December 18, 2017 at 6:00 PM - Regular Meeting

Tim Pospisil read the Mission Statement.

No one spoke to the board.

The board accepted the letter and will approve the Superintendent’s evaluation at the January board meeting.

There were no recognitions.

 

Items 4B, 5A, and 5B were removed from the Consent Agenda.

Payment to Seipel repair.

Payment to Seipel repair.

Reimbursement to Doug Willoughby for state school board conference.

Board approved mid-term graduates

The total contributions for the month of November was $34,219.26.

The Temporary Early Retirement Incentive Program includes administrators.

Executive Director of Business Operations and Human Relations Dave Melick thanked board members for attending Christmas Socials. 

Approval of snow fence at the Discoverer site.

Mr. Kwapnioski gave an update on the steam pipe at the old middle school, the Technology Strategic plan, that started four years ago. Kwapnioski said this time around the plan was expanded to include a K-12. Kwapnioski said there is only $1.2 million to spend. He said the committee visited four schools. Millard North is now working with Windows machines. There will be a meeting tomorrow from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the high school media center. Kwapnioski invited the board to attend. He said the committee must look at what the district can afford per unit per price tag. The board will be given an update after the meeting. Kwapnioski said the committee is looking at a wide variety of options such as iPads, Chromebooks, Windows machines. He said the committee will have a recommendation to Dr. Loeffelholz in February, and it will come to the board in March. Tim Pospisil said there is talk that Apple is going to end the Mac line and go to iPads and keyboards. Kwapnioski said Millard North paid less than $300 a piece for the Tablets. He said he will be looking at getting the district the best deal possible on machines.

There are a lot of changes with state assessments right now, Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amy Romshek said. Students in grades 3-8 took the NeSA English Language Arts(ELA) and College and Career Readiness(CCR). In 11th grade, the ACT took the place of NeSA. ACT ELA took English, reading and writing scores and added them all together. 

With the new NeSA CCR, students are required to provide a select response and choose an answer that gives evidence from the text that supports the answer and write an essay. Since this is a new test, the results cannot be compared to previous years. This year the CPS seventh grade average score is a 191 and state average was 198. The CPS eighth grade average score was a 194, and the state average a 199.

When comparing other districts’ ELA scores in grades 3-5, CPS is a little over 200. Romshek said in this grade range when compared to other districts with similar demographics, CPS did well. In grades 6-8, CPS’ ELA was a little below the state average and a little below other districts. The test for math did not change and stayed on the 1-200 scale. Over the years middle school and high school have stayed about the same with a scale score of 100, but last year it did decrease a little. When comparing CPS to other districts in math, grades 3-5 and 6-8 compared well to similar districts.  In grades 3-5 and 6-8 the scores in math were above the state average. Science is still the old test and only grades 5, 8 and 11 are tested. From 2012-2017, CPS has been trending downward in elementary and up in the middle school a little bit. Grade 5 science scores decreased a little this year. The Grade 8 scores were close to other districts of similar size. Both fifth and eighth grades were above the state average.

The ACT score range is 1-36. On the ACT ELA the score was 18, which is a little below the state average.  At high school, the ACT Math score was 19. This score shows that the students are on track and are prepared to go on to the next level, and the ACT score is equal to the state average.  The grade 11 scores were a little above other districts of similar size. 

One of the future changes will be a new math test next year and in 2021, there will be a new science test with the scores ranging from 100-300 and it will be closer to the ACT. The test platform will also change again next year.

Dr. Loeffelholz said he needs signatures from the board on the Nebraska United for Property Tax resolution.  Dr. Loeffelholz said the board needs to put together his evaluation through survey monkey and come up with a timeline. Seipel said she wants to have the survey put together for January. At the national school board conference on Friday, Dr. Loeffelholz said there is an opportunity to go through the Toyota manufacturing plant. He said there will be another opportunity on Monday, which other people can attend.  A realtor is putting together pricing for the old middle school, which includes the land and buildings.  Dr. Loeffelholz said it will be a closed bid format, and the board has a right to accept or refuse any offer. Once the realtor is done, he said he will get the building and sites committee together.

On January 12 from 6-9 p.m., there will be a holiday social for the board, administration and spouses. Dr. Loeffelholz asked the board if they want to move the regular meeting to a 5:30 p.m. start time so both will be on the same timeline. He said they will try the 5:30 p.m. start for both meetings in January. Dr. Loeffelholz will forward an email that Sen. Groene sent to all the board members. He said he will also write a response and carbon copy all the board members. Candy Becher said administration can't test students like a person tests a product. Theresa Seipel said it is a challenging issue because there must be some point of accountability. Dr. Loeffelholz said the problem is the state is always changing the target for schools. Becher said they are now wanting to change testing based on politics. CPS tested every junior in high school and the ACT average has gone from 18 to 19. Dr. Loeffelholz said CPS is way above state average in core scores. Romshek said people must remember the state test is one day, and it is just a snap shot of how the students did on that day.

The Board members wished everyone a happy holiday. Doug Willoughby also asked for prayers for the two Lakeview students that were in the car accident. Theresa Seipel said she will be gone Jan 13-20. Melick said with Seipel being gone, they will work around negotiations. Seipel said she could Facetime for negotiations if needed.  

The board did not go into executive session.

 

The board adjourned at 7:15 p.m.