November 5, 2012 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Meeting Agenda

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 sections D and E identified with an asterisk.

Rationale:  The Minutes of the October 8, 2012, 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 October, 2012.

Rationale:  Approve the payment of claims totaling $1,573,635.79.

Rationale: 

MyLunchMoney is a web-based program for updating and managing students’ lunchroom expenses.  In a secure environment, parents can prepay for student meals using credit/debit cards, view current account balances, set up recurring payments when the account reaches a low balance threshold, view student meal purchases, and set spending limits.

A demonstration of the MyLunchMoney program will be provided.

Rationale: 

As part of Board of Education Goal #3, Attendance Boundaries and Building Capacity, RFP’s for vendors to conduct an enrollment study were solicited.  Two RFP’s were received and the administration recommends the firm of RSP & Associates from Overland Park, Kansas.  RSP & Associates has considerable experience with school district planning and has recently started working with another metro area district.  RSP & Associates also had the lowest proposed pricing on the required aspects of the scope of work. 

The other RFP received was from Dejong Richter from Dublin, Ohio.  It is important to note that this RFP was received after the deadline. 

Rationale:  Twenty-five students at Bellevue East High School have earned the designation of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement Program Exams.

The College Board's Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school and to receive college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on the AP exams.  About 18 percent of the more than 1.9 million high school students worldwide who took AP exams performed at a sufficiently high level to merit the recognition of AP Scholar.

Students took AP exams in May, 2012, after completing challenging college-level courses at their high schools.  The College Board recognizes several levels of achievement based on the number of yearlong courses and exams.  At Bellevue East:

Sixteen students qualified for the AP Scholar Award by completing three or more AP examinations, with grades of 3 or higher (on a 5-point scale).  The AP Scholars are Samuel Ervin, Christian R. Gonzalez, Katelyn Keefer, Chayce Kenny, Jamaine Larson, Emily Lively, Megan Manheim, Jerri Mlady, Hannah Peck, Lindsey Pfender, Ala'a Rayyan, Weston Secrist, Michaela Sullivan, Victoria Trojanowski, Justine Trumble, and Eli West.

Three students qualified for the AP Scholar with Honor Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams.  These students are Ryan Boyland, Trinity Noble, and Nicholas Trojanowski.

Six students qualified for the AP Scholar with Distinction Award by earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams.  These students are Brianne Boehne, Roosevelt Boyland III, Justin McCully, Timothy Rolling, Trevor Savage, and Aime Vellani.

One student qualified for the National AP Scholar by earning an average score of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams.  The National Scholar was Trevor Savage.

Rationale:  Bellevue East and West High School Marching Bands continued their tradition of excellence as they won the top two awards at the Nebraska State Bandmasters competition on Saturday, October 20.  The Bellevue West Thunderbird Marching Band received first place and Bellevue East Chieftain Marching Band won second place in the state competition.

Under the direction of Kyle Haugen, the Bellevue West Thunderbird Marching Band was named the Class A State Champion, along with Best Color Guard, Best Visual, and Best General Effect.

Under the direction of Ron Hardin, the Bellevue East Chieftain Marching Band won second place, along with Best Music.

Rationale:  Bellevue Public Schools' students from East and West participated in the Nebraska High School Press Association Fall Conference held on October 15.

Bellevue East Honors
The Yearbook won an Award of Distinction and a Golden Kernel for Concept.
The Newspaper won an Award of Distinction and a Golden Kernel for Reader Aids.

Bellevue West Honors
The Yearbook won an Award of Merit. 
The online publication, TheThunderbeat.org, also won an Award of Merit.
The West Wind won an Award of Distinction with special recognition for Writing and Coverage.

Rationale:  Christina Johnson, a counselor at Mission Middle School, was chosen as the 2012-2013 Nebraska Middle School Counselor of the Year.  Christine was recognized at the NSCA Academy on October 16.

Emily Fenster and other middle school counselors nominated Christina for this award.  Students and staff at Mission surprised Christina with flowers, chocolates, and a balloon.

Rationale:  As a part of the AdvancED District Accreditation process and in accordance with Nebraska Rule 10, each school building in the Bellevue Public Schools must participate in an ongoing, continuous school improvement process.  School staff analyze student performance data to plan and implement strategies to continually move the school toward improvement and increased student performance levels. 

Tonight, Bellevue East High School Principal Brad Stueve and members of the Bellevue East staff will present some of the structures, strategies, and activities they are implementing in their building's ongoing school improvement process.

Rationale:  Parent/Teacher/Student conferences were held during the week of October 15-18.  The conferences were well attended. 

Elementary had an average 97% of parents and 88% of students attend, middle school had 76% of parents and 73% of students, high schools had 58% of parents and 46% of students, and CHAP had 95% of parents and 82% of students attend.

A lower number of parents attending conferences at the secondary schools was reported.  This is due to the implementation of the Parent Portal in Power School where parents can receive updated information on their child via the internet any time of the day.

Attached is a breakdown of conference attendance by school.

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

Rationale:  None

Rationale:  November 15, Food Service Day
November 15-16, NASB State Education Conference, LaVista Conference Center
December 3, Board of Education Meeting, Welcome Center, 6:30 pm

Rationale:  Adjourn to executive session to consider matters relating to strategy sessions with respect to negotiating with outside agencies and collective bargaining which are necessary to be considered in closed session for the protection of the public interest.