March 13, 2023 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting
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1. Opening Procedures
Agenda Item Type:
Procedural Item
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1.A. Call to order
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Action Item
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1.B. Roll Call
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Action Item
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1.C. Pledge of Allegiance
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Procedural Item
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2. Open meetings law
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Action Item
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3. Awards and Recognitions
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Action Item
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4. Public comment
Agenda Item Type:
Information Item
Rationale:
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
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. |
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5. Reports
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Action Item
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5.A. Technology report
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Information Item
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5.B. Elementary Principal Report
Agenda Item Type:
Information Item
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5.C. Secondary principal report
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5.D. Transportation report
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5.E. Superintendent report
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Information Item
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5.F. Board and committee reports
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5.F.1. Board information
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5.F.2. Finance/Budget/Legislation committee
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5.F.3. Transportation/Facilities/Grounds committee
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Information Item
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5.F.4. Curriculum/Activities/Staff Development committee
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5.F.5. Americanism committee
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5.F.6. Negotiations committee
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6. Consent Agenda
Agenda Item Type:
Consent Agenda
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to approve the consent agenda
The consent agenda includes the verification of notice of the meeting by publication in the Benkelman Post & News Chronicle, a legal newspaper for Dundy County and to each member of the board, the approval of the minutes from the February 13, 2022 meeting, the approval of the bills as presented in the amount of $497,788.62 from the general fund; $17,274.12 from the activity fund; and $11,557.09 from the nutrition fund. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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6.A. Verification of publication and notice
Agenda Item Type:
Consent Item
Rationale:
To verify that notice of the meeting was given by publication in the Benkelman Post, a legal newspaper for Dundy County Stratton and by written notice to each member of the board, the designated method of giving notice
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to verify the publication and notice of the meeting was properly given Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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6.B. Approval of the minutes
Agenda Item Type:
Consent Item
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6.C. Payment of the bills
Agenda Item Type:
Consent Item
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to approve the bills as presented Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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7. Income is up for the month and year to date from the previous year. Expenses are up from the previous year and down year to date from the previous year. The Intrafund loan for the Special Building Fund will be paid back to the GF this month. ESSER III has been submitted for request for payment and approved.
Agenda Item Type:
Action Item
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to approve the financial report as presented Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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7.A. Financial Report
Agenda Item Type:
Action Item
Rationale:
Presentation of the financial status of the district, balances in various funds, recent/impending activity therein, anticipated expenses and planning for future considerations.
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7.B. Accept bid for Castillo Lawn and Care
Agenda Item Type:
Action Item
Recommended Motion(s):
Accept the bid from Castillo Lawn Care for 9636.7 Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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7.C. Discuss Basketball/Volleyball scoreboard purchase.
12,030.00 3 boards and controller $845 Static Advertising sign Video Board....
Agenda Item Type:
Action Item
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7.D. Replace Walk in Freezer at Elementary: $15,456.06 delivered (not installed)
or $19,750 plus $6250 to Install and dispose of old unit. $26,000
Agenda Item Type:
Action Item
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to accept the bid for the walk-in freezer for the elementary cafeteria. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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7.E. Fill board vacancy:
Candidates: Ted Henderson Toby Marlin Jeanette Wonderly
Agenda Item Type:
Action Item
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7.F. Consider and discuss student proposal for grading scale change
Agenda Item Type:
Action Item
Rationale:
Teacher input:
Hi Jackie,
I just wanted to add that at my previous school (Wauneta-Palisade), college prep courses were on the 10 point scale while general education courses like PE, Art, lower level/introductory core courses were on the adjusted Nebraska scale that we currently have. I think it also might be good to point out that on a 10 question quiz, if a student misses 1 question, then their grade drops to a B, 2 would lead to a C, and 3 missed would be barely passing.
Another note is that in my high school we had courses labeled "Honors" and "AP" but we only received a 0.5 bump in GPA for Honors courses and AP courses received the full 1 point bump, so maybe 0.5 bump for more challenging core courses like Chemistry, and a 1 point bump for dual credit might be another option.
If we do a weighted GPA though, it will be important to educate our students that, and this is based on my experiences working for 2 different college office of admissions (one in California and one in Missouri), during the application process most colleges will consider the unweighted GPA of core classes only, excluding courses like PE, versus the weighted GPA since there is such a variation in how schools weight GPAs. Also it is vary rare for a college to compare a student with an unweighted GPA against a student who has a weighted GPA, which is why they often create a common scale based on core courses to evaluate the applicants.
While I believe it is important to offer incentives for those who are pushing themselves academically and am in favor of a weighted GPA, another thought that came to mind is that if we are truly having a tough time between identifying a saluditorian/valedictorian, then I would question why we do not account for the GPA difference between an A and an A-, a B and a B-, etc. in our current grading scale.
Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing, keeping us in the loop, and offering us an opportunity to provide feedback.
Respectfully,
Mrs. Jennifer Loker
I am all for this change. We need to reward those students that take the harder classes and a 10 point scale is better too
Marilyn Zarkowski
DCS Tigers
K-12 Art Teacher
Personally, I do not think we should change the grading scale. I looked up some information from a few of the surrounding schools, and none of the ones I looked at use the ten point grading scale. If we did adopt that grading system, I think it would be lowering our academic standards so I am not in favor of that change. I know that Klayton referred to our grading scale as "custom" however it is a very commonly used grading scale, especially in this area, so maybe he is just not familiar with it. Some schools, in fact, raise the rigor by counting an A- as less than a 4.0 when calculating the GPA (Hitchcock County, for example, counts a 93 as an A- but only 3.67 toward the GPA calculation, which some Nebraska colleges do as well). I already think we have a disconnect between the GPA of our student body and the scores we are seeing on state testing. If we have students with 4.0 GPAs, why aren't we seeing higher ACT scores? This could be student buy-in for testing, or it could be rigor of our curricula, among other things, I'm not sure.
I also saw that Klayton mentioned he was having to "guess" his letter grades based off of the percentages, and if this is a problem that he and others are experiencing, it is possible (although I don't know exactly how) to have Infinite Campus show the letter grades next to the in progress percentage grades on Infinite Campus because they had it configured that way at Chase County Schools when I worked there.
As for the weighted GPA, I could go either way. I do see Klayton's point about Abi Foster's GPA. She had taken advanced courses, then lost the advantage of having a higher GPA when she moved here. I do think it might be a good way to encourage students to have a more rigorous schedule their junior & senior years since it could serve as an opportunity to raise their GPA (even above a 4.0) or to cushion their GPA by relieving the stress of having to get an A in their classes to maintain their GPA. The only hurdle I see in implementing a weighted average is deciding which classes would be weighted. It could be cut & dry, where dual credit classes count and others don't, or we could work together to determine which high school level classes truly have the rigor required to be considered a weighted class.
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7.G. Policy changes:
4055: Head Teacher Position - Recommend deleting 4057: Superintendent Evaluation - Change dates to align with contract dates. Change October to December; January to March
Agenda Item Type:
Action Item
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to approve deleting policy #4055 Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Recommended Motion(s) #2:
Motion to approve policy #4057 Superintendent Evaluation to align with contract dates Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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7.H. Legislation
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Action Item
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7.I. NASB information
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Action Item
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8. Adjourn
Agenda Item Type:
Information Item
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No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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