February 13, 2023 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 reviewing curriculum recommendations, textbook selection, requisitions/inventory, and instructional programs.

Rationale: 
See attached information.

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

Rationale:   

Rationale:  Attached is the 2023 District Strategic Plan.  The District Leadership Team worked with building level staff to finalize recommendations to the board of education.

Adopting this plan allows transportation, building and grounds, technology, and curriculum committees to finalize their recommendations to the board for approval in March.

Please take time to review the 3-year recommended plan prior to the meeting.

Rationale:  In January, we were able to host two of the three days of professional development for our staff.  The third day was a focus on mental health, activities planning, School Safety/SRO, academic programs, HR, and support programs. 

After visiting with our staff, the leadership team is requesting an amendment to the second semester calendar to host the canceled PD on the Monday, preceding the week of parent-teacher conferences and spring break.  In order for us to reschedule the presenters, we will need to have you approve this request.

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

Rationale: 
1.  Jamie Shaner:  SES Teacher
2. Blake Neuman:  SES Teacher
3.  Janey Parra:  SES Para Educator
4.  Megan Morton:  SCHS Teacher
5.  Isable Schmid:  SES Teacher
6.  Erin Struebing: SMS Teacher
7.  Steven Buresh:  SCHS Grounds Keeper
8.  Richard Godejohn:  SCHS Teacher

Rationale: 
1.  Kiara Healy:  Preschool Teacher (2023-24)
2.  Beatriz Corona:  SES Para Educator
3.  Marcos Quintero:  SES Teacher (SPED)
4.  Aurora Avila-Catalan:  SCHS Food Service
5.  Ana Ramirez Luna De:  SCHS Custodian/Housekeeper

Rationale:  The board negotiation's team met to review the administrative array comparability study and determine their recommendation for principal and director salaries for the 2023-24 school year.  See attached recommendation.

Directors and Principal Recommendation
Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction:  Dr. Dave Gibbons
Special Education:  Mrs. Darli Jo Vrba
SCHS Principal/Student Services Director:  Dr. Joey Lefdal
SCHS Assistant Principal/AD:  Mr. Travis Steinhoff
SCHS Assistant Principal:  Samantha Ladwig
SMS Principal:  Jesse Zavadil
SMS Assistant Principal:  Andy Banahan
Preschool and SES 3-5 Principal:  Mr. Bill Comley
SES K-2 Principal:  Alicia Keairnes
Rural/Dual Language Principal:  Ms. Heather Bebout

Rationale:   

Preschool/SES 3-5 Principal's Report:  Mr. Comley
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to highlight Molly Parsons. Mrs. Parsons is an excellent preschool teacher for SCS.  Molly has exceptional knowledge of early childhood and has shown great leadership at the preschool. Mrs. Parsons has also done work with the Buffet Institute and is a leader in the state. Thank you Mrs. Parsons for all you do for SCS!

SES K-2 Principal's Report:  Mrs. Keairnes:
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight Tori Oehlrich! Mrs. Oehlrich is our school nurse at the Elementary School and our head nurse for the district. Mrs. Oehlrich consistently provides the absolute best care for our students and staff. She has continued to keep in close contact with East Central  to stay up to date on health protocols and communicated her findings throughout the district. She has also helped empower other staff members by sharing her knowledge and training our staff with multiple health and medical emergency protocols. Thank you Mrs. Oehlrich! 

Dual Language, Fisher’s, & Richland Principal's Report:  Ms. Bebout
Program/Staff Member Spotlight :  I would like to spotlight Guadalupe Ramirez and Evelyn Recinos.  Both of these teachers are part of the Dual Language Program and do an excellent job!  Guadalupe has been a teacher with the program since she graduated from college five years ago and Evelyn joined our program two years ago.  They are dedicated to the program and put in a lot of time and effort to make it successful.

I am excited to say they will both be presenters at NABE(in Oregon later this month), which is a national conference for schools/programs with bilingual programs.  We have sent staff to NABE for the last six years.  Our first group went to learn how our program should be run and then, each year since the program started, a group of the DL teachers has attended.  It is exciting to see our teachers willing to share their knowledge and insight they have gained while working in the Dual Language Program and through training/schooling  they have taken.  Congratulations to both Guadalupe and Evelyn  for this big accomplishment! #itisagreatdaytobeaschuylerwarrior

Middle School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mr. Banahan
Program/Staff Member Spotlight: As we are wrapping up School Counselor week, I felt it was only fitting to spotlight our fantastic counselor at SMS Mrs. Paula Kment. Mrs. Kment does so much for us here at the Middle School for our students and staff members, and often receives very little recognition for everything she does. She is the definition of a team player and is always willing to help out in any way that will benefit our students from helping run a concession stand at various sporting events, to covering classes, making up MAP/NSCAS Tests, fixing scheduling issues, and covering lunches. She continues to help support students outside of the school day by being the Student Council Sponsor. Students learn important skills including people and money skills by working in concessions and selling suckers and flowers for students to give to each other for Valentine's Day! We are grateful to have such an amazing team member on our staff, and are truly grateful for everything she does here at Schuyler Middle School!
Spotlight Upcoming Events: We have begun implementation of Rooms, in the district, but we are excited to have a new platform to reach out and create better relationships with our families. Our teachers work hard to build relationships with all of their students, but especially those in their R-Times. They visit with those families during parent-teacher conferences, but this will give them one more avenue to have more frequent interactions with the families in a positive way to build up those relationships. Our next parent-teacher conference will be on March 7th, and we look forward to seeing our families!

Middle School Principal's Report:  Mr. Zavadil
Program and Staff Member Spotlight:  February is another great month for teaching and learning at school with minimal distractions.  Representative administration from each building have been attending and continue to plan to attend future college fairs and teacher recruitment.   I would also  like to highlight the work of one of our new teachers, Mr. Truman Lauck.  Truman teaches 8th grade mathematics and is already a strong member of our team.  Mr. Lauck spends a lot of time outside of the regular school day helping with STRIV and working at our Field-House.  Mr. Lauck is originally from Bloomfield Nebraska and comes to Schuyler by way of the University of Nebraska Kearney where he was a standout leader.  Schuyler Middle School Band brought 14 students to the Stanton Honor Band, which was held on February 4th and was a great event with a lot of talented musicians from all over Northeast Nebraska..  I would like to thank Mr. Pelayo for giving our students the opportunity to participate.
Upcoming Events:  Schuyler Middle School staff are preparing for our March P/T conferences and the new Rollout of the Rooms program through the Schuyler Community Schools’ App.  Parent teacher conferences are on March 7th.  After Spring break we will be very busy with our 4th quarter track, testing, and preparation for the new year.

High School Asst. Principal's Report:  Mr. Steinhoff
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  This month I would like to spotlight Mr. Michael Trotter and the work he is doing in our art department.  Recently, he had multiple students win awards at the Scholastic Art Awards competition.  This competition is the biggest competition they participate in.  It starts at the state level and then goes to the national level.  His students have been working extremely hard this year and it has paid off.  This year we had 13 different students win awards. 

• Jesus Chaves received an Silver Key in drawing

• Carlos Carrasco received an Honorable Mention for a drawing

• Victor Chavez received an Honorable Mention for a sculpture

• Vivian Fuentes received an Honorable Mention for a fabric dye painting

• Brenda Gallegos received a Gold Key for a fabric dye painting

• Yessica Garcia received an Honorable Mention for a drawing

• Bela Jedlicka received both a Silver Key and a Gold Key in Drawing

• Piper Lefdal dominated with a Gold Key Portfolio ( 6 artworks viewed together ) and two individual Gold Keys as well as three Honorable Mentions

• Bon Mejia received two Honorable Mentions for drawing

• Maximus Moran received a Silver Key in Drawing

• Ghislane Rodriguez received a Silver Key for her fabric dye painting

• Hasley Salgado received both an Honorable Mention and a Gold Key for drawing

• Aivlis Serrato earned two Silver Keys in drawing

 The award winning artworks will be on display in Omaha for the month of March, and the students that earned Gold Keys will now be judged against Gold winners across the nation for a chance to get their work displayed in Washington DC for a year.  

Mr. Trotter will give all the credit to his students, but he is a huge part of their success.  He builds relationships with all of our students, has a knack for seeing the talents our kids have, and does an excellent job of pushing them to be their best.  Next time you see him, please thank him for his hard work.... He may look a little different than he did last time you saw him, as he recently shaved his head.  He made an agreement with a student that he would shave his head if she made State, and she did!   Thank you Mr. Trotter for all of your hard work.

High School Assistant Principal's Report:  Mrs. Ladwig
Program/Staff Member Spotlight: I would like to highlight the work of Jazmyn Flores, EL teacher at SCHS. Ms. Flores does an excellent job working with students with varying levels of language acquisition and formal education backgrounds. Not only does Ms. Flores hold our students to a high standard, but she also makes sure to build relationships with each and every student. In addition to her work with our students, Ms. Flores cares about her co-workers. She never hesitates to lend a helping hand to a staff member in need, and it is something everyone appreciates about Ms. Flores. We are blessed to have her as a part of our SCHS family!

SCHS Principal's Report:  Dr. Lefdal
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to spotlight the work of the janitorial staff (Juan Melendrez, Maria Bazan, Romona Rodriguez, Jose Ramirez).  They are some of the most dedicated, hardworking, and cordial people I have had the pleasure of working with.  Our building is clean and safe and everyone is always willing to jump in and lend a hand.  The work is always done with a smile on their faces and a positive attitude.  We are blessed to have them!
Notable Topics:  I am very excited to see how our wrestling teams perform at the state level.  I believe we are headed in the right direction with these activities and believe we will be a force in the next few years! 
Looking ahead:  I am excited to see the speech team in action again at conference, districts and state.  I believe we have some very talented members.  It is exciting to see our kids excited and proud of our school.  Go Warriors!

 

Rationale:   

Youth Sports Director's Report:  Mrs. Keairnes
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  I would like to highlight our Winter Sports Pep Rally. On January 26th Schuyler Elementary School hosted a pep rally to highlight our youth sports and the athletes that participated. We invited head high school coaches to speak with our students about their programs and youth coaches participated in some fun minute-to-win-it games with some of their athletes.

Warrior Academy - AfterSchool Program Director's Report:  Ms. Bebout
Program/Staff Member Spotlight: We would like to highlight Shayla Nelson this month. Shayla was born in Omaha, NE and grew up in Schuyler, NE. She did move to Texas for a short period of time. She has 2 dogs: Clyde and Lily, 3 inside cats: Coke, Cash, and Opan and 2 outside cats: Pancho and Mama. Shayla is one of our ASP staff members in the Middle School Program. She has been working for the After School Program for 5-6 years now. She first started working at the Elementary program and then was moved to the Middle School to be an extra set of hands for Guadalupe. She was also a sub para for the Elementary and Middle School. She currently works for the state as a caregiver and she also cleans houses and businesses. Shayla has been reliable and a huge help to Guadalupe. She loves interacting with students, especially in sports. The students love having Shayla at the program.

Middle School Activities Director's Report:  Mr.  Banahan
Program/Staff Member Spotlight: We are currently just over halfway through our MS boy's basketball season, and our boys have been tough competitors all season long. Our student-athletes are playing some good basketball and we are excited to continue to see these boys compete next season on the hardwood as they want to improve. Currently, our teams are 8A (5-3) and our 7A team is (6-2) it is exciting to see our kids competing at a high level.
Spotlight Upcoming Events: We are wrapping up our MS Boys Basketball season. We hosted our 4-team rotating tournament on 2/11/23 at SCHS. It is a great event to show off our high school facilities, while also getting our students excited about playing at our high school. After that, we have two more games for the season. 

High School Activities Director Report: Mr. Steinhoff
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  In this month’s program spotlight I would like to highlight our high school boys and girls wrestling teams.  Our girls just finished their districts, and are sending 4 girls to state this week.  Congratulations to our Girls State Wrestling qualifiers: Sinai Sanchez (1st), Halsey Salgado (4th), Angela Velasquez (3rd), and Lauren Wemhoff (3rd).
Our high school boys wrestling team qualified for the state duals tournament.  In order to qualify for the state duals tournament, you must be scored in the top 8 of the state.  This is a great accomplishment by the coaches and athletes. 
Upcoming Events:  The state wrestling tournament is coming up this Thursday.  Good luck to all of our athletes competing!

Special Education Director's Report:  Mrs. Vrba
Program/Staff Member Spotlight:  Elyse Belina has taken on a different responsibility this year. She is our new Early Childhood Special Education Teacher/Service Coordinator. Elyse has been working with "our kids" in the home setting, in the Head Start setting and in the Schuyler Preschool setting. In this role, Elyse serves as the first impression of Schuyler Community Schools to our new parents. That first impression is so important because it will last way into the time period when his/her student begins in Kindergarten. In this position you have to be a self-starter, have to be self-motivated, trustworthy, hardworking and have the determination to find solutions. Elyse has these character traits along with numerous more. She works extremely closely with other providers (Speech, OT & PT), classroom teachers but most importantly, our parents. Elyse has been going through Boot Camp with Lisa Duranski, the ESU #7 Early Childhood Trainer/Provider. Besides her own caseload of children, she has played a vital role in testing new 37 "little ones" and we have six more months in the 2022-2023 school year. (Just for your reference...during a "normal" year, we might possibly evaluate 20 children at the most.)
Elyse is very compassionate and talented at working with young children!

Curriculum/Assessment/Instruction Director's Report:  Dr. Gibbons
Program/Staff Member Spotlight - I am going to again spotlight the work of our School Improvement teams as we prepare for our Cognia Accreditation visit.  All public schools in Nebraska must be accredited.  Cognia is a world-wide accreditation agency that holds schools and systems to a high standard of excellence.  Schuyler Community Schools has held Systems Accreditation since 2013. Schuyler Central High School was first regionally accredited through the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement (the organization that is today Cognia) in 1914.

Accreditation Activities - We will be hosting an engagement review team on March 30th and 31st. We will have the chance to present to the team and then they will be interviewing various stakeholder groups, visiting schools and analyzing reports. Some of these activities will be virtual, such as...

School Board Interviews - The Accreditation Engagement Review Team will need to schedule interviews with school board members.  They prefer that this is done before the visit. The interviews can be done individually or in groups of two or three members and can be done in the late afternoon into the evening if preferred. Please let us know of the possible dates and times you are available.

Curriculum Adoptions  - I have been working with building principals and teachers regarding curriculum purchases.  6-12 Math is a major area of need for us this year so we have had teachers study the new standards, meet to discuss curriculum needs, developed a Math Mission Statement and began reviewing texts. After reviews and presentations from different publishers, the team stated a preference for EnVision Math from Savvas.  Teachers are currently piloting the program to be sure that students respond positively to it.  

The mission of the Schuyler Community Schools Math Department is to engage students with high quality instruction. Students will be problem solvers and communicate mathematical ideas through collaboration, critical thinking, and reflection while utilizing a variety of strategies and technologies. Students will believe in themselves as mathematically literate citizens.

Rationale: 

1.  2023-24 Calendar:  Attached is the first draft of the 2023-24 calendar updated with corresponding dates from the 2022-23 school year.  The completed recommended calendar will reflect 185 contract days with 175 student days.  This calender will be presented to the support staff, SEA, and leadership team prior to presenting it to the final board committee.  We would  like to have this ready for adoption at the March school board meeting.  See attached draft.

Rationale: 
1.  Foundation Meeting Report:  Brian Vavricek
2.  NASB Monthly Report:  See attached Report
3. Superintendent Search:  Rich Brabec
February 21, 4:00pm - Special Meeting
                Discussion item
                                Superintendent interviews
                                                Candidate #1
                                                Candidate #2
                                Review of stakeholder feedback and discussion of interview candidates
                                Utilization of open and closed session for the protection of the public’s interest and to prevent the needless injury to the reputation of an individual as necessary.

February 23, 4:00pm - Special Meeting
                Discussion item 
                                Superintendent interviews
                                                Candidate #3
                                                Candidate #4
                                Review of stakeholder feedback and discussion of interview candidates
                                Utilization of open and closed session for the protection of the public’s interest and to prevent the needless injury to the reputation of an individual as necessary.

                Action items
                                Motion for the board president to negotiate contract with a candidate.

                                Motion for the board president to negotiate with a 2^nd candidate if it is necessary, provided the board likes a second candidate.