May 12, 2014 at 7:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

More Information:  Mission Statement - Milford Public Schools will prepare all students to be successful citizens: Our Mission is fulfilled when all students read with comprehension, speak and write clearly, compute accurately, reason logically, understand and appreciate the fine arts, apply suitable strategies and habits of mind to solve problems, utilize technology to communicate and to understand information and behave morally.

This agenda contains a list of subjects known at the time of its distribution.  A copy of the agenda reflecting any changes will be available for public inspection during normal business hours in the District Office.  Except for items of an emergency nature, the agenda shall not be altered later than twenty-four hours before the meeting.  The Board reserves the right to alter the order of items, as it deems necessary.

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Information concerning the Open Meeting Law, Chapter 84, Article 14 of Nebraska State Statutes, is posted on the bulletin board in the back of the meeting room.

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This is the public’s opportunity to speak to items on the agenda. This is also the public’s opportunity to speak to any topic concerning the school district – since it is not an agenda item the board cannot discuss or take action on the matter at this time. Future discussion can be requested as an agenda item. To be recognized, all participants must complete the Request to Address the Milford Board of Education Form. No complaints regarding specific staff members will be heard during a public meeting. The District has established separate procedures for complaints against individual employees. Thank you for your participation.

More Information: 
General Fund for $82,239.79
Payroll for $467,305.31
Total $549,545.10

Depreciation Fund for $14,750 (Track repairs)

Bills to point out:
$4,837 to Apple - most of this is a SPED expenditure as we needed to update the iPads and cart and add additional units as the number of students using them has increased.

$1,369 to Awards Unlimited is for student recognition items and our academic recognition medals for graduation.

$812 to Datasort is for digitizing student records.  The records are now on a DVD and on a school server that is backed up externally.  We are required to keep these records.  This will allow us to go from 5 file cabinets down to 3 at this point.  We can then use the fire proof files cabinets for other things.

$19,365 to Houghton Mifflin is for some of the Math Curriculum we approved last month and for materials and supplies for next year at other grade levels.

$1,068 to Lampo Group is for next years Personal Finance curriculum.


That is all I had to point out at this time.  Please call if you have questions on other bills.

More Information:  PreSchool - 14

K-6 - 339     (3 more than last month)
7-8 - 112     (1 more than last month)
9-12 - 224   (3 less than last month)

K-12 - 675   (1 more than last month)

More Information:  This item has been on the last two agendas and the same attachments are included.  We have added a document called Proposed Board Priority Statements.

This is a hard item to work on as the Board survey results are similar to what we have seen in the past.  There may not be anything on here that stands out or that would lead to any changes on our Priority Statements.

The "proposed" changes you see on the attachment are administrative recommendations based on administrative conversations.  The items that have been striked are recommended for removal and the items that are in bold and italics are recommended to be added. 

Once again, these are administrative recommendations and not from any Board member.

I will want to review these as a group and decide what changes the Board would like to see on this document, if any.  And then review the recommended changes from the administrative team and see if they match what Board members would want on the list of Priority Statements.

A motion can be made if we choose to make changes on the original document or it can be left as is.

More Information:  Asbestos abatement will begin Tuesday, May 27th and will last approximately 10 days.  There will be not access to the south end of the building during that time.

Cheever Construction will begin work on the cement area around the flag pole anytime.  There are no further updates at this time.

Item VII C deals with the financing of the project.

More Information:  At the November 2013 meeting we approved the purchase of a 59 passenger bus at the cost of $45,995.  It was an 09 with 60,000 miles on it.  It sold before we could even see it.  59 passenger buses are hard to find.

We now have the opportunity to purchase a 2004, 59 passenger bus for $24,000.  The bus only has 87,000 miles on it.  Mechanically, from what we can see, it is very solid.  We have driven it a few days and checked it out.  There are a few seats that need repaired and will be by the owner.  The biggest issue with the bus is that it was not in a bus barn so there is some fading in the paint.  Overall, the drivers say it will be a great bus for us.  Russ Folts, from Cornhusker International Trucks is who I am dealing with.

Details - 59 passenger, 215 HP Turbo-Diesel, Allison 2000 automatic transmission, 5 speed, Easy Ride Transmission, Hydraulic Brakes

I am recommending that we purchase this bus. 

More Information:  I will have information for you at the meeting.  Still waiting for paperwork from a couple of companies.

More Information:  The administrative team is recommending the hiring of Shalon Roth.

Shalon currently teaches at Elmwood-Murdock and has been employed there since 2006.

Shalon will be teaching 2nd grade in the morning and keyboarding/technology classes in the afternoon.

More Information:  Dave, Larry and I attended the May 6th meeting of the Milford City Council to start discussions regarding possible joint projects.  It was decided that we would form an exploratory committee to brainstorm/discuss possibilities.

Rick Fortune and Jeff Baker have volunteered to represent the City of Milford.  They also discussed the possibility of Jeff Heckman joining the City's committee.

Dave will ask for volunteers and will then appoint members to this committee.  We can have no more than three board members appointed.

More Information:  I am recommending moving into Executive Session to discuss details. Motion will be to move into Executive Session for purposes of discussing Item VII C Financing High Schoffice Project.  Executive Session is necessary for the protection of the public interest.

Board members have information attached for review that are related to the financing of the project.

I am recommending that we use Farmers and Merchants Bank for financing the project.

More Information:  The Board will need to approve a resolution to borrow money in order to work with the bank on financing this project.

The resolution states that the document, and all financing documents, must be signed by the Board President and Secretary.  If this is approved, all financing must be signed by Dave and Larry.  The next agenda item will be our first run of this process if the overall process is approved.

More Information:  This will be our "trial" run with the loan process, as long as it has been approved. 

All future billings that will be part of the loan process will be on the agenda for approval by the Board and will be signed by Dave and Larry.  This is at the direction of our Harding and Shulz Law Firm.

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The Board of Education reserves the right to enter into Closed/Executive Session for 1) the protection of the public interest, or 2) the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, and/or the individual has not requested a public meeting. When making a motion to enter into Closed/Executive Session, the member making the motion should be as specific as possible as to the reason(s) for Executive Session.

The Board President will restate the reason for Closed/Executive Session after the motion has been acted on.