October 12, 2020 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 front 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: 

Sports

*Conference cross country on Thursday

*Football has two more home games left - dance team and band will perform at half-time

Seniors took the ACT and juniors took the PreACT on September 29th - Mrs. Bertrand and Ms. J provided snacks for break time - I think the test went well. 

 

Shout out to teachers that we recognize are working hard

Mr. Godejohn, Mrs. Gustafson, Mr. Sayer, Mr. Carter

Vanessa Uriostegui was won 1st place in the Hispanic Heritage essay contest for 11th and 12th graders.  She was awarded this honor at the state capitol and won a cash prize.

Rationale:  This committee is responsible for annual review of board policies, handbooks, and crisis/safety plans.  This committee is also responsible for the support and development of support programs(nursing, food service) in the district.

Rationale: 
Most changes from this year’s Legislative Session have already been dealt with in previous Policy Updates, but this email includes three more revisions and one new policy.
Policy 402.15 Staff Conduct With Students has some revisions to incorporate mandates from LB1080 and has had a general cleanup of prohibited conduct descriptions. As in the past, this policy may require some discussion within your administration and staff to determine whether all the prohibitions are appropriate for your district, but the various requirements of LB1080 must be kept. I’ll be glad to answer any questions that may arise.
Policy 404.02 Employee Injury On The Job meets the requirements of LB1186 which adds a seven-day period of Injury Leave for certain cases of employee injury.
Policy 404.13 School Closure Under Extraordinary Circumstances address a paragraph in 79-8,106 and is also a policy that may be requested by federal authorities if staff pay during emergency closure involves federal grants.
Policy 503.04 Addressing Barriers To Attendance has one brief revision to add illnesses related to mental health as a reason for consideration in addressing barriers to attendance for individual students.

I have also attached redline versions of the three revisions for your use.  Thank you for your interest in school policy.
Jim Luebbe,  NASB Director of Policy Services
 

Rationale:  This committee is responsible for recommending approval of building/grounds and transportation programs, vehicle replacement schedule, building and maintenance and upgrade schedule.

Rationale:  We have been in discussion with Chris Langemeir on the specifics of advertising and possible sale of the building and real estate at Distric 4R.  This discussion began last spring following the purchase of the Schuyler Nursing Home.  When COVID-19 hit our school and community forcing the school closure, we put those discussions on hold.
     This fall the board building and grounds committee began discussion again on options originally discussed last spring.  Since that time, the building has been used as storage, so we would have to remove the items we wanted to sell, and place the other items on auction. 
     Last week the building and grounds decided to pursue a contract with Chris Langemeier (Land Mark Management and Realty) and present this option to the board for their consideration at the October 12th school board meeting.  See the attached information provided below.

Rationale: 
As explained in our September board meeting, we received a grant for $42,000 to replace our oldest bus on our fleet.  According to the grant requirement, the bus needed to replace an old bus on our fleet, be traded in for scrap, and replaced by a bus of similar make and capacity.
     Following our meeting last month, there was some discussion about investigating the purchase of an activity bus (coach) with more amenities for our longer trips.  The requirements for a coach bus include minimum size and weight and all of them required a different class of license.  These buses may not be eligible for grant use.
     Based on this information we are recommending the board choose from the two bus bids we have received.  The bids are within $1,000 of each other with the more expensive bus giving a $1,000 discount for prepaying. 
     We recommend staying with the 71 passenger, Blue Bird bus.  This make is similar to the buses we have in our fleet and would be easier for the drivers currently driving our activity buses for activities.

Rationale:  This committee is responsible for recommending the annual district calendar, strategic planning process, technology, and promoting positive public relations and communications program.

Rationale: 
Due to COVID-19 and professional development needs, we are recommending amending the 2020-21 school calendar:  No School:  October 19-23.
     Last month we asked the board to amend the school calendar to allow for APL Professional Development, October 20-22.  This proposal was to accommodate travel for the consultants.  Following the meeting, we reviewed the professional development commitments for 2020-21, made accommodations for Capturing Kids Hearts, and added technology workshops for the week of  October 19-23. 
     The Department of Education has just released a change to student attendance hours to allow for 48 hours of professional development to be counted as student hours.  This request would not exceed 40 hours.  See attached schedule for staff workshops and letter from Commissioner Blomstedt allowing up to 48 hours of PD.

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

Rationale: 
1.  Karina Reynoso:  Para Educator - SES

Rationale: 
1.  Kiara Gonzolez:  Para Educator - Preschool
2.  Rocio Garcia:  Para Educator - SES

Rationale: 

High school administrators met with KLK on September 16th, 17th, 29th, 30th, and October 8th, 9th via zoom. During this time we once again conducted teacher observations utilizing zoom technology and the coaching strategy called 5 minute feedback with value add.  The meetings were efficient and beneficial.  We focused our energy on a few priority strategies including our intervention protocol, student engagement, and differentiated instruction.  These tie directly to our Student and Staff Culture goal, specifically action items #1 and #2. 
     We continue to work on our intervention process, we have had a number of teachers offer to help work through this process.  We have also continued our work on our attendance protocols.  Kelsey and I have been working diligently to have these processes in place.  
     Our highlighted improvement goal this month is construct strategies to remove barriers to student learning. 
     Improvement Goal:   Schuyler Central High School will identify and construct strategies to remove barriers to student learning, track graduation progress annually for 100% of students, and increase graduation rates to at or above the State average by 2020-2021.  The action item that correlates to this item is to  Implement the SCHS Intervention Protocol to ensure the  "failure is not final" mindset and utilize supports for student learning (such as intervention, counseling, Alternative Ed program, a focus on learning versus grading, improved Newcomers program, credit recovery, Warrior Achievement Center, etc.) so that barriers are removed from learning and students master intended  content standards.

https://core-docs.s3.amazonaws.com/documents/asset/uploaded_file/908802/Draft_2018-2021_Schuyler_Priority_Plan__1_.pdf 

Rationale: 
Preschool and SES 3-5 Principal's Report:  Mr. Comley
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I want to highlight Molly Parsons. Mrs. Parsons has done a great job helping the Preschool through the start of the year. Mrs Parsons is always willing to help with anything, and is extremely devoted to making Schuyler Schools a better place. For these reasons and many more I want to say thank you to Mrs Parsons!

SES K-2 Principal's Report:  Mrs. Neesen                             
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight the work of Mitzi Santos. Mitzi has taken on the responsibility of managing the lunch room with poise and professionalism. She has done an outstanding job with helping others to succeed while ensuring the safety and smooth running of the lunch room. Thank you Mitzi!! 

Fisher’s, & Richland Principal's Report:  Ms. Bebout
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight Carol Reha this month.  She was born and raised on a farm northwest of Schuyler.  Carol went to grade school at Fisher’s and graduated from Schuyler High School.  From there she moved to Omaha to attend college at Clarkson College for School of Nursing.  She lived in Bellwood for two years and returned to Schuyler in 1978.  Carol worked for Butler Co Healthcare Center for 15 years and CHI Schuyler Memorial Hospital for 20 years.  Carol has been a school nurse for the rural schools, the middle school, and the preschool for 13 years.  She married her husband, Russ, in October 1976, they were married for 43 years!!  Carol and Russ had four boys Chris, Curt, Cole, and Craig.  She also has four grandsons Kyler, Cohen, Grayson, and Rhett.
     Carol has been so helpful since school started!!  Carol is the school nurse for the middle school, Fisher’s, Richland, and the preschool.  This year she has a lot on her plate.  One thing I most appreciate about Carol is no matter what is going on she always has a smile and a great attitude.  This is the same no matter if it is during the school day, in the evening, on the weekend or even her day off when she is with her brand new grandchild!  Carol makes everyone feel welcome to call her with any and all questions.  We are blessed to have her on our staff!!

 

Middle School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mr. Banahan:

Program/Staff Member Spotlight: For this month's Staff Spotlight, I would like to recognize Mrs. Bobbie Rocheford, 8th grade English teacher. Mrs. Rocheford has done an amazing job of reviewing content with her students, as they are working through the story of "Tom Sawyer" this last month. She has done a variety of review games to keep the students engaged, and actively thinking about what is going on in the story of "Tom Sawyer". One of the review games, students were working as a team doing a relay race where students had to run a lap around the desks, before their group could answer the next question. This allowed for the students to collaborate as a team, and they could help ensure that all students are understanding the content. The students do an awesome job reviewing this way, as they are held to high expectations, and Mrs. Rocheford has developed a relationship with each student, which allows her to have those high expectations and to talk to the students who are not meeting the expectations. She does a great job of building, maintaining and restore relationships with students throughout the year, and you can see that when you walk into her classroom. 

Middle School Principal's Report:  Mr. Zavadil

Program Spotlight:   Schuyler Middle School implemented some strategic interventions last year wherein teachers use our STAR testing data to provide very specific instruction to our students on Fridays after school.  We have structured it to be a very positive environment where students get an opportunity to practice important content.  Unfortunately we did not get to see the fruits of our labor last spring when the state suspended NSCAS testing, however, even with our added protocols we have been able to pick up where we left off and we feel that the tireless efforts of our teachers will be recognizable when we take the next assessments in the spring.

Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to also Highlight the work of Mrs. Nolan,  she is a 6th grade Science teacher for us.  During a recent walkthrough observation I was very impressed by seeing her use of APL strategies to get students talking about Science.  Last year Mrs. Nolan stepped into a new role at the Middle School teaching Science and she is doing a great job implementing the new NGSS, using collaborative practices and she has joined our STEM leadership team as well.   We are lucky to have her.
Upcoming Events:  The Middle School is very excited for parent teacher conferences.  We feel we have a very good plan put together that will allow us to reach all of our families and do it safely.  We have worked hard with the other buildings in the district to create these protocols and practices and are looking forward to a good event to bring parents into our building.

High School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mr. Kasik
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to spotlight our Skilled and Technical Science Department.  They are led by Mark Wemhoff and Don Seehusen.  This department offers a variety of career paths ranging from architecture, construction, and exploration in other fields.  The capstone course in construction is in it’s 21^st year of building a residential home.
Person Spotlight:  For person spotlight I want to recognize our two counselors, Ms Johnson and Ms Bertrand.  While dealing with all the typical counseling duties they also are instrumental in coaching kids up when they run into discipline problems as well as career guidance and test administering.  Their work is valuable.
Upcoming Events:  We are on the heals of some exciting Professional Development that will be great for our staff.  This will be refresher meetings as well as new for some of our staff.

High School Principal's Report:  Mr. Grammer
Program Spotlight:  For the past five years, at the high school, we have worked hard to develop a solid, strong, Library/Media Center program in the high school.  Last year our Librarian took a new position and that left an opening as Librarian with in the high school.  We anticipated difficulty in filling the position because of the lack of candidates.  We tried many different areas to advertise, throughout the summer and we even tried calling colleges personally to see if they had any midterm graduates, and we still had no candidates.  This left us with a challenge in providing Library services for SCHS.  Rule 10 required a minimum of .5 certified teacher and full-time para educator.   With change in teachers, we were able to provide a certified teacher and a new para was hired to take over the Library position. These two individuals have done a tremendous job of keeping our Library program up and running. It was a challenge but it has been a seamless transition, which has allowed us to provide services for our students.
Staff Member Spotlight:  The staff members to be recognized for their diligent work in the high school this past nine weeks are Mr. Scott Petersen and Mrs. Becky Lefdal.  These two individuals work hard every day, a lot of the times behind the scenes, to provide a well run , organized Library for our students and staff.  They took over the Library at the beginning of our school year.  They provide the same services as our Librarian did these past couple of years. Whether it be greeting students, checking out books, checking out computers, or running The Warrior Achievement Center, the Library is a successful program at SCHS. Both Mr. Petersen and Mrs. Lefdal have taken on the responsibility of providing a Library we can all be proud of. Thank you for continual and diligent hard work everyday.
Event Spotlight
Priority School:  The high school continues to work with the state’s priority plan, KLK training and coaching, Discovery Ed Coaching, Discovery Ed Project Based Learning, APL, Capturing Kids Hearts, and Star 360.  All parts are striving to provide for a successful school year @ SCHS
Parent - Teacher Conferences, October 13th from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. and October 14^th from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  We look forward to seeing you at our conferences.

Rationale: 

K-6 Youth Sports Director's Report:  Mrs. Neesen
Program Spotlight:  Starting this school year, we will be giving Youth Sport coaches the opportunity to run their programs alongside the After School Program. This will allow for students to have more skill day practice, lessening fatigue between activities, with resulting in a positive experience for our young athletes. Thank you to the After School Program for collaborating with Youth Sports and making this a possibility for our students! 

Warrior Academy - After-School Program Director's Report:  Ms. Bebout
Spotlight Upcoming Events:  Warrior Academy will be co-hosting a Trunk or Treat with the Schuyler Chamber on Thursday, Oct 22nd 5:30-7:00 p.m.  We are hosting this activity for our Lights On event.  Lights On is an activity that ALL after-school programs across the United States participate in to celebrate all the good work that after-school programs provide their communities.  We are excited to partner with many amazing businesses and community families to make this a successful Trunk-or-Treat.  If you are interested in hosting a ‘Trunk’ please feel free to contact me!  We would love to have your participation.  We are expecting around 450 trick-or-treaters.  This will be held outside the Oak Ballroom.

Middle School Activities Director's Report: 
Program/Staff Member Spotlight: We are wrapping up the Middle School Sports season, on Monday with games against Columbus Lakeview to finish the season. Our records up to this point in time are as follows, 7A (6-6), 7B (3-5), 8A (0-12), 8B (4-8). The girls have shown great improvement over the course of the season and they were playing with more confidence with each game. Cross Country wrapped up it’s season on October 1st at Raymond Central, we finished with a 3rd place team finish on the boys side, and the girls finished 7th as a team. Overall, the season was very successful with highlights coming from the Schuyler Invitational for the girls with a 1st Place Finish, and the Boys took Runner-Up at both Schuyler Invitational and the Wayne Invite. Football finished up this season on Thursday, with a 14-0 win over David City. The 8th grade team finished (3-3) and the 7th grade team finished (1-4) on the season. Both teams had tremendous growth as the season progressed, and they continued to battle hard through the entire season. 

Spotlight Upcoming Events: Our final home volleyball game is on Monday 10/12 against Lakeview, this will wrap up our Fall Season and we begin practices for Wrestling and Girls Basketball on October 26th.

High School Activities Director's Report:  Mr. Kasik
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to spotlight our Girls Golf Program.  They are led by Shanda Hall in her second year as head coach.  It has been great to see steady growth from all athletes in this program.  They have gone from a group of girls who struggled to field a team to a team that is starting to beat other teams on a consistent basis.  They will do nothing but get better in the future.  Great Job!
Staff Member Spotlight:  For person spotlight I want to recognize Rick Carter.  Mr. Carter heads our boys cross Country team.  They are a competitive group that has brought home hardware from a couple of tournaments this year.  Mr. Carter works hard to peak his team at the right time and takes his sport very seriously.  Good work Mr. Carter
Upcoming Events:  We are beginning to reach the end of our Softball, Girls Golf and Cross Country seasons with Football and Volleyball in the next few weeks.  We also look forward to opening our athletic facility in the next couple of weeks, it is going to be a great venue!

Student Services Director's Report:  Dr. Lefdal
Program Spotlight:  I would like to spotlight Amy Johnson, Katie Bertrand, and Brandi Zavadil in our counseling and EL programming.  The three of them have been working diligently on ACT, EL newcomers programming, EL, remote learning, and equal access for all students.  They have also been working with students' emotional support and creating a safe environment where they can receive help.  We have seen some amazing success so far with the programs that we have put in place, and Amy, Katie, and Brandi are key factors in those programs success.   Our counseling staff are a kind, yet structured group that are truly making a difference with our students and in our school!!
Notable Topics:  The new addition is simply amazing.  As the whole project continues to come together, it is exciting to see our students getting excited to use the space.  It is also neat to see how proud our students are of the building and the addition. 
Looking ahead:  I am excited to see the one act play.  The students and coaches have been putting in some late nights and it is great to see so many students excited and engaged in the process.

Special Education Director's Report:  Mrs. Vrba
Spotlight Program: The Special Education Department is excited to welcome April Becker, Jennifer Novak, Caitlin Becker and Tyler Petersen. We, also, have three newlyweds: Blake Neumann got married at the end of July, Tyrell Reichert tied the knot at the end of August and are super excited for Leigh Heese who became Leigh Schnoor at the end of September.
     The SPED Team has been working diligently to assist their students as they try to transition get back into the routine of having a structured day of classes. By the middle of September, all of the case managers were "officially" finished with meetings and paperwork from the abrupt ending to the 2019-2020 school year.
     We are all excited for the new challenges facing us in the 2020-2021 school year...I have the privilege of working with this very talented group of educators!!

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction Director's Report:  Dr. Gibbons
Spotlight Program/Staff Member:   I appreciate the work of our school counselors in each building that work to organize and ensure completion of the major assessments that we take.  We gave the ACT and PreACT to seniors and juniors in September and Katie Betrand worked to make sure students completed the assessments, got them packaged and returned to ACT and organized a make-up session for those who missed .  Paula Kment has gone all out to get students at Schuyler Middle School all caught up in the MAP Assessments.  Meridith Riha has organized the MAP Assessments at Schuyler Elementary.  
Spotlight Upcoming Events:  We have a packed schedule for our PD Week.  All teachers and paraprofessionals will be engaged in professional development sessions being put on by our IT Staff, other teachers, specialists from the ESU, Apple, and consultants from companies we work with.  A draft of the schedule is attached to this meeting.

Rationale: 
Program Spotlight:  I want to spotlight the transportation program.  They have gone above and beyond to follow safety protocols on their bus.  The school to school routes and morning and afterschool routes to Lonnie's Trailer Park are working well.  Thanks to Ron Mundil, Renee Brabec, and the drivers for making this work.

2021-22 Certificated Staff Negotiations:  By statute, we need to meet before November 1st.  We suggest meeting on Monday, October 19th at the board room at 6:30 PM.  I have a negotiations notebook for the board members on the negotiations committee.

October 20th from 3:00 - 5:00:  High School Open House and Ribbon Cutting for Phase I and II New facilities.  Tours from 3:00 to 5:00 PM.  Ribbon Cutting at 4:00 PM.  This is hosted by the Foundation.  Would like as many board members as possible in attendance. 

1st Quarter Staff Recognition:  We have scheduled the first quarter staff recognition and district zoom meeting for Friday, October 23rd from 8:00-9:00.  The recognition is hosted by the Foundation and Chamber of Commerce.

Rationale:  1.  Foundation Meeting Update.