May 7, 2012 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Meeting

Rationale:  A motion will be necessary if a member of the elected Board is absent.

Rationale:  The Bellevue Board of Education abides by the Nebraska Open Meetings Law.  A copy of the law is posted on the wall of our Board room.

Rationale:  At this time I would like to invite HAL Coach Susan Hester, along with students and coaches from the Mission Middle School state championship team, to come forward and brief the Board on Science Olympiad and the recent state tournament.

Rationale:  Approve by consent items in section B of the Agenda identified with an asterisk and receive the information and proposals in sections D and E identified with an asterisk.

Rationale:  The Minutes of the April 2, 2012, Board of Education meeting were sent to all members of the Board of Education for review.

Rationale:  Acknowledge receipt of the Treasurer's Report for April, 2012.

Rationale:  Approve the payment of claims totaling $1,629,587.08.

Rationale:  Release (1) Lydia Elliott, (2) Matt Fritsche, (3) Kathleen Peters, (4) Susan Quint, and (5) Robbie Stapleton from their contracts effective May 23, 2012, and (6) Jason Farwell from his contract effective June 30, 2012.

Rationale:  Elect (1) Daniel Bombeck and (2) Dawn DeTurk to the certified staff for the 2012-13 school year effective July 1, 2012, and (3) Scott Bobier, (4) Tony Fischer, (5) Melissa Hansen, (6) Justin Hayes, (7) Adam Heuertz, (8) Kay Larson, (9) Jonathan Pinkerton, (10) Elizabeth Putman, (11) Sara Ramirez, (12) Kaylene Randall, (13) Megan Rynders, (14) Abby Schukei, (15) Kristen Schweer, (16) Deanna Vavak, and (17) Whitney Wilson to the certified staff for the 2012-13 school year effective August 9, 2012, subject to their release from any contractual agreements with other school districts.

Rationale:  The Board reviewed the proposed changes to Board Policies 402.10, Political Activities, and 403.09, Employees Serving on Commissions, Boards and Committees, at the April 2, 2012, Board meeting. The attached proposed Board policies are presented tonight for final approval.

Rationale:  A staff survey was conducted at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year and resulted in more teachers suggesting a Mac platform.  The technology team took Mac computers around to the schools and the feedback from staff suggested transitioning to Macs.  The district technology committee outlined current student needs, curriculum needs, and future student needs; Mac met more needs than the Windows based platform.  

A change in product line at Apple allows the District to purchase the Macs at a cheaper cost.  The purchase can only be made through a sole source vendor; the Mac computers must be purchased through Apple, as no other vendor is allowed to sell to school districts.

Tonight, Greg Boettger, Director of Technology, will present the plan supporting the need to replace certified staff computers during the 2012-2013 school year.

The recommended action is to approve a contract with Apple Computer Company, not to exceed $1,200,000, for certified staff computers to be purchased during the 2012-2013 budget year.  

Rationale:  The Bellevue Science Olympiad teams competed at the 2012 Nebraska Tournament on Saturday, April 20, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, East Campus. The Mission team won the middle school division of the tournament out of twenty-nine schools and advances to the national tournament in Orlando, FL on May 18-19, 2012. The Lewis and Clark team won second place in the tournament and the Logan Fontenelle team won third place. In the high school division, Bellevue West won second place out of twenty-six teams and Bellevue East won third place. Teams compete in twenty regular events and several trial events for team points. The CASNR College of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln offers scholarships to the winners of each event and will donate $1000 to the winning teams to help with expenses to travel to the national tournament. The Nebraska Academy of Sciences also donates $1000 to the winning teams.

Mission Middle School set a record at the tournament and is now the Nebraska team with the most wins in the history of the Science Olympiad Tournament with eleven wins including eight consecutive wins. The winning Mission Middle School team took first place in Bottle Rockets, Crime Busters, Disease Detectives, Experimental Design, Food Science, Forestry, Keep the Heat, Meteorology, Mousetrap Vehicle, Optics, Reach for the Stars, Road Scholar, Towers, Water Quality, Helicopter Egg Drop, and Endangered, Exotic, Extinct. They took second place in Anatomy, Dynamic Planet, Rocks and Minerals, and Storm the Castle, third place in Awesome Aquifers, and fifth place in Quiz Bowl. Team members are Kirsten Hall, Sydney Hanson, Mary-Francis Laporte, Monica Pham, Chloe Schwarting, Tommy Casart, Trevor Fellbaum, Andrew Nelson, Michelle Ruzicka, Krizzel Soratorio, Paige Haskins, Jonathan Jenkins, Alex Molnar, Samantha Seaman, and Kelly Speltz. The team is coached by Melody Kjerstad and Norma Thompson.

The second place overall Lewis and Clark Middle School team took first place in Awesome Aquifers. They took second place in Crime Busters, Food Science, Optics, Reach for the Stars, and Road Scholar. The team took third place in Bottle Rockets, Disease Detectives, Keep the Heat, Towers, and Water Quality. They took fourth place in Anatomy, Experimental Design, Forestry, Mousetrap Vehicle, Technical Writing, and Helicopter Egg Drop. They took fifth place in Dynamic Planet, Meteorology, and Rocks and Minerals and sixth place in Storm the Castle. Team members are Aurora Kenworthy, Samantha Ramming, Hannah Warak, Brenna Treanor, Sarah Zawistowski, Callie Pancoe, Alex Wheeler, Emma Larson, Celeste Kenworthy, Sierra Karst, Xedrix Barbeyto, Mitchell Seigel, Elaine Stueve, Audrey Lausterer, Nicholas Schelkner, and Tucker Curry. The team is coached by Kristin Kuhn and Charles Owen.

The third place overall Logan Fontenelle Middle School team took first place in Storm the Castle and second place in Bottle Rockets, Disease Detectives, Experimental Design, Forestry, Mousetrap Vehicle, and Towers. The team took third place in Anatomy, Crime Busters, Dynamic Planet, Reach for the Stars, and Road Scholar. They took fourth place in Awesome Aquifers, Food Science and Endangered, Exotic, Extinct, fifth place in Keep the Heat and Quiz Bowl, and sixth place in Rocks and Minerals and Water Quality. Team members are Elizabeth Alexander, Luke Carter, Daniela Cortes, Caleb Wagner, Henamari Ybay, Della Wilson, Brooklyn Mussman, Casey Jones, Michael Kochera, Tejiri Smith, Abby Muraski, Taylor Billington, Rachel Alexander, and Timothy Trojanowski. The team is coached by Christine Daniels and Christopher Casart.

The second place overall Bellevue West High School team took first place in Disease Detectives, Helicopters, Optics, Protein Modeling, Sounds of Music, GPS, and Endangered, Extinct, Exotic. They took second place in Experimental Design, Forestry, Gravity Vehicle, Remote Sensing, and Rocks and Minerals. The team took third place in Anatomy and Astronomy. They won fourth place in Microbe Mission and Technical Writing, and fifth place in Towers and Water Quality. Team members are Lauren Garcia, Bradley Schrag, Michelle Pham, Aaron Kruger, Sarah Bigge, Kevin Hanna, Matt Kruger, Daniel Moses, Ashley Weed, Cole Burmeister, Zach Williams, Matt Thompson, Matt Healy, Sarah Bethel, Maxwell Lydiatt, Emily Vokal, and Nicole McElroy. The team is coached by Bradley Nord and Britton Sullivan.

The third place overall Bellevue East High School team took first place in Fermi Questions and Forestry. They won second place in Astronomy, Sounds of Music, Quiz Bowl, and Technical Writing. The team took third place in Gravity Vehicle, Helicopter, Microbe Mission, Protein Modeling, and Water Quality. They won fourth place in Anatomy, Optics, and Towers, and fifth place in Chem Lab and Disease Detectives. Team members are Trevor Savage, Sam Ervin, Darius Rahmlow, Brianna Boehne, Weston Secrist, Christian Rush, Zach Smith, Helen Timmins, Nathan Duffy, Rebecca Zawistowski, Nate Crawford, Gage Boyce, Madeline Bishop, Henry McNamara, and Ryan Brink. The team is coached by Derek Babb and David Bossman.

All teams were assisted by Susan Hester, Kirk Hester, and Joli Munch.

Rationale:  Mission Middle School 8th grader Justin Goodwin won first place in the Junior Individual Website Category of the Nebraska History Day competition on Saturday, April 20, at Wesleyan University. Goodwin’s first place finish qualified him for the Annual Kenneth E. Behring National History Day Contest to be held June 10-14, 2012, at the University of Maryland. Goodwin researched and created an interactive website detailing and analyzing the Higgins Boat - the revolutionary landing craft used by the Allied Forces during World War II. Goodwin is coached by Norma Thompson and Brent Myers.

To view Justin Goodwin's award winning website, go to http://63158928.nhd.weebly.com/

Each fall over half a million students nationwide start working on the year-long National History Day program and compete in a series of history contests that begin at the local level. The top students from each category advance to the national competition. Students choose their own topics of study and research from original sources based on the theme of the year. This year the theme is Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History.

Rationale:  The Bellevue East Drill Team competed in the 20th Annual Rocky Mountain Regional’s JROTC Drill Meet at the Denver Coliseum on April 15, 2012. Final results: Color Guard, 3rd Place; Armed Exhibition, 2nd place; Armed Regulation, 1st Place; Overall Armed Team Championship, 1st place; Unarmed Regulation, 5th place; Unarmed Exhibition, 1st place; Overall Unarmed Team Championship, 1st place; and Individual Exhibition Drill, Christopher Brockett, 10th place.

Rationale:  The Bellevue West Drill Team competed in the 2012 Air Force Nationals at The Air Force Academy on Saturday, April 14, 2012. Final results: UnArmed Inspection, Men's Varsity, 3rd Place; Armed Inspection, Men's Varsity, 3rd Place; Armed Exhibition, Men's Varsity, 1st Place; Armed Regulation, Ladies’ Varsity, 3rd Place and Men's Varsity, 1st Place; UnArmed Regulation, Men's Varsity, 2nd Place; UnArmed Exhibition, Men's Varsity, 3rd Place; Color Guard, Men's Varsity, 3rd Place; UnArmed Overall, Men's Varsity, 2nd Place; Armed Overall, Men's Varsity, 1st Place; Armed Commander, Taylor Scott, 2nd Place; UnArmed Commander, Christopher Harris, 3rd Place; Special Exhibition, Christopher Harris and Jose Garcia, 1st Place; IDD UnArmed, Derrick Ellis, 1st Place and Kaleb Bateman, 3rd Place; IDD Armed, Samone Hinsley, 1st Place and Christopher Harris, 2nd Place; and Armed Solo, Taylor Scott, 1st Place.

Rationale: 

The Nebraska School Activities Association announced the 2012 winter season Academic All-State awards.  The following Bellevue Public Schools' students received this award:

Bellevue East:

Boys Basketball - Roosevelt Boyland (12) and Brady Pelzer (10)
Girls Basketball - Molly Kingsley (12) and Shelby Quinn (11)
Debate - Chayce Kenny (11)
Speech - Claire Gasparovich (10) and Christian Rush (11)
Girls Swimming - Michaela Sullivan (11) and Helen Timmins (11)

Bellevue West:

Boys Basketball - Bradley Brazeal (10) and Jeremiah Dotzler (12)
Girls Basketball - Madison Braun (10) and Haelee Kowalski (11)
Speech - Courtney Hansen (10)
Boys Swimming - Christopher Beeman (11) and Alexander Clarke (12)
Girls Swimming - Sarah Bethel (11) and Savannah Green (12)
Wrestling - Aaron Estrada (11)

Rationale:  The Bellevue West High School grades 9-10 TEAMS group won their division of the State TEAMS Engineering Competition, which featured the theme “Engineering Healthier Lives."  This event is sponsored by the Technology Student Association (TSA) and the students took the test at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in February, 2012.  Team members are Daniela Cortes, Michael Edwards, Nicole McElroy, Monica Pham, Samantha Ramming, and Matt Thompson.  Based on their first round of team test scores, this group won their regional division of grades 9-10 for large schools.  In the next session the team had to write an essay on challenging engineering problems, which were sent to the national tournament for scoring.  Based on their overall score, the West team won “Best in State” for their division and they have been invited to participate in competitions at the national event, attend the TEAMS Think Tank, and receive their state awards.  The national event will be held in Nashville, TN, June 21-25, 2012. The team is coached by Bradley Nord.

Rationale:  Mission Middle School student Brady Griffin won the grades 7 and 8 division of the 2012 Green Bellevue Earth Day Essay Contest.  The essays had to be written about the student’s favorite Bellevue Park.  Essay winners read their work onstage at the Earth Day celebration which was held on April 22 in Everett Park.

Rationale:  The Bellevue East team of Sam Ervin, Ryan Brink, and Zach Smith won second place in the 2012 University of South Dakota High School Computer Programming Contest which was held on April 19.  The team members each won a flip video camera as well. The team is coached by Derek Babb.

Rationale: 

Bellevue teams participated in the 2012 Spring Knowledge Master Competition on Wednesday, April 25.

The Bellevue East Grades 10-12 Purple Team won first place in Nebraska in the high school division and Bellevue East Team Frosh 1 took first place in Nebraska in the junior high school division. Teams are challenged to answer 200 questions on a variety of topics as accurately and quickly as possible.

Members of the winning East Grades 10-12 Purple Team are Madeline Bishop, Nate Crawford, Nathan Duffy, Sarah Sindelar, Melissa Tomrdle, Jesse Whitsett, John Benson, Alex Campbell, Matt Cummins, Dan Gleason, Erik Ingram, Chayce Kenny, Allison Lariviere, Christian Rush, Zach Smith, Roosevelt Boyland, Evan Cotto, Tim Rolling, and Rebecca Zawistowski.

Members of the winning East Frosh 1 Team are Beth Alexander, Sydney Hanson, Vanessa Jacox, Mary Francis Laporte, Noah Madrigal, Jameson Poth, Bethany Rainwater, Allyah Rayyan, Chloe Schwarting, Shannon Smith, Cathy Storck, George Timmins, Caleb Wagner, and Desiree Wilson.

Rationale:  Bellevue students participated in the 2012 Lincoln Northeast Brain Brawl Quiz Bowl.  The Logan Fontenelle team of Alec Stroud, Casey Jones, Mikayla Martin, and Joseph Collins won first place out of twenty-two teams from eastern Nebraska middle schools.  The Lewis and Clark team of Xedrix Barbeyto, Houston Korenoski, William Timmins, and Dolan States won second place in the tournament.  The Logan team is coached by Christine Daniels and the Lewis and Clark team is coached by Charles Owen.

Rationale:  Bellevue students participated in the 2012 University of Nebraska Medical Center 8th Grade Health Science Fair. Della Wilson from Logan Fontenelle Middle School won first place at the regional competition which was held at UNMC on Saturday, April 28.  Wilson will join other regional tournament top scoring students at UNMC this summer for an on-campus experience of exploration of medical careers. Wilson’s project involved the connection between low blood sugar and coordination.

Rationale: 

Mission Middle School students competed in the Annual General Federation of Women’s Clubs District 2 Art Show. Eighth grader Sara Davis earned Best of Show for the middle school level.  Eight graders Mackenzie Walker, Jodi Kocsis, and Tommy Gorskiewicz received second place honors. Tommy Gorskiewicz also earned an additional third place ribbon.  Sara Davis’s work has advanced to the state level competition to be judged this summer.

At the Audubon Society of Omaha Student Art Contest, eighth grader Nick Lesac brought home the Best of Show award in the middle school category of graphic design and eighth graders Jodi Kocsis and Alexis Hicks both received merits in Realism and Graphic Design respectively.

At the youth art month celebration at the state capitol in Lincoln, seventh grader Cameron Kennedy and eighth grader Athena Schalk were both chosen as outstanding artists from Mission.  Their artwork remained on display proudly representing Mission Middle School this year. 

Rationale:  Students from Bellevue East participated in the UNO High School Media Competition.   A.J. Bedore won second place for Best Yearbook/Magazine Layout. Nicole Bartlett won third place for Best Feature Story. Christine Blair won second place for Best Newspaper Two-Page Layout. Nicole Bartlett and Christine Blair took second place for In-Depth Story by Team. Levi Holden took first place for Best Ad. Jayme Wyble won second place for Best Newspaper Single-Page Layout. In the overall categories East received second place in Sweepstakes and third place in Best Newspaper for the Metro area.

Rationale: 

The annual contest is open to Nebraska students in grades K through 5. The winning stories were selected by ACCESS' Board of Directors and were graded based on topic, content, illustrations and compliance with contest rules. 

There were ten Honorable Mentions, with each school receiving a $50 cash award. The stories receiving Honorable Mentions were:   “If Money Doesn't Grow on Trees, Where does it come from?” from Wake Robin Elementary and ”Money Doesn't Grow on Trees” from LeMay Elementary.

Rationale: 

The Nebraska Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) recognized the winners of its state competitive events at the 50th anniversary State Leadership Conference in Omaha.

Over 2,200 students and advisers from 122 Nebraska schools attended with students competing in more than 60 chapter, team and individual events. First, second and third place qualifiers in most events will compete at the national conference in San Antonio, Texas, June 29-July 2, 2012. The following results are for Bellevue East and Bellevue West High Schools: Outstanding Local Chapter Adviser - Pat Hinkle of Bellevue West High School. Business Communication: third place, Kyra Valentine of Bellevue West High School. Business Presentation: third place, Callie Hensel and Morgan McCaw of Bellevue East High School. Community Service Project: first place, Bellevue West High School. Desktop Application Programming: first place, Ryan Brink of Bellevue East High School. Digital Video Production: third place, Kendra Cain, Courtney Smith, and Brianna Tonn of Bellevue West High School. FBLA Principles and Procedures: second place, Megan Klostermeyer of Bellevue West High School. Job Interview: first place, Kyra Valentine of Bellevue West High School.

A $100 Phi Beta Lambda Scholarship went to Joel West of Bellevue East High School. The March of Dimes Mission Triangle Excellence Award went to Bellevue East High School.

Rationale:  Logan Fontenelle students participated in the 2012 Math League Press Mathematics Competition.  The competition was held in February and the results are now available. Brooklyn Mussman ranked fourth in Nebraska in the 8th grade and the Logan 8th graders finished second in the state overall and seventeenth in the nation.  The Logan 7th graders finished fourth place in the state. The Math League Press offers challenging math problems to enrich mathematics learning. The teams are coached by Christine Daniels and the math department.

Rationale:  Bellevue students competed in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln CSE High School Computer Programming Competition.  The Bellevue East team of Trevor Savage, Tim Rolling, and Sam Ervin won second place in the competition and each student won a $500.00 scholarship to UNL.  The team is coached by Derek Babb.

Rationale:  Bellevue students participated in the 2012 Nebraska Geography Bee at the University of Nebraska at Omaha on Friday, March 30. Joseph Collins from Logan Fontenelle Middle School advanced to the finals of the bee and tied for a fifth place finish in Nebraska.  More than 11,000 Nebraska students participated in the geography bee early rounds and the top 100 winners from their schools competed at the Nebraska Bee.  The students were coached by Susan Hester.

Rationale:  As a part of the AdvancED District Accreditation process and in accordance with Nebraska Rule 10, each school building in the Bellevue Public Schools must participate in an on-going, continuous school improvement process.  School staff analyze student performance data to plan and implement strategies to continually move the school toward improvement and increased student performance levels.

Tonight, LeMay Principal Dwayne Chism and members of the LeMay staff will present some of the structures, strategies, and activities they are implementing in their building's on-going school improvement process.  LeMay third grader, Madison Meador, will also present about her school.

Rationale:  Walt Radcliffe represents the Bellevue Public Schools on legislative matters in Lincoln.  Mr. Radcliffe will provide the Board with an update of what is happening with regard to legislation.

Rationale:  Attached are revised Board Policies 410.011, Certificated Employees-Vacations, Holidays and Length of Contract, and 415.01, Classified Employee Vacation.  These policies are submitted for review at tonight's meeting with approval of the policies scheduled for the June Board of Education meeting.

Rationale:  Bellevue Public Schools will hold three graduation ceremonies.  The Adult Education ceremony will be held on Saturday, May 5, 10:00 a.m., at Bellevue West High School.

Bellevue East and Bellevue West High Schools' ceremonies will be held on Saturday, May 12, 9:30 a.m., at their respective schools.  The Bellevue East and West ceremonies will be broadcast live on the District website, www.bellevuepublicschools.org and will be available on-demand on the District website after 4:00 p.m. on May 12.  Bellevue Public Schools is making this service available to address our military parents that are deployed as well as many relatives that are unable to travel to see their loved ones graduate.

Rationale:  Quality, well-maintained facilities are important in the overall educational program.  Bellevue Public Schools has an annual maintenance and repair program, as well as projects that address equity and growth in the District.

Workers will be assigned to twenty-one buildings throughout the District this summer.  These individuals  will perform a variety of tasks including cleaning desks, cabinets, walls, floors, trimming vegetation around the buildings, etc.  Summer workers will help the maintenance/grounds crew work on playgrounds filling holes and ruts, top dressing, seeding, sod replacement, and mowing 200 acres of school property at 25 buildings each week.  Carpenters will work on a variety of projects.  Summer projects will focus on replacement of broken concrete, damaged asphalt, re-striping parking lots, painting, and the replacement of carpet. 

Swimming pool lifts, a Department of Justice requirement, will be installed at the Lied Activity Center and both high schools, contingent upon funding. 

Rationale:  An oral report will be provided on the recent meetings of the Learning Community.

Rationale:  John Stewart - School Board Oversight Issues

Rationale:  May 12, Bellevue East and West Graduation Ceremonies, 9:30 am

June 4, Board of Education Meeting, Welcome Center, 6:30 pm

Rationale:  Adjourn to executive session to consider matters relating to strategy sessions with respect to collective bargaining which are necessary to be considered in closed session for the protection of the public interest.