EDUCATION COUNCIL
of the
NEBRASKA INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMMISSION

Friday, April 9, 2010; 1:00PM CT

Remote 1: NET Board Room, 1800 N. 33rd, Lincoln
Remote 2: Alliance High School, 100 W. 14th, Alliance
Remote 3: Wayne State College NATS, Lindahl Drive, Wayne
Remote 4: ESU 16, 1221 W. 17th, North Platte
Remote 5: ESU 10, 76 Plaza Blvd., Kearney
Remote 6: Panhandle Research Center, 4502 Ave I, Scottsbluff
Remote 7: Durham Research Center #1055, S. 45th & Emile, UNMC, Omaha

 

MINUTES

 

VOTING MEMBERS/ALTERNATES PRESENT:

 

Mr. Arnold Bateman, University of Nebraska (Lincoln site)

Dr. Bob Uhing, Educational Service Unit 1 (Wayne site)

Dr. Michael Chipps, Mid-Plains Community College (North Platte site)

Mr. Ron Cone, ESU 10 (Kearney site)

Dr. Eileen Ely, Western Nebraska Community College (Scottsbluff site)

Dr. Terry Haack, Bennington Public Schools (Lincoln site)

Mr. Stephen Hamersky, Daniel J. Gross Catholic High School (Omaha site)

Mr. Leonard Hartman, Alliance Public Schools (Alliance site)

Ms. Yvette Holly, University of Nebraska Medical Center (Omaha site)

Mr. Chuck Lenosky, Creighton University (Lincoln site)

 

LIAISONS/ALTERNATE MEMBERS PRESENT: Steven Stortz, Norfolk Lutheran Schools, Alt. for Steve Hamersky (Wayne Site), Mr. Gary Targoff and Mr. Michael Winkle, NET (Lincoln site)

 

MEMBERS/LIAISONS ABSENT: Mr. Ed Hoffman, Nebraska State College System; Mr. Clark Chandler, Nebraska Wesleyan University; Mr. Jeff Johnson, Centennial Public Schools; Mr. Dennis Linster, Wayne State College; Mr. Craig Pease, Ashland-Greenwood Public Schools; Mr. Kent Gydesen, Lexington Public Schools; Dr. Marshall Hill, CCPE; Mr. Mike Kozak, NDE; and Ms. Brenda Decker, DAS-CIO.

 

CALL TO ORDER, ELECTRONIC POSTING, LOCATION OF OPEN MEETING LAW DOCUMENTS, ROLL CALL, INTRODUCTIONS

 

Dr. Haack called the meeting to order at 1:08 p.m.  There were 10 voting members present at the time of roll call.  A quorum existed to conduct official business.  The meeting notice was posted to the Nebraska Public Meeting Calendar March 12, 2010 and the agenda was posted to the NITC Web site April 6, 2010.

 

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA FOR THE APRIL 9, 2010 MEETING

 

Mr. Bateman moved to approve the April 9, 2010 meeting agenda as presented.  Dr. Uhing seconded.  Roll call vote:  Bateman-Yes, Chipps-Yes, Cone-Yes, Ely-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Holly-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, and Uhing-Yes.  Results: Yes-10, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

CONSIDER APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE MARCH 5, 2010 MEETING

 

Mr. Lenosky moved to approve the March 5, 2010 meeting minutes as presented.  Mr. Hartman seconded.  Roll call vote: Uhing-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Holly-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Haack-Yes, Ely-Yes, Cone-Yes, Chipps-Yes, and Bateman-Yes.  Results: Yes-10, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

PUBLIC COMMENT

 

There was no public comment.

 

MEMBERSHIP

Gary Targoff, Assistant General Manager for Education at NET, was introduced. He will take Mike Winkle’s liaison seat on the Council.  Mr. Winkle will serve as the Alternate. Mr. Targoff took the position just three weeks ago and is very interested in learning as much as possible about the council and the state’s infrastructure. Dr. Haack welcomed him on behalf of the Education Council.

Mr. Rolfes reminded council members to renew their Education Council memberships by June 1.  Mr. Rolfes provided a handout that listed the eight members who have terms expiring on June 30:  Arnold Bateman, Clark Chandler, Eileen Ely, Dennis Linster, Ron Cone, Terry Haack, Jeff Johnson, and Kent Gydesen.  If members are interested in continuing membership on the Education Council, their respective sub-sectors must confirm their nominations.  Mr. Rolfes asked that the council members contact the executive officers of their respective associations and the staff of the Office of the CIO will follow up.

 

The NITC will be meeting in July and will confirm and approve the Education Council’s membership nominations.  If members prefer to step down, and recommend another candidate, Mr. Rolfes requested that they send him the information with a “cc” to the co-chairs.

 

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE (not included in pdf packet of meeting materials)

LB 1071-Final Reading.  Mr. Rolfes has been providing updates.  LB 1071 is destined for final reading.  There are many issues addressed in the bill: ESU funding, compliance or non-compliance with NITC standards, and process for I.T. purchases.  Without standards for I.T. equipment purchases, the network could be adversely affected.  The Office of the CIO will need to develop guidelines for notification if new or additional equipment is placed on Network Nebraska that may affect the operation of the network.  The bill also requires the Office of the CIO to send to every participant and to the Legislative Fiscal Office a detailed financial report at the end of the fiscal year.

 

National Broadband Plan and Chapter 11 Education

 

The Federal Communications Commission has issued “America’s Plan” (National Broadband Plan).  This is a significant plan covering a wide variety of entities and sectors. The FCC will be releasing a proposed rule to carry out this plan which will affect K-12 education. The proposed changes to open television spectrum to wireless broadband will change the broadcasting environment especially after the FCC switches to digital.  The trend will be towards more community aggregation in terms of education.  For many smaller communities, this means that the local high school could become the aggregation point for other public entities.  To accomplish this, the FCC is proposing the formation of local, state and regional councils to develop community aggregation. Members were encouraged to read Chapter 11.  As plans are developed, Mr. Rolfes will send updates to members.

 

NETWORK NEBRASKA ADVISORY GROUP

March 8, 2010 Meeting Notes.  Mr. Linster was not available to report due to illness.  The Advisory Group is following through with their charter goals.  The NITC Statewide Technology Plan action items will be closely reviewed for task assignments and to explore more opportunities for collaboration, especially between the Education Council task groups and the Advisory Group’s subcommittees.  Bullet 5 of minutes…. FCC had recently issued Order 10-33 that permitted “incidental” after-hours use of K-12 telecommunication facilities without need for cost-allocation or reduction of benefits. This item enables schools that receive funding from the E-rate program (more formally, the schools and libraries universal service support program) to allow members of the general public to use the schools’ Internet access during non-operating hours. This will be enacted through June 30, 2011 with consideration of making the exemption permanent.  The advisory group will continue to update the Council.

 

Co-Chair Mike Chipps presided over the rest of the meeting.

 

TASK GROUP REPORTS

FUNDING/ERATE.  The Task Group discussed the Enhancing Education through Technology Program and recommended that the Education Council send a letter to Nebraska’s representatives in support of increased funding for this program.  It was recommended that the letter be reviewed and approved by Lt. Governor Sheehy, NITC Chair.  After discussion, it was agreed to entrust the Task Group to draft a letter for review by the Office of the CIO and the NITC. 

SERVICES TASK GROUP REPORT.  Mr. Cone had submitted a Comprehensive Listing of Network Nebraska – Education Services document for council members review.  There were no comments or recommended changes from the council members.  The document would be used by members and/or staff to distribute to potential members as a marketing tool.  The Council members expressed that the list of services was good information to have for the website as well as any printed brochures.  Mr. Cone shared the following interactive video distance learning class numbers from Mr. Roethemeyer’s Distance Education Report:

·         1st year number of classes: 581

·         2nd year number of classes: 1,250

·         3rd year number of classes: 1,734 

Classes are growing yearly.  He will ask Mr. Roethemeyer to distribute the report to educational entities, as well as to the Education Council members.

GOVERNANCE TASK GROUP.  Ms. Holly reported that the Governance task group met to discuss their next project which is to assess the viability and performance of the Network Nebraska Advisory Group.  This was to be done within 12 months of its establishment. Roles and responsibilities of the group should be a starting point for a performance survey. In order to get feedback from others about the Advisory Group, the Governance Task Group will send a survey to the Education Council, the Network Nebraska Advisory Group, the CAP members and the CIO.  Discussions also occurred regarding duplication of task group efforts – how to determine and how to alleviate.  For example, the Advisory Group discussed establishing a marketing subcommittee but one already exists within the Education Council.  It was recommended that the Education Council Co-Chairs and the task force co-chairs meet to develop the survey questions and to divvy up the action item responsibilities. The meeting will be done via conference call prior to the next Education Council meeting.

 

MARKETING TASK GROUP.  No additional changes were made to the Network Nebraska Marketing Survey Report.  The Task Group is prepared to move forward with the report and plan.  The level of survey responses was higher than last time with a 70% return. There is less concern about governance structure but cost is still a concern among Network participants.  The report will be shared with the CAP group and the CIOs.  For next year, there will be an effort to be able to distinguish the data as to administrators, technicians, and or educator responses.  Mr. Uhing commended the group on their efforts.

 

Dr. Uhing moved to approve the 2010 Network Nebraska Market Survey Report Conclusions and Recommendations for distribution.  Dr. Chipps seconded. Roll call vote:  Cone-Yes, Ely-Yes, Haack-Yes, Hamersky-Yes, Hartman-Yes, Holly-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Bateman-Yes, Chipps-Yes and  Uhing-Yes.  Results: Yes-10, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

Network Nebraska Marketing Plan.  Recommended changes were highlighted in yellow in the plan.  The Task Group discussed the “staffing” needs in order to move forward with the plan.  A lot of time has already been contributed by the Office of the CIO, the Department of Education staff, as well as the Council volunteers.  Mr. Rolfes reported it is anticipated that by July 2011, the project’s initial debt retirement will be paid in full.  With new members joining the network, the potential to hire staff to market and administer Network Nebraska may be possible.  To get input about potential rate increases, it was suggested to include the question on the next Network Nebraska Market Survey regarding contributing more revenue for an administrator and marketing staff.

 

Mr. Cone moved to accept the Network Nebraska Marketing Plan and to distribute it appropriately to the CIO, NITC, CAP, and interested audiences.  Dr. Ely seconded. Roll call vote: Hamersky-Yes, Haack-Yes, Ely-Yes, Cone-Yes, Chipps-Yes, Bateman-Yes, Uhing-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Holly-Yes, and Hartman-Yes.  Results: Yes-10, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

Mr. Cone stated the new members need to be fully informed about costs, especially circuit costs to get on Network Nebraska.  It would also be beneficial for Network Nebraska to determine different membership options and rates for non-educational or non-public entities.  Mr. Rolfes reported that different membership options and rates is an issue that the Network Nebraska Advisory Group will be addressing.

 

STATEWIDE TECHNOLOGY PLAN

Reformulate Task Group Table of membership and assignments to work on the NITC Action Items

After discussion and agreement, the following changes were made to the Task Group table:

·         Network Nebraska Recruitment/Membership Task Group will become a sub-group of the Marketing Task Group

·         Council members that were present agreed to continue serving on their designated Task Groups.

·         The Task Group leaders remained the same with the exception of the Funding/E-Rate Task Group which will be lead by SuAnn Witt. Mr. Hamersky, former group leader, would like to continue serving on the Task Group.

·         Network Nebraska Advisory Group is an Ad Hoc group of the Education Council.

 

Mr. Bateman moved to approve the reformulated task group table and members to continue work on the NITC action items.  Mr. Hamersky seconded. Roll call vote: Hamersky-Yes, Haack-Yes, Ely-Yes, Chipps-Yes, Bateman-Yes, Uhing-Yes, Lenosky-Yes, Holly-Yes, and Hartman-Yes.  Results: Yes-9, No-0, Abstained-0.  Motion carried.

 

Action Item listing.  Mr. Rolfes asked that members review the action items indicated in their Task Group list to see if they are still applicable.  The virtual high school concept that was not funded via BTOP looks like it may still go forward despite no funding from BTOP.  He wanted to alert members to consider this as they review the action items.  This will be discussed further at the next meeting.

 

OTHER/ANNOUNCEMENTS

Nebraska-specific Round 2 BTOP applications.  Mr. Rolfes wanted council members to be aware of the Nebraska grants that have been submitted for Round 2 of the BTOP funding.   

 

Statewide Broadband Mapping Initiative. The Office of the CIO is accumulating data for the Public Service Commission regarding educational anchor institutions that are connected to Network Nebraska--Education.  This task is 90% complete.  If the Office of the CIO needs additional information, participants may be contacted.

 

AGENDA ITEMS FOR THE JUNE 2010 MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT

 

Mr. Rolfes will survey council member’s availability for an early June meeting in Lincoln.  Members requested the following agenda items:

  • Membership Nominations
  • Statewide Technology Plan Action Items

 

Mr. Bateman moved to adjourn.  Dr. Haack seconded.  All were in favor.  Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 3:35 p.m.

 

 

 

Meeting minutes were taken by Lori Lopez Urdiales and reviewed by Tom Rolfes of the Office of the CIO/NITC.