March 11, 2013 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Meeting Agenda

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:  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, Belleaire Elementary Principal Jeanna Pestel and members of the Belleaire staff will present some of the structures, strategies, and activities they are implementing in their building's ongoing school improvement process.

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

Rationale:  The Minutes of the February 4, 2013, Board of Education meeting and the February 25, 2013, Board Work Session were sent to all members of the Board of Education for review.  Several modifications were received.

Rationale:  Acknowledge receipt of the Treasurer's Report for February, 2013.

Rationale:  Approve the payment of claims totaling $1,642,469.37.

Rationale:  Release (1) Elizabeth Agar, (2) Linda Carlson, (3) Lois Dalton, (4) Glenna Fisher, (5) Dixie Franzen, (6) Amy Horwitz, (7) M. Michael Johnson, (8) Patricia Johnson, (9) Annabelle Keene, (10) Michelle Kirkpatrick, (11) Andrea McDonald, and (12) Diane Thomas from their contracts effective May 23, 2013.

Rationale:  The law requires the Board of Education of the option (receiving school) district to adopt, by resolution, specific standards for acceptance and rejection of applicants. Attached is the proposed Enrollment Option Program Resolution. The proposal recommends a March 15 closing date for option enrollment.

Rationale:  Budget Parameters are annually established by the Board of Education. The parameters are the guidelines for staff as they develop the proposed budget to be brought back to the Board in July.

A copy of the proposed Budget Parameters is attached.

The recommended action is to approve the proposed Parameters for 2013-2014 Budgetary Planning.

Rationale:  Enrollment projections are the basis for staffing levels and budgetary plans.  The enrollment projection for 2013-2014 K-12 students is 9,949.  This is a projected increase of 217 students from the 2012-2013 Fall Membership Count.  Due to fluctuations in open and option enrollment, especially at the 7th and 9th grade, we will closely monitor student numbers before finalizing staffing decisions.  These projections do not include preschool students, with preschool included, the total enrollment is more than 11,000. 

Attached is a detailed report of the projections and a chart showing enrollment growth over time.

Rationale:  As part of improvements to the District's computer network, we have upgraded wireless systems in the secondary buildings and entered into a 10 year contract for a wide area network from Cox Business that will provide increased bandwidth at all locations in the District. 

The next step is to upgrade the wireless systems for all elementary schools, CHAP, and the Support Center.  A request for bids was sent out to the interested companies and was posted on our website.  We received one bid from Prime Communications.  This is the same company that won the bid for wireless in the secondary schools.  The bid came in at $415,000.  Although we would have preferred to have received more than one bid, we feel that this is a reasonable bid based on past experience. 

The recommended action is to approve the contract with Prime Communications to provide a wireless network that will allow all elementary schools to utilize technology anywhere and anytime with the cost of the project not to exceed $415,000.

Rationale:  Each year the Board selects legal counsel for the Board of Education.  As in past years, the proposed contract represents a monthly retainer with the firm of Adams and Sullivan.  The new contract calls for a $6,000 reduction in the annual retainer fee.  The new contract also specifies that Adams and Sullivan maintain a written list of known conflicts to be filed with the Secretary of the Board.

Attached is the proposed Legal Services Agreement from the firm of Adams and Sullivan, P.C., L.L.O.

Rationale: 

Bellevue East and West High Schools competed in the Academic Decathlon State Championships on February 15 & 16, 2013, at Creighton University.

Bellevue East Results

Bellevue East finished 5^th overall in the large schools division.

The most notable achievement for Bellevue East at this year’s competition was a third place finish in the public team event known as the Super Quiz.  The Super Quiz is a little like a quiz bowl competition, but at a very advanced knowledge level.  Students answer one question at a time from all areas of the Decathlon.    

Honors Level

Ryan Boyland (Co-Captain):  Bronze – Super Quiz
Zachary Smith:  Gold – Best Bellevue Team Member Score 
                        Bronze – Super Quiz; Bronze – Science & History

Scholastic Level

Erik Ingram:  Silver – Essay; Bronze – Super Quiz; Bronze - Economics
Katherine Waite (Co-Captain):  Bronze – Super Quiz; Bronze – Speech

Varsity Level

Alexander Campbell:  Bronze – Super Quiz
Kevin Pflager:  Bronze – Super Quiz

Also competing on the primary team were Noah Madrigal, Jamie Frangoulis, and Ryan Majka.

Alternate Scholastic

Sydney Hanson:  Alt Gold – Hard Science; Alt Silver – Soft Science; Alt Bronze – Fine Arts

Alternate Varsity

Dalilo Alconini: Alt Gold – Soft Science; Alt Silver – Fine Arts

Also competing on the alternate team was Brooke Winsor

The Bellevue East team is coached by PK Simmons.

Bellevue West Results:

Scholastic Level

Connor Seelbach, 1st place (State Champion) - Language and Literature Competition

Honors Level

Aurora Kenworthy, 2nd Place - Interview Competition

Varsity Level

Cole Burmeister, 2nd Place - Social Science & Science Competition
Melissa Krebs, 3rd Place - Essay Competition

Alternate Scholastic Level

Sophie Otto, 2nd Place - Fine Arts Competition

Alternate Varsity Level

Katherine Begley, 3rd Place - Hard Science Competition

The Bellevue West team is coached by Brad Nord.

Rationale: 

Bellevue East and West High Schools' AFJROTC units competed at the Papillion-La Vista South Titan Invitational Drill Event on January 26, 2013. Both units represented Bellevue proudly.

Bellevue East Results
Overall Runner-Up; 1st Place Overall Unarmed; 1st Place Unarmed Regulation; 2nd Place Unarmed Exhibition; 1st Place Unarmed Color Guard; 2nd Place Unarmed Color Guard; 3rd Place Overall Armed; and 3rd Place Armed Exhibition.

Bellevue West Results
Men's Drill Team 2nd place Unarmed Regulation; 1st place Armed Regulation; 3rd place Unarmed Exhibition; 2nd place Armed Exhibition; 3rd place Unarmed Color Guard; 3rd place Armed Color Guard; 2nd place Overall Armed; and 3rd place Overall Unarmed.

Rationale: 

Bellevue West High School's AFJROTC unit competed at the 17th Annual Flying Tigers Invitational Drill Competition at Lee's Summit, Missouri, on February 2, 2013.

Men's Drill Team Results: 1st place Unarmed Regulation; 4th place Unarmed Exhibition;1st place Armed Exhibition; 1st place Dual Exhibition Drill with Weapons (Chris Harris and Kaleb Bateman); 2nd place Best Overall School with Weapons.

Rationale: 

Bellevue West High School's AFJROTC unit competed at the 8th Annual Smith-Cotton Invitational Drill Meet at Smith-Cotton High School, Sedalia, Missouri, on February 16, 2013.

Men's Drill Team Results: 1st place Unarmed Exhibition; 2nd place Armed Exhibition; 3rd place Unarmed Color Guard; 2nd place Armed Color Guard; 1st place Overall Unarmed Division; 2nd place Overall Armed Division; 1st place Overall Champions

Women's Drill Team Results: 5th place Unarmed Exhibition.

Rationale: 

Bellevue West High School's AFJROTC unit competed at the 50th Annual JROTC Drill Meet at the University of Nebraska at Omaha on February 23, 2013.

Men's Drill Team Results: 3rd place Color Guard; 1st place Armed Regulation; 1st place Unarmed Regulation; 2nd place Armed Exhibition; 1st place Unarmed Exhibition; 1st place Overall Regulation; 1st place Overall Exhibition; Grand Champion Award.

Individual Drill Downs: 1st place Matt Callahan; Individual Exhibition with Arms 1st place Chris Harris, 3rd place Josh Magee; Dual Exhibition with Arms 1st place Chris Harris and Kaleb Bateman; 3rd place Derrick Ellis and Robert Shindel III.

Rationale: 

Bellevue West High School's AFJROTC unit competed at the Blue Springs South High School 17th Annual AFJROTC Drill Meet in Blue Springs, Missouri, on March 2, 2013.

Men's Drill Team Results: 1st and 5th place Color Guard; 1st place Armed Regulation; 2nd place Unarmed Regulation; 1st place Armed Exhibition; 2nd place Unarmed Exhibition; 1st place Overall.

PARENT Individual Drill Down: 1st place, Mrs. Wendy Bevilacqua.

Rationale: 

The Bellevue West Show Choir, West Connection, recently competed in UNO and Viking Cup competitions. Results are:

UNO show choir competition - 3rd place

Viking Cup - 3rd place preliminary round; 2nd runner up in finals; and for the first time in Bellevue Show Choir history, winner of Best Vocals for the competition.

Thomas Stoysich was the winner of the Best Performer of the overall competition.

Rationale: 

Mission Middle School was the runner-up at the 10^th annual Nebraska Middle School Science Bowl held Saturday, January 26, 2013, at Wayne State College.  The Science Bowl is a fun, fast-paced academic competition that tests students' knowledge in math and science.  A total of 32 teams from across the state participated.  Members of the Mission Middle School team are Kelly Speltz, Paige Haskins, Logan Wood, Samantha Seaman, and teacher/coach Brent Myers.  Mission Middle School also won the “Team Civility Award," which recognizes a team for showing “grace under pressure” to exemplify good sportsman-like conduct.  

 Wayne State College (WSC) coordinates the Nebraska Middle School Science Bowl.  Over 90 volunteers were recruited to help run the Nebraska Middle School Science Bowl.

Rationale: 

On February 5, 2013, the Lewis & Clark Middle School National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) students gave a donation of new items to the youth of Child Saving Institute. There were 11 scarves, 24 hats, 2 head warmers, 38 pairs of socks, and 59 pairs of gloves donated.

A representative from Child Saving Institute, Evell Thomas, attended an assembly at Lewis & Clark Middle School to accept the donations for the children in shelters. She also made a presentation to the NJHS students about the operation of the Child Savings Institute.

Rationale:  The students and staff of Bellevue Public Schools are recognized on a daily basis throughout the district and community. Please see attached some of the letters of recognition that were received over the past month.

Rationale:  At the February 25, 2013, Board Work Session, the Board requested that Board Policies be reviewed systematically at each Board of Education meeting.  This process will begin at tonight's meeting and continue at each meeting of the Board.

Attached is revised Board Policy 204.10, Agenda, with the revisions discussed at the February 25 Work Session.  This policy is submitted for review tonight with approval scheduled for the April Board of Education meeting.

Also attached are Board Policies 102, Statement of Philosophy; 103, Equal Educational Opportunity; and 104.01, Annual School Census.  These policies are for review tonight and any changes will be brought back to the April Board of Education meeting.

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

Rationale:  None

Rationale:  April 8       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 the superintendent's evaluation which are necessary to be considered in closed session for the protection of the public interest and for the needless injury to the reputation of an individual.