February 10, 2025 at 5:30 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale:  The Norfolk Public School District's Board of Education meeting is called to order.  

Rationale:  If any board member is absent, there will need to be a  motion to excuse the absence.

Rationale:  This is a legal meeting of the board of education, as advertised by the means specified in board policy. A complete copy of the Open Meetings Act is posted in the board room for your review. A copy of the agenda is available at the desk of the recording secretary.

Rationale:  Please stand and join us in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

Rationale:  Video Presentation - Bel Air and Little Panthers Preschool

Rationale:  District AQuESTT presentation

Rationale: 

This is the time during the meeting when the public may request to address the Board. According to state law, if you wish to comment you must identify yourself, including your address, the name of the organization you represent and the topic that you wish to address. "Public Comment" cards are located at the Media table, in the back of the room.  Please pick up a card and provide the required information, if you plan to speak.  Each individual’s comments will be limited to five minutes.

Please note that the Board cannot discuss or act upon matters that are not listed on the agenda. Therefore, Board members will not respond to your comments or questions. If you wish to request that an item be placed on a future Board agenda, you may contact the Superintendent or her assistant during normal business hours.

Also note that concerns related to school personnel need to be addressed to the Superintendent using the approved district protocol. Individuals who make false, defamatory,  or slanderous statements during public comments may be held legally liable. Slanderous comments are not protected just because they are made at Board meetings.

Additional procedural guidelines are available at the media table.

Rationale: 

The total amount of claims to be approved on the consent agenda by specific fund are listed below:

General Fund = $269,953.34

Nutrition Fund = $791.07

Cooperative Fund = $1,174.54

Subsidiary Fund = $4,718.79

Special Building Fund = $439,471.44

Senior High Activity Fund = $27,636.89

Junior High Activity Fund = $3,391.22

Student Fee Fund = $940.14

All of these claims were reviewed earlier today by the Finance and Facilities Committee.

Rationale: 

CURRICULUM, INSTRUCTION, AND ASSESSMENT

• In August the Nebraska Department of Education was awarded a federal Comprehensive Literacy State Development (CLSD) grant.  As a part of this grant the NDE has contracted with a company called District Management Group (DMG).  This group began in 2004 and has partnered with hundreds of school districts across the country including some in Nebraska.  DMG’s goal in working with schools is to achieve positive change in Literacy at each district and build capacity within those districts to sustain that change in the future.  DMG will be working with our 2nd grade teams across the district for a 10 week cycle.  Each team is assigned a coach who they will meet with once per week during their PLC time.  The teams began their work last Wednesday by analyzing baseline data from their MAPs Fluency Benchmark Assessment taken in December. Each group worked with their coach to set a SMART goal that they will pursue during the cycle.  We are excited to see how this experience plays out.  We believe this process will enhance the work our teams are already doing in their PLCs and lead to improved student outcomes in literacy. 

• During my January Board report I talked about the importance of having conversations around MAP and NSCAS data.  During January my team worked with principals to prepare for these conversations.  Last Friday, many of our principals led their building teams in this work.  The goal for the teams was to find areas of strength and celebrate the work they have been doing.  They also looked for areas of growth and worked collaboratively to address them.  They will implement these plans and monitor their progress when we take the NSCAS assessment during the Spring Testing Window that begins in late March.          

Rationale: 

Our English Language Learner students started taking the English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA), January 27th.  All ELL students will have the ELPA summative completed by March 14th.   This assessment evaluates our students' proficiency in speaking, listening, reading, and writing the English language.  We will receive the results in the first weeks of May. 

 I will attend the Nebraska Association of Special Education Administrators (NASES) conference in Lincoln on February 27th and 28th. There will be a variety of round table discussions as well as a presentation by NDE regarding literacy goals and special education.  Dr. Maher will be joining us as well.  On February 13th, the special education leadership team will attend an ESU 8 presentation on the TIP for special education. 

Rationale: 

• Members of our Crisis Response Team (CRT) completed one day of training with Pam Dineen.  We call upon our CRT team to respond at our school buildings any time there is a student or staff death.  They provide a safe, caring place for students and staff to go as they process through grief.  We also provide assistance to other local schools if requested.  Our training was a great refresher for our veteran CRT team members, while also giving our new team members the tools to help staff and students.

• Parent/Teacher Conferences are this week.  Each building has sent out information about their conference schedule.  We will have an 11:30 am dismissal on Thursday, February 13th for afternoon conferences.  There will not be school on Friday, February 14 or Monday, February 17.

• I was able to present to teachers and administrators from around Northeast Nebraska at the ESU Winter Workshop on January 20th on our Standard Response Protocol (SRP) and messaging. 

Rationale:  Principals have begun interviewing to fill our open positions for the 2025-2026 school year. I anticipate numerous contracts for your approval at the next Board meeting. Binding Agreements will be sent to all certified staff at the end of the month, with a return date of March 17th at Noon.  At that time, we should know of all the openings that we will need to fill for the 2025-2026 school year.  We are working hard to get quality teachers hired, as early as possible.

Rationale:  Monthly Enrollment Report
Annual Report (attached)
Superintendent Advisory Committee Reports

Rationale:  The Facilities & Finance Committee met earlier today. Board members present were ________.

______ was assigned as the Chair of the Facilities and Finance committee. 

The committee reviewed claims and financial reports. We also discussed the RFP for a bus and the request to purchase desktop computers. 

An update was given on the Middle School construction project and the Senior High Chiller project. Other items discussed included the 25-26 salary schedules including classified salary, classified hourly, nurses, and administration. 

Rationale: 

The Policy Committee met on Friday, January 24, 2025. Board Committee Members Tom Stanton, Patti Gubbels, and Cindy Booth were present, along with NPS Staff Erik Wilson, Dr. Jami Jo Thompson, and Callan Collins.

Tom Stanton was designated as the committee chair. 

The Committee reviewed Board Policies 3130-3220 related to Business Operations.

• 3130: Several revisions were made to Policy 3130 (Purchasing Policies):

  • Principal and Director’s authorized purchase amount was increased from $250 to $500. 

• Added ‘and/or department’ to #2 Credit Card Purchasing

• Added ‘or designee’ to #5 Credit Card Purchasing

• We also held a discussion regarding the purchasing of American and state flags. Members agreed to prioritize buying USA-made flags, which can be purchased via a variety of retailers, but typically cost $14 more per flag- if made in the USA.

  • This will not be added to policy but established as an Administrative Rule (AR). 

• 3132 - Internal Controls - was revised based upon recommendations from Perry Law Firm.

• 8342 - Designated Method of Giving Notice of Meetings - was also revised based upon recommendations from Perry Law Firm.

• 8157 - Standing Committee on Superintendent Evaluation - was revised to make the policy align with policy 2320 - Superintendent’s Evaluation.

  • The word ‘deficiencies’ was also changed to "improvements", which means that Policy 2320 will need to be updated with the same language.

• 5416 - Student Fees - was revised based upon recommendations from the Activities Committee defining out of state travel. 

• 9300 - Regular Meeting - was revised to reflect changes made previously to the 2nd Board meeting of the month

• 8130 - Several changes were made to Policy 8130 (Annual Organization Meeting): 

  •  #5 & #6 were removed because we review policies on a regular basis.

  • Additional language was included regarding voting for the Vice President, as this was not previously outlined in policy.

  • Additional language was included to provide clarity on ‘tenure’

• The following policies are recommended for reaffirmation, without any revisions:

• 3131 - Procurement Plan - School Food Authorities 

  • 3131.1 - Procurement Plan - Code of Conduct 

• 3140 - Contracting for Services 

• 3150 - Paying for Goods and Services 

• 3160 - Report of Treasurer 

• 3170 - Periodic Audit  

• 3180 - System of Accounts 

• 3190 - Inventory of Equipment  

• 3200 - Monies in School Buildings 

• 3210 - Bonds 

• 3220 - Educational Service Units - Designated Representative 

Our next meeting is scheduled for March 7th at 9:00 AM at Central Office to review the next section of policies 3230-3580. 

Rationale:  The Committee met electronically to review the revisions suggested by the Policy Committee. 

Policies include:
2320 - Superintendent's Evaluation
8157 - Standing Committee on Superintendent Evaluation

All members agreed to the policy changes.

Rationale: 

The Government Relations Committee met on Tuesday, January 28th, Friday, January 31st, and Tuesday, February 4th. All members were in attendance at all three meetings. 

The Committee decided that Dr. Patti Gubbels would serve as  the Chair of this committee and read reports at board meetings. 

Dr. Thompson provided an explanation of legislative items and various options available to submit comments and/or testify regarding legislation.

The Committee reviewed all bills that are scheduled for a hearing and decided to take the following actions:

1. Dr. Thompson submitted online comments in support of LB 84-Adopt the School Psychologist Interstate Licensure Compact- as this will increase flexibility in hiring school psychologists.

2. Dr. Thompson submitted online comments in opposition to LB 390- Require each school board to adopt a policy relating to access by a parent, guardian or educational decision maker to certain library information-due to the potential cost of implementation.

3. Dr. Gubbels submitted neutral on-line comments that outlined our concerns regarding LB 140- Require school policies relating to use of electronic communication devices by students

   1. Our areas of concerns include- school events, teacher judgement, in case of emergency

4. Dr. Gubbels submitted on-line comments in opposition to LB 31- Require school policies relating to the use of student surveillance, monitoring and tracking technology by school districts.

5. Brenda Carhart will submit comments opposing LB 509- Adopt the Opportunity Scholarships Act - as it uses public tax credits to go to private education. 

6. Tom Standon will submit online comments in opposition to LB 389- Eliminate the levy authority of educational service units

7. Dr. Patti Gubbels will submit neutral online comments regarding LB 303 with two suggestions for improvement:

   1. We would prefer to see models of state aid before taking action and we would like to see a local school board member on the finance committee. 

8. Dr. Thompson will submit online comments in support of LB 161 which would provide full funding for preschool children.

9. Erik Wilson will submit online comments in support of LB 408- Adopt the Special Education Teacher Forgivable Loan Program Act- as it is hard to find special education teachers. 

10. We are currently seeking further clarification regarding LB 507 to determine how to proceed. It changes provisions regarding special education transportation for option enrollment students.

The Committee is monitoring many other bills and is scheduled to meet again on Thursday, February 13th at 3pm.

Rationale:  The NPS Foundation met on January 20th for their annual meeting. During the meeting, the board approved the slate of officers including Jason Busch as President, Lindsay Schellpeper Simpson as Vice President, April Pearson as Secretary, and Brenda Carhart as Treasurer. Beth Shashikant was approved as a new board member. All current board members are continuing their terms. The 2025 budget was reviewed and approved. The 2025 scholarship award amounts and endowment disbursements were reviewed and approved. Executive Director Austin Truex and Superintendent Dr. Jami Jo Thompson highlighted the elementary makerspace donations in their reports. The board will meet again in February.

Rationale:  Minutes from the meeting on January 24th, 2025 are attached for review. 

Rationale:  Kelli Berryman - Special Education Teacher, Junior High - resigning at the end of the 2024-2025 school year

Brian Disch - Math Teacher, Senior High - resigning at the end of the 2024-2025 school year

Kathy Walker - Special Education Teacher, Westside - resigning at the end of the 2024-2025 school year

Rationale:  Attached are the claims. These claims were reviewed earlier by our Finance and Facilities Committee. 

There are two conflict statements this month that will need to be read before voting. 

Rationale:  See attached.

Rationale:  We have an older SPED and route bus fleet.  We are exploring options to replace older buses and are requesting permission to put out an RFP to gather information about cost and turn around time for delivery. In March, I will present our Facilities and Transportation Plan to the Board. At that time, we will use the RFP information to make a decision on how to move forward. There is no required purchase in gathering this information.

Rationale:  Request to accept the low bids for our desktop purchase.  The first low bid was awarded to CNB for 220 Dell desktops.  These desktops will be used in our labs, libraries, and some administrative assistants.  The second low bid is for CDW for 24 Dell desktops.  These are specific to administrative assistants and SROs who will be using Security Desk.  The final pricing came in under budget.

Rationale:  Request to make changes to our student handbooks in regards to sharing student directory information. Revisions based upon recommendations from Perry Law Firm.

See the attached proposed addendum to the 2024-2025 Elementary, Middle School, Junior High, and Senior High Student Handbooks.

Rationale:  These policies were reviewed by the Policy Committee. That Committee recommends the approval of their First Reading tonight.

• 3130 - Purchasing Policies

• 3131 - Procurement Plan - School Food Authorities

• 3131.1 - Procurement Plan - Code of Conduct

• 3132 - Internal Controls

• 3140 - Contracting for Services 

• 3150 - Paying for Goods and Services 

• 3160 - Report of Treasurer 

• 3170 - Periodic Audit 

• 3180 - System of Accounts 

• 3190 - Inventory of Equipment 

• 3200 - Monies in School Buildings

• 3210 - Bonds 

• 3220 - Educational Service Units - Designated Representative 

Rationale:  This policy has been updated by Perry Law Firm to reflect changes in state statute.  NPS is already following this statute.

Rationale:  This policy was revised to match Board Policy 2320 Evaluation of Superintendent, which was updated earlier this year.  In addition, the Committee changed language related to "deficiencies" to "improvements".

Rationale:  This policy was revised to match Board Policy 8157 Standing Committee on Superintendent Evaluation, which the Committee changed the language related to "deficiencies" to "improvements".

Rationale:  This policy was revised based upon recommendations made from the Activities Committee regarding out of state travel.

Rationale:  This policy was updated to reflect our new meeting date, time and location.

Rationale:  Several changes were made to this policy to make our Annual Organizational Meeting run more effectively/efficiently.

Rationale: 

The 2nd monthly meeting of the Board of Education is scheduled for Monday, February 24th, 2025 at Noon. 

The following regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Monday, March 10th, 2025 at 5:30 PM. 

All components of these meetings will be held at the NPS Central Administration Offices and will be open to the public unless an Executive Session is needed in order to protect the interest of the district or the reputation of an individual.