Monday, August 8, 2022 Start time will follow the Parental Involvement Hearing. - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

Mission Statement:

Gothenburg Public Schools is the cornerstone of a proud, passionate, and progressive community where students and staff thrive in a positive and innovative environment.  We ensure the growth of all individuals by inspiring them to own and maximize their potential.

A copy of the open meetings law is posted on the wall of the Board Room and is available to the public.

Rationale: 

The Board reserves the right to rearrange the order of items as needed.

Rationale: 

Board Policy 2009 - Opportunity for Public Expression.  
(A copy of the policy is linked here.)

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISH TO SPEAK: This is the portion of the meeting when members of the public may speak to the board about matters of public concern.  

• Getting Started:  When you have been recognized, please stand and state your name.   

• Time Limit:  The board will generally allow a total of 30 minutes for the presentation of all public comments.  Individuals may speak only one time, and must limit comments to around 5 minutes.  If there are more than 6 individuals who wish to address the board, the 30 minutes will be divided equally between the number of speakers.   These time limits may be changed by a majority vote of the board members in attendance to extend the time for a specific item or speaker. 

• Personnel or Student Topic:  If you are planning to speak about a personnel or a student matter involving an individual, please understand that the district has a complaint policy and/or procedures to resolve such complaints and concerns.  The Board requests that you follow the policy and procedures before addressing these matters with the Board.  Board members will generally not respond to any questions you ask or comments about individual staff members or students.  

• General Rules: This is a public meeting for the conduct of business.  Comments from the audience while others are speaking will not be tolerated.  Lewd, obscene, profane, slanderous, threatening and hostile conduct or statements and fighting words (words whose mere utterance entails a call to violence) will not be tolerated. 

• No Action by the Board:  The board will not act on any matter unless it is on the published agenda. 

Rationale: 

1. Approval of Previous Minutes

2. Approval of the Treasurer's Report

3. Approval of the Warrants / Bills

  a.  Petty Cash

  b.  Student Activity

  c.  Hot Lunch

  d.  Bank Statement

  e.  Summary of Accounts and Receipts

  f.  Monthly Expenditure Report

  g. Check Journal

4. Excuse Absent Board Members

5. Consider Option Enrollment Requests

Option Out:
Dash Headley - 12th grade to Eustis-Farnam
Chloe Stoddard - 6th Grade to Brady

 

Rationale:  Money was budgeted in the Depreciation Fund and is reserved for the repair and replacement of items such as the purchase of vehicles, a roof, or instructional equipment.  The Superintendent and Finance Committee recommend a transfer of $275,000 at this time. 

Money is budgeted for general operating expenses in the Activities Fund. The activities director and business manager determine the short-term and long-term needs of the program and determine when and how the funds are to be utilized.  The superintendent recommends a transfer of $50,000 at this time.

The Employee Benefit Fund is utilized as reserve General Fund money for employee benefits such as early retirement, health insurance, and unemployment.  It is recommended that we transfer $25,000 into the Employee Benefit fund. 

There are sufficient resources in the budget to allow for transfers at this time.

Rationale:  Every six months, the board of education is asked to review and approve the Re-Opening plan.  This plan is kept on our school website and has had only grammatical changes since last year. 

The only substantive change was made for clarity.  Last year's form referenced an "opt-out form".  This opt-out form only allows for optioning out based on medical needs so the wording was changed to "Exceptions will be made for those students with a medical condition that prohibits the student from wearing a mask.  A doctor’s note is required."

Also included here is the "Exclusion and Re-Admittance" operating procedure we will utilize this school year.  This does not require board approval.
 

Rationale:  Extracurricular drug testing is not a new policy for our district. However, this is a new and updated policy through KSB.  There are no significant changes to our current procedures but we have updated the forms and added some clarifying language and tennis to the proposed policy.  The first reading of this policy was at the July meeting and no changes have been made. 

I would like to clarify a misconception that is out there.  Drugs and alcohol on campus are handled in accordance with our discipline policy, regardless of a student's involvement in activities.  The consequence of having drugs or alcohol on campus is significantly more stringent than a positive test that indicates usage that happened presumably in the past and off campus.

Rationale:  This policy applies ONLY to library materials and has no bearing or impact on core curricular materials and curriculum-related supplements as those are covered in other board policies.  This policy will help formalize our process and provide a procedure to request a review of library material for a patron of the district or parent of a current student.

This policy did undergo some minor changes from the first reading. 

• We added that "rationale may be requested on how the materials support age-appropriate learning objectives, enrich the curriculum, and/or support student development and learning, in addition to other questions or concerns". 
• We added verbiage that allows the media center specialist to be the first contact - previously, this was listed as the principal.
• We removed "not be universal, such as a political, religious, or social perspective for which disagreement or differences of opinion exist" and replaced with "highly controversial"

Rationale:  While our policy service has several policies regarding transportation, none of them address employees transporting students in their personal vehicles.  This policy permits employees to transport students who do not live in the employee's household as long as the employee complies with board policy and the NDE's pupil transportation requirements (including training).  The first reading of this policy was in July.  No changes have been made.

Rationale:  The first reading of our activities handbook took place in July.  This handbook has been aligned with new board policies and no changes have been made since first reading. 

Rationale:  The first reading of the staff handbook took place in July.  The handbook has been aligned with new board policies.  After the first reading, the policy was updated in a few places to reflect

• that staff take tickets at two home events and receive an activity ticket.
• that a driver's license is required to be kept on file in the district office
• that the district maintains a record of professional development that takes place on campus and therefore, a separate form does not need to be submitted
• leave categories for classified staff were updated to reflect current practices

Rationale:  Last month we approved the teacher, school psychologist, counselor, and Director of Teaching and Learning evaluations.  NDE has recently made available the rubric form of their new recommended evaluation.  This evaluation focuses on six key areas:

• Vision for Learning
• Continuous Improvement
• Staff Support and Development
• Operations and Management
• Culture for Learning
• Professional Ethics and Advocacy

The tool is well put together and provides insight (and a platform for feedback) into how the profession has changed over the past several years.  

The actual form I use will be a Google doc that allows for comments to be added but the rubric will be the same.  

Rationale: 

Rationale:  Monday, September 12th

Swede Activities:
Football - JV vs. Broken Bow (Home) @ 6PM