February 13, 2024 at 5:00 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

Discussion: 
 

Discussion:  Mr. Krause, Director of Student Services. The ESSA Title visit will happen again this year. Scheduled for the first week of April and they will meet with Mr. Dennis, Mr. Krause, Mrs. Keene and Mrs. Stepanek. System of Care Grant, made some more referrals to Jason Mather. Will be meeting with Jen Pollock from ESU 3 regarding SMH funds. Indicator 13 is the State Department's policy for accountability in our transition plans for Conestoga. Received notification of a corrective action plan regarding a transition plan, so I will be completing those tasks. Attended NASES legislative conference with emphasis on the retention of teachers, MTSS process, State Reading Laws and intervention plans. Today, the secondary staff attended a conference on MTSS to spend more time on our early intervention processes and decision rules for different supports. 
Welch stated, during our BOE retreat it was noted that 19% of Conestoga's students are currently receiving services.
Mr. Wills, AP/AD. Report was read by Welch. Boys wrestling is sending 2 state qualifiers; James Kansteiner and Collin Dufault. Girls wrestling is sending 4 state qualifiers; Morgan Hensch, Gabby Landon, Kyler Zimmerman and Maggie Fiene. Boys basketball finished their conference tournament runner-up and will host sub-districts. Esports was runner-up in the State Mario Kart tournament. Speech has had great success. John McConnell finished 1st with another meet next Monday. Honor Band & Choir performed this Friday. State Cheer and Dance is Friday and Saturday. Requires a lot of staffing and coaching, so cheers to the students and staff covering all these events.
Mr. Geise, Jr./Sr. High School principal. College/Career day is March 20th. Shout out to Mr. Brokaw, Mrs Kreifels and Mrs. Morton. Sixth grade move up day is May 8th. An activity fair will also be that day. Formal evaluations for all tenured teachers were completed last semester and the 2nd formal evaluations for non-tenured teachers are underway. 24-25 schedule and registration is underway. Shout out to Mrs. Kreifels on scheduling and school counselor week was last week. Parent teacher conferences this week with early dismissal. Thank you to the booster club for providing the Jr./Sr high school staff with a meal. Update on teacher vacancies. The winter seasons are winding down, so thank you to the students and coaches. Listed upcoming dates.
Mrs. Bergmeyer, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment. 2/21 the elementary Social Studies team will be meeting to finalize their recommendation regarding the update of the current curriculum. Instruction, secondary staff attended MTSS training at ESU3 today. Mrs. Kreifels is working on updating the course catalog, not anticipating any major changes. Assessment, The juniors completed the ASVAB, and they will come back out to share the results with the students. Juniors will complete the ACT this year over the course of 2 assigned dates in March due to track meets and departure time. Sophomores will complete the preACT during April. ELPA 21 is our next big assessment coming up. This test will be given by Mrs. Keene, Mrs. Stepanek and myself. 
Perkins grant question. We consorted through ESU with different schools, so we split up the grant. Our portion is estimated at $8,000 and that money is on a rotation with teachers. Last year Mr. Brokaw used it for new monitors, Mr. Burns will get it this year and Mrs. Kennebeck will be up next year. 
Revision grants, we're trying to offset filter costs. Working with NDE and Boyd Jones to try to utilize that money to help with the filtration system as it is out of date and can't be used with the new welding equipment. 

Discussion:  Progress continues on HVAC prep work for this summer. This coming weekend, work will be in the music room areas. The calendar will be coming next month, waiting to make sure HVAC construction stays on schedule. 
A legislative meeting put on by NRCSA on 2/20. I'm planning on attending, some bills to keep an eye on; LB 878 and LB988 dealing with the passage of bonds. LB415 raises sales tax to lower property tax. LB1241 will force entities to drop school levy if valuations go up. The Athletic Director position had about 30 applicants and 5 were interviewed. I am interviewing a Science person currently and hope to fill that position soon. 

Discussion:  Board members, Stone and Ahrens presented many questions and feedback from a recent community-led meeting in Nehawka regarding building needs and the bond. Welch appreciated all the facility feedback from the community and will present the information to the building project committee to help further gain an alignment between building needs and community support.