The penultimate Gilpin RE-1 board of education meeting for the 2023/2024 school year took place on May 21, 2024, at the school boardroom. It was largely a ceremonial affair. The biggest business item on the agenda was the hiring of a new secondary principal.

With the end of the school year on the horizon, the Board celebrated the many accomplishments of the students and prepared for the school’s graduation ceremony on May 25 by inviting past board members to participate in the awarding of certificates.

The reports by the principals highlighted end-of-year activities and the completion of student testing. Elementary principal Patrick Linnehan reported that the Colorado Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science and Social Studies Assessments (CMAS) testing was a big success with a 100% participation from the Elementary School students. Linnehan thanked the Elementary PTO for distributing hot breakfasts to all third to fifth grade students during the testing week.

Outgoing secondary principal Alexis Donaldson gave her last report to the Board and provided a schedule of the final secondary school activities for the 2023/2024 school year. In her final comments Donaldson thanked the board, Superintendent David MacKenzie, and the school staff for their support and an amazing 27 years at Gilpin RE-1.

MacKenzie had two capital improvement items in his superintendent’s report. The first item was the scheduled meeting on Wednesday May 29 with ESCO Construction to discuss the sewer pipeline project and traffic on Highway 119 during construction. The Board will have a video of the meeting posted on their YouTube channel for the public to review.

If everything goes as scheduled, MacKenzie reported, the final phase of the ADA access project will begin around June 10.

Under new business, the Board approved by a 4-0 vote hiring Sarah Reich as the new secondary school principal. Board chair Sarah Swanson recused herself from the vote because of personal connections with the applicant.

Reich lives in Idaho Springs and has been a teacher and administrator in the Jefferson County school district for the last ten years. When Board Member Tami Velaquez asked her why she wanted the job, Reich replied that she was ready to invest herself more in a smaller community.

Reich said that she has a child in elementary and a child in middle school. Being a working mom, Reich said her leisure time has been limited but the family enjoys outdoor activities like mountain biking, camping and fishing.

The other new business was to unanimously approve an invitation to present and past board members to participate in the graduation ceremony to recognize and honor past board members who served the school and their community.

The final board meeting for the school year will be held on June 4 in the school boardroom. There will be a Budget Study and Dialogue Work Session at 6:30 p.m. followed by the regular board meeting at 7 p.m. The Board will vote on final approval of the 2024/2025 budget and set the calendar schedule for the new school year.

There is a video of the May 21 meeting on the RE-1 YouTube channel. The actual video starts around the 21st minute. The agenda and documents for this meeting are on the RE-1 website (gilpin.k12.co.us) under Board of Education Agendas.