July 13, 2026 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.

This meeting was legally advertised in the Gothenburg Leader on July 9, 2026, in accordance with state requirements.  A copy of the Request for Publication and Proof of Publication will be linked in the electronic minutes once the Proof of Publication is available.

Rationale:  State Track Gold Medalists
Jax Rickertsen - Pole Vault
Bryson Neels - 800 Meter Run

Strategy 3 Update
Mrs. Maggie Tiller & Mr. Marc Mroczek

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: Before the meeting begins, anyone wishing to address the board must sign in with their name, address, and any organizations they are representing. When 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 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

 

Rationale: 

To ensure we have complied with the publication requirements of this particular statute, we have re-posted this same agenda item from June. The notice for this agenda item ran on July 2nd, 2026.  

There are no changes from the June meeting.

Schools have three lids they must observe when setting their budget:
1) $1.05 Levy Limit
2) Budget Authority (Expenditure Limit)
3) Property Tax Request Authority

The funding needed for the School District to meet its obligations to its students may 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 2026-2027 budget by an amount of up to 6%.

A vote for this motion does not mean that Gothenburg Public Schools will access all six percent.  Instead, it means that a number up to six percent may be used when planning the overall budget. 

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:  Substitute salaries were $175 and $210 for ten consecutive days or after 30 cumulative days last year. 

We averaged 5.2 substitutes per day (not including school coverage) and 866 total days covered.  These numbers include long-term coverage.  Our substitutes are critical to ensuring we can maintain daily operations and we're blessed with an incredible group.

We would like to give a huge thank you to Dan Scherer, Sarah Anderson, Cindy Moore, Barb Hicken, Karissa Blecha, Vickie Keiser, and Monica Rivera. who were here over 50 days each!

I'd like to recommend we increase our daily rate to remain competitive with nearby districts.

• Set the daily rate to $185 per day.
• After 30 cumulative days in the district, the daily rate will be $220 for all remaining days subbed in that school year.
• For any assignment lasting more than ten consecutive days (e.g., maternity leave), the daily rate will be $220 for each day of that assignment and for any additional days thereafter.
• We will continue to honor those taking on long-term substitute assignments by providing a 20% bonus to be paid for all days in a long-term assignment.  This is the responsibility of the substitute to submit the form in the district office and equates to an extra "day" for each week in recognition of all the extra time that is committed during a long-term subbing assignment.

Rationale:  District #20 has been a Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association member for many years.  NRCSA provides many services for rural schools.

Rationale:  This is the first reading of our activity handbook.  They have been aligned with new board policies.  No formal motion is needed at this time.  These will return in August for consideration of approval.  Please provide any feedback before that meeting.

Rationale:  This is the first reading of our staff handbook.  It has been aligned with new board policies.  No formal motion is needed at this time.  These will return in August for consideration of approval.  Please provide any feedback before that meeting.

Rationale:  We did not receive any feedback on the handbook changes presented at the June meeting.

Rationale:  After reviewing existing policy, the following proposals for new policy were presented here for consideration of the Board at the June meeting.

There was no feedback provided to Dr. Jonas between the June and July meetings.

Rationale:  The School District acknowledges its obligation under state and federal laws to provide comprehensive training to its staff on various subjects. With the recent enactment of LB 1329 during the 2024 legislative session, the Legislature has entrusted each Board of Education with the discretion to set appropriate durations for specific staff training mandates. In light of this, the Board of Education is taking proactive steps to align the District's planned training agenda for the upcoming school year with the provisions outlined in LB 1329. This resolution serves as a formal affirmation of the Board's determination that the proposed training requirements are reasonable in both scope and duration. Additionally, it ensures that the Board is fully informed of and grants approval for other essential staff training initiatives slated for the same academic year.

The adopted calendar includes one full day for staff to work on training sessions that are provided online.  This is done in recognition of the time it takes to complete these trainings.

Rationale:  Each year we ask the board of education to consider approval of our certified staff evaluation tools.  This year, we do not have any changes to these documents.

1. Teacher Evaluation Document
2. School Psychologist Evaluation Document
3. Counselor Evaluation
4. Director of Teaching & Learning Evaluation Document
5. Administrator Evaluation Document

Rationale:  Legislation requires that we establish standards for option enrollment before October 1st of the preceding school year.  While this can be very difficult to guess a full year in advance, there are some generally accepted standards we can adhere to.  The recommended capacity limitations will ensure we can remain committed to providing a high quality education to District 20 students in an economically efficient manner.
 

Rationale:  Board Policy 4053 requires administrators of the district to make known the existence of any conflict of interest in any contract in which the employee has an interest.

As an informational item, there is no action required. The conflict of interest forms are attached here for public record.

Rationale: 

POLICY 2008: MEETINGS

LB 596 eliminates the requirement to publish notice of meetings in a newspaper.  Instead, the board selects the method.  Four times per year, in a newspaper of general circulation in the district, you must publish (1) your regular meeting schedule, (2) the location of regular meetings, and (3) your method of publishing meeting notices (website).  

Gothenburg Public Schools generally schedules regular board meetings for the second Monday of each month.  Regular meetings are typically held in the High School Media Center.  Official meeting notices for each regular and special meeting, including the date, time, and location, will be posted on the school district’s website.  Please check our website for all meeting notices as the date, time, or location may change. 

Rationale: 

Committee Reports (Chair in bold)

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

 

Rationale: 

Rationale:  Monday, August 10th

Swede Activities:
none