November 25, 2019 at 4:00 PM - Committee of the Whole

Discussion:  Jeremy Cross updated the board on litigation regarding the tennis courts.  

Discussion:  Mr. Strom thanked the Board for allowing him to attend the National Superintendent's conference.  He reported back on the sessions he was able to attend and ideas that he will be bringing back to the district.  

Discussion:  Mrs.Sulzbach reported on the Tri-State Law Conference which was held in Omaha.  The group spent two days at the conference and attended sessions regarding building relationships with parents, record-keeping and documentation and writing MDTs and IEPs so they are understandable for parents.  

Discussion:  Mrs.O'Dell updated the board on the Prime for Life training that took place last week.  The high school counselors and high school health teacher are working toward becoming certified in Prime For Life, a substance abuse training program.  The program will be offered to all Freshmen at the high school. This training was paid for by the Project Aware grant.  

Discussion:  Mr. Erickson updated the Board on the Well-Managed Schools training that  Middle School staff attended last week.   The staff took away a lot of valuable information from the week-long training.  Teachers observed different classrooms and learned how to recognize student and teacher behaviors that indicate classrooms are well-managed.  The teachers will continue to develop their capacity in the program and will eventually be able to train others on the program.  This training was paid for by the Project Aware grant.  

Discussion:  Mr. Strom updated the Board on meetings that the district has had with City officials regarding leasing the baseball fields for practices and games.  

Discussion:  The district has engaged the services of EDA, Inc. for engineering services related to the upgrade of the Harney fire alarm system.  A formal bidding process will be completed in the spring and bids will be brought forward to the Board for approval in March.  It is anticipated work will be completed prior to the start of school in August 2020.

Discussion:  The district has noticed some fluctuations in utility billings.  We are working with the City and NPPD for an energy audit.  Our objective has been to make improvements to our buildings, lighting fixtures, etc.  to realize cost savings from energy efficiency.  We will be looking at adding special controls that will help us identify energy peaks and reduce consumption as we are doing future upgrades to buildings.  

Discussion:  No personnel update.

Discussion:  Mrs. O'Dell presented the regulation.  The purpose of the regulation is to improve communication and ensure that facilities are shared and used in an equitable and efficient manner as well as to protect our facilities from excessive wear and tear.  

Discussion:  Mr. Strom shared the ESU 1 Annual Report with the Board.  Mr. Strom advised the Board that he will be scheduling a visit to look at the early childhood programming at Ralston Public Schools.  Cannon Moss Architects has been in the district to evaluate some facilities.  Rachel Wise with the State Board of Education will be at the College Center on Thursday, December 5 from 4:00 to 5:30 for a town hall meeting.  The next board meeting will be Monday, December 9th.