May 5, 2014 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Meeting Agenda

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:  Administrative Recommendation:  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 attached Minutes of the April 14, 2014, Board of Education meeting were sent to all members of the Board of Education for review.

Administrative Recommendation:  Approve the Minutes of the April 14, 2014, Board of Education meeting.

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation:  Acknowledge receipt of the Treasurer's Report for April, 2014.

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation:  Approve the payment of claims totaling $1,127,206.69.

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation:  Release (1) Brent Catlett, (2) Ryan Fuerhoff, (3) Christina Harvey, (4) Molly Johnson, (5) Marc Kruger, and (6) Joshua Wilken from their contracts effective May 22, 2014.

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation:  Elect (1) Julie Daigle, (2) Jacob Eitzen, (3) Elizabeth Garcia, (4) Julie Hadley, (5) Thomas Harris, (6) Laura Kratochvil, (7) Allison Lex, (8) Katherine MacEntire, (9) Patrick McCarthy, (10) Thomas Messier, (11) Leigh Officer, (12) Audrey Portwood, (13) Madelyn Potter, (14) Elizabeth Roby, (15) Rachel Schutte, (16) Susan Vanhessche, (17) Cynthia Watts, and (18) Kristin Wheeler to the certified staff for the 2014-15 school year effective August 7, 2014, subject to their release from any contractual agreements with other school districts.

Rationale:  Nebraska law allows public school employees to organize and bargain collectively with school boards on the issue of salaries.  An agreement has been reached and ratified by the Bellevue Education Association, the employee organization representing teachers, nurses, psychologists, and therapists.

The negotiated agreement with teachers adjusts the 2014-2015 salary for beginning teachers to $32,700 from the current beginning salary of $32,500.  This represents a proposed total package increase of 2.803%.  The increase is to cover:

1)  Employer paid health insurance increase of $120 annually per participating employee
2)  Salary increases for individual employees
3)  An additional non-student day added to the contract

Increased costs to the District for all groups listed above is as follows:
Certificated staff (teachers, nurses, psychologists, therapists)   $1,372,210

The current and proposed salary programs are attached.  Also attached is the ratification notice from the Bellevue Education Association.

Administrative Recommendation: Approve the 2014-2015 Teacher Negotiated Agreement as presented.

Rationale:  Each year the Board is asked to approve the school calendar two years in advance.  Amended calendars are needed for 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 based on the changes made to the 2014-2015 Teacher Negotiated Agreement.

Attached are the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 proposed amended school calendars.

Administrative Recommendation:  Approve the proposed amended 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 school calendars.

Rationale:  Congratulations to the following Bellevue East seniors who have been selected for scholarships through the TeamMates Central Office Scholarship Fund:  Khalil Johnson and Katrina Jenkins.

Rationale:  The Bellevue East Step Team, Chieftain Steppers Incorporated, placed 1st at the Norris Middle School Drill/Step competition held on April 19.

Team members were Jordan Fales, 10th grade; Keeley Fales, 12th grade; Robert Stanback, 9th grade; Tyina Titus, 10th grade; Latisha Joseph, 10th grade; Johanne Brown, 9th grade; Chyea Duke, 10th grade; and Tateyna Jones, 11th grade.

Their sponsor is Janee Holmes and Directors are Deirdre and Bryan McKinley.

Rationale:  Bellevue East Junior/MANDATE member, Tateyna Jones, won the Gold Medal at the 34th Annual ACT-SO competition held at Omaha North High School on April 19.

ACT-SO stands for Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics.  The ACT-SO is a major youth initiative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).  Founded in 1978 by renowned author and journalist, Vernon Jarrett, ACT-SO is a yearlong achievement program that provides a forum through which African-American youth demonstrate academic, artistic, and scientific proficiency and expertise.

Tateyna won Gold in the Visual Arts (painting) category.  Her accomplishment affords Tateyna the opportunity to participate in the ACT-SO finals which will be held in Las Vegas.

A special thank you to Bellevue East Art teacher, Tim Bogatz, for his assistance.

Rationale:  Bellevue East and West students competed in a first-ever Cyber++ contest held at Bellevue University.  Based on the Cyber Patriot competition, the goal was to secure a desktop computer by patching vulnerabilities, eliminating viruses, and ensuring that the computer does not have unknown or suspicious files.

Nine teams competed, including a team of students from Bellevue University.  East had two teams compete and finished in 1st and 3rd place.  Bellevue West's team finished in 2nd place.

Bellevue East 1st Place Team
Nate Brown
Zach Brown
Cathy Storck
Drake Astleford

Bellevue West 2nd Place Team
Charlie Fisher
Tyler Copeland
Dustin Barnett

Bellevue East 3rd Place Team
Dylan Workman
Jordan Ullom
Josh Schmidt

Rationale:  The Bellevue East Freshmen Quiz Bowl Teams had a good weekend, winning the Lincoln Northeast Invitational and finishing 5th.

The following ninth graders represented East on the winning team:  Bobby Storck, Sam Seaman, Kelly Speltz, and Alex Molnar.

The 5th place team consisted of Sydney Enokawa, Emily Brockinton, and Will Timmins.

Rationale:  Several Logan Fontenelle Middle School students participated in the University of Nebraska Health Science Fair this past weekend.  Congratulations to Helen Jacobson and Molly Cloyd who will move on to the state competition taking place this summer. 

Rationale:  Bellevue West students competed in the Skills USA state leadership conference held April 16-18 at the Centurylink Center.

In Architectural Drafting, students Dylan Snyder placed 10th and Brenden Sramek placed 13th.

Building a Structure with Plumbing, Electrical and Masonary, 4th place team members were Nate Pechacek, Dale Norman, Landon Chaffee, and Mike Raefleng.

In Cabinetmaking, Jared Williams placed 13th.

In State GMAW Welding, Shaqeel Scott placed 21st and Cole Proksel placed 24th.

Rationale: 

Bellevue West Winterguard placed 10th in the Skylark Scholastic A division on April 5, at the WGI Championships in Dayton, OH.  They competed against 123 other groups and are the first school from Nebraska to be a semi-finalist at this competition.

Rationale: 

The Nebraska Association of Students of German (NASG) Convention was held at Westside High School on Saturday, April 5, with almost 200 students from 15 schools in attendance.   Students from Bellevue East and Bellevue West High Schools participate.  The following students placed in events:

In Knowledge Bowl, Level 2, Bellevue East placed 1^st.  Team members were: Haley Herzberg, Leah Carabello, Samantha Seaman, and Morgan Gallagher.

In Spelling, Level 2, Sam Sheridan of Bellevue East placed 1^st, Luciano Hallett of Bellevue West placed 2^nd and Brandon Lacy of Bellevue West placed 3^rd.

In Spelling, Level 3, Jacob Mikkelson of Bellevue West placed 1^st.

In Spelling, Level 4, Mike Sullivan of Bellevue West placed 3^rd. 

In Directed Dialogue (answering questions in German), Level 2, Luciano Hallett of Bellevue West placed 1^st.

In Directed Dialogue, Level 3, Katie Carlson placed 2^nd and Casey Jones placed 3^rd - both from Bellevue West.

In Directed Dialogue, Level 4, Andrea Vellani of Bellevue East placed 1^st.

In Advanced Poetry, Noah Madrigal of Bellevue East placed 1^st.

In Fortgeschrittene (near-native) Poetry, Ria Mai Geguera of Bellevue East placed 1^st.  

In Cake Competition, Brandon Lacy of Bellevue West placed 1^st.

In Video Skit, Level 2, Bellevue West placed 1^st.   Participating students were:  Aaron Jorgensen, Abby Newcomer, Abby Hamilton, Alex Harrison, Asheton McAllister, Braeden Ede, Brandon Witt, Brandon Lacy, Brian Lacy, Chris Newcomer, Eli Kolesik, Eric Smits, Joseph Bricko, Junior Johnson, Katie Quaas, Kelly Callahan, Klayton DeHart, Kody Rohl, Kody Radil, Kyle Ziegler, Louise Gorzkiewicz, Luciano Hallett, Mani Williamson, Mark Chronister, Nathan Badger, Nick Schwindt, Peyton Cutler, Taryn Nash, Tess Weddle, Troy Thomas, Wesley Thompson, and Zach Glover.

In Promote German PowerPoint, Hannah Bishop of Bellevue East placed 1^st and Brandon Lacy of Bellevue West placed 2^nd.

In Promote German Video, Bellevue West placed 1^st.  Participating students were: J.D. Cottrell, Vince Hahn, Kirsten Hall, Maddie Langenfeld, Jacob Pilakowski, Kasey Richards, Colton Schumacher, Kjersten Schuttler, Robert Shindel III, Kenny Steadman, Mike Sullivan, and Trysten Terbovich-Lacz.  The video was filmed and edited by Rachel Colwell. 

In Music Video, Bellevue East placed 2^nd. Participating students were: Noah Madrigal, Andrea Vellani, Nate Brown, Anu Ratzburg, Noah Sundberg, Michael Cook, R.J. Dinogan, Ryan O’Grady, Jason Fossum, Heather Smith, and Aaron Terrazas,

In the Skit Competition, Bellevue West placed 1^st and Bellevue East placed 3^rd.  Starring in West’s Skit were Logan Bricko, Katie Carlson, Rachel Colwell, Luciano Hallett, KC Harnden, Tanner Horn, Jillian Hussmann, Brandon Lacy, Jacob Mikkelson, Jacob Pilakowski, Kasey Richards, Kristen Rife, Mike Sullivan, and Tess Weddle.

Starring in East’s Skit were Andrea Vellani, Jason Fossum, Brooke Crider, Hannah Bishop, Noah Madrigal, Anu Ratzburg, Alexis Hicks, Vaughn Windorski, Noah Sundberg, Michael Lohrman, Brandon Smith, and Sam Seaman.

Rationale: 

Two teams of computer science students competed at UNL's CSE Day programming competition on April 7. The teams finished first and second, with first place participants winning $1000 scholarships to UNL and second place winning $500.

First Place Team: Trevor Fellbaum, Cole Blevins, and Stephen Fluharty.

Second Place Team: Nate Brown, Zac Brown, and Lane Ives

Rationale: 

Bellevue East's quiz bowl team competed at the Grace University Quiz Bowl on April 4.

The varsity team comprised of Nate Crawford, Noah Madrigal, Tommy Casart, and George Timmins finished 1st.

The junior varsity team comprised of Sydney Hanson, Baxter Knee, Noah Sautter, Bobby Storck, and Bethany Rainwater finished 2nd.

Rationale: 

Congratulations to Jeff Bernadt, the 2014 Nebraska Educational Technology Association (NETA) Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award winner. Jeff is a history teacher at Bellevue East High School.  The Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award is to recognize and honor an individual who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in implementing technology to improve teaching and learning.

Jeff was one of six teachers chosen in the spring of 2013 to participate in the Bellevue Public Schools’ iPad Academy, a pilot of assessing the impact of iPads in the classroom. He attended 40 hours of training on iPads and currently attends monthly collaboration days. This spring he will be presenting “How to Create a Dream Classroom” at the NAG conference.

Rationale: 

Students from BPS middle schools and high schools competed in the Nebraska Science Olympiad Tournament March 29, at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.

Congratulations to Mission Middle School on their 10th consecutive 1st place win and advancing to Nationals in Orlando, Florida this May. This is also the 20th consecutive year Mission has placed in the top 3. 

Team results for Mission Middle School:

Brooklyn Larimore and Jack Hansen-Reed, Anatomy, 1^st place
Kelly Speltz and Ben Skoff, Boomilever, 1^st place
Eden Liebenthal and Paige Haskins, Can’t Judge a Powder,  2^nd place
Franchesca Handlos and Paige Haskins, Crime Busters, 5^th place
Megan Miller and Jack Hansen-Reed, Disease Detectives, 2^nd place
Alex Plowman and Phil Crawford, Dynamic Planet, 2^nd place
Alex Molnar and Jilly Linder, Entomology, 1^st place
Casey Nolte, Samantha Seaman, and Kelly Speltz, Experimental Design, 2^nd place
Megan Miller and Alex Molnar, Helicopters, 1^st place     
Brooklyn Larimore and Kelly Speltz, Heredity, 1^st place
Eden Liebenthal and Samantha Seaman, Meteorology, 5^th place
Phil Crawford and Alex Plowman, Road Scholar, 1^st place
Casey Nolte and Jilly Linder, Robo-Cross, 2^nd place
Kelly Speltz and Alex Molnar, Rocks and Minerals, 1^st place
Alex Plowman and Brooklyn Larimore, Rotor Egg Drop, 1^st place
Casey Nolte and Samantha Seaman, Shock Value, 4^th place
Ben Skoff and Ryan Del Rosario, Simple Machines, 2^nd place
Eden Liebenthal and Paige Haskins, Solar System, 2^nd place
Eden Liebenthal and Phil Crawford, Sounds of Music, 3^rd place
Ben Skoff and Samantha Seaman, Water Quality, 1^st place
Casey Nolte and Ryan Del Rosario, Wheeled Vehicle, 4^th place
Ryan Del Rosario and Jack Hansen-Reed, Write It Do It, 6^th place
Johanna Callaghan and Megan Miller, Exotic, Endangered, Extinct, 3^rd place
Johanna Callaghan and Jilly Linder, GPS, 3^rd place

Congratulations is also in order for Logan Fontenelle Middle School, 2nd place; Bellevue East High School, 4th place; and Bellevue West High School, 2nd place.

Rationale: 

2014 State FBLA Results for Bellevue West

(6 Top 8 Placements)

Partnership with Business--4th Place
Nayeli Hernandez, Cristian Perdomo, Elizabeth Driggers

Electronic Career Portfolio--5th Place
Loriana Harkey

Business Ethics--6th Place
Danny Boro, Sam Lucier

Digital Video Production--6th Place
Brianna Kirschner, Jada Morris, Sarah Supenski

Intro to Parliamentary Procedure--7th Place
Emily Summers

Local Chapter Business Report--8th Place
Debbie Sealey, Leah VanVoorhis

HONORABLE MENTION (9)
Loriana Harkey--Business Communications
Ann Nash--FBLA Principles & Procedures
Meagan Richard--FBLA Principles & Procedures
Jada Morris--Health Care Administration
Erin Alexander--Intro to Business
Marian Sanchez--Intro to Parliamentary Procedures
Josh Miranda--Word Processing
Chris Hahn--Impromptu Speaking
Austin J. Moore--Job Interview

Rationale:  Bellevue East High School juniors, Gabi Gergen, Zach Simms, MacKenzie Tackett, Tyler Means and Joey Jeanetta, are here tonight to present to the Board their ideas about improving education.

Rationale:  Information will be shared about district policies, procedures, and new legislation regarding student attendance.

Rationale:  In continuing with the overview of various special education programs available to students in the District, Phil Burlingame, B.E.S.T. Program teacher, and Chad Bartlett, Project Search teacher, will provide a short description of programs offered to students 18-21 years of age.

Rationale:  In October, students, parents, and staff were surveyed as part of our AdvancED Accreditation Process.  District data was presented to the Board earlier.  Tonight, summary information from the building level meetings will be presented.

Rationale:  Attached are revised Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 503.04, Attendance Policy; and proposed Board Policy and Administrative Regulation, Homeless Children.

These board policies and administrative regulations are presented tonight for review with approval of the board policies scheduled for the June Board meeting.

Rationale:  Bellevue Public Schools will hold three graduation ceremonies in May.

The Adult Education ceremony was held on Saturday, May 3.  There were 190 students who received their GED.

Bellevue East and Bellevue West High Schools' ceremonies will be held on Saturday, May 24, 9:30 a.m. at their respective schools.  The Bellevue East and West ceremonies will be broadcast live that morning on the District website, www.bellevuepublicschools.org, and then will be available on-demand through the District website at a later date.  Bellevue Public Schools is making this service available to address our military parents that are deployed as well as many relatives that are unable to travel to see their loved ones graduate.

Rationale:  Public Comment pertaining to items not otherwise on the Agenda must be submitted to the Secretary of the Board five days prior to the Board meeting.  There were no items submitted for Public Comment for this meeting.

Rationale:  Learning Community - Nina Wolford
NASB Board of Directors - Nina Wolford
BPS Foundation - Doug Cook, Lisa Rybar, Frank Kumor
MABE - Cindy Copich
NASB Legislative Committee - Cindy Copich
Board Policy Review Work Group - Cindy Copich, Doug Cook, Nina Wolford
District Safety Committee - Doug Cook

Rationale:  May 6          District Retirement Tea, Bellevue West, 3:30 pm

May 24         Bellevue East and West Graduation Ceremonies, 9:30 am

June 9          Board of Education Meeting, Welcome Center, 6:30 pm       

Rationale:  Administrative Recommendation:  Adjourn to executive session to consider matters relating to strategy sessions with respect to collective bargaining and personnel 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.