January 2014 Board Report

At the January 2014 meeting of the State Board, board members welcomed newly hired Commissioner of Education Dr. Matt Blomstedt into his first official meeting. In addition to this new leadership, the board held officer elections for President and Vice President. Rachel Wise, of Wakefield, was unanimously elected president, and John Sieler, of Omaha, was elected Vice President on a 6-2 vote. They take the leadership reigns from outgoing president Patricia Timm, of Beatrice, and Mark Quandhal, of Omaha.

As the legislative session gets underway, Assistant Commissioner Brian Halstead provided an overview of legislative discussion, though the Unicameral session had not yet started at the time of meeting. The board will be convening in a special session on January 27th for a legislative retreat, in which they will be covering legislative issues in depth. Commissioner Blomstedt added that he is interested in adding a discussion of board goals during that retreat.

Another change, which had been in discussion by the board for quite some time, was a modification of board policy relating to public comment. Board member John Sieler has been lobbying for extended public comment for several months, and after review by the board's policy committee, the board voted to adopt the change.

The board heard updates on Language Arts standards, updates to the NePAS state accountability system, and a presentation on a grant in cooperation with the University of Nebraska related to the P-16 Initiative. The board voted to approve the NePAS proposal for public comment, and a copy of the draft can be viewed here.

For full video archive of the work session and meeting, click here.