The Gilpin County RE-1 Board of Education held their last meeting of the year on December 12, 2023. A few technical glitches at the beginning led to the meeting starting late, at 7:06 p.m.

Board members Kristen Goodlet, Joe Marr, Joseph Stranaly, and Tami Velasquez were in attendance, while President Sarah Swanson attended virtually. Superintendent David MacKenzie presided over the meeting and provided the agenda.

Student of the month, freshman Autyauna Amaya-Beard, was seated at the Board table and read the Mission Statement. In nominating her for student of the month, Amaya-Beard’s teachers said that she is a role model in class.

Under the congratulations and celebrations section, MacKenzie recognized the quality and spirit of the Middle School production of Mean Girls Junior. The two performances were well attended. Elementary Principal Patrick Linnehan said that the kids enjoyed the Tommyknockers celebration in Central City. They hung ornaments on the big tree in Central City and listened to stories at the Teller House. Secondary Principal Alexis Donaldson congratulated the students who were recently inducted into the National Honor Society and National Junior Honor Society.

Elementary technology teacher Caitlyn Davidson and six students showed the board their class project, which combined using technology to make engraved trivets with a personal Haiku poem about what the students were grateful for. The students read their poems to the board. The students participating were Anabelle Wiley, Haidyn Thompson, and Dominic Kennedy, all in third grade; Maybel Icenogle and Jesse Langenback, third grade Montessori; and Denver Paxton, second grade Montessori.

Linnehan in his principal’s report noted that they are completing the winter STAR benchmark reading and math assessments. He highlighted 4th and 5th grade traditional reading. 71% of these students scored at or above grade level for their STAR assessments.

Ms. LaJudice’s Upper Montessori class completed an Oregon Trail section where they learned the history of the Oregon Trail, learning map skills and involving reenactments. Fourth and fifth grade traditional students are completing a Native American cultures unit.

The Love and Logic book club was popular with the teachers and a second book club will be starting up in January with seven staff members joining so far.

In her principal’s report, Donaldson congratulated the competitive cheer team for their success in several competitions. The cheer team competed in both team and individual events. She also recognized eight student representatives who attended the Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) convention in Colorado Springs and were able to see and hear how school boards work.

The Board unanimously approved the Reconciled October 2023 General Fund Revenue and Expenditures report. Joe Tinucci from the Business Office was present to discuss with the board the 2023/2024 budget. He said that the District had 362 funded students. Tinucci and MacKenzie had done a line-by-line-item review prior to the meeting. Through a series of motions, the Board unanimously approved the 2023/2024 Revised June Adopted Budget.

The final business of the night was a review of the CASB annual convention. MacKenzie commented that the delegation included the largest group of students from the school that had ever attended the convention. They had good interactions with other students attending.

Goodlet said that the session that she got the most from was the one on neurodiversity. The session involved discussing the challenges of integrating people with neurological disabilities (ADHD, Autism, Aspergers) into business and educational environments.

Marr said that he enjoyed attending CASB conventions because they gave him some perspective on how good overall Gilpin is compared to other rural districts.

Stranaly was impressed with the session on crisis intervention by mental health professionals and School Resource Officers (SRO) in Weld County. He said that they reported having a lot of success dealing with students in a crisis. After speaking with board members from other districts, he also came away thinking that Gilpin was in a pretty good place compared to some other districts in the state.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:02 p.m.

The Board will hold a special meeting on January 10, 2024, at 6:30 p.m. to certify the mill levy. The regular Board meeting will be at 7 p.m. the same day.

Documents including the 2023/2024 Revised June Adopted Budget can be accessed through the December 12, 2023, Board agenda on the Gilpin RE-1 website (gilpin.k12.co.us/en-US). A video of this school board meeting can be viewed at the Gilpin School YouTube Channel (YouTube search term: Gilpin County School District RE-1).