Superior classes watching tower garden vegetables

Members of the Superior Board of Education met in the high school library Monday evening. For the past several months they have met in a classroom, waiting construction work to be completed before meeting in the library as usual.

Most of the construction work is complete, however, the conference room is still not done and signage still needs to be completed. Monday evening, the board agreed to pay $7,830.78 in construction costs which was billed prior to the September meeting, but not to pay any other construction fees until the work is complete. That total is expected to be approximately $300,000.

Part of the construction project has included a trophy display wall inside the front entrance. Thus the former trophy cases are no longer needed. Supt. Whetzal indicated the Nuckolls County Museum had interest in the wrestling trophy case. Members of the board voted to donate the trophy case to the museum.

Other business actions were recognizing the Superior Educational Association as the official bargaining unit and approving $598,908 for September expenditures from the general fund.

Ashley Primus, a student council representative, presented the student activities report.

Jocelyn Grube and Emma Fymbu, both kindergarten teachers, talked about the kindergarten tower garden. Grube is in her second year teaching at Superior Public Schools. She had student taught in Blue Hill and there observed a tower garden in Judi Roach's classroom. (Roach is now a fifth grade instructor in Superior.) She was impressed. Last January she to applied to the Farm Credit Services of American for a $2,000 grant "supporting rural America with grants that benefit agriculture education, hunger and nutrition and rural disaster relief and essential services."

Because of the grant, kindergarten students now have a Tower Garden. The tower garden is a aeroponic growing system where the roots are vertically suspended and minerals are delivered from a mist. It is a soil-less system where seeds are planted in rock wool. A water reservoir is filled with water and nutrients. An automatic timer triggers a pump to push water up into the tower to create rain inside the tower. Aug. 24 the tower was assembled and the seeds planted. Seeds planted included gourmet lettuce, bib lettuce, basil. kale and rainbow chard. Sept. 28 the class harvested their first crop, lettuce.

The teachers reported students were intrigued with their garden. Every morning students come in and check on it. "They are surprised at how much the plants have grown over night." Grube and Fynbu expect their classes will harvest three crops of lettuce about three weeks apart. Over Christmas vacation, the tower will be cleaned and new seeds will be planted.

Jodi Fierstein, elementary principal talked about the school's multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). Tier I is core instruction and is expected to meet the majority of student needs. Tier II is small group instruction with repeated practices and Tier III is intensified support including individual instruction. After the fall testing is analyzed, instructional teams meet and develop student improvement plans for academic and behavior needs to support students needing tier II and III interventions.

The Superior Elementary staff members are on their second year of working with the Nebraska WORDS project with the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Part of the project includes optional individual tutoring for all elementary students who are below benchmark in reading. The tutoring last for five weeks and started Oct. 5.

The first quarter elementary parent engagement activity was a lunch buddy picnic held Sept. 13. Fierstien said, "This is our third year for the picnic. We had good weather. It is a favorite student activity."

Parent-teacher conferences were held Sept. 28. "The attendance was awesome," Fierstein said. "Ninety-six percent of the parents participated." During the conference, teachers reviewed the results of the DIBELS8 tests, the MAP results, DESSA results and learning attributes – skills for learning and character development standard reference plus other classroom information.

Based on MAP testing results from kindergarten through second grade in reading and math and third through fifth grade in math, language and science, goals were set for the fall based on spring testing and national norms. "As a school, our students met the grade level goal on 15 out of 18 tests taken," Fierstien said. "We have had a good first quarter."

Jennifer Cady, middle and senior high school principal, presented an overview of the fall sports. Paul Heusinkvelt, head football coach, plans for the next two years is as follows:

Based on the current count of high school boys, Superior will opt to play 8-man football and not be eligible for playoffs. In 2024, Heusinkvelt, plans on all 20 of the current players returning along with three other current high school students who have indicated an interest in playing next year. Currently there are four eighth grade students playing football, so he projects 27 players will join the team next year. In 2025, seven seniors will graduate. There are currently six seventh grade students playing football who will be freshmen, so he hopes to have 26 players in 2025 on the team.

High school volleyball currently has an 18-7 record. There are two regular games left (Heartland and Sandy Creek.)

The cross country team has run mostly together in the middle of the pack all season. The boys district competition in Hastings has been moved to Wednesday (yesterday) in the anticipation of bad weather.

Girls golf has had a incredible year with three students playing. Rayne Biltoft qualified for state. Lauren Tietjen finished 13th in districts and Nadia McMeen finished in 15th place. There were not enough girls out to score as a team, but individually one of the girls placed in every tournament of the season. During the season, two had personal bests. McMeen scored a 99 and placed 7th at Pawnee Hills, and Lauren scored 101 at Fairbury and placed 7th. Rayne had her best round of the season at districts at Hidden Valley, shooting a 92 and placing seventh, which earned her a spot at state.

The dance team qualified for regional competition in Omaha. It is scheduled for Dec. 3. This is the first time regional competition has been held in Nebraska. If the team does well in state and regional competition, their goal is to again compete on the national level next March in Florida.

High School MAPS testing is nearly complete .

Secondary parent-teachers conference were Sept. 28. Thirty-three percent of the parents participated. Cady is working on ways to increase participation. "I realize parental participation drops off at the secondary level, but thirty-three percent is not acceptable to me," she said.

Several secondary field trips have been held. FFA took 30 members to the state fair and 35 to Husker Harvest Days. Other students attended RISE – a transition event in Hastings.

The school has received a $6,500 grant for green house updates.

There are students interning at Landmark Implement, Main Street Floral, Behrends Family Chiropractic, Teresa M. Sullivan, CPA, and at Brodstone Healthcare in physical therapy, case management and with a physician this fall.

Supt. Whetzal asked for two volunteers from the board to meet with representatives from the hospital and the city to work on solving child care needs in Superior. He had joined city and hospital representatives for a trip to Gothenburg last Friday to hear about what they have done to solve similar needs. "We do not want to commit a large amount of money to a child care project because we have not planned for it," he said. "But we want to be involved. Kristin Tatro, Peggy Meyer and Matt Sullivan volunteered to help if needed.

Arrangements have been made for all students to complete their hunter and bow safety education certification requirements this year. In the future, current plans would be for seventh grade students to complete the course. The National Wild Turkey Federation will pay for related costs, so it will be free to students.

Supt. Whetzal has reached out to Reinke Manufacturing to inquire if they would be interested in providing a welding certification program in Superior.

The only board committee report was from Peggy Meyer, who reported negotiations have started.

The 45 minute meeting adjourned without an executive session.