March 11, 2013 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Meeting called to order by Predident Jedlicka. Motion at 5:38 PM by Brabec and seconded by Vavricek to enter into executive session to discuss three potential interim superintendent candidates. All voted aye. Due to weather conditions, discusion with NASB representative Shari Becker was conducted over the telephone. Motion at 6:15 PM by Semerad and seconded by Cerny to exit executive session after discussing interim superintendent candidates. All voted aye. The three candidates will be interviewed at a public meeting to be held on March 13; interviews will be held at 2:00 PM, 4:30 PM, and 6:30 PM in the SCHS library annex. A brief intermission was taken at 6:25 PM. The school board meeting resumed at 6:35 PM.

Discussion:  All those present participated in the Pledge of Allegiance which was followed by the reading of the Mission Statement by President Jedlicka. All board members were present. In addition, those present were Superintendent Stevens, Principals Pavlik, Vrba, Grammer, and Comley, Vice-Principals Reinsch and Kovar, Activity Administrator Egr, and Curriculum/Assessment Administrator Gibbons.

Discussion:  Several parents of students who attend Richland School were present to express concerns about the lack of classroom time available for a single teacher to teach 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades and the readiness of these students to move ahead next school year. The question was raised by Principal Reinsch if the time had come to eliminate 7th and 8th grades at Richland School? Mr. Stevens will meet with all available parents at Richland School on Tuesday, March 12 at 3:00 PM to offer a decision of the school board in writing.

Discussion:  Laurie Schlautman, SES Library Supervisor gave a presentation to the school board about the activity at the SES library. She stated that since August 2012, 926 students have checked out items from the library collections of 9,578 titles. The Book Fair netted $3200 in Scholastic credit to be used to update the library collection. She thanked the school board for approving her budget requests and purchases.

Discussion:  Student representative, Caleb Krejci, reported that the Student Council co-presidents for 2013-2014 are Cole Beebe and Andrew Goodrich. District speech competition resulted in four students qualifying for state competition - Morgan Semerad, Caleb Krejci, Mitchell Heavican and Amanda Hartman.

Discussion:  Superintendent Stevens explained to the school board that $97,607 remain in the Qualified School Construction Bonds fund. These funds will be spent on repairing the roof at the North Ward Preschool and updating the security at SCHS totaling $133,254. The shortfall will be made up from the depreciation fund.

Discussion:  The curriculum committee met with C&G Realty, Principal Pavlik, Jim Kasik (construction class teacher,) Schuyler Lumber to discuss the future curriculum for the construction class. It was the wish of the committee to integrate more students into the class but at this time, that is not feasible.

Discussion:  Brad Hrouda, representing Schuyler Lumber, was present to answer any questions the school had in addition to explaining how Schuyler Lumber is well-adapted to providing new tools, materials, and methods for the SCHS construction class. They will also deal with sub-contractors and give SCHS a $1500 stipend for wear and tear on tools. Schuyler Lumber will be responsible for selling the construction house after completion.

Discussion:  Sue Warner, representative for Blue Cross/Blue Shield met with SCS staff in March to explain upcoming changes in health care insurance in 2013-2104.

Discussion:  One change to the Parent Teacher Conference schedule will be to hold conferences on Wednesday, which will allow more teachers to be present for the entire conference. Currently, athletic practices and competitions interfere with conferences on multiple occasions. Another change will be to have several 2:00 PM dismissals on Friday to allow time for parents to meet with teachers, intervention time for students and teachers or allow coaches to travel to athletic competitions without missing classroom time.

Discussion:  Personnel recommendations for the 13-14 school year include adding an additional counselor, and two additional teachers at SES. Budget cuts and spending freezes that were put in place in 12-13 will remain in effect in 13-14. Recalculation of State Aid that was lost in 12-13 will be added to the 13-14 budget.

Discussion:  The 504R school will be closed at the end of the 12-13 school year. Plans for the 13-14 school year are to utilize this building for our alternative education students. SCS will discontinue services with the Boys Town education center in Duncan, NE which will save some money in transportation costs in addition to the per pupil fees now paid to Boys Town. Future plans include contracting with other school districts to educate their alternative education students.

Discussion:  The new SCS van has been received and is in service.

Discussion:  Activity Administrator Egr briefed the school board on the option of purchasing a mini-bus instead of a van, suburban, or a full-sized bus. She stated there were numerous occasions when a mini-bus would have filled our needs thus freeing up a full-sized bus for other service. A 15-20 passenger mini-bus would cost approxiamtely $68,000.

Discussion:  Brian Vavricek presented a visual depiction created by Hewgley and Associates of a fine arts center for SCS - the long-term goal of the SCS Foundation. There will be follow-up meetings with a school/community committee to make recommendations to the architect – Ryan Stearns from Hewgley.

Discussion:  Kindergarten round-up will be held at Richland School on March 11 and at Fishers School at a future date.

Discussion:  Motion by Jedlicka and seconded by Brabec. The second motion was rescinded by Brabec and the motion died.

Discussion:  A "Needs Improvement Action Plan" has been prepared. We have begun the process of evaluating our Science programs and assessing our needs for the future. It was determined that at all levels, we need more hands on and inquiry based learning opportunities. The English Language Development Assessment (ELDA) testing, which is given to all Limited English Proficient students across the state is nearing completion. We will be starting the NeSA Reading, Math and Science soon. A randomly selected group of 8th and 12th graders were given the National Assessment of Educational Progress in March.

Discussion:  This is a uniform rotation year. After doing research, it was found that Nike was offering credit to schools that were not already wearing Nike products. Due to this, we were able to purchase uniforms for all athletic groups from the 11-12 and 12-13 uniform rotation. Custom purchases were made for volleyball, softball, basketball and soccer with the extra credit used for cross country/track and field uniforms, softball pants, volleyball shorts and soccer warm ups. Investigation into the costs of replacing lights and ballasts for the west gym is being done.

Discussion:  February 12th & 13th, iPads were distributed to all of our eighth graders in the school district. The entire middle school staff were an integral part of the process of handing out iPads. Out of the 107 8th grade students, 102 students paid the fee to take the iPads home and have them 24/7, 3 students are making payments, and two students are just using the iPads during school hours. On March 27th the State Patrol and their drug dog made a sweep of SMS.

Discussion:  133 surveys were distributed to SCS staff asking opinions on inplementing school uniforms. 113 surveys were returned. Results will be shared at a later date.

Discussion:  We are in the process of making revisions to the course description handbook. It will include course sequences for each grade level in an effort to create suggested curriculum pathways for students.

Discussion:  March 5th the administration and technology coordinator from the Lexington school system came to visit SCC, SAA, and our technology coordinator.