District Parent Council



Bond Program, Don Orr: Board Of Education at their last meeting approved the process by consent.  As we work through Phase I of the bond project, we made some wise investments on the sale of bond and the interest earned was pretty significant. Those funds coupled with sale of bonds generated some revenue that wasn’t allocated to a particular project. See below

Projected unallocated funds as of 7/09                                  $6,765,945

Replenish program reserve – ph.3 (asbestos removal, etc.)-$2,500,000

Augment Columbine budget                                                   -$2,000,000 (approved by CBOC 

  4/22/09, pending Board approval

Projected unallocated funds                                                   $2,265,945

The Facility Master Plan addresses how any surplus bond money will be used.  The unallocated funds will be identified and used for prioritized projects to mitigate safety and code issues.

We have accelerated phase II and III of the bond program.

Fundraising - Cathy Tallergo, Mesa, spoke about fundraising and that in 08/09 they eliminated fundraising projects by asking for $100 donation per child, raised $30k and eliminated fundraising projects.  09/10 while children were getting assessed, they provided parents paperwork on classroom fees and supplies.  Classroom teachers made a list of their needs and bought the items at Office Depot, in bulk, at a discount so everyone got the same thing. They had 90% participation rate this year. 

Carola Stirk, Whittier  They have a garden tour in the spring which raises approximately $6,000.  Families with nice gardens open their gardens and sell tickets.

Tron said CU basketball will sell a ticket for $1.00.  Doesn’t apply to high school; however, if Rotary club sells tickets, they can then donate that money to PTOs.  This applies to most CU sports, except football. 

Alise Jackson –Fundraising can be done without involving kids.  Target has Take Charge for Education (connected to your checking account) and Target will send 5% back to your school.  Print fliers for back-to-school nights and sign people up. 

Magazines (45% goes back to your program).  When magazines come up for renewal, go online to QSP and reorder or renew.  Suggest to people to donate a subscription to children’s hospital. 

Restaurants will do a one night fundraiser.

Incentives for kids – older kids want $ (VISA gift cards)

Auctions – It’s better to not charge entry.  Find space and bring own foods and own drinks.

Casinos are fun gambling.  

Impact on Education – Francie Anhut

Impact on Education is an independent, non-profit, founded 26 years ago.  They are a close partner with the district, but are independent and can lobby for benefits the district can’t.  Impact  looked to the community and identified priorities:  1.  Equity; 2.  What can you do to support great teachers?  3. Science, technology and math.  Impact raises a lot of money from corporations, which like Impact because they deal with one company.  Impact measures values, innovation and equity and measures program to share data.

Impact delivers two types of programs:  annual programs they do every year that teachers count on and one time things or pilots (test, measure).  Impact has brought in eleven million dollars in 26 years.

The Classroom Mini Grants program brought in 1.4 million last year; however, it’s not being done this year, because it’s a cumbersome process and Impact is working with teachers to design a more efficient process

Second program every year is Impact Awards.  Deadline for nominations this year is 11/2.  The notion is there are lots of great educators and the goal is to have those winners feel this was the highlight of their career.  The tickets are priced low to encourage attendance.

At risk kids – opportunity fund – dollars sent to principals to clear economic hurdles.  Impact funds assemblies and field trips for high needs schools. 

Crayons to Calculators – filled 5,934 backpacks with school supplies this year. 

Impact put clickers in science and math classes.  They partnered with the district science coordinator to provide hands on learning materials. 

Take my teacher home (pilot program) -  There are approximately 450 kindergarten students that start every year without the basic skills they need.  Teachers record weekly lessons and kids take IPOD home and work on the lessons each day.     

Owl program at Creekside - Girls exploring science.

The Razzle Dazzle Beach ball raises $130,000 - $200,000 per year and Impact hosts a major gift dinner, which brings in $75,000 – $125,000 per year. 

There is an upcoming Education Matters Business Leadership Forum in which Michael Bennett will be the speaker.

If you would like to receive the Impact Newsletter or contact Francie for any reason, she can be reached at Francie Anhut can be reached at francie@impactoneducation.org

Superintendent’s Report - Chris King – BVSD teachers still do not have a contract. Teachers are working hard and doing their jobs.  They elect and hire a group of people to negotiate on their behalf.  The district continues to ask for fact finding and has offered to pay the fees associated with this process.  Fact finding is a process in which a hearing officer listens to all sides present their facts.  The hearing officer writes a non-binding report. This process is similar but more formal than mediation.

Food Program – Is a work in progress and going well.  Adult (teachers and employees), high school and middle school sales are up; elementary schools are not there yet.  Schools can invite Ann Cooper to your school or PTO, she is willing to be in the cafeteria during lunch.   There is some pushback around change issues in the program. 

Fairview  - Fundraising dollars are up.  They have organized a package to help with this. They would like to see the fundraised amount from all schools.

Eisenhower – PTA isn’t thrilled with the Gifts to Teachers policy because it changed from people being able to put in anonymously to a limit on individual gifts, but it made people uncomfortable because some people give max and others don’t have the means.  Chris said the policy was necessary to try to stop any abuse and/or inequity.

Whittier and Casey – Whitter is in the process of parent/teacher conferences, which are student led, which works well for students.  They finished their school improvement plans. 

Casey – This is the largest 6th grade class ever and they are anticipating an even larger class next year when building opens.  There are some space issues in sharing facilities, but in general the coexistence with Platt is going well.

Columbine – They are off to a great start with the new principal and assistant principal.  They are very anxious about what board has to say about the Columbine budget.  They had a fund raising raffle, which was a real success.      

Creekside – That had a fall festival fundraiser, which is usually held inside, but this year they did it earlier and did it outside with a tamale sale.  It was a successful fundraiser and a  huge community builder.  They sold 1300 tamales and were able to use Creekside’s kitchen but paid a lot of $ for BVSD kitchen person for liability.  Parent teacher conferences are happening. Creekside is part of Phase II construction and they are realizing their wish list is larger than the current reality.  They hope to revisit fundraising options down the road. 

Birch – This is the first year with their new principal (Tracy), who has brought focus and energy to the school and has been well embraced.  Tracy is overhauling a lot of programs.  They had a literacy fair this year.  Their fundraiser was a walk/run and was a very well organized school event.  Birch is in the phase II bond project with construction to begin in December or January.

Coal Creek nothing specific to report this month.

Fireside – fall event Friday grill and bid food for everyone.  Pay a fee.  Silent auction.  More companies donated this year than last.  Great event.  Everyone had a good time.

Louisville Elementary – Phase II, fundraiser that replaced wrapping paper,  Did a jog a  thon 24k PTA budget 43k.  Do a read-a-thon in February. 

Southern Hills – Did fundraising registration day with a table to donate $100 per child. 

Crestview – They had a silent auction in spring.  Ask for teacher donations which are the most popular items.  They have 100 more kids than last year. 

Foothill Elementary – The hug and go traffic safety is working well.  Neighbors, staff and parents as well as 4th and 5th graders help and that is working really well. The community garden to table is also going well.  Lots of parent volunteers.  They have cooked with the food and are really invested.  They did a fall event with a festival.  Their families are from other ethnic backgrounds.  Each class had to do a booth. They are looking at making fundraising community events.

BHS – They have three new counselors, and a new principal.  The biology teacher got a grant to do a podcast. The principal will also do a weekly podcast.  The principal has been hosting coffees a couple times per month.  The principal is asking people what they need, not telling them.  Colleges are recruiting BHS kids.  Donations are down. 

Douglass – They have a school improvement team (SIT) that is pertinent.  Everyone is thrilled with principal proactive.  He’s very accessible to kids and they love him.  They have implemented positive behavior support (PBS) and teachers love it.  They too did Dedication to Education and have  60% already.  King Soopers cards are fantastic. 

Bear Creek – They have had three meetings of their Design Advisory Team and are making lots of progress in determining the specifics of using bond money such as where to put the new gym.  They are implementing the Positive Behavior Support system for the first time this year and with the focus on letting students know what is expected of them.  The H1N1 (Swine) flu has been moving through the building with as much as 20% of the students out on a given day. 

Tom Miers (District E) – Tom has lived in Boulder 25 years.  He is an engineer for Ball Aerospace, and manages government space programs involving large numbers of people with budgets in the hundreds of millions.  Tom has been married 34 years.  Tom’s wife is a SPED teacher for the Bridges program in BVSD.  They have three sons, who all attended BVSD.  He’s very familiar with government policies and regulations which could help with school finance issues.  He has a history of serving this community as a sports coach, Boy Scout Leader, board member and president of two neighborhood homeowners associations, and his church’s board of trustees. BVSD has been good to his family and he wants to contribute.

 

Jennie Belval (District F) –  Jennie is running for school board because her family has benefited from public education and she would like to give back to the community and believes the quality of society is reflected in public education. Jennie has 16 years of experience in Boulder Valley Schools and the community as a parent, employee and volunteer including: chair, Citizens Bond Oversight Committee; Capital Improvement Planning Committee; New Century Graduate Steering Committee; Broomfield High School Improvement Team; Broomfield High School Minority Action Team; Aspen Creek Talented and Gifted Advisor; Broomfield Community Foundation Board; Heart of Broomfield Education Award Recipient.  Jenny would like to improve education in BVSD by implementing best practices.

 

John Kettling (District B) –John has been an engineering lab advisor for 18 years in BVSD, with 32,000 volunteer hours.  He was an Impact on Education winner in 1998.  And is the Lego trophy coach.  He wants to settle the teachers’ contract and do it now.  He wants to reopen broad communication in the Columbine neighborhood by going door bell to door bell in district B.  He wants to bring into discovery labs back into the middle schools.  We need a good basis of communication with the superintendent and his staff. 

 

Louise Benson (District F) – Louise has lived in Boulder since 1969 and has worked as a school volunteer, Cub Scout Leader, Sunday School Teacher, Broomfield Health and Human Service Advisory Board, Hospice Medical Advisory Board, Boulder County PanFlu committee, Co-led successful petition drives for Open Space and Citizens Referendum, member BVSDWatch.org, Broomfield City Council Candidate: ran on school, healthcare and over-regulation issues, semi-retired physician, with three grown children who attended BVSD.  She has had the experience of solving a problem at a BVSD school and believes a small group of dedicated people can make a difference and is at a place in her life where it’s time for her to start giving back.  Louise believes BVSD needs fresh thinking to include: an Ombudsman program, more community sessions, web pages for board members, small neighborhood schools, close the achievement gap with proven programs, elementary summer school, online 6 – 12 education and a five year high school/associates degree (state paid), continue steps toward restorative discipline and away from zero tolerance, a new look at transportation and utilizing RTD for older kids, living within our budget. 

 

Jim Policita (District E) – Jim grew up in the northeast in a bilingual home in an industrial town.  He attended public schools and a private undergraduate school.  He has received a Ph.D. degree.  As a 9th grader he developed a leadership program for high school students, served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica and all of these experiences will contribute to him serving on the board.  Jim intentionally does not a have a platform because he wants to listen and talk to people first. The critical issue he sees is budget. Integrity and engagement are the keys to communication.  We can’t have excellence without equity. 

 

Lesley Smith (District B) – Lesley is a current board member who has lived in Boulder 20 years, is a scientist and educator, currently working at CU.  Lesley initially worked on the Destratification Task force and then ran for board member, serving as vice president for the last two years.  Some of the accomplishments since Lesley has been a board member are passing the largest bond in BVSD history, hired Chris King as superintendent and set goals for him (achievement, goals equity goals, and climate goals).  BVSD has sound fiscal polices.  We did a nutrition study and are now serving high quality food in our schools, and Lesley and the board have been instrumental helping “green” BVSD and is running a “green” campaign.  BVSD is facing budget cuts and tough teacher negotiations.  Teachers want raises but parents don’t want larger class size.  BVSD’s first priority is the economy and budget while maintaining excellent education.  BVSD is one of the top three districts in our state and we strive to reduce the achievement gap.  Lesley and the board want to develop a sustainable community engagement process.

 

What do you feel are three most critical issues facing BVSD at this time?

 

Jenny – budget, student achievement, and relationship with teachers (can’t address other issues without this).

 

John – teacher contracts, Columbine and University Hill (failed AYP), and all inclusive communication regarding Columbine will be reviewed.

 

Louise –  achievement gap.  The plan isn’t flushed out enough.  There are proven programs out there; listening to the community to restore trust (i.e., school closures, LMS demolition, Columbine) and Louise is a fiscal conservative.

 

Jim - Most immediately coming to terms with teachers, needs to happen soon in a way that leaves us all understanding there is a common commitment to the districts’ children; important to continue the dialogue on excellence because some kids aren’t sharing in that, and the long-term fiscal picture for the district.  We can’t make long term commitments or future revenue projections with one time money or future revenue projections

 

Leslie – Everything cascades down from the budget.  Start talking about budget earlier.  Next year start talking and working with BVEA and think outside of the box as to how to bring up teacher salaries; closing the achievement gap some schools are bucking the tide and we need to go in there find out what’s working and develop best practices and duplicate those practices.

 

Tom - Finance, trust and morale and poor educational skills.  How can we get more efficient? 

 

How do you feel about BVSD healthy lunch program?  Is it the district’s job to promote healthy eating or should they focus on reading, writing and math?

 

John –Has taken a good long look and thinks BVSD is are assuming one type fits all.  There is no such thing.  We  have to be careful with this.  What are the intentions?  More things on the table will attract attention, but taking food items away might not be the best thing.

 

Louise – Initially had doubts if it would be a sustainable program, but having talked to people, she has been reassured.   Once we get better foods in schools, kids will come to school and eat the good food.  Absolutely yes we teach kids about healthy foods in school.  BVSD is doing this right.  Great!

 

Jim- As a parent, Jim welcomes the district as an ally in the food war.  Kids who eat well do better in school.  His evidence he has about program so far is anecdotal.  His kids don’t eat lunch at school.  We have cultural diversity in our communities and the current direction may not acknowledge the diversity.

 

Lesley – Like the green initiative, the nutrition program is a grass-roots program, and she sees this as a very positive, community building effort.  It’s great that Whole Foods has gotten involved.  The board got a draft of the food policy in the spring and is still gathering input from the community.

 

Tom – He is all for healthy eating and teaching nutrition in our schools; however, is this program the best use of our money?

 

Jennie – In favor of good nutrition and one of the things she is most excited about is the program is serving breakfast at school.  A good breakfast makes a good student.  The program isn’t perfect yet and maybe we need to make more food available.  We need to monitor how the program is doing.      

 

How would you settle Teacher contract?  What do you think about merit and performance pay for teachers?

 

Louise – She is not in a position to settle the contract.  She needs to study the budget.  She would prefer teachers accept what they were offered this year and is strongly in favor of implementing a professional pay scale when the economy improves.  She asks the  teachers to be the professionals they are and not do any type of job action, which is extremely unprofessional.  She is not big on merit pay because patients and students are not widgets.  She is in favor of pay for underperforming schools.

 

Jim – First thing that has to happen is both sides have to stop thinking of themselves as both sides and mutually commit to being in the classroom and keep resources as close to the kids as possible.  Pay for performance has some merit how do you judge outcomes?

 

Lesley:  - Lesley is a sitting board member.  BVSD is still in contract negotiations and mediation.  We need to sit down with BVEA and talk about different ways of getting money.  Both sides should talk in a collaborative way to fund teacher compensation.  The model we have now won’t work; our costs go up (health insurance).  Denver and other districts have alternative compensation.  It’s time to start working with teachers on the subject for next year’s contract.

 

Tom – We have to come to a win/win position and understand each other’s needs and limitations.  Morale is currently very low because teachers are feeling they aren’t appreciated.  Teachers need to think about pay scale in industry, where there are no job guarantees.

 

Jennie – Both parties being in mediation is a necessary first step.  Both sides have to give a little.  Morale is low and teachers are not feeling respected.  Merit pay in classroom is based on the assumption that teachers know how to address student achievement issues. 

 

John – Teachers are half of the output product.   If you don’t invest in the output result, you will get what General Motors got.   Teacher increases as new money comes in is not optional.  The teachers’ contract should have been done first. 

 

Jim – His biggest concern about the funding crisis is that we face cuts next year and where do you propose to make those cuts?  The cuts are not in control of the BOE.  We have to be aligned with everyone in this district and beyond to address budgets.  BVSD is showing a slight decline in enrollment and funding is based on per pupil support, which may be going down.  He doesn’t know what he would cut.  Most of the money goes to salary and these are hard decisions.  He would keep attention as close to the kids as possible. 

 

Lesley – the board doesn’t actually make budget cuts.  The board has set three goals for the superintendent and Chris is charged with achieving those  goals.  Last spring this district made some very painful program cuts that helped students to achieve (freshman seminar, Link program, interventionists, etc.).  The board did state their concerns and tried to get some semblance of those programs back.  Last year DAC sent out a survey to the school community and number one was to keep class size small.  They said we cannot cut teachers. 

 

Tom – Our ability to teach our children core educational skills in this fiscal times.  How do we prepare our children to learn for jobs we don’t even know will exist?

 

Jennie – The economy will recover but school the school budget will not. There will be painful choices in the times ahead.  Decisions have to be made in collaboration with the community.  Her basic principle is to keep cuts away from the classroom. 

 

John – He is very glad we have competent management at staff at the superintendent level.  The board role becomes very advisory.  He would first fill every seat, and  use every building to maximum capacity.  The projected 550 seats at Columbine, with  357 enrollment and projected to go down doesn’t make sense unless you close University  Hill.  We need to draw people that have left back into the district.

 

Louise – Her knowledge of the school budget is a weak spot for her.  She will have to get up to speed.  She has thought quite a bit about where cuts should be made and the first place is freezing or cutting by 5% the high salaries at the  central administration office.  She wants to echo what the others are saying about keeping cuts away from the classroom and do a good job of drawing enrollment back into the district.  Look at transportation and coordinate with RTD to cut costs.

 

What is your understanding of destratification and how do you deal with it?

 

Lesley – Sat on the initial destratification  committee whose charge was to find what causes it and come up with ideas to destratify.  Research showed open enrollment,  but also showed the district concentrating ESL in certain schools.  40% is about tipping point, those students tend to not achieve at highest levels.  Destratification efforts in Lafayette are working well

 

Tom – Educational opportunities should be maximized for all children. Focus and charter schools have potential accountability concerns.  They can drain our resources and costs can get out of control.  Those type of schools tend to cause some segregation.  People go there for certain reasons. 

 

Jennie – Supports choice and neighborhood schools.  Her concern about charters has to do with the lack of accountability in charter schools.  Voters don’t have control of who runs those schools.  She would like to see us look at why children need to go to charter schools.  She applauds district efforts in regard to destratification.  We want strong neighborhood schools. 

 

John – Focus schools are schools within a school. Bring in professionals from outside to make a programs work.  Destratification at Uni Hill and Columbine are not working.   

 

Louise – The way to reverse stratification is doing what we are doing and improve neighborhood schools and it’s starting to work.  We have IB at Centaurus, Math and Science focus at Ryan, a decrease in class size and we are starting to see some results.  She would like to see John’s science labs at neighborhood schools (Columbine).

 

Jim –  Has worked on destratification and focus options in the past.  Destratification has to be about making choices a real option.  He believes the district’s goal is to float every school.  He would like to see every student be bilingual.

 

Do you support focus and charter schools?  Did your kids go to neighborhood schools?  If not, why not?

 

Tom – All of his children went to neighborhood schools.  He thought it was important for them to be with their peers and the parents could be more involved with people.  He believes it takes a whole community to raise a child.  He also  knows there are needs in kids that not every school can provide so choice is important. 

 

Jennie – Supports school choice and neighborhood schools.  Her kids went to neighborhood schools and went with kids from their neighborhood.  Not every school suits every child.  We need to make all of our schools as strong as possible. 

 

John – OE can occur for any number of reasons; charters, yes, if there is a reason.  There is no point in dismantling public schools.

 

Louise – OE and school choice is the law.  We have to deal with that as a district.  The reason for the charter school movement is that public schools fail their students and don’t give the families what they need.  The way we deal with it is improve our neighborhood schools and meet the kids’ needs. 

 

Jim – He is all for choice and BVSD has provided options at all levels including charters.  He is very concerned about more charters because the budget dynamics are difficult.  Public schools give students what they need.   He’s not worried about charters being accountable. 

 

Lesley – Choice is a state law and we have very educated parents that want to make choices where they send their children.  We have portfolio of schools and our job is to ensure each school offers an excellent program.  We don’t want to pit charter and focus schools against neighborhood schools.  Parents open enroll for a variety of reasons. 

 

 

August 19, 2009

Welcome and introductions Tron Welch, Tri-chair

Serving as the DPC representative is an opportunity to network, share how other schools are dealing with their successes and challenges, get a feel for the district as a whole and bring back this information to our schools.  DPC Members get a YAHOO account created from the signup sheets posted at this meeting.   Please let us know if you don’t wish your email to be on the list.  DPC meetings are always the third Wednesday, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.  The DPC website can be found on the district website under:  BVSDdistrictparentcouncil.org.  We post minutes there.  Contact forms for chairs.  If anyone wishes to be the webmaster for DPC, please see Debbie Mowery-Evans (tri-chair), after the meeting.  DPC members do represent your school.  Round Robin will start with the order in which members arrive.  As a DPC representative, if you cannot attend a meeting, please try to get a substitute in your place.

   

Eugenia Brady – Introduced herself as the new Parent Involvement Liaison for BVSD – Created by Healthy Alliance Grant Boulder County – Her focus will be working on transitions elementary to middle and middle to high school with a focus of parent engagement with the goal of closing the achievement gap.  If you think Eugenia can be of any help to your school, please email her at Eugenia.brady@bvsd.org.  Eugenia plans to visit school principals once per week and work with counselors and community liaisons

 

 

Chris King– Superintendent - Teacher’s contract negotiations update – These are challenging times financially for  BVSD and other districts.   Chris has reached out and done nine public meetings in August to answer basic budged questions.  BVSD received 4.9% new money into our budgets.  Several things happened to that 4.9% and it’s not available for us to spend.  Three basic concepts:  Declining enrollment; we are funded per pupil and our student population is declining; in May the state did a fiscal emergency reserve, which is basically a rescission of the money they gave us.  The state gave us the money, but in May said we can’t spend 3.8 million because they state might take it back. 

 

A cost of living raise is built into the salary schedule and is forever.  BVSD doesn’t have the money to commit to the salary schedule and is offering a stipend, which is a one-time payment to be negotiated every year.

 

Teacher compensation is in steps (how people move up the salary schedule).  50% of BVSD teachers get steps and 50% are stepped out.  It costs BVSD over a million dollars each year to fund steps.  Another entitlement of BVSD employees is a retirement system.  We pay in to PERA for each employee.  We are required by law to go from a previous 11% payment to 12%.  Health insurance has increased.  BVSD pays the entire cost for employees insurance increases.

 

We are offering stipend, steps, PERA and insurance.  If the state frees the money in January, teachers will get compensated, but that is an unlikely scenario.

 

The teachers union wants a 3% cost of living adjustment (COLA).  That is where the difference is.  BVSD administrators, the teachers’ union and the school board will have to make tough decisions to come up with additional money.  Dipping into reserves could lower our bond rating which would cost BVSD more money to borrow, if that became necessary. 

 

There is no timeline for negotiations.  The district would like to go to fact finding (after impasse).  If that happens, a third party will bring in fact finder. This process is non binding, but puts pressure on both parties to make it work.  72% of teachers are union members.

 

Round Robin –

Tracy Cole – Louisville Elementary Because of  bond money they were able to build a beautiful playground.  LEM had a welcome center for student assessment days for registration packets and older kids acted as ambassadors.  ESL is coming to school this year.

 

Mario Jannatpour - Fireside – Fireside did a good job of getting all students involved with the incoming kindergarten class.

 

Emerald Elementary – Jessica Diaz – Jessica is the new representative for Emerald.  She is a social worker.  Emerald registration was rough because of the movement of teachers.  The bond work is still in the design phase, next meeting 9/2.

 

Douglass - Rene Smith – A lot of changes, new principal Jon Wolfer, they have revamped PTO issues; positive feedback from assessment days; they have a  new playground .

 

Whittier  – Carola Stirle - Online registration for non English families was difficult for office staff and it took longer than expected.   Back to School night tonight.  IB school; summer reading program in which the book mobile goes to mobile home communities and matches books to kids so kids read over the summer.  Kids scored better on assessments.  Initially funded by PTA; they have started with the bond expansion. 

 

Casey – Polly Dana – They had a PTA this afternoon.  There were some rough spots with bussing issues.  Current 8th graders will finish their Casey years at Platt.  Spirits are high with 8th graders with lots of positive feeling.  School lunches are much improved.  One concern is communication to parents about how to pay-for-it communication was lacking.  Chris will look into this. 

 

LMS – Tron Welch – LMS had a very successful remodel. Tron has opportunities for selling CU basketball tickets as a fund raiser.  If you are interested, contact him. 

 

Tron is also the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee 9CBOC) Representative –The bond has gone extremely well. 

 

Broomfield – Wendy Fiedler – Broomfield’s building addition opened; they have air conditioning; remodeling happened; things are good.  Wendy is also the representative for Crayons to Calculators.  They have collected well over 5,000 backpacks and stuffed the backpacks for kids that can’t afford it. 

 

Lafayette Elementary –Debbi Serke – Debbi is setting meetings with PTA president of her school.  Their principal received the distinction of being the Colorado National Distinguished Principal last year.  Lafayette has a good energy and includes many families from different cultures.  They received a grant for the walking and biking to school program.

 

Bear Creek –Diana Spalding – They have a  garden.  One new thing they tried was emailing the class list prior to it being posted on the door and that made the process go smoother

 

Peak to Peak – Jennifer Bradfield – Jennifer previously served on the school’s accountability committee for three years; P2P has it’s own accountability committee; one program they do have is mentoring program for new families to the school.  Family mentors are assigned to several families before school starts and provide new families with tips about being new to the school.  A welcome coffee will be held after school starts.

 

Centaurus – Alise Jackson – 194 students took 259 Advanced Placement exams last spring; this is the second class that will receive IB Diplomas.  Their program is all IB classes.  80% of graduates earned IB diplomas.  This school has an engineering program connected with CU. Fourteen class graduates earned distinguished engineering degrees.  80 juniors and seniors are in leadership roles.  Parent Engagement Network is big at Centaurus and involved in parent mentoring for all incoming kids at the high school level.  The class of 2009 received 1.6 million in scholarships.  Ninth grade CSAP improved, along with school climate scores, which indicated 75.4% improved perception of Centaurus.  Centaurus has gone to late start program and adjusted lunch time so busses still come at the regular time.