September 12, 2022 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting-#2

Rationale:  September 2, 2022

Rationale:  The Norfolk Public School District's board of education meeting #2 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:  Little Panthers Preschool and Early Development Network

Rationale:  Cher Moore, Principal's Secretary--Norfolk Junior High School

Rationale: 

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. 
 

Rationale: 

The total amount for the 21-22 end of the fiscal year claims, which were approved last month are listed below:

General Fund = $400,000

The total amount of claims to be approved on the consent agenda for the month of September, 2022 by specific fund are listed below:

General Fund = $1,244,260.40

Nutrition Services Fund = $31,517.15

Cooperative Fund = $103,837.25

Depreciation Fund = $515,343.92

Special Building Fund = $79,115.50

QCPUF = $52,732.38

Student Fee Fund = $14,575.16

The total amount of claims for the month of August, 2022 in the Activities Fund are as follows:
Activity Fund =$123,198.50

All of these claims were reviewed earlier today by the Finance and Facility Committee.  The end of the 21-22 fiscal year claim amount was approved at our last board meeting; details of the claims are attached for public review.  The annual audit for the 21-22 fiscal year has already started with the gathering of financial information and records for our auditors.  Herley and Reinke will be conducting the audit and plan to be on site during the week of Sept. 19th.

Rationale:  Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

• It is exciting to report that the beginning of the school year has started strong instructionally. Despite our struggles with the shipping of new Wonders materials, teachers have embraced the updated program and principals have scheduled follow up mini-training sessions to remind teachers of the key instructional routines in the program.
• We are collecting Fall student learning data from MAP Growth so teachers can make purposeful instructional decisions to drive student achievement.
• It has been reported from NDE that we should receive official and final results of the Spring 2021-22 NSCAS Growth data in mid-September.
• September begins round 2 of the LETRS training of our 1^st & 2^nd grade teachers as well as Science of Reading Workshops for 3^rd-6^th grade teachers. This is important and excited research regarding how the brain learns to read.

 

Rationale: 

Our nurses will begin their annual health screenings this month.  Students in grades Pre-K-4, 7th, and 10th grade are screened annually. 

Our ELL teachers have screened over 70 new students based on their Home Language Survey to determine if they qualify for our ELL program. This is determined by the ELPA screener.

I attended the fall conference for  Nebraska Association Special Education Supervisors (NASES) on Thursday, September 1st. Topics included, presentations from Perry Law Firm and PTI Nebraska (Parent Training and Information).  

 

Rationale: 

In August our Student Services and Student Programs teams worked together to help our families from the Ukraine get registered and begin attending school. There were some new language hurdles but we worked through those with help from Google translate and volunteer translators within the state. I am glad we were able to address their needs with a small group to start with and feel we are ready if we have more families from the Ukraine that choose to come to Norfolk.

I also have been working with our NPS Foundation and The Norfolk Family Coalition to address food insecurity needs of some of our families. The Food Bank for the Heartland supplies many weekend meals for students but not enough to cover all our students in need. We are working to secure funding to expand those offerings as soon as possible. I appreciate the help I have received from the NPS Foundation and The Norfolk Family Coalition to help expand this program for our families in need and should be bringing in new meals soon.

Rationale: 

HR Update:

Half of our new NPS teachers receive training on the NPS Instructional Model on September 8 and the other half will receive their training on September 15.  They are working hard to learn the essential concepts and strategies that will enhance learning and instruction in their classroom.

Job fairs are already beginning and I will be traveling to UNK on Thursday for the first job fair of the school year.  Thankfully, we have all of our current positions filled, so I will be recruiting and networking for the 2023-2024 school year.

Student Teachers:  NPS currently has eight student teachers in our district.  I have received positive feedback from our administrators about their start to the year.  

Rationale:  Budget and Enrollment

Rationale:  The committee met at 12:00 today.  The claims for the month of September and the end of the fiscal year claims for August as well as activity claims for August were reviewed.  The committee then reviewed the following items:

• Review of Budget and Tax Request for Hearings
• Updates on current district projects
• Review of the Audit Timeline

The next meeting will be Monday, October 10th at 12:00 noon.

Rationale: 

The Policy Committee met on August 26th to review Board Policies 1000-1120 related to Community Relations.

Policy 1010 (Visiting School) was revised to note that visitors must sign in and out when they visit a school. Previously, the policy just said sign in.

Policy 1050 (Public Access to School Records) was edited to remove "discs" and "tapes" as methods of record keeping, as these methods are no longer used.

Additional, non-substantive changes were made to correct grammar and formatting issues.

Rationale: 

The Activities Committee met at noon on August 22nd. Mr. Erwin and Mrs. Lenton provided participation updates. 

Mr. Erwin also provided a uniform update. He reported that it is still somewhat of an issue getting clothing, but it has been much easier to get equipment and uniforms since we switched to BSN.

Mrs. Lenton shared information regarding a request for an Assistant Speech Coach at the Junior High.  This request will be reviewed later this evening, as the Committee  recommended that it be brought to the full Board for consideration.

 

 

Rationale:  Minutes of the August 8, 2022 and August 25, 2002 school board meetings are attached.

Rationale: 

~ Goodrich, Stephanie

• 2022-2023, NPS District Behavior Specialist
• Doctorate-PhD, Education Administration (focus on Transition Planning), University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• 2019-present, Diverse Ability Educational Consultant, BOLLD Collaborations, Omaha, NE

Rationale:  None at this time.

Rationale:  Attached are the claims for the month of September, 2022.  These claims were reviewed earlier today by our Finance and Facility Committee.  There are no conflict statements for this month that will need to be read before voting.

Rationale:  Currently, we have one speech coach for the junior high, which has an  average participation rate of 50-55 students.  Other junior high activities average a coach to student ratio between 1:14 and 1:22.  50-55 students is a lot for one person to supervise, let alone coach. Mrs. Whitney is not able to provide students with the individual attention and feedback that is needed.

It is my recommendation, as well as the recommendation of the Activities Committee, that we add one assistant speech coach at the Junior High. 

According to our Negotiated Agreement, first year assistant coaches at the junior high are paid $2646. This amount is available within our proposed 2022-2023 budget.

Rationale:  The policy committee has reviewed these policies and recommends the approval of their first reading, with minor changes.  

Rationale:  The 2nd monthly meeting of the Board of Education will be at 5:30 PM on Wednesday, September 28, 2022.  The purpose of this meeting is to approve the 2022-2023 Budget and Tax Requests.

The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Monday, October 10, 2022. The Study Session will begin at 5:30 PM. The regular business meeting will start at 6:30 PM.  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.