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Minutes November 13, 2017

January 09, 2018

The regular meeting of the Board of Education of the Creighton Community School District No. 13 was held on November 13, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the High School Library.

 

Notice of the meeting was given in advance thereof by publication in the Creighton News, as shown by the Affidavit of Publication attached to the minutes.  Notice was also hung at the City Offices, front door of the high school, and front door of the elementary.

 

Notice of the meeting was simultaneously sent to all the members and a copy of their acknowledgment and receipt of notice and agenda is attached to these minutes.  Availability of the agenda was communicated in the advance notice as was the notice to the members of this meeting.  All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the convened meeting was opened to the attendance of the public.  The agenda for the meeting is attached and incorporated into these minutes.

 

President Morrill called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

 

Morrill announced that the Open Meeting Laws Act Poster was displayed on the wall.

 

Members present: Kay Morrill, Colleen Farnik, Tim Gragert, Greg Kuhlman, Dixie Hanefeldt, and Duane Fanta. 

 

Others Present:  Superintendent Thompson, Principal Nilson, Secretary Hoffman, and district patrons.   

 

The Pledge of Allegiance was said.

 

There was no public comment.

 

1. Reports: 

Superintendent Thompson has received two bids for a new security camera system.  The elementary teachers are contacting other schools about the pros and cons of the reading series they are using since we need to upgrade ours next year.  He received the list of goals from Shari Becker that the board had compiled during their work session in early October.  The final meeting with 360 Energy is November 14.  He updated the board on the three transition goals that were shared at the last meeting. 

 

Principal Nilson reported that the fall sport teams had successful seasons and play will be competing over the next few weeks.  The ACT review schedule for sophomore and juniors using John Baylor Test Prep has been set up.  We are currently planning on using the online ACT test version.  He has attended training/webinars on APL, 504’s and school improvement.  He shared some agenda items for Friday’s teacher inservice.

 

Board President Morrill stated that the State Education Conference for board members is November 15^th-17^th and that Colleen is our delegate for the meeting.  She stated that the Superintendent evaluation will be discussed later in the meeting.

 

The negotiations committee has met with the teachers, but no negotiating has been done as both sides were waiting for new insurance rates to come out.  The planning and development committee met and will share more information later in the meeting.

 

Gragert moved to approve the consent agenda consisting of minutes from the October 9 meeting, the monthly financial report, and the second readings on policies 402.06, 402.08, 404.05, 403.07, 404.06, 404.06R1 and 404.07.  Seconded by Hanefeldt.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.

 

Discussion/Action Items:

             

1. Fanta moved to approve the Creighton Education Association as the exclusive bargaining agent for the 2019-2020 school year.  Seconded by Kuhlman.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.
2. The wellness policy needs to be reviewed periodically.  Gragert moved to adopt and approve Wellness Policy 508.13.  Seconded by Fanta. RCV: 5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.  
3. The policy committee has reviewed several policies.  Policy 402.06 was clarified so that the sentence....The copy of the employee’s records kept at the superintendent’s office is the official copy of their records, means the superintendent’s office will be designated as being the business office in the high school office.  Policy 402.08 (Employee Travel Compensation) will be reworded to align with current state reimbursement rates.  Gragert moved to update policy 402.08 by striking out current district reimbursement and adding allowed by Neb. Rev. Stats. 81-1176.  Seconded by Hanefeldt.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.  No changes were made to policy 403.05. Policy 403.07 (Employee Use of Social Networks), lists several statements that the board felt were inappropriate.  Fanta moved to strike out items A-E under section 1 of policy 403.07.  The items removed were: (A) Teachers may not list current students as their “friends” on networking sites. (B) All e-contacts with students should be through the district’s computer and telephone system, except emergency situations. (C) All contact and messages by coaches with team members shall be sent to all team members, except for messages concerning medical or academic privacy matters, in which case the messages will be copies the athletic director and principal.  (D) Teachers will not give out their private cell phone or home phone numbers without prior approval of the district.  (E) Inappropriate contact via e-mail or phone is prohibited.  Kuhlman seconded the motion.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.  Gragert moved to change policy 404.06 (Harassment by Employees) by replacing operated transportation with contracted transportation.  Fanta seconded the motion.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.  Policy 404.06R1 (Harassment Investigating and Reporting) had two blanks that needed to be filled in.  Hanefeldt moved to fill the first blank with the word Superintendent and the second blank with the word Principal.  Seconded by Kuhlman.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.  Policy 404.07 (Substance-Free Workplace) contained a few typos.  Kuhlman moved to change the word required to require (line 12) and and to any (line 43) on page three of the policy.  Seconded by Fanta.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.  All employees of the district will be required to sign that they received a copy of the policy 404.07.       
4. Gragert, Morrill, and Farnik will be attending the state NASB conference in November.
5. The board needs to appoint a delegate assembly representative for the state conference.  Gragert moved that Farnik be Creighton’s representative.  Seconded by Fanta.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.  If Farnik does not want to be our representative, Fanta nominated Morrill to be our rep.  Seconded by Gragert.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik excused.  Motion Carried.
6.  The planning and development committee would like to get an outside facilitator to come in and lead the committee.  A handout on Waverly school’s partnership for planning was shared.  Deb Wragge also talked to the committee at their last meeting about services she could provide.  Superintendent Thompson also has some ideas of potential facilitators.  An outside facilitator has expertise in the field, can keep the meetings moving as the group gets bigger, is a neutral party, and can be objective.  Fanta moved to allow the planning and development to look for an outside facilitator to be used for planning and development.  Seconded by Hanefeldt.  RCV:  5-0.  Farnik abstained.  Motion Carried.
7. Public comment was held on the possibility of having a drug testing policy.  Kathy Becker is glad that we are investigating and thinks it is worth exploring.  Whitney Abbott, from North Central District Health Department, gave a short presentation on codes and policies developed by Olympic trainer John Underwood on the topic.  She handed out material that includes some recommendations on what to include in a drug testing policy. 
8. The board worked on creating goals for the Superintendent as the special meeting on October 2^nd.  Superintendent Thompson had already created some goals for himself including making sure the policy and handbooks on line are current, developing financial reports, and promoting community, board, and staff collaboration for district vision.  The board decided to use these goals as the goals to evaluate him on in December.  Gragert moved to approve the transition goals as presented for the Superintendent.  Seconded by Fanta.  RCV:  6-0.  Motion Carried. 
1. The negotiations committee has reviewed several documents and sent the negotiated agreement to the attorney for approval.  At 8:21 p.m., Gragert moved that the board enter closed session to hold a strategy session related to collective bargaining to protect the public interest.  Seconded by Fanta.  RCV:  6-0.  President Morrill restated the reason for entering closed session.  At 9:40 p.m., Hanefeldt moved to exit closed session.  Seconded by Fanta.  RCV:  6-0.  Motion Carried.  No further action was taken. 

 

The following bills were paid:

 

At 9:41 p.m., President Morrill adjourned the meeting.  The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Wednesday, December 13, 2017, at 5:00 p.m. in the High School Library. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Jennifer Hoffman, Secretary