November 11, 2024 at 6:30 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

Discussion:  Notice of the meeting was given in advance by publication to the public and to all members of the Board of Education. Availability of the agenda was communicated in advance. The Open Meetings Act was available for review. 

Discussion: 

Roberts - FFA national placers Ciara Baker, Melany Preister, Natalie Pelseter, Kali Simons, and Girls Cross Country Autumn Gasper for their efforts at big competitions and the Sponsors and Coaches who helped them accomplish their goals.  

Frey- Shoutout to the Veterans in our community for their service and all they do for our community.  The Veteran's Day program was a great way to show our support, thank you to all who took part in the success of this program.

Stuhr- PTO-  All they do for teachers is noticed and appreciated.  They put a lot of effort into supporting our teachers and students.

Fogleman-  I think it is only appropriate as we have the superintendent evaluation on our agenda that we recognize Dr. McDonald.  He has jumped in and done a great job leading our district.  I appreciate his knowledge and ability to calmly and effectively lead Boone Central staff and students.

Rolf- Ms. Hellbusch for setting up the author visits, it was a neat event for the prek-8th grade students.

McDonald-  I want to express my gratitude to the administrative team for a successful Fall and for beginning the transition into the winter schedules and meetings. Your efforts in maintaining a positive relationship with both students and staff members have not gone unnoticed. You have effectively managed various aspects, worked collaboratively with staff, and resolved minor issues before they escalated.

Larsen - I would like to recognize the Boone Central High School Teachers of the Quarter, HS English teacher Mrs. Bridget Wiese and HS Math teacher Mr. Jeff Hrabik. These individuals were selected from over 40 nominations that included the representation of 15 different teachers. They are both very active serving as coaches and sponsors in addition to their duties as high school teachers. You see them at school events. Also, they coincidentally are serving as mentor teachers to our two new high school teachers this school year. Like all our teachers, these two continue to model The Cardinal Way as recognized in their nominations. I have included an excerpt from the nominations for each:
Hrabik: "No matter what, everyone in that room will always have their backs because of the support system he provided us."  "No matter if you’re in this class or not he steps up and will help outside of the classroom.
Wiese: "She has high standards for her students, but knows that we can reach them, and gives us the tools to make it happen. She is very understanding, and wants us to be involved in activities and takes that into account in her teaching."

Curry-  Tonight, I would like to recognize Mr. Volker for the work he does to make our middle school great.  Mr. Volker has been a leader in helping us through our curriculum adoption process.  Our Middle School spring Science NSCAS scores were among the highest scores across all disciplines.  Mr. Volker builds rapport with his students and connects with them each and every day.  His work as an assistant coach for the football team has contributed to their success.  Additionally, he has stepped up and helped us out by coaching MS boys basketball with Mr. Ray.  His leadership on our PBiS team has helped us to keep that program functioning at a high level!

Kayton-  Tonight I would like to give my shout-out to Mrs. Emma Bounds.  Mrs. Bounds has really taken the time to dive into our new writing curriculum (simplify writing).  Over the past couple of weeks, 4th grade students have been working on brainstorming, drafting, editing, and completing a five-paragraph essay about a special person in their life.  Last Thursday, they invited their special person to the classroom to listen to them read their essay.  It was a pretty special experience for both the students and their special guests! Way to go, Mrs. Bounds.  

Perone- Three gentlemen for their support and efforts toward our Scorevision goal - John Morrow, Mike Grape, and Todd Heithoff.  They have fronted donations. This is something that doesn’t happen in every community.  They are great to do business with, which is a reflection of our community.  They deserve to be recognized.

Discussion: 

During PLC time, teachers have had the opportunity to talk with their colleagues about ways that Number Sense is incorporated into their classrooms already without adding extra work to their plate in order to reach our school improvement goal throughout this five-year cycle.  During our October PD day, Otis Pierce came from the ESU to share some math and number sense resources with all teachers.  It has been fun to go into classrooms the past couple of months and see them working on number sense puzzles and activities that were shared with them.  We will continue to track our math data especially once our winter testing is completed in December.  

Discussion:  The negotiation Committee has met a couple of times with the members of the Education Association.

Policy on vaping was discussed.  The committee is reviewing policies.

The Superintendent search is in process.

Discussion:  The ESU7 has a grant writer on staff, and is now offering this service to the School Districts.  The annual report will be available at the December meeting.  The 2025-26 master calendar will be presented at the next board meeting.  The non-certified wages will be reviewed by the Finance Committee once Certified staff negotiations are settled.  The 2024-25 current budget was presented and discussed.

Discussion:  Larsen - Attended the WSC Education Fair at the end of October to promote Boone Central; Sophomores Attended Business and Industry Day on October 30th, students enjoyed their time seeing all of the opportunities available to them in Albion, Boone County; Spoke on a panel at NNNC CTE Day hosted at Northeast CC, collaboration of CTE stakeholders from ESU 1, 2, 7, 8, 17, as well as other ESU personal and NDE CTE Specialists, attended by CTE teachers and staff from all over northeast Nebraska to talk about our success with the reVISION Action Grant, theme: How do you pair data and your "wishes" to earn the grant?  Attended the CCC Listening Session at the Library last week with Mrs. Kayton, looking into more ways in which we can partner with CCC to provide additional opportunities for students.  Veterans Day Program went well, thanks to the many people who helped to make this possible.  In partnership with AEF for the Big Give, AEF has approved moving forward with a campaign to work to raise $25,000 to update the current TouchPro Screen displaying school academic and athletic achievements, move a new screen to a different location in the Commons, as well as enhance some signage with the project as able.  Looking to create a new focal point for people to see/use in a larger model.  This will be the start of what we hope to also include some branding signage around the screen, as well as in other areas of the Commons.
 

Curry- K-12 Science Teachers will meet on Nov. 20th to discuss textbook adoption options, transitions between grade levels, and content specific to local & state standards.  Our goal is to request and purchase a K-12 textbook adoption by the December board meeting (January at the latest). This will last us for a minimum of 6-7 years.  102 middle school students earned first quarter Honor Roll or Honorable Mention.  TeamMates is partnering with us to offer these students a book from our book vending machine.  AQuESTT scores for the district and grade-level buildings are currently embargoed.  Typically, they will become public just before Thanksgiving break.  I plan to address our scores at the December board meeting as I have done in the past.  Thanks to our TeamMates Read Grant, we have the opportunity to get Astronaut Clayton Anderson to come speak to some of our students where he will read a children’s book that he wrote (for FREE).  We are trying to get him to stay and spend time with our high school students.  More information to come... Details have not been finalized.

Kayton- Within the last month, first and second grade took a trip to the pumpkin patch.  They had a great time.  It is my goal that each grade level gets to experience a field trip each year.  For many of our students, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.  We had around 200 people present for Family Literacy Night.  It is great to see family involvement and spread the love of reading.  During COVID, our preschool went away from having parent volunteers in their classrooms.  At our Preschool Advisory Meeting, we talked about the importance of family involvement and how we need to place an emphasis on it beginning right away in their educational journey.  Both preschool classrooms have begun having parent volunteers again.  I have heard great things from the parents that have already volunteered, the teachers and the students!  Michael Sampson is an author from New York.  Mrs. Hellbusch heard that he was visiting some schools in the Omaha/Bennington area.  She reached out and asked if he would be interested in spending some time in Albion as well.  We were able to line up this free opportunity thanks to the help of Bookworm in Omaha, Nebraska.  At our PD Day, we took some time to look at our reunification process and location.  We took a field trip with our staff and went over to Zion Lutheran and United Methodist Church.  We are going to continue working on the logistics.

Perone - The fall season was successful due to the commitment of our staff.  There has been a group effort within our school and our community.  The culture and sportsmanship has been good.  Conditioning for winter sports and activities has begun.  It will be a busy winter and a lot to look forward to.

Discussion:  9.2 Superintendent Evaluation - Mr. Roberts read a statement on the Superintendent's evaluation.  The NASB evaluation tool has been utilized.  Dr. McDonald completed a self-evaluation and the Board completed their evaluation of his performance to date.

9.3 Playground Camera - add a total of four new cameras, two of which will replace existing cameras.  The cameras will help with coverage areas that cannot currently be seen by the existing cameras.

9.4 Greenhouse Quote - roof repairs from previous storm damage will be turned into insurance; the other repairs include cooling system, irrigation system, and shade system maintenance repairs. 

Discussion:  Joe Stump with AMGL presented the 2023-24 annual financial audit.

Discussion:  Special Board Meeting (Superintendent Candidate Selection) - November 18th at 4:00 pm in the Art Room
Special Board Meeting (Superintendent Interviews) - November 25th at 1:00 pm in the High School Flex Room
Regular Board Meeting - December 9th at 6:00 pm in the Art Room

Discussion:  8:04 pm