doors,
but the roof was complete.
And a utility connection was
extended through the existing
exterior wall and across
the roof over spring
break so as to not
disturb students.
That's one of the
things that I've really
appreciated about this.
My son is and was--
well, he was a fourth
grader last year
when the starting
of the construction
happened for Chinook
Trail Middle.
He's since moved in, but
there's still kiddos out there.
But the work is still happening,
and the kids are still
learning simultaneously.
And I think that it's
been pretty amazing
that that's happened.
There are a lot of projects
that will be completed over
the summer including a
controlled entry and office
renovation at Doug Valley,
which we don't have
to go through the historical
process, the Historical Society
out there, which I think is kind
of fascinating, because I would
just take out those
windows right away.
But whatever.
They don't match.
In the [? Air ?] Force,
they'd put them right back in.
Well, that's fine.
They just don't match.
I get a little OCD
when I walk up there.
The commons renovation, restroom
upgrades, and pool window door
and bleacher replacement
at Rampart High School,
enclosing the stairways
at da Vinci Academy,
and controlled entries at
Mountain Ridge Middle and Eagle
View Middle.
The classroom
enclosure at Rockrimmon
will be complete this summer,
but the controlled entry
and office renovation, which
includes a small addition,
will be wrapped up in
the fall and ready to use
for spring semester.
Challenger Middle School,
some restroom renovations
and flooring upgrades
will be done this summer,
while the auditorium
addition and office
relocation for former
Challenger Learning Center space
will take place this
fall and winter.
It's proving a little
bit more challenging,
and I actually have a friend
on the construction team there.
So I'm getting it
from all sides,
what's happening over there.
Aspen Valley Middle School
interior renovations
will be complete
over the summer,
while the cafeteria
addition will
extend into the school year.
Completion will occur no later
than December of [INAUDIBLE]..
Several internal
connection projects
will be taking place
this summer to include
at Academy International,
Explorer, Prairie Hills,
Mountain Ridge, Timber View,
Mountain View, and parts
of this building.
Additional fiber line will be
installed between Timber View
and Explorer to provide back
up to the existing line, which
currently dead end
at those schools.
Numerous facility
audit projects will
take place over the summer,
including electrical upgrades,
new boilers, and ADA
ramps, also the tennis
courts that we talked
about last time at Rampart.
We talked also about
the fact that we're
going to move, for the next
two sessions of our meetings,
into some of these new
buildings so that we
can kind of see some
of the-- tour them
and be actually on the site.
So we'll be at
Liberty this next time
and I believe School in
the Woods the following.
And got a lot on his plate.
Wow, that's a lot.
Yeah, just a little.
Any questions?
Mr. LaValley.
Well, I just want to publicly
thank the Citizens Bond
Oversight Committee and
you as the co-chair,
I think, for the work you do.
As you know, you are the
board's eyes and ears,
and I greatly appreciate it.
Mr. Reitwiesner, thank you.
I commented offline.
I said, I don't
know how he does.
I truly don't know how you
keep everything together.
But excellent.
Thank you.
And I've asked this before.
In your view as the
co-chair of the committee,
are we still continuing to
spend this money, the district,
the taxpayers' money,
frugally, carefully, wisely?
Thank you.
And I would just like
to add one thing.
And thank you to Heather.
April, Pike's Peak
Area superintendents,
we are going to meet at the
new Challenger Learning Center.
Our monthly meeting
is going to be there.
I'm excited about
[? doing ?] them.
As you know, students
from school districts
across the region go to
Challenge Learning Center
to do missions.
And so they'll get
a firsthand look
on what their students will
be coming up here to do.
So we're excited about having
Pike's Peak Area sups up
here next month.
Oh, that's wonderful.
I'm glad that you're
inviting them, because that's
going to be such a showplace.
Colonel Harting.
Yes, thank you.
You had mentioned
a late April ribbon
cutting at School in the Woods.
Do we have an exact
date for that?
April 26.
26th?
April 26.
Thank you.
Sure.
Anyone else?
Well, I would just add thank
you too, Miss Cloninger.
Just with Mr. Reitwiesner,
how he keeps track of it,
I don't know how you do either.
And you do a fine job of
reporting to us each time.
Thank you.
She's never here.
She's the one.
She's the one that
keeps him going.
They're coming out of
your mouth, so nice job.
Thank you.
Well said.
Thank you, Mrs. Reynolds.
Thank you, Ms. Cloninger.
Very, very good.
So we will return now to our
regularly scheduled agenda.
That's going to be item 10A.
And that's Monitoring Board
Policy, Ends 1.2 Character.
Dr. Hatchell.
Why is everybody leaving?
The announcement is made.
Everybody is gone.
This happens every time
I come to the podium.
I was just going to say.
Dr. Smith.
Thank you, Richard.
All right, thank
you, Dr. Hatchell.
I believe that
you've had a chance
to review the full
Ends 1.2 Report,
but tonight I'll highlight some
of the specific and noteworthy
information from that report.
As you're aware, the
character and climate survey
provides us an opportunity
to seek feedback
from our stakeholders
with respect
to their perceptions
about character
and climate in our schools
through a single survey
instrument.
Findings from the
survey are also
referenced when monitoring
other policies, such as EL 2.3,
the treatment of staff.
That said, that even though
we use a single tool,
the two focus areas,
character and climate,
are treated separately and are
[? sort of ?] their own five
point Likert scale--
if I can get to that right
there, as you see there.
While the survey does address
both character and climate,
the Ends 1.2 report
focuses exclusively
on character, which
has historically been
the focus of this presentation.
However, following a request
from the board last year,
I will also review the
climate survey data tonight.
The data that we will
review this evening
was compiled and
analyzed in partnership
with our collaborative
partners, Hanover research.
For compliance with E1.2,
which states all students will
develop the qualities of
character necessary to be
exemplary citizens and positive
contributors to society,
the minimum threshold of 70%
of respondents in the student
category and at least 70% of
respondents in one of the two
other categories,
staff or parent,
will report that students
consistently exhibit
the identified character trait
by selecting either Agree
or Strongly Agree.
As mentioned in
the report, we are
in compliance with
all indicators
and exceed the minimum threshold
of 70% with all character
traits.
And it's worth noting that
the trends for each indicator
are relatively stable over time.
Additionally, as
in years past, I've
included qualitative stories
from many of our schools.
And while these are
true stories that
are specific to
individual schools,
they're representative
of the many great things
that are happening
across the district.
It's also worth noting that TCA
students, staff, and parents
were not included
in this survey,
as they are implementing their
own character and climate
survey.
And the results of
that survey will be
shared at the year end report.
New Summit Charter
Academy also did not
take the survey this year but
will participate next year.
I also want to remind you that
the district and school level
character and climate data will
be shared with principals who
will dialogue with
their sects and staffs
to determine areas that might
need celebration or attention.
And we will post these as well
on the school and district
sites websites.
All right.
With that, I'm going to start
with the character portion
for E1.2, followed by the
climate portion of the survey
in a very similar fashion.
Right.
There.
So I'm going to use this.
So this first slide
is a demonstration
of the participation
for the last four years.
And I'd like to highlight
that this year we
had a 13% increase with
students moving from 46% to 59%.
It's exciting there,
and we'll see, I think,
the impact on the data as we
move through the slides here.
Staff continues to be somewhat
stable at 47%, parents very
stable at 11%, and overall 34%.
That's a gain of 5%
from the previous year.
So we have 10 character
traits, and I'm
going to work through each one
of those, sharing the questions
that we ask that pertain
to that character trait,
and then also the
results that we
have focusing on responses that
were strongly agree and agree.
So when we talk
about compassion,
we ask questions like,
students help others in need,
even when an adult
is not watching.
Students are active,
thoughtful engaged participants
in the community as a whole.
When we look at the
data here, what's
interesting about this
data is that there's
nearly total agreement between
students, staff, and parents.
It's unlike most of the
other traits that we'll see,
but I wanted to point that out.
And also the fact that
it's stable over time.
Since we have been collecting
data using Hanover Research,
you can see it hasn't
changed a whole lot.
As Mr. Lundberg might say,
it's somewhat boring data.
I think he would say, cool.
It's cool.
All right.
When we think about excellence,
we ask questions like,
students try hard to do their
best work on every assignment,
regardless of the
difficulty level.
And students rarely put
forth only the minimum effort
required.
That's the inverse.
So when we look
at this data, you
can see that staff is lower
than student and parents.
This is going to be
pretty typical across all
the other character traits.
And when I present this to
other stakeholder groups,
I usually ask why that is.
And almost always the
groups come up with, well,
the fact is staff have a
whole lot more data points
that they're making a decision
based on versus students
and parents.
Parents are thinking about
their one, two, three, or four
or five kids, whereas staff
are thinking about hundreds
of kids over time.
I want to make sure to capture
all of [? this. ?] [INAUDIBLE]..
When we think about citizenship,
we ask questions like,
students are actively involved
in clubs, athletics, and school
activities.
Or students attend
important school assemblies,
even if it's not
required that they do so.
When we look at
this data, what's
interesting about
this particular data
is that staff report the
highest here, 88%, when
you compare that to
parents at 85% and students
being the lowest at 81%.
So respect-- we ask
questions like, students
speak respectfully to teachers
and other staff members,
and students respect the
space and privacy of others.
We usually ask the
stakeholder groups
to form a hypothesis
about what they
think the data might look like.
They're almost always right.
Here we see that students and
parents are very optimistic,
whereas staff are a bit
less optimistic at 85% when
compared to 96 and 97%.
When we look at hope,
we ask questions like,
students are excited about
possibilities for their future,
and students
believe that they'll
be successful at the next level
of education in their career.
So similar to
compassion in the fact
that it's very closely
aligned at 95% for staff,
93% for parents, and
92% for students.
And we're very
favorably responding
to those questions around hope.
So look at courage--
students are
willing to try new
things, even if there
is a chance they will fail.
Or students volunteer
to answer questions
even if they are not completely
sure of their answer.
See pretty strong agreement
again between students, staff,
and parents.
And over time, been very stable,
students at 85%, staff 86,
and parents at 90%.
Honesty, as you have
Pinocchio up there.
Students tell the
truth when asked,
and students do not
skip school or classes.
Here I'm glad to
see that parents
are very optimistic that their
students do not skip classes
in schools.
Students also very optimistic
and staff, again, I
think having a wider data set
to make their decision to form
a perception about honesty.
Responsibility, students can
be trusted to follow through
on their promises or
students are responsible
stewards of resources.
Here we have total agreement
between students and parents
at 97%, very high,
followed by staff
at 87%, also very high,
but 10 percentage points
below both students and parents.
Integrity-- questions
like, students regularly
follow school rules even
when they don't think adults
are watching.
And students report
bad behavior they
witness from other students,
even if the other students are
their friends.
Here the data is less aligned.
You have students at 86%, staff
at 79, and parents at 93%.
If this were my data as a
principal in the school,
I might say to the staff, let's
have a conversation about why
there's not as much alignment
with this particular question,
dig into that some.
Perseverance-- students
welcome learning challenges,
and students work
hard in all classes
even if they do not naturally
excel in all subjects.
Here we have students reporting
at 93% saying, yes, absolutely,
we are working very
hard in all of our work.
Parents at 87% saying,
not so much with homework.
And staff, 79% saying we're
a little bit less optimistic
about that.
Summary of findings.
Here are just some kind of
things we pulled from it.
Students generally have a more
favorable view of themselves
and their peers and measures of
perseverance, responsibility,
respect, excellence, integrity,
and honesty than staff members
have about them.
Staff members tend to have a
higher opinion of students hope
and citizenship than students
have about themselves
and their peers.
Parents have a higher
opinion of students
compassion, excellence,
respect, courage, honesty,
responsibility,
integrity, pretty much
all of the character
traits than do staff.
And the mean scores for
students and parents
were the same with
questions related
to the responsibility at 97%.
Other findings, both
staff and parents
scored higher than
students on questions
related to compassion and hope.
And the mean score
of students and staff
was the same at
93% for questions
related to compassion.
And overall, questions
related to hope and compassion
were the highest overall.
So here, I'm not going
to read through them all,
but these are the--
when I was looking at
10 percentage points
being the spread
of significance,
here students think
more favorably
than staff do, 10
percentage points or greater
around cheating, saying we don't
cheat, whereas staff saying,
you're more likely to cheat.
Respecting the space
of others, students
work hard even if
they're not actually
excelling in the class.
And students try hard to do
their best on every assignment.
Also looking at staff
versus students.
So staff are responding
more favorably than students
by 10 percentage
points or higher.
Questions like
students volunteer
questions even if
they're unsure.
So a teacher sees that as a
strength of their students.
Students report bad
behavior they witness.
Students are actively involved
in clubs, athletics, and school
activities.
So that's the first portion
with our character part
of the character and climate
presentation and part
of the E1.2.
We'll follow up
now with climate.
But before we go
there, do you have
any questions about character?
Comment.
Yeah.
First of all, I know
how difficult this is,
and particularly putting
the narrative together.
Because there's lots
of choices on where do
they fit because they overlap.
So nicely done.
And I love the stories.
You continue to answer our
questions before we ask them,
so nicely done.
Because the three
things I was going
to ask you you already answered.
One was about charter schools,
so thank you for that.
The other was about response
rates, although my concern--
and I'm not sure it
was really answered.
The only concern I have
about response rates is,
we know statistical
significance is in place.
It makes sense.
It works.
But some schools are
much lower than others.
And so I think that repetition
about how important character
is for us, even if they're
taking it, says something.
So I think that's something
we continue to work on.
And I know you do as well.
We definitely will
continue to push on that.
And as I said, we
had 13% increase
with students this year.
I was talking with Mr. LaValley
before the meeting about staff
and the fact that we haven't
had a consistent number
around staff.
And so we're kind of
putting some effort
behind that as well next year.
We'll continue to
do that, because we
know that the more data points
we have, the more reliable
the data is.
And one other comment, because
I did throw a question in there.
One other comment is I
always marvel at the fact
that while we do always have
places that we can work,
when we talk about
staff being lower than--
our numbers are so high.
It's really nice.
It speaks to the
positive character
that our students
have in general,
no matter how it's coming out.
Those numbers are
extremely high.
Thank you for that.
They far exceed
the 70% threshold
that we've established for each
one of those character traits.
Absolutely.
Mr. LaValley?
Yes.
Most of the questions
were answered, not all.
I'm sorry.
Mine.
Thank you.
Of course.
I just want to say, this is
really, really good work.
And really, just from
a data perspective,
it seems like it
was done very well.
Hanover does a really good
job, and I appreciate that.
I mean, we saw it last year.
I was surprised--
I'll leave the
schools anonymous,
but one school had 20%
participation for staff.
One had 80%
participation for staff.
I was just kind of
surprised at that.
Parents are parents.
I mean, there's not
much you can do there.
And then like students, one
school had 28% students,
another one had 64.
Those were both high schools.
So I was kind of surprised.
More of a comment.
I don't know if
you want to speak
to that, if you have any ideas.
Well, I think it really just
comes down to probably creating
opportunity.
Just as we were speaking about
last year, with students,
increase in the percentage of
students taking the survey.
I know that principals,
following some encouragement
to have more students
participate this year,
created opportunities
for students to do that.
I think what we'll talk
about next year is creating
opportunities for principals
to have staff engage
in a sort of maybe
at work, or I can
imagine ending a staff meeting
a little bit early to have time
to go take the survey or
do it around parent-teacher
conferences and
that sort of thing.
Yeah, thanks.
Just a couple more real quick.
Were any questions
either added, deleted,
or changed from last year?
No.
OK.
I was really pleased the higher
response rate for students.
I thought that was excellent.
Personally, I think 70% is too
low for honesty and perhaps
for integrity.
I said it last year.
I just throw that out.
Last year, when you look at
the individual questions,
there were many of them
[? gradual ?] deterioration.
Either they were
going the wrong way
higher or the wrong way lower.
And this year I haven't
looked through all the data.
In our defense, we only got
the data this afternoon,
I just haven't had a chance--
turn around fairly consistently.
And I was really glad to see
that, because I was prepared
to say, OK, this is now
four years in a row things
have gone south just a little.
That's almost a trend.
And my sense is it's
going the other way.
That's good news.
Any thoughts on that?
Yeah, even though our
percentages are pretty high,
as Karen shared,
you know, I think
last year was a tough year,
if we look at our data
in that way.
And this year was a
good year in terms of--
or a good rebound.
I think if you look at this
year compared to not last year
but the year before
and the year before
that, it's more in line
with those previous years
versus last year, which
for whatever reason
was a lower year.
It could be that
lower percentage
of students who participated
as well as lower staff
participation.
That's possible.
I'd like to believe
that our kids are
growing in character-- well,
which is a good news story.
Thank you.
Absolutely, yeah.
Colonel Harting.
Yeah, coming from the social
sciences as my discipline,
as far as the
participation rates,
we are ecstatic if
we send out a survey
and get a 20% response rate.
So [INAUDIBLE] parents
coming in at 11:00,
that's actually more or less
typical of a broad-based survey
like [? this. ?]
Thank you, Colonel Harting.
Do you have something further--
I just would add that perhaps
our students are getting better
at character because
of the work that's
been done around the
social-emotional learning
and those kinds of things that
are all sources of strength
and RULER.
So I liked that's
part of it too.
And I'm sure we could probably
align that [? if we had to. ?]
Yeah, totally agree.
And the next part,
the climate part, I do
point that out as
a possible reason
that some of our community
engagement, community data
is improving.
Well, and I will just
briefly add my comments.
And as a good segue
to the climate,
I was very pleased to see that
perseverance and hope were
very high among our students.
That speaks very powerfully
to the social-emotional, all
those things, and the climate
we're hoping to elevate.
So please proceed.
Thank you.
Can I get the PowerPoint back?
I love that.
[? Jurors ?] at
Summer Institute?
We have a lot of great
opportunities this summer--
The idea of summer
sounds appealing.
--for staff to learn and grow.
All right.
Let me get to--
oh, unlike the
character portion where
we have character traits
that are clearly delineated
and we use those as the kind
of framework for the report--
portion isn't there.
So as I was saying, even though
we have the character traits
that are the framework
for the character
portion of the character
climate survey,
when it comes to climate, we
had to create our own themes
that we use for the encoding
and looking at the data,
which is actually kind of fun.
And as we'll see here in
the PowerPoint very shortly,
those themes are administrators,
teachers, safety, community,
learning and instruction,
and resource allocation.
Next version.
So as I was saying,
here are the themes--
administrators, teachers,
safety, community, learning
and instruction, and
resource allocation.
That's what we use as our
framework for the conversation
this evening.
So when we think
about perceptions
about administrators,
when we ask questions,
these are the kinds of
concepts that we're addressing.
Are the administrators of
the school approachable?
Do they make themselves
available to address
questions or concerns?
Do they fairly enforce
school rules and policies?
Do they know their
students well?
Do they treat their students
and parents with respect?
When you look at the
data here, stable overall
if you look over
the last four years,
and very favorable at 80%
being the lowest, all the way
to 86% with parents.
Students, staff,
and parents appear
to be saying, at 80% or higher,
that, in fact, administrators
are all of those things.
They're approachable,
they're visible,
they're enforcing
the rules fairly.
The next area was
perceptions about teachers.
We asked questions
about, do they
care about your
child's learning?
Do you as a child
believe that your teacher
cares about your learning?
Do they work together
to improve learning,
know the students well, and
model the character traits
that we just talked about?
When we look at this data,
staff reports highest--
probably not surprising,
just because it's
a question about them--
89%.
Parents, though, at
87, very close to them,
followed by students at 81%.
Almost the same, very
similar to administrators
at 81, 89, and 87%.
Next questions were around
safety, questions like,
do you feel safe at school?
Are adults visible
throughout the school?
The consequences for
breaking the rules
are fair for all
students, and students
know what to do in an
emergency situation.
Students know that they can
find a caring adult to talk to.
When we look at this
data, it's a bit lower.
[INAUDIBLE] at safety.
77% for students, 86 for
staff, and 83% for parents.
And it has been
consistent over time.
Community-- questions related to
how students treat each other.
Do they treat each
other as kindly?
Students are encouraged
to say what they think,
academic and extracurricular
accomplishments
are acknowledged and
celebrated, and students
feel comfortable
expressing their concerns.
This is what I think is
very interesting, in what
we were talking about
just a minute ago.
It is lower.
We have students reporting
at 67%, staff 89%--
much higher obviously--
and parents at 76%.
What I want to point to,
though, is the previous year--
59% for students, 81% for
staff, and parents 72%.
That's a 5% gain for
students, 8% for staff,
and 4% for parents.
And I do think that's related
to our work around sources
of strength and RULER that are
really directly around building
community within our schools.
Some people would say a five
point gain from 59 to 64
is about an 8% increase.
Did I mess it up?
No, no.
You said it right.
It's a five point gain.
But 59% to 64% is
5% [INAUDIBLE]..
Oh, right.
Like, it's an 8% increase.
I could have sold it better.
Dr. Smith's never
one to exaggerate.
What's that?
Dr. Smith doesn't
speak in hyperbole.
Are you implying that
I speak in hyperbole?
No.
No, no.
All right.
So back to the questions about
learning and instruction.
So students know the academic
requirements for graduation.
Students are engaged
in their learning.
Students are assigned their
appropriate amount of homework.
And so it was an interesting
question [INAUDIBLE]..
Students receive
individualized instruction.
When we look at the mean scores
for those, we have staff at 87%
and students at 74%
and parents at 78%.
Again, if I were the principal
and this was my data,
I might really spend
some time as a staff
looking at why is that?
Why do we believe that
we're doing a great job
with engaging students and
challenge them appropriately,
however students and parents
don't see it in the same way?
I think it's a good
conversation piece.
Perceptions about resource--
at my school, students
with special needs receive
supports and resources
that they need.
Students have access to material
resources like textbooks,
school supplies.
There are resources
available for if students
need additional help
with schoolwork.
And the cafeteria
provides students
with a variety of
high-quality food.
Oh.
Data-- so here we have the
staff at 92%, parents at 89,
and students at 87%.
Very strong across the board.
And again, very consistent--
staff has been
absolutely consistent
over the last four years.
So here's some
compelling findings.
Over the past four
years, perceptions
from all three
respondent groups have
remained relatively stable.
In years when response
rates were higher,
overall results seem to
indicate greater satisfaction
by all respondent groups.
So more reason to keep pushing
for more participation.
While teachers received
the second most favorable
overall responses,
instruction came in second
to last when compared
to other themes.
Again, a reason to engage
the staff in conversation
around instruction and learning.
Parents responses, always/often,
were roughly the average
of students and staff
on many of the themes--
interesting.
Responses related to community
showed some of the biggest
increases this year--
students at 5, staff at 8,
and parents at 4.
Students reported a 7%
increase with questions related
to safety and school rules.
Questions related
to instruction were
responded to most
favorably by staff
and lower but
similar in response
by students and parents.
All respondent groups
responded most favorably
to questions related to access
and allocation of resources
in their schools.
And what questions do you have?
Well, while they're
considering, so
share with us, how regularly
these results are revisited?
How are they utilized
to improve impact?
So we give the
survey in October,
and we get the results
back February, March.
We do some work on compiling
that data to look like this,
to pull together our
reports for April.
Then we share that
with our principals.
PSSGs will spend time with
each principal talking
about their data, looking at
those areas of particular highs
for celebration,
in areas that might
need some additional focus.
And from there, it may turn
into a professional learning
opportunity for the next year.
It could turn into a goal
for a principal moving
into the next year.
It could just lead to
further conversation
around instruction and learning.
How can we better engage
our students at our school,
if that particular item
was an area of concern?
Thank you.
Any further question or comment?
Thank you for that
valuable report.
Thank you.
All right.
Well, guess what--
we have a Monitoring
Report Evaluation provide.
Mrs. Johnson, can I just make
one comment real quickly?
I just think we need
to make it real clear
that we are monitoring the
character piece of this, not
the climate piece.
Because it's an E1.2 report,
and it's about character.
And I appreciate the
addition of climate,
because we asked about it.
But when we have
that conversation,
we look for compliance.
It doesn't involve
the character piece
that was just spoken about--
or sorry, the climate piece.
It's all about character.
That's just all.
Just a reminder.
Well, I think that's well said.
So we are about to respond or
fill out provide information
to answer the Monitoring
Board Evaluation for Ends 1.2
Character.
And so here we go.
Is the superintendent's
interpretation of the policy
reasonable?
Yes.
Is there sufficient evidence
to determine compliance
for each section?
If not-- is there?
There is.
All right, I won't go on.
Are all sections in compliance?
Yes.
Recognition of
exemplary performance--
as noted during board comments.
Concerns regarding performance--
[INAUDIBLE]
Section two, preparation
for the next report cycle.
Would you like to see
additional or different evidence
or formatting changes in the
next monitoring report cycle?
No, thank you.
Do you see evidence
which is extraneous
or no longer necessary?
We do not.
Are there any areas
you would like
to learn more about
prior to presentation
of the next monitoring
report cycle?
No, thank you for providing
the climate information.
Section three, advancement
of board vision.
Are there linkage needs that
the board should address?
No.
Finally, do you see the need
for any part of this policy
to be changed?
We do not.
Oh.
I'm one of five.
If you all feel 70% for honesty
is good enough, I [? brought ?]
out.
Well, I would just
say that we have
that very same
conversation at the board
at the time this
report is presented.
And it ends up being that--
yes.
OK, that's fine.
Like I said, I'm one
of five, and I get it.
No problem.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Ms. Reynolds.
Well, I would just say,
none of us like 70%.
But if it ever
dropped to that, I'm
sure we'd have
comments about it.
But right now it's
in a good place.
But I hear what you're saying.
I think we're in a good place.
Indeed.
It's always-- nobody
wants it to be
what seems like
perhaps a low bar,
but in fact it is a high bar.
Yeah.
All right.
So that concludes that,
Monitoring Board Policy, 10A.
Now we'll move to 11A,
the 2019 Summer Institute.
Dr. Hatchell.
Thank you very much, Ms Lang.
Well, thank you for having me.
Elementary?
That's a compliment to me.
And sorry, staff, but
tomorrow you will get yours.
It's being delivered to
your schools tomorrow.
All right.
Well, it is an exciting
time of the year
to be able to share our summer
institute offerings with you.
And if you look at
that front cover,
you'll recognize a few people
on the front of the brochure.
You know, in Dr.
Hatchell's last year,
we were finally able to
get him on the front cover
of our summer
institute brochure.
Nice photo.
So again, we just wanted
to highlight our summer
institute that happens in June.
And this year, it will start
on June 5 and go until June 21.
We always worry a little
bit about snow days,
if we're going to be
OK with a start date.
But we're good.
So as you know, we use
Dr. Hatchell's initiatives
as one of the
things that we look
at for developing our classes.
And this year, we
looked to at definitely
the social-emotional
learning, and then
also reducing our numbers
with our significant reading
deficient students.
We also look at our district
improvement plan, which
we look at that achievement
gap, and the collaboration
that we do between
special ed and gen ed.
And then our goals of learning
services, individual school
and cycles.
Each year we also ask just
some input from principals.
And then, of course,
previous class attendance
and evaluation.
So then, I have
just put together
kind of a little bit of history
so you can see where we're at.
This year we are
offering 135 classes.
And I laughed because we
were at a meeting today
and they're like, oh, let's
just do another class at summer
institute.
And I went, OK, hold on.
First we have to find a room.
And then first we have to
change all of our numbers.
So you can see last year,
it was very exciting.
We had the same number of
classes that were offered,
and then we held 130.
And the reason for not doing
all 135 was just numbers,
or there wasn't an interest
in maybe a specific class.
But you can see what's so
exciting is that 2,730 people--
which that's not
necessarily people,
because one person might
do five different classes,
but it's 2,730 participants.
And of that, 44 were
out of district.
So that number is going down.
And I think it's partially
because many of our classes
are filled up with our
in district folks first.
Ms. Lang?
Yes.
Should that say--
[? go back one. ?] Should
that say number of
student to staff?
Yeah, because this is summer
institute, so it's for staff.
Sorry, I should have
said that right upfront.
Yeah, this is professional
learning for our staff.
OK.
So this year, what
we added was we
had teachers apply
if they would want
to teach a class during
summer institute.
And so those are going to
be some of our instructors.
We have 14 additional
teachers from our schools
that are going to
be teaching classes.
And then we utilize our
learning services team
quite a bit during
summer institute for them
as instructors.
We do quite a bit with our
out of district consultants
and then also some of our
out of district agencies.
So is there
significance to the fact
that everyone's standing
on a speed bump?
So this is actually one of
our cultural relevant teaching
courses, and it's
called a priority walk.
And you can see
Mr. Clark Maxon is
standing right there in the
middle teaching the class.
And I guess he chose to have
everybody stand on that line.
Thank you.
So funding, what we use are
Title II moneys and also
Title IV, and then also our
learning services budget.
We also use our READ Act funds
for our early literacy classes.
For example, our Orton
Gillingham class that we have,
we are able to access those
READ Act funds for that.
And then you can see
what we charge for out
of district participants.
So some of our popular classes
are definitely the online.
And those typically
start in May,
and then they go
until the end of June.
We have a huge amount
of people who love
to take technology classes.
And then, of course,
our literacy instruction
and intervention, our youth
mental health first aid,
and our culturally
relevant teaching.
So this year, like
I said, we had
where we added the instructor
application process.
And what we did
with that was they
were vetted by our
learning services team
and then by principals.
80 this year have
expanded a little bit more
with some specific courses
for administrators.
We have a whole
schoology strand.
It goes the whole second week.
And the project
based learning, we're
very excited about being able
to, again, offer the 101.
And the Buck Institute is
now known as PBL Works.
They've changed their name.
And so they will be
coming to do that.
And also through
bond money, we are
going to be offering the
PBL Coaching Institute.
So that means that
our schools who
have teachers who
have attended that 101
and are leading this in
their buildings, now they
will have that
additional training
to be a coach in their building.
We have been working
quite a bit this year
with solution tree and
Dr. Tom [? Manny ?]
with our professional
learning communities.
And on June 7, we have a full
day with Dr. [? Manny ?] coming
again.
And this topic this
time is using data.
The CDE has asked where
they now with teachers,
starting in 2023, when
they renew their license,
they will need to have
45 hours of culturally
and linguistically
diverse education.
And so we are starting to work
on that already this summer,
during summer institute.
And the best thing for
last are those food trucks
that are going to be
coming on June 12 and 14.
So please, if you would
love to, a couple of things
I just want to point out
on our great brochure.
So under social-emotional
learning,
that first class that is
Building Trust and Safer
Spaces for Our
Young People, that
is actually one of our out of
district agencies, Inside Out.
And they are coming to provide
that professional learning
for our staff.
And then under our culture
relevant teaching--
I'm really excited about this
one-- we have our own wonderful
Becky Allen who's going to be
teaching a course on culturally
relevant teaching.
And then we have Equity and
Inclusiveness in the Classroom,
and that's actually a teacher
from Rampart High School.
Avalon Manly is her name--
which was she one of your
students at Pine Creek?
She was.
[INAUDIBLE]
Becky, you're not old enough.
What does that mean, Mrs. Lang?
Just defending you
there, Mr. Lundberg.
Thank you.
I need it.
I have a daughter turning
30 in April, so I feel it.
The next one, Plant A Seed,
this is Cultural Excellence
Through Institutional Diligence.
And that's Dr.
Regina Lewis who's
going to be coming to do a
full day with us on that.
And then this is a new one.
Aaron Henderson from R Henderson
Associates, our EAP group,
he's going to be doing one
on social justice, Embracing
Inclusion and Culture
in the Classroom.
So it's exciting that we've
kind of expanded a little bit
and are using some of
our community resources.
All right.
And then we also--
I've been meeting with the
new instructional coordinator
for the Challenger Space Center.
And she's very excited
to be working with us
and providing some
professional learning.
So the [? TOSA ?]
that is there is
going to be doing the
spheral robotic kits.
And it's actually going to be
held at this Challenger Space
Center.
And then we have a
whole new system.
So up to this point,
we have had a homegrown
system called The Spot, but we
are moving away from that now.
And we are going with a system
called Performance Matters.
So you can just see a little
bit about what it looks like.
Some very cool things--
there's a mobile app.
There are QR codes
where people can
take attendance a lot quicker.
And starting for our
summer institute,
it will be going live on May 1.
So when people go in to
register for summer institute,
they'll be going
into our new system.
Right, questions?
Ms. Reynolds.
I apologize in advance
if you answered this.
Are teachers paying
for these courses?
No.
This is free to
District 20 employees.
Awesome.
Nicely done.
Are CEU credits
available for them?
Yes.
Did you answer that already?
No, I didn't.
But they receive credit, yes.
Nice.
Thank you.
Good job, always.
That's an impressive array.
Wow.
Can we take them?
Yes, please.
Yes.
No, I want you to take them.
That's why I asked about costs,
because we can't afford to pay.
I want you to take them with
you so that you can come.
And please, just come.
Stop in, even if it's
for a few minutes.
Most of the classes
are all here.
There are some that
are, like I said,
at the Challenger Space Center.
But the majority
of them are here.
Let Mrs. Reynolds
teach some, so she--
Oh!
She's got all her
researchers lined up.
I'm off the hook.
We do pay our instructors.
[INAUDIBLE] now
she's lined them up.
Mr. LaValley.
So if it doesn't have an AM
or PM, it's an all-day class?
Correct.
Well, I love it.
This is so invigorating
and worth--
I can't wait to hear
how it all went.
I know it will be beautiful.
Great job.
The [? fighting is done. ?]
Yes.
And I would like to add--
I've said this a
couple of times now.
I think this is going to be
my last chance to say this.
And I am biased, obviously.
But with Dr. Field
and Ms. Lang, I
believe we have the best
professional learning
department in the state
of Colorado and beyond.
And we're fortunate.
During the Great Recession
many, most school districts
actually cut those departments
and outsourced it all.
And not only did we not
cut ours, we grew ours.
And I believe the
significant increases
in learning for
students does not
occur unless there's
a significant increase
in learning of our staff, our
teachers who were before them.
And no one does a
better job [INAUDIBLE]
at professional learning,
pulling this together.
And of all the things that
Academy 20 is known for
and does very well, this is
right at the top of the list.
And if you've worked
in other places, worked
in other districts, they don't
have anything close to this.
And this is a true commitment,
our commitment to our staff,
to our teachers.
And we are investing in them.
And I really want to thank
Maureen for hitting up
all of this, and a great job
we do in professional learning.
Well, well said.
And of course we all join that.
Thank you for making
professional development
such an emphasis.
Well done.
Oh, Mr. Strebe.
One thing.
In business we all talk about
that customers can never
be more satisfied
than the employees.
That's not possible to have
customers that are more
satisfied than the employees.
So this is one of
the ways that you
can create some very
happy employees, which
I think if we look
at the survey results
a little bit earlier, that's a
true representation of what you
do with all of the teachers
throughout the district and all
of the administration
throughout the district.
So thank you for all of that.
Thank you to the
administrators--
there are a lot them here--
for what you do to
create an environment
where teachers and the staff
are absolutely outstanding.
Because remember,
our kids are never
going to be happier
than [? we ?] are.
That just really says
something about you.
We appreicate that.
Good deal.
And now we get to hear Further
Superintendent Reports.
And this one concerns the
Student Fee Schedule, not
the Student Feel Schedule.
Oh, sorry.
I'm sorry.
I apologize, my friends.
How could I skip you?
I know.
I've been looking
at your happy faces.
So come on up, Teacher
Evaluation Committee Report.
Dr. Hatchell.
I think it's OK if they wait.
Dr. Peak.
Yes, thank you, Dr.
Hatchell and Ms. Johnson.
I'm going to first start
by having Mrs. Farmer, one
of our directors
for human resources,
come up to introduce the
individuals who will be here
to provide a report of our
Teacher Evaluation Committee
work this year.
Thank you.
Good evening, everyone.
Members of our Teacher
Evaluation Committee, the TEC,
are pleased to be here tonight
to share the committee's work
and recommendations.
I'd like to introduce four
of our representatives.
We have Dawn Klock, who is
an interventionist and MTSS
Coordinator at Chinook
Trail Elementary.
We have--
[? That's ?] nice.
Yes.
We have Richard Mootheart,
[? TOSA ?] for online credit
recovery program.
We have Carre Bonilla, principal
at Rockrimmon Elementary.
And we have Holly Meacham,
Assistant Principal
at Liberty High School.
And soon to be director
for human resources.
All right.
Well, welcome.
And we will begin.
The topics of
tonight's discussion
will be the teacher evaluation
committee's goal and scope
of responsibility, analysis
of the newly revised Colorado
rubrics and the Academy
School District 20 rubrics,
discussion of the benefits of
the state's revised rubrics,
and utilization of the Colorado
Performance Management System
RANDA--
and RANDA Solutions is
just the company name--
the committee's recommendations,
and finally the implementation
and training plans
that we have in place.
The committee's goal was
to review the district's
current teacher
evaluation rubrics,
including standards,
elements, and criteria,
given recent revision of the
Colorado state teacher rubrics.
The committee was
responsible to either update
our current Academy
School District 20 rubrics
or to adopt the state's
revised rubrics.
We understood that our
role was advisory in nature
and that we were to make
recommendations regarding
policy, procedures,
and instruments
used for the
evaluation of teachers
to both the Certificated
Performance Evaluation Council
as well as the
Assistant Superintendent
of Human Resources.
The Certificated Performance
Evaluation Council comprised
of one teacher,
[? Sean ?] Reed Parsons,
IB coordinator at Mountain Ridge
Middle School, one principal,
Dr. Mark [? Wahlstrom, ?]
Discovery Canyon Campus High
School, one parent, Will
[? Timby, ?] be who has a 10th
and a 12th grade student
at Rampart High School,
and then one patron, Mary Ellen
[? Shod, ?] who is a former
District 20 teacher and parent
of District 20 graduates.
The newly revised
Colorado State standards
consists of four standards.
The first standard
is demonstrating
content mastery and
pedagogical expertise.
The second one is establishing a
safe, inclusive, and respectful
learning environment.
The third is planning
and delivering
effective instruction.
And the fourth is
demonstrating professionalism,
ethical conduct,
reflection, and leadership.
The Colorado
Department of Education
undertook revision of
the state standards
as they were lengthy,
somewhat ambiguous, vague,
and redundant.
They also endeavor
to create rubrics
that would encourage richer
conversations between teachers
and evaluators that
would elicit feedback
for professional growth.
This slide compares the
former state rubrics
with the newly
revised state rubrics.
The newly revised
rubrics have become
more streamlined and
manageable, eliminating
redundancies and vague language.
They also afford teachers and
evaluators the opportunity
to more comprehensively
understand
each standard and its
associated elements.
Throughout the evaluation
year, the focus
is on improving one's practice,
mastering the elements
within each quality standard.
For an end-of-year
final evaluation,
a teacher earns a rating of
basic, partially proficient,
proficient, accomplished, or
exemplary for each quality
standard, one through four.
Here's a look at ASD
20's current standards,
which were crosswalked with the
initial Colorado state rubrics.
The district's current
rubrics were quite robust.
The sheer length
and volume often
hinders teachers and evaluators
in defining and working
on focus areas that may lead
to improved teacher instruction
and increased student learning.
The district's current
rubrics are defined
using four performance levels--
not evident, meaning the
practice is not consistently
demonstrated, to distinguished,
indicating the teacher
consistently
demonstrated mastery.
The committee's action steps
commenced with reviewing legal
requirements, becoming familiar
with revised Colorado State
rubrics, examining the
pluses and minuses,
[INAUDIBLE] revised rubrics
and current rubrics--
our current rubrics, sorry.
The committee also
generated pluses and minuses
of the district's
electronic evaluation tool
and examined the tool used by
the state, the Colorado state
model performance management
system, known as RANDA.
A regional CDE specialist
demonstrated the tool,
a current District
20 principal who
utilized the tool in his former
district shared his experience,
and committee members were
able to play in a sandbox
to move through the various
components of RANDA tool
to gain a hands-on experience.
The committee also viewed
RANDA video tutorials
hosted by CDE, which
increased comprehension
of the use of RANDA and
generated questions/topics
for additional research.
Several TED members
and representatives
from various departments, a
support teacher evaluation
process, visited Colorado
Spring's School District 11
teacher evaluation
team, who utilizes
the state rubrics and the
RANDA management system.
CDE specialists presented an
overview of the Colorado State
performance management
system, RANDA
to principals,
assistant principals,
members of the certificated
performance evaluation council.
Committee members served as
liaisons to their schools,
sharing updates
with adminstrators
and licensed staff.
At the conclusion of the
committee's research,
a survey link was sent to
committee members via email
to query their personal
recommendation regarding
adopting the newly revised
Colorado state standards
or revising the
ASD 20 standards.
Drawn here is the
overwhelming response
to adopt the revised
state standards.
Members were given
the opportunity
to decline if they felt for
some reason, like an excused--
or like an absence from
a committee session,
they were unable to make
an informed decision.
Once the committee
has recommended
the adoption of the revised
Colorado State standards,
the subcommittee was formed
to review and propose
revisions of all associated
evaluation policies
and procedures, create
recommendations and best
practices in implementing
the revised Colorado State
standards and the use of
RANDA, and create communication
and training plans.
The committee identified
several benefits
in utilizing the
state model rubrics.
The newly revised state
rubrics were more manageable
and written with clear,
positive language,
with the potential to
foster richer conversations
between teachers
and administrators.
The committee
representatives liked
that the rubric is asset based
and their defined scoring
methods for calibration.
The RANDA system is free to
districts, so that's good news.
And the components
within the system
generate the required data
for CDE effectiveness reports
that we have to
turn in each year.
So committee representatives
found the use of RANDA
to be user friendly.
The video tutorials are
available for each evaluation
component.
They can go back and look
at them as many times
as they want
through the process.
And one of the most significant
advantages of the RANDA system
is that all evaluation
documentation
is housed within the system.
Administrators
and teachers alike
found the system to
be more transparent,
as both groups had access to all
of the evaluation components.
A teacher can monitor
his or her own progress,
and administrators can view the
individual teacher and staff
progress throughout
the evaluation process.
Teachers also have access to
past evaluation documentation,
which has not been available
in our district tool
that we've been using.
Committee members were impressed
with the system components.
A short training and
orientation of the use of RANDA
is available.
And teachers can share
scoring of the self-assessment
with their evaluators,
thereby leading
to richer discussions
and calibration
of the expectations.
Observation notes can
be composed within RANDA
or can be uploaded,
thereby creating the option
for evaluators to use
observation documentation forms
that they've uniquely created.
The RANDA system also offers
the opportunity to upload
and track professional
learning documentation.
And the mid-year
review component
allows for teachers
and evaluators
to review rubric scoring
together at the midyear
conference, rather than being
appraised of the rubric scores
only at the end of the
year evaluation conference.
And teacher's final
evaluation score,
comprised of both
professional practices
rating and the academic
measures of student learning,
displays by total
score as well as
by a visual color-coded graph.
And you can select which
one is personal preference.
The display is clear
and easy to understand.
So after in-depth research
and careful consideration,
the teacher evaluation committee
would like to recommend
adopting the newly revised
Colorado state standards
and the use of the Colorado
state model performance
management system
known as RANDA,
so as to also create equity
among evaluation processes,
procedures, and policies, and
use of standards and rubrics,
written like manner
among all licensed staff,
to include teachers,
specialized service providers--
which also includes
audiologists, counselors,
nurses, occupational therapists,
orientation and mobility
specialists,
physical therapists,
school psychologists, social
workers, and speech language
pathologists--
and principals and
assistant principals.
The committee also
recommends adopting
the newly revised standards and
rubrics for all the specialized
service providers and principals
and assistant principals.
This recommendation would also
allow for all licensed staff
to utilize the same
evaluation tool, RANDA.
The committee would
also like to recommend
the use of specialized
rubrics that
are available for deans
of students and teachers
on special assignments,
both instructional
and non-instructional, which
are more clearly aligned
to their work.
Implementation
and training plans
are well underway with
evaluator training opportunities
this spring and summer,
and teacher training
commencing at the beginning
of the '19, '20 school year.
And last but not
least, we would like
to recognize all of the
members of the committee,
as we were very appreciative
of their diligent work
and research throughout
this whole process.
Thank you.
Questions?
See how brilliantly
you informed us all?
Ms. Reynolds, do
you have a question?
I don't have a question.
But you have a of comment?
A comment.
Go forth.
So you guys are amazing.
You know, I continue to
be impressed with the work
that our district does
when it makes a decision
to implement something.
I do this work with CDE
and across the state--
and I know I'm a little
biased, but across the state
I don't see this kind of thought
process to make something work.
So I continue to be amazed.
Nicely done.
Thank you.
And thank you, Dr. Peak,
for your leadership as well.
And Mrs. [? Kintz. ?]
I just want to thank Mrs.
[? Kintz. ?] Lynn [? Kintz ?]
is here and has supported us
through this whole process,
so I didn't want
to neglect that.
Thank you, Lynn.
Oh, yes.
And I add my voice to
those, Mrs. Reynolds,
and I know all of us as well.
Thank you for the intentionality
with which you consider
and weigh and provide
the board your findings,
your recommendations.
There is obviously great weight.
So proud to be able to
support you in this.
All right.
Well, thank you.
Just a real quick off comment.
They acknowledged
Miss [? Kintz. ?]
It's ironic that she's here
tonight for a 1.2 presentation
on character, because
there was a day when
she made the presentations
on 1.1 and 1.2.
So did that bring back memories?
OK.
Well--
Thank you.
Now, for the eagerly awaited
by me, the student fee
schedule for 2019, '20.
Dr. Hatchell.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Gregory.
Thank you.
This is our annual
exercise, I'll call it,
of presenting the
proposed student fee
schedule to the board.
Some reference information--
Colorado revised statute
[? 22-32-117 ?] gives the board
authority to levy
miscellaneous fees to students.
There's legal
course to do this--
and also actually
requires the board
to approve any fees
that are levied.
So that's kind of some
background information.
Also a reminder,
tonight's presentations
is for discussion
only, not for approval.
It'll come back next time
for approval consideration.
I'm not going to go
through all of it.
There's many pages to this.
I want to highlight
a couple of things.
And then there are
some folks here
that can help answer any
questions that you might
have that are
specifics, and certainly
if I can't answer them.
But one, the first
highlight, I think
it overshadows anything
else that's in this report,
and that's on page 16.
I want to draw your
attention to page 16.
That's the best one of all.
It felt really good to
strike out some language.
There's three lines
that are stricken there,
and essentially the highlight
of this recommendation
is the removal of the--
or elimination of the tuition
for full-day kindergarten.
So those three
lines would go away.
Excellent news for
students and families
and in our community,
at least going forward.
The only other thing I would
highlight are on pages 23--
predominantly on
pages 23 and 24.
There's fees that are associated
with some new courses.
These are predominately
CTE courses.
I just want to
remind you, they're
on here for approval,
which always feels
a little bit redundant to me.
Because back in
December, on December 13,
you heard new course proposals.
And on those proposal documents
were proposed course fees.
And then on January 3, you
approved those new courses.
Not necessarily the fees-- this
is approving the fee component
of that.
But you saw these same fees.
Nothing's changed from those
course proposals to now.
These are those same
fees now just transferred
to the student fee schedule.
I want to also remind
you of two other things.
One is principals work
with students and families
so that inability or difficulty
to pay any of the fees
is not an obstacle
or something stronger
than that to participation.
We have some Coke
funds that are used
for scholarshiping students to
participate in certain things.
And principals have
other sources also.
But we try not to let--
just because there
is a long list of
fees here, it doesn't
mean that students aren't
able to participate.
And lastly, since this
might come back as consent,
I wanted to say this tonight.
This is a long document
because what you're approving
is every fee that may be levied
across essentially 40 schools.
Once the document is
approved by the board,
each school takes a
subset of these fees,
so shrinks down this list--
an elementary school
may have two pages--
less than that now, because
the tuition for kindergarten
is gone--
but it may reduce down
to a couple of pages,
and that elementary
school will post
only those fees that apply to
their school on their website.
So parents aren't going to
have to filter through 28 pages
to find fees that may apply
to them at a certain school.
That's done for every school.
And that'll be done immediately
following approval of our fee
schedule, hopefully April 18,
so immediately following that.
And with that, I
think I will end.
We have a few
administrators here tonight.
[? Polly's ?] doing
double duty, because she's
representing Liberty
here also, so I
would be happy to
answer any questions
or take any comments
the board may have.
Well, hooray.
What an exciting way to--
It's last on the
agenda, so [INAUDIBLE]..
--share this great news.
And yeah, quite the soft
opening on such big news.
But--
I will say while you're thinking
maybe that this week we've
shared with stakeholders--
so the parent
group, the teachers,
Superintendent's
Communication Council,
essentially everybody
we've met with this week
about the full-day
kindergarten tuition piece.
And it goes without saying,
but very well received.
Very good to hear.
Not surprising.
You know, Mr. Gregory
has done significant work
on this document to make it
the viable and useful document
that it is, with clear
expectations and fees.
We've come a long way.
So I want to thank you
for all that you've
done to make [? the fee ?]
schedule in District 20
a truly useful document.
Others?
Yes.
All right.
Well, we're super happy.
All right, thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
[? Olson. ?] Sorry.
You had to sit
through all of that.
Should we ask you a question?
Thank you.
All right.
Well, it looks like we've
almost run out of agenda.
And so that means--
yeah, that means that
we're not quite done.
Because we have a
birthday to celebrate.
And that is our own
dear Karin Reynolds.
Happy birthday, Karin.
And now we're at the end.
So I will pose my familiar
question to close our meeting.
Was our business
this evening focused
on activities that will
promote academic achievement
and the development
of knowledge, skills,
and character in our students?
I think it certainly was.
Well, thank you.
Our most important duty
is our one employee,
which is the superintendent.
Find an employee.
Our most important duty.
[INAUDIBLE]
Thank you to all of
you for all the work.
I truly enjoyed the process.
Thank you.
Well done.
All right, this
meeting is adjourned.
