The Superior Express -

Monday evening, members of the Superior Board of Education met in a classroom for the June meeting. All board members were present. May expenditures from the general fund in the amount of $683,305 were approved. Construction invoices for $14,895 were also approved. Several larger invoices related to construction are expected in the upcoming weeks.

The primary focus of business was policy review and approval. The procedure has become common this time of year as legal council makes policy recommendations based on legislative changes made by the Nebraska Unicameral.

In addition, some policies are reviewed and approved annually as required: the parent and guardian involvement in education practices; the Title I parent and engagement policy; student bullying and professional boundaries between employees and students must be reviewed annually.

The 2023-24 Superior High School course offerings handbook was approved. One of the changes addressed high school math. Six credits of math are required graduate from high school. All juniors must take a math class including students who took eighth grade algebra. Students will need to take three years of math in high school.

The social media report indicated the school's Facebook page had 23,676 hits between February and April. It has 2,692 followers. Instagram has 889 followers and Twitter has 187.

Supt. Kobza talked about the budget for next year. The district's new budget authority will be $6.5 million, up $400,000. State aid will drop from $1,006,000 to $895,000.

"Equalized districts like Superior will see no property tax relief for three years," Supt. Kobza said. "It will be a challenge for the Superior district to get their cash balances back up to where they should be."

A half day budget and finance committee meeting will be held next week.

Matt Sullivan, Superior Board of Education president, recognizes Mackenzie Trumble as the Teacher of the Quarter. Trumble is a speech-language pathologist who works with Superior preschool and early elementary students. She was nominated for the award by Jodi Fierstien, elementary school principal. Fierstien said, "She collaborates well with classroom teachers and specialists and has been a mentor for new special education teachers, making her a valuable member of our SPED team. She is also willing to put in the extra time necessary to meet the needs of a large case load of students. What I especially admire about Mrs. Trumble is the amazing work she's done over the past year with several select students. The scope of practice in speech-language pathology covers a breadth of special needs. These students all have low-incidence disabilities, therefore she had not yet had previous experience in those areas. In order to meet their unique needs, she actively sought out professional development, found additional resources and learned to implement new therapy techniques. As a result, these students have made tremendous progress and even surpassed expectations! Our students are so fortunate to have her as their speech-language pathologist."