OSMOND — One of the big topics of discussion at the March 11 board of education meeting was the sports co-op with Wausa Public School, as well as high school basketball.Among those present at the meeting were Terry and Kayla Hoffman, Nick Krienert and Josh Brummels.
Principal Kurt Polt explained that he had met with the girls in grades 8 through 11 and brought them up to speed on the situation with high school basketball. Randolph does not want to co-op in that sport and Wausa does not have a need.
If there is no co-op, there are enough girls to have a team but there are only three boys interested, so they won’t have a team.
Superintendent Skip Bremer said he hasn’t been able to meet with Pierce yet, but will see if there is an option. He has talked to Plainview and their superintendent said he would bring it up, although it may not be desirable for them because they’d probably move up a class.
Both men said they wouldn’t want kids to option to other schools, but would have to do what’s best for them. Polt said if Osmond doesn’t have a team and a student wants to play, he will help them get in touch with another town to play.
As far as the co-op with Wausa, it will include FFA, with Wausa students coming here; football, with junior high and high school going to Wausa, and locked in for four years, and wrestling, which will take place in Osmond. The Wausa board has said they are willing to co-op for junior high basketball.
The administrators said they wanted to set up a community meeting to discuss the issues, and the date of Tuesday, March 19, at 7 p.m. was decided on. The next committee meeting will be held on April 10.
The two were also asked how many girls and boys will be joining Wausa for junior high basketball. Polt said there is a total of six boys and eight girls possible.
Krienert suggested the board should be looking at (co-oping) track as well because the need will be there within a couple years.
Bremer explained that the board and administrators are “trying to rattle every cage for our kids,” saying that the board wants what’s best for the kids.
Mrs. Hoffman thanked the board for all the work they have been doing to keep things going.
Elementary Student Council Visits Fifth grade teacher and elementary Student Council advisor Jaci Kumm and students Henley Marks, Emerson Wagner, Toby Koehler, Reid Brummels and Kolby Gubbels were present at the meeting to speak to the board.
Mrs. Kumm explained that there are two students from each class in grades three through six on Student Council: third grade —McKenzie Riley and Kolby Gubbels; fourth grade — Emerson Wagner and Henley Marks; fifth grade - Reid Brummels and Toby Koehler; sixth grade — Aubree Erickson and Kayleigh Bolz.
Emerson shared the things the students have done so far this year and what they are planning on doing, as well as what they do each month.
Reid talked about the food drive the students had. Toby told the board what the students do at their monthly meetings, and Henley explained the things they do to welcome new students.
Policies Briefly Discussed
The board went over the policies they needed to discuss for the month: 3029 - Distribution of flyers advertising non-school organization activities; 3030 - automatic external defibrillator (AED) program; 3032 — Copying fees for school district records; 3034 COMMUNITY MEETING PLANNED ON CO-OP — Disbursements; 3035 — Chain of command-district administration; 3036 — Purchasing (credit) card program; 3037 — Petty cash; 6020 — Multicultural education. All were approved except 3030 — automatic external defibrillator (AED) program, because of a question on who the medical advisor for the program would be.
Athletic Director’s Report
Athletic Director Brian Guenther reported that all Academic All-state awards for winter activities have been submitted, and all varsity football games are scheduled with referees hired for the next football cycle.
Guenther said he will be working with Wausa to get a junior varsity and junior high football schedule in place, and the process of getting a basketball schedule done is underway.
The track season has begun, with the Wayne State College invitational to be held this Saturday, and the golf team started practice on Monday.
Principal’s Report
Principal Polt reported that the third quarter ended on March 7 and the fourth quarter began that day, March 11. Third-quarter report cards will be ready to send home on March 14.
Polt advised that an assembly for grades 7-12 has been scheduled for March 19 at 9 a.m. The assembly, called D2UP, will be presented by Mark Potter and it is open to parents and patrons. There is a link on the school’s website and Facebook page about Potter. (An article on Page 3 also gives information) The PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports) and MTSS (Multi-Tier System of Supports) teams are combining to put on an elementary breakfast bingo with buddies on March 20 from 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. It is a reward for PBIS, he said, and a literacy event with a chance to win a book for a bingo.
The principal reported that the elementary Student Council has scheduled a K-6 assembly on March 21 at 2:45 called “The Magic is in You” by Jeff Quinn. Quinn was the hypnotist for prom during COVID-19, Polt said.
Mr. Polt acknowledged the school staff for doing a great job of working the conference speech meet that the district hosted on March 4, and thanked Leah Kuhl, Patricia Marks and the Osmond speech team for their work setting up and cleaning up the school before and after the speech meet.
Polt gave an update on the bid for shot clocks in the gym. He said the current controller will not handle a wireless shot clock so the school would either have to go wired, or update the console. The board agreed that the console should be updated to handle the wireless shot clocks.
Polt noted the following dates: District speech was scheduled to be held in Stuart on March 12. Class D All-state band concert will be held at UNK on March 22. The junior class will take the ACT test on March 26, and on the same day, the eighth grade class will go to NECC for a career day.
Easter break will begin with a 2:06 p.m. early dismissal on March 28, and school will resume on April 2. April 3-5 is the state FFA convention in Lincoln. The kindergarten roundup will be held on Thursday, April 11.
Superintendent’s Report
Superintendent Bremer reported to the board that FFA advisor Jessica Evans has been named the Lower Elkhorn FFA Teacher of the Year. He listed the results of the recent CDE contest, with a number of events going to state. He also shared the state proficiency results: Matthew Alderson made state finalist in ag education and ag mechanics repair and maintenance; Cody Gansebom received gold in swine production placement and silver in turf grass management. Ava Reikofski received silver in forage production.
Bremer told the board the group needs to look for ways to help Mrs. Evans next year as it co-ops with FFA and with the expansion of students who will be in the organization. He said board member Justin Koehler has been working with Mrs. Evans and talking with Dr. David Johnson Jr.
Koehler said Evans is very busy and it was apparent that they needed to reach out to alumni and create an FFA booster club, to which she is receptive. Koehler said he and fellow board member Larry Krohn spoke with Johnson and they will continue looking forward and taking over responsibility of making sure planting gets done to take some of the work off her plate. He also said Johnson is happy to have that communication.
Supt. Bremer reported that preliminary work has begun on how the district might better make use of available space for offices, study areas, guidance, MTSS, SPED rooms, TeamMates space and meeting rooms as well as potential use of the open area across from the trophy cabinet. He is looking at getting pricing, and said this remodeling would qualify for a safety and security infrastructure grant.
Mr. Bremer gave a multicultural education report. He said that teachers fill out an annual report on how they are incorporating multicultural education into their coursework. Some of the ways they do so is with holiday celebrations from various cultures, reading interventions including culturally diverse topics, Native American Nebraska history, and others.
Bremer reported on Lewis and Clark Conference realignment: Ponca, Wakefield, Laurel-Concord- Coleridge, Plainview and Hartington-Newcastle are leaving the conference. Likely new divisions would be: Lewis — Winside, Allen, Emerson-Hubbard, Homer, Winnebago and Walthill; Clark — Creighton, Bloom- field, Osmond, Randolph, Wausa and Wynot.
Bremer advised that he sent Intent to Return letters to teachers and all are returning, but five haven't answered. Also, the Certified Staff Negotiated Agreement is completed and signed.
He told members of the Facility, Transportation and Grounds Committee they should meet soon to look at any summer maintenance projects to be planned, review office renovations plans and look over what is needed with FFA oversight. He also told the Daycare/ECE Committee it should meet soon to discuss plans so far.
Bremer advised that for Summerfest, Community HOME Team has asked to have a dunk tank with faculty and staff, and said that board members were also welcome to join in on the fun.
In other action, the board discussed the fact that there are no Osmond girls going to Girls’ State, and one boy who applied to Boys’ State. Ap- parently there is a time conflict with other activities and the fact that it’s a week long is a deterrent. Bremer said he will try to encourage more students to apply next year.
