January 14, 2026 at 6:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting
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1. Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance
Discussion:
Superintendent Hanson called the Regular Meeting to order at 6:00 PM and the Pledge of Allegiance was said.
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2. Nebraska Open Meetings Law
Discussion:
The audience was reminded that Open Meeting Laws would be followed.
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3. Motion to Excuse Board Member's Absence
Discussion:
All members were present.
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4. District Mission Statement
The Raymond Central community is committed to providing a positive, challenging learning environment which prepares each individual to be a responsible citizen in an ever-changing society. |
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5. Annual Organizational Meeting
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5.1. Election of Officers
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5.1.1. Elect President
Discussion:
Superintendent Hanson called for nominations for President of the Board. Motion by Matulka, second by Benes that Cathy Burklund be elected as Board President to serve a term of one year, or until the person’s successor is elected and qualified. RCV 5-0, Burklund abstained. Motion carried.
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5.1.2. Elect Vice President
Discussion:
President Burklund assumed chairmanship. Motion by Lange, second by Burklund that Larry Heyen be elected as Board Vice President. RCV 5-0, Heyen abstained. Motion carried.
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5.1.3. Elect Secretary
Discussion:
Motion by Matulka, second by Brase that Bill Lange be elected as Board Secretary. RCV 5-0, Lange abstained. Motion carried.
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5.1.4. Elect Treasurer
Discussion:
Motion by Brase, second by Matulka that Mary Benes be elected as Board Treasurer. RCV 5-0, Benes abstained. Motion carried.
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5.2. Review Board Policy 8272 Code of Ethics
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Discussion:
Board Policy 8272 Code of Ethics was distributed to Board members and reviewed.
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5.3. Approval of Commitees, Positions, and Designation
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5.3.1. Discuss, Consider and Take Action to approve Perry Law Firm and KSB Law Firm as the primary legal counsel.
Discussion:
Motion by Matulka, second by Benes to approve Perry Law Firm and KSB Law Firm as the primary legal counsel. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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5.3.2. Discuss, Consider President's appointment to board committee and representative positions.
Discussion:
Motion by Benes, second by Matulka to maintain the same Board Committee assignments for 2026: Curriculum & American Civics: Cathy Burklund-Chair, Bill Lange, Derek Matulka; Facilities & Transportation: Derek Matulka-Chair, Cathy Burklund, Bill Lange; Finance Committee: Cathy Burklund-Chair, Larry Heyen, Bill Lange; Negotiations Committee: Mary Benes-Chair, Larry Heyen, Derek Matulka; Policy Committee: Mary Benes-Chair, Bernadette Brase, Larry Heyen. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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5.3.3. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to select Jones Bank, Ceresco Bank and First Northeast Bank of Nebraska as depositories of record.
Discussion:
Motion by Heyen, second by Matulka to select Jones Bank, Ceresco Bank and First Northeast Bank of Nebraska as depositories of record. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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5.3.4. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary action to select the Wahoo Newspaper, Lincoln Journal Star, or other newspapers of general circulation in the event of the need to publish a notice on short notice, as district newspapers of record.
Discussion:
Motion by Matulka, second by Brase to select the Lincoln Journal Star, Wahoo Newspaper, or other newspapers of general circulation in the event of the need to publish a notice on short notice, as District Newspapers of record. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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5.3.5. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to appoint Superintendent as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and all federal programs representative.
Discussion:
Motion by Heyen, second by Lange to appoint the Superintendent as Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and all federal programs representative. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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5.3.6. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to Appoint Bryon Hanson as the Complaint Coordinator.
Discussion:
Motion by Lange, second by Matulka to appoint Bryon Hanson as the Complaint Coordinator. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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5.3.7. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to Appoint Tony Kobza as the Title IV Coordinator.
Discussion:
Motion by Benes, second by Matulka to appoint Tony Kobza as the Title IV Coordinator. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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5.3.8. Disseminate to Board members the conflict of interest policies.
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Discussion:
Conflict of interest policies 8260, 8261, and 8270 were distributed to Board members.
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5.4. Review the Plan for Review of Board Policy
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6. Consent Agenda
Discussion:
Motion by Matulka, second by Benes to approve the consent agenda as presented including the regular meeting minutes of December 10, 2025; December financial statement; monthly bills; changes to Board Policies 1010-Visiting School, 3131-Procurement Plan, 3132-Internal Controls, 3160-Report of Treasurer; resignation of Makenna Jones, 5th grade and Rhiannon Stoner, Kindergarten; and approval of substitute teachers Elizabeth Eby, Harriet Freitas, Cameron Hyde, Elli Marker, Clayton Rivers, Bryn Schwarz, Douglas Stephens and Valerie Woods. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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6.1. Minutes of December 10, 2025 Meeting
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6.2. Financial Statement/Report
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6.3. Monthly Bills
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6.4. Policy Review
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6.5. Certificated Staff Hire(s)/Reassignment(s)/Resignation(s)
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7. Correspondence/Recognition
Discussion:
Congratulations to the following students for being accepted into:
Wayne State Honor Choir (Feb 6th), all selected for the Treble Choir: Elizabeth Pytlik (alto 2); Brooklyn Temple (alto 2); Rebecca Sklenar (soprano 2); and Elizabeth Sklenar (alto 1). Patriots of the Plains Honor Band (Feb 7th at Lincoln NW HS): Grace Reed (horn) and Marissa Tvrdy (trombone). Wayne State Honor Band (Jan 24th): Kate Field (JH - Alto Saxophone); Sade Gaines (JH - Trombone); Ray Dickey (HS - Alto Saxophone); and Evelyn Dickey (HS - Trombone). These will be great experiences, so way to work hard and represent RC! |
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8. Public Forum
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9. Reports
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9.1. Administrative Reports
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Discussion:
Submitted by Troy Lurz, Jr-Sr High School Principal
Professional Development/Resource Adoption Our next professional development day is scheduled for January 19. During this session, we will continue our Focus on New Learning, with January’s installment centered on Making Sense of New Learning. We will spend time reviewing relevant research that supports this work and will also provide staff with time to reflect on their learning. Thank you to Deb Kruse for continuing to guide this process. We will also continue to carve out additional time for the English Language Arts team to advance their work with CommonLit, including best practices for delivering writing instruction, with support from a CommonLit trainer on January 19. Additionally, the Science Department continues to review, sample, and narrow down potential instructional resource options. Counseling
The Raymond Central High School Student Council is proud to announce that they are organizing a community blood drive in partnership with the Nebraska Community Blood Bank. Because this blood drive supports the community blood bank, all donated blood stays right here in our local community, helping neighbors, friends, and families when they need it most. The blood drive will take place on Friday, January 16 from 9:30am-1:00pm, with the Bloodmobile located in the RCHS parking lot. The Student Council invites all eligible community members to come out and support this important cause. This year’s drive ties into the "Green Flag" theme, symbolizing care, responsibility, and doing the right thing for others. Donating blood is truly a green flag moment; one simple action that can save lives and make a meaningful difference. We appreciate the continued support of our school and community as our students lead by example and give back in a powerful way. JH Student Council The Junior High Student Council is running concession stands on January 13 to raise money for Nebraska Make-A-Wish. A portion of the proceeds from the Middle School Dance on January 23 will also be contributed to Nebraska Make-A-Wish. We are excited for the dance. All RC 6-8th grade students are invited to attend from 7-10 PM in the New Gym on January 23. The theme is Hawaiian! FBLA FBLA Members have been preparing for the State Leadership Conference. They will compete in objective tests, presentations, and role play events. SLC is April 16-18 in Kearney. Staff Meetings High school staff meetings continue to focus on student learning, systems, upcoming events, and data. During the most recent meeting, we connected the time and effort of Dr. Job and Mr. Placke related to differentiation to the work of Ralph Tyler and Benjamin Bloom (Bloom’s Taxonomy). This connection reinforces that our efforts to support students are grounded in their needs, as defined by this research. I challenged staff to consider the evidence they are encountering and what they are willing to accept as meaningful. The goal is to identify evidence, review it, develop a plan, and use that plan to help students grow. We also reviewed upcoming events, programs, and activities. In addition, staff received training on the Alternative Assessment protocol as defined by the Nebraska Department of Education. Electronic Communication Log One of the new innovations we have implemented this year is the use of a communication log. This log is generated by classroom teachers and linked to a parent or guardian’s email or text messaging system. Its purpose is to keep families informed about their student’s progress at school. While the communication log can be used to share academic concerns or behavioral issues, it is also designed to highlight the positive things students are doing. Staff have been encouraged to remember to send positive reports home as well. Too often, families only hear from the school when a student is struggling or having a difficult day. Through this process, we aim to share the many positive moments happening in our classrooms. Over the past few months, we have observed a steady increase in the number of positive referrals being sent home through this system. Thank you to Mrs. Osten, Mrs. Newman, and Ms. Horbach for all of your efforts in bringing this to fruition. Submitted by Tony Kobza, Asst Jr-Sr High School Principal/Athletic Director Facilities We moved and updated the senior pictures screen as well as updated the valedictorian and salutatorian plaques. We will continue to add to the Academic Wall with the help of the Teacher Leadership Team. We are working to design updated recognition for the banners in the gym as well as CTSO, Activities and Athletics historical recognition. Activities FBLA - Looking ahead, the next RC FBLA Craft Fair is scheduled for March 21, 2026. FBLA is also launching a business clothes closet to provide members and RC students with professional clothing for competitions and the workforce. More details will be shared soon. One Act - The Drama Program is gearing up for the Drama Showcase and the Spring Musical (to be announced), as well as our two planned show experiences coming up during the spring semester: Hadestown (based on Greek Mythology) and Capital City (based on Mari Sandoz's novel), both at the Lied Center. Beyond being a great deal of fun, experiences like this are invaluable to the students' learning because they can observe the "best of the best" in the performing arts and take inspiration for their own art, strengthening skills they use in and out of rehearsal. Quiz Bowl - The school qualified a team to attend the National Academic Quiz Bowl Tournament in Chicago again this year. Students who will be attending are: Drew Tice, Sophia Burt, Deacon Christensen, and Marissa Tvrdy. Band: We will have our second JH pep band on February 2nd for the girls JH basketball game. If this goes well, it is my plan to add one JH football and JH volleyball game next year, and possibly make this a tradition to do one junior pep band game per sport. HS kicked off their first basketball pep band on December 11th. Facilities/MTAF Created parking area on the well field that can be used for overflow parking attached to current and future parking areas. MTAF is over $1 million raised through donations, sponsorships, fundraising, grants and in-kind commitments. The driveway is paved and close to being usable. This will affect traffic flow in a positive way. We are working on fundraising and grants that will help us continue to show progress. Driveway is a major step. We are close to being able to pursue the lease purchase option but WILL NOT move forward until we feel confident funding is available to complete next steps. Next steps are:
Submitted by Abby Horbach, Asst Jr-Sr High School Principal We officially rolled out our updated Intervention/Advisory structure, which went into effect at the start of the 2nd semester. Under this new model, the Math department is pulling targeted students on Tuesdays and Thursdays for focused reteaching intervention, while ELA is pulling 11th grade on Wednesdays to support students with ACT preparation and providing grammar instruction for 8th grade students. While there are many moving parts to this new structure, staff have been highly receptive and collaborative, demonstrating a strong commitment to supporting student growth and achievement. The updated model continues to align with our MTSS framework and allows for more intentional Tier II supports. Additionally, several staff members are piloting a new grading ?policy aimed at increasing instructional impact. This work focuses on prioritizing purposeful and standards-aligned formative and summative assessments? with the goal of? ensuring student tasks are meaningful, relevant, and directly connected to learning outcomes. ? It might be the start of a new semester, but attendance remains an ongoing focus. Our team continues to take a proactive approach by communicating and meeting with families early to address concerns and support students before ?negative patterns become more ?established. Strong attendance is essential to student success, and we appreciate the continued collaboration among staff and families. Overall, ?there has been a lot of positive momentum at the start of the 2nd semester and I am excited to see how these structures continue to support students academically?, social emotionally, and behaviorally as the semester progresses. Submitted by Elementary Principals Steve Rose and Deb Kruse Winter Benchmark Testing This week we administered the winter benchmark reading assessments using FastBridge. FastBridge provides reliable, research-based data that helps us monitor student progress and identify individual strengths and areas of need in early literacy and reading comprehension. The winter benchmark results will be used by grade-level teams and support staff during our benchmark protocol meetings the week of January 19th to review student growth since fall, adjust instructional practices, and determine appropriate interventions and supports. This data also helps ensure instructional decisions are aligned to meet the needs of all learners as we work toward end-of-year reading goals. Winter Concert A huge thanks to Mrs. Kesting and Mrs. Nierman for a wonderful night of music. Our K-5 students had an amazing turnout for the concert before break. The students sounded great and we had many compliments from the parents about the great performance. Submitted by Amanda Coufal, Director of Special Education Para Support Document To welcome staff back in January, Johanna Jackson and Stacey Doan developed a paraeducator resource titled Paraprofessional Refresh and Reset: A Guide to Supporting Students Successfully. This document provides clear expectations, instructional strategies, guidance on data collection to support student success, and guidelines for assistive technology. Targeted Improvement Plan (TIP) Update On January 7, Caitlin Roussan and myself attended a TIP meeting hosted by the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) at the ESU. This year introduces updated components to the TIP process, including new data submission requirements. Our TIP plan is due on May 1st and will support the goal of improving reading in grades 2nd-5th grades. TIP Team members: Caitlin Roussan, Deb Kruse, Monica Blank, Nicole Kliment, Paige Mestl, and Amanda Coufal. Special Education Enrollment and Evaluation Data for First Semester:
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9.2. Student Board Member Report
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9.3. Superintendent's Report
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Discussion:
Mr. Hanson commended staff for how well they supported our students and each other during a difficult time.
Our Rule 10 Audit resulted in one minor violation - art must be taught at all grade levels at the middle school level. Superintendent Hanson has taken the first step of the remediation process and this will be fixed in our schedule next year. The Preschool Advisory Committee met on January 8. Parents gave positive feedback about our preschool program and staff plus gave a few suggestions on how we could make it easier for parents by providing clear information on PowerSchool; how to pay lunches and tuition online; website, more training, etc. |
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9.3.1. Classified Staff Hire(s)/Reassignment(s)/Resignation(s)
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9.3.2. NASB Monthly Update
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9.3.3. NRCSA Monthly Report
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9.3.4. Update on Superintendent Goals
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9.3.5. Safety Report
Discussion:
The process developed by our Safety/Crisis Team was used over the last few weeks and the tragic events were managed well.
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9.3.6. Facilities Report
Discussion:
We are getting proposals on lighting for the driveways and potential gravel parking lots.
Jared had a roof inspection done and we have no significant concerns. The roof over the gym is in good shape with the potential of the need to address seams in 5 years. There are some small repair spots on the rubber roof. |
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9.3.7. Important Upcoming Dates
Discussion:
January 21 - Board Work Session at 6:00 PM
January 25-26 - Legislative Conference |
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9.4. Board Committee Reports
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9.4.1. Curriculum & American Civics Committee (Burklund-chair, Lange, Matulka)
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9.4.2. Facilities & Transportation Committee (Matulka-chair, Burklund, Lange)
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9.4.3. Finance Committee (Burklund-chair, Heyen, Lange)
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9.4.4. Negotiations Committee (Benes-chair, Heyen, Matulka)
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9.4.5. Policy Committee (Benes-chair, Heyen, Brase)
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10. Old Business
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11. New Business
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11.1. Discuss, Consider, and Take Necessary Action to approve Denise Kaiser and Aaron Haake as members of the Raymond Central Educational Foundation.
Discussion:
Motion by Brase, second by Lange to approve Denise Kaiser and Aaron Haake as members of the Raymond Central Educational Foundation. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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11.2. Discuss, Consider and Take Necessary Action to approve the granting of 1 PTO day for work done over Holiday Break.
Discussion:
Motion by Lange, second by Heyen to approve granting one PTO day to crisis team staff members who went above and beyond during the holiday break to ensure the needs of our students and staff were fully met. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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12. Next Regular Board Meeting
Discussion:
The next regular Board of Education Meeting will be held Wednesday, February 11, 2026.
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13. Adjournment
Discussion:
Motion by Matulka, second by Brase to adjourn the meeting at 6:29 PM. RCV 6-0. Motion carried.
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