April 10, 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:  Discuss, Consider and Take Action on the consent agenda

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

Rationale:  The board committee met and reviewed the Building and Grounds, Large Equipment Replacement, and  Transportation Plans for 2023.  See attached plans.

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

Rationale:  Jeff Droge and his technology team annually review the technology budget, secure bids, and update the replacement plan.  This year, most of the items are in alignment with our District Approved ESSER Fund Program.  See attached recommendation for 2023.

Rationale:  Attached is the 2023-24 school calendar recommendation.  The Schuyler Education Association (SEA), staff and administration have met several times and discussed calendar options for the 2023-2024 school year and are recommending the attached Draft #2 Calendar.  The final draft was presented to the board planning committee for their input on the calendar as presented.

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

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Holly Hild, representative from Agri-City Insurance Agency, LLC visited with Penny Janousek, Ron Mundil, and Dr. Hoesing to review the district insurance renewal premiums with EMC for the 2023-24 school year.  See attached renewal information and property value changes.

Rationale: 
1.  Diane Zollers: SMS Food Service - (Moving to Substitute)
2.  Vicki Drueppel:  SCHS Para Educator - Retiring
3.  Odalys Cruz:  SMS Math Teacher
4.  Delaney Crews:  SES Teacher
5.  Jennifer Swerczek:  SCHS Science Teacher
6.  Justine Quintero:  SES Teacher
7.  Elyse Belina:  Preschool Special Education Teacher
8.  Jeremy Hlavac:  SCHS Physical Education Teacher

Rationale: 
1.  Nicole Placek:  SES Teacher
2.  Grant Torpin:  SCHS Business Teacher
3.  Annette Sanchez:  SES Guidance Counselor
4.  Neleigh Diane Reichert:  SMS Special Education Teacher (.60 FTE)

Rationale:  The Nebraska Continuing contract law automatically renews contracts for all certificated employees (teachers and administrators) on April 15th.  All teachers who have not resigned or been notified of non-renewal or termination are on the list for renewal.  See attached list.

Rationale:  Preschool and SES 3-5 Principal's Report:  Mr. Comley
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight Lesli Osorio. Ms. Osorio is a 5th grade teacher that does an outstanding job working with our students at SES. Ms. Osorio is always willing to put in the work needed to help families in and out of school. Ms. Osorio is a Schuyler graduate and we are so lucky to have her back teaching our youth. Thank you for all you do for Schuyler and SES, Ms. Osorio!

SES K-2 Principal's Report: Mrs. Keairnes
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight Hope Pedersen! Ms. Pedersen is our Art teacher at the Elementary School. She has worked extremely hard the last few years to build her program from the ground up and has been an AMAZING addition to our entire district. Other than teaching art classes at the elementary school, Ms. Pedersen also coaches speech, one act, and musical production at the high school level. All of her programs have been extremely successful and she is instilling a love for the arts in all age groups. Thank you Ms. Pedersen!

Middle School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mr. Banahan
Program/Staff Member Spotlight: This month I would like to spotlight the work of the kitchen staff (Vicky, Paul, Sally, Maria, and Becky). They all work hard to ensure that our students have a great lunch experience every day at SMS! They are willing to work with our staff and our coaches to ensure that our students get the best possible dining experience they can get and go above and beyond to ensure that our students are getting a nutritious lunch and breakfast every day. It is fun to see the positive relationships they all have with our students and how their positive attitudes affect our students in a positive way. Thanks for all of your hard work!

Spotlight Upcoming Event: This month our staff and students are working hard on the state NSCAS test. This test will measure our student's growth throughout the school year as the students have taken this test three times to measure growth throughout the school year. On top of the state testing, April is a busy month for students as we have many track meets as well sprinkled throughout the month.

Middle School Principals Report:  Mr. Zavadil
Program Spotlight: This month I would like to highlight the 8th grade to freshman jump up day. It takes a lot of work to coordinate this day.  This is a very important part of the transition process from 8th grade to freshman year.  Our 8th grade students also visited college campus’ a couple weeks ago and since many of the students have had some good conversations with their R-time and regular education teachers which tell’s us how valuable this experience is in regards to exposing students to a college campus.

Staff Member Spotlight:  This Month I would like to highlight the work of Mr. Policky.  Mr. Policky is the 8th grade American History teacher and leader of the Middle School Level School improvement team.  Mr. Policky is very organized and extremely helpful in this external visitation year.  He coordinated with myself and Dr. Gibbons to help prepare for this year’s external review.  His efforts are invaluable to the school improvement process.
Upcoming Events:  NSCAS Testing is underway and going smoothly.  Mrs. Kment is working with the NDE and our teachers to coordinate logistics and create testing sessions and she has done a great job and our teachers have also done a great job.  This next Month will be full of great events for the Middle School to help prepare students for next year and celebrate our last school year. 

1. Home Track Meet Monday April 24th  SMS will not have school during the Meet

2. Band Fest Concert Monday (TBD)

3. 6th Grade Track and field day  Friday May 5th

4. Choir Fest Sunday (TBD)

5. Honors Night May 11th All Athletic and Non-Athletic Awards

6. R-Time Celebration day Tuesday May 16th

7. 8th Grade Graduation May 18th 10am
    

High School Asst. Principal's Report:  Mr. Steinhoff
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  For my spotlight staff this month I would like to spotlight and thank Mr. Beebe.  Mr. Beebe teaches business, is our head girls cross country coach, and our head boys soccer coach. Mr. Beebe is in his 39th year here at Schuyler Central high school and will be retiring this year.  He has done amazing things over those 39 years, including winning the girls state basketball title in 1994 and making multiple state tournament appearances.    Mr. Beebe has and continues to do amazing things for our students.  When in his classroom, it is very apparent that Mr. Beebe has put time in and has seriously worked to perfect his craft.  He has an incredible ability to hold his students accountable to high standards and still maintain positive relationships.  I always leave his class impressed.  Mr. Beebe will be dearly missed and we are very thankful for everything he has done and given to this district.  Thank you, Mr. Beebe!

High School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mrs. Ladwig
Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight the work of Mrs. Vicki Drueppel. Mrs. Drueppel has been a constant at Schuyler Central High School as she has been a paraprofessional here for the past 16 years. On any given day, Vicki can be found at the school by 7 a.m., beginning her day by greeting students as they arrive to take the bus to the elementary school. Mrs. Drueppel cares about every student she comes in contact with as she quickly develops relationships with them. Not only does Mrs. Drueppel work with students, but she is also willing to help staff members in any way she can. Mrs. Druppel will be missed, and we wish her the best with her retirement!

High School Principal and Director of Student Services Report:  Dr. Lefdal
Program Spotlight:  I would like to spotlight Katie Bertrand and Wade Brashear for the work they have done to make sure our ACT day went well, as well as the work they have done on Infinite Campus and scheduled for next year.  They are an amazing duo!  We are blessed to have them working at SCHS! Keep up the great work! 
Notable Topics:  I am very excited about our soccer teams.  They are playing with enthusiasm and excitement.   Watching them grow as athletes has been nothing short of amazing.  I feel our youth sports/soccer program is really having an impact on our teams.  Good luck teams!
Looking ahead:  I am excited about preparing for graduation.  It is amazing that we are already at the beginning of May.  We are only one month away from graduation.  Our 12th graders are an amazing group of students, and I look forward to seeing where they end up in life!

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Youth Sports Director's Report: Mrs.  Keairnes
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight our Youth Soccer Program! Our head coaches for this program are Jasmin Lopez & Guillermo Gutierrez. This program truly could not function without a team effort and it has been amazing to watch all the pieces come together when watching our first set of games on Sunday the 2nd. This year we have 240 students participating in our program to make up 17 teams K-6. Leading those teams are 19 volunteer coaches. Each Sunday we have all teams playing games for a three-hour stretch where 14 of our high school soccer athletes volunteer to referee.

Middle School Activities Director's Report:  Mr. Banahan
Program Spotlight: We have started the track season and our athletes competed in their first meet of the season on April 4th in Grand Island, at the Walnut Invitational. Our students went up against some high-quality athletes from 12 schools including (G.I. Walnut, G.I. Westridge, G.I. Barr, G.I. Northwest, Lexington, Hastings, Kearney Sunrise, Kearney Horizon, North Platte, and Zion Lutheran - Kearney). Our athletes competed well and we had a number of athletes place in the top 6 in various events. Our boy's team finished 5th overall while racking up 48 points, and our girl's team scored 13 points. The meet was cut short due to weather and they were not able to finish the last 5 events as it became unsafe for the students to continue to compete in the cold wind chills. The next meet is on the 13th of April at West Point-Beemer.
Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight the work of our nurse Mrs. Banahan. She has been instrumental in working with our coaches to ensure that our students have all of their paperwork turned in to compete in the various activities throughout the school year. Our middle school coaches have complimented her work and organization multiple times since she joined our staff in November. We are grateful to have her on our staff as she has been an amazing asset to our coaches and athletes to ensure that their safety is a top priority. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to SMS Athletics!
Spotlight Upcoming Event:  SMS will host our annual Track Meet on Monday, April 24th at SCHS. It is a large event with 9 schools competing this year. Without our staff's help, running events and ensuring it goes smoothly wouldn't be possible. Feel free to stop by Field Events start at 9:00 AM.

High School Activities Director's Report: Mr. Steinhoff
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to spotlight our boys' and girls' soccer programs.  Our girls soccer team is 2-2 with a recent 3-0 win over Crete.  This crew has improved greatly in just the last year and is exciting to watch.  Our boys soccer team is 3-2, highlighted so far with a 8-0 win over Mt. Michael.  We are very excited about the potential of both of these teams and would encourage everyone to come watch us compete.  This year we host conference soccer finals and quarterfinals on April 20th.  Hopefully, both of our teams are competing for medals. 

Upcoming Home Events

Conference Soccer April 15th

PreContest Music Concert April 17th

Fred Arnold Track Meet April 20th

Choir and Band Fest April 30th

Conference Track May 2nd

Special Education Director's Report:  Mrs. Vrba
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  Spotlighting an Amazing Educator: Tyler Petersen has done an amazing job during the 2022-2023 school year with his assignment as our 4th grade Special Education teacher. As Special Education teacher, Tyler has been showing incredible growth in every possible facet of his position throughout his time in our classrooms. Tyler has always shown his commitment to SCS through his determination to work hard, provide the best learning opportunities and being tremendously trustworthy. Due to the fact that he sets high expectations for our students, his students have always been able to achieve substantial growth on their NSCAS, MAP, STAR 360 assessments, but more importantly, he/she is successful in his/her own classroom. (There is nothing more valuable than having our students leaving 4th grade with a rock solid understanding of foundational skills along with having a renewed degree of confidence.) He has an innate ability to recognize and understand our students' frustrations when they are trying to learn and master concepts. His calm and compassionate demeanor helps our students work through the everyday challenges in their classrooms. Tyler, also, serves as an admirable, respectable and exceptional role-model for our SMS boys, who he coaches in basketball and track!

Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction Director's Report:  Dr. Gibbons
Program/Staff Member Spotlight - Denise Stevenson is the first teacher in the state of Nebraska to earn a spot on the Renaissance National Honor Roll. The Renaissance National Honor Roll program is designed to help guide educators to data targets that research has shown result in greater student growth through implementation strategies. It is available to teachers, librarians, and school administrators. There are eight monthly challenges published from August through March. The challenges are like bite-sized chunks of professional development to help educators improve implementation and get more out of the programs. The ultimate goal is to demonstrate student growth throughout the year. The final step of the process entails data submission for educators to show their achievement of the targets. Those who meet the targets will be recognized through an achievement kit that includes customizable digital student certificates, a classroom pennant, and a school banner.

MTSS Update - As a part of our strategic plan, we have been working on developing a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) process for Schuyler Community Schools.  The MTSS process will help us systemically support all students for success at all levels.  We recently created a subcommittee of our MTSS team to build a decision-making process to improve our use of data to provide proper interventions and enrichment to students.  The subcommittee includes Alicia Keairnes, Jen Novak, Heather Bebout, Denise Stevenson, Samantha Ladwig, Andy Banahan, April Becker and Dave Gibbons.
Assessments: State Testing season is well underway! ACT and ELPA 21 are finished and we are starting the NSCAS Growth assessments for students in grades 3-8. All students will take a Math and Reading assessment, while students in 5th and 8th grades will also take a Science Assessment.
Cognia Engagement Review: Our Cognia Engagement Review finished up March 30th and 31st.  Three reviewers joined us onsite and one reviewer joined us remotely.  They interviewed board members, teachers, students, principals and district administrators.  They visited classrooms and poured through evidence and narratives that we submitted earlier this spring.  They will submit their findings to the national organization and we will receive an official report hopefully in June. They were very positive about our district and what they experienced during their visit.

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Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  Kady Arps moved into Sally Jakub's position this year as the Activities Fund Manager/Director of Purchasing.  In addition to this job, Kady kept many of her responsibilities with the district websites.  This past week, she and Andy Banahan rolled out a new program within the activities account that allows greater control and flexibility with gates and concessions for school activities.  This new program collects real-time data on gate and concessions receipts, allows for credit/debit card purchases, manages inventory, and improves accountability of all receipts.  This has always been noted in our audits was a weakness in our accounting systems.  We are testing this system this spring as our middle and high school activities are all hosted at the same site.

Rationale: 
1.  Foundation Report:  Brian Vavricek and Amanda Jedlicka
2.  NASB Monthly Update: