December 9, 2019 at 5:30 PM - Committee As A Whole

Discussion: 

JP Holys, Lost Creek Elementary Principal presentated on Lost Creek. He said enrollment is up, a 4th grade section had to be added. A temporary sub has been teaching the class until a permanent teacher could be found. Mr. Holys said he hired Lauren Rogers. Ms. Rogers has been student teaching this semester and has been involved and building relationships with 4th grade students and is familiar with their routine. That should make the transition go more smoothly. Free and reduced percentages are down to 40%. 
Michelle Figge is splitting the caseload of High needs with Claire Hladky, which is working out very well. Chelsea Werner has a caseload of 50 for speech language therapy, common at this age. Lost Creek's behavior program currently has 5 students, Amanda Dvoracek teaches this program. Caseload for the Autism Program is at 8 students with Megan Johnson. Lost Creek is serving 55 EL students with one teacher and one para.

Mr. Holys spoke on Improvement Goals that Lost Creek is working towards-100% perform at  the 61st percentile in reading and math and 80 percentile according to the DIBELS spring benchmark. He showed the radar chart which has bullet points for each benchmark, there is work to be done. NSCAS has improved, however, 4th grade dropped, they will be analyzing the data.

Lost Creek recently had a music concert, the theme was Wonderful Colors with Music Teacher, Cherie Stadler. Lost Creek's PTO is very active, they have planned some fun activities and fundraising events such as visiting Poppy's Pumpkin Patch and promoting a "No Fuss Fundraiser", which is not selling items, just asking parents to donate $30.00 to collect funds for PTO. They have one Runza night each semester, which has gone well. They have added Dairy Queen nights and Amigos nights.  The Breakfast with Santa event brought 350 people and it ran from 9-11 am, kids came in their pajamas, it was a great event.

Student Council has new leadership, they have organized sucker sales, red ribbon week, caroling, and a holiday food drive. 

Eagle Time is the first Wednesday of the month, they have cross grade level partners.  Older students come in and talk about the Well Managed Classroom Program.

The Lost Creek Teachers are always working on new and creative ways to use the iPads to expand learning. 

Fly like an eagle--John Bellum, Lost Creek alumni, donated the eagle statue 
 

They have a Recycle Tree that Mr. Holys says is Pinterest worthy, it stands In the great hall.  Mr. Edwards built the tree from many of his findings in classrooms and hallways. Dr. Loeffelholz commented that he does a great job.

Candy Becher, Board President, said she was as Lost Creek recently and it was quite festive. CHS students reading to kindergartners, really love this program for all levels of students.

Lost Creek collects Super Saver receipts they receive points and than get a percentage back. They use these points to purchase items.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz met with Lori Ashoff, she will continue to work with CPS for the same contracted amount.  She has helped us secure 1.5 million in grants. We plan to keep her very busy, planning to have principals meet to talk about needs for funding. It is easier if she has an identified project. We know which foundations we should be looking at for funding for the Early Childhood Program. 

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz shared answers to questions about the liability concerning students on the job site. Students/Parents responsible for getting students to jobsite. Shelby Lumber is not responsible for picking students up. Shelby Lumber is on board with background checks, CPS may incur some expense. This is a great opportunity for the students.

Discussion: 

Dave Melick, Executive Director of Operations and Human Resources reported on the financial reports. Financial Report M2, did not receive anything sizable in property tax receipts.
Financial Report M3, Property taxes, state aid, reimbursements for IDEA Enrollment/Poverty Grant, funds we expend for parochial and homeschooling, and afterschool program.
Financial Report M4a, Father Flanagans expense, 31 enrolled/on billing statement, Madden Therapy, fill in for maternity leave, Neo funds-Postage, Stealth Broadband-fiber and phones.

Discussion: 

Mr. Melick spoke briefly on Certified Hires, Mr. Holys hired Lauren Rogers for the 4th grade position at Lost Creek.

 

Discussion: 

The report shows the hire and resignations of food service, and afterschool program, there seems to be rapid turn over in those areas. Danita Wickens has added another role as ASP Co-Planning Coordinator.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz and Mr. Hiebner talked about the 2020 mid-term graduates, there are 59 on the list, 9 or 10 are on the bubble. This is the largest senior class CHS has had, typically there are 32-37 applications for mid-term graduations, this is more applications than ever before. The new credit requirements will slow the applications down after this school year.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz touched on some professional travel throughout the district last month. Career Academy visits to Aurora, Albion and York, looking at 6-7 pathways for our capstone classes. We had school counselors attend a conference in Kearney, CMS sent staff to the Middle School Education Convention, and travel to state athletic events.

Discussion: 

Total contributions $29,616.48. There was a lot of activity from all buildings.

Discussion: 

Mr. Melick discussed the Temporary Early Retirement Incentive Policy, it is the fourth year that we have offered this incentive. He said he tries to determine a list of staff that may qualify, there are 26 this year.  He will be meeting with them next Monday to share information so they can decide to participate or not.  The application form is a bit lengthy with a lot of legalese. We have to allow at least 45 days. Four of these staff on the list are 62 or older. Brian Luther spoke at a retirement seminar and had about 32 in attendance. The seminar gives information on 8 different ways to take your pension. 

Discussion: 

There is a need for another First Grade teacher at Centennial, Dr. Loeffelholz is recommending approval. Mr. Andy Luebbe, Centennial Principal is preparing to interview.  Funds will be come from Depreciation Fund.

Discussion: 

The purchasing of band uniforms is a depreciation fund purchase.  The Band Boosters would only get involved in an out of cycle purchase. There is still some tweaking of the design. Branding is being checked by Nicole Anderson.  We will try to sell old uniforms to costume shops, university theater programs. Jeff Peabody, Band Director, started with two vendors, and has only received one bid, the other company did not submit a bid. The design has been approved, extra items being debated at this time. 

Discussion: 

Mr. Melick responded to some questions that had been asked regarding paras:
CPS has 149.5 paras, this number includes early childhood, SPED, library media paras for each building. There are two types of SPED paras, some are working with the high needs. Paras are paid through CPS taxes, NDE state and federal funds, ESSA Title 1 Grant, IDEA/Poverty Grant. 
CPS funding for paras is $2,856,156.00. The question becomes where does funding come from for adding paras or raising their pay.  Mr. Melick said there is carry over money from year to year or the next year's budget will have to prioritize para funding over something else.
He also invited the board members to come out and eat and socialize with staff at the Building Christmas Socials.

Discussion: 

Leonard Kwapnioski, Executive Director of Technology and Buildings and Sites, reported on doing research on a new pick-up for maintenance, snow removal.  The 2001 pick up is out of service.  He is looking at state bids, looking for the best price for CPS needs. He would like to order a truck by the end of the month. Mr. Kwapnioski said for the STEM program trailers a larger truck is needed. 

Also mentioned in his update, maintenance is cleaning out islands at CMS as a winter months project. 

 

Discussion: 

Jason Harris, Executive Director of Student Services and Special Education updated the board on Boys Town statistics. The attached reports do not take into account when they start or end their enrollment at Boys Town. The information is from 2011-12 to present, including totals thru October 2019.  2.5 million has been spent, CPS gets a reimbursement for SPED students who have attended Boys Town. Total SPED reimbursement is $545,439.00.  Seven students have graduated.

There is protocol for a student to be sent to Boys Town, principals complete a form before asking Boys Town to accept a student, they do not have to take our students.  Mr. Harris speaks to Susan Uhl, Boys Town Day School Director, and an intake meeting must be scheduled.  Boys Town staff is required to attend to set expectations and sign a contract. CPS is required to pay for enrolled students regardless of the student's attendance.  Mr. Harris believes often attendance is worse when a student is close to the age of 18.  There are some students who are chronically absent.  Application process, meeting requires BT staff to attend. CPS is required to provide SPED student door to door transportation.  Currently, we provide transportation from the Administration Bldg. If a student is on merit they are allowed to drive themselves. Each year an estimated number of students is used for the budget, that number has been 22, we will be out of money sooner because the budget was not prepared for 31. Students are at Boys Town because they do not fit into the mainstream classroom or school. The goal is to get the students out of the cycle of school to prison. The challenge to have a program for these students is a big undertaking, when running your own program you take ownership, and the investment is different.  It may not save money the district money.

Discussion: 

Dr. Loeffelholz reported on GNS meeting topics, including AQquestt, this group has sent a letter to the Commissioner regarding how complicated the assessment is, most people don't understand it.  The line of poverty in districts directly correlates with ratings/scores. He spoke about going thru each rating with principals, all are very different, it is rated on a bell curve. There is talk of tying AQquestt and accreditation together. The Commissioner has requested to meet with the superintendents.  AQquestt has released the ratings and two days later numbers had changed. 

Dr. Loeffelholz also spoke about Headstart Preschool, we report thru North Park. There are some concerns with this program being attached to CPS, we have no say over policies.  Consensus is all the more reason to get Kramer Early Childhood up and running.

Dr. Loeffelholz talked about the visit from Senator Bolz. She spoke about workforce development, LB720, appropriations committee. Brian Sloan talked about the gap in the workforce, and reported on events happening in Nebraska such as TD Ameritrade is movlng to Dallas. GNS has recommended encouraging students to stay in NE.  Find ways to to pay tuition for high need jobs. They visited West Park Elementary, the Senator really loved the after-school program. She worked with a couple of students, a young dad picked up, and wanted to tell his story to the senator. Dr. Loeffelholz gave the board dates that GNSA would be meeting on equalized districts. Dues are $4500.00, GNSA pays for a lobbyist. Any board member can join. They discuss legislative bills, TEEOSA, this group is a strong voting block. They host legislative lunches with the senators, they speak about hot topics, legislation. He also reminded the board of the upcoming election paperwork that is due soon if they plan to apply. The Americanism Committee is required 2 meetings during the year to review standards. One public meetingis required. There is a new civics requirement. Committee members are Jeffryes, Molczyk, and Becher.
RFP for Kramer December 20, 2019.  Bring recommendation in February. Make decision. 

 

 

Discussion: 

High School needs-- Increase the number of staff due to growing numbers.

Board Retreat Ideas - Need more paras, pay more. Needs will be recognized next year. As we continue to grow, we should be in good shape. Space for more students.  Build another school, don’t make a larger school with larger staff. NP is most in need for space. Capacity at CHS is max at 1400. Develop a package of expansion. Additions.  Consider where we would buy land on the north side of town. 

One meeting in January(13th) and a Board Retreat 4th Monday (27th).  No meeting on Jan. 20th.

Discussion:  Adjourned at 7:35.