The Grand Island Public Schools "Board Brief" is an online monthly publication sharing the Board of Education meeting highlights, updates, campus recognitions, and more.

Here's a recap of the July 2025 Regular Board Meeting.

• Agenda
• Video Stream
• All Board members were present.

More students enjoyed school meals at Grand Island Public Schools (GIPS) than in recent memory — and at no charge.

After becoming one of the largest Nebraska school districts to be designated for Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for the 24-25 school year, GIPS saw more students eating school breakfasts and lunches across the district. The highlights were shared by Oscar Garcia, GIPS Nutrition Services Director, at this evening’s regular Board of Education Meeting.

2024-25 CEP Reporting Highlights Include:

• 43,497 more total lunches served averaging 6,878 a day; a four percent increase.
  
• 36,275 more total breakfasts served averaging 2,976 a day; an eight percent increase.
  
• A grand total of 1,604,741 meals served to students at no cost — an increase of nearly 80,000 from the year prior.

Read more about the CEP impact at GIPS HERE.

Hear Mr. Garcia's full presentation HERE.

Dr. Carrie Kolar, GIPS Chief of Human Capital Management, presented annual updates to the Staff Handbooks.

Highlights include:

• Minimal changes on the Certified Staff Handbook. Reminders about submitting accident reports were highlighted and updating the transfer form.
• Classified Staff updates include adding back components that map out explanation of job roles, reminders about punctuality, the evaluation process, and the importance of ID card protocols.

This was shared as both an information and action item so that they may be in-place for the start of the school year.

Hear her full presentation HERE.

Dr. Carrie Kolar also shared an update on new training requirements highlighted in the latest Legislative Bill #1329.

• All trainings will stay the same except for the Travel training which will be three hours per state requirement.
  
  

• Bloodborne pathogens and sexual harassment will have a test-out option.

Hear her full presentation HERE.

Dr. Summer Stephens, GIPS Associate Superintendent, presented annual updates to the Student Handbook.

The presentation was the first of what will be two rounds of proposed changes. Next month, a few more adjustment will be presented that are directly related to policy updates mandated by the state that will not be voted on (approved) until next month.

Highlights of this month's presented adjustments include:

• Updating the Middle School start and dismissal times to reflect the hours for the 2025-26 school year.
• Updating the Visitor Management Protocols to reflect our move to the Raptor visitor check-in system.
• Adding clarifications about policies there updated throughout the year such as "Drug Free Schools" and tobacco and vape use.
• Removed the School Supplies List since that information is detailed on the district website.

This was shared as both an information and action item so that they may be in-place for the start of the school year.

Hear her full presentation HERE.

Mr. Fisher shared the latest installment of district policy reviews and proposed updates. Descriptions of the proposals may be found immediately below.

Hear Mr. Fisher's full presentation on policies HERE.

Regular review of an existing policy.

Only proposed changes would include:

• Removing the “The” listed before the name “Grand Island Public Schools”.
• Adding the phrase "military or veteran status" in the list of "respect all individuals".

This was shared as a first read and will be up as a Consent Agenda Approval item at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

Only proposed changes would include:

• Removing the “The” listed before the name “Grand Island Public Schools”.
• Adding the phrase "military or veteran status" in the appropriate listings.

This was shared as a first read and will be up as a Consent Agenda Approval item at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

The proposed change would be to update the definition of a "Capital Project" to read:

"For the purposes of the CIP the definition of a capital project is a project with a useful life of at least 3-5 years and a cost of at least $10,000." (The previous cost was $5,000.)

This was shared as a first read and will be up as a Consent Agenda Approval item at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

The proposed changes include replacing the phrase "Small Purchase" with the phrase "Simplified Acquisition" throughout the policy.

This was shared as a first read and will be up as a Consent Agenda Approval item at the August Board meeting.

A newly proposed policy per new Legislative requirement.

Policy was developed by legal counsel and meets the requirements of the new state legislature.

The primary requirement includes:

"Each person who is required to have a permit to operate a pupil transportation vehicle for this School District shall meet all requirements to hold and continue to hold a pupil transportation operator’s permit, including the successful completion of a physical assessment and a Medical Examiner’s Certificate."

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

A newly proposed policy per new Legislative requirement.

Policy was developed by legal counsel and meets the requirements of the new state legislature.

The primary requirement includes:

• Stating the district is required to provide transportation services to Foster Care Students.
• DHHS will cover the cost of any provided transportation for Foster Care Students in the district.

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

The Board engaged in a healthy discussion about one particular clause in the policy. The clause in consideration reads:

"Grand Island Public Schools to prohibit any form of bullying, including harassment or violence, on the basis of race (including skin color, hair texture and protective hairstyles including braids, locks, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, Bantu knots, afros, and headwraps), color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, military or veteran status, age, sex or gender, sexual orientation, disability, or marital status, in all staff employment situations, academic offerings, and extracurricular activities, including school-sponsored events away from school."

The question at hand was whether or not to include the specific listing of "skin color", "hair texture and protective hairstyles", and the continued list. Since this specific clause would be listed in a number of district policies (such as the Dress Code policy), it carried with it the responsibility of setting a precedent for the district so that all impacted policies may be consistent.

The dialogue had by the Board covered a range of perspectives in their desire to support students and staff, to be sensitive to representation, but also noting that listing out specifics carries with it the draw-back of potentially leaving something out.

You may hear the full conversation HERE.

Ultimately, the Board decided to TABLE the policy so that they may have more time to review on their own, and so the district may have more time to connect with stakeholders on the topic.

Regular review of an existing policy.

Legal counsel recommended the district remove the lengthy section that maps out the response protocols, and replace it with a more consistent guideline stating:

"The requirement that the following personal information collected and maintained under this part

shall be reported to the Clearinghouse:

(i) A verified positive, adulterated, or substituted drug test result;

(ii) An alcohol confirmation test with a concentration of 0.04 or higher;

(iii) A refusal to submit to any test required by law;

(iv) An employer's report of actual knowledge of:

(A) On duty alcohol use;

(B) Pre-duty alcohol use;

(C) Alcohol use following an accident; and

GRAND ISLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS

(D) Controlled substance use;

(v) A substance abuse professional report of the successful completion of the return-to-duty

process;

(vi) A negative return-to-duty test; and

(vii) An employer's report of completion of follow-up testing."

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

Legal counsel recommended that we strike out a section and replace it with new language to be more consistent with legal requirements. The updated section would read:

"The Superintendent or designee shall develop and implement such criteria to identify high ability learners, and shall take steps to offer accelerated or differentiated curriculum programs that will address the educational needs of the identified students at levels appropriate for the abilities of those students. The accelerated or differentiated curriculum programs shall meet the standards of quality established by the Nebraska Department of Education."

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

Proposed changes would include:

• “Enrollment of Expelled Students” clause would be removed from a different policy and added to this one as it is a more logical fit for this protocol. The clause states that students Expelled from other schools may not enroll at GIPS until their expulsion term is completely carried out.
  
  
• “Military Families” adding a clause that would allow for students to be enrolled right away.

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

A few sentences are to be added per state Legislative requirement.

The clause would state:

"Non-resident students may only be admitted on a part-time basis or permitted to participate in a school-sponsored extracurricular activity when required by law."

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

Proposed addition would be to add that generating "deep fakes" or "inappropriate computer generated images" would not be permitted.

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

A newly proposed policy per new Legislative requirement.

This new policy does not change any protocols in our district as it mirrors our Positive Supports system we've already been utilizing for a number of years.

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

Regular review of an existing policy.

The only proposed change would be to add the following clarifying statement:

"The Superintendent or designee shall, as required by law, designate each school-sponsored interscholastic athletic team or sport as either: (1) boys; (2) girls; or (3) mixed."

This was shared as a first read and will be up as an Action Item vote at the August Board meeting.

Update to an existing policy per new legislative requirement.

Proposed changes would include:

• Guardians may request a personal conference with appropriate school personnel regarding complaints about textbooks, texts, curriculum materials, activities, etc.
• Upon reasonable advance request, a guardian or educational decision maker will be permitted to attend or monitor courses, assemblies, etc.
• Continue to provide "opt-out" options for appropriate classroom instruction, testing, etc.
• Continue to provide access for guardians to their child's educational records.

This was shared as both a first read and Action Item for vote so it may meet legal requirements for immediate implementation.

1. The 2024 Harvest Gala will be held on September 25th, 2025 at Riverside Golf Club with the presenting sponsor being Tom & Kim Dinsdale
   
   
2. In July the Foundation will announce the recipient of the Miller Legacy Professional Development grant and 2 NEW GIPS Foundation Professional Development grants to teachers that is furthering their education.
   
   
3. 2025 Scholarship Program Statistics were presented to the GIPSF Board. The Board acknowledged another amazing year of supporting students to fulfill their dream of continued education.
   
   
4. Teacher of the Year committee convened and chose the winners that will be celebrated at the 2025-2026 Welcome Back
   
   
5. The Foundation will not have a July Board Meeting.

Mr. Fisher shared a Superintendent Report with the Board.

• GISH is looking at incorporating an “Activities Eligibility Policy” for the upcoming school year. Mr. Ladwig will likely come and present information on this next month to the Board. The GISH Activities Office is wanting to ensure there is a consistent framework for holding students accountable for classroom performance.
  
  
• Met with the Middle School Principals & Activities Directors. The discussion was focused on handling activities budgets and helping our leaders better understand the resources available to them. Also had a healthy discussion around synchronizing eligibility requirements to be consistent at all three Middle Schools.
  
  
• Multilingual Registration Day Event was held earlier this week. A great opportunities for our EL families to get details for school organized and to connect with other important community agencies.
  
  
• LEAD GIPS will be a time for our Principals, Administrators, and Department Heads are planning to come together on July 22nd. This annual event helps us plan for a great school year.
  
  
• August 6th in the afternoon will be our annual all-staff Welcome Back event.
  
  
• Summer School is wrapped-up. We’re in our final days of the Summer Meals program.
  
  
• The upcoming school year will be upon us soon!

Hear Mr. Fisher's full report HERE.

Dr. Carrie Kolar, GIPS Chief of Human Capital Management, shared a proposed update to Extra Standard Compensation for the district.

Proposed extra standard updates would include:

• Vocal Music will be changed to Show Choir to eliminate confusion about the assignment.
  
  
• FBLA will be changed to DECA (Distributive Education Clubs of America); both are business focused.
  
  
• Adding the following Coaching or Sponsor roles: Assistant GISH Track Coach, Assistant GISH Unified Track Coach, Assistant GISH Cross Country Coach, Middle School Speech Sponsor, Middle School Assistant Speech Sponsor, GISH HOSA Assistant Sponsor, & GISH Assistant Bowling Coach.

Dr. Kolar presented the requests to add seven extra standard positions (mentioned above) for the 2025-26 school year to support learning and extracurricular activities at our Middle Schools and GISH. The total cost would be $14,166.

This was shared as information at the June Board meeting.

MOTION PASSED: 9 - 0

Please see above information item for rationale.

MOTION PASSED: 9 - 0

Please see above information item for rationale.

MOTION PASSED: 9 - 0

Please see above information item for rationale.

MOTION PASSED: 9 - 0

Regular review of an existing policy.

This policy had not been reviewed since 2011 and was in need of some updates to better reflect best practice and meet state standards.

Notable proposed changes would include:

• Updated the definition of what “reduction in force” means to better model the industry standard for school districts across Nebraska.
• Superintendent would share recommendations for “positions” for reduction, rather than naming individuals.
• Provides an list of considerations that would be made if making a recommendation for reduction.
• Clarified the legal requirements on the “right of recall”.

This was shared as a first read item at the June Board meeting.

MOTION PASSED: 9 - 0

Regular review of an existing policy.

Due to a new statewide legislative mandate, a few new additions and refinements are needed to be reflected in the current district policy. The State provided a model policy stating that public school districts are required to either adopt the model policy, or one that closely resembles the model.

Much of the current policy would stay the same. A few notable updates to the existing policy would include:

• Changing the policy name to "Student Dress Code & Grooming" (state requirement)
• Adding the specific mention that students are allowed to wear religious attire, adornments, and other attie associates with race, national origin, or religion.
• Adding that students are permitted to wear natural and protective hairstyles.
• Adding that attire should not promote violence, drugs, alcohol, profanity, or hate speech.

This was shared as a first read item at the June Board meeting.

A motion was made to TABLE this policy for further review so that the Board may have time to continue the discussion about appropriate wording on certain hair styles and appearances.

MOTION TO TABLE THE POLICY FOR FURTHER REVIEW PASSED: 9 - 0

Regular review of an existing policy.

Proposed updates would include:

• Proposal would eliminate the existing policy and replace it with a newly written one.
• New draft for the policy was provided by Perry Law Firm.
• Update would make the policy more general to adhere to the federal requirements.

After much discussion the last few months, the Board made the necessary adjustments to better capture both the legal requirements and the level of support provided for families and students.

MOTION PASSED: 9 - 0

Please see above information item for rationale.

MOTION PASSED: 9 - 0

All other policies from the June Board meeting were voted on and approved in the consent agenda as those policies did not require approved changes or simply fixed grammatical errors.