October 13, 2020 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  No public coment.

Discussion:  AD Hauxwell began his report stating the FB game against Bridgeport has been cancelled. Winter sports classifications were announced. Boys Basketball C-2, Girls Basketball C-1, Wrestling C, Speech C-1, and  Play Production C-1. He added that Chase County C-10 Softball Subdistricts were held at Bill Dunkhas Memorial Park in Stamford, Ne on Monday, October 5th. Chase County played #1 Southern Valley. The District Tournament was moved to a one day tournament this year. Chase County lost 10-0 to Southern Valley who went on to win the C-10 Subdistrict. C-5 Cross Country Districts are in Ogallala October 15th at the Crandell Creek Golf Course. There are 12 teams competing, girls will run at 3:00 PM. MT. Boys will run at 4:05 PM. MT. The SPVA Volleyball Tournament is at Perkins County on Saturday October 17th. There will be 5 games played in the Pritchett and 5 games played in the main gym. Chase County is the #5 seed and will play the #4 seed Perkins County in the main gym. The tournament will start at 10:00 AM MT. He also noted that Chase County Volleyball will play in the C1-11 District probably at Gothenburg as they are highest seed, on Monday, October 26 and Tuesday October 27. Chase County is #3 seed and is at the 30th in the Wild Card Points for C-1.Hauxwell said Wrestling is still being discussed and will be discussed more in November. He ended his report giving gratitude andthanks to the bus drivers for everything they have been doing, teachers for covering classes and all the extra help due to lack of substitutes. Rex Felker & Dallas Baney driving bus routes and van routes to cover shortage and to Dallas and his custodial staff for everything they are doing to keep the school clean and going. Janet Sheaffer for helping keep the school clean by fogging.

Discussion:  Principal Odens began her report noting Parent Teacher Conferences are planned for next week, October 19th from 2-8 PM MT. Parents will be receiving their student's MAP Growth Reports, parent updates from the ARC English Language Arts curriculum will also be shared and explained to parents at all grade levels. K-4 will have scheduled conferences and those will take place in the classrooms. Middle School conferences will be held in the Shorthorn Gym and High School conferences will take place in the cafeteria. PTO will be providing a meal for the staff again this year. Odens mentioned the staff In-Service on Monday, October 12th provided teachers with time to look at MAP data and talk about intervention time. Teachers had discussions about plans for getting work and content to students that are in quarantine and also given time to prepare for Parent Teacher Conferences and work with their grade level and content area teams. Odens said Homecoming week was a great success and having the pep rally at the football field worked just fine. Principal Odens mentioned that the Parade of Costumes is still planned for Thursday, October 29th, although she is unsure of what it will look like and where it will be held at this current time. Odens ended her report that the PTO Book Fair is planned for the second week of November. Currently, looking at having parents and community members come into the school to buy books during the evening hours.

Discussion:  Principal Sorensen started his report congratulating Alexis Richmond who was the local recipient of the NSAA sponsored Believers and Achievers Award. He noted on September 22nd Seniors did take the ACT at the Berean Church. He commended Mr. Herbert on the organization of the test session and the senior class as every senior showed up to take the test & thanked Matt Maxwell for the use of the church. Sorensen stated September 23rd was In-Service Day for K-12. He said it was a productive day on the 7-12 side. Teachers were introduced to the district reading data and strategies to use within their subject area. Teachers are implementing reading strategies within their respective subject areas to aid and assist the ELA teachers in improving reading scores across grades 7-12. He commended Mrs. Lambert for the organization of the day. Sorensen mentioned Map testing was completed for grades K-9 by Friday, September 25th. Principal Sorensen also noted on September 28th with the help of Rex Felker and the bus drivers conducted our annual bus evacuation drill with all K-12 students that were present that day. He commended Rex and the drivers for doing a great job with giving direction and working with students. September 30th Sophomores and Juniors did take the Pre ACT in the Auxillary gym. Sorensen discussed Homecoming Week being a success. He said it was disappointing that we did not get the volleyball game in with Perkins County or the football game in with Hershey. He said the kids were great and he was impressed with the hall decorations and that they stayed up all week long without being torn down. He commended Mrs. Kimble and the cheerleaders for doing an outstanding job with the week's festivities and Mrs. Hinojosa and the student council for doing a great job with the dance and being flexible about having it outside. He exclaimed he lost count of all students as they were leaving the dance, that said "thank you" for having the dance. The student body needed that opportunity to have fun. Sorensen ended his report stating October 12th In-service day, the focus was on Map district data and strategic intervention planning with K-12 teachers. Teachers of all subject areas answered questions posed by Mrs. Lambert regarding intervention strategies.

Discussion:  Supt. Lambert started his report noting he's been working with the administration team and counseling department on setting up 4 year plans for students to help the school and the students track their graduation requirements/credits. Teachers are starting to learn how to input ARC data into the system, once fully implemented Lambert noted we will be able to track student progress/growth in real time. Students reading levels are figured out, which is a huge step in the right direction. Lambert mentioned the he and the principals attended a virtual School Law Webinar to get all of the updates for 20-21. He commended the Principals for doing a great job making things work with the lack of substitutes this year and Troy Hauxwell  for doing a great job of juggling all of the transportation needs with lack of drivers. He said we have been dealing with some COVID positive cases the past week and a half and he couldn't say enough how great Angie Paisley and the Administration team has been through it all.
Buildings and Grounds update: Lambert stated both arboretum signs have been installed, one outside and one inside. He mentioned that we might want to consider being an official arboretum site as there has been a lot of work put into making our outdoor facilities looks great and it could bring people to our beautiful facilities. The windmill on the north side of the school has been repaired. Conversations have started to update the bell system and install phones in all the teaches classrooms, and updating our website. The digital sign north of the football field is displaying weekly activities now and the main TV in the commons area scrolls through activity photos from the year. Camera system will be researched and discussed.
Budget and Finance: Set up activities budget for the 20-21 school year, he stated he went through line item by line item with Hauxwell and Jill Mays so that everyone is on the same page. A classroom budget for all the teachers was made so that they are all aware of what funds they have available to them, and added these line items into the internal accounting system so that it is easier to track them through the year. He mentioned Dana Cole and Company were out to conduct the 19-20 school audit and the 19-20 final financials were submitted to the Nebraska Dept. of Education. Title I application for the 20-21 school year was submitted, this year we will get around $102,000.00 toward Title I. Lastly Supt Lambert stated we received a GEER grant toward some more student computers. The Technology Committee and he met and discussed what would be the most beneficial plan moving forward.