April 8, 2015 at 10:30 AM - Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Call to order at 10:30 AM. Staff: David Ludwig, Scott Isaacson, Deb hericks, Gordon Roethemeyer, Priscilla Quintana, Craig Peterson Guests: Steve Williams

Discussion:  Kraig Lofquist attended the NDE Board meeting in April. He shared some details of that meeting with the Committee.

Discussion:  No report given.

Discussion:  Executive Director discussed the continue improvement process. Three stakeholders: Internal partners, external partners, outside partners/businesses. We will start process of creating action plans - technology infrastructure and instructional delivery of technology. Decision Rules regarding data, create a committee with stakeholders to review/discuss.

Discussion:  Committee Chair reviewed committee notes.

Discussion:  Marge Beatty reviewed the notes/timeline from the Ad Hoc meeting. ESU 16 will discuss the transfer the fiscal agent of the grant to ESUCC but possibly will continue to coordinate the grant. Another meeting will be held after Executive Director has a conversation with the NDE Grant Coordinating.

Discussion:  We continue to discuss building a statewide continuous improvement process. Identifying stakeholders: internal, external and non-profit organizations. Discussion held regarding ESUCC doing an Advanced Accreditation process/Continuous Improvement Model.

Discussion:  Executive Director has been visiting with other individuals regarding ESUCC having another Lobbyist. The lobbyist could represent all ESUs. Continue to have discussions regarding lobbyist including a scope of work. Executive Committee to review and proceed with gathering information/setting parameters on lobbyist including a "no compete clause."

Discussion:  Future Development: The MSA would be placed as an agenda item for each ESUCC Subcommittee beginning September of each fiscal year. The MSA, as a standing agenda item for applicable committees, would create dialogue for future development of the MSA as well as a long-range planning.

Discussion:  Working on MOU with NDE, review this month and approve at May meeting. Defines scope of work and individual contracts will follow. Approval at May meeting.

Discussion:  The Committee met to start discussion regarding the NCSA/ESUCC Technology Agreement. Keep discussions positive regarding agreement with NCSA. Possible focus on a statewide initiative integrating technology.

Discussion:  Celebrate the creation of ESU - September 2015. Possibility to have PDO Planning Committee plan celebration. Use advertising, logo, etc. ESUCC Committee to help plan - Schnoes, Polk, DeTurk, Shoemake.

Discussion:  This is none at this time.

Discussion:  Committee Chair reviewed comments from FAB committee.

Discussion:  Committee Chair reviewed the reports from the staff budget monthly meetings.

Discussion:  Committee Chair reviewed the financial reports for February. We continue to review budget goals. LMS continues to be a concern with moving away from LMS to a menu of LMS's. Focus on service first, then funding. Executive Director reviewed the budget goals for deficit areas.

Discussion:  Discussion was help around held increasing the credit limit to $30,000.

Discussion:  Executive Director reviewed budget goals and process to balance deficit areas.

Discussion:  Committee chair reviewed discussion from Technology Committee.

Discussion:  Tech Plan was addressed very briefly. No questions or comments were made.

Discussion:  The committee reviewed the four vendor proposals. Based on the information available, Unicon is the best fit. Unicon has worked with IlliniCloud and did about one-third of their work. Further discussion took place regarding the ESUCC policy regarding bids and RFPs.

Discussion:  Scott gave a brief update. Single sign on and the portal are the key elements. Long term costs were covered.

Discussion:  Scott shared there have been no major changes to the document. The document encapsulates what can be achieved with the cloud.

Discussion:  According to Chris Watson, Safari representative, the cost for next year would be $2.60 per student if enough ESUs participated. Negotiations have continued to be tenuous. A portion of a bill in the amount of $22,000 has been questioned. In the final analysis, the cost of Safari is not going to be sustainable.

Discussion:  Committee Chair updated the committee regarding the issue with the Lincoln Archdiocese. Specifically, a win-win resolution regarding the cost to use Network Nebraska was reached for the 33 Lincoln Archdiocese schools allowing them one access point.

Discussion:  Scott Isaacson shared vendor information and will bring back specifics in a "matrix" which will allow analysis of statewide pricing. The four vendors are Canvas, Schoology, Moodle and Blackboard. The data will be available in May for analysis. Dave Ludwig shared that we will need to be cognizant of a sustainable revenue stream.

Discussion:  The committee discussed the cost of the Learn360 contract. In particular, a brief discussion took place regarding the multi year option. In May, a motion will be made regarding action to take with Learn360.

Discussion:  Learn360 is a good "base" product. There was some discussion that some parties are not participating and are considering a move to digital or "e-libraries."

Discussion:  Discussion regarding moving forward with new acquisitions. Suggested to table the motion until next month so that more discussion/information can happen.

Discussion:  The State of Nebraska continues to increase its numbers regarding those who use the survey.

Discussion:  Dr. Uhing has submitted his resignation as Technology Committee Chair which would take effect at the end of this school year.

Discussion:  Rhonda Eis submitted a report, and was unfortunately absent due to illness. Gordon shared that NROC has been successful, especially with Developmental Math. Developmental English should be available in the near future. A flyer will be shared in the near future regarding NROC. Data pertaining to actual "use" was discussed. Dave stated we will place an emphasis on using this data to drive the services we provide.

Discussion:  It was noted that paper orders are down just a little this year, as compared to last year.

Discussion:  This agreement isn't a direct purchasing agreement with Adobe for Products & Services but rather each School District must purchase through a Channel Partner (ESUCC currently has an agreement with Journey Ed/Academic Superstore and Admin fees would come from this agreement). Proposal: Adobe is proposing an ETLA to cover all faculty, staff and district owned machines (including student 1-1 deployments). This agreement provides K-12 district wide access to Creative Cloud Enterprise for High Schools and Middle Schools and Photoshop Elements, Premiere Elements and Acrobat XI Pro for Elementary Schools and can be deployed to all institution owned machines. This agreement will provide access to Adobe software, at a price that is not available to individual institutions. Benefits: The ETLA locks in proposed pricing for the next 3+ years, ensuring a predictable budget item for Adobe software. It establishes a consistent approach to Adobe licensing by enabling streamlined deployment and simplified license management for Adobe Creative Software and provides access for all faculty, staff, lab and classroom machines at the district, ensuring equitable access across the campuses. Negotiated Pricing: Nebraska K-12 Districts are being extended a pricing structure that benefits all members, from the largest to smallest institutions. All participating institutions are required to license their entire faculty and staff; pricing is per FTE, the ETLA term is three years, payments are made annually.

Discussion:  AEPA collects membership fees through a formula based off total Admin fees received from vendors. See attached spreadsheet. Fees for January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014 total $3,413.63 and is calculated from $127,575.32 Admin fees received from AEPA vendors.

Discussion:  Reviewed the May PDO Schedule. First day will be with Brad Giese. Members of PDO appreciate administrator participation.

Discussion:  Contract with NWEA is under review. They will have ready End of April. Will bring forth for MSA approval after contract set. Executive Director will contact NWEA regarding contract.

Discussion:  Goals: Remain content on servers Write software to connect servers Take time on content

Discussion:  There will be recommendation from the Technology Committee.

Discussion:  Learn360 will be tabled and brought forth from Technology at May meeting.

Discussion:  AdHoc Committee met to start discussion on the future of the MSP Grant. Will continue to have discussions regarding the transition of the KICKS grant to ESUCC.

Discussion:  THE NMPDS preliminary budget for 2015-2016 has been sent into NDE for approval. We will have chance to revise budget at the end of current grnt cycle.

Discussion:  Currently, registering for next year participants. Brochures have been sent out to ESU Math Cadre and emails have been sent to Math Cadre, Math Champions, and current participants.

Discussion:  Met with Dean Folkers regarding how the AAP and SRS websites will fit into the larger NDE Data Dashboard project. Connecting to this system is now one of our highest priorities. Dean Folkers advised us to wait until the Nebraska Education Data Standard (NEDS) is completed before we begin work on this project.

Discussion:  Marjorie Bisbee is in the process of updating the code for all of the pages with forms. This is an on going process and will continue for several more months. Updated code will improve stability and security of site. Small design changes are being made as well.

Discussion:  SRS Advisory Board was held on March 19th. A 10% one-time fee increase was approved. New priority list: Update NSSRS Reporting System, add ability to search by Student Disability, add multiple text boxes for parent/guardian phone numbers, add additional text boxes to address how services will be provided with Regular Education Peers, Special Education with Regular Education Peers, and Special Education without Regular Education Peers, convert Parent/Guardian Screen to Zend Framework, convert Student Teams Screen to Zend Framework Soliant was informed about new Systems Analyst on March 26. Soliant took the news very well, and agreed to help in the transition process as follows: provide an extended training for Mike in Chicago once he officially starts, add comments/documentation to the SRS code to describe what the code is doing, provide data dictionary so that Mike will know where data is located on the database Mike will meet with Jesse From Soliant on April 9th for an initial Q+A We have developed a new testing system for the NSSRS Reports. This will help us identify NSSRS data problems early and hopefully fix them before them become a problem Systems Analyst Transition: Met with Mike Danahy, Scott Issacson, and Dave Ludwig to discuss Mike’s Transition to SRS. Provided a short demonstration of the SRS site. Talked about the technology used in SRS and how the overall system is set up. Provided Mike with access to SRS code. Discussed having Wade Fruhling learn programming skills to help support Mike and improve his overall understanding of the system

Discussion:  Wade Fruhling reviewed the SRS mission and vision with his advisory board and the Special Populations committee. ESPD Affiliate review the mission and vision as well.

Discussion:  Mike Danahy begin July 1, 2015. Training/consultation with Soliant in Oregon two days (Mike is flying on his own for personal reasons and coordinated efforts for this visit are in progress.) Meetings have been/will continue with David Ludwig, Scott Isaacson, Wade Fruhling, and Mike Danahy regarding code. Meetings with the SRS Advisory Committee with Mike Danahy will be scheduled. SRS Code will be provided to Mike this spring. Coordinated efforts with Attorney, Steve Williams are in place for transition of code and services. Discussion with the IliniCloud regarding potential partnerships will be scheduled.

Discussion:  Executive Director continues to have discussion regarding Medicaid.

Discussion:  Committee Chair and Executive Director had the opportunity to see a demo from EdLogix regarding Special Education Assessment and Report Information System (SEARIS). What other features could be of value to our SRS system.

Discussion:  NDE has approved a partnership with an extension to PEP Grant with ESU 16 through ESUCC to offer another IEP Facilitation Training. June 2-4, 2015 will be the next IEP Facilitation training. June 5, 2015 will be an advanced/refresher training for those who have already been trained in IEP Facilitation. Recommend that PEP (Parents Encouraging Parents) be run through ESUCC vs ESU 16.

Discussion:  Continue to have discussions to continually update the Legislative action plans. Update plans this summer to be ready for next session.

Discussion:  Executive Director discussed the Network NE membership with Non-profits.

Discussion:  Executive Director updated committee on LB 343. B=Vote out of education committee was a 5-3 vote. Discussion to make part of TEEOSA. This should be on the floor today. In order for schools to apply, they will (from shall) have to go through their ESUs. This bill is inclusive of LB 402 (DL funding) which will be for sending districts only.

Discussion:  Not much discussion happening with this bill currently. They promote going to vote of the people for more money for ESUs. If this stays in committee at end of session bill will be carried over to next session.

Discussion:  Executive Director discussed his correspondence with some Senators regarding appropriations. Executive Director is requesting a meeting with Senator Mellow.

Discussion:  Executive Director discussed the possibility of hiring a lobbyist for ESUCC at a statewide level of support. Make a contract to include deliverable services (newsletters, etc.) Recommend action to move forward in September.

Discussion:  There is none at this time.