By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

The Thompson School District’s (TSD) Board of Education held its regular meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 21. The board received updates from the Citizen Mill Advisory Committee (CMAC), Exceptional Student Services (ESS), an update on professional development, air conditioning and Strive 2025.

During Superintendant Marc Schaffer’s report, Ivy Stockwell Elementary student Sarah Freeman received a commendation for securing the top prize in the TSD Spelling Bee. Additionally, accolades were extended to the athletes of Berthoud and Thompson Valley’s Unified Basketball teams—an extension of the Special Olympics for high school-aged children —for their great game.
Brandy Grieves, principal at Turner Middle School, received a nomination for a Top of Thompson award in the administrative category. Grieves was nominated for her support of staff, willingness to seek input and effective teamwork.

In public comment, a Berthoud resident residing near Turner Middle School expressed concern about preserving century-old ash trees on school grounds. She would like to gain the support of the school board to maintain the trees on the premises. Mayor Will Karspeck asked the resident to speak for him as he supports preserving the trees as well, but the board disallowed the resident to do so, as each speaker is only alloted three minutes to speak.
Moving on to action consent items, the board unanimously approved personnel, extra duty and coaching recommendations, expenditures exceeding $50,000, gift donations, Loveland Classical Schools charter renewal, the second reading of acceptable use policy revisions and a proclamation for National School Counselor Week.

Following the approval of action consent items, the board moved on to discussion items. The first item was an update from CMAC.

CMAC’s purpose is to independently review expenditures of the district as they pertain to the voter-approved 2018 Mill Levy Override (MLO). They provide an additional level of review to annual financial audit results and monitor the status and nature of mill levy override expenditures and initiatives through information provided by district staff.

The committee is made up of 12 members across various stakeholder groups, representing Berthoud, Fort Collins, Johnstown and Windsor, including those who are parents of district students and those with financial backgrounds. CMAC currently has four vacant positions.

CMAC reviewed and discussed the 2023 fiscal year regarding the MLO totaling $21 million for the district, and found that 79.1% of expenditure activity went to salaries and benefits, 12.5% was allocated to charter schools, 3.4% to technology, 2.8% to curriculum and instructional materials, 1.9% to the School Resource Officer program and 0.3% to property tax collection fees.

Chief Academic Officer Melissa Schneider and Director of ESS Lazlo Hunt discussed challenges in staffing for special education, particularly in positions for psychologists and speech and language experts.
The board switched gears to discuss professional development. Professional development courses offered to classified and licensed positions totaled 534 between July 2023 to January 2024, and the total hours completed by district staff totaled 65,442. Courses for classified staff include Leadership 101, Decision Making, Leadership Style, Difficult Conversations, Change Process and Interview Process.

Air conditioning sustainability was the next item of discussion. $2 million of bond contingency money was previously approved for AC, and the district has reviewed spaces in district schools to find the most efficient placements of AC units.

This update went into overall energy sustainability, where the district has received a grant for three short electric buses, grants for six dual-port electric charging stations and on top of this the district is looking into electric fleet vehicles.

The district is also looking into implementing solar power and updating to LED lighting. Proposed implementations for Berthoud High School are the retrofitting of interior and exterior LED lights and low-flow toilets, sinks and urinals.

Other schools in the district are part of the project as well, and the total estimated cost of the project is just under $5 million, with an expected total scope savings of just under $8 million over 20 years. TSD has been working with the Colorado Energy Office and Schneider Electric to get the project in motion.

Strive 2025, the district’s strategic plan was discussed, with student achievement being one area covered in the plan. In terms of student achievement, the 2023 graduation rate was 91.1%. Third-grade literacy rates are increasing, and gaps among student groups are closing in graduation rate data and in some academic areas as well.

Supportive and inclusive culture is another area in the plan, and under this area, the district was able to expand interpretation and translation services, expand the co-responder program and add more small-group community forums and additional staff and student listening sessions.

Under the same area, the district is working to solidify the processes for American Sign Language support.

In the human talent area, the district has increased classified salaries by 64%, licensed by 40% and administrative by 31% over the last seven years. For the stewardship of resources area, 2018 bond projects are closing out and audited by the Citizen Bond Oversight Committee, the district has developed the Long Range Master Plan for district needs and an increase in student intern and apprentice programs in middle and high schools to support digital device repairs. The development of financial assumptions related to the potential bond initiative is currently in progress.