Thompson school board approves 2022-23 budget, plans for enhanced school security
To wrap up the 2021-22 meeting schedule of the Thompson School District (TSD) Board of Education, the board reviewed and approved the proposed budget for the upcoming school year and also enacted measures to increase security at all district schools.
During the public comment period of the meeting held on June 15, Berthoud resident Erin Barajas, who is a mother of two children, one attending Ivy Stockwell and the other enrolled at Turner Middle School, addressed the board regarding the teaching of controversial subjects in both buildings.
“Some parents are not aware of the day-to-day encounters that happen in the schools. This is what is going on in Thompson schools right now, ‘protect trans youth’ posters are hanging in Turner Middle School, discussing gender dysphoria and sexuality with our students is happening inside of both Ivy and Turner, there’s BLM (Black Lives Matter) posters hanging inside all of the classrooms,” Barajas explained. “My son, actually in fourth grade at Ivy, brought home a voice recording of an SEL (social-emotional learning) class where his teacher, fourth grade, discusses ‘it’s okay being a male presenting person wearing female-presenting clothes under their shirt,’ the context was a bra, identifying as homosexual or non-binary is simply fine and implicating if you don’t believe these things, you will not grow as a person.”
Barajas implored the board to increase accountability of what the teachers are teaching in the classrooms, saying it is naive to not believe if it’s happening in Berthoud, it’s not happening district wide.
The board voted 6-1 in a series of two of the three votes, per statute, to approve the 2022-23 budget which board member Nancy Rumfelt the no vote in two of the three. Rumfelt, stated “we were all elected to govern the school district which includes transparency and accountability for how the taxpayer money is spent, I cannot and will not vote for a budget that I cannot explain any Thompson community member about what or how the money is being spent,” requested the budget be presented in a “more easily understandable way.”
At the previous meeting, held on June 1, the board heard a presentation from TSD Chief Financial Officer, Gordon Jones, regarding the proposed budget. Gordon stated at the meeting on June 15, when the budget was approved, only a small, “roughly $3,000 adjustment” was made from what was proposed on June 1.
While enrollment in the TSD has deceased from the 2021-22 budget approved last year, and the TSD and Thompson Education Association agreed to a raise for teachers of $5 million, the overall budget for the upcoming school year sits at $184.19 million. The budget also includes funding for the two charter schools in the area – New Vision and Loveland Classical Academy – as the TSD acts, in effect as the bursar by allocating funding to each school.
The board also approved some changes to school security processes and procedures district-wide, with officials saying the changes will increase student security while also providing mental health experts associated with a program at the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) to serve as co-responders in certain instances.
The changes will also increase security at TSD elementary schools, due to increased number of staff members involved in various aspects of school security and will also provide additional security measures for after-school activities like sporting events and other co-curriculars.
The board also approved the schedule for official meetings for the 2022-23 school year. The board will retain the same format as prior years, with meetings occurring on first and third Wednesdays of every month, will hold two meetings at Berthoud High School on Oct. 18 and April 19. The first board meeting for 2022-23 school year will take place on Aug. 3, is open to the public at the district offices at 800 S. Taft Ave. in Loveland as well as streamed live on the TSD’s YouTube channel.
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