2023-24 Superintendent Series
12 Monthly Webinars that Address The Issues That Nebraska School Districts Struggle With The Most
These sessions are designed for both superintendents and business managers. Each webinar will be held from 12:00-1:00 CT. Cost is $1,200 per school district for the entire series, $150 per individual session.
August 17, 2023 - Postcards from the Edge
One of a new superintendent’s most important jobs is to get the upcoming budget process completed within Nebraska’s increasingly complicated timelines. In this session, KSB attorneys will give you the last-minute legal issues to consider in the budgeting process. The attorneys will discuss:
The school’s obligations under the revised “postcard bill,” Neb. Rev. Stat. 77-1633 (the joint public hearing law)
The steps your board will need to take if they want to vote (pursuant to LB 243) to increase the district’s base growth percentage for purposes of determining its property tax request authority
What to do if you need to amend the current fiscal year’s budget
September 19, 2023 - Getting Ready to Party with the Teachers’ Union
Often new superintendents are caught by surprise by how complex the process of negotiating with the teachers union is in Nebraska. School districts have to follow a rigid negotiations timeline and should calculate the appropriate salary for the teaching staff using a specific process called comparability. In this hour, you’ll get to meet Shari Russell, KSB’s resident expert of comparability. Shari and the attorneys will review:
The statutory negotiations timeline
Whether and how to recognize your local association
The basics of comparability calculations
The new process that boards must follow in adopting their budgets in September
Attendees will receive a negotiations checklist and sample documents to use during the negotiation process.
October 16, 2023 - Superintendent Evaluation
You have had your performance evaluated by supervising educators since your student teaching days. But the superintendent evaluation process is an entirely new experience for many, because you are being evaluated by members of the board who are not necessarily professional educators. In this session the KSB attorneys will explain the steps you need to follow in ensuring that your first semester evaluation is both lawful and a useful opportunity for professional growth. The session will cover:
How to be sure you are using the correct instrument
How to place the evaluation processes on the correct agendas
How to train the board to evaluate you
Options for delivering the results of the evaluation in open versus closed session
The intersection of open meetings, public records, and personnel records confidentiality laws
November 7, 2023 - A Divided Board
Let’s be honest, most superintendents want their board minutes to be a long list of 6-0 votes on every issue. But that is just not how productive organizations actually work -- and that is even more true in the current environment of public education. In this session, you will learn about productive ways to manage disagreement and conflict as well as specific strategies to build consensus on a divided board. This session will include input from experienced superintendents on how they have managed divisions on their boards of education in ways that were both successful and unsuccessful. The lawyers will chime in with legal rationales to back up these points, such as why boards shouldn’t be looking at student records or deciding who gets to be the head wrestling coach.
December 4, 2023 - Superintendent Contract Renewal
It is crazy how quickly the automatic contract renewal provisions in most superintendent contracts arrive in the course of a school year. In this session, the KSB attorneys will review the three different types of superintendent renewal provisions in most standard superintendent contracts and explain what that means to you. This session will cover:
How renewal provisions work
How to deal with contract renewal on the agenda
How to comply with the Superintendent Pay Transparency Act
Attendees will receive sample agendas and motions and the proper wording and forms to comply with the Superintendent Pay Transparency Act.
January 9, 2024 - New Year Business Meeting
One of the things we love about education is that we get two “New Years” every year (the first day of school and the first day of the calendar year). However, it can be a little confusing to know what a board must or should do at the first meeting of a calendar year. In this session, the KSB attorneys will explain:
What’s actually required at your January meeting compared to standard practices that may not be required
What we recommend at your January meeting
What to know about vacancies, support for new board members, and reminders for existing board members who will need to file for reelection soon
Attendees will receive sample agendas, sample motions and a checklist to share with board members.
February 6, 2024 - Contract Renewals
February is the month when we all think of those we love, and superintendents are no exception. In February we will talk about the teachers and administrators that you would love to keep and how to be proactive in the retention process. The KSB attorneys will explain:
The teacher and administrator contract renewal timelines
The benefits of a renewal agreement versus a new contract for teachers; how to handle administrative (think principal) contract renewals
The steps your board should take to retain staff
Attendees will receive sample agreements and direction for “cleaning up” your key documents to ensure they align.
March 5, 2024 - Recruiting and Hiring New Staff
In a perfect world you will be recruiting and hiring new staff before the month of March. In the real world, you will probably continue the hiring process into May or even June. Regardless of your specific timeline, this session will review some of the legal essentials in this process. The KSB attorneys will cover:
Do’s and Don’ts in job postings and interviews
How to hire staff who are moving from another district
Creative solutions for hiring hard-to-fill areas like music, math and science
Attendees will receive an interviewing checklist and attorney-approved sample interview questions.
April 9, 2024 - Teacher Contract Issues
April is personnel time in the education law world. In this session we will address some of the most useful proactive steps for new superintendents to take, regardless of the specific details you may face with individual staff. Attendees will learn:
How to know when a staff member can resign (the answer isn’t the same in every district)
The interplay of the statutes, negotiated agreements, and policies on contract renewal and resignations
The basics of the termination and nonrenewal process
May 16, 2024 - Policies and Handbooks
Too many board members view “policy review” as a codeword for “boring meeting.” At KSB we know from hard experience that having a set of policies that is legally compliant is not enough. The board and administrative team must also know what the policies say and be comfortable with how they are implemented. This session will teach you:
How to guide your board through the policy review process (regardless of where you get your policies)
Options for updating and approving student and staff handbooks
Required Annual Reviews and Hearings
Attendees will receive a checklist of the required annual reviews and hearings and a list of the policies a board is required by law to have in their policy books.
June 3, 2024 - Open Meetings Act
One of your most important responsibilities as a new superintendent is to work with your board president to craft the board meeting notice and agenda every month. But how hard can that be? The truth is that the law in Nebraska on public meetings is tricky, and lots of districts get it wrong (and have for a long time). And that can be a huge problem -- particularly when your board has to tackle political topics (Masks? Critical Race Theory? Sex Ed?). The KSB attorneys will take you through recent changes and update you on the Open Meetings Act, including:
How to notice meetings
How to make an agenda item (hint, don’t copy last year and don’t just use Sparq’s generic template)
When you can go into closed session
How to get in and out of closed session
What must actually be included in meeting minutes
Attendees will receive two sets of sample documents (meeting notices, sample agendas, and sample motions to go into and come out of closed session). One set will be specifically customized for Sparq users and the other set will be for districts who do not use the NASB online meeting system.
July 16, 2024 - Q&A
All of the new superintendent webinars will have lots of time for questions and discussion, but in this final session, we will throw the doors open to participants. Attendees will have a chance to reflect on what went well during the school year and what areas should be a focus for growth. The KSB attorneys will also ask:
What did we leave out that you want to know?
What questions do you have?