GILPIN COUNTY — If there was a theme to the October 5 Gilpin County RE-1 Board of Education meeting, it would have been "better communications."

The Board discussed better ways to communicate with the public, with each other, with staff, and between students. New developments in the Sewer Interconnect Project were also revealed.

All members of the board were present, with Superintendent David MacKenzie representing the District administration. There were no student presentations.

The first item on the agenda was a presentation by Tracy Krug regarding a new program the District has purchased for student social and emotional learning, called iLead (growingleaders.com).

The iLead curriculum will be taught at all grade levels (K - 12) and is based on leadership principles developed by John Maxwell. Krug is a Maxwell Leadership Certified Coach and will be involved in training staff in the use of the curriculum.

All students will have iLead lessons once a week for 14 weeks to gain understanding of 16 values that promote leadership skills and social and emotional growth.

Krug said schools that have used the values-based leadership iLead curriculum for several years have seen a significant decrease in Tier 1 disciplinary problems. Board member Kristin Goodlett expressed some skepticism about the claims regarding behavior changes and emphasis on every child learning to be a leader, citing her career as a counselor in public schools.

The program is being funded from the School Health Professional Grant the District received from the Colorado Department of Education to fund a school social worker position.

Other business

In new business, the board reviewed and discussed a document on communication protocols between the board and the public and between board members. The document listed examples of Public Comment Protocols, Board and Superintendent Internal Communications, Core Governance Norms, Interaction and Civility Norms, and Operational Norms.

The Board will consider formalizing these protocols as policy at a future meeting.

MacKenzie announced a change in notifications regarding emergency drills. In the future, any lock-down or emergency drills will be announced ahead of time to the public. MacKenzie said that this was to avoid calls about what was happening whenever there were police or fire vehicles at the school.

In his report to the Board, MacKenzie gave an update on the sewer interconnect project.

“Phase III Sewer Interconnect Project (remaining 262 feet to connect the school to the BHCCSD sewer) was re-advertised for bid proposals," MacKenzie wrote. "A pre-bid meeting was held on October 1, 2026. This second request for proposals includes a 'value engineering' process prior to the submission of bids. Value engineering gives the potential bidder the opportunity to improve the construction design to increase functionality and to reduce the school’s cost of construction."

Bids are due October 28.

The Board finished the evening by discussing the timetable for Meet and Confer meetings with staff in November. There will be seven meetings with the different departments.

The next board meeting will be on Monday, November 2 at 7 p.m. in the school boardroom. The Part-time Homeschool Enrichment Program is scheduled for public input during the meeting.

Documents for this meeting can be found on the District website, gilpin.k12.co.us. The discussion with Tracy Krug and the Board regarding the iLead program begins at 10:53 of the YouTube recording.