March 2, 2020 at 5:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Discussion: 

• Coach Jason Folkers spoke on behalf of the girls thanking the Board and Administration for the opportunity to travel to Rapid City for our first LNI tournament it is a memory to be cherished. He commended the girls for their attitude and fighting spirit. Thank you for the travel gear, it showed unity of amongst the teams and the kids, coaches love them.
• Coaches Sam Matzke and Byron Tuttle spoke for the boys, LNI tournament was also a great experience.  They took their team to Crazy Horse Monument and Mount Rushmore, they enjoyed traveling through the Black Hills, it was all a great experience. They were honored with sportsmanship award and they represented the Santee Community. It was a great experience and we want to thank you for the opportunity.
• Thank you for the new bus!

Discussion:  Instructor Redwing Thomas, shared that Culture is more than a curriculum its a life style. We do more than Hand Games here at SCS. Culture will help with students with behavior, identity, confidence respect and pride. Students attended their first ever hand game tournament. When students arrived, they walked into the room, eventually loosened up and got support from the other teams. The game is rooted in respect, you are not allowed to trash-talk the other team. He thanks the school board for the opportunity to work with students for helping with the culture class, it needs to get bigger. A true family finds strength and wants the best for community.  He would like to host a March Madness hand game tournament in Santee Community and staff are invited.  Lookout Santee is on the move!

Discussion:  Dr. Ann Mausbach-NDE Consultant,  shared a slide presentation and update for the School Board.
The focus is on helping leaders develop the skills needed to grow and support them.  As she looks at the work here, our business is growth. The superintendent needs to help principals grow, the principals help the teachers grow and the teachers help the students grow.  And it aligns to the processes for school improvement and engages staff.
President Moose asked if everything is going okay? She said, yes. We have a really open staff, we've had tough conversations. she wants teachers to feel empowered to try things and use student work to inform practice. Wants to create a culture in which we are all learning together and so far everyone here is open to working on that.
 

Discussion:  Jeff Cole gave a presentation-He is with NE Children's Family Organization. Their focus is on school-based after school and summer programs.

• He has been working with Mr. Hayes to form a partnership; growing our current 21stCCLC after school and summer programs to include Conservation Management-Summer Internship Program providing an opportunity for  3 young men and 3 young women to be a part of a 2 week summer internship program. Trips across Nebraska to learn about ecosystems and jobs in the state. It would include housing and stipend.  He has worked with Native Futures and Girls Inc. and wants to continue growing the program over next three years.
• We would be gifted:  "Think-Make-Create Labs" which are trailers customized for afterschool programs, equipped with $2000 STEM equipment. Outside funding is used to gift them to communities.

Discussion:  Leah Hrbek

Discussion:  Treasury report given by Business Manager, Ron Meyer. He handed the board members a list of reports that should be coming out of business office. 
Total of receipts and expenditures (comparison of receipts actual versus budget) and bank statements for all funds we have in the district.
Treasurers report; year to date receipts vs. budget; January and year to date expenditures; bank reconciliation of all accounts.

Linda Richards -suggested that this is a regular course of the business.You should receive these ahead of the meetings. We are working with First National Capital, so work we see to date should be in line with what First National Capital has been working on with Supt. Hayes and Ron.
It's important for the board  to have line of-sight on the funds each month so they can track trends across months and throughout the year.
Ron has spent a lot of time behind the scene bringing things up to date. The Board acknowledges the work Ron has done to get us back on track.

Discussion:  Packets were handed out to Board Members and a presentation was given by Mrs. Corderman, Mrs. Romkema and Mrs. Nagel.
Growth in every grade level and we are making progress with students.

 

Discussion: 

• Elementary students love the incentives and want to stay at school. The staff rotates to do monthly incentives and Mrs. Nagel has weekly incentives. January attendance was 82% and December was 92%
• Secondary students, Mrs. Corderman explained how students coming in late in the day affects us. She is teaming with Probation Officer, makes calls to DTSU and our secretary runs more reports (3,5,10 days) to be more preventive.  Mr. Jones, Mr. Thomas and herself is stopping by houses as well to confer with guardians.  We  hold an end-of-day attendance rally on Fridays; she invited the board to attend.  At the end we send the students off with a cultural wrap-up. Posting of Facebook  about it with video footage. Secondary attendance was at 77% and December was 79%.

Discussion:  Process in place for disenrollment of students with major attendance violations. This will need to be updated as Tribal law is more stringent and supersedes State law, currently they  utilize the SARB Board and Natalie.
We are advertising for a Graduation Career coach - who follows up with students. (The job description was included in Supt. Hayes A-Z update.)
In 2018 - a grant was written, but not a plan for how to spend it. This would not add an FTE, but would be taken from a grant which is funded for 2 years.
There is potential to add 0.5 FTE through grants for an additional instructional coach.

Discussion:  Mrs. Richards stated that State law prohibits contract discussion to enter into executive session.  It must be in public, just like his evaluation was.
Concerns were brought forward about the incentives that are in the proposed contract. If we don't give incentive - will the commitment not be there?
President Moose -  feels that Mr.Hayes is committed to Santee. If we decide to commit to him for a couple years, we set the change as a board members. Steve doesn't like everything that the consultant ask us to do. But we need to remember that we hire the Supt to oversee the whole school.  
His salary is not compared to our surrounding districts - the amount established is based on averages.
Mrs. Richards:    Goal number 3 - She has sat here listening to this board, hearing that you want off the priority status. Having consistency with Superintendents needs to happen. There is a whole team, but the buck stops with the Supt.  The board can articulate where you want him to focus on.  You are saying clearly to him, and the  community that we mean business, so much so that we are putting dollars to the steps and actions to make things happen.
Concerns were raised with how many years we need to offer on the contract.
Mrs.Mausbach explained that multiyear contracts demonstrate a willingness to be in for the long haul, between the superintendent and the board. We have complex issues to solve, and it will take time and trust. This is a first step in trying to turn the corner.

Discussion:  Across the state, districts are using this form for renewal agreements.Teachers sitting down with admin and having a conversation with the teacher concerning their credits, are they looking to take classes? Starting or finishing a degree? This is a more formal way, rather than just delivering a master contract. 
President Moose inquired if  all observations done. Supt. Hayes, said teachers need to be notified by March 15th, if not being renewed.

Discussion:  ESU#1 provides Special Education services to us each year. $380,000 for 2020-21

Discussion:  When the project was planned we knew there would be projects happening that needed approved outside of the bond project.

Discussion:  A quorum wasn't present and the meeting ended at 7:04.