February 8, 2016 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  The Norfolk Public School District's board of education meeting is called to order.  

Rationale:  If any board member is absent, there will need to be a  motion to excuse the absence.

Rationale:  Middle School, Junior High & Senior High School Principals will share their Building Goals and Action Plans.

Rationale:  Please stand and join us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Rationale:  Recognition and accolades for tremendous snow removal effort.

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In honor of School Board Recognition Week, which was January 31st-February 6th, Norfolk Public Schools would like to thank our six Board members for their dedication and service.  We appreciate the countless hours that you voluntarily give to ensure that the children of Norfolk, NE receive a quality education. Thank you for being a strong advocate for public education and for the vision and leadership you provide in regards to student achievement, school programming, district funding, and so much more. Your service ensures that the voice of our community is represented as important decisions are made for our students and our schools.

The following items have been collected from our schools as a token of our appreciation to you:

*  Handwritten thank you notes from Woodland Park Elementary

*  Customized Norfolk Middle School coasters from the Middle School

* Letter, notes, and a Thanks a Latte cappaccino fromJefferson Elementary

* Balloons from Lincoln Elementary

* Donuts from Grant Elementary

Again, thank you for your dedication and service.  You are making a difference for our students, families, schools, and community!

Rationale:  This is the time during the board meeting when the public may request to address the board regarding an agenda item. If you wish to comment, we ask that you identify yourself and indicate the agenda item to which you will be speaking.

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Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment:

• NeSA Writing-all 4^th, 8^th and 11^th graders have completed the assessment on time. We won’t have results until April, where at that time if we feel we need to complete some validation appeals, we can do so.  The NWEA MAP assessment is scheduled for Feb. 29-March 18. The Reading, Math & Science NeSA assessment window will be open March 21- April 29. This window is a little longer and is starting a little earlier, so therefore our preparation for this has been moved up.
• Regular curriculum work continues to progress. Reminder to the Curriculum Committee members on the board that we have scheduled a 2 hour retreat for Monday, Feb. 15^th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to look over our process and progress.
• We have a Wonders Reading Program pilot occurring in 2^nd grade in two buildings. In November, administrators listened to the company present on Wonders and Reading Mastery. Since then we’ve determined we would take 2 more schools and pilot an updated version of Reading Mastery. It is not likely we will have adequate data to make a decision for next year. I’m putting a review timeline together that includes reviewing data, including teacher input and a rubric for comparing the programs.

Technology:

• Pat Wolff and I will be completing an RFP for the server to be put up for bid but we are still gathering information on what we need exactly so that we request and get the best fit for the district.
• A small team from technology has been meeting with me to review our policy to ensure we are 1- following policy and 2- have appropriate guidelines in place. We do in fact feel the policy is sufficient but feel we could do a better job of reviewing it with our administration and staff. This team is going to put some things together for our administration to assist them for easy reference. 

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• Parent/Teacher Conferences start tonight, February 8^th at all Norfolk Public Schools. The conferences will continue through February 12^th. We encourage parents to use this opportunity to visit with their child’s teachers.
• ELPA 21 will begin for our district ELL students starting today on Monday, February 8^th and continue through March 18^th. This is the first time the ELPA 21 will be used in Nebraska.
• Kindergarten enrollment has started for the 2016-17 school term. Registration is being held at neighborhood schools. Parents must have a birth certificate and a copy of immunizations to begin the enrollment process. Kindergarten Round up will be held Wednesday, April 20 at your neighborhood elementary.
• A friendly reminder that AFS will be having an open house at their new location this Wednesday, February 10th from 3:00-5:00 pm. There will be a ribbon cutting ceremony at 10:00 am that morning as well.

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School Improvement/Professional Development

On February 9, 10, and 11 thirty-five Norfolk Public School teachers will participate in the second of two APL instructional skills training. The training is a collaborative effort between the ESU 8 and surrounding schools. The training is designed to assist Norfolk Public School educators in targeting specific instructional expertise and structure for application in the classroom.

Our last Principal Cadre meeting at ESU 8 will be held on February 16. The focus will be on building capacity and support for administrators in developing a common language for instruction. Cadre members attending include Bruce Strong and me.

This summer 42 teachers and 8 administrators from NPS will be part of a PLC Leadership Academy with Columbus Public Schools. The focus of the training will be on how teachers can skillfully and effectively lead collaborative teams, how to support and coach colleagues, and how to ensure that the PLC philosophy and processes are implemented and sustained. The summer training days will be in Columbus on June 28 and 29. Two additional days are scheduled on January 4 and 5 in Norfolk.

Safety

On February 2 the LB757 Team had their third meeting of the school year.  We reviewed district incident reports, discussed fall safety topics, and heard a presentation by Scott Williams from Insurance Associates on new safety resources. 

On Wednesday, January 27 Norfolk Public Schools went into External Lockdown as a precautionary response to the robbery that occurred in our community. Contact was made with the Norfolk Police Department to substantiate the situation. Once we had confirmation, we collaborated with our building administrators/secretaries through email, texting, and phone conversations. As with any emergency response, our initial priority is the safety of our students and staff. Once buildings were secured, we immediately reconnected with the Norfolk Police Department to determine the severity of the issue. Once details were authenticated, we worked with NPD to finalize a plan for the remainder of the day and a message was sent to parents.

Human Resources

Christina Stranc and Kim Bachman have been approved as local subs.

Advertising for: 

Art

Assistant HS Volleyball Coach

Elementary Principal

Elementary Teacher

Family Consumer Sciences

Guidance

Head Varsity Softball Coach

Reading/Math Interventionists

Speech Language Pathologist

Rationale: 

Snow Day Cancellations-Policy Review

At this point, we have missed three days due to inclement weather. According to Board Policy 4005:

"In the event the Norfolk Public Schools dismisses school for more than three (3) school days for
snow or other reasons related to inclement weather, two (2) days of these missed days will be
made up. Each year on the School Calendar there will be two (2) “snow make-up” days assigned
in case the three (3) day limit is exceeded. Additional “snow make-up” days may be necessary
to meet NDE’s Instructional Hours Requirement. Parents and staff will be notified if additional
'snow make-up' days are necessary as soon as practicable."

GNSA/Legislation Update

The Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce's Government Affairs Committee meets every Thursday at 8:15. We start with a weekly video conference with Senator Scheer and then make recommendations regarding any political action that we feel is needed from the Chamber.

The GNSA met on January 20th, the GNSA Executive/Legislative Council met on January 13, and the GNSA Legislative Committee meets via video conference every Friday. At this point the focus of all meetings is the current legislative session. We are closely monitoring multiple bills and are in the process of writing testimony for multiple hearings.  Our next regular GNSA meeting is scheduled for February 17 at 9:30 am in Lincoln. 

Dr. Patti Gubbels and I attended the NASB Legislative Conference on January 31-February 1, where we heard presentations from the Governor, the Speaker of the House, and Chairs of the Education, Revenue, and Appropriations Committees. It was a very informative conference.

I will be testifying before the Appropriations Committee tomorrow regarding LB 713 which would provide additional funding for ACE Scholarships. These are scholarships given to students whose families meet poverty guidelines to pay for dual-credit courses.  Seventy-six ACE scholarships were awarded to Norfolk Public School's students last year.

I have also submitted a letter to the Revenue Committee opposing LB 958. This bill would limit the statewide aggregate increase in agricultural property to 3% per year. Preliminary figures based on LB 958 indicate that the passing of this legislation would require us to levy $1.06 for our general fund, leaving us no room to levy for our building fund. This is very concerning because, it would require a voter-authorized levy override for us to simply keep our current level of funding.  A levy override is very unlikely to pass in our conservative community, which means that we would be forced to make cuts to our current programs.

LB 958 also eliminates our ability to levy outside the general levy for special building projects, via QCPUF. Norfolk Public Schools has used QCPUF extensively to address our aging facilities.  Without this funding mechanism and without the ability to levy for our building fund, we would not be able to maintain our facilities at an acceptable level.

Rationale:  The Facilities and Finance Committee met today at 12:00 noon in the central office board room. The February claims were reviewed as well as the Activity fund claims for January.  The committee was able to review progress on our CO project as well as upcoming action items with roofs, HVAC, van and bus purchases.  The next meeting is scheduled for March 14, 2016 at 12:00 pm.

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The Policy and Government Relations Committee met electronically to review policies 4014-4025 and 5416. These policies will be discussed in further detail later this evening, when they come up for First Reading.

The GNSA met on January 20th. The Governor and the Education Committee Chair, Kate Sullivan were keynote speakers.  The GNSA is currently focused on monitoring bills being considered by our State Senators. Our next regular GNSA meeting is scheduled for February 17 at 9:30 am in Lincoln. 

  

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The Activities Committee met at noon on Monday, January 25th.  

Swim Coach, David Nelson, provided information regarding our swimming program. He reported that the season is going very well and that we have a positive relationship with the YMCA.

Dennis Dolliver shared the letter that we received from the HAC (Heartland Activities Conference), which states they will wait 60 days to rule on our request, and that they will only consider adding schools if it results in an even number of schools in the conference (10-12). Currently three schools (Kearney, Pius, and Norfolk) have applied, which would create an uneven (11) number.

The committee reviewed Fees Policy 5416, which has been revised to include a statement that allows students to attend the FFA National Convention on an every other year basis-if all expenses are covered via FFA fundraisers. The committee approved the new language and recommended that the revision be taken to the full Board of Education for their approval.

Dennis Dolliver shared information regarding NDN: Channel 35's coverage of activities.  He has received several positive comments from community members, but attendance (and gate receipts) has been affected by the televised games.  We will need to continue to monitor this and determine if all games should be televised in the future.

Dennis Dolliver also shared information regarding the State One Act Competition held at the Johnny Carson Theatre in December. Overall, it went very well and is a positive event for our community.

Dennis Dolliver asked the committee to consider adding Freshman/Reserve Softball and Baseball teams next year, as well as Unified Bowling.  The committee asked Dennis to bring additional information (such as anticipated participation numbers and costs) to the next Activities Committee meeting.  Unified Bowling would be a new sport, so its addition would need to be approved by the full Board of Education at a regular board meeting. 

The next Activities Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday, February 22nd at noon.

 

Rationale: 

Jan Dyer- Guidance Counselor for Woodland Park and AFS

Rita Sukup--Family and Consumer Sciences teacher for Norfolk Senior High

Deborah Hoffman--Kindergarten teacher for Washington Elementary

Rationale:  The roofs on these buildings are the next ones in priority for replacement.  Specifications for these roofs will be handled by Kucirek Engineering who has written the specifications on our roofing and HVAC projects over the past three years.  Each roof will be bid separately in order to achieve the best pricing.  There may be additional costs with some replacement decking and drains which we will not know for 100% until the replacement projects are underway.

Rationale:  The rooftop units at Woodland Park and one of the units at Washington are in need of replacement.  Because of their age and the amount of repair needed for these units, replacement is the best long-term option.  Kucirek Engineering is writing the specifications for these units.  The replacement units will fit alongside the other HVAC units that have been replaced over the past several years and the control systems that coincide with them as well.  Because we are only replacing the rooftop units the disruption to the buildings should be minimal.

Rationale: 

We received two qualifying bids for the purchase of 2 vans, the pricing on those vans is the following:

Cornhusker Nissan $32,911 per van

Courtesy Ford $26,737 per van

We also received one qualifying bid for the purchase of 2 activity buses, the pricing on those buses is the following:

Bus #1 Norfolk Truck Center (Thomas built 72 passenger with traditional seating) $128,306

Bus #2 Norfolk Truck Center (Thomas built 48 passenger with coach style seating) $134,155

Funds for the purchase of these vans and buses would come from our vehicle and bus replacement budgets as well as depreciation.

Rationale: 

I have revised our generic CO Administrative Evaluation Tool to reflect the unique responsibilities of each CO Director.  Each evaluation tool includes some important common items, such as: communication, collaboration, organization, leadership, technology, and public/community relations, as well as specific items related to the positions' duties/responsibilities.

The evaluation process, itself, has not been changed.  It is outlined in Board policy 2310. If the Board approves the new evaluation tools, I will send them to NDE for their approval so that they can be used this school year. 

Each Director has had the opportunity to review these evaluation tools and provide input on their development.

Rationale:  This policy revision is recommended by the Activities Committee.  It would allow FFA students to participate in their National Convention on an every other year basis.  All expenses would be covered by FFA fundraisers.

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The Policy and Government Relations Committee has reviewed the following policies and is not recommending any revisions at this time. They were approved in December of 2013.

4014: Receiving Agents, Salespersons, and Other Business Representatives

4015: Unauthorized Purchases

4016: Use of School Facilities and Equipment by School Employees

4017: Activity Passes

4018: Community Relations: Political Activity

4019: Fair Labor Standards (Minimum Wage and Overtime)

4020: Shredding Consumer Reports

4021: Social Security Numbers

4022: Military and Family Military Leave

4023: Notification of Arrest, Criminal Charges, and Certificate, License, or Child Abuse Complaints

4024: Wage and Deduction Information

4025: Professional Boundaries Between Employees and Students

Rationale: 

This policy has been updated and revised to clarify our position on Certificated Staff's release from contract-particularly when that release is requested after April 30th.  Specific language has been added to the policy, which states, "an employee under contract will be granted a release from his or her contract if the request is received on or before April 30. Unless extreme extenuating circumstances apply, a request for release from contract received after April 30 will only be granted after a suitable replacement has been found.  The Board of Education reserves its right to contact the Nebraska Professional Practices Commission for those certificated personnel who may breach their contract obligations."

This is common practice for many school districts, as it prevents the district from late resignations which may be difficult (even impossible) to fill.  This policy has been reviewed by the district's administrative team and the NCEA building representatives. 

Rationale: 

The Policy and Government Relations Committee reviewed Board Policies 4001-4013 electronically. No changes have been made to these policies since their First Reading last month with the exception of a minor change to Policy 4003.

4001: Recruitment and Selection

4002: Equal Opportunity Employment

4003: Anti-discrimination, Anti-harassment and Anti-retaliation

4004: Duty Hours of Employees

4005: Absence of Employees

4006: Absence From Building

4007: Family and Medical Leave Policy

4008: Adoption Leave

4009: Drug and Substance Use and Abuse

4011: Bloodborne Pathogen Compliance Plan

4012: Infectious Diseases

4013: Personnel files

 

 

Rationale:  Our second meeting of the month is scheduled for Thursday, February 25th at noon at the Central Administration Office.