001e e e hi good evening and welcome it's 6 pm and I call to order the February 24th 2025 meeting of the Pilan listic Community Schools please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all please note that the open meetings Act is published at the front door and there are no changes to the agenda tonight so roll call please Mr madler here miss W here Mr Lotus present Miss Wood here Mr Bailey here miss Butler here all present thank you section two Communications we have a military advisor Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Anderson from the 55th Wing support Squadron good to see you again hello welcome Colonel good
002evening um thank you for allowing me the opportunity to brief a status update for you guys tonight um first congratulations on a districtwide designation as purple star schools um the first time I was able to come talk to you guys I told you that was like a passion project for me a little bit of a goal and getting across the finish line and seeing that was really cool so congratulations um it'll definitely further establish the district as a district of choice for military families as our pcsing offit um that's something that families do look at to go through and say hey what's that military friendliness what's a transition for my kids how do we go through and interact with the community so big win for uh the district and offet and I'm proud to say
003that I'm a purple star parent now so thank you um April is the month of the military child we are standing by to support wherever you guys need us so if you're looking for clapin assembly help um wherever off can go through and support that month of military child in April please let us know um Jenny and Tina our school on officers are standing by for that with our schoola on officers they'll be hosting our kindergarten Readiness Workshop this week um Thursday at 16:30 at off at Event Center and that's for any families that are going through and having a new kindergartener in any of the schools that um serve off Air Force Base so really good opportunity to make that first connection a lot of excited parents a lot of excited kindergarteners I believe
004ailan Lista is going to be there with us so it be exciting to see you yours there on Thursday night last week we had a pretty nasty cold snap um my wife is very happy you guys opened up on Friday she was getting a little stir crazy with the kids um often unfortunately was able to stay open so I had to leave her each day to Brave the cold um but really cool response just to see from the district going through and taking care of the kids um and often being able to go through and service Our Youth Center our school age and just making sure that the community and the miss still kept running we're in the final preparations for our April exercise um that's our big one 31 march to 4 April um
005to start combat Readiness of how do we go through and take the fight to the enemy we'll also seeing how often Air Force Base respond to a large scale threat so we expect to see some interruptions to the base some gate closures we expect to see just some general friction points you don't generally see during State Side based exercises konel CC has made sure to tell me to tell to you all that we are not going to disrupt the kids um to the max extent possible plans to get the buses in and out plans to get people extracurricular so there should be very little impact to the community but I would not recommend coming during the day you might have a little bit getting stuck around and then finally I'd like to introduce uh Jenny
006Miller he's stand up real fast um we are happy to say we have our second School Lea officer now so we have Tina who is our very very wise um continuity that's going to take care of Jenny get her spun up and this just going to help out the community um offit service this is such a large Metropolitan Community of military Affiliated youth we did the math about 22 different districts private schools parochial schools so having those two school and officers are really a resource for all of you and the district where you need them we're here to serve and here to help out if you need them in a district you need them talking to people please let us know and we will be where we can to help you guys out Penny any
007questions this is my update tonight I really do appreciate your time thank you as always for the briefing Colonel and uh for those board members that may not be aware besides being a distinguished Air Force officer he is a District Parent he has a third grader at Patriot Elementary and he is very active at the PTO so in addition to your military service thank you for your service to the school district in the PTO we're so pleased to have you yes sir thank you thank you Colonel next section um reports superintendent thank you very much uh Miss Whit members of the board and happy Monday everyone uh it's a lovely day it's a lovely evening and what a difference a week makes um you know I know the question that's on everybody's mind since last
008week is so how much longer are we going to have to go back to school given all the snow and cold days that we've had so that decision is not final uh we will have some some conversations with the board uh but frankly we want to wait a little bit uh because we may not be out of winter yet this week looks pretty darn amazing but it would not be unusual in Nebraska for us to have cold weather or snowy weather even well into March so um I'm sure you're probably aware if you've looked closely at the school district calendar that the board always builds three days into the calendar uh the problem of course is we've already had five days we've had four cold weather days and one snow day three days last week
009we had a snow day the week before and the week before that we had another cold weather day so we're definitely beyond what we built in um but to be blunt the only two grade spans that we really get worked up about our seniors because they already get out early and our early childhood students so again M Siri has already been crunching the numbers for us we will discuss options when the board is ready to but we really wanted to get through the next couple of weeks knowing how unpredict unpredictable Nebraska weather is but we will certainly keep everyone apprised of the situation uh also wanted to congratulate a number of people uh for a couple of cool Events first of all we had the sub appreciation breakfast at Monarch last Monday right when the
010snow was coming down uh so kids were off last Monday of course for the president day it was a professional development day for our staff um Dr settles I didn't count the notes that the nose is there but I think Dr settles said we had between 70 and 100 uh Subs that were there for as its name implied just an appreciation breakfast and uh it was so great their attitudes were so great I think they had fun we did a little bit of training but what was perhaps most impressive to the subs that were there is that Jason Brian as an entire administrative team were out front shoveling snow as Subs were coming in so talk about other duties as assigned Jason thank you for being a true servant leader uh that same day Dr
011Bell uh Dr settles hosted the parac conference it's our second parac Conference of the year we always host one first semester one second semester this one was at Pilan Lista High School I was lucky enough to be invited to speak uh it's just a wonderful opportunity not only to get our Paras together but also to provide some high quality professional development uh we know that it is a somewhat unique thing other school districts across the state have started to copy this model and that's always very flattering when other districts want to do what we're doing but more than anything it's just a great opportunity to recognize our staff and provide some professional development on the legislative front I won't share too much because Mr Richards has an agenda item later on but we are at
012day 31 so we're over a third of the way done with a 90-day session uh we're continuing our weekly gnsa calls as well as our Wednesday calls with Tim Gay uh besides the briefing that Brett will give us later tonight we will have Tim Gay come back I think in March I think we were believing March 10th thank you Mr Richards so we'll be uh keeping uh up to date with all that uh on the HR front we're continuing to fill some positions we filled an assistant principal position at G Stanley Hall that will be official tomorrow morning uh this individual has already accepted uh we plucked a really talented person out of a neighboring District I we'll make a formal announcement tomorrow but very pleased with that hire and then miss Syria and I
013have our cooperation best interviews tomorrow afternoon we have a number of candidates both internal and outside coming in to talk about Miss Ericson's position she is retiring at the end of the year huge loss for the district but very excited to talk to the people that will be interested in replacing her uh two others that are just kind of human interest but if you would humor me uh one had to do with a district grad I but we had a district graduate Jackson trout he's a Pilan Lista South uh graduate and I don't know how many of you around the room are Baseball fans but Uno was playing LSU the LSU longtime College World Series fixture number three in the country so the Mavericks go down to Baton Rouge and play number three LSU pulled
014off a historic upset 54 but here's how it happened ladies and gentlemen Jackson trout pan Lista South kid uh put together a three run home run Dinger and that was the difference in the ball game so not only is it really big that Uno goes down there knocks off of perennial power in baseball but the fact that it came at the bat of a Titan kid is pretty darn incredible his mom Jen Trout works for Mr Richards on the buildings and grounds uh department so lots of District connections as you might imagine Jen Trout is absolutely uh bursting her buttons uh proud of her son Jackson I doubt you're watching but if you are we're incredibly proud of you and last but by no means least we have a birthday boy in attendance ladies and
015gentlemen uh our own uh lieutenant Colonel skip Bailey I'm told turns 25 today I believe Colonel 26 today Colonel very good very good so we appreciate you spending your birthday celebration with us instead of Sherry tonight happy birthday Skip and with that Miss whid I would conclude my superintendent report thank you and happy birthday Skip and you will have plenty of time to spend your birthday with your wife um any other board member reports tonight yes I had the opportunity to do a few things on February 11th I attended the teammates board meeting and the teammates continue to grow I believe they're close to 80 matches that they have at this time and there was a very rich discussion of the board of how they're going to continue to support um and the growth of
016that and uh so doing great work there um February 12th um the birthday boy and I were at the maybe meeting and um along with representatives from Bennington Belleview elorn and Ralston and at those at that meeting we had the opportunity to receive um updates on a lot of legislation that's happening and what the state um School Board Association is watching at this time and also you know each of the districts uh does a little bit of sharing of what's going on in their District um districts um also I uh did attend the substitute conference um you you know I hesitated to go on that snowy morning and then when I walked in and it was full of Subs that were there I was I guess a couple things came to mind first of all
017that we have wonderful Subs very dedicated to coming and learning and also that uh Dr settles Dr Bell and their team put together a conference that's worth coming to uh they you know you don't come unless it's good and so our folks came and I had the opportunity to listen to Deb Anderson share some mental health um with the substit and very valuable information um not only talked about what's happening why it's happening but gave some suggestions on what to do when they find themselves in a situation um of a child that might be experiencing some challenges and then lastly on Friday evening I ended my week on a real high while I attended the elementary unified basketball game across the street at Pilon Middle School Prairie Queen G Stanley Hall Anderson Grove and golden
018all had teams participa and what a wonderful opportunity to see our students uh supporting each other demonstrating te team work and cooperation and you know just enjoying their time together there was a good turnout of parents and I did want to acknowledge while I was there that night um I was told that the uh our local pilion uh Chick-fil-A provided food for all the athletes so not only uh great family support but again ongoing support of our community members and I believe that individual also is a parent in our district so um it was a it was a great way for me to celebrate or see the kids um celebrating their time together so lots of great things happening um yeah it was it was a good maybe meeting we had a a good group
019this time I think the last time we met was a little short on people but it was good uh additionally uh Andy you and I attended the foundation board meeting last Monday um some really good stuff going on there they're gearing up for everything they've got coming uh this Thursday I'll meet with the teacher Grant uh subcommittee so we'll be hopefully passing out lots and lots of cash to uh teacher grants um and then we've got I think here in I think it's next month I will be meeting with the the scholarship uh subcommittee so start working on scholarships and what we're going to pass out for that and uh I know the the foundation's got a lot going on with their uh they start talking golf tournament in June and then the the Gayla
020already in August so um a lot of good things going on there so that was a good meeting um good to see everybody then um I also got to go to a unified basketball game however mine was at Lista West and I'll be I'm be awful I can remember two of the schools it was ashbery and Carriage Hill and I'm trying to remember who else was there the other two schools but it was also it was amazing watching these kids and what got me is that you have all of these uh you know the the special ed departments and and their teachers and their workers working all day on Friday and then jumping into this Friday night and they were just out there with the kids playing basketball and having a great time and these
021the you know the kids were loving it parents and grandparents all over the place it was fun to watch you know someone make a basket in the entire parent section just go crazy and and you know of course the little kids jumping around it was just it was it warms your heart so it was it was one of those things that you know I wasn't expecting Sherry kind of came home and said hey we're going over there and I was like okay absolutely so um but we enjoyed it so I'm sure it was just as good I we did not stay all the way through so I'm not sure if they got Chick-fil-A over there but uh that sounds wonderful but yeah it was a lot of fun so thank you I had a liaison
022lunch last week on Valentine's Day at Liberty Middle School uh talked about a number of topics you know per usual with the staff there um their show choir they wanted to highlight their their choir their show choir their band we've I know we've talked about them in this meeting in these meetings before how great of uh um uh just the the programs that they've been developing over there uh we also worked through talking on the map growth uh specifically Special Ed I wrote this number down they said when they got their latest map uh scores back 80% of the special ed hit their map growth which you know is for any cohort of students at 80% for hitting those growth targets is is uh pretty impressive so they wanted to highlight that then also with
023special ed they did want to they they talked through their concerns about what is happening you know at the state level and even uh federally on on the fundings and just making sure they wanted to voice just you know what they're seeing out there and making sure that that you know we're also on top of it uh different again the Department of Education but then also for the Nebraska Department of Education and making sure that you know we're aware of some of the new rules and regulations that are coming down that's just taking more time from our staff away from the students and and they just wanted to highlight uh they wanted to highlight that uh and then what I wanted to talk through was cell phon so we're going to talk through the legislature
024one of the bills is that we need a new uh potentially if it gets passed which it might be trending that way but if it gets pass every school district is going to need a new policy that prohibits um cell phones um probably a little more strict than what we have in our handbooks at at our different schools so I just want to talk to them about how big of an issue are cell phones in classrooms at the middle school level and they said over this last summer they worked with the other middle schools to implement kind of uh the similar handbook guidelines between all the three schools the middle schools and they said it's been much better this year uh than in previous years so they didn't think that anything that we did at
025this at our level and policies that would be pushed down would probably be that different than what they're already doing now depending on the final language of the bill it might be more restrictive you know with passing periods and lunches or before school after school but um you know some of that's still TBD but I was just I was interested in understanding the cell phones in our schools and and I I know I've got another um liais on lunch coming up in a couple weeks I'm I'm interested to hearing their thoughts to at uh at Golden Hills obviously Elementary probably not as big of a deal but as we have to start thinking about crafting our own policy just getting that feedback from the staff was was great to hear uh and I just want
026to thank the staff for uh spending the time with me uh and Dr rickley and Mr Richards uh and and going through their topics lunch was lovely and lunch was lovely yeah lunch was lovely no Chipotle but lunch was lovely my go-to all right thank you for those reports and again happy birthday skip Mr Bailey next on our agenda our committee reports we'll start with building grounds and finance that one's me uh we did meet also on Valentine's Day February 14th uh we have um we talked through we have the legislative update coming up uh later on in our agenda but we also talk through the federal grants if you remember when we went through the audit of our last year's audit one of the issues was uh coming up uh our the cash balance
027was unexpectedly short at the uh end of the audit because of the Federal grant that we did not get in that did we did not get the reimbursement uh compared to Prior years so we did get Mr Richards went through and we did get that reimbursement in uh so it will hit then in this fiscal year we also started talking through our summer projects for 2025 Summer's going to be here uh uh before we know it and just making sure as far as the the building projects that we have them all lined up and ready to go so talking about Turf replacement um uh some playground resurfacing uh those sort of items and then we spent most of the time talking through the legislative update which we will hear again shortly thank you human resources
028student services yes we did meet since last meeting um most of our focus is on the agenda item around certified Staffing as well as the legislative updates and curriculum and americanism yes we uh we met uh Thursday February 13th um seems like forever ago um we talked a lot about the uh the the sip visit and the exit report went through that uh quite a quite a bit um which was very good to see uh interesting that you know you always want to look at those exit reports and see what went well because everybody likes to hear that but it was also very interesting to see what their recommendations were which I think was they are just if not more important than the Kudos because then we can figure out how we can get even
029better uh than than what we are so that was really good we spent a lot of time talking about that um we went briefly over talked a a little bit about the uh the book reconsiderations that we still have a few books um that are getting reviewed and how that process was going and then we talked about uh uh program updates was basically our Early Childhood Program review it's it's largely complete and talked more about um what we were doing and how we're going to focus on the programs that we were focusing with that and then finally we talked um at the end there about the our new 5-year uh strategic plan that that planning process um talking about you know how how that's going to go how we're going to start that with the
030needs assessment surveys advisory groups and then finally forming the uh the planning uh I'm sorry the advisory committee that's that goes with that so and I don't think we have another meeting scheduled yet but so that'll be it thank you all right moving on to section three action items do we have a motion for Action by consent I'll make a motion approve the action by consent as written second we have a motion by Mr Bailey and a second by Mr madler roll call please Miss Wet yes Mr Lotus yes Miss Wood yes Mr Bailey yes Miss Butler yes Mr mler yes motion carrying thank you motion passes next item on the action item list is certified Staffing goal number three and that will be presented by Dr Rick yes yes uh thank you very much
031Miss Whit ordinarily Dr settles would present this uh just on a personal matter uh Dr settles uh son Liam um was designated the team Jack Honore and if you're not familiar with the team Jack organization there the organization that was formed after Jack Hoffman uh the young man that raced into Nebraskan Hearts everywhere I think it was 2010ish uh suffering from pediatric brain cancer participated in the spring game and he famously ran for that touchdown um Jack passed away sadly just a few months ago uh his dad also uh passed away from from brain cancer so it's been a very difficult uh year for the Hoffman Family in any event they held a Gaya event in um Lincoln just last Saturday and and Liam was honored for that and will be honored again I believe
032at the Nebraska Michigan basketball game tonight so that's why Dr settles can't be here she really wanted to be here and I said you need to be front side at the court accepting that award uh that's that's good for everybody so in any event um there have been no changes to the Staffing proposal that Dr uh settles presented um so the community is aware are we did experience some additional student growth this year but it wasn't significant enough to Warrant widespread staff additions uh we are recommending school psychologist growth in the area of 1.4 FTE uh we are asking the board to approve some growth positions three and General Ed 20 and special ed that's very customary it's down slightly from previous years but traditionally we ask the board for budgetary Authority for growth positions
033uh Mr Richards builds that into the budget but very frequently we will not access it in fact I would say over the last five years I think we've accessed those growth positions maybe once uh in the case though that student enrollment outpaces our projections we have those positions if we need it uh and also uh this isn't necessarily general fund supported but we will uh be accepting some additional FTE through the learning community there are several positions that the Learning Community grant that we applied for uh will go to support including an early childhood facilitator and attendance intervention social worker and lit support interventionist so it's a pretty static uh it's a pretty minimal Staffing request for 2025 26 but I would gladly answer any questions that the board may have I'll make a motion
034to approve the 2025 26 additions as proposed Ed including 1.4 FTE school psychologist of certified staff with an additional 5.0 FTS allocated if needed for growth and five FTE Learning Community Grant positions second we have a motion by Mr Lotus and a second by Miss Wood is there any discussion roll call Mr Lotus yes this one yes Mr Bailey yes Miss Butler yes Mr mler yes Miss Whit yes motion carrying thank you action item C policy 2000 uh I will also take that one if that pleases the board misss wit the policy 2000 which deals with General Administration it is one of the smallest uh in terms of the length of the policy it's one of the smallest in our policy catalog uh we went through it uh we didn't have any uh substantive changes
035from either legal council we didn't have any specific asks from the board so that we are recommending that it be accepted as written with no additional changes I'll move to acknowledge the review of Series 2000 board policies second I have a mo um Movement by Mr madler and a second by Mr Lotus is this a roll call event yes go ahead Miss Wood yes Mr Bailey yes M Butler yes Mr M yes Miss Whit yes Mr Lotus yes motion carrying thank you we're moving on to section for discussion and information items first item is school resource officer and I believe Chief Whitted is here to make a statement for the opportunity to speak to yourselves and the rest of the board um I have some prepared remarks but before I get to those just full
036disclosure this proposal was something that Deputy Chief orcher and I have envisioned for some time many years prior to this date now that we find ourselves at and I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge Lieutenant Jason Sharp and his assistance with me in meeting with Dr rley and his staff about the benefits and the the things that we'd like to see come from this position if it's so approved by yourselves but uh you know it's no it's no it's easy to understand the partnership between the pan police department and pan list of schools has been long it's a model of success I believe um and together we've buil a foundation of trust communication and collaboration that prioritizes our students and staff's safety and well-being um I'm here to strongly support adding a school resource
037Sergeant this bus position is not just about adding a rank it's about enhancing the structure oversight and communication that make our ESO program even more effective a dedicated Sergeant will allow us to streamline operations ensure consistency in our approach across all schools and strengthen the daily collaboration between law enforcement and Educators most importantly this position will allow us to be more proactive enhancing training refining response strategies and continuing to build positive relationships with students and staff the role of our SRO is not just about enforcement as I think you all know it's about mentorship education and community building with a school resource sergeant in place I feel we can ensure that our shared commitment to safety remains strong coordinated and focused on our future which we all know will continue to grow uh we sincerely
038appreciate this board's support and your commitment to our department and the well-being of our schools uh so with that I'd be happy to answer any questions uh but just not we feel really strongly about the benefits this this might bring not only our department but the school district as well I think Mr villal or Dr villal has some items to bring up as well and then if there are any questions Chief just hang hang close by I will hang thank you thank you Chief thank you you welcome Dr V it helps if I turn it on got it uh thank you again uh Chief Wht for sharing his remarks on behalf of pan police department and to give you an overview from the district side uh I'll be sharing with you a little bit about
039this position today so the background is we currently have sro's at all of our secondary schools through primarily Pilon police department and also Lista police department at this time the Pilan Police Department investigative unit unit Sergeant currently oversees five detectives as well as the four sro's which uh I just lost my spot my apologies uh creates a significant span of control for one supervisor so the city of Pilon is proposing adding this dedicated uh school resource Sergeant position that would focus exclusively on the school resource officer program and allow for more specialized supervision and support the purpose of this would be twofold uh echoing what Chief wooded said enhancing the monitoring evaluation and supervision of the SRO team but also supporting District Safety and Security initiatives the cost sharing proposal is a straight 5050 split
040between the city and the district and it would follow along with the 20year inter local agreement that we use um in theou for our SRO program that we have in place now some high level opportunities for enhancement with this position being added uh supporting continued growth for the district strengthening coordination across all jurisdictions uh that our district sits within expanding Presence at our elementary schools and our program facilities including yatp and ideal advancing threat assessment capabilities and building Upon Our successful Secondary School SRO program as well as creating a leadership pathway within the SRO unit and in The Proposal they detailed time allocations for the position so these are the primary duties of the position ranked by time allocation uh with 25% being dedicated to threat assessment team leadership 20% focusing on that agency coordination
041and liaison work uh serving as our primary connection with the different law enforcement agencies the next 20% as school administrator support and District Incident Management team participation 15% for SRO team coordination uh 10% for presence in our elementary schools and program facilities and finally 10% for professional development and planning so this balanced approach across the pie chart here ensures that the supervisor can address both immediate needs as well as long-term plans and we have a couple people here for question questions I can take questions Dr rickley can take questions Dr steel behind me has been heavily involved in our mlus with our SRO programs and chief witard is here as well my most important question is how did Officer bamer show up in two pictures does he really rate two separate pictures really no no
042we uh I I just want to I'm sure the board will have questions I just want to voice my support for this position Chief wited and I have been talking about this for the better part of a year maybe 18 months um one of the trends we're seeing across the country one of the trends we're seeing across the state of Nebraska is school districts both large and small adding dedicated uh school safety positions sometimes it's former or retired sworn Law Officers sometimes it's somebody with a background in law enforcement or military background but in any event we're we're clearly seeing a prioritization across the country of having a position that specializes just in safety uh we're probably not there yet in my opinion though there's probably going to be a day sooner rather than later
043that we're there we think that this is a very reasonable uh step in that direction where we can both get somebody with a ton of experience and expertise while also doing some cost sharing with the city which we're incredibly grateful for uh to be able to split the cost for the city of pilion so I'm probably not the best person to answer any questions but I just wanted to throw that out there that I firmly support it and appreciate again the chief being here and officer bamer you I love you thanks thanks for being here I mean for everyone involved thanks for putting it together I know it's not an easy thing to do when you need to get two government entities on the same page timing wise budget wise process wise so I I'm
044I know it's been a long process but thanks for getting it to this point uh couple questions I have I know we've talked through them some uh last we' talked have been unknowns I don't know if they've been figured out yet uh so District's paying half I was just wondering what's the hiring process going to be is the district going to be involved in the hiring process in any like performance review process what is that going to look like I know from the hiring perspective that was one of the things that we brought to the table during the conversation and the response from Pilon Police Department was absolutely we expect you to be involved in that process yeah I would Echo to what degree we could allow that certainly um I think that there's value
045again we as I noted we have great partnership and so it's something I would appreciate having some some input I mean ultimately end of the day the pointing Authority is the city city administrator um and and when we've come together we make a recommendation and and uh um but I think there's value in having your involvement um as far as performance evaluations um I I think to some degree that's also warranted um we're moving to kind of a new eval system within our department digitally digitally based one um and I think reaching out uh to uh the lieutenant certainly could reach out from the sergeant perspective um on how how the the the principles and some of those uh stakeholders feel about um where where the pro pro process is going or the program is
046going or or is is it meeting the needs um so I think we could certainly open to working how how how that looks perfect I know one of the main benefits that we've talked through was just the to coverage of when an SRO is not able to be at their designated building for the day maybe this better for the chief do I don't know if we have a number of like how many days uh like last year in our buildings we didn't have an Sr in the days that we would have expected one because for whatever reason they weren't there but you talk through just the difficulty of how it is right now of trying to fill when an SRO is out sick or they've got other training or other duties in those when they
047can't be in the schools yeah that is something that we we do struggle with on occasion um just full disclosure the sergeant position would be uh eligible or available at times to fill to backfill those vacancies those vacant positions um in agreement with Dr rickley and the school district we generally try to make the high schools the priority um that's generally you know statistics show that's where the biggest threat for problems is going to occur so um we've moved the junior high sros for instance if we're going to have an absence whether because of an injury or training or or any other number of things then we'll move the uh uh junior high Sr up there um we've also gone so far as to post overtime um in fact I think we have overtime posted
048for either the end of this week or next week um where we're going to have a couple vacancies um and so we're going to ask uh an officer pay the overtime um you know that's something that we absorb and uh and have them be at that school because again we feel that strongly about that presence perfect and then one last question question do we know where the person will be loc like where will they be dayto day yet you know we we've talked about that initially we had proposed just full disclosure about maybe putting them in an office at the maybe the ideal school but I know that there isn't necessarily room for that um but we also felt very strongly since they would be working under Lieutenant sharp that there was value in having
049them located within the police department so that they could have those meetings and have that relationship expand um but they would also obviously be out in the field if you will um so we would expect them to to visit their SRO visit the schools even go so far as to visit with the principls of the grade schools which quite frankly right now doesn't really happen um you know and and again ultimately just providing one good point of contact and then Lieutenant sharp has the supervisor serving as that secondary point of contact UM and then additionally uh we see a lot of value um with with the liaisoning with like bw's SRO staff and Sergeant as well as the the SRO from Lista uh maybe that incorporates some meetings U maybe it involves a meeting with
050with the board member or two or somebody from the district but we see that as real possibilities with this as well all right appreciate it thanks Chief I had a couple of first of all uh we appreciate the SRO in our buildings they are 100% valued and needed and appreciated because they do Mentor our our students and have a great impact on their um how how we value just the police department alog together um so that's a 50/50 cost who is responsive so the reporting structure goes first to the supervisor at the department say that again I'm sorry do the do the sro's in the building report to the principal in that building or do they report to well as as that 50-50 is is just keeping in line with what we've been doing now
051for for geez many years I don't even know how long it's been it's I think goes back to the the 90s I believe with the first one of it monarchs so it would be keeping within that proposal that has expanded over time as obviously we've added officers and added schools um right now they report to the lieutenant um sharp uh and and that or and obviously they've recorded reported to Sergeant pton as well um but that that would be the essence of the chain of command but again we would certainly want to involve that that the sergeant meeting again with principles on a whether it's together whether it's individually but being available for those those that that contact but um it would still be still follow our pres chain of command as we do with
052the SRO I would say Miss Whit you brought up an important point at the end of your question and tell me if I'm hitting it but you you mentioned the principles um I think in practice building principles aren't formally evaluating I think that responsibility belongs uh to the police department but I would say in practice the five SRO we have right now are working very closely with the building principles uh with the clear line of Distinction being it is not the job job of a police officer of an SRO to be disciplining students that that responsibility is teachers and administrators they're there to consult to help us with safety planning and certainly if laws have been broken of any time that's obviously when an SRO is going to step in but I would say if
053you would ask any one of our five sros that are currently assigned to our buildings they're working very closely with Administration on problem solving on preventative issues on dealing with problem students uh and frankly in some cases going to the homes of students when it when it warrants when there's a suspected issue we we have done that and and again I I would just Echo what what Dr rley said I'm very proud of our SRO are four currently um they leaz on with the uh their respective staffs very well um and again even even the junior high SRO who may come up and work at high school they've gotten to know their respective staff you know of that school as well so um I couldn't be more happy with how they interact with with the
054current principles it's a definitely a team effort as as officer bamer who who did it for quite some time can tell you um it doesn't work without that cooperation with with not just the head principal but all of the principles for all the grades um because issues are at every level every grade um and it's it's uh it's not an easy job school resource officer wears a lot of hats and and we've got some good ones and I appreciate what they do and I appreciate the relationship that they have with their respective schools yeah when I've been in the buildings it's obvious that they're just part of the family in every building that they're within um other than that um I think that the hiring to have some District participation to make sure that culture
055fit is there not that there wouldn't be but I think it helps to show that the district is participating in that so thank you very much and I think you know expanding into the elementary I know that'll be limited because just of the amount that you have but just to be a face there to start to build those relationships um and to reinforce the safety aspect being able to do that I think is a is a great step as well well I think what it does is it also gives those Road Patrol officers a center point of contact as well because let's face it they're always interacting with with students and parents and households uh just through the normal course of their duties and and right now it's always it's not always easy to to
056get to the right person or you're not school with you're not sure which school they belong to um but if you have a school issue or an issue related to a school's child very easily you can push that off to the S Sergeant or or even call them after hours um and so I think there's some value there or there would be value there um and I say moreover uh just again creating those new relationships with those again you're right I I think the thing that surprised me the most when I delved into this um and we also received some from bellw help from B that has an SRO sergeant and the list of Duties is just endless I was pretty amazed at uh you know initially going to this with just some point of
057contact and back filling but there's just so much more that can be done with this and there's just uh it's it's endless the possibilities that this could take and the benefit that it could provide um so it's it's there's a lot to a lot that can be done with it thank you very much I look forward to next week we or next meeting we'll be finishing this project thanks Chief thanks Dr next on our discussion and information items is legislative update by Mr Richards thank you Miss Whit good evening everybody um the legislature is has Dr rickley said is about a third of the way through and there's been some interesting bills come through hearings and some that have made it to the floor at this point and one of those today that I'll kind
058of bring up is lb 31 um which is that surveillance monitoring um with technology Bill uh from Senator Conrad it was on the floor today um and in essence is probably um not going to make it uh she lost an amendment today to4 um there was another amendment by hul crof but my guess is they probably don't bring this bill back which is probably a good thing because it would have created a lot of unfunded work uh out of a lot of school districts and uh um you know I think technology and surveillance and monitoring are done in good faith by our our staff and and what we use it for um and I think that was maybe the concern of Conrad as it was being used inappropriately in some districts um but we use
059it definitely for the safety of our preventative safety for our uh of our students and staff so um glad to see that one more than likely go down um 692 um and 424 are more caps on property tax bills that we fought off for the last few years um you know that was a negotiation with the governor a few years back when he first year um to give some flexibility with that 3% cap and each year we find us kind of bringing and rehashing some of those 3% hard cap bills uh that really limit districts like ours that you know most of the time we're under that 3% Revenue limit and when we do have to open a school or uh we need more for um inflate because of inflation or whatever it may be
060uh the local decision is made best at the board to go exceed that 3% um cap so we haven't done that yet in the two years that's been in we haven't exceeded that 3% um cap because of uh and it's a total revenue cap not just property taxes um so I know we've talked about uh for next year having to do that because of inflation and and paying uh salaries so that that's a big deal for us so 692 424 are probably two of the bigger ones out there with Merman and Anderson um 692 Was Heard already in a hearing uh 424 is a hearing this week um so I plan on going down tomorrow with and meeting with Tim Gay from Catalyst and spend some time with some Senators on both of those bills
061for sure uh prior to that hearing on Thursday um lb 714 is Senator Clement with motor vehicles um this is another one to watch Finance wise take down our portion of the Motor Vehicle Tax from 60 to 37% um that's quite a bit of money and uh you know I think they're finding out that a little bit with as they delve in and look at the information a little more closely uh for example our annual Financial report of 2324 uh we received um just over $7.8 million from that fund uh under the new law you know we'd get 1.8 million less with really no way to make that up so you know I think it's a bill that needs to be explored more on how that can be shifted in funding if they're going to
062do some things like that to school districts uh at this point the hearing on that one is March 4th next week um so we'll definitely have a say in that one as far as you know with some Senators um you know a lot of times on these bills we may do written testimony uh and talk to the Senators uh you know at their office or in the lobby area uh versus going out on the the hearing unless we feel really strongly about a bill and you you guys have given us the green light to do that um there are a few more private school funding bills Charter School type things coming out uh the ones probably uh that are seeing the light of day here in a hearing is 624 do um 131 um also
063with sorantino uh they had a hearing today on 624 down there and 131 with santinos this Thursday um we'll see if they gain any ground I I guess at this point with the way the votes went in November that they may not have the appetite as a whole uh to put this through a committee or get it on the floor and give it much of a chance but we'll we'll wait and see um how those work out for for the hearings this week um another one of concern is the lb 135 with hold Croft and I know you guys are aware of most of these bills that I'm bringing up but um just to bring it out to everybody to discuss in an open meeting holdcraft is a h Croft has got a bond Bill
064and override and Levy bill it's all in one with 135 so basically they want to say in odd years which are primaries um and general elections uh are the only times you can have an override or a bond so it's every other year type thinking uh whether that be a primary or general election for us probably not a huge deal from a standpoint that we're I think we pre-plan pretty well about when do we want to have a bond uh and can time that out um you know sometimes you get in heavy growth modes where maybe the interest rates start going down down and people are buying houses like crazy and then you don't have time to pre-plan and get ahead of that growth so I've seen that in Arizona as a matter of fact
065when you get heavy heavy growth uh you can't get in front of it with a bill like this so you know I don't think it's a good bill uh from that reason I think a net brought up in our case in our district and we talk about it uh when we did our survey I mean we we'd probably do better in the general and primary elections and having a special election for a bond uh according to our survey data so probably not huge deal for us but it's still not a good bill uh in case things would change economically and uh things for us to have to move fast on and on that one I mean you look at you know we were fortunate enough to have all the community support for for our last
066Bond but you look at some of our neighboring districts you know bennington's going out for their third if they were only able to I mean it'd be a six-year process for to get to that third to get to that third boat which yeah with a with a district growing as fast as that that's just way too long uh to wait we also talked through if if all the districts at the same time are going out for a bond what does that do for the prices of everything um if you know we're not able to stagger it if we're all competing with contractors at the exact same time when those bonds pass so yeah hopefully hopefully the Senators hear some of those arguments as two great points Marcus and uh you know appreciate Marcus is on
067the legislative committee for the Nebraska Association of school board so he he's got some things to add throughout anything that I don't bring up to and youve you got information on please bring up tonight too so great yeah those are two you know the constru they got a lot of construction people even talking to Senators at this point on that on those items there because um if everybody goes out at the same time the construction companies are um you know trying to get work or whatever it may be and it's not spread out like it normally is uh with the way we do it now so good point um another one to watch is they'll be 140 cell phone use uh Senator Sanders I think this is a good intent bill um I think they're
068hearing from a lot of districts throughout the state and parents that they're frustrated with their kids using phones and and teachers for that matter in the classroom uh during the classroom day the problem I see with this bill and please add in anybody um um is it it the way it's written uh right now is it bans it on school campus basically and you know that's probably not good for our parents uh you know when you're trying to pick up kids or you're they're staying after school for activities um the way the Bill's written now and I expect to see some amendments um to try to fix some of that uh because I think that's come to their attention that that's not a good thing um but they're I I think this one's pretty serious
069about trying to get some sort of model policy that districts can work with their communities to fix locally which is a good way to do it in my opinion instead of just coming out with a blanket policy saying this and this um that in the end this will probably be a good thing for school districts is my opinion um because we the the cell phones in the classroom are a disruptor uh no D no doubt about it and we've got policies on our uh campuses now that I think in the last couple years have have kind of curtailed a lot of the problems you see with cell phones and our principles and the board have done a good job of staying proactive with that U but there are districts out there that you know haven't
070moved in that direction you know and they're having a lot of problems with sculp cell phones on campus and those are just the kind of the ones I wanted to bring up today uh that we're tracking I know there are dozens of others out there that we're tracking that are yet to see a hearing even um but I'd open the floor at this point to anybody else that wants to bring up any other bills or has questions on the bills that we covered do you have anything from the I was just there are two bills that I've been tracking and I don't know where they are I don't know if you don't know where they are too but it's um lb 411 which is the teacher retention bonus do you know where that's at and
071then also lb 282 which would reimburse teachers for school supplies that they've bought yes so let me look up 411 and make sure I got that one correct here in my packet my worry for 282 as I look through this is uh reimbursing school supplies for teachers great Bill I just worry with the debt that they have right now uh with the you know $432 million shortfall that any bill with any kind of um needed money right now is going to tough going to be tough um but it's a great great bill I think uh trying to get teachers reimbursed for supplies that they uh Buy on the side um so that's good I don't have the bill in front of me but I think it was approximately $300 per year 250 250 thank you
072Mr madler so I mean just doing the math somebody can do it for me there's approximately 30,000 Public School teachers across Nebraska so 30,000 times $250 a year it's it's a great idea I just worry that the fiscal note will snc it and logistically it all goes through nde teachers having to submit paperwork to get the reimbursement so nde is going to have to hire on additional staff yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so we'll see we'll see where that goes so that teacher retention it's uh by Senator Dungan out of Lincoln uh it does I think this one adds if I remember correctly and adds a high need retention Grant uh to the existing law because there are um you know teachers that are able to get reimbursed uh in years one through uh one
073through six at a school 7th through 15th uh and then 16th uh to full-time employment teaching in Nebraska so each year a fulltime teaching at a Nebraska school retention thereafter um a 4,000 per school year uh if they come up I mean this is pretty aggressive money again you worry about the state coming up short in Revenue to have something like this passed um but it's definitely one we would continue to support and I remember we supported that one in 2023 as well that got did get passed uh when they had some money available to to give some um teacher retention grants out there which a lot of our teachers take advantage of has there been any um action yet on the any that deal with behavior specifically the repealing the suspension allowing K2 kids
074to be suspended repealing that or there is a bill out there um that would allow that to happen we've been told uh probably not going to happen this year um doesn't mean it won't um but it hasn't come up for hearing yet either so we'll keep an eye on that as I think the board is well aware of this as a general rule the the later it it the longer it takes to to make a hearing or to get kicked out of Committee hearing the less likely it is to pass usually the higher priority bills get heard first and get kicked out of committee first so U again Brett's right doesn't mean it won't go but I think with each passing week it probably gets a little less likely that some of these other bills
075make it to the floor great questions uh I appreciate the update is there anywhere and I know you said you're going to meet with Mr Gay tomorrow is there anywhere um I guess after meeting with him maybe let us know if uh there's any specific bills that he thinks would be good for us to get in contact with uh any of the the Senators that you know I think we have five that touch the district um that uh he thinks would be good for us to have a conversation with so just keep us posted yeah that'll that'll be great uh for you guys to get involved I think you know the more they kind of move in and then we get an idea if they got legs uh going on and if it's a bill
076that's really going to hurt our district um I think that's when we should be reaching out for you guys to come down and have some conversations with Tim with I uh with some Senators out in the lobby to make sure they understand how it affects our district um yeah you know and if you guys and like we've always said if you guys see one coming up in a hearing uh that you feel you want to testify in um you know we can make that available for you as well um I think it's big to stay in front of the bigger bills that could really do some damage to our district and you guys having a voice in that or is really important that they hear from elected official instead of me or Dr rickley uh
077down there um so if we ever think there's a need we'll reach out to you too and say okay here's here's a here's a bill that has leg that we think here's what it'll do to our district financially or curriculum wise um and you can come down and we can pull out those Senators that are in our area and even on the education committee to have a conversation with so if you have you see any of those that you feel are important too um we try to review these that's the problem with subcommittees you only get to meet once a month and uh we can meet a little bit more if we get some bills that come up and we could have a special meeting but uh um kind of going through those uh in
078depth a little bit um make a difference uh to what we want to oppose or support down there yeah if any board members want to uh submit their voice on online before a hearing I think they can do it the night before by the night before the hearing or for any board member anyone uh anyone in the public uh it's super easy and quick to do online you don't really even have to write much but you could even just uh put you know whether you are for or against what ever they're going to be uh talking about in the hearing and you know I don't know how much of of those comments will get read by by the committee uh but they I know at least I've seen this year they will announce how many
079people have commented you know in favor or against in those hearings for every uh bill that they are discussing so if you want your voices heard or anyone that matter um they make it pretty easy to do online now yeah and you know just keep in mind our priorities that we look at as a district that helps us kind of give that umbrella of whether we support or oppose or stay neutral you know that local control is Big you know and state funding uh to lower property taxes is big for this District uh teacher retention so we'd support that bill of course that you brought up so we kind of use that umbrella to to help justify how we how we go about working with Senators excellent conversation thank you uh item five we have
080no public comment for not on the agenda tonight on uh section six future board calendar we have three Lea on lunches coming up on February 25th Miss Wood will be at portal on March 5th Miss Butler will be at Prairie Queen and on March 7th Mr madler will be at Golden Hills there is no school during the week of March 10 through 14 for spring break and our next meeting is on March 10th in this room at 6 PM seeing no further business we will adjourn the meeting at 7 o' could have done that any