Highlights of the Feb. 27, 2024 Lincoln Board of Education regular meeting

The Lincoln Board of Education met for its regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 27, at the Lincoln Public Schools Steve Joel District Leadership Center, 5905 O Street.

Special reports, presentations and celebrations of success

Digital Citizenship presentation

LPS Director of Library Services Chris Haeffner provided an update to the Board on efforts to educate students about digital citizenship. 

“Ever since computers started popping up in school libraries several decades ago, our district and our families have recognized the importance of digital citizenship instruction,” said Haeffner. “Now more than ever as many of our students spend much of their day online in some capacity, digital citizenship and media literacy skills are critical in navigating their world.”

LPS introduced the first digital citizenship learning objectives over a decade ago, and over the last year Library Services has partnered with curriculum specialists and computing services staff to update and revise those objectives. These revisions reflect the most up-to-date skills that students need in order to be safe, thoughtful and ethical users of technology.

The new objectives focus on four areas: digital safety, media and information literacy, digital well-being and social responsibility.

First 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 will hold a second reading and vote at the next regular meeting.

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 will hold a second reading on the Policy 3530 revision and vote at the next regular meeting.

McPhee, Hartley and Clinton turf playgrounds project

LPS Director of Operations Scott Wieskamp informed the Board that there are some playgrounds in the district where it is challenging to grow grass. A recommendation from the Board Planning Committee was to add artificial turf to these playgrounds.

Bids were requested from interested vendors for the installation of synthetic turf playground improvements at McPhee, Hartley, and Clinton Elementary Schools.  Services will include: site demolition, grading, installation of aggregate base course, installation of storm sewer piping, synthetic turf, and other minor improvements.

It is recommended that the bid be awarded to Nemaha Sports Construction in Lincoln for $1,004,000.

Due to construction timelines, the Board waived second reading and voted to approve the bid.

Seacrest Field turf improvements

Bids were requested from interested vendors for the installation of synthetic turf field improvements at Seacrest Field. Services will include: site demolition, grading, installation of aggregate base course, installation of storm sewer piping, synthetic turf and other minor improvements.

It is recommended that the bid be awarded to Sprinturf  for $485,375.

Due to construction timelines, the Board waived second reading and voted to approve the bid.

Arts & Humanities/Bottlers Building renovation project

Bids were requested from interested vendors for the renovation of the Arts and Humanities/Bottlers Building.

It is recommended that the bid be awarded to BIC Construction LLC from Lincoln for $2,644,400.

Due to construction timelines, the Board waived second reading and voted to approve the bid.

Northeast High School pool mechanical modifications

Bids were requested from interested vendors for modification of the Northeast High School pool mechanical system.

It is recommended that the bid be awarded to Helm Mechanical Inc. for $1,183,740.

Due to construction timelines, the Board waived second reading and voted to approve the bid.

Second reading

Proposed 2024-29 Strategic Plan

As part of its goals for the 2022–2023 school year, the Lincoln Board of Education agreed to work with consulting firm District Management Group to gather community input and draft the 2024–2029 LPS Strategic Plan. 

The All Means All Action Plan and the Superintendent’s Transition Plan are the core of the 2024-2029 LPS Strategic Plan and represent the district’s commitment to community input and equitable outcomes. Developing the draft of the plan occurred in three phases:

• Phase I: A preliminary analysis of existing data and feedback, including a review of the All Means All Action Plan and the Superintendent’s Transition Plan happened from March to June of 2023.
• Phase II: From June to October 2023, the steering committee worked with the Board, staff, and District Management Group to draft a preliminary proposed strategic plan based on emerging themes. They then took that draft plan to the community to solicit feedback.
• Phase III: During November 2023 through January 2024, the steering committee worked with District Management Group and the rest of the Board to review stakeholder feedback and finalize the 2024-2029 LPS Strategic Plan.

As part of the proposal, the Board will consider an updated Mission Statement:

“The mission of Lincoln Public Schools is to prepare ALL students for successful careers, lifelong learning, and civic engagement.”

Part of the strategic plan also includes measurable goals as part of four priority areas. The specific data-informed thresholds and timelines will be established by the appropriate district teams and approved by the Board of Education by April of 2024. All goals will be monitored and evaluated by LPS leadership through June of 2029.  LPS leadership will also present detailed progress updates on measurable goals to the Board of Education on an annual basis.

Priority goals and measurable goals outlined in the draft plan include:

Student Wellbeing and Outcomes 

• Challenging and appropriate instruction with a strong foundation in literacy and diverse pathways to graduation 
  • Raise the ALL students graduation rate and reduce existing differentials from ALL students.*
  • Increase percentile rank in both Math and English Language Arts (ELA) for ALL students on nationally normed assessments.
  • Increase enrollment in honors courses for ALL students, with a specific emphasis on historically underrepresented student groups by reducing disproportionality in the rate of course enrollment between ALL students who have completed at least 1 honors course and each student group.*
  • Increase the percentage of ALL early childhood students who meet or exceed age expectations in all developmental areas (social emotional, cognitive, physical, language, literacy, and mathematics) as measured annually by the nationally normed GOLD assessment spring checkpoint.

(The GOLD assessment is a comprehensive assessment system for children from birth through kindergarten that blends ongoing, authentic assessment in all areas of development and learning with intentional, focused performance assessment tasks for selected predictors of school readiness in the areas of literacy and numeracy.)

• Intentional supports and relationships for ALL students focused on positive behavior to build strong and safe school communities
  • Reduce total suspensions for ALL students. *
  • Reduce suspension disproportionality ratios for ALL student groups. *
  • Maintain or increase the proportion of students who report feeling a sense of belonging.

Staff Wellbeing and Outcomes

• Support and empowerment for diverse staff who meet the changing needs of ALL students
  • Increase the percentage of all employee groups from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.*
  • Maintain or increase the retention rate for LPS certified staff positions. 
  • The average compensation and benefits of LPS classified staff will be competitive with similar positions based on market analysis.
  • Maintain or increase the proportion of staff members who report feeling a sense of belonging.

Family and Community Engagement 

• Outreach that welcomes families and community members as partners in supporting the success of ALL students
  • Increase the percentage of parents and families who report having opportunities to be involved in school activities.
  • Increase the percentage of parents and families who report that staff builds positive relationships with them.
  • Increase the percentage of community members who report having opportunities to be involved with the school district.
  • Increase the percentage of community members who report that the district builds positive relationships with them.

District Systems and Operations 

• District systems that continue to direct resources based on student needs
  • Review, analyze, and verify that 100% of schools have resources aligned to identified student need, based on available funding.
  • Increase the percentage of stakeholders who feel that district systems and operations are transparent.
  • Adopt an updated 10-Year Facilities and Infrastructure Plan and identify available resources for implementation.

Please note: All goals with an asterisk (*) represent goals from the LPS All Means All Action Plan.

You can view the full plan here. The Board voted to approve the 2024-29 LPS Strategic Plan.

Policy 8000 - Board Operating Procedures

Staff and the Board review policies on an ongoing basis and update policies to ensure that they accurately reflect the ever-changing work of the district.

Policy 8000 has been revised to change the vision statement to the new Mission Statement as proposed during the 2024-2029 LPS Strategic Plan. 

The Board voted to approve the policy update.

Revised student calendar for 2024-2025

With the proposed negotiated agreement between LPS and Lincoln Education Association, the Board Calendar Committee reviewed the 2024-2025 student and staff calendar to ensure it would match the proposed agreement.

Each year a joint LPS and Lincoln Education Association committee 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. 

Changes to the 2024-2025 school calendar to match the negotiated agreement include:

• Tuesday early release days will no longer occur for staff professional learning. Staff professional learning will now occur during six non-student/staff work days throughout the school year.
• The six non-student professional learning days during the 2024-2025 school year will be Sept. 3, Oct. 15, Nov. 5, Jan. 3, Feb. 18, and Apr. 21.
• Every student calendar will be the same with the removal of Elementary Only Plan days. 
• Fall break is moved earlier to ensure 42 days per quarter.

The Board voted to approve the revised 2024-2025 student calendar, and that revised calendar can be found here.

Foundation for LPS lease agreement

The Foundation for LPS was established as a non-profit entity 24 years ago to cultivate donors who are passionate about education and to encourage them to make major and planned gifts to LPS. As a result, the Foundation has been able to help with funding numerous LPS  programs, and provide financial assistance to students and families over the years.

In order to continue facilitating this mutual partnership for the benefit of LPS students and programs, with the expanding and growing space needs for LPS Departments, LPS wishes to continue leasing space to the Foundation in a relocated location at the Steve Joel District Leadership Center (SJDLC) at a current market value rate of $17.00 per square foot. 

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

Informational items and reports

From Board Committees

Fiscal impacts of proposed legislative bills 1316 and 1241

Lincoln Public School Associate Superintendent for Business Affairs Liz Standish provided an informational update on proposed Nebraska Legislative Bills 1316 and 1241 during the regular Lincoln Board of Education meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 27.

During the 2023 legislative session, three bills were introduced on behalf of Governor Jim Pillen that created a school 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. 

During the 2023-2024 budget process, the Lincoln Board of Education adopted a 14 cent drop in the total levy from $1.21 to $1.07 per 100 of valuation in response to the new school finance package approved by the state.

Standish told the Board that the way LB1316 is currently written would have short and long-term implications on the LPS budget and operations. 

The short-term impact would be approximately a three percent revenue loss for the 2024-2025 school year based on state models, coupled with an increase in the cost of labor and inflation. The new three percent hard cap calculation does not include the additional Special Education reimbursement, and won’t be included until the 2024-2025 cap calculation. This would decrease the revenue to LPS approximately $14 million from $541,254,913 to $527,401,376.

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.

LPS prudently builds its annual budget using a three-year forecast to minimize the negative impact of volatile swings in revenue. A hard three percent cap on revenue growth would make it difficult for LPS to manage these drastic fluctuations. One example is in Lancaster County where residential property is reassessed on a rotating basis. In the year that property valuation increases it is a year that LPS has higher state aid. The following year when the valuation doesn’t grow at all, the state aid drops because the valuation increased the previous year. For the 2024-25 school year, LPS expects the State Equalization Aid to drop in excess of $30 million dollars. 

Standish also informed the Board that LB 1241 introduced to the Nebraska Legislature this year would provide zero growth for a school district property tax request and does not take into account the role of the equalization aid in the Nebraska school finance system. Nebraska State Senator Brad von Gillern who introduced the bill recognized during the hearing that his bill would need changes.  

The community can find the proposed legislation on the Unicameral’s website. Anyone wishing to learn more about the impact of the proposed legislation on Lincoln Public Schools can reach out to Standish’s office at (402)436-1635.

Superintendent update

LPS Superintendent Paul Gausman provided an update for the Board. During his update, he spoke about the ceremony honoring LPS long-time educator Ada Robinson during the school building dedication on Sunday. 

“Mrs. Robinson's legacy will continue to inspire generations to come,” said Gausman. “Her dedication to her students, her unwavering belief in the power of public education, and her commitment to fostering a sense of community are values that we hold dear in our district. We honor her memory by ensuring that her name will forever be associated with excellence in education.”

Gausman also thanked the LPS Transportation Department for their service during National Bus Driver Appreciation Week.

“The transportation department plays a pivotal role in our education system, and their impact extends far beyond the yellow school bus. Thank you, LPS Transportation, for your unwavering service. We appreciate you more than my words can express.”

Gausman wrapped his update by congratulating student-athletes on their state competitions.

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 Clinton Elementary School as they conducted a Standard Response Protocol drill of Hold with use of an AED. 

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