Gilpin County School Board announced changes to the crediting system for high school students starting in 2023, implementing a six block period schedule rather than the eight block system used to this point.

The change will not affect any student’s graduation dates or their ability to graduate with the appropriate credits for college courses. The change was made after COVID-19 forced changes in the schedule to accommodate the difficulties caused by the pandemic at the time. Moving the block schedule at the time garnered a positive response from teachers. Fewer periods means that classes are a bit longer which gives teachers the chance to more fully explore their topics.

The school board also heard principal presentations on school environments and learning achievements this year. Secondary principal Alexis Donaldson presented her efforts to create a more care focused community by hiring a new therapist for students to speak to and hosting talks and community events with parents (she’ll send further information through her school newsletter).

She also presented on the school performance data recently published in which the school garnered 73 out of 100 which was broken down into several parts. The school performed at or above state average in academic performance in all things except 4th grade math and 11th grade PSATs. The middle and high schools performed above state averages in academic growth.

The elementary school also did well in academic performance but fell behind what was expected for academic growth. Heather Huntoon explained that the school is appealing the test because they felt the sample of students who took the test was too small to accurately reflect the school’s actual performance. “I want to be realistic about what the statistics are showing. This is a month this school has 200 plus kids in it and maybe within those 200 we are seeing growth so I just don’t want to say that these 24 kids represent the entire elementary school,” said Huntoon.

While they are appealing the score, however, Huntoon assured the Board that she is still exploring ways to ensure that the school continues to grow in the future.

The School Board announced that they are officially approving a measure to allow the school to carry and administer epipens and narcan. Previously, the board thought these were too expensive to be practical for the school to administer but a recent contract with Children’s Hospital now allows the school to carry the emergency items on campus. “If somebody needs something we’ll be able to have it here. With these changes we are able to get those for free so that’s why we change and have them on hand for emergencies,” said Superintendent Dr. David MacKenzie.

The rest of the meeting was occupied with student presentations. Jesse Melenca presented a painting he’d completed in his second grade art class. The painting will hang in the boardroom for the rest of the year. The students who run the middle school newspaper also presented their work to the Board, explaining the intricacies of running a student newspaper, which they founded themselves. The newspaper involves students from each middle school grade to report on everything from school sports to a weekly comic strip with its own characters. Max Tanner also spoke to his experience at the school saying that he has always felt his experience with Gilpin County schools to be a positive one.

The Gilpin County School Board meets bi-monthly on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Board members are held in the Gilpin County School Board room at 7 p.m. and are open to the public.