April 8, 2013 at 8:00 PM - Regular April Meeting

Rationale: 

Public Participation at Board of Education Meetings:

BOE Policy/Regulation 8346 outlines the parameters of public participation at Board meetings concerning items on the agenda as well as those not on the agenda.  A copy of this policy is available in the Superintendent’s office and at each monthly Board meeting.

Rationale:  Mrs. Janet Guge will be in to thank the school board for supporting her professional development.

Rationale:  Preliminary State Aid Information has been released based on the most current legislative model.  Preliminary indicators point to a $131,000 reduction in state aid from 2012-13's $978,305.  The projected total amount of state aid for 2013-14 will be $847,098.

I recently attended an information session at NRCSA on the "Affordable Care Act."  At this point, the health insurance code is under review and there are still many unanswered questions, but most school districts are faced with two choices: 1) Pay the tax for providing the insurance or 2) Offer a plan through Blue Cross and Blue Shield to provide for "bronze level coverage" for employees.  The school's estimated tax obligation under the new law could be as high as $40,000.  Deciding whether to pay this tax or offer the Blue Cross Blue Shield coverage will depend on what the premium amount for the plans will cost.  I will be able to make that decision once the rates are published by Blue Cross Blue Shield and once we have surveyed eligible staff about their intentions regarding participation.

I intend to work with some other area superintendents on April 11th to continue to study the issue.  I will report back to the board when the rates for the "bronze level" coverage plans are available. 

Rationale:  Ms. Rahjes has chosen to resign effective upon the completion of her 2012-13 teaching contract.  That letter of resignation is attached.

Rationale:  There was one small requested change in the calendar regarding the professional development day in September.  It was moved from the 13th to the 9th.  Other than that, the calendar remains unchanged from last month.

Rationale:  All of the policies in the 3000 series are being presented to the board as they were forwarded on by the school's attorney.  The one policy that has generated some thought is the 3520 policy.  Two questions pertaining to this policy are:

1)  Do you want to specify in this policy that school fleet vehicles can not be leased or used by outside groups?  This has been a recurrent issue.  Guidance from our insurance agent is that we should avoid engaging in this practice.

2)  Do you want van/bus drivers picking up and dropping students off at places other than their residence (babysitters, grandparents, etc.) if the destination is off of the regular route?  This can create issues for drivers and increases responsibility and liability for drivers. 

Rationale:  A request for bids was issued and bid(s) were received for the roofing project.  The bid approved will be only for the roofing project.  This bid does not include any of the additional work being done in conjunction with the project, such as HVAC, electrical, or plumbing.

Rationale: 

During the discussion last month, the question about how much it would cost to expand the phone system came up.  Attached you will find a bid to update the phone systems capacity for additional lines and for 6 additonal phones.

Also, I had been approached by staff members in the past with the request to install ADA door handles to provide the ability to quickly lock down interior classroom doors.  The bid for doing that work is also attached.  Roughly, the cost is about $325 per door. 

The bids for the security upgrades are attached.

Regarding sensors for the door, Kevin would like a little more guidance on the vision for those.  Having a clearer vision will help dictate how he designs and prices the system.



Information from March 2013 Meeting:

Safety & Security Upgrades

 

The Board Building & Grounds Committee, Jan, Shelley, & Ken recently met on Thursday, February 28^th, to discuss how to better control access to the building by staff, patrons, and parents.  Input had been solicited a couple of months ago from staff.  That information had been presented to the board at their regular January meeting.  The group that met and are currently considering making two major recommendations to the board at this point.

 

1. We will add more key fob access points throughout the building.  Currently, there are two: one for the weight room and one for the main high school/middle school entrance.  The initial plan was to slowly (1 or 2 entrances a summer) increase the number of exterior entrances that were equipped with the key fobs until the entire perimeter was equipped with them, eliminating the need for exterior entrance keys.  We’ll attempt to be more aggressive (3 to 4 per summer rather than 1 or 2) in adding those key fobs access points.  We discussed adding them at the elementary main entrance, the two elementary entrances most heavily used for recess, and the north alternate gym entrance during the 2013 summer.  In future summers, we would continue to add 3 to 4 a summer until all exterior entrances are equipped.
2. At the beginning of the 2013-14 school year, all exterior doors will be locked during the regular school day.  Except for during morning arrival and afternoon dismissal, parents and patrons entering the building during school hours will be required to “buzz” in.  The main high school/middle school entrance will be used as this access point.  Patrons and parents will enter through the first set of doors in the entryway.  The second set of entryway doors will be locked.  Jan will have the ability to communicate with people in this area with a microphone, determine the reason for their visit, direct or advise them, and then allow them entry through the second set of doors to gain access to the building’s interior.

 

I’ve had staff approach me with different suggestions regarding interior locks and lock down procedures for interior classroom doors.  Since receiving those suggestions I have been working with our locksmith and securing pricing on those options.  Those modifications will be considered for this summer as well. If you have any additional input on this topic, please let me know

 

Rationale:  This year's staff appreciation will be discussed.

Rationale:  Mr. Schroeder's goal is to have work agreements and teacher contracts ready for the May board meeting for approval, so that they can be given to staff and have staff sign those before the school year ends.  Teachers salaries are negotiated for the upcoming year, but non-certificated staff members' salary increase need to be determined. 

Rationale:  This is a survey that was developed and administered during the most recent parent teachers conferences by the School Improvement Committee.

Rationale:  Bids for summer projects and would like some guidance from the board in selecting which of those projects you think we should pursue.

Mr. Vetter indicated that his building construction class would be interested in beginning the sidewalk on the east side of the practice field and continuing to add to it from year to year.  The amount received from the state for the easement work was approximately $1500.  So, we could allocate that amount for his class to use during the 2013-14 budget cycle.  He wrote the following regarding the estimated cost for the project, "...Overall estimate of the project with purchasing enough form material to pour 112' of side walk at a time would be $3,223.76.  This represents a total cost for the project for a 4' X 645' sidewalk that would be 4" thick with two strands of rebar to control cracking due to expansion and contraction..."

The bids for the additional drainage, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing work that need to be performed in conjunction with the roofing project are attached.

Bathrooms-Repainting the bathroom stalls could be done through an electrostatic process like we utilized with the lockers.  The cost of that is $125 per stall.  So, the cost would be about $675 (including mileage charge).  They won't look brand new for this cost, but they will look a whole lot better than they did, at a considerable cost savings.  Replacing the stalls would cost about $500 per stall, or approximately $2500. The ceiling tiles could be replaced for about $250.  The ceiling grid would simply be cleaned and not replaced.  The walls would be repainted for $300.  The total costs for the painting and ceiling tile replacement would be approximately $1225 in materials.

The bid to repaint the oak trim in elementary hallway from Aric Werner is attached.  Shelley & I have looked on-line at lockers for the lower elementary hallway and continue to explore options.  Initial estimates for those lockers are in the $5500-$7000 range.

Bids for proposed equipment replacement and summer work to be done in the kitchen are attached.

Rationale:  Board  members are asked to leave their ipads at the school following the conclusions of the April 8th meeting.  Les will be updating the email account information on them.