January 9, 2023 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: 
1.  Congratulations to Virginia Semerad on her election to the board of education and to Amanda Jedlicka on her appointment to the board.

2.  Congratulations to Rich Brabec and Brian Vavricek on their re-election to the board of education.

3.  Rich, Brian, Virginia and Amanda:  Read and sign the oath of office.

 

Rationale: 
2022 Board Offices
President:  Rich Brabec                                   Vice President - Brian Vavricek
Secretary - Alejandrina Lanuza                       Treasurer - Chuck Misek
NASB Delegate - Renee Sayer                        Recording Secretary -  Shelley Friesz

2023 Board Offices
President -                                                      Vice President -
Secretary -                                                     Treasurer -
NASB Delegate -                                          Recording Secretary -
 

Rationale: 
Board Policy 203.01:  The superintendent shall assume chairmanship of the meeting for the purpose of electing a board president. Ballots for officers may be cast in secret but the total vote for each candidate shall be recorded by the secretary.

Process for Office Nominations:
1.  Board member makes a nomination for the position  (no second needed)
2.  If more than one member is nominated for an office, written votes should be used and passed to the recording secretary for count.
3.  If only one nomination is made, any member of the board may make a motion for nominations to cease and cast a unanimous ballot for the nominee.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.

 

Rationale: 
Process for Office Nominations:
1.  Board member makes a nomination for the position  (no second needed)
2.  If more than one member is nominated for an office, written votes should be used and passed to the recording secretary for count.
3.  Recommended Motion:  If only one nomination is made, any member of the board may make a motion for nominations to cease and cast a unanimous ballot for the nominee.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.
4.  Recommended Motion:  If more than one nomination, any board member may make a motion to call for the ballot vote.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.
 

Rationale: 
Process for Office Nominations:
1.  Board member makes a nomination for the position  (no second needed)
2.  If more than one member is nominated for an office, written votes should be used and passed to the recording secretary for count.
3.  Recommended Motion:  If only one nomination is made, any member of the board may make a motion for nominations to cease and cast a unanimous ballot for the nominee.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.
4.  Recommended Motion:  If more than one nomination, any board member may make a motion to call for the ballot vote.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.
 

Rationale: 
Process for Office Nominations:
1.  Board member makes a nomination for the position  (no second needed)
2.  If more than one member is nominated for an office, written votes should be used and passed to the recording secretary for count.
3.  Recommended Motion:  If only one nomination is made, any member of the board may make a motion for nominations to cease and cast a unanimous ballot for the nominee.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.
4.  Recommended Motion:  If more than one nomination, any board member may make a motion to call for the ballot vote.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.

Rationale: 
Process for Office Nominations:
1.  Board member makes a nomination for the position  (no second needed)
2.  If more than one member is nominated for an office, written votes should be used and passed to the recording secretary for count.
3.  Recommended Motion:  If only one nomination is made, any member of the board may make a motion for nominations to cease and cast a unanimous ballot for the nominee.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.
4.  Recommended Motion:  If more than one nomination, any board member may make a motion to call for the ballot vote.  Motion must have a second, followed by a voice roll call vote.

Rationale: 
This can be an appointed position by the newly elected board president.  In the past you have appointed Shelley Friesz for this position.
 

Rationale: 

Committees will be appointed by the president of the board.  These committees are created for specific tasks of seeking information or investigation and will report back to the board for its consideration and action.  Committee action is considered to be advisory only.  The following committees are appointed at the annual board organizational meeting for one year.

Americanism, Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction:  Responsible for reviewing curriculum recommendations, textbook selection, staff requisitions and inventory.  This is the only committee required by law (79-724)  3 members required.  (2022 - Alejandrina Lanuza, Renee Sayer, Guadalupe Marino)
 
Board Policy/Handbooks/Support Programs:  Responsible for annual review of board policies, handbooks, and safety/crisis plan. 2-3 members recommended.  Following the Americanism Committee Meeting.  (2022 - Rich Brabec, Renee Sayer, Guadalupe Marino)

Public Relations/Strategic Planning/Calendar:  Responsible for recommending the annual district calendar, strategic planning process, and promoting positive public relations and communication.  2-3 members recommended.   Following the Policy Committee Meeting.  (2021 -  Alejandrina Lanuza, Chuck Misek, Renee Sayer)

Building/Grounds/Transportation:  Responsible for recommending approval of the building and grounds and transportation programs, vehicle replacement schedule, building maintenance and upgrade schedule)  3 members recommended.  (2022 - Chuck Misek, Brian Vavricek, Rich Brabec)

Budget/Finance/Negotiations:  Responsible for budget, finance, contract negotiations with administration, certificated staff negotiations and support staff contracts. 3 members recommended.  Following the Bldg/Grnds/Transportation meeting or following the board meeting.  (2021 - Chuck Misek, Rich Brabec, Brian Vavricek)

Foundation Committee:  Responsible for working with the Schuyler Community Schools Foundation.  2 Members Required in Bylaws.  The foundation meets the first Monday of the month at 12:00 PM.  (2022 - Brian Vavricek and Alejandrina Lanuza)


*  Special temporary committees of the Board, except as specified by statute, may be appointed by the president or chosen by a vote of the Board as needed.  The function of all such committees shall be fact-finding, deliberative and advisory, but never legislative or administrative.  When the specified purpose of all sub-committees are appointed to conform to statute.  The superintendent shall be an ex-officio member of all such committees.

Rationale: 
1.  All School Board Members:  Complete and sign the conflict of interest document.

2.  Board Committees/Self-Evaluation:  Attached below is the board committee interest form and self-evaluation for all board members to review.  This is not a required evaluation, just an opportunity for you to check yourself. 

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

Rationale:  See attached report.

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: 
The board of education upon reorganization of the board is also to reaffirm all policies, regulations and handbooks for the governance of the district.  It is general practice, unless mandated by law, to review policies, regulations, and handbooks prior to the beginning of the new school year.

Board policies are hosted electronically by the Nebraska Association of School Boards.  Policy changes are provided through two law firms (Perry, Guthery, Haase, and Gessford, P.C., L.L.O and KSB School Law, PC, L.L.O).  These two law firms are hired by the Educational Service Units to provide policy updates in compliance with State and Federal Legislation.  The NASB codifies these policy recommendations and uploads them in their system. 

Policy Manual Updates
The 2022-23 policy manual  was updated last summer.  Jim Luebbe, Policy Director from NASB, worked with the policy committee to update the manual and bring handbooks into compliance with our current manual.

Rationale: 
Our head nurse, Tori Oehlrich, has been working with East Central Health Professionals to update our COVID-19 Return-to-Learn Plan. 

In addition to the plan is a set of updated COVID-19 Response Protocols.  These protocols are an addendum to the plan and are to be used to guide possible actions according to established operational zones. 

The plan is not policy and only needs one vote for approval.  See attached updated plan for the second semester.

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

Rationale:  The School District’s current telephone system is outdated and obsolete.  Replacement phones and parts can no longer be obtained.  The School District applied for and was awarded funds under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Act to procure a new district-wide telephone system to replace the existing district telephone system.  The School District develop and issued an invitation for bids on September 14, 2022, which sought bids from qualified telephone venders to provide the equipment and installation of anew telephone system.  Bids were received on October 21 from the following five (5) telephone system vendors:

• Allo Communications
• Kidwell
• Americom Communications
• GoTo Communications
• Applied Connective

Upon receipt of bids, School District administration thoroughly reviewed the bids and vetted and interviewed the vendors.  The bids from two bidders, Allo and Applied, were deemed insufficient, as the bids did not include pricing for all necessary components of the new telephone system.  Of the three other bidders, the bid from Americom provided the lowest equipment and monthly recurring costs, and was deemed the best system for the School District.

School District administration recommends awarding a contract to Americom Communications as the lowest responsible and best bidder for this project.  The contract amount would be $149,151, to be initially paid with School District funds. The School District would seek reimbursement of this amount through ESSER.
 

Rationale: 
1.  Aylin Adame:  Afterschool Coordinator
2.  Dan Hoesing:  Superintendent
3.  Michael Madej:  SMS Science/Math Teacher
4.  Belinda Wortman:  SES 2nd Grade Teacher

Rationale: 
1.  Misty Storms:  SMS Para Educator
2.  Jenna Banahan:  SMS Part-Time Nurse (4 Days)

Rationale: 
The board of education will hold a special meeting on Monday, January 16th at 6:30 PM with the selected vendor.  See attached vendor information. 
 

Rationale:  The 2022 Strategic Plan has been updated and is attached for your review.  Please take time to review the progress and action plans completed by staff, teachers and administrators.

A draft plan for the 2023 Strategic Plan is attached below.  This will be updated after the Workshops on January 16-18 and a final document will be presented for approval in February.
 

Rationale: 
Preschool and SES 3-5 Principal's Report:  Mr. Comley
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight Mark Wemhoff. I have been supervising girls wrestling meets lately, and honestly, over the last 2 years, I have seen a coach that cares deeply about his program and works with individuals during these events. At the last wrestling meet I watched Mr. Wemhoff, actually had an assistant coach get on the mat and show a young lady what to do while the girl was wrestling! That is good coaching and dedication. I have been impressed with Mr. Wemhoff and what he has done for Schuyler! Thank you Mr. Wemhoff

SES K-2 Principal's Report: Mrs. Keairnes
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight Vanessa Stanek! She is the technology coordinator at the Elementary School and she consistently goes above and beyond whatever tasks are thrown at her each day. She is very prompt to support staff with any technical needs throughout the day and has done a great job of updating our building website to keep the community informed about things happening in our building. She also fills in for nursing positions when needed. Vanessa maintains great relationships with all individuals in our building and is highly respected. 

Dual Language, Fisher’s, & Richland Principal's Report:  Ms. Bebout
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight Tasha Eldridge.   Tasha was born and raised in Denison, Iowa.  She has also lived in Sioux City, Red Oak, and Sidney, Iowa, and Douglas, Wyoming.  She currently resides just outside of David City.  She has worked for the school district since 2019.  She has also worked in Sidney/Farragut, Iowa and Gillette, Wyoming.  Tasha is married to Michael and has three children; Nathaniel-12, Jacob-10, and Olivia-7.  Tasha has a Bachelor of Music Degree (emphasis in Piano) and a Masters in Education.
Tasha resigned at the end of last year to pursue her baking business and have more time with her family.  This year she did a long-term sub position to help alleviate our music teacher’s schedule as we were unable to fill her position.  She put on an amazing Veterans Day Program and Christmas Musical.  She has such a great relationship with the students and we enjoyed having her back in our buildings this fall!  

Middle School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mr. Banahan
Spotlight Program: This month I would like to spotlight the work of our ELL department specifically Mr. Rod Ruybalid and Mrs. Angie Wemhoff. These two teachers work with a wide range of students who know little to no English when they start school here at SMS. They do a great job working with these students to get them to improve their English speaking, listening, writing, and reading skills which will help them learn in the classroom. These two teachers do a great job working with our students, even though at times it can seem like they are underappreciated or forgotten in the large picture of the school. We do appreciate the hard work they put into helping our students achieve success where they are and the continuous pushing as they encourage these students to continue to grow at high rates in our school.
Spotlight Upcoming Event:  At SMS, we are wrapping up our winter testing window for the Star, MAP, and NSCAS tests. Next month many of our students will begin the ELPA 21 Language Assessment. This assessment is for any student whose family's home language is not English. Students will have to continue to take this test until they are able to test out in the four areas that the test focuses on. The four areas that ELPA 21 focuses on include, writing, speaking, listening, and reading in the English language. Students are then given a score in those areas on a scale of 1-5 with 5 being the highest level for each area. How students do on this assessment will determine whether or not they are on the LEP (Limited English Proficiency) identified. Once students have tested out of their LEP program they no longer need to take the ELPA 21 assessment, as they have been identified as mastery of the English language.

Schuyler Middle School Principal's report:  Mr. Zavadil
Program Spotlight:  January is a perfect time for administration and teachers to get a lot of work and learning in before the distraction of spring events.  Our staff has returned from break ready to teach and excited to start the second semester strong.  Mrs. Wemhoff in our English Language Learner department will start work on goal setting conversations with our EL students that will be taking the ELPA test.  The ELPA is an annual test given to any student that has been identified as an English Language Learner and is a very difficult test to pass.  In fact, when we look at our achievement data our students that do pass the ELPA test are proving to be the highest performing students in the district.  Outperforming all other subgroups, which includes all race, socioeconomic status, Special Education status.  Which might indicate the level of difficulty of this test.  

Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight the work of Mrs. Kment.  She is the School counselor at Schuyler Middle School and serves our building in a myriad of capacities.  Mrs. Kment helps our students that are struggling with their emotions and relationships.  She works with Mr. Banahan to coordinate our MTSS programs.  Mrs. Kment sets up our state testing and works with administration to help create a working building schedule.  She sets up student schedules and serves as an invaluable member of our leadership team at the Middle School.  

Upcoming Events:  Schuyler Middle School staff have a busy January and February planned.  We will participate in the district professional development event that will take place on January 16-18th.  Our administration has two days this month scheduled to work with Discovery education STEM leadership training.  Our Capturing Kids’ Hearts representative from the Flippen organization will be coming to us to help us continue to grow our culture the week of January 23rd.   

High School Asst. Principal's Report:  Mr. Steinhoff
Staff Member  Spotlight:  This month I would like to spotlight Mr. Austin Hauptman.  Mr. Hauptman teaches physical education and health, and also coaches varsity football and junior high track.  This is Mr. Hauptman’s first year at the high school, and has been an excellent addition to our staff. He does an excellent job of building relationships with his students and teaching his content.  He is also a perfectionist, always working to improve his craft.  Mr. Hauptman has a knack for meeting students where they are working with them to move them towards their potential.

High School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mrs. Ladwig
Staff Member Spotlight: I would like to highlight the work of Mr. Rick Carter. Mr. Carter teaches Algebra I, Pre-Calculus, and Calculus at SCHS, and he also coaches cross country and track. As an extremely knowledgeable math teacher, Mr. Carter does everything he can to help students learn the content and be successful in both school and life. Mr. Carter works with kids before and after school as well as during summer school. Not only is Mr. Carter an advocate for our kids, but he is also a teacher leader in our building. He always has a smile on his face and does not hesitate to step up and help other teachers when needed. We are extremely grateful to have Mr. Carter as a part of our SCHS family!

High School Principal's Report:  Dr. Lefdal
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight Brandi Zavadil in our counseling department.  Brandi’s ability to reach students where they are, and set programming requirements as well as work with students transitioning into the country and our school is second to none.  He has helped create an amazing place for our newcomers and continues to make our program stronger every day.

Notable Topics:  I am excited to see how our wrestling program does this month.  Our boy’s and girl’s teams look very good and have been very competitive.  Our coaches have been doing an excellent job making sure students are keeping their grades up and focused on improvement.
Looking ahead:  I am excited for the professional development days in January.  I believe the speakers and the content will be great for our staff.  I appreciate all the work Dr. Gibbons, Dr. Hoesing, and the admin team have done to line up the speakers and organize the programs.  It is truly a great day to be a Warrior!

Rationale: 

Youth Sports Director's Report: Mrs. Keairnes
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight our girls youth basketball program! This year we have 68 girls in grades K-6th who have signed up to participate in youth basketball. The head coach is Mr. Brante Hayes and he has done a great job of coordinating practices and engaging some parent volunteers to help out with the program. 

Warrior Academy - AfterSchool Program Director's Report:  Ms. Bebout
Spotlight Partner: I would like to highlight our partnership with Pinnacle Bank.  They donated $330 to our afterschool program!  We greatly appreciate their constant support for the students in our district.  They have supported us over the years monetarily, by allowing students to come into the bank for a tour and to see the vault, and as speakers to our students.  This financial support will help with programming we offer to students.

Pinnacle Bank’s Mission Statement says, "At Pinnacle Bank, our mission is to serve our community, to provide value to our clients, to respect employees and provide shareholders with sustained growth and earnings with their investment."  I believe you see this example in our community!!!  Thank you very much!!

Middle School Activities Director's Report: Mr. Banahan
Spotlight Program: Here at SMS we are starting up our boys basketball season, and we currently have over 40 boys signed up to play basketball this year on our teams. We are excited to see some growth from our 8th-grade team from last season, and we are excited to see what our 7th-grade boys can do on the hardwood. We will have some new faces on the sidelines this season, as Mr. Chad Wiseman is taking over the helm from Mr. Schultz who was the head coach the last two years. We are excited about what our boys can do on the court this season, and want to thank Mr. Schultz for coaching the last two years. Joining Mr. Wiseman on the sidelines will be Mr. Petersen, Mr. Prososki, and Mr. Halvorsen. Our first game will be on January 17th vs Central City.
Spotlight Upcoming Event:  Mr. Brante Hayes along with the help of Mr. Wehner are working to get a 3-on-3 league going for our 5th-8th Schuyler girls interested in working on their basketball skills during the months of January and February on Saturday mornings from 10 AM-12 PM at SMS. We are hoping to help our girl basketball players to continue to develop their basketball skills. Along with basketball, Mrs. Richards and Miss Cruz will be working with some club volleyball girls and playing games in a winter league at Lakeview during the months of January and February as well. We are excited to see the work being put in by our coaches and athletes.

High School Activities Director's Report: Mr. Steinhoff
Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight Mrs. Renee Brabec.  Renee is an administrative assistant at the high school and does amazing work for both our transportation department and the activities department.  She is extremely organized, detail-oriented, and hard working.  She is passionate about everything Schuyler and our school and community and both benefit greatly from her dedication.
Program Spotlight:  In this month’s program spotlight I would like to highlight our high school boys wrestling team.  This past month, they have experienced a lot of success.  A few of their accomplishments are highlighted below:

• Defeated  both Lakeview and Scotus in our duals with them and are currently 9-3 in duals as a team.

• We finished first at the Wisner Pilger Invite

• Finished 2nd place at Rising City

• 12 out of our 14 varsity wrestlers have winning records.

Looking Ahead:  We host our annual boys and girls wrestling invite this weekend.  The girls varsity and boys junior varsity are on Friday, January 13th, the boys varsity meet is Saturday the 14th,  and our youth wrestling club hosts their youth tournament on Sunday the 15th.  All three of these meets should be very entertaining and provide elite competition for our athletes.

Special Education Director's Report:  Mrs. Vrba
Staff Member Spotlight:  Nadia was a 5th grade teacher last year and is teaching the parent classes at SES this year. She has answered our prayers and accepted the teaching position for our High Needs Room. Our students are so extremely lucky to have her as their teacher. I visited her classroom already this year and found all of our students engaged in learning activities. Nadia is a true ray of sunshine in our school system.
   Marcos just graduated from Wayne State on the 16th of December. He has signed on to be our 2nd grade Special Education teacher until March 7th! (But, I am hoping to work "our Schuyler Community School's magic" on him. I would love to keep him until the end of our school year.) He spent both Monday and Tuesday before our holiday vacation working with our teachers to learn the "Schuyler Way" of teaching. I am going to convince him, still, that Schuyler is the perfect place to teach!!
On a different note... Since our last Board of Education meeting, I have had the extreme exciting pleasure of watching our Warriors Girls' Varsity Basketball Team win games against Lexington and Boys Town. It was the best site seeing our girls celebrate together as a team. Jason Wehner and his assistants are doing an incredible job with our girls.


Curriculum, Assessment, and Instruction Director's Report:  Dr. Gibbons
Assessment Data: Last month, I shared last year’s NSCAS Assessment Data with you.  I was asked to share our plans for improving those scores.  See attached Document.

Rationale: 
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  Ronnie Mundil and Dan Rinkol for their work on setting up meetings, researching systems, and securing bids for the telephone system upgrade in compliance with statutory requirements and Federal ESSERS III regulations. 
1.  Strategic Planning Workshops:  Staff Strategic Planning Workshops are scheduled for January 16-18 from 8:00-4:00.  Attached is a draft workshop schedule.  We will finalize the schedule at our leadership meeting on Monday, January 9th.
 2.  Workers Compensation Experience Rating:  Each year we receive an update on our workers' compensation experience rating based on our safety programs and workplace injuries.  Our rating improved from 1.02 on 12/1/2021 to .96 on 12/1/2022.  See attached information.

Rationale:  1.  Foundation Meeting:  Due to the holiday, the January Foundation meeting was moved to Monday, January 9th.  Brian will provide an update at the meeting.

2.  Legislative Update:   There is always a flurry of activity at the start of a 90-day session.  The 2023 Legislative Session is certainly no different. The hallways are jammed with furniture as senators move out of offices and into new offices (based on seniority).  There is also a flurry of activity with regard to the business of the Legislature as bill introduction begins.  It's a race to get bills drafted and ready for formal introduction, referral to a committee, and getting hearing dates set.  Typically, the sooner a bill is introduced the sooner it might be heard in committee. Bill drafters literally work day and night to meet the demand.

         Speaker Arch released his plan for the next few weeks. Several important things to know is that bill introduction lasts for 10 days, ending January 18th.  During a typical 90-day session, between 700 to 800 bills will be introduced.  There is no limit to the number of bills a senator can introduce.  It's really about the number of bills a given senator feels he/she can commit to handling.

          Afternoon public hearings will begin on January 23rd.  From January 30th through February 10th, public hearings will be held in both the morning and afternoon.  It is important to know if you plan to testify on a given bill during that period (check to determine the morning or afternoon time for the hearing).

Schedule

January 6, 9 through 13

• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill introduction
• Adjourn around 11:30 a.m. or when introduced bills have been processed by the Clerk’s office

January 13

• (Tentative) Last day to submit bill requests to Revisor of Statutes/Bill Drafting Office (by noon)

January 17

• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Bill Introduction
• Begin debate of motion to adopt permanent rules
• Recess at noon and reconvene at 1:30 p.m. to continue debate; Adjourn around 5:00 p.m.

January 18

• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Last Day of Bill Introduction

January 19, 20

• Convene at 9:00 a.m.

January 23

• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Public hearings begin at 1:30 p.m.

January 24, 26, 27

• Convene at 9:00 a.m.
• Public hearings at 1:30 p.m.

January 25

• Convene at 9:30 a.m.
• Governor Pillen’s State of the State Address-10:00 a.m.
• Adjourn at 11:00 a.m.
• Public hearings at 1:30 p.m.

January 30 through February 10

• Convene at 9:00 a.m. and adjourn following check-in
• Morning and afternoon public hearings

February 13

• Convene at 10:00 a.m.
• Begin debate of bills
• Adjourn around noon
• Public hearings continue in the afternoon