August 8, 2016 at 7:00 PM - Regular August 2016 Meeting

Rationale:  The Nebraska Open Meetings Act Law Requires that a copy of the Open Meetings Acts Law be posted in the meeting room and is accessible to the public.  I would draw your attention to the Open Meetings Act Law posted on the door near the entry.

Rationale: 

1.  Cheerleading Activity Fund Account-Currently has a negative balance of $780.33, before the purchase of uniforms.  As with all other activity accounts, we will need to "zero" out this account through a transfer before the budget cycle ends, as our auditor encourages us to do this with all activity accounts that have a negative balance.

2.  Athletics currently has a negative balance of $14,368.18.  We will also need to make a transfer to "zero" this account prior to the end of the budget cycle.

3.  Lunch Fund MAY require one last transfer, depending on how much revenue comes in through students and parents making deposits into there lunch accounts at the start of the school year.  Payroll will be on the 20th (relatively close to the start of the school year), so we may need to make a transfer between the first and second board meeting.

4.  Vex Robotics Quarterly Report-See Attached Report

5.  No word back yet from the state auditor regarding the inquiry they made for a request of information back in June.

 

 

Rationale:  New High School Band Uniforms were purchased this summer.  The old ones will need to be stored, sold, given away, or disposed.

Rationale:  Each Month, Ravenna Public Schools recognizes a Ravenna Public School Staff Member who has gone Above and Beyond the Call of duty with the ABC Award.  The award is determined through nominations generated by Ravenna Public School Staff Members.   This month's ABC Staff Member is ???.

Rationale: 

NDE requires that local boards of education approve the use of local substitute teachers.  Having this approved is necessary so that I can assist local substitute who wish to earn their credentials and serve the school district in that capacity.

Rationale:  The school district's attorney advised the adoption of the attached resolution to allow the school board to begin the process of revising its current policies.  This resolution will allow the school board to adopt policies that will supersede any prior conflicting policies as they go through the policy revision process over the course of the coming year.

Rationale:  The revised 5000 series of policy will coincide with the student handbook that was adopted in July 2016.  There were recently legislative changes that need to be cleaned up in the 5000 series prior to their adoption at the September 2016 Board Meeting.  They are scheduled to be adopted at the September Board Meeting, along with the other policies that are contained in the memo from the school district's attorney, under agenda item "11.3 Required Policy Changes".  The resolution adopted at the August Board Meeting will allow the school district to go forward with this policy revision process, as we will essentially have some of our old policies in place while we adopt our new ones.  This process is just part of going through an entire policy review process.  It's going to be a bit messy for a while.  I consulting with the school district's law firm, they simply advised to adopt the required policies and the updated 5000 series at the September Board Meeting.  In the interim, the administration will simply have to pay special attention to any conduct or misconduct that occurs in accordance with the existing policies.

Rationale:  The attached memo is from the school district's attorney.  It outlines the policies that will be required and recommended to be changed based on legislative and legal issues.  These policies will be placed on the September Board Meeting Agenda for approval.

Rationale: 

• Water softener is installed
• Concrete in north driveway is complete
• Concrete pads at football field have been completed
• Termite damage discovered in elementary has been treated
• Tile is installed in Boys Locker Room
• Floor tile in Abels's & Sorensen's Room is done
• Two art room restrooms are done being referbished 
• Footings for the retaining wall on the west end of the football field are still being completed
• Elementary Roof Repair Bids-Chief said they would offer no warranty or participation for repairing the roof.  Chief has not called back to schedule a time for the work.  This will likely need to be put on the list for next summer's projects.
• Putting metal siding on the storage shed east of crow's nest may need to wait until next summer 

Rationale: 

Possible Benefits:

• Replace the newsletter with a news feed
• More easily celebrate successes and happenings through visual feeds (pics)
• Push information out more easily
• Centralize source for information for parents (no hunting on the web-lunch accounts, menus, grades, payment for lunch, calendars-both academic and activity, social media)
• Be responsive to parents and patron concerns and questions (helpline of sorts)
• Eliminate paperwork (create an archive for forms for parents and students)
• BOARD & Parent Input into the design (tell us what you want-what information/what format)

Rationale:  As the school year resumes, I'd like for the board to consider adding a student board member.  The attached policy from KSB Law outlines what the roles, rights, and responsibilities or such a representative would have and how that person would be selected.

Rationale: 

Mrs. Bohn has requested that this be a discussion item so that she can gather information from our board and report back to the NASB Board of Directors.  She would like to know "What are your board’s concerns, questions, or comments regarding your current use of the Medicaid program?"

Overview of information offered by the Nebraska Association of School Boards Medicaid Consortium (NASBMC) can be found at: http://members.nasbonline.org/servicesandprograms/Programs/MedicaidConsortium/SitePages/Home.aspx

Federal law authorizes federal grants to be paid to schools and ESUs for a portion of expenditures a school or ESU spends for medical assistance to students.  NASBMC helps their members submit their "Medicaid administrative expenditure claims" to receive the allowable federal matching funds.  The way that this is done is we send personnel information to the "third party vendor" about who is directly working with our students and potentially providing Medicaid activities that are potentially eligible for reimbursement for the services.  Each year, a random sampling of those employees engage in what is called a "time study" to see how much of their work is reimbursable for Medicaid dollars based on the activities they engage in during the time study.  The time study, in combination with quarterly reports that are prepared by Pat, Hilary, and Ken are submitted to the third party vendor, Go Solutions, and they make a claim for the reimbursement based on the information submitted by the school district.  The funds are then distributed to the school.

The total collected by the school district last year (2014-15) from participation in the NASBMC program was: $15,776.

Third party vendor that works with the NASB Medicaid Consortium to help us claim our share of the Medicaid funds the school district is entitled to is:

Brent Cadwell
Go Solutions Group, Inc.
5840 Enterprise Drive
Lansing, Michigan 48911-4107
P: 877.204.0640
F: 517.853.8266
email:brent.cadwell@go-sgi.com
On the Web @ www.go-sgi.com

Rationale: 

In preparation for the return of staff and students:

• Pre-service days have been planned with a strong focus on the new behavior model.  In addition the administrative team will present information from Robert Marzano's book "The Art and Science of Teaching"that speaks to establishing and maintaining classroom rules and procedures.  
   
• The building and grounds have been cleaned, painted, and repaired.  Two elementary classrooms got a "makeover" with new tile and paint.  As always the building looks GREAT!- THANK YOU Dan, Todd and Crew!

As the summer comes to an end we are excited to begin another school year.

 

Rationale: 

Here are a few highlights of what we have been working on this month:  

• The Multi-Tiered Systems of Support team met last week and continued planning and preparation to rollout the completed MTSS plan to the staff during pre-service days.  It is exciting to think that our building will be full of students and staff a week from today!  

• Our pre-service schedule has been sent out to our teaching staff and contains several professional development training sessions along with time for teachers to work in their rooms.  Throughout the year, as part of our professional development, staff will be participating in the reading and study of “The Art and Science of Teaching” which is written by Robert Marzano, one of the most respected researchers on effective instruction.  This book will tie in well with ALP training, the MTSS plan, and the revision of our teacher evaluation instrument.  

• Thursday, August 4th, was our first student orientation for students with last names A-K.  It was a huge success with 100/113 families attending.  At orientation students were able to complete start of school paperwork, make payments to lunch accounts, confirm demographic information, get student schedules, check-out laptops, get locker numbers and combinations, and received a presentation about student handbook revisions.  Due to the overwhelming success of orientation night it will allow students and staff to have a less chaotic first week of school.  A special thank you to Shari Spaulding, Hilary Bolling, Karalee Fiddelke, Dave Huryrta, and Angie Drahota for all the organization and planning that went into orientation.  It also provided me with an enjoyable opportunity to meet students and parents!

• The booster club golf tournament was held on Sunday, August 7th, at Ravenna Golf Club.  It was a well run and well attended event with over twenty teams participating.  What an awesome fundraiser for our booster club and community!   

• As you can see it has been a busy first week on the job!  Our family moved to town during the last week of July and first weekend in August and are unpacking and settling in.  We are excited to be a part of the community and look forward to making positive contributions in any way that we can.   

Rationale: 

1.  Nebraska State Auditor's Update

2.  Administrator Days

• $120 million shortfall in state tax receipts affects on state aid
• Bryce Wilson of NDE-"Use all of your budget authority..."
• "Transition Year" for Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
• Communication-PUSH information to parents and stakeholders don't try to pull them in
• Update to Open Meetings Act-Electronic voting without a roll call vote is now allowed as per "Open Meetings Act" law

3.  Little Angels Daycare Discussion

4.  MTSS Behavior Model:

• Teachers will be teaching district-wide behavior expectations in the classroom during the opening days of school.  The goal is to provide the students with consistent classroom behavioral expectations school-wide, the rationale for those expectations in each classroom, and the procedures (expected behaviors) for meeting those behavioral expectations.  The behavior model has been branded by the MTSS Behavior Team as "The Ravenna Way".
• "The Ravenna Way.  We do our best every day!"

1. Arrive to class prepared and on time
2. Use work time appropriately
3. Complete assigned task on time with proficiency
4. Demonstrate respect for people and property
5. Respond appropriately to staff directives

• We believe that these classroom expectations are transferable to life.  If a student can learn the skills of showing up on time, using work time appropriately, completing work on time and well, demonstrating respect for people and property, and responding appropriately to those supervising them, they will be successful in the world of school and in the world of work.
• We will measure the students' attainment of these behavioral goals as the year progresses and use that behavioral data to provide professional development for the staff and for interventions for students who need assistance in meeting and mastering the classroom behavioral objectives.
• We will also be standardizing behavioral expectations, rationales, and procedures for the commons areas (hallway, lunchroom, buses, etc.) with students after the classroom behavioral expectations have been taught.
• The overall goal of having a school-wide behavior model is to have clearly defined expectations that students, staff, and parents are aware of, which can be measured by the staff for the purpose of promoting and celebrating student successes in achieving those goals.