Nicola officially welcomed back by NBC

by Stephanie Iwan Flamme
Published 1/20/16

Bernie Nicola addressed the North Bend Central Board of Education at its Jan. 11 meeting.

“I’m ready to roll with a transition and adjustment for reentry into the classroom,” the science teacher said. “I’m anxious for life to feel normal again and being back at NBC is an amazing feeling of normal.”

Nicola will be meeting with Bob Feurer, who filled in for Nicola while he was deployed with the Nebraska Army National Guard to Iraq. He will be returning to his classroom Thursday and spend a week teaching with Feurer. This will provide a smooth transition for the students and curriculum.

Also part of the board’s proceedings were the election officers: Dan Wesely, president; Jeff Bauer, vice president; Jeff Peters, secretary, and Francis Emanuel, treasurer.

Members were also assigned to committees. Facilities and Transportation included Francis Emanuel, Jeff Peters and Dan Wesely.

Chris Armstrong, Jeff Bauer and Francis Emanuel will serve on the Negotiations and Personnel Committee with all board members assigned to the Curriculum/Student Activities/Americanism committee.

Gary Vyhlidal will serve as the board representative to the Foundation and as the representative for the Safety Committee.

During the meeting, the Board reviewed long-term planning and began looking forward to the 2016-2017 school year. Principal Brenda Petersen has begun developing a plan for career exploration and education to be implemented in the next school term. The school is looking at a community college link for career-based programs for more exposure to careers. Certain programs will also implemented in the grade school.

“We would like students in the grade school to know about jobs that they don’t see,” elementary principal Tessie Beaver said.

Dan Endorf presented the first option of a school calendar for the 2016-2017 school year. Another with faculty input will be presented to the board at the next meeting.

Projected enrollment for next year is 571 total students; 268 elementary students; 103 middle school students, and 225 secondary students. This would be a decrease of 25 students from this year.

The board considered proposals for new lights on the football field and track. A unanimous vote was made to accept the bid from Pro Tech.

With this decision in place, architect Bob Soukup described three options for replacing bleachers at the football and track facilities. Each option provided seating for approximately 1,000 spectators. This would also include a new press box which would be about 500 square feet.

The board requested input from coaches as well as some adjustments to the plans from Soukup.

The next meeting will be Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.

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