July 11, 2016 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Listening Lunches Summary:

I had lunch with staff in each building during the last quarter of the school year.  Attendance/participation was completely voluntary, but I had a great turnout.  My purpose was to provide staff with a convenient and personal way to share their ideas, concerns, and questions with me.  Staff were very appreciative of this opportunity. The most common topics discussed were: reading, staffing, parent-teachers conferences, technology, assessment, substitutes, work days, class sizes, PLCs, calendar, traffic/parking, hiring, maintenance, grading, and enrollment.  

Total amount of claims to be approved in the consent agenda for the month of July, 2016 by specific fund are as follows:
General Fund = $1,677,787.31

Nutrition Services Fund = $6,705.02

Cooperative Fund = $101,812

Depreciation Fund = $574.92

Special Building Fund = $33,534.08

QCPUF = $31,351.97

Student Fee Fund= $684.60

The total amount of claims for the month of June, 2016 in the Activities fund are as follows:
Activity Fund = $95,636.14

We are continuing to be within budget for the 2015-2016 fiscal year.  I anticipate being able to finish the last two months of this fiscal year as planned.

Curriculum & Assessment

• Teacher groups met and worked on curriculum during the month of June. Senior High Language Arts, Art, and Music completed their alignment. The SH Business department began the ground work for Career Academy decisions that will be followed up with more specific curriculum work throughout the next school year.
• A small group of teachers met to work on a draft for updating the elementary report card. This proved to be a very interesting and intellectual conversation. The topic of grading can become quite controversial. Our group committed to a focus on the report card but it is difficult to totally remove the grading discussion. The teachers put together what they thought would be an appropriate report card draft for principals and other teachers to review. The goal was to more accurately reflect student learning while at the same time not to become too confusing or overwhelming for parents. This report card will only be used in pilot form in a few classrooms next year. Our hope is to have an updated report card that everyone is comfortable with by December so specific work with Infinite Campus can make it a reality in 2017-18. In addition, I would like to mention that I’m attending a conference next week regarding standards, assessment and grading. My goal is to update my learning in the newest research on grading. 

Technology

• Most of the computer labs have been updated this summer. The updates include a free upgrade to Windows 10 which has a deadline in July so the tech team is working hard to make sure all devices are up to date. Teachers are requested to have their laptops on docking stations from July 8-July 16^th for appropriate updates and upgrading to Windows 10. If they were unable to have their laptops docked, they were to make arrangements with the tech department. 

1. Open Houses and Schedule pick up dates can be found on each building website. Reminder:  when picking up schedules students will be taking their school photo. Please dress accordingly for school pictures. The first day of school begins for student grades 1st - 9th, Monday, August 15th. The exceptions to the start date are as follows: Kindergarten--one half of the class will report on the 15th while the other half will start on Tuesday the 16th. All Kindergarten students report on the 17th.  At the high school  Monday, August 15th only the 9th graders and new students attend classes, then on Tuesday, August 16th all student grades 9-12 begin the new school year.

2. The Special Education staff will be presenting our Targeted Improvement Goal of improving student vocabulary as measured by MAPS,  to the Special Education staff on Wednesday, August 10th. They worked a few days this summer to develop the presentation and vocabulary lists.

School Improvement/Professional Development:

• On Tuesday June 28th and Wednesday, June 29th we sent a group of teachers and administrators to Columbus for a collaborative PLC Leadership Academy with Columbus Public Schools.

• The academy was very successful and we will be receiving additional feedback from participants via a Google form.

• We greatly appreciate these leaders taking the time to attend the conference.

Certified Staff Hires:

We would like the board to consider approving the following certified teaching contract:

• Melissa Buller - Jefferson Grade 4 - (This is an overflow position).

• Melissa has a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education degree from Wayne State College.

• Melissa has been a substitute teacher at Madison Elementary School in Madison, NE.

Current Certified Staff Openings: As of July 7, 2016

• Open Certified Positions:  

• Speech Language Pathologist: 2 openings

• Coaching Vacancies:

• Junior High School:

  • Intramural Football - 2 openings

  • Assistant Coach: Girls Track - 1 opening

  • Assistant Coach:  8th Grade Girls Basketball –

• Senior High School:

  • Assistant Speech and Debate - 1 opening

  • Drama - 1 opening

New Teacher Training:

• On August 4, 5, 8, and 9 all newly hired teachers will be reporting for new teacher training/orientation.

Basic Overview of the Schedule for New Teachers:

• August 4: Central Office Orientation/ District Overview / Team Building and Technology Integration

• August 5: Assessment and Curriculum Training (Dibels for elementary)

• August 8: Reading and Writing Training, Instructional Model (APL) training

• August 9: NPS Driving Class, “I Can Do It” Training with NEA Staff, ESU 8 Orientation,

Building work with school admin and office support staff.

Substitute Teacher Training:

• We have our substitute teacher training workshops scheduled for August 9th and August 23rd from 8:30 - 10:00 a.m.

• We hope to have an increase in substitute teacher numbers for this school year.

• Plans are in place to find additional solutions to our subbing shortage.

Summer School and our Administrative Retreats are now complete, so we can focus all of our attention on the 2016-2017 school year.  Some important dates for you to remember include:

August 4-9: New Teacher Training

August 4: New Teacher Welcome Luncheon (11:45 at the Middle School)

August 10: First Day for All Certificated Staff -- Welcome Back in the Johnny Carson Theatre at 7:45 AM

August 15: First Day for Students grades 1-9, New Students in grades 10-12 and half of Kindergarten

August 16: First Day for all other students (returning 10th-12th graders and the other half of kindergarten)

August 17: ALL kindergarten students report

A new strategic vision for the NASB:

1. Leadership

2. Innovate

3. Vision

4. Engage

Norfolk Public Schools

Americanism Report to the Board of Education

2015-2016

In compliance with Nebraska State School Law 79-724-Americanism, all building Americanism reports have been submitted to my office and are available for your review if you so choose. Instructional requirements for grade levels and courses have met this law as well as other practices specifically mentioned in the law. Suggested activities include reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, singing of patriotic songs, appropriate handling of the American flag, education of the US Constitution and the Nebraska Constitution, and appropriate exercises suitable to occasions including Lincoln’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Flag Day, Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Building reports include daily exercise of the Pledge of Allegiance, Constitution Day, Nebraska American Indian Day, Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Birthdays, Statehood Day, Loyalty Day, George Norris Day, and Chief Standing Bear Day. A large variety of activities were used to support the recognition of these focus days and topics. Many more learning activities are mentioned in the building reports.

Norfolk Public Schools

Multicultural Report to the Board of Education

2015-2016

The mission of the multicultural education program is to prepare students to: (a) value and respect their own culture and race and cultures and races other than their own and (b) eliminate stereotypes and different treatment of others based on culture and race. The mission shall also include preparing students to eliminate stereotypes and discrimination or harassment of others based on ethnicity, religion, gender and socioeconomic status, age or disability. The Nebraska Department of Education assists schools by surveying the effectiveness of multicultural education programs. The last survey was conducted in 2013. The next survey is likely to reoccur in 2018 as the law requires data every five years.

As an accountability measure, we collect teacher reports at a building level by principals on the multicultural lessons taught throughout the year. Complete listings of lessons can be obtained from building principals. To concisely report to the BOE, principals tally lessons of the ethnic nationalities mentioned in LB 79-719 and send those numbers to the Office of Teaching and Learning.

Lessons in

African American - 752

Hispanic American - 529

Native American - 592

Asian American - 404

European American –574

Beth Nelson

Director of Teaching and Learning

The committee reviewed all claims for the month of July as well as the June Activity claims. The committee received a facility update and then discussed the following items:

• Review of upcoming dates with budget development and approval
• Discussion on purchase of property which will be discussed with the entire board later in the meeting
• Discussion on some vehicle prices

Our next meeting is scheduled for August 8th, 2016 at the Central Office.

Melissa Buller

2016-2017---4th grade overflow teacher at Jefferson Elementary

Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from Wayne State College

Currently a Substitute Teacher at Madison Elementary School, Madison NE

The Policy and Government Relations Committee reviewed the policy revisions suggested by Perry Law Firm as part of their Annual Policy Update.  Proposed revisions were due to recent changes in Nebraska State Statute and ESSA.  The Committee is recommending that these policies be considered for First Reading:

3090 (Sale and Disposal of School Property), 3130 (Purchasing Policies), 3570 (ESSA), 4026 (Prohibition on Aiding and Abetting Sexual Abuse), 4027 (Workplace Privacy), 4028 (Appropriate Dress), 5006 (Option Enrollment), 5203 (Academic Progress), 5418 (Homeless Students), 5419 (Student Privacy Protection), 6020 (The Program of Instruction), 6212 (Assessments-Academic Content Standards), 6284 (Initiations, hazing, Secret Clubs, and Outside Organizations), 6286 (Return to Learn from Cancer), 6410 (Parental Involvement in Title I Programs), 6800 (Internet Safety), 6920 (Self Management of Asthma-Anaphylaxis-Diabetes), 8270 (Conflict of Interest), and 9341 (Voting).