October 21, 2019 at 5:30 PM - Regular Meeting

Discussion: 

What does CHS look like going forward.... Doing right by the students and staff. Current reality:

• 1300+ Students, 11% growth since opening the new building.
• Class sizes are growing and class options are decreasing.
• What are we offering students that will give them options beyond high school? 
• Additional courses need to be a pathway to certifications, career or dual credit, something they want to do when they leave CHS.

Student interest/assessment survey. Perkins V also requires a student interest assessment:

• 846 students completed the assessment in English and Spanish. Information that was received from the assessment:
• 57.8% are considering a 4-year college.
• 60% feel somewhat prepared for college with the class offerings at CHS.
• 60% feel the courses offered are relevant to future careers and the job market.
• When asked if the content of the classes is interesting over 70% felt the classes were somewhat interesting.

One of the questions asked was regarding the 7 period bell schedule.

• Comments were students would like a study hall added, some students struggle with the Tuesday/Wednesday schedule,
• 10th/11th grade students would like more elective choices.
• The study hall interest would be difficult to fix with current staffing. 

The Student Career Pathway Choices List was shown. 

• The top 6 don’t offer as many classes for the career pathway choices. 
• One of those is Education and Training, our Educators Rising group continues to grow. 
• Steps moving forward, which courses have large student requests not being met?
• What can be offered with the current staff?
• What pathways can be offered?
• Students were asked if they had a trusted adult at CHS to go to for help and/or advice, 75.3 said yes.
• How can we get that percentage to 100?

The Staff Survey asked the same questions as the student survey:

• 75% felt the courses at CHS were relevant to the future careers and the job market.
• They also felt current class offerings are preparing students for college 85%.
• The staff were not as confident regarding the interest of the content of courses to be high, only
• 52.5%. Is the current 7 period schedule supporting student learning and success, 54.1% felt it is. 

Next Steps: 

• 9th grade seminar. Make sure every student has a career path.
• Find a way to create needed pathways, with the needed staff and curriculum.

Future:

• Opportunities for CHS Students
• Responsive to students, staff and community
• Continue to make CHS the best it can be

 

 

Discussion: 

Discussion included what is the process of closing the agreement without negative recourse. Would need a resolution for changing a board member at any time. Board of Directors is allowed to reappoint a new member if needed. Corporation board members do not have to be a Board Of Education member. Fees paid only if the corporation is used. The statute regarding this type of corporation is controversial, however, if there is a change, we would be grandfathered into the old statute. The corporation will be in existence forever if that is desired.

 

 

Discussion: 

CPS will own the building and be responsible for drainage. ICE Coalition will be scheduling people to work the ice house and do clean up, lock up etc. Student groups may do volunteer work for some of the work required. CPS not liable for accidents. There was some discussion regarding cameras and signage.  There will be no skating during school hours. 

Discussion: 

Bullying Prevention: Annual review. Discussion on what is listed in the current policy. Dr. Loeffelholz talked about what is being done by counselors at each grade level. Goals are to identify situations and be diligent in problem solving strategies. Gaggle watches for inappropriate messages, self harm, etc. Notification is in real time, call building principal and then L. Kwapnioski. Gaggle notifications are sent to law enforcement.

• Suggestions to focus on diversity at the high school.
• Challenge kids and parents to put phones away at 8pm, this is showing good results. 
• Place phones in signal blocking secure bags as an option

No changes were made to this policy.

Discussion: 

This is a new statute and we are required to have an MOU. The MOU contains the information regarding what the City agrees to do, and what CPS can do. What is allowable activity for SRO during school hours.  The payment percentages are listed.  CPS will pay 25% of calendar year salary this year, next year it will be 50%. 

With the new statute, CPS gained availability, answer phones to schools.  New statutes are stringent and require some extra juvenile training for SROs.  There is a week of training. 

Discussion: 

Mr. Melick talked about some entries listed in the receipts for this month.  A new entry showing on the report is $15,000.00 from the Lakeview annexation. There is an entry for the suburbans that were sold. There were receipts from Platte and Butler Counties

General fund revenues: State aid, early childhood grant, Perkins grant

He also pointed out some of the expense detail including the elementary gym camera invoice, computer lease payment to Hewlett Packard,
Cornerstones of Care - BIST training, monthly consulting, LSI for the staff burger bash, CHS Activity Fund, service contract for CMI, Father Flanagans payment for 26 students from CPS.

Discussion:  Mr. Melick said that this repair was for brakes on one of the CPS buses.

Discussion: 

Mr. Melick commented on a couple of the entries listed. There was an invoice paid to KSB-Karen Haase who spoke to all CPS students, staff and parents about digital citizenship. 

 

 

Discussion:  There were no hires or resignations this month.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz said total contributions are $51,881.  There is a a donation from Community and Family Partnership for 16,570.00, it is flow through until their 501 C3 is set up.

Discussion:  Socks are being donated for use at CMS.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz said there are 83 students in 3 sections, we are using a long term substitute between now and break.  Need to split classes.

We are advertising for a teacher or student teacher that will be finishing up in May.  There is space on the north side, the classroom is being used by a counselor now. There were 74 students when the year started.  All live in the Lost Creek attendance area. 

Discussion:  Dr. Amy Romshek gave some explanation on the Academic Goal and the testing done in Spring 2019. Grades 3-8 NSCAS content areas tested are ELA, Math and Science.  Scale scores based on number of questions answered correctly.

• Proficiency percentages were as follows 46% were proficient in ELA, 
• 49% were proficient in Math, and 66% were proficient in Science. 
• Dr. Romshek noted when looking at the comparisons in proficiency  percentages with the state averages, we are below in ELA and very close in Math and Science. 

Looking at Average Scale Scores Comparison for the ACT, CPS shows ELA below state average.

• Math has remained the same and Science is showing a small percentage of improvement since 17-18.
• Some other discussion on the testing done at CPS is that the board would like to see the 3 year results.
• Do John Baylor and other practice for ACT increase scores? 
• We live in a challenging demographic. The new standards are more rigorous. Comparisons are difficult.
• It is felt that everyone works hard and is dedicated to meeting student needs. 

 

 

Discussion:  Snow fence was placed prior to the farmer being finished with the property.

Discussion: 

Mr. Kwapnioski said CPS started using PowerSchool in 2001. The difficulty with PowerSchool is that any new programs we need to add have to be purchased from a third party. At this time one big obstacle for the district is the registration process. CPS would like to start registering students online. Synergy offers a data warehouse in the base program without buying from a third party. Synergy has been presented to many district employees.  Edupoint has all products, other programs needed are not purchased through a third party. State reporting is becoming an issue with PowerSchool. Year one costs come with he registration program and parent portal.

It will take 6-9 months for the migration. We will move many of our current programs to the cloud. Base software will be $67,000.00/year. This will be a big change, with big benefits. Mr. Kwapnioski said he would like to go live by next July.

NDE has approved the basic software and agree it will help with the state reporting.

Registrations can be started before appointments, information can be verified, appointment will be much shorter and speed up the process.  Also available in Spanish, translation is included. 

The discussion was on the premise that this is a big move and it is never easy.  Mr. Kwapnioski said we will do it the right way, get everyone on board and utilize resources of other districts that have started the change over already.

Discussion: 

Berkshire Hathaway and Great Plains State Bank asked if they could drain their properties into our lake.  Erosion is included in the MOU if there is a problem. There is an easement on the west end of the property tying in to our drainage, it is below ground near those buildings, and above ground on CPS property. This is beneficial to CPS. 

Discussion: 

Leonard Kwapnioski, Executive Director of  Building and Sites/Technology updated the board on the sale of the suburbans. We will use these funds to buy a new vehicle for district use. He also spoke about the landscaping that is being done, removal of trees near CMS, and setting concrete for the bike rack. 

He spoke about the Safety and Security Summit attended in Kearney. He received some very useful information regarding students and their cell phones, along with apps that are most popular now, Snap Chat, Instagram and Tik Tok. There was a lot of training on how to get into the back side of these apps to gain information. Mr. Kwapnioski said he would really like to invite the trainer to CPS for all of the staff.

 

Discussion: 

Jason Harris, Director of Student Services updated the board on the Early Childhood Round Table meetings. There were approximately 60 people that came to gather information and share ideas regarding the program.  Some of our EL families were invited to a Round Table meeting, 18 attended and the idea was well received.  There is another Round Table meeting planned for October 29th at CMS specifically for childcare providers. Sara Colford, Student Services Facilitator and Mr. Harris have visited several similar programs in Red Cloud, Norfolk, and OPS.  Each visit has had something to offer. 

 

 

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz discussed the Annual Report, it includes statistics regarding years of teaching experience, financial information, per pupil cost, enrollment numbers, test scores, Educator of the Year and Operations Employee of the Year, and location map. We will send the report out via an insert in Columbus Telegram. CHS and CMS are winding down fall sports. CHS Musical is coming up, Volleyball won GNAC Tournament. The last football game is Friday and district volleyball is next week. 

Discussion: 

Marching festival, CMS Talent Show.