April 14, 2014 at 8:00 PM - Regular April 2014 Meeting

Rationale: 

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.

Rationale:  There are 17 lighting fixtures from the kitchen that I am requesting be declared as surplus.  There are also outdated materials from the library (presented as an attachment to this agenda item) that i am requesting be declared as surplus items.

Rationale:  This is the annual insurance renewal for the school's insurance with Franklin Insurance Agency.  NOTE: Next year will represent the third year since we bid the insurance competitively.

Rationale:  The teachers received a total compensation package that represented at 3.8% increase in total compensation.  Of this 3.8%, 2.2% of the increase in total compensation was due to increase in insurance premium costs from the 2013-14 to 2014-15 school year.

The current cost of the entire classified staff salaries is $531,274.  A 3.8% increase on salaries would increase the total staff cost of salaries to $551,462.  The total dollar increase represented by a 3.8% raise would be $20,188.

The TVC Salary Study, which is a salary study of the TVC schools, is attached to this agenda for comparison purposes.

Rationale:  Chad Schmidt was offered the full-time custodial position being vacated by John McWilliams.  His anticipated start date is May 1st.  The building and grounds committee members discussed a salary range between $28,000-$30,000, based on the selected candidates ability and skill set.  I'd recommend that you pay Mr. Schmidt an annual salary of $30,000.  Currently, the pay for the position is $27,697 per year or $2308 a month, or $13.32 per hour.  Increasing the pay to $30,000 annually provides for an hourly rate of $15 per hour, based on the contracted 2000 hours per year.  The increase from $27,697 to $30,000 represents a 8.3% increase in pay for the position.

Rationale:  Mr. Dean Thurman verbally accepted the part-time custodial position.  His anticipated start date is April 22nd.  The building and grounds committee discussed the pay for this position and settled on a rate between $12.50 and $15.00 an hour contingent upon the selected applicants abilities and skill set.  I would recommend that Mr. Thurman be paid a rate of $15.00 per hour.

Rationale:  Brooke & Brigitte qualified for the National Convention in San Antonio, TX.  They will be in to share their 10-15 minute presentation.

Rationale:  Congratulations to our Summer Honors Participants!

Rationale:  I'd like to discuss what the board would like to do for Teacher Appreciation and how they would like to  recognize the contributions of those staff members who are leaving the school system at the end of this year.

The afternoon of May 9th from 2:30-??? is a possible time frame for doing this.

Rationale:  The principals need to attend a workshop early Tuesday, June 10th, in Lincoln with teachers.  Do you want to simply excuse them from the June meeting or do you want to reschedule the meeting to an earlier time in the day?

Rationale:  The board discussed ways to communicate with the public last month.  This month, we need to decide what ideas we want to put into action and when we want them put into action.

*Scott and Raquel will be presenting on this, not Scott & Kim.

Rationale:  Mr. Schroeder consulted with the Board President, Mr. Ron Fritson, and then with the building and grounds committee.  The recommendation is to hold off on main gym improvements until the summer of 2015 and to spend approximately $35,000 of the $60,000 remaining in the depreciation fund to do the following projects:

1.  Lower elementary hallway Improvements to include painting the elementary hallway and replacing the existing lockers.  (Estimated Cost: $15,000)

2.  Replacing failing lighting in kitchen (Estimated Cost: $2093)

3.  Concrete repair in the parking lot ($14,000)

Other "odds and ends" may also be attended to such as:
Popcorn popper for concession stand
Practice mats on the wrestling deck
Floor mats at the entry ways
Tile in lower elementary east hallway
Tile repair in the alternate gym hallways

There are two bids from School Specialty.  She wanted to rebid it when she found out how substantial the margin between her bid and the competitor's bid was to ensure it was "apples to apples".  I provided her with product information from the competitor and allowed her to do so.

The building and grounds committee also asked that I obtain bids for the wrestling practice mats and for a temporary repair to the roof area above the office and entry way (north central section of the roof).  Those bids are also attached for consideration.  The roof bid is under $5,000 and Ziemba has been a very good company to work with, so I would recommend accepting the bid and lining up the work for this summer, as the leaks won't be going away.  The mat bid is in excess of $5,000, so we would have to secure a competitive bid if it is something that you want to move forward with for this summer or the fall.  The bid, however, gives you an idea of what the mats might cost.

Rationale:  Between the April and May Board Meeting, board members are asked to please review the 4000 series of policy and bring any suggested revisions or changes to Mr. Schroeder's attention.

Rationale:  The staff and board members were encourage to look at the 5000 series of policy between the March and April Board Meeting.  There will be a need for the policy committee to meet with the administration to review and revise several sections of existing policy in advance of the May Board Meeting, including sections pertaining to:

1.  The Wellness Policy
2.  Graduation Requirements
3.  Grading Practices
4.  Student Handbook

Rationale: 

Elementary Principal’s Report April 2014

Invention Convention

Mrs. Cleveland has 21 students involved in Invention Convention this year.  The Invention Convention is sponsored by ESU11.  This year’s Invention Convention will be held Monday, April 14, 2014, from 9:00-2:00 at Pioneer Village in Minden.  Last year 138 students from six of the ESU 11 schools participated. Franklin 3rd-6th grade students can choose to participate in the program. 

NeSA Testing

The 7th, 8th and 11th graders have completed testing in the areas of Reading and Math.  Along with Science at the 8th and 11th grade levels. Elementary students started testing this week and will continue until the first week in May.  Students have been practicing for the standards test using the state C4L (Check for Learning) systems provided by the Nebraska Department of Education.   Elementary students have also used our online practice program, “Odyssey” to receive further instruction on the standards skills.  Our teachers have put a lot of time and focus on preparing our students to meet the skills required. 

Kindergarten Roundup

Mrs. Marks is preparing for Kindergarten Roundup this week.  It is scheduled for Thursday, April 17th.  We are expecting 21 students in Kindergarten for the 2014-15 school year. 

ACE Awards for March

The focus is on families for the month of March!  Students are learning about having and developing a positive identity during guidance with Mrs. Simmons.  All students, K-12, were asked to identify positive values within their families and write about them.  The “ACE Flyer Family” board will be on display in the lunchroom.  I would like to invite our parents to read about our Flyer families before or after the upcoming musical concerts.  

Rationale: 

High School Principal’s Report – April 2014
Board of Education

 1. Academic Information

• Book Study Update – The staff is working to update and tweak the current school grading policy to better match standards based learning.We will hope to have a draft by the May meeting for both Elementary and Secondary.
• Course Schedule – Please see attachments
• Graduation Requirements – Please see attachment – In all I am requesting that we increase the requirement for social studies from 3 years to 4.This will be in effect for next year’s sophomore class and beyond.The juniors and seniors will be exempt from this new increase.

2. Activity Information

• School Conference Passes – When I write contracts I always try to include, “Conference Passes will be accepted,” whether that is our conference or any other conference.This is not always true from out of conference schools when they write the contracts to me.
• Coaching for next year – Handout
• Franklin Invitational Track Meet was held on Tuesday, April 8^th and went well.We had great weather, very few and minor issues, and I want to once again thank everyone that helped out in running this meet.

4. Other Information

• Wellness Committee Updates – See included Minutes
• NDE Data Conference in Kearney – April 14-15

• NETA (Nebraska Technology Conference in LaVista – April 24-25.  Shelley and I along with 6 teachers (Mr. Speer, Mrs. Guge, Mrs. Hammer, Mrs. Kahrs, Mrs. Cleveland, and Mrs. Einspahr) will be attending this conference.  I feel it is important that we do as much as we can to expose our teachers to what other teachers throughout the state are doing with technology.  This is an excellent conference to gain new learning/teaching experiences.  Next year we will be taking elementary teachers and would like to keep a rotation like this from now on.
• Simmy's Donation Night - April 5th - The school will receive a check for $143.50 for our participation at this restaurant in Alma.

Rationale:  1.  The application for the fresh fruit and veggies program we discussed last year at this time has been filed with the state for next year.

2.  Next month, we'll be needing to decide on lunch price increases.  The nutrition services in Lincoln provides us with a tool for making a minimum increase annually.

3.  The legislature will end its session on April 17th.  I'll update you in the future regarding bills that were passes that will impact our operations and current policies.  Usually, we do those policy updates in the summer months.  The ESU provides a service through our legal firm to provide policy updates each summer.

4.  Initial indications suggested that we would loose close to $285,000 in state aid.  That number is actually going to be closer to $441,000.  Our state aid is going to decrease from $1,009,488 from 2013-14 to $568,488 for 2014-15.

5.  Thanks for letting me be a part of the Sandhill's School External Evaluation Team during the March Board Meeting.  It was an awesome learning experience for me that I believe I can translate into positive results for the school district.  Thank you, Board Members!