Jessica Wheeler, topic: Buena Vista. Ms. Wheeler spoke of "choice and innovation," federal programs, President-elect Obama's plan and the direction education needs to go. Ms. Wheeler, a Buena Vista parent, supported keeping Buena Vista open and the Montessori program intact at Buena Vista.

Dr. Bishop commented that, "When you are in a district that has lost 4,000 students in the past ten years, I think it is prudent for the board to take a look at the situation and make sure that we need to either keep going the way we're doing, make some changes, or make other changes and modifications in order to afford the best education possible for all the students in a large school district in Colorado Springs. There are several ways of going about this and we've been accused a lot of times of a top down situation, where the administration and the board came up with a plan and accused of doing it kind of unilaterally and so forth. We wanted to make sure that would not be the case this time and so we developed a multi-phase plan in order that everyone in this community would have some say and at least even a plan before we started looking at making any decisions. Now, that process started back in August and September by hiring a consultant; the consultant spent two months, September and October coming up with just some suggestions. A lot of the way these suggestions have been played in the media and so forth, is kind of like there's been some final decisions made. There have been no final decisions made. All we did as far as the results given to the administration and to the board by the consultants was take that information and go to the second phase, which was the development of a steering committee, in which that steering committee was to come up with a way and kind of a formula that we would utilize going to the community and gaining more information and suggestions and so forth. That committee took the month of November...and came forth with a model that we can use throughout the community to gather this information. During the month of December...we took this month to work with staff. We've been working with principals, ESP (educational support professionals), teachers, central office staff; we've tried to make sure as many people that work for this district has input to that process. Then we're going to take that information and during the month of January, we're going to the community. We're going to have several meetings throughout the community; those meetings will be announced widely by the media and so forth, so everyone will have an opportunity to attend one of the meetings and provide input to the process. the steering committee will take all that information and provide it to the board during the month of February. At that time, the board will have hearing and later on during the month, they will make some type decision of what they think is best for this school district to move forward, to utilize its facilities the best we can and at the same time continue to provide the best education for this community that is possible...I want to assure you that the administration does not have a list of schools to close at this time. "

Director Tanner moved to adopt all consent items as designated in the agenda. Consent items: 

• B.2. Two-Hour Delayed Start, December 9, 2008
• B.3. Revisions to Policies BDFB, JKF and JKG
• B.4. Revision to Policy JKD/JKE-2
• B.5. Revision to Policy DFA/DFAA

Director Strand seconded the motion, which passed, 7/0.

Vicky Chiles, teacher at Emerson, topic: Support to Keep Emerson Open! Ms. Chiles spoke regarding the families that live in the Emerson area and attend the school. She said the kids mean a lot to her and they need a community school.

Mr. Poore presented a PowerPoint presentation and spoke to each slide.

For the 2009-10 school year, administration proposed only open to 6th grade in the Emerson facility to create a culture. Current 6th and 7th graders at Emerson would attend Irving Middle School. Those students from Emerson attending Russell will continue to receive transportation (for the next two years).

Dr. Bishop spoke regarding the importance of using the model of opening to only one grade (6th grade) the first year a school reopens to change the culture. The research is clear and the evidence from across the United States support opening to only the youngest grade.

Discussion, questions and answers followed. Board members had concerns about the current 6th and 7th graders at Emerson. Mr. Poore commented that he wasn't sure that administration could open the new school to all three grades and do it well and with fidelity. He assured the board that the principal at Irving, Judy Hawkins, is ready to receive them and can work wonders.

President Hasling asked for a motion.

Director Tanner moved that the Board of Education Starting with the 2009-2010 school year a district run magnet school with an aeronautical focus, with support from community partners, including but not limited to, The Space Foundation, Economic Development Corporation, The Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, and Peterson Air Force Base, to open in the former Emerson-Edison school facility. Director Bobbitt seconded the motion.

Discussion continued.

Director Tanner commented that she felt for the future 7th and 8th graders next year, who won't be able to be in this location, but we have to promise all students that no matter where we educate them, they will have an excellent education. She said that all 7th graders would be able to take advantage of programming that the Space Foundation would provide. Opportunities would be available at every middle school.

Director Strand said he was not convinced that this school had to be a magnet school, or that it couldn't be opened to 6th, 7th and 8th graders in a traditional school. He was concerned about that student who did not want to go to Irving and would cross the border to another school district. He requested proof that this program would be able to provide a curriculum that would make a difference and would increase test scores. Mr. Poore responded that administration and staff had some real work to do to open this school and that was why they recommended only opening to 6th grade. He also cited what's happening at Galileo.

Director Null might approve this tonight if a decision wasn't made about what to do with the current 6th and 7th graders.

Director Mann commented that she would support reopening to 6th grade only. She asked Mr. Poore to confirm that all current 6th and 7th graders from Emerson would attend Irving next year. He replied yes, administration felt it would be better to keep them as a group together and that Irving had the room.

Director Gudvangen said no matter how exciting the proposals may be, the rubber hits the road with the teacher in the classroom. He felt it was clear that cross cultural relationships should be paid attention to; cross culture partnerships was important. He said there was still a lot of lack of specificity, and a lot of work left to be done, "Frankly, I don't think I would be supportive of this if there weren't a Space Foundation partnership." He commented on his concern about resources for all of the district's schools.

Director Bobbitt clarified that they were no longer looking at a school of innovation. Dr. Bishop responded that was correct. He said their recommendation would not to be to use the Innovative Schools Act; there are too many questions about it; about the legality of using it in this situation. However, we could use some of the concepts.

Director Bobbitt commented that he felt this all worked into and was part of the Utilization Study. He said he was totally in support of this because of the involvement of the Space Foundation.

The motion, that the Board of Education Starting with the 2009-2010 school year a district run magnet school with an aeronautical focus, with support from community partners, including but not limited to, The Space Foundation, Economic Development Corporation, The Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, and Peterson Air Force Base, will open in the former Emerson-Edison school facility, passed, 7/0.

Dr. Bishop clarified with the board that what they wanted administration to do was to investigate the options, research the availability of curriculum and communicate to them about their findings and plans to open only to 6th grade next year.

The Board of Education adjourned at 10:30 p.m.


Julie Rene Stevens, secretary to the Board of Education