Board of Ed purchases new math program and communications system

The Kimball School board met in regular session on Monday, April 9, to approve a new math series for the district and review and prioritize capital projects needed for the safety and security of the schools.

Following months of assessment by a group of eight elementary, junior high and high school teachers, Kim Beyer, Curriculum and Assessment Coordinator for the district, presented the group’s top pick for the new math series.

“We reviewed several math series,” Beyer said, “and finally we were able to narrow it down, in the last three months, to Big Ideas.”

Assisted by Stephanie Kitchens, and with several math teachers on hand, Beyer presented the Big Ideas series which includes hard copy books and online resources available to students, parents and teachers.

The series covers math from Kindergarten through calculus and it coordinates with Nebraska state math standards.

The package presented, and approved by the board, includes all the resources needed with the exception of hard copy books for calculus, pre-calculus, geometry and algebra 2 – though the online resources will be available for those classes as well.

“One thing is that the authors have taught every single lesson of this series within a classroom already,” teacher Heidi Chesley said. “So they made sure it worked before they handed it out to us. I think that is a big plus. They made sure the vocab worked at that level; made sure that what they asked you to do is going to work with the kids at that level.”

Interactive kits are also provided, along with the hard copy books and online tools.

The board approved the purchase of the system for six years at a total cost of $58,739.93.

Travis Terrill, Technology Director, presented options for capital improvements, including roofing for the Junior/Senior High School and facility security, communications and surveillance at both schools.

The board first reviewed roofing bids which included two options, each at more than $670,000 with 15 and 20 year warranties, for roofing without the rock ballast and one option with the ballast priced at $391,000 with a 20 year warranty.

“Nobody likes the ballast roofs, but ballast roofs are cheaper,” board member Brad Reader said. “You can either punch holes through your deck to hold your liner in place, or you put some rock on it to hold it in place.”

Reader moved and Matt Shoup seconded, to go with the cheapest of the options and to complete the roofing in three separate projects.

The first step in security, communications and surveillance upgrades will be a new communications system while Terrill continues to investigate options for access control, new locks and surveillance upgrades.

Cameras and doors could be tied together so that if a door was accessed a camera would be triggered to take a snapshot of the person entering. Additionally, though the phone and intercom systems could be integrated, Terrill said he intended for them to operate independently to prevent a single point of potential system failure.

“I intended these to be stand alone projects,” Terrill said. “So no one single project should be dependent on another one being done.”

Terrill explored several communication options and, though he would like to have more time to investigate some of the systems, at this time he said he prefers Advanced Network Devices.

The board voted to purchase a system for $435, with the caveat that Terrill have some room to find the best solutions for the district’s needs.

Reader asked for a comprehensive, detailed plan regarding surveillance and access control for both facilities in the district. Terrill will report further on these matters after more in-depth exploration.

Other actions taken by the board include:

Accepted the resignation of Cynthe Staehr.

Approved new contracts for Victoria Reader Ingram, Cassady Malm and David Hellman.

Approved an overnight, out-of-state trip for students to participate in the West Rivers Math Contest in Rapid City, SD.

Voted to make April 27, 2018, a staff in-service day (no students), which will be used for training on the new math series.

Established a new sub group for Blue Cross Blue Shield Insurance for classified staff.

Agreed to provide life insurance to all full-time employees.

Amended incoming superintendent, Dr. Elizabeth Owens, contract with a start date of June 1, 2018.