From the Board - September 10, 2025 - Scott Bolitho

The September 10, 2025, School Board meeting was held at Elk Creek Elementary. It’s always great to be in the buildings, hang out with the teachers and staff, and hear about all of the fantastic things that happen every day within our schools. Ryan Fideldy and his staff do a great job, and their focus on student achievement and student independence is truly commendable. One of the best parts of being out in the schools is that each kitchen staff provides food for the meeting. That is always a highlight. The Garfield Re-2 kitchen managers and cooks are so very talented.

Superintendent Kirk Banghart shared with the Board that Garfield Re-2 has once again achieved Accredited status on our Colorado District Performance Framework - the first time since 2019. This reflects the dedication of our teachers, staff, leaders, and students across all of our schools.  Superintendent Banghart reminded us that this honor comes from years of hard work across the district, and I would be remiss if I didn’t also include the leadership of our former Superintendent Heather Grumley and Assistant Superintendent Lisa Pierce. They laid the groundwork for this remarkable achievement to occur. Now our focus shifts to building on that momentum through the Unified Improvement Plan or UIP.

Re-2 Staff leaders discussed how we move from celebrating today’s success to planning for tomorrow. Through a process called the Unified Improvement Plan (UIP), our schools and district teams are analyzing student data together. Teachers, principals, and staff are all at the table to identify what’s working, where we can improve, and how to focus efforts on just a few key goals at a time. This approach ensures that improvement plans aren’t just “check-the-box” paperwork, but real, living strategies that guide how we support every student.

Director of Elementary Curriculum, Simone Richardson, walked us through the process that all school and District leaders participated in to create their first draft of the UIP. Schools are now following the same process to create their school improvement plans and will share the information with their Parent Teacher Associations and/or School Accountability Committees. Be watching for those meetings so you can learn more about the plans for your school.

The Board completed final approvals of two policies:

• The Instructional Time and School Calendar has been updated to include new language required for our full-time online program. We learned about that program at the last board meeting.
   
• The School Board Policy Process policy that reduces the number of readings required for a policy from three to two. This will improve the efficiency of the School Board and speed up the policy approval process.

Both passed unanimously after a third reading.

Finally, some of you may have seen the list of candidates for the 2025 school board election. My director seat, District E, is up for election this year. You may have also noticed that my name was not part of the eligible candidates for this election.

After much thought and consideration, I have decided not to run for re-election for the Garfield Re-2 School Board this year.   It has truly been an honor and a privilege to serve on the board and to work with such an amazing group of teachers, staff, and administrators.  The students of our district are fortunate to be taught and mentored by these great people.  I will miss the interactions with each of them.  

The district is in a great position overall and is getting stronger.  The academic performance of the students continues to grow, which reflects on the overall Strategic Plan and the hard work of our staff and students.  We have had wonderful leadership over the past few years, and with Kirk Banghart and Jenny Nipper leading us now, we are in very good shape moving forward.  

I look forward to having Steve Beaulieu representing District E during the next term.  He will do a great job for our district. 

Our next Board of Education meeting will be at Riverside Middle School on September 24. As always, families are welcome to attend!

Thank you for being part of our Garfield Re-2 family, and thank you all for the opportunity to represent you on the Garfield Re-2 School Board. Together, we continue to build on success and keep our focus on students, staff, and community.