December 11, 2017 at 5:30 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.

State Education Conference

New Guidance regarding Board Conflicts of Interest and Reimbursements for Expenses

Building Visits

Presentation by Woodland Park HAL students

November 2017 Success Pin Recipients

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.

Total amount of claims to be approved in the consent agenda for the month of December, 2017 by specific fund are as follows:

General Fund = $660,365.78

Nutrition Services Fund =$288,026.45

Cooperative Fund = $6,185.46

Special Building Fund = $153,532.34

QCPUF = $79,999

Student Fee Fund = $1,917.68

The total amount of claims for the month of November, 2017 in the Activities fund are as follows:
Activity Fund =$107,228

All of these claims were reviewed earlier today by the Finance and Facility Committee.  We have finished the first quarter of our fiscal year so I will be starting to submit for quarterly reimbursements in our grant funds and also starting end of the year items with payroll, I.E. W-2's, 1094's and 1094-C's.

Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment

• Teachers are working purposefully on prioritizing standards with a vertical review. This step needs to be complete before moving onto finalizing learning targets. Cohesiveness in instruction vertically is powerful and expected of a district that is striving to be top performing.
• Administratively, we’ve had and will continue to have, discussions regarding proficiency targets and how that translates into a grade or mark against a learning target. These are deep yet meaningful conversations to establish a shared understanding as we move throughout our alignment process.
• I attended an Assessment and Accountability Advisory Committee meeting in Lincoln on Nov. 28^th. There are so many wheels in motion at the state level, that staying updated and informed is important for our district’s compliance and success. The meeting included many things, but the discussion on ACT testing administration and future Science tests embedded a large portion of the meeting. Increasing rigor was a major discussion point.
• I’ve observed various classrooms to watch the new EnVisions Math program. I am impressed by teachers and students.
• I will be attending a Science Education Summit in Lincoln (today) Monday, December 11^th to see NDE’s vision of the new standards implementation.

November 8th and 29th, I met with the SpEd Leadership team developing the next steps in our Target Improvement Plan as well as creating an action plan for SpEd district goals.

School dismisses for winter vacation on Thursday, December 21. This will mark the end of our first semester for the 2017-2018 school year.  Teachers return for second semester on Thursday, January 4th and students return on Monday, January 8th.

Staff Kudos:

• As we quickly approach the end of first semester, our Central Office team would like to formally thank all of our district staff on an excellent first half of our school year.
• We are blessed to have such quality people on our school district team and the work our teachers and support staff do each and every day to ensure that our students have what they need to be successful is simply amazing. Keep up the great work!

Instructional Model:

• Our district Instructional Model Task Force met again on Wednesday, November 29th  This group will present more detailed information about the Instructional Model to our administrative team on Tuesday, December 12th.  The Instructional Model will be used to train our new teachers on instructional expectations and reinforce essential instructional elements with all of our staff. The Instructional Model will be ready for introduction and implementation during the latter part of second semester.  

Teammates Update:

• The Norfolk Teammates Chapter currently serves 92 students through positive mentor/mentee matches.
• On November 21^st, the Teammates Regional Coordinator came to Norfolk for an annual site visit. Part of the visit included mentors completing in-person surveys regarding their experiences with TeamMates. The Regional Coordinator reported that the surveys were very positive and that it is evident we have strong mentor/mentee matches in Norfolk.
• Just a reminder that January is national mentoring month. Teammates will be hosting a Mentor Appreciation Open House on Friday, January 19^th from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm at the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce.

Standard Response Protocol: Information Video

• In January, we will be providing our community stakeholders a video that details our "Standard Response Protocols." This information highlights the actions staff and students should take in the case of an emergency or crisis situation. Student safety is our top priority and we want our community stakeholders to be aware of our response plans.

Staff Development Day (ESU # 8 Winter Workshop):

• The Winter Workshop (a collaborative staff development day with a multitude of area schools) will be held at Norfolk Senior High School on Monday, January 22, 2018.
• 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 2018 Winter Workshop will be Dr. Adolph Brown.
• For more information on the Winter Workshop, please go to: esu8winterworkshop.weebly.com.

Personnel Update:

• Current Openings:

• Activity Bus Drivers
• Bel Air Elementary: Resource Teacher
• General Maint. /Transp.
• General Maintenance/ Electrician
• Jefferson Elementary- Classroom Paraprofessional
• Middle School- Classroom Paraprofessional
• Speech/Language Pathologist
• Substitute Custodians
• Senior High- Achievement Center Paraprofessional/Driver - F/T
• Washington Elementary- Classroom Paraprofessional
• Westside Elementary- ED Paraprofessional/Driver-F/T
• Woodland Park Elementary- Classroom Paraprofessional
• Substitute Teachers
• Substitute Paraprofessionals

• Current Coaching Openings:

• 9th Assistant Boys Track (2017-2018)
• 7th Boys Head Basketball (2018-2019)
• JV Volleyball (2018-2019)
• Head Softball (2018-2019)
• Assistant Varsity Volleyball  (2018-2019)

Our revisions to the Superintendent Evaluation Policy were approved by NDE, just in time for us to utilize our new process.  I am looking forward to meeting with this committee to review the feedback that you have for me in the near future.

Our NeSA and ACT results were released on December 1st.  Unfortunately, these results were not overly informative, as the tests have been changed drastically and are not comparable to recent years.  We are looking at how we performed in comparison to the state average and other similar districts, and we will be using this information as a baseline as we set goals for future performance.  Thankfully, we do have MAP results to show our performance growth over time. 

Sarah Dittmer and I are in the process of completing our Annual Report and hope to share this with you in January.  This report will be made available to parents at Parent-Teachers' Conferences in February and will be placed on our webpage for all constituents to review.

Our January Board meeting will include our Annual Organizational Meeting.  We will not have any new Board members, but will hold elections for President and Vice President, Appoint our Treasurer and Secretary, Review/Approve Committee Assignments, Complete Conflict of Interest Statements, and Approve the following: Legal Counsel, Depository Banks, Credit Card Designations, and Newspaper of Record.  Please email Arnie or me if you would like to change committees.

I am also planning to share my recommendations regarding staffing additions via my Strategic Growth Plan during the Study Session in January.  Building principals will be attending so that you can ask them questions pertaining to their specific levels. They have been actively involved in the development of this plan in order to ensure that their building needs are considered and addressed adequately.

The committee met today at 12:00 p.m., we reviewed all claims for December, 2017, Activity claims for November, 2017 and current fund balances.  We also discussed the following items:

• Update on the renovation process for the 25th Street property
• Discussion on different methods used for building projects
• Reviewed our current insurance policy and renewal for 2018
• Review and discussion of banking resolutions for January and credit card approval in January
• Discussion on new process for reimbursement of expenditures for board members or their households
• Review of current and future cash balances
• Discussion on some final legal issues
• Information on staff negotiations for 18-19

Our next meeting will be at 12:00 noon on January 8, 2017 at NPS central office.

The Government  Relations Committee attended the annual GNSA meeting in LaVista on November 16th.  An updated brochure was distributed, and members were encouraged to meet with state senators prior to January 3rd.  We are anticipating many bills to resurface from last year, and recognize the need to be active in the Unicameral in order to preserve state aid and local authority.

The Government Relations Committee also attended a presentation by the Nebraskans United for Property Tax Reform and Education.  This organization is founded on two basic principles:

1. Adequate and sustainable funding of high quality K-12 education is imperative for the future of Nebraska.
2. Tax reform which reduces the over-reliance on local property taxes is necessary to ensure our tax system is fair to all Nebraska taxpayers.

Nebraskans United is working on a legislative proposal that would provide at least $1 billion in property tax relief for all property owners and increase state funding for K-12 public schools.  We are anxiously awaiting the details of this proposal in order to determine if we will be able to support this bill.

The Activities Committee will meet at noon next Monday, December 18th.

The minutes from the December 5, 2017 Nurses Meeting are attached.

Minutes of the November 13, 2017 meeting are attached for review.

Taylor Johnson

2017-2018 - Speech Language Pathologist

Currently holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Speech Language Pathology, plans to graduate in May of 2018 with a Masters from the University of Nebraska in Kearney.

Currently is a Speech Language Pathologist Assistant at Children’s Rehab Center in Grand Island, Nebraska.

Taylynn Tipton- Kindergarten teacher at Westside Elementary

Attached are the claims for the month of December, 2017.

Some language has been changed to make the intent of the policy more clear. However, no substantive changes have been made since the First Reading.

If approved, the following will go into effect beginning with the 2018-2019 school year:

If we dismiss school more than two school days for snow or other reasons related to inclement weather prior to March 1^st, these additional missed days (up to 2) will be made up by eliminating vacation days from the Spring semester.

If additional days of school are missed after March 1st, they will not be made up unless it is necessary in order to meet NDE’s Instructional Hours Requirement. 

No changes have been made to this policy since its First Reading last month. However, I would like to thank you for considering this change.  NeSA and ACT scores were not released until December 1st this year, which made it extremely difficult for us to complete our Annual Report during first semester.  The additional flexibility that this revision gives us is very helpful and appreciated.

No changes have been made to these policies since their First Reading last month.

I am requesting permission to sell an extra WISC V with 25 protocols.  This WISC V is an older, previously well-used kit, that is no longer being used by the district.

We have received an inquiry from an outside source to purchase the kit, and we have determined that $500 would be a fair price.

We will not have a second meeting of the month due to the holidays. Our next meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 8th. The Study Session will begin and 5:30 and will be followed by the Business meeting at 6:30.  All components of the meeting will be open to the public unless an Executive Session is required to protect the interest of the district or the reputation of an individual.