Superintendent reports near-term bargaining, CEI-related AI funding and board member's medical update

Superintendent Hartman reported to the Cañon City Schools Board on April 13 that bargaining between the association and the administration continues, that the district expects additional funds tied to artificial intelligence work, and that a board member who experienced a recent medical emergency was improving.

Hartman said bargaining began the previous Thursday and that the district and association had addressed roughly two-and-a-half of the eight issues identified for negotiation. He said the parties would reconvene May 7 and possibly May 8. "We have eight total issues between the association and the admin team that we'd like to attempt to address," he said.

Hartman also said the district and several recipients were set to receive a small amount of additional funding tied to CEI (as discussed at a recent meeting), but he cautioned that this will push the timeline for how those dollars are allocated and aligned with intended AI purposes: "It does push us on this entire timeline around some allocation of dollars that needs to be aligned with the intended purposes of the artificial intelligence going to work in the schools," he told the board.

On a personal note, Hartman told the board that Brett (a board member named in the transcript) had been hospitalized but had opened his eyes, spoken, and done some walking as of that afternoon. Hartman described communicating with directors and staff about the incident and asked colleagues to share well wishes.

The report covered principal evaluations nearing completion and local events such as cornerstone ceremonies and a board visioning retreat. Hartman said staff would continue the work of aligning funds and completing evaluations, and he reminded the board of upcoming bargaining dates.

Next steps: bargaining will resume in early May; staff will continue allocation planning related to AI funds and complete remaining principal evaluations.