NBC begins with new superintendent

by Mary Le Arneal
Published 7/19/23

Prior to the regular Board of Education meeting held July 10 was a special transition meeting for the new superintendent and board. This meeting was open to the public and notice was published in the Norfolk Daily News.

During the regular meeting superintendent Patrick Ningen gave the first reading of the policy manual with revisions needed. The first reading was approved. Ningen will make some changes and the board will have a final review. The policies are all available at the school’s web site.

Holly Hild addressed the board about getting boys baseball as a high school spring sport. There were 15 people in the audience interested in the program. The NSAA looks at the number of boys and girls involved in a sport, not the number of sports for each for Title IX purposes.

Board member Bob Feurer was concerned with transportation needs in the spring when there are many field trips and other obligations for the buses. Board member Francis Emanuel wanted to hear from activities director Jon Baehr as to what the costs would be. It was decided that students in 6th through 11th grade would be surveyed to see what the interest was. The city has agreed to let the school team use the city park ball field as long as there was no expense for the city.

Meal prices were discussed. It was decided to raise the breakfast price for everyone to $2.10. Preschool to fifth grade lunch will be $2.90. For the sixth to 12 graders the cost for lunch will be increased to $3.20.

Adults eating at school will have to pay $2.55 for breakfast and $3.85 for lunch. These prices were arrived at using a Paid Lunch Equity calculator, a Nebraska Department of Education tool that helps schools determine their lunch prices. At NBC there was an estimated $42,000 lost in lunch funds last school year.

There will be a staff survey available for participation July 21-28. It will be around 50 questions. It will take a few weeks to analyze. The board is holding a retreat August 23 and will see the results there before releasing them to the public.

Ningen reported that matters have been taken at the softball field to make it more handicap accessible.

In the summer update it was reported that the scoreboard project was moving along and the boards were to arrive in August.

Randi Mimick inquired about the possibility of the dance team participating in a national championship contest this winter. This would be similar to the FFA attending its national convention, she said. Mimick is looking into cost and the dance team members will do fund raising. Nothing was decided as further information needed.

Approval for the hiring of three new para professionals was given. Hired were Cheyenne Chromy for a middle school position, Emma Kavan for the preschool position and Deb Hitchler for the elementary school.

The next school board meeting will be Aug. 14 at 7:30 p.m.

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