September 11, 2023 at 8:02 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting (Immediately Following the Property Tax Request Hearing)

Rationale: 

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 (mileage & reimbursement).

5.  Lunch Fund Review-Monthly Lunch Fund Balance Worksheet Attached

6.  Payroll Ledger Review

7.  Insurance Billing Review

8.  ACH Payroll Review

9.  Annual Audit - Scheduled for Thursday, October 5

Rationale:  Motion to to declare worn gaga ball pit mats as surplus for immediate sale or disposal

Rationale:  Ms. Dethlefs has chose to resign.  A copy of her resignation letter is attached to this agenda item.

Rationale: 

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?"

 

 

 

Rationale: 

The Ravenna Board of Education is suppose to appoint members to the Board of Directors for the Ravenna Public School's Foundation at its February Board Meeting.  The board has an absence created by the resignation of Jill Hurt.  Cassie Giffin has agreed to serve on the board.

According to the Foundation By-Laws, board members may serve no more than four consecutive terms:

Board members=2 year term x 4 terms max=8 years

Other appointed members=3 year term x 4 terms max=12 years

 

 

 

 

Rationale:  Each year the school district must create and adopt an operating budget.  The budget is due on or before September 30th.

Rationale:  Due to new legislation, each school district is now certified an allowable base property tax request.  With 70% board approval, the board can increase the allowable base property tax request by up to 7%.  Although the school district does not need all of the additional property tax authority for the 2023-24 budget cycle, future calculations of the school district's allowable property tax request will be based on whatever amount the board chooses to set the allowable property tax request at during the 2023-24 budget cycle. 

Therefore, the board is encouraged to vote to approve the allowable property tax request to be set up to 7% higher than the "base property tax authority" amount of $5,655,602 to not exceed a property tax request of $6,142,731 for the 2023-24 budget cycle.  The actual proposed property tax request for the 2023-24 budget cycle is $5,717,297 or $425,434 lower than $6,142,731.   $61,695 of the additional $487,129 in property tax authority request would be utilized for the 2023-24 budget cycle.

The total property tax request for the 2023-24 budget cycle is $135,716 lower than the total property tax request for the 2022-23 budget cycle.

Rationale:  Each year the school district must set the property tax request on or before October 15th.

Rationale:  Occasionally, we run into barriers due to publication deadlines for meeting notices.  The superintendent would recommend adding The Kearney Hub as an additional resource for advertising our public meeting notices.  The Kearney Hub is more affordable than the Omaha World Herald and has a readership in our school district.

The district will continue to publish notices in the Ravenna News as frequently as possible and the district always posts meeting notices at three prominent locations in the community (post office, laundry mat, and city hall).

Rationale:  The new staff members will be at the meeting to introduce themselves, tell you about their staff positions, and share a little personal information with the board.

Mrs. Karrie Huryta
Mr. Alec May (Video was sent to board members, as Mr. May couldn't be present.)
Mrs. Andrea Wolf

Rationale:  The board of education has discussed adding a student assistance plan for students.  Wholeness Healing Representatives will be presenting information about what they could offer the school district to meet these needs.

Notes from Wholeness Healing regarding utilization rates for Ravenna PS's EAP and information about other schools (Anselmo-Merna & Ords) Student Assistance Programs (SAPs):

The proposal we sent last spring is still current.
I do have your phone number in case we have connecting problems.  Thank you.
Ravenna Public Schools utilization, for your EAP services, is 15% which is high.  We shoot for 5-7% utilization rate to work with the contract price.  The cost you paid for last year is $39.02 per session. The year 21-22 had a utilization rate of 31%  If we maintain the high utilization rate, the costs will go up next year.  I would imagine your SAP would be utilized more than some schools because your employees use their sessions. 
We have had several schools that have done the SAP program.  Anselmo-Merna currently has the program.  Their utilization is 1%.  However, their EAP utilization is 2%.  So overall, they may need to promote their program a bit more.  I am checking to see if we have data on utilization in Ord between employees and students as this is just one contract. 
We have a different kind of contract with Ord Public School.  They buy sessions at the beginning of the year at a reduced rate. (45 min session at a Medicaid rate which is $140.00/session)   Any of their students or employees can use the sessions.  There is no limit on the amount of sessions they can have.  The first year, they used all of their 120 sessions and came back to buy more at a higher rate to get them through that school year.  This past year they bought 200 sessions and were pretty much on the mark for what they needed.  Their employees and students used in-person sessions (at different locations as small town people often prefer to go out of town for their services) and telehealth sessions. We are rolling the unused portion forward for the next contract year. They are going with the same number of sessions of 200 sessions this year. 
 

Rationale:  The administration was made aware of a suicide awareness policy at Administrator Days.  A draft copy of the policy is attached.  The superintendent reached out to ensure the policy would not conflict with our current policies or expose the district to additional liability.  After hearing the response from the attorney, which is below, the superintendent thinks we have ample policy in place and don't need a stand alone policy on the matter.  But, he is happy to proceed however the board directs on the matter.

From Bobby Truhe at KSB
"...In addition to the changes made to policy 4059 in the 2023 updates, I see that the other aspects of NDE's model policy are probably contained elsewhere in KSB's policies.  For example, our policies 3039, 3040, and 3041 all contain elements of what I see in NDE's model policy.  In particular, I believe most schools use their crisis team to do most of the work, training, and response to situations involving suicide or threats of suicide (in addition to a student's 504 or IEP team).  I don't believe it's required by law (new or old) to create a standalone suicide prevention "team," and NDE's policy seems to indicate that using your existing crisis team (or whatever you may call it in Ravenna) is perfectly appropriate.

While I have no problem with NDE's policy per se, I do think (1) your existing policies cover each aspect of it, and (2) you'll want to make sure that if the board approves NDE's model policy it does not conflict with what's already included in the policies I referenced, each of which was developed in collaboration with the same NDE Safety and Security office now proposing the policy you sent me..."

Rationale:  We had discussed advertising for bids to lease the school district's pasture.  Attached is a draft of the proposed lease agreement.  The board members and administration need to decide when they want to advertise for bids and work out the details of the lease expectations.

Rationale:  BASE (SEL Curriculum)
Ravenna teachers were in this month's newsletter from  Buffalo County Community Partners.  Below is the excerpt taken from the newsletter:

Fifth and sixth grade teachers at Ravenna Public School are implementing a curriculum called BASE, purchased with grant funding through Partnership for Success, facilitated by Community Partners. BASE is a student mental health solution built by educators and mental health professionals. Through the Learn, Connect, Respond model, BASE helps tackle mental health topics that teachers may find tough to discuss, gives students a vehicle to connect with their emotions, and provides insights that help students and adults respond better to each other. Ravenna is geared up for a good school year! 

Homecoming Elementary Dress Days
This year, the elementary school has dress-up days for HC
Mon - Hat Day
Tues - Favorite Team/Jersey Day
Wed - Dress Like a Teacher (Teacher Dress Like a Student) Day
Thur - Color Day (each class is assigned a color to wear)
Friday - Blue/While Spirit Day

Grandparent's Day
I want to thank Mrs. Zinnell and Mrs. Ellis for a wonderful Grandparent's Day program.  It was very well attended.

Fall Assessments
We have completed the Fall MAP and FastBridge assessments.

Parent-Teacher Conferences
Wednesday, Sept 20 (4:00-8:00 pm) and Friday, Sept 22 (8:00-11:00 am)

Elementary Book Fair
September 18-22
 

Rationale: 

• MAP Testing took place Aug. 29th - 31st

• Homecoming Week - Pep Rally @ 1:00 and Parade @ 1:40 on Friday

• Weather permitting Mike Bursaw will be parachuting into the Homecoming game on Friday. 

• Parent Teacher Conferences

  • Wednesday Sept. 20th 4:00 - 8:00 PM

  • Friday Sept. 22nd 8:00 - 11:00 AM 

Rationale:  1.  The Nebraska State Education Conference Registration will open September 13th.  If you are interested in attending this year, please let the superintendent know ASAP.  (Email from NASB is attached)

2.  Roof Inspection Results- The roof was inspected on September 7, 2023 by Maurice Anderson and Dan Cyboron.  There is a roof map attached to this agenda item, which notes the two areas of concern, on the east and west sides of the high school.  The entire roof was walked, but these two areas were the only areas that raised concerns.  There is visible delamination (pictures of examples attached) on the east section of the roof.  We identified at least 6 examples of this, but as the adjuster said, "For every one we see, there's probably another 5 or 6 that we are missing."  So, we are going to have the east section of roof powerwashed and inspected by the roofers.  They will patch any areas that are delaminated.  On the west section of the roof, we didn't see any evidence of delamination, but I did notice two errors in construction that should be covered under the warranty.  The first was a "knife mark" and the second was a loose fastener beneath the membrane, both of which can lead to roof failure.  These construction errors will be covered by the warranty that is in place on the roof.  Springer Roofing installed both of the roofs.  ALICAP has reached out to schedule Springer for the inspection and repairs.

3.  Student Assistance Fund for Mental Health - I reached out to the Ravenna Foundation Board and to The Buffalo County Community Foundation.  The Ravenna Foundation Board is willing to make a "matching contribution" to such a fund based on the donations received by the school during the month of September.  This fund will be specifically used for students who demonstrate financial need in this area.  The suggestion of Buffalo County Community Partners was to hold the funds internally in the school's Activity Account as a specialized "Student Assistance Fund," rather than have the fund rest at the Buffalo County Community Foundation.  Doing so will alleviate administrative fees on the account that the Buffalo County Community Foundation would have to charge, reduce the authorization paperwork and time with requests for assistance, and make the process more fluid for students, parents, and staff involved.  The Ravenna Public Schools Foundation has agreed to match any contributions to the fund up to $5,000.  The fundraising will occur during the week of September 18th, and will include students, staff, and community members.

4.  Removing Barriers for Student Access to Mental Health Services - I participated in a conference call coordinated by Denise Sweener of Buffalo County Community Partners regarding removing financial barriers to access mental health services.  Kearney Public Schools and Ravenna Public Schools were the Buffalo County Schools represented on the call.  There are lots of great ideas floating around and I will continue to be a part of this conversation and solution.  During that meeting, there was a key pinch point identified as detailed in the meeting minutes below:

The gap I believe was defined:  Paperwork required of parents/guardians is not completed for children and youths' mental health needs to be met by providers in Nebraska.
90% of youth referred to Live Well Counseling did not follow up with completed paperwork for youth to receive services, (source Live Well Counseling)
 
Solutions: Intentions of the community partners involved in this conversation to find ‘coordinators’ willing to work one-on-one with families to complete needed paperwork, meeting parents where they are and with a trusted provider, agency or school.  Consider additional solutions through LB1173 work in regard to Medicaid/Medicare and systems.

5. Adult Mental Health First Aid Training - This training will be offered in the Ravenna Youth Center by McKenzie Behrendt on October 27, January 15, and February 17th.  A flyer describing the training is attached to this agenda item.

6. Suicide Risk Assessment Flowchart - The administrators got a draft from NDE and they are working with the LHMP from ESU 10 to further refine and make this flowchart effective for Ravenna Public Schools.

7. Threat Assessment Flowchart - The school district currently has a threat assessment policy.  The administration is working with the LHMP from ESU 10 to develop a flowchart that is effective for Ravenna Public Schools.  The LHMP will need to be involved, as she will likely be on the team that assesses the threat and helps to make a determination about the "best educational placement" of a student who has engaged in threatening behavior.

8.  Monthly NASB Board Quicks (Attached)-State Conference Registration Opens on September 13th.

9.  Capital Improvement Plan - I have reached out to Jacob Sertich at the Wilkins Group and made contact with him in advance of our discussion in October regarding facility improvements.  Does the board want to have a separate workshop around this topic, or do you want to discuss it as part of the regular October 9th Board Meeting?  Also, who would you like to engage in the conversation, at this point in time (architect, finance, etc.)?

10.  Capital Outlay Schedule-An updated Capital Outlay Scheulde is attached for your review and consideration.  The superintendent sat down with Todd and Dan, discussed the Building Study by Wilkins, and identified some projects we should consider for this summer.  

11.  Fleet Replacement Schedule Attached - Proposing replacing three of the mini-vans in our fleet and surplussing for disposal one of our large school buses and adding a 14-passenger mini-bus purchase.  We should decide VERY soon, as there is a year wait time on these buses right now.  Budget pricing for a 14-passenger mini-bus is attached.

12.  Current Enrollment Figures Attached