OSMOND — The District 42R Board of Education met at an earlier time on Monday, June 8, so that some board members could leave for other obligations.
Policy Reviews
The meeting began with a review of
board policies 5018, 5045, and 30273030, as well as KSB policy updates.
One of the required revisions sent by KSB Law is that of notice of meetings. LB 596 eliminates the requirement to publish notice of meetings in a newspaper. Instead, the board selects the method, and KSB “strongly encour- ages" all schools to provide official notice on the school’s website. However, Superintendent Skip Bremer did state that the Osmond school would continue to publish notice in the newspaper as well.
A number of other changes, both required and optional, were listed. All board policies are available on the school website.
Athletic Director Report
Athletic Director Brian Guenther provided schedules for the cooperative sports with Plainview for the 2026-- 27 school year: junior high sports, high school football, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ bowling and girls’ wrestling, as well as Osmond Tiger sports: volleyball, cross country, Unified Bowling, wrestling, track and golf.
Guenther said there are still some games that he is still trying to work into the schedule, but otherwise everything is as reported in the schedules he provided.
K-6 Principal’s Report
K-6 Principal Paige Parsons gave an end-of-year report, which included the Acadience spring reading benchmarks. She reported on EduClimber Behavior Data, which showed a 25% drop in major incidences from last school year and a 40% drop in minor incidences from the last school year to this one.
Ms. Parsons announced that a one-year contract has been offered to Jennifer Backer to serve as a Special Education teacher. Mrs. Backer was an ELA teacher for the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge school.
Parsons stated that she would like to update the elementary handbook as far as information under “dress and general appearance.”
Rather than saying that shorts aren’t allowed from Nov. 1 to March 31, she would like it to say the following: Students will go outside when “real feel temperatures is 0 degrees and above, and it is not actively raining or lightning.Administration would make the decision on outside play, and other factors might impact the final decision to go outdoors.
In addition, she would like a change in general guidance for the wearing of various types of weather gear: 0-50 degrees, coats and bottoms that cover legs required; 50-60 degrees, jacket/ sweatshirt and bottoms that cover legs required; “real feel” of 60+ degrees, shorts, short skirts and no coat are permitted.
For snow play, she suggested that boots be required for walking on any snow-covered areas; snow pants and boots be required for actively playing in the snow; those in street shoes have to stay on cleared concrete when snow is covering surfaces.
Parsons’ rationale for the changes, she said, is to protect students during outside play, especially during cold weather months. With unseasonable temperatures during the past few seasons, the updated guidance would allow for the weather to dictate the outside dress versus the time of year, she said.
The principal advised that next year, all K-6 staff will utilize Common Curriculum, which is an online lesson, unit and curriculum planning platform. It allows for lesson plans to be shared with administration, interventionists and SPED teachers for collaborative purposes.
Ms. Parsons thanked Coach Brad- ley Wright and 7-12 students for a wonderful field day. She also listed
the following upcoming events: June 15-17, K-6 BIST training; June 18, KSB School Law student discipline training; June 19, K-6 MTSS retreat.
7-12 Principal’s Report
Principal Kurt Polt reported that all teachers checked out at the end of the year, which includes turning in reports and listing things to order for next year. He added that school secretary Jessica Johnson got all the report cards done and sent out.
Polt advised that the Osmond Alumni Association asked for the school to be open on June 27 from 3 to 5 p.m. for alumni returning for the biennial alumni banquet to tour the school.
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Bremer stated that, after the board approved replacing the stage curtain and lighting at last month’s meeting, the district received a donation of $10,000 from the Osmond Community School Foundation toward the project.
Bremer advised that the Plainview-Osmond sharing committees would like to meet in July, and asked for a game plan. He suggested a joint meeting with Plainview and then voting on shared activities.
The superintendent noted that, regarding the district’s vehicles, until the federal government says they can’t use all of them, the district will continue to use all the vehicles it has.
Mr. Bremer spoke about the recent shareholder survey and said he would like to get an article written and sent to the newspaper soon, with results from the survey.
Board Comments
Board President Mark Moes thanked the Osmond Community School Foundation for its donation.
He gave a brief report on bids for air conditioning in the cafeteria; Trane would like to use the units that are there, but maintenance supervisor Dwight Kahny wants to start with new units. They are waiting for bids, and then the facilities and grounds committee needs to meet to decide if they want to move forward with it, then bring a recommendation to the board.
Moes congratulated the track and golf athletes who qualified for state.
He also thanked the board and others present for being able to move the evening’s meeting to 5 p.m..
The only action item on the agenda, which the board approved, was to affirm the district's cooperative agree ments with Plainview Public School, continuing the co-ops in all junior high sports, high school football, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ bowling, and girls’ wrestling. Superintendent Bremer said it was just to show that the district is committed to the co-op with Plainview, and committed to exploring more opportunities for sharing.
