Celebrating 100 Days of School!
Staff and students at Platte Valley Early Learning Center dressed as seniors to celebrate 100 days of school! Students wore wigs, suspenders and even walked with canes. This is a big accomplishment we like to celebrate each year, especially with the added fun of dressing up!
Success Skills Students of the Quarter: Creative Problem Solver
Congratulations to our Success Skills Students of the Quarter 3! These students were chosen for their dedication to being a Creative Problem Solver- a skill we teach our students in each grade. Being a Creative Problem Solver is all about approaching challenges with curiosity, critical thinking and imagination. We are highlighting these students for their hard work of practicing this skill at school. They each are being highlighted on the PVES weekly broadcast as well as given a yard sign to celebrate this accomplishment! Congratulations, Broncos!
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SPED Students Gain Real‑World Experience Through Community Partnership
Recently, our Special Education students had the opportunity to step into the community and support Kersey Pizza, where they practiced essential real‑world skills in an authentic work environment. During this experience, students focused on customer service, including taking orders, communicating with customers, and handling payments.
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Student Represents PVHS at Startup Event
PVHS student, Owen Hatch, represented Platte Valley High School at a recent Startup Colorado event at AIMS Community College. Owen presented to business officials from across northern Colorado about his drone businesses and entrepreneurship. Owen was also highlighted as a student who shows how to be a Creative Problem Solver; one of our Success Skills. To learn how he puts this skill into practice, watch here on our YouTube channel. ____________________________
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PS/ES Parent/Teacher Conferences
4/1/2026, 4 PM – 8 PM
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No School P-5 PS/ES Parent/Teacher Conferences
4/2/2026, 12 PM – 8 PM
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Regular Board of Education Meeting
4/13/2026, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
131 9th St
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HS Parent/Teacher Conferences
4/15/2026, 4 PM – 8 PM
Platte Valley High School
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District Accountability Meeting
4/20/2026, 6 PM – 8 PM
Central Office Board/Community Room 131 9th St. Kersey, CO 80644
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PVEA Meeting
4/28/2026, 7 AM – 8 AM
Platte Valley Middle School; Presentation Room
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PVHS Awards Night
4/29/2026, 6 PM – 9 PM
Platte Valley High School
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Preschool/Kindergarten Round Up
4/30/2026, 4:30 PM – 6 PM
Platte Valley Elementary School
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Little American Royal (LAR) Livestock and Horse Show
5/1/2026 – 5/2/2026
Platte Valley Middle School
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MS/HS Spring Band Concert
5/6/2026, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Platte Valley High School
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Regular Board of Education Meeting
5/11/2026, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
131 9th St
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Graduation
5/17/2026, 10 AM – 12 PM
Platte Valley High School
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Regular Board of Education Meeting
6/8/2026, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
131 9th St
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Special Board of Education Meeting - Adopted Budget/Financial Decisions
6/16/2026, 5 PM – 7 PM
131 9th St
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HS Last Day of Summer School
6/18/2026
Platte Valley High School
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Kersey Community Easter Egg Hunt
Join us for the Kersey Community Easter Egg Hunt at the Platte Valley Elementary School Playground!
FFA Greenhouse Geraniums for Sale
Don't miss out on a chance to purchase beautiful geraniums from the After Prom Committee! Grown in the Platte Valley FFA Greenhouse, these flowers will bring spring right to your home. Orders can be dropped off at any of our schools or mailed to the address listed below!
Small Engine Tune-Up Shop
Bring your mowers and machines to the Platte Valley High School Ag Department for service. Available by appointment from 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM! Sign up using the Signup Genius link or QR code, and for more details, contact Mr. Lotspeich at 970-336-8740 or [email protected].
Resource Connection Night
In partnership with Centennial BOCES, join us for a night of support as we provide tools and resources for families looking to provide resources for their students.
Construction on the new Platte Valley Middle School is going well! Here are updated pictures from the construction site. Stay tuned for more on construction updates in Platte Valley Middle School's April Newsletter coming out this week!
2026-2027 Registration Information
UPK enrollment for the state-funded preschool is now open for the 2026-2027 school year!
Requirements:
- Available to students who will be 4 years old by August 1, 2026.
- Be sure to pick Platte Valley Early Learning Center as your only location choice!
Town of Kersey Newsletter
In partnership with the Town of Kersey and to keep our community informed, we would like to share the Town of Kersey's April Newsletter.
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Being Here: Student Attendance, Did You Know, State Budget and School Finance. While for students the end of the year may seem a long way off, there are now only 34 days of school remaining in the 2025-2026 school year. I share this with our families, community, and staff not because we are “counting down” the remaining days, but as a reminder we only have a limited amount of time in this school year to continue to work with students to help them grow. Platte Valley’s student attendance continues to be a bright spot for the District, an indicator of the commitment our students and families have to continued growth, improvement, and education. During the 3rd quarter our elementary currently had a 94.1% attendance rate, middle School 94.3%, and high school 90.6%. We recognize we cannot completely control student attendance. Students get sick, have appointments, and have a myriad or reasons they may miss. However, it is important to remember students cannot learn, grow, and achieve if they do not show up. This may be simple, but it is true. We appreciate our families’ efforts to help ensure our students continue to show to learn and grow. We want to see them here, we want to educate our students!
Did You Know – Student Fees and Admissions. One of the questions we get from time-to-time is related to charging a fee to participate in athletics or why we charge admission for the various events we hold. It is a fair and legitimate question. Student activities which includes athletics, the arts, music, and many other events are an important part of a student’s educational experience. We know and recognize that the more students are involved in the wide array of activities we offer the more likely that academic success is to follow. Additionally, there are a tremendous amount of skills obtained from these activities, the Success Skills we believe strongly in incorporating in the classroom as well, that are beneficial for students. However, these programmatic offerings are also incredibly expensive to operate. Our goal is not to make money off of these programs, however we need to be able to balance the need to offset some operations while working to ensure we can maintain accessibility for all who are interested. Below are financial associated with the operations of middle and high school athletics only for the 2023-2024 fiscal year and current year through February. You will notice the District operates at a significant loss in offering these programs.
Fiscal Year 2025-2026 To Date Through February
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Category
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Revenue
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Athletic Fees
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$20,123
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Athletic Gate
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$30,823
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Total Revenue
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$50,946
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Expenses
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Salaries (Does not include AD administration or office staff)
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$184,823
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Benefits (PERA, Medicare)
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$43,672
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Purchase Services
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$42,604
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Supplies
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$17,932
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Non-capital Equipment
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$1,720
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Transportation Salaries
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$37,613
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Total Expenses
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$328,364
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Net Loss
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$277,418
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Category
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Revenue
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Athletic Fees
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$27,741
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Athletic Gate
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$30,937
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Total Revenue
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$58,679
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Expenses
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Salaries (Does not include AD administration or office staff)
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$246,537
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Benefits (PERA, Medicare)
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$59,280
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Purchase Services
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$99,608
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Supplies
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$26,059
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Transportation Salaries
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$56,402
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Total Expenses
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$487,886
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Net Loss
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$429,207
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Category
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Revenue
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Athletic Fees
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$25,279
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Athletic Gate
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$37,083
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Total Revenue
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$62,362
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Expenses
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Salaries (Does not include AD administration or office staff)
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$225,036
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Benefits (PERA, Medicare)
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$53,782
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Purchase Services
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$94,415
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Supplies
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$24,342
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Transportation Salaries
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$59,559
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Total Expenses
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$466,609
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Net Loss for 2023-2024
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$404,247
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State Budget and School Finance. The state’s March Economic Forecast was released on March 19th. The economic condition has worsened as expected. Non-partisan legislative council staff (LCS) showed a decrease of $642 million in the general fund compared to December. Due to already being in a situation below the TABOR limit, this is a direct dollar for dollar hit to the state’s budget. Based on the LCS projections, the budget deficit is now projected to be $1.47 billion. The projection puts the state with a 6.5% reserve level at the end of the 2026-2027 fiscal year, less than half the 15 percent statutory requirement. Additionally, state education fund revenues are projected to decrease 5.3% in fiscal year 2025-2026, leading to a likely pause in the phase-in of the new finance formula. Finally, LCS staff noted an elevated risk of recession due to growing conflict in the Middle East.
The governor’s office budget had a more stable outlook than LCS staff, in addition to a lower deficit. This is based on the plan for the sale of Pinnacol Assurance totaling $400 million, one-time revenue that does not seem to have legislative support at this time. Finally, I have also learned that the JBC opted to accept the governor’s office budget in-lieu of LCS. This is more optimistic, however has a number of structural issues connected with it such as the aforementioned Pinnacol sale and is more suspect to a mid-year rescission.
JBC Stress Test Memo. On February 20th the non-partisan Joint Budget Committee (JBC) staff provided an analysis to the JBC to provide a longer-term analysis for the state’s general fund. The stress test used three different baseline economic condition scenarios through 2029-2030: (a). revenues and expenditures without a recession, (b). a moderate recession resulting in a 6.6% reduction in general fund revenues, and (c). a severe recession resulting in a 13.2% reduction in general fund revenues.
The stress test assumed general fund obligations align with current law for the “big 6” which includes:
- Medicaid/Health Care Policy and Financing (HCPF) and its population plus inflation, plus 2% inflationary growth,
- K-12 education and the implementation of the new finance formula (1448), assuming a two year pause in the implementation, and inflation plus population growth,
- Higher Education and Human Services growth of inflation plus population growth plus 1% inflationary growth.
- Corrections and Judicial which also is based on inflation plus population growth similar to K-12.
Using the assumptions stated above, the non-partisan JBC staff projects the state’s general fund to be depleted by 2029-2030 in the case of no recession and depleted by 2026-2027 in the case of a moderate recession. Finally, I will note that HCPF is facing cuts recommended by JBC for the 26-27 fiscal year to maintain the specified inflation plus 2% inflationary growth, plus population growth. Those cuts include a reduction in bed availability to serve health conditions through Medicaid and a reduction in paid hours to home caregivers to care for individuals with disabilities from 80 to 56 hours per week.
School Finance. A number of K-12 cuts are being discussed to potentially include:
- A change to count SOT collections from MLO and Bond Overrides as part of local share – This would allow the state to include approximately $200 million in additional local contribution, equally decreasing state contribution. For Platte Valley this would equate to approximately $250,000 in reduction. I liken this to the state using a portion of our MLO to count towards our school finance total program.
- A delay in the implementation of the new school finance formula – This would save the state approximately $75 million and was an agreed upon option with K-12 if the state was placed in a position where it had budgetary issues.
- A change from the current 3 year averaging (26-27) to 2 year averaging – This would save approximately $49 million.
- Cutting grants administered by CDE, with an undisclosed amount in potential savings.
Yours in Education,
Jeremy Burmeister, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools
“The average ones will do it some of the time. The good ones will do it most of the time. The great ones will do it ALL the time.” Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, actor, professional wrestler, and former Division 1 football player.
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I would like to say thank you to our maintenance crews. They have been busy over spring break completing tasks without personnel in the buildings. They do a deep cleaning of the classrooms and do essential repairs. Tate Mekelburg was very busy at the middle school starting to go through things and fill a storage container with items that will be moving to the new school.
We continue to monitor the budget for the remainder of this fiscal year while also looking ahead to 26-27. We are monitoring the legislation and what may come out and the effects it will have on our budget.
We are working through the renewal processes for our property insurance through CSDSIP and our health benefits. I do not have figures at this time for property insurance. If things remained the same, we are looking at a 7.5% increase in health insurance. We have had a preliminary benefits committee meeting and are looking into our options.
Construction on the new middle school continues to go well. The crews have started on the main parking lot and should be completed by mid-April. A lot of progress has been made on the interior of the building. Drywall is going up, along with tile and paint in some areas. My self along with Ben Weiss with JHL and Lauryn Bentley our PIO, will be putting together another video showing all of the progress in April.
Work has begun on our auxiliary softball field; we will be installing artificial turf in that area. This will help with maintenance and eliminate debris blowing into the adjacent neighborhood.
April Technology Tips for Families & Community
Platte Valley Families and Community,
As we move further into spring, April is a great time to focus on device care, digital organization, and healthy technology routines. With testing, projects, and end-of-year activities approaching, a few simple habits can help students stay organized and reduce technology-related stress.
April Focus: Staying Organized & Tech-Ready
Good organization helps students spend less time troubleshooting and more time learning.
Simple habits that help:
• Restart devices at least once a week
• Save schoolwork in the correct OneDrive folders
• Plug devices in overnight so they are fully charged for school
Student reminders:
• Label chargers so they don’t get mixed up or lost
• Back up important work to OneDrive regularly
• Report issues early so they can be resolved quickly
Healthy tech Habits at home:
• Encourage short breaks during long homework sessions
• Keep devices in common areas when possible
• Set a consistent “tech off” time before bed
• Balance screen time with non-screen activities
Check for App Updates (Edlio)
To ensure you receive important school updates and notifications, please make sure the Edlio app is always up to date on your mobile device.
Apple devices (iPhone/iPad):
• Open the App Store
• Tap your profile icon at the top right
• Scroll to see pending updates and tap “Update” next to the Edlio app, if available
Android devices:
• Open the Google Play Store
• Tap your profile icon and go to “Manage apps & device”
• Find the Edlio app and tap “Update”, if available
Thank you for partnering with us to support responsible, organized, and positive technology use for all students.
Staying Focused as We Move Through Assessment Season
As we move through April, I want to thank our PV educators for their continued dedication, professionalism, and commitment to student success. This time of year brings a strong focus on instruction, reflection, and perseverance as students demonstrate their learning and staff support them every step of the way. The work happening in classrooms across our district each day truly matters, and it shows.
State Assessments Continue-CMAS Testing Window: April 7–25, SAT/PSAT: April 15
We are currently in the midst of our state assessment window. CMAS, SAT, and PSAT assessments provide valuable insight into student learning, helping us better understand progress, identify areas of strength, and target opportunities for growth. This information supports instructional planning at the classroom, school, and district levels and helps ensure we continue to meet the needs of all learners.
Supporting Students During Testing
During testing season, consistency and a calm, supportive environment are key. Students perform best when they are able to test with their peers, follow regular routines, and feel encouraged to do their best.
Thank you for helping reinforce the importance of:
- On-time attendance each day
- Maintaining regular daily schedules
- Encouraging students to approach testing with confidence and a positive mindset
Family Partnership Matters
Families play an important role in supporting students during assessment season. Simple steps at home can make a meaningful difference:
- Ensure students get a good night’s sleep
- Provide a healthy breakfast
- Encourage effort and perseverance without added pressure
- Avoid scheduling appointments or extended absences during the testing window when possible
Looking Ahead to the Final Weeks of School
As we enter the final stretch of the school year, we remain focused on high-quality instruction, student engagement, and continued growth for every learner. These final weeks are an important time to reinforce expectations, celebrate progress, and maintain momentum as we prepare students for the next grade level.
Thank you for your ongoing commitment to excellence, collaboration, and belief in our students. Together, let’s finish the year strong—supporting one another and staying focused on the work that matters most.
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