By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

Thompson School District’s (TSD) Board of Education held its regularly scheduled meeting on June 21. Several action and budget items were discussed and all were passed unanimously by the board.

Laughter filled the room during roll call due to an issue with reverberating audio on their microphones. After gaining composure and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, the meeting kicked off with an adoption of the agenda and minutes which were both unanimously agreed upon.

Superintendent Marc Schaffer provided updates on the school district. TSD’s Camp X-STREAM, a summer camp program for kindergarten through eighth graders that provides two free meals was mentioned along with 60 TSD students from four of the high schools earning the Seal of Biliteracy, 29 of which earned the Colorado seal and 31 receiving the Thompson seal. Multiple students won the Colorado seal in two languages, including Aubry Watson for French and Spanish and Jillian Childs for German and French.

Board President Barbara Kruse and Schaffer attended a special ceremony held by the Colorado Department of Education to accept multiple awards for the district, including Berthoud Elementary’s John Irwin Schools of Excellence Award and Ivy Stockwell Elementary’s Governor’s Distinguished Improvement Award.

Jaycee Williams, a junior at Berthoud High School (BHS), and Blaine Voth, head coach of the BHS track team were honored by the board for Williams winning the Class 3A track and field state championship in the 800-meter race. Williams ran the 800 meters in 2:13.2 minutes and Voth commended her ability and perseverance through her injury. Williams received a round of applause from the audience for her performance.

Schaffer introduced Shawn Collins, the new principal of Loveland High School. Collins feels honored to have the opportunity to serve the Loveland community.
The meeting moved on to board and committee reports. Nancy Rumfelt addressed her struggles with being a conservative on the board and would prefer that education remain non-political. Stu Boyd spoke of Berthoud’s Summer Free Lunch Program which he attended, a program that gave out 75 lunches the day he was present. Pam Howard spoke of the Thompson Education Foundation and its’ program to assist children in receiving school supplies. Dawn Kirk spoke of her gratefulness for doing work to create connectedness for students to their school. Alexandra Lessem spoke of her excitement about new and different things regarding school openings and closings and the challenges that come with them. Amy Doran spoke of the positives of nutrition services in the district. And Kruse reflected upon graduation and community support.
Kruse opened up the meeting to public comment. Public concerns included behavioral issues found within the classroom leaking outside of campuses, researching transgender student policy and teacher walkouts.

Donations included $1,039.98 from Moms for Liberty for outstanding school lunch balances in the district, $5,000 from Donna Olmstead for school use at Ivy Stockwell Elementary with half dedicated to the music department, $3,844 from Intel to be used for the book trust at Truscott Elementary, $5,000 from Subaru of Loveland to support wellness and classroom needs at Truscott Elementary, $2,500 from Book Trust to support the book trust at Truscott Elementary and $3635.20 for outstanding student lunch balances at Namaqua Elementary from John Smith in memory of Phyllis Smith.

Action consent items consisted of approval of personnel, extra duty and coaching recommendations, approval of expenditures over $50,000, approval of gifts and donations, approval of the Head Start grant, approval of the notice of designated elected official and approval of district participation in 2023 coordinated election, approval of second reading policy JLCDC and regulation JLCDC-R authorizing private care specialists to provide medically necessary treatment in school settings, approval of second reading policy ECAF and regulation ECAF-R, use of video and audio monitoring, approval of second reading policy CC administrative organization. The motion to approve these consent items was passed unanimously.

Gordon Jones, chief financial advisor of the district spoke of the district participating in the state interest-free loan program. Jones asked that the board vote to allow but not necessarily mandate the use of the program. A unanimous motion approval was made to allow the program into the district for another year.
Approval of the 2022-2023 supplemental budget adoption, approval of the resolution of the use of the beginning fund balance for the 2023-2024 budget, approval of the resolution of appropriation for the 2023-2024 budget, approval of a resolution of budget adoption for 2023-2024 and approval of 2023-2024 TSD superintendent amendment to the contract were all passed unanimously.

Discussion item 8.1 was the Master Planning Committee (MPC) update which spoke of the increasing need for seats and potential remodeling or additions in Berthoud as the population grows. The budget is projected to increase to about $60 million over the next five to seven years.

Item 8.2 was professional development which covered the development over the ending school year and the plan for next year as well. 8.3 covered the summer school update, 8.4 covered communications updates regarding Blackboard, the application used for teacher/parent communication. 8.5 was a youth shelter update that is projected to be finished at the end of 2024. 8.6 covered 2023-2024 equity strategies and 8.7 covered a Strive 2025 update.

The meeting concluded with several compliments on the Strive 2025 update.