Public Meeting Minutes: December 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

1. GPS Board of Education Information

More Information: The meeting agenda will be kept current and available for public inspection in the office of the Secretary of the Board of Education at the Central Office during regular working hours.

District Vision: Gering Public Schools provides a collaborative community, inspiring excellence and innovation in teaching and learning to empower student growth and leadership in school and life.

District Mission: Gering Public Schools exists to equip today's learners with the skills necessary to be tomorrow's leaders.

The Open Meetings Act requires and the intention of the Board is that agenda items be sufficiently descriptive to give the public reasonable notice of matters to be considered at the meeting. The Board of Education releases its agenda well in advance of most meetings and desires that all interested persons are fully informed. Any interested person who has a question or needs clarification about the sufficiency of a descriptive item should contact the Office of the Superintendent of Schools.

If anyone in attendance is interested in addressing our Board, you are welcome to do so. We simply request that you complete the appropriate form and turn it in to us now, so that you may be recognized during the 'Patron Comment' section of our meeting. These forms are located by the entry doors of the meeting room.

Agenda items are subject to reordering at the discretion of the board president. Board members may request specific agenda item(s) be moved to a different place on the agenda. Please attend the entire meeting to ensure you hear discussion on a particular agenda item.

2. Opening Procedures

2.1. Call to Order

More Information: The Board of Education reserves the right to enter into Executive Session for the protection of the public interest, or the prevention of needless injury to the reputation of an individual, and if the individual has not requested a public meeting.

Discussion: The meeting was called to order by board president, Greg Trautman, at 6:02 p.m.

2.2. Roll Call

2.3. Pledge of Allegiance

2.4. Open Meetings Act

More Information: Pursuant to Section 84-1412 of the Nebraska Statutes, the public is hereby informed that a current copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act is posted in the Board meeting room on the north wall.

Notice of this meeting was published in the Star Herald on Thursday, Dec. 4th, 2025.

3. Consent Agenda

More Information: At this time, any Board member may request that any item in the consent agenda be removed from the consent agenda and be considered and voted on separately.

3.1. Minutes from the previous month's board meeting(s)

Attachments: (1)

November 10th BOE - Minutes

3.2. Approval of Claims/Bills
Fund Amount
01 General: $354,956.07
03 Employee: $324.50
05 Activity: $32,892.69
06 Nutrition: $16,746.77
09 QCPUF: $3,145.00
Fund Totals: $408,065.03

Attachments: (1)

November Check Listing

3.3. Board Policy Adoption

Attachments: (1)

Board Policy# 205.2 - Policy Adoption

3.3.i. First Reading of Board Policies

3.3.ii. Second Reading of Board Policies

3.4. Personnel Items

3.4.i. Certified Staff Resignation(s)

Bethany Stoney - Effective Dec. 19th, 2025
Shawn Seiler - Effective June 30th, 2026

4. Celebration of Excellence

4.1. SFE Presentation - Jennifer Hall

Discussion: Jennifer Hall presented to the board: She has been the food service director for SFE since August 2025. They have launched a grab-and-go style breakfast at the high school, which is going very well. They expect participation at all buildings to grow over the course of the school year. They highlight a "harvest of the month", which helps students be engaged with what they are choosing to eat. They are going to have more tasting opportunities for students to decide the best options to serve during lunch and breakfast. Hopefully, partnering with STUCO on this. Dr. Yum is going to be coming in and teaching our preschool students some cooking skills!

4.2. Annual Report - Jennifer Sibal

Discussion: Jennifer Sibal presented to the board. Jennifer went over the annual report, highlighting some key features. We will be sending this out to all families, which is something new this year. The key points in the annual report include our Strategic Plan, building updates, enrollment, student population, 98% graduation rate, educators, 1/3 of our staff are Gering Alum, state assessment scores, and budget. We also want to hear from families on their thoughts about our Gering Middle School Project.

5. Reports & Discussions

5.1. Board Committee Report: Curriculum & Personnel

Discussion: Tracy Wiese presented to the board: We will be having our staffing conferences after negotiations. Meeting with GEA next week. Sad to see Shawn Seiler go, but wish him the best! Professional Development is scheduled for the spring and will be on literacy. This will eventually be a required training. We did receive a grant and have lots of teachers interested in partaking in this. Test scores are great! Math and Science, we are above the state average, but still have some work to do with ELA. Our ACT scores are also higher than the state average. Went over absenteeism at the high school.

5.2. Board Committee Report: Business & Facilities

Discussion: Josh Lacy presented to the board: Reviewed budget and accounts payable listing. The auditorium renovations are in process. Middle school is falling apart! We have about a $100-200 thousand wall repair in the gym area. We had a YMCA contribution of $5,000. This donation used to go to Teammates. We have a bond (high school) pay off option and could potentially pay that off early. There is a meeting later this week on the design of the new track. Hoping to start that process soon!

5.3. Superintendent's Report

Discussion:

Dr. Regan presented to the board:
For tonight’s report I’d like to highlight the front page of the Star Herald on Saturday, December 6th. It has a front page article with the title, "Getting Students College Ready." The article goes in detail about the State Assessment Scores for the 2 largest districts in the Panhandle, with Gering being one of them. Our state assessment scores are measured through an accountability system called AQUeSTT (Accountability for a Quality Education System, Today and Tomorrow). For Nebraska high schools, the ACT test is the accountability test that measures proficiency in ELA (which includes writing), Math, and Science. This was a big year for us because the significant growth in the data at the high school has accelerated us from "good to great" in an overall rating on achievement. Instead of speaking about this rating, I thought I would have the data results speak for themselves in the comparison of the two districts:

SB	Gering
ELA 38.3%	44.6%
Math 38.7%	45.5%
SCI 42.6%	47.1%
Composite 17.9%	18.1%

15% decrease in non-proficient students over 3 years.

98% graduation rate: highest in AQUeSTT Assessment history.

Progress takes time, and I am incredibly proud of the high school administrators and teachers who have infused a culture of assessment and have poured into students about their education experience and success in school. So tonight, I celebrate them and I know the tremendous growth that is occurring in the middle and elementary grades will see great gains in the near future through AQUeSST. Bottom line: we are trending well in the right direction.

Girls/boys basketball/wrestling had a great winning weekend! Holiday performances this week for Geil and Lincoln Elementary.

6. Enter into Executive Session for the sole purpose of discussing personnel matters to prevent needless injury to the reputation of an individual if deemed necessary.

Discussion: The Board moved into Executive Session at 6:43 p.m.

7. Reconvene from the Executive Session.

Discussion: The board reconvened from Executive Session at 7:16 p.m.

8. Any action deemed necessary as a result of the Executive Session discussion.

9. Public Comments: 204.12

Attachments: (1)

Board Policy 204.12

10. Action Items

10.1. Discuss, consider, and take action to review and approve the Superintendent's 2025-2026 school year evaluation.

10.2. Discuss, consider, and take action regarding the annual review and approval of the Superintendent's 2026-2027 school year contract and salary.

Discussion: A motion to move into Executive Session was presented by Josh Lacy, seconded by Bryan Barrett. After voting, the motion passed. The Board entered into Executive Session at 7:19 p.m. The Board reconvened from Executive Session at 7:37 p.m.

Attachments: (1)

Superintendent's Schedule D

11. Board Comments

Discussion: Matt Kautz - Go Bulldogs!
Josh Lacy - Thanks for coming tonight. We are moving in the right direction. Our education is excellent!
John Maser - Happy Holidays!
Bryan Barrett - Thanks for being here. Thanks for the annual report.
Tracy Wiese - We are moving in the right direction. We are a united board, good leadership.
Greg Trautman - We are a unified board, even when we have to have hard conversations. Compliments on our test scores and leadership at Central Office. Had a great State Conference. Moving forward, we will be discussing moving the approval of the Superintendent contract to be held in April.

11.1. Tentative Upcoming Board Meeting/Event Dates

More Information:

Future Board Meetings

Regular Meeting: Mon, Jan. 12th, 2025 @ 6:00 p.m. (Freshmen Academy)

Special Meeting: Tues, Jan. 27th, 2025 @ 12:00 p.m. (Central Office)

Tentative Committee Meeting Dates:

Personnel & Curriculum Committee: Tues, Jan. 6th, 2025 @ 7:00 a.m. (Central Office)

Middle School Improvement Committee: Wed, Jan. 7th, 2025 @ 4:30 p.m. (Central Office)

Policy Review Committee: Thurs, Jan. 8th, 2025 @ 4:00 p.m. (Central Office)

Finance & Facilities Committee: Thurs, Jan. 8th, 2025 @ 4:30 p.m. (Central Office)

Upcoming Event Highlights:

Winter Break: Dec. 22nd - Jan. 5th

12. Adjourn

Discussion: The meeting was adjourned at 7:42 p.m.

December 8, 2025 at 6:00 PM - Regular Board of Education Meeting

Future Board Meetings

Tentative Committee Meeting Dates:

Upcoming Event Highlights:

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