November 12, 2019 at 5:00 PM - Board of Education Committee of the Whole Meeting

Discussion:  Redwing Thomas - is bringing students back from Lincoln.  He will be speaking later in the meeting.
Mr. Thomas commends our high schoolers for carrying themselves well and the students received a lot of great motivation and information from today's UNL Native Leadership Symposium.
He has started an Afterschool Culture Club and currently it has approximately eight students in the 4th-6th grades.  The JH high Culture Club is growing,and he his teaching Hand Games to teach respect and confidence through a cultural lens.  Two schools, Macy and Marty are wanting to challenge our students and our school.  
The beauty of the culture, is our students naturally gravitate towards it.  They are taking to it quickly and are energized by the content. More and more the staff are wanting to incorporate it and asking how they can.
Mrs. Richards asked how the School Board could start their meetings culturally to set the tone. 
He offered several components to use, and he sees there is already some taking place.  The circular structure setup of the meeting, which is being used is important culturally.
He is happy to be here and for the opportunity to work with students, and staff.
 

Discussion:  Letting the Board know that the leadership team, is working on the 2020-21 Calendar. 
How to embed more Professional Development, and the process of  involving the staff.

Discussion:  Supt. Hayes reported that the 2018-19 Audit (Policy 3009) has been completed.  There are some things we should be doing better.  We will need to hire an auditor in December/January for the next school year. Mr. Meyer our Business Manager reported the AFR was submitted and accepted by NDE. 
Mrs. Richards had the Board look at Policy 3009 to determine their role in helping select an auditor and that person's expectations. 

Discussion:  Supt. Hayes shared that at the October BOE retreat they visited about tracking Professional Development and Observations for evaluations.
The EduClimber product consolidates reports into one place, which will help us in a  more consistent manner when looking at data for students, interventions, referrals, assessments, behaviors, attendance will all integrate into one place.  
TEACH POINT - will assist Admin so they can figure out if staff has all the professional development and trainings that are required for positions. It will integrate with EMC services.  
Both systems will tie in with our Priority Plan. BOE asked how this ties back into the Priority Plan? It does help with attendance goals, cohorts for graduation and credits; determines students who need interventions. 
Who would be using the tracking? Initially admin; others will be assigned tasks and we have to be mindful of FERPA and HIPPA guidelines.
A question was brought forward, about our new SIS Power School, would it do this. EduPoint is not the same thing as our student information system; it helps with trends in data and houses all data points and is helpful for reporting.
 

Discussion: 

• Our daycare is full and we have 6 on the wait list and we can amend our Center license by providing more space. Mr. Hayes has made decisions to move people based on needs and space.  Its great for our district to have students coming here early and keeping them in the district. We want to accommodate them. 
• He is taking the AG Room and using it for the needed space for Infant daycare. Dr. Graves brought forth a request to be moved to the north side of alternative ed building. It would be a positive move for her and students as they have plants and animals to care for , which are better when removed from general population.
• Next years classes, there will be changes due to the class sizes - 20 or more students in lower elementary.
• We need to start a shift, among our staff that its not your room.  It's doing what best for the students. We will have to be strategic about classroom placement next year, there could be teachers with a mobile cart/classroom, changes will be taking place. 
• A Board member had concern over disrupting the high school students. High School Students education being a priority. And not the day care
• Through our Rule 10 review, they noticed that we have quite few classes with one or two students. That we have a lot of electives for a small school.  
• Board member inquired about a facility study - a space utilization. Admin will be addressing this.
• Attendance data is impacted by 3 and 4 year old rooms and not daycare.  The data for 1st QTR was 92% for daycare 96% for 4 yr olds and 89% for 3 yr olds.
• Why are Daycare numbers - going up.  Some of it is accommodating the staff
• Mrs. Richards - said their is a conversation happening here on prioritization.  Of High School students- being a priority.  Do we put a CAP, on daycare. specifically stating students with kids and the staff with kids?
• Ms. Stewart stated that for safety- toddlers and infants should be separated. 
• It's already been inspected by the Fire Marshall. At the end of day - more space is needed.