June 19, 2017 at 5:00 PM - Work Session/Regular Meeting
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I. Work Session
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I.A. Call to Order
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I.B. Roll Call of Board
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I.C. Pledge of Allegiance
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I.D. Recognitions
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I.E. Presentations
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I.E.1. Maintenance/Transportation Presentation
Discussion:
Director of Buildings and Grounds Mike Grutsch said summer maintenance is the same year to year. He said last year most of his efforts were at the high school, and this summer it will be at the middle school. The biggest project will be getting the middle school moved into the new building. He said most fifth grade teachers are moved. As classrooms become available, maintenance staff will move things over. Grutsch said his staff will also be building a couple of walls in the STEM area to help reduce costs. Superintendent Dr. Troy Loeffelholz said the district’s maintenance crew also did the mowing strip at the new high school, put up signs and did a lot of cleanup. He said there were many items that if nothing else the district could recycle and get a little money back. He said at the middle school, they have been doing lot of cleaning up and taking items for scrap and to the dump. All the old bleachers in the north gym have been removed. Dr. Loeffelholz said items being taken out of the current middle school are being put in the south gym of the old middle school and once everything is moved will be declared surplus. This summer Lost Creek will be painted. Grutsch said the paint crew may also do the parking lot striping because maintenance won’t have time. Executive Director of Building Operations Leonard Kwapnioski said over the past 18 months, the maintenance department has put in a lot of time. The buses are some of the cleanest in the state. He said there are now logbooks for all the transportation vehicles. Bill Tworek has done a good job of getting the notebooks ready, Kwapnioski said. Executive Director of Business Operations and Human Resources Dave Melick said the district is constantly searching for drivers. Kwapnioski said Lincoln Public Schools is currently offering signing bonuses and retention bonuses for drivers. He said all districts are having difficulty in finding drivers. Theresa Seipel told Grutsch that she appreciates all that the maintenance crew does for the district. |
I.E.2. James Holmberg Presentation
Discussion:
Senior Housing for Adaptive Reuse of CMS. Jim Holmberg said he would like to turn the old middle school into senior or multi-generation housing. He said there is a strong need for affordable housing in this town and a need for senior housing. All senior housing is out by the hospital, and it should be closer to downtown. The facility would also provide a gym that could be within walking distance for the kids. Holmberg said most of the community is within a mile of the middle school building. The senior housing could go in the classrooms, and the community could use the gym areas. He said there could be two bedroom units in a classroom. He said this could be set up so a nonprofit group would own it. This nonprofit could have members of the CPS Board, residents and appointed members of the city on the governing board. He said there is financing tax credits and grants sufficient for the purchase and development of property. He said the challenge will be the structural part of the old building, and there could be problems with possible asbestos. Holmberg said there would also need to be a separation of the school from the residents because of possible tobacco use, alcohol use and firearms ownership. Holmberg estimated that it would cost $200 per square foot to do the changes to the building. Dr. Loeffelholz said the district struggles when they hire new teachers because there is no affordable housing available. He told the board he will share the slides with them. Dr. Loeffelholz asked if the board got serious about an asking price for the building would the nonprofit put in a bid. Becher said the district is also looking at the newer areas for a preschool. She said there could not be any way to get into the district’s preschool by the residences. Dr. Loeffelholz asked Holmberg how serious he was about this project and how long it would take to get financial backing. Holmberg said he would need to see the design, and it could take up to a year to get the financing. Becher said the board would only be interested in selling the old building and not the new additions. She asked if Holmberg would still be interested. He said as long as there was an option for expansion because there has to be enough housing to make it profitable. Executive Director to Student Services/Special Education Jason Harris he would like to use the space to help students 0-5. He said perhaps the housing could be connected to single parents. He said he thought it would be a hard sale for people to send their children there if they didn’t know the residents. Dr. Loeffelholz told Holmberg he brought some fresh ideas that no one else has brought to the table. |
I.F. Regular Board Meeting Information
Discussion:
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II. Executive Session
Discussion:
The board did not go into executive session. The board did tour the new middle school. |
III. Adjourn
Discussion:
The Board adjourned at 6:30 p.m.
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IV. Board Meeting
Discussion:
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IV.A. Call to Order
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IV.B. Roll Call of Board
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IV.C. Pledge of Allegiance
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IV.D. Notice of Open Meeting Posted
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IV.D.1. President insures all can hear proceedings
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IV.E. Mission Statement
Discussion:
Doug Molczyk read the Mission Statement.
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IV.F. Opportunity for Public to be Heard
Discussion:
No one spoke to the board.
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IV.G. Recognitions
Discussion:
There were no recognitions.
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IV.G.1. Correspondence
Discussion:
Dr. Loeffelholz said the correspondence was thank yous for staff appreciation, flowers sent for family deaths, and the retirement recognition and banquet. |
IV.H. Presentations
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IV.I. Board Special Functions
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IV.I.1. Interlocal Agreement for Instructional Programs with Central Community College
Discussion:
Dr. Loeffelholz said the agreement is to offer dual credit courses for CHS students. The agreement runs for three years from March 15, 2017 to June 20, 2020. CCC gave $25,000 to the autos and manufacturing areas in STEM. The CCC course will follow the CPS calendar. If CCC instructors teach classes at CHS, they will follow the school’s schedule and will teach every day. Dr. Loeffelholz said the college instructor will need to adjust its schedule to fit CPS' schedule. This agreement will go into effect this fall. Becher said she will be teaching a course from college at the high school, and she will only be working Tuesdays and Thursdays. She suggested the district get clarification from the college on this piece. CHS Principal Steve Woodside said there are a lot of CHS staff that can teach dual credit courses. He said this type of agreement in the technical areas is important because some of the CHS instructors have been here a while, and it could be hard to find suitable replacements if they retire or leave.
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IV.I.2. CMS Student Handbook with Changes and Additions 2017-2018
Discussion:
CMS Assistant Principal Jordon Anderson said some of the changes in the handbook are based on moving into a new building. He said once the middle school is done and everything is up and running, there could be changes to the handbook. Anderson said he will keep the board informed about changes. To the Bullying/Harassment category inciting has been added as an offense. The students will all come to different areas in the morning before the bell. Fifth graders will go to the south gym balcony; sixth graders to the main gym east bleachers; seventh graders to the north gym; and eighth graders in the small cafeteria. Fifth graders will walk out the door and be on the floor with their classes, and the sixth graders will just come out of the gym and walk up some stairs. Anderson said this will help keep the older and younger students separated. He said the elevator key will now be checked out from the nurse instead of the secretary.
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IV.I.3. Land Sale Approval
Discussion:
Catalyst Development LLC sent a letter of intent to bid on the property on 14th Avenue and Armory Dr. There is 17.48 acres for sale. Catalysts Development offered $28,000 per acre for a total bid of $489,440. Dr. Loeffelholz said the deadline for submitting the purchase agreement is quickly approaching, and he still has not received it. He said the board may want to consider extending the timeline. Dr. Loeffelholz said this is not the agreement to sell them the land but is the first step. He said a purchase agreement must be presented first. |
IV.I.4. iPad Pilot project
Discussion:
Tech Integration Specialist Brandi Fleming said there has been a group of teachers working on this plan hard for the last six months. The purpose was to have the members think outside of their classroom and focused on what the kids need and not what the teachers need. The team has representation from every grade level. Fleming said they purposely kept the team very small, so they could accomplish things. They asked the team to consider the following things: programs available; current and future curricular needs; affordability; management capability; sustainability (life and potential sell back); thinking outside of their classroom; and taking a K-12 approach. She said they visited two schools in Bellevue, that will be going to a one-to-one iPad K-12, and Norfolk that will be going to a one-to-one in Chromebooks at the middle school and one-to-one in Chromebooks, iPads etc. at other levels. Some of the highlights of the visits were the ease of use and loss of instructional time; programs available; compatibility with curricular programs and investments; affordability; management capability specifically at classroom level for the teacher/ district level. Fleming said they would like to pilot a program that could work for CPS in 2017-18, and to find what fits for Columbus. She said the best plan is one that is full supported and developed. The idea is to see what a whole building will look like. Fleming said the teachers are excited to show off what they can do. District System Administrator Jeff Uchtman said it is amazing how much more CPS has compared to other districts. He said the intention is to not add another thing for teachers to learn but to make it fit with what the district is already doing. Fleming said they will work on embedding technology into the classroom curriculum practices. The pilot will be in all classrooms K-4 at West Park. The students will all be one-to-one but they cannot take the machines home. She said there will also be five additional programs: two at North Park and three at Centennial that will also pilot the program. Fleming said the goal is to enhance grade level sustainability and create that piece that will allow the district to move forward. For the pilot school, the machines will travel with the students as they go to the specialty classes such as music, physical education and music, but in the five other classrooms, the machines will stay in the rooms only. Uchtman said adding apps is still a concern. He said there will be a core set that staff will get really good at using for integration of the curriculum and these will be loaded using a type of On Demand feature. There will also be four elementary schools that will get Chromeboxes to replace labs. Lost Creek will not change because it is a newer lab. Fleming said there could still be things that don’t work, but the teachers will be coached on how to use the machines. She said hopefully the machines will come in this summer. Fleming said most of the teachers are already looking at what they want to do. This pilot is one time funding from Title I that must be expended by September 1st. Fleming said the district needs to look at more cost effective devices because now there will be more buildings to cover. She told the board she does not know the exact cost because it is based on enrollment. However, she said they won’t spend more than $167,000. |
IV.I.5. First Reading of Policy 303.09, School Administrator Residency
Discussion:
Dr. Loeffelholz said if an administrator currently lives outside of the district, he or she will be grandfathered in and will not need to move. Becher said she does not think it looks good for a building principal to live outside the district. The policy gives the person a calendar year to change their residence. Theresa Seipel said one thing she hears all the time is complaints about taxes, and if the administrators don’t live in the district, they are not paying any, but she said it is more important that their kids attend CPS. Mike Goos said he believes in freedom of choice, but an administrator is being paid by the district and should live in the district. He said it is an appearance issue. Tim Pospisil expressed concerns about not finding a quality person for a promotion because he or she doesn’t want to move. Goos asked if this policy included teachers, and Dr. Loeffelholz said no it does not. Dr. Loeffelholz said numerous people expect administrators to live in district because there is $2 million spent on their salaries that are funded by taxes. Doug Molczyk said he is a big proponent of administrators living in the district. The board asked Dr. Loeffelholz to also add in central office staff. Seipel said a director is an important position, and they must live in the district. The board also asked that it include assistant principals and require them to live in the district. Dr. Loeffelholz will bring back the policy at the next meeting and include the changes the board requested.
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IV.I.6. CPS Elementary Student Handbook
Discussion:
Centennial Principal Jackie Herink said there are very few changes to the handbook. There was a section added about BIST (Behavior Intervention Support Team) because this is the program that the district is now using. Under school meals it was added that breakfast and lunch is provided by LunchTime Solutions. She said they will also include the new policy about charging school lunches in this section.
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IV.J. Items to be removed from the Consent Agenda
Discussion:
No items were removed from the consent agenda.
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IV.K. Consent Agenda
Discussion:
Harris said he is still in need of a school psychologist, but he was able to add a counselor. The school psychologist will just do their job and not serve as a counselor. Harris said if there is a school psychologist position open and someone applies, a person cannot wait to hire him or her or he or she will be gone. He said the resignations this year came in too late to find a replacement, and he has had the same problem with the Speech Language Pathologists. Harris said there are not many candidates for these types of jobs
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IV.K.1. Approval of Minutes
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IV.K.2. Certified Personnel
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IV.K.3. Classified Personnel
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IV.K.4. Professional Travel
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IV.L. Acceptance of Gifts/Donations
Discussion:
There was $74,815.94 of donations for the month of May from the Foundation, Centennial PTO, Lost Creek PTO, West Park PTO, Emerson PTO, North Park PTO, Sports Boosters and Alumni Association. Total contributions for the fiscal year have been $1,201,615.43. Dr. Loeffelholz said the big purchase was for STEM.
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IV.M. Business Operations and Human Relations
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IV.M.1. Financial Reports M2, M3, M4a
Discussion:
Melick said the end of the month balances look good. He said one thing the board may want to consider is how much money to hold back from Hausmann Construction to make sure they do all of the punch list items. Melick said there is currently about $82,000 being held back out of $2 million. He said the purpose of the retainer is so Hausmann will finish the punch list. Melick said the district has also started to advertise in the Mundo Lationo Publications, which is the Hispanic newspaper.
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IV.M.2. Financial Report M4b
Discussion:
Seipel’s Repair was paid $998.80 for various repairs to vehicles, and some of the repairs were significant.
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IV.M.3. Financial Report M5
Discussion:
Melick said the money to pay B-D Construction come out of the cash reserves because there wasn’t enough money in the construction fund. The Stonebrook Roofing bill was paid out of another fund as well because this item was budgeted for.
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IV.M.4. Policies
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IV.M.4.1. First Reading of Policy 802.06 Unpaid Meal Policy
Discussion:
The Unpaid Meal Policy is a new requirement from the Department of Agriculture. This policy must be published on the website, and the back to school newsletter, and school handbooks. Melick said the district must let families know when they need more money. If the bill is not paid, students will get an alternative meal, and a negative balance of $15 is when the alternative meal will be served. Melick said this year LunchTime Solutions made the alternate meal a reimbursable meal. He said this option wasn’t as successful as the paper sack meal for getting people to pay their lunch bills. Those in the negative balance will be handled as confidential as possible. Seipel asked why the district needed to figure this out and why it wasn’t LunchTime Solutions issue. Melick said certain things will remain with the district in the lunch program, and this is one of those things. Melick said if the board has any changes to let him know.
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IV.M.5. Administrative Functions
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IV.M.5.1. Meal Prices for 2017-2018
Discussion:
Melick said he is recommending a dime increase for adults and students paying full price for meals. Breakfast will now cost $1.80 and lunch at the elementary level $2.55 and at the middle and high schools $2.80. Free and reduced lunch will remain the same. Melick said even though the district lunch balance is in good shape, the Paid Lunch Equity total provided by the Nebraska Department of Education’s Nutrition Service required an increase in prices for this year. He said the price is only a slight increase.
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IV.M.5.2. Approval of Surplus Property
Discussion:
The Board declared the following as surplus: Emerson: Library Weeding Log; North Park: cart, record player, desks, social studies books, video camera tripods, and Geo Boards. Melick said these items are no longer being used or are obsolete.
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IV.M.6. Updates
Discussion:
Melick said he will bring the staff handbooks to the July board meeting, and there will not be a lot of changes. He said he will also be bringing the revision to the teacher evaluation. Melick said he may also be doing an amendment to the budget because the district is spending more than was anticipated. He said some of the extra funding is from construction and some from Title I that was not in budget because at the time the administration did not have any numbers. |
IV.N. Buildings & Sites/Technology
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IV.N.1. Administrative Functions
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IV.N.1.1. Eakes Office Solution Copier/Printer 60 Month Contract Approval
Discussion:
The contract with Eakes Office Solution was up a year ago, but with the high school move and middle school move it was decided to wait on the contract. The monthly three-year contract will be $6,890 per month and the number of machines was dropped by 16 devices. Kwapnioski said the service contract time was cut to 60 minutes. He said he advertised and only received one bid. Eakes will also provide maintenance on the accounting software and Paper Cut. Kwapnioski said overall it is a win, win for the district. He said Eakes has serviced the district very well in the past. Kwapnioski said he wanted someone local because if the company has to travel it can take up to two hours or even days to get a machine serviced. He said the other local company did not bid because they don’t have enough people to do service calls. Kwapnioski said he keeps track of how long it takes a service person to arrive, and they always let someone know if they are running behind.
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IV.N.1.2. ServiceMaster Contract 2017-2018 Approval
Discussion:
Kwapnioski said due to the size of the high school and the middle school moving to the old high school custodial staff had to be increased at both buildings. He said as of today, there are still nine positions that are not filled. Kwapnioski said he met with all the custodians last week, and no one is losing their job. All current night staff working for the district will be moved to the middle or high schools. There will always be one full-time custodian at every building. In previous years, custodians had different start times. Now they will all work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Kwapnioski said the custodians liked that they would all have a common time. If an elementary custodian is sick, there are two floaters from the middle and high schools that will fill in. Kwapnioski said in the past, maintenance has tried to fill in when someone was ill but then that put him or her behind in his or her jobs. ServiceMaster will be hired to replace the night staff at the elementary buildings. Kwapnioski said ServiceMaster will provide a list of people that will be cleaning the buildings. He said there will also be a night supervisor. He said for the night crew, bathrooms are a high priority and the desk must be wiped down every day. Kwapnioski said Mike Grutsch and he have spent a lot of time on finding a solution. Kwapnioski said the district appreciates what Kurt Shevlin has done to make this work. Since ServiceMaster is doing the cleaning, the district doesn’t have to pay for cleaning materials, wages etc. At the elementary schools, the principals will need to work through some things, Kwapnioski said.
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IV.N.2. Updates
Discussion:
Kwapnioski said he is working on a plan to help with the flow of traffic around the middle school. On the north side of 26th Street, the district has asked the city to make it a no parking area during school hours. He said there will also be a new exit added, so traffic can move around the building. All special education services will be able to get in and out easier. Kwapnioski said over the next year, the administration will learn a lot about the flow of traffic. He said people just need to be patient because it will not be perfect in the beginning. Kwapnioski said it will take time for parents to get the patterns down. He said Gehring Construction will do the work. |
IV.O. Curriculum and Instruction
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IV.O.1. Administrative Functions
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IV.O.1.1. Columbus Middle School 2017-2018 Course Descriptions
Discussion:
CMS Principal Amy Haynes said all counselors will share the fifth grade. She said next year every grade is truly a little different. The middle school is also going from a block schedule back to period day, so every class will meet daily. The fifth grade exploratory classes will be Keyboarding, STEM, Music, Band, Art Media and Elements. They will also have physical education. Sixth grade exploratory classes are STEM, Computer Skills, Family and Consumer Science, Band and Music and Physical Education. These exploratory classes will be a tri-semester, which will be 12 weeks. Haynes said art will be required for fifth grade, and band is an elective class that fifth graders can be pulled out for. Music and Band are yearlong classes. Sixth grade band is during exploratory time. In the seventh or eighth grades, students must take computer applications. Yearbook can be taken in seventh grade, but students must apply. Haynes said at this time, there are no intramurals planned for fifth grade. She said the afterschool program will be expanded next year. The fifth and sixth graders will be kept together in the after school program, and the seventh and eighth graders will be together.
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IV.O.1.2. Approval of 55 New Courses
Discussion:
Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amy Romshek said the 55 new courses are not all new. She said many of them are revisions. All of the music program has been revised. Photography is a new course in art. Computer Applications will be required now at the seventh and eighth grades, and robotics was added to all middle school grades. The middle school also added STEM to grades fifth and sixth. In Family and Consumer Science, two new classes were added Fundamentals of Food and Nutrition and Human Growth and Development. A strength and conditioning class was added for ninth grade, and the fitness curriculum was revised for tenth grade. Romshek said many teachers worked on these changes with Theresa Hausmann. The cost for all music materials is $58,121; for Family and Consumer Science $2,927.12; and for robotics $26,239. The robotics materials will be paid for by the CPS Foundation. |
IV.O.2. Updates
Discussion:
Curriculum work continues in June. Teachers from Lincoln Public Schools will provide training because they have been using these materials for several years. |
IV.P. Student Services
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IV.P.1. Administrative Functions
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IV.P.1.1. SLP Contract
Discussion:
Harris said he has not been able to find replacements for two Speech Language Pathologists. He asked Presence Learning if they could handle two full caseloads, and the company said they could only take 80 students. The cost to serve 80 students is $1,850 per student for a total of $148,000. Harris said he did not buy any assessments because of the cost. He said he felt the current SLPs could do the assessments. Harris said he would like to use this company for the nonpublic students. The company would schedule directly with the schools, and the students would stay in their buildings. The students would login to a Chromebook and work with the SLP. When they were finished, they would go back to class. Harris said there are already paraeducators at the non-public buildings. He said the IEPs would be done through the computer. After the board approves the agreement, Harris said he will work with Kwapnioski to purchase Chromebooks. He said eventually he will meet with parents once all the pieces are in place.
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IV.P.2. Updates
Discussion:
Harris said the board has heard presentations from the social workers in the past. Students from ages 0-8 can access mental health services through a voucher. This past year there were 51 vouchers used for mental health services. These referrals all came through social workers. He said the district staff is continuing to make an impact on mental health, but there are still a small number of students not receiving mental health services. Harris said there were a lot of students from high school who received mental health vouchers. |
IV.Q. Superintendent's Report
Discussion:
Dr. Loeffelholz said over the next couple of weeks, many administrators will be taking vacation days. He said it has been fun watching the band and drumline practice out by the lake at the new high school. Dr. Loeffelholz said just because it is summer time doesn't mean our kids are resting. He said the middle school project is coming along nicely. He said even though the Legislature is not in session for another six months, he is already going to meetings on topics that will be discussed. Dr. Loeffelholz said the CHS gym floor has two spots of water damage, and the roof is being fixed. The auditorium also had water damage to two sound clouds, and these will need to be removed and replaced. The cost of these repairs will be paid for by Hausmann Construction and the roofer. Dr. Loeffelholz said Stonebrook will do a good job of making the repairs and picking up the warranty. He said all these issues will be fixed before school starts.
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IV.R. Board Sharing
Discussion:
Candy Becher said she enjoyed going through the new middle school. Mike Goos said there has been a lot of progress from when he went through it a few weeks ago. He said he is glad that he is retired and summer has started. Doug Willoughby hopes everyone is getting recharged this summer, and people need to take time off to get away. Theresa Seipel agreed and she hopes everyone is recharging during summer. |
V. Executive Session
Discussion:
The board did not go into executive session.
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VI. Adjourn
Discussion:
The board adjourned at 9:35 p.m. |