By Brendan Henry
The Surveyor

The Thompson School District held its monthly school board meeting on April 17. Topics covered in the meeting included an update from Berthoud High School (BHS), a budget update, results from the recent bond initiative survey issued by the district and an update on technology in TSD.

The BHS Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) team was recognized for their impressive performance at the state leadership conference this year. The team was present and got a round of applause and a photo taken with the board.

Following the FBLA’s recognition, Gordon Boschman, the principal at BHS, provided a spring update for the school. He spoke of their unified improvement plan, citing the increasing graduation rate from 2023 sitting at 95.3% from 92.5% the year prior. Boschman says that there is still work to be done with the remaining 4.7%.

Boschman also spoke of the rising enrollment rate trend from the last five years and noted that with more students, there have to be changes. The industrial technology construction position will return to a full-time position. Upon student request, he says that the school will offer two sections of an introduction to engineering class next year, along with two new unified music and physical education classes.

He also adds that improvements to restrooms in the high school will be made, such as the addition of more wheelchair-accessible stalls and improvements of soap dispensers, mirrors and replacement of faucets. There will be additional wheelchair ramps placed in the hallways to be ADA-compliant. Gender-neutral restrooms will be added and improvements to traffic flow are intended to be implemented.

During board committee reports, Berthoud’s elected board member Stu Boyd spoke about attending the Berthoud Bash, an event that has helped fundraise for Berthoud area schools. Boyd said that the event raised $150,000, and the cumulative total of fundraised money in 15 years is now over $2 million.

Andy Crisman, the president of the Thompson Education Association, approached the podium during public comment to speak about the discipline issues amongst students that educators addressed at the last board meeting. Crisman said that although the district tries to provide engaging instruction to help avert disruptive behavior, these issues are coming about regardless of the instructional approach. While TSD implements a ‘discipline matrix’ that is designed with flexibility in mind, Crisman believes that discipline should be consistent.

Crisman also pointed out that only some, not all staff are trained in de-escalation and he believes that this along with restorative practices would only be beneficial to the district.

The board moved on to unanimously approve the action consent items on the agenda, which included the approval of multiple items, including personnel/extra duty/coaching recommendations, expenditures over $50,000, gifts/donations, the Head Start self-assessment report, the Head Start fiscal policy manual, the middle school science curriculum adoption, the 2024-2025 TSD organizational chart and the Week of the Young Child Proclamation.

The Week of the Young Child, which runs from April 6 through April 12, is meant to highlight and provide quality foundational learning for young children. It is also meant to recognize the educators who work with children.
After approval of all action consent items, the board moved to discussion items. The first item was an update on federal and state programs, led by Chief Academic Officer Dr. Melissa Schneider and Director of State and Federal Programs Jesse Tijerina. Tijerina spoke of Title 1 and its intention to help ensure that all children have the opportunity to gain a high-quality education and reach grade-level proficiency.

TSD Chief Financial Officer Gordon Jones presented a budget update to the board. The update includes a 2024-2025 preliminary estimation of total revenue consisting of $157,165,460 from School Finance Act program revenue, $39,291,365 from Mill Levy Override revenue and $16,750,000 from other sources, totaling $213.2 million.

The TSD put out a survey on its website that ran from March 27 to April 8 gauging public support of three varying bond initiative options. Three options included $160 million, $250 million or a $350 million bond initiative. The results of this survey were presented to the board.

Regarding the first option, a $160 million bond initiative, found that 57% of survey takers approved, along with 30% against and 13% undecided. For the second option, $250 million, 50% approved, 36% rejected and 14% undecided. The $350 million option saw 41% approval, 44% rejection and 15% undecided.

Chief Technology Officer Kelly Sain gave an update on Tech4All, a program that seeks to provide students with digital tools with the goal of higher student achievement. This summer, 5th through 11th-grade students will take devices home with them, and 12th-grade students will be given the option to keep their Chromebooks following graduation.

The next TSD school board meeting will be held on May 15.