The Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) Board of Education started their long evening of meetings with a Special Meeting on September 12, 2023. President of the Board of Education Kathy Gebhardt called the meeting to order. Board members present were Richard Garcia, President Kathy Gebhardt, Beth Niznik, Nicole Rajpal, Kitty Sargent, and Stacey Zis. Lisa Sweeney-Miran did not attend the meeting.

Superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson informed the Board that the District Accountability Committee (DAC) will be presenting to the Board during the meeting. Four members of the DAC leadership team were present; Jessica Diamond, Jorge Chavez, Stan Hickory, and Chris Haynes.

The DAC leadership team briefly talked about the DAC subcommittees like school accountability committee (SAC), policy committee, and family engagement. DAC as a whole would like to align more with the Board’s priorities. They would also like to be more intentional about their work in supporting SAC and principals in the schools.

DAC appreciates when they see the work they do has made progress. The DAC leadership and the Board continued in conversation about the value of SAC at all the schools and family engagement throughout the district. They also thanked Dr. Anderson for his open and honest approach.

The regular BVSD Board of Education meeting began after a short break.

Board members present were Richard Garcia, President Kathy Gebhardt, Beth Niznik, Nicole Rajpal, Kitty Sargent, Lisa Sweeney-Miran, and Stacey Zis. The BVSD Land Acknowledgement and Mission Statement was read.

During Public Comment five juniors from Fairview High School passionately and articulately called on the Board to meet with them, consider and pass the Green New Deal for Schools resolution. A parent also spoke about the fact that September is Suicide Awareness Month and the connections between youth, guns, and suicide. Board member Nicole Rajpal mentioned that she would like the Board members to be invited to the Gold Hill School’s time capsule unveiling. They would love to see it.

The Board then moved on to the 2023-24 Budget update and the 2024-2025 Budget Development process. Boulder Valley School District’s CFO Bill Sutter presented the budget presentations.

There is a decline in enrollment throughout the district. They have built the budget to reflect this. Many districts throughout the Front Range are seeing declining enrollments. Sutter commented, “With the exception of early learners in BVSD’s UPK (Universal Preschool) and Enrichment programs, total student enrollment this year is largely close to what we had budgeted for, so as of now we feel confident in meeting budgetary expectations for the year.”

Sutter said that Colorado voters will be voting on Proposition HH and Proposition II which has implications for school district budgets. It was brought up in comments that Proposition HH is very complicated and if passed school districts will not see much money.

Sutter shared the 2024-2025 budget development process and milestones. Some of the challenges BVSD faces with their budget is the shifting enrollment patterns, variability and risk in state budget forecast, continued inflationary pressures, wage pressures and compensation expectations, and federal funding cuts and flat funding. He also reminded the Board and the public that when there is a 1% drop in enrollment in BVSD (300 students) that means 12 fewer teacher FTE and fewer support staff per standard staffing formulas. Fewer students means fewer teachers and less revenue.

Dr. Lora de la Cruz began a presentation titled Student Support, Mental Health, and Well-Being. BVSD has placed protocols in the district for bullying prevention, trauma response, and suicide prevention, Title IX, and health education curriculum.

There are three tiers of supports available to students in elementary and secondary schools. School administrators have been given instructions on how to report a bullying incident. Parents can also go to the BVSD website to report a bullying incident. https://www.bvsd.org/parents-students/ health-and-wellness/health-promotion and-prevention/bullying-prevention

The Board then approved several action items. The Board approved Policy AE/AER however, the motion failed to remove the redline edits.

Board members also looked at Policy KF/KF-R (Community Use of School Facilities). The Board received information about the current policy from attorney Kathleen Sullivan.

The BVSD Board meeting was then adjourned.

To read more details of BVSD Board of Education meetings you can view the meeting agendas at https://go.boarddocs.com/co/bvsd/ Board.nsf/Public. Board meetings are livestreamed and can be viewed at BV22. The direct link is https://bv22.viebit.com/player_ live. php?hash=0622f51b-2efa-4f4c-8424- 8c23ee51b653. The BVSD Board of Education meetings are held at the district’s central office at 6500 East Arapahoe Road, Boulder, Colorado. The Board meets every second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 6 p.m.

The Board will be holding a Regular Meeting on September 26, 2023, at 6 p.m.