January 10, 2012 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting

Rationale: 

Notice of the time and place of the Lincoln Board of Education meeting was e-mailed to an extensive list of local and regional news media.  A mailing list is maintained at the Lincoln Public Schools District Office.  A public notice was published in the LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR.

The Lincoln Board of Education is empowered to act on any item listed on the Agenda at any time during the meeting, irrespective of the time or order listed. Pages listed, or further detail, are available upon request. The Open Meetings Act requires and the intention of the Board is that agenda items be sufficiently descriptive to give the public reasonable notice of the matters to be considered at the meeting. The Lincoln Board of Education releases its agenda well in advance of most meetings and desires that all interested persons are fully informed. Any interested person who has a question or needs clarification about the sufficiency of a descriptive item should contact the Office of the Superintendent of Schools.

Rationale:  The attached minutes are intended to accurately reflect the action of the Board at its previous meetings.

Explanation
The minutes have been prepared for Board approval.

Rationale: 

Lincoln Public Schools conducted the 2011-12 Combined Community Campaign from September 19 through September 30, 2011.  This year’s campaign raised $154,328.  This was a 9 percent increase in contributions over last year with 42 percent of district employees participating.

Explanation:

The following departments achieved the goal of 100 percent donor participation, earning them a Certificate of Appreciation:  the Business Affairs Department, the Instruction Department, and the Superintendent’s Office.

In addition, the following schools and departments had 50 percent or higher donor participation:  Adams Elementary, Beattie Elementary, Calvert Elementary, Clinton Elementary, Communications, Curriculum, Dawes Middle, Eastridge Elementary, Elementary/Secondary Behavioral Skills Program, Federal Programs, Focus Programs, Fredstrom Elementary, Hill Elementary, Human Resources, Huntington Elementary, Kahoa Elementary, Kooser Elementary, Lakeview Elementary, LPSDO Custodial Department, Maxey Elementary, Meadow Lane Elementary, Morley Elementary, Norwood Park Elementary, Purchasing, Pyrtle Elementary, Riley Elementary, Roper Elementary, Saratoga Elementary, Sheridan Elementary, and TeamMates Mentoring Program.

Lincoln Public Schools is proud of its employees and would like to thank them for the contributions made to the many agencies represented by the United Way, Community Health Charities of Nebraska, and the Community Services Fund.

Proposal:

Special recognition; no Board action is required.

Rationale:  In keeping with Policy 8420, a time limit of five minutes will be allotted for any speaker. At the discretion of the Chair, the speaker may be allotted additional time.

Rationale: 

Rationale: 

Rationale:  At each meeting, the Board of Education is asked to approve certain items of routine business of the school district.

Rationale: 

On March 8, 2011, the Board adopted a resolution to accept option students for the 2011-12 school year.  One of the provisions of the resolution was that applications were to be received by August 12, 2011.  In the resolution, standards were also adopted for acceptance of students whose applications were filed after the August 12, 2011, deadline.  Those standards include the circumstances in which the student is currently enrolled or has been enrolled within the past year in the Lincoln Public Schools, or the student is a sibling of a currently-enrolled student.

Explanation:

Applications for option enrollment for the 2011-12 school year have been received after the August 12, 2011, deadline for student numbers 239674, 262102, 215618, 279039 who are currently enrolled, and student numbers 198135 and 198136 who have been enrolled within the last school year in the Lincoln Public Schools.  Staff recommends the applications, for option enrollment be approved.
Proposal:

That the Board adopt the following resolution:

WHEREAS the students who have been assigned student numbers 239674, 262102, 198135, 198136, 215618, and 279039 (for purposes of confidentiality, assigned numbers are being used) have filed applications for option enrollment after the August 12, 2011, deadline; and,

WHEREAS the student numbers 239674, 262102, 215618, and 279039 are currently enrolled in the Lincoln Public Schools, and student numbers 198135, and 198136 who have been enrolled within the last year in the Lincoln Public Schools, both of which are criteria for acceptance of late-filed applications as set forth in the Board resolution of March 8, 2011,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the aforementioned students be accepted as option students on the condition and with the express understanding that all programs, all classes and all buildings of assignment, except as otherwise required by law, shall at all times and from time to time during attendance at Lincoln Public Schools be determined solely by Lincoln Public Schools.

Rationale:  *The Lincoln Board of Education is empowered to act on any item listed on the Agenda at any time during the meeting, irrespective of the time or order listed. Pages listed, or further detail, are available upon request. The Open Meetings Act requires and the intention of the Board is that agenda items be sufficiently descriptive to give the public reasonable notice of the matters to be considered at the meeting. The Lincoln Board of Education  Board releases its agenda well in advance of most meetings and desires that all interested persons are fully informed. Any interested person who has a question or needs clarification about the sufficiency of a descriptive item should contact the Office of the Superintendent of Schools.

Rationale:  The Lincoln School District issued $22,715,000 in general obligation school bonds on   May 8, 2002.  The bonds were the second series of bonds issued for the construction of two new high school facilities and furnishing the same.  Bond principal and interest are scheduled to be repaid through January 15, 2022.

Explanation:

The current bond market may allow for an advanced refunding at a reduced interest rate.  This would result in a reduction of interest payable.

Staff will work with the district’s Underwriter (Ameritas Investment Corp.), with its Bond Counsel (Gilmore & Bell), and with its General Counsel (Perry, Guthery, Haase & Gessford) to finalize the attached resolution and to meet all other requirements necessary for the advanced refunding of these bonds if and when the district were to proceed.

Proposal:

1.  Action Item No. 1.  That the Board of Education, except for the selection, approval, and designation of the Underwriter and Bond Registrar and Paying Agent, hereby approves and adopts the attached resolution in its current form or with such changes as may be approved by the Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs or his designee, and hereby authorizes all actions necessary or appropriate as provided therein or as otherwise necessary to advance refund such bonds, by issuing refunding bonds in an amount not to exceed $14,500,000, by Lancaster County School District 001 (Lincoln Public Schools), its staff, and its representatives in accordance with and subject to the following provisions:

A.  The date of original issue of the Bonds shall not be later than July 15, 2012.

B.  The aggregate principal amount of Bonds to be issued shall not exceed $14,500,000.

C.  The date of final maturity of the Bonds shall not be later than January 15, 2022.

D.  The rate or rates of interest to be carried by each maturity of the Bonds such that the true interest cost on the Bonds shall not exceed 3.00 percent.

E.  The underwriting discount, not to exceed 0.90 percent and the price, not less than 97.00 percent nor more than 105 percent of the principal amount thereof, at which the Bonds shall be sold to the Purchaser.

F.  The net present value savings (as a percentage of refunded bonds) shall not be less than 5 percent.

2.  Action Item No. 2.  That the Board of Education hereby selects, approves, and designates Union Bank and Trust Company as bond registrar and paying agent for the advanced refunding in an aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $14,500,000.

3.  Action Item No. 3.  That the Board of Education hereby selects, approves, and designates Ameritas Investment Corp. as underwriter for the advanced refunding bonds in an aggregate principal amount of not to exceed $14,500,000.

Rationale: 

As part of the LPSDO relocation process, the Board at its November 8, 2011, meeting passed a motion directing staff to move forward and seek outside developer input on development of the 59^th and O Street site through a request for proposals (RFP).  Staff implemented the directive with an RFP submittal deadline of December 16, 2011, and approval or rejection date of January 10, 2012.  Also as part of the LPSDO relocation process, the Board at its November 22, 2011, meeting reviewed and publicized a formal decision-making timeline.  Both the developer RFP and the decision-making timeline provided for a Board decision on a potential developer at its January 10, 2012, meeting. 

The Developer RFP resulted in four submittals:

Rare Hospitality Management, Inc., of Orlando, Florida
Continuum Partners, LLC, of Lakewood, Colorado
WRK, LLC, of Lincoln, Nebraska
Realty Trust Group, of Lincoln, Nebraska

All four developers were invited to be interviewed on January 4, 2012.  Staff made its recommendation to the Planning Committee on January 5, 2012.  On January 5, 2012, the Planning Committee reviewed staff’s recommendation and all developer RFP information.

Explanation:

In accordance therewith, the Planning Committee recommends that the Board waive and suspend any first reading requirements or policies and discuss, consider, and approve a developer for the balance of the 59^th and O Street site.

Proposal:

That the Board waive and suspend any first reading requirements or policies and in accordance with the terms and conditions of the RFP approve ____________________________________ as the developer for the balance of 59th and O Street site, subject to the timely and successful negotiations of all necessary formal development agreement(s) for the project to be approved by the Board in accordance with the district’s publicized decision-making timeline.

Rationale:  The Nebraska Crime Commission, in conjunction with the Nebraska Coalition for Juvenile Justice (NCJJ), announced the availability of two federal and state juvenile justice grant funding opportunities:  2011 Federal Title II Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act Formula Grant Funds (J) and 2012 State Juvenile Services Grant Funds (JS).  The purpose of these funds is to improve the juvenile justice system in the State of Nebraska to support the goals of the Nebraska Crime Commission and the NCJJ statewide three-year plan.  This plan is developed with community and professional input and the results of the Comprehensive Juvenile Services Plans submitted by counties in Nebraska.

Explanation:

Lincoln Public Schools Roll Call project seeks to provide early prevention, intervention, and reentry services for students in LPS Title I schools.  Services for Roll Call would include expansion of summer transition activities and targeted services for elementary and middle school students at a high risk or who demonstrate a pattern of truancy and academic failure.  The framework for this project is the 40 Developmental Assets (Search Institute, 2011) and the curriculum used will include WhyTry.  Personnel funded for this project would include a summer school transition specialist (59 days), a full time elementary and middle school attendance specialist during the academic school year, and support for program coordination.   It is anticipated that at least 60 additional low-income and/or system-involved youth will be served through this program. 

Proposal:

That the Board discuss submission of the Roll Call - Federal and State Juvenile Justice Application proposal for the amount of $50,000 for one year, dependent upon final funding.  Matching funds are not required by the applicant; however, designating cash or in-kind matching funds is encouraged to show commitment by the community for the project. 

Rationale:  The Educational Outreach Division of the Library of Congress created the Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) program to promote the effective educational use of the Library’s resources.  To achieve this, the TPS program awards funds to school districts that wish to incorporate Library of Congress digitized primary sources into their professional development agenda.  The purpose is to help teachers use the Library’s vast collection of digitized primary sources to enrich their classroom instruction. The TPS program established four regional pilot centers to assist in coordinating the program on a more local level. One of the four regional centers resides at Illinois State University, which is the administering partner for Midwestern applicants. This grant application has a rolling application date through December of 2012.

Explanation:

CHIPS (Connecting History Instruction with Primary Sources) is a project in development by Lincoln Public Schools which seeks to integrate Library of Congress digital resources into an existing District initiative to improve historical thinking and the use of primary sources in K-12 classroom instruction. LPS is in the third year of a federal Teaching American History grant, which has given great momentum to this initiative. As part of our TAH program, LPS along with the Historical Studies Department at Nebraska Wesleyan University will create three separate graduate courses offered to 75 teachers during the summer of 2012. These include:

1. Thinking Like a Historian.  Centering around the work of Sam Wineburg and the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG), this course will seek to help teachers understand how to infuse the kind of reading, analysis, and writing that historians do, into everyday teaching practices and assessment. Two members of the SHEG staff will be participating in this workshop.


2. Teaching History with Technology.  In this workshop, we will be working with the staff from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln's Center for Digital Research in the Humanities.


3. American Westward Expansion.  The final course of the summer will explore the history of three pieces of federal legislation that have a significant impact on the Great Plains. Each of these pieces of legislation—the Pacific Railroad Act, the Morrill Land Grant Act, and the Homestead Act—will mark their 150th anniversary in 2012. The staff of the National Park Service's Homestead National Monument in Beatrice, Nebraska, will assist with this course.

The TPS grant will allow for significant enhancements to this summer program by providing both digitized materials and consultation by the Library of Congress and Illinois State University. This grant will provide for much greater context, depth and access to primary sources and relevant materials to teachers as they create classroom activities and assessments that can be used across the District.

More specifically, the TPS grant will provide a useful structure for implementing greater use of primary sources District-wide.  The objectives we will use to accomplish this goal are:

1. In all workshops, teacher will receive direct instruction in the use of Library of Congress digital resources.

2. In all workshops, teachers will create teaching tools using Library of Congress digital resources.

3. Teaching activities will be created at every grade level using Library of Congress resources to teach historical thinking skills.

4. These activities will be posted to an LPS website, and disseminated to teachers throughout the district by way of incorporation into existing standards and or staff development flex sessions in the coming years.

5. The evaluation specialist from the ESU will oversee development of assessments measuring appropriate student application of the historical thinking skills when using primary sources.

Proposal:

That the Board discuss submission of this Teaching with Primary Sources Grant application to Illinois State University for approximately $20,000 for one year, dependent upon final funding determination.   No district-funding is required.

Rationale:  Nebraska students may attend a school other than the one in the district in which they reside under the option enrollment statutes.

Explanation:

The attached resolution would admit as option students any K-12 students who meet the statutory and legal conditions and whose application is received by August 10, 2012.

The resolution specifies the circumstances under which late-filed applications would be accepted.

Proposal:

That the Board discuss the proposed option resolution.

Rationale:  Board policies are regularly reviewed to assure consistency with changes in federal or state statutes or administrative directives or recommended changes in district practice.  Following the 2010 Nebraska legislative session, it is necessary to revise the policy regarding entrance to kindergarten.

Board members reviewed the proposed policy at their December 13, 2011, meeting.

Explanation:

The revised state statute (79-214) specifies that beginning with the 2012-13 school year, children must be five years old by July 30 of the summer preceding their enrollment in kindergarten.  This is a change from the current date of October 15.  The statute further requires school districts to identify a procedure to assess the kindergarten readiness for children who turn age five between August 1 and October 15, if requested by parents.

Proposal:

That the Board approve the proposed policy changes. 

Rationale: 

The current session of the Nebraska Unicameral convened January 4, 2012, and will continue for 60 legislative days.

Explanation:

Lincoln Public Schools Assistant to the Superintendent for Governmental Relations, Mary Campbell, will report to the Board on the progress of state and federal legislation at each Board meeting.

Proposal:

For information only; no action is requested.

Rationale:  At the second Board meeting of the month, information regarding the district’s monthly financial report is presented.  Because there was only one Board meeting in December 2011, the November 30, 2011, report is presented at the first Board meeting in January 2012.

Explanation:

The monthly financial report for the month ending November 30, 2011, is attached.

Proposal:

Information item; no Board action required.

Rationale:  Wednesday, January 18 - 9:30 a.m., GNSA Meeting at NCSA

Tuesday, January 24 - 6:00 p.m., Board Meeting

Rationale:  In keeping with Policy 8420, a time limit of five minutes will be allotted for any speaker. At the discretion of the Chair, the speaker may be allotted additional time.

Rationale:  The Lincoln Board of Education is authorized by state statute to hold closed sessions.  Closed sessions may be held when clearly necessary for the protection of the public interest or for the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual.  Reasons that meet this standard include but are not limited to:  (a) strategy sessions with respect to collective bargaining, real estate matters, pending litigation, or litigation which is imminent as evidenced by communication of a claim or threat of litigation to or by the public body; (b) discussion regarding deployment of security personnel or devices; (c) investigative proceedings regarding allegations of criminal misconduct; (d) evaluation of the job performance of a person when necessary to prevent needless injury to the reputation of a person and if such person has not requested a public meeting; and (e) legal advice.

Rationale:  The Lincoln Board of Education is empowered to act on any item listed on the Agenda at any time during the meeting, irrespective of the time or order listed. Pages listed, or further detail, are available upon request. The Open Meetings Act requires and the intention of the Board is that agenda items be sufficiently descriptive to give the public reasonable notice of the matters to be considered at the meeting. The Lincoln Board of Education releases its agenda well in advance of most meetings and desires that all interested persons are fully informed. Any interested person who has a question or needs clarification about the sufficiency of a descriptive item should contact the Office of the Superintendent of Schools.