December 3, 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 section D identified with an asterisk.

Rationale:  The Minutes of the November 5, 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 November, 2012.

Rationale:  Approve the payment of claims totaling $1,062,448.97.

Please note that due to software conversion in the Department of Fiscal Affairs, the December check run to be approved by the Board was closed earlier than usual.  Therefore the approval for December disbursements will be approximately $255,000 lower than expected.  In January, however, Board approved disbursements will be approximately $255,000 more than expected due to the timing of the conversion.

Rationale:  Release (1) Constance Vlach from her contract effective May 23, 2013.

Rationale:  Elect (1) Katherine Endris to the certified staff for the 2012-13 school year effective November 28, 2012, elect (2) Amber Hatch to the certified staff for the 2012-13 school year effective December 3, 2012, and elect (3) Nathaniel Bacon to the certified staff for the 2012-13 school year effective December 10, 2012, subject to their release from any contractual agreements with other school districts.

Rationale:  Accept the Audit Report for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, as presented by the District's external auditors, Deloitte and Touche.

A representative of Deloitte and Touche will be present to comment on the report.

Attached is a copy of the auditors' report and the Management Letter. 

Rationale: 

It has been the practice of the District to purchase copy machines with a separate service agreement for each building on an as needed basis.  As part of Board Goal #2, Resource Allocation, this practice was evaluated and an RFP for copier leases was distributed.   With the current service agreements, the cost of each copy ranges from 0.39 cents to 0.82 cents not including the cost of the paper.  The per copy costs from the RFP are as follows:

 

Vendor	Brand of Copier	Copy Cost in Cents	Estimated Annual Cost
Data Source	Xerox	0.54	$350,891
Digital Visions	Xerox	0.29	$214,228
Konica Minolta	Konica Minolta	0.32	$305,040
Midwest	Ricoh	0.43	$438,600
Xerox Direct	Xerox	0.39	$247,350

 

The Estimated Annual Cost includes the equipment costs and service.  Based on the proposals submitted, Digital Visions had the lowest total annual cost.  Using the current practice, it is estimated that we have a need to purchase $76,000 worth of equipment this fiscal year with approximately $234,000 in service agreement costs for a total expenditure of $310,000.  The five-year history for copier expenditures is $269,000.  From this evaluation, it is apparent that the District can save significantly from a lease agreement. 

Due to various accounting requirements, it is advantageous for the District to enter into a lease purchase agreement rather than a traditional lease.  For this reason the administration recommends that the Board approve Digital Visions as the copier lease purchase vendor.  Digital Visions will work with District staff to tailor a lease purchase agreement to fit the District's needs.  Once this lease purchase agreement is finalized, it will be presented to the Board for final approval.

Rationale:  The Bellevue East Marching Band concluded their season with an appearance at the You in Music Championships in Minneapolis, MN, on October 13.  The band placed 6th among 30 bands from a 5-state region and qualified for a second appearance in finals.

Rationale:  The 150 member Bellevue West High School Thunderbird Marching Band finished 3rd in its class at the Bands of America Grand National Championships on Saturday, November 10, in Indianapolis.  The band placed 26th overall out of nearly 90 bands from across the country.

Rationale:  West Connection Show Choir from Bellevue West was the Class AA winner at the Peru Show Choir Festival  on October 24.  This is the 7th consecutive year they have won their division at this competition.

Rationale:  Bellevue East Forensics competed in the Papillion LaVista Tournament on Friday, November 9.  East placed 6th out of 17 schools in the tournament.  The following individuals competed and placed in the tournament:  Humorous Interpretation, Christian Rush (2nd place); Duo Interpretation, Abigail Herbert and Christian Rush (2nd place); Poetry, Matt Cummins (2nd place) and Valencia Dotson (4th place).

Bellevue East Forensics competed at Millard South on Friday, November 16.   Bellevue East placed 4th as a team, with eleven students competing.  The following individuals competed and placed in the tournament:  DUO Interpretation, Christian Rush and Abigail Herbert (2nd place), Randi Knox and Dawnelle Brown (4th place), and T'Eyrr Bynum and Kim Sauceda (6th place); Humorous Interpretation, Christian Rush (Champion) and Abigail Herbert (4th place); Poetry Interpretation, Valencia Dotson (2nd place); Extemporaneous Speaking, Nate Crawford (6th place).

Rationale:  The Bellevue East Chieftain Theatre performed at the Kearney One Act Play Festival on Tuesday, November 13.  The Advanced Theatre and Performance Studies' classes  presented "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged" and won the awards for Best Comedy and Best Ensemble.  Matt Cummins was elected to the all festival cast. 

The Intermediate Theatre class presented "Harry's Hotter at Twilight," student directed by Jenna Cottrell.  Brooke Crider was elected to the all festival cast. 

Rationale:  Sixteen top students from the theatre arts program and Troupe 4238 from Bellevue West High School were inducted into the International Thespian Society (ITS) in the 2011-12 school year.

Attached is a letter from the International Thespian Society congratulating their achievements.

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, Fort Crook Elementary School Principal Laura Jackson and members of the Fort Crook staff will present some of the structures, strategies, and activities they are implementing in their building's ongoing school improvement process.

Rationale:  As part of Board Goal 1b, staff will present data from the Fall 2012 NWEA MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) in reading and mathematics.  This assessment replaces Terra Nova as the District's required norm-referenced assessment. The report will include an overview of the assessment and various reports available for instructional planning and program evaluation.

Rationale:  Radcliffe & Associates represents the Bellevue Public Schools as a state lobbyist on legislative matters in Lincoln. 

Walt Radcliffe will provide the Board with information on the upcoming legislative session.

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

Rationale:  None

Rationale:  December 5            Holiday Open House, Bellevue East High School, 3:30 pm-5:30 pm

January 7               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.