September 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM - September 17, 2025 Regular Meeting

Description:  Board of Education meeting minutes for August 20, 2025

Description:  Shout Out! - 

To Lacey Larimore, Vernon Hall, Lindsay Huskey, Angela Beanland, Kati Gardner, Deb McVicker, and Devon Lane for a pretty spotless health inspection.
To Todd Beanland, for a nearly perfect School Transportation Assistance Review(STAR) for vehicle maintenance and inspection records.

Check Fraud connected to Teacherage Account
Irrigation Leak — Sprinkler Pros believes there is a leak. Has not been able to locate the leak. The pump runs constantly even when no watering is happening.
Custodian replacement — We are advertising for a full-time custodian. There is a substitute custodian for approval tonight that has been helping out this week. Currently, we have one opening, and we are down another custodian due to surgery.
Transportation Audit — The transportation audit went well. We were written up for not all small vehicle drivers performing their pre-trip inspection. We have addressed the issue. We are looking into electronic programs for the paperwork and record keeping in the transportation department.
Bus Drivers — Todd and I met with the CDE auditor and asked about certifying drivers. The process is much more manageable than originally thought. To get certified as a trainer, a person with the qualifications would have to attend a one-day training session. The training sessions are held around the state throughout the year. Unfortunately, the training for our region is in Durango tomorrow. The qualification we are running into currently is that the person must have two years of school bus driving experience. We have discussed some options, and I am going to continue to work on getting a certified trainer in the district or partnering with a neighboring district.

State Discipline Data Report
Here is the link to the public discipline information on the CDE website. https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdereval/suspend-expel 

I'm sure some of our data is suppressed see below:
please note that only Behavior codes 01-16 are state reportable and due to student privacy laws, some data fields may be suppressed. Districts should use CEDAR/COGNOS to review data if more in-depth information is needed for their specific district. If you would like more information on the suppression process, please reach out to me at StudentDiscipline@cde.state.co.us.
 

Description:  New Administrative Structure Rounding and New Staff Rounding Input forms are linked below.

• Stacy and I rounded with a sample of staff members on the new administrative structure for the two buildings.  
• September 30th - Our leadership coach, Dr. Bonita Coleman, will be on site to work with our leadership team for the day. We will focus on next steps for the Bulldog Way and review the district priorities. 

District Priorities
 

Increasing Student Achievement and Growth Implement/Continue implementing Progress Monitoring Continuing Implementation of PLC Relationship building, Building of Emotional Bank Account Assessing of Instructional Capacity Ensure Operational Efficiency Ensure clear team communication and support Develop DC Standard Operating Procedure Manual - After the Financials Audit Develop a DC Assessment Management System Effective Communication Develop a district-wide Communication Plan Develop DC Branding Guide Revise District Website - Up and running Develop and monitor a semester-by-semester communication plan The Bulldog Way! Introduce and Implement the Bulldog Way Begin speaking the language Create lesson plans for each character trait

Description:  The schools are focusing on Teamwork as the first trait focus. The elementary school is doing daily activities and recognizing students and staff for showing good aspects of teamwork. As the leadership teams discuss the traits, many of the traits make up good teamwork, so they have to integrate all Bulldog Way traits into the lessons and activities. 

The secondary school is working on speaking the language and having discussions about the traits. For Teamwork, the students and staff did some class activities focused on teamwork, and like in elementary, all the Bulldog Way traits are part of a good team. The secondary students had an activity in the gym/commons where they had to work as a team to move through a minefield created with pieces of paper. The students and staff showed very good engagement through the discussion and activity. Including staff and students together helps to build better relationships throughout the building. 

Description:  Elementary school is evaluating its Science curriculum, while secondary school is focusing on its Social Studies curriculum.
Elementary Science
The elementary teachers are working through the CKLA program that was purchased for ELA, and determining the needs for Science. The CKLA program integrates science lessons throughout covering many of the state science standards. The curriculum committee is doing a cross-reference with the state standards and CKLA to determine what standards are missed. To cover the additional standards, the curriculum is looking at a couple of different options to provide the resources needed to cover all standards. The use of an online program may be the best choice to provide the necessary resources for the teachers to provide the science instruction needed to meet all state standards. 

Secondary Social Studies
The curriculum committee is looking at the secondary social studies curriculum. The current textbooks cover the materials and standards that are needed, but the textbooks are beginning to become warn out. The committee is checking into how much longer the current resources being used will be printed. A couple of the issues with a new purchase are that parts of most history textbooks were removed due to political agendas, and care has to be taken to make a purchase that aligns with the ideals of our community. The hope is that there will be a swing back to including all parts of history.

Description:  District Newsletter

• The fall district newsletter will be mailed out at the end of this month or the beginning of October. The information for the articles has been collected.
• The newsletter will be mailed out to Dove Creek, Egnar, Cahone, and Pleasant View residents. 

Description:  Ag Shop/Secondary Building Improvements project

• BEST grant award following the elections
• Board approval of the Design Build contract with Nennan Archinstrucion at the October board meeting.
• Working with CDE rep on the Owner's Representation scope to begin the procurement process for our project OR. 
  • OR RFQ/P submitted for review 9/22, RFQ/P posted 9/29, Proposals due 10/15, Board Approval November meeting
• The initial kickoff meeting was September 9th with TNC
• The first design meeting will be scheduled for the week of November 18th
• A tentative timeline has been created for the project with a completion date of April 2027

Description:  The district was dropped from Accredited to Accredited with an improvement plan due to state assessment scores that did not meet expectations. The elementary school scored 41.7% and the expectation was 42%. The middle school scored a 52 and the expectation was 52.9%. We are going through the "Request to Reconsider" process for elementary as we have local assessment data that we will be able to use to achieve expectations. The request process is due by October 15th. Here is the link to the state Performance Frameworks web page: https://www.cde.state.co.us/accountability/performanceframeworkresults   

Description:  With the shortage of certified bus drivers, our coaches have been asked to drive their teams more and more. This school year driver pool is limited to one driver with a CDL who is willing to drive a few activities. Attached below is a spreadsheet of what it would cost the district for each activity trip depending on whether a certified driver took the trip with a large bus or the coaches drove with one and/or two vehicles. The distances and times are approximations, and they are used for both all calculations although there may be a little variation in the actual drive times for large buses and small vehicles. 
After completing the calculations, the district will be paying two drivers to drive less than one certified driver with a large bus. There are a few trips that are mid range trips that will be more expensive for two drivers, but overall it is not expensive.
Additional Information:

• Certified drivers have a higher rate of pay per hour for drive time
• Certified drivers receive sit time once the group has been dropped off at their destination.
• Certified drivers receive $100/night overnight fee.
• Coach drivers get paid the base driver rate and are paid for drive time only
  • If the driver has additional duties other than driving such as, but not limited to, teacher or para duties, activity sponsoring, coaching or administrative coverage, they do not receive sit time or overnight compensation.
• Coach/sponsor drivers will use the district timekeeping system to record drive time.
• Drive time will be paid at a regular monthly pay date.
• All driving regulations and requirements must be met and followed by all drivers.

Description:  Minor Technical and Stylistic; Changes to "Directory Information"

Description:  New Policy

Description:  New Policy

Description:  As superintendent of schools for Dolores County School District, I recommend the approval of Action Items 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 as presented. 

Action Item 10.1 will be recommended dependent upon board discussion of the two policies as Discussion Items on this agenda.  The policies approval date was September 1st. I believe the board of education needs to understand the policy and agree with what is written in the policies. If consensus can not be reached in a discussion, Action Item 10.1 may be tabled and brought back after further work and discussion.

Description:  During the 2025 legislative session, Senate Bill 25-276 passed. Titled "Protect Civil Rights Immigration Status," the bill modifies state immigration law to apply certain requirements to school districts, among other public entities. The law has two main objectives as it relates to school districts-(1) prohibits the collection and disclosure of immigration related information, and (2) requires districts to have a well defined process for how to interact with federal immigration authorities and secure District buildings from unexpected visits.

Description:  New Policy

Description:  * New Policy, our legal counsel has reviewed this policy for us. 

Description:  Updated wording on District mission

Description:  Mainly legal updates

Description:  Special meeting subject matter update and cross-reference updates. 

Description:   Updates regarding the extenuating circumstances for electronic participation.

Description:  A list of our current substitutes for the school year. 

Description: 

Quarterly Financial Report, possible workshop for Superintendent evaluation, Strategic Plan Workshop, and Design-build contract for approval. Lori, with Major and Haley, is planning on being ready to present the Audit to the board.