September 12, 2011 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  A motion will be necessary if a member of the elected Board is absent.

Rationale:  The Bellevue Board of Education abides by the Nebraska Open Meetings Law.  A copy of the law is posted on the wall of our Board room.

Rationale:  Approve by consent items in section B of the Agenda identified with an asterisk and receive the information and proposals in section D identified with an asterisk.

Rationale:  The Minutes of the August 8, 2011, Board of Education meeting were sent to all members of the Board of Education for review.

Rationale:  Acknowledge receipt of the Treasurer's Report for August, 2011.

Rationale:  Approve the payment of claims totaling $4,659,184.64.

Rationale:  Elect (1) Jana Andersen and (2) Jennifer Martin to the certified staff for the 2011-12 school year effective August 10, 2011, subject to their release from any contractual agreements with other school districts.

Rationale:  Tonight marks the conclusion of the formal budget process for 2011-2012.  There are three areas requiring action by the Board:  a hearing on property tax request and rate, approval of the budget, and approval of tax request and rate.

Rationale:  Notice of the hearing was published in accordance with Nebraska statutes. The proposed property tax request and rate to be used for the 2011-2012 school year were included in the hearing notice. A copy of the notice is attached.

The proposed budget reflects the third year of implementation of the Learning Community Coordinating Council (LCCC). The learning community levy that applies to local school districts is 95 cents. The Bellevue School District is recommending .099354 cents for the Bellevue School District general fund levy and no taxes levied for the building and site fund. This would bring the total school district levy for people living in the Bellevue Public School District to $1.05. The proposal calls for no increase in the overall levy and Bellevue will continue to have the lowest tax levy in the Metro area.

Attached is a copy of the "2011-2012 Proposed Annual Estimate of Receipts and Expenditures," the "Addendum," and the "Nebraska School District Budget Form."

Individuals interested in making comments on the property tax request and rate will be asked to come forward and state their name and address.

Rationale:  Adopt the 2011-2012 budget which includes a General Fund property tax requirement of .099354 cents.

Rationale:  Adopt the following resolution to set the property tax request and rate for FY 2011-2012:

WHEREAS, the Bellevue Public Schools held a budget hearing on August 8, 2011, and

WHEREAS, a tax request and rate hearing was held on September 12, 2011, and

WHEREAS, all of the above were done for the FY 2011-2012 budget and are consistent with all state statutes:

NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Bellevue Board of Education of School District #1 in Sarpy County: (1) that the Bellevue Board of Education sets the 2011-2012 general fund property tax request of $2,410,504.10, and asks the County Board to set the tax rate of .099354 cents accordingly consistent with state statutes.

Rationale:  Approve the 2011-2012 proposed salary programs as presented:

1.  Teachers, Nurses, Psychologists, and Physical/Occupational Therapists,
2.  Extracurricular Activities,
3.  Management Ranges,
4.  Supervisors, Specialists,
5.  Summer School Teachers,
6.  Curriculum/Instruction Project Pay,
7.  Adult Basic Education Instructors,
8.  Substitute Teachers,
9.  Secretarial,
10. Part Time and Temporary Staff,
11. Simplified Employee Pension.  During 2011, the District will contribute 9.35% of the eligible employees compensation, and
12. Section 125 Implementation.

Nebraska law allows public school employees to organize and bargain collectively with school boards on the issue of salaries.  An agreement has been reached and ratified by the Bellevue Education Association, the employee organization representing teachers, nurses, psychologists, and therapists.  The negotiated agreement with teachers adjusts the 2011-2012 salary for beginning teachers to $31,935 from the current beginning salary of $31,540.

The current and proposed salary programs are attached.  Also attached is the ratification notice from the Bellevue Education Association.

Rationale:  Approve the proposed two-year salary programs for transportation and custodial and maintenance staff as presented.

A two-year salary agreement has been reached and ratified by Local 226 representation employees, and a two-year agreement has been reached and ratified by the Bellevue Public Schools Non-Certified Employees Association, representing custodial and maintenance employees.

Attached is a copy of the current and proposed salary programs and letters from Local 226 and the Non-Certified Employees Association certifying that both contracts were ratified.

Rationale:  Currently the Bellevue Public Schools works directly with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services in order to provide therapy for our special needs students.  The NASB agreement brings together approximately 200 school districts in Nebraska to streamline the process which could provide additional funding for students.

The recommendation is to approve the NASB Medicaid Consortium Membership Agreement and Resolution and authorize Superintendent Frank Harwood to sign the necessary documents.

Attached are copies of the NASB Medicaid Consortium Membership Agreement and the Resolution.

Rationale:  Bellevue Public Schools assesses students' academic progress through a variety of measures.  Norm-referenced assessments measure how groups of students across the country compare to each other.  BPS students in grades 3-8 participate in the Terra Nova nationally norm-referenced test.

Bellevue Public Schools' 10th grade students participate in the PLAN test, which begins assessing collegiate readiness and aptitude on a nationally norm-referenced basis.  Our 11th grade students participate in the ACT, which also measures nationally norm-referenced collegiate readiness and aptitude.

At the state level, students in grades 3-11 participate in the Nebraska State Accountability (NeSA) assessments, which measure student progress toward Nebraska state academic standards.  The NeSA Writing test was the first to be implemented in 2002-03.  NeSA Reading was implemented in 2009-10, and NeSA Math was implemented during the 2010-11 school year.  The Nebraska Department of Education released the state results of these assessments on August 29, 2011.

Since receiving the NeSA score results, BPS staff have been processing and analyzing the scores at the District and building levels.  Individual student score reports have been sent home to our students' families.  We are continuing to process the results as we make instructional decisions based on the individual needs of students.

Tonight we will share an overview of our student performance on the state level and nationally norm-referenced assessments.

Rationale:  At the July 23, 2011, Board Retreat, the Board discussed the results of the District Governance Survey and Superintendent's Goals.  During the discussion four areas emerged as the primary focus of the Board for the 2011-2012 school year:  student achievement, school finance, governmental relations, and technology.  Tonight the Board will discuss four goals highlighting these areas and a possible plan of action.  The plan will then be presented for approval at the October meeting of the Board.

Attached are the proposed goals and plan of action.

Rationale:  Attached are the revised Board Policy 706.01, Purchasing Procedures, and revised Administrative Regulation, 706.012, Contract Signatures.  The policy and regulation are submitted for review at tonight's meeting with approval of the policy scheduled for the October Board of Education meeting.

Rationale:  An oral report will be provided on the recent meetings of the Learning Community.

Rationale:  None

Rationale:  October 6, Custodians Day
October 10, Board of Education Meeting, 6:30 pm, Welcome Center
October 12, NASB Area Membership Meeting, LaVista Conference Center

Rationale:  Adjourn to executive session to consider matters relating to strategy sessions with respect to personnel and negotiations with outside agencies which are necessary to be considered in closed session for the protection of the public interest and for the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of individuals.