December 13, 2016 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Notice of the time and place of the Lincoln Board of Education meeting was e-mailed to an extensive list of local and regional news media.  A mailing list is maintained at the Lincoln Public Schools District Office.  A public notice was published in the LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR.

Lorinda Rice, curriculum specialist for Visual Art in Lincoln Public Schools, has been honored with the State Supervision and Administration Award by the Nebraska Art Teachers Association.

Explanation
As curriculum specialist for Visual Art at Lincoln Public Schools, Lorinda Rice has been instrumental in emphasizing the key concepts of art education at LPS: Create, Present, Respond, and Connect. As such, she is a big promoter of arts in education at all levels, a supporter of arts in the community, and an active believer in combining the two.

Student and staff artwork can be seen throughout the Lincoln community. For one such event, Rice said:

“Our vision is to showcase the talents and creative process that our students possess.”

That statement could apply to her overall approach to art education. Rice has also worked to create more opportunities for students and staff to share their work and learn new techniques. With Rice’s encouragement, art teachers at LPS have made a greater effort to promote student artwork on social media, highlighting the talents and viewpoints of students.

Staff have appreciated her leadership:

“Lorinda Rice knows and understands the essential value that visual arts education holds for LPS students, and nurtures a shared vision for the growth of art education among teachers, administrators, parents and community members. With the belief of change for the better, her leadership is needed at all levels of art education to sustain the field and she brings her knowledge and voice to enable the cultivation of new ideas and practices necessary for long-term sustainability.”

Rice has also been a frequent presenter at the state and national levels, sharing ideas and best practices from LPS classrooms. She is also a former elementary art teacher in the school district.

Jocelyn Lippincott Reiss, art teacher at Lincoln North Star High School, has been named the State Secondary Art Teacher of the Year by the Nebraska Art Teachers Association.

Explanation
Students at Lincoln North Star High School have a variety of opportunities in art classes and those options are underlined by the presentation of this honor to art teacher Jocelyn Lippincott Reiss. Fellow art educators from across Nebraska presented this honor, which symbolizes Lippincott Reiss’s ability to blend standards, student interests and professional responsibility, blending like colors on a canvas.

Lippincott Reiss has a personal story about the impact a welcoming classroom can have on a student. Her department chair at North Star is Lynette Fast, who happened to be Lippincott Reiss’s art teacher at Meadow Lane Elementary School. Lippincott Reiss remembers how she felt in Fast’s classroom, and strives to make her own students feel welcome:

“I just felt like that was the place I was the best, and that was a feeling I didn’t get anywhere else. I truly looked forward to that … We are all pushing forward to make things better for kids to make the arts more accessible, and make it so that kids who feel they need to be here can be here so their stories can be told.”

Lippincott Reiss values a variety of ideas and talents in her classroom. She appreciates the group effort in LPS and across the state to continue the effort to promote the arts for students of all ages. And she has a firm belief that art is more than one creative process with an outcome, but encompasses many characteristics of student learning:

“The arts and art classes are the place where everything can be synergized together. I think it’s really the ultimate thinking strategy, it’s creative thinking, it’s problem solving; it can be just coloring, but it’s not. We teach way more than drawing and painting and sculpture and jewelry. What is important are the layers of ideas. It’s the place where everything can come together.”

In keeping with Board Policy 8420:

• A time limit of five minutes will be allotted for any speaker.
• Members of the Board of Education will not respond or engage with speakers.
• Persons speaking to the Board during public comment may hand out printed materials to the Board but may not use any other form of media.
• The Board Chair may make adjustments to the public comment guidelines, according to Policy 8420.
• If at any time persons appearing before the Board exceed the time limitations or become abusive in language or behavior, the Chair may declare that person out of order and to refuse permission to continue to address the Board.
• Anyone refusing to be identified will be prohibited from speaking.

Explanation
The Human Resources Division also includes the Office of Risk Management.  As such, in addition to the Lincoln Board of Education approving all contractual agreements with employees, all employee benefit issues, all personnel actions, and all other matters within the scope of the Human Resources Division, as part of the Human Resources Matters agenda; the Lincoln Board of Education also must approve the settlement of Workers’ Compensation claims, take action on tort claims filed against the district, and take action on all other matters within the scope of the Office of Risk Management.

This report includes routine Human Resources changes:

   a.  Certificated Employees:

             Elections – 3

             Changes of Status – 2

             Leaves of Absence – 2

             Re-Elections Same Assignment – 1

             Separations – 1

   b.  Substitute Certificated Employees:

             Elections – 18

             Separations –3

   c.  Classified Employees:

             Elections – 40

             Changes of Status – 5

             Leaves of Absence – 2

             Separations – 16

   d.  Other:

             Civic Leaves – 1

Proposal
That the Board approve the Human Resources items presented in the attachment(s).*

*The information in the attachment(s) may be protected by privacy legislation until the Board of Education takes action on the staff recommendations.  Therefore, this attachment(s) is not included in agenda materials provided the public and the news media.  Any information in the attachment(s) that is not protected by privacy legislation, however, is available for public inspection from the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources upon request.

That the Board is approving the Human Resources items attached with the information as presented or as on file with official district records and documents relating to each such item, or in such other form as may be approved by the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources, or the Associate Superintendent’s designee, and that the Board hereby authorizes the Associate Superintendent for Human Resources, or the Associate Superintendent’s designee, to transact and complete each such item approved hereby, and to sign, execute, and deliver necessary documents or contracts, and to take or cause to be taken any and all other action as may be necessary to complete each such item of transaction as contemplated, for and on behalf of this school district.

Lincoln Public Schools reviews policies on an on-going basis and updates policies to ensure that they accurately reflect the ever-changing work of the District.

Explanation
The revision of Policy 1113 allows for the opportunity for our many business and commercial community members to share information about their school partnerships and the way that they help the District achieve its goals in a section of the Community News or other similar publication that is separate from instruction materials and is optional for students and families.

Proposal
That the Board discuss Policy 1113.

Lincoln Public Schools reviews policies on an on-going basis and updates policies to ensure that they accurately reflect the ever-changing work of the District.

Explanation
The revision of Policy 1370 is an update as technology has allowed for the possibility of sharing photography along with video and audio recordings to students and families.  

Proposal
That the Board discuss Policy 1370.

Lincoln Public Schools reviews policies on an on-going basis and updates policies to ensure that they accurately reflect the ever-changing work of the district.  The entire series of policies is reviewed.  After review, many policies do not require revision or only require small formatting changes.  These policies are presented to the Board for approval as a single block of policies.

Explanation
The following policies will be submitted as a group as they contain only small formatting changes: 1100, 1122, 1140, 1330, 1340, 1500, 1600.

The following policies will be submitted for approval as reviewed as they did not require revisions: 1110, 1111, 1114, 1121, 1210, 1220, 1230, 1235, 1240, 1250, 1310, 1355, 1360, 1410, 1420, 1430, 1510, 1520, 1530. 

Proposal
The Board discusses policy this block of policies.

United Way of Lincoln and Lancaster County is a vital resource to support community-based services in our community. We are fortunate as a community that United Way conducts an annual community campaign to raise funds that support important initiatives focusing on its local strategic priorities which are to serve children through activities that lead to graduation and to address the needs of persons in crisis. 

United Way recently announced that it is accepting competitive applications for projects under a one-year transitional funding cycle, from July 2017 through June 2018.  Projects must be ready to implement programs under one of three strategic pillars, one of which is education.  Lincoln Public Schools operates a successful Two Generation Family Literacy Program which is considered an ideal Educational Support strategy.  LPS currently receives a grant from United Way for $17,500 annually, which will expire in June 2017.

Explanation
Each year, LPS serves a minimum of 130 refugee and immigrant parents of LPS students, all of whom have a desire to be more proficient in speaking English and in understanding and supporting their children at school. Parents will attend a Two Generation Family Literacy Program at one of the following LPS elementary schools: Arnold, Campbell, Clinton, Elliott, Everett, Lakeview, McPhee, Prescott, Randolph or West Lincoln. Languages spoken by these participants have included Arabic, Chin-Zomi, Dinka, Farsi, Karen, Karenni, Kurdish, Nuer, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese. Typically, 100 percent of these families qualify for the Free and Reduced Lunch Program.

The evidence-based Family Literacy model followed by LPS includes the following four components:

• Adult Education Instruction—provided through high quality ESL classes
• Children's Education—teaching literacy through a viable district curriculum
• Parent and Child Together Time (PACT)
• Parenting Classes

These services are provided to 14 or 20 families at each location. The parents commit to participating in at least 12 hours each week in support of their family literacy development.  An award from United Way in the amount of $30,000 will assist in providing general operating support for all ten sites.

Proposal
That the Board considers the submission of a proposal to United Way of Lincoln and Lancaster County to support the Two Generation Family Literacy Program in the amount of approximately $30,000 for a one-year funding cycle.

Applications are due to United Way by February 14, 2017.

The Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) Innovation Grant Program was created with the passage of Legislative Bill (LB) 519, effective August 30, 2015. This bill allowed for the program’s creation through a transfer from the State Lottery Operation Trust Fund and Nebraska Education Improvement Fund. The competitive grant program provides funding to Local Education Agencies to support the development, expansion, and investment in innovative best practices that improve: (1) education outcomes for early childhood, elementary, middle school or high school students; (2) transitions between any successive stages of education; or (3) transitions between education and the work force. Funded projects must have the potential to be both scalable and replicable in other Nebraska school districts. Rigorous independent evaluation is required. Projects that, based on summative progress reports in 2019, are recommended as a best practice or model for statewide replication and State support may be funded for validation and scale-up efforts at the end of the 30-month grant period.

Explanation
Lincoln Public Schools would like to propose a project called Planting the Seeds of Innovation in Middle School, which seeks to increase engagement and achievement among middle school students through a three-pronged strategy: (1) a schoolwide shift to design-based learning and an innovation mindset, (2) a transformation in design and function of learning environments, and (3) schoolwide professional development with innovative industry leaders in STEM and education fields. If awarded, the project will initially target Goodrich and Moore Middle Schools—among the oldest and newest of LPS middle schools—to pilot these strategies. This will be followed by a phasing in of the remaining 10 middle schools over the three-year period, being mindful of the need for equitable distribution of resources throughout the district.

Proposal
That the Board approve the submission of an LPS application to the Nebraska Department of Education to support implementation of key innovative strategies meant to redesign middle schools. The grant application request will include approximately $2.0 million over a three-year period. Match is not required.

Application due date: December 14, 2016.

Woods Charitable Fund is offering a new grant opportunity that will support promising and groundbreaking new programs, collaborations and/or organizational best practices in Lincoln.  The Breakthrough Initiative Grant (BIG) will be highly competitive, ranging from $150,000 to $500,000 per year for possible multi-year funding. Funded projects could address challenges or needs of broad relevance to Lincoln or could address a very significant challenge affecting a small but unique and vulnerable population in Lincoln. A proposed project could test a specific, innovative new response to an identified problem with a commitment to make the findings widely and openly accessible. Proposed projects must fit within Woods Charitable Fund’s traditional funding interest areas of Arts & Culture, Civic & Community, Education, and Human Services.

Explanation
Lincoln Public Schools would like to expand its partnership with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Educational Psychology to increase utilization of a successful bullying intervention across the district. Implemented on a very small scale since 2005, due to lack of funding and trained personnel to carry out the intervention, UNL’s Targeted Bullying Intervention Program (T-BIP) has changed behaviors and decreased office referrals among approximately 200 students. This proposal would allow LPS to increase the use of T-BIP across the district over five years, by training additional UNL graduate students to work with identified students, concentrating first on middle schools and then expanding to elementary and high schools. National data suggests that middle school students are at greatest risk for involvement in bullying, and that perpetrators and victims actually share many risk factors, including depression, anxiety, and poor self-concept.

Proposal
That the Board approves the submission of an LPS application to Woods Charitable Fund to support districtwide implementation of a UNL-developed bullying intervention program. The grant application request will include an average of $380,000 per year for five years, totaling approximately $1.9 million, with no match requirement.

The application due date is January 15, 2017.

December 14
TCA Joint Board Meeting, 8 a.m., at The Career Academy

January 4
Chamber Coffee, 8 a.m., Chamber Office

January 10
Board of Education Meeting, 6 p.m., LPSDO

In keeping with Board Policy 8420:

• A time limit of five minutes will be allotted for any speaker.
• Members of the Board of Education will not respond or engage with speakers.
• Persons speaking to the Board during public comment may hand out printed materials to the Board but may not use any other form of media.
• The Board Chair may make adjustments to the public comment guidelines, according to Policy 8420.
• If at any time persons appearing before the Board exceed the time limitations or become abusive in language or behavior, the Chair may declare that person out of order and to refuse permission to continue to address the Board.
• Anyone refusing to be identified will be prohibited from speaking.

Explanation
At this point, it is appropriate for the Board to meet in closed session for one of the stated matters and/or any other permissible closed session matters in compliance with the law.