May 11, 2015 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 hallway outside the Media Center.

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

Rationale:  This committee is responsible for reviewing curriculum recommendations, textbook selection, requisitions/inventory, and instructional programs.

Rationale:  This agreement is for the birth to three early childhood program in partnership with Save the Children, Early Steps for School Success and Central Nebraska Community Services (CNCS) Early Childhood Programs. 

Mission Statement:  The intent of this agreement is to build a relationship of mutual respect and build lines of communication between Public School staff, Early Childhood staff, parents and administrators.

Purpose:  To ensure collaboration and coordination in the delivery of direct and supportive services between said parties, to increase the number of 0-3 children and their families receiving comprehensive, home-based services.  The intent of the program is to offer experiences to the children within Colfax County by blending private, State, Federal and local funding to provide a comprehensive Early Childhood Program.

Rationale: 

This is an agreement with CNCS to provide early childhood services for birth to 5 year old children.

Mission Statement:  The intent of this agreement is to build a relationship of mutual respect and build lines of communication between Public School staff, Early Childhood staff, parents and administrators.

Purpose:  To ensure collaboration and coordination in the delivery of direct and supportive services between said parties, to increase the number of families served in the community through the provision of a comprehensive, center-based program.  The intent of the program is to offer a preschool experience to the children within the school district by blending State, Federal and local funding to provide a comprehensive Early Childhood Program that meets Head Start Performance Standards and Rule 11 Regulations.

See attached agreement.

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:  Dan,
This is what I have come up with for a proposal for a security assessment, safety plan/training (20 hours), and flip charts.  I have kept the costs down as much as possible and I have deducted 10% off of total costs if you purchase the entire program.  We can arrange the process to take place as you would like for it to.   If you are in agreement I would like to do the training in August.  I am willing to work with your District however it works best for you.  I can also attend a board meeting as well to visit about the proposal.  Let me know what you think.  Thanks, Tom
 
$  6,00000 assessment (HS, Middle, Elementary, Fishers 24, Richland, Alternative School, and Pre-School)
$  6,500.00 plan and training  (Six plans and up to 20 hours of training)
$  5,697.50 charts (200 teacher/staff and 15 command for total of 215, red/green card attached)
$18,197.50 total
   -1,819.75 (10%)
 
$16,377.75  total costs

We currently have Paul Thoms, former York Superintendent, conduct our Rule 10 Safety and Security Review.  The assessment process will replace this for 2015-16.  We can spread the cost of this program over two budget cycles.

See attached contract.

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 vehicle replacement schedule for this summer includes a bus, van, and pickup.  The board already approved the bus and van purchase.  We are recommending purchasing a 2009 Ford pickup from Reineke Ford for 23,500.  The vehicle has 50,000 miles on it and is in great shape.  Chuck Misek and Ron Mundil did the research on the vehicle and believe it to be in good condition and priced right.  We will advertise and sell the replaced van and pickup.  See attached information. 

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

Rationale:  Below is a copy of the letter requesting a land transfer.  I forwarded the request to Rex Schultze for his advise on this matter.  Chad and his wife will be at the meeting to discuss their request.  Attach is the response from Legal Council, Rex Schultze.

Dan: 
While I understand Chad's circumstance, your BOE does not legally have to grant such a request, and doing so may set a precedent that would result in a flood of folks want such transfers.  That said, if Chad could find an equally valued property to exchange, then you might be able to do such a deal.  In any event, the only time a land transfer is required is if the elements for a freeholders petitions are present (which they are not in Schuyler) under 79-458, or if the parcel is encapsulated (surrounded on all four sides, e.g. "entirely within") by the district to which the land is to be transferred (79-458.01.  I hope this is helpful.  Let me know if you have further questions.

Rex R. Schultze


Dear Dr. Hoesing and Board Members,

We are writing this letter to formally ask the Schuyler School District to allow my wife Chantel and I to transfer a parcel of land (3 acres) from your school district to the David City School District.  Our Family successfully completed the purchase of the property on Monday, April 27, 2015.  The parcel ID is 120047601 and the legal description is 20 16 3 Tract of Land in SE1/NE1/4 4.57 AC.

When we first looked at the home on the small acreage at 4171 "O" Road, we saw that it has a Bellwood address and mistakenly assumed the land was in the David City School District.  But after looking at the county assessor website, we realized it was in the Schuyler School District, even though the adjacent properties on the north and south sides are not.

The David City Public Schools Board has amended my Superintendent contract and we have used the option enrollment process to admit our three boys into the David City School District.  However, my boys cannot ride the bus because we do not change our routes to pick up option enrollment students but ask that they meet the bus at the closest point on the established route which is not feasible for our family.

Thank you for considering our unique request.  If you would like for us to attend the May Board meeting to further explain the situation or if we can answer additional questions, we would be more than glad to do so. 

Sincerely,

Chad and Chantel Denker
Clayton, Caden, and Cohen

Rationale:  Attached is information regarding the renewal of our district insurance plan.  This plan begins on May 15th, 2015 and ends May 14th, 2016.  Ronnie Mundil and Dr. Hoesing met with Steve Baily to review facilities, automobiles, and liability coverage included in the policy.  We adjusted some of the auto coverages on the high mileage vehicles and trailers.  We also recommend keeping the terrorism coverage, as it can only be removed from some of the coverage areas.  Our mod rate for workman's comp. has been lowered from 1.28 to .71.  This is a significant savings.  We will also implement the return to work and safety program for the 2015-16 school year to try to keep this rating.  The net result is an overall increase of $1,500.  See attached information.

Rationale:  1.  Matt Turner (high school Social Studies):  Mr. Turner has submitted his resignation effective at the end of the 2014-15 school year.  Because it is submitted after April 15th, he is also requesting release from his 2015-16 contract.

We received two support staff resignations on Monday afternoon.  See attached.

1.  Ociri Gargia:  SES Para-Educator.

2.  Julie Dirkschneider:  SES Para-Educator.

Rationale: 

 2014-15 Incentive Pay Program:

Items listed below are considered outside of scope of regular teaching assignments and considered for additional compensation and/or payment under the Schuyler Community Schools Master Agreement provision for Incentive Pay.  Items identified below are in mutual agreement between the board of education and the Schuyler Education Association.  Incentive stipends will be made annually and included in the June payroll.

SCHS College or Dual Credit Incentives:

Teach a College Credit Course under the guidelines outlined by the Institution granting college or dual credit for the class.   $100 per college credit hour

1. Master Degree Teacher
2. Approval of course curriculum with the college
3. Enroll students in college course
4. Teach course
5. Assess student progress and submit grades to the high school and college

SMS School Improvement Grant (SIG) Incentives: 

National Conference Registration and Travel

Conference Registration for 3 X $500                                $1,500

Airfare 3 Teachers x $500                                                $1,500

Meals:  3 Teachers x $71/day for 5 days                           $1,065

Hotels:  3 Teachers x $200/day for 5 days                         $3,000

Total Conference Cost                                                    $7,065

Improvement Incentives:

Math Performance                                                            $1,000

Reading Performance                                                        $1,000

Rationale:  Dave Gibbons has completed staffing for the two summer school sessions.  The first session will run from June 8th to the 26th from 8:00 to 12:00.  The July session will run from July 6th to the 24th.  The summer schools are grant supported programs.  See attached information.

Rationale:  The administrators have worked hard to assign extra-duty contracts for the 2015-16 school year.  In their deliberations, they considered qualifications, experience, teaching/coaching loads, etc... and who can best lead our programs that will result in more success for our students.  Due to a recent resignation, there are a few openings that may be filled by a new hire.  We will update as soon as we have our 2015-16 hiring finalized.  See attached information.

Rationale:  The board finance committee has completed a support staff salary and benefits schedule for the 2015-16 school year.  This schedule has been presented to support staff for their input and adjustments made to create equity in our schedule while providing incentives for special skills, longevity, education, etc...  It will take three years for us to successfully make the transition from our current salaries to the new salary schedule, therefore, the support staff proposed salary increases are recommended for three years.  See attached salary schedule.

Rationale:  Update on the Schuyler Community Schools Rec. Center Project.

Rationale:  Preschool and 3-5 Report:  Mr. Comley

PK- 94                         KG- 172                        1st- 148                          2nd- 128

3rd- 136                      4th- 150                                5th- 131                            Grand total- 959

• Field day was scheduled for May 7th but with the rain we are looking for dry days. Will give an update at meeting.

• SES Kindergarten, 1^st, and 2^nd grade music programs will be May 13th.

• We finished our NESA testing. We will wait for Dave Gibbons to give us our results.

• Headstart and Preschool both visited SES and the children were very excited to be moving to the “BIG” school.

Rural Schools Report:  Mr. Reinsch

Richland

Monday, May 11 
PM Field Trip - Westbrook Lanes Columbus
5:30-6:45   - Kindergarten Round-Up
7:00 P.M.    - Spring Program          

Friday, May 15 - Grandparents Day  12:30-1:30

Tuesday, May 19 - Field Day

Wednesday, May 20 - Last Day of School  1:30 Dismissal

Fishers
Four students attended Kindergarten Round-up on May 1.

Tuesday, May 12 
2:00 P.M.  Kindergarten and 8th Grade Graduation and Program
7:00 P.M.  Spring Program

Thursday, May 14  Scrub Oaks at Stanton  K-8
Wednesday, May 20  Color Wars and Last Day of School   1:30 Dismissal

Schuyler Middle School:  Mrs. Burton and Mr. Reinsch

Schuyler Middle School has had a busy and productive month of exciting opportunities!  All 8th grade students toured Wayne State College and had the opportunity to enjoy the college planetarium.  Mrs. Burton and the 8th grade staff were given many complements in regard to the conduct of the students!

SMS had a unique opportunity to stream Ms. Brown's 8th grade math classroom internationally on April 29th.  All participants will have a follow up meeting with DiscoveryEd staff on May 19th.  

Schuyler Middle School also had the opportunity to tell the, "Schuyler Story," in the way of a documentary shot throughout the day on April 30th, as well as at the SMS/Discovery Education/ Eagle Communications Community Night.  We had well over 300 registered participants attend the event.  Many staff and student volunteers demonstrated what it is like to be a student in a digital environment.  An 8th grader was awarded a $500 scholarship with the intent of using it on dual credit courses at SCHS, and an SES student won a free iPad mini and a year's worth of free internet for his family.  Both winners were very grateful for the opportunity!

Sign ups for the Summer Warrior Academy Program in June, as well as the Summer STEM Camp in July are out to students.   There will also be a Newcomers ELL Program and a Migrant Program offered at SMS for students.  

A busy time of concerts, honors and awards ceremonies, celebration days, and 8th grade graduation eagerly await us as we finish up the last day of school!  The staff at SMS will end the school year moving classrooms into a new team-oriented format for 2015-2016, working with our partners at Discovery Education, and celebrating with our all-staff potluck!  

Schuyler Central High School Report:  Mr. Pavlik and Mr. Kovar

Enrollment as of 3/5/15 is 491 students.  This is +3 from last month

9^th grade – 133,       10^th grade – 131        11^th grade – 102          12^th grade – 125

Pinnacle outstanding leaders

On Friday May 1^st, six Schuyler Central High School students were honored with the 2015 Pinnacle Bank High School leaders Award.  Pinnacle Bank and Midland University honor our area’s outstanding student leaders who are currently in junior class standing. Fifty area students were selected and honored during the award luncheon held on the 1st.  Omaha entrepreneur Micah Yost was the guest speaker. 

The Schuyler Central High School students recognized for their leadership were:

Edwin Rangel, Jacob Kasik, Jose Garcia, Preston Hall, Esmeralda Avalos, Connor Flynn

Mr. Kasik and Mr. Turner also attended the luncheon.

Congratulations to these students!  They represented SCHS and the community of Schuyler well.

8^th grade visitation held

On Wednesday May 6^th SCHS students were dismissed at noon to allow for the high school staff to welcome the Class of 2019.  The activities include lunch and presentations of academic elective and core class offerings.  After the curriculum presentations the students took part in an activity fair that allowed them to see all the different opportunities that they will have to get involved at their high school.  The afternoon ended with students being able to get their athletic physical for the 2015-2016 school year.  The physicals were provided free of charge by CHI Health Schuyler. 

May 11^th – Activity Awards Night  - 7 pm

May 12^th – Academic Awards Night – 7 pm

May 17^th – SCHS Graduation – 2 pm

Rationale: 

Curriculum and Assessment Report:  Mr. Gibbons

Curriculum – As a part of the Title I Accountability Compact Grant for Schuyler Elementary School, teachers have been working on creating a standards-based Language Arts Curriculum to use during their Language Arts Time.  This will replace their current language component that is not aligned strongly with the Nebraska Standards.  We have also decided to use the funds to purchase the Scholastic Traits Writing program.  This will align well with the new writing standards.

School Improvement – We are closing out the year.  I have asked teachers to fill out a Self-Assessment Concept Map, which I shared with you last month.  You are still welcome to take a look at that and ask me questions if you have any.  We will begin examining a new district action plan that aligns with our Strategic Planning process.

Assessment and Accountability – Mr. Pavlik, Mrs. Burton, Mrs. Kment, Mr. Comley, Ms. Bebout, Ms. Powell and I attended the AQuESTT Conference last week.  AQuESTT is the new state accountability system and it stands for “Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow.”  AQueSTT is built on six tenets split into two categories:

Student Success and Access

            1) Positive Partnerships, Relationships & Student Success

            2) Transitions

            3) Educational Opportunities and Access

Teaching and Learning

            4) College and Career Ready

            5) Assessment

            6) Educator Effectiveness

This is an accountability system so schools will be divided into four classification levels based on NeSA, graduation rates, and participation.  The four levels are Excellent, Great, Good and Needs Improvement.  More information can be found at… http://aquestt.com/

We have also been chosen as an Early Adopter for the ADVISOR Program.  ADVISOR stands for Advanced Data Views Improving Educational Response.  This is a program created by the Nebraska Department of Education as a part of a grant to create a Statewide Longitudinal Data System.  With this program, student data will be uploaded and housed in one location.  Teachers and administrators will be able to log in and see student attendance data, grades, NeSA Assessment data, MAP Assessment data, etc. all in one place.  As an early adopter, we get to see and work in the program before the rest of the state and we get to help the state create plans and protocols such as professional development needs.

Director of Grants Report:  Mr. Grammer

21^st Century Grant

After School Program

• At the end of April we had 258 students in the After School Program, K – 8.   At the beginning of April we had 203 students at SES and 55 students at SMS for a total of 255.  That means we are only 8 students short of our goal at the Middle School and 32 students short at the elementary school.  These are great numbers for our program as we finish up the school year.

• We are continuing to prepare and plan for our summer school program this year.  In June, it will be a Fine Arts & PE Summer School.  The summer school will run from June 8^th until June 26^th from 8:00 to 12:00 p.m.  Lunch will be provided at the MS from 11:30 until 1:00 p.m.  Some of the offerings are going to be Art,  Photography, Athletics, Speech, Music, and scrapbooking.

• Pat Geary, our program evaluator, and Lisa St. Clair, NDE Grant Supervisor, came to our district on Wednesday, April 22^nd  and went through a program self-evaluation for the elementary after school program.  Through this self-evaluation, we came away from that meeting with a positive rating about our program at this time.   On Thursday, May 7^th  we will be conducting the same kind of self-evaluation for the Middle School Program.

School Improvement Grant  (SIG)

Discovery Education

• On Wednesday, April 29^th, a team from Discovery Education came and set up for our Live Streaming of our 8^th grade math class.  They set up in Ms. Brown’s math class and at 12:00 p.m. they live streamed our 8^th grade math class for one hour on the Discovery Education website.  During the hour, they used the Discovery Education website, our iPads and the Math TechBook provided by Discovery Education.  Dr. Lynell Matthews led the class discussions and highlighted the different projects that students were doing during the math hour.   This was a unique opportunity to showcase our school, teacher, and students.  During that hour over 70 schools across the nation were viewing our class and students.

• On Thursday, April 30th from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., we hosted a Schuyler Community Night, which was implemented by Discovery Education and Eagle Communications.  At this event, we highlighted three of our teachers, which were presenting, with students, on how we are using the iPads and utilizing the techbooks in Sceince, Social Studies and Math.  We showcased student projects and classroom lessons in the three subject areas.  There were also three classrooms set up by Discovery Education and they had some of their staff lead discussion in those classrooms and they also utilized iPads and techbooks to teach a brief lesson.  Again, this was a great event and it honored our staff and students for both events.  These events truly highlighted the hard work our staff and students have put into the new curricula and techbooks.

Middle School Athletics

• The Schuyler Middle School Track Meet was Tuesday, April 28^th at SCHS’s track.  We hosted six other teams with over 350 students participating in our track meet.  It was great weather and the meet ran smoothly.  Our 8^th grade boys won the meet, our 7^th grade girls finished 2^nd, 7^th grade boys finished fourth, and our 8^th grade girls finished 5^th.  Our students performed well and represented SMS in a positive manner.  Many positive comments about the meet and how great our students did.

SCHS Activities Director Report:  Mrs. Egr

Conference Golf:  Schuyler Golf Club hosted the conference boys golf tourney on May 8th.  This happens once every 10 years, so glad the weather held off so they could complete play as scheduled.

Boys Soccer:  The boys soccer team will play on Saturday, May 9th.  Not sure where, but will know more late Friday afternoon.

Sports Physicals:  We did 120 sports physicals on May 8th.  We have one more round on May 12th. 

Activity Awards Night:  The activities awards will be given out on Monday, May 11th beginning at 7:00 PM.

Coaches Clinic:  The football coaches attended a NSAA meeting on the new heat acclimation rules along with the new rules on the five different types of contact a football player encounters during a week.  There will be limitations next year.  We are ready ofr those changes.

Comments:  The school year has gone fast and looking forward to next year!

Rationale:  1.  Community Meetings:  Thank you to the board members who were able to attend the community leaders' meeting and the meeting at the Senior Center.  The Foundation fundraising campaign team met and updated the brochure and would like to host one more community meeting at the middle school building.  We would like to have an article in the paper to make sure the public is aware and is invited to give us input on our project.  We would like to host it within the next few weeks, either on a Tuesday or Thursday evening. 

2.  Handbooks:  The administrators are working on updating the handbooks for the 2015-16 school year.  We will present the changes to the board committees prior to the next meeting.  Due to the 90 day legislative session, we will not have updated policies until July/August. 

3.  Board Committees:  Thank you to the board members who attended the committee meetings for this meeting.  We need to discuss the June meetings and dates/times that work for you. 

4.  Portable Classrooms:  The portable classrooms have been sold to Nu-Trend.  They will move the south building next week.  They will take the NW building the following week, and are scheduled to move the last two in the first week in June.  We currently use these two buildings for special education and AA Groups, so can't move these until school is out for the summer.  We will work with the AA groups to find a new location as soon as possible. 

5.  Staff Recognition/Retirements:  We will have a staff recognition breakfast on the morning of May 21st.  The program will run from 8:00 to 10:00 AM.  Board members are welcome to attend and participate in the retirement presentations.   

Rationale: 

Minutes from May 4, 2015 Foundation meeting

Members present:  Lumir, Brian, Victor, Sandy, Dan & Joyce

Others Present: Shelley, Sheri, Mr. Grammer & Mrs. Burton

Members Absent:  Virginia

Brian called the meeting to order at 12:08 pm

Brian read the vision and goals

Secretary Report/Minutes were approved for April 2015

Treasurer’s Report read no changes

New Business:

SMS Recreational Building- Dan

     ·     Dan passed out several handouts and discussed the strategic planning results

     ·     Dan reported that the fundraising forms were given at each building for staff, the community leaders meeting and will be at Cargill where he met with Jared.

     ·     Goal is to have 93% staff commitment in the fundraiser was requested by the leaders of the community

     ·     Committee members for the fundraiser are Dan, Sandy and Holly Hild with involvement from the rest of the foundation board

     ·     Foundation to host public meetings at the senior center tonight and SMS and possibly another location in the future

     ·     Advertise the meetings and the donation form in the local paper and send home forms with the students

Rewording of the Goals was tabled until next meeting  

Committee Reports:

Labor Day- Victor, Brian & Sandy

     ·     Nothing new to report

Scholarships:  Sandy & Lumir

     ·     The 6- 1,000 scholarship winners have been selected.  Lumir or Brian to present at the awards night on May 12, 2015 at 7:00 pm

Education:  Lumir & Brian

     ·     The new form for the outstanding staff member was presented by Dan and a motion was made by Lumir and 2^nd by Sandy to approve the new form for next year the motion passed

Alumni Website:  Dan & Virginia

    ·     Kem is working with Kady Arps on the website

Alumni Honors Committee:  Joyce & Sheri

     ·     They have the 3 Distinguished Alumni picked and are being notified and tickets sent to them for the dinner before the graduation ceremony 

     ·     Plaques are being made and will be approved by Sheri and Joyce

Golf Tournament:  Sandy

     ·     Need more updated and current vendors list from Shelley

Mr. Grammer thanked everyone who attended the Discovery Education night.

Brian adjourned the meeting at 1:04 pm

Next meeting is June 1, 2015 @ noon @ Schuyler Middle School Conference Room