OSMOND — The Monday, Dec. 8, school board meeting began with a report from guidance counselor Lacy Stelling on Nebraska Department of Education's Educational Profile website. Mrs. Stelling explained to the board how to navigate through the site to find information about Osmond Community School.
Patrons may go to https://nep.education. ne.gov and, under district, type in “Osmond,” then select either Osmond elementary or Osmond High School. It will then bring up information for the 2024-25 school year, which is the most recent, or that of the previous few years. It will show information in numbers such as demographics — number of students and teachers; program participation, including for free or reduced lunch, gifted, etc.; performance in various areas such as math or English Language Arts, and compare them with those in the same district or state.
There are tabs for a school snapshot, full profile, AquESTT classification, and “About Our School.” There is a lot of information to be found on the website and it is very easy to navigate.
K-6 Principal Report Principal Paige Parsons, who was absent due to illness, provided a report for the board. In it, she reported the good news that there has been a drop in major office referrals, which she believes coincides with staff teaching and reteaching required expectations, increased phone calls home, using proactive strategies and consistency with implementation of behavior plans.
Ms. Parsons reported on a Nov. 19 leadership team meeting, where much of the discussion was on the student support team process. The team also discussed moving forward with drafting MTSS rules for math and social/ emotional learning.
Parsons also reported on a K-3 field trip to the Columbus Children’s Museum on Nov. 25 and a staff Christmas party on Dec. 3 at the bowling alley.
The principal advised that she has communicated frequently with families about recess procedures, telling them it is a needed and beneficial part of the school day, and explaining the rules about going outside dependent on the weather.
Upcoming events shared are the elementary music concert on Thursday, Dec. 11, and Christmas activities Dec. 15-19.
7-12 Principal’s Report Principal Kurt Polt reported on upcoming dates such as the last day of school for the first semester on Dec. 19 with report cards to be mailed home on Jan. 9, and Christmas break beginning Dec. 20 with teachers returning Jan. 5 and students on Jan. 6.
The NSAAmoratorium will be from Dec. 24 through Dec. 28. This is not just for practice, he said, but includes all high school students and the entire building.
Polt reported that the FFAand FBLA students made a joint trip to Mercy Meals in Norfolk. Upcoming events include the K-6 Christmas concert on Thursday, Dec. 11, at 6 p.m. with the 7-12 concert to follow at 7:30 p.m.
Polt then gave a report on the principals conference he attended in Lincoln last week. There are some laws that could be introduced, he said, including the EPIC bill, which would eliminate property tax, a possible new retirement policy, and moving salaries BOARD HEARS REPORT ON EDUCATIONAL PROFILE to $50,000 for all teachers. He said he also attended several sessions, including one on school safety.
While he was at the conference, Polt said he reflected on how things are going this year compared to last year, and the changes that have happened since having Principal Parsons here. He said he has more of a presence, has more time for evaluations and to sit with teachers and staff. He has time to cover for teachers in case of emergency and to do lunch and recess duty.
He stated that Superintendent Skip Bremer has started having weekly administrator meetings, and it is the first time he (Polt) has been part of an administrative team. All in all, it has been a positive change, he said. He added that he feels like he can make a difference now, rather than just putting out fires.
Superintendent’s Report Superintendent Bremer reviewed several board policies including those on public appearances of school groups, Constitution Day education (Sept. 17), seclusion and restraint of students, reading instruction and intervention services, repeat of grade at parent-guardian request, Malcolm X Day education (May 19), projection maps, and mapping data.
Bremer had a report on the time frame for talks on co-oping with Plainview for various sports, which included a community meeting in March 2026 to decide on volleyball, cross country, track and golf, with a vote in April to co-op starting with the 2026-27 year, and a community meeting in February of 2027 and a March 2027 vote on boys’ wrestling.
Mr. Bremer said he informed the Lewis and Clark Conference of Osmond’s plans with Plainview, and he has reached out to GNAC, which is the conference that Plainview is in. He will correspond more with GNAC to see what it takes to join that conference.
The superintendent advised that the 2026 NRCSA spring conference will be held March 18 to 20 in Kearney, and asked board members to let him know if they would like to go.
Bremer gave the annual financial literacy report. He reported that Osmond juniors are required to take per- sonal finance classes, which includes investing, budgeting, saving, etc., and said Osmond qualified for three years
in a row (2022-2023, 2023-24, 202425) as a Blue Star School in Financial Literacy Certification. Eighth grade students are required to take “career” course during the fourth quarter, and K-6 students have financial literacy embedded into coursework where appropriate. He added that the Wednesday banking for elementary students is still going well.
Supt. Bremer advised he had received a packet of information from Pierce County for school board elections in 2026. There are three board members up for reelection: Justin Koehler, Tyler Gansebom and Tif- fany Rice. Incumbent filing deadline is Feb. 17, and non-incumbent filing
deadline is March 3.
Bremer reported that the Unified Bowling team, which he coaches, has finished their season. They finished third in districts on Dec. 1.
Bremer commented that he had seen a nice interview on Facebook with Osmond wrestler Kaleb Gardner.
Bremer shared his thoughts on the superintendent evaluation that the board conducted in November, thanking them for listing his strengths and weaknesses. He also thanked them for recognizing his efforts, and said he has a goal to-do list.
Board Comments Board President Mark Moes commented on the recent school board conference several board members had attended, saying it’s important for the community to know their board members are going to these conferences and are constantly learning.
Moes also said he was impressed with the administrator’s column that Superintendent Bremer had recently written for the newspaper, which thanked the staff at Osmond Community School for hard work.
Koehler noted that FFA sign has been installed, and said he would get information to the newspaper about it.
Superintendent Bremer said someone had asked about the sign by the new power station, because it is not set back enough and makes for a dangerous intersection. Bremer said stop signs are supposed to go up to correct the situation.
In action items, the board approved the superintendent’s contract, with Board President Moes commenting that Bremer is doing a stand-up job, always bringing new things to the table, like the administrative meetings, and he thanked him for what he does.
