Council Notes January 16 2025
1/16/2025 Council Meeting Minutes
Horizons K-8 School
Meeting Agenda: Copy of Council Meeting Agenda (Detailed)-January 16, 2025.docx - Google Docs
Call to Order: 5:35 PM
- Quorum established
Facilitators: Sarah Wise, Jasmine GBC
Notetaker: Michelle Bargo
Timekeeper: Sarah Wise
Attendance: Barb Anderson, Suzanne Tadros, Elizabeth Parady, Kristin Hauger, Sarah Wise, Allyson Desart, Dereck Monteiro, Katie Todorof, Katie Schwalb, Lauren Yedell, Jasmine GBC, Julie Cohen, Emmy Kurtz, Erin Hess, Elizabeth Parady, Teresa Joseph, Kate Bachtel, John Bogosian, Diana Stone, Quinn GBC, Erica Harrington
- & neighborhood attendees Ann Z., Marsha M
5:36 Mindfulness practice - Kristin Hauger
5:40 Welcome - Sarah Wise
- Sarah is leading facilitation training at Horizons. Everyone is welcome to participate in the next training on 1/24/25 at 8:30 AM.
- We will pause as needed to openly discuss the facilitation process.
Communication Agreements/Procedure/Concordance/Minutes
5:44 Head of School Updates: Jasmine GBC
- Open Enrollment Update: Horizons had an excellent OE push this year. We expect kindergarten to be full for 25/26 and hope to be full at the other grade levels as well.
- Approval of Revised Council Budget: There were some changes related to moving the Spring Gala to Boulder Embassy Suites and spending only half of the original amount for the playground upgrades during this fiscal year (50K of the allotted 100K).
- Motion: To approve the Revised Council Budget. Teresa Joseph
- Seconded: Barb Anderson
Concorded
- Seconded: Barb Anderson
- Motion: To approve the Revised Council Budget. Teresa Joseph
- Flexibility in our Agenda: GBC and Travis Lockhart set the monthly Council agenda and will make an effort to sequence the agenda items into the appropriate order.
- Open Forum (1 minute) - Intro (This open forum procedure is in the Family and Student Handbook. This time is to introduce topics that might reappear in later agendas.)
- Derek Monteiro - Derek and Dulce bought 15 hammocks in Brazil for the school and plan to build a hammock reading area for all!
- Teresa Joseph - Teresa’s daughter will be in kinder next year, and at her preschool (JCC) there is a lot of excitement about Horizons with many of her current classmates planning to attend Horizons next year.
- Barb Anderson - Let’s work on keeping momentum going for enrollment in the coming years. She suggests summer meet-ups for incoming families. Also, if you have a child in preschool please talk to other families about Horizons.
- Katie Schwalb - Thanks for purchasing Max’s note cards (set up outside the meeting) which are raising funds for the LA Equestrian Center after the LA fires. This is part of the Changemakers project for 3rd and 4th graders.
- Lauren Yedell - Fraiser Meadows’ proposed expansion includes a below-ground parking garage for 300+ vehicles and a 4-story building on their campus. There are major concerns about the increased traffic and the fact that a large complex is not in alignment with the neighborhood. You can contact the city planner for this project.
- Upcoming meeting with the City Planning Board is on 1/21/2025 at City Hall (or virtual) and we need community members to attend to voice their opinions.
- Ann and Marsha (from the neighborhood) - Their committee is requesting a greater setback from the transportation corridor along Sioux Dr. for safety and accessibility. They feel like it makes sense to add housing for seniors, but are looking for a safer, more compact design. Also, the construction is slated to begin in the fall and will involve 1000’s of truckloads of fill dirt coming and going right beside the school just for the below-ground parking garage construction.
- March Council Meeting Move
- The March Council meeting is currently scheduled during conferences. Motion to move the March Council meeting to 3/13/25 and the March Board meeting to 3/6/2025.
- Seconded: Erica Harrington
- Concorded
- Seconded: Erica Harrington
- The March Council meeting is currently scheduled during conferences. Motion to move the March Council meeting to 3/13/25 and the March Board meeting to 3/6/2025.
6:10 Hawks Happenings
- Kate Batchell - Learning Lab
- Kate shared a new Vagus Nerve card deck and expressed gratitude for a new collection of books and new math curriculum resources.
- BVSD has a new statement about neurodiversity but there is more work to be done to achieve an effective district policy. Could this be taken to DAC by Horizons’ DAC Rep?
- Erin Hess 5/6 science class:
- Students created and presented their own “Bill Nye Science Guy” segments. Groups picked candy experiments, researched the chemistry, and created engaging video segments. We watched an entertaining science video created by her students.
6:30 Committee Updates
- Development Committee: Kristin Hauger
- Hawks Bucks has raised around $50,000, which is less money than had been raised at this time last year. The goal is $100,000 and goes directly into the Council budget.
- How can we communicate to the community about what was purchased with the donations from last year? Could there be an annual report?
- #BigKidsPlayToo - The middle school playground project will be a collaborative endeavor with Boulder Parks and Recreation. The new playground will be a nature-based project including natural materials, native plantings, and earthworks. Time estimates for the project timeline range from 6 - 12 months.
- Prom Rewind Gala - Lauren Yedell
- The committee is working hard to plan the auction on 4/26/2025 at Embassy Suites Boulder. We are looking for more volunteers and sponsorships/ donations for the event. Contact: hk8auction@gmail.com
- Hawks Bucks has raised around $50,000, which is less money than had been raised at this time last year. The goal is $100,000 and goes directly into the Council budget.
- EDB - Allyson Desart
- GBC led the previous Coffee Connections and will be leading another on 2/7, on the topic of Black History Month. Banned Book Club reads a new book monthly. Be the Change message: Let’s fight mental health stigma.
- Taste of Horizons (community potluck) is 2/28/25 at 6 PM.
- HCG - Barb Anderson
- Pancake Breakfast is on 1/24. Please volunteer to help with this event. On 1/30 HCG is showing the movie Join or Die, and before the February Council meeting HCG will be hosting a charcuterie night. Yearbook sales end 2/7. The annual Horizons camping trip is at the very beginning of summer break. Email Joy Piper to reserve your spot.
- HCG plans to highlight parent volunteers in Skylines each week to show different ways of volunteering at Horizons.
- New idea: Ask the teachers what they need for their classrooms and post this wish list on a Horizons HelpAtSchools message board. If someone in the community has any extra items, they can be donated to the classrooms.
- With the extra 5 minutes in this section of the agenda, attendees expressed gratitude for all of the 100’s of hours of effort that goes into running Horizons!
Throughout: Facilitation conversations occurred throughout the meeting.
- When we had gone over-time on a topic, we briefly discussed whether we should add more time or request that people hold questions until the end of the meeting.
- The facilitator can periodically pause a meeting to ask clarifying questions. This strategy works well when we are within our time limits.
- On the agenda, we can solve some time-keeping dilemmas by allotting specific amounts of time for each individual bullet point, rather than showing a larger chunk of time for entire sections.
Additional Items for Discussion:
- The vacuums that were approved at the last Council meeting have been purchased, as has a new scrubber machine that Daniel and Don use.
- There is a long open enrollment wait list in all grades except 7/8.
- Friday 1/24 from 8:30 - 10:00 there will be a facilitation training with Sarah Wise that is open to all!
Adjourned: 7:07 PM