001Good evening everyone. As I look around the room and see these smiling faces, it is um September 8th. This is a budget hearing for the I can't find my budget sheet. Where'd it go? Thank you. We have the call to order. Please, if we could all stand and say the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the standy. >> Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Mr. Lotus >> here. >> Miss Wood >> here. >> Mr. Bailey >> here. >> Miss Butler >> here. >> Mr. Madler >> here. >> Miss Wit >> here. All present. >> Thank you. No excused absences. Please note that the open meetings act is posted at the front of the room. >> Mr. Richards, are you doing this? >> Thank you, Mr. V.
002>> Um, just to kind of cover the remaining budget timeline first of for 2526. Just kind of a reminder, I know you guys are all aware of this, but the people at home may not be. Our fiscal year uh September 1st through August 31st. So that's why we don't have a um approved budget at this time yet or have asked for a tax ask uh yet. Um so that's this process in the next over the next month. Um so 17 September 17th we have our tax request uh information published in Sarpie Times. September 18th is the Sarpie County tax hearing at Bellev University at 6:30m. Um September 22nd, our next board meeting. We'll have a tax hearing uh just like this one before the regular meeting. Um and then we'll ask you to approve the
003uh budget on that particular night. Um September 23rd, we'll submit our budget to the NDE county clerk and state auditor. Um October 13th, we'll have a tax request resolution uh based on all the tax hearings and the board's um decision on what we ask for tax- wise for 2526. And then we'll send that all in to the same uh folks at those agencies. Um what we'll be talking about tonight is the budgets for the uh funds that we have listed here. Uh we use eight different funds in our district. Uh we have the general fund which is our most prominent fund that we use for all fa most facets of services and operations within the district. Uh we have a depreciation fund. So anything we allocate from the general fund over to the depreciation fund
004uh can be used for larger capital outlays. Um we use it mainly for technology on our end. Um the bond fund is for the repayment and principle of and interest of bonds. Um, special building is for building improvements, uh, including bond projects. So, when we have our bond approved, like we did in 2023, all that money that we get from proceeds from that election goes into our special building fund, uh, to use activities. Um, this is accounts for student organization and athletics finances. Um, school nutrition, uh, breakfast and lunch services in the district. Uh, cooperative fund is our joint English language program with Rston. um student fees, uh all student fees collected and spent um within the district during any given year. So, we covered a little bit this at the last meeting, but uh
005nothing's really changed as far as our proposed budget uh increase of 2.6%. Um budget authority will go from 1655,716 to 169,816,374. Um, we did up our technology sustainability efforts from the general fund into the depreciation fund up to 1.25 million uh within the budget. Revenues and expenditures expected to be right around 154 million or so uh coming off of 2425 uh within that 169.8 million budget. Uh preliminary valuation increase of 7.6% 6% uh due to commercial properties, new residential development, and continue rising home values in our communities. Just some general fund and revenue considerations for 2526. Uh we did incur a loss of $550,000 in title monies. Um other federal dollars are in question. Uh we receive about $4 million on average a year. Um, I think at the end of the 24-25 year, we
006got a little nervous because some of those were held back. Um, and some of the other federal money around the country that was held back wasn't actually given. Uh, this was given back to the school districts around the country. So, we're appreciative of that. Hopefully, uh, we won't have any other similar issues, but, uh, we don't know that for sure. Um, with that $4 million on average a year revenue-wise, an estimated increase of 4% of a total package of labor increases that includes that infers decrease uh which it would take it down to that about that 4%. Um, we have a 5.4% increase in health insurance. Um, our labor packages and personnel tend to be about 85% of the district's entire spending for the year. Uh we do have a new SRO sergeant position in
007the district this year for 2526. Um tier three alternative school costs are increasing. I can think I talked about that at the last meeting. Uh the juvenile justice center is is an example of used to be free for alternative schools for the districts in Sarby County and they're running short on money. So we do have to pay a student per seat um fee uh now for that program. That's just one example as they start coming back a little bit after COVID is options. Increases in curriculum materials and technology costs are prominent. Um we're adding two bus routes this school year with 114th Street widening. I think this will be a one-year deal. Um but we'll wait and see next year we reset with that. Hopefully it gets down to one bus uh for 2627 new
008elementary school costs. So the new elementary school does open in this particular fiscal year 2526 uh in August of next year. So we'll have July and August cost for that school. Um new YATP building operation costs this year as we open that new school over by Liberty Middle um for our young adult uh transition program kids 18 through 21. Uh and then transportation custodial maintenance costs. We uh we feel like we're going to have some increases in those areas this year as well. Uh moving forward, general fund budget um has not changed since the last meeting that we talked about. That 2.6% increase anywhere from um no increases in a line item up to 5.5% of that pupil transportation. If you remember, we passed that new transportation contract and this will be year one of
009that 5% increase. Um um when hopefully gas prices will stay down for us here as well for our transportation cost to stay around that five five and a half percent once we have those uh bus routes over to Prairie Queen. Um just kind of going through each fund the bond fund to set the budgets. Uh we recommend u a budget of 18.5 million. Um and that should say 2526. I apologize for that. Um, this is used for bond and principal payments, not for building projects. Um, so we're tabbing that out at about 18.5 million for this year. Um, depreciation fund, budget of available resources. Uh, we're down a little bit from 2425. I think last year our depreciation budget was about 2.8 million. Um, so that's our available resources for this upcoming year once we
010uh transfer that money over. Um, this fund is again for ongoing technology replacement. this time. You can use it for other things such as band uniforms, curtains in the auditorium, those types of things. But uh we p we specifically use this fund for technology special building fund. Uh this is our a big fund for us. Um we're recommending a budget of 68,875,000. Uh includes building projects from bond proceeds. So we're really moving. I think, you know, we had to reset the budget from 2425 to add on because our projects are going really well uh timewise and we're spending a little more uh because of that within those bond projects quicker. Um so we want to have that that amount available for our projects for this upcoming year. Um this is the budget that allows for
011those 23 bond projects that were approved by the voters in May of 23. Other funds that we look at um activities, it's for games, officials, uniforms, equipment and such for uh usually middle school and high schools have their activity funds. Um so in-n-out um accounts about 3.8 million there. Uh school nutrition um we're about 9 million um should cover all our dispersements necessary in the breakfast and lunch programs. Um we do buy some equipment out of this fund uh for our new kitchens that we're putting in for our um bond projects. So we're allowed to use it for those um cooperative fund. Uh we we budget here for 190,202. Um usually I mean our expenditures as you'll see on our annual financial report uh once the auditors get done with us here later in October
012um that that will be we usually spend about 82 to 85,000 there for our share of the cost. But we do leave a little bit more budget there in case we get um an influx of kids in the English language learner program where we have to add staff. Um student fees uh 1.5 million. Then that is just a collection of the different fees that were approved over the summer and then the expenditures for those fees at 1.5 million. Tax implications. Uh we're getting pretty tight on a recommendation here uh with the board. Of course, you guys have the authority after the hearings and such uh to change any of these, but uh right now, you know, just looking at the state aid, um first time in a long time that we've had a state aid
013increase and a 2.75% increase. That's great news. Uh we've talked about that. That takes us out of the equalization formula. Um, and we won't lose state aid anymore as long as we're not dropping enrollment or we get any legislative cuts or any of that stuff. But, uh, we lost 7.6 million in 2425 in state aid, which puts a lot of pro uh, a lot of pressure on our property tax owners when that happens. And that's the downfall of the state formula. Um, but I think we're through the worst of that. And I think we can you'll see that when it comes to the tax levies here as well. Um we request property taxes for three funds. Uh general fund, bond fund, and special building fund. Um the amount will be finalized when the district moves
014through the tax hearing process, but the administration is recommending a 4.2% overall tax revenue increase from 2425. looking at that um the property tax request amounts there. Um general fund we tend to be a little bit higher there uh with an added with for the reasons that I went through earlier in the presentation. Um bond fund actually goes down a little bit this year on the property tax request and what's needed. Um the special building fund um the levy will actually drop just a tad as well. So, we're looking at last year's levy being a$1124 uh dropping down about 2.7 cents uh this upcoming year. So, I think that's good news. And if you look at the tax levy history, um we've really made some progress. I think um with Governor Pilling coming in and
015trying to figure out a way to drop that down in 22 to 23 to 23 24 that was that influx of special education dollars that they gave districts to try to offset property taxes. and that's done a pretty good job. I think um in the future you'll continue to see uh 2 and a half to 4 cent levy drops if we continue to get valuation increases like we're getting around that 7%. Um if it goes higher than that, hopefully we can do higher than that at this time with that no equalization to where we're going to lose state aid. So that's that's the good news of the tax levy history and what we're looking for in the future. Questions, comments? Thank you. So, the purpose of this hearing is to support um opposition, criticism, suggestions,
016or observations by taxpayers. We have no public comment tonight. Therefore, we will close the budget hearing at 6:13 p.m. and we will move right into our regular agenda. Having already done our call to order, we will move to the student council presentation. And tonight we have our first hearing with Abigail Bender, who's the president of Pavilion La Vista High School, South High School, and Maddie Larson, who's the vice president. Welcome, ladies. >> Welcome ladies. Thanks for being here. Can you hear us? Okay. So, this is our first meeting that we're here for Pavilion Liv to South and we just wanted to share that our school is off to maybe the best start ever. Um, we're having a really good year so far. We know it's only September, but everybody's really positive. We're off to a
017really good start for all of our activities. Um, we're very proud of our students and staff, and our theme this year for the school is tight and tough. So we're focusing on displaying teamwork, a positive attitude, grit, and humility. And we have been off to a very busy start even though it has been very positive. So starting off with our academics um this year because of the new cell phone policy fell to bell no cell um teachers, excuse me, teachers emphasize student engagement, maximizing instructional time, and seek opportunities to increase rigor in each lesson with phones put away the whole class period. And then that has been very positive. I think we're getting a lot of learning done. Um, our academic letter recipients happened a couple weeks ago. Um, we had a lot of winners.
018Class of 2026, our seniors who were juniors last year got 104 um, recipients. Class of 20 2027, the current juniors got 103 winners. And then class of 2028, our current sophomores got 152 people who got the academic letter, which is very impressive, I think. Um, and then also we're encouraging some of our sophomores and juniors currently to write register for the PSAT that's happening in October. And this just sets people up for college success, get a good intro into before they take the ACT or if they decide to take the SAT as well. Um, it's going to be in October. uh connects students to scholarship opportunities as well as giving them the test experience. Our NHS applications are also open for qualified juniors right now and they're busy getting their signatures for volunteer hours and
019teacher recommendations right now. So they'll get um notified late October. >> And then we'll move on to athletics. So volleyball, we are currently ranked the number one team in class A and we're having a fantastic start. We just finished up the Bell West invite. Um we got second to Elour North and we beat Monarchs. So we're undefeated in regular season play. We've only had tournament losses and we're getting ready to leave for Las Vegas um in a few weeks. So we'll get to match up with other teams at the national level which will be really cool. And then football has been working very hard. They did beat the Monarchs a few weeks ago. And then last week we had a really close game against Omaha North that came down to just the last few minutes.
020And then next week we'll take on Millard North. So the coaches have done a great job getting our boys ready to go and to take the field. And then softball is off to an eight and five start. They just finished hosting the National Fast Pitch Coaches Association Katie Williams Invitational Tournament that housed over 30 teams from across the Midwest down at the landing. And they went two and two. So that is like I believe the biggest tournament in the state. There were 21 teams from Nebraska, four from Missouri, three from Colorado, and two from Oklahoma. So there was all over competition. Um boys tennis, there's a great group of experienced boys um leading the team. They finished hosting an eight team individual and doubles invite at um both schools tennis courts. And then girls golf
021is in full swing. Um they returned two state qualifiers and have been hitting the fairways and sinking putts. Uh we just finished playing in the Lincoln Pas invite scoring one of our best scorers as a team and our go golfers have been working hard and are ready to have a great season. I also think the two state qualifiers were the academic letter recipients last year. So that's pretty cool. And then girls cross country, the girls are ranked number seven. We also have the number one individual ranked runner, Emily Emily Hegy, who's a freshman, and the number two, who is junior Ashley Carter. Um, and we also hosted the Titan Classic meet last weekend. And then boys cross country are also ranked seventh. Um, Aiden Gearing is the number three ranked runner and he's just a
022sophomore. Um, and like I said, they also competed in the Titan Classic, and the boys and girls both got third place. Um, and then Unified Flag Football is also kicking off. Um, they've been having a few practices under the belt and are preparing to light up the competition. Um, and their first game is September 24th against Plat View. And >> yes, now moving on to fine arts. Our band, um, they're getting started on their show. It's pretty innovative this year. The theme is neon cowboy. I'm really excited. I really want to see it. Um, their first competition is Saturday, September 20th, and I think they have Beyonce songs. They do. I'm really excited. I like Beyonce. Um, Nextar Theater Department is preparing their show, The Man That Came to Dinner, which is going to hit
023the stage on October 2nd, 3rd, and 4th at 700 p.m. each day. Show Choir Next has completed all of their retreats. Um, so they're ready to go, ready to get started. Um, their shows are set. They have all their themes and they're going to get their choreography soon, I'm pretty sure. And this year we have a fourth group. We have the three groups, Titanium, Radiance, and Titan Express. But this year we have a fourth group um, called Titan Revolution. It's another freshman group, >> freshman girls, all girls freshman group. and it's going to be another great season for them. They always outperform us all. And then with that, we'll move on to clubs. So, our clubs are just getting started. We actually had a few clubs start off in August and early September already. So,
024HOSA, Skills USA, and Hope Squad um are already getting started and Skills USA hosted a Mopar car show this last weekend at Papio South and it was the biggest car show in the state. >> Pretty impressive. Yeah, people were talking about it at school today. It was big. And then our student council update, we have a couple events that we've already done and then a couple that we're getting ready for. So, Street Fest, which is our big school kickoff centered around the freshman, um was a very big hit this year. We had a lot of people come and we made quite a bit of money for our club um because of how many people came and it was very fun. There's always a bounce house, food trucks, snow cones, all of it. Um, next we
025are prepping for our homecoming, which is next Saturday, September 20th. Um, and then our football game for the homecoming game is going to be against Omaha Westview on Friday the 19th. And that's where we'll have our coronation for the kings and queens um, and princes and princesses. And yeah, we have been very, very hard at work. We came in last week on our teacher inservice day. I think it was September 2nd. Um Tuesday. We didn't have school, but we all came in and we made all of our decorations. We got super ready for homecoming. So now we're a week and a half ahead on homecoming. So we don't have to be stressed out. Not that we would be. We love putting it on. But yeah, we are very very excited to start it off. Next
026week we have spirit week planned. Um, and then our kings and queens court names list, how do you say that? Is going to be announced this Thursday. So, we'll figure out which seniors are on homecoming court and they'll take a little picture. It's going to be super fun. And then they'll get ready to be on the football walk at the football game and we'll see their baby pictures. Um, yeah. Our theme this year for homecoming is under the sea. It's going to be super nice. And Mr. Hager actually promised to dress up as Sebastian the crab. So, he's gonna put on a dance for us. And Mr. Garing is going to be King Triton. We don't know who Mr. Spoker is going to be yet, but we know it's going to be good. And then,
027yeah, we have our parade, spirit week, coronation, and many more coming up just this next week. It's going to be super fun. And that's all we have for you today. So, thank you guys for listening and having us here tonight. But if you have any questions, feel free to ask right now. >> Outstanding. >> Yeah, that's pretty amazing. You guys hit the floor running. Really did. >> Thank you. >> We look forward to hearing your next report. >> I don't know how you're going to top this one, but >> we'll slide away. >> Thank you. >> Report. Thank you. >> Moving on to reports. Superintendent. >> Uh thank you very much, Miss Whit, members of the board. Uh the ladies did an outstanding job. They covered some of the same ground I will. So I'll
028try not to be too redundant. Uh we did get our first official holiday of the 2025-26 school year under our belt with the Labor Day holiday. Of course, all of our buildings were closed on Monday in observance of the holiday. Staff reported on Tuesday for professional development, but kids had the day off. So it's always good to have that first uh holiday completed. Uh as the young ladies mentioned, we've had multiple Monarch Titan contests already. football, volleyball, both done. Uh we do have uh golf also uh Monarch Titan golf was last Thursday. And then we have softball tomorrow evening 6:45 at the L Vista softball complex. So uh if you see me sneak out of NASB late, I may try to get a little bit of softball in uh at some point tomorrow evening. Uh
029also wanted to provide a shout out to Dr. Settles and Dr. Myers and their team for the very first community closet event of the school year. Uh, and I know many board members around the table have participated and volunteered for that in the past. Um, just an incredible uh, outpouring of support, not only from our staff who are there um, manning the event. It's it's basically completely run by volunteers, but um, also the people that that donated items to make it all possible. Uh we had 126 families. 8,600 individual items were uh given out Saturday morning. Um I got there right at 10. Dr. Settles was meeting people at the doorway. Uh it felt bigger than the typical event. We we average around 150 at a typical event. Um so I'm not sure why our
030numbers didn't reflect that, but we had an outstanding turnout and they're always just a really feel-good experience for the community. We have three more coming. We'll send out a reminder to the board as we get closer, but October 18, December 13, and April 25 are the three popup events. Also wanted to remind the board and community of the joint tax hearing coming up. That is independent of the school board tax hearing uh that Mr. Richards talked about. Um that will be held a week from Thursday, September 18. That is 6:30 at Belleview University. So that includes all of your local uh school districts as well as your municipalities. Um, so so it typically takes about two hours. So we'll be there 6:30 and uh it promises to be an interesting evening. Also wanted to remind
031the board that I remain on Commissioner Maher's advisory board. We're having our first NDE commissioners advisory meeting of the year. He likes to start the meetings out west and work his way back to the east. So, uh, I will be traveling to Hershey, Nebraska next Sunday evening, uh, for the commissioner's advisory, which is Monday morning, and then I'll be back, uh, late in the afternoon, uh, Monday. And I'm told that Hershey's beautiful this time of year. So, I'll take lots of pictures for the board and let you revel in the, uh, excitement. Uh, I believe it's near Dr. Siri's old stomping grounds. I think it's what, about 12 miles from North Plat, Dr. Siri, give or take. >> Yeah. Not to be confused with Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of Yeah, we all Okay. And then finally,
032as the ladies indicated, it is homecoming season. We have Monarchs hosting homecoming this Friday. We have Titans hosting homecoming a week from Friday. Both events, of course, are at Foundation Field. Super exciting events for our kids and our community. And with that, Miss Whit, I will conclude my superintendent report for the evening. >> Thank you. Hershey has the coolest roundabout on your way into town. >> For real? >> Yeah, it's the best. >> Hershey, Nebraska, >> if you're gonna do a roundabout, do it like Hershey's. >> All right, I I will take >> Okay. Any communications from board members today. >> I guess I can share uh after their their report. So, I did attend the Pavilion Vista South academic letter uh ceremony. Uh get to be a proud parent on that one. Uh my
033daughter was one of the 158 freshmen that are now sophomores that received their their letters. Uh it's a great presentation. It was a it all started with a a senior class project. Um I can't remember how many years ago. Uh Mr. Spilker. Uh they were just trying to the seniors wanted to leave a legacy and so they were challenged with a project and they came up with um honoring those that succeed in academics uh with a letter similar to uh the folks that get it for athletics. So um those that have a 4.0 or better uh receive uh that academic letter for the prior year. And so if you don't get it your freshman year, you're still eligible to then get it. It's school year by school year. So, it's a great uh great event.
034They did it by class, a packed gym. So, it was uh very uh well attended by uh by parents and grandparents and guardians. So, um well done to that that senior group that decided that was a a great way to leave their legacy on Pavilion Vista South. So, that was great. And then I I did attend the uh Titan Classic they as they mentioned this last weekend uh in collaboration with the car show that was on the north parking lot. The south parking lot was uh busy as well with the Titan Classics. So uh yeah, it was a great morning for for cross country uh out there and uh had some good teams in from around the metro. A lot of Lincoln teams were there and yeah off to cross country is off to a
035good start. >> No one else I did attend the football game on Thursday. >> Good game. >> It was a good game. >> Monarchs won three to no nine to three against the Navigators from Lincoln >> and they were ranked. >> Oh, really? Well, >> they were. >> There you go. >> All right. Okay, moving on to committee reports. Building grounds and finance. >> We met on Friday. The major majority of our time spent on the budget that we've went over tonight and and continue to discuss. Uh a couple other items that we discussed in the committee meeting were potential uh land for our next uh middle school and we had it approved in the last bond uh to go out and purchase land for a potential fourth middle school. So just looking at some
036potential options there. And then um uh also on that agenda was negotiations on a potential cell uh tower with Verizon on district land that Mr. Richards is um talking through. So obviously once if any of those get to the point uh um where we are signing off then they'll come up in front of the meeting but for now just talking through them in the committee meeting. Have you let your wife know that cell tower maybe located in your backyard with that? >> She wouldn't care. Yeah, she Yeah. Yeah. As long as the district can uh get some money from it. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. >> Thank you. Human resources, student services. >> We have not met since our last meeting, but we have a meeting scheduled for next Monday. >> And curriculum and Americanism. and
037we have not met since our last meeting. >> Thank you. Those towers can be a good source of funding. Just make sure that's in the contract. That's all I can tell you. Okay, moving. We have no public comment for our action items. Our only action item tonight is action by consent. Do we have a motion? >> Yeah. I'll make a motion to approve the action by consent as stated. >> Second. >> Thank you. I have a motion by Mr. Bailey and a second by Mr. Madler. Any comments or discussion? Roll call, please. >> Miss Wood, >> yes. >> Mr. Bailey, >> yes. >> Miss Butler? >> Yes. >> Mr. Madler? >> Yes. >> Miss Wit? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lotus? >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Thank you. Moving on to discussion items. First one
038is voluntary separation update from Dr. Settles. >> Yes. Thank you so much. Um just kind of wanted to provide for you uh no action actually needed on this because we are not recommending any changes but the HR um student services subcommittee has visited about the voluntary separation otherwise known as early retirement incentive. So just to kind of give you a little bit of background on that to be eligible for it you can see the criteria in front of you but you have to have been at least 15 years. This has to be at least year 15 for you in the district. Um, you are only eligible between the ages of 55 and 65. So after the age of 65, you become ineligible for it. And that eligibility age is by August 31st of 2026. Um,
039you cannot be an administrator and you have to meet the application deadline of December 1st. So, typically um the what the um procedure says is that I will reach out to staff and let them know um here's the application and the process for that and I do that 45 days before December 1st. So, in general, um I usually have that out by early October to staff and then they're welcome to meet with me and go through, you know, what is the what are the various things that go into retiring. Um, we talk a little bit about the EMPERS piece of that as well because meaning um that you qualify for this does not necessarily mean that you qualify for EMPERS. So, we want to make sure that people understand both pieces of it and that
040they're um actually interested in it. And many times people will meet with me a year or two before they actually qualify just to kind of get prepared for it. Um, then we spend time kind of going through the eligibility for this program. Uh we talk about other pieces of retirement like what health insurance costs are estimated to be uh for the following year and um how many days can you sub in retirement and things like that. So we go through all of those pieces. Um as far as what the um subcommittee is recommending, we're just recommending that it stay that same of having 15 um eligible I'm sorry 15 spots that we would accept in a year. uh that is something that makes it doable for budgeting. So just to give you an idea, we
041currently have um at last count around 69 people that will be eligible. So it's that's a large number, right? We um certainly can't have 69 people all retire at the same time and replace that sort of incredible experience um because it's it'll be, you know, several hundred years of experience that they'll bring. Um, so we do set that limit at 15. If we receive more than 15, in general, what we'll determine to do is meet as a subcommittee and make a recommendation whether we bring that any more spots forward to you all to accept or not. So originally it would just be the 15. You can see that in the last several years um we have not reached that 15 max. So we haven't reached the maximum of 15 in fact since 2019 which was
042a time in fact that the board did decide to accept the one additional um application that we had. So anywhere between 8 and 12 applications over the last five years. So we're sitting in a really good spot with that. We feel very comfortable with the 15. And of our 15 retirees last year um we of course were able to fill all of those positions. That's one of the great things about that December 1 deadline. Not only does it allow people really to plan accordingly for themselves, but it also is it it's an incentive to the district to know about those early on as well. Um so those that do qualify then the $35,000 that they um are receiving as that early incentive is then um received around September of 2026. So around the first time
043that they would have normally gotten that first um paycheck of the new school year. That does go directly into a 403b as you know as a part of the voluntary separation um uh packet that we have in the policy. So um if you have any questions, I'll certainly entertain those. Like I mentioned, it's just an information piece to let you know that um we're not recommending any changes. Thank you Dr. Settles for uh putting it together and presenting with the number of eligible you know keep going up each year and uh people not taking us up on it. Are we is are we going to get to a point where we're going to just see larger increases in number of not early retirements but retirements as these build or has the regular retirements been pretty
044steady? >> Yeah, it's been pretty steady. not too many um as far as this piece goes. Everybody who has wanted to retire in those years has been able to get to that piece. Um the other ones that we'll see for retirements will be people who this might be they maybe retired from say like an ops and then came here for another number of years but not 15 years and didn't plan you know for 15 years. So those would be our other retirements that we see. Um on average uh last year's group and this has been been pretty similar the last few years um retired at the age of 59.9 or age 60 and that's exactly what we've seen over the last couple of years. I will tell you a couple of the factors that they
045often refer to. Number one, I'm still really enjoying what I'm doing and I feel like I still have a few more years um up and then the other very commonly mentioned thing is I need the health insurance. So um obviously health insurance is very expensive. That's a outstanding benefit that um you all um have as a part of the package which has been really incredible for staff but just the fact that 93% of um a full family is paid for is pretty pretty amazing. So um I think that's one of the pieces obviously that's a large cost for people. Uh, a lot of times when people do decide to sub in retirement, they'll kind of figure out, okay, this is what my health insurance cost is going to be, they're allowed to sub up to
046eight days per month, and that's per Nebraska state law. So, a lot of them will say, I'm going to do um this number of days, which would cover my health insurance premium. >> Thanks. >> Let's say we go back to having more than 15. Can you remind me how what the you know who has to be the 16th person? Is it first come first served or >> Yeah, for that reason it is a good idea for them to turn it in as they know about it. Um the criteria in the um packet that is a part of board procedure does not state an exact order. It states uh nine different criteria that can be considered. So, if we got to that point, we would look at um first of all, my recommendation to you all
047would be who are the people that won't be eligible after this year and let's make sure that we get them in. Um in general, typically after that, we'll look at who's been in the district the longest and we always look at um uh what is the amount that those are making. It is of course an incentive which is supposed to be a savings for the district as well as an incentive to those people. It should have a mutual benefit there. Um although it's hard for me to admit that losing 200 some years of experience that's very difficult to be considered a incentive for us. We're also very lucky I think that we keep them as long as we do. Um obviously um keeping um that experience around has been very very beneficial to us. Uh
048so we look at all of those pieces and then we would make a recommendation. Usually in the past those ones that have been the very very um last one to qualify are like maybe they've been here 15 years and they just now hit you know the age that they could retire at. So those are pretty easy for us to say that that would be one that would need to wait. So, usually there ends up being a pretty good cut spot if if it would be needed. So, >> thank you. We will hear about this again in the coming months, I'm sure. And our next agenda item is the superintendent's 202526 performance goals. Dr. Rickley. >> Thank you very much, Miss Whit, members of the board. Um, so just as a clarification, we had originally put
049this item on the board retreat agenda and it's still on there. Uh, if the board is okay with that, um, thought that we could maybe free up a little bit of time on the retreat by moving it to the regular board agenda. So, it's on tonight's agenda and I'll walk you through it, but with the board's permission, I'll also leave it on the board retreat agenda. So, if there's any followup, any questions, if there's anything you forgot that you wanted to ask, certainly not taking action on it either tonight or at the board retreat, but just wanted to make sure that the board had multiple opportunities to weigh in. Um, just so that the community is is aware, and I say this every uh single year when we get to this uh point in the
050school year, uh what state law requires in regard to my evaluation is in the very first year of a superintendent's employment, she or he must be evaluated at least twice. and then every year thereafter uh once per year. This is year 13 in the district for me. So again, if we're simply following the letter of the law, only once per year is required. But as a matter of practice, this board has evaluated me much more than that. Um typically the way that the timeline works is we adopt my goals on or about the beginning of the school year. This is a little later than typically occurs uh because we try to tie it to the board retreat. And more often than not, we do the board retreat in late July, early August. Once the the
051superintendent goals are adopted, I give a mid-year update typically around December, and then I give an end of the school year update uh typically late May, early June. In addition to that, um ongoing conversations with the board through subcommittee, ongoing conversations with the board, and one-on-one meetings that we schedule throughout the year. So, um, it really does tend to be more of an ongoing conversation rather than let's just meet once a year and tell Andy how he's doing, which which I truly appreciate. So, in terms of the goals themselves, uh, for those that that don't have this document in front of them at home, um, we pull from a variety of data sources when we sit down and start to look at the indicators. We look at specifically the district strategic planning process, which we're
052kind of in flux there since we're transitioning out of the old and into the new. We look at the evaluation document, uh, the formal evaluation that the board gives me at the end of, um, the evaluation period, the superintendent survey, and that's one that I don't talk a lot about in the boardroom, but the board is well aware of it. Every single May, um, an anonymous survey is sent out to the entire administrative team. So that's every assistant superintendent, every director, every principal, every assistant principal, and they have an opportunity to evaluate me on 10 questions that don't change from year to year, so that we can see what's going up and what's going down. And then we also try to look at the staff survey, which again is a little bit in flux since
053we're making some pretty significant changes to the staff and parent survey for the upcoming year. But that's kind of where we draw uh the data from. I think if you went back the last 12 years and looked at my goals, I think you would find that they don't really deviate that much. You tend to have a goal around communication, you tend to have a goal around teaching and learning, which is of course primary to our organization. There's usually a business and operation, a facility goal. There's usually an HR, student services, and then more often than not, there's at least some mention of uh prioritization of student safety since that's obviously essential to what we do. where you tend to see differences from year to year to year then aren't necessarily the goals, it's the indicators
054underneath the goals. So again, won't go through this line by line uh but superintendent goal one and these are all proposed. Uh bless you, Miss Wit. These are all proposed. These are uh ideas subject to board approval. Uh number one is a new district strategic planning process. As I indicated earlier, Dr. Siri and her team are transitioning out of a a previous five-year planning effort. We've done significant work over the summer. In fact, we did a board report at our last board meeting, but that will be a really big deal for the district moving forward through the next five years. Goal number two, communication and engagement strategies. Uh this one is largely includes some of the some of the wonderful things that uh Dr. Val and his team includes everything for how we communicate bond
055projects, how we prioritize staff recognition, different things that we do to engage our parents and everything in between. Uh goal number three deals with teaching and learning. One might argue that might be number one. These aren't in any particular order, but um if I had to prioritize uh teaching and learning is at the heart of everything we do. Uh CIAT curriculum instruction assessment and technology is the order of the business for uh goal number three. Uh included within that is everything from monitoring our building's academic performance through statewide measures as well as local measures. tool toolbox implementation which if you're not familiar with that verbiage that's that process that homegrown process by which we review tweak modify and implement new curriculum changes uh behavior would certainly student behavior would uh fall into this goal and
056anything and everything related to student achievement goal four is largely a doctor settles uh domain deals largely with staff recruitment retention one piece of that we just got done discussing uh with a voluntary separation program, but we know that many of our priorities, many of our um strategies the last several years have been about not only attracting but retaining really good people. We are a teaching and learning organization, but without outstanding people, we just can't carry out our function. And then finally, five uh falls largely in uh Brett's Mr. Richard's domain uh bringing as many of our projects as we can with the bond uh into fruition. uh included in that of course is a number of safety projects. So the as I said before the the goals largely are the same. Most of the
057indicators are new though there are a few carryovers from previous years particularly when it comes to bond projects and some safety initiatives. We're not quite done but it is not meant to be an exhaustive list. It's really meant to be uh beginning of the conversation between me and the board. And very rarely do I get it right on the first try. Usually the board will be like Andy I know we need to be focusing on this. Why why wouldn't we put this in there? So again, those are the five goals as they stand right now and I would gladly see if the board has any questions, clarifications, additions, and then if needed, we'll continue the conversation into the board retreat. So I'll stop there and see if the board has any questions or suggestions. Miss
058Whip, >> thank you Dr. Rickley for putting together and uh sharing. Uh yeah, looking forward to uh talking through it as well. and the retreat. Uh I always um appreciate not just the the high level goals but all then the individual action items that go along with it. I think it's easy to have the high level but then when you you know get to the details so you actually have the game plan of what needs to be done uh to help you focus on the air for you and the team. So I appreciate all the details. uh the ones that I've as I've gone through it uh a couple comments from me um you know we talked through in uh three implement enhance curriculum the begin districtwide uh HAL program review I think that's something
059that maybe just me personally haven't spent a lot of time on uh the HAL program uh so when you get to the point uh where you feel like there's enough chair could be a good opportunity for front of the whole board to do even if there's nothing to vote on for us to to change uh just a good overview for the board at some point because I just haven't been as involved with that one. Uh so potential there. Uh and then probably the on the expand district uh staff recruitment and retention. I know we've done a lot of work on the compensation models for student teachers and the staff retention and and anything around uh you know what we've seen. We've put these different programs in place. We've changed different amounts. Is there what data
060do we have behind it to say is it working or not? Um could be helpful at some point to either discuss in the uh if we have it for the retreat or again a future board meeting um once you do uh go through uh that action step. And then lastly uh on your um you know develop the communication you are a very busy person and you know that uh and we know that your continued superintendent participation in local and statewide boards. You are on I don't think the community doesn't know how much you do outside of of not just helping the school district but what you do up for the community as a whole and all the boards uh that you are on again to help this whole community. uh could be a good opportunity
061to re-evaluate if you are getting too much on your plate and it could go into another line item on, you know, potential succession planning and, you know, if there's other opportunities for other people in the district to to step in there as well to both take stuff off your plate and to give some people an opportunity to kind of step up where maybe they haven't in the past. could be worth further exploring, but happy to chat through more on those as well. >> Any other comments? Thank you, Mr. Madler. Those are great um comments. The uh >> nobody wants to follow. >> I know. I know. Um what was I gonna say? What was the one? >> These were the three. how effectiveness of recruitment retention and board opportunities. >> Okay. I always think that
062a superintendent is the outward-looking person in the district. Someone who has to look out at the the world around us and see what do we need to do as a district to change, modify, stay the same, whatever it may be. So, I think you do a good job of that. But I think you're right. It may be time to look at is he stretching himself a little too thin for that? Um, so thank you for that. And then the rest of it happens inside and that happens with the internal staff who you help to supervise them to to make that happen. So it will be great discussion at the retreat. >> Thank you. >> And our last uh discussion item tonight is adoption of state science standards. I think that's Dr. Siri. >> All right.
063Good evening. Um so tonight we are going to talk through uh the adoption of the science standards that have been developed um by the Nebraska Department of Education and these are their college and career ready standards and uh if you are not aware the state of Nebraska does have standards updates and adoptions on a cycle and so that follows um our curriculum toolbox process. we actually follow right behind it so that as the state is updating updating standards and making recommendations then as a toolbox we get to work as soon as the state board of education for Nebraska approves them. So tonight we are talking specifically about science and um as I stated before these are the college and career ready science standards. Um they were worked on and adopted in the 2024 2025 school
064year. There are minor changes. This is really just tweaks. They did not make many changes um to the previous existing science standards. Um it was really a couple of alignment pieces and um just really really minor tweaks. So that's good news for the curriculum work that we have ahead of us because that means that our curriculum is pretty closely to already being aligned and will just require a couple of tweaks and then whatever our teachers see as needs of where we can improve so we serve students better. Um the graphic that you see there on the right that is the graphic that they used to capture the categories how they organized the standards and that um is found on the cover the first page of the document and I'll go into a little bit of
065more detail here in just a minute. So just as a reminder in uh rule 10 which is uh the state law it does outline that all school districts public education in Nebraska must adopt um quality standards that are either provided by the department of education of Nebraska or more rigorous and they have to be approved. Um appendix C is specific to the science standards and so that is what we are doing. Um you may or may not recall, but a little over a year ago we adopted math. Um so it's constant and ongoing, but science is up. After the state board approves them, a school district has one year to officially adopt them at a board meeting. Um and so that is really what I'm proposing tonight um for your next board meeting is uh
066that recommendation for approval. So, if our listeners are interested in where they can see or get a copy of the science standards that NDE provides that we are recommending for adoption, you can simply go to education.n.gov/science. And actually, all of the standards are found on this page. Um, but the science ones are at the top because they were the last approved. And when you get there, you'll see this icon down at the bottom, and you just simply click there, and that takes you right to a PDF of the standards. Like I said, there were not many changes um in the recommendations for the science standards from the state of Nebraska. Uh you can see here, the are the three categories that they have organized them into. And really um if you think about it the
067first one is really the stem the whole process of science um that um research obtaining information planning forming a hypothesis. The middle one is the disciplinary core ideas or the content. And then the far right one are really those scientific um skills or processes that they're trying to get kids to identify um that repeat in all of the branches of science and some form or another. So then within each of the grade levels, they have um strands that are tied directly to each one of these. As far as where we are as a district, um, as Dr. Rickley mentioned, this aligns with our curriculum toolbox cycle. So, um, to the left there, you kind of see a really rough outline of the stages, um, for when we do adopt and write and create our curriculum
068for our students. Um, ELA is currently in stage four. It's in full implementation and they are in the last stage where we'll tweak, make changes, look at the performance data to make sure our students are being challenged before it officially rolls out of the toolbox process and then it's not touched for three years. Math is in stage one and two, which is that alignment piece and the writing of assessments. Um, and depending upon the grade level, the team is working really hard right now with the teachers to get that through. PE and health is starting stage one. And then we have um a lot of other classes that are more on the elective side like our world language classes. Some of our business courses are also in cycle right now. Um it's always a continuation
069in order for us to get all of the classes through. Our cycle is seven years and the reason it is seven years is because that does align with the Nebraska department standards revision cycle. So tonight um after we have this conversation at the next board meeting, if uh we will make the recommendation that you adopt them, then we will begin planning and researching um science and best practice. So it'll be in that pre-staging. So it will roll in right behind math. And that is the end of my presentation, but if you have questions or need clarification, >> I saw Sid the science kid up there. Observe, get your data, but you know that it was just what my grandson did when he was prek. So, >> yep. Great. And the teachers love the toolbox process.
070Just saying. They can't get enough of it. That's a great thing to include the staff in. Thank you for that. >> Yes. Thank you. It is. >> I do. I really do believe it's one of many things that makes PLCS special. To have those practitioners sitting at the table telling us what works and what doesn't work. >> Oh, the success has been phenomenal. >> Well, thank you. And uh we have no public comment tonight for items that are not on the agenda. So, we'll go to future board cand myself and do at Portal Elementary School. On September 9th, the NASB membership meeting tomorrow night at 4:30. September 11th, the board of education retreat at four o'clock here at the central office. On September 16th, Mr. Bailey will be at Pilion Le Vista South High School
071for a liaison lunch. On September 18th, Mr. Lotus will be at Pilion Middle School for also a liaison lunch. And on the 22nd of September is our board meeting at 6 PM. And if anyone's listening, leazison lunches are an opportunity for board members to sit with um selected staff from these schools with administration and talk about issues that are important to the school. And it's really a valuable tool for us to get to know the staff and for the staff to get to know us. Seeing no other business, we will adjourn the meeting at 6:57