The Gilpin County School Board met on Tuesday, October 5, 2021, at 7 p.m. in the school auditorium and on YouTube for remote listeners.

High School Art Teacher Curt Halsted proudly introduced 10th grader Sophia Giuliano, who created a striking picture in Macro-art, which is a closeup investigation of a subject using pen, pencil, and watercolors. He said that he was glad he could introduce this artist, as celebratory presentations by teachers had been paused because of COVID-19 for more than a year.

The Board discussed the mask mandate passed by the Gilpin County Commission, which Superintendent Dr. David MacKenzie attended remotely. He has been in contact with County Public Health for more than 18 months, and has monitored the school’s situation. He had informed the Board of Education of the reasoning, based on facts, for all decisions concerning COVID at all Board meetings. He repeated himself by saying, “It’s the law, and we will enforce the law.”

Several members of the community spoke about the mask mandate. A man with one child in Gilpin school spoke about freedom of parents to make their own choices, regarding masks with their children. He suggested doing a survey.

An ICU nurse with children in Gilpin schools spoke of the magnitude of COVID deaths around the country and in her hospital. Another mother of several children was advocating for her daughter, who has challenges with learning to sound out letters and words without the ability to see the speaker with a mask on forming those letters and words.

Board Vice President Sarah Swanson spoke about the school’s possible involvement in COVID testing. She has researched the testing and found that the tests provided are rapid antigen COVID tests, which have a 15-30 percent chance of false negative results – meaning COVID-positive students could receive a negative result.

Although there is the possibility of students having the COVID virus and being asymptomatic, Swanson said she did not believe the rapid antigen tests are reliable enough to catch these cases. She said that because we live in such a small community, the testing provided by Public Health Office is sufficient to diagnose COVID cases in our school and community.

Board members Swanson and Cherokee Blake attended a meeting of the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) on September 29, a virtual meeting to draft resolutions for possible legislation concerning academic growth and achievement accountability, enhancement of school nutrition requirements, and state funding of programs to recommend to legislators, even though some rural school districts may not be able to afford them.

Swanson gave the example of all-day kindergarten, which is a good idea, but would need funding first from the state. Swanson said that after the meeting, she thought that the Gilpin School Board was “not alone” making hard decisions.

CASB heard 20 possible resolutions, and will meet again on October 22 to 23, when Swanson will present to CASB the choices made by the Gilpin Board regarding these resolutions.

During his report to the Board, Superintendent MacKenzie mentioned the fully working generator donated and installed by United Power. He said he liked that, first, there was no cost to the District; and second, the students will never miss school, as there will be no power outages at the school.

Board member Joe Marr asked the superintendent about the generator running time, which is several days. It will be a big help to the community as a fall-out shelter in a disaster situation.

Board members approved the Second Reading of the Special Policy Update from June 30, 2021. Policies updated were:

Policy CBB - Recruitment of Superintendent,

GCHA/GCHB - Mentor Teachers/ Administrators,

GCHC - Professional Staff Induction Program,

GCHC-R - Professional Staff Induction Program, Regulation,

GDBC - Support Staff Supplementary Pay/Overtime,

ICA - School Year/School Calendar/ Instruction Time,

IHCDA - Concurrent Enrollment,

JEB - Entrance Age Requirements,

JLCB - Immunization of Students,

JLCB-R - Immunization of Students, Regulation,

JLCD - Administering Medication to Students,

JLCD-R - Administering Medication to Students, Regulation,

JLCD-E - Administering Medication to Students, Exhibit,

JLCDB - Administration of Medical Marijuana to Qualified Students,

JLCDB-E Administration of Medical Marijuana to Qualified Students,

KB - Parent Engagement in Education.

MacKenzie said a retirement luncheon on October 8 will be catered by JKQ for two teachers. In-person parent-teacher conferences will occur on October 14, with masks required.

Virtual conferences will be on October 15. On the evening of October 14, Safeway will offer vaccinations at no cost at the school.

The next meeting of the Gilpin County School Board will be on October 19, 2021, when the Board will discuss Assessment and Benchmark results and decide whether or not the Board will meet on November 2, which is election day. Meetings take place in the school auditorium or on YouTube at 7 p.m.