August 10, 2015 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting
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1. Call to Order
Rationale:
The Norfolk Public School district's board of education meeting is called to order.
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1.1. Roll Call
Rationale:
If any board member is absent, there will need to be a motion to excuse the absence.
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1.2. Declaration of a Legal Meeting
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2. Study Session
Rationale:
AQuESTT, NDE's new accountability system
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3. Pledge of Allegiance
Rationale:
Please stand and join us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
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4. Presentations, Special Recognition, Focus on Students
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4.1. AfterShock Report
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After Shock update to be provided by grant director, Chance Buss.
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5. Public Comments & Communication
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This is the time during the board meeting when the public may request to address the board regarding an agenda item. If you wish to comment, we ask that you identify yourself and indicate the agenda item to which you will be speaking.
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6. Information and Discussion Items
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6.1. Finance & Facilities Report
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Total amount of claims to be approved in the consent agenda for the month of August, 2015 by specific fund are as follows: Cooperative Fund = $151,949.52 Student Fee Fund = $12,848.09 Special Building Fund = $107,575.97 QCPUF Fund = $159,763.75 Nutrition Services Fund = $3,578.18 Depreciation Fund = $26,408.91
The total amount of claims for the month of July, 2015 in the Activities fund are as follows: |
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6.2. Teaching & Learning Report
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Curriculum, Instruction, Assessment, Title & Technology The last month has been uneventful other than planning for the upcoming year. Annual meetings and trainings are scheduled or have already been held. Instructional supplies, tools, and orders are all falling into place. We are in mass communication between buildings to assure teachers and students have what they need to start the year off strong. Assessment and PLC schedules have been set and communicated throughout the district, as well as timelines for curriculum work. Now all we need are students! |
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6.3. Student Services Report
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Mr. President I would like to share with the Board of Education the number of students that attended summer school in 2015: Little Panthers Preschool: 26, Elementary: 332, MS/JH: 226, SH: 603 Total: 1187 Today was the first full day of school for certified staff. In the next few days, I will be meeting separately with Special Education and ELL (English Language Learners) staff to discuss program plans for this school year. Two people have been offered positions for the Sixpence Grant as Family Facilitators. We are very excited to begin this program for our community. Each school has an open house scheduled. You may find each school’s open house night and times on the school website. Additional basic school supplies, as guided by the district school supply lists, have been purchased by the school district and will be made available to those qualifying students who request them. These are basic school materials like paper, pencils, glue, folders, binders, etc. |
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6.4. Human Resources & Accreditation Report
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School Improvement/Professional Development On August 10 (today) we had 600+ teachers and administrators from Norfolk Public Schools and Columbus Public Schools working collaboratively to expand their proficiency and application in the area of data analysis and common formative assessments. Practitioners Cassie Erkens and Paul Farmer from Solution Tree directed the training. Learning Targets included:
Human Resources In the last few months, promising candidates have been submitting applications for jobs. All certified positions have been filled except the second speech language pathologist position. We are still working on filling some classified positions due to some late resignations. These range from classroom paraprofessionals, health techs, to night custodians. We are certain most, if not all, will be filled within the next few weeks. On August 3 we hosted our second of two substitute teacher trainings. We currently have 45 teachers approved to sub with Norfolk Public Schools. Additional workshops will be arranged based on applications. On August 4 Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Luhr, Mr. Robinson, and I provided essential training for our 23 new teachers. Training topics included emergency procedures, payroll information, professional growth, the teacher evaluation process, grading, discipline, and technology. |
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6.5. Superintendent's Report
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Beginning of the Year: This is a very exciting time of year for me. I love to see our classrooms come to life with new decorations and can't wait to see them filled with children on Thursday. I had the honor of welcoming 23 new teachers to our NPS Panther family last week, and the remainder of our staff today. I also participated in the PLC training with our teachers today. Mr. Kwapnioski did a great job planning for this event. We will meet as an administrative team next week to discuss follow-up training and expectations to ensure that the information we learned is applied and implemented effectively. ESEA/No Child Left Behind: Both the House and Senate have passed revisions to the ESEA (better know as No Child Left Behind), but now they need to reach a compromise and pass one revised law. There is really no telling how long this could take, but this is the closest we have come to a re-authorization in eight years. I will continue to monitor the progress on this important legislation and keep dialogue open with our representatives. NASB Board of Directors: Dr. Patti Gubbels has indicated an interest in filling the empty seat on the NASB Board of Directors and Board President, Bruce Mitchell has agreed to sign the Nomination Form. I have no doubt that Patti would represent our Region well, if elected. NPS Foundation Staff Campaign: The NPS Foundation Staff Campaign will run from August 10-August 28. Please consider contributing to this worthy organization. We have a great partnership with the Foundation. They provide us with thousands of dollars in Classroom Grants and Special Project Grants each year, in addition to the scholarships that they provide for our students. We have had 100% participation by our Board members for many years, and I would love to see that continue. |
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7. Committee Reports
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7.1. Board Building Visit Reports
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7.2. Facilities & Finance Committee Report
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The committee met today at 4:30 at the City Offices. As stated earlier, all the claims for August and Activity claims for July were reviewed. I updated the committee on some important dates coming up over the next several months concerning Budget, Tax Request, Audit, Insurance bids and Interlocal agreements. I also updated the committee on the many facility and maintenance items that have taken place over the past few months. The overall financial picture of our district looks solid; we will be ending the fiscal year with adequate cash reserves and the ability to have necessary budget increases in key areas while maintaining current tax levies. Even with the solid financial position of our district, education leaders across the state will need to be involved with the state legislature on school funding. Key areas of TEEOSA, and other forms of state funding will be discussed in great depth. Norfolk currently is a district that relies a great deal on these dollars in order to do day-to-day operations. My hope is that all stakeholders on this issue will look at the big picture and strategically plan beyond one and two year budgets when making these decisions. The next meeting will be Monday August 24th at 12:00 noon for a special budget review then our regular meeting on Sept. 14th at 12:00 noon |
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7.3. Policy & Government Relations Report
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The Policy and Government Relations Committee met at 7:00 A.M. on Monday, July 20th. We reviewed multiple policies that were part of Perry Law Firm's Annual Update, as well as several additional policy revisions that were recommended, based upon an update to their policy template. We will review Policies 3010-3150 prior to our September Board meeting. |
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7.4. Activities Committee Report
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Our first meeting of the year is scheduled for noon on Monday, September 28, 2015 at the Central Administration Office.
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7.5. Minutes of Committee Meetings
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8. Approve Consent Agenda
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8.1. Minutes of Previous Meetings
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8.2. Personnel
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8.2.1. Contract Approval
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KateLyn Gillming 2015-2016 – Westside/Parochial Title I Teacher Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education/Early Childhood Unified from University of Nebraska in Kearney, Nebraska Previously a substitute teacher for the Shelton and Gibbon Public Schools |
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8.2.2. Resignations
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None at this time.
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8.3. Claims
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9. Action Items
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9.1. Discuss, Consider, and Approve Members of the Americanism Committee
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According to state statute, 79-724: (1) Every school board shall, at the beginning of each school year, appoint from its members a committee of three, to be known as the committee on Americanism. The committee on Americanism shall: Our current Americanism Committee members are Bruce Mitchell, Patti Gubbels, and Arnie Robinson. |
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9.2. Approval to spend up to $2,500,000 of additional claims out of the General Fund in August for completion of 2014-2015 budgets, grants, and transfer to depreciation.
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Motion to approve to spend up to $2,500,000 of additional claims out of the General Fund in August for completion of 2014-2015 budgets, grants, and transfer to depreciation. These items would be on a separate posting at the September board meeting.
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9.3. Approval to spend up to $100,000 of additional claims out of the Special Building Fund in August for completion of 2014-2015 budgets, grants, and transfer to depreciation.
Rationale:
This allows us to pay bills due before Sept. 14th without late charges on district building projects being paid out of this fund. These items would be on a separate list for the September board meeting.
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9.4. Approval to spend up to $410,000 of additional claims out of the QCPuF Fund in August for completion of 2014-2015 budgets, grants, and transfer to depreciation.
Rationale:
This allows us to pay bills due before Sept. 14th without late charges on district building projects being paid out of this fund. Specifically I would like to pay Guarantee Roofing the balance due on Carson Theatre and Woodland Park. These items would be on a separate list for the September board meeting.
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9.5. Discuss, Consider, and Approve Option Enrollment Resolution
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So far, it appears that our boundary revisions are working well. Our kindergarten enrollment at Woodland Park is up, and we do not have any kindergarten classes that have reached capacity. In fact, our kindergarten enrollment at Bel Air is currently 59 students. Therefore, I would suggest that we consider opening Bel Air kindergarten to option enrollment students. Bel Air's current kindergarten enrollment of 59 students would give them class sizes of 19/20/20. Kindergarten class sizes at our other buildings are hovering around 21/22--although it is very likely that we will get some late enrollees in several of those buildings.
We do have 3 kindergarten option enrollments that we denied that would likely be very happy if we did this--including one Bel Air teacher who lives outside our district and would love to have her child attend Norfolk Public Schools.
My recommendation is that we increase our kindergarten option enrollment capacity from 300 to 308. We currently have 301 students enrolled, which means that we could accept a maximum of 7 option enrollments in kindergarten. This would take enrollment up to 22 in each of those classrooms, and leave nine spots open for students that may move into the Bel Air attendance area later in the year. I am also suggesting that we now declare 6th grade and 9th grade closed to option enrollments, as both grades now exceed their set capacity of 300. (6th grade is at 305 and 9th grade is at 309.) |
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9.6. Discuss,Consider, and Approve the First Reading of the Following Policy Revisions: 6212, 7050, 3540, 3560, 9340, 6600, 1200, 4002, 4003, 5401, 6115, 9124, 1000, 2110, 2440, 4009, 4021, 4023, 4140, 4150, 5406, 5413, 5416, 5419, 5506, 6112, 6230, 6361, 6700, and 6800.
Rationale:
The Policy and Government Relations Committee has reviewed multiple policies as part of the Perry Law Firm's Annual Update. Each year they send us recommended policy changes based on legislation that has occurred during the previous school year. This year's policy revisions include: 6212: Assessments-Academic Content Standards 7050: Facilities-Bids and Contracts 3540: Procedures--Bidding Construction Projects 3560: Records Management and Disposition 9340: Bylaws of the Board-Meetings 6600: Special Education Policies 1200: Personnel-Anti-Discrimination 4002: Equal Opportunity Employment 4003: Personnel: Anti-discrimination, Anti-harassment, and Anti-retaliation 5401: Students: Anti-discrimination, Anti-harassment, and Anti-retaliation 6115: Fire Drill Perry's policy revision also included the addition of a new policy, which is: Policy 6286: Return to Learn From Cancer. Because this is a new policy, it will be discussed in a separate agenda item. In addition, Perry Law Firm provided us with several additional policy revisions this year, which include changes that are recommended based upon an update to Perry Law Firm's Policy Template. Most of the revisions to the policies in this packet are considered minor. They include typos, "word-smithing" and other small adjustments. Policies in this packet include: 9124: Bylaws of the Board: Secretary 1000: Community Relations: Statement of Intent 2110: Responsibilities of the Superintendent of the Schools 2440: Administration: Administrative Action in Absence of Policy 4009: Drug and Substance Use and Abuse 4021: Social Security Numbers 4023: Notification of Arrest, Criminal Charges, and Certificate, License or Child Abuse Complaints 4140: Professional Growth 4150: Evaluation of Teachers 5406: Search and Seizure 5413: Requests to Contact Students and Student Interviews by Non-School Personnel 5416: Student Fees Policy 5419: Student Privacy Protection Policy 5506: Safe Pupil Transportation Plan 6112: School Day for Students 6230: Curriculum Guides 6361: Acknowledgment of Religious Holidays 6700: Firearm Policy 6800: Internet Safety and Acceptable Use Policy I would like to note that the Policy and Government Relations Committee recommended that we change the amount in policies 7050 and 3540 from the legislated amount of $100,000 to $50,000. They felt that it was important for us to implement these procedures at $50,000, rather than $100,000. This is legally acceptable to do; we just can't make the number higher than $100,000. The Policy and Government Relations Committee also recommended that we make the wording in policy 2110 match the wording in policy 9310. Policy 2110 indicated that I would provide a copy of the agenda and minutes to you on the Friday before a Board meeting. Policy 9310 said that I would do this on Friday or sooner. General consensus of the Policy Committee was that they would like me provide these for you on Thursday rather than Friday, unless something unusual prevented me from doing so. Are there any other policies that the Policy and Government Relations Committee would like to discuss further? |
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9.7. Discuss, Consider, and Approve the First Reading of Policy 6286: Return to Learn From Cancer
Rationale:
This is a new policy recommended to us by Perry Law Firm due to new legislation that requires schools to provide staff training in how to recognize students who are returning to school after being treated for cancer. It also requires schools to develop accommodations and modifications for these students.
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10. Future Meetings
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The next meeting of the Norfolk Public Schools' Board of Education is scheduled for noon on Thursday, August 27, 2015 at the Central Administration Offices. The purpose of this meeting will be to conduct regular business. It will include an in-depth discussion of our upcoming 2015-2016 Budget. The meeting will be open to the public.
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11. Adjournment
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