Highlights of the February 24 Lincoln Board of Education regular meeting

February 24, 2026

The Lincoln Board of Education held its regular meeting on Tuesday, February 24, 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

Board & Superintendent Annual Goals & Priorities Update

Early Childhood Community Outreach

The Board had a goal for staff to develop, implement and present to the Board by April 15 the early childhood community outreach plan to help increase the collective capacity of community child care organizations to serve children and families. Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Mike Gillotti joined Director of Early Childhood Cara Lucas-Richt to provide the update for the Board.

Currently LPS serves over 2,100 children ages birth to five and their families through inclusive preschool classrooms, within their home environments and through assisting pregnant and parenting youth in attaining independence and self-sufficiency. 

As part of the community outreach efforts, LPS Early Childhood and Security teams collaborate with Lincoln Littles to provide safety trainings and walkthroughs. In addition, LPS Early Childhood provides professional learning for childcare providers. Topics of these sessions include responding to behavior, social emotional learning for preschool students and promoting regulation to support challenging behavior.

Through direct services, LPS Early Childhood serves 297 children in licensed and in-home child care centers. LPS uses a Primary Service Provider Model where LPS staff provide supports to families and caregivers through coaching and capacity-building. 

Lucas-Richt shared a testimonial from a daycare provider who has been in business for 30 years that in part said, “This opportunity has resulted in growth for the child which I was struggling to align with the needs of many other children. I encourage child care providers to take advantage of this opportunity when presented with it.”

LPS is an active member of Planning Region Team #18, which is a group of parents, advocates and representatives from school districts, agencies, Educational Service Units and other relevant agencies responsible for assisting in the planning and implementation of the Early Intervention Act. 

You can watch a highlight of the Early Childhood Community Outreach presentation here.

First reading

Nebraska 21st Century Community Learning Center New and First Time Grant Applications

Staff asked the Board to consider applications to the Nebraska Department of Education for the Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers federally-funded grant program and the Expanded Learning Opportunity Grant program. 

Each CLC site is to have an academic focus to assist participating students in meeting state and local academic achievement standards. Families of students served may also receive services in areas which support family literacy, health, other family support services, and childcare.

There are three new grant applications for:

  • Arnold and McPhee elementary schools and Park Middle School
  • Norwood Park Elementary School and Dawes Middle School
  • Calvert Elementary School and North Star High School

Community partners that have been identified to serve as the CLC lead agencies and to assist in the planning and service provision include: 

  • Boys and Girls Club of Lincoln and Lancaster County
  • Family Service Lincoln
  • Lincoln Parks and Recreation
  • Northeast Family Center
  • Lincoln Housing Authority

These programs mentioned above have consistently served an average of 965 students attending 15 hours each year and over 1,290 total students through after-school programming. The CLC sites and partnering agencies continue to be intentional in their alignment of after-school programs with school-day academics, which has resulted in participating students outperforming their peers who do not attend after school programs on state assessments. The programs also successfully provide high level academic and enrichment programming for students as evidenced in both annual self-assessments and external observations.The grants LPS will apply for will build and expand on the success these sites have experienced over the past years.

In addition, staff recommend applying for first-time grant funding for Kooser Elementary School and Schoo Middle School. These two schools have specific needs that are in line with grant goals. If the grants are awarded, then a request for partnership for providers will be conducted. This would add two schools to the list of 31 LPS schools that provide CLC programming.

Due to grant application deadlines, the Board waived second reading and voted to approve the grant applications. 

2027-2028 student calendar

Each year a joint committee with LPS and Lincoln Education Association composed of a Board member, parents, teachers and administrators recommends a student calendar to the Board for consideration. The Board adopted calendar variables to guide the Calendar Committee’s work in meeting the goal of creating a school calendar that demonstrates the district’s commitment to learning. 

Highlights of the 2027-2028 student calendar include:

  • Once again, the first day of classes on Aug. 10, 2027, will only be for kindergarten, sixth and ninth grade students to help these students transition and learn routines.
  • The first day for all other students will be Aug. 11, 2027.
  • Fall break for students will be Oct. 11 - 13, with Oct. 13 being used as a district professional learning day for staff.
  • The first semester will end on Dec. 21, with winter break being Dec. 22 - Jan. 3.
  • The last day for students will be May 18, with graduation weekend happening May 19-21.

The Board will hold a second reading and vote on the 2027-2028 calendar at the next meeting.

Second reading

High school portables

Staff recommend the Board approve the lowest responsible bid for the construction of four portable classrooms – two to be installed at Northwest High School, and two to be installed at Standing Bear High School. This will accommodate classroom scheduling needs while the Board reviews attendance areas.

The Board held a second reading and voted to approve the bid from Genesis Contracting Group in Lincoln for $688,000.

Southwest High School track renovation project

Staff recommend the Board approve the lowest responsible bid for the renovation of the track at Southwest High School.

The LPS Operations team is preparing for summer projects. This is part of the plan to update all school tracks.

The Board held a second reading and voted to approve the bid from M.E. Collins Contracting Co. Inc. in Wahoo for $626,611.

Northeast High School tennis court renovation project

Staff recommend the Board approve the lowest responsible bid for the renovation of the tennis courts at Northeast High School. This is part of the plan to renovate and update all school tennis courts.

The Board held a second reading and voted to approve the bid from Heartland Concrete & Construction in Hastings for $633,922.

Proposed negotiated agreement with the Lincoln Education Association

In a proposal presented to the Lincoln Board of Education on Tuesday, Feb. 10, the Lincoln Education Association (LEA) and Lincoln Public Schools have reached a two-year contract agreement for the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 school years.

The agreement represents an intentional combination of the valuable contributions our teachers make for Lincoln Public Schools and revitalizing district practices to support student learning along with teacher retention and recruitment.

Approved by a vote of LEA members on January 28, the agreement provides a total compensation package increase of 4.20 percent for the 2026-27 school year, with the base salary increasing from $49,556 to $50,156. In addition, the 7.44 percent increase in health insurance costs from the provider will be split between the school district covering 80 percent and educators 20 percent of the out of pocket increase. 

For the 2027-2028 school year, the tentative agreement provides a total compensation package increase of 4.25 percent, with the base salary increasing from $50,156 to $50,756.

Other highlights of the negotiated contract changes for educators includes:

  • Special Education incentives that allow current and new educators to move an additional step on the salary schedule. There will also be a $1,000 stipend at three, five, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 years of consecutive service in a Special Education role.
  • There will be two weeks of paid parental leave for certificated staff that runs concurrent with FMLA during a 12-month period.
  • New hires will be compensated at the workshop participant rate for attending required orientation days.
  • Educators at Step 15 or higher with 750 hours of accumulated leave can elect to be paid out accumulated leave hours they will receive the following contract year at $25 per hour.
  • Educators who qualify for leave payout at separation will be paid $25 per hour.
  • Eligible educators will have 75 percent of leave payout go to a 403(b) and 25 percent to an HRA.
  • Extra standard assignments are moving from a points system to a base generator, with boys and girls equivalent sports being paid the same.

This agreement with LEA impacts approximately 3,700 teachers, librarians, nurses, social workers, counselors, school psychologists, speech language pathologists and early childhood teachers.

The Board held a second reading and voted 6-1 to approve the negotiated agreement with LEA. 

Informational items and reports

Superintendent update

LPS Superintendent John Skretta opened his remarks expressing gratitude to the LPS and LEA teams who collaborated on the two-year negotiated agreement approved by the Board.

Skretta also shared he had the opportunity to celebrate at Huntington Elementary School earlier in the day as the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools surprised the staff and students with the 2026 Inspire School of the Year award. He added that the $5,000 award will help principal Krsti Schirmer and the team sustain the great work already taking place at Huntington. 

In addition to celebrating the award, Skretta reminded the community about the Foundation’s first annual ALL In for LPS giving day on Friday, Feb. 27. This one-day community-wide fundraising effort will help the Foundation invest in student and staff well-being and outcomes by enriching programs and strengthening the Lincoln community. 

Public comment

There were two individuals that addressed the Board during the public comment period at the end of the meeting. You can watch the public comment as part of the full board meeting video.

Glimpses of LPS

We open every Board meeting with a video that highlights LPS. Tuesday’s Glimpses highlighted a special project by Dawes Middle School students as they make quilts for the Legacy Retirement Home. You can watch Glimpses on YouTube.

Published: February 24, 2026, Updated: February 24, 2026