District Parent Council Meeting

August 21, 2007

Minutes

Members present: Chris King, Alise Jackson, Louisville Middle; Katherine
Morss, Community Montessori; Kimberly Companas, Pioneer; Zoe Kircos,
Whittier; Susan Alexenko, Fireside; Karen Vogler, Broomfield High; Karen
Smith, Eldorado K-8; Chris Halteman, Uni Hill; Natalie Portmon-Marsh,
Douglass; Susan Bird, Peak to Peak; Judy Lawson, Casey; Stacy Bowman,
Superior; Jill Lewis, Kohl; Wendy Fiedler, Broomfield High; Diana Spalding,
So. Hills; Eric Stevens, Gold Hill; Ralph Lippert, Ryan; Neil Fishman,
Creekside; Roman Mica, High Peaks, and Melissa Gregory, Angevine.   

Opening: DPC is running on tri-chair system. This meeting is chaired by
Tron Welch, Coal Creek, Roman Mica, High Peaks, will chair the next meeting
and Kimberly Copanas will chair the third meeting. The DPC website is under
construction but is the best way to get on the agenda or contact any of the
three above.

Chris King - Superintendent introduced himself and noted the City of
Boulder has a City Council Meeting tonight that has implications to our
bond; therefore Robert Hammond and Don Orr are at that meeting and were not
able to be here. Denitta Ward, Director of the Bond Contracts, presented
the bond update.

Bond Update: Denitta began by thanking this group for doing what you do and
appreciates the time commitment. The bond project brings very large scale
improvements that will positively impact schools and students. Contact
information: 303 447-5062 or the Bond Website <http://www.bvds.org/>
www.bvds.org, (hard hat on the left side). All related documents are posted
on the BVSD website along with links to individual schools, which address
construction schedules. The bond is $296.8 million for school improvements
district wide. Projects were phased in three sections. There are 25 Phase
I, 23, Phase II, 16 Phase III. In February $120 million dollars was
released to fund Phase I of the project. Two more lettings of the bond as
funds are needed. An eighteen member committee was created in January to
monitor, review and report on the implementation of the bond. Reports go to
the Board of Education and are posted on the website.     

Design Advisory Teams (DAT) get school community involved in the design
process.

Include members from school and community; work with architect to refine the
scope of work and ensure the project design meets the educational needs of
the school; serve as a liaison to peers in the school and community.

Susan Cousins has been hired as the bond Communications Specialist. She has
created a communication plan for the bond. All Phase I schools will have a
project manager present, what the plan is, drawings, and is a resource to
the parents and teachers that haven't seen things over the summer.       

BVSD has a commitment to "green" building. We made a commitment to
implement cost-effective, environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient
strategies. All architects selected have experience with, and commitment
to, principles of green and sustainable building.

City of Boulder and BVSD having discussion about Casey tonight. We are
asking the City of Boulder to release EET (excise) money they collect from
builders. We are asking the city for money to fund LEEDS certification.
Casey is the only project that qualifies because it is the only one being
entirely rebuilt. The Casey project will cost the most (approximately $30
million dollars), followed by Broomfield High and Louisville Middle.

Projects will be designed with security in mind.

DPC Purpose - Tron's personal agenda is to make sure this bond takes place
in a manner that builds trust between the district and the community. His
mission is to foster two-way communication between the superintendent and
parents. This forum gives parents an opportunity to provide global feedback
to the district and gives the superintendent an opportunity to float ideas
out. We are asking for your thoughts and questions.     The boundaries of
this group are that this is not the place to make suggestions about specific
issues at schools. The BVSD website under superintendent's corner is the
appropriate place for that. Issues at this meeting should impact a
significant population of the BVSD rather than individual concerns. One of
your responsibilities is to disseminate information out to the schools.
There are approximately 56,000 parents in BVSD.

Topica - Subscribe yourself and you will get all the email related to
District Parent Council. Your job is to attend PTA, SIT, etc. and to
disseminate information to your schools. If you want to be heard, here is
your chance. Also, please send the minutes to your principal and then
schedule a meeting and check in about what parents are talking about. It is
a privilege to sit on this committee. We did move the schedule to the third
Tuesday so we could have some school board input prior to their meeting.
Chris will be on the agenda for 15 minutes every month.   

DPC Calendar (soon to be on website):

9/18; 10/16; no November meeting; 12/18; 1/15; 2/19; 3/18; 4/15; 5/20 (from
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.)

Agenda gets set 11:30 a.m. the Tuesday before the meeting.   

We must let parents know to get involved they must go to the Website, PTA.
Also, board meetings are aired on the second and fourth Tuesday nights, on
channel 22 in most parts of the county.   

Chris King - Superintendent

DAC has training on September 4th or October 2nd in which they will be
training DAC in the TIES (Tools of Inquiry in Equitable Schools) protocol.
They start about 6:00 p.m. Contact the district office for more
information.   

The purpose of DPC is an advisory council to Chris. DAC is the advisory
council to the Board of Education. Chris wants to form relationships with
all of you. He has a commitment to accessibility and forming relationships.
Please contact him with questions large and small. You are the advisory
committee and speak for the schools you represent. Chris has been with the
school district since 1985. He has two students (son and daughter) in the
district. Chris' phone number is in the book. Please feel free to contact
him.   

Overhauling website We have a new webmaster and in the near future the
website will be more interactive and more intuitive. We are looking at
sites across the country and working to use new technology.   

Superintendent's Corner - There will be a new topic every week; this week
is DPC. Contact your principal if you have questions or email the
tri-chairs. We will have 52 topics over the course of the year. We will
use this avenue to get information out (i.e. CSAP), etc. We want to keep
information fresh. We will be doing a lot of polling and surveys and
provide feedback with results. We are restoring a receptionist to the
district to enhance customer service.   

TIES - The Board of Education will be using an abbreviated version of the
TIES process to look at data and come up with three goals for our district
in regard to organization, achievement and equity, very much like we are
doing in the schools.   

Chris is very supportive of the social/emotional needs of kids and will be
providing counseling and intervention services. Chris is troubled by risk
behaviors of kids as demonstrated in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. We
have a lot of kids in crisis, with substance abuse, and other problems that
impact kids. We have been good at academics, but we also need to take care
of the social/emotional piece so kids can go further.

Climate/morale around staff issues - How adults get treated impacts how kids
get treated in schools. This all goes under the umbrella of personalization
that Chris is always striving for in BVSD.         

Freshman Seminar - This is about transitioning kids into high school. We
are spending $250,000 this year on freshman seminar because we don't want
freshmen to loose academic potential.

In closing, Chris is excited to be here and anxious to meet the challenges
of being superintendent.

Round Robin - Will be going in alphabetical order (according to school) and
we will pick up where we left off from month to month. The ground rules are
keep subjects to district topics and remember to be a voice for families
that are unable to attend meetings such as this.

Community Montessori - Are thrilled to have preschool and kindergarten on
the same side of the building. The gardens are doing very well and are a
huge part of the Montessori process. Prior to the remodel, preschool rooms
were in different parts of the building. This is a school without much
bussing, parents pick up, and there have been some traffic safety issues in
the past. Traffic has been restructured to be much safer. The   trees
lived through the summer!   

Side note: Getting BHS emails - didn't think we had gang issues at BHS.
Chris said gangs are a growing problem in Boulder County. There is a
continuum from want-to-be's to hard core. Dozens of schools have kids that
have dabbled in the gang culture. The district is preparing to address
these issues.

Creekside: No SIT meeting; the garden made it through the summer. Gangs -
issues of disenfranchisement is also at elementary school, doesn't begin at
high school.   

Douglas - one of the schools in the district exploring an organic cafeteria.
(Creekside)

Fireside - A question about CAP and elementary schools. Does every school
have this? Does the district require one presenter for that and does the
district require it? Chris to research and come back with more definitive
answer. Chris given a hard copy of the question and will respond on TOPICA.


Gold Hill: School looking very nice, grass and gardens doing well (had
water delivered over the summer); very excited about Kelley King being
principal and hopefully bring longevity to the position.   

High Peaks - There are salad bars available to students at some schools.
Principals must request through Linda Stohl in Food Services. The price for
students' hot lunch will remain the same; however, children cannot bring
their own lunch and then be entitled to the salad bar. Chris to get more
information.   

Weather stations - Beverly Meier (retired BHMS) got grant money and funded a
weather station. Talk to Lesley Smith, Board Member for further
information. Our district encourages partnerships with ecological sciences.
Contact our science coordinator, Samantha Messier.   

Broomfield Heights Middle School - Adams 50 has community outreach with
Latino and also Hmong. When are we getting individual CSAP? Chris to post
on TOPICA. It will be in the fall and Chris will check on the timeline.
Can we get a short synopsis of Board of Education minutes at these meetings?


Also, can we put together written matrix for each school about positive
things. Kimberly said we have done this in the past and can easily revisit
the format used in the past.

Peak to Peak - Recognized in a recent magazine article about Denver's best
high schools as being the top school. Boulder Valley had 4 of the fifteen
top schools in the article.

Pioneer - Saw how superintendent's search process went and knows they can't
expect that process for all principals and teachers, but there have been
questions in the Lafayette community about what qualifications and hiring
specs beyond the application, degree, references. Chris said teachers have
to be licensed and highly qualified. This is determined by transcript
analysis. Also, they must pass a CAT test that's content specific. It's a
pass or no pass situation. For administrators there is a screening
committee, second level interviews with Ed Center staff (assistant
superintendents), interview with superintendent and a community forum. All
of that information is brought to the hiring coordinator and the
superintendent and they talk, come up with a name that superintendent takes
to the Board of Education and they hire the applicant. We have a written
description of this process.   

Spanish translation for meetings such as this and board meetings don't
exist. Chris to follow-up.

Superior - Assessments were done early before school started. They seemed
disorganized, particularly for kindergarten students. Wasn't what we were
used to and didn't appear to have continuity from school to school. Chris
to look into that. Also CAP program. Astonished how few people were there
and how important it is for parents to be educated. Is there a way we as a
group and district can emphasize the importance of that program. Chris said
CAP seems to be the preferred model.

University Hill had a SIT meeting last week and met with Sheri Williams
because Uni Hill receives Title I funds and are under pressure to make AYP
every year even though the performance levels get higher every year. She is
also on the open enrollment committee and most parents aren't even aware of
No Child Left Behind ramifications. Get such bad press every year. They
have to explain to parents this doesn't reflect how much kids are learning
and it's really hard to explain. Parents at SIT meeting say they need to
know the school is still going to be open. Enrollment is a problem
depending what the media is saying. It seems so punitive at this point.
These things are really scary for parents. What generated from the SIT
meeting is that we need reassurance the district is behind us. Want Chris
to visit school. Chris said we will support and partner with that any way
we can be helpful. We won't let Uni Hill dangle out there by itself.

Rethink how we are getting information out

Whittier Received $5,000 from Lowes for a garden. Will be doing a lot of
work on the garden this fall. This year is Whittier's 125th birthday. On
October 25, there will be a big celebration and everyone is invited.
Whittier is the oldest school in the state of Colorado.