PLCS Board of Education Meeting January 12, 2026

001Good evening and welcome to the Pilian Le Vista Community Schools Board of Education meeting for January 12th, 2026. Please rise for the pledge of >> allegiance to the stands nationy and justice for all. >> Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Miss Wood, >> here. >> Mr. Bailey, >> here. >> Miss Butler, >> here. >> Mr. Madler, >> here. Miss Wit >> here. >> Mr. Lotus >> here. >> All present. >> Thank you. Please note that the Nebraska open meetings law is posted at the entrance to the room. We start with communications. Student council report is our Maddie and Abigail here tonight. >> Welcome ladies. >> Good evening. We're very excited to be here again in the new semester and to share everything going on at Pilian Levista South. [snorts] Once again, we want to thank

002you guys all for your commitment to the district and for your hard work this year. [snorts] The third quarter of the 2025 2026 school year continues to be a very busy time for our students. We wanted to take a moment to highlight several groups throughout our school. We'll be first starting with athletics beginning with basketball. Although we did suffer a loss to Monarchs on last week, we have a lot of turnover and a lot of players stepping into new roles and they're both having very successful seasons. Um, our next home games are Tuesday the 20th versus Westview. And then boys wrestling, we are off to a good start for the first half of the season. We are currently ranked as the eighth best team in class A and we're looking to improve on that. We're

003eight and three in duels and we compete at or we competed at Miller West last Friday and we earned runner up. Um and then girls wrestling, we have three girls ranked in the top eight for their respective weight classes in the state. And um they have the biggest team so far. We have 25 girls. So we're very excited that the sport keeps growing and they have a home wrestling duel uh versus Bell East on January 13th. Um, bowling. We have two bowlers that earned all tournament team honors in Lincoln. Uh, Landon Shard and Audrey Bellor. And we bowled today versus Monarchs. Um, so I'm not sure how that went, but I'll look into it. And then we also have Swim and Dive, who's off to a great start. They have a winning dual record and

004many high placements for individuals. We have a couple home meets to wrap up the season, so we're hoping to gain some community support. And then for unified activities, we have a big basketball game versus Westside on this Friday and it's between the boys and girls varsity games. So, we're hoping we get a good showing for that. And then we have two unified swimmers who are competing and killing it. And cheer is also prepping for the upcoming competition season. We got to see a peak of it at the pep rally and they are always very outgoing. And then Circle of Friends will be attending Sky Zone on January 20th. And we have a daytime basketball game, Unified Basketball versus Brian on January 27th. So, Mr. Spilker wanted you guys to pop out. Okay, moving on to

005our fine arts. Um, our theater program is back in full swing working on The Diary of Anne Frank, which will take the stage March 26th through the 28th. So, mark your calendars. Um, the selections are currently in process for the roles of that show. After that, James and the Giant Peach will be showing from April 30th to May 2nd. Our band students are, as always, incredibly busy. Um, this time with Winter Winds, winter percussion, winter guard, concert band, jazz band, pep band, and showc. Speaking of busy, um the PLS show choirs have their debut this Thursday, January 15th, and they have two soldout performances. They'll be competing in their first competition um this weekend on January 17th at Gretina High. We wish them the best of luck as these talented kids kick off their season.

006Also, with our clubs, there is a lot going on. Here are a few highlights we have. Um, on February 14th, the Saturday, [clears throat] over 30 students and staff are expected to brave the icy waters of Lake Zarinsky to participate in the Special Olympics Polar Plunge. Together, last year they raised over $16,000 in support of the great cause, and their goal this year is to break 20,000. [snorts] As Mr. As Mr. Moore shouted last year, it's for the kids. Still a perfect reminder of the heart and dedication behind this effort. >> [snorts] >> Um, Mr. Spoker wants Dr. Rickley to know that there's still time to sign up. [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. And if you don't want to sign up, you can still check out our social media to donate to individual individual plungers. Um,

007now for us, the student council, this past weekend, we hosted our annual Swishes for Wishes basketball game fundraiser for Make a Wish Nebraska during the boys and girls games. We received many donations from both parents and students alike. So, that was really nice to see them all come together. And as the spring semester progresses, we are going to get into our annual blood drive and some other fundraisers that are going to be super fun. And we're very excited to get back into the swing of things. [snorts] Lastly, for activities, DECA's next competition is Metros at Millard South on January 24th, and then the they will perform at state March 19th and 20th. So, Uh once again, we'd like to thank you for allowing us to present at this meeting and for the positive impact that

008each and every one of you have on this community. Uh we're extremely proud of what has been accomplished at the Ping Lista South and we are looking forward to our continued success. >> Thank you guys. [applause] U before I thank you Maddie and Abigail and I'd like to um also embarrass Abigail a little bit. I mentioned to the board I think it was my superintendent's report two reports ago that I had the privilege of attending a uh workshop at Project Harmony and at the end of the workshop we had a panel and I had the great privilege of taking a Monarch student and a Titan student with me. Abigail was the Titan student and we had an hour presentation on basically social media seen through the eyes of our students and how it's impacting a

009whole host of factors. So Abigail, thank you for representing the Titan Nation so well. We really appreciated that. Great reports, Maddie. Great report, Abigail. Thank you so much. >> Yeah, it was great. You tell Mr. Spieler we appreciate it. We'd like him to show up from here from time to time. Our next is the report from the superintendent. >> Thank you very much, uh, Miss Whit, members of the board. Uh, for our community members that are with us, uh, this evening, thank you. Uh, we have some important announcements, including most of you in the audience. I bet if you'll hold tight for just a minute, we'll get to you. Uh, a few other district level announcements before we get to that. Uh, first, welcome back to the 2026 half of the school year. Uh, hopefully

010everybody had a wonderful and restful winter break. I know it goes by fast. Uh hopefully everybody had an opportunity to recharge their batteries a little whether you were traveling or staying close to home. Uh it's truly a blessed time of year and I hope our staff, our families, and our students uh were able to enjoy themselves. Um Titan Monarch, uh the ladies uh beat me to the punch. Uh if you weren't able to attend uh the boys and girls basketball game last Friday, I say this every time we have a Titan Monarch event. What a wonderful showcase for our community, for our school district, for our families, for our student athletes, for band, for everybody that puts together that performance. It was overflow for girls, it was overflow for boys. It was just a wonderful

011event. Uh I'm always hoping for a tie, but that doesn't happen. So, uh sometimes we don't get what we want in life. That carried over to this Monday. Just today, we had another Titan Monarch event. We had our unified bowling event, which the ladies briefly touched on. We had Titan Bowlers. We had Monarch Bowlers right here in downtown Pavilion Aapio Bowl. I don't know how many people we had there, but it was pretty darn crowded. Uh to to see our students, uh our families, the community come out to support these Titan Monarch events. All events, but the Titan Monarch ones are particularly fun. Uh which brings us to the reason why I think we have uh some individuals in attendance. U and we'd ask that you stick around through my superintendence report. But I do

012have a couple of announcements afterwards, but before I get to that, we do have a section on the agenda where we traditionally do state and national level championships of some type. For example, a volleyball team wins state, we want to bring them in and recognize them. If somebody wins a national recognition, we want to recognize them. This doesn't exactly fit that criteria, but it's pretty darn important. And we've got some families and students in front of us that put in countless hours both within the school day and outside the school day to represent themselves, their families, their community, and their school district. And we couldn't be prouder. Uh we have four different groups we're going to uh announce here, and I will apologize in advance. If I hack names, please give me grace. Uh I

013think I've got most of them down, but I guarantee I'm going to hack somebody's name, so uh please forgive me in advance. We have ninth grade from Pilia Le Vista High. I'll kind of walk you through what we're going to do first so you know what to expect. We've got uh a number of PO La Vista uh high school students who made all state band. We're going to announce those names in short order. We will pause do pictures for kids and families that want to do that. We'll come back with the POV Vista South students that made all state band or orchestra do the same thing. So those are the first two groups and then the back two groups. All state chorus from Monarch, All State Chorus from South. So we'll do four different groups.

014I know this is kind of confusing, but it's going to be great fun. Just wait and see. Uh and we'll pause between each of those four groups so that those individuals with their coaches uh can come up again, take pictures. Moms, dads, whomever is here, we would welcome you to come up here and take pictures and we will properly recognize these outstanding monarchs and titans. So Dr. V realel our very first group we have nine Pelling L Vista High School students who made all state band orchestra Alexis Almeang Elelliana Calderon Bennett Carico Leo Duda Krubal Neggas Jacob Quackenbush Spencer Smith Emma Stewartson and last but by no means least Amelia Weaver. If you are one of those individuals please come down and be recognized by your board of education. [applause] Yes, mom. Please take the

015pictures. Congratulations. Thanks again for [applause] well done Monarchs. Our next group is from Pella La Vista South. We had seven South students who made all state band or orchestra. We have Jackson Baker, Owen Chia Varela, Lillian Lovevet, Riley McCriedi, Ella Parish, Brooklyn Per, and Bella Williams. If you are one of those individuals, come down and be recognized by your board of education. [applause] That's right. There's more. [applause] >> Well done, Titans. Chorus is up next. We have five students from Pilion Le Vista High School who made all state chorus. Very prestigious indeed. Christopher Riley, Jack Riley, Carson Smith, Carter Wagner, Caroline Williams. Please come down and be recognized by your board of education. [applause] >> [applause] >> And last but by well done, Monarchs, we're super proud of you. Uh we had 20 students from

016Pilion Le Vista South High School make all state chorus. Barrett Bumstead, Lizzie Dylan, Leo Du, Carbon Hale, Corbin Hale, Aiel Landeros, Walker Lawrence, Mariah McDougall, Carson Morehead, Juliet Min, Eli Olsen, Gabe Parish, Leah Rathky, Addison Redmond, Adele Sheets, James Tucker, Michaela Vrabel, Ella Watts, Abigail Wire, Teddy Wyberg, and Ava Winkler. Please come down and be recognized by your board of education. [applause] represent. >> Congratulations. [applause] >> Outstanding job, Monarch and Titans. We are so very proud of you. I'm going to wrap up my superintendent's comments here in just another minute or two and then some of you I bet have other things to get to tonight. So, if some of you need to skinny out that back room, you just do you and we won't be offended at all. Continuing on with the superintendence report,

017in addition to the uh well-deserved recognitions, uh we also had uh wanted to recognize uh Dr. Shireen Siri. The board is probably aware, I know they're aware because we've talked about this in subcommittee. We had a uh Nebraska Department of Education Rule 10 audit several months in the making and Ms. B uh Dr. Siri has briefed us on this throughout the process. The visit actually took place first week in December. If you can believe this, ladies and gentlemen, we were told originally we hadn't been audited in 20 years. Now, this isn't a financial audit. This is just checking to make sure that we're in compliance with state law. Our last one was 1984. And as we were talking through that with NDE staff were like so are you maybe going to start looking at things

018a little bit more regularly and they're like you know with large districts because NDE is so very understaffed. They're like we just it's really hard when you have 200 almost 50 school districts across the state of Nebraska to get to all of them. But they said we'll try to get to you in the next 40 years. In any event the two uh individuals that reviewed our buildings both high schools two of the three middle schools and about half of the elementary uh half of the elementary buildings. Um you would have been so proud uh to hear these individuals. Uh one's a former uh OPS administrator, the other was a former uh DOE instructor. Um ju the glowing things they had to say about this district, about this community, about our schools, about our teachers, about

019our principles. Um, both of them said, you know, we we'd heard kind of what Pavilion Le Vista is all about, but for us to come in and see it with our own eyes, the amount of passion, the amount of dedication, you have beautiful facilities, you have dedicated teachers, you have all these wonderful things. They're like, we were just blown away. Uh, it's just one of those things that, you know, sometimes it's nice to hear from outsiders what you're doing because when you're in it, sometimes you don't always appreciate what you have. And we've got a pretty darn good school district and I couldn't be prouder. So, Dr. Siri, that doesn't happen without your leadership. So, very proud of that. Uh, also just uh because I know the board is tracking on legislative issues. As the

020board is well aware, the legis Nebraska legislature opened for business last Wednesday. As the board is aware, this is a short session, a 60-day session. Uh, bill introduction will be over in approximately a week. We've already had um almost 200 bills dropped. In a typical short session, about 600 bills is typical. I think we're going to hit that very easily. Uh, Mr. Richards is tracking on that very closely. We'll have uh former senator uh Tim Gay who represents the district come in our next board meeting two weeks from tonight to brief us on the bill's bill introduction will be over at that time. We'll be watching that very closely. And last but by no means least, thanks to the hard work of our own Dr. Settles, we have three administrators pending board approval. Uh I

021think all three are with us this evening. Uh we have Miss Jenny Logan who's been in a variety of positions around the district. Most notably, she was teacher leader at Prairie Queen Elementary. She interviewed for a position. She knocked it out of the ballpark. She is the new chief bulldog at Bell Elementary. Jenny Logan. Can we have a round of applause, please, for Miss Logan? [applause] We have Miss Valley Thompson who's currently an administrator with the Pona Vista Community Schools at G. Stanley Hall. We are very proud to have poached uh Valley very recently from the Millard public schools. We love to take their best and brightest. Ladies and gentlemen, uh though she's been with the Pil Vista Community Schools a relatively short amount of time, uh she's knocked it out of the ballpark as

022well at G. Stanley Hall. She will be backfilling the vacant position at Hickory Hill because Monica's moving on to open the new building. And as uh Brett pointed out, we got to save some money on name plates. We went from one Thompson to the next. Valley, we couldn't be prouder of you. Congratulations. Round of applause, please, for Valley Thompson. >> [applause] >> And finally, we have uh somebody told me that this individual might even be celebrating a birthday tonight. So, uh Miss Alex Olsen, her husband Luke is in attendance, and their beautiful kids are with us. Alex was a curriculum facilitator, longtime district uh curriculum person, and I can say that she was my oldest daughter's teacher, not once, but twice. She is a gifted, not a good, she is a gifted teacher. Uh made

023a difference in the Rickley family. I can tell you that she will be our director of secondary curriculum effective July 1, 2026. Alex, we could not be prouder of you. Round of applause, please. I know that was a really long superintendence report. It's not usually that long, Miss Whit, but thank you for indulging me and I will turn the meeting back to you. >> Thank you. And I am not surprised that the rule 10 audit found us to be a spectacular district. We all knew that. Yes. and thank you for coming and dads and kiddos. >> Congratulations to Monarchs and Titans. >> Carrying on. We have any uh reports from board members tonight. >> I can start. I go. You go ahead. All right. I had a leazison lunchon at Hickory Hill uh last week

024and they have lots of good things going on there. I would love to list them, but I forgot the agenda at home so I forgot. Um, but I do remember that they talked about um, just how much they appreciate the small class sizes and I know that's something that we work really hard on as a board. So, that stuck with me, >> but it was a really good meeting. >> And we had a nice lunch. We had a mess launch. The were wonderful. >> Yes. >> Uh, I went to a number of uh, sporting events these last couple weeks. You know, that time a year, including the Titan Monarch, uh, both the girls and the boys basketball game. um great games and like you said Dr. Lee, it's just great to see the community turn

025out for those events and support both teams and everyone behaving themselves uh and the student sections they did they did great uh as well. Uh so appreciate the community coming out for that and and uh supporting our student athletes. Uh I also did a Terara Heights liaison lunch on Friday. Uh we talked through the recent construction projects that have you know finished up for the most part finished up uh the new classrooms, the redone spaces and just getting it updated being one of our older buildings in the district. Uh talking through uh how well the process went with Samson Construction uh this time around and and how good of a relationship they the building had with them in the project. Uh we also talked through uh some technology uh topics as far as number of

026devices go and the types of devices and what that looks like going forward. Uh and then also upcoming uh math curriculum pilot. So I appreciate Dr. Siri being there to answer a lot of those questions and take feedback from the team on those on those issues. So appreciate you being there and helping out. Uh and I appreciate Dr. or not Mr. Fritzen and his team uh taking the time over their busy day sitting down talking through some of their issues and uh just being able to answer questions and ask questions and just having an open forum uh for discussion. So I appreciate his team uh and and joining me on Friday. And that's it. >> Had barbecue. >> Yeah, we got Yeah, I had barbecue. It was great. Anyone else? I had a it was

027a long time ago because it was the day after our last board meeting which was the first week of December at Park View Heights Elementary. And uh it starts off and the kids are really great because they give us a tour and they're so proud of their school. And this was I was there before the construction for their renovation and now I've been there now since they've renovated and it's just wonderful to see those larger classrooms and the pride they have in their building. We talked about school improvement team replacing school psychologists to Paris to teach uh the pathway uh they want to go into the pathway to become teachers and that the behaviors have settled down um recently and they're very happy with the way the district is working with um behavior management in

028the buildings. They highlighted their SIP goals and action steps and they love CKLA and who doesn't? Everybody loves CKLA all the time. Yeah. Committee reports, please. Uh, starting with buildings, grounds, finance. >> We met on Friday. Uh, we had a number of topics. A lot of them are on tonight's agenda. Talk through the both the Patriot and the Walnut uh GMPS, which we will be uh hopefully actioning on uh later along with the uh teacher contract and um we will be finishing off with the Springfield Platview boundary agreement. So we'll discuss that um later in the meeting. >> Thank you. Human resources and student services. >> Uh we have not met officially as a group uh as a subcommittee since the last meeting. However, we spent uh much time uh in negotiations with the PLA

029and I'm pr proud to state that we came to a tenative agreement and that that contract is under discussion items this evening >> and curriculum in Americanism. Yes, we met I think it was the day after our last meeting. So, it seems like forever ago. Uh I honestly don't have don't know much about I don't remember much about what we talked about way back then, but I do know we have a meeting scheduled for tomorrow. So, uh I think at 4:30 right here. Okay. >> Right. Tonight being the first meeting in January is also election night for board positions and we are will be turning it over to Dr. Rickley, who will manage that section of our agenda. >> Thank you very much, Miss Whit, members of the board. This is that rare opportunity where

030I take control of the meeting before turning it back over to the board and new leadership if the board chooses to elect new leadership. So, for those that may be here watching from home, just so you kind of know what's going to unfold here these next couple of minutes. Um, this board of education has six uh elected board members, of course, four of whom are officers. We have a president, we have a vice president, we have a secretary, we have a treasurer. I will oversee this portion and once the slate either the individual officers are elected or the slate of officers are selected, then I turn it back over to the new president or the current president depending on how voting goes and then the president will continue on. We may elect officers individually or

031we may do a slate. I think uh as I reflect on the way the board has chosen to do it the last few years uh they've done a slate of officers. In other words, when somebody makes that nomination, they nominate the president, vice president, secretary, treasur all at once and then the board votes on that. However, it is up to the board to decide if they would prefer doing president, vote for the president until that's done, vice president, and go on and so on and so forth. So either uh is acceptable by Robert's rules of order. Once either an individual name has been put forward or the full slate has been put forward, a second is acceptable but it is not required. Very very important. A second is acceptable but it is not required. And

032then regardless of what the board chooses to do, whether it's a full slate of officers or individually go through each of the four positions, we will wait until there are no other slates or no other names offered. We will close and then we will do a voice vote. the board then doing the voice vote until we have a majority which is four of the six. Any questions from the board of education before I ask for nominations for either individuals or a slate of officers? Seeing no questions from the board of education, I will either accept a nomination for the president or for a full slate of officers. >> I'll nominate as a slate if there's no objections from the board members. Um, I'll nominate Brian Lotus as president, Lisa Wood, vice president, Skip Bailey as

033secretary, and Marcus Madler as treasurer. >> Thank you, Miss Butler. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> We have a motion by Miss Butler. We have a second. While not required, appreciated by Mr. Madler. The motion on the floor is Brian Lotus for president, Lisa Wood for vice president, Skip Bailey, secretary, Marcus Madler, treasurer. I'll pause there and see if the board has a second different slate of officers. Seeing no other nominations, we will call nominations closed. Again, who we are voting for with this slate. Brian Lotus, president. Lisa Wood, vice president. Skip Bailey, Secretary Marcus Madler, Treasurer. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Miss Butler, >> yes. >> Mr. Madler, >> yes. >> Miss Wit, >> yes. >> Mr. Lotus, >> yes. >> Miss Wood, >> yes. >> Motion carried.

034>> Outstanding. It's a little bit out of order, but could I ask for a round of applause for our new officers? [applause] >> What we are seeing before us, ladies and gentlemen, is the peaceful transition of power. one of the things that makes this such a great school district and such a great country. Without further ado, I believe we'll do a little bit of shuffling and then I will turn the proceedings back to my boss, our new president, Mr. Brian Lotus. Thank you very much. I mean, they have our name on them. >> Well, they're set to the the height and everything else. So, >> there you go. >> All right. >> Welcome, Mr. President. [laughter] >> Welcome back. >> Thank you. Thank you all uh for the confidence. All right, time to get back

035into the swing of things. All right, moving on to uh item two on the uh annual business is action by consent. >> I'll make the motion to approve the above noted items related to 2026 annual business. >> I'll second. >> Right. I have a motion by Mr. Madler and a second by Miss Wood. Any discussion, comments, questions? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Miss Butler? >> Yes. >> Mr. Madler? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lotus? >> Yes. >> Miss Wood? >> Yes. >> Miss Wit? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bailey? >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. Moving on to item C under annual business, the 2026 board meeting dates. For the record, meetings will be January 12th and 26th, February 9th and 23rd, March 9th and 23rd, with the fifth Monday uh in March being

036a tenative meeting as well on the 30th. April 13th and 27th, May 11th and 25th, uh typically may not hold a meeting due to the holiday that week. Uh but again, a tentative date. June 8th and 22nd with again the 5th Monday the 29th being a potential meeting date. July 30th and 27th, August 10th and 24th again with another fifth Monday. Hasn't happened in a while. Uh on August 31st for a potential meeting September 14th and 28th, October 12th and 26th, November 9th and 23rd with again uh a fifth Monday on the 30th being a potential meeting. December 14th and again potentially on December 28th. Uh typically not held due to the holiday week. >> I'll make the motion to approve the 2026 board meeting dates as presented. >> Second. >> I have a motion

037by Mr. Madler, a second by Miss Wit. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Mr. Madler. Yes, >> Mr. Lotus. >> Yes, >> Miss Wood. >> Yes, >> Miss Wit. >> Yes, >> Mr. Bailey. >> Yes, >> Miss Butler. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you all. Moving on to item D under annual business. Uh again, this is just uh more of a uh notification to all uh board members uh to uh analyze the subcommittees and other representation on other boards uh or organizations. Uh and uh let me know if you would like to change uh up any committee assignments or if you need to step away from other uh boards and uh organizations. uh and we will uh then get a refreshed list and sent out to everybody uh here as soon

038as possible. >> Preference >> uh both would be uh preferred so nothing gets slip through the crack or I don't check an email on time. >> All right, that concludes uh annual business under section 3 action items. Moving on to our monthly business. Item A, action by consent. >> I'll make a motion to approve the action by consent as presented. >> Second. >> I have a motion by Miss Wit and a second by Mr. Bailey. Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Mr. Lotus, >> yes. >> Miss Wood, >> yes. >> Miss Wit, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Bailey. >> Yes. >> Miss Butler? >> Yes. >> Mr. Madler? >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> First it was Mr. Bailey's uh microphone going a little haywire. So >> all right. Moving on to >>

039pres uh item B under uh monthly business the uh political representation contract with Catalyst Public Affairs. Mr. Richards. >> Thank you, Mr. Lotus. Um it is that time of year um when we try to bring on our political rep uh contract. Um we're recommending to the board tonight Catalyst and Mr. Tim Gay who's been with the district is since 2014 is what I'm seeing in my historical notes. Um he's a PLH grad. He's got kids that have come through the district. Um he's a former state senator which is really helpful uh to navigate down there with the knowledge and experiences he has. um his presence allows the district to really help define our unique interests uh down there um in the education world with other senators and helps gives us a voice in the legislature.

040So the fee has not been increased since at least 2016. I found that on the on the historical notes and I we really appreciate that out of him being a community member as well. Um, so I would recommend it a continuous services outlined in the attached agreement in your packets in 2026. >> One thing I would add to Mr. Richard's comments, besides holding the line on a cost increase for the better part of 10 years, as far as we can tell, um, we haven't run this analysis in a bit, but the last time we did, we looked at um, other class A's. Typically class A's will have at least one uh government relations specialist that that kind of serves as the um front person for legislative efforts. Many class B's do as well. It's probably

041less common when you start get get down to smaller districts, but the last time we we did an analysis of the class A's and the class B's that have uh government relations specialists, we were squarely in the middle. My guess is given that Tim has not increased his fees over the last several years, my guess is we're probably towards the bottom of the list. If that's something the board wants us to check out just for your own peace of mind, we can certainly do that. But the last time we checked, we were our rates were very competitive compared to our peers. I can make a motion to approve the Catalyst Public Affairs as the district's political representation at a yearly rate of $39,000 plus expenses from January 1st, 2026 through December 31st, 2026. second. >>

042Much much calmer. So >> much appreciated. Microphone. >> I have a motion from Mr. Bailey, a second by Mr. Madler. Any further comments, questions, or discussion? I just wanted to say I appreciate you mentioning you know that the amount you know that we pay him which again has not gone up and everything that he does uh to help us out. I know we always have a few people that question whether or not we should have this and um I just he's invaluable to be able to to help because you know I know you try to get down to as much as you can and I you know you as well and I know we have a few board members that try to get there but I mean having someone to represent and help us to

043pick up on some of those things I think is extremely important and so I think it's uh incredible that we're able to to keep uh Tim uh working for this district. So thank you. I would just add along with uh Mr. Gay and his input. I appreciated last year uh when you gave us the weekly updates or the regular updates. I found that helpful as well and would appreciate it if you could continue that. >> You bet. >> And thank you for getting me the new mic. Hopefully this works better. Uh I also want to add, you know, M. Richards, Dr. correctly. You guys do a great job of tracking the bills that are introduced and and how they're they're going through um the process that they would need to go through down at the

044capital, but it's hard to if you're not there every day, it's hard to understand kind of the who is going to be supporting what and who's going to be making changes and amendments to the different bills potentially, you know, when they get to the floor. And so while we see a bill being introduced, there's already plans in the background of what that bill will look like, you know, step one, step two, um, before those final votes. And having Tim there, uh, every day and being in those conversations and being able to understand, okay, what this bill will potentially look like by the time people do have to vote on it helps us to better figure out, do we need to get ahead of it or who do we need to be reaching out to? So,

045I appreciate Mr. and and and being the behind thescenes person to really help us out understand when we're not there every day. >> Yeah, I appreciate your comments, Mr. Madler, and I I couldn't agree more. There's there's an old uh saying in the legislature, must be present to win, and sometimes things move so very quickly, as Mr. Madler pointed out, u conversations can turn quickly. Uh floor amendments can be added at the last minute, bills can be combined. It just it's there's a lot of hurry hurry up and waiting. And then when there comes time for action, it happens so darn quickly short of Mr. Richards and I making that our full-time job during the entire short session. It's it's just impossible to stay on top of it. Even when you have other groups such

046as GNSA U monitoring as well. So, it's it's absolutely invaluable and the stakes could not be higher, especially when you contemplate potential changes to the state aid formula, which absolutely impacts our ability to attract the best and brightest teachers and to provide the kind of programs we want for our kids. So much appreciated. >> Any other comments, questions? >> Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Miss Wood, >> yes. >> Miss Wit, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Miss Butler, >> yes. >> Mr. Madler, >> yes. >> Mr. Lotus, >> yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. All right, moving on to item C under monthly business. The Patriot Renovations guaranteed maximum price. I'll turn it over again to Mr. Richards. >> Thank you once again. In [clears throat] our last meeting, BCDM

047came by and kind of gave everybody an overview of the project coming up at Patriot uh Elementary. Um we'll start that this spring if approved tonight. Um our contractor through the CMR process and construction manager at risk is Boyd Jones on this one. So they've done numerous projects for us here to start off um our bond projects in the last few years. um they've taken time to review their subcontractors uh that they've got bids from in each of the areas that you see in your packet tonight uh with our architects and myself and um our team. Um we feel good about these costs associated with this project and uh we'd recommend that the district accept the GMP of $5,592,979 for the project at Patriot Elementary. I'll make the motion to one approve the guaranteed maximum

048price of 5,592,979 for the Patriot Elementary renovation and additions and two to delegate authority to and authorize, approve the president of the board of education, superintendent of schools, assistant superintendent of business services or a designate for the school district to sign, execute and deliver such construction contract. Sign and approve any change orders. Retain necessary professionals for assistance. Pay the contract price. Change order increases and expenses related to the construction project and site preparation work. And take all other action necessary to complete any requirements or obligations under the construction project and contract. >> I'll second. All right. Have a motion by Mr. Madler and a second by Mr. Bailey. Any discussion, questions? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Miss Whit, >> yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Miss Butler? >> Yes. >> Mr. Madler? >>

049Yes. >> Mr. Lotus? >> Yes. >> Miss Wood? >> Yes. >> Motion carried. [snorts] >> All right. Moving on to item D under monthly business. Similar conversation for Walnut Creek renovations. >> Very similar uh same timeline we're dealing with here with Walnut Creek with BCDM being at our last meeting and discussing the overview of this project uh with the renovation at Walnut Creek. Um our contractor for this one would be Samson Construction. Um, I want to say first of all both Boyd Jones and Samson who the our uh construction manager at risk committee picked uh out of number of good contractors uh to do our most of our projects within this bond have just been outstanding. Um I think you guys hear that the leison on lunches from the staff principles are happy. Um we're

050coming in under budget which we'll talk about a little bit more this spring with the whole board. Um, so we couldn't be more happy with these two. Um, so once again, they did they're very transparent in reviewing their costs with us. Um, they tend to be able to give us money back at the end of the projects. Um, we've just completed four and we're receiving money back on all four projects, which is good news, which we'll share again this spring with the board. Um, we would recommend that the district accept the GMP of uh, Walnut Creek for 5,979,635 from Samson Construction. Uh, I will make the motion to one approve the guaranteed maximum price of 5,979,635 for the Walnut Creek Elementary renovation and additions and two to delegate authority to and authorize approve the president

051of the board of education, superintendent of schools, assistant superintendent of business services or a designate for the school district to sign, execute and deliver such construction contract, sign and approve any change orders, retain necessary professionals for assistance, pay the contract price, change order increases and expenses related to the construction project and site preparation work, and take all other action necessary to complete any requirements or obligations under the construction project and contract. >> Second, >> I do want to say that um I think it was Hickory Hill and I think Samson did Hickory Hill. >> Uh >> or maybe it was Hill. >> Samson. Yeah, it was Samson because I remember being at the liaison lunch and they were complimenting Samson for being involved with the kids and helping whenever they needed to do something. It

052was really special to hear that that the guys come in and do the work or guys and gals maybe and how helpful they are to the building even when they're right there helping. >> They love that. They they love being doing activities with the kids and the principles have got them involved. So, it's a really neat thing to see. >> I have a motion by Mr. Mr. Madler and a second by Miss Butler. Any other comments, questions, or discussion? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Miss Butler, >> yes. >> Mr. Madler, >> yes. >> Mr. Lotus, >> yes. >> Miss Wood, >> yes. >> Miss Whit, >> yes. >> Motion carried. [snorts] >> Thank you. Moving on to our last item of monthly business, the student technology purchase. Mr. Moore,

053Miss or Dr. Siri, and Mr. Richards. >> Good evening. Uh yeah, so this is for the uh student Chromebook purchase. So part of the cycle uh we do this yearly, normally an RFP. Um I was contacted by multiple vendors uh about five, six weeks ago probably. um that the Intel shortage was going to increase prices on uh units, both not just Intel, but they think it's going to affect the MDM uh chips as well. Um because we went with CDW this last spring, um they have a a large stock. They're a bigger company. Uh they had a bunch of the same model that we purchased back in um April and I was able to secure the same price on that same model. Uh so we did some just real quick analysis on the last six

054months of this model. We've been happy. We haven't had any issues with them. Uh as far as you know a lot of screen breakage or anything like that. Nothing out of the normal. Um we haven't had any wireless card issues any other. We've we've had good luck with them I guess is what I'm saying. So um what we wanted to do is jump on it before uh the prices rose. uh could secure the pricing till the end of January. Um which is why we brought it to this meeting. Um so I would recommend um a motion to approve entering into a purchase agreement with CDWG as presented uh in the board summary for a total cost of $625,140. >> And just some additional information, this is for our onetoone model. So these are the ones

055that we buy annually for the fifth graders and the freshmen. Our cycle is a four-year cycle. Um, so that is how that works. And I do really appreciate um, Mr. Moore being on top of this because I believe it was almost a 60% increase >> in the cost uh, due to that lack of chip, >> the very technical terms that I know. Um, so I do really appreciate him bringing that to us, but that is also why we are um asking you to purchase at this time instead of our typical spring. And um, also, Mr. Ford, do you want to tell them about the warranty and how that will not >> uh, yes, I forgot to mention that. Yeah, so the warranty uh, Lenovo did agree to extend the warranty till we activate the machines.

056So probably in June uh, is when we'll activate them. Uh so they are going to extend that warranty rather than when we actually purchase them uh or when they ship. Um they're actually going to wait and hold off on the activation of our warranty. So the full four years we'll get out of it. So yeah, it's another nice little perk. And I did do I got a couple other quotes from some other companies on the same product. They are higher. Uh so we are getting a a good price on these. Good questions. Or >> I could make a motion to approve entering into the into a purchase agreement with CDWG as presented with a total cost of $625,140. >> Second. >> Thank you. I have a motion by Mr. Bailey and a second by Mr.

057Madler. Any comments, questions? Seeing none. Roll call. >> Miss Butler? >> Yes. >> Mr. Madler? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lotus? >> Yes. >> Miss Wood? >> Yes. >> Miss Wit? >> Yes. >> Mr. Bailey? >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you all. Moving on to section 4 discussion and information items. Uh the first item is our human resources and student demographic report. Dr. Settles. >> Thank you so much. Uh it's that time again where we get to do our annual discussion. A lot of this are things that you kind of know along the way or have asked different questions, but these are the official numbers from the October one uh report. So we send those in to the state. There's a little bit of cleanup time that comes with that um through the months

058of October and November. And then um we have this presentation for you that kind of does probably a pretty high level summary uh for the 2526 school year for both our student demographics and our um human resources for the district. So first of all um similarly to what we reported back in November, we do have our final student numbers and that's 12,120 students in preschool through 12th grade um as of that October one. This is an increase this year of 51 students. So you can see uh for the last several years we've continued to climb just a bit. So our growth has definitely slowed but uh we certainly like to see um that we are still continuing to add students and serve students. Um just to kind of summarize those by numbers uh by level.

059You can see in yellow here we have the numbers from October 1st 2025. In gray is 2024 and in white the difference that we have from those between last year and this year. So uh we actually did have a have growth at elementary, middle and high school. Elementary very tiny bit of growth but um certainly had growth at middle and high school. Uh preschool this year is the area that we saw a decrease. Um our elementary increase, like I mentioned, was really minimal, but our high schools uh did see the uh largest increase this year. Um again, we're at 51 students from last year, PK through 12. Uh do note though that the fall tends to be our lowest um tally for preschool as through child fine services we continue to identify students all throughout

060the year and certainly if we looked at those numbers today um our preschool numbers would be higher but that's why you have an October one count so you have something to measure from each year. So K through 12, we actually saw an overall increase of 69 students. This one just a quick snapshot so that you were able to kind of get a look at these by level. So all of the elementary here um which includes Oh, can you see that up at the top? Yep. up at the top you can see the everything in yellow is the 2526 then compared to last year. So just wanted you to kind of have these if you were reviewing a little bit further um on your own and wanting to dig a little bit more into each of

061the different schools. And then same thing here for um middle high school uh the and then a breakdown with um our ideal in there our YATP project search and all of those. So, similarly to the overview that you saw on the slide previous that has the total numbers, just wanted you to be able to have a chance to see um what that fall membership looked like in a little bit more detail as far as with free and reduce um included in there as well. We always like to take a look at option enrollment and um the yellow down there represents that our option enrollment numbers currently um do still tend to show that we're having more students opting in than opting out which is always a great thing. Um I couldn't find a time that

062we had reached over a thousand. So um that that was a big much bigger number this year um than what we've seen before. But we also saw the option out um increase. So whereas option in increase, so did option out. Um we see most of our students opting in at elementary and then followed by high school followed by middle school. Um as far as our students um that we see coming um opting out, um we have most let me do option in first. Most of our students that opt in, we get from Omaha public schools, followed by Belleview, followed by Rston, and then Millard. And for those that are opting out, we have the most that opt out to Belleview, U followed by Millard, then Rston, then OPS. So the same four schools, just different

063as far as um which order they were in on that. So, that was something we delved into a little bit more this past year as we spent some time on the um option with high schools. So, I wanted to share that little piece of data with you. Um just a reminder, and you were involved in this decision, but our closed schools for this year are Ashberry and Prairie Queen. Uh don't forget that just because um there's some other schools that aren't on there does not mean that they have not reached capacity in certain grade levels at their schools. And we can reach that capacity by space available but also by um staffing um being um considered full. So something that we really do annually and uh is we make those recommendations to you every fall

064and of which schools will be opened and closed for the following year. Um really important to note Ashbury continues to grow very um rapidly. So we had 64 more students this year than last year. I believe last year we were we grew by 40ome. So that was a big uh jump this year. Um [clears throat] most of our elementary schools though we do have some availability to take option students. So these two would not. And then for 2627 a reminder that these two schools will remain closed but uh so will Lincoln View next year. And some of that is um a strategy that we use to make sure that we're um opening up a new school and having the uh having the means to be able to do so with the number of students and

065not having uh it's it's a bit of a strategy to make sure that we have when we're sharing with some uh alleviating some growth or some um overcrowding that we may see a little bit of at Prairie Queen. average class size. Again, this is something that you all are so great with as board members of just recognizing that um student learning needs um sometimes do increase as we continue to grow and you've been great about helping us maintain manageable class sizes. Uh important to note, these are averages and this is something that we monitor on a weekly basis all year long. So, not only are we still monitoring where we're at this year, but we're already monitoring uh the numbers for next year and um we just are very grateful that you are so supportive

066when we do come to you with needs. So, thank you for that. Um we are really diligent about using those growth positions um that you give us, but certainly when we see some class sizes jump, that's one of the times that we sometimes do ask to utilize those. And um in this year I I feel really good about these numbers. I think when you compare them to some other um districts, we are really sitting at a great spot for this. All levels um either decreased or maintained very very closely to where they were um compared to 2425. So I feel really good about um elementary being at 19.47, middle at 21.12, and high school at 22.44. It also is important that annually we take a look at our um ethnicity uh demographics and this is

067a self-reported area. So we did see our total number of non-white students increase again this year and um we actually now are over 30% so 30.2% 2% um of this area Hispanic um our Hispanic population is our highest followed by those um reporting um as two or more races and then um nearly all of those other areas other than white did see increases this year. As of October 1st, we did see a very slight increase um in our free and reduced numbers. So, we're now sitting at 24.44. Uh, this is something again that we continue every single year um to make sure that we're paying very close attention to. Um, the application for free and reduced does remain open for families that do still uh wish to apply and that's something as well that people

068can apply all throughout the year and we certainly encourage that. military families. We actually saw a slight decrease um for the second year in a row. Um you'll see on here it's I know it's kind of tiny, but you'll see that and I'll just kind of give you the summary on that. Anderson Grove remains our highest military population um at the elementary level with over 18% u followed by Ramsey Station, Patriot, Golden Hills, and Bell. And then Liberty Middle now is our largest um military population of the middle schools with 8.55% and South at the high school with 7.88%. Uh overall as a district our um percentage of military like I mentioned is down just slightly and we're at 7.2%. Um we did receive about 11,000 um responses for the federal form. So people are

069completing those and filling those out. We also have had moveins of course with military um since these numbers um in October. So we always um continue to take those forms and allow um people can continue to report themselves as military as they do move in. uh historic um you'll see here for our homeschool we did see a a bit of a jump over our historic numbers for homeschool um this year. So, oh I see I have the uh number wrong there at the bottom, but that should say 2526 at 783 homeschooled uh students. So uh almost a couple well several percentage jump there. So we have not been over 7% since COVID times. So that's something that um again we like to just keep an eye on. Then kind of moving on a bit to

070the staff. So this figure shows our percentage of our staff in PLCS by category. And again, I know it's a little bit small, but I hopefully big enough that you can see um the overall we've got 1,771 employees uh filling those roles that you see divided out. When you're looking at uh FTE, so the full-time equivalency on that, it's um 169. And I think a huge celebration, we were able to fill 42 more positions this year than last year. Um the vast majority of those of course are classified positions, paraprofessionals mostly. Um I think another big celebration when you look at this slide is that we continue to have more than three4s of the staff members working directly in the classrooms with students and that's really important. Um, I do though want to stress and

071I know this is something I probably am a broken record about, but it really does take everyone from Paris to food service to custodians to the van drivers and writers that are the very first ones to see some of our students in the morning and um last in the afternoon. Um but everyone really does make a impact in a very meaningful way and it really helps to be able to uh make the whole uh system work when we have those positions filled. So though we continue to get better each year um and continue to fill more um positions, we do still experience hiring shortages and um we do still seek to have, you know, more applicants and more people who want to come in and have careers that are making an impact every single day.

072So um it's great news to be able to fill more, but we always want to make sure we mention that. And of course, it's very timely because our next walk-in Wednesday um is this Wednesday where we'll be um interviewing anybody who wants to come in and kind of talk through potential openings and um go through the process of applying. We also like to annually take a look at our teaching positions and just evaluate where we're at on certain data points um compared to the rest of the state. So, our teaching staff has an average of 14 years of experience and over 10 of those years in PLCS. This is something I think continues to be really important to look at as we know we have a rather large group that is nearing retirement. So, um

073really want to make sure that we're doing our very best we can to uh retain staff. Um side note from this one, we have two other areas that we've started to um gather data on and hopefully next year at this time we'll be able to report to you on our number of student teachers that have um been hired and stayed on and then our number of education academy students who come back to work in the district. Um when we did grab all of that data, one of the things that we found is uh we also have a lot of our um students who come back and work in other entities as well in the district, not just teaching. So um excited to be able to report some of that to you as we get some

074of that data cleaned up over these next couple of months. Um most likely through one of the areas of the new strategic plan. Uh we also like to look at master's degrees. So you can see that we have over 70% of our district teachers hold master's degrees. Um that is higher than the rest of the state um percentage which is 59.04%. Um it equates to 668 of our teachers holding master's degrees which is phenomenal. Um many of those also hold multiple masters. Um we also have 25 who hold their education specialists and 12 doctorates um all among our teaching staff. So those are non-administrators. Um 48 of our certified staff hold national certifications. So those areas are uh administrators, counselors, school psychologists, speech language pathologists, um assisted technology specialist to name a few of those

075areas. Very highly trained staff. Our average teacher salary also continues to be higher than the state. So this year our starting salary is 40,750. Um you can see our average teacher salary is $66,05. Um it also reflects the very high number of teachers with master's degrees and again many past masters. um our total starting compensation this year and the way we figure that is including salary and benefits and family insurance all based on a firstear teacher um with a bachelor's degree. That total starting compensation this year is $73,600. And again, we like to keep an eye on that potential turnover. So especially when we know that there are many areas um with shortages in education um we definitely keep an eye on those nearing retirement. So you can see that we have over 12% that

076are um age 50 and up and um we keep an eye on that because we know where we've been really fortunate that not all of our um early retirement spots have been taken for the last six years. um it is still something that we have to make sure that we're continuing to monitor. Um we also have a very large group of teachers in their first five years over um oneif of our teachers in fact in their first five years. So uh we work really hard to make sure that we're supporting those new teachers. There's some data out there that research that is saying that people don't um stay when they are not feeling that support. So, um I think especially every year as we reflect on this, we want to make sure that we give

077credit to the mentors that spend so much time with the new staff, the principles, the instructional coaches, the department leaders. Um all of those are really, really key to making sure that um they are feeling supported. And this is a district that's known as a great um place to grow teachers and support um teachers and the colleagues and um leaders in the buildings are really really crucial to that work. Just like our student diversity, we also like to take a look every year at our teaching population diversity. Um and that we specifically focus in on teachers on this. um we have higher numbers when it comes to classified for um the amount of diversity but um we do take a real close look at the teaching population this year. We do have uh we have

078gone up another 1% in diversity represented by our teaching staff over last year. Um so now we are at 10 and a half% of our teaching staff bringing diversity. That brings me to the end. Again, uh I know that's a lot of information, but um we use this information to help inform a lot of decisions throughout the year. Um not only for this current year, but future years as well. So definitely want to say again, thank you for everything that you do and for um your role that you have in supporting that. Any questions in particular? Mike can take a stab at? >> Not a question. And uh just going back to one of the metrics you shared earlier, class size, which I I think I can speak for the entire board. It's it's a

079top three thing that we hear at liaison lunch and beyond. Um Katie, you probably don't have this number at your fingertips, but we were at about 194 this year uh at the elementary level, and I seem to recall last year we were in the 196 or 198 range. So I I think we did take a little bit of a dip. You can correct me if I'm wrong. And again, if you don't have that number at your fingertips, I just think that it's really important for us to communicate to our community, our taxpayers, and then for sure our staff >> that that's something that this board has very deliberately focused resources on because driving down class sizes, it's expensive. Uh personnel is the single biggest item in our our state budget, in our district budget. Um,

080so it comes with a price tag, but we also know that it it yields pretty enormous results for our kids, for our families. Uh, and just want to thank the board for their commitment to that. And thank you, Katie, for for keeping such a close eye on that. >> Yep. I think, uh, middle school was our only one that went up and I think it was by one or two, um, ten. So, yep, both elementary and high school went down slightly and middle school was right there. Uh, as always, I appreciate putting that together and um presenting and and walking us through it. A lot of information, great information there. Uh, thanks to you and your team for one tracking it, making sure we're collecting uh all of it so we can track the trending

081and then and then going through it with us. Uh, one of the questions that just popped up as you were going through it was that homeschool number, the fairly large increase. I can't remember exactly, but 30ish maybe percent at least. Um, do we have we get that information from the state or do we do the parents have to tell us that they're they're pulling their kids out to homeschool? >> I believe we get that number from the state. Uh, your compliment on the data is a great time for me to recognize the tech team um who puts this together um several of them for who monitor the different areas and they also are submitting a lot of those state reports. >> Gotcha. And do we have any insight into why the large increase? >> Yeah,

082so we just actually started delving into that. Uh we shared it today with our directors and I think you know a change in one year um isn't something that we get you worked up about. It's really like those the trending that we tend to uh okay, we've got to pay attention to it. So it certainly has gotten our attention. Um I think there's a variety of things out there. I think, you know, there um certainly are more some availability of some online pieces, but we also do tend to see um some decisions who uh some families who make the decision to do homeschool return as well. Um and I don't know if anybody else had anything they wanted to add on that one. >> You know, Mr. Madler, it's it's it's a great question. first

083on the process. So, we may or may not know if a parent has filed exempt school, which is the name in Nebraska for homeschooling, exempt school paperwork. More often than not, we're probably going to know the student and or the parent will very frequently say, "Hey, I think I'm pulling out on this date. Here's the reasons why." We direct them to the Department of Education. They fill out the exempt paperwork and then I think once a month, I'm looking at my Dr. we get a report back from the department and that's kind of our signal then to release them from our until we receive that paperwork from NDE saying they have filled out the exempt school paperwork we still consider we count them on our roles so the count should be very accurate because they

084have to go through the department of education second question um I don't know that I have a good feel on the home why the the increase I think we're just a scoch below 8% it does track with national data though um one of the things that we have found it was happening before the pandemic and it's accelerated since the pandemic. Um, traditionally at least for the last 20 30 years, we've had about 1% of our students across the United States that have pursued homeschooling. I think that number has doubled if not tripled in the last uh decade. Again, I think COVID accelerated some of that. So many parents because of medical reasons, personal reasons, masking, vaccination, they didn't want their kids in school. Some of them came back, some of them didn't. So in terms

085of the blip from last year to next year, it's one we'll keep a close eye on, but I think it's such an individualized uh an individualized decision. It's hard to say with certainty, but it is certainly reflect a broader national trend. >> Um Dr. Rickley, I would just add that as um curriculum folks across the state, we've been talking about this. We're not the only district that's seeing this. Um we've had conversations. We think it might be tied possibly to uh chronic absenteeism has been a focus for a lot of districts and really putting a lot of pressure on families to come to school and um that does unfortunately in some cases I don't know if it's unfortunate but they decide to homeschool or they decide to fill out the ex the exemption paperwork. Um

086so that is one of the theories. I don't know if it's true, but it's one of the things that we're watching, especially at the high school level. >> Gotcha. Yeah. Talking about the state, I mean, it's just such an outlier. I think it'd probably be worth looking at our neighboring districts just to make sure, you know, it's not just a a us thing uh with such a large increase. And then Dr. We must have known I was going to uh call him out because I see he just walked out the door. Uh, but it could be worth if if he if we don't do it already, it could be worth exploring for those families that that do leap to send them some sort of survey to try to get to try to get a better

087understanding of their reasoning why. You know, you're not going to get 100% people fill it out, might not even get 10% filled out, but for those that do fill it out, just to try to get that understanding uh consistently back from those families. I I don't believe we have a system a systematized approach. I'm kind of looking at Dr. Settles here for doing an exit interview. My hunch is that in many cases that administrator when the family and or the student indicates, hey, this isn't the right fit. I'm going to do the exempt school thing. My guess is that's probably happening in many instances. I don't think it happens at all. And I don't think we have anything codified that requires a principal to meet with a family prior to filling out. In some cases,

088we don't even know. Uh but Dr. Settles, any insight on that? >> No, I I don't. But I do I was thinking too delving just a little bit further into it and really looking at where does the grade levels fall. So I know like um some of my most recent discussions have been like this is what we decided to do for kindergarten and you know whether that stays the same or changes you know just another area that we could take a look at with it. Any other comments, questions? All right. If none, we'll move on to item B under section 4, discussion and information items, and that would be our uh teacher contract agreement. Back to Dr. Settles. >> Yes, >> thank you again for this. Um so right we are at a great point

089um where we have a teacher negotiated agreement for you to review. Um we had I didn't count I guess but I think it was around six um meetings with um PLA and a great group representing PLA um who really has a ton of dedication and puts in a lot of time um including tonight. And Austin, I apologize it's second to last on the agenda. Thanks for hanging in with us. Um Austin Bolton is here. Uh Austin is PLA vice president and the chief negotiator for um is it at least the second time in a row? Maybe third. Number three. Great job. Uh so in your packet uh this is the reason you have a very very thick packet tonight. Uh because you have a redlinined copy with changes as well as a clean copy. Um

090so we've got that in there for you. And I'm going to I apologize for those that are here and reading some of the items from the agenda, but I did just want to be able to go through these um and talk a little bit high level about some of the contract details. Um this is a two-year agreement. And I should mention um that over the course of the past week uh PLA leadership did share this with um the teacher members and the vote occurred last week and we received word on Friday that it had passed. So um that's why we're at a point of bringing this to you. So we do have a um yes vote from PLA and now we'll bring this to you tonight and then again at our next meeting. Um, but

091this uh does reflect a two-year agreement and the agreement would allow for both vertical and horizontal movement for each of the two years um 26 27 and 2728. Um we have a base salary would see an increase of over 800 of $800 over that 2-year time period. In year one, it would be a $575 base increase, taking the base to $41,325. And that one is a total package increase of 3.5%. In year two, it would have a another increase of $225 on the base, taking the base to $41,550, a total package year 2 increase of 3.49%. I wanted just to point out on here um having um several um discussions with the board members. Uh we know how important that base increase um was to the board because it really does is something that impacts

092everybody that is a part of the contract. Um so we did put a lot of focus in there. A couple of other big factors though, this does reflect a 7.25 25 percentage medical and dental overall increase. So not each person sees that increase but an overall increase. Um our insurance would remain through EHA and that is um again approved to be Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska. We would still have the three network choices for staff and a choice of taking the PO or the high deductible health plan. Uh something that we have had in years past is a reopener clause in here if health or dental increases by less than 2% or more than 7% from the 26 27 school year to 2728. So we usually find that out in late October of each

093year. But we also added a second reopener on there. um an and or if the emperor's retirement contribution is either the highest or the lowest possibility. So that's just kind of a new um that's just came up in this past year and um we thought fair to be able to have that be a consideration as well. The contract also includes um couple of other pieces of language. So, our new hires um that are coming to us with experience, we would be able to grant up to 20 years. Um it's previously been 15. Um before that it was 12. This is something that um doesn't affect a lot of people each year, but does affect a few people being hired each year. Sometimes making the difference of whether or not they choose um PLCS or choose

094to stay in their current um district. Um that's one that we've definitely seen a trend in the metro of um people either increasing the amount that they're allowing or even allowing all years. So I feel like we are now set at a pretty good spot with that 20 years. Um we also you might remember on the last negotiated agreement we added a nurse a school nurse salary schedule. As we went through that over this course of the past year, um we did have various discussions with nurses and just found some areas for some clarification on that. So, we've included that in this contract. Um we also uh clarified some language. So, previously we've had the high need or hard to fill um area areas, but one of the things that we found is sometimes we

095have people who are currently in positions here, like for instance, an elementary teacher who wants to move to a highnee area and be a special education teacher. Um, we see that in a couple of many different areas, but each year we have probably four or five of these. So, we wanted to give some options to those in district staff who are doing that. And that option would be either um cover nine credit hours paid for them to get their um get MA uh graduate hours in that new endorsement area or um give them an additional the high needs bonus area of the $1,500 in salary for that first year in that high need or hard to fill area. So that provides just an option for those that as we have discussions with them and moving

096them into those positions um we'll get um get to have those discussions. And then um we also have previously had um occasions that we've had staff serving in municipal um public office areas and um sometimes those areas of public office um do have some obligations that they have to attend. So, this um additional um language allows for them to transfer five of their um sick leave um days to um be able to be used for leave in uh attending for their public office. Lastly, we have some extra duty changes in here. Um we added um at each of the middle schools an additional um volleyball assistant and great problem to have that we have so many students that are wanting to explore an additional um sport. So that FTE moved from two to three. Uh

097we had an addition of a how district team leader. This one is previously doing um like blue sheet time. So instead, that's an extra duty area now at 5% for one position for the district. Uh we added at the high schools an additional U varsity assistant for softball. That um was an equity thing we wanted to make sure to be able to provide. Um I love this one. We have a hope squad that is currently happening as a a club um at um the zoo academy and had a request to be able to add that hope squad as a um as a FTE and we added that for health academy as well. and you know just really with a lot of the different things that the students there are experiencing and some pretty big um

098pretty big life types of things sometimes that they experience. So really glad to be able to have that um type of um discussion and camaraderie and support be provided at the twomies um that are um on their own sites. Um, this one too, I think a lot of excitement around this one. Abs, we heard the girls tonight talk a little bit about unified and um, in the last several years, Unified really has um, crept more into the elementarymentaries as well. So, we are adding two unified sports um, extra duties at 2% each to each of the elementary schools. And then um as we've seen those big increases, we do have um the need for just some uh coordination types of positions and so adding a leadership position for to be a unified schools chair. Um

099so again you heard schools not specifically sports um but really to work toward those unified efforts at the high school at a 6% for the leader um at each of the high schools doing that and then 1% for a leader at the middle schools uh one one position at each middle school um for 4%. So um that was something we were also excited about. So all lots of really great things as a part of this contract. Um, [clears throat] again, just a ton of time that goes into it. Uh, I'm not sure everybody was thrilled that we posed for a picture at the end, but you know, it really is a lot of late nights and really just appreciate um people um being a part of it. I mentioned that Austin, he's kind of hiding

100in the back of that picture, but um Austin um as our PLA uh vice president and lead negotiator, Austin is the school psych at Levista West. Lindseay Wilson is in there. She is our PLEA president and um our at she serves at Liberty as a STS teacher. U Melissa Hansen, she's an instructional coach at G. Stanley Hall. Uh Shelley Kramer, a science teacher at Liberty. Sarah Cash Brown, she's right up front there. Um she's a preschool teacher at Ramsey Station. We've got Gail Cheryl on there. Gail is art teacher at Carriage Hill and Walnut Creek. And so you can see lots of representative representation um throughout many areas in the district. Um so they joined Miss Wit, Mr. Lotus, Miss Wood, and then um Dr. Meyers, Dr. Bell, and myself as this team. So um

101I want to thank the three of you for all of the additional time. uh thank the board for the thoughtful discussions that you put into uh when we had our closed sessions and you as you know we keep notes all year long of various areas that we think we'd like to take a look at. So um thanks for keeping us on our toes with that and keeping challenging us but um special thanks to that group from PLA who u took this on as well on top of their regular day-to-day jobs. So, uh, any questions? >> Where do I get the shoes that Dr. Bell has on? >> I know he's very special with his shoes. So, [laughter] >> yeah, I just echo what Katie said. I appreciate the PLA members and and [music] the efforts

102that they put forth for their teaching group. Um Katie's team always prepared us with information so that we could have positive discussions. One person not pictured there is Melissa Kusenberry who was taking the picture and Melissa spends a lot of time helping us uh with data and and different information. So um it's a lot of work for a lot of people and I just appreciate everybody's um efforts to make it positive. Yeah, I know. I' I'd like to echo that. The the PLA negotiations team, we we all came in um with the greatest intent to to work the best contract uh that that we could um understanding the the needs of of the teaching group as well as then them understanding and uh special thanks to Mr. Richards at one of the first meetings. Again,

103just laying out uh what what our budget's like. Uh what the the current environment in school uh state aid is uh and other things just to give them the the proper information to know that we uh are somewhat restricted uh on what we're able to do just based on the state formula and the current uh caps that are put on our budgets each year. So, uh we had very thoughtful discussion. That was a a great group um having good communication back and forth uh and allowing us additional time. I appreciate that, Austin. Uh and many times uh Miss Wood mentioned Melissa uh in running uh all the different data scenarios to see how it would fall within our our budget and total cost. Um special thanks to Melissa. Her and I are are Excel spreadsheet

104warriors. So, uh we we we love our spreadsheets and uh really appreciate how time brains. >> Yes, the accountant brains come out uh in in in allowing us to to to see those numbers and and then share that with PLA as well. So, great uh great group up there uh and was very grateful to be a part of the team and uh look forward to uh seeing if you guys have any further comments or questions regarding the uh two-year agreement. With that, we'll move on to our final item under section 4 discussion information items. That would be the Springfield Platview interlocal boundary agreement. I'll turn it over to Mr. Richards. >> Thank you, Mr. Lotus. Um, tonight we'll be discussing a continuation of a December 2015 boundary agreement with Springfield Platview Schools uh that is

105expiring um here. Um, this agreement allows the transfer of undeveloped land into the Pavilion L Vista Community Schools District from Springfield Platview. Um, the area includes land south of ShraMM Road to land north of Kapart Road and I'll put a map up here and you can kind of see that in the uh diagonal there on the bottom of the screen. All that diagonal area is what this boundary um agreement covers. Um we have done numerous transfers over the last 10 years with Springfield Platview within this agreement area. Um you know I think the purpose it's 60th to 128th Street as well. So you got Stram to Cape 60th to 128th uh any undeveloped land in that area. You can have developed land in it's in the agreement as well but it's more expensive because it

106brings in more taxes. Um that was never the intent of a boundary agreement really to try to get some of those existing um plots into the um district but it is possible if you want to pay for it. Okay. The purpose of this agreement at the time I think was for developers to develop a PLCS. We had a lot of pressure uh on that. they really um were at senator's ears um and hearings and things of that nature that they wanted to develop in PLCS. Uh Springfield Plaffy had a lot of land at the time. Um I think Sarpie County to help u remove the common levy was definitely a priority at that time that we all unite in Sarpie County and come together to we are losing millions of dollars in uh taxpayer money

107to the learning community common levy. Um so that was a big priority in this u I think everything kind of came together once we got this agreement agreed on by the Belvy board, Springfield board or the billion Vista board. Um, and I think the most important thing we thought of kids, you know, Springfield Platview had the biggest geographical area in the whole county by far. Um, I don't think they wanted to be Omaha public schools at that particular time. Uh, so, you know, trying to get four districts in Sarapi County balanced somewhat as best you can, I think, was an objective at that particular time as well. And I think we're headed in that direction. Um the only real difference in this agreement uh from our last one is a continuation of the 3% uh

108per acre cost of the transfer. Um that is paid by the developer directly to Springfield Platview before we bring the reorganization plan to this board. So um all that's been done and paid for by the time it comes to to us on these transfers. Um you can see that chart on page two of the agreement. Everything else pretty much remains the same as the original agreement we had. Boards of education um still need to approve any individual parcels of land that come up for transfer that the developer wants to have happen within this agreement. This is just kind of a umbrella to allow it to happen and then both boards have to agree on the individual partial each time it comes up. Um, from there, once the boards approve it, it goes to the state

109reorganization committee and we change boundaries once a year, June 1st at the county level. Um, so we may do three or four transfers throughout the year sometimes. Um, but it doesn't get changed until it actually uh hits the county roles on June 1st for tax purposes. So, with that, um, I would be happy to answer any questions on this continuation of the interlocal agreement. I just appreciate all the time uh and work spent uh working with the other schoolers, working with Springfield Plat View, getting this done. I know it's important for the district. Um hopefully important for their district as well and after I mean 10 years flies by, but uh locking us in for another 10 years. So, thanks for all the the time and effort spent in getting this nailed down, especially when

110so much has changed since 2015 for both districts, including the boards and who's in charge who's running the districts and making sure everyone is up to speed on understanding why this agreement is important for both districts. All right, any other comments, questions regarding the agreement? All right, seeing none, uh that will wrap up section four, discussion and information items. Section five, public comment for items not on the agenda this evening. We have none. I'll move on to section 6, future board calendar. January 13, 2026, a liaison lunch at Walnut Creek with Miss Wood at 11:45 a.m. January 15, 2026, liaison breakfast at Carriage Hill with Mr. Bailey at 7:40. Uh January 19th, 2026, no school for students. It is a staff development day. January 20th, 2026, liaison lunch at G. Stanley Hall with Miss Wit

111at 11:40 a.m. January 25th and 26th of 2026, the NASB legislative issues conference in Lincoln. I know many of you are already signed up to go. And then January 22nd, 2026, uh the next board of education meeting here at 6 PM at the central office. And before I adjourn for the night, as we were shuffling around and and moving with the uh election of new officers, I just wanted to take a minute to thank Miss Wit uh for her outstanding leadership as uh board president uh this last year. uh a lot goes into uh the president's seat that uh is handled a lot a lot of times behind the scenes and requires a lot of additional time and effort. And so I just wanted to make sure that we didn't adjourn this meeting without uh

112a grateful thanks uh to your leadership uh during the uh 2025 uh calendar year. >> Agreed. >> Round of applause. [applause] Well done. And with no further business before this board of education uh for the January 12th, 20126 board of education meeting, I'll adjourn the meeting at 7:37 p.m.