B-R Boys game mved to Monday at 6:00 pm in North Bend

Attached are the updated 2nd round Girls and Boys EHC basketball tournament brackets. The 2nd round girls contests will still be held on Monday, February 1st. Start times for Girls games are: 4:00pm @ North Bend Central (#2 NBC v. #10 HLHF @ Tiger Gym) and (#3 Howells-Dodge v. #6 Stanton @ Aux Gym) 5:00pm @ West Point-Beemer (#1 West Point-Beemer v. #9 Tekamah-Herman) (#4 Oakland-Craig v. #5 Pender – to follow) 2nd round boys contests will be moved to Monday, February 1st as well. Start times for Boys games will be: approx….6:00pm @ North Bend Central (#1 NBC v. #9 Bancroft-Rosalie @ Tiger Gym) (#13 Clarkson-Leigh v. #5 LDNE @ Aux Gym) 4:00pm @ Twin River (Genoa) (#2 Twin River v. #10 Howells-Dodge) (#3 Stanton v. #6 HLHF – to follow)

Bancroft-Rosalie selected as Pilot school for Blended Learning

I received notice yesterday that our school has been selected as one of the 27 pilot schools in Nebraska for implementing Blended Learning. Blended learning involves using online resources for instruction. Bancroft-Rosalie School already utilizes blended learning in several ways, including the Discovery Education Techbook for elementary science, Odysseyware online classes as an option for high school students, course materials on Canvas (our learning management system that all 7-12 teachers and students utilize, Project Para education certification at the high school, and IXL for math and reading in the elementary. What the pilot program would involve is the development of an action plan for the school with the assistance of the Highlander Institute, a nationally recognized consulting form working under a contract through the Nebraska Department of Education. We will be organizing a Blended Learning planning team of school staff to work with the Highlander Institute and Nebraska ESU staff developers beginning later than spring.

Words of Wisdom

At http://nationalblueribbonschools.ed.gov/ there is the first video of the Bell Award winners on the right hand side of the page. Click on 2015 Terrell Bell Awardees: Introductions to see it. My short introduction is about 2/3's of the way through. I addressed the problem of students transferring in that are not at the same performance level as our students. Several of the students have come from schools on the reservation, but some transfer from other Nebraska schools or from other states. We have a great system in place to accelerate students in the curriculum. "Words of Wisdom As part of the application process, all National Blue Ribbon Schools are invited to nominate their principal for the Terrel H. Bell Award for Outstanding Leadership. While attending the Annual National Blue Ribbon Ceremony last fall, the seven 2015 Terrel H. Bell Awardees took some time out to talk about their work. This first video, introducing the seven principals and the primary challenges facing their schools, is part of a series of five Conversations. Future videos will cover: Defining Leadership, Leadership Challenges, My “Aha” Moment, and Advice to a New Principal."

Conference Basketball Brackets

Girls play Friday at Oakland against Pender. Boys play Saturday at West Point.

North Bend Speech results

NORTH BEND SPEECH
Humorous
Anna Currier--5th
Austin Bruning--1st

Entertainment
Varsity--Teagan Steinmeyer--2nd

Extemporaneous
JV--Zach Bridges--4th
Varsity--Justice Johnson--5th

Varsity OID--
Zoe Sjuts, Kennedy Schuttler, Vanessa Madrid, Kariden Briggs, & Teagan Steinmeyer--5th
Miguel Madrid, Wyatt Hennig, Tess Nottlemann, Chase Bonsall, & Austin Bruning--3rd

Varsity Duet Acting
Joe Loewolf & Zach Bridges--5th

Informative
JV--Kariden Briggs--1st
Varsity--Tess Nottlemann--6th

Poetry
Kylee Cole--6th

Junior High Girls Basketball Tournament Saturday in Bancroft

Sophomore Josh Wilson selected to attend Youth Summit in Lincoln.

Nebraska State Senator Ken Haar announced that B-R sophomore Josh Wilson has been selected to attend the Nebraska Youth Summit on Climate Change.  The summit will take place on Thursday, January 28th from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m at the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln.

The Youth Summit will provide training in the legislative process, on community organizing, communicating with state senators, the press and more. The day will culminate with a press conference in the Capitol Rotunda.

Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazine websites pick up the transgender story

Both the Cosmopolitan and Seventeen websites had a quote from me taken from the Sioux City Journal article. This is another strange unexpected occurrence.

www.seventeen.com/life/school/news/a37301/nebraska-transgender-athletes-policy/

www.cosmopolitan.com/sex-love/news/a52242/nebraska-transgender-athletes-policy/

Sioux City Journal article on Nebraska Transgender policy

Fridays at Northeast

I serve on the Northeast Career Academy Partnership Leadership Council, and we have asked Northeast Community College about the possibility of offering dual credit courses on Fridays at the Northeast Campus to high school students starting in the Fall 2016 to expand opportunities in the career and technical areas. Many college classes at Northeast do not meet on Fridays, allowing the use of the lab areas for the Fridays at Northeast program. There must be a minimum of 8 students to offer the class and a maximum of 15 will be accepted from any high school in the Northeast Community College service area. The school could offer transportation to students if there is enough interest. All programs start at 8:00 am and end at 1:45 pm or 2:00 pm. Northeast has identified the following offerings for Fridays at Northeast. Automotive AUTT 1010 Suspension, Steering and Brake Systems Theory. 2.5 credits (online at the schools) AUTT 1020 Suspension, Steering and Brake Systems Lab. 4.5 Credits. Meets every Friday Fall and Spring 8:00 am - Noon and 12:30- 2:00 pm. Auto Body Technology AUTB 1015 Glass, Trim, and Welding Theory. 2.5 credits. (online at the schools) AUTB 1035 Glass, Trim, and Welding Lab. 4.5 credits. Meets every Friday Fall and Spring 8:00 am - Noon and 12:30- 2:00 pm. Diversified Manufacturing Students must take the entire sequence of courses. With two additional classes, students will meet the requirements for certification in Diversified Manufacturing. INDT 1025 Introduction to Industrial Safety. 2.0 Credits. Meets every Friday Fall Term 8:00 am - 9:40 am INDT 1150 Machining Fundamentals. 2.0 credits. Meets every Friday Fall and Spring 9:50-10:40 am INDT 1160 Machining Fundamentals Lab. 2.0 credits. Meets every Friday Fall and Spring 10:50-Noon and 12:30- 2:00 pm INDT 1170 Introduction to Total Quality Management. 2.0 Credits. Meets every Friday Spring Term 8:00 am - 9:40 am Welding WELD 1030 Shielded Metal Arc Welding Basic Theory. 1.5 credits. Meets every Friday Fall and Spring 8:00- 8:50 am WELD 1035 Shielded Metal Arc Welding Basic Lab. 3.0 credits. Meets every Friday Fall and Spring 9:00 am- Noon, and 12:30- 1:45 pm. Wind Energy technology WIND 1080 Wind Energy Fundamentals. 3.0 credits. Every Friday in the Fall or Spring 8:00 am- 10:45 am (online at the schools) Other classes offered are Nurse Aide and Medication Aide, which we currently offer here at Bancroft-Rosalie.

NSAA Transgender Policy explanation

From Dr. Jim Tenopir, Executive Director, Nebraska School Activities Association At the January 14th NSAA Board of Directors Meeting, the Board considered the Board policy (Approved Ruling) that was introduced on December 9 on first reading. The initial motion at the January Board Meeting was to table the Board policy until April when the outcome of the Representative Assembly would be known, but that motion failed, 3-5. A subsequent motion was made to approve the Board policy on final reading, effective immediately, and that motion passed, 6-2. If the “certificate at birth” bylaw proposal were to pass Representative Assembly, it would become the transgender rule at the start of the 2016-17 school year, and that bylaw would replace the Board policy that was approved by the NSAA Board of Directors. It is the intent of this email to provide some rationale and some logistical information going forward. The Board policy (which will be recapped below) will become effective immediately. Comments in support of the Board policy that were expressed in the Board meeting included the following: (1) the Board policy potentially provides participation opportunities for students whose consistent gender identity and expression is with the gender opposite the sex on their birth certificate; (2) the Board policy gives schools a protocol to use starting immediately and would continue if and until such time as a bylaw proposal passes Representative Assembly; (3) some of the schools with transgender students have looked for direction from the NSAA; and (4) passage of the “certificate at birth” proposal by a 3/5 vote would not be effective until August 1 and passage is not assured. The Board’s Gender Participation Policy states three primary purposes of the policy, in addition to making a participation decision. The intent of the policy is to help assure competitive equity, safety and preservation of personal privacy. The Board policy uses, as the initial determination, the sex listed on the student’s birth certificate. If a transgender student would wish to participate with the gender different than their birth certificate, the student and parent would need to request from the local school a waiver to participate. Once the school receives such request, it would be incumbent upon the schools to determine the student’s eligibility AND to determine whether that school wishes to have such transgender student participate. If the school opposes such participation, the request never gets to the NSAA; however, if the school is amenable to having the transgender student participate, the school would submit a Transgender Student Application to the NSAA, starting the NSAA protocol for consideration. The NSAA would then convene a Gender Identity Eligibility Committee comprised of a physician, psychologist or psychiatrist, an NSAA staff member and a school administrator to consider the materials submitted by the school and parent. The cost of such committee would accrue to the NSAA. Such documentation for the committee submitted by the school and parent would include verification by parents, teachers, physicians and others that the student has consistently maintained a gender identity and expression of a person opposite their birth gender. Reports of modifications such as hormone therapy, testosterone suppression treatments, sex reassignment surgery and other such modifications would also be required and considered, as well as physiological testing results. That committee would try to determine whether the transgender student possesses bone and muscle mass and structures that would be considered advantageous when competing against a student of that biological sex, before such participation was approved. If the Gender Identity Eligibility Committee unanimously approves participation by the transgender student, such student may begin immediately to participate with students of that identified gender. If the committee were to deny participation, the school could appeal the decision to another Gender Identity Eligibility Committee with a similar structure, but staffed by at least two different persons. The Board policy states that, for NSAA events, transgender students who have not had sex reassignment surgery would be able to use the restroom and dressing room facilities consonant with their birth sex or private facilities.

Five students pass Certified Nurse Assistant test

All five CNA students passed their CNA proficiency test and are now Certified Nurse Assistants. KaTesha Henderson, McKayla Zimmerman, Ashten Reil, Hannah Flock and Vanessa Madrid took the test Wednesday evening. Students of instructor Linda Munderloh have 100% pass rate since CNA classes have been offered at Bancroft-Rosalie School.

Transgender student participation in high school sports

Today at our Nebraska School Activities Association District meeting in Norfolk, we will be addressing two proposals on transgender participation in athletics. One proposal that is supported by the Catholic diocese is that a students gender is determined by his "certificate at birth." At our November District meeting, my amendment to that proposal changed the wording to "gender on birth certificate", because Nebraska does have a statute that allows gender transformation. I am not a proponent of gender transformation, but it is legal and we need to follow our laws. A third option is support a policy that was developed by the NSAA Board of Directors this Fall that would require students to prove their gender identity. If any of the two proposals pass in 3 of the 6 districts, they will move on to the State Representative Assembly in April, which I will be attending as a member of the NSAA District III management committee. Should be an interesting meeting this afternoon.

B-R School Board News

The Bancroft-Rosalie Board of Education met Monday, January 11, 2016 at 7:30 pm in Bancroft. Board officers elected for 2016 were Mike Nottlemann- president; Naomi Brummond- vice president; Pat Browning - secretary; and Doug Reil- treasurer. Superintendent Cerny presented the December transportation report, upcoming conferences, State Aid for 2016-17 is projected to decrease by $100,000, an teacher retirement. Principal Sjuts reported on the ReVision meeting he attended in West Point January 6. In old business the Board approved the purchase of 2008 Chevy work truck. In new business, President Reil appointed board committees and also appointed Jon Bailey, Bev Zwygart and Marjorie Vogt to three year terms on the Bancroft-Rosalie Educational Foundation. The negotiated agreement with teachers was approved for the 2016-17 school year with a base salary increase of $1000. The board regretfully accepted the resignation of Food Service Director Rebecca Wortman due to retirement. The Board approved a one year contract for Superintendent Dr. Jon Cerny with a package increase of 4.6%.

January School Board Agenda

Parent Survey needed for Afterschool grant application- Please complete by Friday

Bancroft-Rosalie Community School will be submitting a grant application for a 21st Century Learning Community grant February 1st. The grant would be for five years and provides over $60,000 a year for the after-school program. I have been asked to consider including grades 7-8 in the program. The program would emphasize lifetime fitness activities for students and could include special summer activities such as swimming lessons at the Lyons pool and sports camps. Half-day summer field trips (Henry Doorly Zoo, Ponca State Park) are also encouraged for grant activities. Game and Parks and 4-H are organizations that the school would partner with to offer some of their programs to students in the after-school program. I need parents to go to the following website(s) and complete the google survey. The survey includes activities that you feel your students may be interested in. Kindergarten through 5th grade: http://goo.gl/forms/PtDZsvkk4j 6-8 grades: http://goo.gl/forms/EH4lgspSM3

2006 TARGET Study

The TARGET study that was completed for Bancroft in 2006 made several recommendations for Bancroft to increase Tourism. Some of them have been accomplished in the 9 years since the study. #1. Encourage Cuming County Commissioners to adopt a county lodging tax. The 2% Marketing Tax was passed by the County in 2007. I was part of the group that presented the proposal to the Cuming County commissioners that year. The lodging tax raises $18,000 a year. that money is used to market Cuming County tourism. The County passed an additional 2% lodging tax that went into effect in July. This "Improvement" tax will generate an additional $18,000 that is to be used for improvements to tourism sites. #6. Promote the recreational use of Logan Creek. John Ross deserves the credit for this. From Pender Times July 2014. "Through the collaborative efforts of several groups, the newest access point on the Logan Creek for canoe/kayak travel is now finished.For several years, a number of groups have been working to provide a series of canoe access points to Logan Creek. The newest site in a series of access points is near Bancroft. The site is 1/4 mile north of Highway 16 on Cuming County Road 24, directly north of Ru-de's Mini Mart. The site provides parking and access to Logan Creek. Work on the Bancroft site began in 2011. It completes a string of five access points that stretch from north of Pender to Oakland. Experienced paddlers say it takes about two hours to get from Pender to Bancroft, from Bancroft to Lyons and from Lyons to Oakland. The area also is a haven for wildlife, including Canadian geese, blue heron, horned owls, beaver, muskrats and deer, with the best viewing from the creek occurring early in the morning or late in the evening. A map of the Logan Creek access points is available at the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission's Web site: outdoornebraska.ne.gov. To view the map, visit the water trails page. Canoe and kayak rentals will be available by late summer at Ru-De's Mini Mart in Bancroft, according to owner Rob Smith. This project has been made possible through the collaborative efforts of the Nebraska Loess Hills Resource Conservation and Development Council, Lower Elkhorn Natural Resources District, Cuming County, Cuming County Visitor's Bureau, the Elkhorn Valley chapter of Pheasants Forever and the Nebraska Games and Parks Commission. #10. Capitalize on the John G. Neihardt Historic Site's Tourism Potential. The sculpture of John Neihardt and Black Elk will be completed and in place by Neihardt Day August 7, 2016. Donations are still being solicited for the $150,000 project.

Senior Class Soup Supper Friday January 15

The Senior Class fundraiser for their Senior trip will be next Friday. There are lots of raffle prizes so purchase some tickets from any of the seniors.

Education Is In Our Hands

This brochure was developed by our group of Northeast Nebraska superintendents to communicate educational needs to state senators as they determine aid to schools.

ReVision meetings start tonight with meeting in West Point

The reVISION process provides Nebraska schools with the opportunity to analyze and transform their current career education systems in order to improve their ability to educate a qualified workforce that meets industry needs within an ever-changing economy.

Ten schools have decided to go through this process together to find identify areas that can be addressed collaboratively. Under the leadership of the Educational Service Unit in Fremont, the reVISION process is a strategic approach for these schools to analyze their current career education system and make plans, as needed, for adjustments.

The schools involved are Bancroft-Rosalie, Lyons-Decatur, Oakland-Craig, Tekamah-Herman, Pender, Scribner-Snyder, Logan View, Wisner-Pilger, West Point-Beemer, and North Bend.

Four community meetings have been scheduled to gather input from area employers. The meeting dates are:
January 6 at 6:30 pm at the Nielsen Center in West Point
January 13 at 6:30 pm at the Wisner-Pilger School
January 19 at 6:30 pm at the North Bend School
January 20 at 6:30 pm at the Oakland-Craig School

At tonight"s meeting  Adam Rief, Rief Design and Manufacturing, will be attending from the Bancroft-Rosalie business community to provide input to the schools. We are looking for businesses to attend the January 13 and January 20 meetings.