The second Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Teacher Advisory Council of the 2018-19 school year met Wednesday, Jan. 9.<\/p>\n
The continuing Nebraska Legislative conversation about property taxes:
\n\u201cWe are actually fortunate in Nebraska to fund public education with property taxes\u2026We are 49th in the country for state aid support of public education \u2026 But to date we have not had draconian budget issues with education, mostly because property taxes are fairly stable.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel explained there is an ongoing rural\/urban battle over what it costs and how we should fund education. \u201cThe governor has said that property taxes are his No. 1 target \u2026. Funding is fairly even right now, between urban and rural support, but if we shift from property to sales and income taxes, urban areas will pay a major part of those increases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joel also warned that LPS will likely see a $10 million decrease in state aid in the coming year: \u201cOur goal will be to maintain the integrity of what we do as we continue to plan for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Superintendent\u2019s Facility Advisory Council: LPS is growing, Joel said, pointing out that our high schools are now working at 110 percent of capacity and pushing the limits of school infrastructure. Five of our six LPS high schools now have enrollments topping 2,000. Three have more than 2,200.<\/p>\n
He explained that this month he is convening the Superintendent\u2019s Facility Advisory Committee to review the school district\u2019s facility and infrastructure needs, options and priorities. The Committee, made up of 100 community and school stakeholders, will consider both present and future facility and infrastructure needs looking forward over the next 7-10 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest question is about future high schools: How do we address high schools in an equitable and progressive manner? How many high schools should we build \u2013 and where? How large should they be?\u201d<\/p>\n
Committee recommendations will be presented to the superintendent and Lincoln Board of Education by Sept. 1, 2019. Joel explained that the Board of Education will then have the conversation about a potential bond issue in 2020 and determine: \u201chow much can we ask of our community?\u201d<\/p>\n
Election season: Joel reminded all LPS employees to be prudent and wise during election season \u2013 a spring election that will include both city and school district campaigns. \u201cIf someone sends you anything political, just delete it. Do not forward it to anyone. Do not even send it to your home computer. Delete it \u2026. I want all of you to be politically informed, be good citizens \u2026 But we cannot use taxpayer resources for any sort of political activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pfishing: Joel also cautioned LPS employees to beware of smarter and trickier forms of \u201cpfishing,\u201d the practice of sending emails that appear to be from reputable organizations \u2013 but are actually meant to scam people out of personal information.<\/p>\n
There are fraudulent schemes that are getting much more elaborate in their methods and messages, Joel explained, \u201cconvincing people to share their passwords, change where their paycheck is going \u2026. We are launching an educational campaign to inform and help our employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
Question:<\/strong> Is there still a push for school vouchers in the Legislature? Question:<\/strong> Joel asked teachers how much they are seeing students engaged with technology, \u201cWhat percentage of time do you think an average student is engaged with some form of technology in school?\u201d Joel asked for tabletop conversations in which teachers discussed: What is happening inside your schools and classrooms \u2013 right now \u2013 that might represent individualized, customized, project-based, problem-centered learning? With the advent of technology, providing greater access to digital resources, how are we encouraging students to think more critically and collaboratively? How are we ensuring that our students see a connection to what they are learning \u2013 with future careers?<\/p>\n Joel stressed \u201cthis will not happen overnight \u2026 but I think we have the ability to start thinking about delivery differently\u2026The challenge going forward is to take a successful school district \u2026. with continued emphasis on student outcomes, and embed more focus on engagement. If you have ideas you want to try out, please bring it forward, contact me.\u201d<\/p>\n Comments and observations from tables of teachers and individual teachers:<\/strong> \u2022 \u201cWe see The Career Academy as having the flexibility to deliver curriculum through more non-traditional models, create more community connections and business partnerships, internships, connections to community and jobs \u2026 In fact, high schools in general may be better equipped, have more flexibility than elementary and middle schools.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cWe talked about layered teaching and curriculum as a better way to approach students \u2026 understanding commonalities, but giving students choices in how we meet objectives \u2026 creating a menu of how we can meet objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cWe are indeed resource rich, and need to take constant inventory in what we have available. The idea of having time to be flexible is great. But some of the more personalized styles of learning are hard in a pre-scripted type of curriculum, it\u2019s difficult to create an aura of choice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cThe VOICE program actually offers great opportunities for kids to go out and experience things outside of classroom. \u201c<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cWe worry about some students losing elective time, because so often when kids don\u2019t do well we take them out for additional support \u2013 during elective time.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cThis is difficult in an environment in which we have to be accountable to taxpayers, and that is understandable \u2026. And yes we have strong, rich curriculum in all areas. But we must find balance \u2026 It is a misconception that we should have one objective for all second graders to meet \u2026 and expect them to all meet that objective in the same way at the same pace \u2026 The way each student gets there might look different \u2026 Yes, we should have high expectations for all students, but thinking about how they reach those expectations should be individualized.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cI think we are doing more problem solving in science \u2026 It feels like the pendulum is swinging and we are less about objectives, more about problem solving.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cWe have implemented a STEM challenge every week \u2026 on Friday afternoons, and kids are pumped, they light up during these times and we are seeing fewer behavior issues.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cWe\u2019re starting to implement some of these methods in in math \u2026. in teams \u2026 using whiteboards \u2026.. peers correcting one another \u2026 learning to disagree appropriately, accepting feedback \u2026. partner learning. Math is great for problem solving together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cMost kids start out loving school, wanting to get their hands-on things, having choices \u2026. We believe we need to start teaching about careers in those lower grades.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cWe think we need to talk about the ownership piece with kids and learning, becoming more engaging \u2026. getting kids to buy into learning \u2026. We also talked about how kids need life skills, how to solve problems, and they need to know it\u2019s ok to make mistakes. A true teacher knows that problem solving needs to go with curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cI see some flexibility in electives such as culinary and cooking \u2026. High school students who are learning how to cook, market their product and sell to staff members \u2026 But there is definitely more flexibility with the upper grade curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 \u201cAt Southeast, we are doing cultural proficiency, starting to look at different strategies to individualize how to make students who come from diverse backgrounds \u2026 feel more comfortable and confident \u2026 while celebrating their individuality.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LPS Superintendent Steve Joel welcomed everyone to the group Wednesday, thanked them for their time \u2013 and encouraged Council members to talk with other educators in their building for questions and feedback. \u201cYou are my teacher ears and eyes at the building level,\u201d Joel said. \u201cPlease consider what you need to know, and what I need to know as superintendent. We are open to suggested presentations and great conversation material \u2013 it\u2019s a wide-open array of topics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meeting-summaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":236,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/tac\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAnswer:<\/strong> \u201cThis is real, and will continue \u2026 We will be battling this one for a long time. This is a well-funded group \u2026 The good news is there appears to be a good balance on the Legislative Education Committee \u2026 And I believe LPS will be a tough nut for privatization people to crack. We are a strong public school district, and I\u2019m not sure many families want to experiment with their kids when we do teaching and learning so well.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nAnswer:<\/strong> Everyone agreed 50 percent or more \u2013 some went as high as 90-plus percent.
\nOne teacher responded: \u201cI think it comes down to the teacher. Some educators don\u2019t know how to use or teach with technology \u2026 .It comes down to professional development.\u201d<\/p>\nTabletop Conversations<\/h2>\n
\n\u2022 \u201cWe see Community Learning Centers giving kids those additional experiences of clubs, connecting with the community \u2026 Art classes have some flexibility to problem solve, partner with the community \u2026 But we\u2019re not sure how you provide flexibility with district curriculum and other curricular areas.\u201d<\/p>\n