Highlights: 11/08 Lincoln Board of Education regular meeting

The Lincoln Board of Education met for a regular meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 8, at the Lincoln Public Schools Steve Joel District Leadership Center, 5905 O Street. 

Special reports, presentations, and celebrations of success

Staff Celebrations

Tommy Bender - Southeast High School English teacher 
Southeast High School English teacher Tommy Bender received two awards for excellence in teaching.

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), named Bender a 2022 High School Teacher of Excellence. He was also designated as the 2022-2023 English Teacher of the Year by the Nebraska English Language Arts Council (NELAC).  Bender was nominated by Ann Quinlan of Lincoln. 

A former Southeast High School English Department Chair, Ms. Quinlan wrote in her nomination letter: 

"Tommy Bender has dedicated his career to helping students become more than they thought they could be. From teaching required Oral Communications classes to freshmen who may be anxious about presenting their first speech, to working with varsity level speech teams that compete nationally and achieve exceptional honors, Tommy shows interest, enthusiasm, and support for all students."

Hanna Savidge - Randolph Elementary School fourth grade teacher
The Nebraska Association of Teachers of Mathematics named Randolph Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Hanna Savidge 2022 Rookie Teacher of the Year. Established in 2000, this award recognizes teachers in their first three years of teaching who demonstrate outstanding work in the area of mathematics.

Randolph Principal Monica Jochum wrote in her nomination letter:
"Hanna does all she can to ensure her students have the best instruction possible. Hannah will have a student come up and share the way they solved a problem. The rest of the class is intently listening for understanding their method. The students then follow up with questions connected to their student's thinking. The students have a very natural conversation about their mathematical thinking. All the while, Hanna is listening with a keen ear and facilitating the conversation. She allows her students to lead the conversations and steps in to guide or ask follow-up questions. Through her routines and procedures, she has fostered a love of mathematics and deep problem-solving in a community of learners."

First reading

Northeast and East high schools track renovation project

Bids from interested vendors were received for the renovation of the tracks at Northeast and East high schools. Staff recommend accepting the bid from Midwest Tennis and Track for the amount of $639,831.

The Board voted to waive second reading and approve the bid.

Goodrich Renovation Project

Bids from interested vendors were received for the renovation at Goodrich Middle School for specials areas. Staff recommend accepting the bid from BIC Construction LLC for the amount of $826,600.

The Board voted to waive second reading and approve the bid.

Student Calendar changes

Superintendent Paul Guasman recommended the modification of the 2022-2023 school calendar to provide two additional teacher planning days without students in attendance. Staff have continued to repeatedly give up their contracted plan periods to provide class covers and additional supervision duties due to the limited availability of substitutes in a tight labor market. LPS recognizes the added demands on staff and seeks to enhance the ability of staff to meet these challenges by modifying the normal school calendar for 2022-2023 by adding Dec. 9 and Feb. 21 as non-student plan days so staff can use the time to catch up.

To help in communicating the calendar changes to families and staff, the Board voted to waive second reading and approve the change.

Second reading

Lincoln High south annex indoor air quality

Proposals were requested for design and construction administration services for indoor air quality and associated improvements at the Lincoln High School South Annex. Staff recommend that the agreement be awarded to Clark Enersen Inc. for the design and construction administration services for the amount of $555,000.

The Board voted to approve the agreement.

Informational items and reports

Superintendent update

Gausman gave an update to the Board on his transition. He first welcomed interim Association Superintendent of Human Resources Vann Price to the executive team. 

“I’m not sure there is anybody more deserving than Dr. Vann Price to sit at this table and work with us in this capacity,” said Gausman. To Price he added, “I congratulate you and want to acknowledge that you’ve taught me a few things in my short time here. Keep it up because we all need to get better.”

He also marveled at the content created by the Communications, Library Media Services and Technology departments in helping move forward the ‘All Means All’ mission of LPS. Recently Belmont students were offered full tuition at Doane University through a documentary produced by Brian Seifferlein and David Koehn. 

Gausman spoke about his tours of Don D. Sherrill, Nuernberger and Yankee Hill education centers. He commended those staff members for their willingness to get the work done and serve students.

He finished with, “The staff of this district are doing some really incredible things.”

Public comment

There were three individuals that addressed the Board during public comment. You can watch the public comments in 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 Student Vote 2022 held on Wednesday, Nov. 2. 

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