Minutes Oct. 10, 2016
The regular meeting of the Board of Education of the Creighton Community School District No. 13 was held on October 10, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. in the High School Library.
Notice of the meeting was given in advance thereof by publication in the Creighton News, as shown by the Affidavit of Publication attached to the minutes. Notice was also hung at the City Offices, front door of the high school, and front door of the elementary.
Notice of the meeting was simultaneously sent to all the members and a copy of their acknowledgment and receipt of notice and agenda is attached to these minutes. Availability of the agenda was communicated in the advance notice as was the notice to the members of this meeting. All proceedings hereafter shown were taken while the convened meeting was opened to the attendance of the public. The agenda for the meeting is attached and incorporated into these minutes.
President D. Morrill called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
D. Morrill announced that the Open Meeting Laws Act Poster was displayed on the wall.
Members present: Dan Morrill, Kay Morrill, Colleen Farnik, Dixie Hanefeldt, and Gene Suhr. Hanefeldt moved to excuse Tim Gragert due to military duty. Seconded by K. Morrill. RCV: 5-0. Motion Carried.
Others Present: Superintendent Petersen, Principal Nilson, Secretary Hoffman, and district patrons.
The Pledge of Allegiance was said.
Farnik moved to approve the agenda, seconded by Suhr. RCV: 5-0. Gragert excused. Motion Carried.
360 Energy Engineers shared information on the final project summary for the HVAC system for the high school. The bids that they presented are based on actual contractor bids, and are the guaranteed turn-key costs. A hybrid water source heat pump would heat and cool the rooms. Each classroom would have a ceiling unit and their own temperature controls. New interiors doors without louvers would also be installed at this time to meet fire codes. The bid for the heat pump and doors is $2,667,530. The gym would be able to run independent of any classrooms. The school’s electrical system is currently at capacity, so upgrades need to be made and more outlets will be added to each room at a cost of $330,051. A bid of $412,377 was included, which would include new LED lighting fixtures and ceiling tiles in the high school. The tiles will have to be removed to install the new system. A fourth bid for $76,197 includes retrofitting the lights in the elementary and middle school to LED. A new heating/air system could be purchased for the weight room, bathrooms, therapist’s office, and psychologists’ office for $46,007. The final bid was for building wide fire sprinkler system for $465,935. The sprinkler cost was much higher than they had anticipated, due to the fact that the school would have to run about 600 feet of six inch water main to meet the city’s existing six inch water main. The heat pump, electrical, and lighting projects for the high school all go hand in hand. The last three do not affect that project. The timeline for the project was reviewed. Once approved, equipment would be ordered in December and non-invasive work would begin in the spring. The project would be completed by the fall.
Public comment: Visitors were welcomed and public comment paragraph was read. Jim Fuchtman addressed the board on the public comment policy, fund balance, committee appointments and the HVAC system funding.
Chuck Shefl addressed the board on school bus routes.
- Reports:
Superintendent Petersen congratulated the students and staff as Creighton students scored above the state average in most areas on NeSA testing. She will be attending safety training at the ESU later this month along with three other staff members. The technology infrastructure application is currently in the review process, which could take up to two months. She congratulated the marching band on their return.
Principal Nilson shared that parent teacher conferences took place. Students did a great job in participating in Homecoming activities. The fall sports are winding down. He is continuing to work on the school improvement goal, of more effectively utilizing the school’s technology resources. This spring all juniors will be required to take the ACT as the new state wide test for juniors. We will have all sophomores take the John Baylor ACT fundamentals class and Pre-ACT now, and all juniors will do the John Baylor ACT Prep sessions.
2. Board Committees:
The building and grounds committee met with 360 Energy Engineers on October 5th to review the HVAC project. The committee discussed that the middle school and elementary lights have all been updated recently, and that it is probably not necessary to change them. The sprinkler system costs were higher due to the accessibility of adequate water pressure. At this time, we are not required by the fire marshal to have a sprinkler system, and the discussion occurred on other safety precautions in the school for fire safety. It is very hard to find parts for the current furnace to make any needed repairs.
There was no correspondence.
Farnik moved to approve the consent agenda minus the minutes of the September meeting and section C (Certificated/Classified Hires/Reassignments/Resignations) since there is nothing to approve at this time. Seconded by K. Morrill. RCV: 5-0. Gragert excused. Motion Carried. A motion by K. Morrill was made to correct the minutes to change (1) Dredge to Nilson, (2) the word she to her, (3) committee minutes attached to minutes, and (4) add the motion that was made in September by Hanefeldt and seconded by Farnik on board member approval for attendance at conferences. Seconded by Hanefeldt. RCV: 5-0. Gragert excused. Motion Carried.
Discussion/Action Items:
- Superintendent Petersen is working with 360 Energy on a billing schedule. Billing will begin the end of October and go into the next fiscal year as well. Payments will be made out of the general, depreciation, and building funds. K. Morrill moved to approve high school hybrid water source heat pump system, high school electrical service and infrastructure upgrades, and the high school LED lighting – new fixtures and ceilings for a total cost of $3,409,958. Seconded by Suhr. RCV: 5-0. Gragert excused. Motion Carried. Discussion also occurred on the sprinkler system. Superintendent Petersen will check to see if we would receive any discounts on insurance premiums and will check with the state fire marshal on recommendations and maintenance.
The board held discussion on the middle school addition. Concerns were shared about the cost of $46,007 for the update, as well as temperature condition of the rooms for the students. The board voted on the last three bids to see what to include in the motion. Votes were taken for the middle and elementary LED lighting bid of $412,377. RCV: no – 5-0. Middle school addition – Packaged RTU Installation – RCV: D. Morrill – yes, Hanefeldt – yes, K. Morrill – no, Suhr – yes, Farnik – yes. Hanefeldt move to table further discussion on the sprinkler system until we get more information. Seconded by Suhr. RCV: 5-0. Gragert excused. Motion Carried. Farnik moved to add the middle school RTU package installation to the previously approved bid with 360 Energy Engineers. Seconded by Suhr. RCV: Hanefeldt – yes, K. Morrill – no, Suhr – yes, Farnik – yes, D. Morrill – yes. Gragert excused. Motion Carried.
2. The Negotiations committee met with representatives from the Creighton Teachers’ Association prior to the board meeting, and will meet again November 30th.
3. The new overtime and compensatory law will go into effect on December 1st, requiring that overtime be paid for salaried employees working over forty hours a week. This will affect three employees who are nonexempt under the law. Different options shared by the school attorneys are using a fluctuating workweek record system, paying comp time, or paying straight hourly time. Two policies, one from the NASB, and one from KSB law were shared. The personnel committee will meet and bring a recommendation to the board in November.
4. K. Morrill moved to recognize the Creighton Education Association as the exclusive bargaining unit for 2018-2019. Seconded by Hanefeldt. RCV: 5-0. Gragert excused. Motion Carried.
5. The board had discussed removing a sentence from Policy 204.12 (Public Comment in Board Meetings) in September. The sentence stated that any written or printed materials to be circulated for a meeting of the school board must be submitted to the superintendent by the Wednesday preceding a Monday night meeting. The board held discussion on trying to find a common ground for the public comment section.
The policy committee will research the public comment policies in other districts in Nebraska to see how they work with public comment at their meetings. The committee will then meet on November 30th at 6:00.
6. Superintendent Petersen shared that the preschool through twelfth grade enrollment number on the last Friday of September was 304.
7. D. Morrill was asked to be the voting delegate for Creighton at the state school board convention in November. K. Morrill moved to appoint D. Morrill as the delegate assembly for voting representation. Seconded by Hanefeldt. RCV: 5-0. Gragert excused. Motion Carried.
The following bills were paid:
At 8:46 p.m., President D. Morrill adjourned the meeting. The next regular meeting of the Board of Education will be held on Monday, November 14, 2016, at 7:00 p.m. in the high school library.
Jennifer Hoffman, Secretary
Building & Grounds committee met on 10-5-16
Attending: Kay, Gene. Dan, Mike Costello, Stephanie and 360 - Jacob and Justin
360 is a turn-key provider:
360 reviewed the goals of the project and discussed areas of upgrade
High School
1) HVAC – remove 54-year-old inefficient furnaces/Install water source heat pumps
2) Electrical Systems – replace existing electrical/additional electrical receptacles in classrooms (teachers will have input)
3) Doors – replace interior, louver doors.
4) Infrastructure update: lights/ceilings
5) System would be designed to move through the school when older systems break down.
Added after initial HVAC conversation
1) Building Wide Sprinklers
2) Lighting systems - M.S. & Elementary
3) Middle School speech room, psychologist room, and weight/classroom were discussed for new heat/ac system
*Rooms are very cold in the winter
*Humidity is very high in the summer. The weight classroom is used year round.
*New weights – we don’t want the have rust from humidity
Projected Financials were discussed.
The committee discussed not updating the MS & Elementary Lighting because they have been recently updated.
The building wide sprinkler system was discussed in detail – the cost has increased due to the accessibility of adequate water pressure.
To make the sprinkler system work – a new 6” water line will be installed and trenched underground from the corner of Seely and Chase Ave. with a new service entrance into the school near the office west of the weight/wresting room. A total of approximately 600 feet of new trenched piping needs to be installed to accommodate the schools new fire sprinkler system.
Sprinkler conversation:
*New doors
*Two exits in rooms
*Last child to die in a fire in a school while in session was 1958 in Chicago (Chad Sheehan – Sioux City Officer)
*Monthly fire drills
360 discussed the process of subcontractors and the timeline.
