001foreign the state board meeting will begin in one minute good morning welcome to the October 7th 2002 State Board of Education meeting board members please engage your microphones people are speaking and turn them off when you are done speaking please note that board members may be using their cell phones and laptop computers to access the agenda and information related to this meeting live web streaming is available through the State Board of Education website the October 7th 2022 state board meeting will now come to order Andrea please call the roll Patsy kojons here Lisa Fricke here Patty goobles here Jacqueline Morrison Kirk Pinner here Marine Nichols Robin Stevens Here Deborah Neary here commissioner bloomstead president sixth president to absent thank you Andrea please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to
002the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all [Music] information regarding the open meeting Act is posted as you enter the room from the main entrance doors the open meeting Act is also posted on the State Board of Education website commissioner will you give us the protocol for this meeting yeah greetings and welcome everyone thanks to the members of the public that are here um just appreciate everybody be respecting the fact that this is a meeting a public meeting of the board and uh respecting one another in these settings as well and so thank thanks for the opportunity to participate or have you participated in the setting and appreciate that and I'll turn back over to you
003president commissioner do you have a report to give to us today I do so first of all kind of in our normal routines if there are any items that have been requested to be removed for the consent agenda I'm looking over to get validation and I don't believe we had any that were removed and so uh we'll proceed with consent agenda as normal and I think that is all that I have at this moment I will give the president's a report um I was pretty excited about writing this one uh I got up really early this morning to perfect what I was writing so I hope you uh learn a lot from what I'm about to say what's so great about Nebraska education a lot and you don't have to look very far to find
004it all you need is a positive attitude a few minutes and a desire to recognize the truth to this is called almost every year that's the truth and the data can be found in the ACT database um I I think that's amazing that Nebraska and Minnesota and Iowa trade off with that honor number three Nebraska kids stayed in school longer returned to their classrooms sooner and uh during the pandemic almost uh sooner than any other state and Matt bloomstad our commissioners said to tell the truth the fact is that it was that teachers in Nebraska the teachers the teachers the teachers he said that were responsible for this feat so it's the truth the teachers in Nebraska are held to higher standards of certification some of the highest in the nation and it is the
005truth much to the consternation of many other teachers coming into our state from other states to the big red state that they have to further their education a bit to meet those higher standards that Nebraska has number five Nebraska education has and continues to pursue and develop strong relationships pre-k through post-secondary with all of the people that are involved with that these relationships make all of Education in Nebraska stronger we are a chained linked together by strong educational relationships number six our Career and Technical education has garnered Awards including individual Awards Katie Graham was recently named State Fair CTE leadership rise Rising Star Award winner and if anybody knows about our CTE programs in the state of Nebraska you know that not only is she a strong leader but we are a strong State and
006growing stronger because of her Amy Roan yeah Amy Roan was also named the n-a-s-d-s-e service uh outstanding special education leader and she's a ball of fire and energy and all you have to do is walk beside her for a while to find out how to get things done um yeah okay Maureen Nichols a few weeks ago was named the nasby board distinguished server it was given the nasty board distinguished service award and Maureen has served for almost eight years in Nebraska's state board of education and served as the president for two of those years uh she's not here today to recognize her but Pat her on the back when you see her uh Shirley Vargas was just appointed to a National Committee to help solve some of education's problems and we're very proud of of
007that as she takes that leadership position we have a tradition of national leadership and Awards in Nebraska and that's because Nebraska teachers and Educators work hard if you want something done ask a Nebraska educator especially those who are now working at nde it is the truth these are the facts today I ask you to celebrate them and to recognize excellence in Nebraska education and to know that we work hard to make our students learn and to grow I think I did say one thing that was wrong I and I want to correct that myself before I get corrected and that was not everybody is has to take the ACT test but schools can require that as one of their tests that all students must take is that correct so we require all of our act
008for high school oh for high school so I said it right in the first place uh never mind I was right then I was wrong and I'm right again thank you for celebrating with me Nebraska education and uh the truth recognition was a person who presented to the United States Congress did with handling the pandemic okay that's a that's a very good idea commissioner you're too humble okay yeah so our commissioner just got through dog gobble okay at any rate our commissioner just got through uh presenting to the United States Congress um and I think he was selected because of our um the fact that we stayed in school longer than any other state and that we went back sooner than any other school commissioner will you add to that for me no it's it's
009actually just an honor to represent Nebraska and all the great things that happened across the state um quite frankly and so I'm just telling the story of what uh as I said teachers teachers teachers and teachers are are great teachers and great leaders across the state that have done in the pandemic and you can watch that um online if you'd like to see the commissioner's presentation you can see one of us and we'll we'll give you the link okay moving on agenda item number five is there a motion to approve the consent agenda yeah Brittany is there a second oh hi second thank you okay Andrea will you please take the role fricky yes Neri yes enter yes goobles yes Stevens yes Morrison Nichols kojons yes six yes two absent the motion passes per board
010policy oh we didn't discuss it did we actually in there YouTube another mistake for me okay um the motion passed agenda item 6.1 Vice chair Robin Stevens will provide a report from the executive committee meeting thank you madam chair the executive committee reports on its meeting that was held via zoom on September 25th 2022 the committee met upon the receipt of the resignation of commissioner bloomstead president Co John's shared with the committee her intention to appoint an ad hoc search committee to develop the process and procedures for finding the next Commissioner of Education handling the day-to-day work of procedures and making recommendations to the State Board the executive committee received legal counsel on procedures related to the commissioner's search process this concludes the executive committee report thank you Robin Stevens agenda item 6.2 Kurt Penner
011please provide a report from the budget and finance committee thank you the budget and finance committee reviewed nine action items at yesterday's meeting all nine items were recommended to be brought to the full board for their review and possible action nde's staff provided a summary of the committee of each of the nine items documenting the reasons for the items which included receiving Grant funds participating in joint projects with other agencies Contracting for services and awarding Grant funds the committee asked questions on several of the items with nde staff providing answers to the committee's questions Additionally the committee reviewed the deficit budget request along with nde staff per nde staff there are two larger requests on the deficit request with the rest being smaller more than more normal administrative requests the first of the larger items
012is an additional cost related to the office move which are inflationary related costs due to the estimated cost being lower than the actual costs the other large item is for the additional cost being incurred by the Blind and Visually Impaired facility which hasn't had an increase in several years despite serving more students and having normal cost of living adjustments for current staff the committee expressed a desire to receive additional fund financial information and will be working with nde staff moving forward to identify the requested information so that I was pinch hitting for Maureen as she's not here as I'm Vice chair so we have a I have actually eight action items here not nine so I'll see you see how we counted so I'm gonna we're gonna go down here and and go through each
013one of these action items first one is 6.2 Point C authorize the commissioner to renew existing contracts enter into new contracts with the office of the Chief Information officer individuals and vendor partners for staff augmentation services and other technology supports surrounding the nde Statewide longitudinal Data Systems Technology initiatives and systems modernization efforts and I move to authorize the commissioner to continue to contract with and enter into contracts with the vendors for purposes of supporting technology initiatives and modernizing efforts in nde Statewide longitudinal Data Systems it's a second to that motion Patty a second motion has been made and seconded is there any discussion on this motion seeing no discussion Andrea will you please call the roll Neri yes Stevens yes Frankie nickels goobles yes Morrison Penner yes Co Johns yes six yes two absent thank
014you Andrea the motion passed 6.2 Point D approved that participation of the Nebraska Department of Education as a partner hold on in the Nebraska application for federal preschool development Grant birth to five planning Grant I moved to approve the participation of the Nebraska Department of Education as a partner in the Nebraska application for a federal preschool development Grant birth to five planning Grant is there a second to that motion second thank you Robin any further discussion on the motion seeing no further discussion Andrea will you please call the roll Morrison freaky Nichols goobles yes Co Johns yes niri Stevens yes Penner yes six yes two absent thank you Andrea the motion path 6.2 Point e authorize the commissioner to approve the listed estimated dollar allocations for payment of special education programs Transportation residential services and
015interim school programs in 2022 and 2023. I move the to authorize the commissioner to approve the listed estimated dollar allocations for payment of special education programs Transportation residential services and interim school programs in 2022 and 2023. is there a second to that motion Thank you Lisa the motion has been seconded is there any discussion on this motion seeing no discussion Andrea will you please call the roll Stevens yes Neri Morrison Co Johns yes Penner yes goobles yes Nichols freaky yeah six yes two absent thank you Andrea the motion passed 6.2 Point f authorize the commissioner to approve a contract with public Consulting Group LLC for October 2022 through March 2023. I moved to authorize the commissioner to approve a contract with public Consulting Group LLC for October 2022 through March 2023. second to that motion
016second Robin Stevens seconded the motion is there any further discussion on the motion seeing none Andrea will you please call the roll s yes Neri yes Co Johns yes freaky Stevens yes Nichols Penner yes Morrison six yes two absent thank you Andrea of emotion passed 6.2 Point G authorized the commissioner to contract with Eric Snyder to serve to Service as the state advisor for educators Rising Career and Technical student organization is there a second to this motion let me I'll make the motion real quick hold on I moved to authorize the commissioner to contract with Eric Snyder to Service as the state advisor for the Educators Rising Career and Technical student organization thank you is there a second to this motion Deborah Neary second simotion is there any further discussion Andrea would you please call
017the roll Penner yes Nichols freaky yeah Neary yes goobles yes Morrison Stevens yes cojones yes six yes two absent emotion passed 6.2.8 approved the grant to the Supreme Nebraska Supreme Court in the provision of federally required idea part C duties I moved to approve the grant to the Nebraska Supreme Court in the provision of federally required idea part C duties is there any is there a second to this motion Patty I second the motion thank you is there any further discussion on this motion seeing none Andrea please call the roll Johns yes freaky goobles yes Morrison Penner yes Nichols Stevens yes Neri yes six yes yes to absent motion passed 6.2 point I authorized the commissioner to accept the grant award from the U.S Department of Education for the competitive grants for State assessments program
018and contract with edcount LLC for the tasks activities on the award I moved to authorize the commissioner to accept the grant award from the U.S Department of Education for the competitive grants for State assessments program and to contract with Ed count LLC for the tasks activities on the award is there a second to this motion Deborah is there any further discussion on this motion seeing done Andrea please call the roll fricky Neri yes Penner yes goobles yes Stevens yes Morrison Nichols kojons yes 6 yes to absent the motion path yeah hold on here a second okay we have a so we're gonna we're gonna drop down to 6.2 K because that's the next one on my sheet here it's the authorization of the commissioner to submit Department's deficit budget requests for the fiscal year 2022
019and 2023 on behalf of the State Board of Education that's the next motion I have in line here I'm looking for the motion on six on the one above on 6.2 Point J so we'll just go to k real quick and then pop back up is that all right okay so authorize the commissioner to submit the Department's deficit budget request for the fiscal year 2022 2023 on behalf of the State Board of Education I moved to authorize the commissioner to submit the Department's deficit budget request for the fiscal year 2023-2020 2022 2023 on behalf of the State Board of Education is there a second to that motion motion seconded by Lisa Fricke is there any further discussion Andrea will you please call the roll Mary yes Stevens yes freaky Nichols goobles yes Morrison Penner yes
020co-johns yes six yes to absent the motion passed all right last one 6.2 Point J thank you for letting me skip around yeah that's great authorize the commissioner to accept the state Personnel development Federal grant award so I moved to authorize the commissioner to accept the state Personnel development Federal grant award they're a second to that motion thank you any further discussion on that motion hey Andrea will you please call the rule Penner yes Nichols freaky Neri yes Google's yes Morrison Stevens yes Co Johns yes 6 yes to absent the motion passed agenda item 6.3 chair Patty goobles please provide a report from the planning and evaluation committee meeting thank you madam president the planning and evaluation committee met at 11 o'clock on Thursday October 6th the committee members had no Corrections or comments about
021the previous committee meeting notes the committee discussed three action items and agreed to move all three items forward for a board vote the first action item discussed was 2.1 point a that was to approve the rule a rule 11 teacher waiver request from walthill public school Walt Hill school is requesting a teacher waiver for their six pence toddler program they've been unable to hire a teacher with appropriate credentials they have secured an individual who meets the criteria for a teacher waiver the school administration has submitted the appropriate documents to support the waiver request the committee agrees to move this forward 2.1 point B the action item to authorize the commissioner to extend the current 2022-2023 nwea contract for Statewide Assessment Services to include the 2023-2024 year at our June 2022 board meeting the board approved
022the nwea contract for 2022-2023 nde staff presented the cost accounting for the extent and extending the nwe contract for Statewide assessment to include the 2023-2024 year the amendment pricing table was reviewed and discussed it was noted that map growth costs covered by four school districts in 2022-23 and the assessment development contributed to increases in contract totals the committee dialogued about the importance of helping the public understand proficiency as an assessment concept ends gas will include map growth like reports and additional data and data points as we move forward 2.1 Point C the action item is to authorize the commissioner to extend the current 2022-2023 DRC contract for Statewide Assessment Services to include the 2023-2024 year at the June 2022 meeting the board approved the contract with DRC for 2022-23 the request is to extend the
023DRC contract for 20 23 through 2024. nde staff explained that drc's provision of instructional supports for special education teachers has benefited student learning and assessment results the extension increased costs are attributed to primarily to the upcoming coming standard setting and Alignment work those are where our three action items under discussion 2.2 a the discussion item was to provide an update on the learning community of Douglas and Sarpy counties and the community achievement plan nde provided a review of the achievement plan in the Learning Community the commissioner shared the historical context and development of the Learning Community the overall intent of the cap is to encourage member districts to collaborate together nde staff provided a summary of the cap sections evaluation and progress toward meeting goals a preview of the proposed plan for 2022 through 2025
024was presented in preparation for the November board presentation to be given by representatives from The Learning Community at this point I'd like to call Dr Vargas forward if she's here not here okay she was going to provide us just with a little bit more context about this but we will have presentations at the November board meeting so we'll move with that there were no committee updates the committee meeting adjourned at 11 58 a.m this concludes the planning and evaluation report thank you Patty Patty is there a motion on 6.3 a I have that motion I moved to approve the rule 11 teacher waiver request for Walt Hill public school this motion second Ed by Robin Stevens Andrew is there any further discussion on the motion seeing no further discussion Andrea will you please call the
025roll Google's yes Neri yes Penner yes Stevens yes Morrison freaky yes Nichols kojons yes six yes to absent the motion path Y is there a motion is this yours too Kirk okay Deborah okay all right um Deborah is there a motion on 6.3 B yes I moved to authorize the commissioner to extend the current 2022 nwea contract for Statewide Assessment Services to include the 2023 2024 year is there a second to this motion oh second the motion thank you Patty is there any further discussion to this motion Andrea please call the roll Penner yes Morrison Neary yes co-jones yes fricky yes goobles yes Nichols Stevens yes six yes two absent uh the motion passed okay I don't have written yet and who is supposed to be doing these so Patty is there a motion on
026them on the item 6.3 C yes there is thank you I moved to authorize the commissioner to extend the current 2022-2023 DRC contract for Statewide Assessment Services to include the 2023-2024 year is there a second to this motion may I second yes thank you Lisa Fricke um is there any further discussion on the motion okay Andrea please call the roll fricky Neri yes Penner yes goobles yes Stevens yes Morrison yeah Nichols kojons yes seven yes one absent okay the motion passes uh agenda item 6.4 and 6.4 0.4 a Vice chair Lisa Fricke please provide a report from the rules and regulations committee meeting thank you madam president we met yesterday October 6 and the rules committee reports that um we reviewed the rules some of the rules and they're attached in spark the committee received
027an update from nde staff specifically on rule 20 which is regulations for approval of educator that programs throughout the state Rule 21 regulations for certification rule 23 regulations for the basic skills competency test for that teacher prep program and Rule 24 regulations for certification revision process the committee will provide updates on to the board as these rules progress through the development process and next month we'll receive a report specifically on rule 23 and Rule 21 and I look forward to having that and then it will answer your question that you asked me last month and I ask you to wait so you will have a definitive answer next month the committee discussed the legislative and Regulatory priorities with nde staff and discuss the draft priority areas the board discussed the draft of the legislative and
028Regulatory priorities in the work session yesterday afternoon over the past three months the rules and Rex committee has been discussing and prioritizing rethinking and prioritizing and brainstorming a lot about these legislative and Regulatory priorities and that was part of our Workshop yesterday great discussion the committee is going to have a zoom between now and November to further edit and ask for more input into that and so hopefully we'll have something to bring out the next month this concludes the rules and Rex report thank you madam president thank you Vice chair for key agenda item 7 and 7.1 chair Patty goobles please provide a report from the ad hoc committee on board policy manual revision thank you madam president the ad hoc committee on board policy reference manual revision has met twice since our last board
029meeting the members of the ad hoc committee are Patty goobles Marine Nichols Kirk Penner and staff Ryan Ford the committee to discuss concerns that were expressed at the September state board meeting about the work of the ad hoc committee and the proposed resolution identified concerns included the scope of the work meaning structure and organization versus wording and substantive policy changes lack of definition of position statements in the proposed resolution and definition of board operational policies the committee reviewed the scope of the proposed committee work as explained on slide 8 of the PowerPoint presentation to the board that was given on April 8 2022 this is the PowerPoint that was referred to at the September board meeting and should be posted in spark at some point if you want to go back and review that PowerPoint
030slide eight of the PowerPoint reads revise B12 into new structure organize existing bylaws and policies into new structure and underneath that amend codes and wording in bylaws and policies as needed write new policies as needed merge some bylaws and merge some policies recommend title changes for some bylaws and policies and also then this PowerPoint was given prior to the charge from the president for an ad hoc committee and when I had just been working on this project as an individual board member so there were two more points on slide eight that were really me saying what do we do next one of them was develop a transition plan for reporting improving and Publishing and he revised bylaws and policies and determined the placement of resolutions and model policies the committee members agreed that the intent
031of the scope of the work was clearly indicated in the PowerPoint and that that PowerPoint was referred to by president kojohn's in her charge to form the ad hoc committee at previous committee meetings the committee determined that only policies and bylaws are intended to be part of the policy reference manual physician statements should be aligned with our board legislative and Regulatory priorities and thus should have a home on the nde website that highlights those priorities and position statements resolutions are also important to display in a public manner however because they're not bylaws and policies they're not part of the policy reference manual they need to be displayed in an appropriate place on the nde website the committee also intends to recommend that nde determine appropriate space on the website to display model policies which are
032templates for local districts to use to write legislatively mandated policies the committee reviewed the definition of board operational policies and decided that the definition indicates that there are two kinds of policies included in that category one policies that relate to the policy making rulemaking and quasi-judicial responsibilities of the board and two policies that specify how board members conduct themselves and interact with internal and external entities the committee discussed that current current internal board policies and proposed board operational policies do include existing policies such as our board code of conduct public statements made by board members staff and board relations as well as policies that are more directed toward our responsibilities such as reimbursement of expenses rural development hearing office officers Etc the committee concluded that the proposed resolution with explanation and a reference to the
033PowerPoint provided during the board presentation in April identifies the scope of the delegated work the definition of board operational policies and the recognition of because position statements are not board policies they're not defined in the resolution however they are defined in proposed board operational policy 1.01 the committee discussed the position statements resolutions and model policies are important and need to be displayed the committee has completed review and restructuring of the board State Board of Education bylaws with some wording changes and suggestions we've reviewed board operational policies and we have written recommendations and suggestions for the board executive committee to consider as they review board policies in the future the committee anticipates completing the restructuring review with recommendations of agency management policies for the executive committee at the October meeting and will be prepared to present
034the proposed policy reference manual revisioned to the board in November yay the chair will offer an amendment to the motion that was made at our September board meeting that concludes the ad hoc committee report on board policy reference manual revision thank you Patty at the September 2nd 2022 meeting the motion to adopt the resolution to revise structural organization in the State Board of Education policy reference manual was postponed to this meeting the motion on the floor now is to adopt the resolution to revise structural organization in the State Board of Education policy reference manual is there any discussion yes I moved to amend that motion by striking the words structural organization in so that the motion reads to adopt the resolution to revise the State Board of Education policy reference manual is there a is
035there a second to that motion thank you is there any discussion on this motion go ahead so this was a place where I had some concerns at the last meeting I have since spoken to the chair about my concerns and I was assured that the issue or the concern that I had with some of the wording would be changed or at least looked into going forward however now I'm concerned though that if we are amending words out that I think we could have spent more time addressing my concerns with the resolution I thought we were just going to proceed with the resolution as it was and then work on it later but if we're changing words then now I'm like I feel like that should have allowed for more time to address the concerns that
036I had with the wording so I don't know that I would I was prepared today to support the resolution in The Way It Was Written because I thought we were moving forward with just changing it later but if we're gonna make changes now I can't support this amendment without addressing the other pieces that I had concerns with any further discussion Deborah I guess uh I don't understand why this is even necessary uh I mean why are we taking this step now when we really there's been a lot of confusion around uh I mean at least in the discussions that I heard last month and in the one-on-one discussions I've had uh about whether this is about structure and organization or this is you know rewrites but I don't understand why we're approving something in advance
037that um I mean if the committee already has what you consider to be your mission then then why is this necessary I'm sorry I'm not understanding I think I appreciate any information on that so Deborah let me just make sure I understand what you're saying so you're wanting to understand why we propose the resolution the reality is we we have done a tremendous amount of work we believe we understood what our charge was but we weren't sure that as a board everybody understood what our charge was right and we really felt that we wanted some confirmation that we all understood that before we have all of our work finished and we present it and then people were saying but you weren't supposed to be doing that or we didn't understand that that's part of what
038you were doing so that's why we believed it was important to have the resolution just so that we we know that we're we're on track we're moving forward was the resolution absolutely necessary no but watching the state board meeting and the discussion last month it became clear to me that it was important to have that kind of dialogue before we were in the position that we're presenting the entire package so that's really why we did that Deborah thank you I think that's a really important step that you're taking since obviously it was necessary and there is a lot of confusion and I am voting against it because I feel like there still is confusion and you know referring back to a PowerPoint in April or whatever it was I mean I didn't know that every
039word in that PowerPoint was what you know we were uh approving I I mean what I kept hearing over and over was structure and organization which is really different I I really hope that we would have more time and intentionality about each policy that is going to be changed uh because I think they just deserve more time and attention rather than just doing a large group at once so I'm just going to be voting against this but I appreciate your bringing it forward for discussion and clarification Jacqueline yeah I the more I think about this I start to I was one place last night and then when if we strike the word so going for it the way it was where it has the word structural changes I just became aware that that word was
040going to be struck right now um and that to me changes the charge and when it was explained to me yesterday it was we will make changes as needed to and I'm paraphrasing to allow for a better structure and so it's still while it may change a policy or it may create a new one because you're combining things or moving things it still really came back to we were fundamentally fixing problems with our structure and so to amend this word out with confusion for me still in the board operational policy line I think it's going farther than what I believe this board was this was tested the committee was tasked to do and I guess my concern is that if we're going Beyond structure changes to where we're making policy changes I think there are
041places and committees where those should happen that should not any policy changes that are outside of the structure would need to be done by the committee in which that policy is applicable that was the whole point of redoing all of our committees just a year ago so that we can align the work of the Committees and the work where it needs to go and so delegating that to an ad hoc committee whose job was to just fix the structure now seems like we are delegating this committee a lot of authority that I never when I voted on the approval of this ad hoc committee I didn't believe I was giving them that Authority and I think from Deborah's point the the explanation that this is being brought before us so that the board is clear
042on the broad Authority that we gave them I'm not certain that that's what we gave them at that time and so I think this taking that word out does create more Authority for this committee that I don't think they should have because I think those decisions should happen in our regular committees I I guess I would request president Johannes that you state what your charge to us was as an ad hoc committee no that's all right um In the Heat of discussion correct yes all right uh so as I stated at the last meeting when this question was asked of me um if you'll all look back I stated that I thought that I was giving this committee the direction to not only look at the structure but to look at the wording and the
043updates needed to make our policy handbook reflect uh the 2022 State Board of Education and that's what I thought that the direction was that I was giving and I said that at the last meeting so that's what I thought it was doing president Co Johns um yes I guess I also want to point out that in the minutes that I read it indicated that with the policies what we are doing because we are reading through every policy right and so in doing that as a committee if we've noticed something that we said we think this policy maybe needs to be looked at we've kind of written considerations and recommendations to give to the executive committee and that committee is charged with policy Revision in general policy revision and development at this point that's part of
044their responsibility as I understand it Jacqueline I just want to point out if I'm correct the members of this committee are Mr Penner Miss Nichols and Ms Google's if I would have thought that there were going to be policy changes I would have at least said maybe someone from Omaha should be on this committee because we represent the largest school district in the state of Nebraska and so I'm not even sure that when we're talking about the board or Lincoln I mean that's the second I mean I believe the second largest school district or close to it in the state so for for those large school districts to not even be represented on a policy making committee where we're talking about things that impact every student in the state of Nebraska if it was that
045broad I would have brought it up and said this is a huge oversight that most of the representation is coming from Western Nebraska on this committee and not any person from East so Patsy yes Deborah so I want to go back to the point well first of all Yes uh I do think that there are concerns not only because policy work I feel should be done in the formal committee that's been established to do the policy work but as was just pointed out there is an imbalance in a task force usually a task force is um you know I that one task and this is uh much larger than that now the conversations I've had with you president Co John's indicated to me a lot of confusion because um this that isn't what I understood
046our conversations one-on-one were that was your understanding and I thought there was um the initial creation of the task force if we go back my that board meeting am I correct it seemed like the discussion last month included that the initial words organizing it did not include uh anything outside of structure and organization can somebody verify that for me I I will verify that I think I initially said when I was asked that question okay that I gave the direction to the committee to do more than structure to re-vamp and uh Patty you said that you also went to the video and that's what I said when I was asked the question if there was any confusion on my part the part was that several people were telling me that's not what I said and
047so I thought well maybe I heard it wrong or whatever but I I remembered it as it was stated here well thank you for clarifying yeah Jacqueline when we were at the last meeting I pulled up and to give context this this work predated the work of the ad hoc committee and when that work was being done in the policy committee there was a focus at that time on structural changes when I looked back through the PowerPoint that was presented the titles and the large prints related to structural changes and I think the fact that we have an amendment on the floor right now taking out the word structural changes which was something that the committee brought to us that said it was structural changes and when I asked the question last meeting and now
048it's being clarified that that structural word shouldn't be there I think is indication of the point Deborah that there was intent at some point for this to be structural and now it's being taken out quite literally through an amendment to this right now can I I just want to add one so I I want to make sure folks are on the same page and I I think the president's going to read the motion the amendment is into the motion not into the resolution so there is not an amendment to change the resolution and I think I've heard that a couple times I just want to make sure that that that the intent is to change the motion that was on the floor and not the resolution and and maybe president Co Johns could read the
049motion but I I would want folks to realize that's not changing the resolution as I understand it just the motion that was made at the last meeting so I moved to amend the motion by striking the words structural organization in so the motion reads to adopt the resolution to revise the State Board of Education policy reference manual do I have a second it's restating so that motion's been made okay all right that's what you're debating or discussing right now yep coloring call the roll Mary no Stevens yes Ricky yes Nichols goobles yes Morrison Penner yes coach Johns yes five yes to No One absent maybe okay all right here we go to adopt the resolution to revise the State Board of Education policy reference manual do I that would be the current motion on the
050floor Ryan would there would there need to be another motion made or does that no okay that is the motion on the floor okay is there further discussion on this motion okay to adopt the resolution to revise the State Board of Education policy reference manual discussion okay Nichols Stevens yes code Johns yes Neri no goobles yes Morrison no freaky Penner yes five yes two no one absent the motion passes agenda item 7.2 chair Patty goobles please provide a report from the ad hoc search committee thank you madam president the ad hoc committee search committee met October 6 2022 with state board members present Patty goobles Patsy kojons Jacqueline Morrison and staff there to assist Brian Halstead Ryan four the ad hoc search committee reports that the committee held its first and organizational meeting to begin
051the process of searching for the next Commissioner of Education the committee reviewed the initial search timeline discussed the role of the committee reviewed the qualifications required by state statute for applicants and discussed the draft of the RFP for search firms the working timeline that we are developing will be shared with the board at next month's board meeting board committee reports will be presented to the board on a regular basis to keep the board apprised of the process and progress the committee requests that Communications questions concerns about the commissioner's search process be directed to the ad hoc search committee chair Patty Googles materials related to the search process will be posted in spark for individual board members to read and review the search committee will be providing the board with the draft of the request for
052proposal for search firms additional thoughts we we encourage all board members to read that draft and provide feedback to me as The Chair by the end of the day on Monday we intended to have that draft that we had made a few revisions to posted in spark for a meeting but it's not quite ready but it will be there fairly shortly I assume so you'll have an opportunity to go in review that draft RFP and please provide us any suggestions or thoughts comments that you have our goal is to have the RFP finalized to be released by Wednesday October 12th proposal submissions from search firms are due to nde to the board by November 2nd 2022 the committee will then narrow the search firm finalists and finalists at this point we're hoping we'll present proposals
053to the board at our December board meeting this concludes the ad hoc search committee report thank you we will now take a 15-minute break it's okay did the Notions yes it wasn't on okay we will reconvene this um meeting in one minute I did I was doing two or three things okay we will begin the meeting again I'm going to turn the meeting over to Patty goobles for her to introduce the next speaker thank you madam president um we are going back to our agenda item 6.3 Point D discussion item provide an update on the learning community of Douglas and Sarpy counties and the community achievement plan Dr Vargas has been able to join us after an already busy morning so thank you Dr Vargas for being here and she's going to provide that update
054hey good morning everyone um I wanted to bring you a quick update related to the learning community and the committee achievement plan first I want to provide you a brief update directly into the mic so on spark you will find a series of items and the first I'd like to draw your attention to is titled LC process history timeline essentially this is just a quick document that provides some historical context related to the creation of the learning community and then ultimately the creation of the community achievement plan so to draw your attention there really briefly on the first page we see that the learning community of Douglas and Sarpy counties actually started in 2009 in an effort to you know bring forth all of these different organizations and entities and school districts to work collaboratively
055towards improving outcomes for children in these two counties and they're actually governed by our coordinating Council they have a series of powers all these things can be found on our Nebraska legislature web page but essentially I wanted to just provide this context here and something that they shared at that moment in time was a common Levy and um you know it was a property tax system for all of these schools and um you know throughout some time we saw that you know there was some contention around that piece and ultimately in 2016 is when in an effort to remove that common Levy Senators at that time wanted to replace it with something that can be used to ensure that that continued collaboration would cause would can be consistent and would continue and that's where the
056community achievement plan came in where it's a document where you as a state board approve it and then also see the evaluation report every three years and then the Learning Community actually submits more summative regular updates to the legislature so in essence it's really about this tool being a way in which we ensure that these different entities are working together and in collaboration and in support of one another um on the second page of that document you'll see that the community achievement plan is made up of four sections the first section is the superintendent's plan for early childhood and that's in partnership with the Buffett Early Childhood Institute the second section is addressing student attendance and through the creation of the Learning Community the greater Omaha attendance and learning Services Center was created or goals
057as you might hear me and others describe it the third is the actual Learning Centers of the learning community so there's a North Center and there's a South Center so the north centers and North Omaha the South centers in South Omaha and that is specifically geared towards increasing family engagement as well as other early childhood and language acquisition strategies for families and communities of those areas and then lastly in the the more recent addition to the cap here is the moai collective impact act plan moack actually stands for the Metropolitan Omaha education Consortium and moack also consists of Council Bluffs so you'll see some mention of like Iowa Council Bluffs area so it's really around the metro area related to these two counties the last piece on that page for the process history timeline is
058the fact that we do this every three years so the last time that you all or the state board was presented at cap was back in 2019 and you'll see on the arrows here every three years we're going through this process and it's always done by December 1st so typically you know which is why we're bringing this for you today because in order to be in compliance with the Statue it has to be before December 1st we don't have a board meeting on that date so therefore we're seeking approval in November which is next month and then that plan will be in effect from December 1st 2022 to December 1st 2025 which at that point there'll be another update progress evaluation and we go through the process again one more time and I stopped in
0592019 doesn't mean that's when it ends but I ran out of space and I figured you know we'll revisit this process then okay so that was just some historical context and um one if I missed anything commissioner should I just great okay the next uh two documents I'll quickly draw your attention to but we won't spend much time on is the cap 2019 which is the cap that was approved back again in 2019 and the cap 2015-18 evaluation so the evaluation is a standalone report that we will submit to you all um in preparation for next month approval so you can see the evaluation of these four sections and then the cap itself is 79 pages so some of the feedback we've also received not only from prior board members but also from um uh
060the actual leaders of these sections is that well what good is an 80 page paper when the work is actually you know really the work that we're doing and I can tell you that in many less words I don't have to include all of the evaluation and the plan and I also you know really want this to be a living document for our team so you can anticipate a more brief yet you know powerful document coming to you in the next few weeks that provides that um clarity as well as concise uh language and then there was also an effort at the time from the specific from some state board members around making some clear distinctions and connection to our strategic vision and Direction and while that's important we also need to be you know
061conscious of the fact that this is specific to the learning community of Douglas and Sarpy County so then we want to make sure that we provide them with enough space to talk about the things that are most important and most prevalent to these two to these two counties but also be able to draw connections to the work we're doing as a state so you'll see some connections but not necessarily you know call outs like what we had back prior in 2019 or earlier so those are just some quick talking points around that and then you'll see that more clearly written out and the plan they'll be before you in a few weeks the last piece that I'll spend time on right now talking to you is the cap progress update 2022 so this document is
06225 pages and what you see here each section leader was asked to think through and respond to what are the highlights and the goals and the purpose of each section so if you read the 79 Pages thank you and if you didn't read the 75 Pages then skimmed through it you'll actually see the substance of the plan and the work that's been happening throughout the past three years in this progress report here and each section which talks about the sections I've already identified talks about their highlights their areas of success so they include quotes because they're working directly with students families different organizations and most importantly our school districts so they're working in tandem with our school districts to improve achievement Early Childhood programming and increasing academic outcomes um the third piece is they're each
063in a different stage of their evaluation process so we wanted to make sure that they um had an opportunity to provide what their current evaluation is um saying or demonstrating to them in the past few years since the implementation of the 2019 plan and then lastly what are the actual revisions that they'll be doing to the cap so those are things that we'll look for in the plan that will be before you in a few weeks that will ask for your approval so next month you can anticipate having the representatives of each of the sections to be present as well as the CEO of the Learning Community to be here and most likely um a District representative as a district administrator to talk through their experience with these different entities um in the community the
064learning community that was a lot in a short amount of time but uh I'll turn it back to you chair Patty to see if there are any comments or questions so I'm just looking through kind of some of the progress updates and some of the goals I shouldn't say Goals but some of the things that they are doing overlap with some of the conversations we were having yesterday so for instance it looks like they're working on chronic absenteeism and what does that look like in their plans and so as I know Deborah kind of touched on this yesterday about that collaboration piece and looking at stakeholders and what they're doing but I'm just wondering you know as if we were to go with legislative priorities and say you know this is what's working this is
065what we want funding for our is this particular entity also working on those same things like asking for funding for one of their goals or asking for funding for this like how comprehensive is what they're doing and how does it overlap with what we would try to do so to my knowledge to date The Learning Community CEO and others are not necessarily going to the legislature to ask for any um additional funds or any change in legislation that I'm that I'm aware of but I will say that we can definitely and should leverage them as as a learning community slightly operate like an ESU so they do have the ability to you know support these four different sections and work alongside the Ford the 11 districts and then the other piece I would say is
066that um you know it's a third of our students right so we're talking about the two counties that contain about a hundred and thirty five thousand students in our state so we definitely want to make sure that you know they're a partner in whatever work we may be considering related to our legislative priorities regarding chronic absenteeism but I see Deborah foreign I just wanted to add on to your wonderful answer just because I'm very enthusiastic about I in the non-profit that I ran for the last 10 years we worked very closely with the school districts and that meant working very closely uh with the goal Center in moek and what I loved about what they were doing is not just using the resources to achieve the goals but they were leveraging the whole Community you
067know the United Way and you know the Omaha Community Foundation and and and a lot of non-profits and coordinating that work that are working on student achievement but like in your connection to our legislative goals to this I mean they just align perfectly uh into yes under that umbrella and some you know clearly delineated but they also do the work that you know I don't know that we always talk about but you know provide those supports for youth that need to be in place in order for you know improved student achievement uh does that make sense uh those family supports those youth supports but I like that connection that you made to the legislative priorities that we're talking about I guess I'm just as I see this and I'm thinking about it I would hope
068at some point maybe not this year or five years from now but we can be that body that says this is what the state should be focusing on these are our five goals and that it kind of channels down to all of these different and entities so that we start to become aligned and we're all working toward the same goals and I think in theory right now we all are working toward the same goals but I don't know that we have that direct alignment and so I I'm just kind of as I'm thinking about this wondering if we can start to think like that if it would then help us get to if we decide we want 75 reading then maybe one of their goals is also 75 reading and we start to have that
069greater impact so thank you for providing us with us but just general thoughts any further discussion questions Deborah did I I is this um are they planning construction of a new center or did I just imagine that I know they finished the construction on the South Omaha Learning Center okay that's but that was the newest one I don't know the third one that's like out towards West Side I can confirm and make sure that okay and I just wondered if that if that was and maybe it's not maybe that was just I don't know uh but is that funding construction goes through you know what we approve also or is that a different entity yeah yeah they exercise that as a political subdivision with their tax base and the funding sources and so it's not
070something that we just like we wouldn't with school districts or otherwise have approval over those yes any other discussion Lisa it's not a discussion and it just reminded me when Jacqueline and Deborah were talking about aligning and Partnerships it was a tough time when they changed what the Learning Center could potentially lose in funding and I remember being at the hearing where 9 to 11 superintendents were lined up in the front row and all talked in support of the unified support for the Learning Center and I will never forget that they didn't only care about their school district they worried about the kids in that learning center to me that was a powerful message how important this was because the leaders were there to support the learning community any further discussion any further okay no
071questions thank you very much for your report um item 8.1 will you read the resolution Lisa we'll give it my best shot Madam chair you know they always ask me to have that microphone right close to my mouth so um attainment goal resolution whereas High State educational attainment is strongly correlated with higher state gross domestic product higher per capita income greater labor force participation greater civic participation improved Health outcomes and high quality of life whereas projections are that at least 70 percent of jobs will soon require a degree certificate diploma or other post-secondary or industry credential with economic value in Workforce whereas Nebraska current educational attainment attainment including degrees certificates diplomas and other post-secondary and Industry credentials with economic value is approach approximately 58 percent for Nebraska ages 20 25 to 34 and approximately 55
072percent for Nebraskans age 25 through 64. most States including neighboring states have said ambitious goals attainment goals to reach social and economic development aspirations and use those education attainment goals to inform education and Workforce Development policies whereas State educational attainment goals help State officials colleges and universities Elementary and secondary schools employers philanthropic and Community organizations established a shared agenda and measure progress at regular intervals whereas post-secondary Readiness requires a firm foundation in high quality pre-kindergarten elementary middle and high schools whereas the State Board recognizes the strong contributions of Nebraska's public and non-public schools in preparing Nebraska students for post-secondary readiness and thanks to Educators for their dedication especially during the covid-19 pandemic now therefore be it resolved the Nebraska State Board of Education supports the state goal outlined in legislative resolutions 335 in 2022 passed
073by the Nebraska legislature on April 13 2022 that at least 75 percent of 25 to 34 year old Nebraskans have a degree certificate diploma or other post-secondary or industry recognized credential with economic value by 2030. and now therefore it be resolved the State Board encourages the Nebraska Department of Education leadership to develop and Implement strategies to attain the aforementioned State education attainment goals resolve the State Board affirms the six tenants of a quest as a framework for achieving the aforementioned State educational attainment goal and resolve that the State Board encourages local Boards of Education to commit to and establish goals and strategies to achieve the attainment goals that was that were set above so in that light um I would like to propose a motion I moved to adopt a resolution declaring the state board's
074support for lr335 the state's post-secondary attainment goal Thank you Lisa is there a second to that motion my second the motion the motion has been made and seconded is there any discussion on this motion seeing no discussion Andrea will you please call the roll Morrison freaky yes Nichols goobles yes Co John's yes Neri yes Stevens yes Penner yes seven yes one absent the motion passed agenda item 8.2 Career and Technical education funding Kirk okay just wanted to bring an update after uh I think it was two months ago we talked about current technical education funding and we met Katie we had a meeting October 3rd in Lincoln with 19 other business trade and AG groups and we are moving forward and expect to have a draft Bill ready for our review in November and just
075want to let you know Katie was there also we feel really good about this we have Senators on board we just need to get down to specifically and precisely what that bill looks like but I appreciate KD and Sydney all the work they've done and it was great to get a group of people together that if there's a group that understands what's going on with Workforce Development in that state that was in that room and we have an issue to solve with Workforce Development I think schools can be that problem solver we just need to get to our kids in middle school and get them exposed to some great careers out there so that is my update thank you Kurt yes you may thanks Kurt I mean as we all know I mean there's a
076tremendous amount of wonderful work happening in this field uh in Nebraska because of the federal funding we received but we want to do better when and provide the state funding I uh I have a question though like when a board member initiates an action of legislation like is that like go through one of our committees or is this an independent action I mean I guess I I think it's great it's a goal we wanted but I just want to understand yeah have some clarity around when a board member initiates legislation like this is that do we have processes or uh or is that just we can do that uh and I you know this in this case is something we wanted and prioritized but what if it is something we don't want and haven't prioritized
077so can somebody help clarify that for me that's a great question so um I don't remember in the six years that I've served on the board that we've had someone do that so the answer to that question may take a little bit of research to find out if it's ever ever even been done before I think it was a great idea and when you started it I thought why didn't we think of that since all the other states do help support a CTE I even said that to Ryan why didn't we think of that he said well you could have done it which we could have but it's great that you thought of it and that you carried it out but I think we need to find out for the future because I think Deborah
078your question has a lot of value to it if it happened to be something that we didn't want that went against what we stand for whatever this happens to be great but we if we don't have a policy I mean it can I just add on to that I mean it's if Kirk was there and said I am not here representing the Nebraska State Board of Education and I'm going to ask you did you say I am not representing the Nebraska State Board of Education then I guess that's one thing for clarity and so uh but we still have a legislative policy and so should the work of our board members be going through the policy that we have in place uh instead of just working with a staff person and so I first asked
079that question of you I did not set up the meeting I did not call the other all the other entities I did not lead the meeting um so I was in the room but not leading yeah uh Jacqueline for fear of us getting off topic I don't want to go too far on this but I was just going to make the point that Deborah meat is to me that hinges on whether or not we're very clear what capacity we're participating in these conversations I participate in a lot of legislative conversations but I'm very clear what hat I'm wearing and so I I would be scared of a broad a blanket statement about when we can participate but I also am very cognizant of I think we do have a policy on who can speak for
080the board and maybe that goes into what does our code of conduct look like when we're acting on behalf of the board versus on behalf of ourselves so that's what I that's what I would think where it would come into play Lisa I appreciate that conversation that you guys are having um before that I was just going to thank Kirk for you know um sharing that with us but I also wanted to um thank Katie Graham when I first got on the board she was she's a ball of energy talking about CTE and how where we're going and then in that process CTE went down to fifth grade I mean so it's just great what we have available from the federal level and I support highly that the state of Nebraska get in there and
081and do their share and I just want to thank you for what you shared today and uh in Katie's hands and now Sydney let's do it anybody else have something to add I don't know Patty if it might be wise to look at the policy handbook and see I mean we do have a policy I think that states have the president speaks for the board but this seems to take it a little bit farther than than what that means I think I I would direct that back to the executive committee thank you very much we'll put it on all right yeah I'm sorry I wasn't going to respond but I just want want it to be known that I am reminded Often by our staff that when I am at an ESU meeting or wherever
082I may be that I speak not for the board not for nde that's what I see happening here um I I don't know again I'm not a big policy guy I'm not sure we need a policy but I'll let others discuss that well you'll get to discuss that in the executive committee it was handed off to us so that's good but once again thank you very much for what you did okay all right item 8.4 8.3 okay let's see let's go here and make sure I'm on the right spot yep I am okay item 8.3 it is with both regret and for our loss and gratitude for as many contributions that the Nebraska State Board of Education accepts the resignation of Matthew L boomstad the commissioner of education for the last almost nine years his
083contributions have been numerous he's saved served at the educational system with intelligence insight and dignity Matt has won the respect of many of those who work at Nebraska schools his broad knowledge of the law business and education and his wit have made him a Priceless and memorable addition to education in Nebraska he will be missed we wish him the best and hope to work with him and other ventures in the future commissioner bloomstead we will miss you as you move on and we humbly accept your resignation do I have a motion to accept the commissioner's threat resignation Robin I'm I moved to accept commissioner bloomstead's resignation I believe it's effective uh January 3rd 2023 2023 thank you hi do we have a second to this motion I'll second it made me nervous we're not letting
084you go so we have a motion and it has been seconded is there any discussion then please call the roll Stevens yes Mary yes Morrison yes Co Johns yes Penner yes goobles yes Nichols fricky with much regret the best best wishes I say yes seven yes one absent the motion passes agenda item 8.4 I move that this board designated Deputy Commissioner Deborah Frierson to carry out any duties imposed by law upon the commissioner in accordance with 79-301 3 when such vacancy occurs do I have a second for that motion Lisa is there any further discussion the motion has been made and seconded will you please call the roll gibbles yes Mary yes Co Johns yes Nichols freaky Stevens yes Penner yes Morrison yes seven yes one absent the motion passes thank you Deborah for being
085willing to serve okay all right so we will reconvene at one o'clock for whoops cheer can we continue going through the agenda until did I miss no well do we have items item 10. okay public comment okay okay all right item 10 information items and reports this this card oh the next items are for information items and written reports for the board and for our information only this section of the agenda is intended for board members to offer informal observations of the work of the State Board members may make brief announcements about attendance at future events for the purpose of informing others board members for other board members no business or emotions or suggested actions of the board may be offered at this point in the agenda nor should board members engage in substantive discussion
086about other agenda items or introduce any new items 11 for the good of order agenda item 12. thank you for those no we're not going to do that because we're not going to adjourn It's The End okay now this meeting will uh take a break until uh one o'clock where we will come back and do public comments thank you the state board meeting in two minutes and it's if you did want to make public comment please make sure to get a card turned in but otherwise we'll start here pretty soon oblique comment period and take up the remainder of our agenda after public comment agenda item 9.1 public comment this period may be available to any person who wishes to address the state board on any subject within its Authority including items appearing on the
087agenda except for contested cases up to two hours will be allowed for the public comment period a majority of members present and voting may take action to extend the the total amount of time allowed for public comment period a majority of members president and voting may also take action to allow or terminate public comment at any time during a meeting please note that public comment should be on the topics related to the state board's constitutional and statutory Authority those wishing to speak must be signed in at the table outside of the meeting room person speaking to the board during public comment should State their name at the beginning of their allotted time anyone refusing to be identified will be prohibited from speaking each person may address the board for up to five minutes a majority
088of members present and voting may take action to reduce or extend the amount of individual time allotted to the speakers if at any time persons appearing before the board exceed the time limitations set forth in this policy or on the agenda or become abusive or threatening in language or behavior it shall be the responsibility of the president to declare that person out of order and to refuse permission to continue to address the board we have how many public well 12 public comment cards submitted so we will begin all 12 may come up to the reserved area and they will go in this order Jackie Egan Justin Thiel Don Fletcher Gwen Easter Denise Bradshaw Vicki Johnson Stephen Bader Catherine Russell Marnie Hodgkin Amber Parker Haley kuchera and Tiffany Carter hi Jackie hi thanks for coming time
089will start soon okay I'm Jackie Egan I'm a retired social worker I'd like to explain briefly why as a social worker I care whether or not more student teachers have access to Educators Rising social work has a strong code of ethics to do no harm to honor the inherent worth and dignity of every human being to honor the right of every individual to make their own decisions I'm speaking to you today to encourage you to continue to meet the needs of all students all Nebraska students because of current classroom teachers shortages I'm wondering how we can increase the numbers for teachers in training Educators Rising as a program designed to do just that it is a program an organization a place to begin to understand what it takes to be a teacher Educators risiness an
090organization that helps make sure teachers have the experience and skills they need to be ready for the classroom students in high school and college students can join join for just ten dollars a year according to the website Educators Rising is a national membership organization that provides students with authentic Opera opportunities to experience teaching and build the skills they need to be successful Educators Educators Rising offers resources and opportunities that integrate directly into the academic programs of teacher Academy Career and Technical education courses at the high school level their mission Educators Rising cultivates highly skilled Educators by guiding young people on a path to becoming accomplished teachers beginning in high school and extending through college and into the profession their Vision every teacher in America will have the skills and experience to help all students achieve
091their potential Educators Rising has a whistleblowers policy try to say that a code of ethics and much more Educators Rising requires a teacher to lead a given group and encourage the use of research-based curricula developed by Phi Delta Kappa an international honorary for prominent educate educators I encourage the State Board to continue your efforts to support Educators Rising with a goal of making this program available to all students across the state and I wish to thank you commissioner blumstead for your work with Nebraska Department of Education thank you Jackie Justin Thiel Robin on August 19th you blocked me from your campaign page and according to the fourth district court you violated my first amendment rights and I'm guessing I'm not the only one in a private Facebook message I informed you of your violation and
092you responded quote we block those who continue to harass and Bully my so-called bullying was consisted of pointing out the lies you continue to spew throughout your campaign to label that bullying and blocking me from your page are actions of a spineless coward who should be nowhere near a position of leadership you along with Deb and your supporters like to say that your opponents are fear-mongers that no topics of their concern are happening here in Nebraska so let's join Robin by putting our heads in the sand and pretend that's true the Nebraska schools are perfect now let's look at the places in the country where the ideology that Deb emphatically promotes and the rest of you besides Kurt we're going to let into our classrooms has taken strong foothold and trust me you all know
093these stories Loudoun County Virginia boils a lot into the girls restroom because he was wearing a skirt and identified as a gender fluid where he brutally raped and sodomized a 15 year old girl we Spa in La a 51 year old male and registered sex offender was allowed into the women's section of the spa because he claimed to be a woman where he exposed himself to four women and one minor girl Leah Thomas a man who stole a national championship medal from a woman who worked her whole life to earn it two boys win girls State Track medals in Connecticut and the list goes on Deb on September 27th you were asked your stance on biological boys using women's bathrooms and playing in women's sports you didn't give a direct answer and he rambled on
094about kindness respect and dignity then in a private Facebook message in which you were asked why you didn't defend the rights of our trans youth to play in the division they identify as and you said quote I don't use language that incites people close to their ears I talk about respect and dignity later on in the third you also stated quote I will be a stronger voice after November 8th I will never run for another office again so I can say things for the right reasons this ideology that Deb supports which apparently she will be even more vocal about if she can deceive enough of her constituents before the election this ideology has a dark logical end when you start letting children make decisions life-altering decisions such as chopping off their healthy sexual organs or
095taking chemical castration drugs that wouldn't let them or what wouldn't you let them decide for themselves now this story I have no doubt that you have not heard because the media in this country has the same agenda on September 22nd the minister of equality of Spain argued in an official meeting that children as young as 12 have the right to know their body and love or have sexual relations with whoever they want we told you a year ago that this is where it would lead it's not here yet but it's coming faster than you think you say we are afraid that we spread hate and misinformation none of this is true what the parents have been doing is trying to wake you up to warn you of what is to come and what weights at
096the bottom of the slope we're on Robin you say that this stuff isn't in Nebraska schools while it's sitting two chairs down from you at the State Board of Education meeting come this November those who promote this evil like Deb and the ones that don't have the courage to stand against it like you Robin will be removed from this board by the people to thunderous Applause thank you Justin Don Fletcher hello my name is Don Fletcher first of all I'd like to thank you for your service to our kids decisions regarding our kids and their future and thanks again for your service and for your time thank you Don Gwen Easter good afternoon my name is Gwen Easter I'm with Safe Haven Community Center Safe Haven Early Childhood preschool education Academy and I came here
097today you know I've come up here and talked for the last years about the situation with the health standards I'm still asking you all to stop um with the health standards and pushing transgender and homosexuality issues upon our young children I worked in the child care industry like I said since I was 16 years old starting at 16 and have owned my own business for over 24 years even though it's a struggle still because of the Monopoly that's going on in North Omaha with the school system pushing our businesses out but you know I have not once like I said had kids wanting to change their genders or asking you know questions about these issues these are adult issues being pushed up on our students you know as our young people we need to focus
098on the reading the writing the arithmetic um you know areas that that really matter um for those children who are struggling with their identities then we need to get them the help that they need we need to support support them we need to teach our young people about caring and loving each other and and helping each other we have so much going on with violence you know our kids are being tormented in the mind and to add more issues like this upon upon them is wrong you know um the school system seems to always want to go over parents head and and you know not share information with parents on what's going on with their children if they're struggling with these areas the school system is not the parent of these children the children belongs
099to their parents this is who God gave gave to to oversee their children and I would just like you all to you know stop focusing on all of this other these other agendas and focus on helping our kids get prepared for Life get prepared for the world that's out there not saying that we we shouldn't talk about these issues to help our our kids you know understand yeah there are different people out there that's dealing with these type of issues but that doesn't mean that it's right you know this is not something that you know I would say that God is pleased with with um us pushing this up on our young children let our kids learn play make friends you know and and just leave all this the rest of this stuff alone let
100them figure it out you know with their families that's who they need to be talking with if they don't have a family member a close friend you know but the school cannot be the parent of our children thank you thank you Denise Vicki Johnson excuse me thank you Gwen uh Denise Bradshaw sorry about that senator of the Nebraska firearm Owners Association honor around August 31st Deb Neary had a meeting with a group of other women stating about gun control reform other women were in the meeting none of them have any kind of idea about gun rights I was not invited to that meeting nor were other women who are very familiar with gun activities no one was there from the Nebraska firearm Association are the gun rights owner organizations we could speak to these issues
101specifically if we had been invited we were not so while all these other issues regarding family types discussions are happening in schools what is not being discussed in schools today Deb the Nebraska Constitution so let me read to you Deb what is the very first item in the Nebraska Constitution because that's not being taught in the school the Bill of Rights in the Nebraska Constitution Article 1 Bill of Rights all persons are by Nature free and independent and have certain inherent and inalienable rights among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and the right to keep and bear arms for security or defense of self Family Home and others and for lawful common defense hunting recreational use and all other lawful purposes and such rights shall not be denied infringed by the state
102or any subdivision thereof to secure these rights and the protection of property governments are instituted among people deriving their just powers from the consent of the government that is literally the very first bill of right of the Nebraska Constitution which is not being taught I have no idea anymore what's being taught in school but our Bill of Rights isn't so there was a meeting on or around August 31st with Dev Neary there discussing the removal of our rights granted to us in the state of Nebraska so what other meetings are being held discussing the removal of our rights this is my great concern because people who can talk about these things are not being invited we expect these meanings to be open and honest gun rights or women's rights my friends thank you my friends
103tell me the gun rights are gay rights my friends tell me that gun rights are minority rights we are all taxpayers we expect these meetings to be open and transparent we expect our children to be provided the rights granted to them by their creator and lastly we expect transparency at these meetings and we expect this from the State Board of Education from now going forward thank you thank you Denise Vicki Johnson hi my name is Vicki Johnson the following statement is from a family that contacted Marnie hodgin to share their frustrations with the Nebraska Department of Education the nde is withholding documented and recorded meetings of evidence in violation of a court-ordered subpoena which incriminates both West Side school and the nde as injuring the children of Nebraska as of June 15th you have been
104in receipt of a recorded call with a state Ombudsman admitting that there was corruption at the nde investigative level this teacher admitted Ron doing and subsequent discipline from the school was dismissed by Matt bloomstead and and his nde investigators who falsified reports to exonerate the school teacher and administration Sarah hulak nde legal counsel instructed the Ombudsman to turn a blind eye to the victim and victim's family this family is happy to see Matt stepping down you all were advised of this victim's request for an investigation but to date nothing has been done why Owen Neary proficiency scores do matter thank you Vicki Stephen Bader foreign hello everyone I wanted to say that there was a a breaking news today there was a book that was apparently checked out and it's being corroborated as we speak
105a book checked out in a Lincoln Public School at a kindergarten age level called this little Rainbow a Love Is Love primer and I was originally going to talk about something else but this is breaking I have the visual right here and it basically talks about all the different people in a community it talks about it says lesbian trans bisexual queer gay celebrate it on and on the reason why I bring this up is because there was a quote in the Nebraska Examiner that was in reference to the images that were tweeted out by the any GOP and one member on your board claims that this stuff is not in the schools but literally just as we were driving up sure enough a school giving a book that is way way above age-appropriate levels was
106checked out and it's right here and it's probably going to be a story and I'll be very curious as to if there will be an acknowledgment that it is actually in the schools lastly I wanted to say thank you to the officer we talk about safety Denise is absolutely correct that the Second Amendment is for the most vulnerable Among Us it is The Equalizer between the Young single parent and an abuser it's The Equalizer between someone that has hate in their heart and Prejudice it is their defense and it is inherent but when we cannot have that right when we enter into what's known as a gun-free zone we should respect and we should amplify our appreciation for officers and we should look for more opportunities for student resource officers I would like the room
107to give a round of applause to the officer here that makes us safe [Applause] I know that by electing Marnie hodgin our schools will be safer the Omaha police Union endorsed her emphatically they broke precedent in saying that this was a must endorse race as the dichotomy couldn't have been further apart the contrast is crystal clear if you believe in self-defense and you believe in safety you know what to do on November 8th the trust between parents and the board has been broken but we have an opportunity on November 8th or with your mail and ballot to mend it with Marnie thank you thank you Stephen Catherine Russell hello my name is Catherine Russell and I thank you for letting me speak today I'm not representing myself that's not why I'm here I'm representing thousands
108of Nebraskans and I don't think some of you are listening I just want to tell you that we don't serve man justly unless we serve God first God's teachings came in 10 simple easy Commandments we need to protect children I feel like some of you are here and you are raping our children of their innocence because you are filling them with trash I'd like to see us get back to academics I'd like to see us pass our test scores that's not important to you some of you don't even think testing is important I'd also like to see us fight against comprehensive sex education what you are putting in the curriculum or what you want to put in all curriculum is not to be heard by children our children are to be protected they are children
109you do not have the right no matter how educated you are you do not have the right to take the Innocence away from children the Innocence from children is to be protected and that's why we have entrusted them to some of you critical race Theory there's no time for it in the education there's no time for it we need to teach children to be kind and to love we don't have to demoralize any one population for another some of you I think support lgbtq whatever more than you support our children's education you're fighting for those causes remind you we need to protect children some of you are supporting unions or those with free with are those who have very radical views about sex education we're not here for that that's not what a school is
110for I retired from the Omaha Public Schools after 32 years I retired in 2010. I'm telling you the school district is not the same because of some of you many of you and because of what the school district is allowed to be in their curriculum Deb Neary I don't know if you have something on your chin or on your the bottom of your seat but you're standing you're sitting there like you're very stoic and not listening I retired from the school district but I would be proud to be fired from it now because I would not teach I would not promote what you're doing here I hope that you pray I hope that you think I hope you reflect on the innocence of children and your role and your role your important role to do
111Dignity of all life thank you Catherine Marnie Hodgkin hi my name is Marnie hodgin I'm a candidate in the hopefully the next District 8 representative for State Board of Education District 8. real quickly Mr Stevens I'm not a stranger to this board you've heard me say my name every other month you've heard it in the Press you've heard other people say my name yet you continue to say it wrong it's hodgin with a soft G if it helps you can think of it as a phonetic combination of the word ha as in hahaha funny and the alcoholic Spirit gin as in a gin and tonic hajin I hope next month you can respectfully pronounce it correctly moving on last year through public records request my opponent was caught disparaging parental and public input in her
112emails as well as colluding with activists even though she promised the public activists weren't involved in the standards fast forward to this next email where she asked Ryan four if school districts have the right to opt out of the standards and if parents have the right to opt out their children in the classroom when the standards are taught he responded local school districts have the ultimate decision to what is taught in their districts related to health education in local school districts are responsible for adopting policies on students opting out of content local control something that Deb said she supports at the recent Millard board associate Business Association Forum however in an email to Lisa Schultz she expressed a sentiment that as a stark contrast to a recent public comment saying she supports local control her
113exact words in the email to Lisa were FYI this is disappointing Ugg every school district has to approve it sounds like she was disgusted that local school boards get to have the final say on health standards also at the Millard Forum I was surprised to hear board member niri say she was against the introduction of puberty blockers to school children the health standards include introducing fifth graders to puberty blockers as part of the health curriculum board member Neri is on record voting for the health standards and is also on record a voting to not permanently reject them how can you vote for something you are against she also said she's against biological males competing in women's sports and having access to women's locker rooms but once again public Deb and private Deb appear to be
114two very different people as the following private messages reveal here we have private messaging with Deb and a progressive activist the activist asked why won't you stand up and defend the rights of our trans youth to play in the division they identify as Deb responds by saying I actually thought I did stand up and say that I use different language than you but everyone knows that is what I'm saying I don't use language that incites people to close their ears Deb goes on to say I promise to be a stronger voice after November 8th I will never run for another office again so I'll be able to say things for the right reasons sounds like you're trying to keep the wool over your constituents eyes Deb but I'm here to take it off and reveal
115the truth you are for allowing biological males to play on female sports teams and for males using young women's locker rooms and consequently causing detriment to the advancement of young women's Athletics and risking potential harm of our young women lastly the stated goal of State Board of Education says the board will use assessments to measure and to improve student achievement and to inform instruction but at the recent Forum in response to me bringing up Nebraska's proficiency scores dropping below 50 percent in 2019. Deb said proficiency scores don't tell you anything about student achievement not only does this statement go against one of the very strategies listed on the nde website for necessary measurement but it is also incongruent with her vote that authorized 2.8 million in Assessment Services why vote to fund something with taxpayer
116money if you don't find it useful why make the students and teachers jump through so many Hoops for standardized standardized testing if it doesn't tell one anything I also want to make it known to the public that the most recent assessment scores were given to school districts this past week however the recent scores have been embargoed and will not be released to the public until after the election I'm anticipating them to be just as low or even lower than 2019 understandably due to covid however it is absolutely an attempt at hiding Vital Information from the public by the media until after the election as a mom homeschool teacher and candidate I can tell you proficiency scores do matter and when I'm sitting right there I promise to everyone in this room that I'll be transparent
117and that what you see is what you get unlike double speak deceitful Deb with my help our state board will be focused on quality education and not social ideological experimentation a vote for me is a vote to write this ship out of its dismal trajectory and to give our children an education focused on course subjects while exposing children who may not be College Bound or able to afford College to the skilled trades so they have opportunities to be successful I thank you for the time to share the truth and I look forward to serving District 8 in the new year hey wow over a year and we're still here and it's so important that Deb Neary you're meeting with your organizations I'm guessing Planned Parenthood as that's who you want to delete the health standards
118the first draft of Health standards so much deception Robin Stevens you've actually called and bullied me out I believe you blocked me out on Facebook when I had brought to record that Kirk Pinner you were taking credit for what he had done in his motion to do away and definitely with uh postponed the health standards yet you deceived the people in your district and you um then went and said things about me as if I was bringing a record of Lies but sir you are the one telling lies and misleading the people in your District I want to address distractions and what's going on right now in the United States of America we have Biden who has declared parents as terrorists concerned parents who come forward to protect the innocence of the children meanwhile as
119an article had showed a few years ago he held the child in front of his male part holding them and positioning them touching that area the FBI ought to do some investigation on that what I'm bringing here is from the national to our local the distraction here teaching kids to be transgender books like this in kindergarten through Elementary Middle School High School the anal and oral sex correct me if I'm wrong wasn't that in your first draft of Standards Deborah Neary bringing in Lisa Schultz he wanted to teach children children not adults they can't even go to a rated R movie but you wanted to teach them anal and oral sex Deborah Neary there's a lot happening in the United States of America right now and not teaching our children the constitutional rights and the
120country that they live in there's a purpose because if they don't understand what they have and the great gifts of Freedom that first come from analienable rights the rights given to them by God then people like tyrannical leaders who want to abuse the minds of children and even abuse children themselves will come in and they have and they're now starting to show up and it's in our education because I'm telling you the next step we're going to probably be seeing and I I don't want to speak because you can change Miss Neri is you're going to support minor attracted persons this is where we're at right now Patsy kojons you rolled your eyes I saw a video commissioner bloomstad thank you you did the right thing in resigning sir because we the people have fired
121you this is not about coming and having a power play and calling people out this is about protecting the children and the state of Nebraska that is our agenda to the kids that have been misled puberty blockers are shown by people like Deborah Neary to go in and women cut off their healthy breasts and tell them oh you're transitioning I applaud you but forget to mention perhaps they can't have children or if they just cut off their breasts and then go through all the puberty blockers that you can never nurse your baby you know it's interesting that it's a focus of feelings feelings feelings feelings feelings and that's exactly what this agenda is driven it's not to think with your mind it's to think with your sexual drive and put people into a captivity as
122such and right now what the gentleman who came forward and said that that kindergarten that book is in kindergarten there's a reason why they're at the children and you're no different than one holding a door before a child gets sexually abused and holding the door open and closing behind because between all of you other than Kirk Pinner you have held that door open to the state of Nebraska this is so sad many of you do not know a lot of a testimony but I stand here as one who will fight against child rapist and those things going on and the state of Nebraska has a lot of answers to do and to give may God help us and protect these children from people like Deb Neary Robin Stevens commissioner blumstead Patsy kojo's Goebbels and Lisa
123ferkey you stood and you were quiet my heart is graved but guys we can elect Elizabeth tetmeyer Kirk Penner Marnie hodgin and Sherry Jones and flip this board and I pray we do so in Jesus name thank you Amber uh Haley fuchera [Applause] thank you so much for having me today and thank you for your service to our state is very much appreciated I want to start this off with the story because I'm a student or was a student I'm 29 now so my age there I was a student of Millard Public Schools in Omaha Nebraska I'm very very proud to be from Omaha I'm proud of our Public School Systems and a lot of the people my age are now teachers I want to go back to when I was in Willowdale Elementary in
124West Omaha and I remember thank gosh my mom is here today and she's fantastic but if your standards were in the school at that time when I liked cats she would have clipped my ears and gave me a litter box and you guys would have said that's okay is that okay Deb Neary if I'm a cat shine meow now for everything no absolutely not and we shouldn't be putting that on our kids either kovid sent our kids backwards by Miles and what are we doing besides telling them to cut their healthy breasts off and their man parts off it's not okay I went to Millard South that's a public school also in Omaha Nebraska in West Omaha I love Millard South but I was there during the Millard South shooting in 2011. as Denise brought
125up and how important gun rights are and gun rights are women's rights can I get an amen thank you very much someone could have taken that shooter down maybe injured him of course we never want to lose a life but we could have saved a principal that day but we couldn't because that was a gun-free zone right you made us all sitting ducks so that's embarrassing embarrassing now I'm a 29 year old I don't have any kids yet but I will soon and I will have to make that choice am I going to put my kids in Nebraska public schools and I want to say yes do you know why because I had a great time in Nebraska Public Schools I was on the track team I wasn't that good but I was on the
126track team and if your policies were in place I would have lost every meat against men listen I already had it working against me but let me tell you that would have set me back even farther I'm not a mom and we got enough angry moms behind me I'm a student a recent student of our public schools and I'm disappointed as a Young Generation Nebraskan a young professional when I go to these other young professionals and they ask me Haley where should I send my kids I'm gonna tell you right now it's not our public school system and that's embarrassing because in Nebraska I truly believe we are leaders in every single facet of our state and we should be in the nation and that includes our Public Schools amen amen thank you thank you
127so much so I encourage you guys as you look forward maybe you're looking for an election and you're looking to win this is not the way because my generation is the voters and unfortunately for you Deb Neary I got a loud voice and I got a lot of shoes to go through and I will talk to each person my age and say absolutely not send them to Christian School homeschool Alum Co-op schools whatever it is keep them out until we can speak to you guys and get through because I think everyone here appreciates this board I think we need this board I think it it does a lot for our communities it's very valuable but what doesn't when it does not line up with the public it's useless it's useless and you're wasting my taxpayer
128money you're wasting their taxpayer money you're wasting your taxpayer money and no one wants that we want new people coming into Nebraska to go we're coming here for the public school system right I think that's all why you guys are here I would I would assume unless it's to give kids litter boxes at school is that is that I'm not under the impression that's what this is for so I encourage you as you look forward and into the future and into the future in the eyes of every kid in our Nebraska Public Schools think about this think about someone else standing here where I am right now telling you the same thing make it better listen to your constituents let us support you let us be the Catalyst you guys can make Nebraska The Good
129Life the great life and I thank you so much for your time I appreciate all of you and have a blessed day God bless thank you Haley Tiffany Carter [Applause] so I think it's interesting that Stephen brought up an article from the Nebraska examiner because that is exactly what I'm going to quote I am quite certain that there is no school administrator no policy maker no librarian no educator no Democrats or no parent in Nebraska that is intentionally promoting the use of inappropriate materials in our schools debnieri that was your quote I'm going to go back to that one more time because I've spent the last year scouring every not maybe not every I shouldn't say that I have been scouring the school Public Public School libraries throughout Nebraska for the last 10 months and
130I can tell you that our children have access to inappropriate material every time that they can walk into the school library just this morning before I came here I found a new book it's called collateral by Ellen Hopkins it is currently in Fremont Public uh public schools in the high school and I'm pretty sure it's probably elsewhere this book on Ellen Hopkins website the actual author lists this book as an adult book what she puts a disclaimer please be advised that my novels for adults contain very mature content maybe we should take a look at page 77. and I I hate to do this because it's embarrassing but maybe you need to see that it really is there I started to unbutton my blouse no let me please I love how he asked permission all
131the while taking complete control I also loved how he didn't hurry each time he loosened a button he kissed the skin beneath it when my entire top half was exposed his tongue explorted inch by Goosebump covered inch and by the time he unzipped my jeans slid them off my quaking legs my panties had soaked through should I continue because it gets worse exactly okay some things are worth waiting for my California girl the my took me over the top in that moment I wanted to be his and so gave him things I'd always resisted BC before coal oral sex had been offered and received with definite boundaries that night we exchanged it with abandon I opened my legs wide pushed his face between urged his tongue deep inside me asked his fingers to follow I
132let him bring me right to the edge stopped him my turn he was down to boxers by then BC I'd been the grand total I've been with the grand total of four men and if I were to described to describe the size I would say three average one little comparing breast size three b cups one double a coal is a c plus and while that didn't surprise me neither did I expected they say Size Doesn't Matter but in the estimation it makes things problematic and sort of amazing I quickly relaxed or I quickly learned to relax my jaws coax him inside my mouth little by little it was intense and all I wanted in those moments was to make him feel like the most important man in the world size definitely mattered you cannot tell
133me that this is not in the schools and you're a liar and for you Robin whenever we have tried to talk to you about something what do you do your thing is to block people this is ridiculous we expect a board that is going to stand for the constituents this is not about political gain it has nothing to do with democrat or republican it has to do with right or wrong and if you were promoting sexuality for our children if you were promoting pornography in the schools you are wrong for the parents the the grandparents constituents any concerned citizen I have something for you I have a how-to guide I'm pointing it this way so they can see I don't know that you would take the time to do it anyway but I can show
134you I have it with me today how you can look the schools for yourself and see that it is in our schools thank you thank you and Madam chair with that that concludes the public comment agenda item 12. thank you for those who attended in person and who tuned into the broadcast the next meeting of the State Board of Education will be scheduled for November 3rd and 4th 2022 in Lincoln Nebraska the October 7 2022 state board meeting is now adjourned