October 13, 2014 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  The Norfolk Public School District's board of education meeting is called to order.  

Rationale:  If any board member is absent, there will need to be a  motion to excuse the absence.

Tammy Day:  Present
Dr. Brad Krivohlavek:  Present
Bruce Mitchell:  Present
Arnie Robinson:  Present
Bob Waite:  Present
Sandy Wolfe:  Present

Rationale:  Student Enrollment Report

Rationale:  Please stand and join us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Rationale:  Students' use of technology in the classroom

Rationale:  This is the time during the board meeting when the public may request to address the board regarding an agenda item. If you wish to comment, we ask that you identify yourself and indicate the agenda item to which you will be speaking.

Rationale:  Total amount of claims approved in the consent agenda for the month of October, 2014 by specific fund are as follows:
General Fund = $531,135.45
Cooperative Fund = $10,442.81
Student Fee Fund = $24,540.46
Special Building Fund = $125,826.71
QCPUF Fund = $449,949.85
Nutrition Services Fund = $170,033.08

The total amount of claims for the month of September, 2014 in the Activities fund are as follows:
Activity Fund = $112,018.08

The facility and finance committee reviewed all claims for the month of October, 2014 as well as all activity claims for the month of September, 2014.  Our district completed its annual audit this past week and a rough draft of the audit was presented to our facility and finance committee today for initial review and questions.  Final copy and board approval will be brought to the October 23rd meeting and then official copy will be submitted to NDE, and the State Auditor's office as well as the district AFR.  These items will then be posted on our district web-site for the public after Nov. 1st.  I look forward to this upcoming fiscal year as we start the 2014-2015 budget.

Rationale: 

CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION:

• Presentations were given to the staff members on the ECID Process (Essential Skills, Common Formative Assessments, Interventions, Data Analysis). This process has been put into place to reinforce the framework for doing good school business.
• Staff development is arranged for Wed, Oct. 15. Four sessions will occur. The topics are; using MAP data, sharpening skills in using Infinite Campus, using Google to create forms for classroom instruction, and using World Book Online to enhance instruction. Our own NPS staff members (Mickie Mueller, Lisa Pospishil, and Sandy Rose) along with ESU 8 staff members (Corey Dahl and Deb Wragge) will be leading our staff development sessions.

ASSESSMENT:

• The fall testing window for MAP in the district has closed. Principals and teachers are using that data to review strengths and growth areas for students and as a tool to determine instructional needs.
• NPS will participate in a practice NeSA session with the Chrome books to test the operation of the device using the testing software. This will give the testing company feedback on the functionality of the Chrome books as well as provide us with feedback on the usability of the device in our buildings with our students. Our intention is to be able to use the Chrome books in next spring’s statewide testing session. 

Rationale: 

1. This Friday, October 17 marks the end of our First Quarter of the 2014-2015 school term--forty-five days complete.

2. “CPR/AOA” training has been provided for selected staff from all of our NPS attendance centers. All schools now have trained staff to help address CPR and asthma attacks.

3. The attached chart reports the attendance at Fall Parent Conferences in our district schools. Parent attendance and participation is strong at the elementary level with percentages in the upper 90’s, then trails off as our students reach the larger schools.

Rationale: 

1. NPS is in year two of a three year partnership with ESU 8 to review and provide training on teacher evaluation tools.  The first meeting was held on September 9.  Topics covered included:   Building evaluation models for Nebraska that improve instruction and leadership (Donlynn Rice, Curriculum Director at NDE).  There was also a conversation about the state evaluation pilot.  The training concluded with contributing schools sharing current evaluation tools and data collection strategies.  Day two will be on November 4.  During this training, we will be using the text, A Handbook for High Reliability Schools. As a group, we will define high reliability schools and factors influencing student achievement.  During this session, NPS administrators will be providing a group training on classroom expectations (What should you see in classrooms?) and time management strategies (How often should you evaluate?).  Our final training session will be March 10.  Current Cadre members are:  Beth Nelson, Jennifer Robinson, Angie Hausmann, Jennifer Lohrberg, Bruce Strong, and Tim Kwapnioski.

    

2. On Tuesday, October 7, Teammates of Norfolk structured a Mentor/Mentee endeavor at Poppy’s Pumpkin Patch.  Approximately 50 paired Teammates participated.  Since August, Susie Buss, Teammates Director, has trained 18 new mentors.

    

3. During the months of July, August, and September there were 1,676 visits to the Panther Project sight.  During this time visitors explored 2,153 pages. In visiting with the Norfolk Daily News, this has been a nice increase from previous years.

    

4. We have approved two local subs for Norfolk Public Schools.  Local sub requirements include having 60 college credits and meet all the Nebraska State Department of Education requirements.  These subs are Cher Moore and Julia Mortimer.  Currently, Cher and Julia work in our district and will only be substituting in their buildings as needed.  

Rationale:  Negotiations:
According to State Statute, negotiations for non-supervisory certificated staff must begin by November 1st.  The Board's Negotiations Committee will meet Thursday, October 16th to review the comparability study completed by Perry Law Firm and prepare for our first meeting with NCEA.  Our first negotiations meeting with NCEA is scheduled for October 29th.

LB1103 Public hearing:
The Education Committee for the State Legislature is holding a Public Hearing regarding LB1103 in Norfolk on Wednesday, October 15th.  I plan to testify on behalf of Norfolk Public Schools in order to express our appreciation for their efforts to develop a vision, mission and goals for education in the state of Nebraska and to support their vision of "Every Nebraskan educated for success" and their mission of "Providing Nebraskans the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to be productive individuals." I will also articulate support for their goals, which are to:
1. Provide quality educational opportunities that engage and prepare Nebraskans for success in learning
2. Establish high expectations for all educators, parents, students, and educational institutions, 
3. Create positive, safe, and successful learning environments, and
4. Develop collaborative educational relationships with the entire community, including individuals, families, businesses, and organizations.

Several objectives listed under these goals focus on providing all children equitable access to high-quality preschool programs and high-quality educational oportunities that prepare them to be college, career, or job ready.  I fully support these objectives, which fit within our own district vision, mission, and strategic planning goals.  However, I am realistic in knowing that --although these programs are highly beneficial-- they do not come without a cost.  Therefore, I will advocate for additional state aide funding to assist with the added costs of preschool and career readiness programs. I will also remind our state senators how vital equalization aid is to districts, such as NPS, who cannot adequately fund education through local resources. Funding for preschool and career readiness programs must be in addition to our current equalization funds.

Education Forum:
The State Board of Education and Nebraska Department of Education will be hosting a policy forum in Norfolk on October 23rd.   The purpose of the policy forum is to gather stakeholder input on the proposed AQuESTT framework, which is the new accountability system that could replace NeSA and NePAS.  AQuESST is much broader than NeSA and NePAs. It includes six tenets: 

1. College & Career Readiness
2. Assessment
3. Positive Partnerships, Relationships, and Student Success
4. Educator Effectiveness
5. Transitions
6. Educational Opportunities and Access

Their goal is to include all of these components into their evaluation of schools. This would no longer be a rating, but would become a ranking of excellent, great, good, or needs improvement. 

Both Beth Nelson and I will participate in this policy forum, as we feel it is important to provide NDE and the State Board of Education with our feedback and to help shape this new accountability system.

Rationale:  The finance and facility committee met today at 12:00 noon in the central office board room.  The committee was provided an overview of the 2013-2014 audit from Kruse, Schumacher, Smejkal & Brockhaus, P.C. and then was able to ask questions and dialogue about the audit, our fiscal practices and any recommendations. We will have official board approval of the audit at the Oct. 23rd board meeting. The committee reviewed all claims as discussed in the finance report as well as receiving an update on current and upcoming facility projects.  We also discussed the approval of window replacement bids for central office, the selling of some school property and details on obtaining approval to let bids on a number of upcoming projects.  Our next meeting is Monday Nov. 10th at 12:00 noon in the central office board room.

Rationale:  The Policy Committee met at 5:15 on Thursday, October 10th. They reviewed Policy Section 7000 related to New Construction Projects and made a few revisions to fit our district. These policies outline the process that would be utilized in the event that we decided to build a new facility or undertake a major renovation project.  Some of these policies will apply to our renovations at AFS and Central Office.  

Section 7000 is the last section from the templates that Perry Law Firm provided us.  As we have gone through these policies, I have removed policies from our old manual that were updated or replaced with new policies.  However, we still have quite a few policies from our old manual that have not been addressed.  Our policy committee will begin reviewing each one of these to determine whether they should be revised, rescinded, or reaffirmed.  Polices that we decide should be revised or reaffirmed will be sent to Perry Law Firm to be reformatted to fit our new Policy manual.  This may take more than one month, which means that we may not have a new section to present at our next Board meeting.  

Do you have any questions for me or the Committee regarding section 7000 or the next step in our policy revision process?

Rationale:  The Activities Committee met on September 29, 2014.  The committee reviewed fall activities' participation and the activities budget.  They also discussed options available for live streaming activities and providing professional development for coaches.  Mr. Dolliver indicated that Norfolk Catholic expressed an interest in cooping for Girls Tennis. However, we have reached our participation cap in that sport so it is not open for cooperative agreements at this time.  Mr. Robinson shared information with the committee regarding a newly created Title IX Advisory Committee which will conduct periodic reviews of our activities program to ensure gender equity.

We are hosting several district and state competitions this year, including:
Girls State Golf at the Norfolk Country Club today and tomorrow
District Cross Country meet at Skyview Lake on Thursday, October 16th
State One Act Competition at the Senior High December 10-12
District Speech Competition at the Senior High on March 18th

The Senior High will be dismissed at 11:30 on March 18th (rather than 2:00) to allow us to host District Speech.  Students will have a shortened schedule that includes all 8 periods. Teachers who are not assisting with the Speech competition will participate in professional development activities arranged by Mr. Luhr, Mr. Kwapnioski, and Mrs. Nelson.

Hosting District and State Competitions is good for our students and it brings many people into our school and community. We are proud to be able to host four district and state events this year.

Our next Activities Committee meeting is currently scheduled for noon on November 24th, but we are contemplating rescheduling this meeting for noon on December 1st. 

Rationale:  We do not have any contracts to approve this month.

Rationale:  We do not have any resignations to approve this month.

Rationale:  We have interest by some patrons in possibly purchasing these items from the District at fair market value.  The district no longer has a need for these items nor anticipate a need in the future.

Rationale:  The school district received the following bids on Sept. 23rd

1. Wilson Group $232,600

2. Glass Edge $567,568

3. Christiansen Construction $322,050


All of the bids met specifications as written by Cannon Moss (Architect)

Rationale:  We are now at the point with our renovation plans at the old maintenance building that bids need to be let for a number of items pertaining to these projects. 

Rationale:  We are now ready to address the HVAC upgrades for the Carson Theatre.  The upgrades include adding dehumidification, replacing some worn components, and also updating the control systems.

Rationale:  The administrative team has been looking at ways to update our school webpage to make it more informative and user-friendly for our patrons.  Many of the changes that we want to make would result in additional fees from our current webpage provider and it has been many years since we opened this contract up for bidding...so we have decided that this would be a good time to do that.  We are not unhappy with our current provider. We simply think that this is a good time to explore the many options that are now available to us, as a school district.  Therefore, we are asking your permission to let bids for our district website service.

Rationale:  ESU 8 is bringing national speaker, Dave Weber, to the Johnny Carson Theatre on January 14, 2016. We would like to move our Professional Development/No School for Students day from January 21, 2016 to January 14, 2016.  We made a similar change to our calendar this year, so that we could participate in the ESU Speaker (Walter Bond) on January 22nd.  Dave Weber is a motivational speaker who uses humor to help create better climates and cultures within organizations.

Rationale:  We have received an official request from NCEA President, Leann Widhalm to be recognized as the exclusive bargaining agent for non-supervisory certificated employees and nurses for the 2016-2017 school year.  They have already been approved as the exclusive bargaining agent for 2015-2016. The Nebraska Education Association encourages their members to obtain this recognition one year in advance, and it is customary for us to grant this recognition.  We have not had any other requests for recognition; nor do we anticipate any.

Rationale:  The Policy Committee has reviewed Policy Section 7000 related to New Construction Projects and made a few revisions to fit our district. These policies outline the process that would be utilized in the event that we decided to build a new facility or undertake a major renovation project.  

The Policy Committee recommends that you approve the 1st Reading of these policies.

Rationale:  These policies were discussed and revised by the Policy Committee prior to First Reading.  No additional changes have been made since that time.  The Committee recommends that these policies be approved and adopted.

Rationale:  Our Second Meeting of the Month is scheduled for Thursday, October 23, 2014 at noon at the NPS Central Administration Offices. 
Our next Regular Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 10, 2014 at the City Administration Offices.  A study session will begin at 5:30, followed by the regular business meeting at 6:30.