July 10, 2023 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:  Please stand and join us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

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. Individuals who make false, defamatory, or slanderous statements during public comments may be held legally liable. Slanderous comments are not protected just because they are made at Board meetings.

Rationale: 

The total amount of claims to be approved on the consent agenda for the month of July, 2023 by specific fund are listed below:

General Fund =$512,018.11

Nutrition Services Fund =$38,080.69

Cooperative Fund =$3,033.23

Depreciation Fund =$3,968.52

Special Building Fund =$568,126.31

QCPUF= $10,639.00

Student Fee Fund = $49,335.49

The total amount of claims for the month of June, 2023 in the Activities Fund is listed below:
Activity Fund =$116,544.85

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

Rationale:  Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment

• 21 Educators from the Senior High, Middle School, Jefferson, Grant, and Westside attended the PLC Institute in Minneapolis in June. Nationally renowned keynote speakers and trainers held various sessions related to school culture, student agency and ownership, productive teaming, and raising the bar on achievement. This was our first opportunity since Covid to take a group.
•  A small number of teachers have been working on curriculum items during the summer. Elementary teachers have been working on the scope and sequence of writing curriculum and elementary media teachers are working on curriculum to help with onboarding a new teacher.

Rationale:  During the month of June, our building principals and their teams participated in systems of support training. The Jr. and Sr. High teams attended Secondary MTSS training at the ESU 8 in Neligh on June 13th and 14th. Little Panthers Preschool, all the elementary buildings, and Middle School teams worked with ESU 8 and the state PBIS team on June 20th and 21st here at Central Office.

Student Programs will have team meetings in the early weeks of August to discuss program goals for the 2023-2024 school year.

I will attend the NDE and NCSA Administrator Conference, July 26-28 in Kearney. At the conference, I will attend sessions regarding ELL, Systems of Support and Special Education.

Rationale:  The NPS Job Fair was held on June 19 for our classified positions. We had job seekers come and talk with our building principals. Some filled out applications on site and other applications came in throughout the week. Over 50 new applications have been submitted since the Job Fair was held and advertised. Several positions have been filled and principals are in the process of reviewing applications, interviewing and offering additional positions.

The 2023-2024 school year will begin in less than a month for our staff. New staff will report on August 2 for training and all staff will report on August 8. The Back To School staff schedule will soon be shared with all staff. Applications are now being accepted for substitute teachers and paraprofessionals for the 2023-2024 school year.

Rationale:  Various topics including, but not limited to, the national teacher shortage
and 2023-2024 staffing issues at NPS.
 

Rationale:  The committee met at 12:00 today.  The claims for the month of July and activity claims for June were reviewed. Other items reviewed and discussed:

• Review of Faith Regional Athletic Trainer Agreement for 23-24
• Discussion on property
• Discussion on some activity purchases through donations
• Project Update
  • BA
  • JH
• Update on Budget timeline and process for 23-24

The next meeting will be Monday, August 14th, at 12:00 noon.

Rationale: 

The Policy Committee met on June 10, 2023 to discuss revisions to current policies to ensure that they meet new state statutes.  These revisions were drafted by our school attorney and are acceptable to the Policy Committee.

The Policy Committee also reviewed several new policies that were recommended by our school attorney in order for us to meet new state statutes.  These new policies are also acceptable to the Policy Committee.

The Policy Committee also reviewed revisions to Board Policy 5301 (Association Activities) that were proposed by members of the Committee.  These changes indicate that participation in sports will be based upon a student’s biological sex at birth.

Additional information regarding these policies will be shared later in the agenda.

Rationale: 

The Norfolk Public Schools Foundation Board of Directors met on June 19th, 2023 at 4:30 p.m. Ten board members were present.  

Norfolk’s ‘Big Give’ was held on 5/23/2023 and over $6,000 was raised for the Junior High Auditorium renovation. The NPS Foundation was also present at the Junior High 100 Year Celebration event on Saturday, June 17th to help collect donations for the project.

Congratulations to the 2023 Classroom Grant recipients! The Classroom Grant selection committee met in May and selected 37 classroom grants for a total of $20,849.96 for projects and programs that will benefit students across Norfolk Public Schools at all grade levels. NPSF is proud to support students and teachers in the classrooms.

NPSF committees are planning for the upcoming NPS Staff Campaign and Traditions Breakfast, which will be held on Thursday October 26th, 2023 at the Lifelong Learning Center. No Board meetings are scheduled for July or August.

Rationale:  The minutes of the June 8, 2023 Board Retreat & June 12, 2023 and June 22, 2023 School Board meetings are attached. 

Rationale:  None at this time. 

Rationale:  Attached are the claims for the month of July, 2023.  These claims were reviewed earlier today by our Finance and Facility Committee.  There is a conflict statement for this month that will need to be read before voting.

Rationale:  See attached document

Rationale:  We received Betthany's resignation on June 30th, which is significantly after the March 15th deadline. Therefore, according to board policy, her resignation will only be considered if there are extreme extenuating circumstances or we are able to hire a suitable replacement. I have not been made aware of any extreme extenuating circumstances. Therefore, I recommend that the board approve her resignation PENDING the hiring of a suitable replacement.

Rationale:  LB 705 requires school districts to identify behavioral health awareness and health points of contact for each building and list those in our student handbooks.  Therefore, we need to add the following statement to our preschool handbook: 

Preschool Handbook: The behavioral awareness and health point of contact is Early Childhood Coordinator. 
 

Rationale:  LB 705 requires school districts to identify behavioral health awareness and health points of contact for each building and list those in our student handbooks.  Therefore, we need to add the following statement to our elementary handbook:

Elementary Handbook: The behavioral awareness and health point of contact is the school building counselor. 

Rationale:  See attached

Rationale:  See attached

Rationale:  See attached

Rationale:  These policies have been revised based upon recent changes to state law. The revisions were drafted by our school attorney.

Rationale:  This is a new policy written to ensure that we meet the requirements set forth in LB 298.  This new law requires us to collect information regarding the number of students who are tested for a reading disability and/or dyslexia.  It also requires us to monitor and report how many of those students show growth in the area of reading.

Rationale:  This is a new policy written to ensure that we meet the requirements set forth in Nebraska State Statutes 79-3201 through 3207.  It requires us to have a "seizure action plan" in place if we have a student with a known seizure disorder. It also requires us to have at least one employee (in every building that has a seizure action plan) who has training in the administration of seizure rescue medication.

Rationale:  This is a new policy written to ensure that we meet the requirements set forth in Nebraska Revised Statute 79-11,159 and LB 705.
It requires us to designate one or more behavioral awareness and health points of contact in each school building.  This person must be trained in community service providers and other resources available to students and parents in the area of  behavioral awareness and health.  It also requires all District employees who interact with students to receive at least one hour of behavioral and mental health training with a focus on suicide awareness and prevention annually.

Norfolk Public Schools has identified our school counselors as our behavioral points of contact for every building except Little Panthers Preschool. We do not have a counselor at LPP. The Early Childhood Coordinator is designated as the behavioral point of contact for LPP.

Rationale:  This is a new policy specifying that our Board has given permission for the storage, administration and implementation of Naloxone (Narcan) in the event of a suspected opioid overdose or other emergency situations that requires prompt attention.

We do have Narcan available and our school nurses are trained in its storage and implementation. We, of course, hope that Narcan is never needed, but are prepared if it becomes necessary to save someone's life.

Rationale:  This policy has been revised to indicate that we will follow eligibility criteria set by Policy 5004, NSAA and state law (per our attorney's suggestion).
It has also been revised to indicate that participation in sports will be based upon a students' biological sex at birth (per the Policy Committee's request).

Rationale:  There will not be a 2nd monthly meeting of the Board of Education on July 27th. 

The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Monday, August 14, 2023. There will not be a Study Session. The regular business meeting will start at 5:30 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.