GILPIN COUNTY — The Gilpin County School District Board of Education met on August 17, 2026, getting ready for the coming school year. They passed first reading of a draft of the District Accountability Committee charges, and debated the merits of several resolutions that will be brought to the 2026 Colorado Association of School Boards (CASB) Delegate Assembly in September.

The Board also received reports from the Elementary and Secondary principals regarding the start of the school year and considered the possibility of creating a program to assist homeschool students.

In his remarks to the Board, Superintendent David MacKenzie highlighted the success of the Fill the Bus donation drive that dispensed school supplies in a novel way at Back to School Night. Spearheaded by Matt Lindberg and Tyler Tigge from the Horseshoe Casino, supplies were procured and loaded onto a school bus. Students were able to go onto the bus to choose the supplies that they needed, ranging from pens to backpacks.

MacKenzie noted that the Walmart in Evergreen donated $1,000 in merchandise, while the Black Hawk City Council and Silver Dollar Metropolitan District donated $2,000 each in cash. The donated funds will be distributed as gift certificates.

The principals didn’t have written reports prepared, but spoke about early school year activities. Secondary school principal Sara Reich told the Board that the dress code had been updated, and she had discussed the student code of conduct with the various grades.

Elementary school principal Patrick Linnehan reported that he had also spoken to the students about the school code of conduct and student expectations. The field trip to 100 Elks is two weeks early this year so there will be an emphasis on fundraising for the trip.

In new business, the Board voted unanimously to approve on first reading the draft of District Accountability charges. The District Accountability Committee (DAC) is a volunteer advisory group that makes recommendations to the District for improvements in performance or effectiveness. DACs are required by the state to oversee District actions and meet eight times during the school year.

Those items the DAC committee reviewed were listed in the agenda packet. The policy associated with each item was also listed. Some of the items to be reviewed, like budget expenditures, are statutory requirements, while some are unique to the Gilpin environment.

A proposal to create a program with a homeschool network to provide homeschool students with opportunities to attend enrichment classes at the Gilpin school resulted in a decision not to move forward with the proposal presented at the previous meeting.

Board President Joe Marr suggested that the District consider moving forward independently with creating a homeschool enrichment program for the 2027/2028 school year. Marr said it could be an opportunity to reach out to homeschool kids and receive some revenue from it.

Board Member Jill Peterson asked what it would take to get an estimate of what is required to create such a program. How could the District determine interest in such a program, and what resources would be needed to implement it?

No vote was taken, but the Board agreed to continue to consider the possibility of creating a part-time homeschool enrichment program.

CASB is a lobbying organization that represents the interests of the 179 public school districts during the state legislative session. Gilpin will send two delegates to the annual delegate assembly in September. The Board discussed seven resolutions that will be voted on at the assembly.

While no votes were taken, the Board arrived at a consensus to have their delegates support all seven resolutions.

There will be no Board meeting on Labor Day, so the next meeting will be on September 21, 2026, at 7 p.m. The first DAC meeting of the year will be on the same day at 5:30 p.m. Documents for the Board meeting can be found on the District website (gilpin.k12.co.us). Click on the About tab and then the Board of Education tab to get to the agenda and related documents.