January 9, 2017 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: 

Open Meetings Act

Reorganization of the Board

Workforce Video (if time allows)

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

Rationale:  ELL Program/Activities

Rationale:  Cindy Bradley - District-wide Speech Language Paraprofessional

Rationale:  Dr. Thompson will call for nominations for President.
The President will then call for nominations for Vice President.

Rationale: 

It is customary for the district's Business Manager to serve as the Board's Treasurer and for the district's Superintendent to serve as the Board's Secretary. Therefore I would recommend that Bill Robinson be appointed as Treasurer and Dr. Jami Jo Thompson be appointed as Secretary.

Rationale: 

We are satisfied with the performance of our current legal counsel, which is Perry Law firm, based out of Lincoln, NE. I strongly recommend that we continue to use their services, when needed.

Rationale: 

Current Committees:

Negotiations Committee:

Purpose: Represents the full BOE in negotiations with recognized labor organizations

Meetings: Several meetings in November-January

Current Members: Bob Waite and Tammy Day

 

Curriculum and Americanism Committee:

Purpose: Examines recommended social studies textbooks and reports findings to the full BOE. Also reviews major proposals regarding the adoption of new textbooks, instructional programs, and graduation requirements.

Meetings: At least once a year; more if major proposals are being reviewed

Current Members: Bruce Mitchell, Patti Gubbels, and Arnie Robinson

 

Finance and Facilities Committee:

Purpose: Studies financial documents of the district, as well as finance and facilities proposals

Meetings: At least once per month; more frequently when needed

Current Members: Bob Waite, Arnie Robinson, and Patti Gubbels

 

Policy and Government Relations Committee:

Purpose: Reviews proposed policy revisions and participates in government relations activities, such as GNSA meetings

Meetings: Varies-typically once per month-may be more during legislative session

Current Members: Bob Waite, Sandy Wolfe, and Patti Gubbels

 

Activities Committee:

Purpose: Reviews activities budget, participation, and proposals

Meetings: 4-6 times per year

Current Members: Arnie Robinson, Sandy Wolfe, and Tammy Day

 

Staff member of the Month:

Purpose: Helps to select the Award for Excellence recipient

Meetings: 4-6 per year

Current member: Bruce Mitchell

 

Foundation Board:

Purpose: Serves as the BOE representative on the NPS Foundation Board

Meetings: Typically once per month

Current member: Sandy Wolfe

 

School Liaisons:

School	Board Member:
Bel Air	Patti Gubbels
Grant	Tammy Day
Jefferson	Sandy Wolfe
Lincoln	Arnie Robinson
Washington	Tammy Day
Westside	Arnie Robinson
Woodland Park	Bruce Mitchell
Middle School	Bob Waite & Sandy Wolfe
Junior High	Arnie Robinson & Bruce Mitchell
Senior High	Patti Gubbels & Bob Waite
Alternatives For Success	Sandy Wolfe & Tammy Day

 

Rationale: 

RESOLUTION

 

RESOLVED, that the official depository of school funds for this School District is hereby designated to be at Bank First, Elkhorn Valley Bank & Trust and Nebraska Liquid Asset Fund, and that the designation of any other institution as the depository of school funds is hereby withdrawn.  Bank First will be the primary depository for the General Fund; and Elkhorn Valley Bank & Trust will be the primary depository for all other district funds.  Nebraska Liquid Asset Fund will serve as a depository for cash reserves in the General, Bond, QCPUF, Special Building, and Depreciation Funds. 

This resolution specifically recognizes the financial institutions where district and taxpayer's dollars are deposited.  This resolution also meets the requirement of full public disclosure of financial institutions used by the district. 

I am recommending that we continue with our current financial institutions (Bank First, Elkhorn Valley Bank & Trust and Nebraska Liquid Asset Fund), as we are pleased with their service and all three of these financial institutions provide banking services to the district at no charge while also fully securing all of our funds.

Rationale:  According to Policy 3130 the Board of Education needs to be presented the list of recommended administrators and staff to have the authority to use school district issued credit cards and voyager fleet cards.  The credit cards are issued through Elkhorn Valley Bank and have the school districts name and card number on them, not individual names.  The Voyager fleet cards for fuel are issued the same way.  All cards are initially checked out through the Business Office and returned to the Business Office when they expire or a listed employee leaves the district.  This list is updated annually and with the number of changes made this past year an updated list is being presented.

Rationale: 

This is the newspaper that we utilize to post official Board notifications, such as bids and meeting notices.

I recommend that we continue to use our local newspaper, the Norfolk Daily News.

Rationale: 

State statutes require that School Board members disclose any Conflicts of Interest that they may have related to contracts and employment issues, as well as any other other matters that may have a financial impact on the Board member or his/her family.  The procedures for conflict disclosure and reporting have been provided to all Board members for their review. 

Are there any questions about these procedures--or any conflicts of interest that you would like to report at this time?  

These statutes have been put in place to protect the district. It is very important that if a conflict of interest arises at any time, the Board member disclose and report it immediately and refrain from voting on that issue.

Rationale: 

This is the time during the meeting when the public may request to address the Board. If you wish to comment, we ask that you identify yourself and the topic that you wish to address. Each individual's comments will be limited to five minutes.

 Please note that  the Board cannot discuss or act upon matters that are not listed on the agenda. Therefore, Board  members will not respond to your comments or questions.  If you wish to request that an item be placed on a future Board agenda, you may contact the Superintendent or her assistant during normal business hours.

Also note that concerns related to school personnel need to be addressed to the Superintendent using the approved district protocol.

 

Rationale: 

Total amount of claims to be approved in the consent agenda for the month of January, 2017 by specific fund are as follows:
General Fund = $429,765.72

Nutrition Services Fund = $195,504.53

Cooperative Fund = $2,235.41

Depreciation Fund= $141,795.62

Special Building Fund = $211,110.86

QCPUF Fund= $22,901.00

Student Fee Fund= $2,543.72

The total amount of claims for the month of December, 2016 in the Activities fund are as follows:
Activity Fund =$130,941.89

All of these claims were reviewed earlier today by the Finance and Facility Committee.  The business office is in the process of starting W-2's and 1095 C's.  

Rationale: 

Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment

• Math pilot training occurred on Friday, Jan. 6^th. We will pilot in 4 grades during the 3^rd quarter. Each program will be represented in 3^rd, 4^th, 6^th and 8^th grades. Both companies have been responsive to our requests and questions. I have spent a lot of time on the phone contacting Nebraska schools that use these programs. Both programs are positively supported by the school districts that use them so our goal for the pilot is to determine the best fit for the needs of Norfolk Public.
• We were granted $7,500 for the Big Red Keno STEM Grant again this year. I will report more details in February.

Technology

• I advertised a request for proposals on Dell Laptops after your approval in December. I have collected and opened bids on Thursday, Jan. 5^th.  I presented information at the noon finance meeting on my suggestion of which bid to accept. A request for purchase will come later in our meeting.

Assessment

• The Senior High has been working diligently to organize and prepare for the ACT given to 11^th graders on April 19^th. We are on track and have met all deadlines up to this point.
• NeSA and Spring MAP Assessments will soon be here. We will be making sure the details for those assessments are ready to go as well. 

Rationale: 

1. Special Education- January 18th, our district special education team will be meeting to review our progress on our targeted improvement plan on improving vocabulary.

2. Norfolk Public Schools is scheduled for a 3 year NCLB Monitoring visit February 2nd.  Title III-LEP will be reviewed as part of this visit.  

3. The window for our ELL students to be assessed with the ELPA 21 will open the week of February 6 through March 17, 2017.

Rationale: 

Workforce Development Video

• Norfolk Public Schools (in collaboration with the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce) recently released a video that highlights the employment opportunities here in our district.
• This video is an excellent way to promote our amazing staff and the great things going on in our district.
• Special thanks to the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce and all of the NPS employees involved in the video production.
• The link to the video is listed below:

https://vimeo.com/bandbvideo/review/196374659/510ae9bf5d

Staff Development:

• PLC Leadership Academy:

• On Wednesday, January 4 and Thursday, January 5, 2017 our district hosted a PLC Leadership Academy event for some of our teacher leaders and administrators. This two day training was led by staff from the Professional Learning Community Institute (Solution Tree).
• The training focused on building the capacity of PLC leaders, designing systematic academic and behavioral interventions for students, strategies for analyzing data through common formative assessments, and maximizing PLC time.  
• The staff feedback from the event was very positive and school teams were excited to apply the information back in their buildings.
• In addition to our NPS staff being at the event, we also hosted a number of our colleagues from Columbus Public Schools. We had over 100 people attend the training.

• January 23rd Staff Development Day (ESU # 8 Winter Workshop):

• The Winter Workshop (a collaborative staff development day with a multitude of area schools) will take place here in Norfolk on Monday, January 23, 2017.
• This event is an excellent way to bring together area school districts for consistent and relevant staff development on topics designed to enhance educational effectiveness.
• The keynote speaker for the event will be George Couros. He is the author of the book The Innovator’s Mindset.
• Listed below is the link to the information for the Winter Workshop:
  • http://esu8winterworkshop.weebly.com/

• Digital Citizenship Presentations:

• On Wednesday, January 11th Norfolk Public Schools will be hosting a guest speaker here in the district to talk with our students and staff about Digital Citizenship.
• The guest speaker for the event will be Karen Haase (a school attorney out of Lincoln).
• Karen will lead a student presentation at the junior high beginning at 9:00 a.m. and one at the high school beginning at 12:45 p.m.
• Karen will also conduct a staff (and community) presentation at 2:30 p.m. in the Johnny Carson Theatre. More details are listed on the attached flyer
• Special thanks to the community agencies listed on the flyer for helping sponsor this event.

Safety Training / Information:

• On Friday. January 6th our certified staff were trained on our new Standard Response Protocols.
• These Standard Response Protocols are consistent with the new school safety standards developed by the Nebraska Department of Education.

Rationale: 

Traffic:

Norfolk Public Schools administration continues to work with City Officials to improve traffic around our schools.  We have met multiple times, submitted recommendations to the City for consideration, and are awaiting feedback on those recommendations.

Governor's Announcement:

Governor Ricketts recommended adjustments to the State's current year budget totaling $276 million to close the gap between revenue and current appropriations. Thankfully, he indicated that K-12 education was a priority area where no reductions were recommended. We will need to watch the Governor's and Senators' actions closely in the next several months as they begin to work on the 2107-2018 budget.  Hopefully, the Governor's "prioritization of K-12 education" will carry through.

Central Office Open House

Our Central Office renovation is nearly complete, which is a relief to those of us who lived through the construction process.  We are planning an Open House for the community on February 2, 2017 from 1-4. The public is welcome to join us for a tour and snacks.

NElovesPS:

Nebraska Loves Public Schools and News Channel Nebraska are pairing up to do a series of live TV shows highlighting public education.  The first show will be filmed at Westside Elementary in Norfolk, NE on Wednesday, January 25th at 7:00 PM. The public will be invited to attend and participate in a discussion centered around the theme of poverty.

School Board Appreciation Week:

January 22-28, 2017 is School Board Appreciation Week.  We will have a special surprise or surprises for you at our January 26th Board meeting.

 

Rationale: 

The Finance and Facility Committee met today at 12:00 PM, the agenda included the following:

• Presentation from EMC insurance
• Review of January claims
• Review of December activity claims
• Review of budget and percent comparisons
• Facility update
• Discussion of the Bank Resolution and Credit Card list

The meeting then concluded with some discussion on possible wage increases for our Classified, Nurses, and Administration for 2017-2018.  Our next meeting will be February 13, 2017 at 12:00 noon in Rm. 301 at CO.

 

Rationale: 

The Policy and Government Relations Committee met at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, January 4th to review Board Policies 9300, 5413, and 6500-6920.

The only substantive change that was made was to Policy 5413 related to Student Interviews by the Police.  Previously, our policy indicated that we would sit in on police interviews that occurred on school property. However, based upon conversations with the Norfolk Police Department and Perry Law Firm we are changing this policy to indicate that we will "offer to sit in on the interview."  The child or the police can choose not to have our administration involved if either is uncomfortable with our presence.

Rationale:  The Activities Committee will meet at noon on January 16, 2017 at the NPS Central Administration Office.

Rationale:  12-12-2016 School Board Meeting Minutes

Rationale:  None at this time.

Rationale:  None at this time.

Rationale:  Attached are the January claims for approval.

Rationale: 

The school district received two qualifying bids on January 5th for the replacement of certified staff laptop computers.  The total prices from each vendor is listed below.

CDW-G - $400,800

Dell - $404,800

 

The funds for this purchase will come from our tech bond, depreciation fund, and general fund technology budget.

 

Rationale:  Attached is the update negotiated agreement for our certified staff.  We are currently in a two year agreement, this document reflects the pay schedules for 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.  We also updated language for those employees wishing to take their benefits as cash in lieu.  The agreement that was settled last year was a 6% increase over two years with two additional contract days.  For 2016-2017 the percent increase is 3.5% and for 2017-2018 it is 2.5%.

Rationale: 

Board Policy 9300 has been updated to reflect our new meeting location. No changes have been made since the First Reading last month. However, the Policy Committee has noted that Board Policy 8344 also needs to be updated to reflect our new meeting location.  Policy Section 8000 will be reviewed next, so we will make that revision at that time.

Rationale:  This policy was reviewed by the Policy and Government Relations Committee and revised to reflect a change recommended by Mary Luhr, Greg Perry, and Captain Don Miller.  Previous language required staff to sit in on police interviews if they occurred on school property. Current language requires staff to offer to sit in on police interviews if they occur on school property.

Rationale: 

The following Board Policies were reviewed by the Policy and Government Relations Committee. The committee recommends that they be approved for First Reading:

6500 (Free and Reduced Price Meals), 6600 (Special Education Policies), 6700 (Firearm Policy), 6800 (Internet Safety and Acceptable Use Policy), 6900 (Infectious Diseases), 6910 (Dispensing Medications), and 6920 (Student Self-Management of Asthma, Anaphylaxis, and/or Diabetes)

Rationale:  Our next Board meeting will be held at noon on Thursday, January 26th at the NPS Central Administration Office.