February 12, 2024 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:  Next Gen Leadership Academy
Principal Mentors/Liaisons

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 February 2024 by specific fund are listed below:

General Fund = $571,879.93

Nutrition Services Fund =$214,897.72

Cooperative Fund =$6,997.90

Depreciation Fund =$0

QCPUF: $0

Special Building Fund =$13,654.12

Student Fee Fund = $3,911.70

The total amount of claims for the month of January 2024 in the Activities Fund is $182,563.16

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

Rationale:  CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

• Since the approval of the strategic action planning goals, the Systems of Support and Achievement committees have been meeting to fulfill the action steps. There have been robust conversations about how we are addressing student learning needs.  We’ve met three times already on collaborative items since the beginning of the semester.
• The Nebraska Department of Education came to Norfolk to complete a required federal programs review. This has been updated to occur every five years instead of three.  We have not received the final report but upon our visit there were no major suggestions or corrections that were needed for our grant and processes of fulfilling the grant.
• We have been notified by the Nebraska Education Commissioner that the state department will no longer fund MAP Growth testing for districts across the state. This presents a challenge due to the depth that principals and teachers use the data for helping guide instruction. Alternatively, schools are allowed to use the NSCAS Growth assessment data as a single source to collect normative and criterion data.  At this point, the Teaching and Learning department is reviewing and studying options. There has been a Zoom meeting scheduled for districts across the state to collaborate about what and how they are using the NSCAS data and if they are using different additional data. I will keep you posted on the information we learn and what we will do for next year.
• Ongoing and forthcoming professional development is occurring for the Amplify Math program implementation that was purchased last year for 7th -12th grade.
• The spring BOE Curriculum Committee meeting is being held on February 13th where we will review curriculum purchases for 24-25 implementation. You will hear more about that next month. 

Rationale:  Some of our English Language Learner students started taking the English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA) on February 5.  All ELL students will have the ELPA summative completed by March 15, 2024.   This assessment evaluates our students' proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing the English language.  We will receive the results in the first weeks of May.

I attended the Nebraska Association of Special Education Administrators (NASES) conference in Lincoln last week. There were roundtable discussions regarding; teacher retention, educator shortage solutions, creating continuity for systems-involved students, as well as a presentation from KSB law and ideas for cultivating shared responsibilities with general education teachers.  February 23 the special education leadership team will attend an ESU 8 presentation on the TIP for special education. 

Norfolk Senior High, Junior High, and Middle School each received two grants from NDE. The School Mental Health Project grant money will be used for staff training, sensory items and Tier 2 evidence-based curriculum.  The total amount granted was $100,500.00 to be spent by September 29, 2024.
 

Rationale:  At the end of January our High School Admin Team, Dr. Thompson, and I were able to meet with representatives from the Visit Norfolk Area, for a wrap up of State One Acts. We reviewed safety protocols and discussed things that went well and things we can improve on for next year. Thanks to Dr. Thompson and the Board for allowing the calendar change to have that Friday of State One Acts be a no school day. It made a huge difference this year and is a welcome addition to next year.

As we all know there are a lot of education bills this short session of the legislature. I have been following many of those that will be affecting our district. Especially LB1339 which changes conceal carry rules in schools and a group of bills affecting Student Discipline, LB899, LB1141, and LB1146.

Reminder to our families that this week is parent teacher conference week. Each building has sent out information about their conference schedule. We will have an 11:30am dismissal on Thursday for afternoon conferences and there is no school on Friday 2/16, Monday 2/19, and Tuesday 2/20.
 

Rationale:  Principals have begun interviewing to fill our open positions for the 2024-2025 school year.   Letters of Intent will be sent to all certified staff on March 1, with a return date of March 15.  At that time, we should know of all openings that we will need to fill for the 2024-2025 school year. 

Mary Luhr and I attended the educator career fair at the University of Nebraska Lincoln today.   I will attend upcoming fairs at the University of Nebraska Omaha and the South Dakota Teacher Fair.  We are working hard to get quality teachers hired, as early as possible.
 

Rationale:  Annual Report
Board Development Survey Results

Rationale:  The Facilities & Finance Committee met earlier today. Board members present were ______________. 

We reviewed claims for the month of February and activity claims for January. Other topics discussed included updates on the following:

• RSP and Associates - Explanation of Services and Fees
• CMBA - Middle School Project 
• Facilities/Construction - HVAC
• Arrow Transportation Update
• 2024-2025 Compensation Updates 

Our next Finance and Facilities Committee meeting is scheduled for March 11, 2024.

Rationale:  The Policy Committee met at 4:00 on February 9, 2024. Brenda Carhart, Cindy Booth, Erik Wilson and Callan Colllins attended the  meeting. Lindsay Dixon and Dr. Thompson were absent.

Policy section 4028-4133 related to personnel, policy 4005 related to snow days, and policy 5206 related to early completion plans were reviewed.

Policy 4133 related to Substitute Teachers was revised to reflect our  current practices regarding long-term substitutes (LTS). LTS are substitutes who have subbed in the same position for 20 consecutive days. They are paid at the base rate for a classroom teacher.

The committee discussed whether to revise our current Snow Day Policy (4005) so that snow days do not need to be made up unless required by NDE. Ultimately, the Committee decided not to recommend this change. This means that snow days will be made up over Spring Break if we have more than 2 prior to March 1st.

The committee also discussed whether to allow students who choose to graduate early to continue to participate in an activity if the student qualified for state or national competitions prior to graduation. The committee decided not to recommend this change. This means that students who graduate early will not be allowed to participate in any school activities other than the graduation ceremony.

No other changes were recommended to these policies. 
 

Rationale: 

The Government Relations Committee met three times since our January Board meeting.

We met at 12:30 PM on Thursday, January 24, 2024. Board Committee Members Sandy Wolfe, Teri Bauer, and Beth Shashikant were present, along with Dr. Jami Jo Thompson and Tiffany Settles.

The Committee reviewed the handouts provided by Dr. Thompson and discussed how to submit in-person and written testimony. The committee discussed all education bills with upcoming hearings and decided to take the following actions:

• Beth Shashikant wrote a letter in opposition to LB 1386, which would establish education savings account for private school students.

• Sandy Wolfe wrote a letter in opposition to LB 1081, which would require school districts to comply with new (unrealistic) student teacher ratios.

• Sandy Wolfe wrote a thank you letter to Senator Walz for her efforts to increase the teacher pool via LB 1005 and 1160.

• Dr. Thompson wrote a letter of support for LB 1377, which would provide school districts with more flexibility regarding the length of certain required training sessions. 

• Beth Shashikant wrote a letter of opposition to LB 1316, which would eliminate the ability of school boards to exceed the 3% growth cap. 

We met at 3:00 PM on Thursday, February, 2024 at NCSA in Lincoln.  Board Committee Members: Sandy Wolfe, Teri Bauer, and Beth Shashikant were present, along with Dr. Jami Jo Thompson and Erik Wilson.

Attendees participated in the GNSA meeting with updates from the NCSA and GNSA Legislative Committees. They also met with Senator Dover to discuss legislative concerns.

The committee discussed all education bills with upcoming hearings and decided to take the following actions:

• Beth Shashikant will write a letter of opposition to LB 939, the My Student, My Choice Act.

• Erik wrote a neutral letter to LB 1339, supporting off-duty police officers carrying firearms on school grounds, but opposing school personnel carrying firearms on school grounds.

• Dr. Thompson reviewed LB 1140 and sent a clarifying question to Senator McKinney.

• Bruce Strong testified in person in support of LB 899, which would exempt Class III School districts from prohibition on suspending students in pre-kindergarten through second grade.

• Dr. Thompson testified in person in support of LB 1146, which would provide an exception to the prohibition on suspending a student in pre-kindergarten through second grade for violent behavior.

• Dr. Thompson also testified in person in support of LB 1012, which would allow QCPUF to be used for safety/security projects.

• The Committee decided to closely monitor LR 278CA, a Constitutional amendment that would change the membership of the State Board of Education.

We met at 1:00 PM on Thursday, February 8, 2024. Board Committee Members Teri Bauer, and Beth Shashikant were present, along with Dr. Jami Jo Thompson and Tiffany Settles.

The committee discussed all education bills with upcoming hearings and decided to take the following actions:

• Dr. Thompson wrote a combined letter of support for LB 964, LB 1121, LB 1053, and LB 986. Each of these bills attempts to assist with the current teacher shortage via loan forgiveness and/or grant programs.

• Beth Shashikant wrote a letter for support for LB 1398, which would provide 100% reimbursement for special education programs and support services relating to option students.

• Beth Shashikant wrote letters of opposition to LB 841, which would require all administrators to spend 15% of their time in school engagement activities with students and non-administrative staff, and LB 1322, which would require that school counselors spend 80% of their time in direct counseling activities. We believe that administrators and school board members should make these decisions at the local level. 

Future Meetings are scheduled for: 2/15 at 11am, 2/22 at 12:30 pm, and 2/29 at 1pm.

Rationale:  The Norfolk Public Schools Foundation held its annual meeting on January 15th. During the annual meeting, board members discussed and approved the year-end 2023 financial reports, 2024 annual budget, board member terms, election of officers, and annual vendor relationships.  The board welcomed two new board members: Kathy Naranjo and Tracey Buettner.

Annual distributions from the foundation’s endowments and funds for scholarships and grants were also approved for 2024 programming.  Students of the NHS graduating Class of 2024 will have the opportunity to apply for many scholarships through the Norfolk Public Schools Foundation. The scholarship application will be available on the website in February.
 

Rationale:  Minutes from the meetings on January 10, 2024 and January 25, 2024 are attached for review. 

Rationale: 

Hannah Lonowski

• 2024-2025, 5th-6th English Language Learners Teacher, Norfolk Middle School

• Bachelor of Arts, 7-12 Spanish, K-12 ESL, University of Nebraska-Kearney, Kearney, NE

• 8/1/23-Present, 9-12 Spanish Teacher, Kearney Catholic High School, Kearney, NE

Colby Mrsny

• 2024-2025, Special Education-Behavior Teacher, Norfolk Senior High School

• Bachelor of Science, Elementary and Special Education K-6, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, NE to be conferred 5/2024

• Spring 2024 Student Teacher, Elementary Education K-6/Sped K-6, Norfolk Middle School 

Kayla Wingert

• 2024-2025, 2nd Grade Teacher, Woodland Park Elementary

• Bachelor of Science, Elementary and Special Education K-6, Wayne State College, 12/2023                                         

• Fall 2023, Student Teacher, Elementary and Special Education, Woodland Park Elementary

• 1/2024- Current, Substitute Teacher, Norfolk Public Schools

Abigail Ullrich

• 2024-2025 English Language Arts Teacher, Norfolk Senior High School

• University of Nebraska/Kearney, Bachelor of Arts, English Language Arts, to be conferred 5/2024

• Spring 2024, Student Teacher, 7th Grade English, Sunrise Middle School, Kearney, NE

   

  
   

Rationale: 

• Deb Borgelt - 7th grade Language Arts teacher at Norfolk Junior High, retiring, effective at the end of the 2023-2024 contract year.
• Moriah Hart - 3rd & 4th grade teacher at Lincoln Montessori Elementary, resigning, effective at the end of the 2023-2024 contract year.

Rationale:  Attached are the claims for the month of February, 2024. These claims were reviewed earlier by our Finance and Facility Committee. 

There are four conflict statements this month that will need to be read before voting.

Rationale:  These policies were discussed during the Policy Committee Report. Policies are attached. 

Policies 4028-4133 related to personnel:

4028: Appropriate Dress
4029: Fundraising
4030: Wage Information
4031: Injury Leave
4100: Qualifications for Appointment as a Teacher
4101: Qualification for Appointment ot Administrative and Supervisory Positions
4110: Contract
4111: Certification
4120: Probationary Certified Employees
4121: Permanent Certified Employees
4130: Assignment of Duties
4131: Agents/Tutors
4132: Student Teachers and Pre-Student Teachers
4133: Substitute Teachers

Rationale: 

The 2nd monthly meeting of the Board of Education in February is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, February 22, 2024 at Noon. 

The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Monday, March 11, 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.