May 12, 2025 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  May 21st is the last day for students
Teachers who didn't work the first teacher flex day will work on May 22nd
The church is serving lunch to staff on May 21st

Discussion:  Mrs. Bailey presented the financial report
She stated that BCBS now requires payment on the 1st which requires her to pull money out for payment
A few big ticket items this month
The Apple expense was for teacher computers
Savvas Learning was the approved social studies curriculum for 7-12 grade
Mrs. Bailey stated that May has a significant tax collection for the month
The depreciation fund only shows interest this month.  However, next month the approved Chromebook purchase will show in the books 

Discussion: 

May Board Meeting 2025 - Feeney

 

Elementary:

• NSCAS Testing Celebration, May 16th, Wild Bills

• MAP Testing Celebration, May 19, Maxwell Park

• Awards Day and Wax Museum, May 20th

• Field Day, May 21st - Noon Dismissal - Last Day

• K and 1 - Updating Report Card/Standardized (copy to review/approve)

• 2 Report Card/Standardized (copy to review/approve)

• 1st Grade - Ms. Hoatson

• 6th Grade - 

• 4-6 Classrooms will return to self-contained for next year (scheduling, looking for teacher, curriculum allotment of time)

• May 21 @ 12:45 PM Staff End of Year Luncheon at Maxwell Baptist Church

• May 22 Flex Day for Teachers (Those who did not attend in January, attend now.)

 

High School:

• NSCAS Testing Celebration (6th-8th), May 19, Brittenham Park

• Athletic Banquet - May 5th

• Honors Night - May 6th

• Senior’s Last Day -May 7th

• Graduation - May 10th

• Last Day for Students - May 21st!!!

• FAFSA Information:

  • Out of the 20 students:

  • 1 is not graduating

  • 5 filled out letters stating they did not complete the FAFSA

  • 2 of those are still working on filling it out 

  • 1 is going to a school that does not use FAFSA

  • 2 are going to work and did not want to complete the form

  • 14 completed the FAFSA

 

AD:

• Baseball wrapped up their season on Thursday. 

• Track will attend districts on Wednesday in Sutherland. 

• State track will be next Friday and Saturday for those who make it. 

• Most positions for coaching are filled for 2025-2026. Assistant Girls Basketball coach, Assistant Play Production Coach and Assistant JH Wrestling positions are still open. 

• Summer sports programming will begin after Memorial Day. 

Mr. Feeney provided the following report:

HQEE:  Staff/Course Offering and Technology: 

• Technology Carts will be reviewed, Chromes ‘wiped’, and prepared for next year’s classes in elementary. 

• Course offerings that will change:

  • College English

  • Leadership/Marketing split

Discussion:  Mr. McMurtry provided the following report on behalf of maintenance director Jason Sommer
 

• Route van started a terrible knocking noise this morning while Lisa was on her route. I was unable to hear the noise once she got to school. I do have a video of the noise that she sent me and it does not sound healthy. I have pulled the van out of service. 

• My recommendation after speaking with Lisa is to purchase a 14 passenger bus or shuttle which would give us more room to help on the route which is needed. Also you do not have to have a cdl for 14 passengers or under. 

• I also have found a company out of Kansas that takes 12 passenger vans, removes the seats, installs different seats and recertifies the van to a 10 passenger. I think it all depends on who you talk to about the van situation. Some say it is already decided that our 11 passenger vans cannot be used. Yet you talk to someone else and they say we can still drive them. We need to hold off on these until we can find a definite answer. 

• I think we should move forward with purchasing a minibus asap so make sure the route is taken care of for next year. Looking like around $120,000.00 for new. They have not been around long so finding a used one is almost impossible. Somehow I believe the bus companies have something to do with the vans being outlawed. More money for them. 

• Thank you to Levi for taking time out of his day to come do a walk through and look at the summer projects we have coming up. 

• Looking forward to having a quiet building next week and getting started on summer cleanup. 

 

Here is a link to a 14 passenger minibus. Yes it looks just like the one we sold a couple years back! The problem is that one was stamped with a 27 passenger tag to which you have to have a CDL. Unfortunately we are completely out of anyone interested in obtaining a bus license. 

 

https://www.masterstransportation.com/inventory/2025-collins-dh500-CB24026

Discussion:  Mr. McMurtry provided the following report:
 

• Correspondence and Announcements

  • Half day of school on May 21st

  • Teacher flex day on May 22nd

  • Next board meeting is scheduled for June 9th.  Is it possible to move it to June 16th?

• Legislative update

  • Budget

    • As of January, it was a $432 million dollar budget deficit

    • LB 650 - took away previous tax breaks and should bring in $52 million

    • LB 645 - redid the formula for contributions to the teacher’s retirement fund - should hold on to $84 million

    • LB 527 - will bring in additional federal funding for health care

    • Cash fund sweeps - $8 million from workforce housing fund, $3 million from a fund that helps municipalities and tribal governments to promote economic opportunity

    • First round approval of $142 million withdrawal from the state’s rainy day found

    • Low growth spending target of .4% compared to the average of 3.2% growth over the last 20 years.  Utilizing program cuts such as $8 million from public health and no increase for the State Patrol

    • Income tax cuts were to be fully realized this biennium.  LB 171 proposes to reduce those cuts slightly and hold on to those levels.  The outcome would be an additional $400 million throughout the course of the biennium

    • LB 169, 170 and 712 would remove exemptions on various goods and services as well as raising excise taxes on vape products to generate additional general fund revenue

    • What won’t happen

      • Reallocation of the $630 million dedicated to the Perkins County Canal

      • Online sports betting

      • Reallocating the property tax relief funds or freezing them and preventing the intended growth levels

  • LB 635

    • Option enrollment

      • Would require us to accept sped students up to the state average of 17% before we are able to deny enrollment of any sped student

      • Currently 54% of our sped students are option students

      • Our % of option students that are sped is 11% and below the state average of 17%

      • Would also require us to transport sped students who are foster kids or in a facility up to 35 miles away.  This expense currently resides with DHHS

• 6th grade position

  • Still haven’t found someone that we are putting in this position

• School Improvement

  • June 10th our CIP team will attend a Frameworks work session at the ESU

  • Finalize goals for next year and present those to the board

• Enrollment

  • Currently 274 enrolled

  • Incoming kindergarten class is 13

  • 19 total new option students coming next year at the moment

• Lunch Prices

  • Currently at $3.85 for lunch and $2.50 for breakfast

  • I will be crunching numbers and have a recommendation for prices going forward in June

  • I will also have a recommendation of transfer back to the general fund

• Superintendent Advisory Council

  • I was assuming that Dr. Maher would move our current group out and onboard another group.  He has chosen not to do that and let the group turn over through attrition essentially.  

• I did get nominated for NRCSA president.  It was the Riverside superintendent and myself in a statewide vote.  She did win that vote and will do an incredible job in that position

• I was asked to serve on the NCTE board.  This is the board that studies and recommends changes to the rules that govern education in the state of Nebraska.  We will be meeting on June 13th in Lincoln for a full day of committee work.  

 

Discussion:  Mr. McMurtry provided a calendar with future board meeting dates.  He stated that there were several months coming up that have 5 Mondays in it.  The proposal was for months that have 5 Mondays to hold the board meeting on the third Monday.  This allows the business manager adequate time to run payroll.  It also keeps meetings more evenly spaced

Discussion:  Mr. McMurtry provided standards based report cards for k, 1 and 2.  He explained that this allows teachers to provide more clarity to parents as opposed to a letter grade.  He stated that in doing so, parents can understand exactly what their kid is doing well in and what their kid needs more work in