December 12, 2022 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

1. Call to Order

1.1. Roll Call

1.2. Recognition of Open Meeting Law

1.3. Pledge of Allegiance

2. Reports, Communications & Public Participation

2.1. Board accepts public comments

2.2. Student board member report

3. Consent Agenda

3.1. Approve the consent agenda which includes the minutes and financials

3.2. Approval of Expenditures/Payroll for November

4. Reports from Staff Members and Committees

4.1. Presentation from Circle of Friends 

4.2. Recognition of departing board members. Thank you for your service to our students and community. 

4.3. Negotiations Committee

5. Administrator's written reports: Please review prior to the board meeting

6. Superintendent's comments:

NSCAS Assessments:
State assessment results have recently been released by the Nebraska Department of Education, although we are still waiting for some demographic data. These assessment scores are from NSCAS assessments taken during the spring of 2022. The results from these assessments show that our students continue to do very well and MPS students outperform the state of Nebraska in all three assessed content areas (ELA, math, and science); however, we have identified a few content areas at specific grade levels that will need to be reviewed for improvement.

Our ACT scores showed a little bit of a drop from last year, but this is a trend that has been recorded nationally and matches the national drop in scores on the NAEP. These drops are most likely due to school closures during the 2019-2020 school year, and the drastic increases in student absences during the 2021-2022 school year. That being said, our students continue to outperform the state. We also perform very well against schools that are identified as our peers in the state. A more detailed report & presentation on all of our state assessment results will be provided in the Annual Report early during the 2nd semester. 

Teacher evaluations:
Probationary teacher evaluations will be completed by the end of this week.

District Professional Development:
McCook Public Schools is a Professional Learning Community (PLC), and during the 2nd semester of this school year, we will take a close look at our organization at the district, building and team levels (horizontal and vertical), reading and discussing a professional development book (The Teacher Clarity Playbook) about the PLC process, teacher clarity, and making adjustments to our processes as we identify areas of weakness. Following this process, we will begin analyzing our locally developed curriculum for gaps and redundancies. The curriculum review will be a multi-year process. I will give the Board information about the process and our progress along the way. 

Jr. High Building Project & W Design Associates Update:
Mr. Norgaard, Mr. Gross and Mr. Lyons met with the engineers and architects from W Design to discuss the latest design proposed for a new Jr. High building. The discussion was fruitful and is moving along nicely. In the near future, we will be presenting a very preliminary design to board committees and also to staff to garner feedback. Following those discussions, we will plan for community input sessions. These sessions will allow for community members to review the design concept and provide feedback to the school and designers. 

7. Business Manager Comments

8. Board comments

9. New Business

9.1. Approve the negotiated agreement with the McCook Education Association for the 2023-2024 school year. 

9.2. Approve the Financial Report (Audited) from KSO CPAs + Advisors

9.3. Grant authority to the Superintendent & the Business Manager to general manage the construction of a new restroom, concessions and storage building between the high school tennis courts and track. And, to allow the use of Special Building Fund dollars for construction costs, not to exceed $450,000.

If any additional funds are necessary for the construction of the building, the Board of Education will have to meet and vote to approve any expense over the initial $450,000. 

10. Positive Comments

11. 12.1. Enter into executive session to discuss negotiations with the local teachers' association. The reason for the executive session is to protect the public interest during the negotiation process.

NE State Statute: 84-1410
Any public body may hold a closed session by the affirmative vote of a majority of its voting members if a closed session is clearly necessary for the protection of the public interest or for the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual and if such individual has not requested a public meeting. 

12. Adjournment

13. Items for Review