March 14, 2017 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

AD Hauxwell noted District Speech in North Platte today, Tuesday March 14th. Chase County took 6 students. State Speech will be held in Kearney on Thursday, March 23rd. There is a 5th & 6th grade Vocal & Instrumental Concert this coming Thursday, March 16th at 6:30 P.M. in the Longhorn Gym. High School Quiz Bowl will be competing on Wednesday in McCook & Hershey on Thursday. Hauxwell also noted that Mini Cheerleading Camp was held on Friday, March 10th at the Wesleyan Church with 63 participants & 6 Cheerleaders in attendance. They had a public performance at 12:00 P.M. & concluded at 12:30 P.M. Hauxwell stated that Spring Sport practice has started & the numbers are down from last year. Boys track has 32, girls track 36 and golf has 9 students out. Youth Basketball morning practice was successful for grades K-6th. Numbers ranged from 70 to 40 participants. Hauxwell expressed his gratitude & thankfulness to Carl Zuege  for his years of dedication to the boys basketball program & noted the sacrifices he has made in order to dedicate his time to the athletes & to the program throughout his coaching years.

Principle Oden's report began with stating third quarter is completed & fourth quarter is started.  Jump rope for heart this week. She highlighted that muffins for moms is this month & that Donuts with Dad's was a success. She completed second semester evaluations for elementary.

Odens & Scheel discussed character building for MS mini class.  All teachers have developed four days of activities.  Each teacher has social skill or trait such as respect, empathy, etc.  Ms. Ramos has been doing some great lessons on her topics. They included the implementing of behavior incentive which is similar to Longhorn Pride. They both are seeing immediate and ongoing positive behavior.

Principle Scheel's report began with him stating he was two weeks away from finishing his evaluations. They had interviews for the High School Science teacher position & have made an offer to an individual who accepted the position. ACT state is coming up.  MIC time is trying some ACT prep programs, interested in the Prepfactory.com program & are finding that students are finding it useful. Principle Scheel noted that Mr. Zuege is using the official ACT prep and will use that in MIC time. Board Member Stromberger asked about accommodations for ACT.

Lefdal expressed how great it is that our students are so active and busy, but had concerns that it's affecting their education, he's hoping to find a good balance between education and activities for our students. Finalizing CDRC reporting & will continue the process of SSO (Single Sign On) for new state reporting site. He expressed the that he has enjoyed recent communication & visits from the staff and community & is encouraging it to continue. The brainstorming sessions have moved everyone in the right direction, so very positive feedback. The updating of information into our new accounting system is progressing. The program has great features & it will take time to get the information in place. School Safety Training is coming along & plans are being worked on to improve policy.  News on the new building addition: Progress is coming along nicely & power will be switched over Tuesday of next week at 4:00.

Additional Items: Reichert Construction had some items that need addressed in regards to paving on south & north side of building & installing fungi growth resistant flooring in wrestling room & storage room.

Carl Zuege Resignation

We will have other resignations next month.

Special Education teachers expressed some needs in their classroom: updated IPADS, new tablets, 2-3 light covers to see if it helps the glare of the fluorescent lights. New math curriculum for the SPED students. Another handicapped accessible van or vehicle that will hold 3 wheelchairs, new carpet in both rooms. The positives: 1. Last year on the NeSA 67% of the tests given met or exceeded the standards. 2. Being able to use booklets is a wonderful accommodation for the students and producing positive results. 3. Progress made with the more at risk/struggling students with their reading/sounds etc. 4. In the high school fewer students are on the down list, if they do get on the list, it's not long before they are removed. Breakdown of the Special Education students by teacher: (Recommend moving from 1/2 time to full time teacher in middle school). 1. K-4: 26 Students 2. 5-6: 8 students 3.7-12: 22 students. High needs students: 5 3 preschool students verified SPED coming in fall of 2017 for kindergarten with 3 more that are younger. Concerns surrounding behavior problems which takes time out of classroom so students can deescalate, increase in students identified as autistic. Large group of children being pulled for language arts instruction, which prevents providing inclusionary services. Preschool students exhibiting low skills or behavior issues. The schedule conflicts with math/reading classes (they overlap & create multiple level & subjects for the SPED teachers to try to manipulate the best they can to provide services). Seeing scheduling conflicts in middle and high school as well. Students are requiring more one on one assistance due to their inability to work independently. Planning time is lacking, which means vast majority of IEP paperwork is being done outside of the school day along with daily planning.

Lefdal would like to see the Alternative Ed program in house. It would make more sense financially to bring the program into our hands. The goal would be to catch students back up instead of waiting for them at their senior year. There would be interventions in place. Better control of students academic needs.

In housing them would also give these students access to other programs we have that help them in the work force.

Stromberger expressed concerns about the at risk behavior students and trying to include them in a regular classroom. Lefdal/Scheel discussed the success of one student who was provided an intervention plan & is having great success right now. 

Meeske expressed concerns if we do bring in-house and it doesn't work can we go back to the alternative ed off campus. Lefdal said we could go off campus & still have control over it by providing our own staff.

We will need to update class times and discuss section 8 cell phone use at school. We will also discuss making up detention time.

Scheel implementing detention time for tardiness in a policy.