October 8, 2018 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

STRIVE  -  COMMIT  -  SUCCEED  -  District Mission Statement

Schuyler Community Schools in partnership with parents, students, and the community is committed to educate students to become skilled, knowledgeable and responsible citizens in a global society - District Vision Statement

Notice of this meeting was given in advance according to State Law 84-1411, by giving notice of the meeting to the public.  Notice of this meeting was also given in advance to all members of the Board of Education

Rationale: 

This meeting has been preceded by advance notice and is hereby declared to be in open session.  A copy of the Open Meetings Act is posted in the back of the meeting room.

Nebraska Open Meetings Act:  http://nitc.nebraska.gov/documents/statutes/NebraskaOpenMeetingsAct_current.pdf

Rationale:  Discuss, Consider and Take Action on the consent agenda

Rationale:  This committee is responsible for budget, finance, and contract negotiations with administration, certificated staff, and support staff.

Rationale: 
1.  Mairen Montanez:  Sixpence Educator
2.  Mariana Medina-Santos:  SES High Needs Para-Educator
3.  Donald Seehusen:  ITE Instructor (2nd Semester)

Rationale:  Ellen Faltys, Colfax County Clerk Magistrate called and requested to be placed on the agenda to visit with the board of education about the Nebraska Supreme Court at Schuyler Central High School on November 2nd.  See attachment.

Rationale:  See attached report

Rationale: 

The principals are working with their staff to update the 2018 progress.  These will be completed prior to the November regular board meeting for your review.  Attached are the 2013-17 Action Plans.  We will add the updated 2018 action plans for the November school board meeting.

 

Rationale: 
Preschool and SES 3-5 Principal's Report:  Mr. Comley
          Program/teacher Spotlight:  This month I would like to bring attention to Andra Pracheil at SES. Mrs. Pracheil is a 5th grade teacher that does her job at an extremely high level. Mrs. Pracheil exemplifies everything that Schuyler Community Schools and parents of this district wants in an employee. I, myself am extremely lucky to work alongside Mrs. Pracheil. 
          October 5th we will be having Wonders/Iobserve training for SES teachers
          October 8th Preschool will be in training on classroom management
          October 10th will be APL refresher for SES and Preschool
          Oct 18th is parent teacher conferences at SES and Preschool

SES K-2 Principal's Report:  Mr. Kovar
          Staff Member/Program Spotlight- This month I would like to highlight the Elementary School Improvement Team, K-Jayme Puntney, 1st- Meghan Reinert, 2nd- Alicia Keairnes, 3rd, Megan Holub, 4th- Kris Svehla, 5th- Andra Pracheil, and Sped- Elyse Muhle. This group meets once a month before school. They put in countless hours working with their teams on important items for the school, looking at data, and recording and keeping records of critical school data. I really enjoy working with them and listening to all of their good ideas. They are a crucial part of our school and district.

Rural Schools Principal's Report:  Mrs. Bebout
          Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  At Fisher’s the head teacher is Cindy Vacha.  She teaches K & 1st grade. Cindy is a very caring person.  She spent many hours at Fisher’s making the school look ready for the 1st day with a ‘50’s’ theme since this is the 50th year Fisher’s has been a school.  Cindy leads by example with her work ethic and genuine love of teaching. Her students are taught manners, they have a love of reading, and do many fun projects.  Cindy has taught at Fisher’s for 13 years.  She is married to Carroll Vacha and has two sons Michael and Bryan.  We are blessed to have a teacher like Cindy in our school!
Highlight Upcoming Events:
Fisher’s:
Oct 22nd - 26th - Red Ribbon Activities
Oct 29th - Nov 2nd - Food Drive
Nov 12th at 2 p.m. - Veteran’s Day Program
Richland:
Nov 9th at 12:45 p.m. - Veteran’s Day Program

SMS Assistant Principal’s report:  Mr. Zavadil
          Teacher Walkthroughs are well underway using the district’s new Marzano evaluation model.  The program is definitely more streamlined and is allowing us to provide a more collaborative evaluation system for our teachers.  I feel that it is a great program.
          Staff Member Spotlight:  A staff member that I would like to recognize this month is Mr. Baptiste.  He is our new 7^th grade social studies teacher. He has done a fantastic job of stepping in and creating relationships with our students.  He has also taken on the SMS Middle School Boys Cross Country and Basketball teams and has done a very good job with Cross Country so far.
          Later this month I will be continuing our work with walkthrough observations and starting to schedule full period observations with our probationary staff.  This is a great opportunity to spark conversations to help our teachers grow.

SMS Principal's Report:  Mrs. Burton
          Staff Member/Program Spotlight:  SMS is fortunate to have wonderful staff throughout the hallways!  This month, I would like to highlight the talents and contributions of longtime Warrior, Mr. Randy Martin.  Mr. Martin has been teaching in Schuyler for his entire career spanning four decades.   He is a loving husband, father, and grandfather, and he truly enjoys serving others. 
          A few years ago, I asked Mr. Martin to create a new Advanced Art class for 8^th grade students.  He jumped on the opportunity, and he has continued to further develop our SMS students in their love of the subject, as well fine tuning their craft.
          Mr. Martin is a friendly face each morning welcoming staff and students, and sometimes blessing us with his famous chocolate chip cookies!  He also has a calming presence at lunch supervision each day interacting with staff and students alike.  He is an important culture builder at SMS, as he is a mentor and friend to all.  We are blessed to have Mr. Martin on our team!  He bleeds Schuyler Green!
          SMS is heavy invested in whole staff, departmental, and individualized professional development.  We continue to partner with ESU 7, NWEA, NDE, and Discovery Education to provide high-level opportunities to grow each of our staff members.  The vast majority of our staff work tirelessly dedicating themselves to the growth of our young Warriors! 
          Mr. Zavadil and I continue to work with teachers by offering them coaching, feedback, and in class observation.  MAP testing is completed at SMS, so we will work with staff to set benchmark goals for the remainder of the school year.
          Notable SMS dates include:
          October 8^th-RESPECT Training for Students and Staff (1:45 p.m. dismissal)
          October 10^th-All Staff APL Training (no school)
         October 9^th/11^th- New Staff APL Training
         October 18^th- PT Conferences 8:00 a.m. -4:00 p.m. and 5:00-9:00 p.m. (no school)
         October 25^th- Lights on After School Event at SES
         November 2^nd- BETA-MEN Conference at UNK

SCHS Assistant Principal's Report:  Mr. Kasik
          Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  Melanie Gustafson is in her second year here at SCHS where she teaches Language Arts and coaches Speech and Play Production.  She has also taught at Leigh and Lakeview.  She grew up in Osmond but has lived in Columbus for 14 years.  Her and her husband have 3 boys, 1 girl and 2 dogs.  Their youngest son Cullan attends our dual language school. Mrs. Gustafson says ,"the best part of SCHS is the sense of belonging. The teachers are welcoming and easy to work with, and the students are cooperative and want to succeed. Being in charge of the play and the speech team has given me an extra opportunity to create my own school family. The kids who are a part of those teams have become "my kids." I find myself with a special connection to them, and I find myself working harder for them because I want them each to find success."
          Notable Topics:  Mr. Grammer and I have made over 100 visits to classrooms this fall and continue to coach our teachers.  Our next big public event will be hosting the Nebraska Supreme Court oral briefs on November 2^nd.  We are working out all the logistics to make this a great event.

SCHS Principal's Report:  Mr. Grammer                    
          Program Spotlight:  Our high school has for the past two years have been planning and preparing to implement a new program at the high school.  The new program, which we started this year is ‘Broadcasting’.  In Broadcasting students develop multimedia skills in relation to broadcasting.  For the past three years the district has developed a broadcasting class at the middle school.  Mrs. Hall, Librarian at SMS, has done a great job of growing this program and a very successful class it has become.  The problem was that these students who had developed skills in the area of broadcasting and nowhere to go at the high school.  So, at the high school we needed to implement a broadcasting class at SCHS for those students to continue to develop their broadcasting skills.  This is the first year we are running the class at the high school and has had success so far this year.
          Staff Member Spotlight:  The staff member to be recognized for their work in the high school is Mrs. Mandy Peterson.  Mrs. Peterson has been a Librarian/Teacher in our district for the past twelve years and specifically at the high school for the past five years.  She has taken on the challenge of our Broadcasting class and program at the high school.  She works with Mrs. Hall to have a smooth transition between programs. She received her Bachelors degree from Baptist Bible College in Missouri and her Masters from UNO.  Her husband, Scott and her have a 13 year old daughter and a 7 year old son.  Mrs. Peterson has taken on the Broadcasting program, mentioned above, with energy and enthusiasm.  She has helped to grow this program and bring fun to the halls and classrooms of SCHS.   Students are lucky to have her as a teacher and staff are lucky to have her as a colleague.
          Event Highlight:  I would like to highlight a couple events that will be taking place in the next couple of months a SCHS. First, is the ‘Apply 2 College’ event.  On October 30^th and 31^st Seniors will sign up with a college.  This an opportunity for them to practice filling out college forms.  This is a EducationQuest event and is a part of our grant.
          The Hispanic-Latino Summit is on October 30^th in Columbus at CCC’s campus.  We usually send 20 to 25 students.  Last year, we had three students receive scholarships at this event.
          Our Warrior Showcase is coming up on October 18th.  This event is during our Parent - Teacher Conferences. This will be a time to visit with teachers and a time to recognize our students for their talents.

Rationale: 
SES Youth Sports Director's Report:  Mr. Kovar
          Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to spotlight Jason Wehner. Mr. Wehner has volunteered as a flag football coach for 5th and 6th grade the last two years. He has gone above and beyond working with this group. He has scheduled 7 on 7 passing league games with other schools in the fieldhouse to help develop our football players. This group is now in 7th grade, and the hard work is showing up in results on the field. They ended their season with a decisive 40-18 victory over Seward. This is just one example of someone who is putting in the time and effort to help improve our kids and programs, and help them to be ready for the next level of competition.

SMS Activities Director's Report:  Mr. Zavadil
          Program Spotlight:  Middle School athletics fall season is coming to a close this week.  Our Girls Volleyball team has more than doubled the number of wins from last year and shown a great deal of improvement.  Our Cross Country team finished up with 7 students entered and competing in the State Cross Country meet last Saturday.  And Finally our Boys Football finished their season last week against Seward.  The 7^th grade boys team lost by 1 touchdown to West Point 7^th grade and beat the Wayne 7^th grade by 3 touchdowns two weeks ago.
          Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to recognize the work of Mr. Burton and Mr. Wehner in Football this season.  The 7^th grade team under Mr. Wehner improved tremendously and is showing a lot of promise.  Mr. Burton has been very organized and has worked tirelessly with a smaller 8^th grade group this season putting in extra time on Saturdays to build the program.  Both Mr. Wehner and Mr. Burton have spent a lot of time outside of the season to work with SMS football players on 7on7 skills and camps.  The work is really starting to show especially with our 7^th grade group.
         Upcoming Activities:   I look forward to the beginning of Wrestling and Girls Basketball in the next month at SMS.  Mr. Kasik and I will be attending the State AD convention the 1^st weekend in November. 

SCHS Activities Director:  Mr. Kasik
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  Our Boys Cross Country program is led by  Rick Carter.  Mr. Carter is in his 13^th year at Schuyler, before this he taught in Stanton and also Vermont.  He grew up in Vestel, New York.  He and his wife have 6 boys and 2 girls with 2 of them still at home.  The best part about being in Schuyler is working with students and athletes who really want to be the best that they can be, it is truly a pleasure to watch them grow as student and/or athletes.
Notable Topics:  Girls Golf finished the season with 9 golfers 8 of which are freshman.  Softball has districts on 10/4 sitting with three wins at this time, (Up from 1 last year).  Cross Country has districts on 10/11 at South Souix City.  Both teams have been doing very well with the boys and girls finishing 1^st and 2^nd respectfully at their last meet.  Football is on a two game winning streak for our JV’s and VB heads to Conference this coming week.  Striv TV was here filming a public service segment on Monday.

SES/SMS Afterschool Director's Report:  Mrs. Bebout
          Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I have a family who is struggling this year financially so I thought I would put on Facebook to see if anyone would like to help sponsor them.  The support I have received just in the 1st hour as I am writing this heartwarming. One of the donors said it perfectly, "I think $10 a month is a steal for a program the kids love. It really puts things into perspective to know someone can't afford that."  I would just like to give a big THANK YOU to those who are helping!!
Highlight Upcoming Events:
Horn-T Zoo - Sept 12th - K-2 students will take a trip to the zoo and decorate a pumpkin!
Light’s ON - Nov 1st - We have Edgerton ExplorIT coming to do a presentation.  We will also have hands-on activities and dinner.
Ruff House - Nov 2nd - 3rd & 4th grade & Nov 16th 5th - 8th grade will have a great experience.

SCHS Director of Student Services:  Dr. Lefdal
          Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to spotlight Scott Petersen in our Warrior Achievement Center.  We have been working diligently to get more students the help they need to be more successful at SCHS.  He has done an excellent job of helping our students!!
          Notable Topics:  We are almost done with our first quarter of using UNL High School at SCHS.  We still have things to work on, but we have students who are keeping and regaining credit.  Although this programming might not be for all students, it is exceptional programming and UNL has been wonderful to work with during this first quarter.
          Looking ahead:  I am excited to be part of the safety and security programming this month as well as the APL training.  It is exciting to learn new programming and revisit others. Thank you for the wonderful opportunity!

Special Education Director's Report:  Mrs. Vrba
          Program Spotlight:  "The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do!". This quote sums up our special education department's first quarter! It is only human nature to fear change, doubt your abilities during the change process, as well as   your decision to make the change! As we have been working through developmental changes at all levels with programs or personnel, we have been constantly reminding ourselves that we need to stay focused on what is best for "our students"! I have been so proud of my department's tenacity!

          Staff Member Spotlight:  Lori Benesch needs a moment to shine in the spotlight...(She wouldn't think so!) She is always behind the scenes with a smile and working quietly!) Lori has been teaching in the Schuyler School system for 23 years. She is one of the most patient and selfless teachers at SMS. She is willing to put in numerous hours in to ensure our students' success. Lori is also the manager of our SRS, Student Records System, which allows us to share special education records with most schools in Nebraska. Her skills on SRS and in the classroom make her absolutely a priceless gift to our students and all her colleagues!

Curriculum and Assessment Director's Report:  Dr. Gibbons

2017 - 2018 State Assessments - We are still awaiting results from the state department.  I will plan on creating a one page data infographic for you when I have information that I can share.

School Improvement Grant - MAP Testing is finishing up at the high school.  We will set building goals based on the MAP assessment, then, as part of the grant, teachers will receive an additional stipend if the goals are met.

Professional Development Spotlight - Over the last month, we have had the following professional development activities across the district.  

• September 14 - Middle School Language Arts had a follow-up for their new StudySync program.

• September 14 - High School Teachers learned about online English Learner professional development modules through UNL.

• September 18 - The District Steering Committee and Administrators meet with representatives from Renaissance and NWEA to learn about potential assessment systems.

• September 19 - 21 - The high school had Judy and Suzanne from Discovery Ed to work with our Digital Leader Corps.

• September 24 - Mrs. Burton and I attended a workshop on NWEA MAP assessment.

• September 25 - 28, Dacia Jones of Discovery Ed was here working with our high school project-based learning team.

• October 3 - Mrs. Burton and I attended a STEM Leadership workshop that was held at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.

• October 4 - Our English Language Learner teachers had a training on Ellevation which is an online data warehouse and information system for our EL students.

• October 5 - The elementary teachers (SES, Richland and Fisher’s) had follow-up training on Wonders and the Focused Teacher Evaluation Model.

We also have training this week on our APL instructional strategies.  Teachers new to the district will have training October 9, 10 and 11.  All district teachers will have a refresher course on October 10.

Rationale:  1.  Negotiations Initial Meeting Date:  Monday October 22nd or 29th.  Required to meet at least once prior to November 1st.
2.  NASB Area Membership Meeting:  Thanks to Rich Brabec for attending the NASB Area Membership Meeting last Wednesday in Norfolk
3.  NASB State Education Conference:  November 14-16  @ LaVista Conference.
4.  Job Descriptions:  Updated job descriptions are posted on the district webpage under "Careers".  These will be on the November Agenda for board approval. 

Spotlight Program/Staff Members:  Dr. Gibbons and District School Improvement Steering Committee.  Dr. Gibbons and the district school improvement steering committee have updated our Schuyler Instructional Model to include instructional elements from priority school consultants.  In addition, they developed a comprehensive assessment program outlined in the attached Assessment System Guidebook.  These systems tie instruction to assessment and provide data to inform instruction in the classroom on a regular basis.  Dave will have copies of these documents at the meeting for your review.

Rationale: 
1.  Click on the Agenda Item
2.  Scroll down and click on  box in the upper right corner of the link below to see information from the Foundation meeting and webpages.
3.  Pages include the agendas, financial reports, By-Laws, Articles of Incorporation, etc...