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MINUTES                        BOARD OF EDUCATION REPORT                    JANUARY 11, 2021

The regular meeting of the Board of Education was held on January 11th.  This meeting was advertised in the January 6th edition of the Battle Creek Enterprise.   President Jeremy Pochop called the meeting to order at 6:00 P.M.   Members present were Lori Mink, Tammy Bierman, Toby Thompson, Brent Bode, and Paul Kuchar.  Also present were Superintendent Jake Luhr and Principals Jeff Heimes and Kyle Finke, BCEA representative, and a visitor.   Sean Lindgren was present via Facetime.  The open meeting law was discussed and posted and will be followed at every Board meeting.  To start the Board meeting, the Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

The Oath of Office was read by Sean Lindgren.  He was then welcomed to the Board of Education.  Sean will sign the Oath of Office and bring it to the February Board meeting. 

Mr. Luhr, Secretary of the Board of Education, assumed the chair from President Jeremy Pochop for the purpose of presiding during the election of the Board president.  Secretary Jake Luhr then asked for nominations for president.

Brent Bode made a motion to nominate Jeremy Pochop for president of the Board of Education.  There were no other nominations.  Toby Thompson seconded the motion.  On roll call vote, the motion carried with five ayes.  Jeremy Pochop abstained.  

Jeremy Pochop then assumed the chair as president and asked for nominations for vice president.  Sean Lindgren made a motion to nominate Brent Bode as vice president.  There were no other nominations.  Paul Kuchar seconded the motion.  On roll call vote, the motion carried with five ayes.  Brent Bode abstained.

The following Board positions were appointed:

             Secretary – Jake Luhr

            Treasurer – Jean Unkel

            Recording Secretary – Ann Barry

            Attorney – Scott Gray and Perry, Guthery, Haase & Gessford, P.C., L.L.O.

            Newspaper – Battle Creek Enterprise

            Depository – Battle Creek State Bank

            Committee on American Civics – Pochop, Thompson, and Bierman

            Building & Grounds(Facilities) Committee – Bode, Kuchar, and Lindgren

            Finance Committee – Thompson, Bode, and Lindgren

            Negotiations Committee – Pochop, Bierman, and Kuchar

Toby Thompson made a motion to approve the appointed positions.  Tammy Bierman seconded the motion.  On roll call vote, the motion carried with six ayes.

Brent Bode made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda, which included the January general fund bills which totaled $139,551.08.   Toby Thompson seconded the motion.  On roll call vote, the motion carried with six ayes.  

Mr. Luhr advised the board that the March 8, 2021 no school/non-contract date was put in place to account for hosting district speech.  BCHS was not awarded the contract to host district speech by the NSAA, therefore, Mr. Luhr recommended moving this no school/non-contract day to the end of the school year.  This move would make March 8,2021 a regular school day and would move the end of the school year up one day.  The last day for students would be: May 18 for PK-8, May 19 for 9-12(1:30 dismissal), and May 20 would be the teachers last day/checkout.  Paul Kuchar made a motion to move the March 8, 2021 date to the end of the school year.  Sean Lindgren seconded the motion.  On roll call vote the motion carried with 6 ayes. 

Mr. Luhr advised the Board that the current directed health measure(DHM), allows us to host 50% capacity in our gym which is about 800 people.  The number will allow us to lessen restrictions for most home competitions, but not all of them.  Some tournaments may still need restrictions, depending on the number of teams/schools involved. 

Mr. Luhr presented to the Board a legislative update from Justin Knight of Perry Law Firm.  Mr. Luhr advised the Board that Senator Lynne Walz is the new Chair of the Education Committee.

Mr. Luhr presented to the Board copies of updated drawings from CWP Architecture. Another walk through was done with Bob Soukup of CWP Architecture, Ben Fink of Beckenhauer Construction, Sean Lindgren, Mr. Luhr, and Mr. Finke to identify areas that would need addressed during the remodeling process.  The biggest concern is installing fire sprinklers throughout the entire elementary school building.

Mr. Luhr presented two drafts of the 2021-22 Master Calendar to the Board for their review and input.  Action will be taken to adopt the 2021-22 Master Calendar at the February Board meeting.

Mr. Luhr advised the Board that the administrator contracts needed formal approval after being posted in the December Board minutes.  Brent Bode made a motion to approve the Elementary Principal contract for Kyle Finke in the amount of $107,352.00 for the 2021-22 school year.  Paul Kuchar seconded the motion.  On roll call vote, the motion carried with six ayes. 

Toby Thompson made a motion to approve the Secondary Principal contract for Jeff Heimes in the amount of $112, 684.00 for the 2021-22 school year.  Tammy Bierman seconded the motion.  On roll call vote, the motion carried with six ayes.

Tammy Bierman made a motion to approve the Superintendent contract for Jake Luhr in the amount of $144,256.00 for the 2021-22 school year.  Paul Kuchar seconded the motion.  On roll call vote, the motion carried with six ayes.

Mr. Luhr advised the Board that the Federal government has passed another round of Coronavirus relief stimulus at the end of 2020.  It is commonly referred to as the Cares Act 2.  This one does not mandate the district provide FFCRA leave, but under advice from Justin Knight of Perry Law Firm, strongly urges the matter to be left up to the superintendent’s discretion on FFCRA leave.  Toby Thompson made a motion for the decision to allow FFCRA leave up the Superintendent Jake Luhr’s discretion.  Brent Bode seconded the motion.  On roll call vote, the motion carried with six ayes.

Mr. Luhr presented to the Board an update from ELVPHD and the phases for the COVID-19 vaccinations.  Currently, there is no timeline for the vaccinations.  Mr. Luhr will keep the Board updated on this.

Mr. Luhr presented to the Board a bulleted list of key points from all three public hearings on Native American mascots in Nebraska and nationally.  Mr. Luhr has met with some community members to get their views on this topic.  He will also continue to follow this topic and keep gathering information.  More to come on this topic at a later Board meeting. 

Option Enrollment requests were moved to the February agenda.

Comments were heard from the Board, Principals, and Superintendent.

With no further business, Board President Jeremy Pochop adjourned the meeting at 7:00 P.M.

Submitted by,

Jake Luhr, Secretary Board of Education