January 7, 2013 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Meeting Agenda

Rationale:  New Board Members Cindy Copich and Doug Cook and reelected Board Member Lisa Rybar will be administered the Oath of Office.

Cindy Copich and Doug Cook will be welcomed to the Board of Education.

Attached is the Oath of Office for Board members.

Rationale:  A motion will be necessary if a member of the elected Board is absent.

Rationale:  The Bellevue Board of Education abides by the Nebraska Open Meetings Law.  A copy of the law is posted on the wall of our Board room.

Rationale:  Approve by consent items in section B of the Agenda identified with an asterisk and receive the information and proposals in section D identified with an asterisk.

Rationale:  The Minutes of the December 3, 2012, Board of Education meeting were sent to all members of the Board of Education for review.

Rationale:  Acknowledge receipt of the Treasurer's Report for December, 2012.

Rationale:  Approve the payment of claims totaling $1,796,465.20.

Rationale:  Release (1) Ted Menzel from his contract effective May 23, 2013, and release (2) Roger Severson from his contract effective June 30, 2013.

Rationale:  Elect (1) Racheal Anastasia to the certified staff for the 2012-13 school year effective December 18, 2012, and elect (2) Andrew Crawford to the certified staff for the 2012-13 school year effective January 14, 2013, subject to their release from any contractual agreements with other school districts.

Rationale:  Request for nomination of Temporary Chairman is taken.

Rationale:  Nominations for President of the Board will be taken.

If no further nominations, I move that nominations be closed.

If one nominee, roll call vote will be taken.  If more than one nominee, vote will be taken by secret ballot.

Rationale:  Nominations for Vice President of the Board will be taken.

If no further nominations, I move that nominations be closed.

If one nominee, roll call vote will be taken.  If more than one nominee, vote will be taken by secret ballot.

Rationale:  The recommendation is to nominate three members of the Board of Education to serve as Bellevue Public Schools' Foundation Board of Directors.

The current members of the Foundation Board of Directors are Denise Seaman, Frank Kumor and Lisa Rybar.

Rationale:  Recommendations for appointment of Secretary and Treasurer will be taken.

Rationale:  The recommendation is to adopt the following resolution:  whereas ______________ has been duly elected President and ______________ Vice-President of the Board of Education for 2013, be it therefore resolved that the President of the Board of Education be named the authorized representative of the Bellevue Board of Education and in the President's absence, the Vice-President of the Board of Education be designated as the authorized representative and that these officers are authorized to file the applications and reports for Impact Aid, Title XVIII of PL106-398, and any other Federal applications, reports, resolutions, contracts, real estate transactions and agreements necessary to the operation of the school district as required on behalf of the Bellevue Public School District.

Rationale:  The recommendation is to authorize the Superintendent of Schools or his designee to act as the Board of Education's official representative in all matters relating to local, state, and federal programs including applications, plans, reports and verified information for No Child Left Behind, vocational education, special education, adult education, grants, Educational Service Unit, and any other federal or state programs as required, and any contracts, real estate transactions, or agreements necessary to the operation of the school district and as authorized through Board policy.

Rationale:  The recommendation is that all warrants of the District issued in the month of January of this year which bear the facsimile signatures of the officers authorized during the immediate preceding term of office by this Board to sign and validate warrants of the District are hereby ratified, confirmed and validated.

Rationale: 

The law requires that the President of the Board of Education appoint three Board members to examine, inspect, and approve all textbooks used in the teaching of American History and Civil Government.

The current members of the Americanism Committee are Frank Kumor, Alicia Richards, and Lisa Rybar.

 

Rationale: 

The Bellevue Board of Education serves in a quasi-judicial role at various times including when a student discipline action by the administration is appealed. The President of the Board of Education shall appoint three members of the Board to the Student Discipline Committee to hear any student discipline appeals.

The current members of the Student Discipline Committee are Denise Seaman, Frank Kumor, and Nina Wolford.

Rationale:  Bellevue Public Schools and Grand Island Public Schools comprise Region 7 of the NASB Legislative Committee.  We take turns having a member of the Board serve on the committee.

Alicia Richards was elected as Bellevue's representative beginning in July, 2012.  Due to a conflict in serving on this committee and Alicia's professional commitments, we need to elect another member to fulfill her 3 year term ending in June, 2015.

Rationale: 

The Nebraska Association of School Boards is requesting a Board appointment to the Government Relations Network. The Government Relations Network keeps representatives current on important legislation at the local, state, and federal levels.

John Hansen was the 2012 representative.

Rationale: 

MABE is comprised of a school board representative from each of the metro area school districts.  The group typically meets monthly to share information and best practices.  Denise Seaman was the Bellevue Board representative.  The President of the Board of Education will appoint a member of the Bellevue Board as a representative to the MABE Board.

 

Rationale:  Over the last two years, the Board has welcomed three new members and selected a new superintendent.  As part of the yearly reorganization this year, it makes sense to discuss current board practices and possible changes. 

This will be a time for board members to ask questions about current practices and/or make suggestions for possible changes.

Rationale: 

Nebraska statutes require the Board of Education to annually review the Parental Involvement in Educational Practices Policy. The existing policy was adopted by the Board of Education in 1995 and is reviewed annually by the Board of Education.

Notice of the hearing was published in accordance with Nebraska statutes. A copy of the existing policy and regulation, Parental Involvement in Educational Practices, is attached.

Public input will be received at this time.

Rationale:  Recognize the Bellevue Education Association as the exclusive and sole collective bargaining representatives for all teachers, nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists employed by the District for the 2014-2015 school year.

Attached is a letter from BEA President Stephanie Cain requesting that the BEA be recognized as the exclusive bargaining agent for non-supervisory certificated staff for the 2014-2015 contract year.

Rationale:  In November, the Board approved RSP and Associates as the firm to conduct an enrollment study.  The terms of the contract for the services to be provided have been reached and are presented for the board's approval.

Rationale:  The Wide Area Network (WAN) is the backbone of the district's electronic communication system.  It allows the flow of electronic information from building to building within the district and from each building to the Internet.  The amount of information that can be transmitted is limited by the bandwidth available in the WAN.  In the last two years, the demand to use more bandwidth has increased with the addition of systems such as PowerSchool, MAP, Google, state testing, and Alio.  Because of this, we have experienced slowness in many buildings when students are trying to access the Internet or while testing.  By increasing the entire district to 1 Gigabyte at all locations, we can ensure that students and staff have adequate access to programs and information.  The bandwidth specifications of the current WAN are:

     Secondary Buildings have 50 Meg (4% of 1 Gigabyte)
     Elementary Schools and CHAP range from 6 Meg (.5% of 1 Gigabyte) to 12 Meg (1% of
     1 Gigabyte)

Annual cost for the WAN currently in use:  $291,798 (100 Meg of Internet access)

Overview of RFP
Bellevue Public Schools sent out an RFP for a WAN for the 2013-14 school year.  The RFP guidelines were to build a fiber WAN for Bellevue Public Schools that would allow for 1 Gigabyte of data to be transmitted from any school in the Bellevue Public Schools ring.  The WAN would also provide access to ESU 3 for Internet service.

Results of RFP
Listed below are the vendors that submitted proposals according to the RFP.  The cost next to each is the yearly cost for the 1 Gigabyte fiber to be built to each location including a connection to the Internet through ESU 3 based on a ten-year contract.

     Pinpoint:                           $514,800
     Windstream:                     $489,005
     CenturyLink:                     $420,403
     Communication Services:   $506,520
     Unite Private Networks:      $254,520
     Cox Business:                    $220,800

The recommendation of the Administration based on the results of the RFP and subsequent interviews, is to select Cox Business as the WAN provider for Bellevue Public Schools and enter into a ten-year contract for services.

Rationale:  Bellevue West placed 3rd in District 1A competition on Saturday, December 1, 2012.  In addition, 7 cast members received outstanding performance awards:  Jorden Charley-Whatley, Anne Dunlap, Dakota Green, Connor Milner, Roxanne McKaig, Clayton Shellgren, and Emily Vokal.

Rationale:  West competed in the Millard West Novice Tournament on November 9, 2012.  Callie Pancoe captured 1st in Dramatic Interpretation, and Delaney Jackson took 2nd place in Dramatic Interpretation.

West competed in the Papillion-LaVista Tournament on November 10, 2012.  Taking 3rd in Novice Humorous Interpretation was Tyler Araujo.

West competed in the Pius X/Lincoln East Novice Tournament on November 17, 2012.  Capturing 3rd in Novice Humorous Interpretation was Tyler Araujo.

West competed in the Omaha Westside GOLD Tournament on November 30, 2012.  Taking 2nd in Dramatic Interpretation was Delaney Jackson.

Rationale:  Kayleigh Oxford, James Teutschmann, and Darrison Tellez are three high school students from Bellevue West High School.  They are in DECA and are competing in the Community Service category.  They have been collecting gently used shoes since August and have held shoe drives at BJSA, the Lied Activity Center, Papio LaVista South, Bellevue West, and Divine Truth.  So far, about 1500 pairs of shoes have been collected. 

On December 27, 2012, James and Kayleigh traveled to Haiti to hand deliver the shoes to children in orphanages.  While there, they are also helping build new dormitories and spending time with the orphaned children.  They hope to place at state DECA in March and make it to nationals but most importantly, they hope to make a difference in the lives of the people in Haiti.

Rationale:  The Mission Middle School National Junior Honor Society and Student Council held their annual canned food drive with Mission collecting over 6,000 canned and boxed food items.  All items were donated to the Bellevue Food Pantry.  Additionally, members of the NJHS rang the bell for the Salvation Army.  Student Alex Pettit spent six hours on Saturday, December 15, ringing bells.

The Birchcrest Elementary School staff collected 2,172 diapers for the Lydia House through the Channel 94.1 Diaper Drive.

The Giving Tree Campaign at Bellevue Elementary School provided new clothes, a toy and a book for children in twelve families.

The Bellevue Elementary K-Kids created holiday cards for hospitalized  soldiers and hosted a visit to their school for residents of Mabel Rose Alzheimer's Unit to watch the elementary band put the final touches on their holiday concert during the least rehearsal.

The Bellevue and Birchcrest K-Kids were bell ringers for the Salvation Army at Baker's in Bellevue on Saturday, December 15.  They helped to collect over $900.

The Air Force Junior ROTC wing at Bellevue West High School provided 30 individual holiday care packages for active-duty members who are deployed overseas.  Many of the cadets have moms and dads who are presently deployed all over the world.  The cadets provided numerous small items that could be used by the troops overseas, including toothbrushes, toothpaste. medicated chapstick, homemade Christmas tree garland (for small trees), lots of hard candy, peppermint sticks, and especially lots of strawberry Twizzlers.  The cadets sold candy bars to help defray the costs of this project.  Last year they sent 20 boxes, and this year the cadets wanted to increase the total to 30.  They have received several "thank yous" from the folks who received a box last year, and many said it made for a special Christmas because it was great to know that someone truly cared that they were serving their country over the holidays.

 

Rationale:  As a part of the AdvancED District Accreditation process and in accordance with Nebraska Rule 10, each school building in the Bellevue Public Schools must participate in an ongoing, continuous school improvement process. School staff analyze student performance data to plan and implement strategies to continually move the school toward improvement and increased student performance levels.

Tonight, Two Springs Elementary School Principal Dan Kauk and members of the Two Springs staff will present some of the structures, strategies, and activities they are implementing in their building's ongoing school improvement process.

Rationale:  An oral report will be provided on the recent meetings of the Learning Community.

Rationale:  Laura Blaha - School Safety/Security

Rationale:  January 20-26                 School Board Recognition Week

February 4                      Board of Education Meeting, Welcome Center, 6:30 pm

Rationale:  Adjourn to executive session to consider matters relating to strategy sessions with respect to negotiating with outside agencies and collective bargaining which are necessary to be considered in closed session for the protection of the public interest.