Members of the Superior Board of Education accepted four certified resignations Monday evening: Kevin Miller – athletic director and teacher; Jacki Porter – guidance counselor, Kaitlyn Moore – kindergarten teacher and Taylor Ruzicka-Scheele – third grade teacher. Moore has accepted a position as a preschool teacher with the Gretna Public Schools.

They approved extending a contract to Haley Vannatter, Morrill, Neb., to fill an elementary position. Vannatter will complete a bachelor of arts in education degree from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in May. Supt. Kobza said, “I am excited about Vannatter. She has been a leader wherever she is. She is excited about living in a small town and helping in a situation with some poverty.”

Monday’s meeting was scheduled to start five minutes early to assure the board would be in place and the preliminary opening complete before a Zoom presentation from the Nebraska Department of Education reviewing the key changes to the current rules governing the accreditation and approval of public and non-public schools. Rule 10 now regulates the operation of public schools in Nebraska, while Rule 14 has regulated non-public schools. Currently the minimum standard for the two are different. After the presentation, Supt. Kobza summarized the changes, “They are adding accountability as a big part of accreditation.”

There are three overall parts under the new guidelines: approval – meeting the minimum standards set by the state, accreditation – a continuous improvement process and accountability – student data documenting learning. Currently a team visits an accredited school every five years. Under the new system, schools will be visited by a team every three, five or seven years depending on their proficiency.

The board approved February claims from the general fund in the amount of $572,863.36.

They also approved raising classified staff salaries 20 cents per hour, increased the transportation supervisor’s salary and the tech coordinator salary by two percent and set the business manager’s salary at $60,000.

Home Federal Bank was added as a school depository.

By law, school policies must be reviewed by the board of education every three years. Board members asked the policy manual be split and a few policies be reviewed each month.

Principal reports included a review of attendance at parent teacher conferences. Attendance at both elementary and secondary levels was significantly down with 86 percent at the elementary level and 35 percent at the junior-senior high level. Administrators were baffled at the turnout as attendance was better in the fall. Generally attendance is more than 90 percent at the elementary level and more than 50 percent at the junior-senior high level.

Spring sports practice began March 1. There are 12 boys and 3 girls out for golf, 18 boys and 13 girls out for high school track and six boys and seven girls out for junior high track.

Bob Cook, senior high principal, reported a Nebraska State Patrol drug dog visited the school Feb. 26. No illegal narcotics or drug paraphernalia was found on school property.

Doug Hoins, elementary principal, reviewed Read Across American Week activities. His favorite day was crazy hair day. “Some of the students put lots of work into their hair and there were some really craze styles,” he said. Kindergarten A classroom won the door decorating contest.

Jodi Fierstein, director of special services, said, “For the last year and a half, Jenny Utecht and I have been participating in literacy professional learning called LETRS: Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling.”

LETRS provides teacher a framework of what is needed to teach reading. It addresses four outcomes: understanding the science of reading, converting research to practice, enhancing teacher effectiveness and transforming instruction.

LETRS is based on more than two decades of research. Teaching reading requires teachers to have a deep understanding of the science behind how we learn to read, why we spell the way we do, or phonemic awareness and phonic leads to comprehension. LETRS is the most comprehensive course available and many states are requiring it.

Jenny Utecht has signed up to become a facilitator of LETRS. Fierstien reported “Jenny said, ‘The course has been lots of work, but it has been extremely beneficial for my growth as a teacher. I have been able to apply so many of the practices and knowledge to my work with students who struggle with reading. Overall, my understanding of the science of reading has increased which is exactly why I decided to take the course!’”

Supt. Kobza reported chunks of main performance gymnasium floor will be removed and be available to the public to purchase. Then the remainder of the floor boards will be removed and replaced, finished with oil and cured for two weeks. The work is expected to be done in April. The floor was installed in 1964 and can no longer be refurbished by sanding and finishing.

He also reviewed the projected use of ESSER Funds (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund.) ESSER Funds are part of the CARES Act. In March 2020, congress passed the CARES Act which included $13.2 billion for elementary and secondary school emergency relief. In December 2020, the coronavirus response and relief supplemental appropriations act provided an additions $54.3 billion. In January 2021, the department of education sent letters to state commissioners indicating the allocation of and additional $54.3 billion in ESSER funds for K-12 schools.

The funds are designed to help districts maintain learning environments to mitigate learning loss as a result of COVID-19. The overall goal of the ESSER money is to get students caught up.

Supt. Kobza expects the Superior District to receive $291,000 in the second round of ESSER, with those funds starting to flow in April. He has projected they will be used to fund the following:

A second third grade instructor ($60,000) - allowing the school to keep class size small.

HVAC ionization ($88,400) - Ionization inactivates more than 90 percent of virus within 30 minutes and some school districts are reporting better attendance rates

Technology updates - $70,000 -

Student Information System (SIS) ($40,00)) training and material - such systems help school collect student data. Logan Christiancy, school tech coordinator, has been assigned to study what is available.

Touchless lunch scanner and a touchless timecard system - $6,000

Supt. Kobza expect a third round of ESSER funds may be available later this year and projected $50,000 for a anatomage table. Such a table provided three dimension dissection and improved spatial anatomy understanding.

Monday, no students or staff members were in quarantine or isolation because of COVID-19. Supt. Kobza expects at least 70 percent of the staff will be vaccinated for COVID-19 by the end of March.

He said, “Masking is a constant battle and social distancing is a challenge. There is just a general fatigue.”

He is hopeful mask requirement and social distance mandates can be relaxed. “Guidelines from the Center for Disease Control, continuous change,” he said.

He expects a vote of approval by the board of education before mask requirements are relaxed.

The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m. All members of the board were present.