Highlights of the May 27 Lincoln Board of Education regular meeting

May 27, 2025

The Lincoln Board of Education met for its regular meeting on Tuesday, May 27, 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

Amanda Woodward - North Star High School

Lincoln North Star High School Skilled and technical sciences teacher Amanda Woodward was named the 2025 Advisor of the Year by Nebraska SkillsUSA during the spring conference. The award recognizes advisors that embrace the SkillsUSA Framework to create career-ready graduates and opportunities for every member.

Woodward has taught since 2019. She was instrumental in opening the Aviation and Technical Education Focus Program at North Star High School. Under Woodward’s direction, the North Star SkillsUSA chapter earned a gold medal in the Chapter Excellence Program. 

Project Extra Mile Walk Update

The LPS Business Affairs team gave an update on the amount raised during the Project Extra Mile Walk. They were joined by Lincoln Food Bank Chief Relationship Officer John Mabry. 

This year, over $200,000 was raised during the campaign and an additional $200,000 was donated by the Acklie Charitable Foundation bringing the total raised in 2025 to $400,000. Top fundraisers in LPS included:

• Top elementary school: Maxey Elementary, $9,443.03
• Top middle sSchool: Pound Middle School, $3,303.47
• Top high school: Standing Bear High School, $1,139.17
• Top LPS department: LPS Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment $3,619.70

Lincoln Public Schools has raised nearly $2.8 million dollars for the program over 18 years.

You can watch a highlight of the presentation on YouTube here. 

First reading

U.S. Department of Justice Federal Grant - COPS School Violence Prevention Grant Program

LPS staff propose the school district submit a competitive application to the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), within the U.S. Department of Justice, for the School Violence Prevention Program grant. This program provides funding to improve security at schools and on school grounds through: coordination with local law enforcement; training for local law enforcement officers to prevent student violence against others and self; placement and use of deterrent equipment; and acquisition and installation of technology for expedited notification of local law enforcement during an emergency.

LPS has applied and received this grant before to assist with purchasing new two-way radios for elementary and middle schools. If awarded, this three-year grant for $500,000 would provide additional training for School Resource Officers and LPS staff. 
LPS Security Director Joseph Wright shared, “As we look at the data from the SSK (Safe and Successful Kids Interlocal), we found some really great results there. Those come from the co-training we offer with our school personnel, our administrators at the secondary level, along with the School Resource Officers. We are very intentional about working together as a team and deciding if it’s a school issue or a law enforcement issue. By training together, we’ve learned to do that very well and our data shows it.”

The Board will hold a second reading at the next meeting.

Office renovation for Community Learning Centers

Staff recommended the Board approve the lowest bid from Dickey-Hinds-Muir for $518,000 to renovate a portion of the Bottlers Building to house the Community Learning Center office. The CLC office is currently housed in Roper Elementary School. Moving it to central Lincoln will allow the staff to support their school sites more efficiently.

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

Second reading

Policy 5520 - Student Fees

The Board annually reviews and approves Policy 5520 to ensure that its policy is in accordance with the Public Elementary and Secondary Student Fees Authorization Act.

The district’s general policy is to provide for the free instruction in school in accordance with the Nebraska Constitution and state and federal law. This generally means that the school district’s policy is to provide free instruction for courses that are required by state law or regulation and to provide the staff, facility, equipment, and materials necessary for such instruction without charge or fee to the students.

The school district does provide activities, programs, and services to children that extend beyond the minimum level of constitutionally required free instruction. Students and their parents have historically contributed to the district’s efforts to provide such activities, programs, and services. The district’s general policy is to continue to encourage and to the extent permitted by law, to require such student and parent contributions to enhance the educational program provided by the district.

There was one recommended change found on Appendix 1, and that is to increase the maximum fee for cheer and dance from $750 to $900. This is due to the significant increase in cost for required uniforms for these activities.

The Board will held a second reading and voted to approve the changes and the policy.

Newly annexed property to the City of Lincoln

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 proposal assigns the newly annexed area of Fire Ridge to Maxey Elementary School, Lux Middle School and East High School.

The Board voted to approve the assignments.

Bids for shelf-stable foods, refrigerated and frozen foods

Bids were requested from interested vendors to provide shelf-stable foods, refrigerated and frozen food products for use by LPS Nutrition Services for all locations. There are 429 items on the bid with 19 vendors fulfilling the contracts for a total of $6,711,115.80. 

The Board voted to approve the bid

Informational items and reports

From the Board

Finance Committee

Committee Chair Annie Mumgaard reported that the budget process is underway and there will be several opportunities for the community to provide their input and ask questions. Those dates can be found on the LPS website: https://home.lps.org/budget/key-budget-dates/.

Superintendent update

During the Superintendent Update, Interim Superintendent John Skretta reflected on the end of the school year and celebrations. There were 10 graduation ceremonies with Yankee Hill on Tuesday, Independence Academy on Wednesday, Bryan Community on Thursday and the seven traditional high school commencements on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Over 3,000 students received their diploma.

Skretta thanked the LPS Communications team for their coverage of each ceremony with photos and livestreaming each ceremony. The video and photos can be found online at https://home.lps.org/graduation/2025-graduation-ceremonies/.

He also recognized the work of LPS Director of Secondary Education Jessie Fries and the high school administrators for their work in delivering successful ceremonies.

Skretta also said there will be approximately 2,000 high school students already signed up for summer school that will kick off Thursday, May 29. Late registration opens on Wednesday.

You can watch a highlight of the comments on YouTube here.

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 Yankee Hill students as they participated in the annual LPS Fishing Tournament. 

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