Superintendent Ruby Bode smiled proudly at the Tuesday evening meeting of the Estes Park School Board as eight students shared their experiences completing the Summer Challenge, a workbook that engaged students to keep learning over the summer break.
The students were awarded with prizes of Bobcat school “merch” for their achievements.
“I challenged every student in Grades 1 through 8 at the end of the school year to keep their learning going over the summer. I sent a workbook home with all the students and 84 students in the school district brought their workbook back on time,” said Bode. “That’s not to say only 84 completed the workbook. Those are the ones who brought it back, and the students joining us tonight are some of those 84 students who continue their learning.”
“I’m very proud of you for those accomplishments, and I think we all owe you a big round of applause,” said Bode.
Fourteen students emailed Bode over the summer to say they had found mistakes in the workbook. She then emailed the publisher to point out the mistakes the students had found. “We had some students that were doing some real critical thinking over the summer and identifying some mistakes. They were smarter than the publishers,” said Bode.
The students were invited to address the members of the school board with any comments. One young scholar spoke up and said, “I have one more thing to say. They should fire their editor, seriously, because there were lots of people who found the mistakes in the workbook, but the editor let them all slip by. They should just fire their editor.”
The school board directors and members of the public roared in laughter as the astute and articulate critic made his case. “I found three mistakes on the same page. I think if a bunch of elementary school kids can find all those mistakes, then the editor should be able to.”
The editor of the Estes Valley Voice quickly made an offer to the boy’s parents for him to come on board as an intern copy editor.
In other business
Bode reported that currently the student census is 956 with 895 full time students and 61 part time students. That is a decrease from last year but Bode said they graduated a large class of seniors in the spring. This year’s kindergarten class is smaller than last year’s class, however. The official census will be done in October.
She also reported on some encouraging data points. The number of chronically absent students decreased by 10%, there was a 15% reduction in behavior infractions, and there was an increase from 47% to 53% of students achieving math proficiency or above.
The school board reviewed the school’s financial statements and Board Chair President Stacy Ferre asked about the impact that the special legislative session might have on property taxes and school funding.
The Colorado General Assembly’s regular 2024 session ended in May, but Gov. Jared Polis called the legislature back to address a property tax relief measure in an effort to prevent two measures, Initiatives 50 and 108, from being included on ballots this November.
The measures, supported by Colorado Concern and Advance Colorado, are aimed at reducing property taxes. Critics say the measures, if passed by voters, would significantly reduce revenues for local governments, school districts and other local tax districts that rely on property taxes.
Brian Lund, the director of business for the Estes Park School District said he is watching the legislative session to see what happens because if property taxes are reduced, it could affect the school’s budget, “We don’t know how it’s going to shake out either this week or in November.”