December 21, 2020 at 5:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Discussion:  Theresa Seipel read the Mission Statement.

Discussion: 

Denny Hill from Strategic Resources West presented the recent enrollment study. He said the largest classes are in the high school at this time, smaller classes are in the elementary schools.  Manufacturing continues to grow at a steady rate, we will see the growth at the elementary level. Mr. Hill encouraged the board to look at capacity in each of the elementary buildings as some are getting pretty close to being at capacity.  There was also discussion on the housing that is being built in our community at this time and how that will affect CPS enrollment. 

Discussion: 

Abby Sayers was invited to the meeting to share information about the new Video Digital Courses being offered at CHS.  This is her first year at CHS, she did her student teaching at CHS and then taught similar courses in Leigh.  She said she has been building curriculum from that class. 

Ms. Sayers highlighted some of the student projects and showed they are learning a lot of great things.  She said the students are very excited about the Video Production Class for second semester, they are hoping to be able to create a news broadcast.  Some of the video productions will include live streaming events, broadcasting games, and creating commercials for local businesses. 

 

Discussion: 

Bob Hausmann, Principal at North Park Elementary created an iMovie for his presentation. He shared that Brandi Fleming gave him some direction to get this done. The iMovie showed many highlights of staff and students from North Park this semester.  Mr. Hausmann said COVID is a major part of this school year but it is still school as usual. 

One of the highlights was showing multiple classrooms using partner talk and what a wonderful tool this is especially for our EL Learners. He shared that the timing of his presentation was not great for sharing data as students are just finishing Dibels testing and because of the lack of testing last spring there is not a full year of assessments. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Troy Loeffelholz, Superintendent, talked about the submission of this letter. This is part of his contract to let the board know his intention for the next 3 years. Dr. Loeffelholz said he loves CPS, he said CPS has a great board of education, and he loves his job here. He is not planning on going anywhere, the community is awesome, and he has a great relationship with the board.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz shared the contract between CPS and Lori Aschoff. Lori has been writing grants for CPS for several years.  He said we have been keeping her busy with the Kramer/Preschool project. Grant writing is a special talent, we pay $12,000.00/year. There was discussion on acting on this item in November instead of December. CPS does not currently share this contract with any other organizations.

Discussion:  There were no items removed from the Consent Agenda.

Discussion: 

Chip Kay, Director of Finance gave a brief report of all financials.  He said Financial Report M2 looks good, all accounts are ahead of last year.  The Bond Fund payments have been made and refinanced.  Building Fund looks great, money from the lease purchase is showing in this balance. Financial Report M3-Revenue report shows CPS has collected about 29% of revenue, 30% is collected each quarter, 4th quarter is generally the lowest.  January will be the next tax draw. Financial Report M4a, showing expenditures, Mr. Kay highlighted 3 payments, check #7769 to Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home, check #7772  to Frontline for the annual set up fee.  Check #7787 to Ferguson Enterprises is for supplies used by the maintenance department, this is higher than normal, some equipment has been purchased for buildings. The new water fountains for elementary buildings purchase will be reimbursable thru the CARES Act.

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay shared some payments showing on Financial Report M5, check #7869 for Columbus Bucks purchased at the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce for our Christmas Social Distance for staff. Check #7881 for the audit done by Schumacher, Smejkal, Brockhaus & Herley, and check #7994-Marzano Resources for training with Jan Hoegh.

Discussion:  Mr. Kay talked about the Certified Personnel resignations and hires. There was a 4th grade teacher that resigned effective immediately. Nikki Hiner was hired for the the 4th grade position, she is doing a great job and jumped right into a difficult situation. We have been able to hire ahead some teachers for future openings, if there is not an opening they become full time subs. Dave Hiebner found a replacement for Trudy Noonan, science teacher, she is retiring at the end of the school year.

Discussion:  Mr. Kay said there is a lot of movement in classified staff at this time.

Discussion: 

Mr. Hiebner, CHS Principal shared that there are 44 mid-term graduates, this number is down a few from last year.  He said the class of 2021 is a large class. He commented he wants to keep students in the building as long as possible. Also, that COVID may have played a part for some students and families. 

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz commented on the Travel Report, he said no one is traveling much, but a lot of virtual meetings are being watched by staff.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz shared some Foundation Report information, total contributions for November were $69,146.43. A large amount of the Community and Family Partnership Funds will be moved to United Way.

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay stated this would be the last fundraising approval for this school year. The large amount of patron letters going out to the community could become detrimental to the CPS Foundation.  

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay gave some information on the football helmets that need to be disposed of. It is a very time consuming process, they must be cut in half with face masks removed.  

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay talked about the EPSLA program that will sunset on December 31, 2020.  He is proposing as a school district to extend this into 2nd semester until vaccines are available to our staff. There was some discussion regarding people with conditions that are unable to receive the vaccine. Also concerns about recovery time from COVID. Mr. Kay said another option is the Emergency Leave Bank that can be used if you have donated. Sixty eight new people joined this year and 100 people donated another day even though they had already donated. It was noted that classified staff does not have an Emergency Leave Bank or anything similar.  Mr. Kay said he has been researching some type of program for classified staff, but there are some concerns regarding the legality because they are at-will employees.

Dr. Loeffelholz shared that the district will be highly recommending the vaccine but it will not be required. The recommendation is that EPSLA will not be taken away until the second dose is administered.  We will try to have vaccine clinics on Fridays in case people have symptoms and need to recover over the weekend.   

Dr. Loeffelholz took this time to talk about the plan for staff and students after break, he is suggesting we start back to school 5 days a week. Once vaccinations start being administered, we will need Fridays for those clinics. Staff not receiving the vaccinations will use the full day on Fridays as plan days, for those receiving the vaccination, they will plan in the AM and receive the vaccination at the clinic provided in the PM. The follow up dose is 21 days after the first dose. CPS will likely get the Maderna vaccine. The panel who approved the vaccines bumped educators to essential workers and are in Group 1B. Group 1A is medical staff. We will turn our numbers in to the National Guard by the end of day tomorrow.  Substitute teachers have not been approved yet for Group 1B, but hopeful by tomorrow.

Discussion: 

Mr. Kay gave an update, he said only one staff member is out today because of COVID, we have 0 people positive in the district right now. He also said that the Christmas Social Event was changed this year due to COVID protocols. He explained the new Frontline Program for substitutes and leave management, he thinks it's a really great tool, all digital.

We are in the RFP process for food service.  All food service staff will be moved to the food service vendor except people that are within 5 years of retirement with NPERS.  Mr. Kay shared the HR philosophy-building strategy to recruit teachers. CPS has received a grant for the After School Program for additional personnel time. He facilitated two TERIP meetings,13 people received the information, paperwork will be due on February 4th.  He also noted that the certified staff hires memo has been changed slightly from a hiring memo to a recommendation to hire memo, after a vote those people will be hired as CPS employees. 

Discussion:  Leonard Kwapnioski, Director of Buildings/Sites and Technology shared some information from his department. Drawings were received on Phases 2 and 3 for the Kramer Early Education Center.  Phase 2 is the finishing out of the preschool, Phase 3 is for the remainder of the building. Footings will be started tomorrow.  Mr. Kwapnioski said fencing banners will be going up, they will show entrance names and labels.

Discussion: 

Dr. Amy Romshek gave an update on social studies work sessions with middle school and high school teachers.  There are new standards and updates to goals and skills for social studies. Teachers are excited about the new materials, Dr. Romshek said the new resources have really nice digital formats. The group has reached a consensus on 2 curriculums. They have made really good progress.  The elementary staff will start soon.  She also shared that much of her staff has been in Synergy training learning how to build assessments in that program. 

Discussion: 

Jason Harris, Director of Student Services and SPED, reported that he has finalized a letter for the remote learning families for second semester. Three families are interested in returning to school and this includes 5 students.  Families will need to sign a release from the school attorney. We have 46 students participating in remote learning at this time. Mr. Harris is meeting tomorrow with ECDHD. He is giving a shout out to the CPS nurses, they have been doing a lot of work to get ready for the vaccination clinics.  The preparation is being done to see that clinics run smoothly. He also commended Sara Colford for obtaining and providing information regarding child development center licensing regulations.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz said Mr. Kwapnioski is working hard at Kramer which has included some difficult conversations with BCDM Architects. After receiving some guidelines for licensing, some redesign work had to be created. He shared information regarding calling it a child development center for a better explanation of the education we want to offer. Eventually, programs for children 6 weeks to preschool age will be offered. After receiving more information regarding the licensing guidelines some offices needed to be moved. There can be no public access, no community, employee etc. without background checks.  Small changes that were made were two footings, placement of steel beams, and two playground areas instead of one. There has been some conversations with Bubbles and Blocks out of Lincoln, maybe looking at a partnership or consulting. A tour is planned in January.  Dr. Loeffelholz shared some of the artwork and campaign information for the Strong Roots Campaign created by Clark Creative. This will be used for securing funding for early childhood, the brochures include data and statistics. Also, shared information on partnerships for early childhood professionals with CCC, UNK. Partnership levels. 3.9 million total. 

A $50,000.00 lead gift has been secured to start the project off.  Dr. Leoffelholz said he and Nicole will hit the road for early childhood funding. He said this strategy really blew the STEM Campaign out of water in securing funding.

Dr. Loeffelholz also shared an article with COVID vaccine information. 

Discussion: 

The Board thanked Ken Curry for filling in on the Board for the last few months. All feel like CPS has weathered the pandemic better than most districts, have heard really positive feedback. 

They really appreciated the changes that were made to the Christmas Social, happy that we stayed local with the gifts. CPS is really looked at as a community partner, that is so positive. 

Really happy to see people coming together making this a really good semester with all that is happening with COVID. Thankful to staff and administration for all that has had to be done this year to keep our students in school. They all wished all at CPS a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Discussion:  The Board went into Executive Session at 8:12.