March 9, 2015 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Meeting Agenda

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:  Administrative Recommendation: 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 attached Minutes of the February 9, 2015, Board of Education meeting were sent to all members of the Board of Education for review.

Administrative Recommendation:  Approve the Minutes of the February 9, 2015, Board of Education meeting.

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation:  Acknowledge receipt of the Treasurer's Report for February, 2015.

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation:  Approve the payment of claims totaling $1,015,463.31.

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation: Release (1) Samantha Vargas from her contract effective April 1, 2015, (2) Julee Sauer from her contract effective June 30, 2015, (3) Robert Ingram III from his contract effective July 31, 2015, and (4) Mamie Bryan, (5) Debra Darlington, (6) Sophia Gutierrez and (7) Brandon Stickley be released from their contracts effective May 22, 2015.

Rationale: 

Each year the Board is asked to approve the school calendar two years in advance, tonight the 2016-17 calendar is being presented.  This calendar follows the same philosophy of the 2015-16 calendar and incorporates a week long spring break.

Attached is the 2016-17 proposed school calendar.

Administrative Recommendation: Approve the proposed 2016-17 school calendar.

 

Rationale: 

The district currently backs up critical data to one location at the Welcome Center. The current system is outdated and does not effectively backup some of our newest systems that have been added in the last 3-4 years. As a district we need to insure that all of our critical data is not only backed up, but backed up in at least two locations and is easily retrievable in the event of a disaster. 

We asked three vendors to provide us with a solution to create an effective back up and disaster recovery system. Two of these vendors currently have some of their hardware being utilized in our district. One is a new vendor we have not worked with before. We have also looked at the cost of updating what we currently use and building upon that, and the cost of building a new system from scratch on our own by purchasing new software.

Administrative Recommendation:  The administration recommends approving up to $200,000 dollars for EMC/RTI to install a backup and recovery system.

 

 

Rationale: 

Bellevue East students, Mary LaPorte and Catherine Storck have been named finalists in the 2015 Competition for National Merit^® Scholarships. A Certificate of Merit will be presented by the principal to these scholastically talented students.

The National Merit^® Scholarship Program has now determined which of the 16,000 Semifinalists named in September 2014 have met all requirements to advance to Finalist standing in the competition. All Finalists will be considered for National Merit Scholarships to be offered in 2015.

From the approximately 16,000 Semifinalists, about 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.

Rationale: 

Mission Middle School sent three teams (four students per team) to the 2015 Nebraska State Science Bowl for Middle Schools at Wayne State on February 7th. Out of 32 teams, the team of Casey Nolte, Eva Gorkiewicz, Brenden Nelson and Anthony Wiglusz finished in 4th place. Casey Nolte was awarded a medal for answering the most questions out of all students during the preliminary rounds. Out of his team's 29 correct responses, Casey answered 26. 

Rationale: 

The Bellevue West speech team competed at Minden (Nebraska) Saturday, February 14. The team was runner-up overall and the individual medalists were: 

Cady Roman (10) - 5th in Humorous Interp

Delaney Jackson (12) and Amber Wolfe (11) - 3rd in Duet Acting

Miguelle Corpuz (12) and Cady Roman (10) - 5th in Duet Acting

Renee Pineda (12) - 5th in Persuasive Speaking; 2nd in Entertainment Speaking

Amber Wolfe (11) - 5th in Informative Speaking

Tyler Araujo (11), Moriah Hood (11), Callie Pancoe (11) and Emily Summers (11) - 3rd in Oral Interpretation of Drama

Delaney Jackson (12) - 2nd in Dramatic Interpretation

Katie Cashin (12) - 4th in Dramatic Interpretation; 1st in Entertainment Speaking

Tyler Araujo (11) - 9th in Persuasive Speaking

Jordan Gross (9) - 10th in Extemporaneous

Rationale: 

Reporters for The West Wind/The Thunderbeat competed in the Nebraska Journalism Education Association's Winter Contest. The following students were recognized for their work:

Michael Navratil - Excellent in Graphic Illustration

Jacob Kunes - Honorable Mention in Graphic Illustration

Katie Allen - Excellent in Newswriting and Honorable Mention in Sports Feature Writing

Grant Harrison - Honorable Mention in Newswriting

Haille Cox - Honorable Mention in Editorial Cartooning

Emma Larson - Honorable Mention in Entertainment Review Writing

Em Brandon - Superior in Entertainment Review Writing

Codi Pierce - Honorable Mention in Column Writing, Honorable Mention in Sports Feature Writing, and Honorable Mention in Sports Action Photography

Rationale: 

Bellevue East High School students participated in the Regional Science Olympiad on Saturday, February 28th. Results are as follows :

Fossils (Kelly Speltz): 2nd place
Entomology (Alex Molnar): 1st place
Astronomy (Tommy Casart and Baxter Knee): 3rd place
Hydrogeology (Brandon Smith): 2nd place
Hydrogeology (Sam Seaman and Sydney Hanson): 4th place
Dynamic Planet (Sam Seaman and Sydney Hanson): 4th place
Invasive Species (Alex Molnar and Tommy Casart): 5th place
Chemistry Lab (Tommy Casart and Sam Seaman): 1st place
Disease Detectives (Chloe Schwarting and Krizzel Soratorio): 1st place
Disease Detectives (Beth Alexander and Kelly Speltz): 4th place
Anatomy (Beth Alexander and Kelly Speltz): 2nd place
Write it, Do it (Krizzel Soratorio and Baxter Knee): 2nd place
Experimental Design (Krizzel Soratorio, Sam Seaman, and Kelly Speltz): 2nd place

The team is coached by David Bossman. They are working towards State Science Olympiad, which is at the end of April.

Rationale: 

The Bellevue West drill teams competed at the 52nd Annual UNO Drill Meet on Saturday, February 21. The women's team finished 3rd in the Armed Regulation routine and the men's team finished 1st in both the Unarmed Regulation and Unarmed Exhibition routines as well as being the Overall Unarmed champion. Individually, Dmieflur Hunter finished 3rd out of 100+ finalists in the Individual Drill Down competition.

Rationale: 

The 2014-15 Nebraska FIRST LEGO League State Championship Tournament was held on February 21, at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska.

Two teams from Lewis & Clark Middle School, Super Scouts Purple and Super Scouts White, competed in the State Championship. The purple team received a Core Values Award. For many involved, the Core Values awards are some of the most meaningful awards because they recognize team unity, spirit, teamwork, and cooperation. 

Lewis & Clark Coach Darin Toelle was honored as the recipient of the Outstanding Coach Award.

Rationale: 

Lewis & Clark Middle School show choir, Xtreme Intensity, placed 1st in their division at the recent UNO Show Choir competition.

Rationale: 

Tonight, the Social Studies Department chairs from our secondary schools will report on where we are in the curriculum development process.

Rationale: 

Representatives of the District Grading Committee will provide information about grading practices under review and a progress report on committee and subcommittee work.  No formal recommendations will be made at this meeting.  

Rationale: 

Bellevue Public Schools provides student transportation beyond what is required by state or federal law. These decisions have been implemented over time based mostly on the age of the students and barriers in the district that would impact students’ ability to walk to school. In January a summary of the transportation program was presented with cost estimates for transportation provided that is not required. Tonight an updated report will be provided to the Board.

Rationale: 

Attached is a document that provides an overview of student programs and services to be offered during Summer 2015.

Rationale:  Jim Beyer would like to discuss with the board initiating an Eagle's Nest Project (http://eaglesnestprojects.org/) in the Bellevue high schools which directly supports students learning in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) studies beginning in the 2015/2016 school year. 

Rationale:  Learning Community - Nina Wolford
BPS Foundation - Doug Cook, Lisa Rybar, Frank Kumor
MABE - Cindy Copich
NASB Legislative Committee - Cindy Copich
Board Policy Review Work Group - Cindy Copich, Doug Cook, Mike Kinney
District Safety Committee - Doug Cook

Rationale: 

April 6, Board of Education Meeting, Welcome Center, 6:30 p.m.

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation: Adjourn to Executive Session to consider matters relating to strategy sessions with respect to collective bargaining and personnel which are necessary to be considered in closed session for the protection of the public interest and for the needless injury to the reputation of an individual.