May 18, 2015 at 5:00 PM - Work Session and Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Discussion:  The program was founded in 2001 with the first office being in Sweden. The reason why it was started was to share American culture. This program can generate additional revenue for the schools. The students come from all over. In order to participate, the students must be between 14-18, pass an English test and maintain good grades. The students are also fully insured and all have background checks done. Once they are in the US, they must maintain a certain GPA. In order for school districts to participate, they must go through a SEVIS certification and get an I 17 Petition with Homeland Security. Educatius will help in this process. Dr. Loeffelholz said he does not believe there is a policy on if the foreign exchange students must come from a nonprofit organization. Jeffryes is constantly recruiting families. She said she feels Columbus could get 10 to 20 students, but the decision is up to the administration.

Discussion:  Eight students went on the trip this year. For many of the students, this was their first flight. There were several highlights such as the Jefferson Memorial, Korean Memorial, Arlington Cemetery and the night tour. This year the students also got to tour the White House. Sponsor Tom Bock said the purpose of Close-Up is to not only see DC but also to get to meet new friends. Bock said the teachers got to do a tour of the foreign monuments on embassy row and also had the opportunity to go to Gettysburg National Military Park. The group thanked the board for supporting Close-Up and allowing them to go.

Discussion:  The board did not go into executive session.

Discussion:  Five CPS Administrators attended the Leadership Now Conference in Las Vegas. Executive Director of Business Operations Dave Melick said the conference is high quality professional development, and all speakers are published authors. He said what he took away from the conference was that districts need to focus on only a few items. Don't try to implement too many things. These ideas must be done in a quality manner, over a period time and be in the way it was meant by the author. He said the monitoring must include adult action and not just test scores. CHS Assistant Principal Angela Leifeld attended a session on relationships and empowering students. She said people must not use Academic vocabulary. All people are English Leaners because they are still learning the language. She said it is important to have a laser light focus on learning. There needs to be big goals and big visions, and your vision should be beyond what you hope to accomplishment. Mindset plays a key roll. Leifeld said until a person’s mindset is changed, the culture and climate can’t be changed. North Park Principal Bob Hausmann listened to 10 speakers. He said a common theme was that people don't spend enough time building shared knowledge before implement things. He said for example, if there is a team who truly believes Special Education and ELL students cannot achieve the goals, this is a roadblock that won’t be overcome. If enough dedicated people truly believe, it will get done. Hausmann said administrators don’t take enough time to understand the people they are leading. He said more time needs to be spent on those who are positive. Hausmann said too much time is given to the small minority who are negative. CHS Assistant Principal Jordon Anderson said there needs to be more support of the positive people. He said he found himself wondering if he is giving the staff enough feedback to help their growth. Anderson said everyone has frames of reference, which are their comfort zones. This creates patterns. Alan Dostal said now the challenge will be taking what was learned at the conference and applying it. Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction Amy Romshek said there are some rules that must be tight rules and others can be more loose. In a true PLC team, they should be talking about curriculum; have discussion about monitoring students learning; or have discussion about results taking place in meetings. She said the speakers stressed that if people don't understand, they must be helped to understand.

Discussion:  The Mission statement was not read.

Discussion:  Doug Briese, 2817 38th St., spoke to the board about considering more options on STEM to enhance it.

Discussion:  Theresa Ghormley won the Jack R. Snider Young Band Director award at the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association Spring convention. Nominees must be current members of the NSBA, presently teaching in Nebraska and in their third through seventh year of teaching.

Discussion:  Alou Manzano Bautista and Mike Boeding took first place in the 2015 SkillsUSA Nebraska State Competition in mechatronics and will advance to the national competition. Devyn Glenn took second place in welding sculpture and received an $8,000 scholarship from Tulsa Welding School. Andrew Urkoski is the Chapter president and 2015 Andy Neuhaus Award recipient.

Discussion:  Spanish 4 and 5 students participated in a language competition at UNL. Students were tested on their language skills, understanding of Spanish speaking culture and overall performances in culturally relevant activities. Columbus High students participated in 5 different events, folk dance, music, drama and poetry. Out of the 30 different entries, 26 performances received a superior rating and were finalist for the overall first place trophy and second place ribbon. During the final award ceremony, Columbus High students dominated the competition receiving 10 out of 14 possible awards. CHS brought home 6 out of the 7 first place awards, and 4 out of the 7 second place ribbons. Kamiryn Deal received a first place trophy in level 2 poetry, Jose Rojas received a first place trophy in NS music. Sam Baue and Josh Baue received a first place trophy in level 2 drama, followed by Hannah Awtry, Summer Borowiak, Cailey Heavican, Jessica Jenson, Kaelin Kneen and Shaylynn Meyer and Alex McKinney who received second place in the overall competition for Drama Level 2. In the category of NS poetry, Alondra Villanueva was followed by Radiel Cardentey who received second place. In the category of music Level 2 Rebecca Feagin, Josh Baue, Sam Baue, Alex Beiermann, Toree Hempstead, and Savannah Wolfe received a first place trophy. In the folk dance category, CHS students won first place with their Cueca. Students in this dance were Jessica Humphrey, Kiana Hunter, Andrea Jacobs, Alexis Liebig, Jamie Schacher, and Megan Tamayo. In this same category, Columbus High received second place with a Flamenco danced by Kamiryn Deal, Jessica Jenson, Kaelin Kneen, Megan Petermann and Savannah Wolfe. Finally, Elizabeth Neid received second place for her poster La Tomatina. Broke Paczosa represented CHS at the UNL Language Fair. Brooke memorized and presented the poem Erlkönig, which is a famous German poem by Goethe. The poem is 8 stanzas long and explains a story of father riding through the forest with his child and an Elf King tries to spirit the child away. Brooke placed 2nd overall at the Language Fair, competing against German students from Lincoln and Omaha schools.

Discussion:  The following students won awards in the 2014 Scholastic Art Awards Competition in Omaha. Over 3,000 entries were made. Those earning honors included: Alex Harris, Honorable Mention for “Picnic” Ceramics; Megan Lovci, Silver Key in Dish Ceramics for “Wild Orange;” Aspen Luebbe, Honorable Mention in Ceramics for “Swirl;” Beto Mendez-Quezada, Honorable Mention in Ceramics for “The Colorful Pitcher;” Perla Izaguirre, Silver Key in Drawing and Illustration for “What's Up?”; Mia Jansen, Gold Key in Mixed Media for “Lookin’ Up;” Shayla Thalken, Silver Key in Mixed Media for “Flowing Lantern;” Catherine Veseth, Gold Key in Mixed Media for “Black And White Wicker;” Liley Briley, Gold Key in Painting for “Scout;” Kassia Bixenmann , Gold Key in Printmaking for “Kassia;” Nadine Hernandez, Silver Key in Printmaking for “Crazy Soccerballs;” Talia Holmes-Fitzgerald, Honorable Mention in Printmaking for “Shades Times Four;” Samuel Martinez, Silver Key in Printmaking for “Myself;” Jesus Mendez Diaz, Honorable Mention in Printmaking for “Colorful Kleenexes;” and Brandi Brummer, Silver Key in Sculpture for “The Violin.”

Discussion:  Honor Choir - The following students were selected to perform in the Nebraska Singing Youth Honor Choir: Jessica Allen, Liam Barcel, Kaylyn Beyer, Morgan Brewer, Megan Brewer, Rachel Feagin, Reagan Gausman, Caleb Hoadley, Lydia Johnson, Gabe Moseman, Mitchell Norris, Fernando Ortiz, Kolby Pelc, Coden Prokopec, Dalton Rawls and Kassidy Soulliere. The students auditioned and were selected for their musical abilities, responsibility, and leadership. Barbershop Chorus - The following students were selected to perform in the first ever middle level state barbershop chorus at the Lied Center in Lincoln, Nebraska during the NMEA annual convention: Liam Barcel, 8; Riley Garrelts, 6; Emmanuel Guzman, 7; Camdyn Iwan, 8; Gabe Moseman, 8; Mitchell Norris, 8; Fernando Ortiz, 8; Kolby Pelc, 8; Coden Prokopec, 8; Ramon Rodriguez, 7; Alejandro Rodriguez, 7; Colby Salava, 7; Marcus Schleich, 7; Ryan Sims, 7; and Tyler Wolfe, 8.

Discussion:  Eduardo Larres competed and won the National Geography Bee that was hosted by CMS. This qualified him to take the geography test that would allow him to compete at the state level. He advanced to Lincoln to complete at the state level. Larres was able to answer 7 of the 8 questions in the first round, and moved on to a tiebreaker round. He was in the top 24 students.

Discussion:  The following students attended the regional science fair and were chosen from all the regional competitions to attend the state science fair in Omaha in June: Liz Blaser, Aspen Luebbe, Camdyn Iwan, Paige Jeffryes, Kaitlyn Meyer, Antonio Soto and Neleigh Slusarski.

Discussion:  Students who earn a high enough score on certain NeSA subsets are invited to participate in the Duke University Talent Identification Program. This includes a chance to take the ACT as a seventh grader. Columbus Middle School seventh graders Douglas Davidchik, Emily Hall, Lucas Miller, Conner Mueller, Samuel Nelson and Maison Wemhoff achieved scores that place them in the upper 50 percent of high school juniors and seniors taking the ACT this year. This means that they had to score at least a 21 on any one of the ACT subtests or score 20 or greater on 3 of the 4.

Discussion:  Erick Eickhoff, Stefani Padilla, Jayden Boesch and Camdyn Iwan qualified to represent CMS at the state Mathcounts competition. They had to score high enough on a written test as an individual or team to qualify for this honor.

Discussion:  Fourth grader Gregory Davidchik was the winner of the North Park Geography Qualify getting a perfect score on the test. He then won the CPS Elementary Geography Bee. There were 5 qualifiers from each of the 5 elementary buildings competing in the geography bee. Gregory then took the test and qualified for the State Geography Bee. There has not been a CPS Elementary student qualify for the State Geography Bee in the past.

Discussion:  Several CHS students earned awards at the School of Business & Technology at Wayne State College annual Business Competition Day. Students receiving awards were Austin Ferguson (4th in Accounting II), Nathan Wolfe (3rd in Business Law), Lauren Carrig (2nd in Digital Citizenship, 5th in Computer Literacy), and Cade Hansen (4th in Consumer Smarts). Nathan Wolfe also placed 6th in Accounting I, and 7th in Global Business.

Discussion:  Three CHS students in Personal Finance qualified for and competed in the regional finals for the Nebraska Council on Economic Education’s Finance Challenge for the Omaha region. To be invited to the regional competition, the team had to rank in the top 5 out of the 79 teams in the region. The team of Allison Shroder, Trevor Phillips, and Damian Sliva placed fourth.

Discussion:  Not in attendance.

Discussion:  Not in attendance.

Discussion:  Pat Phelen from DLR spent time with new library media specialist Val Wallin to discuss the media center. Dr. Loeffelholz said the steel started today. The auditorium footings will be poured this week. The precast panels will be ready in about four weeks. The hollow core is also about four weeks out. The masonry work in Area F will start next week. Dr. Loeffelholz said they are a little behind with the auditorium footings, so the panels may be a week or two later.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz and Jordon Anderson went to a one-day conference on Stem in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Loeffelholz said if he goes again, he wants to stay another day to see the students’ projects on Saturday. He said he learned that the Midwest is further behind in STEM then other parts of the U.S. The three conference goals were: 1. Expand the number of students who pursue degrees and careers in STEM fields 2. Expand the STEM career workforce and broaden the participation of women and minorities and 3. Increase STEM literacy for all students including those who do not pursue STEM related careers. The three dimensions of STEM are science and engineering practices; disciplinary core ideas; and cross cutting concepts. Anderson said some teachers are trying to incorporate STEM in their classrooms but don’t talk to the STEM teachers. He said the point of STEM is trying to get students to do more creative thinking. How can I use those resources to create a solution for the problem? Anderson said kids need to be exposed to STEM. He said CPS has a great start to a potential great program. Anderson said the district is looking at a K-12 program in the future, which is rare. Dr. Loeffelholz said society programs girls not to enjoy technology and push them into other things. He said when girls are younger, they have a lot of interests, but as they get to high school, this interest wanes. He said the goal is to expose all kids to these things. Dr. Loeffelholz said a key to developing a STEM academy is to make sure there is an articulation with the community college and no dead end courses.

Discussion:  No items were removed from the agenda.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said there are still seven teaching positions left to fill. He said the district is also looking for a new HVAC person.

Discussion:  The $495 payment to Seipel Repair was for work on the vehicles.

Discussion:  Centennial Principal Jackie Herink said they added the mission and new vision statements to the handbook. A statement was also added about the rules and expectation of Social media and making sure parent volunteers knew they were expected to be followed. A sentence was added stating that if a child shows up after 8:30 a.m. they will be counted a quarter day absent. The check out procedures for students leaving early was clarified. Field trips were clarified, so parents know that supervision starts the moment they are on the bus, and parents must also ride the bus. A category was also added on expectations for parent volunteers.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said the Mission was not changed because everyone still believed in what it said. He said it is something people can easily remember. However, when people were asked about the Vision, they couldn’t tell what it was. Dr. Loeffelholz said there are now three direct vision statements. He said all three strategic plans can be seen in those statements. The new vision is: We will continuously and passionately strive to be a high performing Learning Community that will effectively meet the unique learning needs of each and every student. To attain this Mission we are: • Committed to maintaining a clear and shared focus on student learning. • Committed to providing a safe and supportive environment for learning and teaching. • Committed to a high level of communication, trust, support, and accountability with all stakeholders.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said the board must hold the meeting on the second or third Monday of the month and by changing the wording, this gives the board the option to hold it on either day. However, the preference will be the third Monday of the month.

Discussion:  Two John Deere tractors that were only used a month and half of the whole year will be traded in for something with more flexibility and use. The attachments can be changed in a short period of time. This machine comes with a broom, snow blower and other attachments. The cost of the mower is $20,919.76.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said that the new high school had an additional 12, 000 feet of instructional space added which included eight classrooms and 15 feet to the north of the gyms.

Discussion:  The Board tabled the item pending further investigation of options. Dr. Loeffelholz said there was only one bid received and the cost was too high.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz thanked the board for showing up for graduation. He said Mike Goos did an excellent job. He shared with the board a picture of the new high school main entrance and activity entrance. Dr. Loeffelholz also told the board they will be receiving a couple more interior photos shortly.

Discussion:  Francis Kuehler thought graduation went great. Ken Curry said he is always impressed with the talent of our kids. He said they are very unique. Curry also suggested something be done with the carpeting on the ramp for graduation, so it is not so easy to fall. He also asked Mark Brown to look into adding facemasks for softball. Curry said he would like the district to work towards this goal. Curry also thanked all staff for what they do and hoped they have a nice summer. Candy Becher said it is important to remember that the board is here for the students. She said it was wonderful to see all those who have done so well get recognized tonight. Alan Dostal thought graduation was exceptional. He said the students were all very respectful and energized about the occasion. Theresa Seipel agreed that graduation was great. She said she enjoyed that there were so many students who spoke. Seipel said Fred Ritter’s son will have a new crop of students to work with because many were seniors. Mike Goos congratulated CHS Principal Steve Woodside and the high school for an awesome graduation production. He said as a parent of a graduating senior, it is quite an experience. Goos said he knew a lot of those kids as kindergartners. He said his son had a fantastic educational career, and he has been able to experience many different things. Dr. Loeffelholz said Cal Mustard and his crew did an outstanding job. Kwapnioski said when he looked, there were 400 people streaming graduating. He said this year it was broadcasted in HD. Woodside said when he looked, there were 800 people streaming. The video was done by students. Seipel said she was impressed at how many students mentioned the custodians and food service staff and how they know them on a personal level.

Discussion:  The board did not go into executive session.