April 12, 2023 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion:       President Breitkreutz called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM and the Pledge of Allegiance was said. 

Discussion:       All members were present.

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

Discussion:       Motion by Matulka, second by Burklund to approve the consent agenda as presented including the regular meeting minutes of March 15, 2023; March financial statement; and monthly bills.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Thank you to Madison Parham who has served as our Student Board Member this past year.
     Congratulations to the entire Central Players team on their District B-4 Championship and to the following individuals for their performance and success at State Speech:  Extemporaneous Speaking 2nd place - Sarah Lange; Persuasive Speaking 5th place - Sarah Lange; NIETOC Qualifiers - Sarah Lange, Carlee Wolfe, Robert Ortiz, Luke Tvrdy, Alli Miller; and NSDA Qualifier - Sarah Lange.
     Congratulations to the following individuals for their performance and success at State FFA:  Parliamentary Procedure State CHAMPIONS - Hailee Nelson, Aleyna Cuttlers, Braelyn Christensen, Sarah Lange, Carlee Wolfe, Jaelynn Kliment; Vet Science Top 10 Finish - Rachel Bos; Creed Speaking Gold Medal Recipient - Khloe Cuttlers; and Senior Degree Recipients - Rachel Bos, Aleyna Cuttlers.
     Congratulations to the Prom 2022 Royalty:  Queen - Rachel Bos ; King - Isaak Fredrickson; Princess - Josie Lahm; Prince - Tyler Malousek; Dutchess -Madison Parham ; Duke - Mason Kreikemeier.
     Congratulations to the following on their success at State FBLA.  Placers: Sarah Lange - 5th Business Law; 2nd Intro to Business Proc ; Ashler Lahm - 1st Network Infrastructure, 1st UX Design, 7th Computer Problem Solving; Ethan Norlen - 5th Computer Game & Sim Program; and Mae Masek - 1st Digital Animation.  National Qualifiers include: Sarah Lange and Rosalie Tvrdy - Local Annual Chapter Business Report; Asher Lahm - Digital Animation; Josie Lahm and Mae Masek - E-Business; Rosalie Tvrdy - Health Care Administration; and Sarah Lange - Introduction to Business Procedures.

Discussion:  Submitted by Scott Shepard, Jr-Sr High School Principal
     Student Engagement - The spring activities season is in full swing.  Tony has posted many of the successes at the local and state level.  Our students and sponsors have done a great job.  Last night, we inducted 13 new NHS members.  It was a great program that recognized students for their Leadership, Character, Scholarship and Service. 
     This week we completed the state required ACT Test on Tuesday.  Along with the testing, our 8th-10th graders took educational field trips to UNL and East Campus, Midland, Concordia, SCC, and Lincoln Poultry.  Our 6th and 7th graders participated in a health fair in which all of the students rotated through 12 sessions throughout the day.  Thanks to Tasha and our entire team for making this day a success!
     Community Engagement - The musical "Singing in the Rain" will be performed May 5th-6th at 7:00 and on May 7th at 2:00 and 7:00.  This will be a great opportunity to see our kids perform in a musical for the first time in many years.
     Schedule for 2023-24 - We are starting to set the master schedule for next year.  I have given Lynn an overview of classes that will run and few that will not run because of small numbers.  With that in mind, I am proposing that we use teachers to fill in some gaps that I have identified throughout the year.  We need support in the areas of junior high motivational, social emotional and accountability support.  We also need additional support for reading across all levels and counseling services.  I will give more information as it becomes available.
     Staffing - We received an additional resignation letter from Court Croghan in the JH SpEd department.  We will be interviewing for the high school SpEd position on Friday as we have one application.  This is the most unique hiring season that I have experienced in my 20 year career as a principal.  Although it is difficult, we will continue to search until we find high quality people to work with our students!
     Go Stangs!


Submitted by Tony Kobza, Asst Jr-Sr High School Principal/Athletic Director
     Activities - State FFA received a State Championship in Parliamentary Procedure by the team of Aleyna Cuttlers, Carlee Wolfe, Sarah Lange, Braelynn Christensen and Jaelynn Kliment!  Several additional awards were received and mentioned under Correspondence/Recognition.
     State Speech results were highlighted by a 2nd place finish by Sarah Lange.
     State FBLA had multiple placers including 1st place by: Asher Lahm and Mae Masek. The chapter also received a Gold Seal of Merit Award and was 1st place in the Local Annual Chapter Business Report.
     Athletics - Spring Sports are in full swing and we will start having postseason play and competition in one month. To celebrate the accomplishments of the athletes throughout the entire year we will be having an end of year Athletic Banquet on Monday, May 15. All athletes that participated in an NSAA sanctioned event this year will be invited along with their families.


Submitted by Steve Rose, Elementary Principal and Deb Kruse, Assistant Elementary Principal
     RESTORE (HAL) Grant - Steve participated at the ESU to begin looking at the process of identification and serving High Ability Learners as part of a NDE and ESU2 lead grant. The purpose of the grant is to increase the identification of students, especially those in groups that are underrepresented (SpEd, ELL) and to increase the capacity of schools to serve those students. The first couple of meetings have been geared towards solidifying the identification process and creating a universal screening process that is consistent across districts. This grant will continue for the next 5 years and we will continue to work with them to increase our capacity to serve HAL students.
     Wit & Wisdom / ELL Curriculum - Deb, Steve, and Monica are working on a master schedule to accommodate all of the components of the effective implementation of our new reading curriculum. We are working with guidelines from NDE, Wit & Wisdom, and the leading research on what will have the greatest impact on student achievement.
     School-Wide Expectations - The Teacher Leadership team as part of our work on MTSS-B (behavior) is working with the administration and have been developing school-wide expectations and language that can be used across our campuses. The process has been to identify those common areas that we need to have expectations for, and define what it looks like to be safe, responsible, and respectful in those areas. The team has now been tasked with creating a lesson template and lessons to go along with each of these expectations so that they may be taught consistently by all teachers and across all grade levels. More work will continue and will be presented to all staff later this year.
     School News -

• The 2023-2024 Kindergarten parent meeting was held on March 27 in the High School Commons area. A majority of the incoming parents were in attendance to get basic information from Mrs. Bohac and Mrs. Carlson. Incoming Kindergarten students are slated to visit their prospective Kindergarten classrooms on Monday, May 8.
• Plant Sale 2023 - The online plant sale has ended. We did almost $25,000 worth of pre-sales this year. Many teachers and staff are stepping up to help shoulder the responsibilities of this sale. The pickup for those plants will be on Friday, April 28.
• The PTO Spring Carnival will be on Friday, April 21 at the HS. Many games and activities will be structured for the students. Different groups and volunteers will be helping with this event.

Submitted by Amanda Coufal, Director of Special Education
     9th Grade SpEd Students:  Ms. Highstreet (HS SpEd Teacher) shared that all of her 9th grade caseload students improved on the Language Arts MAP test this Spring!  Their improvement was between 2-6 points from the Winter assessment.  Ms. Highstreet commended Ms. Starner for the instruction, practice and formative assessment that she does each day in the area of grammar & usage.  I would also like to commend Ms. Highstreet for the same thing as she co-teaches with Ms. Starner.
     Indicator 13: I have submitted our Indicator 13 for Raymond Central to the NDE portal.  All districts are responsible for completing the individual self-assessment that measures the percent of youth with IEPs aged 14 and above.  Their IEPs must include appropriate measurable postsecondary goals that are annually updated and based upon transition assessments and services that will enable the student to meet their postsecondary goals and annual IEP goals.  As you might remember, last year all students age 14 or would be turning 14 during the annual IEP would require a transition plan. Our special education staff has done a great job to make sure that our students have an appropriate transition plan and invite students to their IEP meetings.
     World Down Syndrome Day:  Raymond Central recognized World Down Syndrome Day on March 21.  Some staff purchased shirts and wore those on that day to show support.  We currently have four students in our district with down syndrome.
     Some facts about Down Syndrome:  1) Down syndrome is named for Dr. John Langdon Down, who wrote the most prominent paper describing the disorder in the 1860s.  The name Down syndrome was not standardized until 1975.  More than 400,000 people are living with Down syndrome in the United States.  2) A few of the common physical traits of Down syndrome are low muscle tone, small stature, an upward slant to the eyes, a tongue that tends to stick out of the mouth, and a single deep crease across the center of the palm.  Each person with Down syndrome is a unique individual and may possess these characteristics to different degrees, or not at all.
     Here is a short video about a student talking about inclusion in the classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VMz06iVzqs.  Some takeaways from the video:  Inclusion is more than just what it is, it is a culture, a mindset, and an expectation that everyone can and will learn and succeed along with their age-appropriate peers; I know it can be challenging to include me in the learning as sometimes I might require extra resources and information but giving me space to learn from my teacher and peers is the best way to challenge me and allow me to grow; Treat me the same as any other student and watch me flourish. I will rise to the challenge of the expectations you set for me.
     Autism Awareness:  We will recognize Autism Awareness day on April 14 in a similar way that we recognized Down Syndrome Day.  We currently have six students verified with Autism.
     Paraprofessional Appreciation Day - April 3.  If  you see our amazing paraprofessionals, please thank them for their dedicated work that they provide to our students and to our staff.  We would be truly lost without them:  Jody Albrecht, Yvonne Brenner, Aiden Cronin, Dorie Dickey, Michelle Gerdes, Kate Gralheer, Cindra Jensen, Lynnsey Jewett, Megan Johnson, Cindy Kaiser, Jessica Knopp, Kristen Lovell, Ashley Matulka, Kristi Meier, Julie Mueller, Kara Nelson, Melani Nelson, Teresa Pester, Heather Potter, Melanie Schmalken, Kristy Sears, Matt Smith, Jil-Beth Svoboda, Cherie Swanson, Leann Wiese, and Carol Wischhof.

Discussion:       Marcia Herring from NASB has been invited Marcia Herring, NASB, to our annual summer board retreat.  Marcia can provide the board with some training on board roles and then assist in performing a self assessment, and assist in identifying goals.  A date needs to be finalized.

Discussion:       The Facility/Transportation Committee met on March 31.  The committee did review summer projects planned for this year. 
     There are a variety of less expensive projects that Jared and his crew will be undertaking: FCS tear out cabinets and redo plumbing (inhouse), redo some cabinets and take out block walls between concession and sink room in the concession area, concrete repairs at Jr/Sr parking and box drain by the shed as well as some at Ceresco parking area, and painting inside and outside.  There were three bigger projects that the Facility/Transportation Committee had discussed and prioritized.  Those bigger projects include:

• Remote door access at all campuses - Committee prioritized this item.  Jaxn is still getting quotes.  The committee favors getting door access at the Jr/Sr high this summer and then moving forward with the two elementaries at a later date if bond does not pass.  It will be easier to do those two campuses during the school year if need be.  The board can expect to take action on this in May.  
• Concrete Work - Finishing the concrete on the east side of the Jr/Sr High and in the west parking lot and drive area are of medium priority.  We will continue to discuss if there are finances and time to do any of this this summer. 
• Hard Surface Elementary Playgrounds - We have only received one quote and are waiting on a second.  The one quote we have for Ceresco is $140,000 and Valparaiso is $135,000. This is more than the committee thinks we should take on at this time.  We will be evaluating to see if additional rubber mats and maybe some crumb rubber could be possibilities to improve things in the near future.  One of the cost factors is that the depth of the poured surface is 5" in some places in order to get the right fall zone depths.

      We are working with Wolfe Construction on the following projects.  Kevin will try to keep us below the insurance estimates.  We plan to move forward with these repairs with Wolfe ASAP.  Here is where we are at so far:

• HS - Quote to replace metal along the west side and in other identified spots is less than the insurance quote, facia, gutter, minimal roof work (recoat perimeter and rerock perimeter), bus barn south roof and gutters, etc.  There has already been work done on concession stand, storage shed, etc.   
• Ceresco - Asbestos tiled roof, the membrane roof was not covered but we are hoping to save enough other places to do this (also depends upon the bond), gutters, downspouts, etc.  We are getting quotes on the windows and plan to do those as soon as we see the quote.  The quote for the stucco was minimal so we are contacting insurance to see if we can’t get better coverage since the quote only allows for spot repair and our past experience shows that it is impossible to match paint colors and it is a splotchy result. 
• Valparaiso - Jared has already repaired window screens. We have been provided coverage for window frames and we are getting quotes for that and plan to repair if within quotes.  Same situation with stucco here. To do it right (paint it all) it is a lot more than coverage provided, so checking with agent to see if they will provide additional coverage. 

Discussion:  Submitted by Jaxn Kobza, Technology Director
Technology Projects

• Working on getting our technology rotation plan finalized.
• Renewal of our web filter and student web safety platform GoGaurdian (our current system).
• Need to decide what printer vendor to go with for our new lease. We will start this new lease on July 1, 2023.  I am recommending Access Systems.  They are cheaper than others and offer better devices than what we currently have.
• Need to select a vendor for purchasing student and staff devices.  I recommend Computer Hardware for our chromebook purchase.  They are a local shop in Lincoln and always going out of their way to help us.  They are $1 more per device on student machines.  On Staff devices they are cheaper and offer a 3yr warranty.

Miscellaneous

• Waiting for a quote from Kidwell to install an access control system (card readers for doors)
• Our network upgrade for Val and Cer is scheduled for the week of June 12- 16th.
• Working with Lynn to get a security grant filled out. That could provide up to 500,000 dollars for school security.

Discussion:       Motion by Blanchard, second by Lange to approve amended Policy 5306 Drug and Alcohol which reflects the protocols that were discussed at the last Board Meeting and has been reviewed by our legal counsel.  In essence, the actual testing includes a review by a Medical Review Officer for accuracy and therefore, there is no meaningful appeal past that point of the actual results.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Benes, second by Matulka to approve updated policies as presented:  1000-Statement of Intent; 1030A-Parent-Patron Comment Form; 1050-Public Access to School Records; 1100A-Request for Use of Facilities; 1102-Recording of Others; 1211-Title IX Grievance; 1220-Title IX Procedure for Complaints of Sexual Harassment; 1230-Building Accessibility; and new policies 1270-Therapy Animals; 1500-Emergency Closure of School Buildings; and 1501-Emergency Exclusions.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Matulka, second by Lange to approve Narcan Policy 5602 Opioid Overdose Prevention and Response.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Blanchard, second by Burklund to approve amended Policy 9200 Formulation, Adoption, Amendment of Policies.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Lange, second by Burklund to approve staff resignations:  Court Croghan, JH Special Education; Chelsea Larkins, .5 FTE 3-Yr-Old Preschool; Kalyn Brannagan, Elementary Physical Education; Nathan Sliva, Elementary Teacher, Asst FB and Asst Boys BB; Michelle Gerdes, SpEd Paraeducator; and Kate Gralheer, PK3 Paraeducator.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Matulka, second by Benes to approve new staff:  Hannah Kring, Elementary Teacher, Step 7, BA; Zachary Ochsner, Vocal Music, Step 1, BA; Michael Lucas, Elementary Physical Education, Step 5, BA+27 and Asst JH Boys BB/Asst Track; Shawn Semler, High School Special Education, Step 15, MA+9; and Taylor Vasa, Track.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Benes, second by Matulka to approve a one-year Cash Rent Lease for the farmland south/southeast of the Jr-Sr High School for $13,299.66.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Lange, second by Matulka to approve the order and purchase of a 2023 Ford Transit Passenger Van not to exceed $54,680.00.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Matulka, second by Benes to approve the order and purchase of a 2024 Thomas SAF-T-LINER HDX, 46 passenger activity bus at a cost of $189,350.00.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Benes, second by Blanchard to approve the addition of a Head Girls Wrestling Coach for the 2023-24 school year.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Matulka, second by Blanchard to approve the purchase of a charging station from InCharge for the new electric bus at a cost of $23,166.00.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Lange, second by Burklund to approve the annual purchase of student chromebook devices through Computer Hardware at a cost of $52,233.45.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Matulka, second by Benes to approve the annual purchase of staff laptop computers through Computer Hardware at a cost of $18,753.40.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.

Discussion:       Motion by Matulka, second by Lange to approve  a five-year contract with Access Systems for printing and copying services at $2,229.25 per month.

Discussion:       Renewal of our GoGuardian subscriptions was tabled in order for us to test another student protection software company before making a final decision.

Discussion:       The next regular Board of Education meeting will be Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

Discussion:       Motion by Lange, second by Matulka to adjourn the meeting at 7:17 PM.  RCV 6-0.  Motion carried.