The Grand Island Public Schools "Board Brief" is an online monthly publication dedicated to sharing the Board of Education meeting highlights, updates, campus recognitions, and more.

Today's edition recaps the regular May 11, 2023 GIPS Board meeting.

• Public Meeting Agenda
• Board Meeting Video Stream
• Below are highlights from the regular May Board Meeting.
• Board Members Mr. Josh Hawley and Ms. Katie Mauldin were not present but gave prior notice to their absence.

Congratulations to our GISH SkillsUSA students!

These Islanders were recognized by the Board of Education for their achievements at the State SkillsUSA Conference this year.

READ MORE about about the student recognitions and hardware earned at the Nebraska SkillsUSA competition.

We couldn't be more proud of these students and teachers!

The best in the state.

Mr. Chris Ladwig was recognized at the May Board of Education Meeting for his well-deserved statewide honor.

In March, Mr. Ladwig was named Nebraska State Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NSIAAA) Assistant Athletic Director of the Year.

Thank you, Mr. Ladwig, for all you do to champion our Islander students!

Dr. Robin Dexter, GIPS Associate Superintendent, provided an update on the District Wellness Policy and its role in the federal accreditation process for the district.

As part of the triennial food service assessment (every three years), a review of the district wellness policy is required. The District Wellness team and Parent Advisory Council has provided input on the review of policy and the findings were presented at May's Board meeting. The formal policy (#7190) has been in place in GIPS since 2013 by accreditation requirement.

Dr. Dexter's full presentation may be found HERE.

GIPS Wellness Policy resources may also be found on the district website HERE.

Dr. Ken Schroeder, GIPS Chief Financial Officer, shared a brief update on the student transportation contract GIPS has with Holiday Express.

The 5-year contract Grand Island Public Schools has with Holiday Express allows for a 4% increase to cover increases in operating expenses from year to year. The proposed transportation schedule and corresponding payment schedule for the 2023-24 school year was presented to the Finance & Facilities Committee. It is being presented as an information item this month and will be presented to the board for approval at the Regular June Board Meeting.

Dr. Schroeder's full presentation may be found HERE.

During the first year of employment, statute requires that the superintendent be evaluated twice. This Interim Superintendent Evaluation provided by NASB will provide a tool to do the first of these evaluations for an interim superintendent.

In collaboration with the GIPS Board Governance Committee, Mr. Fisher shared insight around this first step in the evaluation process. For an evaluation to be completed the Board needs to formally select a tool to use for review and evaluation purposes.

Presented as information (and voted on later in the meeting) was the official evaluation tool provided by the Nebraska Association of School Boards (NASB). Once approved, the first of two evaluations for the Interim Superintendent would take place in July.

Mr. Fisher's full presentation may be found HERE.

Mr. Fisher shared a Superintendent Report with the Board.

A few highlights include:

• The National School Board convention held in March was a meaningful experience. Mr. Fisher, Josh Sikes, Josh Hawley, Eric Garcia-Mendez, and Katie Mauldin all attended. Major topics of focus included staffing, staff retention, and artificial intelligence technology. One of the major benefits of events like these are to bond with the people you travel with and those from around the country you attend with.
  
  

• The District Leadership Team and the Board Facilities & Finance Committee are exploring teacher housing partnership possibilities. While it’s still just an “idea” there’s a lot of interested from local property owners and builders in this concept. We will continue having more dialogue around this endeavor.
  
  

• AFJROTC Program held their end of the year celebration event. All of us at GIPS are incredibly proud of that program that serves nearly 100 of our students. We’re sad that the program will have to sunset for now, but we will continue working with the Air Force to see if we can find a suitable commander to lead that program in the future.
  
  

• Elementary School staffing has been a key topic of conversation and planning the last few weeks. We are grateful for leaders like Michelle Carter, GIEA President, and Dr. Carrie Kolar, upcoming new HR Director, for their collaboration as we worked with Elementary Principals to find creative solutions to cover all of our Elementary classrooms with certified teachers. We've been able to put together a staffing plan for the next school year while we still work to hire for all open positions (about 15). Communication regarding staffing updates and role assignments will begin this week with individual conversations with those impacted followed by a joint communication with the full district staff in a few days.
  
  

• Elementary Skills Staff will be moving to Lincoln Elementary after being at Dodge Elementary for about 12 years. We have a solid learning modular space available at Lincoln and believe it will be a great fit for the future of this program. We are confident we will be able to accommodate our needs in that space comfortably while still providing vibrant, predictable learning environments for our students.

• Grand Island Senior High Graduation will be on Sunday, May 14th at 2:00 p.m. at the Heartland Events Center.

Hear Mr. Fisher's full report HERE.

Purchasing replacement equipment will continue to provide high-quality infrastructure to reduce downtime, increase security and maintain manufacturing support on critical production systems.

Mr. Cory Gearheart, Chief Information Officer, shared an update as information last month which may be found HERE.

Motion Passed: 7 - 0

Last month, Dr. Robin Dexter, GIPS Associate Superintendent, shared an overview of proposed updates to the Student/Parent Handbook for the 2023-24 school year. Some of the updates include:

• Updating info to the new HR Director.
• Updating "Welcome" letter.
• Expanding supports to include Married students along with pregnant or parenting students.
• Fixing policy cross references.
• Formalizing National Honor Society Membership Guidelines.
• Adjustments to Student/Parent Laptop Agreement forms.
• Updates to Student Fees.

Dr. Dexter's full presentation may be found HERE.

Motion Passed: 7 - 0

Please see information item above for details.

Motion Passed: 7 - 0

In order to meet college and career readiness benchmarks and support objective 2.2 on the On Track to Thrive 2025 Strategic Plan, students would benefit from access to high-quality instructional materials that focus on essential content and provide a balance.

Dr. Danielle Buhrman, GIPS Math Curriculum Coordinator, shared a full update last month which may be found HERE.

Motion Passed: 7 - 0

In order to meet college and career readiness benchmarks and support objective 2.2 on the On Track to Thrive 2025 Strategic Plan, students would benefit from access to high-quality instructional materials that focus on essential content and provide a balance.

Dr. Danielle Buhrman, GIPS Math Curriculum Coordinator, shared a full update last month which may be found HERE.

Motion Passed: 7 - 0