April 11, 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.

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Student Enrollment Projections

Staffing Recommendations

Technology Update

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This time during the meeting will be opened as a hearing to discuss, consider, and receive input on the student fee policy.  Attached for your review is the following:

1. Student fee receipts and expenditures in 2014-2015
2. Current policy and fee structure as well as proposed fee structure for 2016-2017

At this time, if any member of the public wishes to comment or give opinions on the student fee policy, we ask that you come up to the microphone and state your name.

Comments

The district collected $177,430 in board approved student fees in the areas of instruction and activities during the 2014-2015 school year. These fee dollars can only be expended for the items for which they are collected.

Waiver Policy
The District’s policy is to provide fee waivers in accordance with the Public Elementary and Secondary Student Fee Authorization Act. Students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches under United States Department of Agriculture child nutrition programs shall have available a fee waiver for and for use of all listed student fees (List of fees by grade configuration is attached) in both curricular and extracurricular programs. Participation in a free-lunch program or reduced-price lunch program is not required to qualify for fee waivers for purposes of this section, but qualification is required. Students or their parents must request a fee waiver prior to participating in or attending the activity, and prior to purchase of the materials. Failure to do so will result in a loss of the fee waiver rights from such activity or materials. Materials, equipment, or specific uniform items to be provided to free or reduced-price lunch eligible students shall be required to be approved by the administration, which shall apply a standard based on providing materials which are equitable to those purchased for comparable students.

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

Rationale:  Bel Air Elementary: Autism Awareness Month

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 and Assessment

• The Teaching and Learning Team is always busy this time of the year. We are balancing the end of the year assessments, tying up loose ends in curriculum work during PLC time and attending training and conferences that help us to prepare for the next year already.

  Technology

• I am pleased to report that the second part of our ERate came back that positively supported a large portion of our server upgrade and infrastructure work. As reported in the study session, we are making plans to move forward resourcefully with our next purchases.

  Title I

• Title I buildings have had or are preparing for their final Title I parent nights. 

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• Spring sports are in full swing, please reference the NPS activities calendar for dates and times of each sport.
• On Wednesday, April 20th, Kindergarten Round Up will be held at all our elementary buildings.  There will be activities for students and information for parents/guardians.
• District Music Contest is scheduled for Friday, April 22nd.  If you can‘t attend on the 22nd, they are having a Pre-contest concert on Tuesday, April 19th at 7:00 pm in the Carson Theater.
• Saturday, April 30th is Prom, which will be held at Divots. Coronation will begin at 7:30. The dance will be held from 8:00 to 11:30 pm.
• The Spring Play performance of The Outsiders, will be May 5th, 6th and 7th at the Carson Theater starting at 7:00 pm, each night.  

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School Improvement/Professional Development

On Friday, April 8, Heidi Rethmeier from ESU 8 and I met with K-8 principals to review the NDE Perceptual Survey Results.  The data highlighted a plethora of strengths our schools can be proud of and celebrate.  Each building principal will examine the results and look at areas they can improve on.  The information will become part of each school’s data book and be shared during the data retreat.

Currently we have around 30 teachers and administrators that have registered for the PLC Leadership Academy that is being held in collaboration with Columbus Public Schools.  We anticipate an additional 5-10 staff members will register.  The first training is scheduled for June 28 and 29.

Safety

As part of the recommendation from the district’s Emergency Response Team, we asked students, parents, and staff to respond to questions on the Perceptual Survey that pertained to our emergency protocol.  All three groups rated these questions between a 4 and 5 with a 5 indicating all groups strongly agree we have appropriate protocols in place and they are put into practice.  This information will be shared with the Emergency Response Team as we continue to review and adjust our emergency protocols.

Human Resources

Open Certified Positions: 

Digital Integration Facilitator – District – interviews scheduled for April 8

Elementary Principal – WP – interviews scheduled for April 15

Elementary Teacher – JF – interviews scheduled for April 8

Elementary Title (Math/Reading) – JF – interviews scheduled for April 8

Middle School Principal – interviews scheduled for April 13

Special Education/Resource – HS – interviews scheduled for April 11

Speech Language Pathologist – District – still recruiting candidates

Vocal Music – Elementary – interviews scheduled for April 7

Coaching Vacancies:

Head Varsity Softball Coach

Unified Bowling Coach

 

 

 

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Superintendent Evaluation Committee:

*The Ad Hoc Superintendent Evaluation Committee has met twice.  We  have reviewed multiple samples of Superintendent Evaluations and compared them to the current superintendent evaluation, my job description and board policy. 

* We have drafted new evaluation procedures, which will include a self-evaluation component prior to the board's evaluation, as well as annual goal setting.

* At this point, we are in the process of drafting Standards and Performance indicators for the Evaluation Instrument.

* Our next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, April 19th.

Legislative Update:

There has been a lot of action in the Unicameral in the last few weeks.   Our conversations with our Senators were heard and resulted in big improvements. Amendments were passed to both LB 958 and 959, which made both bills much more palatable.  If these bills are passed, as currently written, the fiscal impact on our district will be minimal.

-- As of Friday, both LB 958 and 959 were passed on for Final Reading, as Speaker Priorities, meaning no more amendments are allowed.  LB 903 was also passed on to Final Reading, as a Speaker Priority. If passed, the ACT will replace NeSA for the Senior High.

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As stated earlier, the committee reviewed all claims for the month of April as well as the March Activity claims. The committee received a facility update on our Central Office updates as well as other projects in the district.  We then discussed the following items:

• 16-17 staffing
• 4 year technology plan
• Review of the Food Management Company process
• Window replacement bid for Lincoln School
• Student Fees
• Update on the roof contracts, hail claim, traffic patterns and parking at our schools

Our next meeting is scheduled for May 9th, 2016 at the Central Office board room.

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The Policy and Government Committee has not met since our last Board meeting.  However, the GNSA met in Lincoln on March 16th. Senator Kowolski and Senator Baker provided us with an update from the Education Committee, which predicted amendments to LB 958 and LB 959 that would be much more narrow in scope, and hopefully more palatable to school districts.  (This has since proven to be true.) 

The GNSA meeting for April 20th was cancelled, as this is the last day of the legislative session.

 

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The Activities Committee did not meet in March. Our next meeting is scheduled for noon on Monday, April 22, 2016.

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Esmeralda Martinez- Senior High Spanish Teacher

Bachelor of Arts in Spanish/French Education from Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska

Currently teaching Spanish at Pierce High School in Pierce, Nebraska

 

Tara Padilla - Junior High English Teacher

Bachelor of Arts in English Education from South Dakota State University in Brookings, South Dakota

Master of Arts in Secondary Education from University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota

English as a Second Language Endorsement from Newman University in Wichita, Kansas

Currently teaching English as a Second Language at USD 457 – Kenneth Henderson Middle School in Garden City, Kansas

 

Katie Wright - Senior High Spanish Teacher

Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and Spanish from Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska

Currently teaching Spanish at Mercy High School in Omaha, Nebraska

 

 

 

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Laura Mettler-Speech-Language Pathologist

Brittany Gasper--Norfolk Junior High Math Teacher

Rationale:  Are there any questions or comments regarding the proposed student fees and proposed Appendix 1 change to Policy 5416 for 2016-2017?

Rationale:  I am requesting permission to start our annual bidding for sanitation and pest control services for 2016-2017

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This was discussed at length during our Study Session. These Chromebooks would replace the mini-ipads at the Junior High and begin our 4 year rotation of devices at the Senior High (starting with 9th grade devices).

The mini-ipads from the Junior High will be re-purposed to the elementary buildings and the 9th grade ChromeBooks will be re-purposed to the Middle School and elementary buildings.

This is all incorporated into our comprehensive technology plan and budget.

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The administrators' compensation package was approved in January.  It included a 3% increase, as well as an additional $500 to each administrator's benefit package, and a $2,000 dollar increase to the base of the salary structure.  

Their contracts have been updated to reflect those changes, and are ready to be approved.  

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Based on the enrollment projections that I shared with you during our Study Session, all grade levels, programs, and buildings are at capacity.  I am recommending that they are all closed to Option Enrollment Students for the 2016-2017 school year.

Having said that, LB 1066 has been placed on Final Reading before the legislature.  It is likely that it will be passed and that we will need to change our Option Enrollment Policy.  This would not, however, change the fact that our grade levels, programs, and buildings are projected to be at capacity and are considered closed for Option Enrollment for the 2016-2017 school year.

Rationale:  The Policy and Govt Relations Committee reviewed board policies 4026-4140 related to personnel and are recommending them for second and final reading this evening.  No changes have been made to these policies since their First Reading last month.

Rationale:  The district received one qualifying bid from QBS for $97,500 for the replacement of 76 classroom windows at Lincoln School.  This bid includes replacing the windows with a high efficiency white vinyl window with all the trim and finish work.  This window would be similar to those used for replacement at Jefferson and Westside.  Funds for this project would come from our Special Building Fund, Depreciation Fund and General Fund.

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Our next meeting is scheduled for noon on Thursday, April 28th at the Central Office Administration Building.

If possible, we would like to start this meeting a little earlier, as we anticipate a full agenda.  Is everyone able to meet at 11:00 or 11:30 and go until 1:00?