Information on Burt County School Consolidation

BURT COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATION – POSSIBLE PROCESS

By Fred Hansen, Superintendent LDNE

Discussion continues on the possibility of a consolidation of three school districts in Burt County.  The Lyons-Decatur Northeast School Board would like to hear from the patrons and parents of the district and will hold a special meeting on Tuesday, November 5, 2013 at 7:00 P.M. in the school gym, set for the purpose of providing information to the public regarding a possible merger with Tekamah-Herman and Oakland-Craig, and allow for questions/answers and opinions to be heard on this idea.  NOTE the change in the date.  It was moved off of Monday due to a volleyball sub-district game conflict.

At some point, the School Board will hold a vote to decide if they intend to continue to discuss this idea with Oakland-Craig and Tekamah-Herman.  If the board votes to continue talks the next step in the process would be for the three school board committees to develop a merger petition.  The petition would then be voted upon by each school board and if approved by all three boards it would be sent on to the State Committee for the Reorganization of School Districts in care of the Commissioner of Education, Nebraska Department of Education, Nebraska State office Building, 6^th Floor, 301 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, NE 68509-4987.  Prior to the vote by each board to approve the petition any school board could vote to remove their school from the process.

The merge petition process is described in the Nebraska Department of Education Rule 83.  This Rule can be found on the NDE website at http://www.education.ne.gov/.  When you find this website click on the letter “R” on the top and scroll down to Rule 83.  Russ Inbody, NDE Administrator of Finance and Organizational Services, leads this division of the Department.

Nebraska school districts have several options from which to choose when considering a merger.  The most common option that the Burt County Schools are considering is for school boards to vote on reorganizing their districts.  Steve Williams, school district lawyer from Harding & Shultz in Lincoln, recommends the “board to board to board” petition method (79-413 through 79-431).  This calls for a 60% affirmative vote of each school board to approve the petition.  Then the boards submit the approved merger petition to the State Committee for the Reorganization of School Districts for their approval.

The Burt County school committees discussed tying the merger petition to a successful bond issue to build a 7-12 grade secondary school.  The school lawyer recommends we hold 3 separate bond elections so that EACH school district votes to approve the bond issue.  The State Committee will not approve the merger petition unless all three school districts approve the bond issue (79-413).

The consolidation idea currently includes building a new 7-12 grade facility somewhere close to Hwy 32 between Oakland and Tekamah.  The idea also includes keeping an elementary facility in Lyons, Oakland, Tekamah, and closing the elementary at Herman.  The new district would be one of the largest Class C1 or smallest Class B schools in Nebraska with our 2013-14 combined enrollments.

Word/AaSupt13-14/Board 2013/Consolidation/LMS article #2 10.28.13

Halloween in Decatur

Kat Country Hub checked with the Village office in Decatur and was told Halloween has NOT been changed in Decatur. Trick or Treating will be on Halloween.

Halloween will be Fri., Nov. 1st for ALL of Lyons

To clarify, ALL trick or treating in Lyons has been moved to Fri., Nov. 1st due to state football playoffs. Halloween is moved to Friday, Nov. 1st for the entire community of Lyons. This is according to Mayor Andy Fuston.

Merger discussion meeting rescheduled at LDNE

Center for Rural Affairs Receives Grant

Lyons, NE – The Center for Rural Affairs has been awarded a $30,000 grant from Newman’s Own Foundation, the independent foundation created by the late actor and philanthropist, Paul Newman. The funding is part of the Foundation’s two-year, $7 million commitment to innovative programs that are helping to advance nutrition awareness, education, and fresh food access.

The grant to the Center for Rural Affairs will be used to help increase access and consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by development of a sustainable community garden in a small town neighborhood primarily occupied by Latino families.

“We appreciate the support of the Newman’s Own Foundation to increase access to healthy fresh fruit and vegetables through teaching people how to grow their own food in a sustainable manner within a community garden,” said Kathie Starkweather with the Center for Rural Affairs. “The training and technical assistance that we will now be able to provide will help ensure a successful garden that will be in place for a long time.”

The Center for Rural Affairs is dedicated to establishing strong rural communities, social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and genuine opportunity for all, while engaging people in decisions that affect the quality of their lives and the future of their communities.

“There is great momentum right now in addressing the many challenging issues around nutrition,” said Lisa Walker, Managing Director of Newman’s Own Foundation. “We are pleased to award a grant to the Center for Rural Affairs to support their important contributions in this area.”

Paul Newman, the actor and philanthropist who founded Newman’s Own, passed away on September 26, 2008. Now, five years later, his legacy continues as Newman’s Own continues to give away 100% of the profits and royalties from the sale of its food products to charity. Since the company’s founding in 1982, over $380 million has been donated to thousands of organizations, with $125 million having been donated in the past five years alone.