May 9, 2022 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

This is the time during the meeting when the public may request to address the Board. According to state law, if you wish to comment you must identify yourself, including your address, the name of the organization you represent and the topic that you wish to address. "Public Comment" cards are located at the Media table, in the back of the room.  Please pick up a card and provide the required information, if you plan to speak.  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 claims to be approved on the consent agenda for the month of May, 2022 by specific fund are listed below:

General Fund = $1,042,678.83

Nutrition Services Fund =$324,164.10

Cooperative Fund = $3,861.75

QCPUF = $224,107.00

Employee Benefit Fund = $36,575.00

Student Fee Fund = $2,729.88

The total amount of claims for the month of April, 2022 in the Activities Fund is listed below:
Activity Fund =$110,351.32

All of these claims were reviewed earlier today by the Finance and Facility Committee.

CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT

• Training for K-5^th grade teachers on the updated Wonders program and 5^th grade on the new TCI Social Studies program occurred on April 22. Professional development occurred in the large buildings led by their principals.
• Curricular groups have met to have a strong finish of the year and be prepared for any updating for next year. 1^st - 4^th grade has updated their pre/post assessments and scheduled next year’s pacing. Middle School and Junior High have completed work in the areas of ELA, PE, Social Studies as well as STEAM. The focus of this work was on creating new pacing guides, proficiency scales and becoming familiar with new textbooks. The senior high English and World History has reviewed and selected reading passages and activities from the new textbooks, realigned learning targets to match an updated scope and sequence, and adjusted assessments.
• Our assessment windows are closed. We should have access to the final and official scores on 2022 state testing in the fall.
• There are small groups scheduled to work over the summer on curriculum and instruction.

ELL-  We received our district ELPA Summative results from the state. Of the 216 students that participated 77% of our students are emerging or progressing in the English Language. 23% scored proficient and no longer qualify for the ELL program.

Nurses- Our school nurses will attend the State of Nebraska’s School Health Conference on June 6th and 7th.  

Special Education- Our Completion Ceremony will be held this Wednesday, May 11 at 2:30pm in the Johnny Carson Theater.

Student Services and Technology

We have been busy rolling out the new teacher laptops and are planning to be completed before the end of the school year. There is always a laundry list of items to be completed at the end of the year as we make plans to address tech needs across the district while schools are not in session. That being said, we are prioritizing those needs to make sure we get them all accomplished. We also are awaiting news on a couple of our larger tech grants which could affect that summer scheduling as well. Currently we have submitted roughly $400,000 for Chromebook touches K-2 and roughly $300,000 for upgrades to our wireless access points and server switches. I will keep you up to date as I hear back from those grants. 

I am also finalizing Middle School, Junior High, and Senior High handbooks so you have time to review those prior to the June Board meeting.

• May 15th 2:00pm we have our High School Graduation Ceremony in the Main Gym
• May 18th is the end of the school year for our students with an 11:30 am dismissal
• May 19th is the last day for all staff
• June 1st is the first day of summer school

HR Update:

I am pleased to let you know that we have almost filled all of our teaching positions for the 2022-2023 school year.  Our current openings are listed below.  Interviews for the 4th grader teacher and instrumental/vocal music teacher are underway and we hope to have those filled yet this week.  That will leave us with only five positions left to fill.  We will continue to search for qualified candidates.

Current Openings

• 4th Grade Teacher
• Special Education Behavior Teacher, 5-6
• Instrumental/Vocal Music Teacher, 7-12
• Art Teacher
• English 0.6 FTE, 9-12
• District Behavior Specialist 
• School Psychologist 

• Updates on current projects
• Discussion on possible RFP for district insurance
• Review of possible compensation needs for student teachers and Interns
• Discussion on budget development for 2022-2023 and the new regulations on tax hearings

The Policy Committee met virtually to review the following policies:

• 5008 (Student Attendance)
• 5415 (Bullying)
• 5416 (Student Fees)
• 5417 (School Wellness)
• 6400 (Parental Involvement in Schools)
• 6410 (Combined District and School Title I Parent and Family Engagement Policy)
• 6370 (Multicultural Education)

These policies are reviewed every year, per state statutes.  

Only minor, non-substantive changes have been recommended.

The Activities Committee met on April 25, 2022. 

• Mr. Erwin and Mr. Beranek provided an update on Spring activities.

• Mr. Erwin announced that NPS would receive the NSAA Participation Award, because we had the most multi-activity participants in Class A.

• The Committee reviewed the Summer Camps schedule and Gym Ad Agreement.

• The Committee discussed raising the prices for activity cards and gate admission for 2022-2023 in order to help with rising costs. We decided to wait until we see what other schools in the HAC are doing, so that we can have consistency across the conference.

• Faith Regional Health Services will schedule our 2022-2023 All Sports Physical Night sometime in July.

• This was our last meeting for 2021-2022.

The Board of Education Curriculum Committee met on Friday, April 29th. Director Beth Nelson reported on the progress of curriculum cycles. Multiple curricular areas have been working to update assessments and learning units for next year. We reviewed the course proposal from the Senior High for the Panther Lunch class. Panther lunch is scheduled opposite of 9th and 10th grade students' lunch. The program curriculum is titled, Find Your Grind. The program will run for the two years and it incorporates both career readiness and academic, social, and emotional learning. Units include examining personality and interests, setting goals, taking care of yourself, communication, digital reputation, and writing action steps for future pathways. 

Jared Oswald, instructional leader, reported the research he had been doing on Math standard development. The draft for Nebraska math standards should be available for public review on May 10th. It is expected that there will be an added emphasis on data and statistics in the senior high standards.  

Work has been completed by teachers to review, fill out compatibility matrices and select materials for the Personal Finance class and Advanced Placement English courses. We are currently waiting on final quotes before seeking approval to purchase from the board. 

Lastly, Beth Nelson communicated that she was sending out a letter to secure closure on the strategic action planning goal on target-based instruction and grading. The letter also includes a survey for committee members to respond to regarding their support or lack thereof on the goal coming to a closure. 

The Norfolk Public Schools Foundation Board of Directors met on Monday April 18, 2022 at 4:30 p.m. Eleven board members were present.  The board reviewed the meeting minutes from March, financial reports, and the quarterly investment report.  

President Jake Claussen shared with the board the Norfolk Area Big Give is scheduled for 5/24/2022.  He said the NPS Foundation will again participate in this event and will showcase the Panther Pantry for community members to support. He also mentioned that the NPSF Traditions Breakfast is scheduled for 10/27/2022 at 7:00 a.m. and the venue has been reserved. Also mentioned was the current scholarship selection process and the Foundation’s participation in Honors Night on 5/12. In addition, Classroom Grant applications are currently being accepted for the 2022-23 school year.

Chelsey Greene

• 2022-2023 Elementary Media Specialist; Grant, Westside, Washington Elementary Schools
• Bachelor of Science, Education; Wayne State College, Wayne, NE
• 2018-Present, 3rd & 4th Grade Teacher, St. John Neumann Catholic School, Clarkson, NE

Panther Lunch in a half period course that runs opposite of 9th and 10th graders lunch period. The curriculum taught during this time has varied over the past years. It has included a program called 8 to Great and most recently Dave Ramsey's Personal Finance course items.  Because we are now required to teach Personal Finance as a full semester course and the 8 to Great would require updated and laborious training, we have selected a program called Find Your Grind. This program can be taught by any teacher with minimal training and preparation. Find Your Grind curriculum, as reported earlier from Leann, incorporates both career readiness and academic, social, and emotional learning.  I recommend we approve this curriculum program. 

Bill Robinson and I have been working with the City for several years regarding possible enhancements at the TaHaZouka Softball Complex.  Within the last year, we identified critical issues that need to be completed this summer in order to alleviate ADA issues. This includes paving the concourse and sidewalks.  

We have also identified longer-term needs that are being addressed through the Parks and Recreation Facilities Steering Committee. I am a member of this committee, which is scheduled to meet again later this month.  

Draft concept drawings were shown at our April meeting, which keep our existing fields in relatively the same location, which means that we should not need to tear out the paved concourse and sidewalks in order to accommodate the expansion later on.

The City is in the process of bidding for the concrete work, and they need us to approve payment for our half of this project.  Because the exact amount is not known at this time, I am asking you to approve paying the City for half of the project (total cost to the school not to exceed $100,000).  The City Council will vote on approving the bid and paying the other half on May 16th.

This should allow us to complete the concrete concourse and sidewalks this summer, alleviating ADA concerns and showing patrons that we are committed to improvements/enhancements to our softball facilities at TaHaZouka.

The funding for this project would come from our Special Building Fund, where we have recently added approximately $26,000 from the City's purchase of the Middle School Right of Way and will be adding approximately $40,000 from the Oddfellows for a small portion of our Westside Property (for their access road).