Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

April 5, 2022, 5:30-6:45 PM

Minutes Approved

STEM School Highlands Ranch

Minutes

Board of Directors Meeting

Date and Time

Tuesday April 5, 2022 at 5:30 PM

Location

High School Commons

Enter through the Secondary Entrance

Directors Present

C. Gustafson, I. Kalra, K. Reyna, N. Smith, R. Lukez, R. Martinez (remote), R. Thatavarthi

Directors Absent

M. Horne

Guests Present

A. Westfall, BoardOnTrack

I. Opening Items

A. Call the Meeting to Order

K. Reyna called a meeting of the board of directors of STEM School Highlands Ranch to order on Tuesday Apr 5, 2022 at 5:34 PM.

B. Record Attendance

C. Reciting of the Mission Statement

D. Approve Minutes

K. Reyna made a motion to Approve the March 3, 2022 minutes after the error indicated below is correcrted.

R. Lukez seconded the motion.

In the CEO for KOSON Schools contract section (IV), there is a typo: the phrase "Motion was approve..." needs to be changed to "Motion was approved".

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

II. New Business

A. Student Leadership Report

The WISH Week Fundraiser goal for this year was $15,000. Total raised- $18,500!

B. Proposal- Establish May 7th as a perpetual day of giving and no school

K. Reyna made a motion to make a resolution to embrace the concept below: STEM School Highlands Ranch will be closed for regular operations on May 7 of every year, to instead be used as a day of giving to honor those who were impacted and thank those who provided support.

C. Gustafson seconded the motion.

The Board discussed whether a motion or a resolution would be more appropriate to best serve STEM school. It was determined that they would make a resolution to support the concept as presented. Adjustments to the academic calendar and the decision of whether to observe the nearest school day to May 7 in subsequent years will be up to the administration.

The board VOTED unanimously to approve the motion.

C. Executive Director’s Report

Staffing updates

Covid update- we are out of outbreak status

Updates around STEM

D. Announcing STEM’s new executive director

LynAnn Kovalesky is STEM's new Interim Executive Director

E. Election Update for one open Class A Board seat

There is a Class A position open. The ballots will be collected through email. Every parent is allowed to vote once via their email address, so it is suggested that every adult in the family use a separate email address when voting.

F. Policy Committee- Update

Default will be to use the DCSD policies as guidance. Draft versions of updated STEM-specific policies have been sent to the board for review.

G. Public Comment

There were 4 people who signed up for public comment: 3 STEM parents and 1 STEM student.

First public comment-STEM Parent raised concerns regarding 9th grade English curriculum.

Second public comment-STEM Parent raised concern regarding the 9th gr. English curriculum being anti-police, anti-democracy and racially inflammatory. This parent felt that the teacher failed to notify parents of content.

Third comment- STEM 10th Gr. Student - requested STEM bring back snow days. Presented counter arguments to the 3 posted reasons for no snow days.

Fourth Comment- STEM Parent raised concern regarding 9th gr. English curriculum. The teacher should not teach students what to think, but how to think. Requested that the students be offered books teaching messages of redemption and hope. Parent permission should be attained prior to exposing this age group to explicit language and sexual content.

III. Closing Items

A. Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 6:41 PM.

Respectfully Submitted,

K. Reyna

Never Stop Innovating! We envision a world of exponential possibilities where every child develops the innate knowledge, skills, creativity and character to thrive, lead and succeed in an ever-changing future.