January 16, 2026 at 8:00 AM - ESUCC Regular Board Meeting

Discussion:  The Board Meeting was called to order at 8:01am.

Discussion:  Dr. Takako Olson, ESU 18 Administrator, and Dr. Kanyon Chism, ESU 19 Administrator, were absent.

Discussion:  No additional visitors present. 

Discussion:  No public comments provided.

Discussion:  Chris Wlashcin, NDE Information Systems Officer, attended the board meeting to introduce himself. Mr. Wlashcin is focusing on NDE data quality and the security of sensitive information in the first few months of his career as the NDE Information Systems Officer. 

Discussion:  ESUCC CIO, Scott Isaacson, reviewed the attached Cyber Security Spotlight document.

Discussion:  Learning Community was not present. 

Discussion:  Kevin Wingard, NCSA Ambassador, attended the board meeting to provide a brief NCSA update. Events coming up: Administrator Days, Emerging Administrators Conference, and many more. Mr. Wingard and the ESUCC board discussed different bills in the legislation. 

Discussion:  Dr. Shirley Vargas, NDE School Transformation Officer & Office Administrator, reviewed the linked NDE Updates 2025-26.

Discussion:  Dr. Schnoes, ESU 3 Administrator, provided the AESA report to the board. Dr. Schnoes thanked those who attended the AESA Annual Conference in Colorado Springs. The next AESA Annual Conference will be held in Orlando, Florida. AESA created a book on STEM. If any of the ESU Administrators has not received a copy of the STEM book and is interested in one, email Dr. Schnoes.   

Discussion:  Darion Miller, Sparq Data Solutions Client Service Manager, attended to provide a Sparq Negotiations update to the board. 

Darion has been working with Marci Ostmeyer, ESU 7 Administrator, and Linda Shefyck, ESU 7 Business Manager on data they noticed contained inconsistencies. The other benefits that were broken out were not all included in the calculation. Sparq is currently working on correcting this issue. The filtering function will also be corrected. The report section was not connected to the overall calculations, this is being corrected. Darion encouraged administrators to re-download information previously downloaded because it would not contain all the benefit information. 

Refresher: When filling out additional bargaining unit information, please break out the benefits into individual buckets. Darion will get a confirmation on where FICA and retirement will be categorized, either with salary or benefits. Administrators would prefer FICA and retirement to be separated out and not included in salary. 

Discussion:  ESUCC CEO Dr. Polk reviewed the attached CEO Report to the Board - January 2026 document.

Discussion:  No report.

Discussion:  No report.

Discussion:  No report.

Discussion:  SMART Committee Chair, Phillip Picquet, provided the SMART update to the board. The SMART committee met in December 2025. Nathan McClenahan, ESU 10, will be retiring. ESUCC CIO Scott Isaacson and Nathan McClenahan are in contact regarding the work Nate is doing, so there is a transition plan in place when Mr. McClenahan retires. 

Discussion:  ESUCC Board President, Dr. Heimann, provided the Executive Committee report. Dr. Polk updated her goals and the document is attached for the board to review. There was discussion about board member mileage and the possibility of having board member mileage in the next budget request. 

Discussion:  ESUCC CEO Dr. Polk reviewed the attached Budget Summary December 2025 Updated document. 

Discussion:  The Executive Committee reviewed the three strategic plan proposals. There is no action at this time. ESUCC Board President, Dr. Heimann, encouraged all the board members to review the proposals. There will be a recommendation at the February 2026 board meeting. The timeline would be to approve in February, start in March, and work through the strategic planning process by the November board meeting. The outcomes of the strategic plan would be implemented at the January 2027 board meeting. Corey Dahl, ESU 8 Administrator, used Mission Matters for facilitation and a portion of their strategic planning, and provided a positive reference. 

Discussion:  ESUCC CEO Dr. Polk noted that ESUCC will be doing the same work in the MOU as it was doing under the contract, which ended December 31, 2025. This MOU outlines the expectation for ESUCC as the Canvas fiscal agent.

Discussion:  Dr. Laura Barrett, ESU 13 Administrator, provided the Committee to Review Standards update. The committee has met several times and a survey was sent out. The attached Feedback on ESU Standards document was created from the results of the survey responses. 

Discussion:  Dr. Laura Barrett, ESU 13 Administrator, provided the Education Resources Committee update. The SDA budget proposal will be acted upon this month. The budget action items for ESPD and TLT will be in the February 2026 meeting. 

ESUCC CLO Andrew Easton reviewed the attached ESUCC Ed Resources Committee Report (Easton November-December 2025) document.

Discussion:  Dr. Melissa Wheelock, ESU 10 Administrator, provided the Legal Committee update. 

Craig Peterson, ESUCC Coop Director, reviewed the attached 2026-01 Coop Peterson Report. 

 

Discussion:  Gregg Robke, ESU 5 Administrator, provided the Information Services Committee update.  

Discussion:  Accessibility discussion — The accessibility website has been added to the Admin At-A-Glance document.

ESU 15 and ESU 16 had their annual Board Member Workshop on January 13, 2026. 

ESU 3 is having a national speaker in the coming months. If other ESUs are interested, reach out to Dr. Schnoes.

There is a possibility the Student Leader Event will occur in the Spring of 2026. ESUCC CEO Dr. Polk will follow up with potential dates.

Discussion:  The Board Meeting adjourned at 11:15am.

Minutes respectfully submitted by the ESUCC Executive Secretary to the CEO, Mindy Reed.