August 14, 2023 at 12:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

Mission Statement:

Gothenburg Public Schools is the cornerstone of a proud, passionate, and progressive community where students and staff thrive in a positive and innovative environment.  We ensure the growth of all individuals by inspiring them to own and maximize their potential.

A copy of the open meetings law is posted on the wall of the Board Room and is available to the public.

Rationale: 

The Board reserves the right to rearrange the order of items as needed.

Rationale: 

Board Policy 2009 - Opportunity for Public Expression.  
(A copy of the policy is linked here.)

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISH TO SPEAK: This is the portion of the meeting when members of the public may speak to the board about matters of public concern.  

• Getting Started:  When you have been recognized, please stand and state your name.   

• Time Limit:  The board will generally allow a total of 30 minutes for the presentation of all public comments.  Individuals may speak only one time, and must limit comments to around 5 minutes.  If there are more than 6 individuals who wish to address the board, the 30 minutes will be divided equally between the number of speakers.   These time limits may be changed by a majority vote of the board members in attendance to extend the time for a specific item or speaker. 

• Personnel or Student Topic:  If you are planning to speak about a personnel or a student matter involving an individual, please understand that the district has a complaint policy and/or procedures to resolve such complaints and concerns.  The Board requests that you follow the policy and procedures before addressing these matters with the Board.  Board members will generally not respond to any questions you ask or comments about individual staff members or students.  

• General Rules: This is a public meeting for the conduct of business.  Comments from the audience while others are speaking will not be tolerated.  Lewd, obscene, profane, slanderous, threatening and hostile conduct or statements and fighting words (words whose mere utterance entails a call to violence) will not be tolerated. 

• No Action by the Board:  The board will not act on any matter unless it is on the published agenda. 

Rationale: 

1. Approval of Previous Minutes

2. Approval of the Treasurer's Report

3. Approval of the Warrants / Bills

  a.  Petty Cash

  b.  Student Activity

  c.  Hot Lunch

  d.  Bank Statement

  e.  Summary of Accounts and Receipts

  f.  Monthly Expenditure Report

  g. Check Journal

4. Excuse Absent Board Members

5. Consider Option Enrollment Requests
Option Out:
Amiyah Flores-12th grade to Lexington
Gunther Rozmiarek-5th grade to Cozad
Graddy Rozmiarek to Cozad
Symphanie Rozmiarek-7th grade to Cozad
Kali Weinmaster-6th grade to Brady
Ethan Schultz-6th grade to Brady

Denied Option Requests: 1 

 

Rationale:  We have several items we would like to declare as surplus and will make available on a closed bid platform with sale going to the highest bid. 

Items to be considered as surplus can be viewed here.  Anyone is able to make a bid. 

Rationale: 

New this year is the third lid schools must statutorily observe when setting their budget: the property tax request authority.

The funding needed for the School District to meet its obligations to its students will require an increase in the base growth percentage used to determine the School District’s property tax request authority.

Nebraska law authorizes the Board, upon an affirmative vote of at least seventy percent (70%) of the Board, to increase such base growth percentage by up to six percent (6%).  

A motion to approve this increase would increase the base growth percentage used to determine Gothenburg Public School's property tax request authority for the 2023-2024 budget by an amount of 6% which would result in a total tax asking for the General and Special Building Funds of $9,522,300.  This represents an increase of 2.23% over the 22-23 tax asking (equivalent to $207,452).

The image below shows how the Gothenburg Public School's overall tax request has fluctuated over the past several years compared to the Rate of Inflation (https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/).

 

Rationale:  The depreciation fund acts as a savings account in order to facilitate the eventual purchase of costly capital outlay by reserving such monies from the General Fund.  It is best practice to approve these purchases through board action.  The following purchases are being recommended for purchase through the depreciation fund:

• Ongoing replacement and repair of HVAC units not to exceed $15,000 per unit.
• Purchase of a Heat Exchanger per the recommendation of Ryan Sterns with Hewgley and Associates not to exceed $70,000.
• Purchase of a Chrysler Pacifica minivan to replace the red Impala.  Trade difference of $35,400.

Rationale:  After review of our student data, our administrative team recognized that the JH ELA team needed to increase the rigor of their materials in order to better align with the NDE standards.  After a comprehensive review and approval from the Committee on American Civics, the committee would like to propose adoption of the new textbooks as presented.

Rationale:  Money was budgeted in the Depreciation Fund and is reserved for the repair and replacement of items such as the purchase of vehicles, a roof, or instructional equipment.  The Superintendent and Finance Committee recommend a transfer of $100,000 at this time. 

Money is budgeted for general operating expenses in the Activities Fund. The activities director and business manager determine the short-term and long-term needs of the program and determine when and how the funds are to be utilized.  The superintendent recommends a transfer of $70,000 at this time.

The Cooperative Fund is utilized for interlocal agreements where the school district is acting as the fiscal agent for any cooperative activity between one or more public agencies.  In this case, we are working to establish the fund to ensure our first Operating Expenses payment can be made once The Impact Center is up and running.  The superintendent recommends a transfer of $90,000 at this time.

The Employee Benefit Fund is utilized as reserve General Fund money for employee benefits such as early retirement, health insurance, and unemployment.  It is recommended that we transfer $25,000 into the Employee Benefit fund. 

There are sufficient resources in the budget to allow for these transfers, totaling $285,000 at this time.

Rationale:  Every six months, the board of education is asked to review and approve the Re-Opening plan.  This plan is kept on our school website and has had no changes since last year. 

Also included here is the "Exclusion and Re-Admittance" operating procedure we will utilize again this school year.  This does not require board approval.
 

Rationale:  Adult meal prices are set by NDE and can be viewed here.  While not technically a "student fee" they were referenced in our policy so I felt it was appropriate to bring this back for board action.

Rationale: 

We have been working hard to put all of our currently taught health topics in one place so that we can formally adopt what we are currently doing with regard to health and wellness topics. Over 15 teachers contributed to this document and it is rather comprehensive.

We made this a priority topic at our most recent (Coffee) Shop Talk and shared this document with the public via social media and an email to every parent.  We have been asking for stakeholders to read through this document and ask any questions they may have.

A summary document can be found at https://bit.ly/GPShealth_summary and a complete document can be found at bit.ly/GPShealth 

Please note: these are not new topics - these are topics we are currently teaching that have been put in one place for community review.

The first reading took place at the July board meeting.
 

Rationale:  After reviewing existing policy, the following proposals for new policy are presented:
4063 - Extra Duty and Extended Contract
6038 - Artificial Intelligence
4065 - State Activities
 

Rationale:  Our student records policy has a very broad definition of what we mean by "maintained".  This proposed change would provide a better working definition of this term and more accurately represent where student records are "maintained":
 

the district "maintains" student records which are printed and kept in the student’s physical file or which school district staff have intentionally saved within the official school district digital student information system that specifically identifies the student for whom those records are maintained.  The school district may also use learning management systems, which deliver and manage instructional content. The school district maintains student records within its student information system but not in its learning management system.  The official school district student information system is PowerSchool.

Rationale:  This is the second reading of our proposed activity handbook.  They have been aligned with new board policies. 

Rationale:  This is the second reading of our staff handbook.  They have been aligned with new board policies.  One minor adjustment was made to reflect the complexities of leave benefits simply stating employees should reference their individual contracts for specifics.  

Rationale: 

Committee Reports (Chair in bold)

1.  Personnel Committee (Mr. Fornoff, Mrs. Terrell, Mrs. Jobman)
2. Transportation and Facilities (Mr. Wyatt, Mr. Dalrymple, Mrs. Brass)
3. Finance (Mrs. Jobman, Mr. Wyatt, Mrs. Brass)
4. Committee on American Civics (Mrs. Terrell, Mr. Fornoff, Mr. Dalrymple)
5. Policy Review (Mrs. Terrell, Mr. Fornoff, Mrs. Brass)

 

Rationale: 

Rationale: 

According to § 84-1410, the Board of Education may hold a closed session by the affirmative vote of a majority of its voting members if a closed session is clearly necessary for the protection of the public interest or for the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual and if such individual has not requested a public meeting. 

Closed sessions may be held for, but shall not be limited to, such reasons as: 
(a) strategy sessions with respect to collective bargaining, real estate purchases, or litigation
(b) discussion regarding deployment of security personnel or devices
(c) investigative proceedings regarding allegations or misconduct
(d) evaluation of the job performance of a person when necessary to prevent needless injury to the reputation of a person.

The vote to hold a closed session shall be taken in open session. 

The subject matter and the reason necessitating the closed session shall be identified in the motion to close.  

If the motion to close passes, then the presiding officer immediately prior to the closed session shall restate on the record the limitation of the subject matter of the closed session.

The Board shall restrict its consideration of matters during the closed portions to only those purposes set forth in the motion to close as the reason for the closed session.

The meeting shall be reconvened in open session before any formal action may be taken.

Rationale:  Monday, September 11th

Swede Activities:
9th Grade Volleyball @ 5PM
JV Football @ 6PM