November 9, 2015 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting
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I. Call Meeting to Order
Rationale:
STRIVE • COMMIT • SUCCEED - District Mission 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
Discussion:
Meeting was called to order by President Brabec. Board members present were Misek, Vavricek, Brabec, Hild,and Semerad; Cerny was absent. Others present were Principals Grammer, Comley, and Burton; Assistant Principal Kovar, Director of Curriculum Gibbons and Superintendent Hoesing. Also present was Student Council Representative Cameron Harding.
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I.A. Pledge of Allegiance
Discussion:
Notice of this meeting was given in advance according to State Law 84-1411 and was declared to be in open session. All those present participated in the Pledge of Allegiance.
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I.B. Declaration of Open Meeting
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.
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II. Approval of Consent Agenda
Rationale:
Discuss, Consider and Take Action on the consent agenda
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to approve the consent agenda Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
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II.A. Agenda
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II.B. Minutes
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II.C. Acceptance of Claims
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II.C.1. Bills of $5,000 or more
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II.D. Financial
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II.E. Other Listed Reports
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III. Public Forum - We ask that all presentation be limited in their length.
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III.A. Recognition of visitors and guests
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III.B. Other topics (limited to 5 minutes - subject to guidelines of the Board Participation Policy)
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III.C. Student Representative's Report
Discussion:
FFA members attended the National Convention in KY last week. At the Student Council Convention held last week, SCHS had the largest student representation with two students, Jessica Valora and Jesica Hernndez being elected as District Student Council Co-Presidents.
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IV. Action Items
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IV.A. Budget, finance, negotiations, and personnel
Rationale:
This committee is responsible for budget, finance, and contract negotiations with administration, certificated staff, and support staff.
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IV.A.1. Consider, discuss, and take action to approve 2016-17 Memorandum of Understanding with Schuyler Lumber Company, Inc.
Rationale:
Attached is the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Schuyler Lumber Company, Inc. to build another house in the Kehrli Second Subdivision, Schuyler, NE. The MOU has been updated and signed by Brian Schmidt. See attached MOU.
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to approve 2016-17 Memorandum of Understanding with Schuyler Lumber Company, Inc. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
Discussion:
The City of Schuyler will support the cost of the house construction being built by the SCHS Construction Class up to $75,000. The house being constructed in the 15-16 school year has already been sold.
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IV.A.2. Consider, discuss, and take action to approve the 2014-15 District Audit and Annual Financial Reports.
Rationale:
The finance committee met with Pekny and Associates to discuss the 2014-15 AFR and Audit Report. In the past, Pekny's attended the meeting and went through the documents at that time. This year members of the finance committee met at Pekny and Associates to review both documents. If other members of the board would like to have a more formal review, we will arrange a time to meet and review this information. The two reports were reviewed and submitted by November 1st and 5th as required by law. The board should go on record as accepting the reports as filed. See attached audit report.
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to accept the 2014-15 District Audit and Annual Financial Reports as presented. Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
Discussion:
The Finance Committee met with Pekny & Associates on November 9 to review the 14-15 Annual Financial Reports and the Audit Report. Dr. Hoesing summarized the budgeted funds vs. actual profit/loss. One area of deficiency was found in how a worksheet was compiled.
The 15-16 proposed budget was already sent to the auditors for review before next year's audit.
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V. Discussion Items and Reports
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V.A. Principals Reports
Rationale:
Preschool and Grades 3-5 Report: Bill Comley I have been doing lots of classroom observations and have been seeing some great things! Traffic has been smooth. After school program has been going very well!
Preschool 92
Kindergarten 136 1st Grade 165 2nd Grade 144 3rd Grade 122 4th Grade 131 5th Grade 147 K-2 and K-8 AD Report: Darin Kovar
Everything is running full speed ahead. Parent Teacher Conferences went well with 100% of parent contacts being made. Teachers are doing great things in the classroom, and students are working very hard. I am just getting started with formal observations, and using the new I-Observation system. Middle School athletics are just about to start their winter season. JH wrestling has 40 participants, and starts with an invite at Wayne, and JH girls basketball has 50 participants, and starts at David City Aquinas. JH boys basketball will start in January. Rural Schools Report: Gerry Reinsch Current Enrollment #'s Richland Fishers Grades K-1-2 11 Grades K-1 14 Grades 3-4-5 9 Grades 2-3 21 Grades 6-7-8 12 Grades 4-5 18 Grades 6-7-8 16 Total 32 Total 69 All parents attended Parent-Teacher conferences at Richland and Fishers. One recommendation from parents was to have first quarter conferences prior to the end of the quarter to provide earlier contact with teachers. Teachers also felt this would be beneficial. Red Ribbon Week was held the week of Oct. 26-30. Highlights of the Drug-Free activities included the Kids on the Block Puppet Show and students bringing canned food items to be donated to the Food Pantry. Veterans Day Programs will be held at both schools. Fishers Tuesday, November 10th at 2:30 Richland Wednesday, November 11th at 2:45. Parents and local veterans are encouraged to attend. Schuyler Middle School Report: Michelle Burton The SMS November Warrior Update can be viewed at: https://www.smore.com/14hcx-sms-warrior-update This publication highlights activities and accomplishments made by SMS students and staff members. We have continued utilizing this free newsletter format, as it saves approximately $1,500 per year in operating expenses at the middle school. The current newsletter has 230 views as of November 2nd. In addition to the SMS Warrior Update, the building utilizes Twitter and hosts a Bright Lites newscast made by SMS 7th and 8th graders one-two times per week. This information can all be found on the SMS Webpage. Fall parent-teacher conferences were a successful endeavor at SMS. Our goal was to have 100% contact with our families. We were successful, as 100% of our families were contacted, and over 80% of the student body had a successful conference take place with one or more staff members. This is an almost 20% increase in attendance over last year’s fall conferences. The total enrollment at SMS is 381 students. At this time in 2014, there were 355 students enrolled at SMS. SCHS Principal Report: Stephen Grammer
•Brief overview of what has happened at Schuyler Central High School for the month of October:
•Our November Students Of The Month are: Senior—Allen Zrust; Junior—Jessica Hernandez; Sophomore—Jennifer Lopez, and Freshman—Maria Semerad. Congratulations to these students for their great work academically, behaviorally, and having great attendance.
•The students recognized as the November Sertoma Athletes of the month are: Abner Perez for Cross Country, Karen Rodriguez for girls golf, Lucy Rojo for softball, Brooke Horejsi for volleyball, and Arturo Chavez for football. Congratulations to these student athletes and their accomplishments on and off the field.
•The presence of a Truancy/Resource Officer has had a definite impact on our attendance at the high school. Ms. Pavel has completed the data collection for the first quarter of this school year in regard to high school student attendance. Compared to first quarter last year, we have dropped from 147 students having truancy issues to 58 students this school year. Tremendous improvement and positive impact on our school, but still have to continue to whittle away this attendance issues. Thanks to Ms. Pavel for her hard work and diligence in this area.
•Our Fall sports seasons have ended in October and we are now beginning our Girls and Boys Basketball season and wrestling season. As in the fall, we are having great participation numbers. We have 55 boys out for wrestling at this time and roughly 20 to 25 boys and girls out for basketball. We will be looking forward to our students starting their seasons in the month of November and representing SCHS with pride throughout their schedule.
•Our District Parent – Teacher Conferences were held on Tuesday, October 13th and Wednesday, October 14th in the West gym. Attendance was sporadic and we only had 25% of our parents attend conferences. With the Tech Fair at the same time we thought attendance may be improved but, we did not see any results from that. The Leadership Team at the school will be looking at different options on how to raise our parent attendance at the Parent—Teacher Conferences.
•On Wednesday, October 14th, SCHS hosted our “First Annual Warrior Tech Fair” in the district. It was an outstanding opportunity for our high school students to be exposed to up to date technology, technology careers, and technology trends. I want to congratulate and thank our technology team for planning and implementing such a great event for our students, district, and community. I also want to thank our staff for their flexibility in making this such a successful event for our school and students.
•Throughout the months of November and December, we will begin conducting formal observations using our new system, iObservation. We, as administration, are learning and adapting to the new system and seeing many benefits to the use of iObservation for the improvement of instruction in our classes. The administration went through another iObservation training on Friday, October 30th in regard to principal evaluations.
•On Tuesday, October 19th and Wednesday, October 20th , Mrs. Lickei, Trever Reeh and I attended a School Improvement Workship in Omaha, There were representatives from SES, SMS, and SCHS at this training. There was good information on how to utilize data to drive instruction and curriculum.
•PSAT testing took place in our building on October 28th. The testing was facilitated by our counselor, Ms. Johnson. Students worked hard on the tests and hopefully we will have good results because of their hard work.
Discussion:
The After-School program has 225 participants with 15-20 new students beginning week. SES Assistant Principal Kovar complimented all who have helped him transition into his new position. A group of administrators and teachers attended a conference the week of November 2 which concentrated on making the culture of school a safe place where students can become more engaged. The program's impact will be monitored for six months.
Veteran's Day programs will be held at Fishers #24 and Richland School.
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V.B. Directors Reports
Rationale:
Director of Special Education Report: Darli Vrba I just would like to share about our special gift from Colfax ARC. All of our Special Education programs in each school building have received a generous gift of $300.00 to purchase instructional materials to use with our students. Along with that gift, we also received an additional $500.00 to put into a Team Sped Activity Fund. One of our goals is to start having students K-12 due activities together...we really want to build friendships between our students in positive atmosphere. On November 5th & 6th, I will be attending the Tri-State Special Education Law Conference in Omaha. I believe this is going to be an excellent opportunity to learn all the different facets of special education law! As Team Sped, we having been busy working with students to ensure their success through SATs, MDTs and IEPs processes.The most challenging endeavor is manipulating teachers' schedules to make certain all students are getting the services they need. I am sorry that I will not attending the November board meeting. My Christmas gift to my guys last year were concert tickets but do to an illness that concert was postponed until Monday night! Thank you for your understanding. SCHS Asst. Principal/AD Report: Michelle Egr I am not available for the board meeting tonight, as I will be at the Senior Center for the Rotary/Senior Center Veterans Dinner. I am the Rotary president this year. Update on the three activities nights: I have worked to finalize this process and below is what we are planning. The purpose of the change is to give students timely recognition for accomplishments. Fall Activities Night
Music Awards
Art Club Award
Soccer Track/Field Boys Golf 3 sport letter winner awards
Weightlifter of the year Longevity Awards Schuyler Strider Senior Female Virgil Swanson Memorial Female Senior Male Athlete of the year Each sponsor/coach will hand out their letter winner certificates to their letter winners. Specific awards associated with their activity will also be recognized. I attended the NSIAAA convention on November 8 and 9. I will give a summary of the speakers and topics attended in Decembers board report. On November 11th, I will attend the NSAA District II meeting in Omaha. I have attached the proposals that have been submitted. I have also attached the Pop, Popcorn and a Play flier. We will be taking a donation at the door. Hope to see everyone there. Hope you and yours have time to enjoy family during Thanksgiving. Curriculum/Assessment, Special Programs Report: Dave Gibbons Curriculum, Assessment & Accountability – The State of the Schools Report was recently released. Adequate Yearly Progress is included in the release under the Federal Accountability tab. This message is a Summary of our Federal Accountability information and what that means Definition of AYP: Adequate Yearly Progress. To meet AYP, the appropriate percentage of students in all subgroups must meet proficiency levels. The percentage has increased through the years so that it is now at 100%. If any one subgroup does not meet the minimum percentage, the school does not meet AYP. District Level AYP Status - Not Met
Elementary Schools Fisher’s 24 - Needs Improvement (Not Title 1)
Richland - Needs Improvement (Not Title 1)
Schuyler Elementary School - Needs Improvement Year 2 (Title 1)
Middle Schools Fisher’s 24 - Needs Improvement (Not Title 1)
Richland - Not Met
Schuyler Middle School - Needs Improvement Year 1 (Title 1)
Parent Teacher Conferences – The 4R Alternative Center reported to me that they contacted and scheduled meetings with the parents of all their students. They were able to have 100% attendance for their conferences. After School Program – We continue to increase the number of students. As of last week, we had 220 students enrolled in SES with 35 students enrolled at the Middle School. Program Coordinator Heather Bebout and I met with the Schuyler Chamber of Commerce to work on building partnerships in the community. School Improvement Grant – We hosted Randy McIntyre of the Nebraska Department of Education for an onsite visit on Monday, October 26. On Wednesday, November 4, we received notice that our full reimbursement request has been approved. This means that we will be reimbursed $721,074.15 for our first year of the grant.
Discussion:
All school buildings in the district each received a $300 donation from Colfax County ARC to purchase instructional materials to use for students. In addition, we also received an additional $500.00 to put into a Team Sped Activity Fund.
The SCHS Fall Sports awards program will be held on Tuesday, November 10 at 7:00 PM. Tentative dates for the Winter Awards is March 7th and for the Spring Awards is May 9th.
The State of the Schools Report was recently released. The district been in "Needs Improvement" the last two years but this year we are classified as "Not Met" this year because one level is not in the "Needs Improvement" category.
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V.C. Superintendent's Report
Rationale:
1. Strategic Planning Workshop: The staff strategic planning workshop will be on Wednesday, November 25th from 8:00 to 12:00.
2. NASB State Convention: Pre-Conference: November 18, State Convention November 19-20. According to Sally, Rich Brabec, Chuck Misek, Holly Hild, and Brian Vavricek are registered for the conference.
Discussion:
The staff Strategic Planning workshop will be on Wednesday, November 25th from 8:00 to 12:00 at SCHS.
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V.D. Board Member/Committee Reports
Rationale:
SCHUYLER COMMUNITY SCHOOLS FOUNDATION MEETING 11/02/2015 @ 12 NOON – 1:00 P.M. @ SCHUYLER MIDDLE SCHOOL CONFERENCE ROOM Membership: Lumir Jedlicka-Treasurer, Brian Vavricek- President, Virginia Semerad- Secretary, Joyce Baumert, Sandy Seckman- Vice President, Victor Lopez, and Dan Hoesing Guests -Tiffany Cone – Chamber Executive Director -Kem Cavanah – Economic Development Coordinator -Shelley Friesz –shelley.friesz@schuylercommunityschools.org – 402-352-3527 Ext 216 Foundation Assistant -Sheri Balak – sheribalak@gmail.com – Alumni Honors consultant Vision: To support the enrichment of educational programs and student life experiences Goals: -To promote education in Schuyler Community Schools -Conduct feasibility study on possible new construction at high school building Secretary Report/Minutes – Review and Approve (refer minutes e-mailed by Shelley Friesz – October 5, 2015) Treasurer’s Report – balance as of 11/02/2015- $ · Check written to Karl & Seckman for $88.75 for filing the articles of incorporation papers · Check written to Renee Miller for $100 error on the SMS Rec Bldg donation form · Received a $50 check from John & Nancy Gerrard for the Scholarship fund in memory of Tom Spale · Received a $2500 check from Gary & Joyce Olson for the Scholarship fund · Received $10 cash from Eleanor Pelan in Memory of Tom Spale Scholarship donation of $226,930.54 given by James Sindelar – Brian Bywater will be here to give details New Business: Discuss having an After Hours Committee Reports: · Labor Day: Brian & Victor & Sandy · Scholarship: Sandy, Lumir
· Alumni Website: Dan & Virginia · Alumni Honors Committee- Joyce & Sheri · Mission Statement & Goals updated- Joyce, Sheri & Brian · SMS Recreational Building- Dan Next Meeting –December 7, 2015 @ 12:00 Noon @ Schuyler Middle School Conference Room
Discussion:
The SCS Foundation received a donation of $226,000 for a scholarship endowment. More details will be disclosed in the future after definite plans are made on how the endowment will be disbursed.
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VI. Correspondence Items
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VII. Adjournment
Recommended Motion(s):
Motion to adjourn Passed with a motion by Board Member #1 and a second by Board Member #2.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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