August 13, 2012 at 5:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  Notice of the meeting was given in advance by publishing in the Dakota County Star. All proceedings hereafter shown took place while convened meeting was open to the attendance of the public.

Rationale:  The board of education annually reviews and approves staff handbooks.  The certified and non-certified handbook was reviewed with the policy and personnel committee at the August 8^th committee meeting.

Rationale:  The board of education annually reviews and approves staff handbooks.  The certified and non-certified handbook was reviewed with the policy and personnel committee at the August 8^th committee meeting.

Rationale:  While reviewing policy section 100: district organization I noticed that policy 106: policy dissemination did not align with policy 306.01: policy dissemination.  I’ve updated policy 106 to read similar to policy 306 in the administration section.

Rationale:  The following is from a legal update from the Harding and Shultz Law Firm concerning evaluation of probationary employees.  All probationary employees must be evaluated during the first semester of the 2011-12 school year.  You also must schedule a post conference for each probationary teacher’s evaluation prior to the beginning of second semester so that there is no confusion about whether the evaluation truly occurred during first semester.  See Neb. Rev. Stat. § 79-828(2).  The evaluation statute applies to probationary teachers and probationary administrators, such as principals and athletic directors.  The failure to evaluate probationary certificated employees in the manner required by statute can result in a loss of the school district's ability to nonrenew a poorly-performing employee. 

Rationale:  Policy 403.01 has been changed due to LB 959 which creates a limited degree of immunity to employers when releasing information on an employee to prospective employers.  We have placed the burden of asking for a consent form on the employee since all this requires additional record-keeping by the employer.  The first paragraph lists the information in the public domain that the school district may release to a credit agency without prior notice to the employee.  The second paragraph deals with information for which written consent of the employee is required.

Rationale:  Policy 503.01 has been changed as a result of LB 996 that prescribes in agonizing detail the exact procedure that must be followed for allowing a student to discontinue enrollment between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. This also applies to procedures that public school superintendents must use to allow parochial or home school students to withdraw.

Rationale:  This is a mandatory policy.  The paragraph following the four itemized services meets requirements for a policy describing notification of excessive absenteeism to the county attorney.  For notification purposes only, the district will no longer differentiate between excused or unexcused absences, nor will it base the notification on a quarterly limit, but will simply use the limit of 20 days absence per year. In paragraph four, the district and county attorney may choose a limit of absences smaller than five.

Rationale:  Due to the rapidly changing nature of technology, most specific rules in this area are best left to coverage under administrative regulations.  Prior to approval of the policy and adoption of associated guidelines, the Children’s Internet Protection Act requires public notice and at least one meeting for public comment on the regulations.  If the Board prefers that no personal e-mail should be sent or received by staff, the words "and only limited,incidental personal use" should be deleted from the second sentence of the Staff Use section. The Community Use section should be omitted if computer access is only available to students and staff.

Rationale:  Annually each school board shall hold a public hearing at a regular or special meeting of the board on a proposed student fee policy.  After a review of the student fee policy and listening to any public comment the policy shall be adopted by a majority vote of the school board.

Rationale:  The board may go into executive session, to discuss negotiations, for the protection of public interest.