PENDER PUBLIC SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION RETREAT MINUTES
January 27, 2007 – 8:00 a.m.
By Austin Black
The Pender Public School Board of Education held a retreat in Room #111 on Saturday, January 27, 2007. President Connie Felber called the meeting to order at 8:06 a.m. with the following members present: Felber, McQuistan, Peters, Maise, and Wichman. Absent: None. Also present were Superintendent/Elementary Principal Joe Sherwood and Recording Secretary Barb Preston. Visitors: Jean Karlen.
President Felber welcomed newly appointed board member Jean Karlen and asked her to read aloud the oath of office for membership on the Pender Board of Education. President Felber thanked Mrs. Karlen for her willingness to complete the term vacated by Franklin Fendrick.
President Felber notified those present that as of July 1, 2006, Nebraska Statute 84-1412(8) requires that the public be informed about the location of posted information regarding the Open Meetings Act and drew their attention to the copy posted in the meeting room and accessible to all members of the public.
President Felber reviewed the agenda as presented, affirmed that every board member had received notice of the meeting and that the meeting had been published. The agenda was accepted as presented.
President Felber asked board members to review the availability of committees needed for 2007. Board Policy 7110 indicates the need to appoint Building and Grounds, Curriculum, Negotiations, Transportation and Americanism committees. In addition, President Felber established an ad hoc Policy committee and asked for three volunteers for each committee. Committees were established as follows (* indicates Chairman):
Building & Grounds: McQuistan*, Peters, Maise
Curriculum: Wichman*, Peters, Felber
Negotiations: Felber*, Karlen, Wichman
Transportation: Maise*, McQuistan, Wichman
Americanism: Felber*, McQuistan, Karlen
Policy: Karlen*, Peters, Maise
Superintendent Sherwood distributed copies of e-mail correspondence from Bob Uhing, ESU #1, and Diane Wolfe, ESU #2, a letter from Brenda Decker, Chief Information Officer for the State of Nebraska, regarding upgrading equipment in the distance learning lab of our district. As a result of LB 1208, the State of Nebraska is procuring bids for telecommunications services and internet access to provide the best possible financial opportunities for districts statewide. Pender Public School will have to pay the costs to upgrade the distance learning lab equipment and facilities and then a reimbursement plan set up through LB 1208 will reimburse the district for up to approximately $20,000 of the total cost. At this time, the estimated cost of this project is approximately $28,000; however, that amount does not take into consideration any reductions that will become available through E-rate.
Superintendent Sherwood recommended that the Board approve that Pender Public Schools is authorized to purchase from the apparent low bid submitted in accordance with State of Nebraska procurement requirements for network services providing 40Mbps Ethernet over fiber infrastructure for purposes of distance learning and Internet access for a five-year period beginning July 1, 2007 and ending June 20, 2012, with service provided by Qwest Communications for an amount pending final agreeable pricing for services for 60 months and a one-time installation fee of $600. The bid offers the same pricing for five (5) additional 12-month extensions of the network services contract, subject to the State of Nebraska Technology Refresh clause.
Motion was made by Wichman, seconded by McQuistan to approve Superintendent Sherwood’s recommendation and to recommend that Pender Public Schools enter into an agreement with the State of Nebraska to participate in the network Nebraska statewide network for a monthly participation fee of $200 per month for the period of July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2008. President Felber stated the motion and the result of roll call vote being all ayes, motion carried.
Board members agreed to change the order of the agenda to consider Agenda Item #8 – Post-prom Request prior to Agenda Item #7 – NASB Membership.
Superintendent Sherwood provided board members with preliminary information regarding meetings that had occurred with Jason Dolliver and him over the past week regarding a request to hold post-prom in the Heese Event Center. Mr. Sherwood said that both Jason and he had told the parent representatives that the board directive they had was that post prom activities could not be held in the school building. As a result, Rusty Allen and Milon Fillipi asked to be allowed to bring the request to the board members for their consideration. Rusty Allen and Milon Fillipi presented information supporting their request for post prom to be held at the school. Mr. Allen and Mr. Fillipi stated that some of the equipment/games they were considering for post prom activities would have to be limited because of size if the event could not be held at the school. No other suitable facilities were available in Pender. In addition, the gentlemen said that they had inquired about event insurance for liability purposes and found that coverage to be cost prohibitive. Allen and Fillipi agreed to allow school representatives to be present and handle any disciplinary issues that may arise.
Board members, administrators, Rusty Allen and Milon Fillipi discussed district liability; how to handle disciplinary, alcohol and other related issues should they arise. The group discussed using breathalyzers, enlisting the aid of local law enforcement, other possible alternatives and the original directive that post prom activities should not be held in school facilities. After a lengthy discussion, a straw poll indicated that all six board members wished to investigate the issue further, asked administration to come up with some guidelines that could be presented to the parents group to consider and agreed to discuss the issue further at the regular February meeting.
Board members discussed the benefit of membership in the Nebraska Association of School Boards. Some of the benefits include a lower registration fee for statewide conferences, the availability of personnel from the NASB office to provide boardsmanship training, and the possibility of obtaining a bid for our insurance package from ALICAP (All Lines Interlocal Cooperative Aggregate Pool). Board members asked Mr. Sherwood to contact a NASB representative to come to a board meeting in the future to provide information as to why the district would consider rejoining NASB, including the savings that could be provided through ALICAP.
Board members agreed to consider Agenda Item #11 – Building & Grounds at this time and to consider Agenda Item #9 – Annual Report when discussing items under Agenda Item #12 – Planning for 2006-07 & Beyond.
Superintendent Sherwood reported that Lily Blaze, Assistive Technology Partnerships representative, visited our building and looked over our present lift system. Ms. Blaze is associated with the NDE Special Populations Office and ADA offices in Lincoln. We will receive a final written report in the next week or so, however, Ms. Blaze’s verbal report was that the lift could probably be repaired/replaced to meet ADA requirements. She provided a list of contact people that will be coming out to bid on our project. Preliminary information on elevators as opposed to the present lift system appears to be cost prohibitive. This project could be partially funded ($45,000) through the IDEA Grant with the balance being paid through the Depreciation Fund. This topic will appear on an agenda in the future for formal board consideration.
Mr. Sherwood distributed copies of a list of items identified by Matt Kai, Maintenance Supervisor, as areas that need to be considered for maintenance in the near future. These items included replacing screens, outside doors, a new storage building, remodeling restrooms in the secondary building and ag ed areas, stage storage and the weigh room and coach’s office. In addition, some routine summer maintenance would need to include painting. The Building and Grounds Committee agreed to review this information in the very near future and would have a committee meeting at a separate time to more fully discuss building maintenance needs.
Information on a property that will be coming up for sale located in close proximity to the district facilities was provided. Advantages and disadvantages of purchasing property were discussed. The Building and Grounds Committee agreed to look into the available property and report their findings to the board at a future meeting.
A 3-year technology needs plan was distributed to board members. Some of the project information was shared during the budget preparation meetings this Fall and some of the information was projections. The information was made available and will be presented formally on a subsequent agenda.
President Felber asked board members and administration for input on how to properly evaluate the position of elementary principal. The system in place allows for the principal to be evaluated by the superintendent. In our case, the position is one in the same and in the past a separate instrument was used to supplement the superintendent’s official evaluation. Board members discussed several ways of producing the necessary documentation including self-evaluation, evaluation by the secondary principal, using a tool provided and scored by a professional firm, etc. No decision was made at this time; however, President Felber will continue to look in to available methods for evaluation in this situation. No action was taken or discussion held on the secondary principal’s evaluation and/or contract negotiations or the method to be used for negotiating the superintendent’s contract.
Board members discussed the superintendent’s annual report that was distributed with the agenda; however, no formal presentation or subsequent discussion took place regarding that report. In addition, board members discussed several assignment variations for the 2007-08 school year, the impact of personnel cancellation and resignation in some areas. Board members discussed the pros and cons of hiring a special education director, instead of a coordinator and how every decision would effect the requirements of Nebraska Department of Education Rule 10. The financial impact of many decisions was taken into consideration and board members felt like they needed more time and information to make the best decisions possible.
Board Member J.J. Maise asked the board to review the current gym usage policies and administrative regulations to allow the possibility of using the gym on Sundays for club sports outside of school-sponsored activities. No decision was made.
Board members agreed to have a second retreat on Wednesday, January 31, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. to continue working through the agenda used for the January 27th retreat. No date was set for the Building and Grounds Committee meeting.
Moved by Peters, seconded by McQuistan to adjourn. President Felber stated the motion and the result of the vote being all ayes the meeting was adjourned at 12:37 p.m. by acclamation.
Recording Secretary
Barb Preston
Secretary
Matt Peters
