December 12, 2022 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

STRIVE  -  COMMIT  -  SUCCEED  -  District Mission Statement

Schuyler Community Schools in partnership with parents, students, and the community is committed to educate students to become skilled, knowledgeable and responsible citizens in a global society - District Vision Statement

Notice of this meeting was given in advance according to State Law 84-1411, by giving notice of the meeting to the public.  Notice of this meeting was also given in advance to all members of the Board of Education

Rationale: 

This meeting has been preceded by advance notice and is hereby declared to be in open session.  A copy of the Open Meetings Act is posted in the front of the meeting room.

Nebraska Open Meetings Act:  http://nitc.nebraska.gov/documents/statutes/NebraskaOpenMeetingsAct_current.pdf

Rationale:  Discuss, Consider and Take Action on the consent agenda

Rationale: 

Rationale:  This committee is responsible for recommending the annual district calendar, strategic planning process, technology, and promoting positive public relations and communications program.

Rationale: 
          We currently have January 17th and 18th as a professional development days for all staff.  We have rescheduled the first 3 days of APL training for new teachers in conjunction with our two PD days in the original calendar.  Therefore, the second semester calendar needs to reflect "No School for Students" January 16-18.
        The leadership team is in the process of finalizing the completed action plans for 2022 and working on arranging workshops in support of the 2023 strategic plan input identified in the ThoughtExchanges from staff and parents. 

Rationale:  The board of education has the following options:

1.  Appoint a member to fill the remainder of the vacated term.  This can be done at this meeting if the board chooses to do so.  If this process is used, the newly appointed member would be installed at the regular January school board meeting.

2.  Advertise the position, take applications, hold a public meeting, review candidate applications, and appoint a new member to the board.  If this process is used, it must be completed within 45 days of the certified election date of November 15, 2022. In this process, the new board member would need to be appointed and sworn in by December 30, 2022.

See information attached below:

 

Rationale:  This committee is responsible for budget, finance, and contract negotiations with administration, certificated staff, and support staff.

Rationale: 
    The board of education and the teacher's negotiation's team have reached a tentative settlement on the 2023-24 Master Agreement.  Included as an addendum is the 2022-23 teacher incentive program. 
          The incentive plan is not a negotiable item, but since it does impact teacher pay, it is a mutually supported document.  The incentive plan remained the same with the exception of the item listed below.
Additional Incentive Consideration
1.  District and State Fine Arts Judge or Athletic Official
Rationale:  Due to the shortage of officials needed to host district and state level contests, any teacher assigned as an official for a district or state contest would be given district professional leave and keep the stipend paid for services.
1.  Submit a copy of the contract to their principal.
2.  Secure substitute teacher arrangements with their principal.
3.  Use their own vehicle.
4.  Teachers are responsible for reporting their additional income. (IRS Rules).
 

Rationale:       The board negotiations committee met on October 17^th, November 7^th and November 21^st to negotiate the 2023-24 Certificated Staff Master Contract.  The SEA and board of education's negotiation teams reached a tentative agreement. The 2023-24 Master agreement was approved by the SEA.  The 2023-24 Certificated Staff Master Agreement and meeting minutes are attached below.
 

Rationale: 
1.  Abdurahman Nur:  SCHS Custodian
2.  Evelin Pacas: SES Para Educator
3.  Patricia Romero Gonzalez:  SES Para Educator
4.  Kiara Gonzalez:  SES Para Educator
5.  Patti Sparling:  SES Special Education Teacher

Rationale: 
1.  Sandra Flores Campos:  Richland Para Educator
2.  Yesenia Albers:  SES Para Educator
3.  Nadia Morales:  SES Special Education Sub Teacher 2nd Sem. 22-23
4. Meghan Wolfe:  SES Teacher - 2nd Semester 22-23
5. Alexis Wilch:  SCHS Teacher:  Foreign Language - 2nd Semester
6. Isabelle Short:  SES Teacher - 2023-24 school year
7. Rinrada Masatit: SES Teacher - 2023-24 school year

Rationale: 

Preschool/SES 3-5 Principal's Report:  Mr. Comley
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight Kimmi Viquez. Mrs. Viquez is our afterschool program director. Mrs. Viquez does an excellent job coordinating and leading a program that gets a lot of attention. Mrs. Viquez is always friendly and works well with the staff in the program. Schuyler is extremely lucky to have an employee like Mrs Viquez working with our families and staff! Thank you Mrs Viquez for all you do!

SES K-2 Principal's Report:  Mrs. Keairnes
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight Sarah Garcia. Mrs. Garcia is a Kindergarten teacher at the Elementary School. She is on our MTSS committee, Field Day committee, Math curriculum team, and she is on our Process Champions team for our Capturing Kids Hearts Program. She is also the Girls Youth Sports Coordinator and coaches softball at the high school and youth level. Mrs. Garcia consistently exceeds expectations with every task she is given. She is highly motivated and is always willing to help any individual seeking support in any way. Thank you Mrs. Garcia! 

Middle School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mr. Banahan
Staff Member Spotlight: This month I would like to recognize the work of our SMS Physical Education department (Mr. Bos, Mr. Wiseman, and Mr. Prososki). They have initiated a couple of new ideas for our students to help improve the weight training program for our Middle School students. The first thing they did was create "Workout Wednesdays", where students in all Physical Education classes are doing strength building exercises, along with speed and agility drills, and plyometrics. These skills help our students develop a passion for working out and provide students with the basic understanding of how to workout properly. Each week, the teachers discuss which period of students put the best effort forward, and has the most students involved at a high level. They then tally up the periods and at the end of the month they recognize those students on the website and social media pages. The final thing they are doing is providing a time for our middle school students to get into the weight room outside of school hours. They are providing a time for students to lift weights four times a week from 6:30-7:30 AM, for students in 7th and 8th grade. This allows them to get accustomed to our high school weight room, as well as provides a safe space for the students to learn how to lift weights with proper form and technique. Thank you for providing these amazing opportunities for our students!

Spotlight Upcoming Event:  SMS Band and Choir concert, being held at Schuyler Central High School Performing Arts Auditorium on December 12th with the 6th-grade choir starting at 6 PM, followed by the 7th and 8th-grade performances at 7 PM. This will be another terrific show put on by our amazing music and band teachers Miss Morgan Semerad, Mr. Nestor Pelayo, and Mr. Paul Niedbalski. 

Middle School Principal's Report:  Mr. Zavadil
Program Spotlight:  We have just a little over a week until the beginning of our holiday break.  Our staff and students have been working hard and are wrapping up the Winter round of NSCAS testing.  Our administration has been working hard on instructional supervision utilizing many of the great techniques being utilized at the high school and were taught to us by Mrs. Kennedy.  Our staff has been working very hard on instruction.  Our new staff are just about to wrap up their first semester and have worked very hard to get up to pace.  They are doing a great job and we are happy to have them aboard.

Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight the exceptional work of Mrs. Nolan.  She is our 6th grade Science teacher and has a great way of engaging students with Science.  Students are engaged in her class and her instructional methods focus upon inquiry learning, which can teach both Science and how to be truly curious about natural phenomena.  She is a great asset to Schuyler Middle School.

Upcoming Events:  Schuyler Middle School will be hosting an anti-vaping speaker named Robb Halladay.  He will also be giving his presentation at the SCHS auditorium at 6pm for parents.  SMS administration is working with SMS Student council to bring in Mr. Holladay.  He is booked very far in advance and we were able to book him back in early September for this December speaking engagement.  Also, tonight we have our Holiday Concert. This evening, Mr. Pelayo, Mr. Niedbalski and Ms. Semerad worked hard to prepare the students for this event. 

High School Asst. Principal's Report:  Mr. Steinhoff
Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight Ms. Blaser.  Ms. Blaser teaches social studies and  has been a great addition to our staff this year. She has made an impact not only through her effective instruction in her own class, but through her commitment to us, our culture, and doing what is right for our kids and staff.  Ms. Blaser has been a mentor teacher, a volunteer in many areas, and dedicated herself to being here at many of our activities just to support our kids.  

High School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mrs. Ladwig
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight the work of the SCHS kitchen staff led by Ms. Sheila Trainer. Sheila does an excellent job communicating with the administration as needed, and she is always willing to be flexible with the lunch schedule when it comes to testing and special events. For District One-Act, the kitchen staff prepared soups, sandwiches, and cookies for all the SCHS staff as well as the visiting school’s directors and judges. This year’s kitchen staff is friendly and greets students and staff with smiles every day. We are lucky to have this group of unsung heroes at SCHS!

High School Principal's Report:  Dr. Lefdal
Program Spotlight:  I would like to spotlight our one-act performers and coaches.  The coaches and students put on an amazing performance at the conference and district programs and are headed to State!  It is exciting to see so many children be part of the program as well as see other students find a place to shine.  Congrats to all that are participating and leading this program. 
Notable Topics:  Our meetings with Kathy Kennedy have been very good this year.  We have had some great conversations as well as excellent planning.  We have invited Kathy Kennedy to present at our workshops in January to train all of our staff in value-add classroom coaching as well as how to work with students in a similar way.  I am also excited about continuing our classroom coaching model in the spring.
Looking ahead:  I am excited to begin work on our strategic planning and professional development session in January.  It is always an interesting process and I love to have discussions about the future direction of our district and to hear other professionals' ideas and suggestions for improvement.

Rationale: 
Youth Sports Director's Report:  Mrs. Keairnes
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight Serena Sanchez for the work she has done with our youth wrestling program. Ms. Sanchez was a college athlete who wrestled at Midland University and she is an assistant coach for our high school girls wrestling team along with being our youth wrestling coach. This year we had 43 athletes signed up to participate in our youth wrestling program. She has done a fantastic job of teaching athletes of all ages and experiences the basics of wrestling. It has been amazing to watch the growth our athletes have been making with the fundamental skills in wrestling and becoming more and more passionate about the sport. Thank you Mrs. Sanchez!
 

Middle School Activities Director's Report:  Mr. Banahan
Program Spotlight: I would like to highlight our Middle School coaches for girl's basketball as well as Wrestling. These coaches have done an outstanding job of working with our young men and women and helping to develop them into great young Warriors! Coach Brante Hayes, and his staff (Adam Robinson, Allison Wooden, and Pat Halvorsen have worked hard to help these girls improve every day in with their basketball skills. They have been fun to watch compete this year, and they have continued to improve with their play each and every week. I also want to thank Coach Casey Harper and his staff (Guillermo Gutierrez, Wade Brashear, and Don Maxwell) for all of their hard work this wrestling season. To not only manage 70 wrestlers but to help them each improve their wrestling skills and shape them into high-quality young men and women is no small feat! Thank you for all that you do!

Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to spotlight Bernice Maxwell and Geralyn Shannon, for all of their hard work and dedication to helping set up and run three very successful wrestling events this season! Both of these ladies helped set up the gyms, ran the books, and helped clean up after each event we hosted. They went above and beyond what was asked of them to help ensure that our events ran smoothly, and I am so thankful for all of their help and support of our Warrior wrestling program. Thank you both so much for all of your help!

High School Activities Director Report: Mr. Steinhoff
Program Spotlight:  In this month’s program spotlight I would like to highlight our state-bound play production team.  Our team put on an amazing performance, and is headed to State for a second straight year.  It is amazing to see such a large group of our students work together and perform the way they have this year.  One act is a big time commitment and not only requires talent and teamwork, but also a significant amount of time.  Our one-act coaches and competitors are often the last to leave the school, as they practice after fall and winter sports.  Congratulations to the competitors and coaches.

Looking Ahead:  The month of December is full of action from our winter sports.  Boys and girls basketball and boys and girls wrestling have started their seasons.  We also have the band and choir Christmas concert coming up on Sunday, December 11th.

Special Education Director's Report: 
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  For December I am spotlighting our passionate and hardworking school psychologist.  April Becker has an incredible understanding of mental health, learning, and behavior which helps children succeed academically, socially, behaviorally, and emotionally in our classrooms. She possesses the following traits that reflect the characteristics of a true professional:

• The Willingness to Learn: She is always continuing her educational quest and approaches problems with an open mind. She is generating practices to promote learning, resiliency, interventions for educational and behavior purposes daily.
• Patience: She has the ability to keep a cool, calm, mild demeanor during testing sessions, working with frustrated teachers, working with students with intense behaviors and presiding over MDTs with parents and other professionals. April has the natural ability to interpret a student's testing data to ensure parents understand their child's learning and mental health needs. She does a phenomenal job of helping parents navigate the whole special education process in a positive way.
• Respect Towards Confidentiality: April is trustworthy with personal information and is the utmost professional at testing data/scores. She has an extremely strong sense of ethics.
• Strong Interpersonal Skills: She has the ability to interact well with a wide variety of people: colleagues, students, parents, etc.

I felt the need to share my respect and admiration of April as our school psychologist because there isn't a single person outside the walls of our Special Education Office that knows how hard she works. Dr. Hoesing made one of his best decisions ever when he offered her a contract to become SCS's School Psychologist...she is a "priceless" addition!

Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment Director's Report:  Dr. Gibbons
Program/Staff Member Spotlight: Our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS)  team has established new action plans for this school year and we are working through them.  Our overall goal is to have a fully functioning MTSS process in place for the start of the next school year. 
Curriculum - The Committee on American Civics met on November 21st at 6:30pm in the Chapel Meeting Room.  Board members Lanuza and Sayer were present. Dr. Gibbons presented how we are meeting the requirements set out in the American Civics law.

• Curriculum can be viewed on the district website by going to Menu SCS FMP Modules and finally, Standards.

• Our Curriculum stresses the services of the men and women who achieved our national independence, established our constitutional government, and preserved our union and is so written to include the incorporation of multicultural education so as to develop a pride and respect for our institutions and not be a mere recital of events and dates.

• We also incorporate the administration of a written test identical to the civics portion of the naturalization test in 8th grade and also high school.

• Appropriate celebrations are held on specified holidays.

• We also discussed the current curriculum cycle.

Assessment - We are currently in the Winter Assessment window.  Students in grades 3 - 8 are taking the NSCAS growth assessment, while other grades are taking the MAP assessment. 
* See attached information below.

Rationale:  Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  The 2022-23 Leadership Team has expanded this year to include an additional counselor, after-school director, director of facilities, director of food service and business manger.  These leaders meet the first Monday of the month to coordinate schedules, resources, and programs for the district.  Staff members of the 2022-23 team are:
Dr. Gibbons, Mrs Vrba, Dr. Lefdal, Mrs. Ladwig, Mr. Steinhoff, Mr. Zavadil, Mr. Banahan, Mr. Comley, Ms. Bebout, Mrs. Keairnes, Mr. Droge, Mrs. Riha, Mrs. Kment, Mrs. Oehlrich, Mr. Mundil, Mrs. Rameriz, Mrs. Janousek, Mrs. Arps, Mrs. Perrin, and Mrs. Viquez.  Thank you for your continued work and guidance.

1.  Construction Meeting:  The December construction meeting on the 2nd phase of the Dual Language Building was postponed from December 7th to December 14th.  We are scheduled to do a punch list on the project on the 14th.  The wall coverings will be installed in the hallways over Christmas break.
2.  Return-to-Learn Plan:  Tori Oehlrich is working with East Central Health District to update our Return-to-Learn Plan for the second semester.  In her conversation with East Central, they suggested some of the original guidelines and protocols are no longer supported.  Tori will have this updated plan for board approval in January.
3.  Strategic Plan Update:  Progress on the 2022 strategic plan will be completed at the end of the semester.  The leaders of each program are responsible for updating any action plans completed during the year.  With that completed, the leadership team is working through the thoughtexchanges to identify priorities and possible action plans for the 2023 plan.  This year the team is hosting a number of workshops in January focused on providing education around the priorities identified in our strategic plan.  These workshops are scheduled for January 16, 17 and 18.  There will be 10 strands in alignment with our strategic plan with workshops in each area.  Our goal is to have a draft plan, input from our exchanges, and a workshop schedule for board review at your January meeting.

Rationale:  Rich Brabec will lead this review.

Rationale: 
1.  Foundation Meeting:  See Foundation Website:  Brian Vavricek and Alejandrina Lanuza.
2.  Safety Committee Report:  Brian Vavricek, Renee Sayer, and Alejandra Lanuza.