September 11, 2017 at 8:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

1.  Review monthly bills using the EMeetings Software.

2.  Review all credit card transactions for the month.

3.  Finance Committee Members Sign-off on review of monthly bills, credit card transactions, and district fund balances.

4.  Approve superintendent's expenses (credit card transactions, mileage, cell phone reimbursement).

5.  Audit Follow Up

7.  NPERS Retirement Audit Follow Up

Members of the Public, 

This is the portion of the board meeting when we invite anyone in attendance to address the board of education. If you would like to speak to the board regarding any of the items on tonight's agenda or a public concern, now is your opportunity to do so.  Please review the orange sheet (found on the visitors' chairs) of paper that contains the guidelines for public participation.  If you wish to speak to the board at this time, please let me know.  "Would anyone like to address the board at this time?"

AFTER THE PERSON(S) INDICATE(S) THEY WISH TO SPEAK

1.  Please stand and state your name?

2.  What topic will you be speaking on?

3.  Are there others in the room who wish to speak to the same topic? (If so, ask that they be recognized so that 30 minutes of time for public comment can be apportioned as per the policy-5 minutes per person).

4.  Optional-"Please understand that public comment is your opportunity to speak to the board and present your concerns, thoughts, feelings, ideas, and observations.  Members of the board are happy to hear from members of the public, but the board will not engage in conversation or dialogue with you during public comment."

4.  "You'll have approximately 5 minutes to address the board, as we allow 5 minutes per person and a total of 30 minutes for public comment.  You may begin when you are ready?"

New staff members at RPS will be at the board meeting to introduce themselves to the board member and so that the board members can introduce themselves to the new staff members.

Congratulations to Shari Spaulding, who was the August ABC Bluejay Staff Member of the Month!

Congratulation to Mr. Paul Anderson, who is the September ABC Bluejay Staff Member of the Month!

Nominees this month include:

 Hilary Bolling-I would like to nominate Hilary Bolling for all the hard work she has put in with the food service program. She has put in many hours of work to make sure the new student information system and new food service program work together properly. She is always willing to help staff with any questions they may have on purchase orders as well.

Paul Anderson-I would like to nominate Paul Anderson. Mr. Anderson started the year out with a positive attitude and has continued to lead with that attitude. Even on challenging days he stays positive. In addition to all of the many things he does for his staff and students every year, this year he has included two new things. Paul set up and presented an awesome presentation in the Star lab for the elementary students prior to the eclipse and he presented a thought-provoking and informative bus safety and evacuation presentation. My students were excited to have Mr. Anderson teach them new things. He does so much for us and he deserves to know that the things he does for our students DO NOT go unnoticed.

Traci Woodson-Mrs. Woodson has taken an "ownership attitude" towards her new role as the school's behavioral interventionist. She has jumped right in and started to effectively develop working relationships with the students and staff. I appreciate how positive and upbeat she is. She has a "can do" attitude. She's been a great addition to the staff!

Jean Luth is kind, considerate and very knowledgeable. She works well with her students, and Mrs. Luth also offers a helping hand to students who aren't in special education. Mrs. Luth is active in the classroom, and she will tackle any task I ask. Mrs. Luth is a treasure to have in my classroom.

RPS Kitchen Staff-I'd like to nominate the RPS Kitchen Staff for all of the hard work they have put into changing over to the new lunch program. I appreciate the variety of offerings. I've heard positive comments from students and staff alike! Great job Kitchen Staff!

We are off to a really good start to the school year.

Grandparents Day another huge success... Thanks to Mrs. Ellis

Fall MAP Testing starts today and will continue through next week.

Fall AimsWeb Benchmarking completed

Parent-Teacher Conferences next week - also fall book sale

Farm Safety Day is September 29.  A big "THANK YOU" to Mr. Ahrens and his FFA students for organizing and managing this fun and educational day for our students.

1.  Negotiations Conference-September 7th

• Superintendent Schroeder attended the "Labor Relations" Conference in Lincoln on September 7th.
• Attorneys are advising to take a look a "dock days" and how those are handled by the school district.  This is becoming an increasingly complex issue in respect to pregnancy and long-term illness.
• Attorney advises that the use of "dock days" is included and clearly articulated in the school's "Negotiated Agreement".
• School maintains flexibility in how to apply the use of "dock days", but having the expectation clearly defined in writing for staff, administration, and board members helps avoid personal biases and creates equality for all staff members.
• Working with the school district's attorney to develop language for proposal during the negotiations process to reflect the district's practices and expectations is the best practice to ensure the practice and language is legal and in the best interest of the school district and the school district employees.

2.  Negotiations Ground Rules (See Attachement), Negotiations Timeline (See Attachment), & Current 2016-17 Negotiated Agreement (See Attachment)-Last year, our first negotiations meeting was held in conjunction with our regular October 9th Board Meeting.  The meeting was held at 7:30.  Do you want me to run the meeting time for the October 9 Board Meeting as 7:30?  This would mean that the Finance Committee Meeting would start at 6:30.  The Regular October Meeting would technically begin at 7:30, with negotiations with the REA (in executive session) being the first order of business.  Does the board wish to send a copy of the "Negotiations Ground Rules" to the REA Members for review?  Are there any suggestions or revisions the board would like to make to the "Negotiations Ground Rules," with the understanding that these ground rules serve as a guide and are "non-binding"?  Any other information or concerns you would like for me to address as we begin the negotiations process this year?  If you have items pertaining to negotiations that you would like to see negotiated this year, please make me aware of them.

3.  State Education Conference-November 15th-17th in Omaha.  If you are planning on attending, please let Mr. Schroeder know ASAP, so that I can register you and enroll us in the "room lottery".

4.  Outdoor Classroom-The outdoor classroom located north of the elementary building will need to be taken down given the fact that it has become structurally unsafe.  The anchor bolts and bases, at 3 out of the 4 anchoring posts, have begun to pull free from the concrete base and is causing the structure be unsound.  This is located to the north of the elementary building. (See Attached Photos)

5.  Conference Activity Passes Distributed