GILPIN COUNTY - The Gilpin County Board of Education (BOE) met at 7 p.m. on August 5, 2025, in the Board Meeting Room in the Gilpin County School, ushering in the 2025 - 2026 school year.

Along with the new year, a new board member was welcomed. 

Jill Peterson was appointed by the existing board members following the resignation of Tami Velazquez, whose family moved out of the district. Susie Murphy has stepped up to fill Velasquez’s role as Booster Club President.

There will be an election on November 4, to elect three members to the board, including the position that Peterson now holds, a two-year term. The remaining two seats are four-year terms.

Board members Kirsten Goodlett and Sarah Swanson were absent. 

During public comment, Kristen Turner, parent of a Gilpin High School student who also attends Warren Tech for part of the day, expressed concern because the spring breaks between the schools do not align, as they have in past years. 

Dr. David MacKenzie, Gilpin’s superintendent, responded that a solution could be worked between the schools and hoped that this conflict could be avoided in the future. 

Joe Tinucci with the business office presented revenue and expenditures for the 2025 - 2026 school year. Tinucci reported that there was not a lot of comfortable space in the budget for the school year and cautioned there would be lean times for the next two to three years.

In addition to the budget being stretched, there will be less funding coming from the state, which will have an additional negative impact on district funding. The district will need to proceed with caution and consider carefully before adding expenses, Tinucci advised. 

MacKenzie added that the district has become dependent on the City of Black Hawk’s revenue and hopes that support will continue.

Catrina Amaya, secretary to the board, presented updated information on staff health, dental, and vision insurance plans, for which premiums have increased across the board. Amaya noted that this increase was likely the result of the several major health-related incidents that occurred in the past year. 

It was stated that the district is unique in that it provides dental and vision insurance for staff, unlike any of the surrounding districts. The district pays 100% of these premiums.

For staff wanting to insure children or spouses, the monthly costs are significantly higher. Amaya commented that the staff members have tried to be conscious when seeking medical services by using telehealth and other cost-saving measures. 

District staff will need to decide which plans they will be registering for within the next couple of weeks. The district is paying $535,000 in premiums for the year, which continue to increase with each renewal.

Discussion of future agenda items included a school board candidate forum to be organized and presented by student council students.

Another discussion involved the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 audits reviewed by John Cutler & Associates, CPA. These audits have been delayed due to issues with past auditors, but MacKenzie noted that there has been much progress made in bringing everything up to date.

After adjournment, The Mountain-Ear interviewed the new BOE member, Jill Peterson, as to what led her to put herself forward for the BOE. 

Peterson responded that she wanted to give the BOE “a new person who could look at the workings from a fresh viewpoint.” She noted that she comes in looking at the big picture. While not committing at this point, Peterson is considering running for one of the BOE seats in November. 

The agenda and documents for this meeting are on the RE-1 website (gilpin.k12.co.us) under the Board of Education Agendas for August 5, 2025. There is a complete video of this meeting on the GCSD YouTube channel. Click on the YouTube link to access the channel.

The next Gilpin Board of Education meeting will take place on August 19, 2025, at the Gilpin County School at 7 p.m. in the board room.