December 11, 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:  Norfolk High School - Student and Staff Recognition System

Rationale:  Strategic Action Plan Presentations - Student Achievement & Student Support Systems

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 December, 2023 by specific fund are listed below:

General Fund =$569,050.33

Nutrition Services Fund =$326,815.49

Cooperative Fund =$112,758.09
Depreciation Fund =$5,950.00

Special Building Fund =$5,950.00

Student Fee Fund = $9,508.30

The total amount of claims for the month of November, 2023 in the Activities Fund $87,767.73

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

Rationale:  CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

In the Teaching and Learning Department, the recent focus on data analysis has played an important role in driving educational conversations. We’ve invested time into examining state data, particularly that shared on the state classification system known as AQUESTT. The district's overall classification in the AQUESTT system received a "great" rating which shows the collective efforts of NPS teachers in pursuit of academic excellence.
NPS is seeing positive improvement in post pandemic achievement data. Dr. Thompson has highlighted specific details in her report.
The AQUESTT system provided a rating for individual buildings within the district. Each building received scores, delineating their performance on a spectrum from "good" to "great" and to "excellent." This report not only offers insights into the specific strengths of each school building but also identifies areas for potential areas for growth and improvement. While the report becomes public in November, principals and teachers have been proactively working on these areas since the beginning of the school year.
December serves as a pivotal midyear point for all grade levels and content areas to mark student learning progress and for teachers to begin determining if adjustments in scope and sequence are necessary for second semester.
 

Rationale:  Our nurses wrapped up their annual health screenings last week. Students in grades Pre-K-4, 7th, and 10th grade are screened annually.

The teaching staff for our special education and English language learner programs have been reviewing programming used for interventions within each program. The workdays provided have been of great benefit.

Last Friday I attended the UNK school psychologist interview day. I was able to visit with 4 potential students looking for placement for their internship year.
 

Rationale:  In November we completed our annual external safety audit of the district. Our district is very fortunate to have had Norfolk Police Department officers complete the safety audits for our last 2 years. This year, to continue to mix things up and get new eyes on our processes and procedures, we were able to have deputies from the Madison County Sheriff’s office complete our audit. They went to each of our school buildings dressed in street clothes. They conducted evaluations of our building grounds, tried to gain access to the buildings without following protocols, then conducted safety evaluations of the interior of the building, and finally interviewed random staff members. I have met with the deputies who completed the audits and each building principal to go over the results.  Unfortunately, they were able to gain access to a couple of our school buildings due to exterior door lock procedures not being followed. The deputies commented that in all of our buildings staff members confronted them about why they were in the building without a visitors’ badge. It was mentioned that staff members that were interviewed were very knowledgeable of our Standard Response Protocols and had a plan of what to do in an emergency situation. The deputies discussed options for making sure our students and staff could hide in a classroom without being visible from someone looking through a hallway window. Overall, the audit results were very positive and deficiencies have been addressed with building principals. A quote from the auditors that I have encouraged principals to share with their staff was "Safety and security of the building are excellent" We know we are not perfect but try our best to be perfect when it comes to school safety. That was a nice comment to hear from the auditors.

Finally on Friday December 8th our SRO’s and I presented to all district staff our Safety Standards to ensure we develop a culture of school safety and not complacency. We discussed audit deficiencies like door lock procedures and how to help limit human error when it comes to school safety. We will be offering makeup sessions of that presentation in January to anyone who missed it to ensure all district staff get the information.
 

Rationale:  Last week I attended the Missouri Valley School Personnel Administrators Annual Conference.  Topics covered included culture, professional development, legal issues, recruitment, retention, staff recognition, AI, and more.  Recruiting is underway for the 2024-2025 school year.  Principals will begin interviewing for open positions after the first of the year. 

We have 20 student teachers in our district for the Spring semester.  They will be student teaching in the areas of elementary education, special education, social sciences, early childhood education, physical education, English, family & consumer sciences, skilled & technical science, and math.
 

Rationale:  See Attached Document:
   * NSCAS Results
  *  Upbeat Engagement Survey Results
 

Rationale:  The Facilities & Finance Committee will meet on Monday, December 11, 2023 at 4:00 PM. The committee will review claims for the month of December and activity claims for November. Other items to be discussed:

• Insurance 
• Updates on current district projects
• Mr. Wilson's transition plan to Business Manager

The next meeting will be Monday, January 8, 2024.


 

Rationale:  Policy Committee meeting minutes from December 6, 2023 attached.  

Rationale:  The Norfolk Public Schools Foundation Board of Directors met on November 20, 2023. Ten board members were present. Vice President, Jason Busch, called the meeting to order. Board members discussed recent fundraising efforts and ways to revise current marketing initiatives. Strategic Planning for 2024 was presented by Executive Director, Austin Truex. Two new board members were voted on and approved by the board. They will begin their terms as voting directors in January 2024. Two current board members plan to come off the board. The NPSF Annual Meeting will be held on January 15th.

Rationale:  Minutes from the meetings on November 13, 2023 & November 27, 2023 are attached for review. 

Rationale: 

Nikita Bettin

• 2023-2024, Business and Technology Teacher, Senior High School

• Bachelor of Science, Business Administration & Marketing, Wayne State College, Wayne, NE, to be conferred 12/2023

• 2017-present, Retail Banker/Social Media Manager,  Frontier Bank, Norfolk, NE

Taya Johnson

• 2023-2024, 4th Grade Teacher, Jefferson Elementary

• Bachelor of Arts, Elementary Education, w/minor in Special Education, Mount Marty University, Yankton, SD

• 2023-Present, Substitute Teacher, Yankton School District, Yankton, SD

Rationale: 

• Rick Allison - 6th Grade teacher at Middle School, retiring, effective at the end of the 2023-2024 contract year.
• Dianne Hetrick - 2nd Grade teacher at Jefferson, retiring, effective at the end of the 2023-2024 contract year.
• Dr. Jennifer Robinson - Principal at Junior High, resigning, effective at the end of the 2023-2024 contract year.
• LuAnn Watson - Speech Language Pathologist at Norfolk Middle School, retiring, effective at the end of the 2023-2024 contract year.

Rationale:  Attached are the claims for the month of December, 2023.  These claims were reviewed earlier by our Finance and Facility Committee. 

There are no conflict statements this month.

Rationale:  Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Nelson presented this information earlier this evening. We would be happy to answer any additional questions that you may have.

Rationale:  Mr. Wilson and Mrs. Nelson presented this information earlier this evening. We would be happy to answer any additional questions that you may have.

Rationale:  The Board of Education negotiated with the Norfolk City Education Association as required by state statute. Those negotiations resulted in a 4% total package increase, with 3.55% of this increase being applied to the salary schedule and 0.45% being applied to the increase in benefit costs (which include our legally required FICA and state retirement contributions). Individual raises vary significantly depending on the employee's position on the salary schedule.  Our new base salary increased from $38,627 to $39,457, which is an increase of $830. However, our new (first year) teachers actually begin on Step 3 of our salary schedule, resulting in a beginning teacher salary of $43,008.  

Rationale:  Please refer to the attached documents. These calendars were completed collaboratively with the District Calendar Committee.

Rationale:  Seeking permission to develop and release an RFP for Exterior Electronic Door Access Control. We have discussed this as part of our Safety Goal but need to get a more solid number to determine what we can accomplish within current budget allowances and grant opportunities through the state.

Rationale:  Seeking permission to develop and release an RFP for ensuring all classroom doors have an internal locking mechanism like a push button or flip switch. This has also been discussed as part of our Safety Goal. Once we have bids back we will determine what we can get accomplished in current budget allowances and possible grant opportunities through the state.

Rationale:  When the Finance and Facilities Committee met with our local insurance agents to discuss our renewal rates, we learned that significant changes had been made to our property insurance coverage and deductibles. Those changes were so detrimental that we found it necessary to reach out to ALICAP for a proposal. As you can see in the attached chart, ALICAP's price, coverage, and deductibles are much better. We have been very pleased with our local agents and would like to keep our business local if possible, but the difference is so significant that we must recommend switching to ALICAP.  In order to do that, the Board must approval the attached resolution.

Please note that this is a minimum 3 year commitment.
 

Rationale:  ALICAP's coverage year begins in September, so our first premium is pro-rated. That cost is $362,879.  (See documents attached to item 9.5.)

Rationale:  These policies were discussed during the Policy Committee Report. Policies are attached. I would be happy to answer any additional questions that you may have.

Policies 4013-4027 related to personnel:

• 4013 Personnel Files
• 4014 Receiving Agents, Salespersons, and Other Business Representatives
• 4015 Unauthorized Purchases
• 4016 Use of School Facilities and Equipment by School Employees
• 4017 Activity Passes
• 4018 Community Relations - Political Activity
• 4019 Fair Labor Standards Act (Minimum Wage and Overtime)
• 4020 Shredding Consumer Reports
• 4021 Social Security Numbers
• 4022 Military and Family Military Leave
• 4023 Notification of Arrest, Criminal Charges, and Certificate, License or Child Abuse
• Complaints
• 4024 Wage and Deduction Information
• 4025 Professional Boundaries Between Employees and Students
• 4026 Prohibition on Aiding and Abetting Sexual Abuse
• 4027 Workplace Privacy Policy

Rationale: 

There will be no 2nd monthly meeting of the Board of Education in December.

The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Monday, January 8, 2024. The regular business meeting will begin 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.