The Ainsworth Board of Education met in regular session on Monday, March 8th. Members present were Jessica Pozehl, Mark Johnson, Henry Beel, Jim Arens, Scott Erthum and Brad Wilkins.
The consent agenda was approved containing minutes of the previous meeting and setting April 12th as the next meeting, payment of claims and the cash flow report: 2/01/21 Beginning Balance Total - $443,475.02, Investments - $2,030,000.00, NSDLAF - $.00, Receipts - $1,104872.61, Payments - $627,779.45; 2/28/21 Ending Balance Total - $920,568.18.
Action items included:
Certified Staff Member Resignation
Katelyn McClure submitted her letter of resignation since she will be moving on to new opportunities.
Her 9-12 English position has been advertised and the district hopes to fill that position as soon as a suitable candidate is found. The Board approved the resignation.
Approval of the 2021-22 School Year Calendar
A draft of the 2021-22 calendar was presented to the board in February for input. Further input has been received from staff regarding the calendar in this draft offered for board approval.
Parent/Teacher Conferences have been moved back to similar previous dates on the calendar. Upon investigation, there are inherent conflicts with NSAA activities and Parent/Teacher Conference dates suggested on the draft shared in February.
School for students will start on Thursday, August 12th and get out on May 19th.
Students will attend school a total of 174 days and teacher days total 185.
Changes were noted and the Board approved the calendar for the 2021-22 school year.
Payment #1: MS/HS Window Replacement Project
The district has a payment scheduled with Facility Advocates who is responsible for the Middle/ High School windows project this summer. The first payment is $104,718.00. All payments for this project are to be made via the Special Building Fund. The first scheduled payment was approved.
COVID-19 Mask Procedures & Protocols
The county data, as well as the school's data, indicate we are in the “green” according to COVID-19 school plans.
There is consensus among the board and parents that the protocol for masks be moved to “recommended.” The District continues to do well with no cases of COVID-19 or related issues in the school. Principal Dike indicated that there really hasn’t been any COVID issues in the school since the second week in January.
Thirty-six staff members have signed up to get their Johnson and Johnson COVID shots this Wednesday, March 10th and others will be receiving their second COVID shots soon. Staff is split, 50/50 on receiving the COVID vaccination.
Quarantine rules will remain in place if students or staff are exposed to COVID-19. The staff will continue to sanitize rooms, disinfect at night and use sanitizer throughout the day. Students will still need observe social distancing.
It was noted by Hafer that the number of flu cases this year are very low and he feels that has to do with the steps taken by the staff to keep out the COVID.
After discussion, the Board agreed to move to “recommend” mask and not require them beginning Monday, March 15th.
At 7:30 p.m. a Zoom meeting was held with Brad Dirksen of the Nebraska Department of Education. He gave an update on changes to NSAB Rule #10: Regulations and Procedures for the Accreditation of Schools. There won’t be major changes and these changes won’t go into effect until the 2022-23 school year.
Monthly Reports
PK-6 Principal Curtis Childers reported on the February mission statement, “Challenge Yourself to Choose Kindness.” He stated the mission statement for the month of March is, “Improve by 1% Each Day.”
Childers stated they recently completed the rescheduled second semester parent/teacher conferences with a great turnout. Kindergarten through sixth grade conference numbers were about 97%, which is a huge turnout for the second semester conferences.
Childers said the staff wanted to continue with open communication and pushed parents to come into the building to see all the great things happening in the school system. This mandatory approach to conferences helped bring in many more parents than if the conferences were optional and gave teachers a chance to build relationships and share positives, as well as concerns when needed.
The staff continues to prepare for the spring NSCAS test(s), which is the state accountability test given to all 3rd-8th grade students. Students will be tested in Math and English/Language Arts (ELA). 5th and 8th grade students are also being tested on Science. Teachers are utilizing a data driven approach to prepare students to the best of their abilities and Childers anticipates they will see results that reflect that effort. It is a pilot year for NSCAS, as it is switching to a different platform/format, which will make it difficult to compare data to previous years. It will be especially difficult because they did not test on NSCAS last spring due to students being in virtual schooling.
Miles of Smiles was here Thursday, March 4th. Many students participated in the program, which is provided by the North Central District Health Department (NCDHD).
Students recently celebrated Read Across America and the birthday of Dr. Seuss at Lila McAndrew Elementary. The NEA’s Read Across America program, designed to get kids excited about reading, has acted as a vehicle to talk about a serious issue in a fun way.
The 5th-12th Band and Choir Concert was on Tuesday, March 2nd. Students in 5th-12th grade band and choir performed different compositions throughout the night.
Destination Imagination (DI) Presentation Night was held on Monday, March 1st. All students participating in DI were able to showcase their skills in unique ways. Different tasks were performed and all students participating worked hard to complete the tasks as efficiently as possible.
Preliminary numbers during Kindergarten Roundup indicate next year’s class to be around 27-33 students.
Enrollment as of March 4, 2021, shows a total enrollment in grades K-6 at 191 students.
Principal Steve Dike reported on activities during FFA Week, placings of FFA students in various competitions, Mock Trial, and BKR Career Fair which was held in Springview this year. Parent/ teacher conference showed a steady turnout throughout the evening with other personal contacts being made prior to the evening.
Total number of students in 7th - 12 grades is 148.
Co-Activities Directors Scott Steinhauser and Jared Hansmeyer reported on Mock Trial, winter sports concluding and speech team meets.
The spring sports season started March 1st. Nine boys are out for golf and 44 boys and girls are out for track. March 26th is the Ainsworth Relays. Field events begin at 2:00 p.m.
The boys golf competition is a team scramble in Valentine on March 30th followed by a home triangular on April 1st with a 3:00 p.m. start.
Selected Ainsworth band, choir and art students will head to Minden for the annual SWC Fine Arts Festival on March 20th. To comply with COVID guidelines the festival has been cut to one day and numbers were limited. The awards presentation and concert will be held at 5:00 p.m. on March 20th.
FFA students competed in the District Career Development Events on March 3rd and 8th. The State FFA Convention will be held virtually this year, with students attending competitions and sessions during the day.
State FCCLA and FBLA Leadership Convention will be held virtually in April.
The District National History Day (NHD) students presented in a virtual competition. An awards ceremony will be released by NHD on March 10th.
Hafer recognized the co-activities directors and Principal Dike for their work lobbying for and getting the District Speech Meet to be held in Ainsworth, plus work done on the Ainsworth Invite and the Southwest Conference Meet, all within a two week period. All three events ran well with a lot of help from the coaches.
Superintendent Hafer reported the budget situation continues to look good with no surprises. General fund expenses through February 2021 were $3,667,964.00 (35.71%) compared to February of 2020 and 2019 respectively at $3,531,203.00 (36.56%) and $3,519,035.00 (35.46%).
The work session with NASB went well with Kori sharing the Strategic Needs Analysis with the Board. The overall cost of the strategic planning process will be, at most, $6,000.00 upon completion. It is likely it will be less than that due to cost sharing of travel with other districts who have been engaged in the process with NASB as well.
Both Benny Burdick and Bob Walton have been on site to look at possible concrete projects starting this summer. Board members Johnson and Pozehl and Hafer walked around recently to identify four “project areas” to bid for consideration. Those areas are the east and west elementary entrance areas, Big A entrance area and south sidewalk area.
Hafer met with Dave Raymond (Facility Advocates) about the window project to begin in May.
The Transportation, Buildings, and Grounds Committee will need to look at carpet options and gym floor options (logo, lines, etc.). It was suggested that once samples and colors are picked out that the selection be shared with the stakeholders of the school, students and Booster Club to get their opinions before the decision is made.
Joey Finley took the large white bus down to Masters in Kearney to get a second opinion on engine repair, rebuild or possible replacement.
