Members of the Gilpin County School staff asked for more transparency from the Board of Education at the Tuesday meeting as they all adjust to a new school year and new health care provider.

After Board President Joe Marr read the Study and Dialogue purposes, teachers began to discuss the academic year thus far. Many teachers brought up concerns they have had in regard to transitioning to a new health care provider, including having coverage denied after appointments. The Board explained that most of the errors the teachers have been suffering are due to new practices and procedures between changing health care providers.

Several teachers also expressed concern over their finances and miss deposited checks. Again, the Board responded that part of the difficulty was due to changing business managers this year. Marr also said that the previous business manager had not shared information on running the school’s finances with anyone. “I’ve asked questions for the last 20 years - specific questions about school finance and reporting and things like that and I was told answers that I’m finding out now aren’t necessarily true,” he said.

Marr asked for the staff to be patient and reminded them to keep their own eyes on things and that the Board absolutely wants to support the teachers in any way they need.

In response to this message several teachers asked if there could be better forms of communication from the Board so that such mishaps might feel less chaotic in the future. Marr and other Board members took time throughout the meeting to assure the teachers and staff that the Board wanted to work with teachers as much as possible.

The Board also briefly discussed ways to attract permanent substitute teachers in order to relieve some of the pressure from current teachers. According to The Hechinger Report, even before the pandemic US schools were unable to cover teacher absences 20 percent of the time in 2018-2019, well before the COVID-19 caused teachers to quit en masse and put substitute teachers in high demand. Gilpin joins schools across the country in their search for teachers. The Board agreed to consider several solutions including raising pay for unused time off for current teachers to incentivize them not to take days off. They also addressed possibly raising rates for substitutes.

Other topics discussed in the meeting were struggles to supply enough fresh milk in the school cafeteria because of supply chain issues, increasing club stipends for non-athletics, increasing teacher salaries in the upcoming school year to keep up with inflation rates, raising principal salaries, and allowing elementary teachers at least one free lunch period without duty.

The Board of Education meets on every first and third Tuesday of the month in the Board Room, 10595 CO 119, Black Hawk, CO 80422 and sets aside time for public comments in every meeting. The meetings can also be streamed via the Gilpin School District YouTube page.