Summary of May 14, 2013 Meeting

The 2012-13 Superintendent’s Teacher Advisory Council met on Wednesday, May 14 – the last meeting of the school year. The group will reconvene next school year. Here are a few highlights of the 5-14 meeting.

Security Update: Russ Uhing, director of Student Services, gave a brief update on some highlights of security changes at LPS.

Volunteers: LPS has developed a new system for registering school volunteers – that will be online for the 2013-14 school year – that establishes three different volunteer levels based on contact with students and supervision by LPS staff.

Threat assessment: In the next few months all LPS staff will receive some level of training for threat assessment: a planned, proactive and strategic response to reported issues of concern in the school district – with a focus on prevention. “We’re already doing many of these processes, but this is something of an open invitation to everyone to participate,” Uhing said. He explained that threat assessment will help staff, students and families to better identify and report concerning behaviors and incidents that may need further assessment.

Facility changes: LPS continues to review additional facility security measures, including:
• Shoring up better security methods for before- and after-school programs.
• Reviewing the cost and priorities for renovating and creating “secured entrances” at every school (a costly project).

Superintendent Update: LPS Superintendent Steve Joel gave Council members a brief update about LPS issues.

State aid to education: Joel told Council members that the Nebraska Legislature had finalized funding for state aid to education – and LPS will have a significant boost in the coming school year with nearly $14 million more than last year.

“Our dollars just haven’t kept up with student growth in our school district,” Joel said. “This will allow us to add staff next year – and we’re specifically looking to add instructional staff.”

Superintendent’s Facilities Advisory Committee: Joel has convened his 90-member Facilities Advisory Committee, charged with prioritizing facility and infrastructure needs in the school district that might include: building new facilities and renovation of existing facilities, funding technology to address digital transformation in education, security needs, and meeting the needs of mental health and behavioral issues in our students.

Behavioral issues with students: Jane Stavem, associate superintendent for Instruction at LPS, told the group that instructional staff are researching possible new systems and processes to deal with increasing issues of serious behavioral issues with students. “We know there are frustrations in our schools,” she said. “We’ve always had these issues, but we’re seeing increases in scope, duration and intensity.”

Stavem noted LPS staff are aiming to create a consistent, systemic and improved way of handling these issues. “We want to give all of you better tools..to do what’s best for our students.”

Questions and Answers

Several people offered comments on Professional Learning Communities, some questioning their value – others praising their support and value.
Joel: “I think this might be a school-by-school issue, and you should talk to your principal.”

Question: “If you are talking about a proposal for technology, I hope this is creativity driven and not assessment driven…and I hope there will be training.”
Stavem: “I would say that we’ll be looking bigger picture, but will also make it assessment friendly.”
Joel: “And it must come with a professional development component or it will never work.”

Several people commented on the increasing tasks of data collection, charts, smart goals, etc. – that take them away from instruction.
Stavem said one of her focuses next year would be to make sure all the different goals, tasks and data – better flow together. “I’m hoping you’ll feel that much less.”

FINAL WORDS from Joel: “I’ve been to many, many schools over the last few weeks, and I’m so impressed at how on-task our teachers and students are staying…There is tremendous professional competence in our classrooms…The work is hard but so meaningful. I believe that for most of you, this is a mission – not a job.”

Updated May 16, 2013