Poudre School District Board Meeting - 10/24/23

For more information see the full notes document here.*

View the meeting agenda and packet.

A video recording of the meeting is available here.

Superintendent’s Report

Brian Kingsley, PSD Superintendent since 2021

Kingsley said Putnam Elementary school is the highest performing school with high poverty in the state of Colorado. A long-range planning website for PSD is under development which will share data that drives future decision making. A steering committee of teachers and parents from all feeder patterns will be formed to help address future consolidation, closure, and boundary changes. A facilitator will be hired to assist with additional engagement. Kingsley said he is committed to better engagement moving forward while noting that population and budget challenges are not going away.

Community Comments

• A community member asked for more engagement with Integrated Services and more responsiveness and respect from the board. This was echoed by another community member.
• A community member suggested creating schools with smaller grade sizes and continuity between grades.
• A community member talked about the benefits of integrated services special education at Olander elementary and invited board members to see the program in action.
• A community member talked about the importance of dyslexia and early identification.
• A community member asked why expeditionary learning was not listed as a factor in a request for proposal to study demographics and potential school closures.
• A community member asked for greater data and financial transparency.
• A community member talked about the importance of community at Polaris and the importance of LGBTQIA+ representation in future decision making.
• A community member suggested regular talk radio segments to improve district communication. A community member talked about the importance of the discovery program at Centennial high school.

The next community engagement session will be Nov. 15 and signups will open up Nov. 2. Board Director Draper stated she learned new things during the last engagement session and that this is a “learning board” and, “We don’t know it all.”

Integrated Services Update: IEPs increase since COVID, PSD graduation below peer districts

Dennis Rastatter, Executive Director of Integrated Services for PSD

Integrated Services serves 3,000 students. The department oversees the implementation of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA Federal) and Exceptional Children’s Education Act (ECEA State). There are 188 special education teachers and 340 paraprofessionals in PSD. Reading and math achievement scores for students with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) have been increasing and are higher than pre-COVID levels. Graduation rates are close to the state rate, but are below peer districts. The district plans to conduct community engagement sessions in early November.

Graduating with Options Update: Career Connected Pathways Focus

There are 18 Career and Technical Education pathways that PSD students can start exploring in middle school. Students that concentrate in pathway coursework via at least 4 courses have higher graduation rates across all student categories compared to students that do not. Students in the program commented that it would be beneficial to combine some of the core high school requirements into concurrent classes and classwork. The PSD Future Ready program has space in its Foothills Mall location. A high school planning guide is being developed to highlight all the different pathways. The high school registration process will include testing Xello, the career pathways tool, and Synergy, the data tool. This will be a pilot to see how to help students with career planning. The eventual goal is a single platform.

Executive Session HR Hiring Practices

Questions to Consider

• Will PSD be successful in increased commitment to public input for future consolidation plans and who will be hired to facilitate?
• How has Integrated Services changed hiring practices?
• Will career and technical pathways affect PSD graduation rates?

Next Meeting

November 14 at 6:30 p.m.

*Citizen Observers further the commitment of the League of Women Voters to its principle of Citizens Right to Know, however, we are not acting as journalists. Omissions and errors are possible. It is assumed that users of this information are responsible for their own fact-checking. This could include contacting a government clerk, conversing with an elected official or staff, and/or asking us to speak to the Observer who attended.