June 12, 2017 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

1. The Board of Education reserves the right to enter into Closed/Executive Session for 1) the protection of public interest or 2) the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, and the individual has not requested a public meeting. When making a motion to enter into Closed/Executive Session, the member making such a request should be as specific as possible keeping the previously listed stipulation in consideration. 
2. If the Board is in agreement, a motion maybe to enter into Closed/Executive Session to 1) discuss a personnel matter, or 2) for the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of the individual, or 3) to discuss litigation and for the protection of the public interest.
3. Action concerning matters discussed in Closed/Executive Session will be acted upon in open session

Welcome to the Dundy County Stratton Public Schools Board of Education Meeting.  The Board welcomes citizens to attend board meetings to become acquainted with the programs and operations of the district.  Members of the public are also encouraged to share their ideas and opinions with the Board during the agenda item labeled “Public Items”.  Comments or questions from the audience at any other time during the meeting except for the agenda item “Public Items” will out of necessity be declared out of order.

The Nebraska Open Meetings Act prevents the board from speaking to a matter that is not on the agenda.  Please understand that the board may be unable to address your issue during the meeting.  It is not permissible for the board to comment on items not listed for the protection of the public’s right to know and participate in the discussion of items that do come before the board and stated appropriately in the meeting agenda.  

During this agenda item “Public Items” we ask that you abide by the following rules:

Public Comment Protocol and Procedures

1. Anyone wishing to speak to the board on specific agenda items or on other topics relevant to board business must complete a Public Comment Request Card and submit it to the Board President prior to the opening of the meeting.   The public will only be recognized and their comments heard at Item “Public Items” on the board agenda.  The total time allotted for the public comment will not exceed thirty minutes and each member of the public will be allotted not more than five minutes to address the Board.  If a group wishes to speak, please designate one spokesperson for the group.
   
   
2. Please state your name and the topic you are addressing before you begin.  
   
   
3. Speakers are asked to direct their questions and comments to the chair.  A member of the Board of Education or the Superintendent may direct clarifying questions to the chair, but the board will not under any circumstance enter into a debate with any the member of the public.
   
   
4. Speakers may offer objective criticism of district operations and programs, but the Board would encourage members of the public to address complaints concerning individual district personnel through the proper chain of command.  The chair may direct the member of the public to the appropriate means to address concerns brought before the Board; however, the board will not respond with action but will take comments under advisement and direct the comments to the appropriate staff member to address outside of the board meeting.
   
   
5. Please remember that is a public meeting for the conduct of business of the Dundy County Stratton Public School District. Offensive language, personal attacks and hostile conduct will not be tolerated. You should further be advised that there is no legal protection for any comments that are made. 
   
   
6. As stated in NEB. REV. STAT. § 79-570 Class I, II, III, IV, or VI school district; president; meetings; maintenance of order.  

   If any district meeting of a Class I, II, III, IV, or VI school district any person conducts himself or herself in a disorderly manner and persists in such conduct after notice by the president or person presiding, the president or person presiding may order such person to withdraw from the meeting and, if the person refuses, may order any person or persons to take such person into custody until the meeting is adjourned.

7. As stated in NEB. REV. STAT. § 79-571 Class I, II, III, IV, or VI school district; meetings; disorderly conduct; penalty. 

Any person who refuses to withdraw from such meeting on being so ordered as provided in section 79-570 or who willfully disturbs such meeting shall be guilty of a Class V misdemeanor. 

The policies we approved last month require two approvals. They are presented for your second reading approval. 

Motions that say adopt refer to entirely new policies. Motions that adopt amended policies mean we changed an existing policy to meet some new requirement. 

We have discussed the situation and circumstances regarding lunch balances repeatedly over the years. We need to have a policy which specifically addresses how we will handle accounts with insufficent funds to pay the meal costs. Keep in mind that under this policy:

1. students will be allowed to eat the regular meal the day the balance goes negative
2. the family will get a call that day informing them the balance is negative
3. students will continue to get the 'sandwich option' which will meet the meal pattern guidelines for 5 days
4. no student who qualifies for free or reduced lunches will be denied a meal
5. no student who shows up with payment for that day's meal will be denied a meal

Our legal counsel, as well as the other firms in the state, annually give us revisions to policy. These revisions are in response to legislation, court case results, and new rules devised by various agencies that hold jurisdiction over public schools. They have arrived and we will discuss them and hopefully approve on first reading. This would allow us to do second reading in July and have them in handbooks, etc. before the August meeting. 

These are lengthy this year. The attached summary and rationale should sum up the changes for your. The policies you see are unchanged from what was sent out from KSB.

Report item.

Summer lunch: We served 27 the first day and 35 on Wednesday. It is popular with the daycare providers and older kids when both parents work.

Farm to school: We will start working on lining up meat donors this summer. We need to get two scheduled for processing in early August. 

We plan to move forward with the drainage project in the north parking lot at the high school. Krutsinger Construction had the low estimate at $9,095. He will be adding another drain for the south end of the shop to the original estimate. Based on the other addition I requested this add-on should be less than $1,900. The other bid was from Double D Drilling for $10,809.52 and did not include concrete work. 

I have also requested an estimate from Krutsinger to add a handicapped parking stall in the north parking lot and to run concrete south from the shop to the handicapped parking (at the west end of the parking lot). 

Typically we do administrative negotiations in June. Superintendent contracts start in July and Principals in August.

Karen Haase of KSB is looking at the contracts. I asked her some questions regarding some stuff they referenced in their new policy webinar. She will be sending a version with her legal suggestions back. Hopefully before the meeting. I will attach it when I get it which may or may not be prior to publication.

My current contract,  the state auditor required schedule D and the new proposed schedule D can be found at: https://sites.google.com/dcstigers.org/superintendent/superintendent-transparency

Schedule D also contains notice that you will be considering an amendment of the contract.