001Mhm. >> Good evening everyone. Welcome to the Papillion La Vista Community Schools Board of Education meeting for March 9th, 2026. Uh, as noted, the Nebraska Open Meetings Law is posted at the entrance of the door. We'll start with section one called to order. Please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the 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. Thank you everyone. Roll call, please. Ms. Butler. Here. Mr. Madler. Here. Mr. Lotus. Here. Ms. Witt. Here. Mr. Bailey. Here. Ms. Witt. Here. All All present. Thank you. Moving on to section two, communications. This evening we get to start with our student council report from Papillion La Vista South High School. Welcome up Abigail and
002Maddie. Good evening. We're excited to share some things about everything that we have going on at Papillion La Vista South. So, once again, thank you for your commitment to our district and all of your hard work this year. Um, it is the third quarter of our 2025-2026 school year, and it's a very busy time. So, we want to take a minute to highlight some groups at our school. We're going to start with academics. Um, we recently just completed our registration for this next year, 2026-2027. Um, so students in grades 9 through 11, not our seniors, met with their counselors and then they made their final course selections for next year. Our registration numbers are up and a lot of work is happening behind the scenes um with administration and everybody to prepare for another great
003school year. Um, so that's exciting for them. ACT prep is also in full swing. Um, the ACT is the Tuesday after spring break, so it's in 3 weeks. Um, scary for the juniors, but they got it cuz they've been doing their ACT prep in Titan Times. Um Our school records are on the horizon, apparently. Mr. Hager has promised a Mike Tyson henna tattoo if we can set a school record, so I think we're going to hold him to that. Our classrooms are also continuing to be efficient, effective, distraction-free, and full of engagement, as always. Um, next we'll move on to athletics, my personal favorite. Our boys basketball team qualified for state, so they'll play this Wednesday at 7:45. We're so excited. Um, and we have back-to-back Bellevue West schools that games because Monarchs plays right
004before. I won't be attending and supporting, but good for them, I guess. >> [laughter] >> Um, yeah, so we'll be in Lincoln and a late night cup of coffee will be with me, probably an energy drink, actually. But, we're hoping we can take home back-to-back state titles. Um, wrestling, we had 11 boys and four girls qualify for state, so we were very proud of all of them. On the girls side, two placed in the top six. Rain Raylin Kamiku Kamikua placed fifth and Brooklyn Ludwig placed sixth. And then on the boys side, Reese Santa Maria placed fifth, which was nice cuz he's a senior, so good send-off for him. And then for bowling, our girls and boys teams had a great year. Um, the girls won their district and Elena Dawson and Audrey Belfour qualified
005for individual state, so that was very cool. And then boys teams were or boys team singular was runner-up at districts and Logan Schardt qualified as an individual for state. Um and spring sports are underway. They have so many participants, especially with track and baseball and soccer. They're all huge, so that'll be a really exciting season coming up. Now onto our fine arts. Um the theater program is gearing up for their exciting spring season. I feel like we've been talking about it and now it's finally here. Um the next show is The Diary of Anne Frank and it's going to be March 26th through the 28th. That's also ACT week the week after spring break, so big week for us. And then they're going to perform James and the Giant Peach in late April. Our band
006[snorts] has had many amazing opportunities um in the recent couple weeks and months. They had winter guard, winter percussion, winter winds, blue wave pep band, jazz band, and a lot more. Um there's so many bands and they're all amazing, so that's really wonderful to see them um compete and perform and win stuff. Our winter groups have completed their competitions and already received several awards in their first two. Um choir just completed another incredible season um yesterday or two days ago on Saturday. Titanium, Radiance, Titan Express, and our new Titan Revolution had a great season with numerous trophies and individual awards as well. Um we're as always very proud of them um for everything that they do. And also back on demand show choir band platinum rocked it also. Other organizations, we have a lot of
007stuff going on as well, so our clubs and our um Special Olympics especially. We just had our polar plunge and the Titan Dashers team raised $17,000 in support of Special Olympics Nebraska, so that was wonderful. Um they also did jump into the cold Lake Zorinsky on Valentine's Day. Um Mr. Moore's famous words, I feel like we've said them a million times, it's for the kids. Um it's a great reminder of the heart and dedication behind why we do this, why we support Special Olympics, and a huge congratulations to our students and staff for the commitment to making a difference. Now, onto us, Student Council. We're gearing up for our spring events. Um we have a blood drive coming up, and also senior sunset to send our 2026 seniors off in a happy, fun way. We're
008also going to continue raising money for Make-A-Wish Nebraska. And we will be appointing our new officers, so you won't be seeing us anymore in a couple weeks. Dang it. >> [laughter and gasps] >> Um so, that will be coming up in mid to late April. We will switch pass the torch. Um our blood drive, like I mentioned earlier, mark your calendars, it's March 27th, also the week after spring break. So much stuff going on, but we would really appreciate it if you came to donate blood. We're hoping to get at least 88 pints, beat the Monarchs by one pint of blood. Theirs is 87, so we're trying to get 88. Now, onto ProStart. They had an exciting weekend. They were state champs back-to-back. So, we want to congratulate Ray Flynn, Braden Small, Marissa Lutz, Aiden
009Bennek, and Mrs. Jennifer Dunn, their coach, um because they just took first place at the state ProStart top three competition. They're also going to represent Nebraska at the ProStart National Championships, um and that's going to be in Maryland in April 24th through the 26th. And Mrs. Jennifer Dunn was also chosen as the state ProStart Teacher of the Year. So, that's really exciting for them. They had a great weekend. Now, onto DECA. They're going to be taking their talents to Lincoln next week for state DECA. So, we're going to wish them a good good luck and a good send-off. NHS, uh their seniors are going to be completing their hours in the next couple weeks, and then they will have their senior breakfast send them off. Um we're sending a lot of seniors off. Sad, but
010happy. Bittersweet. Um and then speech is also having a great season, uh strong season led by senior Laura England. Um Mr. Landon Hawkey, who is the sponsor, won district speech coach of the year. Super nice. A lot of stuff. Um once again, we just like to thank you guys for allowing us to present at the meeting and for the positive impact that each of you makes on our school district through your service. Um we're extremely proud of what has been accomplished at our school so far this year, and we look forward to continued success. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, ladies. You have represented South exceptionally well. So, outstanding job, and it's not not goodbye yet. In fact, I think we try to bring our student council reps from both high schools back to
011just provide a small token of our appreciation, but you did an outstanding job representing the Titan nation. So, thank you very much. Thank you very much. You are always welcome to stay, but we know how busy your schedules are based on that fantastic uh thorough report from Papillion-La Vista South. Uh moving on to item B under section two communications, uh our reports. We'll start with the superintendent's report, Dr. Rickley. Thank you very much, Mr. Lotus, members of the board. Uh I never like following our student council because uh they do such an outstanding job representing themselves in this school district. So, ladies, I know you ducked out, but uh thank you for an outstanding report. And special thanks to those that may be watching at home and to the individuals who are attending the meeting
012tonight. It's not often that we get this kind of a turnout from our community. So, thank you. You're all busy people. You all have lots of places, I'm sure you'd love to be on a beautiful evening like this. So, for you to take a little bit of time out to engage with your school district and Board of Education, sure means a lot. And I know we'll hear from some of you later on. In terms of things happening across the school district, as the ladies indicated, it's an extremely busy time of year with both activities and athletics. We have a really special event tomorrow night at Papillion La Vista High School at 4:00. Our unified basketball teams will be competing from both Monarch and Titan. So, all the unified events are extra special, but when we
013bring Monarch and Titan together for any contest, it's a really fun community-wide event. So, that's tomorrow at 4:00 at Monarch High. Also, in terms of inter-district competition, I was lucky enough, along with a few other people, including some board members, I believe, to attend at the annual Battle of the Books competition that was hosted at Monarch High. If you're not familiar with Battle of the Books, it's elementary contest, and each of our 16, soon to be 17, elementary schools send two teams. And basically, what they've done is read excerpts from books, and then they're It's kind of like a quiz bowl competition based on a literature. The Prairie Queen team took it home for the gold, but it's just amazing how passionate our kids are. Parents show up, friends show up. It's a great great
014event, great showcase for our students outside the the field of athletics. Also, as many of you are probably aware, a couple of special events happening across the district. First, Read Across America Week. A number of board members and administrators fanned out across the district and read to kids all across the school district for what we know is a really critical skill, really critical time. Coinciding with that is Liberty Day. And it doesn't always happen on Constitution Day. In fact, more often than not, it does not. But our elementary students receive a copy of the Declaration of Independence and a copy of the United States Constitution, and then a handful of administrators, including Dr. Hildebrand and myself, a couple of former government teachers, meet with classes and do a little mini lesson on American Revolutionary War,
015Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution in particular. So, it's a fun opportunity to get back to our teaching roots and interact with our kids. Couple other informational items for the board. Wanted to thank Dr. Settles, Dr. Myers and their team for the final Community Closet event of the year. For those of you that aren't aware, Community Closet is an initiative co-sponsored by a local church congregation and supported by the PLCS Schools Foundation whereupon we provide basic clothing and toiletry items for some of our most vulnerable families. Attendance was a little bit down. It's not unusual for us to have a 150 family show up. We were just under 100, but we're able to provide some really essential items to some families that can really use that that help up. NJROTC dinner. Again, another
016very important program for this school district. As recently as three years ago, the NJROTC program was near insolvency. We had about 50 kids. Navy wanted us to have 100 kids. We're back up to 113. So, Saturday night at Tiburon Golf Course, we celebrated the program. And what's really great about that program is it is a true two-school program. I think we have 52 monarchs. I think we have approximately 60 Titans. Even though the program is mainly centered at South, it certainly caters to both schools. And finally, before I wrap things up, again, the ladies mentioned it, but state basketball tournament. 6:00, Pinnacle Bank Arena, Monarch plays Bellevue West. 7:45, Creighton Prep. If they win, they will play each other on Friday. So, that could be kind of fun. And before I wrap up my comments,
017I believe I didn't see him walk in. So, we have the newest member of our administrative team, Mr. Brendan Trout. Brendan There's Brendan. So, Brendan is here with his lovely wife, McKenzie. And we had the talent pool was incredible. Dr. Seals did an amazing job bringing together some outstanding candidates to interview for what is today our single largest elementary building. When Lincoln View opens up, Prairie Queen will approximately get cut in half in terms of student enrollment. But the point being it's a huge building, it's an important building. We know how critical that leadership is. And Brendan who's coming over from Millard has ably volunteered to help the district out in that area. And what makes it is he's coming from Millard. And we really love to poach talent from Millard Public Schools. So, Brendan,
018on behalf of the school district, thank you for joining us. Thank you for choosing the Papillion La Vista Community Schools. Could we have a round of applause for our newest member of our administrative team? >> [applause] >> So, McKenzie, we're excited to have you part of the family as well. And with that, Mr. Lotus, I'd conclude my superintendent comments. Thank you, Dr. Rickly. I'm moving on to board member reports. I can start. Um last Tuesday, uh went to a liaison lunch at Bell Elementary. Um >> [snorts] >> very good lunch. Jersey Mike's is fantastic. Good sandwiches. Uh with uh Brett and with uh Dr. Rickly. So, we uh enjoyed that. Uh It's a good group that we talked to. Uh kind of a bunch of different um uh grades and and like uh we had
019the um Renee, the media specialist and everything. So, it was a good group. They had a lot of a lot of good things coming. I know they're they're in the part of phase two of their construction uh from the bond project. So, they [clears throat] did have a couple concerns with uh you know, making sure that the people were vetted that were coming in and out um you know, of the of the school. Um but other than that, they're very excited. They're not excited to lose some of their space, but they know that it's short-term and and they'll get it back. So, they're pretty excited with all the new lighting coming and everything that goes along with that. Um as usual, they talked the uh ELA curricul- curriculum. Wow, sorry about that. Um and implementation
020on that. They're saying they're doing very well, although I think it's a couple of the teachers were talking about how quickly, I think, was that the ELA that they were talking about and how quickly it happens and trying to get used to the pace and some of the uh um other things that they do with it. Um so, but for the most part, very, very excited about that. Um couple of um challenges. Um it was interesting, they were talking about the development that's already that's starting up there. It was at northeast corner of 72nd and what is that? No. No, just north of 370. The K part. K part, yeah. And they were I think they were talking about that and if they were that was going to impact them at all and I think
021the answer was no, so I think they were happy about that cuz they were concerned about class sizes. I know they talked about that uh with [snorts] class sizes, excuse me, and um [clears throat] staffing and everything. And then of course behavior came up. Um it was as it always does and and we were kind of talking about it and they definitely feel it's gotten a little worse. Um I did ask uh I was trying to remember who it was. It was the uh it was Amanda Porter, right? For yes. And she'd been there in the district for like 19 years, so I kind of was like, okay, you've been here a while, how do you feel about it? And she definitely said it she feels like it has gotten worse over time. So, um
022we had a lot of a lot of good conversation about that. Obviously, we are always concerned about that and working with that. Um the one that was interesting is we had a a para there and and she had been there a while and um kind of caught me off guard with this cuz I know we do the um the para um uh Oh my gosh, conference, yes. God, I'm having trouble with I got to quit taking all the uh cold drugs. Um but um and she was saying that that uh you know, and and we thought that was you know, I think it's fantastic, I've heard a bunch of good things and she wasn't overly excited with that. Now, she's coming from a very different background where she's already got a teaching degree, and I
023think some of the some of the information was not really at her level. But, the other thing that she brought up, and and I know that Dr. Rickly and I kind of briefly talked a little bit about this was she was hoping that there could be a little bit more para onboarding before paras showed up at their schools. You know, I don't know what is done um already. So, of course, I we didn't really have an answer for that, but uh be interesting to look into that and see cuz she said they had a couple of paras that showed up, didn't realize what they were getting into, and then left after a couple of days. So, >> Yeah, we have a para onboarding program for each school. Yeah. So, I like I said, I figured
024we did, but I thought we'd, you know, look into that um cuz like I said, she said that a couple of them weren't real weren't I guess they didn't expect what they got. So, I don't know, like I said, if that's if it maybe needs some tweaking. I don't know. Like I said, it would be you know, like I said, it'd be worth looking into see see how paras uh I'm sure you do some sort of feedback and see what they're getting from that, but that might be a step uh to do. So, um but otherwise, like I said, very good lunch. Uh it was fantastic. Enjoyed going over to Bell. Um tomorrow, I will have a not tomorrow, I'm sorry. Wednesday, I will have a maybe meeting. Um so, I'll bring that that to
025the board next time. And then on Thursday, I will be joining my wife at Carriage Hill for pizza bingo. So, I will be passing out lots of pizzas and all that good stuff and books and everything. So, it'll be always a good event. Um it's well attended and a lot of fun. So, we'll be doing that on Thursday. Well, I'll just follow up cuz I had a liaison breakfast at Ashbury Elementary last Wednesday. Um and just a positive, they are big fans of the CKLA. So, um and then uh just some of their concerns is that they're a fast-growing school, so we took some time to discuss what that will look like in the coming years. Uh I was able to go down to Lincoln last Wednesday as part of the NASB uh the legislation
026legislative conference. Uh we spent time as a group. There's about 20 of us from across the state, uh 20 school board members. Uh we spent time diving into 1219, which is the 2% cap bill, and we spent time talking about uh 1050, which is the the reading bill. Um and then we went to the capital building and we were able to pull senators off the floor. So, I was able to chat with Senator Rountree, Senator Anderson, Senator uh Holdcroft. Uh Speaker Arch was presiding, so I wasn't able to get him off the floor, but talked to the the other three on both 1050 and 1219 uh just to talk through, you know, some of the impacts to the districts uh if they were to move forward. It sounds like the 1050 reading bill might be
027slowing down. So, then the focus went to the 12 the 1219 2% cap bill, which sounds like it might get to the floor via another path, not 1219, but kind of similar language. Uh and talking to the senators, we had the Open Sky Institute do an analysis of of what it would have meant if it would have been in place this year. It is it's a it's a pretty hard 2% cap on increasing property taxes. There's a little bit of real growth in there, but it doesn't take into account things like lost state dollars. Uh which and for our district, we've I think since I've been on the board, we've gone from 36 million 37 million a year in state aid to 22-ish 21-ish. So, we've seen a significant drop in state aid in my
0286 years, and this 2% cap bill wouldn't wouldn't uh replace wouldn't allow us to replace those lost state dollars. And we pulled out I was telling the senators in 2024, according to the uh governor's school funding commission, our district was called out because we lost over $7 million TEA aid in 1 year, and having the 2% cap bill on property taxes would have allowed us to increase those property taxes by less than $2 million, and it would have been a $5 million gap in just 1 year. And at that I'm with those numbers, you're talking about significant changes to the budget. Uh and significant um you know, potential cuts. So, we were just trying to get our point across to those senators. So, I appreciate Senator Roundtree, Senator Holcroft, and Senator Anderson taking the time
029and at least at least talking with me, but we'll continue and I know Mr. Richards, and I know we're going through the legislative update in a little bit as well, but continuing to follow and and pushing where we where we can to try to at least make sure they understand the impact of some of these bills. All right. I attended multiple events across the district, both activities and sporting events. So, it's a busy time of year as the ladies pointed out earlier. So, lots of good things going on around the district. Uh moving on to item C under section two communications, committee reports, buildings, grounds, and finance. Okay, me again. Uh we met on Friday. The buildings, grounds, finance committee we met Friday morning. We discussed a number of topics. Couple of them are on
030the agenda later. Um topics included the new baseball safety netting, district radio upgrades, middle school land, um potential purchase, Foundation Field Track Project legislative legislative issues, and then transportation. On the transportation side, I appreciate Mr. Richards pulled a lot of information regarding I mean, our own stats within what the surrounding districts do as well, so we could really dive in. We talked about potential expansion of middle school bussing and some early cost estimates. I mean, for this year, non-special education transportation will be at about $1.8 million, and our estimate, if we just add middle school bussing, if we go from the 4-mile radius to the 2-mile radius, could add about another million dollars on top of that per year. So, it'd be more than a 50% increase to our non-special education transportation budget. So, and
031we know that we added two new bus routes this year, two elementary bus routes at the beginning of the year, and each one of those will cost about $80,000 each route each year. Uh so, it is a significant cost. We did look at some of the the surrounding districts in more detail, one being Millard. We know they have the pay where people can pay to ride uh the buses. They're a private bus vendor. We got the information from Millard, and those families, they pay $1,200 per student per year, uh which is not an insignificant amount for those parents. And those routes are only offered if at least 40 students sign up in an area. So, the routes can also change year to year based on who is signing up. Uh so, I know we're going
032to get some more information on that as well. And then, we also discussed the Bellevue model, uh which is not pay, but they do have the more transportation coverage. When you look at their budget levels, they spend more than twice percentage of their budget than we do on transportation. It's just a trade-off. And currently, our approach allows us to direct more of those resources into the classroom. Uh but so, it was a great in-depth discussion. I appreciate all the information that you provided. Uh I mean, we're going to continue looking at the options. Um it's not a quick conversation because there's a lot of factors involved and there's it's not an insignificant financial impact and you know, we want to make sure that we are doing what is best for this district not just now
033but long-term. We don't want to sign us up for something that we can't afford in in the years coming up. So we will continue to talk about it in our committee and then it's also going to be discussed in the other committee to make sure all the board members have that same background and then we'll um once we get more information we'll discuss it in our next meeting as well in April. Thank you, Mr. Madler. Moving to human resources and student services. We have not had a meeting since our last school board meeting but we will be meeting next week on March 17th. And finally, curriculum and Americanism. We have not met had a meeting since last school board meeting. We will right now we're scheduled for a meeting on March 24th. Thank you, Mr.
034Bailey. All right, that concludes section two communications. Uh again, uh we do not have any public comment for items on tonight's agenda. Uh we do have a few uh down below for uh items not on tonight's agenda. So we'll move to section three action items. Item A, action by consent. I'll make a motion to approve the action uh by consent as uh written. Second. I have a motion by Mr. Bailey and a second by Ms. Witt. Roll call, please. Mr. Madler. >> Yes. Mr. Lotus. Yes. Ms. Witt. Yes. Mr. Bailey. Yes. >> Ms. Witt. >> Yes. Ms. Butler. Yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Moving on to item B, Foundation Field Track Replacement. Mr. Richards. Thank you, Mr. Lotus. Uh yeah, we did end up getting two bids uh for Foundation Field Track Replacement. Both of
035them were below our engineers estimate for the project, so that was always good news. Nima Haus Sports Construction had the lowest bid. That typically is one of the better companies out there. I know they got to spread probably a little thin last year on some of their projects with the weather as well. But they do do quality work, high quality work. They do a lot at Memorial Stadium and I mean, they're all over the Nebraska here doing these projects. So, very grateful to have them doing that project for us as far as the quality of work we're going to get out of that. Our dates for com- impact for that project is May 26th. State track will be pretty much over with as far as practices go at that particular time. So, we'll try to
036jump in there right away and be done before August 6th. We do I see at the other meeting when I was feeling very well. There was a penalty of $1,500 for that project if they're not done on August 6th. We felt it necessary to kind of really make sure they understand that we need this project done by the start of football season. Now, I did tell the committee substantially done will just be an asphalt track cuz it's got to cure for about 28 days before we can lay down the top surface for the actual track. Running surface, so when you see it at a football game, it'll just be black for that first month. And then they'll come back in and that doesn't take very long to do the top surface on top of it.
037So, just to be clear on that part. So, if you're coming to the first few games in football and you see a black track out there with no lines, that's why. But I think that's it on this project. We're looking forward to it. We've done four other tracks in the district last summer and looking forward to finishing this one up and we'll have all our tracks brand new. I will make the motion to one approve the foundation field track replacement project as presented by Nima Ha Sports Contracting LLC for the amount of $1,183,400.80 and two to delegate authority to and authorize the superintendent of schools or assistant superintendent of business services for the school district to sign, execute, and deliver such construction contracts, sign and approve any change orders, pay the contract price and other
038expenses related to the construction projects, and take all other action necessary to complete any requirements or obligations under the construction projects and contracts. I will second. I have a motion by Mr. Medler, a second by Ms. Wood. Any further comments, questions? All right, seeing none. Roll call, please. Mr. Lotus? Yes. Ms. Wood? Yes. Mr. Bailey? Yes. Ms. Wood? Yes. Ms. Butler? Yes. Mr. Medler? Yes. Motion carried. Thank you. Moving on to item C, our final item under section three action items, the 2026 through 2031 strategic plan goals and objectives. Dr. Siri. Thank you. Good evening, Board of Education. So, I presented with to you a copy. Uh we now officially have our It's not really a one-pager, it's a three-pager. Um but our cheat sheet for our proposed strategic plan. Um as I shared at
039the last board meeting, there will be six goals. Um also in this document, I captured the beliefs, the updated mission statement, which you voted on earlier, um the outcomes, guardrails, and parameters that the district uses to make decisions, and then obviously the next page captures the the new six strategic goals for the 2026-2031 Papillion La Vista Community Schools Strategic Plan as they were presented at the last board meeting. So, our next steps then beyond tonight will be to form implementation teams to decide the timeline and the actionable steps to implement those. I make a >> motion to adopt the proposed goals and objectives for the 2026-2031 Papillion La Vista Community Schools Strategic Plan. Second. All right, I have a motion by Ms. Wood, a second by Mr. Bailey. Any further comments, questions? All right, seeing
040none, roll call, please. Ms. Wood. Yes. Mr. Bailey. Yes. Ms. Witt. >> Yes. Ms. Speller. Yes. Mr. Madler. >> Yes. Mr. Lotus. Yes. Motion carried. Thank you and and a thanks to the numerous parties both internal and external throughout this entire strategic planning process. Uh I just wanted to note there are 42 members made up of students, parents, teachers, administrators, business leaders, community members, and other local elected officials that spent a lot of their their own time in order to put forth these strategic goals and our our plan for the next 5 years. So, Dr. Siri and your team, thank you for leading the charge with our community advisory committee and on our internal folks, and we look forward to the implementation teams. That concludes section three action items. Moving on to section four, our
041discussion and information items for this evening. Item A is review policy 3000 series business services. Mr. Richards. Thank you again, Mr. Lewis. Um yeah, we'll review uh policy 3000 here over the next uh couple weeks and month, probably. I know we do have a few changes, technical changes within the policies that we need to take a look at uh regarding legislation per state and federal over the past uh 6 months or so. So, um we'll be bringing that to the board um more than likely the first week in April. Um unless there's more unless there's just technical changes within those policies that we end up bringing back, we'll bring them back at the next meeting then. But otherwise, any any other major changes or things that we need to have discussion about, we'll bring that
042back in April to you guys. All right. Thank you, Mr. Richards. Staying with you, our uh item B, the legislative update. Favorite topic this time of year. Um We are in the short session, as you remember. So, a 60-day session that tends to put a lot of pressure on the legislature to hear all the bills, um get those organized, prioritize them, and get down to the end here when um they're trying to get some of them passed. We haven't had a whole lot affecting education at this point, uh as you know. Um but with 19 days left uh and the budget starting today, uh that's interesting with the $471 million deficit that they got to get after, and I see on the agenda today that they're still stuck on that um as uh as we
043started the board meeting. Um so, I think they're going to spend a lot of time on that as well. So, um so, some of the bills and and Mr. Madler brought these up earlier. 1219 is a huge concern uh for school districts. Uh the 2% um hard cap plus real growth. Uh Uh, you know, the business officials are very concerned about that across the state, superintendents, uh, board members. Uh, it affects cities and counties as well. Uh, the thing for schools, it's a little bit different than the cities and counties as we know, is what you brought up earlier, the fluctuation in state aid. Um, the board's only lever to make up for lost state aid, and we lost a bunch um, couple years ago, $7 million uh, is to increase property taxes to try
044to get you back um, to where you were the year before for the most part. Um, so, that is very concerning. We're trying to get senators information on that. This reminds me a little bit when the governor first came on, um, and we had a lot of those conversations, and we came up with 3%, which we could all live with, but it gave the board some flexibility to do a resolution in case you needed it, like if for us this year, uh, we're opening a new school. You can't do that with just a 3% increase in revenue. Um, you need we are we're going to add 10 positions next year, all those things. So, growing districts are really hurt by this bill, I would say the most, and that typically are the ones that are
045dealing with valuation increases and loss of state aid. Um, so, that's one we really got to look at, and keep an eye on. Now, they they don't set the agenda except for the night before, so we don't know you know, when this bill is going to come on the floor, but it will make its way out there in some form, whether it be 1219, I've heard 575 might be a vehicle. Um, so, we're keeping an eye out for that bill. Uh, 1050, uh, the reading retention um, bill, a fourth you can't go to the fourth grade unless you pass this test. Um, and there's some unfunded mandates that within that bill, too, with interventions that would be expected by the state to happen. Luckily, we do a lot of them, but there's a lot of
046change over and a lot of costs to this as we talked to Dr. Siri, um, you know, from what we do to what might be mandated by the state within this bill as well. So, that's another one we're not you know, in favor of. You know, kids Um We could bring up kids in interventions and without retaining all the time and I know there's been some states that claim they've had some successes with that bill. Um out there but when you look a little deeper I don't I don't think it's probably real accurate in those assessments. So, 1050 is that bill. Um And then always our famous especially in these short sessions are these package bills that come out of nowhere that bills aren't even prioritized and they get put in this package and they
047were off your radar this time of year and then all of a sudden they show back up and you're like, oh gosh, I didn't think that bill bill was going to go anywhere. Um so, we're watching those. There was one package bill that came out and I shared that with you on you know, on a legislative report and you know, that that wasn't too too bad of a package bill. It pretty much are things that we're already doing that they'll mandate across the state for other school districts too and we'll go over that in earnest as soon as the legislature's over on the ones that have passed and how we're going to incorporate that into the school district. Um And then you know, those other bills are what you got to just watch after. I
048mean it's it's just hard this time of year to know what's going to come up on the floor. If Senate priority bills see the light of day with this budget deficit is your guess is as good as mine but we got to be ready in a night's notice to get down there and talk to senators cuz a lot of the senators aren't involved in those committees they come out of. They don't know much about these bills. So, you got to get some they got to one they want to ask questions and our senators have been really good for us about asking questions about bills how it'll affect the school district and and we're ready to share that information when that happens. So, I know any other information that anybody has So, would open it up
049at this time to the the board or Dr. Rickley. Just just a couple Thank you. That's a really good report, Mr. Richards. Just two observations. One on 1050. First, I want to thank Dr. Siri who put together a letter that was submitted in late January outlining some of our concerns associated with LB 1050. I think from from my vantage point as a dad, one of the most problematic aspects of the law is the decision to retain is out of the parents' hand. It is a you shall be retained, not a you may. So, even if a parent was like, I understand my child may be lagging, I want them to advance anyway. Parents don't have that right. And and I I really worry about that as parents being the most important and first teacher in
050their child's lives. I think going back to 1219, I know the board is aware of this, but I think with our large crowd in attendance, 85% of the district's budget in any given year is directly tied up in people. And the single biggest negotiated group that we have is teachers. So, of our 1800 employees, approximately over 900 of them are teachers. So, you start to think a little bit about what I I suspect many of us would think as a priority, and that is paying our teachers. If you put a 2% lid on the district budget, that's going to preclude you from being able to do anything with teacher salaries. Especially especially in light of the fact that medical care is starting to crowd out what we can do with teacher increases because if you
051see a double-digit increase in health care insurance, which my hunch is a lot of the people in the audience are probably dealing with at their private employers, that that all of a sudden really limits our ability to do much with staff salary increases with a group that we know is critically critically important for our families and our classroom. So, lots of layers to 1219, but a 2% cap would really really put some pretty big limitations on our ability to recruit and retain outstanding teachers and related staff. So, outstanding summary. Thank you, Mr. Richards. Thank you. All right. Seeing no further discussion regarding the legislative update, we will conclude section 4 discussion and information items. We will now move on to section 5, public comment for items not on tonight's agenda. When called upon by myself,
052the individual shall proceed to the podium and state their name and address. If you don't want to give your full address, please just state the city that you are a resident of. An individual may not exceed 3 minutes. And for all individuals who want to speak shall not exceed 30 minutes per category unless a majority vote of the board approves extending the allocated time. So again, when I call you up we don't start the timer until after you've stated your name and address to give you the full 3 minutes to discuss the topic at hand. We have a 3-minute clock on the wall and that will go red and beep when you get to that 3 minutes. For those of you in the audience, if you you know, support an item, we just ask that
053we keep it to just a quick minor clap so we can move on to the the next speakers. All right, first up this evening for public comment for items not on tonight's agenda, Miss Angie Cantrell. Welcome. Hello, my name is Angie Cantrell and I live off of Savannah Drive in Papillion. My name is Angie Cantrell and I am a proud PLCS PLCS alum and a parent of four school-aged children. Both my husband and I are work full-time and in just over 2 years we'll be we'll be doing daily drop-offs and pick-ups at three different schools here in the district. What we are experiencing is an exception. It represents the majority of families in our community. Roughly 2/3 of Papillion families have two working parents at home. When both adults are working full-time, transportation gaps become
054a serious barrier. Without expanded buses, families are forced to piece together solutions that are not sustainable and sometimes unsafe. Leaving work repeatedly for school transportation is not an option for many parents. Mr. Villarreal recently told 3 News Now that a study showed expanded busing was not viable. However, when that information was formally requested from the district, the response confirmed that no formal study was actually done or report even exists. Instead, the documents provided showed only internal discussions that were ultimately dismissed as too expensive. If decisions are being made that affects student safety and access, families deserve transparency and real analysis. Too expensive is not a study. It is a budget priority. As a Purple Star District, PLCS publicly commits to steadfast support of our military families. Yet, deployed parents are being told that safely getting
055their children across busy highways and a is strictly a parental responsibility. That disconnect matters. With a $170 million budget, we are told transportation for middle and high school students cannot be prioritized. The question is not whether resources exist. It is how we choose to allocate them. This is not about convenience. It is not about safety or access or consistency. It's all about safety, access, and consistency for working families. We're asking for a transparent plan, a public timeline, and clear communication with families about intends to move forward with student transportation. As someone who grew up in this district and chose to raise my family here, I want PLCS to continue to be a district families are proud to belong to and that prioritize student safety and responds transparently to its community. Thank you. >> [applause] >>
056Thank you, Ms. Cantrell. Moving on to our next speaker. Uh welcome up Ms. Stephanie Barton. Oops. Good evening. I got a lot of stuff here. Here's some point papers I have for the board. My name's Stephanie Barton. I live in Papillion. Am I good to go? Okay. I'm back because I didn't hear back from you on my three requests from last meeting. Um but my statement last meeting reached over 20,000 views. The community is interested and they want bussing for our middle school and high school teachers or high school students. As a substitute teacher in the district, I am entrusted with student safety inside our schools. It is time this board and the administration accepted that same responsibility for middle school and high school student safety on their commutes to and from school. I was
057told secondary student safety and transportation is an unaffordable luxury and a parental responsibility. Our property values have soared and the district's tax revenue has followed. Since 2021, tax revenue has climbed by 23.6 million. Last year alone, even with a lower levy, you collected 5 million more than the year prior. The cost to add bus routes is a small percentage of that growth. On February 25th, I was the one who requested those public records after the $1.5 million cost estimate for buses was given to Three News Now who's here this evening. The district admitted they did not commission or produce a formal study. The documents they did provide was an undated PowerPoint and the subcommittee minutes from May 23rd, 2025 reveal a staggering internal math problem. The minutes stated from that meeting last May, "Adding five
058bus routes at an estimated cost of 250,000 per year." The board members discussed pros and cons of added service and thought that unless a lower cost could be figured out they continue to not add bus service for middle school at that additional cost. The PowerPoint claimed 10 routes would cost 760,000 and then tonight you gave some other numbers. So I'm just curious which is it? And when the district tells the press that bussing isn't viable or beneficial, they aren't citing research or you just guessing guessing about our kids safety. I confirmed with Nebraska speaker arches office that the four-mile down Nebraska law cited in your policy 5701 was written in 1927. A rule designed for horse-drawn carriages and rural pastures 99 years ago is not a valid safety standard for 2026. In 2027 a four-mile
059walk was across a field. In 2026 it's a gauntlet of high-speed traffic and busy intersections. Kids are having to cross highways like 370, 72nd, Giles, and Cornhusker. You can give run-around answers to my emails, but you can't ignore the 20,000 neighbors watching now. We are looking for board members and district employees who prioritize student safety over inflated unverified budget projections. Budgeting is a statement of values. Last board meeting you approved 1.3 million for an early staff refresh of their MacBooks. And tonight we talked about the replacing the track. I believe that was 1.2 million. You have millions for the track and early tech upgrades, but when it comes to transportation required to keep 12-year-olds from walking alongside highway 370 you claim it's too expensive to provide buses. If a new track is a necessity, but
060student life safety is an unaffordable luxury, your priorities are fundamentally broken. Thank you, Ms. Barton. All right, next up for public comment this evening, Ms. Angie Fair. Welcome. Good evening. I'm Angie Fair and I live on Oakmont Drive in Papillion. I am here tonight speaking as a parent as and as part of an active duty military family in this district. We chose this community in good faith believing it would support our children both academically and socially. Papillion La Vista schools were recently designated as Purple Star Schools meaning they're recognized as military friendly and committed to supporting military connected students. That designation carries weight. For families like mine, it signals stability, understanding, and practical support during an already demanding lifestyle. However, I'm here tonight because there's a disconnect between that designation and the day-to-day reality many
061of us in the community, military related and not, are experiencing. Students living nearly 4 miles from their assigned middle school are not provided bus transportation. Instead, the expectation is that parents secure reliable transportation on their own or that they walk daily across busy congested roads. This is not a short neighborhood stroll. It is a significant commute that raises real safety concerns. For a military family, this issue is amplified. Military personnel are often called to work long hours in support of the mission, travel on TDY orders, training requirements, or deployments. Frequent relocations mean that military families do not have much say in where they live. The housing market and rental market presented a real challenge when we moved here. And there was not much option. Further, we do not have grandparents nearby or and we when
062we arrived we did not have an extended support network. We've recently developed one thankfully for the community. But that extended support network that is required of the community for school pickups and drop-offs can be taxing for military families as they're just arriving. Like many military families, we've relocated here for duty requirements not because we had the luxury of choosing a specific location based off of available school transportation. When transportation is not provided, the burden shifts entirely to military spouses. Many like myself are managing full-time jobs while still accounting for school pick up and drop off. For me, that that meant adjusting work schedules, but for others, that may mean risking job security. Or before scrambling for carpools in a community where they are still building those relationships. For some families, it may even impact decisions
063about re-enlistment or future military assignments. The Purple Star designation should represent more than a plaque on the wall. It should reflect meaningful, tangible support for military connected students. Transportation is not a luxury, it's a foundational service that directly affects safety, attendance, and academic success. Military children already navigate frequent moves, new schools, long separations from deployed parents. They should not have to navigate unsafe walking routes simply to access education. I'm here not to criticize. I'm here to ask for alignment between recognition and reality. If we're going to call our schools military-friendly, then we must ensure that basic services like safe transportation reflect that commitment. I respectfully ask the board to re-evaluate the current transportation policy for students and consider solutions that prioritize safety and support working in military families. Thank you, Ms. Fair. Last up for
064public comment this evening, I apologize if I butcher the last name, Ms. Rebecca, is it Bant or Barth? Welcome. >> Welcome. Hello. Um my name is Rebecca Barth, um and I live off of Savannah Drive in Papillion. And actually I'm um going to bring in some of the things that have already been said. I'm just going to kind of speak more to what I have observed and then also add in just a little touch of like just sort of the understanding of the age set of the middle school high schoolers, especially early middle early high schoolers. Um so, one of the things that I can speak from from personal experiences is I actually have children in two different schools. Um they actually only overlapped for 1 year. Um and so, I've always had to juggle
065this. Um my husband and I, who is here with me tonight, we both have um advanced degrees and therefore, as a result of that, we have the privilege of uh stable incomes as well as uh flexibility in our work setting. So, we are able to sometimes shift things around, but even with that involved, when we began the transition, when we were having our kids in two different schools for all of their schooling, we had to kind of juggle, and we had to create our own little {quote} bus. But of course, we were doing that with people we knew for like long periods of time, and it was, you know, entrusting the safety of our children to these other people. We kind of ad hoc threw this together, and as a result of that, we were
066able to kludge it together, but there were times where it was kind of dicey, like, "Okay, can you move this, or can you move that?" And it gets really challenging. So, when I hear about how we're, you know, designated as Purple Star, and and as was already mentioned very eloquently, that that doesn't really match for me in my head. I also see a little bit of a challenge related to how much people um had the people who are experiencing lower income or even less income than myself, they might That's assuming that they have two cars. What if they don't? What if they have a work schedule that doesn't allow them to leave in the middle of the day and pick their child up? Um all of these are barriers, and as our school district actually
067like it covers a pretty wide range there, I would imagine that that would be an important thing to think about. And I am I'm in agreement with my uh fellow uh speakers here tonight that we would really like an actual um you know, study or some sort of numbers, and maybe bringing in some information, some accurate information from the other school districts that are actually available online that I was able to find in about a 30-second Google search that didn't match really what was mentioned earlier here tonight. Um but actually like look at that whole problem and see what other school districts are doing because we're not the only ones that have this similar kind of challenge and others are figuring it out. So, I believe that we could as well. And I think ultimately,
068like I also want to bring in that there's a really dangerous element with middle schoolers. They are really notoriously not safe when they are crossing streets and unfortunately that results in them getting injured and that hasn't been mentioned tonight. No, it's been mentioned previously, but that's a really really scary thing to think about that even if I'm bringing my child to the school area and I'm hoping to drop him off where he can walk, he's still having to cross major roads and they're not necessarily the best at actually like looking or even paying attention. And so, bringing in a bussing would add that extra element of safety. So, thank you so much for your time. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Ms. Beruth. Yes, thank you for our our four public commenters. If if you've watched
069our board meetings before either online or come in person, you'll know that the board does not respond as a general rule. Please understand that is not due to lack of interest or to the board taking this situation very seriously. It's just how we how we do business. Uh but just to reiterate something that Mr. Madler said so you kind of know what to expect because we don't want to over promise and under deliver is that the buildings grounds finance subcommittee met last Friday. That consists of three of the six board members. The remaining three of the six board members will meet on March 24. They will receive the identical information that buildings and grounds. The whole idea is everybody's hearing the same information. Uh specifically costs, comparison to other districts, and what a parent pay
070option might look like. I can't promise you the outcome. Nobody around the table can because the board simply hasn't all received that same information, but that's kind of the timeline that that we see progressing. Uh I doubt you'll see anything in the next week or two. This is this is a really involved. We don't interact with the audience, Ms. Barton. Uh one of the things that uh we want to make sure is this impacts everybody in this school district including 70% of the taxpayers that don't have kids in schools. So, that is our task and is to benefit both student safety, which is of course the number one priority, but also protecting the rights of our taxpayers that don't have kids in schools. It's not an easy task. That's our problem, not your problem, but
071please know that that is the order of events. And with that, I'll turn it back to the president. Thank you, Dr. Rickley. Moving on to section six, our future board calendar. For the first time in a while, it's not very lengthy. >> There you go. March 16th through the 20th, 2026, there is no school for both students and staff to celebrate spring break. And on March 23rd, 2026 is the next Board of Education meeting at 6:00 p.m. here at the central office. Seeing no further business before the board, I will adjourn the Papillion-La Vista Community Schools Board of Education meeting for March 9th, 2026 at 6:56 p.m.