January 9, 2018 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

President Olsen called the meeting to order at 6pm.

President Olsen called attention to the Open Meetings Act.

President Olsen led assembly in the allegiance.

O'Neil presented on the establishment of a K-8 "bank" at Chase County Schools that she learned about at a curriculum conference a few years ago. All local banks approached by O'Neil said yes and therefore O'Neil drew the custodial bank, noting it will be AB&T. The Chase County Schools will be open once a week for deposits. Funds will be held non-interest bearing at AB&T. Withdrawals will be made upon graduation unless a student leaves, at which time they can make their withdrawal. Records will be dually maintained by District & Bank. O'neil has also applied for a $2,000 grant from the Nebraska Community Foundation in which she has not received yet, however, this will offset start up costs such as prizes, t-shirts, registers etc. Initial bank tellers will be O'Neil's FBLA students. CCS will be bank #27 in the state, however, the first west of North Platte. O'Neil has set Febr 13th for ribbon cutting. O'neil will be obtaining parent permissions with letters sent home and during PT conferences. AB&T is also going to do a matching of up to $5 for initial deposits.

Academic All-State was announced, this includes contributing athletes with a GPA of 3.7 or higher and contributor to the team as follows: Softball: Sydnie Allen and Lauren Gockley, Cross Country: Kaley Hauxwell, Kayla Schilke, Landis Beverly, Kalen Wallin, Volleyball: Adelaide Maxwell and Allison Owings Football: Jack Bauerle and Caine Haarberg, Play Production: Noah Griffin and Valerie Herbert. The CCS wrestling Invitational is this weekend with 12 teams. CCS will again use track wrestling and Chuck Lambert, Supt. at Bridgeport, to assist. There will also be a wrestling dual with Gordon-Rushville and basketball games with Gothenburg on Friday night before. Hauxwell will be attending the NSAA district 5 Meeting in Holdrege this week discussing and voting on the upcoming District proposals. Hauxwell will release SPVA tournament seeding & brackets Wednesday as games were still being played on Tues. The girls' bracket will be played M/TH and the boys will play T/F with both finals on Saturday. The hanging of sound panels that was done in the new auxiliary gym has worked well to improve the balance of noise in the gym there, however, the fans hung in the shorthorn gym over the holiday have not alleviated the cool temps therefore Trane has been contacted and will be out soon to assist.

Principal Oden's report attached noted the 5-6 and 7-12 concerts before Christmas vacationwere well attended as well as the many classroom celebrations were successful and everyone seemed ready for Christmas break. The December 21st in-service day was used for K-4 teacher/para training and information on the new, Sanford Harmony Social Emotional curriculum,  Mrs. Hanna is starting to use with students. The curriculum and materials were free to the school. The rest of the December day as well as the January 2 in-service day was spent working on report cards, planning RTI activities and lessons, and working on the grade-level pacing/learning guides. Teachers/paras greatly appreciated this professional time. Odens mentioned winter AIMSWEB testing will be January 17-18 and report cards will go home with K-4 students on January 12th. Principal Scheel presented the following: RTI - Beginning this semester, the HS is piloting the beginnings of a system that is designed to help students struggling with classes and hopefully intervene earlier than failing grades. Currently, there is a team of 5 teachers and one classified staff that comprise the HS RTI team. Scheel briefly mapped how the pilot intervention will occur from referral to one on one intervetion assistance. Scheel iterated the process is a pilot because the main focus is to improve/perfect the process and resources we use to help those students recover; we are working to move toward implementing this fully into next year’s schedule once process kinks can be identified and worked thru during this spring's pilot process. MIC time - The HS has also made changes to this mentorship time which occurs on Fridays. A group of 8 students have taken over the planning of activities, drafting teams and additional leaders. The students are taking a competition-based approach in which they will come up with challenges that work to improve student culture/climate and where teams/families compete against each other for incentives such as VIP parking, additional lunch time, Principal swaps for a period or two, & other ideas the leaders come up with. Students seemed excited when this rolled out last Friday and currently are working on forming team identities before the challenges begin in a few weeks.

SBM not present

Lefdal highlighted that he will give the District 100% for the next six months in order to assist in a smooth transition towards new leadership. Education forum in Kearney February 21st and 22nd. Let Lefdal know if you are interested in attending. Committee Meetings update. Transportation is looking towards a van purchase and possibly a bus at the end of school year due to on-going analysis of the fleet and mileage. Technology update is that Mr. Gerhartz has been completing wiring in the new gym addition. Lefdal has been collecting data for negotiations and already beginning our planning for next year and then he reviewied legislative issues with the Board .

Andres Huicochea-Resignation 

Supt. Lefdal noted last payment less the retainer.will be made on bus barn this week.  Lefdal noted C&S was exceptional to work with. Olsen inquired regarding a fence and Lefdal confirmed yes a fence will be installed and said students may do the work but Lefdal has also requested external fencing quotes. 

Lefdal recommended the form as a best practice, however, is not required.

Supt. Lefdal went through a summary by grade level and subject area. In summary, he noted there are areas to celebrate but the data also highlights direct areas to be addressed for improvement. Board members and Administration had an ongoing discussion regarding specific declines in certain testing areas, including predominantly reading at the middle school level.

Executive session exited at 9:07 pm.

Meeting adjourned at 9:08 pm.