Board discusses upcoming year

by Stephanie Iwan Flamme
Published 5/17/23

North Bend Central’s Board of Education met on May 8 with an agenda which reviewed the closing school year and looked forward to the 2023-2024 term.

The session opened with remarks from visitors. North Bend Elementary first grade teacher Marissa Ortmeier addressed the board about the possibility for the district to add day care for the teachers and staff.

New superintendent Patrick Ningen, who was also in attendance, explained that there was a lot to consider including space, certified staffing, who would be in attendance, cost, and meeting Nebraska Department of Education’s Rule 11.

Interim superintendent Galen Boldt’s reported on KSB Law complete renewal of school policies approved in April. KSB guaranteed that the school would be covered on all issues regarding liability or school responsibility/accountability.

Ningen felt that there should be strategic planning before school starts in order to begin the school year in a positive way. Boldt added that there are some things you would want to get done before school starts by looking at the data from a survey and figuring out what needed to be done. It was recommended by the board to bring representatives who complete school surveys back in June to answer questions and then make a decision.

Kevin Kavan completed the required NDE Safety Audit on April 27. As part of the audit custodian items addressed include concrete issues around the elementary school, door numbers for easier identification for fire and rescue; loose boards on the stage; original doors of the high school will need to have their handles changed as they only lock from the outside; replacement of some of the original windows with panes that are more thermally efficient; asbestos that will be need to be removed; andt he family consumer science room needs to be updated.

Looking toward the 2023-2024 school year, secondary principal Brenda Petersen explained that Infinite Campus would need to be changed. The Department of Education notified the district that they would need to correct the middle school level to include sixth through eighth grades and the high school level to include ninth through 12th grades.

This will be corrected over the summer and be ready for the next school year. It is not a simple fix as NBC will have to reclassify almost every teacher in the building, each class offered, grades, attendance, and student schedule.

Petersen also explained that NBC has a seven-year curriculum cycle to adopt new classroom curriculum and supplies. English and Science are in the implementation stage as they were both adopted curriculum last year with the adoption of new state standards in English. This year’s focus has been art, music, and band.

With the transition to a new superintendent there will be no school tours during Old Settlers. The possibility of a virtual tour was discussed.

Elementary principal Tessie Beaver described the new English language arts curriculum. One hour a day is spent on knowledge building (comprehension, vocabulary, and writing) and at least an hour per day is spent on foundational skills in K-2 and additional literacy and language block in grades three through five. Beaver noted that there have been significant gains with 86% to 93% of the students meeting the benchmarks.

The students in first through fourth grades will participate in Up Shift on May 10, meeting their teacher for next year. Fifth grade will meet their middle school teachers and have lunch at the high school on May 11.

On the last day of the school year the teachers will enjoy sandwiches as the school board supports and thanks them for their contributions for a successful year.

The next meeting of the NBC School Board will be June 12 at 7:30 p.m.

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