February 10, 2025 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Regular 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

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

6.  Payroll Ledger Review

7.  Insurance Billing Review

8.  ACH Payroll Review

9.  Budget Authority for 2025-26 (Attached)

10.  State Aid Estimate for 2025-26 (Attached)

11.  Pricey Repairs
Air Handler Shaft for Theater - $9,377
Expansion Tank for Water Heaters - $ 3,759
Head Gasket on 2014 Bus - Waiting on Estimate

12.  Investments - CD Schedule (Attached)





 

Rationale:  The video from the National Council for Economic Education for this year is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6myd0oklLY 

Students from Ravenna participated in Nationals last summer and were interviewed and submitted clips throughout their time in Cleveland.  Ravenna students are featured in this fun video.


 

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: 

Volunteers who are asking to be considered to be appointed to the board: Tina Cacy

The Ravenna Board of Education is supposed to appoint members to the Board of Directors for the Ravenna Public School's Foundation at its February Board Meeting.  Each year, we review this information together, so that the board is in a good position in February to make any needed appointments.

Superintendent  (Lifetime Ex-Officio Non-Voting Member)

The "By-Laws of Ravenna Public School Foundation" (see attached) call for the Ravenna Board of Education to appoint the board members.  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the current board appointments, to track the length of the board members' appointments on an annual basis, and to establish a plan to revisit these appointments for review by the board on an annual basis. 

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


Current Board Membership and year of last appointment by member is as follows:
Misti Fiddelke - Term Ends February 1, 2026 (2 yr. term)
Ryan Osten - Term Ends February 1, 2026 (2 yr. term)
Mike Voelker - Term Ends February 1, 2026 (2 yr. term)
Cassie Giffin - Term Ends February 1, 2027 (3 yr. term)
Cindi Coulter -Term Ends February 1, 2026 (3 yr. term)
Dan Schmidt - Term Ends February 1, 2027 (3 yr. term)
Brandy Brodersen - Term Ends February 1, 2027 (3 yr. term)
Jessica Anderson - Term Ends February 1, 2027 (3 yr. term)
Caley Mingus - Term Ends, February 1, 2025 (3 yr. term) & She wishes to be replaced.

 

 

 

 

Rationale:  The Ravenna Board of Education Policy Committee met on January 29th to discuss the mid-year policy update offered by KSB School Law.  Attached are two policies that the Policy Committee is asking the board to approve.  Both of these proposed policy revisions are simply technical revisions to the current versions of the policies.

The revisions to policy 2008 simply provide the board with the ability to publish meeting notices on a statewide newspaper repository for that purpose and to the newspaper's website.  The school district will still advertise every meeting notice in the newspaper.  The only times the meeting notices will fail to be printed in the newspaper and the other methods utilized for informing the public of the meeting notices will be used is when the newspaper is unable, for whatever reason, to publish the notice in a timely manner.

The revisions to policy 3004.1 were made by the school district's law firm, based on technical assistance provided by the federal government.  None of these revisions will make any substantial changes to the way the school district uses federal funds in the procurement process.  The revisions are simply technical cleanups recommended by the law firm to ensure that the policy is in good order if we go through a federal programs review by the Nebraska Department of Education.

The superintendent recommends adopting the revised policies as presented.

Rationale:  The superintendent recommends the purchase of a used 2016 Ford Transit van 59,311 miles on it from Dillon's Auto of Lincoln, NE, in the amount of $31,000.

The van had a full mechanical inspection by Anderson Ford Dealership in Lincoln, which is independent of the auto dealership offering the vehicle for sale.

The results of the vehicle inspection are attached to this email.  There is a CV driveshaft that will need to be replaced in the amount of $1,392.89.  Other than that, the mechanical inspection came back clean.
 

Rationale:  Revenues are not keeping up with expenses in the School Nutrition Fund, so a transfer from the General Fund into the School Nutrition Fund will need to be made in the amount of $37,000.

The budget allows for up to $80,000 worth of transfers from the General Fund to the School Nutrition Fund, Activities Fund, Depreciation Fund, and Employee Benefit Fund.

The need for the transfer was discussed in the Finance Committee Meeting.

Rationale:  Each year the board of education approves the school calendar for the upcoming school year.  Attached are a copy of the drafts of the 2025-26 school calendar.

Rationale:  The school district should update its policy regarding student contact with law enforcement.  Attached is the current version of the policy and the proposed version of the policy.

The Ravenna Public Schools Policy Committee met on January 29 and discussed this policy at length.  While the Policy Committee members want to have school be a safe and welcoming environment for students, they understand that there may be situations where law enforcement's presence on school grounds is necessary, so the Policy Committee and the superintendent are recommending adopting the attached copy of the policy, which allows for law enforcement to question students, after obtaining parental consent.  

Rationale:  Parent-Teacher Conferences
We had an 85% attendance rate at this year's conferences.  Last year we had 87% and in 2023 it was at 80%.

Comprehensive Needs Assessment
The District Leadership Team conducted the Nebraska Comprehensive Needs Assessment. Each member individually evaluated the assessment, and together as a team, we rated each indicator on a scale of 1-4. Using this information the team identified strengths and areas for growth. From these growth areas, we established priorities to focus on during the current Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP) cycle.
Priorities:

1. School Readiness (preschool screener)

2. Scheduling and Reviewing Data 

3. Student Assessment Participation

4. Sharing Assessment Results

5. Career Technical Education K-12

Rationale: 

Principal Report February Board Meeting

 

Academic

• Parent-Teacher Conferences were held on Wednesday, February 5th. 

  • 45 parents attended on the secondary side for 59 students, which is about ? of our student body.

Student Behavior/Mental Health

• SOS training for new students to the district was completed on Tuesday, February 4th.

• Teachers and students completed the SAEBRS screener this past week. 

  • The Problem-Solving Team will validate both screeners at our morning meeting on February 12th. 

Activities

• Winter sports are winding down.

  • Wrestling districts are at Greeley on Friday and Saturday.

  • Basketball just finished their conference tournament this past weekend. 

• Many winter activities are getting busy with contests. 

Rationale:  1. Mapping Grant - The superintendent is pursuing a mapping grant with NDE.  This would create a digital map of our property for use by law enforcement and emergency responders.  The estimated cost of such a service is $5,000, which would be funded through the grant.  NDE confirmed receipt of the completed application before the application deadline on 2/6/25.  Now we sit and wait.

2.  NASB Legislative Bill Tracker: https://nasb.enviseams.com/home

3.  Bond Issue Update

4.  Summer Projects - Dan Cyboron didn't recommend a lot of summer projects for this summer.  The fence around the elementary was discussed.  The board may want to wait to see the outcome of the bond campaign before deciding to move forward with any large summer projects.

5.  LB303 State Aid Modeling (Attached) - LB303 would represent more aid for school districts.  A copy of the modeling provided by NDE is attached.  It would mean an estimated increase of $33,543 for Ravenna Public Schools.

6.  Pricey Repairs - Theater Air Handler, Head Gasket on #14, Pressure Tank for our Water Heaters.