March 10, 2025 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting
| Regular Board | |
| Attendance Taken on 3/10/2025 at 6:00 PM | |
| Lisa Brass | Present |
| Matt Dalrymple | Present |
| Kyle Fornoff | Present |
| Becky Jobman | Present |
| Kelly Terrell | Present |
| Nate Wyatt | Present |
| Present: 6, Absent: 0 | |
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Comments:
Dr. Allison Jonas, Superintendent
Josie Floyd, Elementary Principal Tomye McKenna, SPED Director & Assistant Elementary Principal Angie Richeson, Director of Teaching & Learning Becky Vang, Business Manager Jeramy Bartels was present to observe the meeting for a master's class. |
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| Minutes | |
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1. Call to Order & Pledge of Allegiance
Rationale:
Mission Statement: A copy of the open meetings law is posted on the wall of the Board Room and is available to the public. |
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2. Approve the Agenda
Rationale:
The Board reserves the right to rearrange the order of items as needed.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
Attachments:
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Links:
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3. Recognition of Visitors
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3.1. Celebration of Excellence
Rationale:
Mrs. Josie Floyd and the Swede Bank Tellers are here to showcase how elementary students are actively engaging with Strategy 2 - Collaborative Partnerships by managing their very own Swede Bank and gaining real life experience as bank tellers!
Discussion:
Dr. Jonas introduced Mrs. Floyd and the student Swede bank tellers. Mrs. Floyd explained how the Swede bank started 3 years ago when the school and Flatwater bank collaborated to start the program. She said there are currently 14 student bank tellers and asked the student tellers present at the meeting to explain a little about the program. One student explained the program helps kids learn how to save money and encourages them to make deposits so they can win prizes. Another student talked about the process of how students can become bank tellers. They said they had an interview with Luke or Amber at Flatwater bank and had to explain why they wanted to be a bank teller. Mrs. Floyd confirmed the students had to apply first and then students were selected for interviews, which were held at Flatwater bank with 2 students being interviewed at the same time. A student advised that the training to be a bank teller was learning how to count the money and the different positions involved when taking a deposit. Another student explained that anyone who is in Kindergarten through 6th grade can make a deposit between 7:40 AM and 8:05 AM on Wednesday mornings. A different student explained that kids can not withdraw money from the bank unless they leave the school district and move away or when they become a 6th grader where they have a special assembly for that. Another student explained the bank program has been a positive addition to the elementary school by teaching kids responsibility and that there are rewards to the actions you do, like saving money. Mrs. Floyd asked the board members if they had any questions. Mr. Fornoff asked if this has sparked any interest in students becoming bankers some day. Some students responded with a maybe. Mrs. Floyd asked the students if there were any other favorite parts of being a teller and one student responded by saying they enjoyed talking and interacting with other kids. Another student agreed and said they enjoyed seeing other kids and getting to know them. Another student stated they liked being able to talk to the younger kids and help teach them responsibility and be great role models for them. Mr. Wyatt asked the students if they knew that they were 3 to 4 times more likely to go to college and graduate college if they had a savings account and everyone thought that was a fun fact. Mrs. Floyd also stated that the student bank tellers are not only expected to show up to work and count money, but they are also expected to show up to work on time. Dr. Jonas thanked them for coming to the meeting.
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3.2. Public Participation
Rationale:
Board Policy 2009 - Opportunity for Public Expression. 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.
Discussion:
No public participation.
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4. Action Items
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4.1. Consent Agenda
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
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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4.2. Personnel
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4.2.1. Consider the resignation of certificated staff.
Rationale:
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
Discussion:
Dr. Jonas explained Ms. Stevens had submitted her letter of resignation effective at the end of this school year and wished her the very best as she goes on to explore the opportunities offered by earning her LMHP. Mr. Fornoff stated that on behalf of the board, they wanted to pass along their congratulations on her new position and a thank you for her service to the district.
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4.2.2. Consider approval of contract(s) for certificated staff.
Rationale:
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
Discussion:
Dr. Jonas read over the rationale. Mr. Fornoff gave a big thank you to Dr. Jonas and the rest of the admin team for the hiring process this year. Dr. Jonas added that they have been able to hire early and have been very successful in those efforts and that she says this often but wants to give thanks to the board for supporting those recruitment efforts. She said there was a time when it would have been challenging for us to be able to compete with the Benningtons of Nebraska but that that is not the case at this point in time and that it's really neat to see how we have been able to target recruiting both new teachers and veteran teachers and make it financially viable for them to be able to call Gothenburg home.
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4.3. Discuss and consider approval of the compensation package for non-instructional staff for the 2025-2026 school year.
Rationale:
The Personnel Committee has met to discuss compensation for non-instructional staff. This category includes office personnel, paraprofessionals, custodians, bus drivers, and directors. The committee recommends an overall increase in total compensation of 4.31%. Total compensation includes applicable health insurance through the Educators Health Alliance, which saw rates increase by approximately 5.49% from 2024-2025 rates.
Overall, our district will spend approximately $10,088,337 on the wages and benefits of all staff next year. This is an increase of $368,346 or 3.79% from the 2024-2025 school year.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
Discussion:
Dr. Jonas read over the rationale. Mr. Dalrymple asked which positions fall under leadership support. Dr. Jonas stated that would be everyone that doesn't fit into the other categories, like business manager, nurse, district office administrative assistant, community engagement coordinator, tech para, and director of technology as well as building secretaries. Mr. Fornoff stated he wanted to give Mrs. Jobman a huge thank you for her service on the Personal Committee as this was the last function of this committee for this cycle.
Attachments:
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4.4. Discuss and consider approval of the 2025-2026 school calendar.
Rationale:
The proposed calendar for 2025-2026 is attached. There are two slight changes from the first draft that was presented last month.
1) September 19th was scheduled to be HALF of a work day for teachers due to Harvest Festival. This will now be a full work day to accommodate some additional professional learning. 2) To give us one more extra day, the proposed last day of school is now Thursday, May 21st instead of Wednesday, May 20th. This gives FOUR extra days in the schedule instead of three as previously stated. This past month has made me really thankful for those extra days. :)
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
Discussion:
Dr. Jonas read over the rationale and stated she feels like spring break is the one break that we can't get 100% correct. Last year we had a week and the feedback we got was, let's try 3 days and try to predict if we will be in Lincoln those 3 days. Then this year the feedback was, let's go back to a full week of break, because that's a really nice break and reset for teachers and for students. She said she feels like we are always kind of guessing as this year did not land on the time we were in Lincoln, so this might be something the board might want to talk about or think about if they would like to discuss whether we want to alternate between having girls' state basketball week versus boys' state basketball week. Consideration of moving the break was discussed highlighting that teachers and students would need to have a week of third quarter that would continue after spring break. She stated we are open and can support and articulate in either direction but would be open to receiving feedback from board members and teachers. Mrs. Terrell stated she doesn't know personally if she loves the quarter three where you still have to come back after break and finish that, and asked if that's how teachers feel as well. Dr. Jonas stated that she thinks the teachers of the quarter classes would feel 100% that way and that the other teachers might say we will just adjust. She also said she thinks a piece that makes this more challenging is also something to be celebrated and that is that our activity teams have been exceptionally successful in the last few years, so we have had some closures due to some state activities and, if that were not the case, we wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation so what a wonderful problem to have. Mr. Fornoff asked if there was anything else from the board whether they had a preference one way or another. Mrs. Terrell stated she likes the draft currently out there and the other members agreed to keep the draft as is.
Other changes to the first draft included expanding September 19th to a full contract day to allow for some additional professional development to take place on that day. Additionally, to give one more "extra" day, the last scheduled day was moved to Thursday, May 21st.
Attachments:
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4.5. Discuss and consider approval of the Interlocal Agreement for the Purchase of Natural Gas and Related Services.
Rationale:
NASB’s natural gas programs on the two major natural gas pipelines were created to fulfill two needs that many local districts have in dealing with utility costs - competitive prices and budget certainty. NASB has over 110 school districts and ESUs across Nebraska participating in our CJUMP and NJUMP purchasing consortiums to leverage their purchasing power and achieve lower utility bills. Many of our members have been in CJUMP since it was created in 2011.
Rather than pricing the entire year’s gas needs at one time in the spring as is typical for most utility price-lock programs, the consortium locks in fixed prices as market opportunities become available by purchasing gas in layers over time and in varying percentages of total projected volumes. Historically, this approach has achieved a better price for natural gas with a higher level of budget certainty than districts could achieve on their own. Our district is on the SourceGas (now owned by Black Hills Energy) distribution system in northern, central and western Nebraska. The Choice Joint Utilities Management Program, as it’s formally known, supplies natural gas to nearly 50 NASB member districts. The program operates as an independent Interlocal Pool and is governed by its own Board of Trustees drawn from consortium members, typically superintendents or business managers. The trustees hold their annual meeting at the State Education Conference in Omaha each November. Member districts signed three-year agreements last year so we would plan to sign a new agreement in 2 years to put us on the same cycle as the other member districts. If our board signs this Agreement now, CJUMP will assist during the April period to complete the Source Gas information that gets returned to them prior to engaging in CJUMP services.
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
Discussion:
Dr. Jonas read over the rationale and confirmed we did ask some additional questions regarding applying their logic and their methods and post-dating them. It looks like it would have saved us money three years and would have cost us money two years out of the 5 years. She stated that Mr. Wyatt joked that this probably wasn't in any of the classes I took on how to become a superintendent and he's right. She stated she feels like what this comes down to is do we feel comfortable in our process to make those selections independently or do we want to entertain this inter-local agreement where they would essentially do that research for us and then make that recommendation. She asked the facilities committee if they had any additional thoughts after looking over what was shared. Mr. Dalrymple stated he couldn't remember if this saved anything and Mrs. Jobman stated it saved a lot four years ago. Mr. Dalrymple said it would depend on whether the savings outweighed the cost and Mrs. Jobman confirmed it would have saved us almost $13,000.00 one year and the most it would have cost was $1,200.00. Mr. Wyatt confirmed it was 6 years worth of data that they compiled and compared three different categories. Mrs. Jobman asked if we were locked in for just a year and Dr. Jonas confirmed it is for 3 years. Mrs. Jobman said based on the historical numbers, it would save us about $2,000.00 a year.
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5. Reports
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5.1. Board of Education Reports
Rationale:
Committee Reports (Chair in bold)
Discussion:
Attachments:
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5.2. Administrative Reports
Rationale:
1. Topic Specific Administrative Reports
2. General Administrative Reports a. Elementary (Mrs. Floyd) b. High School (Mr. Ryker) c. Activities (Mr. Mroczek) d. Special Populations (Mrs. McKenna) e. Teaching and Learning (Mrs. Richeson) f. Superintendent (Dr. Jonas)
Discussion:
See attached reports.
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6. Next Meeting
Rationale:
Monday, April 14th
Swede Activities: JV Golf @ Minden
Discussion:
Next meeting schedule for Monday, April 14th @ 7 PM.
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7. Adjournment
Action(s):
No Action(s) have been added to this Agenda Item.
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