May 13, 2024 at 7:00 PM - 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) Parker Graves: Parker Graves is a senior this year and was a State Champion in Serious Prose, Runner-up in Humorous Prose, and a Runner-Up in Duet with Jackson Nelson.  Congratulations Parker!

2) Casey Olsen: Food Service Director for Lunchtime Solutions will provide some updates goals and objectives for the Food Service Program.

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

 

Rationale: 

• Paul Hamilton - As we navigate the unexpected twists and turns that life often presents, we have some staffing changes and innovative solutions we've been exploring to ensure our students' needs are met at every level for the 2024-2025 school year.

  With a staff member's recent illness, we knew it was essential to have a plan in place that would ensure continuity and support for our students. Given the timing challenges with hiring, we decided to think outside the box and get creative. The counseling team expressed a strong interest in having Mrs. Bartels join their team, which presented an opportunity to reevaluate the behavior role we discussed with you all last month.

  After much collaboration with the counselors, we've come up with a creative solution that we believe will benefit everyone involved. Mrs. Bartels will join the counseling team with a focus on two grade levels while retaining the safety responsibilities we previously discussed. This adjustment opens up the behavior support role, which we view as critical for the upcoming school year.

  In our search for someone to fill this vital role, we felt we had potential with a few staff members and decided to reach out to Paul Hamilton, husband to recently hired Epley Hamilton to explore how he could assist us in various scenarios for the 2024-2025 school year.  Mr. Hamilton is currently a business teacher and we were curious if he could assist us in any of the following areas:

  1) Elementary Classroom Teacher
  2) Social Skills Teacher (allowing counselors to focus more on behaviors)
  3) Behavior Support Teacher

  During the interview, we learned about Mr. Hamilton’s background, including his training in Boys Town Social Skills, his emphasis on relationship-building, and his understanding of the underlying reasons behind behaviors. He expressed genuine excitement about the opportunity to serve in the behavior role.  Our administrative team is in agreement that his strengths align well with this role and we’re excited to see him join the Dudley team as a Behavior Support Teacher!

Rationale:  In recognition of the extraordinary dedication and commitment shown by our educators throughout the year, the board will discuss gifting a contract day. This additional day is a token of appreciation for the countless extra hours spent enriching the lives of our students and furthering their education. 

Rationale: 

Kay Streeter, Dawson County School District #20 Business Manager, has served as Secretary to the Board for 33 years.  She will be retiring and Becky Vang agreed to assume this role if approved by the Board of Education.  Mrs. Vang will be authorized to sign checks for the following funds:

Student Activity

Hot Lunch

Petty Cash

Student Fees

Employee Benefit

Depreciation

Rationale:  Mr. Randy Waskowiak, Dayspring Bank, has served as Board Treasurer for many years.  He will be moving and has tendered his resignation effective May 31st, 2024.  Tonya Steuben has agreed to assume the role of Board Treasurer if approved by the Board of Education.

Rationale:  The equipment in the HS Media room broke down this past winter.  We consulted Rutt's to determine if there was potential to repair the unit.  They felt that it had aged-out of the opportunity to repair and needed to be replaced.  This is a larger unit and carries a heavier price tag than a classroom unit.  Our service agreement saved us $1,760 on this unit and installation.

This payment also includes replacement of two classroom units and four STOCK units.

It is standard practice for us to take board action on any payments from the depreciation fund to ensure full transparency regarding use of these funds.

Rationale:  As part of the renovation project, the media center will receive new carpeting.  This is the down payment for replacement of this carpet.

It is standard practice for us to take board action on any payments from the depreciation fund to ensure full transparency regarding use of these funds.

Rationale:  Pay Application 1 and 2 cover initial materials purchases for HVAC and Plumbing.  Both have been approved by Bond Council for use of QCPUF funds as they are addressing air quality and life safety issues within the building.
 

Rationale:  Pay Application 1 covers the initial payment for ceiling demolition to enable HVAC replacement, which has been approved by Bond Council for use of QCPUF funds to address air quality issues within the building.
 

Rationale:  State Statute 79-304 requires an annual update on we address Financial Literacy.  Our building principals will provide an overview.

Personal Finance Essential Learnings 
 

Rationale:  We currently have several coaching openings for the 2023-2024 school year.  Any interested persons should apply directly to Mr. Mroczek.  While we prefer to hire a teacher-coach, this is not always possible.  Policy allows us to hire anyone with proper certification.  The person that we hire will be the best possible fit for the position and program.  Experience and knowledge of the game plays a factor in the final decision. 

Evaluation of applicants is done in collaboration between Mr. Mroczek and Mr. Ryker who sit in on the interviews with final approval from the superintendent.  The ultimate decision is what is best for the students and the overall program. 

Current Openings:  

Rationale:  The July board meeting falls on July 8th.  Due to proximity to the July 4th holiday, our July board meeting will now be held on Monday, July 15th.

This is an informational item and does not require a vote.

Rationale: 

Committee Reports (Chair in bold)

1.  Personnel Committee (Mr. Fornoff, Mrs. Terrell, Mrs. Jobman)
2. Transportation and Facilities (Mr. Wyatt, Mr. Dalrymple, Mrs. Brass)
3. Finance (Mrs. Jobman, Mr. Wyatt, Mrs. Brass)
4. Committee on American Civics (Mrs. Terrell, Mr. Fornoff, Mr. Dalrymple)
5. Policy Review (Mrs. Terrell, Mr. Fornoff, Mrs. Brass)

 

Rationale: 

Rationale:  Monday, June 10th, 2024

Swede Activities:
none

GPS has typically held noon meetings in the summer due to all the evening baseball and family events.