Public Meeting Minutes: December 14, 2022 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

1. Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance

Discussion: President Gould called the regular meeting to order at 6:05 PM and the Pledge of Allegiance was said.

2. Motion to Excuse Board Member's Absence

Discussion: All members were present.

3. Open Meeting Law

Discussion: The audience was reminded that Open Meeting Laws would be followed.

4. Consent Agenda

Discussion: Motion by Burklund, second by Lange to approve the consent agenda as presented including the November 16, 2022 regular meeting minutes; November financial statement; and monthly bills. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.

4.1. Regular Minutes of November 16, 2022

Attachments: (1)

November 16, 2022

12/9/2022 at 2:47 PM

4.2. Financial Statement/Report

Attachments: (1)

Financial Statements Nov. 2022

12/9/2022 at 3:49 PM

4.3. Monthly Bills

Attachments: (1)

Bills Paid Nov. 2022

12/9/2022 at 3:49 PM

5. Correspondence/Recognition

5.1. Recognition

Discussion:      Retiring board member Dr. Harriet Gould was presented with a plaque in recognition of her years of service to the Raymond Central School District.
     Congratulations to student Morgan Lahm, who has published a book of her poetry titled A Soul of Gold, which can be purchased on Amazon, and to the cover page artist Mae Masek.
     Congratulations to art teacher Taylor Craig for being an award winner in the 6th Annual Skies Art Exhibition, hosted by Fusion Arts, for her beautiful ceramic vase. The international competition had artwork submitted by artists from across the world.

5.2. Correspondence from Village of Ceresco

Attachments: (1)

Village of Ceresco

12/13/2022 at 4:58 PM

Discussion: The Board received correspondence from the Village of Ceresco indicating their passing of Resolution #2022-18 in support of the "Save Our Schools" efforts to maintain the Elementary School in Ceresco.

6. Public Forum

Discussion: Dave Burklund addressed the Board during Public Forum speaking in support of community schools and the impact the communities would have if they were to lose them.

7. Reports

7.1. Administrative Reports

Attachments: (4)

December Jr._Sr. Board Report 2022

12/9/2022 at 2:48 PM
December Sped Board Report

12/10/2022 at 9:13 AM
December Elementary Board Report

12/10/2022 at 9:13 AM
December AD Report

12/10/2022 at 10:02 AM

Discussion: Submitted by Scott Shepard, Jr-Sr High School Principal
     Student Engagement - This month during our late start, the teachers that have been going through the Discovery Ed training for the past 1½ years led our staff through several lessons they used to show how to engage students in the learning process. These lessons are hands-on and tied to standards to help the students make connections. Teachers are also entering their curriculum into common forms that will allow us to expand engaging activities moving forward.
     Community Engagement - During this time of year, many school families have needs. Our various student groups have participated in collecting and delivering food items and meals to families in need. We provided 15 Thanksgiving meals and we are providing at least 12 meals at Christmas. Special thanks to Tasha for organizing these events.
     Activities - The Winter Season continues as our teams prepare for the holiday tourneys. Our annual grades 6-12 Winter Band and Choir Concert will take place December 13.
     Go Stangs!

Submitted by Tony Kobza, Asst Jr-Sr High School Principal/Athletic Director
     AD Newsletter - We began a weekly newsletter laying out the upcoming events as well as the successes from the previous week.
     Athletic Fall Season - Football awards:
All-Area 1st Team - Isaak Fredrickson and Kyle Peterson
All-District 1st Team - Isaak Fredrickson, Kyle Peterson, Mason Kreikemeier, Tyson Malousek and Carson Tice, Honorable Mention - Rylan Stover, Jude Burton, Colby Den Hartog, Dawson Potter
     Activities - FFA qualified multiple to the State Competition in April including the district championship in Parliamentary Procedures; One Act placed 4th in a very competitive district; and
Speech has been successful as they continue to have multiple placers in each of their events.
     Athletic Winter Season - Wrestling started off the season by winning the Lakeview Invite as well as our own Dual Tournament. Sophia Schultz placed 1st at Lakeview in the newly formed Girls Wrestling Program. Girls basketball won their opening game of the season and are currently 2-1 going into the Saturday game vs Syracuse. Boys basketball won their first game over Wilber-Clatonia and are currently 1-2 going into the Saturday game vs Syracuse.
     Drug Testing - We continue to randomly test students every other week. More students have been added to our pool as we enter the Winter Seasons.
     East of Building Tree Clearing - We have established plans to clear out the trees and grade an area of land that is just East of the football practice field. We are hoping to clear and grade this land to potentially allow more practice space for softball and baseball which would keep our students on campus for after school practices. We are scheduled to have the trees, including stumps removed in January.

Submitted by Steve Rose, Elementary Principal and Deb Kruse, Assistant Elementary Principal

Targeted Professional Development - This is structured to attend to increasing our capacity of reaching our Campus Improvement Goal of 80% Reading Proficiency.
- Continued...Steve and Deb are conducting multiple walkthroughs weekly in teacher classrooms to determine district and individual teacher needs. Through those walkthroughs we have identified a need for staff instruction on the following:
- Continued...Staff Meetings every 3 weeks to discuss
  - 10 Big Ideas / Checks for Understanding with 100% active participation
    - Based on Explicit Instruction: Anita L. Archer
- PD #5 was delivered around Big Ideas #7 and #8
  - - These 2 ideas are centered around making sure that responses are monitored for accuracy to adjust instruction and students receive specific affirmative, corrective, and informative feedback on their responses.
Science of Reading
- Continued...Caryn from the ESU is aiding in the evaluation and selection of these materials with her knowledge of what we need and what other schools in this process have already chosen. We hope to have the curricular materials decided on by the first of the year.
- Continued...We have received copies of three different sets of reading materials. The staff will be working on evaluating these materials in relation to information that we have been learning in our in-services with ESU2. These are the three:
  - Amplify CKLA
  - EL
  - Wit & Wisdom / Geodes
- We met on December 7 as a staff to discuss our priorities in relation to ELA instruction and held discussions based on what we observed in each of the curricular materials that we are reviewing.
- Teachers will meet on December 13 to continue this process with Monica and Caryn to further our understanding of how these curricular resources are a match for what we need to accomplish at Raymond Central.
School News
- December 6 was the Winter Elementary Concert for K-2 choirs and 5th Grade band. Ms. Spale put together a wonderful program and the gymnasium was packed with parents, grandparents, and friends.
- Steve and Deb attended the Nebraska State Principals Conference on Wednesday and Thursday, December 7-8. The sessions we attended were informative and affirmative that we are working on the right components and guiding our staff in the right directions. We attended sessions dealing with MTSS, Finding your Why, and curriculum implementation processes.

Submitted by Amanda Coufal, Director of Special Education
504’s on SRS:

Tasha Osten and Caitlin Roussan worked diligently to enroll all students on a 504 in the SRS system. Our district’s 504s are now all housed in one place just like our IEP records and can be transferred from one school to the next if they are an SRS school. This will be a beneficial tool for our district and will streamline our process from elementary to high school.

Indicator 8 Parent Survey Data Collection Plan:

I have submitted the parent survey data collection plan on the NDE portal on how RC will disseminate special education parent surveys. The methods proposed are: using Bright Arrow to send the survey link; mail survey links with student’s progress reports; share at parent-teacher conferences; and have the case manager’s communicate with their student’s parents along with reminders to complete the survey either through email, phone calls, and/or during IEP meetings.
Last year, the parent response rate was 51.3%. This year, we will be aiming for 65% or higher on parent participation.

Waiver Request Sent to NDE:

The Justification for Exception to the 1.0 Percent Threshold was completed and sent on Monday. This projection is for students that participate in the NSCAS-Alternate Assessment. Due to the small overall population of the Raymond Central student body, it is anticipated that the students that participate in the alternate assessment will exceed the 1% threshold. We have six students in grades 3-8th and 11th grade that will take the NSCAS-AA. That puts us at 1.53%.

7.2. Student Board Member

Attachments: (1)

School Board Meeting Report

12/14/2022 at 9:01 AM

Discussion: Submitted by Madison Parham, Student Body President
     Last meeting I highlighted how the Student Council was working to find ways to create more student involvement and inclusiveness. The Student Council as a whole has been working with Ms. Johnson, Mr. Shepard, Mr. Kobza, and the Student Council sponsor Ms. Starner to compile a survey to understand students’ interests and desires. While this survey has not been finalized, some examples of questions that have been proposed to insert into this survey for the student body to respond to are "What do you like most about Raymond Central?", "What are some areas we could improve in?", "Do you have a staff member or peer that you could talk to if you were struggling?", and "Overall, do you feel that RC education is setting you up for success and preparing you for your future?" The results of this survey will be presented to you school board members at the next meeting.
     As we wind down into Christmas Break, students are gearing up for finals and some students have finals this week if they are in dual credit classes or online college classes. Right now the American Government class, which is taken by seniors, has been learning about how bills are proposed and move through Congress. One of the activities we are currently participating in as part of grasping an understanding of how laws are made is by creating our own bills that get voted on by one Government class, and if it passes it will be proposed to the other Government class for a vote. These bills are constructed based on changes we would like to see at Raymond Central from different categories of academics, extra curricular activities, policies, the Government classroom, and the community. Some mock bills that students have proposed include making changes to the grading policy, eliminating first period tardies, and having a designated Senior Night for those who participate in One Act. If these mock bills get passed in both Government classes, then they will move to the next step to reach to Mr. Shepard and then eventually the School Board. This activity has proven to be considered fun for us seniors as it is a way for us to share our opinions and let our voices be heard.
     Overall, students have been counting down the days until Christmas break and it has been expressed that the part of Christmas break that they’re looking forward to the most is being able to sleep in.

7.3. Superintendent's Report

7.3.1. NASB Monthly Update

Attachments: (1)

1222 NASB Monthly Board Agenda Item

12/5/2022 at 1:14 PM

7.3.2. Update on Superintendent Goals
Goal 1: Develop a visible presence within the schools, the school community, and the state.
Goal 2: Foster a learning environment in which every student has the maximum opportunity to achieve academic excellence.
Goal 3: Continue the development of a 10 year facilities strategic plan for implementation that addresses maintenance and improvements for existing building assets and new construction.
Gola 4: Continue the development of safety and security practices for Raymond Central Public Schools.

7.3.3. Safety Report

Discussion:      Jaxn has been working with Kidwell to get a quote for keyless remote entry to all of our buildings. This was a suggestion from our engineers as well as from our security audits. He has obtained a quote for about $125,000 to get this in place at all three buildings. We will be discussing this in more detail with the Facilities Committee and making decisions on how to proceed.
     We are planning our second meeting over the holiday break with the Lancaster County Sheriff to discuss reunification and other safety items.
     We are participating in the LB 630 pilot project supported by the Nebraska State Department of Education (NDE) that the University of Nebraska at Lincoln is executing.   The objective of this study is to evaluate the impacts of commercial air filters in classrooms on (1) indoor air quality, and (2) student academic and behavioral outcomes across the state of Nebraska.  The target grade levels are grades 3rd through 8^th. The study involves primarily elementary classrooms that conduct most of the teaching activities in their home classrooms.  Last week the research team installed either commercial air filters or a placebo device in these classrooms (at no cost to you) in our 3-5 classrooms at both Valparaiso and Ceresco. The air filter/placebo device and IAQ loggers will remain in the classrooms for the remaining academic year.

7.3.4. Calendar Clarification

Discussion: Next Wednesday, December 21 will be a regular dismissal per the calendar that was approved as part of the handbooks in June and was published. There will be no early dismissal due to the extra days off before the holiday.

7.3.5. Preschool Curriculum

Discussion: Preschool teachers Ms. Larkins and Ms. Kemnitz, ESU#2 Early Childhood Coordinator Karen Vontz, and ESU#2 Early Childhood Consultant Erin Gangwish met to review and discuss curriculum implementation at the PK3 and PK4 levels. The curriculum is designed to serve 4 year olds on a five day schedule. Therefore, it needs to be adjusted to fit our 4 year old, two-day a week program and then modified again to meet the needs of the 3 year olds. The team is working on articulated alignment across both levels.

7.3.6. Absenteeism Due to Cold and Flu

Discussion: Last week ended with lower rates of absenteeism due to the cold and flu. On Friday, our elementaries were at 10% and 9% and our Jr-Sr High was at 10%. Earlier last week our Jr-Sr got slightly above 13% absenteeism. Prior to the Thanksgiving break our elementaries, particularly Valparaiso, had higher incidences of absenteeism due to a variety of illnesses including Influenza A, COVID, strep throat, and others. On the day before break we had one building hovering at a 40% absence rate. The public health department indicates that we can expect high rates of illnesses this season as we continue to rebound from COVID effects so we will continue to monitor. Local agencies have control over when it is prudent to shut down classrooms or buildings. Nurse Amanda and I will consider factors such as rates, types of illnesses, and staffing when making these decisions.

7.3.7. Report on New Member Workshop

Discussion: Mary Benes and I attended the New Board Member workshop in LaVista on December 13. Some items that I took away for the Board for future consideration include:

Consult with legal counsel to assist in reviewing our policy regarding public participation through public forum.
NASB recommends that all board members participate in the Oath of Office and review Code of Ethics policy 8272 during our organizational meeting in January.
We discussed board committee's and shared information on how districts organized their committee work. It brought to mind a question about whether or not it would benefit us to combine some committees and/or have established committee meetings prior to board meetings? Possibly combine: Curriculum and Americanism, Facilities and Transportation, Finance and Negotiation, .... just thinking.
It was noted that we need to be intentional/careful in the language we use in labeling meetings. Advisory Committees require a need to follow the open meetings act, while Board Committees in general do not require following the open meetings law.

7.3.8. Important Upcoming Dates:

Discussion:

December 21: Last Day of School for 1st Semeste
January 3: Teacher Inservice / Work Day
January 4: Student Day

7.4. Facilities Report

Discussion:

Jared was finally able to pick up the new pickup that we ordered over a year ago and it looks really nice. He also got a bed protector for the vehicle.
The grant that was being advertised for a 90/10 split from the power company for installation of a charging unit for electric vehicles will be slightly altered in January. The owner organization has to make the charging unit available to the general public in order to qualify for the grant. After speaking with the grant manager about the complexities of that scenario, it doesn’t seem like a good fit for us at this time. We still have the $20,000 grant from the federal government, but we will not be exploring the grant from Nebraska power company.

Moser Drilling - They are set up on the southeast portion of our property to do a drill. Our preliminary plan is to do around five test drills. On Monday they drilled their first hole and were encouraged to hit sandstone at 123' and we plan to go ahead and case that hole. They were able to get a gauge on that hole today. It measured at about 100 gpm. With a 4" pump they estimate a result of about 50 gpm and with a 6" pump, probably 70-75 gpm. They recommended another drill in the same area as it is more cost efficient to tie together pumps in proximity. According to Allen Moser, there was sandstone found along the driveway as well the last time we drilled.

7.5. Review of Technology Plan

Attachments: (1)

Technology December Board Report

12/14/2022 at 3:54 PM

Discussion: Infrastructure

New servers at the JH/HS installed and working on migrating data.
Ordered new servers for Val and Ceresco as the servers were old and needing replaced as well as critical vulnerabilities in the chipset of the server at Val.

Technology Projects

Working on Building a 7 year plan for all technology rotations and system implementations.
New website data migrated. Working on cleaning up links and weeding out old/unneeded documents.
Working on getting an e-rate request for purchase out in the next few weeks. This project will upgrade the network infrastructure for Val and Ceresco. This hardware can move if a central site is built.
New backup infrastructure in place and working. Need to get a secure off site location to house monthly backups.
Rolling out two factor authentication to staff accounts.

Issues/Concerns

Working on securing our network and meeting the requirements for cyber insurance.
Still waiting for our servers to be built to start that project.
Going to start a vulnerability scan from the Department of Homeland Security. This is a free service.
Need to get a centralized logging system in place.
Need to start working on an Incident Response plan.
Need to get an internal vulnerability scan.

We have come so far on the security side of things since July. We are ahead of the majority of schools when it comes to cyber security and that is something to be proud of. Our next big hurdle to get over will be changing the mindset of staff to be more security conscious. We are waiting to get cyber security training that the state has purchased for all schools. This will help staff understand the major role they play in keeping our school and networks secure and safe.

7.6. Board Committee Reports

7.6.1. Committee on American Civics (Breitkreutz-chair, Burklund, Matulka)

7.6.2. Transportation Committee (Breitkreutz-chair, Lange, Matulka)

7.6.3. Finance Committee (Blanchard-chair, Breitkreutz, Burklund)

7.6.4. Facilities Committee (Blanchard-chair, Burklund, Matulka)

7.6.5. Negotiations Committee (Blanchard-chair, Gould, Lange)

7.6.6. Curriculum Committee (Gould-chair, Burklund, Lange)

7.6.7. Policy Committee (Gould-chair, Lange, Matulka)

7.7. Review Public Forum Presentation(s) - Consider, discuss, and take all necessary action

8. Old Business

9. New Business

9.1. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to Approve Substitute(s)

Discussion: Motion by Breitkreutz, second by Burklund to approve Paige Maly as a substitute teacher. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.

9.2. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to Approve Student Teacher(s)

Discussion: Motion by Matulka, second by Lange to approve Dawna Miller as a student teacher who will be working with Kendra Carlson in Kindergarten and Nicole Kliment in SpEd. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.

9.3. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to approve the support staff salary schedule for 2023-24.

Discussion: Support staff salary schedule for 2023-24 was tabled until next month.

9.4. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to approve the Annual Audit as presented

Attachments: (1)

55-0161 Raymond Central Audit

12/9/2022 at 10:45 AM

Discussion: Motion by Matulka, second by Lange to accept the Annual Audit as presented. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.

10. Approval of Next Regular Board Meeting

Discussion: Motion by Burklund, second by Breitkreutz to approve the next Regular Board Meeting on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.

11. Adjournment

Discussion: Motion by Breitkreutz, second by Matulka to adjourn the meeting at 7:09 PM. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.

December 14, 2022 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

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