District Newsletter

October, 2009

October 28, 2009 by Greg Barnes

 

 

 

H1N1 Hits Schools

            The H1N1 flu and other viruses have been spreading throughout our student body.  To date, the hardest hit school has been our middle school with absenteeism rates nearing 25% for several days. 

            The middle school attendance appears to be improving now, so hopefully that trend will continue.  I would expect that the other buildings will at some point in time see a spike in illness as well, but we will hope for the best.

            We have been hearing different opinions from different doctors in regard to fever and when students should return to school.  If the doctor says they should stay home for a week, that is between you and your doctor and we will respect that; however, we do expect students to stay home for at least 24 hours after their fever returns to normal without the aid of medicine.  In other words, even if your medical doctor tells your child to return to school once his/her fever breaks, we expect them to stay home for at least 24 hours beyond that time. 

            Our maintenance and custodial staff have been working extra hours disinfecting rooms, and equipment.  We also have been preaching hand washing and sneezing and coughing into sleeves instead of into hands.  In some instances students with a persistent cough, but no fever, are asked to wear a surgical mask to class.  Four Corners Health Department has been a valuable resource for our district in our efforts to keep students and staff healthy.

            When the H1N1 vaccine becomes available, we will be sending permission notes home to parents and we will set up times for students to conveniently get the H1N1 vaccination in school, but only after parents give permission.  We will keep you informed.

            I appreciate all of the help given by parents as we get through this year.  With the bugs spreading this early in the year, it could be a long year in terms of illness.  Working together will improve results.

 

WEATHER RELATED SCHOOL CLOSINGS

Dealing with something as unpredictable as the weather makes school closing decision-making one of the most challenging responsibilities for school superintendents.  Whenever dealing with something as unpredictable as weather, mistakes will be made.  The bottom line is that forecasts are not always correct, but ignoring them is not advised.  If there are errors, I always hope to error on the side of caution. 

            I am eager to hear from the public on most school related issues.  Weather related school closings are the one exception.  As a superintendent I have to make the call and live with the decision to have school or not.  There are going to be many opinions, but I have to make the call on the information I have available at the time, and sometimes that information is not accurate.  I apologize in advance because I know I will not always make the right call, but I guarantee you the decisions I make will be based on the best information I have at the time.  If a decision has been made to have school, PARENTS/GUARDIANS ultimately have the right to make a decision whether or not they want to send their children to school.  If you think the roads are too bad, then please keep your children home.  Please call the school and let them know your plans so we don’t wonder where your child is.

            If a decision is made to start late, school will begin 2 hours late with buses running accordingly.  There will be no pre-school if there is a late start.  School will be held when main roads are drivable.  Buses will not travel untended or ungraded roads in bad weather even if school is in session.  If it becomes necessary, you will be informed about pick up points that could be used when some roads are not passable for our buses.

            Once in a while a late start might be scheduled to give us more time to make a decision (see what the weather is doing).  Continue to listen to school closing information as a late start could be changed to a cancellation. 

            Unless some unforeseen event happens, a decision will be made by 6:45 AM and the decision will be posted on our website at www.sewardpublicschools.org and relayed to radio (101 KLIR; 1110 KFAB, 96.9 KZKX) and TV Stations (Channels 8 and 10/11).  Weather related school announcements will also be made using School Beacon Bluejay Alerts.  If you have not yet signed up to receive text messages, email, and/or recorded messages on your phone, please go to the following link and sign up:

 http://subscriber.schoolbeacon.com/?cid=2E0F7AD5-2089-44EE-9065-2F8DB6078E23

            The Bluejay Alerts provide immediate messages/communications so you do not have to listen to the TV or radio to find out what is happening.

            In the event school is canceled or dismissed early, all activity and athletic practices will be canceled on those days and the school buildings will be closed to students.  Again, if we decide not to cancel school and parents want their children at home, parents have the right to excuse their children from practice due to weather, and no penalty will be assessed against the student. 

 

DID YOU KNOW

            Beginning this spring, students in grades 3-8 and 11 will be taking a statewide reading test.  Previously, schools in Nebraska developed reading assessments locally or in cooperation with other school districts.  These locally developed assessments were then approved by the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE).  Schools then assessed students and reported the results to NDE.  That information was then used by NDE to provide reports to the public. 

            This school year, our students will be taking a test developed by the state, as will all 3-8 and 11 public school students in Nebraska, and in November our local board of education will be asked to approve new language arts standards as developed by NDE.

 

STATE PATROL, Sex Offender Registry

            Are you aware that we have a number of Level III (highest risk) sex offenders living in our school district in Butler and Seward Counties?  Individuals convicted of sex offenses are required to register their place of residence and employment with the Nebraska State Patrol.  Parents may access this listing on the State Patrol Website by going to http://www.nsp.state.ne.us/SOR/find.cfm.  You can type in the county you wish to search for and then click “go.”  You should then be able to see an up-to-date listing of sex offenders in that county.  As of October 14, Seward County had five level 3 (high risk) sex offenders registered with two living in our school district.  Butler County had ten level 3 sex offenders registered with four living in our school district.  If parents are not able to access this information and would like to, they may contact local law enforcement, the State Patrol, or Seward Public School’s District Office.

            We are required by board policy to report to parents that there are sex offenders living in our school district; however, I am also required to inform parents that you are prohibited from using the information for any retaliatory purpose against the sex offender, the offender's family, or the offender's employer.

            I encourage parents to check this website on a regular basis in an effort to stay informed.  I will also tell you that according to school policy, a level 3 sex offender who is the parent or guardian of a student may participate in education conferences unless prohibited by court order, but shall not otherwise enter school grounds or attend school events without prior, express permission of the Superintendent.

            It is also my understanding that new federal regulations regarding the reporting of sex offenders will be coming out within the next few months.

 

SENCAP – Southeast Nebraska Career Academy Partnership

            Schools in southeast Nebraska are entering their 2^nd year of partnering with southeast community college to provide college and high school credit classes and career exploration.  These courses are offered through Southeast Community College and are offered through one of three academies.  We currently have an education academy, a health academy, and a business academy and our students travel to York to take classes or in some instances take them via distance learning.  Next year, we will be adding another academy, most likely in industrial technology. 

            The goal of the program is to provide students a chance to explore careers and earn college credit while in high school.  We also hope to improve the labor force and supply of workers in southeast Nebraska for these high demand/low supply areas.

            These college level courses are more rigorous than most high school courses, so students wishing to enroll should be committed to putting in the time necessary to successfully complete all requirements.

            As I said before, this program is a partnership offered through ESU 6 with Southeast Community College and schools in southeast Nebraska.  In order to help students and schools with the cost of the SENCAP courses, Southeast Community College has agreed to reduce tuition and fees by 50%.  We would also like to thank Cattle National Bank and Trust and Jones National Bank and Trust for paying for the other half of tuition.  We hope the investments of today pay dividends in the future for Seward and the surrounding area. 

 

2009-2010 School District of Seward - BUDGET

During the September 14, 2009 Board of Education meeting, the 2009-2010 budget for all funds was approved.  There are numerous funds in a school district budget, but the main fund for operation of the school district is called the General Fund.  The General Fund budget of disbursements and transfers for the 2009-2010 fiscal year was set at $14,682,456  which compares to $14,100,000 budgeted in the General Fund for 2008-2009.  This represents an increase of 4.13% in budget authority.  Please keep in mind that budget authority is just that.  The school board passed the $14.6 million budget and thus we have the authority to expend up to $14.6 million general fund dollars; however, it does not mean that money is automatically spent.  Generally at the end of the fiscal year (August 31) there will be budget authority left, but we overestimate expenditures to cover any unforeseen expenses that may occur during the fiscal year.

On the receipt side of the budget, our state aid received during this fiscal year will be $486,032 more than last year, and the valuation of the property in our school district increased $52,016,735.  The expenditure increases and receipt increases were similar so we were able to keep our general fund levy at just over $.95 per $100 of property valuation for another year.

We also have numerous other funds for which we budget, but only three additional funds for which we levy local property taxes.  Those are the Special Building Fund, the Bond Fund, and the Qualified Capital Purpose Fund.  We were able to reduce the levy for these funds for 2009-10 by more than $.05. 

 

2008-09 Levy	2008-09 Tax Request	2009-2010 Levy	2009-10 Tax Request
$  0.950109	$ 7,862,131.93	$        0.952947	$        8,381,311.28
$  0.070621	$    580,750.00	$        0.040767	$           358,550.00
$  0.097400	$    805,980.00	$        0.071869	$           632,101.43
$  0.002441	$      20,200.00	$        0.002297	$            20,200.00
$  1.120571	$      9,269,062	$        1.067880	$        9,392,162.71
		$       (0.052691)	$               123,101

 

 

STUDENT BOARD MEMBER

            The Seward Public Schools Board of Education welcomes Eric Ahrens, Senior at Seward High School, as our Student Board Member for 2009-2010.  Each year High School Juniors who are interested in becoming the student representative on the board of education may apply.  This representative provides a unique perspective for board meeting discussions. 

Seward Public School Board Policy states that the purposes for adding a student board of education member are:

1.                  To increase leadership opportunities for all students.

2.                  To provide student input and share common concerns and ideas.

3.                  To advise the Superintendent and/or the board of education on matters of concern related to student rights and responsibilities and/or decision on Board Policies which may be of interest to students.

 

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROJECT UPDATE

          Currently, the school board is in the process of hiring an architect to help the school district with a new middle school project.  Such a task is not an easy one and takes time. 

            We have put out a request for letters of interest from any firms interested in our project.  Once we receive those letters of interest and the many pages of information that go with them, we will sift through the paper and narrow down the pool to a manageable number.  Those firms who make the cut will be interviewed and ranked.  At that time we will try to negotiate a contract with our top choice.  The remainder of the project timeline is still vague as we have many decisions yet to make as we proceed.