April 14, 2014 at 7:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

More Information:  Mission Statement - Milford Public Schools will prepare all students to be successful citizens: Our Mission is fulfilled when all students read with comprehension, speak and write clearly, compute accurately, reason logically, understand and appreciate the fine arts, apply suitable strategies and habits of mind to solve problems, utilize technology to communicate and to understand information and behave morally.

This agenda contains a list of subjects known at the time of its distribution.  A copy of the agenda reflecting any changes will be available for public inspection during normal business hours in the District Office.  Except for items of an emergency nature, the agenda shall not be altered later than twenty-four hours before the meeting.  The Board reserves the right to alter the order of items, as it deems necessary.

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Information concerning the Open Meeting Law, Chapter 84, Article 14 of Nebraska State Statutes, is posted on the bulletin board in the back of the meeting room.

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This is the public’s opportunity to speak to items on the agenda. This is also the public’s opportunity to speak to any topic concerning the school district – since it is not an agenda item the board cannot discuss or take action on the matter at this time. Future discussion can be requested as an agenda item. To be recognized, all participants must complete the Request to Address the Milford Board of Education Form. No complaints regarding specific staff members will be heard during a public meeting. The District has established separate procedures for complaints against individual employees. Thank you for your participation.

More Information:  Before we act on the consent agenda, we will need to act on item VII C - writing curriculum.

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Before we act on the consent agenda, we will need to act on item VII C - writing curriculum.


General Fund for $131,878.21
Payroll for $458,600.10
Total $590,478.31

Special Building Fund for $29,758.68

More Information:  Mrs. Meyer-Thompson has asked if her ProStart group could present to us.  Sounds like they will do an introduction, then go work in the hall or a classroom to complete their project, and then present final projects to us.  I would like to complete the consent agenda and then let ProStart do their introduction and then we can continue with our meeting while they work.  We would then take a break from our agenda when they are finished and ready to present.

Here is information from Mrs. Meyer-Thompson:
In preparation for our national ProStart competition on May 3-5, we will be practicing the knife skills/poultry fabrication portion of the culinary competition.  Each team will have fifteen minutes to complete this portion of the culinary contest.  One team member will be selected to complete the poultry fabrication and the other team member will be given two knife cuts that they have selected to complete. The knife cuts are to be incorporated into their meal and not altered.  Each team has selected four of the six knife cut options chosen by the National Restaurant ProStart culinary rules.  The knife cut options are:  julienne, brunoise, chiffonade, medium dice, mince, and tomato concasse.   The Milford team has selected:  julienne, chiffonade, medium dice, and mince.  The judges will randomly assign two of the knife cuts. Knife cuts are judged on accuracy to 1/8".     The selected team member for poultry fabrication will independently fabricate one whole chicken into 8 pieces: 2 breasts, 2 wings, 2 legs, and 2 thighs with the long back removed. All pieces are required to be bone in.  At completion of fabrication, the student's chicken is to be displayed on their own cutting board with all waste and the long back.  Fabrication will be judged on skill, technique, sanitation, and safety.  

More Information:  PreSchool is at: 14
K-6 is at: 336
7-8 is at: 111
9-12 is at: 227

PK-12 Total is: 688

K-12 Total is: 674

More Information:  The Foundation Board met on Wednesday, April 9th.  President Welsch or Superintendent Wingard will give a brief update.

More Information:  Asbestos abatement will begin Tuesday, May 27th and will last approximately 10 days.  There will be not access to the south end of the building during that time.

Cheever Construction will begin work on the cement area around the flag pole sometime the 1st or 2nd week in May.  They will place barriers around the work area.  We will still have access in and out of the building through the main doors.

Doors and case work have been ordered but there is concern on the delivery date.  They feel we have ordered soon enough but there are a lot of back orders on this equipment.

Local companies - Gene's electric will be doing all electrical work on the project; it appears Concrete Works (Heath Yeakley) is the sub contractor for the flat work; Not sure on the other areas at this point.

More Information:  Board member responses to the planning questions presented at the retreat are attached for Board Members to review.

The Board of Education will review and discuss the information as a group to see if any themes stand out.  The Board will then compare the discussions/results with the Board's current Priority Statements to see if the Priority Statements need to be changed or updated.

The current Priority Statements are on the Goals page or are attached.

More Information:  The request to have the anonymous donation recognized as a Private Interest Grant will appear on the May State Board of Education agenda.  This is an important issue as we need the yearly income to flow through our yearly budget as a grant, not regular revenue, so it does not hurt us in the State Aid formula.   I am working with Janice Eret from NDE on this item.

I have attached an informational document.

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1. This is a yearly item for our interlocal agreement with SNRP’s (Southeast Nebraska Regional Program for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard of Hearing).
2. This is a program that provides supplies and equipment for working with our deaf or hard of hearing students.  It also provides training for our staff members.
3. There is no upfront cost to the District, but SNRP needs a commitment from partner schools as it assists them in qualifying for funding through grants.  They do have some equipment and services we have paid for in the past, but the majority of services are free to partner schools.
4. The document needs to be signed by the Secretary of the Board.

More Information:  PowerSchool is the District's student management system and much more.  We have attached a document that describes the tools in PowerSchool and the services provided through the consortium.

We are part of a consortium of schools that use PowerSchool.  School districts in ESU's 3, 4, 5 and 6 are members of the consortium.  Member Schools have a board of directors that set the fees, hire staff, etc.  ESU 5 serves as the financial coordinator and hosts the staff hired by the consortium.

We would be lost without this system and am recommending that we approve the two-year (September 2014 - August 2016) membership and resolution.

More Information:  We have discussed the need for a consistent writing program at previous meetings.   As mentioned at previous meetings, Step Up to Writing is the curriculum that is being recommended by Dr. Olson and the staff.

The initial cost of the program, with training, is $9,344.28.  Future yearly costs would only occur if there is an update to the curriculum or if additional training is required.  There are no student supplies to order yearly.

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For the past 3 years teachers in grades K-5 have used Saxon as their math curriculum.  It is our judgment that is part of the reason why our K-5 students demonstrate high math proficiency. Grade 6 began to use Saxon at the beginning of September this year, and we anticipate they too will show high achievement.

Beginning next year we would like to transition to Saxon at grades 7 and 8. Historically, our 7^th and 8^th grade students have not scored particularly well on NeSA or our norm-referenced measure, ITBS.  We believe the move to a more spiraled curriculum like Saxon will help our students become more proficient and confident in math.  Our teachers are very much behind this change.

Initial costs for the program for both grades is approximately $16,000.  Annual costs are approximately $750 per grade level. 

More Information:  The administrative team is recommending the hiring of Elizabeth Crabtree.

Elizabeth currently teaches at Centennial and has been employed there since 2007.  Elizabeth and her family currently live in the Milford district. 

Elizabeth will be teaching calculus, other math courses and some technology courses.

Just a reminder for the Board that this is the process we are using to replace Mr. Wergin who is retiring at the end of the 13-14 school year.  Mr. Nutzman will be handling technology coordinator duties along with his music responsibilities.  Mrs. Crabtree will be taking over Mr. Nutzman's technology courses that he currently teaches and Mr. Wergin's calculus course.  Mrs. Mowinkel will be providing some technology assistance to staff.

More Information:  I would like the Board to discuss the option of installing a sprinkler system on the practice field area at the high school.  Watering these areas has to happen due to the liability associated with practicing football and having PE classes in this area.  We need to maintain the grounds to an appropriate level.

Currently, we use one water wheel sprinkler to do this area.  Mr. Hingst, with occasional help from the custodial staff, manage this process.    The machine stops and we have ponds form, the machine stops early and quits watering, hoses always leak, etc.  The water restrictions that have been in place the past few years also make it hard to get good coverage on the whole area - just too large.  We use our own machine on the practice field and then borrow two water wheels from other places (last year) to water the main football field.  This process is just not very efficient.

The district needs to purchase a 2nd watering wheel system to keep up with this process.  Instead of this, we are recommending that we research the cost of installing a sprinkler system.  This system would be much more efficient and would save a lot of Mr. Hingst's time.

I have received a bid from one company.  The $ amount is attached for Board viewing only as this would be a competitive bid process if we decide to keep moving forward so do not want the $ amount public at this point. 

Just looking for guidance as I do not want to spend time requesting other bids if there is no interest from the Board for this project.

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The Board of Education reserves the right to enter into Closed/Executive Session for 1) the protection of the public interest, or 2) the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, and/or the individual has not requested a public meeting. When making a motion to enter into Closed/Executive Session, the member making the motion should be as specific as possible as to the reason(s) for executive session.

The Board President will restate the reason for Closed/Executive Session after the motion has been acted on.