September 11, 2017 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

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

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

This is a legal meeting of the board of education, as advertised by the means specified in board policy. A complete copy of the Open Meetings Act is posted in the board room for your review. A copy of the agenda is available at the desk of the recording secretary.

The elementary principals will share information with the Board regarding their pilot study on homework at the elementary level.

Welcome to the Budget Hearing for the 2017-2018 school year. The purpose of this hearing is to give taxpayers the opportunity to provide support, opposition, criticism, or suggestions and observations regarding the budget.

There will be a review of budget items and the board will provide an opportunity for public comment. The adoption of the budget will take place by a vote during the board meeting and not at the hearing.

The 2017-2018 General Fund budget, when including all of the cash reserve and estimated county treasurer balance comes to $66,571,036.03. The district's budget of actual expenditures for 2017-2018 when excluding the cash reserve and estimated county treasurer balance is $44,373,133.79.  This budget will allow the district to continue its current programs and goals for 2017-2018 without the need to use existing cash reserves or increase our overall tax levy.

All of the district's other funds represent adequate cash flow with those total balances being budgeted as expenditures for 2017-2018.

Welcome to the Tax Request Hearing for the 2017-2018 fiscal year. The purpose of this hearing is to give taxpayers the opportunity to provide support, opposition, criticism, or suggestions and observations regarding the proposed tax request.

There will be a review of the tax requests and the board will provide the opportunity for public input.  Official action and voting on the tax resolution for the school district will take place during the regular business meeting.

This year's overall tax request for 2017-2018 is detailed in the attached document (A-2).  This request represents the essential needs for our district's General and Special Building Funds as well as the principal and interest obligations in our different bond funds. The board is being mindful to our taxpayers when developing budgets and tax requests, so it is recommended to have a levy decrease of $0.017102 which would make our overall levy $1.188022 compared to $1.205124 in 2016-2017.

Students from Westside Elementary will share information and activities from the Solar Eclipse.

Jamie Blum, Woodland Park 4th grade teacher

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.

The total amount of final claims to be approved in the consent agenda for the month of August, 2017 in the General Fund are as follows:
General Fund = $900,000


Total amount of claims to be approved in the consent agenda for the month of September, 2017 by specific fund are as follows:
General Fund = $436,051.66

Nutrition Services Fund = $145,179.04

Cooperative Fund = $51,869.82

Depreciation Fund= $5,550.00

Special Building Fund = $122,459.66

Student Fee Fund= $9,023.03

The total amount of claims for the month of August, 2017 in the Activities fund are as follows:
Activity Fund = $89,270.62

The 2016-2017 fiscal year has gone well.  As a district, we stayed within our overall budget while still being able to move dollars into depreciation for future large capital expenditures.  The 2016-2017 fiscal year will end with a cash balance growth which will bring our general fund cash balance to approximately a 5 month reserve.  As we go into the 2017-2018 fiscal year, I believe our district is well positioned financially to continue supporting the goals within the strategic action plans, maintain and recruit high quality staff members, while continuing to be able to financially support our current programs.  The work of our past and present board members, certified, classified and administrative staff have all been critical in allowing our district to continue being in a solid financial position.

Starting the week of September 18th, the district will begin its annual audit of the 2016-2017 fiscal year.  Kruse and Associates will be handling our audit needs this year and I look forward to working with them over the next few weeks as we review our current fiscal procedures and practices.  This process and preliminary reports will be available to the board towards the end of October and all final documents will be publicly posted in early November.

Payroll has been busy over the past three weeks getting all new and current employees enrolled and updated for the September 18th payroll, which is the first payroll for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.  I would like to publicly thank all my assistants in the business office for helping with this process and getting the year off to a good start.

Curriculum Instruction & Assessment:

 Teachers and principals have hit the ground running. I’m more impressed than ever in the principal leadership to initiate movement through our target approach this fall. Language Arts continues to dig deeper and fine tune their focus, consistency and push forward on rigor. In Math, 3^rd - 8^th grade has found the implementation of EnVisions to be challenging yet fun and exciting at the same time. 3^rd-8^th grade teacher leaders met at CO last week to work specifically in the new program to assure we know exactly how, when and where in the program state standards are addressed.

 Mr. Strong and I have held and will continue to hold, focused PLC’s with the Specials teachers, which includes PE, Music, Art and Media. Unfortunately these content areas are often ignored due to a lack of time and priority. Our first focus was to revisit the components of ECID and how that pertains to their department. Each of the departments are unique in their approach and content. Without going into lengthy detail on each, I can tell you everyone is moving forward and some are at different places in their understanding of the process.

 Fall MAP Growth testing is in session. So far technology has operated properly. The Teaching and Learning Team will be learning about the new format of state testing through NWEA. We are hoping this

Fall activities have begun. Please be sure to check the activities calendar located on the Norfolk Public website for upcoming event dates, times and locations. 

I recently participated in an initial stakeholders meeting with NDE regarding Rule 15 for our ELL students. Due to a change in the state assessment, some items needed to be addressed in Rule. 

I will be participating in the NDE SPOT Analysis on September 19th. NDE will be conducting input sessions regarding the quality of education for children birth to 21 who are deaf or hard of hearing.  NDE will be looking for input on Strengths, Problems, Opportunities, and Threats.

Staff Development:

• We are off to a fantastic start and we are excited about the direction of our staff development training plan this year. We began the year with an excellent keynote speaker (Garth Larsen) discussing quality student assessments and grading practices and we will continue with this work throughout the school year.

Instructional Model:

• Our first meeting this semester on our district Instructional Model will be Wednesday, September 20th. The Task Force will continue to work hard on developing and implementing a sustainable and more consistent instructional model which encompasses "best practice" instructional strategies that maximize student learning. 

Staff Handbooks:

• All of the staff handbooks (substitute, classified and certified) have been updated and are available on our district website.

Personnel Information:

Current Classified Openings:

• Activity Drivers
• Bel Air- Resource Teacher
• General Maint. /Transp.
• Grant- Special Education Para
• Junior High- Special Education Para
• Senior High- Campus Security
• Senior High- Full Time Custodian
• Speech/Language Pathologist
• Substitute Custodians

Current Coaching Openings:

• JH Assistant Wrestling
• 9th Assistant Boys Track
• Girls IM Basketball

Success Pins:

In order to provide our staff with additional recognition, we are implementing Success Pins 2.0. Success Pins are meant for staff who go "above and beyond the call of duty" to ensure that our students and our schools are successful. 

Anyone (a colleague, student, parent or community member) can nominate a staff member for a Success Pin by going to our website and clicking on the Success Pin link.  

Success Pin winners will be given a pin and note card. They will also be announced during our monthly School Board meetings and honored on our website.

Our September Success Pin winners will be announced at our October 9th Board meeting.

Ribbon Cutting:

We will be hosting a  Ribbon Cutting for our Career Academies addition on Wednesday, September 20th at 10:30 at the Senior High.  Tours of the facility will be included.  Our annual Career Academy Appreciation/Recognition Lunch will follow the event in the Senior High Gym.

The committee met today at 12:00 noon and reviewed all final claims for August and claims for September.  Activity claims for August and current fund balances were also reviewed.  We also discussed the following items:

• Final review of 17-18 budget and tax request
• Final review of proposed property purchase
• Reviewed upcoming important dates with the business office connected with budget, tax request, and audit

There will be a ribbon cutting with the Norfolk Chamber Ambassadors on Wednesday, September 20th for the district's new Career Academy addition at the High School.  This event will start at 10:30 a.m. and is open to the public.  Our next meeting will be at 12:00 noon on October 9, 2017 at NPS central office.

The Policy Committee met at noon on Thursday, August 31st to discuss the following policies:

2320: Evaluation of the Superintendent

4005: Weather Related Absences

1320: Memorials

These policies will be presented to the Board this evening for First Reading.

We will begin our review of Board Policy section 5000 related to Students in October.

The Government Relations Committee did not meet this month.

The Activities Committee did not meet this month.  Our first meeting for 2017-2018 is scheduled for noon on Monday, September 25, 2017.

Attached are the September 5, 2017 minutes of the Student Health Fund Council and Nurses meetings.

Attached are the minutes of the School Board meetings held on August 14, 2017, August 24, 2017 and August 31, 2017.

There are no contracts or resignations to approve this evening.

None at this time.

None at this time.

Attached are the end of the year claims for the month of August, 2017 in the General Fund (A-1a) as well as claims for the month of September, 2017 in all Funds (A-1b).

Public notice was given at least five days in advance of the district’s Special Public Hearing called for the purpose of discussing and approving or modifying the District’s Tax Requests for the 2017-2018 school's fiscal year for the General Fund, Bond Fund, Special Building Fund, and Qualified Capital Purpose Undertaking Fund of Madison County School District 59-0002.

The Special Public Hearing was held before the Board of Education of Madison County School District 59-0002 at the time, date, and place announced in the notice published in a newspaper of general circulation, a copy of which notice and proof of publication of which is attached hereto as Exhibit A-1, all as required by law.

The Board provided an opportunity to receive comment, information and evidence from persons in attendance at such Special Hearing; and, the Board, after having reviewed the District’s Tax Requests for each said fund, and after public consideration of the matter, has determined that the Final Tax Requests as listed below are necessary in order to carry out the functions of the District, as determined by the Board for the 2017-2018 fiscal year.

NOW BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that (1) the Tax Request for the General Fund should be, and hereby is set at $24,246,569.11 (2) the Tax Request for the Special Building Fund should be, and hereby is set at $960,260.16; (3) the Tax Request for the Bond Fund K-8 should be, and hereby is set at $1,152,272.72; (4) the Tax Request for the Bond Fund 9-12 should be, and hereby is set at $817,424.23; (5) the Tax Request for the Technology Bond Fund K-12 should be, and hereby is set at $106,060.61; and (6) the Tax Request for the Qualified Capital Purpose Undertaking Fund should be, and hereby is set at $1,010,101.00.

The 2017-2018 budget has been reviewed in depth by our Finance and Facilities Committee.  The entire board had a chance to review the budget at a public meeting on August 24th with the opportunity for public comment and input at our hearing earlier this evening.

The Superintendent Evaluation Committee recommended changes to our Superintendent Evaluation Policy to the Policy Committee. The Policy Committee reviewed and approved these changes and are recommending that Policy 2320 be approved for First Reading this evening.

The Policy Committee reviewed Board Policy 4005 related to Weather Related Absences and are recommended that it be revised to say: 

Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year:

In the event the Norfolk Public Schools dismisses school more than two (2) school days for snow or other reasons related to inclement weather prior to April 1^st or two weeks before Spring Break, whichever is sooner, the additional missed days (up to 2) will be made up by eliminating days from Spring Break. The Superintendent will make the announcement regarding Spring Break Make Up Days prior to April 1^st or two weeks before Spring Break, whichever is sooner.  If additional days of school are missed due to weather after this announcement they will not be made up unless it is necessary in order to meet NDE’s Instructional Hours Requirement. If that is the case, parents and staff will be notified as soon as practicable.

 Each year the School Calendar will include two (2) "snow make-up" days adjacent to Spring Break.  If the two (2) day limit is not exceeded, these days will be additional Spring Break days.  However, if the two (2) day limit is exceeded, these days will be regular school days.

 The policy adopted 3-10-2015 will remain in effect for the 2017-2018 school year. It states:

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.     

The Policy Committee is recommending the approval of the First Reading of this policy tonight.

The Policy Committee has worked collaboratively with the Crisis Response Team and our Administrative Team to write Policy 1320 which outlines how Norfolk Public Schools will handle requests for student and staff memorials.  They are recommending the approval of the First Reading of this policy this evening.

Policy  8130 (Annual Organizational Meeting) was revised to reflect the changes discussed at last month's Board meeting.  (After 5 attempts, the current Board President will be assigned to remain President).

No other changes were made to these policies between First and Second Readings.

The Policy Committee recommends that these policies be adopted at this time.

The purchase of this property would help us address our growing student enrollment at the elementary level and allow us to expand our Little Panthers Preschool program. I believe that it would be prudent for us to go into Executive Session to discuss this further.

The Second Meeting of the Month is scheduled for noon on Thursday, September 28, 2017.