Beatrice Public Schools
Board of Education Committee of the Whole
April 23, 2015
Central Administration Boardroom
Notice of the meeting was given in advance by publication and/or posting in accordance with the Board
approved method for giving notice of meetings. Notice of this meeting was given in advance to all members
of the Board of Education. Availability of the agenda was communicated in the publicized notice and a
current copy of the agenda was maintained as stated in the publicized notice. All proceedings of the Board
of Education, except as may be hereinafter noted, were taken while the convened meeting was open to
attendance of the public.
1. Call to Order
Mr. Zimmerman called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM in the Central Administration Building. At the
beginning of the meeting, Mr. Zimmerman announced and informed the public that a current copy of the
Open Meetings Act was posted on the west wall of the meeting room. All members were present.
Attendance was taken at 6:00 PM.
Present Board Members:
Janet Byars
Doris Martin
Andy Maschmann
Lisa Pieper
Nancy Sedlacek
Jon Zimmerman
2. Approval of the Agenda
Mr. Maschmann moved that the Committee of the Whole approve the agenda as presented. Mrs.
Sedlacek seconded the motion.
Janet Byars
Doris Martin
Andy Maschmann
Lisa Pieper
Nancy Sedlacek
Jon Zimmerman
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Motion Passed
3. Curriculum Review - Guidance
Jackie Nielsen shared that tonight the staff from the Guidance Department will be sharing a program
they are using to enhance guidance and build relationships. Mrs. Nielsen introduced Amy Randel, Middle
School Guidance, Christina Lyons, M.A.P.S. Collation, Jennifer Prososki, High School Guidance, Jill Rice,
Elementary Guidance and Brenda Gronewold, Career to Work.
Mrs. Lyons shared with the committee a program that is being used is to have an attendance
advocate for students who miss lots of school. Mrs. Lyons wrote the grant for Diversion to focus on what we
could do to keep students in school and engaged with the hope that this will also keep them out of the court
system. Students who miss more than 20 days are matched with a teacher attendance advocate. The
teacher checks on the student when they miss school and is there when the student comes back to
welcome them and support them.
Mrs. Randel shared that this program is very exciting, very positive and has made a difference to
students. The Middle School has 37 students who have an attendance advocate. Of these 37, 21 have
missed fewer than 20 days. 16 of the 37 students have attended school more days than they did last year.
The Middle School as April 22, 2015 had 40 students with perfect attendance.
This program is not being used at the elementary level. Mrs. Lyons shared that the grant is only for
a year and only available for 12-18 year olds. She will be applying again for this grant and is confident we
will receive the dollars needed to continue the program.
Mrs. Prososki shared that the High School has 35 students that have an attendance advocate. 19
out of the 35 students have attended more days of school this year than last year. Seven 9 th graders, sixteen
10th graders, eighteen 11th graders and ten 12th graders have missed more than 20 days. Attendance is
important to learning and this program gives the students another support person. Students know that
someone at school cares.
The committee asked if the 20 days includes all absences. It does include all but school activity
absences. They also asked what percent of the excessive absences are called in by the parent. The
Counselors felt that sometimes this is the case as for some families it is a continual effort to get students to
school. The Counselors have seen that some students are beginning to understand that in order to be
successful at school you must attend school.
4. Elementary Facility Update
Mr. Phelan thanked the Board of Education for attending the three Elementary Citizen meetings that
had been held. During the meeting tonight, he would like to review the facility study three options and costs
and talk about any questions the Board of Education might have or has received. Mr. Phelan also shared
that he will be sharing a site plan and show them the questions that will be on the survey site.
Mr. Phelan shared that one of the main questions in the presentations that has come to us is the
number of classrooms. He then shared a chart showing the current number of sections, class size and the
number of students the current plans could accommodate. The current plan does allow for growth
expansion in each neighborhood wing. The cost to add two classrooms now would be about 500,000.00,
which would give us seven classrooms per grade level.
The committee spent some time discussing the number of classrooms. Mrs. Martin shared that it
was important to keep the sections small and also to keep all grade level classrooms in their wing to help
build relationships. Mr. Maschmann asked about cost to add now or later and Mr. Phelan said it would be
cheaper to do it now. Mrs. Pieper, Mrs. Byars and Mrs. Sedlacek all agreed with Doris that we build the
building right the first time and have seven classrooms per grade level. The Board determined that seven
classrooms per grade level was the more appropriate option.
Mr. Phelan shared a possible site plan for the facility. The elementary would be located on the
North end of the property. We would have two access roads one for the busses from Lincoln Street and one
for parents off of 33rd Street. Mr. Maschmann asked if a traffic study had been done. Mr. Phelan said the
traffic study had not been done at this point in time, but it will be done with the City.
Ms. Schutte then showed the committee the website My Sidewalk where we will share a survey to
gather feedback. The committee then reviewed the survey questions and made some suggestions to clarify
some wording and added another question.
5. Budget Update
Mr. Brazell shared a handout showing the 2015-16 staffing changes. We have had 15 openings
with two of them being filled. We have had two internal moves, Mr. Junker from the high school to the
middle school and Mrs. Henning from the classroom to administration. So far, we have seen a cost saving
for next year in personnel of $40,000, due to hiring less experienced teachers compared to those with
longevity. We have added two new preschool positions for next year. At the beginning of second semester
we added a .75 Sped/ELL instructor. As we look at caseloads in our Special Education, we may be looking
for a full-time position that would be ½ time at Stoddard and ½ time at Lincoln. Mr. Nauroth shared that we
will be looking at our special education services to ensure students are being identified correctly and that our
programs are effective.
Mrs. Martin shared that in the past it had been a practice to hire the cheapest person and she would
hope we are not doing this now. Mr. Brazell and Mr. Nauroth reassured her that this was the practice and
that we are hiring the best qualified person for the position.
Mr. Brazell shared that currently our revenue is ahead of our expenditures, which is where we want
our budget to be. He shared budget information showing comparisons from year to year. He shared that
our state aid in 2014/15 was 6,786,499.30 compared to 6,074,121.54, which is a difference of 712,377.76.
He shared as the property valuation goes up our state aid goes down. When we look at our expenditures
our expenses went up 1.45% which is more than our revenue went up. We need to be aware of this as we
move forward. Currently, he felt we were in a good financial position and we just need to maintain it.
6. Summer Work Update
Mr. Brazell and Mr. Brethouwer updated the committee on summer work plans.
At the High school they will be replacing 10,000 square feet of carpet over the next three summers.
They will be using carpet squares. In the Auto/Welding Shop they are replacing the current lighting with
Echo LED lights. This will make us eligible for a rebate from the city. Work will also be done on the
landscaping by removing shrubs.
No large projects are scheduled this summer for the Middle School. Just general maintenance will
be done.
At the elementary buildings it will be general maintenance. At Lincoln they will work on the North
patio cover by painting it to eliminate the flaking of the concrete. The maintenance team will also be working
on setting up a preschool classroom out at Southeast Community College.
At Athletic Park the lights and transformers will be removed. We will maintain electricity to the press
box and concession stand. The press box will be repaired. The concrete bleachers will receive some
attention and we will be looking into options as what we could do for the concrete. The wooden bleachers
on the south end will be removed. The track has been repaired.
At the Central Office, we have some drywall and paint repair in the Board of Education Boardroom
and Student Programs.
At the Maintenance Building, we will be working with Keep Beatrice Beautiful. They are working on
a grant and plan to paint the west side of the building. If this happens then the rest of the building all but the
north side will be painted.
The House of Orange will have some minor work done on the track. There are a few spots about
the size of a quarter the rubber is down to the sheeting. These small spots will be touched up. If they find
anything large the company will have to do the repair work. Mr. Brazell shared that we will have upkeep on
the House of Orange and in 10 to 12 years we may have to replace the turf so he has been putting money in
the depreciation fund each year. The shale in the shot put area has been replaced with limestone chips,
which are staying in place. The next step is to clean-up the infill in the turf. The cost to hire the work done is
$31,000 and we are working with Nemaha to try and reduce this cost by having the company do our work
when they are in the area.
Mrs. Pieper asked if all the projects had been completed in the Hevelone Center. Mr. Brethouwer
was not sure if the curtains had repaired/replaced. The armrests cannot be refinished due to the product
that was used to make them. We may need to go to the company to see what the replacement cost would
be. Mrs. Pieper suggested that we check with Ratigan-Schottler. Mr. Brazell shared that we are currently
working on a grant for the sound system.
7. Superintendent Report
Mr. Nauroth informed the committee that we currently have 189 elementary students enrolled for
summer school. This is very exciting to have so many that we had to close the enrollment. If students attend
the required number of days, we should receive enough reimbursement to pay for summer school
Mr. Nauroth informed the committee that we are moving our evaluation process forward with the
Marzono model. We will be working with Learning Services International using I-Observation. This does not
include the evaluation instrument and we are currently working to develop it. During the first year we will
have staff development for I-Observation at a cost of $24,000.00. This product has a video library that has
various topics to help staff. Our staff care about kids and our goal is for growth in a collaborative
environment.
Mr. Nauroth shared that as we all know 85% of our budget is personnel. We need to talk about a
long-range plan for personnel and staff development and how these things begin to fit together with the rest
of the strategic plan. Mr. Nauroth suggested the Board of Education consider a board retreat.
8. Public Comments - This is the proper time for public questions and comments on any topic.
Please make sure a request form is given to the Board Vice-President before the meeting begins.
Susan Wait, 1505 Bell Street shared that she has been in a lot of schools during her career as an instructor
and she has never seen empty classrooms. She thanked the Board of Education for considering the
increase to seven classrooms in the new elementary design.
9. Adjournment
A motion was made by Mrs. Byars and seconded by Mrs. Sedlacek that the meeting adjourn.
Janet Byars
Doris Martin
Andy Maschmann
Lisa Pieper
Nancy Sedlacek
Jon Zimmerman
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Motion Passed
The meeting adjourned at 8:02 PM.