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Spelling bees and flashcards and yoga -- Oh, my!

WES ISENHART
Posted 1/29/25

The meeting of the Gilpin RE-1 school district board of education on January 21, 2025, included Yoga presentations by students, reports on student testing results, an extensive discussion on the 2025/2026 school year and unanimous approval on first reading of the 2025/2026 salary schedules. The board deferred until the next meeting consideration of changing the policy on graduation requirements (IKF).

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Spelling bees and flashcards and yoga -- Oh, my!

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GILPIN COUNTY – The meeting of the Gilpin RE-1 School District Board of Education on January 21, 2025, included students’ presentations of yoga, reports on student testing results, an extensive discussion on the 2025/2026 school year, and unanimous approval on first reading of the 2025/2026 salary schedules.

The Board deferred until the next meeting consideration of changing the policy on graduation requirements (IKF).

On a cold January night, students from Ms. Sepanik’s yoga class showed up to demonstrate to the Board what they had been learning regarding mindfulness and emotional control using yoga. Sepanik earned a certificate from Breath for Change to teach yoga in schools. During her presentation, Sepanik stressed the benefits of yoga in dealing with anxiety and stress while increasing flexibility, strength, and gross motor development.

Elementary Principal Patrick Linnehan started his report by recognizing Lucy Jodlowski as the January Elementary Student of the Month. Lucy was cited for showing amazing personal responsibility and leadership skills in Outdoor Ed.

The bulk of Linnehan’s report was devoted to showing the comparative Fall and Winter results of the STAR Benchmark assessments in reading and mathematics. All the grades except 4th showed improvements in both subjects. The number of students at or above the benchmark improved, while the number of students in intervention programs decreased.

Linnehan said that one of the best ways to help elementary students improve their mathematics abilities is to use flashcards and practice with them throughout the day—for instance, during TV commercials or after dinner. The multiplication and division tables need to be learned from practice.

Linnehan’s report highlighted the school-wide spelling bee that is scheduled for Tuesday, February 4, at 9 a.m. in the auditorium. The school is looking for parent volunteers to help judge.

Classroom spelling bees will take place the week of January 27. The top three students from the 4th and 5th grade traditional classrooms, as well as the top two Montessori 4th graders and the top two Montessori 5th graders will advance to the school-wide bee.

Secondary Principal Sarah Reich recognized Zoeigh Zeimantz as Middle School Student of the Month as an amazingly hard worker who is very caring and brings out the best in others by encouraging her peers to be responsible and do the right thing.

Vinny Schoel was recognized as the High School Student of the Month. Reich said that Vinny leads by example and inspires his peers by being a positive role model. Vinny helps make our Gilpin community strong and deserves to be recognized for his hard work and determination.

Reich has been performing classroom walkthroughs and providing teachers with feedback on what she has observed.

Superintendent David MacKenzie reported on the ongoing implementation of the PowerSchool student information content system. Gilpin is starting to use the ParentSquare feature to deliver notifications to parents on a variety of topics.

MacKenzie spoke about the benefits of tailoring notifications to specific sets of parents.

Under new business, the Board continued their deliberations regarding the 2025/2026 school year and received input from staff in attendance. One issue was the discrepancy between school days for elementary and secondary students. There was much discussion as to whether there should be a single calendar for all students or one that is split between the two groups.

The one thing everyone agreed on was that the 2025/2026 school year would start the second week in August and end the last week of May. The Board unanimously voted to have MacKenzie make the recommended changes and place it on the agenda for a first reading at the next meeting.

On first reading, the board unanimously approved all the 2025/2026 salary schedules. They also deferred discussion of changes to the policy on graduation requirements until the next meeting.

The next RE-1 school board meeting will be on February 4, 2025, at 7 p.m. in the Board meeting room.

The agenda and documents for this meeting are on the RE-1 website (gilpin.k12.co.us) under the Board of Education Agendas for January 21, 2025. Click on the F.1._Elementary Principal Report_1.21.25.pdf  to see graphs of the elementary student testing results. There is a video of this meeting on the GCSD YouTube channel. Click on the link on the agenda to access the video.