November 11, 2019 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:  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.
 

Rationale:  Target Based Grading Discussion

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

Rationale:  Art Education

Rationale:  Kelly Sherman--Senior High Custodian

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 November, 2019 by specific fund are as follows:

General Fund = $799,552.96

Nutrition Services Fund =$284,880.79

Cooperative Fund = $3,866.91

Depreciation Fund = $62,277.18

Special Building Fund = $226,058.58

QCPUF = $928,219.50

Employee Benefit Fund = $65.93

Bond Fund = $1,886,033.75

Student Fee Fund = $1,775.56

The total amount of claims for the month of September, 2019 in the Activities Fund are as follows:
Activity Fund =$117,775.47

All of these claims were reviewed earlier today by the Finance and Facility Committee.  The 2018-2019 audit of district financials, AFR, and SPED FFR have all been submitted to the state and federal agencies that require them.

Rationale:  Curriculum Instruction and Assessment:

• The Teaching and Learning Team attended the Northeast Nebraska Assessment Conference. It was put on by a coordinated effort of multiple Educational Service Units. There were sessions that provided insight on how to write better assessments with the new science standards and information regarding the state’s direction for future NSCAS testing.
• We held a parent information meeting on TBG on October 23rd. We are in the process of reviewing and responding to parent comments and concerns and will be forming a committee to revise our implementation plan/timeline.
• I spent several days reviewing Evidence Based Analysis submissions of schools that were qualified for a bump up in their overall classification. While that was very informative and insightful, I would be lying if I didn’t mention that it was a daunting amount of work.  Our own Junior High school just went through that process for a second year in a row. AQuESTT includes six tenets of measure for classifying schools. In the EBA submissions, there were five tenets schools were expected to respond to. Within each of those 5 tenets, there were 5 subcategories. Kudos to all of those districts for their hard work.
• The 5-12^th grade social studies teachers began the first step in the curricular process of reviewing the new state social studies standards. 

Rationale: 

Special Education staff attended the Tri-State Special Education Conference in Omaha, November 7th and 8th.  

November 8th, I attended an SLP Career Fair at UNK.

Several of the buildings held an assembly for Veteran’s Day today,  while others did class projects.

November brings Thanksgiving vacation. There will be NO school on Wednesday, November 27th - Friday, November 29th.

The attached chart reports the attendance at the 2019 Fall Parent Conferences in our district schools. 

 

School Name	Student attendance at P/T Conference	Total School Enrollment	% attended
Little Panther Preschool	201	211	95%
Bel Air	344	347	99%
Jefferson	222	232	96%
Grant	219	220	100%
Lincoln	135	135	100%
Washington	233	241	97%
Westside	216	218	99%
Woodland Park	218	225	97%
Middle School	537	667	81%
Junior High	412	676	61%
Senior High	585	1366	43%

 

Rationale: 

District Safety and Security Audit:

October 22nd through October 24th, Norfolk Public Schools took part in an external safety audit.

• NPS is a safe district with good policies and procedures in place
• Building entry controls were secure and consistent 
• Staff and students reported that they felt safe
• Practical plans are in place for movement and evacuation of students with disabilities 
• NPS has met the requirements of the Nebraska Department of Education Rule 10, pertaining to Safety and Security.  

Some suggestions for improvement:

• Provide additional staff training on the new phone systems
• Practice building "lockout" and "reverse evacuation" procedures
• Continue to facilitate communication with local law enforcement agencies about safety protocols
• Continue to refine and practice reunification 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 20, 2020.

• 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 presentation for the 2020 Winter Workshop is:  Rachel’s Challenge. More information about this presentation can be found at: https://rachelschallenge.org/

• For more information on the Winter Workshop, please go to: esu8winterworkshop.weebly.com. 

  Current Openings:

• Aftershock Club Facilitators
• Aftershock Site Manager
• School Bus Activity Drivers
• Math Teacher: Senior High * Job to start January 2020
• Bel Air Elementary: Special Education Paraprofessional (High Needs)      *Job to start January 2020
• Little Panthers Preschool:  Special Education Paraprofessional/Driver
• Media/ELL Paraprofessional (JH)
• Speech/Language Pathologist (Part/Full-Time)
• Junior High Night Custodian (full time) 

Coaching Opportunities:

• HS Assistant Boys Soccer
• IM Football

Rationale: 

Official Fall 2019 Enrollment Data

Our total enrollment increased from 4446 to 4573, which is an increase of 127 students.

Our PS enrollment increased from 190 to 263, which is an increase of 73 students.

Our K-12 enrollment increased from 4256 to 4310 which is an increase of 54 students.  

• This is a 1.2% increase in grades K-12, which is fairly similar to the growth that we have been seeing in recent years.

• This is also extremely close to the K-12 enrollment projections provided to us by RSP and Associates that we discussed at our board retreat.  RSP predicted our K-12 enrollment to be 4314, a difference of only 4 students.

It should be noted that the vast majority of our enrollment growth occurred at the secondary level. 40 of our additional students are at the senior high and 32 of them are at the junior high.  Our middle school enrollment decreased by 6, and our elementary enrollment increased by 8.

When you look more closely at the elementary level, you see that Grant increased by 1 student, Washington increased by 12 students, and Lincoln increased by 27 students.  Bel Air decreased by 35 students, Woodland Park by 12 students, and Jefferson and Westside both decreased by 2 students.

Again, this is in line with RSPs projections. They predict enrollment growth at Grant, Lincoln, Washington, the Junior High and Senior High. They predict that Jefferson and Westside’s enrollment will stay fairly steady, and they predict that enrollment at Woodland Park and Bel Air will decrease.

Enrollment predictions at the Middle School vary from year to year, similar to a roller-coaster.

Our percentage of students who qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch also increased this year, Last year 2236 or 50.3% of our students qualified, this year 2332 students or 51% qualified.

Rationale:  The committee met at 12:00 today.  The claims for the month of November and Activity claims for October were reviewed. Agri-City Insurance presented renewal information for 19-20 while also answering any questions the group had. Other items for discussion were:

• Rational for asking permission on the writing of paving specs for the SH, WA and JF
• Cost and rationale for the needed exterior door improvements at the Carson Theatre
• Adding some alternates to the proposed Middle School facility plan

The next regular meeting will be on Monday Dec. 9th at 12:00 noon. 

Rationale: 

The Policy Committee met on Tuesday, November 5th to review Board policies 3230-3580 related to Business Operations. 

Minor, non-substantive changes were made to Policies 3231 (Video Surveillance), 3250 Trespassing, and 3520 (Transportation).

Board Policy 3540 (Procedures- Bidding Construction Projects) was revised to match the language in Policy 3130 (Purchasing Policies), which is up for Second and Final Reading tonight.  Previously, Policy 3540 indicated that all construction, remodeling and repair projects for any school owned building or site improvement in excess of $50,000 were required to follow formal bidding procedures. This policy has been revised to state the following:

Projects up to $49,999: The Superintendent or designee may authorize projects costing less than $50,000.

Projects from $50,000 to $99,999: The Superintendent or designee shall request the submission of at least two proposals from different vendors for projects ranging in cost form $50,000 to $99,999.

Projects of $100,000 or above:  Formal bidding procedures shall be used for every project that is $100,000 or more, or such sum as adjusted pursuant to Neb State Statute 73-106.

The Policy Committee recommends the approval of the First Reading of these policies tonight.

No changes have been made to Board policies 3130-3220 since their First Reading. The Policy Committee recommends the approval of the Second Reading of these policies tonight.

Rationale: 

The Government Relations Committee met on November 5th. Items of discussion included: Carryover legislation from 2019, as well as bills that were held in committee that may resurface.

Carryover legislation will not require new hearings unless substantial changes are made to those bills. This means that these bills could be debated on the floor early in the session.

We also discussed a variety of approaches that are surfacing regarding school funding and property tax reduction.  At this time, there are too many unknowns for us to take any action. However, we will continue to monitor these activities closely. 

LB 670 regarding tax credit scholarships is another bill that we will be watching, as private and parochial school supporters appear to be gearing up to advocate for this concept.

The GNSA will hold their first meeting on November 21st during the State Education Conference in Omaha.  

Rationale:  The November 5, 2019 Nurses and Student Health meeting minutes are attached.

Rationale:  Minutes of the October 2019 meetings held on October 14th, 24th, and 31st are attached.

Rationale:  None at this time.

Rationale:  None at this time.

Rationale:  Attached are the claims for the month of November, 2019.  These claims were reviewed earlier today by our Finance and Facility Committee.  Also attached are the conflict statements on specific claims that need to be read before voting.

Rationale:  Our intent is to raze this property and construct a parking lot for students at the Senior High School.  Currently we have 383 student parking spaces for 1371 students.

Rationale:  See attached document, please.

Rationale:  The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Monday, December 9, 2019. The Study Session will begin at 5:30 and will be followed by the Business Meeting at 6:30. All components of these meetings will be held at the NPS Central Administration Offices and will be open to the public unless an Executive Session is needed in order to protect the interest of the district or the reputation of an individual.
 

Rationale:  The meeting reconvened from the Executive Session at 

Rationale:  The meeting adjourned at 9:07 PM.