The New Bremen Local Board of Education met in regular session at 7:00 p.m. in the Community Room.
Roll Call:  Mrs. Michele Bambauer, Mr. Scott Bertke, Mrs. Shelly Busse, Mr. Cory Suchland, and Mrs. Suzanne Wells.  Also present were Superintendent Jason Schrader, K-8 Principal Diane Kramer, High School Principal Brian Pohl, and Treasurer Jill Ahlers. 
President Cory Suchland led the pledge of allegiance.
Ag Advisory members John Tangeman, Frank Homan, and Greg Homan shared with the Board the purpose and goals of the advisory committee as well as the various activities the ag advisory committee organizes.
Mandy Niekamp and Hannah Holtzapple from Garmann-Miller presented the initial design for the new K-8 building.
The UDL team of Steph Elking, Becky Keller, and Andrea Quellhorst presented the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) concept to the Board. UDL was introduced to the teaching staff during an in-service day.  Following the initial introduction, elementary and high school teams attended additional trainings to learn more about UDL and how to implement it into the classroom.  

Elementary/Middle School Principal, Diane Kramer, submitted the following report:

1.	Continuous improvement
•	The in-service on January 13th included the following professional development:
Frontline Absences Management System, Virtual Classroom, English Language Arts curriculum presentations, writing Written Education Plans, department/grade level meetings.

2.	Instruction
•	The week of February 12th, third grade teachers started after school Title I Reading sessions on Mondays and Thursdays for students who did not pass the Ohio’s State Reading Test last fall.  Sessions will be from 3-4 p.m. and run for seven weeks.  The next administration of the test will be April 11-12th.

3.	 School Operations, Resources and Learning Environment
•	We currently have 56 students registered for kindergarten screening which will be held April 3rd and 4th.
•	Our district Spelling Bee for grades 4-8 was held on February 6th at 1:00 p.m. in the middle school gym.  Congratulations to our winner, 4th grader Lucy Homan and runner-up, 6th grader Dominic Shroyer.  Lucy will be representing New Bremen at the Regional Bee in Lima on March 17th.
•	Our 7th and 8th grade student leaders recently sponsored the following events:  K-8 canned food drive, sold Valentines treats for grades 4-8, and held a junior high dance on February 17th.

4.	Collaboration
•	The second K-12 pep rally was held at the high school on January 19th.  Always a fun time for our K-8 students!
•	The senior winter athletes came to the elementary on February 1st to have lunch with our elementary students.  We are planning a recess time for the spring senior athletes to visit with the elementary students.
•	The BIY (Believe in Yourself) committee met recently to plan for the end of the year event.  The dates will be May 22-23rd this year.  Will continue to hold the 5K run as the culminating activity.

5.	Parent and Community Engagement
•	The final Kindergarten Project Ease was held January 19th.  The focus of this session was on writing sentences.
•	Eighth grade high school orientation was held on Monday, January 29th at 7:00 p.m. in the high school auditorium.  Only two students/parents were unable to attend.
•	The first meeting for next year’s 8th Grade Washington DC field trip was held on Monday, February 5th at 7:00 p.m. in the elementary cafeteria.  The grade held a cookie dough fundraiser to help support the upcoming trip.  We are working with K & K tours in setting the itinerary since our actual time in Washington DC will be shortened.	
•	On Thursday, February 1st, the New Bremen Police Department and the Auglaize County Sherriff’s office partnered with the National Child Safety Council to bring in a magician to present a safety message to our students in grades K-4.  Students were entertained while learning about personal safety and who to go to when they feel their safety is being jeopardized.  

6.	 Special Education
•	Two teams of teachers attended Universal Design for Learning Day Training.  Our trainer will be observing UDL in practice in our classrooms in March and provide feedback.
•	Three staff members and I attend ETR (Evaluation Team Report) and IEP (Individualized Education Plan) training in Lima.  This training was on best practices as we transition to new forms for next school year.

Additional Items and upcoming events:
•	Congratulations to our 7th and 8th grade girls and boys teams on very successful basketball seasons.  Both 7th  grade girls and boys were MAC Runners-Up and 8th grade girls won the MAC tournament.  8th grade boys finished the season 16-1, losing their only game in tournament.  Congratulations to all!
•	English Language Arts and Math Professional Development is continuing this spring for grades K-8.
•	February 21 – 7th Grade STEM Fair
•	February 22 – Middle School Band Concert – 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
•	February 28 – Garmann Miller will be conducting interviews will K-8 staff as we plan for the new building

High School Principal, Brian Pohl, submitted the following report:
Continuous Improvement

•	In an effort to focus on how we teach, departments we are creating instructional to-do lists for their content areas to create documentation that lists application of teaching processes that we perform. Then we will delve deeper into those strategies to facilitate growth in those areas. The Model Classroom Project is a format I am exploring for use next year to facilitate diving deeper into these strategies.

•	High school goals were reviewed with staff and a timeline for evidence collection this spring as the process is completed for the remainder of the year has been laid out.

Instruction

•	We are exploring the SAMR Model as we are piloting our one to one initiative, currently Spanish classes have Chromebooks available for student use in class. The SAMR model is an acronym that stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition leading to the enhancement and eventual transformation of teaching via the use of technology. Additionally, we are taking a small group of staff to Hilliard for site visits of their one to one initiative in March to ask questions and learn more.

•	Several staff have attended Universal Design for Learning Day 3 training. They are now teaching lessons and receiving coaching on how to improve their practice with this model.

School Operations, Resources & Learning Environment

•	We taught a monthly character lesson on gratitude. Students completed a basic skill on how to write a thank you note and learned about essential parenting tasks as part of the lesson.

•	At this point the percentage of seniors who have met their individual point requirement on end of course exams that need to be earned for graduation is 100%. This will change our graduation rate though, as for the first time this year, any special education students who had been exempted from taking exams will now count against our graduation rate calculation by the state department of education. They still graduate, they just count against our calculation. December test results may require a slight update to this calculation once they are received for a couple students who await those results from December. One transfer student may provide an exception to this information as he will be testing this spring for the first time.

•	I met with the students on the first semester failure list to determine their plan of action for making up these credits by either taking them online or re-taking it here again next fall.

•	We have all students schedule requests input into the system. We will now work towards creating the schedule for next year, taking into account changes in staffing, number of courses needed as determined by requests made, and incorporating Special Education and Tri-Star needs into the schedule.

Collaboration

•	Teacher Based Team meetings were held to review assignments that we will focus on for the remainder of the school year including upcoming benchmark assessments at the end of third quarter.

Parent & Community Involvement

•	Eight Grade Orientation was held for incoming freshman. Our Guidance Counselor Mrs. Wendel, Tim Buschur from Tri-Star, and I all spoke to relay information on high school testing, course scheduling, and options available to students here.

Other Highlights
•	Buckeye Boys/Girls State meeting was held by American Legion members with all juniors to promote applying for that camp over the summer.
•	The OSU/4H program Real Money-Real World took place for students in Personal Finance and Life Skills. Special thanks to all the community volunteers who participated.
•	Wyatt Puthoff has been chosen as our Franklin B. Walter nominee for Auglaize County. He has chosen Dan Kanney as his teacher to honor at this event. The Banquet will be April 4th at 6pm at Wapakoneta High School.
•	Mark Tangeman and Laura Vaucher from Farm Credit spoke to students about the offerings available for jobs here locally and their individual paths to employment via their schooling.
•	The Technobirds Robotics Team submitted a short video to recommend their coach, Jason Lozier, for the Compass Award, which he earned at their competition. 
•	I sent the Valedictorian/Salutatorian selection process out to the top 5 seniors and their parents.
•	Our OHSAA athlete scholarship nominees are Julia Goettemoeller and Sam Rustchilling.
•	Congratulations to NBHS Tri Star student Harry Kaiser for winning awards at the 2018 Business Professionals of America Region 16 Awards held at UNOH. Over 400 students participated and Harry finished in the top 6 in Computer Programming Concepts and 2nd in Fundamentals of Web Design which qualifies him for state level competition.
•	Cale Brackman won the state level American Legion Americanism and Government competition. He is awarded an all-expenses paid trip to Washington DC & Gettysburg from March 5-9 with the other state winners through the American Legion!
•	Sean LaFleur and Alberto Benitez attended OMEA as All-State Choir performers.
•	Magnified Giving students participated in team building activities at the Equestrian Therapy Program.
•	Seniors in Sociology class visited Mercer County Municipal Court.

Athletic Director, Gary Jones, submitted the following report:

1.	The athletic council, varsity head coaches, is currently working on vision/mission and core value statements for the athletic department. We have met twice and have the attached draft up to this point. We will be meeting again in March to continue working on these statements.

2.	We are currently working as an administration and coaching staff on creating the best plan for athletic facilities in the new building project.

3.	Vivian Niekamp became the first New Bremen athlete to qualify to the OHSAA swim and dive State Championship meet. She finished in 6th place at the District meet to earn this honor. Congratulations Vivian 

4.	Several swimmers qualified to the District meet last week, they included; Andrea Heitkamp, Rachel Kremer, Alana Speelman, Ashton Heitkamp, Taylor Paul,  Diana Heitkamp, Vivian Niekamp, Ezra Ferguson, Sam Rutschilling, Josh Niekamp and Zach Schwieterman.

5.	Ezra Ferguson became the first New Bremen swimmer to make the Podium at the District swim meet as he finished 4th in the 100 meter breaststroke.

6.	The girls bowling team became the 1st New Bremen bowling team to qualify to District Competition as a team. Team members include Tara Springer, Mykala Truman, Cassie Albers, Ashton Ritter, Madeline Burtch and Emma Keller. District will be Thursday February 22nd at Interstate Lanes in Rossford starting at 5 PM

7.	The junior high basketball programs had tremendous years. The 7th grade girls team finished as MAC Runner Up, the 8th grade girls team finished as MAC Champions, the 7th grade boys team finished as MAC Runner Up and the 8th grade boys team finished the season in MAC semi-final action with a record of 16 - 1     

8.	Baseball and softball spring practices will begin on Monday February 19th , track and field practice will begin on Monday March 5th     

9.	The spring sports OHSAA parent meeting will be on Monday February 16 at 7 PM in the James Dicke Auditorium. This will be for baseball, softball, high school and junior high track parents

10.	The MAC winter banquet will take place on Monday March 5th at Minster High School at 7 PM. The New Bremen Winter Sports Awards Program will be on Monday March 12th at 7 PM

11.	Spring sports picture/media day will be on Tuesday March 13th after school.

Technology Director, Brian Puthoff, submitted the following report:

•	Chromebooks and One to One Computing – We’ve now been using Chromebooks in our Spanish classes for about a month and we will soon be discussing the good and the bad of this pilot project with Mrs. Ross and her students. I recently attended the annual State Technology Conference with a focus on exploring a one to one initiative at the high school. The next steps are to work with the teachers and administrators in determining the specific direction we would like to move towards in this area. In addition, Mr. Pohl has set up a site visit to Hilliard Schools on March 8th to explore their one to one program, which is a very successful one to one initiative.

•	Absence Management – The Frontline Absence Management system has been used now since February 1st and, so far, it has been a great success. While we continue to work out a few bugs here and there, the system, as a whole, has worked wonderfully at tracking our employee absences and scheduling substitute teachers as they are needed. The next steps in the project are to begin with the Time Management piece of this system.

Treasurer Recommendations
1.	Approve the Organizational and Regular School Board Meeting minutes on January 10, 2018, and the special meeting on January 31, 2018.
2.	Approve the General Fund Paid Bills . . . . . .	   $	33,450.32	 
3.	Approve the Lunchroom Fund Paid Bills . . .    	   $	  7,450.64	 
4.	Accept a donation from Mr. & Mrs. Steve and Angie Vonderhaar to the baseball team for the purchase of equipment.  Thank you Mr. & Mrs. Vonderhaar for your generosity.
5.	Establish a student activity fund (200-931A) for the Robotics Club.  The initial revenues and appropriations are estimated at $5,000.00.

18-14		Motion by Busse, second by Suchland that the board approve the motions contained in the Treasurer’s recommendations as presented. Upon the call of the roll, the vote was as follows: Bambauer, yes; Bertke, abstain; Busse, yes; Suchland, yes; Wells, yes. Motion Carried.

Superintendent Recommendations
1.	Resignations
Accept the retirement resignation of Craig Griesdorn, effective May 31, 2018.  Mr.  Griesdorn has been an employee of New Bremen Schools for 35 years. Thank you Mr. Griesdorn for your years of service.

2. 	Supplemental Employment Contracts
Employ the following individuals for the 2017-18 school year, as listed:
				Contract	
Employee	Position	Step	Effective	Duration	
Lindsay Roiberg	Co-JH Track	3	2017-18	1 Year	
Seth Williams	Co-JH Track	1	2017-18	1 Year	
Jake Hemmelgarn	Asst. JH Track	1	2017-18	1 Year	
Karli Jones 	Asst. JH Track	1	2017-18	1 Year	
Jack Gilberg	Asst. Baseball- (Shared 50/50)	1	2017-18	1 Year	
Ryan Tinnerman	Asst. Baseball- (Shared 50/50)	3	2017-18	1 Year	
Logan O’Neill	Grade 9 Baseball	3	2017-18	1 Year	
Gary Moeder	Softball – Reserve Coach	3	2017-18	1 Year	
Anthony Moeder	Asst. Softball – Varsity Asst.	3	2017-18	1 Year	

3.	Volunteers Recognized  
Recognized the following Athletic Volunteer(s) for the 2017-18 school year:
Community Individual	Athletic Team	
Tom Thieman	JH Girls Basketball	
Chris Keller	Baseball	
Kris Kuck	Track	
Lynette Ross	Softball	

4.	Amend Diane Wendel’s contract as follows:
Current Contract End Date	New Contract End Date	
07/31/2018	05/31/2018	

5.	Job Description
Approve the updated job description for School Psychologist position.  This position also has K-8 Guidance Counselor responsibilities.

6.	2018-19 Calendar
Approve the 2018-19 calendar as presented in the agenda packet.

7.	Convert the Board Committees established at the organizational meeting in January to Superintendent Committees.  Those committees include
8.	Ag Advisory Committee
Name the following additional Agriculture Advisory Committee members for the 2017-18 school year:
		2 years left on term – Mark Tangeman and Frank Homan
		3 years left on term – Greg Homan
		
(Dan Koenig and Tom Roetgerman have one year remaining left on their term and were named at the July, 2017 Board meeting.)

18-15		Motion by Wells, second by Bertke that the board approve the items contained in the Superintendent Recommendations as presented.  Upon the call of the roll, the vote was as follows: Bertke, yes; Busse, yes; Suchland, yes; Wells, yes; Bambauer, abstain.  Motion carried.  
	
Other New Business Items:
A.	APPROVING PROGRAM OF REQUIREMENTS DESIGN STAGE SUBMISSION
FOR THE NEW PK-8 BUILDING
The Superintendent recommends approval of the program of requirements design stage submission for the new PK-8 building.
Rationale:
1.	The New Bremen Local School District Board of Education (the Board) is engaged in a capital improvements program to build a new PK-8 school building, which is being constructed in partnership with the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (the OFCC) as a Classroom Facilities Assistance Program project.
2.	Garmann/Miller & Associates, Inc., the Board’s Architect, prepared a program of requirements document for the new PK-8 building (Project), and Gilbane Building Company, the Construction Manager at Risk for the Project (CMR), reviewed the program of requirements document prepared by the Architect, including estimated costs for the work, and provided comments on the documents, which the Architect has reviewed and considered in preparing the POR stage documents.
3.	The Architect assembled a program of requirements design stage submission for the new PK-8 building, which includes the program of requirements and other required documents, including the LFI MOU document to track costs associated with locally funded initiative improvements included in the Project and comments received from the CMR.
4.	The Board wishes to approve the program of requirements design stage submission for the new PK-8 building and to authorize the Architect and CMR to proceed with the schematic design stage documents for the Project, subject to approval of the OFCC, including the documents required to track locally funded initiative improvements included in the Project.
The New Bremen Local School District Board of Education resolves as follows:
1.	The program of requirements design stage submission prepared for the new PK-8 building is approved, subject to approval of the OFCC, and the Superintendent and Treasurer are authorized to sign the design stage submission form provided by the OFCC Project Manager and the Architect for the program of requirements design stage submission for the Project.
2.	The Superintendent and Treasurer are also authorized to sign the LFI MOU document for the POR stage included in the design stage submission notebook prepared for the Project.
3.	The Board authorizes the Architect and CMR to continue with the preparation of the schematic design stage documents for the new PK-8 building.

18-16		Motion by Bertke, second by Bambauer that the board approve the items contained in the resolution as presented.  Upon the call of the roll, the vote was as follows: Busse, yes; Suchland, yes; Wells, yes; Bambauer, yes; Bertke, yes.  Motion carried.  

Informational Items
A.  The Village of New Bremen will be re-doing Eastmoor Drive and inquired about stacking sanitary lines and other supplies along the fence next to the football field during the construction process.  

B. Valuation
Every year during the month of December/January, the Auglaize County Auditor sends each school the valuation of the school district for that particular calendar year.  The new valuation of the New Bremen School District in addition to the percent of change over the previous year is listed below:  (Reminder: beginning in TY05, the TPP valuation was phased out at 25% per year for four years.)

		                            
	C.	Public Notice – Title VIB Hearing
New Bremen Local Schools receive federal Special Education IDEA Part B funds to assist with the education of handicapped children aged 3 through 21, Community members who would like to have input into the planning of the use of the federal IDEA funds are welcome to provide comment during our public hearing to be held on March 21, 2018 at 7:00 p.m. at the High School Community Room. (At the March Board meeting)

D.	New Bremen Education Foundation
The 2018 Fund Drive for the New Bremen Education Foundation is now underway.  During the 2017 Fund Drive, our efforts resulted in 75 scholarships totaling $74,500 being awarded to the 2017 Seniors.  All donations, which are considered charitable and tax deductible, may be made by contacting Jeff McCollum, the Foundation Treasurer or Jason Schrader at the N-B School.  Anyone desiring to donate for this worthy cause is encouraged to do so before April 15.

E. Work on the new chiller has started and is expected to be completed in March.

18-17              Motion by Bertke, second by Bambauer to adjourn to executive session for the purposes of Appointment or Evaluation, Property Purchase or Sale, and Negotiations at 8:45 p.m.  Upon the call of the roll, the vote was as follows: Wells, yes; Bambauer, yes; Bertke, yes; Busse, yes; Suchland, yes. Motional Carried.

18-18               Motion by Bertke, second by Bambauer to return to regular session at 11:06 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
		There will be a special school board meeting on February 26, 2018 at 6:15 p.m.  The purpose of the meeting will be an executive session to discuss Appointment or Evaluation.

18-19             Motion by Suchland, second by Bertke to adjourn the meeting at 11:06 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.

				
			President							Treasurer