Highlights of the June 25, 2024 Lincoln Board of Education and ESU 18 regular meeting

The Lincoln Board of Education and ESU 18 met for regular meetings on Tuesday, June 25, at the Lincoln Public Schools Steve Joel District Leadership Center, 5905 O Street. Prior to the regular meetings, the Board held a work session to preview the Preliminary Proposed LPS 2024-2025 Budget. You can view the summary and video highlight of the work session here.

Lincoln Board of Education Regular Meeting

Special reports, presentations and celebrations of success

Matt Larson - Associate Superintendent for Educational Services

The Board of Education recognized Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Matt Larson for his 37 years of serving staff, students, families and the community through his work in education.

Larson began teaching math at Lincoln High School in 1987, served as math department chair at Lincoln High, and as one of the district’s first instructional coordinators before serving as the LPS K-12 math curriculum specialist from 1995 to 2018. During his time in math curriculum, Larson collaborated with others to establish the first set of curricular objectives, common assessments, grading practices, and professional learning community work in any curricular area.

In July of 2018, Larson was named the interim Associate Superintendent for Instruction, and then permanently took over the role in January, 2019.
 
During the pandemic shut down in 2020, Larson worked with Instructional Directors to develop and deliver remote learning within two weeks. At a time when many schools across the nation were shut down for over a year, LPS was able to return to in-person instruction while also offering remote and hybrid learning in the fall of 2020 due to the work of Larson and his team of Instructional Directors. 
 
In addition to his contributions to LPS, Larson is nationally known for co-authoring multiple math textbooks, professional books, and journal articles in mathematics education, as well as speaking at conferences across the country. During his time at LPS he simultaneously served for a term as President of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

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 Arbor Road North to Norwood Park Elementary School, Dawes Middle School and Northeast High School.

The Board will hold a second reading and vote at the next regular meeting in July.

2024-2025 Transportation Plan

LPS Transportation Director Phil Skorupa gave an overview of the previous school year and plans for the upcoming year to the Board.

The mission of LPS Transportation is to provide safe and timely student transportation to and from assigned schools and activities according to district policies. During the 2023-2024 school year there were 3,939 LPS students who used LPS Transportation, up 750 students from the year prior. Over 1.68 million route miles were logged during the school year. 

During the 2023-2024 school year, routes were consolidated from 131 to 126 to match staffing due to a shortage. The plan is to have 127 routes for the 2024-2025 school year, and start building back to 150 routes as staffing allows. 

Board policy 3710 states that LPS Transportation will transport only those students who qualify under provisions of state law, including: 

• Elementary and Middle School students residing more than four (4) miles from the school in the attendance area within which they reside.
• Special Education students whose Individual Education Plan (IEP) require transportation as essential to learning.  
• Students who have been moved for the benefit of the district to relieve overcrowding, due to major facility renovations, or for efficiency in use of buildings and/or staff.
• In addition, the Board, at its discretion, may approve other transportation areas based upon unique circumstances and for the purpose of equalizing school enrollments and facilitating programs.

Skorupa also encouraged anyone interested in applying for a position in the Transportation Department to attend the upcoming Interview Day on July 16. 

The Board will hold a second reading and vote on the plan at the next regular meeting in July. 

Legislative Guidelines

Each year, various federal, state, and local governmental bodies will consider legislative and administrative actions that will have an impact on Lincoln Public Schools. To communicate the positions of the Board of Education, the Board approves Legislative Guidelines that provide guidance to district staff and representatives communicating with governmental bodies. 

The proposed draft of Legislative Guidelines for 2024-2025 includes minor changes to clarify existing Board positions. Some of those changes include adding “early childhood” to language about the students we serve, and changing language about how school districts budget and use reserves. You can view the draft updates to the guidelines here. 

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

Community Learning Center agreements

LPS is entering into the 25th year of partnering with community organizations to offer Community Learning Centers. Director Nola Derby-Bennett told the Board that 29 schools currently offer CLC programming at various sites. 

It is recommended the Board approves continuing the agreements between LPS and the following entities to provide CLC programming: Lincoln Parks and Recreation, The Malone Center, Northeast Family Center, Cedars Youth Services, YMCA Of Lincoln, Civic Nebraska, Willard Community Center, Lincoln Housing Authority, Boys and Girls Club of Lincoln and Family Service of Lincoln.

Derby-Bennett announced that she will be traveling to Washington, D.C. in July to accept a national award from the U.S. Department of Education. ??The 2024 Engage Every Student Recognition Program Champions demonstrate they are working to ensure all students have the opportunity to thrive, learn and grow through engagement in high-quality afterschool and summer learning programs.

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

Policy updates

The Board periodically reviews and revises policies to align with current practices or meet requirements set forth by local, state or federal laws and regulations. Staff recommended 18 policy and regulation changes required by recent state legislation being passed and changes in federal law.

Due to the timeline of the requirements, the Board voted to waive second reading and approve the policy changes.

Second reading

Policy 3500 - Funds Management

Lincoln Public Schools reviews and updates policies on an ongoing basis to ensure that they accurately reflect the ever-changing work of the district and capture changes to state and federal laws and requirements.

Revisions to Board Policy 3500 are recommended by the Board Finance Committee to more closely align with Business Affairs Policy 3610 which delegates full power and authority to the Director of Purchasing to sign contracts and documents in the ordinary course of the district’s business activities that are $10,000 and under and that are consistent with the district’s spending plan and budget.

The Board voted to approve the revisions.

2025-2026 Student calendar

Each year a joint LPS/LEA committee composed of a Board member, family members, teacher and administrators recommends a student calendar to the Board for consideration. A framework of calendar variables was adopted by the Board to guide the Calendar Committee’s work in meeting the goal of creating a school calendar that demonstrates the district’s commitment to learning. 

Following the development of the recommended student calendar, district staff assigns additional staff-specific days on the calendar according to the negotiated agreement, including staff compensatory and teacher professional learning days. These days are non-student days.

The Calendar Committee has brought forth a 2025-2026 student calendar for Board consideration after receiving feedback from staff, parent and student groups. 

The Board voted to approve the 2025-2026 Student Calendar.

Interlocal Cooperation Act Agreement between Lincoln Public Schools and ESU 18 for core and educational services

Educational Service Units (ESUs) are called “service units” because their main objective is to serve the needs of Nebraska’s school districts, educators and students. Created by the Nebraska Legislature in 1965 to provide services to enhance educational excellence, ESUs exist in order to provide access to core services deemed vital to a child’s education by the state of Nebraska. 

ESU 18 is unique in that it serves a single district, Lincoln Public Schools, but does not work in isolation as ESU 18 networks with other ESUs across the state of Nebraska along with the ESU Coordinating Council. 

There are ongoing interlocal cooperation agreements to provide core services by LPS to ESU 18 and educational services by ESU 18 to LPS that mirrors services provided by ESUs across the state. Such services include instructional media services, technology, and staff development with LPS reimbursing ESU 18 for said services in the first agreement, and ESU 18 reimbursing LPS for said services in the second agreement. 

The term of the renewal period for these agreements will be Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2027.

The Board voted to approve the agreements.

Proposed renewal of contracts with associate superintendents and ESU administrator

The Board annually reviews the contracts of the associate superintendents and the ESU 18 administrator.

The Board voted to approve the contract amendments, extensions and total salary increases of 4%, with an overall total package compensation increases of 4.10% for the associate superintendents of Business Affairs, Human Resources and Teaching and Learning during the 2024-2025 school year. 

The Board voted to approve the contract amendments, extension and total salary increases of 4.28% with an overall total package compensation increase of 4.45% for the director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment and ESU 18 administrator during the 2024-2025 school year.

Superintendent update

During his update, Superintendent Paul Gausman added his remarks of gratitude to Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Matt Larson.

“Matt, your ability to make complex issues so simple when you are really reflecting on them and considering leadership actions is important and useful,” added Gausman. “For a number of years you were doing a position so big that we had to divide it into two. You did so without complaining, and you not only helped redesign that position, but you agreed to stay on for another year. For that, I thank you.”

Public comment

There was one individual that addressed the Board during public comment. You can view the public comment as part of the full meeting video.

Glimpses of LPS

We open every Board meeting with a video that highlights Lincoln Public Schools. Tuesday’s Glimpses featured a partnership with Northeast High School and Kawasaki.

ESU 18 Regular Meeting

The board of ESU 18 held its regular meeting immediately following the Lincoln Board of Education meeting. You can view both meetings here.

Interlocal Cooperation Act Agreement between Lincoln Public Schools and ESU 18 for core and educational services

Educational Service Units (ESUs) are called “service units” because their main objective is to serve the needs of Nebraska’s school districts, educators and students. Created by the Nebraska Legislature in 1965 to provide services to enhance educational excellence, ESUs exist in order to provide access to core services deemed vital to a child’s education by the state of Nebraska. 

ESU 18 is unique in that it serves a single district, Lincoln Public Schools, but does not work in isolation as ESU 18 networks with other ESUs across the state of Nebraska along with the ESU Coordinating Council. 

There are ongoing interlocal cooperation agreements to provide core services by LPS to ESU 18 and educational services by ESU 18 to LPS that mirrors services provided by ESUs across the state. Such services include instructional media services, technology, and staff development with LPS reimbursing ESU 18 for said services in the first agreement, and ESU 18 reimbursing LPS for said services in the second agreement. 

The term of the renewal period for these agreements will be Sept. 1, 2024, through Aug. 31, 2027.

The ESU Board voted to approve the agreements.

Proposed renewal of contracts with ESU administrator

The ESU Board annually reviews the contract of the ESU 18 administrator.

The Board voted to approve the contract amendments, extension and total salary increases of 4.28% with an overall total package compensation increase of 4.45% for the ESU 18 administrator during the 2024-2025 school year.

 

 

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