January 14, 2019 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  Board Members who were recently elected to the board of education will be administered the "Oath of Office" by the vice-president.

Rationale: 

As per board policy, the Ravenna School Board reorganizes itself annually at the regular January Board Meeting.

Rationale: 

The Nebraska State Laws regarding conflict of interest and the corresponding forms are available to all board members at: <http://www.nadc.nebraska.gov/e/>.  Any board member with a potential conflict should fill out a conflict of interest form and file it with the superintendent.

A copy of the Conflict of Interest Policy and a copy of the Board Code of Ethics is also attached to this agenda item for review by each board member.

Rationale: 

The school district's attorney recommends that the board review its policy on complaints annually.  Policy 2006 "Complaint Procedure" is attached for review by the Ravenna Board of Education.

Rationale: 

The board needs to appoint an official representative for all of its state and federal programs.  The superintendent requests that he be named as the representative for these programs.

Rationale: 

The board is required to appoint the bus mechanic(s) that do the regular inspections of the fleet vehicles.  The mechanics currently working on the buses and completing the inspections are: Ravenna Coop, Chris Stahl & Todd VanWinkle.

Rationale: 

The Ravenna Board of Education needs to decide how they will publicize their meetings and record that method in their minutes.  It is the recommendation of the administration to publicize the meetings in the manner described in Board Policy 2008, which reads, "The board shall give reasonable advance publicized notice of the time and place of each of its meetings.  Such notice shall be transmitted to all members of the board and to the public.  Notice of regular and special meetings shall be posted in three prominent places within the school district at least 48 hours before the announced beginning of the meeting. Such notice shall contain a statement that the agenda shall be readily available for public inspection at the administration office of the school during the normal business hours. In addition, the superintendent is authorized, but not required, to publish the notice of any meeting in a newspaper of general circulation within the district if, in the opinion of the superintendent, it is convenient and useful to do so."

A copy of Board Policy 2008 is attached to this agenda item.

Rationale: 

The board needs to appoint standing committee members for the upcoming school year.  The suggested appointments are attached to this agenda item for the board's review and approval.  They may adjust these committee assignments in any manner they see fit.

Rationale: 

1.  Review monthly bills using the EMeetings Software.

2.  Review all credit card transactions for the month.

3.  Finance Committee Members Sign-off on review of monthly bills, credit card transactions, and district fund balances.

4.  Approve superintendent's expenses (credit card transactions, mileage, cell phone reimbursement).

5.  Lunch Program Monthly Review-Financial Data & Program Feedback

6.  Rebates on Elementary HVAC Equipment-The energy incentive rebates for the "Phase 2" of elementary HVAC project have been filed and received.

Rationale: 

Members of the Public, 

This is the portion of the board meeting when we invite anyone in attendance to address the board of education. If you would like to speak to the board regarding any of the items on tonight's agenda or a public concern, now is your opportunity to do so.  Please review the orange sheet (found on the visitors' chairs) of paper that contains the guidelines for public participation.  If you wish to speak to the board at this time, please let me know.  "Would anyone like to address the board at this time?"

 

AFTER THE PERSON(S) INDICATE(S) THEY WISH TO SPEAK

1.  Please stand and state your name?

2.  What topic will you be speaking on?

3.  Are there others in the room who wish to speak to the same topic? (If so, ask that they be recognized so that 30 minutes of time for public comment can be apportioned as per the policy-5 minutes per person).

4.  Optional-"Please understand that public comment is your opportunity to speak to the board and present your concerns, thoughts, feelings, ideas, and observations.  Members of the board are happy to hear from members of the public, but the board will not engage in conversation or dialogue with you during public comment."

4.  "You'll have approximately 5 minutes to address the board, as we allow 5 minutes per person and a total of 30 minutes for public comment.  You may begin when you are ready?"

 

 

 

Rationale: 

Congratulations to Kayla Wiarda, who is this month's ABC Bluejay Staff Member of the Month!

Her nominator wrote: Kayla has been a great addition to the Ravenna Public schools family. Kayla always has a smile on her face. She has a positive attitude and spreads that positivity throughout the school.  Kayla has high and appropriate expectations for her young students. She teaches her students in a way that is both effective and fun. Kayla does an amazing job of teaching students important social skills in an age appropriate and compelling manner. When her students leave her classroom, they are well prepared and ready for Kindergarten.  Kayla is also a team player. Often times she is seen helping other staff members with tasks that need to be completed.  Kayla is also willing and eager to work with and learn from other staff members. I admire that she is not afraid to ask questions and or ask for advice.  Kayla has done such great things for our preschool program.

Nominees this month include:

Hilary Bolling-I wish to nominate Hilary Bolling for Bluejay of the Month.  She is very knowledgeable in her position, especially because of her business experience in accounting and auditing.  Hilary is always willing to help, even though she has a lot on her plate.  She is always ready to volunteer and help out to make the school and community better.

Dan Cyboron-I would like to nominate Dan Cyborn.  Dan is a tireless worker.  He completes tasks in a timely manner, does a great job of organizing and scheduling our custodial staff, and keeps our building looking great.  We often receive compliments from visitors about how clean our facilities are.  If you haven't seen the remodel of the concession stand that he and Todd completed you need to "check it out".  Dan is simply the best.


Jean Luth-Mrs. Luth is an outstanding paraprofessional who is dedicated to helping students. She is highly respected by both students and staff. Mrs. Luth interacts in the classroom, joins class activities, completes work assigned to the students (so she is better-prepared to help them), and is always willing to come in early or stay late to help students. Her kind demeanor welcomes students to ask her questions allowing her to develop great relationships with many of the students. Mrs. Luth is also an active member of the MTSS team and provides beneficial information to better support students.

Paige Havranek-She seems to be able to do it all, as she is at every sports event taking pictures for the yearbook, she is a rockstar teacher, runs the REA, and is extremely helpful to me when I have any questions.  I think she is a great asset to the Ravenna Public School District.


Traci Woodson-I would like to nominate Traci Woodson for Staff Member of the month.  Traci has been a very important part of the MTSS process and developing the Problem Solving and Leadership Team.  She spends numerous hours working with students that have special needs and developing paperwork for the MTSS process.  Traci goes above and beyond her call of duty as the Behavioral Interventionist.  We are lucky to have her on staff!

Rationale:  Each year, the board considers compensation rates for classified staff during the upcoming school year (2019-20).  Attached is a spreadsheet that shows the cost of possible pay increases for classified staff for next year.  The certificated staff members were given a "total compensation increase" of 4.5%.  

Also attached is a handbook that has a proposed change to the "Emergency Leave" provision for classified staff.  The proposed language changes mirror those recently made to the "Negotiated Agreement" language regarding "Emergency Leave" for certificated staff.  The original and proposed language regarding "Emergency Leave" are highlighted in yellow.

Rationale: 

The Ravenna Board of Education is suppose to appoint members to the Board of Directors for the Ravenna Public School's Foundation at its February Board Meeting.  Therefore, last year, we began to collectively review this information together annually, so that the board would be in a good position in February to make any needed appointments.

The superintendent would like to review the information with the Board of Education to ensure its accuracy and to plan for any new appointments that need to be made at the February 11, 2019 Board Meeting

Current Members of the Ravenna School Board Foundation Include:

Misti Fiddelke-Board Member (2011/2013/2015/2017)-If Misti is re-elected as Ravenna School Board President, she will continue to serve.

Tara Schirmer-Board Member (2009/2015/2017)-Tara has two more 2-year terms that she can serve, as the bylaws indicate board members can serve 4 consecutive terms. So, she is eligible through 2023.

Marc Vacek-Board Member (2018)-Needs to be either reappointed or replaced in 2020.

Brenda Beranek-Community Member (2013/2016)-Brenda has expressed a desire to be replaced on the board.  (1) Lenay Palser and (2) Jill Hurt have volunteered to be community member volunteers.

Nikki Bock-Community Member (2018)-Nikki would either need to be reappointed or replaced in 2021.

Dan Schmidt-Community Member (2018)-Dan would either need to be reappointed or replaced in 2021.

Heidi Kjar-Teacher (2018)-Heidi would either need to be reappointed or replaced in 2021.

Sonya Rasmussen-Teacher (2018)-Sonya would either need to be reappointed or replaced in 2021.

Alison Yendra-Teacher (2016)-Alison has expressed a desire to be replaced on the board.  (1) Tiffany Drabek has volunteered to be a teacher member, with the understanding that her daughter has dance on Wednesdays in Kearney for the remainder of this school year.  Then, she could regularly attend meetings held on Wednesday nights; (2) Libby Clark has volunteered to be a teacher member.

Superintendent  (Lifetime Ex-Officio Non-Voting Member)

The"By-Laws of Ravenna Public School Foundation" (see attached) call for the Ravenna Board of Education to appoint the board members.  The purpose of this agenda item is to review the current board appointments, begin to track the length of the board members' appointments on an annual basis, and to establish a plan to revisit these appointments for review by the board on an annual basis. 

Board Members may serve no more than four consecutive terms:

Board members=2 year term x 4 terms max=8 years

Other appointed members=3 year term x 4 terms max=12 years

 

 

 

 

Rationale:  The administrative team and office staff have been working on the staff handbook.  A draft is attached to this agenda item for review by the board.  Highlighted portions are portions that the administrative team and the office staff have made edits on to comply with recently (last two years) adopted policy and to reflect actual practices and protocols of the school district.  The Board Policy Committee, as well as all other board members, are encouraged to review the handbook and to make the administration aware of any potential concerns or questions.  

Once the teacher evaluation instrument is finalized, it will be added to the staff handbook and put in front of the board for final consideration and approval, likely late this spring.  It will go into effect at the commencement of the 2019-20 school year and be the last portion of the "full policy review" conducted by the school board.

Rationale:  As per the recommendation from the school's insurance loss agent, the job descriptions were reviewed by the administration with the staff's input and the school district's attorney.  Updated job descriptions are attached for review and approval by the Ravenna Board of Education.

Rationale: 

Secondary  School Board Report

January 2019

Welcome Back

It is extremely exciting to think that we are starting the second week of the second semester.  Graduation for the class of 2019 is 77 school days away!  

Winter MAP Testing

We have completed winter MAP testing and will provide the board with a more detailed report of our results in February.  I can report that the Senior class, on average, demonstrated growth in all four testing areas, which MAP projects will not happen with Seniors.  

   

Rationale:  1.  Student Artist of the Month-Emily Behrendt (Art Attached)

2. NDE Safety Audit-Went very, very well.  The auditor indicated that we were in "way ahead of the game" when it comes to school safety.  This is due to Paul and Brad's great leadership in this area.  There were a few suggestions for improvement, particularly visitor safety, and the protocols and procedures we have for visitors in the building.  He said many schools can do a better job in this area and that the local ESU's will be providing training to help area schools improve in this area.

3.  Rule 10 Safety Audit-Went very well.  There were a few suggestions for improving safety and potential building issues, which the administrative team and maintenance will address.

4.  Annual Report for the School District-The "Annual Report" for the school district is attached for review by the board.

5.  AQuESTT Indicator-Chronic Absenteeism (Presentation Attached)

6.  Bids for Projects-Within the next couple of months, the school district will be advertising for bids for the roof replacement above the pre-school area of the building, Phase 3 for HVAC, and 20-ton condenser rebuild/replacement.

7. Legislative Update (Legislative Summaries Attached)

• January 9: Opening Date
• January 23: Last Day to Submit Bills
• January 27 & 28th: NASB "Legislative Issues Conference"
• March 5: NRCSA "Legislative Forum"
• June 6: Last Day of 2019 Session

*Senator Groene has been named the chair of the Education Committee

8.  Activities Update-

• Bowling-Bowling proposal passed with a vote of 26-22 at the NSAA Assembly on January 9th.  It still needs to be ratified by the NSAA Board on April 5th, but for all practical purposes it will likely be a NSAA Activity for the 2019-20 School Year.  
• Girls Wrestling-The girls wrestling proposal passed and will likely be a sponsored NSAA Activity for the 2019-20 School Year.

*There are many details for each of the activity's bylaws to be worked out at the NSAA level.  Once school districts have an understanding of the actual bylaws, they can move forward with deciding whether or not to add them as activities.

9.  Window Update-(Possible Executive Session)