Highlights of the August 26 Lincoln Board of Education regular meeting

August 26, 2025

The Lincoln Board of Education met for its regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 6:00 p.m. at the Lincoln Public Schools Steve Joel District Leadership Center, 5905 O Street. 

Special reports, presentations and celebrations of success

Kristin Vest - LPS Family and Consumer Sciences Curriculum Coordinator

The Nebraska Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (NACFS) recently honored Lincoln Public Schools Family and Consumer Sciences Curriculum Coordinator Kristin Vest with their Leader Award. 

Vest began teaching in Nebraska in 2007. She joined the LPS Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Department in 2021. 

LPS Career and Technical Education Curriculum Specialist Jason Thomsen wrote: 
"Kristin has a true passion for family and consumer sciences, which inspires a shared sense of purpose among staff. She is dedicated to supporting FCS teachers and is always willing to go above and beyond to help in any way that she can. With a strong command of FCS content and curriculum, she is able to create a clear vision for the FCS program and is a strong advocate for FCS education."

You can watch a highlight of the presentation for Vest here.

Wendy Rau - LPS Director of Health Services

LPS Director of Health Services Wendy Rau was recently added to an elite list of National Academy of School Nursing Fellows by the National Association of School Nurses (NASN). This prestigious honor is a symbol of superior achievement in the school nursing profession and exceptional contributions to NASN and the profession of school nursing.

Rau began working as a school nurse at Lincoln High in 2005. She became the director of LPS Health Services in 2017. Rau was named the Nebraska School Nurse Administrator of the Year in 2020. 

Colleagues wrote: 
"Wendy has a full understanding of what it means to be a school nurse, how legislation affects our work, and the leadership style necessary to support and grow a strong team of school nurses. She has helped guide our association through conflicts and changes with a calm, patient and confident demeanor. I admire that Wendy consistently works to improve practices - not just for the sake of efficiency, but to enhance student outcomes."

You can watch a highlight of the entire presentation for Rau here.

First reading

2025-26 Insurance Rates

For 29 years, LPS Risk Management has arranged for the district’s insurance coverage through an Owner Controlled Self-Insurance program. This allows the school district to have lower premiums, hold funds until needed to pay claims, have the district legal counsel involved in all lawsuits, have all claim settlements approved by the school district and keeps LPS staff and legal counsel involved in claims from the beginning.

The LPS insurance broker, UNICO, provides LPS Risk Management with a report comparing the estimated premium costs for standard insurance coverage to the actual Owner Controlled Protected Self-Insurance program costs and estimates a savings to the district of more than one million dollars per year in premium costs alone.

Due to timelines, the Board waived second reading and voted to approve the insurance rates as presented to the Board.

Second reading

Policy update - 2120

Periodically, the school district updates existing policy to ensure it aligns with current practice. 

Proposed updates to Policy 2120 establishes the Superintendent’s Executive Committee as a senior leadership group to provide the Superintendent with advice and counsel. Policy 2120 will also be revised to recognize the Administrator and Technician employee groups as groups of similarly situated employees, respectively, with a similar community of interest appropriate for bargaining by the Lincoln Board of Education. The recommended revisions align Policy 2120 with the District’s long-standing meet-and-confer bargaining practices with the Administrator and Technician employee groups.

The Board held a second reading and voted to approve the updates.

Interlocal agreement for School Resource Officers and Threat Assessment Officer

Every year, LPS reviews an agreement with the City of Lincoln to fund school resource officers and a threat assessment officer as part of the Safe and Successful Kids Interlocal Agreement. The 14 SROs are assigned to LPS middle and high schools, and the threat assessment officer is assigned to the school district. 

The SROs help with the education of students, assist staff and facilitate communication between LPS and Lincoln Police Department. SROs take appropriate law enforcement action when situations arise requiring the exercise of police authority.

Each year in November, the Safe and Successful Kids Interlocal Board reviews and presents data and feedback collected by both LPS and the Lincoln Police Department. You can find the presentation from last November here.

The Board held a second reading and voted to approve the agreement.

Informational items and reports

Personnel Policy Committee

Board member John Goodwin provided a summary from the Personnel Policy Committee.
The committee recently met to review how the district is addressing the Grow Your Own initiative. There are four cadres and two early childhood avenues to help current staff become certificated in Special Education and Early Childhood. There are 41 future educators currently in the programs.

Superintendent update

Interim Superintendent John Skretta provided the Board with an update. He talked about how he recently ran into a former student at a grocery store. 

The former student told Skretta “I want to reassure you, I’m not the same person you had to deal with back then.”

What Skretta took away from the interaction is the importance of meeting students where they are, providing them with the supports that they need, so they can become responsible and successful adults we all hope for.

Skretta connected that conversation with a school visit at Meadow Lane Elementary School where they witnessed across all grade levels in the entire school a commitment to ensuring students are engaged and accountable. Whatever support the students need, they receive from caring adults. This is consistent across the district.

“I think that when we provide that sort of consistent and compassionate support to students, when you see one of those kids years later, then they're grateful because they know they were supported by adults who always believed in their potential,” added Skretta.

Public comment

There were no individuals that addressed the Board during the public comment period.

Glimpses of LPS

We open every Board meeting with a video that highlights LPS. Tuesday’s Glimpses featured sights and sounds from the first week of school. You can watch the Glimpses on YouTube.

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