November 27, 2017 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Mrs. Richards thanked everyone for attending State Conference.  It was well attended this year, and this shows our dedication to public education.  Dr. Irwin was very impressed with his first State Conference.  Congratulations to Linda Richards for her award for serving as President of NASB and for Dr. Adler for his award as NE Superintendent of the Year.  Mrs. Johnson echoed the statements regarding the conference as well as congratulations to Dr. Adler and Mrs. Richards.  The Show Choir performance was very nice.  Public education in the state of Nebraska is producing great kids!  Mr. Overkamp thanked many people, including Linda Richards for her presidency of NASB, the work of our Administration, Tresha Rodgers for her current presidency of our own Board, Dr. Adler for his award and support of our children, and for the entire board and their service to our kids, our families and public education.  He attended a College and Career Readiness breakout session at the conference.  He asked the Board to join him in supporting sports and non-sports activities that are starting up.  Mrs. Gerch agreed that State Conference was amazing.  She attended a breakout session with students going on to college.  One of our own Ralston Rams was there speaking; Nate Richards.  She got to deliver turkeys in the community for Thanksgiving.  Thank you to everyone who donated and was able to help deliver.  Thank you for all the invitations from the schools for Thanksgiving events. Mrs. Rodgers added her congratulations for Mrs. Richards and Dr. Adler.  She thanked everyone for the opportunity to serve in this District.  Our kids are awesome and our teachers are awesome!  Thank you for allowing her to go along and deliver turkeys - Mr. Buckingham drove the van. She went to a basketball parents' meeting and was extremely impressed hearing about home visits even in sports.  It made her happy to see that the coaching staff is getting involved in their player's lives.

Dr. Adler thanked the Board, Administrators and staff for all the great things we are doing for our kids, families and the community.  Every day he hears great things happening in our District like one of our kids getting recognized or receiving an award for things they are doing and achieving. 

Thank you also to Girl Scout Troop #45492 for installing the Free Little Libraries in four of our schools; Blumfield, Karen Western, Meadows and Ralston Middle School.   

Mr. Buckingham and our auditor from Dana F. Cole & Company, presented our District Audit Report to the Board. 

Mrs. Wilken presented the Counseling Services update in Mrs. Stolley's absence. 

We have had elementary counselors for 2 years now.  We have a great deal of collaboration in K-12 with our counseling staff.  In addition to our own counselors, Arbor Family provides support services as well.  Dr. Adler mentioned we will have a more formal update as part of two board meetings starting in January.  He asked that if the Board had any questions they would like to see answered, to please email those ahead of time.  Mrs. Rodgers asked that the Board copy everyone those questions. 

Mr. Mike Smith provided an update on RHS Fall Activities. 

He started the report with a note that he attended the Unified Bowling District Competition recently and commented what a great event it was.  Mr. Buckingham asked him to clarify for newer board members what Unified Bowling was.  It is regular education kids that compete with kids that have mental or physical disabilities.  Presently we only have Unified Bowling, but we are looking at Unified Track.

Now in each report, Mr. Smith will be highlighting several sports or activities.  Fall coaching evaluations are in Teachpoint.  We do a 3D Coaching Development Program - which develops fundamentals, skills, psychology, etc.  Part of that is getting to know the players in their world (in support of what Mrs. Rodgers was saying earlier).  Bo Buettenback, our new baseball coach, takes this approach.  Sports psychology was discussed.  Highlighted were Rambassadors, Cheer and Dance, and the Volleyball and Softball teams.   Mrs. Rodgers said "Great job on 3D Coaching!" "Our band is wonderful!"  Mr. Smith added "Many thanks to Nate Capron.  He has really worked hard to reach out to the community and partner with them on band events."

Mr. Buckingham and Mr. Fink updated the Board on the Technology plan.  After an evaluation by Prism Advisors, we have found areas of potential grown and upgrade.  We have four goals in this next segment on which we will focus.  They referred to the attachments for further detail in these areas.

Dr. Welte and Mrs. Wilken presented draft calendars for 2018-19 and 2019-20.  They have tried to listen to the comments from parents, teachers and staff on ways to improve the calendars moving forward.  Half days were eliminated as part of this.  They will return in January and February with more revisions/feedback from all parties and asked for the Board to review as well. 

The Student and Staff Count was reviewed for changes since that last Board Meeting.  We are holding steady.  Mrs. Wilken said we have a much larger than normal waiting list for Pre-K this year, so she will be keeping an eye on our Kindergarten enrollment for next year.

Policy 5011 - Physical Exams was reviewed.  Dr. Rupprecht discussed the changes being as a result of new NDE rules, which require us to take away a "grace period" for getting physical exams prior to start of school.  Mrs. Richards mentioned the reason we initially created the policy as written was because we have many students and families in transition.  Our student population have unique needs that we take into consideration when registering for school. She also suggested we have our attorney look at this.  She would like a policy that would allow us to have a bit of flexibility. This one does not allow that. Dr. Rupprecht will contact our attorney and the review of this policy will continue.

No action was taken during this Executive Session.

Dr. Adler reminded the Board that December 4th is the deadline to complete the Superintendent Evaluation online.  This will allow us to review it at the December 11th meeting. 

Please note the attachments for review and upcoming calendar events.