Highlights of the March 26, 2024 Lincoln Board of Education regular meeting

The Lincoln Board of Education met for its regular meeting on Tuesday, March 26, at the Lincoln Public Schools Steve Joel District Leadership Center, 5905 O Street. 

Special reports, presentations and celebrations of success

Tammy Lamprecht - Southwest High School Teacher

Tammy Lamprecht teaches Japanese language classes at Southwest High School and was recently awarded the Outstanding World Language Teacher Award by the Nebraska International Languages Association (NILA).

Lamprecht facilitates conversations with a sister school in Japan that allows students to have pen pals and a student exchange program. In addition to classes and learning opportunities, she also sponsors a Japanese club at Southwest High School where all interested students are welcome to attend.

The nomination letter for the award states:
"First of all, I must commend Mrs. Lamprecht (or as her students call her, Lamprecht-Sensei) for being the only Japanese teacher in our school district of 40,000+ students. This in itself could be intimidating and isolating for any educator. However, Lamprecht-Sensei consistently finds ways to collaborate and keep the Japanese program alive and thriving at Lincoln Public Schools."

Student Behavior Comprehensive Framework

During LPS Superintendent Paul Gausman's first year, he presented a Superintendent Transition Plan that outlined five areas of focus. One of those areas was student behavior supports.

This year, the Board set a goal that by April 9, 2024, a comprehensive framework to address student behavior needed to be developed and presented. This comprehensive framework should include prevention, accountability and restorative practices. 

Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Matt Larson presented to the Board district-wide initiatives that were implemented during the 2023-2024 school year while the Behavior Framework was developed. Those initiatives included uniform cell phone restrictions at all grade levels, a digital hall pass system at the high school, piloting vape detectors at one high school, piloting digital hall pass system at two middle schools, installing cameras in common spaces at middle schools,and providing professional learning on restorative practices.

Larson and the team of instructional directors worked through the first semester to gather input from staff and students asking “what can the district do to provide a better learning environment in your building?”. There were five emerging themes: consistency within the building and between buildings on how to respond, consequences and accountability for inappropriate behavior, explicit expectations and time to teach it, more support for teachers and especially new teachers and better follow-up communication after an incident.

Larson introduced LPS Student Services Supervisor Karmin Pedroza to share an overview of the district Behavior Framework that was developed and highlight key elements. 

There are three components: Prevention, Accountability and Restorative (PAR). The agreed-upon definitions for these three components serve as a foundation for the rest of the framework. 

LPS staff will receive professional learning during the fourth quarter that will provide an overview of this Behavior Framework. In addition, the School Improvement Plan workshops over the summer and professional learning the first week staff are back in August will also focus on the framework. There will be regular opportunities for feedback on the framework so appropriate adjustments can be made.

Behavior initiatives for the 2024-2025 school year will include implementing the PreK-12 district-wide Behavior Framework, digital hall pass implementation at all middle schools, vape detection systems installed at all high schools, and dedicated time at elementary schools during the first two weeks of school to teach expectations, routines and procedures.

Larson wrapped up the report by saying, “I am proud of the work that Karmin and our team has done and of the input students and staff have made. It’s not perfect, but what I can assure you of is that next year our leaders will work to improve it day after day. It is a great start to improving our teaching and learning environment in schools. I hope everyone gives the system time to make an impact. Every time we implement anything new, it takes time to make adjustments.”

First reading

Fresh milk products

Proposals were requested from interested vendors to provide fresh milk and dairy products for use by LPS Nutrition Services for all locations. The contract prices are for the period of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. There are four optional one-year renewal periods.

Staff recommended that the Board approve the contract with Kemps Dairy for $1,152,515. The Board will hold a second reading and vote to approve the contract at the next meeting.

Fresh bakery products

Proposals were requested from interested vendors to provide fresh bakery products for use by LPS Nutrition Services for all locations. The contract prices are for the period of July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. There are four optional one-year renewal periods.

Staff recommended that the Board approve the contract with Pan-O-Gold Baking Company for $251,368. The Board will hold a second reading and vote to approve the contract at the next meeting.

Lincoln High School tennis court renovation project

The Board considered bids for a tennis court renovation project at Lincoln High School. Staff recommend approving the contract with Nemaha Sports Construction for $652,931.00.

Due to construction timelines, the Board waved second reading and voted to approve the contract.

Southeast High School track renovation project

The Board considered bids for a track renovation project at Southeast High School. Staff recommend approving the contract with M E Collins Contracting Co. Inc. for $833,166.90.

Due to construction timelines, the Board waved second reading and voted to approve the contract.

Second reading

Newly annexed property to the City of Lincoln

The Board of Education assigns school attendance areas to property newly annexed to the City of Lincoln. This action establishes school attendance areas prior to the sale of residential lots, allowing purchasers to know what schools their children will attend.
 
The proposal assigns the newly annexed area of Northbank Junction to Norwood Park Elementary School, Dawes Middle School and Northeast High School. It also assigns the newly annexed area of Highland View to Kooser Elementary School, Schoo Middle School and North Star High School.

The Board voted to approve the assignment.

Update to Policy 3530

LPS Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs Liz Standish brought forth a proposed revision to Policy 3530 and district procedures around student school lunch debt. The Board had asked for staff to review current policies and procedures in light of LB 855 being introduced by the Nebraska Legislature this session. 

The proposed revision to Policy 3530 adds the following language:
“The Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs is not authorized to utilize an outside collection agency for an uncollected or uncollectible accounts in which the negative balance is accumulated from the purchase of student meals.”

LPS announced the previous week it has suspended referring additional families to collections effective immediately, and will recall current accounts with the collection agency. In addition, the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools will continue to work with LPS Nutrition Services to use donations designated for meal debt to address delinquent accounts.

More information about the changes can be found on the LPS website.

The Board voted to approve the revisions to Policy 3530.

Informational items and reports

From Board Committees

Finance Committee
Board policy 3100 states that a budget calendar will be presented to the Board by April 1 of each year. This presentation will include timelines for when a preliminary list of budgetary goals and budget priorities will be available, a preliminary budget to meet the needs of the school system for the next fiscal year will be presented, a projection based upon the latest enrollment and revenue estimates for the succeeding fiscal year will be available, and tentative dates for necessary publications, public hearings and budget adoption.

Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs Liz Standish presented the budget development calendar and also an update on legislation that could impact the LPS budget and budget process.

Key dates in the development of the LPS budget shared during the presentation includes:

  • June 25: presentation of the preliminary proposed budget during the Board of Education budget work session at 4:30 p.m. 
  • June 25: Public comment time available at the Board of Education regular meeting
  • June 26: online input window opens
  • June 26: Public Forums for community input and questions
    • Virtual at noon
    • In-person at 6:00 p.m.
  • June 27: Public Forum for community input and questions virtually at 6:00 p.m.
  • June 30: Deadline for Nebraska homeowners to file for the Nebraska Homestead Exemption program.
  • July 12: online input window closes so it can be compiled and shared with the Board
  • July 23: presentation of the proposed budget during the Board of Education budget work session at 4:30 p.m. 
  • July 23: Public comment time available at the Board of Education regular meeting
  • August 13: Public comment time available at the Board of Education regular meeting
  • August 26: Public comment time available at the Board of Education Budget Hearing
  • August 27: Public comment time available at the Board of Education regular meeting
  • September 10: Board of Education regular meeting to hold first reading on budget adoption, base growth limitation and property tax request
  • September 16-19: County-wide pink postcard hearing
  • September 24: Board of Education regular meeting to hold second reading and vote on budget adoption, base growth limitation and property tax request
  • September 30: Budget filing deadline

Standish also shared information about the Nebraska Homestead Exemption program. The Nebraska Homestead Exemption program is a property tax relief program that reduces all or a portion of taxes for homeowners in Nebraska who occupy a home, used as their primary residence that meet the criteria. More information about that program can be found here. The filing deadline for the program is June 30, 2024.

As part of the presentation, Standish reviewed the 2023 Governor’s Education Finance Package. This package was carefully crafted in collaboration with educators and state senators from across Nebraska. Included in the package was a continued focus on local control - allowing locally elected school boards to make decisions based on their community’s feedback and input on priorities. 

On Monday, March 25, the Nebraska Department of Education released a model based on a possible proposed property tax reduction package. That model showed the result would remove the 3% soft cap and make it a hard 3% cap on the property tax request by school districts, taking away local board authority. Exact bill language has not yet been released by the state legislature.

Standish said that LPS staff have been having conversations with state senators to help them understand the impact of a hard cap at 3% as outlined in the NDE model. In the long-term, Standish told the Board this reduction in revenue would result in LPS’s inability to recruit and retain a quality workforce during a nation-wide labor shortage. This would result in unfilled teaching positions, larger class sizes and classes taught by staff outside of their endorsement areas. It would also lead to even more unfilled support staff positions (paraeducators, transportation, custodial) that serve students and schools. This would make it difficult for the local Board of Education to add programming and services based on community identified priorities, and the school district would have a diminishing ability to address ongoing or new student needs because of program and service cuts due to the drop in revenue.

Standish told the Board that an amendment filed earlier Tuesday afternoon did not include the concept that would impose a 3% hard cap as outlined in the NDE model.

“A huge thank you to the senators that were listening as we were trying to explain how problematic that concept was,” added Standish.

Superintendent update

LPS Superintendent Paul Guasman provided an update to the Board where he congratulated state speech and state debate competitors, and students who participated in the UNL Math Day. During his update he also introduced the next Associate Superintendent for Civic Engagement, John Skretta. Skretta currently serves as the Chief Administrator for Educational Service Unit 6.

“We are excited to welcome Dr. Skretta back to Lincoln Public Schools,” said Gausman. “His demonstrated passion and dedication to serving all students in Nebraska fits within our mission. Dr. Skretta’s vast experience and the relationships he has built across the state will greatly benefit LPS.”

Public comment

There was one individual that addressed the Board during public comment. You can watch the public comment as part of the full meeting video here.

Glimpses of LPS

We open every Board meeting with a video that highlights Lincoln Public Schools. Tuesday’s Glimpses featured the LPS Science Fair. 

Published: March 26, 2024, Updated: March 27, 2024