November 10, 2014 at 5:00 PM - Work Session and Regular Meeting of the Board of Education

Discussion:  Principal Jackie Herink presented the Quality Indicators from last year. The average daily attendance is at 95 percent; student discipline 96 percent (those with two or less office referrals); parent satisfaction 95 percent from parents giving the school a grade of A or B. Herink said the teachers were disappointed in the NeSA writing scores from last year. She said the teachers thought the scores would be better. Herink said the teachers want the students proficient in writing and are doing things to help that improve. Last year, the NeSA writing score was 63 percent; NeSA reading score was 83 percent; NeSA Math was 82 percent; and NeSA Science was 85 percent. Herink said the NeSA science scores went up. Last year, the Map reading score was 68 percent; Map math score 62 percent and DIBELS reading score 70 percent. Herink said the goal is for the students to be in 65 to 70 percent range in math and reading. Smart Goal Focus - Preschool – The Smart Goal is math recognition. The teachers are working on numbers 1-10 through a variety of ways such as flash cards, L to J number recognition, and matching numerals to quality. Kindergarten – The Smart Goal is math number sense. One strategy to achieve this goal is teaching number combinations. The teachers use objects to show how to come up with a number. First Grade – The Smart Goal is in math and to increase basic addition and subtraction facts and have a conceptual understanding that a part plus a part equals a whole. Second Grade – The Smart Goal is also in math with 80 percent of students scoring a 90 percent on a timed basic facts assessment. One strategy to achieve this goal is daily practice and math manipulatives. The students get a better idea of what the facts actually mean. Third Grade – The Smart Goal is key concepts and NeSA skills. One strategy to achieve this goal is to use new L to J quizzes that are actually C4L assessments, which are the same standard for each question on every test. This should help students chart their progress, and teachers should be able to see if they understand. The C4L will help prepare students for the NeSA tests. Fourth Grade – The Smart Goal is math fact fluency. One strategy to achieve this goal is to give L to J fact fluency quizzes each week and have the students chart their progress. Fifth Grade – The Smart Goal is in reading with an emphasis on summarizing and main ideas. Some strategies to achieve this goal are using websites and SMART Board activities to practice main idea and summary skills. Music – The Smart Goal is fifth grade students will be 80 percent proficient in music vocabulary. The students take the test on the iPads so they know how many they answered correctly immediately. Media Specialist – The Smart Goal is for third grade students to use a consistent keyboarding program across the district. This will help in consistency throughout the district when students get to middle school. Each student types something three times, and his or her score is recorded each time. This will provide a baseline. Physical Education – The Smart Goal is to have a percentage of 4th grade students scoring proficient or higher on the overhand throw with 80 percent being able to do this by 2015. The teachers will be doing things throughout the year to accomplish this goal. They already have practice with flag football and overhand serving in volleyball, which is similar to a throwing motion. Curriculum/Life Skills – The Smart Goal is that students will grow in their independent living and literacy skills from exposure to and reacting in a natural setting. The students have taken trips to several places to practice these skills such as Vala's Pumpkin Patch, Lincoln Children's Zoo and other places. Resource – The Smart Goal is increasing reading fluency skills with fourth grade students. One strategy to achieve this is through program monitoring. Speech therapist – The Smart Goal is increasing vocabulary as the students work with language. ELL – The Smart Goal is in writing with an emphasis on revising through adding, elaborating, deleting, combining and rearranging with minimal teacher support. The students are having trouble revising. Reading – The Smart Goal is to improve reading skills using an early intervention in reading program. Herink said the Centennial behavior matrix is consistent with the rest of the district. The discipline model includes being Safe, Respectable and Responsible. At the beginning of the school year, students are taught the expectation in each area. The Centennial students have focused on common areas were the expectations will be used: classrooms, hallways, restrooms, lunchroom, media center, computer lab and playground. Herink said there are also many awards that the students can receive such as the Golden Awards. These are traveling trophies that are given to different classrooms. The golden awards include: a football, a spoon, a clock, bookends, a recorder, a dustpan and a shoe. When students are being respectful, safe and responsible they can earn tickets for prizes. Every two weeks there is a drawing for prizes out of the treasure chest. Students can also turn in their tickets for a star pencil. One week a month, coins are given instead of tickets, and the students with the most coins get to be served lunch in the small cafeteria. First grade service project – In the first grade, students work on civics; and this year they got to select a service project. The theme was to bring joy to others. They wanted to recognize people at Centennial that make an impact on their own building, and who help them. Some first graders decided to do this for the cooks and say thank you to them. They choose a variety of ways to do this such as writing thank you cards or having the food service staff do the tunnel walk. Herink said at the beginning of each assembly, they show a school video to remind students and staff that they are all a school family. She said she also has a very dedicated group of teachers who are very talented. Dr. Loeffelholz told the staff he appreciates everything they do for our kids.

Discussion:  The Board recessed.

Discussion:  The Board reconvened the regular meeting.

Discussion:  Theresa Seipel read the Mission Statement.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said the district must hold an annual hearing on policy 504.19, Bullying. The policy covers bullying at any type of activity or any other community event where students are in attendance. He said one area that is going to become more important as the district becomes more mobile is electronic bullying. Dr. Loeffelholz said this is a state and federal statue. No one spoke at the public hearing.

Discussion:  No one spoke.

Discussion:  There were no recognitions.

Discussion:  Chad Wiles from Hausmann Construction said that 75 percent of the dirt work on the project is completed. He said their plan is to start footings on Monday. Dr. Loeffelholz said they continue to meet every Tuesday morning, and the meeting always starts off with a construction update. He told the board to drive out to the new high school site and see the amount of dirt that has been moved. He said the staff and administration continue to work on the design with DLR. Wiles said the group has done a good job as a team making quality decisions to work the budget down. The first bid package was $800,000 lower than what was expected. He said this can be attributed in part to the local market stepping up. Wiles said that everyone is constantly throwing out ideas on how to reduce cost. He said shortly he will be providing the board with an updated budget. This will help in making decisions. Pat Phelan from DLR said he is in the midst of design development. He said when doing this, they are looking at cost and functionality. There have been a lot of meetings with many different people. Phelan said the square footage of the building may or may not change. One reason it could change is if the gym was expanded to 2,000 to 2,100 seats with third cross-court, which would be a full court. Phelan said as far as the whole grading package goes, this should be done by Dec. 1. There are several key issues that need to be decided. One is on the-superstructure. One thing that has been discussed is an insulated precast panel for high volume space. The pre-engineering metal building structure could be only used on the STEM and music areas. Facebrick is precast concrete, which would be used for wall panels, and the exterior finishes won’t chip. Phelan said right now they are looking at a light brick to be used as an accent color. The reason for this is because this color more closely matches the color of the precast material. He said the majority of the brick is darker. Wiles said once colors are decided, he will put together a display so the board can see how all the colors look together. Phelan said he is not asking the board to make any color decision tonight. He said he is just looking for some feedback. Phelan said it looks like the geothermal ground source heat pump system is a go. He said the existing irrigation well will be the primary source and another backup well will be added. He said from an NRD standpoint, the wells will not be competing with the farmers for irrigation. He said the water used is put back into the water table. Phelan said later this month they will be meeting to talk more about HVAC systems. Phelan said there have not been many changes to the site design. One change was having all three practice fields moved together. He said there also have not been many changes to the floor plan. One change on the first floor: the training area was moved to the edge of the building and closer to the practice fields. On the upper level, some of the mechanical rooms were decreased and two classrooms were able to be added. The board said they thought the project was processing nicely. Phelan said the early bid package shows the district is heading in the right way on the budget. Precast will be the next bids that will go out. He said he would like to get the rest of the bid package out, so the board will have a better idea of how the budget is coming.

Discussion:  Joe Held from Kruse, Schumacher, Smejkal and Brockhaus said an audit was conducted on Oct. 27. He said they didn’t find any problems with the controls, and the financial program does a good job of keeping records of everything. Held said the district will need to pay attention once the bond money starts to come in. He said the only finding was that the lunch fund was over budget by $7,000, which is not a significant amount when considering the budget. He said the district should have amended the budget. Executive Director of Business Operations/Human Relations Dave Melick said the food service budget was over because of some food expenses, salaries and the purchasing of tables at the end of August. Ken Curry asked Held if next year there could be a summary condensing the findings and explaining it in simple terms. Held said this is something that could probably be done.

Discussion:  No items were removed from the consent agenda.

Discussion:  Melick said the next financial statement will show the bond money, which was divided between Cornerstone and Pinnacle broken out in detail. Alan Dostal asked if at some point he could be updated on the contract agreements with Boys Town. Dr. Loeffelholz said the contract with Boys and Girls Home to use Duncan Elementary has still not been renegotiated. He said currently they are paying $1,800 a month to use Duncan Elementary. He said they have been negotiating for three months but an agreement has not yet been reached.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that the district upload their yearly budget and legal paper to EMMA (Electronic Municipal Market Access) website. In 2009-10, the budget was uploaded late. When this is done, the public needs to be informed. Dr. Loeffelholz said the website is a place investors can go to determine how much risk there is in investing in a project. He said the school district has chosen to report the late uploading of the budgets, but there will not be any penalties. However, Dr. Loeffelholz said there could be more paperwork down the road. If Ameritas reported the late filing, there would not be a fee. Dr. Loeffelholz said the administration recommend the district to report, so it would show the school district is being transparent in their actions.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said the Foundation and umbrella organizations contributed $22,711.21 in June; $8,566 in July; $11,609.90 in August; $12,445 in September; and $6003.95 in October. He said these groups have given $115,399.62 total back to the schools for this year.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said the district wanted to make sure the policy was in line with the Master Agreement.

Discussion:  Dr. Loeffelholz said a final decision on where the future tennis courts will go at the new high school has not been decided yet. A replat for 4.1 acres has been turned into the planning and zoning commission. He said these acres are located in the northwest corner. Dr. Loeffelholz said the administration is also looking at having a conversation regarding attendance boundaries for elementary schools. He said once the fifth grade moves out, the district will need to plot where kids live. He said some boundaries may need to be shifted. Right now many are based on high traffic areas. He said this could be an opportunity to balance elementary schools enrollments. He said the enrollment will need to be monitored and a discussion on the topic held at another time. Strategic plan – Dr. Loeffelholz said he is starting to put the plans together. He said he is deciding how to take the plans and bring them to life. He said the administration is looking at the purpose, objective, evidence and action. Dr. Loeffelholz said all these things cost money. He said once the plans are finished, things will need to be prioritized. He said the priorities need to be strategic to make the district better, and it needs to be about the guiding principles. Dr. Loeffelholz asked what are the things we hold dear to educating kids, and these should be used to help make decisions. He said the high school is also now entering the winter sports season.

Discussion:  Francis Kuehler said he is glad to see what is going on with the new high school. Mike Goos is also excited to see the progress that is being made on the new high school and the collaboration that is taking place. Candy Becher agreed. She said it is wonderful to see everything moving forward. Becher also thank Centennial Principal Jackie Herink and the staff for a good presentation. Theresa Seipel said there were a lot of new faces at Centennial. She said she is also excited about the rolling out of the laptops to high school students next week. She said she plans to attend the sessions, so she knows what is being told to parents. Alan Dostal said CHS Principal Steve Woodside has a lot on his plate with running a school, providing input on the new high school and the new laptop roll out. He said he also went to see Pippin, and there are some very talented students in the CPS school system. Laptop roll out – Dr. Loeffelholz said on Nov. 17 the seniors and junior will receive their laptops with the seniors starting at 5:30 p.m. and the juniors at 6:40 p.m. He said the parents and students will stay in one location, and the presenters will move. Once they go through session I and II , they will go back to the small cafeteria to get the machines and then go to the media center where tech staff will be on hand to answer questions. Dr. Loeffelholz said the laptops are in and done. On Nov. 18, the sophomores and freshmen will go through the process. On Nov. 12, Karen Haase will give a presentation to parents at 6 p.m. Dr. Loeffelholz said there will be a makeup session, but the exact date has not been determined. He said those who do not make it to the Nov. 12 presentation will get a letter. All students are required to get a digital driver’s license. Dr. Loeffelholz said the administration wants to make sure things go smoothly and are done right the first time.