BVSD leaders tell board schools ready for 2025-26 as enrollment, curriculum and facilities updates roll out

Superintendent Dr. Christina Anderson told the Boulder Valley School District Board of Education on Aug. 12, 2025, that the district is prepared to open schools for the 2025-26 year and that officials will present compiled public feedback on proposed attendance boundary changes to the board at a September work session.

The update matters because it describes staffing, curriculum and facility changes that affect roughly 27,000 students across BVSD as the new school year begins.

Anderson opened the district’s annual back-to-school briefing by thanking staff and previews of preparations: “Feedback will be compiled and shared with the board at a work session in September,” she said. Cabinet members then described site-level and systemwide work completed over the summer.

Dr. Dela Cruz summarized districtwide preparation and early indicators of readiness, noting teacher professional learning and daily operational work performed in schools. Robin Fernandez reviewed the district’s three-network structure and introduced nine newly placed principals, naming Julie Garcia (Monarch PK–8), Ivy Trujillo (Cole Elementary), Erin Hinkle (Creekside Elementary), Brian Graham (Broomfield Heights Middle), Amanda Jones (Aspen Creek PK–8), Nick Vanderpaul (El Dorado PK–8), Ming Scheid (Apex), Kifani Lychak (New Vista High School) and Caleb Melamed (Nederland Elementary/High School).

Bond and facilities updates: Bond director Bill Sarr told the board that crews completed 22 bond projects this summer totaling more than $74,000,000, including six universally accessible playgrounds and new career-and-technical education spaces at multiple high schools. He said athletic fields and mechanical-unit work caused some scheduling delays at select sites and that principals had been notified.

Human resources: Assistant Superintendent James Hill summarized summer hiring work: the district posted 662 job openings, processed 9,799 applications, extended 417 offers and completed 526 hires (figures include substitute and temporary postings). Hill said the district is in a better position on unfilled roles than last year and will provide the board a year-over-year analysis with more current data.

Enrollment and early childhood: The enrollment help center served about 277 families during its recent four-day operation, providing support for free-and-reduced-price meal applications and enrollment assistance. The district reported pre-K (PK) enrollment up by 88 students compared with last August.

Academics and curriculum: The academics team described year-two implementation of its coherence work and several curriculum changes: adoption of the mCLASS literacy assessment for grades K–5 and the launch of an elementary math adoption, Illustrative Mathematics. Special education leaders are beginning a new “moderate needs” program to provide an intermediate layer of supports intended to reduce placements in more intensive programs, and the CLDE team will begin a two-year sustainability cycle of coaching and on-site support for co-teaching.

Operations and IT: Operations staff completed preventive maintenance and site upgrades while food services and transportation teams prepared for year-start needs. IT reported deploying more than 6,000 devices and refurbishing several hundred more, completing a data-warehouse load of assessment data, and issuing an RFP to modernize wired and wireless network infrastructure. IT staff said they are conducting an “AI maturity assessment” and evaluating Google’s Gemini suite as part of a measured approach to adopting AI tools.

Board members and staff invited the public and trustees to school visits planned for the first day of classes, and district leaders said they will continue to provide updates to the board and community as the year progresses.

The board did not take formal action on the informational items; agenda actions are recorded separately.