May 13, 2024 at 8:00 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

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).  - Attended NASBO Conference, so registration was an expense and a mileage and parking fee claim in the amount of $197.60 is requested by the superintendent.

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

6. General Fund Review

7.  Payroll Ledger Review

8.  Insurance Billing Review

9.  ACH Payroll Review

10.  Compensation & Benefits for Shelbi Zinnel for FY 2024-25 - Pending board approval on May 13th.

• Increase insurance benefit to full-family insurance benefit  - This will mean that the district's responsibility for health insurance costs will increase from $8,916 per year to $19,858 or an increase of $10,941
• 3 extended contract days
• 4% pay rate increase

11.  Concession Stand Personnel Discussion - Pending board approval on May 13th.

• Hire someone(s) to take over responsibility of the concession stand.
• Tanner to assume some guidance (scholarship, career exploration, etc.) duties during the period currently allowed for the concession stand.
• Free up Angie to use her LMHP Degree with our students.  Eventually, this may lead to a decrease in the amount of LMHP contracted time we have with ESU 10 for this service.  Currently, we pay $30,000 a year for 3 days.
• We will leverage our current staff (school psychologist, behavioral interventionist) to free up Angie even more, with the goal of making 2 hours of her day spent working as an LMHP.

12.  Assistant Head of Maintenance Position - Budget adjustment and creation of position and corresponding salary range. 

13.  Painting Bids for Youth Center-$2,000 or $4500 - Staff retention 

14.  Summer Transportation - Staff retention

15.  Classified Retention Bonus - Discuss the possibility of using ESSERs III "excess funds" to provide a one-time retention bonus for classified staff.

16.  FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) Mandatory Wage Increase - Last week, the US Department of Labor announced that the minimum salary threshold for exempt employees will increase from $684 per week to $844 per week, effective July 1, 2024. For 12 month employees, this amounts to a salary increase from $35,568 per year to $43,888 per year. Effective January 1, 2025, this amount will increase to $1,128 per week, or $58,656 per year. It is important to remember that these amounts do not apply to teachers, since teachers are exempt from the general salary threshold requirements. However, for other staff positions (like head custodians, transportation directors, head of food service, and so forth) that are subject to the salary threshold test, schools may need to increase their weekly salary amounts (beginning July 1st) to continue treating these employees as FLSA exempt.

17. National FBLA Expenses - See attached

18.  Financing Future Building Project - Finacial Information Attached as slide show

Rationale:  The school district purchased new mowers.  The old mowers need to be declared surplus for sale or disposal. Pictures of the John Deere Mower and the Exmark mower are attached.

Also, there are some very old textbooks that Mrs. Zinnel would like to throw out:  10 textbooks each of American History and Applied American Government, with a copyright date of 2005.


 

Rationale:  Mrs. Wolfe has chosen to resign from her position as middle school science teacher.

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:  As a result of Mrs. Wolf's resignation, Mrs. Jennifer Hanna, who was originally hired to be the science teacher and has a middle school science teaching endorsement and multiple years of experience teaching middle school science, has been temporarily assigned to teach middle school science.  As a result, the district needs to hire a media specialist to replace Mrs. Hanna.  The administration recommends hiring Stacie Loeffelholz in the capacity of a media specialist for one year.

Rationale:  The full-time sub position has been grant funded for the past two years through ESSERs III Funds.  Those funds will go away in September 2024.  However, the full-time substitute has strong utilization.  So, the superintendent would recommend continuing the practice of having a full-time substitute on staff.

As of 5/13/24 the principals are still interviewing candidates for this position.  So, the item will need to be tabled until June Board Meeting.

 

Rationale:  The five-year lease for the school's copiers and printers will be ending this summer.  A request for proposal was advertised in the Kearney Hub. 

At the April Board Meeting, the superintendent and the technology coordinator recommended awarding the printer and copier leased services 5-year contract to Capital Business Systems.  Following board action on the matter, a discrepancy in the proposals was brought to the superintendent's attention.  Both Eakes and Capital Business Systems were contacted and offered the opportunity to update their proposals to ensure the district was receiving "apples to apples" proposals.

After reconsidering the revised proposals, the superintendent would recommend that the board rescind the motion they made at the April 8th Board Meeting to award the lease to Capital Business Systems and to make a new motion to award the bid to Eakes.


Original Bid Tabulation: 

The bid tabulation for the proposal received is as follows:
Eakes - $1,076.59 lease payment (estimated monthly cost including print volume and supplies - $1,870 per month)
 
Capital - $826.92 lease payment (estimated monthly cost including print volume and supplies - $1,471 per month)

Current total monthly lease cost is $2,185, so the savings will range from $315 (Eakes) to $714 (Capital).


Revised Bid Tabulation:

Eakes - $765.95 lease payment (estimated monthly cost including print volume and supplies - $1,359.86 per month)
 
Capital - $826.92 lease payment (estimated monthly cost including print volume and supplies - $1,577.26 per month)

The current total monthly lease cost is $2,185, so the savings will range from $825 (Eakes) to $607.74 (Capital).

The recommendation of the district technology coordinator and the superintendent of schools is to enter into a five-year lease with Eakes for managed print services.
 

Rationale:  Board policy 2007 (attached) allows for the purchase of one annual appreciation meal per year for board members and for staff.  The annual appreciation meal will be held on May 17th @ 12:00 PM at the Ravenna Golf Course

Rationale:  The SPED Life Skills Program is moving to the Youth Center during the summer of 2024.  The room needs to be repainted before it is further remodeled and occupied by the staff and students in the fall of 2024.  The plan is to get it painted the week after school is out.

Four painters were solicited for a bid on the project.  Two of the four submitted a bid.

The bid tabulation is as follows:
Krissy Reisbeck - $2,000
Peters Painting - $4,504

The superintendent's recommendation is to award the bid to Krissy Reisbeck in the amount of $2,000.
 

Rationale:  Each year the school nutrition program must renew its purchase agreement for dairy products for students participating in the school nutrition program.

The district received one bid from Hiland Dairy, who is our current dairy products provider.  The bid is attached to this agenda item for review and consideration by the board.

Proposed Milk Prices for School Year 2024-25 from Hiland Dairy

Regular Half Pint: $0.42
Half Pint Chocolate: $0.429
Half Pint Strawberry: $0.429
Gallon: $5.50

*Note these prices have a escalator/de-escalator pricing, which usually makes the price of a half pint of milk move by about $.00054 either up or down.  In short, you'll be paying $0.42 for a half-pint of white milk and about $0.43 for a half pint of chocolate or strawberry milk.

The average price per half-pint was $0.41 for School Year 2023-24.

Rationale:  Each year the board of education, in consultation with the superintendent and the school's bookkeeper, need to review and set the meal prices for the 2024-25 school year.  The school used the "PLE Calculation Tool" (Attached) from NDE Nutrition Services, to ensure we are raising the meal prices at a fair market value.  The weighted average pricing requirement according to the "PLE Calculation Tool" is a weighted prices of $3.80.  However, the district maintains the prerogative to not increase the meal costs to that weighted average price, but it is required to increase the meals by at least $0.10, to meet the minimum average price requirement required by the tool.

The superintendent is recommending that the district increase all breakfast prices by $0.10, increase the K-6 lunch price by $0.20,  increase the K-12 and adult lunch price by $0.20, and have the milk and special milk prices remain the same for school year 2024-25.







The information below shows the current meal prices and the proposed meal prices for the 2024-25 school year.


Current Meal/Milk Prices:

K-6 Breakfast: $2.05
7-12 Breakfast: $2.20
Adult Breakfast: $2.80

K-6 Lunch: $3.05
7-12 Lunch: $3.25
Adult Lunch: $4.35

Regular Milk: $0.45
Special Milk: $0.25



Recommended Meal/Milk Prices:

K-6 Breakfast: $2.15
7-12 Breakfast: $2.30
Adult Breakfast: $2.90

K-6 Lunch: $3.25
7-12 Lunch: $3.45
Adult Lunch: $4.55

Regular Milk: $0.45
Special Milk: $0.25
 

Rationale:  The board has been discussing the possibility of adding junior high girls wrestling, as an activity for the 2024-25 school year.

The estimated budget for adding this program is as follows:
Entree Fees: $300
Transportation: $550
Uniform: $1,095 (15 @ $73)
Coaching: $4,500
Total Estimate: $6,445

Rationale:  With the addition of junior high girls wrestling and the renovation of the north buildling to accomodate the activity, we need an additional wrestling mat.  The head wrestling coach and the AD worked together to get bids.  They recommend the purchase of the wrestling mat from Resilite in the amount of $13,842.

The bid tabulation is as follows:
Resilite: $13,565.16
Dollamur: $13,842

Rationale:  The board has been discussing replacing the failing steps and kick boards on the football stadium bleachers.  Proposals were solicited from 3 contractors.  Two of the contractors were responsive in offering proposals.  Those proposals are attached for review and consideration by the board.

The bid tabulation for the footboards only is as follows:
Bryan Dubas: $20,233
L & M Machine: $35,644 or $45,530

Bid Tabulation for kickboards only:
Bryan Dubas: $15,200

Rationale:  Mrs. Zinnell is a .6 FTE teacher for Ravenna Public Schools.  She also serves in the capacity of a .4 FTE bookkeeper for the school district. Due this unique combination and due to the nature of the duties assigned to Mrs. Zinnell, the Finance Committee has been reviewing her total compensation.

Mrs. Zinnel has about a half a dozen days a year where she must work all day as a teacher, such as when she attends music conference and staff development days.  Extra duty days were added to her contract to compensate her for this time.

Additionally, Mrs. Zinnel is going to begin working 30+ hours in the summer time in the high school office in her bookkeeping role.  So, since she is a 12-month classified employee, she is eligible for an increased insurance benefit. 

 

Rationale:  Mrs. Zinnell is a .6 FTE teacher for Ravenna Public Schools.  She also serves in the capacity of a .4 FTE bookkeeper for the school district. Due this unique combination and due to the nature of the duties assigned to Mrs. Zinnell, the Finance Committee has been reviewing her total compensation.

Mrs. Zinnel has about a half a dozen days a year where she must work all day as a teacher, such as when she attends music conference and staff development days.  Extra duty days were added to her contract to compensate her for this time.

Additionally, Mrs. Zinnel is going to begin working 30+ hours in the summer time in the high school office in her bookkeeping role.  So, since she is a 12-month classified employee, she is eligible for an increased insurance benefit. 

Rationale:  All staff were notified of the opportunity to take over the concession stand duty, which Mrs. Ellis wished to vacate.  There was a very limited response.  Mrs. Bolling and Mrs. Spaulding were approached with the opportunity and negotiated with the Finance Committee.  The revised work agreement for Mrs. Spaulding is attached for review and consideration by the board.

Rationale:  All staff were notified of the opportunity to take over the concession stand duty, which Mrs. Ellis wished to vacate.  There was a very limited response.  Mrs. Bolling and Mrs. Spaulding were approached with the opportunity and negotiated with the Finance Committee.  The revised work agreement for Mrs. Bolling is attached for review and consideration by the board.

Rationale:  As part of our on-going policy review, board members should please review our 5000 Series Board Policies in advance of the April Board Meeting.  The superintendent will do the same and provide any suggested revisions to the Board Policy Committee & to the whole board at the April Board Meeting.  It's simply best practice to continually engage in a review of board policies.

These, and all other board policies, are available at: https://meeting.sparqdata.com/Public/Organization/64


5000 Series Notes
5001 - Has notes that need to be removed.
5004 - Has notes that need to be removed.
5010 - Has a "redline" date that needs to be removed.
5011 - Has notes that need to be removed.
5029 - Crisis Response Policy - May need to be revised to include the Psychological First Aid (PFA) Team.
5031 - Redlines that need to be removed.  Also, it will need to comply with the dress code being set by the Nebraska Department of Education, likely to be included in the KSB Policy Update.
5045 - Meal Prices need updated; Cheerleading Uniform Prices
5052 - Triennial Review - Are we due for a review of this policy?
5054 - Add "Safe to Help" to the policy for the 2024-25 school year.  We should be using this statewide resource.
5055 - Kindergarten enrollment policy.  Will want to double-check with the new "pre-school redshirt" law that went into effect, if this will have any impact on this policy.
5067 - This policy has antiquated language that includes Student Assistance Team (SAT).  We should update it to include (Muti-Tiered Systems of Support) MTSS.
5068 - The random drug testing policy will need to be updated to reflect the policy revisions the board has already worked on for SY 2024-25.
 

Rationale:  As part of our on-going policy review, board members should please review our 6000 Series Board Policies in advance of the April Board Meeting.  The superintendent will do the same and provide any suggested revisions to the Board Policy Committee & to the whole board at the April Board Meeting.  It's simply best practice to continually engage in a review of board policies.

These, and all other board policies, are available at: https://meeting.sparqdata.com/Public/Organization/64

 

Rationale:  Thank You:
I want to thank the teachers, staff, and students for another great year.  
6^th Science Fair
The 6^th Grade had their annual Science Fair on Wed, May 8.  Mrs. Nozicka and the students did a great job. 
New Tradition:
We did something new this year.  On Friday, we had the seniors and kindergartners walk the halls dressed in their graduation gowns.  It went well, we are already talking about doing it again next year.
Weekly Activities:
Step Up Day - Monday, 2:45 pm
Egg Drop - Tuesday, 2:15 pm
Kindergarten Grad Rehearsal - Wednesday, 9:30 am
Dunk Tank - Wednesday
1:30- 3rd Grade
2:00- 4th Grade
2:30- 5th Grade
3:00- 6th Grade
Kindergarten Graduation - Thursday, 9:30 am
Field Day - Thursday, 1:00 pm
Staff- Student Game - Friday, 9:00 am
Spring Assessments
NSCAS and MAP Spring Assessments have all been completed. 
 

Rationale: 

Principal Report May Board Meeting

 

Academic
 

• All students have completed either Map or NSCAS testing for the spring. The students, for the most part, did very well with the testing. 

• Congratulations to this year's graduating seniors. The ceremony went well, and the students did a good job.

  • Thank you to everyone who helped make graduation a success. 

• ECHO Awards were held on Friday, May 10th in the theater. 

 

Student Behavior/Mental Health

 

• SOS training went well with the 7th and 8th graders. I can’t say enough about the job that Ms. Drahota has done with these training sessions. 

• Sharp Survey Results - Nebraska Risk and Protective Factor Student Survey.

• We had our final MTSS celebration of success on Wednesday.

  • The 8th grade class won the Clash of the Classes and will have an ice cream party tomorrow afternoon.

Activities
 

• The Athletic Banquet was held on Monday, May 6th. 

• FBLA had 5 students qualify for nationals in Orlando, Florida.

  • Hanna Johnson, Patrick Bursaw, Emma Gentrup, Abby Lewandowski, and Josey Moore

• Mrs. Ellis did a great job with both the 5-8 and 912 concerts. We have some really talented students. 

• District Music - Both the band and choir received superior ratings.

  • They had 15 individual or group superior ratings as well.

• Science Olympiad placed 7th in all classes in the state in Lincoln, one spot outside of receiving a medal. 

• NHS inducted 8 new members. I had numerous people compliment the speakers Julie Chramosta and McKenzie Behrendt.  

Rationale: 

• Hail Damage from Roof (ALICAP Came out to visit but has never been responsive in addressing the damage).  Mr. Schroeder has followed up with ALICAP to see when they will be out.
• HVAC in High School Gym - Contractors will be on site from March 4th-March 15th.  They think they can complete most of the project during that time.
• Track Re-Surface -Invitations to bid will be published in the Kearney Hub and bids will be due prior to the March Board Meeting (Friday, March 1st) - Budget price is $70,000
• Concrete on North Side of Building - $191,800 budget pricing
• Low Spot on Elementary Lawn - Waiting on budget pricing from Mr. Shiloh Rager
• Blacktop Playground Elementary - $3,290
• Blacktop Reseal on the other two areas - $5,607
• Removal of rose bushes/installation of rock (front of elementary)
• Removal of bike rack (front of elementary) and replace with more appropriately sized rack
• Clean up of junk north of Todd’s Shop (oil, tires, pallets, junk)
• Re-heat valves in the high school - Replace existing  - They are 54 years old and continue to stick and need to be replaced - 12 valves need to be replaced - Updated Budget Pricing Attached -$12,832
• Wood planks in football stadium - replace with aluminum - L & M - Budget Pricing Attached - $35,644 -*Note-there are 96 footboard (this does not include pricing for the kickboards).  If greentreated 2"x10"x20 lumber' were to be used an estimated material cost would be $4,800.  Labor was bid at $14,280.  So the price difference for metal compared to wood would be $16,564. 
• Sprinklers West of Elementary - As time allows - Not to exceed $1,000
• LED Lighting in Elementary - Not to exceed $5,000
• Overseed/Reseed the front lawn $1,000
• Ceiling Tile Bid from T-C Ceilings - $92,800 (Budget Price)
• Electrical & Equipment Rearranging in the Wood shop - The question was raised in our walk through with Mr. Lammers about whether or not the building plans would change the layout of the wood shop. I emailed all the board members with the response from the architect and the layout of the shop will NOT change, once the building project commences.
• Door Locks for all interior doors that lock from the inside.  Funded by the NDE Infastructure Grant

2.  National FBLA Expense Breakdown (Attached) 

3.  Safety & Security Infrastructure Grant - $30,000 awarded to Ravenna Public Schools for door locks that teachers can lock from the inside of the classroom.  Attached is a list of all the schools that were awarded grants.

4.  Dust Collection System for the Shop-Take a look.

5.  NASB Board Member Candidate Workshops-July 10 in Hastings & July 11 in Ord.  Do we want to invite the candidates to attend?

6.  NCSA Final Legislative Report & Unicameral Special Session- (NSCA Final Legislative Report Attached)

7.  Severe Weather & Tornadoes Response Plan

8.  Second Superintendent Evaluation-For June or July Board Meeting

Rationale:  Monthly NASB Board Report is attached for review by the board members.