September 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting
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1. GPS Board of Education Information
More Information:
The meeting agenda will be kept current and available for public inspection in the office of the Secretary of the Board of Education at the Central Office during regular working hours.
District Vision: Gering Public Schools provides a collaborative community, inspiring excellence and innovation in teaching and learning to empower student growth and leadership in school and life. District Mission: Gering Public Schools exists to equip today's learners with the skills necessary to be tomorrow's leaders. The Open Meetings Act requires and the intention of the Board is that agenda items be sufficiently descriptive to give the public reasonable notice of matters to be considered at the meeting. The Board of Education releases its agenda well in advance of most meetings and desires that all interested persons are fully informed. Any interested person who has a question or needs clarification about the sufficiency of a descriptive item should contact the Office of the Superintendent of Schools. If anyone in attendance is interested in addressing our Board, you are welcome to do so. We simply request that you complete the appropriate form and turn it in to us now, so that you may be recognized during the 'Patron Comment' section of our meeting. These forms are located by the entry doors of the meeting room. Agenda items are subject to reordering at the discretion of the board president. Board members may request specific agenda item(s) be moved to a different place on the agenda. Please attend the entire meeting to ensure you hear discussion on a particular agenda item. |
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2. Opening Procedures
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2.1. Call to Order
More Information:
The Board of Education reserves the right to enter into Executive Session for the protection of the public interest, or the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, and if the individual has not requested a public meeting.
Discussion:
The meeting was called to order by board president, Greg Trautman, at 6:00 p.m.
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2.2. Roll Call
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2.3. Pledge of Allegiance
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2.4. Open Meetings Act
More Information:
Pursuant to Section 84-1412 of the Nebraska Statutes, the public is hereby informed that a current copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act is posted in the Board meeting room on the north wall.
Notice of this meeting was published in the Star Herald on Thursday, Sept. 4th, 2025. |
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3. Consent Agenda
More Information:
At this time, any Board member may request that any item in the consent agenda be removed from the consent agenda and be considered and voted on separately.
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3.1. Minutes from the previous month's board meeting(s)
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3.2. Approval of Claims/Bills
More Information:
Fund Amount 01 General $740,380.12 03 Employee $242.00 05 Activity $15,974.39 06 School Nutrition $2,165.57 Fund Totals: $758,762.08
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3.3. Board Policy Adoption
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3.3.i. First Reading of Board Policies
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3.3.ii. Second Reading of Board Policies
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4. Celebration of Excellence
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4.1. 2025-26 Budget Presentation - Stacy Rodriguez
Discussion:
Stacy Rodriguez and Dr. Nicole Regan presented to the board about their 2025-26 Budget Presentation. They started off by going over our Strategic Plan, having Operation Excellence, Modernizing Infrastructure, and Investing in Staff. These are key in generating a budget for our school district. We have expanded our preschool programs and LINKS, and needed to make strategic moves in the hiring process. We have had grants to help us with budget, after school programming, summer meals, career pathways, and hopefully soon a safety grant. She also went over how much inflation, increase in enrollment, federal funding going down, and legislative changes have effected the budget. She went over the balance between the expenditure budget vs. the revenue budget. We are one of the lowest spending schools in the district having only spent 97% of our budget for the 24/25 school year. Our budget is 89% personnel. We have made cost saving efforts by hiring our own HVAC, electrician, and plumber. We have also reviewed our contracted services to make the most of those. When property valuations go up, our state aid will go down. Since Gering is considered a bedroom community, this effects us. As of now, we are projecting to only increase the budget by .06% from last years.
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5. Reports & Discussions
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5.1. Board Committee Report: Curriculum & Personnel
Discussion:
Greg Trautman presented to the board. He went over the External Visit that with take place with GPS on Oct. 5th-7th.
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5.2. Board Committee Report: Business & Facilities
Discussion:
Greg Trautman presented to the board. He went over the challenges we face between our state aid and property values going up. We have a great maintenance team! The abaitment is done in the auditorium and the RFP went out and is due 9/25. We are hoping to get some good bids. We need a new track, and we have applied for a grant to cover those costs. We are in discussions with First Student about a possible contract change as to where our buses are stored and if it would save us money by changing this.
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5.3. Superintendent's Report
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6. Public Comments: 204.12
Discussion:
Lonnie O'Bryan and Robert Rahmig addressed the board
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7. Action Items
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7.1. Discuss, consider, and take action regarding the approval of Gering Education Association (GEA) as the bargaining agent for the non-supervisory certified staff for negotiations for the 2025/26 school year.
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7.2. Discuss, consider, and take action regarding the approval of the CM@R contract for Sampson Construction.
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8. Board Comments
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8.1. Tentative Upcoming Board Meeting/Event Dates
More Information:
Future Board MeetingsSpecial Meeting: Tues, Sept. 23rd, 2025 @ 12:00 p.m. (Central Office)Regular Meeting: Mon, Oct. 13th, 2025 @ 6:00 p.m. (Freshmen Academy) Special Meeting: Tues, Oct. 28th, 2025 @ 12:00 p.m. (Central Office) Tentative Committee Meeting Dates:Middle School Improvement Committee: Wed, Oct. 1st, 2025 @ 4:30 p.m. (Central Office)Policy Review Committee: Thurs, Oct. 2nd, 2025 @ 4:00 p.m. (Central Office) Finance & Facilities Committee: Thurs, Oct. 2nd, 2025 @ 4:30 p.m. (Central Office) Personnel & Curriculum Committee: Tues, Oct. 7th, 2025 @ 7:00 a.m. (Central Office) Upcoming Event Highlights:State Education Conference: Nov. 19th-21st, Omaha, NE |
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9. Adjourn
Discussion:
The meeting was adjourned at 6:49 p.m.
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