April 12, 2021 at 5:30 PM - Committee As A Whole

Eric Hall from Bank of the Valley presented a $2000.00 check from the School Pride Card Program. He said CPS has 178 patrons using the cards. CPS receives a small fee each time the card is used. These funds were raised from March 2020 to March 2021.

Amy Haynes, CMS Principal, and the administrative team, Dr. Amy Mancini, Jordon Anderson, and Adriana Carnes presented on the work that is being done at Columbus Middle School. They shared the administrative team goals, what they are accomplishing by improving PLCs and how they are decreasing office referrals. Dr. Mancini shared Map Scores and projected proficiency in math and reading for 5th through 8th grade. There has been very little change in demographics and free and reduced status at CMS. Mrs. Haynes talked about the quarterly pep rallies to celebrate student success and achievements. Mrs. Carnes talked about the excitement of the Discoverer Bucks Program that recognizes students being safe, respectful, responsible and kind. They have students contributing to helping out in the building by watering plants, helping with lunch trays, lunch tables/chairs and Cassette House students. Mr. Anderson summarized what is happening with activities and the consistency maintained even in this last year of COVID.

Mrs. Haynes said they are very proud of the work teachers have done this year. 

Dave Hiebner, CHS Principal, talked about the agreement with Wayne State STEP Program. Three courses can be offered right now for next school year. He said there is a lot of flexibility so that we can move to a larger scale as students begin to see the opportunity. Mr. Hiebner said this is so positive for our students, and will give our students a leg up.  Next fall, CHS will start with one section. A meeting with students to share this information will be scheduled. Mr. Hiebner said 24% of our students showed interest, there are 68 members in Educators’ Rising. 

Chip Kay, Director of Finance and Human Resources, gave a brief summary of the financial reports. M2 General Fund is ahead of last year. All other accounts are where we would expect.  M3 shows that we have received 63% of planned revenue. M4 is showing an expenditure into the Depreciation Fund.  This money is compensation from LSI and is replacing what had been taken out last year. Ferguson Enterprises was paid for work in the kitchen, and Savvas Learning Company, LLC is for the purchase of biology textbooks. 

Dr. Loeffelholz, Superintendent, offered the information on the Certified Personnel memo, 9 hires, 13 resignations. A couple of positions had been offered and accepted and then a call back was received and the positions were turned down. Principals are working hard to get people hired. It is more and more difficult to find people. Discussion on what the reasons candidates are not accepting positions and staff is leaving. Mr. Kay said a lot of teachers leave because we don’t have full family insurance. The amount of money it would take for CPS to offer full family insurance is daunting, negotiations will have to look at basic salary base compared to benefits, the total package has to be considered. Dr. Loeffelholz shared that by board policy we can give up to a $2500.00 signing bonus. We will be gathering more data with exit interviews. Talk about what is needed to recruit more people. 

Five hires, 10 resignations. Tougher to find SPED employees. 

Dr. Loeffelholz highlighted the total contributions for March was $33,653.67, and noted the funds contributed to the STEM reVision Grant.  

Mr. Kay shared the leave of absence request from Andrea Smejkal. 

Mr. Kay gave a brief update on the spring engagement survey, he said 75% of the staff have completed the survey, it closes this week.  He is hopeful that the exit survey will be as popular. 

Leonard Kwapnioski, Director of Buildings/Sites and Technology talked about the Kramer Bid Package #2. He said they have 10 new vendors and are hoping to add more this week. He shared that there are some scope gaps, and some vendors have chosen not to bid on the entire scope. The steel bid is still high. He is working with ICF to get walls poured during warm months. Vendors are having a hard time finding people to work. He mentioned that not a lot of work is being done because of the wet/muddy ground.  Footings can not be poured while it is so wet.  Mr. Kwapnioski said the maintenance staff is still working on demo to cut costs. Discussion regarding the maintenance staff continuing to get the everyday jobs done while doing this extra work. The staff knows the priorities and is completing all those duties first, inside work at Kramer has been an option during some wet weather times. The North Park Project will start on May 27, 2021, finish by August 9, 2021. 

Amy Romshek, Director of Curriculum and Jason Harris, Director of Student Services and SPED presented on Proficiency Reporting. Dr. Romshek said this will be the first of several presentations. She said the first piece is why? Grades should communicate what students know and can do. She gave some history beginning with the 2014-2016 Grading for Learning Committee. Mr. Harris said it started with an administrator group, they developed an elementary committee, and a secondary committee. A two page guidance and a philosophy was developed. Proficiency Reporting is a better way to communicate progress to parents and students. They noted that this keeps behaviors and academic grades separate. Proficiency reporting more accurately shows a students grade. In 2017, time and effort was spent working on common assessments. prioritizing standards, proficiency scales, writing learning goals. Eventually there will be meetings with parents to prepare them for the scoring.  Dr. Romshek says we are about a year from that part of the process. There will also be a conversion chart to help students understand. This gives a more accurate picture of what students know. Dr. Loeffelholz said many school districts are going this direction, there are about a dozen in Nebraska. Dr. Romshek said we need to know where students are deficient, and what areas they need help. Some core areas have been changed twice in 12 years. This will level the playing field, a lot has been learned about proficiency reporting.  All agree it will be controversial, but feel it gives better information on what students know and where they need help. Dr. Loeffelholz said he feels positive about having Mrs. Anderson, not trained in education, to help guide us in how we will explain this to parents in the future. 

Mr. Harris said he will be requesting approval of the speech contract through Central Nebraska Rehabilitation. He shared that CPS is down 2 SLPs, he recently interviewed 2 applicants, both declined. He has reached out to another to finish the online application.  The rate on the contract is below the NDE current rate. Dr. Loeffelholz said that Mary Walsh-Sterup is really great and does good work with our students. Mr. Harris said we have contracted with them for several years.  We will still contract with Global Therapy, he would like to use Global Therapy with the non-publics and in-person therapy at district schools.

Mr. Harris shared some information on LB125. He said it has been passed out of the Education Committee, this bill would increase SPED reimbursement. If it would pass, NDE would have to provide 60% reimbursement rate and going forward up to 80%. 

Dr. Loeffelholz asked Nicole Anderson, Director of Communications and Foundation to share the first draft of a letter that will be sent to Senator Moser in regards to LB364. This letter is in opposition and to request that he will be in support of the opposition as well. This bill puts us on a unlevel playing field.  Mrs. Anderson said that the CPS Foundation held a meeting today and they want to go on record that they do not agree with this bill. The letter will be sent in addition to making some phone calls. Candy Becher, board member, said we should all be calling Senator Moser.

Dr. Loeffelholz reported on the Attendance Committee and the Suspension/Expulsion Committee. He said there will be some policies that come to the board for approval, in addition, they will be rewriting the attendance letters. The Suspension/Expulsion Committee is making sure the process is working the way statute expects it to, and to make sure that policy reflects what we are doing. There will be a checklist for administrators to adhere to for consistency. Practices with behaviors and what constitutes short-term or long-term suspensions. Other discussions are regarding reducing long-term to short-term, and a better understanding of emergency exclusion.

Alternative education was mentioned and that at this time there are no options between CMS and Boys Town.

The decision has been made that masks will continue to be worn through the remainder of the school year, and discussion will continue on next year’s protocols. 

Dr. Loeffelholz asked Mr. Hiebner to give a brief update on the healthcare pathway and the development of the program at CHS. He said it was a great visit to Ralston and Papillion. Columbus Community Hospital had representatives on the visit, and they are very excited about the idea and have presented it to their board. Mr. Hiebner said this has been talked about for quite a while, it is a great opportunity for our students. This program will get students more focused and get them a jump start into a healthcare program. The level of support has been really great from other schools and the hospital. 

Dr. Loeffelholz asked the board to check dates for summer board meetings and a board retreat in July.  He would like to utilize the second and third Mondays as is normal for meetings.