August 8, 2016 at 8:20 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Public Participation at Board of Education Meetings:

BOE Policy/Regulation 8346 outlines the parameters of public participation at Board meetings concerning items on the agenda as well as those not on the agenda.  A copy of this policy is available in the Superintendent’s office and at each monthly Board meeting.

The following are surplus items from the kitchen.

Hobart mixer with attachments serial #11-188-965

Butcher Block table

Storage cupboard from concessions

Elementary Principal's Report

August 8, 2016

New Teacher Mentor Program

Franklin Public Schools and the Educational Service Unit 11 team up to provide a mentoring program for new teachers in the ESU11 area.  New teachers, Taylor Turecek and Drew Kendall attended the first of three sessions on August 4th with their mentor teachers from the district.  Polly Sindt and Shannette Kahrs are paired respectively with our two teachers this year.  

Changes in the Elementary for the 2016-17 School Year

The Franklin Elementary will be following the same morning bell schedule as the middle school and high school this year. At 7:50 students will go to the gym for a morning assembly. First bell is at 7:55 and students will start in the classroom at 8:00. This change will allow parents of students on both sides of the building to have the same drop off times.  The time difference also allows for our students to have increased lunchtime from 20 to 30 minutes.  The lack of enough time for elementary lunch was a concern of the community group and from parents.  During the morning assembly time students will gather in the main gym for announcements, share in saying the Pledge of Allegiance, and celebrate of student birthdays.  I will be leading the morning assembly and will eventually have student volunteers and community leaders as a part of the morning activity. 

NDE Day Updates and Changes

I attended Nebraska Department of Education Day on July 27th in Kearney.   One of the sessions I attended was  "Charting the Future of School Safety" with NDE's Jolene Palmer.  She provided information on School Safety Standards and Safety and Security Plan requirements. I will have further information as the safety and security team makes plans to meet these requirements in the next few months.  I also attended "Nebraska Schools Charting the Future with AdvancED".  Franklin Public School is in year 2 of the standard 5-year cycle with AdvancED. During the 2017-18 school year AdvancED is preparing to roll out new accreditation platform and protocols.  During our 5-year cycle we will be making a transition from the previous program to the new eProve system.  "Navigating the Waters of Assessment" provided an update on the testing changes I shared with you during the May board meeting.  LB930- College Entrance Exam is still on track to replace the NeSA tests at 11th grade beginning in the 2017-18 school year. We will see other changes as the updated Math and the changes in Writing and Language Arts Standards make their way into the assessment process. 

High School Principal’s Report – August 2016

Board of Education

1. Academic Information

• Anticipated Enrollment for 2016-2017 – 133 students 7-12 this is down about 5 from last year, and could change between now and next Thursday, when school starts. There are a couple of students and parents that have mentioned enrolling but we have not yet seen any paperwork.
• Professional Learning Communities will be a strong focus this year K-12 as well as continued work on Essential Learning Outcomes.
• Common Language of Instruction – See Attachment – This comes from our Marzano Training and will be a leading document in building a new Teacher Evaluation model.This was also one of our requirements for Advanced Education and our School Improvement Process.  The other requirement will dove tail nicely as it is updating our evaluation system.

2. Activity Information

• Weight Room Project – I plan to begin working on raising the funds necessary to update the equipment in the weight room.  With the seed money of $5,000 from the board, we have already purchased a couple of machines that were necessary for rehabilitation of athletes and building speed and jumping ability.  I have already reached out to the Franklin Community Foundation for a donation and they will graciously match up to $2500 raised for our project.  I have until December 31^st to raise this money for matching purposes.  I am also working with Fundraising University which works with schools doing different fundraising ideas. I plan to have all student athletes 7-12 selling cookie dough at the end of October, beginning of November, and am looking at selling Activity Booster cards at the beginning of next year.  I will continue to look for ways to raise money for this project as the year goes on.
• Over the last few weeks we received a very generous anonymous donation from someone through mail.  The donation was to help with all athletic and activity programs, and it is being distributed evenly.  The amount was $7,000 and I want to thank this anonymous person for their kind donation.
• During last track season Brittany Wagner volunteered her time to coach our discus and shot putters.I forgot to add her to my coaching list for track for this year as I plan to have her assist on a paid level this year for Track and Field.

3. Other Information

• If you haven’t read our school will play host to the cities community meeting on Monday, August 15^th from 6:30 pm on.  This will take place in the Alternate Gym
• I also want to remind you that we will have our Back to School Bash on Tuesday, August 16^th from 5:30 pm on and encourage you to attend if you get a chance.
• The coaching staff, Dr. Conradt, and I will be attending the TVC Fall Social/Meeting on Wednesday, August 17^th at Lochland Country Club in Hastings, NE.  This meeting will be from 5:30 pm on.