October 16, 2024 at 4:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

More Information:  Mission Statement - Milford Public Schools will prepare all students to be successful citizens: Our Mission is fulfilled when all students read with comprehension, speak and write clearly, compute accurately, reason logically, understand and appreciate the fine arts, apply suitable strategies and habits of mind to solve problems, utilize technology to communicate and to understand information and behave morally.

This agenda contains a list of subjects known at the time of its distribution.  A copy of the agenda reflecting any changes will be available for public inspection during normal business hours in the District Office.  Except for items of an emergency nature, the agenda shall not be altered later than twenty-four hours before the meeting.  The Board reserves the right to alter the order of items, as it deems necessary.

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Information concerning the Open Meeting Law, Chapter 84, Article 14 of Nebraska State Statutes, is posted on the bulletin board in the back of the meeting room.

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This is the public’s opportunity to speak to items on the agenda. This is also the public’s opportunity to speak to other non-agenda topics concerning the school district - since it is not an agenda item the board cannot discuss or take action on the matter at this time. To be recognized, all participants must complete the Request to Address the Milford Board of Education Form.  The District has established separate complaint procedures for any complaints, including complaints and concerns against individual employees.  As such, the Board requests that this complaint process be followed before discussion with the Board takes place.  Thank you for your participation.

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General Fund for $133,279.43
Payroll for $798,050.71
Total $931,330.14

Depreciation Fund $19,690.57 is for the tile and installation materials for the high school cafeteria.

Other expenditures to point out:

• $9,857 to the City of Milford is much higher than normal.  This is mainly due to the water bill from running water for the cooling tower at the high school.  I have contacted the mayor to see if there might be a consideration for an adjustment, since it was due to an unusual circumstance.
• $11,845 to ESU 5 is for the contract for our LMHP at the high school.
• $2,191 to ESU CC is for student subscriptions to Canvas, our online learning platform for students.
• $12,783 to ESU CC is for our Powerschool cooperative that provides all of the technical support and training for the state reporting system.
• $713 to Go Physical Therapy is for vision services for verified students.  This is a name change from the previous provider name, Central NE Rehabilitation Services.
• $495 to Heartland Roofing Consultants for repairs to the roof at the high school.  This is a new vendor.
• $6,820 to Lexia Learning is for student subscriptions for our online reading software for K-2 students.  This is our annual fee.
• $3,095 to Shaffer Communications is for a set of walkie-talkies to use for our safety communication plan in the high school.

More Information:  The 2024 school adjusted valuations have been certified to the Department of Education and will be used in calculating the school aid for 2025-2026. The adjusted valuations are for purposes of state aid only and should not be used for levy setting purposes.

The level of value of the class of residential or commercial/industrial real property in each school district is adjusted to 96% of actual value. The level of value of the class of agricultural and horticultural land in each school district is adjusted to 72% of actual value. For agricultural and horticultural land, the value is adjusted to 72% of the value of the land for its agricultural or horticultural purposes only. The real property portion of the 2024 centrally assessed value is adjusted to 96% of actual value.

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Open discussion as needed.

More Information:  Attached is the proposed timeline and actions for the strategic planning process.  The names of the community members are listed in the attached document.  If there are suggestions for additions or changes to the list, please let me know.  We will start to send letters of invitation to community members soon.

Also, the draft questions for the survey are listed in the attached document.  If there are suggestions for questions we can discuss that during the meeting.

More Information:  Attached are the recommendations for student enrollment capacities for each building.  Districts can set limits by declaring programs closed, or by setting capacities.  Districts must close programs by October 15th.  Since we are using numeric capacities, we are not required to set these at this time.  However, we do not anticipate making recommendations for changes to the capacities prior to April 1st.  April 1st is the final date for a school district to respond to an option enrollment request.  I recommend setting the capacities at this time, since we have already been receiving requests for option enrollment for the 2025-26 school year.

Attached is a memo from KSB describing more details about the option enrollment policy and process.  The recommended resolution is also attached.

More Information:  District policy states "The first year evaluations shall take place (1) at or prior to the October board meeting, and (2) at or prior to the January board meeting."  I have attached the evaluation tool and will plan to place my evaluation on the October and January board meeting agendas.  For subsequent years, the superintendent evaluation is to be conducted at the December board meeting.

The language in the superintendent contract indicates that the renewal of the employment contract is to be an agenda item at the December board meeting.  If the board is willing, I would recommend completing the second evaluation in December.  That would allow the board to complete the evaluation and contract renewal at the same time.

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The Board of Education reserves the right to enter into Closed/Executive Session for 1) the protection of the public interest, or 2) the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, and/or the individual has not requested a public meeting. When making a motion to enter into Closed/Executive Session, the member making the motion should be as specific as possible as to the reason(s) for executive session.

The Board President will restate the reason for Closed/Executive Session after the motion has been acted on.