July 14, 2014 at 7:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

More Information:  Mission Statement - Milford Public Schools will prepare all students to be successful citizens: Our Mission is fulfilled when all students read with comprehension, speak and write clearly, compute accurately, reason logically, understand and appreciate the fine arts, apply suitable strategies and habits of mind to solve problems, utilize technology to communicate and to understand information and behave morally.

This agenda contains a list of subjects known at the time of its distribution.  A copy of the agenda reflecting any changes will be available for public inspection during normal business hours in the District Office.  Except for items of an emergency nature, the agenda shall not be altered later than twenty-four hours before the meeting.  The Board reserves the right to alter the order of items, as it deems necessary.

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Information concerning the Open Meeting Law, Chapter 84, Article 14 of Nebraska State Statutes, is posted on the bulletin board in the back of the meeting room.

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This is the public’s opportunity to speak to items on the agenda. This is also the public’s opportunity to speak to any topic concerning the school district – since it is not an agenda item the board cannot discuss or take action on the matter at this time. Future discussion can be requested as an agenda item. To be recognized, all participants must complete the Request to Address the Milford Board of Education Form. No complaints regarding specific staff members will be heard during a public meeting. The District has established separate procedures for complaints against individual employees. Thank you for your participation.

More Information:  Before we act on the consent agenda, we will need to act on item VII C - writing curriculum.

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General Fund for $152,971.67
Payroll for $421,722.24
Total $574,693.91

Special Building Fund for $583.74 (Architect Fees)
Depreciation Fund for $9,152.07 (New phones/wiring for the elementary building)

Other items to point out:

• $80,000 to Cheever Construction - this is equal to the amount of our IDEA grant through the State for ADA items in the HS Office Project.  We must pay this out of our General Fund to get reimbursed through the grant.  Once we pay this, I will have the State representative come out and inspect the HS building.
• $1,643 to FedEx is for the creation of our own vocabulary workbooks at the high school.
• $546 to Inetgrated Controls is for repairs to the air unit in the weight room.  It is getting close to being on its last leg!
• $1,199 to Milford AC is for repairs to air units above the wrestling deck.
• $7,755 to Play with a Purpose is for equipment for the PreSchool.  This will get reimbursed through the IDEA Grant.

This month and the next two will be full of yearly supplies and repairs so please ask if you have questions as these are pretty "normal" to me.

More Information:  I do not have a number update as new students that have arrived over the summer are not in our student system yet.  I do know we have gained students since last month.

Second grade is still a concern to the administration.  We are nearing 25 in each section.  We are still considering moving our new teacher to full time classroom instruction and replace the half-time technology position with a new staff member.

We might have a student enroll that will require special transportation and a one-on-one para.  We may be needing to make some changes to a current vehicle or will need to purchase a vehicle to meet these needs.  We may also be looking at adding a para if this takes place.

More Information:  Dave and I met with Sen. Adams and we will give a brief report at the meeting.

More Information:  I am recommending that we proceed with Northern Lawn and Underground from Geneva for the practice field sprinkler system.  The cost for the system is $18,300.  We will have some miscellaneous expenses related to electrical work and a back flow device that is required by the city on the main hookup.

More Information:  I included the same information as last month and will discuss options at the meeting.  Not sure I have a great "fix" as attendance at activities is part of the issue.  

More Information:  Mr. Nutzman is reviewing the proposals and we will be able to act on the changes at the August meeting.  The discussions or questions MEA has is regarding my proposed changes to personal leave and how many days can be taken consecutively.  

More Information:  Pay Request #3 is for $22,626. This will be paid by the bank and will be part of the loan.

Pay Request #4 is for $283,218.44.  $203,018.44 will paid by the bank and will be part of the loan.  $80,000 will be paid by our General Fund as part of the IDEA grant.  We will then send this amount to NDE for reimbursement through the IDEA Program.  All IDEA projects must be paid from General Fund in order to receive reimbursement.

Dave and Larry will need to sign the paperwork.

More Information:  Monday, August 11th is the date of our regular board meeting.  That is also the night of our Elementary Open House or Back to School Night.  This event is scheduled until 8:00 p.m.  I would like to start the meeting at 8:15 p.m. or move to another night.  Not sure what other night there would be so the later start time might be the best option.

More Information:  A couple years ago several schools (Milford, Norris, Dorchester, Friend, Exeter-Milligan and McCool Junction) from ESU 6 applied for the Carol White Physical Education Program (PEP) Grant.  ESU 6 wrote the grant and was willing to be the financial director.  This is a Federal Grant and they award a few grants every year.  We were denied our first year and kind of forgot about it.  We received notice that our consortium, Rural Nebraska on the Move, was awarded a major grant.  I believe it is $1.3 Million.

The grant is spread out over 3-5 years and it includes equipment and a paid coordinator position that will work with the staff in all the schools involved.  The coordinator will be an ESU 6 employee during the terms of the grant.  The grant includes full implementation of the SPARK curriculum and includes staff training and the supplies needed for the implementation of the curriculum. 

I have this on here for approval as there is a commitment from each district for some in-kind funds.  This includes utilities, salaries of a number of employees, and supplies we may need to order on our own (not sure if this will even be necessary). 

Salaries - through this grant, I will need to code a portion of our PE teachers, principals, nurses, lunch supervisor, and my salary under the grant.  We get to count these portions as our in-kind spending for the grant.  In the long run, we are not really spending any new money on this grant through salaries.  The only additional money would be for equipment that the grant cannot provide or if our student numbers increase during the year and more supplies are needed, which could happen anyway. 

This grant includes technology for recording scores and times on tests, possible equipment to record students' steps throughout the day, etc. 

This is pretty exciting and will take a lot of work and training to get it fully implemented but I feel it will bring our Physical Education program to a new level.

I am asking for a motion to approve involvement in this Federal Grant.

More Information:  During the spring, Dave sent me an article regarding the Sustainable Schoolyard Partnership (SSP) Grant.  I looked at it and thought no way - the deadline was the next day.  Long story short, the application was completed and we were accepted as a member school and are eligible for up to a $20,000 project.

I have sat through several trainings and information sharing sessions.  I have included a press release and an information sheet that better explains the program.

Once again, I am asking for the Board's approval as there will be the need for in-kind spending or some spending from our General Fund or our Depreciation Fund.

The exciting part of this plan is that students are directly involved in the research and planning process and it will not take a lot of time.  The other part I put in the plan involves trying to get the involvement of our local scouting group.  They visited with me in the past regarding this process so will start up those conversations once again.  These groups could be a key factor in the community partnership side of the program.

My hope is that we can have some trees planted and some outdoor education centers created.

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The Board of Education reserves the right to enter into Closed/Executive Session for 1) the protection of the public interest, or 2) the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, and/or the individual has not requested a public meeting. When making a motion to enter into Closed/Executive Session, the member making the motion should be as specific as possible as to the reason(s) for executive session.

The Board President will restate the reason for Closed/Executive Session after the motion has been acted on.