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-6 Principal Diane Kramer, 7-12 Principal Marcus Overman, and Treasurer Jill Ahlers.  

President Cory Suchland led the pledge of allegiance.

Officers from the FFA were present to update the board on what they have been participating in and what is coming up for this school year.  FFA Officers present included Jacob Tangeman, Ally Wilker, Hannah Kramer, and Ben Kuck. The FFA teacher, Maria Homan, was also present. Highlights of the FFA in 2017-18 include a gold rated state chapter, five state degrees, five American degrees, and a national ranked three star chapter.  The students also spoke about their goals for 2018-19 and their activities. 

K-6 principal, Diane Kramer, submitted the following report:

1.	 Continuous Improvement
•	District and building Value-Added reports were released last week.  Value-added shows the growth individual students and groups of students make from one year to the next.  I will be sharing these results with teachers.  Teacher level Value-Added reports will be released in late October/early November.
•	On October 10th, Jason, Marcus, and I met with Pat Niekamp from NEOLA to start the process of transferring our policy manual from OSBA to NEOLA.  This is going to be a lengthy yet worthwhile process.
•	The October 12th inservice day started with mental health training on bullying and suicide prevention followed by an EPC insurance presentation and district updates from Jason.  Teachers were able to collaborate in the afternoon and work in their classrooms.
•	We are in the process of exploring options to increase lunch participation through offering more options, looking at our menu offerings, and including a salad bar.  Visits to various schools have been very beneficial.

2.	Instruction
•	Learning opportunities for students outside of our classroom walls:
•	Students in Mrs. Burnett’s cross-categorical unit attended the annual fishing derby at Grand Lake St. Mary’s on Sept. 12th.  This was sponsored by ODNR and the Lake Improvement Association.
•	Fifth grade students visited Brukner Nature Center on September 13, 14, and October 5.
•	Kindergarten visited Brumbaugh Fruit Farm on October 4th.
•	Sixth grade students will be going on a manufacturing field trip to Crown, Coldwater Machine, and JR Manufacturing on October 19th.

3.	 School Operations, Resources and Learning Environment
•	Spirit Week was held September 17-21st in recognition of homecoming.  Students did a great job showing Cardinal Spirit by participating in the dress up days.  The culminating activity was a K-12 pep rally at the high school.
•	Over past couple weeks we have been reviewing our safety procedures conducting a fire drill, lockdown drill, and evacuation drill with the assistance of Chief Skinner and the New Bremen Fire Department.
•	Our Wellness Committee kicked off a six week bingo challenge on October 8th.  Staff members are encouraged to make healthy lifestyle choices including diet, exercise, water consumption, and mental health.  Weekly winner will receive Subway coupons and the overall winner will receive a gift certificate for a massage from New Bremen Massage Clinic.
•	On October 11th, the high school senior athletes and band members came to the elementary to have lunch recess with our grades K-6 students.   Then in the afternoon, the high school District Leadership Team and band came over for a Cardinal Parade.  The students and staff enjoy these opportunities for student interaction between buildings.

4.	Collaboration
•	Hannah and Mandy from Garmann-Miller met with the elementary staff on September 19-20th to look at virtual renderings of the classroom in the new building.  Teachers were given the opportunity to provide input into the design of the classroom space.
•	Our district Technology Committee, under the direction of Brian Puthoff, has been meeting to plan for future one-to-one implementation.  We are currently exploring Leaning Management System options.

5.	Parent and Community Engagement
•	The first Kindergarten Project Ease was held Tuesday, September 25th.  Students invited a parent or grandparent back to school in the evening for a special literacy activity.  For this session, students listed to the popular children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  The follow up activity focused on story elements, sequencing, and retelling.
•	Fire prevention week was October 8-12th.  On Friday, October 5th, members from the New Bremen Fire Department gave a fire safety presentation for students in grades 1-3 while our   kindergarten students explored a real fire truck and learn what it is like to be a fire fighter.
•	Online parent-teacher conference scheduling will continue through Sunday, October 21st.  This year we gave parents an option of a face-to-face conference, phone conference, or no conference if teachers did not feel it was necessary to meet.  This allows us to limit conferences to two evenings: October 29th and November 1st.  November 2nd will be a teacher inservice day for PD on co-teaching and inclusion.

7-12 principal, Marcus Overman, submitted the following report:

Continuous Improvement
-	Theresa Newbright and I recently attended the OAGC conference in Columbus.  The two-day gifted training will help us to remain compliant, while also giving us ideas on what we can improve moving forward.   
-	At our staff collaboration on October 9th, Brian Puthoff provided PD to high school teachers to maximize their use of Office 365.  This will be an ongoing PD for staff this year so they feel more confident in using the program and all that it offers. 

Instruction
-	Cleveland.com released school district rankings on all Ohio Public Schools based on their Performance Index.  New Bremen Schools was ranked #51 on the list. Click here to see the list. 
-	Congratulations to Nick Wells on being selected to receive the Honda-Ohio State STEM Award for the Class of 2019. 

School Operations, Resources & Learning Environment
-	240 tickets were purchased for the Homecoming Dance.  We had no issues during the dance and it looked like the students enjoyed their time.  Thanks to Mrs. Burden for organizing everything!
-	Shelly Busse and I presented to each grade level on the topic of the Job Readiness Seal.  We encouraged all students to work to earn this seal to help improve their changes of gaining employment in the position they want whether it be immediately after high school or after attending a 2 or 4-year university.  
-	Thursday, October 11th was full of high school and elementary interactions.  High School seniors involved in athletics or band joined the K-6 students at recess and was followed up with the Cardinal Parade.  It was a great day for building school spirit.  

Collaboration
-	7-12 teachers were given a webinar training on the Edge Factor website.  Many teachers sounded enthused when they saw the site for the first time.  I think it will be a positive resource for staff and students.  
-	The bleachers in the west end zone was an idea proposed to me by a group of students.  I want to thank them for sharing their vision and voice to make the experience as good as possible.  

Parent & Community Involvement
-	Chief Skinner provided our 9-12 students with an understanding on the capabilities of the town’s new drug dog.  All students were given a 30-minute assembly to see what the dog could all do just so they understood how powerful and useful the dog can be.  
-	Parent-Teacher conferences are quickly approaching.  In order to improve the attendance of these meetings at the high school, I required 9-12 teachers to provide me with a list of at least 10 students they would like to request a conference with.  Heather Kuck and I then mailed out a letter requesting for these parents to sign-up for a conference time.  

Athletics
-	Congratulations to Diana Kramer on being selected by the Ohio High School Volleyball Association as Ohio’s Coach of the Year for girls’ volleyball.  She will be the state’s representative for the National Coach of the Year Award.  
-	Results of JH sports & update on HS

Upcoming Events
October 22nd 
-	End of 1st quarter
October 25th
-	Start of FFA National Convention 
October 30th
-	OHSAA Parent Meeting (Winter Sports)
November 2nd
-	Professional Development Day
November 6th
-	Fall Sports Banquet
November 7th
-	Tri-Star Presentations for sophomores 
November 9th
-	Veteran’s Day Assembly
November 13th 
-	Rotary Career Day
November 16th
-	Interims 

Director of Technology, Brian Puthoff, submitted the following report:
•	One to One Update: 
The One to One Committee has started looking at Learning Management Systems to determine which LMS should be implemented at New Bremen Schools in conjunction with going One to One. Learning Management Systems provide a one-stop shop for students in terms of receiving and using online content for their classes. Teachers can also use the LMS to give online tests, quizzes and assignments – an efficient means of instruction for sure, but which also provides a needed skills set for our students necessary for taking state assessments. 

An LMS is really the backbone of a good One to One implementation at a school and transforms a One to One implementation from students just having a device in their hands into teachers and students effectively using a blended learning environment. Our top three LMS systems that we are investigating are Canvas, Schoology and Google Classroom. 

Our next steps in the process involve online textbooks, determining professional development needs and implementation timelines. 

Treasurer Recommendations

1.	Approve the Regular School Board Meeting minutes on September 12, 2018 and the Special School Board Meeting minutes on October 9, 2018.
2.	Approve the General Fund Paid Bills . . . . . .	   $	68,342.07	 
3.	Approve the Lunchroom Fund Paid Bills . . .    	   $	  6,586.94	 
4.   Accept a donation of $1,500.00 from the Cardinal Pride Association for fitness trackers to be used in Health/PE classes.
5.   Approve the 5-year Forecast dated October 17, 2018
6.   Increase/Decrease anticipated revenues and appropriations as follows:

Title	Account	Revenues 	Appropriations	
General Fund (Teacher Severance)	001		($8,500.00)	
Cafeteria Fund (Cafeteria Employee Severance)	006		$8,500.00	
OHSAA Tournament Fund	022-900B	$600.00	$600.00	
K-8 Building Fund - LFI	004-917A		($3,856,760.00)	
K-8 Bldg Fund – Construction – Local Share	010-917L		($2,614,187.16)	
K-8 Bldg Fund – Construction - State Share	010-917S		($2,227,366.84)	
Crown Donation Fund	019-9999		$630.00	
				
Total Adjustments	$600.00	($8,697,084.00)	

7. 	Establish the following revenue and appropriation accounts and increase revenues as shown:

Title	Account	Revenues 	Appropriations	
Revenue in Lieu of Taxes (Annexation Agreement)	001-2400	$145,208.00	N/A	
Cross Country 	300-953G	0.00	0.00	
Golf 	300-953H	0.00	0.00	
Swim	300-953I	0.00	0.00	
Softball	300-953J	0.00	0.00	
Track	300-953K	0.00	0.00	
Cardinal Campaign	300-955A	0.00	0.00	
Coca-Cola 	300-954A	$3,010.00	0.00	
Building Project Donation Fund	019-9019	950.00	0.00	
Total Adjustments	$149,168.00	0.00	

18-68		Motion by Wells second by Bertke 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, yes; Busse, yes; Suchland, yes; Wells, yes. Motion Carried.

Superintendent Recommendations
1.	Supplemental Contracts
Employ the following individuals for one-year contracts for the 2018-19 school year in the following supplemental positions: 

Individual	Employment Position	Step	Effective	Contract
Duration	
Elly Puthoff	Softball Coach	1	2018-19	1 Year	
Lynette Ross	Asst. Softball Coach	1	2018-19	1 Year	
Kristen Kopf	Assistant Swim Coach	1	2018-19	1 Year	

2.	Payment in Lieu of Transportation
Transportation to Holy Rosary Catholic School for two students is impractical for the New Bremen Local School District.  In lieu of transportation the Board of Education agrees to pay Laura Gerlach a total of $725.00 per child, a total of $1,450.00 for their one child at the end of the 2018-19 school year based on completion of the school year.

3.	Donation of Library Books
Approve Shelley This, district librarian, to donate books to Pages for Progress as indicated on the lists in the attachments. Pages for Progress is a non-profit organization within the State of Ohio which aims to increase literacy rates all throughout Ohio, by allowing students in a lower socioeconomic standing areas to have the fundamental reading materials they need to succeed. To date Pages for Progress Inc has donated over 35,000 books to over 10 elementary schools and 5 high schools throughout the state. Additionally, books are now funding a library in Liberia to allow students to learn the English Language.

4. Board Policy Adoption
•	Website Accessibility Policy
•	Plan regarding Functionality/Accessibility
•	Strategy for ID of Inaccessible Content and Functionality
•	Notice to Persons with Disabilities
•	Process for Ensuring Accessibility and Functionality
•	Use of Credit Cards
•	Purchasing Cards
5.  Approve the Community Reinvestment Area Agreement with Crown Equipment Corporation which would amount to a donation of $260,405 for 10 years. Construction is expected to begin in December, 2018 and be completed in December, 2019.

6.  Resolution		
RESOLUTION

AUTHORIZING THE PURCHASE OF COMPETITIVE RETAIL NATURAL GAS SERVICE FROM THE LOWEST RESPONSIBLE BID SUBMITTED TO SOUTHWESTERN OHIO EDUCATIONAL PURCHASING COUNCIL FOR THE PERIOD COMMENCING JULY 2020 AND TERMINATING NO LATER THAN JUNE 2025. 

	WHEREAS, the School District is a member of the Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council (the “Council”), a body authorized by state statute to aggregate purchasing needs of schools and of related nonprofit educational entities so as to take advantage of economies of scale when purchasing essential products and services; and 

WHEREAS, the Council joined with other major school districts and educational purchasing councils to conduct a Request for Proposal for competitive natural gas service commencing with the July 2020 billing cycle and terminating no later than the close of the June 2025 billing cycle, with bids to be submitted for one, two and three year periods (the “RFP”); and 

WHEREAS, the Council has sent notices to bid on the School District’s natural gas supply along with other school district’s natural gas supply to all competitive retail natural gas service providers licensed to sell natural gas in the state of Ohio; and  

WHEREAS, the Council will select or has selected the lowest responsible bid submitted in response to the attached RFP; and

WHEREAS, this School District may review the lowest responsible bid and corresponding term and elect to accept the lowest responsible bid with no obligation prior to that time or thereafter if the School District does not sign a Master Supply Agreement with the selected bidder; and

WHEREAS, the Superintendent or the Superintendent’s designee will review the lowest responsible bid and corresponding term when the RFP is concluded and determine whether the lowest responsible bid provides for competitive retail natural gas service for all of the School District’s natural gas supply that is the result of a public and competitive RFP; 

	NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE NEW BREMEN LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, COUNTY OF AUGLAIZE, STATE OF OHIO, as follows:

Section 1.	The Board of Education of this School District does hereby consent, as a member of the Council, to the conducting of an RFP process by the Council for competitive retail natural gas service commencing with the July 2020 billing cycle and terminating no later than the end of the June 2025 billing cycle, with bids to be submitted for one, two and three year periods on such terms and conditions as the Council deems appropriate.

Section 2.	The Board of Education of this School District does hereby authorize the Superintendent or the Superintendent’s designee to execute a Master Supply Agreement between the School District and the lowest responsible bidder in the RFP so long as the Superintendent or his appointee finds that the price reflects the results of a public and competitive request for proposal.

Section 3. 	The Board of Education hereby directs the Treasurer to review the lowest responsible bid once received and the Master Supply Agreement and determine if the School District has sufficient funds to certify this resolution and, if the Treasurer so finds, to certify this resolution.

18-69		Motion by Bertke second by Suchland 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, yes.  Motion carried.  
	
  Informational Items

A.	Course Offerings Update
•	The administration is working with the District Leadership team to look at our current programs and course offerings, as well as how they support the transition from elementary to high school.
B.	Playground Equipment at Elementary School
•	The New Bremen Village expressed an interest in the playground equipment at the elementary school. Mr. Schrader will obtain the costs associated with moving the equipment to determine if it’s beneficial for the district to use any of the equipment at the new building.
C.	K-8 Construction Project Update
•	The early-site work is now complete.
D.	Board Policy Adoption Method
•	In the District’s transition to the NEOLA policy book, the Board agreed to adopt the entire policy book at one time rather than by chapter.
E.	Update on Vacating Cardinal Street
•	Mr. Schrader will attend the Village Council meetings to propose the vacation of Cardinal Street.
F.	Land Swap – Fairground Farm
•	The first half of the land swap will be complete on October 18, 2018.  The District will take ownership of the Fairground Farm land.

18-70              Motion by Bambauer, second by Busse to adjourn to executive session for the purposes of Personnel – Employment and Matters Required to be Kept Confidential by Fed/State Law at 8:04 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.
	
18-71              Motion by Suchland second by Bambauer to return to regular session at 8:52 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.
		Following executive session, the Board walked the high school to look at potential renovation ideas in the event there is a need to develop a 7th and 8th grade pod in the high school building. 
18-72	         Motion by Suchland, second by Bambauer to adjourn the meeting at 9:41 p.m. Motion carried unanimously.

			President							Treasurer