Highlights of 8/11 Board of Education Regular Meeting

Board of Education Regular Meeting

The Lincoln Board of Education met for a regular meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11, at the Lincoln Public Schools District Office, 5905 O St.

First Reading

Interlocal agreement for school resource officers and threat assessment officer

Lincoln Public Schools partners with the City of Lincoln to fund six school resource officers for high schools, six school resource officers at the middle school level, and a threat assessment officer who works as part of the LPS Threat Assessment Team.

This agreement can be renewed on an annual basis. On Tuesday, the Board considered the renewal of the agreement for the Sept. 1, 2020-Aug. 31, 2021 time period. As part of this, LPS would pay $282,377.55 from its general fund. The agreement stipulates that the cost per police officer cannot increase by more than 5 percent per calendar year. The increase for 2020-21 is 4.94 percent.

The Board will vote on the 2020-2021 agreement at its next meeting.

Construction bids for new northwest Lincoln high school

The Board was presented with bids for numerous projects related to the new northwest Lincoln high school, which is currently under construction. The high school is being paid for with funds from the 2020 Bond Fund approved by voters in February.

The bids under consideration:

Geothermal Wellfield Package: K-2 Construction (Lincoln) - $1,336,000.00
Cast-in-Place Foundations & Walls Package: Hausmann Construction, Inc. (Lincoln) - $4,395,000.00
Site Access Package: Hausmann Construction (Lincoln) - $252,000.00
Site Structural Steel Package: Katelman Steel Fabrication, Inc. (Council Bluffs, Iowa) - $3,694,300.00 (Note: This would be for both the northwest and southeast future high school sites)
Site Concrete Paving Package: Heartland Concrete & Construction (Hastings, Nebraska) - $1,970,038.00

The Board waived second reading and approved the bids.

Second Reading

School attendance areas for newly annexed property

The Board 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 City of Lincoln has annexed two parcels of land, which automatically brings this property into the district of Lincoln Public Schools.

The schools assigned to recently annexed Highland View, Annexation Ordinance #20007, will be Kooser Elementary School, Schoo Middle School and North Star High School.

The schools assigned to recently annexed Dominion at Stevens Creek, Annexation Ordinance #20008, will be Meadow Lane Elementary School, Culler Middle School and East High School.

The Board voted to approve the assigned schools for both areas.

2020-21 Board of Education and Superintendent Annual Goals and Priorities

Every year, the Board evaluates and develops goals and priorities for the Superintendent. The Board approved Superintendent Joel’s evaluation at the May 26 meeting. On Tuesday, the Board voted to approve the Superintendent’s goals and priorities for the 2020-21 year:

By August 2020, develop and implement a pandemic operational plan where students learn safely and effectively and is responsive to evolving circumstances.
Strengthen equity, diversity, and inclusion within Lincoln Public Schools and provide an update to the Board by April 15, 2021.

Public Comment

There were 58 citizens who addressed the Board during Public Comment. You can view the full video of the meeting that includes public comment here.

Glimpses of LPS

We open every Board meeting with a video that highlights the amazing teaching and learning taking place in our schools. Tonight’s video featured student speeches from the virtual high school graduation ceremonies.