April 6, 2026 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Meeting Agenda

April is Month of the Military Child - Bellevue Public Schools is fortunate to be at the heart of serving the Bellevue/Offutt Community. Military children play such an important role in the armed forces community. Regardless of military status or position, every child of a military personnel deserves the love and support of their community.

As part of this month-long celebration, local communities are invited to take part in PurpleUp Day, which for Nebraska is Wednesday, April 15th. PurpleUp Day is a day to show your support for the military youth's strength and sacrifices by donning the color purple. BPS will celebrate PurpleUp Day with Offutt Air Force Base on Wednesday, April 15, 2026.

As a proud neighbor to Offutt Air Force Base and DoDEA supporter, Bellevue Public Schools understands the importance of recognizing our communities' military children. Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
 

Administrative Recommendation:(1) David Groth be released from his contract effective April 1, 2026 and that (2) Emily Culhane, (3) Rachel Durr, (4) Melissa Evers, (5) Jeannie Feltner, (6) Jennifer Foreman, (7) Carly Fox, (8) Olivia Hilgenkamp, (9) Morgan Hillman, (10) Brooke Hosick, (11) Carinsa Kuehl, (12) Whitney Matthews, (13) Abigail Menephee, (14) Amanda Messerschmitt, (15) Kelsy Mulligan, (16) Laryn O'Shaughnessy, (17) Rudee Penney, (18) Kaylene Randall, (19) Jessica Stephan, (20) Tonja Sullivan, (21) Danyle Tomlinson, (22) Jessica Ussery and (23) Courtney Wilson be released from their contracts effective May 21, 2026 and that (24) Ronald Oltman be released from his contract effective June 30, 2026 and (25) Savannah Vogel.
 

Administrative Recommendation:(1) Erin Blaha, (2) Anthony Nabower and (3) Carrie Wynne be elected to the certified staff for the 2026-27 school year effective July 1, 2026 and that (4) Tonya Babb, (5) Laney Boltinghouse, (6) Brenna Bruley, (7) Lisa Clerc-Martin, (8) Paige Cloyd, (9) Whitney Cummings, (10) Timothy Ellis, (11) Abby Foxhoven, (12) Nowell Heidrick, (13) Gabriella Hoffman, (14) Kelley Huwaldt, (15) Molly McNamara, (16) Emily Mettlen, (17) Jennifer Meyer, (18) Danielle Morris, (19) Evan Mott, (20) Angelina Nixon, (21) Melissa Price, (22) Paige Roberts, (23) Anna Ruff, (24) Alexa Teten, (25) Sara Vance, (26) Molly Warren and (27) Erica Ziemer be elected to the certified staff for the 2026-27 school year effective August 7, 2026 subject to their release from any contractual agreements with other school districts.
 

Budget Parameters are annually established by the Board of Education. The parameters are the guidelines for staff as they develop the proposed budget to be brought back to the Board in July.

A copy of the proposed Budget Parameters is attached.

Administrative Recommendation: The administration recommends the approval of the proposed Parameters for 2026-2027 Budgetary Planning.
 

Tonight, the board will consider the renewal of the Superintendent's contract until June 30, 2029 and approve the Superintendent Pay Transparency Notice. The current and proposed contracts are attached, along with the Nebraska Department of Education Schedule D.
 

Congratulations Bellevue West's West Connection performers for a great showing at the Westwood Jubilation competition in March! They finished as the 3rd runner up overall and 2nd place in class AA. They also won the Best Opener caption award, Best Sportsmanship award (3 of the last 4 years) and Allison Garcia won the soloist competition - this gave her the opportunity to open up the finals with her solo performance.
 

Congratulations to the Bellevue West Speech Team on a great showing at the NSAA State Speech Championships in March! The T-Birds placed 5th as a team with the following finalists:

Isaiah Perry, 5th in Extemporaneous
Catherine Augustyn, 6th in Program Oral Interpretation (POI)
Kalyssa Williams, 4th in Program Oral Interpretation (POI)

Congratulations to Bellevue West's Isaiah Perry on reaching Premier Distinction in the National Speech and Debate Association Honor Society! This is the highest degree within this honor society. Fewer than 3% of NSDA members accomplish this before graduation and he has achieved this milestone as a junior.
 

Bellevue West's SAME Competition Team is bringing high school engineering back to Bellevue for the first time in over a decade with their innovative project, "The Thunderdome," a redesigned gym built to protect students during severe weather. As part of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) Student Mentoring Program, students research and develop solutions to real community problems, work alongside professional engineering mentors, and present their year-long project to a panel of Nebraska engineers. Even more impressive-this team of all freshmen balanced the project alongside a full advanced course load while competing against more than 17 teams made up primarily of juniors and seniors. Congratulations to all!
 

Congratulations to Bellevue West artists! They competed in the Scholastic Art Show, and Bellevue West had one of its strongest years ever. Out of the 15 National Medal Winners in the state of Nebraska, 5 were from Bellevue West!

Gracia Akakpo - Silver National Medal
Shane Harrison - Silver National Medal
Kaleigh Sullivan - Silver National Medal
Rowyn Eicher - Gold National Medal
Janyiah Willis - Gold National Medal
Additionally, Olivia Stone's art piece "A Different Kind of Artist" was selected as one of the 20 pieces to win The Governor's Residence Exhibition Award. Her work will be displayed at the Governor's Mansion from May-July.
 

To see all of the submissions, click on this link:https://quarantine.bpsne.net/fmlurlsvc/?fewReq=:B:JVo+NTE2PiJyOTYqNCJtYDk0NT40NSJ3bWNqZXBxdmE5MTw0Z2IxYTBmMjAzNjFhZmAxZmUzZzUzPWA0YWc0ZjxgYDdgM2I8ZSJwOTUzMzA8NDE9NTMidW1gOTI2UExnZmlGNDY9NjIwKTI2UExnZmlANDY9NjIwInZndHA5b2FybWoqdmtsaGJ3RGZ0d2phKmphcCJnOTwwImxgaDk0&url=https%3a%2f%2fdocs.google.com%2fpresentation%2fd%2f1PWM31MPU4AcLo8jwCJf5Ch7LDwANJN_-ZdlLUQ6JL08%2fedit%3fusp%3dsharing

John Spatz, Executive Director of the NASB will provide the Board an update on the organization.
 

The administration will provide the Board with an update on the Strategic Plan Priority #4 Engaging Our Community.
 

The administration will provide the Board an update on the Early Childhood program in Bellevue Public Schools.
 

The administration will provide the Board with the results from the NDE Compliance Review conducted March 2-3, 2026.
 

The Board will discuss any legislative updates.
 

The following Board policies will be presented for revisions:

902.02 School Facility Construction - Revision

1002 District Annual Report - Revision

The board policies were presented for revision with approval scheduled for the May Board meeting.
 

The following Administrative Regulation will be presented for review:

602.01 School Calendar - Revision
 

The Kindergarten registration process for the 2026-2027 school year kicked off February 17th and is available online through the BPS District website for parents/guardians to enroll their child(ren). Kindergarten Orientation/Roundup events will take place in April at each elementary school. To date, 490 students have registered for kindergarten. By state law, a child must be five years of age on or before July 31 in order to enter kindergarten. The law also includes a provision for early entrance assessment. Twelve children are scheduled for early entrance assessment.
 

Public comment pertaining to items not otherwise on the Agenda must be submitted to the Secretary of the Board five days prior to the Board meeting.  There were no items submitted for Public Comment for this meeting.
 

April 10-12, NSBA Annual Conference

April 17, BPS Staff Celebration

April 24, BPS Foundation Scholarship Breakfast, BPS Lied Activity Center

May 4, Board of Education Meeting, Welcome Center, 6:30 p.m.

May 5, District Retirement Reception, BPS Lied Activity Center