December 13, 2017 at 7:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

President Gould called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM and the Pledge of Allegiance was said.

All members were present.

President Gould reminded the audience that the Open Meeting Laws are displayed in the back of the room for their review.

Motion by Black, second by Springer to approve the consent agenda as presented, regular meeting minutes of November 15, 2017, Financial Statement and monthly bills as presented.  RCV 6-0.

Thank you to Mrs. Egr and our Special Education staff for their work supporting students and completing the required documentation. The Nebraska Department of Education File Review went very well having seen improvement over the last five years.

Thank you to Mrs. Haecker, Mrs. White and Mr. Rose for organizing the Barnes and Noble Book Fair. We will know our total earning after December 7th.

October and November Ceresco Elementary Magnificent Unique Strengths Talents and Noticed Greatness Winners:  Hailee Benes, Edward Cain, Zethany Cerny, Emma Dukesherer, Bair Edwards, Zoey Goddette, Ticia Hall, Evan Hunt, Evlynn Kelly, Myah Matulka, Alli Miller, Gabe Nacke, Pete Nacke, Thomas Norlen, Teijen Novak, Lydia O'Malley, Braeden Orcutt, Reid Otto, Alyssa Rothwell, Rebecca Sklenar, Max Smith, Gage Thomas, Bella Thornburg, Henry Tvrdy, Eli Zobel.  PTO Winner:  Rebecca Sklenar.

President Gould extended the Board's appreciation to the district for their opportunity to attend the School Board Conference.

Dave Schnell addressed the Board in regards to compensation for unused sick days, Jill Tran expressed concerns about bus issues, and Phil Carlson spoke about marketing the Raymond Central School District by highlighting past students and their successes on the school website.

Submitted by Kolin Haecker, High School Principal/Curriculum Director

First semester is coming to an end very soon and will conclude with finals starting on Wednesday, December 20 and ending on Friday, December 22. We will have an early dismissal of the 22nd.

Scheduling for next semester is progressing. Ms. Osten is meeting with all 9th-12th grade students to make any schedule changes for 2nd semester. We will also start pre-registering students for the 2018-2019 school year in February.

Karen Haase, a partner in the law firm of KSB School Law, gave a very educational and entertaining presentation to 6th-12th grade students and staff about Digital Citizenship.

Ms. Osten visited with the 10th and 11th graders and gave them access to the ACT online system to help them perform well on the ACT test.

The 7-12 Music concert will be held on December 12 at 6:30 pm. Congratulations to Brandon Unverferth who was accepted to participate in Nebraska All-State Honor Band and to Cristina Becher, Ethan Ang, Nathan Herroon, and Illiana Maxwell for Honor Choir.

Student Council had 33 donors during the November Blood Drive at the high school. This will provide scholarships to the seniors.

I wish all of you a Happy Holiday Season.

Submitted by Greg Wilmes, Activities Director/Assistant Principal

Jr. high boys basketball has done well and will finish their season hosting Palmyra on Thursday, December 14.

High school sports have begun and have a week under their belt. The girls basketball team has 18 members and the boys have 20. The season has had a tough start with losses on both the boys and girls sides to Aquinas and Milford. They hope to get on the winning side with games against Wilber-Clatonia and Syracuse at home on December 7 and 9, respectively.

The wrestling squad this year has 15 members. They opened up with a triangular with East Butler at North Bend and were able to come away with a dual win over East Butler. They traveled to York on December 2 - bringing home hardware was Easton Albrecht with a 3rd place finish and Nick Springer with a 4th place medal. They will host the RC dual tournament on December 8.

Jackson Fowler was selected for The Journal Star's pick for all-state football honorable mention.

One-Act finished their season with 7th place at conference in Wahoo on November 20. Outstanding performance awards went to Colton Arias, Ella Kehr, Isaac White, Brigit Shultz, Ellen Dexter, Matthew Jackson, and Alexis Jeffres. They came home with a 4th place finish at districts in Milford on December 1.

FFA results - LDE District Competition at Newman Grove:  State Qualifiers: 1st Place-Miranda Hornung, Senior Public Speaking; 2nd Place-Heather Lange, Ag Literacy Speaking; 2nd Place-Rachael Lange, Extemp Speaking; 2nd Place-Senior Parliamentary Procedure,-Miranda Hornung, Hailey Hula, Taylor Nelson, Holly Komenda, Rachael Lange, Kale Strizek.  Other Competitiors: 3rd Place-Nick Springer, Cooperative Speaking; 3rd Place-Hunter Kohl, Creed Speaking; 3rd Place-Conduct of Chapter Meetings-Jack Nelson, Scott Tvrdy, Ellie Hula, Hunter Kohl, Nathan McGrath, Mallory Hughes, Krystal Hall; 4th Place-Ag Demonstration-Amanda Gyhra, Leah Bos, Ellissa Fredrickson; 4th Place-Conduct of Chapter Meetings-Skylar Sterns, Mary Andelt, Gavin Soden, Logan Sears, Beau Gyhra, CeCe Sterns, Emmett Gyhra; 4th Place-Senior Parliamentary Procedure-Duke Nelson, Amber Heyen, Kody Swartz, Allissa Turnwall, Katherine Sydik, Katelyn Komenda.  Blue Ribbons: Ellie Hula, Creed Speaking; Ashley Heyen, Job Interview; Kale Strizek, Extemp Speaking.  Red Ribbons: Isaac White, Junior Public Speaking; Clare Hornung, Natural Resource Speaking; Haley Twohig, Natural Resource Speaking; Quiz Bowl-Aleyna Cuttlers, Jaden Kohl, Heather Lange, Rachel Bos.

Brandon Unverferth participated in the Nebraska All-State Band on November 16-18. This was his second year in a row. We had several audition for the Wayne State College Honor Band, but won't have results until just before the winter break.

Speech has continued their start to a busy year with meets at Lincoln East/Pius on November 18, Norris on December 2, Lincoln High on December 8, Lincoln Southeast on December 15 and UNL on December 16.

The Fall Sports Banquet on November 17 was well attended and a big thank you to the athletic booster club for providing a good meal for all in attendance.

Some important dates coming up:

Friday, December 22 - End of 1st semester (2:00 PM dismissal)

Saturday, December 23 thru Wednesday, December 27 - All gyms closed

December 29-30 - Boys Basketball Holiday Tournament at Lincoln Lutheran

Submitted by  Shelly Dostal, Elementary Principal at Valparaiso and K-5 Curriculum Director

Curriculum/Instruction/Assessment - For professional learning time on December 5, Dr. Joel opened by addressing the "why" we are studying differentiation. Dr. Gary Nunnally facilitated discussion to assist the district in developing a common definition of differentiation. The School Improvement/AdvancED team and administrators will meet for further conversations about the definition. Preparations are underway for staff training on January 3 including more information about differentiation with Dr. Nunnally. DIBELS data benchmarking will take place December 11-15 for the mid-year checkpoint to monitor student progress. I will be attending the Curriculum Directors’ Winter Meeting in Kearney on December 8. State Board of Education member, Molly O’Holleran, is also slated to attend. Second quarter ends on December 22.

AdvancED -The committee will meet on December 12. We will be reviewing the definitions the faculty wrote for differentiation. Plans for upcoming trainings will be confirmed.

NDE -Representatives from the Nebraska Department of Education were in the district on December 7 for the Special Education File Review. They toured the Valparaiso building and then met with administration and special education teachers. We are grateful for all the daily work that Mrs. Ann Egr and the special education staff do, and the extra efforts to prepare for the file review is deeply appreciated.

Music Concert - Grades K-2 students presented a vocal Winter Concert on Tuesday, December 5, and the 5tF-6th grade bands performed as well. Mr. Strouf and Mr. Luke are to be commended for their extra efforts. Thank you to the classroom teachers for helping too.

Turkey Trot - Great job to the 4th and 5th graders for completing the Turkey Trot and to Mr. Liess for organizing the event!

The RC elementary libraries hosted a Book Fair at the South Pointe Barnes and Noble on December 2. Shoppers who mentioned RC during their transaction contributed a percentage of their sale to the RC elementary libraries. Thank you to Mrs. White, Mrs. Haecker, and Mr. Rose for facilitating this event, and thank you to all who purchased items at the book fair or on-line to support RC. Special thanks to students in grades K-1 and their families for singing carols and to the teachers for assisting at the crafting station.

The 5th graders are sponsoring a "Helping the Homeless from Head to Toe" campaign to solicit donations for socks, gloves, and hats for the People’s City Mission in Lincoln. Mrs. White is facilitating the project. 5th graders are planning to visit the Mission the morning of December 21 to sort the donations, assist with various tasks, and tour the facility. Thank you to all who support this service project!

Submitted by Ann Egr, Elementary Principal at Ceresco and Director of Special Education

On Saturday, December 2, the elementary hosted a Book Fair at Barnes & Noble. The kindergarteners and first graders performed at the store! Proceeds from this event are going to purchase new books for the library. Thankyou to Mrs. Haecker, Mrs. White, and Mr. Rose for organizing this wonderful event.

Ceresco Elementary is set for the 2nd round of DIBELS testing starting December 6. The data is used in conjunction with other assessment tools to evaluate students’ reading progress to develop appropriate supports and interventions.

The K-2 vocal music and 5-6 winter band concerts were held December 5 at the High School. Thank you to all who attended the performance and to Mr. Strouf and Mr. Luke for producing a fantastic event.

The annual Holiday Shoppe is scheduled for December 14 at Ceresco. Students will have an opportunity to purchase items for their families. Also, a HUGE shout out for the outstanding support of the cookie dough sales! As a district, the sales were once again exceptional with a total of 708 tubs! The proceeds from cookie dough sales go towards classroom field trips. Thank you PTO for organizing this event.

Thank you to all the teachers, staff, and students who are generously giving to the Fill the Box with Sox/Angel Tree programs during this Holiday Season. The response has been fantastic.

At our monthly MUSTANG assembly, the following students were honored with a MUSTANG award: Bair Edwards, Evelynn Kelly, Thomas Norlen, Gage Thomas, Hailee Benes, Edward Cain, Henry Tvrdy, Eli Zobel, Ticia Hall, Rebecca Sklenar, Zoey Goddette, Evan Hunt, Myah Matulka, Gabe Nacke, Teijen Novak, Lydia O'Malley, Braeden Orcutt, Max Smith, Emma Dukesherer, Bella Thornburg, Zethany Cerny, Alli Miller, Pete Nacke, Reid Otto, Alyssa Rothwell.

Special Education: The Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) conducted a mandatory on-site file review on December 7. The selected student files were reviewed onsite. The administration, Special Education teachers, and Mr. Dan Bombeck from the Educational Service Unit met with NDE to discuss findings. I’m proud to share that NDE was very complimentary of the Special Education Department’s file organization and procedures. The teachers worked hard in preparation for this review and it paid off.

The Raymond Central Preschool Committee met December 6. The emphasis of the meeting was to develop a mission statement for the preschool.

The staff at Ceresco would like to extend our best wishes for a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Mr. Haecker and Mrs. Dostal presented data from the Achievement/Academic Tests taken in April of 2017.

Tuesday, December 5, teaching staff met in the Mustang Room to continue their learning around differentiation. December is a great month to re-visit our "why". Dr. Joel lead staff through making our mission statement more than words on a piece of paper and asked the question of what would an observer see if we truly lived out our mission and core values. Our work around differentiation and improving classroom instruction is embedded in our mission and core values! 

NDE File Review - Overall we had a successful file review for special education from the NDE. Our team will look at making changes to how we write accommodations and modifications for students. This has been something Mrs. Egr has already been working with our Special Education PLC on. Thanks to this team for their hard work. The Administrative Team has also been having conversations around updating our Special Education Delivery model to modernize it to fit our current student needs. 

Superintendent Advisory Committee - The first meeting will be Monday, December 18. I look forward to having conversations with teachers from each of our building sites. 

Preschool Committee - The preschool committee met Wednesday night. The objective for the meeting was to create a vision statement for our PK program as it is required by law. Our vision: Through partnerships with families, caregivers, and community, Raymond Central Preschool’s mission is to provide high quality learning experiences to children while fostering each child’s intellectual, physical, social emotional development in an academic rich environment to create independent learners.

Legislative Issues Conference, January 21-22 - Presented annually in January, the Legislature will discuss key issues affecting Nebraska's public schools, including the Governor; Commissioner of Education; the Speaker; and select Committee Chairs. Lunch with Senators will follow the morning speakers. An afternoon session on Budget & Finance will follow.

Safe Deposit Box - The Board assigned Superintendent Joel and Cheryl Rieck as authorized signors on the Safe Deposit Box at Oak Creek Valley Bank.

Superintendent Joel review the progress on his goals and highlighted each category.

Superintendent Joel and Phil Carlson met with the EPA to discuss our lagoon project. The recommendation of the EPA is to hire an engineer to ensure the work we have bid out will meet the requirements. There have been a lot of changes in the law since our last lagoon inspection in 1985. 

Installation of the parent notification system BrightArrow has been completed. The 3D printers have been installed and both Mr. Harrington and Mr. Marsh have printed test projects.

Submitted by Cicely Pickel, Student Board Member

One Act ended their season placing 4th in districts.

Boys basketball, girls basketball, and wrestling are now in full swing. Both basketball teams have a record of 1-3 due to exciting wins against Wilber-Clatonia. The next basketball game is this Friday in DC West.

The wrestling team has also started to go into full swing. They got runner-up in their home dual tournament.

FIllies Dance team did their youth clinic. They performed at halftime of the Syracuse boys basketball game to a remix of Frosty the Snowman.

Speech has continued competition; the team placed 6th at the Lincoln High meet last Friday.

FBLA will be participating in a volunteer day at the People’s City Mission.

The People’s Prom run by junior parents was a success. Parents seemed to enjoy dancing and lip syncing the night away.

FFA had district LDE’s the parli pro team qualified for state and Miranda Hornung won Public Speaking. Heather Lange got second in her speech as well.

Charlie Soden has organized a blackout on January 5 for Draven Thompson.

Everyone eagerly awaits Christmas break.

The Nebraska Association of School Boards partnered with us on the creation and collection of data from the Superintendent 360 Evaluation and presented to the Board on December 12. Overall the feedback was very positive and beneficial.

The updated 2017 Raymond Central Annual Report will be published to our website.

Motion by Blanchard, second by Black to hire an additional paraeducator four days a week for PreSchool to assist with special needs.  RCV 6-0.

Discussion was held regarding preschool paraeducator qualifications and tabled until January when we have further information.

Motion by Urbom, second by Blanchard to increase maximum reimbursable dollar amount for bus driver DOT physical exams to $75.00.  RCV 5-0.  Abstained-1.

Public Forum Presentations were reviewed and action was tabled until January.

Motion by Springer, second by Blanchard to approve the updated Policy 5006 waiving the open enrollment window.  RCV 5-1.

Motion by Black, second by Urbom to approve the 3 year contract with SOCS to provide website service for Raymond Central Schools at a total cost of $6,350.00. RCV 6-0.

Motion by Black, second by Blanchard to approve the 2018-2019 Master Contract for certified instructional staff.  RCV 6-0.

Motion by Urbom, second by Breitkreutz to surplus 23 outdated Probook laptop computers and Juniper Access Points.  RCV 6-0.

Motion by Gould, second by Urbom to approve Dianne Coffin as a substitute teacher.  RCV 6-0.

Motion by Black, second by Breitkreutz to approve the next regular Board of Education Meeting on Wednesday, January 10 at 7:00 PM at the Valparaiso Elementary School.  RCV 6-0.

Motion by Breitkreutz, second by Springer to adjourn the meeting at 9:25 PM.  RCV 6-0.